in his Friend scorn and oppression from his Superiour supplanting from his Equal envy and mischief from his Inferiour falsness and temptation from the Wife of his Bosom rebellion from his Children vanity and disappointment in his Purposes Diseases Distempers and infections in his Body madness and blindness in his Understanding perverseness in his Will tumult and confusion in his Affections guilt and preapprehensions of terrour in his Conscience Death and dissolution of Body and Soul and Judgment Vengeance Hell and yet Eternity after all this Then let Man know that in all this and that which is all this and more than this the Aversion of the Favour and Light of the Countenance of God he eats but the Fruit of his own ways and thou O God art just when thou thus judgest and whatsoever is better than the worst of all this to any of the Children of men is meer Mercy and more than their due But if now in the midst of Judgment God remembers Mercy and Mankind being now condemned and concluded under sin if the merciful God that at first gave Being and Blessing shall after we had spent that Patrimony and lost our selves provide for our Restitution that when we of Free-Men had made our selves Slaves and Vessels of Wrath shall provide a Means for our Deliverance This engageth us to a higher degree both of Admiration and Duty than even our first Creation did This then is the next thing considerable viz. The means and way of Man's Restitution CHAP. V. Of the Restitution of Man by Christ ALL Mankind lay by the Fall under Guilt which is an Obligation to Punishment both of loss of Happiness and everlasting subjection both to temporal and eternal Curse And this estate of Man and his Posterity even to the end of the World was present in the infallible Foresight of God from all Eternity In that consideration he had a Kingdom but over Rebels and Traitors and had everlasting cause of the execution of his Justice and the Power of his Wrath but nothing to deserve or draw out his Mercy among all the Sons of Men who were all present and stood up together in his Eternal Foresight Thus Man had as far forth as was in him disappointed the End of God in his Creation insomuch that in the outward dispensation of God's Providence it seemed that he repented that he had made Man on the Earth Gen. 6.6 But though Man as much as in him lay had made himself an useless Creature and interrupted the possibility of attaining an End answerable to his Being yet God's Counsel was not disappointed But the great Lord of his own free Goodness did in his Eternal Counsel fore-appoint some of lost Men to Remission of their Sin and eternal Happiness in Christ by such Means as he had before ordained to be effectual for that purpose And this is the great Discovery of the Scripture and contains that great Business which Man hath to do in this World because it is that which concerns his great and everlasting End without which his very Being is not only unprofitable but miserable and now comes to be consider'd This then is the sum of all That Almighty God out of his own Free-will and Goodness did in his Eternal Counsel fore appoint some of lost Mankind to Remission of sin and guilt and Reconciliation and Eternal Happiness in Christ by such Means as he had before ordained in the same Counsel to be effectual for that purpose In this description we have these Particulars to be sifted and we have done our Business 1. What the Motive of this Purpose God's meer good Will 2. What the Object of it some of Mankind 3. What the End of this Counsel Remission of sin and Restoration to Happiness 4. What the Hand or immediate Instrument of effecting it Christ 5. What those subordinate Means of attaining it 6. What the Consequents of it 1. Touching the Motive nothing at all meritorious in Man but only the good will of God thus to select some out of the lost multitude of Men to be Vessels of Mercy And this is that which is so often inculcated in the Book of God in all the successions of it Exod. 33.19 I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy So Deut. 9.5 Moses's sad Admonition to the Jews who in all things were typical Vnderstand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land for thy righteousness for thou art a stiff-necked people Ezek. 16.6 When I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thy own blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live. Isaiah 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins Luke 10.21 And hast revealed them to babes even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Ephes 2.3 When we were by nature children of wrath even as others But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he hath loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by grace are ye saved 2 Tim. 1.10 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began but now made manifest by the appearing of Christ 1 John 4.10 Here is love not that we loved God but that he loved us Ibid. 19. We love him because he loved us first Rom. 5.8 God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us And indeed it is impossible it should be otherwise for the Scripture hath concluded all under sin Galat. 3.22 And we have shewed before an utter impossibility in Man to extricate himself The fore-appointing therefore of any to Eternal Life could not be from any Cause in the Creature meritoriously moving God to this Mercy The Freedom and Liberality of this Purpose of God. 1. In respect of the Elect to take away all matter of boasting Ephes 2.8 To keep them humble and to keep them thankful that God may be all in all It pleaseth the great God to order the Execution of his Counsels touching Man that they are brought about as with a powerful and irrisistible Hand so they are brought about by such means as is naturally suitable to the nature of Man Rationally and Freely Psal 110. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy Power Now there cannot be a more engaging Argument to Humility and Thankfulness than the consideration of this Free Goodness of God that when I had thrown away my Happiness lay in the common lump of condemned Men God should freely single me out among thousands that he passed by and make me a Vessel of Mercy And this doth most sweetly and effectually win upon the Heart So
hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said ibid. Verse 32. and divers other parts of the History The Lord hardened his Heart by Permission of the Magicians Miracles by permitting objective presenting to him the Profit of the Jews Labours by Withdrawing that external Concurrence and operation of his Grace which might have softned it and Pharaoh actively hardens his own Heart 2 Sam. 24.1 Israel had offended God and must be punished but there was an Impediment to the Execution of this Judgment David's Integrity who was concerned in the good or evil of his People if God withdraw his assistance from David and let in Satan to tempt him David will sin as well as his People and so both deservedly punishable And he moved David to number the people yet 1 Chron. 21.1 And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number the people Here were three Parties God moved by permitting Satan to provoke by withdrawing a powerful Countermotion by Ordering David's sin for the means of the punishment of Israel's sin Satan provoked incited and perswaded either immediately or mediately for now the Watchman is gone God hath withdrawn his Hand and Satan loseth not the opportunity David numbers David's Heart was as corrupt and vain-glorious as anothers and as easily surprized by a Temptation when the Keeper of Israel is absent and remoto impedimento sins as freely and more naturally as before it walked conformable to the Will of his Maker this Sampson hath lost his Locks and he becomes as another Man. In the mean time let us ever admire the Justice of our Maker who never necessitates us to incur a Punishment by necessitating our Sin and his Mercy in rewarding that Obedience which he alone performs in us Also to thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou renderest to every Man according to his Works Psalm 62.12 CHAP. III. Of the Execution of the Eternal Counsel of God in his Works of Creation and Providence NOW we come to consider the Execution of that Counsel in those two greater transient Acts viz. Creation and Providence 1. Touching the Creation This we consider in general and particularly as concerning Man In general we resolve the work of Creation into three parts 1. The original production of all things out of nothing This is simply Creation Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth God Created This is the greatest conceptible motion viz. Ã non esse ad esse and though it be an act of Faith to believe it because related Heb. 11.3 yet it is a conclusion of Reason to know it as it appears by what hath been before observed concerning the impossibility to have any eternal subsistence but one And this truth though it be deducible by necessity of Reason if a God be once admitted yet so infinite is the distance between Nothing and a Being that divers of the acutest Naturalists were ignorant of it the ignorance of which Principle caused many of their absurd and unintelligible Positions and Superstructions to supply those difficulties which by this only Truth are avoided as concerning the First Matter the Eductions of Forms out of the power of it by I know not what Agents God created This infinite Motion could only proceed from an infinite Power who by the mere act of his Will constitutes something out of nothing In the beginning Time could not be before there were something that had succession of Being for it is the measure of a successive Being and therefore the beginning of created Beings must needs be the beginning of Time and Creation was the beginning of created Beings The Heavens and the Earth The indigested matter of the Heavens and the Earth 2. The dividing and ordering of this Mass calling out the particular Subsistences and furnishing of them with forms and qualities This was subsequent to the creation of the Matter and we find the Manner of this production in two Expressions 1. The motion of the Spirit of God upon the face of the Waters Vers 2. containing an act of the Divine Power whereby he fitted every thing to be ready for his call for though by the same instantaneous act the Divine Power could in the first instant of Creation have put things in their several Beings yet it was his Will to work successively first creating the Matter then breathing upon it and fitting this confused substance with aptitude for the things to be thereout produced 2. The Word of Command Let there be Light c. in the several works of the six days And here we may observe the admirable Wisdom of God as in divers particulars c. so especially in these 1. In the Order of the creating particular Creatures proceeding 1. to the finishing of Fundamentals then to Superstructions though of more curiosity and perfection yet more dependant upon those of the first creation 2. in the Variety of the Creatures and accommodating them with Qualities and Conveniences suitable to their Kinds whereby one doth not desire to encroach upon the Conveniences of the other's Subsistence For an Instance the Beasts Fishes Fowl endued with Appetites suitable to their Being yet the several Kinds affecting several Nourishments several places of Residence