Israel and thus bless the house of Aaron yea thus bless us all both small and great Let this blessing O Lord be upon high and low rich and poor mighty and mean upon Prince and people upon Court and City and Countrey upon our Metropolis our chief and Mother-city yea and upon all her Daughters our other Cities and upon the whole Nation yea the three Nations and then shall we be blessed indeed yea Psal 115. 15. the blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth Thus though we cannot turn our selves we may yet pray unto God to turn us and intreat his favour the want whereof as aggravating their sin the Prophet Daniel confesses and bewails All this evill is come upon us yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God that Dan. 9. 1◠we might turn from our iniquities c. They could not turn of themselves but they might have prayed to God for grace to turn CHAP. XI The second Branch of Exhortation to adde to our Prayers our Endeavours ANd let us not onely pray but earnestly endeavour after this not onely beseech it but strenuously pursue it and follow after it let us joyn to our prayers our pains and to our desires our labour care and industry setting about it and setting our selves seriously to it and laying out our selves to the utmost for the attaining of it that we may be converted and turn'd again from our sins to God and that he may cause his face to shine on us In all labour says Solomon Prov. 14. 23. there is profit but the talk of the lips tendeth onely to penury that is nothing comes of that As the door turneth upon his hinges so doth 26. 14. the slothful upon his bed that is because of his sloath he is still where he was and hangs where he did comes not off and this is his undoing The desire of the sloathful killeth him for his Prov. 21. 25. hands refuse to labour Many wish well to themselves Immoritur optando nihil operatur non utitur mediis quibus potiri optatis queat c. Remus in locum and they say they do desire grace but refuse to labour and this kills them for grace is not had with wishing If ever we would be savingly converted we must not onely wish and desire it but labour and strive after it we must up and be doing use diligence The want of this the Lord complains of concerning that people as the cause of their ruine They will not frame Hos 5. 4. their doings to turn unto their God c. not so much as set about it nor set themselves to it nor see what they can doe They will not so much as endeavour and bend their course that way Non adjicient studia sua ut convertantur ad Deum suum Video me operam ludere quia mihi negotium est potiùs cum brutis animalibus vel cum saxis quà m cum hominibus c. Calvin in locum nor shew their good will nor make use of these means which tend towards it not do what they can do and might and therefore I do by my Prophets but spend my labour in vain and I have to do as it were but with beasts and stones rather than men Indeed I am their God by profession and I have shewn my self so by the care I have had of them and the many good offices I have done for them and yet though I am their God and the fountain and well-spring of all their good and their happiness is to turn to me yet they will not so much as once frame their doings to turn unto me And this is an heavy aggravation of peoples impenitency and leaves them altogether inexcusable when they will not endeavour nor so much as make use of the means as in reference to so great a concern not do what they might do we are not able indeed to turn our selves no conversion is too great a work and lies beyond our line and we should get a due sense thereof so as to drive us to God for help but yet we may endeavour it and attempt something as in reference to it something we may do but what you will say may we do and what would you have us for to do I shall shew you in several particulars 1. Attend constantly on the ministery of the Word wait still upon God in his ways and in the use of those means he hath instituted appointed and set apart to be instrumental as to that great work of turning you again to himself and of bringing you into favour and recovering again his face Do as those impotent folk they could not indeed heal themselves yea but they could and did lie at the Pool waiting for the moving John 5. 3. of the waters that they might be healed Get there still where Christ walks and where he works as Zacheus he got up into a tree in the Luke 19. 4. way where Christ was to pass and who knows but Christ may look upon thee as he did upon him and it may be a time of love and he may say to thee though in thy bloud live and bring saving conversion salvation home to thy soul It is good being in God's ways how many hath he savingly and graciously met there and his power hath been present to heal them to convert and save them The very work and business that he sends his Ministers about it is as he told Paul when he had converted him from a Persecutor to be a Preacher and as you have heard to open sinners eyes and to turn them from darkness to Acts 26. 18. light and from the power of Satan unto God c. And how many thousands of souls are there who have experienc'd this and for whom it hath been effected by their means and why may it not be effected for thee also The word is called a word of grace a converting word and wait on it for God to make it so to thy soul Of his own will says the Apostle begat he us by the James 1. 18. word of truth and why by the same word may he not beget thee if thou attend upon it God sends his Ministers to help people in this great work And a Vision appeared to Paul in the night Acts 16. 9. there stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him saying come over into Macedonia and help us Now be sure then to be there where he vouchsafeth such help which is the best help and better a thousand times than the having such come that might help you in other matters as in your estates and in matters of the world though it was to compass never so much of it And how sad must their condition then needs be and how inexcusable will they be found at that great day who refuse this help who carelesly neglect or despise the Ministery appointed for so blessed an end how deservedly and
nothing ruining and destructive but sin and therefore a people being turn'd from that which alone is destructive they must needs be safe for what should destroy them sin being alone that which does destroy 2. They are turn'd to him who is 1. the sole and soveraign fountain of all happiness and good an universal and all-sufficient good infinitely good yea the very ocean of good where all the several streams and channels of good meet and concentre together and being turn'd to him who is all good and in whom all good resides who is the God of Salvations how Bonum in quo omnia bona sine quo nihil bonum Deus meus omnia mea can such want salvation or any other good 2. The ultimate good the utmost good that rests and satisfies the soul to whom when the soul is once come it has no further to go except it be still further and nearer to him to whom it is come he being the true and proper centre of it where it does acquiesce and where it is come to it's journeys end there being nothing beyond him nor in comparison besides him he is first Psalm 73. 25. and next and last And therefore how well must it needs be with the soul when once it is come to him but till it is come to him it is as it were in a maze and restless motions and fruitless travels seeking rest and satisfaction but finding none it turns this way indeed and moves that way and the other way to this sin to that creature to that vanity but finds nothing but emptiness and disappointment it snatches on the right hand but is hungry and catches on the left but is not satisfied for there Isaiah 9. 20. is not it's rest no that is onely in God for whom it was made and in whom alone it can meet with Fecisti nos propter te Domine inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat inte that repose it makes after Rest in the Lord Psalm 37. 7. there is no resting but in him We says the Apostle who have believed do enter into rest and so such as do indeed turn to God there it is the weary soul is at rest and the Hebr. 4. 3. longing soul is satisfied and may say with Jacob I have enough or I have all for God that is sufficient for himself must needs be so for the creature and therefore God being such a good and a people when turn'd again being turn'd to him how can it but be well with them the soul being then turn'd to his true and proper centre where it should be where it was made to be and 'till where it be it can never be well why else is it restless till it come there Of all else we may say Arise ye and depart for this Micah 2. 10. Isaiah 28. 14. is not your rest c. And the bed is shorter then that a man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it As concerning true rest all the creatures say as sometimes concerning wisdom One Job 28. 14. says it is not in me and another it is not in me c. no it is onely in God and yet why do men pursue this or that but to find satisfaction and yet they cannot no whiles a deceived heart turns them aside they feed but as it were upon ashes upon husks and walk through dry Is 44. 20. Matth. 12. 43. places seeking rest but finding none as is said of Satan For all his days are sorrows and his travel grief yea his heart taketh not rest in the Eccles 2. 23. night c. It is said of Judah she dwels among the heathen she finds no rest and our necks are under persecution or hard bondage we labour and Lam. 1. 3. 5. 5. have no rest and how should such have rest that dwell still among sins and lusts and leasing that lie in wickedness that dwell and abide still among vanities enemies devils murderers that are still under the heavy servitude of sin and Satan that have turn'd their backs upon their rest and are far from it that have gone from mountain to hill and forgotten their resting place to whom Is 28. 12. God hath often said as concerning himself this is the rest wherein you may cause your weary souls Is 50. 