could not God do especially the God of Hosts and much more the Lord God of Hosts Thus in our addresles to God we should so consider of him as may most strengthen our faith and encourage our hopes as to the obtaining of what we have access unto God for and thus our Saviour himself hath taught us to do Math. 6. 13. for thine is the Kingdom and power c. Cause thy face to shine ie in a word Aspice nos vultu sereno ac benevolo Pisc vouchsafe us thy favour shew thy self gracious and propitious to us in thy Son give us the sense of thy love and because favour and grace much appears and manifests it self in the face in the sereneness of the face in the pleasantness and lightsomness of the countenance hence is this phrase both here and in many places elsewhere made use of to set forth the favour and grace of God as Psalm 31. 16. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant So Psal 67. 1. 119. 135 c. and it is the same with that Psalm 4. 6. lift thou up upon us the light of thy countenance And these forms and expressions seem to be taken from that solemn form of blessing the people prescribed by the Lord himself Numbers 6. 25 26. The Lord make his face shine upon thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee And we shall be saved i. e. if thou vouchsafe His rebus fructum felicitatem salutis assignat dicens Et salvi erimus vivemus regnabimus nec ullo bono destituemur si placatus nos respicias conversos ad te benignus complectaris Musc but to do these for us it shall be well with us we shall be happy this will remedy all our evils and be to us as it were a resurrection from the dead it will bring full salvation and deliverance from our miseries here and eternal salvation to us hereafter and upon God's turning them again and causing his face to shine this they certainly and undoubtedly promise to themselves as well they might for what should effect it if not these for God to turn them again and cause his face to shine CHAP. III. The first Doctrine observable as more general THE time and season when it was that they made this prayer that God would turn them again c. it was a time of trouble and distress Whence observe Doct. 1. When miseries and calamities do abide the Church and people of God that which then more especially and most earnestly they are to pray for it is that the Lord would vouchsafe them spiritual mercies As that God would turn them again and cause his face to shine that he would lift up upon them the light of his Countenance vouchsafe them his favour and grace c. This indeed In omnibus angustiis favor gratia Dei inprimis quaerenda imploranda est Amesâ—in locum they are to seek at all times Psal 105. 4. Seek the Lord and his strength seek his face evermore but then more especially and more than the removal of outward evils or the obtaining of other mercies and blessings because God then seems to suspend them and as it was to hide his face and to withdraw the sense of his favour and then they most need them yea and then the experiencing of such mercies is most seasonable Thus the Church and people of God do here the Lord fed them with the bread of tears and gave them tears to drink in great measure c. And what do they now pray and importune for for spiritual blessings Soul-mercies that God would turn them again and cause his face to shine and thus we are to doe R. 1. Because this is that which the Lord prescribes and puts his people upon and advises them to As Hosea 14. 1 27. take with you words and turn to the Lord. Say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously c. Zeph. 2. 3. Seek ye the Lord seek righteousness seek meekness c. And how should we bless the Lord that gives us this counsel and advice to seek things so excellent and of such importance and wherein we are so infinitely concern'd and the having of which is of such absolute and indispensible necessity as that we cannot at any time want them nor be without them much less at such times who would not seek God's face divine favours at any time but especially at such times R. 2. This is that which others have done as here so elsewhere as Psal 90. 14. Moses there in a time of great and grievous calamities prays that the Lord would return and satisfie them early with his mercy or loving kindness for so the word is rendred elsewhere as Psal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 26. 3. the same word so Psal 119. 76. i. e. with thy favour the sense of thy love and v. 17. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us c. So Isaiah 26. 8. Yea in the way of thy judgments O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee v. 9. With my soul have I desired thee in the night with my spirit within me will I seek thee early c. Lament 5. 21. Turn thou us unto thee O Lord c. and so David often still when he was in any distress he is seeking for spiritual mercies as Psalm 31. 16. make thy face to shine on thy Servant 35. 5. say to my soul I am thy Salvation Psalm 119. 76. Let I pray thee thy merciful kindness be for my comfort v. 77. let thy tender mercies come unto me c. R. 3. Want of this the Lord complains of Hos 7. 4. They assemble themselves for corn and wine c. Isa 9. 13. neither seek they the Lord of Hosts R. 4. To this the promise is made of pardon and healing too 2 Chron. 7. 13. If says the Lord I shut up heaven that there be no rain or send pestilence c. v. 14. If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their evill wayes then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land R. 5. This is the onely way to have those miseries and calamities removed in mercy so as to be sanctified before their removal to seek unto God to turn us again to himself and to cause his face to shine and unless the Lord do this they cannot be removed in mercy but we must expect heavier and sorer as the Lord threatens Is 9. 13 14. Amos 4. 11 12. Levit. 26. 21. c. for he will overcome when he judges but if he vouchsafe those spiritual mercies though the other should continue they could do us no hurt the evil and sting of them being remov'd R. 6. If the other should still continue these will comfort and support under them and
Zach. 1. 3. the Lord of Hosts turn ye unto me and I will turn unto you For them to turn to him repentingly and for him to turn to them graciously these two do the work as to their weale they turn all evil away from them and set all good a coming towards them the sanctifying grace of God renewing and his accepting grace graciously receiving the sincerity of a peoples repentance and the serenity of God's countenance the effectual working of God's grace and the favourable shining of his face this is the very way for a people to be saved and this I shall illustrate in several particulars 1. This is the right way the true and proper way for a people to be sav'd It is said of Ezra 8. 21. Ezra that he proclaimed a fast c. to seek of the Lord a right way for them and their little ones and all their substance and here 's that right way indeed for us and ours and others for all for our little ones and all our substance for all we have or enjoy and if the Lord delight in us as Joshua and Caleb said of the Land of Numb 14. 8. Canaan he will bring us into this way which he who is just and right yea the most upright prescribes and surely were we our selves and in our right minds we would betake our selves to this as the onely right way of all our weal and happiness 2. It is a sure soveraign way a prevalent way an effectual way it never fails nor falls short and that let a peoples present state and condition be what it will seem it never so sad and desperate yet if the Lord do but turn them again and cause his face to shine they shall be saved yea they cannot but be saved as these undoubtedly here do promise to themselves 3. It is an experienc'd way a well prov'd and tried way a way that hath many probatum est's upon it for never was there people or person that God did indeed turn to himself and cause his face to shine upon but they were saved Niniveh that great city was within 40 days to have been destroyed But God seeing their works Jonah 3. 3. â—â— that they turn'd from their evil way he repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them and he did it not and although the children of Israel forsaking the Lord and serving other Gods the Lord tels them that he would deliver them no more but bids them go and cry unto the Gods that they had chosen c. yet they Judg. 10. 13 14 15 16. putting away the strange Gods from among them and serving the Lord his soul was grieved for their misery And what an ill case do we find Israel to be in 2 Chron. 15. 3. it is said that for a long season they had been without the true God and without a teaching Priest and without Law and yet v. 4. when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord and sought him he was found of them So God hearing Ephraim to bemoan himself Jer. 31. 18 19 20. 21. and to repent his bowels are troubled for him or earns towards him as the mothers towards her child and now I will surely says the Lord have mercy on him and now he must think of and prepare for his return Set thee up way-marks c. So in Hosea 14. the Lord there bids Israel take with them words and turn Hosea 14. 1 2 to the Lord and say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously and then they resolve so will we render the calves of our lips that is the spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving and such indeed shall have cause for it cannot but be well with them Thus whatever proofs whatever assays have been made in this kind whether formerly or lately they have done they have been found effectual as to a peoples being saved and never was it yet known that ever a people or a person truly turning again unto God and being graciously received of him did miscarry let any produce an instance if they can Look as he being wise in heart and mighty in strength none ever hardned Job 9. 4. themselves against him and prosper'd so he being great in kindness and rich in mercy none ever turn'd to him but were saved 4. This is the way to be saved in mercy so to be saved as to be blest with Salvation as the Lord promises to his people as concerning peace Psalm 29. 11. that he will bless them therewith It is one thing to have peace and salvation and deliverance and mercies and another thing to be blest with them and to have them in mercy and as mercies and this latter is the greater many have these but few are blest with these but when God so saves a people as to turn them again and cause his face to shine then they are sav'd in mercy so as to be blest with their being saved I speak now of temporal salvation then in love to their souls God delivers them as it is said of Hezekiah Is 38. 17. And they are not so saved as afterward to be destroyed as it is said of the people that the Jude 4. Lord sav'd out of the land of Egypt that afterward he destroyed them that believed not 5. This is the way to be sav'd universally and that in a threesold respect 1. which way soever we take or understand being saved For this word saved is very comprehensive and of large extent denoting not onely the privative part of happiness though that most properly as freedom from enemies and evils of all sorts but the positive also as the fruition of all good and hence is it here variously read and rendred we read it we shall be saved others blessed happy or it shall be well with us and all things Servabimur salvi erimus beati verè felices omnia nobis feliciter cedent vivemus regnabimus nec ullo bono destitueemur shall happily succeed to us or we shall be safe and secure and in a good case and condition we shall live and raign and want no good thing And now which way soever we take or understand it or which way soever we read or render it this here reaches and takes in all and all follow upon this God's turning us again and causing his face to shine and when he is pleas'd to do this to vouchsafe these we may write under it what ever we will that tends indeed to our weal and makes for our good 2. This is the way to have all saved Kingdom saved Nation saved Church saved Court saved City saved Countrey saved Towns Families persons our selves ours others our relations our little ones to have bodies saved souls religion lives liberties estates gospel or whatever else is neer or dear to us 3. This is the way to be saved with all manner and kinds of salvation and from all
Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and return and I will heal your back-slidings So Turn to the Lord your Joel 2. 13 14. God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and who knoweth if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him c. And Let the wicked forsake his way Isaiah 55. 7 8. and the unrighteous his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy on Nemo se curandum praebeat qui contemptui non compassioni se medico suo putat futurum him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts c. And so in many places besides and also in the New Testament the promise of grace and pardon and salvation is propounded as the great motive and means and cause of Repentance i. e. as apprehended and received and how can that be but by faith Repent ye for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand and Repent ye and be converted Matth. 3. 2. 4. 17. that your sins may be blotted out c. And hence true repentance may be thus described that it is An Evangelical or Gospel-saving grace whereby a believing sinner or a sinner upon the apprehension and perswasion of the mercy of Acts 3. 19. God in Christ to such as are penitent so grieves and humbles himself for his sins as that he turns from them to the Lord for where there are nothing but apprehensions of wrath and displeasure there can be no true saving Evangelical conversion 4. It must be such a turning as hath joyn'd with it shame and even confusion of face for what the sinner turns from for what he hath been and done for the sins he hath committed And thus it was with Ephraim when he repented and turn'd to God indeed as himself acknowledges Surely after that I was turned I repented that Jer. 31. 