wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heat I have seen his waies and wil heal him c. Though he went on and was worth yet saith God I have seen his waies and wil heal him I wil not take advantage I wil be content after al their froward rejections of al the offers of Grace yet I wil heal them for al that The frowardness is that that hath reference not only to unprofitableness under afflictions but when one is dealt kindly withal and doth not answer according to his kindness but wil have his own wil such a one doth go on frowardly Now then if we could put al these together that have been named of Gods willingness towards sinners to bring them in to be reconciled to him Oh Lord how infinite would the Grace and goodness of God appeare How were God to be glorified in his Grace I see I cannot possibly come to these things that I have heretofore propounded As what needs al this and the like But that must be done or the reasons why God doth deal thus A word or too at this time for that why God doth do al this why doth God deal thus with sinners in such a manner First It is because mercy pleases him Micha 7.18 there God makes a large promise of pardon of sin because mercy pleaseth him Now that that is pleasing unto any creature that the creature loves to do it and loves to do it to the ful to the height as al pleasure you know to enjoye the creature to eate and drink and sport is very pleasing to a voluptuous man and therefore he doth desire to have this to the ful a large bag of Gold pleases a covetous man therefore he is never satisfied but would have it to the ful Honor pleaseth an ambitious man and therefore he never hath enough so mercy it pleases God and therefore as I may with Holy reverence speak God scarce thinks he hath ever done enough to shew the riches of his Grace Secondly God doth it because the blood of his Son doth cry continually in his eares for mercy and it is of such infinite worth and value and the obedience of his Son in shedding of his bloud it hath been so acceptable unto God and is that whosoever this blood is pleaded for the Lord must needs grant it to the utmost Now it is the blood of Jesus Christ that is shed for sinners that doth plead with God the Father that al this mercy might be shewed It is said in the scripture that the blood of Christ speaks better things than the blood of Abel the blood of Abel cries loude for vengeance vengance Lord against sinners But the blood of Christ cries aloude merrcy mercy Lord for sinners and God heares the cry of his Sons blood What is this that recries The blood of my Son for mercy for sinners let them have mercy yea let them have mercy to the ful Then the fludgates of mercy come to be opened though if it were not for the blood of Christ the patience of God would let out some common favors but when God comes to satisfy the cries of the blood of Christ for mercy saith God open al the fludgates now and let in streams of mercy for sinners let mercy be shewed to the highest degree that can be if the blood of my Son cry for it it must be though it requires wonderful mercy it must be great rich glorious mercy it is not a drop but had need of a Sea of mercies to anwswer it I but saith God the blood of my son cryes for mercy and though there be need of an infinite Ocean of mercy for to clense the soul of such a sinner it must needs be granted because the blood of my son cryes for it When you finde God manifesting himselfe to your souls in waies of mercy it comes from the blood of Jesus Christ that cries to God the father for mercy to be bestowed on you and this is the sum and substance of al these expressions of Gods grace toward sinners We thinke that so be very strange that ever such an infinite God should condescend to sinners but when we come to examin the reason we need not wonder at it we see now from whence it al coms it springs al from the ever living fountaine of the unsearchable rich grace of God in Christ though at the very reading we may wonder that ever God should do so and perhaps some men may think these are but the straynes of ministers to make it so but when we come to understand the bottom the ground of al then we must acknowledge the reality of it no wonder God shews mercy to such souls so unworthy and so vild why Because the blood of his son cryes for mercy CHAP. 55. Christs willingness to be Reconciled to sinners further Opened NOW before we come to answer the Objections or to any application there is yet somthing more to be opened unto you as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in CHRIST'S stead as the heart of God is so set upon it to be reconciled unto sinners so is Jesus Christ it is true Christ is God but Christ and God are here spoken of severally Christ is the same God with the father but he is God and man God incarnate God the mediator between the father and us so that it wil be exceeding useful to shew how the heart of CHRIST is set upon Reconciliation of sinners to God for the Apostle doth come in the name of Christ as wel as of God the father now that the heart of Christ is in it that appears in the understanding of the great worke of Reconciliation That he hath undertaken it and that so willingly as he hath done Certainly if Christ had not been much set upon this work to bring sinners to be reconciled unto the Father he would never have undertaken such a work which he knew would prove so difficult to him and he knew what it would cost him but yet he took it willingly and delightfully and for that compare those two Scriptures the first in Psal 40.7 Then said I Lo I come in the Volume of thy book it is written of me It begins in ver 6. Sacrifice and offerring thou didst not desire mine ears thou didst open burnt offerring and sin offering thou didst not require then said I Lo I come in the Volume of thy book it is written of me I delight to do thy will Oh God It is a Psalm of Christ and a Prophecy of him and that it is of him it appears plainly if you compare the Scripture in Heb. 10. at the beginning and so on there you have the Apostle quoting this very Text only with a little difference in the word Now there are three or four things that are here to be observed of Christ in his willingness to come and undertake the great work of making Attonement between God and sinners Mine Ears hast
GOSPEL-RECONCILIATION OR CHRISTS TRVMPET OF Peace to the World Wherein is shewed besides many other Gospel Truth 1. That there was a Breach made between God and Man 2. That there is away to make up this Breach 3 Reconciliation opened in eight Particulars Twelve blessed Consequences thereof How to know whether a Mans peace be made with God Five Helps to make our peace with God 4. God begins the Work of Reconciliation with man 5 Our Reconciliation with God is by Christ How Christ is a fit Reconciler Christ hath undertaken 1. To satisfie Gods Justice 2. To bring our hearts and subdue them to God 6 Gods reconciling the World to himself 7 Why God will not himself immediately dispence this Gospel Reconciliation 8 The Ministers of the Gospel are Embassadors of Christ What kind of Ministry God speaks most in How we ought to hear the Word The horrible wickedness of those that are idle in the Ministry 9 The exceeding willingness of God and Christ to be reconciled to sinners Sixteen Arguments manifesting Gods exceeding willingness to be reconciled to sinners 10 Christs willingness to be reconciled to sinners further opened 11 Objections Answered concerning the exceeding willingness of God and Christ to be reconciled to sinners To which is added two Sermons By JEREMIAH BURROUGHS Published with a Testimony By Thomas Goodwin William Bridge William Greenhil Sydrach Sympson Philip Nye John Yates William Adderley London Printed by Peter Cole Printer and Book-seller at the Printing-press in Cornhil neer the Royal Exchange 1657. A Testimony to the World concerning several Books of Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs that are Printing and wil shortly be Published WHat we have by way of Preface set before the several Books already published of this Reverend Author Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs may sufficiently serve for all that are come forth So that we only need now to give Letters Testimonial to the World that these viz. The Sermons on the 2 Corinthians the 5. chapter the 18. 