and Power of God in his proceedings concerning it S. Paul in this Epistle written to the greatest and most intelligent People of the Gentiles declares both the extreme Corruptions of the whole World and the Wrath of God impendent on them for that reason as also the unparallel'd Longanimity of God in bearing with such a provoking Generation whom Hell had long waited for and especially the incomprehensible Philanthropy or Loving-kindness of God towards men whom though Enemies though weak to resist him he not onely spareth but also reconcileth to himself by the Bloud of his own Son and proclaimeth his free Pardon to all that receive him by his Apostles But lest Mercy abused should inflame the Wrath of God so much the more lest the sweetest Meat undigested through a Surfeit should be putrefied in the Stomach and turn to the most deadly Poison he in this and the following Chapters warns us of the ill Inference which men may make from so great Goodness and he begins at the words now read unto you What shall we say then shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid In which words are two Questions the former whereof is onely a form of Transition propounding it to the consideration of those to whom he writes that they with him should bethink themselves what Determination to make upon his former Declaration What shall we say then If this be the state of affairs between God and us it concerns us to heed what thereupon we resolve to doe The other Question is more particular Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound Shall this be the Inference we make from it The Answer is negative Absit God forbid Let no so absurd so unworthy an Abuse of so rich Mercy be yielded to though it be never so plausibly urged by our carnal Reason and our corrupt Affections would incline us to embrace the Motion In this passage of Scripture these following Conclusions are couched 1. That God's dealing with Sinners according to the Gospel of Christ is out of his abundant Grace 2. That the corrupt Heart of man is apt thereupon to harden it self by Continuance in Sin 3. That such a Determination is a most foolish and pernicious Abuse of God's superabundant Grace Of these in their order I. OBSERVATION That God's dealing with Sinners according to the Gospel of Christ is out of his abundant Grace That abundant Grace which is here supposed is the same with that which he speaks of Rom. 5.20 21. Moreover the Law entred that the Offence might abound but where Sin abounded Grace did much more abound That as Sin hath reigned unto Death even so might Grace reign through Righteousness unto eternal Life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Which elsewhere Ephes 1.7 he terms the Riches of his Grace In whom we have Redemption through his bloud the forgiveness of Sins according to the Riches of his Grace And Eph. 2.4 5 7. God who is rich in Mercy for his great Love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in Sins hath quickened us together with Christ That in the Ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his Grace in his Kindness towards us through Christ Jesus And Eph. 3.8 it is termed the unsearchable Riches of Christ All which Expressions are true without an Excess of speech if we consider either the State of mankind antecedent to the exhibition of this Grace or the Effects thereof or the Means of exhibiting it For what more deplorable Condition except that of Devils could the World be in then it was in before the exhibiting of the Divine Evangelical Grace of Christ to the sons of men They had all sinned and came short of the Glory of God they were concluded as Malefactours condemned under Sin under the Curse of the Law dead in Trespasses and Sins they were alienated from the Life that is in God Enemies in their minds by wicked works foolish disobedient serving divers Lusts hatefull and hating one another children of Disobedience of Darkness who walked after the course of the Prince of the power of the Air they were carried away after dumb Idols were Vassals of Satan and children of Wrath by nature And yet even to such did the Loving-kindness of God towards Man appear so as to reconcile the world unto himself not imputing their Trespasses to them He made him to be Sin for us who knew no Sin that we might be made his Righteousness in him and committed the Ministry of Reconciliation to chosen Vessels which might bear his Name to the Gentiles and bring Light and Salvation to such persons It was no small Testimony of his Goodness that even then when they were such when they walked in their own ways he gave them Rain from Heaven and fruitfull seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness that he caused his Sun to shine upon such unjust people as were both Jews and Gentiles The former of which were degenerated from the Integrity of Abraham and though claiming the privilege of his Children yet in reality were of their Father the Devil whose works they did except a few names that waited for the Consolation of Israel the rest of them were a Generation of Vipers full of Hypocrisie and Cruelty Unpeaceable Ambitious seeking the Praise of men not the Honour that cometh of God such as would compass sea and land to make one Proselyte and having wone him to them made him twofold more the child of Hell then themselves The other were filled with all Vnrighteousness Fornication Wickedness Covetousness Maliciousness full of Envy Murther Debate Deceit Malignity Whisperers Backbiters Haters of God despightfull proud Boasters Inventers of evil things disobedient to Parents without Vnderstanding Covenant-breakers without natural Affection implacable unmercifull Rom. 1.29 30 31. Yet even such as these he washed he sanctified he justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by his Spirit It might rather have been expected that he should have repented that he had made them and have executed his Wrath on them as he did on the world of the ungodly in Noah's time by a Deluge of water to wash away from the Earth that Dunghill and filth of evil Imaginations and wicked Works that had polluted the whole Earth or should have rained Fire and brimstone from Heaven to burn up and so to take away those unclean Sodomites those brutish Dogs and Swine which filled the World He might justly have caused the Earth to open its mouth and swallow up the Inhabitants of the world so as that they should go down quick into Hell as it did the Families of Korah Dathan and Abiram He might have sworn in his Wrath as he did concerning the Rebellious Israelites that they should never enter into his Rest They and we in all Generations succeeding might have expected to suffer the Vengeance of eternal fire But O Altitudo O the depth of the riches both of the Wisedom and Knowledge and Love of God! how
your unmercifull and unrighteous dealings in your Closets regarding Pass-times more then holy Sermons reading in your Chambers rather wanton Comedies or light Poems then the Bible and Holy Writings Yea let me ask the devoutest of you whether at any time you do weep for your Sins of daily incursion Are you sensible of your too much Formality too little Fervency in your Prayers Do you weep for your vain Thoughts proud Imaginations inordinate Desires your Ignorance Forgetfulness of many Duties Slothfulness Passionateness Omissions of many Duties you should doe Uncharitableness Unthankfulness and many other Sins of Errour and secret Sins which God knows though men do not Sure a sincere Christian is a weeping Christian if God keep him from greater Enormities yet he will find cause enough to mourn for his daily Aberrations if he do as a true Penitent doth take notice of the Naughtiness of his own deceitfull Heart If you say daily the Lord's Prayer and be not sensible of your daily Sins do you not mock God when you say Forgive us our Sins Sure Christ when he directed the use of that Prayer appointed you to be examining and judging your selves every day to confess your Sins to bemoan them to ask Pardon for them to resolve and vow against them every day And Oh that God would give you a Heart of Flesh in stead of a Heart of Stone