present from the world and many afflictions too 4. Good Angels are present with you 5. A good conscience is continually present And lastly a good God is present in all his excellencies for your good 3. Although God be present every where ratione essentiae yet he is in a more God is in an especial manner present with his people special manner present with his people ratione influentiae There is the presence of his special providence and there is the presence of his special grace and thus he is every where present with and for his people Hence it is that ordinarily where you read of Gods presence with his people you shall finde some other special thing annexed to that presence as I will be with thee and blesse thee and I will be with thee and help thee and I will be with thee and deliver thee and I will be with thee and strengthen thee and uphold thee and save thee c. Jer. 15. 20. Hushai's presence with David was a burden 2 Sam. 15. 33. Jobs wifes presence was but a vexation unto him our friends presence is many times fruitlesse but Gods presence is a blessing comfort help indeed He is present with wicked men but the more present he is with them the worse it is for them the presence of his knowledge and the presence of his power and the presence of his wrath c. But the presence with his people is a very gracious presence and a blessing presence and a blessed presence he is alwayes present with them for good 4. Here is yet one comfort more unto you if your God be every where present Then you shall not stay long for any good you need and therefore present every where with you then you shall not stay long for any good that you need because your God is near unto you he is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth Psal 145. 18. What Nation is there who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for Deut. 4. 7. The nearnesse or remotenesse of a friend is very material and considerable in our distresses and wants I have such a friend and he would help me but he lives so farre off and such a one is able to counsel me and comfort me but he is now absent and I may be undone before I can hear from him but it is not thus with you who have God to be your God he is alwayes nigh unto you As Christ said unto his Disciples Mat. 28. 20. Lo I am with you alwayes even unto the end of the world So your God is present with you alwayes as long as you live in the world Do you want comfort the God of consolation is present with you very near unto you Do you want grace the God of all grace is present with you Do you want peace the God of peace is present with you Do you want mercy the Father of mercies iâ—s present with you Do you want friends the God of love is alwayes present Do you want safety the Omnipotent God is present with you Do you want any thing the All-sufficient God is alwayes present with you What the Apostle spake concerning the word of faith in Rom. 10. 8. It is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart That is as true of God in all his glorious excellencies for his people 11. Sovereignty or Dominion this is another Attribute of God he is I think Gods Sovereignty engaged for our good a thousand times in Scripture called the Lord the Lord c. and to him is Dominion ascribed Dominion for ever and ever 1 Pet. 4. 11. chap. 5. 11. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords 1 Tim. 6. 15. The Lord hath prepared his Throne in heaven and his Kingdome ruleth over all Psal 103. 19. All that is in the heaven and the earth is thine thine is the Kingdome O Lord and thou art exalted as head above all thou reignest over all and in thine hand is power and might and in thine hand it is to make great and give strength to all 1 Chron. 29. 11 12. One doth well distinguish of a twofold Sovereignty or Dominion in God There is A twofold Sovereignty 1. Jurisdictionis which is his Sovereign authority to govern all men and all Of jurisdictiâ—n creatures he may command what he will and forbid what he pleaseth and permit what he lists and appoint what punishments and what rewards as seem best to himself 2. Porprietatis which is his right or prerogative to dispose of all things and Of propriety persons and use them as he pleaseth and in this respect all the world and all in the world are his servants Gen. 14. 22. The Lord the most High God Possessor of heaven and earth And this Dominion or Sovereignty is natural unto him as he is God the God of all the world and Lord of all neither is it controled by men or Angels If God will destroy or abase or weaken or afflict or raise or blesse the creatures must yield unto his Sovereign Will And truly this is an unspeakable comfort to the people of God that their God The comfort of this is Lord of all and Lord over all that the Sovereignty is his alone and the Dominion is only his that their God is above all gods and that their God is above all Lords and that all the creatures in their whole being and working are under him that if he saith to one Go he goeth and if he saith to another Come he cometh and if he say to one Do this he doth it and if he saith to another Be still he ceaseth this is a comfort unto you against all the wicked in the world and as touching all the serviceablenesse of all the creatures in the World 1. If your God hath the Sovereign Dominion Then issues and events shall The issues and events shall not be as men contrive noâ— be as men contrive as they will or as they desire for there is a greater than they which rules and reigns in the Kingdome of men Be still and know that I am God Psal 46. 10. All the powers and all the policies and all the rage and malice of all the wicked on earth are under the Dominion of God he permits them and he restrains them and he confounds and destroys them thus far shall they go and no farther 2. Again If Sovereignty and Dominion are proper to God then you can never Then you can never be brought inâ—o any straits but God is able to help you be brought inâ—o any straits but God is able to help you and to deliver you for he is Lord of all He is the Lord of life and the Lord of safety and the Lord of deliverances and the Lord of comforts All the creatures are at his command if he will open
thereof After conversion there are two sorts of sins incident unto us 1. Daily sins of ignorance and infirmity and they are so many that we know not the number of them yet all of them do need forgiving mercy 2. Voluntary sins and of a very gross and hainous nature which make a deep wound and raise an hideous cry in the conscience and shake all our foundations and lie as an heavy burden upon us and they do the more wound and afflict us because committed after mercy and against mercy Now in such a self-wounding and self-judging and self-humbling condition what should the ashamed and confounded sinner do why he should return speedily to his God and with tears and shame spread his sins before the Lord and acknowledge that he is unworthy of any more mercy and yet beseech the Lord to shew him mercy again who hath promised to forgive all the sins of his people and he should hearken what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace unto his people but let them return no more to folly Psal 85. 8. SECT V. Vse 3 THE third Use of this Point shall be partly of Comfort and partly of Encouragement First Of Comfort to all who are brought into Covenant with God especially Comfort to such as have stood out a long time and have abounded in transgressions who have made the very creature groan with the burden of their many sins why all these are forgiven as soon as God hath brought you into the Covenant Luke 7. 47. Her sins which are many are forgiven 1 Tim. 1. 13. Who was before a Blasphemer and a Persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy O what a day of salvation is the very day when God brings a man into Christ and into the Covenant all his enemies that pursued him are drowned not one of them is left so all his sins are forgiven and not one of them is alive to his condemnation Secondly Of Encouragement to come out of a sinful and unbelieving condition Encouragement and to yield up our selves to Christ and to be willing to become the people of God and to walk in his ways why all the sins that ever you have committeâ— shall be forgiven you they shall not be mentioned unto you your Drunkenness Swearing Whordome Theft Lying Sabbath-breakings all your sins of Omission and of Commission sins against the Law and sins against the Gospel sins that your own hearts can charge you with and that God himself can charge upon you all forgiven any one of them would damn you and now all shall be pardoned if you will hear and believe and repent c. Cast away all your transgressions repent return and live why will ye dye O house of Israel I offer to you life and death choose life Do not for lying vanities forsake your mercies A greater offer there cannot be than Christ nor motive than the pardon of all your sins EZEK 36. 25. From all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you HAving spoken somewhat unto the extensive part of promised forgiveness that it reacheth all the sins of all the people of God I now proceed unto the Intensive part of that promised The intensive part forgiveness which respects the greatness and hainousness of sin as well as the number and multitude of sins from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you whence you may observe CHAP. IV. Doctr. 2 THat although the sins of persons have been exceeding great yet when these persons become the people of God in Covenant even those sins also are forgiven them from all your filthiness and from all your Idols Great sins are forgiven to the people of God in Covenant will I cleanse you forgiveness reacheâ—â— to the greatest sins which the people of God have been guilty of this assertion 1. I shall clear from the Text it self 2. From other Scriptures Proved 3. Demonstrate by some Arguments and Reasons 4. And then apply it unto our selves SECT I. 1. THE Text clearly holds out the Assertion for God doth give here By the text instances of two great kinds of sins One against the second Table all your filthiness and the other against the first Table all your Idols in the one is implied the great injury done unto our Neighbour and in the other the great injure done unto God yet God promiseth to forgive both I will speak something of both these sins and something of the greatness of them both which yet God promiseth c. First From all your filthiness that word filthiness is sometimes taken What is meant by filthiness for any sin every sin is a pollution and uncleanness a filthiness therefore the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 7. 1. Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit there are bodily sins which the Apostle here calls the filthiness of our flesh and there are spiritual sins arising from and acted in the soul which the Apostle here calls the filthiness of the spirit Sometimes that word filthiness is taken restrictively for bodily pollution or uncleanness when the bodies of men and women are defiled and polluted and do defile and pollute themselves Several kinds of it Bestiality of which in Scripture you finde several sorts and kinds 1. Bestiality that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abomination not to be named it is confusion you read of this sin in Lev. 18. 23. and of the punishment of it with death Lev. 20. 15 16. 2. Sodomy of this horrid sin and the punishment thereof you read in Sodomy Lev. 20 13. This is not only a sin but also a recompence of other sins and for which God gives men over to a reprobate mind Rom. 1. 27 28. and for which he destroyed those five Cities with fire from heaven Gen. 19. 24 25. 3. Incest ubi servatur sexus sed non gradus it is the sin cum agnata Incest or cognata with a kinswoman of the fathers or the mothers side yea and with ones fathers wife see Lev. 20. 17. and with ones brothers wife 4. Fornication which is between single persons Fornication Adultery 5. Adultery which is uncleanness between persons married to others or when one of them is married to another and yet defileth himself with a stranger some of these sins of uncleanness are so horrid that they are said to be against nature yea against corrupt nature the very natural light in natural conscience condemns and opposes them and the rest of them as fornication and adultery the Scripture sets them out as very odious in the eyes of God and very foul transgressions and extreamly pernicious in them you may read ten things concerning Ten things concerning these â—hese sins First That they are the express fruits of a vile and naughty heart out of the heart proceedeth fornications adulteries saith Christ Matth. 15. 19. The works of the flesh are manifâ—â—â— which are
