are destructive in their courses and fight against their enemies thus the stars in their courses are said to fight against Sisera Judg. 5.20 and hence it is said there is a heavenly vessel that empties it self into the lower vessel and that every herb discovers it self to be useful for this or that part of mans body by the similitude which it carries unto that part for which it is medicinal and that every one hath governing from its proper star that every thing living hath a starry influence upon it and that there is not a man beast or stone but hath influence from the stars now granting all this to be a truth as it is the opinion of some yet it will be still found an infallible assertion that though all the stars at once were malignant they could not force any man to sin their malevolous aspects cannot compel any man to commit iniquity indeed by the fall of Adam our nature was corrupted and so the creature became subject unto vanity yet as we recover our selves from destruction in the second Adam they lose that power of vanity and so by consequence no extrinsecal meanes can be the cause of sin in respect of a fatal constellation but to say we were born during the predominancy of such or such a Plannet and our guidance in the way to eternal life is from God alone is a most certain truth for the sun and Moon which are the great luminaries of heaven and earth can do no more by their power towards our good or evil estate then a lame man can help himself to walk that hath no legs nay the Angels in Heaven can do no more then wish and long for the prosperity of Gods chosen Therefore how much of vanity is there in those minds who impute that power to celestial creatures which God never intended they should possess for take them at the best and they are but such instruments as can doe nothing without him that doth whatsoever he will both in Heaven and in Earth the Sea and all deep places We must not when we doe that which is evil lay the charge upon God or the Stars or the Angels who are the instruments that act those Stars 1. We must not lay the blame on God Let no man say when he is tempted he is tempted of God c. St. James 13.13 No let no man say he hath caused me to erre or that it is through the Lord that I fell away for he hath no need of the sonne of man saith the son of Syrach Ecclesiasticus 15.11 12. For the Lord hateth all abomination so contrary is sinne unto his Holinesse that his eyes are upon them that fear him and they that truly love God will do his will and obey his Commandements for they know that Gods Justice hath no need to advance its glory by the destruction of their lives Nor 2. Can any man justly impute his sinnes to the holy Angels for it is the property of them to hearken to the voice of God and alwayes to be doing of that which is good O praise the Lord ye Angels of his ye that excel in strength ye that fulfill his commands and hearken unto the voice of his words Psal 103.20 21. Therefore certainly they that fulfil Gods command and hearken to his voice will be farre enough from causing others to commit that which they hate especially in the Children of God for whose sakes they are made ministring Spirits But then some will be ready to excuse themselves and lay the fault upon the Devil and his evil Angels it is true the Prince of the Aire rules in the children of disobedience but it is as true they give up themselves unto him their lusts first ruled in their members before Satan got domination over their hearts they are taken captives at his pleasure but they first give up themselves willingly to be captivated they are willing to lie under the yoke of Egyptian bondage nor care they for other freedome then what the service of sinne will allow of and therefore our Saviour tels the Jews You are of your father the Devil and the lusts of your father you will doe The lusts of your father you will obey you have a lust to doe whatsoever he wills and your will is bent to doe whatsoever your lust dictates and yet men would fain make God the author of their evil as if he had decreed that to come upon them which they cannot refuse To this end saith St. Austin evil men lay not the blame of their vicious actions upon their evil nature but upon the Stars or on Gods peremptory Decree whereas what is sinne is voluntary and what is not voluntary is not sinne Saint Paul saith Ye have yeilded your members servants unto sinne So that we must not lay the fault upon the Stars but upon our own perverse wills for though the Stars doe draw vicious passions as in melancholy hearts in some anger and in others wanton love c. And though by nature we readily yeild to those influences yet there is power in grace which is able and doth break in every regenerate man the power of the Stars But if we give up our selves to sinne we must needs yeild unto those evil passions whereas a wise man even by his very reason will domineer over the malignant influence of any Star and though the corruption of our nature or the evil influence of the Stars may incline us to any kinde of vice as lying stealing to commit adultery c. yet as we are rational creatures we may and ought to strive against them labouring to get power from above to assist us and to that end is it that we are born again by holy Baptisme for this cause came we into the Christian Church that we might no longer live after the lusts of the Gentiles which know not God but that we forsaking the lusts of the flesh following godliness with the greatest eagerness and sharpest conflicts that a renewed heart can use against stubborn and rebellious flesh that our whole man may be wounâ— up to so high a pitch of Piety that in righteousnesse and godly sincerity we may perfect holinesse in the fear of God and in our several stations follow God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God c. Ephes 5.1 2. And so I have done with the end as asserted To this end was I borne and for this cause came I into the world c. The next thing in order to be handled is the Action viz. To bear witnesse For so saith our Saviour To this end was I borne and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witnesse unto the truth FINIS A second NATIVITIE SERMON SERMON VI. St. IOHN 18.37 To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witnesse unto the
