And sinners are invited to a participation of this Ordinance for that End that they may receive the pardon of their sins that is an infallible pledge and Assurance of it Acts 2. 38. And the very nature of it declareth this to be its End as was before intimated This is another engagement of the Truth and Faithfulness and Holiness of God so that we cannot be deceived in this matter There is saith God forgiveness with me saith the soul how Lord shall I know how shall I come to be assured of it for by reason of the perpetual Accusations of Conscience and the Curse of the Law upon the guilt of my sin I find it a very hard matter for me to believe Like Gideon I would have a Token of it why behold saith God I will give thee a pledge and a token of it which cannot deceive thee When the world of old had been overwhelmed with a deluge of waters by reason of their sins and those who remained though they had just cause to fear that the same Judgement would again befall them or their posterity because they saw there was like to be the same cause of it the thoughts and imaginations of the hearts of men being evil still and that continually to secure them against these fears I told them that I would destroy the earth no more with water and I gave them a token of my faithfulness therein by placing my bow in the cloud And have I failed them though the sin and wickedness of the world hath been since that day unspeakably great yet mankind is not drowned again nor ever shall be I will not deceive their expectation from the token I have given them Wherever then there is a word of promise confirmed with a token never fear a disappointment But so is this matter I have declared that there is forgiveness with me and to give you assurance thereof I have ordained this pledge and sign as a seal of my word to take away all doubts and suspicion of your being deceived As the world shall be drowned no more so neither shall they who believe come short of forgiveness And this is the Use which we ought to make of this Ordinance It is Gods security of the pardon of our sins which we may safely rest in 2. The same is the End of that other Great Ordinance of the Church the Supper of the Lord. The same thing is therein confirmed unto us by another Sign Pledge Token or Seal We have shewed before what respect Gospel forgiveness hath unto the death or blood of Jesus Christ. That is the Means whereby for us it is procured the Way whereby it comes forth from God unto the Glory of his Righteousness and Grace which afterwards must be more distinctly insisted on This Ordinance therefore designed and appointed on purpose for the Representation and calling to Remembrance of the death of Christ with the communication of the benefits thereof unto them that believe doth principally intend our faith and comfort in the Truth under consideration And therefore in the very Institution of it besides the General End before mentioned which had been sufficient for our security there is moreover added an especial mention of the forgiveness of sin for so speaks our Saviour in the Institution of it for the use of the Church unto the end of the world Matth. 26. 28. This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the Remission of sins As if he had said The end for which I have appointed the Observance of this Duty and Service unto you is that I may testifie thereby unto you that by my Blood the Sacrifice of my self and the Attonement made thereby I have purchased for you the Remission of your sins which you shall assuredly be made partakers of And more I shall not add unto this consideration because the death of Christ respected in this Ordinance will again occurr unto us 3. What is the end of all Church Order Assemblies and Worship What is a Church Is it not a company of sinners gathered together according unto Gods appointment to give glory and praise to him for pardoning Grace for the forgiveness of sins and to yield him that obedience which he requires from us on the account of his having so dealt with us This is the nature this is the end of a Church He that understandeth it not he that useth it not unto that End doth but abuse that great Institution And such abuse the world is full of Some endeavour to make their own secular Advantages by the pretence of the Church Some discharge the duty required in it with some secret hopes that it shall be their Righteousness before God Some answer only their Light and Convictions in an empty profession This alone is the true end the true Use of it We assemble our selves to learn that there is forgiveness with God through Christ to pray that we may be made partakers of it To bless and praise God for our Interest in it to engage our selves unto that Obedience which he requires upon the account of it And were this constantly upon our minds and in our designs we might be more established in the faith of it than it may be the most of us are 4. One particular instance more of this nature shall conclude this Evidence God hath commanded us the Lord Christ hath taught us to pray for the pardon of sin which gives us unquestionable security that it may be attained that it is to be found in God for the clearing whereof observe 1. That the Lord Christ in the Revelation of the Will of God unto us as unto the duty that he required at our hands hath taught and instructed us to pray for the forgiveness of sin It is one of the Petitions which he hath left on record for our use and imitation in that summary of all prayer which he hath given us Matth. 6. 12. Forgive us our debts our trespasses our sins Some contend that this is a form of prayer to be used in the prescript limited words of it All grant that it is a Rule for prayer comprizing the heads of all necessary things that we are to pray for and obliging us to make supplications for them So then upon the Authority of God revealed unto us by Jesus Christ we are bound in duty to pray for pardon of sins or forgiveness 2. On this supposition it is the highest Blasphemy and reproach of God imaginable to conceive that there is not forgiveness with him for us Indeed if we should go upon our own heads without his Warranty and Authority to ask any thing at his hand we might well expect to meet with disappointment For what should encourage us unto any such boldness But now when God himself shall command us to come and ask any thing from him so making it thereby our Duty and that the neglect thereof should be our great sin and Rebellion against him to
his own Soveraign Will and pleasure This is his great Glory Exod. 33. 18 19. Shew me thy glory saith Moses And he said I will make all my Goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and I will be Gracious to whom I will be Gracious Upon that proclamation of the name of God that he is merciful gracious long-suffering abundant in goodness some might conclude that it could not be otherwise with any but well he is such a one as that men need scarce be beholding to him for Mercy Nay saith he but this is my great glory that I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious There must be an interposition of a free Act of the Will of God to deal with us according to this his abundant goodness or we can have no interest therein This I call the purpose of his Grace or the good pleasure that he hath purposed in himself Ephes. 1. 9. or as it is termed v. 5 6. The good pleasure of his Will that he hath purposed to the praise of his glorious grace This free and gracious pleasure of God or purpose of his Will to act towards sinners according to his own abundant goodness is another thing that influences the forgiveness of which we treat Pardon flows immediately from a Soveraign Act of free Grace This free purpose of Gods will and Grace for the pardoning of sinners is indeed that which is principally intended when we say there is forgiveness with him That is he is pleased to forgive and so to do is agreeable unto his nature Now the Mysterie of this Grace is deep It is eternal and therefore incomprehensible Few there are whose hearts are raised to a contemplation of it Men rest and content themselves in a general notion of mercy which will not be advantagious to their souls freed they would be from punishment but what it is to be forgiven they enquire not So what they know of it they come easily by but will find in the issue it will stand them in little stead But these fountains of Gods actings are revealed that they may be the fountains of our comforts Now of this purpose of Gods Grace there are several Acts all of them relating unto Gospel forgiveness First There is his purpose of sending his Son to be the great means of procuring of purchasing forgiveness Though God be infinitely and incomprehensibly gracious though he purpose to exert his Grace and Goodness toward sinners yet he will so do it do it in such a way as shall not be prejudicial to his own Holiness and Righteousness His Justice must be satisfied and his holy indignation against sin made known Wherefore he purposeth to send his Son and hath sent him to make way for the exercise of Mercy so as no way to eclipse the glory of his Justice Holiness and hatred of sin Better we should all eternally come short of forgiveness than that God should lose any thing of his glory This we have Rom. 3. 25. God set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past The Remission of sins is the thing aimed at but this must be so brought about as that therein not only the mercy but the Righteousness of God may be declared and therefore must it be brought forth by a propitiation or making of an Attonement in the blood of Christ. So John 3. 16. 1 John 4. 9. Rom. 5. 8. This I say also lyes in the mysterie of that forgiveness that is administred in the Gospel It comes forth from this eternal purpose of making way by the blood of Christ to the dispensation of pardon And this greatly heightens the excellency of this discovery Men who have slight thoughts of God whose hearts were never awed with his dread or greatness who never seriously considered his purity and holiness may think it no great matter that God should pardon sin But do they consider the way whereby it was to be brought about even by the sending of his only Son and that to dye as we shall see afterwards Neither was there any other way whereby it might be done Let us now lay aside common thoughts Assent upon reports and tradition and rightly weigh this matter Doubtless we shall find it to be a great thing that forgiveness should be so with God as to be made out unto us we know somewhat what we are by sending his only Son to dye Oh how little is this really believed even by them who make a profession of it and what mean thoughts are entertained about it when men seek for pardon Immunity from Punishment is the utmost that lyes in the aims and desires of most and is all that they are exercised in the consideration of when they deal with God about sin Such men think and will do so that we have an easie task in hand namely to prove that there is forgiveness in God but this ease lyes in their own ignorance and darkness If ever they come to search after it indeed to enquire into the Nature Reasons Causes fountain and springs of it they will be able to give another account of these things Christ is the center of the mysterie of the Gospel and forgiveness is laid up in the heart of Christ from the love of the Father in him are all the Treasures of it hid And surely it is no small thing to have the heart of Christ revealed unto us When Believers deal about pardon their faith exercises it self about this that God with whom the soul hath to do hath sent the Lord Christ to dye for this end that it may be freely given out General notions of impunity they dwell not on they pass not for They have a closer converse with God than to be satisfied with such thoughts They enquire into the graciousness of his Nature and the good pleasure of his Will the purpose of his Grace they ponder and look into the mysterie of his Wisdom and Love in sending his Son If these springs be not clear unto them the streams will yield them but little refreshment It is not enough that we seek after salvation but we are to enquire and search diligently into the nature and manner of it These are the things that the Angels desire to bow down and look into 1 Pet. 1. 11 12 13. And some think if they have got a form of words about them they have gotten a sufficient comprehension of them It is doubtless one Reason why many who truly believe do yet so fluctuate about forgiveness all their dayes that they never exercised saith to look into the springs of it its eternal fountains but have meerly dwelt on actual condonation However I say these things lye utterly out of the consideration of the common pretenders to an acquaintance with the truth we have in hand Secondly There is another Soveraign Act of Gods Will to be considered in
this matter and that is his eternal designation of the persons who shall be made partakers of this mercy He hath not left this thing to hazard and uncertainties that it should as it were be unknown to him who should be pardoned and who not Nay none ever are made partakers of forgiveness but those whom he hath eternally and graciously designed thereunto So the Apostle declares it Eph. 1. 5 6 7. the rise is his eternal Predestination the end the glory of his Grace the means Redemption in the blood of Christ the thing it self forgiveness of sins None ever are or can be made partakers thereof but by vertue of this Act of Gods Will and Grace which thereupon hath a peculiar influence into it and is to be respected in the consideration of it I know this may be abused by pride profaneness and unbelief and so may the whole work of Gods Grace and so it is even the blood of Christ in an especial manner but in its proper place and use it hath a signal influence into the glory of God and the consolation of the souls of men There are also other Acts of this purpose of Gods Grace as of giving sinners unto Christ and giving sinners an interest in Christ which I shall not insist upon because the nature of them is sufficiently discovered in that one explained already Secondly Forgiveness hath respect unto the Propitiation made in and by the blood of Christ the Son of God This was declared in the opening of the words Indeed here lyes the knot and center of Gospel forgiveness It flows from the Cross and springs out of the Grave of Christ. Thus Elihu describes it Job 33. 24. God is gracious unto him and saith deliver him from going down to the pit I have found a ransom The whole of what is aimed at lyes in these words 1. There is Gods gracious and merciful heart towards a sinner He is gracious unto him 2. There is Actual Condonation it self of which we shall treat afterward He saith deliver him from going down to the pit And 3. There is the center of the whole wherein Gods gracious heart and actual pardon do meet and that is the ransome the propitiation or attonement that is in the blood of Christ of which we speak I have found a ransome The same is expressed Isa. 53. 11. My rightoous servant shall justifie many for he shall bear their iniquities Of the justification of sinners Absolution or pardon is the first part This ariseth from Christs bearing of their iniquities Therein he finished the transgression made an end of sin and made Reconciliation for iniquity Dan. 9. 24. Even all the Sacrifices and so consequently the whole worship of the Old Testament evinced this Relation between forgiveness and bloodshedding whence the Apostle concludes that without shedding of blood there is no remission Heb. 9. 22. that is all pardon ariseth from bloodsheding even of the blood of the Son of God So that we are said in him to have Redemption even the forgiveness of sins Ephes. 1. 17. Our Redemption in his blood is our forgiveness not that we are all actually pardoned in the blood of his Cross for thereunto must be added Gospel condonation of which afterwards but thereby it is procured the grant of pardon is therein sealed and security given that it shall in due time be made out unto us To which purpose is that discourse of the Apostle Rom. 3. 24 25 26. The work there mentioned proceeds from Grace is managed to the interest of Righteousness is carryed on by the blood of Christ and issues in forgiveness now the blood of Christ relates variously to the pardon of sin First Pardon is purchased and procured by it Our Redemption is our forgiveness as the cause contains the effect No soul is pardoned but with respect unto the blood of Christ as the procuring cause of that pardon Hence he is said to have washed us in his blood Rev. 1. 5. In himself to have purged our sins Heb. 1. 3. by one offering to have taken away sin and for ever to have perfected them that are sanctified Heb. 10. to be the ransome and propitiation of our sins 1 John 2. 2. to have made an end of sin Dan. 9. 24. and to have made Reconciliation for the sins of his people Heb. 2. 17. God hath enclosed his rich stores of pardon and mercy in the blood of Jesus Secondly Because in his blood the Promise of pardon is ratified and confirmed so that nothing is wanting to our compleat forgiveness but our pleading the Promise by faith in him 2 Cor. 1. 20. All the Promises of God are in him Yea and in him Amen that is faithfully and irrevocably and immutably established And therefore the Apostle having told us that this is the Covenant of God that he would be merciful to our sins and iniquities Heb. 8. 12. He informs us that in the undertaking of Christ this Covenant is become a Testament Chap. 9. 15 16 17. So ratified in his blood that mercy and forgiveness of sin is irrevocably confirmed unto us therein Thirdly Because he hath in his own Person as the Head of the Church received an acquitment for the whole body His Personal discharge upon the accomplishment of his work was a pledge of the discharge which was in due time to be given to his whole mystical body Peter tells us Acts 2. 24. That it was impossible he should be detained by death And why so because death being penally inflicted on him when he had paid the debt he was legally to be acquitted Now for whom and in whose name and stead he suffered for them and in their name and stead he received his acquitment Fourthly Because upon his death God the Father hath committed unto him the whole management of the business of forgiveness Acts 5. 31. He now gives repentance and the forgiveness of sins It is Christ that forgives us Col. 3. 13. All forgiveness is now at his disposal and he pardoneth whom he will even all that are given unto him of the Father not casting out any that come to God by him He is intrusted with all the stores of his Fathers purpose and his own purchase and thence tells us that all things that the Father hath are his John 16. 15. In all these respects doth forgiveness relate to the blood of Christ. Mercy Pardon and Grace could find no other way to issue forth from the heart of the Father but by the heart blood of the Son and so do they stream unto the heart of the sinner Two things are principally to be considered in the respect that forgiveness hath to the blood of Christ. 1. The way of its Procurement 2. The way of its Administration by him The first is deep mysterious dreadful It was by his blood the blood of the Cross the travel of his soul his undergoing wrath and curse 2. The other is gracious merciful and tender whence so many things
of us This is that which gives life unto our duties without which the best of our works are but dead works and renders them acceptable unto the Living God It is not my business at large to pursue and declare these things I only mention them that persons who are kept back from a participation of the Consolation tendred from the forgiveness that is with God because they cannot comfortably conclude that they are born again as knowing that it is unto such persons alone unto whom these Consolations do truly and really belong may know how to make a right judgement of themselves Let such persons then not fluctuate up and down in Generals and Uncertainties with heartless complaints which is the ruine of the peace of their souls but let them really put things to the trial by the examination of the Causes and Effects of the work they enquire after It is by the use of such means whereby God will be pleased to give them all the Assurance and Establishment concerning their State and Condition which is needfull for them and which may give them incouragement in their course of obedience But supposing all that hath been spoken what if a man by the utmost search and enquiry that he is able to make cannot attain any satisfactory perswasion that indeed this great work of Gods Grace hath passed upon his soul is this a sufficient ground to keep him off from accepting of supportment and consolation from this Truth that there is forgiveness with God which is the design of the Objection laid down before I say therefore further that 1. Regeneration doth not in Order of time precede the souls interest in the forgiveness that is with God or its being made partaker of the pardon of sin I say no more but that it doth not precede it in order of time not determining which hath precedency in order of nature That I confess which the method of the Gospel leads unto is that Absolution Acquitment or the pardon of sin is the foundation of the communication of all saving Grace unto the soul and so precedeth all Grace in the sinner whatever But because this Absolution or pardon of sin is to be received by faith whereby the soul is really made partaker of it and all the benefits belonging thereunto and that faith also is the radical grace which we receive in our Regeneration for it is by faith that our hearts are purified as an Instrument in the hand of the great purifier the Spirit of God I place these two together and shall not dispute as to their priority in nature but in time the one doth not precede the other 2. It is hence evident that an Assurance of being Regenerate is no way previously necessary unto the believing of an interest in forgiveness so that although a man have not the former it is or may be his duty to endeavour the latter When convinced persons cryed out What shall we do to be saved the answer was believe and you shall be so Believe in Christ and in the remission of sin by his blood is the first thing that convinced sinners are called unto They are not directed first to secure their souls that they are born again and then afterwards to believe But they are first to believe that the Remission of sin is tendred unto them in the blood of Christ and that by him they may be justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law Nor upon this proposition is it the duty of men to question whether they have faith or no but actually to believe And faith in its operation will evidence it self See Acts 13. 38 39. Suppose then that you do not know that you are Regenerate that you are born of God that you have no prevailing refreshing constant evidence or perswasion thereof should this hinder you should this discourage you from believing forgiveness from closing with the promises and thereby obtaining in your selves an interest in that forgiveness that is with God Not at all Nay this ought exceedingly to excite and stir you up unto your duty herein For 1. Suppose that it is otherwise that indeed you are yet in the state of sin and are only brought under the power of Light and Conviction this is the way for a translation into an estate of spiritual life and Grace If you will forbear the acting of faith upon and for forgiveness until you are Regenerate you may and probably you will come short both of Forgiveness and Regeneration also Here lay your foundation and then your building will go on This will open the door unto you and give you an entrance into the Kingdom of God Christ is the door do not think to climb up over the wall enter by him or you will be kept out 2. Suppose that you are born again but yet know it not as is the condition of many This is a way whereby you may receive an evidence thereof It is good embracing of all signs tokens and pledges of our spiritual condition and it is so to improve them But the best course is to follow the genuine natural actings of faith which will lead us into the most setled apprehensions concerning our Relation unto God and acceptance with him Believe first the forgiveness of sin as the effect of meer grace and mercy in Christ. Let the faith hereof be nourished and strengthened in your souls This will insensibly influence your hearts into a comforting Gospel perswasion of your state and condition towards God which will be accompanied with assured rest and peace To winde up this discourse remember that that which hath been spoken with reference unto the state of Regeneration in General may be applyed unto every particular objection or cause of fear or discouragement that may be reduced to that head Such are all Objections that arise from particular sins from Aggravations of sin by their greatness or circumstances or relapses into them The way that the consideration of these things prevail upon the mind unto fears is by begetting an apprehension in men that they are not Regenerate for if they were they suppose they could not be so overtaken or entangled The Rules therefore laid down are suited to the streights of the souls of sinners in all such particular cases Lastly There was somewhat in particular added in the close of the Objection which although it be not directly in our way nor of any great importance in it self yet having been mentioned it is not unmeet to remove it out of the way that it may not leave intanglement upon the minds of any Now this is that some know not nor can give an account of the Time of their conversion unto God and therefore cannot be satisfied that the saving work of his grace hath passed upon them This is usually and ordinarily spoken unto And I shall therefore briefly give an account concerning it 1. It hath been shewed that in this matter there are many things whereon
