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
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
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
Workmanship a vail of darknesse for a season and who can behold him when he hides himself sayes Job and though he withdraw the Covering yet what am I Who can by searching find out God If I shall examine his way what rule shall I take to try it by If I measure by my shallow capacity or by my crooked way shall I have any just account of it will my Arm measure the Heavens as his doth If I examine it or try it by himself He is high as Heaven and unsearchable Therefore it becomes us to hearken to his Word and believe its sentence of his Work when reason cannot comprehend it One thing if it were deeply engraven on our hearts would be a principle of setling our spirits in all the mysteries and riddles of providence the knowledge and faith of his Soveraignty of his Highnesse and of his Wisdome should he give account of his Matters to us He is wise and knowes his Works but is he bound to make us know them His wayes are above our thoughts and wayes as Heaven above the Earth Is 55. And therefore O Grashopper in the Earth that dwells in Tabernacles of Clay do not presume to model his ways according to thy conceptions One thing is certain this is enough for Faith all his wayes are mercy and truth to these that keep his Covenant and his Testimonies Psal 25. 10. And there is no Way or Path of God so far above our reach and unsearchable as his Mercy in pardoning sin and this is only the satisfying answer to all your objections and scruples in these ye do but vent your own thoughts but sayes the Lord my thoughts are above youâ— thoughts as Heaven above Earth Ye but speak of your own wayes but my wayes are far above yours they are not measured by your iniquity and therefore David subjoyns Psal 25. Verse 11. pardon my iniquity for it is great SERMON III. Deuter. 32. 4 5. He is the Rock his work is perfect for all his ways are Judgement a God of truth and without iniquity Just and Right is he 5. They have corrupted themselves their spot is not the spot of his Children they are a perverse and crooked generation ALL his wayes are Judgement both the wayes of his Commandments and the ways of his Providence both his Word which he hath given as a Lanthorn to mens paths and his Works among men And this were the blessednesse of men to be found both walking in his wayes and waiting on him in his wayes having respect to all his Commandments and respect to himself in all his Works We all know in general that he doth all well â—nd that all his Comandments are Holy and Just â—ay but our practice and affections belie our knowledge and for the most part we stand crosse in our humours and affections and conversation both to his Word and Providence and this is our misery Great peace have they that love thy Law VVhat peace then can keep that heart and mind that is dayly at variance with his Statuts and Judgements when the heart would wish such a Command were not when it is an eye sore to look upon it Blessed are the meek it is good for a man both quietly to wait and hope and keep silence How then must that spirit be miserable that stands crosse unto Gods Dispensations and would limit the Holy One Do not often our hearts say I do well to be angry why is it thus with me But who hath hardened himself against him and prospered his counsel must stand and you may vex your self and disquiet your soul in the mean time by impatience but you cannot by your thought add one cubit to your stature you may make your case worse nor Providence hath made it but you cannot make it better by so doing so that at length you must bow to him or be broken Oh then that this were engraven on our hearts with the point of a Diamond All his wayes are Judgement that ye might be overcome with the equity of his Command and Dispensation and your heart and tongue might not move against them It was enough of old with the Saints It is the Lord let him do what seems good in hâ—s eyes Gods Soveraignty alone pondered may stop our mouth but if ye withal consider it is perfect Equity that rules all it is Divinâ— Wisdome thaâ— is the square of his Works theâ— how ought we to stoop chearfully unto them One thing ye would remember his wayes and paths are Judgement and if ye judge aright of him ye must judge his Way and not his single Footsteps ye will not discern Equity and Judgement in one step or two but consider his Way joyn adversity with prosperity humbleing with exalting take along the Threed of his Providence and one part shall help you to understand another There is reason in all but the reason is not visible to us in so small parts of his Way and Work A God of Truth Strange it is that his Majesty is pleased to cloath himself with so many Titles and Names for us He considers what our necessity is and accordingly expresses his own Name I think nothing doth more hold forth the unbelief of men and Atheism of our hearts nor the many several Titles God takes in Scripture There is a necessity of a multitude of them to make us take up God because we staying upon a general notion of God rather frame in our imaginations an Idol then the true God As there is nothing doth more lively represent the unbelief of our hearts then the multitude of Promises Men that consider such frequent repetitions of one thing in Scripture so many diverse expressions of one God may retire into their own hearts and find the cause of it even the necessity of it But while we look so slightly on these we must judge it superfluous and vain Needed there any more to be said but I am your God I am God if our spirits were not so far degenerated unto Atheism and unbelief Certainly that word Jehovah holds forth more to Angels then all the inculcated Names and Titles of God to us because we are dull and slow of heart Therefore wonder at these two when ye read the Scriptures Gods Condescendency to us and our Atheism and Unbelief of him they are both mysteries and exceeding broad There is not a Name of God but it gives us a Name and that of reproach and dishonour so that for every one some evil may be written down and it is to this purpose Moses draws them out in length that in the Glasse of his glorious Name the people might behold their own ugly face This Name is clear He is a God of Truth not only a true God but Truth it self to note his Excellency and Eminency in it It is Christs Name I am the Truth the substantial Truth in whom all the Promises are Truth are Yea and Amen His Truth is his Faithfulnesse in performing his Promises