on the Mothers side man and no God and yet both God and Man For Eternity had begotten man but once because begotten from Eternity his Father begot him equall to God his Mother bare him like to Man he was man besides God and therefore Man and no God and yet God and Man for when he was made man he ceased not to be God which he was before like as the Sun loseth not its brightnesse though shadowed in the clouds so not Christ his glory though obscuted in flesh he was not so conceived in his Mother as to be separated from his Father Christ was not lesse equal to his Fathet by being like his Mother the Word was made flesh St. John 1.14 and not lesse Word then Flesh by an assumption of the flesh not consumption of the Word the Word that God by flesh did present to our sight was real Flesh and was not lesse God still for he is no lesse God now that he is clad in humane clay then when onely clothed with deified Glory he remaines God and Man in one person very God and very Man in one singular subsistence he took the person of Man and the substance by converting the person to his proper being and that this may not altogether seeme strange to your understandings please to turn your eyes inward and an example thereof will be presented for if man hath the life of Plants and the sense of Beasts and both in conjunction with the reasonable soul in an individual being why may not Christ take the Soul of man into union with himself and yet consist in his Divinity making a Trinity in the union of his Person For as he was God and Man in the humane nature he consisted of a Deity a soul and a body there a Trinity in unity here unity in Trinity he was one person not divided a person of the Trinity distinguished not divided for every person in the Sacred Trinity is perfect God distinguished into persons but not divided in substance for all take propriety each with the other the Father God the Son God and the holy Ghost God and yet not three but one God as we are taught by the holy Catholick Faith to beleeve yet that God might redeeme us from our iniquities he that was perfect God equal with the Father took upon him our flesh and therefore it is that God was said to suffer what man himself should have borne onely here is the admired union of natures but not natural of persons But what were the reasons why he whose name is I am should be borne so as to say of himself To this end was I borne and for this cause came I into the world to bear witnesse to the truth 1. To make God and Man one by atonement and therefore it was necessary he should be of both natures whose office is to reconcile both persons 2. He was to doe that for us which was impossible for man to doe and to suffer what was unmeet for God to undergoe and that he might both doe and suffer for us he took the blessed Virgin Mary for his mother that from her he might receive a body capable of suffering but it was his Divinity which enabled his Humanity to suffer what our Souls deserved 3. He was to undergoe for an infinite offence for man had sinned and none but God could satisfie for an infinite offence it being reasonable that the same nature that broke the Law should pay the Debt and therefore it was necessary for him to be God as well as Man that did undertake to make God and Man to be reconciled and made one 4. Had he been God and not Man man could not have been redeemed had he been onely man and not God the Devils would have boasted but he was both God and man that our redemption might be finished and the Devils malice silenced whence wisely was our redemption shared between God and man because the arbitrement was such that a mere man could not undertake to appease a God offended neither one nor the other nature would have or could have relieved us single because he must be God that will be mediator from God to man and he must be man that he may be an intercessor to God for man and this mystery though our reason cannot fathom yet our belief must reach it our faith must believe what our hearts and tongues cannot expresse our faith is then proficient when it hath attained so high and not before for we can say more by silence then by words when we find him in our souls by Hallelujahs and praise we shall then know thee O Saviour not for thy self but our selves and it is our faith to believe that as thou art so shall we be though not so fully therefore let every one make it his request O that thou wouldst come down from heaven and dwell in our hearts by faith and love who out of love to mankind came in flesh when faith and truth were banished out of the earth and that thou shouldst so come as to say To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world c. And so much may suffice for that part of his incarnation the end of his coming I now come to that of his Nativity his coming into the world and here three things are to be considered 1. The Dignity of his person 2. The Humility of his condescention 3. The Place of his entertaintainment 1. The Dignity of his person in that he was the Sonne of God 2. The Humility of his condescention in that he would clothe himself with the rags of our mortality 3. The Place unworthy of his enterment being the world Of these in their order 1. The Dignity of his person and that as he is the Sonne of God by nature and as in his Birth the most noble person that ever was on the Fathers side he is God very God the very God of one substance with the Father as you have heard and which to deny is no lesse then blasphemy for when he calls God Father the Iewes knew that thereby he made himself equall with God St. John 10.33 He as Gods Sonne was alwayes with the Father and so everlastingly great as he was God and not onely so but he was full of dignity on his Mothers side as he was descended from the Patriarchs and Royal Kings of Iudah so he was a Prince renowned 1. For his authority because he doth what he will both in heaven and in earth Psal 13.5 6. in the sea and in all deep places 2. For his power St. Mar. 4.41 he commands the wind and the waves and they obey him 3. For the largeness of his dominions heaven and earth is his Psal 72.8 and the fulness thereof his dominion is from one part of heaven and earth unto the other 4. For multitude of Subjects Angels Saints and Kings yea and those that depose Kings are his Subjects either voluntarily
please others the sins we have committed in our own persons and the sins we have occasioned others to commit the sins we know and the sins we know not the sins that we have so long striven to hide from others knowledge that we have even now hid them from our own memories these O Lord are more in number then the sands upon the Sea shoar or the Stars of Heaven which cannot be numbred We have sinned against the light of Nature and against the light of Grace against thy Law and against thy Gospel against thy Promises and against thy Threats against thy Mercies and against thy Judgements against all vows and promises and resolutions of better obedience against the reproofs of thy word against the many motions of thy good Spirit in our souls against thy Fatherly admonitions against thy loving corrections against the many fearfull examples of thy Judgements against the infinite obligations of thy favours and against the checks of our own consciences These things have we done and because thou held thy tongue we have also thought wickedly that thou art altogether such an one as our selves or that either thou dost not see or dost approve or wilt not severely punish the crimes that we have so long doted on If thou Lord God shouldest be extream to mark what is done amisse Lord who is able to abide it but with thee there is mercy and with thee there is plenteous redemption and thou desirest not the death of him that dies but rather that be should turn from sin and be saved and seeing that without thee it is not possible for us of our selves to be able to please thee Lord turn us to thee and we shall be turned for thou art the Lord our God Draw us and we shall run after thee draw us by the cords of love and with the bands of loving kindnesse work powerfully upon our spirits by thy holy Spirit work contrition in our hearts and godly sorrow for all our sins even a sorrow to repentance and