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<DATE>2007-12-10</DATE>
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<NAME>Elspeth Healey</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>MERCY In Her EXALTATION.
OR, A Soveraigne Antidote again&s;t Fear of the Second Death.
In a Sermon preached at the Funeral of <HI>Daniel Taylor</HI> <ABBR>E&s;q</ABBR> in <HI>Stephens Coleman&s;treet London,</HI> on the twentieth day of <HI>April, An.</HI> 1655.</P>
<Q>There is no Fear in Love: But perfect Love ca&s;teth out Fear.</Q>
<BIBL>1 John 4. 18.</BIBL>
<Q>His heart is e&s;tabli&s;hed: He &s;hall not be afraid, until he &s;ee his de&s;ire upon his enemies.</Q>
<BIBL>P&s;alm 112. 8.</BIBL>
<Q>Certi&s;&s;im&egrave; indulgentiam expectare poterit, qui aliis indulgere novit. <BIBL>Aug. De Tempor. Serm. 203.</BIBL></Q>
<Q>Sine caus&acirc; peccata accu&s;ant, quem pauper excu&s;at.&mdash;Qui foenerat pauperi, ip&s;um &s;ibi judicem prae&s;titit debitorem. <BIBL>Chry&s;ologus.</BIBL></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>J. Macock,</HI> for <HI>H. Ever&s;den,</HI> and are to be &s;old at his Shop at the Signe of the <HI>Grey-hound,</HI> in <HI>Paul</HI>'s Churchyard. 1655.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD><HI>To M^r^i^s</HI> Margaret Taylor <HI>the late Wife of M^r</HI> Daniel Taylor <HI>decea&s;ed, M^r</HI> Edmond Taylor, <HI>M^r</HI> Samuel Taylor <HI>his Brethren, together with the re&s;t of his Kindred, Allies, Friends and Acquaintance, Grace, Mercy, and Peace from God the Father, and the Lord</HI> Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Friends, <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> and Beloved;</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_IT was &s;ignified unto me by &s;ome of you, as the de&s;ire of many more, that what &s;hould be preached at the Inter|ment of your dear Friend and mine, M^r <HI>Daniel Taylor,</HI> might be commend|ed unto the Pre&s;s, that &s;o the memory of his exemplary and <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> life, might live upon the better terms among&s;t you, and be the readier at hand for your Chri&s;tian &s;ervice, upon all occa&s;ions&punc; The Sermon, I confe&s;s, rather intimateth, and this
<PB REF="3">
very &s;paringly, then di&s;cour&s;eth, the particulars of his worth: Upon my entrance hereinto, I declared my &s;elf under a &s;olemn re&s;olution (not much &s;hort of a vow) not to offend the weake&s;t of the living, by commending, no not the &s;tronge&s;t of the dead, e&s;pe|cially not in the Pulpit, not at &s;uch a time, when their highe&s;t concernments are in hand, and they mo&s;t &s;a|credly engaged to attend them with all their might and &s;trength. Only the principal &s;ubject of the Ser|mon, <HI>Mercy,</HI> was indeed not the lea&s;t of his commen|dations. His example herein will ble&s;s you, if you follow it, but will ri&s;e up in judgement again&s;t you, if you turn your backs upon it. His other endow|ments, as well moral as intellectual, were very excel|lent, both for kind, and degree. He was Religious, not of cu&s;tome, or of cour&s;e, but of con&s;cience, nobly di&s;daining to pro&s;titute his judgement to any circumforaneous, or vulgar opinion in matters ap|pertaining unto God, &s;imply upon the credit, or re|commendation, of other mens Faith; and withal &s;tudiou&s;ly &s;crupulous and tender of receiving any Notion or Tenent what&s;oever, into his Belief, until he had cau&s;ed it to pa&s;s through the fire of a di&s;trict examination and enquiry, and found that it would not burn. Whil&s;t the health and &s;trength of his body was able to bear the weight of exerci&s;es of Devotion, he maintained a con&s;tant and clo&s;e trade of communion with God: and in the time of his la&s;t weakne&s;s, a few weeks before his change, among&s;t other &s;avoury Di&s;cour&s;e, he bemoaned him&s;elf, that &s;ince the prevailing of his di&s;temper upon him, he was deprived of his heart-breaking opportunities with God. His heart was up very high in de&s;ires af|ter knowledge of the Truth, and this in the mo&s;t pro|found
<PB REF="3">
Que&s;tions controverted between men of great|e&s;t judgements in the&s;e days. Books of Divinity that were any thing judiciou&s;ly or accurately written, his delight was, at his &s;pare hours.</P>
<LG>
<L>Nocturn&acirc; ver&s;are manu, ver&s;are diurn&agrave;;</L>
<L>By night to read; and not to &s;pare by day.</L>
</LG>
<P>He put no difference between per&s;ons, either for their concurrence with him, or di&s;&s;ent from him, in mat|ters of opinion, or form of wor&s;hip. But that which commended any per&s;on unto him, was his own opini|on of his integrity, and goodne&s;s of heart towards God. Some to whom his heart &s;tood very clo&s;e in affection, whil&s;t they were yet &s;ound in the Faith touching Infant-Bapti&s;m, found no change in his re|&s;pects towards them, after their judgements had warp'd the contrary way, no not after they had di&s;|claimed all Chri&s;tian communion with him in a Church way. His &s;ignal Integrity, Ju&s;tne&s;s, and Clearne&s;s in dealings, as well in the admini&s;tration of the Tru&s;t committed unto him, as in his private occa|&s;ions, are freely te&s;tified by all that had to do with him in either kind, with a <HI>nemine contradicen<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">e,</HI> (as far as I have heard.) The Greatne&s;s (which &s;ome call Goodne&s;s) of his E&s;tate, made no breach at all upon the goodne&s;s of his di&s;po&s;ition in his conver&s;ation: He ob&s;erved no di&s;tance, made between him&s;elf, and the meane&s;t of his Brethren, by his abundance; Per|&s;ons even of lowe&s;t degree, by the mediation of his affablene&s;s and humility, found acce&s;s unto him upon all their occa&s;ions; and few, if any, came from him di&s;contented. His carriage was compo&s;ed and grave, yet without affectation: His Di&s;cour&s;e, &s;ea&s;onable
<PB REF="4">
and &s;avoury, without offence. His native temper &s;eemed to incline him to much re&s;ervedne&s;s: but by judgement and con&s;cience he reduced that which was le&s;s de&s;ireable, or le&s;s u&s;eful, in this inclination. His Habit and Garb every ways comly, &s;utable rather to his profe&s;&s;ion, then e&s;tate. Whatever &s;avoured of o&s;tentation or vanity, he left to be taken up by per|&s;ons of loo&s;er and lighter &s;pirits. The full cup, which God gave unto him, he carried with an even and &s;tea|dy hand, without &s;pilling: yet freely gave to every man that was a thir&s;t, and came in his way, to drink.</P>
<P>His intellectual endowments were given him by the large&s;t mea&s;ure, which God in the&s;e days is wont to mete unto men. What <HI>Ethan,</HI> or <HI>Heman, Chalcol,</HI> or <HI>Darda,</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">1 King. 4. 31.</NOTE> were in their generation, the like, or not much unlike, was he in his. His under&s;tanding was large, and very comprehen&s;ive: His apprehen&s;ion quick and piercing: his judgement &s;olid and mature, his memory, fa&s;t and faithful; his elocution, or &s;peech, di&s;tinct and clear, elegant, and fluent enough, yet not luxuriant or pedantick. He was more then of ordinary abilities to argue the mo&s;t thorny and ab|&s;tru&s;e points in Divinity; ready of Di&s;cerning, where the quick of any controver&s;ie, or matter in debate lay: very expert he was in the word of Righteou&s;|ne&s;s, able to draw waters of life out of &s;uch Wells of &s;alvation, from whence many men of good under|&s;tanding, and parts of Learning, had not wherewith to draw, becau&s;e of the depth of them. He had a &s;in|gular dexterity to make the rough things of bu&s;ine&s;s, &s;mooth, to turn the in&s;ides of matters, outward, to untie knots, and di&s;-intangle intricacies, in all manner of affairs that were brought to him. I &s;carce know
<PB REF="4">
any man among&s;t tho&s;e he hath left behind him, of like felicity with him of giving coun&s;el and advice, in ca&s;es of difficulty, and doubtful con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>In &s;um, as well for parts of Nature, as of Grace, he was an highly accompli&s;ht man, adorned and &s;et forth by God, for a pattern, as for others, &s;o for you (more neerly related to him) more e&s;pecially. I tru&s;t his life though he be dead, &s;hall &s;peak unto you, whil&s;t yours continues, and help to form and fa&s;hion you into the &s;ame image of Chri&s;tian worth and de&s;ireablene&s;s with him. The be&s;t way to make your &s;elves as little lo&s;ers as may be by his death, is to live by the pattern of his life, and to pre&s;erve the memory of all that was exemplary in him, not &s;o much for &s;tory, or di&s;cour&s;e, as for a &s;pur to a con&s;cientious imitation. Your day is coming, as his is lately pa&s;t: yet a little while, and you will all overtake him in the du&s;t. If in the mean time your hearts through the Grace of God, will &s;erve you &s;o to live, as that you may be counted wor|thy to &s;tand at the &s;ame hand of <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> with him in the great day, you and he &s;hall never part com|pany more.</P>
<P>The God of all Grace &s;hall mightily incline your hearts to de&s;ire part and fellow&s;hip with him in this ble&s;&s;edne&s;s, or el&s;e deny (which I confidently hope he will not) the fervent Prayer, of</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE>From my Study in Swan Alley Coleman&s;treet, <DATE>May 15. 1655.</DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED>Your Friend in Chri&s;t, cordial and faithful to &s;erve you, JOHN GOODVVIN.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="5">
<HEAD>To the Reader.</HEAD>
<P><HI>GOod Reader,</HI> I was bound with a threefold cord of ingagement to publi&s;h the Sermon in thy hand. Fir&s;t, the memory of my dear friend decea&s;ed, at who&s;e Funerals it was preached, pleaded the law of friend&s;hip, and by the A|ward hereof demanded, either this, or &s;omewhat more mo|numentous (if any &s;uch thing had been within my reach) at my hand. Secondly the &s;olicitations of &s;ome of his rela|tions and friends in the name of many more for the publi|cation of it, were too con&s;iderable to be neglected, e&s;pecial|ly by me, yea or by a per&s;on of greater breadth in the world then I. La&s;tly, the mi&s;under&s;tanding (as I hear) of &s;ome things by &s;ome per&s;ons, pre&s;ent at the delivery, requires a more &s;teady repre&s;entation of what was &s;poken, to make their crooked things &s;treight.</P>
<P>The vulgar vote and report of the outward e&s;tate of my worthy friend (now in an incapacity him&s;elf to rectifie mens apprehen&s;ions in any thing relating to him) hath been &s;omewhat injurious unto the preciou&s;ne&s;&s;e of his memory, and this even among&s;t tho&s;e, who know ground enough wherefore to honour him, and onely &s;uppo&s;e a ground wherefore they &s;hould honour him le&s;&s;e. The common e&s;ti|mate and di&s;cour&s;e of his e&s;tate, &s;urmounting a third part, and not a little more, the reality and truth of it can &s;eth the proportion of his beque&s;ts to appear le&s;&s;e and &s;o le&s;&s;e honou|rable and lovely in the eyes of &s;ome, the the truth of all things known and con&s;idered, rea&s;on repre&s;enteth them. A twelfth, or there abouts &s;eque&s;tred by will out of an e&s;tate, where there is a wife; and &s;everal children to be con&s;ider|ed, is no proportion of disparagement either to the wi&s;dom,
<PB REF="5">
or piety, or bounty of any man; e&s;pecially, where a life full of works of mercy hath gone before. When tho&s;e that are <HI>rich in this world,</HI> are charged by God to be <HI>rich in good works,</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6. 17, 18.</NOTE> the charge (questionle&s;&s;e) re&s;pecteth rather the time of the lives, then of the deaths, of &s;uch men. And when as God him&s;elf hath contented him&s;elf with pre&s;crip|tions in general, as that rich men <HI>do good, be ready to di&s;tribute, willing to communicate, be rich in good works,</HI> &amp;c. <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> for men to undertake to pre&s;cribe particu|lars, is a kind of pretending to be wi&s;e above that which is written. However, I wi&s;h, rather then expect, that they who complain that <HI>Grantham</HI> &s;teeple &s;tands awry, would &s;et up a &s;treighter by it, and fear that when them&s;elves &s;hall come to the triall, they will ju&s;tifie the truth of the <HI>Greek</HI> Pro|verb, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>i. e.</HI> that <HI>it is ea&s;ier to carp then to copy,</HI> or imitate. But while&s;t others cen&s;ure, certain I am the poor lament and mourn over the lo&s;s of their good Benefactor; and are like to have cau&s;e of greater lamentation for the future, unle&s;&s;e God &s;hall vouch &s;afe to &s;tir up unto them &s;ome other, one, or more, like unto him, anointed with the like &s;pirit of mercy in his &s;tead.</P>
<P>Concerning the Sermon-mi&s;takes of &s;ome (for I do not hear of more then a very few that found, what, or how to mi|&s;take) it &s;eems they were jealous that &s;ome things deliver|ed trench'd very neare (if not too neare) upon the Popi&s;h Doctrine of ju&s;tification by works. But certain I am that I &s;peak nothing from fir&s;t to la&s;t of works, in refe|rence to ju&s;tification; nor did either the &s;ubject I had in hand, nor the method of my di&s;cour&s;e, lead me to treat little or much of justification; e&s;pecially not of that ju&s;tification which con&s;ists in remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins. I am not more clear, nor better re&s;olved in my judgement, touching the truth of any
<PB REF="6">
one Article, o<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> Doctrine of <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Religion, then that all the good works in the world, were they, or could they be perform'd by any one man that hath &s;inned in the lea&s;t, would not be able to procure the pardon or forgivene&s;s of his &s;ins. Pardon of &s;in cannot be obtained by doing of good, but by &s;uffering evil, and this by a per&s;on who is &s;inle&s;&s;e, according to the typical repre&s;entation under the Law, of which the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks, Heb. 9. 22. <HI>And almo&s;t all things are by the Law purged with blood:</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>and without &s;hedding of blood there is no remi&s;&s;ion.</HI> That ju&s;tification which con&s;i&s;ts in the divine approbation of men, as, <HI>well done good and faithful Servant,</HI> Mat. 25. 21. 23. and &s;o, <HI>Then &s;hall every man have prai&s;e of God,</HI> 1 Cor. 4, 5. of which kind of ju&s;tification that is to be under&s;tood, <HI>not the hearers of the Law are ju&s;t before God, but the doers of the Law &s;hall be JUSTIFIED,</HI> Rom. 2. 13. So again, <HI>Then &s;hall the King &s;ay unto them on his right hand, come ye ble&s;&s;ed of my Fa|ther inherit,</HI> &amp;c. Mat. 25. 34. <HI>&amp;c.</HI> this kind of ju|&s;tification (I &s;ay) without which no man &s;hall be &s;aved, more then without the other, is to bee obtained by good works, yet not properly, nor &s;o much by the merit of the&s;e works, as by vertue of the Law of God's mo&s;t gracious and bountifull acceptation. And yet to &s;ay or think on the other hand, that there is nothing at all in the&s;e works, or nothing more then in others which are contrary to them, to commend any man unto God for his approbation or ac|ceptance, is to reflect di&s;paragement upon his wi&s;dom and right<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="6+ letters">e&s;&s;e in the e&s;tabli&s;hment of that Law, by which they come to be approved, and accepted upon &s;uch terms. Some words (po&s;&s;ibly) might fall from me in my Ser|mon relating to this <HI>ju&s;tification,</HI> I mean, to the notion,
<PB REF="6">
matter, or &s;ub&s;tance of it; for as for the term or word it &s;elf, I purpo&s;ely declined it to prevent mi&s;takes in tho&s;e that might be weak, not having then either time or occa|&s;ion, to open or handle the difference between the two ju&s;ti|fications. But I have had experience before now of that &s;trein of weakne&s;&s;e in many profe&s;&s;ors, which makes them unable to di&s;tingui&s;h between things nece&s;&s;ary to ju&s;tificati|on and to &s;alvation; and again, between the two kinds of ju&s;tification now &s;pecified. By rea&s;on of this weakne&s;s, &s;ome have taken deep impre&s;&s;ions of di&s;content and offence at tho&s;e Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pel&punc; who were men of the grea|te&s;t faithfulne&s;&s;e to their &s;ouls, onely becau&s;e they were zea|lous and importunale in exhorting, per&s;wading, provoking, pre&s;sing, urging them to good works, in order to the &s;aving of their &s;ouls, which notwith&s;tanding is the Apo&s;tles ex|pre&s;&s;e Doctrine, <HI>1 Tim. 6. 17, 18, 19.</HI> and the Holy Gho&s;ts in I know not how many places more.</P>
<P>I have added, altered, or in&s;erted very little, in &s;o much of the Sermon in&s;uing, as I had time to deliver, when it was preached. Onely I give a brief touch of one thing forgot|ten about the explication of the Doctrine, and increa&s;e the number of the rea&s;ons by one or two. Otherwi&s;e, that which is here added, is little, but &s;ome inlargements of my &s;elf in the application, which being impri&s;oned in an hour gla&s;&s;e, I had no liberty then to deliver.</P>
<P>God, who &s;ometimes hangeth great weights upon &s;mall wiers, give thee much out of this little, and cau&s;e the Trea|&s;ury of thy Grace and knowledge to rejoice by the ca&s;ting in of this mite in to it. In the prayer, there is the heart of</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE>From my Study in Swan-Alley Coleman-&s;treet <HI>London,</HI> <DATE>May 18. 1655.</DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED>Thy Friend and Brother, zealous to &s;erve thee in Chri&s;t.