you that are guilty of more hainous Crimes such as I have named or any other your own Consciences can inform you of to imitate S. Peter to goe out immediately after this Sermon is ended and weep bitterly to break off your Sins by Righteousness as Daniel advised Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4.27 And you that though unblamable towards Men yet are conscious of offending God by any privy Transgressions yea all of you who have any remainders of sinfull Corruption in you Oh that you would not defer but this day yea every day imitate holy David in his holy vocall penitential Weeping which hath been this day described to you And let every Affliction you feel or fear specially the thought of your Death bring you to a daily practice of Repentance and Supplication unto God that your Iniquities may not be your Ruine but that your Tranquillity may be lengthned here and you may be blessed for ever in the world to come Amen LAVS DEO THE PENITENT's PRAYER The Fourth SERMON PSALM li. 1 2. Have mercy upon me O God according to thy Loving-kindness according to the multitude of thy tender Mercies blot out my Transgressions Wash me throughly from mine Iniquity and cleanse me from my Sin WE find in this Text a Sinner struck with the sense of his Sins and pleading at the Mercy-seat of God for the Remission and Forgiveness of them If the Greatness of his Person or the Sacredness of his Function had been Antidote enough against Temptation Armour of proof against the fiery darts of Satan we had not this day heard of David a Sinner for he was a King and he was a Prophet and a man after God's own heart But since neither his Profession nor his Royalty could protect him from being a Sinner and that in so foul and crimson Crimes as Adultery and Murther which occasioned the penning of this Psalm 't is happy that we yet find him here a Penitent and a complaining one for we have him here a Supplicant at his Prayers on his knees with a Miserere mei Deus Have mercy on me O God c. What S. Paul said of himself that his Fall and Recovery was a Pattern to all that should believe in Christ may be as rightly said of David The Lord permitted him to sin that no man might presume but the strongest Saint might take heed lest he fall that none might be high-minded but fear and the Lord also recovered him by Repentance and hath left his Confession and Absolution upon record that none might despair but that his Example might direct them to return to God after their Wandrings and erect and keep up their spirits from sinking by the assurance of his Mercy so remarkably vouchsafed to so great a Transgressour And therefore if there be any Soul that hears me this day struck with a deep sense and horrour of his Sins lying groaning and trembling under the heavy pressure and burthen of them let him not despair of Pardon either by reason of the Quality or Quantity of them for here are Loving-kindnesses or kind Mercies a Multitude of tender Mercies well expressed by Zachary Luk. 1.78 the Bowells of Compassion of our God such as are in a Woman or rather exceeding the Compassion of a Woman on the Son of her womb Isa 49.15 Loving-kindness of God against Unkindness of Man Bowells of Mercy towards him who had no Compassion on himself mercifull Remembrance of him who forgat his God and himself awakening and saving him who in his insensible Lethargy of Impenitence would have destroyed himself Whoever thou art know that the Holy Ghost hath recorded this Story for thy Consolation not onely set David's Fall before thee but likewise the means of his Recovery the many and tender Mercies of his God As the Prophet Nathan was sent to David so David himself is sent to thee He extends and reaches out to thee the same Physick that he took himself And therefore distrust not thy Cure but come and hear David bitterly bewailing his Condition and with him bewail sadly thine own See him weeping and weep thou as fast Hear his Voice and Cry piercing the Clouds and be not thou dumb but as loud as he till thou hast awakened the Compassion of thy God Observe all this and say with him Have mercy upon me O God c. Which words are the main Petition of this Holy Supplicant in behalf of himself for pardoning Grace out of the deep sense of his great Sins and apprehension of God's great Mercies And they exhibit to us 1. David's Malady the Disease which pained him to the heart which made him groan cry out and be instant with the great Physician of Souls for Cure which is expressed with Aggravation in three words 1. Transgression a word that notes sometimes Rebellion or Revolt from God 2. Iniquity or Perverseness importing his Unrighteousness to Vriah his Wife Himself his Child by her his whole House and People who all tasted of the bitterness of his eating that forbidden fruit 3. Sin or Errour intimating the great Folly which he now deprehended in yielding so to his Lust as to erre from God's Command and for a little Pleasure to draw on himself the Wrath of God and the Horrour of Conscience now upon him He useth not mincing or diminutive terms as those that love their Sins as fond Parents do their Children and call their Monstrosities small Blemishes but paints out his Sins in their most ugly Deformity to shew his Hatred of them to the utmost and to justifie God fully Yea he useth those very terms to express his Sins by
which God himself used in his most blessed Declaration of himself when he proclaimed of himself Exod. 34.6 7. The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin To which it is very likely he had an eye and that he made that Proclamation the rise of his Hope That though his Sins were great yet they were not any other then God had proclaimed of old he did forgive and after in his New Covenant he more fully assured the Condonation of them Jer. 31.34 Heb. 8.12 2. The thing David requesteth of God and that is full Remission expressed in three terms 1. Of Blotting out his Transgressions a phrase used by the Prophet Isa 43.25 and 44.22 And it intimates that his Sins were written by God in his Remembrance as in a Book of Records in the sense that Job said 13.26 and 14.17 God did write bitter things against him and sealed up his Iniquity And the blotting it out is the putting it out of his Remembrance so as not to charge it upon him nor condemn him for it as it is explained Isa 43.25 2. Of Washing him throughly from his Iniquity a term noting frequent or abundant washing that is Absolution meant by Ablution 1 Cor. 6.11 where it comprehends Justification as well as Sanctification And so it is said Revel 1.5 Christ hath washed us from our Sins in his own bloud alluding 't is likely to the cleansing of men from their Leprosy and other Legall Pollutions in the Mosaicall Law 3. The third term is Cleanse me from my Sin by Emundation meaning Emendation purifying his Heart from the love of his Sin and his Life from the practice of it any more as it is expressed Isa 1.16 17. Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to doe evil learn to doe well 3. The Third thing considerable in David's Petition which is indeed the Hindge on which all turns is the Loving-kindness or Benignity of God the Multitude of his tender Mercies such as are in the Womb or Bowells of a tender Mother towards her Child And this Loving-kindness and Multitude of tender Mercies is urged by David as the Motive the impulsive Cause or sole Reason of granting his Request of blotting out his Transgressions washing him throughly from his Iniquity and cleansing him from his Sin In the same manner as Moses pleaded with God for Israel Num. 14.17 18 19. after whose Copy this Petition seems to be framed and is an exact Pattern according to which a Penitent Supplicant is to address himself to God for Ease from under the pressure of his Sins teaching us these Points 1. That the Remembrance of his Sin is the greatest Grievance to a Penitent Sinner David complains not of other Evils incident to him and his but his own Sin 2. That a Penitent Sinner doth not mince or lessen his Sin but setteth it out or confesseth it to God in its greatest Aggravations in variety of odious Appellations when he betakes himself to God for Redress 3. That the Blotting out of our Transgressions the Washing throughly from our Iniquity the cleansing from our Sin is to be sought from God 4. That we are to beg earnestly not onely for Blotting out our Transgressions but also for through Washing and Cleansing from Iniquity and Sin not onely by Condonation of them but also by Emendation and Amendment of life 5. That it is Loving-kindness and multitude of tender Mercies which is the Motive whereupon God blotteth out Transgressions washeth throughly the guilty Sinner from Iniquity and cleanseth him from his Sin 6. That the onely way to obtain these things is to beg them of God upon this consideration and no other You see a large field and copious matter is before us in which I might exspatiate far and prosecute a long time but I will endeavour to abbreviate and end with the time I. OBSERVATION That the Remembrance of his Sin is the greatest Grievance to a Penitent Sinner This is evident from their penitential Complaints In the many mournfull Elegies of David the great Pressure of his spirit lay in the Remembrance of his Sin Psal 38.3 4 5. There is no rest in my bones because of my Sin For mine Iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burthen they are too heavy for me My Wounds stink and are corrupt because of my Foolishness And again Psal 40.12 Innumerable Evils have compassed me about mine Iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up they are more then the hairs of my head therefore my heart faileth me It is true Afflictions are hard to be born Poverty and Disgrace and Imprisonment and Pains of body are very heavy upon many persons Discontents and Fears of trouble Griefs and Sorrows for loss of Friends Wife Children do often quench mens spirits and sink them into the Grave Nor is it to be denied but that many times they cause men to prefer death before life and to chuse strangling before breathing Job 7.15 But upon the sense of Sin when the Conscience feels the weight of it when God shoots his Arrows into a man and haeret lateri lethalis Arundo the deadly Arrow sticks in his side then the Venome thereof drinks up his spirit is as the stinging of a Scorpion or fiery flying Serpent it tortures like Hell and is more bitter and terrible then Death it self The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity saith Solomon Prov. 18.14 but a wounded spirit who can bear In other Afflictions there is some Remedy from Reason or Faith if not to comfort yet to quiet the Soul but in the sense of Sin committed till Pardon thereof be apprehended no Argument can be fastned but will be rejected Men in these Wounds of Conscience doe like persons in extreme Anguish who tear off their Plaisters that should ease or cure them so do wounded Consciences reject all Allegations of Scripture brought to allay their Anguish as if they belong'd not to them as Spira and others have done And that which is the Sting of Sin that most of all makes it deadly poisonous is the apprehension of God as angry as an Enemy unappeasable till it be acknowledged to be what it is an evil and bitter thing that we have sinned against the Lord and that his fear is not in us as the Prophet speaks Jer. 2.19 Which leads me to the II. OBSERVATION That a Penitent Sinner doth not mince or lessen his Sin but sets it out or confesseth it to God in its greatest Aggravations in variety of odious Appellations when he betakes himself to God for Redress So David besides the variety of terms he here paints out the Deformity of his Sins by adds also vers 3 4. I acknowledge my Transgressions and my Sin is ever before me Against thee thee onely have I sinned and done this Evil in thy sight
And to set out his Sin as the more venomous he derives it from his originall innate Pravity Behold I was shapen in Iniquity and in Sin did my mother conceive me vers 5. And S. Paul acknowledged himself the chiefest of Sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 The Reasons hereof are 1. Because otherwise the Heart loves and favours the Sin and the Repentance and Humiliation will appear to be but feigned True Hatred of Sin will cause us to confess and abandon it with all our might Odium est Appetitus amovendi it will stir up a desire to remove it it will cause Detestation Clearing Revenge Indignation Zeal Fear as it is said of the Corinthians 2 Cor. 7.11 The poor Publican durst not lift up his eyes to heaven but smote on his breast saying God be mercifull to me a Sinner Luk. 18.13 2. By this means he justifies God in his Sentence against his Sin in his Punishment acknowledgeth his own Desert which is the Reason here That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest vers 4. The more we aggravate our Sins the more we magnify the Justice of God's Law and his dealing with us 3. It also tends to the magnifying of God's Grace in Pardoning that where Sin abounds there Grace over-abounds Rom. 5.20 It is rich Grace that forgives great and many Sins They that make their Sins venial and speak of them as small matters do shew they take themselves little beholden to God to pardon them and that they owe little thanks for it To whom much is forgiven he loveth much to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little Luk. 7.47 4. This is the way to obtain Pardon He that hideth his Sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Prov. 28.13 Stultorum incurata Pudor malus Vlcera celat They are foolish persons that when they are to make use of a Physician conceal their Disease and tell not the worst of it for thereby they disable the Physicran from Curing them and are Authours of their own death But a wise Patient will relate all the Symptoms of his Disease and declare the worst of it that so there may be a through and not a palliated Cure So it is with a true Penitent he declares his Sin to God with the greatest Shame to himself in all its evil Circumstances that he may dispose God to forgive him it being God's way to justify them that condemn themselves as the poor Publican that with a dejected heart and look craved mercy to him a Sinner Which brings us to the III. OBSERVATION That the Blotting out of our Transgressions the Washing throughly from our Iniquity the Cleansing from our Sin is to be sought from God This was the course which David took and Manasseh 2 Chron. 33.12 13. When he was in Affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers and prayed unto him and he was intreated of him and heard his Supplication No such Prayer to be found in Scripture as is in the Office of the Romanists Mary Mother of Grace Mother of Mercy defend us from the Enemy grant Pardon to the guilty Christ directs us to say Our Father which art in Heaven forgive us our Trespasses And good Reason for 1. Our Sins are against him and therefore are to be pardoned by him Against thee have I sinned saith David therefore do thou blot out my Transgressions He must cancel the Bond who is the Creditor I will say to my Father saith the Prodigall son Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son 2. It is he onely that hath power to forgive Sins Who can forgive Sins but God onely Mark 2.7 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one Job 14.4 It is God's Prerogative which he challengeth Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy Transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy Sins It is true the Son of man had power on earth to forgive Sins but he was also the Son of God It is true the Apostles had power to remit Sins by a peculiar delegation from Christ or as the Apostle S. Paul speaks in the person of Christ 2 Cor. 2.10 Nor is it to be denied that Ministers of the Gospel ministerially by preaching the Gospell may be said to forgive Sins declaratively and instrumentally by bringing men to Repentance and Faith on which Forgiveness and Cleansing from Sin follow but not as the Pope pretends to forgive Sins by his Indulgences authoritatively or as the Popish Priests by their Absolution certainly and immediately Men may forgive Sins by the assuring of Pardon to the truly Penitent and Believing And the Absolution of the Minister