preach Morality and meerly the way of duty and never come to make them see clearly the difference between the Covenant of grace and the Covenant of works and I appeal unto you who are they that most quiet and settle your Consciences and satisfie your spirits Are they not those Preachers that open the difference between the Covenant of grace and the Covenant of works Certainly those Preachers that shew you what the Covenant of grace is are the only men that quiet and satisfie Conscience and 't is a truth that nothing can do it but that You that are Christians how should you then labour to get a further insight into the Covenant of grace and instead of other Discourses less useful let this be the subject of your discourse the difference of the Covenant of works and the Covenant of grace or the blessings of this Covenant and that this is the Covenant that we must depend upon notwithstanding our weaknesses And now I am speaking of this Covenant that weakness may stand with the Covenant of grace many that have carnal hearts may be ready to abuse it take notice how dear the comforts of your souls cost God and God will have his Ministers to comfort you though the revealing of such things will indanger many a mans soul God is content to hazard the damnation of other men to comfort you for certainly those things that we speak for your comfort will be the damnation of many others Think thus O Lord must the comforts of my soul cost so dear and that for my comfort many souls are hazarded who by taking occasion to sin abuse that grace that is reached forth to me and so are like eternally to perish O then what need had I to make good use of this grace that comes to me with the hazard of the souls of so many others If a man should bring some precious Balsom to apply to a wound and tell him there is not one drop of it but cost a thousand pound at least would not this be highly prized Now when we come and shew you any thing that may comfort your hearts and satisfie your souls we must reveal such things that not only cost much but the least dram of Gospel-comforts cost that which was of infinite worth and 't is valuable two ways first every drop of the Balsom of the Gospel cost the blood of Christ but besides this the very revealing of it must cost the damnation of many souls and yet God is content to venture that that you may be comforted We in the Name of God come and preach the grace of the Gospel and we think many will be hardned by it and grow more secure and abuse Gods mercy but then we satisfie our selves with this that the comforting of any broken troubled soul is so precious in the eyes of Jesus Christ that he is content to venture the hardning of many other souls if they will be hardned let them be hardned Christ is content to venture it and hereby we see how precious these comforts are therefore you had need to prize them and not cast them off as suppose a Captain for the saving of the lives of two or three men should venture the lives of a thousand men meerly to save the lives of two or three were not these mens lives very precious to him so Jesus Christ he ventures the hardning of the hearts of many for the comforting of a few therefore it shews your comforts are precious things you should not easily put them off for they cost dear The seventh Rule in applying Evidences is this That when you cannot see the work of faith reaching to Assurance yet labour to put forth the work of faith of Adherence there may be much of the workings of the faith of adherence where there cannot be the faith of assurance that is certain there may be true faith adhereing to Christ for the pardon of sin where the soul hath no certain assurance of it Many poor creatures are crying out and saying if I had faith of assurance and a full perswasion my sins were pardoned I could be comforted but because they have not attained to a full perswasion and assurance they think they have no grace at all but there may be faith in the pardon of sin where there is not a reflect act of the soul whereby I come to know it hath faith and that its sins are pardoned 1. Joh. Chap. 2.3 he shews there that there may be knowledge and yet not know they do know Hereby we know that we do know him if we keep his Commandements hereby we know that we do know him now knowing of Christ and knowing that we do know him is not all one there is a knowing and a knowing that we do know him so there is a beleiving and a knowing we do beleive there may be a true work of grace that I may know Christ and know him to salvation and yet not know that I do know him that is by a reflect act of faith a knowing that I do know him so then where there is not a faith of assurance there may be a faith of adherence that is when the soul sticks to Christ and can giue it self unto and venture it self upon Christ for pardon of sin life and Salvation that is faith of adherence suppose in seeking my Evidences many of them being taken from the effects and friuts of faith I cannot find them and so cannot put forth a reflect act of the soul which is faith of assurance yet I may at that time have a faith of adherence thou may'st feel thy heart stick to Christ and thou may'st venture thy soul on Christ that faith will save thee though you have not a faith of assurance that is though you cannot find such Evidences whereby you may draw up such a conclusion or make up such a judgment that you are pardoned yet if you have a faith of adherence that you can stick to Ghrist and venture your soules on him for life and Salvation and all that is good that faith will save you and therefore upon examination of your Evidences when you cannot get up to such acts of faith as assurance is live then by a faith of adherence stick to Christ say here I will resolve to live and dye venture on the grace of God in Christ Now for the soul to do this it is a mighty work of faith for if you can venture your souls on Christ you will venture your Estates on Christ your Names on Christ and all that you have on Christ and therefore remember if you have not a faith of assurance then venture your selves on Christ by a faith of adherence and comfort will come in that way Eightly If at any time you feel comforts from Evidences flow in upon your souls and that you are able to apply the comforts to your selves that the Lord hath spoken to you by such and such signs of a pardoned sinner take heed
me is the Lord the world translated judgment in the Greek it is mans day Man has his day here and he thinks to weary out the People of God why says Paul I pass not for mans day he that hath the supream judgment in his hands he hath acquitted me and I am well enough Of the Foundation of Eternal Life laid in Pardoning Mercy 8. Blessed is the man that hath his iniquities forgiven for this is the foundation of eternal life whoever hath this mercy hath a certain pledge put into his hands of eternal life Rom. 8.30 Whom he predestinated them he called whom he called them he justified and whom he justified them he glorified thou who art justified and hast thy sin pardoned thou shalt certainly be glorified A Prince may pardon a man but he cannot assure him of eternal life though he give him his natural life But God if he pardon he makes it known to that soul that he shall live eternally with him in glory Oh blessed is he then that hath his iniquities forgiven for this is a pledge unto him of eternal life Of Pardon of Sin being the bottom of all true Comfort 9. Blessed is he that hath his sin pardoned for pardon of sin is the very bottom of all true comfort Be of good comfort your sins are forgiven if Christ speak but this word to a soul though he be never so much dejected it is enough to raise any drooping soul from the gates of Hell it self Be of good comfort oh soul thy sins are forgiven thee Isai 40.2 Speak you comfortable to her for her iniquities are pardoned God calls to comfort her when her iniquities are pardoned this is the foundation of all true comfort if you lay any other foundation to build your comforts on certainly that building will totter and come to nothing if this be not the foundation You would fain have comfort and you are every one looking out for comfort and indeed it is as natural for the soul of man to seek for comfort as it is for the fire to burn there 's no man but would fain have comfort now look to the foundation if you would not have the building totter lay a good foundation Many lay the foundation of their comforts in their sins and others in the creatures but thou must lay it in the pardon of thy sin in the free grace of God justifying thy soul and that building will hold lay it there and thou shalt be comforted here and for ever hereafter And thus we have done with that Particular That Pardon of Sin is a great mercy because it is a foundation and inlet to many other mercies Blessed is the man that hath his iniquities forgiven that hath such a grand mercy upon which many other mercies follow CHAP. V. Of Pardoning Mercy passing through a great many difficulties BLessed is the man that hath his sins forgiven for indeed it is a mercy that passes through many difficulties before it comes to the soul and that that passeth through many difficulties is strong and great indeed and therefore makes the man blessed because it is grace that doth pass through many difficulties it is an argument of a great deal of strength of grace when grace shall pass through many difficulties as it is an argument of the great strength of sin when sin passes through many difficulties to bring forth a soul being set upon sin there lies a great many difficulties in the way yet lust to that sin being strong it will break through all difficulties to get to it so in mercy when God comes with mercy to forgive a soul this mercy of God must go through abundance of difficulties before it gets to you which argues it to be wonderful strong mercy and therefore makes him blessed that partakes of it When God made the World it was done with a word speaking God said Let there be light and there was light But when God comes to pardon a sinner Heaven and Earth must be moved there must be a greater work of God in pardoning of a sinner than in making of the world certainly the work is greater and passes through more difficulties As First All the wrongs that ever thâ—u hast done to God stand betwixt thee and pardon never did any man in the world wrong another man as thou hast wronged God How sin wrongs God has in part been held forth to you in the evil of sin and how contrary sin is to the infinite holiness of God yet mercy breaks through that yea above all that great and difficult work of the satisfying the infinite justice of God yet mercy breaks through that and there stands in that 1. This difficulty that before thou canst be pardoned God must be made Man and yet must remain the same God he was before thou cryest for pardon of sin or thou art undone suppose now that Gods bowels of mercy did even yearn towards thee for to pardon thy sin yet before this is done there must be this great work done that God must be made man and yet remain the same God he was before here 's a mighty difficult work a greater work than making of the world and yet mercy breaks through this 2. Here 's this stands between sin and pardon That when God is made Man he must die and be made a curse and not only so but God the Father must do it he must take his own Son and stab him for thee he must himself take him and put him to death and himself must pour out his wrath upon his own Son before thy sins can be pardoned Now that God the Father should take his own Son the Son of his delight stab him to the heart and himself put him to death this is a mighty great work and yet this must be done before thou can'st be pardoned 2. There 's this difficulty stands in the way That before sin can be pardoned the blind dead wicked carnal sottish heart of Man must be raised up to perform the most glorious Act that ever any creature did which is an Act of believing yet says God that thy sin may be pardoned I will put forth my infinite power to effect it to raise that blind dead sottish carnal wicked heart of man so full of all wickedness to perform the greatest work that ever any creature did for so is believing Gods mighty power is put forth to effect this Now there is all these difficulties lying in the way and yet mercy passes through them all to pardon sin surely then that soul must needs be blessed that hath his sin pardoned that God sets his heart upon him so much that rather than he will not shew mercy unto him he will pass through all these great difficulties that lie in the way and truly on consideration of this before I pass any further there are three Meditations that may be collected hence and may come with a great deal of power upon all our souls First Then it
