God But now in this Observation that follows fairly from the words as the main thing here directly exhorted to by the Apostle there are divers things implied that we shall take distinct notice of as to say 1. That possibly believers may go out of or from the love of God they may not abide in it Yea 2. That there is no necessity that he must do so he may keep himself therein and then 3. There is great danger if care be not taken of and in turning out of it or from it 4. That it is expected from him and in some sense lies upon him as his work to keep themselves and each believer his Brother therein 1. Point 1. That such as do believe may possibly go out from the love of God This will on every hand be granted concerning such as are fained false-hearted believers counterfeit Christians and hypocrites if it might be granted as it may not that such are in the love of God in that choice sense of the word Love here understood and meant but indeed such as and while such are not nor can be in his love He cannot own justifie and approve of such and therefore to say such may fall from it is to speak absurdly and inconsistently with the Truth They were not such that the Apostle here wrote to but such as were sanctified of God the Father preserved in Jesus Christ and called and therefore were wholly of another stamp from those hypocrites false pretenders and Deceivers of whom and of whose ways they were warned and admonished and from all such as men commonly say may fall from the Grace of God which they must be in before they can fall from These were beloved of God and his Apostles and yet to such he writes to keep themselves in the love of God which would have been a needless labour for him to have taken in hand a needless exhortation to be given them if they could not but be in it could not turn aside from it or go out of it It is to be understood then of true and right believers such as God doth own and approve that such may possibly go out of or fâ—ll 〈◊〉 favour of God And that this is true also of such as his anger or wrath is or may be opposed to his love and favour that they may so demean themselves as instead of his approving them and their ways he may reprove and fault them and instead of smiling upon them he may frown upon them and chide them yea be very much displeased with smite them it will easily be granted too seeing many instances thereof are found in the Scriptures As that God was angry with Moses Aaron and Miriam David and Solomon and other holy men so as that he inflicted great punishments upon them as appears in these Scriptures Numb 120 12â— and 27 14. Deut. 1.37 and 3.26 2 Sam. 11.27 and 12.1 9 10. Psal 32.3 4 and 38.3 4. 1 King 11.9 c. Moses and Aaron amongst his Priests and Samuel amongst those that called upon his Name they called upon the Lord and he answered them He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar they kept his Testimonies and the Ordinances he gave them Thou answeredst them O Lord our God thou wast a God that forgavest them though thou tookest Vengeance on their inventions Psal 99.7.8 Yea how often doth the Scripture tell us of God's wrath and anger against his people even his Zion and Israel as Psal 80.4 Oh Lord how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people thou feedest them with the bread of tears and givest them tears to drink in great measure c. and Psal 85.5 Wilt thou draw out thine anger for ever or be angry to all generations So Lam. 3.1 I am the man that have seen affliction by the rod of his anger c. Yea the Fathers in the Wilderness whom God highly favoured and brought in love and mercy out of Egpyt were highly priviledged by him yet how did they provoke him to displeasure by their unbelief and murmurings so as they most of them were destroyed in his judgments and their carkases fell in the wilderness and they are propounded as admonitions and warnings to us even to such as were justified sanctified and washed from their sins in the Name of the Lord Jesus Yea the Apostle Paul himself looked upon their falls and the disfavour that they procured to themselves as warnings to him See 1 Cor. 9.16 24 25 26 27. with chap. 10.1 2 3 4 5. and 6.11 and from the consideration of what befel them he lays down this general caution Wherefore he that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall c. 10.12 And if it were only possible for believers in this sense to go or fall out of God's love into his wrath and anger considering the dreadfulness of his wrath and the sad consequents thereof upon the objects of it that might be a sufficient motive to move us to take heed to our selves that we sin not against him but keep our selves in his love and favour considering also on the other side how sweet and advantageous his Love is But that seems not to be all that believers may possibly fall into out of the love of God Nay indeed love in a high