JOHN GOODWIN.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<PB REF="7">
<HEAD>ERRATA.</HEAD>
<P><HI>PAge 4. line 20. read, <GAP DESC="foreign">. p. 13, l. 9. r.</HI> occa&s;ions. <HI>l. 27. dele.</HI> arc. <HI>p. 17. l. 18. 19. r.</HI> grounds, rea&s;ons. <HI>p. 21. l. 15. d. the. l. 20. r.</HI> whit as. <HI>p. 22. l. 2. r.</HI> children. <HI>p. 26. l. 14. r.</HI> &s;ympathy. <HI>p, 32. l. 27. r.</HI> their. <HI>l.</HI> 29. &s;eeth his, &s;hould be transferred hither, from the line following. <HI>p. 41. l. 22. r.</HI> heaps. <HI>p. 42. l. 30. r.</HI> her. <HI>p. 45. l. 5. r.</HI> irre&s;i&s;tible. <HI>p. 48. l. 7. r.</HI> men.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="1" REF="7">
<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL>JAMES 2. 13.</BIBL>
<Q>And Mercy rejoyceth again&s;t Judgement.</Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><HI>_THe Dead</HI> (as <HI>David</HI>'s meditation long &s;ince awarded the ca&s;e) <HI>prai&s;e not the</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 115. 17</NOTE> <HI>Lord;</HI> meaning, by any thing they now do in the &s;tate and condition of death: only by tho&s;e things which they did while&s;t they were yet living, if they were proper for &s;uch a &s;ervice, they may, though now dead, be &s;aid to <HI>prai&s;e</HI> him; as the holy Gho&s;t &s;aid concerning <HI>Abel</HI> &s;ome thou&s;ands of yeers after his death, that by the <HI>Sacrifice,</HI> which he offer|ed by Faith unto God, while&s;t he was living, <HI>being</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11. 4.</NOTE> <HI>dead, he yet &s;peaketh</HI>^a. And if <HI>the dead prai&s;e not God,</HI> neither &s;hall I prai&s;e them, but leave this to their works, by which they prai&s;e him (if they <HI>prai&s;e</HI> him at all.) If what they did, whil&s;t they were living, was judged by them &s;ufficient to <HI>prai&s;e</HI> God, we cannot well but judge the &s;ame &s;ufficient to prai&s;e them al&s;o,
<PB N="2" REF="8">
whether it was much they did upon that account, or whether little. For if they did much for the <HI>prai&s;e</HI> of God, while&s;t they lived, &s;uch a proportion of goodne&s;s will lift up their prai&s;es al&s;o on high, being dead. If they did little, great prai&s;es would be un|comly for them, and could not be an&s;wered for be|fore God by tho&s;e, that &s;hall adorn their Names with them.</P>
<P>It is well known to a great part of you, who now hear me, that for &s;everal years pa&s;t, I have put from me the cu&s;tome of Funeral Elogies and Commenda|tions, bequeathing this &s;ervice unto the works of the decea&s;ed, which have a Commi&s;&s;ion from God to perform it<NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Prov. 31. 1.</NOTE> (if there be cau&s;e) whereas I have none that I know of, e&s;pecially not to do it in con&s;ort with the work now in hand. But I have declined the pra|cti&s;e, partly becau&s;e of the offen&s;ivene&s;s of it unto many, who are weak; partly becau&s;e of the offen|&s;ive practi&s;e, and mi&s;-u&s;e of it by &s;ome, who &s;eem otherwi&s;e &s;trong. I confe&s;s, that as it was the &s;aying of one long &s;ince; <HI>If a di&s;hone&s;t practi&s;e be in any ca&s;e tolerable, it is for the purcha&s;e and procurement of a Kingdom; in all other ca&s;es, ju&s;tice and right mu&s;t take place</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. Euri|pides Phoeni&s;|&s;is. Haec <HI>Cicero</HI> it a reddidit. Si jus vio|landum e&s;t, regnandi grati&acirc; vio|landum e&s;t: aliis rebus pictatem c<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">|las.</NOTE>; &s;o if a Mini&s;ter or Me&s;&s;enger of God could be venially tempted to di&s;pen&s;e with &s;o good a re&s;olu|tion, as that which he hath taken up again&s;t blowing a Trumpet in the Pulpit before the dead, my &s;tanding at pre&s;ent is upon the ground of &s;uch an opportunity, being called to preach at the interment of a man of a mo&s;t exemplary and &s;ignal worth in every kind, and who&s;e life can hardly be remembred by tho&s;e who have any &s;teady knowledge of it, without falling in|to an agony of &s;orrow and heavine&s;s for his death. And as it was the &s;aying of the Poet in re&s;pect of the
<PB N="3" REF="8">
enormous vices of the times and place wherein he lived, that <HI>it was an hard matter, Satyram non &s;cribere, not to write Satyrically;</HI> &s;o may I well &s;ay on the other<NOTE PLACE="marg">Difficile e&s;t Satyram non &s;cribere. <HI>Juvenal.</HI></NOTE> hand, in re&s;pect of many things &s;o highly commen|dable and <HI>Christian</HI> in him, upon the occa&s;ion of who&s;e death I am now &s;peaking unto you, <HI>Difficile e&s;t laudes non dicere,</HI> a man mu&s;t re&s;i&s;t a temptation to re|frain from prai&s;ing him.</P>
<P>However, partly for my re&s;olutions &s;ake (which is not far from a vow) but more e&s;pecially for your &s;akes, whom it much more concerns to be made prai&s;e-worthy your &s;elves, then to hear another prai&s;ed before you, I &s;hall leave the Decea&s;ed to the good <HI>report of all men</HI> (which he purcha&s;ed at an high rate of well-doing, when time was) <HI>and of the Truth it &s;elf</HI> [the Word of God, which giveth large te&s;ti|mony unto him, and unto all like to him] and &s;hall in the Name of God, and of the Lord <HI>Je&s;us Christ,</HI> by the Opening and Applying of the words read unto you, make an attempt upon you, to make you, if it may be, like unto him in that which was his glory, while&s;t he lived, and his rejoycing at his death; I mean, his <HI>Goodne&s;s</HI> and <HI>Mercy. Mercy</HI> enlarged his heart to <HI>rejoyce against judgement:</HI> and oh! How hap|py &s;hall you be, if you will be per&s;waded to ca&s;t in your lot with him, and &s;uffer God to put into your heart, by his Word and Spirit, which are now about to put you upon the Trial, to take part and fellow&s;hip with him in that his rejoycing.</P>
<P>Let us then, with as much brevity as your intere&s;t in the opportunity before you, will (to the be&s;t of my under&s;tanding) permit, endeavour 1. to open the mind of God unto you in the words read; and then 2. to &s;hew you how this trea&s;ure of the mind of God,
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may and ought to be improved by you to your &s;piri|tual, yea and temporal advantage al&s;o; &s;o leaving your con&s;ciences, and the good Word of God toge|ther, to agree upon the things both of your pre&s;ent, and eternal comfort and peace.</P>
<P><HI>And Mercy</HI> (&s;aith the Apo&s;tle, if rightly engli&s;hed) <HI>rejoyceth again&s;t Judgement.</HI> In the former part of the ver&s;e, he had &s;aid. <HI>For he &s;hall have Judgement with|out Mercy [i.</HI> &s;hall be very &s;everely handled by God in the Great day, the &s;entence that &s;hall pa&s;s upon him, &s;hall be mo&s;t in&s;upportable] <HI>who hath &s;hewed no mercy, [viz.</HI> whil&s;t he liv'd, and had opportunity to <HI>&s;hew</HI> it] and then &s;ubjoyneth (as you have heard) in the latter part of the ver&s;e; <HI>and Mercy rejoyceth again&s;t Judge|ment.</HI> This latter clau&s;e manife&s;tly relates unto the former by way of Antithe&s;is, or Oppo&s;ition: in which re&s;pect the particle, <GAP DESC="foreign">, is here rather to be con&s;trued adver&s;atively, then copulatively, and would better be tran&s;lated, <HI>But,</HI> then <HI>And,</HI> as it is el&s;ewhere. For 1 Cor. 16. 12. whereas it is in the Original, <GAP DESC="foreign">, the particle, <GAP DESC="foreign">, is rendered, <HI>But,</HI> BUT <HI>his will was not at all to come at this time.</HI> So likewi&s;e, 1 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 2. 18. where the Greek hath it, <GAP DESC="foreign">, Our Tran&s;lators give us, BUT <HI>Sathan hindred us.</HI> Thus our former Tran&s;la|tors, <GAP DESC="foreign">, Mat. 13. 2<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">. tran&s;lated, BUT <HI>the care of this life,</HI> &amp;c. And (to omit more in|&s;tances in this kind) where the Original, John 5. 40. hath it, <GAP DESC="foreign"> &amp;c. they left us in <HI>Engli&s;h,</HI> BUT <HI>ye will not, &amp;c.</HI> And thus I conceive the &s;en&s;e of the clau&s;e before us would be better accomodated, if the words were read thus: BUT <HI>Mercy rejoyceth again&s;t Judgement.</HI> For then the connexion of it with the former will lie before us in &s;uch a tenour of di&s;cour&s;e
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as this: <HI>He &s;hall have judgement without mercy, who hath &s;hewed no mercy:</HI> but he that &s;hall &s;hew <HI>mercy,</HI> &s;hall, not only have a <HI>judgement</HI> full of <HI>mercy,</HI> yea and which &s;hall upon the matter) be made of <HI>mercy,</HI> be all <HI>mercy;</HI> but &s;hall in the mean time, before the day of <HI>judgement</HI> comes, be able to <HI>rejoyce,</HI> or glory over it, and enjoy him&s;elf in a ble&s;&s;ed &s;ecurity that he &s;hall not be hurt by it.</P>
<P>The word, <GAP DESC="foreign">, here tran&s;lated <HI>mercy,</HI> is of &s;om|what a more comprehen&s;ive &s;ignification; and &s;igni|fieth not only that <HI>Christian</HI> di&s;po&s;ition or affection in men (with the fruits or effects of it) which we com|monly call <HI>mercy,</HI> but &s;everal other di&s;po&s;itions al&s;o of affinity with this, as clemency, gentlene&s;s, love, readine&s;s to forgive and forget injuries, and the like; as the&s;e, or &s;ome of the&s;e, &s;omtimes likewi&s;e include <HI>mercy</HI> (properly &s;o called) in their &s;ignification. And not long &s;ince from Rom. 9. 18. we ob&s;erved, that words of a cognate &s;ignification are in the Scriptures frequently u&s;ed promi&s;cuou&s;ly, one for another. In the place before us, the word, <GAP DESC="foreign">, may well be conceived, by the oppo&s;ition between the former and latter part of the ver&s;e (already hinted) to import &s;ome &s;uch <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> affection (with the fruits of if) as that which in Greek is called <GAP DESC="foreign">, which proper|ly &s;ignifies <HI>u&s;efulne&s;s,</HI> and is frequently tran&s;lated, <HI>goodne&s;s,</HI> as Rom. 2. 4. Rom. 11. 22. 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 6. 6&punc; &amp;c. a worthy principle found in all good men and women, enclining them upon all occa&s;ions, according to that power and means, which are in their hand, to relieve, help, and comfort tho&s;e, who &s;tand in need of help from them in one kind or other.</P>
<P>When I mention this, or any other holy di&s;po&s;i|tion of like nature with it, I &s;till in&s;ert the&s;e, or the
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like words, <HI>with the fruits thereof,</HI> partly becau&s;e it is the familiar dialect of the Scripture, under words properly &s;ignifying &s;ome inward affection, or di&s;po&s;i|tion only, to comprehend, together with the affecti|on, the actings or effects proper to it, as the word, <HI>Faith,</HI> frequently importeth, together with the in|ward Grace, or principle of Faith in the heart, the proper fruits of it al&s;o, which we commonly call, good works, or an holy conver&s;ation (In&s;tances of this kind of Scripture-language, be&s;ides that menti|oned, there are without number, but we ha&s;ten) partly al&s;o, becau&s;e that which is here a&s;cribed to this heavenly di&s;po&s;ition of <HI>mercy,</HI> as <HI>viz.</HI> that <HI>it rejoyceth again&s;t judgement</HI> (of which pre&s;ently) enforceth us &s;o to interpret and under&s;tand it [<HI>viz.</HI> as &s;ignifying with the inward affection of <HI>mercy,</HI> the outward fruits or works of <HI>mercy</HI>] according to that true and nece&s;|&s;ary rule in Logick, <HI>Subject a talia &s;unt, qualia &agrave; prae|dicatis &s;uis e&s;&s;e permittuntur; i.</HI> Subjects in propo&s;iti|ons mu&s;t be &s;o under&s;tood, as their predicates, or that which is &s;aid of them in the &s;aid propo&s;ition, will permit and bear. Now we &s;hall (God a&s;&s;i&s;ting, and the time not preventing) in the proce&s;s of our Di&s;cour&s;e, &s;hew, that it is not meerly and barely the inward affection of mercy, that is able to rai&s;e this glo|rious effect of <HI>rejoycing again&s;t judgement,</HI> but the af|fection &s;econded, aided, and &s;trengthned by her wor|thy actings, and practical exertions of her &s;elf; ac|cording to what our Apo&s;tle teacheth us in the very next ver&s;e (with &s;everal ver&s;es following) concerning Faith: <HI>Can Faith</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>&s;ave a man?</HI> meaning, that it is contrary to all principles, as well of Rea&s;on as Religion, to imagine that an empty and bare Faith, not attended with &s;uch works, which are comly or
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meet for Faith to bear, at lea&s;t having time and oppor|tunity to bring forth in this kind, &s;hould ever advance or lift up the creature to &s;uch an e&s;tate of ble&s;&s;edne&s;s and glory, as &s;alvation importeth. For to this purpo&s;e he explaineth him&s;elf, ver&s;. 17. <HI>Even &s;o Faith, if it hath not works, is dead <GAP DESC="foreign">, of it &s;elf [is dead, i.</HI> u&s;ele&s;s and unprofitable, as dead things are, to tho&s;e who have it, e&s;pecially in re&s;pect of &s;uch great and high productions, or attainments, as <HI>Salvation</HI>] In &s;uch a &s;en&s;e as this, <HI>mercy</HI> al&s;o, <GAP DESC="foreign">, and <HI>without works,</HI> may be &s;aid to <HI>be dead,</HI> and con&s;equent|ly no ways able to yeild &s;uch rich and plea&s;ant fruit, as <HI>rejoycing again&s;t judgement.</HI> So then, <HI>mercy rejoyceth again&s;t judgement,</HI> i. <HI>Mercy,</HI> with her children, the tree of mercy well laden with fruit growing on it, thus <HI>rejoyceth.</HI></P>
<P>Only this is further to be con&s;idered, that when the Apo&s;tle attributes by way of honour and privi|ledge, unto mercy, this <HI>rejoycing again&s;t judgement,</HI> he is not to be under&s;tood to &s;peak of <HI>mercy</HI> &s;imply, or of <HI>mercy</HI> in any faint or inferior degree, though &s;econded with works proportionable, or of &s;uch a kind of <HI>mercy,</HI> which is over-&s;hadowed and (as it were) &s;uper|intended, or over-awed by covetou&s;ne&s;s, nor of a pinching, or penurious kind of <HI>mercy,</HI> which is &s;om|times found in worldly, covetous, yea and oppre&s;|&s;ing men (as the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> in our Saviours days, were wont to give almes as it were of cour&s;e, and yet were covetous, and ravening wolves, and &s;ome men will give a little to &s;top the mouths of their con&s;ciences, hoping hereby to keep po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of all the re&s;t with the more peace) but of <HI>mercy</HI> in &s;ome degree of her exaltation, of <HI>mercy,</HI> which hath her great enemies, covetou&s;ne&s;s, and hard-heartedne&s;s, penuriou&s;ne&s;s,
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and narrow-heartedne&s;s, &amp;c. under her feet. It is the frequent manner of the Scripture to u&s;e words of a general &s;ignification, and which ordinarily &s;ig|nifie the &s;pecies or kinds of things (indefinitely) in an emphatical &s;en&s;e, <HI>viz.</HI> for that which excelleth, and is eminently con&s;iderable in its kind. In the la&s;t ver&s;e of the fourth chapter of this Epi&s;tle, it is &s;aid; <HI>There|fore to him that knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is</HI> [or, there is] <HI>&s;in [i</HI> &s;in of a great demerit, or of high provocation in the &s;ight of God] For other|wi&s;e it is <HI>&s;in</HI> to men [&s;imply, or in &s;ome degree] not to do good, whether they know to do it, or no; as is evident from our Saviours deci&s;ion of the ca&s;e, Luk. 12. 48. So when God di&s;cour&s;eth with <HI>Job</HI> about that kind of creature, which we call, the <HI>Hor&s;e</HI> (Job 39. 19.) <HI>Ha&s;t thou given the HORSE &s;trength? Ha&s;t thou clothed his neck with thunder? The glory of his no|&s;trils is terrible, &amp;c.</HI> (with much more of like import) by the word, <HI>Hor&s;e,</HI> here, he doth not mean any kind of <HI>Hor&s;e,</HI> or every thing that may properly or truly enough in ordinary language be termed, an <HI>Hor&s;e:</HI> the greate&s;t part of <HI>Hor&s;es</HI> have neither part nor fellow&s;hip in this de&s;cription: but he &s;peaks of an <HI>Hor&s;e</HI> that is high of mettle, &s;trong of limbs, full of courage, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> In like manner, when the Apo&s;tle commends love, or charity. 1 Cor. 13. by that great variety of the &s;ignal effects of it here mention|ed, as that it <HI>behaveth not it &s;elf un&s;eemly, &s;eeketh not her own, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,</HI> &amp;c. he doth not by <HI>Love,</HI> or <HI>Charity,</HI> mean, this Grace in any inferiour, weak, or low degree, but in her &s;trength, and &s;ome con&s;iderable advance in the &s;oul. Other in&s;tances of this kind the Sc<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ipture af|fords many<NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">See 2 Tim. 3. 16. Prov. 18. 22. Phil. 2. 22.</NOTE>. So then when we hear the holy Gho&s;t,