might have been sorrowful and I might have reformed and said God is merciful though Christ had never come those that never knew Christ nor heard of him yet they may be sorrowful reforme and say God is mercifull I beseech you consider this note I can never be pardoned and saved in such a way as it might be done though Christ had never come I can then never be pardoned and saved by all the means I take for pardon and Salvation if those things might be done though Christ had never come and if you have nothing else but them to rest upon then you can never be saved put this to your hearts what have I wrought in my heart that I might not have had if Christ had not come into the world certainly the most things that most people have to rest upon for pardon and salvation they might have had though Christ had never come into the world Further Thou saist God is merciful True the mercy of God is sweet and a blessed argument and our souls much delight to open the grace and mercy of God and I have endeavoured to open to you what is revealed in the Gospel yet Gods mercy is free though he delight to glorifie his mercy and he hath thousand thousands of Subjects to glorify his mercy in though thou perish eternally Though thou perish eternally yet God may be glorious in the blessedness of his mercy God hath others to magnifie his mercy unto besides thee a beggar comes and asks an almes of a man and he gives him none that is not an argument the man is not merciful for he hath other objects that are more suitable and fit though he give not to every one t is no dishonour to his compassion so it is with God he hath thousands of objects to bestow his mercy on though thou perish Further Thou saist God is merciful and thererefore thou hop'st for pardon Why God is and hath been merciful to thee beyond all that thou canst conceive God hath shew'd his mercy to thee already thou saist God is merciful true or else thou hadst not been alive at this present that thou shouldst hear and see and have all thy members whole and the use of all thy sences and that thou shouldst stand here this day under the meanes of grace and that thou shouldst hear God call on thee to repent and believe in his Son while thou walk'st on in thy sin and art dead in sins and trespasses he sends his son and spirit to thee to tell thee that he would rescue thee and give life unto thee again is not here rich mercy perhaps thou hast had thy portion of mercy already that God intends for thee yea so much mercy that all the Angels and saints will give acclamations to God for that mercy thou hast had though thou perish God hath many waies shewd mercy to thee in so much as that the very devils themselves will acknowledge that God was very good to his poor creatures Further Thou speakest of mercy hast not thou abused and turn'd mercy into wantonness perhaps the mercy thou speakst of now is at this very present pleading to God against thee saying how have I been abused by this wretched man the more my beauty excellency hath been displayed the more wicked he hath grown what if mercy be now pleading against thee even those mercies that thou hast abused and therefore thou hadst need to look for somewhat else to settle thy soul upon then this to say that God is merciful this is to the first sort those that are grosly Ignorant Secondly There are others that mourne pray and reform and then have some kinde of relyance on God to pardon them for his mercies sake and therefore to them I shall say thus much Know the mercy of God must be received after Gods own way he hath appointed the communications of it and so it must be received otherwise it can never attain to such an effect as the pardon of thy sin note this that all the mercy in God considered as he is creator of Heaven and Earth and not let out through the Mediator Christ Jesus God-man it never wrought to the pardon of any one sin and therefore if you looke upon the mercy of God and do not look to the right way of the conveyance of it you may most dangerously mistake The ground and bottom of faith that justifies is not meerly to cast ones self on the mercy of God for there is none but in a natural way know that God is a merciful God but the main ground of Justification or of justifying faith is the free grace of God through Jesus Christ That God is merciful through a Mediator Otherwise the ground of your faith is but on a meer confused notion of the mercy of God which will certainly faile you a heathen may have as much to be the ground of his faith that the great creator of Heaven and Earth pitties those that are in misery and I am a poor creature in misery I le cry to him and I le reform my life and I le relye on him thus far a heathen may go but the ground and bottom of faith is not the mercy of God in general but the mercy of God in and through a Mediator observe a little further the ground of justifying faith is not thus that God for Christs sake will forgive me for what Christ hath done to purchase my pardon but there is another work of faith in the souls of believers though the soul apprehend it not t is not the work of faith in justification to believe that Christ hath paid so much as my debt comes to but thus the work of faith is to bring the soul unto Christ and to pitch it upon the person of Christ to be made mine first and then the righteousness of Christ to be mine T is not thus I believe this is my debt and there is so much money to pay it but this is the work of faith to bring thee to be marryed to such a person and so the debt is transacted on him to whom thou art marryed and he will discharge the debt because thou art marryed to him so that the ground of faith is not to look unto God meerly through his son that so I may have pardon but thus I must come to have Christ to be mine I must be marryed with Christ and so through my union with the person of Christ I come to have all that Christ hath done and suffered to be made over to me and therefore when I come to look upon the riches of the grace of God in the mediation of his son I must come with an eye of faith to be marryed unto Christ and Christ with me the riches of Gods grace in Christ was opened before we now make use of it as a trial to shew the danger of false grounds in relying upon God for pardon Further Though it be through the mercy of God to
pardon sin yet it does not work thus viz. You have sinned and my law requires such and such obedience to be performed on such tearms or else you must perish but I through my mercy will remit something of the rigour and strictness of the Law And most people confess that by the strictness of the Law they are condemn'd but they hope the mercy of God will grant some remission of the Law as it is with men if all Penal statutes should be executed it would be very hard but there is a Chancery to abate something of the rigour and strictness of penal statutes and thus men think to come to have pardon and deal with God after the manner of men you think the crying to God for mercy wil abate something of the strictness and severity of the Law but you mistake in taking this way to get peace and reconciliation with God to look upon Gods mercy to lye in this to remit something of the strictness and severity of the Law No but the work of Gods mercy lyes in this to finde out a surety for you and to transact the debt upon him Further Consider the work of Gods mercy in justification of a sinner when faith layes hold upon it faith must not lay hold upon it as a meer single Act but look at all the concomitants of the work of Gods grace in making way for the justification of a sinner The mercy of God workes many waies and faith must exercise it self on Gods grace according to the multiplicity of the work of it in bringing about the justification of a sinner as thus you have sinned and you cry to God for pardon but the mercy of God does not work thus to pardon you as t is a single act but the mercy of God works thus to mankind First he is pleased to enter into a second covenant with mankind after he had broken the first A second work of Gods mercy is to set his wisdom on work to finde out a way how mankind should be reconciled unto him and his sin pardoned and yet that God should be no looser this was the work of his infinite wisdom And Thirdly when this is found out this can be done no other way but only through the Son of God taking mans nature upon him and suffer for him then here 's the mercy of God to be willing to send his Son to mediate for poor creatures and then a further mercy in giving thy soul to his Son he sent not his Son that all might be pardoned but a certain number that God the Father had given to his Son from all eternity now there 's a great work of Gods mercy in passing by others and giving thee to his Son And further It is a work of Gods mercy in the powerful Ministry of the Gospel to reveal this And then further It is a work of Gods mercy to draw thee to close with his Son and thereby to unite and marry thee to his Son And then further It is a work of Gods mercy to assure thee of the pardon and justification of thy soul 't is a great deal more for faith to look upon God in this manner than to come in such a way as this God is merciful and I trust in his grace that he will pardon me we mistake mightily about the mercy of God when we do not look upon it in an Evangelical way as it is revealed in the Gospel Further know thus much that if Gods mercy will work so far for thee as to pardon thy sin and save thy soul certainly it will work so far as to take away the power of sin and let thee not live in the filth of thy sin Many think Gods mercy will do great matters hereafter but nothing now in comparison of what he will do hereafter they think he will give them outward blessings now but keep spiritual things till hereafter Certainly this is an infallible truth If Gods mercy work not so powerfully here in this world as to bestow spiritual good things on thee thou may'st be assured that it will never work so powerful on thee as to save thy Soul in the World to come Can it be thought a Prince pardons a Malefactor that he shall not be hang'd and yet suffer him to lie in Prison and rot in the Dungeon this were but a poor pardon a half pardon to be delivered from the Gallows and rot in the Prison Certainly whatever a Prince may do God never pardons a sinner so to shew him mercy to save him from Hell and yet to lie rotting all his life long in sin no God when he pardons he delivers and shakes off the fetters as we shall see further therefore thou that say'st thou hopest in Gods mercy that he will pardon thee let me ask What hath he done for thee if thou thinkest that Gods mercy will work so strongly hereafter to save thy soul certainly it will be as strong for thee here to sanctifie thee if it work not so strong on thee now as to sanctifie thee certainly it will never work so strongly for thee hereafter as to save thee 4. Others say in the last place we are not only sorry for sin and reform and trust in Gods mercy but we relie upon Gods mercy through Christ and therefore we hope we shall be pardoned this I might speak much too we must rest there but there is a mistake there too the relying on Christ is not relying on him by acting of some transient thoughts that passes over but it is an abiding thing when men hear there is no way to be saved but by Christ and they cannot deny it and because they are loath to think they are such as cannot be saved they are loath to have such ill thoughts of themselves hearing this is the way and no other therefore they will perswade themselves that they shall find mercy through Christ Now what great work is this so to rely on Christ the work of faith is a mighty work it is not a short transient work a few thoughts upon thy heart to be saved by Christ No wheresoever faith is right and a true reliance on Christ it is a mighty work of the Spirit of God working this grace in raising the soul higher than it self and carries it through and above all difficulties when it brings the soul to relie upon God there may be great mistakes when People say they rely upon Christ and therefore take this for conviction Relying on Christ is not barely to think my sins are pardoned by Christ but it is a receiving of Christ a possessing of Christ a coming into Christ a living in Christ and a bringing Christ to live in me 't is eating of the flesh of Christ and drinking of his blood and so finds nourishment and strength from him as really as the body by the meat and drink it takes that abides with it is strengthned by it so does faith to the soul therefore faith is