c. Herbs of contrary qualities drawing several Nourishments of several Natures even from the same Clod of Earth 3. In the Position and Situation of created Beings both for Beauty and Convenience so that the Wit of the most envious Atheist cannot imagine how the Elements the Heavens the several Creatures could be more beautifully or usefully placed every thing serves to accommodate and fit the other and speaks the Wisdom and Goodness of the Creator the Position of the Earth the Water the Air with exquisite Convenience that they may meet for the constitution of mixt and the subsistence of animate Creatures The Earth and other Bodies have dependance upon the power and influence of the Sun and Heavens each is fitted with a Figure and the Heavens with a Motion that may with admirable convenience dispense that Influence the variety of Seasons depending upon the ecliptical motion of the Sun giving variety to the Creature and intermissions to the Earth whereby she may recover strength in the Winter for the supply of the Summer The very imprefect Creatures the Rain the Winds Snow c. of admirable use for the Earth Air and Water The Elements so placed and ordered that whiles their contrary motions and qualities of Rarety and Density preserve the extremity of their contrary active qualities from meeting yet their Vicinity is such that one allays the violence of the other and so are in a fit position and temper for production of mixt Bodies 3. The planting in every thing a radical Activity and Causality by which it moves This is by Virtue of that Word of the Power of God the very Multiplication of the Creature Gen. 1.22 The warming of our Garments by the South Wind Job 27.17 The Nourishment that comes from our Bread
that the very consideration of this Counsel of God is a means to effect its Execution in putting the Heart into such a frame as is fit to receive the impressions of God's Grace 2. In respect of those that are omitted The freedom of the Choice doth not in the least degree reflect upon the Justice of God He had no engagement to chuse any but might most justly have let all lie under that sin and misery into which we had cast our selves If God be pleased to chuse any it is the meer act of his Grace if he leaves any he leaves them but in that condition not in which he made them but in which they made themselves The act of his Bounty to the Elect is without any Injury to those he leaves for neither could challenge any thing but Misery as their Right 2. The Object of this Choice 1. Some are chosen from all Eternity The Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father 1 Pet. 1.2 The foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2.19 These are those for whom a Kingdom was prepared from the Foundation of the World Matth 25.34 These are they which by an eternal Contract between God the Father and his Son were given unto Christ I pray for them which thou hast given me for they are thine John 17.9 24. 2. But some and not all Many there are that are not so much as called and of those that are called yet few are chosen Matth. 22.14 And this preterition of God putteth them not in any worse Condition than it finds them And indeed this Counsel of God is not so much as the Potter's making some Vessels to honour some to dishonour he made all Vessels of honour and Men made themselves all Vessels of dishonour God in his mercy to restore some to become again Vessels of honour and this is without any injury to those that are omitted because they are continued to be but what they made themselves and what they most freely desire still to be Thy destruction is from thy self O Jerusalem 3. To what this Election or Choice is or what is the End of this Counsel of God There is a twofold End in the Counsel of God. 1. The End of Intention subordinate the good of his Creature adequate the good pleasure of his own Will or his own Glory as to shew his wrath and make his power known towards the Vessels of wrath fitted for destruction so to make known the riches of his Glory in the Vessels of Mercy which he had before prepared unto Glory Rom. 9.23 2. The End in Execution or rather the subject matter of this Counsel of God it is the whole Series and all the Conjunctures of all things conducing thereunto wherein the Counsel of God doth not per saltum step from the Fall to Glory but doth take in all those intermediate passages which he hath by the same Counsel appointed to be the Means of effecting it 1. The great Mystery of the Incarnation which is the Cardo negotii 1 Pet. 1.20 Who was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times 2. Effectual calling by the Word and Spirit of God Rom. 8.28 Who are called according to his purpose 3. The effectual Assistance of the Spirit of God without which it were impossible these dry Bones should live Jer. 31.33 I will put my Law into their mind and write them in their hearts 3. Holiness and Sanctification John. 15.16 I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should bring forth fruit Ephes 14. Chosen to be holy Epes 2.10 Created in Christ unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them Rom. 8.29 30. Conformity unto Christ and all linked together Glory to Justification Justification to Calling Calling to Election 4. In whom or by whom he hath elected us Christ In this Consists the greatest Mystery that ever was and of most concernment to Mankind And because it is impossible to attain to the knowledge of it but by Revelation from God himself we must in this keep precisely to the Word of God where alone this Mystery is by God ordinarily discovered which is briefly thus much Almighty God in the Creation of Man did primarily intend the Glory of his own Goodness