Gods mercy that he alwayes punishes not according to our sinnes and is not alwayes extreme in observing when we have sinned mercy it was that the Almighty at first did make man who stood in no need of the best of Creatures and their most pious services but greater mercy that the Holy One should not utterly destroy man when he had sinned and that his patience should forbear destroying sinful flesh a God of so pure a nature that he cannot behold sinne without hatred and yet a God of so rich mercy that he saves the soul when it hath sinned proclaiming himself to be the Lord gracious and merciful passing by iniquity trangression and sinne the consideration whereof made S. Chrysostome cry out Lord what am I to thee that thou shouldest command me to love thee and when I love the not thou art angry seeing its misery enough not to love thee and when I sinne and run from thee yet thou waitest still to be gracious to me and leavest no means unattempted that may make me love thee And Saint Austin I remember hath this expression God saith he is weary of our sinnes and is pressed with them as a cart heavy laden with sheaves and why doth he not rid himself of us who sinne wilfully in contempt of him but casts our sinnes behind his back as if no dishonour were done to his Holy Name by them Why doth he thus saith that holy Father expostulating with himself but meerly because he will not be extreme with us O therefore admire the riches of Gods mercy who gives you space to repent and by no means wils your death Oh I beseech you then if you expect that God should make your souls incessantly happy in his eternity be you holy in tua aeternitate as Saint Bernard saith in thy limited and short eternity that so you may come to see not his footsteps or back parts but his glorious face by an immediate intuition of his Majesty O think with your selves how your souls shall then be filled with glory and happiness O praeclarum invidendum spectaculum Oh what a sea and inundation of unspeakable Joy must needs flow in upon the Soul and will you not stand and admire the riches of that grace which gives you space and means for the obtaining of so great a blessing 2 This may move every one to begin and if begun to increase their repentance the Lord is ready to forgive and with thee is mercy saith the verse following my Text therefore shalt thou be feared Our sacrifice and propitiation can be nothing as from our selves its onely Jesus Christ the righteous that can satisfie Gods offended justice for our sinnes For if any man sinne we have an advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous 1 John 2.1 This is that pearl of great price which hath redeemed us from our Sins this is the Propitiation with which God is well pleased and is now become not our angry Judge but reconciled Father for were he a Judge and not our Farher he would be extreme to mark our actions and were he severe and not mercifull we could not stand before him But with thee is mercy that thou maist be feared Psal 130.4 And in his Beloved he is now made one with us the partition-wall which sin had erected by his suffering is now destroyed and broken down that so we may now come with boldness to the throne of Grace having an High Priest pleading continually for us and one who knows what it is to bear our sinnes and endure our sorrows Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the whole armour of light that so we may be able to stand in the evil day But withall let us take heed of taking occasion to live in sinne because God is merciful and because he is gracious to turn that grace which should save us into wantonness this is to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and to lay upon our selves a mark of reprobation for though it be true of our God what Benhadads servants said of the Kings of Israel we have heard that they are merciful Kings so you may say if we sin yet our God is merciful to forgive and so sinne that grace may abound do not thus deceive your souls for the same God that is a merciful Father to true Penitents is also a jealous Lord over wretched sinners and will like Iehu drive on his Judgments furiously against rebellious sinners and will wound the hairy scalp of all Impenitents Behold therefore the goodness and the severity of God severity to them that go on in sinne impenitently but goodness to them which truly repent Rom. 11.22 Oh therefore let me perswade you whose souls as yet sit in darkness and in a state of sinne to awaken your selves out of this woful security consider if thou turn to the Lord with all thy heart and truly art sorry for thy sinnes consider I say he is ready to forgive and waits that he may be gracious to thy immortal Soul for which Christ dyed but on the other hand if thou continue in sinne know assuredly thou vile impenitent he will come in flames of fire to revenge himself upon thy implacable and immalleable heart Oh therefore while it s called to day harden not your selves against his fear but get your peace made with him ere it be too late and you that have already begun do you persevere unto the end that so you may receive that crown of Life which shall never be taken from you for he will not alwayes be extreme with you and yet severe with those that continue in sinne because when he pleases he can be extreme to mark what is done amiss and that brings me to the third Observation Third Observation That God can when he pleases be extreme in punishing man when he hath done amiss The will and the power of God in themselves are the same though to our corrupt understandings they seem distinct because our irregular wills are confined by a limited power and though God may do what he will with his Creatures because he is Omnipotent yet when they have sinned he doth not alwayes will their destruction because he is merciful his Omnipotent and executing power being alwayes limited by the will of mercy when he comes to deal with sinners for their transgressions though God when he list can be extreme to punish See the proof of this 1. A priori 2. A posteriori 1. A priori The power of God is infinite and that infinity of his is omnipotent as he can make a Genesis to give being so also an Exodus to destroy that being as there is in him a power to create so an infinite justice to destroy that creation when made though he create light out of darkness because he is the parent of Infiniteness so also is he Omnipotent and can when he pleases will the new light into its ancient state of darkness the same
please others the sins we have committed in our own persons and the sins we have occasioned others to commit the sins we know and the sins we know not the sins that we have so long striven to hide from others knowledge that we have even now hid them from our own memories these O Lord are more in number then the sands upon the Sea shoar or the Stars of Heaven which cannot be numbred We have sinned against the light of Nature and against the light of Grace against thy Law and against thy Gospel against thy Promises and against thy Threats against thy Mercies and against thy Judgements against all vows and promises and resolutions of better obedience against the reproofs of thy word against the many motions of thy good Spirit in our souls against thy Fatherly admonitions against thy loving corrections against the many fearfull examples of thy Judgements against the infinite obligations of thy favours and against the checks of our own consciences These things have we done and because thou held thy tongue we have also thought wickedly that thou art altogether such an one as our selves or that either thou dost not see or dost approve or wilt not severely punish the crimes that we have so long doted on If thou Lord God shouldest be extream to mark what is done amisse Lord who is able to abide it but with thee there is mercy and with thee there is plenteous redemption and thou desirest not the death of him that dies but rather that be should turn from sin and be saved and seeing that without thee it is not possible for us of our selves to be able to please thee Lord turn us to thee and