Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	call_v	lord_n	sin_n	6,583	5	4.5982	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78965	The great danger of covenant-refusing, and covenant-breaking. Presented in a sermon preached before the Right Honourable Thomas Adams Lord Mayor, and the Right Worshipfull the sheriffes, and the aldermen his brethren, and the rest of the Common-councell of the famous City of London, Jan. 14. 1645. Upon which day the solemne League and Covenant was renued by them and their officers with prayer and fasting at Michael Basinshaw, London. / By Edmund Calamy, B.D. and pastor of Aldermanbury London.; Great danger of covenant-breaking, &c.	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1646 (1646)	Wing C254; Thomason E327_6; ESTC R200648	37,036	51

another case Is it a sleight matter to be the son in law of a King So may I say Is it a sleight matter for the Lord of Heaven and Earth to condescend so far as to covenant with his poor creatures and thereby to become their debtors and to make them as it were his equals When Jonathan and David entred into a covenant of friendship though one was a Kings son the other a poor Shepherd yet there was then a kinde of equality between them But this must be understood warily according to that text 2 Cor. 1. 9. Blessed be God who hath called us into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord He is still our Lord though in fellowship with us It is a covenant of infinite condescension on Gods part whereby he enters into a league of friendship with his people 2. The mercy is the greater because this covenant was made after the fall of Adam after we had broken the first covenant That the Lord should try us the second time is not only an act of infinite goodnesse in God but of infinite mercy There is a difference between the goodnesse and the mercy of God Goodnesse may be shewed to those that are not in misery but mercy supposeth misery And this was our condition after the breach of the first covenant 3. That God should make this covenant with Man and not with Devils 4. This sets out the mercy of the covenant because it containes such rare and glorious benefits and therefore it is called a covenant of life and peace Mal. 2. 5. an everlasting covenant even the sure mercies of David Esay 55. 3. It is compared to the waters of Noah Esay 54. 9. Famous are those two texts Exod. 19. 5 6. Ier. 32. 40 41. Texts that hold forth strong consolation By virtue of the covenant Heaven is not only made possible but certain to all believers and certain by way of oath It is by virtue of the covenant that we call God Father and may lay claim to all the power wisdome goodnesse and mercy c. that is in God As Iehoshaphat told the King of Israel to whom he was joyned in covenant I am as thou art my people as thy people my horses as thy horses So doth God say to all that are in covenant with him My power is thine my goodnesse is thine c. By virtue of this covenant whatsoever thou wantest God cannot deny it thee if it be good for thee Say unto God Lord thou hast sworne to take away my heart of stone and to give me a heart of flesh Thou hast sworn to write thy law in my heart thou hast sworn to circumcise my heart thou hast sworn to give me Christ to be my King Priest and Prophet c. And God cannot but be a covenant-keeper By virtue of this covenant God cannot but accept of a poor penitent sinner laying hold upon Christ for pardon 2 Chron. 7. 14. Jer. 3. 14. Promissa haec tuasunt Domine quis falli timet cum promittit ipsa veritas In a word we may challenge pardon and heaven by our covenant 1 John 1. 9. God is not only mercifull but just to forgive us We may challenge heaven through Christ out of justice 5. Adde lastly that the conditions of the Covenant on our parts should be upon such easie termes therefore it is called a Covenant of Free-grace All that God requires of us is to take hold of this Covenant Is 56. to receive this gift of righteousnesse Rom. 5. to take all Christ as he is tendred in the Covenant And that which is the greatest consolation of all God hath promised in his Covenant to do our part for us Jer. 31. 33 34. Therefore it is called a Testament rather then a Covenant In the new Testament the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is alwayes used by the Apostle and not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Heaven is conveyed unto the elect by way of Legacie It is part of Gods Testament to write his law in our hearts and to cause us to walk in his wayes c. Put these things together Seeing there is such infinite mercy in the Covenant A mercy for God to enter into Covenant with us to doe it with us and not the Angels with us fallen with us upon such easie termes and to make such a Covenant that contains so many and not only so but all blessings here and hereafter in the wombe of it it must needs be a land-destroying and soul-destroying sin to be a Covenant-breaker The use and application of this doctrine is foure-fold If it be such a Land-devouring sin to be a Covenant-breaker let us from hence learn the true cause of all the miseries that have hapned unto England in these late yeers The wombe out of which all our calamities are come England hath broken Covenant with God and now God is breaking England in pieces even as a Potter breakes a vessell in pieces God hath sent his sword to avenge the quarrell of his Covenant As Christ whipt the buyers and sellers out of the Temple with whips made of the cords