Deck and her visible Pilots flung over-board into the Sea and shall she sink when she is not far from an entrance into the Harbour She hath been a Brand pluckt out of the fire Zach. 3.2 She was pluckt out of the Furnace of Babylon and shall be pluckt out of the Furnace of Mystical Babylon Though she should be mown down as Grass by the Sythe of her Enemies yet the presence of Christ shall be as Rain upon her to make her sprout and spread after all her Afflictions Psal 72.6 Though she hath been in the midst of the Fire she never yet was nor ever will be consumed She hath had joy in her disgraces and greatness by her flames She hath alwaies had a God to inspire her with vigor to sustain her weakness and prop her by his Arm and hath often swam to a safe Harbour in a Tyde of her own Blood Is not that God still a sufficient Defence and the Promise a sufficient Charter against the Violence of the world The Highest himself shall establish her Himself by his own Arm and Himself by his own Methods 3. Here is Comfort in the deepest designs of her Enemies The Highest himself shall establish her If he be the Highest and imploys himself as the Highest there is none so high as to over-top him none so high as to out-wit him Though their Union be never so close and their Projects never so deep yet God's being with the Church is curb enough for them and comfort enough for Sion Isa 8.9 Associate your selves together O ye people c. Take counsel together and it shall come to naught speak the word and it shall not stand for God is with us God's presence with Sion blows away all God was with the Ark in its captivity and made it victorious in its Chains It cripled Dagon the Philistins Idol 1 Sam. 5.4 and made them return it to their disgrace which they thought they had seiz'd upon to their honour While God is a strength to the poor the branch of the terrible shall be brought low and their blast be but as a storm against a wall Isa 25.4 5. He can hasten their ruine by their own subtilty and catch them in their own Net Psal 35.8 Or he can turn them to glorifie the Church as much as they hindred her Isa 25.3 They are sometimes compared to Bees Psal 118.12 Isa 7.18 and the can make them afford honey as well as a sting They are Bees for their wrath and Bees for their weakness and many times Bees for her profit Sometimes he makes the House of Jacob as fire the House of Esau as stubble before him Obad. 18. 'T is not more natural to the Serpents Seed to spite the Church than it is natural to God to protect her their malice cannot engage them so much in Attempts against her as God's Promise engageth him in the defence of her What can weakness do against strength folly against wisdom Hell against Heaven and a fallen Lucifer against the highest God 4. Here is comfort to expect the glory of the Church The Highest himself shall establish her The Mountain of the Lords House shall be lifted up on the top of the Mountains Isa 2.2 In the last days it shall be more glorious than any Mountain dignified by God Above Mount Sinai where the Law was given the terrestial Mount Sion where the Temple was built Mount Moriah where Abraham had a type of the Death and Resurrection of Christ Mount Horeb where Moses by prayer discomfited Amalek and Mount Pisgah where Moses had a prospect of Canaan Abraham's Conquest of the four Kings Gen. 14. seems to be a figure of the Churches Victories when the captive Lots should be rescued and Sodom it self be something better for Sion Then shall Christ meet her as King of Salem King of Peace with the blessings of the most High God Then shall he as he did at the Feast in Cana turn the Churches Water into Wine Idols shall be utterly abolisht Isa 2.18 Dross and mixtures in Doctrine and Worship purged out Rev. 22.1 The River of the water of life shall be as clear as Crystal proceeding from the Throne of God and of the Lamb. The everlasting Gospel preached Rev. 14.6 called everlasting because it shall never more be clouded and obscured by the foolish Inventions of men there shall be no more Sea Rev. 21.1 The troubles of Sion signified by a stormy Sea shall cease and a new Heaven and a new Earth be created there shall be multitude of conversions Rev. 11.15 The Kingdoms of the world shall become the Kingdoms of Christ The breath of the Lord shall come into many and make them stand upon their feet Ezek. 37.9 10. There shall be a greater presence of God in Ordinances for the Earth shall shine with his glory Ezek. 43.2 Holiness shall sparkle in her for the glory of the Lord shall be upon her Rev. 21.11 His holiness to purifie her and his power to protect her Persecutions without and divisions within shall cease Satan shall be bound his force restrained he shall not wander about with his cloven-foot Rev. 20.3 The Sea of Glass which was mingled with fire with the fire of worldly Persecutions with the fire of intestine Animosities shall be as clear as Crystal Rev. 15.2 Rev. 22.1 He will then have Magistrates no longer carrying on the Interest of the God of this world but the Interest of the Church whom he calls his Princes Ezek. 45.8 His because set up by a more immediate Providence His because acting designedly and intentionally for his glory no more pinching his People and making a prey of his Sion but laying down their Crowns at the foot of his Throne And to compleat all there shall be a perpetuity in this spiritual prosperity only between the beginning and compleating it Satan shall be let loose But for a little season Rev. 20.3 and after this it shall not have one blow more from Hell but the Devil must for ever give over nibbling at her heel Now the Church never yet found such a state suitable to those promises and predictions some great thing remains to be accomplisht which the world hath not yet seen nor the Church experienced But that Truth that will not lye that Truth which cannot lye has assured it The Mystery of God shall be finished Rev. 10.7 The Church hath hitherto been gasping in the fire and in the water she has liv'd but as wrapt in a winding-sheet the Saints under the Altar have cryed a long time for the vengeance of the Temple to recompence their blood There is a time when this Lazarus that hath lain begging at the door of the rich and mighty shall be mounted up to a better state Sion shall enjoy a Resurrection and fling off all badges of a Funeral For the Highest himself shall establish her Third Vse of Exhortation 1. Take heed of Apostatizing from Sion from the Doctrine and Worship of Sion If
them of when he subjected them to vanity Such a view of spiritual truths in sensible pictures would clear our knowledge purifie our fancies animate our affections encourage our graces disgrace our vices and both argue and shame us into duty and thus take away all the causes of our wild wandring thoughts at once And a frequent exercise of this method would beget and support a habit of thinking well and weaken if not expel a habit of thinking ill 2. The second sort of directions are for the preventing bad thoughts And to this purpose 1. Exercise frequent humiliations Pride exposeth us to impatient and disquieting thoughts Prov. 30.32 whereas humility clears up a calm and serenity in the Soul 'T is Agur's advice to be humbled particularly for evil thoughts Frequent humiliations will deaden the fire within and make the sparks the fewer The deeper the Plough sinks the more the weeds are killed and the ground fitted for good grain Men do not easily fall into those sins for which they have been deeply humbled Vain conceits love to reside most in jolly hearts but by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better Eccles 7.3 4. There is more of wisdom or wise consideration in a composed and graciously mournful spirit whereas carnal mirth and sports cause the heart to evaporate into lightness and folly The more we are humbled for them the more our hatred of them will be fomented and consequently the more prepared shall we be to give them a repulse upon any bold intrusion 2. Avoid entangling your selves with the world This clay will clog our minds and a dirty happiness will engender but dirty thoughts Lutea faelicitas Aug. de Civ Dei l. 10. Who were so foolish to have inward thoughts that their houses should continue for ever but those that trusted in their riches †Psal 49.6 11. 1 Tim. 6.9 If the world possess our Souls it will breed carking thoughts much business meets with crosses and then it breeds murmuring thoughts and sometimes it is crown'd with success and then it starts proud and self-applauding thoughts Those that will be rich fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts such lusts that make men fools and one part of folly is to have wild and sensless fancies Mists and fogs are in the lower Region near the Earth but reach not that next the Heavens Were we free from earthly affections these gross vapours could not so easily disturb our minds but if the World once settle in our hearts we shall never want the fumes of it to fill our heads And as covetous desires will stuff us with foolish imaginations so they will smother any good thought cast into us as the thorns of worldly cares choak'd the good seed and made it unfruitful Matth. 13.22 As we are to rejoyce in the World as though we rejoyced not so by the same reason we should think of the World as though we thought not Rom. 12.2 A conformity with the World in affection is inconsistent with a change of the frame of the mind 3. Avoid Idleness Serious Callings do naturally compose mens spirits but too much Recreation makes them blaze out in vanity Idle souls as well as idle persons will be ranging As Idleness in a State is both the Mother and Nurse of Faction and in the natural body gives birth and encrease to many diseases by enfeebling the natural heat so it both kindles and foments many light and unprofitable imaginations in the soul which would be sufficiently diverted if the active mind were kept intent upon some stated work So truly may that which was said of the servant Mat. 25 26. Tâ—ou wicked and slothful servant Mat. 13.25 be applied to our nobler part that it will be wicked if once it degenerates into slothfulness in its proper charge As empty minds are the fittest subjects for extravagant fooleries so vacant times are the fittest seasons While we sleep the importunate enemy within as well as the envious adversary without us will have a successful opportunity to sow the tares whereas a constant imployment frustrates the attempt and discourageth the Devil because he sees we are not at leisure Therefore when any sinful motion steps in double thy vigour about thy present business and the foolish impertinent will sneak out of thy heart at this discountenance So true is that in this case which Pharaoh falsly imagined in another that the more we labour the less we shall regard vain words †Exod. 5.9 As Satan is prevented by diligence in our Callings so sometimes the Spirit visits us and fills us with holy affections at such seasons as Christ appeared to Peter and other Disciples when they were a fishing †Joh. 21.3 4. and usually manifested his grace to men when they were engaged in their useful businesses or religious services But these motions as we may observe by the way which come from the Spirit are not to put us out of our way but to assist us in our walking in it and further us both in our attendance on and success in our duties To this end look upon the work of your Callings as the work of God which ought to be done in obedience to Him as He hath set you to be useful in the community Thus a holy exercise of our Callings would sanctifie our minds and by prepossessing them with solid business we should leave little room for any Spider to weave its Cobwebs 4. Awe your hearts with the thoughts of God's Omniscience especially the discovery of it at the last Judgment We are very much Atheists in the concern of this Attribute for though it be notionally believed yet for the most part it is practically deny'd God understands all our thoughts afar off †Psa 139.2 as He knew every creature which lay hid in the Chaos and undigested lump of matter God is in us all * Eph. 4.6 as much in us all as He is above us all yea in every creek and chink and point of our hearts Not an Atom in the spirits of all men in the world but is obvious to that All-seeing Eye which knows every one of those things that come into our minds †Ezek. 11.5 God knows both the order and confusion of them and can better tell their natures one by one than Adam named the creatures Fancy then that you hear the sound of the last Trumpet that you see God's Tribunal set and His Omniscience calling out singly all the secrets of your heart Would not the consideration of this allay the heat of all other imaginations If a foolish thought break in consider What if God who knows this should presently call me to Judgment for this sinful glance Say with the Church Shall not God search this out Is it fit either for God's glory or our interest Psal 44.21 that when he comes to make inquisition in us He should find such a nasty dunghil and swarms of Aegyptian
