the Lord our God but the mercies which he gave to humble and to prove you you abuse to pride and luxury c. Oh sinful and sensless Consciences Isa 42.25 Jer. 8.7 Hos 7.2 Jer. 5.24 Deut. 8.16 17. Or do you answer his administrations of justice with trying your ways and turning to the Lord Do you labour to see his mind in them and to learn more skill in his Statutes through them And doth Conscience call upon you Come and let us return to the Lord our God and by sound Conversion to seek a cure for them In administrations of Mercy doth Conscience ordinarily attend abett and argue from thence to duty And when it hath put the question What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me Doth it proceed to the Psalmist's conclusive resolution I will take the 〈◊〉 of Salvation and call upon the name of the Lord I will pay my vows unto the Lord I will wâ—â— before the Lord in the land of the living c. Iâ— short is Conscience wont to answer the dispensations of mercy with more dearness foâ— God and his glory and with more degrees 〈◊〉 humility as it did in Jacob and in David theâ— is yours a good Conscience Psal 103. through out Ezra 9.13 14. Gen. 32.10 2 Sam. 7.18 19. 6 To the Copy of God § 27 The Conscience which is statedly good setteth the Christian upon Conformity to God he abhorreth sauciness with God as blasphemous and aspireth after similitude to God as his eminent business He knoweth that God is righteous and thence concludeth to be a doer of righteousness God is pure and as his hope is in him so he purifieth himself in Conformity to him God hath made it an argument Be ye boly for I am holy Conscience bearing his Authority brings the same argument also and Christ binds it upon the Conscience 1 Joh. 2.29 c. 3.3 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Mat. 5.48 Little Children let no man deceive you if God hath not drawn out his resemblance upon you if you are not doers of Righteousness as God is righteous If Conscience can permit you to walk in darkness while you profess to that God who is a pure light whatever be your pleas that your Consciences are good they are but pretensions not proofs your Consciences are still bad You that are ordinarily looking at and labouring to come as nigh as you may unto your Copy That are followers of God as dear Children that are created after God in righteousness and true holiâ—ess and whose care it is to be as immutable â—ntensive and extensive as you can in goodâ—ess You are the Children of God our Father who hath given to you a good Conscience 〈◊〉 Joh. 3.7 9. c. 1.5 6 7. 1 Pet. 1.14 Eph. 5.1 c. 4. â—4 Mat. 5.45 I have used a greater length and liberty of Speech in this Question than I have in former or shall in future Cases the importance thereof enforced me If Conscience be good your condition is good if Conscience be naught your condition is naught too as will be seen hereafter Be therefore the more thorough and serious in the trial of your selves still remembring this just Limit in all thy helps for knowledg hereof given you That your ordinary or usual tendency and habitude must be attended 'T is not what your Conscience is for a fit or in some sudden flash either as to good or as to evil but what your common frame and general or most usual temper is must be consulted Q. 5. Whether we may know that our Consciences be statedly and Evangelically good Though your Consciences are lockt up from the knowledg of others and are comprehensively and fully known only by God himself for who can understand his errors Psal 19.12 Yet every man may know what the stated habitude of his Conscience is if he will but deliberately discuss and carefully commune with and impartially attend and improve the judgment of his own Conscience As seems evident 1 By the description of its Nature 'T is the candle of the Lord searching not some but all not only the outward parts of the body but the inward parts of the belly i.e. the inwards acts and thoughts and therefore the the habitude and temper of the Heart elsewhere expressed by the Belly Prov. 20.7 cum Job 15.2 35. c. 32.18 19. The Spirit of Man i.e. the Conscience of Man knoweth the things of Man and within Man The Heart i.e. the Conscience knoweth its own bitterness and therefore may know its own blessedness 1 Cor. 2.11 Prov. 14.10 2 By the demands from and for it in Scripture Know ye not your selves i.e. your Consciences and so what your and their state and condition is whether you be in the faith whether Christ be in you 2 Cor. 13.5 Let every man prove his work and then shall he have rejoycing in himself which springs from the Testimony of a good Conscience Gal. 6.4 2 Cor. 1.12 3 By the declared sense hereof we find among the Saints Job's record is on high and in his own heart Job 16.19 c. 27.5 6. David and Hezekiah can and do confidently appeal the all-knowing God in it Psal 26.2 3. 