3. Consider our tongues should be our Glory The proper end for which God hath given us the use of speech is to glorify and honour him our Creator and to profit one another Our words therefore should be good sound and savoury Let no corrupt communication sayes the Apostle Eph. 4.29 Proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers And our Saviour tells us Mat. 12.36 that of every idle word which is frivolous and fruitless we shall give an account in the day of Judgment And therefore a much more severe account surely men shall give of their wicked swearing blaspheming and cursing which are no proper works for them to imploy their tongues in but a horrible depraving perverting and defiling of so excellent a member 4. Consider what a high pitch of wickedness it is for any to deprave such an holy institution as an Oath is which should always be used reverently and only upon great and serious occasions and to prostitute it to the venting of every base passion and uttering of Pride and Presumption and fearlesness of God and to make that which should be a tremendous Ordinance to us a common slight and familiar thing 5. Consider how dishonourable it is to our Christian profession that those that call themselves Christians should live in such a flat contradiction to the Laws of Christ and should make nothing of familiar and customary swearing which he so severely prohibits Matth. 5.33 James 5.12 Is not this one of the sins for which the name of our Lord Jesus is blasphemed among Turks Jews and Infidels 6. Consider this is one of those sins for which God hath a controversie with a Nation and which hastens down Judgment upon it Hos 4.1 2. Hear the word of the Lord ye children of Israel For the Lord hath a controversie with the inhabitants of the Land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the Land By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing Adultery they break out and blood toucheth blood Jer. 23.10 Because of swearing the Land mourneth see also Zech. 5 1 2 3 4. Amos 8.14 Zeph. 1.4 5. 7. Consider how highly this sin is aggravated and the guilt of it inhaunced in that there is so little temptation to it Other sins have an external bait and motive either pleasure profit or credit but in swearing and cursing there is none of these O the unreasonableness of this sin What sence is gratified by it or what is there to incite or move a man to it but meerly pride and audaciousness of spirit presumtion and fearlesness of the Almighty Now the less temptation there is to any sin the greater is the contempt of God in the committing of it This sin is therefore much worse than Epicurism * Take not his name who made thy mouth in vain It gets thee nothing and hath no excuse Lust and Wine plead a pleasure avarice gain But the cheap swearer through his open sluce Le ts his Soul run for nought as little fearing Were I an Epicure I could bate swearing The cheapest sins most dearly punish'd are Because to shun them also is so cheap c. Herberts Church-porch for though that be more bestial yet this is more diabolical and proceeding from an obstinate pride and wilfulness more conforms a man to the Devil than other sins do O what a height of wickedness is it for men to sin meerly because they will sin and to transgress the more audaciously because God forbids it 'T is a dreadful doom passed by the mouth of the holy Prophet on such persons Psal 25.3 Let them be confounded that transgress without cause Blessed Lord How infinite is thy patience to bear so long with those hellish Oaths and direful imprecations that the tongues of wretched mortals daily belch out against thee To what a strange pitch of wickedness is the world come that it should be counted a point of bravery and gallantry to swear stoutly and to interlace their language with broad and full mouthed oaths Nay the daring fellows of our dayes as if they were loath to go to Hell the ordinary way have invented new wayes of sinning and such dreadful forms of swearing as may make the heart of any serious Christian to tremble at â—â—e very mention of them These Sons of Belial if they be but crossed in their business or pleasure many times curse and swear like Devils and swear so madly that when they are reproved for it they will swear they did not swear Who is there now that walks abroad especially in our great Towns and Cities but shall here these hellish oaths God damn me or sink me belched out of the mouths of men whose tongues are set on fire of Hell O should we rend our garments every time we hear the name of God blasphemed as the Jews did of old how few sober serious Christians would go in whole apparel Ah besotted Wretches that you should thus sell your selves to do wickedly that you that are but crawling worms should dare thus to set your mouths against Heaven and impudently affront as much as lyes in you the Majesty of the most High Let me speak to you in the language of the Prophet Isay 57.4 Do ye know against whom ye make a wide mouth and draw out the tongue What could your wit wit said I I mean your madness find no cheaper way to undo your selves Are you resolved to try the patience of God and to see how long he can forbear you Are you affraid you shall miss of hell except you sin at a higher rate than ordinary and therefore are resolved by your damning provocations to force your entrance into it and take it by violence Do you fear the Devil will not torment you enough except you do supererogate of him by being more wicked than you had any temptation to be that so you may have a double portion in Hell Could you find out no other way of Damning your selves but by sinning directly against that precious blood and wounds of the Son of God by which others are saved Do you thus perform your Baptismal Covenant whereby you stand ingaged to renounce the Devil and all his works and to fight faithfully under Christs Banner all your dayes What aileth you ye blind wretches Are you in such hast to be with your everlasting companions the Devils and the Damned that you will needs hasten your Judgment and bring on your Damnation with a swifter pace Are you now inuring your selves to the language of Hell and the infernal Tophet that you may not have it to learn when you come thither Poor Wretches what will become of you how soon to your sorrow will your imprecations fall on your heads The Devil whom you have so often wished might fetch you stands eagerly waiting for his commission to do it and then you shall know to your cost whether Gods
had resolv'd to slay his Brother Jacob Gen. 27.4 Jacob wrastles that night with God in prayer Chap. 32. Vers 11 24 26 28. And Chap. 33. Vers 4. We find God had so changed the heart of Esau that instead of killing his Brother he most lovingly embraces him and fell upon his neck and kissed him 3. Sometimes he snares the wicked in the work of their own hands when they have designed mischief against his People Psal 9.16 The Lord is known by the Judgment he executeth The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands The whole Book of Hester is a sufficient proof of this And we read Job 5.12 That he dissappointeth the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot perform their enterprizes Achitophel also is a remarkable instance of this whose counsel against David God turned in foolishness 4. Sometimes he makes the wicked against their own will to fulfill his will See what God says to the Assyrian Isai 10.5 6 7. O Assyrian the Rod of mine anger and the Staff in their hand is mine indignation I will send him against an Hypocritical Nation and against the People of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the Spoil and to take the Prey and to tread them down like the mire of the Streets Howbeit he meaneth not so neither doth his heart think so but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off Nations not a few Josephs Brethren little thought when they so wretchedly sold him they had been advancing of him But this is the Chymistry of Divine Providence to bring good out of evil 5. He usually converts the outward evils that befall his People to their Spiritual good Paul had a sad Messenger of Satan sent to buffet him 2 Corinth 12.7 But this Messenger prov'd a means to prevent pride in him Wicked men are God Scullions as one calls them and imployed by him to scour his Children and to brighten their graces Physick though it be not good to the Palat yet it may be very good for the Patient David found it so when he cried out It is good for me that I have been afflicted before I was afflicted I went astray but now I have kept thy word Psal 119.67 68. And Isai 27.9 Sayes God By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin 6. And Lastly God very often qualifies the outward troubles of his People with inward comforts and consolations Though the outward man smart yet God can cause the Conscience to smile Though the outward estate be peeled yet he can chear the heart Those Saints in the 11 of Heb. took joyfully the spoiling of their goods remembring they had in Heaven a better and more induring substance Hear what the blessed Apostle says 2 Cor. 1.3 4 5 â—2 Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort whereby we our selves are comforted of God For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ For our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom bâ—t by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the World and more abundantly tâ—â—â—â—-wards And that Gods Providencâ— is in so singular a manner watchfull over his Church and Pe ple may yet further appear if we consider these thiâ—â—s 1. They 〈…〉 in Covenant with him He hath taken thâ—m to hiâ—â—â—â—â—â—or hâ—â— pâ—â—ulâ—â—â— People he hath formed them for himself and 〈…〉 thâ—â—r God and that comprehends all blessings in it Jer. 