forelorn Gentiles as stupid as stocks and stones he raiseth up Children a great posterity to Abraham Those that he imployed in the erecting Sion and establishing the Law that went out from her in the rubbish of the Gentiles he struck off from all humane assistances all strength and power in themselves when he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait there for a power from on high before they ventured to be Witnesses to him and publish his Name not only in the uttermost parts of the Earth but in Jerusalem the City where they were to abide or in any part of Judaea Acts 1.4 8. They were not to speak a word of him in their own strength or in any strength less than a Power from Heaven which was to be given them by the sending the Spirit and this he calls the promise of the Father as signifying his purpose to enlarge his Church as well as build it at the first by himself and his own power 'T is this the promise of the Father our Saviour there pitches their faith upon and 't is this our faith should be established in in all conditions of the Church Now hath God thus rear'd up a Church out of the ashes of mans original Apostacy setled it among the murmuring and ungrateful Israelites that industriously longed for the Garlick and Onions of Aegypt as weary of the greatness of his mercy to them and propagated it to the Idolatrous Gentiles fill'd with all unrighteousness as bad as bad could be as is described Rom. 1.29 30 31 To what purpose was the enlarging the Churches Patent if he did intend the footsteps of her should ever be rooted out of the world He pickt out the weakest poorest persons as the matter of it that he might shew his own honour in preserving it he hath yet supported her all the while she hath carryed the cross of her Lord he hath sent his spirit to frame a succession of new materials for her how fruitless would all this be if he should let Hell waste the Temple erected for Heaven What did he gather and enlarge the Church only to make it a richer conquest and a fatter morsel for the Devil How vain would his former kindness appear if he should let it utterly sink as long as the world endures It cannot be imagin'd with any semblance of reason that God hath taken all this care about the nursing and growth of the Church from small beginnings to let his darling be a prey to the mouth of Lyons and be of no other use than to fatten his enemies 4. In regard of the cost and pains he hath been at about Sion Did the creation of the world ever cost him so much Was there one tear one groan one sigh much less the blood of the Son of God expended in laying the foundation of it When the matter of it was without form and void the beauty of it was not wrought with a washing with blood When God established the clouds above and strengthn'd the foundations of the deep when he gave the sea his decree and appointed the foundations of the earth the Son of God was by him rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth and his delights were among the sons of men Prov. 8.28 29 31. Not bleeding and dying But this he must do he must take humane nature be bruised in his heel by the serpent and be a Sacrifice himself make an atonement for sin before a stone for the building of spiritual Sion could be fram'd and laid What pains have been taken also in the effecting it The birth of the Church was a work of greater power than the fabrick of the world a few words went to the rearing of that in the revolution of six days it was set upon its feet but many a year was God in travel before Sion was brought forth there was an enemy as potent as Hell to deal with in setting it in Adams family after mans Apostacy The corrupt nature that had then got the possession of the world to contest with The world must be drowned to bring it to a second nativity and establishment in Noah The forming the Church of the Jews was not without some pangs of nature what signs and wonders and great terrours were wrought in its bringing forth out of Aegypt and striking off the chains of her Captivity Deut. 4.34 What fire blackness darkness tempest that made a convulsion in the Souls of those that were to be her materials Heb. 12.18 19. And the bringing forth the Gentile Church and enlarging the cords and stakes of Sion was preceded by the darkening the Sun the trembling of the Earth the opening of the Graves the suffering of that which was dearest to God himself No Power was ever employed so signally in the Affairs of any worldly concern as in the settlement of Sion The devouring waves of the Red Sea have been made her Bulwarks and the Sand the Grave of her Enemies hath been a path for her passage The Sun hath forgotten his natural Race to gaze upon her Victories Josh 10.13 Angels have been commissioned to be her Champions and fight her Battels 2 King 19.35 The whole Host of Heaven have been arrayed to fight for Sion on Earth The merciless nature of the fire hath been curb'd to preserve her children when she seemed to be reduced to a small number and the mouths of hunger-starv'd Lions have been bridled for the same purpose Dan. 6.22 The proudest Enemies to her have been vanquisht by Frogs and Lice and Tyrants that would lay their hands upon her have been made to their disgrace a living Banquet for Worms the vilest creatures Act. 12.23 And indeed after the malice of the Devil had usurpt God's right in the Creation and had drawn the chiefest of his sublunary creatures into an Apostacy with himself no less than an Infinite Power could be engaged against the greatest of created Powers if God would not forego his own honour in suffering himself to be deprived of the fruit of his works No less than Infinite Power could erect a Church in the world that God might have the fruit of his Creation he ordered this Power to appear struck down the Gates of Hell sent his Son to rescue his Honour and his Spirit to polish stones for his Temple Every one that is fitted for this Building had Almightiness at work with him before he was form'd Eph. 1.19 20. Every stone was hewed by the Spirit and the Image of God was imprinted by a Divine Efficacy Shall the fruit of so much Power and the mark of his own Image want an establishment God would seem to be careless of the Treasures of his own Nature wherewith he hath endow'd her Shall all this cost and pains be to no purpose Were the Gates of Hell taken down to be set up again more strongly and the chargeable Counsels of God to be puft away by the breath of Satan Doth it consist with his Wisdom to let
their office of teaching Since he promised his presence with his ministry to the end of the world he will have a Church to the end of the world to enjoy the benefit of that promise to be taught by them It consisted not with the wisdom or faithfulness of Christ to promise a perpetuity to that if he knew it were to be cut short before the end of the world And this himself also assures the Church of in all its variety of states Revel 2.1 These things saith he that holds the seven Stars in his right hand who walks in the midst of the seven Golden Candlestiâ—k Not only seven Stars at one time or seven Golden Candlesticks in being together but in all the successions of the Church to the consummation of the world And as he describes himself by this title when he speaks of the Church of Ephesus which was the first state of the Church not only assuring her of his holding her Star and walking by her Candlestick but all the rest that were to follow so he doth renew the same expression in part when he speaks of the Church of Sardis which is the rising of the Church from the Apostacy wherein it had been covered in the Thyatirian state Revel 3.1 These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God and the seven Stars The seven spirits of God signifies the gifts for the building and perfecting the Church still in the hand of Christ which should be in a more plentiful way poured out than for some time before as they were in the first reformation He is still therefore as a Prophet walking in the Church in all ages Not only in the first Foundation of it by the Apostles but in the reformation of it after it had been buried in Superstition and Idolatry And at the restauration of the Church in the world there shall be a pure river of water as clear as Christal proceeding from the Throne of God and the Lamb Revel 22.1 i. e. Pure doctrine without any mud and mixtures 2. 'T is his part as a Priest to establish it in the favour of God and look to the reparations of his Temple The Church is his Temple A Temple is the proper seat the proper care of a Priest He is a Priest still upon his Throne Zach. 6.13 and that for ever As he hath therefore some thing to offer so he hath always some for whom he offers who are they but his Church His prayer on earth John 17. was but a model or draught of his intercession in Heaven one part of it is for preservation of them through the truth of God John 17.17 The keeping up the Gospel in the world in order to a sanctification of some is the matter of his intercession which is one part of his Priestly Office And we cannot imagine his plea for his Church to be weaker on his throne it being also a throne of grace than it was for his enemies when he was upon a cross of suffering The compassions annext to his Priesthood remain still Heb. 4.15 If his office be perpetual the qualifications necessary to that office are as durable as the office it self as long as there is any object for their exercise To what purpose are his compassions if he should not pity her for whom they were designed and for whose behoof he was furnisht with them He cannot be faithful to God in his office if he be not merciful and tender to Sion in her distresses He certainly pities her as he would himself were it possible he should be in an infirm condition He must lose his Soul before he can lose his pity and the Church must cease to be his body before she can cease to be the object of his compassions He hath the same sentiments now that he had when he called to Paul from Heaven Act. 9.4 It was not then Why persecutest thou mine but why persecutest thou me Nor is it so now as the relation continues the same so doth the compassion so do his sentiments so do his cares To what purpose doth he as a Priest sit upon a Throne of grace if he did not shew grace to his Sion against the cruel designs of her enemies As God pities us when he remembers our frame Psal 103.13 14. So no question doth Christ when he remembers Sions oppressions as a distressed child is the object of the fathers pitty Add to this That since the death of Christ was one part of his Priestly performance and that the virtue of his sacrifice is as eternal as his Priest-hood what a disparagement would it â—e to him and the virtue of his death if ever the world while it stood should be void of the fruits of it There can be no moment wherein it is not valid to expiate the sins of some men and therefore not a moment wherein the world shall be without a Sion whose sins are expiated by it Should the standar'd of Sion be snatcht away and torn by the powers of darkness what would become of the glory what would become of the virtue of the Redeemers death Would God consecrate him so solemnly by an oath to be a Priest to so little purpose How could it be for ever if the execution of that office should be interrupted by the cessation of a Church as long as the world stands upon its pillars Would it not be an empty title if the end of it were not performed We cannot imagine the falling of Sion but we must question the merit of his death the truth of his exaltation the strength of his intercession the faithfulness of his office and the sincerity and candor of his compassions 3. 'T is his part as a King to establish Sion in being and govern her The Prophets always testified that of his Government there should be no end If the Church should cease for one moment in the world what subjects would he have to govern here Can he be a King without a Kingdom or a governour without subjects to bear a voluntary and sincere witness to his name If he be King in Sion he will also have a Sion to own him and a Sion to rule in not only a conquest of the Serpentine brood and infernal powers was promised but the total and perpetual victory Gen. 3.15 The sted of the woman was to bruise the Serpents head When the head is bruised there is no more wisdom to guide or force to Spirit the arm and the other members of the body It was a promise made not only of Christ to man but of a compleat victory to Christ that he should outwit the Serpents wisdom and utterly discomfit the Serpents power If the conquest were not perfect and perpetual it could not be called a spoiling of principalities and powers as it is Col. 2.15 but an interruption or temporary check whence they might rescue themselves He is therefore said to still the enemy and the avenger * Psal 8.2 I make no scruple
