〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neque enim à falute excluditur corpus Prsc good work Jesus Christ came to save 2. A soul not an estate or life though it is somewhat to save them but a soul indeed the body 's sav'd too but the soul as chief is specified onely A soul that is the main and indeed the man the jewel call'd our principal one They pursue my soul Job 30. 15. in the Hebrew it is as you may see in the Margin my principal one so call'd for its preheminence Dutch read it my Noble others Princess or excellent one David calls it his darling Ps 22. 20. a soul which is so precious more worth than a world and which Jesus Christ himself set so high a value upon as to lay down his life to save and which if a man should lose it would Math. 16. 26. profit him nothing though he should gain the whole world as Jesus Christ who best knew the worth of Souls hath declar'd and which being once lost is irrecoverable for what shall a man give in exchange for his soul O nothing can be given here though it was many worlds so as to avail any thing for as the loss of the soul is incomparable so it is irreparable A soul which being safe all 's safe and for the salvation of one of which there is joy among all the Angels Luk. 15. 10. in heaven 3. A soul from death that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pisc eternal death the second death and this is death indeed in comparison of which the other death viz. temporal deserves not the name of death 4. Hide a multitude of sins Some refer this to his sins that converts God being very gracious Efficiet ut Deus tegat c. ignoscit enim resipiscentibus etiamsi plurima gravissimáque peccata admiserit to such a one c. But others and better to the sinner converted for he being instrumental of his conversion proves so also of the covering or pardoning of his sins so as not to condemn or hurt him which is indeed man's blessedness and a very glorious priviledg as was hinted before and what a blessed thing is it to be instrumental herein in covering anothers sins yea multitudes Certainly this is more than if a man could be instrumental to another of compassing for him an whole world and to get one of such debts discharged towards God is more than ten thousand Talents unto man and let him now that converts a sinner from the errour of his way know yea and consider this to his comfort and to his own and others encouragement in so good a work and so as to give glory to God for putting so great honour and dignity upon him and who would not lay out their utmost endeavours here to save and to save a soul and from death yea eternal death and to cover sin yea a multitude of sins But the more yet to engage in so good a work consider we 1. Jesus Christ died to save souls and shall not we contribute our utmost endeavours c. 2. Others seek to pervert yea subvert and destroy souls and not we to convert and save them are they factours for the Devil and Hell and not we for God and Heaven c. 3. This is one great end of God's converting us and of giving us his Spirit it is to further the conversion of others the manifestation Ut Ecclesia inde fructum percipiat Calv. of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all that is others for their good and benefit and not to be idle but to be made use of for 1 Cor. 12. 7. common service Christ says to Peter and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren Luk. 22. 32. Acts 10. 38. and he himself being anointed with the holy Ghost it is said he went up and down doing good and so should we and not receive the grace of God in vain nor have Talents to keep them laid up in a napkin I have read of an old man who Pauâ—â—m sepultae distat inertiae celata virtus Horat. being converted himself was so zealous and industrious this way that he brought above fourty to seek out for heaven that before had no more care that way then as if they had been a company of beasts and this is indeed divine labour heavenly travel blessed imployment indeed to covert souls c. 4. This it is an high honour yea the highest to be instrumental in so blessed a work herein we are workers together with God and joyn in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 6. 1. fellowship with him and what an honour is that certainly it is a more glorious and honourable exploit to convert souls than to subdue Countreys and Kingdomes vanquish Nations yea than to exercise the vastest Dominions To rescue a soul from eternal death there is nothing Nihil praestantius aut magis optabile quam animam eripere ex morte aeterna c. says Calvin more honourable more desireable We see how much Christ values giving but meat to the hungry drink to the thirsty but how much more precious to him is the salvation of the soul than the life of the body 5. It is a point of great wisdom yea of the greatest He that winneth souls is wise that wins Prov. 11. 30. them to God and his ways I he is a wise man indeed truly wise greatly wise write him down as so for he approves and makes it appear he is so indeed it is as if Solomon had said There is a great deal of talk of wise men in the world but when all is said as can be said he is the wise man that wins souls not he that wins the world or wins so much wealth as the world thinks but souls because they are so precious one soul being more worth than a world yea many worlds and therefore it is greater wisdom to win a soul than a world and had Paul won but one soul he had therein approv'd himself wiser in winning that one soul than Alexander the Great in conquering the whole world yea had it been many worlds This is the wisdom that makes the face to shine here and such shall shine Eccles 8. 1. forth as the Sun for ever hereafter and of this wisdom may we say The Gold and the Cristal Job 28. 17 18. c. cannot equal it c. and the price of it is above Rubies c. 6. It is an evidence of sincere love and indeed Vera benevolentia maxime in mutuâ salutis curâ consistit amorenim vult ei qui amatur omne bonum maximè salutem Pareus there cannot be a greater nor clearer Who ever truly loves another he ever undoubtedly aims at and indeavours his good and especially his chiefest good and what can that be but his conversion and salvation and as ever therefore we would manifest the sincerity of our
to their capacity and whatever is the stile or language know that the remedy it self here propos'd is not mine but of his making and prescribing who is the great Physician and healer of Nations and he therefore that rejects or despises rejects and despises not man but God onely he 1 Thes 4. 8. hath spirited me and bid and appointed me as he hath some others to mind you of it and to put you speedily upon it yea and to betake your selves to him to help and assist you in it that so the Nation may not perish and so soveraign a remedy at hand for want of being applied and made use of as unto which if any thing here dictated shall prove subservient or any ways adjutant it shall ever be acknowledged as a singular mercy to him from the God of mercies who is and remains A studious well-wisher of Thine and the Nations weal R. P. To the Christian Reader SAlvation is the most sutable and the most desireable mercy for sinners for sinful persons for sinful Nations Salvation as it imports deliverance from evil and that it imports most properly is a very great mercy but as it implies the gift and injoyment of good of the highest good so it is far better Temporal salvation is a signal favour but how unspeakable a favour is Eternal Now as questionless salvation with all the appurtenances and consequents of it is the greatest mercy that can be desired so the greatest question that can be asked is that of the Jaylour Sirs what must we do to Acts 16. 31. be saved Reader the worthy Authour of the ensuing Discourse having I doubt not well weighed and deeply laid to heart the doleful condition of many thousand souls in city and countrey who remain in a state of sin and persist impenitently in the practice even of the grossest sins considering also with himself possibly with others the dangerous state of the whole Kingdom by reason of those much to be lamented overflowings of sin he I say having laid to heart and considered these things hath studied and in this Treatise freely held forth a remedy indeed an unfailing and the onely remedy whereby the souls of men may be saved and delivered from wrath and damnation and the whole Kingdom from ruine destruction and desolation There needs no more for the saving either of persons or Nations but the Lords effectual turning of our hearts from sin by the working of his powerful grace in us and the sweet manifestations of his favourable grace towards us or as the Authors Text hath it the causing of his face to shine upon us A remedy compounded of these two Gospel-ingredients both the fruits of Christ's bloud and death for the cure and help of sin-sick dying souls and Kingdoms thou wiâ—t find Christian Reader ready at hand for thine and the Kingdom 's benefiâ— in the doctrinal part of this book if thou hast an heart to make use of it And that thine heart may be drawn out to make a right use of it thou wilt find it stor'd with many clear directions to guide thee with strong reasons to convince thee with many cogent motives to quicken thee all fetcht from and grounded upon the holy Scriptures many Texts whereof are not