6.2 Bear you one anothers burthen and so fulfill the Law of Christ that is the Law of love for that my Brethren is the Law of Christ A new Commandment give I unto you Novum quia renovatum A new Commandment give I unto you that you love one another And what is love but the fulfilling of the Moral Law as the Apostle speaks And yet this same Apostle speaking of this Law of love calls it not the Law of nature but the Law of Christ Bear ye one anothers burthen which is a special act of love and so fulfill the Law of Christ So that the Moral Law you see my Brethren is the Law of Christ and therefore he is pleased to own it and to call it his Commandment John 15.12 to fortifie it with his own authority as in the Sermon on the Mount and to impose the precept of it on the people And that this Moral Law is universal and extends to all flesh appears by this that it is not imposed alone upon the members of the Church but on the very heathen too upon the Kings and Princes of the earth as you may see Psal 2.2 The Kings and Princes of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take Counsel together against the Lord and his Christ saying Let us break their bondâ— asunder and cast away their cords from us that is the Precepts and Commandments not of the Gospel only but also of the Moral Law Which is the Law of nature and obliged not the Jews alone but all the Nations of the world So that no marvel though they both conspire together to rid themselves of these bonds The Heathen rage the people of the Jews imagine the Kings and Rulers not of Jews only but of all the earth stand up and say Let us break these bonds asunder and cast away these cords from us These bonds and cords which are imposed and laid upon us all with which we all of us do finde our selves restrained and bound that is the Precepts and Commandments of the Moral Law So that you see Christ by his Legislative power gives Law to all flesh as to the outward man and to the Members He gives Law to all flesh as to the inward man and to the conscience The Law of Jesus Christ is Spiritual as the Apostle Paul tels us Rom. 7.14 not only in the nature of it but also in the subjects of it It takes hold upon the souls the spirits and consciences of men It captivates their very thoughts 2 Cor. 10.5 And herein Jesus Christ is singular and manifesteth such authority as no one exerciseth but himself It s true that men do oftentimes give Laws unto the outward man and to the members in politick and civil things and then they do it too as Christs Vicegerents and his Deputies they do it under him and by authority from him But it is Christ and he alone that gives Laws unto the Conscience in holy and religious things He delegates the former power to Magistrates who in the same respect are stiled the Ministers of Christ But this authority he makes not over to any of the sons of men And yet he exercises this authority over all the sons of men so that there is not one of them exempted from his Power As Jesus Christ hath a Legislative power so a Judiciary power As he hath a Legislative power to give Laws so a Judiciary power to execute the Laws that he hath given And this is universal too my Brethren as the other is As he gives his Laws to all so he executes his Laws on all flesh And therefore he is called a Judge very often in the Scripture I need not give you instances for they are known yea he is stiled the Judge of all and not alone of all that are alive but even of those that are departed and deceased as you may see that place for instance Acts 10.42 where he is stiled the Judge of the quick and dead It s true that other Judges in the world can judge the quick they can deal well enough with those that are alive but if they die they are gone out of their hands for ever But Jesus Christ is Judge of all flesh quick flesh and dead flesh Judge of quick and dead too Death cannot rescue men out of his hands no my Beloved he can pursue them to eternity and follow them into another world and there can execute the rigour of his wrath upon them to the very utmost And as he is the Judge of all persons so he is Judge of all cases All judgement is committed to him not some but all judgement Job 5.22 whether the case be manifest and open or whether it be hid and secret all is one Christ is Judge of both these and this is singular to Jesus Christ Men can do nothing in a case that is absolutely secret If a murther be committed and nothing be discovered any way no not so much as by a circumstance or by some grounds of strong suspition what can an earthly Judge do He knows the Law is broken but yet he cannot execute the sentence of the Law because he is not able to discover the Offender Now Jesus Christ is not to seek in such Cases To him all things are naked and uncovered And therefore he brings every work to judgement and every secret thing Eccl. 12.14 And the Apostle tels us of a day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to his Gospel Rom. 2.16 So that you see no flesh can escape his judgement let the man be what he will and let the cause be what it will Now this Judiciary power of Christs consists of two things in passing sentence upon all flesh in executing the sentence after it is past A word or two of these in order Christ hath the power of passing sentence upon all flesh All mankinde is under his authority in this respect and they must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ as the Apostle Paul speaks 2 Cor. 5.10 there to receive their last doom either of absolution or