Sobriety Where the Apostle seems to oppose those to the first causes or ingredients of the defection 1. Faith opposed to Vnbelief of the precept of God and the threatning annext 2. Charity opposed to Disaffection to God As though God were an Enemy to their happiness and commanded a thing which did prejudice their happiness whereupon must arise ill surmises of God and an aversion from him 3. Sanctification In opposition to this Filthiness and Pollution brought upon the Soul by that first defection there must therefore be in them an aim and endeavour to attain that primitive integrity and purity they then lost 4. Sobriety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperance Because the giving the reins to sense and obeying the longings thereof was the cause of the fall Gen. 3.6 She saw that it was pleasant to the eye Original sin is called concupiscence and lusting and to this is opposed Sobriety 1. Faith This is put first because it is the Fundamental grace It is the employer of Charity for it works by it the root of Sanctification for by faith the heart is purified By Faith is chiefly meant the grace of Faith 1 Faith in the habit 2 Faith in the exercise 2. Charity The first sin was an enmity against God therefore there is now necessary a Love to God The first sin was virtually an enmity to all the posterity of man which were to come out of his loins therefore love to mankind is necessary And Faith alwaies infers Love to God and man 3. Sanctification is here added because by that both the truth of Faith and love appears to our selves and others And justification by Faith is thereby ratified James 2.24 By Sanctification is not here meant a particular holiness or chastity due to the marriage bed as some of the Papists assert but an universal sanctity of heart and life 4. Sobriety This is a natural means for Preservation Intemperance makes bodily distempers more dangerous in their assaults True Faith is accompanied with Temperance and Sobriety in the use of lawful comforts The Papists though without any good ground frame an argument from hence to prove marriage to be a Sacrament asserting that those graces of Faith and Charity c. are conferred upon the Woman by vertue of Marriage and ex vi institutionis How severe a Doctrine is it then to engage any in vows of a single life when they might have a readier way to attain grace with the Satisfaction of nature Are not the virtues mentioned here as necessary to the single as the married Christians Who ever heard that marriage was appointed to confer those Christian graces which are necessary for men and women in all Conditions Besides is it probable that that was instituted to confer Christian graces which was instituted in Paradise before Christianity was in being and had been valid if man had stood in innocency where there had been no need of a justifying Faith Observe 1. The Punishment of the woman In Child-bearing 2. The Comfort of the woman She shall be saved 3. The Condition of the Salvation If they continue Wherein is implyed an exhortation to continue in Faith c. Doct. Many Observations might be raised 1. The pain in child-bearing is a punishment inflicted upon the Woman for the first sin 2. The continuance of this punishment after Redemption by Christ doth not hinder the salvation of the Woman if there be the Gospel-conditions requisite 3. The exercise of Faith with other Christian graces is a peculiar means for the preservation of Believers under God's afflicting hand I shall sum them up into this one Doct. The continuance of the punishment inflicted upon the Woman for the first sin doth not prejudice her eternal salvation nor her preservation in child-bearing where there are the conditions of Faith and other graces Here I shall speak 1. Concerning the Punishment and the Cause of it 2. The Nature of it 3. It s not prejudicing Eternal Salvation 1. Concerning the Punishment Child-bearing it self is not the punishment but the pain in it For the blessing Increase and multiply was given in Innocency This punishment is peculiar to the Woman and superadded to that inflicted upon the Man wherein the Woman also hath her share though it lay heaviest upon Adam's shoulders And because this punishment is the greater it is disputed in the Schools whether Adam's or Eve's sin were the greater Various Opinions there are We may I think safely make these Conclusions 1. In regard of the kind of sin it was equal in both They both had an equal pride an equal aspiring to be like God For in all probability Eve gave not her Husband the fruit to eat without acquainting him with the reasons which mov'd her to eat it as also the advantage she expected from it And God chargeth this aspiring humour upon the man Gen. 3.22 The Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is become like one of us Both of them therefore embrac'd the temptation as it was directed and swallowed the fruit with an expectation to be like not the Angels as some think from Gen. 3.5 You shall be as Gods Elohim but like God himself as appears by v. 22. in that Ironical speech where the Lord God Jehovah saith The Man is become like one of us They both believed the Serpent both broke the command in eating the fruit both were guilty of this aspiring Ambition Some indeed think Eve ate twice of the fruit once before the Serpent and the other time when she gave her Husband Gen. 3.6 She did eat and gave to her Husband with her and he did eat * Mariana in loc But that is not so clear in the Text. 2. In regard of the first motion to this sin Eves sin was the greater She was the seducer of Adam which the Apostle expresseth in the verse before the Text. The Woman being deceived was in the transgression Where the Apostle intimates the Womans sin in that respect to be greater than the mans Adam was in it too but the Woman deeper 3. In regard of the Womans condition the sin was greater on Adam 's part * Estius in senten 1. Because he being the Man had more power to resist more strength to argue the case 2. Eve had a stronger and craftier Adversary to deal with the subtillest of all the beasts of the field Gen. 3.1 animated and inspired by a craftier Devil The stronger the Tempter the more excusable the sin Adam was tempted by Eve but Eve by the Serpent 3. Eve had the command of not eating immediately from her Husband which laid not altogether so strong a tye upon her as it did upon him who had it immediately from the mouth of God and therefore was more certain of the verity of the Precept 2. Of what nature is this Punishment 1. 'T is not a Punishment in a rigid sense nor continued as such 1. Because 't is not commensurate to the nature of the sin neither is it that penalty which
For the raising good thoughts 2. Preventing bad 3. Ordering bad when they do intrude 4. Ordering good when they appear in us 1. For raising good thoughts 1. Get renewed hearts The fountain must be cleansed which breeds the vermine Pure vapors can never ascend from a filthy quagmire What issue can there be of a vain heart 2 Cor. 5.17 Jer. 4.14 Wash thy heart from wickedness c. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee but vain imaginations Thoughts will not become new till a man is in Christ We must be holy before we can think holily Sanctification is necessary for the dislodging of vain thoughts and the introducing of good A sanctified reason would both discover and shame our natural follies As all animal operations so all the spiritual motions of our heads depend upon the life of our hearts * Prov. 4.23 as the principium originis As there is a law in our members to bring us into Captivity to the law of sin Rom. 7.23 so there must be a law in our minds to bring our thoughts to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 We must be renewed in the spirit of our minds Ephes 4.23 in our reasonings and thoughts which are the spirits whereby the understanding acts as the animal spirits are the instruments of corporeal motion Till the understanding be born of the spirit †John 3 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit it will delight in and think of nothing but things suitable to its fleshly original but when 't is spiritual it receives new impressions new reasonings and motions suitable to the Holy Ghost of whom it is born A stone if thrown upwards a thousand times will fall backward because 't is a forced motion but if the nature of this stone were changed into that of fire it would mount as naturally upward as before it sunk downward You may force some thoughts toward heaven sometimes but they will not be natural till nature be changed Grace only gives stability †Heb. 13.9 It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace and prevents fluctuation by fixing the soul upon God as its chief end and what is our end will not only be first in our intentions but most frequent in our considerations Hence a sanctified heart is called in Scripture a stedfast heart There must be an enmity against Satan put into our hearts according to the first promise before we can have an enmity against his imps or any thing that is like him 2. Study Scripture Original corruption stuffs us with bad thoughts and Scripture-knowledge would stock us with good ones for it proposeth things in such terms as exceedingly suit our imaginative faculty as well as strengthen our understanding Judicious knowledge would make us approve things that are excellent and where such things are approved Phil. 1.9 10. toys cannot be welcom Fulness is the cause of stedfastness The cause of an intent and piercing eye is the multitude of animal spirits Without this skill in the Word we shall have as foolish conceits of Divine things as ignorant men without the Rules of Art have of the Sun and Stars or things in other Countries which they never saw The Word is call'd a Lamp to our feet i. e. the affections a light to our eyes i. e the understanding Psa 119.105 Psal 19.8 enlightens the ey s. It will direct the glances of our minds and the motions of our affections It enlightens the eyes and makes us have a new prospect of things as a Scholar newly entred into Logick and studied the Predicaments c. looks upon every thing with a new eye and more rational thoughts and is mightily delighted with every thing he sees because he eyes them as clothed with those notions he hath newly studied The Devil had not his engines so ready to assault Christ as Christ from his knowledg had Scripture-precepts to oppose him Lectione assidua meditatione diuturna pectus suum bibliothecam Christi secerat Hierom Ep. 3. As our Saviour by this means stifled thoughts offered so by the same we may be able to smother thoughts arising in us Converse therefore often with the Scripture transcribe it in your heart and turn it in succum sanguinem whereby a vigor will be derived into every part of your soul as there is by what you eat to every member of your body Thus you will make your mind Christ's library as Hierom speaks of Nepotianus 3. Reflect often upon the frame of your mind at your first conversion None have more settled and more pleasant thoughts of divine things than new converts when they first clasp about Christ partly because of the novelty of their state and partly because God puts a full stock into them and diligent trades-men at their first setting up have their minds intent upon improving their stock Endeavour to put your mind in the same posture it was then Or if you cannot tell the time when you did first close with Christ recollect those seasons wherein you have found your affections most fervent your thoughts most united and your mind most elevated as when you renewed repentance upon any fall or had some notable chearings from God and consider what matter it was which carried your heart upward what employment you were engaged in when good thoughts did fill your soul and try the same experiment again Asaph would oppose God's ancient works to his murmuring thoughts he would remember his song in the night i. e. the matter of his song and read over the records of God's kindness * Psal 77.6 7 8 9 10 11 12. David too would never forget i. e. frequently renew the remembrance of those precepts whereby God had particularly quicken'd him †Psa 119.93 Yea he would reflect upon the places too where he had formerly conversed with God to rescue himself from dejecting thoughts therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill Missar ‖ Psal 42.6 Some elevations surely David had felt in those places the remembrance whereof would sweeten the sharpness of his present grief When our former sins visit our minds pleading to be speculatively reacted let us remember the holy dispositions we had in our repentance for them Luke 24.32 Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures and the thankful frames when God pardoned them The Disciples at Christ's second appearance reflected upon their own warm temper at his first discourse with them in a disguise to confirm their faith and expel their unbelieving conceits Strive to recollect truths precepts promises with the same affection which possest your Souls when they first appeared in their glory and sweetness to you 4. Ballast your heart with a Love to God David thought all the day of