been and are the cause of all our troubles The troubles which the Spirit causeth in us for sinne is a meanes to deliver us from sinne and the eternal troubles for sinne 2. The troubles which the Spirit causeth in us for sinne do end in much joy They end in joy and peace and peace The joy and peace of the Spirit are very precious and they cannot be delivered out unto us unless we be first troubled for our sin The Spirit comforts mourners and them that are cast down Now the Spirit troubles us for sin 1. To make sinne bitter to us 2ly To make Christ sweet to us As he troubles us for our sins so he leads and draws the troubleâ— soul to Christ that in him he may find deliverance from those sinnes and his peace made with God c. Trouble is not all the work of the Spirit it is an inceptive work and a preparative work he troubles you for sin that you may not be damned for sinne and that you may make out for Christ to save you from your sinnes Object We should be willing to have the Spirit but that then we must bid farewell to all our sins the Spirit is a mortifying Spirit he will not suffer us to love our sins nor to take pleasure in them as heretofore we are affraid of the sword of the Spirit Sol. I answer First It is granted that the spirit will do this as you do speak it will cast sin The second prejudice removed He dethrones sin The death of sin is our life out of the throne it will take off love and service from sin and it will be more and more â—â— mortifying of it Secondly But then where is the hurt the danger the prejudice which you have against this Gal. 5. 24. They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Rom. 8. 13. If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Here is death and life If you keep your sins alive ye shall dye if you through the spirit mortifie your sins you shall live The life of sin is your death and the death of sin is your life Saul spared Agag but it was his ruine and Ahab spared Benhadad but it was his ruine c. Object O but the Spirit will make us holy and we must then live holily and not so lâ—osly and freely as heretofore Sol. First Will the spirit of God make you holy and should you not be The third prejudice removed so 1 Pet. 1. 16. Be holy for I am holy and should you not walk so As he who hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1. 15. Secondly Consider only three places of Scripture for this 1. Isa 4. 3. He that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy even every We should be holy one that is written amongst the living in Jerusalem 2. Heb. 12. 14. Follow holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. 3. Matth. 5. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Object But I shall be a derision and a mock if I should pretend to the Spirit c. Sol. 1. Who will mock you those that are led by the Divel wicked graceless The fourth prejudice removed ungodly men 2. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution 3. If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of glory and of Christ resteth upon you 1 Pet. 4. 14. Secondly if you would come to partake of the Spirit you must not then resist We must not resist the spirit the Spirit Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resâ—st the Holy Ghost Acts 7. 51. Men resist the Spirit two wayes 1. When they will not hearken unto nor regard the counsel and commands of the Spirit delivered in the Word but set themselves against them and oppose and How the spiriâ— is resisted despise them 2. When they will not receive the offers and motions of the Spirit but harden their hearts against them and quench them and will not give way or enterance unto them Now take heed of this when the Spirit of God is knocking at your hearts and stirs your hearts to accept of him and of his graces which he is willing and ready to work in you by no means neglect them or slight them but lay hold of them presently as one of the greatest mercies that God is intending toward you bless him and cherish them and beseech him to go on with his work on your souls do not reject any work of the Spirit neither grieve him by neglecting his good motions Prov. 1. 23. Turn you at my reproof behold I will poure out my Spirit unto you I will make known my works unto you my Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man Thirdly If you would come to partake of the spirit then you must pray the We must pray for the spirit Lord to give you his spirit you must thirst after him and seek for him Isa 44. 3. I will poure water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will poure my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thy off-spring Luke 11. 13. Your heavenly Father will give the spirit to them that ask him What a promise is this to encourage any man sensible of the want of the spirit to pray unto God! Jesus Christ assures him that if he will ask for the Holy Spirit he shall have him Object But who can pray unless he hath the Spirit first Sol. I grant that the spirit must make you sensible of the want of the spirit and he must stir up your hearts to pray for him there is some degree of the spirits presence in stirring us up to pray for these but then if you would fully enjoy the spirit you must poure out you hearts c. Fourthly You must attend the Preaching of the Gospel the Gospel is called Attend upon the Ministry oâ— the Word the Ministry of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 6. And you read that whiles Peter was Preaching the Word unâ—o Cornelius and the rest the Holy Ghost came upon them Act. 10 44. Whiles Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word So Gal. 3. 2. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith They received the spirit upon the hearing of the Gospel which is the word of faith You read that aâ—l the works of the spirit and all the graces of the spirit and all the joyes and comforts of the spirit are let into us by the Word by that the spirit is pleased to convey himself First His works He enlightens our minds by the Word he convinceth us of He enlightens our minds by the Word sin by the Word I
hear me Micah 7. 7 c. You will go to him and none else to your al-sufficient God to your Sunne and to your shield Remember thy Covenant O my God which thou hast made and save me c. You may know that God is your God by your care and your carriage in walking with him and before him according to the Covenant I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect Gen. 17. 1. You are a choice and peculiar people and you will lead choice and peculiar lives SECT V. 4. THe comforts from this that God is our God and that we are his people I Comforts from this that God is our God shall propound these 1. In general 2. In particular 1. In the general it is our happinesse and blessednesse so the Scripture affirms Psal 33. 12. Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord and the In general This is our Blessedness people whom he hath chosen for his inheritance Psal 144. 15. Happy is the people whose God is the Lord. We lost our happinesse when we lost our God and we then recover our happinesse when we recover God to be our God there are Three things make up a blessednesse for us Chiefnesse of good three things necessary to make up a blessednesse for us 1. Chiefnesse of good Mans happinesse must be the best of good No good below man can be the happinesse of man and therefore mans happinesse cannot be placed in the enjoyment of any created thing whatsoever suppose it be any gracious qualities because there is a good better than all these and that is God himself 2. Fulnesse of good it must be such a good as comprehends all the good Fulness of good which the soul of man doth or can need and desire and is capable of if the good be too short and failing that it is not sutable or it is not extensive if it cannot fully reach unto and fill up the soul it is not blessednesse for blessednesse is perfect it cannot consist with want now such a good God only is 3. Fruition of and propriety in that good Objective blessednesse may be Fruition of that good without our fruition but our formal blessednesse doth consist in our enjoyment of that blessednesse in union with it and communion of it and all these are to be found when God is our God and when we are his people in Covenant That God who is the chiefest good and most full and infinite good we stand possessed of and enjoy him as so unto all eternity This is our God for ever and ever But to speak more exactly to this great truth give me favour to open three things unto you c. 1. That God is and that he only is our blessednesse 2. What that is which makes up our blessednesse in God 3. That every one who hath God to be his God doth enjoy every thing which makes up that blessednesse 1. That God is and that he only is our blessednesse this will presently appear God is and he only is our blessednesse Proved Blessednesse is perfection God is perfection by these three Arguments 1. Blessednesse is perfection and it is the chiefest perfection it raiseth our condition and so raiseth it that it cannot be raised any higher or further and therefore the Apostle describing the blessednesse of the Saints in heaven saith that thus the spirits of just men are made perfect Heb. 12. 24. But God is perfection and he is the chiefest perfection not only as to himself but also as to us that he is perfection to himself is evident by his own al-sufficiency and by his own infinitenesse al-sufficiency is perfection and infinitenesse is perfection and independency on any is a perfection of and no it self and that he is a perfection and the chiefest of perfection unto us is as evident for 1. The more or lesse you enjoy of him the more or the lesse perfect you are The more or lesse you enjoy of God the more or lesse perfect you climb up to your perfection as you climb up in your enjoyments of him the more that you are brought into a likenesse of him and into a fellowship with him and a participation of his grace and love and glory the more perfect you are 2. The more you do enjoy of him the lesse need you will have of other things The more you enjoy him the lesse need of other things And when you come fully to enjoy him all your needs and all your wants will be at an end As nothing can be added to God because he is an infinite perfection So nothing can be added to our blessednesse besides God himselfe when we come to enjoy him and therefore he alone is our perfection 3. He fully makes up the wants of your souls and therefore he is our perfection He fully makes up the wants of our souls Survey all the wants and complaints of the soule he can supply them all and all from himself alone and therefore certainly God is our perfection 4. Yea go where you will and pitch on any objects whatsoever and In all other enjoyments our condition is low without God Blessednesse is our rest let them all fall into your possession yet is your condition low imperfect needy unhappy unlesse you come to enjoy God therefore he only is your perfection 2. Blessednesse is a quietation It is our rest our center where our souls quietly rest and neither do nor can move any further It is our Fathers house unto which we are travelling and unto which when we arrive we are then at our journies end Blessednesse is that enjoyment beyond which we cannot move in our desires for any better or further enjoyment It concludes and puts a full period to all the motions of the soul Now God is and he only is the quiet rest and end of the soul O Lord saith Austin My heart was made for thee God and he only is our rest and never is at reâ—â— till it come unto thee There is a restlessenesse in man in all other enjoyments his soul rests not though he enjoyes honours or riches or friends or health or liberty yea though he enjoyes grace and comfort But when he comes to enjoy God himself now he is at rest Now he can say as David Return to thy rest O my soul Psal 116. 7. There is no more to be desired or enjoyed for blessednesse is a compleat and fixed satisfaction to the soul it fills up all wants and all desires and therefore it gives rest and quiet and so doth God The Rabbins say that all the letters in the Name Jehovah are litterae quiescentes letters of rest Blessedness is that good which is most desirable 3. Blessednesse is that good which is most desirable and most delightful for it is the greatest goodnesse and therefore is most desirable and because so therefore it is the most delightful It is