may be a lawful kind of Gloriation Rejoycing in the Works of God consequent to the first which is a little stream from that greater River which runs out from it and flows in to it again A Soul that truely apprehends God will take delight to view the Works of God which make such an expression of him and are a part of the magnificence of our Heavenly Father But this is all in reference to him and not to our selves for then it degenerats and loseth its sweetnesse when once it turns the Channel towards the adorning of the Creature True boasting in God hath necessarly conjoyned with it an humble and low esteem of a mans self Psal 34. 2. The humble shall hear thereof and be glade As humility and self-emptiness made David go out of himself to seek satisfaction in God and having found it he boasts and triumphs so there were none capable of understanding his triumph or partaking with him in his delights but the humble Souls Now you may perceive how far this boasting here spoken of is degenerated from that and so how far manâ— nature is spoiled Boast not thy self c. The truâ— boasting we were created unto hath â— sufficient foundation even such as will beaâ— the weight of triumph but that which menâ— spirits are now naturally set upon cannot cary cannot sound such Gloriation And therefore this boasting makes men ridiculous If you saw a man glorying in rags setting forth himself to be admired in them or boasting in some vain despicable and base thing you would pity him or laugh at him as one distempered The truth is Natural man is mad hath lost his Judgement and is under the greatest distraction imaginable since the fall That fall hath troubled his brains and they are never setled till the new Creation come to put all right again and compose the heart of man I say all other distractions are but particular in respect to particular things But there is a generall distraction over all mankind in reference to things of most general and most eternal concernment Now fools and mad persons they retain the same affections and passions that are in men as anger love hatred grief joy c. but it is so much the worse since the judgement which is the only directive and guide of them is troubled Now they are set on wrong Objects they run at random and are under no kind of Rule and so they hurry the poor man and put him in a pitiful case Now indeed so it is with us since sin entered the Soul is wholly turned off God the only true Object of delight in which only there can be solid gloriation The mind of man is blinded and his passions are strong and so they are now spent upon empty vanities and carried headlong without judgement Oftentimes he glories in that which is his shame and boasts in that which is his sin and which will cause nothing but shame the more weight be laid upon it There is in man an Oblivion and forgetfulnesse of God and in this darknesse of the ignorance of God every thing is apprehended or misapprehended as present sense suggests and as it fancies a conveniency or excellency thither the Soul is carried as if it were something and then it is but the east Wind There is nothing beside God that is a fit matter of boasting because it laikes one of the Essential Ingredients Either it is not suitable to the Soul or it is not truely our own There wants either proportion to the vast capacity and void of our desires and so cannot fill up that really but only in a deluding dream or imagination and therefore will certainly make the issue rather vexation then gloriation Or there wants property and interest in them For they are changeable and perishing in their own nature and by Divine appointment that they cannot be conceived to be the proper Good of the immortal Soul They cannot be truely our own because they will shortly cease to be and before they cease to be they may in a moment cease to be ours Thaâ— tye of Interest is a draw-knot whatsoever catcheth hold of the end of it looseth it The Object of degenerat and vitious boasting is here held out Boast not thy self oâ— of thy self Whatsoever be the immediat matter of it this is alwayes the ultimat and principal Object Since man fell from God seâ— is the center of all his affections and motions This is the great Idol the Diana thaâ— the heart worships and all the contention labour clamour and care that is amonâ— men is about her Silver Shrines so to speak something relating to the adorning or setting forth of this Idol It is true since the Hearâ— is turned from that direct subordination to God the Affections are scattered and parted into infinite Channels and run toward innumerable Objects for the want of that Original Unity which comprehends in its bosâ—â— universal plenty must needs breed infinite variety to supply the insatiable appetite of thâ— Soul And this might be enough to convince you that your Souls are quite out â— course and altogether wandered from the waâ— of Happinesse because they are poured out oâ— such a multiplicity of unsufficient unsatisfâ—ing things every one of which is narrow limited and empty and the combination and concurrance of all being a thing either impossible or improbable to be attained But we may conceive that mens Affections part themselves into three great heads of created things One of which runs towards the Goods or Perfections of the Mind Another towards the Goods or advantages of the Body And a third towards those things that are without us hona fortunae Riches and Honour c. Now each of these send out many Streams and Rivulets as so many Branches from it But all of them though they seem to have a direct course towards other things yet they wind about and make a circular progresse to the great Ocean of self estimation whence they issued at first You may find all of those Jer. 9. 23. falling under a Divine Interdiction and Curse as being opposite to glorying in God While men reflect within themselves and behold some Endowments and Abilities in their minds beyond other men of which Wisdom â—â— the Principal and here stands for all inward advantages or qualifications of the Soul In that secret reflection and comparison there is a tacite Gloriation which yet is a loud blasphemy in Gods Eares It is impossible almost for a man to recognosce and review his own Parts such as Ingine Memory Understanding Sharpnesse of Wit Readinesse of Expression Goodnesse and Gentlenesse of Nature But that in such a review the Soul must be puft up apprehending some excellency beyond other men and taking complacency in it which are the two Acts of Robery that are in gloriation and boasting Commonly this ariseâ— from unequal comparisons we please our selveâ— that we are deterioâ—ibus meliores better then the worst and builds self-estimation upon
he had reproved us for breach of Commands for Omission and Neglect of Sacrifices we would have taken with it But what means this reproof for well doing The Lord is a hard Master if we neglect Sacrifices and offer up the worst of the Flock he is angry If we have a care of them and offer them punctually and keep appoynted days precisely he is angry what shall we do to please him I think many of you are put to as great a Non-plus when your prayers and repentance and fasting is quarreled Do ye not say in your hearts we know not what to do Ministers are angry at us if we pray not and ouâ— praying they cry out against They command us to Repent and Fast and yet say that God will abhore both these This is a Mystery and we shall endeavour to unfold it to you from the World It concerns us to know how God is pleased with our publick Services and Fastings For the most part of people have no more Religion Ye all I know desire to know what True Religion is Consult the Scriptures and search them for there ye shall find Eternal Life We frame to our self a wrong Patern and Coppy of it and so we judge our selves wrong Our narrow Spirits do not take in the Latitude of the Scriptures Religion but taking in one part it excludes another and thinks God rigid if it be not taken of our hand so But I pray consider these three things which seem to make up the good Old Way the Religion of the Old and New Testament First Religion takes in all the Commands it is universal hath respect to all the Commandments Psal 119. 