servant hears Now for a soul to be so under God as to wait upon the call of God to any duty service and imployment that it dares not go about any thing but according to the call of God this is a good Evidence that such a soul hath been acquainted with that great call of God that powerful call of God to bring him off from the ways of sin into the ways of life and salvation Further those that have been acquainted with this call of God there is an answerable frame and disposition in their hearts to call upon the Name of God for assistance direction and a blessing on all they undertake they delight now to repair unto God and call upon him as God calls unto them so they call unto him for that is the way of God according to his work in the soul he puts a gracious frame into the soul answerable to it As in Election those whom he elects when God calls them home he puts a gracious disposition in their hearts for to elect him as God chooses the soul from the world so the soul chooses God above all things in the world the soul answers to God God sets his heart on the soul and says I will choose thee for me the soul again sets its heart upon God and says I will choose thee for my God as God calls the soul to come and live to him in the ways of grace while he lives in this world so the soul calls on God for his assistance that he would give his help in unto him on all occasions and therefore the Scripture gives us this expression for the whole worship of God Rom. 10.13 Whosoever calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved that soul that is acquainted with Gods call that soul calls on God again And by the way those that are thus called are fittest for Church-Communion I mention this because the word translated Church comes from a Greek word that signifies to call out that which in Scripture is usually called a Church signifies nothing else but this a Company of People called out of the ways of sin to the imbracing the ways of Godliness so that the Church should consist of People called out of the ways of sin by the powerful and efficacious voyce of the Spirit of God and they that are thus called have their sins pardoned you say you hope God hath justified you you read what God says and what hath been presented unto you they who are called they are justified then Calling in order of nature goes before Justification this you will find in your own hearts and if not this you must do when ever you come before God to hear the outward call you must come with a waiting frame of heart to hear the inward call and call upon God with such a disposition say Lord I have been taught that there is an outward call of thine in the Word and an inward call and I am going this day to hear thy Word calling me out of the ways of sin O that I might have together with that the inward call of thy Spirit when shall I hear that secret voyce this is the reason though I have been convinced many times at the hearing of the Word yet my sin hath prevail'd against me because that inward secret powerful voyce hath not come to my soul that is the first Evidence whom he hath justified them he hath called A Second Evidence is this Whomsoever God pardons he receives into Covenant with himself all pardoned sinners are Covenanters with God God pardons no soul but such an one as he brings into the Bond of the Covenant with himself that is the way of the conveyance of the grace of God for the pardon of sin to bring the soul into the Bonds of the Covenant the Scripture is evident in this that forgiveness of sin is made a special fruit of the New Covenant that is clear enough Jer. 31.33 Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel c. what is the special end of that Covenant I will forgive their Iniquities and remember their sins no more But how does that come in it comes in by way of Covenant I will make a New Covenant I will first receive them into Covenant and then they shall have the fruit of this New Covenant that their sins shall be forgiven and their iniquities remembred no more The New Covenant is a mysterie to most people and yet it is a certain truth the pardon of thy sin and thy eternal good depends upon it thou art one that God has brought into Covenant with himself if thou beest or ever shalt be pardoned as God will manifest to thy soul that he hath through his Son tyed and bound himself to thee to be thy God that whereas before thou wer 't departed from him and an enemy to him yet now he is pleased to call thee to enter into a second Covenant after thou had'st broken the first and wer 't cast off by reason of that breach God is contented to enter into a second Covenant with thee to be thy God in and through his Son thou art to come in and joyn in this Covenant for to a full Covenant there must be assent on both sides there must be a mutual ingagement of either parties when God reveals this to thy soul that though thou be by nature an Enemy to me and hast broken the first Covenant that I made with the Children of men and art cast off yet be it known unto thee O thou wretched soul I am content to enter into another Covenant with thee there is a second Covenant for life and salvation that I have made with poor man through my Son and I require that thou should'st come in and give up thy self in an everlasting Covenant to make me to be thy God and to close with me and my Son in whatsoever I call thee to in whatsoever thou hast or can'st do to give up thy self to the power of me and my Son this thou must ingage and tye thy self unto in the strongest Bonds that can be this is the nature of the Covenant we know there were two Covenants and all the good of mankind in the first Covenant depended on this his closing with the tearms of it Now the tearms of the first Covenant was Do this and live but that is broken and we have lost our ability Now the second Covenant is Believe and live and the soul that God pardons he brings into the Bond of the second Covenant it is brought to come and give it self up to the Lord and to be content to bind it self with all bonds unto God that he and he only shall be my God as I desire him to be mine and his grace and mercy to be mine so all that I have or can do shall be his I surrender up my self and ingage my soul to be his for ever my Estate Abilities
you do not rest much upon Evidences but then at that very time think with your selves though now I have comforts I may loose them and God may call me to another condition God never granted these helps unto me for my Saviours that I should rest upon them they are but bladders to help me to swim and God may take away these and call me to live upon the meer actings of faith and not at all on sense that 's certain he may do it for when we bring these Signs and Evidences of grace as they come from faith and are effects and fruits of it they are but as bladders to help young swimmers that cannot swim without them and learn them to swim but those that have got the Art though the bladders be taken away they can swim but take them away from the others and they will sink so that these Evidences are for young and weak Christians that cannot live on primary acts of faith which a strong Christian can do when all other things are taken away and therefore when we feel the comfort of any signs depend not on this the Lord may take them away and because he delights in the meer actings of faith that is the reason why God withdraws himself from the souls of his people that they shall not have the use of Signs and Evidences as they had before because he would teach them to live on the more necessary acts of faith God loves the voice of Job though he kill me yet will I trust in him I will venture my soul upon him whatever becomes of me when there 's nothing else to rest on but God then to live by actings of faith merely on him he delights much in this and therefore take heed you do not rest so much on signs as if all your comforts were lost and you undone when you cannot have such use of them as you have had heretofore Ninthly when you have at any time lost the use of signs do not determine that all is gone and that you shall never have the use of them more this is that that mightily hinders many poor Christians that are in trouble of Conscience because they cannot find the evidence of the pardon of their sins and that God accepts of them in what they do what do they do presently they yeild to the horrible sentence of damnation against themselves Gods Spirit say they is now gone and he will return no more he will never come any more unto me take heed you do not fasten on any such kind of thoughts as those are to determine of your own estates or that Gods Spirit will not come again but do you humble your souls before the Lord and wait upon him Tenthly When at any time all Signs and Evidences fail you and you are ready to determine that all is gone yet even then keep up good thoughts of God As the Spouse in the Canticles when her Beloved was gone yet she prized him and said He is the chiefest of ten thousands in Cant. 5. when she was asked What is thy beloved says she he is thus and thus then concludes He is altogether lovely and this was at such a time as he was gone yet she retain'd good thoughts of him so 't is a good sign for any soul that when trouble of conscience is upon them or any other trouble that they retain good thoughts of God and Christ and the wayes of God when the soul says whatever become of me though I perish for ever yet God is good his Word his ways are good his Gospel and the Covenant in his Son is good and whatever troubles are upon me yet God is righteous and though God justifie not me yet I will justifie God if there be any soul that cannot find his Evidences or any of those signs before spoken of you may make use of this if you cannot find any other do what thou can'st to justifie God thou art afraid that God will not justifie thee do thou justifie him sometimes it is with many men as with some wretched servant that has dealt falsly with his Master and may be all the while he can make any advantage of his Master for his own ends he will speak well of him but if his Master turn him out of doors for his wickedness then he rails on him 't is ordinary for bad servants to do so when they are turn'd away for their wickedness and so it is with many when all goes well with them then they like well of the wayes of God but if they come to such a condition as that they think that God will cast them away indeed and that they are like to perish then they begin to have hard thoughts of God and by degrees they speak against God and his ways take heed of this although you want the Evidences of his love and mercy yet retain in your hearts good thoughts of God and of his ways and this will be a special help to bring into your souls the comfort and assurance of your Justification and now I have done with this argument I have shewed you who it is that hath his sins pardoned I have shewed the several mistakes and I have shewed you certain infallible grounds from Scripture Evidences of the pardon of sin and Rules how to make use of those Evidences and now upon what you have heard you have testimony and assurance of the pardon of your sins or you have not if you find your hearts do not answer to these Evidences or that you are afraid that your sins are not pardoned then take a use of Exhortation to put you on to seek after this blessedness CHAP. XIX Of Exhortation to seek after Pardon of Sin with Cautions and Rules how and what we are to do I Am now come to a use of Exhortation and it concerns us all either those that are not pardoned or those that have assurance of the pardon of their sins for there is none that have assurance but may make use of it Christ taught his Disciples to pray daily for the forgiveness of their trespasses as well as for their daily bread and what we are to pray for we are to seek after so that it concerns all blessedness is desirable to all it is as natural for man as a reasonable creature to desire blessedness as it is for the fire to burn only here 's the great mistake in the world all would have it but they look not for it in the right way Now after all that has been said that thou may'st not have slight thoughts of the pardon of sin and say I hope they are pardoned and the like I shall speak to awaken thee suppose thou wer 't now set on the brink of the infinite Ocean of Eternity and the bottomless Gulf were ready to devour thee and the Records of Heaven were opened and there shewed thee that thy sins were not cancelled but remain upon the file What thou would'st then do do
