compassions fail not and so he is never so angry but there is room left for manifestation of Mercy on those that come to him Gods anger is not an humor and passion as ours is he can take the poor Child in his Armes admit it into his bosome when outward Dispensations frown Mens anger is like the sons of Belial Briers and Thornes that none may come near to lest they be hurt but God angry is accessible because his anger is still tempered and mixed with Clemency and Mercy and that mixture of Mercy is so great and so predominant in all his Dispensations here that they being rightly understood might rather invite to come then scarre from it there is more Mercy to welcome then Anger to drive away Secondly Look upon the very end and purpose of Gods hiding himself and withdrawing it is this that we may come and seek him early Hos 5. 15 When God is angry Mercy and Compassion principleth it for anger is sent out to bring in wanderers His anger is not humor but resolute and deliberate walketh upon good grounds Because David in his prosperity missed not God When all things went according to his minde then he let God go where he will Therefore the Lord in mercy must hide his own Heart with a frowning countenance and cover himself with a Cloud that David may be troubled and so take hold on God Psal 31. 7 8. Since then this is Gods purpose that you may come nearer to him and since he goeth away that you may pursue certainly he will never so run away as you may not find him out nor will he run further nor he strengtheneth thee to pursue him Thus Ps 63. 8. God was flying and David pursuing Nay but the flyer giveth leggs to the pursuer he upholdeth him as it were against himself So did the Angel strengthen Jacob to overcome himself Now shall it not be pleasant to God that you lay hold on him as your own even when he seemeth to be cloathed with vengeance seing he changeth his outward Countenance for this very end he seemeth to go that you may hold because when you think he stayeth you hold not as the Child while the nurse is near will look about it and take hold of any thing but when she withdraweth the Child cleaveth the faster to her But Secondly we ought to stirre up our selves more now then any other time Times of Gods withdrawing calleth for extraordinary and doubled approaches So Hab. 5. 15. they will seek me early And therefore the Lords Children in Scripture have made great advantage of such Dispensations The truth is as long as we are well dealt with security creepeth on and Religion is but in a decaying condition Duties are done through our sleep We are not as men awaking and knowing what we do and whither we go But when the Lord beginneth to trouble us and hides his Face then it is a time to awake out of sleep before all be gone And there ought to be first more diligence in Duties and approaching to God because your case furnisheth more matter of supplication And as matter of supplication groweth prayer should grow If necessity grow and the cry be not according to necessity it is ominous And therefore David useth to make his cry go up according to his trouble In a prosperous Condition though every thing might call a tender hearted loving Christian to some nearness to God yet ordinarly if necessity presse not prayer languisheth and groweth formal Sense of need putteth an edge on supplication wheras prosperity blunteth it The heart missing nothing cannot go above sublunary things but let it not have its will here and the need of Heaven will be the greater Now I say if you sit so many calls both from a Command and from your own necessities you do so much the more sin Affliction will make even a hypocrite seek him and pour out â— prayer and visit him Psal 78. And Isai 26. And if you do not take advantage of all these pressures you must be so much the more guilty And therefore God as it were wondereth at their obstinacy They return not to him that smiteth them All this is come upon us yet have we not prayed And secondly it is sent for that end that you may be more serious and therefore you ought so much the more to awake to lay hold on him This is the way the Lord useth with his secure and wandering Children Psal 119. 67. For the Lord findeth us often gripping too strongly to a present world and taking it in our armes as if we were never to part with it Mens souls cleave to outward accomodations Therefore the Lord useth to part us and our idol that we may take hold of him the faster It is Union with himself that is our felicity and it is that which God most endeavoureth When he removeth beloved Jewels it is because they were a stumbling block and divorced the Soul from God When he seemeth to withdraw himself his going proclaimeth so much Oh follow or perish Thirdly it is a very dangerous thing when he withdraweth and you follow not when he is angry and you care not doth not fly in to make peace with him certainly his anger must wax hotter and desertion will become a spiritual plague Rods must be tempered with much bitterness What mixture of Mercy can be in such a Dispensation where the fruit of it is to harden But if the Lords hardest dealing wrought you to more nearness and Communion with himself then certainly you have a fair advantage against the present trouble and you have your Cup mixed You shall at length blesse God for such Dispensations they may be reckoned for good to you Next there ought to be more exercise of Faith and laying hold on the grounds of Consolation in God in such a time 1. For as difficulties grow Faith should fortify it self against them so much the more The greater the storm be it should fly the more into the Chalmbers Faith in the time of a calme day getteth no tryal Faith bulketh much because it hath not much to do But except there be some fresh and new supplies it cannot hold out in a temptation But it is a singular proof of a Noble and Divine Faith that can lay hold on him and keep him when he would go that can challenge kindness on a miskening Jesus that can stand on the ground of the Promises when there is not a foot breadth of a Dispensation to build on While all things go with you ye have no difficulty to maintain your Faith Nay but when the Lord seemeth to look angry then awake and gather strength take hold on his strength Look what is in your Condition or his Dispensation what is good or omnious then take hold on the other hand on him and look what is in him to answer it and swallow it up Ye ought to be well acquaint with the grounds of Consolation that are
Binnings Miscellany Sermons August 23. 1670. IT is Ordered by the Lords of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council That none shall Re-print or Import this Book of Miscellany Sermons by Mr. Hugh Binning nor any other of the said Authors Books for the space of 19. years to come without licence of the Printers hereof A. G. HEART-HUMILIATION OR Miscellany Sermons Preached upon some choice Texts at several Solemn occasions Never before Printed By that eminent Preacher of the Gospel Mr. Hugh Binning late Minister at Govan Jer. 4. 14. O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved c. EDINBURGH Printed by James Glen Anno DOM. 1676. Christian Reader THis holy Preacher of the Gospel had so many convictions upon his spirit of the necessity of the duties of humiliation and mourning and of peoples securing the eternal interest of their souls for the life to come by fleeing in to Jesus Christ for remission of sins in his blood that he made these the very scope of his Sermons in many publick Humiliations as if it had been the one thing which he conceived the Lord was calling for in his dayes A clear evidence whereof thou shalt find manifested in these following Sermons upon choice Texts wherein the Author endeavoureth not only to lay before thee the necessity of these duties of soul-humiliation but also sheweth thee the Gospel-manner of performing them the many soul-advantages flowing from the serious exercise of them and the many soul-destroying prejudices following upon the neglect of them But above all thou shalt find him so fully setting forth the sinfulness of sin and the utter emptiness of self as may convince the most Pharisaically elated spirits and make them cry out with Ezra Chap. 9. 