and send a pardon in the name of my Son and thy Jesus 2 Mercy is exercised about him as his creature to receive him into favour not to punish him above measure though he be out of measure sinful Isa 46.9 Remember the former things of old for I am God and there is none else I am God and there is none like me That God punishes sinful man is the act of his justice that he is not severe in punishing is an act of his mercy yea so loth he is to be cruel that he would have his creatures put him in mind of his mercy as if nothing so much delighted him as to have his servants to think and believe him to be merciful for so you read Put me in remembrance let us plead together declare thou that thou maiest be justified Isa 43.29 wherein he that runs may read this sacred truth that God is not alwaies extreme to mark what is done amiss but is full of compassion And this he doth 1. For his names sake which in holy Moses stile is no other then the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34.6 And that the power of this glorious name may never fall nor the remembrance thereof fail in the hearts of the sons of men he will still go on to make his merciful name in much glory in much majesty to pass before them for all the waies of the Lord are mercy and truth Ps 26.10 For though many sorrowes shall be to the wicked yet he that trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compass him about Ps 32.10 He is onely the God that heareth and can answer prayer therefore to him must all flesh come it is his glorious name alone which is as an oyntment poured out the excellency of whose favour perfumes the hearts of all that love him whose very goings rejoyce the morning and evening seasons Other names and titles may give us free passage among the sons of men and get or lose their favour but it is onely the name Iehovah who is mighty to save that can give us a name to live when dead in sin whose goodness crownes not onely the years Ps 60.11 but the hearts of his people with joy unspeakable and full of glory And so I pass to the second ground of mercy 2. For his natures sake whose very property is to have mercy therefore when God in mercy spares his people from demerited wrath he compares himself to a father vailing his compassion under that tender relation but when justice can no longer spare but by being injurious to its honour by the provocation of our sins calling for vengeance to be poured upon our persons then he represents himself like a woman big with pain and travailing with grief if I may so speak to bring forth that just ire he hath been long in conceiving Yea mercy appears and is seen in hell it self because though he punish to extremity of time yet not to a fulness of horror in intension of torment whereas justice like the harlots will have the sinner divided soul from body to be different sharers in eternal misery Let thy lawes O Lord be writ in bloody characters upon the sinners head is justices language that so he may eternally wound the hairy scalp of him that hath wilfully gone astray but mercy like the true mother continually cries spare the child Lord and save the sinner from eternal woe and at length this mournful voice proves effectual in the ears of Heaven and with Iacob obtaines the blessing for indeed mercy is the true mother of our lives which else had long since been a sacrifice for our sins had not the scape-goat carried them away into the land of forgetfulness and by becoming a victime for the same buried all our transgressions in his grave that so they may never be able to rise in judgement either against our persons or our services whose very nature it is to become an advocate for rebells and like an affectionate surety pay the debt that so the debtor may go free and this he doth not for our righteousness or any merit that is to be found in us or our performances but for his name and natures sake And so I pass to the third ground of mercy namely 3. For his glories sake For his glory 1. In general 2. In particular First for his glory in general that being the utmost my limited time and your patience will give leave to discuss reserving the more particular parts together with the dispatch of the two last doctrines to our second part of this discourse but I say 1. Generally and in that I shall onely but point you to those excellent graces wherewith he is pleased to furnish the hearts of the sons of men that thereby they may become vessels fit for the masters service God is delighted with shewing compassion and mercy is so joyned to his nature that he would have it wrought in as well as bestowed upon us that in this glorious attribute we may again bear his heavenly image to that end sometimes our trials are made the subject for his love to work on at other times he presents others misery as the opportunity for our mercy and therein he cals out our faith to believe that he who hath inclined our hearts to pitty others will shew abundant compassion to us our hope that God will deal no worse with our soules then he hath commanded us to use the soul of our brother and lastly he calls our charity to exercise its benevolence knowing that besides the hundred-fold which in this life we shall receive for one drop of cold water bestowed in his name and given for his sake we shall receive in the life to come a crown of righteousness which shall never be taken from us for his