and he comes on purpose to enlighten you in this great point and to witness this great Truth unto you Heb. 10.15 Whereof the Holy Ghost is a witness for after that he had said before this is the Covenant that I will make c. vers 17. Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more as the Principal part of the Covenant and of this the Holy Ghost is a witness This great Truth of the forgiveness of Sins the Holy Ghost comes to bear witness of and seal this to thy Soul that thy sins are forgiven this is the great work of the Holy Ghost after believing to seal up the forgiveness of sin and this is one great reason why the Holy Ghost hath the Title of Comforter because as he comes to convince of sin so also to witness and seal up forgiveness of sin to the soul And indeed as it shews the excellency of the mercy of forgiveness because the Holy Ghost is so much in it so the greatness of it that must have so high a Person to witness it and indeed the Soul is not satisfied until it have this special witness of the Holy Ghost 't is true there may be probable arguments drawn by signs of Gods love unto us and the Holy Ghost may come in those signs but besides that there is the immediate witness of the Holy Ghost to limit him to witness by signs only is more than any man can have warrant for and this I say further that all the signs of Gods favour that we can have will not satisfie the soul until there be this special work of the Holy Ghost sealing and witnessing the favour of God unto us 1 Joh. 3. there are many signs of Gods favour in that Chapter Vers 9. He that is born of God doth not commit sin And Vers 19. Hereby we know we are of the Truth and shall assure our hearts before him and he that keepeth his Commandemenâ—s dwelleth in him and he in him that 's another sign and Vers 24 but the conclusion of all is this Hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us it is the Holy Ghost must convince satisfie the soul of Gods love many there are that would fain have their sins pardoned and would fain have some signs of it and perhaps I may hereafter give some signs But now know that all the signs in the world will not serve to quiet the heart but that it may return again to its former doubts till God come to pacifie the spirit by the witness of the Holy Ghost for it is so great a matter where once the Soul understands the infinite breach made between God and it by sin that it must needs be more than an ordinary work to assure the Soul of Gods Reconciliation to it and nothing can do it satisfactorily but the Holy Ghost he must come to the Soul to assure it of this thing perhaps the case of a poor Soul is thus Suppose a Prisoner in Goal lies bound in fetters for some great offence against his Prince and some friend comes and tells him there is hope of pardon Oh says he 't is too good news to be true well another comes to the grate of the Prison and tells that he hears from the Court the King hath sealed Pardons and put such a ones name in this is some comfort but yet this frees him not from fears and doubtings But now suppose the Favourite of the Prince come from the King himself one that is of the Kings Bed-chamber and one to whom the King opens his whole soul and nothinâ—â—he King doth but he is acquainted with it he comes to this poor man and bids him be of good comfort I come from the King and bring you a Pardon from him shews it him and says there it is take it Oh this revives his spirit when such a special Messenger is sent unto him so in this case I may compare all signs to be like some friend or other that goes by the grate and speaks of the happiness of such a man that he is pardoned but the soul is under such blindness and fears by reason of the guilt of sin that God knows it is no easie matter to perswade it of pardon But now God for the comfort of those that he intends good will unto sends his own Spirit that lies in his own bosom and knows all his secrets to declare the mind of God and to say to such a soul Peace be to thee thy sins are forgiven now this satisfies the soul But it may be here objected How may I know it is the Spirit of God that witnesses and not my own fancies or delusions of Satan I answer as we know the Sun by its own light so we may know the Spirit by its own testimony and though there be may some ebbs yet it will rise again there is such a witnessing work of the Spirit by a kind of sweet and secret intercourse between God and the Soul whereby God over-powers all doubts and fears though I do not say every one hath it in a like sensible measure yet this I say when this full assurance comes although there may be doubts and many questions before in the soul for fear of being deluded for certainly many are deceived and deluded yet then the Spirit over-powers all doubts and fears and witnesses to the Soul it s own work Do not you say because some are deluded with fancies that there is no witness of the Spirit when as there is scarce any point in the Gospel the Scripture speaks more about than this of the witness of the Spirit indeed they that judge of the mysteries of the Gospel by Humane Reason and understand no further than that reaches too and that are little acquainted with those converses that are between God and a believing Soul they may slight this witness of the Spirit but you must know there is not any Soul that has assurance he shall go to Heaven but it is wrought on by a high supernatural and mysterious way and if there were no other way to evidence this to the Soul but by some signs this would be no higher evidence than by way of reason But we are to know as great is the mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh so also great is the mystery of godliness God justified in the Spirit God justified in the Spirit is a great mystery Christs Incarnation is a great mystery so is a Believers Justification as well as Christs Incarnation so also the witness of Justification is a great mystery and therefore I beseech you look up higher than for such signs as Reason may reach unto and beg of God to reveal this unto you that thou may'st have the witness of the Spirit of God to testifie unto thee that thy sins are pardoned Now blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven seeing God the Father Son and Holy Ghost is so much in it CHAP. VIII
one thing that aggravated the sin of men above the Devils that the Devils believe and tremble and yet some men will not do so much as the Devils so now I say if there were but a possibility of pardon to the damned in Hell how would they rejoyce and shall not you rejoyce more than the damned souls in Hell would Bethink your selves if the damned souls in Hell would rejoyce if they had a message of a possibility for them to be saved me thinks you should not be quiet if you find not the same workings in your hearts as would be in theirs Shall a poor Minister be forc't to say there is less hopes to prevail with you than if he were to preach to those in Hell Shall he say there would be better Auditors in Hell than are here God forbid it should be so that there should be more stirring in Hell if they might but here of a probability of being pardoned than there is with you if your hearts are not stirr'd at the hearing of this blessed Doctrine of the Pardon of Sin that there would be better Auditors in Hell than you are whose hearts are not stirr'd in hearing the glorious mysteries of the Gospel opened how a sinner may come to get the pardon of his sins God forbid it should be so CHAP. XIII Of Pardon of Sin being the special end of all Gods Ordinances FUrther Blessed is he that hath his Iniquities forgiven because forgiveness of sin it is the special end of all the Ordinances of God the Ordinances of God that he has appointed and set up in his Church attain their end in this blessed effect in the forgiveness of sin and it is an argument their is much blessedness in pardon of sin because those precious Ordinances of Christ attain their special ends in it there are three great Ordinances I shall instance in the Word Sacraments and Discipline and the people of God should count themselves in a happy condition when they see those blessed ends wrought on them which God hath appointed those Ordinances to effect 1. For hearing 't is a great Ordinance that Christ hath appointed When he ascended on high he gave gifts unto men upon Christs Triumphal Ascension to God the Father he gave this great gift unto his Church that his Church should have Pastors and Teachers which by the way argues the horrible wickedness of those that slight Pastors and Teachers of his Church because it is part of the glorious gift of Christ when he ascended on high Well did Christ ordain Pastors and Teachers for the preaching the Word surely it is for some great end and purpose that he hath in it there is surely some great glory he intends to reap by it What is the end for which Christ hath set up this great Ordinance 2 Cor. 5.18 And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself and hath committed to us the Ministry of Reconciliation Ministers of the Word are Ministers of Reconciliation that God hath given to his People what is that read the next verse to wit That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespâ—sses unto them Now then there is a word of Reconciliation and this is committed unto us God hath appointed that we should have this Word of Reconciliation to convey it unto you What is this to wit That God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their sins so then forgiveness of sin is the end of this Doctrine of Reconciliation that there should be forgiveness and pardon of sin to poor souls in and through Christ Jesus so that this shews the great scope of this Ordinance and the end of it to wit forgiveness of sin therefore no wonder we stick in this Point because the great business we have to do is to declare the Ministry of Reconciliation when a Minister is about that he is about the work that God hath appointed him to do all other Doctrines are but to make way for this and to teach people how to walk worthy of it and this is the only taking Doctrine to all those that God hath appointed this mercy too though we as Ministers of Christ preach against the vanities and profits of this world but this is not the main thing not the right method of Preaching to work upon the hearts of People nor the great end of Christs Ascention he did not give gifts principally for these things but that men should be able to reveal the great Doctrine of Pardon of sin Ministers need not keep a stir to get esteem and love and to make themselves honourable among the People if they did but apply themselves to Preach this great Doctrine God hath set them about That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their sins they cannot but gain honour in the hearts of those that God hath appointed this mercy too Many complain they want respect and honour let them take pains in this Doctrine and they cannot choose but they must get honour if once this Word of Reconciliation take hold on any mans heart by Faith and Repentance let men speak against such a Minister never so much say what they will of him his heart will not be taken off from him but will be ready to answer as the poor blind man did the Scribes and Pharisees who raised on Christ Joh. 9.24 Saying give glory to God but we know this man is a sinner He answered whether he be a sinner or no I know not One thing I know that whereas I was blind now I see be it was that opened my eyes thus he answered their slander and so when others clamour against a Minister and speak evil of them that soul that hath his eyes opened he will say I am sure God hath done great things for me by him he hath shew'd me the evil of sin and the sad condition I was in by nature and he hath revealed to me the exceeding riches of the mercy and grace of God and my soul hath sound it so God hath come to my soul in his Preaching Now such a Ministry as this will certainly ingage the hearts of people to them 't is not the man so much as Christ in the man and this is the end of our Ministry not to tell this or that conceit or story but to shew you the riches of the grace of God in the pardon of sin and the Justification of your Souls through Christ Jesus your Acceptation and Reconciliation through him this is the first Ordinance 2. The Sacraments for what purpose hath Christ ordained them the main end for which they were ordained is for Sealing in the Supper is sealed up Gods mercy in the pardon of sin Matth. 26 28. Christ tells his Disciples The Cup is the blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the Remission of Sin as if Christ had said this is the great Ordinance to seal unto