we shall be turned for thou art the Lord our God Draw us and we shall run after thee draw us by the cords of love and with the bands of loving kindnesse work powerfully upon our spirits by thy holy Spirit work contrition in our hearts and godly sorrow for all our sins even a sorrow to repentance and repentance to salvation never to be repented off Break these hard and stony hearts of ours by the hammer of thy word mollifie them by the oyle of thy grace smite these rocky hearts of ours by the rod of thy most gracious power that we may shed forth rivers of tears for all the sins we have committed Lord make us grieve because we cannot grieve and to weep because we cannot weep enough O that thou wouldest humble us more and more under the true sight and sense of all our ungodlinesse of all our wickednesse and of all our unworthynesse And O thou Father of mercies have mercy on us O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy upon us thou that takest away the sins of the world take away the world of our sins they are too heavie O Lord for us to bear thou only art able to bear them and thou didst bear all our sins upon thine own body upon the tree O thou that wast wounded for our sins and bruised for our transgressions we beseech thee let the chastisement of our peace be upon thee and do thou by thy stripes heal us Hide us most gracious Redeemer hide us from the wrath of God in the glorious skars of those meritorious wounds which thou didst suffer for us and by the vertue of them create peace in heaven for us by reconciling the Father to us And O thou that wast our Saviour on earth we beseech thee be thou our Advocate in heaven be thou our High-priest still offering up thy self a Victim to the Father for us and besprinkle us with thine own most pretious bloud that through that bloud of sprinkling our persons our services and the desires of our souls may be acceptable to the Father Be thou our King set up thy throne in our hearts dismantle and disgarison all the strong holds and fortifications of sin that sin may no longer have dominion over us but do thou rule and over-rule us enable us to do thy will write thy Commandements in our hearts and thy Statutes in our inward parts put thy fear into our souls that we may fear thee and love thee and diligently live after thy commands Be thou our Prophet leading us into all truth Oh do thou inform us and teach us the way wherein we should go and do thou guide us by thine eye be thou the voice behind us still directing us this is the way walk in it guide us by thy counsels here and hereafter receive us unto thy glory And O Holy Spirit the Comforter do thou help our infirmities and with thy unutterable groans make intercession for us And thou that workest both to will and the deed in us of thine own good pleasure put into our hearts good desires and let the continuall assistance of thy grace help us to bring the same to good effect plant in our souls the love of thy name graffe in our hearts true Religion nourish us with all goodnesse and of thy great mercy keep us in the same so long as we have to live make us to love that which thou commandest and to desire that which thou hast promised that among the sundry and manifold changes and chances of this mortall life our hearts may surely there be fixt where true joyes are to be found And thou that sheddest the pretious ointments of thy grace upon all thy faithfull people O do thou open the eyes of our souls that we may see thee who art invisible that beholding thy glorious but invisible presence in all our actions we may be so awfully affected towards thee that whether either the Devil shall tempt us or the world shall allure us or our own carnal lusts and sinfull affections shall incline us to commit any wickednesse thy Holy Spirit O Lord may in all things so direct rule and overrule our hearts and awaken our consciences to aske us How shall we dare to commit any wickednesse and sin against thee Gratious God keep us from sinning against thee though it were to gain the whole world for it will not profit us to gain the whole world and lose our own souls help us rather we pray thee to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling and to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure Help us to eschew and decline all the occasions all the opportunities that have betrayed us unto sin and to hate the very garments spotted with the flesh O Lord with what affliction soever thou shalt punish us do not punish us with spirituall judgements and desertions give us not over to our own hearts lusts to our own vile lewd and corrupt affections give us not over to hardnesse and impenitency of heart but make us sensible of the least sin and give us thy grace to think no sin little committed against thee our God but that we may be humbled for it and repent of it and reform it in our lives and conversations
to passe on in a way of sin casting all fear of danger behind us as if we were able to encounter devouring fire or dwell with everlasting burning especially when we consider but our own frame we cannot but know we are but dust and that which is our mould will soon decay and withal remembring our time is but short and the word redde rationem backt with a Thou fool may this night be given suddenly and then assuredly as the tree falls so it lies and in the same condition must we appear at Gods Tribunal Oh then with what circumspection should our actions be performed lest any evil or vicious habits should square themselves to joyn with us in our holiest Oblations because we pretend service to him whose power in a few words can write great Monarchs into trembling and can make a hair Adrian 4. or the kernel of a raisin as mortal as a Goliahs spear and can with ease blow down our bubling lives into nothing for the time is coming when not astuta verba but pura corda as Saint Bernard saith not fair words but honest hearts will prevail and commend us to him who judgeth all things for he will infatuate all fallacious wisdom and self-destroying wit For thou art the God that hast no pleasure in wickedness nor shall any evil dwell with thee saith holy David Psal 5.4 So that Holiness is now the onely path that leads weary and wandring souls to the Paradise of Celestial Blisse all other wayes being severely kept against us by the flaming sword of Gods irreconcileable anger and hatred against sin and sinners for no unholy thing shall enter much lesse remain in the Holy City all such shall be cast out Rev. 21.27 A good nature like a shallow brook may empty it self into the narrow river of Humane love but perfect Holiness and real Sanctity is only that noble stream which carries the soul to Heaven and loses it in the Ocean of infinite Blisse You may for a time sport your selves with the fire of lustful pleasures but ere you are aware the flame thereof will not onely sindge your gilded wings of ambitious desires which so long bore you up with the breath of popular applause but also consume your soul and body in endless woe and misery for when God shall come in flaming fire he will render vengeance to all that are ungodly not enduring longer to have the cry of our sins to come up before him and therefore holy David well considered this Meditation when he broke forth with the words of my Text If thou Lord will be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it In which words we have already considered two general parts 1 An Antecedent 2 A consequent Or if you will here is 1 The Thesis 2 The Hypothesis In the first you have Gods extremity in punishing In the second you have mans misery in suffering for he saith If thou Lord be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it From which sacred concession we have enedavoured to wind up the sum and substance of holy Davids intention into these four bottoms or doctrinal conclusions viz. 1 It is the corruption of mans nature to do amiss 2 God is not alwayes extreme to punish man when he hath done amiss 3 God can when he pleases be extreme in punishing man when he hath done amiss 4 If God be extreme in punishing man must needs be