19. is God working in me by a spirit of conversion I also cooperated by and with his grace having a lively sorrow for my sin and a striving after newness of life and now my heart was in another frame and my life in another way then before And after I was instructed saw and understood and consider'd how it was with me what I had been and what I had done I smote upon my thigh I was much moov'd troubled and griev'd and not onely so but I was ashamed yea confounded Thus it was when he was turn'd and repented indeed because says he I did bear the reproach of my youth of those sins and excesses and miscarriages of my youth these much dear'd me and exceedingly sham'd me as they will do others when they come to repent indeed O that sin and Satan and the world and vanity should have the prime and flower of their age and the best and first of their days and that in their very strength and vigour when they were best able to do him service they should do him least nay be unserviceable and serve the Devil and their lusts And what a shameful thing is this and how can the sinner but blush when he comes to be sensible of it Pudor est affectus qui nascitur ob aliquam turpitudinem c. P. Martyr Shame and confusion of face is that which arises from doing shameful things from doing what is unworthy unseemly vile even against common principles so from doing that of which comes no fruit or benefit but hurt rather as also from having hopes frustrated c. and all these fall in with sin What a vile and unworthy thing is it that God should be left for the creature the fountain of living waters for broken cisterns that can hold no water that happiness it self should be forsaken for misery all sufficiency for indigency and vanity and the Lord of life and glory for vile lusts and leasing c. There is a natural affection of shame which appears in the countenance by blushing when any thing is done amiss and is to be cherisht especially in young ones so as to be as a bridle to keep off from what is matter of shame so it grow not to excess but then there is a holy and gracious shame which is a concomitant of Repentance and conversion causing trouble and grief and debasing of the soul before God and this hath been still found among true Converts Thus Ezra 9. 6. Ezra I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my God c. So the Lord tells Jerusalem Then shalt thou remember thy wayes and be ashamed Ezek. 16. 61. 36. 31. c. And ye shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities c. And this Sancti viri semper dolent erubescunt de admissis peccatis Pet. Martyr hath such an affinity with repentance that it is sometimes put for Repentance What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed that is whereof ye now repent and from which ye are converted for the end of those things is death and therefore well might they be ashamed of such things in which not onely there was no profit but which tended to so much hurt even to their own ruine and destruction And thus it is with all true converts however before they bore themselves up and set a good face on their sins yet now being enlightned and come to themselves and their right minds they are ashamed And if this be to repent and be converted how few Converts are there in these days and how far are such from it who go on in their sins without shame which is an heavy aggravation of them It is best not to do what is matter of shame but having done it not to be ashamed doubles it and it is that the Lord much complains of Thou had'st a whores forehead thou refusedst to he ashamed And Jerem. 3. 3. 6. 15. were they ashamed when they had committed abominatoon nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush they would not blush and at length they were so hardened they could not blush This the Lord complains of again Jer. 8. 12. and again in Isaiah 3. 9. The shew of their countenance doth witness against them and they declare their sin as Sodom they hide it not they are bold brazen-fac'd impudent Illum ego periisse dico cui periit pudor Salust they care not who sees or knows their sin they glory even in their shame And this is too too much the guise of England this day which does so much aggravate our sin and augment our guilt and is exceeding sad and bodes exceeding ill Our filthiness as was said of Jerusalem Lament 1. 9. is in our skirts it is not hid but open obvious apparent and I have not found it says the Jerem. 2. 34. Lord by secret search or by digging
deem them why because Singulare beneficium cruce quasi spinis occludi viam peccandi God makes use of them many times to further and help forward this blessed turn and this being the onely way for sinners to be saved and to have it well with them this speaks well of afflictions Thus Manasseh who was so grievous a 2 Chron. 33. 12. sinner yet being in affliction he sought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly c. and Luk. 15. â—7 18. when the prodigal suffered hardship and was ready to perish with hunger then he resolv'd to arise and go to his father and when God hedged up Israel's way with thorns sent troubles and Hosea 2. 6 7. distresses upon them then she resolves to go and return to her first husband not as if they effected this of themselves but by the Spirits working in them and by them But whiles sinners live in jollity and prosperity and have no troubles nor changes they never think of changing their way nor returning to God and thus the prosperity of fools destroys them whereas adversity might be Prov. 1. 32. a means to save them but by the other they are hardened and encouraged to go on still in a course of sin without returning Because sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed Eccles 8. 11. Psalm 73. 5 6. 50 21. therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil They are not in trouble as other men therefore pride compasses them about c. These things hast thou done and I kept silence Psal â—0 21. thou thoughtest I was such a one altogether as thy self So Thou art wearied in the Is 57. 10. See also Ps 55. 19. Jer. 5. 28. 22. 21. c. greatness of thy way yet saidst thou not there is no hope and why thou hast found the life of thine hand therefore thou wast not grieved that is thou hast found comfort by the Assyrians and they promise to strengthen thy hand with help and therefore thou art incouraged to go on still in thy way and therefore 't is a great mercy to such for God to afflict them and give them trouble and grief that so the ways of sin may be wearisome and troublesome and so they may think of returning from them when in some measure they feel the weight and burden of them and happy affliction that works to conversion happy troubles that further a sinner's peace by furthering his turning to God and putting a stop to him in his sins that cause sinners to seek the Lord whom before they forgot and lived without And how may this help to sweeten and alleviate the bitterness of afflictions and though bitter yet render them better than the sweetest pleasures of sin Blessed is the man whom thou châ—stenest O Lord and Ps 94. 12. teachest him out of thy Law c. Blessed blacks that are a means to turn us white and happy darks that are a means to turn us to light But 2 Chron. 15. 4 Is 26. 16. when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord c. Lord in trouble have they visited thee c. In their affliction they will seek â—e verly c. Hos 5. 15. But while sinners go in 〈◊〉 their greatest affliction and punishment is not to 〈◊〉 afflicted their greatest crosâ— and 〈…〉 crost for such are like to go on still in their sins And thus that which many sinners count their greatest felicity to prosper and be without trouble and affliction in their evil ways they go on in it is their greatest misery and that which they count their greatest priviledg is their greatest plague and proves their greatest detriment there being nothing sadder than a sinner prospering in an evil course and God not afflicting him and thus the Lord threatens it I will not punish your daughters when they commit Hos 4. 14. whoredom nor your spouses when they commit adultery c. And this is the greatest punishment the forest wrath the highest displeasure the furnace is heated here seven times hotter than ordinary for such are like to go on to commit whoredome and adultery still God withholding those punishments whereby they might be restrain'd and letting them go on without controule to their own utter confusion and destruction not taking any more pains with them by corrections to restrain their courses in sin but letting them go on still in the full career of their lusts and be as vile as they will and this is the heaviest judgment and argues the hottest displeasure it is next door to hell and such are within one step of being as miserable as they Vis indignantis Dèi terribilem vocem audire c. Orig. can be Wilt thou says one hear the terrible voice of a provoked God hear it here I will not punish c. So v. 17. and Matth. 15. 15. Bernard calls it a mercy more cruel than all Misericordia omni indignatione crudelior indignation a killing courtesie a cut-throat kindness yet how many are ready to bless themselves and think it a fine world to go on in their own ways without trouble whereas there cannot a greater plague befall them which made Luther cry strike Lord strike spare not and Feri Domine feri c. Jeremiah 10. 24. O Lord correct me but with judgment c. And this makes afflictions a great priviledge a choice mercy when they further our repentance and make us change our purpose and resolve to turn to God CHAP. X. The second Vse of the point in general by way of Exhortation and first to seek this by Prayer THE onely way for a people to be saved Use 2. of Exhortation is it for God to turn them again and cause his face to shine O as ever then we would be saved saved our selves or have others saved ours saved the Kingdom saved Church saved City countrey towns families friends relations little ones bodies souls religion lives liberties estates Gospel or whatever else is near or dear to us and as ever we would be sav'd indeed sav'd to purpose sav'd in mercy so as to be blessed and happy in being sav'd and have it well with us and all happily succeed to us here and be everlastingly saved hereafter let us all in the name and fear of God be exhorted excited and stirred up to seek this beseech this earnestly to intreat and importune this O that the Lord God of hosts would turn us again and cause his face to shine let this be our frequent and our fervent our often and our earnest prayer unto him and let us continue thus praying asking seeking begging beseeching intreating importuning knocking 'till the Lord is pleased to give us a gracious answer let us resolve with Jacob not to let him go except he thus bless us for nothing can avail us as to our happiness as to our weal as to the having
without hurt and though six and seven troubles throng us not any the least evil toucheth Job 5. 19. Ps 25. 10. us but all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth Thus when we turn to God with a holy turn God turns to us with a gracious turn and when God turns to us all good is afloat towards us and all evil is ebbing and hastening from us all in heaven and earth will become turned for our good Deut. 30. 3. The Lord tells Israel that if they shall return to the Lord their God then the Lord their God will turn their captivity and have compassion on them and will return c. But let me a little more particularly and distinctly hold forth some of the benefits of this turn 1. This is the great blessing of the Gospel even the blessing that Jesus Christ himself being raised up and exalted by his father is sent to bless with in the preaching and dispensing thereof Vnto you first God having raised up his son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every Acts â— 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 si vos converteritis c. So Syriack and Arabick c. one of you from his iniquities Some indeed read it if you turn or every one of you turning c. and so make being blest an argument and motive to turn And this is a true and a good sense that when we turn away from our iniquities though not by any strength of our own that then Jesus Christ will bless us But first Jesus Christ must bless us in turning us before he bless us being turn'd and therefore others render it as here in turning you as declaring the way and manner how Christ blesses and this agrees well with the word bless for iniquity being that alone which brings the curse the onely way to be blest must needs be to be turned from it and while people are not turned from their sins but still go on impenitently in them they cannot be blest Thus conversion is the great Gospel-blessing and the way to be further yea for ever blest and it prevents the curse which else we cannot evade And he shall turn the heart of the fathers c. Least I come and smite the earth with a curse Mas 4. 6. 2. Upon this follows that great and glorious and inestimable mercy and priviledg of pardon that mercy of mercies which makes 〈◊〉 and the want of which makes hell yea which if not enjoy'd every thing else as one expresses it even our very boards and beds and fields and houses are but as an hell to us David having been for a while under the sense of God's cispleasure for his sins but feeling at length the Sun-shine of God's favour breaking forth through the clouds upon him in this mercy O how jowfully does he break out and how admiringly does he speak of the blessedness of those who partake of so great a mercy of so glorious a priviledg Blessed is he whose transgression Ps 32. 1 2. is forgiven whose sin is covered that is by the Lord for man must not cover it but acknowledg it Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity c. Blessed or as others O blessed O happy or O the blessednesses or O welfares the man it is a joyful acclamation for such a man's felicity Dutch read it right happy or happy indeed he is so indeed whose transgression is forgiven c. We have here in several words the same benefit repeated because of the greatness of it and though here is Autology yet not Tautology for these several Metaphorical expressions are wonderfully comfortable 1. Sin is a burden and the first word signifies an easing or taking away and blessed is he that is eased of such a burden 2. Sin is most loathsome and filthy in the sight of God and he is of purer eyes that he can behold or look on it but with utter detestation and abhorrence and the second word notes a covering of it and aâ—â—â—tting it out of his sight contrary to that Thou hast set our iniquities before thee our secret sins in the light of thy countenance To set us our selves there is our happiness but to set our sins there is our wo and misery and there cannot be a greater And cover not their Neh. 4. 5. iniquity c. 3. Sin is a debt and the third notes a not imputing or reckoning it and what a blessed thing is pardon that does all this does sin trouble as a burden pardon eases and takes it off as loathsom pardon covers it as a debt pardon does not impute it and this follows upon repentance this priviledg of remission upon the grace of conversion not as the cause of it but as the way and order in which God will have it to behad And hence we find them joyned together Luke 24. 47. And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name c. Acts 5. 3. To give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sin c. And be Joh. 12. 40. converted and I should heal them Mark has it c. 4. v. 12. And their sins should be forgiven them which is the souls healing That 's a full place Acts 3. 19. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. The former of these words repent seems to import conviction and contrition the latter conversion and amendment one repentance of sin or for sin the other repentance from sin And this is to repent indeed to do both to bewaile what we have committed and not go on still to commit what we have bewail'd and what follows upon this the Deleta non ut non sint sed ut non imputentur propter imputatam sponsoris nostri obedientiam Tossan blotting out of our sins that your sins may be blotted out that is pardoned our sins are in Scripture compared unto debts and these are registred as it were in God's book and there stand upon record and now the Apostle tells them that if they did repent and were converted these debts should be blotted out God's Metaphora sumpta à creditoribus qui debita vel interveniente satisfactione vel gratis remissa delent book cross'd all scores quit and that hand-writing which was against them should be cancell'd which is so choice a priviledg and mercy of mercies that this if there was no more might seem motive enough to put people upon repenting and turning to God that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall come from the presence of the Lord. There are by the way times of refreshing or cooling as the Greek hath it to come to the people of God after the heat of their afflictions and persecutions here compar'd to fire As there 1 Pet. 4. 12. remains a rest for the
