I Know not a more lively description in the whole Book of God, of the Natural corrup­tion derived from our first Parents, than these words; Wherein you have the Ground of that grief, which lay so close to God's heart, v. 6. & the Resolve thereupon to destroy man, and whatsoever was serviceable to that ungrateful creature. That must be high­ly offensive, which moved God to repent of a fabrick so pleasing to him at the creation: every stone in the building being at the first laying pronounced good by Him, and upon a review at the finishing the whole, He left it the same character with an Emphasis;Gen. 1.31. very good. There was not a pin in the whole frame, but wasEccles. 3.11. very beautiful, and being wrought by infinitePsa. 104.24. [...]. Euseb. Praepar. Evang. wisdom, it was a very comely piece of Art. What then should provoke him to repent of so excellent a work? The wickedness of man, which was great in the earth. How came it to pass that man's wickedness should swell so high? Whence did it spring? From the imagination. Though these might be sinful imaginations, might not the superiour fa­culty preserve it self untainted? Alas! That was defiled; The imagination of the thoughts was evil. But though running thoughts might wheel about in his mind, yet they might leave no stamp or impression upon the will and affections. Yes, they did, The imagination of the thoughts of his heart was evil. Surely all could not be under such a blemish: Were there not now and then some pure flashes of the mind? No not one; Every imagina­tion. But granting that they were evil, might there not be some fleeting good mixed with them: as a poisonous toad hath something useful? No, Only evil. Well, but there might be some intervals of thinking, and though there was no good thought, yet evil ones were not always rouling there. Yes, they were Continually; not a moment of time that man was free from them. One would scarce imagine such an inward nest of wickedness, but God hath affirmed it; and if any man should deny it, his own heart would give him the lye.

Let us now consider the words by themselves.

[...] Imagination, properly signifies figmentum, of [...] to afflict, press or form a thing by way of compression. And thus 'tis a metaphor taken from a potters framing a vessel, and extends to whatsoever is fram'd inwardly in the heart, or outwardly in the work. 'Tis usually taken by the Jews for that fountain of sin within us:Alii recti [...]s dicunt non esse [...] nisi in malum. Merc. in loc. Mercer tells us it is always used in an evil sense: But there are two places (if no more) wherein it is taken in a good sense, Isa. 26.3. [...] Maimon. Mo­re Nevoch. Par. 3. c. 22. Amam. Cen­sur. in locum. Whose mind is stayed; and 1 Chron. 29.18. where David prays, that a disposition to offer willingly to the Lord might be preserved in the Imagination of the thoughts of the heart of the people. Indeed for the most part 'tis taken for the evil imaginations of the heart, as Deut. 31.21. Psal. 103.14. &c. The Jews make a double figment, a good and bad; and fancy two Angels assign'd to man, one bad, another good: which Maimonides interprets to be nothing else but natural corruption, and reason. This word imagination being joyn'd with thoughts, implies not only the compleat thoughts, but the first motion or formation of them, to be evil.

The word Heart is taken variously in Scripture. It signifies properly that inward member, [Page 2] which is the seat of the vital spirits: But sometimes it signifies, 1. The understanding and mind, Psal. 12.2. With a double heart do they speak: i. e. With a double mind, Prov. 8.5. 2. For the Will, 2 Kings 10.30. All that is in my heart; i. e. in my Will and purpose. 3. For the affections; as, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart: i. e. with all thy affecti­ons. 4. For conscience, 2 Sam. 24.5. David's heart smote him: i. e. his Conscience check'd him. But Heart here is used for the whole soul, because (according to Pareus his note) the soul is chiefly seated in the heart, especially the Will, and the affections her attendants; because when any affection stirs, the chief motion of it is felt in the heart. So that by the imaginations of the thoughts of the heart are here meant all the inward operations of the soul, which play their part principally in the heart: whether they be the acts of the understand­ing, the resolutions of the Will, or the blustrings of the affections.

Only evil.] The Vulgar mentions not the exclusive particle [...], and so enervates the sense of the place. But our Neighbour Translations either express it as we do, Only; or to that sense, that they were Certainly, or no other than evil.

[...] Continually.] The Hebrew, All the day or every day. Some Translations express it ver­batim as the Hebrew. Not a moment of a man's life, wherein our hereditary corruption doth not belch out its froth, even from his youth, as God expounds it, Gen. 8.21. to the end of his life.

Whether we shall refer the general wickedness of the heart in the Text to that age, as some of the Jesuits do; because after the Deluge God doth not seem so severely to censure it: Or rather take the exposition the learned Rivet gives of it, referring the first part of the Verse [and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth] to those times:Gen. 8.21. Rivet. in Gen. ex [...]cit. 51. and the second part to the universal corruption of man's nature, and the root of all sin in the world. The Jesuits argument will not be very valid, for the extenuation of original corrup­tion, from Gen. 8.21. For if man's imaginations be evil from his youth, what is it but in ano­ther phrase to say they were so continually? But suppose it be understood of the iniquity of that age, may it not be applied to all ages of the world? David complains of the wickedness of his own time, Psal. 14.3. Psal. 5.9. Yet St. Paul applies it to all mankind, Rom. 3.12. Indeed it seems to be a description of man's natural pravity, by Gods words after the deluge, Gen. 8.21. which are the same in sense, to shew that man's nature after that destroying judgment, was no better than before. Every word is emphatical, exaggerating man's defilement; Wherein consider the Universality

• 1. Of the subject, Every man.
• 2. Of the act, Every thought.
• 3. Of the qualification of the act, Only evil.
• 4. Of the time, continually.

The words thus opened afford us this Proposition:

That the thoughts, and inward operations of the souls of men, are naturally universally evil, and highly provoking.

Some by cogitation mean not only the acts of the understanding, but those of the will, yea and the sense too. But indeed that which we call cogitation, or thought, is the work of the mind;Cartes. Prin­cip. P [...]ilos. Part 1. Sect. 9. imagination, of the fancy. 'Tis not properly thought, till it be wrought by the under­standing; because the fancy was not a power designed for thinking, but only to receive the images imprest upon the sense, and concoct them, that they might be fit matter for thoughts; and so 'tis the Exchequer, wherein all the acquisitions of sense are deposited, and from thence received by the intellective faculty. So that thoughts are inchoativè in the fancy, consumma­tivè in the understanding, terminativè in all the other faculties. Thought first engenders opi­nion in the mind; thought spurs the will to consent or dissent; 'tis thought also which Spirits the affections.

I will not spend time to acquaint you with the methods of their generation. Every man knows he hath a thinking faculty, and some inward conceptions, which he calls thoughts, he knows that he thinks, and what he thinks; though he be not able to describe the manner of their formation in the womb, or remember it any more than the species of his own face in a glass.

In this discourse let us first see what kind of thoughts are sins.

1. Negatively. A simple apprehension of sin is not sinful. Thoughts receive not a sinfulness barely from the object: That may be unlawful to be acted, which is not unlawful to be thought of. Though the will cannot Will sin without guilt, yet the understanding may appre­hend sin without guilt; for that doth no more contract a pollution by the bare apprehension, than the eye doth by the reception of the species of a loathsome object. Thoughts are moral­ly evil, when they have a bad principle, want a due end and converse with the object in a wrong manner. Angels cannot but understand the offence which displaced the Apostate Stars from heaven; but they know not sin cognitione practicâ: Glorified Saints may consider their former sins, to enhance their admirations of pardoning mercy. Christ himself must needs understand the matter of the Devils temptation; yet Satan's suggestions to his thoughts were as the vapors of a jakes mixed with the Sun-beams, without a defilement of them. Yea God himself, who is infinite purity, knows the Object of his own acts, which are con­versant about sin; as his holiness in forbidding it, wisdom in permitting, mercy in [Page 3] pardoning, and justice in punishing. But thoughts of sin in Christ, Angels, and glorified Saints, are accompanied with an abhorrency of it, without any combustible matter in them to be kindled by it. As our thoughts of a divine object are not gracious, unless we love and delight in it; so a bare apprehension of sin is not positively criminal, unless we delight in the object apprehended. As a sinful obiect doth not render our thoughts evil, so a divine object doth not render them good; because we may think of it with undue circumstances, as unseasonably, coldly, &c. And thus there is an imperfection in the best thought a regene­rate man hath; for though I will suppose he may have a sudden ejaculation without the mixture of any positive impurity, and a simple apprehension of sin, with a detestation of it, yet there is a defect in each of them; because 'tis not with that raised affection to God, or intense abhorrency of sin, as is due from us to such objects, and whereof we were capable in our primitive state.

2. Positively. Our thoughts may be branched into first motions, or such that are more voluntary.

1. First motions; Those unfleched thoughts, and single threads, before a multitude of them come to be twisted and woven into a discourse: such as skip up from our natural cor­ruption, and sink down again as fish in a River. These are sins, though we consent not to them; because, though they are without our will, they are not against our nature, but spring from an inordinate frame, of a different hue from what God implanted in us. How can the first sprouts be good, if the root be evil? Not only the thought formed, but the very formation, or first imagination is evil. Voluntariness is not necessary to the essence of a sin, though it be to the aggravation of it. 'Tis not my Will or Knowledge,Gen. 19.33, 35. which doth make an act sinful, but God's prohibition. Lot's Incest was not ushered by any deliberate consent of his Will; yet who will deny it to be a sin, since he should have exercised a severer com­mand over himself, than to be overtaken with drunkenness, which was the occasion of it? Original sin is not effectivè voluntary in Infants; because no act of the will is exerted in an infant about it: Yet it is voluntary subjectivè; because it doth inhaerere voluntati. These moti­ons may be said to be voluntary negatively, because the Will doth not set bounds to them, and exercise that soveraign dominion over the operations of the soul, which it ought to do, and wherewith it was at its first creation invested. Besides, though the Will doth not imme­diately consent to them, yet it consents to the occasions, which administer such motions; and therefore, according to the rule, that causa causae est causa causati, they may be justly charged upon our score.

2. Voluntary thoughts, which are the blossoms of these motions. Such that have no law­ful object, no right end, not governed by reason, eccentrick, disorderly in their motions, and like the jarring strings of an untun'd Instrument. The meanest of these floating phancies are sins; because we act not in the production of them, as rational creatures: and what we do without reason, we do against the law of our creation, which appointed reason for our guide, and the understanding to be [...], the governing power in our souls.

These may be reduced to three heads,

1. In regard of God. 2. Of our selves. 3. Of others.

I. In regard of God.

1. Cold thoughts of God; When no affection is raised in us by them. When we delight not in God, the object of those thoughts, but in the thought it self, and operation of our mind about Him, consisting of some quaint notion of God of our own conceiving. This is to delight in the act or manner of thinking, not in the object thought of; and thus these thoughts have a folly and vanity in them. They are also sinful in a regenerate man, in respect of the faintness of the understanding, not acting with that vigor, and spriteliness, nor with those raised and spiritual affections, which the worth of such an object doth require.

2. Debasing Conceptions, unworthy of God. Such are called in the Heathen Vain Imagina­tions Rom. 1.21. [...], their reasonings about God.; who, as they glorified not God as God, so they did not think of God as God, accord­ing to the dignity of a Deity. Such a mental Idolatry may be found in us, when we dress up a God according to our own humors, humanize Him, and ascribe to Him what is grateful to us, though never so basePsal. 50.21. Th u thoughtest that I was al­together such an one as thy se [...]f. Exod. 15.11. Isa. 6.3. Psal. 89.35.. Which is a grosser degrading of the Deity, than any represen­tation of Him by material Images; because it is directly against his Holiness, which is His glory, applauded chiefly by the Angels; and an Attribute, which He swears by, as having the greatest regard to the honour of it. Such an imagination Adam seemed to have, conceiting God to be so mean a Being, that he, a creature not of a daies standing, could mount to an equality of knowledge with Him.

3. Accusing thoughts of God: Either of his Mercy, as in despair; or of his Justice as too severe, as in Cain Gen. 4.13.. Of his Providence: Adam conceited, yea and charged God's Provi­dence to be an occasion of his crimeGen. 3.12. T [...]e woman whom thou ga­vest to be with me.: His posterity are no juster to God, when they ac­cuse him as a negligent Governour of the World, Psal. 94.11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity. What thoughts? Injurious thoughts of his Providence, v. 7. as though God were ignorant of men's actions: or, at best, but an idle Spectator of all the unrighteousness done in the world, not to regard it, though He did see it. And they in the Prophet were of the same stamp, That said in their hearts, The Lord will not do good, Zeph. 1.12. neither will He do evil. From such kind of thoughts most of the Injuries from oppressors, and mur­murings in the oppressed, do arise.

[Page 4]4. Curious thoughts about things too high for us. 'Tis the frequent business of mens minds to flutter about things without the bounds of God's revelation. Not to be content with what God hath published is to accuse Him,Gen. 3.5. God knows that your eyes shall be open [...]d. in the same manner as the Serpent did to our first Parents, of envying us an intellectual happiness. Yet how do all Adam's Posterity long after this forbidden fruit!

II. In regard of our selves; Our thoughts are proud, self-confident, self-applauding, foolish, covetous, anxious, unclean; and what not?

1. Ambitious: The aspiring thought of the first man runs in the veins of his Posterity. God took notice of such strains in the King of Babylon, when he said in his heart, I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God: I will ascend above the heights of the Clouds; I will be like the most High Isa. 14.13, 14.. No less a charge will they stand under, that settle themselves upon their own bottom, establish their own Righteousness, and will not submit to the Righteousness of God's appointment Rom. 10.3.. The most forlorn beggar hath sometimes thoughts vast enough to grasp an Empire.

Obad. 3. That saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Dan. 4.30. Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the Kingdom. &c.2. Self-confident: Edom's thoughts swelled him into a vain confidence of a perpetual pro­sperity. And David sometimes said in the like state, that he should never be moved.

3. Self-applauding: Either in the vain remembrances of our former prosperity, or ascrib­ing our present happiness to the dexterity of our own wit. Such flaunting thoughts had Nebuchadnezzar at the consideration of his setling Babylon the head, and Metropolis of so great an Empire. Nothing more ordinary among men, than overweening reflexions upon their own parts, andRom. 12.3, 4. [...] thinking of themselves above what they ought to think.

4. Ʋngrounded Imaginations of the events of things, either present, or future: Such wild con­ceits, like Meteors bred of a few vapors, do often frisk in our minds. 1. Of things present: 'Tis likely Eve foolishly imagin'd she had brought forth the Messiah, when she brought forth a murderer, Gen. 4.1. I have gotten a man the Lord (as in the Hebrew) believing (as some in­terpret) that she had brought forth the promised seed. And such a brisk conceit Lamech seems to have had of Noah Gen. 5.29. Esth. 6.6.. 2. Of things to come, either in bespeaking false hopes, or ante­dating improbable griefs. Such are the jolly thoughts we have of a happy Estate in reversi­on, which yet we may fall short of. Haman's heart leap'd at the King's question, (What shall be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour?) phancying himself the mark of his Princes favour, without thinking that a halter should soon choak his ambition. Or per­plexing thoughts at the fear of some trouble, which is not yet fallen upon us, and perhaps never may.1 Sam. 27.1. And David said in his heart, &c. How did David torture his Soul by his unbelieving fears, that he should one day perish by the hand of Saul? These forestalling thoughts do really affect us: we often feel caprings in our Spirits upon imaginary hopes, and shiverings, upon conceited fears. These pleasing impostures, and self-afflicting suppositions are signs either of an idle, or indigent mind, that hath no will to work, or only rotten materials to work upon.

5. Immoderate thoughts about lawful things: When we exercise our minds too thick, and with a fierceness of affection above their merit: not in subserviency to God, or mixing our cares with dependencies on Him. Worldly concerns may quarter in our thoughts; but they must not possess all the room, and thrust Christ into a manger: Neither must they be of that value with us, as the law was with David, sweeter than the honey or the honey comb.

III. In regard of others; All thoughts of our neighbour against the Rule of Charity. Such that imagine evil in their hearts, God hates Zech. 8.17.. These principally are 1. Envious, when we tor­ment our selves with others fortunes.Gen. 4.5. 1 Tim. 6.4. 2 Cor. 13.5. Such a thought in Cain, upon God's acceptance of his Brother's Sacrifice, was the Prologue to, and foundation of that cursed murder. 2. Censo­rious, stigmatizing every freckle in our Brother's conversation. 3. Jealous, and evil surmises contrary to Charity,Esth. 5.13. Gen. 27.41. Esau said in his heart, &c. which thinks no evil. 4. Revengeful; such made Haman take little content in his preferments, as long as Mordecai refused to court him. And Esau thought of the daies of mourning for his Father, that he might be revenged for his Brother's deceits.

There is no sin committed in the world, but is hatched in one or other of these thoughts. But beside these, there are a multitude of other volatile conceits, like swarms of Gnats buzzing about us, and preying upon us, and as frequent in their successions, as the curlings of the water upon a small breath of wind, one following another close at the heels. The mind is no more satisfied with thoughts, than the first matter is with forms, continually shifting one for another, and many times the nobler for the baser: as when upon the putrefaction of a human body, part of the Matter is endued with the form of Vermin. Such changeable things are our minds, in leaving that which is good for that which is worse, when they are enveigled by an active fancy, and Bedlam affections. This madness is in the hearts of men while they live, Eccles. 9.3. and starts a thousand frenzies in a day. At the best our phancy is like a Car­rier's bag, stuffed with a world of Letters, having no dependence upon one another; some containing business, and others nothing but froth.

In all these thoughts there is a further guilt in three respects, viz. 1. Delight, 2. Contri­vance, 3. Reacting.

1. Delight in them. The very tickling of our phancy by a sinful motion, though without a formal consent, is a sin; because it is a degree of complacency in an unlawful object. When the mind is pleased with the subject of the thought, as it hath a tendency to some [Page 5] sensual pleasure, & not simply in the thought it self, as it may enrich the understanding with some degree of knowledg. The thought indeed of an evil thing may be without any de­light in the evil of it; as Philosophers delight in making experiments of poisonous Creatures, without delighting in the poison, as it is a noxious quality. We may delightfully think of sin without guilt, not delighting in it as sin, but as God by his wise providential ordering extracts Glory to himself, and good to his Creature. In this case, though a sinful act be the material object of this pleasure, yet 'tis not the formal object: because the delight is not ter­minated in the sin, but in God's ordering the event of it to his own glory. But an Inclination to a sinful motion, as it gratifies a corrupt affection, is sin: because every Inclination is a malignant tincture upon the affections, including in its own nature an aversion from God, and testifying sin to be an agreeable object. And without question, there can be no inclina­tion to any thing, without some degree of pleasure in it: because it is impossible we can in­cline to that, which we have a perfect abhorrency of. Hence it follows, that every inclina­tion to a sinful motion is Consensus inchoatus, or a Consent in Embryo: though the act may prove abortive. If we think of any unlawful thing with pleasure, and imagine it either in fieri or facto esse, it brings a guilt upon us, as if it were really acted. As when upon the con­sideration of such a man's being my enemy, I phancy robbers rifling his goods, and cutting his throat, and rejoyce in this revengeful thought, as if it were really done, 'tis a great sin: because it testifies an approbation of such a butchery, if any man had will and opportunity to commit it. And though it be a supposition, yet the act of the mind is really the same it would be, if the sinfull act I think of were performed. Or when a man conditionally thinks with himself, I would steal such a man's goods, or kill such a person, if I could escape the punishment attending it, it is as if he did rob and murder him: because there is no impe­diment in his will to the commission of it, but only in the outward circumstances. Nay though it be a mere Ens intentionale, or rationis, which is the object of the thought, yet the act of the mind is real, and as significant of the inclination of the Soul, as if the object were real too: As if a man hath an unclean motion at the sight of a picture, which is only a compo­sition of well mixed and well ordered colours: or at the appearance of the Idea of a beauty fram'd in his own phancy: 'tis as much uncleanness as if it were terminated in some suita­ble object, the hinderance being not in the will, but in the insufficiency of the object to concur in such an act. Now as the more delight there is in any holy service, the more pre­cious it is in it self, and more grateful to God: so the more pleasure there is in any sinful motion, the more malignity there is in it.

2. Contrivance. When the delight in the thought grows up to the contrivance of the act, (which is still the work of the thinking faculty:) When the mind doth brood upon a sinful motion, to hatch it up, and invents methods for performance: which the wise man calls artificial Inventions. So a learned man interprets [...], Mat. 15.19.Eccles. 7.29. [...] Dr. Hammond on Mat. 15.9. of contrivan­ces of murder, adultery, &c. And the word signifies properly reasonings. When mens wits play the Devils in their souls, in inventing sophistical reasons for the commission and justifi­cation of their crimes, with a mighty jollity at their own craft. Such plots are the trade of a wicked man's heart. A covetous man will be working in his inward shop from morning till night to study new methods for gain2 Pet. 2.14. [...], a heart exercis'd in covetous pra­ctices.: and voluptuous, and ambitious persons, will draw schemes and models in their fancy, of what they would outwardly accomplish: They con­ceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepares deceit, Job. 15.35. Hence the thoughts are called the counsels 1 Cor. 4.5. and devices Isa. 32.7, 8. of the heart: when the heart summons the head, and all the thoughts of it, to sit in debate, as a private Junto, about a sinful motion.

3. Re-acting sin after 'tis outwardly committed. Though the individual action be transient, and cannot be committed again: yet the Idea and Image of it remaining in the memory, may by the help of an apish fancy be repeated a thousand times over with a rarified pleasure: As both the features of our friends,Kimchi in 66; Psal. as quo­ted by Grotius in Mat. 5.20. Ʋt jam serva­ris bene corpus adultera mens est. Nec custodiri, ni velit, ille potest. Nec mentem servare potes, licet omnia claudas: Omnibus oc­clusis intus adulter erit. Ovid. Amor. l. 3. Eleg. 3. v. 5, &c. and the agreeable Conversations we have had with them may with a fresh relish be represented in our fancies, though the persons were rotten many years ago.

Having thus declared the nature of our thoughts, and the degrees of their guilt: the next thing is to prove that they are sins.

The Jews did not acknowledg them to be sins, unless they were blasphemous, and immedi­ately against God himself. Some Heathens were more Orthodox, and among the rest Ovid, whose amorous pleasures one would think should have smothered such sentiments in him. The Lord (whose knowledg is infallible) knows the thoughts of men that they are vanity, Psal. 94.11. yea, and of the wisest men too, according to the Apostle's Interpretation, 1 Cor. 3.20. And who were they that became vain in their Imaginations, but the wisest men the carnal world yielded? The Graecians the greatest Philosophers, the Aegyptians their Tutors, and the Romans their Apes. The elaborate operations of an unregenerate mind are fleshly, Rom. 8.5, 7. If the whole web be so, needs must every thread. The thought of foolishness is sin, Prov. 24.9. (i. e. a foolish thought; not objectively a thought of folly, but one formally so) yea, an abo­mination to God Prov. 1 [...].26.. As good thoughts and purposes are acts in God's account, so are bad ones. Abraham's intention to offer Isaac is accounted as an actual SacrificeHeb. 11.17. James 2.21.: that the stroke was not given, was not from any reluctance of Abraham's will, but the gracious indulgence of God. Sarah had a deriding thought, and God chargeth it as if it were an outward laughter, [Page 6] and a scornful word.Gen. 18.12, 15. Therefore Sarah laughed within her self, saying, [...] in visceribus suis, Targum. Rom. 7.7. I had not known lust, except the Law had said, Thou shalt not covet. Thoughts are the words of the mind, and as real in God's account, as if they were expressed with the Tongue.

There are three Reasons for the proof of this, that they are Sins.

1. They are contrary to the Law, which doth forbid the first foamings and belchings of the heart; because they arise from an habitual corruption, and testifie a defect of something, which the Law requires to be in us, to correct the excursions of our minds. Doth not the Law oblige man as a rational creature? Shall it then leave that part, which doth constitute him rational, to fleeting and giddy fancies? No, it binds the soul as the principal agent, the body only as the instrument. For if it were given only for the sensitive part, without any respect to the rational, it would concern brutes as well as men, which are as capable of a rational command, and a voluntary obedience, as man without the conduct of a rational soul. It exacts a conformity of the whole man to God, and prohibits a difformity; and therefore engageth chiefly the inward part, which is most the man. It must then extend to all the acts of the man, consequently to his thoughts, they being more the acts of the man than the motions of the body. Holiness is the prime excellency of the Law, a title ascribed to it twice in one Verse, Rom. 7.12. Wherefore the Law is holy, and the Commandment holy, just and good. Could it be holy, if it indulged looseness in the more noble part of the creature? Could it be just, if it favoured inward unrighteousness? Could it be good, and useful to man, which did not enjoyn a suitable conformity to God, wherein the creatures excellency lies? Can that deserve the title of a spiritual Law, that should only regulate the brutish part, and leave the spiritual to an unbounded licentiousness? Can perfection be ascribed to that Law,Mat. 5.28. which doth countenance the unsavoury breathings of the Spirit, and lay no stricter an obligation upon us than the Laws of men? Must not God's Laws be as suitable to his Soveraignty, as mens Laws are to theirs? Must they not then be as extensive as God's Do­minion, and reach even to the privatest closets of the heart? 'Tis not for the honour of God's holiness, righteousness, goodness, to let the Spirit, which bears more flourishing characters of his Image than the body, range wildly about without a legal curb.

2. They are contrary to the order of nature, and the design of our Creation. Whatsoever is a swerving from our primitive nature,Eccles 7.29. God made man perfect; but they have sought out ma­ny inventions. is sin, or at least a consequent of it. But all inclinations to sin are contrary to that righteousness, wherewith man was first endued. Man was creat­ed both with a disposition, and ability for holy contemplations of God; the first glances of his soul were pure; he came every way compleat out of the mint of his infinitely wise and good Creator; and when God pronounced all his Creatures good, he pronounced man very good amongst the rest. But man is not now as God created him, he is off from his end, his understanding is filled with lightness and vanity. This disorder never proceeded from the God of order; infinite goodness could never produce such an evil frame; none of these loose inventions were of God's planting, but of man's seeking. No, God never created the intellective, no, nor the sensitive part, to play Domitian's game, and sport it self in the catch­ing of Flies.Psal. 49.20. Gen. 3.6. Man that is in honour, and understands not that which he ought to understand, and thinks not that which he ought to think, is like the Beasts that perish: he plays the beast, because he acts contrary to the nature of a rational and immortal soul. And such brutes we all naturally are, since the first woman believed her sense, her phancy, her affection, in their directions for the attainment of wisdom, without consulting God's Law, or her own reason. The phancy was bound by the right of nature to serve the understanding: 'Tis then a slighting God's wisdom to invert this order, in making that our Governour which he made our Subject. 'Tis injustice to the dignity of our own souls, to degrade the nobler part to a sordid slavery; in making the brute have dominion over the man; as if the Horse were fittest to govern the Rider. 'Tis a falseness to God, and a breach of trust, to let our minds be imposed upon by our phancy; in giving them only feathers to dandle, and chaff to feed on, instead of those braver objects they were made to converse withal.

3. We are accountable to God, and punishable for thoughts. Nothing is the meritorious cause of God's wrath but sin. The Text tells us, that they were once the keys, which opened the floud­gates of divine vengeance and broach'd both the upper & neather Cisterns, to overflow the world. If they need a pardonActs 8.22. If perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee., (as certainly they do) then, if mercy doth not pardon them, justice will condemn them. And 'tis absolutely said, that a man of wicked devices Prov. 12.2. [...] A man of thoughts, i. e. evil thoughts: the word be­ing usually taken in an ill sense. [...]. [or thoughts] God will condemn. 'Tis God's prerogative, often mentioned in Scripture, to search the heart. To what purpose, if the acts of it did not fall under His censure, as well as His cognizance? He weighs the Spirits, Prov. 16.2. in the ballance of His Sanctuary, and by the weights of His Law, to sentence them, if they be found too light. The word doth discover, and judge them; Heb. 4.12, 13. It divides asunder the soul and spirit, the sensitive part the affections, and the rational the understanding and will; both which it doth dissect, and open, and judge the acts of them, even the thoughts and intents, [...], whatsoever is within the [...] and whatsoever is within the [...], the one referring to the Soul, the other to the Spirit: These it passeth a Judgment upon; as a Critick censures the Errata's, even to syllables, and Letters, in an old Manuscript. These we are to render an account of, (as the Syriack renders those words, v. 13. with whom we have to do.) Of what? Of the first bubblings of the heart, the motions, and intents of it. The least Speck and Atome of dust in every chink [Page 7] of this little world is known and censured by God. If our thoughts be not judg­ed, God would not be a righteous judge. He would not judge according to the me­rit of the cause, if outward actions were only scann'd, without regarding the intents, wherein the principle and end of every action lies, which either swell or diminish the malignity of it. Actions in kind the same, may have different circumstances in the thoughts to heighten the one above the other; and if they were only judged, the most painted hypo­crite might commence a blessed spirit at last, as well as the exactest Saint. 'Tis necessary also for the Glory of God's omniscience. 1 Cor. 4.5. 'Tis hereby chiefly that the extensiveness of God's knowledge is discovered, and that in order to the praise, or dispraise of men, viz. To their Justification or condemnation. Those very thoughts will accuse thee before God's Tribu­nal, which accuse thee here before conscience, His Deputy, Rom. 2.15, 16. Their thoughts the mean while (i. e. in this life, while conscience bears witness) accusing, or excusing one another; in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, i. e. and also at the day of judg­ment, when conscience shall give in its final Testimony, upon God's examination of the secret counsels. This place is properly meant of those reasonings concerning good and evil in men's Consciences, agreeable to the Law of nature imprinted on them, which shall excuse them, if they practise accordingly, or accuse them, if they behave themselves contrary thereunto. But it will hold in this Case; for if those inward approbations of the notions of good and evil will accuse us for our contrary practices,Non solum opus, sed mali operis cogitatio poenas luet. Hieron. in Hos [...] 7. Acts 8.22. they will also accuse us for our contrary thoughts. Our good thoughts will be our accusers for not observing them, and our bad thoughts will be indictments against us for complying with them. 'Tis proba­ble the Soul may be bound over to answer chiefly for these at the last day; for the Apostle chargeth Simon's guilt upon his thought, not his word, and tells him, pardon must be princi­pally granted for that. The tongue was only an Instrument to express what his heart did think, and would have been wholly innocent, had not his thoughts been first criminal. What therefore is the principal subject of pardon, would be so of punishment: as the first incendiaries in a rebellion are most severely dealt with. And if (as some think) the fallen Angels were stript of their primitive Glory, only for, a conceiv'd thought, how heinous must that be, which hath inrolled them in a remediless misery?

Having proved that there is a sinfulness in our thoughts, let us now see what provocation there is in them: Which in some respects is greater than that of our actions. But we must take actions here in sensu diviso, as distinguished from the inward preparations to them. In the one there is more of scandal; in the other more of odiousness to God. God indeed doth not punish thoughts so visibly, because, as He is Governour of the world, His Judgments are shot against those sins that disturb humane society: but He hath secret and spiritual Judg­ments for these, suitable to the nature of the sins.

Now thoughts are greater in respect,

2. Of frui [...]fulness. The wickedness that God saw great in the earth was the fruit of imaginations. They are the immediate causes of all sin. No Cockatrice but was first an Egg. It was a thought to be as GodGen. 3.5. 2 Cor. 11.3., that was the first breeder of all that sin, under which the world groans at this day; For Eve's mind was first beguiled in the alteration of her thought. Since that the lake of inward malignity acts all it's evil by these smoaking steams. Evil thoughts lead the van in our Saviour's Catalogue,Mat. 15.19. as that which spirits all the black regiment which march behind. As good motions cherish'd will spring up in good actions, so loose thoughts favoured will break out in visible plague-sores, and put fire unto all that wickedness which lyes habitually in the heart: as a spark may to a whole stock of Gun-powder.2 Tim. 2.16. The vain bab­blings of the soul, as well as those of the Tongue, will encrease to more ungodliness. Being thus the cause, they include virtually in them all that is in the effect; as a seed contains in its lit­tle body the leaves, fruit, colour, scent, which afterward appear in the plant. The seed in­cludes all, but the colour doth not virtually include the scent, or the scent the colour, or the leaves the fruit: so 'tis here, One act doth not include the formal obliquity of another: but the thought which caused it, doth seminally include both the formal & final obliquity of every action; both that which is in the nature of it, and in the end to which it tends. As when a Trades-man cherisheth immoderate thoughts of gain, and in the attaining it runs into many foolish and hurtful Lusts, there is cheating, lying, swearing, to put off the commodity:1 Tim. 6.9. all these several acts have a particular sinfulness in the nature of the acts themselves, besides the ten­dency they have to the satisfying an inordinate affection; all which are the spawn of those first immoderate thoughts stirring up greedy desires.

2. In respect of Quantity. Imaginations are said to be continually evil. There is an infinite variety of conceptions, as the Psalmist speaks of the Sea, wherein are all things creeping innumerable, both small and great, and a constant generation of whole shoals of them; that you may as well number the Fish in the Sea, or the Atomes in the Sun-beams, as recount them.

There is a greater number in regard of the acts, and in regard of the objects.

1. In regard of the acts of the mind:

1. Antecedent acts. How many preparatory motions of the mind are there to one wicked external act [...], &c. Plutarch. Mo­ral. p. (mihi) 500.? Yea, how many sinful thoughts are twisted together to produce one deliberate sinful word? All which have a distinct guilt, and, if weigh'd together, would outweigh [Page 8] the guilt of the action abstractedly considered. How many repeated complacencies in the first motion, degrees of consent, resolved broodings, secret plottings, proposals of various methods, smothering contrary checks, vehement longings, delightful hopes, and forestalled pleasures in the design? All which are but thoughts assenting, or dissenting in order to the act intended. Upon a dissection of all these secret motions by the critical power of the word, we should find a more monstrous guilt, than would be apparent in the single action, for whose sake all these spirits were raised. There may be no sin in a material act, considered in it self, when there is a provoking guilt in the mental motion. A Hypocrite's Religious services are materially good, but poisoned by the Imagination skulking in the heart, that gave birth unto them. 'Tis the wicked mind or thought makes the Sacrifice (a commanded duty) much more an abomination to the Lord.Prov. 21.27. [...] with a wicked thought. Ezek. 23.3, 19. Yet she multi­tiplied her whoredoms in calling to re­membrance the days of her youth, &c. v. 21. the lewd­ness of her youth.

2. Consequent acts; When a man's phancy is pregnant with the delightful remembrance of the sin that is past, he draws down a fresh guilt upon himself: as they did in the Prophet, in reviving the concurrence of the will to the act committed, making the sensual pleasure to commence spiritual, and (if ever there were an aking heart for it) revoking his former grief by a renewed approbation of his darling lust. Thus the sin of thoughts is greater in regard of duration. A man hath neither strength nor opportunity always to act, but he may always think; and imagination can supply the place of action. Or if the mind be tired with sucking one object, it can with the Bee presently fasten upon another. Senses are weary, till they have a new recruit of spirits: as the poor horse may sink under his burden, when the rider is as violent as ever. Thus old men may change their outward profaneness into mental wickedness; and as the Psalmist remembred his old songs, Psal. 77.5, 6. so they their calcin'd sins in the night, with an equal pleasure. So that you see there may be a thousand thoughts as ushers and lacqueys to one act, as numerous as the sparks of a new lighted fire.

2. In regard of the Objects the mind is conversant about. Such thoughts there are, and at­tended with a heavy guilt, which cannot probably, no nor possibly descend into outward acts. A man may in a complacent thought commit fornication with a woman in Spain, in a covetous thought rob another in the Indies, and in a revengeful thought stab a third in America; and that while he is in this Congregation. An unclean person may commit a men­tal folly with every beauty he meets. A covetous man cannot plunder a whole kingdom; but in one twinkling of a thought he may wish himself the possessor of all the estates in it. A Timon, a [...] cannot cut the throats of all the world; but like Nero, with one glance of his heart he may chop off the heads of all mankind at a blow. An Ambitious man's practices are confined to a small spot of land, but with a cast of his mind he may grasp an Empire as large as the four Monarchies. A beggar cannot ascend a throne; but in his thoughts he may pass the Guards, murder his Prince and usurp the Government. Nay further, an Atheist may think there is no God, Psal. 14.1. i. e. (as some interpret it) wish there were no God, and thus in thought undeifie God himself; though he may sooner dash heaven and earth in pieces, than accomplish it. The body is confined to one object, and that narrow and pro­portionable to its nature: but the mind can wing it self to various objects in all parts of the earth. Where it finds none, it can make one; for phancy can compact several objects together, coyn an image, colour a picture, and commit folly with it, when it hath done; It can nestle it self in cobwebs spun out of its own bowels.

3. In respect of Strength. Imaginations of the heart are only, i. e. purely evil. The nearer any thing is in union with the root, the more radical strength it hath. The first ebullitions of light and heat from the Sun are more vigorous, than the remoter beams: and the steams of a dunghil more noysom next that putrified body, than when they are dilated in the air. Grace is stronger in the heart-operations, than in the outward streams: and sin more foul in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart, than in the act, In the Text the outward wickedness of the world is passed over with a short expression; but the Holy Ghost dwells upon the description of the wicked Imagination, because there lay the mass. MansPsal. 5.9. [...] inward part is very wickednesses, a whole nest of vipers. Thoughts are the im­mediate spawn of the original corruption, and therefore partake more of the strength and nature of it. Acts are more distant, being the children of our thoughts, but the Grand­children of our natural pravity. Besides, they lye nearest to that wickedness in the inward part, sucking the breast of that poysonous dam that bred them. The strength of our thoughts is also reinforced by being kept in, for want of opportunity to act them: as liquors in close glasses ferment and encrease their spriteliness. Musing either carnal or spiritual, makes thePsal. 39.3. fire burn the hotter: as the fury of fire is doubled by being pent in a furnace. Outward acts are but the sprouts; the sap and juice lies in the wicked imagination or contrivance, which hath a strength in it to produce a thousand fruits as poysonous as the former. The members are the instruments, orRom. 6.13. [...]. weapons, of unrighteousness; now the whole strength which doth manage the weapon lyes in the arm that wields it, the weapon of it self could do no hurt without a force imprest. Let me add this too, that sin in thoughts is more sim­ply sin. In acts there may be some occasional good to others, for a good man will make use of the sight of sin committed by others to encrease his hatred of it: but in our sinful thoughts there is no occasion of good to others; they lying lock'd up from the view of man.

[Page 9]4. In respect of Alliance. In these we have the nearest communion with the Devil. The understanding of man is so tainted, that hisJam. 3.15. wisdom, the chiefest flower in it, is not only earthly and sensual (it were well if it were no worse) but devillish too. If the flower be so rank, what are the weeds? Satan's devices and our thoughts are of the same nature,1 Cor. 2.11. 2 Cor. 10.5. and some­times in Scripture exprest by the same word, [...]. As he hath his devices, so have we against the authority of God's Law, the power of the Gospel, and the Kingdom of Christ. The Devils are call'd spiritual wickednesses, because they are not capable of carnal sins.Eph. 6.12. Pro­phaneness is an Uniformity with the world, and intellectual sins are an Uniformity with the God of it, Ephes. 2.2, 3. There is a double walking, answerable to a double pattern in v. 2. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh is a walking according to the course of this world, or making the world our copy: and fulfilling the desires of the mind is a walking according to the Prince of the power of the air, or a making the Devil our pattern. In carnal sins Satan is a tempter, in mental an actor. Therefore in the one we are conformed to his will; in the other we are transformed into his likeness. In outward we evidence more of obedience to his laws; in inward more of affection to his person, as all imitations of others do. Therefore there is more of enmity to God, because more of similitude and love to the Devil; a nearer approach to the Diabolical nature implying a greater distance from the Divine. Christ never gave so black a character, as that of the Devil's children, to the prophane world, but to the Pharisees, who had left the sins of men to take up those of Devils, and were most guilty of those high imaginations which ought to be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

5. In respect of contrariety and odiousness to God. Imaginations were only evil; Rom. 8.7. and so most directly contrary to God, who is only good. Our natural enmity against God is seated in the mind. The sensitive part aims at its own gratification, and in mens serving their lusts they serve their pleasures; but the [...], the Prince in man,Titus 3.3. serving divers lusts and plea­sures. is possest with principles of a more direct contrariety; whence it must follow, that all the thoughts and counsels of it are tinctured with this hatred. They are indeed a defilement of the higher part of the Soul, and that which belongs more peculiarly to God. And the nearer any part doth approach to God, the more abominable is a spot upon it; as to cast dirt upon a Prince's house is not so heinous as to deface his Image. The understanding, the seat of thoughts, is more excel­lent than the will; both because we know and judge before we will, or ought to will only so much, as the understanding thinks fit to be willed; and because God hath bestowed the highest gifts upon it, adorning it with more lively lineaments of his own Image, Col. 3.10. Renewed in knowledge after the Image of Him that created him; implying, that there was more of the Image of God at the first Creation bestowed upon the understanding, the seat of knowledge, than on any other part; yea, than on all the bodies of men distill'd together. Father of Spirits is one of God's titles: To bespatter His Children then, so near a relation,Heb. 12.9. the Jewel that he is choice of, must needs be more heinous. He being the Father of Spi­rits, this spiritual wickedness of nourishing evil thoughts, is a cashiering all child-like like­ness to him. The traiterous acts of the mind are most offensive to God: as 'tis a greater despite for a Son, to whom the Father hath given the greater portion, to shut him out of his house, only to revel in it with a company of Rioters and Strumpets, than in a Child, who never was so much the subject of his Father's favour. And 'tis more heinous and odious, if these thoughts, which possess our Souls, be at any time conversant about some Idea of our own framing. It were not altogether so bad, if we loved something of God's creating, which had a physical goodness, and a real usefulness in it to allure us: but to run wildly to embrace an Ens rationis, to prefer a thing of no existence, but what is colour'd by our own imagination, of no vertue, no usefulness, a thing that God never created, nor pro­nounced good, is a greater enmity, and a higher slight of God.

6. In respect of Connaturalness and Voluntariness. [...]; Plu­tarch. Moral. [...]. Thales. Diog. Laert. They are the imaginations of the thoughts of the heart, and they are continually evil. They are as natural as the aestuations of the Sea, the bubblings of a Fountain, or the twinklings of the Stars. The more natural any motion is, ordinarily the quicker it is. Time is requisite to action, but thoughts have an instantaneous motion. The body is a heavy piece of clay, but the mind can start out on every occasion. Actions have their stated times and places; but these solicit us, and are en­tertain'd by us at all seasons. Neither day nor night, street nor closet, exchange nor temple, can priviledge us from them; We meet them at every turn, and they strike upon our Souls as often as light upon our Eyes. There is no restraint for them; the Laws of men, the constitution of the body, the interest of profit or credit, are mighty bars in the way of outward profaneness: but nothing lays the reins upon thoughts but the Law of God; and this man is not subject to, neither can be, Rom. 8.7. Besides, the natural Atheism in man is a special friend and nurse of these; few firmly believing either the omniscience of God, or his Government of the world; which the Scripture speaks of frequently, as the cause of most sins among the sons of men.Isa. 29.15. Ezek. 9.9. Job 22.13 14 Actions are done with some reluctance, and nips of natural conscience. Conscience will start at a gross temptation, but it is not frighted at thoughts. Men may commit speculative folly, and their conscience look on, without so much as a nod against it: Men may tear out their neighbours bowels in secret wishes, and their conscience never interpose to part the fray. Conscience indeed cannot take notice of [Page 10] all of them; they are too subtil in their nature, and too quick for the observation of a finite principle. They are many, Prov. 19.21. There are many devices in a man's heart. Florus l. 2. c. 3. Major aliquan­to labor erat invenire, quam vincere. and they are nimble too: like the bubblings of a boy­ling pot, or the rising of a wave, that presently slides into its level; and as Florus saith of the Ligurians, the difficulty is more to find, than conquer them. They are secret sins, and are no more discerned than motes in the air, without a spiritual sun-beam; whence David cryes out, Psal. 19.12. Cleanse me from secret sins: which some explain of sins of thoughts that were like sudden and frequent flashes of lightning, too quick for his notice, and un­known to himself. There is also more delight in them. There is less of temptation in them, and so more of election; and consequently more of the heart and pleasure in them, when they lodge with us. Acts of sin are troublesome, there is danger as well as pleasure in many of them: but there is no outward danger in thoughts; therefore the complacency is more compact, and free from distraction. The delight is more unmixed too; as intellectual pleasures are more refined than sensual. All these considerations will enchance the guilt of these inward operations.

The Uses shall be two, though many Inferences might be drawn from the point.

1. Reproof. What a mass of vanity should we find in our minds, if we could bring our thoughts in the space of one day, yea but one hour, to an account? How many foolish thoughts with our wisdom, ignorant with our knowledge, worldly with our heavenliness, hypocritical with our religion, and proud with our humiliations? Our hearts would be like a Grott; Ezek. 8.5, 10. furnished with monstrous and ridiculous pictures: or as the wall in Ezekiel's Vision pourtrayed with every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts; a greater abomination than the Image of Jealousie at the outward gate of the Altar. Were our in­wards opened, how should we stand gazing both with scorn, and wonder at our being such a pack of fools?Prov. 30.2. Well may we cry out with Agur, We have not the understandings of men: We make not the use of them, as is requisite for rational creatures; because we degrade them to attendances on a brutish phancy. I make no question, but were we able to know the phancies of some irrational creatures; we should find them more noble, heroick and ge­nerous in suo genere, than the thoughts of most men; more agreeable to their natures, and suited to the Law of their CreationPsal. 10.4. God is not in all his thoughts. How little is God in any of our thoughts, according to His excellency? No, our shops, our rents, our backs and bellies usurp God's room. If any thoughts of God do start up in us, how many covetous, ambitious, wanton, revengeful thoughts are jumbled together with them? Is it not a monstrous absurdity to place our friend with a crew of vipers, to lodge a King in a Sty, and entertain him with the fumes of a jakes and dunghil?Prov. 10.20. The tongue of the just is as choice silver, &c. Apud nos & engitare pecca­re est. Minu­cius Foelix. A wicked man's heart is little worth; all the pedling wares and works in his inward shop are not valuable with one silver drop from a gracious man's lips. It was an invincible argument of the Primitive Christians for the purity of the Christian Religion above all others in the world, that it did prohibit evil thoughts: And is it not as unanswer­able an argument that we are no Christians, if we give liberty to them? What is our mo­ral conversation outwardly, but only a bare abstinence from sin; not a disaffection? Were we really and altogether Christians, would not that which is the chiefest purity of Christianity, be our pleasure? And would we any more wrong God in our secret hearts, than in the open streets? Is not thought a beam of the mind, and shall it be enamour'd only on a dunghil? Is not the understanding the eye of the Soul, and shall it behold only guilded nothings? 'Tis the flower of the Spirit: Shall we let every Caterpillar suck it? 'Tis the Queen in us: [...]. Plat. Shall every Ruffian deflore it? 'Tis as the Sun in our Heaven; and shall we besmear it with misty phancies? It was created surely for better purposes, than to catch a thousand weight of Spiders (as Heliogabalus employ'd his Servants.Lampridius.) It was not intended to be made the common sewer of filthiness, or ranked among those [...], which eat not only fruit,Arist. Histor. animal. lib. 8. and flesh, but flies, worms, dung, and all sorts of loathsom materials. Let not therefore our minds wallow in a sink of phantastical follies; whereby to rob God of his due, and our Souls of their happiness.

Mirandul. de Imaginat. c. 7. Isa. 55.7. Let the wicked for­sake his way, and the unrigh­teous man his thoughts, &c. Gal. 5.24.2. Exhortation. We must take care for the suppression of them. All vice doth arise from imagination; Upon what stock doth ambition and revenge grow, but upon a false conceit of the nature of honour? What engenders covetousness, but a mistaken fancy of the excellency of wealth? Thoughts must be forsaken as well as our way; we cannot else have an evidence of a true conversion: and if we do not discard them, we are not like to have an abundant pardon; and what will the issue of that be, but an abundant punishment? Morti­fication must extend to these: Affections must be crucified, and all the little brats of thoughts, which beget them, or are begotten by them. Shall we nourish that, which brought down the wrath of God upon the old world; as though there had not been already sufficient ex­periments of the mischief they have done? Is it not our highest excellency to be conform'd to God in holiness, in as full a measure as our finite natures are capable? And is not God holy in his counsels and inward operations, as well as in his works? Hath God any thoughts but what are righteous and just? Therefore the more foolish and vain our imaginations are, the more are we alienated from the life of God. Eph. 4.17, 18. The Gentiles were so, because they walked in the vanity of their mind; and we shall be so if vanity walk and dwell in ours. As the tenth Commandment forbids all unlawful thoughts and desires: so it obligeth us to all thoughts and desires, that may make us agreeable to the divine Will, and like to God himself. [Page 11] We shall find great advantage by suppressing them: We can more easily resist temptations without, if we conquer motions within. Thoughts are the mutineers in the soul, which set open the gates for Satan: He hath held a secret intelligence with them (so far as he knows them) ever since the fall: and they are his spies to assist him in the execution of his devices. They prepare the tinder and the next fiery dart sets all on a flame. Can we cherish these, if we consider that Christ dyed for them? He shed his blood for that which put the world out of order? which was accomplished by the sinful imagination of the first man, and continued by those imaginations mention'd in the Text. He dyed to restore God to his right, and man to his happiness: neither of which can be perfectly attained, till those be thrown out of the possession of the heart.

That we may do this, Let us consider these following directions, which may be branched into these heads: 1. For the raising good thoughts. 2. Preventing bad. 3. Ordering bad when they do intrude. 4. Ordering good when they appear in us.

1. For raising good thoughts.

1. Get renewed hearts. The fountain must be cleansed which breeds the vermine. Pure vapors can never ascend from a filthy quagmire. What issue can there be of a vain heart,2 Cor. 5.17. Jer. 4.14. Wash thy heart from wicked­ness, &c. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? but vain imaginations? Thoughts will not become new, till a man is in Christ. We must be holy, before we can think holily. Sanctification is necessary for the dislodging of vain thoughts, and the introducing of good. A sanctified reason would both discover, and shame our natural follies. As all animal operations, so all the spiritual motions of our heads, de­pend upon the life of our heartsProv. 4.23 as the principium originis. As there is a law in our members to bring us into Captivity to the law of sin, Rom. 7.23. so there must be a law in our minds to bring our thoughts to the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor. 10.5. We must be renewed in the spirit of our minds, Ephes. 4.23. in our reasonings and thoughts, which are the spirits where­by the understanding acts; as the animal spirits are the instruments of corporeal motion. Till the understanding be born of the spirit John 3 6. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit, is spirit., it will delight in, and think of, nothing but things suitable to its fleshly original: but when 'tis spiritual, it receives new impressions, new reasonings and motions, suitable to the Holy Ghost, of whom it is born. A stone, if thrown upwards a thousand times, will fall backward; because 'tis a forced motion: but if the nature of this stone were changed into that of fire, it would mount as naturally up­ward, as before it sunk downward. You may force some thoughts toward heaven some­times, but they will not be natural, till nature be changed. Grace only gives stability, Heb. 13.9. It is a good thing that the heart be esta­blished with grace. and prevents fluctuation, by fixing the soul upon God as its chief end: and what is our end will not only be first in our intentions, but most frequent in our considerations. Hence a sancti­fied heart is called in Scripture a stedfast heart. There must be an enmity against Satan put into our hearts, according to the first promise, before we can have an enmity against his imps, or any thing that is like him.

2. Study Scripture. Original corruption stuffs us with bad thoughts, and Scripture-know­ledge would stock us with good ones; for it proposeth things in such terms, as exceeding­ly suit our imaginative faculty, as well as strengthen our understanding. Judicious knowledge would make us approve things that are excellent: and where such things are approved,Phil. 1.9, 10. toys cannot be welcom. Fulness is the cause of stedfastness. The cause of an intent and piercing eye is the multitude of animal spirits. Without this skill in the Word we shall have as foolish conceits of Divine things, as ignorant men without the Rules of Art have of the Sun and Stars, or things in other Countries which they never saw. The Word is call'd a Lamp to our feet, i. e. the affections: a light to our eyes, i. e, the understanding.Psa. 119.105. Psal. 19.8. enlightens the ey s. It will direct the glan­ces of our minds, and the motions of our affections. It enlightens the eyes, and makes us have a new prospect of things: as a Scholar newly entred into Logick, and studied the Predica­ments. &c. looks upon every thing with a new eye, and more rational thoughts, and is mightily delighted with every thing he sees; because he eyes them as clothed with those notions he hath newly studied. The Devil had not his engines so ready to assault Christ, as Christ from his knowledg had Scripture-precepts to oppose him.Lectione assi­dua & medi­tatione diutur­na pectus suum bibliothecam Christi secerat. Hierom Ep. 3. As our Saviour by this means stifled thoughts offered, so by the same we may be able to smother thoughts arising in us. Converse therefore often with the Scripture, transcribe it in your heart, and turn it in succum & sanguinem; whereby a vigor will be derived into every part of your soul, as there is by what you eat to every member of your body. Thus you will make your mind Christ's library, as Hierom speaks of Nepotianus.

3. Reflect often upon the frame of your mind at your first conversion. None have more settled, and more pleasant thoughts of divine things than new converts, when they first clasp about Christ; partly because of the novelty of their state, and partly because God puts a full stock into them; and diligent trades-men at their first setting up have their minds intent upon improving their stock. Endeavour to put your mind in the same posture it was then. Or if you cannot tell the time when you did first close with Christ, recollect those seasons wherein you have found your affections most fervent, your thoughts most united, and your mind most elevated; as when you renewed repentance upon any fall, or had some notable chearings from God; and consider what matter it was which carried your heart upward, what employment you were engaged in, [Page 12] when good thoughts did fill your soul; and try the same experiment again. Asaph would oppose God's ancient works to his murmuring thoughts: he would remember his song in the night, i. e. the matter of his song, and read over the records of God's kindness.Psal. 77.6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. David too would never forget, i. e. frequently renew the remembrance of those precepts, where­by God had particularly quicken'd him Psa. 119.93.. Yea, he would reflect upon the places too, where he had formerly conversed with God, to rescue himself from dejecting thoughts; therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Missar Psal. 42.6.. Some elevations surely David had felt in those places, the remembrance whereof would sweeten the sharpness of his present grief. When our former sins visit our minds, pleading to be speculatively reacted, let us remember the holy dispositions we had in our repentance for them,Luke 24.32. Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talk­ed with us by the way, and while he open­ed to us the Scriptures? and the thankful frames, when God pardoned them. The Disciples at Christ's se­cond appearance reflected upon their own warm temper at his first discourse with them in a disguise, to confirm their faith, and expel their unbelieving conceits. Strive to recollect truths, precepts, promises with the same affection which possest your Souls, when they first appeared in their glory and sweetness to you.

4. Ballast your heart with a Love to God. David thought all the day of God's Law, as other men do of their lusts, because he unexpressibly loved itPsal. 119.97, 113. O how I love thy Law! It is my meditation all the day. v. 113. I hate vain thoughts, but thy Law do I love. Aeneas oculis semper vigi­lantis inhaeret. Aenean ani­mo nóxque di­ [...]s [...]ue refert. Ovid. Ep. 7. [...]. Lucian. Dia­log. [...]. Chrysost.. This was the successful means he used to stifle vain thoughts, and excite his hatred of them, 'Tis the property of love to think no evil, 2 Cor. 13.5. It thinks good and delightful thoughts of God; friendly and useful thoughts of others. It fixeth the Image of our beloved object in our minds, that 'tis not in the power of other phancies to displace it. The beauty of an object will fasten a roll­ing eye. 'Tis difficult to divorce our hearts and thoughts from that which appears lovely and glorious in our minds, whether it be God or the world. Love will by a pleasing vio­lence bind down our thoughts, and hunt away other affections. If it doth not establish our minds, they will be like a Cork, which with a light breath, and a short curl of water, shall be tossed up and down from its station. Scholars that love learning, will be continually hammering upon some notion or other, which may further their progress, and as greedily clasp it, as the Iron will its beloved Loadstone, He that is wing'd with a divine love to Christ, will have frequent glances and flights towards him, and will start out from his worldly business, several times in a day, to give him a visit. Love in the very working is a settling grace; it encreaseth our delight in God, partly by the sight of his amiableness, which is clear'd to us in the very act of loving, and partly by the recompences he gives to the affectionate carriage of his creature; both which will stake down the heart from va­garies, or giving entertainment to such loose companions, as evil thoughts are. Well then, if we had this heavenly affection strong in us, it would not suffer unwholesom weeds to grow up so near it; either our Love would consume those weeds, or those weeds will choak our Love.

5. Exercise Faith. As the habit of Faith is attended with habitual Sanctification, so the acts of Faith are accompanied with a progress in the degrees of it. That Faith which brings Christ to dwell in our Souls, will make us often think of our inmate. Faith doth reallize divine things, and make absent objects as present; and so furnisheth fancy with richer streams to bathe it self in, than any other principle in the world. As there is a necessity of the use of fancy, while the soul is linked to the body; so there is also a necessity of a cor­rective for it.Mirand. de Imaginat. c. 11, 12. Reason doth in part regulate it, but 'tis too weak to do it perfectly, because fancy in most men is stronger than reason; man being the highest of imaginative beings, and the lowest of intelligent; fancy is in its exaltation more than in creatures beneath him, and reason in its detriment more than in creatures above him; and therefore the imaginati­on needs a more skilful guide than reason. Fancy is like fire, a good Servant but a bad Master; if it march under the conduct of faith, it may be highly serviceable, and by putting lively colours upon divine truth may steal away our affections to it.Psal. 42.5. Why art thou cast down, Oh my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. viz. not by a corporeal, but intellectual eye; and so it will supply the office of sense: 'Tis the substance of things hoped for; and if hope be an attendant on faith, our thoughts will surely follow our expectations. The remedy David used, when he was almost stifled with disquieting thoughts, was to excite his soul to a hope and confidence in God, Psal. 42.5. and when they return'd upon him, he useth the same diversion, v. 11. The peace of God, i. e. the reconciliation made by a Mediator between God and us believingly apprehended, will keep [or garrison] our hearts and minds [or thoughts] against all anxious assaults both from within and withoutPhil. 4.6, 7. [...].. When any vain conceit creeps up in you, act faith on the intercession of Christ; and consider, Is Christ thinking of me now in Heaven, and pleading for me, and shall I squander away my thoughts on trifles, which will cost me both tears and blushes? Be­lievingly meditate on the promises; they are a means to cleanse us from the filthiness of the spi­rit, as well as that of the flesh 2 Cor. 7.1. Having there­fore these pro­mises, let us cleanse our selves, &c.. If the having them be a motive, the using them will be a means to attain this end. Looking at the things that are not seen, preserves us from fainting, and renews the inward man day by day 2 Cor. 4.16, 18. Intus existens prohibet alie­num.. These invisible things could not well keep our hearts from fainting, if faith did not first keep the thoughts from wandring from them.

6. Accustom your self to a serious meditation every morning. Fresh airing our souls in Hea­ven will engender in us purer spirits, and nobler thoughts. A morning seasoning would secure us for all the day. Though other necessary thoughts about our callings will, and [Page 13] must come in, yet when we have dispatch'd them, let us attend our morning Theme as our chief companion. As a man that is going with another about some considerable business, suppose to Westminster, though he meets with several friends in the way, and sa­lutes some, and with others with whom he hath some affairs he spends a little time, yet he quickly returns to his companion, and both together go their intended stage. Do thus in the present case. Our minds are active, and will be doing something though to little purpose, and if they be not fixed upon some noble object, they will like mad men and fools be mightily pleased in playing with straws.Psal. 139.17, 18. The thoughts of God were the first Visiters David had in the morning; God and his heart met together as soon as he was awake, and kept company all the day after. In this meditation look both to the matter and manner.

1. Look to the matter of your meditation. Let it be some truth, which will assist you in re­viving some languishing grace, or fortifie you against some triumphing corruption; for 'tis our darling sin which doth most envenom our thoughtsProv. 23.7. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.. As if you have a thirst for honour, let your fancy represent the honour of being a child of God and heir of Heaven. If you are inclined to covetousness, think of the riches stored up in a Saviour, and dispens­ed by him. If to voluptuousness, fancy the pleasures in the ways of wisdom here, and at God's right hand hereafter. This is to deal with our hearts as Paul with his hearers,The heads of the Catechism might be taken in order, which would both en­crease and actuate our knowledge. Psal. 40.5. to catch them with guile. Stake your soul down to some serious and profitable mystery of Religion; as the Majesty of God, some particular Attribute, his condescension in Christ, the love of our Redeemer, the value of his sufferings, the vertue of his blood, the end of his ascen­sion, the work of the Spirit, the excellency of the soul, beauty of holiness, certainty of death, terror of judgment, torments of Hell, and joys of Heaven. Why may not that which was the subject of God's innumerable thoughts, be the subject of ours? God's thoughts and coun­sels were concerning Christ, the end of his coming, his death, his precepts of holiness, and promises of life; and that not only speculatively, but with an infinite pleasure in his own glory, & the creatures good to be accomplished by him. Would it not be work enough for our thoughts all the day to travel over the length, breadth, height, and depth of the love of Christ? Would the greatness of the journey give us leisure to make any starts out of the way? Having settled the Theme for all the day, we shall find occasional assistances, even from worldly businesses; as Scholars, who have some Exercise to make, find helps in their own course of reading, though the Book hath no design'd respect to their proper Theme. Thus by imploying our minds about one thing chiefly, we shall not only hinder them from vain excursions, but make even common objects to be oyl to our good thoughts, which otherwise would have been fuel for our bad. Such generous liquor would scent our minds and conversations all the day; that whatsoever motion came into our hearts, would be tinctured with this spirit, and savour of our morning thoughts: as vessels having been filled with a rich wine, communicate a relish of it to the liquors afterward put into them. We might also more steadily go about our worldly business, if we carry God in our minds; as o [...]e foot of the Compass will more regularly move about the Circumference, when the other remains firm in the Center.