6. It carries the two Tables in both-hands the first Table in the right hand and the second in the left These are so intirely conjoyned that if ye receive not both ye cannot receive any truely Secondly it takes in all the man his Soul and Spirit al 's well as his Body Nay it principally includes that which is principal in the man his Soul and Spirit his Mind and Affections If ye divide these ye have not a man present but a body And what fellowship can bodies have with him who in a Spirit If ye divide these among themselves ye have not a Spirit indeed present If the mind be not present surely the heart cannot but if the mind be and the heart away Religion is not Religion but some empty Speculation The mind cannot serve but by the heart Where the heart is there a man is reckoned to be Thirdly it takes in Jesus Christ as all and excludes altogether a mans self He worships God in the Spirit but he rejoyces not in himself and in his spirit but in Jesus Christ and hath no confidence in himself or the flesh phil 3. 3 8. It includes the Soul and Spirit and all the Commands but it denyes them all and embraces Jesus Christ by Faith as the only Object of glorying into and trusting into All a mans self becomes dross in this Consideration Now the first of these is drawn from the last therefore it appears first I say an indeavour in walking in every thing Commanded of conforming our way to the present rule and patern is a stream flowing from the pure heart within A mans Soul and Affections must once be purified or it send out such Streams in Conversation And from whence doth that pure heart come Is it the Fountain and Original No certainly The heart is desperately wicked above all things and how will it cleanse it self But this purity proceeds from another Fountain from Faith in Jesus Christ And it is this that lies nearest the uncreated Fountain Christ himself it is the most immediat Conduit the Mouth of the Fountain or the Bucket to draw out of the deep Wells of Salvation All these are conjoyned in this order 1 Tim. 1. 5. The end of the Command is love Ye know Love is said elsewhere to be the fulfilling of the Law And when we say Love we mean all Duties to God and man which Love ought immediately to principle Now this Love proceeds from a pure Heart cleansed and sanctified which pure heart proceeds from Faith unfeigned So then we must go up in our searching from external obedience all alongs till we arrive at the inward Fountain of Christ dwelling in us by Faith And then have ye found true Religion indeed Now ye may think possibly we have used too much circumlocution What is all this to the present purpose Yes very much Ye shall find the Lord rejecting this peoples publick Worship and solemn Ordinances upon these three grounds either they did not joyn with them the observation of weightier Commands or they did not worship him in them with their Spirits had not Souls present or they knew not the end and use for which God had appoynted these Sacrifices and Ceremonies they did not see to the end of all which was Jesus Christ First then I say the people was much in exâ—ernal Sacrifices and Ceremonies Commanded of God but they were ignorant of the end of â—is Commands and of the use of them Ye now in themselves they had no goodness but â—nly in relation to such an end as he pleased they â—ould lead to But they stayed upon the Ceâ—emony and shadow and were not led to use it â—s a means for such an end And so though â—ey fancied that they obeyed and pleased God â—et really they wholly perverted his meaning and intention in the Command Therefore doth the Lord plead wâ—th them in this place for their Sacrificeing as if it had been Murther They used to object his Commands What sayes the Lord did I command these things Who required them Meaning eertainly who required them for such an end to take away your sin who required them but as a shadow of the substance to come Who required them but as signes of that Lamb and Sacrifice to be offered up in the fullnesse of time And for asmuch as ye passe over all these and think to please me with the external Ceremony was that ever my intent or meaning Certainly ye have fancied a new Law of your own I never gave such a Law Therefore it is said Psal 50. 13. God pleads just after this manner Will I eat the flesh of Bulls or drink the blood of Goats c. And Micah 6. 7. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rammes or with ten thousands of rivers of oyl He who hath no pleasure in sinful men what pleasure can he have in beasts Therefore it was to signify to them who thought God would be pleased with them for their offering that he could not endure them it was worse to him to offer him such a recompense then if they had done none at all Hâ— is only well pleased in his well beloved Son And when they separat a Lamb or a Bullocâ— from the well bâ—loved what was it to him morâ— nor a dogs neck or swines flesh It was
ingageth both to give a shelter and refuge to the poor sinner Would a Soul be any more tossed would there be any place for wavering and doubting if Souls considered his excellent loveing kindness and great goodness laid up and treasured with him for these that trust in him Psal 36. 7. Who would not put their trust under the shadow of his wings and think themselves safe Again if his eternal power were pondered how he is able to effectuat whatever he pleaseth what everlasting Armes he hath that by a word supports the frame of the world what he can do if he stretch out his Arm And then if these two immutable things Heb. 6. 18. His Promise and his Oath were looked upon how he hath ingaged himself in his Truth and sworn in his Holiness Would not a Soul ly safely between these three what strong consolation would such a threefold consideration yield Would any wind or tempest blow within these Walls mounted up to Heaven Stayedness on God is nothing else but the fixedness of believing and trusting Psal 112. 7 8. His heart is fixed trusting in God hiâ—â—eart is established It is even the mature and ripe age of Faith Fâ—ith while it is yet in infancy in its tender years it neither can endure storms nor can it confirm us in them But when it hath sprung up and grown in that root of Jesse wheâ— it is rooted and established in Jesus Christ then it establisheth the Soul Faith abiding in him and taking root groweth confirmed as a Tree that cannot easily be moved and if you establish Faith you shall be established There are two particulars which I conceive the trusting Soul is stayed on First in the meditation of God Secondly in expectation from him of all good things When I say the Meditation of God I take in both Contemplation and Affection The most part of men have but few thoughts of God at all even those who trust in him do not consider sufficiently what a One he is in whom they believe If Faith were vigorous and lively it would put men to often thinking on him seeking to know him in his glorious Names the mind would be stayed upon this glorious object as the most Mysterious and Wonderful One How throng are mens minds with their vanities When they awake they are not still with God The Meditation of him is a burden to them Any other thing geteth more time and thoughts But Meditation addeth Affection to Contemplation Men may think long upon the Heavens and their Course but their Affections are not ravished with them But this is the Soul stayed on God when the Souls desires are towards the remembrance of his Name then Affection stayeth the mind upon what it pitcheth one And certainly the mind giveth but passing looks constrained thoughts where the heart is not Here is Davids Meditation Psal 1. My delight is in the law of the Lord. The Soul of a Believer should be constant and fixed in the consideration of God till he be wholly ingaged to admiration and wondering O Lord how excellent is thy Name Ps 8. 