17.3 Isa 38.3 Hear Paul We trust we have a good Conscience 'T is not we think or we hope but we trust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are perswaded are confident of it which confidence we may raise upon the same foundation that he did In all things willing to live honestly Heb. 13.18 Q. 6. How may we get or obtain a good Conscience The Premises in answer to the former Question are of place and pertinent use here also as likewise whatsoever shall be prescribed hereafter for obtaining a pure peaceable upright faithful Conscience c. Here I advise you these few things * See Perkin's Tom. 1. Treat of Conscience c. 4. p. 551. Sheffield's good Conscience ch 25. Dyke's good Consc c. 5 6. That you Direct 1 1 Act Consideration * See Motives in Dyke's good Cons c. 10. ad finem Consideration is the next step to the Conversion of thy self the change of thy estate and the setting of thy Conscience right in the sight of God Psal 119.59 60. 45.10 11. 50.21 22. See Q. 4. Direct 3. Consider therefore in thy Heart Deut. 4.39 c. 8.5 If my Conscience shall be good Then 1 My Condition will be good secure Conscience for the main and thou securest thy Condition for the main Thy Condition is as thy Conscience is good or bad as this is good or bad in the sight of God Amaziah's Condition was bad though the current of his Actions was materially good because his Conscience was bad he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord but not with a perfect heart nor like his father David 2 Chron. 25.2 2 King 14.3 Jehoshaphat's Condition was good though he were chargeable with some things that were signally bad because his Conscience was good Nevertheless
gall Instead of lesser troubles behold greater terrours Take up betimes then Reason bids thee of two evils that thou chuse the least That thou run not from bad to worse that for fleeing of the fear thou shouldst not fall into the pit and snare Jer. 12.5 Job 20.24 25. Jer. 48.44 Isa 24.18 2 Into what a gulf of sin art thou falling 'T is a Question in the Schools Whether unbelief despair or hatred of God be the greatest sin Aquinas * 22 a. q. 20. a. 3. resolves it That despair is the greatest quantum ad nos the other secundum se The truth is that despair is always inclusive of the other two though they are not always inclusive of it Despair ariseth out of unbelief and is still accompanied therewith as hope ariseth out of faith Neither is there in despair only a privation of hope * ib. a. 1. but there is an aversion at least a retreat from the object hoped for and from God the object hoped in as either unable or unwilling to give it and so there is an hatred of God that goeth with it either negative if I may so phrase it as in the pious a want of love at least to that degree which is due to him Or positive as in the impenitent and was in Cain and others O! how many sins are there in this one sin how many that attend upon it What horrible infidelity as if there were more in sin to damn us than in God and Christ to save us What height of ingratitude to God! for his Christ and the Covenant of his grace and for all those means he hath afforded for awakening our hopes and attaining of happiness What horrid imputations to and blasphemy of God! In making our guilt more omnipotent than his power and sin more hurtful than he is good and helpful What haughty insolency against God and his Gospel in justifying themselves and Satan in saying our Salvation is impossible when both of them speak it possible and proffer it upon easie terms What odious indignity is there offered unto Christ as if the cry of our sins did outvoice the cry of his blood or there were not either worth enough in it or not a willingness to impart it though he left his father took our flesh c. to this very purpose What open injury do we offer to the Church as if there were no Balm in Gilead and the business and blessings of religion were but a mockery as ending in madness and melancholy Yea how ominous is the injury hereby to our own selves as barring us out not only from present happiness but from all possibilities and hopes and bringing us into the most amazing agonies of 1. temptation 2. tribulation 3. transgression 1. Of temptation Despair is the Devil's shop and shambles By this he puts men upon blaspheming God and self-butcheries Witness Cain Saul and Judas Gen. 4.13 14. 