mercy is over all his works else should we be soon consumed which made holy Iob cry out Remember I beseech thee that thou hast made me as the clay and wilt thou bring me unto dust again Job 10.9 and again Job 7.17 20. What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him and that thou shouldest set thy heart upon him I have sinned what shall I do uâ—to thee O thou preserver of men why hast thou set me as a mark against thee c. Once for all take it in the 14. chap. 2. vers and so on Man cometh out like a flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not and doest thou open thine eyes upon such an one and bringest me into judgement with thee as a leaf also is he blown away with every wind so is our soul tossed with various temptations sometimes with the east wind of presumption on the contrary with the west of despair now hurried with the north of rage by and by carried away with the southwind of lust thus like a tennis-ball is poor man
on the Mothers side man and no God and yet both God and Man For Eternity had begotten man but once because begotten from Eternity his Father begot him equall to God his Mother bare him like to Man he was man besides God and therefore Man and no God and yet God and Man for when he was made man he ceased not to be God which he was before like as the Sun loseth not its brightnesse though shadowed in the clouds so not Christ his glory though obscuted in flesh he was not so conceived in his Mother as to be separated from his Father Christ was not lesse equal to his Fathet by being like his Mother the Word was made flesh St. John 1.14 and not lesse Word then Flesh by an assumption of the flesh not consumption of the Word the Word that God by flesh did present to our sight was real Flesh and was not lesse God still for he is no lesse God now that he is clad in humane clay then when onely clothed with deified Glory he remaines God and Man in one person very God and very Man in one singular subsistence he took the person of Man and the substance by converting the person to his proper being and that this may not altogether seeme strange to your understandings please to turn your eyes inward and an example thereof will be presented for if man hath the life of Plants and the sense of Beasts and both in conjunction with the reasonable soul in an individual being why may not Christ take the Soul of man into union with himself and yet consist in his Divinity making a Trinity in the union of his Person For as he was God and Man in the humane nature he consisted of a Deity a soul and a body there a Trinity in unity here unity in Trinity he was one person not divided a person of the Trinity distinguished not divided for every person in the Sacred Trinity is perfect God distinguished into persons but not divided in substance for all take propriety each with the other the Father God the Son God and the holy Ghost God and yet not three but one God as we are taught by the holy Catholick Faith to beleeve yet that God might redeeme us from our iniquities he that was perfect God equal with the Father took upon him our flesh and therefore it is that God was said to suffer what man himself should have borne onely here is the admired union of natures but not natural of persons But what were the reasons why he whose name is I am should be borne so as to say of himself To this end was I borne and for this cause came I into the world to bear witnesse to the truth 1. To make God and Man one by atonement and therefore it was necessary he should be of both natures whose office is to reconcile both persons 2. He was to doe that for us which was impossible for man to doe and to suffer what was unmeet for God to undergoe and that he might both doe and suffer for us he took the blessed Virgin Mary for his mother that from her he might receive a body capable of suffering but it was his Divinity which enabled his Humanity to suffer what our Souls deserved 3. He was to undergoe for an infinite offence for man had sinned and none but God could satisfie for an infinite offence it being reasonable that the same nature that broke the Law should pay the Debt and therefore it was necessary for him to be God as well as Man that did undertake to make God and Man to be reconciled and made one 4. Had he been God and not Man man could not have been redeemed had he been onely man and not God the Devils would have boasted but he was both God and man that our redemption might be finished and the Devils malice silenced whence wisely was our redemption shared between God and man because the arbitrement was such that a mere man could not undertake to appease a God offended neither one nor the other nature would have or could have relieved us single because he must be God that will be mediator from God to man and he must be man that he may be an intercessor to God for man and this mystery though our reason cannot fathom yet our belief must reach it our faith must believe what our hearts and tongues cannot expresse our faith is then proficient when it hath attained so high and not before for we can say more by silence then by words when we find him in our souls by Hallelujahs and praise we shall then know thee O Saviour not for thy self but our selves and it is our faith to believe that as thou art so shall we be though not so fully therefore let every one make it his request O that thou