1. And who is like unto thee You all say that you believe in God and know his Power you know he is Good he is Merciful Just Long suffering Faithful c. But what is all this knowledge but ignorance and your light darkness when it doth not press you to put your trust in his Name You know Nay but you consider not what you know This is trusting when the mind is stayed on what it knoweth when all the scattered thoughts and affections are called home and united in one to be exercised about this comprehensive Object The Lord our God It is not want of knowledge destroyeth you but want of consideration of what you know and this is brutishness Mens hearts do not carry Seal and Stamp of their knowledge because thoughts of God and his word are but as passengers that go thorow a Land as lightning going thorow the mind but warms it not And so their practice carrieth no impression of it either How base is it for those who have God for their God to be so ignorant of him Would not any man willingly travel about his own possessions Have you such a large portion Believers and should you be taken up with other vanities Should your hearts minds be stayed on them more then the living God There is a great vanity and levity in mens minds The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men that they are vanity There is aâ— unsetledness of Spirit we cannot pitch upon that on which we may be stayed And so all the spirits of men are in a continual motion from one thing to another for nothing giveth compleat satisfaction and therefore it must go and try one after another to see if it can find in it what iâ— found not in the former And such is the inconstancy of the Spirit that it licketh up its vomit and what thing it refused it eateth it up as itâ— meat The time is spent in choosing and refusing rejecting one thing and taking another and again returning to what you have rejected Thus are men tossed up and down and unstablâ— in all their ways as a Ship without ballasting Now Faith and trusting in God is the ballasâ— and weight of this inconstant Ship It is the Anchor to stay it from being driven to and fro once men would pitch upon this one Lord wiâ— hath in himself eminently all the scattered perfections of Creatures and infinitely more if you would consider him and meditate on him till your Souls loved him would you not be ravished with him Would you not build your house beside him and dwell in the meditation of his Name This would fix and establish you in duties when I awake I am still with thee A little searching and experience discovereth emptiness in all beside and therefore is it that the Soul removeth sooner from such a particular Creature then it expected but here is one that is past finding out The more I search and find I find him the more above what I can search and find The Creatures are but painted and fair in mens apprehension and at a distance but the near injoyment of them discovereth the delusion and sendeth a man away ashamed because he trusted But the Lord God is and there is no other he is not as waters that fail no liar he is an everlasting Fountain the more you dig and draw it runs the faster he will never send any away ashamed that trust in him because they shall find more then they expected Therefore the Soul that is stayed on meditation of God and knoweth him certainly will be fixed in expectation from him Our expectation from the Creatures changeth because it is oft frustrat disappoyntment meets it it is above what is in the Creature and so it must meet with disappoyntment But as he is above our meditation so is he far above our expectation And if a mans experience answer
in peace great peace have they that love thy law Obedience and delight in it doth not make peace but it is the way of peace and much meditation in the blessed word of God is the most excellent mean to preserve this peace if it be secured with much correspondence with Heaven by prayer Phil. 4. 6 7. If you would disburden your hearts dayly at the Throne of Grace peace should guard and keep your heart and then your peace would be perfect indeed But because your Faith is here imperfect your requests few and infervent your follies and iniquities many therefore is this promised perfection a stranger to the most part of Christians Always what we want here we must expect to have made up shortly Heaven is a Land of peace and all things are there in full age Here all are in minority it is but yet night but when the day shall break up and the shadows fly away and the Prince of Peace shall appear and be revealed he shall bring Peace and Grace both with him and both perfect To him be praise and glory SERMON XIV Isai 59. 20. And the Redeemer shall come unto Sion to them that turn c. DOctrines As things have their Seasons and Times every thing is beautiful in its Season So there is no word of Truth but it hath a Season and Time in which it is beautiful And indeed that is a great part of Wisdom to bring forth every thing in its Season to discern when and where and to whom it is pertinent and edifying to speak such and such Truths But there is one Doctrine that is never out of Season And therefore it may be preached in season and out of season as the Apostle commandeth Indeed to many hearts it is always out of season and especially in times of Trouble and Anguish when it should be most seasonable when the opportunity may commend the beauty of it But in it self and to as many as have ever found the power of it on their hearts it is always the most seasonable and pertinent Doctrine I mean the very subject matter of this Text The news of a Redeemer to Captive sinners it is in it self such glad tidings and shines with so much beauty and splendor to troubled sinners that it casteth abroad a luster and beauty on the feet of the Messengers that carry it Isai 40. It is a Cordial in Affliction whither outward or inward and it is withall the only true comfort of prosperity it allayeth the bitterness of things that cross us and filleth up the emptinesse of things that pretend to please us It giveth sweetnesse to the one and true sweetnesse to the other Reason then that should always be welcome to us which we stand always in need of that it should always be new and fresh in our Affection which is always recent and new in its Operation and Efficacy toward us Other news how great or good soever suppose they were able to fill the hearts of all in a Nation with Joy yet they grow stale they lose their vertue within few days What footsteps or remainder is of all the Triumphs and Trophies of Nations of all their Solemnities for their victorious successe at home and abroad â—hese great news which once were the subject of the discourse of and delight of many thousands who report them now with delight So these things that may cause Joy and Triumph to some at this time as they cannot choose but make more hearts sad then glad so they will quickly lose even that Efficacy they have and become tasteless as the white of an Egg to them that are most ravished with them But my Beloved here is glade tydings of a Redeemer come to Sion to save sinners which have no occasion of sadness in them to any but to them who are not so happy as to consider them or believe them and they are this day after many hundred I may say thousand years since they were first published as green and recent as refreshing to wearied Souls as ever they were Yea such is the Nature of them and such an everlasting spring of Consolation is in them that the oftner they be told and the more they be considered the sweeter they are rhey grow green in old age and bring forth fruit and are fat and flowrishing and indeed it is the never dying vertue and everlasting sape of this word of life that maketh the righteous so Psal 92. 