repentance to salvation never to be repented off Break these hard and stony hearts of ours by the hammer of thy word mollifie them by the oyle of thy grace smite these rocky hearts of ours by the rod of thy most gracious power that we may shed forth rivers of tears for all the sins we have committed Lord make us grieve because we cannot grieve and to weep because we cannot weep enough O that thou wouldest humble us more and more under the true sight and sense of all our ungodlinesse of all our wickednesse and of all our unworthynesse And O thou Father of mercies have mercy on us O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy upon us thou that takest away the sins of the world take away the world of our sins they are too heavie O Lord for us to bear thou only art able to bear them and thou didst bear all our sins upon thine own body upon the tree O thou that wast wounded for our sins and bruised for our transgressions we beseech thee let the chastisement of our peace be upon thee and do thou by thy stripes heal us Hide us most gracious Redeemer hide us from the wrath of God in the glorious skars of those meritorious wounds which thou didst suffer for us and by the vertue of them create peace in heaven for us by reconciling the Father to us And O thou that wast our Saviour on earth we beseech thee be thou our Advocate in heaven be thou our High-priest still offering up thy self a Victim to the Father for us and besprinkle us with thine own most pretious bloud that through that bloud of sprinkling our persons our services and the desires of our souls may be acceptable to the Father Be thou our King set up thy throne in our hearts dismantle and disgarison all the strong holds and fortifications of sin that sin may no longer have dominion over us but do thou rule and over-rule us enable us to do thy will write thy Commandements in our hearts and thy Statutes in our inward parts put thy fear into our souls that we may fear thee and love thee and diligently live after thy commands Be thou our Prophet leading us into all truth Oh do thou inform us and teach us the way wherein we should go and do thou guide us by thine eye be thou the voice behind us still directing us this is the way walk in it guide us by thy counsels here and hereafter receive us unto thy glory And O Holy Spirit the Comforter do thou help our infirmities and with thy unutterable groans make intercession for us And thou that workest both to will and the deed in us of thine own good pleasure put into our hearts good desires and let the continuall assistance of thy grace help us to bring the same to good effect plant in our souls the love of thy name graffe in our hearts true Religion nourish us with all goodnesse and of thy great mercy keep us in the same so long as we have to live make us to love that which thou commandest and to desire that which thou hast promised that among the sundry and manifold changes and chances of this mortall life our hearts may surely there be fixt where true joyes are to be found And thou that sheddest the pretious ointments of thy grace upon all thy faithfull people O do thou open the eyes of our souls that we may see thee who art invisible that beholding thy glorious but invisible presence in all our actions we may be so awfully affected towards thee that whether either the Devil shall tempt us or the world shall allure us or our own carnal lusts and sinfull affections shall incline us to commit any wickednesse thy Holy Spirit O Lord may in all things so direct rule and overrule our hearts and awaken our consciences to aske us How shall we dare to commit any wickednesse and sin against thee Gratious God keep us from sinning against thee though it were to gain the whole world for it will not profit us to gain the whole world and lose our own souls help us rather we pray thee to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling and to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure Help us to eschew and decline all the occasions all the opportunities that have betrayed us unto sin and to hate the very garments spotted with the flesh O Lord with what affliction soever thou shalt punish us do not punish us with spirituall judgements and desertions give us not over to our own hearts lusts to our own vile lewd and corrupt affections give us not over to hardnesse and impenitency of heart but make us sensible of the least sin and give us thy grace to think no sin little committed against thee our God but that we may be humbled for it and repent of it and reform it in our lives and conversations
Cherubims seated upon the Ark of Gods glory cast continually their unspotted eyes upon the rotten raggs of Humane frailty aiming still at mans felicity How else could dust and ashes expect continued life from such dry bones as was and is still the foundation of mans body for should Heavens propitious eye glance forth nothing but renewed smiles upon our actions and mercy alwayes sit hovering over our Tabernacles we should quickly ingulf our spirits in the bottome of miserable security or on the contrary should but the direful hand of Omnipotency it self draw forth his glittering sword against our weak resistance unto what a paralytick posture would such an appearance strike us as coming from him whose very breath can speak us into nothing Oh then with what bowed knees and humble hearts should every soul of us kiss the very remembrance of a Iesus coming not onely to save them that believe but to work a present reconcilememt betwixt the Justice and Mercy of God the Father that now the one as well as the other or rather with united consent both together may conspire and joyn issue in the great work of mans redemption for could your drowsie spirits but lend an ear to the pleasant dialogue that continually passes betwixt these glorious Attributes now you should hear Justice calls for the Sanctuaries ballance to weigh all the actions of the sons of men and with a Mene Mene Tekel c. finde such dusty performances of no validity in Heavens account and so poor we being in Adam wilfully lost are now necessarily fallen short of immortal bliss Thus is our sentence irrecoverable and no door of hope left for our escape till Mercy that eternal beam of love stand forth and present the all-sufficient merit of a dying Saviour as full satisfaction for the sins of the whole world pleading that faithful covenant made by Justice it self that whosoever believes shall not perish but have everlasting life Which faith is the golden pillar that bears up the stately structure of mans everlasting glory the only hand by which the promises of a better life are made ours the sure entail by which the inheritance purchased in common is become mine in particular it is the onely voice by which holy David could make an echo that would reach from the lowest deeps to the highest Heavens Out of the deeps have I called unto thee O Lord Lord hear my voice as you may see verse the first of this Psalme nay it is the very nerve and sinewe of all pious Devotion for if you peruse the whole Psalme you will find it is nothing else but a rehearsal of religious petitions and serious exhortations In his petitions you 'l find his soul big with holy affiance spiritual confidence grounded