Church that falls into sin is as a bone out of joynt and you that are spiritual must set it again if once you have a bone out of joynt the longer you let it go the more painful it is so if you fall into any sin the longer you let it go the more unweildy you will be No marvel you cannot go about your business handsomely when you have a bone out of joynt but has God been so merciful as to put you into joynt again you know what Christ said to the man Thou art made whole c. so I say to you you that have sinned and God has pardoned you set you in joynt again Go your way you are made whole take heed of sinning again least a worse thing befal you 2. A second sort that dishonour the grace of God are such that though they fall not into the same gross sins again after pardoning mercy yet are negligent in the wayes of God loose slight vâ—in sensual carnal dead-hearted in their conversation and do not answer the grace of God revealed to them but are more drossie in their spirits than before It may be for the time wherein they were seeking this grace of God they were strick't in their conversation in their wayes conscientious and in every thing walk't close with God durst not for their lives omit a known duty attended on the Word with a great deal of patience their hearts closed with it and it was as meat and drink unto them and in their conversation they were very fruitful in the places where they lived But now having had some comfortable assurance of Gods mercy pardoning them after this they are grown slight vain loose and dead hearted this is a very grievous evil where ever it may be charged It is a very great evil for any to abuse Gods general Bounty Patience and Long-sufferance and the good we receive from God in the use of the creature but far worse to abuse the grace of God in Christ manifested in pardoning mercy I shall shew this to be a great evil and shall labour to convince you of it 1. Consider and call to remembrance what the dayes of old were How in former times it was with you when you were seeking the pardoning grace of God then you thought if ever Gâ—d come in to my soul and give me any assurance of pardon of sin How infinitely should my soul be ingaged to bless God and how shall I for ever be bound to give up my self soul and body what I am and what I can do to live to the praise of the grace of God if God come in to my soul and pardon this sin of mine the guilt whereof lies so heavy upon my spirit I appeal unto your own Consciences Did not you think in your own thoughts that it was impossible that ever you should come to live as you do certainly if the thoughts of many people might this day appear they cannot but say Time was when I was seeking after the mercy of God to pardon my sin that lay upon my Conscience I thought with my self thus he is a blessed man indeed that has assurance of this and if ever I had peace spoken to my soul I thought my life would have been such that in my apprehension I thought it was impossible that I should have grown to this dulness deadness slightness and vanity that now I see I am then now as Paul said to the Galatians Where is the blessedness you spake of time was you said the pardoning mercy of God it was a blessed thing where is that blessedness you spake of that after you have received it you should grow wanton loose and slight What have you not a mightier Argument to draw your hearts to God after he hath spoke peace than ever you had before The apprehension of guilt danger and trouble of spirit for sin that was an Argument to keep you from sin before but if God have spoken peace in applying this pardoning grace Have you not Arguments of another nature than these which are far more poweâ—ful Certainly those that know the grace of God in Christ know that there is no such powerful argument as the grace of God in Christ in pardoning sin to keep up the heart to God and to keep from sin as this no such argument in the world that is like to this the eyeing of Gods grace is a special thing to quench and keep down lust whereas those that sin after this mercy whose lusts and corruptions overcome the power of this pardoning mercy they are deprived of the best and most special spiritual helps that can be to keep from sin Phil. 4.7 The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus the word in the Original is very significant shall guard your hearts this is the emphaticalness of the phrase as if the Apostle had said The sweet peace of God is such as passeth understanding and shall guard your hearts as indeed the peace of God that comes to flow out from the sweetness of the pardoning grace of God is such as passeth understanding but yet after all this there will be many dangers and you are to be involved with many temptations but this peace of God will be a guard to your souls to keep you from sin and temptation The soul of a Believer that hath peace spoken to it is there compared to a Captain in War or a Prince that apprehends himself in some danger sets a strong guard about his Person to keep him from danger Now what is the guard that keeps the soul of a Believer from temptation and danger It is the peace of God that is the greatest and strongest guard in the world if you complain of sin and temptations and that you are afraid that sin will surprize you What guard would you have to keep you The peace of God is the best guard that can be Now after this hath been a guard unto you if thy sin break in upon thee as fully and as freely as if there were no guard at all thy condition is very sad 2. Let me further speak to súch that sin after the pardoning grace of God and do not walk answerable to that grace that was let forth in witnessing the pardon of sin 't is a thousand to one thou wilt loose thy evidence 't is true it is irrevocable in Gods heart yet thou may'st carry it so that by thy loose walking thou may'st loose the evidence of it in thy own soul and it may be as sad with thee as if thou wer 't not at all pardoned we are to know that when an Evidence is given in concerning pardon of sin every renewed act of sin is a blot to that Evidence A man that having Evidences of Lands or an Estate will keep them fair but if he should suffer them to be blotted one blot after another perhaps so blotted as neither he nor any one else is able to
very low thoughts thou hast of the pardoning mercy of God and what Christ hath purchased and what God hath intended from everlasting in the Covenant of grace to those souls for whom he intends good and though for his intentions he keeps them to himself and would not have thee meddle with that till he manifest them in the work of grace yet in the mean time having revealed no further but that thou maist have it as well as any other he expects from thee that thou shouldst venture thy self upon his grace through his Son Jesus Christ and though thou saist thou art vile unworthy and after the use of means that thou art unprofitable vain full of wandring thoughts and deadness and therefore thou canst not expect grace know that thou hast but mean thoughts of the grace of God that sett'st such things as these against it these are poor low unworthy things to set against the grace of God and they do lower the grace of God too much that set such things as these against it A Schollar would think it a dishonour to him for one to come to reason with him and bring nothing but poor low weak objections that are not worth the answering he would think it a disgrace to him certainly it is a dishonour to the grace of God to set such things as these against it thou look'st upon it in a natural way and dost not consider it is the great designe of God above all things in the World to magnify his grace in pardoning of sin certainly were this understood these things would be counted too low and unworthy to be set against such a designe when it is the greatest God hath to magnify his name in Secondly Thou judgest of God according to thy own thoughts and this God will take exceeding ill as they Psal 50.21 Because I kept silence thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thy self 'T is a great evil to measure God by our own thoughts and there are two waies of dishonouring God by it 1. The way of the carnal secure sinner he measured God by his own thoughts he thinks God is not so strickt to be angry for every fault and if thou offendest that if we go and cry him mercy he will be pleased again We think it an easie matter to please God and because God is silent we think he do's not hate sin as he doth that 's one way of dishonouring God A Second way is when a man comes to be troubled for sin and conscience enlightened then we think slightly of God another way It may be thou hast a hard heart and wouldst not pardon one that provokes thee again and again thou wouldst not pass by such and such offences and thou thinkst God is so too thou thinkest God to be like thy self and that he cannot bear with thee in such and such things because thou canst not bear with others This is to judge God by our own line but know that the thoughts of Gods pardoning grace are as far above ours as the Heavens are above the Earth and therefore we must not measure God by our own thoughts Thirdly Thou dishonourest the pardoning grace of God by haveing low thoughts of it because it is contrary to the Scriptures For the main scope of all the Scriptures is to magnifie the pardoning grace of God and to set it out in its greatness to to thy soul and thou mak'st it thy main work to under-value it Luther sais the scope of the whole scriptures are but this that we might know and acknowledge God to be a gracious and merciful God and a greater then Luther speaks this that is a notable Text of Scripture in the Acts of the Apostles 10.42 43. And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testifie it is he that was ordained of God to be the Judge of Quick and Dead To him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins Marke to him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins So that it is the scope and intention of all the Prophets to witness this to a poor soul that whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sin You will say whosoever believes on him but there is all the Question but thou hindrest thy self of believing thou wouldst have assurance before thou dost believe thou must believe that thou mayest have it that is thou must venture and cast thy soul upon this grace of God all the Prophets witness this that whosoever believes on him shall receive remission of sins therefore by thy sitting down in these sullen discouraging thoughts of thy heart thou givest a lye to all the Prophets of God thou giv'st not a lye only to our preaching for certainly so it is God sees it so but to all the Prophets of God now when God makes it the work of all the Prophets to witness forgiveness of sins by Christ wilt thou make it thy work to object against it Again Know that thy reasonings are quite contrary to the Scriptures for thou reasonest that pardoning mercy will not be thine because thy sins are so great Psal 25.11 David cries to God to pardon his iniquities for they are great he makes the greatness of his sins an argument to drive him too God not from God and this is Gods own argument Gen. 8.21 I will not again curse the Ground any more for mans sake why for the imaginations of Mans heart are evil from his youth one would have thought it should have been thus the imaginations of mans heart are evil and therefore I will do nothing else but curse the ground No saies God I will not because the imaginations of mans heart are evil from his youth as if he should say if I should never leave cursing till man leave sinning I should alwayes be cursing so saies God If I should never pardon sin till mans sins are less I should never pardon at all So in Hosea 2.13 14. You have God reasoning there like to this here She went after her lovers and forgat me sais God 14 v Therefore will I allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her For she had forgotten me and went after her lovers see how the Scripture makes that an argument of Gods mercy Take another Text in Isaiah the 57.17 For the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart Marke what followes I have seen his wayes and will heal him and will restore comfort to him and to his mourners he went on frowardly in the perverseness of his Spirit saies God I have seen his ways and will heal him thus God expresses himself to the end of the Chap. to incourage the hearts of those that are sencible of their sins and would be sensible of the evil