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&s;peaking thus gloriou&s;ly of <HI>mercy,</HI> as that it <HI>rejoyceth again&s;t judgement,</HI> we mu&s;t conceive him to &s;peak of it, nor &s;imply, or ab&s;olutely, as it is &s;uch a Grace, or holy affection, in re&s;pect of the kind of it, but (as hath been already &s;aid) as it is &s;uch in degree al&s;o, and in &s;ome con&s;iderable elevation in the &s;oul. It fol|loweth,</P>
<P><HI>Rejoyceth against judgement,</HI>] <GAP DESC="foreign">, rejoycingly gloryeth over, or again&s;t, <HI>judgement.</HI> It is &s;omwhat a like expre&s;&s;ion (for &s;en&s;e, and import) with that <HI>Job 5. 22. At de&s;truction and famine thou &s;halt laugh,</HI> that is, thou &s;halt be confident, and here|in take great contentment, that the&s;e &s;hall not endan|ger or hurt thee, as they are like to do the generality of men. Or like that, <HI>Mich.</HI> 7. 8. (&s;poken in the name of the Church of the Jews to her enemy) <HI>Re|joyce not again&s;t me, O mine enemy; i.</HI> Plea&s;e not thy &s;elf, take no &s;uch contentment in my pre&s;ent afflict|ed and low condition, as if I were never like to be again in a capacity of quelling thy pride, or avenging my &s;elf on thee; as it follows, <HI>when I fall, I &s;hall ari&s;e;</HI> meaning, that &s;he &s;hould get up again, and re|cover &s;trength to make her part good with her. So when it is &s;aid, <HI>mercy rejoyceth again&s;t judgement,</HI> the meaning is, that <HI>mercy</HI> [&s;o under&s;tood as was lately opened] qualifieth, &s;trengthneth, enableth the Per|&s;on in whom it is found, to be confidently &s;ecure, that he &s;hall receive no prejudice or hurt by the judgement of God, by that judgement, which God &s;hall pa&s;s upon the world in the great day, and under which the greate&s;t part of the world will fall, and never ri&s;e more. There is &s;carce any thing more u&s;ual in the Scripture, then to a&s;cribe that to the quality or form, which properly belongeth to the &s;ubject qualified
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with it, or (which is much the &s;ame) to put the ab|&s;tract for the concrete. As in tho&s;e pa&s;&s;ages lately mentioned, <HI>Charity beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,</HI> &amp;c. the meaning clearly is, that <HI>charitable</HI> per&s;ons, or men and women richly endued with <HI>charity,</HI> do all the&s;e things by vertue of that excellent endowment; Thus Rom. 11. 7. <HI>The Election hath obtained it [i.</HI> all tho&s;e, whether men or women, who believe, and hereupon, by vertue of the eternal Decree of God in that behalf, are &s;epa|rated from others, and made an <HI>Elect</HI> or choice ge|neration of per&s;ons unto him, <HI>have obtained it,</HI> meaning righteou&s;ne&s;s or ju&s;tification.] Thus al&s;o &s;ome under|&s;tand (and haply not ami&s;s) that, Rom. 10. 6. <HI>But the righteou&s;ne&s;s which is of Faith, &s;peaketh on this wi&s;e: Say not in thy heart, who &s;hall a&s;cend,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>The righteou&s;ne&s;s which is of Faith, i.</HI> Per&s;ons ju&s;tified by <HI>Faith,</HI> by means of this their <HI>Faith,</HI> are wont to encourage and &s;peak unto men, thus: <HI>Say not in thy heart, who &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>So then, the true and entire &s;en&s;e and import of the words before us, ri&s;eth thus: Merciful men, men who&s;e hearts and hands are much exerci&s;ed in doing of good, in &s;hewing <HI>mercy,</HI> by means of the Con|&s;cience, or con&s;ciou&s;ne&s;s of this God-like di&s;po&s;ition in them&s;elves, and the regular actings of it, are, or lightly cannot but be, full of a joyful and ble&s;&s;ed &s;e|curity, that they &s;hall &s;tand in the great judgement of the world, and find favour and acceptance in the eyes of the Judge, when all unmerciful, covetous, and hard-hearted wretches &s;hall fall under it, and be ground to powder by it. If there be any thing fur|ther requi&s;ite for the due under&s;tanding of the words, notice may be given of it upon occa&s;ion, in the &s;equel.</P>
<P><PB N="11" REF="12">The only point of Doctrine that we &s;hall commend unto your <HI>Christian</HI> attention from the words (as they have been opened) is this:</P>
<P>A rich and ble&s;&s;ed a&s;&s;urance of &s;alvation is the ge|nuine<NOTE PLACE="marg">Doctrine.</NOTE> and proper re&s;ult, or fruit, of much <HI>mercy.</HI> Or if you plea&s;e, the Doctrine may be conceived in this, or the like, tenour of words (agreeing, in &s;ub&s;tance, with the former) A per&s;on rich in works of <HI>mercy,</HI> is, or readily may be, joyfully &s;ecure, and this upon good ground, from peri&s;hing, or that he &s;hall not peri&s;h, in the condemnation of the world.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, (to prevent mi&s;takes, if it may b<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters"> we &s;hall a little further explain the Doctrine unto you, in &s;ome particulars. 2. We &s;hall con&s;ult the Scriptures for our better e&s;tabli&s;hment in the Truth of it. 3. We &s;hall endeavour to demon&s;trate the truth of it, from its proper grounds and principles. 4. And la&s;tly, (the time permitting) we &s;hall, as God &s;hall enable, joyn the &s;pirit of the Doctrine, and your Con&s;cien|ces, &s;omwhat clo&s;er together, in a way of U&s;e and Application.</P>
<P>For the fir&s;t; there are 3. particulars, wherein the Doctrine requires &s;ome explication.</P>
<P>1. It is not to be under&s;tood, as if it entituled rich men only to that glorious &s;ecurity from condemnati|on, of which it &s;peaks, or as if they alone were in a condition to perform works of mercy, and men that are poor and low in the world, excluded from all part and fellow&s;hip in that happy bu&s;ine&s;s. For certainly, even the poore&s;t of men and women are capable of <HI>&s;hewing mercy,</HI> as well as the rich, though not in all the &s;ame re&s;pects. They may <HI>&s;hew mercy,</HI> and this not only one to another, but even unto rich men them&s;elves, as <HI>viz.</HI> by commi&s;erating and pittying
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them in re&s;pect of their &s;lippery and mo&s;t dangerous &s;tanding by means of their riches (of which our Savi|our gives notice in the Go&s;pel<NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Mat. 19. 23, 24. Mark 10. 23, 24.</NOTE>) and &s;o by praying unto God for them, that he will keep their foot from being taken in the &s;nare of this worlds abundance; and again, by &s;uffering them to enjoy their wealth, not only without any impeachment or impairing of it by them, but without their having an evil eye upon it, without envying or repining, that they ride upon hor&s;es, when as them&s;elves go on foot; and yet further by not &s;uffering, as far as lyeth in them, any per&s;on what&s;oever unrighteou&s;ly to touch any thing&punc; that is theirs; by <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">&s;tifying their good will towards them, in endeavouring to &s;top all hard &s;ayings, and &s;ini&s;ter re|ports concerning them, as of covetou&s;ne&s;s, pride, hardne&s;s, &amp;c. So al&s;o by a ready, free, diligent and faithful &s;erving them in all &s;uch occa&s;ions, wherein at any time they &s;hall &s;tand in need of their help, and de|&s;ire it. For rich men are not priviledged by their riches again&s;t all kind of mi&s;eries, nor again&s;t all wants, indigencies, or nece&s;&s;ities: Yea they have their dependencies upon the poorer &s;ort of men, as well as the&s;e have theirs upon them; and the&s;e (per|haps) if things were duely e&s;timated, as many, and as Great: <HI>The King him&s;elf</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Solomon) is &s;erved by the field</HI><NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Eccl. 5. 9.</NOTE>; [or as the Hebrew hath it, is &s;ervant to the field] <HI>viz.</HI> the care and labor of the poor Husbandman intervening: and in &s;uch a &s;en&s;e as this, in which he is, or may be &s;aid, to be a &s;ervant to the field, he may be al&s;o &s;aid to be a &s;ervant to the Husbandman. The Philo&s;opher likewi&s;e in his Fable of the Lyon and the Mou&s;e, very emphatically taught the grand ne|ce&s;&s;ity which the Greate&s;t of men may &s;ometimes have of the help of the meane&s;t, where&punc; he fancieth, the
<PB N="13" REF="13">
Lyon being taken, intangled, and held fa&s;t, in the toile or net of the Hunter; that the Mou&s;e upon the Lyons roaring, came and with her little teeth gnawed the Net in&s;under, until way was made for the Lyons e&s;cape. So then the poore&s;t &s;ort of men, that are but able to give a Cup of cold water, or to &s;peak a good word of a man, or to conceive a prayer for him, or to forgive injuries, or to mini&s;ter with the hand to any mans outward occao&s;ins, when de&s;ired, or the like, may be mreciful to what degree they plea&s;e in their way, and con&s;equently are as capable of that high pri|viledge, a glorious &s;ecuritie from condemnation, as rich men them&s;elves. This in the fir&s;t place.</P>
<P>2. When the Doctrine affirmeth, that a merciful frame of heart is a proper means to &s;ecure it, again&s;t condemnation, and the fear of it, the meaning is not (nor is it implyed) that all per&s;ons who are commen|dably and <HI>Chri&s;tianly</HI> mercifull, do actually, or at all times injoy them&s;elves in this ble&s;&s;ed &s;ecuritie. Some may not &s;o throughly under&s;tand, either the nature of <HI>Mercy,</HI> or the nature of God &s;o &s;ympathizing with it, or may forget at pre&s;ent to compare the one with the other, or neglect to con&s;ider how God hath poured out him&s;elf in promi&s;es of grace and <HI>mercy</HI> unto per|&s;ons of this Heavenly character. Therefore all the Doctrine intends (as to this point) is, That per&s;ons &s;ig|nally merciful, or full of goodne<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">s, are by the advan|tage of this gracious di&s;po&s;ition worthily acted, either are in the actual po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of that Heavenly &s;ecurity we &s;peak of, or at lea&s;t in a rich and regular capacity to be argued, either by them&s;elves, or others, into it, or, that they are not far from it. This is another particu|lar to be taken into con&s;ideration for a right under|&s;tanding of the Doctrine.</P>
<P><PB N="14" REF="14">3. (And la&s;tly) when it attributeth unto <HI>mercy</HI> (in the &s;ence declared) a joyful exemption from fear of judgment or condemnation, it doth not &s;peak of a loo&s;e, prodigal, or vain glorious di&s;po&s;ition, which (haply) in &s;ome per&s;on may affect the name of, <HI>merci|ful,</HI> becau&s;e it effectually inclines them, as <HI>Mercy</HI> is wont to incline her children, to part with their money, or other good things, freely enough unto others, among&s;t whom &s;ome that are indigent and &s;tand in need, may &s;ometimes (it is like) be found. Such a principle or di&s;po&s;ition as this; de&s;erveth not the name of <HI>Mercy,</HI> becau&s;e a man or woman may be act|ed by it without any compa&s;&s;ionate &s;en&s;e at all of the mi&s;eries or nece&s;&s;ities of tho&s;e, who are relieved by them. Nor doth the Doctrine, by <HI>Mercy,</HI> under|&s;tand any affection of that name, wherewith &s;ome, both men and women, are (as it were) prevented, not knowing how, or by what means, they became thus <HI>merciful,</HI> or compa&s;&s;ionate, as our Saviour &s;peaketh of &s;ome that are <HI>Eunuches from their Mothers womb,</HI> (as of others, who make them&s;elves &s;uch for the King|dom of God.) For though this kind of <HI>mercy</HI> be com|mendable, and proceedeth from God, as the Author of Nature, yet it is not able to create that Heaven of &s;ecurity in the heart and &s;oul of a man, unto which the Doctrine intituleth that <HI>mercy,</HI> of which it &s;peaks.<NOTE PLACE="marg">What mercy it is, of which the Text and Doctrine &s;peaks.</NOTE> This <HI>Mercy</HI> then importeth an affection rai&s;ed in the &s;oul of a man or woman by Go&s;pel con&s;ideration (the holy Gho&s;t over-&s;haddowing or a&s;&s;i&s;ting tho&s;e endea|vours, or that exerci&s;e of the mind and con&s;cience, by which it is rai&s;ed) whereby they are effectually inclined and provoked to mini&s;ter unto the nece&s;&s;ities of tho&s;e that &s;tand in need, when they have opportu|nity, according to the means which God hath touch|vouch&s;afed
<PB N="15" REF="14">
unto them for their relief. This (with what brevity we could) for the explication of the Do|ctrine.</P>
<P>For the truth of it, &s;o under&s;tood, as hath been declared, although that one text of Scripture, upon which it hath been built, be of &s;ufficient evidence and authority to &s;ecure it unto your judgments and con&s;ci|ences, yet let us give you mea&s;ure heaped up, by in|&s;i&s;ting upon &s;ome others for the &s;trengthening and en|riching of this &s;ecurity.</P>
<P><HI>He &s;hall not be afraid</HI> (&s;aith <HI>David,</HI> &s;peaking of the<NOTE PLACE="marg">Scripture|proofs of the Doctrine.</NOTE> man that is <HI>gracious, and full of compa&s;&s;ion and righte|ous,</HI> P&s;al. 112. 4.) &s;uch a man (&s;aith he) <HI>&s;hall not be afraid of evil tidings</HI> (he means, any, or all &s;uch <HI>ti|dings</HI> which import evil, <HI>i. e.</HI> which are of a &s;adding, or terrifying nature unto the generality of men) <HI>His heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. His heart is e&s;ta|bli&s;hed: he &s;hall not be afraid, till he &s;ee his de&s;ire upon his enemies:</HI> The tidings of the day of judgment, when far the greate&s;t part of the world &s;hall be &s;ent quick to Hell, never to return thence to the days of eternity, are tidings of the greate&s;t evil to the gene|rality of men and women, that can be, yet he that is <HI>Gracious [i. e.</HI> apt to do good without any carnal mo|tive or inducement thereunto] <HI>and full of compa&s;&s;ion,</HI> &s;hall not be a&s;tonyed, or &s;truck with fear at the&s;e ti|dings, though &s;o formidably evil (as hath been &s;aid) as appears by that which followeth: <HI>His heart is fixed, his heart is e&s;tabli&s;hed, tru&s;ting in the Lord;</HI> meaning, that his <HI>tru&s;ting</HI> in God, is that which <HI>fix|eth</HI> and <HI>e&s;tabli&s;heth his heart,</HI> &s;o that it is not, it cannot be &s;haken, or to&s;&s;ed up and down within him with tho&s;e &s;torms and tempe&s;ts and whirlwinds of fear, which are the rending, and tearing, and tormenting
<PB N="16" REF="15">
of other mens. A feather, though it be a very weak and light thing, and hath nothing in it &s;elf to bala&s;t it, or wherewith to re&s;i&s;t the lea&s;t puff or whiff of wind, yet if it be clo&s;e and fa&s;t knit or bound to a great Rock, it pertakes of the &s;tability and firmne&s;s of this Rock, and can no more be &s;haken, or removed, then the Rock it &s;elf. In like manner, a man made of fle&s;h and blood, a creature very contemptible in his own &s;trength, apt to be &s;haken and &s;hattered in pieces with &s;ad expectations and fears of what it may &s;uffer from time to time, yet being clo&s;e united unto God, and cleaving fa&s;t to him in tru&s;t and dependance becomes intere&s;&s;ed in the &s;ecurity and unmoveable|ne&s;s of God him&s;elf. This happy po&s;ture or condi|tion of &s;oul, the Apo&s;tle calleth a being <HI>&s;trong in the Lord, and in the power of his might</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Eph. 6. 10.</NOTE>; meaning, that good <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> and true beleev|ers, ought to be as &s;ecure, as dreadle&s;s and fearle&s;s of evil, notwith&s;tanding their own weakne&s;s, as if they were them&s;elves inve&s;ted with the glorious omnipotencie, or <HI>power of the might</HI> of God, and had the &s;ame means for their pre&s;ervation and &s;afety in their own hands, which now are in his. <HI>He &s;hall not be afraid</HI> (&s;aith <HI>David,</HI> further di&s;playing the &s;ecurity or fearle&s;s po&s;ture of his <HI>gracious</HI> and <HI>compa&s;&s;ionate</HI> man) <HI>until he &s;ee his de&s;ire upon his enemies,</HI> i. e. until he &s;hall &s;ee all tho&s;e, whether per&s;ons or things, from whence he may be conceived to be in danger of &s;uffer|ing evil, &s;o broken, &s;cattered, and confounded, that he &s;hall fully know him&s;elf to be out of all danger offuf|fering from them; meaning, that he &s;hould never be <HI>afraid:</HI> For he that is without fear until he &s;ee his ene|mies utterly de&s;troyed, certainly will not be afraid afterwards. Now the great and mo&s;t formidable
<PB N="17" REF="15">