which they brought to tye their oxen and sheep withall A Covenant is a cord to ty us to God and now God hath made an iron whip of these cords which we have broken asunder to whip us withall We are a nation in Covenant with God we have the books of the Covenant the Old and New Testament we have the seales of the Covenant Baptisme and the Lords Supper We have the Messengers of the Covenant the Ministers of the Gospell We have the Angell of the covenant the Lord Jesus Christ fully and clearly set out before us in the Ministery of the Word But alas are not these blessings amongst us as the Ark was amongst the Philistines rather as prisoners then as priviledges rather in testimonium ruinam quam in salutem rather for our ruine then for our happinesse May it not be said of us as Reverend Moulin said of the French Protestants While they burned us saith he for reading the Scriptures we burnt with zeale to be reading of them now with our liberty is bred also negligence and disesteem of Gods word So it is with us While we were under the Tyranny of the Bishops oh how sweet was a Fasting-day how beautifull were the feet of them that brought the Gospell of peace unto you How dear and precious were Gods people one to another c. But now how are our Fasting-dayes sleighted and vilified how are the people of God divided one from another railing upon in stead of loving one another And is not the godly Mininistery as much persecuted by the tongues of some that would be accounted godly as heretofore by the Bishops hands Is not the Holy Bible by some rather wrested then read wrested I say by ignorant and unstable soules to their own destruction And as for the seales of the

unto the Lord in a perpetuall Covenant never to be forgotten It is reported of Bishop Hooper that when he was at the stake to be burnt the Officers offered to tye him to the stake but he said You need not tye me for that God that call'd me hither will keep me from stirring and yet because I am partly flesh I am willing you should tye me fast lest I should stir So may the best Christian here present say Lord I am carnall sold under sinne I have broken those golden cords of the Covenant with which I have tyed my selfe unto thee Though I am spirit yet am I flesh also And therefore I come to binde my selfe anew As Dalilah dealt with Sampson c. so do I desire to deale with my self and to tye my self yet faster and faster to God if by any meanes I might be kept firme to him 5. Because of the many glorious deliverances and salvations which God hath vouchsafed unto us For since June last we have had about 60 considerable blessings and mercies which all are as 60 Arguments to call upon us not only to renue our thankfulnesse but our Covenant also Thus the people of Israel when God had delivered them out of Egypt renued their Covenant at Horeb Exod. 19. And when they were delivered from their Wildernesse-enemies Deut. 29. And the same people did afterwards when God had given them the possession of Canaan re-oblige themselves by a covenant Josh. 24. 6. Because of the sad condition the Church of God is in at this time For though God hath given us glorious victories over our enemies yet the Churches of Christ lye desolate Church-reformation is obstructed Church-Discipline unsetled Church-divisions increased The famous City of London is become an Amsterdam Separation from our Churches is countenanced Toleration is cried up Authority lyeth asleep And therefore it is high time to take the Covenant again that so you may endeavour with renued strength as one man vigorously and courageously for the setling of the tottering Ark according to the sphere of capacitie in which God hath put you You shall reade in Scripture that the people of God did never any great service for the Church till they renued their Covenant and you shall never read but that they did very great and glorious services for the Church after the renuing of their covenant with God In Zerubbabels time the Temple-work ceased for many yeares but after Ezra and Nehemiah caused the people to enter into covenant with God it went on prosperously and uninterruptedly What famous things did the people of God after Jehojada had drawn them into a covenant 2. Kings 11. 7. 18. All the people of the Lord went into the house of Baal and brake it downe his Altars and his Images brake they in pieces throughly c. The like we reade of Asa 2 Chron. 15. 14 15 16. and of King Josiah 2 Chron. 34. 31 32 33. And thus I doubt not but you will endeavour to do in an orderly way according to your places These are the Arguments to justifie this dayes work before God to all the Christian world To help you in this so pious so Christian so necessary so solemne a businesse I have chosen this Text In the beginning of the Chapter the Apostle tels us the condition that the Church of God should be in in the last dayes This know also that in the last dayes perilous time shall come In the second Verse he tels us the reason why these times should be such hard and dangerous times For men shall be lovers of themselves covetous c. The reason is not drawn from the miseries and calamities of the last times but from the sins and iniquities of the last times It is sin and iniquity that makes times truly perilous Sin and sin onely takes away Gods love and favour from a Nation and makes God turn an enemy to it Sinne causeth God to take away the purity and power of his Ordinances from a Nation Sin makes all the creatures to be armed against us and makes our own conscience to fight against us Sin is the cause of all the causes of perilous times Sin is the cause of our civill warres 2 Sam. 12. 