Do not envy them Be not troubled at their prosperity 2. Do not imitate them Be not provoked by their Glow-worm happiness to practice the same wickedness to arrive to the same prosperity 3. Be not sinfully impatient and quarrel not with God because he hath not by his providence allowed thee the same measures of prosperity in the world Accuse him not of injustice and cruelty because he afflicts the good and is indulgent to the wicked Leave him to dispense his blessings according to his own mind 4. Condemn not the way of Piety and Religion wherein thou art Think not the worse of thy Profession because it is attended with Affliction The reason of this Exhortation is rendred v. 2. For they shall soon be cut down as the grass and wither as the green herb amplified by a similitude or resemblance of their prosperity to grass Their happiness hath no stability it hath like grass more of colour and show than strength and substance Grass nods this and that way with every wind The mouth of a Beast may pull it up or the foot of a Beast may tread it down the scorching Sun in Summer or the fainting Sun in Winter will deface its complexion The Psalmist then proceeds to positive duties v. 3. 1. Faith Trust in the Lord. This is a grace most fit to quell such impatiencies The stronger the faith the weaker the passion Impatient motions are signs of a flagging faith Many times Men are ready to cast off their help in Jehovah and address to the God of Ekron multitudes of friends or riches But trust thou in the Lord in the promises of God in the providence of God 2. Obedience Do good Trust in God's promises and observance of his precepts must be linkt together 'T is but a pretended trust in God where there is a real walking in the paths of wickedness Let not the glister of the world render thee faint and languid in a course of Piety 3. The keeping our station Do good Because wicked men flourish hide not thy self therefore in a corner but keep thy sphere run thy Race And verily thou shalt be fed have every thing needful for thee And now because men delight in that wherein they trust the Psalmist diverts us from all other objects of delight to God as the true object Delight thy self in the Lord place all thy pleasure and joy in him And because the motive expresseth the answer of prayer the duty enjoyned seems to respect the act of prayer as well as the object of prayer Prayer coming from a delight in God and a delight in seeking him Trust is both the spring of joy and the spring of Supplication When we trust him for sustenance and preservation we shall receive them so when we delight in seeking him we shall be answered by him 1. The Duty In the act Delight In the object the Lord. 2. The motive He shall give thee the desires of thy heart the most substantial desires those desires which he approves of The desire of thy heart as gracious though not the desire of thy heart as carnal The desire of thy heart as a Christian though not the desire of thy heart as a creature He shall give God is the object of our joy and the author of our comfort Doctrine Delight in God in seeking him only procures gracious answers or without chearful prayers we cannot have gracious answers There are two parts 1. Chearfulness on our parts 2. Grants on Gods part 1 Chearfulness and delight on our parts Joy is the tuning the Soul The command to rejoyce precedes the command to pray 1 Thes 5.16 17. Rejoyce evermore pray without ceasing Delight makes the melody prayer else will be but a harsh sound God accepts the heart only when it is a gift given not forc'd Delight is the marrow of Religion 1. Dulness is not suitable to the great things we are chiefly to beg for Gospel-discoveries are a feast Isa 25.6 Dulness becomes not such a solemnity Manna must not be sought for with a dumpish heart With joy we are to draw water out of the Wells of Salvation Isa 12.3 Faith is the bucket but joy and love are the hands that move it They are the Hur and Aaron that hold up the hands of this Moses God doth not value that mans service who accounts not his service a priviledge and a pleasure 2. Dulness is not suitable to the Duty Gospel-duties are to be performed with a Gospel-temper God's People ought to be a willing people Psa 110.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a people of willingness As though in prayer no other faculty of the Soul had its exercise but the will This must breathe fully in every word as the spirit in Ezekiel's wheels Delight like the Angel * Judg. 13.20 must ascend in the smoke and flame of the Soul Though there be a kind of union by contemplation yet the real union is by affection A man cannot be said to be a spiritual King if he doth not present his performances with a Royal and Prince-like spirit 'T is for vigorous wrestling that Jacob is called a Prince Gen. 32.28 This Temper is essential to grace Natural men are described to be of a heavy and weary temper in the offering of Sacrifices Mal. 1.13 It was but a sickly lame Lamb they brought for an offering and yet weary of it that which was not fit for their table they thought fit for the Altar In the handling this Doctrine I shall shew 1. What this delight is 2. Whence it springs 3. The reasons of the doctrine 4. The use 1. What this delight is Delight properly is an affection of the mind that Springs from the possession of a good which hath been ardently desired This is the top stone the highest step delight is but an Embryo till it come to fruition and that certain and immutable Otherwise if there be probability or possibility of losing that which we have present possession of the fear of it is as a drop of gall that infects the sweetness of this passion delight properly is a silencing of desire and the banquet of the Soul on the presence of its desired object But there is a delight of a lower stamp 1. In desires There is a delight in desire as well as in fruition A chearfulness in labour as well as in attainment The desire of Canaan made the good Israelites chearful in the wilderness There is an inchoate delight in motion but a consummate delight in rest and fruition 2. In hopes Desired happiness affects the Soul much more expected happiness Rom. 5.2 We rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Joy is the natural issue of a well grounded hope A tottering expectation will engender but a tottering delight Such a delight will Mad-men have which is rather to be pitied than desired But if an imaginary hope can affect the heart with some real joy much more a hope setled upon a sure bottom and raised upon a good
God's Law as other men do of their lusts because he unexpressibly loved it * Psal 119.97 113. O how I love thy Law It is my meditation all the day v. 113. I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love Aeneas oculis semper vigilantis inhaeret Aenean animo nóxque diâ—sâ—ue refert Ovid. Ep. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucian Dialog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost This was the successful means he used to stifle vain thoughts and excite his hatred of them 'T is the property of love to think no evil 2 Cor. 13.5 It thinks good and delightful thoughts of God friendly and useful thoughts of others It fixeth the Image of our beloved object in our minds that 't is not in the power of other phancies to displace it The beauty of an object will fasten a rolling eye 'T is difficult to divorce our hearts and thoughts from that which appears lovely and glorious in our minds whether it be God or the world Love will by a pleasing violence bind down our thoughts and hunt away other affections If it doth not establish our minds they will be like a Cork which with a light breath and a short curl of water shall be tossed up and down from its station Scholars that love learning will be continually hammering upon some notion or other which may further their progress and as greedily clasp it as the Iron will its beloved Loadstone He that is wing'd with a divine love to Christ will have frequent glances and flights towards him and will start out from his worldly business several times in a day to give him a visit Love in the very working is a settling grace it encreaseth our delight in God partly by the sight of his amiableness which is clear'd to us in the very act of loving and partly by the recompences he gives to the affectionate carriage of his creature both which will stake down the heart from vagaries or giving entertainment to such loose companions as evil thoughts are Well then if we had this heavenly affection strong in us it would not suffer unwholesom weeds to grow up so near it either our Love would consume those weeds or those weeds will choak our Love 5. Exercise Faith As the habit of Faith is attended with habitual Sanctification so the acts of Faith are accompanied with a progress in the degrees of it That Faith which brings Christ to dwell in our Souls will make us often think of our inmate Faith doth reallize divine things and make absent objects as present and so furnisheth fancy with richer streams to bathe it self in than any other principle in the world As there is a necessity of the use of fancy while the soul is linked to the body so there is also a necessity of a corrective for it Mirand de Imaginat c. 11 12. Reason doth in part regulate it but 't is too weak to do it perfectly because fancy in most men is stronger than reason man being the highest of imaginative beings and the lowest of intelligent fancy is in its exaltation more than in creatures beneath him and reason in its detriment more than in creatures above him and therefore the imagination needs a more skilful guide than reason Fancy is like fire a good Servant but a bad Master if it march under the conduct of faith it may be highly serviceable and by putting lively colours upon divine truth may steal away our affections to it Psal 42.5 Why art thou cast down Oh my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God Faith is the evidence of things not seen viz. not by a corporeal but intellectual eye and so it will supply the office of sense 'T is the substance of things hoped for and if hope be an attendant on faith our thoughts will surely follow our expectations The remedy David used when he was almost stifled with disquieting thoughts was to excite his soul to a hope and confidence in God Psal 42.5 and when they return'd upon him he useth the same diversion v. 11. The peace of God i. e. the reconciliation made by a Mediator between God and us believingly apprehended will keep or garrison our hearts and minds or thoughts against all anxious assaults both from within and without †Phil. 4.6 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When any vain conceit creeps up in you act faith on the intercession of Christ and consider Is Christ thinking of me now in Heaven and pleading for me and shall I squander away my thoughts on trifles which will cost me both tears and blushes Believingly meditate on the promises they are a means to cleanse us from the filthiness of the spirit as well as that of the flesh * 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these promises let us cleanse our selves c. If the having them be a motive the using them will be a means to attain this end Looking at the things that are not seen preserves us from fainting and renews the inward man day by day †2 Cor. 4.16 18. Intus existens prohibet alienum These invisible things could not well keep our hearts from fainting if faith did not first keep the thoughts from wandring from them 6. Accustom your self to a serious meditation every morning Fresh airing our souls in Heaven will engender in us purer spirits and nobler thoughts A morning seasoning would secure us for all the day Though other necessary thoughts about our callings will and must come in yet when we have dispatch'd them let us attend our morning Theme as our chief companion As a man that is going with another about some considerable business suppose to Westminster though he meets with several friends in the way and salutes some and with others with whom he hath some affairs he spends a little time yet he quickly returns to his companion and both together go their intended stage Do thus in the present case Our minds are active and will be doing something though to little purpose and if they be not fixed upon some noble object they will like mad men and fools be mightily pleased in playing with straws Psal 139.17 18. The thoughts of God were the first Visiters David had in the morning God and his heart met together as soon as he was awake and kept company all the day after In this meditation look both to the matter and manner 1. Look to the matter of your meditation Let it be some truth which will assist you in reviving some languishing grace or fortifie you against some triumphing corruption for 't is our darling sin which doth most envenom our thoughts †Prov. 23.7 As a man thinks in his heart so is he As if you have a thirst for honour let your fancy represent the honour of being a child of God and heir of Heaven If you are inclined to covetousness think of the riches stored up in a Saviour and dispensed by him If to
most lasting of all plants Three times it is compared to Lebanon in the promise Hos 14.5 6 7. The Cedar never rots worms eat it not 'T is not only free from putrifaction it self but the juyce of it preserves other things Numa's Books * Sanct. in loc though of paper yet dipt in the juyce of Cedar remained without corruption in the ground 500 years How shall that God who always remembers every thing yea the meanest of his creatures forget his own variety of expressions and multiplyed promises concerning his Sion 6. In regard 't is the seat of his glory 'T is the branch of his planting the work of his hands that he might be glorified Isa 60.21 His glory would have a brush if Sion should sink to ruin He sows her for himself Hos 2.23 speaking of the Church in the time of the Gospel not to the Devil to sin to the world but to his own glory As husbandmen sow their Fields for their own use to reap from them a fruitful crop and therefore till the Harvest be in they take care to make up the breaches and preserve them from the Incursions of beasts Though God hath an objective glory from all creatures yet he hath an active glory only from the Church 'T is Israel the house of Aaron and those that fear the Lord that the Psalmist calls upon to render God the praise of the eternity of his mercy Psal 118.2 3 4. He forbids the prophane and disobedient world to take his Covenant in their mouth Psal 50.16 None do none can truly honour and acknowledg him but the Church therefore the Apostle in his Doxology appropriates the glory that is to be given to God as the object to the Church as the subject Ephes 3.21 Vnto him be glory in the Church by Jesus Christ throughout all Ages world without end So solemn a wish from so great an Apostle that it should be amounts to a certainty that it will be There cannot be a glory to God in the Church throughout all Ages without the continuance of the Church in all Ages God will have a revenue of glory paid him during the continuance of the world there shall therefore be a standing Church during the duration of the world while he therefore expects a glory from the midst of his People he will be a wall of fire round about them and keep Sion one where or other in a posture to glorifie him What is the Apostles motive to this glory 'T is not a remote power such as can act but will not but a power operative in the Church in doing those things for her which she could never ask nor think for her self * v. 20. Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundan ly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us God hath a greater glory from the Church than he can have from the world he therefore gives her more signal experiments of his Power Wisdom and Love than to the rest of the world He had a glory from Angels but only as Creator not as Redeemer till they were acquainted with his design and were speculators of his actions in gathering a Church in the world The Church therefore was the original of the new glory and praise the Angels presented to God Glory in the Church by Christ Musculus thinks that is added to distinguish it from the Jewish Church which was settled by the Ministry of Moses as much as to say God had not so much glory by the Tabernacles of Jacob as he hath by the Church as settled by Christ Or by Christ notes the manner of the presenting our praise and the ground of the acceptance of our praise God accepts no glory but what is offered to him by the hand of Christ and Christ presents no glory but what is paid him by the Church 'T is the Church then and the Gospel-Church that preserves the glory of God in the world If the Church therefore ceaseth the glory of God in the world ceaseth But since God hath created all for his own glory separated a Church out of the world for his glory appointed his Son the Head of it that he might be glorified his Church therefore is as dear to him as his glory and dear to him in order to his glory in establishing it therefore he establishes his own honour and name It shall therefore remain in this world to glorifie him afterwards in another to glorifie him and be glorified by him 7. In regard that 't is the object of his peculiar affection Establishment of a beloved object is inseparable from a real affection By this he secures the Spiritual Sion or Gospel-Church both from being forsaken by him or made desolate by her Enemies because she was Hephzibah * Isa 62.4 my delight or my will is in her as if he had no will to any thing but what concern'd her and her safety As men ingrave upon their Rings the Image of those friends that are dearest to them and as the Jews in their Captivity engraved the Effigies of their City upon their Rings to keep her in perpetual remembrance so doth God engrave Sion upon the palms of his hands Isa 49.16 to which the Holy Ghost seems to allude He so loves his Israel that he who will be commanded by none stoops to be commanded by them in things concerning his Sons Isa 45.10 Not only ask of me what you want but command me in the things that are to come the pleas of my promises of things to come and your desires to bring them forth as the work of my hand shall be as powerful a motive to me as a command from a Superiour is to an obedient Inferiour for it is to things to come such things that God hath predicted that he limits their asking which he calls also here a commanding of him There was a real love in the first choice there is an intenseness of love in the first attraction Jer. 31.3 I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee His love which had a being from Eternity is exprest by words of more tenderness when he comes to frame her lovingkindness as if his affection seemed to be increased when he came to the execution of his Counsel According to the vigour of his immutable Love will be the strength of her immutable Establishment This promise is made not to the Church in general but to all the Families of the spiritual Israel v. 1. Men are concern'd in honour for that upon which they have plac'd their affection Shall there then be decays in the kindness of that God whose glory it is to be immutable Is it possible this Fountain should be frozen in his breast Was there not a love of good will to Sion to frame her to pick out her materials when they lay like Swine in the confused mass and dirty mire of a corrupt world Is there not also a