19. and 20. verses Hos 2.14 Prov. 16.31 Math. 11.28.29.30 Which are or wil shortly be Printed We avouch likewise to be the painful and profitable Labors of the same Author and published by the best and most Authentick Copies Thomas Goodwin William Greenhil William Bridge Sydrach Simpson Philip Nye John Yates William Adderly The Names of Books printed by Peter Cole Printer and Bookseller of London and are to be sold at his Shop at the sign of the Printing-press in Cornhil neer the Royal Exchange Mr. Hookers New Books in three Volums One in Octavo and two in Quarto These Eleven New Books of Mr. Thomas Hooker made in New-England Are attested in an Epistle by Mr. Thomas Goodwin and Mr. Philip Nye To be written with the Authors Own hand None being written by himself before One Volum being a Comment upon Christ's last Prayer in the Seventeenth of John wherein is opened The Union beleevers have with God and Christ and the glorious Priviledges thereof Besides many other Gospel Truths there is also shewed 1 That the end why the Saints receive al glorious Grace is That they may be one as the Father and Christ are one 2 That God the Father loveth the Faithful as he loveth Jesus Christ 3 That our Savior desireth to have the Faithful in Heaven with himself 4 That the happiness of our being in Heaven is to see Christs Glory 5 That there is much wanting in the knowledg of Gods Love in the most able Saints 6 That the Lord Christ lends dayly direction according to the dayly need of his Servants 7 That it is the desire and endeavor of our Savior that the dearest of Gods Love which was bestowed on himself should be given to his faithful Servants 8 That our Vnion and Communion with God in Christ is the top of our happiness in Heaven The first eight Books of the Application of Redemption By the effectual Work of the Word and Spirit of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God In which besides many other seasonable and Soul-searching Truths there is also largely shewed 1 Christ hath purchased al spiritual good for HIS 2 Christ puts al HIS into possession of al that good that he hath purchased 3 The Soul must be fitted for Christ before it can receive him And a powerful Ministry is the ordinary means to prepare the heart for Christ 4 The work of God is free And the day of Salvation is while this Life last and the Gospel continue 5 God cals his Elect at any Age but the most before old Age. 6 The Soul is naturally setled in a sinful security 7 The heart of a Natural man is wholly unwilling to submit to the Word that would sever him from his sins 8 God the Father by a holy kind of violence plucks His out of their corruptions and draws them to beleeve in Christ The Ninth and Tenth Books of the Application of Redemption by the Effectual Work of the Word and spirit of Christ for the bringing home of lost sinners to God Besides many other seasonable and Soul-searching Truths there is also largely shewed 1 The heart must be humble and contrite before the Lord wil dwel in it 2 Stubborn and bloody sinners may be made broken-hearted 3 There must be true sight of sin before the heart can be broken for it 4 Application of special sins by the Ministry is a means to bring men to sight of and sorrow for them 5 Meditation of sin a special means to break the heart 6 The same word is profitable to some not to another 7 The Lord somtimes makes the word prevaile most when its most opposed 8 Sins unrepented of makes way for piercing Terrors 9 The Truth terible to a guilty conscience 10 Gross and scandalous sinners God usually exerciseth with heavy breakings of heart before they be brought to Christ 11 Sorrow for sin rightly set on pierceth the heart of the sinner throughly 12 They whose hearts are pierced by the Word are carried with love and respect to the Ministers of it And are busie to enquire and ready to submit to the mind of God 13 Sinners in distress of conscience are ignorant what they should do 14 A contrite sinner sees a necessity of coming out of his sinful condition 15 There is a secret hope wherewith the Lord supports the hearts of contrite sinners 16 They who are truly pierced for their sins do prise and covet deliverance from their sins 17 True contrition is accompanied with confession of sin when God cals thereunto 18 The Soul that is pierced for sin is carried with a restless dislike against it Six Books more of Mr. Hookers in two Volums in Quarto are printing Twenty one several Books of Mr. William Bridge Collected into two Volumns Viz. 1 Scripture Light the most sure Light compared with 1. Revelations Visions 2. Natural Supernatual Dreams 3 Impressions with and without Word 4 Light and Law within 5. Divine Providence 6. Christian Experience 7. Humane Reason 8.
to himself by him I say so that the Apostle would put an emphasis on this that we are reconciled by Christ By him Saith he and he was not satisfied in saying of it once but he repeateth it again by him I Say whether they be things on Earth or things in Heaven There are two difficulties in this Scripture first in that it is said God hath reconciled al things to himself in Christ how doth God reconcile all things to himself in Christ we are now speaking of reconciling those that shal be Saved eternally but here the Apostle speaks of reconciling of all things God may be said to reconcile not only Saints but al things unto himself in this regard In that al things were lyable to distruction through mans Sin and it is in Christ and through Christ that any thing in the world is preserved in a good Condition When you behold the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and al these things and see the preservation of them in any good Condition you must know it is al through Christ and had it not been in regard of Christ al things would have come to ruine and confusion presenly and so God reconcileth al things to himself in Christ Further Al things are reconciled in Christ too in this regard In that now al things are through him come to be made Serviceable to those that are his Saints and reconciled ones and in that regard al things may be said to be reconciled to God because they are reconciled to Gods friends whereas before al Creatures were enemies tâ— us through Sin and now through Christ they come to be made useful to us and so unto God by us A Second difficulty in this text is How God hath by Christ reconciled al things in heaven what things are there in Heaven that are Reconciled to God by Christ We must understand that the things in Heaven that are said to be reconciled are especially to be meant of the Angels But you wil say How can the angels be reconciled to Christ there was never a falling out never an enmity between God and them I Answer That though in a proper sence as reconciliation Concerns man there is no reconciling of Angels unto God yet because there is a neerer and a further and a more firm union made between God and the Angels through Jesus Christ than ever there was before or than ever there should have been for ought we know if Christ hade not been in that regard reconciliation may be said to be of things in Heaven God and them being now by Christ more firmly made one than ever they were before And again though the Angels had never Sinned against God and so were no actual enemies unto God yet they were in a capacity of sinning for they being but Creatures they could not but be frail in themselves and so lyable to fal from God and to sin against him as wel as those that did fal therefore in regard of the establishment which they have now through Jesus Christ because they are now confirmed in such a condition that they are in an impossibility of falling from God God having so taken them to himself and they being so one with God that they can never fal from him in this regard also they may be said to be reconciled For notwithstanding al the perfection of their Creation they might have fallen into the same condition that those did that are now reserved in Chaynes to the Judgment of the great day But now God hath so reconciled al things in Heaven by Jesus Christ that the Angels themselves are more firmly made one with God than they were before And further the Lord doth receive them into a more intire affection of love in and by Jesus Christ than he did before the Lord looking upon the Angels in and through Christ there is a more through firme intimate intire affection of God towards them to establish them and to accept of them in Jesus Christ And besides they are reconciled to God or unto us rather because they are come to be our friends whereas at first they were our enemies so that in that regard there is a kind of Reconciliation but because I conceive the text doth not so much intend that we shal let it pass Thus you see how God was in Christ reconciling to himself even in some sense the very Angels themselves This then is the first thing the very thoughts that God had of entering into any tearmes or parly with man about peace is by Christ that the Lords heart was inclined to man it is from Christ that the Lord would be willing to accept of any satisfaction it is through Christ that we have an access to God any way it is through Christ There is nothing from the one end of the work of Reconciliation to the other but it is al through Christ For further opening of this great point there are these things to be propounded First Briefly to shew you the necessity of Christs coming in in order to our Reconciliation with God and likewise that it could be no other way but by Christ Secondly How Chirst comes to be a fit Reconciler Thirdly What it is that Christ hath ingaged himself to and performed according to his ingagement for our Reconciliation Fourthly How that which Christ hath done comes to be made over to us and that we come to have the fruit of it for our Reconciliation with God Fiftly The Consequences that flow from this Namely that our Reconciliation comes through Christ Sixtly The reasons why God wil be reconciled to us through his Son rather than any other way And Lastly To make some Application of al. These particulars might hold us some time but because we often meet with much of this Doctrine of Reconciliation and have divers times before and are likely if God lengthen out opportunities stil to do it therefore I intend to present al these seven particulars before you in a very short view CHAP. 13. The necessity of Christs coming in for our Reconciliation FOr the first The necessity of Christs coming in for our Reconciliation and surely this is that which is to be in culcated and beaten upon you again again for you neither know God nor Christ nor your own estates except you know the necessity of Christs coming in to undertake in the work of Reconciliation I suppose if we should ask any of you how you hope to be saved you wil presently answer by Jesus Christ But the understanding of the absolute necessity that there was of Christs coming in to reconcile us and God together is not so ordinary therefore I beseech you seriously weigh it The necessity of it in a word is this There was such a distance made between God and his Creatures through sin as did put a necessity upon a Mediator to come between the distance was so great for God being the infinite first being and we being his Creatures the distance must