11. Sin is the cause of our divisions James 4. 1. Sin is the cause why men fall into such dangerous errours 2 Thess. 2. 11. Sin brings such kinds of judgements which no other enemy can bring Sin brings invisible spirituall eternall judgements It is sin that makes God give over a Nation to a reprobate sense Sin makes all times dangerous Let the times be never so prosperous yet if they be sinfull times they are times truly dangerous And if they be not sinfull they are not dangerous though never so miserable It is sin that makes afflictions to be the fruits of Gods revenging wrath part of the curse due to sin and a beginning of Hell It is sin and sin only that imbitters every affliction Let us for ever look upon sin through these Scripture-Spectacles The Apostle in four Verses reckons up 19 sins at the causes of the miseries of the last dayes I may truly call these 19 sins Englands Looking-glasse wherein we may see what are the clouds that eclipse Gods countenance from shining upon us the Mountains that lye in the way to hinder the settlement of Church-discipline Even these 19 sins which are as an Iron whip of 19 strings with which God is whipping England at this day which are as 19 Fagots with which God is burning and devouring England My purpose is not to speak of all these sins Only let me propound a Divine project how to make the times truly happy for soul and body And that is To strike at the root of all misery which is sin and iniquity To repent for and from all these 19 sins which are as the Oyl that feedeth encreaseth the flame that is now consuming of us For because men are lovers of themselves Vsque ad contemptum Dei Reipublicae Because men drive their own designes not only to the neglect but contempt of God and the Common-wealth Because men are covetous lovers of the world more then lovers of God Because they are proud in head heart looks and apparell Because they are unthankfull turning the mercies of God into instruments of sin and making Darts with Gods blessings to shoot against God Because men are unholy and heady and make many covenants and keep none Because they are as the Greek word signieth Devils acting the Devils part in accusing the brethren and in bearing false witnesse one against another Because they have a form of Godlinesse denying the power thereof c. hence it is that these times are so sad and bloody These are thine enemies ô England that have brought thee into this desolate condition These are the sins that will recruit the Kings army if ever it be recruited and if ever God lead us back

grievous sin Covenant-breaking is But after man was fallen God was pleased to strike a new covenant which is usually called a covenant of grace or of reconciliation a copy of which you shall read Ezek. 16. 7 8 9. This was first propounded to Adam by way of promise Gen. 3. The Seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head And then to Abram by way of Covenant Gen. 17. In thy Seed shall all the nations of the world be blessed And then to Moses by way of Testament Exod. 33. It is nothing else but the free and gracious tender of Jesus Christ and all his rich purchases to all the lost and undone sons of Adam that shall beleeve in him or as the phrase is Isai. 56. 4. that shall take hold of the covenant Now you must know that Baptisme is a seal of this covenant and that all that are baptized doe sacramentally at least engage themselves to walk before God and to be upright and God likewise engageth himself to be their God This covenant is likewise renued when we come to the Lords Supper wherein we bind our selves by a sacramentall oath unto thankfulnesse to God for Christ Adde further that besides this generall covenant of grace whereof the Sacraments are seales there are particular and personall and family and nationall covenants Thus Job had his covenant Job 20. and David Psal. 119. 106. And when he came to be King he joyned in a covenant with his people to serve the Lord Thus Asa Jehoiada and Josiah c. Thus the people of Israel had not onely a covenant in circumcision but renued a covenant in Horeb in Moab and did often again and again bind themselvs to God by vow and covenant And thus the Churches of the Christians besides the vow in Baptisme have many personall and nationall engagements unto God by covenant which are nothing else but the renovations and particular applications of that first vow in Baptisme Of this nature is the covenant you are to renue this day c. Now give me leave to shew you what a sword-procuring and soul-undoing sinne this sin of Covenant-breaking is and ethen th reason of it Famous is that text Levit. 26. 25. And I will send my sword which shall avenge the quarrell of my covenant The words in the Hebrew run thus I will avenge the avengement In Greek {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The Latin ulciscar ultionem which importeth thus much That God is at open war and at publique defiance with those that break his covenant he is not onely angry with them but he will be revenged of them The Lord hath a controversie with all covenant-breakers Hos. 4. 1. or as it is Lev. 26. 