〈…〉 And Ezek. 16.8 I entred into Covenant with thâ—â—e saith 〈…〉 â—â—d thou becamest mine 2. He hath pu◠〈◊〉 indearing relations towards them viz. Of a Father and of a Husband Jâ—r 31.9 I am a Father saith God to Israel Psal 103.13 As a Father puâ—â—th his Children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him And Isai 54.5 Thy Maker is thy Husband 3. He sets a high value upon them as may appear by the Titles he gives them He calls them his Jewels Mal. 3.17 And Zach. 2.8 The Apple of his eye and Psal 16.3 The Excellent of the Earth 4. He hath made many gracious promises to them Heb. 13.5 He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee And Psal 84.11 He hath promised to be a Sun and a Shield unto his People He will give grace and glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly And thus much of the Third particular I propounded to speak to viz. The extent of Divine Providence I come now to the Fourth viz. to consider 4. What are the Objections that are usually made against this Doctrine 1. Object Some think that to assert that the Providence of God reaches to all his Creatures is a diminution or aviling of his Majesty and Greatness Therefore Epicurus and some of the Ancients thought that God confined himself to the highest Heavens as to his Royal Palace that his Majesty was too Sublime and August to mind the actions of inferiour Creatures And Aristotle himself it sâ—ems was of this opinion that the Providence of God reached no further then the Orb of the Moon Answ For answer to this we need only say that those men spake like Heathens not knowing the Scriptures which teach us that the Providence of God is so particular that the very hairs of our heads are said to be numbred and that a Sparrow does not fall to the ground without Gods knowledg or permission Matth. 10.29 And certainly 't is no diminution to the infinite Majesty of God to govern those Creatures how small and inferiour soever which he in his infinite wisdom thought good to create and produce * Deo probrum non est â—i utissimâ— quâ—qâ—e seâ— ss multo minâ—s regere 2 Object Another Objection against Providence is this if the Providence of God governs the World Cur malis bene bonis male Why fares it many times so well with the wicked Why do they flourish like a green Bay-tree While those that are righteous and good men meet with hard measure and are miserably harassed and afflicted This matter we find debated by Job in Chap. 21.7 And in Chap. 24.27 The Psalmist also insists on it in Psal 37.73 And the Prophet Jerem. Chap. 12.1 Answ That this oftentimes so happens is plain and undeniable And the Providence Wisdom and Justice of God in this dispensation is many times a mystery and riddle to the Children of men But the difficulty is soon dissolved if we will but attentively consider these things which we spake something to before in answer to an Objection made against Gods Justice 1. None are perfectly righteous here Therefore even in the very best God may find something
But does not the annexing of such a condition as this unto forgiveness lessen the grace and bounty of it Answer No in no wise For consider these things 1. The dispensing of pardon and forgiveness upon such a condition as faith in Christ which includes Gospel obedience is one of the most effectual means to introduce sanctity and holiness into the World For what more effectual way can there be to do it than to make it conditionally necessary to justification and salvation 2. Gods immutable holiness and justice is hereby made more illustrious and his solemn hatred and dislike of sin is more manifested For hereby 't is evident that God will save no man in his sins but from his sins Whom he justifies he will sanctify No mans sin is so forgiven that the least allowance is vouchsafed to it None but such as are sanctified can be accepted of him 3. Whatever is by the Gospel conditionally required of us is fully and freely given us Faith and every other grace is the gift of God We perform the condition required of us solely by the power of his grace freely given unto us And all the rewards of the Gospel are but the gracious remunerations of Gods own gifts and graces Free grace and divine bounty is the root that bears all And therefore the holiest men on earth have the greatest cause to be most humble For having received most they ought most to abase themselves 4. 'T is fit that all who shall be saved should be rationally satisfied of the excellency of that life the Gospel calls them unto For the precepts of the Gospel are framed and calculated for our advantage and benefit The commands of Christ are in no wise grievous to any man truly and rationally informed of his own interest The Gospel commands us to be sober righteous and godly and 't is rationally best for us so to be both in order to our own good and the good and benefit of others among whom we live And therefore 't is fit we should make a solemn choice of this life for our selves and seriously resolve as men of truth and fidelity to pursue it There ought to be sincerity of intention and endeavour in us to live this life though we do not arrive at perfection of action We should therefore examine what is the deliberate choice of our wills whether to be Sanctified by the Spirit of Christ as well as to be justified by his merits Christ will not judge of us by a suddain passionate choice but by our rational and advised choice And we must especially take heed of all degrees of insincerity and hypocrisie which of all sins under the Gospel does most dangerously border on a breach of the condition required Believe it those things that keep people usually from the good things of the Gospel are either a direct refusal of Christ or a sloathful carelesness unconcerned neglect of him or a prevailing falseness in the course of Gospel obedience I shall conclude all that I shall say upon this argument with these four particulars 1. Our Lord and Saviour did certainly perform all things that were required to be performed by him as our mediator 2. By reason of the high dignity of his person his obedience and sufferings are of more value and worth than the obedience and sufferings of all mankind would have been 3. These things being performed by him in our nature and wholly upon oâ—r account God accepts them for us though not as done by us and reckons all the benefits and advantages of them to us 4. If we desire to partake of the benefits of Christs active and passive obedience we must sincerly believe in him and take him for our Lord and Saviour and if our Faith be a true justifying Faith it will purify our hearts and reform our lives Having thus explained this Doctrine of the forgiveness of sins let us now consider what improvement we should make of it 1. Let us admire the infinite goodness of God that there is a possibility of pardon for the children of men who are naturally under wrath There is none for the Angels that fell 2. Let us often meditate upon and admire the way of it 1. No pardon to be obtained for man without a Mediator And where could fallen man have found a Mediator that would have undertaken his cause 2. No ordinary Mediator would suffice If all the holy Angels had joyned together it would have not been sufficient Only the eternal Son of God could effect it 3. Let us consider that Christ obtained our peace not by a bare mediation but by paying a price for us and making full satisfaction to the Will and Justice of God by his obedience and sufferings 3. Let us often admire the benefits of it 1. It is not only a great mercy in it self but the foundation of all other mercies 'T is the Queen of mercies that hath a glorious train of other mercies attending it Psal 32.1 Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven whose iniquities are covered to whom the Lord imputeth not transgression None of the antient Philosophers ever gave such a definition of happiness 2. The sense of this mercy makes all afflictions more easie to be born What can hurt us if God be reconciled to us 3. Pardoning mercy brings healing with it unto the Soul Christ Sanctifies those by his Spirit whose pardon he procures by his Merits 4. It affords great comfort against death which is otherwise terrible of terribles 4. If pardoning mercy be so great a mercy let us often consider how vile and wretched those persons are who slight this mercy But who are they 1. All careless ones who neglect this great salvation and prefer the things of the World before it 2. All wicked and prophane ones who go on daily increasing their guilt not minding to make peace with God 3. All that rest on any thing besides Christs righteousness and intercession for the procuring their pardon with God 5. Let us all examine our selves whether we have obtained this blessedness or no. Many content themselves with weak grounds on which they build their hopes of pardon 1. They are not so bad as others They think they are sinners yet guilty but of few sins in comparison of what others are guilty of I answer Possibly they may not be so bad as others yet they may be in a very bad condition for all that out of which if they do not get they will be everlastingly miserable 2. Others think well of them Be it so But we shall not stand or fall by mans Judgment 3. They live civilly so they may do and yet be unconverted and without true conversion and regeneration no salvation is to be expected 6. Seeing God is ready to forgive let us all endeavor to secure this blessedness to our selves 1. Let us seek it as earnestly as ever we sought any thing in the World 2. those that must shortly be arraigned If a guilty Malefactor knew