1 Sam. 31.4 cum 16.14 Mat. 27.5 cum Joh. 13.27 2. Of Tribulation Nothing but now ministers matter of trouble to the Soul Even God his Gospel c. And they multiply upon him I was not in safety neither had I rest neither was I quiet yet trouble came yea there is a special malignity in these troubles not only in that they are soul-troubles but self-troubles troubles of his own making and maintaining He is his own tormenter Job 3.26 Jer. 2.19 3. Of Transgression Now is the time of sinning most against God our selves and the soul-good of our neighbour hardening the wicked hindring the weak and intercepting the worthiest in the cheerfulness of their progress and pilgrimage The effects I acknowledg are different in different persons 1. It enervates endeavours in most As the Orator * Desperatione debilitati experiri nolunt quod se assequi posse diffidunt Cic. Orat. ad Brut. long since observed Hope is the nerve and tendon of Action if this be cut off or contracted they are disenabled and indisposed Men care not to make experiments for that of which they conclude they shall never come at 2. It eateth cut the sweet and extinguisheth the Spirit and heat of endeavours if they are continued Cut off hope and the springs of joy and holy obedience are dammed up Servile fears prevail and so duty doth become a drudgery and comes off with difficulty 'T is worse rowing than against wind and tide 3. It inflameth some unto self-violence Saul falls upon his own Sword Ahitophel and Judas hang themselves and so pass from one hell to another 4. It exasperateth some against God and Godliness and boils up their hatred to malice and despight as Cain and Jehoram's messenger What shall I attend on the Lord any longer 5. It endeth with some in sensuality and Epicurean or brutish indulgences to make the best of their gain in carnal divertisements while they may As those Jer. 2.25 c. 18.12 1 Cor. 15.32 There is no hope we will walk after our own devices Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die Direct 4. Present the Object in and from whom you can alone hope for peace and safety more rightly to your Conscience Is it not enough that you have hard thoughts of your selves but will you have hard thoughts of our God likewise O the zeal the strength the sounding of his bowels and of his merceis towards thee Are they restrained Hath he not proclaimed his Name to be the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Yea the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works He is full of compassion and gracious long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth Isa 63.15 Exod. 34.6 7. Psal 86 5 15. 103.8 145.8 9. Whence then are these approaches toward despair O thou trembling soul whence why do these tormenting thoughts stick upon thee Is it that God cannot is not able to pardon thee Nay what is too hard for an omnipotent mercy to pardon or pass by Man can put up but a few provocations such is his impotence through pride passion c. He cannot contain but would be calling for fire from heaven But God hath proclaimed his Name to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord the Lord the mighty God * Deus fortis Jun. Tremel His Omnipotence can forgive both iniquity transgression and sin all kinds all degrees of sin Luk. 9.54 Exod. ibid. Numb 14.18 19 20. Amos 7.2 3. What! is it that he careth not is not willing to forgive and have mercy upon thee Nay as I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but this is his pleasure that the wicked turn from his way and live Lo how he invites injoyns intreats it Turn you turn you from your evill ways How he expostulateth in it why will ye die God is not willing that any should perish but that all
7. Exercise your selves to have always a good Conscience So Paul Herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward men Act. 24.16 Conscience will not be ensured or preserved without consideration exercise and pains 1. Co-united endeavours there must be as respects the subject Herein do I exercise my self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is his study his labour his work his business which took up his outward specially his inward man Of so large an import is that word Here is matter enough to take up the whole Man Mind Memory Will Affections Members which had need be all imployed either for informing of or conforming to Conscience 2 Continued endeavours they must be as respects the circumstances Herein do I exercise my self always Let the times frown or favour the good Conscience let Conscience smite or smile whether you are under the arrests of Judgment or the happy liberties of mercy whether men speak well or ill whether the Candle of the Lord shine upon you on the one hand or the calumnies of men like so many arrows stick fast in you on the other whatever business be before you this business must not be behind or be neglected by you and herein use an holy constancy as you would maintain an holy Conscience and be able to say with Paul I have lived in all good Conscience before God until this day 1 Pet. 3.15 Job 27.6 3 Comprehensive endeavours they must be both as respects the state of Conscience that it be void of offence and the objects it regardeth likewise both toward God and toward man Keep the Conscience inoffensive if you would keep it entire and Evangelically good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is sometimes passively taken Phil. 1.10 Sometimes actively 1 Cor. 10.32 that Conscience neither give nor take offence either offend or be offended Eye Conscience in both kinds and herein exercise your selves constantly nor only as respects God nor only as respects man but as respects both God and Man first as respects God then as respects Man Let Religion toward God and Righteteousness toward Man be your continued exercise and you will neither impair the tranquillity nor injure the tenderness of your Conscience Job 2.3 Psal 15. Isa 33.15 16. Conscience hath both Tables of the Law committed originally to it The Conscience again committeth them as Josiah did to the other Powers as its inferior Officers when these bring Conscience word as Shaphan brought the King back word again saying All that was committed to thy servants they do it Then we have both a sincere and inoffending and also a secure and inoffended Conscience 2 Chr. 34.15 16. 8. Exercise Conscience oftner if you would have it always good The weal of Conscience lyes much-what within the walls of conscience If you vvould keep conscience vvell you must keep conscience at vvork sloth vvill beget sickness beget sin and incense justice to take away your talent Mat. 25.28 2. 1 Be frequent in examining Conscience ask how the case stands the frequent'st trier is usually the forward'st thriver in the School of Christ and of Conscience as well as of humane Literature The more you prove and examine Conscience the more you provoke and engage it for after-times and improve the experiences antecedent Psal 77.6 c. 2 Be forward in exciting Conscience Is it incident to drowsiness distempers deadness call upon it the oftener rouse it up by awakening Considerations thy Conscience is keeper of the Vineyards the other faculties and thine own Vineyard hast thou not kept Put it in remembrance of its duty and thy danger Provoke it by arguments of mercy and alarums of justice that if thou must say with the Spouse I sleep yet thou may'st say with her my heart waketh Psal 108.2 Cant. 1.6 c. 5.2 3 Be faithful in exonerating Conscience Whatever Conscience directed by the Word of God dictateth fail not to do it whatever it forbids thee forbear it else thou teachest Conscience to forbear thee limiting Conscience and not listning to Conscience are a ready way to the losing of Conscience 'T is miserable when men are churlish with Conscience and it must be said of you as Nabal's servants said of him He is such a son of Belial that Conscience cannot speak to him 1 Sam. 25.17 Listen to Conscience then and be led by it so shalt thou live in all good Conscience As God said to Abraham so say I to thee In all that Sarah in all that Conscience shall say unto thee hearken unto her voice If you would hold a good Conscience obey a good Conscience if it may not be heard it will away If it may command thee it will continue with thee Act. 23.1 Gen. 21.12 2 Tim. 1.3 1 Tim. 3.9 9. Exercise the good that is in and with your Conscience Actuate and imploy your implanted habits of Grace and these will grow into greater increases Keep up the lively exercise of Faith Love and Repentance and you keep up the exercise and enjoyment of a good Conscience These say to Conscience as David sometime did to Abiatbar Abide with us fear not he that seeketh thy life seeketh our life With us thou shalt be in safety Prov. 4.18 1 Sam. 22.23 Rinse Conscience upon every fall thou catchest from the filth which thou contractest in the waters of repentance The more tears of Contrition the more tenderness of Conscience and transcendent comfort Psal 51. Job 11.14 15. Raise and quicken Faith this will subdue enemies without sanctifie Conscience within sprinkle the blood of Jesus on it and suck continued virtue from his blessed promises 1 Joh. 5.4 5. Act. 26. Heb. 10.22 23. Repeat and continue the dear and delicious acts of Love which will facilitate the Commandments to you free Conscience in you and fits you to whatever capacity Christ shall call you 1 Joh. 5.3 1 Cor. 13.4 8. CHAP. III. Of the Pure and Defiled Conscience Q. 1. Whether the Conscience in man be naturally pure or defiled Touching this I must return you to what hath been already spoken Chap. 2. Quest 2. and 3. Q. 2. Whether a pure Conscience be attainable by man in this life THere is a double purity of the Conscience 1. Exact and legal as fully answers to what the Law asks 2. Evangelical and more large as fitly agrees with what the Gospel allows That excludes all degrees of pollution and includes all degrees of perfection this allows no degree of pollution and aspires after the highest degree of perfection 1. That legal and exact purity of the Conscience neither can nor ever was attained since the Fall by any meer man in this life 1. Who was ever priviledged in this life from the pollution of Conscience Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Who can understand his errors Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean as man is not one There is not a just man upon the earth
