and ashes and yet darest thou thy Maker Dost thou saith God lift thy self up against him before whom all the powers of Heaven do tremble whom the Angels do adore Exaltest thou thy self against him who inhabiteth Eternity What oppose thy self a base creature to Almighty God thy Creator Consider this and let the basenesse of the delinquent and the Majesty and Glory of that God against whom he offends be the first aggravation of sin and thou shalt find sin out of measure sinful 2. Consider the smalnesse of the Motives and the littlenesse of the inducements that perswade thee so vile a creature to set thy self against so glorious a God If it were great matters set thee a work as the saving of thy life it were somewhat But see how small and little a thing does usually draw thee to sin A little profit it may be or pleasure It may be neither of these or not so much When thou breathest out oaths and belchest out fearful blasphemies against God when thou rendest and tearest his dreadful and terrible name what makes such a base and vile villain as thou thus to fly in Gods face Is there any profit or delight in breathing forth blasphemies Profit thou canst take none and if thou take pleasure in it then the Devil is in thee yea then thou art worse then the Devil himself This is the second Consideration which may make us to see the vilenesse of sin and abhor our selves for it to wit the slenderness of the temptations and smalnesse of the motives to it 3. Adde what strong helps and meanes God hath given thee to keep thee from sin As I say thou shouldst consider the basenesse of the delinquent the glory of the offended the mean motives which cause so base a creature to do so vile an act so also consider the great means God hath given thee to keep thee from sin He hath given thee his Word and this will greatly aggravate thy sins to sin against his word Gen. 3.11 When God convinces Adam he proceeds thus with him Hast thou saith he eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat What hast thou done it as if thou wouldst do it on purpose to cross God God hath given thee an express command to the contrary and yet hast thou done this Hast thou so often heard the Law and pray'd Lord have mercy on me and incline my heart to keep this law and yet wilt thou lye swear commit adultery and deal falsly and that contrary to the command of God obstinately disobey him Now God hath not onely given this great meanes of his Word and Commandement but great grace too Where understand that there is not onely final grace but degrees of grace else the Apostle would not have said receiv'd not the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in vain Consider then how much grace thou hast received in vain How many motions to good hast thou rejected Perhaps thy heart is touched at this Sermon though it is not my tongue nor the tongue of the most elegant in the world that can touch the heart but the Spirit that comes along with his word Now when thou findest wirh the Word a Spirit to goe with it it is a grace If thy conscience be enlightned and thy duty revealed to thee so that it tels thee what thou art what thou oughtst to doe and not to doe it is a grace Now if for all this thou blindly runnest through and art never the better but obstinately settest thy self against God and doest many things which others that have not received the same grace would not have done know then that thou receivest this grace in vain and thy case is lamentable 4. Consider Gods great goodnesse towards thee 1. First his goodnesse in himself There 's nothing but goodnesse infinite goodnesse in him and canst thou find in thy heart to sin against so good a God To offend and wrong a good disposition'd person one of a sweet nature and affection it aggravates the fault 't is pity to wrong or hurt such a one as injures no body Now such a one is God a good good infinite in goodness rich in mercy very goodnesse it self and therefore it must needs aggravate the foulnesse of sin to sin against him But now he is not onely thus in himself but 2. Secondly He 's good to thee Rom. 2. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance c. What hast thou that thou hast not received from his bountiful hand Consider of this and let this be a meanes to draw thee off from thy sinfulnesse When David had greatly sinned against God and when God bringâ— his murther home to him he pleads thus with him When thou wert nothing in thine own eyes I brought thee saith God to the Kingdome I took thee from the sheepfold and exalted thee and brought thee to a plentiful house And may not God say the like to us and doe you thus requite the Lord O you foolish people and unwise that the more his mercy and goodnesse is to you the higher your sins should be against him 5. Besides Consider more then all this we have the examples of good men before our eyes God commands us not what we cannot doe If God had not set some before our eyes that walk in his wayes and doe his will then we might say that these are precepts that none can perform But we have patterns of whom we may say such a man I never knew to lye such a one never to swear and this should be a means to preserve us from sinning Heb. 11. Noah was a good man and being moved with fear set not at nought the threatning of God but built the Ark and thereby condemned the world His example condemned the world in that they followed it not although it were so good but continued in their great sins So art thou a wicked deboist person there is no good man but shall condemn thee by his example It 's a great crime in the land of uprightnesse to doe wickedly to be profane when the righteous by their blamelesse lives may teach thee otherwise 6. And lastly Adde to all the consideration of the multitude and weight of thy sins Hadst thou sinned but once or twice or in this or that it were somewhat tolerable But thy sins are great and many they are heavy and thou continually encreasest their weight and addest to their number Jer. 5.6 A lyon out of the forrest shall slay them and a wolf of the evening shall spoile them a leopard shall watch over their Cities and every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces Why Because their transgressions are many and their back-slidings are encreased If thou hadst committed but two or three or four sins thou mightst have hope of pardon but when thou shalt never have done with thy God but wilt be still encreasing still multiplying thy sins How can I pardon thee Thus David sets
were to discuss a Controversy or handle a subtile point of Learning in the Schools Thirdly In condiscending publiquely and privately to the Capacity of the meanest that heard or conversed with him herein his wisdom was like unto Solomons stiled the Preacher because he was wise he did still teach the people knowledge yea he gave good heed and sought out and set in order many proverbs the Preacher sought to find out acceptable words and words of truth and as our Saviour that was greater then Solomon he would let truths substantially proved into the understanding wish apt similitudes and would Encourage any to move their doubts unto him in private so that notwithstanding his greatness good Christians might be very familiar with him visit them in their sickness supply their wants beg their prayers and Countenance them in whatsoever Condition all men might see his delight was in the Saints and that he was as that King after Gods own heart a Companion of all them that feared God in a word he was a great proficient in that Lesson of our Saviour Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart This I say was the reason he grew so high in favour with God and man he honoured God and therefore God honoured him A great and good draw-net he was that fished for souls and catched many and let two sorts of Ministers gather from hence their respective Instructions First let all those that list not to follow him in these paths of holiness painfulness and Humility Take notice of Gods Justice in dealing with them as they have done with him His Covenant is with Levi of Life and Peace and he gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared him and was afraid before his name the Law of truth was in his mouth and Iniquitie was not found in his lips he walked with God in peace and equity and did turn many a way from iniquity for the priests lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts but saith the Lord ye are departed out of the way ye have caused many to stumble at the Law yee have corrupted the Covenant of Levi saith the Lord of hosts Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people according as you have not kept my waies but have been partial in the Law Had we all the means in the world to make us great if we either do not teach or do not make our selves Examples of what we teach t is just with God we grow contemptible and vile for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Thy teachers have transgressed against me therefore have I prophaned the rulers of my Sanctuary The Lord giveth this for a general Rule as they that honour him he will honour so they that despise him shall be despised Secondly Let all holy painfull and humble Ministers who make it their designe as this fair Copy did before them to advance God and fulfill the work of their Ministry trust to his faithfulness for vindicating their esteem No sort of men have greater promises for provision protection from and in trouble and for revenge of wrongs done unto them then they have What a dreadfull and prophetical prayer is that Moses made for Levi smite through the Loins of them that rise against him and of them that hate him that they rise not again What though a generation of men Call even the best of such Antichristian Lyars false Prophets and what not did they not after this manner use Christ and his Apostles before them They speak evil of the things they know not None of Gods blessed truths and holy Ordinances have been otherwise used by them their general outcry is upon all truths Ordinances and wayes of Religion among us as Antichristian The Apostacie of the present age makes men fall from all things in Religion and with an impudent face to deny and deride them all But did God leave these Jewels amongst men to be trodden under feet by such swine shall they not dearly pay for it Oh! that they would remember what words came out of the mouth of him that is the very promptuary of all sweetnesse and how highly he is provoked when such words are drawn from his blessed lips that drop honey let them take them to whom they appertain viz. Whosoever shall fall upon this stone shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to peices If their own destruction will not take them off from touching the Lords anointed and from plucking the stars out of his hand let yet the Anguish and vexation that shall accompany their destruction either deter them or confound them for he hath said it who will make it good that there shall be a Resurrection both unto Gods truths and to such as