enemies of the <HI>Gracious</HI> and <HI>Compa&s;&s;ionate</HI> man, as he is a man, are Death, and Hell [or the Grave] with their &s;ad and di&s;mal retinue, both <HI>a parte <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">te,</HI> and <HI>a parte po&s;t,</HI> before, and after. Therefore the man now before us, <HI>Gracious, and full of Compa&s;&s;ion &s;hall not be afraid, [i.</HI> &s;hall enjoy him&s;elf in a ble&s;&s;ed tran|quillity and &s;ecurity of mind] <HI>until he &s;hall &s;ee his de&s;ire on them [i.</HI> until he &s;hall &s;ee both Death and Hell, with all their train, ca&s;t into the Lake of fire, Rev. 20. 14.] after which he &s;hall apparantly be out of all danger of being hurt by them. Why <HI>David</HI> in&s;i&s;teth up<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">n this qualification, <HI>full of Compa&s;&s;ion,</HI> in characterizing &s;uch a per&s;on, who&s;e heart &s;hould be fixed and e&s;ta|bli&s;hed by tru&s;ting in the Lord, and con&s;equently, who &s;hould not <HI>be afraid,</HI> &amp;c. and why a Per&s;on of this character &s;hould <HI>trust in the Lord,</HI> and &s;o be <HI>e&s;tabli&s;hed,</HI> rather then any other man, &s;hall be &s;hewed unto you when we come to open the Ground and Rea&s;on of the Doctrine.</P>
<P>In the mean time give me your patience to add a brief pa&s;&s;age or two out of the fir&s;t Epi&s;tle of <HI>John,</HI> for your further &s;atisfaction in the truth of the Do|ctrine. <HI>We know</HI> (&s;aith this Apo&s;tle in this Epi&s;tle, <HI>c. 3. 14.) that we have pa&s;sed from Death to Life, be|cau&s;e we love the Brethren.</HI> That he &s;peaks here in a more particular manner of <HI>love</HI> to the poor <HI>Brethren,</HI> which uttereth it &s;elf after the manner of goodne&s;s, mercy, and compa&s;&s;ion, appears from the &s;equel of the context, and more e&s;pecially from ver&s;. 17. <HI>But who &s;o hath this worlds goods, and &s;eeth his Brother have need, and &s;hutteth up his Bowels of compa&s;&s;ion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?</HI> Now then the Apo&s;tle (as ye heard) &s;peaking thus; <HI>We know that we have pa&s;&s;ed from Death to Life, becau&s;e we love the Bre|thren;</HI>
<PB N="18" REF="16">
his meaning is, that all they who <HI>love the Brethren</HI> (in the &s;en&s;e &s;pecified) <HI>i.</HI> expre&s;s them&s;elves in a way of kindne&s;s and mercy to &s;uch of the <HI>Brethren</HI> who are poor, and &s;tand in need of their help, <HI>know</HI> hereby, <HI>i.</HI> may readily or ea&s;ily <HI>know</HI> hereby, have a pregnant ground on which to be built up in this ble&s;|&s;ed confidence or a&s;&s;urance, that they have <HI>pa&s;&s;ed from Death to Life,</HI> that the bitterne&s;s of the wrath, and vengeance which is to come, is already pa&s;&s;ed as to them, and that condemnation &s;hall not be their portion.</P>
<P>The 17, and 18. ver&s;es of the 4^t^h chapter of the &s;ame Epi&s;tle, are confederate in Notion and Import, with the now-opened pa&s;&s;age, and give te&s;timony to the &s;ame Truth. In the former, <HI>Herein</HI> (&s;aith <HI>John) is our love</HI> [or, love with us, <GAP DESC="foreign">] <HI>made perfect, that we may have boldne&s;s in the day of judge|ment, becau&s;e as he is, &s;o are we in this world.</HI> As if he &s;hould &s;ay, this is a &s;igne, an argument, that our <HI>love</HI> hath attained &s;ome mea&s;ure, or degree, of <HI>perfection,</HI> and hath acted its part well, when it hath rai&s;ed us to a <HI>boldne&s;s,</HI> or fearle&s;ne&s;s of &s;pirit, <HI>in the day [i.</HI> again&s;t the day] of <HI>the judgement</HI> of the world. Or thus, the con&s;ideration of this great priviledge, or fruit of our <HI>love,</HI> when it &s;hall be grown to any &s;trength or perfection, is a worthy motive unto us to perfect it, or to ha&s;ten us to the perfecting of it, <HI>viz.</HI> that by it <HI>we &s;hall</HI> have <HI>boldne&s;s</HI> [or, liberty of face, <GAP DESC="foreign">] <HI>in the day of judgement.</HI> Now they, who at pre&s;ent know they &s;hall have <HI>boldne&s;s in the day of judgement,</HI> mu&s;t needs have, even at pre&s;ent, a large fir&s;t fruits of that Harve&s;t. It follows: <HI>becau&s;e as he is, &s;o are we in this world.</HI> This clau&s;e &s;eems to contain a rea|&s;on or ground of the former a&s;&s;ertion, and to import
<PB N="19" REF="16">
that our being found <HI>in this world</HI> by means of our love perfected, like unto God, or unto <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> who fils the world with the fruits of his love, goodne&s;s and mercy, is a pregnant rea&s;on, why we &s;hould even at pre&s;ent, promi&s;e unto our &s;elves boldne&s;s in the day of judgement, in as much as there is not the lea&s;t co|lour for any jealou&s;ie or fear, that God &s;hould con|demn tho&s;e in the day of judgment, who have been like unto him&s;elf in works of love, goodne&s;s and mer|cie (works wherein him&s;elf mo&s;t delighteth) and this in a place, where it is a matter of greate&s;t difficulty and disadvantage for men to re&s;emble him in the&s;e, <HI>viz. this</HI> pre&s;ent <HI>world,</HI> where there are &s;o few examples leading, or incouragements inducing, unto &s;uch things; yea and very many things greatly di&s;couraging from them.</P>
<P>The Tenor of the latter of the two ver&s;es pointed at, is, <HI>There is no fear in love.</HI> He &s;peaks of love made <HI>perfect</HI> (as appears both from the former ver&s;e, as al|&s;o from the clau&s;e immediately following:) <HI>In this love</HI> (he &s;aith) <HI>there is no fear,</HI> i. e. with this <HI>love,</HI> or where this <HI>love</HI> is, <HI>there is no fear [viz.</HI> of condemna|tion, or rejection by God:] The rea&s;on follows, by way of <HI>Antithe&s;is; but perfect love,</HI> i. e. becau&s;e love when grown to any good degree of perfection, <HI>ca&s;teth out</HI> [&s;uch] <HI>fear</HI> out of the &s;ame heart with it. And the rea&s;on (&s;aith he) why <HI>love</HI> carrieth this oppo&s;ition in it unto fear (as <HI>viz.</HI> to eject and ca&s;t it out of the &s;oul) is <HI>becau&s;e fear hath puni&s;hment,</HI> or torment, imply|ing that the nature of love, goodne&s;s and mercy, is &s;o rich, &s;weet and God-like, that it will endure nothing that is afflicting, or tormenting, neither in others as far as it is able to relieve them; but e&s;pecially not, in its own &s;ubject, in the &s;ame per&s;on, where it &s;elf re|&s;ideth.
<PB N="20" REF="17">
This for proof of the Doctrine from the Scriptures.</P>
<P>Proceed we to the further demon&s;tration of it by principles and grounds in Rea&s;on.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, a &s;pirit of mercy acting regularly, and bring|ing<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rea&s;on 1.</NOTE> forth fruit in due &s;ea&s;on, mu&s;t needs breed that good blood in the &s;oul which the Doctrine &s;peaks of, ble&s;s men with a glorious &s;ecurity, at lea&s;t with a rich capacity of being &s;ecured, again&s;t judgement, and fear of condemnation, becau&s;e it renders them like unto God, and this clearly to their own &s;en&s;e, and in their own under&s;tandings, in &s;uch things or re&s;pects, upon which they are declared and owned by him in the Scriptures, as his children. <HI>But I &s;ay unto you</HI> (&s;aith our Saviour to his Di&s;ciples) <HI>Love your enemies, ble&s;s them that cur&s;e you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that de&s;pitefully u&s;e you, and per&s;ecute you, that you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven. For he maketh his Sun to ri&s;e on the evil and the good, and &s;endeth rain on the ju&s;t, and unju&s;t</HI><NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Mat. 5. 44. 45.</NOTE>. It is the manner of the Scripture to call per&s;ons, the children of tho&s;e whom they re&s;emble in their <HI>Genius,</HI> or ways. Thus they who re&s;emble <HI>Abraham</HI> in his Faith, are termed <HI>Abrahams</HI> children, and &s;o, <HI>Abra|hams</HI> Seed, <HI>Luke 19. 9. Joh. 8. 39. Rom. 9. 8. Gal. 3. 7. &amp;c.</HI> And tho&s;e who re&s;emble the Divel in his wicked di&s;po&s;ition and practi&s;es, are termed his chil|dren, <HI>Ioh. 8. 44. Act. 13. 10. 1 Ioh.</HI> 3. 10. See more of this notion, <HI>Ezek. 16. 3. I&s;ai.</HI> 57. 3. But tho&s;e who re&s;em|ble God in his goodne&s;s and mercy unto men, are not termed his children upon the bare account of &s;uch an imitation, but rather becau&s;e they are <HI>partakers of the Divine Nature</HI> (as <HI>Peter</HI> &s;peaketh) and have been &s;pi|ritually begotten of him. <HI>Beloved</HI> (&s;aith <HI>John</HI>) Let
<PB N="21" REF="17">
us <HI>love one another; for love is of God, and every one that loveth is BORN OF GOD; and knoweth God</HI><NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 4. 7.</NOTE>. And whereas men are &s;aid to be <HI>the Children of God by Faith in Chri&s;t Je&s;us</HI><NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Gal. 3. 26.</NOTE>, the faith by which they be|come his children, is onely &s;uch a Faith, which hath the works we &s;peak of, works of goodne&s;s and mercy always in the womb and heart of it, and upon occa|&s;ion, in the hand of it, according to the Apo&s;tles own explication of him&s;elf in &s;uch &s;ayings as this: <HI>For in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, [i. e.</HI> under the Go&s;pel or under the profe&s;&s;ion of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> come in the fle&s;h] neither <HI>circum|ci&s;ion availeth any thing [viz.</HI> towards ju&s;tification, or &s;alvation] <HI>nor uncircumci&s;ion, but faith which worketh</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> [or rather which is operative, or working, <HI>i. e,</HI> which effectually di&s;po&s;eth and inclineth thethe per|&s;on in whom it re&s;ideth, to work <HI>by love</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Gal. 5. 6.</NOTE>, clearly implying that &s;uch a <HI>Faith</HI> which is not <GAP DESC="foreign">, very operative (for &s;uch is the import of the word <GAP DESC="foreign">) <HI>by love,</HI> or through love, [both unto God, and men] availeth every whitis little, ei|ther to ju&s;tification, or &s;alvation, as circumci&s;ion, or uncircumci&s;ion them&s;elves. But this by the way.</P>
<P>Now then if works of goodne&s;s and mercy, de|clare and avouch men and women, and this in their own con&s;ciences, to be not only followers of God in his ways of greate&s;t delight, but his children al&s;o, par|takers of his nature, they cannot lightly be in bon|dage under any &s;ervile jealou&s;ies or fears of being condemned, or de&s;troyed by him. Men <HI>that are evil</HI> (as our Saviour remindeth us, ye<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>know</HI> [by the in&s;tinct and teachings of nature] <HI>to give good things un|to their children,</HI> &amp;c. &s;o far are they from de&s;troying them. How then can it enter into the heart or any man, that God, who is full of love and all goodne&s;s,
<PB N="22" REF="18">
yea goodne&s;s it &s;elf, and &s;o acknowledged by all men, &s;hould abandon his chitdren, who are are really and truly, though &s;piritually, de&s;cended from him, and who avouch their Heavenly parentage in the &s;ight of the world, by doing the works of their great Father, that he (I &s;ay) &s;hould abandon &s;uch children as the&s;e unto perdition, unto the vengeance of eternal fire.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rea&s;on 2.</NOTE></P>
<P>A &s;econd rea&s;on of the Doctrine is: when a mans heart is enlarged in mercy, kindne&s;s and love to tho&s;e that &s;tand in need, &s;o that doing of good unto &s;uch, is a thing connatural and plea&s;ing to him, comporting with his <HI>Genius</HI> and di&s;po&s;ition, he is in an advanta|gious po&s;ture hereby to take impre&s;&s;ions of a belief, that like gracious and merciful di&s;po&s;itions are to be found in others al&s;o; according to that of the Apo|&s;tle; <HI>charity</HI> or love,&mdash;<HI>beleeveth all things, hopeth all things</HI><NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13. 7</NOTE> [<HI>i. e.</HI> effectually inclineth, or di&s;po&s;eth the per&s;ons qualified with it, to beleeve and hope the be&s;t concerning others, upon any competent and tolera|ble grounds for either, and where rea&s;ons are not pregnant or convincing of the contrary] E&s;pecially a man by means of &s;uch a frame and temper of his own heart and &s;pirit, as that we &s;peak of, is richly prepared to entertain the report of the kindne&s;s and mercy, of the goodne&s;s and love of God, in the Go&s;pel. For he that is con&s;cious to him&s;elf, that he him&s;elf is gra|ciou&s;ly and mercifully inclined, can freely pardon tho&s;e that have injured or offended him, can freely mini&s;ter unto the nece&s;&s;ities of tho&s;e that &s;tand in need, mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity beleeve that God is above him in all the&s;e excellencies, more gracious, more merciful, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> (which we know is the tenor and &s;ub&s;tance of the Go&s;pel) or el&s;e make him&s;elf, if not &s;uperior, yet equal unto God, in tho&s;e things, which are his great|e&s;t
<PB N="23" REF="18">
glory in the eyes of his creature. Now this the con&s;cience of every man and woman naturally trem|bles and abhors to do. Therefore he that is large|hearted and open handed, in mercy, kindne&s;s and goodne&s;s unto men, hath &s;pace and roomth (as it were) within him to receive and give entertainment unto that great Salvation, which the Go&s;pel brings and of|fers unto the world, together with all the Heavenly retinue of the grace, love, goodne&s;s, mercy and boun|ty of God, which accompany it: all which being received into the &s;oul by Faith, joyn hand in hand to &s;ecure him again&s;t condemnation. Whereas men and women of narrow and &s;cant hearts, wherein there is &s;towage and roomth onely for them&s;elves and their own worldly concernments, lie under a mo&s;t &s;ad di&s;|advantage, next to an incapacity, to embrace the glad tidings of the Go&s;pel, in their due compa&s;s and extent, without which they will hardly reach to the effectual allaying and quelling of their fears of wrath and condemnation for their &s;ins. It is a piece of the Prayer which <HI>Paul</HI> made for the <HI>Ephe&s;ians, that being rooted and grounded in love [i. e.</HI> being upon pregnant, weighty, and mature con&s;iderations and grounds, re|&s;olved again&s;t all di&s;&s;wa&s;ives and temptations to the contrary, to per&s;evere in <HI>love,</HI> and in the exerci&s;e of it, they might by the opportunity and help of &s;uch a frame of heart, <HI>be able to comprehend with all Saints, [i. e.</HI> to conceive and under&s;tand, with a commen&s;urable|ne&s;s of apprehen&s;ion and faith, as near as may be, wherein I pray that all the Saints may be partakers likewi&s;e with you] <HI>what is the breadth and length, and</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">a <HI>Eph.</HI> 3. 17. 18.</NOTE> <HI>depth, and height, and to know the love of Chri&s;t, that pa&s;&s;eth knowledge,</HI> &amp;c. To <HI>know the love of Chri&s;t</HI> in all the dimen&s;ions of it here named, to know it (I mean)
<PB N="24" REF="19">
as men may, and ought to know it (though otherwi&s;e in the full compa&s;s of it, it is above the knowledge and belief of men) but I &s;ay to know it, as men may know it, is &s;ufficient to re&s;cue their hearts and con&s;ciences out of the hand of all fear of judgement or condem|nation for &s;in. Now then the Apo&s;tle in the pa&s;&s;age yet before us, clearly &s;uppo&s;eth. 1. That per&s;ons <HI>rooted and grounded in love</HI> (in the &s;en&s;e declared) are in a rich and immediate capacity of attaining this knowledge; And 2. That no per&s;on without this qualification or advantage, is in any likelyhood, yea or po&s;&s;ibility, to attain it. Where love to God and men with the re&s;t of the gracious retinue which &s;till bear it company, as mercy, goodne&s;s, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> have not opened, widened, and enlarged the heart to a very great extent and compa&s;s, the <HI>breadth and length, depth and height</HI> of the love of <HI>Christ</HI> to men, cannot by rea|&s;on of their va&s;t dimen&s;ions, enter, or receive enter|tainment there. This is a &s;econd Rea&s;on.</P>
<P>Thirdly, there is a principle found in the generality<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rea&s;on 3</NOTE> of men, to conceive and think that God is like unto them&s;elves in inward principles and di&s;po&s;itions, what&s;oever the&s;e be. The truth is, that by creation they did in the&s;e re&s;emble him, and were like unto him, and this was their glory, being (I conceive) that Image of God, in which they are &s;aid to have been created. Again, true it is, that by Regeneration this re&s;emblance is regained: and this for the mea&s;ure or degree of it, proportionable to the greater or le&s;|er perfection of the work it &s;elf of Regeneration. Now though wicked men by voluntary &s;inning, and con|tinuing in &s;in upon &s;uch terms, grievou&s;ly obliterate, deface, and wa&s;t this Image or &s;imilitude of God in them&s;elves, and make them&s;elves more like unto