his spirit 4. They are such who by the assistance of grace do labour to mortifie their inward lusts and to purifie their hearts from secret sins 5. They are such in whose hearts the interest of God prevailes above the interest of the World or of the Flesh 6. They are such who labour to be holy in all manner of conversation 1. To be religious towards God 2. Righteous towards men 3. Sober and temperate in the government of themselves 4. Diligent and faithful in the discharge of their relative duties 7. They are such as truly love all the people of God and such as are true members of Christs holy Catholick Church 8. They are such as labour to be sincere in all that they do 9. They are such as labour to be watchful over themselves viz. over their thoughts over their affections over their words over their actions and over their aims and ends 10. They are such as in their Judgments do approve the wayes of God as most eligible and most safe 11. They do consent to and own the Covenant they were entred into in their Baptism And these are the characters or marks of such as are Converted Now if any one on serious examination of himself do find that there is any seed or principle of true grace in him and that it is the sincere purpose of his heart to walk with God then he ought to encourage himself to come to this Ordinance which was instituted to strengthen the weak Christian And so much of the duties which are to be performed before you come to this holy Ordinance I come now to shew what are the duties required of you in the time of receiving Which are these 1. Carefully avoid distractions as much as possibly you can through the whole administration and gird up the loyns of yâ—ur mind and be intent upon the work you are about 2. Labour to quicken and excite and awaken in your souls these following graces 1. Awaken repentance and a bleeding sorrow in thy heart for all thy sins past and especially for those that sit heaviest upon thy conscience Say to thy soul in some such soliloquies as these O my soul that ever I should have been such a vile wretch that I should have so grievously offended my merciful and bountifull Creator O what a mercy is it that I am out of Hell God might have cut me down in my sins and cast me down into the Lake of fire and brimstone And has he hitherto spared me and does he now offer me a pardon sealed with the blood of his dear Son O the unsearchable riches of his free grace and mercy O my soul how should this melt thee into penitent tears How should this consideration make thee loath and hate every sin that thou hast ever been guilty of and make thee willing to renounce and forsake them all and to turn to God in sincere obedience 2. Awaken and excite a spiritual appetite in thy self Say to thy soul Happy yea thrice happy O my soul are they whose sins are forgiven and whose iniquities are covered blessed are they to whâ—m God will not impute their transgressions but will pardon them in and through his Son Yea happy are they whose justification is testified to their consciences by their Sanctification and by their sincere desire and endeavor to walk before God in all holy obedience O my soul that this may be my portion whatever God denies me else in this world Oh that this may be a day wherein I may have a clear manifestation of Gods pardoning mercy made to my Soul Oh that I may receive a plentiful effusion of the graces of the Spirit into my heart O that my lusts and corruptions may be mortified and subdued O that I may be enabled to do all my duties better than ever I have done O that I may be more watchful over mine heart and tongue and all my wayes than ever I have been O that my soul may depart much bettered much revived comforted and strengthned from this holy Ordinance 3. Awaken Faith Say to thy self O my Soul it is not a confident and groundless perswasion that Christ will save thee that is the faith now required of thee But thou must humbly cast thy self at Christs feet and seriously and deliberately own and acknowledge him for the only Saviour of mankind and humbly cast thy self on the free mercy of God and his merits and intercession for the obtaining the pardon of all thy sins and must consent to take him for thy Lord as well as thy Saviour and be willing he should rule in thee by his holy Spirit and govern thee by his Laws O my Soul willingly freely deliberately surrender thy self to him to be pardo ed in his blood to be sanctified by his spirit go to him trust in him for grace as well as pardon And though thou hast before given up thy self to him and by acts of Faith united thy self to him yet labour now to excite and put forth stronger acts of faith and affiance in him that thou maist be more firmly united unto him Say Lord I come to thee sweet Saviour I give my Soul here anew to thee Take it wash it in thy precious blood from the gâ—ilt of all my sins and sanctifie it by thy holy spirit Thou hast said whoever comes unto thee thou wilt in no wise cast out O receive me though an unworthy wretch O absolve me from the guilt of all my sins of every sort and kind O keep my poor Soul that I now commit unto thee unto eternal life There in no other name given under Heaven whereby I can be saved Therefore I do profess and declare that thy merits obedience and sufferings I do alone depend on and abide by for my reconciliation and peace with God and do now renew my Covenant that I was entred into in my Baptism resolving by thy grace to be for ever thine 4. Awaken excite and stir up thy heart in love to God and to Jesus Christ Say to thy self O my Soul how great is the love of God in sending his only Son to dye to save poor lost Sinners He did not thus for the Angels that fell O how great is the love of Christ who would stoop so low That the eternal Son of God should take our nature and be born of a poor Virgin that he should dye and suffer and endure so much for poor worms for enemies that he should sweat drops of blood in the Garden in his agony that he should have his precious body thus broken and his blood shed to redeem us Was there ever love like this O my Soul what hath been done by thee in return for all this love O my sweet Jesus thou art worthy of all love and service from me though mine heart is base and disingenuous and is not sufficiently affected with thy love Thou art infinitely lovely though my heart loves thee not as it ought to do Thou wast exceeding
Jesuitica aequivocatio mentalis reservatio hoc ipso mendatii convincuntur quibus haec in usu sunt nimirum quia cum veram propositionem animo concipiant falsum tamen enuntient Davenant in Colos Therefore he that speaks what he thinks does not tell a lye though he may speak an untruth or that which is in it self false And in such a case what he sayes is falsiloquium but not mendacium a falshood but not a lye He offends not against moral truth or veracity because he speaks as he thinks and so he does not lye but is himself mistaken 'T is formale mendacium a formal and direct lye when we express or affirm a thing otherwise than we conceive or think with an intent to deceive 2. I come to consider the several sorts or kinds of lyes And so a lye is usually distinguished into Jocosum Officiosum Perniciosum 1. Jocosum when a man uttereth a lye in sport to make others merry To this we may apply that of the Prophet Hosea Chap. 7. Verse 3. They make the King glad with their wickedness and the Princes with their lyes They that tell lyes meerly to make others laugh are guilty of this kind of lying 2. Officiosum when a man tells a lye to help another out of some present danger or inconvenience God himself will not be served with a lye Job 13.7 Will ye speak wickedly for God Will ye talk deceitfully for him We may not lye for Gods cause or glory much less may we do it for any mans benefit * Plato was no good casuist for Christians who allowed a lye either to save a Citizen or deceive an enemy And the piae fraudes allowed among the Papists are also much of this nature 3. Perniciosum when a man tells a lye which tends apparently to the hurt or damage of another either in his life goods or good name 3. I come now to shew the great evil and malignity of this sin 1. 'T is a sin that makes men most unlike unto God God is a God of truth and cannot lye He is stiled the Lord God of truth Psal 31.5 Deut. 32.4 and Isay 65.16 That which makes men so unlike the true and holy God must needs be an odious sin One of the Antients said well that two things make us like unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speak truth and to do good And surely this consideration that lying is against the holy nature of God should work in us an extreme detestation of it 2. 'T is a sin that God hath declared in his word a great abhorrence of as may appear if you consider these following Scriptures Prov. 6.16 17 18 19. These six things doth the Lord hate yea seven are an abomination to him A proud look a lying tongue c. A false witness that speaketh lyes and him that soweth discord among Brethren Levit. 