23. The Lord will walk contrary to them In the 29. of Deuter. first God takes his people into covenant and then he tels them of the happy condition they should bee in if they did keep covenant But if they did breake couenant he tels them verse 20 21 22 23 24 25. That the Lord will not spare him but the anger of the Lord and his jealousies shall smoak against that man and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven And the Lord shall separate him c. And when the nations shall say Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land What meaneth the heat of this great anger Then shall men say Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their Fathers c. This was the sin that caused God to send his people of Israel into captivity and to remove the candlestick from the Asian Churches It is for this sin that the sword is now devouring Germany Ireland and England c. God hath sent his sword to avenge the quarrell of his covenant The reasons why this sin is a God-provoking sin are Because that to sinne against the covenant is a greater sinne then to sin against a Commandement of God or to sin against a promise or to sin against an Ordinance of God First it is a greater sin then to break a Commandement of God For the more mercy there is in the thing we sin against the greater is the sin Now there is more mercy in a Covenant then in a bare Commandement The Commandement tels us our duty but gives no power to doe it But the covenant of grace gives power to doe what it requires to be done And therefore if it be a hell-procuring sin to break the least of Gods Commandements much more to be a Covenant-breaker Heb. 10. 28 29. Secondly it is a greater sin then to sin against a promise of God because a Covenant is a promise joyn'd with an oath it is a mutuall stipulation between God and us And therefore if it be a great sin to break promise much more to break covenant Thirdly it is a greater sin then to sin against an Ordinance because the Covenant is the root and ground of all the Ordinances It is by virtue of the Covenant that we are made partakers of the Ordinances The Word is the book of the Covenant and the Sacraments are the Scales of the Covenant And if it be a sin of an high nature to sin against the book of the Covenant and the seales of the Covenant much more against the Covenant it selfe To break covenant is a fundamentall sinne it raseth the very foundation of Christianity because the Covenant is the foundation of all the priviledges and prerogatives and hopes of the Saints of God And therefore we reade Ephes. 2. 12. that a stranger from the Covenant is one without hope All hope of Heaven is cut off where the Covenant is willingly broken To break covenant is an universall sin it includes all other sins By virtue of the Covenant we tye our selves to the obedience of Gods Commandements we give up our selves to the guidance of Jesus Christ we take him for our Lord and King All the promises of this life and that that is to come are contained within the Covenant The Ordinances are fruits of the Covenant And therefore they that forsake the Covenant commit many sins in one and bring not only many but all curses upon their heads The summe of the first Argument is If the Lord will avenge the quarrell of his Commandement if God was avenged upon the stick-gatherer for breaking the Sabbath much more will he be avenged upon a Covenant-breaker If God will avenge the quarrell of a promise if the quarrell of an Ordinance if they that reject the Ordinances shall be punished Of how much severer punishment shall they be thought worthy that trample under their feet the blood of the Covenant If God was avenged of those that abused the Ark of the Covenant much more will he punish those that abuse the Angell of the Covenant The second reason why covenant-breaking is such a Land-destroying sin is because it is a most

of Amongst the Romans when any Souldier was pressed he took an oath to serve his Captaine faithfully and not to forsake him and he was called Miles per sacramentum Sometimes one took an oath for all the rest and the others only said The same oath that A. B. took the same do I. And these were called Milites per conjurationem or milites evocati And when any souldier forsook his Captain he had Martiall law executed upon him Thus it is with every Christian He is a professed souldier of Christ he hath taken presse-money he hath sworn and taken the Sacrament upon it to become the Lords he is miles per sacramentū miles per conjurationem And if he forsake his Captaine and break covenant the great Lord of Hosts will be avenged of him as it is written Jer. 11. 3. Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant To break covenant is a sin of perjury which is a sin of a high nature and if for oathes the Land mourneth much more for breach of oathes To break covenant is a sin of spirituall adultery for by covenanting with God we do as it were joyne our selves in mariage to God as the Hebrew word signifieth Jer. 50. 5. Now to break the mariage knot is a sin for which God may justly give a Bill of divorce to a Nation To break covenant is a sin of injustice for by our covenant we do enter as it were into bond to God and engage our selves as a creditor to his debtor Now the sin of injustice is a Land-destroying sin The fourth reason why God must needs be avenged of those that are covenant-breakers is because it is an act of the highest Sacriledge that can be committed For by virtue of the Covenant the Lord layes claime to us as his peculiar inheritance Ezek. 16. 8. I sware unto thee and entred into covenant with thee and thou becamest mine Ier. 31. 