and the Happiness of his Creature and to that End furnished him with such Faculties and Rules as might conduct him to that Happiness Man being seduced abused his Liberty and by his Disobedience violated that Rule and consequently in himself lost the acquisition of that Happiness to which he was created Yet this could not disappoint the Purpose of God who with an eternal and indivisible act did foresee all Mankind in this miserable and lost Condition and appoint a way for his Recovery The way of Man's Recovery was by the Eternal Purpose Consultation or Contract as I may call it between the Father Son and Eternal Spirit resolved to be that the Son of God should assume the Nature of Man into one Person by an ineffable Generation and that he should Satisfie for the Guilt of Man's Sin by his Death And because that the bare Satisfaction for Sin could only exempt Man from the deserved Punishment of his Sin but could not restore him to that Happiness which he lost by the same Eternal Covenant the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ was to be accepted by God as the Righteousness of Man that as in his Sufferings he did bear the Sin of Man to make Satisfaction for the Curse deserved so by his Obedience imputed unto Man Man might acquire that Happiness that he lost To the end that this Satisfaction and Righteousness might be effectually applied for the Purposes above-mentioned Christ must after this Righteousness fulfilled and this Satisfaction made by his Death rise from Death ascend into Heaven and so continue as well the Mediator of Intercession as he was before of Satisfaction Though this Righteousness and Satisfaction were sufficient for the Sins of all Mankind and accordingly freely propounded yet it was effectual only for such as should according to those immediate Means that God had fore-appointed to be useful for that Purpose sue forth the benefit of it This is the sum of that great work of Man's Redemption which the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 and is discovered to Principalities and Powers by the Church Ephes 3.10 and therefore called The manifold Wisdom of God The Mystery of Christ Ephes 3.4 Ephes 6.19 The Mystery hid in God from the beginning of the world Ephes 3.9 The Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ Colos 2.2 Colos 1.27 The Mystery hid from ages and generations but now made manifest to his Saints Colos 1.26 The Wisdom of God in a Mystery The Mystery of his Will 1 Cor. 2.7 The Revelation of the Mystery kept secret since the world began Rom. 16.25 The great Mystery of Godliness God manifested in
in the Water and it shall not come near us Therefore O King we value not thy Power nor thy Rage for our Dependance is above them But this is not all If that great God whom we serve deliver us over to the swing of thy Rage we have learnt yet a higher Lesson our Faith and Experience hath taught us to trust in him and our Love hath taught us to obey him though he seem to disappoint our trust by delivering us unto thy Fury yet we will not forget to obey him he hath taught us to make his Will the measure and rule of ours both in what we suffer and in what we do we owe our Lives to him and thou art but his Instrument to take them from us when his Will commands our Lives we shall resign them with Patience but now his Glory requires them we will give them up with Chearfulness If we cannot live but upon so dear a rate as to offend our bountiful God farewell Life with Guilt and welcome Death with Innocence Know O King that the Presence and Love of our God hath taught us how to fear to offend yet to dare to die CHAP. XXI Of Watchfulness over our Hope Confidence and Joy. SET a Watch upon thy Hope and Confidence Place it aright and remember thou art essentially depending upon the great God and upon him only and all things below him have no more worth or strength in them than he derives to them and when they take up his place he ever breaks and disappoints them Yet such is the Atheism the Pride and Folly of our Hearts that it will place its confidence in any thing rather than where it should The distemper of this as of all other our Affections hath its beginning in the Blindness of our Judgments the want of a deep and practical knowledge of God and from hence our Confidences and Hopes fix and rest oftentimes in most vain and deceitful Objects Have therefore a watch and a corrective upon the motion of thy Soul towards any thing which thou hast wherein there seems any though never so little strength thy evil Heart will make it thy confidence and so a snare unto thee Is thy Wealth increased take heed to thy Confidence thy evil Heart will make it all one to have and to trust in Riches it will make thy Gold thy Confidence Job 31.24 to trust in thy Wealth and boast thy self in the multitude of thy Riches Psal 49.6 Psal 52.7 to make it thy strong Tower Prov. 10.15 to set thy Heart upon them Psal 62.10 And then this thy Confidence shall be thy Fall Prov. 11.28 Hast thou a fair Success in Externals look to thy Confidence though thou seest thy Creator in them yet thy evil Heart will make thee at least share thy Confidence between thy God and the Creature to conclude with Job that now thou shalt die in thy Nest Job 29.18 to behold the Sun when it shineth Job 31.26 to conclude with David that thou shalt never be moved Psal 30.6 and the jealous yet merciful God will hide his face and thou art troubled thereby to unsaâ—n thy Confidence upon the Creature and to teach thee to fix it upon thy Maker only Hast thou a Friend a Prince or Nation Confederate take heed to thy Confidence thou art apt to make this thy Friend thy Confidence Psal 41.9 my own familiar Friend in whom I trusted