11. to rest c. but they would not hear and therefore are restless and unsatisfied and lie down in sorrow 3. Being turn'd from sin salvation is that they are now towards and going on unto before conversion indeed their backs were upon it and they were hastening on in a quite contrary way unto it but now being turn'd again their backs are upon sin and hell and death and their faces are towards and they are going on to heaven and life and salvation 4. They walk now in the paths of life and in the ways of salvation that lead and bring unto it and therefore must needs be in the way to be saved And these ways are Gods ways the ways of his precepts which such walk now in They also do no iniquity Psalm 119. 3. 18. 21. they walk in his ways and I have kept the ways of the Lord. Hence David being a stranger in the earth he begs of God that he would not hide 119. 19. his Commandments from him they being indeed his way to heaven his way home the way everlasting which leadeth to life everlasting 5. Such being truly converted shall hold on and persevere in those ways and never totally nor finally fall away but go from strength to Psalm 84. 7. strength till they come and appear before God in that heavenly Sion The righteous that is who is truly turn'd to righteousness shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall Job 17. 9. be stronger and stronger Thus such as being turn'd again are brought into the right way they continue therein yet not so but that they have their slips and falls as I said before and their deviations out of the way but they rise and get up again and return into the way and never finally fall away for the Lord upholds them with his hand and they are kept by his Psalm 37. 23 24. power through faith unto salvation Such therefore who habitually turn aside to the crooked 1 Pet. 1. 5. ways of sin were never yet truly turn'd again and therefore will the Lord lead them forth with Psalm 125. 5. the workers of iniquity They went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been 1 John 2. 19. of us they would no doubt have continued with us c. But such as are truly turn'd again they holding out to the end must needs be saved as our Saviour hath declar'd But he that shall endure Matth. 24. 13. to the end the same shall be saved 6. Though the
transvolantes reperiunt naturâ quae sunt usui c. Theodoret know not the judgment of the Lord. The brute creatures do by a natural instinct know and betake themselves to what is for their good and safety but my people for so they will needs be called know not the judgment of the Lord that is they heed it not at least so as to practice what the Lord out of his Word hath prescribed them for their good and safety or they do not perceive though by all marks and tokens they might what the Lord intends to bring upon them or atleast not so as by repentance to prevent it Those brute creatures indeed the Stork and the Turtle c. they when sharp weather is coming avoid it by flying where it is warmer but my people they will persist and go on as they did and rather dye and perish than alter their course and get into a better state get under the warm and comfortable beams of my favour so that this people act in a Sphere and at a rate below Brutes they were made above them but they make themselves inferiour to them God hath put them under their feet and they set them as judges above their heads O how wofully is man degenerate how wonderfully even reasonless creatures act more reasonably than they for they when the season grows ☞ sharp and the weather cold and stormy knowing if they abide where they are they are like to starve and perish with cold and hunger they change their quarters and fly to some milder and warmer Region but this people are so sottish and senseless that whatever storms of wrath and divine vengeance hang over them as ready to fall upon them and overwhelm them yet will not they change their minds nor manners nor mend their ways nor works but continue the same they were and go on to do as they did say I or do I what I will And hence says the Lord how do ye say we are wise and the Law of the Lord is with us Piscator reads it how dare you as if the Lord had said with Quomodo dicere audetis Sapientes sumus c. what face can ye say we are wise you wise away for shame say not so do not you talk of wisdom who act below Storks and Turtles c. that have not so much wit nor forecast as they but are more unreasonable and senseless than those reasonless creatures you wise when the very fowls of the air are wiser than you and you talk of the law of God that act below the dictates of the law of nature O with what shame and confusion of face for ever will this fill the faces of sinners another day when they shall see and be forced to acknowledg that though reasonable creatures yet they acted not with that reason and equity as the reasonless creatures did yea the Stork c. We all apostatized and ran away from God in Adam but in Baptism we gave up our selves to God again we sware as it were fidelity to him and yet we have gone again away from him fled from our colours and run into his and our enemies camp and as nothing is more requisite so is any thing more reasonable or equal than that we should turn back again unto him our true Lord and Master It was well said of her not onely in point of commodity but in Hos 2. 7. point of equity not onely as being profitable Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rectitudinem ejus i. e. resipiscentiam Rectum enim est ut homo de peccatis suis admonitus praesertim à Deo resipiscat Pisc but as being right and reasonable I will go and return to my first husband for then was it better with me than now So of the Prodigal Luk. 15. 18. I will arise and go to my father c. O we can never do what is just and right and equal and reasonable unless we do this turn unto God again Hence this is called man's uprightness or man's equity To shew unto man his uprightness The Hebrew is his rectitude or Job 3◠2◠rightness which Piscator retains as that he judges best understanding by this rightness of man his repentance it being most right just and equal that man being admonished and that by God himself of his sins should repent and turn to him 2. The excellency and honourableness thereof 1. In its own nature it being a grace a Gospel-saving grace and all grace is excellent 2. In its Author it being of God his work his gift 3. In its rise and root which is that precious grace of faith 4. In regard of the object and that both turn'd from and turn'd to for in repentance we turn from darkness and turn to sight from sin and Satan and turn to God Conversionem ad Deum Beza Acts 20. 21 Psal 95. 3. 1 Tim. 6. 15. hence call'd repentance towards God or as Beza renders it conversion to God and such a God a great God and a great King above all Gods the living and true God the blessed and onely potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the Prince of the Kings of the Earth upon whose head are many Crowns the most high God possessour Gen. 14. 19 20. of heaven and earth the God of glory who is clothed with honour and majesty whose name alone is excellent and is to be praised from Ps 113. 3. the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same yea whose glorious name is exalted above Neh. 9. 5. all blessing and praise Thousand thousands minister unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him Behold the Nations are Dan. 7. 10. as a drop of a Bucket and are counted as the small dust of the Ballance yea they are all before him as nothing and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity And Lebanon is not sufficient Is 40. 15 16 17. to burn nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering And to such a God it is that we 10. 21. turn when we do indeed turn again the remnant shall return even the remnant of Jacob to the mighty God O Israel return to the Lord Hos 14. 1. Zach. 1. 3. thy God c. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts turn Acts 14. 15. ye unto me c. And we preach unto you says the Apostle that ye should turn from these vanities to the living God who made heaven and earth c. And it is said of the Thessalonians 1 Thes 1. 9. that they turned from Idols to serve the living and true God And I will arise says the Prodigal and go to my father and what a noble generous and excellent thing is that whereby we do this Turn from sin and Satan to God and such a God and our God and heavenly father turn from misery to our felicity from the great and onely true evil to the chief good
formeth the mountains c. As if a man should run Amos 4. 13. himself against a stone-wall or set his shoulder to a wall of brass The Lord wonders at this folly Do they provoke me to anger says the Lord do they not provoke themselves to the confusion Jer. 7. 19. of their own faces As if he had said what madness is this for who are like to have the worst of it am I a match for them Let the potsheards strive with the potsheards of the earth Is 45. 9. but wo to him that strives with his maker The Jer. 10. 7. King of Nations is to be feared that appertains to him not to be fought For further discovery of this madness and folly read these and other the like places 2 King 10. 4. Job 41. 8 9 10. Prov. 16. 14. Psalm 2. 1 2 3 4 c. Luk. 14. 31 32. Psal 76. 7. Job 9. 4. 5. They being fallen refuse to arise and though going on in sin they are quite out of their way every step in sin being so as the Lord hath often out of his Word told them yet they refuse to return and the Prophet Jeremiah hath long since said what such are They have refused to return therefore I said surely these are poor How poor poor in wit for he adds they are foolish but of this I have occasionally spoken before 6. They recompense evil for good and that even Deut. 30. 6. to God himself he loads them daily with his benefits and they daily load him with their sins and foolish people and unwise thus to requite the Lord c. This is such folly and madness that the Lord calls the Heavens and the Earth to bear witness of Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled Is 1. 2 3. Jer. 18. 20. Prov. 19. 6. Rom. 2. 