thou opened that is one Lo I come and then I delight to do thy will and thy Law is within my heart There are these four Lo I come saith Christ to do it It appears plainly that there was a Covenant between the Father and the Son from al eternity that Christ should come in due time into the world and take our natures upon him Now the time was for Christ to come There is many that wil agree to do such a thing beforehand but when it comes to be done if they see there wil be any difficulty in it and that they shal endure some hardship they hang back But Christ had agreed from al eternity with his Father that at such a time he would come into the world and take the nature of man upon him and be in the form of a servant and be made a curse for mans sins and al that he might reconcile sinners unto himself This was the agreement Now the time approaches for him to come and undertake this great work when the time came Observe now how Christs heart was in it He did not hang back he did not repent him of the Covenant But I come I come saith Christ as we use to express our selves when we are called to do a thing that we love to do we say I come I come now the time is come for you to do that which you undertook to do to go into the world to take the nature of man be made in form of a Servant and to bear my wrath and to satisfie my Justice for the sin of man I come I come saith Christ and he doth not only come but come with delight to do thy Will and what was this wil It was that Christ should be humbled to the death of the Cross Though I knew it would cost my life yet I delight to do it because my heart is so much set upon reconciling Sinners unto thy self and not only so but thy Law is in my heart it hath gotten a deep impression in my heart thy Law that iâ— that Law of thine whereby I am tyed to this that I have undertaken for it is within my heart in the very midst of my bowels that I should do it And then Fourthly Mine ears hast thou opened the words are mine ears hast thou boared The meaning of that Phrase must be understood by comparing it that way which was of God in the time of the Law commanding that if a servant would not goe out of his service in the years of Jubilee that his master should take an awle and boar his ear and so he should be a servant forever This Phrase hath allusion to that as if Christ should say thus I am content that I might do this work to be as a servant whose ear is boared who must be a servant for ever so saith Christ that I might accomplish the work of reconciling sinners to thy self I am content to be as a servant whose ear is boared thereby signifieing that he would be willing to listen to any thing that should be commanded him His masters commandements are not grievous but it is his meat and drink to do the wil of his Lord. Wel might the Apostle say As in Christs stead we beseech you as if he should say Christs heart is much towards sinners that he might bring them to be reconciled unto God and we in his name come to prevail with sinners no get them in unto God Secondly Observe what was the first Sermon that ever Christ preached For the the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand that is the first Sermon calling sinners to repent because the Kingdome of grace wherein the Gospel of God should reign that is at hand saith Christ and then Christ would preach so as to gain most when he had the greatest Auditors What was it that he preacht when he was amongst the Jews at the Feast of dedication In the great day of the Feast saith the Scripture Christ lift up his voice and cryed Hoe every one that is a thirst A Minister when he is to preach to a great Congregation and he is not like to come to them again he should speak on such a subject that his heart is most in Now Christ at the Feast of dedicaton he was not like to come to them sodainly again to use such an argument to them he cryed Hoe every one that is a thirst come and Christ further doth profess that it is the end why he came into the World To save to seek that which was lost Not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance That is the great end that he came into the world about it was the great subejct of his preaching the great errand that he came into the world about And further observe with what lovingness gentleness and sweetness he doth it what a gratious invitation we have in Math. 11. Come unto me al you that are weary and heavy leaden and I wil give you rest and he professes in John 6.37 None that comes to me wil I cast of I wil not cast of any that do come to me Yea he tells us that he wil not quench the smoaking flax nor break the bruised reede to encourage sinners he tells them if there be but any stirrings of the heart unto him but as the smoaking flax and as the bruised reed yet he wil not break one nor quench the other but he wil encourage new beginnings though never so smal in sinners coming unto him These are the expressions of Christ towards sinners to shew them how tender he is over them and when the time drew neer for Christ to suffer then if ever one would think if the heart of Christ were not much in it Christ would draw back not only when he was to come into the world but in the work of his Mediation when he was to suffer the violence of the wrath of his father to be poured out upon him But mark how he doth express himself in Luk 22. verse 15. And he said unto them with desire I have desired to eate this passover with you before I suffer Why did Christ desire he desired that is strongly desired to eat this passover why because he knew that assoon as ever he had eaten it he should be called to suffer for mans sin and to accomplish the great work of redemption for sinful men Then it was to be done Why Was there any such cause that Christ should be so strongly upon it to desire this passover One would have thought that above al passovers Christ should have been afraide of this because this was to put a period to his life for then Christ was himself to be made the passover to suffer when this passover came once he knew that he was to be made the paschal Lamb and yet he doth desire above al to eate this passover thereby shewing what a minde he had to finish the work whereby sinners might come to be reconciled unto God And
