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
love of delight since he hath refined and beautified her by imparting to her of his own comliness Ezek. 16.14 Is it likely this affection should sink into carelesness And the fruit of so much love be dasht in peices Can such tenderness be so unconcerned as to let the apple of his eye be pluckt out To be a lazy spectator of the pillage of his Jewels by the powers of Hell to have the Center of his delight tost about at the pleasure of men and Devils Shall a Mother be careless of her sucking Child How then can that God whose tenderness to the Church cannot be equalled by the bowels of the most compassionate mother to her infants Surely God is concerned in honour to maintain against a feeble Devil and a decrepit world that which is the object of his almighty affection 8. In regard of the natural weakness of the Church No generous Prince but will think himself bound in honour to support the weaker subject no tender parent but will acknowledg himself obliged in affection to take a greater care of the weaker than the stronger Child The Gardiner adds props to the feeblest plants that are most exposed to the fury of the storms and have least strength to withstand them The powers of the world have always been the Churches enemies the wise have set their reason and the mighty their arms against her the Devil the God of this world is so far from being her friend that Sion hath been the only object of his spite He contrives only floods to drown her or mines to demolish her Her own friends are often so darkened or divided that they cannot some times for Ignorance and will not other times for peevishness hit upon and use the right means for her preservation 'T is an honourable thing then for that God who entitles himself the Father of the fatherless to shew his own power and grace in her establishment The fatherless condition of the Church is an argument she hath sometimes used to procure the assistance she wanted * Hos 14.3 With thee the fatherless finds mercy And the weakness of Jacob urged by the Prophet excited repentance in God and averted two Judgments which were threatned against that people Amos. 7.2 3 5 6. 'T is no mean motive to him to help the helpless this opportunity he delights to take when there was no man to help no intercessor to plead then his own arm brought Salvation When he saw no defenders but all ravagers no Physicians but all wounders then should the Spirit of the Lord lift up a standard Isa 59.16.19 To conclude if Sion the Gospel Church were not of as long a duration as the standing of the world God would lose the honour of his creation after the Devil by sin had made the creatures unuseful for those ends to which God had appointed them by his first institution The wisdom of God had been blurred the serpent would have Triumphed the Kingdom of God had been dissolved the enemy would have enjoy'd a remediless tyranny had not God put his hand to the work and erected a new Kingdom to himself out of the ruins of the fall And since God was pleased to take this course rather than create a new world and hath laid the foundation of a new Kingdom by drawing some out of that common rebellion the humane nature was fallen into and that he might do it with honour to himself hath sent his Son upon that errand by his blood to bring back man to God and his spirit to make men fit for a Communion with him and hath backt his affection to the Church with so much cost and pains for her welfare If after all this God should-desert his Church the dishonour of Gods wisdom the loss of the fruit of all his cost and pains the weakness of his affection or of his power to perform his promise and the ruin of his glory intended by those methods would be the issue which would be attended with the triumph of his revolted creature and greatest enemy This would be if God should cease picking out some men for his praise and keeping up his name and royalty in the earth 2. 'T is for the exercise of the Offices of Christ that Sion should be establisht He is Prophet Priest and King which are all titles of relation Prophet implies some to be instructed a Priest some to offer for and a King some to be ruled put one relation and you must necessarily put the other If there were no Church preserv'd in the world he would be a nominal Prophet without any disciples a King without subjects and a Priest without suppliants to be atoned by him upon earth Now Christ is the wonderfull Counsellour the everlasting Father and the Government is laid upon his Shoulders to what end to order and establish the Kingdom of God Isa 9.6 7. All the strength and vigor he had as it was from God so it was intended for God * Thou madest the Son of man strong for thy self Psa 80.17 And the reason is because though God hath given up the administration of things to Christ yet he hath not devested himself of his right nor can For God is the chief Lord and the relation of creatures not ceasing the relation of Lord and Creator cannot cease And therefore since the right of God continues the grant of the uttermost ends of the earth to be the inheritance possession of Christ includes not only a gift but an Office to preserve protect establish and improve his possession for those ends for which he had the grant and to prevent all that may impair it As he had a right and strength by the order of God to rear it so he hath an Office and Power to establish it as well as to erect it and Christ is the same in all his offices yesterday to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 The same in credit with God in faithfulness to his Office the vertue of his blood the force of his arm and compassions to bleeding Sion 1. 