6. O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my God for our iniquities are increased over our head and our trespass is grown up unto the Heavens Here thou mayst read such pregnant demonstrations of the righteousness and equity of the Lords dealing even in his severest punishments inflicted upon the children of men as may silence every whisperer against providence and make them say as Lam. 3. 22. It is of the Lords mercies we are not consumed even because his compassions sail not And lastly thou shalt perceive the inconceivable fitness and fulness of Christ as a Saviour and his never enough to be admired tenderness and condescending willingness to accept of humble heart-broken and heart-panting sinners after him with such plainness of speech demonstrat as may enable the most bruised reed to quench all the fiery darts of the devil whereby he laboureth to affright them from making application to Jesus for salvation Now that the Lord would make those and such like labours of his faithful servants useful and advantagious to thy soul Christian Reader is the prayer of Thy Servant in the Gospel of our dearest Lord and Saviour A. S. At a publick Fast in July first Sabbath 1650. SERMON I. Deut. 32. 4 5 6 7. He is the Rock his Work is perfect for all his wayes are judgement c. THere are two things may comprehend all Religion the knowledge of God and of our selves these are the principles of Religion and are so nearly conjoyned together that the one cannot be truely without the other much lesse savingly It is no wonder that Moses crave attention and to the end he may attain it from an hard hearted deaf People that he turns to the Heavens and to the Earth as it were to make them the more inexcuseable The matter of his Song is both divine and necessary throughout it all he insists upon these two to discover what they were to themselves and what God was to them he paralels their way with his way that they finding the infinite distance might have other thoughts of themselves and of him both It is a Song it is true but a sad Song The people of Gods mourning should be of this nature mixed not pure sorrow It s hard to determine whither there be more matter of Consolation or Lamentation when such a comparison is made to the life when God's goodness and our evils are set before our eyes which may most work the heart to such affections Nay I think it is possible they may both contribute to both these Is there any more abasing and humbling principle then Love How shall the sinner loath it self in his glorious presence will not so much kindnesse and mercy so often repeated as oft as it is mentioned wound the heart in which there is any tendernesse And again when a soul beholds its own ingratitude and evil requital of the Lords kindness how vile and how perverse it is how must it loath it self in dust and ashes yet is not all ground of hope removed such a sad fight may make mixed affections if we be so perverse and evil then he is infinitely good and his mercy and goodnesse is above our evils if we have dealt so with him yet is he the Rock that changes not he is a God of Truth and will not fail in his Promise Nay though it be sad to be so evil void of all goodness yet may the soul blesse him for evermore that hath chosen this way to glorifie his Name to build up his praise upon our ruine May not a soul thus glory in sad infirmities because his strength is perfected iâ— them and made manifest May not a souâ— choose emptinesse in it self that it may be behold en to his Fulnesse How refreshing a view might the sadest look on our misery and emptiness be if we did behold his purpose of manifesting his Glory in it Ye see here a comparisâ— instituted between two very unequal partieâ— God and Man there is no likenesse let be equality in it yet there is almost an equality in unliknesse The one is infinitely good and perfect well what shall we compare to him who is like thee O God among the gods Angels goodnesse their perfection and innocency hath not such a name and appearance in his sight so then there can be no comparison made this way let no flesh glory in his sight in any thing but let him that glorieth glory in the Lord for in the sight of the glorious Lord all things do disappear and evanish But surely nothing though most perfect can once come within termes of reckoning beside him for any worth Moses sees nothing to set beside God that will appear in its own greatnesse and native colours but the Creatures evil and sin and if this be not infinite absolutely or equal to his goodnesse yet it comes nearest the borders of infinitenesse so then is God most perfect is he infinite in Goodness in Truth in Righteousnesse c And so infinite that before him nothing appeares good none good save one that is God Yet we may find another infinite and it is in evil sinful man and these two contraries set beside other do much
illustrate each other It s true that his Grace super-abounds and his goodnesse is more then the creatures sinfulness yet I say you shall not find any thing that cometh nearer the infinitnesse and degrees of his goodnesse then the sinfulness of men How much the more glorious he appeares so much the more vile and base doth it appear If ye did indeed ponder and weigh these two Verses in the ballance of the Sanctuary would not your heart secretly ask this question within you do I thus require the Lord O foolish and unwise yea would ye not account your selves mad to forsake the fountain of living waters and dig broken cisternes to your selves O! of how great moment were this to humble your souls to day This day ye are called to mourning and afflicting your souls Now I know not a more sutable exercise for a day of humiliation or a principle that may more humble and abase your souls then the serious and deep consideration of these two what God is and hath been to us and what we are and have proved to him what hath made so many formal humiliations that have provoked him to anger certainly we do not either seriously think on any of these or if on one of them yet not on both the most part of you know no more in such a day but a name and ceremony of a little abstinence Is this to sanctifie a day to the Lord when ye do not so much as the people who bowed down rheir head for a day and spread sackloth under them I wonder how ye think to pacifie his Wrath and are not rather afraid of adding fewel and oyl to the flame of his indignation Ye come here and sit as in former times and what do ye more either here or at home There is no soul-affliction no not for a day the most part of you are no more affected with your sins and his judgements then if none of these things were Now I pray you what shall the Lord say to us when he speaks to the Jews in such termes Isai 58. 