if our petitions be repeated twice in prayer it is atautology this shews the earnestness of the spirit of God in it and he is exceeding willing CHAP. 74. The Fourteenth Argument manifesting the exceeding willingness of God to be reconciled to sinners ANother evidence is this when yet siners do not come yet the lord leaves them not but he doth then appeal to the very conscinces of sinners and deales with them that way and that is very powerful he deals with sinners that way to breake their hearts when after al his arguments they com not in then the lord appeals to their own consciences then wil plead with them in a way of appealing to their consciences why they should not come in and yeild unto him and this way is verry powerful to prevail with sinners If you would go and prevail with any one for a thing that you have a desire to accomplish what course do you take either you send to them or go to them and then you open the case to them and yet they are not moved then you bring powerful arguments to perswad them and yet they do not move them then you take away al their objections and yet that doth not prevail upon them then you do importune them and if that do not overcome them what is the next way you take then you appeal to their owne consciences then say you nay I appeal to your own conscience whether I have said it or no I wil even leave it to your conscience and judg of it in the presence of God let your own conscience be your judg and somtimes this prevailes more than al the arguments in the world When you appeal to a mans one conscience that he doth deal unequally and very il that he doth not yeild but God doth thus he doth apeal unto mens consciences I wil give yo suome scripture for it in the 43. Esa 26. Put me in rememberance let us plead together declare thou that thou must be justified come saith God let us hear what you can say let us plead together Declare thou that thou mayest be justified declare it say what thou canst try whether you or I be in the right way I wil even be contented to leave it to you only let us plead and declare what we can But that place seemes yet to be more ful that you have in Jerem. 2 3 you have often expressions of Gods pleading with his people in the ninth verse and then you have it again at least three times in this Chapter that the lord saith he wil plead in v. 23. you have it again wherefore wil you plead with me c. and then in the 35. vers Behold I wil plead with thee saith God but now God pleads thus in his pleading he wil leave it he wil appeal to the very consciences of men and that you have in Exek 18.25 vers yet you say the way of the lord is not equal hear O! house of Israel as if he should say conscience answer Is not my way equal wil not your owne consciences answer you thus that his waies are equal the lord is content to plead with his people the conclusion of his pleading is a leaving it to their consciences to the people as if God should say thus as he doth often God comes by his spirit in the ministry of his word I appeal to you hath he not often done so and saith do you think in your very consciences that these waies that you walk in are right my waies are they good is it any way equal that wretched sinful creatures should take their liberty to go on al their daies and please themselves in the lusts of their own vaine hearts and now when they can sin no more nor longer that then they should cry to God for mercy and that then he should pardon them and accept them unto his favour Is this equal is not the lord infinitly more worthy of al the strength thou hast if it were ten thousand times more than it is than that thou shouldest have given it up to thy lusts and vanities Conscience speak whether God be not most worthy of al and what wert thou made for no other end but meerly to eat and drink and satisfie thy flesh and have thy lusts heere for a while dost thou thinke in thy concience that God did intend no other end for thee when he sent thee into the world you have been upon your sick bedds and cried to God and have promised to God better obedience now are your waies equal to take your liberty to sin after God hath thus delivered you and after God hath preserved your life when you were at the very brinke of death and that death was ready to deliver you up into the hands of eternal misery and do you think that this was Gods end in preserving your life that you might have more time to sin against him and might spend the latter part of your strength in bringing dishonor to his Name was this Gods end in preserving your life God might have struck you one blow more and sent you down to eternal