2. Look to the manner of it.

1. Let it be intent. Transitory thoughts are like the glances of the eye, soon on, and soon off; they make no clear discovery, and consequently raise no spritely affections. Let it be one principal subject, and without flitting from it; for if our thoughts be unsteady, we shall find but little warmth: a burning glass often shifted fires nothing. We must look at the things that are not seen, as wistly as men do at a mark they shoot at.2 Cor. 4.18. [...], 2 Cor. 3.18. Such an intent meditation would change us into the image, and cast us into the mould of those truths we think of; it would make our minds more busie about them all the day: as a glaring upon the Sun fills our eyes for some time after with the image of it. To this purpose look upon your selves as deeply concern'd in the things you think of. Our minds dwell upon that whereof we apprehend an absolute necessity. A condemned person would scarce think of any thing but procuring a reprieve, and his earnestness for this would bar the door against other intruders.

2. Let it be affectionate and practical. Meditation should excite a spiritual delight in God, as it did in the Psalmist Psa. 104.34. My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord.; and a divine delight would keep up good thoughts, and keep out impertinencies. A bare speculation will tire the Soul, and without application, and pressing upon the will and affections, will rather chill, than warm devotion. 'Tis only by this means, that we shall have the efficacy of truth in our wills, and the sweetness in our affections, as well as the notion of it in our understandings. The more operative any truth is in this manner upon us, the less power will other thoughts have to interrupt, and the more disdainfully will the heart look upon them, if they dare be impudent. Never therefore leave thinking of a spiritual subject, till your heart be affected with it. If you think of the evil of sin, leave not till your heart loath it; if of God, cease not till it mount up in admirations of him. If you think of his Mercy, melt for abusing it; if of his Soveraignty, awe your heart into obedient resolutions; if of his Presence, double your watch over your self. If you meditate on Christ, make no end till your hearts love him; if of his Death, plead the value of it for the justification of your persons, and apply the vertue of it for the sanctification of your natures. Without this practical stamp upon our affections, we shall [Page 14] have light spirits, while we have opportunity to converse with the most serious objects. We often hear foolish thoughts breathing out themselves in a house of mourning, in the midst of Coffins, and trophies of death, as if men were confident they should never die; whereas none are so ridiculous as to assert they shall live for ever. By this instance in a Truth so certainly assented to, we may judg of the necessity of this direction in truths more doubtfully believed.

7. Draw spiritual Inferences from occasional Objects. David did but wistly consider the Hea­vens,Psal. 8.3, 4. and he breaks out in self-abasement, and humble admirations of God. Glean matter of instruction to your selves, and praise to your Maker, from every thing you see: It will be a degree of restoration to a state of innocency, since this was Adam's task in Paradise. Dwell not upon any created object only as a Virtuoso, to gratifie your rational curiosity, but as a Christian call Religion to the feast, and make a spiritual improvement. No creature can meet our eyes, but affords us lessons worthy our thoughts, besides the general notices of the power and wisdom of the Creator. Thus may the Sheep read us a Lecture of pa­tience, the Dove of innocence, the Ant and Bee raise blushes in us for our sluggishness, and the stupid Oxe,Isa. 1.3. and dull Ass correct and shame our ungrateful ignorance. And since our Saviour did set forth his own excellency in a sensible dress, the consideration of those Me­taphors by an acute fancy, would garnish out divine truths more deliciously, and conduct us into a more inward knowledge of the Mysteries of the Gospel. He whose eyes are open, cannot want an instructer, unless he wants a heart. Thus may a Tradesman spiritualize the matter he works upon, and make his commodities serve in wholsom meditations to his mind, and at once enrich both his Soul and his Coffers; yea, and in part restore the crea­tures to the happiness of answering a great end of their Creation, which Man depriv'd them of when he subjected them to vanity. Such a view of spiritual truths in sensible pictures would clear our knowledge, purifie our fancies, animate our affections, encourage our graces, disgrace our vices, and both argue and shame us into duty; and thus take away all the causes of our wild wandring thoughts at once. And a frequent exercise of this method would beget and support a habit of thinking well, and weaken, if not expel, a habit of think­ing ill.

2. The second sort of directions are for the preventing bad thoughts. And to this pur­pose,

1. Exercise frequent humiliations. Pride exposeth us to impatient and disquieting thoughts;Prov. 30.32. whereas humility clears up a calm and serenity in the Soul. 'Tis Agur's advice to be humbled particularly for evil thoughts. Frequent humiliations will deaden the fire within, and make the sparks the fewer. The deeper the Plough sinks, the more the weeds are killed, and the ground fitted for good grain. Men do not easily fall into those sins, for which they have been deeply humbled. Vain conceits love to reside most in jolly hearts: but by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. Eccles. 7.3, 4. There is more of wisdom, or wise consideration in a composed and graciously mournful spirit, whereas carnal mirth and sports cause the heart to evaporate into lightness and folly. The more we are humbled for them, the more our hatred of them will be fomented; and consequently the more prepa­red shall we be to give them a repulse upon any bold intrusion.

2. Avoid entangling your selves with the world. This clay will clog our minds, and a dirty happiness will engender but dirty thoughts.Lutea faelici­tas. Aug. de Civ. Dei. l. 10. Who were so foolish to have inward thoughts that their houses should continue for ever, but those that trusted in their riches Psal. 49.6, 11. 1 Tim. 6.9.? If the world possess our Souls, it will breed carking thoughts: much business meets with crosses, and then it breeds murmuring thoughts; and sometimes it is crown'd with success, and then it starts proud and self-applauding thoughts. Those that will be rich fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts; such lusts that make men fools; and one part of folly is to have wild and sensless fancies. Mists and fogs are in the lower Region near the Earth, but reach not that next the Heavens. Were we free from earthly affections, these gross vapours could not so easily disturb our minds; but if the World once settle in our hearts, we shall never want the fumes of it to fill our heads. And as covetous desires will stuff us with foolish imaginations, so they will smother any good thought cast into us; as the thorns of worldly cares choak'd the good seed, and made it unfruitful, Matth. 13.22. As we are to rejoyce in the World as though we rejoyced not; so, by the same reason, we should think of the World as though we thought not.Rom. 12.2. A conformity with the World in affection is inconsistent with a change of the frame of the mind.

3. Avoid Idleness. Serious Callings do naturally compose mens spirits; but too much Recreation makes them blaze out in vanity. Idle souls, as well as idle persons, will be ranging. As Idleness in a State is both the Mother and Nurse of Faction; and in the natu­ral body gives birth and encrease to many diseases, by enfeebling the natural heat: so it both kindles and foments many light and unprofitable imaginations in the soul, which would be sufficiently diverted, if the active mind were kept intent upon some stated work. So truly may that which was said of the servant,Mat. 25 26. T [...]ou wicked and slothful servant. Mat. 13.25. be applied to our nobler part, that it will be wicked, if once it degenerates into slothfulness in its proper charge. As empty minds are the fittest subjects for extravagant fooleries; so vacant times are the fittest seasons. While we sleep, the importunate enemy within, as well as the envious adversary without us, will have [Page 15] a successful opportunity to sow the tares; whereas a constant imployment frustrates the attempt, and discourageth the Devil, because he sees we are not at leisure. Therefore when any sinful motion steps in, double thy vigour about thy present business, and the foolish im­pertinent will sneak out of thy heart at this discountenance. So true is that in this case, which Pharaoh falsly imagined in another, that the more we labour, the less we shall re­gard vain words Exod. 5.9.. As Satan is prevented by diligence in our Callings, so sometimes the Spirit visits us, and fills us with holy affections at such seasons; as Christ appeared to Peter and other Disciples, when they were a fishingJoh. 21.3, 4.; and usually manifested his grace to men, when they were engaged in their useful businesses, or religious services. But these motions (as we may observe by the way) which come from the Spirit, are not to put us out of our way, but to assist us in our walking in it, and further us both in our attendance on, and success in our duties. To this end look upon the work of your Callings as the work of God, which ought to be done in obedience to Him; as He hath set you to be useful in the community. Thus a holy exercise of our Callings would sanctifie our minds, and by prepossessing them with solid business, we should leave little room for any Spider to weave its Cobwebs.

4. Awe your hearts with the thoughts of God's Omniscience, especially the discovery of it at the last Judgment. We are very much Atheists in the concern of this Attribute: for though it be notionally believed, yet for the most part it is practically deny'd. God understands all our thoughts afar off Psa. 139.2.: as He knew every creature, which lay hid in the Chaos, and undi­gested lump of matter. God is in us all Eph. 4.6.; as much in us all, as He is above us all; yea in every creek, and chink, and point of our hearts. Not an Atom in the spirits of all men in the world, but is obvious to that All-seeing Eye, which knows every one of those things that come into our minds Ezek. 11.5.. God knows both the order and confusion of them, and can better tell their natures one by one, than Adam named the creatures. Fancy then, that you hear the sound of the last Trumpet, that you see God's Tribunal set, and His Omniscience calling out singly all the secrets of your heart. Would not the consideration of this allay the heat of all other imaginations? If a foolish thought break in, consider, What if God, who knows this, should presently call me to Judgment for this sinful glance? Say with the Church, Shall not God search this out? Is it fit either for God's glory, or our interest,Psal. 44.21. that when he comes to make inquisition in us, He should find such a nasty dunghil, and swarms of Aegyptian Lice and Frogs creeping up and down our Chambers? Were our heads and hearts possest by this substantial truth, we should be ashamed to think, what we shall be ashamed to own at the last day.

5. Keep a constant watch over your hearts. Psal. 141.3. David desires God to set a watch before the door of his lips; much more should we desire that God would keep the door of our hearts. We should have grace stand Sentinel there especially; for words have an outward bridle, they may disgrace a man, and impair his interest and credit, but thoughts are unknown, if un­discovered by words. If a man knew what time the Thief would come to rob him, he would watch. We know we have Thieves within us to steal away our hearts; therefore when they are so near us, we should watch against a surprize, and the more carefully, because they are so extraordinary sudden in their rise, and quick in their motion. Our minds are like idle School-Boys, that will be frisking from one place to another, if the Master's back be turned, and playing instead of learning. Let a strict hand be kept over our affections, those wild beasts within us; [...]. Plato. because they many times force the understanding to pass a judg­ment according to their pleasure, not its own sentiment. Young men should be most intent upon their guard, because their fancies gather vigor from their youthful heat, which fires a world of squibs in a day; (which mad-men, and those which have hot diseases are sub­ject to, because of the excessive inflammation of their brains): and partly because they are not sprung up to a maturity of knowledge, which would breed and foster better thoughts, and discover the plausible pretences of vain affections. There are particular seasons where­in we must double our guard; as when Incentives are present, that may set some inward corruption on a flame. Timothy's Office was to exhort younger, as well as elder women:1 Tim. 5.2. [...]. and the Apostle wisheth him to do it with all purity or chastity, that a temptation, lying in ambush for him, might not take his thoughts and affections unguarded. Engage thy diligence more at solitary times, and in the night; wherein freedom from business gives an opportunity to an unsanctified imagination, to conjure up a thousand evil spirits: whence perhaps it is that the Psalmist tells us, God had tryed him in the night, and found him holy.Psal. 17.3. Gen. 19.30. Cellulam mea­rum cogitatio­num pertimes­cebam. Hie­ron. The solitary Cave tainted Lot with Incest, who had preserved himself fresh in the midst of the salt lusts of Sodom. In ill company, wherein we may be occasionally cast, there is need of an exacter observation of our hearts; lest corrupt steams, which rise from them, as vapours, from Lakes and Minerals, being breath'd in by us, may tincture our spirits; or as those [...], which (as Physicians tell us) exhaling from consumptive persons, do by inspiration steal into our blood, and convey a contagion to us. And though above all keepings and watchings we are to keep and watch our hearts, because out of them are the issues of life; Prov. 4.23. yet we must walk the rounds about our senses, and members of the body, as the wise man there adviseth, v. 24. the mouth which utters wickedness; the eyes, v. 25. which are Brokers to make bargains for the heart; and v. 26. the feet which are Agents to run on the errands [Page 16] of sin. And the rather must we watch over our senses, because we are naturally more rea­dy to follow the motions of them, as having had a longer acquaintance and familiarity with them before we grew up to the use of reason.Plotinus de­scribes thoughts thus; [...]. En­nead. 1. lib. Cor & oculi sunt proxenetae peccati. Besides, most of our thoughts creep in first at the windows of sense: The Eye and the Ear robb'd Eve of original righteousness: and the Eye rifled David both of his Justice and Chastity. If the Eyes behold strange women, the heart will utter perverse things, Prov. 23.33. Perverse thoughts will sparkle from a rolling Eye. Revel-rout is usual where there is a negligent Government. He that hath no rule over his own spirit, is like a City that is broken down, and without walls Prov. 25.28., where any Thieves may go in and out at pleasure.

3. The third sort of directions are for the ordering of evil thoughts, when they do in­trude; and,

1. Examine them. Look often into your heart to see what it is doing: and what thoughts you find dabling in it, call to an account: enquire what business they have, what their er­rand and design is,Psal. 42.11. Why art thou disquieted, O my soul? whence they come, and whither they tend. David askt his soul the rea­son of its troubled thoughts; so ask thy heart the reason why it entertains such ill company, and by what authority they come there, and leave not chiding, till thou hast put it to the blush. Bring every thought to the test of the Word. Asaph had envious thoughts at the prosperity of the wicked, Psal. 73.2, 3. which had almost tript him up, and laid him on his back. And these had blown up Atheistical thoughts that God did not much regard, whe­ther his commands were kept or no; as though God had untied the link between duty and reward, and the breach of his laws were the readiest means to a favourable recompence; v. 13. I have cleansed my hands in vain. But when he weighed things in the ballance of the sanctuary, by the holy rules of God's patience and Justice, v. 17. He sees the brutishness of his former conceits; v 22. So foolish was I and ignorant, I was as a beast before thee; and v. 25. he makes an improvement of them to excite his desire for God, and delight in Him. Let us compare our thoughts with Scripture-rules. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual, is the way to understand them; comparing spiritual sins with spiritual commands, is the way to know them; and comparing spiritual vices with spiritual graces, is the way to loath them. Take not then any thing upon trust from a crazy fancy: nor, without a scrutiny, believe that faculty, whereby dogs dream, and animals perform their natural exploits.

2. Check them at the first appearance. If they bear upon them a palpable mark of sin, be­stow not upon them the honour of an examination. If the leprosie appear in their foreheads, thrust them as the Priests did Ʋzziah out of the Temple: or as David answered his wicked sollicitors, Psal. 119.115. Depart from me ye evil doers: for I will keep the commandments of my God. Though we cannot hinder them from haunting us, yet we may from lodging in us. The very sparkling of an abominable motion in our hearts is as little to be look'd upon, as the colour of wine in a glass by a man inclined to drunkenness. Quench them instantly, as you would do a spark of fire in a heap of straw. We must not treat with them: Paul's re­solve is a good pattern,His Annibal virtute, non morâ frangi­tur. not to confer with flesh and blood Gal. 1.16.. We do not debate whether we should shake a viper off our hands. If it be plainly a sinful motion, a treaty with it is a de­gree of disobedience; for a putting it to the question whether we should suckle it, is to question whether God should be obeyed or no. If it savour not of the things of God, hear not its reasons, and complement it with no less indignation than our Saviour did his offici­ous Disciple upon his carnal advice; Get thee behind me Satan, Mat. 16.22, 23. Excuse it not, because 'tis little: Small vapours may compact themselves into great clouds, and obstruct our sight of heaven: a little poison may spread its venom through a great quan­tity of meat.Ex hinc nota est infirmitas mea: quia mul­to faciliùs ir­ruunt abomi­nandae phanta­siae quam dis­cedunt. Kemp. de Imit. Chr. lib. 3. cap. 20. We know not how big a small motion, like a Crocodile's egg, may grow, and how ravenous the breed may prove: it may, if entertain'd, force our Judgment, drag our Will, and make all our affections Bedlams. Besides, since the Fancy is that Power in us upon which the Devil can immediately imprint his suggestions, and that we know not what ar­my he hath to back any sinful motion, if once the gate be set open; let us crush the brat be­times, and fling the head over the wall to discourage the party. Well then, let us be asham­ed to cherish that in our thoughts, which we should be ashamed should break out in our words or actions: therefore as soon as you perceive it base, spit it out with detestation: as you do a thing you unexpectedly find ungrateful to your Palate.

3. Improve them. Poisons may be made medicinable. Let the thoughts of old sins stir up a commotion of anger and hatred. We feel shiverings in our spirits, and a motion in our blood at the very thought of a bitter Potion we have formerly taken: why may we not do that spiritually, which the very frame and constitution of our bodies doth naturally, upon the calling a lothsom thing to mind? The Romans sins were transient, but the shame was renewed every time they reflected on themRom. 6.21. Whereof you are now ashamed.: they reacted a detestation instead of the pleasure: so should the revivings of old sins in our memories be entertain'd with our sighs, rather than our joy. We should also manage the opportunity so as to promote some further degrees of our conversionPsal. 119.59. I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testi­monies.. There is not the most hellish motion, but we may strike some sparks from it, to kindle our love to God, renew our repentance, raise our thankfulness, or quicken our obedience. Is it a blasphemous motion against God? It gives you a just occa­sion thence to awe your heart into a deeper reverence of His Majesty. Is it a lustful thought? Open the floud-gates of your godly sorrow, and groan for your original sin. Is it a remem­brance [Page 17] of your former sin? Let it wind up your heart in the praises of him, who delivered you from it. Is it to tempt you from duty? Endeavour to be more zealous in the perfor­mance of it. Is it to set you at a distance from God? Resolve to be a light shining the clea­rer in that darkness, and let it excite you to a closer adherence to him. Are they envious thoughts which steal upon you? Let thankfulness be the product, that you enjoy so much as you do, and more than you deserve. Let Satan's fiery darts enflame your love rather than your Lust, and like a skilful Pilot, make use of the violence of the winds, and raging of the Sea to further you in your spiritual voyage. This is to beat the Devil and our own hearts with their own weapons; who will have little stomach to fight with those arms, wherewith they see themselves wounded. There is not a remembrance of the worst objects but may be improved to humility and thankfulness; as St. Paul never thought of his old persecuting, but he sank down in humiliation, and mounted up in admirations of the riches of grace.

4. Continue your resistance, if they still importune thee; and lay not down thy weapons till they wholly shrink from thee. As the wise man speaks of a fool's words,Eccles. 10.13. so I may not only of our blacker, but our more aerial phancies, The beginning of them is foolishness, but if suf­fered to gather strength, they may end in mischievous madness; therefore if they do continue, or reassume their arms, we must continue and reassume our shield Eph. 6.16. Above all ta­king the shield of faith. [...], taking up a­gain.. Resistance makes the Devil and his imps fly: but forbearance makes them impudent. In a battel when one par­ty faints and retreats, it adds new spirits to the enemy that was almost broken before: so will these motions be the more vigorous, if they perceive we begin to flag. That encou­raging command, Resist the Devil, and he will flye from you Jam. 4.7., implies not only the beginning a fight, but continuance in it, till he doth fly. We must not leave the field, till they cease their importunity; nor encrease their courage by our own cowardise.

5. Joyn Supplication with your opposition. Watch and pray are sometimes linkt togetherMat. 26.41.. The diligence and multitude of our enemies should urge us to watch, that we be not sur­priz'd; and our own weakness and proneness to presumption should make us pray, that we may be powerfully assisted. Be as frequent in solliciting God, as they are in solliciting you: as they knock at your heart for entrance, so do you knock at heaven for assistance. And take this for your comfort, As the Devil takes their parts, so Christ will take yours at his Father's Throne; he that pray'd that the Devil might not winnow Peter's faith, will in­tercede that your own heart may not winnow yours. If the waves come upon you, and you are ready to sink, cry out with Peter, Master I perish; and you shall feel his hand rai­sing you, and the winds and waves rebuked into obedience by him. The very motion of your hearts heaven-ward at such a time is a refusal of the thought that presseth upon you, and will be so put upon your account. When any of these buzzing flies discompose you, or more violent hurricanes shake your minds, cry out with David, Psa. 86.11, 12. Ʋnite my heart to fear thy Name; and a powerful word will soon silence these disturbing enemies, and settle your souls in a calm, and a praising posture.

4. A fourth sort of directions is concerning good motions; whether they spring natural­ly from a gracious principle, or are peculiarly breath'd in by the spirit. There are ordi­nary bubblings of grace in a renewed mind, as there are of sins in an unregenerate heart; for grace is as active a principle as any, because 'tis a participation of the divine nature. But there are other thoughts darted in beyond the ordinary strain of thinking: which like the beams of the Sun, evidence both themselves and their original. And as concerning these motions joyn'd together, take these Directions in short.

1. Welcom and entertain them. As 'tis our happiness, as well as our duty, to stifle evil mo­tions: so 'tis our misery, as well as our sin, to extinguish heavenly. Strange fire should be presently quench'd, but that which descends from heaven upon the Altar of a holy soul, [...]. Po­lycarp. Epist. ad Phil. terms holy persons. must be kept alive by quickning meditation. When a holy thought lights suddenly upon you, which hath no connexion with any antecedent business in your mind (provided it be not unseasonable, nor hinder you from any absolutely necessary duty either of religion, or your calling) receive it as a messenger from heaven: and the rather because 'tis a stranger. You know not but you may entertain an Angel, yea, something greater than an Angel, even the Holy Ghost. Open all the powers of your souls, like so many Organ-pipes, to re­ceive the breath of this Spirit when he blows upon you. 'Tis a sign of an agreeableness between the heart and heaven, when we close with, and preserve spiritual motions. We need not stand long to examine them: they are evident by their holiness, sweetness, and spirituality. We may as easily discern them, as we can exotick plants from those that grow naturally in our own soil: or as a palate at the first tast can distinguish between a rich and generous wine, and a rough water. The thoughts instill'd by the Spirit of adoption are not violent, tumultuous, full of perturbation: but, like himself, gentle and dove-like solicitings,Gal. 5.22. warm and holy impulses, and (when cherished) leave the soul in a more humble, heaven­ly, pure, and believing temper than they found it. 'Tis a high aggravation of sin to resist the Holy Ghost, Acts 7.51. Yet we may quench his motions by neglect, as well as by opposi­tion, and by that means lose both the profit and pleasure, which would have attended the entertainment. Salvation came both to Zacheus his house and heart, upon embracing the first motion our Saviour was pleased to make him; Had he slighted that, 'tis uncertain whether another should have been bestowed upon him. The more such sprouts are plant­ed [Page 18] and nourished in us, the less room will stinking weeds have to root themselves, and dis­perse their influence. And for thy own good thoughts, feed them and keep them alive, that they may not be like a blaze of straw which takes birth, and expires the same minute. Brood upon them, and kill them not, as some birds do their young ones, by too often fly­ing from their nests. David kept up a staple of sound and good thoughts: he would scarce else have desired God to try and know them, Psal. 139.23. T [...]y me and know my thoughts. had they been only some few weak flashes at uncertain times.

2. Improve them for those ends, to which they naturally tend. 'Tis not enough to give them a bare reception, and forbear the smothering of them; but we must consider what affections are proper to be rais'd by them, either in the search of some truth, or per­formance of some duty. Those gleams, with shoot into us on the sudden, have some lesson seal'd up in them, to be opened, and learned by us. When Peter upon the crowing of the cock call'd to mind his Master's admonition, he thought thereon and wept: Mar. 14 72. he did not only receive the spark, but kindled a suitable affection. A choice graff, though kept very care­fully by us, yet if not presently set, will wither, and disappoint our expectation of the desired fruit. No man is without some secret whispers to disswade him from some alluring and bu­sie sinJob 33.14, 17. God speaks once, yea, twice, that he may withdraw man from his purpose.; as Cain had by an audible voice, Gen. 4.7. which had he observed to the damp­ing the revengeful motion against his brother, he had prevented his brother's death, his own despair, and eternal ruin. Have you any motion to seek God's face, as David had? Let your hearts reply, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Psal. 27.8. The address will be most acceptable at such a time, when your heart is tuned by One, that searcheth the deep things of God, 1 Cor. 2.10. and knows his mind, and what airs are most delightful to Him. Let our motion be quick in any duty which the Spirit doth suggest; and while he heaves our hearts, and oyls our wheels, we shall do more in any religious service, and that more pleasantly and successfully, than at another time with all our own art and industry; for his injections are like water poured into a pump to raise up more; and as Satan's motions are not without a main body to se­cond them, so neither do the Spirit's go unattended, without a sufficient strength to assist the entertainers of them. Well then, lye not at anchor, when a fresh gale would fill thy sails, but lay hold of the present opportunity. These seasons are often like those influences from certain conjunctions of the Planets, which if not (according to the Astrologer's opini­on) presently applied, pass away, and return not again in many ages: So the Spirit's breath­ings are often determined, that if they be not entertained with suitable affections, the time will be unregainable, and the same gracious opportunities of a sweet entercourse may be for ever lost; for God will not have his holy Spirit dishonoured in always striving with wilful man.Gen. 6.3. When Judas neglected our Saviour's advertisement, John 13.21. the Devil quickly enters and hurries him to the execution of his traiterous project, v. 27. and he never meets with any motion afterwards, but from his new Master, and that eternally fatal both to his body and soul.

3. Refer them, if possible, to assist your Morning Meditation; that like little Brooks arising from several Springs, they may meet in one channel, and compose a more useful Stream. What straggling good thoughts arise, though they may owe their birth to several occasions, and tend divers ways, yet list them in the service of that truth, to which you have com­mitted the government of your mind that day: As Constables in a time of necessary busi­ness for the King take up men that are going about their honest and lawful occasions, and force them to joyn in one employ for the publick Service. Many accidental glances (as was observed before) will serve both to fix and illustrate your Morning Proposition. But if it be an extraordinary injection, and cannot be referred to your standing Thesis, follow it, and let your thoughts run whither it will lead you: A Theme of the Spirit's setting is better than one of our own chusing.

4. Record the choicer of them. We may have occasion to look back upon them another time, either as grounds of comfort in some hour of temptation, or directions in some sudden emergency; but constantly as persuasive engagements to our necessary duty. Thus they may lye by us for further use, as money in our purse. Since Mary kept and ponder'd the short sayings of our Saviour in her heart, Luk. 2.14, 51. committing and fitting them as it were in her common-place book; why should not we also preserve the whispers of that Spirit, who receives from the same mouth and hand, [...]. H [...]ych. what he both speaks and shews to us? It is pity the dust and filings of choicer metals, which may one time be melted down into a mass, should be lost in a heap of drossy thoughts. If we do not remember them, but like children, are taken with their novelty, more than their substance; and like John Baptist's hearers, rejoyce in their light only for a season Joh. 5.35., it will discourage the Spirit from sending any more; and then our hearts will be empty, and we know who stands ready to clap in his hellish swarms and legions. But howsoever we do, God will record our good thoughts as our excusers, if we improve them; as our accusers, if we reject them; and as He took notice how often He had appear'd to Solomon 1 Kin. 11.9., so He will take notice how often His Spi­rit hath appeared to us, and write down every motion, whereby we have been solicited, that they may be witnesses of his endeavours for our good, and our own wilfulness.

5. Back them with Ejaculations. Let our hearts be ready to attend every injection from Heaven with a motion to it: since 'tis ingratitude to receive a present, without returning [Page 19] an acknowledgment to the Benefactor. As God turns His thoughts of us into promises, so let us turn our thoughts of Him into prayers; and since his regards of us are darted in beams upon us, let them be reflected back upon Him in thankfulness for the gift, and earnestness both for the continuance and encrease of such impressions; as David pray­ed that God would not take his holy Spirit from him Psa. 51.11., which had inspired him with his pe­nitential resolutions. To what purpose doth the Holy Ghost descend upon us, but to de­clare to us the things which are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2.12.? And is it fit for us to hear such a de­claration, without a quick suitable reflection? Since the Comforter is to bring to our re­membrance Joh. 14.26. what Christ both spake and did; it must be for the same end, for which they were both spoken and acted by him, which was to bring us to a near converse with God. Therefore when the Spirit renews in our minds a Gospel-truth, let us turn it into a present plea, and be God's remembrancers of His own promises, as the Spirit is our remembran­cer of Divine Truths. We need not doubt some rich fruit of the application at such a season; since, without question, the impressions the Spirit stamps upon us, are as much ac­cording to God's will Rom. 8.27., as the intercessions he makes for us. Therefore when any holy thought doth advance it self in our Souls, the most grateful reception we can bestow upon it, will be to suffer our hearts to be immediately fired by it, and imitate with a glowing devotion the Royal Prophet, in that form he hath drawn up to our hands; O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy servant, and prepare my heart unto thee. 1 Chron. 29.18. This will be an encouragement to God to send more such guests into our hearts. And by an affectionate entertainment of them, we shall gain both a habit of thinking well, and a stock too.

THE Author of this Psalm, and the time when it was penn'd, are uncertain. Some think it was compos'd after the return of the Jews from Babylon, upon the Erection of the second Temple, and designed to be sung in their constant Publick Assemblies. Others think it was compos'd by David, when he brought the Ark to Sion, as the Repository for it, till the Building of the Temple, wherein it might honourably rest. It seems, whoever was the Author, to be Ecstatical. The Penman breaks out into a holy rapture and admiration of the firmness and stability of the Church. 'Tis also Prophetical of the Christian Church, of the glory of it, the largeness of its bounds, and perpetual duration. The Jews ridiculously interpret it of literal Jerusalem in regard of the excellency of its Climate, the goodness of the air, being seated in the middle or navel of the earth, and the seat and spring of all the wise men, accounting all fools that were to be found in other parts; 'tis true, others were not wise with a wisdom to Salvation; they were not instructed in the high Mysteries of Religion by God, as those People were. But was there not Learning among the Greeks, & Wisdom among the Chaldeans, and a ripe­ness in Mechanick Arts among the Tyrians which lived in the same Climate with the Jews? It can by no means be understood of the material Jerusalem and Sion; that was ruin'd by the Babylonians, and tho re-edified, yet afterwards subverted by the Romans, and the re­mainders of it at this day become a Stable for Mahomet, and the bringing in those Nations mention'd, v. 4. overthrows any such interpretation, which never were inrol'd in the re­gisters of Sion, nor became Votaries to the true Religion, while the walls of that place were standing in their glory. Sion was the place whence the Law was to come, Mich. 4.2. a Law of another nature, than that which was uttered with Thunders from Mount Sinai. Sion was the place where the Throne of Christ was to be settled, where he was to be crowned King, Psal. 2.6. and where he was to manage the Scepter and rule in the midst of his enemies, Psal. 110.2. and therefore 'tis here celebrated as the figure of the Christian Church; of that City which Abraham expected, whose builder and maker is God, Heb. 11.10. And the Christian Church is particularly called by this name of Mount Sion, Heb. 12.21. And Believers are called the Sons of Sion, Joel 2.23. The Psalmist speaks,

• 1. Of the great love the Lord bears to Sion, v. 2.
• 2. Of the glory of the Promises made to her, v. 3.
• 3. Of the confluence of new Inhabitants to her, v. 4.
• 4. Of the Duration and Establishment of her, v. 5.

v. 1. His Foundation. The Foundation of God, i. e. That which God hath founded, that Jerusalem which is of God's building, is seated in the holy Mountain; the City was built be­fore Joshuah conquered Canaan: But God is said to be the Founder of it in regard of that peculiar glory to which it was designed, to be the rest of his Ark, the place of his Worship, the Throne of the Types of the Messiah, the Seat whence the Evangelick Law was to be publisht to all Nations, and the Messiah revealed as the Redeemer and Ruler of the World.

In the holy Mountains. Jerusalem was seated upon high Mountains. The Palace of the Kings was built upon Sion, and the Temple, the House of the Most High, was built upon Moriah, and encompast with Mountains round about, Psal. 125.2. an emblem of the strength and stability of the Church.Daillé. Melange, part 2. page 354. Holy Mountains; not that there was any inherent holiness in them more than in the other Mountains of the Earth; or that they were naturally more beautiful and stately than other Mountains; but because they were separated for the Wor­ship and Service of God, and had been ennobled by the performance of a Worship there before the building of the Temple. It was upon Moriah that Isaac was designed for a Sacrifice, and the most signal act of obedience performed to God by the Father of the Faithful. It was there also that David appeased the wrath of God, by Sacrifice, after it had issued out upon the People in a Plague, for the numbring of them: And the very name Moriah hath something sacred in it, it signifying either God teaching, or God manifested; which name might be given it by God, with respect to the manifestation of Christ who was to come, during the standing of the second Temple.

v. 2. The Lord loves the Gates of Sion.] By Gates in Scripture is meant the strength, or wisdom, or justice of a place. Gates were the Magazines of Arms, and the places of Ju­dicature. He had manifested his love to her in chusing that City before all the Cities of Israel and Judah, wherein to place his Name, and have his Worship celebrated; and that place in Jerusalem particularly, where his Law should be given by the Spirit to the Apostles upon the day of Pentecost; and to apply it to the Gospel-Church, it signifies the special respect God bears to her, above all the Rites, Observancies and Ceremonies of the Ju­daick Institution. It was in this Gospel-Church, the true Sion, that he desired to dwell, and will remain for ever, Psal. 68.17. Which is a Prophetick Psalm of the Gospel-times, and the Ascension of Christ.

1. The Stability of the Church is here asserted. Geierus in loc. The Church is not built upon the Sand, which may fall with a Storm, nor upon the Waters, that may float with the waves; nor spread out as a Tent in the Desert, that may be taken up, and carried away to another place; but upon a Mountain not to be removed Psal. 125.1. Mount Sion cannot be re­moved., 'tis built upon a Rock, the Rock of Ages; upon a Mountain which is not shatter'd by waves, or shaken by storms, upon Christ, who hath the strength of many Mountains in himself.

2. The necessity of holiness in a Church. What though the Church be a Mountain for strength and eminency, have the honour and priviledg of Sacraments, and be the Ark of the Oracles of God, 'tis not established unless it be a holy Mountain: Holiness is the only becoming thing in the House of God; as it is consecrated to the glory of God, so it must be ex­ercis'd in things pertaining to the glory of God. As the Foundation is holy, so ought the Superstru­cture to be. There was no filth in the framing it; there must be no filth in the continuance of it.

v. 3. He speaks with some kind of astonishment of the glorious things spoken of her, or promised to her, and concludes it with a note of attention, or a mark of eminency, Selah v. 3. Glorious things are spo­ken of thee, O City of God.. No place enjoy'd an equal happiness with Jerusalem, while it remained faithful to its Foun­der. It maintain'd its standing in the midst of its enemies; no weapon formed against it was able to prosper; Heaven planted it, and the dews of Heaven watered it; it had a continual succession of Prophets; the best Kings that ever were in the world, swayed the Scepter in it; it was blessed with more miraculous deliverances than any part of the Uni­verse; the Nations that loved it not, yet feared its power, and feared the displeasure of its Guardian. It was here the Son of God delivered the Messages of Heaven by the order of his father: It was here the spirit first filled the heads and hearts of the Apostles in order to the conversion of a world from Idolatry to the Scepter of God; but more glo­rious things are spoken of the Spiritual Sion than of the material Jerusalem; that had Christ in the flesh, and the Gospel-Church hath Christ in the spirit, he went from thence to hea­ven, but he comes from heaven to visit them with his comforts; he hath left the walls of Jerusalem in its ruins, but he hath not, he will not leave his Spiritual Sion fatherless and comfortless; Joh. 14.18. his spirit abides for ever with his Church. Glorious things are spoken of it, when he pronounced it impregnable, and that the gates of Hell, the power and policy of all the Apostate Angels and their instruments should not prevail against her, when he assured her he would be present with her, not to the end of an age or two, but till the period of time, the consummation of the world; priviledges that material Jerusalem could never boast of; whatsoever countries have been applauded for secular excellencies, or been famous for wisdom, none can claym such elogies as Gospel Sion, where God hath de­clared his will, publisht himself a God of salvation, placed the laws of heaven, and poured out that wisdom which comes from above: These are glorious things, above humane expe­ctations, above humane desires.

The Glorious things mentioned of the Gospel-Church are in v. 4. where he speaks of [Page 22] the enlargement of her bounds, the increase of her inhabitants, and the numerous muster-rolls of those that shall list themselves in her serviceI will make mention of Raha [...] and Ba­bylon to them that know me. Behold Phili­stia and Tyre with Aethio­p [...]: this man was born there..

The time shall come when those nations that are most alienated from the profession of truth, shall come under her wing, and pay allegiance to her empire; Strangers shall be brought into her bosom, not only Philistia and Tyre, nations upon her confines, but Aegypt and Aethiopia, nations more remote, nations born and bred at a distance shall be registred as born from her womb, and nurst in her lap; distance of place shall not hinder the relati­on of her children. And when God shall count the people of forraign nations, he shall set a mark upon every true believer, and reckon him as one born in Sion, a Denizen of Jerusalem, though not a Jew in the flesh.

De Dieu in loc. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me; or rather among them that know me, or for them that know me [...], I will remember them as persons inlightned by me, and acquainted with me.

The Psalmist reckons up here nations that were greatest enemies to the Church, Rahab or Aegypt For so Ae­gypt is na­med, Isa. 51.9. her antient enemy; Philistia her perpetual invader: Rahab signifies pride or fierce­ness, the fiercest people shall be subdued to Sion by the power of the Gospel: Aegypt the wisest and learnedst nation, the most Idolatrous and Superstitious, men that rest in their own parts and strength shall cast away their Idols; Babylon the strongest and most power­ful Empire, the subjects of which the Scripture often describes as luxurious, cruel, proud: Tyre the greatest mart, whose Citizens were the greatest merchants, The Aethiopians the posterity of Cursed Cham, whose souls are blacker than their bodies: men buried in sin, benighted with ignorance, poysoned with pride, the most fierce and envenom'd enemies shall be brought in by an infinite grace, and make up one body with her, and shall be counted as related to her by a new birth, and be made members of her by regeneration; this is pro­perly to be born in Sion This man was born there.; as without regeneration we have not God for our father, so neither have we Sion or the Church for our mother: this is the great priviledg we should inquire after, without which we are not in Gods register; this 2d birth God only approves of, he enrolls no man in the number of the Citizens of Sion, nor indows them with the special priviledges of it upon the account of their first, wherein they lye buried in the cor­ruption of Adam, and are Citizens of Hell, not of Jerusalem. Again, this 2d birth is never without the knowledge of God.Among those that know me. Ignorance is a bar to this enrolment; he is no man that is not a rational creature, and he no regenerate man that hath not some knowledg in the great mysteries of God in Christ.

In v. 5. 1. The honour of Sion is described by her fruitfulness.

1. In regard of the eminency of her births, she is not wholly barren, she hath her births of men, and worthy men; the carnal world hath not exceeded the Church in men of raised intellectuals; Sion hath not been a City of fools. Dionysius the Areopagite hath been her pro­duction as well as Damaris a woman. Kings also have been nurst at her breasts, that they might be nursing fathers to her by their power; but the honour of Sion, consists in the in­ward change it makes on men, dispossessing them of the nature of wolves for that of lambs, rendring them the Loyal subjects of God instead of his active enemies. 'Tis the glory of Sion, that this or that man born in her, was changed to such principles and such affections, that all the education and politeness of the most accomplisht Cities in the world could not furnish them with.

2. In regard of the multitude of them; this and that man, of all sorts and conditions, and multitudes of them, so that more are the children of the desolate than of the marryed wife. The tents were prophesied to be inlarged, the curtains of the habitations of Sion to be stretched out, and her cords to be lengthened to receive and entertain that multitude of children that should be brought forth by her, after the Sacrifice of the Son of God, Isa. 54.1, 2. For that exhortation follows upon the description of the death and exaltation of Christ, Isa. 53.

2. The happiness of Sion. The highest himself shall establish her.

1. Security in her glory. Establish her.

2. The Author of that security and perpetuity. The Highest; and that exclusive of any other. The Highest himself Coccei. in loc., all that are not the most high are excluded from having a share in the establishment of the Church.

'Tis a work peculiar to him. 'Tis not the excellent learning, strength of the wise, or migh­ty men, that are born in her, that doth preserve her, but God alone; he spirits and acts them; means God doth use in bringing in inward grace, means he doth use in setling the out­ward form. But such means that have in reason, no strength to effect so great a business, means different from those which are used in the establishment of other Kingdoms, where­by the hand that acts them is more visible and plain than the means that are used.Folang. 'Tis not the wit of man which is folly, nor the strength of man which is weakness, nor the holiness of man which is nothing, can claim the honour of this work: God himself picks stones out of the quarry, smooths them for the building, fixeth them in their places, he himself is the only architect, his wisdom contrives it, his grace erects it, his power preserves it, and accom­plisheth his own work; 'tis the highest, none higher to over-power him, none so high as to check and mate him.

Shall establish her.] This cannot be meant of the literal or local Sion (though that indeed [Page 23] was preserved while the legal service was to indure, (excepting that interruption by the Babylonish captivity, but now Mahomets horse tramples upon it, and it retains none of the ancient inhabitants.) but of the true mystical Sion, the Gospel state of the Church, which shall continue in being as Christ the head of it hath setled it, till time shall be no more. Other Kingdoms may crumble away, the foundations of them be dissolved. But that God which laid the foundation of Sion and built her walls, will preserve her palaces, that the gates of Hell, the subtilty of Hereticks, the fury of Tyrants, the Apostacy of some of her pretended Children, all the locusts and spawn of the bottomless-pit shall not be able to root her up.

Shall establish her.] The word signifies the affording all things necessary for defence, [...] in­crease of victory, preparations of it, the knitting of it.

It shall continue as long as the World, and out-live the Dissolution of Nature; she shall bring forth her Man-child, maugre all the vigilancy of the Dragon, which shall be caught up to God and his Throne; and though she be forced to flie into the wilderness, yet a place is prepared for her habitation, and food for her support during that state, no less than 1260 days, or years, and this by no weaker, no meaner a hand than that of God himself Rev. 12.3, 4, 5, 6. where she hath a place prepared of God; that hand that catches up Christ the Man-child into Heaven; that hand that sets him upon the Throne of God; provides meat for the Woman in the wilderness. The head and the body have the same Defender, the same Protector, the same hand to secure themRibera. in loc.. Or by Man-child is meant, the whole number of the Believers which were more numerous before she went into a wilderness-condition; the Scripture using often the singular for the plural; and the Holy Ghost expressing himself here according to the property of the Woman, which is to bring forth one at the same time. The Figure of the Church notes stability; 'tis four­square, and the length is as large as the breadth, Rev. 21.16. The length, breadth, and height of it are equal; the most perfect Figure, noting perfection and duration. So it was described in the Prophecy, Ezek. 48.16. exactly 4500 measures on each side. All belonging to this City or Church, is reckoned by the number twelve, a square number, equal on all sides; twelve Gates, twelve Foundations, twelve Tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles, twelve Stones to garnish it, Revel. 21.12, 13, 14, &c. A foursquare Figure is an emblem of unchangeable constancy. Things so framed remain alwaies in the same posture, cast them which way you will; and among some of the Heathens was reckoned as a divine figureThe Arca­dians made Jovis signum quadrangulum. Pausanias de Arcadicis., and the cha­racter of virtuous man in regard of his constancy was [...].

The shutting of the gate of the new Temple, Ezek. 44.2. after the God of Israel had en­tred in by it, is interpreted by some of the everlasting dwelling of the Lord in the Church of the Gospel among his people, and never departing from it as he had done from the first Temple Lightfort Temple, cap. 38. p. 252.. None shall enter in to deface it, none shall prescribe new laws to it, none shall trample upon it; when God enters into the Christian Church, he shuts the door after him, his presence never departs from it, his Gospel shall never be rooted out of it, the Church hath a security in its foundation as being built upon a rock, Mat. 18.16. It hath an assurance of preservation by the presence of the God of Israel, of Christ in the midst of her, Mat. 28.19, 20. The tabernacle of Sion shall not be taken down, not one of the stakes thereof shall be remov'd, nei­ther shall any of the cords thereof be broken; And that because the glorious Lord shall be a place of broad rivers and streams to it, Isa. 33.20, 21.

The enemies of the Church shall be consum'd, that God may have his due praise. Hallelu­jahs are never sung with the highest note, till the wicked & Idolatrous generation be rooted out of the earth. Hallelujahs were never used, as the Jews observe, till the consummation of all things by the setting the Church above the tossing of the waves, and the destruction of its troublers, when the glory of the Lord should endure for ever, and God rejoyce in his works, Psal. 104.31, 35. And therefore when the blood of his children is avenged by his Justice upon his enemies, and the smoke of Antichrist riseth up before him, and the Kingdom of God is for ever setled, Hallelujah is pronounced and repeated with a loud voice, Rev. 19.2, 3, 6. Such a time will be, and God will establish and secure his Church till he hath perfected his own and her glory.

This stability the Church hath had experience of in all ages of the world, and it will al­ways be said in her, Psal. 48.8. As we have heard, so have we seen in the City of the Lord of hosts, in the City of our God; God will establish it for ever.

In the handling this Doctrine, these four things are to be done.

1. The Explication. 2. The Proof, that it is so. 3. Why it must needs be so. 4. Ʋse.

1. Explication.

1. This stability must not be meant of any particular Church in the world. Particular Churches have their beginnings, progresses, and periods; many Churches as well as many persons have apostatized from the faith; many Candlesticks have been broken in pieces, and yet the candle not blown out, but remov'd and set in another socket; particular Churches have been corrupted by Superstition and Idolatry, rent by Heresies, and scattered by Persecutions. What re­mains are there of those seven Churches in Asia which were the walk of Christ, Revel. 2.1. but deplorable ruines? There is no absolute promise given to any particular Church, that [Page 24] it shall be free from defection. The Church of Rome so flourishing in the Apostles time, was warn'd to be humble, lest it became as much Apostate as that of the Jews, Rom. 11.21, 22. Nay there are predictions of almost an universal apostacyAll the world wondred after the Beast, Rev. 13.3. and worshiped him, v. 8.. And just before the coming of Christ it will be difficult to find a grain of faith among the multitude of Chaff, Luk. 18.8. There is not one place which was in the primitive times dignified with truth, but is now deformed by error. Yea the universal Church hath been forced by the fury of the Dragon, though not to sink yet to fly into the wilderness & obscurity, yet hath been preserv'd through all changes in the midst of those desolations & deserts. 'Tis not indeed so fixed in one place but the cords may be taken up, the stakes removed, and the tents pitched in another ground. 'Tis spread through the world wherever God will set up the light of his Gospel. Sion hath stood, though some Synagogues of it have been pulled down; it hath like the Sun kept its station in the Firmament, though not without eclipses and clouds to muffle it. The Church is but one, though it be in divers Countries, and nam'd according to the places where it re­sides, as the Church of Ephesus, the Church of Sardis, &c. which all are as the beams of the Sun darted from one body, branches growing from one root, streams flowing from one foun­tain; if you obstruct the light of one beam, or lop off one branch, or dam up the stream, yet the Sun, Root, Fountain remains the same: So though the light of particular Churches may be dim and extinguisht, the beauty of them defaced, yet the universal Church, that which is properly Sion remains the same, it remains upon Christ the rock, and is still upon the ba [...]s of the covenant, 'tis still Gods Church, and God is her God. When a people have forfeited their Church priviledges by barrenness, and wantonness, and God in justice strips them of their Ornaments, he will have another people which he will form for his glory, and fit for his residence; the Gospel shall never want an host to entertain it, nor a ground to be made fruitful by itMat. 21.43. The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a Nation bring­ing forth the fruits thereof.. The Kingdom of God is not destroyed when it is removed, but trans­planted into a more fruitful Soil. While Christ hath a body in the world, he will find a Joseph of Arimathea to embalm it, and preserve it for a resurrection. When the glory of the Lord goes off from one Cherub, it will find other Cherubims whereon to settle, Ezek. 10.4.18. That glory which had dwelt is the material ark of the Sanctuary, departs from thence to find a Throne in that Chariot which had been described, Ezek. 1. Nay the depar­ture of God from one Church renders his name more glorious in anotherRivet. in Hos. 1.10. p. 518.. The rejection of the carnal Israel was the Preamble to the appearance of the spiritual Israel, & the Kingdom of the Messiah was rendred more large and illustrious by the dissolving of that Church that had confidence in the flesh, trusted in their external rites and patcht the beauty and purity of divine Worship with their whorish additions; just as the mortification of the flesh gives liveliness to the spirit, and the pulling up noysom weeds from a garden makes room for the setting and flourishing growth of good plants.

2. Though God unstakes the Church in one place, yet he will not only have a Church, but a pro­fessing Church in another. It shall be said of Sion, This and that man was born there. It shall be said of Sion by God; It shall be said of Sion by men. If Christ confesseth none before his Father, but such as confess him before men, Luk. 12.8. shall he ever want imployment? shall the world ever be at that pass as to bear none that profess him? and so none to be owned by him at the right hand of his Father? Shall he by whom all things subsist, have none to acknowledg their subsistance by him? The world may be the Inheritance of Christ, but scarce counted his possession, if there were not in some parts of it a body of subjects to justi­fie their Allegiance to him in the face of a persecuting generation. Indeed when the Church was confined to the narrow limits of the carnal Israel, the profession of the truth was contracted to a few, though the faith of it might be alive in others; only Caleb and Joshua among the whole body of the murmuring Israelites in the wilderness asserted the honour of God, and maintained the truth of his promise, though the belief of it might sparkle in the hearts of others under the ashes of their fears, that hindered their discovery of it to others. It was another time reduced to one, and Elijah only had the boldness to make a declarati­on of the name of God, though there were 7000 who had retain'd their purity while they had lost their courage to publish it, 1 Kings 19.18. But in the Christian Church, since the number of elect are more, the profession will be greater in the midst of an universal Apostacy of pretenders, Rev. 13.8. All that dwell upon the earth shall Worship him, i. e. the Beast, whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb. If their election be a preservative a­gainst an adoration of the Beast, it is also a security against the denial of any such worship; and an encouragement to profess the name of Christ, when they shall be brought upon the stage.

This profession may lye much in the dark, and not be so visible as before; As a field of corn overtopt by weeds looks at a distance, as if there were nothing else but the blew and red cockle and darnel, but when we come near we see the good grain shews its head as well as the weeds; but a professing people there will be one where or other. 'Tis a standing law of Christianity, that a belief in the heart should be attended by confession with the mouth, Rom. 10.9. And the Church is a congregation of people sounding the voice of Christ, as he was preached and confest by the Apostles; while there are believers, there will be professors in Society together; some Ordinances setled in being, during the continuance of the world; as the Supper, 1 Cor. 11.6. implies a Society, as the seat of the administration; Baptism is a Ceremony of admission into a Society; the Supper a feasting of several upon spiritual Viands. [Page 25] Officers appointed imply a body professing some rules, Math. 28.20. To what purpose are all these setled during the continuance of the world, if they were not somewhere to be practised till that period of time; & how can they be practised without a Confederation and Society? Without such a body all the Ordinances and Rules of Christ would be in vain, and imply as little wisdom in enacting them, as a want of power in not keeping up a Society in some part of the world to observe them according to his own prescriptions. There will therefore be in some part or other of the world a Church openly professing the doctrine of truth.

3. This Church or Sion shall have a numerous progeny. The Spiritual Israel shall be as the Sand of the Sea, which cannot be measured or numbred, Hos. 1.10. which was the promise made to Abraham, Gen. 22.17. and renewed in the same terms to Jacob, Gen. 32.12. The Church is a little flock in comparison of the carnal world, yet it is numerous in it self, though not in every place; for sometimes there may not be above three found to withstand the worship of a Golden Image; yet in some one or other place of the world, and successively it shall be numerous; he will not lose the honour of the feast he hath prepared, though those that are invited prefer their Farms and Oxen before it, but will find Guests in the high-ways; he will spread his wings from East to West, and in every place Incense shall be offered to his Name, Mal. 1.11. The Church is compared to the morning, Cant. 6.10. which from small beginnings in a short time fills the whole Hemisphere with light; and the promises con­cerning it run all that way. The Hills were to be covered with the shadow of it; her boughs are to be sent out to the Sea, and her branches to the River, Psal. 80.10, 11. It was to spread it self like a goodly Cedar, and be a dwelling-place to the Fowl of every wing, Ezek. 17.23. Yea, a numberless multitude from all Nations, Kindreds, People and Tongues, are to stand before the Throne, and before the Lamb, Clothed with white Robes, and Palms in their hands, Rev. 7.9. adorned with innocency, and crowned with victory. No Monarchy ever did, ever can so far stretch her bounds; nor hath the Sun seen any place where it hath not seen some sprink­ling of a Church. Every Kingdom hath met with unpassable bounds; but the Ensigns of Christ have not been limited. The Church was once crowded up in a narrow compass of Judaea; but since that her Territories are enlarged, her Ensigns have flourished over many Countries, Rahab, Tyre, Ethiopia, the vast circuit of Asia, and the deserts of Africa, have been added to her Empire; her Progeny shall be hereafter as numerous as it hath been; when the devices of Antichrist shall be more seen and perceived, they will be more nauseated, and many with Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with Idols?

II Second thing; That God has hitherto establisht Sion.

1. 'Tis testified by its present standing, when other Empires have sunk by Age or violence.

God hath promised the stability and eminency of the Mountain of the Lord's house above all the Mountains, the strongest Power, and most compacted Empires of the world, some­times signified to us by that title, Isa. 2.2. And in the midst of his destroying Plagues, and his milder Anger with the Church, she hath a Charter of security, Jer. 30.11. Though I make a full end of all Nations, yet will I not make an end of thee. Further, the reasons why King­doms and Nations are pull'd up by the roots, and utterly wasted, is not only because they are inveterate enemies, but refuse her easie chains, and decline her service, Isa. 60.12. The Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee, shall perish; yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted. The warrant for the execution of such is as firmly sealed by Heaven, as the Patent for the Churches preservation; 'tis repeated with an Emphasis. The persecuted Church hath still been lifted up, when the Assyrian, Persian, and Greek Monarchies have fallen in pieces, and left no footsteps of their Grandeur. The prosperity of worldly Kingdoms is no better than a fire of straw that blazeth and vanisheth, it hath but the brittle foundation of humane Policy, and an establishment by a temporary Providence; the everlasting Covenant, and the Basis of Divine Truth and Love cannot be claimed by any but the Church; not a Kingdom can be pitched upon in all the Records of History, that hath maintain'd its standing, tri­umphed over its enemies, and subsisted at such a rate, and by unusual and unheard of Me­thods, as the Church hath done. Those that have been best guarded by Laws, hedg'd in with the best Methods of Government, and arm'd with a strong power to protect them, have found something or other rising from their own bowels, or their enemies Power to procure their dissolution. But the Church, though dasht against so many Rocks, has yet floated above the deluge of those Commotions that have sunk other Societies. The Kings of the world could never yet boast of a full Conquest of her, or brag that she hath been subjected to the same condition with themselves; she hath born up her head in the midst of earthly Revolutions, and met with her preservation or resurrection, where carnal Interests have found their Funeral. Those that have set their feet upon the Churches breasts, or spilt her blood, have found their poison where they imagin'd they should find their safety. The Babylonish Empire, which was God's Rod for the correcting his People, saw her self in the chains of her Enemies that night she had been sacrilegiously carouzing healths in the sacred Vessels of the Temple, Dan. 5.3, 30. And the Jews enjoy'd a Deliverer, where the Babylonians felt the force of a Conquerour. Many such fatal Periods may be reckoned up both in sa­cred and humane story, either for not protecting, or persecuting that which is so dear to the Highest who hath establisht her.

[Page 26]2. No Society but the Church ever subsisted in the midst of a multitude of Enemies. Has she not been like a little Flock in the midst of many Wolves, which though they suckt the blood of some, yet could never reach the head or heart of the whole? The Devil hath a [...]tackt her, without vanquishing her; shaken her, without ruining her. The biting of the Serpent, according to the ancient promise, may bruise the heel, but not the head, and make an incurable wound in the Mystical Body. She hath been preserved in a ha­ting world in spight of the enmity of it, by a Divine Wisdom that hath not regulated it self by the Methods of flesh and blood. His feeding the Israelites in the wilderness was a figure of what he would do to his Church, and he hath accomplisht it to the Gospel-Church, as really as he did to the ancient Israel. While she hath been in a wilderness these 1200 years, and I hope somewhat upwards, she hath not wanted her Manna, nor her Rock; she hath been fed in her straits, and preserved in her combates; and as Christ reigns, so the Church lives, and hath her Table spread in the midst of her Enemies. What is 1100 years continuance of the Venetian Government, to so many thousand years preservation of the Church in the midst of Atheism, Paganism, Antichristianism, ever since it was first born and nurst in Adam's Family; and this hath been, when her friends have forsaken her; when her enemies have been confident of her ruine; when her self hath expected little else than de­struction; when she hath thought sometimes in her straits, her God ignorant of her; when Hell hath poured out a flood, the carnal Earth hath sometimes found it their Interest to help her, though their enmity were irreconcileable against her, Rev. 12.16. The sub­tilty and power of her Enemies, that have found success in their other projects, have met with an unforeseen baffle, when they have armed against her. Men of the greatest abili­ties have proved fools, when they have exercised their wit against her. Achitophel's wisdom was great when on David's side, and changed to folly when he shifted sides against him. A secret blast hath been upon the Projects of men, when they have turned against her upon secular Interests. In the greatest Judgments which have come, and shall come upon the world, when wonders shall be shewn in the Heavens, and in the Earth, blood, fire, and pillars of smoke; when the Sun shall be turned into darkness, and the Moon into blood, Joel 2.30, 31. yet God will have a Mount Sion and Jerusalem: Some that call upon his Name, v. 32. Not the malice of her enemies shall impair her, because of God's Power, nor the com­mon Judgments of the world, under which others sink, shall extinguish her, because of God's Truth, v. 32. As the Lord hath said. Whence comes all this, but from God's ha­ving been her dwelling-place in all generations? Psal. 90.1. He was so to her from the time of Abraham, to the introduction of his posterity into Canaan; he hath sheltred her as an house doth an Inhabitant, or the Ark did Noah in the midst of many waters. In all ge­nerations Sion hath been impregnable; for he that is her dwelling-place, hath formed the Mountains, and from everlasting to everlasting is only God, v. 2. And though one generation pass, and another comes, he is the same dwelling-place, and never out of repair, never will want repair; and therefore it is an astonishment, that the Devil after so long an experi­ence should be such a fool as to engage in new attempts, when he hath found so little suc­cess in his former, and hath had so many Ages to witness the baffles he hath received, what a fool is he to think that her Defender should be conquered by a revolted Angel, that lies under an everlasting curse!

3. The violences against her, which have been fatal to other Societies, have been useful to her. This bush hath burned without consuming, and preserved its verdure in the midst of fire, not from the nature of the bush, but the presence of him that dwelt in it: It hath not only subsisted in the bowels of her Enemies, but hath been established by means of the vio­lence of men, and grown greater in the midst of torments and death; she hath not only out-grown her afflictions, but grown greater and better by them. The last Monarchy compos'd of Clay and Iron, Clay for its earthly and miry designs, and Iron for its force and violence, is the immediate Usher of the Kingdom of God, that shall never be destroy­ed, but stand for ever, Dan. 2.41, 44.

1. She hath been often encreased. Persecution hath lopt off some branches of the Vine, but have been found more sprouting up instead of them, that were cut off. Her blood hath been seed, and the pangs of her Martyrs have been fruitful in bringing forth new witnesses. We have scarce read of more sudden conversions to Christianity, though indeed more nume­rous, by the Preaching of the Word, than by the shedding the blood of Christians. Emi­nent Professors have sprung out of the Martyrs Ashes. The storms have been so far from destroying her, that it hath been the occasion of spreading her Tents in a larger ground. Saul's winnowing the Church, blew away some of the Corn to take rooting in other places, Acts 8.3, 4. Like seeds of Plants blown away by the wind, which have risen & brought forth their kind in another soil; and it is no more than hath been predicted, Dan. 12.1, 4. Such a time of trouble that never was since there was a Nation, should be the time when many should run to and fro, and knowledg should be increased. While other Societies increase by per­secuting their Enemies, this increaseth by being persecuted her self. It grows as a Vine, Hos. 14.7. Though it be cut, the cutting hath contributed to its thriving. This Rose-bush hath not only stood in the wind, which hath rooted up other Oaks, but the fragrancy of it hath been carried by that wind to places at a greater distance. When Antiochus commanded all [Page 27] the Books of the Scripture in the hands of any to be burned, they were not only preserved, but presently after appeared out of their hidden places, as they were translated into the Greek Tongue, the Language then most known in the world, and made publick to other Nations. Truth hath been often rendred by such proceedings more clear and glorious. The persecution of Sion's Head, the Captain of our Salvation, to death, was the occasion of the discovery of the Gospel to the whole world; he was the great seed, that being cast into the ground became so fruitful, as to spread his branches in all corners of the Earth, Joh. 12.24. And that persecution which I suppose remains yet to be acted, and which will be the smartest, shall be succeeded by the clearest eruption of Gospel-light, wherein the Gospel shall recover its ancient and primitive glory. The slaying of the witnesses shall end in an Evangelical success, Rev. 11.9, 10, &c. The world shall give glory to the God of Heaven, v. 13. The Kingdoms of the world shall become the Kingdoms of Christ, v. 15. Christ shall more illu­striously reign, v. 17. The Temple of God shall be opened in Heaven, v. 19. The spiritual Is­rael, as well as the national, the Antitype as well as the Type, have multiplied under op­pressionDecay of Christian Pie­ty, p. 23.; and, like an arched Building, stood firmer by all the weights that have been de­signed to crush her.

(2.) She has often been Refin'd by the most violent persecutions of her Enemies.

She hath not only surviv'd the flames that have been kindled against her, but as refin'd Gold come out more beautiful from the furnace, left her dross behind her, and hath been wrought into a more beautiful frame by the hand of her great Artificer; like the sand upon the sea shore, she hath not only broke the force of the waves, but been assisted by them to discharge her filth, and been washed more clean by those waves that rusht in to drown her. She hath been more conformed to the image of her head, and made fitter to glorify God here, and to enter into the glory of God hereafter. The Church is to cast forth her roots like Lebanon, Hos. 14.5. The Cedar by its shakings grows up more in beauty as well as strength, and the torch by its knocks burns the clearer. Though the number of her children might some times decrease through fear, yet her true Off-spring that have remained, have increased in their zeal, courage, and love to God. Apostates themselves have proved refiners of them that they have desertedDan. 11.35. And some of them of under­standing shall fall to try them, and to purge and make them white.. The Corn is the purer by the separation of the chaff. Thus hath she grown purer by flames, and sounder by batteries.