professeth that it was all his relief and supportment How comes it to be an occasion of his trouble All had not been well between God and him and whereas formerly in his Remembrance of God his thoughts were chiefly exercised about his Love and Kindness now they were wholly possest with his own sin and unkindness This causeth his trouble Herein lyes a share of the intanglements occasioned by sin Saith such a soul in its self foolish creature hast thou thus requited the Lord Is this the return that thou hast made unto him for all his love his kindness his consolations mercies Is this thy kindness for him thy love to him Is this thy kindness to thy Friend Is this thy boasting of him that thou hadst found so much Goodness and Excellency in him and his Love that though all men should forsake him thou never wouldst do so Are all thy Promises all thy Engagements which thou madest unto God in times of distress upon prevailing obligations and mighty impressions of his Good Spirit upon thy soul now come to this that thou shouldst so foolishly forget neglect despise cast him off Well! now he is gone he is withdrawn from thee and what wilt thou do Art thou not even ashamed to desire him to return They were thoughts of this nature that cut Peter to the heart upon his fall The soul finds them cruel as Death and strong as the Grave It is bound in the chains of them and cannot be comforted Psalm 38. 3 4 5 6. And herein consists a great part of the depths enquired after For this consideration excites and puts an edge upon all grieving straightning perplexing Affections which are the only means whereby the soul of a man may be inwardly troubled or trouble it self such are sorrow and shame with that self-displicency and Revenge wherewith they are attended And as their Reason and Object in this case do transcend all other occasions of them so on no other account do they cause such severe and perplexing reflections on the soul as on this Thirdly A revived sense of justly deserved wrath belongs also to these depths This is as the opening of old wounds When men have passed through a sense of wrath and have obtained deliverance and rest through the blood of Christ to come to their old thoughts again to be trading afresh with Hell Curse Law and Wrath it is a depth indeed And this often befalls gracious souls on the account of sin Psalm 88. 7. Thy wrath lyeth hard upon me saith Heman It pressed and crushed him sorely There is a self-judging as to the desert of wrath which is consistent with a comforting perswasion of an Interest in Christ. This the soul finds sweetness in as it lyes in a subserviency to the exaltation of Grace But in this case the soul is left under it without that relief It plungeth it self into the Curse of the Law and flames of Hell without any cheering supportment from the blood of Christ. This is walking in the valley of the shadow of death The soul converseth with death and what seems to lye in a tendency thereunto The Lord also to increase his perplexities puts new life and spirit into the Law gives it a fresh Commission as it were to take such a one into its Custody and the Law will never in this world be wanting unto its Duty Fourthly Oppressing Apprehensions of temporal Judgements concurr herein also for God will Judge his People And Judgement often begins at the House of God Though God saith such a one should not cast me off for ever though he should pardon my iniquities yet he may so take vengeance of my inventions as to make me feed on gall and wormwood all my dayes Psal. 119. 120. faith David My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy Judgements He knows not what the great God may bring upon him and being full of a sense of the guilt of sin which is the bottom of this whole condition every Judgement of God is full of terror unto him Sometimes he thinks God may lay open the filth of his heart and make him a scandal and a reproach in the world Psal. 39. 8. Oh saith he make me not a reproach to the foolish Sometimes he trembles lest God should strike him suddainly with some signal Judgement and take him out of the world in darkness and sorrow so saith David take me not away in thy wrath Sometimes he fears lest he shall be like Jonah and raise a storm in his Family in the Church whereof he is a Member or in the whole Nation Let them not be ashamed for my sake These things make his heart soft as Job speaks and to melt within him When any Afflâ—ction or publick Judgement of God is fastned to a quick living sense of sin in the Conscience it overwhelms the soul whether it be only justly feared or be actually inflicted as was the case of Joseph's Brethren in Aegypt The soul is then rolled from one deep to another Sense of sin casts it on the consideration of its Affliction and Affliction turns it back on a sense of sin So deep calleth unto deep and all Gods billows go over the soul. And they do each of them make the soul tender and sharpen its sense unto the other Affliction â—â—â—â—ens the soul so that the sense of sin cuts the deeper and makes the larger wounds and the sense of sin weakens the soul and makes Affliction sit the heavier and so encreaseth its burden In this case that Affliction which a man in his usual state of spiritual peace could have embraced as a sweet pledge of Love is as goads and thorns in his side depriving him of all rest and quietness God makes it as thorns and briars wherewith he will teach stubborn souls their duty as Gideon did the Man of Succoth Fifthly There may be added hereunto prevailing fears for a season of being utterly rejected by God of being found a Reprobate at the last day Jonah seems to conclude so Chap. 3. 4. Then I said I am cast out of thy sight I am lost for ever God will own me no more And Heman Psalm 88. 4 5. I am counted with them that go down into the pit Free among the dead like the slain that lye in the grave whom thou remembrest no more and they are cut off from thy hand This may reach the soul until the sorrows of Hell encompass it and lay hold upon it untill it be deprived of comfort peace rest untill it be a terror to its self and be ready to choose strangling rather than life This may befall a gracious soul on the account of sin But yet because this fights directly against the Life of Faith God doth not unless it be in extraordinary cases suffer any of his to lye long in this horrible pit where there is no water no refreshment But this often falls out that even the Saints themselves are left for a season to a
fearful expectation of judgement and fiery indignation as to the prevailing apprehension of their minds And Sixthly God secretly sends his Arrows into the soul that wound and gall it adding pain trouble and disquietness to its disconsolation Psalm 38. 2. Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore Ever and anon in his walking God shot a sharp piercing arrow fixing it on his soul that galled wounded and perplexed him filling him with pain and grievous vexation These arrows are Gods rebukes Psal. 39. 11. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity God speaks in his Word and by his Spirit in the Conscience things sharp and bitter to the soul fastning them so as it cannot shake them out These Job so mournfully complains of Chap. 6. 4. The Lord speaks words with that efficacy that they piecce the heart quite through and what the issue then is David declares Psal. 38 3. There is no soundness saith he in my flesh because of thine anger nor is there any rest in my bones because of my sin The whole person is brought under the power of them and all health and rest is taken away and Seventhly Unspiritedness and disability unto Duty in doing or suffering attend such a condition Psal. 40. 12. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up His spiritual strength was worn away by sin so that he was not able to address himself unto any communion with God The soul now cannot pray with life and power cannot hear with joy and profit cannot do good and communicate with cheerfulness and freedom cannot meditate with delight and heavenly mindedness cannot act for God with zeal and liberty cannot think of suffering with boldness and resolution but is sick weak feeble and bowed down Now I say a gracious soul after much communion with God may on the account of sin by a sense of the guilt of it be brought into a state and condition wherein some more or all of these with other the like perplexities may be its portion And these make up the Depths whereof the Pfalmist here complains What are the sins or of what sorts that ordinarily cast the souls of Believers into these depths shall be afterwards declared I shall now shew both whence it is that Believers may fall into such a condition as also whence it is that oftentimes they actually do so Whence it is that Believers may be brought into depths on the account of sin Nature of the supplies of Grace given in the Covenant How far they extend Principles of the power of sin First The Nature of the Covenant wherein all Believers now walk with God and wherein all their whole provision for obedience is enwrapped leaves it possible for them to fall into these depths that have been mentioned Under the first Covenant there was no mercy or forgiveness provided for any sin It was necessary then that it should exhibit a sufficiency of Grace to preserve from every sin or it could have been of no use at all This the Rigteousness of God required and so it was To have made a Covenant wherein there was no provision at all of pardon and not a sufficiency of Grace to keep the Covenanters from need of pardon was not answerable to the Goodness and Righteousness of God But he made man upright who of his own accord sought out many inventions It is not so in the Covenant of Grace There is in it pardon provided in the blood of Christ It is not therefore of indispensible necessity that there should be administred in it Grace effectually preserving from every sin Yet is it on all accounts to be preferred before the other For besides the relief by pardon which the other knew nothing of there is in it also much provision against sin which was not in the other First There is provision made in it against all and every sin that would disannull the Covenant and make a final separation between God and a soul that hath been once taken into the bond thereof This provision is absolute God hath taken upon himself the making of this good and the establishing this Law of the Covenant that it shall not by any sin be disannulled Jor. 32. 40. I will saith God make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me The security hereof depends not on any thing in our selves All that is in us is to be used as a means of the accomplishment of this Promise but the event or issue depends absolutely on the faithfulness of God And the whole certainty and stability of the Covenant depends on the efficacy of the Grace administred in it to preserve men from all such sins as would disanull it Secondly There is in this Covenant provision made for constant peace and consolation notwithstanding and against the guilt of such sins as through their infirmities and temptations believers are daily exposed unto Though they fall into sins every day yet they do not fall into depths every day In the tenour of this Covenant there is a consistency between a sense of sin unto humiliation and peace with strong consolation After the Apostle had described the whole conflict that Believers have with sin and the frequent wounds which they receive thereby which makes them cry out for deliverance Rom. 7. 24. He yet concludes Chap. 8. 1. that there is no condemnation unto them which is a sufficient and stable foundation of Peace So 1 John 2. 1. These things have I written unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous Our great business and care ought to be that we sin not but yet when we have done our utmost if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves Chap. 1. 8. What then shall poor sinful guilty creatures do why let them go to the Father by their Advocate and they shall not fail of pardon and peace And saith Paul Heb 6. 17 18. God is abundantly willing that we might have strong consolation who fly for resuge to lay hold on the hope set before us What was his condition who fled of old to the City of refuge for safety from whence this expression is taken He was guilty of blood though shed at unawares and so as that he was to dye for it if he escaped not to the City of Refuge Though we may have the guilt of sins upon us that the Law pronounceth death unto yet flying to Christ for refuge God hath provided not only safety but strong consolation for us also Forgiveness in the blood of Christ doth not only take guilt from the soul but trouble also from the conscience And in this respect doth the Apostle at large set forth the Excellency of his Sacrifice Heb. 10. The Sacrifices of the Old Law he
tells us could not make perfect the worshippers v. 1. which he proves v. 2. because they did never take away throughly and really Conscience of sin that is depths or distresses of conscience about sin But now saith he Jesus Christ in the Covenant of Grace hath for ever perfected them that were sanctified v. 14. providing for them such stable peace and consolation as that they shall not need the renewing of Sacrifices every day v. 18. This is the great mysterie of the Gospel in the blood of Christ that those who sin every day should have peace with God all their dayes Provided their sins fall within the compass of those infirmities against which this consolation is provided Thirdly There is provision made of Grace to prevent and preserve the soul from great and enormous sins such as in their own nature are apt to wound conscience and cast the person into such depths and intanglements as wherein he shall have neither rest nor peace Of what sort these sins are shall be afterwards declared There is in this Covenant Grace for Grace Joh. 1. 16. and abundance of Grace administred from the All-fulness of Christ. Grace reigneth in it Rom. 6. 6. destroying and crucifying the body of sin But this Provision in the Covenant of Grace against peace-ruining soul-perplexing sins is not as to the administration of it absolute There are Covenant Commands and Exhortations on the attendance whereunto the administration of much Covenant-Grace doth depend To watch pray improve faith to stand on our guard continually to mortifie sin to fight against temptations with stedfastness diligence constancy are every where prescribed unto us and that in order unto the ensurance of the Grace mentioned These things are on our part the condition of the Administration of that abundant Grace which is to preserve us from soul-entangling sins So Peter informs us 2 Ep. 1. v. 3. The divine power of God hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness We have from it an habitual furnishment and provision for obedience at all times Also saith he v. 4. He bath given unto us great and pretious promises that by them we might be partakers of the Divine Nature What then is in this blessed estate and condition required of us that we may make a due improvement of the provision made for us and enjoy the comforting influence of those Promises that he prescribes unto us v. 5 6 7. Giving all diligence add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity That is carefully and diligently attend to the exercise of all the Graces of the Spirit and unto a conversation in all things becoming the Gospel What then shall be the issue if these things are attended unto v. 8. If these things be in you and abound ye shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not enough that these things be in you that you have the seed and root of them from and by the Holy Ghost but you are to take care that they flourish and abound without which though the root of the matter may be in you and so you be not wholly devoid of spiritual life yet you will be poor barren sapless withering creatures all your days But now suppose that these things do abound and we be made fruitful thereby Why then saith he v. 10. If you do these things ye shall never fall What never fall into sin Nay that is not in the Promise and he that sayes when he hath done all that he hath no sin he is a Lyar. Or is it never fall totally from God No the preservation of the Elect of whom he speaks from total Apostasie is not suspended on such conditions especially not on any degree of them such as their abounding imports But it is that they shall not fall into their old sins from which they were purged v. 9. Such Conscience wasting and defiling sins as they lived in in the time and state of their Unregeneracy Thus though there be in the Covenant of Grace through Jesus Christ Provision made of abundant supplies for the souls preservation from entangling sins yet their Administration hath respect unto our diligent attendance unto the means of receiving them appointed for us to walk in And here lyes the latitude of the New Covenant here lyes the exercise of renewed Free-will This is the field of free voluntary obedience under the Administration of Gospel Grace There are extreams which in respect of the event it is not concerned in To be wholly perfect to be free from every sin all failings all infirmities that is not provided for not promised in this Covenant It is a Covenant of mercy and pardon which supposeth a continuance of sin To fall utterly and finally from God that is absolutely provided against Between these two extreams of absolute perfection and total Apostasie lyes the large Field of Believers obedience and walking with God Many a sweet heavenly passage there is and many a dangerous depth in this field Some walk near to the one side some to the other yea the same person may sometimes press hard after Perfection sometimes be cast to the very border of destruction Now between these two lye many a soul-plunging sin against which no absolute provision is made and which for want of giving all diligence to put the means of preservation in practice Believers are oftentimes overtaken withal Fourthly There is not in the Covenant of Grace Provision made of ordinary and abiding consolation for any under the guilt of great sins or sins greatly aggravated which they fall into by a neglect of using and abiding in the forementioned conditions of abounding actual Grace Sins there are which either because in their own nature they wound and waste conscience or in their effects break forth into scandal causing the name of God and the Gospel to be evil spoken of or in some of their circumstances are full of unkindness against God do deprive the soul of its wonted consolation How by what means on what account such sins come to terrifie conscience to break the bones to darken the soul and to cast it into inextricable depths notwithstanding the relief that is provided of pardon in the blood of Christ I shall not now declare that they will do so and that Consolation is not of equal extent with safety we know Hence God assumes it to himself as an act of meer Soveraign Grace to speak peace and refreshment unto the souls of his Saints in their depths of sin entanglements Isa. 57. 18 19. And indeed if the Lord had not thus provided that great provocations should stand in need of special reliefs it might justly be feared that the negligence of Believers might possibly bring forth much bitter fruit Only this must be observed by the way that what
they taught to value all the fruits of the blood of Jesus Christ of the enjoyment of many whereof they are at present cut short and deprived All which with other things of the like nature and importance make them very sensible of their concernments Secondly They remember what it cost them formerly to deal with God about sin and hence they know it is no ordinary matter they have in hand They must again to their old work take the old cup into their hands again A recovery from depths is as a new conversion Oft-times in it the whole work as to the souls apprehension is gone over afresh This the soul knows to have been a work of dread terror and trouble and trembles in it self at its new tryals And Thirdly The Holy Ghost gives unto such poor souls a fresh sense of their deep concernments on purpose that it may be a means to stir them up unto these earnest Applications unto God The whole work is his and he carries it on by means suited to the compassing of the end he aimeth at And by these means is a gracious soul brought into the frame mentioned Now there are sundry things that concur in and unto this frame First There is a continual thoughtfulness about the sad condition wherein the soul is in its depths Being deeply affected with their condition they are continually ruminating upon it and pondering it in their minds So David declares the case to have been with him Psal. 38. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore there is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sins for mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burthen they are too heavy for me my wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness I am troubled I am bowed down I go mourning all the day long I am feeble and sore broken I have roared for the disquietness of my heart Restlestness deep-thoughtfulness disquietness of heart continual heaviness of soul sorrow and anxiety of mind lye at the bottom of the Applications we speak of From these Principles their prayers flow out as David adds v. 9. Lord all my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee This way all his trouble wrought He prayed out of the abundance of his meditation and grief Thoughts of their state and condition lye down with such Persons and rise with them and accompany them all the day long As Reuben cryed The child is not and I whither shall I go So doth such a soul the Love of God is not Christ is not and I whither shall I cause my sorrow to go God is provoked death is nigh at hand relief is far away darkness is about me I have lost my peace my joy my Song in the night what do I think of duties Can two walk together unless they be agreed Can I walk with God in them whilst I have thus made him mine enemy What do I think of Ordinances Will it do me any good to be at Jerusalem and not see the face of the King to live under Ordinances and not to meet in them with the King of Saints May I not justly fear that the Lord will take his holy Spirit from me until I be left without remedy With such thoughts as these are sin-entangled souls exercised and they lye rolling in their minds in all their applications unto God Secondly We see the Application it self consists in and is made by the prayer of Faith or crying unto God now this is done with intenseness of mind which hath a twofold fruit or property 1. Importunity and 2. Constancy It is said of our blessed Saviour that when he was in his depths about our sins that he offered up prayers and supplications with strong cryes and tears Heb. 5. 7. Strong cryes and tears express the utmost intension of Spirit And David expresseth it by roaring as we have seen before as also by sighing groaning and panting A soul in such a condition lyes down before the Lord with sighs groans mourning cryes tears and roaring according to the various working of his heart and its being affected with the things that it hath to do and this produceth First Importunity The power of the importunity of Faith our Saviour hath marvelously set out Luke 11. 8 9 10. as also Chap. 18. 1. Importunate prayer is certainly prevailing And importunity is as it were made up of these two things frequency of interposition and variety of arguings You shall have a man that is importunate come unto you seven times a day about the same business and after all if any new thought come into his mind though he had resolved to the contrary he will come again And there is nothing that can be imagined to relate unto the business he hath in hand but he will make use of it and turn it to the furtherance of his plea. So is it in this case Men will use both frequency of interposition and variety of arguings Psal. 86. 1. I cry unto thee daily or rather all the day He had but that one business and he attended it to the purpose By this means we give God no rest Isa. 62. 7. which is the very character of importunity Such souls go to God and they are not satisfied with what they have done and they go again and somewhat abideth still with them and they go to him again and the heart is not yet emptied they 'l go again to him that he may have no rest What variety of arguments are pleaded with God in this case I could also manifest in the same David But it is known to all there is not any thing almost that he makes not a plea of the Faithfulness Righteousness Name Mercy Goodness and kindness of God in Jesus Christ the concernment of others in him both the friends and foes of God his own weakness and helplesness yea the greatness of sin it self Be merciful to my sin saith he for it is great Sometimes he begins with some Arguments of this kind and then being a little diverted by other considerations some new plea is suggested unto him by the Spirit ane he returns immediately to his first employment and design all arguing great intension of mind and spirit Secondly Constancy also flows from intenseness Such a soul will not give over untill it obtain what it aims at and looks for as we shall see in our process in opening this Psalm And this is in general the deportment of a gracious soul in the condition here represented unto us As poor creatures love their peace as they love their souls as they tender the glory of God they are not to be wanting in this duty What is the reason that controversies hang so long between God and your souls that it may be you scarce see a good day all your lives Is it not for the most part