extreme in suffering Thus far our general division hath had its equal course and our progress in the dispatch of these truths hath but quitted the first and made entrance upon the second which together with the two latter acompanied with your patience shall at this time terminate my hours discourse And that I may with the more benefit to your understanding proceed therein I shall onely lead your memories back to the second conclusion namely Doct. 2 The mercy of God is such he will not alwaies be extreme to mark what 's done amiss Examples of Gods patience and long forbearance have no where such lively representations as in our selves whose unconsumed lives are nothing else but a series of continued mercy nor is there any rational account to be rendred for the same save onely that it is the good will of him that dwelleth in the bush whose glory is not to be given to another and that he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy c. Which he doth 1 For his name sake Exodus 34.6 2 For his natures sake which is alwaies prone to shew mercy 3 For his glories sake and that 1 In general 2 In particular 1 In general it is the constant language of holy Scripture as you have already heard 2 In particular he is not extreme for his Glory sake which is great in many respects I In respect of his judgements for they are his strange work and never had he felicity in executing the same but with an unwilling willingness is alwayes constrained to visit for the sins whether of nations cities or particular persons witness his sending the Gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel his low condescention to Abraham when he became Advocate for Sodom and his own tears over Ierusalems approching ruine yea and witness the repentings that were kindled in his bowels for revolting Ephraim but mercy is his delight because he waits to be gracious 2 Great in respect of time for the mercy of God endures for ever in Ps 136. As his power is unlimited so neither can bounds be set to his mercy sun and moon heaven and earth these all have their periods but the rich treasure of Gods mercy shall have no end I have seen an end of all perfection but thy commandement is exceeding broad saith holy David Ps 119.96 All the attributes of God like himself are from everlasting to everlasting 3 Great in extent of place for his mercy reaches unto the clouds Psal 36.6 7. Thy mercy O Lord is in the heavens and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds Thy righteousness is like the great mountains thy judgements are as a great deep Lord c. Gods extended grace makes its full appearance not onely in delivering from danger but in supplying our wants not onely in saving our bodies from temporal evils but in redeeming our souls from eternal damnation for with him is great deliverance 4 Great in extent of plenty for God is rich in mercy Eph. 2.4 But God saith the Apostle who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he loved us c. as if St. Paul had spoke his mind in larger phrases thus You are poor and needy you want blessings temporal and spiritual and know not whither to flee for succour and supply so that the narrowness of your hearts imagines Gods free hand is straitned but let no such scruple bear rule in your minds for with God is so great a treasure of grace as never can be exhausted
such riches of mercy as can admit of no decrease for God is rich in mercy and great in love yea and he accounts it his glory to pass by iniquity transgression and sinne O then who would not be in love with him that is so lovely in goodness who would not in want flee to him for salvation who is so rich in mercy that he sent his only begotten Son into the world that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Iohn 9.15 5 Great in respect of his works for his mercy is over all his works If you survey Gods curious architecture in creating of the world you 'l find mercy communicating its goodness to poor man in making him possessor and Lord of so rich a dominion nor were the hands of mercy bound up by mans rebellion or consumed by the Angels flaming sword but it took its proper seat to make restauration of his own most glorious Image in the death of his beloved Son which is and will be manifested to the whole world the Gospel of the ever-blessed Iesus being that holy city set upon a hill unto which all nations are invited to come and make their habitation each word of truth made manifest before us being a particular cal to every individual son of Adam to come and embrace him the power of whose resurrection will raise their dead souls from a state of sinne to newness of life and thus hath mercy rid triumphant through the whole proceedings betwixt a faithful God and a rebellious creature 4 God is not alwaies extrem to mark what is done amiss in respect of his Saints elected ones for they are his beloved and his delight for whose sake alone the foundations of the earth are kept firme and not thrown into the midst of a bottomless sea God is not willing to use holy Abrahams expostulation to destroy the righteous with the wicked no for tens sake destruction shall not fall upon a people or city if any doubt the truth of this assertion let them but peruse the 12. chap. of Genesis where they shall find the great unwillingness the father of compassions doth express to go about the destruction of that sinful city with righteous judgement which to him is accounted a strange work nay it shall go well with Potiphars house and Pharaohs court also if upright Ioseph dwell therein He 'l defer his plagues to another generation rather then his children should suffer or else which is far better they shall be taken away from the evil to come that their blest eyes may never see what utter ruine divine vengeance doth bring upon a sinful peoplâ— therefore for his elect sake he will not alwaies be angry 5 In respect of the reprobate he is not alwaies extreme to mark what they have done and that upon a two-fold account 1 To let them see their just condemnation 2 In respect of judgement 1 To let them see the justice of their condemnation that though he hath long spared them and given them space and opportunity to repent yet they have chose their own destruction by a wilful impenitency nay God complains in the Prophet Esay All the day long have I stretched out my arme to a rebellious people c. but saith he I will not alwaies keep silence but will recompence even recompence into their bosome Esa 65.9 their continued rebellion it makes God ingeminate his threatned severity which though he be loth to execute yet he will not alwayes be silent abused patience turning into the greatest fury witnesse his passionate compassion over sinful Ierusalem whom thus he speaks Oh Ierusalem Ierusalem which killest the Prophets and stonest them that were sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you would not There is their times for repentance but now upon their neglect and abuse thereof must needs follow Gods severest vengeance for so it follows Behold your house is left unto you desolate c. Luke 13.34 35. Yea thus he dealeth with Iezabel her self that mother of Fornications I gave her space saith the merciful God but she repented not therefore behold I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds and I will kill her children with death Rev. 2.21 22. By all which as in a chrystal mirrour you may clearly see the sad event which continually attends an impenitent state Gods mercy affords us space and leaves us without excuse but his Justice will certainly punish us if we repent not 2. In respect of Judgment shall I call it a mercy to the wicked that God suffers them to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath had it not been a greater mercy rather to have cut them off by shortning of their dayes for by it surely something had been substracted from their torments which is proportioned to and measured out by their sins but that God should in Judgment spare them to prosper in sin that they may sin themselves finally into perdition and spare them that the sin may grow as old as the sinner that he may go