as he first worketh then witnesseth so there is usually some distance of time between this and that And his witnessing that we are the Sons of God doth ever presuppose that work as every act doth presuppose its object Rom. 8.15 16. Besides the Spirit doth not evidence or witness the truth of grace to us but in and by the exercise of grace as it is at work in us The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15.13 Now as grace must be before it works so the works and exercise of grace are seldom of that eminence as to amount to an evidence of the truth of grace till time hath given us some taste and trial of them in iterated and renewed acts 4 A pious Christian may live for a long time without peace of Conscience then as appears by the premisses Grace it self is called the inward and hidden man of the heart and like the Souls in-being in the body is not known à priori from its causes but à posteriori from its effects 1 Pet. 3.4 2 Cor. 4.16 Col. 1.6 Admit that these effects are discernable yet are they not actually and so efficaciously discerned as to assure peace without the concurrence of a twofold witness God's Spirit and our Spirits God's Spirit as being a most free agent is not obliged to this or that or indeed to any time of ours He bloweth where and when he listeth Our Spirits are often so dull'd discomposed distempered with passions prejudices prevailing fears and sorrows or power of melancholy c. as they are disenabled to discern till these are worn out with time and experience And mean while like Asaph and others the Soul oft-time refuseth to be comforted Rom. 8.16 Psal 51.12 Joh. 3.8 Psal 77.2 Gen. 37.35 Jer. 31.15 5 Hence there is no such inseparable connexion between grace and peace as a man should disclaim grace because he is as yet denied peace 'T is a weighty saying of that worthy servant of God * Love's Grace Truth growth Serm. 11. p. 〈…〉 who is now shining in another world Though there cannot be true peace where there is no grace yet there may be true grace where there is no peace Q. 9. Whether pious Christians may not lose the peace of their Conscience No doubt they may if we understand it of peace it self though they cannot lose the seeds of peace 1 They cannot lose the seeds of peace and in this sense cannot lose their peace i.e. Seminally and radically considered 'T is a peace and assurance for ever an everlasting joy a joy that no man taketh from you For ever not in regard of an uninterrupted continuance here but in regard of its unintermitted causes There is ever cause or matter of peace though there is not ever the conscience or mercy of peace Isa 32.17 c. 35.10 Joh. 16.22 1. Christ our peace is the same still the same considered in himself and as to the consummating of our Salvation He will not lose his interest in his Saints and hath assured they shall not lose their interest in himself They may forfeit his smiles but shall never fall from himself Heb. 13.8 c. 5.9 Joh. 6.37 39. c. 10.28 29. 2. The Covenant of peace is the same still 'T is an everlasting Covenant and gives ground of everlasting comfort And the propriety of his Saints therein is everlasting too though they cannot ever plead it They may not ever have the comforts of the Covenant but they shall never be cut off or cast out of Covenant Heb. 13.20 Isa 54.8 9 10. c. 61.8 Jer. 33.40 Heb. 13.5 2 They may lose the sweets of peace yea peace it self God himself gives evidence to it Remember how he speaketh to and of his Church O thou afflicted tossed with tempests and not comforted I called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit We have heard a voice of trembling of fear and not of peace I have taken away my peace from this people even loving kindness and mercies I was wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth c. Isa 54.6 11. Jer. 30.5 Isa 57.17 The godly have given us their experience in it too Behold for peace I had great bitterness saith Hezekiah Isa 38.17 The arrows of the Almighty are within me saith Job the poyson whereof drinketh up my spirit The terrors of God do set themselves in aray against me Mine hope hath he removed like a tree he hath also kindled his wrath against me and counteth me unto him as one of his enemies c. He teareth me in his wrath he gnasheth upon me with his teeth c. Job 6.4 c. 19.10 11. c. 16.9 What shall I tell you of Heman of Asaph or of David who yet was of a sanguine and therefore chearful Constitution and of singular skill both in Musical instruments and singing yet was his and their Souls full of troubles and you may find them roaring by reason of the disquietness of their hearts Psal 38. 88. 13. 22. 