sense may consist with anger so far at least as still to own and acknowledge for his the person with whom he is angry yea and his in near relation too though there be not an approving of the way and action that causeth the anger As a man may be angry and greatly displeased with his Son or wife whom yet he doth not disinherit or cut off So God is angry with his Children and people often yet he owns for his Children and people So Psal 78.59 60 61 62. When God heard this the the unfaithfulness and Idolatry of his people he was wroth and greatly abhorred Israel so that be forsook the Tabernacle of Shiloh the Tent which he placed amongst men and delivered his strength into Captivity that is the Ark and his Glory into the enemies hands He gave his people over also unto the sword and was wroth with his inheritance c. they were still his people though given over to the sword and his inheritance though he was wroth with them There is somthing worse than all this yet implied as possible namely an utter rejection disowning if men be not careful to keep themselves in his love as is implied in Ezek. 33 13. When I say to a righteous man thou shalt surely live note by the way that God doth not say so to any seemingly outwardly righteous man onely that is not so indeed he promises not life to the hypocrite or meer moral man but only to those that are righteous in and through Christ if he that righteous man trust to his own righteousness to his being righteous and commit iniquity all his righteousness shall not be remembred but for his iniquity which
THE BEST EXERCISE FOR CHRISTIANS In the worst Times In order to their Security against Prophaness and Apostacy Good and useful to be consider'd and improv'd by all the Lovers of God and Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ for their direction and preservation in these times of the overspreading of Iniquity and Transgression from the too great Deluge of Errors and Impieties threatning our destruction Proposed to Consideration By J. H. an unworthy Servant of God in the Gospel of his Son Mal. 3.14 15 16 17. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and a book of remembrance was written before the Lord for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name And they shall be mine saith the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them as a man that spareth his own Son that serves him London Printed for Thomas Passenger at the sign of the Three Bibles on London-Bridge 1671. TO THE READER Christian Reader REad I pray thee also with candor and consideration this Epistle for as it informs thee something about this Treatise so it also supplies some defect in it and contains something useful to be considered The ensuing Treatise was first in its substance the matter of some of my more private Exercises some years since which being copied out upon the desire of one who I wish may be as diligent to peruse and make good use of it as I was for his helpfulness ready to copy it and afterward viewed by some of my friends met with so good respect as induced me to make it publick that others also might have benefit by it To which I was the rather willing because it proposes and excites to such exercise as is good and needful at all times for all that think of Heaven and desire the enjoyment of God and Christ and being in the way thereto would not fail thereof through the temptations befalling them in the world But especially in evil and perillous times wherein such temptations most abound What is there more behoveful for us then or can afford like safety and satisfying to us as Gods love towards us and therefore what should be so much endeavoured after by us as to obtain that and having obtained it secure it to our selves Indeed there is a general and universal love of God herein also mentioned in and through the gift of Christ the Son of God to be the Saviour of the world extended to all men wherewith God prevents all our endeavours and under which all men are during the day of his grace and patience and which men need not in a sort endeavour for it being attested in the Scripture absolutely for and towards all without proposing any condition for attaining it expressed in such sayings as these that God sent his Son the Saviour of the world Gave him to be the Propitiation for our sins That Christ came into the world to save sinners Dyed for all and is risen again Bare our sins in his own body on the tree That God hath made him Lord of all and prepared a feast in him for all people Isa 25.6 and the like These have no condition proposed for our being included in them for its never said God sent him for us or Christ dyed for us if we believe or repent nor is it said he came to save sinners if they believe and repent But without that if It is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners That he dyed for us while yet without strength