<PB N="25" REF="19">
<HI>Satan,</HI> then God; yet partly out of the pride, partly out of the ignorance of their hearts, partly out of a de&s;ire to enjoy them&s;elves in the plea&s;ures and con|tentments of &s;in without fear of being judged by God for it in the end, they are willing to hearken unto <HI>Satan,</HI> when he &s;ugge&s;teth unto them, and tempteth them to beleeve that God &s;ymboli|zeth in the &s;ame principles, Genius and di&s;po&s;ition with them, according to that of <HI>David, Thou thought|e&s;t</HI> (&s;peaking in the per&s;on of God to a wicked man) <HI>that I am altogether &s;uch an one as thy &s;elf,</HI> and con&s;e|quently, that I am not offended with thee, will not puni&s;h thee, for thy wickedne&s;s: <HI>but</HI> thou art dread|fully deceived in this: for (as it follows) <HI>I will re|prove thee, and &s;et them</HI> [thy &s;ins] <HI>in order before thine eyes</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 50. 21</NOTE>; meaning, that he would judge and puni&s;h him &s;everely for them, and this with &s;uch a kind of judge|ment, which &s;hould be as gla&s;s unto him, wherein he &s;hould (as it were) &s;ee his &s;ins one after another as he had committed them, in their native and proper &s;hapes of deformity. Now as wicked men are apt to think, though very fooli&s;hly and fal&s;ly, that God is of their mind and like unto them, &s;o are holy and good men apt to think al&s;o, and this according to their duty, and the truth; onely acknowledging their own infirmities and imperfections, and con&s;equently, their due di&s;tance from God. Good men cannot but think that God is good, that he is holy, that he is gracious, merciful, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and con&s;equently that he is like unto them, or (which is the &s;ame as to the point in hand) they unto him. And the more explicit and expre&s;s the&s;e divine impre&s;&s;ions or qualities are found in them, the richer and fuller their knowledge and a&s;&s;ureance mu&s;t needs be that God is like unto them, and they unto him.</P>
<P><PB N="26" REF="20">As when men are eminently gracious, eminently good eminently merciful, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> there is &s;carce any place left for que&s;tioning or doubting, whether we be like unto God, and &s;o he to us, or no. Now then when a man &s;hall be rich, and reign in this confidence, that he is like unto God in righteou&s;ne&s;s, goodne&s;s, mer|cy, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> how, or upon what account can he be afraid that God &s;hould condemn or de&s;troy him? Though fear in many ca&s;es be a very irrational, &s;en&s;le&s;s, and unruly pa&s;&s;ion, yet to be afraid, le&s;t God &s;hould &s;end the Divine Nature, that is, his own, into Hell, is a kind of fear &s;o broadly irrational and extravagant, that it is not incident to one of many thou&s;ands. Be|&s;ides, &s;ympathize and communion in nature, di&s;po&s;i|tion, and action, when apprehended and beleeved, is &s;ecurity in abundance to the inferiour, from receiving any prejudice or harm by the power of him that is Su|perior. Upon this ground it was, that the wicked per&s;on, concerning whom we lately heard from <HI>Da|vid</HI> that he <HI>thought</HI> God to <HI>be &s;uch an one altogether as him&s;elf,</HI> was confidently &s;ecure that God would not hurt, judg, or puni&s;h him; which conceit of his, as a natural con&s;equent of the &s;aid thought, <HI>David</HI> plain|ly intimates by making God to &s;ay in oppo&s;ition to it, (as we likewi&s;e heard) <HI>but I will reprove thee, and &s;et them in order before thine eys</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 50. 21.</NOTE>; meaning, that he would puni&s;h, or de&s;troy him; which implies, that this wretched man promi&s;ed unto him&s;elf peace and freedom from puni&s;hment, from the hand of God. The Apo&s;tle <HI>Iohn</HI> likewi&s;e builds upon the &s;ame foun|dation, in rea&s;oning (as we lately al&s;o heard) thus: <HI>Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have bold|ne&s;s in the day of judgement: becau&s;e as he is, &s;o are we in this world</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 4. 17</NOTE>. But of the&s;e words formerly. This for a third Rea&s;on.</P>
<P><PB N="27" REF="20">Fourthly, This impre&s;&s;ion is &s;trong and clear up|on<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rea&s;on 4.</NOTE> every mans heart, con&s;cience, and &s;oul, that God loveth mercy, as he doth all kind of righteou&s;ne&s;s and goodne&s;s otherwi&s;e. We &s;hall not need (I &s;up|po&s;e) to &s;trengthen the hand of this impre&s;&s;ion from the Scriptures; which plentifully a&s;&s;ert the love which God beareth unto all righteou&s;ne&s;s, of which mercy is (and &s;o the Scripture maketh it) a principal part, or member. Yea and nature it &s;elf teacheth every man this further, that the more any creature excelleth in any of tho&s;e worthy di&s;po&s;itions which he loveth, he loveth this creature proportionably the more. <HI>The righteous Lord</HI> (&s;aith <HI>David) loveth righteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> and then &s;ubjoyneth; <HI>his countenance doth behold the up|right,</HI> or, tho&s;e that are righteous <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 11. 7.</NOTE>, meaning, that he looketh after them&punc; and beareth re&s;pects of grace un|to them. So then that being a known property of <HI>love,</HI> which the Apo&s;tle mentioneth among&s;t many others, <HI>viz. to think no evil,</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13. 7.</NOTE> [i. e. to re&s;train its &s;ub|ject from intending hurt in one kind or other, to any per&s;on, unto whom it is born] they who know that God loveth mercy, and merciful men (as all men ge|nerally do) and withal know, that them&s;elves are merciful, which all they that are eminently merci|ful, cannot lightly but do, have no ground at all to fear that God intendeth evil towards, them, lea&s;t of all that greate&s;t of evils, condemnation, or the vengeance of eternal fire. This for a fourth Rea&s;on.</P>
<P>Fiftly, Hell is (as it were) the great draught, or<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rea&s;on 5.</NOTE> jakes of the world, into which there is nothing to be thrown, or ca&s;t, but that which is filthy, noy&s;om and unclean, and which would be offen&s;ive unto God, and render the &s;tate and condition of holy and good men, the Sons and Daughters of God, le&s;s de&s;irea|ble
<PB N="28" REF="21">
and delight&s;ome unto them, if it were not &s;epa|rated from them, and ca&s;t in there. Jewels or things, of value, plea&s;ure and delight, are not wont to be thrown upon dunghils, or into noy&s;ome Vaults, the u&s;e whereof only is to receive and keep that a-part, and at a di&s;tance from men, which being neerer hand, and in view, would annoy them, and render their lives uncomfortable. Lea&s;t of all are men wont to di&s;|po&s;e of &s;uch things into any of the&s;e di&s;ho|nourable receptacles, which are mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary for the comfort and well being of many. Now the Sons and Daughters of Mercy, are both Gods Jewels, and mens: they render God him&s;elf full of beauty, plea|&s;antne&s;s, and de&s;irablene&s;s unto the world. <HI>Let your light</HI> (&s;aith Chri&s;t) <HI>&s;o &s;hine before men, that they may &s;ee your good works, and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven</HI><NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Mat. 5. 16.</NOTE>. As the <HI>Jewes</HI> directed him that was born blind, after they had been inform'd that <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> had opened his eyes, though upon a wrong and wicked pretence: <HI>Give God the prai&s;e, we know that this man is a &s;inner</HI><NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Joh. 9. 24.</NOTE>; So we knowing that men generally being left unto them&s;elves, and led by the &s;pirit of the fle&s;h, and of the world, are <HI>&s;inners,</HI> are covetous, unmer|ciful, heard-hearted, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> when we &s;ee the plea&s;ant and lovely works of mercy and goodne&s;s putting forth them&s;elves plentifully in them, we cannot, quitting our &s;elves like men, but acknowledge God to be the Author and Father of the&s;e works in them, and con&s;equently to be mo&s;t gracious, lovely, and de&s;ireable him&s;elf. The holy Gho&s;t takes notice that <HI>the multitude wondred when they &s;aw the dumb to &s;peak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to &s;ee: and</HI> that upon this, <HI>they glorified the God of I&s;rael</HI>;<NOTE PLACE="marg">c <HI>Mat.</HI> 15. 30.</NOTE> as knowing and con&s;idering, that it mu&s;t
<PB N="29" REF="21">
needs be he, who by his grace and power, had made this happy change in the &s;ad conditions of the&s;e mi&s;e|rable men. But when men &s;hall &s;ee of the &s;tones of the Earth children rai&s;ed up unto <HI>Abraham,</HI> and Wil|derne&s;&s;es turned into Rivers, and dry and barren grounds into water-&s;prings; I mean, when they &s;hall &s;ee men and women, who &s;ometimes were, or atlea&s;t were in danger of being, as empty Vines bring|ing forth fruit onely to them&s;elves; great &s;elf-lovers, &s;elf &s;eekers, hard of bowels, eaten up with the zeal of this pre&s;ent world, regardle&s;s of the &s;orrows, mi&s;e|ries, nece&s;&s;ities, extremities of others, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> when men (I &s;ay) &s;hall &s;ee &s;uch per&s;ons as the&s;e to be transformed and renewed in the frame of their hearts, and &s;pirit of their minds, as that now they are full of mercy, ten|der-hearted, of earning bowels, fruitful in good works, travailing in birth with the peace, comfort, joy of their generation, and of all round about them, the&s;e being matters of far greater dignation from God, then the other, and not re&s;olveable into any other Au|thor or cau&s;e, but him&s;elf, cannot in rea&s;on, but turn to a richer account in glory unto him from men, then tho&s;e things, for which we heard that the <HI>multitude glorified the God of I&s;rael.</HI> Thus then we &s;ee how mer|ciful men are Gods <HI>Iewels,</HI> commending and &s;etting him forth with beauty and plea&s;antne&s;s of glory unto the world. In this re&s;pect there can be no ground of fear that he &s;hould ca&s;t them among&s;t the retryment and filth of the world, into the great &s;ink, or com|mon &s;ewer of Hell.</P>
<P>Again, the per&s;ons we &s;peak of, the generation of the merciful, are &s;o far from being any offence upon the holy Mountain of the Lord, or (indeed) upon any mountain of the world, that they are de&s;ireable
<PB N="30" REF="22">
and plea&s;ant in the eyes of all fle&s;h, they are the <HI>deliciae generis humani,</HI> the delight and darlings of mankind. The Common-Wealth of the <HI>I&s;rael</HI> of God rejoiceth greatly over them, and cannot flouri&s;h, or well &s;tand without them. So that there is not the lea&s;t cau&s;e of the lea&s;t jealou&s;ie or fear unto any of the&s;e, that their ca&s;ting into Hel would be any gratification or accom|modation unto the Saints, but rather as a &s;word pa&s;|&s;ing through their &s;oul, or a grievous di&s;membring of their body. Thus &s;ecurity from the wrath which is to come, compa&s;&s;eth the generation of the merciful on every &s;ide.</P>
<P>Sixtly, To the Friends of God, and tho&s;e who<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rea&s;on 6.</NOTE> &s;tand clo&s;e to him in tho&s;e exigencies or ca&s;es of ne|ce&s;&s;ity (as they may be called) unto which he hath voluntarily, and according to the pre&s;cript of his own wi&s;dom, expo&s;ed him&s;elf in the world, there is no occa&s;ion of fear to be condemned by him, but all grounds of the greate&s;t &s;ecurity in this kind that can be de&s;ired. Though men of degenerous and ignoble &s;pirits, who are &s;ervile to unworthy ends, may &s;ome|times &s;acrifice their be&s;t friends, yea even tho&s;e, whom they know to be &s;uch, upon the &s;ervice of &s;ome di&s;honourable project or de&s;ign; yet the common light of rea&s;on and con&s;cience in men, abhors to con|ceive or &s;u&s;pect any &s;uch thing in God, in whom all things are mo&s;t excellent and de&s;ireable, and no &s;ha|dow of the lea&s;t imperfection, or unworthine&s;s in him; who moreover, as the Scripture informeth us concerning him, is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>cannot be tempted of evil</HI><NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Jam. 1. 13.</NOTE>; all his ends are mo&s;t honourable and ju&s;t, nor do any of them require of him the lea&s;t unworthy action, much le&s;s the ruin and de&s;truction of his friends, for their accompli&s;hment.</P>
<P><PB N="31" REF="22">Now that per&s;ons mercifully di&s;po&s;ed, and &s;uch who (in <HI>Davids</HI> Language) <HI>con&s;ider the poor and needy,</HI> are the friends of God, and &s;tand by his Intere&s;t, the Intere&s;t of his glory, in the world, the Scripture it &s;elf witne&s;&s;eth and acknowledgeth, in &s;aying, <HI>He that hath mercy upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given, will he pay him again</HI><NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Pro. 19. 17</NOTE>. How, or in what re&s;pect, doth he that <HI>giveth</HI> unto the <HI>poor, lend</HI> unto God? The rea&s;on of the a&s;&s;ertion is (doubt|le&s;s) this: God every where claims to him&s;elf the great honour of being the Sovereign Admini&s;trator of humane affairs, and Governour of the world: and he is generally by men, acknowledged &s;o to be. Now as he is the Supream Ruler and Governor of the world, the care of the poor and needy, being mem|bers of the world, and if they be godly and vertuous, very con&s;iderable and worthy members hereof, lieth upon his hand, as well as, if not much more then, the care of other per&s;ons. Yea him&s;elf very frequently en|gageth him&s;elf by word and promi&s;e, to take &s;pecial care of the poor and helple&s;s, and that he will be mindful of them, and provide for them. In both re&s;pects when the poor are neglected, and expo&s;ed to extremities, the honour and equitablene&s;s of his go|vernment of the world, together with the truth of his word and promi&s;e, are in danger of being called into que&s;tion, at lea&s;t by his enemies, and tho&s;e that are le&s;s acquainted with his methods and ways. So that they who charge them&s;elves and their con&s;ciences with looking after the poor, and &s;hall mini&s;ter unto their wants and nece&s;&s;ities, as they are able, and have opportunity to do, herein ju&s;tifie and vindicate the Government of the world in the hand of God, toge|ther with the truth of his Declarations made in the be|half
<PB N="23" REF="23">
of the poor, from, and again&s;t all imputations and a&s;per&s;ions that are, or might be; ca&s;t upon them, upon the account of a deficiencie in this kind, and in ca&s;e the poor &s;hould be wholly unregarded. Yea, whereas the great God hath (as it were) pawned unto the world, tho&s;e ine&s;timable Jewels, the honour of his righteou&s;ne&s;s, and of his truth, that the poor of the Earth, &s;hal not be for&s;aken or left de&s;olate, but remembred in his providential di&s;pen&s;ations in the world, they who &s;hal &s;hew them kindne&s;s, and be as nur&s;ing Fathers unto them, what do they el&s;e but <HI>lend unto the Lord,</HI> for the redeeming of his pawns, and to prevent the rejoycing of his Enemy, the world, over the forfeiture of them? Whereas they who &s;hut up the bowels of their compa&s;&s;ion again&s;t the indigent and needy, and &s;uffer them to faint and &s;ink under the burthen of their poverty, whil&s;t they have in their hand the good things of this world wherewith to re|lieve them, do what in them lyeth, expo&s;e the righ|teou&s;ne&s;s and truth, and faithfulne&s;s of God in the go|vernment of the world, unto reproach and &s;hame. Hence it is, that the Holy Gho&s;t &s;peaking by the Apo|&s;tle <HI>John,</HI> imputeth the heard-heartedne&s;s of men to|wards the poor, not &s;o much to a defect or want of love in them towards the poor them&s;elves, as towards God, who is more concerned (as he is capale of concern|ments in one kind or other) in the relief and non-relief then them&s;elves. <HI>But who&s;oever hath this worlds good, and Brother have need, and &s;hutteth up his bowels of compa&s;&s;ion &s;eeth his from him, how dwelleth THE LOVE OF GOD in him</HI><NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 3. 17</NOTE>? By the way it may be &s;ome comfort and relief of &s;pirit unto the poor, when they are neglected by men, that they are herein but fellow-&s;ufferers with God him&s;elf. This for a &s;ixth Rea&s;on.</P>