to be made over to one before he was borne somtimes between man and man there is something made over thus to our heires lawfully begotten though there be none born yet it is given them and there is solemnity in Law concerning it Perhaps it is given to some as a feofee that if such and such should be borne they should injoy it or that they shal imploy this for the benefit of such and such that shal be born so Jesus Christ stood before the Father as we may so terme it as a feofee in trust as the head of a Covenant and there were transactions between the Father and him there was not onely a purpose in God to reconcile himselfe to us but there was grace given to us in Christ there was an actual donation of this unto Christ before the world began that so we might come to Injoy it Again another Scripture for this is the 1. Cor. 2.7 which speakes somwhat of this also though not altogether so fully as the former The words are these But we Speake the wisdom of God in a mistery even the hidden wisdom which God ordeyned before the world to our glory He doth not only speake here of Gods Electing of Gods ordaining us to Glory but he speakes of the whole mistery of the Gospel which he calles the hiden wisdom of God Now this doctrin of Reconciliation which I have been preaching to you about that we are reconciled to God in Christ this is the hiden wisdom of God which was kept hid from the begining of the world and yet ordayned before the world to our glory God had contrived al this doctrin of Reconciliation and purposed that in time it should come to be revealed to us as it is at this day There is yet another Scripture for this which is very remarkable It is in the 17. John you shal finde in that chapter many expressions to that purpose that those that did beleeve in Christ were such as God the Father had given him and you may find by divers expressions there apparantly that there was an agreement a transaction between the Father and the son long before the thing was done verse 16. I have manifested my name to the men thou gavest me out of the world thine they were and thou gavest them me and they have kept thy word he doth not speak meerly of giving them at this time but of Giving them to â—â—e son before now for he makes that to be the ground of their beleife he doth not make their giviâ—â—â—â—em to him to be beleeving but he makes their beleeving and the keeping of the word of faith to be a fruit of Gods giving them to his Son the fathers giving them to his Son is the foundation of their beleeving and hence it is that in time they come to beleive because God the father hath from al eternity given them to his Son that is the argument of Christ this indeed makes the difference between some that beleeve others that do not beleeve There are som that are of mean parts poor people and yong ones that beleive in Jesus Christ and the great misteries of the Gospel others that have more understanding that are learned men they do not beleive That which makes the difference is this that God the father gives some to his son to reconcile and he doth not give others and this is the argument of Christ in that 17 John he makes the foundation of their faith to be God the fathers giving of them to the Son So that it is apparent in Scripture that there hath been before we come to beleeve ye a before the world was a transaction between the father and the Son about our reconciliation God was reconciling himself to the world So that our Reconciliation with God and the having our sinns not imputed must be considered in three periods of time The first is if we may cal that a period of time which rather was before time that which was from al eternity with the Son there God was reconciling himself unto us Secondly when Christ came into the world and was upon the Cross and suffered there was an actual imputation of the sins of al the Elect unto him and a laying of them upon Christ there was then a special act of God imputing and charging upon his Son the Sins of al the elect Thirdly when God cals any sinner to beleeve then there is an other act of God passing the Sentence of absolution upon the Soul an actual passing of it which we cal Justification As it is between man and man you know the law may be satsfied for the prisoner and yet the Prisoner not absolved thâ—â—â—â—soner is not acquitted til the sentence be so solemnly pronounced by the Judg though the verdict be brought in not guilty yet he is not acquitted until the Judg pronunce the sentence of absolution So though Jesus Christ in his sufferings when he was crucified satisfied the law for al that should beleive in him yet there is required a pronouncing of the Sentence by the Judg for the acquitting of which is our Justification And yet somtimes we know that after the sentence is pronounced by the Judg the malefactor may ly in Prison til the fees be pay'd Just thus it is with us after our justification yet we remain in this world and have the fetters of our corruption upon us have the fetters of afflictions and troubles upon us til we have pay'd the dues to nature and the dispensations of Gods Providence One that is Elect and not a beleever he is as a prisoner that hath the Law satisfied for him though he doth not know it yet certainly he shal be saved One that is Elect and a beleever is as a prisoner that hath the Judg pronouncing the sentence of absolution upon him yet afterwards so long as the Beleever is in this world he is like a Prisoner that hath had his sentance pronounced upon him to acquit him but he lies in Prison til he hath pay'd his fees But those in Heaven they have not only the Law satisfied and the fees pay'd but they are set at liberty also and are in their Fathers house There are Several times therefore of Gods manifestation of our Reconciliation to us not imputing our Sinns unto us But though there be such several workings of God yet this doth not argue any change in God which is an Objection that many through weakness make that because God doth this thing and the other thing the other thing that was not done before therefore 〈◊〉 would argue as if there were a charge in God and therefore would conclude that there is nothing that is now done but was done and that as it is now done so it was done everlastingly But we are to know this that Gods actual pronouncing of a sentence of absolution now was not done before doth no more argue a change in God than Gods glorifying the Saints in Heaven now who
Christ that you see such things and your ears that you heare such things that God hath disposed you to live in those times wherein you have the mighty things of the ministry of the gospel shewed unto you it is a good argument that god hath many souls to be reconciled unto when he sends the ministers of the gospel unto a place and therefore when Paul was going from a place God appeared to him in the night and bid him be of good courage and saith unto him I have many souls in this City When God in a special manner sends the preaching of the gospel into a place let them bless God from their souls and take it as an argument that sure God hath many souls in this place that he intends to be reconciled unto for the minnistry of the gospel is the minnistry of reconciliation it is the fruit of the prayer of Jesus Christ and for that compare those scriptures together and it wil be clear in Esay 49 8. this is quoted in Cor. 2.6.2 now what is that that is when Paul was preaching to them and he makes this the fulfilling of that prophecy in Esay 49. now it is clear that that prophecy is a prophecy of Christs praying to God the father for those that did belong to his election that in due time they might have the doctrin of reconciliation opened to them now saith God I have heard thee in an acceptable time and saith Paul now is the acceptable time so that at any time when you come to heare a sermon and hear the doctrine of Reconciliation opened to you you should think thus much This morning or this day have I had the fruit of the prayer of Jesus Christ for this congregation and for my part in particular Christ was praying unto his father for this long before I was borne and now do I come to have the fruit of the prayer of Jesus Christ This very sound of the gospel in my ears this morning it is no other but the fruit of the prayer of Jesus Christ unto God the father long before I had a being and the world was CHAP. 43. Use 2. The Great honor of Ministers that are Faithful SEcondly Hence appears the great honor of the Ministers of the Gospel in their Ministery we wil not attribute to our persons but to our work certainly if they are committed to the Ministery of reconciliation they are sent about the most honorable business that ever was in the world to dispence unto the Children of men the great mistery of Salvation by Jesus Christ So if a Minister be faith free in it it may be said of any one that God uses in this Happy that ever he was born and blessed be the womb that beare him and the paps that gave him suck if so be he be faithful in this his work for he is imployed about the greatest business