onely as thâ—y all are pertinently alledged but solidly pithily and largely paraphrased and expounded I commend all to the blessing of God and thy diligent perusal praying that all may turn not onely to thy souls profit and everlasting salvation but to the temporal salvation of these Kingdoms from those impending evils of punishment which our abounding evils of sin threaten us with and may quickly bring down upon us unless the Lord God of hosts according to his super abounding goodness turn us again to himself and cause his face to shine upon us then and not till then we shall indeed be saved or dwell safely and be quiet from fear of evil This Christian Reader is the apprehension this the daily petition of Thy friend and servant in the Lord JOSEPH CARYL Good Reader WE learn from the story of the Fall that man was first a fugitive from God and then an exile first Adam ran to the bushes and then God drove him out of Paradise and ever since besides the aversion of mans own heart there lieth a legal exclusion on Gods part Man in this condition is become a stranger to God and his own happiness and not only a stranger but an enemy but though we are enemies to God we cannot make good our quarrel against him the Lord of Hosts will be too hard for poor worms Alas what will our many lusts do against his mighty Angels God cannot be overcome yet such is his Grace he is ready to be reconciled Turn unto me saith the Lord of Hosts and I will turn unto you saith the Lord of Hosts Zech. 1. 3. The same stile is used both in the exhortation and the promise 'T is the Lord of Hosts who inviteth us to turn to him by a serious repentance and the Lord of Hosts who promiseth to reward us with all manner of felicity and happiness If we turn not we find him a dreadful adversary but if we have an heart to return to him we shall find him as powerful and delightful a friend Woe to him that striveth with his Maker But blessed he that submitteth to him We keep off from him out of carnal liberty not liking the strictness of his precepts and also out of legal bondage fearing the strokes of his Justice and we are hardened in our alienation from God by patching up a sorry happiness in the creature apart from him our remedy must be fully correspondent with our disease therefore our cure consists in turning from the creature to God from self to Christ from sin to holiness Do this and it shall be well with you sin shall be pardon'd and everlasting happiness shall be your portion But who is sufficient for these things The legal exclusion is taken off by the merit of the Lord Jesus and the straying disposition is cured by the all powerful and converting grace of his Spirit and in conversion we find him to be the Lord of Hosts aswell as in destruction as he conquereth and subdueth mans heart to himself for surely God never made a creature too hard for himself But his grace must be sought after by us in the use of all holy means Gods complaint against his people was that they would not frame their doings to turn unto the Lord surely they do the work of Christianity who most labour in this very thing especially in a time of general defection and corruption of manners when a people temptingly and daringly put it to the tryal whether God will be so severe against sinners as his word representeth him to be in such a time we need cry aloud both to God and men to God that he may turn us by his preventing grace and turn to us by his rewarding grace to
6. the comfortableness ef it to our selves P. 236. to 276 CHAP. XIII Further motives to turn to God 'till we do this 1. we forget our selves 2. we are not our selves 3. these are times of turning 1. of sinful in regard of men 2. judicial in regard of God 4. Nothing less speaks us true Christians Ten several things instanc'd in 5. This all call for 6. God counts upon 7. want of this God's great complaint 8. not turning when he smites puts him upon greater severities yea makes him resolve upon final ruine p. 276. to 303 CHAP. XIV To incourage one another to turn to God p. 303. c. CHAP. XV To see to it our turning to God be true and real 309 CHAP. XVI To prove God therewith 319 c. CHAP. XVII Motives to seek God's favour 331. c. To consider 1. how excellent it is 2. how honourable 3. how comfortable 4. how profitable 5. how necessary CHAP. XVIII To endeavour the conversion others 337 1. It being of general concern 2. to convert a sinner from the errour of his way it being 1. to save 2. a soul 3. from death 4. a means to cover multitudes of sins Fnrther motives 1. Jesus Christ dyed to save souls 2. others seek to destroy them 3. This is God's great end of giving his Spirit 4. It is an high honour 5. a point of great wisdom 6. an evidence of sincere love 7. Till people are converted they are unprofitable 8. Beasts are to be helped in danger To mannage what we do herein wisely The Conclusion of the whole Some few Errata escaped are thus to be corrected In the Epistle Dedicatory p. 2. 1. 18. for effectual read subservient and l. 19. for essential read effectual Page 23. marg for regio read regno and for summè r. sum me 12. for Hosea 12. 4. r. 14. 70. marg for Jer. 3. r. 31. 72. l. 5. sor Psal 12. r. 11. 73. l. 7. after the Hebrew r. is 95. marg for ipsae r. ipsos 110. l. 25. for our r. one 114. l. 2. for thins r. things 166. l. 12. for Acts 14. r. 13. 245. l. 17. for the second toyling r. toying 247. l. 17. for turn r. turns 301. l. 4. before wrought r. first ENGLAND'S Sole and Soveraign way of being saved PSALM 80. 19. Turn us again O Lord God of Hosts Cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved CHAP. I. The general Scope Summe and Parts of the words IF we consult this Psalm we shall find that the Church and people of God were here at this time in a sad condition they were under sore trials and afflictions Those former manifold mercies which the Lord had exhibited to them were now changed into miseries and distresses The Lord fed them with the bread of tears and gave them tears to drink in great measure He made them a strife unto their neighbours and their enemies laught among themselves v. 6. 7. and being in so sad a condition they do in this Psalm pray for deliverance and these words here which I have chose to discourse of are part of their prayer yea a main chief and principal part With this they begin v. 3. and go on with v. 7. and conclude with v. 19. and a blessed part they are indeed and they in their pressures in their miseries and calamities thus praying pray well and indeed they could not pray better for they thus praying go the right way and take the most effectual course both to be heard Hic versus ordine est tertius tertiò per hunc Psalmum repetitur quod ob id moneo ut intelligamus Prophetam in hac petitione quòd hic versus complectitur universam constituisse salut is spem Musc in loc and to be saved For 1. we in our suits and supplications never please God better nor are welcomer into his presence nor likelier to speed than when we ask most I mean what is best and of greatest and highest importance Math. 6. 33. 2 Chron. 7. 14. And 2. for the Lord God of Hosts to turn a people again and cause his face to shine is the onely way for a people to be saved And this they here pray for yea and this is the onely way to have England saved to have this Nation saved Kingdom saved Church saved City saved Towns saved Families saved our selves and ours and all saved for God to turn us again and cause his face to shine and when God does thus we shall be saved indeed saved to purpose saved in mercy saved aright so that a Discourse of these words must needs be very seasonable and soveraign for they are the very platform of a peoples weal and do contain in them their onely right way of being saved I shall not stand at the present to give you any farther account of the Psalm in general only take notice that the words are the burden or weight of the Psalm we have them no less than twice before as v. 3. Turn us again O God and Versus intercalaris cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved They pray v. 1. 2. Give ear O'Shepherd of Israel thou that leadest Joseph like a flock thou that dwellest between the Cherubims shine forth Before Ephraim Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength and come and save us But how would they be saved what is that they so much desire and breath after that they may be saved why Turn us again say they O God and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved and then again v. 7. Turn us again c. They had made before very sad complaints v. 4 5 6. how that God was angry against their prayer and fed them with the bread of tears c. But how ill soever it was with them at present they beg but this of God that he would turn them again and cause his face to shine and then they promise to themselves that all shall certainly be well with them and they shall be saved and then again in the 19. v. with this namely the words I have Hic versus principalem continet propositionem hinc tertio repetitur â—óque Psalmus concluditur made choice of they conclude and shut up all Turn us again O Lord God of Hosts cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved Thus they three times repeat the same thing as if they could never pray it enough and we scarce find the like in all holy Writ and therefore is it the more to be looked into and observ'd Mollerâ— and seriously weighed and considered And these Non inanem battologiam dictat nobis Dei Spiritus easdem preces ter incuscando sed ut malis gravati audacti nihilominus assurgamus haec fultura nobis saepiùs offertur their so frequent and earnest requests of the same things we are not to look upon them as vain Tautologies or needless repetitions but as they do denote the fervency