their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will Is 41. 17. 1 King 8. 38 39. hear them c. and what prayer or supplication soever be made though never so weak though but a sigh and by any man that shall know the the plague of his own heart then hear thou in Ps 34. 6. Heaven c. This poor man cryed and the Lord heard him c. And this is as I said a choice mercy a singular priviledg and in this God much favours and honours a poor creature and thus the Lord promises it and thus the Saints speak of it I will set him on high and how 91. 14 15. he shall call upon me and I will answer him and The Lord will hear when I call unto him and 4. 3. 116. 1. 102. 18. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice c. And hence it is said This shall be written for the generation to come that God shall hear the prayer of the destitute it shall be set down in a book and recorded and so published 5. Upon this follows a fitness and aptness to receive the Word and the impressions thereof for upon Ezek. 36. 26. true conversion the stony heart is taken away and there is given a heart of flesh that is a soft or tender heart easily admitting or receiving the Word it being like Wax to the Seal and like Gideon's fleece drinking in the dew thereof or like soft earth to the rain whereas the hearts of such as are impenitent and unconverted are as rocks and steep stony places which shoot off all without any impression Josiah humbling himself and his heart being tender what an impression had the words of the Law upon his 2 Chr. 34. 27. heart the hearts of such open and the Word goes in and there it comes to be ingraffed which is a choice mercy whereas the contrary is the greatest judgment as a stony heart an hard heart and such is every impenitent heart it receives no impression of God's Word nor works it yeilds neither to precepts nor promises nor threatnings nor admonitions nor reprehensions nor perswasions neither to judgments nor mercies But they refused to hearken c. Let favour Zach. 7. 11. Is 26. 10. 1. 5. be shewn to the wicked yet will not he learn righteousness and why should ye be stricken any more c. The natural man receives not the things of God he neither believes them nor yeilds to them There may be some slight superficial Non credit nec cedit reception for a little while as is said of the stony ground but it is not solid nor deep so as to enter root and abide The Word may have place among them but it has not as Christ told the Scribes and Pharisees place within them and therefore they sought to kill him Joh. 8. 37. That which is observ'd in Printing is very appliable and considerable here viz that the Paper which is to be printed upon is not of it self as it is dry and stiff and stubborn fit to receive impression and therefore to render it fit it is several times drawn through the water and so being throughly moisten'd mellowed and made soft it becomes fit and truely so it is with our hearts as they are by nature and of themselves and much more by custom in sin they are hard and stiff and stubborn very unfit to receive any impression of God's truth but being drawn as it were through the waters of repentance and so mellowed and made soft and tender they become fit Thus the repenting Corinthians became 2 Cor. 3. 3. Christ's Epistle for their hearts being made tender the Gospel was wrot upon them with ease and so the hearts of the Romans Rom. 6. 17. were cast into the Word as into a Mould bearing the stamp and figure of it Solomon says A reproof Prov. 17. 10. enters more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool his heart opens and yeilds to reproof Salt enters not into a Stone but it does into flesh and seasons it and makes it savoury and so do reproofs which are as Salt unto hearts of flesh such sit down as it were at God's feet and hear his words and they are willing and pliable and their language is Lord what wilt thou have me to do and Speak Lord for thy servant heareth c. 6. Upon this follows inheritance among them which are sanctified To open Acts 26. 18. their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance c. What an excellent thing is repentance here describ'd to be an opening of the eyes and a turning as you have heard the sinner from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God and then what inestimable benefits do follow thereupon not onely forgiveness of sin as you have heard but inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Christ that is a lot in the heavenly inheritance in that inheritance of the Saints in light which now they are made meet for being delivered from the power of darkness and translated into Col. 1. 12 13. the Kingdom of God's dear son an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fades not away reserv'd in heaven of which such glorious things are spoken which is of God's own preparing Christ's purchasing and that by no less price than his bloud which has the glory of God and where not onely Angels but God himself dwels and resides for ever and into this all true converts have entrance ministred unto them but no other shall or can but are without Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who Psal 24. 3 4. shall stand in his holy place he that hath clean hands and a pure heart c. The wise shall inherit glory but shame shall be the promotion of Prov. 3. 35. fools And thus some interpret that in the Acts 3. 19. That your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord that is that your sins being blotted Ut remissis peccatis vestris recipiamini in coelum ad fruendum aeternis gaudiis c. Pisc out or forgiven you may be received into heaven to partake of those eternal joys c. And hence true repentance is said to be repentance unto life and repentance unto salvation and therefore not to be repented of not as if it was the cause or did in the least merit life or salvation Acts 11. 18. 2 Cor. 7. 10. for ipsae lachrymae lachrymabiles sunt our very tears need washing and our repentance pardon Non agit de causa salutis sed eventu poenitentiae ordinem ostendit quòd nimirum conversis donetur remissio non securis impoenitentibus Tossan but as the end of it and the way and means
none among them to call and invite them to better but suffer'd them to walk in their own ways and to go to hell in their Acts 14. 16. Idolatries God did not manifest his will to to them as he did to the Jews and thus the old Translation has it God regarded not Dutch reads it overlooked or disrespected lightly and slightly past them by his eye was not upon them for good so as to provide for them and send amongst them those that should call and invite them to repentance as he does now The word is the same that is used Acts 6. 1. and it signifies to despise neglect look over or besides because their widows were neglected So that to have an eye upon a place or person it being to manifest kindness and respect this winking seems to be Psal 33. 18. 34. 15. opposed to favour rather than justice viz. that God disregarded them overlooking them or besides them and not at them in mercy And de Dieu upon the place shews that it signifies God's anger and displeasure against them and therefore hid the means of salvation from them so that here not onely is God's command of repentance made known but the goodness of God in pressing the same c. And truly it is very sad in this sense for God to look over or look besides a place or people not so to regard times and shew that care of them and respect towards them as to send those among them that should call and invite them to repentance But England has nothing to charge God with as to this if this be to manifest respect to a people never had Nation clearer nor fuller demonstrations thereof then we have had And this sense and interpretation of the words does best agree with the sequel but now commandeth all men every where to repent and therein manifests more grace and favour he does not now leave nor let men alone to go on in their sins and walk in their own ways as formerly but many are now sent forth to call and invite them to repentance to reclaim sinners and to reduce wandering prodigals crying Turn ye turn ye and return return Repentance and remission of sins is now preached in Christ's name and many shew here and there and where ever they come that men should repent and turn to God c. So that now the great God does not onely command all men every where to repent but the holy Ghost specifies it here as a choice mercy and singular favour and priviledg that he does so and that beyond what he vouchsafed to former ages and the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men every where to repent and truly next to true repentance and saving conversion it self this is the choicest mercy and greatest and highest priviledg that God can betrust a place or people with and this is the clearest and amplest demonstration of God's regard and respect to times that he can give for God to send his messengers up and down here and there in his name to command and invite and call upon people to repent and turn to God to cry as those Prophets of old Thus saith the Lord of hosts turn ye now from your evil ways Zach 1. 4. and from your evil doings c. and Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dy and as that blessed Martyr Repent O England repent repent this is the fruit of God's compassion 2 Chr. 36. 15. on a people and in this the tender mercy of Luk. 1. 77 78 79 God yea the very bowels of his mercy do break forth and display themselves and to despise and reject such mercy to kick against such bowels causes the wrath of the Lord to arise against a people till there is no remedy for if says 2 Chron. 36. 16 17. Christ I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin that is in comparison their sin Joh. 15. 22. had not been so grievous as now it is but they might have had some excuse because of their ignorance but now they have no cloak or pretence for their sin Thus that the great and most high God commands us to repent not only should his soveraign authority therein awe us and have a strong influence upon us to obey but the regard and respect also which therein he manifests to us and the care which he shews he has therein of our souls and this is here subjoyned as one reason why he now commands all men every where to repent v. 31. because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judg the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead There is a day of judgment set a great and terrible day in which God will judg the world and he hath given assurance thereof to all men and now God would have it well with men at that day that they might be found then in peace and that it might be a day of refreshing to them and to that end he now commands them all every where to repent and to turn to him without which he knows it will be a sad day to them a day of perdition and destruction and therefore is he still long-suffering towards us not from slackness but from a willingness that none of us should perish but that we should all come to repentance and so be saved And what a great mercy and singular kindness is it that God has put us into a capacity of finding good by repentance by giving his Son to shed his bloud and to lay down his life for our sins without which all our repentance could have avail'd us nothing And shall not now God's authority nor clemency his soveraignty nor sweetness in commanding us to repent prevail with us but shall we despise both his greatness and his goodness his Majesty and his mercy what will this be but after our hardness and impenitent Rom. 2. 5. hearts to treasure up to our selves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God 2. There is a necessity as a way and means of our happiness and 2. Necessitas medii Nisi agnitis peccatis seriâ cordis contritione pungamini verâ fide á deo irato ad eum propitium in filio placatum conversi fueritis vitamque emendáveritis omnes simul peribitis Winckel weal as that without which it cannot be but we must perish and this Jesus Christ himself who is the Amen the faithful and true witness yea truth it self hath twice averred Luk. 13. 3 5. I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish And again I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish I tell you who know full well who shall be saved and came to save that except you repent