4. against me The oxe knoweth his owner c. Shall evil be recompensed for good To him that giveth gifts every man is a friend or despisest thou the riches of his goodness c For which of his kindnesses do you deal thus with God 7. They are taken up and trouble themselves about trifles about small matters and in the mean time neglect matters of greatest moment as their souls and the great concerns of them as if one condemn'd to dye should be taken up about his repast and neglect to sue out his pardon or as that woman whose house being on fire hasted to fetch out the lumber but forgot the child in the cradle c. but I cannot inlarge 8. They prefer things that are base and vile before things of greatest worth and excellency as if a man should prefer dross before gold pebles before pearls dirt before diamonds who would but say such were fools and Idiots When an Heir is impleaded for an Idiot the Judge commands a Counter or an Apple together with a piece of Gold to be set before him to try which he will choose and if he choose the Counter or Apple he is cast for an Idiot a natural fool And this casts all such to be spiritual fools and Idiots who yet go on in their sins because they prefer the creature before the creatour self yea sin and Satan before God broken cisterns before the fountain of living Jer. 2. 12 13. waters emptiness and vanity before fulness and all-sufficiency Swines husks before the bread in their fathers house hell before heaven and the base sensual pleasures of sin that are but for a season before pardon of sin and the pleasures that are at God s right hand for evermore c. 9. They pretend to such an end and such a place as to heaven and happiness but never go in the way nor make use of the means that lead to it and what a silliness is that 10. Whereas they might be the Lord's freemen they suffer themselves to be the vilest slaves and vassals even of sin and Satan who seek their destruction rather than their subjection and what madness and folly is this to be at their beck and command to ride them and run them and do with them what they please to do their wills and at their will if they say go they go or come they come or do this or that they do it as the servants of the Centurion and were men themselves or in their right minds would they do this no they would suffer themselves no longer to be taken captive by such at their will In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves 2 Tim. 2. 25 26. if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sanitate mentis recepta c. Beza may recover themselves or return to themselves the word signifies to grow sober again after drunkenness and so to be restor'd to ones senses and from the body 't is apply'd to the mind and Translatio â corporis sensu ad animum Per resipiscentiam homines antè cà ptivi Diabolo ex ejus vinculis elabuntur ita antè aegri mente sanitatem mentis recipiunt Toss when is this when sinners by repentance extricate themselves out of the snare of the Devil who before were taken captive by him at his will Thus you see and that several ways that such as still impenitently go on in their sins do not onely forget themselves but are besides themselves and as ever we would approve our selves other we must repent and turn to the Lord. Remember this says God and shew your selves men Is 46. 8. and if ever we would shew our selves men and not beasts in our right minds and not mad wise and not still out of our wits we must be sure we be such as to turn to God for till then whatever we or others may think according to what God and his Word judges we are no better yea and we shall see and say of our selves shortly as being no other we fools Wisd ◠◠accounted his life madness c. But now we see and well perceive that he was wise but we were the fools And the sinners furious reflexion upon this his own wilful folly and madnes and the woful misery he hath brought upon himself thereby is that which Divines call the worm of Conscience Oh that therefore this folly might appear to sinners now before it be too late that so getting timely cured of it they may not forever perish in it 3. Let us consider these are times of turning 1. Of sinful turning in regard of men O how strangely are many turned some to one strange opinion and way and some to another how many have turn'd away their ears from the truth and are turn'd to fables to vain 1 Tim. 6. 5. janglings to dotings about questions to perverse disputes c. and this is all the turn of many and others are turn'd but it is
make says David thy face shine upon thy servant and teach me thy statutes and according to thy loving kindness hear me quicken me c. yea that blessed man of God for effecting all his good and for salvation and deliverance out of all his distress he desires but this that God would send out his light and his truth O send Psalm 43. 3. out thy light and thy truth that is the light of thy countenance vouchsafe me but thy favour Per lucem intelligitur favor veritatem adjungit quia lucem nonnisi ex Dei promissionibus sperabat Calvin in locum and perform but thy promise i. e. made thereof and all the darkness of my present so sad and gloomy condition shall be dispelled Let them lead me says he let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles i. e. to thy Sanctuary to the place of thy publick worship where Ilong so much to be O whither will not the light of God's favour lead us and bring us it will bring us to be happy here and blessed for ever hereafter it will bring us into the way of all our weal to the enjoyment of God in his ordinances Lucem veritatem appellat favorem auxilium omnibus piis promissum à Deo quibus rebus pelluntur tenebrae calamitatum c. and then above ordinances even to the full and immediate enjoyment of himself for ever it will guide us with his counsels and after receive us to his glory Lead us in the path of life and then bring us to the place of life lead us in the way everlasting and then bring us to the life everlasting in the paths of righteousness and then bring us to those new heavens and new earth wherein dwels righteousness uphold us in integrity here and then set us before his face for ever hereafter it will Ad illud templum immortale ubinumen ipsius augustissimum perpetuis hymnis celebrent mentes beatae make us fit and meet for heaven and then bring us to heaven lead us in safety through these bottoms of death and this valley of misery and tears here below and then bring us and exalt us to those mountains of Spices and those hills of Myrrhe and Frankincense above it will cause God to follow us with goodness all the days of our life here and then to bring us to partake of that goodness which he hath laid up for those that fear him elsewhere Which because David cannot express he admires Psalm 31. 19. O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee 3. As it will accomplish all so it is all God's favour his face all that is truely excellent amiable profitable and desireable 1. It is light Psalm 43. 3. Send out thy light Psalm 89. 15. They shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance And how sweetly and comfortably must they needs walk who walk in that light for with thee is the fountain of life and in thy light i. e. in thy favour Psalm 36. 9. when thou art pleased to shew us thy face and fatherly countenance in thy son shall we see light that is enjoy lively comfort and joy and gladness of heart So Job 29. 3. When his Lamp shined upon my head and when by his light I walked through darkness that is when he abode with me by his favour and by it I passed through and overcame the miseries and adversities of this life 2. It is life Psalm 30. 5. In his favour is Ps 63. 3. life Many live but no soul truly lives but in his favour in his sight and in the light of his countenance Hâ—s 6. 2. and we shall live in his sight yea it is better than life For 1. people 119. 88. may live yea and have all accommodations of life and yet be miserable but a soul cannot have the favour of God but be happy 2. It is better than life for it is the very life and happiness Vitam reddit verè vitalem of our life and without it life is no better than a kind of death 3. Life soon fades away Jam. 4. 14. and fails it is even but as a vapour that appears for a little while and then vanishes but the favour Ps 103. 15 16 17. of God is for ever it is everlasting 4. Life is common to all but God's favour peculiar only to a few 5. Life may become a burden and Ps 106. 4. people may grow weary of it but never of God's favour 6. The favour of God is absolutely and indispensably necessary but so is not life c. 3. It is felicity Hence while others make out after other goods David seeks after this as Psalm 4. 6. the onely happiness and as that alone which could render him blessed There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us 4. It is safety and security And hence the Lord is said to shield us therewith For thou Lord 5. 12. wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield And Fear not Mary Luke 1. 30. for thou hast found favour with God Make thy face to shine upon thy servant save me for Psalm 31. 16. thy mercies sake 5. It is health Psalm 42. 11. Hope thou Obtexisti faciem tuam aegrotavimus illumina faciem salvi erimus Austin in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God God and his favour is our health and makes the countenance look healthful and cheerful whereas its want or withdrawing is the souls sickness as it were and makes the countenance sad heavy and cast down like the look of one that is sick 6. It is strength For the joy of the Lord is Neh. 8. 10. your strength i. e. the joy of his face that he favours you This is your strength that which fortifies Levavit pedes â—uos Phrasi Hebraicâ emphaticè significat cum alacriter instar cursoris indefessi perrexisse Pareus in loc you it makes to go from strength to strength and causes a man to lift up his feet as Jacob after he had met with God at Bethel And Jacob went on his journey Hebr. lift up his feet that is being strengthned by the late vision he went on cheerfully and couragiously in his journey 7. It is joy yea exceeding joy Psalm 43. 4. Then will I go to the Altar of God unto God my exceeding joy the Hebrew is the gladness of my joy the Lord and his favour is not onely our joy but exceeding joy the joy of our joy that is the chief the choice the cream the crown the top the head of our joy Psalm 16. 11. In thy presence i. e. in thy special and gracious presence or in or with thy face is fulness Psal 16. 11. 4.