ungodly and sinners not suspending it upon our believing and repenting As if in case we believe not he dyed not for us or came not to save us For though it is true that there is a salvation and that the main end of his coming that we cannot have except we repent and believe yet the end of his coming is not to be confounded with the event and effect He came to save Israel out of Egypt and to bring them into Canaan generally yet many of them perished by the way Exod. 6.8 with Numb 26.64 and were not eventually brought in thither So Christ came to call sinners not if they will repent but to repentance or that they might repent That was the end of his coming and calling not the condition of it and such an end as is oft not answered in the event witness Prov. 1.23 24. Isa 50.2 66.4 where he complains that when he called they refused and answered not Besides that there are acts of his saving in which he hath saved and doth save us before we can be capable of coming to him for salvation or of repenting and believing The very foundation of Repentance and Faith towards God lies in those principles of the Doctrine of Christ or Word of his beginning in which he is asserted to have died for all and to be risen again Which had he not first done for us so as to have ransomed us from under the first judgment and from the power and jurisdiction of Satan as he would otherwise have exercised the power of death over us had he not in that respect destroyed him and made peace for us yea and did he not save us by upholding and preserving us and prevent us with his calls and grace bringing salvation to us we could be in no capacity of repenting believing and being further saved by him In such sense he hath partly saved us by his death before his calling us having abolished death 2 Tim. 1.9 10. and partly is saving us through his mediation during the time of his calling us yea before our obeying him yea and whether we obey his call or not Rom. 2.4 5. his long-suffering being to be accounted salvation 2 Pet. 3.15 and so he is the Saviour of all men and not onely of them that believe or upon condition of believing The feast is prepared for men in which is all fulness of Grace and Eternal life given us in Christ 1 John 5.11 whether men come to him for it and receive him and it in and with him and the invitation prevents mens coming to it and is given and is to be given whether men come or not whether they will heare or whether they will forbear It is not said nor ordered to the servants to say Go tell them if they will come I have prepared my dinner c. but absolutely Go tell them I have prepared my dinner my Oxen and fatlings are slain and all things are ready come to the Wedding This is to be and is by Wisdom and her Maidens said to the simple and persons without understanding Mat. 22.4 Prov. 9.3 4. And they who here go with an If or condition in their mouthes as to these things they do not their message rightly they keep not the wholesome form of sound words used in the Scriptures they let not men see certainly that Grace and love of God which
persons that set themselves to poyson mens meats and drinks that so while men think only to feed themselves with wholesome food they might instead of wholesome meat take down poyson then there may be greater need to admonish men to take heed what they eat or drink and for men to be cautelous what they eat or drink and from whom they receive their meat because then there is not only possibility but danger of it too it may too too easily happen else that they poyson themselves and so when of divers meats propounded to them and lying in their way divers of them are mixt with poyson The like may be said when there are crafty and naughty persons that set themselves on work to intoxicate men and make them drunk at unawares and then to lead them amongst Rocks and Precipices whence they may break their necks Now if it appears that there is danger of mens loosing or turning out from the love of God unless they be careful to keep themselves in it then it appears more dearly yet to be a principal business or work that men that are therein should bend themselves to to keep themselves therein otherwise not they need not set themselves to keep themselves from those things which are barely possible and of which though they be careless there is no great danger that they should befall them or come to pass I say though they be careless for indeed there is no danger of any Believers loosing or falling from the love of God if he be diligent and careful to take heed to the means and way of safety provided of God for his preservation therein The danger asserted is only in case of carelesness or presumption and so there is danger 1. In respect of the many enemies that lye in wait to subvert and withdraw us from Christ As First Satan who indeavours it what he can and Goes about as