4. When she has seemed to be forlorn and dead, God has restored her. When Israel was at the lowest, a decree issued out in Aegypt to destroy her males and root out her seed, deli­verance began to dawn; and when a knife was at her throat at the red sea, and scarce a valiant believer found among a multitude of despairers, God turned the back of the knife to his Israel, and the edge to the throat of the enemies. When the whole Church as well as the whole world seemed to be at its last gasp, God preserved a Noah as a spark to kindle a new world and a new Church by. When Jerusalem was sackt, the City destroyed, the peo­ple dispersed into several parts of the Babylonish Empire without any humane probability of ever being gathered again into one body; yet she was preserved, restored, recollected, brought out of the sepulchre, resetled in her ancient soyl and recovered her beauty, which can be said of no other society in the world but this; whose deliverance and restauration hung not upon the will and policy of man, but upon the Word of God, who had limited their captivity to seventy years, and promised a restauration. The blessing of God to Abraham and Sarah is set out as a ground of faith and comfort for the Churches restauration and in­crease, Isa. 51.1, 2, 3. He will comfort Sion and comfort all her wast places and make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of God, that joy and gladness may be found therein; as well as he did enliven the dead body of Abraham and the barren womb of Sarah. When the Church hath been so low, that men have despaired of seeing any more of her than her ashes, God hath produced, a new remnant, he hath reserv'd a tenth to return, Is. 6.13. and fro [...] the hidden womb of the earth brought forth a new succession by the vigorous in­fluence of the Sun of righteousness. And after the last attempt and success of the antichristian state, when they are jolly and merry at the Churches funeral, Revel. 11.10. they shall soon be amaz'd at her resurrection, v. 11. as much as the high priests were at the resurrection of Christ. For the Church can no more lye in the grave than her head, the Mystical Body no more than the Natural; his resurrection was an earnest of this, and this the accomplishment of that; little difference in the time of their grave-state; three days the Natural Body lay, three days and an half only the Mystical shall lye before a full revival.

5. God never wanted instruments for his Church in the due season. If Abel be butcher'd by Cain, God will raise up Seth in his place, to bring men to a publick form of worship, Gen. 4.26. If Nebuchadnezzar be the ax to hew down Jerusalem, Cyrus shall be the instrument to build her up; when his time is come he will not want an Ezra and Nehemiah to rear her walls, nor be wanting to them to inspire them with courage, and assist their labour in spite of the adversaries that would give check-mate to the work If Stephen be stoned by the Jews, he will cull out Paul an a better of that murder to be a preacher of the Gospel, and he that was all fire against it, shall become as great a flame for the propagation of it; one Phenix shall arise out of the ashes of another. When Arrianism, like a deluge overflowed the world, the Church wanted not an Athanasius to stand in the gap, and be a Champion for the truth of the Deity of Christ. When enemies rise up against the Church from all [Page 28] quarters to afflict it, God raised others from all quarters to defend it, Zach. 1.19, 20. Yea those that have been the instruments to support the Antichristian state against her, by giving their power and strength to the beast, shall turn their arms against that which they sup­ported, to make her desolate, eat her flesh and burn her with fire, Rev. 17.12, 13, 16. 'Tis the same Christ that is King in his Church, and the Spirit is not dispossessed of his office to furnish men with gifts for the defence and encrease of it; he is still a spirit of government in Magi­strates, and the spirit of fire in Ministers for the Churches interest. Now since the Church hath maintained its standing longer than any other Empire, & that in the midst of its enemies, and hath been both encreased and refin'd by the violences used against her, since she hath been so often restor'd, and never wanted instruments for the rearing and protecting her, who can doubt whether the highest hath not, and whether the highest will not still establish her, and cover her with his mighty wings?

III 3. The 3d thing. Why it must needs be so?

1. 'Tis necessary for the honour of God. Those Societies may moulder away, and those Religions grow feeble which have drawn their birth from the wisdom of man, and been setled by the force of man; but a divine work must needs have a divine establishment. Tis so,

(1.) If you regard it as his main design in the Creation of the world. Can we think God made the world for the worlds sake, that he pitch'd tabernacles here for a few creatures, that could spell from all his works but a few and little letters of his name? Could the bare creation shew to man so much as his back parts? The most glori­ous perfections of his Nature could never be visible in a handful of creatures, though never so glorious, no nor in multitudes of worlds of a more beautiful aspect, with­out the discovery of the Gospel, and the setling a Gospel Church. How should we have known his patience, been instructed in his mercy, have had any sense of his grace, or understood the depths of his wisdom or heard the voice of the bowels of his love, so as they are linkt together in his nature? If God created the world for his glory, he created it for his highest glory; a bare creation without a redeemed company of crea­tures, could never have given us a prospect of the great glory of his Nature, nor have an­swered the end of God, which was the manifestation of his perfections. His wisdom broke out in the frame of all creatures giving them life and motion; but his eye, when he made the world, was upon the manifestation of a greater wisdom which then lay hid in his bosom, and was not to be discovered but in the publishing the Gospel. Ephes. 3.9.10. The wisdom that broke out in the creation, was but a scaffold, whereon in time his wisdom in the glory of a Church peculiar to himself should appear. All things were created for Christ as well as by him, for him and his glory as Mediator and as Head of the Church, and there­fore for the glory of his body. And his end in sending Christ was to gather all things together in him; those things which are in Heaven as well as those which are on earth, Eph. 1.10. And in order to that end he works all things v. 11. He works all things accord­ing to the counsel of his own will.. This counsel and will of appointing Christ was the spring and rule of all his works, and therefore of creation, as well as the rest succeeding it. He that would upon occasion give the richest parts of the world for the ransom of Sion, as Aegypt Aethiopia Seba, Isa. 23.43. may well be thought to create those and other nations to lay a foundation for her. We know that soon after the Creation the rest of God was disturbed by the entrance of sin, which could not come unexpected, unforeseen and unper­mitted. There had not then been any ground of rejoycing in the habitable parts of the earth, Prov. 8.31. if he had not designed something else. But he provided in his counsel an­other rest, and in order to that suffered this first rest in the bare creation to be spoyl'd; Sion he chose; and Sion he desired as his rest for ever wherein he would dwell, Psa. 132.13, 14. The end of God in creation was not certainly only to make a Sun or Stars, an earth bedeckt with plants, and man a rational creature, only to contemplate these works, but to render him the acknowledgments of his power and wisdomCha [...]. 3 Veri [...]. lib. 3. cap. 1. p. 16.: As a Limner lays his chief design in the midst of the cloth, and fills the void places with many other fancies to beautify and set off his work, but those were not in his first intention, but his main design was the draught, in the middle, surrounded with the rest. Now when man by sin had made himself uncapable of performing the work he had to do, God orders things so as to have a rest, to have a people to acknowledge him. Hence perhaps the forming of such a people is called by the term of a new creation, not only as it is an act of creative power, but as it was the chief design of the exerting his power in the creation of the world. And shall the chief of his counsel be the conquest & triumph of Satan? Shall he at the closing up of the world be defea­ted of his main contrivance? Surely if there were a greater opposition to Sion than ever there was, he would exert a greater strength than ever he did, not to be crost in his principal aim.

(2.) As he hath been the Author and Builder of Sion His f [...]ndati [...] is in the [...] Mo [...]tain. Psal. 85.1.. Great Kings have a particular care of the Cities they have founded for the honour and preservation of their Name, and a te­stimony of their Magnificence; with what choice Priviledges do they use to endow them? with what strong Garrisons do they use to secure them in time of danger? And shall not the Great God perpetuate that which he hath form'd for his glory, to which he hath given a peculiar denomination of the City of God Called by tha [...] this four times in [...]e 48 P [...]a 1, 2, 8, 14. whence the Psalm [...]st con­cludes the establish­ment of her.? Nebuchadnezzar cannot be more industrious to enrich Babylon, which he had built by the might of his Power, than God will be to perpetuate [Page 29] Sion, which he hath built for the honour of his Majesty. God was the Architect of this City, and gave the Model. Christ was the Builder of this City, and rais'd the StructureHeb. 3.3, 4. He, i. e. Christ, built the house, and he that built all things is God.. God laid the Platform of all things, much more of that which is dearer to him than all things: He laid the Foundation of it by his Son; whereas the Jewish Synagogue was form'd by the Ministry of Moses; he hath poured upon her greater Treasures of knowledg, a ful­ler measure of the Spirit than he did before, that the knowledg of precedent Ages was nothing in comparison of that which he lighted in the Gospel Sion, in the fulness of time. The Spirit hath form'd the Church in the womb of the world, as he form'd Christ in the womb of the Virgin. The natural and the mystical Body of the Son of God have the same Author and Original; not a stone fitted to be a part in composing this Temple, but was culled out, and polisht by God, 1 Pet. 3.5. He that laid the corner stone, fixeth the lively stones to become a spiritual house. Are built; not built themselves; 'tis his house, because he built it, as well as his house because he dwells in it, and rules it as the Master of the Family. Though the whole Fabrick of Nature is God's work, yet the Church is peculiar­ly, and by way of distinction called his work Hab. 3.2. Revive thy work.; and every stone in it is called his Jewel Mal. 3.17. My Jewels., made so by his Power, in working a real change; for by nature they were as unfit as the common Pebbles of the Earth. He is therefore peculiarly called the Creator of Israel, Isa. 43.15. As he hath maintained a Creation revolted from him, notwithstanding all the provoking sins of men; so he will maintain a Creation dear to him, notwithstanding all the bloody contrivances of men. Sion's Inheritance is secured, because 'tis a branch of God's planting, Isa. 60.21. Things are preserv'd by the same means whereby they are first set­led. Is it not then for the honour of God to be the Establisher of that by the Power of his might, whereof he hath been the Founder by the strength of his Arm? He made not use of the Riches, Power and Wisdom of the World, to lay the Foundation of Sion; but as the Jews, he wrought as it were with a Trowel in one hand, and a Sword in the other, and erected her Walls against the force and policy of Hell and Earth; and as he founded it without worldly advantages, and against the stream of corrupt Nature, he knows how to preserve it when the wit and strength of the World are contrary to it. It would be too low a conceit of the Wisdom and Power of God, to imagine that he should undertake so great a work, to be baffled in the end he designed to himself: His Wisdom is as much concerned in honour to work wonders for the preservation of Sion, as his Power was im­ployed at first miraculously, to lay the first corner stone of her.

(3.) As he hath been the preserver and inlarger of her to this day. Men think themselves concerned in honour to perfect those which they call their creatures, and often regard one act of kindness as an engagement upon them to successive acts of the like nature. 'Tis not for the honour of any man to stand by a friend a long time, and to enjoy the glory of assisting him, and desert him at the last pinch. God set up the Church after the fall in Adam's Fa­mily, rather than create a new world to create a new Church; he raised up Seth to propagate it, when Abel was taken off by the bloody hands of his Brother; he preserv'd it in Noah's Family, in the midst of a corrupted and degenerate world, and settled it upon the Foundation of the Gospel in both; Upon the first promise in the Family of Adam, Gen. 3.15. Upon the sweet-smelling Sacrifice offered by Noah, Gen. 8.20, 21, 2 [...]. Not upon the Symbol or Type, the blood of the beasts, but upon the thing signified by it; and the pre­servation of the world promised after that Sacrifice, was chiefly in order to the preserva­tion of a Church in it, as the Creation of the world was in order to the erecting it; and therefore the Rain-bow settled then as a sign of the Covenant, for the worlds preservation from a Flood of Waters, is made the sign of the Everlasting Covenant of Peace, both in Eze­kiel Ezek. 1.28., and in the Revelation Rev. 4.3., as a sign he would preserve his Church from the multitude of Waters, from the Rage of the People, signified by Waters in the Prophetick part of Scripture, and from the Floods that the Devil should cast out against her. And thence it is that this Covenant of her Establishment is compared with that Covenant God swore to Noah, and the Faith of the Church strengthened by reflection upon that, Isa. 54.9. Af­ter this settling it in Noah, he fixed it in Abraham, and cleared up the Promise of the Mes­siah, with a greater evidence than to the Ages before: He multiplied it in the fleshly Is­rael, and enlarged the bounds of it to a whole Nation. After that, he takes away the par­tition wall, and spreads her Confines to the possession of the Gentiles, that the Sons of Ja­phet might dwell in the Tents of Shem, according to his Promise, Gen. 9.27. out of the forelorn Gentiles, as stupid as stocks and stones, he raiseth up Children, a great posterity to Abraham. Those that he imployed in the erecting Sion, and establishing the Law that went out from her in the rubbish of the Gentiles, he struck off from all humane assistances, all strength and power in themselves, when he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait there for a power from on high, before they ventured to be Witnesses to him, and publish his Name, not only in the uttermost parts of the Earth, but in Jerusalem, the City where they were to abide, or in any part of Judaea, Acts 1.4, 8. They were not to speak a word of him in their own strength, or in any strength less than a Power from Heaven, which was to be given them by the sending the Spirit: and this he calls the promise of the Father; as signifying his purpose to enlarge his Church as well as build it at the first, by himself and his own power. 'Tis this the promise of the Father our Saviour there pitches their faith upon, and 'tis this our faith should be established in in all conditions of the Church.

Now hath God thus rear'd up a Church out of the ashes of mans original Apostacy, setled it among the murmuring and ungrateful Israelites that industriously longed for the Garlick and Onions of Aegypt, as weary of the greatness of his mercy to them, and propagated it to the Idolatrous Gentiles fill'd with all unrighteousness, as bad as bad could be, as is described, Rom. 1.29, 30, 31? To what purpose was the enlarging the Churches Patent, if he did intend the footsteps of her should ever be rooted out of the world? He pickt out the weakest, poorest persons as the matter of it, that he might shew his own honour in preserving it: he hath yet supported her all the while she hath carryed the cross of her Lord: he hath sent his spirit to frame a succession of new materials for her: how fruitless would all this be, if he should let Hell waste the Temple erected for Heaven? What? did he gather and enlarge the Church only to make it a richer conquest, and a fatter morsel for the Devil? How vain would his former kindness appear, if he should let it utterly sink as long as the world endures? It cannot be imagin'd with any semblance of reason, that God hath taken all this care about the nursing and growth of the Church from small beginnings, to let his darling be a prey to the mouth of Lyons, and be of no other use than to fatten his enemies.

(4.) In regard of the cost and pains he hath been at about Sion. Did the creation of the world ever cost him so much? Was there one tear, one groan, one sigh, much less the blood of the Son of God expended in laying the foundation of it? When the matter of it was with­out form and void, the beauty of it was not wrought with a washing with blood. When God established the clouds above, and strengthn'd the foundations of the deep, when he gave the sea his decree, and appointed the foundations of the earth, the Son of God was by him rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth and his delights were among the sons of men, Prov. 8.28, 29, 31. Not bleeding and dying. But this he must do, he must take humane nature, be bruised in his heel by the serpent, and be a Sacrifice himself, make an atone­ment for sin, before a stone for the building of spiritual Sion could be fram'd and laid.

What pains have been taken also in the effecting it? The birth of the Church was a work of greater power than the fabrick of the world; a few words went to the rearing of that; in the revolution of six days it was set upon its feet: but many a year was God in travel before Sion was brought forth; there was an enemy as potent as Hell to deal with in setting it in Adams family after mans Apostacy: The corrupt nature, that had then got the possession of the world, to contest with. The world must be drowned to bring it to a second nativity and establishment in Noah. The forming the Church of the Jews was not without some pangs of nature; what signs and wonders, and great terrours were wrought in its bringing forth out of Aegypt, and striking off the chains of her Captivity? Deut. 4.34. What fire, blackness, darkness, tempest, that made a convulsion in the Souls of those that were to be her materials? Heb. 12.18, 19. And the bringing forth the Gentile Church, and enlarging the cords and stakes of Sion, was preceded by the darkening the Sun, the trembling of the Earth, the opening of the Graves, the suffering of that which was dearest to God him­self.

No Power was ever employed so signally in the Affairs of any worldly concern, as in the settlement of Sion. The devouring waves of the Red Sea have been made her Bul­warks, and the Sand, the Grave of her Enemies, hath been a path for her passage. The Sun hath forgotten his natural Race, to gaze upon her Victories, Josh. 10.13. Angels have been commissioned to be her Champions, and fight her Battels, 2 King. 19.35. The whole Host of Heaven have been arrayed to fight for Sion on Earth. The merciless nature of the fire hath been curb'd, to preserve her children, when she seemed to be reduced to a small number; and the mouths of hunger-starv'd Lions have been bridled for the same purpose, Dan. 6.22. The proudest Enemies to her have been vanquisht by Frogs, and Lice; and Ty­rants, that would lay their hands upon her, have been made to their disgrace a living Banquet for Worms the vilest creatures, Act. 12.23.

And indeed, after the malice of the Devil had usurpt God's right in the Creation, and had drawn the chiefest of his sublunary creatures into an Apostacy with himself, no less than an Infinite Power could be engaged against the greatest of created Powers, if God would not forego his own honour in suffering himself to be deprived of the fruit of his works. No less than Infinite Power could erect a Church in the world; that God might have the fruit of his Creation, he ordered this Power to appear, struck down the Gates of Hell, sent his Son to rescue his Honour, and his Spirit to polish stones for his Temple. Every one that is fitted for this Building, had Almightiness at work with him before he was form'd, Eph. 1.19, 20. Every stone was hewed by the Spirit, and the Image of God was imprinted by a Divine Efficacy. Shall the fruit of so much Power, and the mark of his own Image, want an establishment, God would seem to be careless of the Treasures of his own Nature, wherewith he hath endow'd her. Shall all this cost and pains be to no purpose? Were the Gates of Hell taken down to be set up again more strongly? and the charge­able Counsels of God to be puft away by the breath of Satan? Doth it consist with his Wisdom to let Sion fall out of his hands into the power of her old Oppressor? Men are more desirous to preserve the Estate they have gotten by sweat, than that which is left them by Inheritance; and are most careful in settling that which hath cost them more Trea­sure, and more Labour. Jacob sets a value upon the Portion he got with his Sword and [Page 31] Bow, Gen. 48.22. No less will God upon that Sion he hath wrested out of the world by the Might of his Arm.

(5.) In regard of Faithfulness: His Veracity is ingaged.

[1.] In regard of Faithfulness to Christ the Head. The Spirit was promised to Christ, Act. 2.33. Having received the promise of the Holy Ghost, i. e. the Holy Ghost promised to him by the Father: He received that which was promised; his receiving it from God implyed the Spirit's being promised to him by God. To what end was this Spirit given him, and sent by him? To convince the world of righteousness, John 16.10. an effect necessary to the build­ing Sion. For this end he received it, for this end therefore it was promised to him. The promise would be vain, the performance of the promise, in the mission of the Holy Ghost, would be to no purpos [...] if the end for which he was promised, and for which he was sent, were not perform'd, if there should not be a perpetual number convinced of, and imbracing that righteousness of Christ, which hath been manifested by his going to the Father.

God also promised him a great posterity after his making his soul an offering for sin, Isa. 53.10.11. A seed that he should see, therefore stable and perpetualA posterity was to fol­low his Sacri­fice, his Cross was to give them being, and his Blood was to give them life., because always visible to him. God pawn'd his word upon the condition of his death; the condition was performed to the full satisfaction of God: his Truth therefore hath no evasion, no plea to deny the performance of the promise in raising up a multitude of believers in the world, and such a multitude as shall always be seen with pleasure by him, as good, and sound chil­dren and the travel of the mothers womb, are by the parents. The truth of God is oblig'd by Christ's exact performance of the condition, as well as by the particular respect he hath to the glory of it; it was for the Church Christ gave himself, Eph. 5.25. 'Tis necessary therefore that God should preserve and establish a Church for him to the end of the world; that Christ might not by any default of his Father, lose the end and design of his death, there shall be a generation of believers, a little seed lying in the midst of all the chaff; so God promisedPsal. 72.17. His name shall be continued as long as the world. [...]: His name shall be propagated in a perpetual birth of Children, it shall be sound while the Sun in the Heaven keeps its station.

(2.) In regard of faithfulness to the Church it self. How doth the word sparkle with pro­mises to Sion in all her concerns? He hath promised an indissolvable marriage, the fixing a knot that shall never be untiedHos. 2.19. I will betroth thee unto me for ever, and that in judg­ment, righte­ousness, loving kindness, mercy; faithfulness.. A marriage, that shall never end in widdow-hood, so that Judgment, righteousness, loving kindness, mercy, faithfulness must first fail, before the Church meet with an entire dissolution, i. e. God and the glorious perfections of his na­ture shall fail, before the Church be forsaken, and left to her enemies. She is no less assur'd of continual supplies and nourishment, and that by no meaner a hand than that of God him­self, Isa. 27.3. I the Lord do keep it, I will water it every moment, I will keep it night and day. (Nor a meaner dew than himself, Hos. 14.5.) Also without the failing her a minute; he would water her with doctrine to preserve her verdure and increase her growth. He would be her Guardian night and day, in the darkness of adversity, in the sunshine of prosperity; so that Satan should not outwit, nor the craft and subtilty of hereticks waste her; for it refers to v. 1. wherein God promiseth her to punish the piercing Serpent, the crooked Serpent, that by various windings and turnings insinuates himself to the destruction of men. And he adds v. 4. Fury is not in me, he lays by his anger against her, as considered in apostate nature; the fury of Hell shall not prevail where the anger of God is pacified, but her enemies shall be as bryars and thorns before him. He hath a consuming fury for her enemies, though he hath none for his vineyard. Protection is in no less measure promised, and that not a tem­porary one, nor a bare defence, but with the ruin of her enemies, and treading them down, as straw is trodden down for the Dunghil, Isa. 25.10. In this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest. By hand is meant his power, and by rest is meant the perpetual motion of it for her, and that against the most furious, malicious & powerful of her Enemies, Mat. 16.18. against the gates of hell: against the wisdom of Hell, gates being the seat of councel, against the censures and sen­tences of Hell, gates being the place of judicature, against the arms of Hell, gates being the place of strength & guards. When Christ secures against Hell, he secures against all that re­ceive their commission from Hell; neither Hell it self, nor the instruments edg'd and enve­nomed by Hell, shall prevail against her; she is secur'd for her assemblies in one part or other, when they gather together to hear the Law, and to sacrifice; And I that am the Lord thy God, from the Land of Aegypt, will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of Solemn feasts, Hos. 12.9. 'tis a promise to the Church, it was never yet, nor appears like to be performed to the ten tribes as a Nation, but to their Posterity as swallowed up in, & embodied with the Gentiles. The conquest of her enemies is secur'd to her, Ps. 110.1. The promise is made to Christ of making his enemies his footstool: But made to him as Davids Lord, and consequent­ly as the Lord of his people, as King in Sion: and therefore made to the whole body of his loyal subjects. And, all those things are of little comfort without duration and stability, which is also secur'd to her, Hos. 6.3. His going forth, i. e. the going forth of God in the Church, is prepared as the morning. [...] Stable; His appearance for her, and in her, is as certain as the dawning of the morning light at the appointed hour. All the clouds which threaten a perpetual night, cannot hinder it, all the workers of darkness cannot prevent it; the morn­ing will dawn whether they will or no. Her duration is compared to the most durable things, to that of the Cedar the most lasting of all plants. Three times it is compared to Lebanon in the promise, Hos. 14.5, 6, 7. The Cedar never rots, worms eat it not. 'Tis not [Page 32] only free from putrifaction it self, but the juyce of it preserves other things. Numa's BooksSanct. in loc., though of paper, yet dipt in the juyce of Cedar, remained without corruption in the ground 500 years. How shall that God who always remembers every thing, yea the meanest of his creatures, forget his own variety of expressions and multiplyed promises con­cerning his Sion?

(6.) In regard, 'tis the seat of his glory. 'Tis the branch of his planting, the work of his hands, that he might be glorified, Isa. 60.21. His glory would have a brush, if Sion should sink to ruin. He sows her for himself, Hos. 2.23. speaking of the Church in the time of the Gospel, not to the Devil, to sin, to the world, but to his own glory. As husbandmen sow their Fields for their own use, to reap from them a fruitful crop; and therefore till the Harvest be in, they take care to make up the breaches, and preserve them from the Incursions of beasts. Though God hath an objective glory from all creatures, yet he hath an active glory only from the Church. 'Tis Israel, the house of Aaron, and those that fear the Lord, that the Psal­mist calls upon to render God the praise of the eternity of his mercy, Psal. 118.2, 3, 4. He for­bids the prophane and disobedient world to take his Covenant in their mouth, Psal. 50.16. None do, none can truly honour and acknowledg him, but the Church; therefore the Apostle in his Doxology appropriates the glory that is to be given to God as the object, to the Church as the subject, Ephes. 3.21. Ʋnto him be glory in the Church by Jesus Christ throughout all Ages, world without end. So solemn a wish from so great an Apostle, that it should be, amounts to a certainty that it will be. There cannot be a glory to God in the Church throughout all Ages, without the continuance of the Church in all Ages. God will have a revenue of glory paid him during the continuance of the world; there shall therefore be a standing Church during the duration of the world; while he therefore expects a glory from the midst of his People, he will be a wall of fire round about them, and keep Sion one where or other in a posture to glorifie him. What is the Apostles motive to this glory? 'Tis not a remote power, such as can act, but will not; but a power operative in the Church, in do­ing those things for her, which she could never ask, nor think for her selfv. 20. Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundan ly a­bove all that we ask or think, accord­ing to the power that works in us.. God hath a grea­ter glory from the Church, than he can have from the world; he therefore gives her more signal experiments of his Power, Wisdom and Love, than to the rest of the world. He had a glory from Angels, but only as Creator, not as Redeemer, till they were acquainted with his design, and were speculators of his actions in gathering a Church in the world. The Church therefore was the original of the new glory, and praise, the Angels presented to God. Glory in the Church by Christ. Musculus thinks that is added to distinguish it from the Jewish Church, which was settled by the Ministry of Moses; as much as to say, God had not so much glory by the Tabernacles of Jacob, as he hath by the Church as settled by Christ. Or, by Christ notes the manner of the presenting our praise, and the ground of the acceptance of our praise. God accepts no glory but what is offered to him by the hand of Christ; and Christ presents no glory but what is paid him by the Church. 'Tis the Church then, and the Gospel-Church that preserves the glory of God in the world. If the Church therefore ceaseth, the glory of God in the world ceaseth. But since God hath created all for his own glory, separated a Church out of the world for his glory, appointed his Son the Head of it, that he might be glorified, his Church therefore is as dear to him as his glory, and dear to him in order to his glory; in establishing it therefore he establishes his own honour and name. It shall therefore remain in this world to glorifie him, afterwards in another to glorifie him, and be glorified by him.

(7.) In regard that 'tis the object of his peculiar affection. Establishment of a beloved ob­ject is inseparable from a real affection. By this he secures the Spiritual Sion, or Gospel-Church both from being forsaken by him, or made desolate by her Enemies, because she was Hephzibah Isa. 62.4., my delight, or, my will is in her, as if he had no will to any thing but what concern'd her and her safety: As men ingrave upon their Rings the Image of those friends that are dearest to them, and as the Jews in their Captivity engraved the Effigies of their City upon their Rings, to keep her in perpetual remembrance, so doth God engrave Sion upon the palms of his hands, Isa. 49.16. to which the Holy Ghost seems to allude. He so loves his Israel, that he who will be commanded by none, stoops to be commanded by them in things concerning his Sons, Isa. 45.10. Not only ask of me what you want, but com­mand me in the things that are to come; the pleas of my promises of things to come, and your desires to bring them forth as the work of my hand, shall be as powerful a motive to me, as a command from a Superiour is to an obedient Inferiour; for it is to things to come, such things that God hath predicted, that he limits their asking, which he calls also here a commanding of him. There was a real love in the first choice; there is an intenseness of love in the first attraction, Jer. 31.3. I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. His love, which had a being from Eternity, is exprest by words of more tenderness, when he comes to frame her; lovingkindness; as if his affection seemed to be increased, when he came to the execution of his Counsel. According to the vigour of his immutable Love will be the strength of her immutable Establishment. This promise is made, not to the Church in general, but to all the Families of the spiritual Israel, v. 1. Men are concern'd in honour for that upon which they have plac'd their af­fection. Shall there then be decays in the kindness of that God, whose glory it is to be im­mutable? Is it possible this Fountain should be frozen in his breast? Was there not a love [Page 33] of good will to Sion to frame her, to pick out her materials when they lay like Swine in the confused mass, and dirty mire of a corrupt world? Is there not also a love of delight, since he hath refined and beautified her by imparting to her of his own comliness, Ezek. 16.14. Is it likely this affection should sink into carelesness? And the fruit of so much love be dasht in peices? Can such tenderness be so unconcerned, as to let the apple of his eye be pluckt out? To be a lazy spectator of the pillage of his Jewels by the powers of Hell? to have the Center of his delight tost about at the pleasure of men and Devils? Shall a Mo­ther be careless of her sucking Child? How then can that God, whose tenderness to the Church, cannot be equalled by the bowels of the most compassionate mother to her infants? Surely God is concerned in honour, to maintain against a feeble Devil, and a decrepit world, that which is the object of his almighty affection.

(8.) In regard of the natural weakness of the Church. No generous Prince but will think himself bound in honour to support the weaker subject: no tender parent but will acknow­ledg himself obliged in affection to take a greater care of the weaker than the stronger Child; The Gardiner adds props to the feeblest plants, that are most exposed to the fury of the storms, and have least strength to withstand them. The powers of the world have al­ways been the Churches enemies; the wise have set their reason, and the mighty their arms against her; the Devil, the God of this world, is so far from being her friend, that Sion hath been the only object of his spite. He contrives only floods to drown her, or mines to demolish her. Her own friends are often so darkened, or divided, that they cannot some times for Ignorance, and will not other times for peevishness hit upon, and use the right means for her preservation. 'Tis an honourable thing then for that God, who en­titles himself the Father of the fatherless, to shew his own power and grace in her establish­ment. The fatherless condition of the Church is an argument she hath sometimes used to procure the assistance she wantedHos. 14.3. With thee the fatherless finds mercy.. And the weakness of Jacob urged by the Prophet excited repentance in God and averted two Judgments which were threatned against that people, Amos. 7.2, 3, 5, 6. 'Tis no mean motive to him to help the helpless, this opportunity he delights to take; when there was no man to help, no intercessor to plead, then his own arm brought Salvation. When he saw no defenders, but all ravagers, no Physicians, but all woun­ders, then should the Spirit of the Lord lift up a standard, Isa. 59.16.19.

To conclude, if Sion, the Gospel Church, were not of as long a duration as the standing of the world, God would lose the honour of his creation, after the Devil by sin had made the creatures unuseful for those ends to which God had appointed them by his first institution. The wisdom of God had been blurred, the serpent would have Triumphed, the Kingdom of God had been dissolved, the enemy would have enjoy'd a remediless tyranny, had not God put his hand to the work, and erected a new Kingdom to himself out of the ruins of the fall. And since God was pleased to take this course rather than create a new world, and hath laid the foundation of a new Kingdom by drawing some out of that common rebellion, the humane nature was fallen into, and that he might do it with honour to himself, hath sent his Son upon that errand, by his blood to bring back man to God, and his spirit to make men fit for a Communion with him, and hath backt his affection to the Church with so much cost and pains for her welfare; If after all this God should-desert his Church, the dishon­our of Gods wisdom, the loss of the fruit of all his cost and pains, the weakness of his affecti­on, or of his power to perform his promise, and the ruin of his glory intended by those methods, would be the issue, which would be attended with the triumph of his revolted crea­ture, and greatest enemy. This would be, if God should cease picking out some men for his praise, and keeping up his name and royalty in the earth.

2. 'Tis for the exercise of the Offices of Christ that Sion should be establisht. He is Prophet, Priest, and King, which are all titles of relation. Prophet implies some to be instructed, a Priest some to offer for, and a King some to be ruled; put one relation, and you must necessarily put the other. If there were no Church preserv'd in the world, he would be a nominal Prophet without any disciples, a King without subjects, and a Priest without suppliants to be atoned by him, upon earth. Now Christ is the wonderfull Counsellour, the everlasting Father, and the Government is laid upon his Shoulders; to what end? to order and establish the Kingdom of God, Isa. 9.6, 7. All the strength and vigor he had, as it was from God, so it was intended for God Thou madest the Son of man strong for thy self, Psa. 80.17.. And the reason is, because, though God hath given up the administration of things to Christ, yet he hath not devested himself of his right, nor can; For God is the chief Lord, and the relation of creatures not ceasing, the relation of Lord and Creator cannot cease. And therefore since the right of God continues, the grant of the uttermost ends of the earth to be the inheritance & possession of Christ, includes not only a gift but an Office, to preserve, protect, establish, and improve his possession for those ends for which he had the grant, and to prevent all that may impair it. As he had a right and strength, by the or­der of God to rear it, so he hath an Office and Power to establish it, as well as to erect it, and Christ is the same in all his offices yesterday, to day and for ever, Heb. 13.8. The same in credit with God, in faithfulness to his Office, the vertue of his blood, the force of his arm, and com­passions to bleeding Sion.

(1.) 'Tis his part, as a Prophet, to establish it in Doctrine. 'Tis his part externally to raise his truth when it lyes gasping in the rubbish of errour, and refine his worship when it is daub'd [Page 34] with Superstition and Idolatry. Internally to clear the understanding to know his truth, quicken the will to imbrace it, rivet the word in the conscience, and enflame the affecti­ons to love and delight in it. Certainly the promise of the abiding of his Spirit implies the efficacy of his operation while he abides. He is to provide against the subtilty and rapine of fox like Hereticks, that they spoil not the tender vine, Cant. 2.15. And to furnish the Church with gifts for the preserving and increasing her. The perpetual exercise of this prophetical office he promised them, when he gave the Apostles a Charter for his presence to the end of the world, Mat. 28.20. Which was in relation to their ministry and their office of teaching. Since he promised his presence with his ministry to the end of the world, he will have a Church to the end of the world, to enjoy the benefit of that promise to be taught by them. It consisted not with the wisdom or faithfulness of Christ to promise a perpetuity to that, if he knew it were to be cut short before the end of the world. And this himself also assures the Church of in all its variety of states, Revel 2.1. These things saith he that holds the seven Stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven Golden Candlesti [...]k. Not only seven Stars at one time, or seven Golden Candlesticks in being together, but in all the successions of the Church to the consummation of the world. And as he describes himself by this title when he speaks of the Church of Ephesus, which was the first state of the Church, not only assuring her of his holding her Star; and walking by her Candlestick, but all the rest that were to follow, so he doth renew the same expres­sion in part when he speaks of the Church of Sardis, which is the rising of the Church from the Apostacy wherein it had been covered in the Thyatirian state, Revel. 3.1. These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars. The seven spirits of God sig­nifies the gifts for the building and perfecting the Church still in the hand of Christ, which should be in a more plentiful way poured out than for some time before, as they were in the first reformation. He is still therefore as a Prophet walking in the Church in all ages. Not only in the first Foundation of it by the Apostles, but in the reformation of it, after it had been buried in Superstition and Idolatry. And at the restauration of the Church in the world, there shall be a pure river of water as clear as Christal, proceeding from the Throne of God and the Lamb, Revel. 22.1. i. e. Pure doctrine without any mud and mixtures.

(2.) 'Tis his part as a Priest to establish it in the favour of God, and look to the reparations of his Temple. The Church is his Temple. A Temple is the proper seat & the proper care of a Priest. He is a Priest still upon his Throne, Zach. 6.13. and that for ever. As he hath therefore some thing to offer, so he hath always some for whom he offers; who are they but his Church? His prayer on earth, John 17. was but a model or draught of his intercession in Heaven; one part of it is for preservation of them through the truth of God, John 17.17. The keep­ing up the Gospel in the world in order to a sanctification of some is the matter of his inter­cession, which is one part of his Priestly Office. And we cannot imagine his plea for his Church to be weaker on his throne, it being also a throne of grace, than it was for his ene­mies when he was upon a cross of suffering. The compassions annext to his Priesthood re­main still, Heb. 4.15. If his office, be perpetual, the qualifications necessary to that office are as durable as the office it self, as long as there is any object for their exercise. To what purpose are his compassions, if he should not pity her for whom they were designed, and for whose behoof he was furnisht with them? He cannot be faithful to God in his office, if he be not merciful and tender to Sion in her distresses. He certainly pities her as he would himself, were it possible he should be in an infirm condition. He must lose his Soul before he can lose his pity, and the Church must cease to be his body, before she can cease to be the object of his compassions He hath the same sentiments now that he had when he cal­led to Paul from Heaven, Act. 9.4. It was not then, Why persecutest thou mine, but why perse­cutest thou me? Nor is it so now; as the relation continues the same, so doth the compassion, so do his sentiments, so do his cares. To what purpose doth he as a Priest sit upon a Throne of grace, if he did not shew grace to his Sion against the cruel designs of her enemies? As God pities us when he remembers our frame, Psal 103.13, 14. So no question doth Christ, when he remembers Sions oppressions, as a distressed child is the object of the fathers pitty. Add to this, That since the death of Christ was one part of his Priestly performance, and that the virtue of his sacrifice is as eternal as his Priest-hood, what a disparagement would it [...]e to him, and the virtue of his death, if ever the world while it stood, should be void of the fruits of it? There can be no moment wherein it is not valid to expiate the sins of some men, and therefore not a moment wherein the world shall be without a Sion, whose sins are expiated by it. Should the standar'd of Sion be snatcht away and torn by the powers of darkness, what would become of the glory, what would become of the virtue of the Redeemers death? Would God consecrate him so solemnly by an oath to be a Priest, to so little purpose? How could it be for ever, if the execution of that office should be interrupt­ed by the cessation of a Church as long as the world stands upon its pillars? Would it not be an empty title, if the end of it were not performed? We cannot imagine the falling of Sion, but we must question the merit of his death, the truth of his exaltation, the strength of his intercession, the faithfulness of his office, and the sincerity and candor of his com­passions.

(3.) 'Tis his part as a King to establish Sion in being, and govern her. The Prophets always [Page 35] testified, that of his Government there should be no end. If the Church should cease for one mo­ment in the world, what subjects would he have to govern here? Can he be a King without a Kingdom, or a governour without subjects, to bear a voluntary and sincere witness to his name? If he be King in Sion, he will also have a Sion to own him, and a Sion to rule in; not only a conquest of the Serpentine brood and infernal powers was promised, but the total and perpetual victory, Gen. 3.15. The sted of the woman was to bruise the Serpents head. When the head is bruised, there is no more wisdom to guide, or force to Spirit the arm and the other members of the body It was a promise made not only of Christ to man, but of a compleat victory to Christ, that he should outwit the Serpents wisdom and utterly discomfit the Serpents power. If the conquest were not perfect and perpetual, it could not be called a spoiling of principalities and powers, as it is, Col. 2.15. but an interruption or temporary check, whence they might rescue themselves. He is therefore said to still the enemy and the avenger Psal. 8.2. I make no scruple to understand the whole Psalm of Christ, since the A­postle hath interpreted part of it of him, Heb. 2.. i. e. Make them utterly silent, not knowing what firm Counsels to take, or what successful orders to give. And it being his end to destroy the works of the Devil, the destroying the works must be the root of the being and preservation of the Church. Did Christ then rise as a Conquerour out of the grave, and sit down as King upon his throne, to let the Devil and the world run away with the fruits of his victory? Will he be so injurious to himself, as to let his Throne be overturned by his enemies? And to let the adversary of Sion repossess himself of that, which he hath been so powerfully and successfully stript of? Christ being King cannot be chased out of his Kingdom, nor wants power to keep it from being utter­ly wasted. To be the governour of Sion was as much in his first Commission as to be her RedeemerIsa. 49.10. He was to fe [...]d & guide his flock, which is of­ten in Scrip­ture put for Ruling.. Christ as King will never leave beating up the quarters of Hell, till he hath utterly routed their force, and made the partizans of it his footstool, and thereby establish­ed Sion beyond the fears of any tottering. Therefore when he speaks of the Church of Smyrna, which was to have a sore conflict with the Devil and feel the smart of him for 10 days, understanding those 10 Ancient persecutions of the Church, he assumes a new title for her encouragement, Revel. 2.8. These things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. I was the first that listed you and embodied you for the war, and I will be the last to bring up the rear; I was first in raising you, and I will be the last in preserving you. Fear not the terror of those persecutions though they be to blood and death; I was used so, I was dead, but I am now alive, and I live for my Church, to behold her battles, to procure her victory, and to Crown those that shall fall in the fight against her enemies. Christ in encouraging them to suffer for him, assures them of the security of a Church; the De­vil should not wast the whole, but cast some of them into prison, not all, and that for their refining, v. 10. The Devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tryed. Christ lives still, and acts as King for the security of Sion, and preserving a Generation to serve him, till the time comes that is promised, Rev. 22.3. that there shall be no more curse, but the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and then his Servants shall serve him with a full security from all trouble.

3. The Foundation of Sion is sure. 'Tis founded upon Christ the corner stone. Christ is called the Foundation, 1 Cor. 3.11. The Apostles are the Foundation, Eph. 2.20 Christ is the Foundation personally, the Apostles doctrinally; Christ meritoriously, the Apostles mini­sterially; the Apostles in regard of the publication of the Doctrine, Christ in regard of the ef­ficacy of the Doctrine, whereby the Church is established.

1. The Church is ingrafted in Christ, united to him, one with him; the parts of it are reckoned as his seed Psal. 22.30. A s ed shall serve him, it shall be counted to the Lord as a generation.: As if they had sprung out of his loins, as men naturally did from Adam's; that as Adam was the Foundation of their corruption, so shall Christ be the Foundation of their Restauration: They shall be looked upon as the Children of Christ, and Christ as their Father, and as Father and Children, legally counted one.

The Church is his own body, Eph. 5.29, 30. In loving and establishing the Church, he loves & establisheth himself. Whatsoever is implanted in nature as a perfection, is eminently in God. Now, since he hath twisted with our natures, a care of our own bodies, this care must be much more in the nature of Christ, because his Church is as nearly united to him, as our members to the flesh and the bones; and he hath an higher affection to his mystical, than we can have to our natural bodies. Christ will no less secure and perfect his own bo­dy, than a man would improve the beauty and strength of his natural body, to preserve it from wounds, from being mangled or scarrified, unless it be for the security of the whole. If he did not do it, it would be a hatred of his own flesh, which never any man in his right wits was ever guilty of. The Eternity of Christ is made the Foundation of the Churches Establishment, Psal. 102.27, 28. Thou art the Son, and thy years shall have no end. The Chil­dren of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee. There could be no strength in the Argument without union and communion with him: The Church is settled upon him as a Foundation, and therefore is of as long a duration as the Foundation upon which it stands; the conjunction is so strait, that if one fails the other must; especial­ly since as Christ is the head, the Church is his fulness, Eph. 1.22, 23. Sion cannot be com­pleat but in him, and Christ cannot be compleat without her. A Foundation is of little use without a Superstructure, a building falls not without a discredit to the Foundation upon which it stood. Sions compleatness depends upon the strength of Christ, and Christs mysti­cal [Page 36] compleatness depends upon the stability of Sion, he will not leave himself an imperfect and empty head.

2. 'Tis founded upon the Covenant. Upon that which endures for ever, and shall survive the Funeral of the whole world. Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but the Church is founded upon that which shall not pass away, 1 Pet. 1.23. the Word of God, &c. Not such a word as that whereby he brought forth light in the world, and form'd the Stars at the Creation; a word that engaged him not to the perpetuating of itTarretin Sermons, p. 330.. This Covenant is more firm than the Pillars of Heaven, and the Foundations of the Earth. The Stars of Heaven shall dissolve, the Sun shall be turned into darkness, the Elements shall change their order for confusion: But the Church being founded upon an eternal and immutable Covenant, shall subsist in the midst of the confusions and flames of the world, Isa. 54.10. The Mountains shall depart, and the Hills be removed, but my Covenant of Peace shall not be re­moved. 'Tis more establish'd than the world. The Apostle clearly intimates it in his com­mendation of Abraham's Faith, when he tells us, He looked for a City which hath foundations, by virtue of the promise of a numerous seed, Heb. 11.9, 10. As if the world had no foun­dation in comparison of the Church. 'Tis beyond the skill of Hell to raze up the founda­tion, and therefore impossible for it to beat down the superstructure. Adam fell under the strength of the Serpents wit, but he could by no promise lay claim to stability, as the Church can by an immutable Covenant for her support.

IV. The Ʋse 1. Information.

1. If the Church hath a duration and stability, then Ordinances and Ministry are perpetual. Ministers may be thrust into corners, clapt up in prison, hurried to their graves; but the Sepulchres of Ministers are not the graves of the Ministry. A Ministry, and a Church, Ordinances and a Church, cannot be separated; they run parallel together to the end of the world; for Sion cannot be supposed without Divine Officers, and Divine Institutions; the one cannot be established without the other. Christ walks in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks, Rev. 2.1. in the seven States of the Church, to the end of the worldI do not question but that the whole is pro­phetical, it would not else be called Mystery, as it is, Rev. 1.20. were it meant of those particu­lar Churches.. As there are seven States of the Church, so there are seven Stars in the hand of Christ for all those States; the Ministry have the same support, the same Guardian as the Church her self. What was in the Ephesian and Primitive State, is also in the Sardian State, the State of the Church rising from corruption of Doctrine and OrdinancesRev 3.1. These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven Stars.. Christ hath still Stars to shine, and seven Spirits to gift them; hath at present, not had; hath in the State we are, which seems to be the end of that Sardian State. 'Tis true, the Church is in a wilderness condition, and hath been so for above 1200 years; but hath she yet seen her Funeral? No, she hath a place for her residence, and food for her nourishment, and both provided for her by that God that fram'd her, by that God that stood by her in the pangs of her travel, and shelter'd her Man-child from the fury of her enemiesRev. 12.6. And the wo­man fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepa­red of God that they should feed her there 1260 days.. They should feed her; she is not starved in the desert, she hath Manna to comfort her, her Caterer to provide her food, and some to administer the Banquet of the Word and Sacraments to her. For any Mem­ber of Sion to deny a Ministry, and deny Ordinances, and therefore to neglect them, is to conclude her dead in a grave, and not living, in a desert, utterly famisht, and not fed. Though there be a smoke in the Temple, a cloud and obscurity, the Truths and Ordi­nances of God not so clear, so efficacious as they have been, as some understand, Rev. 15.8. or as they shall be; yet there is a Temple still. A smoke in the Temple supposeth a Temple standing, and Ordinances in it: The obscurity of a thing nulls not the being of it, nor a cloud upon the Sun the stability and motion of it. He that denies a Church, a Ministry, and Divine Ordinances in it, must first charge Christ with falshood, when he promised to be with them to the end of the world. Mat. 28.19, 20. Alway, even to the end of the world. Not to sustain their particular persons to the end of the world, but their Doctrine in a succession of some, to teach and baptize by virtue of Authority from him; for to that doth the pro­mise and command refer, and not unto the continuance of the Apostolical dignity, or of their extraordinary gifts of miracles, but the duration of their standing work till the top­stone were laid, with the loud acclamations of grace, grace. The Church shall no more want a Ministry in the desert, than she wanted a Prophet in Babylon.

2. The Doctrine of the establishment of every member of Sion is clearly confirmed. He that esta­blisheth Sion, counts up every man that was born in her, every Child of Sion is in the same state, and under the same promise as Sion her self. The promise of stability to Sion, is not to be understood of the firmness of her palaces but the duration of her inhabitants; as when God is said to build a house, 'tis not to be understood of the rearing the walls, but increasing the family.Exod. 2.21. God made them houses, i. e. gave them chil­dren. Every renew'd man, every one truly born in Sion stands upon the same Foun­dation of the Covenant, hath the same Charter with Sion her self, and therefore upon a surer ground than any particular society of men in the world, Psal. 125.1. They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion, which cannot be remov'd, but abides for ever. He is upon a better Foundation of security than the Church of Ephesus or Smyrna, Pergamus or Sardis, which have lost their footing, and their places know them no more. A believer injoys other priviledges with Sion, but the patent runs here for his stability in the favour of God, and runs high by removing all fears in the negative, Cannot be removed, and confirming all confidence in the affirmative, Abides for ever. No name writ upon Gods hand, no name [Page 37] presented on Christs breast shall be razed out, no fruit of his death shall be lost, no Devil shall steal from him any part of his purchase. As he hath blood enough to redeem them, so he hath power enough to preserve them; the same blood that is the cement of Sion, the same hand that built her, the same head that influenceth her, secures every one of her true born Children. They are all in the same posture and upon the same Foundation with Sion her self.

3. How great is the folly of Sions enemies! They Judg of her by the weakness of her worldly interest, and not by the Almightiness of her Guardian. They stand against a God that in decreeing the stability of Sion decreed the ruine of her opposers, and can with as much ease effect it as resolve it. The Stone, which is the Foundation of this Kingdom, shall break in pieces the Image of all worldly glory, the policy of all worldly wisdom, and the force of all worldly power, Dan. 2.35, 44, 45. It shall make the Mountains of the world as a level, and dust underneath it. Chaff may as well stop the wind, and force it to another quarter; Stubble may as well quench the fury of the flames, as the Enemies of Sion be victo­rious over the God of Sion. As he hath a Fire in Sion to warm her; so he hath a Furnace in Jerusalem to consume her Enemies, Isa. 31.9. a Fire to burn his Peoples dross, but a Fur­nace to dissolve his Enemies force. Pharaoh is an Example to all Generations, to warn men not to struggle with those whom God resolves to patronize; how did he further his own destruction by his hardness, and the deliverance of the oppressed by his fury? How often is the violence of her Enemies the occasion of the manifestation of God's glory, and the setling Sion's security? Had not Pharaoh been so furious, God had not manifested the glory of his Power, nor his Israel enjoyed so miraculous a safety. 'Tis true, the Church is weak, but the Arm that holds her, is the strongest in Heaven and Earth. Her outward Interest is small, but her Interest is twisted with that of her Lord. An Enemy shall find more mischief from mud-walls, under the protection of a valiant Arm, than from stone-walls, under the guard of an Infant. How foolish is it for a man to think to break a Rock with his fist for hurting his shins, whereby he bruiseth his hands, as well as his leggs? How foolish is it for men to beat the bushes about a Lions Den, whereby they will be sure to rouse him? God dwells in Sion, from thence he roars, to the shaking of Heaven and Earth, the Powers of the world, when he will manifest himself to be the hope of his People, and the strength of the Children of Israel, Joel 3.16.

4. What a ground is here for prayer! This sets an edg upon prayer. No petition can more comfortably, no petition can more confidently be put up, than for Sions establishment. Prayers for particular Persons, or for our selves may want success, but supplications for Sion never miscarry, they have the same Foundation for an answer, that Sion hath for her stability, viz. The promise of God; they are agreeable to that affection which shall never be removed from her: How believingly may we cry out, Be it unto Sion according to thy word? There is no fear of a repulse; whatsoever God denies, he will not deny that for which he hath so often in­gaged himself. It may be for the good of the Church, that so great a person as Paul should lye in Chains, and his Fetters conduce to the furtherance of the Gospel, Phil. 1.12. But it can never be for the Interest of Sion, or for the Interest of Sion's God, that she should be crusht between the teeth of the Lions, and that which he hath redeemed by the blood of his Son, be a prey to the Jaws of the Devil. God hath entitled Sion by the name of a City not forsaken, Isa. 62.12. And as we have his promise for her settlement, so we have his command for our earnestness; vers. 7. And give him no rest, till he doth establish Jerusalem a praise in the whole Earth. And he prescribes us to back that by our prayers, which he had promis'd, v. 1. For Jerusalem's sake I will not rest till the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness. Our desires in this case are suited to his resolves, and run in the same line with his immu­table Decree; he will have no rest in himself, nor he would have no rest from us, till this be accomplisht. We cannot call upon God with a greater confidence for any thing, than for that Church that shall out-live the Funeral of the world, and survive the frame of Na­ture that shall lie in Ashes.

5. What a strong ground is here for trust! Look not so much upon the condition of Sion's Walls, as upon her Foundation; not upon her present posture, as upon her promise-Char­ter; not upon her as a weak Vine, but under the hand of the Highest, as the Vine-dresser; look not upon the feebleness of the Flock, but upon the care of the Shepherd; nor upon the fierceness of the Lions, but upon the strength and affection of her Guardian.

(1.) Let not our Faith rest upon appearances. Flesh will then make a wrong Judgment of God. Providences are various, and should our Faith be guided only by them, it would have a liveliness one moment, and faint the next. As the Promise is the stability of the Church, so it is only the stability of our Faith. The Authority of the Word is the Life of our Faith, and not the sense of any particular Providence in the world. A Faith built upon protecting Providences is a sensitive Faith, a Faith built upon the Promise, is a spiri­tual Faith.

(2.) Yet the Experiences God hath given us hitherto of the continuance of the Church, may be called in to bear witness to the Truth of the Promise. He hath before conducted his Israel into Canaan, when Pharaoh meditated their utter ruine, or their continuance under his Chains; he fed them with Manna, and watered them with a Rock in a desert, that afforded no earthly assistance. The preserving the Vine could never be ascribed to the Vine it self, in [Page 38] which there is no strength; nor to the Foxes, in whom there is no pitty; but to the keep­er of the vineyard. We have reason therefore to trust God, but not at all to trust man; Is it from man or from God that the Church hath subsisted so long in the world, a little flock in the midst of many Wolves, among enemies more numerous than her friends? What a small number hath the Church had in any age to mate the multitude of her enemies, what wis­dom to countermine their policy, and what power to repel their force? The Church is not weaker now, than it hath been; the Sons of Sion were always Sheep; Sheep have not the strength of Lyons to resist, nor the swiftness of Eagles to fly away from danger; the danger cannot be greater than it hath been, there were always Dragons that spat out their venom, and Lyons that opened their mouths against her; the Devil never wanted diligence nor the world enmity to overturn her; could she for one moment have subsisted in the midst of so many furies, had not God been her shield, and glory? Call to mind how often God hath hea­led her diseases, and bound up her wounds. Let us rest in that promise, which hath so often been made good by his power, which he hath in many ages displayed upon as great occasi­ons of danger as Sion can be in. Let us live believingly under his wings, and fear not our own weakness or our enemies strength.

3. We have greater ground of confidence than the Church of Israel had. In the day of Israels trouble by Salmanasser, the Prophet comforts the Church in her anguish, by the considera­tion of the Messiah who was to assume the Government, though many years after, Isa. 8.22. Isa. 9.1, 6. Shall a promise, that was to stay so many ages for performance, be a ground of trust and confidence to a tottering Church then? And shall not the staggering Church have more ground to rest, since the Messiah is made the head of the Corner, and hath the Keys of Hell and death delivered to him? What a base thing is distrust then against so many assurances of stability, and the experience of a multitude of ages? Grasp the promise, plead it earnestly, shew God his written word which he hath sent from Heaven, he never yet disowned it, nor ever will. Methinks, the voice, God is able to deliver Sion, sounds too much of distrust. If we know no more than Gods power, we know not so much as the Devil doth; he knows his power, and he knows his promise. Let us therefore first eye the promise, which God loves, and the Devil fears, and then call in his power to back his word.

4. Regard not man. Too much eye upon him implies too little upon God, as if Gods Word were not enough to create and support a confidence without the buttresses of secu­lar strength. All dependance on man is either upon a broken reed, that cannot support it self, or a piercing reed, that wounds instead of healing, Isa. 36.6. 'Tis a dishonour to God, and provokes him to lengthen a misery and retard a deliverance. The nearer Sion comes to a final settlement, the more God will act by himself, either without instruments, or in a more signally spiriting Instruments, that himself shall be more visible in them than themselves. The Highest himself shall establish her. If he be the Highest he is fit to be trusted by us, if he will do it himself, it is fit we should couple none with him. The nearer the time comes wherein God will appear himself, the more we should depend upon him himself; the exercise of faith should be strongest, when the promise, the object of faith, is nearest its Meridian. Let us be more careful to keep our faith from sinking, and let God alone to keep his Church from sinking.

Use 2. of Comfort. The Churches Patent is singular, the greatest worldly Society could never shew the fellow of it. The Highest himself shall establish her. There is not such a clause in the settlement of any nation. Why should we be afraid then of the joynt conspiracy of men or Devils? He that hath laid the Foundation, can, and will preserve the Superstructure, not only because he formed it, but because he hath promised it. When Christ would reveal to John the future condition, and conflicts of the Church to the end of the world, he appears like a conquerour with all the ensigns of authority and power about him, Revel. 1.13, 14, 15, 16. He hath eyes like a flame to pierce his enemies, Feet like brass to crush them, a two edged Sword out of his mouth, to pierce them; and this, while he is in the midst of the seven Candlesticks; The several alterations and periods of the Church to the end of the world, to preserve and cleanse them.

1. Here is comfort in the confusions and troubles of the world. The shaking of Heaven and Earth were the harbingers of the appearance of Christ for Redemption, and laying the corner stone of Sion, Hag. 2.7. The same methods will be used when he shall come to lay the top-stone, and compleat all the fruits of Redemption, Luke 21.25, 26.28. The confusion of the world is the restauration of Sion; a storm or rushing mighty wind preceded the plenti­full effusion of the Spirit upon the Apostles, for the blowing the Gospel into every corner, Act. 2.2. Never were the disciples in so hopeless a condition as before the Resurrection of Christ, the ground of the Churches stability; they then expected to see his face no more. What commotions and thunders are described in the Revelation before the new Jerusalem comes down from Heaven, & God pitch his Tabernacle among men? But he suffers not those commotions to be raised in the world by the ministring Angel, till the servants of God be sealed in the forehead, for their preservation in those confusions which shall be the ruin of their enemies, Revel. 7.2, 3. The ark may shake with the motion of the oxen, but it cannot fall. Noahs Ark may be tost by the waves that drown the world, but not sink, and at last rest upon the mountains of Ararat. Gen. 8.4. of [...] i. e. the curse of terrors, the removal of fears. Christ [Page 39] came not to the Disciples, but in the fourth Watch of the night, and that when the Ship was tossed by the waves, and was tugging against a contrary wind, Mat. 14.24, 25. 'Tis no hardship for Sion to be in a Boat beaten by the Sea, when Christ walks upon the waters, and bids her be of good cheer, saying, 'Tis I, be not afraid. An Earthquake preceded the deliverance of Paul and Silas out of Prison, Acts 16.26. And Lightnings, and Voices, and Thundrings, Earthquake, and great Hail, shall accompany the opening of the Temple of God in Heaven, and the manifestation of the Ark of the Testament in that Temple, Rev. 11.19.

2. Here is comfort in Persecutions. Persecution is yet for a while the Lot of the Church; a Sea and a Wilderness are yet the passage to Canaan. The first Promise to Abraham of a numerous Seed, was with the comparing it to the dust of the Earth, Gen. 3.16. Dust that is trampled upon, Dust that is removed by a puff of wind. But the next was by comparing it to the Stars in Heaven, Gen. 15.5. that are bright, and fixed, and have their orderly mo­tions. Before the Introduction of the Philadelphian State of the Church, or Brotherly State, (which it is likely we are not far from) the Promise of Glory to them that overcome, inti­mates a Combate, and the Promise of Christ's confessing the names of such before his Fa­ther, implies a time before the Period of the Sardian State, wherein the Church is to bear a signal Testimony to the Truths of Christ in the way of a Conflict, Rev. 3.5. The glorious State of the Church at the Resurrection of the Witnesses, shall be preceded by such a ca­lamity as shall be the terrour of the godly, and the triumph of an Enemy devoted to a sud­den and unexpected destruction, Rev. 11.9, 10, 11, 12.

Persecutions make way for Sion's stability. Never was she firmer and purer than in the time of the Apostles, and those immediately following them, when the Witnesses for the Truth, to the loss of their blood, were as numerous as the Survivors: she was then, when the flood was cast out against her, clothed with the Sun, and crowned with a Crown of twelve Stars, Rev. 12.1, 2. Such troubles now may dim the outward splendour, but in­crease her inward Spirit, and refine her to that temper she was in in the Primitive Ages of Christianity. Prosperity was never much the Churches Friend: Poyson was flung in her dish when she gain'd an earthly felicity, and the fondness of great ones. Her stability con­sists not in this, but in the graces and spirit of Christianity: That which establisht her Head, establisheth the Body; her Captain ascended not from Mount Oliver, till he had suffered on Mount Calvary. The Church was never described so glorious in her outward Attire, as her greatest Enemy, that is clothed in Scarlet, and deckt with Gold, Rev. 17.4. Sion's glory is internal, Psal. 45.13. The King's Daughter is all glorious within. All those Persecutions that are yet to come upon her, shall not demolish her Walls: The rigours of her Enemies, and the Treasons of her pretended Friends, have not yet expelled her out of the Earth; she hath not yet sunk, though her Masts have been sometimes cut close to the Deck, and her visible Pilots flung over-board into the Sea; and shall she sink when she is not far from an entrance into the Harbour? She hath been a Brand pluckt out of the fire, Zach. 3.2. She was pluckt out of the Furnace of Babylon, and shall be pluckt out of the Furnace of Mystical Babylon. Though she should be mown down as Grass by the Sythe of her Enemies, yet the presence of Christ shall be as Rain upon her, to make her sprout and spread after all her Afflictions, Psal. 72.6. Though she hath been in the midst of the Fire, she never yet was, nor ever will be consumed: She hath had joy in her disgraces, and greatness by her flames: She hath alwaies had a God to inspire her with vigor, to sustain her weakness, and prop her by his Arm, and hath often swam to a safe Harbour in a Tyde of her own Blood. Is not that God still a sufficient Defence, and the Promise a sufficient Charter against the Violence of the world: The Highest himself shall establish her; Himself by his own Arm, and Himself by his own Methods.

(3.) Here is Comfort in the deepest designs of her Enemies. The Highest himself shall establish her.