into his grave with bones full of sinne though on the one hand their length of dayes shewes Gods unwearied patience yet on the other hand it gives full proof of their final intolerable misery God then is not alwayes extreme in punishing of sinne and that in respect of Judgment to the persons guilty he will not presently destroy the Amorites though their sins come up with a loud cry before him no there is a measure of sinne to be filled up as well by Nations as particular persons before the decree go forth and Judgment come upon a Land to the utter ruine thereof nay a Nation may be arrived to the very Zenith of Sinne and yet Judgment not immediately follow witness Ierusalem and oh that England might not be brought in for a testimony also I mean as not deserving what she did for they had committed the greatest of sinnes in not only slaying the Prophets stoning them that preacht repentance unto them but also in killing the Lord of Glory and yet God spared that rebellious City forty two years after which shews that God is not alwayes extreme with them that are come to the Zenith of sinne Oh therefore let Ierusalems space of repentance move us to turn unto the Lord with speed lest we also perish in our sinnes and there be none to deliver For God will make his power known that his name may be declared throughout the earth Rom. 9.17 Thus in respect of Sinners unconverted of Saints that are converted and of Reprobates that will not be converted God is not alwayes extreme to punish And so I have done with the second conclusion and shall onely make a little Application thereof to our selves and so passe to the third observable in the Text. Application 1. Admire the riches of
to our deserts and that with speed too for the time draws neer when God will come to judge the earth righteously and the nations with his truth Psal 96.13 He will try all things as the refiner by fire which will discover and make legible that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the blind and subtil characters of mens thoughts and actions which before could not be read or perceived and all this by the power of his righteous judgement and the unerring law of his revealed will those righteous statutes the breaking whereof will make the wicked call to the mountains to cover them from the wrath of the Lamb when he shall come in flaming fire to render vengeance upon all ungodly and impenitent sinners whose destruction is of themselves their sins being the measure of his punishments for he will reward every man according to his works whether they be good or whether they be evil for with him is no respect of persons for as suffers the pesant so shall the Princes of the earth if found in their impenitency if their steel melt before his fierceness what shall man do whose clay-cottage continually sticks in the mire of sinne Oh sit down then and hang your mournful harps upon the willows of contrition cast away from you all terrene hopes of comfort which at last like Egypts reeds will prove no further useful then with sorrow to pierce your troubled sides lean no longer upon the staffe of your own understanding lest your falling thence become irrecoverable but betake your selves with true and pure devotion to that golden mercy-seat whence none ever returned empty that sought aright for there is no armour able to resist or divert Gods severe judgements but pious prayers and fervent ejaculations and no doubt but if you thus do but he who lends an ear to the cry of speechless blood will not turne it away from the voice of your petitions especially if put up in the name of him whose employment it is to propitiate for the sins of the whole world you must needs confess your selves sinners and if living and dying such you may be sure the end thereof will be eternal misery Therefore it s every mans great concernment as he would escape the last to provide against the former and the sooner the better because we know not how soon our accounts will be demanded and God come with ah thou fool this night shall thy soul be taken from thee c. Therefore to day while its called to day let 's hear his voice and not harden our hearts against him 2 Seeing none can say his heart is clean and all have reason to say every one is more righteous then we Oh then what fountains of tears should we shed if possible to bath our sinful souls in and baptize our selves anew in penitential teares not that the water alone hath any cleansing virtue in it for the very springs must be purged by the rock Jesus Christ yet contrition is ofttimes an inseparable signe of being cleansed for when sins by us are truly repented of Gods favourable eye of compassion looks on those sins as if they were never committed and where our sins look as red as crimson we must endeavour to have our tears as white as snow that falling sincerely from the eye of a true penitentiary they prevail with the father of mercies to pass over our souls when his judgements begin to be executed so then we must put off the redness of guilt that so we may be clothed with the white robe of innocency by getting our sins and iniquities blotted out But do not deceive your selves it is not a seeming holiness or appearing innocency acquired by our own strength that will avail us such weak lights are easily blown out and extinct by the gust of every temptation or like the costly gilt of a well-tuned instrument appearing pleasant while such but when once the strings begin to jar the impatient hand with fury casts both them and all its beauty from it as if no such loveliness had ever there been found Therefore above all things t is our concernment to make sure work in the things of eternity not taking them upon trust or others credit but our own experience not fearing others so much as our own eternall weal for there is nothing hath been so much the bane of Christian community as an overweening conceit of our own sanctity saluting every man with a Pharisaical Stand off I am more holy then thou disdaining to think any are so high in Christs esteem as our selves whereas our truest glorying is onely in the cross of Christ and an humble heart which in the sight of God is of great price For if thou Lord be extreme to mark what is done amiss who can abide it And this brings me to the second observation propounded namely That the mercy of God is such he 'l not alwaies be extreme to mark what 's done amiss Mercy is Gods proper work it is that wherein his chief delight doth rest what was reported of Dionysius the Emperour and left upon record for his eternal fame viz. that he wept when he came to subscribe his name to condemne a man as being loth to dip his finger in the blood of his fellow-creature is much more true of the Father of Mercy witness those tears that dropt from the eyes of our Saviour over impenitent Ierusalem a sad presage of approching ruine and yet a true symptome of his unwillingness to put the same in execution though they were already come to the Zenith of impiety killing the King of Glory and the Saviour of the world and though but beholding this at a distance such was his mercy that it made him weep Mercy is an attribute that of it self properly belongs to God justice is as it were by accident because of mans evil therefore is he said to wait to do the one but sparing in execution of the other yea he is unwilling to execute determined wrath therefore he saith how shall I give thee up O Ephraim and I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger c. Hos 11.8 9. therefore he that hateth nothing that he hath made will not alwaies be extreme with what he hath not made lest with it he destroy the work of his hands for the mercy of God is exercised towards man as considered in a twofold capacity 1. As a sinner 2. As his creature 1. As a sinner that he may do away his sins Isa 43.25 he makes open proclamation thereof I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins so willing is God to free the sinner from mistaking the person that he ingeminates the word as if he had said if thou art unacquainted who it is that must do away thy sins know that it is I I who am thy maker and put thee in a blessed condition whence thou fell and it is I who again will restore thee