is of great moment to quiet the guilty Conscience if he doe it Clave non errante when he is skilfull in Binding and losing and the Penitent freely confesseth and sincerely believeth in Christ and unfeignedly purposeth to amend without which the Absolution is invalid And therefore which was the IV. OBSERVATION The Penitent Sinner is to beg earnestly not onely for Blotting out his Transgressions but also for through Washing and Cleansing from Iniquity and Sin not onely by Condonation of them but also by Emendation or Amendment of life So David Psal 51.9 10. Hide thy face from my Sins and blot out all mïne Iniquities Create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me These are to be conjoyned As the Guilt of Sin is to be pardoned and the Stain of Sin to be washed away so is the Conscience to be purged from dead works that we may serve the living God the Heart is to be sprinkled from an evil Conscience and the Body to be washed with pure water as the expressions are Heb. 9.14 and 10.22 allusively to the Legall Purifying with bloud and water to which answers the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 which is thus expressed by S. Paul Rom. 6.4 Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life And this is a principal part of true Repentance to have a renewed Heart and to lead a new Life And therefore S. John Baptist when the multitude came to him to be baptized of him for the Remission of Sins chargeth them to bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance Luk. 3.7 8. letting them to understand that every Tree which bringeth not forth good Fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire And our Saviour when he found the impotent man who was healed by him at the Pool of Bethesda told him Joh. 5.14 Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee For as Christ saith if after the unclean Spirit is gone out of a man he
return again and findeth the house empty swept and garnished that is after the Sinner in some sort hath repented and his Conscience hath been quieted and his former Courses relinquished for a time he grow secure and loose in his Conversation the unclean Spirit taketh with him seven other Spirits more wicked then himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse then the first Matth. 12.43 44 45. Satan doth make such a person more sinfull then before and his Condition is worse then it was before his seeming Repentance Most truly doth S. Peter tell us 2 Pet. 2.20 21 22. If after persons have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse then the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousness then after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered unto them But it happens to them according to the true Proverb The Dog is returned to his own vomit again and the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire As it is with men who relapse into a Fever which was for a time abated their Disease grows worse and mortal so is it with them that after some imperfect Change and Peace acquired do fall back into the same or other Sins become secure and heedless of Temptations they commonly become more notorious Sinners and more hardned therein to their perdition None likely make a mock of Sin and sport themselves in Evil more then they who once seemed to be humbled penitent and reformed And therefore there is as great a necessity of begging for effectuall Renovation as Condonation from God Sanctification throughout in Body Soul and Spirit as well as Justification from all our Transgressions To which the onely Motive is God's Loving-kindness and the multitude of his tender Mercies according to the next Observation V. OBSERVATION That it is Loving-kindness and multitude of tender Mercies which is the Motive whereupon God blots out Transgressions washeth throughly the guilty Sinner from his Iniquity and cleanseth him from his Sin As God said of the people of Israel that it was not for their Excellency Multitude Righteousness or Vprightness of heart that he took them to be his People Deut. 7.7 and 9.5 but out of his own Compassion Ezek. 16.5 8 9. speaks of them under the Similitude of an unpitied outcast infant till he pitied loved washed and cloathed them so it is true concerning every person that is saved that is justified and sanctified that he is before unclean till the Loving-kindness of God towards him appears Not by Works of Righteousness which he hath done but according to his Mercy God our Saviour saves him by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost That being justified by his Grace he may be made Heir according to the hope of eternall life Tit. 3.4 5 7. And indeed all that is done by us before God pardons and cleanseth us from Sin provokes God against us nor is there so much as a thought in us of returning to God after our departure from his waies nor any help in our selves to deliver our own Souls till he pities us and saves us O Israel saith God Hosea 13.9 thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thine help He blotteth out our Transgressions for his own Name 's sake and out of his abundant Mercy through Christ It is through the Bloud of Christ as a Price of answerable value that he redeems us and yet it is mere Mercy that procures this for the payment of our Debt So that full Satisfaction to his Justice and free Remission do well consist together notwithstanding the exceptions of Socinians And we must still acknowledge that it is not for our sakes but for his holy Name 's sake that he cleanseth us from our Iniquities and upon this consideration he will be inquired of by repenting Sinners to doe it for them as it is said Ezek. 36.22 33 37. Which brings us to the last or VI. OBSERVATION That the onely way to obtain Deletion of Transgressions and Cleansing from Sin is to beg them of God upon consideration of the multitude of his Mercies and his Love in and through Christ So did the poor Publican obtain Justification by his crying Peccavi and supplicating thus God be mercifull to me a Sinner whom Christ propounds as an Example of a prospering Penitent excluding the self-justifying Pharisee from attaining Righteousness This is the Gospell-way to address our selves to the Throne of Grace to confess our Sins to trust onely to the bloud of Christ for cleansing us from all Sin to make use of him as our Advocate with the Father and the Propitiation for our Sins In him we have Redemption through his bloud the Forgiveness of Sins according to the riches of his Grace Eph. 1.7 This is the way whereby God will be glorified and we shall be saved And therefore still our Litany must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord have mercy on us or with David Lord be mercifull unto me heal my Soul for I have sinned against thee APPLICATION And now it behoves you that have heard David's Petition opened unto you to apply his Case to your own Souls You have sinned as David did if not in the same kind yet in Sins enough to sink you into the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone Can any of you say My Heart is clean I am pure from my Sin Can any of you deny that you were shapen in Iniquity and that in Sin your Mother conceived you Will not your own Conscience if you heed it inform you of many unholy and unrighteous Thoughts Words and Deeds If there should be any self-boasting Pharisee any ignorant Papist that imagines he can keep the Law of God and merit Heaven by his Works any deluded Quaker or other Fanatick that conceives himself perfect without Sin If there should be any Protestant Justitiary that conceives so well of his Innocence that he thinks God should wrong him if he should damn him so well of his Good deeds Prayers Alms Religious performances at Church or in private as to expect Heaven as wages due to them in exact Justice let him consider that he prefers himself before holy David S. Paul and such other holy Saints as have gone before us to Heaven Christ hath told us he is the Way the Truth and the Life and that no man cometh to the Father but by him Joh. 14.6 And S. Peter tells us Act. 4.12 Neither is there Salvation in any other but Christ for there is none other Name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved And therefore as it was said once to a Novatian by the Emperour Thou that thinkest thy self perfect set up thy Ladder and climb up to Heaven by thy self if thou canst so may I say to