<P><PB N="33" REF="23">Seventhly (and La&s;tly) Among&s;t <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> and tho&s;e that are trained up in the knowledge of the Scriptures, there is this rea&s;on beyond all the re&s;t, why men and women &s;ignally gracious and merciful, cannot lightly be troubled with any &s;ervile fears of judgement or condemnation, <HI>viz.</HI> that God hath poured out him&s;elf &s;o abundantly above mea&s;ure in his word, in high approbations of this Grace and the ex|erci&s;e of it, and e&s;pecially in promi&s;es of all &s;orts, great and precious in every kind made unto it, as if he judged, both the world that now is, with all that is de&s;ireable in it, and the world al&s;o that is to come with all the glory and great things thereof, con&s;ideration or reward little enough for tho&s;e that &s;hall honour him, and his Go&s;pel, like them&s;elves, with the exerci&s;e of it.</P>
<P>We &s;hall not need to in&s;tance in particulars. The Firmament of Heaven is not fuller of Stars then the Scripture is of Divine promi&s;es and engagements unto tho&s;e that &s;hall ca&s;t their bread upon the waters, and &s;hew them&s;elves the natural &s;ons and daughters of <HI>mercy: Give</HI> (&s;aith our Saviour) <HI>and it &s;hall be given unto you, good mea&s;ure pre&s;&s;ed down, and &s;haken toge|ther, and running over, &s;hall they</HI> [not men] <HI>give into your bo&s;om</HI><NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Luk. 6. 38.</NOTE>. When actions are a&s;cribed to un-named and (as it were) to invi&s;ible Agents (which is &s;ome|times done in the Scripture, as <HI>Luk. 12. 20. 48. Luk.</HI> 16. 9. and el&s;ewhere) it &s;eems to imply &s;ome &s;pe|cial hand of God, or &s;omewhat more then ordinary, in their performance. So when it is here &s;aid <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>they &s;hall give</HI> the mea&s;ure here expre&s;&s;ed <HI>into your bo&s;om,</HI> the meaning may well be, that God him&s;elf will interpo&s;e with extraordinary zeal to make the reward of men and women,
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that &s;hall be large hearted and open hand|ed unto the poor, rich and full above mea&s;ure. I forbear to in&s;i&s;t upon any more promi&s;es of like import, becau&s;e they are of &s;uch frequent occur|rencie in the Scriptures. You may plea&s;e at your lei&s;ure to con&s;ider the&s;e places (with their fellows) <HI>I&s;ai. 58. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Eccle&s;. 11. 1, 2. P&s;al. 41. 1, 2, 3. P&s;al. 112. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Prov. 11. 25. Mat. 5. 7. Luk. 6. 35. Luk. 12. 33. 2 Cor.</HI> 9. 6. This for the &s;eventh and la&s;t Rea&s;on of the Do|ctrine.</P>
<P>Proceed we now to the U&s;e and Application of it. Here we &s;hall find it &s;erviceable&punc; unto us upon three &s;everal accounts. 1. It will yeild us matter of In|&s;truction. 2. Of Reproof. 3. (And La&s;tly) of Exhortation.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, for In&s;truction; If men full of goodne&s;s and mercy cannot (lightly) but enjoy them&s;elves in an Heavenly &s;ecurity from the wrath of God, which hangs over the head of the world, learn we from hence, that then there is a cour&s;e to be taken, by which men and women may be built up in a &s;table, &s;teady, and well grounded a&s;&s;urance of &s;alvation: there is a &s;tone to be turned, and this not very heavy neither, under which the ine&s;timable jewel of an Heavenly &s;ecurity lyeth hid, and may be found, a &s;ecurity&punc; I mean, that a man &s;hall be able to &s;tand before that great Judge in that his day, and not fall, or be con|demned with the world. By the coldne&s;s, indiffe|rencie, and dead-heartedne&s;s of the generality of men and women, in looking after &s;uch a &s;tate and enjoy|ment as this, a man would think that it were like the world, which &s;ome men fancie to be in the Moon, yet find few or none that will trouble them&s;elves to
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look after it, partly becau&s;e, they know not whether there be &s;uch a world, or no, partly becau&s;e in ca&s;e there be, they know not how to come at it, or how to intere&s;s them&s;elves in any the good things of it. In like manner the far greater part of men look upon a wel grounded a&s;&s;urance of &s;alvation. 1. As a thing of a que&s;tionable and uncertain being. 2. As a thing out of their reach, in ca&s;e the being of it &s;hould be &s;up|po&s;ed: and what in one of the&s;e re&s;pects, and what in the other, all thoughts of &s;eeking after it are as far from them, as the Ea&s;t is from the We&s;t, and the Heavens from the Earth. But the Doctrine deliver|ed, according to the Scriptures hath a&s;&s;ured us, both that there is a <HI>rejoycing again&s;t judgement,</HI> and, that <HI>mercy</HI> in her Exaltation will inve&s;t men in the po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>Secondly, From the tenor and import of the &s;ame<NOTE PLACE="marg">In&s;truct. 2.</NOTE> Doctrine, take we further knowledge what the rea|&s;on is, and how it cometh to pa&s;s that the generality of Profe&s;&s;ors among&s;t us, fall &s;o frequently into the company of <HI>Jim</HI> and <HI>Ojim,</HI> conver&s;e &s;o much with dark and doleful thoughts and fearful apprehen&s;ions of death, and of the judgement to come: why their comforts in God and in <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> are &s;o weak&punc; and faint, that they do them little &s;ervice in an evil day, are not able to balance an ordinary tryal. Alas, in all this they bear the burthen and &s;hame of their own folly, of their great unfaithfulne&s;s unto God and men, and their own &s;ouls. They are &s;trait-hearted, and clo&s;e|handed: this is the root of all the bitterne&s;s. As Hor&s;es, and &s;ome other creatures, never thrive, never are in good plight or likeing, whil&s;t they are hide|bound, which is a di&s;ea&s;e incident to them: &s;o when men or women are heart-bound (a &s;piritual di&s;ea&s;e, or
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di&s;temper very incident to Profe&s;&s;ors, and e&s;pecially to tho&s;e that are rich among&s;t them) this keeps them from thriving &s;piritually; this is a di&s;ea&s;e under which their &s;ouls cannot pro&s;per. Their covetou&s;|ne&s;s will not &s;uffer them to fea&s;t their con&s;ciences: they &s;ell their peace to purcha&s;e the ignoble office of being Jaylors, or Pri&s;on-keepers, to a little Silver. They give by the peny, in&s;teed of giving by the pound, to make any earnings, any con&s;iderable re|turn of their Chri&s;tian Profe&s;&s;ion. They who in all their abundance can find nothing, or nothing con&s;i|derable, to ca&s;t into the Trea&s;ury of Gods glory, are not like to find any thing con&s;iderable ca&s;t by God out of the un&s;earchable riches of his grace and boun|ty, into the trea&s;ury of their peace. When the King of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> with his Bowe and Arrows &s;mote but thrice upon the ground, then cea&s;ing, the Story &s;aith, that the <HI>man of God was wroth with him, and &s;aid, Thou &s;houldest have &s;mitten five or &s;ix times: thou hadst then &s;mitten Syria till thou hadst con&s;umed it, whereas now thou &s;halt &s;mite Syria but thrice</HI><NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">2 Kings 13. 19.</NOTE>. In like manner, many Profe&s;&s;ors deprive them&s;elves of that perfect victory and conque&s;t over their fears and doubtings, which is &s;o de&s;irable, and withal might be obtained, by giving portions only to one, or two, when as the Scriptures, and God &s;peaking here, requireth them to <HI>give porti|ons unto &s;even, and al&s;o unto eight</HI><NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Eccl. 11. 2.</NOTE>. It is <HI>the liberal &s;oul that &s;hall be made fat</HI><NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Prov. 11. 25.</NOTE>, that &s;hall be enriched and made to &s;hine, with comfort and peace; the &s;paring and penurious &s;oul con&s;ulteth leane&s;s and langui&s;hing un|to it &s;elf.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Ob&s;erve we yet further from the Do|ctrine<NOTE PLACE="marg">In&s;truct. 3.</NOTE> (by way of In&s;truction) a worthy con&s;idera|tion, or mean<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">, for the cure of that un&s;eemly di&s;tem|per
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(we may not unfitly call it a &s;piritual Megrum) &s;o epidemical and rife among&s;t Profe&s;&s;ors in the&s;e days, which di&s;po&s;eth them to turn round, or (in the Apo|&s;tles phra&s;e) <GAP DESC="foreign">, to be<NOTE PLACE="marg">d <HI>Eph.</HI> 4. 14.</NOTE> carried about with every putt of Doctrine; to run from one form, or way of wor&s;hipping God, unto another; and from this again, to another&punc; and from this al&s;o, to another beyond it, and no<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1+ letters"> <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1+ letters">ake any long &s;tand or &s;tay any where, until they have com|pa&s;&s;ed a round the whole <HI>encyclopedie</HI> or circuit of all ways, and forms, and doctrines, and at la&s;t (haply) arrive at the &s;ame point from whence they &s;et out at fir&s;t: for this properly, is <GAP DESC="foreign">, to be carried round, or round about. Now the rea&s;on of this de|&s;ultory humour and practi&s;e is commonly pretended to be a di&s;-&s;atisafction in con&s;cience, about the ju&s;tifi|ablene&s;s or lawfulne&s;s of that way, or truth of tho&s;e Doctrines, or Opinions, which are de&s;erted by men, together with a conviction of goodne&s;s and truth in that new way, and Doctrine, unto which they re|move. Whereas the true rea&s;on (for the mo&s;t part at lea&s;t) of &s;uch removals, is the negligent, un-Chri|&s;tian, and unworthy deportment of men and women, under tho&s;e Forms and Tenents, which they former|ly profe&s;&s;ed, or a non-improvement of tho&s;e opportu|nities and means for their Edification, Comfort, and Peace, which the&s;e Forms and Tenents afforded unto them. Many Profe&s;&s;ors in this ca&s;e, do like tho&s;e, who not thriving in their callings through idlene&s;s, impro|vidence, or ill-husbandry in one kind or other, charge all the blame upon their callings, as if the&s;e were ill|conditioned, and devoured their followers; pretend|ing that had they been trained up unto, or followed, other callings, they might have thriven, and lived of
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them&s;elves as well as others. I do not &s;peak this as if a Chri&s;tian profe&s;&s;ion might not both with more ac|ceptation in the &s;ight of God, and with more advan|tage for the edification and comfort of Chri&s;tians them&s;elves, be managed in one way, then in another; or con&s;equently, as if there might not be in many ca&s;es a v<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="3 letters"> worthy and commendable ground (yea po&s;&s;ibly more then one) for men and women, to pa&s;s from under one form unto another, and &s;o to die in their judgement to one Opinion or Tenent, that they may live unto another. But that which the pre&s;ent branch of In&s;truction holdeth forth unto you, is, That the true rea&s;on why Profe&s;&s;ors vary and &s;hift their Forms, and Tenents, &s;o frequently, and &s;o di&s;|honourably, both unto the Go&s;pel and them&s;elves, as they do, is, their barren and unfruitful conver&s;ings under them. For by rea&s;on hereof they gather little comfort or peace from, or under, them (no Form, or Opinion what&s;oever, how regular or true &s;oever, be|ing able, without a con&s;cientious and due improve|ment of them, to enrich or ble&s;s any mans &s;oul) and not finding their &s;ouls to pro&s;per under them, they grow into a di&s;content at them, and bethink them|&s;elves of &s;ome other, which they conceit and hope, (though ala&s;s! very groundle&s;ly) will upon the &s;ame terms, and without any more care, better befriend them in their &s;piritual e&s;tates, and commend them more highly unto God. Whereas the Truth is, that as on the one hand, there is &s;carce any Form, &s;o much be&s;ide the Rule, nor any Doctrine or Tenent &s;o for|lorn and Truthle&s;s, but that the evil and di&s;advan|tage of them, as to the &s;ound peace of Con&s;cience in the main, may be repri&s;ed by a worthy and fruitfull conver&s;ation; &s;o on the other hand, there is no Form
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or Opinion, &s;o conform to the Scriptures, or rich in Truth, but that an empty and fruitle&s;s conver&s;ation under them, will in time render them unto men as ve&s;&s;els wherein there is no plea&s;ure, yea, and make them the di&s;dain and contempt of the &s;oul. <HI>Mercy,</HI> under any form of <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Di&s;cipline or Wor&s;hip, under any Tenents in Religion, will <HI>rejo<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ce against Judgement:</HI> and where the Con&s;cience enjoys it &s;elf upon the&s;e terms, is ble&s;t with &s;uch a priviledge as this, there will be no di&s;po&s;ition towards&punc; a change, but only upon grounds and motives very weighty and pregnant indeed.</P>
<P>Fourthly, Take we yet further knowledge from<NOTE PLACE="marg">In&s;truct. 4.</NOTE> the Doctrine (by way of In&s;truction) how and by what means, all, or the greate&s;t part of, the ataxies, di&s;orders, and male-deportments of men in the world, might be prevented, and &s;o the condition of humane affairs reduced unto terms of a thou&s;and times more comfort and peace to the inhabitants of the earth, then now it &s;tandeth at, or is like for the future, to be reduced unto in any other way; unle&s;s it be by an high hand of heaven, and by turning this pre&s;ent world into that which is to come. <HI>Mercy</HI> exalted by the generality of men, would bring this great, this &s;o un&s;peakably de&s;irable a thing to pa&s;s, and this by filling their hearts and con&s;ciences with joy and peace. For the root of all the bitterne&s;s that is ta&s;ted in the lives and conver&s;ations of men by rea|&s;on of the great unworthine&s;s and wickedne&s;s, that ruleth in them, is, the want of &s;uch company in their heart and &s;oul, which would highly &s;atisfie and con|tent them. Now there is no &s;uch company to take, plea&s;e, and fill the hearts and &s;ouls of men, as the native fruits, the genuine and clear re&s;ults of &s;uch
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<HI>Mercy,</HI> as the Doctrine commendeth. Which (as the Doctrine likewi&s;e importeth) are peace of Con&s;cience towards God, and well-grounded exultations in the &s;oul, again&s;t judgement, and fears of condemnation. What is it that occa&s;ioneth, or &s;ecretly tempteth men to break out into any way of &s;in or wickedne&s;s what|&s;oever? <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2+ letters">an it be any thing el&s;e, but only want of &s;atisfaction&punc; and de&s;ired contentment at home? <HI>The &s;oul that is full</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Solomon</HI>) loatheth [or as the Ori|ginal hath it, treadeth under foot, <HI>i.</HI> neglecteth, or de&s;pi&s;eth] <HI>an honey-combe</HI><NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Pro. 27. 7.</NOTE>. And <HI>Job</HI> demandeth: <HI>Doth the wilde A&s;s bray when he hath gra&s;s? or loweth the Ox over his fodder</HI><NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Job 6. 5.</NOTE>? When the heart of a man is full of the peace of God, and reigns in an heaven|ly &s;ecurity, the honey-combe of &s;in, whether i&s;&s;u|ing the &s;weetne&s;s of plea&s;ure, or of profit, or of the greatne&s;s of this world, becomes but a &s;uperfluity and loth&s;ome impertinency to the &s;oul. Nor would men complain of God unto the Divel, as being hard and &s;trait handed towards them (as all they, who &s;eek to ea&s;e, or better their condition by &s;inning, do) if he did an&s;wer the joy of their hearts: which mo&s;t a&s;&s;uredly he would do, were they merciful as he is merciful, or delighted in mercy, as he delighteth. <HI>Saul</HI> did not enquire after a <HI>familiar &s;pirit,</HI> until God refu&s;ed to an&s;wer him, either <HI>by Dreams, or by Urim, or by Prophets</HI><NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 28. 6, 7.</NOTE>; and (que&s;tionle&s;s) he would &s;till have an&s;wered him in one or other of the&s;e ways, and &s;o have kept him from the temptation of being behold|ing unto the Divel, had not <HI>Saul</HI> by his di&s;obedience and great un worthine&s;s de&s;troyed his own capacity of &s;uch a Grace and Favour from him. Nor would God &s;uffer the &s;oul of any per&s;on, man or woman, to be &s;o barren and empty of &s;piritual provi&s;ion and
