him Even Man doth all things which he is necessarily obliged unto nay which he could refrain from but with some visible Inconveniency Man goeth forth to his Work and to his Labour until the Evening Now there is as much Difficulty in that bodily Service as in the other Duty required of him by God and yet he readily doth that though it takes up more of his Strength and Time The utmost of bodily Labour is for Meat Drink and Raiment Which God could have provided him without his own Labour as he doth for the Ravens and Fowls of the Air. But now it is so ordered to see if Man will labour for Food and Raiment and there he doth Wherefore do ye spend Money for that which is not Bread and labour for that which satisfieth not Isa 55. 2. The Hand withereth the Work ceaseth it is all determined within the several Days both the Meat and Labour thereof The first perisheth in the Mouth and is utterly consumed in the Draught the other is tiresome and not very material afterwards The Wages are mean and satisfie not But now God hath promised a Gift and Reward which is eternal Life and Blessedness And this is to be had upon foregoing Conditions which may be performed by the Soul as the Bodily Service is done by the outward Members Incline your Ear and come unto me Hear and your Soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure Mercies of David Isa 55. 3. Here God sends forth an Invitation and Command with the utmost Assurance of fulfilling the same It is observable how the Preface runs Incline your Ear and come unto me Hear and your Soul shall live He addresseth to the first Stubbornness and Aversation in Man to get him to hear the Voice and Proposals of his Maker for he doth send forth so many gracious Words and pressing Arguments that whosoever doth attend to them he must be perswaded Our God can give alike and greater Reasons why all Mankind should serve him all the Days they live here upon Earth as they do this or that for one another or as they have Imaginations to walk in their own Ways God is not a Man that he should Lye Numb 23. 9. as Courtiers and great Personages very free in Promises but slack in Performances But he doth give the greatest satisfaction upon which whoso considers he may build the strongest Assurance that he shall receive greater and more certain things by keeping close and stedfast to his Covenant than by turning aside from it From the Intention and sincere Desire of our Soul especially when we seek for all Knowledge and Direction by the Word and Prayer We may as surely conclude as if God spake openly unto us out of a Cloud or from the Battlements of Heaven The consideration of things to come may at all times weigh down the Thoughts and Temptation of the present The Eye may be continually fixed on the Recompence of Reward and so disdain and refuse the sudden Pleasures of Sin or the little profit of Transgression Such things may be for ever kept in the Imagination of the Hearts of People that they shall seldom or never utterly turn aside from God's Commandments and which shall overcome the Temptations of Satan the World the Lusts of the Flesh the Desires of the Mind or the Dictates of Pride Obstinacy and Frowardness What doth establish and confirm those who are already therein will also bring others in the Right Way God is able to bring those home who at present are estranged from him by the same Method which others have been before He can use and make known the same Perswasion wherewith others are actually perswaded and they yield to take upon them the Yoke of his Son He knows all the Hearts of the Children of Men every single Thought afar off each particular moving and inclination He understandeth all their Works and seeth all their Ways As also he is not ignorant of all the Devices of the Enemy To beat and keep them off from his Knowledge and Obedience So that he can take away what lets and hinders or over-rules it And that which makes for Good he can further and compleat the same I have seen his ways and will heal him Isa 57. 18. who perceives all the Wandrings can also lead him back Who doth behold all the stumblings in Darkness He can suddenly bring Light into the Soul that she may see her way Who doth clearly discover all the imaginations of Evil He can also presently scatter and defeat them If there be any Thoughts of Good any wishes and desires towards it he can cherish them up into acts and habits of doing well God who maketh to Will can also make to Do in his good Pleasure and in his own Order though this is commonly after the other He brings near that which was afar off and inclines what before was averse and unwilling Who can understand and also he doth know those close actings and contrivances the secret and hidden things of the Heart those reserved and innermost Thoughts the Bottom Imaginations if I may so express it or what yet lies under Ground or is covered over in the inward Man The deceitful Windings and Turnings are more than can be reckoned up We cannot fathom and comprehend all that lies in our own Heart much less in others But thou O Lord knowest all I the Lord search the Heart and try the Reins to see and discover if there is any thing more So he who knows all things can also apply things accordingly He can adapt his Grace unto their Corruption his Truth unto their Error and his Mercy to all their former Sins He hath a Balm to all their Sores for who doth perfectly understand the Nature of that and also the Remedy there he can recover whom he will Now God doth know throughly the Nature of every thing which he hath made I have seen his Ways and will heal him I will lead him also and restore Comforts to him and his Mourners Isa 57. 18. God doth not things suddenly for our Faith and Waiting are to be exercised in the mean while and therefore his gracious Promises are commonly future what he doth phrase Thoughts of Good even to give an expected End Yet in the mean while he requires that we prepare and be found ready To be as those that wait for the coming of the Bridegroom that when he comes we may open to him immediately Luke 12. 36. Agreeable hereunto is the Practice and Example of those of old The Disciples all went as soon as ever they were called and left their worldly Business So did the Labourers in the Vineyard go as soon as they were severally hired Those converted to the Christian Faith believed and lived accordingly the first or second Time after they had heard it preached unto them So when Paul was called forth he conferred not with Flesh and Blood he had nothing to do with