5. Is it such a fast that I have chosen a man for a day to afflict his soul And do ye so much as afflict it for a day or at all Is this then the Fast thaâ— he will chose to abstain from your breakfast iâ— the morning and at night to compense the want of it and no more Is this an acceptable day to the Lord the Lord upbraides the Jews will thou call this a fast and what reason have we to ask you is it possible ye think ye do indeed fast to the Lord I cannot think that the most part of you dare say that ever ye fasted or afflicted your souls Always here is the way if we consider it to spend a day acceptably to the Lord enter in a serious consideration of his Majesty and your selves study on these two till ye find your hearts bear the stamp of them enlarge your hearts in the thoughts of them both are infinite his goodnesse and power and mercy and your sin and misery no end of them what ever ye find good in God write up answerably to it so much evil and sin in your selves and the land and what evil ye find in your selves and the land write up so much goodnesse and mercy in his account All the names of his praise would be so many grounds of your confusion in your selves and would imprint so many notes of reproach and disgrace upon the Creature found so contrary to Him This is even the exercise God calls us to this day to consider his wayes to us and our wayes to him how he hath walked and how we have walked because ye lose the sight of these two he sends affliction because in our prosperity and peace we forget God and so our selves as ye find this people did when ihey waxed fat they kicked against him and forgat that he was their rock we are so much taken up with our own ease and peace that we do not observe him in his dealings therefore doth the Lord trouble our Peace removes these things we are taken up with makes a publick proclamation of affliction and blessed be his Name whose end is gracious he means this it is the proclamation of all his Judgments turn your eyes off your present ease here consider what I am and what your selves are No Nation so soon buries the memory of his Mercies O how soon are they drowned in oblivion and we forget our own provocations as suddenly therefore must he write our iniquities upon a rod that we may read them in great Letters and he writes his former goodness in the change of his Dispensations when his way to us changes that we may know what is past This is the great design that God hath in the World to declare himself and his own Name that it may be wondered and admired at by men and this cannot be but by our ruine a basing us in the dust He therefore uses to stain the pride of all glory that his alone may appear without spot This is then the great controversie of God with men and nations in all generations they will not see him alone exalted and will not bow before him and see their own vilenesse Why doth he overturn Kingdomes and Thrones why doth he shake Nationes so often here it is Gods controversie will never cease till all men acknowledge him in his highnesse and holinesse as the sole Fountain of all Life and find themselves vile lesse then nothing nay worse then nothing and emptinesse If ye would then have God at peace with the land and your selves here is the compendious way set him up a Throne of eminency in your hearts and put your selves in the dust take with your own guiltiness and naughtinesse and impossibility to help your selves in your selves hold these two still in your eyes that he may be alone exalted Look how unequal a match Ver. 4. 5. He is the Rock a Rock indeed if we speak of strength lo he is strong if of stability he is the Lord and changes not the ancient of dayes Hath not thou heard and considered this that the Almighty faints not and wearies not He holds forth himself in such a name to his people a ready all-sufficient perpetual and enduring refuge to all that trust in him and flie unto him as a Rock higher then they and this is the foundation that the Church is builded on against which the gates of hell shall not prevail Gods Omnipotency for defence his eternity faithfulnesse and unchangeablenesse to make that sure his mercy and goodnesse makes a hole in that Rock to enter in a ready accesse for poor shipwrakt and broken men who have no other refuge This is our Rock on which the Church is builded Jesus Christ I Cor. 10. 4. Matth. 16. 18. God were inaccessible in himself an impregnable Rock how would sinners overcome him and enter into him to be saved from Wrath Nay but
take thy rest thou hast enough laid up for many years Charge them sayes he c. 1 Tim. 6. 16 17 18 19. O! a Charge worthy to be engraven on the Tables of our hearts worthy to be written on the Ports of all Cities and the Gates of all Palaces You would all have a Foundation of lasting Joy sayes he But why seek you lasting Joy in fadeing things And certain Joy in uncertain Riches and solid Contentment in empty things and not rather in the Living God who is the inexhausted Spring of all Good things Therefore if you would truely boast of to Morrow or sing a solide Requiem to your own hearts There is another Treasure to be laid up in store against the time to come The Time only worthy to be called Time that is Eternity And that is study to do good and be rich in good Works in VVorks of Piety of Mercy of Equity of Sobriety This is a better Foundation for the Time to come Or rather receive and embrace the Promise of eternal Life made to such that free and gracious promise of Life in the Gospel And so you may supply all the wants and indigencies of your present enjoyments with the precious hope of eternal Life which cannot make ashamed But what is the way that the most part of men take to mitigate and sweeten their present hardships Even like that of the fools in the Parable Luke 12. They either have something laid up for many years or else their projects and designes reach to many years The truth is they have more pleasure in the expectation of such things nor in the real possession but that pleasure is but imaginary either How many thoughts and designes are continually turning in the heart of man how to be rich how to get greater gain or more credit Men build Castles in the Air and fancy to themselves as it were new VVorlds of meer possible beings and in such an imployment of the heart there is some poor deceiving of present sorrows but at length they recurre with greater violence Every man makes Romanses for himself pretty fancies of his own Fortune as if he had the disposing of it himself He sits down as it were and writes an Almanack and Prognostication in his own secret thoughts and designes his own Prosperity Gain and Advantage and Pleasures or Joyes And when we have thus ranked our Hopes and Expectations then we begin to take complacency in them and boast our selves in the confidence of them as if there were not a Supream Lord who gives a Law to our Affairs al 's immediatly as to the VVinds and Raines Now that you may know the folly of this Consider the Reason which is subjoyned For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth There is a concurrence of inconstancy in all things and ignorance in us which might be sufficient to check our folly of confident and presumptuous expectation from them and gloriation in them So that whether we look about us to the things themselves or within us to our selves all things proclaim the folly and madnesse of that which the heart of man is set upon And this double consideration the Apostle James opposes to the vain hopes and confident undertakings of men Chap. 4. 13. c Which place is a perfect Commentary upon this Text He brings in an instance of the resolutions and purposes of rich men for the compassing of Gain by Merchandise whereby you may understand all the several designes and plots of men that are contrived and ordered and laid down in the hearts of men either for more Gain or more Glory or more Pleasure and Ease Now the Grand Evil that is here reproved is not simply mens Care and Diligence in useing Lawful means for their accomodation in this life or yet their Wise and Prudent foresight in ordering of their Affairs for attaining that end for both these are frequently recommended and commended by the VVise Man Prov. 6. 6. and 24. 27. But here is the great Iniquity that men in all these contrivings and actings carry themselves as if they were absolute Independents without consideration of the Soveraign Universal Dominion of God No man almost reflects upon that Glorious Being which alone hath the Negative and Definitive Sentence in all the Motions and Affairs of the sons of men or considers that it is not in man that walks to direct his paths that when all our thoughts and designs are Marshalled and Ordered and the compleatest preparation made for reaching our intended ends that yet the way of man is not in himself That all these things are under a higher and more absolute Dominion of the most High God VVhose heart doth that often sound unto A mans heart deviseth his way but the Lord directs his steps And so is not bound by any rule to conform his Executions to our Intentions For he works all according to the Counsel of his own VVill and not ours And therefore no wonder that the product of our Actions do not answer our intentions and devices because the Supream Rule and Measure of them is above our Power and without our Knowledge And therefore though there were never so many devices in the heart of man never so wisely or lawfully Contrived and Ordered Though the Mine be never so well prepared and all ready for the fireing of it Yet the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand Prov. 19. 