Cherubims seated upon the Ark of Gods glory cast continually their unspotted eyes upon the rotten raggs of Humane frailty aiming still at mans felicity How else could dust and ashes expect continued life from such dry bones as was and is still the foundation of mans body for should Heavens propitious eye glance forth nothing but renewed smiles upon our actions and mercy alwayes sit hovering over our Tabernacles we should quickly ingulf our spirits in the bottome of miserable security or on the contrary should but the direful hand of Omnipotency it self draw forth his glittering sword against our weak resistance unto what a paralytick posture would such an appearance strike us as coming from him whose very breath can speak us into nothing Oh then with what bowed knees and humble hearts should every soul of us kiss the very remembrance of a Iesus coming not onely to save them that believe but to work a present reconcilememt betwixt the Justice and Mercy of God the Father that now the one as well as the other or rather with united consent both together may conspire and joyn issue in the great work of mans redemption for could your drowsie spirits but lend an ear to the pleasant dialogue that continually passes betwixt these glorious Attributes now you should hear Justice calls for the Sanctuaries ballance to weigh all the actions of the sons of men and with a Mene Mene Tekel c. finde such dusty performances of no validity in Heavens account and so poor we being in Adam wilfully lost are now necessarily fallen short of immortal bliss Thus is our sentence irrecoverable and no door of hope left for our escape till Mercy that eternal beam of love stand forth and present the all-sufficient merit of a dying Saviour as full satisfaction for the sins of the whole world pleading that faithful covenant made by Justice it self that whosoever believes shall not perish but have everlasting life Which faith is the golden pillar that bears up the stately structure of mans everlasting glory the only hand by which the promises of a better life are made ours the sure entail by which the inheritance purchased in common is become mine in particular it is the onely voice by which holy David could make an echo that would reach from the lowest deeps to the highest Heavens Out of the deeps have I called unto thee O Lord Lord hear my voice as you may see verse the first of this Psalme nay it is the very nerve and sinewe of all pious Devotion for if you peruse the whole Psalme you will find it is nothing else but a rehearsal of religious petitions and serious exhortations In his petitions you 'l find his soul big with holy affiance spiritual confidence grounded on Gods word promising and his own Experience tasting In his Exhortations like a faithful Physician he prescribes nothing but what is attested to with his own and others Probatum est making mercy both the beginning and the end the principal and the final cause of Happiness but in both he keeps the eye of humility placed upon the raggs of mans unworthiness as justly demeriting eternal wrath were God exact in remunerating our actions for so he closes up the summe of his requests in the words of my Text If thou Lord wilt be extreme to marke what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it In which words please to consider two general parts 1 An antecedent in these words If thou Lord be extreme to marke what is done amiss 2. A Consequent in the other words who can abide it Or if you will look on them 1 In the Thesis 2 In the Hypothesis 1 In the Thesis wherein you have Gods extremity in punishing 2 In the Hypothesis There you have mans misery in suffering And now my Text in its situation is not unlike a pleasant Grove presenting to your view variety of pleasant Trees each bough thereof being richly laden with delicious goodly fruit not onely delightful to the eye but beneficial to the Taste or if you will your Conceptions may behold most costly Arras enriched with the lively story of Gods bounty and mans felicity mutually interwoven in the same peece but if you list to change the scene and have the true parts more neerly acted you may gain a precious enterview of Gods omnipotency displayed in its several Dispensations and management of Humane affairs where Justice and Mercy the twins of royalty discovering on the one Hand Gods free benevolence in bestowing and mans utter unworthiness for so large a guerdon on the reverse parts your sight is presented with the Almighties just severity in punishing together with mans reaping misery the true fruit of his sin In fine that I may unbowel this sacred writ take the substance thereof distilled into these four observations 1 It s the Corruption of mans nature to do amiss 2 God is not alwaies extreme to marke and punish what 's done amiss 3 God can when he pleases be extreme in marking and punishing what is done amiss 4 If God be extreme in punishing man must needs be extreme in suffering These are the four streams that naturally run their division from this pleasant spring that voluntarily tenders its silver drops to refresh the heart of every pious Christian which makes me beg your patience and zealous attention whilst in order I make these glorious truths to pass before the spiritual eye of your intelligent souls And first of the First namely It s the corrupt nature of man to do amiss As its the nature of man to be doing so it s the corruption of that nature to be doing amiss and though God see and observe all the actions of discomposed and distempered man yet it s onely the obliquity of those actions his severity intends to reward with punishment for every action simply considered in it self is good and no way meriting unspeakable torment but every such action contracts eternal guilt as performed by and prersisted in of sinful man whose customary nature and naturall custome is to do evil for as things are in being so they are in operation Can a man gather grapes of thornes or figgs of thissles saith our Blessed Saviour Or can any man bring a clean thing out of an unclean was the question put by holy Iob. Ever since man eat the forbidden fruit man himself hath become a barren tree and cumbred the ground for ever since man voluntarily fell man hath been under a necessity of sin a necessity I say proceeding not from Gods peremptory decree but his feeble and corrupted will for its a voluntary necessity should I set open the door of this defiled cage and present to your view the misery lapsed mans unhappiness hath reduced him to or give you but a glimpse of those polluted birds whose habitation is in the house of every soul by nature or but read a Lecture of mans depraved condition I could do it in no other language then that of
sin unrepented of is able to damne us and the least law transgrest is sufficient to procure our damnation whereas Christs infinite merit onely can obtain our salvation for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God St. Iames 1.20 By all which you cannot but understand the truth of our assertion namely it s the corrupt nature of man to do amiss together with the reasons thereof I shall briefly make some application to our selves and so in order pass on to the second doctrine propounded Use 1 Fall down to prayer and cry out with holy David Enter not into judgement with thy servants O Lord for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified if in the gold of Angels there was much dust found if those pure spirits were charged with folly what extremity of madness and intolerable ire may we expect as the wages of our unrighteousness For if thou Lord be extreme to mark what is done amiss who can abide it you have seen the doctrine cleared let us a little apply it and so pass on to the last conclusion Application Oh consider this ye that forget God lest he destroy you lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Fear ye not me saith the Lord will ye not tremble at my presence which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea Jeremiah 5.22 fear not them that can kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell saith our Saviour 10. S. Mat. 28. for patience provoked turns to the greatest fury and when the malevolous planet of Gods anger shall fall upon our heads like the flying roll in the 5. of Zach. it will dread nothing but everlasting destruction Oh how should all our pulses beat at the remembrance of Gods wrath for sins how contracted our span of of time and how trembling should our clay cottages appear how much better were it for us to measure out the ground by our length before him and in humility to kiss the rod then with impudent foreheads to stand it out against his vengeance how should we with speed lay hold and fix upon all means that may bring us near unto himself how willing should we be with the silken cords of his favour to be led to repentance seeing he is so loth to be severe and waits that he may be gracious to us and withal considering that if God be extreme in punishing man must needs be extreme in suffering which brings me to the fourth and last conclusion That if God be extreme in punishing man must needs be extreme in suffering When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin thou makest his beauty to consume like a moth saith holy David Ps 39.12 But it were well if onely his beauty were gone and his outward comeliness done away but he adds as a greater misery every man is but vanity and every way miserable for what happiness can be expected when Gods heavenly countenance looks with anger upon us for who can bind up that which God in wrath layes open who can speak peace to that soul whom he afflicts or if he withdraw who can comfort us and who can abide his justice when he is severe and looks upon us with the eyes of fiery indignation surely none for then the body will but begin the pain of the soul and the soul endure the grief of both then you may hear the Shunamites child cry out my head my head holy David complaines that his heart is melted like wax before the sun then it is that king Asa is sick indeed from head to foot that holy Iob is sitting upon the dunghil and cursing the day of his birth then oh then indeed it is that King David cryes out his strength is dryed up like a potsheard and that he is become like a Pelican in the wilderness there you shall hear Hezekiah chatter like a crane and mourn like a Dove for when God is extreme in his judgements man must needs be miserable in suffering even in the outward man and yet all these are but the beginning of sorrow as our Saviour saith in comparison of those calamities that will overtake us when our breath shal be turned into sighs our eyes into fountains of tears and our hearts like mournful harpes shall be hung upon the willowes of contrition and our organical musick into the voice of them that weep all which are but as so many doleful witnesses of our sufferings when God shall come to visit for our transgressions so that you see the doctrine cleared and the truth thereof in lively examples illustrated One word of application and then my whole discourse shall be concluded Application Oh be astonished and wonder at the rich mercy of God all you that go on in an uninterrupted course of sinning that God hath not long since made you the subjects of eternal wrath oh let the greatness of his patience encourage you not to go on but repent of your sins lest your destruction come unawares as an armed man and there be none to deliver you Let me therefore exhort all men to make their peace with him betimes before death makes a separation between them and their chiefest happiness before your souls be swallowed up in misery and drowned with an overflowing deluge of useless tears the onely Emblemes of a too late repentance which shall never be wiped off with the smallest remnant of mercy or drunk up with the least spunge of pitty and fatherly compassion for then the Lamb slain for the redemption of your souls repenting will be found no lese then Iudahs Lion enthroned to condemne both soul and body for wilful and impenitent sins so that we must all conclude with the words of my Text If thou Lord wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it Regi seculorum immortali invisibili soli Deo honor gloria Amen SERM. II. PSAL. 130. V. 3. If thou Lord be extreme c. Introduction THe glory of the Shepherd is the thriving of the Sheep as Saint Chrysostome saith and the fatness of Christs Lambs is the strength of their graces by the one the outward man is refreshed but with the other the inward spirit is rejoiced and in both the glory of God is highly exalted Heavens spotless eye endures not to behold leprous Souls with any other look besides that of vengeance nor can the Creature ever expect to see its Creators face without a renewed mind For without Holiness no man shall ever see God Heb. 12.14 We are but stubble to his consuming fire so that while we are in a state of sinning we are liable to damnation Heb. 10.13 It being a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God whose just severity will wound the hairy scalp of such as willfully go astray why then should we be so stupidly ignorant as
and send a pardon in the name of my Son and thy Jesus 2 Mercy is exercised about him as his creature to receive him into favour not to punish him above measure though he be out of measure sinful Isa 46.9 Remember the former things of old for I am God and there is none else I am God and there is none like me That God punishes sinful man is the act of his justice that he is not severe in punishing is an act of his mercy yea so loth he is to be cruel that he would have his creatures put him in mind of his mercy as if nothing so much delighted him as to have his servants to think and believe him to be merciful for so you read Put me in remembrance let us plead together declare thou that thou maiest be justified Isa 43.29 wherein he that runs may read this sacred truth that God is not alwaies extreme to mark what is done amiss but is full of compassion And this he doth 1. For his names sake which in holy Moses stile is no other then 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 Exod. 34.6 And that the power of this glorious name may never fall nor the remembrance thereof fail in the hearts of the sons of men he will still go on to make his merciful name in much glory in much majesty to pass before them for all the waies of the Lord are mercy and truth Ps 26.10 For though many sorrowes shall be to the wicked yet he that trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compass him about Ps 32.10 He is onely the God that heareth and can answer prayer therefore to him must all flesh come it is his glorious name alone which is as an oyntment poured out the excellency of whose favour perfumes the hearts of all that love him whose very goings rejoyce the morning and evening seasons Other names and titles may give us free passage among the sons of men and get or lose their favour but it is onely the name Iehovah who is mighty to save that can give us a name to live when dead in sin whose goodness crownes not onely the years Ps 60.11 but the hearts of his people with joy unspeakable and full of glory And so I pass to the second ground of mercy 2. For his natures sake whose very property is to have mercy therefore when God in mercy spares his people from demerited wrath he compares himself to a father vailing his compassion under that tender relation but when justice can no longer spare but by being injurious to its honour by the provocation of our sins calling for vengeance to be poured upon our persons then he represents himself like a woman big with pain and travailing with grief if I may so speak to bring forth that just ire he hath been long in conceiving Yea mercy appears and is seen in hell it self because though he punish to extremity of time yet not to a fulness of horror in intension of torment whereas justice like the harlots will have the sinner divided soul from body to be different sharers in eternal misery Let thy lawes O Lord be writ in bloody characters upon the sinners head is justices