condemnation Sometimes he passeth sentence on them in the Court of Conscience here he sealeth up mens condemnation to them and makes it to become a certain thing They are condemned already in themselves and there remaineth nothing to them but a certain looking for of judgment as the expression is Heb. 10.27 And on the other side he sealeth up mens absolution he sealeth Pardons to the conscience This he hath power to do and this he doth sometimes on earth Mat. 9 6. The Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins At utmost in the last and dreadfull day all the dead both great and small appear before him and receive a sentence from him either the one way or the other as you may see Apoc. 20.12 And as he hath the power of Passing so the power of Executing Sentence upon all Flesh All mankinde is under his authority in
the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham for whom he never suffered and to whom he was never offered They will have something to excuse themselves withall something to plead before the Lord in the great and dreadful day Alâ—s may Devils say there was no possibility of our recovery there was no Mediator between God and us to purchase and obtain our peace there was no pardon tendred to us but you had the eternal Son of God to dye for you for you mankind to shed his blood and to lay down his life for you and yet when all was done and when he came and brought a pardon to you sealed with his blood and besought you to accept of it you even shut him out of doors you would not look upon him nor receive him you baffled him and dodged with him Ah my beloved what heart if it be truly touched can hold from breaking under the sight and sense of such abominable and prodigious wickedness as this is And as the sin is great so in the second place the misery and condemnation will be great also There will be no avoiding of it for how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Heb. 2.3 There will be no enduring of it it will be infinitely heavy it will be easier for Turks and Pagans in the day of judgement then for such wretches Alas poor souls that as if their condemnation were not deep enough already the incarnation and the passion and the offer of a Saviour the richest mercies in themselves that ever were bestowed upon the Creature should accidentally encrease it That Christ should die and shed his blood to sink men deeper into hell then if he had not died at all for this is the event and issue of it this is a lamentable thing indeed The second sort of such as stoop not to the authority of Jesus Christ and to his Legislative power are such as violate the Law of Love I mean the Moral Law the decalogue the ten Commandments for that my Brethren is the Law of love And therefore the Apostle tels us that love is the fulfilling of the Law he means apparently the Moral Law Rom. 13.10 and he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law see the eighth verse of that chapter in which respect our Saviour Christ himself divides the Law into these two Commandments Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and the neighbour as thy self what then it may be you will say Doth Christ by his authority impose the moral Law on men the ten Commandments of the Decalogue The Law of faith is his indeed but is the Law of works his too Yes the Law of works is his for he requireth works as well as faith And the faith which he bestows upon his members works by love And love is his own commandment so he cals it John 15.12 This is my Commandment that ye love one another Indeed he rules his Subjects by the Moral Law that is the precepts and commandments of it are the Statutes of his Kingdom It s true when it was first delivered to Adam in the state of innocency it came to him but in the hand of the Creator only But it comes to us my Brethren in the hands of the Redeemer and of the Mediator Jesus Christ who was typified by Moses at the delivery of the Law the second time upon Mount Sinai Gal. 3.19 And hence the precepts of it are stiled not the bonds of God only but the bonds of Christ too Psal 2.2 Let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us The Gospel all men yield is Christs he is in a peculiar way the author of the Gospel and therefore it is called the word of Christ Now the Commandments of the Law are all of them revived in the Gospel The whole of what the Law requires is for the manner and measure of obedience exacted also in the Gospel there is no duty which the Law enjoyns but it is taught us in the Gospel The Gospel teacheth to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godlily in this present world Titus 2.12 soberly towards our selves righteously towards our Brethren and piously towards our God And these Particulars apparently involve and comprehend all the Commandments of the Moral Law from the beginning of it to the end There being nothing in the Decalogue the Ten Commandments interdicted or required but may be reduced to one of these three heads So then you see my Brethren not the Law of faith only but the Law of works too is Christs Law or if it be not Christs Law it can be no Law at all The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all Judgement to the Son And consequently he that violates this Law of works resisteth the authority of Jesus Christ and the power with which he is invested by his Father to give Law to all flesh And yet alas how many are there who live in the resolved and the constant breach of all the precepts and commandments of the Law of Christ who in their practice daily break these bonds asunder and cast away these cords from them who are not subject to the Law of Christ nor indeed can they be If it be pressed home upon them to bind them to the good behaviour and to restrain them from their sinful and ungracious courses they are out of all patience If the commands of Christ be laid upon them to hold them fast to duty and obedience and to abridge them of their carnal liberty if they be told they must no take their old courses but they must hear and pray and fast and sanctifie Gods holy day and live strictly they will be very much incensed The Law of Christ is too severe and strict for them it curbeth and abridgeth them too much and therefore they will shake it off from them And as the Lunatick who was restored by our Saviour to his reason brake all the bonds and cords with which they bound him so these unreasonable Creatures deal with Christs Law nothing will hold them to obedience Let him lay what command he will upon them they will surely break it that they may live at liberty and walk according to their own humours Yea sin in such by the Commandment becomes exceeding sinful as the Apostle speaks Rom. 7.13 Not by way of declaration for that is not the purpose and intention of the place but by way of Irritation When the Commandment labours to lay hold on sin to bind him and to chain him up then sin begins to lay about him to struggle for his libertie and so by accident to be the more sinful When we press home the precepts of the Law and urge them hard on wicked men as there are some that yield themselves up to the binding power and to the obligation of it so there are others that stand out against the Law and they are much the worse for it
day of vengeance Prov. 6.34 even so the Lord when he is stirred to jealousie on this occasion is wont to measure out to such offendors an excess and overplus of wrath and vengeance as you may see a sad example of it in the Jews And therefore I shut up this Exhortation as John doth his Epistle Little children keep your selves from Idols Amen Serve the Lord and not Idols But you will say perhaps what needs this For who among us is inclinable to this sin Or which of us doth serve Idols To this I answer That there is not in man a stronger inclination to any sin then that of Idolatry as I could shew you very plentifully and very clearly from the Scripture And as for actual Idolatry you must know my Brethren that there is a gross and open and there is a more subtile and secret Idolatry The gross and open is the worshipping of heathen images and heathen gods or else of Popish Crucifixes and the like from this perhaps you may acquit your selves But now besides there is an inward and secret Idolatry and this is very rife and common in the world yea in the bosom of the Church it self Professed Christians many of them who have but one God in their mouthes have yet an hundred in their hearts For you must know my Brethren that this inward Idol-worship is not committed only by conceiving an Idol or a creature under the notion of God which was the errour of the heathen who thought that Jupiter and Mars were gods But also by ascribing that to any creature which is peculiar to the Lord. In doing so we deifie the creature and set it up in Gods stead and this is very usual among those that would be taken to be Christians some make Idols of themselves either their belly is their God as the Apostle speaks in his time whose end is destruction whose God is their belly Phil. 3.19 they take more care to please their appetites and fill their bellies then to please God Or else they make their policy and wit their God while they rely and rest upon it to bring their enterprizes and designs to pass and so accordingly attribute the effecting of them to their own skill and to their own ability These are the men that sacrifice to their own net and burn incense to their own dragg as the Prophet speaks Hab. 1.16 Others make Idols of their fellow Creatures while they lay out that fear and love and confidence upon them which belongs to God only In this respect the covetous and worldly wretch is stiled an Idolater Eph. 5.5 because he loves his riches more then God and trusteth in his riches more then God And the Apostle James speaking of such as love the world calls them adulterers and adulteresses Jam. 4.4 because they commit this inward Idolatry which is spiritual adultery with the things of this life The like may be affirmed of the ambitious man who loves his honours more then God and of the voluptuous man who loves his pleasures more then God So that you see my Brethren there is need of this advice even to professed Christians to serve the Lord and not Idols 2. Serve the Lord and not the times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are words not very much unlike neither in the writing of them nor in the pronunciation of them there is but a letter odds And hence it is that some have put the latter for the former in that place of the Apostle Rom. 12.11 And in stead of reading it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 serving the Lord they read it by an easie change 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 serving the time And so we find it in some Greek Copies And truly there are many in these dayes of ours who seem to like extreamly well of this change who would have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still and who would rather serve the time then serve the Lord. These are the men who fashion and apply themselves continually to the present garb and to the present state of things Like weather Cocks they turn with every blast like Ships they set their sails to every wind Brethren this is an odious thing to mould our selves especially in points of Conscience and matters of Religion to the times Indeed it is observed of the men of Issachar that they were wise to understand the times and to know what Israel ought to do 1 Chron. 