27. Peace it self may be removed then though the seeds of peace remain In that those seeds are now hidden from sense and they do not immediately bring forth the blessed fruits of peace without the intervening act and attestation of God's Spirit and ours as was said Q. 8. without which a mans interest in Christ and the Covenant will be always dark most times doubtful and many times denied Isa 40.27 Psal 31.22 c. 88.14 Now God's Spirit may and many times doth suspend his testimony and stand off as a stranger or as a wayfaring man yea smite and wound and write bitter things against â—he Soul Our spirits may and do with-hold their witness many times also either careless through oscitancy or confused in their observations or complicated by other objects or compressed in their own operations through doubts which depress them through diffidence which disquiets them through distracting cares and fears which desolate them So that our spirits may not only be opposite to peace but overwhelmed with perplexities Psal 30.7 Jer. 14.8 Psal 69.26 Job 13.26 27. Psal 25.17 77.2 3. 143.4 3 Hence Christians should not measure their grace by their peace Neither 1. as to the sincerity of it There is not any such infallible tye between them as that a man should throw off all his hopes of grace as soon as he is turn'd out of the hold of peace Their tenure is different Grace is a tenure for perpetuity but Peace is a tenancy at will ad placitum domini We hold both from God and of meer grace or favour But that we hold more absolutely God hath undertaken both parts of the Covenant that we shall not depart from him as well as that he will not depart from us This see peace we hold more arbitrarily and are at our good behaviour in it If we break his statutes he will break our
should come to repentance Behold he is ready to pardon Hebr. a God of pardons gracious merciful slow to anger and of great kindness Ezek. 33.11 c. 18.32 2 Pet. 3 9. Neh. 9.17 I know thou lookest upon him as clothed with righteousness and armed with omnipotent justice to revenge thy disobedience And 't is true he is so if thou shalt persist in thy sins But wilt thou revolve these few questions in thy heart and return an answer to them in thy own bosom 1. Is not Omnipotent mercy as propense and willing to save thee as Omnipotent justice is to damn thee Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord God and not that he should return from his ways and live He doth not so much as afflict willingly Judgment is his strange work but he rejoyceth to shew mercy He is as it were drawn to acts of justice but he delighteth in acts of mercy Ezek. 18.23 Lam. 3.33 Isa 28.21 Jer. 32.41 Mic. 7.18 Why then such confusion of heart Why dost thou cast away thine hope why shouldst thou fear and fly from him as one that will not forgive when there is forgiveness with him that he may be feared Psal 130.4 7. 2. Is not Omnipotent mercy as prevalent with him to save thee as justice is or can be to damn thee Behold mercy rejoyceth against judgment Acts of mercy flow freely from him they are of his own meer will and motion He hath mercy because he will have mercy Acts of justice have their foundation still without him and are laid in the desert of sin Justice requireth desert Mercy remitteth desert and requireth only distress or defect and knows no motive out of its own self Mercy doth not extend it self upon any former obligations or upon any future hopes Its acts are all free and both from and for it self How marvellous must the influence of mercy then be that is not raised upon the goodness or worth of the sinner but upon the good will of himself Yea when justice seems ready to strike mercy stays its arm and that for its own sake when there is nothing but misery and necessity can be suggested for the sinners sake Jam. 2.13 Rom. 9.15 16. Job 37.23 Psal 78.38 39. Isa 48.9 Behold then the foulness and merit of thy sins is supererogated by the freeness and super-abundance of his mercies 3. Hath not Omnipotent mercy provided and done more in order to thy Salvation then justice hath for thy damnation Yea he hath sent his Son to save thee if thou wilt accept of him his servants by office to shew thee the way of Salvation if thou wilt attend them his Scriptures and Ordinances to skill thee in and work in thee the things that accompany Salvation if thou wilt improve and obey them And nothing can damn thee but thy impenitence in sin Hath justice done as much to fit thee for hell as mercy hath to fit thee for heaven Now the designs of all his acts of justice are but to drive thee to the acceptance of his mercies If justice threatens 't is that she may not punish or if she punish here 't is that she may not punish for ever If thou art judged of the Lord 't is that thou mayst not be condemned with the world Joh. 3.16 Act. 16.17 c. 13.26 Tit. 2.11 1 Cor. 11.32 Oh! turn thy amazing fears of justice into admirings and hopes of mercy 4. Hath not Omnipotent mercy hitherto preponderated the proceeds of justice toward you Yea 't is not for want of might but of meer will