language that so he may eternally wound the hairy scalp of him that hath wilfully gone astray but mercy like the true mother continually cries spare the child Lord and save the sinner from eternal woe and at length this mournful voice proves effectual in the ears of Heaven and with Iacob obtaines the blessing for indeed mercy is the true mother of our lives which else had long since been a sacrifice for our sins had not the scape-goat carried them away into the land of forgetfulness and by becoming a victime for the same buried all our transgressions in his grave that so they may never be able to rise in judgement either against our persons or our services whose very nature it is to become an advocate for rebells and like an affectionate surety pay the debt that so the debtor may go free and this he doth not for our righteousness or any merit that is to be found in us or our performances but for his name and natures sake And so I pass to the third ground of mercy namely 3. For his glories sake For his glory 1. In general 2. In particular First for his glory in general that being the utmost my limited time and your patience will give leave to discuss reserving the more particular parts together with the dispatch of the two last doctrines to our second part of this discourse but I say 1. Generally and in that I shall onely but point you to those excellent graces wherewith he is pleased to furnish the hearts of the sons of men that thereby they may become vessels fit for the masters service God is delighted with shewing compassion and mercy is so joyned to his nature that he would have it wrought in as well as bestowed upon us that in this glorious attribute we may again bear his heavenly image to that end sometimes our trials are made the subject for his love to work on at other times he presents others misery as the opportunity for our mercy and therein he cals out our faith to believe that he who hath inclined our hearts to pitty others will shew abundant compassion to us our hope that God will deal no worse with our soules then he hath commanded us to use the soul of our brother and lastly he calls our charity to exercise its benevolence knowing that besides the hundred-fold which in this life we shall receive for one drop of cold water bestowed in his name and given for his sake we shall receive in the life to come a crown of righteousness which shall never be taken from us for his mercy is over all his works else should we be soon consumed which made holy Iob cry out Remember I beseech thee that thou hast made me as the clay and wilt thou bring me unto dust again Job 10.9 and again Job 7.17 20. What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him and that thou shouldest set thy heart upon him I have sinned what shall I do uâ—to thee O thou preserver of men why hast thou set me as a mark against thee c. Once for all take it in the 14. chap. 2. vers and so on Man cometh out like a flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not and doest thou open thine eyes upon such an one and bringest me into judgement with thee as a leaf also is he blown away with every wind so is our soul tossed with various temptations sometimes with the east wind of presumption on the contrary with the west of despair now hurried with the north of rage by and by carried away with the southwind of lust thus like a tennis-ball is poor man
racketed from one temptation to another till at last he hazard eternal ruine reeling from one extreme to another untill he fall into perpetual misery Therefore to conclude let me implore every soul that expects and looks for eternal life as who doth not to get cleansed from all your iniquities whether secret or open latent or revealed before you come unto the brink of misery from whence is no return before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains wherein is no security let no iniquity ever have any more dominion over you get all your actions salted with true grace that God may smell a sweet savour in your holy devotions and pious services knowing that your best performances are but gilded appearances and glittering abominations if God should with severity inspect them so that we must all say with holy David in the words of my Text If thou Lord shouldst be extreme c. FINIS SERM. III. LUKE 2.7 And she brought forth her first-born son and wrapped him in swadling-clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the Inne Introduction GOd is a most pure Act never was he idle but alwaies in being even when this world was not in being he was in himself love and nigh enough to himself yet when he was so he thought of some eminent act of bounty wherein to produce an Idea of his goodness and accordingly wills thoughts to himself of shewing mercy to mankind for yet he would do good to all therefore all his wayes are good his being and well-being envied as yet by none no not by Satan the first parent of malice and grand enemy both of Gods unspeakable glory and mans eternal felicity not enduring to entertain the least thought of seeing humane nature deified yet God to shew the freedome of his love in rich mercy stamps his own Image upon man for it was his goodness as well as his power that he made us good as well as men but what was at first made good we soon made sin for God made man upright but he hath sought out many inventions so that had not God redeemed us we had been miserable to all eternity much rather had our souls not been then not be happy When man was made holy and had sinned though such iniquity deserved the ruine of what he was before having defaced that image yet God is prone to mercy when provoked goodness would rescue that part of himself from ruine for scarce one had sinned but one was promised to save the Son of God was promised and presented to the Patriarchs being revealed to them by his promises and foretold by his Prophets that God would send his Son he saw a fit vessel wherein he would inclose his son viz. the Blessed Virgin and therefore he sends his Angel to provide a lodging telling her that she was highly honoured of God Luke 7.3 and she shall conceive in her womb and bring forth a Son and shall call his name Iesus that God would give him a name above every name and of his kingdom there shall be no end she examined and believed the Angels Message and and was found with child of the holy Ghost Luke 1. the power of the highest over-shadowing her But loe she is summoned to another travel for there is a decree from Augustus Caesar and behold she takes no small pains to obey for though her appearance might have been excused yet she would not disobey the lawful magistrates command the custome of women is on Mary but alas desolate Virgin she is driven to that pass that having no room in the inne necessity compels her to make a chamber of the stable and to turne the manger the place wherein is laid the food of beasts into a Cradle the now onely receptacle for the bread of life and at once both mother and midwife for she brought forth her first-borne son and wrapt him in swadling-clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the Inne In which words consider with me these four general parts 1 A Virgins travail 2 A mothers tenderness 3 A childs poverty 4 The peoples inhospitality 1 A Virgins travail She brought forth her first-borne sonne 2 A mothers tenderness She wrapped him in swadling-clothes 3 A childs poverty laid in a manger 4 The peoples inhospitality There was no roome in the Inne I begin with the first 1. The virgins travail she brought forth her first-born son Wherein consider 1. The person she 2. The birth brought forth 3. The fruit her first-born child 1. For the woman she was a virgin but what a virgin to bear to bring forth a son a wonder and she her self cryes out I know not a man well might the Prophet Ierem. say Behold a Virgin and the Prophet Isai likewise yet she is the same Isa the 7.14 vers but that Christ was conceived of the holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary is an article of our faith not of our understanding best known is the manner to him that hath