12.31 And so I must acknowledge it is wisdom so to observe the times to know our duty what it is and to perform it in the proper season But to observe them so to serve them is a very great evil We must not serve the times but serve the Lord. 3. Serve the Lord and not Lusts neither your own Lusts nor the Lusts of others First serve the Lord and not your own Lusts if he be the only true God he must be served and not them And yet how many are there who are slaves and vassals to their own Corruptions who are not subject and obedient to the will of God but to that which the Evangelist calls the will of the flesh 1 John 13. They are a rule unto themselves and walk according to their own counsels That which they have a will and a desire to do to which they are carried and swayed by their own inclinations and sensual affections they freely follow and pursue but for the will of God they neither care to know it nor obey it I wish that such would seriously consider what a fearfull thing it is for God to leave men to their own wills He never doth it but in extremity of wrath and vengeance When he will take severe revenge indeed then he picks out this judgement My people would not hearken to my voice saith God and Israel would none of me What must become of Israel now think you you may behold it in the following verse So I gave them up to their own lusts to walk according to their own counsels And certainly unless the Lord should send men quick to hell a heavier Judgement cannot come upon them Secondly serve the Lord and not the Lusts of other men that is the basest and unworthiest service in the world when men are not only subject to the regular and just commands of their superiours for so they are in duty bound to be but they are subject to their wicked humours They are not only serviceable and obedient to their lawfull wills but they are Bawds and Pandars to their Lusts They will do any thing rather then they shall be offended and displeased They will serve them in their sins and serve them in their base and wicked humours though conscience grumble and recoyl they will comply with them in every thing they will humour and applaud them and admire them for advantage as the Apostle Paul speaks They are resolved to please them whether God be pleased or no. Let such remember that God
the ordinary means by which he sanctifieth his people in a way of inchoation O then let Ministers be here intreated and prevailed withall as they desire the Reformation and Conversion of their people the working of unfeigned faith and grace in them to be diligent and instant in preaching the Word and Gospel unto them if they would have them turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God Let them lay out themselves in indefatigable pains this way Let them be instant as the Apostle Paul exhorteth Timothy in season and out of season and spare no labour to accomplish such a blessed end as this is Object But some may say perhaps That they have preached long and laboured hard and yet they see no issue no success of all their labours Their people are not turned to the Lord no grace appeareth in their lives and conversations so that they are exceedingly discouraged and disheartned in the work of God Sol. To this I shall reply in two or three particulars and I shall be brief in them for I am very sensible that other things will be more suitable to this Assembly First the fruit of their endeavours who faithfully dispense the Word of God is not always manifest Eliah thought he had been left alone and yet even then there were seven thousand men that had not bowed the knee to Baal Among the Rulers there were some who were indeed converted and believed in Christ and yet because they were but novices and newly entred they were fearful to acknowledge and confess him Grace is not always wrought with observation as our Saviour sheweth Mat. 13.13 It is compared to Seed in Scripture which after it is sowen lies hid and covered in the earth a while and is not seen And therefore faithful Teachers should not be disheartned because they cannot see the fruit of their indeavours it may be they have sowen the seed that may spring up and flourish in another age And they have laid the good foundation under ground and out of sight on which another faithful Minister may build and raise a very goodly frame And herein is that saying sometimes verified to use our Saviours own word Joh. 4.37 One soweth and another reapeth The Prophets laboured and the Apostles entred on their labours and so it is at this day Though their labour be in vain respectively to their desired issue and success the conversion of their people they ought not to desist from it No they must work the work of God they must continue preaching still though no fruit at all should follow Thou shalt speak my words unto them saith the Lord unto EZekiel chap. 2.7 whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for they are a rebellious house And the Apostles exhortation is very apposite to this purpose 2 Tim. 4.4 They shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables What now must