filled and animated with divine Fear follow the ways of Godliness which Fear as we have said is the beginning or principal part of Knowledg that is it is a reverent care to avoid sin obey the Will and worship the Majesty of God And therefore the holy Mother of our Lord affirms Luke 1. That his Mercy is on them that fear him from Generation to Generation thereby intimating that that divine and inexhaustible Mercy was in no Age ever wanting to those who Fear and religiously Serve the Lord. And indeed divine Wisdom hath by many and frequent Testimonies and Oracles out of the mouths of all the Prophets and Holy Men asserted the Dignity and Excellence of the Fear of God and amongst others by that of the Son of Sirach Ecclus. 25. Oh how great is he that findeth Wisdom yet there is none above him that feareth the Lord. For Knowledg and Wisdom do indeed illuminate and instruct the Mind but that holy Fear of the Lord turns the heart effectually unto God and inclines it to the Obedience and Observation of the Precepts of the divine Law As the same Son of Sirach does expresly teach Ecclus. 2. saying My Son if thou come to serve the Lord prepare thy Soul for Temptation Set thy Heart aright and constantly endure and make not hast in time of trouble Cleave unto him and depart not away that thou maist be encreased at thy last end Whatsoever is brought unto thee take chearfully and be patient when thou art changed to a low estate For Gold is tried in the Fire and acceptable Men in the Furnace of Adversity Believe in him and he will help thee order thy way aright and trust in him Ye that fear the Lord wait for his Mercy and go not aside lest ye fall Ye that fear the Lord believe him and your reward shall not fail Ye that fear the Lord hope for good and for everlasting Joy and Mercy Look at the Generations of old and see did ever any trust in the Lord and was confounded Or did any abide in his fear and was forsaken Or whom did he ever despise that called upon him For the Lord is full of Compassion and Mercy Long-Suffering and very Pitiful and forgiveth Sins and saveth in time of Affliction Wo be to fearful hearts and faint hands and the sinner that goeth two ways Wo unto him that is faint-hearted for he believeth not therefore shall he not be defended Wo unto you that have lost Patience and what will ye do when the Lord shall visit you They that fear the Lord will not disobey his Word and they that love him will keep his ways They that fear the Lord will seek that is well pleasing unto him and they that love him shall be filled with the Law They that fear the Lord will prepare their heart and humble their Souls in his sight saying we will fall into the hands of the Lord and not into the hands of men for as his Majesty is so is his Mercy Nor do the holy Scriptures affirm only that the Fear of God is an useful proper and effectual means for working out our own Salvation but also that it is absolutely necessary and without which no Man can be saved seeing he who is not endowed with this Religious and Godly Fear can neither rightly set about nor with a steddy and constant purpose of mind go through with the work of Repentance nor yet faithfully keep the Laws of God as they ought to do who endeavour to approve themselves to God and procure the blessing of Justification and Christian Sanctification And therefore it was the Decree and Purpose of Heaven that a messenger of the Salvation which was coming into the World should as a fore-runner be sent before to Preach the Repentance and observation of the Divine Laws to Men and by that means prepare the way for Christian Righteousness Mat. 3. For John the Baptist came preaching in the Wilderness of Judea and saying Repent ye For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand For this is he that was spoken of by the Prophet Esaias saying The voice of one crying in the Wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths streight For the same purpose the Apostles were sent out by Jesus Christ the Author and High-Priest of our Salvation to Publish and Preach this necessary Duty of Repentance for as the Evangelist saith Mark 6. They went out and Preached that Men should Repent The Apostles excepted none that heard them and desired to be partakers of the Salvation which they Preached from the Duty and Care of Repentance The Apostle Paul affirms before King Agrippa that he was enjoyned and had performed the same duty both towards the Jews and Gentiles without any distinction Preaching throughout all the wasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn of God and do works meet for repentance When the Jews and others at Jerusalem asked the question what was to be done by those who desired to be saved St. Peter answered Acts 2. Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of Sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost For the Promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call It might be proved by above six hundred Testimonies from the Holy Scripture that without the fear of the Lord and Repentance which is the second Head of Doctrine we now treat of and without the keeping and observation of the Laws of God no Man that is come to Age and that knows God and the nature of good and evil can obtain remission of sins and the inheritance and enjoyment of the Kingdom of Heaven This our Saviour himself the best Interpreter of his Fathers will asserts saying Luke 13. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Mat. 5. and except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now seeing the word Repentance is often to be mentioned in this little Book that it may clearly appear what we mean we are to take notice that Repentance comprehends two things a detestation and forsaking of our sins and ill life past and an earnest and sincere practice and performance of those Virtues Acts and Deeds which are known to be acceptable to God As to the first part that is the detestation and forsaking of sin and a sinful life that Repentance chiefly relates to it which is enjoyned and taught by the Christian Church of which the particulars are the sorrow and contrition of heart the confession of the mouth and satisfaction in deed to use the common phrase and expression of the learned for knowing the nature whereof we shall refer you to the Books of the Learned who have fully handled and discussed that Point being resolved here