bear Testimony thereunto Mean while let this satisfie such as are faithful whilest God and those that truely fear God prize faithfull Ministers It matters not what the rest think of them As King David said in not much an unlike Case of those shall they be had in honour I have now done with the most famous Author of these sermons of whom I may as one very Learned said of Mr. Calvin That famous Man and never to be named without some Preface of Honour Or as another of a Learned and Godly Man God hath so provided that they who lived in Heaven whilst on Earth shall live on Earth whilst in Heaven That they shall leave their Names for a blessing when others leave them behind them for a Curse Or rather with the Apostle of Demetrius he hath a Good Report of all men and of the truth it self A word now concerning these Sermon Notes of his by occasion of the publishing whereof I have thus inlarged I suppose whosoever readeth and well considereth the two prefixed Epistles one in Latine the other in English and the Arguments therein contained and knoweth the Reverend Framers of them for such testimonies are as the Testes when he considereth I say 1. Their High Esteem of the most famous Preacher of them 2. The mighty power of God upon themselves and many others when they were preached 3. The care they took to put them forth 4. The ingenuous owning of any infirmities which the Reader may charge that seemes not to speak himself in the Publication of them He will not think either the will of the most Learned Bishop broken or the Caution of the Learned and Reverend Dr. that writes his life not heeded viz. That if any sermon notes taken from him have been printed in his life time under his name or shall be hereafter which divers have of late attempted the Reader is to take notice that it was against his mind and that they are disowned by him which as he endeavoured to his utmost to
more he often provides and is the more covetous Consider that the wisest of men gave thee this counsel Remember thy Creator in the day of thy youth before the evil dayes come wherein thou shalt say thou hast no pleasure in them Here we find it 's a youthful thing and should be a young mans practice not according to that devilish saying A young Saint and an old Devil but Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth The more sin thou committest the more unapt thou art to repent Custome in sinning makes thee a Lot the elder thou growest the more loth to go out of Sodom Besides 2. Consider what sin is in its nature It is a weight Heb. 12.1 Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us Sin is then a weight and so an heavy thing but add sin to sin a weight to a weight and it becomes heavier and heavier A man that is in the state of impenitencie hath this weight laid on him and is subject to the Devil in a state of rebellion against God A man now in this estate is weigh'd down what will he be six seven or ten years hence going on in his impenitency How will he then shake that off which now he cannot free himself of He must hereafter buckle against it with a great deal of disadvantage and wrestle with more difficulty One sayes well that if we consider of sin aright it 's like the rising of water over which a man being to passe and finding it higher then it was wont to be he stayes a while and then tryes again and finds it higher then before he stayes yet longer till it become unpassable so that he may not adventure without great disadvantage Thus it is with sin now peradventure the waters of iniquity are passable if thou wilt thou mayst go over but if thou delayest the adventure the streams of sin will run together into one channel and be more difficultly passed Take another Metaphor from the Scripture The Scripture compares sin to cords which are instruments of binding and therefore the mystery of the Gospel is expressed by binding and loosing Whose soever sins you shall bind on earth they are bound in heaven but whose sins ye remit they are remitted Every sin thou committest is a bond and binds thee hand and foot against the judgment of the great day Therefore it 's said His own iniquity shall take the wicked and he shall be bound and holden with the cords of his sins Now consider what folly it is when a man shall say though my sins are so many cords difficult to be broken yet I le not trouble my self about it in my younger days but I le stay till my old age and then I hope I shall be the better able to break these bonds and cast all these cords from me when as every iniquity I commit is as a new cord which binds me faster and faster Is not this madnesse it self to think so that in our younger yeares being scarce able to break one of them in our dotage we shall be able to break ten thousand together And certainly this is the disposition and nature of sin 3. But add hereto the Argument in the Text To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your heart but repent while it is called to day Shewing that if we passe this day we shall be harder and harder Wherefore saith the Apostle Exhort every one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sin Heb. 3.13 As if he had said if thy heart be hard to day it will be harder to morrow Custome in sin hardens the heart and takes away the sense of it Wherefore saith the Apostle I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmitie of your flesh For as ye have yeilded your members servants to uncleannesse and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yeild your members servants to righteousnesse unto holinesse Rom. 6.19 So that we see if a man once give himself up unto sin he will not be satisfied therewith but will give himself up to iniquitie unto iniquitie What 's the meaning of that It 's as if he had said if we give our selves up to iniquity we will not rest there but we 'l add iniquity unto iniquity sin unto sin we will be brought to such a custom in evil as that it will be easier for a black-moor to change his skin and a leopard his spots then for those that have been accustomed to do evil to learn to do well Jer. 13. It will be to as much purpose to wash an Aethiopian as to go to put off that ill custome and shake off that second nature Sin is a hammer and sin is a nail too Every sin strikes the former sin home to the head that whereas before it might easily have been drawn out it roots it in so fast as that it can very hardly be plucked out Mark how the Apostlâ— describes this cursed nature of sin Having eies full of Adultery and that cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable soules a heart they have exercised with covetous practises 2 Pet. 2.14 What makes a man prompt in any thing but exercise When a man is exercised in sin see the event of it it brings him to that vicious habit as that at length he cannot cease from sin If a man deal with a young twigg it will bend and break at his pleasure but when it comes to full growth it 's past his strength So fares it with sin if thou dealest with it whilst thou art young and it in thee before it hath taken â—oot thou maist easily wield it at least with more facility then otherwise thou couldst but if thou let it run on to confirmed habits it becomes immoveable Wherefore saith the Apostle Heb. 12.1 Let us lay aside the sin which doth so easily beset us The reason is evident because else we shall be so hardned as that we shall not be able A man that hath a green wound if he 'l seek for his cure betimes it may be quickly and easily remedied but through delay it begins to fester and must be lanced to the quick not without great pain and anguish to the Patient Sin is such a wound if it be let â—lone it corrupts and proud flesh the more grows up the longer the cure is delayed This â—herefore should be a chief thing we should take heed of how we put from us Gods time and the proffers of mercy till another day 2. But there are another sort as greatly beâ—â—ol'd as these yea more if more may be and â—â—ose are they who put it off till the hour of 〈◊〉 death till the last gasp as if they desired tâ—â—ive God as little of their service as possibly thâ—y might who think if they can but cry Peccavi and Lord have mercy on me when their breath departs their bodies they shew
and resolve to amend I shall not now stand to speak of that common aspersion cast upon Religion and the wayes of God that men must sail to Heaven by the gates of Hell of which many are so much afraid But yet we must not think that our Saviour came to heal those which are whole already he 's a God of wisedom and the Physician of the soul he comes to find that which is lost So that we must be lost in our own apprehensions if we will be found as David was Ps. 119. ult He first saith I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost then seek thy servant If now we are once lost we are lost for ever if he seek us not therefore we should first consider with our selves what estate we are in now how the case stands with us at present that if God should come and strike thee with death if thou wert now to come to Judgment what would trouble thee most what couldst thou then answer him Therefore since it is uncertain how soon God may deal thus with thee it is wisedom to be always ready Lam. 3.40 Let us search and try our wayes and turn again unto the Lord. Let us first try how the matter stands with us at the present let us examine our selves and our ways and see if all be well and then may we go on with comfort in the way wherein we are But when we have searched and find things not to goe as well as they ought or that we are not in a right way then after our searching we must Turn unto the Lord Thus the Prophet did Psal. 119.57 I thought upon my wayes and turned my feet unto thy testimonies First he thought on his wayes he considered whither he was going whether to Heaven or Hell then when he had thus thought he made haste and turned his feet unto Gods testimonies Here are both put together first he made haste and thought on his ways and then he turned I took this Text to shew that one of these is as dangerous as the other and how men are apt to deceive themselves in their search and examination 'T is as dangerous not to prove our wayes as to put off and defer our turning to God This is a dangerous disease that when men come to examine and try their spiritual estates they have false weights and unequal ballances to prove themselves by they are very willing to save themselves the labour though they be deceived A man is loth to be cozened by another but here is his folly that he is willing enough to deceive and betray himself Such fools the Devil makes many men because they take not right glasses to look on themselves in and so they deceive themselves For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing he deceiveth himself but let every man prove c. In the words here are 1. The Disease 2. A Remedy 1. The Disease is in the 3d. v. If a man think himself to be something when he is nothing c. this is a common and dangerous disease and a disease which is both common and