and mercy that he hath hitherto forborn you and that your forfeited souls states c. have not been fearfully snatcht from you by some signal arrest of divine vengeance Hath he not indured you with much long-suffering Could finite mercies have put up a thousandth part of such continued injuries and indignities What bowels what bounties of mercies have yearned on you and been extended to you why should not Conscience reflect and say may not the same mercy at last save me that hath so long spared me yea and it will save you if you will yet shake off your sins and submit to its terms Nay this is the very end of it Oh may it so end in you Account that the long-suffering of God is Salvation in the end and design of it He waits that he may be gracious unto you Return and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep anger for ever Rom. 9.22 c. 2.4 2 Pet. 3.15 Isa 30.18 Jer. 3.12 5. Doth not Omnipotent mercy proffer and perswade you to imbrace its Propositions of Salvation and to prevent the ominous strokes of provoked justice yea God will have all men to be saved The grace of God that bringeth Salvation to all men hath appeared Lo he proffers it to all Whosoever will Ho every one that thirsteth He presseth it upon all who soever thirsteth let him come let him come let him come 'T is urged yet a fourth time Encline your ear and come to me He perswadeth it Here are waters here is wine here is milk here is bread for you whatsoever may raise your natures or relieve your necessities Here is the good which you seek after and which alone can satisfie you He prevents the exceptions whereupon men stand off its worth and their unworthiness Come buy without money and without price He pleads and expostulates wherefore will ye spend your money for that which is not bread c. Why will ye die Yea he prayeth and entreateth by his Ambassadors as though God did beseech you by us we pray you to be reconciled Lost man do but suffer me to save thee poor sinner suffer me to love thee These are the charms as one saith * Manton on Jude v. 2. p. 75. of Gospel rhetorick 1 Tim. 2.4 Tit. 2.11 Rev. 22.17 Isa 55.1 2 3. 2 Con. 5.20 Shall your diffidence and despair turn the deaf ear to all this and frustrate both God's design and your own desires to all eternity 6. Hath Omnipotent justice ever condemned any under the publication of the Gospel but upon the neglect or refusal of the offers of Omniptent mercy No mercy must disclaim you ere justice can damn you Vindictive justice must have the permit at least of divine mercy ere it can so punish This this is the condemnation the neglect of that great Salvation mercy shews us the miserable refusals and abuse of the riches of mercy Mercy never refuseth till men refuse What say you are you willing to be at peace and friends with that God to whom you say you have been so long enemies Never were there any who were willing to accept the conditions of mercy and to accord the quarrel of justice that mercy hath abandoned or justice arrested and cast into hell-torments If you are but willing truly throughly willing be you never so weak or have you
proceed which the infiniteness simplicity and immutability thereof can no way admit Yet the Father doth beget the Son is begotten and the Holy Ghost doth proceed Think of the Divine essence then 1. As one only one most singly and singularly one But think of the Divine persons as three three distinct subsistents in this Divine essence 2. Think of the Divine essence as only of and from it self but think of the Divine person of the Son as of or from the Father and of the Holy Ghost as from them both 3. Think of the Divine essence as common or communicated to all and to each of the three persons But of the persons as incommunicable and impredicable of one another The Father cannot be the Son nor the Son the Father c. 4. The Divine essence to conclude is of absolute consideration a person is of relative consideration A person in the notion thereof includeth over and above the essence a relation as of the Father to the Son of the Son to the Father of both to the Holy Ghost and of the Holy Ghost to both A person in the Godhead is the Godhead distinguished by an incommunicable relative property These things have received proof already therefore I forbear here Direct 5. Think of this Trinity of persons in the unity of the same essence not only with distinct apprehensions but with dearest appretiations with deepest abasements of thy self with divinest admiration of them with devotedst adhesion with deliciousest affections and with devoutest actions 1 With dearest appretiations The top of your blessedness or felicity is union and communion with this blessed Trin-unity Let your highest thoughts turn in hither and take up here Prefer one God in three persons beyond all other good and price him as your highest and only chief good The glorifying and enjoyment of