Call by Faith alone unless we also pay Obedience to him that hath called us What Man is he that will say that it is enough for him to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven by Faith that is by believing tho he never attain to the actual fruition and enjoyment of the Kingdom of God Did God do so with the Israelites and the Seed of Abraham that the Promises which they laid hold on by Faith were never made good unto them No for the blessing of God whom they believed and obeyed they obtained the enjoyment and possession of the earthly Promises Of Abraham a great Nation was really made and from one Isaac in whom God would have his Seed to be called there sprang so great a People that Moses confessed Deut. 1. I am not able to bear you my self alone The Lord your God hath multiplied you and behold you are this day as the Stars of Heaven for multitude The Lord God of your Fathers make you a thousand times se many as you are and bless you as he hath promised you The People that were brought out of Egypt who continued in Faith and Holy Obedience did actually obtain and possess the promised Land of Canaan as it is written Josh 1. Arise go over this Jordan thou and all this People unto the Land which I do give to them even to the Children of Israel Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon that have I given unto you as I said unto Moses From the Wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great River the River Euphrates all the Land of the Hittites and unto the great Sea toward the going down of the Sun shall be your Coast God not long after confirmed the truth of all this Josh 24. I have given you a Land for which ye did not labour and Cities which ye built not and ye dwell in them of the Vineyards and Oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat David also believing the promise that he should obtain the Kingdom endured and overcame the hardest of times and dangers and having at length obtained the Kingdom thus did sing Psal 116. I believed therefore have I spoken I was greatly afflicted I said in my hast all Men are liars What shall I render unto the Lord for all his Benefits towards me c. So that all these Ancients not only by Faith laid hold on the earthly Promises but really obtained them through the blessing of God that promised to fulfil them to those who believed and obeyed him And therefore they obeyed the Law-giver not by Faith and in words only but with all care and dutifulness they also practised true Piety and performed the Precepts and Commandments nor did any of those who expected the desired Promises think or say it was enough for him that his fore-fathers Predecessors or Friends had obeyed the Commands and Precepts of God unless he himself did his duty in obeying and fulfilling the Law Abraham himself being called went out David being anointed King and having obtained a Promise of the Kingdom believed did and suffered all those things which we read with admiration So also that we may return to our selves if we desire as we ought to do to be truly and indeed made partakers of the Spiritual Promises if we have a real love for our selves and aspire to everlasting bliss we must not only believe the Promises but likewise in all sincerity practise Piety and perform our several duties in obeying those things that are enjoyned and commanded us Nor must we think it enough that Christ hath fulfilled for us the Law and all Righteousness unless believing in Christ we also submit to that part of the Law which belongs to us to wit the Precepts and Commands of the Decalogue wherein is comprehended the summ of the Will of God and Law of Nature and to whatsoever may be lawfully deduced and inferred from thence and so obey the Law that we may not be called Hearers only or Readers Interpreters or Expounders thereof but rather Doers of the same and become like to those of whom it is written Luke 1. And they were both righteous before God walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless Rom. 2. For not the Hearers of the Law are Just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified Wherefore whosoever being called to the Marriage of the Son desires to approve himself faithfully to him that calleth him He is chiefly to mind that there is nothing hidden from him who searcheth the secrets of the heart and reins and knoweth the thoughts of Men afar off And therefore let him seriously set about the duty of true and unfeigned Repentance and being grieved for all the offences of his ill-spent wicked past life let him with a contrite and humble heart sincerely confess his sins and plead guilty in the presence of God and his Church that iâ— of the lawful Ministers of the Church Piously and Religiously obey the Counsels Admonitions and Instructions that are given him and having received Ecclesiastical Absolution from the sins and wickedness which he hath promised to God and to his Minister as a Witness and Judge upon Earth to forsake let him turn with all his mind and might from that wicked life and filthy conversation from all impure thoughts all Guile Malice and corrupt Manners and then having shaken off and overcome the Temptations of Pride Vanity Covetousness Lust Earthly delights and Pleasures and of whatsoever may and is wont to turn Men from God let him constantly persist in the right way and by diligent and frequent Prayer call upon God and beg his favourable and gracious assistance whose Mercy and provident care over him he will to his experience certainly find if from a pure and holy heart he earnestly craves the same For no less hath been offered and promised to all sinners by him who willeth not nor desireth their death but that rather they may repent and live Jer. 3. Return ye back-sliding children and I will heal your back-slidings Jer. 4. If thou wilt return O Israel saith the Lord return unto me and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight then shalt thou not remove O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee Jer. 29. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you saith the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart And I will be found of you saith the Lord. And again Joel 2. Turn ye unto me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning And rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious
salvation who when he would have Men to turn to him with their whole heart and mind and so obtain life he patiently waits for their Repentance and this the holy Scriptures clearly testifie Isa 30. Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you And the Apostle St. Peter saith The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise as some Men count slackness but is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance Now that the Conversion and true Repentance of sinners is most acceptable and pleasing to God his own Son shews us in that saving Sermon which he made in the three Parables of the prodigal Son the lost sheep and groat whereby he exhorted all Men that they would endeavour by their conversion to please God and cause joy in the whole Court of Heaven that so they might tast of the wonderful goodness of God who is rich in mercy towards all that call upon him with a pure and single heart and upon whom if they approve themselves by Faith and the practice of true Repentance and Obedience he bestows great mercies and the spirit of sanctification with all his gifts and graces which St. Peter affirms was given to all that obey him and our Saviour promised to be given saying John 14. If ye love me keep my commandments And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive Now in the sence of St. John the world are they who live according to the lust of the eye the lust of the flesh or the pride of life that is who are slaves to lust delights pleasures or ambition for those shall not feel the power and virtue of that holy spirit abiding in them as the Lord himself pronounces Gen. 6. My spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he also is flesh With Man who is flesh and striveth not to mortifie the deeds of the Flesh as the Apostle saith if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live to wit through the spirit of God given and communicated unto you for so it is written Isa 66. Thus saith the Lord the Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Footstool where is the house that ye build unto me and where is the place of my rest for all those things hath mine hand made and all those things have been saith the Lord but to this Man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word Those divine gifts and graces whereby Men upon Earth are changed into other creatures and become almost celestial avoiding the corruption that is in the World through lust and having their conversation in heaven examples and instances of these gifts I say which were very frequent of old are now rare to be found on the Earth because we have neither that strong and lively faith in the Promises of God nor purely and sincerely obey his Precepts neither are we filled with the holy fear of the Lord but by a double and deceitful heart wicked and perverse thoughts and actions we are wanting to our selves and to the grace and goodness of God of God I say who trieth the heart and searcheth the reins and sees us wholly given over to impure thoughts the delights and pleasures of the flesh and to pride and ambition like adulterous Women dealing treacherosly against their lawful husbands which kind of hearts estranged from or divided in their chief love he neither loves nor approves of The mind must be pure and single and fervent in love that aspires to the heavenly marriage of this bridegroom and would have it confirmed and made good to it The wise Son of Sirach advises us to endeavour that as much as we can when he saith Ecclus 1. 2. Distrust not the fear of the Lord and come not unto him with a double heart Wo be to fearful hearts and faint hands and the sinner that goeth two ways And the word of God by the mouth of his holy Prophets does also in many places expresly admonish us heartily to renounce the vanities sins and pollutions of this World and make it our whole care to forsake them Jer. 4. O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodg within thee Whosoever come so provided to seek the Lord shall certainly find him to be loving gracious and bountiful Jer. 29. Ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart and I will be found of you saith the Lord whose blessed Son hath also said Mat. 5. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God God is to be seen by the pure in heart saith our Saviour He is to be seen dwelling in them whom he consecrates for a holy Temple to himself as it is written Isa 57. For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones Psal 147. He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up then wounds This contrition of heart so acceptable unto God and so much commended in Scripture doth not dwell nor abide with the anxious desire of worldly things and of the pomp and glory of the age which are hateful to the Lord. Nor let any Man perswade himself that he can serve two Masters that is that he can please God and at the same time fulfil the lusts of the flesh pursue the vanities pride and ambition of the World and obey the dictates of carnal wisdom The Apostle St. James declares it to be impossible Jam. 4. Ye adulterers and Adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the World is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the World is the enemy of God Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy And therefore we are earnestly warned by the Apostle St. John that being deluded by vain arguments or any idle and groundless hope and opinion we should not retain the love of this World but wholly reject it if we would approve our selves to God whom we ought to love for our own salvation John 2. Love not the World neither the things that are in the World If any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world And the world passeth