If he be the Highest, and imploys himself as the Highest, there is none so high as to over-top him, none so high as to out-wit him. Though their Union be never so close, and their Projects never so deep, yet God's being with the Church, is curb enough for them, and comfort enough for Sion, Isa. 8.9. Associate your selves together, O ye people, &c. Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand; for God is with us. God's presence with Sion blows away all. God was with the Ark in its cap­tivity, and made it victorious in its Chains. It cripled Dagon the Philistins Idol, 1 Sam. 5.4. and made them return it to their disgrace, which they thought they had seiz'd upon to their honour. While God is a strength to the poor, the branch of the terrible shall be brought low, and their blast be but as a storm against a wall, Isa. 25.4, 5. He can hasten their ruine by their own subtilty, and catch them in their own Net, Psal. 35.8. Or, he can turn them to glorifie the Church, as much as they hindred her, Isa. 25.3. They are sometimes compared to Bees, Psal. 118.12. Isa. 7.18. and the can make them afford honey as well as a sting. They are Bees for their wrath, and Bees for their weakness, and many times Bees for her profit. Some­times he makes the House of Jacob as fire, & the House of Esau as stubble before him, Obad. 18. 'Tis not more natural to the Serpents Seed to spite the Church, than it is natural to God to protect her; their malice cannot engage them so much in Attempts against her, as God's [Page 40] Promise engageth him in the defence of her. What can weakness do against strength? folly against wisdom? Hell against Heaven? and a fallen Lucifer against the highest God?

(4.) Here is comfort to expect the glory of the Church. The Highest himself shall esta­blish her.

The Mountain of the Lords House shall be lifted up on the top of the Mountains, Isa. 2.2. In the last days it shall be more glorious than any Mountain dignified by God: Above Mount Sinai, where the Law was given, the terrestial Mount Sion, where the Temple was built, Mount Moriah, where Abraham had a type of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, Mount Horeb, where Moses by prayer discomfited Amalek, and Mount Pisgah, where Moses had a prospect of Canaan. Abraham's Conquest of the four Kings, Gen. 14. seems to be a figure of the Churches Victories, when the captive Lots should be rescued, and Sodom it self be something better for Sion. Then shall Christ meet her as King of Salem, King of Peace, with the blessings of the most High God. Then shall he, as he did at the Feast in Cana, turn the Churches Water into Wine. Idols shall be utterly abolisht, Isa. 2.18. Dross and mixtures in Doctrine and Worship purged out, Rev. 22.1. The River of the water of life shall be as clear as Crystal, proceeding from the Throne of God, and of the Lamb. The everlasting Gos­pel preached, Rev. 14.6. called everlasting, because it shall never more be clouded and ob­scured by the foolish Inventions of men; there shall be no more Sea, Rev. 21.1. The troubles of Sion, signified by a stormy Sea, shall cease, and a new Heaven, and a new Earth be created; there shall be multitude of conversions, Rev. 11.15. The Kingdoms of the world shall become the Kingdoms of Christ. The breath of the Lord shall come into many, and make them stand upon their feet, Ezek. 37.9, 10. There shall be a greater presence of God in Ordinances, for the Earth shall shine with his glory, Ezek. 43.2. Holiness shall sparkle in her, for the glory of the Lord shall be upon her, Rev. 21.11. His holiness to purifie her, and his power to protect her. Persecutions without, and divisions within, shall cease; Satan shall be bound, his force restrained; he shall not wander about with his cloven-foot, Rev. 20.3. The Sea of Glass, which was mingled with fire, with the fire of worldly Persecu­tions, with the fire of intestine Animosities, shall be as clear as Crystal, Rev. 15.2. Rev. 22.1. He will then have Magistrates no longer carrying on the Interest of the God of this world, but the Interest of the Church, whom he calls his Princes, Ezek. 45.8. His, because set up by a more immediate Providence: His, because acting designedly and intentionally for his glory; no more pinching his People, and making a prey of his Sion, but laying down their Crowns at the foot of his Throne. And to compleat all, there shall be a perpetuity in this spiritual prosperity; only between the beginning and compleating it Satan shall be let loose: But for a little season, Rev. 20.3. and after this it shall not have one blow more from Hell; but the Devil must for ever give over nibbling at her heel. Now the Church ne­ver yet found such a state suitable to those promises and predictions; some great thing re­mains to be accomplisht, which the world hath not yet seen, nor the Church experienced. But that Truth that will not lye, that Truth which cannot lye, has assured it. The Mystery of God shall be finished, Rev. 10.7. The Church hath hitherto been gasping in the fire, and in the water; she has liv'd, but as wrapt in a winding-sheet; the Saints under the Altar have cryed a long time for the vengeance of the Temple to recompence their blood. There is a time when this Lazarus, that hath lain begging at the door of the rich and mighty, shall be mounted up to a better state. Sion shall enjoy a Resurrection, and fling off all badges of a Funeral. For the Highest himself shall establish her.

Third Ʋse of Exhortation.

(1.) Take heed of Apostatizing from Sion; from the Doctrine and Worship of Sion.

If God shall establish her, stability is not to be found out of her. To depart from her, is to leave a firm Rock to find security in a quick-sand. To leap out of a stout Ship in a storm, to expect a preservation in the waves. To turn our backs upon Heaven, to seek ease in the bowels of Hell. The Altar at Damascus is cast down, and Jeroboam's Altar is demolisht when that at Jerusalem stood. To stay in Sion, is to be exposed to the gun-shot of men and Devils; to run from her, is to seek to the Devil for protection, and run into the mouth of all the Artillery of God, that is set for the establishment of Sion. If we are Christians, no force, nor violence should separate us from her.

2. Let us love Sion. There is nothing the Scripture uses more as an argument to separate our affections from the world than the uncertainty and fading nature of it. The perpetuity then of the Church should be a motive to place our affections there, where they shall never want an object, and which we cannot love without loving her head and her establisher. The Jews in Babylon would rather forget themselves than their City and Temple, Psal. 137.5, 6. Our affections to Gospel-Sion should be more tender, since God hath poured out more of his Spirit upon her, and she is more amiable in his eye. That which the Jews so much affected, is perished. But the true Sion is eternal and shall flourish for ever. The highest him­self hath an establishing affection to her. Let our affections to her equal the malice of the Enemies against her, since we have greater incentives to love her than they can have to hate her. While others cry, Raze, Raze it even to the ground, let us at least testify our affections, and if we have not her standing walls to love, let us not estrange our tenderness from her very dust, Psal. 102.14. There is a pleasure to be taken in her stones, because they shall be again [Page 41] set in their place, a favour to be shewn to her dust, because it shall be again compacted, and enjoy a resurrection, For the highest that hath promised to establish her, will not desert her in her ruins, v. 16. When the Lord shall build up Sion he shall appear in glory; we have there­fore more ground to favour her dust than to admire the proudest palaces.

(3.) Let us desire the Establishment of Sion more than our own private Establishment.

'Tis the Sign of a gracious Spirit to look not only on his own things but the things of others, Phil. 2.4. And what things of others should be regarded, if the things of Christ and his Spouse be over-looked. No private person hath any promise of establishment but as he is a Denison of Sion, as one born in her. In desiring therefore the welfare of Sion, we wish and make way for the establishing of our selves; our interests are common with hers. Her prosperity therefore should be the first and last of our wishes. When we wish the stabili­ty of Sion, we wish the honour of God, the continuance of his worship, the glorifying his name which is deposited in that cabinet; The glory of God cannot flourish, if the Church perish. How base then are those, that if they can swim in a worldly prosperity, care not if the Church be drowned in tears and bloud; that cloth themselves and regard not her nakedness; that provide an earthly Canaan for themselves, and care not what deso­late desert Sion sits weeping in?

(4.) Let us endeavour the establishment of Sion. 'Tis a grateful thing to a Prince to favour his favorite. Let us be as forward to enlarge her Territories, as the Devil and his instruments are to increase the Suburbs of hell. The Highest himself will establish her by himself; we must therefore take those methods which are agreeable to the chief preserver. A comply­ance with the Enemies of God was never the way to secure the interest of Sion. A divine work in a divine way will meet with divine assistance. To contribute to the establishment of Sion is a work honourable in it self, since it is the work of God himself; 'Tis an imita­tion of the highest pattern. In this we are associates, and coworkers, with God. For the Highest himself shall establish Sion.

AN Anniversary Commemoration of a memorable Deliverance falling upon this Day, hath caused a diversion of my thoughts, to look back, not only upon a mercy never to be forgotten, but to look forward to that Deliverance which is to come parallel to this in the Text. Israel was a Type of the Church, Pha­raoh a type of the Churches Enemies in all Ages of the world, both of the spiritual Enemy, Satan, and of the temporal, his Instruments.

The Deliverance was a type of the Deliverance that Christ wrought upon the Cross by his Blood. Also, of that Christ works by his power upon his Throne, the one from the Reign of Sin, the other from the Empire of Antichrist.

This was the Exemplar of all the deliverances the Church was to have. As the Assyrian should lift up a staff against Jerusalem, after the manner of Aegypt, so the Lord should lift his rod up for them upon the Sea after the manner of Aegypt, when the Yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing, Isa. 10.26, 27. when the power of the Enemies shall be destroyed by the strength of Christ. The Lord himself makes it his pattern in those victories he is to gain for his people; when he calls upon his arm to awake as in the ancient days, when he cut Rahab, and wounded the Dragon, and made the depths of the Sea a way for the ransom'd to pass over, Isa. 51.9, 10, 11. then the redeemed of the Lord shall come with singing unto Sion, the Song of Moses, while they stand upon a Sea of Glass, a brittle, frail, and stormy world, Rev. 15.3. And our Redeemer makes this his pattern & rule, when he comes to tread the Wine-press in wrath, and make them drunk with his fury, that then he would remember the days of old, Moses and his people, when he divided the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name, Isa. 63.1.2.11. that his power may be as glorious in the latter, as it was in the for­mer, and all deliverances of the Church from the beginning to the end be knit together to be an everlasting matter of praise to his name.

This Historical narration is to have a more universal accomplishment; the deliverance from Aegypt is promised to be fulfilled a second time, and God would act the same part over again, as also their deliverance from Ogg King of Bashan, after the ascension of Christ, Psa. 6.22. The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people from the depths of the Sea. This is after he had ascended, v. 18. when he came to wound the head of his Enemies, v. 21. So Isa. 11.15. The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it, in the seven streams, and make men go over dry shod. Nilus with its seven streams was the glory of Aegypt, and Rome with its seven hills is the glory of the Papacy, Rev. 17.9. So Zac. 10.10. I will bring them again out of the Land of Aegypt, and they shall pass through the sea with Affliction, and the deeps of the river shall dry up. Pharaoh and his army cannot revive and stand up in their former ranks; but [Page 43] there shall be deliverances with resemblances to that, when the Enemies shall be as arro­gant and furious as Pharaoh, and the Church as dejected and straitned as Israel.

The Text is a part of Moses his Song. A carmen [...], A Song after victory: A Panegyrick, the praise of God attended with dancing at the sight of the Aegyptian wracks, v. 20.

1. It was then real; The Israelites then sang it.

(2.) 'Tis typical, the conquerours of Antichrist shall again Triumph in the same manner, Rev. 15.3.

(3.) It was an earnest of future deliverance to the Israelites. When God appeared for them in their first Exit, he would not fail in that work which should conduce so much to his glory; it was a Pledg, that his purchased people should pass over, and be planted in the mountain of his Inheritance v. 16, 17. There is in the words,

• 1. A Description of the Enemy.
• 2. His defeat.

The Enemy is introduced laying his council, and vaunting his resolution. By an elegant Climax, and orderly proceeding, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoyl, my lust shall be satisfied, &c. They laid the foundation deep in council, built their resolves high in power, and then applaud themselves in their Insolence.

I will pursue. Had he no reflections upon his former successess attempts to keep the Israelites in slavery? or could he with any reason hope to reduce them with his bafled strength to that yoke, which had been broken by a powerful Arm? Had he not reason freshly to remember his own inability to remove one of the plagues sent upon them, to pro­mote Israels rescue? Was that high arm which brought them out of Aegypt broken? Gods weapons blunted, his magazine of plaguing Ammunition wasted, & his strength too feeble to preserve those he had by a strong hand redeemed? These things be obvious to Pharaoh's thoughts. Yet, I will still pursue. How heady and rash are the Churches Enemies! Infatua­tion is the usher to Destruction: When you find the Churches Enemies lose their wits, you may quickly expect they will lose their strength and lives.

I will divide the spoil. He promiseth them this victory before the conflict, encourages his Souldiers with hopes of the prey, which was the recovery of their Jewels which the Is­raelites had borrowed by Gods order, and the Aegyptians had lent them by a Secret Impres­sion, and the flocks and herds of the poor Israelites to boot.

How great is the pride of the Churches enemies! They strut without thinking of a supe­rior power to curb them, and promise themselves the accomplishment of their designs without fearing the check of Providence. Thus did Sisera's Mother triumph in a presumptu­ous hope before a victory, Jud. 5.30. and sing Te Deum before a conquest. Ventosa et inso­lens natio is the title Pliny gives the Aegyptian Nation.

My lust shall be satisfied upon them [...] My soul shall be satisfied.. How revengefully do they express themselves? They apprehend themselves cheated of their Jewels by the Israelites; such an apprehension would increase rage and animosity.

I will draw my Sword, my hand shall destroy, [...], my hand shall Disinherit them. I will reduce them like a company of fearful fugitives by brandishing a drawn Sword, that they shall quickly return to their former bondage and become the perpetual Inheritance of the Aegyptians. How secure are the Churches Enemies! The sight of a glittering sword, and an edict for a return they thought would quell their Spirits; 'Tis true they had to deal with an unarmed people, unprovided for defence, whose late slavery had rendered them unfit for military exercises, an unequal match for a numerous and disciplin'd Army. But what if they were? had they not the same power to protect them in their march, which had brought them out of their bondage? This the enemies never reflected on: Pride and secu­rity are always twins.

In v. 10. You have their defeat. The Sea quenched the Fire of their rage, and laid flat the towers of their proud confidence. God blows with his wind, the strong east wind, Exod. 14.21. a strength added to its Natural fierceness, which made the meeting of the Floods more swift and fierce; some think thunders and lightnings burst out of the pillar of fire in the Cloud, when God looked upon them, Exod. 14.24.

They sank like Lead, suddenly, easily, irrecoverably; they were lasht before, now execu­ted. Other Plagues had a mixture of patience, this is a pure cup of the Indignation of God.

The defeat is described,

• 1. By the Author: Thou didst blow.
• 2. Instrument: Thy wind; the Sea, wind and the Sea conspire together against the Ene­mies, when God orders them.
• 3. Victory, or success of this order; The Sea covered them; they sank like Lead in the mighty waters— General Observations.

1. The greatest Idolaters are the fiercest Enemies against the Church of God. Aegyptii Diis faecundi. H [...]e­ron. 'Tis the Aegyp­tian is the Enemy. No Nation had more and more sordid Idols. The Persians adored the Sun, the greatest Benefactor to the world, in the rank of inanimate creatures; other Na­tions several Stars, but none did so much abuse the reason of man, as that accursed Nation. Onions, Garlick, Cats, Oxen, Flies and Crocodiles; those dung-hill creatures were their [Page 44] adored Deities. And how much better is the Adoration of the swadling-clouts of our Sa­viour, or the straw which was in the Manger, or the Tail of the Ass he rode upon, and so many splinters of the Cross; which if put together would make a Colossus? For this among the rest may the Church professing such Worship be called spiritual Aegypt.

2. The Churches Enemies are not for her correction, but her destruction: I will pursue; my hand shall destroy them. They breath out nothing but slaughters; My hand shall destroy them; down with it, down with it even to the ground, and men are famous as they can lift up Axes upon the thick Trees, Psa. 74.5.

3. How desperate are somtimes the straits of Gods Israel in the eye of man? How low their Spirits before deliverance? They here behold a deep Sea before them, and a raging Enemy behind them: Hear a confused noise of women and Children in the midst of them, feel the pantings of their own hearts, & perhaps see a consternation in the faces of their governours; they see themselves disarmed of weapons, lying almost at the mercy of an oppressor, with a well furnisht Army; they repent of what God had done for them, and are more ambiti­ous of slavery than liberty; Quarrel with Moses (And as one of their Historians saith, were about to stone him) Exod. 14.10, 11, 12. Without doubt they then thought him a ly­ar, and it is likely had no more honourable thoughts at that time of God; for when they saw the happy success in the miraculous overthrow of the Aegyptians, then they believed God and his servant Moses, Exod. 14.31. as if they gave credit to neither of them before. They had a pillar of Fire, and a Cloud, the chariot of God; A greater argument to establish them than the preparation of their enemies to terrifie them. But what a faithless creature is man under the visible guard of Heaven, and so far naturally from living by faith, that he will hardly draw establishments from sense!

4. God orders the lusts of men for his own praise. He had forced Pharaoh to let the People go, he had stopt the streams of his fury; when he removes his hand and pulls up the dam, Pha­raoh returns to his former temper with more violence, thereby giving occasion for God's glory in his own destruction; he serves himself of the desperate malice of his enemies to make his Wisdom and other Attributes more triumphant.

5. The nearer the deliverance of the Church is, the fiercer are Gods Judgments on the enemies of it, and the higher the enemies rage. The former plagues were but small gashes in the Aegyptian state: But when the time approach'd of the Israelites perfect Deliverance, then the first-born in every house, the delight and strength of the parents is cut off: And at the compleat­ing of it, the glory, flower and strength of Aegypt buryed in the Sea; the fuller beams of mercy on the one are attended with more scorcing darts of judgments on the other.

6. All creatures are absolutely under the Soveraignty of God, and are acted by his Power in all their services. Thy wind: All are subject to his conduct, and are the Guardians of his People, and the Conquerours of his Enemies. How easie is it for the Arm of Omnipo­tency to demolish the strongest preparations against his Israel, and with a blast reduce their Power to nothing? The Sea suffers violence to preserve his People, and the liquid Ele­ment seems transform'd into a wall of Brass. God can make the meanest creatures Mini­sters of his Judgments, raise Troops of Flies to rout the Roman Army, as it was in Trajans Siege of the Agarens.

7. By the same means God saves his People, whereby he destroys his Enemies; the one sank, the other past thorow; That which makes one balance sink, makes the other rise the higher; the red sea was the Guardian of Israel, and the Executioner of Aegypt, the Israelites gallery to Canaan, and the Aegyptians grave. The cloud that led the Israelites through the red Sea, blinded the Aegyptians; the waters that were 15 Cubits high above the mountains, kept the Ark from dashing against them, whereby Noah might be indangered, and drowned the ene­mies though never so high according to humane stature.

8. The strength and glory of a people is more wasted by opposing the Interest of the Church, than in conflicts with any other enemy. Had the Aegyptian arms been turned against any other Enemy, they might have prospered, or at least retired with a more partial defeat, or saved their lives though under chains. But when they would prepare them against Gods Israel, they meet with a total defeat where they expected victory, and find their graves where Israel found their Bulwarks; the choicest of their Youth, the flower of their Nobility, the strongest of their chariots and horses at one blow overthrown by God.

9. We may take notice of the folly of the Churches Enemies. Former plagues might have warned them of the power of God; they had but burned their own fingers by pinching her; yet they would set their force against Almighty power that so often had worsted them; 'tis as if men would pull down a steeple with a string.

But the Observations I shall treat of are,

1. When the Enemies of the Church are in the highest fury and resolution, and the Church in the greatest extremity and dejection, then is the fittest time for God to work her deliverance fully and perfectly. When the Enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the Spoil, &c. then God blowed with his wind, then they sank.

2. God is the Author of all the deliverances of the Church, whosoever are the Instruments. [Thou didst blow with thy wind; who is like unto the Lord among the Gods?

1. For the first, When the Enemies of the Church are in the highest fury, &c. Great resolutions [Page 45] against God meet with great Disappointments. The Churches straits are the enemies hopes, but Gods opportunity. When their fury is highest, Gods love is nearest.

1. There are four seasons on the part of the Enemy God takes hold of.

1. Flourishing Prosperity. Here is Pharaoh in the head of a gallant Army, the Israelites in a Pound at his mercy. The Aegyptians prosperity is a forerunner of their destruction, the adversity of the other, of their salvation. Haman is in the top of his favour, when the Jews are marked out for slaughter, and then himself is marked out for ruine. Prosperity, like Rain, makes the weeds of Pride and Atheism to grow up, and then they are fit matter for God's Sickle to cut down. When the Clusters of the Vine of the Earth are ripe, full of an outward glory and sweetness, then the Angel thrusts in his sharp Sickle, Rev. 14.18. There is an [...] set them. When the great City is clothed in fine Linnen, Purple and Scarlet, deckt with gold and pretious stones, Rev. 18.16. and come to the highest point of its glory and prospe­rity, then shall God thicken the clouds of his vengeance, and bring their riches to naught in one hour.

2. Swelling Pride: I will pursue, &c. Pride is provoking, because it is a self-deifying, and sets up the creature as God's Mate. God stands upon his honour, and loves to attaque those that would equal themselves with him. Pride sunk the glory of the fallen Angels into misery, and so it will that of the Serpents seed; this is the immediate forerunner of destruction, Prov. 16.18. Men have their hairy scalp, the prime of their strength, and pride of their hearts, when God wounds them, Psal. 68.21. Aegypt was become Rahab, pride it self, as the word signifies, and so God called it by that name, Isa. 51.9. When Aegypt mounted to Rahab, to the top of pride, then God cut it. When the Dragon bristled, and erected his stately head to seise upon the prey, then God wounded him, put an end to Aegypts pride, and the Israelites fear: He loves to beat down the pride of the one, and raise up the lowliness of the other. When Herod will assume the title of a God given him by the acclamations of the People, an Angel shall immediately make him a Banquet for Worms, Acts 11.22, 23. When Sennacherib had prospered in his Conquest of Judea, had taken many strong Towns, closely be leaguered Jerusalem, thundred out blasphemies against God, and threatnings against his People, then comes an Angel, makes an horrible slaughter in a night, sends him back to his own Country, where after the loss of his Army he lost his life by the hands of his own children. A greater pride cannot be exprest, than what the Apostle predicts of the Man of Sin, and that hath been extant for some time in the world2 Thes. 2.4, Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, in additions to the word, clipping the Institutions of God, and adding new, and canoni­zing new Me­diators of In­tercession, who sits in the Temple of God in a professi­on of Christi­anity, shew­ing himself that he is God, assuming the name of God, and the title of God, in being cal­led most ho­ly.: And perhaps it will yet amount to a higher step than it hath yet done before he be consumed by the brightness of the Lord's coming, since all that yet lets and hinders is not taken out of the way. The higher the pride, the nearer the fall. When Goliah shall de­fie the God of Israel, a stone from a sling thrown by the hand of David, our great David, the Antitype, shall lay him vomiting out his soul, and blasphemies on the Earth. We are many times more beholding to the Enemies insolence, than our own innocence. Deut. 32.17. Were it not that God feared the wrath of the Enemy, i. e in their pride, lest their Adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and say, Our hand is high; a sinful Israel should not have so many preservationsTrap on Exod. p. 9.. When they will ascend into Heaven, and exalt their Throne above the Stars of God; when they will ascend above the heights of the Clouds, and be like the most High, then shall they be brought down to Hell, to the sides of the Pit, Isa. 7.13, 14, 15. The highest Towers are the fairest marks for Thunder, and the readiest Tinder for the lightning of Heaven. When Tyrus had set her heart, as the heart of God, then would God defile her brightness, and make her die the death of them that are slain in the midst of the Sea, Ezek. 28.6, 7, 8.

3. Eager malice. Nothing would Satisfie the Aegyptians here, but the bloud of the Isra­elites. My hand shall destroy them; they were under a cruel bondage, attended with anguish, of Spirit before God began their rescue. The serpents seed have the same principles of craft and malice sown in their nature, that are resident in his; ever since the beginning, he endea­voured to shape men into the same form and temper with himself; Their rage would raze out the very foundation of Israel, and not suffer the name to be had any more in remembrance, Psa. 83.4. They love to be drunk with the blood of the saints, and are no more satisfied with blood than the grave with carcases; they repair their arrows, and watch for an oppor­tunity to discharge them; and never want poison, but opportunity; this is Gods time to deliver. When Pharaoh would pollute the land with the blood of the Hebrew males, and ordain them to be drag'd from the womb to the slaughter, then God raises up him­self to attempt the rescue of Israel; yet he bears with his insolence, punisheth him, but not destroys him. But when he would be still stiff against a sense of the multitude of plagues and a greater mercy of patience in them; when he would arm for the field against that God the smart of whose force he had felt, and resolves to destroy or bring back the Israelites upon the point of his Sword, God would then bear no longer, but make the water his sepulchre. When Haman designs the ruine of the Jews, procures the Kings commission, sends dispatches to all the governours of the Provinces, sets up a gibbet for Mordecai, and wants nothing but an opportunity to request the Execution, he tumbles down to exchange his princes favours for an exaltation on the Gallows, Est. 6.4. Est. 7.10. When the Serpent en­creased his malitious cruelty, and cast out a flood against the Church, God makes the earth, the carnal world to give her assistance, and repel the force that Satan used against herRev. 12.15, 16. The ear [...]h helped the wo­man.. [Page 46] When multitudes shall gather together in the valley of decision, then shall the Lord roar out of Sion, and be the hope of his People, and the strength of the Children of Israel, Joel. 3.14.16. And when Spiritual Aegypt shall make a war against Christ, who sits upon the white horse, and combine all their force for the destruction of his people, then shall the Beast and the false Prophet be taken and brought to their final ruine, and their force be broken in a lake of fire, as that of Aegypt was in a Sea of water, Rev. 19.19, 20. The time of their greatest fierce­ness shall be the time of Christs fury; he will strike them sorest when he finds them cruellest, their rage shall rouze up his revenge; when the men of Sodom, to which the Antichristian state is likened, shall be resolutely bent to wickedness, they shall be struck with blindness, and that blindness suceeded by destruction; then will God set bounds to the outragious waves, and snatch the prey out of the teeth of the Lyons.

4. Confident security. I will divide the Spoil, my lust shall be satisfied upon them. God lets the enemy come in like a floud and torrent, with a confidence to carry all before him, before he lifts up a standard against him, Isa. 59.19. Then shall the Spirit of the Lord stir up himself glo­riously in the principles and actions of his people, and the redeemer shall come to Sion. God will set his force against their confidence, & break their impetuousness by his own power. When the Enemies of the Church think they have intangled it in such a snare, reduc'd it to so low a condition as to be secure of her ruine with a blast, and puff, then God will arise and set her in safety from them that puff at her, Psa. 12.5. This will be the case of Babylon; when she shall say, I sit as a Queen, and am no Widdow, and shall see no sorrow, then shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine, for then God will stir up his strength to Judge her, Rev. 18.7. 'Tis in the time of the Antichristian Polity, and mutual congratulations with the highest security for their happy success, triumphing over the dead bodies of the witnesses, that they shall stand again upon their feet, (the same persons if politically dead, others witnessing the same doctrine, if they were corporeally dead) and damp all their mirth and triumph, and turn their security into fears; then shall glory be given to the God of heaven, and the Ark of his Testament be seen in his Temple, and the power of the Lord be magnified, Rev. 11.10, 11. When they shall all be gathered together to the battle of the great day of the Lord; the place is called Armageddon, Rev. 16.14, 16, &c. [...] & [...] A cursed troop an army under Gods Anathema, when they have the greatest confidence. When Jerusalem shall be penn'd up by a seige, it shall be a cup of trembling in the hands of her Enemies, Zac. 12.2. Fear shall seize upon them in the midst of their confidence. The Sun was risen upon Sodom just before the devouring shower of Fire and brimstone. With what derision would they have entertained any messenger, that should have assured them of such a shower in so clear a day? No doubt but the Aegyptian horses went prancing into the Sea, and their riders confident of catching their prey; when they saw the waters congealed, they had not the least suspicion, but that the division of the Sea was made in their favour, till the Chariot wheels were taken off, and the waters ready to roul upon them, Exod. 14.23, 25.

2. As something on the part of the Churches Enemies forwards the deliverance, so there is some regard God hath to the Churches straits. Cum duplicantur lateres, venit Moses. 'Tis Gods usual method to let the Church be in great distress before he commands deliverance. The distress of the Church was great in the concern of this day, though it was not sensible, the de­liverance being known near as soon as the danger.

The Church is to be in the depths of the Sea before she be fully delivered, Psa. 68.22. The Jews were to pass through the Sea with affliction before the pride of Assyria should be brought down, and the Scepter of Aegypt depart away; after that, he would strengthen them in the Lord, and they should walk up and down in his name, Zach. 10.11, 12. The sharpest pangs pre­cede deliverance; it was so when Christ came in the flesh; it will be so at every new rising of Christ in his spirit; when things were at a low ebb, when the Sun sat in the greatest dark­ness of Errour, Idolatry and prophaness, when the Jews, the only spot of ground God had, was as a wilderness almost barren of any grace, when the great predictions of the Pro­phets were unminded, and less understood, when Ʋrim and Thummim had ceased, and the Spirit of Prophesy was shut up, then Christ comes in the fulness of time to work an uni­versal relief for mankind. When the day of vengeance is in the heart of the Redeemer, he shall look and find none to help, he shall wonder to find none to uphold, therefore his own arm shall bring Salvation, Isa. 53.5.

This has alwaies been God's Method. With his Son, the powers of darkness had their hour, and triumph'd when they had laid him in the grave before he was raised by the glory of his Father. The Witnesses must be killed by the hand of their Enemies, before they stand upon their feet, and ascend up into Heaven, in the sight of their Adversaries, Rev. 11.7. when the Church shall walk in darkness, grope for the wall like the blind, mourn like Doves, look for salvation, and it shall seem far off; then will the Lord put on a helmet of salva­tion on his head, and the garments of vengeance for clothing, and be clad with zeal as a cloak, Isa. 59.9, 10, 11, 17. The break of day is ushered in by a thicker darkness than that which clouded the night before. The sharpest persecution that ever the Church had, was in the time of Dioclesian, a little before Christianity was to rule his Empire in the exaltation of Constantine. Abraham was in hardship out of his Country, when he received the promises of the Messiah; and Israel in the wilderness, when the Oracles of God were delivered to [Page 47] them. Confusion of the Church precedes alwaies the Communication of Light.

1. The Reasons of the Doctrine are these.

1. This makes for God's glory. The creature cannot in this condition challenge any share in the honour of the deliverance, or pare off so much as a splinter of his glory. Had the Israelites been armed, and drawn into a strong Battalion, and so defeated the Aegyptian Army, the Victory would rather have been challeng'd by them, than ascrib'd to God; but neither the strength of their multitude, nor the wisdom of their Guides, were able to pro­tect them; counsel failed, and heads were feeble; then did God get himself a name, when they were upon the point of a remediless ruine. It was manifest the name of the Lord got David the Victory, since he encountred unarmed with Goliah, who could have crusht him like a Fly had he been in his fingers.

The time of the Churches depression, is the time of God's Exaltation; he waits for the extremity to lift up himself. When paleness is upon the face of his People; when the Cedars of Lebanon hang their heads; when the Churches beauty seems a lamentable deformity, and Sharon is like a wilderness, then will God arise, Isa. 33.9, 10. God never builds up Sion, but he ordains all things in a method for his appearance in the greatest glory, Psal. 102.16. When the Lord shall build up Sion, he shall appear in his glory, that is, when the Church is destitute, v. 17.

1. God exalts his power; his right hand then becomes glorious in power, Exod. 15.6. He loves to appear in his dress as a Creator, when there is no fitness in the subject to answer his end, but what he bestows upon it. When Jerusalem becomes a rejoycing, and her People a joy, 'tis an act of creating power, Isa. 65.18. For behold I create Jerusalem a rejoycing. When the creature can give them not the least assistance, then will they be sensible of God's unbound­ed sufficiency, and their own necessary dependance. God never had too little help from his creature in a deliverance; he hath sometimes complain'd of too much, and disbanded some of the Churches Forces, as in the case of Gideon, Judg. 7. As Christ rules in the midst of his Enemies, so doth God's Power most visibly in the midst of distresses. A Physician's skill is most conspicuous when the disease is most dangerous, and most complicated, and Nature at the lowest ebb. 'Tis more glory to God to quench the fire in its fullest rage, than to extin­guish it in its first smoke and sparkles. God loves the fairest mark to shoot at, and will rather down with Goliah, than with the ordinary Philistines; grapple with the great, rather than with a light danger, that the Lord may appear to be a man of war, Exod. 15.3. As God shews his mercy in his Peoples Redemption, he will shew his strength in their conduct, Exod. 15.13. He that made this deliverance a standing Monument of his Power, entitles himself by it, Isa. 43.16. Thus saith the Lord, which makes a way in the Sea, a path in the mighty waters.

2. His kindness to, and care of his People. When the straits are remediless, and the counsels whereby the Projects are laid, not to be defeated by humane skill; when God seems to have forgot, then in a seasonable deliverance he shews himself the careful Watchman of Israel. When the Ship is in a raging storm, and Christ asleep, he will leave his own ease to keep his word, and content his People. When the Church thinks God hath forgotten his mercies, and they have forgotten their dependance; when the misery is so pressing, that there is no faith of a deliverance left, then Christ comes, when faith is scarcely to be found upon the Earth, Luke 18.8. to exalt his mercy in the depths of their misery, and work terrible things they looked not for, Isa. 64.3. The Israelites would not have under­stood God's care in their protection, without this or the like strait. God had a new oppor­tunity to shew his watchfulness over them, to turn the cloud which went before them as their guide, behind them for their defence, Exod. 14.19. The scoffs of the Enemy at the Churches misery, are God's motive to help her. I will restore health to thee, because they called thee an out-cast, Jer. 30.17. 'Tis in straits we see God's salvation, not man's, Exod. 14.13. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.

3. His Justice. He lets the Church be encompassed with miseries, and the Enemies in a Combination against her, that he may overthrow them at once. God makes a quicker dis­patch with the Aegyptians, when they were united, than when they had assaulted Israel with a smaller body: His Righteousness gets glory at one blow, when he makes them to lye down together, Is. 43.17. His Justice is unblemisht in striking when their wickedness is visibly ripe; the equity of it must needs be subscribed, that when the Enemies malice is greatest, when they have no mixture of compassion, 'tis the clearest righteousness to crush them without any mixture of mercy, God brings things to that pass, that he may honour both his Justice and Mercy in the highest. That the black horses, and the white horses may march firm together, Zech. 6.6. the black horses that brought death and Judgment Northward to Babylon, where the Church was captive; the white horses that followed them, and brought deliverance to his People; the one to be Instruments of his Judgments, the other of his Mercies. God loves to glorifie those two Attributes together; he did so in the redemption of mankind by the death of his Son, and he doth so in the deliverance of his Church; there is a conformity of the Church to Christ, in her distress, that there may be a conformity of God's glory in temporal, to his glory in eternal Salvation. God singles out a full crop to be an harvest for both. A wicked man is said to be waited for by the sword, Job 15.22. God attends the best season for revenge; when mercy to the one shall appear most glorious, and venge­ance on his Enemies most equitable and all disputes against his proceedings be silenced.

[Page 48]2. It makes to the Churches Advantage. God had a work to do upon Mount Sion and on Je­rusalem, before he would punish the stout heart of the King of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks, Isa. 10.12. His end shall be attained in the correction of his Church, before his glory shall be exalted in the destruction of her Enemies. There are Enemies in the hearts of his People to be conquered by his grace, before the Enemies to her peace and prosperity shall be defeated by his Power; he will let them be in the fire, till, like gold, they may have a purer honour in a brighter lustre.

1. Humiliation is gain'd hereby. God would not presently raze out the Canaanites, lest the wild Beasts should increase upon them, Deut. 7.22. Too quick deliverances may be oc­casions to multiply the wild Beasts of pride, security and wantonness in the heart; hu­mility would have but little footing. There is need of a sharp Winter to destroy the Ver­min, before we can expect a fruitful Spring. Without humiliation the Church knows not how to receive, nor how to improve any mercy. The Enemies hasten their own mine, by increasing the measure of their sins; and Israels deliverance, by being instruments to humble then hearts. The sooner the plaister hath drawn out the corrupt matter, the sooner it is cast into the fire. God hereby prevents the growth of weeds in that ground he intends to enrich with new mercies.

2. A Spirit of Prayer is excited. Slight troubles make but drooping prayers. Great straits make it gush out, as the more the bladder is squeezed, the higher the water springs. We hear not of the Israelites crying to the Lord after their coming out of Aegypt, till they had a sight of the formidable Army, Exod. 14.10. They were sore afraid, and the Children of Israel cried unto the Lord. Prayer gains mercies, but scarce springs up free without sence of distress: We then have recourse to Gods power whereby he is able to relieve us, when we are sensible of our own weakness, whereby we are unable to relieve our selves; men will scarce seek to God, or trust him, while any creature, though but a reed, remains for their support; they are destitute before they pray, or believe God regards their prayers, Psa. 102.17. He will regard the prayer of the Destitute, and not despise their prayer. Distress causes importunity, and God will do much for importunities sake, Luke. 11.8.

3. Discovery of sincerity. Hereby God discovers who are his people, and who are not; who are in the highest form of Christianity, and who are not in the School, or at least but in the lowest form; he separates the good corn from the useless chaff. No question but there were some among the Israelites, that in this extremity, acted faith upon the remembrance of the wonders God had wrought for them in Aegypt before their departure; certainly they did not all murmur against Moses; Were there no Calebs and Joshuahs, that followed God fully in a way of faith and submission? Their faith & courage had not been conspicuous with­out this extremity. Thundrings and Lightnings, and terrible things in righteousness are to prove us, whether the fear of God be before our faces that we sin not, Exod. 20.18, 20. God separates the dross. You never know a new building without pulling down, to sepa­rate the rubbish, and rotten rafters from the sound materials. Abraham was put upon hard work, the imbruing his hands in the blood of his only Son, to prove his integrity; when God sees his sincerity, he divers the blow; not only delivers him from his grief, his Son from his danger, but renews the promise of the Messiah to him as a reward. Deliverance then comes when God hath separated the Corn from the stubble.

4. A standing encouragement for future faith. When the straits are greatest from whence God delivers us, there is a stronger foundation for a future trust. When the distress is inconsiderable, faith afterwards will be more feeble; large experience heartens & strength­ens faith in the promise. When gloomy clouds are blown over, the brighter and thinner will not be much feared. When we see the Sun melt the thickest over our heads, we shall not doubt its force to disolve the lesser vapours which may afterwards assemble; when the Ship hath escaped a raging storm, we shall not doubt it in a less. God often puts them in mind of their deliverance in the red Sea, to strengthen their faith, and dependance on him. It must needs be an establishment to faith; for deliverances from great straits are some kind of obligation on the honour of God. When the Israelites had provoked God by murmuring, and wished they had dyed in Aegypt, and not in the wilderness, Moses inter­cedes with this argument, The Aegyptians shall hear of it, from whom God brought up Is­rael with a strong hand, and it would disparage Gods power, and tax him with an inability to bring his people into the Land he intended; then God grants their pardon, Numb. 14.13, 14, 20.

5. Engagement to future Obedience. 'Tis upon this account God prefaceth the Law with his mercy in delivering them out of Aegypt. The strongest Vows are made in the greatest straits. Many obligations there are when the extremity forces us to cry. When we are in the Jaws of Death, God may have his terms of us; when we are at some distance, we will have our own. The lower a person is, the more readily will he bend to any condition; hope of deliverance will make him stoop. And when God snatches his People as fire-brands out of the fire, they are more obliged to him from common ingenuity, and must be more ashamed of breaking their Vows, than if their mercies were of a great alloy. If common patience leads to repentance, a rescue from an amazing danger is a stronger cord to draw us to repentance and obedience. And it is certain, that when the Church in sin­cerity [Page 49] makes Vows to God, it will not be long before God puts her into a condition to pay them; and furnish her with Incentives of a holy ingenuity.

6. The greater thankfulness. The more straitned, the greater thankfulness for enlarge­ment. As we hear not of the Israelites prayers after they came out of Aegypt till they were in the pound, so we read of none of their songs, though they had matter enough for them, in their first departure, till God had dasht in pieces the Enemy, and thrown the Horse and the Rider into the Sea. Then, and not till then, had they a deep sense, how glorious God was in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders, Exod. 15.11. Great mercies unvail God's face more to the view of his People. When Israel inherits great salvation, then the Lord shall inherit the praise of Israel. When we have less mercies, we take little notice of the Author; God hears the language of but one of our bones; but when he delivers the poor from him that is too strong for him, and spoils him, then all my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee?

7. To prevent future mischief to the Church. The destruction of the greatest Enemies is a disarming the less. God by this destruction struck a terrour into those Nations upon whose confines Israel was to march into Canaan, who without so remarkable a rebuke of provi­dence, would have been desirous to finger some of their prey. Then trembling took hold of the mighty men of Moab. All the Inhabitants of Canaan did melt away; fear and dread fell upon them by the greatness of the Arm of God, that they should be as still as a stone, till they passed over the River, Exod. 15.15, 16. Their present deliverance was a Pass-port for their future security in their Journey; and no Enemies troubled them in the way, but those upon whom God had a mind to shew his Power.

2. How doth God deliver when the season is thus?

1. Suddenly. They sank like Lead in the mighty waters, which quickly reaches the bot­tom. Judgment comes like lightning. Death and Hell are said to ride upon Horses, Rev. 6.8. They are too swift for God's Enemies, and will easily win the Race of them. De­struction comes, as travel upon a woman with child, 1 Thes. 5.3. How suddenly did God turn the Assyrian Camp into an Aceldema, overthrow a powerful Army, and make their Tents their Tombs in the space of a night? He will dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel, Psa. 2.9. all in bits at a stroke: He comes suddenly; he rides upon a Cherub, Psal. 18.10. But be­cause the motion of an Angel is not so intelligible, he adds another Metaphor from the nimblest of sensible things; he flies upon the wings of the wind, to assist his People in ex­tremity. The Enemy comes like a whirlwind They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me, Hab. 3.14., and God goes forth as a whirlwind of fury, Jer. 30.23. The whirlwind of his Judgments shall be as quick as the whirlwind of their malice; a continual whirlwind, when the other is vanishing; it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked, when the other shall be as fruitless as a Snow-ball against a wall of Brass. The Enemy beholds him not till he be upon him; for the clouds are as dust under his feet, Nahum 1.3. and obscure his appearance, as the raising the Dust doth the march of a Troop; he comes unawares upon them in a Cloud. The Execution is sudden; They shall be cut down as grass, Psal. 37.2. which this moment faceth the Sun, triumphing in its natural bravery, and the next moment is cut off from its Root with one shave of a Sythe. He quencheth them as Tow is quencht in Water, Isa. 43.17. as the snuff of a Candle is quench'd by being bruis'd by the fingers. He cuts them off as foam, the excrement of the water, Hos. 10.7. which bursts in pieces like a bubble, on the sudden. Vengeance comes upon Tyre and Sidon swiftly and speedily, Joel 3.4. Tyre comes of [...], which signifies to afflict, to straiten. Sidon of [...], the word signifies to pursue. All Persecutors are threatned in Tyre and Sidon with a swift destruction. God delays the time to try the faith and patience of his People, to make the expected deliverance more sweet and welcom, and mercy more singular. He may have some of the seed of Christ in the loins of some of his Enemies. But when he doth draw his Sword, he gives a sudden blow before the Enemy fears it, or his People expect it. The Jews in Babylon, when the Chains of their Captivity were unloosed, were like those that dream, they could scarce believe they were freed, when the Enemy felt himself punish'd. In all other Plagues God sent Moses as an Herauld, with warning to Pharaoh; but in this God surprised him, and hurried him to destruction, without giving him any caution; Like chaff that the Tempest carrieth away, and is seen no more, Job 21.18. So shall the Plagues of spiritual Aegypt come in one day, Rev. 18.8. yea, in one hour, v. 17. And the Church shall be like a Lilly, which by the assistance of the Dew, flourisheth in the morning, when over night it looked as if it were withered.

2. Magnificently. Sometimes in deliverance God puts the frame of nature in confusion, He melts the mountains, cleaves the vallies, as wax before the fire and as waters poured down a steep place, Mic. 1.4. i. e. He wasts the strength and riches of his enemies when he comes to judge. When he appears in the generation of the righteous, he shall appear in such glory, as to make the adversaries in great fear, and strike a terrour into them, Psal. 14.5. God will perform it in a prodigious and unusual way. God might have taken off the wheels of the Aegyptian Chariots before they had entred the gap of the Sea, and hindred them from approaching so near his beloved people; he might have afflicted their hands with the palsy, and rendred them uncapable to manage their weapons; or might have sent a spirit of aemu­lation among them and made them sheath their swords in one anothers bowels. But though this had secured his people, it would not have rendred his operation so illustrious, as the ma­king [Page 50] that which was a means of his peoples security, to be his Enemies destruction, and the waters at once Indulgent to the Israelites, and severe to the Aegyptians. He magnifies his Judgments and mercies by one and the same stroak, and drowns the Enemies, in the Sea, whereby he delivers the Israelites. So he preserved Daniel in the midst of those Lions which devoured his accusers. The more contrary things are to an eye of reason, the fitter subjects they are for the exaltation of God. As Christ the head, so the Church the body is raised out of the grave by the glory of God the Father, Rom. 6.4. His right hand shall find his enemies, Psal. 21.8. his right hand shall teach him terrible things, Psa. 45.4. Then shall he come with a shout, as one refreshed with wine, recruited with new Spirits, and risen from sleep, Psa. 78.65. He calls upon all creatures to be assi­stant to Cyrus in the design of his peoples deliverance, Isa. 45.8. He will perfect it by a way of creation. (I have created righteousness to deliverance) with the manifestation of a creative power, & he makes things serve against their natural order appointed by God. Thus, when God shall appear for the final overthrow of spiritual Aegypt, he shall come with Voices, Thunders and Lightnings, an earthquake out of the temple, and appear as magnificently in the garb of a Judge, as he did on Sinai in that of a Law-giver, Rev. 16.19. and make the Ten horns, which were the support of the beast, to be the Instruments of her desolation, Rev. 17.16.

3. Severely. They sank to the bottom like lead in the mighty waters. God sends out the great­est Judgments against those that deal sharply with his people greater than against any other part of the world, Zac. 6.6. The black horses, the instrument of the execution of his Anger, were sent towards Babylon, where his people were in Captivity; but the bay horses of a mixt colour, noting a mixture of Mercy and Judgments, are sent towards other parts of the world, to walk, not to run, signifying the patience of God to those parts which had not yet opprest his people; God deals not so smartly with those, as with them that are Enemies to Israel. In such concerns he answers his people by terrible things in righteousness: When he appears as a God of Salvation to his people, he appears terrible in his righteousness to his Enemies, Psa. 65.5. By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our Salvation. His Judgments shall be as terrible as they are righteous. The executioners of his vengeance ride upon horses, to shew their readiness to any warlike ingagement; upon red horses of a bloody colour, to shew the severity of their commission against the Enemies of God, Zac. 1.8. He will pay all arrears together, that they shall be forced to say, God is true to the word of his threatning, as well as that of his promise, As the Amalekites in Samuel's time payed the scores of their Ancestors in the time of the Israelites travel through the wilderness, 1 Sam. 15.2. I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way when they came up from Aegypt. So when God reckons with Babylon for all the bloud of the Saints & Prophets, Rev. 18.20. The bloud of all the Prophets and Saints that were slain upon the earth, shall be found upon her skirts and avenged on her; and gives unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath, all that she hath done shall come into his remem­brance, Rev. 16.19. And how severe it shall be is exprest, Rev. 14.19, 20. she shall be cast into the great wine-press of the wrath of God, as grapes bruised with the greatest strength, and crushed in pieces both skin & stones. And to express it more sensibly to our understandings, he speaks of the flowing of the bloud out of the wine-press unto the horse bridles, by the space of a 1000 and 600 furlongs, two hundred miles; not that we should understand it literally, but the Spirit of God is so particular in describing the height of the deluge of bloud to the bridles of the horses, the length of the floud to the space of two hundred Miles, to set be­fore our apprehension the severity of the wrath that shall be poured out upon them. And as God never repented of his Judgments upon Aegypt, so never will he of those which are to come upon Babylon.

4. Ʋniversally; and therefore severely. The horse and the rider did God cast into the Sea; the Chariots, the Host, and the chosen Captains were drowned there, Exod. 15.1, 4. The waters covered the Enemy, there was not one of them left, Psa. 60.11. Exod. 14.28. Not a mes­senger to carry back the news; their floating bodies and wracks were the first that gave no­tice of the defeat to their remaining countrymen. God throws off all tenderness, his bowels are silent, he strikes like a wrathful Enemy, lanceth not like a tender Chyrurgion; so shall it be with their partners in their sins, every man that worships the Beast and his Image shall drink of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his Indig­nation, and whoever receiveth the mark of his name, Rev. 14.9, 10, 11. The Sun, the political power that defends it, shall be darkened; the rivers, whereby their traffick and riches come in to them, shall be dried up; all that have any dependance on them, recourse to them, stand in the defence of the power of Aegypt, shall fall under the indignation of God.

5. Totally; Irrecoverably. They sank as lead. God will make an utter end, Affliction shall not rise up a 2d time, Nahum 1.9, 10, He overtakes them when they are drunk in the height of their pleasure, while they are making their confederacies against the Church, while they are solden together like thorns, they shall be devoured like stubble fully dry. [...], Luke 18.7. He will avenge his own, he will avenge them speedily; he will act so as if wrath were his only and proper work, he will do it to purpose, and perfectly: The Aegyptian carcasses lay as Trophies of the victory, Exod. 14.30. Their former plagues had something of patience; Punishment was inflicted, but life preserved; Judgments [Page 51] sent, but upon promise of reformation quite removed: Now Patience folds her hands, and stands Spectator, while Justice opens hers, and becomes a sole actor; mercy runs on the side of Israel, and wrath marcheth without any Impediment against the Aegyptians. As they like lead, so irrecoverably shall Babylon fall like a milstone, in the depths of the Sea, and shall be found no more at all; all her mirth and jollity shall for ever cease, Rev. 18.21, 22, 23. When things fall to the bottom of the Sea, they are entombed there for ever, no skill can restore them to their former station; when judgment turneth the key, and locks them in, there is no more opening the door.

6. And all this justly. Pharaoh had commanded that the Hebrew Male-children should be exposed to the mercy of the River, to find their death in the water as soon as they had breathed in the Air, Exod. 1.22. And God makes them perish in that Element, to which they had adjudged the harmless Infants. Now God pays the Law-maker, and his Coun­sellers with the same Coin, and makes the Malefactors food for the Inhabitants of the deep, who had before fed the Crocodiles with the blood of the Innocent. God shall reward Babylon as she hath rewarded his people, and double unto her the cup she hath filled for others, Rev 18.6. Upon this account shall praise be given to God, that he hath given them bloud to drink, who have shed the blood of his Saints and Prophets, Rev. 16.6. Thou art righteous O Lord, because thou hast judged thus. As she hath kindled fires to consume the witnesses of Christ, so God shall kindle a fire to consume her, Rev. 17.16. She shall be utterly burnt with fire, Rev. 18.8. Some think Rome will at length be consumed with fire from Heaven; she is indeed Spiritual Sodom, Rev. 11.8. And as she answers it in car­nal and Spiritual sins, she may partake of the same visible and Spiritual Judgments: Whether the punishment will be the same for kind I know not, but certainly it will be such a kind of punishment whereby the judgments of God shall be read both in proportion, and kind of it, as a retaliation for her sins; and the Scripture speaks of fire coming down from God out of heaven upon the last Enemies of the Church, that shall Afflict the beloved City, alluding to the fire upon Sodom, and that which descended upon the Persecutors of Elijah, Rev. 20.9.

7. Wisely. He cuts off the Spirits of princes, as he took off the Wheels of the Aegyptian Cha­riots, Psa. 76.12. Either by infatuating their Counsels, or turning them as the rivers of wa­ters into other Channels. He stript the Aegyptians, First of their wealth, and now Spoyls them of their strength; he kept a bridle upon the waters, till the Enemies were got into the midst of them, and then commands the Sea to swallow them up in the depths of her bowels. When men lay their Counsels deep, second them by an invincible strength, have almost brought them to their imagin'd period ready to bring forth, God disappoints their hopes baffles their Counsels, renders their projects frothy, raiseth a storm and blows the ship from its harbour, contrary to its intended course, and glorifies his wisdom, by overthrowing their designs, when they have brought them to a birth. He watches upon the evil to divert it from the innocent object upon the malicious actor. As God watches for the fittest season to bring evil upon his people, Dan. 9.14. he will be as diligent to watch for the fittest oppor­tunity to bring Judgment on his Enemies. God hath promised vengeance, but he hath reserved the knowledg of the due time to himself, when he will make their foot to slide, Deut. 32.35. Every mercy is then most seasonable. Usually God lets men bring the ball almost to the goal, and then kicks it from them, and them from it: And the wisdom of God hath been, and will be glorious in the overthrow of the remaining Enemies of the Church, in making them which were horns to defend the Beast, to be carpenters to ruine him, Rev. 17.16.

Ʋse 1. Of Comfort. How dear is the Church to God! When God was engaged in the deli­verance of his people, he sinks the strength of Aegypt, rather than one hair of the Israelites heads should perish; they went safe over, while no man or horse of the Enemies escap't. God gave Aegypt for Israels ransom, Isa. 43.3. And the Sea should have drowned the whole Land, rather than the Enemies have hurt his People. So did the contrivers of the Powder-Plot come to destruction, when not one hair of a head was lost, or one splinter of the place they intended was shav'd off, by the prepared Gunpowder. God sits in Heaven, and laughs at the little petty Designs of men, Psal. 2.4. God that is infinite to countermine them, in­finitely powerful to defeat them, hath them in derision. Christ in glory mocks at the fol­ly of earth-worms. The Decree of God, which settles Christ a King, assures him a King­dom, and secures his People as it did his Person, Psal. 2.7. God is a Sun and a Shield; Psal. 84.11. a Shield to defend them, and a Sun to extinguish the fire of the Enemies fury, by shining upon it. God values no Nation for the security of his People. The Babylonians, a warlike Nation, shall sink under the Army of Cyrus, for the Restauration of the captive Jews, Isa. 43.4. I will give men for thee, and people for thy life. He had given Aegypt for their Ransom before, and Aethiopia and Seba, in the time of Asa; and still in after Ages God was of the same mind. God is as gracious to his People, as terrible to his Enemies: He is light to the one, when he is fire to the souls and bodies of the other, Isa. 10.17. Christ still sits the Watchman of Ephraim with God, Hos. 9.8. He inspects his Church, and waits to bring the day of Visitation upon his Enemies. The Covenant is of special force with God to move him to deliver his People, Isa. 63.8. He said, Surely they are my People, so he was their Saviour. It seems to refer to the deliverance from Aegypt. Shall I have so little regard to the League I have entred into with their Fathers, as to be unconcern'd in their misery? [Page 52] There is hope in Israel, till God forgets his Covenant, and Christ strip himself of the name of a Saviour. Christ hath his Priestly habit in Heaven for his People, but Eyes as flames of fire, quick and piercing, to consume the very hearts of his Enemies; and Feet like fine Brass, to trample upon them, Rev. 1.13, 14, 15. He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, to tear his Enemies, as well as a Lamb slain, to expiate the sins of his People. He hath meekness for his Friends, and terrible Majesty for his Enemies, Psal. 45.4. In thy Majesty ride prospe­rously, because of meekness. His kindness to his People makes him ride in Majesty against the others. God will not be at rest till he hath revenged the Cause of his People. Aegypt will be drowned, Babylon will fall, Rev. 18.2. Christ can have no satisfaction without it. The Execu­tioners of his Judgments in the North Country, which was Babylon, lying Northward from Jerusalem, do quiet his Spirit; both as tending to the glory of his Justice, and the manifestation of his Mercy to his People, Zach. 6.3. Christ will stain his garments in the blood of Edom, and Bozra, Isa. 63.2, 3. Edom the Posterity of Esau, Bozra a City of Moab, Types of the Churches Enemies. The Jewish Doctors by Edom in the Prophets understand Rome. Christ sits in Heaven, till his Enemies be made his footstool. All the time of his sitting God is acting and preparing things for a final Issue. There is a strong cry of Blood, and a file of Prayers; the one will be revenged, and the other will be answer'd. Their own pride and cruelty witness against them. God hath a noise of Petitions every day for a full end; a combin'd importunity will prevail. But clouds now hang over us, a gloomy storm seems to threaten us. God may indeed blow over the cloud. Our Saviour hath the command of the storms and winds in Heaven, as well as he had upon the Earth; the Pillar of the cloud, which hath hitherto conducted us, may be our Guardian in the Rear to defend us. But yet if he doth suffer them to prevail, they shall be but as Whisks to brush off the dust, wisps of Straw to cleanse the filthy Pot. You know what is to be done with them, when their work is done. Their Language indeed is, Let Sion be defiled; but they understand not the counsel of the Lord, who in time will make the Horn of Sion Iron, and her Hoofs Brass, Micah 4.11. Though the Beasts that ascend out of the bottomless Pit do kill God's People, Rev. 11.7. yet even in this Victory of theirs Satan himself shall be overcome. As when Christ was taken out from among the living by Satans means, it was but for a time; but himself was cast out for ever; so after this Victory the Church shall overcome, Rev. 11. and God shall break the head of the Leviathan in the waters; and when he doth by his wisdom contrive waies of salvation, he will by his power execute them, and save in such a way as may most glorifie himself, and witness that the salvation was the immediate work of his arm, Hos. 2.7. I will save them by the Lord their God.

2. Remember former deliverances in time of straits. In our plenty of mercies we should not be unmindful how near we were to the Pit, nor let the impression of God's power, wis­dom and mercy wear off from our hearts. The Israelites were apt to forget the most sig­nal mercies, though they had seen them, and had more sensibly tasted the sweetness of them, than their Posterity. God therefore often puts them in mind of them; The Lord that brought them out of the Land of Aegypt, out of the Iron Furnace, Deut. 4.20. Hos. 12.9. I the Lord your God from the Land of Aegypt, Ezek. 23.3. It was the more fit to be re­membred by them, because many of them were fitter subjects for God's wrath with the Aegyptians, than for his delivering-kindness, since she committed whoredoms in Aegypt in her youth, i. e. had been guilty of the Aegyptian Idolatry. Unmindfulness of former expe­riences may make you hopeless of future deliverances: The remembrance of former mer­cies is a ground of confidence in God for the like mercies for the future. God recalls to his Peoples minds, in their afflictions, the memorable defeat of the Moabites, by his sole power, in the time of Jehoshaphat's Reign; they should from that deliverance hope for as great from the hands of God in their straits. And Zech. 10.11. God would have them consider their deliverance at the Red Sea, as a ground of hope in the time of their distress.

3. Thankfully remember former deliverances. If we have not some praise for God, we may suspect our selves.Lightfoot Temple, cap. 3. p. 9. 'Tis observed that the City Shushan, the Royal seat of the Persian Monar­chy, was pourtrayed upon the east gate of the temple, not because of the Persian command, or because of their fear of that King, as some think; but to have a thankful remembrance of the wonderful deliverance of Purim, which was wrought in Shushan, Esth. 9.26. If it had been only by the Persians command, it would have been defaced after the fall of that Monarchy, which held but thirty four years after the building of the second Temple. The 136. Psalm is a good Copy, where is a threefold exhortation to thankfulness, in the beginning, and one at the end, and in the record of every mercy the burden of every verse is, his mercy endureth for ever. How should we imitate the Psalmist? He broke the teeth of the invincible Levia­than in 88, and sent a strong wind to disperse the Fleet, for his mercy endureth for ever; God prevented the dreadful blast of Gun-powder, for his mercy endureth for ever. God sent the light of the Gospel into England, and freed it from the yoke of Antichrists ty­ranny, for his mercy endures for ever. God hath been a wall of fire about Ireland in the protecti­on of it, for his mercy endureth for ever. Let mercy receive the praise of what our own wis­dom and power could not effect. The way to overcome the same Enemies we fear, is to praise God for what he hath before acted against them. The strength of a people consists in praises, as well as praying, Psa. 8.2. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained [Page 53] strength. In the Evangelist, thou hast perfected praise, Mat. 21.16. The more Hallelujahs we put up, the more occasion God may give us for them. If we have any fears of the overflowing deluge, God formerly delivered us from, our non-improvement of those deliverances, the fruits whereof we enjoy this day, may strengthen our fears. When Israel was Idolatrous in Jeroboams reign, yet God delivered them from the Syrians, because he saw their afflicti­on was bitter, and there was no helper, yet when they did not thankfully improve it to a re­formation, God denounced judgments against them for their Idolatry, 2 Kings 14.26, 27. The Lord said not that he would blot out the name of Israel; So that he had not yet denounced it, for he waited to see the improvement of this mercy. But before the end of Jeroboams reign by the prophet Hosea, who began to prophesy in his time, he declared their final cap­tivity, from whence they are not restored to this day. Praise for former mercies is a means to gain future ones; the Musick of Voices in Jehoshaphats camp, praising the beauty of ho­liness, was a prologue of a deliverance from a formidable army, 2 Chron. 20.21, 22. and more successful than the warlike musick of drums and trumpets.

4. Exercise faith on the power of God manifested in deliverances in the time of straits. 'Tis not for want of ability in God, but for want of faith in us, that we at any time go groaning under misery; Faith would quiet the Soul: When David relyed upon God, and found by ex­perience God sustaining him, he would not then be afraid of ten thousand, Psa. 3.5, 6. Let that be our carriage which is recorded of the Israelites after this memorable defeat, Exod. 14.31. They believed the Lord; and his Servant Moses. We must never expect to see Gods arm bare, without faith in him. Christ can do no great work, where unbelief is predominant. Unbe­lief doth not strip God of his power, and mercy, but it stops the streams and effluxes of it. Unbelief against experience is a double sin; 'Tis gross when against a bare word, worse when against the word confirmed by a Witness. Israel was past thoughts of any relief in this strait, but expected to perish by the hand of their Enemies, yet God brought them into straits in mercy, to bring them out of straits with power; he makes their distress a snare to their E­nemies, and a scaffold for their faith. That deliverance ought to be a foundation for our trust in God, though bestowed upon another Nation, yet not so much upon them as a State, but as a Church, and a type of those future ones under the Gospel, which are yet expected. Well then, trust upon this foundation. Great trust in God is a sort of obligation upon God: Men out of generosity will do much for them that depend upon them. Dependance on God magnifies his Attributes, this will bring deliverance, whereby God will magnify himself. Do not distrust him, till you meet with an Enemy too strong for him to quell, a red Sea too deep for him to divide, an affliction too sturdy for him to rebuke, an Aegyptian too proud for him to master; Then part with your faith, but not till God hath parted with his power, which he hath for­merly evidenc'd.

