the souls of his people and lifts up the light of his Countenance upon them and sheds abroad the love of his Son into them this should fortifie and garrison the heart against the assaults of sinne the joy of the Lord should be the strength of his people Nehem 8.10 and the more comfort they have in being acquainted with him the more fearfull they should be of being estranged from him the greater the sweetnesse of the peace of God the greater the bitternesse of those sinnes whereby we forfeit it and hide it from our selves 5. Against that spirituall wisdom and understanding which the Lord hath given us for this end that we might walk worthy of him unto all pleasing Col. 1.9 10. True wisdom is the knowledge of the most honourable and most excellent things whereby we discern things which differ suggesteth the supreme and most necessary ends and the most proper and pertinent means conducing thereunto Setteth a man to consider how he may live to the great uses for which he was made is a wisdom unto salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 makes him look to the way of life how he may depart from Hell Prov. 15.24 14 8 15. teacheth him to walk circumspectly and warily amidst the many snares and temptations which are ready to seduce and mislead him Eph. 5.15 makes him have his eyes in his head Eccle. 2.14 that he may understand every good path Prov. 2.9 makes him study the will of God to the end that he may keep it Prov. 28.7 puts the heart and the right hand together Eccle. 10.2 gives a spiritual evidence and taste of the beauties and sweetness of holiness shews it self in a good conversation and in doing the Commandements Iam. 3.13 Psal. 111.10 It is more improper for a holy man to yeeld up himself unto any way or work of wickedness then for a Counsellor of State or a great Philosopher to play with Straws or Cherry-stones to give up himself to Boyish and Ludicrous vanities and therefore holy men confess their sinnes in Scripture by the name of folly 2 Sam. 24.10 Psalm 73.22 6. Against the hope of salvation which teacheth us to purifie our selves as Christ is pure 1. Ioh. 3.3 our salvation will be to be like unto Christ that grace which makes us suspire after a likeness unto him in glory will kindle in our hearts a desire to be like unto him in grace for grace is glory Inchoate as glory is grace Consummate so much as we neglect duty so much we shake the hope of glory Lord saith the Psalmist I have hoped for thy salvation I have done thy commandements Psal 119.166 though obedience be not a foundation upon which to build our hope for our hope must be in Gods word not in our own works Psal. 119.42.49.74 Yet it is a fruit and consequently an Evidence and argument a posteriori to demonstrate it The salvation we hope for is to see God and hereunto is required purity of heart Matth. 5.8 as the object seen doth make its own image in the eye which seeth it so when the soul sees God in glory it is perfectly fashioned unto his likenesse and therefore without holinesse no man can see God Heb. 12.14 So much as we blemish our holiness we do obscure and fully our hope 7. Against the honour of Religion which is thereby exceedingly wounded and reproached 2 Sam. 12.14 the Apostle frequently exhorteth us to walk worthy of our high calling so as becometh the Gospel that we may adorn the doctrine of our Lord Jesus and put to silence the ignorance of foolish men that they may be ashamed who fasly accuse our good conversation ut nemo de nobis male loqui sine mendacio possit to be tender of the name of God and his Doctrine that these may not be blasphemed see Ephes. 4.1 Phil. 1.27 1 Thes. 2.12 Tit. 2.10 1 Tim. 6.1 2 Cor. 6.3 1. Pet. 2.15.3.16 for though it be most illogicall and absurd to charge an holy Doctrine with the blame of those sins which the professors thereof contrary to the rules of their own profession and in obedience only to their own lusts do commit Yet so much ignorance and malice there is in wicked men as to blaspheme God for the sinnes of his people and to reproach the rectitude of the rule for the obliquity of their lives who swarve and vary from it And by how much the greater ingratitude it is to be honoured by God as his servants are and yet to dishonour him by so much the more hainous are those sinnes whereby we neither sanctifie God in our own hearts and open the mouths of others to poure contempt upon him 8. Against the souls of our brethren which are thereby greatly scandalized for as there is joy in Heaven and consequently among the Saints on Earth whose affections and conversations are heavenly for the conversion of a sinner and great mutual comfort in the communion of Saints insomuch that the joy of one is the joy of all the rest 1 Cor. 15.31 2 Cor. 2.3 So when a converted person relapseth into any sinne it must needs sadden and offend the souls of all who rejoyced in his standing and possibly become a stumbling block and an occasion of falling unto them as the Apostle sheweth Rom. 15-21 1 Cor. 8 10-13 9. Against the souls of the wicked who are thereby hardened and encouraged Ezek. 16.54 when wicked men who possibly had some conflict and regret in their Consciences against those sinnes which their hearts hanker after observe holy men