dangerous is the more to be feared the more careâ—ul must the Physician be This is the most common disease for there is not a man but finds a snatch of it in his own heart And it is the more dangerous for who is in more danger then he that is blind and will be blind that is willing to be cheated by Satan and himself This is the patient Now what his disease is and the dangerousnesse of it the Apostle tells us He thinks himself to be something and is nothing This is the patient to be cured and that is his disease then which none more common for there is not the worst of men but will say I thank God I am something and I am not half so bad as the Preacher would make me I have some good thing in me Now this his disease stands in two things 1. That he is nothing 2. That he thinks himself to be something 1. He is nothing And for a man to be brought before Gods Judgment-seat and have nothing to answer how will it fare with him then but yet this man cannot but think he is something well then something he is but nothing to the purpose As we say of an Idol An Idol is nothing in the world that is Nothing that can help or succour those that bow to them and adore them nothing that they should have in them An Idol is something indeed for it is silver or gold or brass or stone c. but it 's nothing that is is nothing to the purpose nothing that can plead for a man when he holds up his hand at Gods bar 2. He thinks himself to be something though he be nothing He thinks he shall come to Heaven though he be not in the way as the foolish Virgins that thought they should be let in feared not the contrary till they came there So these men walk in their way all their life and yet fear not entrance into Heaven till they receive sentence to the contrary If these men knew themselves to be nothing they would seek something for themselves but now they are nothing though they think themselves something This is the Disease 2. The Remedy is in the next verse Let him proâ—e his own work Let him look himself in a true glasse and that is the point we shall insist on If then Satan shall not delude us in deferring and putting off our repentance so let him not deceive us with a false conceit of our wayes and estate that we may not make our selves something when we are nothing Therefore let us see what false glasses they are that men get to themselves If Satan bring us to have a good opinion of our selves and our condition and perswade us that it is not with us as precise Preachers tell us that it 's no such matter to go to Heaven but that it may be done with lesse paines and more ease when I say Satan lulls a man asleep with such plausible things as these he hath him where he would have him Why then no marvel if this man like his ways when he looks upon them with false glasses 1. The first false glass is self-love and the property of love is to make the good things in the party it loves very great and the vices very little Self-love represents nothing in it's true shape The Apostle speaking of the later dayes 2 Tim. 3. saith There shall be perillous times And wherein lieth the peril Men shall be lovers of their own selves As if he had said that is one of the worst perils for a man to have a great conceit of himself If one be sick of this disease it will so blind him that he shall never see a thing in its right place we may see it by the contrary in the want of love Suppose to a neighbour for example he
is so bad with them Therefore take this home to your selves think no better of your selves then you are for thus you are naturally Therefore consider if thou wert now going out of the world what state thou art in a child of wrath a child of Belial or the like Set about the work speedily goe to God pray and cry earnestly give thy self no rest till thou know this to be thy condition Let not thy corrupt nature deceive thee to make thee think better of thy self then God saith thou art Now that we may the better know to whom these things belong know it is thou and I we all have been or are in this estate till we have supernatural grace and therefore we are declared to be children of wrath and children of disobedience till regenerated Why It 's because it 's thy nature it belongs to all Now we know the common nature alwayes appertaines to the same kind There 's nothing natural but is common with the kind If then by nature we are children then certainly it belongs to every Mothers son of us for we are all sons of Adam In Adam we all die Rom. 5. That 's the fountain whence all misery flowes to us As thou receivedst thy nature so the corruption of thy nature from him for he begat a son in his own likenesse This therefore is the condition of every one The Apostle in 1 Cor. 15. speaks of two men the first was from the earth earthy the second was the Lord from heaven What were there not many millions and generations more True but there were not more men like these men of men two head men two fathers of all other men There were but two by whom all must stand or fall but two such men By the fall of the first man we all fell and if we rise not by the second man we are yet in our sins If he rise not we cannot be risen We must rise or fall by him He is the Mediator of the second Covenant If he rise and we are in him we shall rise with him but if not we are dead still So it is in the first Adam we all depend on him he is the root of all mankind It 's said in Esay 53. Our Saviour should rejoyce to see his seed His seed that is to say he is the common father of all mankind I mean of all those that shall proceed from him by spiritual generation He shall present them to his father as when one is presented to the University Behold here am I and the children that thou hast given me So in Adam he being the head of the covenant of nature that is the Law if he had stood none of us had fallen if he fall none of us all can stand He is the peg on which all the keyes hang if that stand they hang fast but if that fall they fall with it As we see in matter of bondage if the father forfeit his liberty and become a bondman all his children are bondmen to a hundred generations here is our case We were all once free but our father hath forfeited his liberty and if he become a slave he cannot beget a free-man When our Saviour tells the Jewes of being free-men We were never bond-men say they though it be false for even Cicero himself could tell a Jew that he was a slave genus hominum ad servitium natum although they had a good opinion of themselves But our Saviour saith you are bond-mâ—n unto sin and Satan For till the Son make you free you are all bond-men but when he makes you free then are you free indeed So that we see our condition here set down 1. We are dead in trespasses and sins that is there is an indisposition in us to all good works A dead man cannot walk or speak or do any act of a living man so these cannot do the actions of men that are quickned and enlivened they cannot pray with the spirit they cannot love God c. they cannot doe those things that shall be done hereafter in heaven There 's not one good duty which this natural man can do If it should be said unto him Think but one good thought and for it thou shalt go to heaven he could not think it Till God raise him from the sink of sin as he did Lazarus from the grave he cannot doe any thing that is well-pleasing unto God He may do the works of a moral man but to do the works of a man quickned and enlightned it 's beyond his power For if he could do so he must then have some reward from God for however we deny the merit of good works yet we deny not the reward of good works to a man that is in Christ. There 's no proportionable merit in a cup of cold water and the Kingdom of heaven yet he that gives a cup of cold water to a Disciple in the name of a Disciple shall not lose his reward Here then is the point The best thing that a natural man doth cannot so relish with God as that he should take delight in it or reward it whereas the least good thing that comes from another root from a quickned spirit is acceptable and well-pleasing to him Consider for this end that which is set down Prov. 15.8 Take the best works of a natural man his prayers or sacrifice and see there what is said The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. It is said again Prov. 21.27 where there are additions The prayers of the wicked are an abomination to the â—ord how much more when he brings it with a wicked mind Suppose there should come upon this man a fit of devotion where he hath or should have some good motions is it then accepted no it is so far from being accepted that it is an Abomination to God how much more then if he brings it with a wicked mind That is if he bring it not with a wicked mind it is an abomination how much more with it See the case set down in Haggai 2.12 13 14. If one bear holy flesh c. shall he be unclean And the Priest answered no. Then said Haggai if an unclean person touch any of these shall it be unclean And he said it shall be unclean Then answered Haggai so is this people so is this nation before me saith the Lord and so is every work of their hands it is unclean A man may not say prayer is a sin because it is so in them no it 's a good duty but spoil'd in the carriage He marrs it in the carriage and therefore in stead of doing a good work he spoils it and so in stead of a reward must look for punishment 1 Tim. 1 5. The end of the Commandement is love out of a pure heart a good conscience and faith unfeigned Let the things thou doest be according to the Commandement look what thou doest be according to the middle end and