the thoughts expressed in this third Verse and fixes the conclusion in his mind discoursed of before He finds now that he hath the Law afresh to deal withal Thence ariseth that sense and acknowledgement of sin that self-condemnation in the Justification of God whereof we now speak He grows not sullen stubborn displeased and so runs away from God he doth not utterly saint despond and give over he pleads not any thing in his own Justification or for the extenuation of his sin and guilt he quarrelleth not with he repineth not against the Holiness Severity and Righteousness of the Law of God but reflects wholly on himself his own unworthiness guilt and desert and in a sence of them lyes down at the foot of God in expectation of his word and sentence Three things in this condition we ascribe unto such a soul. First A sincere sense of sin There is a twofold sense of sin The one is general and notional whereby a man knows what sin is that himself is a sinner that he is guilty of this or that these or those sins only his heart is not affected proportionably to that discovery and knowledge which he hath of these things The other is active and efficacious The soul being acquainted with the nature of sin with its own guilt in reference unto sin in general as also to this or that sin is universally influenced by that apprehension unto suitable Affections and Operations Of both these we have an instance in the same person David before Nathans coming to him had the former afterwards he had the latter also It cannot be imagined but that before the coming of the Prophet he had a general knowledge and sense not only absolutely of the nature of sin but also that himself was a sinner and guilty of those very sins which afterwards he was reproved for To think otherwise is to suppose not only that he was un-sainted but un-manned also and turned into a Beast But yet this wrought not in him any one Affection suitable to his condition And the like may be said of most sinners in the world But now when Nathan comes to him and gives him the latter efficacious sense whereof we speak we know what effects it did produce It is the latter only that is under consideration and that also is twofold 1. Legal or Antecedaneous unto conversion 2 Evangelical and previous to the recovery from depths whereof we treat How these two differ and how they may be discerned one from the other being both of them in their kind sincere is not my business to declare Now this tast which we assign as the first duty work or acting of a returning soul is a deep and practical apprehension wrought in the mind and heart of a believing sinner by the Holy Ghost of sin and its evils in reference unto the Law and Love of God the Cross and blood of Christ the communion and consolation of the Spirit and all the fruits of Love Mercy or Grace that it hath been made partaker of or on Gospel grounds hoped for First The principal efficient cause of it is the Holy Ghost He it is who convinceth of sin John 16. 8. He works indeed by means He wrought it in David by the Ministry of Nathan and he wrought it in Peter by the look of Christ. But his work it is No man can work it upon his own soul. It will not spring out of mens rational considerations Though men may exercise their thoughts about such things as one would think were enough to break the hearts of stones yet if the Holy Ghost put not forth a peculiar efficacy of his own this sense of sin will not be wrought or produced As the waters at the Pool of Bethesda were not troubled but when an Angel descended and moved them no more will the Heart for sin without a saving elapse of the Holy Ghost Secondly It is a deep Apprehension of sin and the evils of it Sleight transient thoughts about them amount not to the sense of which we speak My sorrow saith David is continually before me Psal. 38. 17. It pressed him alwayes and greatly Hence he compares this sense of sin wrought by the Holy Ghost to arrows that stick in the flesh v. 2. They pain sorely and are alwayes perplexing Sin in this sense of it layes hold on the soul so that the sinner cannot look up Psal. 40. 12. And it abides with him making his sore run in the night without ceasing Psal. 77. 2. and depriveth the soul of rest my soul saith he refused to be comforted This Apprehension of sin lyes down and rises with him in whom it is Transient thoughts attended with infrequent sighs and ejaculations little become a returning soul. And Thirdly It is Practical It is not seated only in the speculative part of the mind hovering in general notions but it dwel's in the practical understanding which effectually influenceth the Will and Affections Such an Apprehension as from which sorrow and humiliation are inseparable The acts of the practical understanding do so necessarily produce together with them suitable acts of the Will and Affections that some have concluded that those are indeed proper acts of the Will which are usually ascribed to the Understanding It is so in the mind as that the whole soul is cast into the mould and likeness of it humiliation sorrow self-abhorrency do live and dye with it Fourthly It hath in the first place respect unto the Law of God There can be no due consideration of sin wherein the Law hath not its place The Law calls for the sinner and he willingly gives up his sin to be judged by it There he sees it to be exceeding sinful Rom. 7. 17. Though a Believer be less under the power of the Law than others yet he knows more of the Authority and nature of it than others He sees more of its spirituality and holiness And the more a man sees of the excellency of the Law the more he sees of the vileness of sin This is done by a soul in its first endeavour for a recovery from the entanglements of sin He labours throughly to know his disease that he may be cured It will do him no good he knows to be ignorant of his distemper or his danger He knows that if his wounds be not searched to the bottom they will stink and be corrupt To the Law then he brings himself and his sin By that he sees the vileness of the one and the danger of the other Most men lye still in their depths because they would willingly escape the first step of their rising From the bottom of their misery they would fain at once be at the top of their felicity The soul managed in this work by the Holy Ghost doth not so He converseth with the Law brings his sin unto it and fully hears the sentence of it When the sin is throughly condemned then he farther takes care of the sinner
As ever you desire to come to rest avoid not this entrance of your passage unto it Weigh well and attend unto what the Law speaks of your sin and its desert or you will never make a due application to God for forgiveness As ever you would have your souls justified by Grace take care to have your sins judged by the Law Secondly There is a respect in it to the Love of God And this breaks the heart of the poor returning sinner Sorrow from the Law shuts it self up in the soul and strangleth it Sorrow from the thoughts of the Love of God opens it and causseth it to flow forth Thoughts of sinning against the Love of God managed by the Holy Ghost what shall I say their effects in the heart are not to be expressed This made Ezra cry out O my God I blush and am ashamed to lift up my face to thee Chap. 9. 6. and v. 10. What shall we say after this After what why all the fruits of love and kindness they had been made partakers of Thoughts of love and sin laid together make the soul blush mourn be ashamed and confounded in its self So Ezek. 36. 31. Then shall you remember your own evil wayes and your doings that were not good When shall they do so when thoughts and apprehensions of love shall be brought home to them and saith he then shall you loath your selves in your own sight The soul now calls to mind what Love what kindness what mercy what grace what patience hath been exercised towards it and whereof it hath been made partaker The thoughts of all these now come in upon him as streams of water Such Mercy such Communion such Priviledges such hopes of Glory such tastes of Heaven such Peace such Consolation such Joy such Communications of the Spirit all to a poor wretched cursed lost forlorn sinner and all this despised neglected the God of them all provoked forsaken Ah saith the soul Whither shall I cause my sorrow to go This fills him with shame and confusion of face makes him mourn in secret and sigh to the breaking of the loyns and then Thirdly The blood and Cross of Christ is also brought to remembrance by the Holy Ghost Ah saith the soul have I thus requited the wonderful astonishing Love of my Redeemer Is this the return the requital I have made unto him Are not Heaven and Earth astonished at the despising of that Love at which they are astonished This brake Peters heart upon the look of Christ. Such words as these from Christ will in this condition sound in the ears of the soul. Did I love thee and leave my glory to become a scorn and reproach for thy sake Did I not think my life and all that was dear unto me too good for thee to save thee from the wrath to come Have I been a Wilderness unto thee or a land of darkness What could I have done more for thee when I had nothing left but my life blood and soul they went all for thee that thou mightest live by my death be washed in my blood and be saved through my souls being made an offering for thee And hast thou thus requited my love to prefer a lust before me the world before me or by meer sloth and folly to be turned away from me go unkind and unthankful soul and see if thou canst find another Redeemer This overwhelms the soul and even drowns it in tears and sorrow And then the bitterness also of the sufferings of Christ are brought to mind They look on him whom they have pierced and mourn Zech. 12. 10. They remember his gall and wormwood his cryes and tears his agony and sweat his desertion and anguish his blood and death the sharpness of the Sword that was in his soul and the bitterness of the Cup that was put into his hand Such a soul now looks on Christ bleeding dying wrestling with wrath and curse for him and seeth his sin in the streams of blood that issued from his side And all this encreaseth that sense of sin whereof we speak Also Fourthly It relates to the communion and consolations of the Holy Ghost with all the priviledges and fruits of Love we are by him made partakers of The Spirit is given to Believers upon the promise of Christ to dwell in them He takes up their hearts to be his dwelling place to what ends and purposes that he may purifie and sanctifie them make them holy and dedicate them to God to furnish them with Graces and gifts to interest them in priviledges to guide lead direct comfort them to seal them unto the day of Redemption Now this Spirit is grieved by sin Ephes. 4. 30. and his dwelling place defiled thereby 1 Cor. 6. 19. and 3. 17. Thoughts hereof greatly sharpen the spiritual sense of sin in a recovering soul. He considers what Light what Love what Joy what Consolation what Priviledges it hath by him been made partaker of what motions warnings workings to keep it from sin it hath found from him and sayes within it self What have I done whom have I grieved whom have I provoked what if the Lord should now for my folly and ingratitude utterly take his holy Spirit from me What if I should have so grieved him that he will dwell in me no more delight in me no more What dismal darkness and disconsolation yea what utter ruine should I be left unto However what shame and confusion of face belongs to me for my wretched disingenuity and ingratitude towards him This is the first thing that appears in the returning souls actings and frame a sincere sense of sin on the accounts mentioned wrought in it by the Holy Ghost And this a soul in the depths described must come unto if ever it expect or look for deliverance and a recovery Let not such persons expect to have a renewed sense of mercy without a revived sense of sin Secondly From hence proceedeth an ingenious free gracious Acknowledgement of sin Men may have a sense of sin and yet suffer it to lye burning as a fire shut up in their bones to their continual disquietment and not be able to come off unto a free soul opening acknowledgement Yea confession may be made in general and mention therein of that very sin wherewith the soul is most intangled and yet the soul come short of a due performance of this Duty Consider how the case stood with David Psal. 32. 3. When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long How could David keep silence and yet roar all the day long What is that silence which is consistent with roaring It is a meer negation of that duty which is expressed v. 5. that is intended I acknowledge my sins unto thee and mine iniquities I have not hid It was not a silence of submission and waiting on God that he intends That would not have produced a wasting of his spiritual strength as he complains
hath surprised the Hypocrites who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire Who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings The persons spoken of are sinners great sinners and Hypocrites conviction of sin and the desert of it was fallen upon them a light to discern forgiveness they had not they apprehend God as devouring fire and everlasting burnings only One that would not spare but assuredly inflict punishment according to the desert of sin and thence is their conclusion couched in their Interrogation that there can be no entercourse of peace between him and them there is no abiding no enduring of his Presence And what condition this consideration brings the souls of sinners unto when conviction grows strong upon them the Holy Ghost declares Mich. 6. 6 7. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and how my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt offerings with Calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Ramms or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl shall I give my first born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul Sense of sin presseth forgiveness is not discovered like the Philistins on Saul Samuel not coming to his direction and how doth the poor creature perplex it self in vain to find out a way of dealing with God Will a sedulous and diligent observation of his own Ordinances and Institutions relieve me Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings and Calves of a year old Alas thou art a sinner and these Sacrifices cannot make thee perfect or acquit thee Heb. 10. 1. Shall I do more than ever he required of any of the Sons of men O that I had thousands of Ramms and ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl to offer to him Alas if thou hadst all the Bulls and Goats in the world it is not possible that their blood should take away sins v. 4. But I have heard of them who have snatched their own Children from their Mothers breasts and cast them into the fire until they were consumed so to pacifie their consciences in expiating the guilt of their iniquities shall I take this course Will it relieve me I am ready to part with my first born into the fire so I may have deliverance from my Transgressions Alas this never came into the heart of God to approve or accept of And as it was then whilst that kind of Worship was in force so is it still as to any duties really to be performed or imaginarily Where there is no discovery of forgiveness they will yield the soul no relief no supportment God is not to be treated upon such terms Greatness and rareness of the Discovery of Forgiveness in God Reasons of it Testimonies of Conscience and Law against it c. Secondly This discovery of Forgiveness in God is great holy and Mysterious and which very few on Gospel grounds do attain unto All men indeed say there is most men are perswaded that they think so Only men in great and desperate extremities like Cain or Spira seem to call it into question But their thoughts are empty groundless yea for the most part wicked and Atheistical Elihu tells us that to declare this aright to a sinful soul it is the work of a Messenger an Interpreter one among a thousand Job 33. 23. that is indeed of Christ himself The common thoughts of men about this thing are slight and foolish and may be resolved into those mentioned by the Psalmist Psal. 50. 21. They think that God is altogether such a one as themselves That indeed he takes little or no care about these things but passeth them over as slightly as they do themselves That notwithstanding all their pretences the most of men never had indeed any real discovery of forgiveness shall be afterwards undeniably evinced and I shall speedily shew the difference that is between their vain credulity and a Gracious Gospel discovery of forgiveness in God For it must be observed that by this Discovery I intend both the Revelation of it made by God and our understanding and Reception of that Revelation to our own advantage as shall be shewed immediately Now the grounds of the difficulty intimated consist partly in the hinderances that lye in the way of this discovery and partly in the nature of the thing it self that is discovered of both which I shall briefly treat But here before I proceed somewhat must be premised to shew what it is that I particularly intend by a discovery of forgiveness It may then be considered two wayes First For a doctrinal objective discovery of it in its truth 2. An experimental subjective discovery of it in its power In the first sense forgiveness in God hath been discovered ever since the giving out of the first Promise God revealed it in a word of Promise or it could never have been known as shall be afterwards declared In this sense after many lesser degrees and advancements of the light of it it was fully and gloriously brought forth by the Lord Jesus Christ in his own Person and is now revealed and preached in the Gospel and by them to whom the Word of Reconciliation is committed And to declare this is the principal work of the Ministers of the Gospel Herein lye those unsearchable Treasures and Riches of Christ which the Apostle esteemed as his chiefest Honour and Priviledge that he was intrusted with the declaration and dispensation of Ephes. 3. 8 9. I know by many it is despised by many traduced whose Ignorance and blindness is to be lamented But the day is coming which will manifest every mans work of what sort it is In the latter sense how it is made by faith in the soul shall in its proper place be further opened and made known Here many men mistake and deceive themselves Because it is so in the Book they think it is so in them also Because they have been taught it they think they believe it But it is not so They have not heard this voyce of God at any time nor seen his shape it hath not been revealed unto them in its power to have this done is a great work For First The constant voyce of Conscience lyes against it Conscience if not seared inexorably condemneth and pronounceth Wrath and Anger upon the soul that hath the least guilt cleaving to it Now it hath this advantage it lyeth close to the soul and by importunity and loud speaking it will he heard in what it hath to say It will make the whole soul attend or it will speak like thunder And its constant voyce is that where there is guilt there must be judgement Rom. 2. 14 15. Conscience naturally knows nothing of forgiveness Yea it is against its very trust work and office to hear any thing of it If a man of courage and honesty be entrusted to keep a Garrison against an Enemy let one come and tell him that there is peace made
between those whom he serves and their Enemies so that he may leave his Guard and set open the Gates and cease his watchfulness how wary will he be lest under this pretence he be betrayed No saith he I will keep my hold until I have express order from my Superiours Conscience is entrusted with the power of God in the soul of a sinner with command to keep all in subjection with reference unto the Judgement to come it will not betray its trust in believing every report of peace No! but this it sayes and it speaks in the name of God Guilt and punishment are inseparable twins If the soul sin God will judge What tell you me of forgiveness I know what my commission is and that I will abide by you shall not bring in a Superior Commander a cross Principle into my trust for if this be so it seems I must let go my Throne another Lord must come in not knowing as yet how this whole business is compounded in the blood of Christ. Now whom should a man believe if not his own Conscience which as it will not flatter him so it intends not to affright him but to speak the truth as the matter requireth Conscience hath two works in reference unto sin one to condemn the Acts of sin another to judge the Person of the sinner both with reference to the Judgement of God When forgiveness comes it would sever and part these employments and take one of them out of the hand of conscience It would divide the spoil with this strong one It shall condemn the fact or every sin but it shall no more condemn the sinner the Person of the sinner that shall be freed from its sentence Here Conscience labours with all its might to keep its whole dominion and to keep out the power of forgiveness from being enthroned in the soul. It will allow men to talk of forgiveness to hear it preached though they abuse it every day but to receive it in its power that stands up in direct opposition to its dominion in the Kingdom saith Conscience I will be greater than thou and in many in the most it keeps its possession and will not be deposed Nor indeed is it an easie work so to deal with it The Apostle tells us that all the Sacrifices of the Law could not do it Heb. 10. 2. they could not bring a man into that estate wherein he should have no more conscience of sin that is Conscience condemning the Person for conscience in a sense of sin and condemnation of it is never to be taken away And this can be no otherwise done but by the blood of Christ as the Apostle at large there declares It is then no easie thing to make a discovery of forgiveness unto a soul when the work and employment which Conscience upon unquestionable grounds challengeth unto it self lyes in opposition unto it Hence is the souls great desire to establish its own Righteousness whereby its natural Principles may be preserved in their power Let self-righteousness be enthroned and natural conscience desires no more it is satisfied and pacified The Law it knows and Righteousness it knows but as for forgiveness it sayes whence is it Unto the utmost until Christ perfects his conquest there are on this account secret struglings in the heart against free pardon in the Gospel and fluctuations of mind and Spirit about it Yea hence are the doubts and fears of believers themselves They are nothing but the strivings of Conscience to keep its whole dominion to condemn the sinner as well as the sin More or less it keeps up its pretensions against the Gospel whilst we live in this world It is a great work that the blood of Christ hath to do upon the Conscience of a sinner for whereas as it hath been declared it hath a power and claims a right to condemn both sin and sinner the one part of this its power is to be cleared strengthened made more active vigorous and watchful the other to be taken quite away It shall now see more sins than formerly more of the vileness of all sins than formerly and condemn them with more abborrency than ever upon more and more glorious accounts than formerly but it is also made to see an interposition between these sins and the Person of the sinner who hath committed them which is no small or ordinary work Secondly The Law lyes against this discovery The Law is a beam of the Holiness of God himself What it speaks unto us it speaks in the name and Authority of God And I shall briefly shew concerning it these two things 1. That this is the voyce of the Law namely that there is no forgiveness for a sinner 2. That a sinner hath great reason to give credit to the Law in that Assertion 1. It is certain that the Law knows neither mercy nor forgiveness The very sanction of it lyes wholly against them The soul that sinneth shall dye Cursed is he that continueth not in all things written in the Book of the Law to do them Deut. 27. 26. Hence the Apostle pronounceth universally without exception that they who are under the Law are under the curse Gal. 3. 10. And saith he v. 12. The Law is not of faith There is an inconsistency between the Law and believing they cannot have their abode in power together Do this and live fail and dye is the constant immutable voyce of the Law This it speaks in general to all and this in particular to every one 2. The sinner seems to have manifold and weighty Reasons to attend to the voyce of this Law and to acquiesce in its sentence For 1. The Law is connatural to him his Domestick his old acquaintance It came into the world with him and hath grown up with him from his Infancy It was implanted in his heart by nature is his own Reason he can never shake it off or part with it It is his Familiar his Friend that cleaves to him as the flesh to the bone so that they who have not the Law written cannot but sheâ— forth the work of the Law Rom. 2. 14. 15. and that because the Law it self is inbred to them and all the faculties of the soul are at peace with it in subjection to it It is the bond and ligament of their union harmony and correspondency among themselves in all their moral actings It gives life order motion to them all Now the Gospel that comes to controll this sentence of the Law and to relieve the sinner from it is forraign to his nature a strange thing to him a thing he hath no acquaintance or familiarity with it hath not been bred up with him nor is there any thing in him to side with it to make a party for it or to plead in its behalf Now shall not a man rather believe a Domestick a Friend indeed himself than a forraigner a stranger that comes with uncouth Principles and such as
