is but a lame consent yeilded by constraint for he that by a Tyrant is compelled with force of punishment to deny the Truth doth in a sort deny and not deny he denies it outwardly with his lips but his heart greives inwardly for the same because his conscience bears witness to the Truth but he that with a wicked life is given wholly to sin that he hath all his delights in it that man hath made himself perfect in evil 4. From the more full signification we do signifie more of wickedness to be in us by our works than by our words he sits at a farre greater denial of truth that denies it by a wicked life than he that denies it onely with his lips for fear of death though both these are great aggravations since in our lives words and works we are to bear witness to the Truth for to this end were we born and for this cause came we into the world c. Application Our Saviour bids Let your light so shine before men c. Saint Matthew 5.6 then we may hence learn that those that should light others to Heaven by their Doctrine must not darken their way by the evil example of an unholy life and not only must Ministers but people also let the light of holiness appear visible in their lives When God places a man a private Christian in the lower Orbe he puts him there to shine like a starre bright and clear in his own sphere Christians should shine and bear witness in their lives and be cautious how they walk because every sin puts a dimness upon the soul and darkness internal can expect no other but to go to darkness eternal and therefore St. Peter saith that our good works should make those that look on us as evil doers glorifie God in the day of visitation 1 Saint Peter 2.12 There be some that must believe in Christ throughout the world and witness his Truth to unbelievers by a holy life and why may it not belong to us but if on the contrary we be found to live as they live how shall they be brought to believe as we believe It was the saying of a Heathen If I did see the Christians lives better I should think their faith better than mine Religion and the Doctrines of Faith are often disgrac'd by wicked Professors 1 Tim. 1.6 7. the rebellion of a Christian that is a Servant though to an Heathen Master brings a scandal both upon God and on holy Religion Sure I am God and Religion is very much disgrac'd and the Gospel dishonoured and the Church of Christ abused by the wicked lives of those that are called the Sons of the Church Oh therefore that by holy lives judicious reading faithful hearing and constant studying and meditating in the wayes of God and the Truths of God we would make our selves able and ready to give an account of the hope that is in us that so both in our knowledge and practice we bearing witness to the Truth here on earth we may have the truth in our consciences to bear witness to our selves that we are the Sons of God that so he that ascended into Heaven to take possession of his own Glory may in time bring us thither who himself affirmed and after whose example we should walk that as he was born and came into the world to bear witness to the truth so we should also account of our selves that we were born and that we came into the world that we might bear witness to the truth that we came into the world this Christian world to witness to the truth as common Christians that we came into the world the Church of God as members thereof to justifie that faith by a holy life unto which our parents had baptized us still indeavouring to carry the same mind in us that was in Christ Jesus that as he did so we came into the world to bear witness to the truth for he justified himself before the judgement-seat of Pilate saying in the words of my Text To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness to the truth The end of the Sermons Dr. Hewit's publique Prayer after Sermon O HOLY HOLY HOLY Lord God of heaven and earth heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory Glory be to thee O Lord glory be to thee glory be to thee glory be to thee for all those infinite favours which thou of thine infinite goodnesse hast voucsafed to us who are lesse then the least of all thy mercies for the fountain of all mercies Jesus Christ in whom thou hast loved us with an everlasting love before ever we or the world were made that thou hast created us after thine own Image and redeemed us by the bloud of Jesus Christ when we were utterly lost that thou hast called us with an holy calling and in some measure sanctified us by the graces of thy holy Spirit that thou hast spared us thus long and given us so long and so large a time of repentance when as thou mightest have cut us off in the midst of our transgressions whilst we were rebelling against thee Blessed be thy name O Lord for all thy mercies vouchsafed unto us thy mercies to allure us thy promises to wooe us thy patience and long-suffering towards us to lead us to repentance thy corrections to reclaime us thy judgements to affright and better us blessed by thy name for all opportunities of wel-doing for all hinderances of evill-doing for all the good purposes and resolutions thou hast put into our hands to draw our souls from the dregs of sin and ignorance into the glory of thy Saints for any assistance that thou hast given to any of us in any holy performance for the Communion of thy Saints the aide of their counsels the benefit of their Prayers the comfort of their conversations the protection of thy Holy Angels for all corporall spirituall temporall and eternall mercies mercies concerning this life and mercies concerning the life to come Blessed be thy name for thy mercies to us all the dayes of our lives thy mercies unto us this present day for the light thereof the greater light the light of thy truth to shine into our soules to guide our feet into the way of all truth For that portion of Scripture wherein thou hast been pleased to reveal thy self unto us at this time Lord though it be sowne in much weaknesse do thou raise it up in great power let it not be as water spilt upon the ground but let it be as seed sown in good ground that it may take deep root downward in our hearts by faith and bring forth much fruit upwards in our lives and conversations to the glory of thy holy name to the edification of thy Church and people and to the salvation of our souls in the day of Jesus Christ to whom with thy self and holy Spirit we desire to
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