19.11 Ye shall not lye one to another Prov. 13.5 A Righteous man hateth lying c. Rev. 21.8 The fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and whore-mongers and sorcerers and Idolaters and all lyars shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 22.15 Without are dogs and sorceres c. and whosoever loveth and maketh a lye Psal 101.7 He that telleth lyes shall not tarry in my sight Hose 4.1 2. Hear the word of the Lord ye children of Israel for the Lord hath a controversie with the inhabitants of the Land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the Land By swearing and lying c. they break out and blood toucheth blood Zech. 8.16 17. These are the things that ye shall do Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour execute the judgement of truth and peace in your gates c. And let none of you imagine evil in his heart against his neighbour and love no false Oath For these are the things I hate saith the Lord. Ephes 4.25 Wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth to his neighbour Col. 3.9 Lye not one to another seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds 3. 'T is a great perverting of that noble faculty of speech which God hath given unto man God hath given unto man a tongue to express his mind and to reveal and declare what he apprehends in his heart so that his tongue is to be the index and discoverer of his mind Now you know if the index or hand of a Clock should point to eight and the Clock presently strike ten we should say it was a lying Index and greatly out of order The case is so here when the tongue utters one thing and the mind thinks another 4. Lying is a work of the Devil and makes people resemble the Devil in a manner John 1.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye will do he was a Murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him When he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyer and the Father of it Pride Malice and Lying are the Devils sins after a more especial manner And who would be willing to be like the Devil 5. Lying is destructive to humane society 'T is injurious to all converse between man and man How shall a man know what to look for or what to expect or what to trust to if he cannot believe the persons he deals with but finds that in what they affirm to him or assure him of or promise to him they notoriously lye unto him and palpably deceive him 6. 'T is a sin condemned by the light of natural conscience The more ingenuous among the Heathens abhorred it The Apostle quoteth a verse out of Epimenides a Heathen Poet wherein he condemns Cretians for their frequent lying Tit. 1.12 The Cretians are are alwayes lyars evil beasts slow-bellies * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 7. 'T is a reproachful a shameful sin The maddest fellows and most Ruffianly and debauched who make so little conscience of other sins yet cannot induce to be charged with a lye because 't is looked upon as a cowardly and shameful sin Whoever gives them the lye provokes them beyond all patience 'T is the cause of many duels and many times murders Hear what that excellent person Mr. Herbert saith in his Poems Lye not but let thy heart be true to God Thy mouth to it thy actions to them both Cowards tell lyes and those that fear the rod. The stormy-working soul spits lyese and froth Dare to be true Nothing can need a lye A fault that needs it most grows two thereby 8. Lying easily disposeth to perjury He that useth frequently to lye 't is to be feared he will not much stick at forswearing himself upon occasion For when the heart is once hardened in one sin it is mighty proclive to another of the like kind and nature 9. It makes a man useless in the
Sometimes he visits them with afflictions sometimes with temptations * 2 Cor. 12.7 nay sometimes he suffers them to fall into sin and all to humble them Expedit superbo ut incidat in peccatum as he said of old And if God so much desires we should be humble shall not we comply with his will therein 3. Con. how our blessed Lord and Saviour recommended humility to the World 1. By his precepts Mat. 11.28 2. By his example John 13. He washed his Disciples feet And John 6.15 When they went about to make him a King he utterly refused it There is not any one vertue that he commandeth and commendeth more than humility nor any one vice that he sets himself more against than pride In his Beatitudes Matth. 5. Poverty of spirit hath the first promise and meekness and humility the third And if we look through his whole life we shall find there is not any one grace he did more signally exercise or by his example more commend to the imitation of Christians than Humility Let the same mind therefore be in us that was in Christ Jesus as the Apostle exhorts us Phil. 2.5 4. Earnestly pray to God to help thee in the humbling of thy heart pour out thy soul to the Lord in some such petitions as these Lord take from me I pray thee all vanity and foolish complacency in my own person or actions and help me to reflect all glâ—ry to thy self suffering nothing to adhere to mine own heart but a sence of my imperfections and thankfulness to thee for all thy free and undeserved mercies Lord keep me from sin folly and indecencies and then inable me to receive all lessenings and diminutions ro m men patiently and contentedly 5. Converse often with humble and afflicted persons that so thy heart may be affected with their condition and that thou mayest sympathize with them in their sorrows and sufferings 6. Consider what a great influence humility hath into many other graces Repentance Faith Love to God and man are much quickned and enlivened by humility None more truly penitent none more joyfully and thankfully repose and rely on the great satisfaction of Christ none have their hearts more inflamed with love to God and man than humble persons Lord what am I saith the humble Soul that ever thou shouldst place thy love on one so unworthy What am I or what is my fathers house that thou shouldst deal so bountifully with me 7. Meditate often on thy own failings and weaknesses and reflect on the worst things in thee that so thou mayest be abased and not only on the best to puff thee up The Pharisee in Luke 18. cried out I thank thee O Lord I am not as other men are an extortioner unjust an adulterer or as this Publican but the poor Publican cried out Lord be merciful to me a sinner 8. Meditate on thy own death and celebrate thy own Funeral in thy serious thoughts and meditations Methinks some serious thoughts of death and the grave should be able to pull down the pride and plumes of the vainest spirit CHAP. IV. Of Gluttony IN handling of this subject I shall proceed in this Method 1. I shall shew what Gluttony is 2. I shall inquire into the causes of it 3. Shall shew the great evil and danger of it 4. Shall propound some helps and remedies against it For the First I shall first shew in the general what gluttony is and then come to speak more particularly of it Gluttony may be thus described It is a voluntary excess in eating for the meer pleasing of the appetite or some other carnal end But here I must interpose three cautions 1. The same quantity may be an excess in one that is not in another A strong and labouring man may eat a great deal more than a student or a man of a sedentary life Therefore the excess is not to be estimated by the quantity eaten but by the condition of the person eating Ordinarily that is to be called and accounted excess when a man to please his appetite eateth more than is profitable and convenient for his health or to help him on in his duty And here that excellent rule of Aristotle is to be observed who maketh vertue to consist in the mean or measure and that distance from the extremes which the prudence of a prudent man determines * Virtus consistit in ea mediocritate quam vir prudens defini verit And so in this case the prudence of every particular man must determine for him what must be his measure as to eating 2. 'T is not all delight in meat or pleasing the appetite that is a sin but only that which is made a mans ultimate end and is not referred to an higher end When the delight it self is not directed to health and more alacrity in our duty towards God and in serving of him 3. A difference as to diet ought to be allowed to persons and to times 1. To persons Some persons may have better diet and more costly than others The same diet that is fit for one man is not fit for another A great man may have those sorts of meats which would be unfit ordinarily and too chargeable for a poor man 2. To times Times of Thanksgiving and rejoycing may be allowed a more liberal provision and large exceedings than is convenient at other times As we see our Saviour at a Wedding in Cana in Galilee turned water into wine that the guests on such a day of chearfulness and rejoycing might have a more plentiful provision Yet temperance is then also to be observed excess being never allowable but alwayes to be avoided Having thus spoken of Gluttony in the general I come now to shew more particularly wherein it consists 1. 'T is sometimes an excess in quantity when more is eaten than is meet and fit or than the stomach can well carry off or digest And so by imperfect concoction abundance of crudities and vitious humors are bred which prepare and dispose the body to sicknesses 2. Sometimes in quality when the meats that are eaten are too young or too delicate and costly and when there is too great a curiosity in dressing and saucing of them or when such meats are delighted in which are apt and proper to excite and pamper lust and wantonness or when they are such as are intended to revive the appetite after it is well satisfied and needs no more 3. Sometimes in the manner of eating As 1. When men eat too eagerly and with too much greediness and too voracious an appetite 2. When they eat too often and too soon before their former meal is digested not allowing nature sufficient time of concoction And so much of the nature of Gluttony 2. I come now to inquire into the causes of it There are several causes of it 1. An inordinate appetite and a mind too much set upon Flesh-pleasing They that are after the flesh do mind the the