to put Confidence in this Prince Psal 118.9 Psal 146.3 And then he makes Egypt a broken Reed Isa 36.6 Ezek. 29.6 sends a Vengeance to pursue and overtake thee in the midst of thy Confederates Jer. 42.16 pours contempt upon thy Confidence Job 12.21 Hast thou Munitions Provisions for War take heed to thy Confidence thou wilt be ready to make thy Chariots and thy Horsemen thy Trust Psal 20.7 the multitude of thine Host thy Salvation Psal 33.16 â—o vaunt that thou art mighty and strong for the War Jer. 48.14 and then the great Lord rejects thy Confidences and writes disappointment upon them all Jer. â— 37 Hast thou a strong Body a dexterous deep foreseeing preventing Wit thy Counsels and Purposes followed with Successes answerable to thy Mind take â—eed to thy Confidence thy Heart is blind and cannot see rather than the next Causes not observing the great and fast Mover who manageth all things and will swell thee up into a self-confidence and dependance But suppose thy Confidence be right set â—eâ—ect of the Object yet see that it be grounded upon right Principles otherwise thy Confidence may be thy Presumption Examine thy very Recumbence upon thy Creator The immediate ground of any Confidence in God is a perswasion of his Power and a perswasion of his Love and in both these the corruption of our Nature doth discover it self and is fit to be considered 1. Touching his Power the Errors of our Trust on either hand in the Defect and in the Excess 1. Diffidence in his Power Psal 78.19 Can God furnish a table in the wilderness therefore the Lord heard this and was wroth Upon any Extremity though never so black and inevitable look upon the Power of God as able most easily to over-match it 2. Resting upon his Power without consulting with his Will This is Presumption when a Man without any Commission from his Maker shall entertain any desperate attempt This is for a vain Man to go about to ingage the Power of the great God against himself his Will his Purity his Wisdom his Purpose See thou hast a Commission from the Will of thy Creator for what thou art about and if so then cast thy self upon his Power when thou art acting by his Command doubt not but thou shalt act by his Power 2. Touching his Love this likewise yields Errors on both hands 1. In the defect principally when a Soul that doubts not of his Power because she knows him nor hath cause to doubt of his Love because her Peace is made yet such black storms and pre-apprehensions of dangers are gathered round about her that she cannot see the Love or Care of God towards her Psal 77.9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he shut up his tender mercies 2. In the Excess an ungrounded Presumption of the Love and Favour of God and herein are divers Mistakes 1. When a Man shall argue a personal and special Love of God unto him from External Successes and Events It is true that the Mercy and Love of God is over all his Works and the Happiness of Externals is the fruit of the Love of God as to his Creature but not a sufficient evidence of that special Love of God as to his Child they are fruits of his Bounty not always evidences of his Favour Experience of former Mercies in external successes and deliverances may and ought to strengthen that Confidence which is well grounded upon the Love of God Psal 77.11 1 Sam. 17.37 But they are not always infallible arguments of that Love When Blessings in Externals
Uncertainties in the midst of any external Trouble without a Refuge and so full of Despair As we cannot have Confidence to go to our offended God by our Prayers so it makes him withdraw and hide himself from them a continual disquietness and heaviness of Spirit mingles and winds it self into all our thoughts even in our pursuits of diversions from it the same aspect that is between God and us is between our own Conscience and us The Light of his Countenance is able to give Life and Comfort and Serenity to the Soul in the midst of all the Losses and Pains and Deaths in the World and the want of that Light makes the most happy external Condition to be dark and disconsolate And all this Good I lose by a transient unprofitable Sin a Sin that I might have avoided and therefore a Loss that I might have avoided a Loss that comes not to me by my necessity but by my foolish choice I will therefore sit down and mourn in secret for that Comfort and Light that I have thus foolishly sinned away and measure out my sorrows and tears proportionable in some degree to that Loss I have sustained The time was when it pleased the great God to let his Presence and the Light of his Countenance to shine into my Soul and when I could with Comfort and Confidence upon any occasion go to him and present my wants my desires my acknowledgements unto him and he that sits in Heaven was pleased to accept and entertain them at the hands of his Creature But now that Influence of his hath met with a filthy and backsliding Heart and is weary of it and hath withdrawn it self as justly it may and my Prayers are laden with my Guilt and cannot get up to him and he hides himself I have regarded Iniquity in my Heart and as he hath said so I find he will not hear my Prayers But though he will not hear my Prayers yet he will not neglect my Tears A broken and contrite heart O Lord thou wilt not despise O Lord though I have thus trifled away my Peace and my Comfort and have destroyed my self yet in thee is my help As I will not rest in my Sin so neither will I rest in my Grief but will never give my self nor thee rest till thou hast been pleased in the Blood of thy Son to wash away my Guilt and restore unto me thy Presence and Peace again And when I have recovered this Loss I will by the assistance