the joy and comfort of them more than countervail the other there being no comparison between them but the one exceedingly transcending the other As the sufferings of this present Rom. 8. 18. time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed hereafter so neither are they to be compared with spiritual mercies here as for God to turn us again to himself to pardon our sins to cause his face to shine to vouchsafe us his favour and his comforts and consolations What sufferings or afflictions will not these comfort and support under or what other wants will they not more than countervail what are the world's frowns to God's smiles the world's troubles to God's peace the world's sorrows to God's joyes the world's afflictions to God's consolations the world's pressures to the pleasures of God's presence or its burdens to the rest which that affords what are its Bitters to God's Sweets its Gall and Wormwood to the Wine of his Love Cant. 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the Kisses of his mouth for thy love is better than wine and v. 4. we will remember thy love more than wine yea 't is better than life and in it even in death it self there is life And hence is it that the Apostle speaks what is a Paradox to the men of the world troubled but not distressed as sorrowful yet always rejoycing as having nothing and yet possessing all things as dying and yet behold we live live in the light of God's countenance in his sight as Hosea 6. 2. and we shall live in his sight where indeed only the Soul truly lives and there it may live even in death and have light arise to it even in darkness and see light in the greatest obscurity and this light I mean the light of God's countenance it giveth Songs even in the night as it did to Paul and Silas when thrust into the inner prison and their feet made fast in the Stocks yet God's gracious presence did so cheer their spirits and put such joy into their hearts that even at midnight they brake forth in praises to God Acts 16. 25. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God and the prisoners heard them they did not onely pray but sing prayses and sung so loud that others heard them the prisoners heard them they were awaken'd by them And what did they think of them surely they thought they were not well in their wits to sing at such a time and in such a place and in such a condition who having been beaten and many stripes laid upon them were cast into prison yea thrust into the inner prison and their feet made fast in the stocks and yet now to sing O if God cause but his face to shine if he lift but up the light of his countenance it will make a man sing at any time in any place in any condition it will turn a prison into a Pallace and a dungeon into a Paradise This made David to have his Psalms yea Michtams i. his golden Psalms or as the Dutch render it his golden Jewels Aureum ornamentum aut insigne exputissimo auro factum it signifies what is made of the best and finest gold so called because of their singular preciousness and excellency in the saddest places and in the saddest outward condition as when the Philistins took him in Gath when he fled from Saul in the Cave when Saul sent and they watcht the house to kill him c. See Psalm 56 57 59 the Titles Moses Psalm 90. 14. prays O satisfie us early with thy mercy i. e. with thy loving kindness vouchsafe us thy favour that we may rejoyce and be glad all our dayes This is enough to make the people of God rejoice and be glad all their dayes be they never so dark and gloomy evil and perillous As we have received mercy sayes the Apostle we faint not 2 Cor. 4. 1. The Lord tels Moses Exod. 33. 14. My presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest Though Moses was to go through a wearisome wilderness and amidst a wearisom people yet the Lord's presence should give him rest We may go any where with him he will be an hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land Isa 32. 2. Vse 1. Of Reproof to those who when miseries and calamities are upon themselves or the Nation look after the removal of them but not after Spiritual mereies they are very earnest and sollicitous that God would take away their ourward plagues remove his judgments but not that God would take away their sins and turn them again to himself and cause his face to shine But so God will but do the other free them of their miseries let the latter do what they will Psalm 4. 6. There be many that say who will shew us any good i. e. any outward good how to compasse any earthly worldly gain or advantage O that we might have peace and plenty or how shall we once get out of these troubles and afflictions but few say with David lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us and then all shall be well if thou do but this Many when they are in pain and sick and weak they cry out indeed but for what for ease and health and recovery not that they may be turned from their sins and recover God's favour as Pharaoh he calls to have other plagues taken away but never begs to have the plague of his own heart taken away which was the greatest of all and far worse than all the other but this is the voice onely of nature and argues a graceless heart and that which the Lord as I said complains of Hos 6. 14. Vse 2. Of Exhortation Then when miseries and calamities do abide us let this be our Prayer let us with the Church and people of God here more especially and most earnestly beg and implore spiritual mercies that God would turn us again and cause his face to shine lift up upon us the light of his countenance vouchsafe us his grace and favour bless us in turning us from our iniquities let us be importunate for these ask them again and again and whatever outward evils or distresses may abide us these as you have heard will not only comfort and support us under them but more than countervail them When he giveth quietness who then can make trouble c if God be for us who can be against us Rom. 8. 31. You know what Philip said to our Saviour John 14. 8. Lord shew us the father and it sufficeth us So let but the Father shew us himself shine on us with his face vouchsafe us his favour and it sufficeth As the Lord said unto Paul and says to all his people 2 Corinth 12. 9. my grace is sufficient for thee though then Paul was in
from the Sun than any iniquity or obliquity proceed from God a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he Deut. 32. 4. 3. The sin and great iniquity of this yet further appears if we do but consider while we have and do forsake and turn aside and go away from God who or what it is that we have and do turn aside to and go away after And Ephes 2. 2. 2 Pet. 2. 10. 2 Pet. 3. 3. Jude 18. Jonah 2. 8. this is that which heaven and earth may be astonished at for it is after sin after the flesh after our vile lusts and leasing and lying vanities yea after Satan after the Devil 1 Tim. 1. 15. For some are already turned aside after Satan and so after hell death perdition and destruction and at best it is but after the creature after 1 Sam. 12. 21. Prov. 25. 4 5. vain things which cannot profit nor deliver things that are not that are vanity yea vanity of vanities i. e. vainest vanity as Solomon long since Quid ost impemtentis vita quam periculosa à Deo alienatio Angelorum offensio servitus Diabolica c. upon the utmost proof and experiment of them hath left upon record and that again and again Eccles. 1. 2. 14. 2. 17. 12. 8. c. And what an evil and bitter thing is this and what iniquity and sin is there in it that God and such a God God blessed for ever a God of all and infinite perfections should be turned aside and gone away from and the back turn'd upon Quid magis horrendum posset excogitari quà m praeponererem adeò vilem Deo creatori Granatensis and i th' mean time sin and the flesh and the vile lusts thereof yea the Devil himself and death and hell turn'd to and gone after what for God to be left for the creature All-sufficiency it self forsaken for vanity Fulness for emptiness and indigency Yea sin and Satan and a man's vile lusts preferred before the Lord of life and glory O well may the heavens be astonished at this and be horribly afraid yea be very desolate and so shall the sinner too such despisers shall behold another day and wonder and perish Vse 2. This it speaks our misery that we are all by nature turn'd aside and gone away from God and such a God as you have heard but now describ'd yea that God whose face and Psal 73. â—5 presence makes heaven and is the heaven of heaven for heaven is not God's happiness but God is heavens happiness whom have I in heaven but 30. 5. 63. 