Application
him: Onely let them take heed that they do not turn their hands to wickedness, or their hearts to folly, because of this.
APPLICATION
By way of Application.
In the first place, Hence then by all that hath been said in the opening of this difference, we may see full ground for the answering of the foolish carnal plea's of the men of the World for their sin; which was, I told you, the main reason I pitcht upon this Subject:
This it is hardens men in their sin, why, Because all have their sins; methinks by what hath been said, one would think that this plea should never be heard any more, among any that profess any knowledg in the Scripture, that it should never come out of your mouths, that do but understand any thing of Scripture: —— What, wilt thou that art a wicked vile wretch, plead for thy wickedness, that the best have their sins? Thou that goest on in a constant way and course of ungodliness, wilt thou plead that all have their sins? thou canst not be provok't, but thou swearest and flyest in the face of God; thou that hast a heart not savouring any thing of God, nor never found any work of the Holy Ghost upon thy soul, dost thou say that all have their sins? God will find out a difference of sin. Rev. 1:14. It's said of Christ, that his eyes were like a flame of fire: O! Christ hath fiery eyes that will pierce through and through thee, wil see a great deal of difference between the sin of one, and the sin of the other:
—— I hou thinkest it enough to plead this, That the best have their faults, I beseech you let me reason it a little with you about this ——
The best, say you, have their faults; So say I too; but the worst have
some good in them, materially good: Why may not this be as good a reason as thine? —— There are some that are sav'd, and yet committed sin as well as I; so say I, there are some in Hell, and yet have done as much good perhaps as ever thou. Why is not the reasoning of one side as good as the other? —— Thou tellest me, that thou sinnest sometimes, and so did David and Peter —— I'le tell thee of Saul, I'le tel thee of Ahab, I'le tell thee of Herod; thou thinkest that David and Peter committed as great sins as thou —— Why, Saul and Ahab, and Herod, and it may be Judas hath done as much good as ever thou, and yet they in Hell; as Saul that I spake before of, he sinn'd, yet it was not greater than thine; yet he did many good things,
I have obeyed the Commandment of the Lord —— And Ahab when the Prophet reproved him, he went and humbled himself in sackcloth for his sin: When hast thou ever done so for thy sin? —— And Herod heard John Baptist gladly, and reformed many things: Surely the Argument wil hold as well, That such as are in Hell have done as much good as I have, as some that are in Heaven have committed as great sins as I have: O! it's not enough for thee that others do sin; they may be sav'd, and yet thou mayest eternally be destroyed: This will not be a plea to a mans Conscience, if it be inlightened, when he comes upon his sick-bed, & death-bed: Though now thou canst put off thy Conscience with this, that every one hath their sin, but when thou comest upon thy sick-bed, and death-bed, if God inlighten thy
Conscience, O, it will not be answer enough for thee, when thou feest thou art going before the great God, to recieve the sentence of thy eternal doom, then thou wilt have such miss-givings in thy
Conscience; O! but what if it prove that my sins be of another nature different from the sins of the godly, if it prove so, I am undone, I am cut off for ever.
Wherefore, in the second place, what you have heard from this point, should teach you to be very careful in the examining of your sins, and in labouring to find out of what nature your sins are: As we read in the Law, they were shut up when there was but a suspition that their disease was Lepotous: They were to be shut up for seven dayes upon meer suspition: O that God would but give thee a heart, even to shut up thy self, that is, to be thinking in thy retired Meditations, of what nature thy sin is: It is usual with those that are godly; with the Children of God, to be afraid (upon any sin they commit) that their sin is not the sin of Gods Children, you shall have them ready to say,
Lord, did ever any of Gods Children do thus? is this such an evil as can belong to a Child of God? is it possible that one that hath so much shears as I, so many mercies as I, such enlightnings as I; such workings of the spirit as I; is it possible that there can be true grace, and yet that I should again fall into such and such a sin? One that is a Child of God; is afraid of every sin, lest it be of that nature as cannot stand with the truth of grace —— Thou art ready to think that any thing may stand with the truth of grace, and with the state of grace; but one that knows what sin is, will be afraid of every thing; but most people are so confident, that they give satisfaction to themselves in any way of wickedness: We have all our infirmities and there's an end; as if there were no difference between one and another. O that God would cause this point to ring in thine ears, when thy
Conscience tells thee of thy sin, that there is a great deal of difference between the one and the other; and the truth is, till thou hast upon examination found this out, that thou canst with comfort, as in the presence of God, say, that though I have infirmities and sins, yet upon the examination of my heart, and upon those rules that have
been given out in thy word, I see hope that my sin is no other but the spot of Gods Children; and if it be so, then the Third Use is a Use of consolation to all those that have many infirmities, and are burdened with them: Thou hast spots upon thee, and dost thou find the behaviour of thy soul towards them, as heretofore thou hast heard? be of good comfort in this, that there is no cause that thou should raze the foundation upon every failing that thou seest to be in thy self; this is a wrong to Jesus Christ; and to the Covenant of grace, for one that hath approved himself to God upon examination, and hath found the work of grace, upon every failing to raze the very foundation, and think, Surely all that I have done is nought, it's all nothing, it's all but hypocrisie: It's fit indeed for thee upon thy sin, to examine, and to be humbled; let thy sin be matter for thy humilation, but not matter for thy discouragement, not for the razing of the Foundation; to say, Well, I shall at length one day perish by the hands of Saul; God will cast me off at length, such a wretched creature as I am; Take heed of that: Those that are acquainted with the way of the Gospel, they know how to be deeply humbled for their sin, and yet not to be discouraged by their sin.