of that good Spirit of thine learn by this my sin to revenge my self upon my sin to value the Mercy and Goodness of my Creator that hath yet once more intrusted into my hands the Life and Comfort which I had so lately lost to value the necessity as well as the Love of my Saviour that hath been pleased by a reapplication of his own Blood to wash me again after my late Relapse to value the kindness of the Pure and Blessed Spirit that though by my sin I made him weary and forsake that polluted chamber of my Heart yet is pleased to return and cleanse and take up again that Room from which I had so unworthily excluded him I will learn to prise that Peace and Comfort which once I had and valued not but lost it for an unprofitable perishing Sin I will strive to sence my Heart with renewed Covenants and Resolutions of more watchfulness over my self that I return not again to Folly I will sit down and bless the Mercy Goodness Patience Bounty of God that hath not left me in that Condition which I could neither endure nor remove and study to return a Heart and Life in some measure answerable to so great Love and Goodness And when I have done all O Lord Jesus let that Eternal Covenant between thee and the Father that thou shouldest give Eternal Life to as many as he hath given thee John 17.2 that Power and Promise of thine that none shall pluck me out of thy hands John 10.28 that Union with thee that thou art pleased to give to as many as believe on thee John 15.4 5. that Spirit of thine which by that Union with thee conveys Life and Influence to the smallest branch in thee preserve and support me in all my Purposes and Resolutions in all my Frailties and Temptations For without thee I can do nothing 2. In reference to outward Objects and occasions of Sorrow as loss of Friends Wealth Reputation Health Life it self have a guard upon this Passion 1. Look upon them as the Fruits and Effects of thy Sin and so let them carry thy Grief beyond the immediate object to the meritorious cause of them This is the sting of all Affliction the Plague in thy Heart is the Core and Fountain of the Plague of thy Externals And when thou hast humbled thy Soul before thy Creator and gotten the Blood of thy Saviour to wash thy Conscience thy Affliction shall be removed or thy Soul enabled with chearfulness and comfort to bear it 2. Labour to find out the Voice of the Rod the Mind of thy Creator for if thou diligently observe it there is not a dispensation of Divine Providence but it brings a message with it to thy Soul. Look into thy Heart it may be there is an accursed thing in the midst of thee Joshua 7.13 and this Affliction bids thee be up and removing it It may be thy Heart was leaning too much upon that very Blessing wherein thou findest thy Cross or Affliction which robbed thy Maker of some of the Love and Duty thou owest to him It may be thy Heart was grown dead and careless in thy applications to thy Creator secure and resting in thy temporal Enjoyment and he hath sent his Messenger to awake thee It may be thou hast had a dull and heavy Ear that would not listen or could not perceive God speaking once yea twice unto thee in a still voice Job 33.14 and now he hath sent an instruction with a louder voice It may be thou begannest too much to set up thy rest here to place thy Confidence in the things of this World to be overtaken with the delight in them to overâ—expect them and he hath sent a disappointment into thy Counsels a Worm into thy Gourd a Moth into thy Store a Canker into thy Bag a Distemper into thy Body to shew thee the vanity of thy Dependances to make thee let go thy hold of that which may fall upon and hurt thee but cannot secure thee to make the look upward to quicken thy Life of Faith by shaking thy Life of Sense It may be thou wert growing presumptuous in the Goodness of God Saucy in thy Carriage towards him insolent towards him opinionative of thy self And he hath sent this searching Medicine to fallow and purge these disorderly and dangerous Humours But gâ—ant that upon all thy search thou findest that for a long time thou hast kept a Watch over thy Heart that thou
laid down for the Sins of the World namely the precious Life of his own Son Jesus Christ that published this Doctrine to the World And this Sacrifice and Satisfaction the glorious God would accept in a way of Justice and yet in a way of Mercy that his Justice might be satisfied his Mercy magnified and his Creature saved 8. And that because it would be neither agreeable to the Honour nor the Wisdom of Almighty God that any Man that had the use of his Reason and Understanding should have the fruit and benefit of this Mercy and Sacrifice without returning to his Duty to God by true Repentance for what he had done amiss and by better Obedience to God neither was there any fitness or suitableness between a Pure and Holy God or that Blessedness which Mankind might expect with him and a People that should yet continue desperately sinful and impure and it was also reasonable and fit that if Mankind would expect the Restitution to that everlasting Happiness that they lost by their own sins and the sin of their first Parents then they should also return to their Duty and Obedience to God and perform in some measure that End for which Mankind was at first created namely actively to glorifie that God that had made them especially after so great an addition of Mercy as the Redemption of the World by the Death of his own Son therefore he appointed and intended and published to the World that all that would have the fruit and benefit of this great Redemption should repent of their Sins and endeavour sincerely to obey the Precepts of Piety Sobriety and Righteousness