21. 16 9. That higher determination may blow up our best consultations or drown them for mans goings is of the Lord how then can a man understand his Paths Prov. 20. 24. And yet the most part of men in all these things losse the remembrance of this fatal and invincible Subordination to God and propose their own Affairs and Actions as if themselves were to dispose of them And when their own resolutions and projects seem probable they begin to please themselves in them in the fore-thought of what they will do or what they may have or enjoy to morrow afterward There is a present secret Complacency and Gloriation without any serious reminding the absolute dependence of all things upon the VVill of God and their independence upon our Counsels without fore-casting and often ruminating upon the perpetual fluctuation and constant inconstancy of humane Affairs but as if we were the Supream Moderators in Heaven and Earth so we Act and Transact our own businesse in a deep forgetfulnesse of him who sits in Heaven and laughs at all our Projects and Practices And therefore the Holy Ghost would have this secret but serious thought to season all our other Purposes and Consultations If the Lord will c. Whereas we ought to say and think this it is scarce minded And then we know not what shal be to Morrow for our Life it self is a Vapour Herein is a strong Argument you lay your designes for to Morrow for a Year for many Years and yet ye know not if ye shall be to Morrow How many
particular antipathy against and refuse others But the Lord will not be so served As he will not share with the world and divide the Soul and service of man with Creatures so as Mâ—mmon should get part and he his part No if we choose the one we must refuse the other for so will he not suffer his Word and Commands to be divided There must be some universality in respect of the Gospel and the Law and a conjunction of these two or we cannot please him If Religion do not include the Gospel we are yet upon the old Covenant of Works according to which none can be justified If it do not include the Law in the Hands of a Mediator then we turn the Grace of god unto wantonness If it shut out Jesus Christ and have no use of him how can either we or our performances stand or be accepted before his holy eyes If it exclude the Law that Christ came to establish how can he be pleased with our religion Both of these offer an indignity to the Son of God The Sum then of Christian Religion is Believing and Sanctification of the spirit unto obedience that is the root and fountain this is the fruit and stream Justification of our persons and sanctification of our lives and hearts This is pure Religion and undefiled And therefore Isaiah sayes Wash you make you clean Cleanse in the only true fountain of Christs blood It is not your purifications of the Law your many washings with water and hysope It is not the blood of buls and goats can purge your consciences from dead works they do but purify your flesh but cannot wash your souls worse defiled This blood of Jâ—sus Christ is that clean water that he must sprinkle on you if you would be clean If you take any other water any other righteousness but his and wash thy self therewith suppose it be snow water that washeth cleanest thy most exact conversation yet he will plunge thee in the mire till thy own cloaths abhore thee Job 9. 30 31. Now when ye have washed your persons ye need not save to wash your feet sayes Christ your dayly conversation reform it in the vertue of that blood for we are not called to uncleanness but unto holiness And therefore Put away the evil of yoor doings c. God hath put away the guilt of your doings by Justification now put ye away the evil of your doings by Sanctification c. And if ye would know what Sanctification is Cease to do evil do not return to the old puddle to wallow in it Ye that are cleansed by this blood O! think how unbeseeming it is to you to defile your selves again with these things ye are cleansed from But now learn to do well ye are given up to Christ ye must be his Disciples and he will teach you Learn of me sayes Christ you need no other law almost but his example he is a visible and speaking law yet seek Judgement As ye ought to look on my example so especially ponder that word and rule of practice and behaviour that I have left behind me and given out as the law-giver of the redeemed have I redeemed you And should not I be the redeemmed and ransomed ones King Is there any society in the world wants a law order and government neither must ye who are delivered from bondage enfranchised and made free indeed Now ye should of all men most live by a law And when ye know that rule then apply it to your several vocations and callings let the Magistrat act according to it and every man according to it Religion consists not in a general notion but condescends to our particular practice to reform it You see then what we would presse upon your Consciences It is true religion that we would have you perswaded unto All men have some kind of Religion even Heathens who worship Idols but the true religion respects the true and living God Now what is it to worship the true and living God what is the service of him that may be called Religion indeed Should we be the prescrivers of it No certainly he must carve solely in that or else it cannot please him Therefore To the Law and to the Testemony if ye speak not according to this and worship not according to this word of God it is because there is no light into you Ye may have a religion before men pure and undefiled but if it be not so before God and the father I pray you to what purpose is it I am sure it is all lost labour nay it is labour with loss instead of gain O that ye were perswaded to look and search the Scriptures Think ye to have eternal life out of them and think ye to have eternal life by them who do not labour to know the way of it set down there Every on of you have a different model of religion according to your fancies and breedings according as your lusts will suffer you The rule that the most part walk by is the course and example of the world Is not this darknesse and grosse darkness Others model their duties according to their ability they will do all they can do with ease and without troubling themselves and they think God may be well pleased with that I pray you consider and hear the word of the Lord and Law of your God hath he set down here the rule and perfect patern of true Religion and will ye never so much own it as to examine yours according to it the scriptures are the touch-stone If you would not have a counterfeit Religion deceiving you in the end when ye have trusted to it I pray you try it by the word of God Oh that this principle were once sunk into your hearts I may not walk at randome if I please my self and satisfy my own will if that be not also Gods will I shall have neither gain nor comfort of it his will is manifested in his word I will search and find what God hath required of me for if I be not certain of his will I may be doing all my dayes and sweating out my life and yet losse my pains and oyl I say this word of the Lord that Isaiah calls to the people to hear V. 10. will at length judge you Your Religion will be tryed in the day of accompts according to it not according to your rules and methods ye have prescribed unto your selves Now if ye in the mean time shall judge your selves according to another rule and abâ—olve your selves and in the end God shall judge you according to this word and condemn you were ye not fools in neglecting this word The whole will of God concerning your duty may be summed up in two John hath one of them 1 Jo. 3. 23. And this is his Commandment that we shoud believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us Commandment And Paul hath another to