to understand the whole Psalm of Christ since the Apostle hath interpreted part of it of him Heb. 2. i. e. Make them utterly silent not knowing what firm Counsels to take or what successful orders to give And it being his end to destroy the works of the Devil the destroying the works must be the root of the being and preservation of the Church Did Christ then rise as a Conquerour out of the grave and sit down as King upon his throne to let the Devil and the world run away with the fruits of his victory Will he be so injurious to himself as to let his Throne be overturned by his enemies And to let the adversary of Sion repossess himself of that which he hath been so powerfully and successfully stript of Christ being King cannot be chased out of his Kingdom nor wants power to keep it from being utterly wasted To be the governour of Sion was as much in his first Commission as to be her Redeemer * Isa 49.10 He was to feâ—d guide his flock which is often in Scripture put for Ruling Christ as King will never leave beating up the quarters of Hell till he hath utterly routed their force and made the partizans of it his footstool and thereby established Sion beyond the fears of any tottering Therefore when he speaks of the Church of Smyrna which was to have a sore conflict with the Devil and feel the smart of him for 10 days understanding those 10 Ancient persecutions of the Church he assumes a new title for her encouragement Revel 2.8 These things saith the first and the last which was dead and is alive I was the first that listed you and embodied you for the war and I will be the last to bring up the rear I was first in raising you and I will be the last in preserving you Fear not the terror of those persecutions though they be to blood and death I was used so I was dead but I am now alive and I live for my Church to behold her battles to procure her victory and to Crown those that shall fall in the fight against her enemies Christ in encouraging them to suffer for him assures them of the security of a Church the Devil should not wast the whole but cast some of them into prison not all and that for their refining v. 10. The Devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tryed Christ lives still and acts as King for the security of Sion and preserving a Generation to serve him till the time comes that is promised Rev. 22.3 that there shall be no more curse but the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and then his Servants shall serve him with a full security from all trouble 3. The Foundation of Sion is sure 'T is founded upon Christ the corner stone Christ is called the Foundation 1 Cor. 3.11 The Apostles are the Foundation Eph. 2.20 Christ is the Foundation personally the Apostles doctrinally Christ meritoriously the Apostles ministerially the Apostles in regard of the publication of the Doctrine Christ in regard of the efficacy of the Doctrine whereby the Church is established 1. The Church is ingrafted in Christ united to him one with him the parts of it are reckoned as his seed * Psal 22.30 A s ed shall serve him it shall be counted to the Lord as a generation As if they had sprung out of his loins as men naturally did from Adam's that as Adam was the Foundation of their corruption so shall Christ be the Foundation of their Restauration They shall be looked upon as the Children of Christ and Christ as their Father and as Father and Children legally counted one The Church is his own body Eph. 5.29 30. In loving and establishing the Church he loves establisheth himself Whatsoever is implanted in nature as a perfection is eminently in God Now since he hath twisted with our natures a care of our own bodies this care must be much more in the nature of Christ because his Church is as nearly united to him as our members to the flesh and the bones and he hath an higher affection to his mystical than we can have to our natural bodies Christ will no less secure and perfect his own body than a man would improve the beauty and strength of his natural body to preserve it from wounds from being mangled or scarrified unless it be for the security of the whole If he did not do it it would be a hatred of his own flesh which never any man in his right wits was ever guilty of The Eternity of Christ is made the Foundation of the Churches Establishment Psal 102.27 28. Thou art the Son and thy years shall have no end The Children of thy servants shall continue and their seed shall be established before thee There could be no strength in the Argument without union and communion with him The Church is settled upon him as a Foundation and therefore is of as long a duration as the Foundation upon which it stands the conjunction is so strait that if one fails the other must especially since as Christ is the head the Church is his fulness Eph. 1.22 23. Sion cannot be compleat but in him and Christ cannot be compleat without her A Foundation is of little use without a Superstructure a building falls not without a discredit to the Foundation upon which it stood Sions compleatness depends upon the strength of Christ and Christs mystical compleatness depends upon the stability of Sion he will not leave himself an imperfect and empty head 2. 'T is founded upon the Covenant Upon that which endures for ever and shall survive the Funeral of the whole world Heaven and Earth shall pass away but the Church is founded upon that which shall not pass away 1 Pet. 1.23 the Word of God c. Not such a word as that whereby he brought forth light in the world and form'd the Stars at the Creation a word that engaged him not to the perpetuating of it * Tarretin Sermons p. 330. This Covenant is more firm than the Pillars of Heaven and the Foundations of the Earth The Stars of Heaven shall dissolve the Sun shall be turned into darkness the Elements shall change their order for confusion But the Church being founded upon an eternal and immutable Covenant shall subsist in the midst of the confusions and flames of the world Isa 54.10 The Mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my Covenant of Peace shall not be removed 'T is more establish'd than the world The Apostle clearly intimates it in his commendation of Abraham's Faith when he tells us He looked for a City which hath foundations by virtue of the promise of a numerous seed Heb. 11.9 10. As if the world had no foundation in comparison of the Church 'T is beyond the skill of Hell to raze up the foundation and therefore impossible for it to beat down
power and he knows his promise Let us therefore first eye the promise which God loves and the Devil fears and then call in his power to back his word 4. Regard not man Too much eye upon him implies too little upon God as if Gods Word were not enough to create and support a confidence without the buttresses of secular strength All dependance on man is either upon a broken reed that cannot support it self or a piercing reed that wounds instead of healing Isa 36.6 'T is a dishonour to God and provokes him to lengthen a misery and retard a deliverance The nearer Sion comes to a final settlement the more God will act by himself either without instruments or in a more signally spiriting Instruments that himself shall be more visible in them than themselves The Highest himself shall establish her If he be the Highest he is fit to be trusted by us if he will do it himself it is fit we should couple none with him The nearer the time comes wherein God will appear himself the more we should depend upon him himself the exercise of faith should be strongest when the promise the object of faith is nearest its Meridian Let us be more careful to keep our faith from sinking and let God alone to keep his Church from sinking Use 2. of Comfort The Churches Patent is singular the greatest worldly Society could never shew the fellow of it The Highest himself shall establish her There is not such a clause in the settlement of any nation Why should we be afraid then of the joynt conspiracy of men or Devils He that hath laid the Foundation can and will preserve the Superstructure not only because he formed it but because he hath promised it When Christ would reveal to John the future condition and conflicts of the Church to the end of the world he appears like a conquerour with all the ensigns of authority and power about him Revel 1.13 14 15 16. He hath eyes like a flame to pierce his enemies Feet like brass to crush them a two edged Sword out of his mouth to pierce them and this while he is in the midst of the seven Candlesticks The several alterations and periods of the Church to the end of the world to preserve and cleanse them 1. Here is comfort in the confusions and troubles of the world The shaking of Heaven and Earth were the harbingers of the appearance of Christ for Redemption and laying the corner stone of Sion Hag. 2.7 The same methods will be used when he shall come to lay the top-stone and compleat all the fruits of Redemption Luke 21.25 26.28 The confusion of the world is the restauration of Sion a storm or rushing mighty wind preceded the plentifull effusion of the Spirit upon the Apostles for the blowing the Gospel into every corner Act. 2.2 Never were the disciples in so hopeless a condition as before the Resurrection of Christ the ground of the Churches stability they then expected to see his face no more What commotions and thunders are described in the Revelation before the new Jerusalem comes down from Heaven God pitch his Tabernacle among men But he suffers not those commotions to be raised in the world by the ministring Angel till the servants of God be sealed in the forehead for their preservation in those confusions which shall be the ruin of their enemies Revel 7.2 3. The ark may shake with the motion of the oxen but it cannot fall Noahs Ark may be tost by the waves that drown the world but not sink and at last rest upon the mountains of Ararat * Gen. 8.4 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the curse of terrors the removal of fears Christ came not to the Disciples but in the fourth Watch of the night and that when the Ship was tossed by the waves and was tugging against a contrary wind Mat. 14.24 25. 'T is no hardship for Sion to be in a Boat beaten by the Sea when Christ walks upon the waters and bids her be of good cheer saying 'T is I be not afraid An Earthquake preceded the deliverance of Paul and Silas out of Prison Acts 16.26 And Lightnings and Voices and Thundrings Earthquake and great Hail shall accompany the opening of the Temple of God in Heaven and the manifestation of the Ark of the Testament in that Temple Rev. 11.19 2. Here is comfort in Persecutions Persecution is yet for a while the Lot of the Church a Sea and a Wilderness are yet the passage to Canaan The first Promise to Abraham of a numerous Seed was with the comparing it to the dust of the Earth Gen. 3.16 Dust that is trampled upon Dust that is removed by a puff of wind But the next was by comparing it to the Stars in Heaven Gen. 15.5 that are bright and fixed and have their orderly motions Before the Introduction of the Philadelphian State of the Church or Brotherly State which it is likely we are not far from the Promise of Glory to them that overcome intimates a Combate and the Promise of Christ's confessing the names of such before his Father implies a time before the Period of the Sardian State wherein the Church is to bear a signal Testimony to the Truths of Christ in the way of a Conflict Rev. 3.5 The glorious State of the Church at the Resurrection of the Witnesses shall be preceded by such a calamity as shall be the terrour of the godly and the triumph of an Enemy devoted to a sudden and unexpected destruction Rev. 11.9 10 11 12. Persecutions make way for Sion's stability Never was she firmer and purer than in the time of the Apostles and those immediately following them when the Witnesses for the Truth to the loss of their blood were as numerous as the Survivors she was then when the flood was cast out against her clothed with the Sun and crowned with a Crown of twelve Stars Rev. 12.1 2. Such troubles now may dim the outward splendour but increase her inward Spirit and refine her to that temper she was in in the Primitive Ages of Christianity Prosperity was never much the Churches Friend Poyson was flung in her dish when she gain'd an earthly felicity and the fondness of great ones Her stability consists not in this but in the graces and spirit of Christianity That which establisht her Head establisheth the Body her Captain ascended not from Mount Oliver till he had suffered on Mount Calvary The Church was never described so glorious in her outward Attire as her greatest Enemy that is clothed in Scarlet and deckt with Gold Rev. 17.4 Sion's glory is internal Psal 45.13 The King's Daughter is all glorious within All those Persecutions that are yet to come upon her shall not demolish her Walls The rigours of her Enemies and the Treasons of her pretended Friends have not yet expelled her out of the Earth she hath not yet sunk though her Masts have been sometimes cut close to the