so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise ver 13. He taketh the wise in their own craftinesse and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong did not the wise God do this to Pharaoh to Balack to Saul to Achitophel to Haman did he not exceed them and disapoint them 5. He will proportion your trials temptations and afflictions for he is a wise He will proportion your tryals God therefore he will debate with you and correct you in measure neither will he lay upon you more than is right Esay 27. 8. Job 34. 23. A father will not give the childe as much physick as he can poure into the cup only so much as is fit for his recovery And no heavier burden will he lay on than his childe is able to bear So the wise God he keeps time and measure you shall never have an affliction but when you need it nor shall any temptation befall you but God will inable you to bear it for he is a wise God 6. He means you no hurt in any particular denials or in any particular removals He means you no hurt in any particular denials of outward blessings He hath his reasons for them both and those very strong and sufficient to satisfie you you wonder sometimes that God deals so with you as never to accomplish such a desire of yours or presently to take away such a comfort of yours O but your God is a good God and he is a wise God he knows that you know not what ye ask when you ask to be so rich and to be so great And he knows the danger into which you may fall by a long enjoyment of an earthly comfort what a loss to his glory and to your own souls and he knows how to set your hearts upon himself by breaking off your hearts from poor vain earthly and sensual comforts 7. Your wise God will finde means and ways to bring in unto you all the good Your wise God will finde meanes to bring all your promised good to passe Your wise God will give you wisdome which he hath promised unto you your when and your how fall within the compasse of your wise God that is the fittest time and the best way and means of your enjoyments the golden Candlestick had seven lamps and seven pipes 8. Your wise God will give you wisdome and make you wise spiritually wise wise for salvation and wise in your conversation and walkings wise in Christ 1 Cor. 4. 10. Wise Stewards Luke 12. 42. Wise Virgins Matth. 25. 2 4. Wise to know the day of your visitation to redeem the time to remember your latter end to choose the better part and the best paths and to look at eternity and to prefer things eternal before temporal to make sure of Christ and Grace and Glory 6. A sixth Attribute of God is Omnipotency your God is Elshadai God Almighty God is omnipotency above seventy times is he stiled so in Scripture Psal 62. 11. God hath spoken once twice have I heard this that power belongeth unto God 1 Chron. 29. 11. Thine O Lord is the greatnesse and the power ver 12. In thine hand is power and might Job 37. 23. Touching the Almighty we cannot finde him out he is excellent in power Psal 132. 2. The mighty God of Jacob Psal 147. 5. Great is the Lord and of great power Psal 45. 3. Most mighty Matth. 19. 26. with God all things are possible This Omnipotency is a divine Attribute whereby God is of himself alone infinitely able to do whatsoever he will do and whatsoever he undertakes to do and whatsoever is possible to be done We have God is an infinite essence and therefore of infinite power a true saying that Poâ—entia sequitur essentiam there is alwayes a commensuration twixt the essence of a thing and the power of it A limited essence hath but a limited power and therefore every creature hath but a limited power because it hath a limited essence The fire and water can do some things as such Elements but more they cannot do The Sun and Moon and the rest of the Stars can also do many things in their Sphere and without that they can do nothing So men and Angels they are able to do much but still their power is contracted and bounded according to their essence but God is of an infinite essence there He is a most perfect essence and therefore must needs be omnipotent are no bounds unto his being and therefore he is of infinite power Again there cannot be any imperfection and want in God The divine essence is a most perfect essence and therefore it must needs be Omnipotent If there were any thing which God could not do or perform there should then be some insufficiency and defect and weaknesse in his nature And besides all this there would be an uncertain foundation for our faith to rest There would be an uncertain foundation for our saith to rest on if God were not able to supply all upon God If there should be any thing concerning us or his Church to which he were not able to help and supply them in or to accomplish This being a certain truth that the people of God do principally stand in need of those things which do require even an Omnipotent God to produce or cause them their graces and comforts exceeding all created power to effect them I could adde more reasons for the demonstration of Gods Omnipotency viz. 1. The Creation of the world wherein that which was not at all was immediately formed into a being and that formation depended only upon his Word 2. The providential upholding or sustentation of the whole world and guidance of every creature in every motion 3. The wonderful works wrought by God exceeding all created power 4. And the Conversion of the hearts of sinners but those already mentioned are saâ—isfying and sufficient to our purpose Quest. But now you may reply What comfort is this to the people of God that What comfort is this that our God is omnipotent their God he that sayeth in his Covenant I will be to you a God is God Omnipotent Sol. There are six choice comforts from this unto you who have the Omnipotent God to be your God 1. You may cast all your care upon him whatsoever your wants be for soul or You may cast all your care upon him body be they never so many and never so great and never so often your God who is Omnipotent is able to supply them Ephes 3. 20. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think you ask many things and you think of many things and you need many things and your God is able to supply you in all these able yea abundantly able abundantly able yea exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think his power exceeds all your wants There are some wants that your friends can help you
and clear manifestation of the Law written in the heart of man at the first and now revived and set on foot by God himself Sol. This is I confesse somewhat a knotty question and therefore I would speak warily unto it 1. The Law given by Moses Ministerially was partly Moral in the Ten Precepts and partly Ceremonial in the Levitical Types and Ceremonies and partly Judicial in the civil Rules appertaining to the Jews as such a Nation in civil society but the debate will principally fall upon the Moral Law 2. Which may be considered two wayes viz. 1. As to the matter of it as to which I grant that therein is the Covenant of works to be found 2ly As to the form or Sanction of it as given at this time to the people of Israel thus I deny it to be a Covenant of works Although much which was in the Covenant of works be in this Covenant yet this Law or Covenant was not given for this end to the people of Israel to be a Covenant of works unto them that is such a Covenant upon or from which they must expect life upon their doing 3. You must distinguish twixt 1. The intention of God in giving the Law and 2ly The abuse or perverting of that Law I do grant that many of the Jews did set up a Legal Righteousness for their justifications and rested upon the works of the Law as if life came by them against which the Apostle Paul doth notably argue in his Epistle to the Romans and to the Galathians But this was not the intention of God in the Sanction of the Law They never could find a justifying righteousness by the Law or works of the Law under the notion of a Covenant of works Nor did God ever propound it for that end and because I meet with this choice question I will briefly deliver my own judgement concerning it in The question answered in three particulars three particulars 1. That God never did not will set up for sinners a Covenant of Works 2. That he did not in giving the Law to the Israelites set it up 3. That this Covenant on Mount Sinai was a Covenant of Grace at least subserviently and respectively 1. That God never did since the fall set up a Covenant of Works and I will God did never since the fall setup a Covenant of works Demonstraâ—ed give you arguments to demonstrate it 1. He did set up immediately after the fall a Covenant of Grace this the Scripture clearly shews us but a Covenant of works is inconsistent with a Covenant of Grace and a Covenant of grace is inconsistent with a Covenant of works They are mutually destructive one to the other If of works then no more of grace saith the Apostle Rom. 11. 6. So that you must either deny that God did set up a Covenant of grace for sinners which the Scriptures affirm or you must grant that a Covenant of grace is inconsistent with a Covenant of works which the Scriptures deny or you must confess that there is no Covenant of works since the fall set up by God for sinners 2. If God did set up a Covenant of grace for sinners and after that a Covenant of works for sinners Then he did set up a possibility for sinners to be saved and an impossibility also for sinners to be saved The reason whereof is this There is a possibility for a sinners salvation as to a Covenant of grace where mercy may be found and there is an impossibility of a sinners salvation as to a Covenant of works where no mercy is to be found for a sinner But for God to make salvation both possible and impossible for the same sinners were most inglorious and absurd 3. To put sinners upon contradictions is no way suitable with the wisdom and goodnesse of God But if God should have set up a Covenant of works for sinners after he hath set up a Covenant of Grace he should have put the sinner upon contradictions you must believe and you must not believe you must be justified and live by works and you must not do so The Covenant of grace saith you must believe the Covenant of works saith you must not believe That saith believe and you shall be saved this saith do this and live what is this but to build up and pull down to offer mercy and to deny mercy to give life and to take way life 4. To make the Covenant of grace to be changable and void is quite contrary to the intention and purpose of God who hath made that Covenant to he everlasting and never to be altered no more then the Priesthood of Christ is changeable of which God hath said Thou art a Priest for ever But if God should set up a Covenant of works after a Covenant of Grace this would void and frustrate the Covenant of grace It would throw down Christ as a Mediatour and the Righteousnesse of Christ and all the Fabrick of a Sinners salvation by a Christ God did not make a Covenant of works with the Israelites 2. As God never did after the fall make a Covenant of works with sinners so in particular he did not make such a Covenant with the Israelites when he gave the Law unto them from Mount Sinai he did not give that Law for to be a Covenant of works which I shall endeavour to prove thus Demonstrated 1. What Covenant God made with Abraham that Covenant he made with the seed of Abraham Gen. 17. 