these three glorious persons in the one glorious Godhead is the business and blessedness of the glorified ones to all eternity as is not obscurely intimated Rev. 4.8 Holy holy holy Lord God almighty Let this mystery therefore have the highest throne in all the thoughts of your mind Say with David Only marg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my soul waiteth upon God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which noteth the plurality of persons in this one nature Psal 62.1 To have the trin-une God your God is the highest happiness and therefore calleth for your highest appretiations The fellowship of the Father Son and Holy Ghost was the highest felicity the Priests could wish unto the people or Paul unto his Corinthians or John unto the seven Churches Num. 6.23.27 2 Cor 13.14 Rev. 1.4.5 2 With deepest abasements the Angels themselves cover their faces and the four and twenty Elders with their golden Crowns fall down before the Throne of God when they come to see and celebrate this glorious Mystery to cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Isa 6.2 3. Rev. 4.8 10. How much more should we that dwell in Houses of Clay Here if ever should reason lower its Top-sail and strike or stoop rather to Revelation Flesh and Blood cannot reveal nor doth without the spirit of faith receive this mysterious union of three persons in one nature or that other of two natures in one person one Christ Though these are not against yet are they above reason Matth. 16.16 17. 1 Cor. 2.11 12 14. But if reason it self call for Elijahs Mantle wherein to wrap its face from this dazling glory what are our Rebellions our Sins what malignity is in them and what murmuring should be by us while every sin is a dart thrown at this glorious Essence and as it were a study of dissolving the substantial union of these three glorious Subsistents It is enmity against God contrariety to God nor is any one an enemy to God or he to them but by and for sin Rom. 8.7 Levit. 26.23 24. Isa 63.10 This is that which crucified the Son quencheth the Spirit and puts contempt upon the Father Once more your very relation to so high a God should humble you Let my soul boast it self in him but blush and be ashamed in me who am I or what is my life or my Fathers Family in Israel that I should be Son-in-law to the King Worm that I am and no man not worthy of the least of all thy mercies infinitely below thee as I am thy Creature yet more infinitely as I am a Sinner and yet will this glorious God become my God these glorious Persons become my Portion God the Father become my Father God the Son my Saviour God the Spirit my Sanctifier I have seen thee Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty with the Eye of Faith I have seen thee Behold I am vile what shall I say unto thee Infinitely Infinitely Infinitely am I unworthy of thee I Repent and Abhor my self in dust and ashes compare Isa 6.3 with 5. Job 42.2.7.40.4 But I may not so expatiate 3 With divinest admiration Angels adore this mystery and shall not men admire this mystery Isa 6.3 here are such depths as I cannot wade through can only wonder at One yet Three Three yet one God the Father begetting God the Son and yet the Godhead of the Son unbegotten God the Holy Ghost proceeding from both and yet the Holy Ghost God Coeternal and Coequall with both All these one God in each other Alius alius yet not Aliud aliud these are matters I find beyond my reason to comprehend 't is too short to reach them yet find reason to confess believe because God hath revealed them O that I could more devoutly admire where I cannot distinctly apprehend concerning the Eternal generation of the Son and procession of the Holy Ghost And let my reason never cavil at that which is infinite but remember continually that it self is finite There are fewer difficulties in that than in this subject where the Apostle falls off from a strickt discussion and falls into a devout admiration O the depth O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledg of God! How unsearcheable are his judgments and his ways past finding out Rom. 11 33. 4 With the devotedst adhesion of your understanding to this fundamental truth of your will to this fountain-goodness You are baptized in or into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 Here abide I exhort you with Barnabas that with purpose of heart you would cleave unto the Lord Act. 11.23 Here is enough in the glorious Trinity to take up every thought of your heart and whereon to imploy every faculty and power that you have Here is the universality of truth to content your understandings and of goodness to content your wills and affections What truth what good what perfection that bears proportion to such an intelligent and immortal nature as your souls are of that is not to be found with this one God in these three persons your blessedness is