3. thee that God with whom is the fountain of life in whose favour is life yea whose favour is better than life and who is alone the sole soveraign suitable all-sufficient and eternal good of the soul And that which further advances and adds to this misery is this that we being turn'd aside and gone away from God he also is departed and gone away from us so that now by nature we are said to be without God in the world and to be estranged and far from him I mean in regard of his special and gracious presence and what inspeakable yea unconceivable misery does this speak there is a woe with an Emphasis put upon this yea woe also to Hosea 9. 11. 12. them when I depart from them this is last brought in as the sorest and heaviest evil and even perfection of their miseries and which indeed in the perfect completion thereof will be the very hell of hell that there must be a departure from God and a being punished with everlasting Matth. 25. 41. 2 Thes 1. 9. Ps 73. 28. destruction from the presence of the Lord c. for loe they that are far from thee shall perish c. Certainly the world is not so sad without the Sun the earth without rain the body without the soul as the soul without God who is more the life of the soul than the Soul is the life of the body Saul spake truely as to that when he said I am sore distressed the Philistins making war against him and God being departed from him 1 Sam. 28. 15. Job 34. 29. When he giveth quietness who then can make trouble and when he hideth his face who then can behold him c. And when God goes away all good must needs also go away with him and all evils break in as the Lord threatens that people upon their forsaking him and breaking that covenant he had made with them Deut. 31. 17. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day and I will forsake them and I will hide my face from them and what then and ther shall be devoured and many evils and troubles shall befall them c. And how can it be otherwise when their defence is departed from them Use 3. This shews the absolute indispensable necessity of being turn'd again if ever we be saved if ever we enter into heaven and enjoy God for ever Why because by nature we are all turn'd aside and turn'd away from these and have our backs upon them and how can we unless we be turn'd again ever come to partake of them Can a man unless he turn ever come to a place that he hath his back upon and is going away from as can he come to a place in the East that has his back upon it and is going a quite contrary way to a place in the West And can a man unless he turn again and be converted ever come to heaven that has his back upon heaven is going as fast as he can in the ways that lead to hell in a quite opposite and contrary way and course it cannot be And therefore this shews the absolute and indispensable necessity of being turn'd again of being converted if ever we go to heaven if ever we be saved and come to enjoy God for ever and hence says our Saviour Matth. 18. 3. Except you be converted and become as little children for it is a change not of place but of disposition that is required here ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven and indeed ye cannot for till ye are converted your backs are upon it and ye are going on in a quite opposite way to it Can any go to heaven with their backs upon heaven No except ye repent says Christ ye shall all likewise perish and turn ye turn ye says the Lord Luke 13. 3 5. Ezek. 33. 11. from your evill ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel As if the Lord should have said How can ye live unless ye turn that have your backs upon life and are going on in the ways that lead unto death And therefore this being our condition by nature that we are all turn'd aside and turn'd away from God and our sin and misery being so great by reason thereof O let us never rest 'till we come to be turn'd again there
just and equal duty and it brings us into a right state into a right frame sets us at rights and till then our state is wretched crooked and wrong nothing is at rights for how should things be right with us whiles our hearts and ways are not right with God but when that which is so right is shewn to man and shewn powerfully and effectually so as to embrace and do what is made known and shewn Then it follows v. 26. He shall pray unto God and he will be favourable unto him and he shall see his face with joy c. The Lord is very gracious and of a very kind nature and disposition he has always in himself a rich storehouse of kindness and mercy and then he gives it forth Come and let us return unto the Lord Hosea 6. 1. and then v. 2. we shall live in his fight or in or before his face live and enjoy his love and favour the life of our lives He looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was Job 23. 27 28. right and it profited me not that is if any truely repent what then his life shall see the light he shall live in the light of God's countenance Thus the Lord waits to be gracious he waits for our repentings and turnings to him that he may be gracious and while we retard our repentings and turnings to him we retard his grace and favour from our selves There is indeed a previous preventing grace and favour of God a first shining of God's face and breaking forth of Gratiam qui invenit apud Deum ab eâ primum inventus est quia eam nemo quaerit quem ea prius non quaesierit admiserit Rivet Conditio ad gratiam recipiendam requisita nonponitur in nobis nisi per gratiā praevenientem Pareus the light of his countenance as in the conversion of a sinner which I hinted before when God puts a stop to a poor sinner and gives him to repent and turn to him then is a time of love and then God causes his face to shine when he says to the sinner even in his bloud live but then after this previous preventing favour and grace there is more grace second Acts as it were and renewed manifestations we upon our repenting and turning to God being put into such an estate as in which he owns us and delights in us and is gracious to us How gracious was the Lord to Peter upon his repenting and turning again he was gracious to him before Luke 22. 61. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter c. and how gracious after Mark 16. 7. tell his disciples and Peter c. And so to Ephraim upon repenting and turning how abundantly did God manifest his grace and favour how lovingly and meltingly and tenderly does he speak of him Jer. 31. 18 19 20. Is Ephraim my dear son c. My bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy on him And so the Prodigal upon his returning how does the father meet him and falls on his neck and kisses him 2. Then that is removed which interposes between us and God's favour and hinders the Luke 15. 17 18 19 20 c. shinings of his face I mean our sins for they and onely they do this Is 59. 2. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you therefore when we are turned again from our sins to God his face must needs shine What should hinder when the clouds are dispell'd and scattered the Sun appears and its light breaks forth Vse 1. Blessed and thrice happy are they then whom the Lord hath turned again to himself for unto them he hath and will more and more be gracious and manifest his favour and cause his face to shine Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causelt to approach to thee c. Ps 65. 4. For he shares in that and partakes of that which is man's happiness and renders him blessed as appears in that form which the Lord prescribes of blessing the children of Israel Numb 6. 22 23 c. and this makes his present state and condition so comfortable one day of a repenting sinner and so of a sinner that is reconciled to God and to whom he vouchsases his favour being more comfortable than a thousand years of another man that is in continual fear of death and judgment Vse 2. As ever then we would make it out indeed to our own souls that we have any clear evidence or comfortable demonstration of God's favour of his love and the light of his countenance let us never rest 'till we find our selves to be indeed such that the Lord hath turn'd again to himself and then he hath and will cause his face to shine David prays Ps 86. 17. Shew me a token for good and here 's a token for good indeed for the chief good the greatest good God's favour which is life yea better than life Saving conversion is ever a sure sign of divine affection and of a work of grace upon the heart of a souls having found favour in God's eyes our being turned unto God clearly evidences his Si conversi fuerimus per poenitentiam ille omnium placatissimus benignissimus convertentes ad se recipiet Musc having in favour turn'd to us and that he will more and more so turn to us And therefore how earnest and sollicitous should we be for that which gives us so clear an evidence and sure demonstration of so great a good even of the favour of God but never let any bear themselves up with what is consistent with God's hatred and with wrath and eternal death as the honours and profits and pleasures of the world are which men may wallow in the fulness of and yet be under divine frowns and which for the most part are cast upon the worst and vilest of men and upon those whom God's soul abhors which made the very heathens contemn them In hoc coenum in has sordes Seneca being cast upon such dunghils But saving conversion is ever an effect of and followed with divine smiles and on such the Lord God of hosts hath and will more and more cause his face to shine CHAP. V. The main chief and principal point of Doctrine observable from the words DOctr 6. The onely way for a people to be saved it is for God to turn them again and cause his face to shine That is as hath been open'd and explain'd for God to convert them from their sins to himself and his ways and to vouchsafe them his favour to be gracious and propitious to them in his son this is the onely way of a peoples weal it consists in their sound conversion to God and in their finding grace and favour with God in their being turn'd again unto him and in his turning unto them as the Lord expresses it Thus saith