'T is his part as a Prophet to establish it in Doctrine 'T is his part externally to raise his truth when it lyes gasping in the rubbish of errour and refine his worship when it is daub'd with Superstition and Idolatry Internally to clear the understanding to know his truth quicken the will to imbrace it rivet the word in the conscience and enflame the affections to love and delight in it Certainly the promise of the abiding of his Spirit implies the efficacy of his operation while he abides He is to provide against the subtilty and rapine of fox like Hereticks that they spoil not the tender vine Cant. 2.15 And to furnish the Church with gifts for the preserving and increasing her The perpetual exercise of this prophetical office he promised them when he gave the Apostles a Charter for his presence to the end of the world Mat. 28.20 Which was in relation to their ministry and
wisheth his head were a full springing Fountain to weep for the slain of the Daughter of his People for the sin the cause as well as the calamity the effect Jer. 9.1 He wishes his head to be filled with the vapours from his heart and become a fountain What a transport of sorrow had Ezra when he heard of the peoples sins and the mingling the holy Seed with that of Idolaters A horror run thorow his whole Soul His astonishment is twice repeated Ezra 9.3 4. Every faculty was alarumed at the sin of the People 'T is probable John Baptist used himself to those severities which are mentioned Matth. 3.4 because of the sinfulness of that generation among whom he lived Paul discovers it to be a duty when he reproves the Corinthians for being puft up instead of mourning for that fornication which had been committed by one of their profession 1 Cor. 5.2 And when he writes of some that made the glorious Gospel subservient to their own bellies he mixes his tears with his Ink Phil. 3.18 19. I tell you weeping they are enemies to the Cross of Christ The Primitive Christians did much bewail the lapses of their fellows Celerinus among the Epistles of Cyprian acquaints Lucian of his great grief for the Apostacy of a Woman through fear of persecution which afflicted him so that in the time of Easter the time of their joy in that Age he wept night and day and was resolved that no delight should enter into his heart till through the mercy of Christ she should be recover'd to the Church And we find the Witnesses clothed in Sackcloth when they prophesied in a sinful time to shew their grief for the publick abominations Rev. 11.3 The kingdom of Satan can be no pleasure to a Christian and must therefore be a torment 2. It was our Saviours practice As he had the highest love to God so he must needs have the greatest grief for his dishonour He sighed in his spirit for the incredulity of that generation when they askt a sign after so many had been presented to their Eyes Mark 8.12 He sighed deeply in his spirit And the hardness of their hearts at another time raised his grief as well as his indignation Mark 3.5 He was sensible of the least dishonour of his Father Psal 69 9. The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me I took them to heart Christ pleased not himself when his Father was injured as the Apostle descants upon it when he applies it to Christ Rom. 15.3 His Soul was more pierc'd with the wrongs done to God than the reproaches which were directed against his own person His grief was unexpressibly greater than can be in any creature because of the unimitable ardency of his love to God the nearness of his relation to him and the unspotted purity of his Soul Christ had a double relation to Man to God His compassion to men afflicted him with groans and tears at their bodily distempers his affection to his Father would make him grieve as much to see him dishonoured as his love to man made him groan to see man afflicted This grief for sin was one part of Christ's Sacrifice and Suffering for he came to make a full satisfaction to the Justice of God by enduring his wrath to the holiness of God by offering up an infinite sorrow for sin which it was impossible for a creature to do We cannot suppose that Christ should only accept the punishment but not bewail the offence which was the cause of it A Sacrifice for the sins of others without remorse for those sins had not been acceptable it had not been agreeable to the purity of his humane Nature He wept at Jerusalem's obstinacy as well as for her misery and that in the time of his triumph The loud Hosanna's could not silence his grief and stop the expressions of it Luke 19.41 It was like a shower when the Sun shined If Christ as our Head was filled with inward sorrow for mens displeasing the holiness of God 't is surely our duty as his Members to imitate the afflictions of