misery and then God should have had no more dishonor of you but should have had the Glory of his Justice upon you Now do you think that this is the end why God did preserve you that you should have more years added to your life that you should have more time to sin against him This argues Gods willingness to be reconciled that the Lord is thus pleasing with you and let me speak to every one in this place that hath felt God pleading thus with them know that the Lord by this work of his doth strive with thee to bring thee to be reconciled unto him This is no other thing than the striving of the Spirit of God himself with you though perhaps you think this is troublesom to you Many men and women when they have their consciences pleading thus they think it is troublesom Oh wretched man or woman that thou art this work of Conscience is nothing but God pleading with thee to save thy Soul Thou hast stood against his Word that hath been preached to thee and now God seeks to thee the other way by his Spirit to strive in thy Conscience he appeals to thy own Conscience that so thou mayest be brought in to be reconciled unto him But when God hath no mind to be reconciled then saith God to Conscience let him alone and then the sinner goes on with a hard heart and blesses himself that his Conscience is quiet Oh no no Conscience is quiet but God hath left laboring any more with thee CHAP. 75. The Fifteenth Argument Manifesting the exceeding willingness of God to be reconciled to sinners BUt further the Lord shews his willingess to be reconciled to sinners in this that when this way wil not prevail you wil think there were never another way to be found yet there is another way when God
father This is our Mediator who is come to reconcile us unto God he can say and do nothing but it shal infinitely please and delight the father Further He is one that never did offend There may be a friend that is very dear to the party offended and yet perhaps he himself hath offended the Party But Jesus Christ is one that never offended the father but hath pleased him from all eternity and therefore he is a fit mediator he is fit to Speake for those that have displeased him As in a family if a Child have offended and another Child come and speak for his Brother the father may answer you need speke for your self for you have offended as wel as he But if another child that never offended his father in al his life but hath been the most obedient Child that can be in the world shal come and speake this wil be likely to take with the Father much God the Father professeth before al the world that Jesus Christ is his Beloved Son in whom he is wel pleased and it is this Christ that stands up to speake to God the Father for poore Sinners to be reconciled unto him Lastly he is a fit mediator in this That whatsoever he shal do hath an infinit efficace in it selfe not only is he a fit mediator because God is wel plesed with him but because that whatsoever he shal lay doune by way of sattisfaction it hath an infinet value in it There is such an infinite price such an infinit worth in whatsoever Christ lays doun to porchase this reconciliation that the infinite Justice of God cannot but say this is indeed a valuable Consideration and I cannot but acknowledg there is efficacy and sufficiency enough in this to make up a ful Satisfaction had the Sinns of men been a thousand times more than they were Now what a mediator have we to reconcile us unto God how comes our sins to make such a breach between God and us but because our sins were against such an infinite God at first the Person against whom we have sinned is the cause which makes such a breach and so the Person who is mediator that shal do and suffer any thing for us being such a person as he is hence comes the efficacy of al that he shal doe and suffer to satisfie the father to the utmost groat Al this together namely Christ that is the Second Person who is God and man Who knows the minde of the father to the ful Who knows what wrong our Sins have done the Father Who knows what wil satisfie the Father Who never offended the father Who is infinitly beloved of the father Al these together makes it that whatsoever he doth hath an infinite efficacy to satisfie Justice it selfe and in this regard he comes to be a fit mediator Al these things J name the rather to incourage the heart of poore Sinners to come unto him seing it is God in Christ that reconcileth us to himselfe CHAp 15. What Christ hath under taken and performed in Our Reconciliation 1 to fatisfy Gods Justice 2 To bring our hearts and subdue them to God You wil say you have shewed us these two things that it is not God alone and us but in Christ and us that is reconciled And you have shewd us what a reconciler Christ is And how fit But for the third thing propounded in the 12. Chapter hath Christ undertaken to reconcile us Surely this is a great work to come and reconcile Sinful man unto God Christ must needs undertake much in this I wil declare to you what Christ hath undertaken 1 This agrement there is between Christ and the Father He hath undertaken that he wil Satisfie what ever his Fathers Justice shal requier As for example If one should come to mak a peace between a couple and the one party hath extreamly injured the other and he that comes to make peace he doth not only come and say Sir I beceech you for my sake pass by the wrong and be reconciled unto him though perhaps