only Object of God's hatred while this remains his Holiness cannot but hate us when this is removed his righteousness cannot but love us remission and favour are inseparable and can never be dis-joyned 'T is by this he makes us as a Diadem upon his Head a Bracelet on his Arm it is by this he writes us upon the Palms of his Hands makes us his peculiar Treasure even as the Apple of his Eye which Nature hath so carefully fenced 2. Access to God A Prince may discard a Favourite for some guilt and though he may restore him to his liberty in the Common-wealth yet he may not admit him to the favour of his wonted privacies But a pardoned man hath an access to God to a standing and perpetually settled Grace Rom. 5.1 2. Being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access Guilt frights us and makes us loath the very sight of God Pardon encourageth us to come near to him Guilt respects him as a Judge Pardon as a Friend Who can confidently or hopefully call upon an angry and condemning God But who cannot but hopefully call upon a forgiving God Sin is the partition wall between God and us and Pardon is the demolishing of it Forgiveness is never bestowed but the Scepter is held out to invite us to come into God's presence And what can be more desirable than to have not only the favour of but a free access at any time to the Lord of Heaven and Earth and at length an everlasting being with him 3. Peace of Conscience There must needs be fair Weather when Heaven smiles upon us All other things breed disquietness Sin was a Thorn in David's Crown his Throne and Scepter were but miserable comforters while his guilt overwhelmed him The glory of the World is no soveraign Plaister for a wounded Spirit Other enjoyments may please the sense but this only can gratifie the Soul God's Thunder made Moses tremble Heb. 12.21 But the probability of a gracious Pardon would make a damned Soul smile in the midst of tormenting flames How often hath the sense of it raised the hearts of Martyrs and made the Sufferers sing while the Spectators wept Though this I must confess is not always an inseparable concomitant There is much difference between a Pardon and the comfort of it that may pass the Seal of the King without the knowledge of the Malefactor Pardon indeed always gives the jus ad rem a right to peace of Conscience but not always jus in re the possession of it There may be an actual separation between Pardon and actual Peace but not between Pardon and the ground of Peace 4. It sweetens all mercies Other mercies are a ring but pardon is the Diamond in it A justified person may say I have temporal mercies and a pardon too I live in repute in the world and Gods favour too riches increase and my peace with God doth not diminish I have health with a pardon friends with a pardon as Job ch 29.3 6 7. among all other blessings this he counts the chiefest that Gods Candle shin'd upon his head A Prisoner for some capital crime may have all outward accommodations for lodging dyet attendance without a real happiness when he expects to be called to his tryal before a severe judge from whom there is no appeal and that will certainly both pass and cause to be executed a sentence of death upon him So though a man wallows in all outward contents he cannot write himself blessed while the wrath of God hangs over his head and he knows not how soon he may be summon'd before Gods tribunal and hear that terrible voice Go thou cursed What comfort can a man take in Houses Land Health when he considers he owes more than all his estate is worth So what comfort can a man have in any thing in this world when he may hourly expect an arrest from God and a demand of all his debts and he hath not so much as one farthing of his own or any interest in a sufficient surety We may have honour and a curse wealth and a curse Children and a curse health and long life and a curse learning and a curse but we can never have pardon and a curse Our outward things may be gifts but not blessings without a pardon 5. It sweetens all afflictions A frown with a pardon is better than a thousand smiles without it Sin is the sting of crosses and Remission is a taking the sting out of them A sight of Heaven will mitigate a cross on earth The stones about Stephens ears did scarce afflict him when he saw his Saviour open Heaven to entertain him To see death staring us in the face and an angry and offended God above ready to charge all our guilt is a doleful spectacle Look upon my affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins saith the Psalmist Psal 25.18 Sin doth embitter and adds weight to an affliction but the removal of sin doth both lighten it and sweeten it USE 1. An unpardoned man is a miserable man Such a state lays you open to all the miseries on earth and all the torments in Hell The poorest begger with a pardon is higher than the greatest prince without it How can we enjoy a quiet hour if our debt be not remitted since we owe more than we are able to pay You may dye with a forfeited reputation and yet be happy but what happiness if you die with unpardoned guilt 1. There must either be pardon or punishment The law doth oblige either to obedience or suffering the Commands of it must be observed or the penalty indured God will not relax the punishment without a valuable consideration If it be not executed the creature may accuse God of want of wisdom in enacting it or defect of power in maintaining it Therefore there must be an exact observance of the law which no creature after the first deviation is able to do or an undergoing the penalty of it which no Sinner is able to bear There must therefore be a remission of this punishment for the good of the creature and the Satisfaction of the law by a surety for the honour of Gods justice If we have not therefore an interest in the surety the purchaser of remission we must lye under the severity of the law in our persons 2. You can call nothing an act of Gods Love towards you while you remain unpardoned What is there you do enjoy which may not consist with his hatred as well as his Love Have we knowledge So have Devils Have we riches So had Nabal and Cain Have we honour So had Pharaoh and Herod Have we Sermons So had Judas the best that ever were preacht Nothing nothing but a pardon is properly a blessing How can that man take pleasure in any thing he hath when all the threatnings in the book of God are as so many arrows directed
her v. 5. v. 1. His Foundation The Foundation of God i. e. That which God hath founded that Jerusalem which is of God's building is seated in the holy Mountain the City was built before Joshuah conquered Canaan But God is said to be the Founder of it in regard of that peculiar glory to which it was designed to be the rest of his Ark the place of his Worship the Throne of the Types of the Messiah the Seat whence the Evangelick Law was to be publisht to all Nations and the Messiah revealed as the Redeemer and Ruler of the World In the holy Mountains Jerusalem was seated upon high Mountains The Palace of the Kings was built upon Sion and the Temple the House of the Most High was built upon Moriah and encompast with Mountains round about Psal 125.2 an emblem of the strength and stability of the Church * Daillé Melange part 2. page 354. Holy Mountains not that there was any inherent holiness in them more than in the other Mountains of the Earth or that they were naturally more beautiful and stately than other Mountains but because they were separated for the Worship and Service of God and had been ennobled by the performance of a Worship there before the building of the Temple It was upon Moriah that Isaac was designed for a Sacrifice and the most signal act of obedience performed to God by the Father of the Faithful It was there also that David appeased the wrath of God by Sacrifice after it had issued out upon the People in a Plague for the numbring of them And the very name Moriah hath something sacred in it it signifying either God teaching or God manifested which name might be given it by God with respect to the manifestation of Christ who was to come during the standing of the second Temple v. 2. The Lord loves the Gates of Sion By Gates in Scripture is meant the strength or wisdom or justice of a place Gates were the Magazines of Arms and the places of Judicature He had manifested his love to her in chusing that City before all the Cities of Israel and Judah wherein to place his Name and have his Worship celebrated and that place in Jerusalem particularly where his Law should be given by the Spirit to the Apostles upon the day of Pentecost and to apply it to the Gospel-Church it signifies the special respect God bears to her above all the Rites Observancies and Ceremonies of the Judaick Institution It was in this Gospel-Church the true Sion that he desired to dwell and will remain for ever Psal 68.17 Which is a Prophetick Psalm of the Gospel-times and the Ascension of Christ 1. The Stability of the Church is here asserted * Geierus in loc The Church is not built upon the Sand which may fall with a Storm nor upon the Waters that may float with the waves nor spread out as a Tent in the Desert that may be taken up and carried away to another place but upon a Mountain not to be removed * Psal 125.1 Mount Sion cannot be removed 't is built upon a Rock the Rock of Ages upon a Mountain which is not shatter'd by waves or shaken by storms upon Christ who hath the strength of many Mountains in himself 2. The necessity of holiness in a Church What though the Church be a Mountain for strength and eminency have the honour and priviledg of Sacraments and be the Ark of the Oracles of God 't is not established unless it be a holy Mountain Holiness is the only becoming thing in the House of God as it is consecrated to the glory of God so it must be exercis'd in things pertaining to the glory of God As the Foundation is holy so ought the Superstructure to be There was no filth in the framing it there must be no filth in the continuance of it v. 3. He speaks with some kind of astonishment of the glorious things spoken of her or promised to her and concludes it with a note of attention or a mark of eminency Selah * v. 3. Glorious things are spoken of thee O City of God No place enjoy'd an equal happiness with Jerusalem while it remained faithful to its Founder It maintain'd its standing in the midst of its enemies no weapon formed against it was able to prosper Heaven planted it and the dews of Heaven watered it it had a continual succession of Prophets the best Kings that ever were in the world swayed the Scepter in it it was blessed with more miraculous deliverances than any part of the Universe the Nations that loved it not yet feared its power and feared the displeasure of its Guardian It was here the Son of God delivered the Messages of Heaven by the order of his father It was here the spirit first filled the heads and hearts of the Apostles in order to the conversion of a world from Idolatry to the Scepter of God but more glorious things are spoken of the Spiritual Sion than of the material Jerusalem that had Christ in the flesh and the Gospel-Church hath Christ in the spirit he went from thence to heaven but he comes from heaven to visit them with his comforts he hath left the walls of Jerusalem in its ruins but he hath not he will not leave his Spiritual Sion fatherless and comfortless Joh. 14.18 his spirit abides for ever with his Church Glorious things are spoken of it when he pronounced it impregnable and that the gates of Hell the power and policy of all the Apostate Angels and their instruments should not prevail against her when he assured her he would be present with her not to the end of an age or two but till the period of time the consummation of the world priviledges that material Jerusalem could never boast of whatsoever countries have been applauded for secular excellencies or been famous for wisdom none can claym such elogies as Gospel Sion where God hath declared his will publisht himself a God of salvation placed the laws of heaven and poured out that wisdom which comes from above These are glorious things above humane expectations above humane desires The Glorious things mentioned of the Gospel-Church are in v. 4. where he speaks of the enlargement of her bounds the increase of her inhabitants and the numerous muster-rolls of those that shall list themselves in her service * I will make mention of Rahaâ— and Babylon to them that know me Behold Philistia and Tyre with Aethiopâ—â— this man was born there The time shall come when those nations that are most alienated from the profession of truth shall come under her wing and pay allegiance to her empire Strangers shall be brought into her bosom not only Philistia and Tyre nations upon her confines but Aegypt and Aethiopia nations more remote nations born and bred at a distance shall be registred as born from her womb and nurst in her lap distance of place shall not hinder the relation