must be the Foundation of our faith and not in what we do our selves For 1. Know that all Reformation in the world will not satisfie for the evil that you have done for the time past this I would convince you of and be you willing to hear it it may be of great use unto you when we preach Christ and free grace it is to bring you to Christ our preaching down of works is not to keep you from doing of them but from resting in them that which I aim at is to bring you into an enquiring frame of spirit a restless condition that so we may bring you to that which is the true rest and we shall be as glad to bring you into the true rest as now to bring you into restlesness Know all Reformations for time to come will not satisfie God for time past it will not amongst men if you have run into arrearages with your Landlord for Rent and you bring him a quarters Rent when there 's three or four quarters behind or may be two or three years if you should think to pay the Rent of two or three years with bringing the last quarter it would be accounted a foolish conceit so would it be if with God you should think the duties you do at present should satisfie for all the arrearages you have run into for time past you do not understand Gods way if you think that God will be satisfied for all that is past by what you do at the present Suppose what you do now were perfect and for all time to come you never committed one sin against God any more yet all this would not satisfie for time past this looks but at time to come and does not at all take off any thing for the time past Besides you may see matter enough in your best Reformations for God to condemn you not only for your former sins but sins in your reforming but if there were no sin in that that would be no satisfaction for that which is past Mark this That which must be the ground of the pardon of thy sin must be that that must satisfie for thy sin past and for all thy sins to come and that was opened unto you in opening the mysteries of godliness in the Pardon and Justification of a Sinner 2. Know this that God accepts of duties not for the duties themselves but because he accepts of the person that performs them God does not accept of the duties and then of the person that is not Gods way but he accepts first of the person and then of the actions God never accepts of what we do till he accepts of our persons As Abel God had regard to Abel 's person first and then to his offerings so God has first regard to the person of any man and then to his Offerings thou thinkest thou art a poor wretched creature and then thou thinkest it may be if I had such and such parts and could do thus and thus then God would accept of me I tell thee all thy parts and performances are cast away till God accept of thy person St. Paul was blameless according to the Law and yet he accounted all loss for Christ for he knew that when God revealed the Gospel to him that he could not be accepted for his righteousness but his person must first be accepted and then his righteousness So that the way of new Obedience and the work of Sanctification are the qualifications of the man that is justified but not the conditions required for the Justification of his person 't is not that that justifies the soul the Justification of the soul comes not through these but these flow from Justification and until a soul understands this he never rightly performs duties Therefore further to conclude this though good Works and new Obedience are good Nurses unto Faith yet if you make these the Mother of your Faith your faith is but a Bastard faith these are not the right Mother of Faith if your faith be begotten out of your Duties and Performances and your faith have no other Mother than these then your faith is illegitimate and not true born it has not the right Mother The right Mother of Faith is the manifestation of the freeness of Gods grace in the Covenant of the Gospel shewed unto the Soul through the mediation of the Son of God this laid open to the eye of the soul by the mighty work of the Spirit of God raises and creates faith in the soul this is the generation of true saving faith the faith of Gods Elect as the Scripture speaks Duties and Performances cannot be the Mother of it it is of a higher birth than that birth that arises out of Parts Duties or Performances whatsoever thy faith will not inherit if it be base born through faith we come to inherit the Promises and if thy faith hath no other foundation than thy sorrows and reformation thy faith is illegitimate and not that that shall inherit 't is not of the right kind that will bring thee unto Salvation thus you see what mistakes there may be in this great Point of the Justification of a Sinner and in being made blessed and therefore we had need look to it to be sure that what we rest upon will hold least when we come to lay claim and make challenge of blessedness our hold deceive us Many think the main matters of Religion to be nothing but believing in Jesus Christ and crying God mercy you see by these things that I have spoken that there had need be much workings of spirit in the way of Religion and mighty strong teachings of the Holy Ghost to lead the soul for there may be many mistakes and to prevent and remove those mistakes that lie in the way to get peace with God 't is a matter of great concernment and not a slight business to be done suddenly 3. Others say we trust in the mercy of God and in this I am to speak to two sorts First Those that are most grosly ignorant that have no other ground to hope for pardon of sin but because they hear that God is a merciful God Know thus much that notwithstanding what you hear of God that he is merciful and not willing that men should perish yet the Scripture reveals clearly to us that notwithstanding God is gracious and merciful yet the greatest part of the world perish in their sins there is nothing more clear then this that most people in the world do perish and therefore to say God is merciful is not enough you may be sorry for sin reform and say God is merciful and yet perish if these three were enough what needed the son of God to come and take our nature upon him and be made a curse for Mans sin lay down his life and shed his precious blood why might not these three have been joyned together and so Christ never have come for though Christ had never come I
not a slight notion like water running through a Pipe that leaves nothing behind it for so the thoughts of most People are but it is such a thing as brings Christ into the soul and the soul into Christ and so feeds and lives upon him this is relying upon Christ for pardon so as to have the concomitants and comforts of pardon continually going along with it Now you have heard these things go away and beseech God to settle things aright in your souls say to your hearts Lord I see that setling of the heart aright upon Christ for justification and pardon of sin is another manner of business then I was aware of and I am perswaded that if I had died before I should certainly have dyed under some of these mistakes Lord settle my heart aright in this great business Do not go away with such thoughts as these the Minister speaks of such mistakes but I hope it is far otherwise do not venture to put off what we say with such slight thoughts when we speak unto you we speak in the Name of God and it is a horrible taking of the Name of God in vain if we examine not what we say unto you by the Word And therefore know you are charged this day in the Name of God to look to it and examine your hearts what grounds you go upon for the pardon of your sin that you may not mistake in which we shall give you some further help in laying down some positive grounds that you may rest upon for the pardon of your sin CHAP. XVII Of the true Evidences of Forgiveness of Sin BUt if it be asked Who are they that have their sins pardoned surely they are not many this Text puts it in the singular number Blessed is he that hath his sin pardoned and by that which hath been delivered about the mistakes it appears there are not very many but yet some there are and this is the work of this day in the Name of the Lord to declare to some poor souls this day their sins are pardoned this is the message from the Lord I am to speak to them I hope divers in this place as from Christ Son and Daughter be of good comfort thy sins are pardoned And blessed is that man and woman that this day shall hear that joyful sound in their hearts and that shall have the Spirit of God witness unto their spirit that as I have heard so I have felt this day that what signs of forgiveness of sin have been delivered I have felt them in my own soul Well then What are they to insist upon them The First is that the Apostle gives in Rom. 8.30 Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified Justification consists especially in the remission and pardon of sin Now the Holy Ghost says whom he hath called them he hath justified would you know that you are justified and that your sins are pardoned the Spirit of God shews you it is not a note of mine but it is that which comes from the Holy Ghost whom he hath called them he hath justified Vocation is a certain Evidence of Justification this Vocation or Calling is the second link that does unite those two links of that golden chain together mentioned in that place the first link is the foreknowledge of God Gods Predestination and then there is Vocation the next after that Justification and then Glorification the first chain in the link is that God from all Eternity predestinates some persons to have their sins pardoned but there is Vocation comes in between Predestination and Justification and after that Glorification so that while I am giving Evidences of Justification here in this Text I shall give Evidences of Predestination and Glorification too for these are linkt altogether Many People look only after Justification they hope their sins are pardoned but they look not to any other link of the chain as Calling and Vocation whom he hath called them he hath justified but the question then is What is this Calling What do you mean by that how shall we know whether we be called or no in 2 Pet. 1.10 he bids them there to give diligence to make their Calling and Election sure Mark as here Predestination and Calling are put together so their Calling and Election says he Give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure Election is first sure in respect of God but Vocation is first in regard of our selves make that sure and then you make Election sure Justification sure and Glorification sure too then what is Vocation for answer to the Question Know there is an outward call and an inward call when God sends the Ministers of the Word to reveal the Gospel and the way of Salvation that is no other but Gods calling mens souls from the ways of sin and death to come into the ways of life all that come to hear the sound of the Gospel preacht unto them let them know that is Gods call to sinners to come in and repent God calls to the Drunkard the Unclean person and all others that live in sin to repent when you come to hear the Word God calls you and God requires of you as you would have God to hear your cry when you are calling for mercy in the day of your distress hear my call now I call and cry in the Ministry of the Word Would you have me to hear you when you cry to me do you hear me now I am calling to you O that People would understand the Ministry of the Word that it is the call of God for sinners to return and repent of their sins that they would look beyond man and know that it is the voyce of God by them and therefore it is a dangerous thing for People to neglect resist or rebel against the Ministry of the Word and there is some good hopes that God hath some souls in such a place that he intends everlasting good will unto where he sends the Ministry of the Word God do's not use to send the call of the Gospel to a place but there are some souls to be called And therefore Secondly Besides the Outward Call there is an Inward Call and that is it the Apostle speaks of Many have the Outward Call of the Word to Faith and Repentance and yet they perish eternally But those whom God intends to save and hath love to indeed he comes to them with an Inward Call and this Inward Call of God is on this wise God beholds the poor wretched sinner going on in the ways of sin death and perdition and he comes to him by a secret and powerful voyce speaking to his very heart O Sinner consider where thou art What art thou a doing Whither art thou a going What is the end of thy way like to be thou art going from God from happiness and life to woful misery and blackness of darkness to the infinite