7. 21. 6. of joy I hou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time when their corn and wine increased for thou hast made him most blessed for ever thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance it makes exceeding happy and exceeding glad It is the greatest cheerer the choicest cordial for thy love is better and we Cant. 1. 2 4. will be glad and rejoyce in thee we will remember thy love more than wine 8. It is glory it is our honour and exaltaion For thou art the glory of their strength and Psalm 89. 17. 148. 14. in thy favour our horn shall be exalted he also exalteth the horn of his people he and his favour whose name alone is excellent and whose v. 13. glory is above the earth and heaven And who should or what should exalt his people if not God and his favour It is a crowning mercy who crowneth thee with loving kindness and Psalm 103. 4. tender mercies the favour of God the loving kindness of God and those special peculiar tender mercies which flow from his very bowels as it were from his tender intimate and affectionate love these crown these are our honour and ornament With favour wilt thou compass 5. 12. him as with a shield the Hebrew is crown him And so the Dutch and others read it thou shalt crown him with thy favourableness or well Ut scuto voluntate coronabis eum pleasing complacency as with a target as with a buckler with favourable acceptation thou wilt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coronabis crown him Not only does glory life and immortality crown hereafter but the love and favour of God crowns here yea all the Gold and Gems and Rubies and richest and preciousest stones in the world set and compos'd together can never make such a Crown for the head as the favour of God puts upon the soul With favour wilt thou crown him In the 2 Sam. 12. 30. we read there of a Crown the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones which according to the weight of the Sanctuary weighed above an hundred pound but according to the ordinary talent above fifty four pound but the Crown of Gods favour exceeds it and excels it Thus the favour of God is not only Shield and Buckler but Crown also yea 't is any thing every thing that is truly excellent comfortable and commodious and that his people stand in need for it to be unto them But thou O Lord art a shield for me my glory Psalm 3. 3. Isa 28. 5. and the lifter up of my head In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people c. As he said to Paul his grace is sufficient 2 Cor. 12. 9. Favor Dei auxilium spiritus sancti á favore isto proveniens for us or enough for us and is all in all to us his accepting grace and his helping and sustaining grace his favour and what flows therefrom 4. It covers and silences all that God has against his people So that though his people may have many failings which oppose their weal and might be matter of plea against them yet God shining on them with his face he passes them by and silences all in his love for love even in us covers multitudes of sins how much more 1 Pet. 4. 8. Prov. 10. 12. Zeph. 3. 17. God's love The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoice over thee with joy he will rest in his love that is as some render it he will take satisfaction and contentment in loving thee in the affection he bears to thee But the Hebrew is as is noted in the Silebit propter dilectionem suam obmutescet in amore suo Margent he will be silent in his love or because of his love that is he will bear with thy infirmities and pass them by without manifesting any displeasure for them his love shall answer all objections against thee so that thy frailties shall not be charged upon thee but born with The Hebrew signifies also to be dumb or deaf and some render it he shall be dumb in his love or deaf that is to speak after the manner of men his ear shall not hear nor his mouth utter any accusations against thee so as to reject thee though he may humble thee he will quiet himself in his love when his anger is ready to be stirr'd he will pass over many things and as it were wink at them because he loves thee as the tender-hearted loving husband does as to his dear wife the loving father or mother as to her dear child So Hosea 14. 4. I will heal their back-sliding and whence I will love them freely for my anger is turn'd away from him and Micah 7. 19. He will turn again i. e. in mercy and loving kindness he will manifest his love he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depth of the Sea drown them in the ocean of his love Psalm 85. 1 Thou hast been favourable unto thy Land and then v. 2. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people thou hast covered all their sin CHAP. IX The Application of the point and first in general by way of Information or inference IS it the onely way for a people to be saved for Use 1. of Information or inference God to turn them again and cause his face to shine as hath been abundantly made good then there are several truths that this point doth inform us of and instruct us in and several things from hence are deducible and may be inferr'd As 1. That then there is a way for a people to be saved and that let their present state and condition be what it will be it never so sad though as sad as this peoples was here whose prayer God had seemed to be angry with a great while v. 4 5 6 12 13 yea and had fed them with bred of tears and given them tears to drink in great measure made them a strife unto their neighbours and their enemies laught among themselves yea though God had planted them as his vine yet now he had broken down her hedges so that all they who passed by the way did pluck her The bore out of the wood did wast it and the wild beast out of the field devoured it yea all God's former mercies were now turned into judgments and yet were a peoples condition as sad as theirs here yea sadder yet there is a way for them to be saved yea let God but turn them again and cause his face to shine and they shall be saved Thus whatever are a peoples sicknesses or sores there is a salve whatever their maladies there is a remedy whatever is their case there is a way of
cure If I shut up heaven says the Lord that there be no rain or if I command the Locusts to 2 Chron. 7. 13. devour the Land or if I send pestilence among my people that is whatever judgments I inflict on a people for under these are comprised all other if v. 14. my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves c. So if they shall confess their iniquity c. and their uncircumcised hearts be humbled c. At what instant I shall Levit. 26. 40. Jer. 18. 7 8. speak concerning a nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it If that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil I thought to do unto them Is there says the Prophet no balm in Gilead is there no Physician Jer. 8. 22. there Gilead was a place where there was plenty of Balm and it was famous for the soveraignest Balsams for from thence they were wont to be transported into other countreys and there were also store of skilful Physicians and therefore it was strange and matter of wonder indeed that Balm and Physicians should fail and not be had there But admit there should be no Balm no not in Gilead yet is there Balm with God and that all Physicians fail on earth yet is there a Physician in heaven who whatever are a peoples maladies if he do but undertake the cure will be sure to bring remedy Psalm 60. 11. 68. 20. who gives help from trouble when vain is the help of man and unto whom belong the issues from death For we have no might against this great 2 Chr. 20. 12. company that cometh against us neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee who yet canst help us and save us from above though no help nor way of salvation appears from beneath Thus there is a way for a people to be saved whatever is their case and truly this is a great mercy and that the Lord is pleased also to point a people to it when their case hath been exceeding deplorable and seem'd almost desperate as Joel 2. in the first chapter and the former part of the second what sore and terrible judgments had God threatned and yet v. 12. Therefore also now saith the Lord turn ye even to me c. So Return thou back-sliding Israel saith Hos 14. 1. the Lord c. Who says the Lord would set the briars and thorns against me in battel I would Jer. 3. 12. go through them I would burn them together Or let him take hold of my strength that he may Isa 27. 4 5. make peace with me and he shall make peace with me How desperate seemed Ninivehs condition Jonah 3. 4. yet forty days and Niniveh shall be destroyed and yet there was a remedy and they betaking themselves to it are saved And as it is with people so with a particular person and as in regard of their miseries so their iniquities as Shechaniah said We have trespassed against our God and have taken strange wives of the people of the Land directly against God's express Law Dent. 7. 3. yet now there is hope in Israel Ezra 102. concerning this thing our case is not desperate but we may yet be brought to repentance and pardoned Behold thou art wroth for we have sinned in these is continuance that is in those Isa 64. 5. ways of grace and mercy thou art still the same and if thou pleasest thus still to shew and manifest thy self we shall be saved So wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings c. Isai 1. 16 18. and then Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow though they be red like Crimson they shall be as Wool These were the deepest Dies implying whatever their sins were though never so great yet upon their repentance they should be graciously and fully pardoned Let Israel hope in the Lord for with Ps 130. 7. the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities There is a way for the wicked and most unrighteous man to be saved which the Lord calls and invites him to Let the wicked Isaiah 55. 7. forsake his way and the unrighteous man his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et vir iniquitatis thoughts Hebr. The man of iniquity or made up as it were of iniquity or the man of wrong or vexation as some render it one word signifies both that hath so much wrong'd not onely his own soul but God vexed his holy and good Spirit yet there is a way for such a one to be saved Let him but forsake his way and his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Hebr. he will multiply to pardon So that his pardons shall infinitely exceed his sins there shall be pardons and to spare as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 superabundavit plus quà m abundavit supermultiplicata est Paul expresses it 1 Tim. 1. 14. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant or redundant superabundant more than enough or as it were overfull enough and to spare it abounded to flowing over as the Sea doth above Mole-hills And because we are ready to be measuring God by our selves and to think this cannot be done because we cannot do it we cannot our selves pass by so many and great provocations and therefore how should God hence God foreseeing our low conceits of him he answers v. 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord v. 9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts 2. If this be the onely way for a people to be saved this lets us see in what an unlikely way and posture we of this Nation are at this day to be saved And O that we had hearts to bewail it I am sure we have cause even to have rivers of waters to run down our eyes as they did Ps 119. 136. Jer. 9. 1. Davids and to wish with the Prophet Jeremy Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night c. and to say as the Prophet Isaiah Isa 22. 4. Look away from me I will weep bitterly labour not to comfort me c. For are we turned again to the Lord or do we turn from our sins Surely as to the generality of people amongst us nothing less no nor yet though God hath inflicted upon us so many sore and heavy judgments such as scarce have been heard of nor have been in our days nor in our fathers days before us
the onely way for people to be saved to be blessed and happy and have it well with them and because else they perish and are ruined and undone and it will certainly be ill with them for ever And hence it is that the Lord makes use of such pathetical and affectionate expressions Say unto them as I live saith the Lord I have Ezek. 33. 11. no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel How vehemently does the Lord here expostulate and press this upon them Turn ye turn ye which denotes the height and vehemency of his affection and desire how much his heart was upon it and is there not good reason for all this why they dye and are undone and perish else for why will ye dye life and death are in these things in turning or not turning to God as life is the happy effect of the one so death and damnation is the fruit of the other And is it any wonder the Lord is then so earnest and importunate when our weal or our woe when it being well or ill with us when our happiness or our misery our being saved or eternally destroyed depends upon this And hence the Lord is not content to speak it once but speaks it again calls for it twice because it was of such absolute and indispensable necessity and not a small matter nor a business of indifferency And what infinite cause have we then to bless the Lord that he should be so intent upon this so frequently and earnestly invite us to this again and again wherein our own good is so much concerned and which is of such indispensable necessity that we cannot otherwise but perish and what can we indeed do better or wherein can we be more happy than in turning to him 6. This informs us and gives us to see whence it is that God's Prophets formerly and his Ministers alate have been and still are so frequent and earnest in preaching and pressing of this why is it because so much depends on this because they know it cannot else be well with them neither can they be saved or be happy nay they know it cannot else but be ill with them and they must else perish and be undone for ever and therefore have they and do they still so much urge and press this not onely speak but cry Be ye not as your fathers unto whom Zach. 1. 4. the former Prophets have cried thus saith the Lord of hosts turn ye from your evil ways and from your evil doings c. They do not onely call but cry yea cry out proclaim so as the rather to be heard and more to be heeded they were zealous and earnest therein why because the matter was of such importance and the danger was so great if they did not hearken And hence is it that Ministers still are so pressing and importunate as to this they pray and beseech yea and if ye will not hear saith the Prophet Jeremy Jerem. 13. 7. My soul shall mourn in secret for you and mine eyes weep sore and run down with tears c. The voice of one crying in the wilderness c. Luke 3. 4. Thus the Prophets and the Apostles cryed and Jesus Christ himself he cryed John 7. 37. In the last day that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried saying if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink O for poor sinners to come to Christ to believe on him and repent and turn to the Lord is a matter of great consequence of infinite importance not a thing of indifferency but of absolute necessity and hence Jesus Christ is so earnest and intent upon this as appears by his posture he stood up by his vehement speaking he cried he spake with a lowd voice which shewed the fervour and ardency of his Spirit So it is said of Paul that great Apostle that he shewed first unto them of Damascus and Acts 26. 20. at Jerusalem and through all the Coasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God c. It was Paul's great work and main business to have it well with all he came among his hearts desire was that they might be saved and therefore was he so intent upon this where ever he came that they might repent and turn to God as the onely soveraign way of it and as knowing it could not else be well with them Hence it was that that holy Martyr Mr. Bradford when he came to the stake cryed out so earnestly and affectionately O England England repent of thy sins repent of thy sins he knew it was the onely way of Englands weal then as it is now and therefore whatever is the zeal and fervency of God's Ministers herein so as that some it may be may think them besides themselves as some did Paul 2 Cor. 5. 13. yet this being the onely way of their being sav'd and they being else und one this gives sufficient reason and ground thereof 7. This lets us see the reason why the Church and People of God have been so fervent and frequent in their Prayers for this that God would turn them again and cause his face to shine as here in one Psalm they instance it no less than thrice v. 3. v. 7. and v. 19. and can ye blame them or was there not good reason for it when as this was the only way for them to be saved to be happy and to have it well with them and how earnest have others also been as to these as David how often and how exceeding earnestly does he beg that Psalm 119. 58. God would make his face to shine upon him and I entreated thy favour or I have earnestly besought thy face so the Dutch with my whole heart or with all my heart and good cause his very happiness and felicity consisting thereon and flowing therefrom c. Poenitentia Angelorū delectatio hilacritas gaudent societati suae restitutos esse quos in tenebris inferni ac Satanae potestate constitutos viderant Gerhard 8. This lets us see whence it is that there hath been and is still such great joy when a sinner turns to God and that both in heaven and earth as the Scripture declares Luk. 15. 7. I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth c. and v. 10. Likewise I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth c. the repenting and turning though but of one sinner makes all heaven merry as it Heus tu peccator bono animo sis vides ubi de tuo gaudetur c. Tertull were it causes joy all heaven over it puts harps as it were into the Angels hands and songs into their mouths c.