foundation There may be joy in a title as well as in possession 3. In contemplation The consideration and serious thoughts of heaven do affect a gracious heart and fill it with pleasure tho it self be as if in a wilderness The near appproach to a desired good doth much affect the heart Moses was surely more pleased with the sight of Canaan from Pisgah than with the hopes of it in the desert A travellers delight is more raised when he is nearest his journeys end and a hungry stomach hath a greater joy when he sees the meat approaching which must satisfy the appetite As the Union with the object is nearer so the delight is stronger Now this delight the Soul hath in duty is not a delight of fruition but of desire hope or contemplation Gaudium viae not patriae 1. We may consider delight as Active or Passive 1. Active which is an act of our Souls in our approaches to God When the heart like the Sun rouzeth up itself as a Gyant to run a spiritual race 2. Passive Which is Gods dispensation in approaches to us and often met with in our chearful addresses to God Isa 64.5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and works righteousness When we delightfully clasp about the Throne of grace God doth often cast his arms about our necks Especially when chearful prayer is accompanyed with a chearful obedience This joy is when Christ meets us in prayer with a be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thy request granted The active delight is the health of the Soul the passive is the good complexion of the Soul The one is mans duty the other Gods peculiar gift The one is the inseparable property of the new birth the other a separable priviledge There may be a joy in God when there is little joy from God There may be Gold in the Mine when no flowers on the surface 2. We may consider delight as setled or transient As Spiritual or Sensitive 1. A setled delight In strong and grown Christians when prayer proceeds out of a thankfulness to God a judicious knowledg and apprehension of God The nearer to God the more delight As the motion of a stone is most speedy when nearest its Center 2. A Sensitive delight As in persons troubled in mind there may be a kind of delight in prayer because there is some sense of ease in the very venting itself And in some because of the novelty of a duty they were not accustom'd to before Many prayers may be put up by persons in necessity without any Spiritual delight in them As crazy persons take more Physick than those that are healthful and observe the Spring and Fall yet they delight not in that Physick The Pharisee could pray longer and perhaps with some delight too but upon a sensual ground with a proud and a vaunting kind of chearfulness a delight in himself When the Publican had a more spiritual delight Though a humble sorrow in the consideration of his own vileness yet a delight in the consideration of Gods mercy This sensitive delight may be more sensible in a young than in a grown Christian There is a more sensible affection at the first meeting of friends though more solid after some converse As there is a love which is called the love of the espousals As it is in sorrow for sin so in this delight A young convert hath a greater torrent a grown Christian a more constant stream As at the first conversion of a sinner there is an overflowing joy among the Angels which we read not of after though without question there is a settled joy in them at the growth of a Christian An elder son may have a delight in his Fathers presence more rooted firm and rational than a younger child that clings more about him with affectionate expressions As sincerity is the Soul of all graces and duties so this delight is the lustre and embroydery of them Now this Delight in Prayer 1. 'T is an inward and hearty delight As to the subject of it it is seated in the heart A man in prayer may have a chearful countenance and a drowsy spirit The Spirit of God dwells in the heart and love and joy are the first-fruits of it Gal. 5.22 Love to duty and joy in it joy as a grace not as a meer comfort As God is hearty in offering mercy so is the Soul in petitioning for it There is a harmony between God and the heart Where there is delight there is great pains taken with the heart a gracious heart strikes it self again and again As Moses did the rock twice Those ends which God hath in giving are a Christians ends in asking Now the more of our hearts in the requests the more of Gods heart in the grants The Emphasis of mercy is Gods whole heart and whole Soul in it Jer. 22.41 So the Emphasis of duty is our whole Heart and whole Soul As without Gods chearful answering a gracious Soul would not rellish a mercy so without our hearty asking God doth not rellish our prayer 2. 'T is a delight in God who is the Object of Prayer The glory of God communion with him enjoyment of him is the great end of a believer in his Supplications That delight which is in prayer is chiefly in it as a means conducing to such an end and is but a spark of that delight which the Soul hath in the object of prayer God is the Center wherein the Soul rests and the end which the Soul aims at According to our apprehensions of God are our desires for him when we apprehend him as the chiefest good we shall desire him and delight in him as the chiefest good There must first be a delight in God before there can be a spiritual delight or a permanency in duty Job 27.10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty will he always call upon God Delight is a grace and as faith desire and love have God for their object so hath this And according to the strength of our delight in the object or end is the strength of our delight in the means of attainment When we delight in God as glorious we shall delight to honour him when we regard him as good we shall delight to pursue and enjoy him and delight in that which brings us to an intercourse with him He that rejoyces in God will rejoyce in every approach to him The joy of the Lord is our strength Neh. 8.10 The more joy in God the more strength to come to him The want of this is the reason of our Snail-like motion to him Men have no sweet thoughts of God and therefore no mind to converse with him We cannot judg our delight in prayer to be right if we have not a delight in God for natural men may have a delight in prayer when they have corrupt and selfish ends they may have a delight in a duty as it is a means according to their apprehensions to gain
mightily troubled at it 1. T is a high Testomony of Love to God The Nature of true Love is to wish all good to them we love to rejoyce when any good we wish doth arrive unto them to mourn when any evil afflicts them and that with a respect to the beloved object 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Aristot Rhetor l. 1. c. 4. Where there is this love there is a rejoycing at one anothers happiness a grieving at one anothers misfortunes If it be a part of love to rejoyce at that whereby God is glorified 't is no less a part of love to mourn for that whereby God is vilified So strait is the union of affection between God and a righteous Soul that their blessings and injuries joys and sorrows are twisted together The increase of Gods glory is the greatest good that can happen to a Soul enamoured of him his dishonour then is the greatest misery A gracious Soul is like John Baptist content to decrease that Christ might encrease in the esteem of men He is like Jonathan that would rather have the Crown upon Davids head than his own as the words intimate 1 Sam. 23.17 v. thou shalt be King over Israel I shall be next unto thee And grieved more for his Fathers displeasure against David than against himself So doth a Christian grieve more for the wrongs of God than for those in his own liberty estate or life Joshua was more careful of the name of God than of the safety of the people singly considered Josh 7.9 What wilt thou do unto thy great name The glory of God is not dear to that man that can without any regret look upon his bespattered name What affection hath he to his friend who can see him torn in pieces by Dogs and stand unconcerned at his calamity God indeed is uncapable of suffering but what rending is to a creature that is sin to the Divine Majesty Can that man be said to love God who hath no reflection when he sees others tumbling God from his Throne and setting up the Devil in his stead Who can hear the tremendous name of God belcht out by polluted lips upon every vile occasion and made the sport of Stage and Stews without any inward resentment He only esteems God as his King who cannot see his laws broken without remorse How Loyally did Moses his affection to God work when he heard the name of God blasphemed and saw a calf usurp the adoration due to the God of Heaven And David felt the stroak of that sword in his own bowels which was directed against the heart of God Psal 139.20 21 22. The dearer Gods name is to any the more affected they are that God and Christ are loved and honoured less than they desire they should be 'T is hard sometimes to discern this Love to God when Gods interest and ours are joyned when we would mask our displeasure against some mens offences with a care of Gods honour which is nothing but a hatred of the Person sinning or revenge against him for some conceived injury to us The Apostles calling for fire from Heaven upon the Samaritans when they refused Christ Luke 9.53 54 55. might seem to be a generous concern for their masters honour but Christ knew it proceeded much from that natural enmity which the Jews bore to the Samaritans The best way to judg is when the interest is purely Gods and hath no fuel of our own discontents to boil up either grief or anger Such an affection cannot but be highly acceptable to God who is affected with the love of the creature and honours them that honour him as well as despises those that lightly concern themselves for him 2. Love to our Neighbours Nothing can evidence our love to man more than a sorrowful reflection upon that wickedness which is the ruine of his Soul the disturbance of humane society and unlocks the treasures of Gods judgments to fall upon mankind Sin is a reproach to a people Prov. 14.34 'T is always an act of Charity to mourn for the reproaches and ruine of a people 'T is a gross enmity to others to see them stab themselves to the heart jest with eternal flames wish their damnation at every word run merrily to the bottomless gulf and all this without bestowing a sigh upon them and pitying their madness the greater should be our grief by how much the further they are from any for their own destruction If Cain discovered both his enmity to God and also to his brother in grieving that his brothers works were so good Abel musts needs in the practice of the contrary duty manifest his love to Cain in grieving that his works were so bad Our Saviours tears for the Jews discovered no less a concern for their misery than for Gods dishonour Anger for sin may have something of revenge in it Grief for sin discovers an affection both to God and the sinner A duty which respects at once the substance of both the tables cannot but be pleasing to God 2. 'T is an imitating return for Gods affection How doth God resent the injuries done to his people as much as those done to himself Those sins that immediately strike at his glory are not accompanied with such quick judgments as those that grate upon his Servants Sharp persecutions that tear the people of God in pieces have fuller vials of judgments here than Vollies of others sins which rend the name of God When Cain affronted God by his Sacrifice God comes not to a reckoning with him till he had added the murther of his Brother to his former crimes against his maker A sweeter and more thankful return and a more affectionate imitation of God there cannot be than to resent the injuries done to God more than those done to our selves The pinching of his people doth most pierce his heart a stab to his honour in gratitude should most pierce theirs The four Kings that came against Sodom Gen. 14.9 c. sped well enough in their invasion gained the victory and had been in a fair way to have enjoyed the spoil had they not laid their hands upon Lot which was the occasion of their disgorging their prey As God ingaged himself in the recovery of Lot so Lot concerned himself in the honour of God Gods anger is stirred at the Captivity of Lot and Lots vexation is awakened at the injuries against God What troubles his Children raises sensible compassion in him to the sufferer and revenge upon the persecutor whatsoever doth blaspheme the name of God doth at the same time rack a sincere heart A persecutor cannot injure a believer but Christ records it as a wrong done to himself and Christ cannot be dishonoured by men but a righteous Soul doubles his grief Here is a mutual return of affection and aestimation which is highly pleasing 3. This temper justifies Gods Law and his justice David's grief being for mans forsaking the Law testified his choice valuation