5. Expect and provide for sharp conflicts. God brings into straits before he delivers; An­other deliverance is yet to come; the Churches distresses are not come to a period, Babylon hath another game to play. The right of the Devil to tyrannize over the Mystical Body was taken away at the death of the head, yet he still bruiseth Christs heel, and bites, though he cannot totally overcome. As long as Christs Enemies are not made his foot-stool, as long as there is the seed of the Serpent in the World, as long as Christs members want a con­formity to the head, Satans pinches must be expected; as long as the Beast is in being, he will make war with the followers of the Lamb; his power is to continue forty two months, to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them, Revel. 13.5, 7. Forty two months or years. 'Tis like the time is not expir'd: One thousand six hundred and twenty years, which make forty two months; no ending since he first had his power; when his time draws near to an end, he will bite sharpest. This deliverance from Aegypt is yet again to be acted o­ver, and that must be at the end, when the whole Israel of God shall be freed from Anti-christ, the Antitype of Pharaoh.

6. Yet let us not be afraid. Apostacies may be great; there will be but two Witnesses; not two in number, but in regard of the fewness of those that shall bear testimony to the Doctrine of Christ: there may be no Advocate for the Church: Sion may be an out-cast, cast out of the affection of many that served or favoured her: But the sharpest Convulsions in the world are presages of an approaching Redemption, Luke 21.28. and the Gospel will shine clearer, as the Sun doth, after it hath been muffled with a thick Cloud. The words in the mouths of the Witnesses, will be most killing and convincing. Fear not a natural above a supernatural Power. Was not all the Church God had in the world in as low a condition at the Red Sea? Not a Soul, that we read of, exempt (or but few, as Job, and some few others in other parts) yet the Church was then delivered for a Pattern, to shew forth the power of God in the Ages to come. What though there may be a want of Instru­ments? Are not all Instruments out-liv'd by God? Has God dismist the care of his People? Is he not alwaies the Churches Guardian? He must be dethron'd, before he can be disarm­ed. While Heaven is too high for humane hands to reach, the Church is too well guarded for them to conquer: Fear not, till Christ lets his Scepter fall out of his hands, and ceases to rule in the midst of his Enemies, and flings away the Keys of Death and Hell; fear not till God strips himself of his strength, wherewith he is clothed; He is clothed with strength, Psal. 93.1. Though there be little strength in the Church, there is an Almighty one in their confede­rate. [Page 54] 'Tis no matter what the Enemy resolves against what God ordains. Pharaoh intend­ed to destroy, God intended to deliver. God will have his will, and Pharaoh's lust goes unsatisfied. When the Enemies are most numerous, God shall darken their glory and strength, and then shall he be the hope and strength of his People, Joel 3.14, 15, 16. The Valley of Achor, the Valley of the sharpest trouble, shall be a door of hope, Hos. 2.15. That God, that can create a World out of nothing, can create deliverance when there is no visible means to produce it. What can be too hard for him that can work without materials, that can make matter when it is wanting, and call Non-Entities into being? He created the World with a word, and can destroy the sturdiest men in the world with a look. The strongest Devil trembles before him, and the whole Seed of the Serpent is but as the dust of the ballance before the breath of his mouth. He looked the Aegyptian Host into disorder, and their Chariot-wheels into a falling-sickness, Exod. 14.24. He created the World by a word: He restored Jerusalem by a word, Isa. 44.26, 27. dispirited Aegypt by a look. There is no need of an Arm; a word, and a look of Omnipotency will be effi­cacious both for the one and the other; one Royal Edict from him will perform it, Psal. 44.4. Thou art my King, command deliverance for Jacob. He hath Authority as a King, En­gagement as the Churches King: As he hath right of Dominion, so he hath an Office of Protection, which the Church of right may claim; and is it Jacob that wants deliverance? be not afraid, but sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself, Isa. 8.12, 13. To trust in his Power, is to san­ctifie his name, and regard him as the Soveraign of all creatures, and the Lord of Hosts. If we sanctifie his name by relying on his Power, he will sanctifie his name by engaging his Power.

7. To this end study the Promises God hath made to his Church, and what Predictions are upon Record. 'Tis a title of the faithful, that they are such as keep the sayings of the Book of the Revelation, Rev. 22.9. The Angel that came to John, owns himself his fellow-servant; and of the Prophets, and those that keep the sayings of that Book. See God's Bond, and behold his witness; compare the promise, the prophecy, and performance: See his mercy in making them, his truth in performing them; let these be as the Hur and Aaron to support the glory of God in our Souls. This will be a matter of praise, and furnish us with Argu­ments to spread before God. Daniel first looked into the Book for the set time of the Jews return from Babylon, Dan. 9.2. and took his rise for pleas from thence. You may have need of this food; a Divine Promise is the best Cordial at a Stake or Gibbet, or when a Sword is at your breast.

8. When a time of straits comes, wait patiently upon God: Let not hope sink, when reason is non-plust by storms, and sees nothing but wracks. Wait upon God in the way of his Judgments, Isa. 26.8. in his storms as well as calms. God waits to be gra­cious, and therefore we should wait to be gratified. Not to wait, is to be partners in that sin which brought destruction upon the Churches Enemies, viz. pride. It concerns God more in point of his glory, to hasten deliverance in its due time, than us in point of se­curity; but there is as much danger in coming too soon, as too late. By waiting we imitate the highest pattern, who waits with patience for the Reformation of his Enemies, and Christ who waits for the total Victory. The longer God keeps the Church at any time under the Enemies Chains, the sweeter will be his mercy to the one, and the severer his Justice on the other. The Israelites waited, and God followed Pharaoh with Plagues, as he fol­lowed them with burdens, and took his time to cut off their Oppressors with most glory to himself, and most comfort to them. The Vision hath its appointed time: Impatience will not make God break the Chains of his Resolves, but Patience will bring down the bles­sing with great success, and big with noble Births. God is not out of the way of his wisdom and grace, and we can never keep in our way but by patience in waiting: By this we give him the honour of his wisdom; by too much hastiness we check and controul him, and will not let him be the Master and Conductor of his own blessings. We many times get more good by waiting, than we do by enjoying a mercy: Such a posture keeps the Soul humble and believing, whereas many times when we receive a mercy too hastily with one hand, we let go faith and humility with the other. Sincere Souls have the strongest and most heavenly raptures in a time of waiting, Isa. 40.31. They mount up with wings like Eagles.

9. In times of such straits, Be found only in a way of duty. If our straits should ever prove as hard as the Israelites at the red Sea, i. e. have something of a resemblance to their case, let us follow Moses his counsel to them, Exod. 14.13. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Let us not anticipate Gods gracious designs; if we will have our finger, where God only will have his arm, God may withdraw this arm and leave us to the weakness of our own fingers. Let them that want a God to relieve them, use sinful, and unworthy shifts for their deliverance. If any success be found out of the way of duty, it may be attended with a curse, and want that favour of God which only can Sanctify it; We may purchase a present deliverance with a more durable plague at the end of it, because we forfeit that favour which only can work a real freedom. Sinful ways do not glorify God, but disparage him; our actions at such a time particularly should adorn the gospel, not discredit it, for it is by the Sword of his mouth that such enemies will be destroyed, and every Sword cuts best when it is sharpest and cleanest, not when it is blunt and rusty. Not but that lawful means may, nay they must be used. Noah, though he went into the ark by Gods command, [Page 55] and was not to stir out without his order, yet he sets open the windows, and sends forth a Raven and a Dove to bring him notice when the waters were dryed up. 'Tis a foolish thing to offend God who only can help us in our straits, and by our sin to hold his Sword in his sheath, which upon our obedience would be drawn for our relief. We know not how soon we may need him, and our distress be such, that none but he can bring Salvation; let no sin be a bar in the way.

10. Be much in prayer. Israel cryed unto the Lord before God did relieve, Exod. 14.10. The persecuted Church cryed travelling in birth, and found a security both for her self and her off-spring, Rev. 12.2. &c. The distress of the time is an argument to be used, Psal. 123.34. Have mercy upon us Lord, for we are exceedingly filled with Contempt. When Ene­mies are high, and access to God free, 'tis an high contempt of God not to use the priviledge he allows us; and 'tis to trust in an arm of flesh rather than an arm of Omnipotence; to think him either inexorable, or unable. And for encouragement consider, you have Christ arm'd against his Spouses Enemies, and provided with merit to make her prayers successful. Our prayers may at last be turned into praises: And we may say with David, Psa. 9.6. Oh thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end.

THis Psalm in the beginning is a heap of Instructions: The great Lesson in­tended in it is plac'd in verse 1. Fret not thy self because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. 'Tis resum'd verse 7, 8. where many Reasons are alledged to enforce it.

Fret not.]

1. Do not envy them. Be not troubled at their prosperity.

2. Do not imitate them. Be not provoked by their Glow-worm happiness, to practice the same wickedness to arrive to the same prosperity.

3. Be not sinfully impatient and quarrel, not with God, because he hath not by his providence allowed thee the same measures of prosperity in the world. Accuse him not of injustice and cruelty, because he afflicts the good, and is indulgent to the wicked. Leave him to dispense his blessings according to his own mind.

4. Condemn not the way of Piety and Religion wherein thou art. Think not the worse of thy Profession, because it is attended with Affliction.

The reason of this Exhortation is rendred v. 2. For they shall soon be cut down as the grass, and wither as the green herb; amplified by a similitude or resemblance of their prosperity to grass: Their happiness hath no stability; it hath like grass, more of colour and show, than strength and substance. Grass nods this and that way with every wind. The mouth of a Beast may pull it up, or the foot of a Beast may tread it down; the scorching Sun in Sum­mer, or the fainting Sun in Winter, will deface its complexion.

The Psalmist then proceeds to positive duties, v. 3.

1. Faith. Trust in the Lord. This is a grace most fit to quell such impatiencies. The stronger the faith, the weaker the passion. Impatient motions are signs of a flagging faith. Many times Men are ready to cast off their help in Jehovah, and address to the God of Ekron, multitudes of friends or riches. But trust thou in the Lord; in the promises of God, in the providence of God.

2. Obedience. Do good. Trust in God's promises, and observance of his precepts must be linkt together. 'Tis but a pretended trust in God, where there is a real walking in the paths of wickedness. Let not the glister of the world render thee faint and languid in a course of Piety.

3. The keeping our station. Do good. Because wicked men flourish, hide not thy self therefore in a corner, but keep thy sphere, run thy Race. And verily thou shalt be fed; have every thing needful for thee. And now, because men delight in that wherein they trust, the Psalmist diverts us from all other objects of delight, to God as the true object. Delight thy self in the Lord; place all thy pleasure and joy in him. And because the motive expresseth the answer of prayer, the duty enjoyned seems to respect the act of prayer, as well as the object of prayer; Prayer coming from a delight in God, and a delight in seeking him. Trust is both the spring of joy and the spring of Supplication. When we trust him for sustenance and preservation, we shall receive them; so when we delight in seeking him, we shall be answered by him.

[Page 57]1. The Duty. In the act, Delight. In the object, the Lord.

2. The motive. He shall give thee the desires of thy heart, the most substantial desires, those desires which he approves of; The desire of thy heart as gracious, though not the desire of thy heart as carnal: The desire of thy heart as a Christian, though not the desire of thy heart as a creature. He shall give; God is the object of our joy, and the author of our comfort.

There are two parts. 1. Chearfulness on our parts. 2. Grants on Gods part.

1 Chearfulness and delight on our parts. Joy is the tuning the Soul. The command to re­joyce precedes the command to pray, 1 Thes. 5.16, 17. Rejoyce evermore, pray without ceasing. Delight makes the melody, prayer else will be but a harsh sound. God accepts the heart only, when it is a gift given, not forc'd. Delight is the marrow of Religion.

1. Dulness is not suitable to the great things we are chiefly to beg for. Gospel-discoveries are a feast, Isa. 25.6. Dulness becomes not such a solemnity. Manna must not be sought for with a dumpish heart. With joy we are to draw water out of the Wells of Salvation, Isa. 12.3. Faith is the bucket, but joy and love are the hands that move it. They are the Hur and Aaron that hold up the hands of this Moses. God doth not value that mans service, who accounts not his service a priviledge and a pleasure.

2. Dulness is not suitable to the Duty. Gospel-duties are to be performed with a Gospel-temper. God's People ought to be a willing people, Psa. 110.3. [...], a people of willing­ness: As though in prayer no other faculty of the Soul had its exercise but the will. This must breathe fully in every word; as the spirit in Ezekiel's wheels. Delight, like the AngelJudg. 13.20., must ascend in the smoke and flame of the Soul. Though there be a kind of union by con­templation, yet the real union is by affection. A man cannot be said to be a spiritual King, if he doth not present his performances with a Royal and Prince-like spirit. 'Tis for vigo­rous wrestling that Jacob is called a Prince, Gen. 32.28.

This Temper is essential to grace. Natural men are described to be of a heavy and weary temper in the offering of Sacrifices, Mal. 1.13. It was but a sickly, lame Lamb they brought for an offering, and yet weary of it, that which was not fit for their table they thought fit for the Altar.

In the handling this Doctrine I shall shew,

• 1. What this delight is.
• 2. Whence it springs.
• 3. The reasons of the doctrine.
• 4. The use.

1. What this delight is. Delight properly is an affection of the mind that Springs from the possession of a good which hath been ardently desired. This is the top stone, the highest step, delight is but an Embryo till it come to fruition, and that certain and immutable; Otherwise, if there be probability or possibility of losing that which we have present possession of, the fear of it is as a drop of gall that infects the sweetness of this passion; delight properly is a silencing of desire, and the banquet of the Soul on the presence of its de­sired object.

But there is a delight of a lower stamp.

1. In desires. There is a delight in desire, as well as in fruition. A chearfulness in la­bour, as well as in attainment. The desire of Canaan made the good Israelites chearful in the wilderness. There is an inchoate delight in motion, but a consummate delight in rest and fruition.

2. In hopes. Desired happiness affects the Soul; much more expected happiness, Rom. 5.2. We rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God. Joy is the natural issue of a well grounded hope. A tottering expectation will engender but a tottering delight: Such a delight will Mad-men have, which is rather to be pitied than desired. But if an imaginary hope can affect the heart with some real joy, much more a hope setled upon a sure bottom, and raised upon a good foundation There may be joy in a title as well as in possession.

3. In contemplation. The consideration and serious thoughts of heaven do affect a gra­cious heart, and fill it with pleasure, tho it self be as if in a wilderness. The near appproach to a desired good doth much affect the heart. Moses was surely more pleased with the sight of Canaan from Pisgah, than with the hopes of it in the desert A travellers delight is more raised when he is nearest his journeys end, and a hungry stomach hath a greater joy when he sees the meat approaching which must satisfy the appetite. As the Union with the object is nearer, so the delight is stronger. Now this delight the Soul hath in duty, is not a delight of fruition, but of desire, hope, or contemplation; Gaudium viae, not patriae.

1. We may consider delight as Active or Passive.

1. Active, which is an act of our Souls in our approaches to God. When the heart like the Sun rouzeth up itself as a Gyant to run a spiritual race.

[Page 58]2. Passive. Which is Gods dispensation in approaches to us, and often met with in our chearful addresses to God, Isa. 64.5. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and works righteousness. When we delightfully clasp about the Throne of grace, God doth often cast his arms about our necks: Especially when chearful prayer is accompanyed with a chearful obedience. This joy is, when Christ meets us in prayer with a be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven, thy re­quest granted. The active delight is the health of the Soul, the passive is the good com­plexion of the Soul. The one is mans duty, the other Gods peculiar gift. The one is the inseparable property of the new birth, the other a separable priviledge. There may be a joy in God, when there is little joy from God. There may be Gold in the Mine, when no flowers on the surface.

2. We may consider delight as setled or transient: As Spiritual or Sensitive.

1. A setled delight. In strong and grown Christians, when prayer proceeds out of a thankfulness to God, a judicious knowledg and apprehension of God. The nearer to God the more delight: As the motion of a stone is most speedy when nearest its Center.

2. A Sensitive delight. As in persons troubled in mind, there may be a kind of delight in prayer, because there is some sense of ease in the very venting itself; And in some, because of the novelty of a duty they were not accustom'd to before. Many prayers may be put up by persons in necessity without any Spiritual delight in them; As crazy persons take more Physick than those that are healthful, and observe the Spring and Fall, yet they delight not in that Physick. The Pharisee could pray longer, and perhaps with some delight too, but upon a sensual ground, with a proud and a vaunting kind of chearfulness, a delight in him­self; When the Publican had a more spiritual delight; Though a humble sorrow, in the consideration of his own vileness, yet a delight in the consideration of Gods mercy. This sen­sitive delight may be more sensible in a young, than in a grown Christian. There is a more sensible affection at the first meeting of friends, though more solid after some converse; As there is a love which is called the love of the espousals. As it is in sorrow for sin, so in this de­light; A young convert hath a greater torrent, a grown Christian a more constant stream; As at the first conversion of a sinner there is an overflowing joy among the Angels, which we read not of after, though without question there is a settled joy in them at the growth of a Christian. An elder son may have a delight in his Fathers presence more rooted, firm and rational, than a younger child that clings more about him with affectionate expres­sions. As sincerity is the Soul of all graces and duties, so this delight is the lustre and em­broydery of them.

Now this Delight in Prayer,

1. 'Tis an inward and hearty delight. As to the subject of it, it is seated in the heart. A man in prayer may have a chearful countenance and a drowsy spirit. The Spirit of God dwells in the heart, and love and joy are the first-fruits of it, Gal. 5.22. Love to duty, and joy in it; joy as a grace, not as a meer comfort. As God is hearty in offering mercy, so is the Soul in pe­titioning for it. There is a harmony between God and the heart. Where there is delight, there is great pains taken with the heart; a gracious heart strikes it self again and again; As Moses did the rock twice. Those ends which God hath in giving, are a Christians ends in asking. Now the more of our hearts in the requests, the more of Gods heart in the grants. The Emphasis of mercy is Gods whole heart and whole Soul in it, Jer. 22.41. So the Em­phasis of duty is our whole Heart and whole Soul. As without Gods chearful answering, a gracious Soul would not rellish a mercy, so without our hearty asking God doth not rellish our prayer.

2. 'Tis a delight in God who is the Object of Prayer. The glory of God, communion with him, enjoyment of him is the great end of a believer in his Supplications. That delight which is in prayer, is chiefly in it as a means conducing to such an end, and is but a spark of that delight which the Soul hath in the object of prayer. God is the Center wherein the Soul rests, and the end which the Soul aims at. According to our apprehensions of God are our desires, for him, when we apprehend him as the chiefest good, we shall desire him, and delight in him, as the chiefest good. There must first be a delight in God, before there can be a spiritual delight, or a permanency in duty, Job 27.10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he al­ways call upon God? Delight is a grace; and as faith, desire, and love, have God for their ob­ject, so hath this. And according to the strength of our delight in the object or end, is the strength of our delight in the means of attainment. When we delight in God as glorious, we shall delight to honour him, when we regard him as good, we shall delight to pursue and enjoy him, and delight in that which brings us to an intercourse with him. He that rejoyces in God, will rejoyce in every approach to him. The joy of the Lord is our strength, Neh. 8.10. The more joy in God, the more strength to come to him. The want of this is the rea­son of our Snail-like motion to him. Men have no sweet thoughts of God, and therefore no mind to converse with him. We cannot judg our delight in prayer to be right, if we have not a delight in God; for natural men may have a delight in prayer, when they have corrupt and selfish ends; they may have a delight in a duty, as it is a means, according to their apprehensions, to gain such an end: As Balaam and Balak offered their Sacrifice chear­fully, hoping to ingratiate themselves with God, and to have liberty to curse his people.

3. A delight in the precepts and promises of God, which are the ground and rules of Prayer. [Page 59] First David delights in Gods testimonies, and then calls upon him with his whole heart. A gracious heart must first delight in precepts and promises, before it can turn them into pra­yers; For prayer is nothing else but a presenting God with his own promise, desiring to work that in us, and for us, which he hath promised to us. None was more chearful in prayer than David, because none was more rejoycing in the statutes of God. Gods statutes were his Songs, Psa. 119.54. And the divine Word was sweeter to him than the hony and hony-comb. If our hearts leap not at divine promises, we are like to have but drowsy Souls in desiring them. If our eye be not upon the dainties God sets before us, our desires cannot be strong for him. If we have no delight in the great charters of heaven, the rich legacies of God, how can we sue for them? If we delight not in the covenant of grace, we shall not delight in prayers for grace. It was the hopes of reward made Moses so valiant in suffering, and the joy set before Christ in a promise, made him so chearful in enduring the shame. Heb. 12.1.2.

4. A delight in prayer itself. A Christians heart is in secret ravisht into heaven. There is a delight in coming near God, and warming the soul by the fire of his love. The Angels are chearful in the act of praise, their work is their glory. A holy Soul doth so delight in this duty, that if there were no command to engage him, no promise to encourage him, he would be stepping into Gods Courts. He thinks it not a good day, that passeth without some inter­course with God. David would have taken up his lodgings in the Courts of God, and re­gards it as the only blessedness, Psalm. 65.4. And so great a delight he had in being in Gods presence, that he envies the birds the happiness of building their nests near his Tabernacle. A delight there is in the holiness of Prayer; a natural man under some trou­bles may delight in Gods comforting and easing presence, but not in his sanctifying presence. He may delight to pray to God as a storehouse to supply his wants, but not as a refiners fire to purge away his dross. Prayer, as Praise, is a melody to God in the heart, Eph. 5.19. And the Soul loves to be fingering the instrument and touching the strings.

5. A delight in the things askt. This heavenly chearfulness is most in heavenly things. What delight others have in asking worldly goods, that a gracious heart hath in begging the light of Gods countenance. That soul cannot be dull in prayer, that seriously considers he prays for no less than heaven and happiness; no less than the glory of the great God. A gracious man is never weary of spiritual things, as men are never weary of the Sun, but though it is enjoyed every day, yet long for the rising of it again. From this delight in the matter of prayer it is, that the Saints have redoubled and repeated their Petitions, and often double the Amen at the end of Prayer, to manifest the great affections to those things they have askt. The Soul loves to think of those things the heart is set upon; and frequent thoughts express a delight.

6. A delight in those graces and affections which are Exercised in Prayer. A gracious heart is most delighted with that prayer wherein grace hath been more stirring, and gracious af­fections have been boyling over. The Soul desires not only to speak to God, but to make melody to God; the heart is the instrument, but graces are the strings, and prayer the touch­ing them, and therefore he is more displeased with the flagging of his graces than with missing an answer. There may be a delight in gifts, in a mans own gifts, in the gifts of ano­ther, in the pomp and varnish of devotion; But a delight in exercising spiritual graces is an ingredient in this true delight. The Pharisees are markt by Christ to make long prayers, vaunting in an outward bravery of words, as if they were playing the Courtiers with God, and complementing him: But the Publican had a short prayer, but more grace; Lord be mer­ciful to me a sinner; There is relyance and humility; A gracious heart labours to bring fla­ming affections, and if he cannot bring flaming grace, he will bring smoaking grace: he de­sires the preparation of his heart as well as the answer of his prayer, Psalm. 10.17.

2. Whence this delight springs.

1. From the Spirit of God. Not a spark of fire upon our own hearth, that is able to kin­dle this Spiritual delight; 'Tis the holy Ghost that breaths such an heavenly heat into our affections. The Spirit is the fire that kindles the Soul, the spring that moves the watch, the wind that drives the ship. The swiftest ship with spread sails will be but sluggish in its motion, unless the wind fills its sails; without this Spirit we are but in a weak and sickly condition, our breath, but short, a heavy and troublesome Asthma is upon us, Psal. 138.3. When I cryed unto thee, thou didst strengthen me with strength in my Soul. As prayer is the work of the Spirit in the heart, so doth delight in prayer owe itself to the same author. God will make them joyful in his house of prayer, Isa. 56.7.

2. From grace. The Spirit kindles, but gives us the Oyl of grace to make the lamp burn clear. There must not only be wind to drive, but sails to catch it; a prayer without grace is a a prayer without wings. There must be grace to begin it. A dead man cannot rejoice in his Land, Money or Food, he cannot act, and therefore cannot be chearful in action: Chearful­ness supposeth life: dead men cannot perform a duty, (Psal. 115.17. the dead praise not the Lord,) nor dead souls a chearful duty. There must not only be grace infused, but grace actuated. No man in a sleep or swoon, can rejoice. There must not only be a living princi­ple, but a lively operation. If the sap lurk only in the root, the branches can bring forth no fruit; our best prayers without the sap of grace diffusing itself, will be but as withered bran­ches. Grace actuated puts heat into performances, without which they are but benum'd and [Page 60] frozenReynolds.. Rusty grace, as a rusty Key, will not unlock, will not enlarge the heart. There must be grace to maintain it. There is not only need of fire to kindle the lamp, but of Oyl to preserve the flame; natural men may have their affections kindled in a way of common working, but they will presently faint and dye, as the flame of cotton will dimm and vanish, if there be no Oyl to nourish it. There is a temporary joy in hearing the word; and if in one duty, why not in another? why not in prayer? Mat. 13.20. Like a fire of thorns that makes a great blaze, but a short stay.

3. From a good Conscience. A good heart is a continual feast, Prov. 15.15. He that hath a good conscience must needs be chearful in his religious and civil duties. Guilt will come trembling, and with a sad countenance into the presence of Gods Majesty. A guilty child cannot with chearfulness come into a displeased fathers presence. A Soul smoakt with Hell cannot with delight approach to heaven. Guilty Souls in regard of the injury they have done to God, will be afraid to come; and in regard of the soot of Sin wherewith they are defiled, and the blackness they have contracted, they will be ashamed to come. They know that by their sins they should provoke his anger, not allure his love. A Soul under conscience of sin cannot look up to God, Psal. 40.12. Nor will God with favour look down upon it, Psal. 59.2. It must be a pure heart that must see him with pleasure, Mat. 5.8. And pure hands must be lifted up to him, 1 Tim. 2.8. Jonah was asleep after his sin, and was out­stript in quickness to pray, even by Idolaters. The marriners jogg him, but could not get him, that we read of, to call upon that God whom he had offended, Jon. 1. Where there is corruption, the sparks of sin will kindle that tinder, and weaken a Spiritual delight. A perfect heart and a willing mind are put together, 1 Chron. 29.2. There cannot be willingness without sincerity, nor sincerity without willingness.

4. From a holy and frequent familiarity with God. Where there is a great familiarity, there is a great delight; delight in one anothers company, and delight in one anothers converse; strangeness contracts, and familiarity dilates the Soul. There is more alacrity in going to a God with whom we are acquainted, than to a God to whom we are strangers. This doth encourage the Soul to go to God; I go to a God whose face I have seen, whose goodness I have tasted, with whom I have often met in prayer. Frequent familiarity makes us more ap­prehensive of the excellency of another; an excellency apprehended will be beloved, and being beloved will be delighted in.

5. From hopes of speeding. There is an expectative delight which ariseth from hopes of en­joying, Rom. 12.12. Rejoycing in hope. There cannot be a pleasant motion, where there is a palsie of doubts. How full of delight must that Soul be, that can plead a promise, and carry God's hand and seal to Heaven, and shew him his own Bond; when it can be pleaded not only as a favour to engage his mercy, but in some sense a debt to engage his truth and righteousness! Christ in his prayer, which was his Swan-like song, John 17. pleads the terms of the Cove­nant between his Father and himself; I have glorified thee on Earth, glorifie me with that gol­ry I had with thee before the world was. This is the case of a delightful approach, when we carry a Covenant of grace with us for our selves, and a promise of security and perpetuity for the Church. Upon this account we have more cause of a pleasant motion to God, than the ancient Believers had. Fear acted them under the Law, Love us under the Gospel. He cannot but delight in prayer, that hath Arguments of God's own framing to plead with God, who cannot deny his own Arguments and Reasonings. Little comfort can be suckt from a perhaps. But when we come to seek Covenant-mercies, God's faithfulness to his Cove­nant puts the mercy past a perhaps. We come to a God sitting upon a Throne of Grace, up­on Mount Sion, not on Mount Sinai; to a God that desires our presence, more than we de­sire his assistance.

6. From a sense of former mercies and acceptation. If Manna be rained down, it doth not only take off our thoughts from Aegyptian Garlick, but quickens our desires for a second shower. A sense of God's Majesty will make us lose our garishness; and a sense of God's Love will make us lose our dumpishness. We may as well come again with a merry heart, when God accepts our prayers, as go away and eat our bread with joy when God accepts our works, Eccles. 9.7. The Doves will readily fly to the windows, where they have formerly found shelter; and the Beggar to the door where he hath often received an Alms. Because he hath inclined his ear to hear me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live, Psal. 116.2. I have found refuge with God before; I have found my wants supplied, my soul raised, my temp­tations check'd, my doubts answered, and my prayers accepted, therefore I will repeat my Addresses with chearfulness.

I might add also other Causes; as a love to God, a heavenliness of spirit, a consideration of Christ's Intercession, a deep humiliation. The more unpleasant sin is to our rellish, the more delightful will God be, and the more chearful our Souls in Addresses to him. The more unpleasant sin is to us, the more spiritual our Souls are; and the more spiritual our Souls, the more spiritual our Affections: The more stony, the more lumpish and unapt for motion; the more contrite, the more agil. From a spiritual tast; report of a thing may contribute some pleasure, but a tast greater.

3. Reasons. Without chearful seeking we cannot have a gracious Answer.

1. God will not give an answer to those prayers that dishonour him A flat and dumpish tem­per [Page 61] is not for his honour. The Heathens themselves thought their gods should not be put off with a Sacrifice dragg'd to the Altar. We read of no Lead, that lumpish earthly metal, imployed about the Tabernacle or Temple, but the purer and most glistering sorts of me­tals. God will have the most excellent Service, because he is the most excellent Being. He will have the most delightful Service, because he bestows the most delightful and ex­cellent gifts. All Sacrifices were to be offered up with fire, which is the quickest, and most active Element. 'Tis a dishonour to so great, so glorious a Majesty, to put him off with such low and dead-hearted Services. Those Petitions cannot expect an answer, which are offered, in a manner injurious to the person we address to. 'Tis not for the credit of our great Master, to have his Servants dejected in his work: As though his Service were an uncomfortable thing; as though God were a Wilderness, and the World a Paradise.

2. Dull and lumpish Prayer doth not reach him, and therefore cannot expect an answer. Such desires are as Arrows that sink down at our feet; there is no force to carry them to Hea­ven: The heart is as an unbent Bow, that hath no strength. When God will hear, he makes first a prepared heart, Psal. 10.17. He first strings the Instrument, and then receives the sound. An enlarged heart only runs, Psal. 119.32. A contracted heart moves slowly, and often faints in the Journey.

3. Lumpishness speaks an unwillingness that God should hear us. It speaks a kind of a fear that God should grant our Petitions. He that puts up a Petition to a Prince coldly and dully, gives him good reason to think, that he doth not care for an answer. That Husband­man hath no great mind to a Harvest, that is lazy in tilling his ground, and sowing his seed. How can we think God should delight to read over our Petitions, when we take so little delight in presenting them? God gives not mercy to an unwilling person. The first thing God doth, is to make his People willing. Dull spirits seek God as if they did not care for finding him: Such tempers either account not God real, or their Petitions unnecessary.

4. Without delight we are not fit to receive a mercy. Delight in a mercy wanted, makes room for desire; and large desires make room for mercy. If no delight in begging, there will be no delight in enjoying. If there be no chearfulness to quicken our prayers when we need a blessing, there will be little joy to quicken our praise when we receive a blessing. A weak, sickly stomack is not fit to be seated at a plentiful table. Where there is a dull asking supply, there is none, or a very dull sense of wants. Now God will not send his mercies but to a Soul that will welcome them. The deeper the sense of our wants, the higher the estimation of our Supplies. A chearful Soul is fit to receive the least, and fit to receive the greatest mercy. He will more prize a little mercy than a dull petitioner shall prize a grea­ter, because he hath a sense of his wants. Had not Zacheus had a great joy at the news of Christs coming by his door, he had not so readily entertained and welcomed him.

Use 1. Of Information.

1. There is a great pleasure in the ways of God, if rightly understood. Prayer, which is a duty wherein we express our wants, is delightful. There is more sweetness in a Christians asking than in a wicked mans enjoying blessings.

2. What delight will there be in heaven! If there be such sweetness in desire, what will there be in full fruition! There is joy in seeking, what is there then in finding! Duty hath its sweets, its thousands, but glory its ten thousands. If the pleasure of the seed-time be so great, what will the pleasure of the harvest be!

3. The miserable condition of those that can delight in any thing but prayer. 'Tis an aggrava­tion of our enmity to God, when we can sin chearfully, and pray dully: When duty is more lothsome than iniquity.

Use 2. Of Examination. We pray, but how are our hearts? If it be for what concerns our momentary being, is not our running like the running of Ahimaaz? But when for Spiritual things, do not our hearts sink within us, like Nabals? Let us therefore follow our hearts close, suffer them not to give us the slip in our examination of them, resolve not to take the first answer, but search to the bottom.

1. Whether we delight at all in prayer?

1. How do we prize the opportunities of duty? There is an opportunity of an earthly, and an opportunity of a heavenly gain; consider which our hearts more readily close with. Can we with much pleasure follow a vain world, and heartlesly welcom an opportunity of duty, delight more with Judas in baggs, than in Christs company? This is sad. But are praying op­portunities our festival times? Do we go to the house of God with the voice of joy & praise?

2. Whether we study excuses to wave a present duty, when conscience and opportunity urge and invite us to it? Are our Souls more skillful in delaies than in performances? Are there no excuses when sin calls us, and studyed put-offs when God invites us? Like the sluggard, folding our arms, yet a little while longer? Or do our hearts rise and beat quick against fri­volous excuses that step in to hinder us from prayer?

3. How are our hearts affected in prayer? Are we more ready to pray our selves asleep, than into a vigorous frame? Do we enter into it with some life, and find our hearts quickly tire and jade us? Are we more awake when we are up, than we were all the time upon our knees? are our hearts in prayer like withered, sapless things, and very quick afterwards, if any worldly business invite us? Are we like logs and blocks in prayer, and like a [Page 62] Roe upon the mountains in earthly concerns? Surely what our pulse beats quickest to, is the object most delighted in.

4. What time is it we choose for Prayer? Is it not our drowziest, lazyest time, when our nods are as many, or more than our petitions; as though the dullest time and the deadest frame were most sutable to a living God? Do we come with our hearts full of the world to pray for heaven? Or do we pick out the most lively seasons? Luther chose those hours for prayer and meditation, wherein he found himself most lively for study.

5. Do we not often wish a duty over? As those in the Prophet that were glad when the Sabbath was over, that they might run to their buying and selling? Or, are we of Peter's temper, and express Peter's Language, 'Tis good to be here with Christ on the Mount?

6. Do we prepare our selves by delightful and enlivening considerations? Do we think of the Precept of God, which should spur us, and of the Promise of God, which should allure us? Do we rub our Souls to heat them? Do we blow them to kindle them into a flame? Do we send up Ejaculations for a quickening spirit? If thoughts of God be a burden, requests to him will not be a pleasure. If we have a coldness in our thoughts of God and Duty, we can have no warmth in our desire, no delight in our Petitions.

7. Do we content our selves with dull motions, or do we give check to them? Can we, though our hearts be never so lazy, stroke our selves at the end, and call our selves good and faith­ful Servants? Do we take our Souls to task afterwards, and examine why they are so lazy, why so heavy? Do we enquire into the causes of our deadness? A gracious Soul is more troubled at its dulness in prayer, than a natural conscience is at the omission of prayer. He will complain of his sluggishness, and mend his pace.

2. If we find we have a delight, let us examine whether it be a delight of the right kind.

1. Do we delight in it, because of the gifts we have our selves, or the gifts of others we joyn with? A man may rejoyce in hearing the Word, not because of the holiness and spirituality of the matter, but because of the goodness of the dress, and the elegancy of the expression, Ezek. 33.32. The Prophet was unto them as a lovely Song, as one that had a pleasant voice. He may upon the same ground delight in prayer. But this is a temper not kindled by the true fire of the Sanctuary. Or, do we delight in it, not when our Tongues are most quick, but our hearts most warm; not because we have the best words, but the most spiritualiz'd affections? We may have Angels gifts in prayer, without an Angels spirit.

2. Is there a delight in all parts of a duty? Not only in asking temporal blessings, or some spiritual, as pardoning mercy, but in begging for refining grace? Are we earnest only when we have bosom quarrels, and conscience-convulsions, but flag when we come to pray for sanctifying mercy? The rise of this is a displicency with the trouble and danger, not with the sin and cause.

3. Doth our delight in prayer, and spiritual things out do our delight in outward things? The Psalmists joy in God was more than his delight in the Harvest or Vintage, Psal. 7.4. Are we like Ravens that delight to hover in the Air sometimes, but our greatest delight is to feed upon Carrion? Though we have, and may have a sensible delight in worldly things, yet is it as solid and rational, as that we have in duty?

4. Is our delight in Prayer an humble delight? Is it a rejoycing with humbling? Psal. 2.11. Serve the Lord with gladness, and rejoyce before him with trembling. If our service be right, it will be chearful; and if truly chearful, it will be humble.

5. Is our delight in Prayer accompanied with a delight in waiting? Do we, like Merchants, not only delight in the first lanching of a Ship, or the setting it out of the Haven with a full fraught, but also in expectations of a rich return of spiritual mercies? Do we delight to pray, though God for the present doth not delight to give, and wait like David with an owning God's Wisdom in delaying? Psal. 130.6. Or do we shoot them only as Arrows at random, and never look after them where they light, or where to find them?

6. Is our delight in praising God when mercy comes, answerable to the delight in praying, when a wanted mercy was begged? The ten Lepers desired mercy with an equal chearfulness, in hopes of having their Leprosie cured; but his delight that returned, only was genuine. As he prayed with a loud voice, so he praised with a loud voice, Luke 17.13, 15. And Christ tells him, his faith had made him whole. As he had an answer in a way of grace, so he had before, a gracious delight in his asking; the others had a natural delight, and so a return in a way of common providence.

3 Use, Of Exhortation. Let us delight in Prayer. God loves a chearful giver in Alms, and a chearful petitioner in Prayer. God would have his children free with him. He takes spe­cial notice of a spiritual frame, Jer. 30.21. Who hath engaged his heart? The more delight we have in God, the more delight he will have in us. He takes no pleasure in a lumpish Service. 'Tis an uncomely sight to see a joyful Sinner, and a dumpish Petitioner. Why should we not exercise as much joy in holy duties, as formerly we did in sinful practices? How delightfully will men sit at their games, and spend their days in gluttony and luxury? And shall not a Christian find much more delight in applying himself to God? We should delight that we can, and have hearts to ask such gifts, that thousands in the world never dream of begging. To be dull, is a discontentedness with our own Petitions. Delight in prayer is the way to gain assurance. To seek God, and treat him as our chiefest good, en­dears [Page 63] the Soul to him. Delighting in Accesses to him, will enflame our love. And there is no greater sign of an interest in him, than a prevalent estimation of him. God casts off none that affectionately clasp about his Throne.

To this purpose,

1. Pray for quickening grace. How often do we find David upon his knees for it? God only gives this grace, and God only stirs this grace.

2. Meditate on the Promises you intend to plead. Unbelief is the great root of all dumpish­ness. It was by the belief of the Word we had life at first, and by an exercise of that be­lief we gain liveliness. What maintains our love, will maintain our delight; the amiable­ness of God, and the excellency of the Promises, are the incentives and fuel both of the one and of the other. Think that they are eternal things you are to pray for, and that you have as much invitation to beg them, and as good a promise to attain them as David, Paul, or any other ever had. How would this awaken our drowzy Souls, and elevate our heavy hearts, and open the lazy eye-lids to look up! And whatever meditation we find begin to kindle our Souls, let us follow it on, that the spark may not go out.

3. Chuse the time when your hearts are most revived. Observe when God sends an invita­tion, and hoist up the sails when the wind begins to blow. There is no Christian but hath one time or another a greater activeness of spirit. Chuse none of those seasons which may quench the heat, and dull the spriteliness of your affections. Resolve before hand this, To delight your selves in the Lord, and thereby you shall gain the desire of your hearts.

WHen God in the former Chapter had charged the Jews with their Idolatry, and the multiplicity of abominations committed in his Temple; And v. 18. had past a resolve that he would not spare them, but deal in fury with them, though they should solicit him with the strongest and most importunate supplications; In this Chapter he calls and commissions the Executioners of his just Decree. Ver. 1. He cryed also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the City to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And declares whom, and in what man­ner he would punish, and whom he would pardon. The Executioners of God's vengeance are the Chaldeans, described by the situation of them from Judea, and the direct Road from that Country to Jerusalem. v. 2. Six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lies towards the North. Babylon lay North-East from Jerusalem; and this gate was the way of entrance for Travellers from those parts; it led also into the Court of the Priests, which shews from whence the Judgment should come, and upon whom it should light.

Six men] A certain number. Whether the Holy Ghost alludes to a particular number of Nations, which the Chaldean Army might be composed of under their Prince, who reign'd over several Countries; or respects the other chief Captains or Marshals of his Army which are nam'd, Jer. 39.3. or speaks with reference to the other places wherein the City was assaulted by that Army, as some think, is uncertain.

And every man a slaughter-weapon in his hand.] A Hammer of destruction, an Instrument of death; the word seems to signifie a weapon much like a Pole-ax.

And one of them clothed with Linnen, with a Writers Ink-horn by his side.] Christ, say the Ancients, (and so they understood it before, and in Hierom's time) who appears here in his Priestly habit; a Linnen garment being the Vestment of the Priests, Levit. 16.4. White is an Emblem of Peace. Christ seals his People with his Spirit, the Spirit of Peace. Calvin rejects not this Interpretation, but rather understands it of an Angel whom God commis­sioned to secure his People in this destroying Judgment. And indeed Angels have often ap­pear'd in the form of men, and clothed with Linnen; as to Daniel, Dan. 10.5. Dan. 12.6, 7. Christ's Royal Power is founded upon his Priestly Office, which is the ground of all the spi­ritual and temporal salvation Believers have from God.

Ink-horn.] The word is so translated. Though the word, say some, signifies a Table, such as they then used to write upon with a Pen of Iron. Or rather it signifies a case to put those Pens in wherewith they wrote.

And they went and stood beside the brazen Altar.] 'Tis uncertain whether this respects the original cause of their punishment, viz. Their offering Sacrifices to their Idols upon that Altar which was consecrated to the Service of God: Or else respects the Sacrifices of vengeance; those were instrumentally to offer to God's Justice. The Judicial punishment of God's Enemies [Page 65] is called a Sacrifice in Scripture, Isa. 34.6. A Sacrifice in Bozrah, Jer. 46.10. God's Day of Vengeance is called God's Sacrifice in the North Country.

Observe, 1. With what a small number if God please, can he destroy a city or nation? But six mentioned. Almightiness needs not great numbers to effect his will; no, not a man, since he can do it by his immediate hand, and command judgment in a trice.

2. How quick are Gods creatures to obey his call for the punishment of a rebellious people? He calls those six men, and they presently appear ready to execute Gods pleasure.

3. God doth not bring judgments on a people, till their wickedness hath overgrown the good­ness of his own Children. Six to destroy, But one to preserve. a Sixfold work of Judg­ment to one of preservation, intimating that there were six bad to one good in the City.

4. The security of Gods people in this world, as well as that to come, depends upon the priestly office of Christ.

v. 3. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the Cherub whereupon he was, to the thre­shold of the house] The glory of God, which was in the Propitiatory above the Cherubims, went from one Cherub to another, till it came to the threshold; as birds that are leaving their nests leap from one branch to another till they fly quite away.

Observe, 1. God is not fixed to any one place. He hath his temple among his people, discovers himself in his Ordinances, but upon provocations departs. The glory of God, and his Ordinances, are not entayled upon any nation longer than they walk worthy of them.

2. The glory of Gods Ordinances is obscured among a people, before judgments come upon them. The glory of God went up from the Cherub. I will take away the hedge of my vineyard, and it shall be eaten up, and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be troden down, Isa. 5.5. The Ordinances of God are understood by some interpreters to be the hedge, and wall of a People; when God takes away the Hedge, the breach is made wide for every wild beast to enter, and tread it down. The presence of God in his Ordinances, the presence of God in his providences is the hedge of a people. The Temple is forsaken by God, and then polluted, in judgment, by men, v. 7. God then comes to the man cloth­ed with linnen, that had the Writers inkhorn by his side, & said unto him, Go thorow the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh, and that cry for all the abomina­tions that be done in the midst thereof, v. 4. And v. 5. He commands the executioners of his wrath to go after him, & smite without any pity both small and great, beginning at his Sanctuary. [...]. Interpreters trouble themselves much what this mark should be, and tell us from Origen, that a believing Jew told him the ancient Samaritan letter called Tau was written like a cross, But that is a fancy, the ancient Samaritan letter being the same with the Phaenician was not writ in that form.Vossius de Ar­te Grammar. l. 1. c. Some say it was the law, because the Hebrew word [...] signifying the law begins with that letter, to shew that such were to be marked that were devoted to the ob­servance of the law. Markt they were, saith Calvin, with a Tau, because that being the last letter in the Alphabet, shews that the people of God are of the lowest account among men, and the off-scouring of the world ת being the first letter of [...], vives, noted the preser­vation of them. On the foreheads Grotius.] Alluding to the custom of the Eastern countries to mark their Servants on the foreheads with the names of their masters.Oecolampad. Not on their visible fore­heads, but on their invisible consciences; the conscience is the forehead of the Soul; As emi­nent in the heart as a forehead in the body.

The bloud of Christ upon the conscience is the best mark of distinction, as the blood of the paschal Lamb upon the posts was the mark whereby the Israelites were discerned from the Aegyptians, and the edge of the Angels destroying sword diverted from them. It was a mark of a special providence of God. The destroying Judgments were to follow the Sealing Angel, and not touch those that were markt by him on the fore­head.

Observe 1. All judgments have their commissions from God, whom to touch, whom to overthrow. God doth not strike at random. The man in the linnen garment was to bridle the Chaldeans, & direct their Swords to the right objects. God overpowers the natural inclinations of all his creatures, whom he appoints executioners. God hath a hook in the nostrils of Leviathan; no­thing can be done without the leave of providence; man forms the weapons, God gives the edge, and directs the stroak.

2. In the highest fury and vengeance God hath reserves of mercy for his own people. Angels are appointed to be preservers of his children in the midst of the destroying of a people. Invisible Angels are joyned with visible enemies, to conduct and govern their motions according to the Command of their great General. God's Judgments are dispensed with greater kindness to his People, than desires to take vengeance upon his Enemies. He hath a heart of Mercy as well as a hand of Justice.

3. God is more careful of his people than revengefull against his enemies. He first orders the sealing of the mourners, before he orders the destruction of the rebells; he will first honour his mercy in the protection of the one, before he will glorifie his justice in the destruction of the other. The Angel hath orders to secure Lot before Sodom was fired. The execution­ers of his wrath were to march after the securing Angel, not before him; Nor equal with him: And were only to cut off those whom the Angel had passed by.

[Page 66]4. If you take this mark for a mark on the Conscience, then observe, That Serenity of Conscience is a gift of God to his people in the time of severe judgments. As when death is near, the Conscience of a good man is most serene, and sings sweetly in his breast the notes of his own integrity. In judgments as well as in death God sets Conscience upon its pleasant notes. But this mark is not properly meant here; the Conscience is a mark to our selves, but this is a mark to the executioners.

5. The places where God hath manifested the glory of his Ordinances, are the subjects of his greatest judgments upon their provocations. Go through the City, through Jerusalem: That Jerusalem where­in I have manifested my glory, which I have intrusted with my oracles, which I have pro­tected in the midst of enemies, like a spark in the midst of many waters. Go thorow that City into the midst of it, and let not your eye spare.

6. The greatest fury of God in a time of judgment often lights upon the Sanctuary, v. 6. Begin at the Sanctuary, defile the house. Not a man of them escaped as Oecalampad. notes, v. 7. I was left: He saw not in the vision what was done in the City, but he was left alone in the Temple. The whole Sanhedrim, the 70 Ancients had revolted to Idolatry, Ezek. 8.11. and the stroak first lights upon them, v. 6. Then they began at the Ancient men which were before the house.

In the v. observe,

1. Gods care in the preserving his people. He Commands the Angel to go thorow the midst of the City, and set a mark, a visible mark upon their foreheads.

2. The Qualification of the persons so preserved. He doth not say, All that have not com­mitted Idolatry, but such as sigh; which signifies,

1. The intenseness of their grief. [Sigh and cry, [...], notes an intense groaning and sorrow.

2. The Extensiveness of the Object. [All the Abominations.

There are three Branches.

• 1. 'Tis a Duty.
• 2. A Duty acceptable to God. God has his Eye particularly upon them that practise it.
• 3. 'Tis a means of preservation under publick Judgments.

1. 'Tis a Duty. If we are by the Praescript of God to bewail in confession, the sins of our Forefathers, committed before our being in the world, certainly much more are we to lament the sins of the Age wherein we live, as well as our own, Levit. 26.40. If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their Fathers. If then their uncircumcised be hubmled, then will I re­member my Covenant. Posterity are part of the same body with their Ancestors, and every member in a Nation is part of the body of a Nation; every drop in the Sea is a part of the Ocean. God made a standing Law for an annual Fast, wherein they should afflict their Souls, the tenth day of the seventh month, answering to our September, and backed it with a severe penalty. He whose soul was not afflicted in that day, should be cut off from among his people; which the Jews understand of cutting off by the hand of the Lord, Levit. 23.27, 29. The particular sin for which they were thus annually to afflict their Souls, was that national sin of the golden Calf, in the Judgment of the Jewish Doctors.

It was also the practice of holy men in their private Retirements; as Daniel, Dan. 9.5, 6. He bewails the sins of his Ancestors; and Nehemiah, Neh. 1.6. Much more it is our duty to bewail a present guilt. The Churches Eyes are compared to the Fish-pools of Heshbon, Cant. 7.4. in her weeping for her own, and others sins. To what purpose has God given us passions, but to honour him withal? And our affections of grief and anger cannot be bet­ter employ'd, than for the interest, nor better bestowed, than for the service of him, who implanted those passions in us. Our natural motions should be ordered for the God of Na­ture, and spiritual ordered for the God of Grace.

1. This was the practice of Believers in all Ages. Before the DelugeBroughton Lives of the Fathers, p. 7. Crit. in loc. Seth called the name of his Son, which was born at the time of the profaning the name of God in worship, Enosh, which signifies sorrowful, or miserable; that he might in the sight of his Son have a constant Monitor to excite him to an holy grief for the profaneness and Idolatry that en­tred into the Worship of God, Gen. 4.26. He called his name Enos, then began men to call upon the name of the Lord, [...], profane it by calling upon it.

The rational and most precious part of Lot was vexed with the unlawful deeds of the ge­neration of Sodom, among whom he lived, 2 Pet. 2.7, 8. he had a horrour and torment in his righteous Soul at the execrable villanies he saw committed by his neighbours, [...] afflicted under it, as under a grievous burden. It was a rack to him, as the other word, v. 8. [...] signifies. The meekest man upon Earth, with grief and indignation breaks the Tables of the Law, when he saw the holiness of it broken by the Israelites, and expresseth more his regret for that, than his honour for the material Stones, wherein God had with his own finger engraven the Orders of his will. He is more desirous to destroy the Idol, than preserve the Tables: Such an indignation against their sin could not well be without grief for it. David, a man of the greatest goodness upon Record, had a Deluge of tears, because [Page 67] they kept not God's Law, Psal. 119.136. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy Law. Besides, his grief, which was not a small one, horrour, seiz'd upon him upon the same account, Psal. 119.53. like a storm that tost him to and fro. How doth poor Isaiah be­wail himself, and the People among whom he lived, as men of polluted lips? Isa. 6.5. Perhaps such as could hardly speak a word without an Oath, or by hypocritical lip-service, mocked God in the very Temple.

Jeremy is upon the same practice, Jer. 13.17. when his Soul should weep in secret for the pride of the people, and, as if he was not satisfied with a few tears, wisheth his head were a full springing Fountain to weep for the slain of the Daughter of his People; for the sin the cause, as well as the calamity the effect, Jer. 9.1. He wishes his head to be filled with the vapours from his heart, and become a fountain.

What a transport of sorrow had Ezra, when he heard of the peoples sins, and the mingling the holy Seed with that of Idolaters! A horror run thorow his whole Soul; His astonish­ment is twice repeated, Ezra 9.3, 4. Every faculty was alarumed at the sin of the People.

'Tis probable John Baptist used himself to those severities which are mentioned, Matth. 3.4. because of the sinfulness of that generation among whom he lived.

Paul discovers it to be a duty, when he reproves the Corinthians for being puft up, instead of mourning for that fornication which had been committed by one of their profession, 1 Cor. 5.2. And when he writes of some that made the glorious Gospel subservient to their own bellies, he mixes his tears with his Ink, Phil. 3.18, 19. I tell you weeping, they are enemies to the Cross of Christ. The Primitive Christians did much bewail the lapses of their fellows. Celerinus, among the Epistles of Cyprian, acquaints Lucian of his great grief for the Apostacy of a Woman, through fear of persecution, which afflicted him so, that in the time of Easter, the time of their joy in that Age, he wept night and day, and was resolved that no delight should enter into his heart, till through the mercy of Christ she should be re­cover'd to the Church. And we find the Witnesses clothed in Sackcloth, when they prophesied in a sinful time, to shew their grief for the publick abominations, Rev. 11.3. The king­dom of Satan can be no pleasure to a Christian, and must therefore be a torment.

2. It was our Saviours practice. As he had the highest love to God, so he must needs have the greatest grief for his dishonour. He sighed in his spirit for the incredulity of that gene­ration, when they askt a sign, after so many had been presented to their Eyes, Mark 8.12. He sighed deeply in his spirit. And the hardness of their hearts at another time raised his grief, as well as his indignation, Mark 3.5. He was sensible of the least dishonour of his Father, Psal. 69 9. The reproaches of them that reproached thee, fell upon me. I took them to heart. Christ pleased not himself when his Father was injured; as the Apostle descants upon it, when he applies it to Christ, Rom. 15.3. His Soul was more pierc'd with the wrongs done to God, than the reproaches which were directed against his own person. His grief was unexpressibly greater than can be in any creature, because of the unimitable ardency of his love to God, the nearness of his relation to him, and the unspotted purity of his Soul. Christ had a double relation; to Man, to God. His compassion to men afflicted him with groans and tears at their bodily distempers; his affection to his Father would make him grieve as much to see him dishonoured, as his love to man made him groan to see man afflicted. This grief for sin was one part of Christ's Sacrifice and Suffering; for he came to make a full satisfaction to the Justice of God by enduring his wrath, to the holiness of God by offering up an infinite sorrow for sin, which it was impossible for a creature to do. We cannot suppose that Christ should only accept the punishment, but not bewail the of­fence which was the cause of it. A Sacrifice for the sins of others, without remorse for those sins, had not been acceptable; it had not been agreeable to the purity of his humane Nature. He wept at Jerusalem's obstinacy, as well as for her misery, and that in the time of his triumph. The loud Hosanna's could not silence his grief, and stop the expressions of it, Luke 19.41. It was like a shower when the Sun shined. If Christ as our Head was filled with inward sorrow for mens displeasing the holiness of God, 'tis surely our duty as his Members, to imitate the afflictions of the Head. He is unworthy of the name of Christ, who is not afflicted as Christ was; nor can call Christ his Master, who doth not imitate his graces, as well as pretend to believe his Doctrine; he cannot see that God who hath distinguisht him from the world, dishonoured, his precepts contemned, but he must have his Soul overcast with a gloomy cloud. 'Tis our glory to value the things he esteem'd, to despise the things he contemn'd, to rejoyce in that wherein he was delighted, and to grieve for that which was the matter of his sorrow and indignation. Thus was he afflicted, though he had a joy in the assurance of his Fathers favour, and the assistance of his Fathers power. The highest assurance of God's love in particular to us, ought not to hinder the impressions of grief for the dishonour of his name. Did Christ ever look upon the swinish world, with­out melting into pity? Did he bleed for the sins of the world, and shall not we mourn for them?

3. Angels, as far as they are capable, have their grief for the sins of men. The Jewish Do­ctors often bring in the Angels weeping for sinGrotius Luc. 15.7. Ob peccatum Hebraei An­gelos flentes inducunt.. And one tells us, that in an Ancient Ma­humetan Book he finds an Answer of God to Moses; Even about this Throne of mine there stand those, and they are many, that shed tears for the sins of men. But the Scripture tells [Page 68] us, they rejoyce at the repentance of men, Luke 15.10. Their Lord is glorified by a return of a Subject: The Subject advantaged by casting down his arms at the feet of his Lord. They do therefore as far as they are capable, mourn for the revolts of men, suo modo, as Beza upon the place. They can scarce rejoyce at mens repentance without having a contrary affection for mens prophaneness; if they are glad at mens return, because God is thereby glorified, it cannot be conceived but they mourn for, and are angry with their sins, because God is thereby slight­ed. Unconcernedness at the dishonour of God cannot consist with their shining knowledge and burning love. They cannot behold a God so holy, so glorious, so worthy to be beloved, without having some regret for the neglects and abuses of him by the Sons of men. How can they be instruments of Gods Justice, if they are without anger against the deservers of it?

II. 'Tis an acceptable duty to God. Since it is an imitating the copy of our Saviour, it is acceptable to God, nothing can please him more than to see his Creatutes tread in the steps of his Son.

1. 'Tis a fulfilling the whole law, which consists of love to God and love to our neighbours: 'tis set down as a Character of Charity both as it respects God and man, Not to rejoyce in iniquity, 1 Cor. 13.5. i. e. to be mightily troubled at it.

1. Tis a high Testomony of Love to God. The Nature of true Love is to wish all good to them we love, to rejoyce when any good we wish doth arrive unto them, to mourn when any evil afflicts them, and that with a respect to the beloved object. [...] Aristot. Rhe­tor. l. 1. c. 4.. Where there is this love, there is a rejoycing at one anothers happiness, a grieving at one anothers misfortunes. If it be a part of love to rejoyce at that whereby God is glorified, 'tis no less a part of love to mourn for that whereby God is vilified. So strait is the union of affection between God and a righteous Soul, that their blessings and injuries, joys and sorrows are twisted together. The increase of Gods glory is the greatest good that can happen to a Soul ena­moured of him; his dishonour then is the greatest misery. A gracious Soul is like John Baptist, content to decrease, that Christ might encrease, in the esteem of men. He is like Jonathan, that would rather have the Crown upon Davids head than his own, as the words intimate, 1 Sam. 23.17. v. thou shalt be King over Israel, I shall be next unto thee: And grieved more for his Fathers displeasure against David than against himself. So doth a Christian grieve more for the wrongs of God, than for those in his own liberty, estate, or life.

Joshua was more careful of the name of God, than of the safety of the people singly considered, Josh. 7.9. What wilt thou do unto thy great name? The glory of God is not dear to that man, that can without any regret look upon his bespattered name. What affecti­on hath he to his friend, who can see him torn in pieces by Dogs, and stand unconcerned at his calamity? God indeed is uncapable of suffering; but what rending is to a crea­ture, that is sin to the Divine Majesty. Can that man be said to love God who hath no reflection when he sees others tumbling God from his Throne, and setting up the Devil in his stead? Who can hear the tremendous name of God belcht out by polluted lips upon every vile occasion, and made the sport of Stage and Stews, without any inward resentment?

He only esteems God as his King who cannot see his laws broken without remorse. How Loyally did Moses his affection to God work, when he heard the name of God blasphemed, and saw a calf usurp the adoration due to the God of Heaven? And David felt the stroak of that sword in his own bowels which was directed against the heart of God, Psal. 139.20, 21, 22. The dearer Gods name is to any, the more affected they are that God and Christ are loved and honoured less than they desire they should be.

'Tis hard sometimes to discern this Love to God, when Gods interest and ours are joyned, when we would mask our displeasure against some mens offences with a care of Gods honour, which is nothing but a hatred of the Person sinning, or revenge against him for some conceived injury to us. The Apostles calling for fire from Heaven upon the Samaritans when they refused Christ, Luke 9.53, 54, 55. might seem to be a generous concern for their masters honour, but Christ knew it proceeded much from that natural enmity which the Jews bore to the Samaritans. The best way to judg is, when the interest is purely Gods, and hath no fuel of our own discontents to boil up, either grief or anger. Such an affecti­on cannot but be highly acceptable to God, who is affected with the love of the creature, and honours them that honour him, as well as despises those that lightly concern them­selves for him.

2. Love to our Neighbours. Nothing can evidence our love to man more, than a sorrowful reflection upon that wickedness which is the ruine of his Soul, the disturbance of humane society, and unlocks the treasures of Gods judgments to fall upon mankind. Sin is a reproach to a people, Prov. 14.34. 'Tis always an act of Charity to mourn for the reproaches and ruine of a people. 'Tis a gross enmity to others, to see them stab themselves to the heart, jest with eternal flames, wish their damnation at every word, run merrily to the bottomless gulf, and all this without bestowing a sigh upon them, and pitying their madness; the greater should be our grief, by how much the further they are from any for their own de­struction. If Cain discovered both his enmity to God, and also to his brother, in grieving that his brothers works were so good, Abel musts needs in the practice of the contrary duty, [Page 69] manifest his love to Cain in grieving that his works were so bad. Our Saviours tears for the Jews discovered no less a concern for their misery than for Gods dishonour. Anger for sin may have something of revenge in it: Grief for sin discovers an affection both to God and the sinner. A duty which respects at once the substance of both the tables cannot but be pleasing to God.