the encrease of their Graces and so for the furtherance of their glory Thirdly They have good assurance that all things shall work together for their good Rom. 8.28 And therefore no cause to complain Fourthly Though godliness hath the promises of this life as well as of that to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Yet those promises of Temporal blessings must be understood with this limitation viz. That they shall be made good to them so far forth as God shall see it good and convenient for his Children in this life and no further Fifthly The prosperity of wicked men in this World is many ways very hurtfull and extremely disadvantagious to them in reference to their Eternal condition Outward sufferings with Spiritual blessings are ordinarily the Lot of Gods Children here on Earth as outward prosperity with Spiritual calamity is very frequently the Lot of the ungodly The prosperity of fools destroys them saith Solomon Prov. 1.32 Sixthly There will be a day of Judgment wherein all things will be set right though here things oftentimes seem to be out of course Seventhly Eternity is long enough to punish the wicked and reward the Godly therefore let us not take our measures either of happiness or misery from the outward dispensations of this life The Consideration of this Attribute should make these impressions upon us First if God be just then this should make all impenitent sinners tremble Except men repent 't is not consistent with Gods justice they should be pardoned What great cause have ungodly impenitent sinners to tremble at the Justice of God which engages him to deal so severely with them and to punish them everlastingly as his Enemies O wretched sinner what aileth thee to make this just God thine enemy What folly What madness possesses thee that thou shouldst make a mock at sin and laugh at Hell and Damnation Shall not the Justice of God terrifie thee and keep thee off from those sinfull courses which expose thee to so certain a vengeance Secondly Gods Justice is a great consolation to the Righteous He will justifie them whom his Gospel justifies because he is just 1 John 1.9 If thou break off thy sins by repentance and apply thy self to Him for pardon in and through the merits of his Son He is just and therefore will make good his promise of pardon to thee Thirdly God being just let us bless his name for finding out a way whereby his Justice may be satisfied and so we poor sinners pardoned His Justice might have taken every one of us by the Throat and said Pay all thou owest and then what should we have done We could not have payed one Farthing of the Debt O let us for ever bless his Holy Name that he hath provided so good a surety for us who hath undertaken the payment of our Debt and to satisfie his justice in our behalf Fourthly Let us labour to imitate God in this Attribute of his Justice that is let us give to every one what of right is due to him Let us labour to give to God his due and to man his due Let us not rob God of his time allotted for his service Let us give him our Hearts and serve him with the best of our affections Let us give to man what is due to him not injuring any man wittingly and willingly And in case of wrong done let us labour to make satisfaction Non remittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum Remember that the sin is notre mitted except that which is taken away wrongfully be restored IV. God is Mercifull Mercifull He is called The Father of Mercies 2 Cor. 1.3 Abundant in Mercy 1. Pet. 1.3 Rich in Mercy Eph. 2.4 And sayes the Psalmist Psal 145.8 9. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works All the Attributes of God are glorious yet he rejoyceth most in the manifestation of his mercy and goodness Exod. 33.18 19. When Moses desired the Lord to shew him his glory He said I will make all my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy Isai 63.7 I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed upon us and the great goodness toward the House of Israel which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses He delights not in the death of a sinner His mercy is so great to all that he will destroy none but for their wilfull sin The consideration of this Attribute should teach us these Lessons First Gods mercy should lead sinners to repentance It should shame them from their sins It should encourage them to repent as well as engage them to it O sinners remember we have to do with a mercifull God who hath not forbid any to come in but continueth to invite them who have often refused and will undoubtedly welcome and pardon all that will return and come in But mercy it self will have no mercy on the Impenitent Isai 27.11 It is a People of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour Wo to all them against whom mercy it self shall rise up in Judgment There is mercy with thee that thou mayest be feared sayes the Psalmist Psal 130.4 Were there no hope of pardon Men would be as desperate as the Devils themselves But God is merciful He delighteth not in the death of a sinner Object But you will say how comes it to pass then that so many men are damned if God delights not in the death of a sinner Answ Divines tells us of voluntas Dei Antecedens Consequens that is the Antecedent and Consequent will of God By the former as a Law-giver He gives just and good Laws and wills that Men should obey them that they may be happy in so doing By the other if they will not obey as a just Judge he wills they should be punished So that their ruine is from themselves and not from God Secondly The Mercy of God should be the matter of our daily praises The meditation of God's Mercy should produce in us delightfull thoughts and should keep as it were a continual sweetness upon our hearts and cause us to study the most gratefull returns unto God They that live continually upon Mercy should be as it were turned into love and thankfullness It should become as it were their Nature and Constitution as the food men live upon will be seen in their Temperature health and strength O how unspeakable is the Mercy of God that provides so well for his Servants in this their Warfare and Pilgrimage through this World O
what sweet Meditations should we have of Gods Mercy Love thankfulness and praise should be our daily exercise Had we Davids heart what Songs of praise would the consideration of Gods Mercy teach us to indite How affectionately should we recount the Mercies of our youth and riper years Yea of every state and condition we have been in to the honour of our great Benefactor But especially if God hath touched our hearts with his saving grace if he hath effectually called us and inabled us to repent of our sins and believe in his Son O then how should we bow down our heads and adore his free grace as the cause thereof If we have received any grace tending to our own sanctification or the edification of others Let us say as Paul did 1 Cor. 15.20 By the grace of God I am that I am Thirdly The meditation of Gods goodness and mercy to us should possess us with a superlative love to God Most certainly the prevailing love of God is the surest evidence of true sanctification He that hath most love has most grace And if you truly love God you will be loath to offend him The love of God doth not reign in that soul where the love of the World or of the Flesh or Pleasure reigneth Fourthly The Mercy of God should teach us to imitate him in this Attribute We should labour to be mercifull as our Heavenly Father is mercifull that is as to the manner though we cannot reach to the measure The goodness of God should possess us with a desire to be conformed to his goodness in our measure Summae Religionis est imitari quem colis Now God is mercifull two ways especially in Giving Forgiving First In Giving O how does the Lord supply our wants daily Let us therefore shew mercy to those that want our help Secondly In Forgiving O what a vast number of debts does the Lord forgive us Gods mercy to us layes the greatest Obligation imaginable upon us to forgive others (c) A Christian may remember offences in cautelam though not in vindictam Matth. 