orders that a Woman should not teach But I suffer not a Woman to teach i. e. publickly Two Reasons are rendred 1. * Hierom. She was last in Creation Adam was first formed then Eve 2. First in defection v. 14. And Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression The fall of man was the fruit of the Womans first Doctrine and therefore she is not suffered to teach any more the Woman was deceived by the Serpent and so drew her Husband and whole Posterity into ruine Some of the Papists bring this place as an Argument against Womens reading the Scripture but no reason can conclude it from this place How can the Spirit of God prohibit their reading the Scripture in private and the instruction of their Families since Women are among those who are commended for reading the Scripture Acts 17.11 12. where the honourable Women are mention'd And Lois and Eunice are applauded for their instruction of Timothy Are not Women bound by that command of Peter to give a reason of their Faith to any that shall ask them unless they would have Women Christians without reason What was the Office of those Ecclesiastical Widdows in the Primitive times but to instruct the younger Women But this is not to be charged upon all the Papists Becanus only is the man that Rivet mentions * Isagog ad Script c. 13. p. 990 991. And because upon this declaration of the Apostle some might be dejected by the consideration of the deep hand the Woman had in the first fall in the punishment inflicted upon them for it the Apostle in the Text brings in a Notwithstanding for their comfort Notwithstanding her guilt in defection her punishment in child-bearing she hath as good a right to salvation as the Man So that the Apostle here answers by way of anticipation an Objection which might be made whether the guilt contracted by the Woman and the punishment inflicted might not hinder her eternal salvation The Apostle answers No. Though she was first in the transgression and the pain of child-bearing was the punishment of that first sin yet the Woman may arrive to everlasting salvation notwithstanding that pain if she be adorn'd with those graces which are necessary for all Christians Though the punishment remain yet the believing Woman is in the Covenant of Grace under the wings of the Mediator of that Covenant if she have Faith the condition of the Covenant which works by Love and Charity and is attended with holiness and renewal of the heart Observe God hath gracious Cordials to cheer up the hearts of Believers in their distress and in the midst of those cases which are sufficient of themselves to cast them down The Apostle here alludes to that curse upon the Woman Gen. 3.16 Vnto the Woman he said I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception In sorrow thou shalt bring forth Children The punishment is peculiar to the married woman besides that punishment which was common to her with the man Thy sorrow and thy conception Hendiadys say some The sorrow of thy conception The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the whole time of the Womans bearing in the Womb and so includes not only those pains in the very time of Labour but also all those precursory indispositions as the weakness of the stomach heaviness of the head irregular longings and those other symptoms which accompany conceptions Though this pain seems to be natural from the constitution of the Body yet since some other Creatures do bring forth with little or no pain * Aristot Hist Animal l. 7. c. 9. It would not have been so with the Woman in innocency because all pain which is a punishment of sin had not been incident to a sinless and immortal body We will consider the words apart Saved It may either note the Salvation of the Soul or the preservation of the Woman in Child-bearing The first I suppose is principally intended for the Apostle here would signify some special comfort to Women under that curse But the preservation of Women in Child-bearing was a common thing testified by dayly experience in the worst as well as in the best Women and Christianity did not bring the professors of it into a worse estate in those things which immediately depended upon God or make the Children Vipers not to come into the world without the death of their Mothers Yet a temporal preservation may be included for when an eternal salvation is promis'd temporal salvation is also promis'd according to the methods of Gods wisdom and goodness in the course of his providence there being in all such promises a tacit reserve viz. if God sees it good for us and the manner of their preservation also wherein the preservation of a believer differs from that of an unregenerate Person Others are preserved by God as a merciful Creator and Governour in a way of common Providence for the keeping up of the world But believers are preserv'd in the way of promise and covenant in the exercise of faith and by the special love of God as a tender Father and their God in covenant with them through Christ In Child-bearing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through Child-bearing The Praeposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often taken for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Rom. 4.11 That he might be the Father of all that believe though they be not circumcis'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 believing in uncircumcision where it notes the state wherein they shall be saved So it notes here not the cause of the salvation of the Woman but the state wherein she shall be saved and amounts to thus much The punishment inflicted upon the Woman for her first sin shall not be remov'd in this life yet notwithstanding this there is a certain way of salvation by faith though she pass through this punishment For by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not meant a simple Child-bearing but a Child-bearing in such a manner as God hath threatned with sorrow and grief If they continue By They is not meant the Children as some imagine because of the change of the singular to the plural the sense then should run thus she shall be saved if the Children remain in faith c. That would be absurd to think that the Salvation of the Mother should depend upon the faith and grace of the Children When it is sometimes seen that the Children of a godly Mother may prove as wicked as Hell itself But by they is meant the Woman The name Woman is taken collectively for all Women and therefore the plural number is added The Apostle passes from the singular number to the plural as he had done from the plural to the singular v. 9. In like manner let the women adorn themselves in modesty where he uses the plural but v. 11. reassumes the other number again in his discourse The graces which are here put as the conditions are Faith Charity Sanctification
life centred in him 2. Christ never intended in the payment of the price of our Redemption the present removal of them He interposed himself before this sentence was pronounced for the promise preceded the threatning and therefore shew'd himself content that those marks should be set upon that sin though he prevented by his Mediation the dreadful sentence of eternal death Christ never expected it for the Compact between the Father and the Son did not run in this strain Christ's Enemies were not presently upon his ascension to be made his footstool whereof death is not the least but he was to sit at the right hand of God expecting it neither can we expect to be rid of our burdens till Christ's Victory over his Enemies be fully compleat He sent after his Ascension the Spirit to be our Comforter which supposeth a state wherein we should need comfort and when are we under a greater necessity of comfort than when the punishment of sin is actually inflicted on us The Spirit was to comfort us in the absence of our Saviour and consequently in the absence and want of those fruits of Redemption which are not yet compleated 3. Christ intended and did actually take away the Curse of those Punishments from every Believer As Christ came to take away the guilt of sin so by consequence he took away the curse of punishment for as he was not a minister of sin so he was not a minister of the curse Gal. 2.17 for he himself by taking the curse upon himself took it off from us so that though the curse remains materially yet it doth not formally As when man felt his understanding and will were not destroyed but the purity and healthfulness of those faculties which made up his well-being were lost So in Redemption the temporal punishment is not remov'd but the Curse which is the sting in that punishment and is indeed the essential part of it is remov'd since the anger of God is pacified by the death of Christ Death was a Curse upon Man for sin yet the death of a Believer falls not under that title because Christ hath taken away the sting 1 Cor. 15.55 56. Oh death where is thy sting c. And the Victory over it he saith is given us through our Lord Jesus Christ Whence the Apostle puts even death it self and things present into the Catalogue of Priviledges upon the account of Christ 1 Cor. 3.22 Life or death or things present or things to come all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods Not that death simply in it self is a Priviledge but death as conquered and as attended with consequent blessings is so to a Believer Now the same reason is for all the other parts of the Curse which were either Prologues to or Attendants upon death And as Christ destroyed death by raising his own body from the grave thereby taking from death the power of perpetually retaining man So in the same manner he hath took away those punishments that they shall not perpetually remain though they do for a time But when death is swallowed up in victory all the Attendants on it shall undergo the same fate Though the Curse was not immediately the work of the Devil yet that which procur'd it was and Christ's intention being to take away sin it was also to take away the Curse which was intentionally the Devils work his chief aim being to bring men under the Curse by enticing them to sin The end of his manifestation was to destroy the works of the Devil 1 John 3.8 Christ therefore bore our infirmities our natural penal infirmities though not our natural sinful ones unless morally i. e. by suffering for them he bore the infirmity of our Nature though not our personal infirmities He endur'd pain and grief and death and greater than we can endure but he did not bear every particular pain and disease which ariseth from sin and a particular cause yet by satisfying the Justice of God which required death he satisfied for all other pains which were parts of the Curse though he did not formally feel them so that no longer they remain as a Curse no more than death it self is a Curse to a Believer Now as Christ by his death upon the Cross did remove the sting of death from every Believer and sanctifie it though he did not die every kind of death which a man may die so by enduring pain and grief and being a man of sorrows he took away the sting of all those pains which are fruits of the Curse though they were of a different kind from those he hath himself endured This I have added to prevent an Objection that may be made that Christ endured not this particular pain and therefore the Curse is not taken away 4. Hence it will follow that to a Believer the very nature of these Punishments is alter'd Whence ariseth a mighty difference between the same punishments when suffered by a Believer and by an unregenerate man Though they are materially the same yet not formally nor eventually In the one the sting remains in the other it is pull'd out The one is an earnest of eternal torture and a sprinkling of Hell the other is in order to salvation and sanctified by the Blood of Christ Christ by his Cross hath made our Judgments to become Physick and turn'd a Believers punishments into purges The intention of the Agent makes a vast difference There is a great difference between a punishment edg'd with a a Princes wrath and those which are sweetened with a Fathers affection much difference between a Chirurgians Launce and a Tyrants Wound The Cord that binds a Malefactor and a Patient may be made of the same Hemp and a Knife only go between but it binds the Malefactor to Execution the other to a Cure In a Believer they bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness Heb. 12.11 such fruits of righteousness which engender peace and joy in the Soul That which brings such excellent effects is rather an argument of love in the Inflicter and so cannot come under the full notion of a punishment God comforts the Israelites that were to go into Captivity by a Gospel promise Hos 14.4 I will heal their back slidings I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from them The punishment was continued for they never returned into their Countrey in the form of a common wealth but the anger was removed so that the Captivity of the Believers among them was not the effect of God's wrath as a Judge since they were under his magnificent love as a Father The change of our relation to God makes a change in the nature of the punishment though the punishment threatned may be inflicted and continued yet the anger in that punishment may be turned away 5. Therefore all temporal punishments of Original sin though they remain do not prejudice a Believers present interest 1. They cut not off his relation to
of the Devil a corrupt Creature and an enemy to God the chief Lord of the World and so did deprave the order of the universe and endeavoured to frustrate the end of God and the end of all the Creatures 'T is very rational to think that tho God out of his infinite compassion would not lose his creature yet that he should set such a badge upon him that should make him sensible of a depravation he had wrought in the world 4. 'T is useful to magnify his love We should not be sensible of what our Saviour suffered nor how transcendently he lov'd us if the punishment of sin had been presently removed upon the first promise Nay how then could he have died in the fulness of time which was necessary to the demonstration of Gods love satisfaction of his justice and the security of the Creatures happiness God adds the threatning to the promise as a dark colour to set off and beautify the brighter As Christ suffered that he might have compassion on us so are we punished that we might have an estimation of him When Paul cries out of the body of death so when we cry out of the punishment of sin it should raise our thankfulness for redeeming love I thank God through Jesus Christ Rom. 7.24 25. We never know the worth of mercy till we feel the weight of misery The sharper the pains of sin the higher are our valuations of redeeming mercy In Isa 4.2 In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious In what day After great punishments v. 1. and in the foregoing chapter He appears most beautiful to us when we are under the lash for sin As sin continues in us that the justifying grace of Christs righteousness might more appear to us so punishment continues on us that redeeming love might be more prized by us 2. On our parts 'T is useful to us 1. To make us abhor our first defection and sin 'T was great and is not duly considered by us * Kellet Miscel This sin of Adam is the worst that ever was committed in the world Extensively though not Intensively worse than the sin of Judas or the sin against the holy Ghost In respect that those are but the effects of it and branches of that corrupt root Also because those sins hurt only the persons sinning but this drew down destruction upon the whole world and drove thousands into everlasting Fire and Brimstone 'T is not fit that this which was the murder of all Mankind the disorder of the Creation the disturbing of God's rest in the works of his Hands should be past over without a scar left upon us to make us sensible of the greatness of the evil Though the wounds be great upon our Souls yet they do not so much affect us as those strokes upon our Bodies This certainly was one main end of God in this to what purpose else did he after the promise of restauration and giving our first parents the comfort of hearing the head of their great seducer threatned to be bruised by the Seed of the Woman order this punishment but to put them in mind of the cause of it and stir up a standing abhorrency of it in all ages of the world Had not this been his intent he would never have usher'd it in by a promise but ipso facto have showered down a destroying judgment upon the world as he did upon Sodom without any comfortable word preceding God inflicts those punishments both to shew his own and excite our detestation of this sin He binds us in those fetters to shew us our work and our transgression wherein we have exceeded Job 36.8 9. 