out his own sins in their weight and number Psal. 38.4 Mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burthen they are too heavy for me The continual multiplying of them adds to their heap both in number and weight Thus I have shew'd you what the Law does in respect of sin the benefit of being under the Law that it makes sin appear in its own colours and sets it forth to be as indeed it is exceeding sinful But the Law does not yet leave sin nor let it scape thus But as the Law discovers our sinfulnesse and accursednesse by sin its wretchednesse and mans misery by it till his blessednesse comes from the hands of his Jesus so it layes down the miserable estate befalls him for it If he will not spare God with his sins God will not spare him with his plagues Let us consider of this accursednesse sin brings on us God will not let us go so but as long as we are under the Law we are under the curse and till we are in Christ we can expect nothing but that which should come from the hand of a provoked God Assure thy self thou thâ—t pleasest thy self in thy abominations that God will not take this at thine hands that by so base a creature as thou art so vile a thing as sin is should be committed against him But of the woful effâ—cts of sin which is Gods wrath we will speak the next time LAM 5.16 Woe unto us that we have sinned I Declared unto you heretofore what we are to consider in the state of a natural man a man that is not new fashioned new moulded a man that is not cut off from his own stock a man that is not ingrafted into Christ he is the son of sin he is the son of death First I shew'd you his sinfulnesse and now Secondly I shall shew you his accursednesse that which follows necessarily upon sin unrepented of I declared before what the nature of sin is And now I come to shew what the dreadful effects of sin are the cause the consequence that follows upon sin and that is woe and misery Woe unto us that we have sinned A woe is a short word but there lieth much in it Doct. Woe and anguish must follow him that continueth sinning against God And when we hear this from the Ministers of God it is as if we heard that Angel Rev. 8.13 flying through the midst of heaven denouncing Woe woe woe to the inhabitants of the earth The Ministers of God are his Angels and the same that I now deliver to you if an Angel should now come from Heaven he would deliver no other thing Therefore consider that it is a voice from Heaven that this woe woe woe shall rest upon the heads upon the bodies and soules of all them that will not yeild unto God that will not stoop to him that will be their own masters and stand it out against him woe woe woe unto them all Woe unto us It 's the voice of the Church in general not of one man but woe unto us that we have sinned That I may now declare unto you what these woes are note by the way that I speak not to any particular man but to every man in general It is not for me to make particular application doe you doe that your selves We are all children of wrath by nature In our natural condition we are all alike we are all of one kind and every kind generates its own kind 'T is an hereditary condition and till the Son make us free we are all subject to this woe By nature we are all children of wrath as well as others Eph. 2.3 Now that I may not speak of these woes in general I have shew'd how two woes are past and a third woe is coming God proceeds punctually with us And are not our proceedings in Judiciary Courts after this manner The Judge when he pronounceth sentence doth particularize the matter Thou shalt return to the place from whence thou camest thou shalt have thy bolts knockt off thou shalt be drawn to the place of execution thou shalt be hanged thou shalt be cut down and quartered and so he goes on And this is that which is the witnesse of Justice Thus is it here the Spirit of God thinks it not enough to say barely the state of a sinner is a woful estate but the woes are punctually number'd and this shall be my practice Now 1. The first thing that followeth after sin is this After the committing of sin there cometh such a condition into the soul that it is defiled polluted and becometh abominable And this is the first woe 2. The soul being thus defiled and abominable God loaths it for God cannot endure to dwell in a filthy and stinking carrion-soul he startles as it were and seems afraid to come near it he forsakes it and cannot endure it And that 's the second woe First sin defiles it then God departs from it there must be a divorce 3. When God is departed from the soul then the Devil enters in he presently comes in and takes up the room there will be no emptinesse or vacuum And this is a fearful woe indeed for as soon as God is departed from a man he is left to the guidance of the Devil his own flesh and the world There will be no emptinesse in the heart no sooner God departs but these step in and take Gods place 4. Then in the fourth place after all this is done comes sin and cries for its wâ—ges which is death That terrible death which comprehends in it all that beadroll of curses which are written in the Book of God and not onely those but the curses also which are not written Deut. 28. which are so many that they cannot be written Though the Book of God be a compleat Book and the Law of God a perfect Law yet here they come short and are imperfect For the curses not written shall light upon him which are so many as pen and ink cannot set down nay the very pen of God cannot expresse them so many are the calamities and sorrows that shall light upon the soul of every sinful man Now let us take these woes in pieces one after another 1. The first woe is the polluting and defiling of the soul by sin A thing it may be that we little think of but if God once open our eyes and shew us what a black soul we have within us and that every sin every lustful thought every covetous act every sin sets a new spot and stain upon the soul and tumbles it into a new puddle of filth then we shall see it and not till then for our eyes are carnal and we cannot see this If once we did but see our hateful abominable spots that every sin tumbles us afresh into the mire did we see what a black Devil we have within us we would hate and abhor our selves as Job did It would be
the variety of the curses belonging unto a man unreconciled are so many that the ample book of God cannot contain them Deut. 28.61 All the curses which are not written c. We read v. 27. The Lord shall smite thee with the botch of Egypt and with Emralds and with a scab and with itch See the diversities of plagues All these are made parts of the curse The very itch and scab is a part of the payment of Gods wrath in hell Lev. 26.26 I will send a sword amongst you which shall avenge the quarrel of my Covenant the sword which shall destroy you that when you shall hear of war of the coming of the sword which the children of God need not fear all is alike unto them it shall be to avenge the quarrel of Gods Covenant The Book of God comprehends not all the curses that are to light on the wicked And therefore we find in Zachary a Book a great Folio-book every side whereof was full of curses Cap. 5.2 He said unto me what seest thou And I said I see a flying roll the length whereof is 20 cubits and the breadth thereof is 10 cubits Here 's a big Book indeed but mark what is in it Sure it is not for nought that the Holy Ghost sets down the dimensions of it there is something questionlesse in it the length thereof is 20 cubits and the breadth 10 cubits a huge volume Nor is it a Book but a Roll so that the crassitude goeth into the compasse and this is written thick within and without and is full of curses against sin Now for the dimensions of it compare this place with 1 Kings 6.3 and you shall find them the very dimensions of Solomons Porch A great place where the people were wont to come for the hearing of the Word and not onely in that time but it was continued to the time of Christ and the Apostles For we read how our Saviour walked in Solomons Porch and the Apostles were in Solomons Porch Acts 5. So large then was this Roll that it agreed in length and breadth with Solomons Porch and so many curses were written in it as were able to come in at the Church door It is as if we should see a huge book now coming in at the Church-door that should fill it up Such a thing was presented unto him and it was a Roll full of curses and all these curses shall come on those that obey not all the Commandements all shall come upon them and overtake them Cursed shalt thou be in the City and cursed shalt thou be in the field cursed in thy basket and in thy store cursed when thou comest in and when thou goest forth Deut. 28. Till a man come to receive the Promises till he come to be a son of blessing till he be in Christ he is beset so with curses that if he lie down to sleep there is a curse on his pillow if he put his money in his cofer he lays up a curse with it which as rust eats it out and cankers it if he beget a child he is accursed there 's a curse against his person and his goods and all that belongs unto him there 's still a curse over his head The creditor in this world by the Laws of the Realm may choose whether he will have his debtors person seâ—zed on or his goods and chattels But not so here this writ is executed against his person and goods and all that belongs unto him So that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God If this be the condition of a wicked man that his very blessings be curses what a woful case is it There 's nothing till he be reconciled to Christ but hath a curse at the end of it Consider that one place in the Prophesie of Malachy where the very blessings are accurs'd not onely when God sends on him the itch or botch or scab or sword but in blessings cap. 2.2 he 's accursed If you will not hear and if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name saith the Lord I will even send a curse upon you But how See how this curse is threatned I will curse your very blessings yea I have cursed them already because you doe not lay it to heart Mark is it not a great blessing that God yet affords the Word that we yet enjoy it but if we come to hear but formally to hear it onely and lay it not to heart God curseth this blessing yea I have cursed it already saith the Lord. When thou prayest in hypocrisie thy prayer is a curse to thee If thou receive the Sacrament unworthily the cup of blessing is a cup of poyson a cup of cursing to thee Stay not therefore one hour longer quietly in this cursed condition but fly unto Christ for life blessing run to this City of refuge for otherwise there is a curse at the end of every outward thing that thou enjoyest I have cursed these blessings already It is as sure as if already pass't on thee What a woful thing then is it think you to be liable to the curse of God! 2. But what 's become of the soul now why if thou didst but see the cursed soul that thou carriest in thy body it would amaze thee These outward curses are but flea bitings to the blow that is given to the soul of an unregenerate man that deadnesse of spirit that is within didst thou but see the curse of God that rests upon the soul of this man even while he is above ground it would even astonish thee 1. Consider there are two kinds of blows that God gives unto the soul of an unregenerate man The one is a terrible blow The other which is the worst of the two is an insensible blow The sensible blow is when God lets the conscience out and makes it fly into the face of a man when the conscience shall come and terribly accuse a man for whâ—t he hath done This blow is not so usual as the insensible blow but this insensible is fâ—r more heavy But as it falls out that as in this world sometimes before the glory in heaven the Saints of God have here a glimpse of heaven and certain communion with God and Christ certain love tokens a white stone a new name in graven which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it And this is the tâ—stimony of a good conscience which is hidden joyes Privy intercourse is between Christ and them secret kisses And as Gods children doe as it were meet with a heaven upon earth sometimes and are as we read of Paul caught up into the third heaven which to them is more then all the things in the world besides So the wicked have sometimes flashes of hell in their consciences If you had but seen men in the case that I have seen them in you would say they had an hell within them they would desire