thee Make the best thou canst of thine own Righteousness thou shalt find the way to Salvation by thine own Works a way unknown to the holy Saints untroden by them none there ever got thither that way That is not Scala Caeli the Ladder of Heaven by which the Saints climbed thither but Scala Gehennae the Precipice by which proud Pharisees superstitious Monks and Friers ignorant Quakers and formal Protestants that trust to their own Devotions and Good deeds tumble down to Hell I beseech you then as you love the Salvation of your Souls seriously examine your selves whether you that have sinned with David do repent with David Complain of your Sins be sensible of them as your most heavy Burthen confess them to God with detestation be instant for Cleansing from Sin through the multitude of God's Mercies hope for Pardon and Righteousness onely through Christ's Atonement by the Sacrifice of himself and his Intercession in Heaven have a settled purpose of Amendment of life be impatiently importunate with God for a new Heart and a new Spirit and expect these things and whatever Good your Souls want onely through the Loving-kindness and free Grace of God in Christ If it be so with you I may assure you of Blessedness and tell you from the Spirit of God that Blessed is he whose Transgression is forgiven and whose Sin is covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile Psal 32.1 2. cited by S. Paul Rom. 4.7 8. to prove the Blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works I may tell you from him Rom. 8.1 There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit But if you be insensible of Sins unhumbled for them neither confess them freely nor bewail them mournfully fly not to the multitude of God's Mercies for Pardon trust to other things for Salvation then Christ's Merits find no change of your Hearts nor alteration of your Lives nor work of renewing Grace in your minds nor beg it of God as a thing most necessary for you I may truly say you stumble at the Stumbling-stone and that you will unless God awaken you and change your minds die in your Sins and perish for ever Be perswaded then to follow the Example of David S. Paul and other holy Saints find out by God's Law your Sins confess them to God bemoan them with hatred beg for Mercy in the Forgiveness of them trust to the Obedience of Christ in his dying for you his appearing with his Bloud before God magnify God's Grace and Christ's Love pray for a new Heart and study to live a holy Life and thou shalt be blessed Amen LAVS DEO THE TRUE PENITENT The Fifth SERMON PSALM li. 3. For I acknowledge my Transgression and my Sin is ever before me THIS Psalm is one of the Penitentials occasioned by the greatest Sins which David committed the greatest Rebuke which ever he underwent and therefore penned with the greatest Compunction of spirit and most vehement Deprecation of his Guilt and Punishment of any which he composed After the Inscription of the Psalm which shews that it was framed after his Conviction by Nathan the Prophet and the Denunciation of Divine Vengeance for his Adultery and Murther he instantly craves Pardon with variety of Expressions and most prevalent Motives doubling and redoubling his Petitions and adding this forcible Reason which the words of my Text yield For I acknowledge my Transgression c. Wherein 1. He professeth ingenuously his Agnition of his Transgressions as most hainous of deep dye Crimson Scarlet Sins Red Sins Bloud-guiltiness and damnable Uncleanness 2. That he did not slightly take notice thereof but that as his Sin stared in his face to his great Horrour so he set it before him for his deep Humiliation and that not onely for a fit while the Prophet's Conviction was fresh in his memory but for a continuance it was ever before him he mourned and intended to mourn for it all or most of his days to repent and abhor himself in dust and ashes God had set it before his face by his Prophet and he did set it continually before his face as an humble Penitent And therefore he importunes God with strong hope for mercifull Forgiveness In the Text we have many considerable things to be observed concerning the estate of an holy and humble Penitent As 1. He owns his Transgressions and his Sins as by and from himself My Transgression and My Sin 2. He doth not extenuate but aggravate them by various terms denoting their Criminousness Transgressions and Sin 3. He doth freely acknowledge and confess them to God and Men. 4. He makes not this a short transient Action but his Sin is ever before him He continues this Humiliation as just and equall by reason of the greatness of his Iniquity 5. He pleads this as a Reason to induce God to a compassionate relenting towards him and a gracious Condonation Of these briefly in their Order I. OBSERVATION A Penitent Sinner owns his Sin as from himself He doth not as Eve did father it on the Serpent or as Adam on Eve but imputes the acting of it to his own innate Pravity as the fountain and spring out of which it did issue And that is indeed a right derivation of it Every man saith S. James 1.14 15. is tempted when he is drawn away by his own Lusts and enticed Then when Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth Sin and Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death Perditio tua ex te O Israel said God to Israel Thy destruction is of thy self And the same may be said of all Sinners The Providence of God orders the Occasions of Sin but it is Man 's own Free will that chuseth to sin upon these Occasions God ordered Bathsheba's washing her self and David's walking on the roof of the house but he put not Lust into David's heart or the wicked contrivance of her Defilement Vriah's assaulting Rabbah and the Souldiers falling upon Vriah were by Divine Providence but the Plot of David and execution of it by Joab were of humane Maliciousness Impenitent Sinners charge their Wickedness on their ill Fortune unhappy Destiny unlucky Planet which is done with the like reason as if the Knife were to be blamed for a man's Self-murther or the Bread he eats as the cause that he is choaked or the Girdle he wears that he was strangled by it Planets and other natural Agents though they have Influence on the Body which may provoke to Evil yet they cannot necessitate the Mind to assent to it or to act accordingly Casual Concurrence of things may prompt but not compell to Sin Evil Company bad Counsel cruel Tyrants may have power on the Members not the Will It is true the Devil is the Father of Lies He that committeth Sin is of the Devil but were it not that
Plagues require great Mercies and importunate Suing Now must the Bridegroom goe forth of his chamber and the Bride out of her closet The Ministers of the Lord all sorts of persons old and young must cry with Tears and Supplications Spare us O Lord and give not thy Heritage to reproach We must lift up our hands with our hearts to God in the Heavens as sensible that nothing but his Mercy can save us that he is ready to hear and help when we hope in his Mercy that we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our Sins We must mind God of his former Mercies trust on him as one that hath promised to deliver us when we call on him in the day of Trouble look unto him with Patience as being assured that they that wait for him shall not be ashamed 3. We must adde an unmovable Resolution to amend our waies to sin no more as we have done to abhor Evil and cleave to that which is good in Duties of Religion Prayer Hearing God's Word Praising of God Thanksgiving to be more frequent and serious to cleanse our hands and to purify our hearts from double-mindedness to be upright in what we doe walking humbly with our God and seeking his Glory all our daies And in two things especially we are to deal rightly with God 1. In doing Justice to others if we be publick persons by punishing