of her children And when God shall count the people of forraign nations he shall set a mark upon every true believer and reckon him as one born in Sion a Denizen of Jerusalem though not a Jew in the flesh De Dieu in loc I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me or rather among them that know me or for them that know me * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will remember them as persons inlightned by me and acquainted with me The Psalmist reckons up here nations that were greatest enemies to the Church Rahab or Aegypt * For so Aegypt is named Isa 51.9 her antient enemy Philistia her perpetual invader Rahab signifies pride or fierceness the fiercest people shall be subdued to Sion by the power of the Gospel Aegypt the wisest and learnedst nation the most Idolatrous and Superstitious men that rest in their own parts and strength shall cast away their Idols Babylon the strongest and most powerful Empire the subjects of which the Scripture often describes as luxurious cruel proud Tyre the greatest mart whose Citizens were the greatest merchants The Aethiopians the posterity of Cursed Cham whose souls are blacker than their bodies men buried in sin benighted with ignorance poysoned with pride the most fierce and envenom'd enemies shall be brought in by an infinite grace and make up one body with her and shall be counted as related to her by a new birth and be made members of her by regeneration this is properly to be born in Sion * This man was born there as without regeneration we have not God for our father so neither have we Sion or the Church for our mother this is the great priviledg we should inquire after without which we are not in Gods register this 2d birth God only approves of he enrolls no man in the number of the Citizens of Sion nor indows them with the special priviledges of it upon the account of their first wherein they lye buried in the corruption of Adam and are Citizens of Hell not of Jerusalem Again this 2d birth is never without the knowledge of God * Among those that know me Ignorance is a bar to this enrolment he is no man that is not a rational creature and he no regenerate man that hath not some knowledg in the great mysteries of God in Christ In v. 5. 1. The honour of Sion is described by her fruitfulness 1. In regard of the eminency of her births she is not wholly barren she hath her births of men and worthy men the carnal world hath not exceeded the Church in men of raised intellectuals Sion hath not been a City of fools Dionysius the Areopagite hath been her production as well as Damaris a woman Kings also have been nurst at her breasts that they might be nursing fathers to her by their power but the honour of Sion consists in the inward change it makes on men dispossessing them of the nature of wolves for that of lambs rendring them the Loyal subjects of God instead of his active enemies 'T is the glory of Sion that this or that man born in her was changed to such principles and such affections that all the education and politeness of the most accomplisht Cities in the world could not furnish them with 2. In regard of the multitude of them this and that man of all sorts and conditions and multitudes of them so that more are the children of the desolate than of the marryed wife The tents were prophesied to be inlarged the curtains of the habitations of Sion to be stretched out and her cords to be lengthened to receive and entertain that multitude of children that should be brought forth by her after the Sacrifice of the Son of God Isa 54.1 2. For that exhortation follows upon the description of the death and exaltation of Christ Isa 53. 2. The happiness of Sion The highest himself shall establish her 1. Security in her glory Establish her 2. The Author of that security and perpetuity The Highest and that exclusive of any other The Highest himself * Coccei in loc all that are not the most high are excluded from having a share in the establishment of the Church 'T is a work peculiar to him 'T is not the excellent learning strength of the wise or mighty men that are born in her that doth preserve her but God alone he spirits and acts them means God doth use in bringing in inward grace means he doth use in setling the outward form But such means that have in reason no strength to effect so great a business means different from those which are used in the establishment of other Kingdoms whereby the hand that acts them is more visible and plain than the means that are used * Folang 'T is not the wit of man which is folly nor the strength of man which is weakness nor the holiness of man which is nothing can claim the honour of this work God himself picks stones out of the quarry smooths them for the building fixeth them in their places he himself is the only architect his wisdom contrives it his grace erects it his power preserves it and accomplisheth his own work 't is the highest none higher to over-power him none so high as to check and mate him Shall establish her This cannot be meant of the literal or local Sion though that indeed was preserved while the legal service was to indure excepting that interruption by the Babylonish captivity but now Mahomets horse tramples upon it and it retains none of the ancient inhabitants but of the true mystical Sion the Gospel state of the Church which shall continue in being as Christ the head of it hath setled it till time shall be no more Other Kingdoms may crumble away the foundations of them be dissolved But that God which laid the foundation of Sion and built her walls will preserve her palaces that the gates of Hell the subtilty of Hereticks the fury of Tyrants the Apostacy of some of her pretended Children all the locusts and spawn of the bottomless-pit shall not be able to root her up Shall establish her The word signifies the affording all things necessary for defence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 increase of victory preparations of it the knitting of it Doct. The Gospel-Church is a perpetual Society establisht by the highest Power in Heaven or Earth It shall continue as long as the World and out-live the Dissolution of Nature she shall bring forth her Man-child maugre all the vigilancy of the Dragon which shall be caught up to God and his Throne and though she be forced to flie into the wilderness yet a place is prepared for her habitation and food for her support during that state no less than 1260 days or years and this by no weaker no meaner a hand than that of God himself * Rev. 12.3 4 5 6. where she hath a place prepared of God that
Ages to witness the baffles he hath received what a fool is he to think that her Defender should be conquered by a revolted Angel that lies under an everlasting curse 3. The violences against her which have been fatal to other Societies have been useful to her This bush hath burned without consuming and preserved its verdure in the midst of fire not from the nature of the bush but the presence of him that dwelt in it It hath not only subsisted in the bowels of her Enemies but hath been established by means of the violence of men and grown greater in the midst of torments and death she hath not only out-grown her afflictions but grown greater and better by them The last Monarchy compos'd of Clay and Iron Clay for its earthly and miry designs and Iron for its force and violence is the immediate Usher of the Kingdom of God that shall never be destroyed but stand for ever Dan. 2.41 44. 1. She hath been often encreased Persecution hath lopt off some branches of the Vine but have been found more sprouting up instead of them that were cut off Her blood hath been seed and the pangs of her Martyrs have been fruitful in bringing forth new witnesses We have scarce read of more sudden conversions to Christianity though indeed more numerous by the Preaching of the Word than by the shedding the blood of Christians Eminent Professors have sprung out of the Martyrs Ashes The storms have been so far from destroying her that it hath been the occasion of spreading her Tents in a larger ground Saul's winnowing the Church blew away some of the Corn to take rooting in other places Acts 8.3 4. Like seeds of Plants blown away by the wind which have risen brought forth their kind in another soil and it is no more than hath been predicted Dan. 12.1 4. Such a time of trouble that never was since there was a Nation should be the time when many should run to and fro and knowledg should be increased While other Societies increase by persecuting their Enemies this increaseth by being persecuted her self It grows as a Vine Hos 14.7 Though it be cut the cutting hath contributed to its thriving This Rose-bush hath not only stood in the wind which hath rooted up other Oaks but the fragrancy of it hath been carried by that wind to places at a greater distance When Antiochus commanded all the Books of the Scripture in the hands of any to be burned they were not only preserved but presently after appeared out of their hidden places as they were translated into the Greek Tongue the Language then most known in the world and made publick to other Nations Truth hath been often rendred by such proceedings more clear and glorious The persecution of Sion's Head the Captain of our Salvation to death was the occasion of the discovery of the Gospel to the whole world he was the great seed that being cast into the ground became so fruitful as to spread his branches in all corners of the Earth Joh. 12.24 And that persecution which I suppose remains yet to be acted and which will be the smartest shall be succeeded by the clearest eruption of Gospel-light wherein the Gospel shall recover its ancient and primitive glory The slaying of the witnesses shall end in an Evangelical success Rev. 11.9 10 c. The world shall give glory to the God of Heaven v. 13. The Kingdoms of the world shall become the Kingdoms of Christ v. 15. Christ shall more illustriously reign v. 17. The Temple of God shall be opened in Heaven v. 19. The spiritual Israel as well as the national the Antitype as well as the Type have multiplied under oppression * Decay of Christian Piety p. 23. and like an arched Building stood firmer by all the weights that have been designed to crush her 2. She has often been Refin'd by the most violent persecutions of her Enemies She hath not only surviv'd the flames that have been kindled against her but as refin'd Gold come out more beautiful from the furnace left her dross behind her and hath been wrought into a more beautiful frame by the hand of her great Artificer like the sand upon the sea shore she hath not only broke the force of the waves but been assisted by them to discharge her filth and been washed more clean by those waves that rusht in to drown her She hath been more conformed to the image of her head and made fitter to glorify God here and to enter into the glory of God hereafter The Church is to cast forth her roots like Lebanon Hos 14.5 The Cedar by its shakings grows up more in beauty as well as strength and the torch by its knocks burns the clearer Though the number of her children might some times decrease through fear yet her true Off-spring that have remained have increased in their zeal courage and love to God Apostates themselves have proved refiners of them that they have deserted * Dan. 11.35 And some of them of understanding shall fall to try them and to purge and make them white The Corn is the purer by the separation of the chaff Thus hath she grown purer by flames and sounder by batteries 4. When she has seemed to be forlorn and dead God has restored her When Israel was at the lowest a decree issued out in Aegypt to destroy her males and root out her seed deliverance began to dawn and when a knife was at her throat at the red sea and scarce a valiant believer found among a multitude of despairers God turned the back of the knife to his Israel and the edge to the throat of the enemies When the whole Church as well as the whole world seemed to be at its last gasp God preserved a Noah as a spark to kindle a new world and a new Church by When Jerusalem was sackt the City destroyed the people dispersed into several parts of the Babylonish Empire without any humane probability of ever being gathered again into one body yet she was preserved restored recollected brought out of the sepulchre resetled in her ancient soyl and recovered her beauty which can be said of no other society in the world but this whose deliverance and restauration hung not upon the will and policy of man but upon the Word of God who had limited their captivity to seventy years and promised a restauration The blessing of God to Abraham and Sarah is set out as a ground of faith and comfort for the Churches restauration and increase Isa 51.1 2 3. He will comfort Sion and comfort all her wast places and make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of God that joy and gladness may be found therein as well as he did enliven the dead body of Abraham and the barren womb of Sarah When the Church hath been so low that men have despaired of seeing any more of her than her ashes God hath produced a new remnant he hath