14. This word of a Redeemer at the first publâ—shing and for a long time was but like waters issuing out from under the threshold and then they came to the Ankles when it was published to a whole Nation but still the longer it swells the higher above Knees and Loyns till it be a great inexhausted River and thus it runs at this day through the world and hath a Healing Vertue and a Quickning Vertue Ezek. 47. And a Sanctifying Vertue vers 9. 12. Now this is our errand to you to invite you to come to these Waters If ye thirst come to be quenched if ye thirst not ye have so much the more need to come because your thirst after things that will not profit you will destroy you and your unsensibleness of your need of this is your greatest misery That the words may be more lively unto us we may call to mind the greatest and deepest designe that hath been carried on in the world by the Maker and Ruler of the world is the Marriage of Christ his Son with the Church This was primely intended when he made the world as a Palace to Celebrat it into This was especially aimed at when he joyned Adam and Eva in the beginning of time together in Paradise that the second Adam should be more solemnly joyned to the Church at the end of time in the Paradise of Heaven And this the Apostle draws out as the Samplar and Arch-coppy of all Mariages and Conjunctions in the Creatures Eph. 5. Now this being the great designe of God of which all other things done in time are but the footsteps and low representations But the great Question is how this shall be brought about because of the great distance and huge disproportion of the Parties He being the brightness of the Fathers glory and we being wholly ecclipsed and darkned since our fall He higher then the heaven of heavens and we fallen as low as Hell into a dungeon of darkness and misery led away by sin and Satan lying in that abominable posture represented in Ezek. 16. Not only unsuitable to engage his Love but fit to procure even the loathing of all that pass by Now it being thus the words do furnish us with the noble resolution of the Son about the taking away of the distance and the royal offer of the Father to make the Match hold the better both flowing from infinit Love in the most free and ablolute manner can be imagined The Sons Resolution which is withal the Fathers Promise is to
as the â—â—n you would wash by it Secondly the uncleannesse of mens practice maketh unclean performances unclean hands make unclean prayers Isai 1. 15. When men go on in sin and use their members as instruments of unrighteousnesse against God and guiltinesse is above their head unrepented of and unpardoned then whatever the members act for God in religious Duties it must be also abominable for will God take prayers from such a mouth thaâ— cursing cometh out of Isai 3. 10 11 12 Shall sweet water come out of one Fountain with bitter Or can a Fig Tree bear both Thistles and Graps Certainly profane Conversation must make unclean profession And therefore your coming to the Church and Ordinances your praying in your Families or such like must of necessity be defiled since out of the same mouth cometh cursing railing lying filthy speeches Your tongues are so often imployed in Gods dishonour to blaspheme his Name to slander your Neighbours to reproach the Saints that all your prayers must be of the same stamp and al 's bitter as the other stream of your actions When you stretch forth your hands to make many prayers to take the Bread and Wine shall not God hide his Face from such hands as are unclean with many abominations some murdering some abusing their Neighbours some Sabbath-breaking some filthinesse how oft have your hands and feet served you to evil turns And therefore your good turns will never come in remembrance Nay believe it you cannot be heard of God while you cover any offence And this I may say in general even to the Saints any known sin given way to and intertained without controlment without wrestling against it hindereth the acceptation of your solemn approaches If your heart regard iniquity shall God hear Ps 66. 18. No believe it the least sin that you may judge at first venial and then give it toleration and indulgence shall separat between Gods Face and you Your prayers are abomination because of such an idol perked up in the heart beside God that getteth the Honour and Worship due to him and God must answer you according to it Ezek. 19. 1 3 4. God will not be enquired of such as give allowance to sin Ezek. 14. 2 3 4. And on the other hand no sin how great and hainous soever can hinder Gods gracious acceptation when Souls fly unto Jesus and turn their back upon sin or giveth it no heart allowance And to the multitude I say all that you do or touch in a Duty must be defiled because your whole way is unclean Hag. 2. 12 13 14. Think you to sin all the week thorow and worship God on the Sabbath will you lie swear commit adultery rail and curse and come and stand before me saith the Lord No certainly you cannot be accepted And will you hate reformation in your lives and yet take his Covenant in your mouth and call your selves by his Name Christians And shall not God challenge you for that al 's much as for your swearing and cursing and lying c. Indeed the Lord putteth all in one Roll and you need not please your selves in such things Psal 50. 16. Jer. 7. 9 10. For it is all one to you to go to Tavern to drink and come to the Sermon to blaspheme Gods Name and call on it because the profanity of the one defileth the other and the holiness of the other cannot make you holy Thirdly the natural mans performances want the uprightness reality and sincerity that is required it is but a painted Tomb full of rottenness within it is but a shadow without substance for he wanteth the spiritual part of worship which God careth for who will be worshiped in spirit and truth Joh. 4. 