commanded by Almighty God by the Message of his Son. 9. And because that if those to whom this Message of the Gospel of Christ should be published should yet not believe the same nor believe that Jesus was the true Messias or that his Doctrine was the true and real Message of Almighty God to the World it could never be expected that they would obey this Heavenly Command nor return to God or the Duty they owed him he did therefore require of all Persons that were of Understanding to whom the Gospel should be published that they should Believe it to be True and believe that Christ was the True Messias the great Sacrifice for the Sin of the World and the Doctrine which he preached was the Will of God concerning Man. 10. And thus there are these Conditions to be performed on the part of those that will expect the Benefit of the Redemption purchased by the Blood of Christ 1. That all that are of Understanding to whom the Gospel is preached should Believe it to be the Truth and rest upon it as the Truth of God 2. That they should be heartily sorry for their former Sins and Repent of them and turn from them This is Repentance 3. That they should in all Sincerity endeavour to conform their Hearts and Wills and Lives to the Precepts and Commandments of Christ and his Gospel which is called Sanctification and new Obedience 11. And because when we have done all we can yet we are in this Life compassed about with many Infirmities and Temptations and subject to fail in our Duty to God and to these Holy Precepts of the Gospel yet the merciful God hath assured us by his Son Christ Jesus that if we sincerely endeavour to obey the Precepts of the Gospel and repent for our Failings herein and so renew our Peace with God by unfeigned Repentance the same Sacrifice of his Son shall be accepted to expiate for our Sins and Failings and the blessed God will accept of our sincere though imperfect Obedience as a Performance of that part of the Covenant of the Gospel that concerns our Obedience to God and the Commands of the Gospel And this is called Evangelical Obedience which though it be not perfect yet being sincere and accompanied with real and sincere Endeavours to obey and Repentance for our daily Failings is accepted of God through the Sacrifice of Christ who is not only our Sacrifice and Propitiation but also our Intercessor and Mediator at the right hand of God. If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ who sitteth at the right hand of the Father 1 John 2.1 Heb. 8.1 10.12 12. And because many times Example gives a great Light and Life to Precepts our blessed Saviour in his Life gave us an excellent Example of the Practice of those Precepts which he hath given to us as namely Obedience and Submission to the Will of God Invocation upon him Holiness Purity Sobriety Patience Righteousness Justice Charity Compassion Bounty Truth Sincerity Uprightness Heavenly mindedness low esteem of Worldly Glory Condescension and all those Graces and Vertues that he requires and expects from us 18. And as thus our Lord Jesus came to instruct us in all things necessary for us to believe and practise and to give us an admirable Pattern and Example of a Holy and Vertuous Life so 2. He came to die for us and to die such a Death as had in it all the Circumstances of Bitterness and yet accompanied with unspotted Innocence and incomparable Patience and he thus died for these Ends. 1. To lay down a Ransom for the Sins of Mankind and a Price for the Purchace of Everlasting Life and Happiness for all those that receive him believe in him and obey the Gospel 2. To satisfie the Justice of God to make good his Truth to vindicate the Honour of his Government and to proclaim his Justice his Indignation against Sin and yet to magnifie his Love and Mercy to Mankind in giving his Son to be a Price of their Redemption 3. To give a just indication unto all the World of the vileness of Sin the abhorrence of it that cost the Son of God his Life when he was but under the imputed guilt of it that so Mankind might detest and avoid Sin as the vilest of Evils 4. To give a most unparallel'd Instance of his Love to the World that did chuse to die for the Children of Men to redeem them from Everlasting Death 5. And thereby to oblige Mankind with the most obliging and indearing Instance to love and obey that Jesus that thus died for them and out of the common Principles of Humanity and Gratitude to love and obey him that thus loved them and laid down his Life for them 6. To give a most convincing Evidence of the Truth of his Doctrine and the Sincereness of his Professions of Love to Mankind by sealing the same with his own Blood. FINIS Considerations Seasonable at all Times for the Cleansing OF THE HEART AND LIFE Considerations Seasonable at all Times for the Cleansing OF THE HEART and LIFE 1. OF God and therein 1. Of his Purity and Holiness one that cannot endure to behold iniquity The Stars are not pure in his sight Job 25.5 Job 15.15 and his Angels he chargeth with folly Job 4.18