Angels could not reach this This Redemption and Cleansing was precious and would have ceased for ever But this Blood is the Ransome this Blood cleanseth and so perfectly that it shall not appear not only to mens eyes but also Gods peircing Eye Sinners quite your own righteousness why defile ye your selves more When your eyes are opened ye will find it so here is washing apply your selves to this Fountain And if ye do indeed so if ye expect cleansing from Jesus Christ I pray you return not to the puddle Ye are not washen from sin to sin more and defile your self more If ye think ye have liberty to do so ye have no part in this Blood SERMON XI Isai 1. 16. Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil c. THere are two evils in sin one is the Nature of it another the Fruit and sad Effect of it In it self it is filthiness and contrair to Gods Holiness and abasing of the immortal soul a spot in the face of the Lord of the Creatures that hath far debased him under them all Though it be so unnatural to us yet it is now in our fallen estate become as it were natural so that men agree with it as if it were sunk and drunk into the very soul of man The other is the guilt and desert of punishment and obligation to it All man hate this but they cannot hold it off They eat the Tree and Fruit of Death they must eat Death also They must have the wages of sin who have wrought for it Now the Gospel hath found a remedy for lost man in Jesus Christ He comes in the Gospel with a twofold blessing a twofold vertue a pardoning vertue and a sanctifying vertue VVater and Blood 1 Jo. 5. 6. He comes to forgive sin and to subdue sin To remove the guilt of it and then the self of it Gods appointment had inseparably joyned them And Christ came not to dissolve the Law but to establish it If he had taken away the punishment and left the sin in its being he had weakened the Law and the Prophets That conjunction of sin and wrath which is both by divine appointment and suitable also unto their own natures must stand that Divine Justice may be intire And therefore he that comes to redeem us from the curse of the Law hath also this Commission to redeem from sin and all transgressions of the Law Rom. 11. 26. and Gal. 3. 13. He that turns away the wrath of God from men turns also ungodliness from them which provoked his wrath And so he is a compleat Redeemer and a compleat Redeemer he had not been otherwayes If he had removed Wrath only and left us under the bondage of sin it had not been half redemption he that commits sin is the servant of sin But this is perfect freedom and liberty to be made free from sin for it was sin that subjected us to wrath and so was the first Tyrant and the greatest The Gospel then comes with a joyful sound unto you but many of you mistake it and apprehends it to be a Doctrine of Liberty and Peace and that unto sin But if it were so it were no joyful sound If there were proclaimed a liberty to all men to do as they list no punishment no wrath to be feared I would think that Doctrine no glade news it were but the perpetuating of the bondage of a reasonable soul But this is glade news a delivery and freedom proclaimed in the Gospel but what Not unto sin but from sin and this is to be free indeed We ought more to Jesus Christ for this then for redemption from Wrath because sin is a greater evil then wrath Yea wrath were not so if sin were not Therefore he exhorts to wash and wash so that they may make clean Take Jesus Christ for Justification and Sanctification imploy both the Water and the Blood that he hath come with But because all men pretend a willingness to have Christ their Saviour and their sins pardoned through his Blood who notwithstanding hate to be reformed and would seek no more of Christ Therefore he branches out that part of the Exhortation in several particulars All men have a general likeing of remission of sins but renouncing of it is to many a hard Doctrine they would be glade that God put their evils out of his sight by passing them by and forgetting them But they will not be at the pains of putting away their evils from his sight And therefore the Gospel which comprehends these two united is not really received by many who pretend to be followers of it This is his Command that ye believe Some pretend to obey this and yet hath no regard of that other part of his Will even their Sanctification And therefore their Faith is dead it is a fancy If ye did indeed believe and receive Christ for pardon of sin it were noâ— possible but your Souls would be ingaged and constrained to indeavour to walk in all well-pleasing But it is an evident token of one that is not washed from his sin and believes not in Christ if he conceive within his heart a greater latitude and liberty to walk after the flesh and be imboldened to continue in sin because of his Grace and Mercy And yet such are the most part of you Upon what ground do ye delay repentance Upon what presumption do ye continue in your sins and puts over the serious study of holiness till a more fit time Is it not from an apprehension of the Grace and Mercy of God that ye think ye may return any time and be accepted and so ye may in the mean time take as much pleasure in sin as ye can seing ye may get leave also for Gods Mercy I pray you consider that you have never apprehended Gods Mercy aright ye are yet in your sins and certainly as yet are not washed from them Put away the evil c. When the Spirit convinces a Soul he convinces a man not only of evil doings but of the evil of his doings Not only of sin but of the sinfulness of sin And not only of those actions which are in themselves sinful but also of the iniquity of Holy things I think no man will come to wash in Christs Blood till this be discovered If he see much wickedness many evil doings yet he will labour to wash away these by his own tears and repentance and well doing As long as he hath any good Actions as Prayers Fasting and such like he will cover his evil doings by them He will spread the skirts of such righteousness over his uncleannesse and when he hath hid it from his own eyes he apprehends that he hath hid it from Gods also He will wash his bloody hands with many Prayers and thinks they may be clean enough We see blasphemers of Gods Name use to joyn a prayer for forgivenesse
may sin no more but break off their sins It is indeed impossible for a man to amend his ways till he be pardoned for his sin stands betwixt him and God God is a consuming fire the guilt of it hinders all meeting of the Soul with God at least all influence from him But when an open Door is made in Christ that men may come and Treat with God notwithstanding of rebellions and have the Curse relaxed O now he may go about his Duty comfortably Am I escaped from Hell why should I any more walk in the way to it And now he hath the Spiriâ— given for the asking There are some Cessations from sin that are not real forsakings of it and ceasings from it You know men will abstain from Eating for a season that they may be made ripe for it another time Some do not cease from sin but delayes it only they put it not away but put it off only for another time till a fitter occasion and opportunity And this is so far from ceasing from it that it is rather an deliberat choice of it and Election of conveniency for it There may be some pure and simple ceasings from sin meer abstinence or rather meer absence of sin for a season that is not ceasing from doing evil The Christians ceasing hath much Action in it It is such a ceasing from doing evil that it is a putting away of evil It hath the Soul and Spirit joyned in that Cessation Sin requires violence to put it out where it hath haunted it is an intruding Guest and an usurping Guest It comes in first as a supplicant and beggar prays for a little lodging for a night and promises