are spoken of his mercifulness and faithfulness to encourage us to expect forgiveness from him This also adds to the mysterious depths of forgiveness and makes its discovery a great matter The soul that looks after it in earnest must consider what it cost How light do most men make of pardon What an easie thing is it to be acquainted with it and no very hard matter to obtain it But to hold Communion with God in the blood of his Son is a thing of another nature than is once dreamed of by many who think they know well enough what it is to be pardoned God be merciful is a common saying and as common to desire he would be so for Christs sake Poor Creatures are cast into the mould of such expressions who know neither God nor Mercy nor Christ nor any thing of the mysterie of the Gospel Others look on the outside of the Cross to see into the mysterie of the Love of the Father working in the blood of the Mediator to consider by faith the great transaction of Divine Wisdom Justice and Mercy therein how few attain unto it To come unto God by Christ for forgiveness and therein to behold the Law issuing all its threats and curses in his blood and loosing its sting putting an end to its obligation unto punishment in the Cross to see all sins gathered up in the hand of Gods Justice and made to meet on the Mediator and eternal love springing forth triumphantly from his blood flourishing into Pardon Grace Mercy Forgiveness this the heart of a sinner can be enlarged unto only by the Spirit of God Thirdly There is in forgiveness free condonation discharge or pardon according to the tenor of the Gospel and this may be considered two wayes First As it lyes in the Promise it self and so it is Gods gracious declaration of pardon to sinners in and by the blood of Christ his Covenant to that end and purpose which is variously proposed according as he knew needful for all the ends and purposes of ingenerating faith and communicating that consolation which he intends therein This is the Law of his Grace the declaration of the mysterie of his love before insisted on Secondly There is the bringing home and Application of all this mercy to the soul of a sinner by the Holy Ghost wherein we are freely forgiven all our Trespasses Col. 2. 13. Gospel Forgiveness I say respects all these things these Principles they have all an influence into it And that which makes this more evident wherewith I shall close this consideration of the nature of it is that Faith in its Application of it self unto God about and for Forgiveness doth distinctly apply it self unto and close with sometimes one of these severally and singly sometimes another and sometimes jointly takes in the consideration of them all expresly Not that at any time it fixes on any or either of them exclusively to the others but that eminently it finds some special encouragement at some season and some peculiar attractive from some one of them more than from the rest and then that proves an inlet a door of entrance unto the treasures that are laid up in the rest of them Let us go over the severalls by Instances First Sometimes faith fixes upon the Name and infinite Goodness of the nature of God and draws out forgiveness from thence So doth the Psalmist Psal. 86. 6. Thou Lord art good and ready to forgive He rolls himself in the pursuit and expectation of pardon on the infinite goodness of the nature of God So Nehem. 9. 17. Thou art a God of pardons or ready to forgive of an infinite gracious loving nature not severe and wrathful And this is that which we are encouraged unto Isa. 50. 10. to stay on the name of God as in innumerable other places And thus Faith oftentimes finds a peculiar sweetness and encouragement in and from the consideration of Gods gracious nature Sometimes this is the first thing that it fixes on and sometimes the last that it rests in and oft-times it makes a stay here when it is driven from all other holds It can say however it be yet God is gracious and at least make that conclusion which we have from it Joel 2. 13 14. God is gracious and merciful who knoweth but he will return And when faith hath well laid hold on this consideration it will not easily be driven from its expectation of relief and forgiveness even from hence Secondly Sometimes the soul by saith addresseth it self in a peculiar manner to the Soveraignty of Gods Will whereby he is gracious to whom he will be gracious and merciful to whom he will be merciful which as was shewed is another considerable Spring or Principle of forgiveness This way Davids faith steared him in his great streight and perplexity 2 Sam. 15. 25 26. If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me again but if he thus say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do unto me as seemeth good unto him That which he hath in consideration is whether God have any delight in him or no that is whether God would graciously remit and pardon the great sin against which at that time he manifested his indignation Here he layes himself down before the Soveraign Grace of God and awaits patiently the discovery of the free Act of his Will concerning him and at this door as it were enters into the consideration of those other springs of pardon which Faith enquires after and closeth withal This sometimes is all the cloud that appears to a distressed soul which after a while fills the Heavens by the addition of the other considerations mentioned and yields plentifully refreshing showers And this condition is a sin entangled soul oft-times reduced unto in looking out for relief It can discover nothing but this that God is able and can if he graciously please relieve and acquit him All other supportments all springs of relief are shut up or hid from him The springs indeed may be nigh as that was to Hagar but their eyes are withheld that they cannot see them Wherefore they cast themselves on Gods Soveraign pleasure and say with Job though he slay us we will put our trust in him we will not let him go In our selves we are lost that is unquestionable how the Lord will deal with us we know not we see not our signs and tokens any more evidences of Gods Grace in us or of his Love and favour unto us are all out of sight To a present special interest in Christ we are strangers and we lye every moment at the door of Eternity what course shall we take what way shall we proceed If we abide at a distance from God we shall assuredly perish who ever hardned himself against him and prospered Nor is there the least relief to be had but from and by him for who can forgive sins but God
We will then bring our guilty souls into his presence and attend the pleasure of his Grace what he speaks concerning us we will willingly submit unto And this sometimes proves an Anchor to a tossed soul which though it gives it not rest and peace yet it saves it from the rock of despair Here it abides until Light do more and more break forth upon it Thirdly Faith dealing about forgiveness doth commonly eye in a peculiar manner its relation to the mediation and blood of Christ. So the Apostle directs 1 John 2. 2. If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins If any one hath sinned and is in depths and entanglements about it what course shall he take how shall he proceed to obtain deliverance why he must unto God for pardon but what shall he rely upon to encourage him in his so doing saith the Apostle consider by faith the Attonement and propitiation made for sin by the blood of Christ and that he is still pursuing the work of Love to the suing out of pardon for us and rest thy soul thereon This I say most commonly is that which faith in the first place immediately fixes on Fourthly Faith eyes actual pardon or condonation So God proposeth it as a motive to further believing Isa. 44. 22. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins return unto me for I have redeemed thee Actual pardon of sin is proposed to faith as an encouragement unto a full returning unto God in all things 2 Sam. 23. 5. And the like may be said of all the other particulars which we have insisted on There is not any of them but will yield peculiar relief unto a soul dealing with God about forgiveness as having some one special concernment or other of forgiveness in wrapped in them Only as I said they do it not exclusively but are the special doors whereby believing enters into the whole And these things must be spoken unto afterwards Let us now take along with us the end for which all these considerations have been insisted on It is to manifest that a real discovery of Gospel Forgiveness is a matter of greater consequence and importance than at first proposal it may be it appeared unto some to be Who is not in hopes in expectation of pardon Who thinks not that they know well enough at least what it is if they might but obtain it But men may have general thoughts of impunity and yet be far enough from any saving acquaintance with Gospel mercy Forgiveness discovered or Revealed only to Faith Reasons thereof For a close of this Discourse I shall only add what is included in that Proposition which is the foundation of the whole namely that this discovery of forgiveness is and can be made to faith alone The nature of it is such as that nothing else can discover it or receive it No Reasonings no enquiries of the heart of man can reach unto it That guess or glimpse which the Heathens had of old of somewhat so called and which false Worshippers have at present is not the forgiveness we insist upon but a meer imagination of their own hearts This the Apostle informs us Rom. 1. 17. The Righteousness of God is in the Gospel revealed from faith to faith Nothing but faith hath any thing to do with it It is that Righteousness of God whereof he speaks that consists in the forgiveness of sins by the blood of Christ declared in the Gospel And this is revealed from the faith of God in the Promise to the faith of the Believer to him that mixes the Promise with faith And again more fully 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him The wayes whereby we may come to the knowledge of any thing are by the seeing of the eye or the hearing of the ear or the Reasonings and meditations of the heart but now none of these will reach to the matter in hand by none of these wayes can we come to an acquaintance with the things of the Gospel that are prepared for us in Christ. How then shall we obtain the knowledge of them that he declares v. 10. God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit Now it is faith only that receives the Revelations of the Spirit nothing else hath to do with them To give evidence hereunto we may consider that this great mysterie 1. Is too Deep 2. Is too Great for ought else to discover and 3. That nothing else but faith is suited to the making of this discovery First It is too deep and mysterious to be fathomed and reached by any thing else Reasons line is too short to fathom the depths of the Fathers Love of the blood of the Son and the Promises of the Gospel built thereon wherein forgiveness dwells Men cannot by their rational considerations launch out into these deeps nor draw water by them from these Wells of Salvation Reason stands by amazed and cryes how can these things be it can but gather Cockle shells like him of old at the shoar of this Ocean a few Criticisms upon the outward letter and so bring an evil report upon the Land as did the Spies All it can do is but to hinder faith from venturing into it crying spare thy self this attempt is vain these things are impossible It is among the things that faith puts off and layes aside when it engageth the soul into this great work This then that it may come to a discovery of forgiveness causeth the soul to deny it self and all its own Reasonings and to give up it self to an infinite fulness of Goodness and Truth Though it cannot go into the bottom of these depths yet it enters into them and finds rest in them Nothing but faith is suited to rest to satiate and content it self in mysterious bottomless unsearchable depths Being a soul emptying a Reason denying Grace the more it meets withal beyond its search and reach the more satisfaction it finds This is that which I looked for saith Faith even for that which is infinite and unsearchable When I know that there is abundantly more beyond me that I do not comprehend than what I have attained unto for I know that nothing else will do good to the soul. Now this is that which really puzzles and overwhelms Reason rendring it useless What it cannot compass it will neglect or despise It is either amazed and confounded and dazled like weak eyes at too great a light or fortifying of it self by inbred pride and obstinacy it concludes that this preaching of the Cross of forgiveness from the Love of God by the blood of Christ is plain folly a thing not for a wise man to take notice of or to trouble himself about So it appeared to the wise Greeks
was made in his first dealing with our Parents after their shameful sin and fall Now to make it appear that this is an evidence that carryes along a great conviction with it and is such as faith may securely rest upon and close withall the ensuing Observations are to be considered The first sin in the world was on many accounts the greatest sin that ever was in the world It was the sin as it were of Humane Nature wherein there was a conspiracy of all Individuals omnes eramus unus ille homo in that one man or that one sin we all sinned Rom. 5. 12. It left not God one subject as to moral obedicnce on the earth nor the least ground for any such to be unto Eternity When the Angels sinned the whole race or kind did not prevaricate Thousand thousands of them and ten thousand times ten thousands continued in their obedience Dan. 7. 10. But here all and every individual of mankind he only excepted which was not then in Adam were imbarked in the same crime and guilt Besides it disturbed the Government of God in and over the whole Creation God had made all things in number weight and measure in order and beauty pronouncing himself concerning his whole work that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceeding beautiful and good Gen. 1. 31. Much of this beauty lay in the subordination of one thing to another and of all to himself by the mediation and interposition of man through whose Prayses and Obedience the rest of the Creation being made subject unto him was to return their tribute of Honor and Glory unto God But all this Order was destroyed by this sin and the very creation made subject to vanity Rom. 8. 20. On which and the like accounts it might be easily made to appear that it was the greatest sin that ever was in the world 2. Man who had sinned subscribed in his heart and consctence unto the righteous sentence of the Law He knew what he had deserved and looked for nothing but the immediate Execution of the sentence of death upon him Hence he meditates not a defence expects no pardon stayes not for a tryal but flyes and hides and attempts an escape Gen. 3. 10. I was afraid saith he and hid my self than which never were there words of greater horror in the world nor shall be until the day of Judgement Poor Creature he was full of expectation of the vengeance due for a broken Covenant 3. God had newly declared in the sinning Angels what his Justice required and how he could deal with sinning man without the least impeachment of his Government Holiness or Goodness See 2 Pet. 2. 4. 4. There was nothing without God himself that should move him in the least so much as to suspend the execution of his wrath for one moment he had not done so with the Angels All things lay now under wrath curse confusion and disorder nothing was left good lovely or desirable in his eye As in the first Creation that which was first brought forth from nothing was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without form and void empty of all order and beauty nothing was in it to induce or move God to bring forth all things in the glory that ensued but the whole design of it proceeded from his own infinite Goodness and Wisdom so was it now again There was an Emptiness and Vanity brought by sin upon the whole creation Nothing remained that might be a motive unto a merciful Restoration but all is again devolved on his Soveraignty All things being in this state and condition wherein all doors stood open to the Glory of Gods Justice in the punishing of sin nothing remaining without him to hold his hand in the least the whole creation and especially the sinner himself lying trembling in Expectation of a dreadful doom what now cometh forth from him the blessed word which we have Gen. 3. 15. The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head It is full well known that the whole mysterie of forgiveness is wrapt up in this one word of promise And the great way of its coming forth from God by the blood of the Messiah whose heel was to be bruised is also intimated And this was the first discovery that ever was made of forgiveness in God By a word of pure Revelation it was made and so faith must take it up and receive it Now this Revelation of forgiveness with God in this one Promise was the bottom of all that Worship that was yielded unto him by sinners for many Ages For we have shewed before that without this no sinner can have the least encouragement to approach unto him and this will continue to the end of the world as a notable evidence of the truth in hand a firm foundation for faith to rest and build upon Let a sinner seriously consider the state of things as they were then in the world laid down before and then view God coming forth with a word of pardon and forgiveness meerly from his own Love and those counsells of peace that were between the Father and the Son and he cannot but conclude under his greatest difficulties that yet there is forgiveness with God that he may be feared Let now the Law and Conscience let Sin and Satan stand forth and except against this Evidence enough may be spoken from it whatever the particular case be about which the soul hath a contest with them to put them all to silence II. God revealed this Sacred Truth by his Institution of Sacrifices Sacrifices by blood do all of them respect Attonement Expiation and consequentially forgiveness It is true indeed they could not themselves take away sin nor make them perfect who came unto God by them Heb. 10. 1. but yet they undeniably evince the taking away of sin or the forgiveness of it by what they did denote and typisie I shall therefore look a little back into their Rise and Intendment 1. The Original and first spring of Sacrifices is not in the Scripture expresly mentioned only the practice of the Saints is recorded But it is certain from infallible Scripture Evidences that they were of Gods immediate Institution and Appointment God never allowed that the Will or Wisdom of man should be the spring and Rule of his Worship That solemn word where with he Fronts the command that is the Rule of his Worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not make to thy self which is the life of the command that which follows being an explanation and confirmation of the Law it self by Instances cuts off all such pretences and is as a flaming sword turning every way to prevent mens arbitrary approaches to Gods Institutions God will not part with his glory of being the only Law-giver as to the whole concernment of his Worship or any part of it unto any of the sons of men 2. Neither is the time of their Institution mentioned Some of the Papists dispute as there
are a generation of philosophiâ—â—â— disputers amongst them by whom their tottering cause is supported that there should have been Sacrisices in Paradice if man had not sinned But as in all their opinions our first enquiry ought to be what do they get by this or that their whole Religion being pointed unto their carnal interest so we may in particular do it upon this uncouth Assertion which is perfectly contradictious to the very Nature and End of most Sacrifices namely that they should be offered where there is no sin Why they hope to establish hence a general rule that there can be no true Worship of God in any state or condition without a Sacrifice What then I pray Why then it is evident that the continual Sacrifice of the Mass is necessary in the Church and that without it there is no true Worship of God and so they are quickly come home to their advantage and profit the Mass being that inexhaustible Spring of Revenue which feeds their pride and lust throughout the world But there is in the Church of Christ an Altar still and a Sacrifice still which they have rejected for the a bominable figment of their Mass namely Christ himself as the Apostle informs us Heb. 13. 10. But as the Sacrifices of Beasts could not have been before the entrance of sin so it may be evidenced that they were instituted from the foundation of the world that is presently after the entrance of sin Christ is called the Lamb of God John 1. 29. which he was in reference unto the Sacrifices of old as 1 Pet. 2. 18 19. whence he is represented in the Church as a Lamb slain Rev. 5. 6. or giving out the efficacy of all Sacrifices to his Church Now he is said to be a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Rev. 13. 8. which could not be unless some Sacrifice prefiguring his being slain had been then offered For it denotes not only the efficacy of his Mediation but the way Besides the Apostle tells us that without shedding of blood there was no remission Heb. 9. 22. That is God to demonstrate that all pardon and forgiveness related to the blood of Christ from the foundation of the world gave out no word of pardon but by and with blood Now I have shewed before that he revealed pardon in the first promise and therefore there ensued thereon the shedding of blood and Sacrifices and thereby that Testament or Covenant was dedicated with blood also ver 18. Some think that the Beasts of whose skins God made garments for Adam were offered in Sacrifices Nor is their conjecture vain Yea it seems not to want a shaddow of a Gospel Mysterie that their nakedness which became their shame upon their sin whence the pollution and shame of sin is frequently so termed should be covered with the skins of their Sacrifices For in the true Sacrifice there is somewhat answerable thereunto And the Righteousness of him whose Sacrifice takes away the guilt of our sin is called our cloathing that hides our pollution and shame 3. That after the giving of the Law the greatest most noble and solemn part of the Worship of God consisted in Sacrifices And this kind of Worship continued with the approbation of God in the world about four thousand years that is from the entrance of sin until the death of the Messiah the true Sacrifice which put an end unto all that was typical These things being premised we may consider what was the mind and aim of God in the Institution of this Worship One instance and that of the most solemn of the whole kind will resolve us in this enquiry Lev. 16. 5. Two Kids of the Goats are taken for an offering for sin Consider only that we do not enlarge on particulars how one of them was dealt withal ver 20 21 22. He shall bring the live Goat and Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live Goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgression in all their sins putting them upon the head of the Goat and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the Wilderness and the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a Land not inhabited Let us see to what end is all this Solemnity and what is declared thereby Wherefore should God appoint poor sinful men to come together to take a Goat or Lamb and to confess over his head all their sins and transgressions and to devote him to destruction under that confession Had men invented this themselves it had been a matter of no moment But it was an Institution of God which he bound his Church to the observation of upon the penalty of his highest displeasure Certainly this was a solemn declaration that there is forgiveness with him Would that God who is infinitely Good and so will not who is infinitely True holy and faithful and so cannot deceive call men out whom he loved to a solemn Representation of a thing wherein their chiefest their eternal concernment did lye and suffer them to feed upon Ashes Let men take heed that they mock not God for of a Truth God mocketh not man until he be finally rejected by him For four thousand years together then did God declare by Sacrifices that there is forgiveness with him and lead his people by them to make a publick Representation of it in the face of the world This is a second uncontrolable Evidence of the Truth asserted which may possibly be of use to souls that come indeed deeply and seriously to deal with God for though the Practice be ceased yet the Instruction intended in thern continues III. Gods appointment of Repentance unto sinners doth reveal that there is forgiveness in himself I say the prescription of Repentance is a Revelation of forgiveness After the Angels had sinned God never once called them to Repentance He would not deceive them but let them know what they were to look for at his hands he hath no forgiveness for them and therefore would require no Repentance of them It is not nor ever was a duty incumbent on them to repent Nor is it so unto the damned in Hell God requires it not of them nor is it their duty There being no forgiveness for them what should move them to repent Why should it be their duty so to do Their eternal anguish about sin committed hath nothing of Repentance in it Assignation then of Repentance is a Revelation of forgiveness God would not call upon a sinful creature to humble it self and bewail its sin if there were no way of recovery or relief And the only way of recovery from the guilt of sin is pardon so Job 33. 27 28. He looketh on men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not he will deliver his soul from going into the pit and his life shall see the light