this may do much but this wil not do the deed and this is not the way of reconcileing God and us for Christ though he be dear to the father only to plead and Say O father these poor Creatures have offended the I beseech the O father be reconciled to them no this is not al. But saith the Party offended wil you under take to satisfie the wrong that is done me I saith he who is the Peace-maker I wil undertake it al you shal set it al upon my scor And certainly you wil al conclude that if he that comes to be mediator and is dear unto the Party offended shal not only intreat but undertake that whatsoever he would have of him requier what satisfaction soever he wil he wil undertake to under goe it al especially if he be a man able to do what he promiseth You wil al conclude that this wil surly make up a peace This is the transaction between God the Father and the Son God lookes upon man as being an enimy to him and Christ he comes to mediate yea but saith the father what wil you do to make peace wil you undertake for mankind wil you ingage to Satisfy that wrong that they have done me Yes O Father saith Christ I wil do it I wil stand betwen the and them and undertake for them to satisfie al whatsoever thy Justice can require And in this regard Christ is not only called a mediator in that place Heb. 8.5 and so forward but he is called a Suerty because he hath undertaken to Satisfie what God the father requred for the Sin of mankind and as he hath undertaken it so he hath done it now and the fathers that lived in former times might looke upon God reconciling himselfe to the world in Christ as Christ had undertaken it but not fully discharged it But we may look upon Christ not only as an undertaker but as one that hath discharged and paid al. 2 But that is not al Christ hath not only undertaken this but in the next place as he hath undertaken to satisfie God on his part but saith the Father what shal become of these poor Creatures they have hearts opposite to me and they are enemies to me and whatsoever you do they wil stil go on in waies of emnity to me No saith Christ I wil do more then this I wil undertake to bring them in to you and to subdue their hearts to you and whereas they are now enemies to you they shal come and submit themselves and that wicked Nature of theirs I wil take away through my spirit and I wil both bring them into a peaceable disposition towards you so that they shal love you as a friend and love al that belong unto you they shal love al your waies and love your people and love your holyness I wil undertake to bring them in to you as wel as to
satisfie you for what they have done This is appearent for in the Scripture where ever there is any speaking of Reconciliation you have mention of our being reconciled to God as wel as Gods being reconciled to us and indeed the Scripture doth make more mention of our Reconciling being enemies to God than of any thing of Gods working Reconciliation for us And that place that I quoted before in the Collosians is exceedging cleer for this namely that Christ hath undertaken for our Reconciliation for you heard before in Collo 1.20 That he had made peace through the blood of his Cross He hath undertaken to satisfie and the undertaking of it cost him his blood our Reconciliation cost Christs death But then in verse 21. He saith further You that were somtimes alinated and enemies in your minds by wicked works so it is in your Books but in the Original it is Enemies in your minds in wicked works not that you came to be enemies by your works for that is the advantage indeede that the adversaries have and say it is not a sinful Nature in us but we come by action to act wicked habits but it is you are enemees in your minds in works that is you did lay out al the enmity of your minds against God you have natural enmity in your minds against God and in your minds you do lay out and improve this strength of your enmity in your wicked works against God But saith he you that were thus allienated and enemies in your minds in wicked works he hath reconciled to present you holy and unblameable and inreprovable in his sight Here are two waies by which Christ reconciles us unto God he hath reconciled us by the blood of his Cross and then in the Body of his flesh through death to present us holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight he hath undertaken this latter as wel as that other and he hath undertaken that we shal not remain enemies unto God eternally but that there shal be a time when we shal be brought in to God and have gracious dispositions put into us so as we shal become frieâ—ds unto God and friends unto al that are Gods There are many that speak much of Christ in regard of his satisfaction and what the transaction was between God and him and they think that because Christ hath undertaken to satisfie Gods wrath what need we care for any thing what is it though we live as we list it is to no purpose what we do whether we do il or whether we do wel for Christ hath done al in the work of Reconciliation But my Brethren see the mistake Christ hath not only undertaken satisfaction and to reconcile God unto us but he hath undertaken with God the Father likewise to reconcile us unto him not to satisfie God alone but to bring us into a gracious fram and disposition of heart likewise and therefore except Christ do both the truth is he doth neither It is true the one may be done from al