2. To make us fear to sin and to purge it out Sin hath riveted it self so deep that easy Medicines will not displace it It hath so much of our affections that gentle means will not divorce us from it We shall hate it most when we reap the punishment of it Punishment is inflicted as a guard to the law and the security of righteousness from the corrupt inclinations of the Creature So it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato calls punishment As death is continued for the destruction of sin in the Body so are the lesser punishments continued for the restraint of sin in our lives We need further conversions closer applications of our selves to God more quick walks to him and fixedness with him Gods smitings are to quicken our turnings As it was the fruit of Jacobs trouble to take away sin Isa 27.9 So it is a great end of God in those common punishments of mankind to weaken corruption in a believer by them Therefore when we have any more remarkable sense of those punishments let us see what wounds our sin gets thereby How our hatred of it is encreased If we find such gracious effects we shall have more reason to bless God for it than complain of it Oh happy troubles when they repair not ruine us when they pinch us and cure us like Thunder which though it trouble the Air disperses the infectious vapours mixed with it or the Tide which though turning the stream of the River against its natural course carries away much of the filth with it at its departure 3. To exercise Grace Punishments of themselves have no power to set any grace on work but rather excite our corruptions but the grace of God accompanying them makes them beneficial for such an end God hath to a believer altered the commission of such punishments they are to exercise our Faith improve our patience draw us nearer in acts of recumbency but he hath given them no order to impair our grace waste our faith or deaden our hopes 1. Faith and Trust 1. Tim. 5.5 She that is desolate trusts in God The lower the state the greater necessity and greater obligation to trust such exercises manifest that the condition we are in is sanctified to us As sin is suffered to dwell in a regenerate Man to occasion the exercise of Faith so is the punishment of sin continued for the same end The continuance of it is a mighty ground of our confidence in God We experiment the righteousness of God in his threatning and it is an evidence he will be the same in his promise When we bear the marks of his punitive justice it is an evidence that he will keep up the credit of his mercy in the promise as well as of his justice in the punishment both being pronounced at the same time the good of the one is as sure by God's grace to our faith as the smart of the other is by our desert to that sin The continuance therefore of those punishments may be used by a Believer as a means to fix a stronger confidence in God for if he were not true to the one we might suspect his truth in the other If God should be careless of maintaining the honour of his truth in his threatnings we should have
reason to think that he would be careless of maintaining the honour of it in his promises and thereupon be filled with despondencies What comfort could we have in an unrighteous God The righteousness of God in inflicting punishment is but a branch of that essential righteousness of his nature which obligeth him to be righteous in the performing his promise too 'T is a mighty support to faith that the righteous God loveth righteousness 2. Obedience in a Believer hath a greater lustre by them It was the glory of Job that he preserved his Integrity under the smartest troubles To obey a God always smiling is not so great an act of Loyalty as to obey a God frowning and striking 'T is the crown of our obedience to follow our God though he visits us with stripes 'T is a noble temper to love that hand which strikes us and chearfully serve that Father which lasheth us Our obedience is too low when it must be excited by a succession of favours and cannot run to God unless he allures it by smiles 'T is then a generous and sincere obedience when we can embrace him with a sword in his Hand trust him though he kill us love him though he stone us and as the Persians did by the Sun adore him when he scorcheth as well as when he refresheth us Were these punishments wholly absent we should not have a rise for so heroick faith and love and our holiness in this state would want much of its lustre 3. Humility These punishments are left upon us to allay our pride and be our remembrancers of our deplorable miscrriage It had been an occasion of pride in us to be freed from punishment at the first appearance of a Mediator 'T is reasonable the Soul should have occasions to exercise it self in a grace contrary to that first sin pride which was the cause of the fall We affected to be Gods and punishment is left that we may know we are but Men which is the end of judgments Psal 9.20 Put them in fear O Lord that the Nations may know they are but Men we should otherwise think our selves Gods We are so inclin'd to sin that we need strong restraints and so swell'd with a natural pride against God that we need Thorns in the Flesh to let out the corrupt matter The constant hanging the Rod over us makes us lick the dust and acknowledge our selves to be altogether at the Lords mercy Though God hath pardon'd us he will make us wear the halter about our Necks to humble us 4. Patience Were there no punishments there would be but little occasion for patience This grace would not have had its extensive exercise its full formation without such strokes left upon the creature Resignation to God which is the beauty of grace would not come to its due maturity and stature without such trials So that in these reasons of the continuance we see they are rather advantages to Salvation than hindrances by promoting through the influence of God's grace those graces in us which are necessary to a happy state Use 1. See the infinite mercy of God who when upon the defection of our first Parents he might have burnt up the whole world as he did Sodom would upon the Redeemers account who stept in impose so light a punishment upon that sin 't is but light in comparison of what the nature of sin deserves every sin being a contempt of the Majesty of God and a slight of his Authority and that sin having greater aggravations attending it 'T is a merciful punishment it might have been an everlasting damnation God might have left us to the first sentence of the law and made no exchange of eternal death for temporal pains He might have been deaf to the voice of a Mediator and put his mercy to silence as he did Moses Speak no more of this matter but his Bowels pull his Justice by the Arm and hinder that fatal stroke and a Mediator by his interposition breaks off the full blow from us by taking it upon himself and suffers only some few smart drops to light upon us Oh wonderful mercy that our punishment should not hinder but rather further our everlasting happiness by incomprehensible grace Let not then our punishments for sin hinder our thankfulness Let our Mouths swell with praise while our Bodies crumble away by diseases and Relations drop from us by death Let us love God's glory admire his mercy while we feel his Arrows Whatever our punishments are there is more matter for praise than murmuring 2. How should we bewail original sin the first fall of man 'T is a great slighting of God not to take notice either of his judicial or fatherly proceedings As we are to lament any particular sin more especially when the judgments of God which bear the marks of that sin in their foreheads are upon a nation or person so though we are to bewail the sin of our nature at all times yet more signally when the strokes of God the remembrancers of it are most signally upon us A Child doth more particularly think of his fault when he is under the correcting rod for it We should scarce think of original sin if we did not feel original punishment All the pains of sin should be considered as Gods Sermon to us and we should under them be afflicted with that sin as we may suppose Adam and Eve were when they first heard the punishment denounc'd in Paradice when they had a sense of the flourishing Condition they had lost for a slight temptation To turn sorrow for pain into sorrow for our first sin is to spiritualize our grief and sanctify our passion 3. What an argument for patience under punishments is here The continuance of them doth not hinder our Salvation Shall a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sin For such a punishment that doth not hinder his eternal welfare but by the grace of God and the exercise of Faith rather promote it God promised as well as threatned both his mercy and righteousness directs him to that which is most for his honour and our good Let us not by any impatience charge infinite wisdom with blindness or unrighteousness They were punishments at first but by Faith in Christ the deportment of a judge is changed into that of a Father Drusius hath an observation Psal 56.10 In God will I praise his word in the Lord will I praise his word The first word Elohim is a name belonging to God as a judg the 2d word Jehovah is a name of mercy I will praise God whether he deal with me in a way of justice or in a way of mercy when he hath thunder in his voice as well as when he hath hony under his tongue Oh how should we praise God and pleasure our selves by such a frame When our distresses ly hard upon us we should justify Gods holiness So the Psalmist or rather Christ in the bearing our
Are we in such cases tempted to despond and distrust He felt such fiery darts of the Devil that he might the better commiserate us Run to him and cry out Blessed Redeemer Compassionate high Priest let thy pity break out to allay my grief and support my weakness Take a few encouragements to fiduciary acts 1. Nothing is more pleasing to God The continuance in Faith is the necessary condition of our Salvation Nothing more honours him We honour his wisdom and goodness when we acknowledge that he hath a singular care of his Creatures and trust him in his own methods we own his skill in governing and his goodness in bringing every thing about to the best end Christ hath given us the highest example of trust and highly pleased God in it in coming into the world to dye upon Gods bare word and oath 'T is all we can do to glorifie God Other graces glorifie some particular attribute but confidence in God glorifies all in the lump his wisdom righteousness faithfulness mercy truth omniscience and power There is no attribute but gives a particular encouragement to Faith and there is no attribute but Faith returns a revenue of glory to Despondency disparageth the Fathers affection and the Redeemers love if we do not trust him we imply that he hath not either wisdom or love or power or faithfulness enough to be trusted by us and that his word is of no value 2. Nothing is more successfull 'T is the argument the Psalmist or rather Christ useth Psal 16.1 Preserve me Why Because I trust in the. Trust in God is a strong argument to prevail with God for preservation All the ancient Fathers were delivered by God upon their trust Psal 22.4 5. Our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them they cryed unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded Faith in Gospel-promises is not a grace of a new date 'T is as old as Adams fall as old as the Patriarchs and successful in all ages of the world They were under new-Covenant promises and had new-Covenant deliverances before the promises were actually sealed by the blood of Christ How much stronger ground have we of trust now Faith draws out the treasures of God and sets God on work to display both his wisdom goodness and power Psal 31.19 How great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee Much more when Faith is vigorously acted Unbelief binds Gods hands Faith then draws forth that power which unbelief locks up God is first the hope of Israel and then the Saviour thereof in times of trouble Jer. 14.8 of every one of Israel Where God inspires with a humble confidence in himself there is hope of success for God will not frustrate the expectation of that which he hath been the author of in his Creature David had found such good evidence of this that he tells God he would make bold with him upon every occasion of fear Psal 57.3 What time I am afraid I will trust in thee 3. Nothing more calms the spirit A fiduciary reliance on God is the way to live free from fears and anxieties Faith is an establishing grace By Faith we stand What storms would be in the minds of poor passengers in a Ship as great as those in the Sea if they had no Pilot to direct them How soon would the arrival of a skilful Steers-man in whom they could confide and that knew the shelves and rocks upon the coast calm their disquiets Well then to Sum up all This very Scripture is a Letter of comfort writ only to women in the state of Child-bearing claim it as your right by Faith What comfort is here to appeal from the threatning to the promise from God as a Judg to God as a Father from God angry to God pacified in Christ How comfortable is this that when God seems to fight against you with his punishments you can take off the edge of his weapons by the pleas of his promise Oh blessed God who arms a believer against himself before he arms himself against a believer You can never be under the curse if you have Faith as long as God is sensible of his own credit in the promise In the material part of the punishment there is no difference between a believer and an unbeliever Jacob is pincht with famine as well as the Canaanite but Jacob is in Covenant and hath a God in Heaven and a Joseph in Aegypt to preserve him God directs every pain in all by his providence in believers by a particular love every gripe in all the Physick he gives us He orders even his contendings with his creature in such a measure as the spirit may not fail before him Isa 57.16 A DISCOURSE OF THE Sins of the Regenerate 1 John 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his Seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God THE Apostle having exhorted the Saints to whom he writes in the former Chapter to abide in Christ and to do righteousness v. 28.29 follows on this Exhortation with several arguments and demonstrations that a true Christian is not only bound to do so but that he indeed doth so 1. From that hope which hath eternal happiness for its Object v. 2 3. Where this hope is truly founded it will inflame us with a desire and endeavour after holiness which is a necessary means to attain it There will be an endeavour to be like that Head here which they hope to be perfectly like hereafter 2. From the contrariety of sin to the Law of God 'T is not reasonable neither can there be such a disingenuous disposition in any to transgress the Laws of that person from whom only he expects his highest felicity and the Law of God being pure and perfect sin being contrary unto it must be filthy and unreasonable A Christian who is guided by this Law will not transgress it 3. From the End of Christs coming which was to take away sin v. 5. And a Christian ought not to endeavour to frustrate the Ends of Christ's coming by the nourishment of that which he came to destroy 4. From the Communion they have with Christ abiding in him they sin not if any man sin it is an evident sign he hath not the knowledge of Christ v. 6. nor ever was conform'd to that pattern Where there is a Communion with Christ it is necessary such an one should be righteous because Christ was so 5. From the first Author of sin the Devil he that sins hath a communion with the Devil v. 8. as he that doth righteousness hath a communion with Christ And to maintain the design and works of the Devil is to walk contrary to the end and design of Christ which was to destroy the works of the Devil those therefore that indulge themselves in sin are the Seed