In the foregoing Verses he declares the various wayes that God used to bring men unto Repentance He did it by dreams ver 15 16. by Afflictions ver 19. by the preaching of the Word ver 23. What then doth God aim at in and by all these various wayes of teachings It is to cause man to say I have sinned and perverted that which was right It is to bring him to Repentance What now if he obtaine his end and man cometh to that which is aimed at Why then there is forgiveness for him as is declared ver 28. To improve this evidence I shall confirm by some few obvious considerations these two things 1. That the prescription of Repentance doth indeed evince that there is forgiveness with God 2. That every one in whom there is Repentance wrought towards God may certainly conclude that there is forgiveness with God for him 1. No Repentance is acceptable with God but what is built or leans on the faith of forgiveness We have a cloud of witnesses unto this Truth in the Scripture Many there have been many are recorded who have been convinced of sin perplexed about it sorry for it that have made open confession and acknowledgement of it that under the prâ—ssing sense of it have cryed out even to God for deliverance and yet have come short of mercy pardon and acceptance with God The cases of Cain Pharaoh Saul Ahab Judas and others might be insisted on What was wanting that made all that they did abominable Consider one instance for all It is said of Judas that he repented Mat. 27. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he repented himself but wherein did this repentance consist he was convinced of his sin in general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he I have sinned ver 4. 2. He was sensible of the particular sin whereof he stood charged in conscience before God I have saith he betrayed innocent blood I am guilty of blood innocent blood and that in the vilest manner by treachery so that he comes 3. To a full and open confession of his sin 4. He makes Restitution of what he was advantaged by his sin he brought again the thirty pieces of silver v. 3. all testifying an hearty sorrow that spirited the whole Methinks now Judas his Repentance looks like the young mans Obedience who cryed out all these things have I done Is there any thing yet lacking Yea one thing was wanting to that young man he had no true faith nor love to God all this while which vitiated and spoyled all the rest of his performances One thing also is wanting to this Repentance of Judas he had no faith of forgiveness in God that he could not believe and therefore after all this sorrow instead of coming to him he bids him the utmost defiance and goes away and hangs himself Indeed saith of forgiveness as hath been shewed hath many degrees There is of them that which is indispensibly necessary to render Repentance acceptable What it is in particular I do not dispute It is not an Assurance of the Acceptance of our persons in general It is not that the particular sin wherewith it may be the soul is perplexed is forgiven A general so it be a Gospel discovery that there is forgiveness in God will suffice The Church expresseth it Hos. 14. 3. In thee the fatherless findeth mercy and Joel 2. 14. Who knows but he will return and repent I have this ground saith the soul God is in himself gracious and merciful the fatherless the destitute and helpless that come to him by Christ find mercy in him None in Heaven and earth can evince but that he may return to me also Now let a mans convictions be never so great sharp wounding his sorrow never so abundant overflowing abiding his confession never so full free or open if this one thing be wanting all is nothing but what tends to death 2. To prescribe Repentance as a duty unto sinners without a foundation of pardon and forgiveness in himself is inconsistent with the Wisdom Holiness Goodness Faithfulness and all other glorious Excellencies and Perfections of the nature of God for 1. The Apostle layes this as the great foundation of all consolation that God cannot lye or deceive Heb. 6. 18. And again he engageth the faithfulness and veracity of God to the same purpose Tit. 1. 2. God who cannot lye hath promised it Now there is a lye a deceit in Things as well as in Words He that doth a thing which in its own nature is apt to deceive them that consider it with an intention of deceiving them is no less a lyar than he which affirms that to be true which he knows to be false There is a lye in Actions as well as in Words The whole life of an hyocrite is a lye so saith the Prophet of Idolaters there is a lye in their right hand Isa. 44. 20. 2. The proposal of Repentance is a thing fitted and suited in its own nature to beget thoughts in the mind of a sinner that there is forgiveness with God Repenting is for sinners only I came not saith our Saviour to call the righteous but sinners to repentance It is for them and them only It was no duty for Adam in Eden it is none for the Angels in Heaven nor for the damned in Hell What then may be the language of this appointment O sinners come and deal with God by Repentance Doth it not openly speak forgiveness in God and if it were otherwise could men possibly be more frustrated or deceived would not the Institution of Repentance be a lye Such a delusion may proceed from Satan but not from him who is the fountain of Goodness Holiness and Truth His Call to Repentance is a full Demonstration of his readiness to forgive Acts 17. 30 31 32. It is true many do thus deceive themselves They raise themselves unto an expectation of immunity not on Gospel grounds and their disappointment is a great part of their punishment But God deceives none whoever comes to him on his proposal of Repentance shall find forgiveness It is said of some indeed that he will laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh Prov. 1. 26. He will aggravate their misery by giving them to see what their pride and folly hath brought them unto But who are they only such as refuse his Call to Repentance with the Promises of Acceptation annexed 3. There is then no cause why those who are under a Call to Repentance should question whether there be forgiveness in God or no. This concerns my second Proposition Come saith the Lord unto the souls of men leave your sinful wayes turn unto me humble your selves with broken and contrite hearts Alas say poor convinced sinners we are poor dark and ignorant creatures or we are old in sin or great sinners or backsliders or have fallen often into the same sins can we expect there should be forgiveness for us Why you are under Gods
whom I am chief Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shâ—w forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them that should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting A great sinner saith he the chiefest of sinners I was which he manifests by some notable instances of his sin I was saith he a blasphemer the highest sin against God a Persecutor the highest sin against the Saints Injurious the highest wickednes towards mankind But saith he I obtained mercy I am pardoned and that with a blessed effect First That he should after all this be so accounted faithful as to be put into the Ministry And then that the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in him and towards him was exceeding abundant And what was the Reason what was the cause that he was thus dealt withal Why it was that he might be a pattern an Evidence an Argument that there was Grace Mercy Forgiveness to be had for all sorts of sinners that would believe to life Everlasting To conclude then this Evidence Every one who is now in Heaven hath his pardon sealed in the blood of Christ. All these pardons are as it were hanged up in the Gospel they are all enrolled in the Promises thereof for the encouragement of them that stand in need of forgiveness to come and sue out theirs also Fear not then the Guilt of sin but the Love of it and the power of it If we love and like sin better than forgiveness we shall assuredly go without it If we had but rather be pardoned in Gods way than perish our condition is secure V. The same is evident from the Patience of God towards the world and the end of it For the clearing hereof we may observe 1. That upon the first entrance of sin and breach of that Covenant which God had made with mankind in Adam he might immediately have executed the Threatned Curse and have brought eternal death upon them that sinned Justice required that it should be so and there was nothing in the whole creation to interpose so much as for a reprieve or a respite of vengeance And had God then sent sinning man with the Apostate Angels that induced him into sin immediately into eternal destruction he would have been glorified in his Righteousness and Severity by and among the Angels that sinned not or he could have created a new race of innocent creatures to have worshipped him and glorified him for his Righteous Judgement even as all the Elect at the last day shall do for the destruction of ungodly men 2. God hath not taken this course He hath continued the race of mankind for a long season on the earth he hath watched over them with his Providence and exercised exceeding Patience forbearance and longsuffering towards them This the Apostle Paul at large discourseth on Acts 14. 15 16 17. Chap. 17. 24 25 26 27 28 29 30. as also Rom. 2. 4. And it is open and manifest in their event The whole world is every day filled with tokens of the power and patience of God Every Nation every City every Family is filled with them 3. That there is a common Abuse of this patience of God visible in the world in all Generations So it was of old God saw it to be so and complained of it Gen. 6. 5 6. All the evil sin wickedness that hath been in the world which no heart can conceive no tongue can express hath been all an abuse of this patience of God This with the most is the consequent of Gods patience and forbearance Men count it a season to fulfill all the abominations that their evil hearts can suggest unto them or Satan draw them into a combination with himself in This the state of things in the world proclaims and every ones experience confirms 4. Let us therefore consider what is the true and proper end of this patience of God towards the world enduring it in sin and wickedness for so long a season and suffering one Generation to be multiplyed after another Shall we think that God hath no other design in all this Patience towards mankind in all Generations but meerly to suffer them all and every one without Exception to sin against him dishonour him provoke him that so he may at length everlastingly destroy them all It is confessed that this is the Consequent the event of it with the most through their perverse wickedness with their love of sin and pleasure But is this the design of God his only design hath he no other purpose but meerly to forbear them a while in their folly and then to avenge himself upon them Is this his intendment not only towards those who are obstinate in their Darkness Ignorance and Rebellion against him whose damnation is just and sleepeth not but also towards those whom he stirs up by his Grace to seek after a Remedy and Deliverance from the state of sin and death God forbid yea such an apprehension would be contrary to all those notions of the infinite Wisdom and Goodness of God which are ingrafted upon our hearts by nature and which all his works manifest and declare Whatever therefore it be this cannot be the design of God in his patience towards the world It cannot be but that he must long since have cut off the whole race of mankind if he had no other thoughts and purposes towards them 5. If this Patience of God hath any other Intention towards any any other effect upon some upon any that is to be reckoned the principal End of it and for the sake whereof it is evidently extended unto some others consiquentially unto all For those concerning whom God hath an especial design in his patience being to be brought forth in the world after the ordinary way of mankind and that in all Ages during the continuance of the world from the beginning unto the end thereof the patience which is extended unto them must also of necessity reach unto all in that variety wherein God is pleased to exercise it The whole world therefore is continued under the patience of God and the fruits of it for the sake of some that are in it 6. Let us therefore see what is the End of this Patience and what it teacheth us Now it can have no end possible but only that before rejected unless there be forgiveness of sins with God Unless God be ready and willing to forgive the sins of them that come to him according unto his appointment his patience is meerly subservient unto a design of wrath anger severity and a Resolution to destroy Now this is an abomination once to suppose and would reflect unspeakable dishonour upon the Holy God Let a Man but deal thus and it is a token of as evil an habit of mind and perverse as any can befall him Let him bear with these that are in his power in their faults for no other end or with no other design but that he
lost no more glory and honour by the sin of man than by the sin of Angels which in his infinite Wisdom and Righteousness is become a great Theatre of his Eternal Glory For he is no less Excellent in his Greatness and Severity than in his Goodness and Power Wherefore we may now return unto our former enquiry All things being thus excellently and admirably disposed in infinite Wisdom and Holiness in this Covenant the whole Duty and Blessedness of man being fully provided for and the Glory of God absolutely secured upon all Events what was the Reason that God left not all things to stand or fall according to the terms of it Wherefore doth he reject and lay aside this Covenant and Promise to make another and do so accordingly Certain it is that he might have continued it with a blessed security to his own Glory and he makes all things for himself even the wicked for the day of evil God himself shews what was the only and sole Reason of this dispensation Heb. 8. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. The summ of it is this Notwithstanding the blessed Constitution of the first Covenant yet there was no provision for the pardon of sin no room or place for forgiveness in it but on supposition that man sinned he was in that Covenant left remediless God had not in it revealed that there was any such thing as forgiveness with him nor had any sinner the least hope or grounds of expectation from thence of any such thing in him Dye he must and perish and that without remedy or recovery Now saith God this must not be Mercy Goodness Grace require another state of things This Covenant will not manifest them their effects will not be communicated to poor sinners by it Hence saith he it is faulty that is defective I will not lose the glory of them nor shall sinners be unrelieved by them And therefore although I may strictly tye up all mankind unto the terms of this yet I will make another Covenant with them wherein they shall know and find that there is forgiveness with me that they may fear me Now next to the Blood of Christ whereby this Covenant was ratified and confirmed this is the greatest Evidence that can possible be given that there is forgiveness with God To what end else doth God make this great alteration in the effects of his Will in his way of dealing with mankind As forgiveness of sin is expresly contained in the tenor and words of the Covenant so set it aside and it will be of no more use or advantage than the former For as this Covenant is made directly with sinners nor was there any one in the world when God made it that was not a sinner nor is it of use unto any but sinners so is forgiveness of sins the very life of it Hence we may see two things First The greatness of forgiveness that we may learn to value it and Secondly The certainty of it that we may learn to believe it First The greatness of it God would not do so great a thing as that mentioned but for a great the greatest end Had it not been a matter of the greatest importance unto the glory of God and the good of the souls of men God would not for the sake of it have laid aside one Covenant and made another We may evidently see how the heart of God was set upon it how his Nature and Will were engaged in it All this was done that we might be pardoned The old glorious fabrick of Obedience and Rewards shall be taken down to the ground that a new one may be erected for the honour and glory of forgiveness God forbid that we should have slight thoughts of that which was so strangely and wonderfully brought forth wherein God had as it were embarked his great Glory Shall all this be done for our sakes and shall we undervalue it or disesteem it God forbid God could if I may so say more easily have made a new world of Innocent Creatures and have governed them by the Old Covenant than have established this new one for the salvation of poor sinners but then where had been the glory of forgiveness It could never have been known that there was forgiveness with him The Old Covenant could not have been preserved and sinners pardoned Wherefore God chose rather to leave the Covenant than sinners unrelieved than Grace unexalted and Pardon unexercised Prize it as you prize your souls and give glory unto God for it as all those that believe will do unto Eternity Secondly For the security of it that we may believe it What greater can be given God deceiveth no man no more than he is deceived And what could God that cannot lye do more to give us satisfaction herein than he hath done Would you be made partakers of this forgiveness Go unto God spread before him this whole matter plead with him that he himself hath so far laid aside the first Covenant of his own Gracious Will as to make a new one and that meerly because it had no forgiveness in it This he hath made on purpose that it might be known that there is forgiveness in him And shall not we now be made partakers of it Will he now deny that unto us which he hath given such Assurance of and raised such expectations concerning it Nothing can here wrong us nothing can ruine us but unbelief Lay hold on this Covenant and we shall have pardon This God expresseth Isa. 27. 4 5. Will we continue on the old bottom of the first Covenant All that we can do thereon is but to set thorns and bryars in the way of God to secure our selves from his coming against us and upon us with his indignation and fury Our sins are so and our Righteousness is no better And what will be the issue both they and we shall be trodden down consumed and burnt up What way then what remedy is left unto us only this of laying hold on the arm and strength of God in that Covenant wherein forgiveness of sin is provided Therein alone he saith fury is not in me and the end will be that we shall have peace with him both here and for ever IX The Oath of God engaged and interposed in this matter is another Evidence of the truth insisted on Now because this is annexed unto the Covenant before mentioned and is its establishment I shall pass it over the more briefly And in it we may consider 1. The Nature of the Oath of God The Apostle tells us that he sware by himself And he gives this Reason of it because he had no greater to swear by Heb. 6. 13. An Oath for the confirmation of any thing is an Invocation of a Supream Power that can judge of the truth that is spoken and vindicate the breach of the engagement This God hath none other but himself Because he could swear by no greater he swear by himself
it above all the world Let us enquire what Esteem and valuation many of those have of forgiveness who put it out of all question that they do believe it Do they look upon it as their Treasure their Jewel their Pearl of price Are they solicitous about it Do they often look and examine whether it continues safe in their possession or no Suppose a man have a pretious Jewel laid up in some place in his house Suppose it be unto him as the poor Widdows two mites all her substance or living will he not carefully ponder on it Will he not frequently satisfie himself that it is safe We may know that such an house such fields or lands do not belong unto a man when he passeth by them daily and taketh little or no notice of them Now how do most men look upon forgiveness What is their common deportment in reference unto it Are their hearts continually filled with thoughts about it Are they solicitous concerning their interest in it Do they reckon that whilst that is safe all is safe with them When it is as it were laid out of the way by sin and unbelief do they give themselves no rest untill it be afresh discovered unto them Is this the frame of the most of men The Lord knows it is not They talk of forgiveness but esteem it not prize it not make no particular enquiries after it They put it to an ungrounded venture whether ever they be partakers of it or no for a relief against some pangs of Conscience it is called upon or else scarce thought of at all Let not any so minded flatter themselves that they have any acquaintance with the mysterie of Gospel forgiveness 3 Let it be enquired of them who pretend unto this perswasion how they came by it that we may know whether it be of him who calleth us or no that we may try whether they have broken through the difficulties in the Entertaining of it which we have manifested abundantly to lye in the way of it When Peter confessed our Saviour to be the Christ the Son of the living God He told him that flesh and blood did not reveal that unto him but his Father who is in Heaven Matth. 16. 17. It is so with them who indeed believe forgiveness in God Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto them It hath not been furthered by any thing within them or without them but all lyes in opposition unto it This is the work of God that we believe John 6. 29. A great work the greatest work that God requireth of us It is not only a great thing in it self the Grace of believing is a great thing but it is great in respect of its Object or what we have to believe or forgiveness it self The great honour of Abrahams faith lay in this that deaths and difficulties lay in the way of it Rom. 4. 18 19 20. But what is a dead body and a dead womb to an accusing Conscience a killing Law and apprehensions of a God terrible as a consuming fire all which as was shewed oppose themselves unto a soul called to believe forgiveness What now have the most of men who are confident in the profession of this faith to say unto this thing Let them speak clearly and they must say that indeed they never found the least difficulty in this matter they never doubted of it they never questioned it nor do know any reason why they should do so It is a thing which they have so taken for granted as that it never cost them an hours labour prayer or meditation about it Have they had secret reasonings and contendings in their hearts about it No Have they considered how the Objections that lye against it may be removed Not at all But is it so indeed that this perswasion is thus bred in you you know not how Are the corrupted Natures of men and the Gospel so suited so complying Is the New Covenant grown so connatural to flesh and blood Is the greatest secret that ever was revealed from the bosom of the Father become so familiar and easie to the wisdom of the flesh Is that which was folly to the wise Greeks and a stumbling block to the Wondergazing Jews become on a suddain Wisdom and a plain path to the same principles that were in them But the truth of this matter is that such men have a general useless barren notion of Pardon which Satan Presumption Tradition Common Reports and the Customary hearing of the Word have furnished them withal But for that Gospel discovery of forgiveness whereof we have been speaking they are utterly ignorant of it and unacquainted with it To convince such poor creatures of the folly of their presumption I would but desire them to go to some real Believers that are or may be known unto them Let them be asked whether they came so easily by their Faith and Apprehensions of forgiveness or no Alas saith One these twenty years have I been following after God and yet I have not arrived unto an abiding Chearing perswasion of it I know what it cost me what tryals difficulties temptations I wrestled with and went through withal before I obtained it saith another What I have attained unto hath been of unspeakable mercy And it is my daily prayer that I may be preserved in it by the exceeding greatness of the Power of God for I continually wrestle with storms that are ready to drive me from my Anchor A little of this discourse may be sufficient to convince poor dark carnal creatures of the folly and vanity of their confidence 4. There are certain Means whereby the Revelation and discovery of this Mysterie is made unto the souls of men By these they do obtain it or they obtain it not The mysterie it self was a secret hidden in the Counsel of God from Eternity nor was there any way whereby it might be revealed but by the Son of God And that is done in the Word of the Gospel If then you say you know it Let us enquire how you came so to do And by what means it hath been declared unto you Hath this been done by a Word of Truth by the Promise of the Gospel Was it by preaching of the Word unto you or by reading of it or meditating upon it Or did you receive it from and by some seasonable word of or from the Scriptures spoken unto you Or hath it insensibly gotten ground upon your hearts and minds upon the strivings and conflicts of your souls about sin from the truth wherein you had been instructed in General Or by what other wayes or means have you come to that acquaintance with it whereof you boast You can tell how you came by your wealth your Gold and Silver you know how you became learned or obtained the knowledge of the mysterie of your trade who taught you in it and how you came by it There is not any thing wherein you are concerned but you can