18.23 Shall not we forgive an Hundred Pence who have had Ten Thousand Talents forgiven unto us Fifthly We should especially observe and take notice of the mercy of God so highly manifested in the design of our Redemption 1 Joh. 4.10 Here is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins Was there ever Mercy like this We have reason to cry out O the depth of the riches of the mercy of God! O Lord what is man that thou art so mindful of him or the Son of man that thou thus visitest him with thy favour and mercy Sixthly Gods goodness and mercy should encourage our Souls to trust in him How many friends have some men with whom they dare trust their Estates or Lives because they are confident they truly love them And shall we not trust God who is love it self 1 John 4.16 I come now to the last of Gods communicable Attributes which I shall speak unto which is His faithfulness in keeping of his Covenant and Promises V. God is Faithful Faithful One letter of Gods glorious Name is abundant in truth or faithfulness The Scriptures abundantly bear Testimony unto this Deut. 7.9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithfull God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandements to a Thousand Generations Isai 49.7 The Lord who is faithfull Rom. 3.4 Let God be true that is owned and acknowledged for such though all mankind should be false and deceitful Now Gods Faithfulness is manifâ—sted Two ways In fulfilling his promises In accomplishing his Threatnings God cannot in any case fail of his word It is impossible for him to lie Heb. 6.18 Tit. 1.2 As God is light and in him there is no darkness 1 Joh. 1.5 So he is truth and in him there is no falshood The strength of Israel will not lye 1 Sam. 15.29 And Numb 23.19 God is not a man that he should lye God hath promised to them that repent and believe in his Son that they shall be saved He hath promised to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luk. 11 9. And we have reason firmly to believe these promises As for Temporal things he hath not promised them to any of his Children absolutely but with a tacit condition if he in his infinite Wisdom see it good and expedient for them So that as to these we must humbly refer our selves to his infinite Wisdom 'T is true we are required to pray for these Temporal things in faith but not with an assured particular perswasion that God will give us the very particular things we ask but with a faith of dependance on God and submission to his Holy will When we act faith on the All-sufficiency and Power of God and humbly resign our selves to his Holy will we may be said to pray in faith I come now to the Lessons which we are to learn from the consideration of this Attribute First We should learn from hence that the commands of God are serious and his promises and threatnings will certainly be accomplished There is nothing of reason or sence can be spoken against an Holy life by any one who believes the veracity and faithfulness of God and the truth of his Word Hath God said and do you believe it that he will come in flaming Fire to take vengeance on all them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess 1.8 And can you continue in ignorance and disobedience Hath he said that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 And can you continue in unrighteousnâ—ss Hath he said Heb. 12.14 Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord and can you slight Holiness And mock at serious Piety If you believ'd God to be faithfull and his Word true how could these things be so Secondly Gods faithfulness is a great aggravation of the heinousness of the sin of unbelief He that believeth not God hath made him a lyer faith the Apostle 1 Joh. 5.10 And this is the rather to be heeded that we may stir up in our selves a diligent watchfulness against this sin which with many is accounted but a meer infirmity O what matter of humiliation doth our proneness to this sin namely to distrust God justly minister unto us Many men hardly trust the promises of God so much as they would the word of a mortal man whom they account honest and just Certainly Gods faithfulness and truth should teach us to hate every motion to unbelief Vnbelief is the very bane of all Religion so far as it prevails Let it be our great care therefore to extirpate all remainders of this sin of Infidelity out of our hearts Thirdly If God be faithful this should be a great encouragement to us to trust in him and
cannot tempt further then God permits 2. His temptations tend to the increase of their graces Satans temptations increased Job's patience Paul by Satans buffeting was humbled 2 Cor. 12. 3. They tend to promote the fervency of their prayers 4. Their wisdom and watchfulness will hereby be the more quickned 5. The resisting of these temptations shall tend to the increase of their glory hereafter 7. Let us consider their punishment Present and Future Their present punishment may be considered first in respect of loss 1. Upon their sin they fell from the place of happiness and glory which before they enjoyed Rev. 12.8 Neither was their place found any more in Heaven Though that place in a mystical sence may speak of the overthrowing of Satan in this present World and casting him out of the Church yet here is a plain allusion to Satans first fall from Heaven as the ground of that expression and therefore it may serve as a proof in this matter Their place of innocency was Heaven they stood round about the Throne of God where the Angels do continually behold his face Their happiness was to enjoy God their duty to glorifie him From this place they are now driven into the lower parts of the World as a place more fit for sin and misery Sometimes they fly up and down in the Air therefore is Satan called the Prince of the Power of the Air Eph. 2.3 And exercises the power that God permits him in the Regions of the Air by raising Tempests c. Sometimes he compasseth the earth too and fro Job 1.7 And 2 Cor. 4.4 He is called the god of this World that is whom the World generally serves and who by the just Judgment of God hath got such a Dominion over Multitudes that they serve him as their God 1. Their present punishment may be considered in respect of sense They are kept in Chains That is 1. They are under guilt and horror of Conscience Cehennam suam secum portant They carry their Hell about them 2. They are under an utter despair of deliverance to them there remaineth nothing but a certain looking for judgment and fiery indignation 3. Their malice spight and power is curbed and bridled and held in by the Almighty power of God so that they cannot vent it as they would which is no small vexation to them And thus much of their present punishment both of loss and sense 2. Let us consider their future punishment which at the day of Judgment will be greater than now it is They are not yet in that Prison and Place of torment where they shall abide for ever under the wrath of God They are now entered into some degrees of Hellish torments but they are in expectation of greater And therefore they cryed out to our Saviour Matth. 8.31 Art thou come to torment us before our time There is a time coming when the wrath of God shall be increased upon them Hell is prepared for the Devil and his Angels Matth. 25.41 Though for the present they are under Gods wrath yet they do not taste the dregs of it Therefore they besought our Saviour Luke 8.31 That he would not command them into the deep that is the place of full and perfect torment 8. I come now to shew what improvement we are to make of all that hath been said 1. Let us meditate with trembling on the fall of Angels If they fell how should we look to our standing If such excellent Creatures fell and fell do dreadfully how should we look to our selves 2. Let us observe the evil Nature of sin especially of Pride If Pride threw the Angels out of Heaven and laid the foundation of Hell we had need labour to maintain a great abhorrence in our hearts of that sin 3. We should often consider and it should deeply affect us that we lost our first estate as well as the Angels we lost our Original state of holiness and happiness as well as they As they fell soon so did we As they fell by Pride so did we 4. Let us meditate with astonishment on the wonderfull goodness of God who of his infinite mercy provided a Redeemer for us but none for them Let us admire the freeness of Gods love to the Children of men 5. Let us tremble at Gods Justice Angels Creatures of the highest excellency are not spared when they sin O admire at his patience that he hath yet spared thee 6. Remember the Devil and his Angels are in the World O how watchfull ought we to be and sensible of our continual danger from those evil Spirits 7. Let us remember that Spiritual Judgments are the most dreadfull The Devils are given up to an obstinacy in sinning Let us take heed of imitating them in their obstinacy and willfulness 8. Let us remember for our comfort that the Devil is in Chains He had not power over an Herd of Swine without leave Matth. 8.31 So Luke 22.31 He could not sift Peter till he had a Commission He could not touch Job's Estate or Skin till he had leave nay he could not deceive Ahab a wicked man till God said go 1 King 22.21 22. He is but Gods Executioner And therefore the Psalmist shewing how God punished the disobedient Israelites Psal 78.49 says He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger wrath and indignation and trouble by sending evil Angels among them 9. Let us take heed of being of the Devils faction or promoting his work and interest 10. Let us resist Satan as a Tempter here in this life As a Tormentor in the other life he cannot be resisted James 4.7 Resist the Devil and he will flee from thee 11. Let us daily seek help from God against Satans malice and power and humbly commit our selves to his especial protection 12. Seeing there are so many Devils and evil Spirits in the World this may be a mighty argument to assure us that there is a â—od a â—pirit of infinite goodness and power who restrains the malice of Satan and all his instruments else we could never be safe one moment 13. We should often meditate on the glorious Attributes of God His transcendent power his infinite wisdom and mercifulness For the deeper impressions are made upon our hearts by these Attributes the less we shall fear Satan They that know thy Name says the Plasmist Psal 9.10 That is thy Nature and Attributes will trust in thee 14. We should exercise faith on the merits and intercession of Christ for the quenching of the fiery Darts of Satan when ever he casts them into our Souls Eph. 6.16 Above all take the Shield of Faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench the fiery Darts of the Wicked One 15. Consider 't is the Devils sin not thine if he force evil thoughts upon thee which thou defiest and abhorrest 16. Meditate on the promises of God for thy support Rom. 16.20 The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly 1 Cor. 10.13 God