that is in the world never did God employ Angels in a work of greater consequence and in a work wherein they are more honored they are called in scripture Angels of the Churches for indeed their work is Evangelical and when he speaks of them in 1 Cor. 4.1 Therefore let a man account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and stewards of the misteries of God Bretheren we could be willing that for our persons they should be never so contemptible before you if so be the contemptibleness of our persons might further the glory of our work But we know ordinarily that the contempt of persons hinders the honor of the work and therefore saith the Apostle let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and stewards of the Misteries of God we are appointed stewards of the misteries of God we are stewards to deal out unto you the misteries of life and Salvation Joseph was accounted highly off when he did deale out the Corne in Egypt and now this work of reconciliation is that that the Angells prie into the Angels learne instruction from this mistery of reconciliation it doth not only beseem the greatest men in the world to attend upon it but the Angels themselves honor it and learne by it I wil give you a text for this because it may seem to be hard unto you the text is in Ephes 3 verse 10. To the intent that now unto Principalities and Powers in Heavenly places might be known by the Churches the manifold wisdom of God that not only men but the very Angels in heaven might come to understand further the wisdom of God in Christ made knowen to the Church certainly if the Angels come to know further by the Church then specially at their Church meetings when they are together and when there is the dispensation of the Ministery of the Gospel among the Saints then when the Church is in their exercises of the ordinance of the Church then they come to know the manifold wisdom of God howsoever some think it is foolishness yet God saith it is a manifold wisdom of God and the Angels think so too Certainly there is no place so ful of sinners as of Angels heareing therefore you may wel come to heare for the Angels they come to heare and therefore the Apostle saith to women that they should beheave themselves wel because of the Angels and the scripture tells us that the Angels prie into this mistery of the Gospel Ministers need not seeke honor to themselves any waiâ—â— but by their faithful administration of the Gospel and therefore in the primitive times the Ministers of the Gospel were mightily honored of the people let a soul come to understand what it is to have peace with God through Jesus Christ through any Ministers Ministery and that soul wil honor that Ministery enough hee needs not cal for any honor and respect from that poor soul It is said that in the former times there were wooden challices and golden Ministers but afterwards there were golden cupps and wooden Ministers It was a great deale more honor to the Church when there were golden Ministers but afterwards when there were golden cups ministers were gallants and had great means may they not wel be called wooden in respect of their opening of the misteries of Salvation to the pople It is not now so much for to preach morallity these are good things to be preacht on but where is the great point of reconciliation The great point that al Ministers ought to aim at is the great point of Reconciliation and that is to be preacht and it is their commission to preach that especially Oh how is it to be received to be accepted To us is committed the ministery of reconciliation what is it It is such a ministery of no less consequence then your reconciliation with God Oh how gladly should you take in this ministery for they come about a work that is worthy of al acception as the Apostle saith Tim. 1.1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of al acceptation
common wealth Look what right you have to your Houses Lands and Estates you have the same right to your practice of Religion This is the mercy of God towards England rather than to other Countries Now we take up Arms to defend our civil right and let it be in what it wil be either to our Estates or Houses or Religion or whatsoever it be stil it is a civil right this is that that justifies this quarrel and this is enough to stop the Mouths of any in this point and to answer that argument about the primitive times But I let this pass and come unto the next verse CHAP. 45. Verse 20. Opened and Five Doctrines propounded VERSE 20. Now then we are Embassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be you reconciled to God NOW we are Embassadors Mark what rise the holy Apostle takes saith he God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed to us this word of Reconciliation Now then we are Embassadors His spirit seems to be much moved in this What God reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them Now then we we are Embassadors for Christ now then we have a great trust now then we have a great charge now then we are Embassadors not from any earthly great Prince but from Jesus Christ himself So that in these words you have these several points of Doctrine I might cast them into these several conclusions Doct. First That the Ministers of the Gospel are Embassadors of Christ Secondly What they do in this their Embassage It is as if God and Christ did it as though God did beseech you by us so we pray you in Christs stead Thirdly The Consideration of the Excellency of their Commission and Embassage makes them wonderful careful to do what they are sent about and very earnest in plying the work they are sent to do Now we are Embassadors and as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled Fourthly That God and Jesus Christ are exceeding willing to be reconciled unto Sinners And that is the Fourth thing which is indeed the principal thing in the Text that is recorded Now as the very ground of al that is intended in the Text. That God and Christ is exceeding willing that sinners should come in to be reconciled to him for they do pray and beseech you Fiftly That the work of the Ministery of the Gospel it is by al the means they can to labor to draw a people by entreating and beseeching them and to take no nay of the hearts of the people until they do get them to come in to be reconciled unto God These are the five things of the 20. verse Now then we are Embassadors for Christ c. I shal but briefly treat of the first three for indeed the two latter are the cheif which I chose this text for To shew you the willingness of God that sinners should come in and be reconciled to him and the work of the Ministery is to draw the hearts of the people But the other three I shal speak of but by way of preface unto these CHAP. 46. The Ministers of the Gospel Are Embassadors of Christ Opened in six particulars First That the Ministers of the Gospel are the Embassadors of Christ Not Embassadors for Belial or for Antichrist as many Ministers have been to plead the cause of Antichrist as if they were sent as Legates from Rome and to plead for superstitious vanities we are not Embassadors for Belial for sin for wickedness for many times you heare pleading against Godliness and for wickedness No we are Embassadors for Christ we are sent Embassadors this is something more than messengers this is a higher degree than to be a bare messenger an Embasdor is more than a steward in 1. Cor. 4. Therefore let a man so account of us as the Ministers of Christ and dispencers of the misteries of Salvation I only wil shew you a scripture for that and a little open it and soon pass by this point We have it often in scripture this word Embassador In Eph. 6.2 There you have it to the same purpose as it is here For which I am an Embassador and he is in bonds He was not used like an Embassador you know Embassadors First they are such as are sent from Princes and States to other Princes and States it is not a private man If any of you send a messenger about a business he is not said to be an Embassador but one that comes from a Prince or State from other countries he is said to be an Embassador So the Minister of the Gospel he is not sent to deale between man and man but between God and man in matters that concern the great God of Heaven and Earth and sent from him though designed to it by men yet their calling depends upon God upon Christ only here is the difference when Princes and States send their Embassadors they send them to other Princes and to other States But now God sends Embassadors to poor wretched sinful men and herein he doth honor man that he wil send a messenger from himselfe to them to be an Embassador When a Prince doth send a messenger to a person you do not say that the Prince doth send an Embassador to them that are in prison that he may execute when he pleases rather an Executioner than an Embassador So we might al have expected rather that there should an Executioner have been sent but God is pleased for his elect ones to send an Embassador And besides Embassadors are not sent about every trivial business but when an Embassador is sent it is about a publique business a State business of some great consequence so when you hear that God sends his Embassadors to the world you must know that it is about a great and a weighty business about a State business it is about that that doth concerne the very state of Heaven the God of Heaven it is that that concerns God himself more neerly than any thing in â—â—â—s world concerns him It concerns God next unto his own beeing and unto his Son the neerest of any thing that is without that belongs to a God therefore we are called Embassadors Thirdly They are called Embassadors because they must look to this that they do not the least thing but by Commission it is as much as his life is worth to go beyond his Commission in any thing so the ministers of the Gospel they must keep close to the Commission which they receive from Jesus Christ Fourthly when he goes to any place he doth represent the person of the King himself from whom he came and what wrong is done to him is done to the Kings person Let the Embassadors be never so meane so al the Ministers of the Gospel they come to you in the