23. Now what is it that the most part of you can speak of but an outside of some few duties soon numbered You hear the preaching and your hearts wander about your business You hear and are not so much affected as you would be to hear some old story or fable told you A stage play acted before this generation would move them more then the Gospel doth So that Christ may take up this Lamentation We have piped to you and you have not danâ—ed lamented to you and you have not mourned You use to tell over some words in your prayers and are not so serious in any approach to God as in twenty other things of the world Whatever you plead of your hearts rightness and have recourse to it when your conversation cannot defend you yet your hearts are the worst of all and have no uprightness towards God for you know that what Duties you go about it is not from an inward principle but from Education or Custome or constraint Are you upright when you are forced for fear of censure to come here or to pray at home Is that sincerity and spiritual worship And for the more polished and refined professors you have this moth in your performances and this flea to make your Oyntment to stink that you do much to be seen of men therefore what little fervour of spirit is in secret Duties There you may measure your altitude and your life And O how wearisome how lifeless are secret approaches you would not have many errands to God if you thought no body looked upon you And for spirituality it is a Mystery in all mens practice Who directeth his Duty to Gods Glory If you get some flash of liberty you have your desire But who misseth Gods presence in Duties which a world will approve Who go mourning as without the Sun even when you have the Sun-shine of Ordinances and walketh in the light of them And fourthly though your performances had uprightness of heart going alongs and much affection in them yet all are filthy because of want of Faith in Jesus Christ When you make your Duties a covering of your sins and think to satisfy Gods Justice for the rest of your faults by doing some point of your Duty then it cannot choose but be polluted in his sight And this very thing was the cause of Gods rejecting the Jews righteousness even because they did not look to the end of the Mystery Christ Jesus Did not pull by the vail of Ceremonies to see the Immaculat Lamb of God slain for sin And therefore doth the Lord so quarrel with them as if he had never commanded them to do such things Isai 1. 12 13. Who hath required these things at your hands bring no more vain oblations all is Abomination Even as God should say to you when you come to the Church who required you to come Who commanded you to come to hear the Preaching What have you to do to pray What warrand have you to communicat All your Praying Hearing Communicating is Abomination who commanded you to do these things Would you not think it a foolish Question You would soon answer that God himself commanded you and will he not let us do his bidding Indeed this
people no doubt have said so in their heart and wondered what it meant Nay but here is the Mystery you go about these commanded Duties not in a commanded way and so the Obedience is but Rebellion You bring Offerings and Incense and think that I am pacified when you bring Alms you judge you have given me a recompense wheras all that is mine and what pleasure have I in these things I never appointed you Sacrifices for this end but to lead you in to the knowledge of my Son which is to be slain in the fulness of time and by one offering to perfect all I commanded you to look on Jesus Christ slain in the slain Lamb and so to expect Remission and Salvation in him But you never looked to more nor the Ceremony and made that your Saviour and Mediator And therefore it is all Abomination When you slay a Lamb and offer Incense it is all one thing as to cut off a Dogs neck or kill a Man So may the Lord say to this Generation I command you to pray to repent and mourn for sin to come and hear the Word but withal you must deny all these and count your selves unprofitable servants you must singly cast your Souls burthen on Christ Jesus But now saith the Lord who commanded your repentance for when you sit down to pray or come in publick to confesse sin before the Congregation you think you are washen When you have said you have sinned and if you come to the length of Tears and Sorrow Oh then sure you are pardoned though in the mean time you have no thought of Jesus Christ and knoweth no use of him Therefore faith the Lord who commanded you to do these things You think you have satisfied for your sin when you pay a penalty but who requireth this I will reckon with you for these al 's well as the sins you pray and mourn for because you do not singly look to Christ Jesus Now if he had never come to the world your ground of confidence would not fail you For you might have prayed al 's much mourned and confessed and promised amendment and so you past by the Son of God in whom only the Father is well pleased Think then upon this whatever you make your righteousnesse there needeth no other thing to make it filthy but to make it your righteousnesse Your confidence in your good heart to God prayer day and night and such like is the most loathsome thing in Gods Eyes Except you come to this to count your prayers as God doth among your oaths to count your solemn Duties among profane scandalous Actions as the Lord doeth Isai 1. and 66. 3. Then certainly you do adorn your selves with them and cover your nakednesse of other faults with such leaves as Adam did but you shall be more discovered Your Garment is al 's filthy as that it hideth even because you make that use of it to hide your sin and cover it Next The Lords Children have no ground of boasting either from their own righteousnesse The holiest Saint on Earth must abhore himself in Dust and Ashes and holy Isaiab joyneth himself in with a pâ—ofane people When he cometh to God to be justified he cometh among the ungodly he bringeth no righteousnesse with him he cometh in among them that work not Now you shall find good ground why it must be so First There are ordinarly many blemishes in our holiest Actions spots on our cleanest Garment often formality eateth up the life of Duties and presenteth a Body without a Soul in it You sit down to pray out of custome morning and evening And if there were no more to prove it this may suffice When pray you but at such times You have an ordinar and goeth noâ— by it no advantage is taken of Providence no necâ—ssity constraineth when occasion offereth and so it is like the worlds appointed houres How great deadnesse and indisposition creepeth in so that it is the ordinary complaint yea all prayers filled with it scarcely any room for other petitions because of the want of frame for prayer it self The word is heard as a discourse and on whom hath it operation to stirr up Affections either of joy or of trembling Christians you come not to hear God speak and so you meet with empty Ordinances God is not in them How often do crooked and sinister ends creep in and byass the Spirit Men ask to spend on their lusts and to satisfy their own ambition Some would have more Grace to be more Eminent or to have a more pleasant Life And this is but the seeking to spend on your lusts If Affection run in the Channel of a Duty it is often muddy and runneth thorow our Corruptions Liberty in Duties is principled with carnal Affection and Self-love Will not often the Wind of Applause in company fill the sails and make your course swifter and freer nor when you are alone And often much love to a partâ—cular maketh more in seeking it And that which is a Moth to eat up and consume all our Duties is conceit and self confidence in going about them and attributing to our self after them It is but very rare that any man both Acteth from Jesus Christ as the principle and also putteth over his work on Christ singly as the end Alas too often do men draw out of Christs Fulnesse and raise up their own glory upon it and adorn themselves with the spoyls of his honour For we use to pray from a habit of it and go to as men acquainted with it and when we get any satisfaction to our own minds O how doth the Soul return on it self and goeth not forward as it goeth It is so well pleased with it self when it getteth liberty to approach that it doth not put all over on Jesus and take shame to it self As long as there is a body of Death within holinesse cannot be pure and unmixed Our Duties run thorow a dirty Channel and cannot choose but contract filth While sin lodgeth under one roof so near Grace Grace must be in its exercise marred and therefore the holy Apostle must cry Rom. 7. 