Religion would manifest it self in and from his tongue also though not onely as well as be in his heart that also would be turned from the evils thereof as railing reviling foolish and idle and much speaking censuring which many that seem to be religious are very free in and make no great matter of but however such may seem to others or themselves to be religious by the practise of some outward duties and by attending on God's worship c. They do but deceive their own souls and pretend Religion to no purpose for where conversion is true it is so operative and effectual as that it turns all mind will heart affections eyes ears hands feet lips life the mind that is turned from its vanity ignorance and blindness vain thoughts and unbelieving imaginations the will from its obstinacy rebellion and disobedience the heart from its hardness and both it and the affections from those unlawful objects they were placed upon and that excess and violence and immoderacy that they formerly ran out into and so the members of the body from the evils of them as from being any longer instruments and tools for the execution of sin Ro. 6. 13. c. 2. As to the object turn'd from viz. every sin all evill the least as well as the greatest yea and the most beloved at least as to approving of it or lying or living any longer in it and as to the dominion of it Thus all must be turn'd from as none in confession are to be dissembled so none in conversion are to be reserved that Vera penitentia est animi morum ab omni impietate ad pietatem mutatio man can never turn to God in truth that holds fast any known sin There are some indeed darling sins that may more properly be call'd our own we being by nature more especially inclin'd to them and these men would fain have spared but all must be abandoned if ever we would have our conversion sincere As we would have all taken away as to the guilt of them so all must be turn'd from as to the love of them and going on in them as all as to their being remitted so as to their being mortified We could be willing indeed to have all pardon'd that none might hurt us but we are unwilling to part withall especially such as are Mat. 5. 29 30. as our right eye or our right hand but those must be cast from us here or we must be cast into hell hereafter one sin lov'd and lien in undoes for at that our breach death and damnation will enter and that very sin as one expresses it will be as a milstone about the neck and sink the soul forever The Prophet David expresses thus his uprightness I hate every 119 Psal 128. 113. 18. 23. 101. 3. false way and I kept my self from mine iniquity and I have refrained my feet from every evil way and I will set no evil thing before mine eyes c. Such as still go on in any known sin with allowance be it never so close are yet but in a state of nature and never were yet effectually turn'd to God But that sin is in the room of God whatever it be whether Covetousness or Luxury or Pride c. And Coloss 3. 5. Philip. 3. 19. Covetousness which is Idolatry Whos 's God is their Belly People may do much as pray and hear the Word yea with some joy receive it and do many things as Herod did go far in the Profession of Religion and yet having still some Herodias some secret beloved sin that they hug in their bosom and will not part with be still in the very gall of bitterness and in the Acts 8. 23. bond of iniquity And Jesus Christ will never lodg in any such heart where ever any such enemy is yet harboured It is treason to entertain and harbour any one Traytor as well as many and the grounds and reasons for turning from sin if they be spiritual and sincere they hold in every sin as its contrariety to an holy God its crossing his will and opposing his holy just and righteous Law dishonouring his Majesty and grieving his Spirit crucifying his son defacing his Image defiling the Soul and stripping it of its beauty and excellency c. And this now more or less is in every sin and therefore to leave and part with some sins and to spare and hold fast others is but hypocrisy and no sound conversion And besides are not all our Jer. 16. 17. Psal 119. 168. 139. 3. c. ways before the Lord in his view and if therefore we take heed to any of our ways why not to all and does not one sin being indulg'd separate from God as well as many and expose to ruine As one leak in a Ship may sink it one breach in a Castle betray it one knife at the heart peirce it as well as many And therefore there must be here a turning away and an utterly breaking off from all sin be it never so sweet or bring it in never so much pleasure or profit yet it must be abandoned and forsaken if we would approve our conversion sincere 3. As to the object turn'd to viz unto God and all that is good and holy and just and righteous to all God's commandements for there must be no bawking of any but an universal sincere respect to all to one as well as another the least as well as the greatest the difficultest as well as the easiest As God says of David Who shall fulfil all my will and all his judgments Acts 13. 22. Psalm 18. 22. 119. 128. v. 6. were before me and I esteem all his precepts concerning all things to be right and then says he shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandements Thus as there must be an abstaining from all evill so a doing of all the contrary good a fulfilling all righteousness Matth. 3. 15. a sincere purpose desire and endeavour at least to conform to all God hath instituted Col. 4. 12. and commanded and to stand compleat in his whole will as it is said of Zacharias and Elizabeth Luke 1. 6. that they were both righteous before God walking in all the commandements and ordinances of the Lord blameless 10. It must be a constant continued turning as there must be a forsaking of all evil and a practising of all the contrary good so this must be constantly continually and for ever It must be such a turning as is without returning to our sins again Hence some have defin'd it the constant turning of a man in his whole life from all sin unto God c. For as it is the work of the whole man so of the whole life and we are more and more to turn none being so far turn'd from sin to God but have need still to turn more There is an initial or first repentance which is at our
the onely way for people to be saved to be blessed and happy and have it well with them and because else they perish and are ruined and undone and it will certainly be ill with them for ever And hence it is that the Lord makes use of such pathetical and affectionate expressions Say unto them as I live saith the Lord I have Ezek. 33. 11. no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel How vehemently does the Lord here expostulate and press this upon them Turn ye turn ye which denotes the height and vehemency of his affection and desire how much his heart was upon it and is there not good reason for all this why they dye and are undone and perish else for why will ye dye life and death are in these things in turning or not turning to God as life is the happy effect of the one so death and damnation is the fruit of the other And is it any wonder the Lord is then so earnest and importunate when our weal or our woe when it being well or ill with us when our happiness or our misery our being saved or eternally destroyed depends upon this And hence the Lord is not content to speak it once but speaks it again calls for it twice because it was of such absolute and indispensable necessity and not a small matter nor a business of indifferency And what infinite cause have we then to bless the Lord that he should be so intent upon this so frequently and earnestly invite us to this again and again wherein our own good is so much concerned and which is of such indispensable necessity that we cannot otherwise but perish and what can we indeed do better or wherein can we be more happy than in turning to him 6. This informs us and gives us to see whence it is that God's Prophets formerly and his Ministers alate have been and still are so frequent and earnest in preaching and pressing of this why is it because so much depends on this because they know it cannot else be well with them neither can they be saved or be happy nay they know it cannot else but be ill with them and they must else perish and be undone for ever and therefore have they and do they still so much urge and press this not onely speak but cry Be ye not as your fathers unto whom Zach. 1. 4. the former Prophets have cried thus saith the Lord of hosts turn ye from your evil ways and from your evil doings c. They do not onely call but cry yea cry out proclaim so as the rather to be heard and more to be heeded they were zealous and earnest therein why because the matter was of such importance and the danger was so great if they did not hearken And hence is it that Ministers still are so pressing and importunate as to this they pray and beseech yea and if ye will not hear saith the Prophet Jeremy Jerem. 