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accommodations, as to need the benevolence of <HI>Sa|than,</HI> or any contribution what&s;oever from Sin, were their hearts and their hands jointly exerci&s;ed with mercy, as he hath commanded them. The plea&s;ures and profits and all the advantages of &s;in are onely &s;weet to nece&s;&s;itous &s;ouls, drunkenne&s;s, uncleanne&s;s, covetou&s;ne&s;s, oppre&s;&s;ion, deceit, pride, anger impati|ency, with the re&s;t of the troublers of the world, and di&s;turbers of the peace and comforts of men, would all hide their faces in the du&s;t, and not be once named among&s;t men, did <HI>mercy</HI> exerci&s;e that &s;overaignty and command over the hearts and Con&s;ciences of men, which of right appertain unto her.</P>
<P>Fifthly (and la&s;tly for in&s;truction) ob&s;erve wee by the light of the Doctrine delivered, the &s;trange and uncouth folly, yea madne&s;&s;e, of a generation of men in the world, who notwith&s;tanding plea&s;e them&s;elves in their way, as if they were the fir&s;t born &s;ons of wi&s;dome and &s;ound under&s;tanding. The per&s;ons of the Character now mentioned and meant, are the great layers up of trea&s;ure for them&s;elveson earth, men that have &s;ilver and gold, heap upon heaps, and de&s;ire to heap up &s;till, that have joined hou&s;e to hou&s;e and field to field, and are intent upon joyning &s;till, forgetting in the mean time to offer the &s;acrifi|ces, wherewith God (as the Apo&s;tle &s;aith) <HI>is &s;o well plea&s;ed</HI> to di&s;tribute and communicate unto tho&s;e that &s;tand in need, and <HI>SHUTTING up their Compa&s;&s;i|on from</HI> their brethren, who are de&s;titute of dayly food, as if they were afraid, that if the&s;e were at any time left open, their great E&s;tates would pre&s;ently run out by them, and return unto them no more. Whereas the truth is, that did rich men give a <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> vent and breathing that way to their great and unweldy E&s;tates
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it were the mo&s;t prudential and promi&s;ing way under heaven to keep them from Con&s;umptions, and to make them long-liv'd even to many generations. <HI>There is a &s;ore evil</HI> (&s;aith the wi&s;e man) <HI>which I have &s;een under the Sun,</HI> viz. <HI>riches kept for</HI> [or by] <HI>the owners thereof to their hurt.</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Eccl. 5. 13.</NOTE> Yea mo&s;t certain it is, that there is no great E&s;tate or wealth what&s;oever, but if it be <HI>kept</HI> too clo&s;e and too intire, will in the end be found to have been <HI>kept</HI> to the great <HI>hurt,</HI> and inva|luable damage of the <HI>owner.</HI> And whereas it is an excellent and high &s;trein of wi&s;dome for men, to <HI>make them&s;elves</HI> &s;uch <HI>friends of the Mammon of un|righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> who, when they <HI>fail</HI> here, <HI>may,</HI> and will, <HI>receive them into everla&s;ting habitations;</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Luke 17. 9</NOTE> &s;o is it on the other hand the exaltation of folly, for men to make (as it were) of the &s;ame material, &s;uch ene|mies, who&s;e di&s;plea&s;ure may cau&s;e them both to <HI>fail</HI> the &s;ooner here, and wil mo&s;t certainly exclude them out of tho&s;e <HI>everla&s;ting habitations</HI> of re&s;t, and joy, and peace, into which otherwi&s;e they might, and &s;hould, have been received. For men &s;hall be &s;ent to Hell, as well for the want of Charity, and of Mer|cy, as for the want of Ju&s;tice; neither is it much mate|rial whether a man or woman be &s;ent thither upon the one account, or the other. We have now done with the u&s;e of in&s;truction.</P>
<P>The Doctrine is further profitable unto us for re|proof.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2d &V;&s;e Re|proof.</NOTE> For if <HI>mercy</HI> (in the &s;ence and upon the terms declared) hath this priviledge from God, to make all his true-born children, all her &s;ons and daughters, <HI>free</HI> from fear of wrath and condemnati|on, then are all &s;uch mo&s;t worthy reproof, and this with much &s;everity, who do not lift up their hearts unto her &s;ervice, and &s;tretch forth their hands to that
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work which &s;he commendeth unto all men, for their un&s;peakable benefit, and advancement unto an e&s;tate of &s;uch happine&s;&s;e and peace. To the far greate&s;t part of men and women in the world, <HI>mercy</HI> is little le&s;&s;e then a <HI>my&s;tery;</HI> their &s;oul never entred into the &s;ecret of it, and they that are Chri&s;tianly exerci&s;ed in the wayes thereof, may &s;ay unto them, <HI>We have meat to eat which you know not of:</HI> We live like Kings and Princes upon the &s;acrifices, which we have offer|ed of our &s;ub&s;tance unto God, in mini&s;tring to the nece&s;&s;ities of the poor, in feeding the hungry, in cloathing the naked, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> whereas you are in danger of being eaten up and con&s;umed with cares and fears, and &s;ad expectations, under all that abundance which you po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e. With that which we give, we pur|cha&s;e a &s;etled, con&s;tant and daily revenue of heaven|ly comfort and peace, and &s;o injoy that which wee have parted with, upon far better terms then wee could have po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed it. You on the contrary by &s;hutting up your Compa&s;&s;ions from the importunate cries of the mi&s;eries and extremities of the needy, ca&s;t in your whole e&s;tates into the Divels Trea&s;ury, and con&s;ult to your &s;elves both the pre&s;ent torment of the fear, and the future torment it &s;elf, of &s;uffer|ing the vengeance of eternal fire. The truth is, that men hard of bowels, and who have abundantly in their hand, but want in their heart, wherewith to &s;trengthen the hand of the poor, may well be com|pared to <HI>Hor&s;e and Mule,</HI> which (as <HI>David</HI> &s;aith) <HI>have no under&s;tanding.</HI> For what can argue a great|er, a &s;adder defect in rea&s;on, judgement, and un|der&s;tanding, then for men and women to purcha&s;e &s;hame, and &s;orrow, and fear, and (in the end) mi|&s;ery without end, with that price, which is put into
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their hand for their high advancement in joy, and peace, and ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e for evermore? What our Savior demandeth concerning the <HI>gaining of the whole world,</HI> may upon the &s;ame &s;ad and &s;erious account be demanded, concerning the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing or keeping it. <HI>For what is a man profited if he &s;hall po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e</HI> and keep to him&s;elf, while&s;t he lives, <HI>the whole world, and lo&s;e his own &s;oul.</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Mat. 16. 26.</NOTE> And this is con&s;iderable, that a de&s;ire or indeavour <HI>to gain the whole world,</HI> is not more threat|ning (nor indeed &s;o much altogether) of the lo&s;&s;e of the &s;oul, e&s;pecially of the lo&s;&s;e of it upon the harde&s;t and mo&s;t grievous terms of lo&s;ing it, as the hoarding and keeping of it to a mans &s;elf by unmercifulne&s;&s;e, when he hath gained it. I no where read, that he that de&s;ireth or attempteth to <HI>gain</HI> the <HI>whole world</HI> &s;hal <HI>lo&s;e his &s;oul,</HI> much le&s;&s;e that he &s;hall <HI>lo&s;e</HI> it with &s;uch a lo&s;&s;e, which &s;hall be more intolerable then the ordi|nary <HI>lo&s;ing</HI> of &s;ouls will be unto men. But I read as much concerning him, that &s;hal keep the world, or a part of it onely, to him&s;elf, as both the&s;e amount unto, in the words immediately before my text. <HI>But he &s;hal have judgement without mercy, who hath &s;hewed no mercy.</HI> As he that <HI>with-holdeth Corn,</HI> not he that hath Corn, nor he that taketh the be&s;t, the mo&s;t pro|vident and indu&s;trious cour&s;e he can, to fill his Barns and Granaries with Corn, is the man <HI>whom the people will cur&s;e.</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Pro. 11. 26.</NOTE> So neither are they that have Silver and Gold, and the good things of this world in the grea|te&s;t abundance, nor they who&s;e hand is diligent to make them rich, the per&s;ons to whom <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> will &s;ay at the great day, <HI>Depart from me, ye cur&s;ed into ever|lasting fire;</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Mat. 25. 41</NOTE> but they will be found the Children of this mo&s;t heavy and in&s;upportable cur&s;e, who &s;hall with-hold their riches, and neither give meat unto
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<HI>Christ,</HI> when he is an hungry in his members, nor drink when he is thir&s;ty, nor cloathing when he is na|ked; nor mini&s;ter unto him according to the nece&s;&s;i|ties of his Saints and &s;ervants, in every kind. Cruel, hard-hearted and unmerciful men will be hurl'd with greater indignation by the irre&s;i&s;table hand of God into the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brim&s;tone for evermore, then any other kind of &s;inner what&s;oever. <HI>He who hath &s;hewed no mercy,</HI> is nominated as the onely kinde of &s;inner, <HI>that &s;hal have judgment without mer|cy;</HI> unmerciful men wil be known from among&s;t al the children of wrath, that for all other kinds of wicked|ne&s;&s;es &amp; abhominations, &s;hal be ca&s;t together w^t^h them into Hel, by the loudne&s;s of their roarings through the extremity of the torments, w^t^h they are like to indure above them all, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>I am grievou&s;ly tormented</HI> (cries out the unmerciful wretch, who had neglected poor <HI>Lazarus</HI>) in this <HI>flame.</HI> And the Lord tels tho&s;e unmerciful ones that &s;hal appear at his left hand in the day of judgement that they &s;hall be beaten with tho&s;e very rods, which the &s;evere hand of God prepared for the Devils back, and for the backs of his Angels. <HI>Depart from me ye cur&s;ed into everla&s;ting fire, prepar'd for the Divel and his Angels,</HI> Mat. 25. 41. This for Reproof.</P>
<P>The Doctrine (is in the third and la&s;t place) pro|fitable likewi&s;e for exhortation. For if <HI>mercy</HI> in the &s;ence and upon the terms declared, bee a Shield of protection to the Souls and Con&s;ciences of men, greatly delighting in her waies again&s;t the dread and terrour of the great day, and the final judgement and doom that &s;hal then be pa&s;&s;ed and given upon all fle&s;h, upon what ground or motive more pregnant and pro+voking then this, can men or women be exhorted un|to that great Chri&s;tian exerci&s;e, I mean, works of
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<HI>mercy?</HI> Who upon &s;uch an account, wil not be wil|ling, yea and more then willing, rejoycingly, tri|umphantly willing, to ca&s;t his bread upon the waters, to give portions unto &s;even, and al&s;o unto eight, to feed the hungry, to cloath the naked, to vi&s;it the &s;ick and tho&s;e that are in pri&s;on, to receive &s;trangers, to comfort the afflicted, to forgive injuries and wrongs; in a word, to fill the &s;phere of his activity with the lovely fruits of goodne&s;&s;e and mercy in every kind? The chief Captain of the Gari&s;on at <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> &s;po|ken of <HI>Acts</HI> 22. 27. made account that he had done prudently enough in purcha&s;ing the <HI>Roman</HI> freedome, though (as him&s;elf confe&s;&s;ed) it co&s;t him a great &s;umme of money. Alas! the immunities of a Citi|zen of <HI>Rome,</HI> were a dear bargain at the price of two farthings, in compari&s;on of that glorious immuni|ty, that &s;acred priviledge and freedome of which the Doctrine &s;peaketh, a freedome from the fear of death, and of the day of judgement (the very hea|ring whereof maketh both the ears of the World to tremble.) Yea though this heavenly Prerogative and freedome &s;hould be purcha&s;ed at the high rate of the poor Widdows bounty, who ca&s;t in <GAP DESC="foreign">, her whole livelihood or &s;ub&s;i&s;tence into the Trea&s;ury of God. To be &s;o gloriou&s;ly &s;trengthened in the inner man, that a man or woman may (in that high ex|pre&s;&s;ion of <HI>Job) go near unto God as a Prince,</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Job 31. 32.</NOTE> not to be afraid when he &s;hall hear the &s;ound of the la&s;t Trump, &s;ummoning the quick and the dead unto judgement, nor at the appearance of the Judge &s;itting upon his white Throne, nor at the opening of the Books, by which all &s;hal be judged, to injoy (I &s;ay) a mans &s;elf in peace, and with an untroubled, and undanted &s;pirit, under all the&s;e high a&s;toni&s;hing tran&s;|actions
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and doings, is a priviledge &s;o tran&s;cendently great and &s;acred, that all the Silver and Gold under Heaven, and all the precious things of the Earth with them, are but as dro&s;&s;e and dung, yea le&s;&s;e then nothing in compari&s;on thereof. Yet &s;hal all the true|born &s;ons and daughters of <HI>mercy,</HI> be &s;ed with the he|ritage of all this glory, all &s;hal be light, and life, and joy, and peace, with them, when the faces of all tho&s;e, who have not &s;trengthened the hand of the poor &s;hal gather blackne&s;&s;e, and the &s;ouls of tho&s;e who have hid them&s;elves from their own fle&s;h, &s;hall dwel among Lyons, among devouring fears, and overwhelmings of di&s;mal dreads and terrours with|out end. Therefore now quit your &s;elves like men, and de&s;pi&s;e not the word of exhortation that hath now been directed unto you: you &s;ee that in hearkning to it there is great reward. <HI>Be merciful, as your heaven|ly Father is mercifull;</HI> &s;o &s;hal no fear of judgement have Dominion over you to torment you.</P>
<P>But be&s;ides this great motive held forth both in the Text and Doctrine, the great duty of <HI>mercy,</HI> unto which you have been exhorted, might be further re|commended unto you by many others. Nor is there (I &s;uppo&s;e) any one duty within the whole compa&s;s of Chri&s;tianity, wherein the Con&s;cience of a man may be inve&s;ted with a greater retinue of arguments and motives, and the&s;e of rich and high import, then this of <HI>Mercy.</HI> Bee plea&s;ed onely to ta&s;te a few of them.</P>
<P>1. If you &s;hall (with God) <HI>delight in mercy,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mic. 17. 18. Motive 1.</NOTE> you &s;hall not be delivered and freed from the fear onely, but from the &s;troke it &s;elf, from the dreadful and all con<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ounding &s;troke of judgement. <HI>Mercy</HI> will not put you into a fools Paradice of &s;ecurity and fearle&s;s|ne&s;se
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of judgement, leaving you in the mean time in a condition obnoxious unto judgement, but that &s;ecu|rity in this kind, which &s;hal be given unto you, &s;hal &s;tand by you, and be made good unto you in the evil day. There is no condemnation unto the Children of mercy. <HI>With the mercifull</HI> (&s;aith <HI>David</HI> unto God) <HI>thou wilt &s;hew thy &s;elf mercifull,</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">P&s;. 18. 25.</NOTE> <HI>If ye forgive me their Tre&s;pa&s;ses, your Heavenly Father will al&s;o forgive you,</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Mat. 6. 14</NOTE> Mercy is divinely in&s;pired to Prophe&s;ie good unto her Children; therefore (doubtle&s;s) God will not &s;uffer the words of her Prophe&s;ie to fall to the ground.</P>
<P>2. Unto <HI>mercy</HI> is this Grace al&s;o given by God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Motive 2.</NOTE> even to deliver her friends and Di&s;ciples from tem|poral judgements and evils, as well as from eternal. <HI>Ble&s;sed is he that con&s;idereth the poor, the Lord will deli|ver him in the time of trouble. The Lord will PRE|SERVE him, and keep him alive, &amp;c.</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">P&s;. 41. 1, 2.</NOTE> So again, <HI>Give a portion to &s;even, and al&s;o to eight, for thou know|e&s;t not what evil &s;hall be on the earth</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Eccl. 11. 2.</NOTE>, meaning, that what evil or judgement &s;oever &s;hal come upon the place, or people, among&s;t whom a man liveth, they are like&s;t to find favour and protection from God, who&s;e hand hath been upon all occa&s;ions &s;tretched forth in works of mercy unto tho&s;e that &s;tood in need.</P>
<P>3. As if it were a &s;mal thing with God onely to ex|empt<NOTE PLACE="marg">Motive 3.</NOTE> the children of <HI>mercy</HI> from peri&s;hing in the con|demnation of this world; he &s;peaketh unto them of the glory and great things of the world to come, and this upon the account of their <HI>mercy. Then &s;hall the King &s;ay unto them on his right hand, come ye ble&s;sed of my Father, inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world. FOR, I was an hungred,</HI>