God's glory and the setling Sion's security Had not Pharaoh been so furious God had not manifested the glory of his Power nor his Israel enjoyed so miraculous a safety 'T is true the Church is weak but the Arm that holds her is the strongest in Heaven and Earth Her outward Interest is small but her Interest is twisted with that of her Lord. An Enemy shall find more mischief from mud-walls under the protection of a valiant Arm than from stone-walls under the guard of an Infant How foolish is it for a man to think to break a Rock with his fist for hurting his shins whereby he bruiseth his hands as well as his leggs How foolish is it for men to beat the bushes about a Lions Den whereby they will be sure to rouse him God dwells in Sion from thence he roars to the shaking of Heaven and Earth the Powers of the world when he will manifest himself to be the hope of his People and the strength of the Children of Israel Joel 3.16 4. What a ground is here for prayer This sets an edg upon prayer No petition can more comfortably no petition can more confidently be put up than for Sions establishment Prayers for particular Persons or for our selves may want success but supplications for Sion never miscarry they have the same Foundation for an answer that Sion hath for her stability viz. The promise of God they are agreeable to that affection which shall never be removed from her How believingly may we cry out Be it unto Sion according to thy word There is no fear of a repulse whatsoever God denies he will not deny that for which he hath so often ingaged himself It may be for the good of the Church that so great a person as Paul should lye in Chains and his Fetters conduce to the furtherance of the Gospel Phil. 1.12 But it can never be for the Interest of Sion or for the Interest of Sion's God that she should be crusht between the teeth of the Lions and that which he hath redeemed by the blood of his Son be a prey to the Jaws of the Devil God hath entitled Sion by the name of a City not forsaken Isa 62.12 And as we have his promise for her settlement so we have his command for our earnestness vers 7. And give him no rest till he doth establish Jerusalem a praise in the whole Earth And he prescribes us to back that by our prayers which he had promis'd v. 1. For Jerusalem's sake I will not rest till the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness Our desires in this case are suited to his resolves and run in the same line with his immutable Decree he will have no rest in himself nor he would have no rest from us till this be accomplisht We cannot call upon God with a greater confidence for any thing than for that Church that shall out-live the Funeral of the world and survive the frame of Nature that shall lie in Ashes 5. What a strong ground is here for trust Look not so much upon the condition of Sion's Walls as upon her Foundation not upon her present posture as upon her promise-Charter not upon her as a weak Vine but under the hand of the Highest as the Vine-dresser look not upon the feebleness of the Flock but upon the care of the Shepherd nor upon the fierceness of the Lions but upon the strength and affection of her Guardian 1. Let not our Faith rest upon appearances Flesh will then make a wrong Judgment of God Providences are various and should our Faith be guided only by them it would have a liveliness one moment and faint the next As the Promise is the stability of the Church so it is only the stability of our Faith The Authority of the Word is the Life of our Faith and not the sense of any particular Providence in the world A Faith built upon protecting Providences is a sensitive Faith a Faith built upon the Promise is a spiritual Faith 2. Yet the Experiences God hath given us hitherto of the continuance of the Church may be called in to bear witness to the Truth of the Promise He hath before conducted his Israel into Canaan when Pharaoh meditated their utter ruine or their continuance under his Chains he fed them with Manna and watered them with a Rock in a desert that afforded no earthly assistance The preserving the Vine could never be ascribed to the Vine it self in which there is no strength nor to the Foxes in whom there is no pitty but to the keeper of the vineyard We have reason therefore to trust God but not at all to trust man Is it from man or from God that the Church hath subsisted so long in the world a little flock in the midst of many Wolves among enemies more numerous than her friends What a small number hath the Church had in any age to mate the multitude of her enemies what wisdom to countermine their policy and what power to repel their force The Church is not weaker now than it hath been the Sons of Sion were always Sheep Sheep have not the strength of Lyons to resist nor the swiftness of Eagles to fly away from danger the danger cannot be greater than it hath been there were always Dragons that spat out their venom and Lyons that opened their mouths against her the Devil never wanted diligence nor the world enmity to overturn her could she for one moment have subsisted in the midst of so many furies had not God been her shield and glory Call to mind how often God hath healed her diseases and bound up her wounds Let us rest in that promise which hath so often been made good by his power which he hath in many ages displayed upon as great occasions of danger as Sion can be in Let us live believingly under his wings and fear not our own weakness or our enemies strength 3. We have greater ground of confidence than the Church of Israel had In the day of Israels trouble by Salmanasser the Prophet comforts the Church in her anguish by the consideration of the Messiah who was to assume the Government though many years after Isa 8.22 Isa 9.1 6. Shall a promise that was to stay so many ages for performance be a ground of trust and confidence to a tottering Church then And shall not the staggering Church have more ground to rest since the Messiah is made the head of the Corner and hath the Keys of Hell and death delivered to him What a base thing is distrust then against so many assurances of stability and the experience of a multitude of ages Grasp the promise plead it earnestly shew God his written word which he hath sent from Heaven he never yet disowned it nor ever will Methinks the voice God is able to deliver Sion sounds too much of distrust If we know no more than Gods power we know not so much as the Devil doth he knows his
because they are enemies to his holiness but he hath a common affection to their persons as they are the effects of his goodness and creative Power Our exclamations against common sins ought not to exceed lamentations for them There ought to be more grief in our hearts than fire in our tongues They break the whole Law that lament not the crime out of love to the Law-maker and grieve not for the Sinner out of love to their neighbour 3. Those who are imitators of common sins instead of being mourners for them As though others did not pilfer God's right fast enough and were too slow in pulling him from his Throne as if they grieved that others had got the start of them in wickedness 'T is a pious sadness and a blessed grief to be affected with common sins without being fetter'd by them to mourn for them without cleaving to them to be transported with sorrow for them without being drawn by a love to them 4. Those that fret against God instead of fretting against their own foolishness Prov. 19.3 The sins of good men are many times provocations to God to draw up the sluce from the hearts of wicked men and give liberty to their lusts for the chastening of others and therefore in grieving for the sins of others they implicitly grieve for their own 5. Those who are more transported against others sins as they are or may be occasions of hurt to them than as they are injuries to God How warm are we often in our own Cause and how cold in God's We partly satisfie our own discontent by such a carriage but not our duty 6. Those who are so far from mourning for common Sins that they never truly mournd for their own Who have yet the Treasures of wickedness after the rod of God hath been upon them Mich. 6.9 10. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked reflecting upon the Rod they had felt Common sins are but a Glass wherein we may see our common Nature The best men have the worst Sins in their Nature though by Grace they have them not in their Practice He that grieves not for other Mens Sins more or less never grieved truly for his own He that is not concerned for the dishonours of God by others is little concerned for the dishonour of God by himself Let us use our Eyes for those ends for which God hath given them they are instruments of sight and instruments of sorrow It is necessary for us to mourn for our own sins We can never mourn for others Sins unless we mourn for our own If we sorrow not for our own the sorrow we may pretend to have for others proceeds not from a right cause We have that one Sin of Adam in our Nature which subjected the whole world to an Anathema Let us not stay in generals every Man will lay the fault upon Sin in the bulk without reflecting on the sin in his own Bowels We can complain particularly of those sins that are common and why should we rest in generals when we come to our own Dolus versatur in universalibus 't is a deceitful sorrow that is for Sin in a heap Is there not perfidiousness to God coldness in his ways too much slighting the Gospel want of bowels and compassion incorrigibleness under judgments houses fir'd and pride not consumed falseness in resolutions like Oxen moving with the touch of the Goad and presently standing still deceitful bows letting the string slip after they have stood fully bent Hos 10.4 There may be Sins among us that may cause a storm that we little think of The Mariners little suspected Jonah to be the cause of the tempest till he discovered it himself He that never mourned for his own Sins cannot perform this duty so necessary for his preservation and therefore cannot expect the mark of God in a time of publick judgment He that would rightly mourn for the Corruptions of others must enquire whether he hath not the same in his own Bowels and fling the hardest stone at them Judah calls for Tamar to the flames for that crime which himself had been a partner and actor in so apt are we to be severe against others Sins and indulgent to our own The best have need to mourn for their own sins in relation to the publick The only good man in the Ship was Jonah and for his sin was the Storm sent and the rest like to be wrackt 2 Use Of Comfort to such as mourn for Common Sins All the carnal world hath not such a writ of protection to shew in the whole strength of Nature as the meanest mourner in Sion hath in his sighs and tears Christs mark is above all the Shields of the earth and those that are stampt with it have his wisdom to guard them against folly his power against weakness the everlasting Father against man whose breat his in his Nostrils We see that God doth not strike at random but reserves a sweetness for his Servants in the midst of his fury against his Enemies he hath his Messengers to mark as well as his Executioners to strike the issuing the resolute orders of his Fury hinders not those of his Grace and Compassion to his own He will have a care of his Balsom-trees that distil this precious Liquor no less than he commanded the Israelites in their sharpest wars to have a care of the fruitful trees of a Land Deut 20.19 God in the 6. v. following the Text gives the like charge to the executioners of his judgments as David did to the Army concerning Absolom 2 Sam. 18.5 Deal gently with the young man Ezek. 9.6 Come not near any Man upon whom is the mark He makes provision first for the security of those before he unsheaths his Sword against his Enemies The Deluge flows not from heaven till Noah be cased in the Ark nor is Sodom on Fire till Lot be lodged in the Mountain God will always have a Church in the world and suffer a generation of his own to inhabit the Earth Gods attributes shall not interfere one with another his truth remains firm notwithstanding the provocations of Men. When those people were ripe for judgments God had his mourners among the Idolaters which he marks for preservation when he had threatened great judgments Joel 2.30 31. the turning the Sun into Darkness and the Moon into Blood he promises a remnant in Jerusalem and Sion v. 32. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered for in mount Sion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call Neither the fury of Men shall nor the judgments of God will extinguish the Church not the malice of Men because of Gods power nor God himself because of his truth The Lord hath said God will either preserve under judgments or take away in them to a