you shall not be saved but perish none indeed are saved for it but for me and my merits sake nor can any be saved without it Had Jesus Christ shed Seas of bloud he would never yet save a sinner that he does not bring to repent of his sins The Father and Son never agreed nor resolv'd upon saving man in an absolute illimited way but in such a way and order as in a way of repenting and believing not as if there was Quamvis Christus millies mortem obiisset nullus tamen impoenitens peccatorum condonationem ex illius morte consequetur nec quemvis alium fructum percipiet Deutus any merit or causality in repentance but as the way and condition without which though not the cause for which remission of sins and salvation cannot be obtained Thus Repentance is necessary not onely as God's command but also as a way means and order that God has ordained for remission and salvation so that though there is no causality dignity or merit in our repentance yet it is of that nature that the holy Ghost must necessarily work it in all those who are partakers of them so as to qualifie for them so that either we must repent or Aut poenitendum aut pereundum perish turn or dye be converted or destroyed either this must be done or we undone for ever Ezek. 18. 30. If indeed we repent and turn from our transgressions then the Lord hath told us iniquity 33. 11. shall not be our ruine though it tends to our ruine but unless we repent and turn it will inevitably be so If we still persist and live and lie Si divinae miserationes nequeunt nos allectare tum judica Dei nos terreant in our sins we shall then certainly dye in our sins and perish in our sins Hence says the Lord Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel implying that 'till we do turn from our evil ways we say in effect we will dye For the turning away of the simple shall Prov. 1. 31. 11. 19. slay them and he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death If thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness he shall dye in Ezek. 3. 19. his iniquity Either we must be turned to God here or separated from him for ever hereafter either be converted or for ever excluded the Kingdom of Heaven and turn'd into hell Verily I say unto you except ye be converted c. ye Matth. 18. 2. shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven If Tertullian therefore thou be backward in thoughts of repentance be forward in thoughts of hell c. for we must turn or for ever burn in hell Thus conversion is necessary as a means to life and happiness so that as life is a necessary consequent of conversion so death is an inevitable fruit and effect of the neglect of it so that I may say to you as Moses sometimes said to that people See I here set before you this day life and good death and evil life and all manner of good if you obey and repent and turn to the Lord but death and all manner of evil if ye refuse and I call Deut. 30. 15. heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that ye may live Why life and death are the greatest and forciblest arguments in the world what will not a man give or do for life Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life And death is the most formidable of evils call'd the King of terrours we use to say such a man is as earnest and intent upon a thing as if life and death depended upon it Why truly life or death depend upon our turning or not turning to God life and death are in these things and accordingly such should our prayers and cares and indeavours be in and about the same 5. The gratefulness and acceptableness of it unto God how pleasing welcom and delightful it is to him when a sinner does indeed repent and turn to God! O with what joy and singular complacency does the Lord speak of Ephraim as turning from his Idolatries and not going on as he had done to provoke him and wrong himself Ephraim shall say what have I any more to Hos 14. 8. do with Idols I have heard him and observ'd him and that with a great deal of joy and delight as that I am glad of and rejoyce in So I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself Jer. 31. 18 19. c. that is bewailing his sins the Hebrew is hearing I have heard him that is attentively pleasingly delightfully so as to take special notice of him and to have a singular regard to him and now his bowels are troubled for him and he will surely have mercy on him As God has a singular hatred and abhorrence of sin so Quemadmodum Deus summo odio habet peccatum ita quoque summe hominis poenirentia delectatur per quam à summo malo ad summum bonum convertitur Gerh. he cannot but be much pleased with repentance by which the sinner turns from it to himself from the chief evil to the chief good and it being that wherein his own glory and the sinners good is so much concern'd For thereby God is honoured Jesus Christ sees of the travel of his soul and is satisfied the Spirit ceases to be grieved as formerly sin is pardoned God's favour recover'd Satan defeated and the soul saved how well was God pleased with Josiah his heart being tender and he humbling himself before 2 Chr. 34. 27. God which he twice mentions as being much taken therewith And so Manasseh though so great a sinner yet repenting what respect had God to him yea so acceptable is this to God that he had respect to it even in Ahab so far as temporally to reward it though hypocritical the more to encourage to that which is true And the acceptableness of this to God does further appear by his earnest invitings to it longings after it waitings for it bearing so long with sinners as in reference to it his readiness to receive sinners upon the first discoveries of it and pardoning the hainousest sins upon it Psal 51. 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise and what is a broken heart but a penitent heart an heart kindly melted humbled and in bitterness for sin and this now is the sacrifice of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrificia Dei God 1. Of God to denote its singular excellency it being usual in the Hebrew to set out the excellency of a thing by the addition of the name of God as the mountains and Cedars of God c. 2. It is called the
the joy and comfort of them more than countervail the other there being no comparison between them but the one exceedingly transcending the other As the sufferings of this present Rom. 8. 18. time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed hereafter so neither are they to be compared with spiritual mercies here as for God to turn us again to himself to pardon our sins to cause his face to shine to vouchsafe us his favour and his comforts and consolations What sufferings or afflictions will not these comfort and support under or what other wants will they not more than countervail what are the world's frowns to God's smiles the world's troubles to God's peace the world's sorrows to God's joyes the world's afflictions to God's consolations the world's pressures to the pleasures of God's presence or its burdens to the rest which that affords what are its Bitters to God's Sweets its Gall and Wormwood to the Wine of his Love Cant. 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the Kisses of his mouth for thy love is better than wine and v. 4. we will remember thy love more than wine yea 't is better than life and in it even in death it self there is life And hence is it that the Apostle speaks what is a Paradox to the men of the world troubled but not distressed as sorrowful yet always rejoycing as having nothing and yet possessing all things as dying and yet behold we live live in the light of God's countenance in his sight as Hosea 6. 2. and we shall live in his sight where indeed only the Soul truly lives and there it may live even in death and have light arise to it even in darkness and see light in the greatest obscurity and this light I mean the light of God's countenance it giveth Songs even in the night as it did to Paul and Silas when thrust into the inner prison and their feet made fast in the Stocks yet God's gracious presence did so cheer their spirits and put such joy into their hearts that even at midnight they brake forth in praises to God Acts 16. 25. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God and the prisoners heard them they did not onely pray but sing prayses and sung so loud that others heard them the prisoners heard them they were awaken'd by them And what did they think of them surely they thought they were not well in their wits to sing at such a time and in such a place and in such a condition who having been beaten and many stripes laid upon them were cast into prison yea thrust into the inner prison and their feet made fast in the stocks and yet now to sing O if God cause but his face to shine if he lift but up the light of his countenance it will make a man sing at any time in any place in any condition it will turn a prison into a Pallace and a dungeon into a Paradise This made David to have his Psalms yea Michtams i. his golden Psalms or as the Dutch render it his golden Jewels Aureum ornamentum aut insigne exputissimo auro factum it signifies what is made of the best and finest gold so called because of their singular preciousness and excellency in the saddest places and in the saddest outward condition as when the Philistins took him in Gath when he fled from Saul in the Cave when Saul sent and they watcht the house to kill him c. See Psalm 56 57 59 the Titles Moses Psalm 90. 14. prays O satisfie us early with thy mercy i. e. with thy loving kindness vouchsafe us thy favour that we may rejoyce and be glad all our dayes This is enough to make the people of God rejoice and be glad all their dayes be they never so dark and gloomy evil and perillous As we have received mercy sayes the Apostle we faint not 2 Cor. 4. 1. The Lord tels Moses Exod. 33. 14. My presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest Though Moses was to go through a wearisome wilderness and amidst a wearisom people yet the Lord's presence should give him rest We may go any where with him he will be an hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land Isa 32. 2. Vse 1. Of Reproof to those who when miseries and calamities are upon themselves or the Nation look after the removal of them but not after Spiritual mereies they are very earnest and sollicitous that God would take away their ourward plagues remove his judgments but not that God would take away their sins and turn them again to himself and cause his face to shine But so God will but do the other free them of their miseries let the latter do what they will Psalm 4. 6. There be many that say who will shew us any good i. e. any outward good how to compasse any earthly worldly gain or advantage O that we might have peace and plenty or how shall we once get out of these troubles and afflictions but few say with David lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us and then all shall be well if thou do but this Many when they are in pain and sick and weak they cry out indeed but for what for ease and health and recovery not that they may be turned from their sins and recover God's favour as Pharaoh he calls to have other plagues taken away but never begs to have the plague of his own heart taken away which was the greatest of all and far worse than all the other but this is the voice onely of nature and argues a graceless heart and that which the Lord as I said complains of Hos 6. 14. Vse 2. Of Exhortation Then when miseries and calamities do abide us let this be our Prayer let us with the Church and people of God here more especially and most earnestly beg and implore spiritual mercies that God would turn us again and cause his face to shine lift up upon us the light of his countenance vouchsafe us his grace and favour bless us in turning us from our iniquities let us be importunate for these ask them again and again and whatever outward evils or distresses may abide us these as you have heard will not only comfort and support us under them but more than countervail them When he giveth quietness who then can make trouble c if God be for us who can be against us Rom. 8. 31. You know what Philip said to our Saviour John 14. 8. Lord shew us the father and it sufficeth us So let but the Father shew us himself shine on us with his face vouchsafe us his favour and it sufficeth As the Lord said unto Paul and says to all his people 2 Corinth 12. 9. my grace is sufficient for thee though then Paul was in
an ill case there was given to him a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet him c. v. 7. yet says the Lord to him my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness Let our condition be what it will let it seem never so sad let our tryals and afflictions be never so many and great yet God's grace i. e. his favour his accepting grace is sufficient to comfort us yea and his sanctifying strengthning and supporting grace to uphold us When says David I said my foot slippeth thy mercy O Lord held me up In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my Soul Psalm 94. 18 19. The Lord alone and his favour is a full compleat and more than sufficient counter-comfort to all troubles and calamities whatsoever and the light of his countenance does not onely put more joy and gladness into their hearts upon whom it is lift up than in the time when others Corn and Wine increases but it puts more joy than the greatest decrease of them can occasion sorrow Habuk. 3. 17 18. Although the Fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the Vines c. yet I will rejoyce in the Lord c. yea it alters the very nature of the evils themselves that they are not what they were that sickness is not sickness as it were hence it is said Is 33. 24. And the Inhabitants shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity And hence Matth. 9. 2. our Saviour there bids the man sick of the Palsie be of good cheer his sins being forgiven though his sickness was not yet cured and so had he cause had it never been cured In six yea in seven troubles this keeps all evil from touching us Job 5. 19. And therefore how earnestly how importunately at all times but more especially in evil times should we implore these mercies CHAP. IV. The second Doctrine observable as more general LOoking upon these words as being the burden of the Psalm and that which the Church and people of God do so often and earnestly beg and intreat again and again no less than three times v. 3 7 19 in this one Psalm thence we observe Doct. 2. Spiritual blessings special Ter repetitur haec precatio ut fieri solet quando animus in invocatione ardet Strigelius peculiar mercies are to be prayed for with all earnestness not onely simply to be asked to be sought but in such a way and after such a manner viz. frequently and fervently often and earnestly again and again with ardency and ut most importunity For thus the Church and people of God seek them here for God to turn them again and cause his face to shine these were Spiritual blessings choice special and peculiar mercies Soul-benefits and they are earnest and importunate for them they beg them once and again and again as if they would not be denied them and as if they were resolv'd not to be put off without them But what are we to understand by Spiritual blessings by special peculiar mercies By these we are to understand in a word such as these here specified and such like as for God to turn us from our sins to himself to take away our iniquities and receive us graciously for him to be our God and for us to be his people and vouchsafe us his favour Spirit grace his accepting grace and his sanctifying and renewing grace pardon of sin and power against sin the blessings of the Covenant the sure mercies of David such as we find recorded in these and the like places Jer. 31. 