on Gods word promising and his own Experience tasting In his Exhortations like a faithful Physician he prescribes nothing but what is attested to with his own and others Probatum est making mercy both the beginning and the end the principal and the final cause of Happiness but in both he keeps the eye of humility placed upon the raggs of mans unworthiness as justly demeriting eternal wrath were God exact in remunerating our actions for so he closes up the summe of his requests in the words of my Text If thou Lord wilt be extreme to marke what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it In which words please to consider two general parts 1 An antecedent in these words If thou Lord be extreme to marke what is done amiss 2. A Consequent in the other words who can abide it Or if you will look on them 1 In the Thesis 2 In the Hypothesis 1 In the Thesis wherein you have Gods extremity in punishing 2 In the Hypothesis There you have mans misery in suffering And now my Text in its situation is not unlike a pleasant Grove presenting to your view variety of pleasant Trees each bough thereof being richly laden with delicious goodly fruit not onely delightful to the eye but beneficial to the Taste or if you will your Conceptions may behold most costly Arras enriched with the lively story of Gods bounty and mans felicity mutually interwoven in the same peece but if you list to change the scene and have the true parts more neerly acted you may gain a precious enterview of Gods omnipotency displayed in its several Dispensations and management of Humane affairs where Justice and Mercy the twins of royalty discovering on the one Hand Gods free benevolence in bestowing and mans utter unworthiness for so large a guerdon on the reverse parts your sight is presented with the Almighties just severity in punishing together with mans reaping misery the true fruit of his sin In fine that I may unbowel this sacred writ take the substance thereof distilled into these four observations 1 It s the Corruption of mans nature to do amiss 2 God is not alwaies extreme to marke and punish what 's done amiss 3 God can when he pleases be extreme in marking and punishing what is done amiss 4 If God be extreme in punishing man must needs be extreme in suffering These are the four streams that naturally run their division from this pleasant spring that voluntarily tenders its silver drops to refresh the heart of every pious Christian which makes me beg your patience and zealous attention whilst in order I make these glorious truths to pass before the spiritual eye of your intelligent souls And first of the First namely It s the corrupt nature of man to do amiss As its the nature of man to be doing so it s the corruption of that nature to be doing amiss and though God see and observe all the actions of discomposed and distempered man yet it s onely the obliquity of those actions his severity intends to reward with punishment for every action simply considered in it self is good and no way meriting unspeakable torment but every such action contracts eternal guilt as performed by and prersisted in of sinful man whose customary nature and naturall custome is to do evil for as things are in being so they are in operation Can a man gather grapes of thornes or figgs of thissles saith our Blessed Saviour Or can any man bring a clean thing out of an unclean was the question put by holy Iob. Ever since man eat the forbidden fruit man himself hath become a barren tree and cumbred the ground for ever since man voluntarily fell man hath been under a necessity of sin a necessity I say proceeding not from Gods peremptory decree but his feeble and corrupted will for its a voluntary necessity should I set open the door of this defiled cage and present to your view the misery lapsed mans unhappiness hath reduced him to or give you but a glimpse of those polluted birds whose habitation is in the house of every soul by nature or but read a Lecture of mans depraved condition I could do it in no other language then that of
such riches of mercy as can admit of no decrease for God is rich in mercy and great in love yea and he accounts it his glory to pass by iniquity transgression and sinne O then who would not be in love with him that is so lovely in goodness who would not in want flee to him for salvation who is so rich in mercy that he sent his only begotten Son into the world that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Iohn 9.15 5 Great in respect of his works for his mercy is over all his works If you survey Gods curious architecture in creating of the world you 'l find mercy communicating its goodness to poor man in making him possessor and Lord of so rich a dominion nor were the hands of mercy bound up by mans rebellion or consumed by the Angels flaming sword but it took its proper seat to make restauration of his own most glorious Image in the death of his beloved Son which is and will be manifested to the whole world the Gospel of the ever-blessed Iesus being that holy city set upon a hill unto which all nations are invited to come and make their habitation each word of truth made manifest before us being a particular cal to every individual son of Adam to come and embrace him the power of whose resurrection will raise their dead souls from a state of sinne to newness of life and thus hath mercy rid triumphant through the whole proceedings betwixt a faithful God and a rebellious creature 4 God is not alwaies extrem to mark what is done amiss in respect of his Saints elected ones for they are his beloved and his delight for whose sake alone the foundations of the earth are kept firme and not thrown into the midst of a bottomless sea God is not willing to use holy Abrahams expostulation to destroy the righteous with the wicked no for tens sake destruction shall not fall upon a people or city if any doubt the truth of this assertion let them but peruse the 12. chap. of Genesis where they shall find the great unwillingness the father of compassions doth express to go about the destruction of that sinful city with righteous judgement which to him is accounted a strange work nay it shall go well with Potiphars house and Pharaohs court also if upright Ioseph dwell therein He 'l defer his plagues to another generation rather then his children should suffer or else which is far better they shall be taken away from the evil to come that their blest eyes may never see what utter ruine divine vengeance doth bring upon a sinful peoplâ— therefore for his elect sake he will not alwaies be angry 5 In respect of the reprobate he is not alwaies extreme to mark what they have done and that upon a two-fold account 1 To let them see their just condemnation 2 In respect of judgement 1 To let them see the justice of their condemnation that though he hath long spared them and given them space and opportunity to repent yet they have chose their own destruction by a wilful impenitency nay God complains in the Prophet Esay All the day long have I stretched out my arme to a rebellious people c. but saith he I will not alwaies keep silence but will recompence even recompence into their bosome Esa 65.9 their continued rebellion it makes God ingeminate his threatned severity which