overtaken with them and indulge unto them like Benhadads servants they hastily catch at such an advantage and are emboldened by their example unto sin whose holy lives they neither love nor imitate Therefore of all people they who are called by Gods name and have him for their God should in special manner humble themselves before him for their sinnes as sins whereby he is in special manner grieved and dishonoured should above all others take heed of playing the wantons with divine grace for though God be a tender and a loving Father yet he may be an angry Father and who knoweth the power of his anger Psal. 90.11 though thou be a Son and an Heir of salvation yet thou mayest be Filius sub ira a son under displeasure and when thou art so thou wilt finde by sad ex perience that one frown of his Brow one stroke of his Rod hath infinitely more bitterness in it then there is sweetness in the pleasures of a thousand sinnes And since Gods own people do by their sins contribute unto publick Judgments they should be the more carefull to stand in the breach and to improve their interests in him for the procuring of renewed mercies to minde him of his gracious Covenant and of his Fatherly relation unto them as the Church doth Psal. 74.20 forget not the Congregation of the poor have respect unto thy Covenant Thou O Lord art our Father we are thine Isai.
it shame and confession of guilt ver 15. O Lord God of Israel who art in Covenant with them and ownest them for thy people Deut. 26.18 and art afflicted in their afflictions in whose sufferings thy great name is concerned in whose prosperity thy sole grace is magnified Thou art righteous Just in thy Iudgements in all that is come upon us Nehem 9.33 faithfull in thy Covenant in all that thou hast said unto us And hereof thou hast given us assurance for we remain yet escaped According to thy promise that after seventy years should be accomplished in Babylon thou wouldst visit thy people and perform thy good word towards them in causing them to return to their own Land again Ier. 29.10 2 Chron. 36.21 we have deserved by our Provocations to be cut off from being a People but for thy Promise sake we yet remain for thou hast said that the Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet untill Shilo come Gen. 49.10 that Immanuel was to come of the house of David before the Jews should cease to be a Nation or should have their politie utterly dissolved Isa. 7.14 Isa. 8.9 10. Isai. 10 24-27 We have deserved to have been kept Captives in Babylon still but for thy Promise sake we remain yet escaped because thou hast said that thou wouldest cause us to come up out of our graves and bring us into the Land of Israel Ezek. 37.12 13 14. It is by the blood of the Covenant alone that thou hast sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit Zach. 9.11 The words are the close of a Penitential Prayer wherein there is observable 1. A Comfortable address to God as the God of Israel 2. A Penitent acknowledgement of his righteousnesse in the evils which they suffered 3. A grateful acknowledgement of his fidelity in the Mercies which they enjoyed 4. A demonstration of this great Mercy 1. We remain we are not consumed 2. We remain an escape we are not detained in captiuity 3. As it is this day not only escaped but favoured encouraged assisted to build Gods House to restore his Worship though to this day we have had so great provocations O Lord God of Israel Thou art righteous we have sinned as a perfidious people against a God in covenant thou hast afflicted us in measure as a God in covenant Afflictions are sweetned Mercies are magnified sinnes are aggravated sinners are humbled and melted by no consideration more then by the grace of the Covenant that we have to doe with a God who is pleased to be called ours when he smites us this is our Comfort the rod is in the hand of a Father he may visit with stripes but he will not break his Covenant Psal. 89 32-34 when he loadeth us with mercies this is our joy that they are all appendices to Christ and rayes and Emanations of the Covenant Rom. 8.32 Ier. 32.41 If he hear us if he answer us if he be gracious unto us we shall weep no more though he give us bread of adversity and water of affliction Isai. 30 18-20 when we review our sinnes and set our selves seriously to turn to God this makes us loath our selves this fills our faces with shame and our hearts with sorrow that we have done it against a God in Covenant who is pacified towards us Ezek. 16.62 63. It is great presumption for aliens and strangers to despise Gods authority or abuse his bounty but for an adopted people whom he hath selected in a peculiar manner to be his own and set apart for himself for whom he reserveth the choisest of his mercies to whom he revealeth the secrets of his love for these to sinne not only against Precepts and Benefits but against the Bowels of a Father the blood of a Saviour the grace of a Comforter the Covenant of life the Charter of Salvation this is that which should greatly abase us in our own eyes that we should thus requite a Father Deut. 32.6 The Lord calls Heaven and Earth to be amazed at it Hear O Heaven and give ear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken for I have