miserable life as well as an accursed death Though the heat came at the end of the Tragedy yet his whole life was a continual suffering Consider the degrees of it 1. He made himself of no Reputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he emptied himself It was the second person in the Trinity that thus humbled and emptied himself not in his divine nature but his assumed of all his transcendent endowments Consider the particulars of it he took on him the form of a servant Was not this a great humiliation That the second person in the Trinity should stoop so low as to take on him the nature of one who is not worth the looking on that he should take dust and ashes upon him Psalm 113.5 6. Gods greatness is thus expressed Who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high who humbleth himself to behold the things in heaven and in the earth What Humiliation is that compare these two humiliations together It is but an humiliation to cast but his eye upon the heavens to look upon the most glorious of all his works to look upon the Angels but what is man that thou so regardest him that thou shouldst not only look upon him but take him up make him an inmate under thine own roof this is a greater abasement but here 's a further degree Christ during the time of his pilgrimage was content to deprive himself of his Glory that he now enjoyes by reason of his Hypostatical Union with the God-head he deserves all honor and glory When he brought his first begotten into the world he saith And let all the Angels worship him Heb. 1.6 Every knee bows to him that is thus highly exalted We see Christ crowned with glory and honor all Dominion and Power being made subject unto him yet he for thirty three years and an half was content to be exiled from his Fathers court John 17.5 Glorifie thou me with the glory I had with thee before the world was which is expounded in the Proverbs where the Wisdome of God was shewn before the world was framed Prov. 8.30 Then I was by him as one brought up with him and I was dayly his delight rejoycing always before him this was the work before the foundation of the world which God was doing the Father was glorifying the Son and the Son was glorifying the Father The Father took infinite delight in the Son and the Son took infinite delight in the Father and the Holy Ghost in them both To be deprived of such a sight and such a glory as this and for thy sake to be banisht from that high Court where not to enjoy that fulness of joy was an emptying of himself yet all this he did for thee 2. He minded not his own things if he had he might have presently sat at Gods right hand where is fulness of joy for evermore but his bowels yearned on us and took upon him the form of a servant and was found in shape of a man that is as an ordinary man We know what the nature of servitude is Every man naturally desires liberty but Christ that he might make thee free was content to be bound as an Apprentice and endure a servile estate Christ both in respect of God and man took on him the form of a servant 1. For him to be Gods servant was an Humiliation though for us it be the greatest honour to be Gods servants Saint Paul makes it his prime Epithite Paul a servant of Jesus Christ. And David calls himself the servant of the Lord O Lord I am thy servant truly I am thy servant But it was an Humiliation for Christ to become Gods servant For him who thought it no robbery to be equal with God to become Gods servant and to take a nature on him that he might say My Father is greater then I behold my Father and I were one but now taking on me a humane nature I am made inferior to my Father I am become his servant Behold my servant in whom I am well pleased Isa. 53. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many there is much difference in servants A free servant a bond servant A very bond-man doth Christ make himself being man and accounts it as great honour as may be not only to be his Fathers servant but his bond-man Can I shew that there is any such humiliation as this Look on Heb. 10.5 Sacrifice and burnt offerings thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me these words have relation to that of the Psalmist Psalm 40.6 Sacrifice and burnt offerings thou didst not desire but mine ears hast thou opened it is in the margent mine-ears hast thou digged or hast thou bored The boring of the ear was an expression of everlasting servitude Another servant that had not yet his ear bor'd might be free at the year of Redemption at the seventh year but if not his ear was bored that he might be a servant for ever according to that Exod. 21.4 He that loved his service so well as to have his ear bored is a servant for evermore Mine ear Lord hast thou bored I will be thy servant for ever Christ took on him the form of such a servant nay Christ was more then an ordinary slave he was one bâ—und to an everlasting slavery for he was the Son of an hand-maid Now the Children of an hand-maid wâ—re not to go forth at the year of Jubilee Exod. 21. The wife and her Children shall be her Masters and he shall go out by himself meaning thus he that was the son of an hand-maid must be bound Partus sequiter ventrem Now that Christ was the son of an hand-maid we have Maries own confession Behold thâ— hand-maid of the Lord and he hath looked upon the low estate of his hand-maid Luke 1. Hence David saith Psal. 116.16 O Lord I am thy servant and the son of thine hand-maid I am not only thy servant but thy bond-servant I am he who was born in thy house and out of thy house I will never go Thus is Christ a servant in respect of God But it is not only thus he is not only a servant in regard of God but he took on him the form of a servant in respect of men too Look what relations are between men that have superiority and Subjects Christ who was born a free child yet made himself a servant unto man he had a reputed father but a true and a natural mother from the twelft year of his age till the thirtieth he went with them and was subject unto them Luke 2.51 No Apprentice was more subject to his Master in his Trade then he was to his reputed father he kept him close unto his Trade Look on him out of the family in the Common-wealth He paid Tribute He might stand upon his priviledge Of whom do the Kings of the earth exact Tribute c. they answer Of strangers Then are the Children free If the
welcome news of the Gospel comes after the Law hath discovered his disease and says Be not discouraged there is a Throne of grace prepared for thee God hath a seat of justice to deal with Rebels and open Traytors but if thou art weary of thy estate if thou wilt submit to God take Christ for thy King and cast down all thy weapons if thou wilt live like a subject he hath prepared a Throne of grace for thee Christ is thy Atturney in the Court to plead for thee he is not as the Papists make him so stout and one that takes such state on him as that a man may not come near him This is the highest injury that can be offered to Christ to think that any creature hath more mercy and pity than he hath It is to rob Christ of the fairest flower in his garden when we rob him of his mercy and pity Mark that place in Heb. 4.15 that we may not think him austere We have not an High Priest that cannot be touch't with our infirmities with the feeling of our infirmities Christ is no hard-hearted man when you were his enemies he loved you insomuch that he humbled himself and suffered death even the death of the Crosse for you And he hath the self-same bowels in heaven that he had on earth he wept over Jerusalem and the self-same weeping heart carried he to heaven with him the self-same weeping eyes Believe not then the Papists that he is so hard-hearted or so stately and that his mother is more ready to speak for us than he fie on it This is to pervert the Gospel and make Christ no Christ. We have not an High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities Heb. 2.17 In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest c. Alas poor soul saith Christ what the malice of the Divel is I know by mine own experience in the flesh for Christ was tempted in all things according to us sinne only excepted I know what the temptations of the world are but whereas we have three enemies the Divel the world and the flesh only the two former were his Christ had the temptations of the world and the Divel not of the corrupt flesh for he had no corrupt flesh A man that hath been himself in terrible Tempests on the Sea when he sees a storme out of his own experience he pities those that are in it when as others are not a jot moved for he hath seen that consternation of minde which on every side appeared That plurima mortis imago whereas others having not been there lay not their miseries to heart Christ having suffered himself and being tempted as we were is sensible of our miseries and therefore never count it boldnesse to come boldly to him that gives thee this encouragement Come boldly to the Throne of grace We must understand that all this is before faith we must 1. Know that we have a need 2. That there is a Throne of grace when God enlightens my conscience and encourages me to come And thus having spoken of the preparatives I come to the work the main thing it self Now this is 2. The Act Coming this coming is believing as the feet which carry a man to the place he would be in his feet carry him nearer and nearer If a man cannot be cured but by the Bath his feet must carry him thither Now faith is the legs of the soul the feet that carry us unto Christ whereas we are afar off and draw back as all unbelievers now by believing we draw near Now as unbelievers draw back so believers draw forward and therefore John 1.12 and John 6.35 To come to Christ and to believe in him are the self-same thing He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst Coming is there made an act of faith and the same thing with it The one is the explication of the other thy coming to Christ is thy believing in him When thou hearest of a Throne of grace and seest the Lord of glory stretching out his golden Scepter come and touch it take the benefit of the Kings pardon If a man know there is such a Throne of grace he must come unto it And now begins faith to work And that thou mayst understand it the better know that faith then begins first to work when thou settest the first step towards the Throne of grace And this is the houre in which salvation is come unto thy house None can come to me saith Christ except my Father draw him If thou seest a vertue to come from Christ and to draw thee as an Adamant and thou feelest that loadstone working on thee then begins faith It makes thee draw near to Christ whereas before thou wert a stranger Till then thou art like thy Grandfather Adam thou runnest away and thinkest thy self most secure when thou wast farthest from God but now thou seest no comfort unlesse thou draw nigh unto him now as the Apostle saith Phil. 2.13 It is he that worketh in us the will and the deed this must be wrought in us by God First a will then the deed and then it is not only I would do such a thing but I do it God works not only the will of coming but the deed of coming and all his acts are acts of faith and have a promise God makes no promise till we be in Christ till we have faith we are no heires of the promise when a man sets his face towards Jerusalem and begins to set himself to go to Christ all he doth then hath the promise not a tear now that he sheds but is pretious God puts it into his bottle not a cup of cold water that now he gives but shall have a great reward this is a blessed thing when every thing we do hath a promise annexed to it when every step we step hath a promise made to it Now then the will is the first thing that is wrought in us this is that which makes the act of faith that is I have a will a resolution to do this And the Apostle makes it more than the very deed it self 2 Cor. 8.10 as I may so say For this is expedient for you who have begun before not only to do but to be forward So we translate it but look in the Margent and it s rendred to be willing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek hath it as if the will were more than the deed it self for a man to come unwillingly 't is nothing worth the ground-work is the will which is a greater matter than the deed Nothing more separates a man from Christ than to say I will not have this man to raigne over me but if thou canst frame thy will that it shall go perpendicularly on the object and accept Christ on the termes offer'd that 's faith and that