2. 'Tis an imitating return for Gods affection. How doth God resent the injuries done to his people as much as those done to himself? Those sins that immediately strike at his glory are not accompanied with such quick judgments, as those that grate upon his Servants. Sharp persecutions that tear the people of God in pieces have fuller vials of judgments here, than Vollies of others sins which rend the name of God. When Cain affronted God by his Sacrifice, God comes not to a reckoning with him, till he had added the murther of his Brother to his former crimes against his maker. A sweeter and more thankful return, and a more affe­ctionate imitation of God there cannot be, than to resent the injuries done to God more than those done to our selves. The pinching of his people doth most pierce his heart; a stab to his honour, in gratitude, should most pierce theirs. The four Kings that came against Sodom, Gen. 14.9, &c. sped well enough in their invasion, gained the victory and had been in a fair way to have enjoyed the spoil, had they not laid their hands upon Lot, which was the occasion of their disgorging their prey. As God ingaged himself in the recovery of Lot, so Lot concerned himself in the honour of God; Gods anger is stirred at the Captivity of Lot, and Lots vexation is awakened at the injuries against God. What troubles his Children, raises sensible compassion in him to the sufferer, and revenge upon the persecutor; whatsoever doth blaspheme the name of God, doth at the same time rack a sincere heart. A perse­cutor cannot injure a believer, but Christ records it as a wrong done to himself; and Christ cannot be dishonoured by men, but a righteous Soul doubles his grief. Here is a mutual return of affection and aestimation, which is highly pleasing.

3. This temper justifies Gods Law and his justice David's grief being for mans for­saking the Law testified his choice va­luation of it.. When we dislike and disapprove of others sins as well as our own, we acknowledg the glory of the law, that it is just, holy, and good, and set our seal of approbation to it. It justifies the holiness of the law in prohibiting sin the righteousness of the law in condemning sin. It owns the soveraignty of God in com­manding, and the justice of God in punishing. The law requires two things; obedience to it, and suffering for the transgression of it. This frame of heart approves of the obedience the law requires of men as rational creatures, and justifies the sufferings the law inflicts upon men as impenitent sinners. Unless we mourn for the sins of others and thereby shew our distast, we cannot give God the glory of his Judgments which he sends upon a people. This disowning of sin is very acceptable to God, because by it Men honour that law for whose violations they are so troubled, and own Gods right of imposing a law upon his creatures, and the creatures vileness in disgracing that Law.

4. 'Tis a sign of such a temper God hath evidenced himself in scripture much affected with. 'Tis a sign of a heart of flesh, the noblest work of God in the creature. A sign of a contrite heart, the best sacrifice that can smoak upon his Altar next to that of his Son. This he will not despise, because it is a beam of glory dropped down from him, and ascending in a sweet savour to him, Psal. 51.17. Without this, we cannot have a sufficient evidence that we are truly broken-hearted. We may mourn for our own sins for secret by-ends, because they are against our worldly Interests, and have reproaches treading upon the heels of them; we may mourn for the sins of our friends, out of a natural compassion to them, and as they are the progno­sticks of some approaching misery to them; but in sorrowing for the sins of the world, we have not so many, and so affecting obligations to divert us from a sound aim in our sor­row. To be affected with the dishonour of God by the sins of others, is a distinguishing character of a spiritual constitution from a natural tenderness. 'Tis both our duty, and God's pleasure. No grief is sweeter to God, nor more becoming us.

III. 'Tis a means of preservation from publick Judgments. Noah did not preach righteousness without a sensible reflection on that unrighteousness he preached against; and he of all the world had the security of an Ark for him and his Family, when all the rest struggled for life, and sunk in the waters. No meer man ever wore more black for the Funeral of God's ho­nour than David, nor was any blessed with more gracious deliverances. The more zeal we have for God (which is an affection made up of grief and anger) the more protection we have from himThe steps of a man [good man, our translation renders it. But the word is [...], a va­liant man] are ordered by the Lord, and he delights in his way, Psal. 37.23.. The more courage we have for God, the more we may expect both his conduct and security. If there be any hope in a time of actual, or threatned Judgments, 'tis by laying our mouths in the dust, Lam. 3.29. If there be any ground of hope, it will shine forth when we are in such a posture. There might be others in Jerusalem, who had not complied with the Idolatry of that Age; but none exempted from the stroke of the Six Destroyers, but those whose mouths lay in the dust, and whose cries against the common sin ascended to Heaven; only the mourners among the good men are marked by the Angel for indemnity from the publick punishment.

1. Sincerity always escapes best in common Judgments, and this temper of mourning for publick sins, is the greatest note of it. This is the greatest note of sincerity. We read of an Ahab, who put on Sackcloth for his own sin, and humbled himself before the Lord; of a Judas sorrowing that he betrayed his Master: Self-interest might broach their tears, and force out [Page 70] their sorrow; but never an Ahab, or Judas, or any other ungodly person in Scripture, lamented the sins of others. Nay, they were all eminent for holiness, that were noted for this frame, whom we have mentioned before. Moses, a non-such for speaking with God face to face. David, who only had that honourable title of a man after God's own heart. Isay, who had the ful­lest prospect of Evangelical glory, of all the Prophets. Ezra, a restorer of his Country. Daniel, a man greatly beloved: Christ, the Redeemer of the world; and Paul, the only Apostle rap't up in the third Heaven, he was also humbled for the sins of the Corin­thians, 2 Corinth. 12.21. Ezra hath a mighty Character, Ezra 7.10. He prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord; and to do it, and to teach in Israel Statutes and Judg­ments. And he both mourned for, and prayed against the common sin. Lot is not re­corded for this without a glorious Epithete: The Spirit of God over-looks those sins of his mentioned in Scripture, and speaks not of him by his single name, but Just Lot, his righteous Soul, 2 Pet. 2.7, 8. A sincere Righteousness glittered in his vexation for the wronged In­terest of God. What a mark of honour doth the Holy-Ghost set upon this temper! 'Tis not drunken Lot, or incestuous Lot, with which sins he is taxed in Scripture. This publick­ly religious spirit covered those temporary spots in his Scutcheon. When all other signs of Righteousness may have their exceptions, this temper is the utmost term, which we can­not go beyond in our self-examination. The utmost prospect David had of his sincerity, when he was upon a diligent enquiry after it, was his anger and grief for the sin of others; when he had reached so far, he was at a stand, and knew not what more to add, Psal. 139.21, 22, 23, 24. Am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me. If there be any thing that better can evidence my sincerity, than this, Lord acquaint me with it; know my heart, i. e. make me to know it. He whose sorrow is only for matter confin'd within his own breast, or streams of it in his life, has reason many times to question the truth of it. But when a man cannot behold sin as sin in another, without sensible regret, 'tis a sign he hath savingly felt the bit­terness of it in his own Soul. 'Tis a high pitch and growth, and a consent between the Spi­rit of God, and the Soul of a Christian, when he can lament those sins in others whereby the Spirit is grieved, when he can rejoyce with the Spirit rejoycing, and mourn with the Spirit mourning. This is a clear testimony that we have not self-ends in the service of God, that we take not up Religion to serve a turn, that God is our aim, and Christ our beloved. Now upright persons have special promises for protection, Psal. 37.18, 19. The Lord knows the way of the upright, they shall not be ashamed in an evil time; they shall not be ashamed in it, though they may be dasht by it; they shall have a blessed inward security, though they may not always have an outward, when the wicked shall consume away as the fat of Lambs, and exhale in the smoke. God's Eyes are upon them in the worst of straits. If ever he shew himself strong, 'tis for those that are perfect in heart before him. This is the end of the rouling and running of his Eyes about the Earth, 2 Chron. 16.9. To such he is both a Sun, and a Shield, a Sun to comfort them, and a Shield to defend them that walk uprightly, Psal. 84.11. There may be an uprightness in the heart, when there is an unknown, or a negligent crookedness in some particular path; and when men are negligent in re­proving others for such sins as open the clouds of Judgments, God may be a Sun to such, to give them some comfort in a common calamity, but scarce a Shield to defend them from it.

2. This frame clears us from the guilt of common sins. He that is not afflicted with them, contracts a guilt of those insolencies against God by a tacit approbation, or not hindering the torrent by his prayers, tears, endeavours. Sin is not to be viewed without horror: we share in the guilt, if we manifest not our detestation of the practice. The Corinthians had not approved themselves clear in the matter of the incestuous person till they had mourn­ed for it, 2 Cor. 7.11. Jacob was afraid he should be charged by God as a murtherer and thief, as well as Simeon, and Levi, if he did not profess his loathing of it, Gen. 49.6. Oh my Soul come not thou into their secrets, unto their assembly mine honour be not thou united; for in their anger they s [...]ew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall. His Soul should bear a te­stimony against their secrets; he would count it his dishonour to give their sin any counte­nance before God or man. David intimates, Psal. 101.3. that if he did not hate the works of those that turn aside, the guilt of them would cleave to him. If we can patiently bear the di­shonour of God, without marks of our displeasure, we shall be reckoned in the common in­fection, as one lump with the greatest sinners. He that is not with Christ, is against him; he that is not on the side of God by a holy grief, is on the side of sin by a silent consent. A thorow distast of sins upon the account of their abomination to God, frees us from the guilt of them in the sight of God. To mourn for them, and pray against them, is a sign we would have prevented them if it had lain in our power; and where we have contributed to them, we by those acts revoke the crime. When we cannot be Reformers, all that we can do is to turn mourners, and in our places admonishers and reprovers, and God is righteous, not to charge the guilt where it is not contracted or revoked. But where any are infected with common sins, they must expect to tast of some common JudgmentsLightfoot, Olian. on Exod. 6.13.. The Israelites did partake of some of the Aegyptian sins; and though God was upon their deliverance, yet [Page 71] he inflicted upon them some of the Aegyptian Plagues; the Plague of Lice, which was the first God brought, without being imitated by the Magicians, was common upon the Israelites as well as the Aegyptians; for God did not sever Goshen from Aegypt till the Plague of Flies, Exod. 8.12, 23. In that day will I sever the Land of Goshen; I will put a division between my people and thy people. And therefore in Psal. 78. the Psalmist reckoning those Plagues, never mentions the Lice, because that was inflicted upon Israel as well as Aegypt. This is a way to keep the Soul from common infection. 'Tis difficult for a Soul to defile it self with the sins of the times, when tears are continually running down the eyes for them. 'Tis an Antidote a­gainst the sin, & against the Plague which follows at the heels of it. If we look not upon them with grief, we are in danger to be snar'd in the same temptation. Besides, not sorrowing for them is an implicit consent to them, and by consenting to them, we are little better than actors in them. By grieving for them, we enter our dissent, & pass our vote against them. When any sin becomes national, it is imputed to the body of the Nation; as in some transgressions of the Law, the whole body of the Nation of the Jews was involved; and there is no way for any particular person to remove the guilt from him, but by disowning it before God.

3. A grief for common sins, is an endeavour to repair the honour God has lost. 'Tis a paying to God that by Repentance (as much as lies in a creature) which is due from the worst sinner, himself; 'tis to keep up some of God's glory, when so much is trodden down. And when the grief is accompanied with a more exact obedience, it repairs the honour God hath lost by the miscarriage of others. 'Tis an endeavour to wipe off the stains from the Robe of the glory of God. And those that bear up God's glory in the world, shall find, if need be, the Creative, Omnipotent Power of God stretched out for their defence, in as eminent a manner as the cloud by day, which preserved the Israelites from the scorching of the Sun, or the fla­ming fire by night, which prevented their wandring into by-ways and Precipices; for upon all the glory shall be a defence, Isa. 4.5. i. e. upon those that bear the mark of his glorious Redempti­on, and bear up his honour among the Sons of men. When we concern our selves for God's honour, God will concern himself for our protection. God never was, nor ever will be behind-hand with his creature in affection. Moses was zealous for God's glory against the golden Calf, and God concern'd himself for his honour against Aaron and Miriam. Numb. 12. and then against the tumults of the People.

4. The mourners in Sion are humble, and humility is preventive of Judgments. To lie flat upon the ground, is a means to avoid the stroke of a Cannon-bullet. When men are cast down, he shall save the humble person, Job 22.29. They lie lowest in the dust before God, who concern themselves not only with the weight of their own sins, but with that of others. Pride is a preparation for Judgment; the higher the Tower aspires, the fitter Tinder it is for lightning; the bigger any thing swells, the nearer it is to bursting; the prouder any man is, the plainer Butt he is for an Arrow of God's wrath. Pride lifts up it self against God's Laws and Soveraignty, as much as this frame of spirit acknowledges, and submits to him. It was a temper contrary to this caused God to send Worms to banquet upon Herod, Acts 12.23. He gave not God the glory. He was not afflicted with the sin of the People, nor reproved them for ascribing to him the honour of God. A Soul-affliction for common sins is a bar to Judgments. God revives the spirit of the humble, Isa. 57.15. They that share in the griefs of the Spirit, shall not want the comforts of the Spirit. God is concern'd in ho­nour by virtue of his promise, not to neglect those whom he hath promised to revive. He dwells with the contrite spirit; who more contrite than he that grieves for publick sins, and Family sins, and City sins, as well as his own private? Men do not use to fire their own houses, much less God the house and heart, which is dearer to him than either first or second Temple, or local Heaven it self. I might add,

5. That such keep Covenant with God. The Contract runs on God's part, to be an Enemy to his Peoples Enemies, Exod. 23.22. It must run on our parts, to love that which God loves, hate that which God hates, grieve for that which grieves and dishonours him; Who can do this by an unconcernedness? Those that keep Covenant with God shall not fail of one tittle of it on God's part. 7. Such also fear Gods Judgments, and fear is a good means to prevent them. The Old World feared not God's threatning of the Deluge, and that came, and swallowed them up. The Sodomites feared not God's Judgments, and that hastened the destroying Shower. The Advice of the Angel upon the approach of Judgments, is to fear God, and give glory to him, Rev. 14.7. And then follows another, v. 8. with the news of Ba­bylons fall; Babylon is fallen, is fallen. The fall of Babylon is the preservation of his People.

4. The Ʋse. 1. Reproof for us. Where is the man that hangs his harp upon the willows at the time the Temple of God is prophaned? A head, a Fountain of tears for Common sins, is a commodity rare to be found even in hearts otherwise gracious. The Mourners have been for number but a few, like the gleanings of the Vintage; but the Sinners in Sion for multitude, like the weeds in fallow ground. What multitudes of those that disparage God, and trample upon his Soveraign Commands, rend in pieces the very Law of Nature as well as the rights of Religion? It were well if there were one to Six, as was intimated in the beginning there might be in Jerusalem; but we have reason to fear that one marker for the secret mourners would be too much for an hundred destroyers. I do not question but there are some that sigh for the abominations they see, [Page 72] and hear of, & that because they are dishonourable to God as well as injurious to themselves. But who of us present here can say, we have been deeply enough, and graciously enough affected with them? Certainly both you and I may bring a charge against our selves before the throne of God for this neglect, that we have not been throwly humbled for, & frequent­ly bewailed publick iniquities, and spread them before God in secret. If we are unconcern'd in common sins, can we imagine God will leave us unconcern'd in common Judgments? If we endeavour not to keep up the glory of God, he will extract glory to himself out of our ashes. If this frame be so little regarded among professors, what shall we say to many others that have as little remorse for the stabs of Gods honour, as they would have for the Tragedy of an East India Prince, nay for the death of some inconsiderable fly? that have resentments for wrongs done to themselves, and sorrow at Command for any worldly loss, but not one spark of regret for affronts offered to God? In this cause their hearts are as dry as a heath in a parching Summer. Who laments the tearing the name of God in pieces by exe­crable oaths? Who bewails the impudent uncleanness boasted of by Concubines in the face of the Sun? Who mourns for so many thousand foreheads bearing the mark of the beast, and so many thousands more preparing to receive it? It reproves then

1. Those that make a mock and sport of sin, so far they are from mourning for it. The wise man gives them the title of fools, Prov. 14.9. fools make a mock at sin. Which though it seems too low a Character for such abominable works, yet in scripture it hath a greater import than in our Common discourse, it signifies an Atheist, Psal. 14.1. Prodigious mad­ness! to make that our sport which is the dishonour of God, the murderer of Christ, the grief of the Spirit, and the destruction of the Soul; that which opens the flood-gates of wrath, and brings famines, plagues, wars upon a people! If mourning for others sins be an affecti­on like that of Angels, delighting in other sins is an affection like that of Devils. He is at the greatest distance from Christ, that looks pleasantly upon that which Christ could not regard without grief and anger. God seems to seal up such to destruction as well as the mourners to preservation, Isa. 22.12, 13. And in that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and mourning, to baldness and girding with Sackcloth, and behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing Sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine, let us eat and drink, for to morrow we shall dye. And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts, surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you dye; they were ranters instead of mourners, and God passes this sentence on them, their iniquity shall not be purged from them till they dye. If we carry our selves jollily at the sins of others, we evidence that the concerns of God are of little concern to us, that we have slight thoughts of his glory, and cast it at the heels of our own passions.

2. Those that make others sins the matter of invectives, rather than of lamentations, and be­spatter the man without bewailing the sin. We should consider common sins with affection to God, and pity to the offenders; with a desire that they may restore, by a true conver­sion, the glory they have robb'd God of by an accursed Rebellion. While we hate the sin, we should evidence that we love the manNon nunquam fae [...]it [...]i in c [...]lpam saevimus in hominem. Prosper.. We must never love the wickedness, nor hate the person. We pity a sick man, though we loath his Disease. Sinners are mise­rable enough without our hatred, and by hating them we make our selves more mise­rable, by committing a fault against reason and nature, and do them no good. The more wicked any man is, the more worthy of pity, by how much the more his crime is our hatred. God, who is infinite purity, hates mens sins, because they are enemies to his holiness; but he hath a common affection to their persons, as they are the effects of his goodness and creative Power. Our exclamations against common sins ought not to ex­ceed lamentations for them. There ought to be more grief in our hearts, than fire in our tongues. They break the whole Law, that lament not the crime out of love to the Law-maker, and grieve not for the Sinner out of love to their neighbour.

3. Those who are imitators of common sins, instead of being mourners for them. As though others did not pilfer God's right fast enough, and were too slow in pulling him from his Throne; as if they grieved that others had got the start of them in wickedness. 'Tis a pious sadness, and a blessed grief to be affected with common sins, without being fetter'd by them; to mourn for them, without cleaving to them; to be transported with sorrow for them, without being drawn by a love to them.

4. Those that fret against God, instead of fretting against their own foolishness, Prov. 19.3. The sins of good men are many times provocations to God to draw up the sluce from the hearts of wicked men, and give liberty to their lusts, for the chastening of others; and therefore in grieving for the sins of others, they implicitly grieve for their own.

5. Those who are more transported against others sins, as they are, or may be occasions of hurt to them, than as they are injuries to God. How warm are we often in our own Cause, and how cold in God's? We partly satisfie our own discontent by such a carriage, but not our duty.

6. Those who are so far from mourning for common Sins, that they never truly mournd for their own. Who have yet the Treasures of wickedness, after the rod of God hath been upon them, Mich. 6.9, 10. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked re­flecting upon the Rod they had felt? Common sins are but a Glass wherein we may see our common Nature. The best men have the worst Sins in their Nature, though by Grace they have them not in their Practice. He that grieves not for other Mens Sins, more or [Page 73] less, never grieved truly for his own. He that is not concerned for the dishonours of God by others, is little concerned for the dishonour of God by himself. Let us use our Eyes for those ends for which God hath given them; they are instruments of sight, and in­struments of sorrow.

It is necessary for us to mourn for our own sins. We can never mourn for others Sins, unless we mourn for our own. If we sorrow not for our own, the sorrow we may pretend to have for others, proceeds not from a right cause. We have that one Sin of Adam in our Nature, which subjected the whole world to an Anathema. Let us not stay in gene­rals; every Man will lay the fault upon Sin in the bulk, without reflecting on the sin in his own Bowels. We can complain particularly of those sins that are common, and why should we rest in generals, when we come to our own? Dolus versatur in universalibus, 'tis a deceitful sorrow that is for Sin in a heap. Is there not perfidiousness to God, coldness in his ways, too much slighting the Gospel, want of bowels and compassion, incorrigibleness under judg­ments, houses fir'd and pride not consumed; falseness in resolutions, like Oxen moving with the touch of the Goad, and presently standing still; deceitful bows, letting the string slip after they have stood fully bent? Hos. 10.4. There may be Sins among us that may cause a storm that we little think of: The Mariners little suspected Jonah to be the cause of the tempest till he discovered it himself. He that never mourned for his own Sins, cannot perform this duty so necessary for his preservation, and therefore cannot expect the mark of God in a time of publick judgment. He that would rightly mourn for the Corruptions of others, must enquire whether he hath not the same in his own Bowels, and fling the hardest stone at them. Judah calls for Tamar to the flames for that crime which him­self had been a partner and actor in; so apt are we to be severe against others Sins, and indulgent to our own. The best have need to mourn for their own sins in relation to the publick: The only good man in the Ship was Jonah, and for his sin was the Storm sent, and the rest like to be wrackt.

2 Use. Of Comfort to such as mourn for Common Sins. All the carnal world hath not such a writ of protection to shew in the whole strength of Nature, as the meanest mourner in Sion hath in his sighs and tears. Christs mark is above all the Shields of the earth, and those that are stampt with it, have his wisdom to guard them against folly, his power against weakness, the everlasting Father against man, whose breat his in his Nostrils. We see that God doth not strike at random, but reserves a sweetness for his Servants in the midst of his fury against his Enemies; he hath his Messengers to mark, as well as his Execu­tioners to strike; the issuing the resolute orders of his Fury, hinders not those of his Grace and Compassion to his own. He will have a care of his Balsom-trees that distil this preci­ous Liquor, no less than he commanded the Israelites in their sharpest wars to have a care of the fruitful trees of a Land, Deut, 20.19. God in the 6. v. following the Text gives the like charge to the executioners of his judgments, as David did to the Army concerning Absolom, 2 Sam. 18.5. Deal gently with the young man, Ezek. 9.6. Come not near any Man upon whom is the mark. He makes provision first for the security of those, before he unsheaths his Sword against his Enemies. The Deluge flows not from heaven till Noah be cased in the Ark, nor is Sodom on Fire till Lot be lodged in the Mountain. God will always have a Church in the world, and suffer a generation of his own to inhabit the Earth: Gods attributes shall not interfere one with another; his truth remains firm notwith­standing the provocations of Men. When those people were ripe for judgments, God had his mourners among the Idolaters which he marks for preservation; when he had threatened great judgments, Joel 2.30, 31. the turning the Sun into Darkness and the Moon into Blood, he promises a remnant in Jerusalem and Sion, v. 32. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered, for in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. Neither the fury of Men shall, nor the judgments of God will extinguish the Church; not the malice of Men, because of Gods power, nor God himself, because of his truth; [The Lord hath said.] God will either preserve under judgments, or take away in them, to a place of happiness. 'Tis thought by some, that the reason Enoch was snatcht to Heaven in the midst of his life, according to the rate of living in that age, was because he was afflicted with the sins of those among whom he lived. And indeed he could scarce walk with God without grieving that others disdained to walk with him, and acted con­trary to him: God would take him from that affliction, as well as from the danger of be­ing corrupted by the age. He will either have his Chambers wherein to hide them here till the indignation be over-past, Isa. 26.20, 21. or his Mansions to lodge them in for ever with himself. What hurt is it to any to be refused a hiding place here, that he may be conducted to the possession of a glorious residence for ever? That judgment that takes off the Fetters of a wicked Man for execution, knocks off the Fetters of the godly for a Gaol delivery; like Fire it consumes the Dross, and refines the Gold. The day of Gods wrath is a day of gloominess to the wicked, Joel. 2.2. but as the morning spread upon the Moun­tains to the godly mourners, the dawning of comfort to them. God out of the same Pillar of the cloud diffused light upon the Israelites, and shot thunders and lightenings upon the Aegyptians, to which perhaps the Prophet might here allude.

[Page 74]3 Use. Mourn for the sins of the time and place, where you live. 'Tis the least dislike we can shew to them. A flood of grief becomes us in a flood of sin. How well would it be, if we were as loud in crying for mercy, as our sins at the present are in crying for vengeance? While judgments march to seize our persons, our grief should run to damp the judgments: Moist Walls choak the Bullet. 'Tis far better to mourn for the cause of judgments, than to mourn under them. The jolly blades were the first prey to the Enemy, Amos 6.1, 2, 3, to v. 7. They that chaunt to the sound of the Viol, and drink wine in Bowls shall go captive with the first that go captive. We of this City have most reason to mourn; the Metropolis of a Nation is the Metropolis usually of sin, and the fairest mark for the Arrows of Gods indignation. The chief City of a Nation is usually threatned in Scripture, Rabbah of the Ammonites, Damascus of Syria, Tyrus of Phoenicia, Babylon of the Chaldean Empire, Jerusalem of Judea, and suitably, why not London of England? And let no Man think that mourning is a degenerate and effeminate disposition: Doth Solomon ever imprint the same Character on mourning as he doth on laughter? Eccles. 2.2. Doth he ever vilifie that with a term of madness, and call the mourners Bedlams? How can any, who hath not put off the Title and Nature of Man, behold, without amazement and grief, Men so bold, as to pull down the judgments of God upon them, and force his indignation? This temper is a pious embalming Christs crucified honour; shall any Man that professeth Christ have so little love to him, as not to bestow a groan upon him, when he sees him freshly dishonou­red and abused? If we had not committed any sin in our whole life, there is cause of mourn­ing for the abominations of the world. Christ had an unspotted innocence and an unexpressi­ble grief for Jerusalems sins and misery; Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have ga­thered th [...]e, and thou wouldest not! Never doth sorrow more appear in love, than when it is more for what dishonours God, than what pincheth us. Men may pretend a grief for the sins of the times, when it is only for themselves, that they have not those pleasing opportunities of greatning themselves, and that estimation in the world, that stage for Pride and Covetousness to act upon which they desire. Our mourning is then right, when we grieve not so much that we, as that God is a sufferer. It should be proportionable where there are great breaches of Gods Law; our grief should be as full, as, if possible, to fill up the ditch that is digg'd; the Sep­tuagint in the Text implies it, [...]. Paul and Barnabas tore their garments, (a sign of a great grief and indignation) when the Heathens would have sacrificed to them as Gods, Acts 14.13. they used not the same expressions in smaller sins; but this was against the Nature of God, and a multitude engaged in it. The greater the sin, the greater the sorrow. I need not men­tion the sins among us; the impudent Atheism, contempt of the Gospel, putrifying Lust, barefac'd Pride, rending Divisions, many sins visible enough to be grieved for, and too many to be spoken of. The sorrow should be universal. Not for one sin which may be against any Mans particular interest, but for all, even those that our carnal advantage is not concerned in. God is dishonoured by one as well as by another, and Christ is crucified by one as well as by another. It must be attended with a more strict obedience: 'Tis the highest generosity to wear Christs Livery, when others put it off and lay it aside as useless. No doubt but Joseph of Arimathea mourned as well as the rest for the sufferings of our Sa­viour, but he testified also an Heroick affection to him, in going boldly to Pilate to beg the body of Jesus, for an honourable burial, when none of the other disciples sought after it, but trusted more to the swiftness of their heels for their own security, than con­cern'd themselves for the honour of their Master. While others therefore are defiling the world with their abominations, let us be washing it with our Tears, and filling hea­ven with our cries, that when God marcheth in his fury, we may be secure by his accep­tance of our humiliations.

Motives.

1. This is a means to have great tokens of the love of God. No question but Christ in his agony bewailed the sins of the world, and then was an Angel sent to comfort him, and assure him of an happy issue. It was just after the testimony of his displeasure against Pe­ter for disswading him from that death, whereby he was to honour God, and wash off the stain of sin, and repair the violations of the Law, whereby he manifested a concern for his fathers honour, that he was transfigured, and had therein the earnest of an heavenly glory, and that transporting voice: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear you him, Mat. 16.23. Mat. 17.1, 2, &c.

2. It is a means to prevent judgments. Tears cleansed by the Blood of Christ, are a good means to quench that justice which is a consuming Fire. Sin puts a stop to the working of Gods Bowels, and opens the Magazines of wrath: grief for it disarms Gods hand of his Thunders, and may divert his darts from our hearts. No other defence is often left against the strength of judgments after sin hath made its entrance. A holy seed in Jerusalem, is the guard of it in the time of Senacherib's Invasion, Isa. 6.13. The holy seed shall be the substance thereof. Growth in sin ripens judgments, turns Blossoms and Buds into Fruit, Rods into Scorpions. Grief for it turns scorpions into Rods, lessens a judgment if not wholly prevents it. The Water of repentance is the best way to quench the flames of sin, and sparks of wrath. If good Men fall under a common judgment, it may be often for a de­fect in this temper. This was Austins opinion,A [...]gust. de Civit. Dei. ib. 1. Cap. 9. That many good, men are taken away [Page 75] with the wicked in Common Judgments; because though, they do not Commit the same sins, yet they connive at their iniquities, and so are lasht with their rods, temporally chast­ned, but not eternally punished.

3. It will sweeten Judgments. Such may say of Judgment, as Paul of death, Oh Judgment where is thy sting! 'Tis a double burden to lye under the weight of common Judgments, and the weight of common sins; grief for them is a means to remove the guilt, and there­by to ease thee of a Judgment. If we are concerned in mourning for sin, we shall be more fit to honour God, if he makes us fall under his stroak. A holy sorrow will bring us into a sub­missive frame. Aaron had been, without question, humbled for his timorous compliance with the people in the making of the golden Calf; and when God came to strike him near in his own Children, he held his peace, Levit. 10.3. No doubt but his former humiliation fitted him for his present patience.

4. Our repentance for our own sins was never right, unless we are of this temper. Repentance is a justice towards God, and therefore is conversant about other mens sins in a hatred of them. 'Tis for sin as sin, and sin is sin in whatsoever subject it be, and worthy of hatred according to right reason, and therefore that grace whereby a Man hates it in his own person, will engage him to hate it wheresoever it is: and we alwaies grieve for the encrease of that which is the object of our hatred. A truly just man hates the injury committed against another as well as that against himself. That filthiness which displeaseth a penitent in his own act, displeaseth him in anothers act, there being the same adequate reason, and sin being of the same nature against God in another as in himself. 'Tis All abominations, in the text; this is an argument of sincerity: to mourn for one may be from self interest, to mourn for all must be from a pure affection.

5. 'Tis an argument of a true affection to God. To mourn for sin when it is rare, though gross, is not so much a sign of sincerity, as to mourn for it when it is Epidemical, when the Foundations of godliness are out of course and the graces contrary to those sins are generally discountenanced: as it is a greater sign of sincerity to love the word, when it is generally slighted, than to love it when all admire it. What a noble affection had that Lady in Sa­muel, 1 Sam. 4.19. &c. that grieved not so much for the loss of her Father, Husband, Friends, but bewailed the departure of the glory of Israel, and implicitely at least, the sin that occasioned it? How did her affection to God drown all carnal affections? Her sorrow for the ark stifled the sorrow of her travel, and the joy at the birth of her Son. She regarded it not. This is an evident token of affection, when we mourn most for the sins which most dis­honour God, and the sins of those persons that seem to be nearer to God, and cast most re­proaches upon his name.

6. Shall we be outstript by Idolaters? The mourning for others sins was a custom kept up in Israel after their revolt from God unto Jeroboam. When Naboth was put to death for a pretended crime of blasphemy, a fast was proclaimed to lament his sin, 1 Kings 21.12. and though with a wicked intention, to palliate a murther with the cloak of religion, yet it evidenceth this mourning for the gross sins of others to be a common sentiment among them, and practised upon the like occasions.

7. We have just fears of judgments. We know not whence they will come, from the North or from the South. God sets up his warnings in the Heavens: we behold him frowning and preparing his arrows; and are we careless in what posture we shall meet him? He hath Spit in our faces, made us a by-word and reproach; should we not be humbled? Numb. 12.14. If her Father had spit in her face, should she not be ashamed? God seems to be departing. He hath as it were kept open market a long time, he seems now to be putting up his wares, removing his Candlestick, withdrawing the power of his Ordinances, recalling his Messen­gers, the light is almost in the socket. The voice of God is received with a deaf ear, the reproofs and admonitions of God have not a kindly operation, the signs of judgment amaze us, and the amazement quite vanishes. We start like a man in a dream, and fall back upon our pillow and snort out our sleep. Can we expect God to stay? He seems to be up­on the threshold of the Temple, come down already from the Cherubims; and is it not high time to bewail our own sins, and the Common abominations, that have so polluted the place of his habitation, that we may say we cannot see how God can stay with honour to himself? If we bewail the sins that provoke him to it, God may stay; if he will not, let us at least shew this affection to him at parting. This is not a thing unbecoming the high­est Christian. Doth not the Spirit grieve for the sins of others which play the wantons with the grace of God? Eph. 4.30. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. The holy Spirit hath no sins of his own to grieve for. Shall we be above that which the Spirit of God thinks himself not above? Shall we refuse mourning for that which goes to the heart of the Holy Ghost? Let us therefore examine what are our own sins, what are the abominations of the times and places wherein we live; make inquisition for the one, that we may drag them out before the Lord: And in our places endeavour to stop and reform the other. As the true fire of Love to God will melt us into tears, so it will heat us into zeal. He is no friend, that will complain of a toads being in another's bosom, but not strive to kill it. It will shew either Cowardice or falseness. That zeal is wild-fire that is not accompanied with an holy sorrow, and that sorrow is crude which is not accompanied with a godly Zeal.

I Shall not take my rise any higher than v. 12. where the Apostle orders that a Woman should not teach. But I suffer not a Woman to teach, i. e. publickly.

Two Reasons are rendred;

1.Hierom.She was last in Creation: Adam was first formed, then Eve.

2. First in defection, v. 14. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, was in the transgression. The fall of man was the fruit of the Womans first Doctrine, and therefore she is not suffered to teach any more; the Woman was deceived by the Serpent, and so drew her Husband, and whole Posterity, into ruine. Some of the Papists bring this place as an Argument against Womens reading the Scripture; but no reason can conclude it from this place. How can the Spirit of God prohibit their reading the Scripture in pri­vate, and the instruction of their Families, since Women are among those who are com­mended for reading the Scripture? Acts 17.11, 12. where the honourable Women are mention'd. And Lois and Eunice are applauded for their instruction of Timothy. Are not Women bound by that command of Peter, to give a reason of their Faith to any that shall ask them, unless they would have Women Christians without reason? What was the Office of those Ecclesiastical Widdows in the Primitive times, but to instruct the younger Wo­men? But this is not to be charged upon all the Papists: Becanus only is the man that Rivet mentionsIsagog. ad Script. c. 13. p. 990, 991. And because upon this declaration of the Apostle some might be dejected by the consideration of the deep hand the Woman had in the first fall, in the punishment in­flicted upon them for it, the Apostle in the Text brings in a Notwithstanding for their com­fort. Notwithstanding her guilt in defection, her punishment in child-bearing, she hath as good a right to salvation as the Man: So that the Apostle here answers by way of anticipation, an Objection which might be made, whether the guilt contracted by the Woman, and the punishment inflicted, might not hinder her eternal salvation. The Apostle answers, No. Though she was first in the transgression, and the pain of child-bearing was the punishment of that first sin, yet the Woman may arrive, to everlasting salvation notwithstanding that pain, if she be adorn'd with those graces which are necessary for all Christians. Though the pu­nishment remain, yet the believing Woman is in the Covenant of Grace, under the wings of the Mediator of that Covenant, if she have Faith, the condition of the Covenant, which works by Love and Charity, and is attended with holiness, and renewal of the heart.

Observe; God hath gracious [Cordials] to cheer up the hearts of Believers in their distress, and in the midst of those cases which are sufficient of themselves to cast them down. The Apostle here alludes to that curse upon the Woman, Gen. 3.16. Ʋnto the Woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow, and thy conception; In sorrow thou shalt bring forth Children. The punishment is peculiar to the married woman, besides that punishment which was common to her with the man.

Thy sorrow and thy conception. Hendiadys say some; The sorrow of thy conception. The word [...] signifies the whole time of the Womans bearing in the Womb, and so in­cludes not only those pains in the very time of Labour, but also all those precursory in­dispositions, as the weakness of the stomach, heaviness of the head, irregular longings, [Page 77] and those other symptoms which accompany conceptions. Though this pain seems to be natural, from the constitution of the Body, yet since some other Creatures do bring forth with little or no painAristot. Hist. Animal. l. 7. c. 9.; It would not have been so with the Woman in innocency, because all pain which is a punishment of sin, had not been incident to a sinless, and immortal body.

We will consider the words apart.

Saved.] It may either note the Salvation of the Soul, or the preservation of the Wo­man in Child-bearing. The first I suppose is principally intended, (for the Apostle here would signify some special comfort to Women under that curse. But the preservation of Women in Child-bearing was a common thing testified by dayly experience in the worst, as well as in the best Women, and Christianity did not bring the professors of it into a worse estate in those things which immediately depended upon God, or make the Children Vipers, not to come into the world without the death of their Mothers.) Yet a temporal preservation may be included; for when an eternal salvation is promis'd, temporal salvation is also pro­mis'd, according to the methods of Gods wisdom and goodness in the course of his provi­dence, there being in all such promises a tacit reserve, viz. if God sees it good for us; and the manner of their preservation also, wherein the preservation of a believer differs from that of an unregenerate Person. Others are preserved by God, as a merciful Creator and Go­vernour, in a way of common Providence, for the keeping up of the world; But believers are preserv'd in the way of promise and covenant, in the exercise of faith, and by the spe­cial love of God, as a tender Father, and their God in covenant with them through Christ.

In Child-bearing.] [...]; through Child-bearing. The Praeposition [...] is often taken for [...], as Rom. 4.11. That he might be the Father of all that believe, though they be not circumcis'd [...] believing in uncircumcision, where it notes the state wherein they shall be sa­ved. So it notes here not the cause of the salvation of the Woman, but the state wherein she shall be saved, and amounts to thus much; The punishment inflicted upon the Woman for her first sin shall not be remov'd in this life, yet notwithstanding this, there is a certain way of salvation by faith, though she pass through this punishment. For by [...] is not meant a simple Child-bearing, but a Child-bearing in such a manner as God hath threatned with sorrow and grief.

If they continue.] By [They] is not meant the Children, as some imagine, because of the change of the singular to the plural; the sense then should run thus, she shall be saved, if the Children remain in faith, &c. That would be absurd, to think that the Salvation of the Mother should depend upon the faith and grace of the Children. When it is sometimes seen that the Children of a godly Mother may prove as wicked as Hell itself. But by [they] is meant the Woman. The name Woman is taken collectively for all Women, and there­fore the plural number is added. The Apostle passes from the singular number to the plural, as he had done from the plural to the singular, v. 9. In like manner let the women adorn themselves in modesty, where he uses the plural, but v. 11. reassumes the other number again in his discourse. The graces which are here put as the conditions, are, Faith, Charity, Sanctification, Sobriety. Where the Apostle seems to oppose those to the first causes or ingre­dients of the defection.

1. Faith opposed to Ʋnbelief of the precept of God and the threatning annext.

2. Charity, opposed to Disaffection to God. As though God were an Enemy to their hap­piness, and commanded a thing which did prejudice their happiness, whereupon must arise ill surmises of God, and an aversion from him.

3. Sanctification. In opposition to this Filthiness and Pollution brought upon the Soul by that first defection; there must therefore be in them an aim and endeavour to attain that primitive integrity and purity they then lost.

4. Sobriety, [...], Temperance. Because the giving the reins to sense, and obeying the longings thereof was the cause of the fall, Gen. 3.6. She saw that it was pleasant to the eye. Original sin is called concupiscence, and lusting, and to this is opposed Sobriety.

1. Faith.] This is put first, because it is the Fundamental grace. It is the employer of Charity, for it works by it; the root of Sanctification, for by faith the heart is purified. By Faith is chiefly meant the grace of Faith (1) Faith in the habit (2) Faith in the exercise.

2. Charity.] The first sin was an enmity against God; therefore there is now necessary a Love to God. The first sin was virtually an enmity to all the posterity of man, which were to come out of his loins; therefore love to mankind is necessary. And Faith alwaies infers Love to God and man.

3. Sanctification] is here added, because by that both the truth of Faith and love appears to our selves and others. And justification by Faith is thereby ratified, James 2.24. By Sancti­fication is not here meant a particular holiness or chastity due to the marriage bed, as some of the Papists assert, but an universal sanctity of heart and life.

4. Sobriety.] This is a natural means for Preservation. Intemperance makes bodily distempers more dangerous in their assaults. True Faith is accompanied with Tem­perance and Sobriety in the use of lawful comforts. The Papists, though without any good ground, frame an argument from hence to prove marriage to be a Sacrament, asserting that those graces of Faith and Charity, &c. are conferred upon the Woman by vertue of Marriage, and ex vi institutionis. How severe a Doctrine is it then to engage any in vows [Page 78] of a single life when they might have a readier way to attain grace with the Satisfaction of nature? Are not the virtues mentioned here, as necessary to the single, as the married Christi­ans? Who ever heard that marriage was appointed to confer those Christian graces which are necessary for men and women in all Conditions? Besides, is it probable that that was instituted to confer Christian graces, which was instituted in Paradise before Christianity was in being, and had been valid if man had stood in innocency, where there had been no need of a justifying Faith?

Observe. 1. The Punishment of the woman; In Child-bearing.

2. The Comfort of the woman. She shall be saved.

3. The Condition of the Salvation. If they continue. Wherein is implyed an exhortation to continue in Faith, &c.

Doct. Many Observations might be raised.

1. The pain in child-bearing is a punishment inflicted upon the Woman for the first sin.

2. The continuance of this punishment after Redemption by Christ, doth not hinder the salvation of the Woman, if there be the Gospel-conditions requisite.

3. The exercise of Faith, with other Christian graces, is a peculiar means for the preservation of Believers under God's afflicting hand.

I shall sum them up into this one.

Here I shall speak,

• 1. Concerning the Punishment and the Cause of it.
• 2. The Nature of it.
• 3. Its not prejudicing Eternal Salvation.

1. Concerning the Punishment. Child-bearing it self is not the punishment, but the pain in it. For the blessing [Increase and multiply] was given in Innocency. This punishment is peculiar to the Woman, and superadded to that inflicted upon the Man, wherein the Woman also hath her share, though it lay heaviest upon Adam's shoulders. And because this punishment is the greater, it is disputed in the Schools whether Adam's or Eve's sin were the greater. Various Opinions there are. We may, I think, safely make these Conclusions.

1. In regard of the kind of sin it was equal in both: They both had an equal pride, an equal aspiring to be like God: For in all probability, Eve gave not her Husband the fruit to eat, without acquainting him with the reasons which mov'd her to eat it, as also the advantage she expected from it. And God chargeth this aspiring humour upon the man, Gen. 3.22. The Man, [...], is become like one of us. Both of them therefore embrac'd the temptation as it was directed, and swallowed the fruit, with an expectation to be like, not the Angels, (as some think, from Gen. 3.5. You shall be as Gods, Elohim;) but like God himself, as ap­pears by v. 22. in that Ironical speech, where the Lord God Jehovah saith, The Man is become like one of us. They both believed the Serpent, both broke the command in eating the fruit, both were guilty of this aspiring Ambition. Some indeed think Eve ate twice of the fruit, once before the Serpent, and the other time when she gave her Husband, Gen. 3.6. She did eat, and gave to her Husband with her, and he did eat Mariana in loc.. But that is not so clear in the Text.

2. In regard of the first motion to this sin, Eves sin was the greater. She was the seducer of Adam, which the Apostle expresseth in the verse before the Text. The Woman being decei­ved, was in the transgression. Where the Apostle intimates the Womans sin in that respect to be greater than the mans. Adam was in it too, but the Woman deeper.

3. In regard of the Womans condition, the sin was greater on Adam 's part Estius in senten..

1. Because he, being the Man, had more power to resist, more strength to argue the case.

2. Eve had a stronger and craftier Adversary to deal with, the subtillest of all the beasts of the field, Gen. 3.1. animated and inspired by a craftier Devil. The stronger the Tempter, the more excusable the sin. Adam was tempted by Eve, but Eve by the Serpent.

3. Eve had the command of not eating immediately from her Husband; which laid not al­together so strong a tye upon her as it did upon him, who had it immediately from the mouth of God, and therefore was more certain of the verity of the Precept.

2. Of what nature is this Punishment?

1. 'Tis not a Punishment in a rigid sense, nor continued as such.

1. Because 'tis not commensurate to the nature of the sin, neither is it that penalty which the Law required. Death was due, and death immediately upon the offence; but death was kept off by the interposition of the Mediator, and this which is less than death, inflicted at pre­sent. The Mediator or Days-man interposed before this sentence; for the promise of the Seed which should bruise the Serpents head, preceded the pronouncing of this sentence, Gen. 3.15, 16. God arms himself against both, but not with those weapons they had deserv'd. Capital Crimes are usually attended with capital punishments, which draw a destruction upon the offender. Where death is deserv'd, and a lighter punishment inflicted, it is rather [Page 79] an act of clemency, than strict Justice, and may be called by the name of a partial pardon, or reprieve, as well as a punishment. 'Tis indeed a punishment when Conscience racks a man with further expectation of torment, when it is but a Prologue to everlasting burn­ings, when through those pains any fall into the place of everlasting horrour. 'Tis then more properly a punishment, when it proceeds from an irreconcileable Justice, arm'd with Omnipotency in the Execution, not when it proceeds from an anger mix'd with mildness, and mitigated by the Intercessions of a Mediator.

2. 'Tis not a reparation of the injury done to God. One reason of the institution of punishment is to repair the damage the Person offended sustains by the malefactor, as far as he is capable. The injury done to God cannot be repaired by any temporary punishment. No nor indeed actually by an eternal one, though an eternal suffering is all the reparation a finite Creature is capable to make to the honour of God. A man is capable of making some kind of amends to his Neighbour for an offence done, but God being infinitely our Supe­riour cannot have his honour repaired by any thing a Creature can do or suffer.

3. 'Tis not continued as a part of Satisfaction to the justice of God. As though Christ needed the sufferings of the Creature to make up the sum which he was to pay for us, and which he hath already paid. 'Tis not, on the account of the death of Christ, purely a vindictive, but a medicinal act to a believer. 'Tis rather to awaken us than to Satisfy justice. As we wring a man by the nose who is fallen into a swoon, not to have satisfaction from him for any in­jury he may have done us, but to fetch him out of his fit. These punishments are to awaken men to a sight of their first sin.

4. The proper impulsive cause of punishment is wrath. Though this was the first cause of this sen­tence, yet it is not inflicted in wrath upon a believer. Though at first it was an effect of Gods anger, yet in a beliver it is a fruit of Gods fatherly anger, wherein he acts with a composition of Judge & Father. In inflicting it he preserves the authority of a Judge: In preserving under it, and pardoning the sin for which it was inflicted, he evidenceth the affection of a Father. Punishment, as such, is only to hurt, and make men reap the fruit of their iniquity: But the end of affliction in the intention of the person that doth afflict, is oftentimes to benefit.

2. Yet it is in some sort a punishment and something more than an affliction.

1. In respect of the meritorious cause, sin. This is not inflicted ratione absoluti dominii, but ratione meriti. 'Tis not an act of absolute soveraignty, but a judicial legal act, upon the demerit of sin. There are some afflictions which are not punishments, as in the case of the man that was born blind: Christ tells us that it was neither for his own sin, nor for the sins of his parents, but that God might be glorified, John 9.2.3. i. e. God in inflicting that blindness, respected neither the sin of the man, nor the sin of the parents, but the making him a passive subject of his glory, in our Saviours miraculous Cure. But in this case God respected the sin of the woman as the cause and reason of the punishment.

2. Because if man had stood in innocency, neither this grief, nor indeed any other had been. The birth in innocency, would have been without sorrow and grief, as the hunger and thirst which would have been in Adam in that state, would have been without that gnawing in the stomack and that pain which we find in those defects, because a state of integrity and perfect righteousness must needs be without grief. But after the fall all those pains incident to man or woman, are fruits of the curse of sin.

3. This punishment doth not hinder Salvation, though it be continued.

I shall lay down these Propositions to clear up this matter.

1. God intended not in the acceptance of Christs mediation to remove in this life all the punish­ments denounced after the fall. God takes away the eternal, but not the temporal. For this very punishment was threatned after his acceptance of Christs mediation, and after the compact and covenant between the Father and the Son, about their redemption of mankind, because the promise preceded the threatning, and the mediatory covenant preceded the promise. Some parts of Christs purchase are only payable in another life, and some fruits of Redemption God intends for growth only in another soyl; such are Freedom from pain, diseases, death & sin. And therefore the last day, when believers shall be gather'd together, is called by way of excellency, the day of Redemption, Eph. 4.30. as if we had nothing of Redemp­tion properly in this life, because we have it not compleat. And it is called upon this account the time of refreshing and the time of the restitution of all things, Act. 3.19, 21. when all things shall be restored to their primitive compleatness, and we shall have a full refreshment by a removal of all the evils which we suffer by reason of sin. So that the satisfaction made by Christ extends not to a present removal of all the effects of the curse, pains of the body, death of relations, &c. The ground is not restored to its original vigor and fruitfulness, man must still eat his bread in the sweat of his brows, women must still bring forth with sorrow, our lives must waste by a continual invasion of weaknesses and diseases, we must drop one after another into the grave, send some before us, and leave others to come after us; tho God in mercy doth mitigate these, in some more, in some less, according to his Soveraign pleasure; and though those curses do materially continue, yet they are attended with a blessing, the fruits of Christs purchase. But the full value of Christs satisfaction will appear, when there shall be a new Heaven, & a new Earth, when the day of Redemption shall dawn, and all tears be wiped from believers eyes. But God never promised the total removal of them in this [Page 80] life to any Saint, no though he should have all the Faith and Holiness of all the Catalogue of Saints in the book of life centred in him.

2. Christ never intended in the payment of the price of our Redemption, the present removal of them. He interposed himself before this sentence was pronounced (for the promise pre­ceded the threatning) and therefore shew'd himself content, that those marks should be set upon that sin, though he prevented by his Mediation the dreadful sentence of eternal death. Christ never expected it; for the Compact between the Father and the Son did not run in this strain. Christ's Enemies were not presently upon his ascension to be made his foot­stool, whereof death is not the least; but he was to sit at the right hand of God, expect­ing it; neither can we expect to be rid of our burdens, till Christ's Victory over his Ene­mies be fully compleat. He sent after his Ascension the Spirit to be our Comforter, which supposeth a state wherein we should need comfort; and when are we under a greater neces­sity of comfort, than when the punishment of sin is actually inflicted on us? The Spirit was to comfort us in the absence of our Saviour, and consequently in the absence and want of those fruits of Redemption which are not yet compleated.

3. Christ intended, and did actually take away the Curse of those Punishments from every Belie­ver. As Christ came to take away the guilt of sin, so by consequence he took away the curse of punishment; for as he was not a minister of sin, so he was not a minister of the curse, Gal. 2.17. for he himself by taking the curse upon himself, took it off from us; so that though the curse remains materially, yet it doth not formally. As when man felt his understanding and will were not destroyed, but the purity and healthfulness of those facul­ties which made up his well-being were lost: So in Redemption, the temporal punishment is not remov'd, but the Curse, which is the sting in that punishment, and is indeed the essential part of it, is remov'd, since the anger of God is pacified by the death of Christ. Death was a Curse upon Man for sin, yet the death of a Believer falls not under that title; because Christ hath taken away the sting, 1 Cor. 15.55, 56. Oh death! where is thy sting, &c. And the Victory over it, he saith, is given us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Whence the Apostle puts even death it self, and things present, into the Catalogue of Priviledges, upon the ac­count of Christ, 1 Cor. 3.22. Life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours, and you are Christs, and Christ is Gods. Not that death simply in it self is a Priviledge, but death as conquered, and as attended with consequent blessings, is so to a Believer. Now the same reason is for all the other parts of the Curse, which were either Prologues to, or Attendants upon death. And as Christ destroyed death by raising his own body from the grave, there­by taking from death the power of perpetually retaining man: So in the same manner he hath took away those punishments, that they shall not perpetually remain, though they do for a time. But when death is swallowed up in victory, all the Attendants on it shall undergo the same fate. Though the Curse was not immediately the work of the Devil, yet that which procur'd it was; and Christ's intention being to take away sin, it was also to take away the Curse, which was intentionally the Devils work, his chief aim being to bring men under the Curse, by enticing them to sin. The end of his manifestation was, to destroy the works of the Devil, 1 John 3.8. Christ therefore bore our infirmities, our natural penal infirmities, though not our natural sinful ones, unless morally, i. e. by suffering for them; he bore the infirmity of our Nature, though not our personal infirmities. He endur'd pain, and grief, and death, and greater than we can endure; but he did not bear every parti­cular pain and disease which ariseth from sin, and a particular cause; yet by satisfying the Justice of God, which required death, he satisfied for all other pains which were parts of the Curse, though he did not formally feel them; so that no longer they remain as a Curse, no more than death it self is a Curse to a Believer. Now, as Christ by his death upon the Cross did remove the sting of death from every Believer, and sanctifie it, though he did not die every kind of death which a man may die; so by enduring pain and grief, and being a man of sorrows, he took away the sting of all those pains, which are fruits of the Curse, though they were of a different kind from those he hath himself endured. This I have added to prevent an Objection that may be made, that Christ endured not this particular pain, and therefore the Curse is not taken away.

4. Hence it will follow, that to a Believer the very nature of these Punishments is alter'd. Whence ariseth a mighty difference between the same punishments when suffered by a Be­liever, and by an unregenerate man. Though they are materially the same, yet not formally, nor eventually. In the one the sting remains, in the other it is pull'd out. The one is an earnest of eternal torture, and a sprinkling of Hell; the other is in order to salvation, and sanctified by the Blood of Christ. Christ by his Cross hath made our Judgments to be­come Physick, and turn'd a Believers punishments into purges. The intention of the Agent makes a vast difference, There is a great difference between a punishment edg'd with a a Princes wrath, and those which are sweetened with a Fathers affection; much difference between a Chirurgians Launce, and a Tyrants Wound. The Cord that binds a Malefactor and a Patient, may be made of the same Hemp, and a Knife only go between; but it binds the Malefactor to Execution, the other to a Cure. In a Believer they bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness, Heb. 12.11. such fruits of righteousness which engender peace and joy in the Soul. That which brings such excellent effects is rather an argument of love in the Inflicter, and so cannot come under the full notion of a punishment. God [Page 81] comforts the Israelites that were to go into Captivity, by a Gospel promise, Hos. 14.4. I will heal their back slidings, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away from them. The punishment was continued, for they never returned into their Countrey in the form of a common wealth; but the anger was removed, so that the Captivity of the Believers among them was not the effect of God's wrath as a Judge, since they were un­der his magnificent love as a Father. The change of our relation to God makes a change in the nature of the punishment; though the punishment threatned may be inflicted and continued, yet the anger in that punishment may be turned away.

5. Therefore all temporal punishments of Original sin, though they remain, do not prejudice a Be­lievers present interest.

1. They cut not off his relation to God. A Son is as much a Son under the Rod, as in the Bosom; neither the Fathers stroke, nor the Childs grief, dissolve that dear relation: Nay a Father may shew more of a true paternal affection in his Chastisements than in his Caresses. The Branches which are battered with Sticks, may be nearer the Root than those that flourish at their ease. Christ while a Man of sorrows was pronounced by God, his well beloved Son, and bore our punishment, not only without forfeiting his Fathers affection, but with a high gratification of him: Neither doth God's visiting the seed of Christ with stripes cut off their relation to him, Psal. 89.32. Then will I visit their transgressions with Rods. Whose transgressions? v. 30 His Children. Whose Children? Even the Children of him whom he would make the first born, higher than the Kings of the Earth, v. 27. Which cannot be understood literally of David, or his Lineal Posterity in the Jewish Kingdom, who were never higher than the Kings of the Earth.

2. They debar not from the presence of God. God may be, and is as near to us in support­ing, as he is in punishing. 'Tis not the cloud that interposeth between the Sun and us, that alters the Suns course, or obstructs its influences. Christ took not off the badges of Original Guilt from those disciples which had the greatest interest in his affections; he left them in a sinful world to endure the fruits of sin; he sent them not to ease, pleasure, and a quiet and painless life, but to labour, toyl, and sweat; yet promised that he would abide with them, that he and his Father would manifest themselves to them. And he turned that sweat and pain which was the fruit of sin, by his presence with them, to be in­strumental for the glory of God, and the good of themselves in the world.

3. They break not the Covenant: His Rod and his Stripes tho they seem to break our Backs, make no breaches in his Covenant, Psalm 89.32, 33, 34. he will visit transgressi­on with Rods, but he will not suffer his faithfulness to fail, nor break his Covenant. No, they are rather covenant mercies, when they break our Hearts, and are means by his Grace to make our Stony Hearts more Fleshy. He makes even those dispensations which were pronounced for punishment, to bring forth covenant mercies, and the rich fruits of his grace to grow upon the sour crab-stock of his judgments. Jacob in Gen. 49. is said to bless his Children, tho he predicts smart afflictions to come upon them; they are rankt among the blessings, because the covenant should remain firm. The lash removes not the inheritance. Austin saith well, Noli attendere quam poenam habes in flagello, sed quem lo­cum in Testamento.

6. Add to all this, That the first promise secures a believer under the sufferings of those punish­ments. Gods affection in the promise of bruising the Serpents head, was more illustrious than his wrath in the threatning. There are the Bowels of a Father in the promise, be­fore there was the voice of a Judge in the Sentence. God brought Sugar with his Potion, and administred his Cordial before he struck with his Lance. And therefore that threat­ning which commenc'd after the promise, can no more prejudice the fruits of the promise to a Believer, than the Law, which was given 430 years after the promise to Abraham, could disannul that, and make it of no effect, as the Apostle argues in another case, Gal. 3.17. Much less can the threatning denounced immediately after the promise, change the veracity of God, in that which was fresh in his mind at the very time of his threatning.

Ob. But it may be askt, What is the reason these punishments are continued since the re­demption wrought by Christ?

Ans. 'Tis frequent with God to inflict a temporal punishment after pardon. Not as the Papists assert, in order to satisfaction. Moses his unbelief hindred him from coming unto Canaan, so that when he desired to go over Jordan, God was wroth with him, cut him off short, and commands him silence, Deut 3.25, 26. Speak to me no more of this matter.

There are reasons,

1. On Gods part. 2. On our part.

1. On Gods part.

1. 'Tis congruous to the wisdom of God to leave them upon us while we are in the World. Since God created man to gain glory by his actions, but was presently after his creation disgrac'd and disparag'd by him; it seems agreeable to the wisdom of God, not immedi­ately to bring him to his former state, but to leave some marks of his displeasure upon Man to mind him of the state whence he was fallen, the misery he contracted, and the necessity of flying to his mercy for succour.

2. 'Tis congruous to the holiness of God. God keeps up those punishments as the Rector [Page 82] and Governour of the World, to shew his detestation of that sin which brought a disorder and deformity upon the Creation, and was the first act of dishonour to God, and the first pollution of the Creature. 'Tis an high vindication of the Holiness and Authority of God, and the Majesty and Purity of his Law, to punish sin in them that are dear to him upon anothers righteousness, whereby he evidenceth, that he hates sin in all, and will not wink at it, or approve of it. So he pardoned David, but for the honour of his name, which had been blasphemed by occasion of David's sin, he would leave the smart of it upon his Family, 2 Sam. 12.10, 14.

3. 'Tis a declaration of his Justice. 'Tis not congruous to the Justice of God not to leave some marks of his anger against that sin, which caused him to be at the expence of his Sons Blood, and is the source of all those evils whereby God is injur'd, for which the Redeemer bled, and by which the Spirit is grieved. Since Pardon doth not, neither can alter the de­merit of sin, but that will continue; and what is once meritoriously a capital crime in its own nature, can never be otherwise; God may for the demonstration of his justice, inflict and continue something upon the creature, though he free him from actual condemnation. We should not be so sensible of the justice of God in the death of Christ, did we not feel some strokes of it upon our selves, nor what the purchase of our redemption did cost our Saviour: What we hear doth not so much affect as what we feel. That which brought disorder into Gods Government of the world, and made him change the Scene of his Pro­vidence, may very justly have some signal remark upon it, notwithstanding the Redempti­on, especially when the fruits of it are not fully compleat: For since Man was the imme­diate end of the creation of this lower world, and since all Creatures were made for the service of Man, that he might be fit for the service of his righteous Creator, he did by his fall violate the order of the Creation, and subjected it to the service of the Devil, a cor­rupt Creature, and an enemy to God the chief Lord of the World, and so did deprave the order of the universe, and endeavoured to frustrate the end of God, and the end of all the Creatures. 'Tis very rational to think, that tho God out of his infinite compassion would not lose his creature, yet that he should set such a badge upon him, that should make him sensible of a depravation he had wrought in the world.

4. 'Tis useful to magnify his love. We should not be sensible of what our Saviour suffer­ed, nor how transcendently he lov'd us, if the punishment of sin had been presently removed upon the first promise. Nay how then could he have died in the fulness of time, which was necessary to the demonstration of Gods love, satisfaction of his justice, and the security of the Creatures happiness? God adds the threatning to the promise as a dark colour to set off and beautify the brighter. As Christ suffered that he might have compassion on us; so are we punished that we might have an estimation of him. When Paul cries out of the body of death, so when we cry out of the punishment of sin, it should raise our thankfulness for redeeming love, I thank God through Jesus Christ, Rom. 7.24, 25. We never know the worth of mercy, till we feel the weight of misery. The sharper the pains of sin, the higher are our valuations of redeeming mercy. In Isa. 4.2. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful. and glorious. In what day? After great punishments, v. 1. and in the foregoing chapter. He appears most beautiful to us when we are under the lash for sin. As sin continues in us, that the justifying grace of Christs righte­ousness might more appear to us, so punishment continues on us, that redeeming love might be more prized by us.