put into them and if he put not communicative good into the Creatures they will prove but empty Vessels unto me or such as are sealed up and cannot communicate that Good that is in them Without his particular Bounty unto me the Creature unto me will be but like the Prophet's Book which he that is learned could not read because it was sealed and he to whom it was opened could not read it because he was unlearned Either the Good that is in them is sealed up to me and it cannot be drawn out or I am sealed up to it and cannot draw it out Eccles 6.2 A man to whom God hath given riches wealth and honour so that he wanteth nothing yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof So then the conclusion of all is That all the Good that is in the things we enjoy and in the enjoyment whereof men account themselves happy and in the want whereof they account themselves miserable is but a derived Good from the chiefest Good but a portion of that Good which is in the chiefest Good But a Good at the second hand which at the first hand is to be found in all perfection in the chiefest Good And therefore if I can but enjoy the Presence and Communion of the chiefest Good I shall with and in him enjoy all that Good and far more in the Fountain though all the Conduits through which they are ordinarily derived to man by the Creatures are stopped to me It is an act of great Mercy and Wisdom in God that when the most part of men are led meerly by sense and understand not the presence of God and that All-sufficiency that is in him he is pleased to derive a suitable Good unto their Natures by such sensible instruments unto which men may resort and therein may find those Goods that are accommodate to their nature and condition as to Medicines and Physick for their health and cures to Bread and Meat for the supply of their hunger to Musick and Wine for refreshing their Spirits to Fortifications Confederacies and civil Conjunctions for preventing or repressing of injuries and the like for through these Chanels God is pleased to derive at the second hand and as it were at a distance that Good which men find in them But how great is that Mercy that discovers God himself to be near unto me and to compass me about and discovers in him a Sea of All sufficiency infinitely more than proportionable to all my Exigences and gives me an access immediately to that All-sufficiency where I shall find at the first hand all that Good that is strained and runs through the Creatures at a distance where I may and shall if I be not defective to my self most certainly have whatsoever the Creature can afford or what shall abundantly supply that defect to my greater advantage and contentment Is my Estate small and scarce holding proportion to my necessities The All-sufficient God is near unto me and he can protrâ—ct my Cruise of Oyl to my support But if he do not yet if he be pleased to be my exceeding great Reward Gen. 15.1 the portion of my inheritance and my cup Psal 16.5 I can chearfully and comfortably conclude with the same Prophet My lines are fallen in pleasant places and I have a goodly heritage and with the Prophet Habbac 3.17 Though the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall there be fruit in the vine the labour of the olive shall fall and the field shall yield no meat c. yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation I can bear all my wants with chearfulness and contentedness of heart because the All-sufficient God is present with me in whom I find more abundance of better comfort than I can find in all the Creatures of the World one that is not only essentially present with me but is pleased to evidence his presence unto me I have a plentiful inheritance and have not â—ar to it Is my reputation and name wrongfully blasted and withered yet the Great and Glorious God is present and if I can lay open my Conscience before him and can clear my self to him and can appeal to him who is present with my heart and all my actions and can receive an approbation from him I value not the esteems of men He is a shield for me my Glory and the lifter up of my head Psal 33. And if I am precious in his sight I am honourable enough Isa 43.4 He can clear up my reputation as the noon day and will do it if he see it fit for my Good and his own Glory But if he doth not his will be done I am contented and value not all the Scorns and Reproaches all the Contumelies and Disgraces all the Calumnies and Slanders laid upon me by men in comparison of that content satisfaction by the Presence of the God that sees and knows and justifies me Is the World stormy full of Wars and rapine and injuries exceeding the repression of Civil Justice The Presence of God is a strength to my Soul against all this and a greater security than the Munitions of Rocks and the strength of Armies He is a Shield Gen. 15.1 a Refuge Psal 9.9 a Rock a Fortress and Deliverer 2 Sam. 22.2 a Defence Psal 94.22 our Strength Psal 37.37 a Hiding place to preserve from trouble Psal 32.7 a present Help in time of trouble Psal 46.3 a Shelter in times of danger Psal 61.3 a Refuge from the storm a Shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against a Wall Isa 25.4 The Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our Refuge Psal 46.17 under the shadow of his wings is our trust and safety Psal 36.7 Psal 57.1 a hiding place from the Councils and Contrivances Psal 64.2 and from the Injuries and Violence of men Jer. 36.26 If he please he can secure my Estate and my Body from violence But if he do not I am sure that my Treasure and my Life shall be secured for my life is hid with God in Christ I know he hath Wisdom enough and Power enough and Mercy enough to preserve me and he hath no need to be acquainted with my danger for he is with me neither have my desires any long or uncertain journey to him for he is with my thoughts and knows them before they are formed Isa 65.25 Before they can call I will answer And as long as I know that the Wise God is so near me I am sure of deliverance if it be convenient and if it be not Why should I be troubled if I miscarry And as thus my heart sensible of the Presence of God can entertain the dangers that seem to come from the hands of others so it will bear up the heart in all other sad occurrences of this life Is my mind full of perplexities and difficulties how or what to resolve the God of