not nor begs so hard because he hath but little hope to attain any thing from him But I say let both these meet together first that the beggar is in great need then that he of whom he begs is very liberal it makes him beg hard but now cannot he pray without book Think not that I speak against praying by the book you are deceived if you think so but there must be words taken to us besides which perhaps a book will not yield us A beggars need will make him speak and he will not hide his sores but if he hath any sore more ugly or worse than another he will uncover it good Sir behold my woful and distressed case he layes all open to provoke pity So when thou comest before God in confession canst thou not finde out words to open thy self to Almighty God not one word whereby thou mayst unlap thy sores and beseech him to look on thee with an eye of pity I must not mince my sins but amplifie and aggravate them that God may be moved to pardon me till we do thus we cannot expect that God should forgive us A great ado there is about auricular confession but it s a meer bable It were better to cry out our sinnes at the high Crosse than to confesse in a Priests eare Thou whisperest in the Priests eare what if he never tell it or if he do art thou the better Come and poure out thy heart and soul before Almighty God confesse thy self to him as David did for that hath a promise made to it Psal. 51.4 Against thee thee onely have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mayst be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest Why so Why one main cause why we should confesse sinne is to justifie God When a sinner confesses I am a childe of wrath and of death if thou castest me into hell as justly thou mayst I have received but my due when a man does thus as the Kings Atturney may frame a Bill of Inditement against himself he justifies Almighty God Thus did David Against thee against thee c. Now when we have thus aggravated our misery comes the other part of begging to cry for mercy with earnestnesse and here 's the power of the Spirit It 's one thing for a man to pray and another thing for a man to say a prayer 'T is the easiest thing in the world to say a prayer but to pray and cry for mercy as David did in good earnest to wrestle with God to say Lord My life lies in it I will never give thee over I will not go with a denial this is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is the work of Gods Spirit I named you a place in Jude ver 20. where the Apostle exhorts but ye beloved build up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost there 's the prayer of the faithful to pray in the Holy Ghost And in the Ephesians we read of an Armour provided for all the parts of a mans body yet all will not serve the turn unlesse prayer come in as the chief Ephes. 6.18 Praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance c. This is the prayer of faith that procures forgivenesse of sinnes we must pray in faith and in the Spirit that is the language which God understands He knoweth the meaning of the Spirit and knoweth none else but that Many men are wondrously deceived in that which they call the Spirit of prayer One thinks it is a faculty to set out ones desires in fair words shewing earnestnesse and speaking much in an extemporary prayer This we think commendable yet this is not the Spirit of prayer One that shall never come to heaven may be more ready in this than the childe of God for it is a matter of skill and exercise the Spirit of prayer is another thing The Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought the Spirit it self makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered Rom. 8.26 What shall we think then that the Holy Ghost groans or speaks in prayer No but it makes us groan and though we speak not a word yet it so enlarges our hearts as that we send up a volley of sighs and groans which fit the Throne of grace And this is the Spirit of prayer when with these sighs and groans I beg as it were for my life This is that ardent affection the Scripture speaks of A cold prayer will never get forgivenesse of sins it 's the prayer of faith which prevailes The prayer of the faithful availeth much if it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fervent In the Ancient Churches those that were possessed with an evil spirit were call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because that caught them up and made them do actions not sutable to their nature Prayer is a fire from heaven which if thou hast it will carry all heaven before it there is nothing in the world so strong as a Christian thus praying Prayers that are kindled with such a zeal are compared to Jacobs wrestling with the Angel Hos. 12.4 whereby he had power over the Angel The Prophet expounds what this wrastling was he wept and made supplication unto him he found him in Bethel and there he spake with him This is the wrestling with God when thou fillest heaven with thy sighs and sobs and bedewest thy couch with thy tears as David did and hast this resolution with Jacob I will not let thee go except thou blesse me God loves this kinde of boldnesse in a beggar that he will not go away without an answer As the poor Widow in the Parable that would not give over her suit so that the Judge though he feared not God nor cared for man by reason of her importunity granted her desire Mark the other thing in the Apostle he bids us pray with the Spirit and with perseverance and he that cometh thus hath a promise made to it He that calleth on the Name of the Lord shall be saved Call on me in the day of trouble and I will hear thee it 's set down fully Matth. 6.7 Ask and you shall have seek and you shall finde knock and it shall be opened unto you for every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened One would think this were idem per idem but it is not so He bids us ask and it shall be given seek and you shall finde c. There is a promise annexed to asking seeking and knocking but it is also proved by universal experience for every one that asketh c. It 's every mans case never any man did it yet that hath lost his labour in not attaining what he asked If thou hast it not yet thou shalt have it in the end it is so fair a petition to
of the thing A thing cannot be remitted before it be committed nor covered before it had an existence nor blotted out before it be written Therefore justification from such or such a fault must have relation to that which is past but for justification for the time to come I will speak anon there I left the last time I have now faith and I believe in Christ I have now relation to him and remission of sinnes past But why then do I pray for it to what end is that Bellarmine objects that it is an act of infidelity to pray for it afterwards but we do it and we ought to do it see Psal. 51. David made that Psalme after the Prophet Nathan had told him his sinne was pardoned See the title of it and we must know that the title is a part of Gods Word as well as the rest A Psalme of David when Nathan came unto him after he had gone in unto Bathsheba Nathan told him that God had took away his sinne Yet he cryeth here throughout the whole Psalme to have his sinne pardoned and blotted out so that though there were faith and assurance yet he still prays for it Now Bellarmine saith this cannot be but doth he dispute against our opinion no he disputes against the Holy Ghost for David having received a message of forgivenesse yet prays Therefore if the Jesuite had grace he would joyne with us to salve the matter rather then through our sides to strike at God But it is a Fallacy to joyne these two together for a man to pray for a thing past it is an act of infidelity as to pray that God would create the world and incarnate his Sonne I answer there is difference between an act done and an act continued when the World was made by God God had finished that work And when Christ took our flesh upon him the act was done but the forgivenesse of sin is a continued act which holds to day and to morrow and world without end God is pleased not to impute thy sinnes but cover them Now this covering is no constant act I may cover a thing now and uncover it again now forgivenesse of sinne being an act not complete but continued and continued world without end and therefore we say the Saints in heaven are justified by imputative righteousnesse Gods continuance of his act of mercy The point then is this As long as we continue in the world and by contrary acts of disobedience continue to provoke God to discontinue his former acts of mercy and our sinnes being but covered therefore so long must we pray for forgivenesse When the servant had humbled himself before his Lord it is said The Lord of that servant loosed him and forgave him the debt but though he forgave him yet he did another act that caused his Lord to discontinue his pardon Matth. 