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
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
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
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
or against their wils for he sits down among the Gods 5. For lasting his Dominion is everlasting and he shall reign over the house of Iacob for ever Psal 16.11 6.7 and of his Kingdome there shall be no end St. Luke 1.33 6. For fulness In his presence is fulness of joy c. 7. For subduing of enemies Bring those my enemies that would not that I should reign over them c. St. Luke 19.27 But why go I about to describe that which is infinite or blazon the glory of a power that is incomprehensible It made holy David cry out Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him c. Psal 8.4 Man is as a thing of nought for when he was not guilty being innocent and had not sinned he could merit no favour but when he was guilty and by sinning had deserved not to be what he was before yet then God to shew the freeness of his mercy that he who had made the world for man would not make man for nothing and though his Image was defaced by him yet he would not have it ruinated that goodness that planted him in uprightness would not have him presently destroyed when found in wickedness no he was prone to mercy though provoked to wrath by beholding that in man which his infinite Power never created and therefore to this purpose he came into the world 1 St. John 3.8 that he might destroy the works of the devil To apply this Since God was pleased so to honour us as not to redeem us with corruptible things 1 St. Pet. 1.18 as silver and gold nor with the bloud of buls and goats nor the power of men and Angels but by the death and passion of his own Son St. John 3.16 of his own Substance If God so loved us that he gave his only begotten Son for us why should we think any thing too much for him or through the ambition and pride of our hearts think our selves too good to serve him or imagine we can be happy without him Or on the contrary let us not suppose our sins to be more and greater then he is able or willing to pardon since God is pleased to send his Son to redeem you why should you think your selves too good to serve him let the beasts be sensual and the divels wicked why should you be scornful or so far degenerate as to do any action that may intitle you to the insensibleness of the one or to the losse of the other to be ungrateful to the God of Heaven is impious therefore bear your selves worthy of the Favourites of Heaven since Gods Son came into the world to redeem you And so I come to the second thing noted in his coming namely The humility of his Condescention If love to the Father and respect to our souls became to the Son of God so strong and powerful an inducement as to cause him to humble himself so far as in his own person to come and bear witness to the Truth then thou art inexcusable O man that sees the Truths of God opposed his Worship represt his Ministers supprest and dost not what thou canst to maintain the truth for every one in his proportion and degree to this end is born and comes into the world that he after the example of his Saviour should bear witness to the truth And so I come to the Nativity it self Christs coming into the world Came into the world We read in Scripture of a threefold coming of Christ 1. Imperiously To give the Law 2. Graciously To give the Gospel 3. Gloriously When he shall come to judge the quick and the dead The first was to the world the second in the world and the third will be at the end of the world In the first he came as a God In the second as a Saviour In the third he will come like a Iudge to require an account of every man for every particular action whether it be good or whether it be evil His first coming under the Law in Levitical types is not here intended but the coming mentioned in this place is his second coming when he came as a Saviour to give the Gospel Christ Jesus who is God-man thus came into the world and because as God he is omnipresent some will have his presence in every place and his being in every thing 't is true he was with us before he came to us but that God that is omnipresent and fils all places yet hath divers tranmsissions in Scripture Heaven is his place or throne of glory and earth his foot-stool but he is said to come to us when he manifests himself to us after a new manner and this coming of his is by an act of new Mercy he that is all Mercy now vouchsafed to his Creatures a new way of coming such as was never manifested before for he came to the old world in types and figures he was a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world when the Elect was Christ was there not only as the second person in the sacred Trinity but as a Propitiation for man in short he alwayes came in purpose he early came in the Promises and he successfully came in the fulness of time the Promises could not be frustrated and the Prophets could not be mistaken he is given to us in the Gospel and married to us by his Spirit having assumed our flesh in the blessed Virgin and that he should thus come to us was great humility from sitting in Heaven and hearing the Quire of Angels singing his praises working wonders in heaven and in earth c. yet he forsook all this to find us out who were rolling in clay for when he came to glorifie our nature we were in trouble we could be found in no condition but that of misery when he bowed the heavens and came down he then turned the name of Majesty into Pity his Glory into Humility and laying aside his Glory he leapt from that his Greatness and came and dwelt among us clothed in flesh indeed had he come in the form of an Angel that had been condescention or but to our flesh or had he but come to the circumcision of his flesh that had been a large extent of his love for his circumcision was no other than the shedding of his most precious bloud one drop whereof would have been sufficient for the ransome of a world but he took upon him the form of a servant and that to wash his Disciples feet which was a step lower for God to tread nay lower than that he humbled himself to the death and that of the crosse 2 Phil. 8. where he found his enemies to be his Judges and those that hated him falsly to accuse his sacred Works but both divided for there you have one drawing up a charge against his life and here another answering for his life here one proclaiming his innocency there another crying out he is