light of thy countenance let us but enjoy that Psal 4. 6. good and that shall be in stead of all thy favour Lord thy face one good look from thee one smile from thy countenance vouchsafe us but this and for other things do what seems good to thee we leave them to thy wisdom to dispose as thou pleasest 5. The more to excite us to supplicate these let us consider he onely can effect these and vouchsafe these 1. He onely can turn us again to himself as was hinted before This is God's work the work of no less than an almighty power an omnipotent arme we can easily indeed and of our selves turn aside and turn away from God but it is onely the Lord God of Hosts that can reduce us the arme of Jehovah himself must be revealed to effect this who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Isa 53. 1. Lord revealed The Lord himself must speak and that with a strong hand so to instruct us as not to walk any longer as we have done or as others do as the Prophet Isaiah expresses it For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand or Isa 8. 11. as it is in the Hebr. in or with strength of hand In fortitudine manûs which denotes the strong and powerful operation of the holy Ghost in the Prophet and some others together with him and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people that is that I with others of the godly Jews should not follow the manners and practices of the greater sort of that people and it must be the Lord 's speaking his instructing and that with strength of hand that must effect this else all our speaking and preaching be it never so earnest and often is but with a weak hand and ineffectual and people will walk and go on still as they did we may tell people they should profit or declare to them what is profitable but it is the Lord God onely which can teach them to profit or what is profitable that is effectually So we may shew them the way they should go but the Lord God only can lead them in the way they should go I am the Lord thy God which teacheth Isa 48. 17. thee to profit or what is profitable as the Dutch read it which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go Every one therefore says Joh. 6. 45. Christ that hath heard and learned of the father cometh to me and so by me to him This is never done indeed 'till God does it and therefore how earnest should we be in our addresses to him that he would do it for Ministers can not do it nor can we our selves do it unless the Lord comes in with his help Acts 16. 9. It is there said a vision appeared to Paul in the night there stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him saying come over into Macedonia and help us our great work and business is to help people to help them in the main in their chiefest and greatest concerns to help their souls to help them as to God to turn them to him to further their being brought home to him and their being reconcil'd unto him but our help will signifie little unless the Lord help as the King said to that woman unless the Lord help how should 2 King 6. 26 27. I help 2. He alone can cause his face to shine we can indeed cause it to frown but he alone must make it smile We can raise those mists and clouds which obscure and hide his face and interpose between us and him and his favour but he alone can scatter and dispell them your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you Isa 59. 2. c. that is have caused him to hide his face from you you have done this but I onely can and must do the other viz. remove that which separates and discover my face and display my favour you can procure my displeasure but I onely must manifest my love you can erect a partition-wall between me and you but I onely can throw it down O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help Ephraim by Hos 13. 9. the iniquity of his covetousness could cause God Is 57. 17 18. to hide himself and to be wrath but God alone could restore comforts to him and to his mourners David he could lose the joy of God's salvation but God onely could restore it I create Psalm 51. 12. Is 57. 29. the fruit of the lips peace peace c. We can marre our peace but God onely can create it and therefore to him we must seek and earnestly sue as the Church here and David and the people of God often elsewhere Lord lift thou up Ps 4. 6. 31. 16. the light of thy countenance upon us make thy face to shine upon thy servant c. 6. As he onely can do these so let us consider how infinitely able he is to do them he being as he is here described the Lord God of Hosts Job 42. 2. I know says Job that thou canst do every thing and that no thought can be withholden from thee that is whatever thou hast purposed and decreed can by no means be hindered or kept from being perform'd Is any thing too hard for the Gen. 18. 14. Lord If any man says Paul be in Christ he is a new creature old things are past away and 2 Cor. 5. 17 all things are become new and what follows And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and that was a great work indeed to reconcile heaven and earth yea heaven and hell as it were to reconcile us when we were such desperate enemies to heal a breach that was great like the Sea and which all the creatures in heaven and earth Angels and men could never have effected any thing as to the making of it up and all things are of him who hath done so great things already viz. which concern this new Creation greater than the first all things be they never so many or never so great he can make new heavens and new earth and new hearts and new spirits yea all new and how should we then resolve with David I will cry unto God most high Psal 57. 2. unto God who performeth all things for me and can perform all things for thee be they never so many never so great all things that concern thy weal thy happiness thy soul thy salvation thy conversion and restoring thee into his face and favour here and to eternal felicity hereafter We read often in Scripture of that Phrase and it is very observable of God's commanding such and such things such and such mercies and blessings as of his commanding deliverances for Jacob of his commanding strength of his Psal â—4 4. 68.