plainly declares to those who moved with a pious study and zeal yet proposed to themselves other courses than were enjoyned them by his Counsel and Precepts Isa 48. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldst go Oh that thou hadst hearkned to my Commandments then had thy Peace been as a River and thy Righteousness as the Waves of the Sea From which holy Sentences it follows that every Disciple ought at least to know the chief Heads of the Discipline that is profitable unto him those I mean which may be known retained and practiseâ— by all and require neither mucâ— Labour great Study a deep Wiâ—â— length of Time nor far Travâ—â— for attaining to the knowledge them as it is written Deut. 3â— For this Commandment which I command thee this day is not hiddâ—â— from thee neither is it far off 〈◊〉 is not in Heaven that thou should say who shall go up for us to Heâ—ven and bring it unto us that 〈◊〉 may hear it and do it Neither it beyond the Sea that thou should say who shall go over the Sea for 〈◊〉 and bring it unto us that we 〈◊〉 hear it and do it But the Wordâ— very nigh unto thee in thy moutâ— and in thy heart that thou maâ— do it This Piety then that is to 〈◊〉 known and practised by us is dâ—vided into three parts to wit Fear Repentance and Charity with the observation of the Laws of God which whosoever being rightly taught shall keep and observe they will through the most bountiful Promise and Covenant of God confirm and encrease to him the Grace and Mercy of the Lord to his own Salvation and at length bring him to the possession and enjoyment of the Kingdom of Heaven For such is the efficacy that the Will and bounteous Liberality of God hath granted to these three Parts or Virtues if you had rather call them so that he whose mind is filled and endowed with them may thereby avoid the wrath and dreadful Judgment of God and find Grace and Mercy in the Eyes of the Almighty In the first place then they who would practise the Duties of Christian Piety must have their minds filled with a divine Fear that is with an awe reverence and watchful observation of those things which are known to be either acceptable or displeasing to God that they may wholly detest flie and abhor the last and with all care and diligence pursue and seek after the first For that disposition whereby the mind so reverences God that it wills nothing which may offend that immence goodness and rejects nothing which it knows to be conform to the Will of God that disposition of mind I say is called the fear of the Lord and is said to be the beginning of all true Wisdom which by another name also the Latins have called Religion Philosophers have divided this into a servile and filial fear and the Christian School have admitted the same distinction condemning the servile fear so far as it was a forerunner to and made way for the filial But we whose design it is not so much to dispute nicely about these matters as to accommodate them to vulgar capacities and to square our discourse according to the rule of sacred Oracles following the definition given by the Holy Ghost call this fear of the Lord Religion or Reverence whereby the mind of an holy Man being affected observes and follows what he knows to be acceptable to God and on the contrary rejects and shuns what is displeasing to him Wherefore this pious disposition of mind is by Wisdom so defined The fear of the Lord is the beginning or principal part of Wisdom that is to say a Religious observation of those things which by Knowledg or Wisdom we know to be desired or shunned Now by Wisdom in this place is to be understood the knowledg and notices oâ— the divine Will whether attained by word writing or tradition or by revealed rules and rational intimations Now this divine Fear puts him in whose heart it is upon the exercise of true repentance incline him to the Study and observation of the Laws of God and stiâ— him up to a search and diligent enquiry into the nature oâ— both For when once a Maâ— hath resolved with himself tâ— reverence and practise all thaâ— he knows to be acceptable to God and to flie and shun those things which do displease him he makes it his chief care to learn what it is that God approves of and what he condemns and being so taught he implores the assistance of the divine Grace repents of the former sins of his mispent life and proposes to himself the way of Gods Commandments wherein persisting in a steddy and uninterrupted course he is made partaker of the Heavenly Promises stipulated by the Covenant of Grace and enjoys the fellowship and communion of that blessing which the Father of Love has promised can and will make good to them who believe in him and which in effect he hath fulfilled to those who have obeyed his most Just and Holy Will Wherefore the Wisdom of God knowing what extraordinary fruits spring from this root of divine fear that it might dehort Men from the violation of the Laws of God and deter them form the danger of everlasting Wrath and indignation by the mouth of the Son of Sirach callâ—â— Ecclus. 1. The fear of the Lord a Crown of Wisdom Honour and Glory and Gladness and a Crown of Rejoycing And to explain and commend it more effectually and plainly saith that the fear of the Lord is a Fountain of Life The fear of God is therefore called the beginning and fountain of Life because reclaiming Man from the violation of the Laws of God and inducing him to true repentance it sets him upon the keeping and performance of the Commandments that he may obtain Grace and Mercy in the sight of the Almighty whereby he becomes the son of God and heir of eternal Life through the most gracious Promise and Covenant of that God who freely and of his own accord takes upon himself the care conduct instruction and sanctification of all those who cleave unto him by Faith and true Obedience and therefore the Royal Psalmist sings Psal 145. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them and in another place Psal 103. For as the Heaven is high above the Earth so great is his Mercy toward them that fear him As far as the East is from the West so far hath he removed our transgressions from us Like as a Father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him And again The Mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him By all which we are taught that the never failing Mercy of God is infinite eternal to those who
pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie We are also plainly and largely taught by our Lord and Master how grievous a sin the sin of hatred is and how great an impediment it lays in our way to salvation not only when it appears outwardly in evil deeds but even when but conceited inwardly in the heart Mat. 5. I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother Raca shall be in danger of the Council but whosoever shall say thou fool to wit moved with anger and with design to hurt him shall be in danger of hell fire Wherefore our Lord and Master in his divine wisdom that he might shew how expedient it is to be free from that vice and perturbation of mind plainly tells his Disciples that he who hath not first satisfied this command of Charity must not think to obtain the favour of God by any Sacrifice or other Religious performance Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift In many other passages he confirms the same saying Luke 6. Be ye merciful as your Father also is merciful forgive and ye shall be forgiven give and it shall be given unto you Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy Now the charity which our Lord so much commendeth is not a cold and ordinary but a burning and fervent charity ready to do good whereby he bids us to become like unto God who makes his Sun to shine upon the good and the bad and causeth it to rain upon the just and the unjust And when our Saviour taught his Disciples to pray he enlarged more upon the Subject of Charity Mercy and Beneficence than upon any other as being of all others the chief and most convincing argument of Piety which by the Apostle also is called the bond oâ— perfection seeing all the commands and duties whatsoever of the Law are easily obeyed and performed by those who are so quickned by Charity as not so much to seek their own as the things of others according as it is written 1 Cor. 13. Charity suffereth long and is kind Charity envieth not Charity vaunteth not it self is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things Whereas 1 John He that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth because that darkness hath blinded his eyes The summ then of all The summ of the rule common to all Men. that a Scholar of Christ ought to know hold meditate upon and practise is briefly comprehended under these three Heads to wit the Fear of the Lord Repentance and Charity Now Charity is not here considered only as it relates to God whom we ought to love above all things but also as it is to be practised towards Men. 1 John 3. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren But whosa hath this Worlds good and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him My little children let us not love in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him 1 John 4. Let us love him because he first loved us If a Man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a liar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen and this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also Whoever therefore shall carefully observe these three heads will by experience find the mercy goodness and clemency of God towards him the excellency whereof the thought of Man is not able to conceive and far less his tongue to express For the gracious God is always ready to fulfill the promises of salvation which have been made and often confirmed to Believers as it is written Jer. 18. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I though to do unto them Ezek. 18. And if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die All his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord and not that he should return from his ways and live So that the Oracles of God do often confirm the Promimises of life and salvation made even to wicked Men who turn from their ways to those I say who turning from the evil of their way and following a course of true Repentance make it their care and study to obey the commands of God and to do Judgment and Justice for whoever do so shall live not by an idle lasie and unactive Faith which is also called a dead Faith but through the righteousness which they have wrought they shall indeed obtain life and salvation from God the author and fountain of life which he hath promised to all who believe in him and obey his world according to that infinite mercy of his which the Scripture celebrates in many places Psal 145. The lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works And therefore he bears with the sins of men that he may bring them to Repentance Wisdom 11. For he loveth all the things that are and abhorreth nothing that he hath made for never would he have made any thing if he had hated it And therefore it is that he freely offers and promises his mercy unto all who with a true heart and purpose of mind desire to be converted and to return to him as it is written Ezek. 33. As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O House of Israel For the Lord is most gracious and desirous of our