the Head He is unworthy of the name of Christ who is not afflicted as Christ was nor can call Christ his Master who doth not imitate his graces as well as pretend to believe his Doctrine he cannot see that God who hath distinguisht him from the world dishonoured his precepts contemned but he must have his Soul overcast with a gloomy cloud 'T is our glory to value the things he esteem'd to despise the things he contemn'd to rejoyce in that wherein he was delighted and to grieve for that which was the matter of his sorrow and indignation Thus was he afflicted though he had a joy in the assurance of his Fathers favour and the assistance of his Fathers power The highest assurance of God's love in particular to us ought not to hinder the impressions of grief for the dishonour of his name Did Christ ever look upon the swinish world without melting into pity Did he bleed for the sins of the world and shall not we mourn for them 3. Angels as far as they are capable have their grief for the sins of men The Jewish Doctors often bring in the Angels weeping for sin * Grotius Luc. 15.7 Ob peccatum Hebraei Angelos flentes inducunt And one tells us that in an Ancient Mahumetan Book he finds an Answer of God to Moses Even about this Throne of mine there stand those and they are many that shed tears for the sins of men But the Scripture tells us they rejoyce at the repentance of men Luke 15.10 Their Lord is glorified by a return of a Subject The Subject advantaged by casting down his arms at the feet of his Lord. They do therefore as far as they are capable mourn for the revolts of men suo modo as Beza upon the place They can scarce rejoyce at mens repentance without having a contrary affection for mens prophaneness if they are glad at mens return because God is thereby glorified it cannot be conceived but they mourn for and are angry with their sins because God is thereby slighted Unconcernedness at the dishonour of God cannot consist with their shining knowledge and burning love They cannot behold a God so holy so glorious so worthy to be beloved without having some regret for the neglects and abuses of him by the Sons of men How can they be instruments of Gods Justice if they are without anger against the deservers of it II. 'T is an acceptable duty to God Since it is an imitating the copy of our Saviour it is acceptable to God nothing can please him more than to see his Creatutes tread in the steps of his Son 1. 'T is a fulfilling the whole law which consists of love to God and love to our neighbours 't is set down as a Character of Charity both as it respects God and man Not to rejoyce in iniquity 1 Cor. 13.5 i. e. to be
God A Son is as much a Son under the Rod as in the Bosom neither the Fathers stroke nor the Childs grief dissolve that dear relation Nay a Father may shew more of a true paternal affection in his Chastisements than in his Caresses The Branches which are battered with Sticks may be nearer the Root than those that flourish at their ease Christ while a Man of sorrows was pronounced by God his well beloved Son and bore our punishment not only without forfeiting his Fathers affection but with a high gratification of him Neither doth God's visiting the seed of Christ with stripes cut off their relation to him Psal 89.32 Then will I visit their transgressions with Rods. Whose transgressions v. 30 His Children Whose Children Even the Children of him whom he would make the first born higher than the Kings of the Earth v. 27. Which cannot be understood literally of David or his Lineal Posterity in the Jewish Kingdom who were never higher than the Kings of the Earth 2. They debar not from the presence of God God may be and is as near to us in supporting as he is in punishing 'T is not the cloud that interposeth between the Sun and us that alters the Suns course or obstructs its influences Christ took not off the badges of Original Guilt from those disciples which had the greatest interest in his affections he left them in a sinful world to endure the fruits of sin he sent them not to ease pleasure and a quiet and painless life but to labour toyl and sweat yet promised that he would abide with them that he and his Father would manifest themselves to them And he turned that sweat and pain which was the fruit of sin by his presence with them to be instrumental for the glory of God and the good of themselves in the world 3. They break not the Covenant His Rod and his Stripes tho they seem to break our Backs make no breaches in his Covenant Psalm 89.32 33 34. he will visit transgression with Rods but he will not suffer his faithfulness to fail nor break his Covenant No they are rather covenant mercies when they break our Hearts and are means by his Grace to make our Stony Hearts more Fleshy He makes even those dispensations which were pronounced for punishment to bring forth covenant mercies and the rich fruits of his grace to grow upon the sour crab-stock of his judgments Jacob in Gen. 49. is said to bless his Children tho he predicts smart afflictions to come upon them they are rankt among the blessings because the covenant should remain firm The lash removes not the inheritance Austin saith well Noli attendere quam poenam habes in flagello sed