though he be loth to execute yet he will not alwayes be silent abused patience turning into the greatest fury witnesse his passionate compassion over sinful Ierusalem whom thus he speaks Oh Ierusalem Ierusalem which killest the Prophets and stonest them that were sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you would not There is their times for repentance but now upon their neglect and abuse thereof must needs follow Gods severest vengeance for so it follows Behold your house is left unto you desolate c. Luke 13.34 35. Yea thus he dealeth with Iezabel her self that mother of Fornications I gave her space saith the merciful God but she repented not therefore behold I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds and I will kill her children with death Rev. 2.21 22. By all which as in a chrystal mirrour you may clearly see the sad event which continually attends an impenitent state Gods mercy affords us space and leaves us without excuse but his Justice will certainly punish us if we repent not 2. In respect of Judgment shall I call it a mercy to the wicked that God suffers them to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath had it not been a greater mercy rather to have cut them off by shortning of their dayes for by it surely something had been substracted from their torments which is proportioned to and measured out by their sins but that God should in Judgment spare them to prosper in sin that they may sin themselves finally into perdition and spare them that the sin may grow as old as the sinner that he may go into his grave with bones full of sinne though on the one hand their length of dayes shewes Gods unwearied patience yet on the other hand it gives full proof of their final intolerable misery God then is not alwayes extreme in punishing of sinne and that in respect of Judgment to the persons guilty he will not presently destroy the Amorites though their sins come up with a loud cry before him no there is a measure of sinne to be filled up as well by Nations as particular persons before the decree go forth and Judgment come upon a Land to the utter ruine thereof nay a Nation may be arrived to the very Zenith of Sinne and yet Judgment not immediately follow witness Ierusalem and oh that England might not be brought in for a testimony also I mean as not deserving what she did for they had committed the greatest of sinnes in not only slaying the Prophets stoning them that preacht repentance unto them but also in killing the Lord of Glory and yet God spared that rebellious City forty two years after which shews that God is not alwayes extreme with them that are come to the Zenith of sinne Oh therefore let Ierusalems space of repentance move us to turn unto the Lord with speed lest we also perish in our sinnes and there be none to deliver For God will make his power known that his name may be declared throughout the earth Rom. 9.17 Thus in respect of Sinners unconverted of Saints that are converted and of Reprobates that will not be converted God is not alwayes extreme to punish And so I have done with the second conclusion and shall onely make a little Application thereof to our selves and so passe to the third observable in the Text. Application 1. Admire the riches of
Word that gave the world a being can carry her again to the grave of destruction leaving her in the same confused Chaos which his merciful goodness at first found her in and the same six dayes which past away in building of her up if it so please him with as much facility may take it down though his excellent Mercy will have no less then six thousand years to bring a period to the same as most learned interpreters expound the words of Saint Peter 2 Pet. 3.8 So that a priori you see there is power enough in God not only to be angry with but infinitely to punish the sinnes of his people 2. A posteriori Who sees Nebuchadnezzar grazing like an Ox and acknowledges not Gods Power to be Infinite and can do with ease what seemeth good in his sight who sees Belshazar in the midst of his carousing cups weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuarie and found too light and acknowledges not his Justice who sees Goshen full of light and Egypt covered with thick darkness and acknowledges not an Infinite Deity Examples are most profitable illustrations of his power in dealing with the sonnes of men and in this case are almost infinite What son of Adam is there that knows not of his fathers fall and the dreadful curse the just consequent thereof In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2.17 and it was surely performed witness Cains inability to bear the loud cry of his brothers blood C ham justly cursed by his Father as the reward of his shameful action Esau sadly and too late seeking a sold Blessing the flames of provoked fire licking up sinful Sodom the earth of her self making a grave for Corah and his wicked Complices the great deeps swallowing up Pharaoh and his Host as the just avenger of his intolerable Persecution But these are but temporal evils but there are eternal miseries for when he is extreme his eyes shall not spare his enemies But you 'l say what means this Can God destroy that which he hath made Can he that delights in man destroy or despise the works of his hands Will he pluck down with one hand what but now he built And can he laugh when their fear comes who hath sworn he delights not in the sinners death Nothing less yet we must not say with Iob I am righteous though he hath condemned me for shall not the Iudge of all the earth do right and glorifie himself in and upon his Creatures For if we go astray he must and will hedge up our way with thornes Though it is true God afflicts not willingly yet he doth and will punish the sonnes of men when they sinne and wilfully go astray and that for these reasons 1. To remove that grand idol which men make and set up in their own hearts that God is all mercy and will not punish or all love and cannot endure to afflict his people deceive not your selves with such vain delusions for the soul that sinneth that soul shall surely die Ezek. 18.4 As sure as there is a God that mercifully saves them that repent so sure will the same God infinitely punish them that continue in sin as it is his Mercy that offers and invites us to accept of Salvation so also will it be the office of his Justice infinitely to punish all those that refuse to come when called by his Word and Spirit Remember the story of the great Supper and Gods severe answer to them that would not come when invited I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall tast of my Supper S. Luke 14.24 though God spare us for a time yet he will send forth Iudgment unto victory 2. To remove the Atheism that lodges in mens hearts of no revenging Justice that men live and speak as if there was no God uttering that in words and actions which holy Davids fool entertained in his heart that men being to think there is no God because they see no fearful examples of his Justice set before them in the destruction of his enemies that the wickeds prosperity in evil makes him boast himself and despise his Maker I remember Saint Austin brings in the proud man speaking thus when he was at peace and no disturbance injured