a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour And although he be a conquered enemy and Christ that is with the Believer is stronger to preserve the Believer from his wiles and assaults than he is to assault and hurt and Christ also is as well faithful as able yet his faithfulness is ingaged for the helpfulness of the Believer and for overcoming for him in the diligent use of the means the Believers putting on and exercising himself in the armour of God provided and afforded of which if he be careless and neglective and slothful in the use of means and so grow from slothfulness to deep sleep as Slothfulness doth cast into a deep sleep Prov. 19.15 then is not Christ in point of faithfulness ingaged to save him but as the Apostle implies in Eâ—â—s 6.13 14. 1 Pet. 5.8 9. Satan may prevail upon the unsober unwatchful sleepy and unarmed Soul to overthrow and devour it And that the Soul may very possibly be unsoâ— secure careless or presumptuous and so through slothfulness fall into a deep sleep of sencelesness either of the Grace and Goodness of God brought to it in Christ and the excellent advantages thereby afforded for its attainment of happiness or of the dangers that either others or it self is in of being led away by the deceitfulness of sin and so lye open to Satans malice and malicious enterprises the many exhortations to watchfulness and cautions against slothfulness and negligence propounded in the Scriptures to the Believers as well as the experience of the sleepy decaying tempers that have oft befallen Believers sufficiently testifie See the exhortations and warnings in these Scriptures Matth. 24.42 43 44 c. and 25.13 and 26.41 Mark 13.33 35 36.37 where it is said by our Saviour that what he there said was both to the Disciples who were generally real Believers and to all besides viz. Watch. So also in Luke 21.34 35 36. Ephes 6.11 12 13 14. 1 Cor. 16.13 1 Pet. 5.8 9. Heb. 3.12 13. and 6.12 and 12.15 16. Revel 3.2 3. and 16.15 Instances of sore decayes by heedlesness and thereby of great danger signified See in Revel 2 4â— 5. and 3.1 2 13 14 15 16. and the reason of it is partly from other enemies As 2. The flesh with its affections and lusts warring against the Soul and lusting against the â—pirit that endeavours the good of the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 Galat. 5.17 18 19. it lusts after ease and pleasures riches honours and the injoyment of this present world the love of which cannot consist with the love of the Father but will by degrees choak it and eat it out of the heart No man being able to serve two Masters but that he must either love the one and hate the other or lean to the one and forsake the other and that it is very possible and easie for a Believer to walk after and mind the flesh as well as to mind and walk after the Spirit or at least if not so easie to the conscience and renewed mind yet easie enough in respect of the natural affections and desires is sufficiently proved by every one 's own experience and by all those serious watch-words counsels and provocations to watchfulness there against it and to deny it and not walk after it Not to love the world and the things of it the many falls of the Servants of God as David Peter c. and reproofs for their walking after it seeking to make themselves friends of the world c. as partly appears in the Scriptures before quoted under the former Head and further in these Scriptures Rom. 6.11 12 13 14 15 c. and 8 12.13 14. and 13.12 13 14. Galat. 5.13 14 25 26. Ephes 4.17 18 c. 1 Cor. 5. and 6. and 10. and 11.17 18 20 21 22. James 2. and 3. and 4.4 5 6 c. Revel 2.4 5 c. to which also add 3. The World both in the seeming good and desirable injoyments of it and in the persons of it pretending piety knowledge of God and friendship to Believers persons as also the examples and customs of it and of many Professors of the Gospel in it prove oftentimes very great baits and inticements to their lusts and put vigour and force into them while wistly lookt upon and considered by them with a carnal eye as appears in Prov. 2.12 13 15 16. and 5.3 4. c. and 6.25 26. and 7.10 11 18 21 22 23 26 27. and 23.20 21 26 27 28 31 c. Luk. 8.14 and 12.15 and 21.34 2 Cor. 6.14 15 16. Jam. 4.4 5. c. and also in the threats and frowns of the great and mighty persons of it the harsh and biâ—ter afflictions and sufferings they are oft exposed to in and from it which being viewed do affright and scare from the stedfastness of the faith and of the profession of it by believers as it is intimated in Thes 3.1 2 3 4. Matth. 13.20 21. Heb. 12.2 3 4. and therefore in both these cases we are exhorted by our Saviour to pluck out the right eye where