28. 133. 3. commanding the blessing even life for evermore We beg and intreat and humbly supplicate these but God he can and does command these he can with speed power and authority send these exhibit these he can command conversion and his loving kindness and the light of his Psalm â—2 8. countenance as the Psalmist expresses it Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the day time and in the night his song shall be wiâ—h me command his loving kindness that is that it come to me and comfort and save me David at this time was in a very sad afflicted condition all thy waves and thy billows says he in the foregoing Viz. ut ad me veniat Pis c. verse are gone over me and that now which he expects and counts upon for his comfort both day and night is the loving kindness of God the favour of God the shining of his face and this says he the Lord will command he will send forth to it a Mandamus or commission as it were to go to him he does not nor need not stand treating about going or intreating it to go but he bids it go lays his charge and command upon it to go go to such a Soul and it goes and come to such a Soul and it comes it obeys him and indeed onely him we may wish it desire it beg it intreat it but he can command it and powerfully and effectually command it so as to do its work It seems to be a phrase taken from Kings and great Commanders in the field whose way is to command such and such things and whose words of command stand for laws So do God's he commands his loving kindness to go and he commands it to act and work to do its work to comfort and cheer and revive and when he commands it to do so it powerfully and effectually does it it giveth songs in the night and causes even in darkness to arise light he commands Mandare benignitatem dicitur Deus cùm facit ut sensus ejus erga nos á nobis percipiatur reipsa experiatur Mell. the sense of his love and the blessed effects and fruits of it upon the Soul The Lord makes that which his Ministers preach for the peace and comfort of his people to be effectual to help their peace and comfort and so creates the fruit of their lips peace It is said of Jacob that all his sons and his daughters rose up to comfort him because of his grief upon his supposing Gen. 37. 35. his son Joseph to be rent in pieces but he refused to be comforted so would deserted souls whatever we preached as making for their comfort did not the Lord command it but the Lord says Go loving-kindness to such a soul to such a drooping heart and cheer and revive it and comfort it and it goes and it acts and does its work and errand it is sent about 7. Let us consider not onely how able but also how willing he is to do these to turn us again and cause his face to shine if we do indeed seek unto him to do them For 1. what mean else those frequent and earnest invitations to seek them those gracious promises of obtaining them if we do indeed seek them as Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find c. and Luke 11. 9. Amos 5. 5. seek ye me and ye shall live c. And 3. why else does the Lord continue still the seasons of grace and means of converting and turning us again to himself and bringing us into his favour And 4. continue still to exercise such patience and long suffering toward us what is the meaning thereof The Apostle Peter tells us it is because he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering to Deus expectat conversionem nostram ut revertamur ipsi ad gratiam expectat gemitus sed temporales ut remittat aeternos lachrymas nostras ut profundat pietatem suam Ambr. us ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 1. He is not slack as if he regarded not what was done here upon the earth but sat in heaven as one of the Idol-Gods Nor 2. as if he was not sensible or laid not to heart men's carriages towards him O he apprehends and is very sensible of the wrong done to him as he often in Scripture expresses it Numb 14. 11. How long will this people provoke me c. Fourty years long was I grieved with this generation c. Behold I am Amos 4. 13. pressed under you as a Cart is pressed that is full of sheaves and Thou hast wearied me with thine Isa 43. 24. iniquities and Because I am broke with their whorish heart and God is angry with the wicked Ezek. 6. 9. every day c. But it is because he is patient and Psalm 7. 11. long suffering which was part of his name which he proclaimed before Moses as his glory Exod. 34. 6. So that men count him slack when he is onely patient and bearing long with sinners not willing that they should perish but come to repentance and therefore vouchsafes them time and gives them space to repent and hence v. 15. account says the Apostle that the long suffering of the Lord is salvation that is that the Lord defers his coming to judgment account of this as that which the Lord does as tending to your salvation and as very serviceable for the furthering thereof in giving you time to repent and turn to him He might have sent you to Hell as soon as ever ye came into the world or cut 〈◊〉 many years since as he hath done many the thousands of others cut you off in your youth while ye were pursuing your youthful lusts but that he hath still born with you and spared you from time to time this is the meaning thereof that he is willing ye should not perish but repent and turn unto him and so recover his favour here and eternal salvation hereafter 8. The more yet to encourage us in our suits notwithstanding our own sinfulness and unworthiness let us in our addresses to God consider that when any are turned again unto the Lord and have his face shine upon them it is from meer free grace and undeserved kindness This and this alone is that which puts him upon it and not any thing in those whom he turns and on whom he causes his face to shine the meer favour of God bestows the first grace and following grace and it is from grace that he exhibits grace and turns any by his grace it is from favour that he vouchsafes favour from meer good will that he manifests good will and from his face that he causes his face to shine and from the light of
from darkness to light from death to life from earth yea from hell to heaven from swine and husks Luk. 15. 18. to bread enough in our fathers house from feeding on ashes to feed on Angels food heavenly Poenitentia dicitur conversio ad Deum inter quem nos dissidium faciunt peccata Tossan viands from among murderers to the God of mercies from the crooked vile ways of sin to the even and excellent ways of holiness from ways of danger to ways of safety of trouble to ways of peace of bitterness to ways of pleasantness of wasting and destruction to ways of weal and salvation from broken cisterns that can hold no water to springs of water yea to the fountain of living waters from a wilderness and a land of deserts drought and the shadow of death to a fruitful refreshing Paradise In a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc word from sin which hath in it nothing but guilt and filth and stain and torment and curse and death and condemnation to God who is the sole and soveraign spring and fountain of all good of light life happiness help comfort consolation salvation and not onely how equal but how excellent is this yea and this makes it not onely our duty but highest dignity to turn again it being to God and such a God from what is most vile to an object so infinitely worthy It is best of all indeed not to sin but next to repent and turn from sin to God who Justin Martyr is such a God the most high and most excellent they called them to the most high Hos 11. 7. 5. In its fruits and effects and in its end and issue What excellent things are those the Apostle reckons up as following upon conversion What fruit says he had ye then in those things Rom. 6. 21 22. whereof ye are now asham'd for the end of those things is death But now being made free from sin and become servants of God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life O what a blessed change and what an excellent turn is here before servants of sin now servants of God before fruit unto unrighteousness now unto holiness before the end death now everlasting life 1. Here 's the excellentest freedom to be made free from sin 2. The excellentest service to become servants to God 3. The excellentest fruit fruit unto holiness and 4. the excellentest end and that is everlasting life O there is not nobler service performed excellenter fruit growing nor a happier end to be attained in heaven it self And this follows upon our being turn'd again which makes at once the sinner happy heaven merry hell sorry the Devils sad Angels glad the Saints to rejoyce on earth yea and all those celestial Heroes in Heaven and how excellent must that needs be that does all this and therefore to its difficulty oppose its excellency and excellent things are difficult but much to be preferr'd before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Facilis descensus ad orcum things that are easie but base and vile Job speaking of such as were base and acted vile things he tells us they had no helper or as the Job 30. 13. Dutch they needed no helper that is to execute their vile intentions no the work was easie enough they could do it of themselves but it was base vile mischievous destructive work But now to repent and turn to God and honour him and do good is hard and difficult here we need helpers help both from God and man but how infinitely is the one with all its difficulty to be preferr'd before the other with all its facility It is a thousand times more eligible to be labouring for Diamonds than lazing in the dirt to be sweating in a Golden Mine than idling and at ease in the mire to be toyling for treasures than toyling for straws better is the straight gate and narrow way that leads to life than the wide gate and broad way that leads to death Verae salutaris poenitentiae fructus multiples c. Gerh. 3. The utility thereof the profit benefit and commodities that accrew to the sinner thereby and these are so many as cannot be enumerated and so great as cannot be commensurated so that if any should ask what advantage then hath he that turns to God or what profit is there of Repentance I must answer as the Apostle Paul does in another case much every way And when a soul turns again indeed to God it may be said as Leah said when Gad was born A troop or company cometh O how many mercies blessings and benefits come and throng in then upon the convert To turn from sin it is Clavis viscerum Dei says one a key to unlock all the chests of God's mercies and a preservative against all miseries How many mercies are heaped up together in Hos 6. 1. 2. Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind up After two days will he revive us in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight Here 's healing and binding up and reviving and raising and then living in God's sight and v. 3. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord his going forth is prepared as the morning and he shall come unto us as the rain as the latter and former rain unto the earth that is we shall experimentally know and tast and see that the Lord is gracious and he in his gracious accesses to our souls will be the same to them as the Sun and the former and latter rain are to the earth And how comfortable profitable refreshing and reviving are these And Thus saith the Lord of hosts turn ye unto me and I Zach. 1. 3. will turn unto you and how much is wrapped up in that expression turn unto you that is mercifully favourably graciously turn my pleasant face to you lift up the light of my countenance upon you vouchsafe you my special grace and favour be reconcil'd to you and at peace with you I will pardon you bless you do good to you multiply all blessings upon you and remove all evils and plagues from you yea turn all into good unto you so that you shall find and feel and abundantly experience the sweet fruits and blessed effects of my turning to you Thus when God turns to us all good turns he being the fountain thereof heaven and earth turn happiness turns the creature turns the Angels turn the Gospel and all the glory and promises and priviledges thereof yea a full and overflowing all-sufficiency of all good turn to us and all evil turns from us all that is evil indeed for afflictions if they abide with us they are turn'd into good yea all now work together for good to us So that amidst ayles we are now without evil and amidst harms