quem locum in Testamento 6. Add to all this That the first promise secures a believer under the sufferings of those punishments Gods affection in the promise of bruising the Serpents head was more illustrious than his wrath in the threatning There are the Bowels of a Father in the promise before there was the voice of a Judge in the Sentence God brought Sugar with his Potion and administred his Cordial before he struck with his Lance. And therefore that threatning which commenc'd after the promise can no more prejudice the fruits of the promise to a Believer than the Law which was given 430 years after the promise to Abraham could disannul that and make it of no effect as the Apostle argues in another case Gal. 3.17 Much less can the threatning denounced immediately after the promise change the veracity of God in that which was fresh in his mind at the very time of his threatning Ob. But it may be askt What is the reason these punishments are continued since the redemption wrought by Christ Ans 'T is frequent with God to inflict a temporal punishment after pardon Not as the Papists assert in order to satisfaction Moses his unbelief hindred him from coming unto Canaan so that when he desired to go over Jordan God was wroth with him cut him off short and commands him silence Deut 3.25 26. Speak to me no more of this matter There are reasons 1. On Gods part 2. On our part 1. On Gods part 1. 'T is congruous to the wisdom of God to leave them upon us while we are in the World Since God created man to gain glory by his actions but was presently after his creation disgrac'd and disparag'd by him it seems agreeable to the wisdom of God not immediately to bring him to his former state but to leave some marks of his displeasure upon Man to mind him of the state whence he was fallen the misery he contracted and the necessity of flying to his mercy for succour 2. 'T is congruous to the holiness of God God keeps up those punishments as the Rector and Governour of the World to shew his detestation of that sin which brought a disorder and deformity upon the Creation and was the first act of dishonour to God and the first pollution of the Creature 'T is an high vindication of the Holiness and Authority of God and the Majesty and Purity of his Law to punish sin in them that are dear to him upon anothers righteousness whereby he evidenceth that he hates sin in all and will not wink at it or approve of it So he pardoned David but for the honour of his name which had been blasphemed by occasion of David's sin he would leave the smart of it upon his Family 2 Sam. 12.10 14. 3. 'T is a declaration of his Justice 'T is not congruous to the Justice of God not to leave some marks of his anger against that sin which caused him to be at the expence of his Sons Blood and is the source of all those evils whereby God is injur'd for which the Redeemer bled and by which the Spirit is grieved Since Pardon doth not neither can alter the demerit of sin but that will continue and what is once meritoriously a capital crime in its own nature can never be otherwise God may for the demonstration of his justice inflict and continue something upon the creature though he free him from actual condemnation We should not be so sensible of the justice of God in the death of Christ did we not feel some strokes of it upon our selves nor what the purchase of our redemption did cost our Saviour What we hear doth not so much affect as what we feel That which brought disorder into Gods Government of the world and made him change the Scene of his Providence may very justly have some signal remark upon it notwithstanding the Redemption especially when the fruits of it are not fully compleat For since Man was the immediate end of the creation of this lower world and since all Creatures were made for the service of Man that he might be fit for the service of his righteous Creator he did by his fall violate the order of the Creation and subjected it to the service
whether your Souls are sure Here I shall 1. Remove false signs whereon men rest and think themselves pardoned 1. The littleness of sin is no ground of pardon Oh may some say my sins are little some tricks of youth some petty oaths or the like The Scripture saith that Drunkards Fornicators Extortioners and Covetous shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven not Great Drunkards only but those that are drunk but now and then as well as those that are Drunkards every day 1. Dost thou know the malignity of the least sin No sin can be called absolutely though it may comparatively little Is it a little God who is offended by sin Is it a little wrath which is poured down on sin Is it a little Christ that hath dyed for sin Is it a little Soul that is destroyed by sin and is it a little Hell that is prepared for sin Is not the least sin Deicidium as much as in a man lieth a destroying of God Did not Christ shed his blood for the least as well as for the greatest Is not Hell kindled by the breath of the Lord for the least as well as the greatest sins Is that little which is Gods burden Christs wound the Spirits grief the penitents sorrow and the Devils Hell Every drop of poison is poison every drop of Hell is Hell every part of sin