it offendeth and cast it from us least by gazing with a carnal judgment and mind upon the things that are seen we should either for the love or fear of them neglect things unseen that are objects of our faith only as also thence David prays God to turn away his eyes from beholding vanity and quicken him in his way Psal 119.36 But again besides there are also 4. False Teachers or false Prophets that come in Sheeps-cloathing in great shews and appearances of piety and holiness and wisdom men oft-times that have the approbation and countenance of the world and are of great learning as to the Learning of the the World yea and many that seem to be skilfull in Mysteries and to have a kind of Spiritual force in their teaching so as that the sheep if not very wary and watchful may easily mistake them for true Shepheards or Teachers of the Truth Yea and these so earnest fervent industrious oftentimes that they will deceive if possible the Elect Matth. 7.15 16. and 24.24 25. where note that those words if possible for the words it were are nâ— in the Greek Text do not imploy an absolute iâ—possibility of their being deceived but a greater difficulty and therefore greater diligence used by the Deceivers to deceive them if possible even as the same words if possible used in Act. 20.16 and Rom. 12.16 where it is said that the Apostle Paul hastned if it were possible for him to be at Jerusalem by the Feast of Pentecost and exhorts us if it be possible so much as in us lies to have peace with all men do not argue an utter impossibility of either of those things but only some difficulty there may be or were therein and therefore greater earnestness used or required such is the intimation of the phrase in that of Matth. 24. Indeed this may be implied that they the Deceivers are so specious in their pretences and so diligent and earnest in their endeavours that it was onely because it was not possible for them to do it that any of the Elect are not deceived by them even such as are not deceived by them would have been deceived by them also had it been possible for them to have been deceived and so it may signifie an impossibilty of somes being deceived as indeed it is not possible for Sathan or any of his instruments to deceive those that are not only called and chosen but also faithful as in Rev. 17.14 those do overcom all their enemies through the power of Christ with them and cannot be overcome possibly by them that is such as faithfully cleave to Christ and use the means and walk in the wayes he hath appointed them to go in and promised his presence and helpfulness to them in no possibility much less danger where there is not a remiss negligence or carelesness 〈◊〉 presumption in departing from him or not â—ng the weapons and ways of safety appointed to them But otherwise they may possibly and there is danger too especially if after often warnings to awaken up to more faithfulness and watchfulness yet men be slack therein Now these false Teachers are manifold nor may I speak of them in this place For many deny or corrupt the Fundamental Truths of the Gospel or some one or more of them as in denying the person of the Son of God his Deity or humanity or the preciousness and vertuousness of his death and sufferings to make atonement for our sins or the extent of that atonement or the Resurrection from the dead and the last Judgment or the personal and glorious appearance of Christ thereunto Or else corrupt the Doctrine of Justification and so the compleatness of the faith of Christ alone for justifying us in the sight of God yea or for making us wise to salvation or for sanctification or the like Nay I conceive those are not the least dangerous false Teachers that teach men to believe that every man ought to judge himself Elect and then that none of the Elect or real hearty believers that are once such can possibly fall finally and totally away by any sinning from the Grace and favour of God for this directly tendeth to open a gap for their boldly closing with and following after that temptation of Sathan If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down from the pinnacle of the Temple for it is written He shall give his Angels charge over thee and they shall bear thee up in their hands that thou dash not thy foot against a stone that is however thou mayst precipitate thy self into any sin or danger of sinning or neglect the means of preservation yet thou canst not being a Son of God possibly hurt thy self thereby at least not to destruction And indeed he that well minds the Scriptures of the Prophets and Evangelists may see that those were of the most dangerous sort of false Prophets amongst the people of Israel and that one of their most dangerous errours and false Prophecyings whereby the people were born in hand and perswaded that because they were the Children of the Patriarks the Children of Abraham the Elect chosen and beloved Nation therefore they should have peace and no disinheriting or destruction could befal them yea though they walked after their own imaginations or served Baalim their