people of God so a time of cooling and refreshing and who would not long for it in such a dry scorching place and weary land as this world is It is a figurative speech and a fit Metaphor especially as to the condition of those Regions which were so exceeding hot and where workmen being even spent with heat did retire into the cool shades for refreshing and this refreshing comes from the presence of the Lord that is from his special gracious presence or from his face that is the shines of his face the bright beams of his favour the light of his countenance and whence else indeed should it come that being the very spring and fountain of all refreshings there they are and thence they flow In his presence is Psalm 16. 11. fulness of joy c. And this refers to the last day for that day which shall be a day of such heat and scorching unto others shall be a day of cooling and refreshing to all such as repent and are converted and that of far greater than of the coolest shade to the weariest workman that is even spent and ready to faint for heat But how is it said that your sins may be blotted out then are they not blotted out before yes the meaning thereof is that then ye may find and feel and experience the comfort of their being blotted out and while others sins stand still upon record and therefore to be accounted for the red lines of Christ's bloud may then as it were be seen drawn over yours the comfort of which at that day will be more than the possession of many worlds and however it will be the heat of the day to others who yet persist and go on in their sins this will make it the cool of the day to all such and as the most refreshing shadow after heat yea much more refreshing And thus Diodate interprets it not says he that the remission of sins is put off till then but because it shall then be publickly declar'd and bring forth its full effect of life and glory and they shall then be openly acquitted Ut non veniat Deus vobiscum in judicium sed eum tunc propitium habeatis Toss before Angels and men and God shall not enter into judgment with them but shew himself gracious and propitions to them Many indeed read this latter clause otherwise viz. and the times of refreshing shall come or that they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 venient vel ut veniant So the Syriack and Arabick and others as Luther Camerarius Illud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accipiunt c. may come and so make it another motive to conversion and when sinners do indeed repent and turn to God then and not till then is it that times of refreshing do come to them from the presence of the Lord their sins which alone did interpose being now remov'd Others think it a defective kind of speech and that something should be supplied viz. that when those times of refreshing come you also Elliptica oratio c. ut cùm venerint tempora refrigerii vos sentiatis refrigerium c. Arcular may be refreshed you may share in them as all that truly repent and are converted are sure to do 3. Upon this follows divine favour which is better than life then he is gracious to him and he will be favourable unto him and he shall Job 33. 24 26 28. see his face and his life shall see the light and we shall live in his sight But I do but mention Hos 6. 2. this because I have spoken of it before 4. Audience of prayer a great priviledg a choice mercy It is one of God's Attributes that he is a God hearing prayer O thou that hearest prayer Psal 65. 2. 66. 18. and such experience him as so If saith David I regard iniquity in my heart then indeed the Lord will not hear my prayer no he will never be a prayer-regarding God to a sin-regarding sinner but when a sinner comes to hate sin in his heart and abandon it in his life then he will hear him and accept him and his prayers Now we know said that man that was born Joh. 9. 31. blind God heareth not sinners Why in some sense we are all sinners we have sin and are subject to sin and so God should hear no man but we are to understand it of such as are in a state of sin as love live and lie in sin and make a trade of sin and go on in sin without remorse and turning to God and such God heareth not but their very prayer is an abomination And when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine Prov. 15. 8. 28. 9. Is 1. 15 Prov. 1. 28. eyes from you yea when you make many payers I will not hear your hands are full of bloud they shall call upon me but I will not answer c. But repenting sinners God hears Manasseh was a great sinner yet being greatly humbled and becoming a convert he prayed and God was intreated 2 Chron. 33. 12. and heard his supplication c. So when Ephraim bemoaned himself I have surely says Jer. 31. 18. the Lord heard him c. and Then shalt thou Is 58. 9. call and the Lord shall answer thou shalt cry and he shall say here I am What wonderful condescension of the great God is here as if he should say what wouldst thou have or what should I do whatever it be I am here ready to do it for thee or to communicate it to thee The Lord is nigh to such as are of a broken heart Ps 34. 1â— c. and If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from heaven c. yea such shall have audience and acceptance though never so mean and contemptible in the eyes of the world He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer That Ps â—02 17. which we render destitute others read desolate the Dutch wholly stripped Piscator and Junius of the most naked or of the poor shrub the Nudatissimi Jun. Pisc Hebrew word signifies such a shrub as stands alone in the wilderness worthless and unregarded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liable to every blast and to be troden Of the much afflicted or altogether destitute and made naked of all help so the word imports down by every beast it comes of a word which signifies he was naked and the doubling of the two radical Letters imports the intension of the signification as most naked and most destitute and stript quite bare of all help and Eorum qui sunt veluti myricae humilésque myricae Virg. comfort and yet the prayers of such are not despised but heard and regarded of God When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and
God hath appointed to lead to it This is that Rainbow which if God sees shining in our hearts he will never drown our souls Thus you see what a profitable and gainful thing repentance is and I have the longer stood upon this because we are all for gain and profit Who will shew us any good and shall we not then be for that which tends to so much Psal 4. 6. and so great gain and good yea to all good even the greatest Art thou enquiring after good O he hath shewed thee here O man what is good Micah 7. 8. indeed even that which the Lord requires of Job 22. 21. thee viz. for to repent and turn to him for thereby good shall certainly come unto thee David prays that God would shew him a token for Psal 86. 17. good and here 's a token for Good indeed when God turns thee again to himself for all good for spiritual and temporal and eternal for good every where here and hereafter on earth and in heaven below and above in our way and at our journeys end in our exile and in our own countrey while we are abroad and when we come home to our fathers house for godliness which is the very essence of repentance is profitable unto all things having promise of the life 1 Tim. 4. 8 that now is and of that which is to come What man is he that desireth life and loveth many Psal 34. 12 13 14. days that he may see good Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile Depart from evil and do good c. And O that God would vouchsafe this token for good to England to this Nation and to the whole of the Nation to Court and City and Countrey to every town and fellowship and family yea to every house and heart how would the Lord then give that which is good and glory should Ps 85. 9 12. dwell in our Land and we should be exalted and brought into an happy state indeed but never let any expect good or talk of gain or profit that still persist and go on in their sins for such find no good he that hath a froward heart findeth Pro. 17. 20. no good or a perverse heart and that goes on Perversus animo non consequetur bonum still to pervert his ways he finds no good he shall be sure to find and feel evil enough be filled Pro. 12. 21. with mischief but finds no good he may goods but no good no true good nor gain but such are all upon the losing hand yea are all the greatest losers imaginable for such lose all true joy peace and comfort here and Heaven and happiness and God himself for ever hereafter yea their own souls and what is a man profited should he gain a whole world if he lose his own soul Certainly then the sinners way and course that yet persists and goes on in his sins is the most unprofitable way and course under Heaven The way of transgressours is hard or Pro. 13. 15. sharp harsh grievous it may seem easie at present Via praevaricatorum aspera duriter ◠Deo excipiuntur c. Cart. but it will be sure to be found hard at last in the event not onely not profitable but pernicious such shall be us'd hardly 4. The absolute and indispensable necessity thereof Our turning again to God is not a thing arbitrary or indifferent but indispensably necessary Is to be blest by Christ necessary is pardon is the favour of God the shines of his face the light of his countenance necessary is to be happy in a word is heaven is salvation is eternal life and inheritance among them that are sanctified necessary is not to perish everlastingly necessary and if these be not what is certainly and undoubtedly they are most necessary and if so then is it to repent and turn to God indispensably necessary for without the one there is no attaining the other There is a double necessity 1. a necessity in regard of God's 1. Necessitas praecepti command the great God injoyns it and calls for it and that frequently and earnestly it may seem needless to mention places there are so many every where obvious and therefore there is onely one which I shall press and urge at present and that is Acts 17. 30 31. And the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judg the Dei praecipientis majestas world in righteousness c. Here 's that which shews it indispensably necessary God's command Bonum est poenitere an non quid revolvis Deus praecipit c. Tertull. and the majesty and greatness of that God who commands it Is it good says an Ancient to repent or not why doubtest thou God commands it it is his will c. Such was the state of those former times that God is said to wink at them which may have a double interpretation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pati sinere and both are well worthy our weighing and considering 1. as denoting God's indulgence he did not deal so severely with them sinning but did patiently bear with them as though he had known nothing or was not angry c. because they had not those means and helps to keep them from sin as others now in these knowing times there being then much blindness darkness and ignorance yet not as if there were any such times as God wholly winked at in point of justice so as not to call them to account but comparatively he not so severely dealing with them as with knowing times but never so as to let them wholly go unpunished or not at all to call them to an account for that was inconsistent with his providence and justice for though ignorance and darkness may indeed abate and lessen the measure and degree of sin yet not totally excuse it And what then are the sins of these knowing times and days of so much clear light as we live in how shall God wink at our sins or how is it that he hath winked at them so long O the infiniteness of his patience that he should bear with us so long and not utterly consume us who sin against more light and love than ever Nation did O when shall the riches of such goodness forbearance and long suffering lead us to repentance But there is another sense and interpretation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 negligere LXX usurpant pro indignari c. of these words which some rather imbrace as more fully laying open the meaning of the holy Ghost and as most consonant to what follows And the times of this ignorance God winked at that is he regarded not he had little respect to them of those times but let them go on in their sins as it were without check or controle that is he sent