13. 7. My soul shall mourn in secret for you and mine eyes weep sore and run down with tears c. The voice of one crying in the wilderness c. Luke 3. 4. Thus the Prophets and the Apostles cryed and Jesus Christ himself he cryed John 7. 37. In the last day that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried saying if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink O for poor sinners to come to Christ to believe on him and repent and turn to the Lord is a matter of great consequence of infinite importance not a thing of indifferency but of absolute necessity and hence Jesus Christ is so earnest and intent upon this as appears by his posture he stood up by his vehement speaking he cried he spake with a lowd voice which shewed the fervour and ardency of his Spirit So it is said of Paul that great Apostle that he shewed first unto them of Damascus and Acts 26. 20. at Jerusalem and through all the Coasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God c. It was Paul's great work and main business to have it well with all he came among his hearts desire was that they might be saved and therefore was he so intent upon this where ever he came that they might repent and turn to God as the onely soveraign way of it and as knowing it could not else be well with them Hence it was that that holy Martyr Mr. Bradford when he came to the stake cryed out so earnestly and affectionately O England England repent of thy sins repent of thy sins he knew it was the onely way of Englands weal then as it is now and therefore whatever is the zeal and fervency of God's Ministers herein so as that some it may be may think them besides themselves as some did Paul 2 Cor. 5. 13. yet this being the onely way of their being sav'd and they being else und one this gives sufficient reason and ground thereof 7. This lets us see the reason why the Church and People of God have been so fervent and frequent in their Prayers for this that God would turn them again and cause his face to shine as here in one Psalm they instance it no less than thrice v. 3. v. 7. and v. 19. and can ye blame them or was there not good reason for it when as this was the only way for them to be saved to be happy and to have it well with them and how earnest have others also been as to these as David how often and how exceeding earnestly does he beg that Psalm 119. 58. God would make his face to shine upon him and I entreated thy favour or I have earnestly besought thy face so the Dutch with my whole heart or with all my heart and good cause his very happiness and felicity consisting thereon and flowing therefrom c. Poenitentia Angelorū delectatio hilacritas gaudent societati suae restitutos esse quos in tenebris inferni ac Satanae potestate constitutos viderant Gerhard 8. This lets us see whence it is that there hath been and is still such great joy when a sinner turns to God and that both in heaven and earth as the Scripture declares Luk. 15. 7. I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth c. and v. 10. Likewise I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth c. the repenting and turning though but of one sinner makes all heaven merry as it Heus tu peccator bono animo sis vides ubi de tuo gaudetur c. Tertull were it causes joy all heaven over it puts harps as it were into the Angels hands and songs into their mouths c.
you shall not be saved but perish none indeed are saved for it but for me and my merits sake nor can any be saved without it Had Jesus Christ shed Seas of bloud he would never yet save a sinner that he does not bring to repent of his sins The Father and Son never agreed nor resolv'd upon saving man in an absolute illimited way but in such a way and order as in a way of repenting and believing not as if there was Quamvis Christus millies mortem obiisset nullus tamen impoenitens peccatorum condonationem ex illius morte consequetur nec quemvis alium fructum percipiet Deutus any merit or causality in repentance but as the way and condition without which though not the cause for which remission of sins and salvation cannot be obtained Thus Repentance is necessary not onely as God's command but also as a way means and order that God has ordained for remission and salvation so that though there is no causality dignity or merit in our repentance yet it is of that nature that the holy Ghost must necessarily work it in all those who are partakers of them so as to qualifie for them so that either we must repent or Aut poenitendum aut pereundum perish turn or dye be converted or destroyed either this must be done or we undone for ever Ezek. 18. 30. If indeed we repent and turn from our transgressions then the Lord hath told us iniquity 33. 11. shall not be our ruine though it tends to our ruine but unless we repent and turn it will inevitably be so If we still persist and live and lie Si divinae miserationes nequeunt nos allectare tum judica Dei nos terreant in our sins we shall then certainly dye in our sins and perish in our sins Hence says the Lord Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel implying that 'till we do turn from our evil ways we say in effect we will dye For the turning away of the simple shall Prov. 1. 31. 11. 19. slay them and he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death If thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness he shall dye in Ezek. 3. 19. his iniquity Either we must be turned to God here or separated from him for ever hereafter either be converted or for ever excluded the Kingdom of Heaven and turn'd into hell Verily I say unto you except ye be converted c. ye Matth. 18. 2. shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven If Tertullian therefore thou be backward in thoughts of repentance be forward in thoughts of hell c. for we must turn or for ever burn in hell Thus conversion is necessary as a means to life and happiness so that as life is a necessary consequent of conversion so death is an inevitable fruit and effect of the neglect of it so that I may say to you as Moses sometimes said to that people See I here set before you this day life and good death and evil life and all manner of good if you obey and repent and turn to the Lord but death and all manner of evil if ye refuse and I call Deut. 30. 15. heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that ye may live Why life and death are the greatest and forciblest arguments in the world what will not a man give or do for life Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life And death is the most formidable of evils call'd the King of terrours we use to say such a man is as earnest and intent upon a thing as if life and death depended upon it Why truly life or death depend upon our turning or not turning to God life and death are in these things and accordingly such should our prayers and cares and indeavours be in and about the same 5. The gratefulness and acceptableness of it unto God how pleasing welcom and delightful it is to him when a sinner does indeed repent and turn to God! O with what joy and singular complacency does the Lord speak of Ephraim as turning from his Idolatries and not going on as he had done to provoke him and wrong himself Ephraim shall say what have I any more to Hos 14. 8. do with Idols I have heard him and observ'd him and that with a great deal of joy and delight as that I am glad of and rejoyce in So I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself Jer. 31. 18 19. c. that is bewailing his sins the Hebrew is hearing I have heard him that is attentively pleasingly delightfully so as to take special notice of him and to have a singular regard to him and now his bowels are troubled for him and he will surely have mercy on him As God has a singular hatred and abhorrence of sin so Quemadmodum Deus summo odio habet peccatum ita quoque summe hominis poenirentia delectatur per quam à summo malo ad summum bonum convertitur Gerh. he cannot but be much pleased with repentance by which the sinner turns from it to himself from the chief evil to the chief good and it being that wherein his own glory and the sinners good is so much concern'd For thereby God is honoured Jesus Christ sees of the travel of his soul and is satisfied the Spirit ceases to be grieved as formerly sin is pardoned God's favour recover'd Satan defeated and the soul saved how well was God pleased with Josiah his heart being tender and he humbling himself before 2 Chr. 34. 27. God which he twice mentions as being much taken therewith And so Manasseh though so great a sinner yet repenting what respect had God to him yea so acceptable is this to God that he had respect to it even in Ahab so far as temporally to reward it though hypocritical the more to encourage to that which is true And the acceptableness of this to God does further appear by his earnest invitings to it longings after it waitings for it bearing so long with sinners as in reference to it his readiness to receive sinners upon the first discoveries of it and pardoning the hainousest sins upon it Psal 51. 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise and what is a broken heart but a penitent heart an heart kindly melted humbled and in bitterness for sin and this now is the sacrifice of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrificia Dei God 1. Of God to denote its singular excellency it being usual in the Hebrew to set out the excellency of a thing by the addition of the name of God as the mountains and Cedars of God c. 2. It is called the