effectually work that makes the effectual working upon the heart when the people receive the word as the word of God And the 4 Gal. 14. Mark how the Galatians received the Apostle saith he there And my tentation which was in my flesh you despised not nor rejected but received me as an Angel of God even as Christ Jesus Here he speaks in way of commendation of the Galatians you receive me as an Angel of God even as Jesus Christ as if you had received Christ Jesus and mark the Apostle was in a poor mean condition in respect of his outward estate My tentation that was in my flesh In my outward man I was very low and this might have been a tentation to you for to have caused you to have rejected me when I spake Oh! this hath been a tentation to many men because the preacher is an Earthen Vessel though he hath brought the right treasure of the Gospel yet this hath been a tentation But saith he it was not so with you you received me though poor weak a mean man that had scarce bread to eate yet you received me as an Angel of God yea beyond that as Christ Jesus himself But yet you shal observe in the next words that it seems their hearts began to be drawn aside iâ— the 15. vers There was a time when I came first amongst you when you wer ready to have pluct out your very eyes for me and you cryed out O! this blessed doctrine of the gospel that we now hear but where is the blessedness It seems that some fals teachers had come and inveigled them and had taken them off from the Apostle Oh! Where is the blessedness you spake of as if that were now gone but that is the Duty of people and then and only then it is like that the Ministry of the word can do any great good When the people look upon it as if God spake and Jesus Christ spake unto them I wil only conclude with this one thing that til you do come to apprehend this it is not like that ever any great good to any purpose wil be done It s like it wil be with you as it was with Samuel you know God called to Samuel Samuel Samuel saith God he runs to Ely saith he my Son I did not cal thee wel he went again and slept and God calls again He did not know it was Gods voice he runs to Ely again but then the text faith that Ely perceived that God called the Child Ely gave him this instruction that if he called again he should say Lord speak for thy servant heareth And then he went and slept again and the Lord came and called to him and then he said speak Lord thy Servant heareth And then God opened his heart unto him Oh! God called the first time and he thought it had been Ely and looked no further God said no more to him but left him and so again the second time But when he came to understand that it was Gods voice then you shal observe that God opened himself wonderfully to him and shewed him then his minde to the ful So just thus it is with people they come now to hear the Ministry of the word they hear a sound in their ears and what they hear is very good but they look only at a man the man speak and they may perhaps commend the man and commend his Sermon al this whil God speaks not to their hearts And then they wil go the second time and it is true God doth speak to them but they do not know it is Gods Voice and because they do not know it is Gods voice God doth not make known himself unto them But when the time of Gods Love comes this is the great Embassage that is sent to the Children of men And when he pleads with you you should think that it is Christ that is pleading with you when he is opening of any Scripturre to you you should think that it is Christ that is pleading with you when he is opening of any scripture to you you should think that Jesus Christ is opening that Scripture to you and when you com with such a heart then God opens al his mind to you I appeal to you whether it hath not been just thus the dealings of God with you as it it was with Samuel you have come once and again to a sermon but have looked no further then Ely to the minister but when you have come to the word with the disposition and said Lord speake for thy servant hears Lord reveal what thou wilt I se it is thine one ordinance and the minister though he be but a poor weak man yet he comes and stands in thy stead and speaks in thy name and I say when you come thus you shal find more in one sermon let out to you then in a thousand before and here is the ground that many have lived thirty or forty years under a powerful ministry and it hath sounded in their eares but they never have heard the mind of God savingly revealed unto them Because they never have fallen down and said lord speak for thy servant hears O! do this and thou shalt hear the great messuage from God then you shal have God oppening himselfe unto you to the ful CHAP. 49. The Second Doctrin propounded in the 45 chapter further prosecuted I Have made some enterance into this second point Doct. That God and Christ doth speake in the ministers of his word What the minesters of God do acrding to their rule and Word it is to be looked upon as if God and Christ did it This is Cleere in the text As though God did beseech you we pray you in Christs steed saith the Apostle For this I gave you divers scriptures I might ad many more ct thought to have added some more cleer scriptures to shew you that what the ministers do it is as if God Christ did it I might name forty places that are cleer in this point but shal not that I may proceed What the minister of God speak according to the ruls I say it is as if God and Christ spake and it must needs be sure if we consider of the power that there is of Christ in the ministry we have had experience of it that there is such a power of the ministry of the word that it coâ—ld not be but only by the speaking of God God and Christ in It the which hath power to inlighten to awaken conscience to terrefie the conscience to humble to bring down the stoutest proud heart in the world yea and to convert souls in John 5.25 the text saith of the word of the son of God that brings life Verily I say unto you that the houre is comming and now is when the dead shal hear the voice of the son of God and they that hear shal live 〈◊〉 certainly this is spoken not only of the voice of the son of
God at the general resurrection but saith he it is now the hower is comming and now is when the dead shal hear the voice of the son of God and they that hear shal live It was at the time and is continually in the ministry of the word There is the voice of the son of God that makes the dead to hear and to live And further the word of the Ministery must be looked upon as Gods in this regard because otherwise there could not be any ground or bottom for faith by any thing that is delivered in the Ministery of the word Now we know that the ministery of the word is the special ordinance that is appointed for the begetting of faith faith comes by hearing hearing by the word preached It doth not come so much by reading no not by reading of the book of God by reading of the scripture but by hearing and hearing the word preached Now then you wil say indeed The word in the Bible that is the word of God God speaks there and Christ speaks and we may bottom our faith upon what we read there but we must have somthing to bottom our faith upon when we hear it preacht by man as wel as when we read it and it is cleer by scripture that God doth rather work by the hearing of it preacht than by the reading of it Except we look upon it as the word of God and Christ we have nothing to bottom our Faith upon for nothing that is humane can be the bottom and ground of any ones faith It is not what is the judgment of such a man though he be never so learned never so holy a man that can bottom or ground my faith But when I come to heare him so as I can heare God and Christ speaking in him then have I somthing to ground my faith upon what he saith therefore here is the reason why so many go away and are only taken at the present hearing but their hearts are not grounded and bottomed in the truth because they hear man only and do not heare God But when people can say as those men that came forth from Samaria to the woman in John 4. about the middle of the Chap. sayd that when the woman came and told them Here is a man that hath tould me al that ever I did is not he Chyist And they went out to him But at length say they to her when they had spoken to him Now we do beleeve not because thou hast told us but because we have heard him our selves So may many a soul say I have been often hearing of sermons and I have been taken with the preaching of such a man and I did beleeve what he said and it went into my heart in some measure Oh! but now saith a soul I do not beleeve because he tells me this but I have heard in his preaching God and Christ himself it hath not been he but it hath been Jesus Christ that hath spoken to my heart There could be no grounding of our faith except that which is delivered