all these did not speak them to partake of the grace of the Kingdom We read of others that did eat and drink in Christ's presence and such in whose Luk. 13. 26. streets Christ himself taught they heard him and at their tables entertain'd him and had ordinary converse with him and yet no better than workers of iniquity 3. Not meer morality or civility carrying it fair in the world for these though commendable in themselves come short of conversion and rested in they are but beautiful abominations a smoother way to hell and such are but as wild beasts tamed or tied up their natures not being changed c. 4. Not forms or professions of godliness shews of holiness and being as it were varnisht over 2 Tim. 3. 1 2 3 4 5. with specious semblances of sanctity when there is nothing but rottenness within c. 5. Not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. sapiens gnarus peritus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scire meerly knowing much for the Devils know so much as that they have their name from knowledg and yet they are Devils still and so men may be very knowing but not practising answerably to their knowledg be no better than Jam. 4. 17. Luk. 12. 46. Devils incarnate and their knowledg but aggravate their sin and increase their stripes 6. Not going on in a formal way of duties and in a constant Is 58. 1 2 3. Ezek. 33. 31 32. Luk. 18 12. customary course of performances for this many have done and may do yea be much in extraordinary duties yet never be true Christians because never sincere converts 7. Not Pharisaical Matth. 5. 20. righteousness for Christ hath said except our righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees we shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven and yet these were very exact and went very far and it was commonly conceited among the Jews that if but two in all the world went to heaven one should be a Scribe and an other a Pharisee They going far in outward works 1. of piety made long prayers 2. of charity gave much alms 3. of equity tythed Mint Annis and Cummin 4. of curtesy invited Christ often to their tables and yet but hypocrites because they wanted a sound work of conversion upon their souls 8. Not being of such a sect or party nor simply of such a Church or Society or Congregation or way or judgment or opinion or being hearers of such or such Ministers or such a ones people or the like though I fear too too many lay too much stress upon these in these days as if they must needs be good Christians and true Saints because they are in such a way and of such a Church and such a Congregation and adhere to such a party and are hearers of such Ministers and such a ones people as in the Apostles time how many did bear themselves up with this I am of Paul and I of Apollo and 1 Cor. 1. 12. 13. I of Cephas one he cryes up Paul and his preaching and bears himself up as being his disciple and one of his people another he cryes up Apollo c. another Cephas but what says the Apostle Is Christ divided was Paul crucified 3. 3. for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul and whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as men For while one saith I am of Paul and v. 4. another I am of Apollo are ye not carnal c. The Apostle Jude speaks of some in his days who separated themselves and yet were sensual Jud. 19. not having the spirit c. they were destitute of true grace and the Spirit of regeneration as appear'd from fleshly lusts having the upper hand and rule in them And the Prophet Isaiah speaks of some which said to others Stand by your selves come not near to us for we are holier Is 65. 5. than you and yet were a smoak in God's nose very loathsome unto him But let not any here mis-construe what I say for I do not speak against fellowships or societies but I would not have any simply take up in this for it is not this but sound conversion that speaks a Christian Judas was of the best fellowship that ever was of that very society that Jesus Christ himself and the Apostles were of one of the twelve and yet for all that a Devil as Jesus Christ himself declares Joh. 6. 70. Have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a Devil See here 's one of the very society of Christ himself and his Apostles and yet a Devil a strange expression but that we know who said it i. e. of a devilish nature one of his children and if there was a Devil among those that were of the very fellowship of Jesus Christ himself and his Apostles we had need look about us for what fellowship or society can there be under heaven whereof people may be and yet not be Devils incarnate How fair soever they may carry it outwardly as Judas no doubt did insomuch that when Christ told them one of you shall betray me they questioned among themselves who it should be no more suspecting Judas than themselves Joh. 13. 21 22. And therefore I beseech you let none bear up themselves nor lay so much stress on this it is sound conversion that must speak you sincere Christians and not being of such a way or society Jer. 7. 3. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel amend your ways and your doings and v. 4. Trust ye not in lying words saying the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord are these they pointed as it were with the finger to the temple of the Lord why we have the Temple and the Temple-worship c. but not amending their ways all were but lying words For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink Rom. 4. 17. but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost c. The purest Churches may have impure members and the most orderly congregations disorderly persons and among reall Saints may be such as are but painted sepulchres and though they have the Euge and approbation of men yet may they have the Apage and disallowance of God and all his holy Angels It was a notable speech uttered long since by an English Christian of a reformed Church in the Netherlands We have the good orders here but you have the good Christians in England O that it could be said so still and did says a learned godly Divine now with the Lord the servants of Christ know what it is to live in reformed Churches with unreformed spirits under strict order with loose hearts how forms of Religion breed but forms of Godliness how men by Church discipline learn their Church postures and there rest they
you out of the house of servants c. and Have I been a wilderness to Israel a land of darkness c. O with what confusion will this fill the hearts of such another day All says the Prophet Jeremy that forsake Jer. 17. 13. thee shall be ashamed and therefore how good is it for us as to draw neer to God so to keep still with him if we know when we are well for whither should we go from him 1 Joh. 2. 28. And now little children abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed at his coming CHAP. XVI To prove God by turning unto him again AND let us now by such a turning as this but prove God and see if he will not bless us and do us good There is indeed an unlawful Deut. 6. 16. proving of God which is call'd a tempting of him and forbidden but this of proving God in doing our duty and in returning to him he puts his people upon Bring you says he all Mal. 3. 10. the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of hosts if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room to receive it c. i. e. Do you but return to me as he exhorts them more generally v. 7. and do your duty and try me therewith if I will not bless and prosper you And what wonderful condescension is here that the great God even the Lord of Hosts Dignatio stupenda should call upon such as we are to prove him to make as it were an experiment upon him and as if he should say Do it but this one year and ☜ if it do hold on if not afterwards do as you please O that the great God should condescend so low as to deal with such as we are in so familiar a way as not onely to prescribe a remedy for our relief but invite us withall to prove his goodness and faithfulness therein and that with a kind of oath if I will not which is Promission confirmatur juramento Si non aperuero c. non ero deus c. Pisc O immensam nullis nec Angelorum nec hominum linguis satis depraedicandam clementiam O vero nos miseros si tantam dei gratiam contemnimus ipsi tergum obvertentes c. Winkelm in locum to be supplied with something else as let me not else be believ'd hereafter or I will not be God c. with reverence be it spoken and what admiration in the highest degree does this call for and let not only men on earth but all the Angels in Heaven forever admire and adore this so wonderful condescension that the great God should thus put himself upon the proof and tryal and that by such as we are and that with an oath if he do not what he promises if we do but what he commads and who indeed have ever thus prov'd him and have not still found him merciful yea and faithful in his promise The Lord appeals to Jehoiakim as concerning the experience his good father Josiah upon tryal had had of his goodness and bounty upon his obedience of his commands causing it to be well with him when he did well Shalt thou reign says God because Jer. 22. 15 16. thou closest thy self in Cedar that is dost thou think as the Dutch expound it to make thy Kingdom strong and lasting against the threatnings of God because of thy stately and brave Cedar buildings Did not thy father eat and drink that is live quietly and comfortably and do judgment and justice and then it was well with him v. 16. He judged the cause of the poor and needy and then it was well with him c. As if God had said I do appeal to thee was it not thus and did he not thus prove it to be but v. 17. Thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness and but for to shed innocent bloud and for oppression and for violence to do it Sad that the eyes and heart of so great a person should not be but for such things no better imployed and how could such a one expect it should be well with him So may God say search the Scriptures turn over those sacred Records and see if you can find there any that ever turned to God and it was not well with them that ever truly repented and repented that they repented or were sorry that they turned from their sins to me or with whom it was not far better with than before O what exceeding joy and wonderful sweet peace of conscience have they had upon their turning from their evil ways that they would not have been without for a world And here I might produce several instances as concerning Israel Ephraim Niniveh and others so the prodigal he upon coming to himself resolves by returning to his father to prove his clemency and how does he find it exceeding great for it is said that when he was yet a great way off his Luk. 15. 17 18 20. c. father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him c. And indeed never was there yet Nation people or person that did prove God so as unfeignedly to turn to him but found him very gracious Remember Job 4. 7. I pray thee says Eliphaz to Job who ever perished being innocent or where were the righteous cut off So who ever perisht being truely penitent or when or where was a returning sinner cut off no never any such finally perisht let any produce an instance if they can The word of the Lord is tried it is upon good Psal 18. 30. 12. 6. proof found to be most true without the least dross of deceit And thus Jesus Christ is said to be a tried stone i. e. upon tryal found most firm and precious fit and fully sufficient to bear up all that build upon him and thus he is a stone of proof as we say armour of proof i. e. a stone throughly prov'd that will certainly stay by and stay up all that by faith rest and rely upon him amidst whatever storms may make head against them and that while others fickle stays and refuges of lies which they fondly relied on are swept away And thus God as to his goodness and faithfulness which he manifests to such as truly turn to him is a well tried and experienc'd God and so will ever be as hath been heard so shall it be seen and as it hath been told so shall it be found and much more Indeed the Lord proves us and that several ways sometimes one way sometimes another sometimes with health and prosperity and sometimes with sickness and adversity c. But what pitiful sorry creatures do we upon tryal shew our selves to be and how