nourished and brought up children adopted them into my family brought them into my Land advanced them unto my favour vouchsafed my presence with them set up my Name and glory among them and yet they have rebelled against me Isa. 1.2 Be astonished O ye heavens and be ye horribly afraid be very desolate for my people who have heard my voice out of Heaven whom I have taken from the midst of another Nation by temptations by signs by wonders by war by a mighty hand by a stretched-out arm and by great terrors who have been the Fountain of all their blessings and the glory in the midst of them have changed their glory for vanity and their Fountain for broken cisterns Ier. 2.11 12 13. This is matter of great pressure unto him Amos 2.9 13. and should much more be so unto us Many aggravations there are in the sins of Gods people which may greatly tend to their humbling and abasement They are committed 1. Against more glorious light and more spiritual convictions after they have known God and are known of God Gal. 4.9 after he hath taught them his ways shewed his covenant imparted unto them the secrets of his salvation Ps. 25.9 14. after he had opened their ears and sealed their instruction to withdraw them from sinful purposes Iob 33.16 17. after he had caused them to hear a word behind them saying this is the way Isai. 30.21 and had shewed them the salvation of God Psal. 50.23 and had been as it were transfigured in their presence The more the beauties of holiness are discovered to the soul the greater is the unkindness and disingenuity of that soul in giving entertainment to any sinful lust again 2. Against speciall and more tender love which love of Christ passeth knowledge and therefore should constrain us to love him that loved us died for us 2 Cor. 5.14 David had been highly honoured by God Solomon was the beloved of God and this made their sins both more strange and more atrocious 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. Nehem. 13.26 you only have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore I will punish you for your iniquities Amos 3.2 Ier. 2.21 22. 3. Against the breathings of the Spirit of Grace whose motions being quenched whose operations being resisted whose sweet and gracious pulsations at the door of the soul being neglected he is exceedingly grieved in the hearts of his people and provoked to withdraw himself and his Comforts from them Ephe. 4.30 Cant. 5 6. and they put to cry hard for recovery of him again whom they had by their unkind usage grieved away and caused to hide his presence from them Psa 51.10 11 12. 4. Against the peace of God which should keep our hearts and mindes in Christ from yeilding to temptations Phil. 4.7 when the Lord speaks peace to
63 16-19 Be not wroth very sore neither remember iniquity for ever behold see we beseech thee we are all thy people Isa. 64.9 Thou art righteous 1. In thy Iudgements and chastisements which thou hast inflicted upon us we cannot blame thy severity thou didst warne us before thou didst punish us thy Trumpet did sound before thy Rod did smite us 1. Thou art a Righteous Iudge when thou condemnest wicked men their mouth shall be stopped thou wilt overcome when thou judgest Psal. 51.4 Rom. 3.19 thou dost not wrong them for they shall receive according to their works 2. Thou art a Righteous Father when thou chastisest holy men thou dost not wrong them thou measurest and proportionest thy stripes not unto their sinnes but unto their strength dealest with them tenderly and suitably to their cases and conditions To purge them not to consume them thou hast a Rod for the Cummin and a Staffe for the Fitches and a wheele for the Bread Corn Isa. 28.27 28. thy Rod is Virga Hominum a Rod fitted to the condition of weak men 2 Sam. 7.14 and the Temptations wherewith thou sufferest thy Children to be tempted is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proportioned to the infirmities of man 1 Cor. 10.13 thou knowest our frame thou remembrest that we are dust Psal. 103.14 that our strength is not the strength of stones nor our flesh of brasse that we dwell in houses of Clay which are crushed before the Moth Iob 4.19.6.12 and accordingly thou dost in very faithfulness afflict to refine not to consume us 3. Yea when thy judgements are secret yet they are righteous when wicked men prosper and good men suffer when wicked men are the Fanne and good men the Corn when the Weeds flourish and the Corn is overtopped when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he when the affairs of the world seem to be out of course and every man out of his place All this while the Lord makes way for the revelation of his righteous judgements his work will be beautifull in its time all things will work together for good as Materials in a Building Ingredients in a Cordial Colours in a Table Rom. 8.28 The prosperity of the wicked will work to his ruine Prov. 1.3 the affliction of the righteous will work to his glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Thus righteous in thy judgements neither thine Enemies nor thy Children shall ever haue cause justly to complaine against thee Thou art righteous 2. In thy Covenant and promises If thou shouldest have dealt with us according to