answer these Enquiries in reference unto it Think it then no great matter if you are put to answer this Question also by what way or means came you to the knowledge of forgiveness which you boast of Was it by any of those before mentioned or some other if you cannot answer distinctly to these things only you say you have heard it and believed it ever since you can remember so those said that went before you so they say with whom you do converse you never met with any one that called it into question nor heard of any unless it were one or two despairing wretches it will be justly questioned whether you have any portion in this matter or no. If uncertain rumours reports general notions lye at the bottom of your perswasion do not suppose that you have any Communion with Christ therein 5. Of them who profess to believe forgiveness how few are there who indeed know what it is They believe they say but as the Samaritans Worshipped they know not what With some a bold presumption and crying peace peace goes for the belief of forgiveness A General Apprehension of impunity from God and that though they are sinners yet they shall not be punished passeth with others at the same rate Some think they shall prevail with God by their prayers and desires to let them alone and not cast them into Hell One way or other to escape the Vengeance of Hell not to be punished in another world is that which men fix their minds upon But is this that forgiveness which is revealed in the Gospel that which we have been treating about The Rise and Spring of our forgiveness is in the heart and Gracious Nature of God declared by his Name Have you enquired seriously into this Have you stood at the shore of that infinite Ocean of Goodness and Love Have your souls found supportment and relief from that Consideration And have your hearts leaped within you with the thoughts of it Or if you have never been affected in an especial manner herewithal have you bowed down your souls under the Considerations of that Soveraign Act of the Will of God that is the next spring of forgiveness that glorious acting of free Grace that when all might justly have perished all having sinned and come short of his Glory God would yet have mercy on some Have you given up your selves to this Grace Is this any thing of that you do believe Suppose you are strangers to this also What communion with God have you had about it in the blood of Christ We have shewed how forgiveness relates thereunto how way is made thereby for the exercise of mercy in a consistency with the Glory and Honour of the Justice of God and of his Law how Pardon is procured and purchased thereby with the mysterious Reconciliation of Love and Law and the new disposal of Conscience in its work and duty by it What have you to say to these things Have you seen pardon flowing from the heart of the Father through the blood of the Son Have you looked upon it as the price of his life and the purchase of his blood Or have you general thoughts that Christ dyed for finners and that on one account or other forgiveness relates unto him but are strangers to the mysterie of this great work Suppose this also Let us go a little further and enquire whether you know any thing that yet remains of the like importance in this matter Forgiveness as we have shewed is manifested tendred exhibited in the Covenant of Grace and Promises of the Gospel The Rule of the Efficacy of these is that they he mixed with faith Heb. 4. 2. It is well if you are grown up hereunto but you that are strangers to the things before mentioned are no less to this also Upon the matter you know not then what forgiveness is nor wherein it consists nor whence it comes nor how it is procured nor by what means given out unto sinners It is to no purpose for such persons to pretend that they believe that whereunto either notionally or practically or both they are such utter strangers 6. Another Enquiry into this matter regards the State and Condition wherein souls must be before it be possible for them to believe forgiveness If there be such an Estate and it can be evinced that very many of the Pretenders concerning whom we deal were never brought into it it is then evident that they neither do nor can believe forgiveness however they do and may delude their own souls It hath been shewed that the first discovery that was made of pardoning Grace was unto Adam presently after the fall What was then his State and Condition How was he prepared for the reception of this great mysterie in its first discovery that seems to be a considerable Rule of proceeding in the same matter That which is first in any kind is a Rule to all that follows Now what was Adams condition when the Revelation of forgiveness was first made to him it is known from the Story convinced of sin afraid of punishment he lay trembling at the foot of God Then was forgiveness revealed unto him So the Psalmist states it Psalm 130. v. 3. If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquity O Lord who shall stand Full of thoughts he is of the desert of sin and of inevitable and eternal ruine in case God should deal with him according to the Exigence of the Law In that state is the great support of Forgiveness with God suggested unto him by the Holy Ghost We know what work our Saviour had with the Pharisees on this account Are we say they blind also No saith he you say you see therefore your sin remaineth John 9. 40 41. It is to no purpose to talk of forgiveness to such persons as you are you must of necessity abide in your sins I came not to call such righteous persons as you are but sinners to Repentance who not only are so as you are also and that to the purpose but are sensible of their being so and of their undone condition thereby The whole have no need of the Physitian but the sick Whilst you are seeming Righteous and whole it is to no End to tell you of forgiveness you cannot understand it nor receive it It is impossible then that any one should in a due manner believe forgiveness in God unless in a due manner he be convinced of sin in himself If the fallow ground be not broken up it is to no purpose to sow the seed of the Gospel There is neither Life Power nor sweetness in this Truth unless a door be opened for its Entrance by Conviction of sin Let us then on this ground also continue our Enquiry upon the ordinary boasters of their skill in this mysterie You believe there is forgiveness with God Yes but have you been convinced of sin Yes you know that you are sinners well enough Answer then but once more as to the
It is only this a Saviour is born a way of escape is provided and further they do not proceed Yet this they say is a matter of great joy as it was indeed It is so to every burdned convinced sinner a matter of unspeakable joy and rejoycing Oh blessed words a Saviour is born This gives life to a sinner and opens a door of hope in the valley of Achor The first rescue of a sin distressed soul. Upon the matter it was all that the Saints for many Ages had to live upon and that not in the enjoyment but only the expectation They lived on that Word the seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head that is a way of deliverance is provided for sinners This with all diligence they enquired into 1 Pet. 1. 10 11 12. and improved it to their eternal advantage As of old Jacob when he saw the Waggons that his Son Joseph had sent to bring him unto him it is said his Spirit revived So did they upon their obscure discovery of a way of forgiveness They looked upon the Promise of it as that which God had sent to bring them unto him and they saw the day of the coming of Christ in it and rejoyced How much more have Sinners now Reason so to do when the substance of the Promise is exhibited and the news of his Comeing proclaimed unto them This then is a great matter namely that terms of Peace and Reconciliation are proposed in that it is made known that there is forgiveness with God Upon these Considerations then we pursue that Exhortation which we have in hand If any of you were justly condemned to a cruel and shamefull death and lay trembling in the expectation of the execution of it and a man designed for that purpose should come unto him and tell him that there were terms propounded on which his life might be spared only he came away like Ahimaaz before he heard the particulars would it not be a reviving unto him would he not cry out Pray enquire what they are for there is not any thing so difficult which I will not undergoe to free my self from this miserable condition Would it not change the whole frame of the spirit of such a man and as it were put new life into him But now if instead hereof he should be froward stubborn and obstinate take no notice of the Messenger or say Let the Judge keep his terms to himself without inquiring what they are that he would have nothing to do with them would not such a person be deemed to perish deservedly doth he not bring a double destruction upon himself first of deserving death by his crimes and then by refusing the honest and good way of delivery tendred unto him I confess it often times falls out that men may come to enquire after these terms of Peace which when they are revealed they like them not but with the young man in the Gospel they go away sorrowfull The cursed wickedness and misery of which condition which befalls many convinced persons shall be spoken unto afterwards At present I speak unto them who never yet attended in sincerity unto these terms nor seriously enquired after them Think you what you please of your Condition and of your selves or choose whether you will think of it or no pass your time in a full regardlesness of your present and future Estate Yet indeed thus it is with you as to your eternal concerns you lye under the sentence of a bitter shamefull and everlasting death you have done so in the midst of all your jollity ever since you came into this world And you are in the hand of him who can in the twinkling of an eye destroy both body and soul in Hell fire In this state and condition men are sent on purpose to let you know that there are terms of Peace there is yet a way of escape for you And that you may not avoid the issue aimed at they tell you that God that cannot lye hath commanded them to tell you so if you question the truth of what they say they are ready to produce their warrant under Gods own hand and seal here then is no room for tergiversation or excuses Certainly if you have any care of your eternal estate if you have any drop of tender blood running in your veins towards your own souls if you have any rational considerations dwelling in your minds if all be not defaced and obliterated through the power of lust and love of sin you cannot but take your selves to be unspeakably concerned in this proposal But now if instead hereof you give up your selves unto the power of unbelief the will of Sathan the love of your lusts and this present world so as to take no notice of this errand or message from God nor once seriously to enquire after the nature and importance of the terms proposed Can you escape shall you be delivered will your latter end be peace The Lord knows it will be otherwise with you and that unto Eternity So the Apostle assures us 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not lest the light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine into them If you receive not this word if it be bid from you it is from the power and efficacy of Sathan upon your minds And what will be the end Perish you must and shall and that for ever Remember the Parable of our Saviour Luke 14. 31 32. What King going to make warre against another King sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with Ten Thousand to meet him that cometh against him with Twenty Thousand or else while the other is yet a great way off he sendeth an Ambassage and desireth conditions of Peace That which he teacheth in this Parable is the necessity that lyes on us of making peace with God whom we have provoked and justly made to be our Enemy as also our utter impotency to resist and withstand him when he shall come forth in a way of Judgement and Vengeance against us But here lyes a difference in this matter such as is allowed in all similitudes Amongst men at variance it is not his part who is the stronger and secure of success to send to the weaker whom he hath in his Power to accept of terms of Peace Here it is otherwise God who is infinitely powerfull justly provoked and able to destroy poor sinners in a moment when now he is not very farre off but at the very door sends himself an Ambassage with Conditions of Peace And shall he be refused by you will you yet neglect his offers How great then will be your destruction Hear then once more poor sin-hardened sensless souls ye stout-hearted that are far from Righteousness Is it nothing unto you that the great and
which I made with their Fathers in which Administration of the Covenant as far as it had respect unto Typical mercies much depended on their personal obedience But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these dayes saith the Lord I will put my Laws c. and I will forgive their iniquities and remember their sins no more Let then this way stand and the way of mans Wisdom and self Righteousness perish for ever 2. This is the way that above all others atends directly and immediately to the Glory of God God hath managed and ordered all things in this way of forgiveness so as no flesh should glory in his presence but that he that glorieth should glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1. 29. 31. Where then is Boasting it is excluded by what Law by the Law of Works nay but by the Law of Faith Rom. 3. 27. It might be easily manifested that God hath so laid the design of saving Sinners by Forgiveness according to the Law of Faith that it is utterly impossible that any Soul should on any account whatever have the least Ground of Glorying or boasting in its self either absolutely or in comparison with them that perish If Abraham saith the same Apostle were justified by works he had whereof to glory but not before God Chap. 4. 2. The Obedience of works would have been so infinitely disproportionate to the Reward which was God himself that there had been no glorying before God but therein his Goodness and Grace must be acknowledged yet in comparison with others who yielded not the Obedience required he would have had wherein to glory But now this also is cast off by the way of forgiveness and no pretence is left for any to claim the least share in the Glory of it but God alone and herein lyes the excellency of Faith that it gives glory unto God Rom. 4. 20. the denyal whereof under various pretences is the issue of proud unbelief And this is that which God will bring all unto or they shall perish Namely that shame be ours and the whole Glory of our salvation be his alone So he expresseth his design Isa. 45. 22 23 24 25. v. 22. he proposeth himself as the only relief for Sinners Look unto me saith he and be saved all ye ends of the Earth But what if men take some other course and look well to themselves and so decline this way of meer Mercy and Grace whâ— saith he v. 23. I have sworn by my self the Word is gone out of my mouth in Righteousness and shall not return that unto me every Knee shall bow and every Tongue shall swear Look you unto that but I have sworn that you shall either do so or answer your disobedience at the day of Judgement whereunto Paul applyes those words Rom. 14. 11. what do the Saints hereupon v. 24 25. Surely shall one say in the Lord have I Righteousness and strength In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory They bring their hearts to accept of all Righteousness from him and to give all Glory unto him God at first placed Man in a blessed state and condition in such a dependance on himself as that he might have wrought out his Eternal happiness with a great Reputation of Glory unto himself Man being in this honour saith the Psalmist abode not God now fixes on another way as I said wherein all the Glory shall be his own as the Apostle at large sets it forth Rom. 3. 23 24 25 26. Now neither the way from which Adam fell nor that wherein some of the Angels continued which for the substance were the same is to be compared with this of Forgiveness as to the bringing Glory unto God I hate curiosities and conjectures in the things of God Yet upon the account of the interposition of the blood of Christ I think I may boldly say there comes more glory to God by saving one sinner in this way of Forgiveness than in giving the reward of blessedness to all the Angels in Heaven So seems it to appear from that solemn Representation we have of the Ascription of Glory to God by the whole Creation Revel 5. 9. 10 11 12 13. All centers in the bringing forth Forgiveness by the blood of the Lamb. I insist the more on this because it lyes so directly against that cursed Principle of Unbelief which reigns in the hearts of the most and often disquiets the best That a poor ungodly sinner going to God with the guilt of all his sins upon him to receive Forgiveness at his hand doth bring more Glory unto him than the obedience of an Angel men are not over-ready to think nor can be prepared for it but by it self And the formal nature of that unbelief which worketh in Convinced Sinners lyes in a refusal to give unto God the whole glory of Salvation There are many hurtfull Controversies in Religion that are managed in the World with great noyse and clamour but this is the greatest and most pernicious of them all and it is for the most part silently transacted in the souls of men although under various forms and pretences It hath also broken forth in writings and disputations that is Whether God or man shall have the Glory of Salvation or whether it shall wholly be ascribed unto God or that man also on one account or other may come in for a share Now if this be the state and condition with any of you that you will rather perish than God should have his Glory what shall we say but Go ye cursed souls perish for ever without the least compassion from God or any that love him Angels or Men. If you shall say for your parts you are contented with this course let God have the glory so you may be forgiven and saved There is yet just cause to suspect lest this be a selfish contempt of God It is a great thing to give Glory unto God by believing in a due manner Such slight returns seem not to have the least relation unto it Take heed that instead of believing you be not found mockers and so your bands be made strong But a poor Convinced Sinner may here finde encouragement Thou wouldst willingly come to Acceptance with God and so attain Salvation Oh my soul longeth for it wouldst thou willingly take that course for the obtaining those ends which will bring most Glory unto God Surely it is meet and most equal that I should do so What now if one should come and tell thee from the Lord of a way whereby thou poor sinfull self condemned creature mightst bring as much Glory unto God as any Angel in Heaven is able to doe Oh if I might bring the least glory unto God I should rejoyce in it Behold then the way which himself hath fixed on for the exaltation of his Glory Even that thou shouldst come to him meerly upon the account of Grace in
their Lusts and sins that they will yield them as much satisfaction and contentment as they shall need to desire Alas they will ruine them and bring forth nothing but death Is it in the World it will deceive them the figure of it passeth away Is it in their Duties and Righteousness they will not relieve them for did they follow the Law of Righteousness they could not obtain the Righteousness of the Law Is it in the continuance of their lives Alas it is but a shadow a vapour that appeareth for a little while Is it in a future Amendment and Repentance Hell is full of souls perishing under such Resolutions Only this way of pardon remains and yet of all others is most despised But yet I have one consideration more to adde before I further enforce the Exhortation 6. Consider that this is the only Way and means to enable you unto obedience and to render what you do therein acceptable unto God It may be that some of you are under the power of Convictions and have made Engagements unto God to live unto him to keep your selves from fin and to follow after holiness It may be you have done so in Afflictions dangers sicknesses or upon the receipt of mercies but yet you find that you cannot come unto stability or constancy in your course you break with God and your own Souls which fills you with new disquietments or else hardens you and makes you secure and negligent so that you return unto your purposes no oftner than your Convictions or Afflictions befall you anew This condition is ruinous and pernitious which nothing can deliver you from but this closing with forgiveness For 1. All that you do without this however it may please your minds or ease your Consciences is not at all accepted with God Unless this foundation be laid all that you do is lost All your Prayers all your Duties all your amendments are an abomination unto the Lord. Untill peace is made with him they are but the Acts of Enemies which he despiseth and abhorreth You run it may be earnestly but you run out of the way you strive but not lawfully and shall never receive the Crown True Gospel-obedience is the fruit of the Faith of Forgiveness Whatever you do without it is but a building without a foundation a Castle in the ayre You may see the order of Gospel Obedience Eph. 2. 7 8 9 10. The foundation must be laid in Grace Riches of Grace by Christ in the free pardon and forgiveness of sin From hence must the works of obedience proceed if you would have them to be of Gods appointment or finde acceptance with him Without this God will say of all your Services Worship Obedience as he did to the Israelites of old Amos 5. 21 22 23 24 25. I despise all reject it all it is not to him nor to his Glory Now if you are under convictions of any sort there is nothing you more value nothing you more place your confidence in than your Duties your Repentance your Amendment what you do and what in good time you will be Is it nothing unto you to lose all your hopes and all your Expectations which you have from hence To have no other Reception with God than if all this while you had been wallowing in your sins and lusts Yet thus it is with you if you have not begun with God on his own Terms if you have not received the Atonement in the Blood of his Son if you are not made partakers of Forgiveness if your persons are not pardoned all your Duties are accursed 2. This alone will give you such Motives and Encouragements unto Obedience as will give you Life Alacrity and Delight in it You perform Duties abstain from sins but with heaviness fear and in bondage Could you do as well without them as with them would Conscience be quiet and hope of Eternity hold out you would omit them for ever This makes all your Obedience burdensome and you cry out in your thoughts with him in the Prophet behold what a weariness it is the service of God is the only drudgery of your lives which you dare not omit and delight not to perform From this wretched and cursed frame there is nothing can deliver you but this closing with forgiveness This will give you such motives such encouragements as will greatly influence your hearts and souls It will give you freedom liberty delight and chearfulness in all duties of Gospel Obedience You will finde a constraining power in the love of Christ therein a freedom from bondage when the Son truely hath made you free Faith and love will work genuinely and naturally in your spirits and that which was your greatest burden will become your chiefest joy 2 Cor. 7. 1. Thoughts of the Love of God of the Blood of Christ or the Covenant of Grace and sence of pardon in them will enlarge your hearts and sweeten all your duties You will find a new life a new pleasure a new satisfaction in all that you doe Have you yet ever understood that of the Wiseman Prov. 3. 17. The wayes of Wisdom are pleasantness and her paths are peace Have the wayes of Holyness of Obedience of Duties been so unto you Whatever you pretend they are not they cannot be so whilst you are strangers unto that which alone can render them so unto you I speak unto them that are under the Law Would you be free from that bondage that galling yoke in dutyes of Obedience Would you have all that you do towards God a delight and pleasantness unto you this and this alone will effect it for you 3. This will place all your Obedience upon a sure foot of account in your own Souls and Consciences even the same that is fixed on in the Gospell For the present all that you do is indeed but to compound with God for your sin you hope by what you do for him and to him to buy off what you have done against him that you may not fall into the hands of his Wrath and Vengeance This makes all you doe to be irksom As a man that labours all his dayes to pay an old debt and brings in nothing to lay up for himself how tedious and wearisome is his work and labour to him It is odds but that at one time or other he will give over and run away from his Creditor So it is in this case men who have secret reserves of recompensing God by their Obedience every day find their debt growing upon them and have every day less hopes of making a satisfactory payment This makes them weary and for the most part they faint under their discouragements and at length they fly wholly from God This way alone will state things otherwise in your Consciences It will give you to see that all your debts are paid by Christ and freely forgiven unto you by God So that what you doe is of Gratitude or thankfulness hath an influence