Sin and giving just Sentence for all that are wronged if private by restoring that which is not our own and righting those we have injured Remember that God abhors ex Rapina Holocaustum Robbery for Burnt-offerings and that the Prayers of the unjust are an Abomination to the Lord. 2. In shewing Mercy to others We are to be mercifull as our heavenly Father is mercifull chiefly when we beg Mercy at his hands This is a necessary Duty for a Fasting-day Isa 58.6 7. Is not this the Fast c Now especially is a time for this Duty in which there is so much Want by reason of the great Poverty that is come upon Families shut up now that Trading is decayed and Provision so dear and difficult to be got As you cry to God for Help so do others Necessities cry to you for Relief Have you then Bowels of Mercy for them as you would have Bowels of Mercy in God towards you Let your hand be open to them as you would have God's hand ready for you So may you expect Preservation in this time of Danger at least you may be assured however you speed now of Life eternall hereafter Which God grant c. Amen LAVS DEO THE HEAVENLY CALL The Twelfth SERMON HEBREWS iv 7. To Day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts THIS Passage is a Quotation with an Application of it beyond what at first the words seemed to import They were spoken by David but intended as a Monition to hear the Gospell They are a Summons or Writ of Appearance served upon Jews and Gentiles limiting them to a certain Day of accepting the offer of the Gospell without delay upon pretence of Business Profit or Pleasure by themselves without Attorney or Proxy The thing to be done is hearing his Voice the means thereunto is Removere prohibens to remove that which might hinder the Hardness of the Heart This being applied to the Gospell of Christ intimates 1. That the Preaching of the Gospel is the Voice of God 2. That it is to be heard 3. That it is to be heard to day 4. That to the end it may be heard to day the Heart must not be hardned I. OBSERVATION That the Gospel of Christ is the Voice of God It is the express Assertion of S. Peter 1. Epist 1.25 alluding to Isa 40.8 But the Word of the Lord endureth for ever and this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you Which is demonstratively confirmed 1. By its own Evidence in respect of which it is termed the Light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ who is the Image of God 2 Cor. 4.4 It is not denied that it is the hidden Wisedom of God in a mystery which none of the Princes of the world knew yea it is such as eye hath not seen ear hath not heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man without Revelation from him it being not an humane Invention but a Divine Contrivance yet shining forth in the Preaching of it by Christ and his Ministers it exhibits such a Light as can come from none but God It is not like any Talmudicall Fable or Popish Legend or Poeticall Fiction or witty Romance the Brats of mens Fancy or subtile Composure But it is for the matter of it sutable to God's Wisedom Goodness and Holiness agreeable to the undoubted Oracles of God committed to the Jews foretold and prefigured by the Prophecies of the Old Testament and Shadows of the Law Whence S. Peter tells us 2 Pet. 1.16 We have not followed cunningly-devised Fables when we made known unto you the Power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and vers 19. that Christians had a more sure word of Prophecy to which they were to take heed as unto a Light that shineth in a dark place adding that the Evidence of the Gospell is as the Dawning of the Day and the Arising of the Day-star in the Christians hearts 2. And in truth the Gospel appears to be such by its Effects It doeth to the Heart what the Stars and the Sun do to the Eyes it enlightens it enlivens it warms it spirits the Heart It doeth that which Natural Reason could not doe Philosophy could not attain to the Law could not accomplish It discovers our selves to our selves the Being Properties Counsels of God to us It turns the Heart from Sin begets Men to God fills the Soul with heavenly Comforts strengthens and quickens the Spirit to doe the Will of God and to suffer for his Name It makes men to be of composed Spirits and celestiall Conversation beyond what either Stoicall Philosophy or Rabbinicall Dictates could raise men unto to be more noble and heroical then those renowned Worthies or Patriots which either Greeks or Romans have admired and magnified 3. And which puts it out of all doubt to be Divine it hath such Attestations as could be given by none but God For besides what John the Baptist saw and heard at Christ's Baptism besides what S. Peter and his Collegues testified who were Eye-witnesses of his Majesty when he received from God the Father Honour and Glory when there came such a Voice to him from the excellent Glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased 2 Pet. 1.17 besides all this the Miracles which Christ and his Apostles did so convinced Nicodemus that he confessed We know that thou art a Teacher come from God for no man can doe these Miracles which thou doest except God be with him Joh. 3.2 And that
unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out Even in this desperate State when Iniquity was at the height when the Sins of men were ripe the Harvest come to its full growth when they lay weltring in their own bloud he said unto such out-cast helpless sons of Adam Live he hath swaddled washed nourished decked married to his Son such forlorn Creatures done the greatest Good to the worst of men he so loved the World that he gave his onely-begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have Life eternal Jesus Christ came into the world to save Sinners even the chiefest though it was foreseen which is next to be considered II. OBSERVATION That corrupt Hearts will be apt upon this gracious dealing of God to harden themselves by continuance in Sin The Apostle Jude in his Epistle vers 4. tells us of some ungodly men in his time who turned the Grace of God into Lasciviousness But it is an Abuse not peculiar to those onely it is a Disease which is hereditary How many are there who presume on God's Mercy though they persist in their Impenitency Is it not a frequent thing with many that profane the Name of God by an hourly Abuse of it in vain Swearing that spend a great part of their lives in Debauchery so as to become more like Beasts then Men to live more Pecudum or more Ferarum as Sensualists rather then Religious persons as Devils rather then Saints yet to feed themselves with imaginations of God's Grace as if God would be mercifull to such Christ died for All God would damn None to bolster up themselves in Sin deluding themselves with Conceits of Pardon if at last Gasp they can but cry Peccavi when they love their Sin as much as they did and grieve onely that they cannot still commit it or that God awards Hell to the Actours of it and cry God mercy in a faint Miserere mei God be mercifull to me when they have neither acquaintance with his Promise nor any lively sense of his Love in Christ How great a part of the sons of men expose themselves to Temptations and give way to sinfull Compliance in Errour or unrighteous Practices out of a fond hope of future Repentance and easie Pardon Not onely notorious ungodly persons who walk in the Stubbornness of their heart adding drunkenness to thirst say in their heart they shall have Peace when God saith he will not spare them Deut. 29.19 bless themselves when God curseth them but also others who have a Form of Godliness without the Power shelter themselves from Wrath upon a mistake of God's abundant Grace Yea somewhat of this Leaven is hidden even in Good mens Hearts which is apt to sour their Spirits to puff them up with high conceits of their Happiness and Interest in God so as to make them secure in some goings astray Which is a foolish and pernicious Abuse of God's superabundant Grace to be next considered III. OBSERVATION That it is a foolish Conceit that we may securely continue in Sin and expect Favour from God because of his superabundant