in thee I say unto thee in the Name of Christ be of good comfort thy sins are pardoned God will shew good unto thee when this world is ended thou art one that Jesus Christ hath brought into his Kingdom and set up his Throne in thy heart and therefore thou may'st be assured that he will take thee at last into his everlasting Kingdom Fourthly Where God forgives he gives much giving follows forgiving God never forgives any but he gives much to that soul whom he forgives As in that case when the Apostles preacht the Doctrine of forgiveness and pardon of sin the Holy Ghost fell upon them so certainly where the Preaching of pardon of sin hath power through the Ministry of the Gospel over a soul God gives much to that soul and there are three things especially that God gives presently unto the soul whom he pardons which have all been mentioned before in opening the blessedness of pardon of sin and therefore I will but mention them now to strengthen this note of tryal 1. Hath God forgiven thee then he hath given his Spirit to inlighten thee in the great mysteries of Salvation thou pleadest thou art ignorant and art not Book-learned if God have so great a favour for thee as to pardon thy sin he will give thee understanding in the mysteries of the Gospel Jer. 31.34 where God pardons sin they shall have this mercy to be taught of him 2. God will give this unto thee he will write his Law in thy heart that is he will work in thy heart a sutable frame and disposition to his Law that thy heart and the Law of God shall be like two copies that have the same things in them and vary not one title from one another there shall be a sutableness between thy heart and the Law of God not only to do that which God requires because I must do it but because I find it sutable to the new nature bestowed on me he will write his Law in the heart and therefore I pronounce before the Lord this day again that whosoever has his sin pardoned and his iniquities forgiven that God hath writ his Law in the heart of that man or woman by the finger of his own Spirit that heart of thine that was as a heart of stone God will write his own Law thereon as he did on the Tables that Moses broke though always thou hast not a real sight of it yet such a thing is there and is a comfortable assurance of the pardon of thy sin 3. God gives healing mercies to cleanse thee from thy sin Jer. 33.8 I will cleanse them from their iniquities and pardon all their sins cleansing from sin and pardon of sin they ever go together if God pardon thy sin he cleanses thee from sin do not look therefore only after pardoning mercy but likewise after cleansing mercy those whom God hath joyned together let no man put asunder pardoning and cleansing God hath put together God may bestow other mercies as health strength and success in outward things without pardon but never cleansing from sin without pardon of it and therefore if thou findest thy heart cleansed Peace be to thy soul thy sins are forgiven Fifthly Besides these those whom God pardons he puts a glory upon them there is a glory put upon all pardoned sinners they are indeed glorious creatures in the eyes of God and Angels yea and there is a glory put upon them that the Saints of God are able to see perhaps that glory is not seen by the purblind eye of the world that are in darkness but those that have their eyes in their heads may see a glory put upon every soul that is pardoned and for that that Text is clear Rom. 8.30 Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified 't is not spoken only of that glory the Saints shall have in the highest Heavens when they shall be in glory with Christ but of that glory God puts upon the soul in this world 't is not said them he will glorifie but them he hath also glorified there is no justified soul but is a glorified soul this is a certain truth in Divinity That at that instant any soul is justified at that instant he is glorified in Jer. 33.9 there is an expression somewhat like unto that and it follows upon pardon of sin And it shall be to me a Name of joy a praise and an honour before all the Nations upon Earth c. that is I will put glory upon them and so they shall be to me a name of joy a praise and an honour before all the Nations in the world you will say How is that What is the glory of a justified soul certainly the soul that is justified is glorious God puts a glory on it by those glorious graces of his Holy Spirit that he endows the soul withal there is no justified soul but hath the glorious graces of the Holy Spirit put presently upon it and so 't is beautiful and glorious yea the only glorious object that the Lord Jesus Christ delights in in all the world take the poorest soul in the world God putting his Image upon it there is a greater glory and lustre on that soul than is on all the Heavens and the Earth besides take all other creatures in their greatest glory and God sees not so much glory on them as on any one soul whom he hath justified for so it is Holiness and the graces of Gods Spirit are called the glory of God himself Rom. 3.23 24. For we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God What is it to be deprived of the glory of God but the loss of that Image of God that man was made in but when a man is justified that glory of God is put upon him a fresh upon his heart his understanding his will and affections and that makes the Lord to delight to dwell with thee converse and have Communion with thee because of that glory that he hath put upon thee so there is a glory also in the life and conversation for on every soul that God justifies there comes presently a new lustre upon their life and conversation All those that have lived in horrible wickedness and base courses now when they are changed and they manifest the graces of the Spirit of God shining in their conversation through the whole course of their lives in meekness patience humility heavenly-mindedness and the like there is a lustre on their conversations to those that are able to judge of it they see it and the world many times is dazled with it they see a glory on them and are convinc't that certainly there is a work of God upon these men and in their good moods they are wishing to die their deaths and that their ends might be like theirs the poorest servant or child in a family that was
vile before yet being justified there is a lustre in their conversations that convinces Parents and Governours and makes them see an apparent difference between what they are now and what they were before though they contemn it yet they know that God will own that difference that he has made to be his own glory and will declare it one day that this was the thing that was glorious in his eyes And therefore now would you know whether you are justified Are you glorified What glory of God is come into your hearts and appears in your lives and conversations Can you say my life is so though I have many weaknesses yet I hope something of the glory of God appears in me for so it must be there is no soul God justifies but God inables him to live so as the glory of God shines in the conversation of such a one Now if these things be so what cause have you to fear you are not a justified person but for the present many times it doth not appear for most of you darken the glory of God in your lives you that are justified should shew it forth more in your conversation among all with whom you have to do and then what a beauty and Evidence of your Justification would it be unto you Sixthly Those whom God pardons he makes them know what pardon means thou hopest thy sins are pardoned Dost thou understand and know what hath been said about it certainly those whom God pardons he causes admiring thoughts in the soul of the excellency of this blessedness of the pardon of sin the soul is taken with the admiration of three things First It admires at the freeness and the riches of Gods grace Secondly At the price that was paid for pardon Thirdly It admires at the wonderful good it is brought into and that which the soul receives by this blessedness of the pardon of sin other things God may bestow on men and women and they know not the worth of them and do not mind God in them but when God bestows pardon of sin he makes the soul have admiring thoughts of it and to know what it is Jer. 33.9 And it shall be to me a Name of joy a praise and honour and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and prosperity that I procure unto it certainly if others shall do it much more themselves those whom God pardons he bestows such mercies upon as that the soul shall even stand amazed with a trembling heart and an amazed spirit to behold all the goodness that the Lord shews to it Now have your hearts been taken with it you may know much of your Evidences if your hearts have been taken with admiring thoughts of it for certainly when God pardons sin he doth it to magnifie his grace and set out to Men and Angels in the infiniteness of it what his grace can do to poor souls if this be Gods end as certainly it is then it must needs be that those whom God pardons he gives such grace as shall cause the soul that it shall have admiring thoughts of it Has thy soul seen so much of the grace of God that it admires at the greatness and goodness of it be of good comfort thy sins are pardoned Seventhly The more assurance God gives of pardon the more the heart melts before God in mourning for the sins that God has pardoned according to the manifestation of Gods mercy in pardoning so doth the soul by the work of Gods grace melt in holy mourning even for those sins that God has pardoned many think they must mourn for sin to get pardon but when they are pardoned Why should they mourn then I have spoken to that before that many mourn to get pardon but I say they mourn because they are pardoned I manifest it thus in this evidence I give of pardon of sin that according to the degree of knowledge the soul hath of pardon of sin the heart melts before God for all sins that are pardoned the 51. Psal is exceeding remarkable David laments his sin exceeding bitterly but mark the Title of that Psalm To the chief Musitian a Psalm of David when Nathan the Prophet came unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba Now would you know what Nathan did when he came unto David you shall find if you read the story of David's Adultery and Murther 2 Sam. 12. Chap. it was to bring the news unto David of the pardon of his sin first Nathan convinces him of his sin that he should do it before Israel and before the Sun and having convinc't him he says further the Lord hath put away thy sin Now a secure heart might go away and say all is well I shall not dye God hath pardoned my sin I need not be troubled any more about that matter But mark the Psalmist how he cries out to God Have mercy O Lord upon me and blot out all my transgressions wash me purge me and then he prays for restoring mercies for his broken bones and then cries out for further assurance the very grace of God that Nathan brought to him of the pardon of his sin that very grace of God did melt and break his heart so much the more after God had sent to him the pardon of his sin he mourned more than ever before we never read that David was so much troubled for his sin as in this 51. Psal that was after Nathan had come unto him Now if you find that at that time when God is pleas'd to come unto you in the Ministry of the Word or in private to declare unto you the pardon of your sin and to give you the comfortable Evidence of it that then your hearts are most devoted to mourn for them and to melt before God Be of good comfort thy sins are pardoned Eightly Another note is this that according to the degree of pardon of sin so all other graces grow the knowledge and assurance of Gods love in Christ in the pardon of sin it causes all other graces to grow proportionably as you have it in Ephes 3.19 about the knowledge of the love of God in Christ mark the connection he desires That they might comprehend with all Saints what is the height and depth c. and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge and be filled with all the fulness of God What is the love of Christ the love of Christ is the procuring cause of the forgiveness of sin be-before God the Father and when you know this this will fill you with all the fulness of God Mark first It brings God in to the soul And secondly Fills the soul with God And thirdly Fills the soul with the fulness of God And fourthly Fills the soul with all the fulness of God when you come to know the love of God in Christ if any thing in the world will fill the soul with all the fulness of God this will many will say they