Timothy desist from preaching any more unto them No saith the Apostle watch thou in all things endure affliction make full proof of thy Ministry Be diligent perform thy duty and leave the success to God Waiting if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the Truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil by whom they are led Captive at his will If they continue in their ministerial labours though no apparent good be done by it they want not great encouragement They are to God a sweet savour in Christ not in them that are saved only but in them that perish too 2 Cor. 2 15. Though they spend their strength in vain with reference to the conversion of the people yet their judgement is with the Lord and their work is with their God that is the recompence and reward of it Isa 49.4 And they have their recompence secundum laborem non secundum proventum as Bernard speaks according to their labour and not according to the issue and success But in the last place my Beloved if after all their tiring pains and tedious expectation God should be pleased so to bless their labours to make them happy instruments of bringing in his chosen to him their comfort would be very great in this world their recompence exceeding glorious in the world to come For they that are not only wise themselves but also are the instruments of making others wise too shall have a great deal of glory they shall shine as the stars in the Kingdom of God for ever and ever And as the Ministers are hence encouraged to preach the Word so in Vse 2 the second place the people may be perswaded hence to hear it attend upon it If you be yet without the Covenant and have not any saving grace in you this is the ready way to have it wrought in your souls It is the Word by which God sanctifieth in a way of inchoation and if the Lord be pleased to concurr with it you may be sanctified by this means you are not able to convert your selves My Brethren you are not able to renew and sanctifie your selves but the blessed Word of God if he be pleased to add vertue to it may operate and bring about these great effects The Law that is the Word of God converts the soul the Truth that is the Word of truth so is the Gospel called in opposition to the types and shadows of the Law renews and sanctifies the heart according to our Saviour Christs Petition to his Father here in the behalf of his Disciples Sanctifie them with thy Truth thy Word is truth And therefore you that are strangers to the life of grace be you intreated and prevailed withal to put your selves under the powerful preaching of the Word and Gospel of the Lord Jesus O wait upon the doors of Wisedoms house be swift to hear attend upon the Word of God lay hold on every opportunity to be partakers of this holy Ordinance and then perhaps it may in time become a word of grace unto you you may be sanctified by this Truth Vse 3 Is it so That the Word of God is the ordinary means by which he sanctifieth his people in a further measure by which he works not only the beginnings but also the increase of grace which is the second member of the point We see then what the reason is why many Christians do not grow make no increase at all in holiness and grace nay rather in a declining and abating hand there may be many causes of it and this is not the least of the decay of many men because they do not wait upon the powerful preaching of the Word of God which is the means to make them prosper and to thrive in grace You may take notice of too many such who while they constantly attended on the means were zealous lively active fruitful Christians their gifts were always on the growing hand But since they have remitted of their diligence in this
them hasten him and fetch him by their prayers that he may say unto them as the Angel did to Daniel Dan. 10.12 From the first day that thou didst set thy self to understand thy words were heard and I am come for thy words And here to quicken you a little I shall present you with a few Considerations 1. The Lord expects you should be very earnest and importunate with him this business He hearkens after supplications and looks that men should ply him hard Thus saith the Lord the holy one of Israel and his maker Isa 45.11 Ask of me things to come concerning my Sons command you me q. d. There are great things to come that I am doing for my Church what is the reason that ye are so stil and that I hear of no Petitions from you touching these things You are alwayes plying me for present things but I delight to hear you pleading with me for those glorious things to come which I will surely do for my people Come put in your Petitions and requests concerning them and I will stoop so low to be commanded by your prayers Ask of me things to come concerning my Sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me 2. Consider in the second place to quicken you in prayer that this is such a business as is worth your earnestness assure your selves you cannot lay out too much heat and zeal upon it When once the Lord hath gathered in a people to him over all the world the Church shall have perfection of beauty It is a very high expression but you shall see it is applied to Sion Psal 50.2 And it is meant apparently my bretren of the Gospel Sion of the Gospel Church for in the following parcell of the Psalm the Lord rejecteth Jewish worship Indeed the Churches happiness shall be so great in those dayes that it is called heaven very often in the Scripture And so the Saints who are to be the Members