despicable in the eyes of the world which God hath designed in all Ages to honour Since he hath delivered his Son to death to preserve the honour of his Law it seems not to consist with his wisdom to let those who enjoy the fruits of his death walk in a customary contempt of his Law Neither can we think that God would permit that in a Believer which is against the very essence of grace though he may permit that which is against the beauty and accidental perfection of it 3. 'T is against the nature of the Covenant In the Covenant we are to take God for our God i. e. for our chief good and last end But a course of sin is an adoration of the sinful Object as the chief good and last end because a man prefers the creature before God and loves it supremely contrary to the will of God 'T is essential for one in Covenant with God to have an high valuation of God and his will But a custom of known sins evidenceth that there is not a worthy and practical esteem of God How can any condition of the covenant consist with a constant practice of sin How can there be faith where the precept is not believed How can there be love if the pleasure of God be not regarded How can there be fear if his authority be wilfully contemned How can there be a new heart when there is nothing but an old frame and a diabolical nature 'T is a renouncing those conditions upon which a right to heaven is founded For a worker of iniquity walks in those ways which are prohibited upon pain of not entring into that place of glory and so doth wilfully refuse the acceptance of the conditions on Gods part and the performance of the conditions on his own part which are necessary to Gods glory and his own interest 'T is an invasion of Gods right whereby he refuseth God for his God and Lord and sets up himself as his own governour an affecting vertually an equality with God and independency on him which in the common nature of sin is vertually the same with that of the Devil who sinned from the beginning and therefore a course in sin one that is born of God doth not continue in Perhaps the Apostle in the Text might have some such respect upon his opposing the Believers not committing sin to the sin of the Devil from the beginning viz. such a course of sin whereby a Man declares as the Devil did that he will be his own governour as indeed in every course of sin a Man doth practically declare 4. 'T is against the nature of our first repentance and conversion to God True repentance is a breaking off iniquity by righteousness Dan. 4.27 a turning from sin to holiness from our selves to God from our own Wills to the Will of God from every thing else as the chief good and last end to God as both these Now though a particular act of sin be against the watchfulness which attends repentance yet a course of sin is against the nature of it * Taylor of repentance pag. 188. the one is against the liveliness of Repentance the other against the life of it A delightful walking in any known sin though never so little is a defyance to God and therefore contrary to the nature of conversion and is a vertual embracing of all sin whatsoever because he that in his ordinary walk in sin hath no respect to the Will and pleasure of God though he knows it and will not be restrain'd from his delight by any such regard of God would be restrain'd from no other sin whatsoever if he did conceive them as pleasant advantageous and suitable to him as he doth that which is his darling As he that breaks one point of the Law is guilty of all James 2.10 because he shews thereby a Will and Disposition to break all if the same occasions were offer'd So he that commits one known sin wilfully much more he that walks in a course of sin is guilty of all sins vertually For he would boggle at no temptations upon a respect to God because if a regard to God doth not prevail upon him against a course in one kind it will not detain him from a course in all other kinds of sin if he come under the same circumstances for it Let me add this too If he that offends in one point of the Law be guilty of all i. e. as much delight and eagerness as he hath in the breach of that one it is to be supposed that he would have in the breach of all the rest upon the former reason can then such a disposition which is in every course of known sin be consistent with the nature of repentance and conversion 5. 'T is against the nature of habitual grace which is the principle and form of our Regeneration If he doth not commit sin because the seed of God remains in him then such a course of sin is against the nature of this seed inconsistent with the birth of God a crooked and perverse Spirit in sin is a sign of a putrified Soul a spot of a different nature from that of Gods Children Deut. 32.5 They have corrupted themselves their spot is not the spot of his Children they are a perverse and crooked Generation 't is a stain peculiar to the Children of the Devil not the Sons of God A Trade in sin is an evidence of a Diabolical Nature 1 John 3.8 He that commits sin is of the Devil 'T is not therefore consistent with grace which is a Divine Nature The reign of sin is inconsistent with the reign of grace though the rebellion of sin be not 'T is against the nature of Regeneration for sin to guide our Wills though it be not against the nature of it for sin to reside in our flesh To walk after the flesh Rom. 8.1 is an inseparable Character of a natural Man The Apostle Rom. 7. ult had been complaining of the Law of his Members the serving sin with his Flesh he comforts himself with this that he obeyed it not and that they were in Christ whose ordinary walk was as the Spirit led not as the Flesh allured * Amyrant in Joh. 8.9 And indeed every Tree brings forth fruit suitable to its nature A Vine brings not forth Thorns and he that hath the seed of God is under an impossibility of bringing forth the fruits of sin with delight since he hath a Root of righteousness planted in him 1. 'T is against the nature of a renewed understanding A Regenerate Man hath a new light in his mind whereby he hath a fairer prospect of God and a fouler of sin He was an enemy to God in his mind before Col. 1.21 He had dishonourable opinions and conceits of God and goodness and honourable thoughts of sin above its merit he thought ill of the one and well of the other But now he is renewed in the Spirit of his
mind Eph. 4.23 and he hath the Spirit of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1.7 His judgment is regulated by the Law of God he judges of sin as it is in its nature a transgression of the Law Can we imagine that a Man restored to a sound mind and that hath his natural madness and folly cured should act after this cure as much out of his wits as before If he hath his constant frenzies and madness as much as before where is his cure Can any Man in the world act always against his judgment though he may be overpowered by the importunity of others or over-ruled by a fit of passion to do something against his judgment can you expect always to find him in the road of crossing the dictates of his understanding An unregenerate Man hath a natural light in his Mind and Conscience and so a judgment of sin but he hath not a judgment of sin adequate to the object he doth not judge of sin in the whole latitude of it he hath not a settled judgment of the contrariety of his beloved sin to God He looks not upon it in the extent of it as malum injucundum inhonestum inutile if he looks upon sin as dishonest he regards it as profitable if neither as honest or profitable yet as pleasant so that the natural light which is in the understanding when it dictates right is mated and over-ruled by some other principle the pleasure or profit of it and swayed by the inherent habits of sin in the Will The Devil that works in them hath some principle to stir up or dim this natural light and cast a mist before the Eye and so they direct their course according to that particular judgment which is befriended in its vote by sense 2. 'T is against the nature of a renewed Will Grace is the law of God in the heart and is put in to inable us to walk in the ways of God and shall it endure such wilful pollutions in the Creature when it is the end of its being there to preserve from them The Spirit is given in the Heart 2 Cor. 1.22 sent into the Heart Gal. 4.6 the Law put into the Heart Heb. 10.16 Since therefore there is an habit of grace in the Will a Man cannot frequently and easily lanch into sin because he cannot do it habitually the remainders of sin being mated with a powerful habit which watches their motions to resist them Doth God put such a habit there such a seed an abiding seed to no purpose but to let the Soul be wounded by every temptation to be deserted in every time of need Grace is an habit superadded to that natural and moral strengrh which is in the Will Man by natures strength meerly or with the assistance of common grace hath power to avoid the acts of gross sins for he is master of his own actions though he is not of the motions tending to them the Devil cannot force a Mans Will And when grace a greater strength comes in shall there be no effects of this strength but the reins be as stiff in the hands of old lust and the Will as much captive to the sinful habit in it as before Grace being a new nature it is as absurd to think that a gracious man should wallow in a course of sin as it is to think that any creature should constantly and willingly do that which is against its nature A gracious man delights in the Law of God Psal 1.2 His delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night if he delights in it can he delight to break it Do Men fling that which they delight in every day in the Durt and trample upon it or rather do they not keep it choicely in their Cabinets If it be also the Character of a good man to meditate in the Law of God he must have frequent exercises of faith reflections upon himself motions to God which cannot consist with a course of sin Grace doth essentially include a contrariety to sin and a love to God in the Will 'T is a principle of doing good and eschewing evil and these being essential properties of grace are essential to every regenerate man and in every one As a drop of Water or one spark of Fire hath the essential properties of a great mass of Water or a great quantity of Fire so every renewed man hath the same love to God and the same hatred of sin essentially as the most eminent Saint though not in degree yea which those in heaven have though not in the same degree As a spark of fire will burn a drop of water will moisten though not in so eminent a measure Now upon the whole consider whether is it possible to bare reason that a regenerate man should customarily do those things which are against the essential properties of that which is in him in his will and doth denominate him a new Creature 3. Proposition A regenerate man cannot have a fixt resolution to walk in such a way of sin were the impediments to it removed Though unregenerate men may actually as to the outward exercise abstain from some sins yet it is usually upon low and mean conditions If it were not for such or such an obstacle in the way I would do such and such an act This temper is not in a good man he cannot have a fixed and determinate resolution to commit such an act if such bars were taken away Such resolutions are Common in unregenerate men Jer. 44.25 We will surely perform our vows which we have vow'd to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and Isa 56.12 We will fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant we will have as merry a meeting as we had to day The same character is ascribed to such an one Psal 36.4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed He sets himself in a way that is not good He ahhorreth not evil He modells out his sinful designs with head and heart he settles himself as an army settles in their ground when they resolve to fight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He abhors not evil He starts not at such motions but by a Meiosis he huggs and caresseth them with a wonderful delight Regenerate men fear to sin wicked men contrive to sin One would starve it the other makes provision for it This temper cannot be in a Regenerate man 1. 'T is Diabolical And so falls under that in the text He cannot Commit sin as the Devil doth 'T is a stain of the Devil who is resolved in his way of malice to God and mischief to man but for the strait Chains God holds him in his resolution is fixed though the execution restrained He goes about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to drink at one draught Seeking both for an opportunity and permission Unwearied searches manifest fixed resolutions His