place of happiness 'T is thought by some that the reason Enoch was snatcht to Heaven in the midst of his life according to the rate of living in that age was because he was afflicted with the sins of those among whom he lived And indeed he could scarce walk with God without grieving that others disdained to walk with him and acted contrary to him God would take him from that affliction as well as from the danger of being corrupted by the age He will either have his Chambers wherein to hide them here till the indignation be over-past Isa 26.20 21. or his Mansions to lodge them in for ever with himself What hurt is it to any to be refused a hiding place here that he may be conducted to the possession of a glorious residence for ever That judgment that takes off the Fetters of a wicked Man for execution knocks off the Fetters of the godly for a Gaol delivery like Fire it consumes the Dross and refines the Gold The day of Gods wrath is a day of gloominess to the wicked Joel 2.2 but as the morning spread upon the Mountains to the godly mourners the dawning of comfort to them God out of the same Pillar of the cloud diffused light upon the Israelites and shot thunders and lightenings upon the Aegyptians to which perhaps the Prophet might here allude 3 Use Mourn for the sins of the time and place where you live 'T is the least dislike we can shew to them A flood of grief becomes us in a flood of sin How well would it be if we were as loud in crying for mercy as our sins at the present are in crying for vengeance While judgments march to seize our persons our grief should run to damp the judgments Moist Walls choak the Bullet 'T is far better to mourn for the cause of judgments than to mourn under them The jolly blades were the first prey to the Enemy Amos 6.1 2 3 to v. 7. They that chaunt to the sound of the Viol and drink wine in Bowls shall go captive with the first that go captive We of this City have most reason to mourn the Metropolis of a Nation is the Metropolis usually of sin and the fairest mark for the Arrows of Gods indignation The chief City of a Nation is usually threatned in Scripture Rabbah of the Ammonites Damascus of Syria Tyrus of Phoenicia Babylon of the Chaldean Empire Jerusalem of Judea and suitably why not London of England And let no Man think that mourning is a degenerate and effeminate disposition Doth Solomon ever imprint the same Character on mourning as he doth on laughter Eccles 2.2 Doth he ever vilifie that with a term of madness and call the mourners Bedlams How can any who hath not put off the Title and Nature of Man behold without amazement and grief Men so bold as to pull down the judgments of God upon them and force his indignation This temper is a pious embalming Christs crucified honour shall any Man that professeth Christ have so little love to him as not to bestow a groan upon him when he sees him freshly dishonoured and abused If we had not committed any sin in our whole life there is cause of mourning for the abominations of the world Christ had an unspotted innocence and an unexpressible grief for Jerusalems sins and misery Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thâ—e and thou wouldest not Never doth sorrow more appear in love than when it is more for what dishonours God than what pincheth us Men may pretend a grief for the sins of the times when it is only for themselves that they have not those pleasing opportunities of greatning themselves and that estimation in the world that stage for Pride and Covetousness to act upon which they desire Our mourning is then right when we grieve not so much that we as that God is a sufferer It should be proportionable where there are great breaches of Gods Law our grief should be as full as if possible to fill up the ditch that is digg'd the Septuagint in the Text implies it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paul and Barnabas tore their garments a sign of a great grief and indignation when the Heathens would have sacrificed to them as Gods Acts 14.13 they used not the same expressions in smaller sins but this was against the Nature of God and a multitude engaged in it The greater the sin the greater the sorrow I need not mention the sins among us the impudent Atheism contempt of the Gospel putrifying Lust barefac'd Pride rending Divisions many sins visible enough to be grieved for and too many to be spoken of The sorrow should be universal Not for one sin which may be against any Mans particular interest but for all even those that our carnal advantage is not concerned in God is dishonoured by one as well as by another and Christ is crucified by one as well as by another It must be attended with a more strict obedience 'T is the highest generosity to wear Christs Livery when others put it off and lay it aside as useless No doubt but Joseph of Arimathea mourned as well as the rest for the sufferings of our Saviour but he testified also an Heroick affection to him in going boldly to Pilate to beg the body of Jesus for an honourable burial when none of the other disciples sought after it but trusted more to the swiftness of their heels for their own security than concern'd themselves for the honour of their Master While others therefore are defiling the world with their abominations let us be washing it with our Tears and filling heaven with our cries that when God marcheth in his fury we may be secure by his acceptance of our humiliations Motives 1. This is a means to have great tokens of the love of God No question but Christ in his agony bewailed the sins of the world and then was an Angel sent to comfort him and assure him of an happy issue It was just after the testimony of his displeasure against Peter for disswading him from that death whereby he was to honour God and wash off the stain of sin and repair the violations of the Law whereby he manifested a concern for his fathers honour that he was transfigured and had therein the earnest of an heavenly glory and that transporting voice This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear you him Mat. 16.23 Mat. 17.1 2 c. 2. It is a means to prevent judgments Tears cleansed by the Blood of Christ are a good means to quench that justice which is a consuming Fire Sin puts a stop to the working of Gods Bowels and opens the Magazines of wrath grief for it disarms Gods hand of his Thunders and may divert his darts from our hearts No other defence is often left against the strength of judgments after sin hath made its entrance A holy seed in Jerusalem is the guard of it in the time
doth not commit sin nor cannot sin He commits it not Potiùs patitur quà m facit he gives not a full consent to it he hates it while he cannot escape it He is not such a committer of it as to be the servant of sin John 8.34 He that commits sin is the servant of sin because he serves with his mind the Law of God He bestows not all his thoughts and labour upon sin in making provision for the flesh Rom. 13.14 in being a Caterer for sin He yields not up his Members as Instruments of unrighteousness unto sin he doth not let sin reign in his mortal body nor yield a voluntary obedience to it in the lusts thereof Rom. 6.12 13. for being God's Son he cannot be sins Servant he cannot sin in such a manner and so absolutely as one of the Devil's Children one born of the Devil His Seed remains in him His refers to God or the person born of God God's Seed efficiently man's Seed subjectively Born of God Twice repeated In the first is chiefly intended the declaration of the State in the second the disposition or likeness to God Observe 1. The Description of a Christian Born of God 2. The Priviledge of this Birth or Effects of it 1. Inactivity to sin He doth not commit it 2. Inability to sin He cannot 3. The ground and reasons of those Priviledges 1. The inward Form or Principle whereby he is regenerate which makes him unactive 2. The Efficient Cause which makes him unable Born of God or likeness to God makes him unable 4. The latitude of them in regard of the Subject Whosoever every regenerate man I intend not to run thorow all the parts of this Text having only chose it as a bar to presumption which may be occasioned by the former Doctrine upon mens false suppositions of their having grace There needs not any Doctrine from the Text but if you please take this Doct. There is a mighty difference between the sining of a regenerate and a natural man A regenerate man doth not neither can commit sin in the same manner as an unregenerate man doth That I may not be mistaken observe when I use the word May sin I understand it of a May of possibility not a May of lawfulness And when I say a regenerate man cannot sin so or so understand it of a settled habitual frame distinguish between passion and surprise a sudden effort of nature and an habitual and deliberate determination The sense of this cannot I shall lay down in several Propositions 1. It is not meant exclusively of lesser sins or sins of infirmity There are sins of daily incursion and lighter skirmishes there are some open some secret assaults a multitude of secret faults Psal 19.12 undiscernable and unknown Every good man is like Jacob though he hath one thigh sound he hath another halting I do not find that ever God intended to free any in this life from the remainders of sin What he hath not evidenc'd to have done in any we may suppose he intended not to do 'T is a total Apostacy not a partial Fall that the Covenant provides against Christ in his last prayer prays for Believers preservation and gradual sanctification not for their present perfection The very Office of Advocacy erected in Heaven supposeth sins after regeneration and during our continuance in the world 1 John 2.1 My little Children I write unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father In many things we offend all James 3.2 Not only you that are the inferior sort of Christians but we Apostles We is extensive All offend in many things 'T is implyed in the Lord's Prayer the daily standing Pattern As we are to pray for our daily bread so for a daily pardon and against daily temptations which supposeth our being subject to the one and our commission of the other The brightest Sun hath its spots the clearest Moon her dark parts The Church in her highest comeliness in this world hath her blackness of sin as well as of affliction because though sin be dismounted from its Throne by grace it is not expelled out of its residence It dwells in us though it doth not rule over us Rom. 7.20 And it cannot but manifest it self by its fruits while it remains Yet those sins do not destroy our Adoption Christ in his Sermon on the Mount to his Disciples supposeth the inherency of sin with the continuance of the relation of Children Matth. 7.11 If then you being evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him He doth acknowledge them evil while he calls God their Father and gives them the title of Children To sin is to decline from that rectitude in an act which the Agent ought to observe In this respect we sin according to the tenour of the Law in every thing we do though not according to the tenour of the Gospel 2. A regenerate man cannot live in the customary practice of any known sin either of omission or commission 1. Not in a constant omission of known duties If a good man falls into a gross sin he doth not totally omit the performance of common duties to God Not that this attendance on God in his Ordinances doth of it self argue a man to be a good man for many that walk in a constant course of sin may from natural Conscience and Education be as constant in the performing external services as he is 'T is a proper note of an Hypocrite that he will not always delight himself in the Almighty nor always call upon God Job 27.10 i. e. not customarily Whence it follows that a delight in God in duties of Worship is a property of a regenerate man An act of sin may impair his liveliness in them but not cause him wholly to omit them We need not question but David in the time of his impenitency did go to the Tabernacle attend upon the Worship of God 'T is not likely that for ten months together he should wholly omit it though no doubt but he was dead-hearted in it which is intimated when he desires a free spirit Ps 51. prayes for quickening Psa 143.11 one of his Penitential Psalms A total neglect of Ordinances and Duties is a shrewd sign of a total Apostacy and that grace was never in such a mans heart especially a total omission of prayer this is an high contempt of God denying him to be the Author of our mercies depriving him of the prerogative of governing the world disowning any need of him any sufficiency in him declaring we can be our own Gods and subsist of our selves without him and that there is no need of his blessing Grace though sunk under a sin will more or less desire its proper nourishment the Milk of the Word and other Institutions of God Nature though opprest by a disease will