33 34. 32. 38 39 40. Ezek. 36. 25 26 27 c. Micah 7. 19. c. And such blessings such mercies are thus to be prayed for thus to be sought R. 1. Because God thus commands us to seek them and unless we thus seek them we do not seek them as he enjoyns Psal 105. 4. Seek the Lord and his strength seek his face evermore Math. 6. 33. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness c. first not onely in regard of order of time but earnestness of endevours we are commanded to seek these not onely before other things but more than other things As these must be first so chief and most in our pursuits So Joh 6. 27. Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for the meat which endureth to everlasting life which the son of man shall give unto you for him hath God the father sealed not that we are forbidden to labour for things necessary to this life for that we are and ought to do but the meaning is that we must mainly and chiefly labour for that meat that endures to everlasting life that is for Christ and his benefits those things appointed by God for refreshing and sustaining the soul to eternity So that this is to be understood comparatively rather for the meat c. preferring the one before the other as when it 's said Matth. 9. 13. I will have mercy and not sacrifice he excludes not sacrifice but preferreth mercy So Luke 11. 9. And I say unto you ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you By these expressions Christ enjoyns earnestness and perseverance in prayer for it is not a bare simple repetition of the same thing but a gradation and it is meant of things necessary to salvation and the whole scope of the place is to stir up to earnestness Ask and Scopus est oportere nos constanter orare cum ardore do not onely ask but seek yea and not onely seek but knock Thus when the Lord prescribes unto Aaron and his Sons to bless the children of Israel which was by supplicating his face and favour this they were to implore again and again as in that form Numbers 6. 25. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious to thee v. 26. The Lord lift up his Countenance upon thee and give thee peace R. 2. Because others have thus sought them even with all earnestness as the Church and people of God here and so others elsewhere The Prophet David tels us Psalm 119. 58. he intreated the favour of God but how with his whole heart I intreated thy favour with my whole heart So how often in the same Psalm does he beg of God to quicken him and to teach him his statutes nine or ten times the one and seven or eight times the other So how importunate is he for pardon Psalm 51. 6. according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my trnsgressions v. 2. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity clense me from my sin v. 7. Purge me with hysop and I shall be clean wash me c. v. 9. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities c. And how importunate was Jacob for the
of Zach. 12. 10. Ps 147. 18. he causeth his wind to blow and the waters flow so true penitential tears are they which flow upon the breathing of God's Spirit 2. Which is mainly chiefly and principally for God I mean for the offence done to him that so great and so good a God and merciful a father should be provoked to wrath by our sin it is not so much the bitterness for sin but the bitterness in sin as it refers to God himself that troubles here Ps 51. 4. Luke 15. 18. Ezek. 6. 9. 3. Which brings the sinner to God as Hos 6. 1. Luke 15. 18. and that which encourages to this is the hope of pardon through the merits of Christ which also is accompanied with a firm purpose of avoiding sin for the future and this is sorrow according to God according to 2 Cor. 7. 11. his own mind and heart that is acceptable to God and well pleasing to him and the Holy Ghost in the very next verse sets down seven several fruits or signs of this godly sorrow seven several effects which manifest themselves in the practise and exercise thereof which because they are of so great concern I shall give a brief hint of For behold this self same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort 1. what carefulness it wrought in you that is to obtain pardon and reconciliation and to leave and abandon all sin especially that lately fallen into and in all things for the future to please God and to perform conscionably all holy duties required of him c. 2. what clearing of your selves that is not by defending or excusing your sins or your selves for your sins but rather by confessing and acknowledging of them and judging and condemning your selves for them and so by earnest seeking unto God and pleading Christs satisfaction getting your Consciences cleared of the guilt and defilement of them yea 3. what indignation that is against your sins and your selves for your sins being exceedingly angry with your selves for your offences oh that you should be so foolish and sottish that such madness should possess you to provoke so great a God and to offend so good a God and so gracious and merciful a Deut. 32. 6. Father Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy Father c. Micah 6. 3. O my people what have I done unto thee c. O Psalm 73. 22 that for what is so momentany worthless yea many times vile I should forfeit that which is of such worth as to break my peace impair my joy estrange my God and his favour wherein is life yea which is better than life c. yea 4. what fear that is lest ye should relapse and sall into former sins again or into other which fear ariseth from the sense of our own weakness and experience of the strength of corruption and Satans temptations as also of our own woe and misery formerly sustein'd c. yea 5. what vehement desire that is to be freed more and more from sin and for strength and assistance against sin for the future for farther supplies of the Spirit greater degrees of holiness fuller enjoyments of God and more and more of his presence c. yea 6. what zeal in the performing of all good duties and these more especially that are contrary to your special sins so to honour God to love him fear him serve him obey him enjoy him to do all the good ye can to others overlooking difficulties and breaking through all discouragements zeal being as it were the transportation Conspicuum et speciale resipiscentiae indicium est nosmet ipsae in iis rebus in quibus maxime peccavimus corrigere emendare of the soul and an extream heat or high strein and measure of all the affections for and towards God and against whatever is contrary c. yea 7. what revenge that is of your selves for your former offences in labouring to mortifie the corruption of your natures and subdue sin especially that you have most delighted in and been addicted to as also in subduing the body that it may not be an instrument of sin and in restraining your selves even in things lawful c. thus all is set a work in manifesting the fruits of this godly sorrow And then our turning to God again our conversion is right when it is founded in humiliation and kindly remorse and thus the Scripture sets it forth If my people which are called by 2 Chro. 7. 14. my name shall humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways c. I have surely heard Ephraim Jer. 31. 18. 19. bemoaning himself and after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh c. If then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled and Levit. 26. 41. they accept of the punishment of their iniquity c. and so in many other places Ahab humbling himself but not reforming and Herod seemingly reforming but not humbling himself neither of their turning◠proved right 3. It must be such a turning as arises from Sine fide in Christum nulla vera resipiscentia esse potest Zanch. in Hos 14. 1. and is grounded upon some measure at least of faith Some apprehensions and perswasions of mercy and remission in and through Christ For whiles a sinner apprehends in God nothing but rigour and severity how should he relent Vera conversio fit ad Jehovam praeeunte ejus bonitatis cognitione towards him or come in and submit to him What was it made Benhadad humbly to apply himself to the King of Israel it was his having heard that the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings and let us therefore say his servants put 1 Kings 20 31. sackcloth on our loyns and ropes upon our heads and go out to the King of Israel peradventure he will save thy life So who can tell said the King of Niniveh if God will turn and repent Jonah 3. 9. and turn from his fierce anger that we perish not Nemo ad Deum redire vel audet vel potest nisi spe veniae conceptâ Spes remissionis incentivum poenitentiae Ambros Thus true faith at least in some measure must go before repentance I mean sound Evangelical repentance and such as is acceptable to God and that as the root thereof for when a sinner comes to apprehend and believe mercy and remission of sin then does he repent indeed then does he sorrow and mourn for sin and turn unto God from what is displeasing unto him In time indeed faith and repentance may be said to be both together but in order of nature faith is first And hence we find in Scripture that the exhortations to repent and turn to God are commonly grounded upon the goodness and mercy of God which the sinner must apprehend and be in some measure perswaded of if ever he kindly repent and turn to him Return thou Jer. 3. 12 22. back-sliding
no it is so manifest that there 's no need of that The Apostle tells us that in his days they that were drunken were drunken in the night sin it 1 Thes 5. 7. seems was more modest then but now they can reel up and down by day Now I will not say that these that are thus past shame are past grace for grace may and hath wrought upon the shamelessest sinners as upon Manasseh and Mary Magdalene but this I will say that at present they are void of grace and very far from conversion an impudent sinner is ever an hardened and impenitent sinner and such as are not and will not be ashamed of sin penitentially here shall be asham'd and confounded everlastingly hereafter 5. It must be such a turning from sin as is with confession of sin As we see in David I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquity Psalm 32. 5. have I not hid I said I will confess my trangressions unto the Lord c. And it is not every confession neither for Saul confest his sin but was proud honour me before the people and 1 Sam. 15. 30. Judas but despair'd It must therefore be humble Voluntaria confessio cum fide conjuncta est Calvin free full fiducial and with a forsaking of it and this is so coincident to repentance that it is sometimes put for it and so necessary that without it there is no remission nor finding mercy 1 John 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins c. but if we will not confess them he will not forgive them He that covereth Prov. 28. 13. his sins shall not prosper but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy c. But this I do but mention 6. It must be such a turning from sin as is with hatred and detestation of it and an aversation from it which arises from a sight and sense not onely of the danger but of the filthiness and odiousness of sin of the loathsomness thereof as it defiles and makes abominable They are altogether become filthy and a wicked man is loathsome Psal 14. 3. Prov. 13. 5. Ezek. 6. 9. c. c. and they shall loath themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations It respects sin not onely as it burns but as it blacks and is contrary to the holy nature and holy and righteous law of God And this is an infallible character of true conversion when there is not onely some kind of leaving of sin but a loathing of sin and of our selves by reason of sin when our hands do not onely shut themselves of it but our hearts rise up against it as is said of Job that he eschewed evil he did Job 1. 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Recessit declinavit a-vertit se not onely not commit it but with reluctancy and abhorrency turn'd from it and with regret shunn'd it and declin'd it as a man would do his enemy or a Serpent in his way or poyson in his food so much the Hebrew word imports a reluctancy of his spirit Thus David hated Psalm 101. 3. 119. 113. 128. the work of them that turn'd aside and vain thoughts yea every false way And this hath still been the frame of true converts and the very life strength and Spirituality of holiness lies here A godly man may do evil but yet he hates evil but what I hate says Paul that do Rom. 715. 1. There is a great deal of difference between not doing sometimes evil and hating evil as between doing and loving what is good and this latter speaks most what a man is It is made the character of a wicked man he sets himself in a Psalm 36. 4. way that is not good he abhors not evil He hates not the evil he does not nor loves the good he does whereas a godly man hates the evil he does and loves the good he does not And this hatred if it be right is universal against all evil as David hated every false way hatred and enmity being against the whole kind as a man hates the whole kind of Serpents and Toads and so the Lamb of Wolves 2 The neerer it is the more we abhor it it affecting more as in our selves and ours 3. It is irreconcileable so as never to make any new league with sin Yea 4. it seeks the utter ruine and destruction of it But if this be the character of true converts and that which accompanies saving conversion how few have we and how rare is it we have many indeed that are haters of God and of those Rom. 1. 30. Amos 5. 10. Titus 3. 3. c. and of that which is good as the Scripture expresses it that hate Gods Prophets and him that rebukes in the gate and speaks uprightly that hate one another and that hate the light and knowledg and reproof and instruction yea their own souls but few that hate sin that abhor that which is evil no they rather love it and like it and delight and rejoyce in it They have chosen their own ways and their soul delighteth in Prov. 2. 14. Isa 66. 3. Job 20. 12 13 14. their abominations Wickedness is sweet in their mouths they hide it under their tongues they spare it and forsake it not c. But this which they so spare and is as their meat will not spare them but be turn'd in their bowels which they would not turn from and be as the gall of Asps within them c. But if ever God turn us again indeed it will be otherwise with us it will be with us as it was with Ephraim we shall say as he said and do as he did as in reference to our sins Ephraim shall say what have I to do any Hos 14. 8. Hoc ex animo dicere testimonium est verae resipiscentiae Zanch. in locum more with Idols Thus he shall say heartily and with utmost indignation and aversation with greatest heat of anger and height of hatred What have I any more to do with you I have had too much to do with you already Thus Ephraim upon his conversion should abominate those Idols his heart had formerly been glewed to and he should cast them away with detestation yea as it is said elsewhere as a menstruous Isa 30. 22. cloth and say unto them get ye hence And O that God would bring England to this that it might be said of us as in reference to our sins what is said of Amnon in reference to his sister 2 Sam. 13. 15. Tamar that the hatred wherewith we now hate sin and hate our evil ways is greater than the love wherewith we lov'd them O how would God then hear us and observe us as he did Ephraim Hos 14. 8. he would have a gracious eye upon us and manifest his special favour toward us 7. It must be such