apprehension and perswasion of their being in such a sure safe infallible state of Covenant Grace or favour with God as that by no means they could be rejected or cast away occasioned the fall rejection and destruction of multitudes of them See Deut. 29.18 19 20. Jer. 7.4 5 6. Mic. 10 11 12. and thence it is that the Apostle warning us Gentiles by their fall tells us that our standing is by faith and wishes us not to be high minded as if because made of the choice people of God grafted in upon and the Root of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the Covenant made with them through the faith of Christ therefore we could not fall nor might God harden and reject us but fear and take heed to continue in his goodness or else we however grafted into the stock of Israel by Christ shall be cut off by him who hardens whom he will Now that which makes these false Teachers as all or most of the rest of them so dangerous to the flock of God is their great pretences to appearances of piety holines orthodoxy or righteous judgment or rather their boasts thereof even as those false Prophets who u'sd to cry peace peace to the Jews notwithstanding their great wickednes stil'd themselves the Prophets of the Lord reproached and persecuted those who were such indeed because they prophesied otherwise than themselves dealing faithfully with the people to warn them of sinning against God and shew them the danger thereof as mad-men and Deceivers as may be seen in Jer. 18.18 Come say the false Prophets let us devise devises against Jeremiah for the Law shall not perish from the Priest nor
despite to the Spirit of Grace And that in Heb. 12.15 16 17 18. Look diligently least any man fail of the Grace of God least any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled Least there be any fornicator or prophane person as Esau who for one morsel of bread sold his birth-right for ye know how that afterward when he would have inherited the Blessing he was rejected for he found no place for repentance though he sought it carefully with tears For ye are not come to Mount Sinai but to Mount Sion the City of the living God c. Where the graciousness of the Gospel dispensation now is made an Argument for expecting the greater terror against any of us if we fail of Gods Grace or withdraw from it So also Hebr. 2.1 2 3. whence also that warning Chap. 3.12 13. Take heed least there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing or standing off from the living God but exhort one another and that from the consideration of Gods dealing with Israel of old Which Instance of their revolting from God losing his Grace and favour and incurring his displeasure and wrath is often mentioned in the Scripture by way of admonition to Believers now as is to be seen in Heb. 3.7 8 9 10 c. and 4.1 11. 1 Cor. 10.1 2 3 4 5 11. Jude 5. and indeed it is very pregnant for they were a people highly favoured above all the people on the earth saved out of Egypt by a wonderful salvation led through the Sea and preserved safely therein and provided for abundantly of all necessaries for their travel to Canaan and preservation therein in a most eminent and miraculous way and manner no people more favoured than they and yet with many of them God was so displeased yea with Moses Aaron and many famous men of that Congregation as that after all his goodness towards them he suffered them not to enter into the Land of Canaan and destroyed many of them in the Wilderness few of them entred the Rest that he had promised to the Fathers which was a type of Heaven or of the heavenly Inheritance and Kingdom of our Lord Jesus And indeed that consideration that of six hundred thousand men that came out of the Land of Egypt but two of them all that were men of twenty years age or upward at their coming out of Egypt entred into the Land of promise their after sinnings in the wilderness hardning their hearts in unbelief against God and rebelling against him deprived all the rest this confidetion alone I say of so many people so highly favoured of God going out from it and by their sins loosing it and so few retaining it and enduring to the inheritance may represent it were there nothing else in the Scriptures to ruine it as a matter of great danger namely that there is danger great danger of loosing Gods favour if men be not careful to take heed to God's Counsels and directions for retaining in and as there is great danger of it so 2. Great danger in it nay indeed nothing but danger evil and misery in loosing and not keeping our selves through Grace in God's love and favour for as in his favour is life so in his anger and displeasure especially when provoked so highly as to disown us there is nothing else but misery and death a giving up to wrath and judgment or a making way for his wrath and judgment to fall upon us For if the wrath of a King be as the