to be gone the temptation speaks but for a little time even the present time for a little one it seeks but litle at first least it be denyed but if once it be received into the Soul it presently becomes Master and can command its own time and its abode Then ye will not so easily put it out as ye could hold it out for it is now joyned with that wicked desperat party within you the heart and these united Forces are too strong for you According as a lust is one with a mans heart or hath nearer connexion with his heart and Soul it is the worse to put away for will ye drive a man from himself it is the cuting off an right hand or plucking out of an right eye To make a man cease from such evils it requirs that a stronger power be within him then is in the world Men may cease for a time for want of occasions or temptations to sin when there is no active principle in them restraining or keeping their Soul from such sins as appears after when no sonner occasion is offered but they run as the Horse to his course or the Stone falleth downward they conceive Fire as easily as dry Stubble That is not Christian ceasing which is that which the Soul argues it self to from grounds of the Gospel Should I who am dead to sin live any longer therein This is a principle of Cessation and this is true liberty when the Soul can abstain from present temptations upon such grounds and perswasions of the Gospel then it is really above it self and above the world then hath it that true victory Many men cease only from sin because sin ceases from them they have not left it but it hath left them The old man thinks himself a changed man because he wallows not in the lusts of the flesh as in his youth But alas no thanks to him for that he hath not ceased from his lusts but temptations to him or power and ability in him to follow them hath ceased there is no change in his Spirit within for he can talk of his former sins with pleasure he continues in other evils as bad but more suitable to his age In a word he is so inwardly that if he were in his body and occasions offering as before he would be just the same Some again cease from some evils from some principles but alas they are no Christian principles VVhat restrains the multitude of Civilians from grosse scandals Is it any thing but affectation of a good Name and report in the world Is it not fear of reproach or censure Is it not because possibly they have no particular inclination to sueh evils And yet there are many other evils of the heart al 's evil though more subtill that they please themselves in as Pride Covetousnesse Malice Envie Ambition c. VVhat shall all your abstinence be accompted of when it is not love to Jesus Christ or hatred of sin that principles it It is not the outward abstinence that will commend you Such it is as the principles of it are And these only are the true Christian principles of Mortification love of Jesus Christ which constrains men to live no more to themselves but to be new Creatures 1 Cor. 5. 14 15. And hatred of sin in its Nature as sin A Christian should have a mortal hatred at it as his mortal enemy It is not Christianity to abstain from some fleshly lusts if ye consider them noâ— as your Souls enemies 1 Pet. 2. 11. Ye that love the Lord hate evil Psal 97. 10. These are chained together Davids hatred was a Soul hatred an abhorency Psal 119. 163. I hate and abhore lying it is like the natural Antipathies that are among Creatures The Soul hates not only the person of it but the nature of it also Men often hate sin only as it is circumstantiate but Christian hatred is a hatred of the Nature like the deadly feuds which are enimities against the kind and name I will put enimity between thy seed c. It is a perfect hatred Psal 139. 22. And so it cannot endure any sin because all is contrary to Gods Holinesse and offensive to his Spirit I would think it easier to forsake all evil and cease from doing any evil I mean presumptuously with a willing minâ— and endeavour then indeed to forsake one for as long as ye entertain so many lusts like it they shall make way for it It were easier to keep the whole Commandments in an Evangelical sense then indeed to keep any one for all of theâ— help another and subsist they cannot one with out another so that ye take a foolish course whâ— go about particular reformations Ye scandalous sinners professe that ye will amend the particular fault ye are guilty of and in the meaâ— time ye take no head to your Souls and Lives Therefore it shall be either in vain or not acceptable How pleasant a life would Christians have if they would indeed be perswaded to be altogether Christians The halfing of it neither pleaseth God nor delights you Iâ— keeps you but in continual torment between God and Baal your own lusts usurpe over you and that of Christ in you challenges the Supremacy so ye are as-men under two Masters
Journey Christ took to meet with us and it is downward below himself but his Love hath chosen it to be like us though he should be unlike himself How Divinely doth the Divine Apostle speak of it and the word was made flâ—sh and he dwelt among us Jo. 1. 14. And therefore the Children of Adam may in verity say of him what the Holy Trinity in a Holy Irony spake of man Lo he is become as one of us It was a singular and eminent Priviledge conferred upon man in his first Creation that the Trinity in a manner consulted about him let us make man after our image But now when man hath lost that Image to have such a result of the Counsel of the Trinity about it let one of us be made Man to make up the distance between man and us O what Soul can rightly conceive it without Ravishment and Wonder without an Extasy of Admiration and Affection that the Lord should become a Servant The Heir of all Things be stript naked of all The Brightnesse of the Fathers Glory be thus Ecclipsed and Darkened And in a word that whiâ— comprehendeth all Wonders in the Creatioâ— who made all things he himself made of Woman And God became a man and aâ— this out of his Infinite Love to give a Dâ—monstration of Love to the world So higâ— a Person abased to exalt so base and low â— we are There is a Mystery in this a greâ— Mystery a Mystery of Wisdom to swalloâ— up the Understanding with Wonder And Mystery of Love to ravish the hearts of meâ— with Affection Depths of both in the Emptâ—ness of the Son of God The Prophet doubâ—ing what was commanded to seek a Sigâ— whither in Heaven above or in the Depth beneath but what he would not ask Goâ— gave in his great Mercy Behold a Virgâ— shall conceive a son and they shall call his naâ— Immanuel A sign indeed from Heaven at the height of Heaven because he is God and sign from the Depth beneath too because he â— man God with us and so composed to uâ—â— Heaven and Earth together God with us thâ— he might at length bring us to be with God He became Immanuel that he might mak us Immelanu If that was given as Tidings of greâ— Joy and as the highest and deepest sign of Lovâ— and Favour at that time to uphold the fainting Church O how much more may it now comfort us when it is not a Virgin shall conceive but a Virgin hath conceived Maâ— not the Joy be increased that the Redeemer not to come but come already and hath made up that wide separation which was between us and him by his low condescendency to his Union with our Nature This is one step of Advancement towards that happy Marriage that the whole creation seems to groan and travel for Rom. 8. 22. But yet there is a great Difficulty in the way We are in a state of Captivity we are prisoners of Justice have sold our selves and our happiness And now our Natural Inhâ—â—itance lies in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone heirs of Wrath concluded under the Curse of God And indeed this was insuperable to all flesh Neather Men nor Angels could ransom us from this The Redemption of the Soul of man is so precious and the Redemption of the Inheritance of man that is Heaven is so precious too that none in Heaven or Earth can be found that can pay the price of them so that it would have ceased for ever And here the great Design of Christs Union with sinners would have marred and miscaried if himself had not undertaken to overcome this too And indeed as there could none be found to open the Seals of the Book of Gods Decrees concerning his Church none worthy in Heaven or Earth but the Lamb the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah He prevailed to open it and loose the Seals thereof Rev. 5. 