7. 21. 6. of joy I hou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time when their corn and wine increased for thou hast made him most blessed for ever thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance it makes exceeding happy and exceeding glad It is the greatest cheerer the choicest cordial for thy love is better and we Cant. 1. 2 4. will be glad and rejoyce in thee we will remember thy love more than wine 8. It is glory it is our honour and exaltaion For thou art the glory of their strength and Psalm 89. 17. 148. 14. in thy favour our horn shall be exalted he also exalteth the horn of his people he and his favour whose name alone is excellent and whose v. 13. glory is above the earth and heaven And who should or what should exalt his people if not God and his favour It is a crowning mercy who crowneth thee with loving kindness and Psalm 103. 4. tender mercies the favour of God the loving kindness of God and those special peculiar tender mercies which flow from his very bowels as it were from his tender intimate and affectionate love these crown these are our honour and ornament With favour wilt thou compass 5. 12. him as with a shield the Hebrew is crown him And so the Dutch and others read it thou shalt crown him with thy favourableness or well Ut scuto voluntate coronabis eum pleasing complacency as with a target as with a buckler with favourable acceptation thou wilt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coronabis crown him Not only does glory life and immortality crown hereafter but the love and favour of God crowns here yea all the Gold and Gems and Rubies and richest and preciousest stones in the world set and compos'd together can never make such a Crown for the head as the favour of God puts upon the soul With favour wilt thou crown him In the 2 Sam. 12. 30. we read there of a Crown the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones which according to the weight of the Sanctuary weighed above an hundred pound but according to the ordinary talent above fifty four pound but the Crown of Gods favour exceeds it and excels it Thus the favour of God is not only Shield and Buckler but Crown also yea 't is any thing every thing that is truly excellent comfortable and commodious and that his people stand in need for it to be unto them But thou O Lord art a shield for me my glory Psalm 3. 3. Isa 28. 5. and the lifter up of my head In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people c. As he said to Paul his grace is sufficient 2 Cor. 12. 9. Favor Dei auxilium spiritus sancti á favore isto proveniens for us or enough for us and is all in all to us his accepting grace and his helping and sustaining grace his favour and what flows therefrom 4. It covers and silences all that God has against his people So that though his people may have many failings which oppose their weal and might be matter of plea against them yet God shining on them with his face he passes them by and silences all in his love for love even in us covers multitudes of sins how much more 1 Pet. 4. 8. Prov. 10. 12. Zeph. 3. 17. God's love The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoice over thee with joy he will rest in his love that is as some render it he will take satisfaction and contentment in loving thee in the affection he bears to thee But the Hebrew is as is noted in the Silebit propter dilectionem suam obmutescet in amore suo Margent he will be silent in his love or because of his love that is he will bear with thy infirmities and pass them by without manifesting any displeasure for them his love shall answer all objections against thee so that thy frailties shall not be charged upon thee but born with The Hebrew signifies also to be dumb or deaf and some render it he shall be dumb in his love or deaf that is to speak after the manner of men his ear shall not hear nor his mouth utter any accusations against thee so as to reject thee though he may humble thee he will quiet himself in his love when his anger is ready to be stirr'd he will pass over many things and as it were wink at them because he loves thee as the tender-hearted loving husband does as to his dear wife the loving father or mother as to her dear child So Hosea 14. 4. I will heal their back-sliding and whence I will love them freely for my anger is turn'd away from him and Micah 7. 19. He will turn again i. e. in mercy and loving kindness he will manifest his love he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depth of the Sea drown them in the ocean of his love Psalm 85. 1 Thou hast been favourable unto thy Land and then v. 2. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people thou hast covered all their sin CHAP. IX The Application of the point and first in general by way of Information or inference IS it the onely way for a people to be saved for Use 1. of Information or inference God to turn them again and cause his face to shine as hath been abundantly made good then there are several truths that this point doth inform us of and instruct us in and several things from hence are deducible and may be inferr'd As 1. That then there is a way for a people to be saved and that let their present state and condition be what it will be it never so sad though as sad as this peoples was here whose prayer God had seemed to be angry with a great while v. 4 5 6 12 13 yea and had fed them with bred of tears and given them tears to drink in great measure made them a strife unto their neighbours and their enemies laught among themselves yea though God had planted them as his vine yet now he had broken down her hedges so that all they who passed by the way did pluck her The bore out of the wood did wast it and the wild beast out of the field devoured it yea all God's former mercies were now turned into judgments and yet were a peoples condition as sad as theirs here yea sadder yet there is a way for them to be saved yea let God but turn them again and cause his face to shine and they shall be saved Thus whatever are a peoples sicknesses or sores there is a salve whatever their maladies there is a remedy whatever is their case there is a way of
cure If I shut up heaven says the Lord that there be no rain or if I command the Locusts to 2 Chron. 7. 13. devour the Land or if I send pestilence among my people that is whatever judgments I inflict on a people for under these are comprised all other if v. 14. my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves c. So if they shall confess their iniquity c. and their uncircumcised hearts be humbled c. At what instant I shall Levit. 26. 40. Jer. 18. 7 8. speak concerning a nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it If that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil I thought to do unto them Is there says the Prophet no balm in Gilead is there no Physician Jer. 8. 22. there Gilead was a place where there was plenty of Balm and it was famous for the soveraignest Balsams for from thence they were wont to be transported into other countreys and there were also store of skilful Physicians and therefore it was strange and matter of wonder indeed that Balm and Physicians should fail and not be had there But admit there should be no Balm no not in Gilead yet is there Balm with God and that all Physicians fail on earth yet is there a Physician in heaven who whatever are a peoples maladies if he do but undertake the cure will be sure to bring remedy Psalm 60. 11. 68. 20. who gives help from trouble when vain is the help of man and unto whom belong the issues from death For we have no might against this great 2 Chr. 20. 12. company that cometh against us neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee who yet canst help us and save us from above though no help nor way of salvation appears from beneath Thus there is a way for a people to be saved whatever is their case and truly this is a great mercy and that the Lord is pleased also to point a people to it when their case hath been exceeding deplorable and seem'd almost desperate as Joel 2. in the first chapter and the former part of the second what sore and terrible judgments had God threatned and yet v. 12. Therefore also now saith the Lord turn ye even to me c. So Return thou back-sliding Israel saith Hos 14. 1. the Lord c. Who says the Lord would set the briars and thorns against me in battel I would Jer. 3. 12. go through them I would burn them together Or let him take hold of my strength that he may Isa 27. 4 5. make peace with me and he shall make peace with me How desperate seemed Ninivehs condition Jonah 3. 4. yet forty days and Niniveh shall be destroyed and yet there was a remedy and they betaking themselves to it are saved And as it is with people so with a particular person and as in regard of their miseries so their iniquities as Shechaniah said We have trespassed against our God and have taken strange wives of the people of the Land directly against God's express Law Dent. 7. 3. yet now there is hope in Israel Ezra 102. concerning this thing our case is not desperate but we may yet be brought to repentance and pardoned Behold thou art wroth for we have sinned in these is continuance that is in those Isa 64. 5. ways of grace and mercy thou art still the same and if thou pleasest thus still to shew and manifest thy self we shall be saved So wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings c. Isai 1. 16 18. and then Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow though they be red like Crimson they shall be as Wool These were the deepest Dies implying whatever their sins were though never so great yet upon their repentance they should be graciously and fully pardoned Let Israel hope in the Lord for with Ps 130. 7. the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities There is a way for the wicked and most unrighteous man to be saved which the Lord calls and invites him to Let the wicked Isaiah 55. 7. forsake his way and the unrighteous man his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et vir iniquitatis thoughts Hebr. The man of iniquity or made up as it were of iniquity or the man of wrong or vexation as some render it one word signifies both that hath so much wrong'd not onely his own soul but God vexed his holy and good Spirit yet there is a way for such a one to be saved Let him but forsake his way and his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Hebr. he will multiply to pardon So that his pardons shall infinitely exceed his sins there shall be pardons and to spare as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 superabundavit plus quà m abundavit supermultiplicata est Paul expresses it 1 Tim. 1. 14. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant or redundant superabundant more than enough or as it were overfull enough and to spare it abounded to flowing over as the Sea doth above Mole-hills And because we are ready to be measuring God by our selves and to think this cannot be done because we cannot do it we cannot our selves pass by so many and great provocations and therefore how should God hence God foreseeing our low conceits of him he answers v. 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord v. 9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts 2. If this be the onely way for a people to be saved this lets us see in what an unlikely way and posture we of this Nation are at this day to be saved And O that we had hearts to bewail it I am sure we have cause even to have rivers of waters to run down our eyes as they did Ps 119. 136. Jer. 9. 1. Davids and to wish with the Prophet Jeremy Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night c. and to say as the Prophet Isaiah Isa 22. 4. Look away from me I will weep bitterly labour not to comfort me c. For are we turned again to the Lord or do we turn from our sins Surely as to the generality of people amongst us nothing less no nor yet though God hath inflicted upon us so many sore and heavy judgments such as scarce have been heard of nor have been in our days nor in our fathers days before us