18.33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant as I had pity on thee He had pity on him yet since he doth another act which turns his Lords heart against him therefore he is now cast into prison and he must not come out thence till he hath paid the utmost farthing He had forgave him to day and to morrow and would have continued his forgivenesse if he had not thus provoked him we must pray to God to continue his acts of mercy because we continually provoke him by new acts of rebellion Adde to this The King grants a pardon to a man In all Patents of pardon there is a clause that the man must renew his Patent If forgivenesse may be renewed then those things are to be renewed again by which the renovation of my remission may be wrought God would have me renew my acts of faith and if of faith why not of repentance and of prayer There is a singular place in Ezek. 36.29 35 37. that makes it plain That though God intends to do the thing yet he appoints this to be the means Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them i. e. though I have done it and intend to do it yet will I do it by the means of prayer Howsoever that God had promised Eliah that raine should come upon the face of the earth yet he goes upon the Mount and saw no shew of a cloud The Text saith not what he did but he put his head between his knees Saint James saith he prayed and he opened heaven and brought down raine It was an humble secret gesture A man may be more free in private than in publick He prayed and the heavens opened God had promised it and would do it but yet he would be sought too So we see the mediate cause is prayer so though the Lord will do this yet for all this he will be enquired of It is not with God as with men men who have promised would be loth to be sued to not to break their promise they account that a dishonour to them but it is not so with God God hath promised yet thou shalt have no benefit of it untill thou sue him for it therefore thou must go to God and say Lord fulfill thy promise to thy servant wherein thou hast caused me to trust God loves to have his bond sued out Lord make good this word performe that good word that thou hast spoken God would have his bond thus sued out And as thy faith repentance prayer is renewed so is thy pardon renewed When God will make a man possesse the sinnes of his youth when a man is carelesse this way it pleaseth God to awaken him Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possesse the iniquity of my youth Job 13.26 When a man forgetteth the iniquities of his youth and reneweth not his repentance and hath not new acts of faith and petition then God maketh him to possesse the iniquities of his youth he makes his sins stand up and cry out against him by this means his old evidences are obliterated When a man hath a pardon and it s almost obliterated the letters almost worne out that they cannot be read he would be glad to have it renewed to have a new exemplification Every sinne it puts a great blur upon thine old evidence that thou canst not read it It may be firme in heaven and yet perhaps be blur'd that thou canst not read it and therefore if thou wouldst get them clear'd again thou must go to God by prayer and renew them again so that whether our evidences be blur'd or whether it be that God will make us possesse the iniquities of our youth it is necessary to pray for the forgivenesse of those sinnes which have been before forgiven But now you will say when I have sinned afterward how come I then to be justified Then a man would think repentance only doth it and without repentance a man cannot be justified But you must understand repentance is
enough to cry Lord be merciful to me If thou neglectest him here he will cry quittance with thee on thy death-bed Nor do I speak this of my self no. Look what Wisedome faith Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out mine hand and no man regarded but set at nought all my counâ—el and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh Pro. 1.24 25 26. As if he had said you refused me on my day I call'd cry'd unto you but you set at nought my words and rejected my counsel and were wiser then I therefore will I laugh at your destruction when you are in miserie I will mock and deride in stead of succouring A terrible thing will it be when in stead of hearing our cries to answer them he shall deride us and laugh at our folly and madness And in the 28. verse Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not finde me See what folly then it is to let slip this time This is the acceptable day Esay 55. Seek the Lord while he may be found call on him while he is near When a man refuses Gods day God will not hear his prayer all his sighs and sobs his groanes and cries shall not prevail Esay 66. I will choose their delusions and will bring their feares upon them because when I called none did answer when I spake they did not hear When men will needs be choosers of what God would not have God will have his choise too and it shall be that which will be displeasing to them I will choose their delusions and will bring their feares upon them Heb. 4.7 Again he limiteth a certain day saying in David to day after so long a time as it is said to day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts THe last day I entred on the opening of the place and shew'd How the Lord had proposed a limited time for our conversion unto him in which we should hear and obey his voice We shew'd farther how it was Satans policie to make men seem wiser then God that when God proposes a certain time and limits us a day wherin he will be found we will not have his but our own True say we God calls on us and it 's fit and convenient to hearken unto him but yet I le stay for a more seasonable opportunity There is nothing provokes God so much against us as when we will thus scorn that acceptable time he hath proposed Nor can there be a greater hinderance to repentance then to stop our eares at his counsels and to suffer him to call and cry unto us so long and yet to abuse his patience by a foolish neglect It accuses us of rebellion and high presumption on such infirm grounds to put from us the day of salvation Folly it is in the highest degree to trust on the future when as in our own hands we have neither space nor grace for such a businesse God is the Lord and owner of them both and will not part with his Prerogative Go to you that say to day or to morrow we will return unto the Lord. You adde to presumption both folly and rebellion Jezabel had space to repent yet she repented not for she had not the grace that without this will not benefit Seeing then these are not in your power harden not your hearts as in the provocation Nor offer despight unto the Holy Ghost by whom you are sealed to the day of redemption If we embrace not Gods day we despise the riches of his goodnesse long suffering and patience Rom. 2. Despisest thou the riches of Gods grace not knowing that the long-suffering of God leadeth to repentance There can be no higher presumption then this to bid defiance to the Spirit of God Nor can there be greater contempt of mercy then to set light of the time of our repentance and returning unto God making that the greatest argument of our delay which God uses to draw us to him God gives us space that we may repent and we repent not because he gives us space He gives us life that with fear and trembling we may set about the businesse of salvation and we through strong delusions put from us the proffers of his grace as if they were unseasonably offer'd What madnesse is it to frustrate the Almighty of his ends and purposes The Lord is not slack touching his promise It 's a great stop and hindrance to our progesse in goodnesse and the work of repentance when we distrust God and take him not at his word He sends abroad his Embassadors who proclame This is the accepted time this is the day of salvation to day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts yet we put this day from us and say hereafter is a more acceptable time I have this delight this pleasure to take first in the world I am not so weaned from it as I would be As if God would take it well from our hands that we should then return to him when there is no remedy I le fiâ—st use all the pleasure the world affords me and then Lord have mercy on me will serve the turn This is the very stifling of the beginnings and proceedings of Christianity Let this be well and speedily weigh'd as we tender our good and comfort Obj. But may some say what needs this haste may we not use leisure soft and fair goes far Sol. True soft and fair goes far if a man goes fairly in the way In this case though thou go but softly thou mayst come to thy journeys end but the doubt remains stil there is a question whether thou art in the way or not Happy are we if we are although we can but halt limp on in this way although this should be no ground for us to content our selves therewith We must not trifle in the wayes of holinesse It 's that concernes our life and must be seriously thought on and that speedily too Agree with thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him God is thine adversary unlesse thou agree with him speedily his patience will break forth into fury Kisse the Son lest he be angry and thou perish from the right way Thou hast no assurance of thy life thou mayst be snapt off whilst thou thinkest it time enough to repent and return As long as we go out of the way of repentance we are in the way to hell and the farther a man goes in a wrong way the nearer is he to hell and the greater ado to return back and iâ— this regard soft and fair may goe far but 't is far out of the way far in the way to perdition and destruction As long as we are out of the right way to heaven and happinesse we are in the path that leads directly to the chambers of death
But let me in this particular unrip the heart of a natural man What 's the reason that when God gives men a day and cries out This is the day of salvation this is the accepted time what in the name of God or the Devils name rather should cause them to put salvation from them to defer and desire a longer time Thus a natural man reasons with himself I cannot so soon be taken off from the profits and pleasures of the world I hope to have a time when I shall with more ease and a greater composednesse of mind bring my self to it or if it be not with so much ease yet I trust in a sufficient manner I shall do it wherefore for the present I le enjoy the profits and delights of the state and condition wherein I am I will solace my self with the pleasures of sin for a season I hope true repentance will never be too late This is well weigh'd but consider whether these thoughts which poise down our hearts be not groundlesse see whether they will hold water at the last and whether in making such excuses to great presumption we add not the height of folly To pretend for our delay the profits and pleasures of sin and yet hope for heaven at the last as well as the generation of the righteous it 's but a meer fallacy and delusion of Satan to fill our hearts with such vanities Can it be expected that we should have our good in this world and in the world to come too This is well if it might be But let us try the matter and begin with your first branch You are loth to part with your profits and pleasures But consider what a grand iniquity this is Can you offer God a greater wrong and indignity Do you thus requite the Lord you foolish and unwise Dost