roaring of a Lyon or as the messengers of death how much more the wrath yea the hatred of God as he is said to hate all the workers of iniquity as they must needs be that depart away from him after they have known him or rather have been known by him as the Apostle saith All they that are far from him saith David Psal 73.27 shall perish even all that abide in their alienation and estrangement from him and never heartily close with and obey him Thou hast destroyed he adds all them that go a whoring from thee they that never come at him must necessarily perish because there is life and salvation onely in him and in the knowledge and injoyment of him without which injoyment and far off from it they must needs be that are fâ—r from him but as for them that go a whoring from him they are also to be destroyed by him they not only deprive themselves of that safety that 's onely in him as the others do but also do more directly and severely ingage him and his wrath against them as doing him more disservice and dishonour than those that never knew him nor had any acquaintance wiâ—h him even as a wife that plays the whore from a loving husband doth not onely deprive her self of the maintenance and comfort she might have from and in him as they do or did that would not accept him for her husband but as she doth more disgrace wrong then husband than they so she provokes such wrath from her husband against her and such punishments in his wrath as he will not exercise towards and execute upon others They that have known the way of truth and escaped the pollutions in the World thereby and are afterward intangled and overcome again and turn from the holy Commandment are in a worse case than they that never knew or believed the truth as 2 Pet. 2.20 21. in this case there is an How can we escape and of how much sorer punishment shall he be counted worthy c. as we have seen Heb. 2.3 and 10.29 so that the danger here is very great 1. Danger of being left and given up of God to walk after out own counsels lusts and pleasures as Israel were Psal 81.11 12. and the Gentiles Rom. 1.21 22 24 28. to a reprobate and stupid mind void of judgment sense or conscience to serve vile affections and do things most evil and inconvenient adding iniquity to iniquity so as not to enter into Gods righteousness Psal 69.27 2. Danger also of having stumbling blocks laid before them to occasion their falling and being thereby broken so as to perish as Jer. 6.21 to have some such providences ordered of God as will either suit the corrupt desires of wandring rebellious sinners and afford maintenance and incouragement to them in their sinful courses as the prosperity of fools destroys them Prov. 1.32 or else occasion offence and stumbling at God his words people ways so as to turn wholly from those in John 6.66 that took offence at Christs Doctrine and turned so away as to walk no more with him and as Christ himself were in his meanness reproaches and sufferings to the rebellious Jews 1 Cor. 1.22 23. Rom. â— 33. 3. Danger of being given â—â— to Sathan and to strong delusions hardning and intoxicating them in their sins and entring in upon Soul or body or both to hurry them to destruction as befel
injoyable by us and as that which is the fountain well-spring of all blessing and happiness But here let us view 1. What is meant by this Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ 2. What that phrase or term of Mercy to be waited for signifies and hints to us 1. To the first Mercy is either an affect in the heart or An effect in its work to take in both of them Mercy is properly an affection or frame of heart in which it pities and compassionates anothers misery and affliction leading to spare one where there is power to harm him and to succour him in necessities and indigencies where there is power to help him And this is attributed to God and Christ that he is merciful and full of compassion ready to forgive offences and relieve in wants and miseries and do what is good for the Creatures deliverance from evils and conferring safety and happiness as may be abundantly seen in the Scriptures Psal 103.8 The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy Yea this his Name The Lord Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands c. Exod. 34.6 7. And so it is said of Christ that he is a merciful and faithful High-Priest in Hebr. 2.16 17. And indeed God and Christ have abundantly manifested their merciful heart toward poor sinful afflicted Creatures many ways As 1. God hath manifested himself merciful 1. In taking pity on mankinde when fallen from him into a state of exceeding great sin and misery in that he did not then cast him off and destroy him but on the contrary devised a way and means for his redemption and recovery yea such a way of recovery as the translating our sin and misery upon his own onely begotten Son appointing