into Eternity leads to the Glory of God the honour of Christ in the Gospel and your own comfortable account at the last day This encourageth the soul to labour to Trade to endeavour all things now looking forward and unto his advantage 4. Find you not in your selves an impotency a disability unto the dutyes of Obedience as to their performance unto God in an acceptable manner It may be you are not so sensible hereof as you ought to be For respecting only or principally the outward part and performance of dutyes you have not Experience of your own Weakness How to enliven and fill up Duties with Faith Love and Delight you know not and are therefore unacquainted with your own insufficiency in this matter yet if you have any Light any Convictions and to such I speak at present you cannot but perceive and understand that you are not able in your Obedience to answer what you aim at you have not strength or power for it Now it is this faith of Forgiveness alone that will furnish you with the Ability whereof you stand in need Pardon comes not to the Soul alone or rather Christ comes not to the Soul with pardon only It is that which he opens the door and enters by but he comes with a Spirit of life and Power And as without him we can do nothing so through his enabling us we may do all things Receiving of Gospel Forgiveness engageth all the grace of the Gospel unto our assistance This is the summe of what hath been spoken the obedience that you perform under your convictions is burdensome and unpleasant unto you it is altogether unacceptable to God You lose all you do and all that you hope to do hereafter if the foundation be not layd in the receiving of pardon in the blood of Christ. It is high time to cast down all that vain and Imaginary fabrick which you have been erecting and to go about the laying of a new Foundation which you may safely and chearfully build upon a building that will abide for ever Again It is such a way so excellent so pretious so neer the heart of God so relating to the blood of Christ that the neglect of it will assuredly be sorely revenged of the Lord. Let not men think that they shall despise the Wisdom and Love of the Father the blood of the Son and the Promises of the Gospel at an easie rate Let us in a very few words take a view of what the Holy Ghost speaks to this purpose There are Three wayes whereby the Vengeance due to the neglect of closing with forgiveness or Gospel Grace is expressed 1. That is done Positively He that believeth not shall be DAMNED Mark 16. 16. That 's a hard word many men cannot endure to hear of it They would not have it named by their good wills and are ready to fly in the face of him from whose mouth it proceeds But let not men deceive themselves this is the softest word that Mercy and Love it self that Christ that the Gospel speaks to despisers of forgiveness It is Christ who is this legal terrifying Preacher it is he that cryes out if you believe not you shall be Damned and will come himself in flaming fire to take vengeance of them that obey not the Gospel 2 Thess. 2. 8. This is the end of the disobedient if God if Christ if the Gospel may be believed 2. Comparatively in reference unto the Vengeance due to the breach of the Law 2 Cor. 2. 16. We are in the preaching of forgiveness by Christ unto them that perish a savour of death unto death a deep death a sore Condemnation so Heb. 10. 29. Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye he shall be thought worthy Sorer than ever was threatned by the Law or inflicted for the breach of it not as to the Kind of punishment but as to the degrees of it Hence ariseth the addition of many stripes 3. By the way of Admiration at the unexpressibleness and unavoidableness of the punishment due unto such sinners Heb. 2. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Surely there is no way for men to escape they shall unavoidably perish who neglect so great salvation So the Holy Ghost sayes 1 Pet. 4. 11. What shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel What understanding can reach to an apprehension of their miserable and wofull condition None can saith the Holy Ghost nor can it be spoken to their capacity ah what shall their end be There remains nothing but a certain fearfull looking for of Judgement and fiery indignation that shall consume the Adversaries Heb. 10. 27. A certain fearfull expectation of astonishable things that cannot be comprehended And these are the Enforcements of the Exhortation in hand which I shall insist upon On these foundations on the consideration of these Principles let us now a little conferre together with the words of Truth and Sobriety I speak to such poor souls as having deceived themselves or neglected utterly their Eternal Condition are not as yet really and in Truth made partakers of this forgiveness Your present state is sad and deplorable There is nothing but the wofull uncertainty of a dying life between you and Eternal ruine That perswasion you have of forgiveness is Good for nothing but to harden you and destroy you It is not the Forgiveness that is with God Nor have you taken it up on Gospel grounds or Evidences You have stollen painted beads and take your selves to be lawfull possessors of Pearls and Jewels As you are then any way concerned in your own Eternal Condition which you are entring into and how soon you shall be ingaged in it you know not prevail with your selves to attend a little unto the Exhortation that lyes before you it is your own business that you are entreated to have regard unto 1. Consider seriously what it is you bottom your hopes and expectation upon as to Eternity Great men and in other things wise are here very apt to deceive themselves They suppose they think and believe much otherwise than indeed they think and believe as their cry at the last day will manifest Put your souls a little unto it Do you at all seriously think of these things Or are you so under the power of your Lusts Ignorance and Darkness that you neglect and despise them Or do you rise up and lye down and perform some duties or neglect them with a great Coldness Remisness and Indifferency of Spirit like Gallio not much caring for these things Or do you relieve your selves with hopes of future amendment purposing that if you live you will be other persons than you are when such and such things are brought about and accomplished Or do you not hope well in Generall upon the account of what you have done and will doe If any of these express your condition it is unspeakably miserable You lye down and rise up under the
and obstructions by his own blood bringing forth unto beauty and Glory this Redemption or Forgiveness of sin as the price of it And let the Glory of the Gospel which alone makes this discovery of Forgiveness in God dwell in your hearts Let your minds be exercised about these things You will find effects from them above all that hath as yet been brought forth in your souls What for the most part have you hitherto been conversant about when you have risen above the turmoyling of lusts and corruptions in your hearts the entanglements of your Callings business and affairs what have you been able to raise your hearts unto perplexing fears about your Condition General hopes without savour or relish yielding you no refreshment Legal Commands Bondage-duties distracted Consciences broken Purposes and Promises which you have been tossed up and down withall without any certain rest And what Effects have these thoughts produced have they made you more holy and more humble have they given you delight in God and strength unto new obedience Not at all Where you were there you still are without the least progress But now bring your Souls unto these Springs and try the Lord if from that day you be not blessed with spiritual stores 8. If the Lord be pleased to carry on your Souls thus far then stirr up your selves to choose and close with the way of forgiveness that hath been revealed Choose it only choose it in comparison with and opposition unto all others Say you will be for Christ and not for another and be so accordingly Here venture here repose here rest your Souls It is a way of peace safety Holyness beauty strength power liberty and glory you have the Nature the Name the Love the Purposes the Promises the Covenant the Oath of God the Love Life Death or Blood the Mediation or Oblation and Intercession of Jesus Christ The Power and Efficacy of the Spirit and Gospel Grace by him administred to give you Assurance of the excellency the oneness the safety of the Way whereunto you are engaging If now the Lord shall be pleased to perswade your hearts and souls to enter upon the path marked out before you and shall carry you on through the various exercises of it unto this closure of Faith God will have the Glory the Gospel will be Exalted and your own Souls shall reap the Eternal benefit of this Exhortation But now if not withstanding all that hath been spoken all the Invitations you have had and Incouragements that have been held out unto you you shall continue to despise this so great salvation you will live and dye in the state and condition wherein you are why then as the Prophet said to the Wife of Jeroboam Come neer for I am sent unto you with heavy Tydings I say then 9. If you resolve to continue in the neglect of this Salvation and shall do so accordingly Then Cursed be you of the Lord with all the Curses that are written in the Law and all the Curses that are denounced against Despisers of the Gospel Yea be you Anathema Maranatha Cursed in this World alwayes untill the comeing of the Lord and when the Lord comes be ye cursed from his presence into Everlasting destruction Yea Curse them all ye holy Angels of God as the obstinate Enemies of your King and Head the Lord Jesus Christ. Curse them all ye Churches of Christ as despisers of that Love and Mercy which is your portion your Life your Inheritance Let all the Saints of God all that love the Lord curse them and rejoyce to see the Lord comeing forth mightily and prevailing against them to their everlasting ruine Why should any one have a thought of compassion towards them who despise the compassion of God or of mercy towards them who trample on the blood of Christ Whilest there is yet hope we desire to have continual sorrow for you and to travail in soul for your conversion to God but if you be hardened in your way shall we joyn with you against him shall we preferre you above his Glory shall we desire your salvation with the despoyling God of his honour Nay God forbid We hope to rejoyce in seeing all that vengeance and indignation that is in the right hand of God poured out unto Eternity upon your Souls Prov. 1. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33. Rules to be observed by them who would come to stability in Obedience The first Rule Christ the only infallible Judge of our spiritual condition How he judgeth by his Word and Spirit That which remaineth to be further carried on upon the Principles laid down is to perswade with Souls more or less intangled in the depths of sin to close with this Forgiveness by Believing unto their Peace and Consolation And because such persons are full of pleas and objections against themselves I shall chiefly in what I have to say endeavour to obviate these Objections so to encourage them unto believing and bring them unto settlement And herein whatever I have to offer flowes naturally from the Doctrine at large laid down and asserted Yet I shall not in all particulars apply my self thereunto but in Generall fix on those things that may tend to the Establishment and Consolation of both distressed and doubting Souls And I shall do what I purpose these two wayes First I shall lay down such General Rules as are necessary to be observed by all those who intend to come to Gospel peace and Comfort And then Secondly shall consider some such Objections as seem to be most comprehensive of those special reasonings where with distressed persons do usually intangle themselves I shall begin with General Rules which through the Grace of Christ and Supplyes of his Spirit may be of use unto Believers in the condition under consideration RULE I. Be not Judges of your own Condition but let Christ judge You are invited to take the comfort of this Gospel Truth That there is Forgiveness with God You say not for you so said Jacob My way is hid from the Lord Isa. 40. 27. and Sion said so too chap. 49. 14. The Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me But did they make a right Judgement of themselves We find in those places that God was otherwise minded This false Judgement made by Souls in their intanglements of their own Condition is oft-times a most unconquerable hinderance unto the bettering of it They fill themselves with thoughts of their own about it and on them they dwell instead of looking out after a Remedy Misgiving thoughts of their distempers are commonly a great part of some mens sickness Many diseases are apt to cloud the thoughts and to cause misapprehensions concerning their own nature and danger And these delusions are a real part of the persons sickness Nature is no less impaired and weakened by them the Efficacy of Remedies no less obstructed than by any other reall distemper In such
will undoubtedly flourish 3. A deep sense of the indwelling power of sin is consistent with Gospel Assurance Sense of indwelling sin will cause manifold perplexities in the Soul Trouble disquietments sorrow and anguish of heart expressing themselves in sighs mourning groaning for deliverance alwayes attend it To what purpose do you speak to a Soul highly sensible of the restless power of indwelling sin concerning Assurance Alas saith he I am ready to perish every moment my lusts are strong active restless yea outragious they give me no rest no liberty and but little success do I obtain Assurance is for Conquerours for them that live at rest and peace I lie groveling on the ground all my dayes and must needs be uncertain what will be the issue But when such an one hath done all he can he will not be able to make more wofull complaints of this matter than Paul hath done before him Rom. 7. and yet he closeth the discourse of it with as high an expression of assurance as any person needs to seek after v. last and chap. 8. 1. It is not Assurance but Enjoyment that excludes this sense and trouble But if men will think they can have no Assurance because they have that without which it is impossible they should have any it is hard to give them relief A little Cruse of Salt of the Gospel cast into these bitter waters will make them sweet and wholsom Sense of the guilt of sin may consist with faith of its pardon and forgiveness in the blood of Christ. Godly sorrow may dwell in the same heart at the same time with Joy in the Holy Ghost and groaning after deliverance from the power of sin with a Gracious perswasion that sin shall not have dominion over us because we are not under the Law but Grace 4. Doubtings Fears Temptations if not ordinarily prevailing are consistent with Gospel Assurance Though the Devils power he limited in reference unto the Saints yet his hands are not tyed Though he cannot prevail against them yet he can assault them And although there be not an evil heart of unbelief in Believers yet there will still be unbelief in their hearts Such an evidence conviction and perswasion of Acceptance with God as are exclusive of all contrary reasonings that suffer the Soul to hear nothing of Objections that free and quiet it from all assaults are neither mentioned in the Scripture nor consistent with that state wherein we walk before God nor possible on the account of Sathans will and ability to tempt or of our own remaining unbelief Assurance encourageth us in our Combate it delivereth us not from it We may have peace with God when we have none from the assaults of Sathan Now unless a man do duly consider the tenor of the Covenant wherein we walk with God and the nature of that Gospel Obedience which he requires at our hands with the state and Condition which is our Lot and portion whilest we live in this World the dayly sense of these things with the trouble that must be undergone on their account may keep him in the dark unto himself and hinder him from that establishment in believing which otherwise he might attain unto On this account some as holy persons as any in this World being wholly taken up with the consideration of these home bred perplexities and not clearly acquainted with the way and tenor of assuring their Souls before God according to the Rule of the Covenant of Grace have passed away their dayes in a bondage frame of spirit and unacquaintance with that strong consolation which God is abundantly willing that all the Heirs of promise should receive 5. Evangelical Assurance is not a thing that consisteth in any point and so incapable of variation It may be higher or lower greater or less obscure or attended with more Evidence It is not quite lost when it is not quite at its highest God sometimes marvellously raiseth the Souls of his Saints with some close and neer approaches unto them gives them a sense of his Eternal Love a taste of the embraces of his Son and the inhabitation of the Spirit without the least intervening disturbance then this is their Assurance But this life is not a season to be alwayes taking wages in our work is not yet done we are not alwayes to abide in this Mount we must down again into the battle fight again cry again complain again Shall the Soul be thought now to have lost its assurance Not at all it had before assurance with Joy Triumph and Exultation it hath it now or may have with wrestling cryes tears and supplications And a mans Assurance may be as Good as true when he lyes on the earth with a sense of sin as when he is carryed up to the third Heaven with a sense of Love and foretaste of Glory In brief this Assurance of Salvation is such a Gracious Evangelical perswasion of Acceptance with God in Christ and of an interest in the promises of preservation unto the End wrought in Believers by the Holy Ghost in and through the exercise of Faith as for the most part produceth these effects following 1. It gives delight in obedience and draws out Love in the duties that unto God we do perform So much Assurance of a Comfortable Issue of their Obedience of a blessed End of their labours and duties of their purifying their hearts and pressing after universal Renovation of mind and life as may make them Chearfull in them as may give Love and Delight in the pursuit of what they are engaged in is needfull for the Saints and they they do not often go without it and where this is there is Gospel Assurance To run as men uncertain to fight as those that beat the Air to travel as not any way perswaded of a comfortable entertainment or refreshment at the Journeys End is a state and condition that God doth not frequently leave his people unto And when he doth it is a season wherein he receives very little of Glory from them and they very little increase of grace in themselves Many things as hath been shewed do interpose many doubts arise and intangling perplexities but still there is a Comfortable perswasion kept alive that there is a Rest provided which makes them willing unto and chearfull in their most difficult duties This prevaileth in them that their labour in the Lord their watchings praying suffering alms mortification fighting against temptation crucifying the flesh with the lusts thereof shall not be in vain This gives them such a delight in their most difficult duties as men have in a hard Journey towards a desirable home or a place of Rest. 2. It casts out fear tormenting fear such as fills the soul with perplexing uncertainties hard thoughts of God and dreadfull apprehensions of wrath to come There are three things spoken concerning that fear which is inconsistent with the Assurance of forgiveness First With respect unto
life and waies before his conversion I was saith he injuricus and a blasphemer Such reflexions ought persons to have on any great provoking occasions of sin that may keep them humble and necessitate them constantly to look for a fresh sense of pardon through the blood of Christ. If such sins lye neglected and not considered according to their importance they will weaken the soul in its comforts whilst it lives in this world 2. If there were any signal intimations made of the Good Will and Love of God to the soul which it broke off from through the power of its corruption and temptation they require a due humbling consideration all our daies but this hath been before spoken unto Secondly In that part of our lives which upon the call of God we have given up unto him There are two sorts of sins that do effectually impeach our future peace and comfort which ought therefore to be frequently renewed and issued in the blood of Christ. First Such as by reason of any aggravating circumstances have been accompanied with some especial unkindness towards God Such are sins after warnings communications of a sense of Love after particular ingagements against them relapses omissions of great opportunities and advantages for the furtherance of the Glory of God in the world These kinds of sins have much unkindness attending them and will be searched out if we cover them 2. Sins attended with scandal towards fewer or more or any one single person who is or may be concerned in us The aggravations of these kind of sins are commonly known Thirdly The various outward states and conditions which we have passed through as of Prosperity and Afflictions should in like manner fall under this search and consideration It is but seldom that we fill up our duty or answer the mind of God in any dispensation of providence And if our neglect herein be not managed aright they will undoubtedly hinder and interrupt our peace RULE V. The fifth Rule Distinction between Unbelief and Jealousie The sixth Rule Distinction between Faith and Spiritual Sense Learn to distinguish between Unbelief and Jealousie There is a twofold Unbelief 1. That which is universal and privative such as is in all unregenerate persons they have no Faith at all that is they are dead men and have no principles of spiritual life This I speak not of it is easily distinguished from any Grace being the utter enemy and privation as it were of them all 2. There is an Unbelief partial and negative consisting in a staggering at or Questioning of the promises This is displeasing to God a sin which is attended with unknown Aggravations though men usually indulge it in themselves It is well expressed Psal. 78. 19 20. God had promised his presence to the people in the wilderness to feed sustain and preserve them How did they entertain these promises of God Can he say they give bread can he give flesh unto his people vers 20. What great sin crime or offence is in this enquiry Why vers 19. This is called speaking against God they spake against God they said Can he furnish a Table in the wilderness Unbelief in questioning of the promises is a speaking against God a limiting of the holy One of Israel as it is called vers 41. An assigning of bounds to his Goodness Power Kindness and Grace according to what we find in our selves which he abhors By this Unbelief we make God like our selves that is our limiting of him expecting no more from him than either we can do or see how it may be done This you will say was a great sin in the Israelites because they had no reason to doubt or Question the promises of God It is well we think so now But when they were so many thousand families that had not one bit of bread nor drop of water aforehand for themselves and their little ones there is no doubt but they thought themselves to have as good reason to question the promises as any one of you can think that you have We are ready to suppose that we have all the reasons in the world every one supposeth he hath those that are more cogent than any other hath to question the promises of Grace Pardon and forgiveness and therefore the questioning of them is not their sin but their duty But pretend what we will this is speaking against God limiting of him and that which is our keeping off from stedfastness and Comfort But now there may be a Jealousie in a Gracious heart concerning the love of Christ which is acceptable unto him at least which he is tender towards that may be mistaken for this questioning of the promises by Unbelief and so help to keep the soul in darkness and disconsolation this the spouse expresseth in her self Cant. 8. 6. Love is strong as death jealousie is hard as the Grave the Coals thereof are Coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame Love is the foundation The root but yet it bears that fruit which is bitter although it be wholsome that which fills the soul with great perplexities and makes it cry out for a nearer and more secure admission into the presence of Christ. Set me saith the Spouse as a Seal upon thy heart as a seal upon thine Arms for Jealousie is cruel as the Grave I cannot bear this distance from thee these fears of my being disregarded by thee Set me as a seal on thy heart Now this spiritual jealousie is the solicitousness of the mind of a believer who hath a sincere love for Christ about the heart affection and good will of Christ towards it arising from a consciousness of its own unworthiness to be beloved by him or accepted with him All causeless jealousie ariseth from a secret sence and conviction of unworthiness in the person in whom it is and a high esteem of him that is the object of it or concerning whose love and affection any one is Jealous So it is with this spiritual Jealousie the root of it is Love sincere love that cannot be quenched by waters nor drowned by floods v. 7. which nothing can utterly prevail against or overcome This gives the soul high thoughts of the glorious Excellencies of Christ fills it with admiration of him these are mixed with a due sense of its own baseness vileness and unworthiness to be owned by him or accepted with him Now if these thoughts on the one hand and on the other be not directed guided and managed aright by faith which alone can shew the soul how the Glory of Christ consisteth principally in this that he being so excellent and glorious is pleased to love us with love unexpressible who are vile and sinful Questionings about the love of Christ and those attended with much anxiety and trouble of mind will arise Now this frame may sometimes be taken for a questioning of the promises of God and that to be a defect in faith which is an excess of love