our provocations we had been consumed Lam. 3.22 Ier. 10.24 but thou hast remembred thy gracious promise to our fathers and therefore we are preserved Though our sins have forfeited mercy yet thy truth and faithfulness hath fulfilled it we owe not our remaining that we are a people we owe not our escaping that we are a free people unto any goodness of our own but unto the grace of the Covenant alone Gods truth and fidelity to his people that are in Covenant with him is the true ground of all their safety he doth not change therefore we do not perish who otherwise from the dayes of our Fathers are gone astray Mal. 3.6 7. his mercies are from everlasting to everlasting Psal. 103.17 from everlasting in predestination to everlasting in Glorification he gave grace and promised eternal life before the world began 2 Tim. 1.9 Tit. 1.2 before they were extant or had any being further then in the purpose of God on whom the grace was bestowed to whom the life was promised And what he did from eternity purpose he will not in time revoke for his gifts are without repentance Rom. 11.29 he doth by his faith and fear preserve his people through his power unto that mercy which he hath from eternity given them Ier. 32.40 1 Pet. 1.5 of themselves they fall dangerously and frequently from their own stedfastness and then the Lord doth chastise their wantonness with the Rod of a Father but doth not utterly take away his loving kindness Psal. 89 28-35 1. The Covenant and grace thereof is free and absolute not conditional and suspended upon the unstable will of man It is not of him that willeth or runneth but of God that sheweth mercy and sheweth it on whom he will Rom. 9 15-18 Between God the Father indeed and Christ as a second Adam the Transaction of the Covenant was wholly conditional he was to take from his Father a Commission in our nature to lay down his life and to take it up again to fulfill all righteousness to be made sinne for us to have our iniquities and the Chastisement of our peace laid upon him before he could see of the travel of his soul Yea he undertook not only for his own work but for ours By the preciousness of his blood he purchased and out of the plenitude of his Spirit he supplyeth unto us what ever grace is requisite unto our salvation But I say as to us the grace of the Covenant is thus farre free and absolute that no duties are required of us which are not as branches of the same Covenant bestowed upon us he hath promised to give a new heart and to put a new Spirit within us to take away the stony heart out of our flesh and to give us an heart of flesh and to put his Spirit within us and to cause us to walk in his Statutes to save us from all our uncleanness to cleanse us from all our iniquities Ezek. 36.25 26 27 29 33. and though he there tell us that he will be enquired of by the house of Israel to doe these things for them ver 37. yet we know it is he onely who poureth out the Spirit of Grace and Supplication whereby we make this inquiry of him Zach. 12.10 Gal. 4.6 Rom. 8.26 True indeed it is that when we believe it is we only that believe and when we work it is we that work but our working is not the cause of his grace but his grace the cause of our working Certum est nos velle facere cum volumus cum facimus sed ille facit ut velimus ut faciamus And therefore the Apostle saith I laboured more abundantly they they all to note that the labour was his yet not I but the grace of God which was with me to note that the principle was God 1 Cor. 15.10 Thou hast wrought all our works in us saith the Prophet Isai. 26.12 The works are ours the strength is thine ours the heart and the hand that act thine the Spirit and grace whereby we act he doth not with-hold his love till our wills prevent him and move him to extend it but he doth out of his own free love frame our hearts unto the love of him and work the will in us which he requireth of us Phil. 2 12 13. we repent because he turns us he doth not turn to us because we first turn to
27. and therefore must needs be exceeding acceptable because Gods own heart is towards them and his love upon them as the woman of Tekâ—a her petition for Absolom was easily granted by David because his heart was towards him before 2 Sam. 13.39 and 14.1 2. Lastly the Lord hath promised his holy Spirit of Fear Love Grace Adoption unto his people by the help of which they are preserved from the dangers whereunto of themselves they are exposed Ezek. 36.27 Isai. 59.21 upon these and such like grounds it appeareth That because God is righteous and faithfull in his Covenant therefore we remain escaped And if it be here objected that the Promises are usually set forth as conditionall The Lord is with you while ye be with him and if ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you 2 Chron. 