better lay the Law before them and then themselves may consider their variation from it Sometimes they are at a stand and as it were amazed and they know not what to do they may first see and fully perceive and then acknowledge according to that Example in Ezra 10. 2. We have trespassed against our God and have taken strange Wives of the People of the Land yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing So of every Iniquity Transgression or Sin whether it is complicated or single whether many or few are concerned therein still there is hope that God will do what he declares which he also will as certainly as he is God For he is abundant in goodness and truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin But then they must make a Covenant with their God to forsake their sins for the time to come and hence forward to tremble at his Commandments and to do according to the Law But if they cover their sins if they keep and hold fast to them then they are still guilty whom the same Truth hath here said That he will by no means clear Exod. 34. 7. The word Forgiving respects what is past but doth not allow for the present or future What then Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid That God may shew the more mercy in our manifold and greater sins that we may love much when much is to us forgiven But this and such like is a perverse wicked proud and disdainful way of Reasoning Because God will forgive we will sin yet more because he is Gracious therefore we will provoke him because he is Good we will presume to offend him yet more because he will pass by the Transgression of the remnant of his Heritage and make it up again we will break and at no time continue stedfast in his Covenant And knowing that he will pass it over we will forget the Name of the Lord and hold up our hands to strange Gods we will idolize and labour to please Men without any regard had to him Shall not God search this out for he knows the secrets of the heart He doth see and discern all such kind of Imaginations which shoot forth into alike practices We should do well to consider with our selves Wherefore do we desire any forgiveness at God's hands Because we would partake of his Mercy and avoid his Wrath. We would be happy and are unwilling to be miserable Why know we not that the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him to such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandments to do them Psal 103. 17 18. And the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Rom. 1. 18. and Disobedience Colos 3. 6. And therefore we must fear God if we would partake of his gracious Attribute and carefully eschew all the other that we do not fall under the severity of his Vengeance If we would be happy we must be holy and to prevent misery the only way is to sin not We are but meer Creatures All that we have is from God and so is all that we expect further We are but perishing and imperfect at present and we shall be yet somewhat more as our hopes and desires our fears and aversations give us notice of So that if we would have the good-will and love of God the consequent is natural and easie for our selves to shew love and good-will towards him in the mean while And then we must sin as little against him as possible Ye that love the Lord bate evil Psal 97. 10. And ye are to decline every false way we are to endeavour to set forth his glory and to honour him which shuts out all manner of stubbornness and the least despising of him Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12. 28. We have the Promise and Assurance of that Kingdom and to us is committed in the mean while what is preparatory to that The work and service is given and shewed that we may do it and as we are put in the condition of Servants to so great and honourable a Master as he is in Heaven so it is required of us that we be faithful and willing that is true in the management of what is committed unto us and ready in the performance of the same Another Character that belongs to a Servant is That he be Wise whereof our Saviour speaks and promises to set such over his Houshold Accordingly the Apostle intimates as much negatively See that ye be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is Eph. 5. 17. This must be in order to do the will of the Lord And also we are to be in a readiness against his time of coming to demand an account By doing of God's Will we learn to know it better and the performance is more easie we can correct what was amiss heretofore and perform it more exactly for the time to come From the quality of Servants we come to a more intimate Relation of Sons which the Scripture to assure us of God's Love and Familiarity to Mankind doth more often make use of than the other comparison of Servants I will spare them as a Man spareth his own Son that serveth him Mal. 3. 17. Now former miscarriages are passed over and forgotten when there is a sincere and actual service for the time to come where there is a constant desire to please and be accepted with God Agreeable hereunto is the stile of the promises and calls to Repentance Thus saith the Lord shall they fall and not arise shall he turn away and not return Why is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual back-sliding They hold fast deceit they refuse to return Jer. 8. 5. But if they do return they have forthwith assurance of Pardon and Forgiveness according to what is written But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die Ezek. 18. 21. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man 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 Isa 55. 7. There are innumerable Promises scattered up and down in the Old Testament and also in the New to give hope and encouragement unto sinners to return unto the Lord their God which do answer all their particular doubts and fears Whatever be their multitude and aggravation If they have played the harlot with many lovers yet return again to me saith the Lord Jer. 3. 1. Or if their sins be as scarlet or crimson of the deepest die and guilt he will make them white as