the power virgins are not usually pregnant yet the spirit ingenders flesh we take it not from his nature but power the Holy Ghost produces the man Christ not of himself but by his power Christ begotten of himself as one with the Father sending him on the great errand of mans salvation for all the three Persons in the sacred Trinity have a share in this great work the Father begetting the Son begotten and the Holy Ghost produced him at the fulness of time I call the Holy Ghost Father as his shadow the virgin his mother as his substance or the matter of his person whereby he is called the son of man that by this means he might be joyned to our nature and so become surety for us as for example we christians are born of water of the spirit are not called the sons of water but of the spirit because of the spirit we are made one with Christ and are thereby become the sons of God that Christ was conceived of the Holy Ghost and of Mary is most certain but for our sakes called the son of Mary and not of the Holy Ghost yet hath the son an equality with the spirit and is perfect God as well as man therefore is it that the Holy Ghost concurs with Mary in the conception both agree to make Christ but not one way for t is his the shadow hers the substance hers the carkase his the quintessence how could it be but a holy thing being of the Holy Ghost though she had sin yet Christ took none from her because he would expel it from her for had Christ been born of an Harlot of Mary Magdalen yet she could not have contaminated his integrity but commended his power and mercy he could have sanctified the most sinful person and unhallowed womb Being conceived of the holy Ghost he took our flesh but not our corruption can the sun shine untainted on the
and all that is within me praise his holy name Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thy iniquities and healeth all thy infirmities which saveth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with mercy and loving kindness who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the Eagles for he will not deal with us after our sins nor reward us according to our iniquities Testis fidelis OR A faithfull Witness SERMON VII St. IOHN 18.37 To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witnesse unto the truth Introduction THe words of my Text are like the eye of a well-drawn picture that still which way soever you go looks towards you for which way so ever you consider the words they still have reference to all the parts and circumstances of Christs coming in the flesh if you look upon his conception which coming was foretold by an Angel as witness thereof S. Luke 1.31 yet there it was but the preparation to that coming which is in my text viz. his Nativity which is not left without a witness neither in that St. Stephen one of the twelve who was to testifie of him is joyned next unto the birth-day of our Saviour he being the first that suffered for him and therefore called by the Holy Catholick Church St. Stephens day but that Protomartyr who here is a witness to that witness in my Text did witness what the great witness did both do and suffer but that this truth might be established by more then a single testimony our Mother the Church doth celebrate St. Iohns day in commemoration of that beloved Disciple whose faithful affection begot in him an Eagles eye wherewith to behold those glorious mysteries which none else of all the Disciples were able to reveal and that we might not be without occasions of stirring up our affections also God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son and here is the onely begotten Son so loving that he gives himself for us and as his Disciples testified the truth of Christ living and dying so the innocent babes slain for his sake by cruel Herod did witness to the truth not by speaking but by dying but he who is the great witnes both by speaking dying did bear witness for us while himself was an infant antedating his cruel passion by a bloody circumcision instituted as a pledge of our interest in his covenant which was wonderfully effected by his own person when manifested in the world hence the Epiphany is famous for the wise men who first made discovery of this blessed babe by the guidance of an unusual light and here now is that star of Iacob which leads to the rising in his birth and by this was the King of the Jewes first found out that afterwards by his people was betrayed into the hands of enemies to be condemned as a malefactor and as an enemy to Caesar and that with the greatest formality of justice being brought before a President and arraigned for his life and yet notwithstanding their malice and cruelty he still asserted his innocencie though he knew he should die for it and therefore he saith To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness of the truth Look upon the words once more and they present you with the faithfulness and constancy of our blessed Saviours testimony even then when he was deserted by his most intimate friends and servants and at that time especially wherein as man he stood most in need of them being now had in examination before the Judgement-seat of Pilate wherein you have fulfilled that saying of his that he came to his own and his own received him not Nay he was so far from being received by them that he was forsaken by all despised of most and pitied by few and yet herein also he came to do his Fathers will by a willing death witnessing to that truth which some had foresworn and others denyed saying To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness to the truth In which words you may remember I have observed these parts 1. An action 2. An end 3. The object 1. The action he was born he came into the world 2. The end 1. pointed at 2. pointed out 1. Pointed at to this end and for this cause 2. Pointed out to bear witness 3. The object the truth And whereas the end in every action is first in intention though last in execution I did begin with the end the right end and that pointed at To this end and for this cause c. and I came to the second thing namely 2. The action which was Christs incarnation and his coming into the world To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world and come now to the third thing the end of the action wherefore he came and why he was born and that is 3. The object the truth to bear witness And to bear witness to the truth and in this third part there are two things considerable 1. The end 2. The object The one in reference unto Christ the other unto Christians 1. In reference unto Christ as the primary intention of them and so the words concern our Saviour as he was a witness unto the truth in his own person 2. In the extent of them so they concern us for we also are to bear witness to the truth and as in the testimony of our Saviour so in ours there must concurre to demonstrate our fidelity 1. The end 2. The action 3. The object For we are in our particular station to bear witness to the truth as well as others for Christ in all the ages of the world hath still had some faithful servants to witness for him though they continually met with opposition For though under the Law witnesse was given unto him at divers times and in sundry manners c. yet not onely the vain errours of the Gentiles but also the careless perversness of the Iewes led multitudes of people into a disbelief of God himself and the truth of our blessed Saviours coming into the world insomuch that the Prophet Esay saith Who hath believed our report Esay 53.1 Yea the people changed the truths of God into lies and caused the way of truth to be evill spoken of endeavouring by all means if possible to banish truth out of the earth but notwithstanding all their malicious oppositions the truths of God were not left without record for there is not any one person in the Sacred Trinity but bears witnesse to the truth for there are three that bear record in Heaven The Father the Word and the holy Ghost and these three are one St. John 5.7 The Father promising the holy Ghost preparing and the Son assuming or taking what was