3 4 5. So there could none be found in Heaven or Earth neither under the Earth worthy to undertake or accomplish this work or able to open the Seals of the Book of Gods Curses or to blot out the hand-writting of Ordinances that was against us or to open the prison of Death into which-man was shut up None I say hath been found worthy â— prevailed but the Lamb of God and Lyon â— the Tribe of Judah And therefore the foâ— and twenty Elders that sit round about tâ— Throne and the four Beasts or innumerabâ— company of Angels and Spirits of just mâ— made perfect fell down before the Lamb evâ—ry one of them with Harps and they sung new Song worthy is the Lamb that was slain receive power and riches and wisdom and strengâ— and honour and glory and blessing For thou hâ— redeemed us to God by thy blood And every Creâ—ture says Amen to this and consents to this â— do him homage To him who alone wâ— worthy and al 's willing to it as worthy so it I think the 16. Vers of this Chapter givâ— us a sensible representation of this The prâ—ceeding Discourse from the beginning holdinâ— out the sinful and deplorable condition of thâ— people and in them as a Type of the desperâ— wickednesse of all mankind and withal their dâ—sperat misery for Paul Rom. 3. maketh the Application for us and from this concludeth aâ— under sin and so all under wrath all guiltâ— that every mouth may be stopt Men waiâ—ing for Light and behold Obscurity for Brighâ—nesse but walking in Darknesse groping foâ— the Wall like the blind stumbling at noon day as in the night and in desolate places as dead men all roaring like Beasts and mourniâ— like Doves when ever the apprehension of thâ— Terror of God entereth Now it is subjoyneâ— Vers 16 And he saw that there was no man c as if he had waited and looked through all thâ— world if any would appear either to speak or â—o for man if any would offer themselves and â—nterpose themselves for his Salvation Therefore his own arm brought Salvation and his righteousness it sustained him Therefore the Son of God steps in and offers himself as if God had first assayed all others and when Heaven is full of wonder and silence he breaks out in this â—o I come to do thy will Psa 40. Since I have gotten a Body to be like sinners I will also come in their place and I will give my Life a Ransome for them And therefore it is subâ—oyned The Redeemer shall come to Sion He â—hall come Cloathed with Vengeance and Indignation as a Garment against the enemies of his Church Sin and Satan in Zeall and burnâ—ng Love to his designed Spouse He shall strengthen himself and stirr up his Might and Fury against all that detain her Capâ—ive Now indeed he is the only fittest Person for â—his Businesse in Heaven or Earth for he hath â—oth right to do it and he hath only Might and Power to accomplish it He hath right to the Redemption of sinners because
opening of the eyes But I add there is no true confession but it is particular the Spirit useth not to be wilder mens spirits in a general notion only and a wild field of unknown sins And such are many of your convictions You mourn for sin as you say and yet you cannot condescend on a particular that burdeneth your conscience you grant you have many sins but sit down to compt them and there is a short compt of them Now do you not reflect back upon former humiliations in publick and former acknowledgements of sins in private do you not yet return upon your own hearts to lay home this sad challenge I have never repented I do not yet repent must not all your solemn approaches be iniquity and abomination while your souls are not afflicted for sin while you can see so few sins c. The fasting dayes of Scotland will be numbered in the roll of greatest provocations because there is no real and spiritual conviction of sin among us Custom now hath taken away the solemnity and there remaineth nothing but the very name Is this the fast that the Lord chooseth No believe it this shall add to your provocation and rather hasten lingering judgement then keep it off we would beseech you this day pray for pardon of former abused fasts If you had no more to mourn for this might spend the day and our spirits both and exhaust all our present supplications even the wall of partition that stands between God and Scotland which all our former solemn humiliations hath built up a great deal higher then other sins could reach There is none that calleth upon thy Name Did not this people make many prayers Isai 1. 15. before the captivity And did they not cry which noteth some fervency in it And fast a little before it in Jeremiahs time Chap. 11. 11. and 14. 12. in the time of it Ezek. 8. 18. Mic. 3. 4. Zech 7. 3. How then is it that the Prophet now on the watch-tower looking round about him to take up the peoples condition and being led by the Spirit so far as to the case of the captives in Babel can find no prayer no calling And was not Daniel so too Dan. 9. 13. Lo then here is the construction that the Spirit of God putteth on many prayers and fastings in a Land There is none calleth on thy Name there is none that prayeth faithfully and fervently few to count upon that prayeth any It may be there are many publick prayers but who prayeth in secret and mourneth to God alone There are many prayers but the inscription is To the unknown God to a nameless God your praying is not a calling on his Name as a known God and revealed in the Word This then we would say unto you that there may be many prayers in your account and none in Gods There are many prayers of men that God counteth no more of then the howling of a dog First The cry of mens practices is often louder then their prayers and goeth up to Heaven that the cry of prayer cannot be heard When mens conversation is flat contrary to their supplications supplication is no calling on his Name but charming rather Sodoms abominations had a cry up to God Gen. 18. 21. So Ahels blood had a cry for vengeance which Cains prayers could not out-cry Thus the Lord would not hear many prayers Isa 1. 15. because hands and practices were polluted you that know no worship of God but in such a solemn duty your religion is summed up and confined within the limits of Temple-worship Family exercise and prayer Certainly the rest of your conversation must speak more God will not heat but such as worship him and do his will Joh. 4. 31. Your prayer is a dark parable if your conversation expone it not This I speak for this end to put many of you out of your false ground of Confidence you have nothing but your prayers to trust unto And for your conversation you never go about it effectually to reform it but goeth on in that which you pray against we declare unto you the truth your prayers are Abomination Pro. 28. 9. The wicked may have prayers And therefore think not to please God and flatter him with your mouths when your conversation is rebellion since you hear not him in his commands God will not hear you in your petitions Pro. 1. 24. 28. You stopped your ear at his reproof God will stop his ear at your request If you will go to heaven by your own righteousness I pray you follow more after it make the garment more to cover your nakedness the skirt of a duty is not sufficient Secondly When iniquity is regarded in the heart and idols set up in Gods place God will not own such a worship but sendeth a man to the Idols he serveth Psa 66. 18. Ezek. 14. 3. 