wouldst come down from heaven and dwell in our hearts by faith and love who out of love to mankind came in flesh when faith and truth were banished out of the earth and that thou shouldst so come as to say To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world c. And so much may suffice for that part of his incarnation the end of his coming I now come to that of his Nativity his coming into the world and here three things are to be considered 1. The Dignity of his person 2. The Humility of his condescention 3. The Place of his entertaintainment 1. The Dignity of his person in that he was the Sonne of God 2. The Humility of his condescention in that he would clothe himself with the rags of our mortality 3. The Place unworthy of his enterment being the world Of these in their order 1. The Dignity of his person and that as he is the Sonne of God by nature and as in his Birth the most noble person that ever was on the Fathers side he is God very God the very God of one substance with the Father as you have heard and which to deny is no lesse then blasphemy for when he calls God Father the Iewes knew that thereby he made himself equall with God St. John 10.33 He as Gods Sonne was alwayes with the Father and so everlastingly great as he was God and not onely so but he was full of dignity on his Mothers side as he was descended from the Patriarchs and Royal Kings of Iudah so he was a Prince renowned 1. For his authority because he doth what he will both in heaven and in earth Psal 13.5 6. in the sea and in all deep places 2. For his power St. Mar. 4.41 he commands the wind and the waves and they obey him 3. For the largeness of his dominions heaven and earth is his Psal 72.8 and the fulness thereof his dominion is from one part of heaven and earth unto the other 4. For multitude of Subjects Angels Saints and Kings yea and those that depose Kings are his Subjects either voluntarily
please others the sins we have committed in our own persons and the sins we have occasioned others to commit the sins we know and the sins we know not the sins that we have so long striven to hide from others knowledge that we have even now hid them from our own memories these O Lord are more in number then the sands upon the Sea shoar or the Stars of Heaven which cannot be numbred We have sinned against the light of Nature and against the light of Grace against thy Law and against thy Gospel against thy Promises and against thy Threats against thy Mercies and against thy Judgements against all vows and promises and resolutions of better obedience against the reproofs of thy word against the many motions of thy good Spirit in our souls against thy Fatherly admonitions against thy loving corrections against the many fearfull examples of thy Judgements against the infinite obligations of thy favours and against the checks of our own consciences These things have we done and because thou held thy tongue we have also thought wickedly that thou art altogether such an one as our selves or that either thou dost not see or dost approve or wilt not severely punish the crimes that we have so long doted on If thou Lord God shouldest be extream to mark what is done amisse Lord who is able to abide it but with thee there is mercy and with thee there is plenteous redemption and thou desirest not the death of him that dies but rather that be should turn from sin and be saved and seeing that without thee it is not possible for us of our selves to be able to please thee Lord turn us to thee and we shall be turned for thou art the Lord our God Draw us and we shall run after thee draw us by the cords of love and with the bands of loving kindnesse work powerfully upon our spirits by thy holy Spirit work contrition in our hearts and godly sorrow for all our sins even a sorrow to repentance and repentance to salvation never to be repented off Break these hard and stony hearts of ours by the hammer of thy word mollifie them by the oyle of thy grace smite these rocky hearts of ours by the rod of thy most gracious power that we may shed forth rivers of tears for all the sins we have committed Lord make us grieve because we cannot grieve and to weep because we cannot weep enough O that thou wouldest humble us more and more under the true sight and sense of all our ungodlinesse of all our wickednesse and of all our unworthynesse And O thou Father of mercies have mercy on us O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy upon us thou that takest away the sins of the world take away the world of our sins they are too heavie O Lord for us to bear thou only art able to bear them and thou didst bear all our sins upon thine own body upon the tree O thou that wast wounded for our sins and bruised for our transgressions we beseech thee let the chastisement of our peace be upon thee and do thou by thy stripes heal us Hide us most gracious Redeemer hide us from the wrath of God in the glorious skars of those meritorious wounds which thou didst suffer for us and by the vertue of them create peace in heaven for us by reconciling the Father to us And O thou that wast our Saviour on earth we beseech thee be thou our Advocate in heaven be thou our High-priest still offering up thy self a Victim to the Father for us and besprinkle us with thine own most pretious bloud that through that bloud of sprinkling our persons our services and the