in the Ministery of the word be looked upon as God and Christ speaking in them Object You wil say must we bleeve every thing that the Preacher speaks as if God and Christ spake it men may err Therefore you must compare what you hear with what you read and as those noble men of Berea did search the Scripture to see what Paul himself preacht they were not to take Pauls preaching but to compare it with other Scriptures and they were commended for it and God forbid that we should think it much that people should examine any thing we speak Try all things and then keep that which is good search the Scriptures and compare what is delivered by Scripture and then so far as that is according to the rule of Scripture that is spoken though it be not directly the words of the Scripture yet when it is spoken in the name of God according to Scripture it should be received as if God and Christ spoke it We challenge no such infallibility as the Papists say the Pope hath but we give unto al people liberty to examine our Doctrine by Scripture and then God expects and Christ expects that it should be received as if God and Christ spake CHAP. 59. Use 1. Answering the Objections of the Arminians And the Wantons of our Age. NOW then briefly Hence we have a Use of instruction where we have an answer to the Objection both of the Arminians of our late Wantons Arminians they make this Objection when we preach somtimes that al men naturally are dead in sins and trespasses and there is no free wil in man but man is as void of Grace as the dead Carkass that lies in the grave is void of natural life Now they say If men be so dead in sins Why do you preach to them Were it not a vain thing to go and preach in the Church-yard Would they regard what you say you preach that al are dead and that there is no life at al in men to do any good Why do you speak to them This point answers that Objection Though it is a truth that al men naturally are dead in sins and are before the Lord as a dead Carrion there is no dead Carrion more loathsome in the eyes of us than every natural Soul is in the Eyes of God but yet we come and preach to them Why because that in our preaching it is God God and Christ speaks though our voice have no power to raise from the dead yet the voice of God hath power to raise from the dead If Christ wil speak to one that is dead he shal come forth as you know in the 11. of John when Christ came to Lazarus saith Christ I say to thee Lazarus arise It were a vain thing for any of us to go to the grave and say arise but if Christ come he can raise them presently So we preach to a congregation that are mixt some that have lain in the grave of sin forty years perhaps together yet when we speak in the name of Christ and Christ speaks together with us we may speak to dead Souls for together with the word that is spoken there doth go a power and a life for it is the word of God and not the word of man that breaths forth life And again it is an answer to the Objection of our late Wantons they cry out against Ministers calling to men for duties and account them duty-mongers Say they What do you cal to men to do you tel them that they must do thus and thus and they must perform duties and humble themselves They think they have got a great Objection in this that because men have no power naturally therefore it is a vain thing to cal upon them to perform duties This answers them We cal upon them so as the voice of Christ though they have no power themselves yet we cal
upon them to set upon such duties we cal upon them to beleeve and to repent They say it is in vain to cal upon them to beleeve and repent But that way that God hath to work Faith Repentance in the heart of man it is to conveigh a power through his own voice in the ministry of his word and therefore we speak to them to beleeve repent as if they had power because we know that those which belong unto Gods election the Lord wil conveigh power to them through this word of his It is not our voice but it is the voice of God and of Jesus Christ We would have you to carry this meditation along with you at any time when we speak unto you and exhort you that you would come in repent and beleeve Carry this meditation with you and then you shal understand us aright We would not have you to think that we conceive you have power to beleeve and repent because we cal upon you but this we expect that while we are speaking to you that God Christ wil speak to your hearts so that there wil be power conveighed through that word of ours and though it be not conveighed this Sermon yet it may be the next or the next and hoping in the end that wil give repentance unto life CHAP. 51. Use 2. Ministers ought to speak as the Oracles of God The maner of their preaching Opened THe next use that arises from hence is that the Apostle Peter makes in 1 Pet. 4.11 If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God mark it here is an exhortation to those that have to deal in the ministery of the word that they must when they speak the word speak it as the Oracles of God so that that is delivered in the word you see it to be as the Oracles of God whatsoever a minister speaks according to scripture it is to be looked upon as the oracles of God Now therefore if this be so that the word that is spoken according to the rule is the Oracles of God then it is the duty of al that do speak the word of God to speak it in such a manner as it may appear to be the Oracles of God I have not now to speak to many ministers and therfore I shal not enlarge my self in this as I should have done Oh! with what a reverance should ministers speak for they come to speak as in Christ stead and therefore they should speak in such a manner as becomes the voice of God and of Jesus Christ as the Oracles of God and not think to speak according to their own fancies and their own humors and in their own waies but to speak as those that are sent in Gods place to speak to the people as if Christ were speaking to them and therefore to consider they are in the place of Christ so to speak with all authority as from Christ as in Math. 7. verse the last It is said of Christ That he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes for a minister of God he is to preach in Christs stead for so the Apostle saith therefore he is to labor what he can to express the very authority of Jesus Christ in his Ministery and there is a ministery that doth carry authority with it in the very consciences of men I have known of some that have come proudly into a Congregation to scorne at the word Prophane Russians that have come on purpose to outface the Ministery and to out face the word and yet they have met with that authority in the word that their hearts have been danted and they have fallen under the power of the word and there is a great deal of difference in the manner and way of preaching the word some have authority and others have no authority at al in it That kind of preaching that is to please the humors of men you shal have some kind of preachers to dandle mens fancies as it were that have some fine quaint words that there sentences shal be very smooth and as they say come off bravely and this is a dainty preacher and he shal have many fine latine sentences and witty speeches and come into a pulpit and acts as if he were to act a part upon the stage these are the fine quaint preachers the Court preachers as they cal them But this is not to preach as in Christs stead It is very like that this was the preaching of the Scribes and Pharises But when Christ came to speak he spake as one that God had authority and not as the Scribes There was a great deal of difference between his preaching and that of the Scribes he came with the authority of God he came to preach to the consciences of men and not to the fancies of men and the difference as there was in him so there is in some measure and degree now There are some that preach to this very day just as the scribes but there are others that preach as Christ did that preacht to the conscience and to the hearts of people and their words do stick in the consciences of men though they fret and vex and go away in a rage yet there is somwhat that sticks to their consciences so that they are either forced to yeild to it or fly from it And here is the reason that many a man wil cry out and say I wil never heare such a minister Why What is the reason his corrupt heart cannot bear that ministers preaching the word comes with power to his heart and his guilty conscience cannot beare it now watch but whether there be not some vile guiltiness in their spirits that say of such men they wil never hear them any more because their corrupt hearts cannot bear the authority of the word that preaching that is as if God and Christ speak it is with authority and not with fine quaint words To this purpose you have an expression in 1 Cor. 1.17 for Christ sent me he was to go in the name of Christ not with wisdom of men Christ did never send me to preach with the wisdom of men What a text is here How wil many men be able to answer this one text that make it their great study to get Wisdom of words But mark the danger of this Least the Cross of Christ be made of no effect There is a most hiddeous wickedness in this that a man should regard more to be commended for a fine Witty neat smooth preacher than he should have regard to the Cross of Christ to take effect to have Christ to be honor'd We find by experience that such preaching scarce ever stirs the Soul seldome or never works upon the heart It was a speech that once even a Prelate that was not the best but one ill enough and known to many I suppose here I heard it with my own Ears he said That he was convinced so farr that