both our selves and him and the Lord remember us that we may at length thus remember both our selves and him which till we do we forget both 2. We not onely forget our selves but while we yet go on in our sins we are not our selves but as it were besides our selves not onely out of our way but are as it were out of our wits not onely gone off from religion but right reason for to turn to the Lord is every way so much our concern and so infinitly for our good that were we but our selves or in our right minds we could not but resolve upon it as it is said of the Prodigal that as soon as Luk. 15. 17 ever he came to himself he presently resolv'd to arise and go to his Father so that before he was not it seems himself no more are any till they repent and turn to God but are and Matth. ◠◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 resipiscite act as mad men and thus much the Greek word made use of by the Holy Ghost for repentance doth import it signifies to be after wise or to recover wisdom after folly to recover ones wits and come to himself and a right mind All the ways of sin are ways of folly ways of silliness and madness and they stamp him to be so who persists in them hence as in Scripture the godly the true convert is every where called wise and prudent so the wicked and impenitent foolish simple silly Sin especially persistency in sin being pure folly and madness How long ye simple ones will ye love Prov. 1. 22 32. 22. 3. simplicity The turning away of the simple shall slay them The simple pass on and are punished Job 5. 2. Prov. 14. 9. Eccles 9. 3 c. and envy slayeth the silly one Fools make a mock at sin c. and madness is in their heart c. And they act indeed as such as simple silly ones as fools and mad men and as such as are not themselves nor in their right minds for 1. they cut as it were and gash and wound themselves 1 Tim. 6. 10. Prov. 8. 36. 1. 18. pierce themselves yea offer violence to their own souls and love death that is act at that rate as if they loved death so they are said to lye in wait for their own blood to despise 15. 32. their own souls to love cursing And do not Psal 109. 17. these act fillily and madly shall we count him besides himself that offers violence but to his own body and not him much more which offers it to his own soul yea destroies his own Prov. 11. 19. c. soul that pursues what will be his own death Whosoever committeth adultery with a woman 6. 32. it is said he lacketh or is void of understanding How wise soever he may think himself or may be in wordly affairs he hath not the least spark of true spiritual wisdom but is besotted mad Demens Pisc Junius c. Stultus terque quaterque Remus so Junius Piscator and others read it He acts not only against the dictates of Religion but Reason and why because he destroyeth his own soul his own life says Diodate before men and his own soul before God he is a self-murderer a soul-murderer and he himself and not others is the proper cause of his own ruin and is not he void of understanding is not he mad if not who then is others read it he that would destroy his own soul let him do it but who except a mad man or one out of his wits would do that 2. They strike at others even at God himself fight against him for he stretcheth out his hand against God and Job 15. 25 26. strengtheneth himself against the Almighty He runneth upon him c. and this without cause nay notwithstanding the greatest reason to the contrary what iniquity have your Fathers Jer. 2. 5. c. found in me and what have I done unto thee c. and are these themselves But I do but name things 3. They are not at all affected with their own misery nor the greatest wrong they offer to themselves or others They are in their bloud in the very gall of bitterness under God's wrath and curse vassals of sin and Satan and guilty of eternal damnation and in as great danger of it as a Traitor apprehended is of being executed and yet they are not at all affected therewith but make light of it They say they Rev. 3. 17. are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing when they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked as mad men you know fancy sometimes strange things of themselves as that they are some great persons when it is quite otherwise And though by going on still in their sins they offer to themselves the greatest wrong casting themselves as it were into the water and into the fire and piercing themselves through with many sorrows yea offer the greatest wrong even to God himself They do not onely transgress his Law cross and oppose and thwart his will darken his glory affront his majesty but strike at his very being c. and yet all this is but a light matter with these Is it a light thing says God that they do so Ezek. 8. 17. Is 57. 4. and so implying they thought it so and against whom says he do ye sport your selves c. And is not this madness and folly for any to offer such wrong to themselves yea to God himself and yet make light of it what to sport with poyson to make a recreation of destruction a mock of self-murder nay of God-murder Peccatum est Deicidium as much as in them lyes why if such be not fools and Bedlams and besides themselves who are I do not mean natural fools but spiritual which of all are the greatest certainly he that goes about with a whistle a coat and a bable is in a far better case than such It is a sport but to whom to a fool to do mischief Prov. 10. 23. 26. 18 19. And As a mad-man who casteth fire-brands arrows and death so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour and saith am I not in sport or in jest in play sad play like that of those young men who thrust their swords in one anothers sides 2 Sam 2. 14 16 4. They provoke and wage war even with God himself enter the lists as it were with him and is not this madness and folly for is he a match for them what weakness contend with strength impotency with omnipotency a thistle with a Cedar thorns with a consuming fire a weak worm with an almighty God Do we says the 1 Cor. 10. 22. Apostle provoke the Lord are we stronger than he or do we think to carry it against him as if he had said what desperate folly and madness is this for is it not he that
robs us of our joy peace safety separates from God the chief good and brings horrors of conscience here and to eternal Is 59. 1 2. perdition hereafter which may have a moments pleasure but an eternities torment And can we do better than to incourage one another here to come up to so great a good and to come off from so great an evil Do others incourage one another in evil matters and not we in what is so good to quit sins and the Devil 's Psal 64 5. and hell's quarters murderers quarters our deadly enemie's quarters which seek our bloud and the destruction of our precious souls and to come into heaven's quarters into God's and our friends quarters O who would not incourage here and say come and let us return unto the Lord and so betake our selves to the onely way of our own and the Nations weal And O that it was once come to this that so both our own and the Nations utter ruine might be prevented which God professedly declares yea swears he has no pleasure in We read of those indeed who were ready to cast such a calumny upon God as if he took pleasure in their death for they said if our transgressions and our sins be upon us and Ezek 33 â—â— we pine away in them how then should we live c. as if they had said What do you tell us of living or prophesie of life when we find the quite contrary that we are dying Now as to this God vindicates himself asserting the clean v. 11. contrary by an Oath Say unto them as I live says the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live c. As death is indeed an act of justice punishing the impenitent so it hath the nature of good in it and so it is pleasing to God who is just as well as merciful but as it is meerly the creatures ruine and misery so he delights not in it and to this he swears Indeed God cannot lye and so his word might be enough O beatos noâ— quorum causâ Deus jurat O miseri nos si non juranti Domino credimus Tertull. but the more to confirm what he says he is pleased to swear and happy we for whose sake God swears if we believe but miserable we if he shall swear and we yet not believe him and further to shew his unwillingness that we should dye he doubles his invitation to turn Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel And this ingemination as it shews our dulness and love to our sins and loathness to leave them so a vehemency and intention of spirit in God there being much life spirit and affectionateness in sueh expressions and it shews also a necessity of compliance for that cannot but be a matter of great weight that we are so often invited to such Scripture ingeminations not being vain but the more words from God the more weight and what is doubly prest must needs be doubly our duty and that which we are doubly ingag'd to Surely as it shews God desires it much so that it concerns us much and what indeed can concern us more than that which unless we do we as certainly perish as the Lord lives And what goodness and condescension is it in the great God that he should so earnestly and so often invite us to that which is so much for our own good and that though he cannot be better'd nor made happier by us yet that our salvation should be so dear to him and therefore let us set to it our selves and incourage one another all we can looking up to God for help for though we can turn away Ps 119. 