desires of our souls may be acceptable to the Father Be thou our King set up thy throne in our hearts dismantle and disgarison all the strong holds and fortifications of sin that sin may no longer have dominion over us but do thou rule and over-rule us enable us to do thy will write thy Commandements in our hearts and thy Statutes in our inward parts put thy fear into our souls that we may fear thee and love thee and diligently live after thy commands Be thou our Prophet leading us into all truth Oh do thou inform us and teach us the way wherein we should go and do thou guide us by thine eye be thou the voice behind us still directing us this is the way walk in it guide us by thy counsels here and hereafter receive us unto thy glory And O Holy Spirit the Comforter do thou help our infirmities and with thy unutterable groans make intercession for us And thou that workest both to will and the deed in us of thine own good pleasure put into our hearts good desires and let the continuall assistance of thy grace help us to bring the same to good effect plant in our souls the love of thy name graffe in our hearts true Religion nourish us with all goodnesse and of thy great mercy keep us in the same so long as we have to live make us to love that which thou commandest and to desire that which thou hast promised that among the sundry and manifold changes and chances of this mortall life our hearts may surely there be fixt where true joyes are to be found And thou that sheddest the pretious ointments of thy grace upon all thy faithfull people O do thou open the eyes of our souls that we may see thee who art invisible that beholding thy glorious but invisible presence in all our actions we may be so awfully affected towards thee that whether either the Devil shall tempt us or the world shall allure us or our own carnal lusts and sinfull affections shall incline us to commit any wickednesse thy Holy Spirit O Lord may in all things so direct rule and overrule our hearts and awaken our consciences to aske us How shall we dare to commit any wickednesse and sin against thee Gratious God keep us from sinning against thee though it were to gain the whole world for it will not profit us to gain the whole world and lose our own souls help us rather we pray thee to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling and to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure Help us to eschew and decline all the occasions all the opportunities that have betrayed us unto sin and to hate the very garments spotted with the flesh O Lord with what affliction soever thou shalt punish us do not punish us with spirituall judgements and desertions give us not over to our own hearts lusts to our own vile lewd and corrupt affections give us not over to hardnesse and impenitency of heart but make us sensible of the least sin and give us thy grace to think no sin little committed against thee our God but that we may be humbled for it and repent of it and reform it in our lives and conversations
to passe on in a way of sin casting all fear of danger behind us as if we were able to encounter devouring fire or dwell with everlasting burning especially when we consider but our own frame we cannot but know we are but dust and that which is our mould will soon decay and withal remembring our time is but short and the word redde rationem backt with a Thou fool may this night be given suddenly and then assuredly as the tree falls so it lies and in the same condition must we appear at Gods Tribunal Oh then with what circumspection should our actions be performed lest any evil or vicious habits should square themselves to joyn with us in our holiest Oblations because we pretend service to him whose power in a few words can write great Monarchs into trembling and can make a hair Adrian 4. or the kernel of a raisin as mortal as a Goliahs spear and can with ease blow down our bubling lives into nothing for the time is coming when not astuta verba but pura corda as Saint Bernard saith not fair words but honest hearts will prevail and commend us to him who judgeth all things for he will infatuate all fallacious wisdom and self-destroying wit For thou art the God that hast no pleasure in wickedness nor shall any evil dwell with thee saith holy David Psal 5.4 So that Holiness is now the onely path that leads weary and wandring souls to the Paradise of Celestial Blisse all other wayes being severely kept against us by the flaming sword of Gods irreconcileable anger and hatred against sin and sinners for no unholy thing shall enter much lesse remain in the Holy City all such shall be cast out Rev. 21.27 A good nature like a shallow brook may empty it self into the narrow river of Humane love but perfect Holiness and real Sanctity is only that noble stream which carries the soul to Heaven and loses it in the Ocean of infinite Blisse You may for a time sport your selves with the fire of lustful pleasures but ere you are aware the flame thereof will not onely sindge your gilded wings of ambitious desires which so long bore you up with the breath of popular applause but also consume your soul and body in endless woe and misery for when God shall come in flaming fire he will render vengeance to all that are ungodly not enduring longer to have the cry of our sins to come up before him and therefore holy David well considered