of that Church are said to dwell in heaven Apoc. 13.6 Indeed my brethren it shall be heaven upon earth 3. Consider that the bringing in of people over all the world to Christ will be an extraordinary honour to him the enlargement of his Kingdom is the enlargement of his glory It adds exceedingly you know my brethren to the Luster of a Kingdom when it hath many people under it and when the territories of it are amplified and enlarged It s no such glory my beloved to be the King but of a little City or a little Island or of a small and inconsiderable company of men But to be the King of many Nations and of many Kingdoms to have a multitude of people in subjection this is a glorious thing indeed In this respect the Empire of Christ Jesus in the latter times shall be unparalleld when once the Jews come in and bring the fulness of the Gentiles with them And therefore out of love to Jesus Christ and regard to his glory we should be intent upon it 4. Consider that the bringing in of people over all the world to Jesus Christ will be very beneficial and advantagious to our selves Perhaps we do not apprehend it to be so this Countrey is come in already to the profession of the Gospel we are come in already and what need we care so much for other Nations and for other people We are well enough our selves and why should we look after others Yes my beloved we have reason to look after others for till all others that belong to Christ of all the Nations of the world be gathered in we are not in so good a case as we shall be afterwards We are in Christ perhaps and that is well for us indeed but others of his people by election of many other Countreyes are as yet without and we without them cannot be made perfect as the Apostle shews Heb. 11. ult We without them are members in a sence of an imperfect body We without them have but imperfect grace nay though we were in heaven already we could have but imperfect glory Till all that appertain to Christ be gathered in of all Nations so long as there is but a man without there can be no day of judgement and so no full reward no complement of our beatitude And therefore we have reason to help on this glorious work to the utmost of our power because till it be accomplished it cannot be so well with us as it will be afterwards we without them cannot be made perfect Is it so that Iesus Christ sends forth his Ministers to gather Churches and to erect his Kingdom over all the world Here then is matter of rejoycing and thanksgiving for us the once rejected and neglected people of the Gentiles There was a time my brethren when we were set without the verge the reach of mercy When the poor Gentiles liv'd and we too liv'd without God without Christ without a promise without Gospel when Christ did never send to them to invite them to come in and when he had no Scepter but in Jewry no subjects in a manner but among that people Alas my brethren Christ was a King in those dayes to break the Gentiles by his power but he was not a King to rule them by his grace But now my brethren in these Gospel dayes there is no such respect of persons with him as the Apostle shews Acts 10.34 In every Nation and in every people he hath or shall have some to serve him and to be accepted with him And therefore whereas formerly he sent his messengers to none but to V se 3 the people of the Jewish Nation and gave them an express Injunction Goe not into the way of the Gentiles In which respect it was that Peter was scrupulous to preach the Gospel to Cornelius Now he sends forth his Ministers to all the world to all Nations now he enlargeth their Commission Go preach the Gospel to every Creature So that we Gentiles are included in it All Countreys People Callings Nations are alike to Christ in this respect the publication of the Gospel and the tender of Salvation belongeth to them all alike and if they entertain it and embrace it whether they be Jews or Gentiles whether they be Males or Females whether they be bond or free they shall have salvation by him How great a cause have we my brethren that are Gentiles of rejoycing and thanksgiving that Jesus Christ should send to us that the word is come to us as it is to all the world that we should have the Gospel published and revealed to us That we who formerly were utterly shut out from the enjoyment of the means of our salvation should have as full and free a title to them now as the very Iews themselves Nay that we should have the preferment of the Jew in that by the abundant blessing of the Lord upon the means the Churches of the Gentiles which were wholly desolate and barren heretofore should be more
Why should we not rejoyce to resign all to him and to be under his authority and jurisdiction as the Prophet counselleth us Zach. 9.9 Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Sion and why so because thy King cometh to thee and he is just Even so say I to you my Brethren God is a very just and righteous God and he desires to be received and entertained by you That you would set your gates open that he may enter and sit upon the Throne in your hearts Say to him now Ride on Lord because of thy righteousness Come in Lord and take command of us We would willingly be ruled by such a just and righteous Prince as thou art Vse 4 Is God a very just and righteous God Where then shall the wicked and ungodly appear What will they do who are unrighteous when the time of judgement comes who have lived in the continued and voluntary breach of all his laws what will they plead why they