eternity Christ may undertake the one and undertake that he wil do the other also but until Christ hath actually done the other thou canst not conclude that he hath done the former That man that perswades himself that Jesus Christ hath done the former when as he hath not done the latter deceivs himself and therefore to beleeve in Christ as a Reconciler is to beleeve in Christ as undertaking these two things First undertaking with God the Father to make satisfaction unto him And then Secondly undertaking for us to bring us in to the Father likewise and as Christ must do the one as well as the other so he wil be as faithfull in the performing the Second as he was in the undertaking and dischargeing the First Few people think of this they think much of Christs undertaking to satisfie Gods Justice and so to Reconcile them unto God but they have seldome thoughts of this that Christ hath also undertaken to chang their hearts and to make them friends unto God But you that go on in wicked works being enemies to God in your minds in wicked works perhaps you think God wil be Reconciled unto you through Christ and when you die you shal be saved through him Remember this point That Christ the Reconciler hath undertaken with God the Father both to satisfie his Justice and to subdue your hearts so that you shal no longer be enemies unto him and therefore if Christ have not done the other in your hearts it is an evident argument that for ought that yet appears he never undertook to satisfie the Justice of God for you O! what an argument is here for men to be restless and unquiet in their natural condition You that go on in a sinful and ungodly way you may certainly know that there is for the present no evidence that Jesus Christ hath undertaken with the Father to make any Reonciliation for you for if he had he hath also undertaken on your parts to bring in your hearts to the Father and to make you friends with him as wel as him friends with you On the other side any of you that find the work of the Spirit in your hearts that begin to find Christ subduing your hearts unto God that whereas heretofore you did live in waies of enmity unto God but now you begin to find the power of Christ in his word beating down those proud hearts of yours you find Christ changing of your minds and so bringing of your hearts into subjection unto God Bless God for this and know that this is part of Chists undertaking with God the Father and in that he doth this in your hearts it is an Evidence that he hath undertaken to satisfie Gods Justice for all your sins Thus you see how Christ is a Recâ—â—â—â—â—er and Mediator CHAP. 16. How what Christ hath done for Our Reâ—oncilition come to be made Ours 1. Christ the head of the second Covenant There is a fourth thing which I propounded in the twelfe Chapter and that is How we come to be reconciled to God in Christ It is true Chist hath done it you see But how do we come to have what Christ hath done made ours that so we may be reconciled unto God In a word thus Christ is looked upon by God the Father as the Head of the Second Covenant and so we are looked upon in him as Covenanters and as joyned together in one body in him this is the way of Christs Reconciling God us the way of the Conveyance of al the fruits of that Reconciliation unto us This is the Councel of God concerning the Children of men that they may come to be reconciled and saved As his Son hath undertaken the thing so it is not only that he should stand between the Father and us It s remarkable there must be a Union between him and us and he must present us to God the the Father as one Body with
he rejoyced in it exceedingly Psal 40.6 Sacrifices and Offerings thou didest not desire mine eares hast thou opened burnt Offerings and Sin Offerings thou hast not required then said I Lo I come mine eares saith he hast thou opened what is that which God spak to him unto which his eare was opened That which God the Father spake to him was this Son the work of Reconciliation between my selfe and sinful man I have appointed and designed you to it I have appointed you to go to be a Mediator between us and to undertake to make Satisfaction and such satisfaction as that sinful man and I may be at peace as that Mercy and Justice may be Reconciled together For let me tel you as I have hinted before God and we could never have been reconciled except Mercy and Justice had been reconciled Now God the Father tells Jesus Christ that he hath appointed him to this work And saith Christ my eare hast thou opened O I do entertaine this worke and entertaine this gladly yea though I know that I must be made a Sacrifice for the sin of man And observe what follows in vers 7. then said I Lo I come I am ready and willing to do this work for in the volum of the Book it is written that I should do thy wil that is in the Scriptures it was written before ever Christ came into the world that he should come to perfect this great work And verse 8. I delight to do thy wil O Lord yea thy Law is in my heart What was this wil of God Certainly this wil of God here spoken of was that Christ should be a Mediator between God and man and to make up this Reconciliation and O saith he I do even delight to do this wil of thine though it be a wil which wil cost me deare And saith he thy Law this Law that requires of me to come thus to be a Sacrifice and to shed my blood to the end that I may be a Mediator between man and God