this Meditation when he broke forth with the words of my Text If thou Lord will be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it In which words we have already considered two general parts 1 An Antecedent 2 A consequent Or if you will here is 1 The Thesis 2 The Hypothesis In the first you have Gods extremity in punishing In the second you have mans misery in suffering for he saith If thou Lord be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it From which sacred concession we have enedavoured to wind up the sum and substance of holy Davids intention into these four bottoms or doctrinal conclusions viz. 1 It is the corruption of mans nature to do amiss 2 God is not alwayes extreme to punish man when he hath done amiss 3 God can when he pleases be extreme in punishing man when he hath done amiss 4 If God be extreme in punishing man must needs be extreme in suffering Thus far our general division hath had its equal course and our progress in the dispatch of these truths hath but quitted the first and made entrance upon the second which together with the two latter acompanied with your patience shall at this time terminate my hours discourse And that I may with the more benefit to your understanding proceed therein I shall onely lead your memories back to the second conclusion namely Doct. 2 The mercy of God is such he will not alwaies be extreme to mark what 's done amiss Examples of Gods patience and long forbearance have no where such lively representations as in our selves whose unconsumed lives are nothing else but a series of continued mercy nor is there any rational account to be rendred for the same save onely that it is the good will of him that dwelleth in the bush whose glory is not to be given to another and that he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy c. Which he doth 1 For his name sake Exodus 34.6 2 For his natures sake which is alwaies prone to shew mercy 3 For his glories sake and that 1 In general 2 In particular 1 In general it is the constant language of holy Scripture as you have already heard 2 In particular he is not extreme for his Glory sake which is great in many respects I In respect of his judgements for they are his strange work and never had he felicity in executing the same but with an unwilling willingness is alwayes constrained to visit for the sins whether of nations cities or particular persons witness his sending the Gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel his low condescention to Abraham when he became Advocate for Sodom and his own tears over Ierusalems approching ruine yea and witness the repentings that were kindled in his bowels for revolting Ephraim but mercy is his delight because he waits to be gracious 2 Great in respect of time for the mercy of God endures for ever in Ps 136. As his power is unlimited so neither can bounds be set to his mercy sun and moon heaven and earth these all have their periods but the rich treasure of Gods mercy shall have no end I have seen an end of all perfection but thy commandement is exceeding broad saith holy David Ps 119.96 All the attributes of God like himself are from everlasting to everlasting 3 Great in extent of place for his mercy reaches unto the clouds Psal 36.6 7. Thy mercy O Lord is in the heavens and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds Thy righteousness is like the great mountains thy judgements are as a great deep Lord c. Gods extended grace makes its full appearance not onely in delivering from danger but in supplying our wants not onely in saving our bodies from temporal evils but in redeeming our souls from eternal damnation for with him is great deliverance 4 Great in extent of plenty for God is rich in mercy Eph. 2.4 But God saith the Apostle who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he loved us c. as if St. Paul had spoke his mind in larger phrases thus You are poor and needy you want blessings temporal and spiritual and know not whither to flee for succour and supply so that the narrowness of your hearts imagines Gods free hand is straitned but let no such scruple bear rule in your minds for with God is so great a treasure of grace as never can be exhausted
promises for the difference lies in these respects following 1. That above it differs from that below in degrees of Excellency that here below is grounded on Faith which beholds the promises of God darkly but that above is grounded on a clear sight and a perfect vision 2. That hope below is attended with sighs and sadnesses that above without sorrow all sighing and sorrow being removed from their hearts whose tears are wiped away with the light of Gods Countenance 3. This below hath weaknesses and imperfections but that above is a confirmed hope thus our hope even to the day of Judgement shall not be abolished in Heaven in regard of Essence it remains but in regard of weaknesses it ceases For till Gods promises be accomplished there is yet hope in exercising that act that may bring us to the enjoyment of the highest manifestation of Divine Love 2. The more principall objects not in this life onely that is not onely for the things of this life but the things of a better life for though hope looking to God it refers to the things of this life for subsistance yet it chiefly respects the things of the other life the resurrection of the flesh c. other hopes