Grace in Christ This is manifest because it is a groundless and vain Presumption there being no Promise or other Declaration of God which assures his Grace to such persons Promise of Pardon of Sin is made onely to the Penitent Mercy to him that confesseth and forsaketh his Sin Onely a working Faith that is in Christ operative by Love avails with God to the Justification of a Sinner New Obedience is requisite to the Continuance of our Peace with God a holy Life to eternal Life We reade of David's Forgiveness and we reade also of David's Confession he acknowledgeth his Sin before Nathan tells him The Lord hath put away thy Sin We reade of God's Mercy to Manasseh but the same Story tells us of his humbling himself first Saint Paul was saved though the chief of Sinners but not till he was converted and thereby made a real Saint Were it so that Grace were bestowed on hardned Sinners it would be in effect a cherishing of Rebellion When a Prince pardons a Traitour he will first have him an humble Supplicant lay down his Weapons and fall prostrate at his feet Else he should maintain Enemies not secure his Dominion he should in the event destroy himself by saving his Foe such Pity to them would prove Cruelty to himself It is so in God's Royall Government Should he shew himself facil and forward in bestowing his most beneficial Grace on open Sinners that persist in their Provocations or on secret Hypocrites that are false-hearted he should in stead of upholding his Kingdom ruine it in stead of gaining good Subjects nourish Vipers in his bosome It is a Maxim with him in his Holy Polity That when the Righteous turneth away from his Righteousness and committeth Iniquity his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his Trespass that he hath trespassed and in his Sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die Ezek. 18.24 This is the way of God which he counts as it is indeed most equall it being altogether incongruous to God's Holiness to abett Evil. For that would foster such Conceits in men as those were in him of whom God saith Psal 50.21 These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self Then which there is nothing more opposite to his pure Nature nothing being more repugnant to him then Sin Such Imputations therefore are the greatest Disparagements of God the foulest Reproaches the most hainous Injuries the most monstrous Indignities that can be cast on the Divine Majesty it being all one as to metamorphose him into a Devil All Sin is from the Devil and therefore for God to bestow his Grace on him that continues in Sin were to countenance the Devil's Actings to breed up his Brats in stead of destroying the works of the Devil such Indulgence would promote them God should be an egregious Dissembler he should in word forbid Sin in deed command it he should take to himself the name of a Righteous God and act as the Authour of Sin he should threaten Sinners as if he were in jest not in earnest give liberty and allowance to a dissembling Hypocrite to mock him to his face while he makes a shew of honouring God when he sues for his Grace and yet in Heart derides the Word of the living God The Intention of God in exhibiting his surpassing Grace is to draw the Hearts of men by the Chords of love to him the more abundantly that as it is said of that woman Luk. 7.47 that her Sins which were many were forgiven for she loved much much Love might be the fruit of much Grace Whereas the Continuance in Sin out of the fancy of superabundant Grace is indeed to abuse the Love of God to the increase of Hatred against him Spider-like to suck Poison out of that Flower
out It is Goodness and not Greatness we are desirous to see and do freely remember and pleasingly celebrate We sometimes are willing to hear of the Exaltation of another and are ready to magnify it but not without Regret of mind unless there be a Complication of Goodness with Greatness The Magnificence of a great Prince is a pleasing Object to us when we know him to be gracious kind mercifull and bountifull otherwise what-ever we doe with our Eyes and Knees and Tongues yet our Hearts are averse from him But when these concurre when Power is tempered with Love and that Love is a cordiall Benevolence as it is in my Text then it deserves a Videte as here Behold what manner of love c. Which leads me to the next thing II. The Authour it is the Love of the Father The Love of a Friend is highly valued by us How doth David celebrate the Love of Jonathan to himself My Brother Jonathan very pleasant hast thou been unto me thy Love to me was wonderfull 2 Sam. 1.26 And indeed his Love was admirable who preferred a Friend before a Father who endeavoured to preserve him whom his Father sought to destroy yea then stuck fast to him when he might and perhaps did understand that David's Advancement to the Throne of Israel would be his and his Posteritie's Ruine Yet this Love is not comparable to the Love of a Father A Father loves his Child though his Child loves not him A Father loves his Child and will doe him good before himself will like Zalencus pluck out his Eye to preserve his Child's venture and cast away his Life to save his Child's Fathers care little what they eat wear undergoe how they labour so as their Children be well and well provided for And such is the Love that S. John calls to us to behold Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed on us God is the Father by way of excellency the Father of Fathers the Universall Father who hath formed all things the Father of all Men for we are all his Off-spring Act. 17.28 But in a peculiar manner he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of his Love Col. 1.3 He proclaimed from Heaven Matth. 3.17 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased His orient brightest Love shines most directly in its Zenith on Christ he is under the Line but it shines also on us from him He hath made us accepted or Favourites in the beloved Eph. 1.6 And so he is become the Father of all the Saints adopted in Christ Jesus and made the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus Gal. 3.26 'T is this Father's Love that is here presented to be seen His who is styled the Father of Mercies the God of all Consolation 2 Cor. 1.3 the Father of Lights from whom every good and every perfect Gift cometh with whom is no Variableness or shadow of turning Jam. 1.17 the Father who is Love it self in the abstract 1 Joh. 4.16 God is love It is not an Accident in him but his very Essence so that if he cease to love he ceaseth to be Dulce nomen Patris The Name of a Father is a sweet Name especially of such a Father I will goe to my Father said the Prodigall Son when he knew not what to doe being brought into great Extremities Though he had wasted his Estate by playing the Unthrift yet he saith I will arise and goe to my Father and say unto him I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son and his Father meets him hath Compassion on him runs to him falls on his Neck and kisses him puts on him the best Robe a Ring on his hand Shoes on his feet kills the fatted Calf eats and drinks and is merry with him after all his Miscarriages Luk. 15. So forcible so free so indulgent so active so constant and so unalterable is the Love of a Father If there be so much Water in a River there is more in the Ocean if so much Love in an Earthly Father there is infinitely more in the Heavenly Father Be you perfect saith our Lord Matth. 5.48 as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect As he is perfect in all his Attributes his Wisedome Power Truth Justice so also in his Love Whence it is that his Love is an everlasting Love I have loved thee with an everlasting Love therefore with Loving-kindness have I drawn thee saith God in the Prophet Jerem. 