it Psal 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If I have curiously and intently looked upon iniquity with pleasure in my heart 5. 'T is against the nature of Regeneration Regeneration is a change of nature and consequently of resolutions A Lyon chained up hath an inclination to ravage but a Lyon chang'd into the nature of a Lamb loses his inclinations with that change of his nature so that it is as impossible a regenerate man can have the fixed and determinate resolutions that a wicked man hath as it is impossible that a Lamb should have the ravenous disposition of a Lyon you know the Scripture makes the change as great How can any man resolve to do a thing against that law which at the same time he hath an habitual approbation of as holy just and good Against a law natural to him viz. The law of the heart If a delight in the Law of God be a constitutive part of Regeneration then any settled purpose to sin is inconsistent with Regeneration because such a purpose being a testimony of an inward delight in that which is contrary to the Law of God cannot consist with a delight in that which forbids what his heart is set upon 4. Proposition A regenerate man cannot walk in a way doubtful to him without inquiries whether it be a way of sin or a way of duty and without admitting of reproofs and admonitions according to his circumstances This consists of two parts 1. He cannot walk in a way doubtful to him without inquiries whether it be a way of sin or of duty If the nature of conversion be an inclination of the heart to keep Gods statutes always even to the end Psal 119.112 the natural result then will be an enquiry what are the statutes of God which the Soul is to keep A natural man for fear of being disturbed in his sinful pleasure refuseth to understand the way of the Lord and delights to be under the power of a willful darkness Job 21.14 15. We desire not the knowledge of thy ways what is the almighty that we should serve him and what profit should we have if we pray to him This unwillingness to know the ways of God arises from a contempt of the Almighty and his service They judged it not profitable to serve and worship God and therefore were loth to receive any instruction for fear any light should spring up in them by way of conviction to disturb them Men love sin and therefore hate any knowledge which may deprive them of the sweetness of it Prov. 1 22. The Scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledg They delight in sin and therefore hate any knowledg which may check their delight And this unwillingness to choose the fear of the Lord is the ground of their hating the knowledg of it v. 30. for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They are afraid to be convinced that the way of their delight is a way of sin they would have no gall in their Conscience to imbitter the hony of their lusts This hatred of knowledg is inconsistent with true conversion because conversion is an election or choice of the fear of God and therefore cannot resist any means tending to promote that which is chosen 'T is essential to true grace to inquire into the mind and will of God to understand what is pleasing to him Job 34.32 That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more Inform me in what I know not if I understand it is iniquity which I have walked ignorantly in I will do it no more He will not return to folly when he shall hear what God the Lord shall speak 'T is certainly incompatible to the new nature to act in a contrariety to God Grace is always attended with an universal desire to know his will and pleasure him in performing it hence will follow an inquiry what behaviour and what acts are most agreeable to him John 14.21 He that hath my Commandments and keeps them he it is that Loves me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Antithesis is He that hath no mind to have my Commandments because he would not keep them hath no love to me He it is Emphatically exclusively that is the man and none else that Loves me Now if a man be afraid of making inquiry into the lawfulness of a course he is wedded to for fear his beloved object should appear to be a sin 't is a sign he abstains from what he knows certainly to be a sin out of a servile fear not out of a generous Divine Love a Principle as essential to the new nature as fear is to an enlightned carnalist 2. A Regenerate man cannot despise admonitions and reproofs which would inform him and withdraw him from a sinful course If he be in the way of life that keeps instruction then he that refuseth reproof is in the way of death Pro. 10.17 He is in the way of life that keeps instruction but he that refuseth reproof erreth 'T is put in a milder expression but if you observe the opposition it amounts to the inference I make So Prov. 15.9 10. The Lord Loves them that follow after Righteousness correction is grievous unto them that forsake the way and he that hates reproof shall dye Here is a plain opposition made between them that follow after Righteousness which is the character of a regenerate man who is therefore the object of Gods Love and that person that accounts correction grievous and hates reproof he is not one that follows after Righteousness to pursue is to embrace it and therefore not the object of Gods Love but the mark of death So that it is impossible a righteous man should hate reproof Nay the hating of reproof whereby a man might be informed of his duty is a sign not of a bare unregeneracy but of one at the very bottom of it wallowing in the very dreggs and mud of it farthest from the Kingdom of Heaven one that scarce looks like a rational creature Prov. 12.1 whoso Loves instruction Loves knowledge but he that hates reproof is brutish Whereas Solomons wise man which is a Regenerate man will love the reprover for the reproofs sake and grow wiser by instruction Prov. 9.8 9. Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee rebuke a wise man and he will Love thee give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser teach a just man and he will encrease in learning Just men change their intentions upon a discovery of the sinfulness of their way And though it may not at the first assault of an admonition appear to be a sin yet it will check somewhat their violence in it But where sin hath a dominion every check and discovery of it doth rather enflame than quench it and the heart like a stream rises the higher for
the damm Judas had an admonition from Christ that informed him of what wickedness he was about and the danger of it Mark 14.21 He pronounceth a wo against him Compare this with Joh. 13.27 30. when he gives him the sop which was at the same time he informed him of the danger Satan entered into him and he went more roundly to work to accomplish it he went immediately out Observe by the way That the Spirit of God enters into a mans heart often upon admonitions from friends and the Devil also more powerfully upon the same occasions than at other times A good man cannot habitually hate the reprover There is one example of a good man dealing hardly with a Prophet for reproving him in the name of the Lord 2 Chron. 16.10 Then Asa was wroth with the Seer and put him into a Prison house for he was in a rage with him because of this thing And partly for the Judgment of war against him But the Scripture gives an allay to it For he was in a rage He was in a passion because of the threatning and the plainness of the speech thou hast done foolishly To say such a word to an inferior would ordinarily now a days swell many a professor to a fury much more a Prince This very Proposition will discover that there are many more pretenders to a Regenerate state than possessors of it so strangely is not only Humane Nature but the Christian Religion depraved among us 5 Propos A regenerate man cannot have a settled deliberate love to any one act of sin though he may fall into it Thus the Devil sins he loves what he doth Though a good man may fall into a sin even such a sin which he was much guilty of before his Conversion and which he hath repented of yet never into a love of it or the allowance of any one act of it For by Regeneration the Soul becomes like God in disposition and therefore cannot love any thing which he hates whose hatred and love being always just are unerring Rules to the love and hatred of every one of his Children He can never account a sin his ornament but his fetter never his delight but his grief I add this Proposition because there may be a love of an act of sin where there is not a constant course in it As a man that hath committed a murther out of revenge may love afterwards the very thoughts of that revenge though he never murther any more And a man that hath committed an act of Adultery may review it with pleasure though he never commit an act again But a good man cannot David is supposed to be inclined to the way of lying and dissembling though he might falter sometimes and look that way and perhaps fall into it yet never into a love of it therefore observe Psal 119.163 I hate and abhor lying but thy Law do I love A single hatred would not serve the turn but I hate and abhor I have not the least affection to this of any though I have the greatest natural inclination to it What was the reason Thy Law do I love There was another affection planted in his Soul which could not consist with a love to or allowance either of the habit or any one act of lying A good man hath yielded his Soul up to the government of Christ his affections are fully engaged he cannot see an equal amiableness in any other Object for he cannot lose his Eyes again his enlightened mind cannot be wholly blinded and deceived by Satan he walks not by the inveiglements of sense but by the unerring Rule of Faith so that though by some mists before his Eyes he may for a while be deluded yet as he cannot have a setled false Judgment so he cannot have a setled affection to any one act of sin 'T is one thing for a City to surrender it self to the Enemy out of affection and another thing to be forced by them Under a force they may retain their Loyalty to their lawful Prince There may be some passionate approbations of an act of sin Jonah was an Advocate for his own passion against God and made a very peremptory Apology for it Jonah 4.9 I do well to be angry even to the death Yet if we may judge by his former temper we cannot think he did afterwards defend it out of judgment as he did then out of passion for when the Lot fell upon him Jon. 2.9 12. he made no defence for his sin he very calmly wishes them to cast him into the Sea Where there is a passionate approbation it cannot be constant in a good man for when he returns to himself his abhorrences of the sin and of himself for it are greater as if by the greatness of his grief he would endeavour to make some recompence for the folly of his passion Observe by the way A good man may commit a sin with much eagerness and yet have a less affection to it in the very act than another who acts that sin more calmly because it may arise not from any particular inclination he hath in his temper to that sin but from the general violence of his natural temper which is common to him in that action This seems to be the case of Jonah both in this and the former act But if a man be more violent in that act of sin than he is in other things by his natural temper there is ground both for himself and others to think that sin hath got a great mastery over his affections Peter seems to be a man of great affections and of a forward natural temper he was very hasty to have Tabernacles built in the Mountain for his Master Moses and Elias and have resided there He hastily rebukes his Master he flung himself out of a Ship to meet our Saviour walking upon the water and after his Resurrection he leapt into the Sea to get to him So that Peter's denying his Master was not such an evidence of disaffection to him or love to the sinful act he was then surpriz'd by as it would have been in John or any other Disciple of a more sedate temper But this only by the way as a Rule both to judg your selves by and to moderate your Censures of others And consider That such acts of sin are not frequent The violence of a mans temper if godly cannot carry him out into a course of sin or a love to any one act As a wicked man may hit upon a good duty and perform it but not out of a settled love to God or habitual obedience to his Law so a good man may by surprize do an evil work not out of obedience to the Law of sin or any love to the sin it self What considerations may move a wicked man to a good duty may in some respect move a good man to a sinful act yet it is not to be called a duty in the one no more than it is to
330 943.  9. 66  12. 1076. 8. 3. 1146. 10. 1. 336.  5 6. 60. 11 8. 630.  9. 1300. 12. 5. 23 † 6. 36 † 11. 1144. 13. 3. 737.  8. 910 911 1192. 14. 6. 40 † 19 20. 50 †15. 2. 488 40 † 8. 36. †19. 1 4 6. 23 † 13. 329 1091.  15. 694. 20. 9. 51 †21. 1. 40 † 3. 769 770.  5. 114.  16. 23 † 23. 489 497 770. 22. 1. 34 †THE INDEX A. ABel's Faith Page 601 1164. Abraham's Page 1164. Abstinence from sin may be without Mortification and the grounds of it Page 1317 8. Abuse of Mercy Dangerous Page 696. Acceptableness of Christs Death Page 883. How it was so Page 885 6. Demonstrated from Page 316. to 322 337 8 from 886 to 898 1087 1148. What made it so Page 882. a 899. ad 906. A Comfort to a Believer Page 323. 871 909. The fruits of it Page 317. ad 322. Acceptation of us and our services founded on that of Christ Page 322 897. Of Believers certain and perpetual Page 323 910. The matter of Christs Intercession Page 1146 7. Access to God Beleivers have with confidence delight and joy Page 366 7. In it God as Reconciled to be eyed Page 378. Studying the Death of Christ would animate us in it Page 844. Follows upon Pardon Page 110 †Vid. Prayer Accusations of Beleivers shall be answer'd Page 340. Of Sin and Satan the Death of Christ to be pleaded against them Page 753 4. 1103 1152. Activity of the New-Creature for God and of what kind a Page 88. ad 94. Essential Acts of the Soul not changed in Regeneration Page 73 4. Adam in Innocence how lie had a power to Believe and Repent Page 189. His first Sin what and how he fell Page 645 6. 730. Why not mentioned in 11. Heb. Page 646. His Faith in Christ Page 1165. What he knew of Christs sufferings Page 1170. Whose Sin greater his or Eves Page 78 †Adoption not without Regeneration Page 32. How they differ Page 72. How it differs from Reconciliation and Justification Page 244. How great a Mercy Page 1287. Thoughts of it a ground of confidence in Prayer Page 384. Advocate what Page 1111. Vide Intercessor Affections of the New-Creature for God unbounded Page 91. Of a Regenerate Man to the Law of God Page 99 100. Some sort of them may be raised in unrenewed Men. Page 109 110. Placed on God a mark of Regeneration Page 120. Follow sense Page 749. Inconstant ibid. Accompany a saving Knowledge Page 417. Corrupt a hindrance of Divine Knowledge Page 464. Sutable should accompany the Knowledge of God in Christ Page 519. Should accompany our Thoughts of God Page 3 †Afflictions the lot of all God's dearest Children Page 553 1286. We must not slight them nor be dejected under them Page 1282. All from God ibid. We should not be impatient under them Page 1282 1284 1289 1291. Their removal to be sought of God Page 1282. Sent on good Men by God as a Father Page 1282 1285. Effects of divine Love Page 1283 1289. Our carriage under them should be pleasing to God Page 1284. Should make us turn our Anger against sin ibid. The Wisdom of God in them to his Children above that of earthly Parents Page 1288. God to be loved for them Page 1289. The intention of God in them to be answered ibid. Grievous but profitable Page 1290. We should judge aright of them ibid. Faith necessary under them Page 1291. Vid. Faith Believers have assistance in them Page 1104. Sweetned by Pardon Page 111 †Great no sign of an unpardoned state Vid. Troubles Punishment Ambition a great hindrance of Conversion Page 2. A cause of unbelief Page 738. Angels could not have contrived mans Redemption Page 252. Nor effected it Page 860 937. Vid. Sacrifice Subjected to Christ Page 333 4. 