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<HI>and ye gave me meat; I was thir&s;ty, and ye gave mee drink; I was a &s;tranger, and ye took me in naked and ye cloathed me; I was &s;ick, and ye vi&s;ited me,</HI> &amp;c. <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Mat. 25. 34, 35, 6.</NOTE> So the Apo&s;tle to <HI>Timothy, Charge them that are rich in this World, that they be not high-minded nor tru&s;t in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to injoy, That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to di&s;tribute, willing to com|municate, laying up in &s;tore for them&s;elves a good foun|dation again&s;t the time to come, that they may l<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">y hold on eternal life.</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6. 17, 18, 19.</NOTE> If rich men wil not &s;imply <HI>do good,</HI> but be rich in <HI>good works, (i. e.</HI> abound in doing good) and this out of a propen&s;ene&s;s and readine&s;s of heart and &s;oul unto the&s;e works, not grudgingly, or as of nece&s;&s;ity (as the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks in a like ca&s;e) here|by they &s;hal take a mo&s;t &s;ecure and &s;afe cour&s;e, though it be &s;ecret, and makes little &s;hew in the eyes of men, [as <HI>trea&s;ures</HI> and <HI>foundations,</HI> are both &s;ecret and &s;afe, at lea&s;t as &s;afe as men can make them] to po&s;&s;e&s;s them|&s;elves of <HI>eternal life.</HI></P>
<P>4. <HI>Mercy</HI> hath not onely the promi&s;es of the great<NOTE PLACE="marg">Motive 4.</NOTE> things of the world to come, but of the good things of this life al&s;o (as wel as of deliverance from the evil) wherein as well the Children al&s;o and Po&s;terity of mercifull men, as them&s;elves, are comprehended. <HI>Is not this the Fa&s;t that I have cho&s;en to loo&s;e the Bands of&punc; Wickedne&s;s, to undo the heavy burthens, and to let the op|pre&s;&s;ed go free, and that ye break every Yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are ca&s;t out to thine hou&s;e? when thou &s;ee&s;t the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thy &s;elf from thine own fle&s;h? Then &s;hall thy light break forth as the morning [i, e.</HI> as the chearful brightne&s;&s;e of the morning &s;ucceeds of cour&s;e, and uncomfortable dark|ne&s;&s;e
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of the night, &s;o &s;hal the pro&s;perity, according to the &s;tanding Law of my righteous providence, forth|with &s;ucceed, and come in place of thy pre&s;ent afflict|ed and calamitous condition, as it followeth] <HI>and thine health &s;hall &s;pring forth SPEEDILY</HI>;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 58. 6, 8.</NOTE> as if hee &s;hould &s;ay, whereas at pre&s;ent <HI>thy whole head is &s;ick, and thy whole heart faint, and from the &s;ole of the foot, even unto the head, there is no &s;oundne&s;s in thee, but wounds &amp; brui&s;es, &amp; putrifying &s;ores,</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 1. 5, 6.</NOTE> So that in re&s;pect of thy e&s;tate in this world, thou art like to a man mo&s;t dan|gerou&s;ly &s;ick, in the mo&s;t vital parts, and withal mo&s;t dangerou&s;ly wounded, yea and brui&s;ed, and be&s;ides al this, ful of noi&s;ome Ulcers &amp; &s;ores, of who&s;e recovery and health under al the&s;e Maladies, there is very little, or no hope, yet &s;halt thou very &s;uddenly, and above all expectation be re&s;tored unto thy former honour, &s;trength and dignity, and all the Nations round about thee, &s;hall &s;ay, <HI>The Lord hath done great things for thee.</HI> Soon after to like purpo&s;e, <HI>If thou take away from the mid&s;t of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and &s;peaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy &s;oul to the hun|gry, and &s;atisfie the afflicted &s;oul, then &s;hall thy light ari&s;e in ob&s;curity, and thy darkne&s;&s;e be as the noon day; and the Lord &s;hall guide thee continually, and &s;atisfie thy Soul in drought, and make fat thy bones, and thou &s;halt be like a watered Garden, and like a Spring of water, who&s;e wa|ters fail not. And they &s;hall be of thee that &s;hall build the old wa&s;t places, thou &s;halt rai&s;e up the foundations of ma|ny generations, &amp;c.</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 58. 9, <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">, 11, 12.</NOTE> He that &s;hal diligently con&s;ider the&s;e promi&s;es (with very many others of the &s;ame gracious confederacy with them, which might readi|ly be added) and is able withall to bear him&s;elf with confidence upon the truth, and faithfulne&s;&s;e, and power of God, for the performance of them, cannot
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but conclude heart, and &s;oul, and all that is within him, that there is no coun&s;el, project, or cour&s;e, both for making his own face, and the face al&s;o of his po|&s;terity, to &s;hine in the world, to be compared with a large heart, and open hand, with drawing out his &s;oul freely unto tho&s;e that &s;tand in need, upon all occa&s;i|ons. There are no promi&s;es of this worlds felicities and enjoyments in every kind, to be found in all the Scriptures, made unto any other vein, or part of obe|dience unto God, which run &s;o high, or engage the truth and power of God &s;o deeply, as tho&s;e which are the heritage of the families of <HI>Mercy,</HI> and &s;tand charged with all earthly &s;upplies, comforts, and ac|commodations, unto them and their po&s;terities, who &s;hall mini&s;ter with a liberal hand unto the nece&s;&s;ities of the poor, &s;till taking off their &s;ackcloth, and gird|ing them with joy and gladne&s;s. To be jealous that a frequent offering of tho&s;e &s;acrifices, wherewith God is &s;o well plea&s;ed (<HI>Heb.</HI> 13. 16.) will dimini&s;h any mans flocks, or make any breach upon his worldly e&s;tate, or trench upon the pro&s;perity of his hou&s;e and children after him, is but a bold affront put upon the truth and faithfulne&s;s of God, by the ill-nurtur'd and ba&s;e-bred hearts of covetous, ignorant, and fooli&s;h men. Hath not the Husbandman as much rea&s;on to fear, that his gra&s;s and corn will parch and dry away, by the rain of heaven ever and anon falling on them? Peru&s;e (at your lei&s;ure) <HI>P&s;.</HI> 112. throughout. Prov. 11. 24 25. Eccle&s;. 11. 1, 2, &amp;c. P&s;al 41. 1, 2, 3. Luke 6. 38. 2 Cor. 9. 6. 8, 9, &amp;c. (with many like.)</P>
<P>5. Men and women that are rich in this world,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Motive 5.</NOTE> cannot convert, or di&s;po&s;e of their abundance in any other way, but to their incomparable lo&s;s and di&s;ad|vantage. They do but play at &s;mall game (as our
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Engli&s;h proverb is) with great e&s;tates, who either hoard up the revenues of them, or make &s;acrifices of them unto their lu&s;ts in one kind or other, as either in building &s;umptuou&s;ly, in faring deliciou&s;ly, in ap|parelling gorgeou&s;ly, in gaming lavi&s;hly, in abu&s;ing them&s;elves wantonly: or (or in a word) by gratify|ing the fle&s;h inordinately in what way &s;oever. All the con&s;iderable improvement that can be made of &s;ilver and gold, and great po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, is by &s;pread|ing them upon the backs of the naked, and burying them in the bowels of the hungry, by ran&s;oming the captive, relieving the oppre&s;&s;ed&punc; by making tempo|ral provi&s;ions for the bodies, and &s;piritual for the &s;ouls of men. By &s;uch a contrivement of wealth as this, men may become great in the &s;ight of God, An|gels, and men: of uncertain riches, may make an en|during &s;ub&s;tance; of that <HI>which is not,</HI> that which is and which ever wil be to the days of eternity. Where|as let men con&s;ult with the greate&s;t &s;pirit of the wi&s;|dom of this world, and &s;tudy, and &s;treyn their rea|&s;ons, wits, under&s;tandings to devi&s;e it in any other way, it will turn to little or no account at all, but of &s;orrow and &s;hameand mi&s;ery without end. For rich|es are given unto men much upon the like terms with tho&s;e, on which <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elf is given unto them. <HI>Behold</HI> (&s;aid <HI>Simeon) this child is &s;et for the fall, and ri&s;ing again of many in I&s;rael</HI><NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Luk 2. 4.</NOTE>. So are the great things of this world di&s;pen&s;ed and di&s;po&s;ed of by God, that in the i&s;&s;ue and event they will be the &s;hining of the face, and lifting up the head unto &s;ome, <HI>viz.</HI> unto tho&s;e that &s;hall &s;anctifie the lump, by offering a fir&s;t fruits, according to the Royal Law of the Go&s;pel, unto God; and again, the confu&s;ion of the face, and the hanging down of the head, and double mea&s;ure of the wrath of God in the vengeance of eternal fire,
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unto others, <HI>viz.</HI> unto all tho&s;e, that &s;hall &s;erve their|own humours and lu&s;ts with them, with the neglect of that high and holy commandment, which God hath given them to do otherwi&s;e.</P>
<P>6. (And La&s;tly) Rich men are but God's Feoffees<NOTE PLACE="marg">Motive 6.</NOTE> in tru&s;t in behalf of the poor, of all that &s;urplu&s;age and redundance that is found in their e&s;tates; nor have they any right or title unto it before him; or (as it is u&s;ually expre&s;&s;ed) <HI>in foro Con&s;cientiae,</HI> but only unto the di&s;po&s;ition of it, and this unto the right owners, the poor, and according to tho&s;e in&s;tructions given by him in the Go&s;pel on that behalf. Nor is it rea&s;onable, or con&s;i&s;tent with that reverence and honour which we owe to the wi&s;dom&punc; and goodne&s;s of God, to conceive or think, that he gives at any time, or unto any per&s;on, a double, zrable, a &s;evenfold, ten|fold, twenty-fold proportion in wealth, above the line of competency, &amp; what comfortably, and with all Chri&s;tian conveniences, &s;upports other men charged with the &s;ame proportion of expen&s;e with them, to be&s;tow upon their lu&s;ts in one kind or other (whether of &s;en&s;uality, or of covetous, or ambitious hoard|ing, upon the account of po&s;terity) or for any other end or purpo&s;e what&s;oever, &s;ave only for the &s;trength|ning of the hand of the poor, and the buying (as it were) of handkerchiefs to wipe away tears from their eyes. And were rich men as con&s;iderate and tender in their ways, as would be their honour and &s;afety to be, it could not lightly but be a que&s;tion of con&s;ci|ence unto them, whether God would have ca&s;t the one half of the abundance upon them, which now they po&s;&s;e&s;s, but for the poors &s;ake. For it is within the compa&s;s of the light of Nature to conceive, yea, and to conclude, that God abounds not in things &s;u|perfluous,
<PB N="44" REF="34">
per&s;tuous&punc; as he is not deficient in things nece&s;&s;ary. So that the &s;uperfluity we &s;peak of in mens e&s;tates, in the be&s;t and true&s;t con&s;truction of the providence of God di&s;po&s;ing it unto them, appertaineth of right unto tho&s;e that want, and &s;tand in need, and only a right of a regular di&s;po&s;ition of it unto them&s;elves. Which right of di&s;po&s;ition (to mention this by the way is (I confe&s;s) a far higher favour from God, and more valuable, then the right of receiving it ve&s;t|ed by him in the poor. The Scripture from place to place &s;peaketh according to the tenour of the&s;e things, inve&s;ting the poor and needy with a right and title to the rich mans &s;uperfluities, and declaring the acts of <HI>Mercy</HI> (u&s;ually &s;o called) in the&s;e men, are in true con|&s;ideration, but acts of ju&s;tice, or of righteou&s;ne&s;s. <HI>With-hold not good</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Solomon from tho&s;e to whom it is due,</HI> or (according to the former Tran&s;lation, bet|ter agreeing here with the <HI>Hebrew</HI> (as the new Tran|&s;lators them&s;elves acknowledge in the margent) <HI>from the Owners thereof. Junius</HI> and <HI>Tremellius</HI> tran&s;late, <HI>ab iis qui opus habent, i. e.</HI> from tho&s;e that have need; and glo&s;s the Original expre&s;&s;ion thus; <HI>cujus [nimi|rum cohibiti boni] Dominum illum efficit nece&s;&s;itate, &amp; te di&s;pen&s;atorem, Deus&punc; i. e.</HI> Of that good which thou with-holde&s;t, or keepe&s;t back, God by his nece&s;&s;ity maketh him the ma&s;ter, or owner, and thee the &s;tew|ard, or di&s;pen&s;er. And upon this account it is (as the&s;e Tran&s;lators likewi&s;e give notice, upon the place now touched) that mens alms or works of mercy, are in Scripture called, their <HI>ju&s;tice,</HI> or their <HI>righteou&s;ne&s;s</HI><NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Quam|<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">brem hac beneficia in Scripturis appellantur, justicia.</NOTE>. Compare P&s;al. 112. 9. with 2 Cor. 9. 9, 10. <HI>He hath di&s;per&s;ed, he hath given unto the poor: <GAP DESC="foreign"> His RIGHTEOUSNESSE</HI> remaineth for ever. And &s;o ver&s;. 10. <HI>Multiply your &s;eed, and increa&s;e the fruits</HI>
<PB N="45" REF="34">
<HI>of your RIGHTEOUSNESSE.</HI> So Matth. 6. 1. where we read, <HI>Take heed you do not your alm<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> before men,</HI> &amp;c. the be&s;t Greek Copies, in&s;tead of <GAP DESC="foreign"> Alms, read, <GAP DESC="foreign">, Ju&s;tice; and <HI>Beza</HI> rendreth it accordingly; <HI>Attendite ne ju&s;titiam ve&s;tram excer|ceatis,</HI> &amp;c. Yea and <HI>Calvin</HI> acknowledgeth this read|ing. Thus al&s;o <HI>Deut. 24. 13. Mo&s;es</HI> from God pro|mi&s;eth or declareth, that the delivering back of the poor mans pledge before the Sun goeth down, &s;hall be <HI>RIGHTEOUSNESSE</HI> unto him that &s;hall thus<NOTE PLACE="marg">The Hea|then mans ob&s;ervations, <HI>De male quae&s;itis vix gaudet ter|tius haeres;</HI> an ill-gotten e&s;tate &s;eldom comes to the third heir. But <HI>Chri&s;ti|ans</HI> may ob|&s;erve, that <HI>De male &s;er|vatis vix,</HI> &amp;c An E&s;tate ill kept by him that got it, is commonly di&s;pers'd and va<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;hed be|fore the third heir o&s; the race comes at it.</NOTE> deliver it, <HI>before the Lord;</HI> meaning, that it &s;hould be accepted by God as an act of mercy unto the poor. So then, rich men, and they who have this worlds goods, and yet &s;hall &s;hut up their compa&s;&s;ions again&s;t their Brother that &s;tandeth in need, are not only un|charitable and unmerciful, but unju&s;t al&s;o, <HI>compani|ons of thieves,</HI> and the&s;e of the wor&s;t kind, &s;acrilegi|ou&s;ly with-holding that which God him&s;elf hath &s;ignally con&s;ecrated and &s;et apart for the u&s;e and com|fort of the poor and indigent of the world. And &s;ince according to our common &s;aying, the Receiver is as bad as the Thief, it is no marvel, that the children and po&s;terity of &s;o many great rich men, receiving e&s;tates &s;o de&s;perately incumbred and entangled with that which of right belonged unto other men, and the&s;e of that &s;ort of men, whom of all others it is mo&s;t dangerous to injure or affront (I mean, the poor, who&s;e Protector, and Avenger, God hath &s;olemnly declared him&s;elf from Heaven) it is no marvel (I &s;ay) that the inheritors of &s;uch ill-conditioned e&s;tates, &s;hould reap &s;o little comfort of them, while&s;t they keep them, and &s;hould &s;o frequently be &s;haken out of them before they die.</P>
<P><PB N="56" REF="35">Let this con&s;ideration then be laid to heart with the former, to break that iron &s;inew of unmercifulne&s;s, which is found in the hearts of any of us. <HI>Know ye not</HI> (&s;aith the Apo&s;tle) <HI>that the unrighteous &s;hall not in|herit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived &amp;c.</HI><NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 5. 9.</NOTE> And if God be <HI>the Avenger of all &s;uch, who go beyond, and de|fraud their Brother in any thing</HI><NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 4. 6.</NOTE>, (as the holy Gho&s;t pronounceth him to be) and it be a mo&s;t dreadful thing to fall into the hands of this Avenger, let the con&s;ideration be as an alarum from heaven to awaken us throughly unto that great and important duty, whereunto we have been exhorted, to commi&s;erate the indigencies of the poor, and to take them into part and fellow&s;hip with us in our comforts.</P>
<P>The duty might be bound upon the con&s;ciences of men and women with many more &s;uch &s;piritual bands, as the&s;e: but I tru&s;t that is, even by the&s;e, bound &s;o clo&s;e and fa&s;t upon yours, that it will not break loo&s;e from them at any time.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