thou think this the way to make thy peace with God whom thou hast offended as long as thou mayst to be a rebel against him What an high dishonour is it to him that thou shouldst give him thy feeble and doting old age and the Devil thy lively and vigorous youth thy strength and spirits Dost thou think he will drink the dregs and eat the orts will he accept thee in the next world when thou thus scornest him here If you offer the blind for sacrifice is it not an evil If you offer the lame and sick is it not evil Offer it now unto thy governor will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person saith the Lord of hosts Mal. 1.8 But mark how he goes on v. 14. Cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male and voweth sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing Mark God accounts such service a corrupt thing Never look for a blessing from God in heaven when thou sacrificest to him such corrupt things We are to offer and present our selves a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God Rom. 12.1 Now judge whether they offer God the living who say when my doting days come my lame days that I cannot go my blind dayes that I cannot see I le offer my self a sacrifice to God Will this be acceptable to him Is not this evil saith the Lord to offer me such a corrupt thing Nay more he 's accursed that offers such an offering such a polluted sacrifice God will not like with it when we serve our selves first with the best and choise Do you thus requite the Lord do you think he will accept it at your hands Go offer such a gift to thy Ruler to thy Prince will he accept it or be pleased with it No a Landlord will have the best and the choise and it must needs provoke God when we give him the refuse I am King of Kings saith the Lord my name is dreadful and I will look to be served after another manner Let no man then thus delude himself with vain hopes but let him consider how dishonourable a thing it will be to God 2. And how unprofitable to him whoever thou art 1. It 's the ready way to thy destruction Heaven and happinesse and eternal life are laid up for those that embrace the acceptable time death horrour and eternal misery for those that refuse it and wilt thou hazard soul and body on this Moses on this ground did rather choose to suffer affliction in this world with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a moment When these things are past what profit will you have of those things whereof then you will be ashamed When a man comes to see truly and throughly into himself he will find no profit of such things as these death will certainly follow us both temporal and eternal if we repent not the more speedily that 's all the profit we shall find 2 But suppose thou prevent everlasting death by repentance yet what profit is there of those things whereof we are now for the present ashamed The best can come is shame 3. Thou art loth to part with the pleasures of sin for a season and hereafter thou thinkest thou canst amend all But consider the particulars and then shall you see how you are befool'd in your hearts and soules Believe it for an undoubted truth there 's nothing in the world by which Satan more deludes a man then by this perswading him to neglect his day and repent well enough hereafter That you may expel this suggestion out of your soule pray unto God that he would go along with his Word and cause you to lay this to heart that by his Spirit your understanding may be enlightned to see the truth Though I make this as clear as the Sun that it is a false supposition and meer folly on which we build in deferring our return to God yet God from heaven must teach you or you will be never the wiser Know therefore that this very day God reaches out the golden Scepter to thee and what folly were it to neglect it since thou knowest not whether he will ever proffer it thee again And assure thy self that he is a lyar that tells thee thou mayst as well repent hereafter as now and this will appear whether we consider the order of outward things in the world or the nature of sin 1. For external things every Age after a man comes into the world if he embrace not the present opportunity for repentance is worse then other and are each of them as so many clogs which come one after another to hinder it As for thy childish Age that 's meer vanitie and thy riper Age will bring many impediments and hindrances that youth never thought of Thou art then troubled about many things and perplexed how to provide for maintenance in the midst whereof know that thou hast not a body of brass but a corruptible and fading body and yet such is the folly of the heart of man that the less ground he hath to go the fewer dayes to spend the
shew forth our thankfulnesse and express that we are so in heart by our obedience to our utmost power Here 's all the strictnesse of the Gospel If there be a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to what a man hath not 2 Cor. 8.12 God takes well the desires of our mind This is then our blessed condition under the Gospel it requires not perfect obedience but thankfulness for mercies received and a willing mind Suppose we cannot do what we would that 's no matter God looks to our affections and the willingnesse of our minds if it be according to the strength that thou hast it is received with acceptance Here then arises the second point of difference and that is 2. The Law considers not what thou now hast but what thou once hadst If thou say I have done my best and what would you have a man doe more then he can doe The Law heeds not that it considers not what thou doest but what thou oughtst to do It requires that thou shouldst perform obedience according to thy first strength and that perfection once God gave thee that all thou doest should have love for it's ground that thou shouldst love the Lord thy God with all thy soul mind heart and strength Here the Law is very imperious like those Task-masters in Egypt that laid burthens on the Israelites too heavy for them to bear They had at first materials and then they delivered in the full tale of bricks But when the straw was taken from them they complain of the heavinesse of their burthen But what 's the answer You are idle you are idle you shall deliver the same tale of bricks as before So stands the case here It 's not enough to plead Alas if I had strength I would doe it but I have not strength I cannot doe it But the Law is peremptory you must doe it you are compell'd by force you shall do it The impossibility of our fulfilling it does not exempt us as appeares by comparing Rom. 8.3 with Rom. 7.6 although it be impossible as the case stands for the Law to be by us fulfilled yet we are held under it as appears plainly thus If I deliver a man a stock of money whereby he may gain his own living and be advantagious to me and he spend it and when I require mine own with increase he tells me True Sir I received such a summe of money of you for this purpose but I have spent it and am disinabled to pay Will this serve the turn will it satisfie the Creditor or discharge the debt No no the Law will have its own of him If thou payest not thy due thou must be shut up under it It 's otherwise under the Gospel that accepts a man according to what he hath not according to what he hath not And here comes in the third point 3. Under the Gospel although I am fallen yet if I repent the greatest sin that is cannot condemn me By repentance I am safe Let our sins be never so great yet if we return by repentance God accepts us Faith and Repentance remove all The Law knows no such thing Look into the lawes of the Realm If a man be indicted and convinced of Treason Murther or Felony though this man plead True I have committed such an offence but I beseech you Sir pardon it for I am heartily sorry for it I never did the like before nor never will again Though he thus repent shall he escape No the rigour of the law will execute justice on him there is no benefit had by repentance the law will seize on him he should have looked to it before If thou committest Murther or Burglary it 's not enough to put one good deed for another to say I have done thus and thus for the King I kept such a Fort or I won such a Town this will not serve thy turn it will not save thy neck the law takes no knowledge of any good thing done or of any repentance This is thy estate Consider then what a case they are in that are shut up under the Law until a man hath faith it admits no excuse requires things far above thy power to perform it will accept no repentance And therefore we may well make this Conclusion in the Galathians As many as are under the law are under the curse as it is written cursed is every one that continues not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them But now where are we thus shut up It 's under sin as the Apostle tells us For the Law discovers sin to be sin indeed that sin by the commandement may become exceeding sinful Rom. 7.13 The Law makes us see more of it then we did or possible could come to have seen Rom. 3.20 By the Law cometh the knowledge of sin I had not known sin but by the law Yes peradventure I might have known Murther Adultery c. to have been sins but to have known them to have been exceeding sinful I could not but by the law To know what a kind of plague sin is in it self so as not to make a game of it or a small matter as many usually make it to see the uglinesse of it I cannot without the law But that we may know what sin is and that we may see it to be exceeding sinful I here bring you a few Considerations which I would have you ponder on and enlarge them to your selves when you come home 1. Consider the basenesse of him that offends and the excellency of him that is offended You shall never know what sin is without this twofold Consideration lay them together and it will make sin out of measure sinful See in David The drunkards made songs and ballads of him He aggravates the indignity offered him in that he was their King yet that those wretched and filthy beasts the drunkards made songs of him See it likewise in Job Cap. 29. when he had declared unto them in what glory he once was that he was a King and Prince in the Countrey Then see Cap. 20. They that are younger then me have me in derision whose fathers I would have disdain'd to have set with the dogs of my flock He aggravates the offence First from the dignity of the person wronged a King and a Prince Then from the baseness and vileness of those who derided him They were such as were younger then he such as whose fathers he would have disdain'd to have set with the dogs of his flocks A great indignity and mightily aggravated by these circumstances that a King should be abased by such vile persons Now some proportion there might be between David and the drunkards Job and these men but between thee and God what proportion can there be Who art thou therefore that darest set thy self in opposition and rebellion against God What a base worm that crawleth on the earth dust