his countenance that he lifts it up It is not that he hath any need of us or any motive from us except our misery and this the Scripture every where holds forth Of his own will that is of his meer good pleasure James 1. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia voluit becanse he would and free grace begat he us with the word of truth this alone is the spring and original both of our regeneration and salvation For by grace ye are saved but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we Eph. 2. 8. v. 4. 5. were dead in sins hath qu savâ—d us c. But according to his mercy he 〈◊〉 us by the washing Titus 3. 5. of regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost c. I will heal their back-sliding I will love Hos 14. 4. them freely c. He will turn again and whence he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities c. Since thou wast precious in my sight that is since thou becamest dear to me Is 43. 4. and I vouchsafed thee grace and favour thou Iter ad gratiam est per gratiam per quae ipsam venitur ad ipsam Prosper hast been honourable and I have loved thee I have manifested my love several ways to thee and all from love and meer grace and good will So that it is of free grace meerly that God exhibits and shews grace it is of love that he manifests love and how much may this encourage poor creatures to seek unto the Lord that he would turn them again and cause his face to shine it being nothing but free grace and meer mercy that hath put him upon doing this for others and though they be so unworthy yet why may not free and rich grace put God upon doing that for them which it hath put him upon doing for others God never turned any again to himself or caused his face to shine on them because they were worthy but because he was gracious not because they deserv'd it but because it was his good pleasure so to do it not because of any merit in them but because of that mercy that is in himself not because of works which they had done but because of what he was pleas'd of meer mercy and free grace for to do Thus the Lord tells Israel that because Deut. 7. 7 8. he loved them he set his love upon them here 's the spring and rise of all the good will and pleasure of God the natural bent purpose and Rom. 9. 15. Phil. 2. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro gratuitâ suâ benevolentiâ Pise inclination of God's heart to do the creature good I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion whom I will have compassion and he worketh both to will and to do of his good pleasure 9. Let us consider that as it is from free grace that any are turned again so it is by grace that they are turned as from favouring accepting grace so by sanctifying renewing grace as from the freeness of the one so by the effectual operation of the other it is free grace alone that puts God upon doing and then sanctifying grace that does it Look what ever any have been or are as to any saving work of conversion upon the soul and turning them again unto the Lord as it has been wholly upon the account of free accepting grace so it has been wholly by the powerful operation of sanctifying renewing grace as meerly from grace so wholly by grace and whatever any have been or are as to any saving work it is by the grace of God that they are what are and what that grace hath done for others that sometimes were what thou now art the same can it effect for thee We all says the Apostle with 2 Cor. 3. 18. open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory But how by the Spirit Psal 51. 12. of the Lord and the Spirit of the Lord is free not only as making free or being freely given but as acting freely The wind bloweth Joh. 3. 8. where it listeth c. and so does the Spirit breath freely where he pleases and can cause the same gales of grace to breath upon thee as he hath done upon others as God vouchsafeth his favour so he also gives grace and works by his grace where when and on whom he pleases and all that any are or have it is by that grace as the Apostle expresseth it as concerning himself that they are what they are and have what they have And last of all he was seen of me also as of one born out of due time For I am the 1. Cor. 15. 8 9 10. least of the Apostles that am not meet to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God but by the grace of God I am what I am what I am as to that change that is now wrought in me as to any saving work of conversion Quicquid est non sibi aut meritis suis sed soli gratiae Dei tribuit Pareus upon my soul as to being a true convert a true Christian and believer as to being an Apostle and a preacher who before was a persecutor as to what I thus am as it is meerly from grace so it is wholly by grace that I am what I am and others whatever they are being by grace what they are as to any saving work of grace why by the same grace mayest not thou be the same they are Is not grace as free and as effectual for thee as for another can it not do and effect that for thee that it hath done for others Take grace away and others are what thou art let grace work upon thee and thou shalt be the same as others are O what may not free grace put God upon and what will not effectual 2 Cor. 9. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grace do And God is able as the Apostle speaks to make all grace to abound towards you that ye always having all-sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work What cause have we to adore the fulness of this Scripture here are five all 's 1. All grace and not some onely 2. All ways and not now and then onely 3. All-sufficiency and not some sufficiency onely 4. In all things and not in some onely 5. To every or all good works and all grace abound as to all these what wants can exceed such supplies what indigencies such sufficiency and what cannot such grace do 10. Consider how far soever thou mayest have turned away or turned aside from God yet God has turned again as great sinners and turners aside as thou hast been or art Ephes 2. 1. And you hath he quickened which were dead in sins and trespasses not
hinder the conversion and salvation of your souls and though other words with which the Apostle did testifie and exhort might be left out yet this as that which was of so great concern the holy Ghost would have recorded And with many other words did he testifie and exhort saying save your selves from this untoward generation And so do you quit Egypt if ever you would come to Canaan and the Devil's disciples if ever you would become Christ's bid them depart from you now that Christ do not bid you for ever depart from him avoid them as you would a Pest-house or those that have the plague as being more dangerous and pernicious Who can touch Pitch and not be defiled therewith or lie on a dunghill and not smell of it Examples are more prevalent than precepts and soon make impression Hence I have not sat says David with vain persons Ps 26. 4 5. neither will I go in with dissemblers I have hated the congregation of evil doers and will not sit with the wicked David prays that God would not gather his soul with sinners nor draw him away 26. 9. 28. 3. with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity but if we would have our souls not gathered with sinners nor be drawn away with the wicked hereafter we must get far from them here else we shall be in danger to be like them here and so be gathered and drawn away with them and to them hereafter 4. Get into good company into the society of such as are already turned and they may further and help forward yours He that walketh with wise men says Solomon shall be wise but a Prov. 13. 20. companion of fools shall be destroyed As no one thing hath a greater force or influence for hurt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Theogn than the company which people keep and ordinarily associate themselves with so for good as to hinder a sinners conversion and turning Societas bonorum bonos improborum improbos reddit to God So to futher it He that walketh with wise men that is with godly men with such who are converted and turned to God and so from being disobedient to the wisdom of the just with such who fear the Lord and depart from evil for these the Scripture every where Prov. 14. 16. Job 18. 28. Psalm 111. 10. Luk. 1. 17. c. declares to be wise and he now that walks with such that associates and ordinarily converses with such he shall be wise that is he is in the ready way to become wise to attain to that heavenly wisdom which consists in our repenting and turning again to the Lord for such will be advising him counselling him exhorting him supplicating grace and mercy for him shewing him the danger of going on in sin and the excellency necessity and advantage of turning to God But a companion of fools shall be destroyed Ut lutum farinam acetum vinum corrumpit ita ma ◠homines bonos Chrys that is of wicked men who still impenitently go on in their sins without remorse for all such are fools as the Scripture every where brands them and a companion of such fools shall be destroyed and why because by keeping company with such fools he becomes a fool himself and is hindered from becoming wise from turning to God wherein indeed true wisdom does consist The Hebrew is broken that is judicially broken because by keeping company with such fools he is hardened and kept from being penitentially broken As he that comes where sweet Spices and Oyntments are stirring does Qui in taberna unguentaria resederunt paulò diutius commorati sunt odorem fecum loci ferunt c. carry away some of the sweet savour though he think not of it so he that converseth with good men shall get good somewhat of the sweet savour that is manifest by them may abide upon him 2 Cor. 2. 14. and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledg by us in every place and we are v. 15. a sweet savour of Christ a similitude from the Incense which being kindled spreads it self through the Temple and over the whole congregation Thus Christ's Ministers and believers go up and down perfum'd as it were and whereas others savour of sin and Satan and hell and death they savour of Christ and grace and heaven and holiness which savour they send out to others that associate with them and therefore get into the company of such who are of the same society as the Angels and Spirits of just men made perfect 5. Get sometimes alone and retire in secret and there seriously weigh and consider your ways and your doings how it is with you what is your present state and condition what you have done and are doing and whither you are going or what ever else may further and help forward this work This the Lord often and earnestly Hag. 1. 5 7. Ponite cor vestrum super vias vestras calls for Now therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts consider your ways Hebr. set your heart upon your ways which manner of speech signifies so to consider of a thing as to come thereby to understand it throughly and because this is a duty that naturally men are so averse from and backward to and a duty which so seldome is done to any purpose and yet withall a duty so necessary the want of it being the main cause why people go on still in the evil of their ways therefore it is once and again prest God tells the sinner These things hast thou done and I Psal 50. 21. kept silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self but says God I will reprove thee and set thy sins in order before thine eyes that is I will bring thy sins as an army 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In ordine proponam verbum militare against thee and I will set them all in order as it were in rank and file before thee as the Hebrew word signifies as if God had said Thou thoughtest thy sins were scattered and disperst and that thou shouldest hear no more of them that they should never be rallied not brought together again but I assure thee says the Lord himself it is otherwise as thou shalt Deus distincto ordine catalogum omnium scelerum proponet quem velint nolint legere agnoscere cogentur Calvin in loc shortly find when I shall muster them up all against thee as it were in battel array here a Regiment of evil thoughts and there of evil actions here of oaths and there of lies and there of false dealings here of blasphemies and there of prophanations of God's Sabbaths c. And what shall these make thee but as God threatened Pashur a meer Magor Missabab i. e. Jer. 20. 4. fear round about a terror to thy self and a terrour to all about thee and what does the Lord advise now the sinner in this
Story converted of his Atheism so though repentance seem never so difficult at first to corrupt nature yet frequently occasioning your hearts that way might much help you if you would but be still haunting your hearts with what might further it as with precepts promises threatnings judgments mercies Law Gospel c. and never giving over 'till something comes of it for occasions are to be prest and urg'd to the utmost and throughly to be improv'd as it is said of those Jews I do but allude to it that they said unto Nehemiah and the Premenda est occâsio rest that were building ten times that is very often in all ways that ye passe to and again the Nehem. 4. 12. enemy will be upon you and thus still haunting them with warnings at length they looked about and set guards in every place And so deal with your hearts and warn them often again and again tell them O! if you do not repent the enemy will be upon you the wrath and curse of God will be upon you hardness of heart will be upon you all those judgments threatened will be upon you but if you repent the blessing and favour of God will be upon you grace and mercy and peace will be upon you all the good promised will be upon you yea God himself will dwell in you and his Angels will guard you and minister unto you c. and tell your hearts such and such things often yea never give over 'till you have brought it to some good issue Thus as others occasion their hearts sin-ward hell-ward vanity-ward world-ward so do you grace-ward heaven-ward repentanceward conversion-ward and so salvation-ward 7. Remember God of his promises and in your prayers plead and press and urge the same Lord hast thou not in thy Word of free grace made promises not only to grace but of grace and do Lord as thou hast said be as good as thy word O remember thy promise Thus turn promises into prayers as these and the like Turn you at my reproof behold I Prov. 1. 23. Is 44. 3. will pour out my Spirit unto you c. and I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and not onely so but floods upon the dry ground that is my Spirit upon barren and fruitless hearts that have neither saving knowledg nor are able to perform any good work I will pour my Spirit upon thy Is 35. 5 6 7. seed and my blessing upon thy off-spring Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened c. and in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desart that is the Spirit shall be abundantly poured out upon all sorts even upon such as were as a wilderness and as a dry and barren heath And the parched ground shall become Ezek. 36. 25 26 27. a poole and the thirstly land springs of water in the habitation of Dragons where each lay shall be grass with reeds and rushes Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I clense you A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments Jer. 3. 19. and do them But I said how shall I put thee among the children and give thee a pleasant land c. that is being spoken of God after the manner of men I thus thought and considered with my self how shall I put thee among the children c. How shall I make such as you my people who are so vile and unworthy and adopt you to be my children and so make you heirs of that heavenly and glorious Canaan of which the other was but a type Now to this God himself makes answer within himself and the more to express the greatness of his mercy and the riches of his free grace against their unworthiness he says Thou shalt call me my father and shalt not turn away from me that is I will by my Spirit being a Spirit of conversion and adoption cause thee to return and to cry unto me in faith Abba father and thou shalt not depart from me Now remember God of these and the like promises and press them and plead them and urge them turn them into prayers 'till God turn them into performances So I might mention others I will heal their back-sliding I will love them freely and they shall return to me with their whole heart and Hos 14. 4. Jer. 24. 7. Psalm 22. 27. all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord c. And because knowledg and understanding is as I said initial and so influential as to conversion urge the promises thereof as these and the like For the earth shall be full of the knowledg of the Lord as the waters Is 11. 9. cover the Sea and They shall all know me from Jer. 31. 34. the least of them to the greatest c. and they shall be all taught of God Is 54. 13. Joh. 6. 45. c. 8. Follow after faith labour to believe for Non rectè possit agere poenitentiam nsi qui speraverit indulgentiam true kindly Evangelical repentance and saving conversion does as I said arise and flow from faith and is an happy effect and fruit thereof and faith at least in some measure must go before it as the ground and root thereof A true repenting sinner is a believing sinner that hath had some apprehensions and perswasions of the mercy of God in Christ and of forgiveness of sin in and through him to such as are penitent And without the root how should you partake of the fruit or without the cause of the effect it is said A great number believed and turned to Acts 11. 21. the Lord if ever we would turn to the Lord indeed we must first believe which should make us therefore the more to study and endeavour by all possible ways and means to obtain that precious grace of faith as the Apostle Peter calls 2 Pet. 1. 1. it precious indeed for what is there that is precious but faith brings us to obtain it and this we must in some measure have if ever we repent and turn to God to purpose for an unbelieving Conversio ad Deum complectitur praecipuè fidem quâ homo in solo vero Deo fiduciam collocat c. Winckelm heart is ever an hard evil and impenitent heart Paul speaking of such as live godly and so are true converts he speaks of them as being in Christ Jesus that is interested in him united to him by faith as branches into the Vine members to the head and such must all be that Joh. 15. 5. live godly for