7. I will stablish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee to be a God unto thee and thy seed after thee But that Covenant with Abraham was the Covenant of grace and the seed of Abraham were those Israelites And if those who are the seed of Abraham were under that Covenant of grace with Abraham they could not be put off to another Covenant of Works in which Abraham was not unlesse you will say that God did act in different Covenants with Abraham and his seed 2. The Apostle saith the Law is not against the promises of God Is the Law then against the promises of God God forbid Gal. 3. 21. And do we then make void the Law through faith God forbid yea we establish the Law Rom. 3. 31. Mark the Law is not against the promises nor doth faith make void the Law both these can very well agree together but so they could not if the Law had been given as a Covenant of works for now the Law would be expresly against the Promises and faith would certainly make void the Law The promises of God are contrary to a Covenant of works and faith is destructive to a Covenant of works If therefore the promises and faith and the Law can consist Then the Law cannot be set up as a Covenant of works 3. That Covenant which God made with Moses and under which Moses stood was no Covenant of works but Moses and the people of
is reconciled to us There is no mention in all the Scripture That God is reconciled to us though 3. Doubt indeed frequently we are said by Christ to be Reconciled unto God Answered Sol. 1. If we do find that we are reconciled to God this is enough to evidence that God is reconciled unto us As if we know such a woman is married unto such a man we need not be solicitous to prove that such a man is married unto such a woman Or supposing Paul and Barnabas have been at difference if Barnabas be reconciled to Paul we may well conclude that Paul is reconciled to Barnabas Reconciliation 'twixt different parties is in the very nature of it a conciliation or accord of both parties if either of the parties stand off and will not yield it cannot be called a Reconciliation of them or between them 2. But secondly the Scripture will give in testimony enough for Gods being reconciled unto us Ezek. 16. 36. That thou mayest remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done saith the Lord Here God himself is said to be pacified towards them and what is it for God to be pacified but to be reconciled Exod. 30. 10. Aaron shall make an attonement upon the horns of the Altar once in a year with the blood of the sin-offering what doth this Typifie but the Reconciliation made by the blood of Christ for our sinnes and with whom is this attonement made with God who is displeased with us because of our sins c. Isa 54. 9. I have sworn that I will not be wrath with thee nor rebuke thee Isa 57. 16. I will not contend for ever neither will I be alwayes wrath Vse 3 Is Reconciliation with God the fruit and effect of the blood and death of Christ then consider seriously of three things Information How efficacious is the blood of Christ 1. How powerful and efficacious the blood of Christ is It hath done that which all the righteous men on earth and which all the Angels in heaven could never do If all the righteous men on earth should have come forth and offered their lives their souls and bodies unto God and have said Lord take all these at our hands so that thou wilt be reconciled and at peace with such a sinner they could not have made his peace Yea if all the angels in heaven had offered themselves to God and said Lord we are content to be put out of Heaven so that this may satisfie thy justice and so that this may make peace for sinners neither would this have took up the difference and made peace There cannot be found in any creature sufficiency enough to be a Peace-maker to be a Dayes man betwen God and sinners to take off the wrath of God due to a sinner No no it is not our tears nor our confessions nor our repentance which can make reconciliation it is Jesus Christ only He was only able to open the book and he only is able to shut the book None but Christ and nothing but the blood of Christ is able to satisfie and to pacifie God His blood was the blood of attonement or reconciliation and the chastisement of our peace was upon him The debt was so great and the provocation by sin was so high and the wrath of God against sin was so infinite that nothing could discharge that debt and pacifie that wrath but the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ 2. How much are we beholding to Jesus Christ who by his blood reconciled God to us How much are we beholden to Jesus Christ and us to God and hath made peace O said Luther concerning the 118. Psalm I am more beholding to this Psalm than to all the Potentates of the world This Psalm hath done more for me in my distness than all the world could do for me we may much more say that of Jesus Christ we are more bound to Christ than to all the world besides for Christ hath done more for us why because he hath reconciled us to God we had laine under the wrath of God for ever had it not been for Christ and we should never have seen the face of God had it not been for Christ He hath pacified his wrath and brought us into favour and friendship again O sirs ponder it well what I am about to speak unto you that you may know how much you are beholding to Christ What a miserable unhappy creature is the sinner who is separated from God and at variance with him and whiles he is separated from God! God only is happiness and nothing can be our happiness but the enjoyment of him and therefore the falling away from God and the separation from him is an infinite losse and misery and infelicity Cain thought it a peculiar curse I shall be hid from thy face And the Church cries out he bides his face from us why I cannot express the darkness the losse the curse the death the hell of this that the sinner is fallen out with God he hath forsaken God and God hath forsaken him he is none of Gods and God is none of his he is an enemy to God and opposeth him and God is an enemy to the sinner and doth abhor and will curse him but besides this consider also how terrible the wrath of God is and how dreadful it is for a poor sinner to be a child of wrath and to live under the wrath of God On the wrath of God it is a consuming fire and who can stand before his wrath If his wrath be kindled but a little saith David How doth the conscience tormented with the apprehension and sense of Gods wrath make men cry out and roar and tremble and quake and be restless and easeless and hopeless But now Jesus Christ by his blood hath reconciled us and God he hath quenched this devouring flame of fire he hath slain enmity he hath saved us from wrath from that wrath which is so infinitely dreadful and which otherwise would have burned and consumed us for ever and ever and ever And besides that he hath made us nigh and hath made us one again we may now with the Prodigal come back again unto our Fathers house and be kindly accepted and received Well! If you know the Scriptures and if you know what a just and wrathful God is and if you know what a sinning creature is or what sin is Then bless God for Christ and bless Christ for himself and for his love and for his blood and for his death who hath taken up the greatest controversie that ever was as he took up the nature of the different parties into his own Person so he took off the differences twixt them by his own blood Father said Christ I will die I will shed my blood so that thou wilt be friends again with these poor sinners and enemies
all men would believe Either God did really intend to give this condition to all i. e. to work so effectually upon all that they might believe through his grace or he did not so intend to work on them If he did not intend effectually to give faith unto all men then questionlesse he never did intend that all men either should or could partake of that universal redemption by Christ for no man either doth or can partake thereof without faith and of that faith no man neither doth or can partake thereof unless God be pleased to give it unto him Faith being the gift of God If he did intend effectually to give faith unto all men then all men have been are or shall be Believers for what God will effectually give of that shall we partake c. Object God intends to give faith to all men but it is in his own congruous way unto which all men submit not Sol. But this comes not home to the Argument for I do not argue of the congruity and fitness of wayes to work faith and whether men may resist these wayes or not or whether God will give saith upon another condition if they will have faith This I insist upon that if God intends effectually to give faith unto all then all shall eventually have that faith To give saith effectually is not a meere command to believe nor is it to present unto sinners media sufficientia only but it is by the Almighty operation of the Spirit of God to create and work in or infuse the grace of faith into the heart of a sinner 3. If there were such an universal Impetration of Reconciliation andremission and salvation for all and every man by the death of Christ then the love of God and the love of Christ are of equal respect to all alike All are alike in the love and intention of God who gave Christ and all are alike in the love and death of Christ who upon one and the same account died alike for all whether believers or unbelievers whether those that shall be saved or those that shall be damned there was no difference and no inequality of love towards sinners God did not look more on one than on another neither did Christ regard one more than another in his death But that any one speeds better than another this depends on himself because he will believe the other will not but all are alike objects of the same degree of love with God and Christ The Arminians blush not to say that thus it is Gods love in the giving of Christ and Christs love in giving himself Antecedently was alike to all no more to Peter than to Judas and as much to Pharaoh as to Moses though the consequent love indeed after men do believe is not alike But for the Antecedent love that was alike to all and the death of Christ was the effect of that his great and equal love unto all Antecedently Sol. But this is a grand mistake and Error and that I shall briefly demonstrate by Scripture and Reasons The Antecedent love not alike to all appears by The Antecedent love not alike to all Proved By Scripture these Scriptures 1. Matth. 11. 25. I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes verse 26. Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight The matter of which Christ there discourseth was the Mystery of Redemption and Doctrine of salvation this same Christ saith that his Father did hide from the wise and prudent and so he did because it seemed good unto him so to do And for this differential pleasure and work of God Christ gives thanks unto his Father Now if God did love all alike so as to will all their salvation alike why would he have hid the Doctrine and way of salvation from any and had the love of Christ been alike to all in the desire and purpose of their salvation would he have thanked and blessed his Father for hiding and not revealing of that universal salvation Can any man reasonably make Christ thus to expresse himself Father thou didst seriously will the salvation of all alike and so did I my self and nothing is wanting on thy part nor yet on mine that all sinners might enjoy the same Nevertheless I thank thee who didst thus love all alike and intend the salvation of all alike that thou hast hid the Doctrine and knowledge of this universal Salvation from the wise and prudent Do you call this an equal love to all Object Nor will the corrupt gloss of Corvinus the Arminian help him at all who would make Christ to give thanks to his Father q. Those things which were hidden to the wise he had revealed to babes Sol. The Text voides that shuffle plainly for it saith because thou hast hid these things from the wise not They had hid them from themselves but Thou hast hid them Not So it seemed good unto them But it seemed good in thy sight II. I will give you another place against this equal love of God to all which I believe is unanswerable Rom. 9. 11. The children being not yet born neither having done good or evil that the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of works but of him that calleth verse 12. it was said unto her The elder shall serve the younger verse 13. As it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated Let Esau and Jacob be Examples or Types it matters not much to the Point in hand here it is said Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated Is this a love alike to both Nor will that distinction of a consequent love of God which they make to be after faith and repentance and to be unlike to men or of an Antecedent love of God which is before faith and repentance and is alike to all I say this distinction failes them here Sol. For the Apostle speaks of that Antecedent love which yet is not alike to all The children being not yet born neither having done good or evil yet Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated III. If the love of God and Christ were Antecedently alike to all men in this business of universal salvation Then when Christ died for all sinners he loved them all with such a love as greater could not be Joh. 15. 13. Greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friend If one be an enemy you cannot shew greater love than to lay down your life for him or if he be a friend greater love cannot be shewen than this to lay down your life for him Now did Christ love all men with so great a love as greater cannot be shewen to any If so why is it that the effects of this love never reach many men so greatestly loved and yet they reach others even because they were
repentance be not a cause yet it is a means of pardon which God hath ordained for us to enjoy the forgivenesse of sin of the which his grace only is the efficient cause and the blood of Christ only is the meritorious cause Though God doth freely forgive yet he enjoyns repentance on us for besides the many reasons on our part there is reason for this in repect of Gods own grace which did it expresse itself in a free forgivenesse of wicked and impenitent persons it would be exceedingly undervalued and despised as an unjust act and besides that it would be improved to all licenciousness and profanenesse Whether justified persons may charge themselves with sin Fourthly Whether justified persons may charge themselves with sin seeing God hath graciously discharged them of sin Answered How far justified persons have charged themselves with sin Sol. I will speak something unto this Case also wherein I shall shew unto you two things First How far the children of God have charged sin upon themselves we read in Scripture that they have charged themselves 1. With the matter of sin that they have been guilty of Original sin Psal 51. 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother conceive me Rom. 7. 20. Sin that dwelleth in me And with Actual sin as David I have sinned 2 Sam. 12. 13. I have sinned against thee said Job Chap. 7. 20. and so David Ezra Nehemiah c. 2. With the manner of sinning as to the Circumstances of it against mercies warnings judgements on others Dan. 9. Neh. 9. 3. With the merit of sin that if the Lord should deal with them according to their sins there were no abiding If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand Psal 130. 3. Psal 143. 2. Enter not into judgement for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Job 9. 2. How should a man be just with God Ver. 3. If he will contend with him he cannot answer him one of a thousand Dan. 9. 8. O Lord to us belongs confusion of face 4. So far forth as to acknowlegde no hope nor help of discharge but in Jesus Christ and in Gods free grace O save me for thy mercies sake 5. So far forth as to quicken all penitental works they have remembred their sins Lam. 3. 20. My soule hath them still in remembrance and is humbled within me They have considered their sins Psal 119. 59. I considered my wayes and turned my feet to thy testimonies Mark 14. 72. Peter thought on the words of Christ and went out and wept bitterly They have mourned for their sins Zach. 12. 10. They shall look upon him c. and shall mourn we read of Davids tears and Peters tears and Mary Magdalens tears c. They have reformed their sins Hose 14. 8. What have I any more to do with Idols They have been earnest with God for the pardon and for the assurance of the forgivenesse of their sins Psal 51. 1 c. and Dan. 9. O Lord hear O Lord forgive and Hose 14. 2. Take away my iniquity Secondly How far forth they may not charge sin upon themselves I answer Wherein they may not charge sin upon themselves briefly they may not charge sin on themselves First As to conclude that God will damn them for their sins For there is no condemnation to them c. Rom. 8. 1. And he that believes shall not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 16. Though they must acknowledge that by reason of sin they are worthy of condemnation yet they are to believe that Christ hath dyed for them and they shall not be condemned Secondly As to undertake any self-satisfaction to God for their sins you read of their confessions and tears and prayers but not of their satisfaction All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags Isa 64. 6. Wherewithall shall I come before the Lord shall I come before him with burnt-offerings will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oyle c. Mich. 6. 6 7. If I justifie my self mine own mouth will condemn me if I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse Job 9. 20. Thirdly As to disanull their relation to God of Sonship c. Isa 64. 8. But now O Lord thou art our Father Ver. 9. Be not wroth very sore O Lord neither remember iniquity for ever behold see we beseech thee we are all thy people Having thus opened and cleared the nature of the forgiveness of sins I proceed to the other part of the description of it SECT II. THE second thing in the Proposition of forgivenesse of sins is this viz. That God himself undertakes this work and he undertakes it by promise First God undertakes to forgive sins Luk. 5. 21. Who can forgive sins but God alone Isa 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake Exo. 34. 6. The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth Ver. 7. Keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgressions and sin Dan. 9. 9. To thee O Lord God belongeth mercy and forgivenesse Forgiveness of sin is indeed one of his Royal Prerogatives therefore you find his people making their addresses unto him for forgiveness of their sins Exod. 32. 32. Oh this people have sinned a great sin yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin c. Psal 25. 18. Forgive all my sins Dan. 9. 19. O Lord hear O Lord forgive Hose 14. 2. Take away all iniquity Act. 8. 22. Pray God if perhaps the thoughts of thine heart may be forgiven thee There is a forgiveness 1. By way of charity wherein we forgive the offence and trespass against us If thy brother repent forgive him Luke 17. 3. And forgive one another as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you Eph. 4 32. 2. By way of Ministry thus the Apostles as Christ delivers it in Joh. 20. 23. Whose sins ye remit they are remitted 3. By way of immediate and absolute authority thus it belongs to God and to him alone God in Scripture is stiled a Judge Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right Gen. 18. 25. And to the Supreme Judge it belongs to condemn or to acquit A Creditor there was a certain Creditor which had two debtors Luk. 7. 41. who can forgive the debt but the Creditor A Lawgiver There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy Jam. 4 12. who can forgive the transgressions of the Law but the Lawgiver Now God himself undertakes to forgive sins and none but he must do so Reasons of it God himself undertakes this work First Because all sins are offences against him and deviations from his righteous will and injuries to his glory even those sins which are wrongs unto men are injuries also unto God for his Will is slighted and his Law is violated in them therefore the remission
ordinarily do count so people do look on it as a very small offence 1. To omit praying and reading in their Families but God threatens to poure out his wrath upon the Families that call not upon his Name Jer. 10. 25. Though this be spoken of the Heathens yet it is much more true of Christians 2. To pass by Christ offered unto them but the Scripture saith He that believes not shall be damned and that he shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Mark 16. 16. 3. To despise the Ministers of Christ but Christ saith He that despiseth you despiseth me Luk. 10. 16. 4. To come unworthily to the Lords Table but the Scripture saith He that eats and drinks unworthily doth eat and drink damnation to himself 1 Cor. 11. 5. To be proud and speak lies but the Scripture saith that a proud look and lying tongue are an abomination to the Lord Prov. 6. 16 17. 6. To speak idly and vainly but Jesus Christ saith Matth. 12. 36. That every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgement for by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned 7. To wound the name of others behind their backs whisperingly and cunningly and privately but the Scripture saith Deut. 27. 24. Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly 8. To give way to wicked thoughts and sins of heart but the Scripture shews that these are no small sins Acts 8. 22. Pray God if perhaps the thoughts of thine heart may be forgiven thee 9. To make mention of the Name of God vainly and rashly and irreverently on any occasion in ordinary discourse O God! O Lord but the Scripture doth not look on this as a small sin Exod. 20. 7. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his Name in vain 10. To profane the Sabbath by buying and selling but God threatens to send a fire for this Jer. 17. 27. Thirdly God hath expressed himself very severely against persons for those sins which we perhaps look upon as small Adam eating of the forbidden fruit it lost him Paradise and brought an exceeding misery on mankind Vzzah did but put out his hand to stay the Ark and he dyed for it on the place Vzziah would be medling with the Priests office and he was immediately struck with a leprofie to the day of his death 2 Chron. 