7. What is required of them who may expect this great priviledge 1. We shall consider what Sin is and what is the foul nature of it that so we may the better estimate the great goodness of God in pardoning of it The Apostle shews us 1 John 3.4 that Sin is the transgression of the Law The Law of God is the rule of the actions of man and any deviation from that rule is a Sin and brings us under guilt 2. Let us consider what are the kinds of Sin Sin is either original or actual 1. Original Sin is by the Church of England in her Articles described to be a fault and corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is engendred of the off-spring of Adam whereby man is very far gone from original Righteousness and inclined unto evil In which description three things may be observed 1. Original sin is the corruption of the nature of every man descended from the loins of Adam 2. It is a departure from that original Righteousness wherewith the Lord enriched Adam and our selves in him 3. 'T is an inclination to evil So that the whole race and off-sping of Adam who were then radically seminally and potentially in his loins were infected with this contagion As the Scripture sayes of Levi that he paid tythes in Abraham to Melchisedec Heb. 7.9 10. For he was then in the loyns of his Father Abraham when Melchisedec met him So all we and the whole race of Mankind were in Adam when he lost himself And that we are all from the womb tainted with this original corruption * Unum illud peccatum fons est aliorum Becan and depravation of nature is plain and manifest from these Scriptures Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me Ephes 2.3 And were by nature the children of wrath even as others And that even Infants themselves are tainted with this original corruption may appear from this that they are liable to death Now Death is a wages no way due to Infants for actual sins for actually as yet they have not offended therefore there must need be in them some original guilt some birth-sin which makes them liable to death 2. Actual sin which is the fruit of original is any action or commission or any omission repugnant unto the Law of God 3. Let us consider the wages of sin The Apostle tells us Rom. 6. last The wages of sin is death The wages due reward and fruit of sin is death But life eternal is the fruit of righteousness not as its wages but as a gift freely given by God upon the account of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ Every sin therefore being a deviation from the Law of God brings us under guilt and guilt makes us liable to suffer the punishment which is due to our sins and proportional to our offences And our offences are augmented by the consideration of the dignity of the person against whom they are committed And being committed against God must therefore needs be very heinous and bind us over to suffer eternal punishment except we obtain a pardon and our sins be remitted 4. Let us consider by whom sins are remitted 1. Men may forgive offences committed against them so far forth as they concern them Luke 17.3 4. If thy brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him and if he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying I repent thou shalt forgive him But as Sin is a transgression of Gods Law so God only can forgive it 2. 'T is God the Fathers Prerogative to forgive Sins Isaiah 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgression for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins 3. God communicated this power to his Son while he was here on the earth who had power of forgiving sins as part of that power that was given him both in Heaven and Earth Mark 2.5 and 7. When Jesus saw their Faith he said unto the sick of the Palsie Son thy sins be forgiven thee The Scribes ask who can forgive sins but God only Their position was good that God only can forgive sins but their supposition false that Christ was a meer man and not God as well as Man 4. Ministers may forgive sins not authoritatively but Ministerially and declaratively They preach remission in Christs name declare what persons they must be and what they must do who shall obtain it 5. Let us consider upon what account and for whose sake sins are forgiven The external impulsive cause inclining God to pardon us our sins and trespasses is the respect he hath to the obedience and sufferings of our Saviour Jesus Christ The Apostle tells us Rom. 3.24 that we are justified freely by the grace of God as by the internal impulsive cause of our justification by which he was first moved to forgive us our sins and then through the redemption wrought by Jesus Christ as the external moving or impulsive cause of so great a mercy The death of Christ is the meritorious cause of our forgiveness Mat. 26.28 For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Ephes 1.7 In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace Acts 13.38 39. Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses 1 John 1.7 And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin Rev. 1.5 Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood God is indeed said to remit our sins but never to remit the price without which we had never been redeemed The Law promised life but upon perfect absolute uninterrupted obedience and the voice thereof was Do this and live But this we failed in we need therefore the interposition of the Sacrifice of Christ for us The atonement made by the Sacrifices under the Law clearly had relation to the death of the Messias and whatsoever vertue was in them did operate through his death alone As he was a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world in Gods decree so all atonements which were ever made were only effectual through his blood So that no sin was ever forgiven but by vertue of that satisfaction and God was never reconciled to any sinner but by intuition of that propitiation Yet the general doctrine of remission of sins was never clearly revealed and publickly preached to all Nations till the coming of our Saviour in the flesh 6. Let us consider what forgiveness of sins doth import and contain in it Forgiveness of Sins doth comprehend in it reconciliation of an offended God and a
things of the flesh sayes the Apostle Rom. 8.5 There are some who too much delight in eating and feeding making their belly their God like Philoxenus who wished he had the neck of a Crane that he might have the longer delight in swallowing and tasting his meat and drink These people should remember that the flesh is one of the enemies they are engaged by their baptism to fight against and therefore should not pamper it unto wantonness 2. Want of due understanding what is truly conducing to health and to the furthering of us in our duty towards God and man A decaying body ought carefully to be supported but an unruly body ought carefully to be subdued And they that do not duly consider their own constitution and what is the duty incumbent upon them in reference to their particular Temper and the state of their bodies will be apt to erre in this matter 3. Making appetite the rule and measure of our eating and drinking whereas appetite was given to us to make that grateful to us which reason bids us to eat and not to be our measure Many a mans appetite is stronger than his concoction and many healthful people have an appetite to more than they ought to eat or than nature can well digest We see in Swine and many greedy Children that they would many times even kill themselves with eating if they had not the reason of others to govern them Appetite therefore is not to be our rule either for quantity or quality of meats but reason in this as in other things is to be our guide and governor When reason hath nothing against it then appetite sheweth what is most agreeable to nature and what the Stomach is like best to close with and digest But God hath given us reason as well as appetite and though as the common saying is * Venter non habet aures the belly and the appetite hath no ears yet reason should make them hear yea and obey too 4. The exceeding deliciousness and pleasantness of some meats tempts the appetite to desire more than nature requires So the quality oftentimes tempts and invites to an excess in quantity 5. The evil custom of urging and importuning others to eat more than they have a desire unto This is many times a great cause of Gluttony We are all more prone to exceed than to fall short and we need no incitation to eat our own appetite is apt to incite us too much But many people think it a piece of civility to urge importune and almost force their friends to eat though they will not urge them in the like kind to drink more than they have a mind unto And so much of the causes of Gluttony 3. I come now to the third thing I propounded to speak to namely the great evil and danger of this sin And this I shall shew in sundry particulars 1. 