and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Nevertheless we must always be upon our guard and take diligent heed lest securely trusting to past Pardons and the confident expectation of Gods future mercy we never cease to do evil and learn to do good that is not the use but the abuse of divine Clemency and Mercy The Mercy of God is indeed from Generation to Generation but upon those that fear him and I will hear saith the Psalmist Psal 85. what God the Lord will say for he will speak Peace unto the People and to his Saints but let them not return again to Folly Again Isai as saith Isa 30. Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you The Lord will wait that he may be gracious saith he not that they who are waited for should heap sin upon sin and return unto the vomit but because he hath promised mercy to them who with their whole heart so turn unto him that they stand in awe and greatly fear any more to offend him otherwise as the same Prophet saith Therefore will the Lord be exalted that he may have Mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of Judgment who denies not his promised Mercy to any that rightly seek it but withall does not for ever delay but in due time inflict the punishments which are appointed to those whose heart is not right and stedfast with him There is no time with God void of Mercy towards those who hinder not their own Mercy Now they do hinder it who after the hardness and impenitence of their heart treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath Isa 66. To this Man will I look saith the Lord even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word But concerning those who are not truly poor of a contrite spirit and tremble at his word he hath pronounc'd this Sentence He that killeth an Ox is as if he flew a Man he that Sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs neck he that Offereth an Oblation as if he Offered Swines Blood he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol 1 Kings 8. they have chosen their own ways and their Soul delighteth in their abominations They therefore that have committed sin for as Solomon saith there is no Man that sinneth not must constantly keep in the way of Repentance and denying themselves hear and follow him who hath said Not he that beginneth but he that endureth to the end the same shall be saved They must from their whole heart and Soul Renounce the Devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of this wicked world as they have promised and vowed in their Baptism otherwise Jer. 8. thus saith the Lord shall they fall and not arise shall he turn away and not return why then is this People of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual back-sliding The Lord calls it a perpetual back-sliding when men in their manners retain and follow that wicked course of life which in word or thought they may have condemned and falsly professing and boasting of their Repentance do not conscientiously perform the duty of it but belying their own hearts deceive themselves and not God nor his Minister to whom they promised a serious amendment of life This the Lord finds fault with by the same Prophet They hold fast deceit they refuse to return I hearkned and heard but they spake not aright no Man repented him of his wickedness saying what have I done Every one turned to his Course as the Horse rusheth into the Battel The Lord indeed waits that he may have mercy upon us and uses patience not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance Come to Repentance saith that Apostle who knew that Repentance was necessary to sinners for appeasing the wrath and obtaining the mercy of God Now the Holy Spirit does plainly tell us that the long-suffering of God is not everlasting tho we believe and confess his Mercy to be infinite Psal 7. God Judgeth the Righteous and God is angry with the Wicked every day if he turn not he will whet his Sword he hath bent his Bow and made it ready he hath also prepared for him the instruments of death He ordaineth his arrows against the Persecutors When God Almighty was about to destroy the old World because of sin he allotted them a certain time to repent in as it is written Gen 6. And the Lord said my Spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he also is Flesh yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years At the end of which all Mankind perished in the Flood save only the Family of Noah who in that Age was found Righteous in the sight of God The People of Niniveh being warned by the Prophet that after forty days they should be destroyed delayed not their Repentance until the last day but set about it so soon as they heard the denunciation all that time I say was employed and spent in fasting and prayer for averting the wrath of God imploring divine mercy and amending their sinful lives as it is written Jona 3. And Jonah began to enter into the City a days Journey and he cried and said yet fourty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown So the People of Nineveh believed God and Proclaimed a Fast and put on Sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them for word came unto the King of Nineveh and he arose from his Throne and he laid his Robe from him and covered him with Sackcloth and sate in Ashes and he caused to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the Decree of the King and his Nobles saying let neither Man nor Beast Herd nor Flock tast any thing let them not feed nor drink water But let Man and Beast be covered with Sackcloth and cry mightily unto God yea let them turn every one from their evil way and from the violence that is in their hands Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not and God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not The Men of Nineveh will rise in Judgment against those who having been warned not once but often yet have not turned from their evil ways or who have delayed the duty of a serious Repentance to the last day of their life living in the mean time wickedly and following the Vanities Lusts Ambition Pride and Vices of the World whereas no Man ought or can say that he is allowed to put off the exercise of Repentance to the extremity of life since upon the first call and admonition all Men are commanded to turn and be converted unto the Lord. To day saith the Holy Ghost if you will hear his voice harden