they be not made so sensible to you and therefore soul take hold of that which you can see or feel and be assured the other are there though they are not seen if thou can'st take hold of one linck of a chain and all the other be fastened to it thou may'st be able to draw the whole chain unto thee for by taking hold of one link thou takest hold of the whole though thou touchest not the other so in the work of Gods graces they are as a link united to one another and if you can lay hold of one link you may be assured of the other although you see them not it is with many in this point as it is with some ignorant man the Physitian tells him he must take such a thing that must have these and these ingredients in it and when the Apothecary has mingled all it may be but one of these things can be seen in the colour and outward appearance perhaps some one syrup may take up all the colour in the outward part and when it is brought to him says he I must have so many Ingredients in it and I see but one I but though you see but one yet there may be the efficacy of all in it though but one give the colour so it is with the graces of Gods Spirit though at the present some one appears yet there may be the efficacy and power of them all in the soul though there appear but one perhaps it is in this case as among many ingredients you can see and tast but one yet there may be the power of twenty there though neither seen nor tasted so it is with the work of God in the soul sometimes it may be that there is but one grace to be seen tasted or felt and yet where that one is there are all the other so that that is one rule when you look for Evidences and Signs if you can find but one in your souls all are there as it is in sin where one sin hath Dominion over the soul though the others be not seen yet we are to know that other sins have dominion over the soul too though some men live under the slavery of one sin more than another as one man under the power of Covetousness another under the power of Ambition or any other sin this man may be thought to be under the power of but one sin but the truth is he is a slave to all sin every natural man that is out of Christ is under the power of every sin he is a slave to the Devil in every sin but by reason of the constitution of his body and for some outward respects he may refrain from some particular sins that do not so well suit with him whereas if it would serve for his own ends and purposes he could as well commit any sin as that one this is a certain truth Whosoever makes not Conscience of every sin he makes Conscience of none though he refrain from the practice of some others it is not out of Conscience but for by-ends therefore he that is under the power of one sin is under the power of every sin Many think all men are sinners and for their parts they have but a few such a sin I cannot leave but I am free from all others Dost thou keep from all sin but one God will find thee under the power of every sin and God will charge thee at the Tribunal as under the power of all sin so now on the contrary Gods people are mightily troubled that they cannot find the work of Gods graces in all of them such an one they find but they want it in another because it is not so evidently stirring as the other but as the truth is certain on one side of the wicked so it 's true on the other side of the godly that where there is one sin there is every sin so where there is one grace there is all grace there is the power of godliness in every grace where there 's one grace that is the first rule to help us in making use of the Evidences before given The Second rule is this When ever we have found any one Evidence upon serious examination in the presence of God and now it appears not positively to the contrary at the present but thou art meerly dubious of those things that heretofore thou hast felt because thou dost not feel them now in this case we may and should have recourse to what God has wrought heretofore and build upon the former workings of Gods Spirit upon us true it is when we come to give Evidences in our Ministry of those that have grace we may meet at such a time with them as that they have sense of nothing and in such a condition as that they are not able to know their own hearts nor feel any workings upon them Now if it be meerly from want of sense and that the contrary positive evil appear not but only the want of feeling of what thou had'st and felt heretofore thou art to have recourse to the days of old as David often speaks that he would remember the days of old it may be you will say some Hypocrites have thought they have been in this condition they have had many slashes and yet they have proved naught how can we have recourse to what was before when God did work upon me I can indeed remember when God did draw my heart and then I thought I could have closed with any Evidence out of the Word I felt such workings in my heart but I might do all that and yet all be but in hypocrisie I answer that certainly the bare want of sense is not ground enough for me to think that all was in hypocrisie for this consider if I groan under it as under an affliction and would fain feel those former manifestations I had formerly and that I can take little comfort in my present case and that my soul is continually longing and panting after the workings of Gods grace that I heretofore had if this be so and that there is nothing to the contrary thou fallest not off to sin or to the world to satisfie thy soul in sinful ways and that thy heart is yet panting after God if it be thus with thee thou may'st take the comfort of what thou had'st before and feed upon it as Provision laid up before hand for thy soul as if thou had'st it present But Hypocrites that fall off from the visitations of Gods Spirit they fall not off only to a want of sense of those former movings and workings of the Spirit but their hearts come to be satisfied with something else and they take up with some other contentments and 't is not a want of feeling only of what they had heretofore but their hearts run out from God into other ways of sin and wickedness so it is with Hypocrites but thou hast this testimony that it is not so with
it is a great taking the Name of God in vain for any man or woman to have slight thoughts of sin ibid. 2 Men should be content to endure much difficulty in seeking of Pardon ibid. 3 The difficulties pardon of sin passes through should make us willing to undergo any hard services God puts us to 52 CHAP. VI. Of Pardoning Mercy coming from the Fountain of Gods Everlasting Love 52 CHAP. VII Of Pardoning Mercy being a work that all the three Persons in the Trinity are ingaged in 54 1 God the Father's heart was in it ibid. 2 Christ the Son's heart was in it 55 3 The Holy Ghost was much in it 56 CHAP. VIII Of Pardoning Mercy being a perfect mercy 60 Hence 1 Flows out abundance of comfort 61 2 Great ingagement unto duty ibid. CHAP. IX Of Pardoning Mercy being an Irrevocable Mercy 62 This appears 1 In Gods blotting out of sin 64 2 Casting it behind his back 65 3 Removing it as far as the East is from the West ibid. 4 Casts them in the bottom of the Sea ibid. 5 He will remember them no more ibid. 6 They shall never be mentioned ibid. 7 They shall never be found 67 CHAP. X. Of Pardon of Sin being a mercy denyed to fal'n Angels 69 CHAP. XI Of Pardoning Mercy being such that it is given but to a few 71 1 Because God would have a proportion between his Justice and Mercy 72 2 To manifest his Mercy the more to those that are saved ibid. CHAP. XII Of the possibility of Pardoning Mercy how it would be prized by poor Souls now under wrath 74 CHAP. XIII Of Pardon of Sin being the special end of all God's Ordinances 76 1. Hearing of the Word ibid. 2. The Sacraments 78 3 Discipline 79 A Transition to the Application of what is to be said to these things ibid. CHAP. XIV Of the Dishonour done by Men to the Pardoning Grace of God 81 1 By careless ones 82 2 By sinful ones who labour to increase guilt 84 3 Those that have slight thoughts of Pardon 87 4 Such as seek Pardon but are insensible of the greatness of the work 89 5 Those that dally with God and 92 1 That cry for pardon and yet continue in love to their sin ibid. 2 That seek the pardon of some sins yet still keep the love of others 94 3 That look not after their Prayers 95 4 That follow not their Prayers with answerable endeavours ibid. 5 Those that pray for pardon and yet are satisfied with other things ibid. 6 Those that are quiet upon weak and slight Evidences dishonour God 96 1 The Word 97 2 The Word put in writing ibid. 3 Witnesses and they are six 3 in Heaven and 3 on Earth ibid. 4 An Oath ibid. 5 Seals 98 1 The Broad Seal of the Image of God ibid. 2 The Privy Seal of the Spirit of God ibid. 3 Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. ibid. 7 Those dishonour Gods Mercy that defer the seeking of it to the worst times as Sick-bed or Death-bed time 99 1 Because they leave not sin till sin is leaving them 100 2 That time is usually the time of Gods wrath ibid. 3 A man is then unfit for the greatness of this work 101 4 God will loose a great part of his end in pardoning mercy 102 5 It argues a base spirit to put it off till then that all the tag-rag and rabble-rout will come in ibid. 8 They dishonour the pardoning grace of God that seek it any other way then in and through the Mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ ibid. 9 Those that venture on any one sin in hopes they may be pardoned 107 1 It argues an abominable heart 111 2 An ingenious gracious spirit would never do it ibid. 3 Gods Children reason to the contrary 112 4 In some respect thou art worse than the damned in Hell 113 5 This will be an intollerable burden to thee that will indanger the sinking of thy soul in the bottomless gulf of dispair 114 10 They dishonour the Pardoning Grace of God that sin after pardon as 115 1 That return to the same sin 116 2 That are negligent in the ways of God 117 1 They remember not the days of old 118 2 Are in danger of losing their Evidences 120 3 This may provoke God to deal with you as a slave and not as a son 122 4 Hereby thy sin is aggravated above the sins of the wicked ibid. CHAP. XV. Of the dishonour done to the Grace of God by not resting on it 125 1 It argues low thoughts of the pardoning Grace of God 126 2 Thou hereby judgest of God according to thy own thoughts 127 3 'T is contrary to the main scope of the Scriptures which is to magnifie the pardoning grace of God 128 1 Against the greatness of sin ibid. 2 The way thou takest 't is the ready way to perish 129 Object Would you have us go on to believe and doubt no more 130 Answ No. But 1 Turn your fears of Presuming into fears of Dishonouring the Grace of God 131 2 Set the greatness of the Pardoning Grace of God before the eye of your souls ibid. 3 Keep your spirits in an active frame 132 4 Renew your Resolutions of Honouring God whatever God does with you ibid. 5 Keep thy heart in a waiting frame ibid. 6 Catch hold of any beginnings 133 Of the evil of this sin of dishonouring the pardoning Grace of God ibid. 1 It is a sinning against mercy which God accounts his glory ibid. 2 It aggravates the sin of such men 134. 1 Above the sin of the Heathen ibid. 2 Above the sin of the Devils 135 3 The Scripture speaks dreadfully of it ibid. CHAP. XVI Of the several Mistakes of Men about the Pardon of their Sins 1 Many think their sins are pardoned because it is but little they are guilty of Answ 140 1 Such understand not the evil that is in the least sin ibid. 2 Gods mercy is his own to do with it as he pleases ibid. 2 Others think they are pardoned because they have not multiplied and increast them 142 Answ One sin is enough to damn thee as well as a million of transgressions ibid. 3 Others think they are pardoned because the guilt of them does not lie upon their Consciences Answered 143 4 Others think they are pardoned because they have had prosperity Answ 145 5 Others hope they are pardoned because 1 They are sorry for them Answ 146 2 Leave them Answ 151 1 All Reformation satisfies not for sin 153 2 God accepts of duties not for themselves but because of the person that performs them 154 3 Others say we trust in the mercy of God and they are 1 Such as are most grosly ignorant Answ 155 2 Others more knowing Answ 157 4 Others say We rely upon Christ Answ 161 CHAP. XVII Of the true Evidences of Forgiveness of Sin 162 1 They are such as are Called Ones 163 2 They are received into the Covenant