2. On our parts. 'Tis useful to us;

1. To make us abhor our first defection and sin. 'Twas great, and is not duly considered by us.Kellet Miscel. This sin of Adam is the worst that ever was committed in the world; Extensively, though not Intensively, worse than the sin of Judas, or the sin against the holy Ghost. In respect that those are but the effects of it, and branches of that corrupt root. Also because those sins hurt only the persons sinning, but this drew down destruction upon the whole world, and drove thousands into everlasting Fire and Brimstone. 'Tis not fit that this which was the murder of all Mankind, the disorder of the Creation, the disturbing of God's rest in the works of his Hands, should be past over without a scar left upon us to make us sensible of the greatness of the evil. Though the wounds be great upon our Souls, yet they do not so much affect us as those strokes upon our Bodies. This certainly was one main end of God in this; to what purpose else did he (after the promise of restauration, and giving our first parents the comfort of hearing the head of their great seducer threatned to be bruised by the Seed of the Woman) order this punishment, but to put them in mind of the cause of it, and stir up a standing abhorrency of it in all ages of the world? Had not this been his intent, he would never have usher'd it in by a promise, but ipso facto, have showered down a destroying judgment upon the world, as he did upon Sodom, without any comfor­table word preceding. God inflicts those punishments both to shew his own, and excite our detestation of this sin: He binds us in those fetters to shew us our work and our transgressi­on, wherein we have exceeded, Job 36.8, 9.

2. To make us fear to sin, and to purge it out. Sin hath riveted it self so deep, that easy Me­dicines will not displace it. It hath so much of our affections, that gentle means will not di­vorce us from it: We shall hate it most, when we reap the punishment of it. Punishment [Page 83] is inflicted as a guard to the law, and the security of righteousness from the corrupt incli­nations of the Creature. So it is [...], as Plato calls punishment. As death is conti­nued for the destruction of sin in the Body, so are the lesser punishments continued for the restraint of sin in our lives. We need further conversions, closer applications of our selves to God, more quick walks to him, and fixedness with him. Gods smitings are to quick­en our turnings. As it was the fruit of Jacobs trouble to take away sin, Isa. 27.9. So it is a great end of God in those common punishments of mankind to weaken corruption in a be­liever by them. Therefore when we have any more remarkable sense of those punish­ments, let us see what wounds our sin gets thereby: How our hatred of it is encreased. If we find such gracious effects, we shall have more reason to bless God for it, than com­plain of it. Oh happy troubles, when they repair, not ruine us; when they pinch us and cure us, like Thunder, which, though it trouble the Air, disperses the infectious vapours mixed with it, or the Tide, which though turning the stream of the River against its natural course, carries away much of the filth with it at its departure.

3. To exercise Grace. Punishments of themselves have no power to set any grace on work, but rather excite our corruptions, but the grace of God accompanying them makes them beneficial for such an end. God hath to a believer altered the commission of such punishments, they are to exercise our Faith, improve our patience, draw us nearer in acts of recumbency; but he hath given them no order to impair our grace, waste our faith, or deaden our hopes.

1. Faith and Trust, 1. Tim. 5.5. She that is desolate trusts in God. The lower the state, the greater necessity, and greater obligation to trust; such exercises manifest, that the con­dition we are in, is sanctified to us. As sin is suffered to dwell in a regenerate Man to occa­sion the exercise of Faith, so is the punishment of sin continued for the same end. The continuance of it is a mighty ground of our confidence in God. We experiment the righteousness of God in his threatning, and it is an evidence he will be the same in his promise. When we bear the marks of his punitive justice, it is an evidence that he will keep up the credit of his mercy, in the promise, as well as of his justice in the punishment, both being pronounced at the same time; the good of the one is as sure by God's grace to our faith, as the smart of the other is by our desert to that sin. The continuance therefore of those punishments may be used by a Believer, as a means to fix a stronger confidence in God; for if he were not true to the one, we might suspect his truth in the other; If God should be careless of maintaining the honour of his truth in his threatnings, we should have reason to think that he would be careless of maintaining the honour of it in his promises, and thereupon be filled with despondencies. What comfort could we have in an unrighteous God? The righteousness of God in inflicting punishment, is but a branch of that essential righteousness of his nature, which obligeth him to be righteous in the per­forming his promise too. 'Tis a mighty support to faith, that the righteous God loveth righteousness.

2. Obedience in a Believer hath a greater lustre by them. It was the glory of Job that he preserved his Integrity under the smartest troubles. To obey a God always smiling is not so great an act of Loyalty, as to obey a God frowning and striking, 'Tis the crown of our obedience to follow our God though he visits us with stripes. 'Tis a noble temper to love that hand which strikes us, and chearfully serve that Father which lasheth us: Our obedi­ence is too low when it must be excited by a succession of favours, and cannot run to God unless he allures it by smiles. 'Tis then a generous and sincere obedience, when we can em­brace him with a sword in his Hand, trust him though he kill us, love him though he stone us, and as the Persians did by the Sun, adore him when he scorcheth, as well as when he refresheth us. Were these punishments wholly absent, we should not have a rise for so heroick faith and love; and our holiness in this state would want much of its lustre.

3. Humility. These punishments are left upon us to allay our pride, and be our remem­brancers of our deplorable miscrriage. It had been an occasion of pride in us to be freed from punishment at the first appearance of a Mediator. 'Tis reasonable the Soul should have occasions to exercise it self in a grace contrary to that first sin pride, which was the cause of the fall. We affected to be Gods, and punishment is left that we may know we are but Men, which is the end of judgments, Psal. 9.20. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the Nations may know they are but Men; we should otherwise think our selves Gods. We are so inclin'd to sin, that we need strong restraints, and so swell'd with a natural pride against God, that we need Thorns in the Flesh to let out the corrupt matter. The con­stant hanging the Rod over us makes us lick the dust, and acknowledge our selves to be altogether at the Lords mercy. Though God hath pardon'd us, he will make us wear the halter about our Necks to humble us.

4. Patience. Were there no punishments, there would be but little occasion for pati­ence. This grace would not have had its extensive exercise, its full formation without such strokes left upon the creature. Resignation to God, which is the beauty of grace, would not come to its due maturity and stature without such trials. So that in these rea­sons of the continuance, we see they are rather advantages to Salvation, than hindrances, by [Page 84] promoting through the influence of God's grace, those graces in us which are necessary to a happy state.

Use.

1. See the infinite mercy of God, who, when upon the defection of our first Parents he might have burnt up the whole world as he did Sodom, would upon the Redeemers ac­count, who stept in, impose so light a punishment upon that sin; 'tis but light in compa­rison of what the nature of sin deserves, every sin being a contempt of the Majesty of God, and a slight of his Authority; and that sin having greater aggravations attending it. 'Tis a merciful punishment, it might have been an everlasting damnation: God might have left us to the first sentence of the law, and made no exchange of eternal death for tem­poral pains: He might have been deaf to the voice of a Mediator, and put his mercy to silence as he did Moses, Speak no more of this matter; but his Bowels pull his Justice by the Arm, and hinder that fatal stroke; and a Mediator by his interposition, breaks off the full blow from us, by taking it upon himself, and suffers only some few smart drops to light upon us. Oh wonderful mercy! that our punishment should not hinder, but rather further our everlasting happiness by incomprehensible grace. Let not then our punish­ments for sin hinder our thankfulness. Let our Mouths swell with praise, while our Bo­dies crumble away by diseases, and Relations drop from us by death. Let us love God's glory, admire his mercy, while we feel his Arrows: Whatever our punishments are, there is more matter for praise than murmuring.

2. How should we bewail original sin, the first fall of man. 'Tis a great slighting of God not to take notice either of his judicial, or fatherly proceedings. As we are to lament any particular sin more especially when the judgments of God, which bear the marks of that sin in their foreheads, are upon a nation or person, so, though we are to bewail the sin of our nature at all times, yet more signally when the strokes of God, the remembrancers of it, are most signally upon us. A Child doth more particularly think of his fault when he is under the correcting rod for it. We should scarce think of original sin, if we did not feel original punishment. All the pains of sin should be considered as Gods Sermon to us, and we should under them be afflicted with that sin, as we may suppose Adam and Eve were, when they first heard the punishment denounc'd in Paradice, when they had a sense of the flourishing Condition they had lost for a slight temptation. To turn sorrow for pain into sorrow for our first sin, is to spiritualize our grief, and sanctify our passion.

3. What an argument for patience under punishments is here? The continuance of them doth not hinder our Salvation. Shall a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sin? For such a punishment that doth not hinder his eternal welfare, but by the grace of God, and the exer­cise of Faith, rather promote it? God promised as well as threatned: both his mercy and righteousness directs him to that which is most for his honour and our good. Let us not by any impatience charge infinite wisdom with blindness or unrighteousness. They were punishments at first, but by Faith in Christ, the deportment of a judge is changed into that of a Father. Drusius hath an observation, Psal. 56.10. In God will I praise his word, in the Lord will I praise his word. The first word Elohim is a name belonging to God as a judg, the 2d word Jehovah is a name of mercy; I will praise God, whether he deal with me in a way of justice, or in a way of mercy, when he hath thunder in his voice as well as when he hath hony under his tongue. Oh how should we praise God, and pleasure our selves by such a frame? When our distresses ly hard upon us, we should justify Gods holiness. So the Psal­mist, or rather Christ in the bearing our punishment, Psal. 22.1. But thou art holy, when he expostulates with God why he had forsaken him, justifies Gods holiness. Howsoever thou dealest with me, thou art holy in all thy waies. Thou dost me no wrong; why should I complain when holiness and hatred of sin guides thee, in all those actings with me?

4. How earnest should we be to get rid of sin? By pardon, by Sanctification. Guilt is the sting of punishment. Sin only embitters trouble. The Remission and Mortification of sin is the health of the Soul. If the arrows head be out of a wound, the cure will be more easy. Look upon my affliction, and my pain, and forgive all my sin, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 25.8. forgive­ness of sin would mitigate the sharpness of his pain.

5. How should we act faith on God in Christ before, and under such a condition of punishment? As we can never love God too much, because he is the highest good, so we can never trust God too much, because he is one of immutable truth; when we are in straits, it is not for want of faith­fulness in God, but for want of Faith in us, that we are many times not preserved. We distrust God, and this is the cause we fall into many distresses, which otherwise would not come up­on us, or be quickly removed from us. Did we grasp the promises closely, and plead them earnestly, we should often find the deliverance we desire. We pray, but we pray not in Faith, we cry for deliverance, but not with confidence, we plead Gods power but forget his promise. Many temporal promises are not perform'd to us, not for want of truth in God, but for want of faith in us. Particular fiduciary acts will draw out the riches of a promise, for want of which we remain poor in the midst of abundance. Some think that the pro­mise made to Josiah of his dying in peace, which phrase is usually meant in Scripture of a peacable death upon the bed, was not performed, because Josiah was out of the way against the precept of God, and therefore could not act faith requisite to the fulfilling of that pro­mise, [Page 85] for faith is much dampt in its actings under present contracted guilt.Tho. Good­win. This Faith in promises for outward preservation, is not an absolute, infallible assurance that God will bestow such outward things (because the promises themselves are not absolute) but it is rather an indefinite act of recumbency, and submission, referring it to his good pleasure to­wards us. But it is certain we are very much defective in acting Faith upon promises for temporal mercies, because it is an Epidemical distemper in us to trust God with our Souls rather than with our bodies, and outward concerns.

1. Exercise Faith before such a time. Furnish your selves with the comforts of the Cove­nant, and the efficacy of the death of Christ. In bodily distempers our minds are discom­posed and we cannot have that Freedom of thoughts and spiritual reflections. This is the way to engage God, who is the best assistant, a very present help in time of trouble.

2. Exercise it in the use of spiritual means. God never Commanded us to trust him but in his own methods. That is not trust in God which is attended with any wilful Omissions. If we be careful in doing our duty, God will be careful in doing what belongs to him. Prayer is the best means for Faith to exercise it self in. A spirit of Prayer before-hand is a sign of good success. When the heart is drawn out to cry, it is a sign God stands ready with the mercy in his hand. Times of distress are times of calling upon, God, Psal. 18.6. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my cry. God is to be acknowledged in all our ways, Prov. 3.6. In the beginning by prayer for his direction, in the end by praises for the success. We are usually more earnest in trouble. We have not at all times an equal fervency. Christ himself (some say) had not, for when he was in his agony he prayed more earnestly than before, Luke 22.44.

3. Act Faith upon the Relation God bears to you. He is our Father. We trust earthly Fa­thers, and are confident they will not abuse us. How much more ought we to trust our heavenly Father, and not doubt of his sincerity towards us? The greater the trouble, the more we should plead Gods relation to us. Our Saviour in the garden, Mat. 26.39, 42. at his entrance into his passion for us, prays to God by the title of my Father, whereas at other times he calls God Father without that appropriation; But now he would excite his con­fidence, and trust in God, and those promises he had made him to assist him in that hour.

4. Act Faith upon the attributes of God. There is nothing in God can affright a believer. There is not an attribute but seems fixed in God to encourage our dependance on him in any strait, wisdom, mercy, truth, omniscience, power, justice too (for what comfort could we have to trust in an unjust God?) All which attributes are promised to be assistant to a believer in any case of need, in the Covenant of grace, where God makes himself over to us as our God, and therefore all that God hath, and is, is promised there for our good. Upon the Power of God. Gods Omnipotence was the ground of our Saviours prayer to him in his distress, and that which the Apostle seems to intimate his eyeing of, Heb. 5.7. He offered up prayers unto him that was able to save him from death. And, Psal. 16.1. The Psalmist, or rather Christ, pleads the power of God. Preserve me O Lord, for in thee do I put my trust, [...], Aquila renders it strong. Plead the truth of God in his promise. The promise that preceded the threatning, viz. The bruising the Serpents head, the defeating all his plots and designs, whereof this was one, to bring man into a state of punishment. There is a promise which hath been especially tryed and made good, though all in the book of God have been found true, Psal. 18.30. The Word of the Lord is tryed. Not one word but the truth of it hath been tryed; but especially this word, That God is a buckler to them that trust in him, i. e. That he will preserve and defend depending believers.

5. Act Faith upon Christ. Hath God delivered Christ to death? It must be for some glorious end; not for destruction of the Creature, that might have been done without the death of his Son; but for remission; if so, there is sufficient ground to trust him for every thing else. We have a merciful high Priest, which encourageth us to make our ad­dresses to him. He cannot but be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, our penal infirmities which he suffered, our sinful infirmities for which he suffered. Where can he shew his mercy but in our misery? Are we under Gods strokes? Christ himself felt them, that he might the better pity us. Are we in such cases tempted to despond and distrust? He felt such fiery darts of the Devil that he might the better commiserate us. Run to him and cry out, Blessed Redeemer, Compassionate high Priest, let thy pity break out to allay my grief, and support my weakness.

Take a few encouragements to fiduciary acts.

1. Nothing is more pleasing to God. The continuance in Faith is the necessary condition of our Salvation. Nothing more honours him. We honour his wisdom and goodness, when we acknowledge that he hath a singular care of his Creatures, and trust him in his own methods; we own his skill in governing and his goodness in bringing every thing about to the best end. Christ hath given us the highest example of trust, and highly pleased God in it, in coming into the world to dye upon Gods bare word and oath. 'Tis all we can do to glorifie God. Other graces glorifie some particular attribute, but confidence in God glo­rifies all in the lump, his wisdom, righteousness, faithfulness mercy, truth, omniscience and power. There is no attribute but gives a particular encouragement to Faith, and there is no attribute but Faith returns a revenue of glory to. Despondency disparageth the Fathers [Page 86] affection and the Redeemers love; if we do not trust him, we imply that he hath not either wisdom, or love, or power, or faithfulness enough to be trusted by us, and that his word is of no value.

2. Nothing is more successfull. 'Tis the argument the Psalmist or rather Christ useth, Psal. 16.1. Preserve me. Why? Because I trust in the. Trust in God is a strong argument to prevail with God for preservation. All the ancient Fathers were delivered by God upon their trust, Psal. 22.4, 5. Our Fathers trusted in thee, they trusted and thou didst deliver them, they cryed unto thee, and were delivered, they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. Faith in Gospel-promises is not a grace of a new date. 'Tis as old as Adams fall, as old as the Patriarchs, and successful in all ages of the world. They were under new-Covenant promises, and had new-Covenant deliverances before the promises were actually sealed by the blood of Christ. How much stronger ground have we of trust now? Faith draws out the treasures of God, and sets God on work to display both his wisdom, goodness and power, Psal. 31.19. How great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee! Much more when Faith is vigorously acted. Unbelief binds Gods hands, Faith then draws forth that power which unbelief locks up. God is first the hope of Israel, and then the Saviour thereof in times of trouble, Jer. 14.8. of every one of Israel. Where God inspires with a humble confidence in himself, there is hope of success, for God will not frustrate the ex­pectation of that which he hath been the author of in his Creature. David had found such good evidence of this, that he tells God he would make bold with him upon every occa­sion of fear. Psal. 57.3. What time I am afraid I will trust in thee.

3. Nothing more calms the spirit. A fiduciary reliance on God is the way to live free from fears and anxieties. Faith is an establishing grace. By Faith we stand. What storms would be in the minds of poor passengers in a Ship, as great as those in the Sea, if they had no Pilot to direct them? How soon would the arrival of a skilful Steers-man, in whom they could confide, and that knew the shelves and rocks upon the coast, calm their disquiets?

Well then, to Sum up all, This very Scripture is a Letter of comfort, writ only to women in the state of Child-bearing; claim it as your right by Faith. What comfort is here to appeal from the threatning to the promise, from God as a Judg to God as a Father, from God angry to God pacified in Christ? How comfortable is this, that when God seems to fight against you with his punishments, you can take off the edge of his weapons by the pleas of his promise? Oh blessed God, who arms a believer against himself, before he arms himself against a believer! You can never be under the curse if you have Faith, as long as God is sensible of his own credit in the promise. In the material part of the punishment there is no difference between a believer and an unbeliever; Jacob is pincht with famine as well as the Canaanite; but Jacob is in Covenant, and hath a God in Heaven and a Joseph in Aegypt to preserve him. God directs every pain in all by his providence, in believers by a particular love; every gripe in all the Physick he gives us. He orders even his contendings with his creature in such a measure as the spirit may not fail before him; Isa. 57.16.

THE Apostle having exhorted the Saints to whom he writes in the former Chap­ter, to abide in Christ, and to do righteousness, v. 28.29. follows on this Ex­hortation, with several arguments and demonstrations, that a true Christian is not only bound to do so, but that he indeed doth so.

1. From that hope which hath eternal happiness for its Object, v. 2, 3. Where this hope is truly founded, it will inflame us with a desire and endeavour after holiness, which is a necessary means to attain it. There will be an endeavour to be like that Head here, which they hope to be perfectly like hereafter.

2. From the contrariety of sin to the Law of God. 'Tis not reasonable, neither can there be such a disingenuous disposition in any, to transgress the Laws of that person from whom only he expects his highest felicity; and the Law of God being pure and perfect, sin being contrary unto it, must be filthy and unreasonable. A Christian who is guided by this Law, will not transgress it.

3. From the End of Christs coming, which was to take away sin, v. 5. And a Chri­stian ought not to endeavour to frustrate the Ends of Christ's coming by the nourishment of that which he came to destroy.

4. From the Communion they have with Christ; abiding in him, they sin not; if any man sin, it is an evident sign he hath not the knowledge of Christ, v. 6. nor ever was con­form'd to that pattern. Where there is a Communion with Christ, it is necessary such an one should be righteous, because Christ was so.

5. From the first Author of sin, the Devil; he that sins, hath a communion with the Devil, v. 8. as he that doth righteousness, hath a communion with Christ. And to maintain the design and works of the Devil, is to walk contrary to the end and design of Christ, which was to destroy the works of the Devil; those therefore that indulge themselves in sin, are the Seed of the Devil.

6. From the New Nature of a Christian, which hinders him from sin, v. 9. Who­soever is born of God doth not commit sin, &c. Various expositions there are of this. The greatest difficulty lies in those words; [Doth not commit sin, and cannot sin.]

1. He ought not to sin. Cannot indeed is sometimes taken for ought not; as Acts 4.20. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. They had a Physical ability to hold their peace, but morally they could not, because of Christ's Precept to them to pub­lish those things. What we cannot lawfully do, we cannot do; Non possumus quod non jure possumus; what we cannot honourably do, we are said not to be able to do, Mark 6.5. He could there do no mighty work. Christ had natural ability to do mighty works there, but mo­rally he could not, honourably he could not, because of their unbelief, which was a moral hin­derance; and according to God's Methods, there was no hope of doing any good among them; their unbelief was so strong, they gave him no opportunity to do any mighty work. But this is not the meaning of cannot here, ought not. For an unrenewed man ought not to sin any more than a regenerate man. But the Apostle attributes here something peculiar to the regenerate, adding the reason [because he is born of God.] Though it carry in it some­thing of an obligation in a higher manner than upon a meer natural man: He ought not [Page 88] to sin, not only upon the general obligation which lies upon all men not to sin, but upon the more special one of his state, being a Son of God, which ought to be counted a moral impossibility by a righteous man. Regeneration gives a man no advantage to sin, no exter­nal licence, no internal liberty or ability to sin; for the Apostle useth this as an argu­ment to them, as well as an establishment, not to sin, because they are born of God, which was a more special obligation upon them not to sin, than what they had by nature.

2. He cannot sin so easily. 'Tis not impossible, but difficult for him to sin, because by re­ceiving grace, he receives a principle contrary to sin, and so hath a principle of resistance against it: Or, because by that grace he is inclined not to sin, and so there is inchoativè, an impossibility of sinning, which shall hereafter be perfected; Not a simple impossibility, but secundum quid: He endeavours to work as one born of God, and follows the motions of the Spirit against the sin to which he is tempted.

He cannot sin, i. e. 'tis a hard matter for him to sin; for considering the efficacy of grace, and the assistances attending it, it is a difficult thing for a righteous man to be brought under the power of sin; he may sin easily in respect of the frailty of the flesh, but not so easily in regard of the abiding of the Seed in him, which helps him to beware of sin. Grace being a divine habit, hath the nature of a habit, which is to incline the person to acts proper to that habit, and facilitate those acts, as a man that hath the habit of an Art or Trade, can with more ease work in it than any other.

3. He cannot sin, in sensu formali, as he is regenerate, or ex vi talis nativitatis. Grace can­not sin, because it can do nothing but what pertains to the nature of it; as the heat cannot cool, unrighteousness cannot do good. Fire doth not moisten per se, nor Water naturally heat. But it is not said, The Seed of God cannot sin; but in the Concrete, He that is born of God; and he that hath the Seed remaining in him cannot sin. A gracious man as a gracious man cannot sin, for grace being a good habit, is not capable of producing acts contrary to its nature. Sin in a regenerate man proceeds not from his grace, but from his corruption. Grace cannot be the principle of evil. But because his grace is imperfect, dwelling among re­mainders of sin, therefore a man sins, though this principle in him keeps sin from attaining a full dominion and superiority. Yet though he doth sin, his sin is not the proper fruit of the form whereby he is regenerate.

4. He cannot sin in sensu composito; as long as he is regenerate, as long as the Seed remains in him, as long as he follows the motions of the Spirit, and Grace, which are able to over­come the motions of concupiscence; but he may give up the grace. As an impregnable Tower cannot be taken as long as it is defended by those within; but they may fling away their Arms, and deliver it up. Grace quantum est ex parte sua, renders a man impeccable, as long as it continues in him; as Innocency did render Adam immortal, as long as he per­sisted in it. But we may ex culpâ nostrâ, lose it by mortal sin, and so perish, as Adam by his own will lost the integrity of his Nature, and was thereby made subject to death. This is founded upon a false Hypothesis, viz. That Grace may be lost: And the Text renders the being born of God, and the Seed remaining in us, to be the reason why we cannot sin, not the condition of our not sinning; for if it remains, and we cannot sin therefore, how can any sin come in to expel that which preserves us from it? A man must cease, according to what the Apostle here writes, to be born of God, before he can sin in that sense the Apostle means.

5. He doth not commit sin, and cannot sin, i. e. Grave peccatum, the mortal sin, and persist in it. The sin of unbelief, which is called in Scripture by way of eminency [Sin, and the Sin] 'tis the chief sin the Spirit convinceth of; 'tis the sin that easily besets us, Heb. 12.1. Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, i. e. especially unbelief. Though this be true, yet it is not the full meaning and sense of it.

6. He doth not commit sin, and cannot sin, as the Devil doth, or as one that is of a diabolical nature, as one that is acted by the Devil; which is clear by the Antithesis, v. 8. He that commits sin, is of the Devil, for the Devil sins from the beginning. He cannot set himself against Christ, as the Devil doth, as the Pharisees did, in which respect our Saviour calls them the Children of the Devil, for their remarkable and constant opposition to him. He cannot make a practice of sin, and persist in it, as the Devil doth, who began to sin present­ly after the Creation, and continueth in it ever since. He sins, the present tence noting the continued act of the Devil. Sin may be consider'd two ways; viz. As to

1. The Act of sin. Thus a Believer sins.

2. The Habit of sin, or custom in it. When a man runs to sin freely, willingly, and is not displeased with it. Thus a Believer doth not commit sin, nor cannot sin. He commits it not. Potiùs patitur quàm facit; he gives not a full consent to it; he hates it while he can­not escape it. He is not such a committer of it, as to be the servant of sin, John 8.34. He that commits sin, is the servant of sin; because he serves with his mind the Law of God: He be­stows not all his thoughts and labour upon sin, in making provision for the flesh, Rom. 13.14. in being a Caterer for sin: He yields not up his Members as Instruments of unrighteousness un­to sin; he doth not let sin reign in his mortal body, nor yield a voluntary obedience to it in the lusts thereof, Rom. 6.12, 13. for, being God's Son, he cannot be sins Servant; he cannot sin in such a manner, and so absolutely, as one of the Devil's Children, one born of the Devil.

His Seed remains in him] His, refers to God, or the person born of God. God's Seed efficiently, man's Seed subjectively.

Born of God.] Twice repeated: In the first is chiefly intended the declaration of the State, in the second the disposition, or likeness to God.

Observe, 1. The Description of a Christian: [Born of God.

2. The Priviledge of this Birth, or Effects of it.

1. Inactivity to sin; [He doth not commit it.

2. Inability to sin; [He cannot.

3. The ground and reasons of those Priviledges.

1. The inward Form or Principle whereby he is regenerate, which makes him unactive.

2. The Efficient Cause, which makes him unable; [Born of God; or likeness to God makes him unable.

4. The latitude of them in regard of the Subject; [Whosoever; every regenerate man. I intend not to run thorow all the parts of this Text, having only chose it as a bar to presumption, which may be occasioned by the former Doctrine, upon mens false suppo­sitions of their having grace. There needs not any Doctrine from the Text; but if you please take this: ‘Doct. There is a mighty difference between the sining of a regenerate and a natural man: A regenerate man doth not, neither can commit sin in the same manner as an unregenerate man doth.’

That I may not be mistaken, observe, when I use the word May sin, I understand it of a May of possibility, not a May of lawfulness: And when I say a regenerate man cannot sin so or so, understand it of a settled habitual frame; distinguish between passion, and surprise, a sudden effort of nature, and an habitual and deliberate determination. The sense of this cannot I shall lay down in several Propositions.

1. It is not meant exclusively of lesser sins, or sins of infirmity. There are sins of daily incur­sion and lighter skirmishes; there are some open, some secret assaults, a multitude of se­cret faults, Psal. 19.12. undiscernable and unknown. Every good man is like Jacob, though he hath one thigh sound, he hath another halting. I do not find that ever God intended to free any in this life from the remainders of sin: What he hath not evidenc'd to have done in any, we may suppose he intended not to do. 'Tis a total Apostacy, not a partial Fall, that the Covenant provides against. Christ in his last prayer, prays for Believers preserva­tion, and gradual sanctification, not for their present perfection. The very Office of Advo­cacy erected in Heaven, supposeth sins after regeneration, and during our continuance in the world, 1 John 2.1. My little Children, I write unto you that you sin not; and if any man sin; we have an Advocate with the Father. In many things we offend all, James 3.2. Not only you that are the inferior sort of Christians, but we Apostles. We is extensive; All offend in many things. 'Tis implyed in the Lord's Prayer, the daily standing Pattern. As we are to pray for our daily bread, so for a daily pardon, and against daily temptations, which sup­poseth our being subject to the one, and our commission of the other. The brightest Sun hath its spots; the clearest Moon her dark parts. The Church in her highest comeliness in this world hath her blackness of sin, as well as of affliction; because, though sin be dis­mounted from its Throne by grace, it is not expelled out of its residence: It dwells in us, though it doth not rule over us, Rom. 7.20. And it cannot but manifest it self by its fruits while it remains. Yet those sins do not destroy our Adoption. Christ in his Sermon on the Mount to his Disciples, supposeth the inherency of sin, with the continuance of the relation of Children, Matth. 7.11. If then you being evil know how to give good gifts to your Chil­dren, how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him? He doth acknowledge them evil while he calls God their Father, and gives them the title of Children. To sin is to decline from that rectitude in an act, which the Agent ought to observe. In this respect we sin, according to the tenour of the Law, in every thing we do, though not according to the tenour of the Gospel.

2. A regenerate man cannot live in the customary practice of any known sin, either of omission, or commission.

1. Not in a constant omission of known duties. If a good man falls into a gross sin, he doth not totally omit the performance of common duties to God: Not that this attendance on God in his Ordinances doth of it self argue a man to be a good man; for many that walk in a constant course of sin, may from natural Conscience and Education be as constant in the performing external services as he is. 'Tis a proper note of an Hypocrite, that he will not always delight himself in the Almighty, nor always call upon God, Job 27.10. i. e. not customarily: Whence it follows, that a delight in God in duties of Worship, is a property of a regenerate man. An act of sin may impair his liveliness in them, but not cause him wholly to omit them. We need not question but David, in the time of his impenitency, did go to the Tabernacle, attend upon the Worship of God: 'Tis not likely that for ten months together he should wholly omit it, though no doubt but he was dead-hearted in it, which is intimated when he desires a free spirit, Ps. 51. & prayes for quickening, Psa. 143.11. one [Page 90] of his Penitential Psalms. A total neglect of Ordinances and Duties, is a shrewd sign of a total Apostacy, and that grace was never in such a mans heart; especially a total omission of prayer; this is an high contempt of God, denying him to be the Author of our mercies, depriving him of the prerogative of governing the world, disowning any need of him, any sufficiency in him, declaring we can be our own Gods, and subsist of our selves without him, and that there is no need of his blessing. Grace, though sunk under a sin, will more or less de­sire its proper nourishment, the Milk of the Word, and other Institutions of God. Nature, though opprest by a disease, will require food to keep it alive. A good man in this case is like the Planets, which though they be turned about daily from East to West, by the motion of the primum mobile, yet they still keep up their proper motion from West to East, either slower or quicker.

2. Not in a customary commission of any known sin. To work iniquity, is the proper character of natural men, hence called workers of iniquity, Psal. 5.5. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. And by the same title are they called by Christ at the Day of Judgment; Depart from me all you workers of iniquity, that contrive, lay the plat-form of it, and work at it as at a Trade, or as a curious piece of Art. 'Tis one thing to sin, another to commit or do a sin, Psal. 119 3. They do not iniquity, they walk in his ways; their usual, constant course is in the way of God; they do not iniquity, they settle not to it, take not pleasure in it as their work and way of livelihood. So it is the character of an ungodly man to walk in the ways of sin. Walking according to the course of the world, and fulfilling the desires of the flesh, are one and the same thing, Ephes. 2.2, 3. A good man may step into a way of sin, but he walks not in it, to make it either his business or recreation. So walking in sin, and living in sin, are put toge­ther: What is called walking after the flesh, Rom. 8.1. is called living after the flesh, v. 13. which is the same with committing sin in the Text: So ways and doings are joyned together, Zach. 1.6. To make sin our way or walk, is when a man chuses it as a particular trade and way of living. A good man in sin is out of his way; a wicked man in sin is in his way; a good man will not have so much as one way of sin, a wicked hath many ways, for he seeks out many inventions. Not one Example of the gross fall of a good man in Scripture will countenance any pretence for a course in sin; for either they were not in a course of sin, or it was not a course of known sins.

Noah was drunk but once, yet that was not a sin of the same hue with that among us. He first found out the fruits of the Vine, Gen. 9.20. knew nothing of the strength of the Grape, and therefore might easily be overcome by an unusual liquor.

Lot's Incest was but twice, and that unwillingly: He knew not his Daughters lying down, or rising neither time, Gen. 19.33, 35. And for his Daughters, some think that they thought there was no man left upon the Earth but their Father, but that is not clear; for Lot had been in Zoar, and departed thence to the Mountain where their fact was com­mitted. His drunkenness admits of some aggravations; it was no fit season for him to swill after so sharp a Judgment upon Sodom, so severe a remark of God upon his Wife, and so great a deliverance to himself: Yet this was not a course of sin; you read no more of it. There is difference between a mans being drunk, and being a drunkard, the one notes the act, the other the habit and love of it.

Peter denied Christ, yet but three times together; not three times with considerable in­tervals for a full deliberation. 'Tis probable Peter's Faith was so stupified (as well as the Faith of those Disciples that were going to Emmaus, Luke 24.21. We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel; who (and indeed all the Disciples in several passages) seem'd to expect a temporal Kingdom to be erected by him) as therefore not to judge it fit to hazard himself for a person he thought himself so much mistaken in. Howsoever it was, it was not a course of sin, and his Repentance over-rules the plea for any customary transgression.

And though the Corinthians were charged with Fornication, and eating things sacrificed to Idols, yet it seems to be out of a corrupt Judgment, as appears by the Apostles disputing against the one, 1 Cor. 6.13, 14, 15. and against the other, 1 Cor. 8. And that neither of those were generally judged to be sins by the converted Gentiles, as appears by the Decree of the Apostles, Acts 15.28, 29. where they determine against both these; though this was a course of sin, yet not a course of known sins; and after they were informed by the Apostle of the sinfulness of them, they abstain'd: therefore in the second Epistle The first Epistle was writ the 25th year after the death of Christ, and 2d Epistle the 26th year according to Baronias. writ the year af­ter to them, he charges them not with those former crimes, but comforts them for their being so much cast down with sorrow.

David's sin, though lying upon him for about ten or twelve months, yet it was not a course of sin; and we find a signal Repentance afterwards; but of that after. To walk in a road of known sins is the next step to committing sin as sin, and manifests the habit of sin to have a strong and fixed dominion in the will.

I shall confirm this by some Reasons, because upon this Proposition depend all the following.

1. Regeneration gives not a man a dispensation from the Law of God. As Christ came not to destroy the Law, but to establish it, so grace doth not dispense with the Law, but con­firms the Authority of it. Habitual grace is not given us to assist us in the breaches of it, but to enable us to the performance of it. As the grace of God which hath appeared to all [Page 91] men teaches the Doctrine of Holiness, so the grace of God in us enables us to walk in the way of holiness. Grace in a Believer embraceth what the grace of God teaches. The Moral Laws of God are indispensable in themselves, and of eternal verity. Therefore as no rational creature, much less can a regenerate person be exempted from that obedience to the Law, which as a rational creature he is bound to observe. The grace of God justi­fying is never conferred without grace sanctifying: 'Tis certain, where Christ is made righ­teousness, he is made sanctification. 'Tis not congruous to the Divine Holiness, to look upon a person as righteous, who hath not a renewed principle in him, no more than it is congruous to the Divine Justice and Holiness, to look upon him as righteous, meerly for this principle so imperfect.

2. 'Tis not for the honour of God to suffer a custom and course of sin in a renewed man. 'Tis true, a renewed man should not voluntarily, nor doth commit willingly even sins of lighter infirmi­ties; but God suffers those, because they do not wound the honour of Christianity, though they discover a remoteness from a state of perfection. But they do not customarily fall in­to great sins, for it seems not congruous to permit such courses commonly in any one which would disgrace Religion, and make that despicable in the eyes of the world, which God hath designed in all Ages to honour. Since he hath delivered his Son to death, to pre­serve the honour of his Law; it seems not to consist with his wisdom, to let those who en­joy the fruits of his death, walk in a customary contempt of his Law. Neither can we think that God would permit that in a Believer, which is against the very essence of grace, though he may permit that which is against the beauty and accidental perfection of it.

3. 'Tis against the nature of the Covenant. In the Covenant we are to take God for our God, i. e. for our chief good, and last end. But a course of sin is an adoration of the sinful Object as the chief good, and last end, because a man prefers the creature before God, and loves it supremely, contrary to the will of God. 'Tis essential for one in Covenant with God, to have an high valuation of God and his will. But a custom of known sins evidenceth that there is not a worthy and practical esteem of God. How can any condition of the covenant consist with a constant practice of sin? How can there be faith where the pre­cept is not believed? How can there be love if the pleasure of God be not regarded? How can there be fear if his authority be wilfully contemned? How can there be a new heart when there is nothing but an old frame, and a diabolical nature. 'Tis a re­nouncing those conditions upon which a right to heaven is founded. For a worker of iniqui­ty walks in those ways which are prohibited upon pain of not entring into that place of glo­ry, and so doth wilfully refuse the acceptance of the conditions on Gods part, and the performance of the conditions on his own part, which are necessary to Gods glory, and his own interest. 'Tis an invasion of Gods right whereby he refuseth God for his God and Lord, and sets up himself as his own governour, an affecting vertually an equality with God, and independency on him, which in the common nature of sin is vertually the same with that of the Devil, who sinned from the beginning, and therefore a course in sin, one that is born of God doth not continue in. Perhaps the Apostle in the Text might have some such respect upon his opposing the Believers not committing sin to the sin of the Devil from the beginning, viz. such a course of sin whereby a Man declares as the Devil did, that he will be his own governour, as indeed in every course of sin a Man doth practically declare.

4. 'Tis against the nature of our first repentance and conversion to God. True repentance is a breaking off iniquity by righteousness, Dan. 4.27. a turning from sin to holiness, from our selves to God, from our own Wills to the Will of God; from every thing else as the chief good, and last end, to God as both these. Now though a particular act of sin be against the watchfulness which attends repentance, yet a course of sin is against the nature of it,Taylor of re­pentance. pag. 188. the one is against the liveliness of Repentance, the other against the life of it. A delightful walking in any known sin, though never so lit­tle, is a defyance to God, and therefore contrary to the nature of conversion, and is a vertual embracing of all sin whatsoever; because he that in his ordinary walk in sin hath no respect to the Will and pleasure of God, though he knows it, and will not be re­strain'd from his delight by any such regard of God, would be restrain'd from no other sin whatsoever, if he did conceive them as pleasant, advantageous, and suitable to him as he doth that which is his darling. As he that breaks one point of the Law is guilty of all, James 2.10. because he shews thereby a Will and Disposition to break all, if the same occasions were offer'd. So he that commits one known sin wilfully, much more he that walks in a course of sin, is guilty of all sins vertually. For he would boggle at no tempta­tions upon a respect to God, because if a regard to God doth not prevail upon him against a course in one kind, it will not detain him from a course in all other kinds of sin, if he come under the same circumstances for it. Let me add this too, If he that offends in one point of the Law be guilty of all, i. e. as much delight and eagerness, as he hath in the breach of that one, it is to be supposed that he would have in the breach of all the rest upon the former reason, can then such a disposition which is in every course of known sin, be consistent with the nature of repentance and conversion?

5. 'Tis against the nature of habitual grace, which is the principle and form of our Regenerati­on. If he doth not commit sin because the seed of God remains in him, then such a course [Page 92] of sin is against the nature of this seed; inconsistent with the birth of God; a crooked and perverse Spirit in sin is a sign of a putrified Soul, a spot of a different nature from that of Gods Children; Deut. 32.5. They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his Chil­dren, they are a perverse and crooked Generation; 'tis a stain peculiar to the Children of the Devil, not the Sons of God. A Trade in sin is an evidence of a Diabolical Nature, 1 John 3.8. He that commits sin is of the Devil. 'Tis not therefore consistent with grace, which is a Divine Nature. The reign of sin is inconsistent with the reign of grace, though the rebellion of sin be not. 'Tis against the nature of Regeneration for sin to guide our Wills, though it be not against the nature of it, for sin to reside in our flesh. To walk after the flesh, Rom. 8.1. is an inseparable Character of a natural Man. The Apostle, Rom. 7. ult. had been complaining of the Law of his Members, the serving sin with his Flesh, he comforts himself with this, that he obeyed it not; and that they were in Christ, whose or­dinary walk was as the Spirit led, not as the Flesh allured.Amyrant. in Joh. 8.9. And indeed every Tree brings forth fruit suitable to its nature. A Vine brings not forth Thorns; and he that hath the seed of God, is under an impossibility of bringing forth the fruits of sin with delight, since he hath a Root of righteousness planted in him.

1. 'Tis against the nature of a renewed understanding. A Regenerate Man hath a new light in his mind, whereby he hath a fairer prospect of God, and a fouler of sin. He was an enemy to God in his mind before, Col. 1.21. He had dishonourable opinions and con­ceits of God and goodness, and honourable thoughts of sin above its merit, he thought ill of the one and well of the other. But now he is renewed in the Spirit of his mind, Eph. 4.23. and he hath the Spirit of a sound mind, 2 Tim. 1.7. His judgment is regulated by the Law of God, he judges of sin as it is in its nature a transgression of the Law. Can we imagine, that a Man restored to a sound mind, and that hath his natural madness and fol­ly cured, should act after this cure as much out of his wits as before. If he hath his con­stant frenzies and madness as much as before, where is his cure.? Can any Man in the world act always against his judgment? though he may be overpowered by the importu­nity of others, or over-ruled by a fit of passion to do something against his judgment; can you expect always to find him in the road of crossing the dictates of his understand­ing? An unregenerate Man hath a natural light in his Mind and Conscience, and so a judgment of sin; but he hath not a judgment of sin adequate to the object, he doth not judge of sin in the whole latitude of it; he hath not a settled judgment of the contrariety of his beloved sin to God. He looks not upon it in the extent of it, as, malum injucun­dum, inhonestum, inutile; if he looks upon sin as dishonest, he regards it as profitable; if nei­ther as honest or profitable, yet as pleasant; so that the natural light, which is in the un­derstanding when it dictates right, is mated and over-ruled by some other principle, the pleasure or profit of it, and swayed by the inherent habits of sin in the Will. The De­vil that works in them hath some principle to stir up, or dim this natural light, and cast a mist before the Eye; and so they direct their course according to that particular judgment which is befriended in its vote by sense.

2. 'Tis against the nature of a renewed Will. Grace is the law of God in the heart, and is put in to inable us to walk in the ways of God; and shall it endure such wilful pollu­tions in the Creature, when it is the end of its being there to preserve from them? The Spirit is given in the Heart, 2 Cor. 1.22. sent into the Heart, Gal. 4.6. the Law put into the Heart, Heb. 10.16. Since therefore there is an habit of grace in the Will, a Man cannot frequently and easily lanch into sin, because he cannot do it habitually, the remainders of sin being mated with a powerful habit, which watches their motions to re­sist them. Doth God put such a habit there, such a seed, an abiding seed to no purpose, but to let the Soul be wounded by every temptation, to be deserted in every time of need? Grace is an habit superadded to that natural and moral strengrh which is in the Will. Man by natures strength meerly, or with the assistance of common grace, hath power to avoid the acts of gross sins, for he is master of his own actions, though he is not of the motions tending to them; the Devil cannot force a Mans Will. And when grace a greater strength comes in, shall there be no effects of this strength, but the reins be as stiff in the hands of old lust, and the Will as much captive to the sinful habit in it as before? Grace being a new nature, it is as absurd to think that a gracious man should wallow in a course of sin, as it is to think that any creature should constantly and willingly do that which is against its nature. A gracious man delights in the Law of God, Psal. 1.2. His delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in his Law doth he meditate day and night; if he delights in it, can he delight to break it? Do Men fling that which they de­light in, every day in the Durt, and trample upon it, or rather do they not keep it choice­ly in their Cabinets? If it be also the Character of a good man to meditate in the Law of God, he must have frequent exercises of faith, reflections upon himself, motions to God which cannot consist with a course of sin Grace doth essentially include a contrariety to sin, and a love to God in the Will. 'Tis a principle of doing good and eschewing evil, and these being essential properties of grace, are essential to every regenerate man, and in every one. As a drop of Water, or one spark of Fire hath the essential properties of a great mass of Water, or a great quantity of Fire; so every renewed man hath the same love [Page 93] to God, and the same hatred of sin essentially, as the most eminent Saint, though not in de­gree, yea which those in heaven have, though not in the same degree. As a spark of fire will burn, a drop of water will moisten, though not in so eminent a measure. Now, upon the whole consider whether is it possible to bare reason, that a regenerate man should customarily do those things which are against the essential properties of that which is in him, in his will, and doth denominate him a new Creature?

3. Proposition. A regenerate man cannot have a fixt resolution to walk in such a way of sin, were the impediments to it removed. Though unregenerate men may actually as to the outward exercise abstain from some sins, yet it is usually upon low and mean conditions. If it were not for such or such an obstacle in the way I would do such and such an act. This temper is not in a good man, he cannot have a fixed and determinate resolution to commit such an act, if such bars were taken away. Such resolutions are Common in unregenerate men; Jer. 44.25. We will surely perform our vows which we have vow'd to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven, and Isa. 56.12. We will fill our selves with strong drink, and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant; we will have as merry a meeting as we had to day. The same character is ascribed to such an one, Psal. 36.4. He deviseth mischief upon his bed. He sets him­self in a way that is not good. He ahhorreth not evil. He modells out his sinful designs with head and heart, he settles himself as an army settles in their ground when they resolve to fight, [...] He abhors not evil. He starts not at such motions, but by a Meiosis, he huggs and caresseth them with a wonderful delight. Regenerate men fear to sin, wicked men con­trive to sin. One would starve it, the other makes provision for it. This temper cannot be in a Regenerate man.

1. 'Tis Diabolical. And so falls under that in the text, He cannot Commit sin as the Devil doth. 'Tis a stain of the Devil, who is resolved in his way of malice to God, and mischief to man, but for the strait Chains God holds him in; his resolution is fixed, though the execution restrained. He goes about seeking whom he may devour, 1 Pet. 5.8. [...] to drink at one draught: Seeking both for an opportunity and permission. Unwearied searches mani­fest fixed resolutions. His throat is ready to swallow, if he had a morsel for it.

2. 'Tis a sign of habitual sin, a state of sin. This temper manifests that the will is habituat­ed in sin, though the hand doth not outwardly act it. The inherent power of sin must be great, when a man is greedy to commit that, to which he hath no outward allurements, or when those allurements are ballanced with contrary considerations; when he hath either no outward temptation to it, or the cross impediments are as strong, or stronger than the temptation. When men in the midst of such bars long for a temptation, it is such a kind of desire in one way, as the Creature hath in an other, for the manifestation of the the Sons of God, Rom. 8.19. For the earnest expectation of the Creature waits for the manifestation, 'tis [...] a putting out the head to see if he can find any coming to knock off the fetters, not of his sin, but of his forced morality. In this case take two men, one Commits a great sin upon a temptation even as it were over-power'd by it, and had no thoughts, no inclinations before that temptation appear'd, which began first to spirit him. Another Commits a lighter sin, or would fain Commit it upon a weak temptation, and many bars lying in the way, and his heart was hankering and thirsting for some opportuni­ty to Commit it: which do you think really is the greater offence in point of heart and affection? The first appears blacker, but it is an invasion; the other is really blacker because it is an affection, and shews sin to be rooted in the heart as its proper soil, where­in sin delights to grow, and the soil delights to nourish it. The one shews sin to be a stran­ger, and a thief, which hath waylaid him, the other evidenceth sin to be an inmate and intimate friend. Such a man is not oblig'd to his will for his abstinence from sin, but to the outward hindrances; and the resolving act of the will to Commit it, were those impediments remov'd, is as real an act of sin in the sight of God as any outward act can be in the sight of man, because God measures the greatness of sin by the proportion of the will allowed to it; therefore many sins which may be little in our account may be grea­ter in Gods account, than the seemingly blacker sins of others, because there may be a greater ingrediency of the heart and affection in them than in the other.

3. 'Tis against the nature of our repentance and first closing with God. Repentance is a change of the purpose of the heart, not to Commit the same iniquity again, nor any other, Job. 34.32. If I have done iniquity, I will do no more. 'Tis the property of converting grace to make the Soul cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart, Act. 11.23. This is essential to it, though there may be some startings out by passion and temptation. A Pilots intention stands right for the port, though by the violence of the wind he may be forced another way. It alters not his purpose, though it defer his performance. This purpose is a perpetual intent, Psal. 119.112. v. I have inclined my heart to keep thy statutes alway even to the end. It was an heart-purpose and inclination; It regarded all Gods statutes, not for a fit, but perpetually, which he manifests by two words [alwaies even to the end] to shew that the perpetuity of it doth difference it from the resolutions of wicked men, who may indeed have some fits to do good, but not a fixed purpose to cleave to the Lord; these flashy purposes are like the flight of a bird which seems to touch Heaven, and in a moment falls down to the earth; as Saul resol­ved not to persecute David, but we soon find him again upon his old game & pursuit. Where [Page 94] there is true grace, there is hatred of all sin, for hatred is [...]. Can a man be resolv'd to Commit what he hates? No. For his inward aversion would secure him more against it than all outward obstacles. As this inward purpose of a good man is against all sin, so more particularly against that which doth so easily beset him. David seems in seve­ral places to be naturally inclind to lying, but he takes up a particular resolution against it, Psal. 17.3. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. [...] I have contrived to way-lay and intercept the sin of lying when it hath an occasion to approach me. A good man hath not only purposes, but he endeavours to fasten and strengthen those purposes by prayer. So David, v. 5. [hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. He strengthens himself by stirring up a liveliness in duty, and by avoiding occasions of sin, v. 4. [I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. Whereas a wicked man neither steps out of the way of a temp­tation, nor steps up to God for strength against it. Now if all this be true, that in conver­sion the heart hath a fixed resolution for God and his ways, and that perpetually, against all sin, and particularly against the sin of our natural inclination, and all this backt with strong cries, how can it have a fixed resolution to Commit it, if the way were outwardly fair for it?

4. 'Tis absolutely against the terms of the Covenant. God requires in that a giving up our selves to him, to be his people with our whole heart and Soul, as he gives himself to us with his whole heart. He will not be a Sharer of the heart with sin, much less an underling to it. God will not indure a competitor in the affections. To serve God and mammon are inconsistent by the infallible Axiom of our Saviour, Luke 16.13. Now, as God cannot be true to his Covenant, if he had purposes against the articles of it on his part, so neither can we be true to our covenanting with him, if we have setled purposes of heart against the Conditions of it. Therefore the instability in the Covenant ariseth only from the falseness of the heart, Psal. 78.37. Their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his Covenant. The iniqui­ty of our heels may compass us about, and make us stumble in our walk, yet our fears of be­ing out with God may receive no establishment, Psal. 49.5. Wherefore should I fear, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? Whether he means by iniquity the sins of his or­dinary walk, or the punishment of them, is all one. But yet if purposes of iniquity settle their residence in the heart, though we never act it by reason of obstacles, 'tis a sign we never sincerely closed with God in Covenant, nor God with us. The very regards of iniquity in the heart put a bar to the regards of God towards us. It hinders all Covenant acts on Gods part, because it is a manifest breach of it, Psal. 66.18. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me. [...]. If I have curiously and intently looked upon iniquity with pleasure in my heart.

5. 'Tis against the nature of Regeneration. Regeneration is a change of nature and conse­quently of resolutions. A Lyon chained up hath an inclination to ravage, but a Lyon chang'd into the nature of a Lamb loses his inclinations, with that change of his nature; so that it is as impossible a regenerate man can have the fixed and determinate resolutions that a wicked man hath, as it is impossible that a Lamb should have the ravenous dis­position of a Lyon; you know the Scripture makes the change as great. How can any man re­solve to do a thing against that law, which at the same time, he hath an habitual approba­tion of as holy, just and good? Against a law natural to him, viz. The law of the heart. If a delight in the Law of God be a constitutive part of Regeneration, then any settled pur­pose to sin is inconsistent with Regeneration, because such a purpose, being a testimony of an inward delight in that which is contrary to the Law of God, cannot consist with a delight in that which forbids what his heart is set upon.

4. Proposition. A regenerate man cannot walk in a way doubtful to him without inquiries, whether it be a way of sin, or a way of duty, and without admitting of reproofs and admonitions according to his circumstances. This consists of two parts.

1. He cannot walk in a way doubtful to him without inquiries, whether it be a way of sin, or of duty. If the nature of conversion be an inclination of the heart to keep Gods statutes always, even to the end, Psal. 119.112. the natural result then will be an enquiry what are the statutes of God which the Soul is to keep. A natural man, for fear of being disturbed in his sinful pleasure refuseth to understand the way of the Lord, and delights to be under the power of a willful darkness, Job. 21.14, 15. We desire not the knowledge of thy ways; what is the almighty that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray to him? This un­willingness to know the ways of God arises from a contempt of the Almighty and his service. They judged it not profitable to serve and worship God, and therefore were loth to receive any instruction, for fear any light should spring up in them, by way of conviction, to disturb them. Men love sin, and therefore hate any knowledge which may deprive them of the sweetness of it, Prov. 1 22. The Scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledg. They delight in sin, and therefore hate any knowledg which may check their delight. And this unwillingness to choose the fear of the Lord is the ground of their hating the knowledg of it, v. 30. for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They are afraid to be convinced that the way of their delight is a way of sin, they would have no gall in their Conscience to imbitter the hony of their lusts. This hatred of knowledg is in­consistent with true conversion, because conversion is an election or choice of the fear of God, and therefore cannot resist any means tending to promote that which is chosen. 'Tis essential to true grace to inquire into the mind and will of God, to understand what is pleasing to him, Job. 34.32. That which I see not teach thou me, if I have done iniquity I will [Page 95] do no more. Inform me in what I know not, & if I understand it is iniquity, which I have walk­ed ignorantly in, I will do it no more. He will not return to folly when he shall hear what God the Lord shall speak. 'Tis certainly incompatible to the new nature to act in a contrariety to God. Grace is always attended with an universal desire to know his will, and pleasure him in performing it; hence will follow an inquiry, what behaviour and what acts are most agreea­ble to him? John. 14.21. He that hath my Commandments and keeps them, he it is that Loves me. [...]. The Antithesis is; He that hath no mind to have my Commandments, because he would not keep them, hath no love to me. He it is [Emphatically,] exclusively, that is the man, and none else that Loves me. Now if a man be afraid of making inquiry into the lawfulness of a course he is wedded to, for fear his beloved object should appear to be a sin, 'tis a sign he abstains from what he knows certainly to be a sin out of a servile fear, not out of a generous, Divine Love, a Principle as essential to the new nature, as fear is to an enlight­ned carnalist.

2. A Regenerate man cannot despise admonitions and reproofs, which would inform him and with­draw him from a sinful course. If he be in the way of life that keeps instruction, then he that refuseth reproof is in the way of death, Pro. 10.17. He is in the way of life that keeps instructi­on, but he that refuseth reproof erreth. 'Tis put in a milder expression, but if you observe the opposition, it amounts to the inference I make. So Prov. 15.9, 10. The Lord Loves them that follow after Righteousness; correction is grievous unto them that forsake the way, and he that hates reproof shall dye. Here is a plain opposition made between them that follow after Righteousness, which is the character of a regenerate man, who is therefore the object of Gods Love, and that person that accounts correction grievous and hates reproof, he is not one that follows after Righteousness (to pursue is to embrace it) and therefore not the object of Gods Love, but the mark of death. So that it is impossible a righteous man should hate reproof. Nay the hating of reproof, whereby a man might be informed of his duty, is a sign not of a bare unregeneracy, but of one at the very bottom of it, wallowing in the very dreggs and mud of it farthest from the Kingdom of Heaven; one that scarce looks like a rational creature, Prov. 12.1. whoso Loves instruction Loves knowledge, but he that hates reproof is brutish. Whereas Solomons wise man, which is a Regenerate man, will love the reprover for the re­proofs sake, and grow wiser by instruction, Prov. 9.8, 9. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee; rebuke a wise man and he will Love thee, give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser, teach a just man, and he will encrease in learning. Just men change their intentions upon a discovery of the sinfulness of their way. And though it may not at the first assault of an admonition appear to be a sin, yet it will check somewhat their violence in it. But where sin hath a domi­nion, every check and discovery of it doth rather enflame than quench it, and the heart like a stream rises the higher for the damm. Judas had an admonition from Christ that informed him of what wickedness he was about, and the danger of it, Mark 14.21. He pronounceth a wo against him. Compare this with Joh. 13.27, 30. when he gives him the sop, which was at the same time he informed him of the danger, Satan entered into him, and he went more roundly to work to accomplish it, he went immediately out. Observe by the way, That the Spirit of God enters into a mans heart often upon admonitions from friends, and the Devil also more powerfully upon the same occasions than at other times. A good man can­not habitually hate the reprover. There is one example of a good man dealing hardly with a Prophet, for reproving him in the name of the Lord, 2 Chron. 16.10. Then Asa was wroth with the Seer, and put him into a Prison house; for he was in a rage with him, because of this thing. And partly for the Judgment of war against him. But the Scripture gives an allay to it; For he was in a rage. He was in a passion, because of the threatning and the plainness of the speech, thou hast done foolishly. To say such a word to an inferior would ordinarily now a days swell many a professor to a fury, much more a Prince. This very Proposition will discover, that there are many more pretenders to a Regenerate state than possessors of it, so strangely is not only Humane Nature, but the Christian Religion depraved among us.

5 Propos. A regenerate man cannot have a settled, deliberate love to any one act of sin, though he may fall into it. Thus the Devil sins, he loves what he doth. Though a good man may fall into a sin, & even such a sin, which he was much guilty of before his Conversion and which he hath repented of, yet never into a love of it, or the allowance of any one act of it. For by Regeneration the Soul becomes like God in disposition, and therefore cannot love any thing which he hates, whose hatred and love being always just, are unerring Rules to the love and hatred of every one of his Children. He can never account a sin his ornament, but his fetter, never his delight, but his grief. I add this Proposition, because there may be a love of an act of sin, where there is not a constant course in it: As a man that hath com­mitted a murther out of revenge, may love afterwards the very thoughts of that revenge, though he never murther any more: And a man that hath committed an act of Adultery, may review it with pleasure, though he never commit an act again. But a good man can­not. David is supposed to be inclined to the way of lying and dissembling; though he might falter sometimes, and look that way, and perhaps fall into it, yet never into a love of it; therefore observe, Psal. 119.163. I hate and abhor lying; but thy Law do I love. A single hatred would not serve the turn; but, I hate and abhor. I have not the least affection to this of any, though I have the greatest natural inclination to it. What was the reason? [Page 96] Thy Law do I love. There was another affection planted in his Soul, which could not consist with a love to, or allowance either of the habit, or any one act of lying. A good man hath yielded his Soul up to the government of Christ, his affections are fully engaged; he cannot see an equal amiableness in any other Object, for he cannot lose his Eyes again; his enlightened mind cannot be wholly blinded and deceived by Satan; he walks not by the inveiglements of sense, but by the unerring Rule of Faith; so that though by some mists before his Eyes, he may for a while be deluded, yet as he cannot have a setled false Judg­ment, so he cannot have a setled affection to any one act of sin. 'Tis one thing for a City to surrender it self to the Enemy out of affection, and another thing to be forced by them: Un­der a force they may retain their Loyalty to their lawful Prince. There may be some pas­sionate approbations of an act of sin. Jonah was an Advocate for his own passion against God, and made a very peremptory Apology for it, Jonah 4.9. I do well to be angry, even to the death. Yet if we may judge by his former temper, we cannot think he did afterwards defend it out of judgment, as he did then out of passion; for when the Lot fell upon him, Jon. 2.9, 12. he made no defence for his sin, he very calmly wishes them to cast him into the Sea. Where there is a passionate approbation, it cannot be constant in a good man; for when he returns to himself, his abhorrences of the sin and of himself for it, are grea­ter, as if by the greatness of his grief he would endeavour to make some recompence for the folly of his passion.

Observe by the way; A good man may commit a sin with much eagerness, and yet have a less affection to it in the very act, than another, who acts that sin more calmly; because it may arise, not from any particular inclination he hath in his temper to that sin, but from the general violence of his natural temper, which is common to him in that action. This seems to be the case of Jonah both in this, and the former act. But if a man be more vio­lent in that act of sin, than he is in other things by his natural temper, there is ground both for himself and others to think, that sin hath got a great mastery over his affections.

Peter seems to be a man of great affections, and of a forward natural temper; he was very hasty to have Tabernacles built in the Mountain for his Master, Moses and Elias, and have resided there. He hastily rebukes his Master; he flung himself out of a Ship to meet our Saviour walking upon the water, and after his Resurrection he leapt into the Sea to get to him: So that Peter's denying his Master was not such an evidence of disaffection to him, or love to the sinful act he was then surpriz'd by, as it would have been in John, or any other Disciple of a more sedate temper. But this only by the way, as a Rule both to judg your selves by, and to moderate your Censures of others. And consider, That such acts of sin are not frequent. The violence of a mans temper, if godly, cannot carry him out into a course of sin, or a love to any one act. As a wicked man may hit upon a good duty, and perform it, but not out of a settled love to God, or habitual obedience to his Law; so a good man may by surprize do an evil work, not out of obedience to the Law of sin, or any love to the sin it self. What considerations may move a wicked man to a good duty, may in some respect move a good man to a sinful act; yet it is not to be called a duty in the one, no more than it is to be called a sin in the other of the same hue, of the same hue I say, with that in a natural man.

6 Proposition; A regenerate man cannot commit any sin with a full consent and bent of will. A man may consent to that which he doth not love. Hereby I distinguish it from the former Proposition. I mean not, that he cannot commit any sin wilfully as sin, for so I believe no man doth; it being against the nature of the creature to do evil, as evil formaliter, but under some other notion of it. Some consent of the will I do acknowledg, because the will as well as the other faculties, is but in part regenerate; as there is not a triumphant light in the un­derstanding, so neither is the grace of the will at present triumphant, but militant; yet it may be rather called the will of sin, than a mans own will. Sometimes a good man is by some sudden motion hurried on to sin, before he can consult law and reason, before he hath his wits well at liberty, before he can compare the temptation or sin with the prohibition of it by the Divine Law. But generally there is a resistance in him, as well as a provoca­tion in sin; for the two contrary principles exert themselves in some measure. Grace re­sists, and sin provokes: Whereas another that hath no grace, sins with a full consent, because he hath no spiritual resisting principle in him; for he is flesh, and not spirit, and whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh, and wholly flesh. There is a resisting indeed in a natural man, but it is a resistance of natural light, not of grace, a resistance not of the Will, but of the Conscience; the Will is bent to sin, but natural Conscience puts rubs in the way. Neither is this resistance in spiritual sins (which is the greatest character I know, whereby to distin­guish a resistance of natural Conscience, from a resistance by a principle of grace) which natural Conscience doth not so much trouble it self about, as not having light without a spiritual illumination to discern them; but only in gross sins, such as are condemned by com­mon reason; so that if he hath any resistance, it is not in the will of the man, but the will of his Interest, will of his Credit, or the will of his Conscience; not in the ratio­nal will complying with, and delighting in the will of God.