176. Hos 13. 9. we cannot of our selves turn again we can wound but not heal our selves throw our selves down but not raise our selves up loose our selves but not reduce our selves CHAP. XV. To see to it that our turning to God be true and real AND let us not onely incourage one another to turn to God but be sure our conversion be sincere 1. Let there be a sound conviction of sin and a kindly compunction for it with a thorow aversion from it to the Lord both in heart and life in inward principles and outward practises there being a change both of the disposition and affection and love to sin within and of the conversation without and these depend one upon another For 'till the conscience be throughly convinct of sin how should the heart be kindly contrite for sin and 'till the heart be contrite for sin how should it forsake or turn from sin and 'till it do turn from sin how should it turn to God And 2. let this turn be such as is of God as also unto God quite Jer. 4. 1. through unto him and not to any thing below him or on this side him O how sad is it to suffer shipwrack neer the haven to turn towards God and yet never to reach nor take up in God as our true and proper center to come up out of Egypt and yet never to come into Canaan not to be far from the Kingdom of God from heaven and yet to fall short of it and to be turned into hell 3. Let it be such as arises from faith 4. Let it be hearty with all or the whole heart no part of the heart here being reserved for sin but the whole heart inclin'd one way and that to God as it is said of good King Josiah 2 King 23. 25. that like unto him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might c. Indeed the heart is the main and what is done Quod cor non facit non fit here unless it be with the heart it is not done And in what should we be hearty indeed if not in what we do to God and in what tends so infinitely to our own good 5. Let it be universal 1. As to the subject turning the whole man body and soul and all the faculties of the one and members of the other compleat as to parts though not degrees as to extension though not perfection in every part though but in part As the Air in the dawning is light in e-every part though but in part else if any one part be unturn'd we shall as one expresses it with our whole go to hell and therefore as all of us and in us is turn'd away from God never let us rest till all be turn'd again to God 2. As to the object turn'd from and turn'd to from all sin to all that is holy and righteous from every false and crooked way to every true and right way for as there 's no Brook so small no River Ps 119. 101 128. so little but if a man follow it it will bring him
houses and England shall be set as a pattern of blessing and blessings as is said of David For thou hast made him most blessed for ever the Hebrew is set him blessings i. e. as some beset him with blessings as Psal 5. 12. 32. 10. replenished him c. or as others put him to be blessings that is to impart them or to be a blessing as is said of Abraham and others Gen. 12. 2. Is 19. 24. Ezek. 34. 26. c. or Psal 21. 6. rather as others to be an example of blessing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pones eum benedictiones Hac loquendi formulâ exprimitur tam uberem bonorum copiam affluere ei ut meritò benevolentiae divinae exemplar esse possit c Calv. and blessings that is so blessed and replenished with blessings as to become worthily an example to others thereof And so shall England become upon its return to God as it is said of Ephraim and Manasseh In thee shall Israel bless saying God make thee as Ephriam c. so as England the Lord bless thee as he hath blessed his people there whereas others have been an example of God's curse as Zedekiah and Ahab The Lord make thee as Zedekiah c. and then from that very time that we do indeed Gen 48. 20. Jer. 29. 22. turn again to God and are reform'd the name of the City and Countrey too shall be the name of that City Ezek. 48. 35. as that wherein our chief good and happiness shall consist Jehovah Shammah the Lord is there CHAP. XVII Motives to seek the face or favour of God COnsider 1. how excellent it is so as David Psal 36. 7. admires it How excellent is thy loving kindness O God c. It cannot be exprest what is there in heaven it self that exceeds it whom have I in heaven but thee And they shall see 73. 25. Rev. 22. 4. his face c. Life is precious the preciousest thing in Nature but the favour of God as has been hinted is more precious it is life even in Ps 63. 3. death it self as that blessed Martyr Mr. Bradford answered when profer'd life if he would recant Life said he with God's displeasure is worse than death and death in his favour is true life 2. How honourable what indeed more honours Since thou wast precious in my sight thou Is 43. 4. hast been honourable From that very time that a soul finds favour with God you may write it down as happy so truly honourable but there is no true honour 'till then it being God alone and his favour and grace that creates that this as I hinted before is the crowning mercy with favour wilt thou crown him It is observed of Ps 5. 12. the Rainbow that of it self it is but a common vapour but that which gilds it and as it were enamels it with so many radiant colours it is the Sun by shining upon it and so all the gildings all the beauty glory and lustre that is upon any it is from the shines of God's face from the beams of his favour and grace and without this man though in honour is yet but vile and like Psal 49. 20. the beasts that perish And the earth shined with his glory It is the grace and favour of Ezek. 43. 2. God which he counts his glory that makes to shine such lumps of earth as we are It is spoken as the great honour of the seven Princes of Persia and Media that were next to the King Hest 1. 14. that they saw his face those Persian Monarchs were seldom seen of any it was a piece of state they took upon themselves and if it was so much honour to see the face of an earthly Monarch what honour is it to behold the face of God! As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness Psal 17. 15. This is that badg of honour that differences the Saints from all others and is not onely the happiness but glory of heaven it self and of those Angels and blessed Heroes that reside there I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God and I say unto you that in heaven Luk. 1. 19. Matth. 18. 10. the Angels do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven This is spoken of as the grearest honour the creature can be advanced to in heaven and what greater honour then can there be on earth 3. How comfortable nothing comforts like it nor any thing truly without it It s better than wine yea turns even water into wine it giveth songs in the night and in the grossest darkness causeth to arise light and this alone in all troubles is the choicest cordial no Bezoar Pearl Alkermes nor other cordial can comfort like it hence the Prophet David a man inspired by God of all cordials makes choice of this Let I pray thee thy merciful kindness Ps 119. 76. be for my comfort c. or let it be for to comfort me where should it be O let it be by Ad consolandum me me let it be with me as my cordial to cheer and revive me Such as are subject to faint use to have their cordials by them now Lord says David let me have this and none indeed to Ostendit nihil esse quod dolorem abstergat donec propitium sibi Deum sentiat Calvin this this was it made Oecolampadius when he was near death putting his hand upon his heart to say hic sat lucis here is abundance of light that is of unspeakable joy and Mr. Bolâ—on I am by the wonderful mercies of God as full of comfort as my heart can hold and another to cry out O the joy the unspeakable joy I find in my soul and another my cup runs over c. this will comfort when other the choicest cordials cannot nor will not and that in the most disconsolate estate but nothing in times of distress can comfort without it because nothing can supply the want of it It is said In the light of the Kings countenance is life and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain and as dew upon the grass and what then is the light of Gods countenance his favour how much more comfortable and refreshing must that needs be Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance O one cast of that is more comforting than the wealth of a whole world When Cyrus had once given a cup of Gold to one and a Kiss in token of special favour to another he to whom the King had given the Cup told him that the Cup he gave him was not so good gold as the Kiss he gave to the other c. 4. How profitable nothing makes more for our profit it being the main and that which is the very root and well-spring of all good but of this I have occasionally spoken something before and shall be the briefer therefore now what will or