elegant language unless we also carefully and studiously practise and observe them This is the express Doctrine of our Lord and Master Mat. 7. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out Devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and then I will profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them I will liken him unto a wife Man which built his house upon a Rock and the Rain descended and the Floods came and the Winds blew and beat upon that House and it fell not for it was founded upon a Rock We must therefore take care that the structure of our salvation be founded upon this Rock of true Obedience lest that after we have built much and long some contrary gust beating upon it it fall to the ground Now this Obedience is performed in observing the will of our heavenly Father according to the Doctrine of our Saviour saying He that doeth the will of my Father who is in Heaven And the Father himself hath declared that his will is that we should know hold fast and carefully practise the Doctrine of his dearest Son Mat. 17. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him If then we would desire to know what we are to do for obtaining the salvation which this beloved Son hath brought into the World let us seriously consult him who was proposed and confirmed to us by the Father in presence of most reverend witnesses two of the Old and three of the New Testament as the wise and infallible interpreter of his Will and we shall hear him thus answering and teaching us John 15. If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Fathers commandments and abide in his love John 14. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him and again Joh. 15. ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you And elsewhere Mat. 11. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls For my yoke is easie and my burthen is light By which words we are plainly taught that the desired rest of our souls cannot be found but by those who do the Will of the Father Now for discovering of this Will the Father himself referred us to the hearing of his Son and the Son tells us that it is his Fathers Will that they who would find rest to their Souls should take his yoke upon them and that his yoke is neither hard nor heavy but soft and easie and that his burden that is the sum of the Doctrine of the Law and Commandments is a light burden And indeed the thing it self not only speaks it to be so but the noble instances also of many who have submitted to that yoke fully confirm it For the yoke we speak of is no more but that sincere and brotherly love which by another name is commonly called charity as our Lord and Master does frequently inculcate John 15. This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you These things I command you that ye love one another And he affirms this constant and perpetual precept to be so properly and peculiarly his own that he would have it to be the badg and mark of his Disciples and followers John 13. A new Commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another St. John the great Disciple and Witness of our Lord and Master again and again confirms this 1 John 3. Beloved if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God and whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight And this is his commandment that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us commandment And of how great necessity the keeping of this commandment is the same Apostle fully demonstrates unto us 1 John 2. He that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth because that darkness hath blinded his eyes This is so true and plain a Doctrine of Christian Religion that that famous Expositor of the divine Oracles made no scruple to prefer this love before all the other virtues acts and endowments of the mind of Man 1 Cor. 13. Though I speak with the tongues of Men and of Angels and have not Charity I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling Cimbal And tho I have the gift of prophesie and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and tho I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have not Charity I am nothing And tho I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing And so far is Charity commended by this Apostle that he calls it Col. 3. the bond of perfectness Now if Charity be so necessary that without it the Apostle affirms all things else to be unprofitable to salvation how far is he from salvation who not only loves not his brother but even hates and persecutes him if he who loves not banishes from himself the love of God in what condition is he and how shall he be esteemed in the eyes of God that hateth his brother No less than a Murderer and according to the sentence of the holy word of God he is guilty of that crime John 3. Whosoever hateth his brother is a Murderer in thought and affection which God chiefly takes notice of he is accounted a Murderer who loveth not his brother and ye know saith he that no Murderer hath eternal life abiding in him As elsewhere He that hateth his brother walketh in darkness Wherefore St. James admonisheth Christians lest being corrupted with this vice which under some disguise or other uses to creep and steal into mens minds they should make void the name and profession of Religion and so deceive themselves or others James 3. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not and lie not against the truth Calling and boasting your selves to be Christians This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual divilish For where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work But the wisdom that is from above is first