31.3 His Love is an unchangeable Love his Gifts and Calling are without Repentance Rom. 11.29 His Love is a preventing Love bears date afore ours 1 Joh. 4.19 We love him because he first loved us His Love is a most pure Love it hath no sordid End no mercenary Motive I doe not this saith God for your sakes O House of Israel but for my Holy Name 's sake Ezek. 36.22 It is pure Goodness meer Love that sets God on work to doe good to us it is the Love of a Father which hath no reason from without him but from his own nature it is a most active Love not in shew onely but in deed and in truth it is an immense Love that hath a Height and a Depth a Length and a Breadth without bounds a rich Love God who is rich in Mercies for his great Love wherewith he hath loved us even when we were dead in Sins hath quickned us together with Christ Eph. 2.4 5. a Love so ample and full that he gave his own Son for us and with him hath freely given us all things Rom. 8.32 And all is done gratis without Fee or Compensation which is next to be observed III. The Freeness of it it is given or bestowed Donatur say the Civill Lawyers quod nullo Jure cogente conceditur That is said to be given which cannot by any Law be enforced Sure that Love which the Father vouchsafes to us is such as there was no Reason to demand it no Title whereupon to claim it It was Love to us before we thought of it I was found saith God Rom. 10.20 of them that sought me not I was made manifest to them that asked not after me Yea God commendeth his Love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us When we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son Rom. 5.8 10. There was nothing in us but Hatred of God when he loved us and we were so far from any Merit de Condigno of Condignity or de Congruo of Congruity that indeed there was the greatest Demerit in us So far were we from deserving God's Love that we rather merited to be rejected by him by reason of our many Provocations of him to Anger as the proper Fruit of our Demeanour The Wages of Sin is Death but the Gift of God is eternall Life through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.23 Nor could
13.22 Which is the great Scope of him that walks in his Uprightness and consequently a proof of his owning God's Sovereignty and uniting of his Heart to fear his Name 3. A man's Walking in his Uprightness proceeds from that Faith whereby the Believer presents God to himself sets him before his face sees him that is invisible as Moses did Heb. 11.27 which begets Fear of God takes away servile Fear of others keeps him in even and constant Obedience as Enoch Noah Abraham and all the Holy Patriarchs who walked with and before God without Fear of their Enemies in the Fear of God depending on his Protection and subjecting themselves to his Direction which engaged the Lord to be their God III. What Advantage accrues to him that walketh in his Vprightness and feareth the Lord. Of which very briefly The Psalmist tells us in few words Psal 84.11 that the Lord God is a Sun and a Shield the Lord will give Grace and Glory no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Psal 97.11 Light is sown for the Righteous and Gladness for the Vpright in heart And after him the Apostle Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to the Rule of the new Creature in Christ Jesus Peace be on them and Mercy and on the Israel of God Whence it is rightly inferred that all such as walk in their Uprightness out of a Fear of the Lord are assured of Light to guide them Protection to preserve them Peace to quiet them Supply of good things to chear them Assistence to help them Favour to comfort them and Glory to advance them APPLICATION And now what remains but that each of us as the Prophet minds the Jews Hag. 1.5 consider our Ways whether we have chosen the Way that leads to Life or that which is the Path to Destruction whether we walk uprightly in the Fear of God or perversly in Compliance with Satan All of us have a Journey to goe here we have no continuing City We may say as David 1 Chron. 29.15 We are Strangers before God as were all our Fathers our days on the Earth are as a Shadow and there is none abiding no expectation of a settled Mansion here We must arise and depart for this is not our Rest because it is polluted Mic. 2.10 Oh then how much doth it concern us to heed which Way we take whether the tendence of our Course of life be to walk in our Vprightness as those that fear the Lord or our Conversation be in the Lusts of our Flesh fulfilling the desires of the Flesh and of the Mind whether we devote our selves to the Fear of God spend our lives imploy our time and estate to please him to doe his Will or our Walking be according to the course of this World according to the Prince of the power of the Air the Spirit that worketh in the children of Disobedience If you say you fear God and expect Heaven you must manifest it by departing from your sinfull Ways by serving him in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the days of your life They must walk before God in their Uprightness here who would stand before God in Happiness hereafter Not Words but Works not a Form of Godliness but the Power of it prevails with God Be not deceived saith the Apostle Gal. 6.7 8. God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap For he that soweth to his Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting Follow therefore Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Walk with that Company here with which you would have your Lot hereafter Walk not in the way with them with whom you dread to be associated at last Take heed of Complying with the World in your Life with whom you would not be condemned at your Death Consider the End of your Life and follow their Faith whose End you would purchase at the greatest rate Remember the Advice of the Prophet Jerem. 6.16 Thus saith the Lord Stand in the ways and see and ask for the old Paths where is the good Way and walk therein and ye shall find Rest for your Souls I direct you not to follow any New Lights neither to seek any new Ways but I advise you to goe to Christ that you may find Rest for your Souls to take his Yoke upon you and to learn of him to receive him and to walk in him rooted and built up in him and established in the Faith as he hath taught you abounding therein with thanksgiving Believe in the Light that ye may be the Children of Light Walk as Children of Light and walk as such while you have the Light Casting off the works of Darkness and putting on the Armour of Light walk honestly as in the day not in Rioting and Drunkenness not in Chambering and Wantonness not in Strife and Envying But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the Flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof To all which let me adde that of the Apostle Eph. 5.1 2. Be followers of God as dear Children and walk in Love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour Amen LAVS DEO THE IMPIOUS CONTEMPT Part II. The Twenty-eighth SERMON PROVERBS xiv 2. But he that is perverse in his Ways despiseth him OF all Points of Wisedom this is the Inlet and as it were the Door to fear the Lord and of all Ways of Folly this is the greatest to despise him The one is demonstrated by a man's walking in his Vprightness of which I have already spoken the other by Perverseness in a man's Ways which is now to be considered II. PROPOSITION He that is perverse in his Ways despiseth the Lord. Concerning this three Quaere's are to be answered like as there were in handling the former Proposition 1. Who is meant by him that is perverse in his Ways and when a man is said to be so 2. How such an one despiseth the Lord. 3. What is the Evil of such Despising the Lord. Of which in their order I. Who is meant by him that is perverse in his Ways By Ways as hath been already said are meant the Actions of a Man as he is a Rational Being whose Motions should be ordered by such a Rule as his Creatour hath made known and should tend to his Maker's Honour For God at first made Man upright or simple so as that he had no other Way but that which was God's but they have sought out many Inventions saith Solomon Eccles. 7.29 Whence it comes to pass that there are many and various Ways in which men now walk contrary to God's Way that is his prescribed Will which is the Way that every man should walk in and then he walketh in his Vprightness But when he chuseth any Invention of his own to direct the