even this Law it is with in my heart This is one Reason why God Chose this way of Reconciling himself to the world because it tended to the glorifying of his Son and his Son acknowledgeth it that it was his glory and therefore just when he was going to die he breaketh out into thâ—se words with desire have I desired to eate this Passover because that was to make way for his death which was the accomplishment of this work of Reconciliation Reason 2. A second Reason why God would have this way of Reconciling man to himself is Because in this way the Father himself is most glorified the Attributes of God do shine in a greater luster in this way of Reconciliation then if so be God had been reconciled unto man only in passing by the offence and so no more to do for now shines forth the glory of his Wisdom of his power and of his Justice as wel as of his mercy not only mercy but the other divine Attributes of God shine in this way of Reconciliation exceedingly bright and there is no such Glass to behold the glory of God in as the glory of the Gospel in the Mistery of Reconciliation We indeed behold and see the glory of God in the Glass of the Creatures But in the Gospel in the work of Reconciliation in Christ there is the bright Glass wherein al the beams of the glory of Gods Attributes are vnited together and shine with a Transcendent luster Yea there is not only a luster and a shining forth of them but a heat and a warmth that is reflected in the beholding of them In this way of Reconciliation God himself is glorified and therefore that Text which I named John 13.31 You have this likewise said that as Christ acknowledged himself to be glorified by this work so saith he my Father is glorified in me and therefore in Chapter 17. About the beginning Father saith Christ the hour is come glorifie thy Son that the Son may glorifie thee And verse 4. I have glorified thee on Earth how hath he glorified God I have finnished the work that thou gavest me to do that work of Mediation that work of Reconciliation between thy self and sinful man that work I have finnished and in that work I have gâ—orified thee upon Earth And the truth is this is the glory that God expecteth from the Children of men even to be admired and magnified in this great work of Reconciling the world to himself in his Son And that is the second Reason Reason 3. A third Reason is this Because the Lord saw that there was no such way to melt the heart of sinful Creatures and to draw them to come and close with himself as this way no such way to incorrage the hearts of poor sinners to come in to be reconciled unto God as this even the Consideration of the great things that the Lord hath done to make peace and Reconciliation between himself and sinners God I say foresaw this and because he would have a way to break the hardest heart in the world and to draw the most stout and stubbarne sinner unto himself therefore he hath chosen this way above al others of Reconciliation This the Gospel tels us in that parrable wherein you have the letting out of the Vineyard unto Husbandmen and it tels you when the Master sent one servant and they beat him and he sent an other and they beate him and at length he said within himself I wil send my Son surely they wil reverence him as if he should have said Here are a company of hard hearted stubbarn stout wicked creatures in this world and they have had this argument and the other argument to work upon theire hearts to perswade them to come unto me but so hard are their hearts as that they give a rebound to al the arguments that they have and there is nothing strikes into their hard hearts there is nothing melts them nothing perswades them to come unto me But I have one argument more and that shal break the stoutest and hardest heart that is and that argument shal be a prevailing argument if they be those that are appointed to life if they be such as are not lost Creatures for ever and what is that argument even this that I am reconciling my self to the world in my son I wil send my Son into the world to work out this reconciliation and there I wil reveale so much of my glory that when they come to see this O their hearts shal be fil'd with admiration they shal stand and wonder at the goodnes and riches of my grace and their hearts shal melt before me and shal at length be gained unto me when they come to heare thereof Certaynly it is the most Dangerous thing in the world for the hearts of men not to be melted not to be gained upon with this Doctrin of our Reconciliation with God in Christ And remember it if
upon their death beds when Gods justice is out against them and Gods wrath upon them and they see themselves plunging into the bottomless gulfe then they wil pray and cry for mercy Oh! thou shewest thy selfe to be a stranger to the waies of God and to the minde of God and to the covenant of God if thou wert one of Gods people then thou wouldest know that when God is in a way of Mercy then is the best time of praying for one Mercy lets in another and then is the best time of praying I would argue thus Is it more likely that God when the day of his patience and longe sufering continues to thee that then he should deny thee mercy I say is it like he should deny thee mercy then and yet when the day of his wrath and justice cometh then he should bestow Mercy upon thee what an absurd apprehension of things is here Thou criest God wil deny thee Mercy and grace