Truth of God We could reason even from the very first Principle of Action and make even the man himself whether he be in a meer natural state or if he knoweth what we say whether he be learned or unlearned yet we could leave it to every man to judge what is best even for himself to do and which is lIkely to tend most unto his own good Nothing is more certain and evident Then that there is no fruit of Sin It is like dross Psal 119. 119. which melts and slides away The pleasure or profit thereof passeth away and comes to nothing at all there is nothing therein which doth remain and endure nothing which will abide the Fire or stand in any stead in the evil day Not the least comfort or happiness can possibly arise from it Wherefore then should any one continue in Sin Or why should any one go to add Iniquity to Iniquity To draw it on as with a Cart-Rope when hereby he doth not only lose so much good but bring on himself the more guilt and misery If he hath offended God by former sins he doth yet more by present continuance in the same if he hath been filthy he will be worse by wallowing yet further in the mire and the sooner he draws back from the ways of wickedness he will abate God's displeasure against him No flesh can stand under the power of his Anger they cannot endure nor are their hearts strong in the day when the Lord shall deal with them And seeing we must all appear before him to receive Good or Evil to be sentenced unto Life or Death What can be done too much to intreat our Judge in the mean while that we may have him favourable and propitious and be found accepted with him What intercessions and care should be used against this great day of Trial and everlasting Decision How should we in the mean while behave our selves towards him that now sits above to take notice of those who fear him and think on his Name and also expecting till his Enemies be made his Footstool Those who will not submit willingly at first must at length by force who will not do it of their own accord shall be made to do it Wherefore should any debate or doubt arise in the minds of men concerning this Had they not better forthwith close in with that God of whom it is graciously written Who is a God like unto thee who pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage He retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Micah 7. 18. He would wink at and pass by former Iniquities if People would be careful to please him for the time to come if they would not perversly abuse things as to stir up his Anger so much the more because he doth not retain it nor yet to presume upon that Mercy which he delighteth in The right consequence is That if God doth not retain his Anger then they should not retain their Sins if he delighteth in Mercy they should both Pray and also endeavour to be Partakers thereof to meet God as it were in the way of Goodness to have good-will towards him that he may shew Mercy towards them with what Affection thou behavest thy self towards God he will manifest the same towards thee With the merciful thou wilt shew thy self merciful with an upright man thou wilt shew thy self upright With the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure and with the froward thou wilt shew thy self froward Psal 18. 25 26. According as men are so will God be towards them Now seeing that every one knows that it is in the power of God to save or destroy to do good or to punish no man can be indifferent as to which he would partake of for he would have the good and avoid the evil let him then go the most likely way to obtain the one and eschew the other and that is not to be determined by a sudden thought or slight apprehension of things for such may be the temptation and delusion of Satan But consult the Word of God the very truth and reality of things for seeing that God made doth now govern and will dispose of all things we may rest fully assured that so it shall be as he hath said and decreed where his Word doth promise Forgiveness there the man may be assured thereof as again where it threatens Punishment there he hath just cause to fear and dread it Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man 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 Isa 55. 7. But the wicked think that this may be done hereafter so that he is for keeping to his own way in the mean while Then he will continue and go further in a wrong way out of which he must at length come or perish the longer he goes on therein the more way it is to come back those things which he now doth must be undone He must endeavour to please and be reconciled with that God whom now he provokes and sets afar off He must have an awful Regard and Reverence for him whom he now despises What strangeness and contradiction would it be to do those things now which he shall hereafter really wish and desire that he had never done Repentance comes in upon a better and more truly informed Judgment When the prodigal came to himself Luke 15. 17. then came in him the resolution of going home and framing right Principles of Life hence forwards Then it is discerned that he was in an Error heretofore that he had chosen the worst part but now he would mend and lay hold of the better then he verily assents and is really resolved That if such a thing were to do again he would not do it But how can this be that when either he doth already or might know as much yet he doth the same The whole doth depend upon a full and true knowledge That God is to be obeyed and pleased in all things and that it is best for men in all circumstances and at all times so to do If in one instance so likewise in another and then in a third and so throughout all parts of our Duty It is better to be temperate in all things than to run to the full excess of Riot to do Righteousness at all times Psal 106. 3. then to practice wrong or deceit at any time It is better to observe the several parts and stated seasons of Worship than to live in irreligion or contempt of God It is grievous to have forsaken God and it is good to draw near and hold fast unto him in every thing this may be known by that long series and tryal how it is with the condition of Mankind those several dispensations and accidents the sundry changes and chances of this mortal Life the temptations and what may