him saith he of himself if I had nothing worth despising I should be a God blasphemously imagining God were ignorant of that which men call contempt but faith the Father It was not long ere I saw the same wretch cast down with utter amazement by a small clap of thunder when God did but seem to clothe himself with the garment of vengeance he presently fell down with humble obeisance Therefore God will sometimes be extreme in punishing that he may rescue the glory of his justice out of the hands of the wicked 3 Such is the nature of sinne it justly provokes God to be extreme because 1 It s a transgression of his righteous law and if earthly Monarchs punish their rebels with temporal well may the Lord of Heaven and earth reward his traitors with eternal death if temporal magistrates are so tender of their precepts that they esteem each breach thereof as an injury done to their persons well may the Father of spirits cast away with scorne all those that are found fighters against his commands .. But that 's not all for 2 Every sin is not onely a transgression of Gods law but it s an injury offered to his sacred person there being no act of evil wherein our whole man deliberately concurs but it is as much as in us lyes to dethrone the Majesty of heaven and if it lay in our power also to ungod the sacred Trinity an action which my soul trembles to think of much more to utter and were it not that I might leave the impression thereof so deep as to imbitter sinne unto you I should not have named it But that 's not all for 3 Every sin is so much the greater because it is committed by persons that have received all sorts of kindness and are under all manner of obligations to the contrary therefore well may God be extreme for sin when found in them that are engaged to the contrary 4 Such is the nature of Gods justice that it requires exact and equal proportion of punishment to the sinnes that have been committed now every sinne is of an infinite duration for did the sinner alwayes live he would for ever be guilty of sinne therefore it is but just the punishment should be infinite also for if God reward us with glory if we serve him above our deserts can we condemn him for but rewarding us according to our faults and if he do spare us and not inflict the extremity of his justice it is because his mercy intercedes that glorious attribute wherein is his chief delight but God will sometimes be extreme to punish because the nature of his justice is such as that it will proportion its punishment
or against their wils for he sits down among the Gods 5. For lasting his Dominion is everlasting and he shall reign over the house of Iacob for ever Psal 16.11 6.7 and of his Kingdome there shall be no end St. Luke 1.33 6. For fulness In his presence is fulness of joy c. 7. For subduing of enemies Bring those my enemies that would not that I should reign over them c. St. Luke 19.27 But why go I about to describe that which is infinite or blazon the glory of a power that is incomprehensible It made holy David cry out Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him c. Psal 8.4 Man is as a thing of nought for when he was not guilty being innocent and had not sinned he could merit no favour but when he was guilty and by sinning had deserved not to be what he was before yet then God to shew the freeness of his mercy that he who had made the world for man would not make man for nothing and though his Image was defaced by him yet he would not have it ruinated that goodness that planted him in uprightness would not have him presently destroyed when found in wickedness no he was prone to mercy though provoked to wrath by beholding that in man which his infinite Power never created and therefore to this purpose he came into the world 1 St. John 3.8 that he might destroy the works of the devil To apply this Since God was pleased so to honour us as not to redeem us with corruptible things 1 St. Pet. 1.18 as silver and gold nor with the bloud of buls and goats nor the power of men and Angels but by the death and passion of his own Son St. John 3.16 of his own Substance If God so loved us that he gave his only begotten Son for us why should we think any thing too much for him or through the ambition and pride of our hearts think our selves too good to serve him or imagine we can be happy without him Or on the contrary let us not suppose our sins to be more and greater then he is able or willing to pardon since God is pleased to send his Son to redeem you why should you think your selves too good to serve him let the beasts be sensual and the divels wicked why should you be scornful or so far degenerate as to do any action that may intitle you to the insensibleness of the one or to the losse of the other to be ungrateful to the God of Heaven is impious therefore bear your selves worthy of the Favourites of Heaven since Gods Son came into the world to redeem you And so I come to the second thing noted in his coming namely The humility of his Condescention If love to the Father and respect to our souls became to the Son of God so strong and powerful an inducement as to cause him to humble himself so far as in his own person to come and bear witness to the Truth then thou art inexcusable O man that sees the Truths of God opposed his Worship represt his Ministers supprest and dost not what thou canst to maintain the truth for every one in his proportion and degree to this end is born and comes into the world that he after the example of his Saviour should bear witness to the truth And so I come to the Nativity it self Christs coming into the world Came into the world We read in Scripture of a threefold coming of Christ 1. Imperiously To give the Law 2. Graciously To give the Gospel 3. Gloriously When he shall come to judge the quick and the dead The first was to the world the second in the world and the third will be at the end of the world In the first he came as a God In the second as a Saviour In the third he will come like a Iudge to require an account of every man for every particular action whether it be good or whether it be evil His first coming under the Law in Levitical types is not here intended but the coming mentioned in this place is his second coming when he came as a Saviour to give the Gospel Christ Jesus who is God-man thus came into the world and because as God he is omnipresent some will have his presence in every place and his being in every thing 't is true he was with us before he came to us but that God that is omnipresent and fils all places yet hath divers tranmsissions in Scripture Heaven is his place or throne of glory and earth his foot-stool but he is said to come to us when he manifests himself to us after a new manner and this coming of his is by an act of new Mercy he that is all Mercy now vouchsafed to his Creatures a new way of coming such as was never manifested before for he came to the old world in types and figures he was a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world when the Elect was Christ was there not only as the second person in the sacred Trinity but as a Propitiation for man in short he alwayes came in purpose he early came in the Promises and he successfully came in the fulness of time the Promises