it is in Christs stead saith the Appostle There wil be a time when thou wouldst fain have the eare of God to hear thee As you would have God to hear you then so do you hear him now marke that text in the 1. Prov. 24. against those that turn away their eare from hearing God speak Because I have called and ye refused I have streetched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at naught al my councels and you would have none of my reproofe howsoever you thought it was but the word of such and such a man yet you have set at naught al my councels and you would have none of my reproofe your hearts fretted and vext that such a man reproved you no it is my reproofe saith God and mark what a doom follows in the 26. vers you you shal cal Saith God and I wil not hear There was a time friend when I cald to you by such a sermon and you know that I spak to your hearts and you turnd a deaf ear to me you shal cal your hearts out and I wil not hear you and there wil come a time that you shal cal to Gods ministers to pray for you What would you have God to hear his ministers for you and wil not you hear his ministers from God It was a speech of Ambrose to Theodosius the Emperor saith he wil not you hear me seeing you desire that I should be heard for you you desire saith he that I should be heard for you and therefore be you willing to heare me now that was the speech to Theodosious after he hade fallen to a great sin comming to reprove him for his sin what saith he wil not you hear me you would be willing that I should be heard for you therefore be you willing to hear me so say I to al men that live in any way of sin Hear Gods ministers now for a day wil come when you wil be glad that God should hear his ministers for you O! hear us when we come in the name of God we would not have you to heare us if we speake our owne fancies This concerns those that neglect the word Now a word or two to those that disobey the word they wil set their judgments against the judgments of the ministers let him say what he wil it is but his opinion Do you know what you say this rebellion is against God against Christ as if there were this language in your hearts Christ saith I wil have this done thy lusts say they wil have this done O! this wil be charged upon thee one day that the voice of the divel was more strong with thee than the voice of Christ but specially it is to contemne the word to set at naught Gods councels to go away contemn the word Dost thou know what thou dost let me apply but these two scriptures to thee thou that Despisest and Scornest the word that canst go to company and there talke of what thou dost heare in a contemnning manner consider but of these two texts I pray first Consider of the text out of which the Point is Raised of Gods Speaking to thee thou dost despise and dost thou so Consisider what the text in Isa 39.23 Saith when thou gettest into company and there art warme with wine Oh! then thou liftest up the voice and laughest against whom hast thou lift up thy voice thou thinkest it is against Hezekiah No it is against the Holy one of Israel thou thinkest it is against such a man that preacheth such a day no it is against the Holy God and Jesus Christ and this is upon thy score written in Heaven here is one that hath reproached the Holy one and Jesus Christ In Luke 10.16 He that heareth you heareth me c. That is true not only of the desciples that were there for the present upon the earth but of al the faithful ministers to the end of the world for Christ saith when he sends them out I wil be with you to the end of the world They were dead more than a thousand years agoe and Christ yet had promised to be with them that is those that should succeed them he would be with them to the end of the world And this Text concerns every faithful minister as wel as the disciples of Christ al that time you despise Jesus Christ and God his Father when you despise the ministery of his word for the Lords sake take heed what you do when you have to deal with the word you have to deal with an edge tool it is that that wil either save you or destroy you for ever You that have been guilty of neglecting the word the Lord strike and humble your hearts and for a Cordial for time to come I wil apply but one scripture further to you and that is that in Heb. 12.25 What is that that in the faithful ministery of the word God and Christ speaks unto people Then take this exhortation So that yee refuse not him that speaketh If they escaped not who refused him that spak on Earth much more shal not we escape if we turne away him that speaketh from Heaven The Ministery of the gospel and the Ministery of the Law are compared One speaking from Earth the other from Heaven though the truth is they were both from Heaven But now in the Ministery of the Gospel God hath sent his own Son to you In the latter daies he hath spoken by his Son saith the Apostle in 1. Heb. the begining God who at sundery times spak in times past to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last times spoken to us by his Son c. In former times God spake by his Prophets there was the voice of God but it is not so cleer that there was the voice of God though it is true Christ did speak then by the prophets but in comparison Christ is not said to speak by them But now in these daies God hath spoken by his Son and God hath reserved the Ministery of his Grace and his eternal counsels concerning the Children of men God hath reserved this for his Son and not only his Son personally but his Son in the Ministery of his word Now you wil say If Christ did preach as you say he doth there would be more power We find that when Christ did preach that the Pharises derided him in the original it is they blew their noses at him and marke they that were covetous they derided him they even derided Jesus Christ himself A worldly heart that is growen rich that hath gotten from a low estate to a far greater he wil deride the most excellent preaching in the world Take heed that you do not despise the Ministery for certainly the voice of Christ wil prevaile one day If it doth not prevaile here in the word it shal prevail one day when Christ shal say depart from me yee cursed though thou dost not
Objection cannot hinder Obj. O! but there may lie another Objection Thus it may be the Lord wil require though he requires nothing that I shal do before hand but wil grant his mercy freely but when I am come then perhaps things that are hard wil be required at my hands O! the waies of God they are hard waies and then I must live so strictly then I must make Conscience of my waies and so abandon al my sins and Lusts and whaâ— saith the Devil to a corrupt heart What wil you leave al such pleasant waies and be so streightly bound Then you must do nothing but according to the word of God and of Conscience farewel al the Comforts and Joyes of your life iâ— you come once to be religious and godly these are the tentations that do keep of the hearts of men I appeal to you have not some of your hearts been kept off from Jesus Christ and the waies of God meerly upon some such temptations as these and indeed perhaps at first it may be so til the nature of a man is changed But mark how this objection is taken away when sinners are called to Christ I suppose you know the place Come unto me ye that are weary and heavy laden and I wil give you rest But that concerns the former and then afterwards when Christ had said so come to me ye that are weary heavy laden and I wil give you rest take my yoak upon you my burthen c. It seems then we must be yoaked and burthened But marke what follows in vers 30. For my yoak is easy and my burthen is light as if Christ should say never harken to such a tentation of any difficulties in my wayes I assure you beforehand you wil find that the Devil doth but gul you deceive and cozen you I wil warrant you that beforehand that I wil lay no yoak upon you but you shal say when you come to beare it it is an easy yoak and though it be a burthen yet you shal acknowledg it is a light burthen This I dare say in the name of God unto al come in al you that stand off from the waies of God though the waies of God may seem hard to you at first yet I dare say from God unto you that you wil find the wayes of God more easy to you at last than ever you did in the waies of sin For certainly there is more trouble in the waies of sin than can be in the waies of God And when God cals upon you to come in to be reconciled he doth profess this to you that he wil require nothing of you but that which shal be more pleasant to you than any wayes of sin that you lived in before there be more comforts and joy and that for the present than ever you had in the waies of sin do but ask any one that hath made tryal of this and desire them to speak their consciences to thee I meane those that have had any apprehension of the love of Christ to them yea have you began to walk in wisdomes wayes which are pleasantness and to tread in those paths which are strowed with roses and paved with peace pray then speak plainly how do you find your self is it not better now than it was before do you not find more ease more comfort and joy in these waies of God than you did before in any way of Sin Oh such a one wil profess unto you that they find more comfort than ever they did before they find more sweetness in communion with God in his wayes