A regenerate man cannot commit any sin with

1. An habitual Consent; because he hath a principle of grace within him which opposes [Page 97] that tide of nature which did forcibly carry him down before. This opposite principle doth remain, though the present opposition may not be discerned by reason of the preva­lency of the temptation: As in a Room warm'd by a fire in Winter, there is a principle in the Air doth resist that heat, and reduce it after the fire is out to its former rawness and coldness. A renewed man being passed into another nature, it cannot be supposed he can do any thing with an habitual bent of will against his nature. Grace hath put a stop to that. Paul distinguisheth himself from sin in the acts of it; 'Tis not I, or my will, but sin, Rom. 7.20. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. [...] signifies to perfect and compleat a work, to work industriously and politely. Had I my will, I should not do thus. There is a divorce made between the will and sin, so that sin acts upon a single score, now, 'Tis no more I; a divorce is made between my will and sin. The Law of Sin is therefore called a Law in the members, not of the members; a Law found working there, v. 21. I find a Law in my members; I did not enact it, I placed it not there, I consent not to its being there; but there I find it, and know not how to be rid of it, but it shall never have my will. But the Law of grace is called a Law of the mind, not in the mind; a Law which is settled there by the consent of the Soul, and to whose Sove­raignty and Guidance it yields it self. The Law of sin is in the members; the vigor of it is seen in the inferiour faculties of the Soul, not in the higher, the mind and will; 'tis a Law imposed upon me, not imbraced by me; a Law of disturbance, not of obedience; a Law that troubles me, doth not delight me, v. 21, 22. It resides as an Enemy warring, but hath no intimacy with me as a friend, v. 23. yet it is an Enemy driven to the out-works, to the members: So that where all this is, you cannot suppose an habitual consent to sin, when the will is formed into another nature. As the will of the wicked is possessed by habits of sin under the restraints from it, so the will of the godly is possessed by habits of grace, even under the rape of a prevailing temptation.

2. Nor an actual consent both antecedent and consequent. The Interest of sin may seem to be actually higher and stronger in the Soul than the Interest of God, though this latter is habi­tually stronger than the Interest of sin. Though there may be an antecedent delight in the motion, a present delight in the action, yet there is not a permanent consequent delight af­ter it; yet the two first are rare. 'Tis seldom that a renewed Soul and sin do so friendly con­spire together without any spiritual reluctancy. Suppose he may have by the suspension of grace, a whole actual consent of will to one particular sin, upon some strong provocation, yet he gives not up himself to the will or way of that sin. He is only under a temporary, not a perpetual power of it. As a man in a fight may by a fall be under the power of his Enemy, yet in the struggle get up again, and reduce him to the same necessity. Though there be not an express dissent at the motion, nor in the action, yet there is alwaies after; for it is as much against the terms of the Covenant to have a perpetual delight in any sin committed, as to commit it often, because this delight in it is an approbation of it, and every act of delight, is a new act of approbation, and consequently a recommission of it, and a making a mans self a perpetual accessary to that first act.

1. Sometimes he hath an antecedent dissent. A renewed man is troubled and displeased at the first motion to a sin; he is sometimes troubled that any sin should so much as ask him the question to have entertainment in him: 'Tis so many times with a natural man, much more with a regenerate man; yet afterwards that displicency abating, the sin creeps upon him by degrees, and ensnares him. Paul had an act of will against that which he did, be­fore he did it; he did that which was preceded by an act of his will nilling it, as there was an act of his will, for the doing good preceding his not doing it, Rom. 7.19. The good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. The act of his will was pre­sent, v. 18. To will is present with me, I have that standing in a readiness to do good; but the executive power is at a distance, I know not how to have it. But how to perform that which is good I find not. He speaks as a man that was searching for something which he had a great desire to find, and could not meet with it. Many times a good man is tyred out with the importunity of a temptation, and is fain to fling down his weapons, and sink under the oppression, till he receive a new recruit of strength by exciting and assisting grace.

2. Sometimes concomitant, in the very commission of a sin. Peter seems to have had some resistance in the very act of denying his Master. The Spirit of God blew up some sparks of shame in him at that very time; for after the very first denial, he went out into the porch, Mark 14.68. By his retirement he discovers some willingness to have avoided a further temptation. There is many times an exercise of displeasure against it, while a man cannot avoid it, Rom. 7.15. That which I do, I allow not; that which I hate, that I do. I hate it even while I do it, and my hatred is excited against it, in the very act; he means it of sins of infirmity. The Seed of God in the heart cannot consent to sin, but will many, times in the very acting of it be shewing its displeasure, weakly or strongly against it. As a Needle touched with a Loadstone, if it be disturbed in its standing to the North-pole, will shake and tremble while the impediment is upon itSmith o [...] the Creed.. Some demurrers were made in Peter's heart, but fear over-ruled the plea; and it is probable his heart was not wholly asleep even in the very act; else it is not likely he should have been so suddenly rouzed. There is a voice in him. Grace speaks for God, but it is over-ruled and opprest by a temp­tation; [Page 98] there are some pull-backs, some spiritual whisperers even when it presses hard. Why art thou cast down my Soul? Psal. 43.5. There is the carnal part stirring in distrust: Hope thou in God, there is a spiritual part rising in Faith. A neat person may by stumbling he bemir'd in a dirty hole, but while he stumbles, there is a natural impetus, which endeavours to keep him upright; and if he doth fall, he struggles till he be deliver­ed. But when a Swine falls into a puddle, he lies grunting with pleasure, and grumbles at any that will drag him out. Which leads me to a third thing.

3. But there is always a consequent dissent after the fall. He hath many rebukes in his Conscience; whereas a natural mans sin is brought up and nurtur'd with him, Eccles. 5. [...]. They consider not that they do evil; they lay it not to heart, especially if it break not out in some foul and notorious manner. A renewed man is displeased at the very first motion that clambered up into his heart to entice him to his sin; not only the fruit, but the root that bears it is odious to him, Psal. 51.5. Behold I was shapen in iniquity. By the same rea­son that he directs his hatred to the sin of his Nature, by the same reason he will do it to the first motion that immediately brought forth that bitter fruit; which a natural man doth not. 'Tis the character of a wicked man to rejoyce that he hath done evil, Prov. 2.14. which I think is never found in a renewed man; for this is indeed to be under the power of Satan, and like their Father the Devil. But he condemns what he hath committed; and the greater his delight in it, the greater will his abhorrency be of it, and the more earnest his cry to be rid of his burden. When he comes to see what contrariety there was in his act to the Law of God, it is impossible but his heart should smite him. It cannot be, but that delight in the Law of God, which is a constitutive part of a regenerate man, Rom. 7.22. must revive, when the weights which did suspend it are removed, and according to the degrees of his revived delight there will be suitable degrees of displeasure with what was contrary to the object of it; for since a delight in the Law of God is essential to a renewed nature, that delight must needs produce an aversion from every thing contrary to that Law, otherwise it is not a delight: If there be not such workings after a review of sin, I dare pro­nounce that such a man is not regenerate. But how long he may lie in a sin, without acting consideration about it, I cannot determine. He must needs have torment in his Soul, and a high disaffection to his sin, and himself for it, because upon a review he can­not but see how unlike to God it hath made him; how much it hath defiled his Soul, and impaired the Divine Image. No disease can be more grievous to the body than a sin fallen into is to the new nature; it grieves and pains the new creature, which is restless till it be rid of the disease; the new nature is a tender thing. Though he be assured of its pardon, he is in anxiety till he finds it purged, Psal. 51.7. Purge me with Hyssop, and I shall be clean. David had been assured of the pardon of his Sin by Nathan; that would not quiet him, as long as the filth remained; he would not only have the guilt removed, but the stain washed off; as a man fallen in the dirt is desirous not only to be raised up, but to be wash­ed clean from any remainders of the mire. A good man hath a disquietness in his heart, and is as much troubled at his sin, as at a stinking wound, or a loathsom disease, Psal. 38.5, 6, 7, 8. and his sorrow is continually before him, v. 17. He is more displeased with that sin, than he is pleased at present with all the grace he hath. David's sin was ever before him, Psal. 51.3. Peter brought forth no other fruit immediately after the review of his sin, but sorrow, and exercised more grief for that, than he did joy at the present, for the not failing of his Faith; as a man is more troubled with a pain of the Tooth, or a fit of the Gout, than pleased with all the health in his vital parts, which is far greater than his pain. Here then is a difference; Regenerate men have pain in their sins, natural men pleasure; the one is ashamed of his sin, the other at best but ashamed of his discredit; he condemns him­self for it with so much severity, rips his heart open before God, that if a wicked man should hear him praying in his Closet after some sin, he would think he did belye him­self, or else that he were the vilest Villain in the world. He will study no excuses, and present no pleas to God for his sin. If he hath not strength to conquer it, he hath a voice to cry against it: Prayers are doubled; one Messenger goes to Heaven upon the heels of another, and so moderation, which was in his requests before, is turn'd to an unsatisfied importunity. So that you see, there is not a plenary consent of will, but the dissent is habi­tual and actual, if not antecedent or concomitant, yet alwaies consequent.

What then doth the regenerate mans sin arise from? It ariseth

1. Either from a strong passion, which many times bears down the bars both of grace and reason. That is not wholly voluntary which is done by the prevalency of passion, which suspends the determination of the understanding, and consequently the regular and free motion of the Will. Such was the accusation of God in his Prophet, which David was guilty of, Psal. 116.11. I said in my haste, all men are liars. I said, 'tis true, all men are liars, even the Prophet too, but it was in my haste. And in his haste he accuseth God of the breach of his promises, Psal. 31.22. I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thy Eyes. God hath either forgot his promise, or changed his resolutions, for not one of them will be made good unto me. It was a passion in Moses which made him guilty of that act of unbelief, that cost him his exclusion from the land of promise, Num. 20.8, 10, 11, 12. God commands him to use his Tongue, not his Rod on the Rock; but the passion the [Page 99] good man was in by the provocation of the people, transported him beyond his bounds. Peter's heart was not so full of courage as of Loyalty, his Zeal was put out of counte­nance by his fear. A strong fit of passion may make a man, as good and meek as Moses, fling away both the Tables of the Law, which otherwise would be as dear to him as the Apple of his Eye.

2. From inconsiderateness. There cannot be a full consent of Will, where a delibe­rate judgment doth not precede. Many a man, through an inconsiderate indulging his appetite, eats that meat which foments his humors into some dangerous disease. Sin creeps upon a good man when the liveliness and activity of his Spirit in former duties is in a slumber; but another hath as great inclinations to sin, when his understanding is in its strength. Peter had the grace of faith, but he fell into his sin for want of acting it; upon his repentance, it is said, Luke 22.6. And Peter remembred the words of the Lord. He had forgot Christs words, and that made him forget himself and his Master in that act of sin. If our Saviour had cast his Eye upon Peter, and excited his slumbering grace before the Maid had spoken to him, he might have prevented Peter's fall as well as afterwards recovered him. If God had sent Nathan with a message to David, when his corruption be­gan first to put on its Arms, to have shewed him the vileness of his intentions, and excited him to a stout resistance, he might have prevented the loss of his innocency, as well as restor'd him after it had lain in the dust so long. David might have kept his standing, and dismist those inclinations, as he did his inconsiderate design of murdering Nabal and his family upon Abigail's admonition, for which he blesseth God, 1 Sam. 25.32, 33. In short, The motion of a regenerate man to sin is violent, like a stone upward, the motion of an unrenewed man is natural, like a stone downwards. The Godly are violently pursued, but the wicked fottishly infatuated by a temptation.Greenham. And certainly when the strength of the passion is abated, and the free exercise of reason recovered, there will be the exercise of grace again; for it is not conceiveable, that the habit of grace and repen­tance should be without the actual exercise of it, when the impediments are removed, and an occasion presented; so that he that doth not recover himself to his former exercise, ne­ver had this true seed of God infused into him.

7 Proposition. Though a regenerate man may fall, and sin have a temporary dominion, yet he recovers out of this state, and for the most part returns to his former holiness, and an increase of it, though not always to his former comforts. There are none whose sins are recorded in Scripture, but there are some evidences of their repentance for it, or the acting the con­trary grace. Davids sin was gross, and his repentance remarkable; he was more tender afterwards in point of Blood, 2 Sam. 23.16, 17. when he desired Water out of the Well of Bethlehem, and it was brought him by three valiant men with the Jeopardy of their lives; he would not drink it, because it was the Blood of the men that ventured their lives to satisfy his curiosity. Peters repentance is eminent, his affection is hot, for the truth of which he could appeal to his masters omnisciency, John 21.17. Lord thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. His courage is illustrious in asserting his Masters honour in the face of the greatest dangers, in which exercise you find him the Foreman of that Jury of the 12 Apostles before every Assembly, Acts 2.3.4.5. &c. Though Abraham had discovered a distrust of God in Pharaohs and Abimelechs courts, yet his faith afterward in his readiness to sacrifice Isaac, was as glorious as his unbelief had been base, which gave him the title of the Father of the faithful. Noah who was drunk, and thereby exposed to the derision of his Son, could not so well have curst him, had he not abhorred the sin as well as the reproach. And Lot, whose righteous Soul was vexed with the filthiness of others, could not have a less vexation at his own when he came to know of it. Those that affirm that mortal sins expel grace, yet doubt whether they expel the gifts of the Spirit, one end whereof say they, is to render the Soul pliable and flexible to the motions of the Spirit.Suarez: de Gratia. lib. 11 c. 3. num. 10, p. 415. If they do not expel the gifts, I know not why they should expel the grace which is under the manutenency of the Spirit of God in a particular manner. The Spirit lusts against the flesh, as well as the flesh against the Spirit, and the lusting of the Spirit will prevail as well as the lusting of the flesh, and more, Gal. 5.17. All natural things that are removed out of their proper place, are restless till they are reduc'd to their right station. A good man is as Water, that though it be turned into a Mass of Ice, wholly cold in the ways of God, yet still there is a principle in him, (as there is in Ice) to return to his former form, figure and activity, upon the warm eruptions of the Spirit of God. There is a powerful voice behind him that brings him back, when he turns either to the right hand or to the left from the ways of God, Isa. 30.21. By virtue of this seed within him, and the Spirit of God exciting it, that word which comes home to the Soul after a sin, becomes efficaci­ously melting, and raises up springs of penitential motions, which could not arise so sudden­ly were the spiritual life wholly departed. For a man that hath no habit of grace in him, cannot so suddenly concur with Gods proposals, and exercise a repentance. In such an one we see first a stupefaction of mind, and an unaptness to faith, no motions of a true re­pentance, though some preparation to it. But with a regenerate man it is otherwise. David being admonisht by Nathan was struck to the heart, and Peter presently upon our Saviours look melted into tears. Their grace, like tinder, took fire presently upon those [Page 100] small but powerful occasions; though it did not act at the time of their sin, yet it had an aptness to act upon the removal of the impediments. Though Jonah seems to cast off all regard of God and his command, yet upon the first occasion in the Whales Belly, he brings forth excellent fruits of faith in a moment. Jonah 2. Grace in an instant upon the first motion of the Spirit will rise up, and take its place from whence it seems to be deposed. As a natural man under some sting of Conscience, and flash of a lightning conviction, may be restrained from sin, yet his natural inclination to it remains, though suspended at the present, and may be carried the quite contrary way, as the stream of a river by the force of the Tide is turned against its natural current, yet slides down its channel with its wonted calmness upon the removal of the force; so a good man under the violence of some lust hath not his new nature changed, though at present it is restrain'd by an ex­trinsick force; so that as the one upon the taking off his conviction, returns to his sin, so the other upon the removal of his fetters, returns to his holiness with a greater spirit and delight. A wicked man may sometimes do a good action, but he continues not in it. As a Planet is sometimes retrograde, but soon returns to its direct course. When their Conscience pinches them, they awake out of their trance. So a good man may sin through infirmity, but he will revoke it by repentance. The seed of God re­mains in him as the Sap in the Root of a Tree that recovers the leaves the next return of the Sun at the spring. He may sink by nature and rise again by grace; but the Devil, who sinned at the beginning, fell and never rose more.

Ʋse of Examination.

If you find your selves in these cases, in a course of known sin, resolution to commit it, were it not for such bars; unwillingness to know Gods pleasure and injunction, despising admonitions and reproofs, a settled love to it, a full consent of Will without any antece­dent, concomitant or consequent dissent, tumbling in it without rising by repentance, a circle of sinning and repenting without abhorrence of sin; you may conclude your selves in an unregenerate state, you sin like the Devil, who sinned from the beginning.

THis Psalm, as Grotius thinks, was made to be sung upon the Annual day of the Jewish Expiation, when a general confession of their sins was made. 'Tis one of David's poenitential Psalms, supposed to be composed by him after the Mur­der of Ʋriah, and the pronouncing of his pardon by Nathan, v. 5. and rather a Psalm of Thanksgiving. 'Tis called Maschil, a Psalm of understanding. Maschil is translated eruditio, intelligentia, and notes some excellent Doctrine in the Psalm, not known by the light of Nature. Blessed [...]] Blessednesses. Ex omni parte beatus. Three words there are to discover the nature of sin; and three words to discover the nature of pardon.

[...] Transgression.] Prevarication. Some understand by it sins of omission, & commission.

[...] Sin.] Some understand those inward inclinations, lusts and motions, whereby the Soul swerves from the Law of God, and which are the immediate causes of external sins.

[...] Iniquity.] Notes original sin, the root of all. Three words that note pardon.

[...] Levatus, forgiven.] Eas'd, [...], signifies to take away, to bear, to carry away. Two words in Scripture are chiefly used to denote remission, [...], to expiate, [...], to bear, or carry away; the one signifies the manner whereby it is done, viz. atonement; the other the effect of this expiation, carrying away; one notes the meritorious cause, the other the con­sequent.

[...] Covered.] Alluding to the covering of the Aegyptians in the Red Sea. Menochius thinks it alludes to the manner of writing among the Hebrews, which he thinks to be the same with that of the Romans; as writing with a Pencil upon wax spread upon Tables, which when they would blot out, they made the Wax plain, and drawing it over the writing, co­vered the former letters. And so it is equivalent with that expression of blotting out sin, as in the other allusion it is with casting sin into the depths of the Sea.

[...] Impute.] Not charging upon account. As sin is a defection from the Law, so it is forgiven; as it is offensive to God's holiness, so it is covered; as it is a debt involving man in a debt of punishment, so it is not imputed; They all note the certainty, and extent, and perfection of pardon. The three words expressing sin here, being the same that are used by God in the declaration of his Name, Exod. 34.7. Here are to be considered,

• 1. The Nature of Pardon.
• 2. The Author of it, God.
• 3. The Extent of it, Transgression, Sin, Iniquity.
• 4. The Manner of it, implied, by Faith in Christ.

The Apostle quoting this place, Rom. 4.7. to prove Justification by Faith: As sin is not imputed, so something is imputed instead of it. Covering implies something wherewith a thing is covered, as well as the act whereby it is covered.

5. The Effect of it, Blessedness.

I shall not divide than into distinct Propositions, but take the words in order as they lie.

I. The Nature of Pardon.

[Page 102]1. Consider the words, and what notes they will afford to us.

(1.) Covering, as it alludes to the manner of writing, and so is the same with blotting out, Isa. 43.25. I, even I am he that blots out thy transgression; whereby is implied, that sin is a debt, and pardon is the remitting of it. It notes,

[1.] The nullity of the debt. A crossed book will not stand good in law, because the crossing of the book implies the Satisfaction of the debt. A debt may be read in our man­ner of writing in a crossed book, but it cannot be pleaded. God may after pardon read our sins in the book of his Omniscience, but not charge them upon us at the bar of his Justice.

[2.] Gods willingness to pardon. Blots, not razeth. He engraves them not upon marble, he writes them not with a pen of Iron, or point of a diamond; writing upon wax is easily made plain.

[3.] The extent of it. Blotting serves for a great debt as well as a small, a thousand pound may as well, and as soon be dasht out by a blot as a thousand pence.

[4.] The quickness of it upon repentance. It takes more time to write a debt in a book, than to cross it out; one blow would obliterate a great deal of writing upon wax. Sins, that have been contracting many years, when God pardons he blots out in a moment.

(2.) Covering, as it alludes to the drowning the Aegpytians is exprest by casting into the depths of the Sea, Micah. 7.19. Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea.

This notes also

[1.] Gods willingness to pardon. Casts them, not lays them gently aside, but flings them away with violence, as things that he cannot endure the sight of, and is resolved never to take notice of them more.

[2.] Gods reality in pardon. He will cast their sins as far as the arm of his omnipotency can reach; If there be any place further than the depths of the Sea, thither they shall be thrown out of the sight of his justice.

[3.] The extent. [All] their sins. The Sea covered Aegyptian Princes as well as the people. The mighty Lord, as well as the Common Souldier, sank like lead in those mighty waters.

[4.] The Duration of it. The Sea vomits up nothing that it takes into its lower bowels, things cast into the depths of the Ocean never appear more. Rivers may be turned, and drain'd, but who can lave out the Ocean?

[2.] Not imputing. Not putting upon account, not charging the debt in a legal process. To this is aequivalent the expression of not remembring, Isa. 43.25. I will not remember their sins. An act of oblivion is past upon sin. This notes,

[1.] That God will not exact the debt of thee. God doth not absolutely forget sin, for what he knows never slips out of his knowledg. So that his not remembring is rather an act of his will than a defect in his understanding. As when an act of oblivion is passed, the fact committed is not Physically forgotten, but legally, because the fear of punishment is removed. God puts them out of the memory of his wrath, though not out of the memory of his knowledge. He doth remember them paternally to chastize thee for them, though not judicially to condemn thee.

[2.] Not upbraid thee. Not with a scornful upbraiding mention them to cast thee off, but with a merciful renewing the remembrance of them upon thy Conscience, to excite thy repentance, and keep thee with in the due bounds of humility and reverence.

More particularly the nature of pardon may be explained in these Propositions. We must not think that these expressions, as they denote pardon, do intimate in this act the ta­king away of the being of sin, nature of sin, or demerit of sin.

1. The being and inherency of sin is not taken away. Though sin be not imputed to us, yet it is inherent in us. The being remains, though the power be dethroned. By pardon God takes away sin, not as it is a pollution of the Soul, but as it is an inducement to wrath. Though remission, and Sanctification are concomitants, yet they are distinct acts, and wrought in a distinct manner.

2. The nature of sin is not taken away. Justification is a relative change of the person, not of the sin; for though God will not by an act of his justice punish the person pardoned, yet by his holiness he cannot but hate the sin, because though it be pardoned, it is still contrary to God, and enmity against him. 'Tis not a change of the native malice of the sin, but a non-imputation of it to the offender. Though the person sinning be free from any indict­ment, yet sin is not freed from its malitia, and opposition to God. For though the law doth not condemn a justified person because he is translated into another state, yet it condemns the acts of sin, though the guilt of those acts doth not redound upon the person to bring the wrath of God upon him. Though David had the sins of murther and adultery pardon'd, yet this pardon did not make David a righteous person in those acts, for it was murther and adultery still, and the change was not in his sin, but in his Soul and state.

3. The Demerit of sin is not taken away. As pardon doth not alter sins nature, so neither doth it alter sins demerit, for to merit damnation belongs to the nature of it; so that we may look upon our selves as deserving Hell, though the sin whereby we deserve it, be remitted. Par­don frees us from actual condemnation, but not, as considered in our own persons, from the [Page 103] desert of condemnation. As when a King pardons a thief, he doth not make the theft to become formally no theft, or to be meritoriously no capital crime. Upon those two grounds of the nature and demerit of sin, a justified person is to bewail it, and I question not but the consideration of this doth add to the triumph and Hallelujahs of the glorified Souls, whose chief work being to praise God for redemption, they cannot but think of the nature and demerit of that from which they were redeemed, Rev. 5.13.

4. The guilt of sin, or obligation to punishment is taken away by pardon. Sin committed doth presently by vertue of the law transgressed bind over the sinner to death: but pardon makes void this obligation, so that God no longer accounts us persons obnoxious to him. Peccatum remitti non aliud est quam non imputari ad poenam Durand. lib. 4. dict. 1. q. 7 For sin to be pardoned, is nothing else but not to be impu­ted in order to punishment.. 'Tis a revoking the sentence of the law against the sinner; and God renouncing upon the account of the Satisfaction made by Christ to his justice, any right to punish a believer, doth actually discharge him upon his believing, from that sentence of the law under which he lay in the state of unbe­lief; and also as he parts with this right to punish, so he confers a light upon a believer humbly to challenge it, upon the account of the Satisfaction wrought by his surety. God hath not only in his own mind and resolution parted with this right of punishing, but also given an express declaration of his will, 2 Cor. 5.19. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, i. e. openly renouncing upon Christs account the right to punish, whence follows the non-imputation of sin. Not imputing their trespasses unto them. The justice of God will not suffer that that sin which is pardoned, should be punished; for can that be justice in a prince to pardon a thief, and yet to bring him to the gallows for that fact? Though the malefactor doth justly deserve it, yet after a pardon and the word passed, it is not justly inflicted. God indeed doth punish for that sin which is pardoned. Though Nathan by Gods Commission had declared Davids sin pardoned, yet the Sword was to stick in the bowels of his family, 2 Sam. 12.10, 15. The Sword shall never depart from thy house, [the Lord hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not dye.] But

(1.) 'Tis not a punishment in order to Satisfaction. Because Christs Satisfaction had no flaw in it, and stood in need of nothing to eek it out: But 'tis for the vindication of the ho­nour of Gods holiness, that he might not be thought an approver of sin, and this was the rea­son of Davids punishment in the death of his child by Bathsheba. 2 Sam. 12.14. [Because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to Blaspheme.]

(2.) 'Tis not so much poenal as medicinal. A judg Commands a hand to be cut off, that is for punishment; a Physician and a Father order the same, but for the Patients cure, and the preservation of the body. And though God after pardon acts not towards his people in the nature of a Judg, yet he never lays aside the authority and affection of a Father. We are delivered from a Judges wrath, but not from a Fathers anger. In that remarkable dumb­ness inflicted upon Zachary for his unbelief, Luk 1.18.20. there was a confirmation of his Faith, as well as the chastisement of his incredulity. The Angel upon his unbelieving desire of a sign, gives him a Testimony of the truth of his errand, but such an one that should make him feel in some measure the smart of his unbelief.

(3.) If it be penal, 'tis not the eternal punishment due to sin. 'Tis but temporary and not em­bittered by wrath, which is the gall of punishment.

This taking off the obligation to punishment is the true nature of pardon. Which will be evident from, 2 Sam. 19.19. Let not my Lord impute iniquity unto me. Shimei desires David not, to impute iniquity, and not to remember it. It was not in Davids power absolutely to forget it and Shimei's confessing the fact with those circumstances in verse 20. was enough to recall it to Davids memory, if he had forgot it; but he desires David not to bring him to sa­tisfy the penalty of the law for reviling his Soveraign.

II. The Author of Pardon, God. For pardon is the Soveraign prerogative, of God where­by he doth acquit a believing Sinner from all obligation to Satisfactory punishment upon the account of the Satisfaction and Righteousness of Christ apprehended by Faith.

1. 'Tis Gods act. Remission is the Creditors not the Debtors act; though the Debtor be obliged in Justice to pay the debt, yet there is no obligation upon the Creditor to demand the debt, because it is at his liberty to renounce or maintain his right to it; and God hath as much power as man to relax his right, provided it be with a Salvo to his own honour, and the holiness of his nature, which he cannot deny for the sinners safety, as the Apostle tells us, God cannot deny himself. Yet properly, say some, though sin be a debt, God is not to be considered in pardon as a Creditor, because sin is not a pecuniary debt, but a criminal, and so God is to be considered as a governor, law-giver, guardian and executor of his laws, and so may dispence with the severities of them. If an inferior person tear an indictment, it may be brought again into Court; but if the chief Magistrate order the casting it out, who can plead it? 'Tis Gods act, and if God justifies who can condemn? Rom. 8.33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect? It is God that justifies, who shall condemn? That God absolves thee that hath power to condemn thee, that God who enacted the law whereby thou art sentenced, proclaims the Gospel whereby thou art reconcil'd. 'Tis an offended God who is a foregiving God; that God whose name thou hast prophaned, whose patience thou hast abused, whose laws thou hast violated, whose mercy thou hast slighted, whose justice thou hast dared, and whose glory thou hast stained.

[Page 104]2. 'Tis not only his act but his prerogative, and he only can do it. God is the party wronged. Nemo potest remittere de jure alieno. This prerogative he glories in as peculiar to himself, the thoughts of this honour are so sweet to him, that he repeats it twice, as a title he will not share with another, Isa. 43.25. [I, even I am he that blots out thy transgressions. Par­doning offenders is one of a Princes royalties. And this is reckoned among his Regalia, as a choice flower and jewel in his Crown. Exod. 34.7. [for giving iniquity, transgressions and Sins. A Prince punisheth by his ministers, but pardons by himself. And indeed God is never so glorious as in acts of mercy: Justice makes him terrible, but mercy renders him amiable. When Moses desired to see God in his royalty, and best perfections, he displays himself in his goodness, Exod. 33.18. Shew me thy glory, v. 19. I will make all my goodness pass before thee. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And though the Apostles had a power of Remission, and binding, that was only ministerial and declarative, like that prophetical power which Jeremy had to root up nations, and destroy Jerm. 1.10. i. e. to declare Gods will in such and such Judgments, as he should send him to pronounce. Men cannot pardon an infinite wrong done to an infinite justice. Forgiveness belongs to God, as

(1.) Proprietor. He hath a greater right to us than we have to our selves.

(2) Soveraign He is Lord over us, as we are his creatures.

(3.) Governour of us, as we are parts of the world.

(3.) 'Tis an act of his mercy: Not our merit. Though there be a conditional connexion between pardon, and repentance, and Faith, yet there is no meritorious connexion ariseth from the Nature of those graces, but remission flows from the gracious indulgence of the promise.

'Tis the very tenderness of mercy, the meltings of inward bowels, Luke. 1.78. To give knowledg of Salvation, and Remission of their sins through the tender mercies of our God. [...] an inexhaustible mercy, Psal. 86.5. Thou Lord art ready to forgive, and art plenteous in mercy. A multitude of tender mercies, Psal. 51.1. What Arithmetick can count all the bub­lings up of mercy in the breast of God, and all the glances and all the doles of his pardoning grace towards his creatures? And he keeps this mercy by him as in a treasury to this purpose, Exod. 34.7. keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving inquity, &c. And is still as full as ever, as the sun which hath influenced so many animals and vegetables, and expelled so much darkness and cold, is still as a strong man able to run the same race, and perform by its light and heat the same operations. When mercy shews it self in state with all its train, it is but to usher in pardoning grace, Exod. 34.6.7. not a letter, not an attribute that makes up the composition of that name but is a friend and votary of mercy. And that latter clause a learned man explains of Gods clemency, He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the Ini­quity of the Fathers, &c. which he renders thus; He will not utterly cut off and destroy, but when he doth visit the sins of the Fathers upon the Children, it shall be but to the third or fourth Ge­neration, not for ever. This name of God is urged by Moses, Number 14.17. Now I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great; the Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity, &c. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of thy mercy. Where Moses repeats this clause more particularly than he doth the other parts of his name; which surely he would not have done, and pleaded it as a Motive to God to pardon Israel, if he had not under­stood it of God's clemency; for otherwise he had dwelt more upon the argument of Justice than upon that of mercy, which had not been proper to edg his present petition with. Nay it is such pure mercy, the genuine birth of mercy, that it partakes of its very name, as Chil­dren bear the name of their Father, Heb. 8.12. I will be merciful to their iniquity, which in the Prophet, Jer. 31.34. whence the Apostle quotes it, is, I will forgive their iniquity.

That it is so, will appear, because

(1.) No attribute could be the first motive of pardon but this. His Justice would loudly cry for vengeance, and flame out against ungrateful sinners. His holiness would make him abhor not only the embraces but the very sight or such filthy creatures as we are. His power would at­tend to receive and execute the Commands of his justice and holiness, did not compassion step in to qualify.

(2.) Ʋnconstrained mercy. Men pardon many times, because they are too weak to punish. But God wants not power to inflict Judgments, neither doth man want weakness to sink under it, Rom. 5, 6. When we were without strength, Christ dyed for us. God wanted not sufficient reason to justify a severe proceeding both in the quality of sin, every sin being a contrariety to the law, Soveraignty, work, glory, yea the very being of God, now for God to pardon that which would pull him out of his throne, hath blemished the creation, robs him of his honour, must be an act of the richest and purest mercy: And in the quantity, multitudes of sins of this cursed quality as numerous as motes in the Sun-beams. 'Tis impossible for the nimblest Angel to write down the extravagancies of men committed in the space of twenty four hours, if he could know all the operations of heir Souls as well as their outward actions; all those God doth see, simul & semel, and yet is ready to pardon in the midst of numberless provocations.

(3.) Resolv'd and designed mercy. 'Tis not through inadvertency and insensibleness of [Page 105] the aggravating circumstances of them. God must needs know the nature and circum­stances of all those sins he himself laid upon Christ. Yea God hath an actuated knowledge of all when he is about to pardon, Isa. 43.22. God reckons up their sins of omissions: They had been weary of him, and had not brought to him their small Cattle; had preferr'd their Lambs and Kids before his Service, wearied him with their iniqui­ties, endeavoured to tire him out of the Government of the World. What could one have expected after this black Scroul, but Fire-balls of Wrath? Yet he blots them out, v. 25. though all those sins were fresh in his memory. Nay, the Name we have pro­faned becomes our Solicitor, Ezek. 36.22. For my holy Names sake which you have pro­faned.

(4) Delightful and pleasant mercy. He delights in pardoning mercy, as a Father de­lights in his Children. He is therefore called the Father of mercy, Micah 7.18. he pardons iniquity, and retains not his anger for ever, because he delights in mercy. Never did we take so much pleasure in sinning, as God doth in forgiving. Never did any penitent take so much pleasure in receiving, as God doth in giving a pardon: He so much delights in it, that he counts it his wealth; Riches of grace, riches of mercy, glorious riches of mercy; no Attribute else is called his riches. He sighs when he must draw his Sword, Hos. 11.8. How shall I give thee up, O Ephraim! But when he blots out iniquity, then it is, I, even I am he that blots out your transgressions for my Names sake. His delight in this is equal to the delight he hath in his Name. This is pure mercy, to change the Tribunal of Ju­stice into a Throne of Grace; to bestow pardons, where he might inflict punishments, and to put on the deportment of a Father instead of that of a Judge.

4. The Act of his Justice. Those Attributes which seem contrary, are joyned toge­ther to produce forgiveness: Yet God is not to be considered in pardon only as Judex, but paternus Judex; there is a composition of Judge and Father in this act; Free Grace on God's part, but Justice upon the account of Christ. That God will accept of a satisfaction is Mercy, that he will not forgive without a satisfaction is Justice: Mercy forgives it in us, though Justice did punish it in Christ. Christ by his death paid the debt, and God by the Resurrection of Christ discharged the debt; and therefore the Justice of God is engaged to bestow pardon upon a Believer. God set forth Christ as a propitiation, that he might be just, and therefore a justifier of him that believes, Rom. 3.26. Either the debt is paid, or not; if not, then Christ's Death is in vain; if it be, then God's Justice is so equi­table, as not to demand a second payment. Therefore another Apostle joyns faithful and righteous; it might have been faithful and merciful, faithful and loving; but faithful and righteous, or just takes in the Attribute, which is most terrible to man, 1 John 1.9. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, [...]. Isay joyns both together, a just God, and a Saviour, Isa. 45.21. So that here is unspeakable comfort. That which engaged God formerly to punish man, engageth him now to pardon a Believer. That which moved him to punish Christ, doth excite him to forgive thee.

5. The Act of his Power. 'Tis a sign of a noble and generous mind to pass over of­fences and injuries. Sick and indigent persons are the most peevish and impatient, and least able to concoct an injury. And when we kindle into a flame upon the least sparks of a wrong, the Apostle tells us, we are overcome of evil, Rom. 12.21. Be not over­come of evil: We become captives to our angry passions; speedy revenge in us being an act of weakness, the contrary must be an act of power over our selves. God's not executing the fierceness of his Anger is laid upon his being a God, and not man, Hos. 11.9. God's Infinite Power gives a rise to pardon, Micah 7.18. Who is a God like to thee, that pardons iniquity? Junius and Tremellius render it, Who is a strong God? and the Hebrew [...] will bear it. Let the power of my Lord be great, saith Moses, Numb. 14.17. The word Jigdal is written with a great Jod, to shew, say the Jews, that it is more than an ordinary power to command ones self when injured. Therefore when God proclaims his pardoning Name, he ushers it in with names of power; The Lord, the Lord God, Exod. 34.6. 'Tis a grea­ter work to forgive, than to prevent the commission of sin; as it is a greater work to raise a dead man, than to cure a sick man; one is a work of Art, the other belongs only to Omnipotency.

III. The Manner of it. How it is carried on.

1. On God's part by Christ.

(1.) By his Death. He is the Scape-Goat, upon whom our sins are laid, Isa. 53.6. Our sins are made Christ's, and Christ's righteousness is made ours: He is said to be made sin for us, and we are said to be made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor. 5.21. a blessed exchange for us; he bore that wrath, indured those torments, suffered those strokes of Justice which were due to us. The pardon of sin doth cost us confessions and tears, but it cost Christ blood, and unknown pains; (as the Greek Liturgy, [...], have mercy on us.)

[1.] Laid upon him by God. God appropriates this work to himself, Zach. 3.9. I will engrave the engraving thereof, speaking of the Stone, which is the same with his Servant the branch. As a Stone is cut with a Chizzel, which makes deep furrows in it; so did God [Page 106] deal with Christ, and that in order to the taking away of sin. I will remove the iniquity of that Land in one day, viz. the Day of Christ's suffering. By that Offering of himself, he shall perfectly satisfie me. Therefore it is called the will of God, in order to the taking away sin, Heb. 10.9, 10. compared with v. 11, 12. I come to do thy will, by which will we are sanctified; which will was to take away sin. For v. 11. that was the end of his Sacrifice, the Legal Sacrifices not being able to do it. God did not only consent to it, or give a bare grant, but it was a propense and affectionate motion of his heart, Isa. 53.10. It plea­sed the Lord to bruise him. Hence did the Angels sing at his Birth, Glory to God in the highest, peace on Earth, and good will towards men. The peace he was to procure was the fruit of God's good will towards us.

[2.] Voluntarily undertaken by Christ, Heb. 10.5, 7. Lo I come, I delight to do thy will, O my God. Willingness in the entrance of the work; willingness to take a body, and wil­lingness to lay down that body. He had as it were a Fever of Affection, a combustion in his bowels till it was finished. In his greatest Agonies he did not repent of his under­taking, or desire to give it over: He cryed indeed to his Father, that this Cup might pass from him, but he presently submits: If there be no other way to save sinners, I will pass on through Death and Hell to do it. When he was afflicted and opp [...]essed, he murmured not at it, Isa. 53.7. He opened not his mouth, he opened not his mouth; it is twice repeated, to shew his willingness. And God was highly pleased with him for this very reason, because he did pour out his Soul, and bore the sins of many, and ma [...] [...]rcession for the transgressors. All which expressions denote his earnestness and readiness in it.

(2.) By his Resurrection. His Death is the payment, his Resurrection the discharge, Rom. 4. ult. Who was delivered for our offences, and rose again for our Justification. Not that we are formally justified by the Resurrection of Christ, but that thereby God declar'd, that whosoever believes in him should be justified upon that believing. For if C [...] had not risen, there had been no certainty of the payment of the debt. In h s Death he pays the Sun, as he is our Surety; and in his Resurrection he hath his Quietus est out of God's Exchequer. God will not have this payment from Christ, which he hath acknowledged himself publickly to be satisfied with, and from Believers too. For upon his Resurre­ction he sent him to bless men, Acts 3. ult. God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you. How? In turning away every one of you from his iniquity: It being a great encourage­ment to turn men from sin, when God had thus declar'd them pardonable by the Resur­rection of his Son.

2. On our parts by Faith. Faith is as necessary in an instrumental way, as Christ in a meritorious way, Acts 26.18. That they may receive forgiveness of sins by Faith that is in me. Christ purchaseth a pardon, but Faith only puts us into possession of a pardon; yet it can­not from its own worth challenge forgiveness at the hands of God, but up [...] the account of Christ, who hath merited forgiveness. Though the King grants a pardon to a con­demned Malefactor, yet he may be executed unless he pleads it the next Assizes, though he hath it lying by him: So, unless we sue it out, and accept of it by Faith, all Christ's purchase will not advantage us. Faith looks not barely upon the sufferings of Christ, but upon his end and design in it: It looks not upon his Passion as a story, but as a Testa­ment; and you seldom find the Death of Christ mentioned in the New Testament with­out expressing the end of it. This forgiveness by Christ's Death as the meritorious cause, shews

(1.) God's willingness to pardon. If God did delight in the Death of Christ, it was not surely simply in his Death; for, could a Father delight to tear out the bowels of his Son? The afflictions of his People go to his heart, much more would the sufferings of his dar­ling. God had more delight in forgiveness, than grief at his Sons sufferings; for he never repented of it, though our Saviour besought him with tears. And that God who were ne­ver deaf to any that called upon him, nor ever will be, would not hear his only Son in the request, to take the Cup from him, or abate any thing of the weight o [...] [...] [...]uffer­ings, because it was necessary for the pardon of sin, necess [...]tate decreti, if not naturae. God repented of making the World, but never of forgiving sin: So that the pardon of sin is more pleasing to him, than the sufferings of his Son were grievous; otherwise whatso­ever the Father would have done by Instruments, yet surely he himself would not have been the Executioner of him. But in this affair there were not only Instruments, Judas to be­tray him, the Jews to accuse him, the Disciples to forsake him, Pilate to condemn him, the Souldiers to mock and crucifie him, and Thieves to revile him, but God himself, Isa. 53.10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: Thou shalt make his Soul an Offering for sin. His own Father that lov'd him, (as Abraham in the Type) puts as it were the knife to the throat of his only Son; which surely God would not have done, had not pardon of sin been infinitely pleasing to him. And how great a plea­sure must that be, that swallowed up all grief at his Sons sufferings? Yea, he seemed to love our Salvation more than he loved the life of his Son; since the end is always more amiable than the means, and the means only lovely as they respect the end.

(2.) The Certainty of Forgiveness. God must deny Christ's payment, before he can deny [Page 107] thy pardon. God will not deny what his Son hath earned so dearly; and what he earn'd was for us, and not for himself. Did God pardon many before Christ died, and will he not pardon believing Souls since Christ died? Some were certainly saved before the coming of Christ: Upon what account? Not for their own righteous­ness; that is but a Ragg, and could not merit infinite grace. Not by the law; that thundered nothing but death, and condemned millions; but never breathed a pardon to one person. Or was it by their vehement supplications? Those could not make an infinite righteousness mutable: Justice must be preferred before the cries of Male­factors; and if those could have done it, God would not have been at the expence of his Sons Blood. Therefore it must be upon this account, Rom. 3.25. For the remission of sins that are past. Did God pardon upon trust, and will he not much more upon pay­ment? Did he forgive when there was only a promise of payment, and some thousands of years to run out before it was to be made? and will he not much more forgive, since he hath all the debt paid into his hands? Would God remit sin when Christ had nothing un­der his hand to shew for it? and now that he hath a publick testimony, and acquittance, will he not much more do it? Seeing his purging our sins, or expiating them by his death, was the ground of his exaltation to the honour of sitting at the right hand of God in our natures, Heb. 1.3. When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; it is a certain evidence of the grant of pardon upon the account of this Sacrifice to those that seek it in Gods Methods, since God hath shewen him­self so pleased with it: For it is clear, that because Christ loved righteousness and hated iniquity, i. e. kept up the honour of Gods justice and holiness by the offering himself to death, that God hath given him a portion above all his fellows.

(3.) The extent of it. Both to original and actual sin, John 1.29. Behold the Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world. Sin of the World, the sin of humane nature, that first sin of Adam. Of this mind is Austin, and others, that original sin is not imputed to any to con­demnation since the death of Christ. But howsoever this be, it is certain it is taken away from Believers, as to its imputation. Christ was made sin for us, 2 Cor. 5.21. to bear all sin. It had been an imperfect payment to have paid the Interest, and let the Principal remain; or to have paid the Principal, and let the Interest remain. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, Rom. 8.1. and therefore no damning matter or guilt left in arrear. It had been folly else for the Apostle to have published a defying challenge to the whole Creation to have brought an Indictment against a justified person, (Rom. 8.33. Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect?) if the least crime remained unremitted for the justice of God, the severity of the Law, the acuteness of Conscience, or the malice of the Devil to draw up into a charge. Since the end of his coming was to de­stroy the works of the Devil, whereby he had acquired a power over man, he leaves not therefore any one sin of a Believer unsatisfied for, which may continue, and establish the Devils right over him. If the redemption only of the Jews with the exclusion of the Gentiles in the first compact seemed to displease him, to shed his blood for small Sins only would have been as little to his content. It had been too low a work for so great a Sa­viour to have undergone those unknown sufferings for debts of a smaller value, and to shed that inestimable Blood for the payment of Farthings and leave talents unsatisfied. Certainly, God sent not his Son, but with an inten ion his Blood should be improved to the highest uses for those that perform the covenant conditions, and that Father who would have us honour his Son as we honour himself, will surely honour his Sons satis­faction in the extensive effects of it, as he would honour his own mercy, since they are both so straitly linkt together. And it is as much for the glory of Christs satisfaction, as for the honour of his fathers mercy, to pass by the greatest transgressions.

(4.) The continuance of it. Thou art pardoned, and yet thou sinne [...]; but Christ hath paid and never runs more upon the score. Thou art pardoned and dost [...]aily forfeit, and needest a daily renewal; but Christ hath purchased, and never sins away his purchase. God exacted a price suitable to the debt he foresaw men would owe him, for he knew how much the Sum would amount unto. When he gave Christ, he intended him for the justification of many offences, Rom. 5.16. The free gift is of many offences unto justification, speak­ing of the gift of God, v. 15. And therefore since God cannot be mistaken in the greatness of the Sum, because of his infinite knowledge, it had been a greater act of wisdom not to provide any remedy at all, than not to do it thoroughly. If the continuance of that imperfect remission of Adam and the Patriarchs was drawn out for above 3000 years and more, and the enjoyment of happiness made good to them meerly upon Christs un­dertaking, surely it will be much more upon his actual performing, Rom. 3.25. There was then a [...], now an [...], they had a continuance of freedom from punishment by his mediatorship, and sponsion, much more shall Belevers have a continuance of pardon by his actual Sacrifice, upon which the validity of all the former mediatory acts did de­pend: Since now there is no more remembrance of Sin by the continuance of legal sa­crifices, his being so absolutely compleat. Therefore God hath erected a standing Office of Advocacy for Christ, 1 Joh. 2.1. in Heaven, for the representing of his wounds and satisfaction, and bespeaking a continuance of grace to us. He is said to be the lamb [Page 108] that taketh away the sins of the world, John 1.29. not [...] hath taken, or [...] will take, but [...] which notes, actum perpetuum, the constant effect of his death. And since as I said before, Christ hath an higher portion than others, because he loved righte­ousness, in this portion he hath a joy and gladness; but his joy would certainly be sullied, if pardon should not be continued to those for whom he purchased it.

(5.) The worth of it. That must be of incomparable value that was purchased at so great a price, as the Blood of God, Acts 20.28 (So it is called by reason of the union of the divine nature with the humane, constituting one person.) 'Tis Blood, which all the Gold and Silver, and the Stones and Dust of the Earth turned into Pearls, could not equal. God understood the worth of it, who in justice would require no more of his Son at least than the thing was worth, not a drop of Blood more than the value of it. Neither surely would Christ, who could not be mistaken in the just price, have parted with more than was necessary for the purchase of it. It would have beggar'd the whole Creation to have paid a price for it. The Prayers and Services of a gracious Soul, though God delights in them, could not be a sufficient recompence. And the bare mercy of God, without the concurrence of his provokt justice, could not grant it, though his Bowels naturally are troubled at the afflictions of his Creatures.

IV. Extensiveness, fulness, or perfectness of pardon. 1. In the Act; forgiving, covering, not imputing. 2. In the Object; iniquities, transgressions, and sins.

1. Perfect in respect of state. God retains no hatred against a pardoned person. He never imputes sin formally, because he no more remembers it, though virtually he may, to aggravate the offence a Believer hath fallen into after his justification. So Job possessed the sins of his youth. And Christ tacitly put Peter in remembrance of his denial of him. The grant is compleat here, though all the fruits of remission are not enjoyed till the day of judgment, and therefore in Scripture, sin is said then to be forgiven. 'Tis a question whether Believers sins will be mentioned at the day of judgment. Some think they will, because all men are to give an account. Methinks there is some evidence to the contrary. Our Saviour never mentioned the unworthy carriage of his Disciples to him in his sufferings, and after his resurrection seems to have removed from him all remembrance of it. 'Tis not to be expected, that a loving Husband will lay open the faults of his tender Spouse upon the day of the publick solemnization of the nuptials. But if it be otherwise, 'tis not to upbraid them, but to enhance their ad­mirations of his grace. He will discover their graces as well as their sin, and unstop the Bottles of their tears, as well as open the Book of their transgressions. Our Sa­viour upon Maries anointing him, applauds her affection, but mentions not her for­mer iniquity.

It must needs be perfect.

[1.] All Gods Actions are suitable to his Nature. What God doth, he doth as a God. And is he perfect in his other works, and not in his Mercy, which is the choicest flower in his Crown? God sees blacker circumstances in our sins, than an inraged Conscience, or a malicious Devil can represent: But God pardons not ac­cording to our apprehensions, which though great in a tempestuous Conscience, yet are not so high as Gods knowledge of it.

[2.] The Cause of pardon is perfect. Both the mercy of God, and the merits of Christ are immutably perfect. 'Tis for his own glory, his own mercies sake, that he par­dons. He will not dimm the lustre of his own Crown, by leaving the effect of his glo­ry imperfect, or satisfying the importunities of his mercy by halves. The Saints in Heaven have not a more perfect righteousness, whereby they continue their standing, than those on Earth have; for, though inherent righteousness here is stain'd, yet imputed, upon which pardon is founded, is altogether spotless. A righteousness that being in­finite in respect of the person, hath a sufficiency for Devils, had it a congruity; but it hath both for us, because manifested in our natures.

(2.) In respect of the Objects. Sinful nature, sinful habits, sinful dispositions, pardon'd at once, though never so heinous;

[1.] For quality. There was no limitation as to the deepness of the wounds caused by the Fiery Serpents in the Wilderness; the precept of looking upon them, extended to the cure of all, let the sting reach never so deep, the wound be never so wide, or sharp, and his sight be never so weak, if he could but cast his Eye upon the Brazen one. The Commission Christ gave to his disciples, was to preach the Gospel to every Creature, Mark 16.15. every Humane Creature; the worst as well as the best; though you [Page 109] meet with monstrous sinners in the likeness of Beasts, and Devils, except none from suing out a pardon in the court of mercy. The Almightiness of his mercy doth as much transcend our highest iniquities, as it doth our shallowest apprehensions. Our sins, as well as our substance, are but as the Dust of the Ballance, as easily to be blown away by his grace, as the other puft into nothing by his power. No sin is excepted in the Gospel, but that against the holy Ghost, because it doth not stand with the honour of God to pardon them who wilfully scorn the means, and account the Redeemer no better than an Impostor. No man can expect in reason he should be saved by mercy, who by a wilful malice against the Son of God, tramples upon the free offers of grace, and provokes mercy it self to put on the deportment of justice, and call in reveng­ing wrath to its assistance, for the vindication of its despised honour. The infinite grace of God dissolves the greatest mists, as well as the smallest exhalations, and melts the thick clouds of sin as well as the little icicles.

[2.] The Quantity. Hath God ever put a restraint upon his grace, and promise, that we shall find mercy if we sin but to such a number, and no more? 'Tis not agreeable to the greatness and majesty of Gods mercy, to remit one part of the debt, and to exact the other. It consists not with the motive of pardon, which is his own love, to be both a friend and an enemy at the same time, in pardoning some, and charging others; and thus his grace would rather be a mockery, and derision of men. Nei­ther doth it consist with the end of pardon, which is Salvation; for to give an half par­don is to give no Salvation; since if the least guilt remains unremitted, it gives justice an unanswerable plea against us. What profit would it be to have some forgiven, and be damned for the remainder? Had any one sin for which Christ was to have made a compensation, remain'd unsatisfied, the Redeemer could not have risen; so if the smallest sin remains unblotted, it will hinder our rising from the power of eter­nal death, and make the pardon of all the rest as a nullity in Law. But it is the glory of God to pass by all, Prov. 19.31. It is his glory to pass over a transgression. 'Tis the glory of a man to pass by an offence. 'Tis a discovery of an inward principle or property, which is an honour for a man to be known the master of. If it be his glory to pass by a single and small injury, then to pass by the more heinous, and nu­merous offences is a more transcendent honour, because it evidenceth this property to be in him, in a more triumphant strength, and power. So that it is a clearer evi­dence of the illustrious vigor of mercy in God, to pass by mountainous, and heaped up transgressions than to forgive only some few iniquities of a lesser guilt, Jer. 33.8. I will cleanse them from all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me, and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me, and whereby they have transgrest against me. Therefore when God tells the Jews, that he would give them a general discharge in the fullest terms imaginable, to remove all jealousie from men, either because of the number, or the aggravations of their sins, he knew not how to leave expressing the delight he had in it, and the honour which accrued to him by it, It shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and honour before all the nations of the earth. He would get himself an honourable name by the large riches of his Clemency. Mercy is as infinite as any other attribute, as infinite as God himself: And as his power can create incomprehensible multitudes of worlds, and his justice kindle unconceiveable Hells; so can his mercy remit innumerable sins.

3. Perfect in respect of Duration. Because the hand writing of ordinances is taken away, Col. 2.14, 15. Blotting out the hand writing of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his Cross; which was the Ceremonial Law, wherein they did by their continual presenting Sacrifices, and imposition of Hands upon them, sign a Bill, or Bond against themselves, where­by a conscience of sin was retain'd, Heb. 10.2, 3. and a remembrance of sin renewed, they could not settle the Conscience in any firm peace, Heb. 9.9. they were compel­led to do that every day, whereby they did confess that sin did remain, and want an expiation. Hence is the Law called a ministration of condemnation, 2 Cor. 3.9. because it puts them in mind of condemnation, and compelled the people to do that which testified, that the curse was yet to be abolished by virtue of a bet­ter Sacrifice. This Hand writing which was so contrary to us, was taken away, nailed to his Cross, torn in pieces, wholly cancelled, no more to be put in suit: Whence in [...]pposition to this continual remembrance of sin under the legal admi­nist [...]ation, we read under the New Testament, of Gods remembring sin no more, H [...] 10.3, 17. Christ hath so compounded the business with Divine Justice, that w [...] have the sins remitted, never returning upon us, and the renewal also of re­missions upon daily sins, if we truly repent. For though there be a blacker Tincture in sins after conversion, as being more deeply stain'd with ingratitude, yet the Co­venant of God stands firm, and he will not take away his kindness, Isa. 54.9, 10. And [Page 110] there is a greater affection in God to his Children, than to his Enemies; for these he loves before their Conversion with a love of benevolence, but those with a love of complacency. Will not God be as ready to continue his grace to those that are peni­tent, as to offer it to offending Rebels? Will he refuse it to his Friends, when he intreats his Enemies? Not that any should think, that because of this dura­tion, they have liberty to sin, and upon some trivial Repentance, are restored to God's favour. No, where Christ is made Righteousness, he is made Sanctification. His Spirit and Merit go together. A new Nature, and a New State, are Concomitants; and he that sins upon presumption of the grand Sacrifice, never had any share in it.

V. The Effect of Pardon. That is Blessedness.

(1.) The greatest evil is taken away, sin, and the dreadful consequents of it. Other evils are temporal, but those know no period in a doleful Eternity. There is more evil in sin, than good in all the creatures. Sin stript the fallen Angels of their Excellency, and dispossessed them of the Seat of Blessedness. It fights against God, it disparages all his Attributes, it deforms and destroys the creature, Rom. 7.13. Other evils may have some mixture of good to make them tolerable, but sin being exceeding sinful, without the mixture of any good, engenders nothing but destruction, and endless damnation. Into what miseries, afflictions, sorrows, hath that one sin of Adam hurl'd all his poste­rity? what screechings, wounds, pangs, horrours, doth it make in troubled Conscien­ces? How did it deface the Beauty of the Son of God, that created and upheld the World, with sorrow in his Agonies, and the stroak of Death on the Cross? How ma­ny thousands, millions of poor creatures have been damned for sin, and are never like to cease roaring under an inevitable Justice? Ask the damned, and their groans, yel­lings, howlings, will read thee a dreadful Lecture of sins sinfulness, and the punishment of it. And is it not then an inestimable blessedness to be delivered from that, which hath wrought such deplorable Executions in the World?

2. The greatest Blessings are conferred. Pardon is God's Family-Blessing, and the pecu­liar mercy of his choicest darlings: He hands out other things to wicked men, but he deals out this only to his Children.

[1.] The Favour of God. Sin makes thee Satan's Drudge, but pardon makes thee God's Favourite. We may be sick to death, with Lazarus, and be God's Friends; sold to slavery, with Joseph, and yet be dear to him; thrown into a Lions Den, with Daniel, and be greatly beloved; poor, with Lazarus, who had only Doggs for Chi­rurgions to dress his Sores, and yet have a Title to Abraham's bosom. But we can never be beloved, if we are unpardoned; no share in his friendship, his love, his in­heritance, without a pardon. All created evils cannot make us loathsom in a justi­fied State; nor all created goods make us lovely under guilt. Sin is the only Object of God's hatred; while this remains, his Holiness cannot but hate us; when this is removed, his righteousness cannot but love us; remission and favour are inseparable, and can never be dis-joyned. 'Tis by this he makes us as a Diadem upon his Head, a Bracelet on his Arm; it is by this he writes us upon the Palms of his Hands, makes us his peculiar Treasure, even as the Apple of his Eye, which Nature hath so care­fully fenced.

[2.] Access to God. A Prince may discard a Favourite for some guilt, and though he may restore him to his liberty in the Common-wealth, yet he may not admit him to the favour of his wonted privacies. But a pardoned man hath an access to God, to a standing and perpetually settled Grace, Rom. 5.1, 2. Being justified by Faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access. Guilt frights us, and makes us loath the very sight of God: Pardon encourageth us to come near to him: Guilt respects him as a Judge, Pardon as a Friend. Who can confident­ly, or hopefully call upon an angry and condemning God? But who cannot but hope­fully call upon a forgiving God? Sin is the partition wall between God and us, and Pardon is the demolishing of it. Forgiveness is never bestowed, but the Scepter is held out to invite us to come into God's presence. And what can be more desirable than to have not only the favour of, but a free access at any time to the Lord of Hea­ven and Earth, and at length an everlasting being with him?

[3.] Peace of Conscience. There must needs be fair Weather when Heaven smiles upon us. All other things breed disquietness. Sin was a Thorn in David's Crown; his Throne and Scepter were but miserable comforters, while his guilt overwhelmed him. The glory of the World is no soveraign Plaister for a wounded Spirit: Other enjoyments may please the sense, but this only can gratifie the Soul. God's Thunder made Moses [Page 111] tremble, Heb. 12.21. But the probability of a gracious Pardon would make a damned Soul smile in the midst of tormenting flames. How often hath the sense of it raised the hearts of Martyrs, and made the Sufferers sing, while the Spectators wept? Though this, I must confess, is not always an inseparable concomitant. There is much difference be­tween a Pardon, and the comfort of it; that may pass the Seal of the King, without the knowledge of the Malefactor. Pardon indeed always gives the jus ad rem, a right to peace of Conscience, but not always jus in re, the possession of it. There may be an actual separation between Pardon, and actual Peace, but not between Pardon, and the ground of Peace.

[4.] It sweetens all mercies. Other mercies are a ring, but pardon is the Diamond in it. A justified person may say, I have temporal mercies and a pardon too, I live in repute in the world and Gods favour too; riches increase, and my peace with God doth not diminish. I have health with a pardon, friends with a pardon, as Job ch. 29.3, 6, 7. among all other blessings this he counts the chiefest, that Gods Candle shin'd upon his head. A Prisoner for some capital crime, may have all outward accommodations, for lodg­ing, dyet, attendance, without a real happiness, when he expects to be called to his tryal before a severe judge, from whom there is no appeal, and that will certainly both pass, and cause to be executed a sentence of death upon him. So though a man wallows in all outward contents, he cannot write himself blessed, while the wrath of God hangs over his head, and he knows not how soon he may be summon'd before Gods tribunal, and hear that terrible voice, Go thou cursed. What comfort can a man take in Houses, Land, Health, when he considers he owes more than all his estate is worth? So, what comfort can a man have in any thing in this world, when he may hourly expect an arrest from God, and a demand of all his debts, and he hath not so much as one farthing of his own or any interest in a sufficient surety? We may have honour and a curse, wealth and a curse, Children and a curse, health and long life and a curse, learning and a curse, but we can never have pardon and a curse. Our outward things may be gifts, but not blessings without a pardon.

[5.] It sweetens all afflictions. A frown with a pardon is better than a thousand smiles without it. Sin is the sting of crosses, and Remission is a taking the sting out of them. A sight of Heaven will mitigate a cross on earth. The stones about Stephens ears did scarce afflict him, when he saw his Saviour open Heaven to entertain him. To see death staring us in the face, and an angry and offended God above, ready to charge all our guilt, is a doleful spectacle. Look upon my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 25.18. Sin doth embitter and adds weight to an affliction, but the removal of sin doth both lighten it and sweeten it.