33. I will be their God and they shall be my people It is worthy observation that in the Covenant there is a double surrender one on Gods part another on our part God Almighty makes a surrender of himself and of his Sonne and of the Holy Ghost Behold saith God I am wholly thy God all my power and wisdome and mercy and goodnesse c. is all thine my Son is thine and all his rich purchases My spirit is thine and all his graces This is Gods surrender On our parts when we take hold of the Covenant we make a delivery of our bodies and soules into the hands of God we choose him to be our Lord and Governour we resigne up our selves into his hands Lord we are thine at thy disposing we alienate our selves from our selves and make a Deed of gift of our selves and give thee the lock and key of head heart and affections c. This is the nature of every religious Covenant but especially of the Covenant of grace But now for a Christian to call in as it were his surrender to disclaime his resignation to steale away himself from God and to lay claim to himself after his alienation to fulfill his owne lusts to walk after his owne wayes to do what he lists and not what he hath covenanted to do and so to rob God of what is his this is the highest degree of Sacriledge which God will never suffer to go unpunished And surely if the stick-gatherer that did but alienate a little of Gods time and Ananias and Sapphira that withheld but some part of their estate and if Belshazzar for abusing the consecrated vessels of the Temple were so grievously punished how much more will God punish those that alienate themselves from the service of that God to whom they have sworn to be obedient It is observed by a learned Author of three famous Commanders of the Romans that they never prospered after they had defiled and robbed the Temple of Jerusalem First Pompey the great he went into the Sanctum Sanctorum a place never before entred by any but the High Priest and the Lord blasted him in all his proceedings after that time Vt ille qui terram non habuit ante ad victoriam deesset illi terra ad sepulturam That he that before that time wanted earth to overcome had not at last earth enough to bury him withall The next was Crassus who took away 10000 talents of gold from the Temple and afterwards dyed by having gold poured down his throat The third was Cassius who afterwards killed himself If then God did thus avenge himself of those that polluted his consecrated Temple much more will he not leave them unpunished that are the living temples of the Holy Ghost consecrated to God by a covenant and afterwards prove sacrilegious robbing God of that worship and service which they have sworn to give him The fifth reason why this sin makes the times perilous is because covenant-breakers are reckoned amongst the number of those that have the mark of reprobation upon them I do not say that they are all Reprobates yet I say that the Apostle makes it to be one of those sins which are committed by those that are given up to a reprobate minde Rom. 1. 28. 31. The words are spoken of the Heathen and are to be understood of breaking of covenants made between man and man But then the Argument will hold à fortiori If it be the brand of a reprobate to break covenant with man much more to break a covenant made with the great Jehovah by the lifting up of our hands to Heaven The last reason is because it is a sin against such infinite mercy such bowels of Gods unexpressible mercy It is said Jer. 31. 32. Which covenant they brake although I was a Husband to them That is Although I had chosen them for my Spouse and married my self unto them with an everlasting covenant of mercy and intailed Heaven upon them yet they have broken my covenant This was a great provocation Thus Ezek. 16. 4 5. When thou wast in thy blood and no eye pitied thee to have compassion upon thee I said unto thee when thou wert in thy blood Live yea I said unto thee Live It is twice repeated As if God should say Mark it O Israel when no eye regarded thee then I said unto thee Live Behold saith God verse 8. Thy time was the time of love Behold and wonder at it and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakednesse yea I sware unto thee and entred into covenant with thee saith the Lord and thou becamest mine And yet for all this thou hast sinned grievously against me Woe woe unto thee saith the Lord God Ezek. 16. 23. There is a five fold mercy in the Covenant especially in the covenant of grace that makes the sinne of covenant-breaking to be so odious 1. It is a mercy that the great God will vouchsafe to enter into covenant with dust and ashes As David saith in

covenant First for the Lords Supper How often have we spilt the bloud of Christ by our unworthy approaches to his Table and hence it is that he is now spilling our blood How hard a matter is it to obtain power to keep the blood of Christ from being profaned by ignorant and scandalous Communicants and can we think that God will be easily intreated to sheath up his bloody sword and to cease shedding our blood Secondly for the Sacrament of Baptisme How cruell are men grown to their little infants by keeping of them from the seale of entrance into the Kingdome of heaven and making their children their own children to be just in the same condition with the children of Turks and Infidels I remember at the beginning of these warres there was a great fear fell upon godly people about their little children and all their care was for their preservation and their safety and for the continuance of the Gospell to them c. But now our little children