could not be frustrated and the Prophets could not be mistaken he is given to us in the Gospel and married to us by his Spirit having assumed our flesh in the blessed Virgin and that he should thus come to us was great humility from sitting in Heaven and hearing the Quire of Angels singing his praises working wonders in heaven and in earth c. yet he forsook all this to find us out who were rolling in clay for when he came to glorifie our nature we were in trouble we could be found in no condition but that of misery when he bowed the heavens and came down he then turned the name of Majesty into Pity his Glory into Humility and laying aside his Glory he leapt from that his Greatness and came and dwelt among us clothed in flesh indeed had he come in the form of an Angel that had been condescention or but to our flesh or had he but come to the circumcision of his flesh that had been a large extent of his love for his circumcision was no other than the shedding of his most precious bloud one drop whereof would have been sufficient for the ransome of a world but he took upon him the form of a servant and that to wash his Disciples feet which was a step lower for God to tread nay lower than that he humbled himself to the death and that of the crosse 2 Phil. 8. where he found his enemies to be his Judges and those that hated him falsly to accuse his sacred Works but both divided for there you have one drawing up a charge against his life and here another answering for his life here one proclaiming his innocency there another crying out he is
is but a lame consent yeilded by constraint for he that by a Tyrant is compelled with force of punishment to deny the Truth doth in a sort deny and not deny he denies it outwardly with his lips but his heart greives inwardly for the same because his conscience bears witness to the Truth but he that with a wicked life is given wholly to sin that he hath all his delights in it that man hath made himself perfect in evil 4. From the more full signification we do signifie more of wickedness to be in us by our works than by our words he sits at a farre greater denial of truth that denies it by a wicked life than he that denies it onely with his lips for fear of death though both these are great aggravations since in our lives words and works we are to bear witness to the Truth for to this end were we born and for this cause came we into the world c. Application Our Saviour bids Let your light so shine before men c. Saint Matthew 5.6 then we may hence learn that those that should light others to Heaven by their Doctrine must not darken their way by the evil example of an unholy life and not only must Ministers but people also let the light of holiness appear visible in their lives When God places a man a private Christian in the lower Orbe he puts him there to shine like a starre bright and clear in his own sphere Christians should shine and bear witness in their lives and be cautious how they walk because every sin puts a dimness upon the soul and darkness internal can expect no other but to go to darkness eternal and therefore St. Peter saith that our good works should make those that look on us as evil doers glorifie God in the day of visitation 1 Saint Peter 2.12 There be some that must believe in Christ throughout the world and witness his Truth to unbelievers by a holy life and why may it not belong to us but if on the contrary we be found to live as they live how shall they be brought to believe as we believe It was the saying of a Heathen If I did see the Christians lives better I should think their faith better than mine Religion and the Doctrines of Faith are often disgrac'd by wicked Professors 1 Tim. 1.6 7. the rebellion of a Christian that is a Servant though to an Heathen Master brings a scandal both upon God and on holy Religion Sure I am God and Religion is very much disgrac'd and the Gospel dishonoured and the Church of Christ abused by the wicked lives of those that are called the Sons of the Church Oh therefore that by holy lives judicious reading faithful hearing and constant studying and meditating in the wayes of God and the Truths of God we would make our selves able and ready to give an account of the hope that is in us that so both in our knowledge and practice we bearing witness to the Truth here on earth we may have the truth in our consciences to bear witness to our selves that we are the Sons of God that so he that ascended into Heaven to take possession of his own Glory may in time bring us thither who himself affirmed and after whose example we should walk that as he was born and came into the world to bear witness to the truth so we should also account of our selves that we were born and that we came into the world that we might bear witness to the truth that we came into the world this Christian world to witness to the truth as common Christians that we came into the world the Church of God as members thereof to justifie that faith by a holy life unto which our parents had baptized us still indeavouring to carry the same mind in us that was in Christ Jesus that as he did so we came into the world to bear witness to the truth for he justified himself before the judgement-seat of Pilate saying in the words of my Text To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness to the truth The end of the Sermons Dr. Hewit's publique Prayer after Sermon O HOLY HOLY HOLY Lord God of heaven and earth heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory Glory be to thee O Lord glory be to thee glory be to thee glory be to thee for all those infinite favours which thou of thine infinite goodnesse hast voucsafed to us who are lesse then the least of all thy mercies for the fountain of all mercies Jesus Christ in whom thou hast loved us with an everlasting love before ever we or the world were made that thou hast created us after thine own Image and redeemed us by the bloud of Jesus Christ when we were utterly lost that thou hast called us with an holy calling and in some measure sanctified us by the graces of thy holy Spirit that thou hast spared us thus long and given us so long and so large a time of repentance when as thou mightest have cut us off in the midst of our transgressions whilst we were rebelling against thee Blessed be thy name O Lord for all thy mercies vouchsafed unto us thy mercies to allure us thy promises to wooe us thy patience and long-suffering towards us to lead us to repentance thy corrections to reclaime us thy judgements to affright and better us blessed by thy name for all opportunities of wel-doing for all hinderances of evill-doing for all the good purposes and resolutions thou hast put into our hands to draw our souls from the dregs of sin and ignorance into the glory of thy Saints for any assistance that thou hast given to any of us in any holy performance for the Communion of thy Saints the aide of their counsels the benefit of their Prayers the comfort of their conversations the protection of thy Holy Angels for all corporall spirituall temporall and eternall mercies mercies concerning this life and mercies concerning the life to come Blessed be thy name for thy mercies to us all the dayes of our lives thy mercies unto us this present day for the light thereof the greater light the light of thy truth to shine into our soules to guide our feet into the way of all truth For that portion of Scripture wherein thou hast been pleased to reveal thy self unto us at this time Lord though it be sowne in much weaknesse do thou raise it up in great power let it not be as water spilt upon the ground but let it be as seed sown in good ground that it may take deep root downward in our hearts by faith and bring forth much fruit upwards in our lives and conversations to the glory of thy holy name to the edification of thy Church and people and to the salvation of our souls in the day of Jesus Christ to whom with thy self and holy Spirit we desire to