26. 19 21. Korah Dathan and Abiram misliked the authority of Moses and Aaron and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up Ananias and Sapphira for a lye are struck dead Fourthly This very conceit that sins are so little and small that God will pass them by in course may lose a man the forgiveness of sin for it is a means 1. Of carnal security 2. Of impenitency 3. Of neglect of Jesus Christ 4. To implore God by prayer for the forgiveness of sins like the proud Pharisee who sought not for mercy and missed of mercy because he took no notice of his sins at all the greatest sin is pardoned upon repentance the least sin will damn without repentance Secondly I now come to the second position which is this That some do put Some put themselves out of a capacity of forgiveness themselves out of a capacity of the forgiveness of their sins and there are eight sorts of these persons 1. They who sin the sin against the Holy Ghost 2. They who will not repent and forsake their sins 3. They who delay and defer Repentance 4. They who do repent feignedly and hypocritically 5. They who do not believe on Christ and refuse to be his 6. They who do absolutely despair 7. They who do rest on their own works as reasons and causes of the forgiveness of their sins 8. They who are unmerciful and unplacable and will not forgive others who trespass against them They who sin the sin against the Holy Ghost First They do put themselves out of a capacity of forgiveness of their sins who do sin the sin against the Holy Ghost Matth. 12. 31. All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men Ver. 32. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man it shall be forgiven him but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world nor in the world to come Here you find it expresly and peremptorily delivered from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself that the sin against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven Quest But will some of you say What is this sin against the Holy Ghost What that sin is which never shall be forgiven Sol. It is a wilful and malicious and reproachful opposition of the Gospel attended with a total and final Apostacy from it after and against the clear convictions of the Holy Ghost First It is an opposition of the Gospel the Gospel must be preached and the Gospel must be opposed by such as hear it else it is not the sin against the Holy Ghost they therefore who are charged with this sin are said to hate the light Joh. 3. 20. and to hate Christ and to hate the truth Joh. 15. 25. and to be disobedient unto the Gospel and to be a gain-saying people Rom. 10. 21. and to reject the Corner stone Acts 4. 11. and to refuse to hear Acts 13. 46. and to put the Word from them who resist the truth and contradict it 2 Tim. 3. 8. as you may read of the Pharisees and other of the Jews Secondly It is a peculiar kind of opposition not of ignorance not of inadvertency not of passion but 1. A wilful opposition therefore they who commit this sin are said to sin wilfully Hebr. 10. 26. If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin A man sins wilfully when the reason of his sinning rests solely in the perverseness of his will though his judgement be disarmed of all Apology and his conscience be convinced yet he will sin and oppose the Gospel because he will do so 2. A malicious opposition it ariseth from a bitter hatred against Christ and rage against the truth therefore they who sin this sin are said to offer or do despite unto the Spirit of grace Hebr. 10 29. as if they did sin on purpose to vex and affront the Spirit of God 3. A reproachful opposition hence it is affirmed of these sinners that they speak evil of the ways of Christ and blaspheme his Word The Jews were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul contradicting and blaspheming Acts 13. 45. that they mock at Jesus Christ Matth. 27. 41. The chief Priests mocking him with the Scribes and Elders c. Ver. 29. When they had
sinnes Repenting sinners confesse their sins First You shall find Repenting sinners confessing their sins Ezra 9 6. O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face unto thee my God for our iniquities are increased over our head and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens Ver. 10. And now O our God What shall we say after this for we have forsaken thy Commandments c. Psal 51. 3. I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me Ver. 4. Against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight Dan. 9. 4. I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession and said O Lord the great and dreadful God c. Ver. 5. We have sinned and committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgements c. Ver. 8. O Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face as at this day Luk. 15. 18. I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee Ver. 19. and am no more worthy to be called thy Son c. Secondly Now these penitently confessing sinners you shall expresly find And are under the promise of forgiveness to be under the promise of the forgiveness of sins I Joh. 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins Psal 32. 5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sinne Selah 3. The third and last part of Repentance is conversion or turning from Conversion from sin to God sin unto God Ezek. 33. 11. Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes Repenting in Scripture is to this purpose styled a putting away of sins Isa 1. 16. and a casting away of our sins Ezek. 18. 31. and a forsaking of our sins Prov. 28. 13. and a departing from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. and a turning to repent of sin and to continue in sin are a contradiction as if you should say that a man leaves his sins when yet he holds them fast and will not let them go Two things you also read of this part of Repentance 1. One That truly penitent persons do forsake their sins they turn from Penitent persons forsake their sins them they put them away Isa 30. 22. Ye shall defile the covering of thy graven images of silver and the ornaments of thy molten images of gold Thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth Thou shall say unto it Get thee hence Hos 14. 8. Ephraim shall say What have I to do any more with Idols Judg. 10. 15. And the children of Israel said unto the Lord We have sinned Do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee Ver. 16. And they put away the strange gods from among them and served the Lord. Job 34. 31. Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born chastisement I will not offend any more Ver. 32. That which I see not Teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more Jonah 3. 8. Let them every one turn from his evil way Ver. 10. And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way 2. The other That they who do penitentially turn from their sins are They who turn frâ—m sin are under the promise of pardon under the promise of forgiveness of sin Prov. 28. 13. Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall finde mercy Many men confess their sins who yet do still love to keep their sins and therefore shall miss of mercy but the way for mercy is to forsake their sin as well as to confess sin Isa 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and let the unrighteous forsake 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 Thus have I opened unto you the integral parts of Repentance which doth certainly bring us within the capacity of the promise of forgiveness of sins Secondly I shall now proceed to handle the Qualifications of every one of The right qualifications of those parts of Repentance these parts of Repentance by which you may know that you do in truth act every one of them and consequently are under the promise c. And the rather do I insist on this because many persons do think that they are sorry for their sins and do think that they do rightly confess their sins and do think that they forsake their sins and thereupon do presume upon forgiving mercy whereas really they are still under the love and power and service of their sins and do not repent at all all which you shall find in every part which I have mentioned clearly instanced in Scripture First For mourning and weeping and afflicting the soul persons have acted something in this way and yet have not repented in truth and therefore have missed of forgiveness Mal. 2. 13. This have ye done again covering the Altar of the Lord with tears with weeping and with crying insomuch that ye regarded not the offering any more All this was but hypocrisie for notwithstanding all these tears they dealt treacherously every one against his brother Ver. 10. And profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved and married the daughter of a strange god Ver. 11. Isa 58. 3. Wherefore have we fasted and thou seest not Wherefore have we afflicted our souls and thou takest no knowledge Ver. 5. Is it such a Fast as I have chosen a day for a man to afflict his soul c. Secondly For confession of sins some have done this and yet they have not rightly and penitentially done this Exod. 9. 27. Pharaoh said I have sinned this time the Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked see what a confession is here but then see Ver 34. when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder were ceased he sinned yet more and hardened his heart he and his servants Thirdly For turning from sin some have pretended thus far and yet have not truly acted therein Psal 78. 34. When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God Ver. 35 36. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and they lyed unto him with their tongues Ver. 37. For their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant Jer. 2. 20. Of old time I have broken thy yoke and burst thy hands and thou saidst I will not transgress when upon every high hill and under every green Tree thou wanderedst playing the harlot Thus you see that some have pretended to all the parts of Repentance and yet have not acted up to any one part in truth Therefore I will now deliver unto you the right qualifications of all