now now is the day of his long-suffering patience and wil he deny it now and yet is he like to give it thee when the day of his wrath and justice cometh upon thy sick bed and death bed that may be the day of vengance of wrath If thou hast wisdome to thy soul seeke God whilst Mercy is coming and while he is in a way of Mercy that is the fittest time to pray and therefore take it this day and be convinced you carnal hearts that have no minde to pray but when they are in their afflictions but those hearts are most spiritual that can pray most when God is coming most in mercy to them but the time of affliction is the most unlikly time of getting any thing from God I had thought to have spoken divers things about that USE 2. If this be so when God is in a way of mercy one mercy wil let out another hence al the Saints of God are taught and admonished to observe and take diligent notice of the connexion of Gods mercies towards them for certainly this is Gods way to them one mercy maketh way for another and if thou belongest to God that hath been his way to thee all thy life time even from his Electing thee only now it is thy duty to be observant how God hath made one mercy a door of hope to another mercy and it is a special work to observe Gods waies towards a Christian a special work of the Sabbath many of you especially you that are not book-learned you say you know not how to spend the Sabbath after the publique exercise is done but must walk up and down the streets c. here is a work for them that are not book-learned to spend the Sabbath in If thou beest godly then sometimes every Sabbath recollect all the waies of Gods merciful providence towards thee ever since thy Youth and Childhood and how one hath had a connexion to another how one mercy hath let in another mercy and that lets in a third and that third a fourth and you shal see how the track of Gods goodness hath been towards you al your daies and that wil be a most sweet meditation for you wherein God shal have a great deal of Glory the 92. Psalme is a Psalme appointed for the Saâ—â—ath and you shal find that it is a Psalme of contemplation of the works of God and the waies of Gods mercies trwards his people it is a special way to understand the connexion of things and the connexion of causes how one cause hath dependance upon another cause and that upon another and that upon another and this is the difference between Sence and Reason the bruit Beasts that have only sence they taste the sweetness of a thing but they never enquire after the cause but now the more rational any man is the more desires kindle in him to find out the connexion of causes If this be a sweet thing to a soul in a natural way to find out the connexion of causes O! how sweet is it to a gracious soul to find out the connexion and concatination of al the mercies and goodnesses of the Lord towards him in al the passages of his life and do it the rather because that the truth is Brethren this that I am speaking of now it is that wherein a principal part of the glorious inheritance of the Saints consisteth in the glory of Heaven wherein the happiness of the glorified souls there shal consist it wil be this that eternal Sabbath that shal be spent in Heaven wil amongst other things be spent in this work that I am speaking of in a contemplation of al the connexion and concatination of Gods merces towards those that are now in Heaven Now they have been connected and concatinated ever since they have had a being and so brought up to that height of glory Oh! what an infinite content the Saints shal have when God shal reveal al when they shal see into the councels of God and the wil of God so freely and into al his waies how they were chosen from al eternity and so to eternity and there they shal see every passage of Providence that they did not understand the meaning of before how it made way to such a mercy and that to another and that to another and so til they were brought to that fulness of glory they shal I say be eternally contemplating thus of the connexion of Gods mercies and praising and blessing of God that did thus work and coennex things together for their good If thou hopest to come to Heaven to be thus excercised to give God glory there Oh! begin this work here for we pray Gods wil may be done on earth now as it is done in Heaven As on the contrary it wil be a great part of the torment of the damned that they shal there see how one work of Justice made way for another how one passage of Gods Providence made way to one Judgment and that to another and that to another and so til they were plunged into the bottomless pit for ever and the very sight how God wrought from one to another wil be torment enough to them Wel that is the Second to consider of the connexion of Gods mercies A Third Use of the Point is this USE 3. If this be so hence we are taught to entertain every mercy of God kindly and to make much of al Gods mercies if we belong to God every mercy comes but as a Messenger of further mercy Oh! entertain it wel entertain it kindly imbrace it make good use of it Indeed when the Prophet Elisha knew the Messenger of the King came to do mischief to him he bids them entertain him roughly at the door hardly at the door but Brethren every mercy that cometh to us if we be godly it cometh as a Messenger of good tidings it cometh to bring more mercy with it and therefore let us entertain it kindly at the door let us