in one day than they found in the waies of sin in al their lives before the Holy Spirit in pleading with the hearts of men saith the same Prov. 3.17 Her waies are waies of pleasantness and her paths are peace If you wil beleeve the spirit of God the waies of Godliness are waies of pleasantness and al her paths are paths of peace What should hinder you then It is neither your unworthiness that can be any hinderance nor the hardship of the way These are the two great blocks that lie in the way and God doth fully take away these in scripture and if there be any other objection I dare undertake bring what objections you can give me but a litle time to find out some manifest word or other in the scripture that shal meet with the very objection Then how doth this argue Gods exceeding willingness to be reconciled to sinners If a man send his messenger to such a one to offer peace and he thinks beforehand Oh! but he wil have this and this objection against me but saith he to his servant that is imployed in the business you shal answer this objection thus and the other objection thus CHAP. 73. The thirtenth argument Manifesting the exceeding willingness of God to be reconciled to sinners ANother evidence of Gods willingness to be reconciled is this that God is so importunate with sinners he uses such strong arguments that he first takes away objections and then he is so importunate he doth not meerly satisfy himself with offering of mercy but he is very importunate in the work and the importunity of God appeares First in this that the scripture expresses God crying out after sinners not only seeking out after sinners but calling and crying so the words in the Original are of Gods beseeching to be reconciled of God calling to sinners in Prov. 1. It is said of wisdom that it cries the Lord cryes out and that in Isa 55. When he makes a proclamation he begins first with Oh! yes Oh! every one that thirsteth come to the waters and he that hath no mony and there is the offer of Christ with a proclamation Further Gods importunity is manifest in this that he comes over again with a thing and is not content with the expressing of himself But he doth it again and again and again he is at it as in Isa 55. vers the first Se how many times there is crying in one verse Ho! every one that thirsteth come ye and he that hath no mony come and come the third time three times in one verse saith God come to sinners and then in the third verse Incline your eare and come unto mee saith God and hear and your souls shal live and I wil make an everlasting Covenant with you there is another promise Even the sure mercies of David so hear in one short scripture four times come saith God O! how importunate is God with sinners God doth not do with us as commonly wee do with him God seeks after sinners more earnestly than sinners seek after God thus we seek to God for mercy we pray to God for mercy we content our selves with praying once and seldome looke after our prayers what becoms of them but God he cries to us to come and if we do not come the first time then he crys come come come four times together we are ready to think
them and know I speak not this as a moral work but as that wherein you should shew the feare of God Fourthly It hath been accounted in scripture a sign of great humanity when the Aged are so honored In Deuteronomy 28.50 There is a notable Place God threatens that he would send a nation of fierce countenance which shal not regard the person of the Olâ— It is an inhumane nation of fierce countenance that shal not regard the person of the Old Fiftly When God would threaten a judgment against a family he threatens that there should be no Old man in it 1 Sam. 2.31.32 Quest But why should Old Age be so honored I have not time to search fully into the reasons of it there are others things that I especially intend at this time that are behind but yet somewhat I must say First Answ 1 They had the possession of the world before you and they have been means to keep the world instruments to keep it in that order and in that good condition in which it is 2. They are to be supposed to have knowledg Prudence and understanding and Old Age is knit together diverse times in scripture and I remember the Chaldee paraphrase upon that place thou shalt rise up before the Old man translate it with this word qui doctus est in Lege before him that is taught in the Law supposing that al Old men should be men of understanding and men of knowledg and indeed an ignorant Old man in these times of knowledg is a monster in the world having had such a time of light as we have had shinning so clearly dazeling our very eyes and sparkling continually in our consciences Again 3. Old Age is that that al desire to come unto and therefore honorable 4. There is a kind of image of Gods eternity upon it God himself hath this title of the ancient of daies USE 1. If God then thus honors it and puts this honor upon it O! let us al honor old age let there be a reverent carriage of you towards them let them see the work of Godlineâ—â— the fruit of Godlyness especially governors in in their servants parents in their Children that they may see that since they were more godly they have more reverence to old age Advise with them be willing to be guided by them and yet not so far as to give so much unto age as to make it to be a rule of actions as to be led into any error by it When antiquity is pleaded for that which is not truth it is but the very mould as it were of error many men when they are as it were mired in their error and know not how to get out especially in way of dispute then they wil seeke to helpe themselves by antiquity as we read of Jeremiah when he was put into the mire they put old rotten ragges under his arme-holes to lift him up so many being plunged in disput when they have nothing else to say they thinke to get together old rotten ragges of antiquity no true antiquity for that is antiquity that is according to the first original of al antiquities meus Jesus Christus saith Ignatius and Crisostom saith Christ said not that I am custom but that I am the truth There is a great deal of power I confess in old age for to prevail with the younger somtimes in tha that is evil and in this sence the holy-ghost bids us cal no man father no man must be called Father to have the authority to be a rule of our actions against the truth we have a notable story in the 1. Rings 13.11 of the prophet that God charged not to returne back again the same way he came and when he came to the Court not to stay nor eate in that place but when he came to the Court then they laboured to perswade with him that he would returne that he would stay and eate and he could easily put off a company of yong gallants at Court but when he came unto the old prophet Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel saith the text and this old prophet he comes and he prevails with him to go against the command of God it seemes he had some reverent respect unto his age and so he prevailed with him when the other Courtiers could not We must take heed that antiquity never so prevaile with us no not any old prophet but though we must not be led into error through our respect unto them yet stil keep our reverential respect towards them especially you that be Children reverence you your old parents in Prov. 23.22 there is a charge hearken to thy father that begat thee and despise not thy mother when she is old Hear thy Father that begate thee and despise not thy mother because they being weaker are more ready to be despised therefore God giveth a charge that none must despise their mothers when they are old 2. Give respect to them by being dutifully obedient hearkening to their counsels Even Esau himselfe that was so wicked yet he would seeme to give some respect unto his old father Isaac as in Genesis 18.8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his Father then went Esau to Ishmael and took unto the wives that he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abrahams Son c. When Esau saw the daughâ—ers of Canaan did not please his father Esau would go and take the daughter of Ishmael Abrahams Son he would not displease his own old father no not an Easu no not a prophane Esau he would not displease his own old father not in his match in his choice but would choose those that he thought were most agreeable unto the minde of his old Father 3. Give respect unto your parents in bearing good wil to them The very reason why many would fain have their old parents to be from them or they from their old parents is indeed an argument if it were considered why they should rather desire to have their parents with them namly because they have many weaknesses therefore thou shouldest rather desire to have thy parents with thee that thou mightest cover their weaknesses and bear with their weaknesses who is fitter to do it than thee to thy parents the stork wil teach thee to provide for thy old parents they wil helpe them to fly and feed their old ones when they are not able to do it themselves 1. It is a great evil in a common-wealth and a signe of great confusion when younge ones shal behave themselves proudly against the old in Isaiah 3.5 when the young come and behave themselves proudly against the old it is noted as a great argument of Gods Judgments upon a Kingdome and indeed it is a sad and grevious disorder we love the houses and the Towns in which we were borne much more then the loynes and the womb in which we were borne to which we should give a greater respect And. 2.