is sin and hath the destroying and condemning nature of sin Can Angels expiate the least sin or can a thousand worlds be a sufficient recompence for the injury that is done to God by the least sin 2. The less thy sin the less the excuse for thy self 'T is the aggravation of their injustice that they sold the Righteous for a pair of Shoes Amos 2.6 Dost thou undervalue God so as to sell a Righteous and Eternal God so cheap for a little sin Is a little sin dearer to thee than the favour of the great God Is a little sin dearer to thee than an Eternal Hell is grievous To endanger thy Soul for a trifle to lose God for a bubble is a confounding aggravation of it as it was of Judas his sin that he would sell his Saviour for a little Silver for so small a Sum. Sin is not little in respect of the formality of it but in respect of the matter in respect of the temptation and this littleness is an aggravation of sin 3 Dost thou know how God hath punished the least sin A drop of sin may bring a Deluge of Misery An Atom of sin is strong enough to overturn a World It was but an Apple that poisoned Adam and his whole Posterity Less sins are punisht in Hell than are pardoned here God casts off Saul for less sins than he pardoned David for How many Ships have been destroyed upon small Sands as well as great Rocks 2. Fewness of sins is no argument of pardon Conceive if thou canst the amiableness and lustre of the Angels how far beyond the glory of the Sun it was yet one sin divested them of all their glory It was but one sin kindled Hell for the fallen Angels Every sin must receive a just recompence of reward Heb. 2.2 Shall one single sin intitle thee to Hell what will millions of sins then intitle thee to One sin is too much against God Had thy iniquities been never so few Christ must have died to answer the Pleas of his Fathers Justice against thee Every sin is Rebellion against God as a Soveraign undutifulness to God as a Father * Burges Contempt of God as a Governour and preferring the Devil before God the Devil that would destroy and damn thee before God that made thee and preserves thee a preferring the Devil's temptations before God's promises 3. The commonness of sin is no argument of pardon Many Angels combin'd in the first Conspiracy against God but as they were Companions in sin so are they Companions in torments The commonness of Sodoms sin made the louder cry and hastened the severer Judgment Not one Inhabitant escaped but only righteous Lot and his Family Common sins will have common Plagues It doth rather aggravate thy sin than plead for pardon when thou wilt rather follow mens Example to offend God than conform to God's Law to please him Sin was common in the Old World for all flesh had corrupted their ways Gen. 6.12 and all were swept away by the destroying Deluge To walk according to the course of the World is so far from being a foundation of pardon that it is made a Character of a Child of the Devil To walk according to the course of the World is to walk according to the pattern of the Devil and to be in the number of the Children of Wrath Eph. 2.2 Wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this World according to the Prince of the Power of the Air. 4. Forbearance of punishment is no argument of pardon Eccles 8.11 Because Sentence against an evil-work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the Sons of men is fully set in them to do evil Forbearance is made use of by men to make them sin more desperately more headily Fully set all checks silenced and stopt Forbearance is no acquittance it argues not God's forgiving the debt the debt is due though it be not presently sued for and the longer the debt remains unpaid the greater Sum will the Interest amount unto because the longer God doth forbear punishment the longer time thou hast for Repentance the account for that time will run high That God doth not punish is an argument of his patience not of his pardoning mercy God laughs at Sinners he sees their day is coming though they may be jocund and confident of a pardon God's forbearance may be in Justice he may be brewing the Cup and mixing that which thou art to drink Prisoners may be reprieved one Assize and executed the next Reprieval of Execution is no allowance of the Crime or change of the Sentence 5. Prosperity is no sign of pardon Oh! I am not only born with and forborn but I have a great addition of outward contentments since my sin That which you make an argument of pardon may be an argument of condemnation Asaph was much troubled at the prosperity of the wicked but at last saith Pride compasseth them as a Chain and violence covers them as a garment Psal 73.6 That kindness which should have made them melt made them presume That which should broach thy Repentance enflames thy Pride Thy goods may increase thy sins 6. Forgetfulness of thy sin and Commission long ago is no sign of pardon and therefore having no checks for them is no sign of pardon God doth not forget though thou dost no sin slips from the memory of his knowledge though now he doth cast many sins away from the memory of his justice In regard of Gods eternity the first sins are accounted as committed this moment for in that there is no succession of