4. Do you not often pray to God against a corruption when your heart cleaveth unto it and what your mouth saith your heart contradicteth Light and Conscience often extort a confession of beloved sins while the temper of the heart hath this language Lord grant not my request And therefore if there be a prayer for pardon of guilt yet there is no through resolution to quite the sin And as long â—â— a soul is not resolved to quite the sin there can be no ingenuous confession of it and no prayer for removing the guilt can be heard You cannot imploy Christ in his office of Mediatorship as a Priest to interceed and offer sacrifice for sin unlesse you as sincerely imploy him as a sanctifier and Redeemer And therefore prayer that separateth Christs offices and calleth not on whole Christ calleth not on his name for his name is Lord Jesus Christ How can the Lord be inquired of by such a one who cometh to mock him puteth up an Idol in the heart and yet prayeth against it or some other sin while he is not resolved to quite it Shall God be resolute to help when we are noâ— earnest in seeking it No wonder God answer you according to the Idol No wonder you be given up to serve Idols and your sin grow upon you as a plague for your hypocrisy when you ingadge your heart too much to any creature and comes to pray and inquire of the Lord in your necessity shall it not be righteousness with him to send you to your God when thou cryest let thy companies deliver thee Isa 57. 13. O man cry unto thy bosome idol and let it help thee since thou trustest to it and spendeth thy heart on it Deut. 32. 37 38. Where is the God that drunk the Wine of your offerings and eat the fat of your sacrifices where is the creature that you have made your heart an altar to to send up the flames of your choicest thoughts and affections to it let this rise up and help you now saith the Lord. Therefore we exhort you if you would have
your prayers a delight be upright in the thing you seek and see that you intertain no known sin give it no heart allowance Thirdly There are many prayers not heard not known because the mouth outcryeth the heart It is the sacrifice of the contrite heart that God despiseth not The prayers of this people were such Isai 29. 13. They drew near with the mouth but the heaâ—t was far away It is worship in spirit and truth that God loveth Joh 4. 23. Since Prayer is a communion of God with the Creature a meeting of one with God and speaking face to face God who is a Spirit and immortal must have a spirit to meet with a soul to speak to him Now do you not find your hearts gading abroad even in duty Is it not most about your Corns and Lands in the time of solemn worship Therefore God getteth no more but a carcasse to keep communion with He may have as much fellowship with the stones of the wall and timber of the house as he can have with your ears and mouths while you remove your hearts to attend other things And I would say more if your mind be present yet your heart is gone sometimes yea often both are gone abroad Sometimes the mind and thought stayeth but the affection and heart is not with it and so the minds residence is not constant Your thought may come in as a wayfaring man but tarrieth not all night dwelleth not Now speak to it even Christians may not your Prayers often have a contrary interpretation to what they pretend You pray so coldrifely and formally as God will interpret you have no mind to it we ask as we seemed indifferent whether our petition be granted or not Should the Lord be affected with your petitions when you your selves are not affected much Should his bowels of zeal sound within him when yours are silent It is fervent prayer availeth much Isai 5. 16. A heart sent out with the petition and gone up to Heaven cannot but bring back an answer If Prayer carry not the seal of the heart and soul in it God cannot own it or send it back with his seal of acceptation Fourthly Many Prayers are not calling on Gods Name And no wonder that when people pray yet the Spirit say None calleth on thy Name for Prayer is made as to an unknown God and God is not taken up according to his Name which are his glorious Attributes whereby he manifesteth himself in his Word To call on Gods Name is so to pray to God as to take him up as he hath revealed himself And what is the Lords Name Hear himself speak to Moses Exod. 33. 19. and 34. 6 7. The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin and that will by no means clear the guilty Now to call on this Name is for the soul in Prayer to have a suitable stamp on it every Attribute of God taking deep impression in the heart And so Gods Name to be written on the very petitions And shortly we may say the Spirit should have the impression of Gods greatnesse and Majesty of his goodnesse and mercy of his terriblenesse and justice This is the order that God proclaimeth his Name into In the entry the supplicant should behold the glorious Soveraignty and infinite distance between God and the Creature that he may have the stamp of reverence and abasement upon his spirit and may speak out of the dust as it becometh the dust of the ballance and footstool to do to him who sitteth on the circle of the Heaven as his Throne And this I must say there is little Religion and Godlinesse among us because every man is ignorant of God Even Gods children do more study themselves and their condition then Gods greatnesse and absolutenesse Who searches Gods infinitnesse in his Word and Works till he behold a wonder and be drowned in a mystery O but the Saints of old did take up God at a greater distance from the Creatures they waded far into this boundlesse Ocean of Gods Majesty till they were over head and ears and werâ— forced to cry out Who can find out the Almighty to perfection All these are but parts of him his back-parts There is more real Divinity and knowledge of God in one of Jobs friends discourses one of Davids prayerâ— then now in twenty Sermons of gracious men or many prayers or conferences of Saints But withal you must study his goodnesse and mercy and this maketh up the most part of his Name The definition of God hath most of this so that it may be said truly that mercy is his delight mercy as it were swelleth over the rest God were not accessible unlesse mercy did temper it Behold then greatnesse to humble and goodness to make bold that you may have accesse As greatness should leave the stamp of reverence on your petitions so should mercy and goodnesse imprint them with faith and confidence And that the rather because as Christ is said to be the Fathers Face and tâ— image of his Person 2 Cor. 4. 6. and Heb. 1. â— So may he be called the Fathers Name and â— doth God himself call him Exod. 23. 20 21. Tâ— Angel that went before them in the wilderness wâ—â— voice they ought to obey his Name is in him aâ— this Angel is Christ Jesus Acts 7. 37 38. â— then Christ Jesus is Gods Name God as â— revealeth himself in the Word is God in Châ— reconciling the world unto himself 2 Cor. 5. â— And therefore Christians you ought to prâ— alwayes in Christs Name and this is to call â— his Name Not only encourage your selves â— come to God because of a Mediator becaâ— he is God in Christ but also offer up all yoâ— prayers in Jesus his Name that his Name caâ—led on them may sanctifie them otherwise yoâ— affection at prayers cannot be acceptable â— God for he loveth nothing but what comâ— thorow the Son Prayer must have an evil sâ—vour when it is not put in the Golden Censâ— that this Angel hath to offâ—r up incense with tâ— prayers of the Saints And likewise you woâ— know Gods justice and wrath that you mâ— serve in fear and trembling And when treâ—bling is joyned with the rejoycing of faith thâ— is acceptable service You ought to fear to â—fend his holiness while you are before him Lâ— Gods terribleness have a deep impression â— your spirit both to make sin bitter and to maâ— mercy more sweet Thus should Prayer asceâ— with the seal of Gods Attributes and then is a calling on his Name Now is there any câ—ling on his Name among us Who maketh â—udy to take up God in his glorious Names â—herefore you call not on a known God and â—nnot name him Now all of you take this â—le to judge your prayers by Think you not â—at you make many prayers You both think and