have a continuance of pardon by his actual Sacrifice upon which the validity of all the former mediatory acts did depend Since now there is no more remembrance of Sin by the continuance of legal sacrifices his being so absolutely compleat Therefore God hath erected a standing Office of Advocacy for Christ 1 Joh. 2.1 in Heaven for the representing of his wounds and satisfaction and bespeaking a continuance of grace to us He is said to be the lamb that taketh away the sins of the world John 1.29 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath taken or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will take but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which notes actum perpetuum the constant effect of his death And since as I said before Christ hath an higher portion than others because he loved righteousness in this portion he hath a joy and gladness but his joy would certainly be sullied if pardon should not be continued to those for whom he purchased it 5. The worth of it That must be of incomparable value that was purchased at so great a price as the Blood of God Acts 20.28 So it is called by reason of the union of the divine nature with the humane constituting one person 'T is Blood which all the Gold and Silver and the Stones and Dust of the Earth turned into Pearls could not equal God understood the worth of it who in justice would require no more of his Son at least than the thing was worth not a drop of Blood more than the value of it Neither surely would Christ who could not be mistaken in the just price have parted with more than was necessary for the purchase of it It would have beggar'd the whole Creation to have paid a price for it The Prayers and Services of a gracious Soul though God delights in them could not be a sufficient recompence And the bare mercy of God without the concurrence of his provokt justice could not grant it though his Bowels naturally are troubled at the afflictions of his Creatures IV. Extensiveness fulness or perfectness of pardon 1. In the Act forgiving covering not imputing 2. In the Object iniquities transgressions and sins 1. Perfect in respect of state God retains no hatred against a pardoned person He never imputes sin formally because he no more remembers it though virtually he may to aggravate the offence a Believer hath fallen into after his justification So Job possessed the sins of his youth And Christ tacitly put Peter in remembrance of his denial of him The grant is compleat here though all the fruits of remission are not enjoyed till the day of judgment and therefore in Scripture sin is said then to be forgiven 'T is a question whether Believers sins will be mentioned at the day of judgment Some think they will because all men are to give an account Methinks there is some evidence to the contrary Our Saviour never mentioned the unworthy carriage of his Disciples to him in his sufferings and after his resurrection seems to have removed from him all remembrance of it 'T is not to be expected that a loving Husband will lay open the faults of his tender Spouse upon the day of the publick solemnization of the nuptials But if it be otherwise 't is not to upbraid them but to enhance their admirations of his grace He will discover their graces as well as their sin and unstop the Bottles of their tears as well as open the Book of their transgressions Our Saviour upon Maries anointing him applauds her affection but mentions not her former iniquity It must needs be perfect 1. All Gods Actions are suitable to his Nature What God doth he doth as a God And is he perfect in his other works and not in his Mercy which is the choicest flower in his Crown God sees blacker circumstances in our sins than an inraged Conscience or a malicious Devil can represent But God pardons not according to our apprehensions which though great in a tempestuous Conscience yet are not so high as Gods knowledge of it 2. The Cause of pardon is perfect Both the mercy of God and the merits of Christ are immutably perfect 'T is for his own glory his own mercies sake that he pardons He will not dimm the lustre of his own Crown by leaving the effect of his glory imperfect or satisfying the importunities of his mercy by halves The Saints in Heaven have not a more perfect righteousness whereby they continue their standing than those on Earth have for though inherent righteousness here is stain'd yet imputed upon which pardon is founded is altogether spotless A righteousness that being infinite in respect of the person hath a sufficiency for Devils had it a congruity but it hath both for us because manifested in our natures 2. In respect of the Objects Sinful nature sinful habits sinful dispositions pardon'd at once though never so heinous 1. For quality There was no limitation as to the deepness of the wounds caused by the Fiery Serpents in the Wilderness the precept of looking upon them extended to the cure of all let the sting reach never so deep the wound be never so wide or sharp and his sight be never so weak if he could but cast his Eye upon the Brazen one The Commission Christ gave to his disciples was to preach the Gospel to every Creature Mark 16.15 every Humane Creature the worst as well as the best though you meet with monstrous sinners in the likeness of Beasts and Devils except none from suing out a pardon in the court of mercy The Almightiness of his mercy doth as much transcend our highest iniquities as it doth our shallowest apprehensions Our sins as well as our substance are but as the Dust of the Ballance as easily to be blown away by his grace as the other puft into nothing by his power No sin is excepted in the Gospel but that against the holy Ghost because it doth not stand with the honour of God to pardon them who wilfully scorn the means and account the Redeemer no better than an Impostor No man can expect in reason he should be saved by mercy who by a wilful malice against the Son of God tramples upon the free offers of grace and provokes mercy it self to put on the deportment of justice and call in revenging wrath to its assistance for the vindication of its despised honour The infinite grace of God dissolves the greatest mists as well as the smallest exhalations and melts the thick clouds of sin as well as the little icicles 2. The Quantity Hath God ever put a restraint upon his grace and promise that we shall find mercy if we sin but to such a number and no more 'T is not agreeable to the greatness and majesty of Gods mercy to remit one part of the debt and to exact the other It consists not with the motive of pardon which is his own love to be both a friend and an enemy at the same time in pardoning some
against him 3. All the time thou livest unpardoned thy debts mount the higher Every new sin is an adding a figure to the former suns and every figure after the three first adds a thousand Every act of sin adds not only the guilt proper to that single act upon it but draws a new universal guilt from all the rest committed before because the persisting in any one sin is a renewed approbation of all the former acts of rebellion committed against God 4. 'T is that God who would have pardon'd thee if thou wouldst have accepted of it who will condemn if thou dost utterly refuse it 'T is that God thou hast provoked offended and dishonoured That power which would have been manifested in forgiving thee will be glorified in condemning thee That Justice which would have signed thy absolution if thou hadst accepted of its terms will sign the writ of execution upon thy refusal of them Nay the mercy that would have sav'd thee will have no compassion on thee The Law condemns thee because thou hast transgressed it and mercy will reject thee because thou hast despised it The Gospel wherein pardon was proclaimed will acquit others but condemn thee God would be false to his own word if after thy slighting so many promises of grace and threatnings of wrath thou shouldest be spar'd 2. Use Of comfort Pardon of sin may make thee hope for all other blessings Hath God done the hardest and will he stick at the easiest Hath he overthrown mountains and shall mole-hills stop him 'T is an easier thing to waft thee to Heaven than it was at first to remit thy guilt Rom. 5.10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life To this the death and resurrection of the Son of God was necessary and there was to be composition and agreement made between mercy and justice But since this is compleated the Redeemer saves thee by his life since he hath dyed for thy remission there is no need of his dying for thy further Salvation Seeing he hath made manifestation of his pardoning grace unto thee he will not cease till he hath brought thee into a perfect state For to what purpose should the Creditor forgive the smaller part of the debt and cast the debtor into prison for an unpayable sum 1. If once pardoned thou will be always pardoned For the first pardon Christ paid his blood for the continuance he doth but plead his blood and we cannot be without a pardon till Christ be without a plea He merited the continuance as well as the first remission Will our Saviour be more backward to intercede for pardon than he was to bleed and pray for it on earth Would not our dearest Saviour let sin go unremitted when he was to contest with the Fathers wrath and will he let it go unpardoned when he is only to solicite his Fathers mercy Thou shalt not want the daily renewals of it since he is only to present his blood in the most holy place seeing an ignominious and painful death did not scare him from the purchase of it upon the Cross As Gods heart is more ready to give than we are to ask forgiveness so is Christs heart more ready to plead for the continuance of it than we are daily to begg it for he Loves his people more than they can Love him or Love themselves Our praying is according to self Love but Christs intercession is according to his own infinite Love with a more intense fervency 2 Thou art above the reach of all accusations Shall the law condemn thee No. Thou art not under the law but under grace And if grace hath forgiven thee the law cannot sentence thee Shall conscience No. Conscience is but the Eccho of the law within us That must speak what God speaks Gods Spirit and a believers Spirit are joint witnesses Rom. 8.16 For the Spirit it self bears witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Conscience is sprinkled by the blood of Christ which quite changeth the tenour of its Commission Will God condemn thee No. That were to lose the glory of all his pardoning mercy hitherto conferred upon thee that were to fling away the vast revenue grace hath all this while been gathering for him yea it were to deny his own covenant and promise Shall Christ condemn thee No. That were to discard all his offices to undo his death and bely his merits did he sweat and bleed pray and dye for thee and will he now condemn thee Hath he been pleading for thee in Heaven all this time and will he now at the upshot cast thee off Shall we imagine the severity of a Judg more pleasing to him than the charity of an Advocate since his primary intention in coming was to save the world not to condemn it No. It would not be for his honour to pay the price and to lose the purchase 3. There will be a solemn justification of thee at the last day Thou art here pardoned in Law and then thou shalt be justified by a final Sentence there is a secret grant here but a publick manifestation of it hereafter Thy Pardon was past by the Spirit of God in thy own Conscience it will then be past by the Son of God in thy own hearing That Saviour that did merit it upon his Cross will pronounce it upon his Throne The Book shall be laid out of sight there shall be no more writing in the Book of God's Omniscience to charge thee or of thy Conscience to affright thee His fatherly anger shall for ever cease and as all disposition to sin so all paternal correction for it shall be for ever abolisht and forgiveness be fully compleat in all the glorious effects of it 4. Faith doth interest us in all this though it be weak The grant of a Pardon doth not depend upon the strength of Faith though the sense of a Pardon doth A weak Faith as a Palsy person may not so well read a Pardon though it may receive it As a strong Faith gives more glory to God so it receives more comfort from him Christ made no difference in his Prayer John 17. between the feeblest and stoutest Believer His Lambs as well as Sheep were to be fed by his Apostle with Gospel-comforts and even those Lambs Isa 40.11 he himself carrys in his bosom Strong Faith doth not intitle us to it because it is strong or a feeble Faith debar us from it because it is weak but it is for the sake of a mighty Saviour that we are pardoned 'T is the same Christ that justifies thee as well as Abraham the Father of the faithful 'T is the same Righteousness whereby thou art justified as well as Paul and the most beloved Disciple 3 Use Of Examination Consider whether your sins are pardoned Will you examine whether your Estates are sure and will you not examine