19. The good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do And Verse 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Secondly Though there were not such blemishes and spots in the face of our righteousnesse yet it is here in a state of imperfection and but in its minority and so must be filthy in the Lords sight It was perfect Holâ—nesse according to the perfect Rule of Gods Law that Adam was to be justified by according to the Covenant of works exact obedience not one wanting or else all that can be done came short of righteousness One breach bringeth the curse on All obedience if there be a failing in a little will not bring the blessing on He that doth all liveth and he that doth not
tree yet behold the wind of the Lord may arise that shall drive you away take your soul from these things and then whose shall they be If you will not fear temporal judgements yet I pray you fear eternal fear hell May not the Lord shake you off this tree of time and take you out of the land of the living to receive your portion There is not only an universal deadness of spirit on the land but a prophane spirit Iniquities abominable sins abound Every Congregation is overgrown with scandals and for you None may more justly complain we are all unclean sin is not in corners but men declare their sin as Sodom sin is come to the Maturity Defection and Apostacy is the temper of all Spirits and above all the general contempt and slighting of this glorious gospel is the iniquity of Scotland so that we wonder that the withered leaves yet stick to that the storm is not yet raised and we blown away Now you are like stones your hearts as Adamants and cannot be moved with his threatnings the voice of the Lords word doth not once move you you sin and are not afraid Nay but when Gods anger shall joyn with iniquity and the voice of his rod and displeasure roar this shall make the mountains to tremble the rocks to move and how much more shall it drive away a leaf You seem now mountains but when God shall plead you shall be like the chaff driven too and fro O how easy a matter shall it be to God to blow a man out of his dwelling place sin hath prepared you for it he needeth no more but blow by his Spirit or look upon you and you will not be You who now are lofty and proud and maintain your self against the word when you come to reckon with God and he entereth in judgement you shall not stand you will consume as before the moth your hearts will fail you Who may abide the day of his coming It will be so terrible and so much the more terrible that you never dreamed of it If the example of this people will not move you do but cast your eyes on Ireland who all do fade as a leaf and their iniquities have taken them away out of their own Land Shall not the seeing of the eye nor the hearing of the ear teach you What security do you promise to your selves Have not we sinned as much as they Were not they his people as we Certainly since God waiteth longer on you the stroak must be the greater provoked patience must turn fury If you would then prevent this peoples complaint go about such a serious acknowledgement of your sins search your wayes and turn again to the Lord. And let not every man sit down in a general notion of sin but unbowel it until you see uncleanness go up to the fountain head Original corruption go down to all the streams even the iniquity of holy things let every man be particular in the search of his own provocations personal and every one be publick in the general sins of the Land that you may confesse out of knowledge and sense we are all unclean c. SERMON XVIII Isai 64. 7. And there is none that calleth upon thy Name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee c. THey go on in the Confession of their sins Many a man hath soon done with that A general notion of sin is the highest advancement in repentance that many attain to You may see here Sin and Judgement mixed in thorow other in their complaint They do not so fix their eyes upon their desolat estate of captivity as to forget their provocations Many a man would spend more affection and be more pathetick in the expression of his misery when it is pungent nor he can do when he speaketh of his sins We would observe from the nature of this confession something to be a patern of your repentance And it is this When the spirit convinceth and men are serious in repentance then the soul is more searching more universal more particular in acknowledgement of sins These are characters of the Spirits work First The Spirit discovereth unto men not only sin but the loathsomeness of sin its hainous nature how offensive it is to Gods holy eye Many of you know abundance of evil deeds and call them sins but you have never taken up sins ugly face never seen it in the glasse of the holy Law uncleannesse it self because you do not abhore your selves poor and low thoughts of God maketh mean and shallow thoughts of sin You would be as Job vile ch 40. 4. And abhore your selves in dust and ashes ch 42. 6. As Gods holiness grew great in your eyes Sins uncleanness would grow proportionably Is 6. 3. 5. And here your repentance halteth in the very entry But Secondly The Spirit discovereth not only the uncleanness of mens natures and leadeth them up to original corruption but the Spirit also leadeth men alongs all the streams not only these that break out but those who go under ground and have a more secret and subtil conveyance It concludeth not only open breaches of the command under filthiness but also all a mans own righteousness though never so refined it concludeth it also a defiled garment so that the Soul can look no where but see sin and uncleanness in its ornaments and duties And thus it appeareth before God without such a covering openeth up its Soul hideth not sin with the covering of duties but seeth a necessity of another covering for all Now therefore let the most part of you conclude that you have never yet gotteh your eyes open to see sin or confesse it because when you sit down to compt your sins there are many things that you call not sin you use not to reckon your praying and repentance among sins Nay because you have so much confidence in your repentance and confession you have never repented you must see a necessity of a covering of Christs righteousness above all Faith in Jesus must cover repentance and it self both with the glorious object of it But alas how soon are many at an end of confession some particular grosse actions may come in remembrance but no more Sum up al your confessions they have never yet pitched on the thousand part of your guiltiness no not in kinds let be in number But thirdly The Spirit convinceth spiritually and particularly both it convinceth of Spiritual sins as we said last of the iniquity of holy things and especially of the most substantial duties faith and prayer John 16. 8 9. there are not many of you have come this length to see your want of prayer No your own words do witness against you for you use to say I pray day and night I believe in God with all my heart Now therefore out of your own mouth shall you be condemned when the spirit convinceth you of Sin you will see no faith no prayer at the first