1098. Not Redeemed Page 361 Good at peace with a Believer Page 364 5. Can 't know God perfectly Page 413. Their clearest knowledge of God is by Christ Page 495. How affected with mens sins Page 67 †Antiquity an unsafe rule Page 834. Apostacy unavoidable without growth in Knowledge Page 455. A folly Page 40 †Vid. Weak Grace and Perseverance Apostates are Unbelievers Page 729 730. Assurance how to be obtained Page 52 3. Of obtaining must not chill Prayer Page 384 Want of it not unbeleif Page 605 Often given at the Supper Page 762. Not necessary in a Communicant Page 783 4 And Faith how they differ Page 799. The more perfect our Mortification the clearer it is Page 1315. Possible Vid. Knowledge of a mans state Attendance on God our work in Heaven Page 39. Attributes of God some of them could not have been known without the fall Page 481 2. Others not so clearly Page 483. All manifested and glorified in Christ a Page 498. ad 512. 888 9. 906 941. A sense of them fix'd on the Soul in Conviction Page 575. All the object of Faith Page 1161. Faith to be acted on them Page 85 †B. BAptism shews the necessity of Regeneration Page 20. T is not Regeneration Page 75. No Converting Ordinance Page 792 Believers their Salvation certain Page 284 5. 911 1105 6. 1196. Their state better than Adams in innocency Page 371 2. 1356. Their Salvation the end of Christs Commission and Intercession Page 302 3. 1147 But few in all ages Page 671 714. Their happiness Page 701 2 3. a 909. ad 912. Christs possession Page 1328 9. His charge Page 1330 1 2 1359. Power given him for their good Page 1332 3 4. Vid. Exaltation His affections to them Page 1335 6 7. Blessings spiritual flow from the Father through Christ Page 258. Gods giving and accepting Christ an assurance none shall be denyed us Page 352 3. 369. 912. Christs acceptation the Foundation of them all Page 321. Blood of Christ cleansed from sins commited before it was shed Page 892. a 1187 ad 1192. Of perpetual vertue Page 893. Cleanseth morally Page 1186. From guilt and filth Page 1186 7. perfectly Page 1195 6 7. How a Page 1198. ad 1201. Comfort to those that are cleansed by it Page 1208 9. Vid. Death of Christ and Sacrifice Body prepared for Christ Page 275 6. Necessary for him Page 289. What kind of one Page 289 290. It s glory in Heaven Page 1093 4. Bodies of men shall be raised Page 1105. Boasting dangerous to a Renewed man Page 202. C. CALL of Christ to be our Redeemer by the Father a Page 266. ad 269. Cause of it self or any thing nobler than it self nothing can be Page 167 Ceremonies humane especially if abused not to be urged Page 747. Change a great one by Regeneration a Page 75. ad 84. 128. Goes with a saving knowledge Page 415 416. Christ may be esteemed by those that want saving Faith Page 2. Should be our end Page 66 The exemplar of the New Creature Page
and charging others and thus his grace would rather be a mockery and derision of men Neither doth it consist with the end of pardon which is Salvation for to give an half pardon is to give no Salvation since if the least guilt remains unremitted it gives justice an unanswerable plea against us What profit would it be to have some forgiven and be damned for the remainder Had any one sin for which Christ was to have made a compensation remain'd unsatisfied the Redeemer could not have risen so if the smallest sin remains unblotted it will hinder our rising from the power of eternal death and make the pardon of all the rest as a nullity in Law But it is the glory of God to pass by all Prov. 19.31 It is his glory to pass over a transgression 'T is the glory of a man to pass by an offence 'T is a discovery of an inward principle or property which is an honour for a man to be known the master of If it be his glory to pass by a single and small injury then to pass by the more heinous and numerous offences is a more transcendent honour because it evidenceth this property to be in him in a more triumphant strength and power So that it is a clearer evidence of the illustrious vigor of mercy in God to pass by mountainous and heaped up transgressions than to forgive only some few iniquities of a lesser guilt Jer. 33.8 I will cleanse them from all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me and whereby they have transgrest against me Therefore when God tells the Jews that he would give them a general discharge in the fullest terms imaginable to remove all jealousie from men either because of the number or the aggravations of their sins he knew not how to leave expressing the delight he had in it and the honour which accrued to him by it It shall be to me a name of joy a praise and honour before all the nations of the earth He would get himself an honourable name by the large riches of his Clemency Mercy is as infinite as any other attribute as infinite as God himself And as his power can create incomprehensible multitudes of worlds and his justice kindle unconceiveable Hells so can his mercy remit innumerable sins 3. Perfect in respect of Duration Because the hand writing of ordinances is taken away Col. 2.14 15. Blotting out the hand writing of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross which was the Ceremonial Law wherein they did by their continual presenting Sacrifices and imposition of Hands upon them sign a Bill or Bond against themselves whereby a conscience of sin was retain'd Heb. 10.2 3. and a remembrance of sin renewed they could not settle the Conscience in any firm peace Heb. 9.9 they were compelled to do that every day whereby they did confess that sin did remain and want an expiation Hence is the Law called a ministration of condemnation 2 Cor. 3.9 because it puts them in mind of condemnation and compelled the people to do that which testified that the curse was yet to be abolished by virtue of a better Sacrifice This Hand writing which was so contrary to us was taken away nailed to his Cross torn in pieces wholly cancelled no more to be put in suit Whence in â—pposition to this continual remembrance of sin under the legal administâ—ation we read under the New Testament of Gods remembring sin no more Hâ—â— 10.3 17. Christ hath so compounded the business with Divine Justice that wâ— have the sins remitted never returning upon us and the renewal also of remissions upon daily sins if we truly repent For though there be a blacker Tincture in sins after conversion as being more deeply stain'd with ingratitude yet the Covenant of God stands firm and he will not take away his kindness Isa 54.9 10. And there is a greater affection in God to his Children than to his Enemies for these he loves before their Conversion with a love of benevolence but those with a love of complacency Will not God be as ready to continue his grace to those that are penitent as to offer it to offending Rebels Will he refuse it to his Friends when he intreats his Enemies Not that any should think that because of this duration they have liberty to sin and upon some trivial Repentance are restored to God's favour No where Christ is made Righteousness he is made Sanctification His Spirit and Merit go together A new Nature and a New State are Concomitants and he that sins upon presumption of the grand Sacrifice never had any share in it V. The Effect of Pardon That is Blessedness 1. The greatest evil is taken away sin and the dreadful consequents of it Other evils are temporal but those know no period in a doleful Eternity There is more evil in sin than good in all the creatures Sin stript the fallen Angels of their Excellency and dispossessed them of the Seat of Blessedness It fights against God it disparages all his Attributes it deforms and destroys the creature Rom. 7.13 Other evils may have some mixture of good to make them tolerable but sin being exceeding sinful without the mixture of any good engenders nothing but destruction and endless damnation Into what miseries afflictions sorrows hath that one sin of Adam hurl'd all his posterity what screechings wounds pangs horrours doth it make in troubled Consciences How did it deface the Beauty of the Son of God that created and upheld the World with sorrow in his Agonies and the stroak of Death on the Cross How many thousands millions of poor creatures have been damned for sin and are never like to cease roaring under an inevitable Justice Ask the damned and their groans yellings howlings will read thee a dreadful Lecture of sins sinfulness and the punishment of it And is it not then an inestimable blessedness to be delivered from that which hath wrought such deplorable Executions in the World 2. The greatest Blessings are conferred Pardon is God's Family-Blessing and the peculiar mercy of his choicest darlings He hands out other things to wicked men but he deals out this only to his Children 1. The Favour of God Sin makes thee Satan's Drudge but pardon makes thee God's Favourite We may be sick to death with Lazarus and be God's Friends sold to slavery with Joseph and yet be dear to him thrown into a Lions Den with Daniel and be greatly beloved poor with Lazarus who had only Doggs for Chirurgions to dress his Sores and yet have a Title to Abraham's bosom But we can never be beloved if we are unpardoned no share in his friendship his love his inheritance without a pardon All created evils cannot make us loathsom in a justified State nor all created goods make us lovely under guilt Sin is the
only Object of God's hatred while this remains his Holiness cannot but hate us when this is removed his righteousness cannot but love us remission and favour are inseparable and can never be dis-joyned 'T is by this he makes us as a Diadem upon his Head a Bracelet on his Arm it is by this he writes us upon the Palms of his Hands makes us his peculiar Treasure even as the Apple of his Eye which Nature hath so carefully fenced 2. Access to God A Prince may discard a Favourite for some guilt and though he may restore him to his liberty in the Common-wealth yet he may not admit him to the favour of his wonted privacies But a pardoned man hath an access to God to a standing and perpetually settled Grace Rom. 5.1 2. Being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access Guilt frights us and makes us loath the very sight of God Pardon encourageth us to come near to him Guilt respects him as a Judge Pardon as a Friend Who can confidently or hopefully call upon an angry and condemning God But who cannot but hopefully call upon a forgiving God Sin is the partition wall between God and us and Pardon is the demolishing of it Forgiveness is never bestowed but the Scepter is held out to invite us to come into God's presence And what can be more desirable than to have not only the favour of but a free access at any time to the Lord of Heaven and Earth and at length an everlasting being with him 3. Peace of Conscience There must needs be fair Weather when Heaven smiles upon us All other things breed disquietness Sin was a Thorn in David's Crown his Throne and Scepter were but miserable comforters while his guilt overwhelmed him The glory of the World is no soveraign Plaister for a wounded Spirit Other enjoyments may please the sense but this only can gratifie the Soul God's Thunder made Moses tremble Heb. 12.21 But the probability of a gracious Pardon would make a damned Soul smile in the midst of tormenting flames How often hath the sense of it raised the hearts of Martyrs and made the Sufferers sing while the Spectators wept Though this I must confess is not always an inseparable concomitant There is much difference between a Pardon and the comfort of it that may pass the Seal of the King without the knowledge of the Malefactor Pardon indeed always gives the jus ad rem a right to peace of Conscience but not always jus in re the possession of it There may be an actual separation between Pardon and actual Peace but not between Pardon and the ground of Peace 4. It sweetens all mercies Other mercies are a ring but pardon is the Diamond in it A justified person may say I have temporal mercies and a pardon too I live in repute in the world and Gods favour too riches increase and my peace with God doth not diminish I have health with a pardon friends with a pardon as Job ch 29.3 6 7. among all other blessings this he counts the chiefest that Gods Candle shin'd upon his head A Prisoner for some capital crime may have all outward accommodations for lodging dyet attendance without a real happiness when he expects to be called to his tryal before a severe judge from whom there is no appeal and that will certainly both pass and cause to be executed a sentence of death upon him So though a man wallows in all outward contents he cannot write himself blessed while the wrath of God hangs over his head and he knows not how soon he may be summon'd before Gods tribunal and hear that terrible voice Go thou cursed What comfort can a man take in Houses Land Health when he considers he owes more than all his estate is worth So what comfort can a man have in any thing in this world when he may hourly expect an arrest from God and a demand of all his debts and he hath not so much as one farthing of his own or any interest in a sufficient surety We may have honour and a curse wealth and a curse Children and a curse health and long life and a curse learning and a curse but we can never have pardon and a curse Our outward things may be gifts but not blessings without a pardon 5. It sweetens all afflictions A frown with a pardon is better than a thousand smiles without it Sin is the sting of crosses and Remission is a taking the sting out of them A sight of Heaven will mitigate a cross on earth The stones about Stephens ears did scarce afflict him when he saw his Saviour open Heaven to entertain him To see death staring us in the face and an angry and offended God above ready to charge all our guilt is a doleful spectacle Look upon my affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins saith the Psalmist Psal 25.18 Sin doth embitter and adds weight to an affliction but the removal of sin doth both lighten it and sweeten it USE 1. An unpardoned man is a miserable man Such a state lays you open to all the miseries on earth and all the torments in Hell The poorest begger with a pardon is higher than the greatest prince without it How can we enjoy a quiet hour if our debt be not remitted since we owe more than we are able to pay You may dye with a forfeited reputation and yet be happy but what happiness if you die with unpardoned guilt 1. There must either be pardon or punishment The law doth oblige either to obedience or suffering the Commands of it must be observed or the penalty indured God will not relax the punishment without a valuable consideration If it be not executed the creature may accuse God of want of wisdom in enacting it or defect of power in maintaining it Therefore there must be an exact observance of the law which no creature after the first deviation is able to do or an undergoing the penalty of it which no Sinner is able to bear There must therefore be a remission of this punishment for the good of the creature and the Satisfaction of the law by a surety for the honour of Gods justice If we have not therefore an interest in the surety the purchaser of remission we must lye under the severity of the law in our persons 2. You can call nothing an act of Gods Love towards you while you remain unpardoned What is there you do enjoy which may not consist with his hatred as well as his Love Have we knowledge So have Devils Have we riches So had Nabal and Cain Have we honour So had Pharaoh and Herod Have we Sermons So had Judas the best that ever were preacht Nothing nothing but a pardon is properly a blessing How can that man take pleasure in any thing he hath when all the threatnings in the book of God are as so many arrows directed