to passe on in a way of sin casting all fear of danger behind us as if we were able to encounter devouring fire or dwell with everlasting burning especially when we consider but our own frame we cannot but know we are but dust and that which is our mould will soon decay and withal remembring our time is but short and the word redde rationem backt with a Thou fool may this night be given suddenly and then assuredly as the tree falls so it lies and in the same condition must we appear at Gods Tribunal Oh then with what circumspection should our actions be performed lest any evil or vicious habits should square themselves to joyn with us in our holiest Oblations because we pretend service to him whose power in a few words can write great Monarchs into trembling and can make a hair Adrian 4. or the kernel of a raisin as mortal as a Goliahs spear and can with ease blow down our bubling lives into nothing for the time is coming when not astuta verba but pura corda as Saint Bernard saith not fair words but honest hearts will prevail and commend us to him who judgeth all things for he will infatuate all fallacious wisdom and self-destroying wit For thou art the God that hast no pleasure in wickedness nor shall any evil dwell with thee saith holy David Psal 5.4 So that Holiness is now the onely path that leads weary and wandring souls to the Paradise of Celestial Blisse all other wayes being severely kept against us by the flaming sword of Gods irreconcileable anger and hatred against sin and sinners for no unholy thing shall enter much lesse remain in the Holy City all such shall be cast out Rev. 21.27 A good nature like a shallow brook may empty it self into the narrow river of Humane love but perfect Holiness and real Sanctity is only that noble stream which carries the soul to Heaven and loses it in the Ocean of infinite Blisse You may for a time sport your selves with the fire of lustful pleasures but ere you are aware the flame thereof will not onely sindge your gilded wings of ambitious desires which so long bore you up with the breath of popular applause but also consume your soul and body in endless woe and misery for when God shall come in flaming fire he will render vengeance to all that are ungodly not enduring longer to have the cry of our sins to come up before him and therefore holy David well considered this Meditation when he broke forth with the words of my Text If thou Lord will be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it In which words we have already considered two general parts 1 An Antecedent 2 A consequent Or if you will here is 1 The Thesis 2 The Hypothesis In the first you have Gods extremity in punishing In the second you have mans misery in suffering for he saith If thou Lord be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it From which sacred concession we have enedavoured to wind up the sum and substance of holy Davids intention into these four bottoms or doctrinal conclusions viz. 1 It is the corruption of mans nature to do amiss 2 God is not alwayes extreme to punish man when he hath done amiss 3 God can when he pleases be extreme in punishing man when he hath done amiss 4 If God be extreme in punishing man must needs be extreme in suffering Thus far our general division hath had its equal course and our progress in the dispatch of these truths hath but quitted the first and made entrance upon the second which together with the two latter acompanied with your patience shall at this time terminate my hours discourse And that I may with the more benefit to your understanding proceed therein I shall onely lead your memories back to the second conclusion namely Doct. 2 The mercy of God is such he will not alwaies be extreme to mark what 's done amiss Examples of Gods patience and long forbearance have no where such lively representations as in our selves whose unconsumed lives are nothing else but a series of continued mercy nor is there any rational account to be rendred for the same save onely that it is the good will of him that dwelleth in the bush whose glory is not to be given to another and that he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy c. Which he doth 1 For his name sake Exodus 34.6 2 For his natures sake which is alwaies prone to shew mercy 3 For his glories sake and that 1 In general 2 In particular 1 In general it is the constant language of holy Scripture as you have already heard 2 In particular he is not extreme for his Glory sake which is great in many respects I In respect of his judgements for they are his strange work and never had he felicity in executing the same but with an unwilling willingness is alwayes constrained to visit for the sins whether of nations cities or particular persons witness his sending the Gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel his low condescention to Abraham when he became Advocate for Sodom and his own tears over Ierusalems approching ruine yea and witness the repentings that were kindled in his bowels for revolting Ephraim but mercy is his delight because he waits to be gracious 2 Great in respect of time for the mercy of God endures for ever in Ps 136. As his power is unlimited so neither can bounds be set to his mercy sun and moon heaven and earth these all have their periods but the rich treasure of Gods mercy shall have no end I have seen an end of all perfection but thy commandement is exceeding broad saith holy David Ps 119.96 All the attributes of God like himself are from everlasting to everlasting 3 Great in extent of place for his mercy reaches unto the clouds Psal 36.6 7. Thy mercy O Lord is in the heavens and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds Thy righteousness is like the great mountains thy judgements are as a great deep Lord c. Gods extended grace makes its full appearance not onely in delivering from danger but in supplying our wants not onely in saving our bodies from temporal evils but in redeeming our souls from eternal damnation for with him is great deliverance 4 Great in extent of plenty for God is rich in mercy Eph. 2.4 But God saith the Apostle who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he loved us c. as if St. Paul had spoke his mind in larger phrases thus You are poor and needy you want blessings temporal and spiritual and know not whither to flee for succour and supply so that the narrowness of your hearts imagines Gods free hand is straitned but let no such scruple bear rule in your minds for with God is so great a treasure of grace as never can be exhausted