in God in the worst case and then ye might lay hold on him though he seemed a consuming fire It is then a time that calleth most for secureing your interest in him a time when there is no external advantage to beguile you a time when the only happiness is to be one with God Therefore the man who in such Calamities and Judgements is not a waked to put his eternal Estate out of question he is in a dangerous case For do not most part drive over their dayes and have no assurance of Salvation they dare not say either pro or contra It may be and it may not be And this is the length that the most part come a negative Peace No positive Confidence No clear concluding on sure grounds an Interest Alwayes ye are most called to this when God afflicteth the Land or you If ye do not then make Peace it is most dangerous 3. The Lord loveth Faith in a difficulty best it is the singlest and the cleanliest it is that which most honoureth him and glorifieth his Truth and Faithfulnesse and Sufficiency and Mercy for then it is most purely Elevated above Creatures and pitcheth most on God And therefore bringeth men to this No help for my soul but thou art my portion And this commendeth God most when he is set alone Prosperity bringeth him down among Creatures and secure Faith maketh little distinction But awakening Faith grippeth strongly and singly puteth God alone Secondly Oftentimes when God is departing none stirreth up himself to lay hold on him Although there may be praying and doing of many duties yet there is nothing beyond ordinary The varieties and accessions of new grounds of supplications doth neither make greater frequency nor more fervency This our experience may clear unto us both in duties and faith First There is very little diligence in seeking of God in the way and means appointed even when God seemeth to bid farewel to the Land and go away No body cometh in as an intercessor Men keep on their old way of praying and never addeth to it come what like Who is it that riseth above his ordinary as the Tide of Gods dispensation is There ought to be such an impression made by the changes of Gods countenance as might be read on the duties of his people There should be such a distance between your ordinary and such times as between a sleeping man and a waking man that whatever your attainment of access to God be ye might stir up and go beyond it according as matters call Will God count your publick Fasts a performance of this duty Alas we fast sleeping and none stirreth up himself to these things Is there any difference betwixt your solemn Humiliation and another Sabbath And is there any difference between a Sabbath and a week day save the external duty Is not this palpably our case Is there any wakening among us No security is both the universal disease and complaint And it is become an incurable disease since it became a complaint Doth any of you pray more in private then ye used Or what edge is on your prayers Alas the Lord will get good leave to go from us It feareth me that we would give Christ a Testimonial to go over Seas Hold him hold him Nay the multitude would be gladly quite of him they cannot abide his yoke his work is a burden his word is a torment his discipline is bands and cords And what heart can ye then have to keep Christ What violence can ye offer to him to hold him still All your intreaties may be fair complements but they would never rent his garment Secondly There is no up-stirring to faith among us and laying hold on Jesus Christ albeit all his dispensations warn us that it is now high time There are not many who are about this point effectually to stir up their faith or to secure their interest Think ye that conjectures will carry you thorow difficulties The multitude think they believe much but any temptation proveth their mistake The most part of Scotland would deny God and his Son Jesus Christ if they were put to it Alwayes it is a time ye would not ly out from your strong hold faith only uniteth you to Christ and if ye would be kept in any trial stir up faitâ— Thirdly Prayer and Faith diligence and laying hold on God must go together and help one another Not calling on his Name and not laying hold on him go together and have influence oâ—e upon another First Faith hath influence on Prayer Laying hold on God in Christ will make right calling on his Name it learneth men how to call God to call him Abba Father Faith useth to vent iâ— self in Prayer I say much consideration of God and claiming in to him and to the grounds of confidence in him must both make Prayer acceptable and carry the stamp and impression of Gods Name or Christâ— Nâ—mâ— oâ— it and also make much prayer for when a soul hath pitched on God as its only felicity and thus made choice of him it findeth in him all-sufficiency all things for all things There is no necessiâ—y but it findeth a supply in his fulness for it And therefore it applyeth a man to the fountain to draw out of the wells of salvation There is nothing can be so sweet and refreshing as for such a soul to pour out it sâ—lf every day in him to talk with him face to face Faith ingageth the heart to come to God with all things whereas many difficulties would have been and the secure or unsettled heart would have gone as many different wayes to help them Faith laying hold on God knoweth but one and bringeth all here And therefore access to God is a fruit of it access unto the grace wherein we stand by faith And again how can Prayer be acceptable as long as Faith doth not principle it It is but like a beasts groaning under a burden Laying hold on God himself makes a mans duties acceptable because he speaks and asks believing that he shall receive he trusteth God and doth not tempt him Where lively faith is not intertained there cannot be much affection which is the oyl of the wheels There may be in some bitterness of spirit much vehemency but that is not a pure flame of divine love that burneth upward to him and it is soon extinguished and lasteth no longer nor present sense and then the soul groweth harder as iron that had been in the fire Secondly when there is not much prayer and calling faith cannot be strong and violent for prayer is even the exercise of faith if you wear out of that faith rusteth There may be much quietness with little prayer but there cannot be much and strong and lively faith for where it getteth not continual imployment it faggs And indeed prayer is a special point of holding God fast and keeping him Therefore joyn these if ye would thrive in any one of