should not be condemned Me thinks the justice and the uprightness of the Judge should astonish and affright them who have so ill a cause so bad a matter to be heard before him If they whose hearts and lives are full of all unrighteousness be judg'd with just and righteous judgement if they receive according to their works what think you will their portion be Ah my Beloved lay it seriously to heart you that run out with the intemperate you that oppress and grind the poor that are abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate how will you hold up your heads when the day of reckoning cometh and all your sins shall be laid open in their colors when God shall bring every work to judgement and every secret thing when he shall rip up all your close abominations and all your secret wickednesses that never any eye saw when the books shall be laid open and all the black bills read when God shall say to the Ministers of vengeance Go give them now according as their works have been Look how much they have sinned and how much wickedness they have committed so much sorrow and torment give them Oh then what wringing of hands what renting of hearts what cries and lamentations will there be able to make a Rock relent and a Flint to fall asunder and yet God will stand out immoveable against them all for he is a righteous God nothing will bend him from the rule of Justice And as this serves for terrour to the wicked so for comfort to the Vse 5 righteous that God is such a just and righteous God But you will say What reason have we to rejoyce in this Quest For if we have but justice from him we are certainly undone for what have we deserved but death and ruine To this I answer If we have justice from him we are well enough Answ and this we shall be sure to have and therefore let us take comfort I speak not now of such a justice as respects the merit of the work for this we are delivered from but I speak of such a justice as respects the truth of his promise by which he hath engaged himself that he will forgive our sins that he will reward our labours that he will punish all our enemies and if he keep his word with us as he is bound to do in justice I hope we are in a very good case His righteousness lies at stake for all those by reason of his Covenant and Engagement to us Indeed before he made the Covenant he was free he might have done according to his own pleasure But having made it he is bound he is held to it and may not vary Now he must forgive our sins or else he is unrighteous as the Apostle John insinuates in 1 Joh. 1.9 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins Now he must reward our labours or else he is unjust as the Apostle Paul speaks Heb. 6.10 The Lord is not unrighteous to forget our work and labour He doth not say the Lord is not unmerciful but the Lord is not unrighteous Now he must give us everlasting rest and render everlasting trouble to our enemies and that upon the same ground And therefore saith the same Apostle 2 Thes 1.6 It is a righteous thing with him to render tribulation to them that trouble you and to you that are troubled rest with us So that you see the justice and the righteousness of God which is a ground of horrour to the wicked yet it is a ground of comfort to the godly It is very ill for them it is very well for us that God is such a righteous God It is their loss and it is our gain And the cause is manifest for he proceeds with them according unto such a justice as respects the merit of the work and he proceeds with us according unto such a justice as respects the verity and truth of his promise And therefore though ungodly men have cause to fear and tremble at it yet we have reason to rejoyce at it And this is clearly intimated by the Prophet David in the fore-alledged place which indeed is very notable to this purpose Psal 96. ult Let the heavens rejoyce saith he and so on And why so for he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth Observe it well the world with righteousness the people that stand in opposition to the world his people with his truth The world with such a righteousness as looks upon the merit of their works His own people with such a righteousness as looks upon the truth of his promise His people with his truth Righteousness and truth do kiss each other O let the people of the Lord rejoyce that they shall have righteous judgement that God will do according to his promise and his Covenant with them when the great day of retribution cometh That he will in this respect be just and righteous to forgive them and reward them Let them be glad of this for ever Vse 6 I have but one thing more to add and that shall be a word of humble Admonition to the Deputies and Ministers of God Preached at the Assize Superior and Inferior Magistrates to labour to conform themselves to him in this respect and to be just and righteous as he is They are under him and for him and therefore should endeavour to be like him Honorable and Beloved the Land abounds with wickedness of every kind there is much unrighteous dealing everywhere with God and man This calls for righteous dealing from them that bear the Sword of Justice that these abominations may be purged out and that our breaches may be yet repaired In such a time as this when there are such abuses such blasphemies such prophanations of the day and Ordinances of the Lord such swearing drunkenness uncleanness incest c. as former ages have not equal'd Justice should flow down like water to wash away this filth from us and