'T is a great enemy to the Body Plures gula * Quicquid avium volitat quicquid pisâ—ium natat quicquid ferarum discurrit nostris sepelitur ventribus Sen. quam gladius The throat hath killed more than the sword Many men dig their graves with their teeth and dye because they put not the knife to the throat (a) Prov. 23.1 Pone cuâ—trum i. e. modum adhibe gulae tuae eamque velut cultro gutturi infixo refraena Menech How hard soever it hath gone with some people in the World at some particular times yet more have been killed by their own Gluttony than ever were starved to death through want It may well be supposed that a little more than half the quantity of meat and drink which many people take would afford them as lasting and as healthful a state of body as the over measure they ordinarily use Intemperate men are Valetudinis suae proditores as he said betrayers of their own health For Gluttony though it kills not suddenly yet it doth it surely and certainly like the Dropsie of which 't is said it killeth as it filleth that is by degrees and insensibly Gluttony fills the body with crudities which are the root of most sicknesses There are few diseases but are the effects of Gluttony or excess in drinking 't is excess that commonly breeds them and layes the matter and foundation of them And if this were well understood I wonder that wicked men if they do not believe a life to come yet should not be affraid of shortning this their present life by their intemperance 2. 'T is a great enemy to the mind and to all the exercises operations and imployments of it both religious and civil It makes men heavy drousie dull and shathfull The body ought to be the instrument of the Soul in the service of God But Gluttony makes it a clog to the Soul and exceedingly indisposes it for the duties we owe either to God or man 3. Gluttony is a great symptom of a carnal mind and a carnal mind is enmity against God as the Apostle tells us Rom. 8.7 And that which opposes God is sure to be destroy'd And the spirit of God further assures us at the thirteenth verse of that Chapter that they that live after the flesh shall dye and that not only a temporal death but except they be converted an eternal death also 4. It breeds lust and furthers the power of concupiscence As dunging the ground makes it fruitful especially in weeds so Gluttony fills the mind with the weeds of filthy thoughts filthy desires and inclinations and thence come filthy words and filthy actions He therefore that feeds his body high does plainly and evidently pamper his enemy but he that beats down his body and keeps it in subjection as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 9.27 by fasting and abstinence takes a right course to mortifie the lusts of the Flesh 5. 'T is a shameful abuse of Gods good creatures which are given us for our use Would you not think those men exceeding blame-worthy who should take good and wholsome meat and throw it into the channel or sink Gluttons by their great excess do that which is much worse For they not only abuse Gods good creatures by their exâ—ess and riot but they thereby hurt their own bodies also 6. 'T is a most ungrateful sin It carries Gods good provisions over to his enemy even to the strengthning of fleshly lusts and turneth them all against the giver of them Is it not a horrible disingenuous thing so to provoke and dishonour God with his own mercies Pride Idleness fullness of Bread and hard-heartedness to the poor were the provoking sins of Sodom Ezek. 16 49. 7. 'T is a kind of idolatry to mind the belly inordinately The Apostle tells us of some Phil. 3.19 whose belly was their God And such persons worship a craving God that will not let them alone except they serve him 8. A gluttonous appetite maketh our very table become a snare to us Deut. 6.11 12. When thou hast eaten and art full
doth Gods stamp deface I shall conclude all with this earnest prayer to God that he would please of his infinite mercy timely to awaken the hearts of all those who are addicted to sin that by a speedy and serious repentance and forsaking of it they may escape that dreadful wrath which will be the portion of impenitent and unreformed Drunkards CHAP. VI. Of Uncleanness THE Nature of man is so vile and corrupt and so prone to this sin of Uncleanness that we had need use all care and caution lest while we are writing against it and endeavouring to beat it down we should any way stir it up and excite it In treating therefore of this Subject I shall proceed in this method 1. I shall shew the odiousness and heinousness of this sin and what great reasons we have to abhor it 2. Shall answer the vain excuses that men who are addicted to this sin do usually make for themselves 3. Shall give some directions and prescribe some remedies against it For the Fitst The Odiousness and heinousness of this sin may appear to us if we consider how strictly God hath forbidden it in his holy word and how severely he hath declared his displeasure against it And that man that is not awed by the declared will of his Creator I know not what will awe him 'T is in vain to think to convince a man of the evil and danger of any sin by other arguments whom the express word and declared will of God cannot convince I shall therefore set before you what God both in the old and new Testament declares concerning this sin and then leave every one to judge whether it be not our duty to abhor it and with all care and conscience to keep our selves from it Read therefore and well consider these following Scriptures Gen. 20.3 And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him behold thou art but a dead man for the woman which thou hast taken for she is a mans wife Gen. 26.10 And Abimelech said what is this thou hast done unto us one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us Gen. 38.24 And it came to pass about three moneths after that it was told Judah saying Tamar thy daughter in law hath plaid the Harlot and also behold she is with child by whoredom and Judah said bring her forth and let her be burnt * Observe these things hapned before the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai Exod. 20.14 Thou shalt not commit adultery Lev. 18.20 Thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbours wife to defile thy self with her V. 23. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thy self therewith neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto it is confusion V. 24. Defile not your selves in any of these things for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you V. 25. And the Land is defiled therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it and the Land it self vomiteth out her inhabitants Therefore commit not any of these abominations V. 28. That the Land spue not you out also when ye defile it as it spued out the Nations that were before you Lev. 20.10 And the man that committeth adultery with another mans wife the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death Deut. 22.22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband then they shall both of them die both the man that lay with the woman and the woman So shalt thou put away evil from Israel Verse 23. If a damsel that is a Virgin be betrothed to an husband and a man find her in the City and lie with her V. 24. Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of the City and ye shall stone them with stones that they die the damsel because she cried not out being in the City and the man because he hath humbled his neighbours wife So shalt thou put away evil from among you Job 24.15 The eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twi-light saying no eye shall see me and disguises his face Prov. 2.16 When wisdom entreth into thine heart it shall preserve thee from the strange woman even from the stranger which flattereth with her words V. 17. Which forsaketh the guide of her youth and forgetteth the Covenant of her God V. 18. For her house inclineth to death and her paths to the dead V. 19. None that go unto her return again neither take they hold of the paths of life Prov. 5.3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honey comb and her mouth is smoother than oyl Ver. 4. But her end is bitter as worm-wood sharp as a two edged sword V. 5. Her feet go down to death her steps take hold on hell V. 8. â—emove thy way far from her and come not nigh the door of her house V. 9. Lâ—st thou give thine honour unto others and thy years unto the cruel V. 11. And thou mourn at last when thy flesh and thy â—â—â—y are consumed V. 12. And say how have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof V. 20. And why wilt thou my Son be ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosome of a stranger Prov. 6.23 For the commandment is a Lamp and the Law is light V. 24. To keep thee from the evil woman from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman V. 25. Lust not after her beauty inthine heart neither let her take thee with her eye-lids V. 26. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life V. 27. Can a man take fire in his bosome and his cloaths not be burnt V. 28. Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burnt V. 29. So he that goeth in to his neighbours wife whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent V. 32. But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding he that doth it destroyeth his own soul V. 33. A wound and dishonour shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away Prov. 7 5. My Son keep my words that they may keep thee from the strange woman from the stranger which flattereth with her words V. 6. Fâ—â— at the window of my house I looked through my casement V. 7. And beheld among the simple ones a young man void of understanding V. 8. Passing through the streets neer her corner and he went the way to her house V. 9. In the twi-light in the evening in the black and dark night V. 10. And behold there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot and subtil of heart V. 11. She is loud and stubborn her feet abide not in her house V. 12. Now is she without now in the streets and lieth in wait at every corner V. 13. So she caught him and kissed him and