15.2 If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the Land Isai. 1.19 He that believeth shall be saved Mark 16.16 Ioh. 3.16 except ye repent ye shall perish Luke 13.3 We answer 1. Promises are in some places made absolutely which in others are conditionally expressed as Heb. 13. I will not leave thee nor forsake thee Ier. 32.39 I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever I will give them an heart to know me they shall be my people I will be their God they shall return unto me with their whole heart Ier. 24.7 If ye will obey my voice and keep my Covenant is a Condition in one place Exod. 19.5 a free promise in another ye shall keep my judgements and doe them Ezek. 36.27 The mercy of the Lord is towards them that fear him Psal. 103.11 There the fear of God is a condition I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me Ier. 32.39 there it is a free promise 2. The Lord doth not only give us good things under a condition but doth give the condition it self to his people compare Isai. 1.19 with Phil. 2.12 Acts 10.43 with Phil. 1.29 Ephes. 2.8 3. Precepts and Conditions are used as the vehicula of the grace promised Of our selves we can do nothing of those duties unto which Promises are annexed for all our sufficiency is of God who worketh all our works for us 2 Cor. 3.5 But the Precepts of the Word are the usual Instruments by which he worketh those things in us which he requireth of us Rom. 10.17 4 Conditionall Propositions do not imply that our performances work upon God to do what he had said as if the performance of duty were only ours and then the performance of promise alone his But they intimate the order and connexion which the Lord hath set amongst his own gifts some whereof he hath appointed to be antecedent dispositions and preparations towards others consequent upon them He that believeth shall be saved this is a conditional promise Faith the condition Salvation the Promise But we may not so understand it as if Faith were only ours and Salvation alone his But Faith is one Gift of God Antecedent to Salvation which is another Gift of God Now then since the Lord is righteous in all the wayes of his Judgements and secret providences we must for ever lay our Hand on our Mouth and put our Mouthes in the Dust and beware of Murmuring and Repining against him as if his wayes were not equall towards us Behold he taketh away who can hinder him who will say unto him what dost thou Iob 9.12 we may in our Prayers plead with God about his Judgements as Holy men have Jer. 12.1 Habak 1 2-4-13 But we may not quarrell at them nor murmure against them 2. When the Lord doth strangely vary his Providences towards a people and worketh unusuall changes and alterations among them stirreth up some helpes and then layeth them by calleth forth others and quickly revokerh them fitteth men for great actions and in the midst of those actions cutteth them off Our work here is not to censure either the Agent or the Instruments to charge the dealings of God either as unrighteous or as unreasonable but to reflect upon our selves and learn our unstedfastnesse in Gods Covenant by his diversifying of Providences towards us 1. Sometimes we over dote upon Instruments and deifie them as if God had no way to help us but one And then God breaks that Staffe when we lean too hard upon it to force us to leane upon his Name again 2. Sometimes we undervalue them and will not understand that God is doing us good by them as it is said of Moses Acts 7.25 and then God suspendeth his work which he was about to doe 3. Sometimes the hearts of the people are unprepared for mercies and then God doth not honour his Instruments with setling them Iehoshapbat was a good King yet he did not work a perfect Reformation the high places were not taken away and this the reason the people had not as yet prepared their hearts unto the God of their Fathers 2 Chron. 20 32 33. 4. Sometimes the guilt of old sinnes do remain uncleansed away as it is said of the iniquity of Baal-Peor Iosh 22.17 and in this case Instruments are too weak to divert wrath 2 Reg. 23.25 26. Never such a Reformation as Iosiah made about the eighteenth year of his reign and yet because the people returned but fainedly Ier. 3.10 within a few years after they were carried into Captivity Our Saviour was very near his Sufferings when they cryed Hosanna before him The Sun often shews biggest and shines brightest when it is ready to set The Candle blazeth most when it is in the Socket Many times dying men and it may be so with dying Churches have a lightning before death I speak not this to bode ill unto the Land of my nativity If any say it shal not be so but we shall still have Peace and Truth and Holiness flourish I will chearfully say as the Prophet did Ier. 28.6 Amen the Lord do so for this Land But withall happy is the man that feareth always Prov. 28.14 The sins of the people may weaken the hands of the best Instruments and make them unable to help us It is noted as a cause of wickedness that men have no changes Psal. 55.19 Ier. 48.11 But to be tossed and emptied and exercised with frequent alterations and our sent to abide in us still wanton under Mercies sullen under Judgements after all our Phisick to relapse after all that is come upon us again to break the Commandements this is a sad Symptome a great aggravation of our sin and justification of Gods Righteousness in all his dealings with us Again since the Lord is the God of his people and righteous to them in a way of mercy and fidelity We learn to acknowledge it a great Mercy and to glorifie God for it that we Remaine yet escaped that we may set up an Eben-Ezer and say thus far