to do any thing according to the Word indeed the heart is so hard that unless the Lord himself be pleased to put out his Almighty power it will never yield unto any saving operation of the Word Sixthly I will adde one Demonstration more of the hardness of mans heart The unsensibleness of it which is this the unsensibleness of that hardness of heart naturally the heart is so hard that it doth not and cannot perceive its own hardness indeed when grace comes into the heart then a spiritual sensation comes into the heart then we can feel our sins and feel our hardness and complain of the one and bewail the other O Lord why hast thou hardened our hearts from thy fear Isa 63. 17. But while men are in this natural sinful condition they are not sensible of their finful burdens nor are they sensible of the unsensibleness of their stupidity and hardness of their hearts They are sensible of this loss and of that want and can complain of this and take on for that but when did you ever hear a natural man complain of his hard heart O I have such an heart so full of sin and yet I cannot mourn for sin so unteachable so untractable so resisting so opposing the Word of God and ways of God! What shall I do whether shall I go O it is a burden that I cannot bear c. Why this unsensibleness that our hearts are hard it is a demonstrative conviction that they are hard and indeed no heart is more hard than that heart which is not sensible that it is hard Now I come to the useful Application of this unto our selves SECT II. Vse 1 IS there a stony heart in every man is the heart of every man naturally a hard heart Then wonder not to see so little good done upon men wonder Wonder not to see so little good done upon many By private instructions not 1. That our own private instructions and counsels and intreaties and reproofs usually come to nothing How often do we find parents abounding in cares and watchings and teachings and advising and checking and correctings of their children and when they have said and done all they can they fall a weeping and a sobbing and sighing why what 's the matter O nothing will work on my childe and what 's the reason of it thy childe hath a hard heart and an hard heart is an unteachable and an untractable heart Publick pains 2. Wonder not that Simile the publick pains and labours in the Ministry of the Gospel of Christ many times proves but like rain that falls upon the house top or upon the rocks little or no fruit comes of studies of prayers of doctrines of exhortations of reproofs but people remain still what they were as proud as vain as profane as impudent in sins as before And Ministers are apt to be discouraged and complain that they spend their strength in vain and labour for naught Isa 49. 4. And some imagine if other Ministers came into their room the matter would be much mended and other Ministers do come and then awhile they fall a weeping and complaining What a people are these that no part of the Word of God will work on and no kind of delivery of the same will take hold of them if we intreat them they slight us and if we plainly reprove them they grow worse Now I say wonder not at this Christ himself met with such kinds of people when he preached here on earth and he did hit upon the right cause of all this untowardliness and aversness and that was the hardness of mens hearts I have heard some preach that if Ministers would use clear convictions in their preaching that their hearers would be taken for they were reasonable creatures alas that they should proclaim their own ignorance that men are rational creatures a Philosopher can teach us but that men are sinful creatures and have hard hearts the Scriptures teach us and all the convictions and demonstrations of the will of God will never make impression unless the Lord take away the stony heart out of them 3. Wonder not that all the Providential Dispensations of God work not better amongst men you see many times that personal affections do no good at Providential Dispensations all though one loseth husband wife children estate he fears not he returns not he mends not wonder not at this for the man hath an hard heart You find many times publick judgements in a Nation and God pouring contempt and wrath upon it and on all sorts of men and yet the Inhabitants thereof do learn no righteousness but he that was ignorant is ignorant still and he that was filthy is filthy still and he that was proud is proud still and men grow more wicked under the judgements and plagues of God upon them wonder not at this for their hearts are hard hearts and nothing whatsoever will or can effectually work as long as the heart continues hard Thou mayst pity and pray and weep and fear but persons of hard hearts will do none of these untill God take away the stony heart from them Vse 2 Is there a stony heart in every man then let us make a stand and wonder at the exceeding patience of the Lord and his long-suffering that he can Wonder at the exceeding patience of God bear so much and forbear and hold in his wrath and not make an end of sinners and utterly destroy them You cannot possibly comprehend what affronts and injuries the hard heart puts upon God and what continued provocations that heart daily sends forth and raiseth against him O what careless neglects of his commanding will What proud slightings of his severe threatnings What contemptuous refusals of his gracious offers of mercy What audacious resistances of his Spirit What desperate boldness in sinning What an obstinate course and progress in offending of him What unteachableness and barrenness after all the pains that God takes with it all the cost that he is at to work upon it for good and yet the Lord is patient towards it and renews offers of grace and sends early and late and there is line upon line and precept upon precept and yet he doth not leave the sinner for all this but for a long time stands at the door and knocks and waits that he may be gracious and gives him time and expects him when he will consider and hearken and return Truly the hardness of mans heart is wonderful which will not bow after so many gracious dealings of God and the patience of God is more wonderful who will bear so many and so long affronts from a proud and hard heart If the Husband-man hath a piece of ground which after all his Tillage still bears bryars and thorns he will cast it off If the School-Master hath a Scholar which after long teaching and instructing continues dull and uncapable he will meddle no more with him Sir I can do
will you weary my God also said the Prophet Isa 7. 13. So say I Is it a small thing that you injure another but will you also injure the Spirit of God Simile If a friend should help you out of prison and heal all your diseases and sores and furnish you with clothes and money and house and lands do you not wrong him in saying upon every discontent What hath he done he hath never done any thing for me Why it is the Spirit of God who hath quickned you from the dead who hath delivered you out of the power of darkness who hath renewed and healed your soul who hath begun every saving grace in your hearts who hath been your life and strength and after all this is it meet for you to say What hath he done and he hath wrought nothing for us nothing why how came you to be so sensible of your sins how came your hearts to be broken and mournful whence came those desires after Christ and grace whence came those fervent prayers and importunate cries whence came those resolutions to walk with God and careful endeavours to honour and glorifie him O Christianâ— be humbled for thy rashnesse and for thy unthankfulness and for this injuriousness done unto the good Spirit of God disown him no more and deny not any work of his any more though it be but little yet do not disown it though it be sometimes hidden from thee yet do not disown it though it doth many times work but weakly do not disown it though it be put sometimes to a stand though thou dost not in every particular answer the motions and rules of the Spirit yet do not disown the work of the Spirit condemn every sinful work which is thine own but do not deny or dishonour any work that is his Secondly By not crediting the testimony of the Spirit Beloved sometimes By not crediting the spirit we do bear witness or give testimony for the Spirit as when we humbly and thankfully confess his workmanship in our hearts saying This is the Lords doing this he hath done for my soul c. Sometimes the Spirit bears witness or gives in testimony unto our hearts he bears witness saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 16. that we are the children of God and concerning this he gives in his testimony partly by his works of Faith and Regeneration which are to be found in all and only the children of God And partly by extraordinary assurance letting in such a ligâ—t and evidence and perswasion which abundantly clears up our Relation that without doubt God is our Father and we are his children If now after both these testimonies in assurance of the Spirit in after times of darkness and desertion and temptation we call the testimony of the Spirit into question and charge it for a false delusion do we not exceedingly injure the Spirit of God in some sort to make bim a lyer and a false witnesse Object But we do not do so and we dare not do so his testimony is true only How to know the testimony of the Spirit we fear that the testimony which we have found was not his testimony but a delusion either of Satan or of our own hearts Sol. O but what if indeed that testimony was not the delusion of your hearts but the very testimony of the Spirit which you have challenged and rejected as a delusion are you not then very guilty of great injuriousness unto the Spirit And that it was the very testimony of the Spirit of God may thus appear 1. It was a testimony after deep humblings of the heart for sin 2. It was a testimony after importunate cries and wrestlings for mercy and assurance 3. It was a testimony after your believing and closing which Christ offered and accepted 4. It was a testimony after the matching of the promises with your souls condition 5. It was a testimony that filled your heart with joy unspeakable and glorious and with a love most dear and superlative and with most humble and serious care and diligence how to walk more exactly and chearfully to the praise and honour of this most gracious God If it was thus it was no delusion it was indeed the testimony of the Spirit and you have dealt unkindly and unworthily thus to requite him and thus to disgrace his precious testimony Thirdly By disregarding and slighting the Ordinances of Christ Some people do think that because they have the Spirit therefore there is no need of Ordinances By slighting Christs Ordinances at least for them perhaps they hold that the Ordinances may be useful for others who as yet have not received the Spirit but yet they are needless for them who have received the Spirit And three places of Scripture they alledge for this Jer. 31. 34. They shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest of them saith the Lord. 1 Joh. 2. 27. The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him 2 Pet. 1. 19. We have also a most sure Word of prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place untill the day dawne and the day-starre arise in your hearts With your favour I will speak something in 1. Opposition to this Opinion it is the Opinion of the Libertines of old and of some now amongst our selves The Libertines answered who desire and endeavour to subvert the Ministry and the Ordinances of preaching 2ly In resolving the true meaning of those places of Scripture First I affirm that Gods giving of his Spirit unto his people was never intended by him to put a period unto any Evangelical Ordinance or to render them useless unto any of his people this may be demonstrated thus First From the scope of the Scriptures All Scripture saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 3. 16. is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Iâ—struction in Righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works ver 17. If the Word of God be given for these ends For Doctrine to teach us the matter of faith for Reproof to convince errors for Correction to condemn sin for Instruction to shew us our duties and to make us perfect To beget us Jam. 1. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the Word of truth To build us up Acts 20. 33. I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified then certainly the presence of the Spirit and the Ministry of the Word are not