in due time sending him forth into the world to be the propitiation for our sins bearing them on his own body on the tree that through his stripes we might be healed both abasing him thereto and exalting him to the height of Glory and Majesty therethrough at his own right hand that he might by the vertues of the former and in the exercise of the latter upon that account bring us back again to God Herein he hath shewed himself loving and merciful to us beyond all question or expression as it is said Through the tender mercy of our God the day spring Christ the bright and the Morning-Star from on high hath visited us c. Luke 1.78 2. God hath also manifested himself merciful to us in freely justifying us mankinde by his Grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ not imputing to the world their trespasses but preaching peace to us by him and through his blood and opening his Kingdom for us and to us with gracious calls and counsels and invitations to enter thereinto and be made partakers of the blessed priviledges thereof unto everlasting life and in freely admitting and accepting all that obey his calls and counsels therein however otherwise and formerly sinful and unworthy as may be seen in Mary Magdalene the Publicans harlots and prodigals whom upon their coming to him he hath freely pardoned and accepted and made partakers of his righteousness and blessing as if they never had been so vile and wretched Rom. 3.23 24. 2 Cor. 5.19 20 21. Eph. 2.15 17. Mat. 22.4 8 9. and 9.12 13 Luk. 7.37 47. 15.1 2 15 16 c. 1 Cor. 6 9 10 11. 3. God hath shewed himself merciful to us Gentiles and Heathens in calling us so wonderfully to the knowledg of his Son and of his Grace in him when as formerly we were so gross and grievous sinners against all former dispensations of his goodness and manifestations of himself in his works and providences It was his great mercy through the blood of his Son to make peace and atonement for us blotting out all former trespasses admitting us to fellowship with the Saints and so with himself through Christ Jesus as Ephes 2.4 5 11 12 17 19 20. as it is said that the Gentiles might glorifie God for his Mercy Rom. 15 9. and who had not in times past obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy 1 Pet. 2.10 whence I beseech you by the Mercies of God offer up your body a living Sacrifice c. Rom. 12.1 and the like he will shew forth to the Jews in calling them again and receiving them to favour after all their unbelief and stubbornesses against him as it is said He hath shut them all up in unbelief that he might have mercy upon them all Rom. 11.32 4. God hath doth dayly shew himself merciful unto men in passing by iniquities and extending helpfulness to them in their afflictions which they procure to themselves by their great follies and rebellions as is also frequently testified in the Scriptures as in Psal 78.38 when Israel oft and much â—â—oked him in the wilderness so as he therefore 〈◊〉 them sometimes with his Judgments yet 〈◊〉 â—eing full of compassion forgave their iniquity 〈◊〉 â—estroyed them not yea many a time he turned his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath So in Neh. 9.16 17 18 19. 5. So also in his patience towards sinners not willing they should perish but rather come to repentance and be saved 2 Pet. 3.9.15 Rom 2.4.5 1 Tim. 2.5 and to say no more 6. His readiness to hear the cries and prayers of the poor and afflicted and not to despise their prayers but to hear and help them as in Psal 22.24 yea to hear the cries of other Creatures as the young Ravens and provide food for all flesh Psal 136.25 and 147.9 much more doth he fulfil the desires of them that fear him yea he also hears their cries and saves them Psal 145.15 17 18. 2. So also Christ hath abundantly shewed forth his mercy toward us 1. In that being in the form of God not thinking it robbery to be equal with God yet for our sakes at the will and appointment of the Father he abased himself laid aside his Glory humbled himself to the Death the Death of the Cross and therein bare our sins in his own body on the tree and was made a curse for us to redeem us from sin and curse that so he might in the vertues of his sufferings and Sacrifice bring us back again to God Ye know saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 8.9 the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that he being rich became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich He is merciful full of compassion and gracious Psal 145.8 2. In pitying poor miserable men in his personal converse with them and ministration to them while on the earth Going about and doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil curing their sicknesses and Diseases instructing their Souls in pity to them where ignorant and out of the way Mark 8.2 Act. 10.38 As also 3. In preaching peace by his