are likely to be in a worser condition then ever The Oxford Army labour to steale away the Gospell from them and the Anabaptist labours to steale away the seale of the covenant of Grace from them and that which is worser then all there are some godly people love to have it so And all this is come upon us as a just punishment of our Baptismall covenant-breaking And as for Jesus Christ who is the Angell of the covenant are there not some amongst us that un-god Jesus Christ and is it not fit and equall that God should un-church us and un-people us Are there not thousands that have sworne to be Christs servants and yet are in their lives the Vassals of sin and Satan And shall not God be avenged of such a nation as this These things considered it is no wonder our miseries are so great but the wonder is that they are no greater The second use is an use of examination Dayes of humiliation ought to be dayes of selfe-examination Let us therefore upon such a day as this is examine whether we be not amongst the number of those that make the times perilous whether we be not covenant-breakers Here I will speak of three covenants First of the covenant we made with God in our Baptisme Secondly of the covenants which we have made with God in our distresses Thirdly and especially of this covenant which you are to renue this day First of the covenant which we made in Baptisme and renue every time we come to the Lords Supper and upon our solemn dayes of fasting There are none here but I may say of them The vowes of God are upon you You are servi nati empti jurati you are the born bought and sworn servants of God you have made a surrender of your selves unto God and Christ The question I put to you is this How often have you broke covenant with God It is said Isaiah 33. 14. The sinners of Sion are afraid who shall dwell with everlasting burnings who shall dwell with devouring sire c. When God comes to a Church-sinner to a sinner under the Old Testament much more to a Christian sinner a sinner under the New Testament and layeth to his charge his often covenant-breaking fearfulnesse shall possesse him and he will cry out Oh! woe is me who can dwell with everlasting burnings our God is a consuming fire and we are as stubble before him Who can stand before his indignation Nahum 1. 6. Who can abide in the fiercenesse of his anger when his fury is poured forth like fire and the rockes are throwne down before him Who can stand Of all sorts of creatures a sinfull Christian shall never be able to stand before the Lord when he comes to visit the world for their sins For when a christian sinnes against God he sins not only against the Commandement but against the covenant And in every sin he is a commandement-breaker and a covenant-breaker And therefore whereas the Apostle saith Tribulation and anguish upon every soule that sinneth but first upon the Jew c. I may adde First upon the christian then upon the Jew and then upon the Grecian because the covenant made with the Christian is called a better covenant and therefore his sins have a higher aggravation in them There is a notable passage in Austin in which he brings the Devill thus pleading with God against a wicked christian at the day of judgement Aequissime judex judica quod aequum est judica meum esse qui tuus esse noluit post renunciationem Vt quid invasit pannos meos Quid apud eum lascivia incontinentia c. quibus ipse renunciaverit Quid intemperantia quid gula quid fastus quid caetera mea Haec omnia mea post renunciationem invasit Meus esse voluit mea concupivit Judica aequissime judex quoniam quem tu non dedignatus es tanto pretio liberare ipse mihi postmodum voluit obligare That is Oh thou righteous Judge give right judgement Judge him to be mine who refused to be thine even after he had renounced me in his Baptisme What had he to doe to wear my Livery What had he to doe with gluttony drunkennesse pride wantonnesse incontinencie and the rest of my ware All these things he hath practised since he renounced the devill and all his works Mine he is judge righteous judgement For he whom thou hast not disdained to dye for hath obliged himselfe to me by his sins c. Now what can God say to this charge of the Devils but Take him Devill seeing he would be thine take him torment him with everlasting torments Cyprian brings in the Devill thus speaking to Christ at the great day of judgement Ego pro istis quos mecum vides nec alapas accepi nec flagella sustinui nec crucem pertuli nec sanguinem fudi sed nec regnum coeleste illis promitto nec ad paradisum evoco tamen se mihi suaque omnia consecrarunt I have not saith the Devill been whipt and scourged and crucified neither have I shed my blood for these whom thou seest with me I do not promise them a kingdome of heaven c. and yet these men have wholly consecrated themselves to me and my service Indeed if the Devill could make such gainfull covenants with us and bestow such glorious mercies upon us as are contained within the Covenant our serving of Satan and sinne might have some excuse But when as his covenant is a covenant of bondage death hell and damnation and Gods covenant is a covenant of liberty grace and eternall happinesse it must needs be a sin inexcusable to be willingly and wilfully such a covenant-breaker Secondly let us examine concerning the vowes which we have made to God in our distresses in our Personall distresses and our Nationall distresses Are we not like the children of Israel of whom it is said Psal. 78. 34. When he