inconsistent nor are they to be dijoyned Secondly If the Lord Jesus himself hath instituted some men particularly for his service and the benefit of his Church and hath committed the dispensation of Evangelical Ordinances unto them then no man under pretence that he hath the Spirit may slight and neglect the Ordinances but Christ hath instituted some persons in the Church for Ministerial service c. Ephes 4. 11. He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and teachers Ver. 12. For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ c. Ver. 13. till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Sonne of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ What need of these if the presence of the Spirit without these be sufficient 1 Cor. 12. 28. God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secundarily Prophets thirdly Teachers Ver. 29. Are all Apostles are all Prophets are all Teachers To these and not to all hath he committed the dispensation of the Evangelical Ordinances 1 Cor. 4. 1. Let a man so account of us as the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the mysteries of God Matth. 28. 19. Go ye and teach all nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. 5. 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself c. and hath committed unto us the word of Reconciliation What are all these Ordinances instruted and fixed and that by the will of Christ and yet useless for men that have the Spirit of Christ Thirdly What mean those several passages in the Scriptures Jam. 1. 19. Be swift to hear 1 Per. 2 2. As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby 1 Thes 5. 19. Quench not the Spirit Ver. 20. Despise not Prephesying Luke 10. 16. He that despiseth you despiseth me c. Isa 59. 21. This is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my Spirit that is upon them and my Spirit which I have put within thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord hence forth for ever Fourthly If the Spirit be given unto us to make the Ordinances effectual unto us then his presence should not take us off from Ordinances but the Spirit is given to make the Ordinances effectual they are so farre life unto us as the Spirit gives life unto them 2 Cor. 3. 16. The Spirit giveth life Secondly Having spoken these things I shall now look upon those forementioned Scriptures and see whether they conclude the needlesness of Ordinances after the reception of the Spirit Object Jer. 31. 34. They shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me c. Hence the Anabaptists do conclude that there is no need of Teachers nor Anabaptists answered Learning Sol. First I would fain know Whether these people have among them a Church of Christ yea or no if they have then I would know Whether they have any The Scriptures opened Teachers of the Word and Labourers in the Word and Doctrine any teaching publickly in their Churches Secondly But to the place of the Prophet who sets out the difference between the Old Testament and the New 1. In respect of efficacy this he layes down in ver 33. This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these dayes saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts c. 2ly In respect of Clarity that in the times of the new Covenant there should be a more clear and plentiful effusion of knowledge than in the old Covenant for when Christ came then did the Sun of Righteousness arise the light of which was sevensold to what the light was before his coming they before his coming had but a dark knowledge those after his coming had a more clear and full knowledge Object True and they had so much knowledge that they needed not to be taught they shall no more teach Sol. That expression is not to be taken litterally and absolutely as if those that live under the Gospel should need no teaching at all for we read an express promise relating unto Gospel-times to the contrary Isa 2. 3. Many people shall go and say Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his wayes and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go out the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem But the words are to be taken Restrictively and Comparatively therefore if you observe them it is not said only they shall no more teach every one his neighbour but they shall no more teach every man his neighbour saying know the Lord So that God doth promise under the Gospel such a measure of knowledge as that his people now shall not be Alphabetarii any more need to be taught the first Principles of the Doctrine of Faith any more these they should all of them clearly know and much more clearly than many or most living under the old Covenant or Testament Object 1 Joh. 2. 27. You need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things c. Sol. The Apostle having in the former words delivered many excellent and comfortable truths he concludes with a perswasion of their knowledge of and assent unto them q. d. you are the people of God you have received his Spirit you know these things to be true I write them unto you not as to the ignorant but knowing Christian you know them assuredly the Spirit given unto you hath enabled you to know and to acknowledge them so that no man needs to teach you them c. Object 2. Pet. 1. 19. Vnto which you do well to take heed as unto a light that shineth in darknesse untill the day dawn and the day starâ—e arise in your hearts Sol. Untill the day dawn i. e. Pleniori apertiori cognitione quà m sub legis umbris fuerit 1. He commends the Jews for regarding the Prophetical writings 2. He prefers the Apostolical Writings which had more light in them 3. Vntil is gradual and not exclusive Fourthly lastly the Spirit is injured when any do Father upon him their odd Opinions and wild fancies and delusions and sometimes their abominable blasphemies which are not to be named amongst Christians but with detestation The Spirit of God is the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of holiness and to entitle him unto any errors or wickedness it is no less then to blaspheme and reproach him Fifthly The fifth Caution which I would
the Church dores and cast away Bibles and renounce all duties regard not Scripture regard not ordinances regard not duties O the Lord work upon thine heart in time for thou regardst not thine owo soul Thirdly All Formal Non-proficients such I mean who keep still to their All non proficients circle and move like a horse in a mill so much as they have taken upon them of Religion so much they will stick unto they will neither abate nor rise neither go backward nor go forward they know enough already Some outward duties they do but if you will press them a jot higher then you are precise you cannot possibly perswade them to proceed on to humble their heart to mortify their lusts to yeild to God in inward sanctity c. Fourthly But above all they offend most who turn Apostates and Revolters All Apostates who like Hymeneus and Alexaender make shipwrack of faith and a good Conscience 1 Tim. 1. 19 20. Or like the Galatians begin in the spirit and end in the flesh Galatians 3. 3. Or like those in Peter who after that they knew the way of righteousness did turn away from the holy Commandements delivered unto them 2 Pet. 2. 21. Beloved there are three sorts of men in the world 1. Some never would endure to look or walk in Gods Statutes but resolve to walk in their own sinful wayes these are prophane Atheists 2. Some will take upon them to walk in Gods Statutes so far as consists with their own wayes and lusts these are hypocrites 3. Some make an enterance and a little progress but do after a while renounce them and fall off to their own lusts Now here give me leave to open three things unto you 1. The principal cause why some men hold not on in walking in Gods Statutes The cause why some Apostatize but break off and turn Apostates 2. Their great sin in so doing 3. The great danger and judgment 1. The principal cause why c. Because of the strictness of Gods Laws First The Spiritual strictness which they do meet with in Gods Statutes which they did not preconsider and which their loose hearts cannot bear Simile It is with many professors as it is with many lazey and idle servants who frame unto themselves a reputation and benefit to be in such and such great mens families but meeting there with diligent and constant paines they presently give up their place and service So many Christians fancy unto themselves an easie obedience to God and think that any kind of serving God will suffice but when they come to finde that God will not be pleased with easie and formal performances but he will be served in Spirit and in truth that we must mortify every sinfull lust and that we must seek and serve him with our whole heart and come up to all the duties of obedience though crossing our profits and delights now they complain and murmur as they in Joh. 6. This is a hard saying and turn away from the Commandements as too heavey a yoak for them to bear rather likeing their old wayes of wickedness and looseness Secondly Secret Hypocrisie of heart this is another cause why men do not Secret Hypocrisie continue and persevere in the way of obedience but do revolt and fall off Job 27. 10. Will the Hypocrite delight himself in the Almighty will â—e alwayes call upon God Some times he will call upon God but alwayes he will not for his delight is not in God There are foure things in every Hypocrite Four things in every Hypocrite 1. His sinful heart was never changed by Grace 2. His Soul was never mortified to all sin 3. His Heart could never comply with all which God requires 4. He never did Obey God out of love to God intending only the Glory of God but still had an eye unto himself seeking his own praise and advantage in the world And every one of these is a sufficient ground of revolting and what principle is there of perseverance in the wayes of God where no grace at all â—s planted in the heart Is it possible that the Commandements of God should be sure of us when sin hath the dominion over us Or can he hold out in obedience whose heart did never like obedience and of necessity his heart must break with God who doth prefer himself before God Thirdly External Difficulties and troubles The Apostle saith that all who External troubles will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3. 12. We may say of walking in the way of Gods Statutes what they spake to Paul of the way of Christianity it is every where spoken against Acts 28. 22. There is no travailer in the way to Heaven but shall meet with barking curs with many scoffes reproaches contempts indignities injuries hazzards losses But many men neither can nor will suffer these things they set a higher value upon their own names and ease and liberty and plenty and safety than on their Souls and Gods Commandements When the young man heard of selling all and taking up the crosse and following of Christ he took his leave of Christ and of the way to Heaven Simile Many travailers are taken from their joruney when foule weather appears although they were forward when the sun did shine forth c. Fourthly Sordid unbelief There are three things which some men do not Sordid unbeliefe believe 1. That the way of obedience is a necessary path to life What some men do not believe 2 At least that much obedience and constant or continued obedience is that path some little service for a little time if men have any to spare perhaps is but to spend a whole life in holy walking c. 3. That God is true in his promises of protection and benediction in case of conscientious and constant obedience they do verily think that by this course they shall be losers If they did not some times worke and sell on the Sabbath day why they should lose their custome and if they should deny visits on that day they should displease their friends c. O these unbelieving hearts of ours Not without cause said the Apostle Heb. 3. 12. Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Tell men seriously who is the God of blessings and God of mercies in whose power is it to make great Is it not God who blesseth and the man shall be blessed And who curseth and the man shall be cursed And read you not expresly of his blessings promised to the obedient and his curses to the disobedient And is not God faithful in his promises and true in his threatnings Hadst thou faith God should have better obedience and didst thou give to God more upright and stedfast obedience God would give unto thee more plentiful and abundant blessings If thou couldest say that latter part with