from darkness to light from death to life from earth yea from hell to heaven from swine and husks Luk. 15. 18. to bread enough in our fathers house from feeding on ashes to feed on Angels food heavenly Poenitentia dicitur conversio ad Deum inter quem nos dissidium faciunt peccata Tossan viands from among murderers to the God of mercies from the crooked vile ways of sin to the even and excellent ways of holiness from ways of danger to ways of safety of trouble to ways of peace of bitterness to ways of pleasantness of wasting and destruction to ways of weal and salvation from broken cisterns that can hold no water to springs of water yea to the fountain of living waters from a wilderness and a land of deserts drought and the shadow of death to a fruitful refreshing Paradise In a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc word from sin which hath in it nothing but guilt and filth and stain and torment and curse and death and condemnation to God who is the sole and soveraign spring and fountain of all good of light life happiness help comfort consolation salvation and not onely how equal but how excellent is this yea and this makes it not onely our duty but highest dignity to turn again it being to God and such a God from what is most vile to an object so infinitely worthy It is best of all indeed not to sin but next to repent and turn from sin to God who Justin Martyr is such a God the most high and most excellent they called them to the most high Hos 11. 7. 5. In its fruits and effects and in its end and issue What excellent things are those the Apostle reckons up as following upon conversion What fruit says he had ye then in those things Rom. 6. 21 22. whereof ye are now asham'd for the end of those things is death But now being made free from sin and become servants of God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life O what a blessed change and what an excellent turn is here before servants of sin now servants of God before fruit unto unrighteousness now unto holiness before the end death now everlasting life 1. Here 's the excellentest freedom to be made free from sin 2. The excellentest service to become servants to God 3. The excellentest fruit fruit unto holiness and 4. the excellentest end and that is everlasting life O there is not nobler service performed excellenter fruit growing nor a happier end to be attained in heaven it self And this follows upon our being turn'd again which makes at once the sinner happy heaven merry hell sorry the Devils sad Angels glad the Saints to rejoyce on earth yea and all those celestial Heroes in Heaven and how excellent must that needs be that does all this and therefore to its difficulty oppose its excellency and excellent things are difficult but much to be preferr'd before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Facilis descensus ad orcum things that are easie but base and vile Job speaking of such as were base and acted vile things he tells us they had no helper or as the Job 30. 13. Dutch they needed no helper that is to execute their vile intentions no the work was easie enough they could do it of themselves but it was base vile mischievous destructive work But now to repent and turn to God and honour him and do good is hard and difficult here we need helpers help both from God and man but how infinitely is the one with all its difficulty to be preferr'd before the other with all its facility It is a thousand times more eligible to be labouring for Diamonds than lazing in the dirt to be sweating in a Golden Mine than idling and at ease in the mire to be toyling for treasures than toyling for straws better is the straight gate and narrow way that leads to life than the wide gate and broad way that leads to death Verae salutaris poenitentiae fructus multiples c. Gerh. 3. The utility thereof the profit benefit and commodities that accrew to the sinner thereby and these are so many as cannot be enumerated and so great as cannot be commensurated so that if any should ask what advantage then hath he that turns to God or what profit is there of Repentance I must answer as the Apostle Paul does in another case much every way And when a soul turns again indeed to God it may be said as Leah said when Gad was born A troop or company cometh O how many mercies blessings and benefits come and throng in then upon the convert To turn from sin it is Clavis viscerum Dei says one a key to unlock all the chests of God's mercies and a preservative against all miseries How many mercies are heaped up together in Hos 6. 1. 2. Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind up After two days will he revive us in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight Here 's healing and binding up and reviving and raising and then living in God's sight and v. 3. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord his going forth is prepared as the morning and he shall come unto us as the rain as the latter and former rain unto the earth that is we shall experimentally know and tast and see that the Lord is gracious and he in his gracious accesses to our souls will be the same to them as the Sun and the former and latter rain are to the earth And how comfortable profitable refreshing and reviving are these And Thus saith the Lord of hosts turn ye unto me and I Zach. 1. 3. will turn unto you and how much is wrapped up in that expression turn unto you that is mercifully favourably graciously turn my pleasant face to you lift up the light of my countenance upon you vouchsafe you my special grace and favour be reconcil'd to you and at peace with you I will pardon you bless you do good to you multiply all blessings upon you and remove all evils and plagues from you yea turn all into good unto you so that you shall find and feel and abundantly experience the sweet fruits and blessed effects of my turning to you Thus when God turns to us all good turns he being the fountain thereof heaven and earth turn happiness turns the creature turns the Angels turn the Gospel and all the glory and promises and priviledges thereof yea a full and overflowing all-sufficiency of all good turn to us and all evil turns from us all that is evil indeed for afflictions if they abide with us they are turn'd into good yea all now work together for good to us So that amidst ayles we are now without evil and amidst harms
goes and though God does then as it were hedg up sinners ways with thorns yet they break through This was that which set such a brand and Emphasis of disgrace upon Ahaz that all might observe and take notice of And in the times of his distress yet did he trespass more against the Lord this is 2 Chr. 28. 22. that King Ahaz And so will the Lord say another day of others this is that man that woman that family that people that person who when God afflicted yet trespass'd more and more and this does so incense God's wrath as to blow it up into a consuming flame and such a flame as shall not be quencht And therefore Jer. 4. 4. what now remains but that with all seriousness and earnestness we forthwith set our selves to and about this great work and concern both of our selves and the Nation that with all vehemency we implore it with our utmost endeavours prosecute it making use of all ways and means whereby we may attain it and not stand it out still 'till inevitable destruction overtake us else we must take what follows we must either remove our sins or God will for ever remove himself and his mercies CHAP. XIV To incourage one another to turn to God AND this work now being so blessed a work and of such infinite importance let us encourage one another unto it let us say as those in Hosea come and let us return unto the Hos 6. 1 2. Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us c. as if they had said And this it is the wisest course we can take it being our own happiness and good and not God's who is all-sufficient as if a man be warm'd and refresh'd by the Sun he is benefited himself but not the Sun and if a man drinks of the fountain he profits himself not the fountain so God needs not our conversion if we turn what does it advantage him not at all the profit and advantage is our own and upon this account he desires it not for any need he hath of us but for the need we have of him And shall we not then incourage one another to this and say as those in the Lamentations Wherefore doth a living man complain a Lam. 3. 39 40 man for the punishment of his sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord c. As if they had said What do we complaining who are yet living it is sad indeed with us but it is a mercy it is no worse that our Bodies are not in the Grave and our Souls in Hell for whatever is on this side Hell is Mercy and alive and complain and when for the punishment of Sin the evil of punishment being little to the evil of sin the bitterness for sin to the bitterness in sin one strikes at us the other at God one at the Creature the other at the Creatour the one at what is finite the other at what is infinite and the worst that punishment does or can do to us is little to what Sin does to or against God the Sinner gives worse gall and wormwood to God to drink than he does to the Sinner hence the Church resolves to bear the indignation of the Lord because she had sinned against him and hence says the Micah 7. 9. Lord to a people who would plead with him about his proceedings as if he had been rigorous towards them Wherefore saies he will ye plead with me plead with me Come then Jer. 2. 29. saies God and I will plead with you and stop your mouths with one word I will say but this and it is enough for ever to silence you for ever opening your mouths more against me Ye all have transgressed against me saith the Lord and do but sit down and seriously weigh what you have done in doing that and against whom you have done it and there 's enough to silence you As to what ever I have done to you it 's little to what you do against me and O! that Sinners would but consider this Ye have transgressed against me and Is 43. 24. thereby what have ye done even broken my law crossed and contradicted my will darken'd my glory griv'd and embitter'd my Spirit turned the back to me and not the face and wearied me and made me even to serve though a God of such infinite majesty and shall we now complain or plead with the Lord no let us rather incourage one another to return come and let us return We read indeed of other comes incouraging comes to that which is evil and destructive and these have been too too much the Comes of England which hath made things come to that pass as they are Come ye Is 56 12. say they I will fetch wine and we will fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundantly Come and Jer. 18. 18. let us devise devices against Jeremiah c. come and let us smite him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words c. Come and let us lay wait for bloud let us lurk privily for Prov. 1. 11. the innocent without cause c. But these are hellish pernicious comes and have occasioned so many great and heavy judgments to come upon us one on the neck of another let us therefore now at length change our comes and let them be come and let us repent come and let us turn again unto the Lord come and let us amend our ways and our doings and get our hearts and ways right with God that so things may be right with us come and let all our other strifes end now in this who should be first herein in turning to God and so in promoting our own and the Nations weal. Others are striving for worldly precedency but let us for spiritual and it is no pride here to go one before another but he is humblest that goes first And these are blessed comes and calls indeed to call one another to the most high to incourage one another to turn to God the chief good and to come off from sin so exceeding evil yea the greatest and chiefest and indeed onely true evil and the cause of all other evils which is it self a punishment yea the worst of punishments the work of the Devil and worse than hell and Devils and all other evils whatsoever which threw down Angels to hell and has more evil in it than all the Angels in heaven have good which was Christ's great work in coming into the world to save from and which nothing but his bloud can make Matth. 1. 21. Hebr. 9. 22. expiation of which not onely offends and dishonours and offers the greatest injury to the blessed God but exceedingly wrongs our selves our own souls which debases distresses defiles befools hardens destroys spoyls our good things is the sting of our evil things