may promise eternall but will but serve as figge leaves other hopes may bring to the fruition of what we hope for but cannot give satisfaction but such is the excellency of this hope as it will supply so much as faith can beleeve or hope desire so that as it would be desperateness to cast away this anchor so again madness to cast it off as needless the Saints which should be climbing Heaven it would be folly for them to ply this hope about this life when we may have it about a better to hope in this life onely is unchristian and lesse then Christianity will not give us the hope of an eternal life to follow Christ onely to get possession of outward comforts is but to starve our souls while we feed our bodies with the loaves of pretended Sanctity for he that will be Heir to Christs Kingdome must expect to be crown'd with thornes temporal felicity having no entailment upon his discipleship persecution being their portion and their sufferings part of their triumph So that each true Beleever must joyn in the Chorus with the song of Saint Paul pathetically exprest in the words of my Text If in this life onely we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable FINIS A SERMON ON St. THOMAS Day SERMON V. St. IOHN 18.37 To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witnesse unto the truth c. Introduction ENvie and Malice the inseparable companions of a vicious heart are alwayes in unwearied motion untill they have found out some convenient means whereby to bring about their abominable ends and rather then be disappointed of unhallowed thoughts or wicked words they will not cease to speak evil of the way of truth yea by them those are accounted enemies that speak the truth thus wicked Ahab salutes the Prophet Elijah Have I found thee O my enemy 1 Kings 21.20 So that it seemes he accounted that holy person no lesse then his souls adversary for telling the truth so persecuted they the Prophets of old and the malice of men and devils have been so persecuting in all ages that the Church hath not found where to rest for the Saints wandred up and down afflicted and tormented yea they wandred about saith the Apostle in sheeps-skins and goats-skins c. of whom the world was not worthy Heb. 11.38 And in this the Disciple was not before or above his Lord for no better entertainment had Christ himself and he is pleased to say To this was I born for this cause came I into the world c. Which words have a double aspect and Ianus-like appear with a double face the one looking upon Christ the other upon Christians the one concerns our Saviour the other respects our selves For 1. If you respect the day so they look at Christ not onely as this is the Lords Day but as it is the Advent-Sunday instituted for the Advent or coming of Christ in the Flesh 2. It looks upon Christ as coming in his Ordinances and administrations to his people 3. It looks upon his coming in gracious visitations as on this day by his power coming to deliver the Church Militant from sinne and misery to be a Church triumphant in glory and thus my Text hath reference to the several comings of Christ But that 's not all the words not onely concern Christ but they have reference unto Christians also and that in a threefold respect for they eye all the errours and mislookings of the times 1. They look upon the grosse opinions of those that say the Scepter of Christ and the power of earthly Kings stand in opposition one to another and thereupon cry down all rule and all authority saying like the heathen Let us break their bands in sunder c. Psal 2.3 It is true Christ had the Title of a King yet neither that nor himself made any impeachment of Caesars Lawes and though he denied not himself to be a King yet he refused to dethrone Caesar for he saith expresly my Kingdome is not of this world So then you see he is not in opposition to the Kings of the earth he came not to take away earthly Kingdomes but to give an Heavenly Kingdome and therefore he saith Give to Caesar the things that are Caesars c. We must obey the temporal Lord for his sake who is the Heavenly Lord for they who yeild not obedience to temporal Kings for Christs sake who hath commanded it have as yet made no glorious entrance into the Kingdome of Heaven for love to Christ and submission to Caesar may and do dwell together in the same heart 2. The words look upon mens works as they are Christians who in defence of lawful Superiours with their swords in their hands had rather die fighting then betray their liberty by a cowardly resignation of their lives and fortunes and also as Christians they have learnt of Christ their Head to pay Tribute where lawfully it is demanded for if any might have rebelled and refused the same none more lawful and able then our Saviour who could at his pleasure command more then twelve legions of Angels to assist him and could command all the treasures of the earth as King and Lord thereof yet refused the glory of the one to pay lawful tribute and the innumerable force of the other that with silence he might answer Caesars Deputy for he came to bear witness of the truth and he will rather lose his life then his obedience 3. That none that would be thought a Christian might think himself unconcerned the words look upon all men but especially upon those that in pretended religious yet persecuting times are ready to betray the truth rather