build upon it unto any comfort to themselves or usefulness unto others And the Reason is because they will be mixing with the foundation stones that are fit only for the following building They will be bringing their Obedience duties mortification of sin and the like unto the foundation These are precious stones to build with but unmeet to be first laid to bear upon them the whole weight of the building The foundation is to be laid as was said in meer Grace Mercy Pardon in the blood of Christ. This the soul is to accept of and to rest in meerly as it is Grace without the consideration of any thing in its self but that it is sinfull and obnoxious unto ruine This it finds a difficulty in and would gladly have something of its own to mix with it It cannot tell how to fix these foundation stones without some cement of its own endeavours and duty And because these things will not mix they spend a fruitless labour about it all their daies But if the foundation be of Grace it is not at all of works for otherwise grace is no more grace If any thing of our own be mixed with Grace in this matter it utterly destroys the nature of Grace which if it be not alone it is not at all But doth not this tend to licenciousness doth not this render Obedience Holiness Duties Mortification of sin and good works needless God forbid yea this is the only way to order them aright unto the glory of God Have we nothing to do but to lay the foundation yes all our daies we are to build upon it when it is surely and firmly laid And these are the means and waies of our Edification This then is the soul to do who would come to peace and settlement Let it let go all former endeavours if it have been engaged unto any of that kind And let it alone receive admit of and adhere to meer Grace mercy and pardon with a full sense that in its self it hath nothing for which it should have an interest in them but that all is of meer Grace through Jesus Christ. Other foundation can no man lay Depart not hence until this work be well over Surcease not an earnest endeavour with your own hearts to acquiesce in this Righteousness of God and to bring your souls unto a comfortable perswasion that God for Christ his sake hath freely forgiven you all your sins Stir not hence untill this be effected If you have been engaged in another way that is to seek for an interest in the pardon of sin by some endeavours of your own it is not unlikely but that you are filled with the fruit of your own doings that is that you go on with all kind of uncertainties and without any kind of constant peace Return then again hither bring this foundation work to a blessed issue in the blood of Christ and when that is done up and be doing You know how fatal and ruinous it is for souls to abuse the Grace of God and the Apprehension of the pardon of sins in the course of their obedience to countenance themselves in sin or the negligence of any duty this is to turn the Grace of God into wantonness as we have else where at large declared And it is no less pernicious to bring the duties of our obedience any reserves for them any hopes about them into the matter of pardon and forgiveness as we are to receive them from God But these things as they are distinct in themselves so they must be distinctly managed in the soul and the confounding of them is that which disturbs the Peace and weakens the Obedience of many In a confused manner they labour to keep up a life of Grace and Duty which will be in their places conjoyned but not mixed or compounded First To take up Mercy Pardon and Forgiveness absolutely on the account of Christ and then to yield all obedience in the strength of Christ and for the Love of Christ is the life of a Believer Ephes. 2. 8 9 10. RULE VIII Take heed of spending time in complaints when vigorous actings of Grace are your Duty Fruitless and heartless complaints bemoanings of themselves and their condition is the substance of the profession that some make If they can object against themselves and form Complaints out of their conditions they suppose they have done their duty I have known some who have spent a good part of their time in going up and down from one to another with their objections and complaints These things are contrary to the life of Faith It is good indeed in our spiritual distresses to apply our selves unto them who are furnished with the tongue of the learned to know how to speak a word in season unto him that is weary But for persons to fill their minds and imaginations with their own Objections and Complaints not endeavouring to mix the words that are spoken for their relief and direction with faith but going on still in their own way this is of no use or advantage And yet some I fear may please themselves in such a course as if it had somewhat of Eminency in Religion in it Others it may be drive the same trade in their Thoughts although they make not outwardly such Complaints They are conversant for the most part with heartless despondings And in some they are multiplied by their natural Constitutions or Distempers Examples of this kind occur unto us every day Now what is the Advantage of these things what did Sion get when she cried The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me or Jacob when he said My way is hid from the Lord and my Judgement is passed over from my God Doubtless they did but prejudice themselves How doth David rouse up himself when he found his mind inclinable unto such a frame For having said Why dost thou cast me off O God why go I mourning because of the oppression of mine enemy He quickly rebukes and recollects himself saying Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope in God Psal. 4. 2 5. We must say then unto such heartless Complainers as God did to Joshuah Get you up why lye you thus upon your faces Do you think to mend your condition by wishing it better or complaining it is so bad are your complaints of want of an Interest in forgiveness a sanctified means to obtain it not at all you will not deal so with your selves in things natural or civil In such things you will take an industrious course for a remedy or for relief In things of the smallest importance in this world and unto this life you will not content your selves with wishing and complaining As though industry in the use of natural means for the attaining of natural Ends were the Ordinance of God and diligence in the use of spiritual means for the obtaining of spiritual Ends were not Do not consult your
and anxiety about them This made him fear lest God was his enemy and would continue to deal with him in all feverity So was it with Josephs Brethren in their distresses Gen. 42. 21. They said one to another we are verily guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he sought us and we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us And vers 22. Behold his blood is required Their distress revives a deep perplexing sense of the guilt of sin many years past before and that under all its aggravating circumstances which spoiled them of all their reliefs and comforts filling them with Confusion and Trouble though absolutely innocent as to what was come on them And the like appeared in the Widdow of Zareptha with whom Elijah sojourned during the famine Upon the death of her Son which it seems was some what extraordinary she cryed out unto the Prophet What have I to do with thee thou Man of God Art thou come to call my sins to remembrance and to slay my Son 1 King 17 18. It seems some great sin she had formerly contracted the guilt of and now upon her sore Affliction in the death of her only child the Remembrance of it was recalled and revived upon her soul. Thus deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Gods water spouts and then all his waves and billows go over a person Psal. 42. 7. The deep of Afflictions calleth up the deep of the guilt of sin and both in conjunction become as billows and waves passing over the soul. We see only the outside of mens afflictions they usually complain only of what doth appear And an easie thing it is supposed to be to apply relief and comfort unto those that are distressed The Rule in this matter is so clear so often repeated and inculcated the promises annexed unto this condition so many and precious that every one hath in readiness what to apply unto them who are so exercised But oftentimes we know nothing of the Gall and Wormwood that is in mens Affliction they keep that to themselves and their souls feed upon them in secret Lam. 3. 12. God hath stirred up the Remembrance of some great sin or sins and they look upon their Afflictions as that wherein he is come or beginning to enter into Judgement with them And is it any wonder if they be in darkness and filled with disconsolation 2. There is in many Afflictions something that seems New and peculiar wherewith the soul is surprised and cannot readily reduce its condition unto what is taught about Afflictions in General This perplexeth and intangleth it It is not Affliction it is troubled withall but some one thing or other in it that appears with an Especial dread unto the soul so that he questioneth whether ever it were so with any other or no and is thereby deprived of the supportment which from former Examples it might receive And indeed when God intendeth that which shall be a deep Affliction he will put an Edge upon it in matter or manner or circumstances that shall make the soul feel its sharpness He will not take up with our bounds and measures and with which we think we could be contented But he will put the impress of his own greatness and terrour upon it that he may be acknowledged and submitted unto Such was the State with Naomi When from a full and plentiful condition she went into a strange Countrey with an Husband and two Sons where they all dyed leaving her destitute and poor Hence in her account of Gods dealing with her she sayes call me not Naomi that is pleasant but call me mara that is bitter for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me I went out Full and the Lord brought me again Empty why then call ye me Naomi since the Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted me Ruth 1. 20 21. So was it with Job with the Widdow of Zareptha and with her at Naim who was burying her only Child And still in many Afflictions God is pleased to put in an entangling specialty which perplexeth the soul and darkens it in all its Reasonings about the Love of God towards it and its interest in Pardon and Grace 3. In some Affections are very strong and Importunate as fixed on lawful things whereby their Nature is made sensible and tender and apt to receive very deep impressions from urgent Afflictions Now although this in its self be a good natural frame and helps to preserve the soul from that stout hardness which God abhors yet if it be not watched over it is apt to perplex the soul with many intangling Temptations The Apostle intimates a double evil that we are obnoxious unto under tryals and Afflictions Heb. 12. 5. My Son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Men may either through a natural stoutness despise and contemn their sufferings and be obstinate under them or faint and despond and so come short of the end which God aimes at for them to be attained in a way of duty Now though the frame spoken of be not obnoxious unto the first extream yet it is greatly to the latter which if not watched against is no less pernitious than the former Affections in such persons being greatly moved they cloud and darken the mind and fill it with strange Apprehensions concerning God and themselves Every thing is presented unto them through a Glass composed of Fear Dread Terrour Sorrow and all sorts of disconsolations This makes them faint and despond unto very sad apprehensions of themselves and their Conditions 4. Afflictions find some entangled with very strong corruptions as Love of the World or the pleasure of it of Name or Reputation of great contrivances for posterity and the like or it may be in things carnal or sensual Now when these unexpectedly meet together great Afflictions and strong Corruptions it is not conconceivable what a combustion they will make in the soul. As a strong medicine or potion meeting with a strong or tough distemper in the body there is a violent contention in nature between them and about them so that oftentimes the very life of the patient is endangered So it is where a great tryal a smart stroke of the hand of God falls upon a person in the midst of his pursuit of the Effects of some corruptions the soul is amazed even to distraction and can scarce have any thought but that God is come to cut the person off in the midst of his sin Every unmortified corruption fills the very fear and expectation of Affliction with horrour And there is good Reason that so it should do for although God should be merciful unto mens Iniquities yet if he should come to take Vengeance of their Inventions their condition would be dark and sorrowful 5. Satan is never wanting in such Occasions to attempt the compassing of his Ends upon
exhortation doth not lie so much in this that there is Redemption with God as that this Redemption is plenteous or abundant Secondly Here is an intimation in the Word it self of that Relation which the Goodness and Grace of God proposed hath to the blood of Christ whence it is called Redemption This as was shewed in the opening of the words hath respect unto a price the price whereby we are bought that is the blood of Christ. This is that whereby way is made for the exercise of mercy towards sinners Redemption which properly denotes actual deliverance is said to be with God or in him as the effect in the cause The causes of it are his own Grace and the blood of Christ. There are these prepared for the redeeming of Believers from sin and trouble unto his own glory And herein lyeth the incouragement that the Psalmist proposeth unto the performance of the duty exhorted unto namely to wait on God It is taken from God himself as all incouragements unto sinners to draw nigh unto him and to wait for him must be Nothing but himself can give us confidence to go unto him And it is suited unto the state and condition of the soul under consideration Redemption and Mercy are suited to give relief from sin and misery Thirdly The last verse contains a promise of the issue of the performance of this duty He shall redeem his people from all their iniquities Two things are observable in the words 1. The Certainty of the Issue or event of the duty mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he shall or he will redeem he will assuredly do so Now although this in the Psalmist is given out by Revelation and is a new promise of God yet as it relates to the condition of the soul here expressed and the discovery made by saith of forgiveness and Redemption with God the Certainty intended in this Assertion is built upon the principles before laid down Whence therefore doth it appear whence may we infallibly conclude that God will redeem his Israel from all their iniquities I answer 1. The Conclusion is drawn from the Nature of God There is forgiveness and Redemption with him and he will act towards his people suitably to his own nature There is Redemption with him and therefore he will redeem forgiveness with him and therefore he will forgive As the Conclusion is certain and infallible that wicked men ungodly men shall be destroyed because God is Righteous and holy his Righteousness and Holiness indispensibly requiring their destruction so is the Redemption and Salvation of all that believe certain on this account namely because there is forgiveness with him he is good and gracious and ready to forgive his Goodness and Grace requires their Salvation 2. The Conclusion is certain upon the account of Gods Faithfulness in his Promises He hath promised that those who wait on him shall not be ashamed that their expectation shall not be disappointed whence the Conclusion is certain that in his time and way they shall be redeemed 2. There is the Extent of this deliverance or Redemption shall redeem Israel from all their Iniquities It was shewed in the opening of the verse that this word denotes either sin procuring trouble or trouble procured by sin and there is a respect unto both sin and its punishment From both from all of both kind God will redeem his Israel Not this or that evil this or that sin but from all evil all sin He will take all sins from their souls and wipe all tears from their Eyes Now God is said to do this on many accounts 1. On the account of the Great Cause of all actual deliverance and Redemption the blood of Christ. He hath laid an assured foundation of the whole work the price of Redemption is paid and they shall in due time enjoy the Effects and fruits of it 2. Of the Actual Communication of the Effects of that Redemption unto them This is sure to all the Elect of God to his whole Israel They shall all be made partakers of them And this is the end of all the promises of God and of the grace and mercy promised in them namely that they should be means to exhibit and give out to Believers that Redemption which is purchased and prepared for them and this is done two wayes 1. Partially initially and gradually in this life Here God gives in unto them the pardon of their sins being justified freely by his grace and in his Sanctification of them through his spirit gives them delivery from the power and dominion of sin Many troubles also he delivers them from and from all as far as they are Poenal or have any mixture of the Curse in them 2. Compleatly Namely when he shall have freed them from sin and trouble and from all the effects and consequents of them by bringing them unto the enjoyment of himself in Glory 3. The Words being thus opened we may briefly in the next place consider what they express concerning the State Condition or Actings of the soul which are represented in this Psalm Having himself attained unto the State before described and being engaged resolvedly into the performance of that duty which would assuredly bring him into an haven of full rest and peace the Psalmist applyes himself unto the residue of the Israel of God to give them incouragement unto this duty with himself from the Experience that he had of a blessed success therein As if he had said unto them Ye are now in Affictions and under troubles and that upon the account of your sins and provocations A condition I Confess sad and deplorable but yet there is hope in Israel concerning these things For consider how it hath been with me and how the Lord hath dealt with me I was in depths inexpressible and saw for a while no way or means of delivery But God hath been pleased graciously to reveal himself unto me as God pardoning Iniquity transgression and sin and in the Consolation and supportment which I have received thereby I am waiting for a full participation of the fruits of his Love Let me therefore prevail with you who are in the like condition to steer the same course with me Only let your expectations be fixed in mercy and Soveraign Grace without any regard unto any priviledge or worth in your selves Rest in the plenteous redemption those stores of Grace which are with Jehovah and according to his faithfulness in his promises he will deliver you out of all perplexing troubles Having thus opened the Words I shall now only name the doctrinal Observations that are tendred from them and so put a close to these Discourses As Obs. 1. The Lord Jehovah is the only hope for sin-distressed souls Hope in the Lord This hath been sufficiently discovered and confirmed on sundry passages in the Psalm Obs. 2. The Ground of all hope and Expectation of relief in sinners is meer Grace Mercy and Redemption Hope in the Lord
of old 1 Cor. 1. 24. Hence when a soul is brought under the power of a real conviction of sin so as that it would desirously be freed from the galling intanglements of it it is then the hardest thing in the world to perswade such a soul of this forgiveness Any thing appears more rational unto it any self Righteousness in this world any Purgatory hereafter The greatest part of the world of convinced Persons have forsaken forgiveness on this account Masses Penances Merits have appeared more eligible Yea men who have no other desire but to be forgiven do chuse to close with any thing rather than forgiveness If men do escape these Rocks and resolve that nothing but pardon will relieve them yet it is impossible for them to receive it in the Truth and power of it if not enabled by faith thereunto I speak not of men that take it up by hearsay as a common report but of those souls who find themselves really concerned to look after it When they know it is their sole concernment all their hope and relief when they know that they must perish everlastingly without it and when it is declared unto them in the words of truth and soberness yet they cannot receive it What is the Reason of it What staves off these hungry creatures from their proper food Why they have nothing to lead them into the mysterious depths of eternal Love of the blood of Christ and Promises of the Gospel How may we see poor diseased souls standing every day at the side of this Pool and yet not once venture themselves into it all their dayes Secondly It is too Great for any thing else to discover Forgiveness is a thing chosen out of God from all Eternity to exalt and magnifie the glory of his Grace and it will be made appear to all the world at the day of Judgement to have been a great thing When the soul comes in any measure to be made sensible of it it finds it so great so excellent and astonishable that it sinks under the thoughts of it It hath dimensions a length breadth depth and height that no line of the rational soul can take or measure There is exceeding Greatness in it Eph. 1. 19. That is a great work which we have prescribed Ephes. 3. 19. Even to know the Love of Christ that passeth knowledge Here I suppose Reason will confess it self at a stand and an issue to know that which passeth knowledge is none of its work It cannot be known saith Reason and so ends the matter But this is faiths proper work even to know that which passeth knowledge To know that in its power vertue sweetness and efficacy which cannot be throughly known in its nature and excellency to have by believing all the Ends of a full comprehension of that which cannot be fully comprehended Hence Heb. 11. 1. It is said to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of things not seen their subsistence though in themselves absent yet faith gives them a present subsistence in the soul. So it knows things that pass knowledge by mixing it self with them it draws out and communicates their benefit to the soul. From all which is evident what in the third place was proposed of faiths being only suited to be the means of this discovery so that I shall not need farther to insist thereon Discovery of Forgiveness in God a great supportment to sin entangled souls Particular Assurance attainable There yet remains a brief confirmation of the Position at first laid down and thus cleared before I come to the improvement of the words especially aimed at I say then this discovery of forgiveness in God is a great supportment for a sin entangled soul although it hath no special perswasion of its own particular interest therein Somewhat is supposed in this Assertion and somewhat affirmed First It is supposed that there may be a gracious perswasion and Assurance of faith in a man concerning his own particular interest in forgiveness A man may many do believe it for themselves so as not only to have the benefit of it but the comfort also Generally all the Saints mentioned in Scripture had this Assurance unless it were in the case of depths distresses and desertions such as that in this Psalm David expresseth his confidence of the Love and favour of God unto his own soul hundreds of times Paul doth the same for himself Gal. 2. 20. Christ loved M E and gave himself FOR ME 2 Tim. 4. 8. There is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which God the righteous Judge shall give me at that day And that this boasting in the Lord and his Grace was not an enclosure to himself he shewes Rom. 8. 38 39. Nothing can be more vain than what is usually pleaded to remove this Sheat Anker of the Saints Consolation namely that no mans particular name is in the Promise It is not said to this or that man by name that his sins are forgiven him But the matter is far otherwise To think that it is necessary that the names whereby we are known among our selves and are distinguished here one from another should be written in the Promise that we may believe in particular every one for himself is a fond conceit The new name of every Child of God is in the Promise And believing makes it very legible to him Yea we find by Experience that there is no need of Argumentation in this case The soul by a direct Act of faith believes its own forgiveness without making inferences or gathering conclusions and may do so upon the Proposition of it to be believed in the Promise But I will not digress from my work in hand and therefore shall only observe one or two things upon the Supposition laid down First It is the duty of every Believer to labour after an Assurance of a Personal interest in forgiveness and to be diligent in the cherishing and preservation of it when it is attained The Apostle exhorts us all unto it Heb. 10. 22. Let us draw near in full Assurance of faith that is of our Acceptance with God through forgiveness in the blood of Jesus This he plainly discourseth of And this Principle of our faith and confidence he would have us to hold fast unto the end Chap. 3. 14. It is no small evil in Believers not to be pressing after perfection in believing and obedience Oft-times some sinful indulgence to self or the world or sloth is the cause of it Hence few come up to Gospel Assurance But yet most of our Priviledges and upon the matter all our comforts depend on this one thing A little by the way to encourage unto this duty I shall desire you to consider both whence this Assurance is produced and what it doth produce what it is the fruit of and what fruit it bears First It is in general the product of a more plentiful communication of the Spirit than ordinary