And further, As thou shouldest not raze the Foundation, so thou shouldest not be afraid to come into Gods presence. Thou hast failed indeed, thou must come into Gods presence, onely take heed of coming boldly, and impudently, as many there are that abuse the Grace of God, and think because of Christ, they may come with impudence; no, the grace of Christ doth not at all hinder humiliation, but furthers humiliation, makes it Evangellical indeed; and so thou being humbled for thy sin, thou mayest then come with an holy boldness into Gods presence; do not think to fly the presence of God,
because thou hast sinned and offended him. As a loving Father, it were a dishonour to him if upon every failing of his Child, his Child should shake and tremble so, as not to dare to come into the room where he were; do you think this were a commendation for a Father?
If you inquire what this Child hath done, it may be he hath fail'd in some petty thing; he hath perhaps tarried half a quarter of an hour longer than his Father would have him in such a business, or not managed such or such a business to the full, as his Father required of him; and upon this he dar'd not come into his presence; surely we would conclude that this Man had not the bowels of a Father in him:
Now if you would conclude so concerning men, then why wilt thou put this dishonour upon God himself, that hath the affections of a Father in him? And if there be any compassion in Fathers towards their Children, yet it is not so much is one drop of that infinite ocean that is in God; and therefore let not every failing of thine make the afraid to come into the presence of God, come to him yet as a Father, being humbled before him, and applying the righteousness of his
Son.
And then further, Let the consideration of this be of comfort to thee (when thou hast committed sin against God, if thou be'st such a oneas hath been spoken of) in remembring the Covenant that God hath made with thee, and bless God for the Covenant that he hath made with thee in Christ, and the difference that God hath made between thee and others in this thing; magnifie his free grace in the Covenant of grace, for from thence is it that thy spot shall not be a deadly spot; and God will not deal with thee as with the wicked: certainly this is not from the nature of thy sin, for that may be as hainous as the sins of the other, but that that makes the difference is the free-grace of God in Christ. O blessed be God for the Covenant of
grace that hath made the difference. I remember I have read of Luther, he indeed saith when he was a Monk, though he were
Conscientious then, yet then whensoever he committed any sin against God, his Conscience did so flye in his face, that he thought he was rejected utterly of God, til God made him know that Covenant of his grace in Christ; and then he thought he heard such a voice speaking to him, Oh Martin, do not despair, for thou shalt, as long as thou livest here in the flesh, sin against God; onely do thou lustily oppose thy sin, and resist thy sin, and then know, that thou art not under the Law, but under grace: It is from hence that there is this difference, therefore bless God that ever he reveal'd this Covenant of grace to thy soul.
And then likewise, let this comfort thee; let it be a means to set thy heart so much the more against sin, to take heed of sin: O take heed of abusing this grace of God: Here will be the sign whether all this comfort belong to thee or no: If the more thou hearest it, the more thy heart doth do the sin, and thou art the more afraid of sin because of this, thou dost the more labour to cleanse thy flesh and spirit from all the polutions of it. Canst thou say thus as in the presence of God:
Lord, when I hear of these things, of that blessed grace of thine in the Gospel, what a difference thou art pleased to make between one and the other; why, Lord, it breaks my heart, and it makes me more afraid of sin than any thing in the World: Then thou mayest freely apply the comfort that is here, out of this Scripture.
And lastly, Let me speak to those to whom this Consolation doth belong, That thou hadst need take heed to thy self, that thou preservest this thy consolation; for without great care it will hardly be preserved —— I mean by that, this: Thou hadst need take heed
that thou keepest thy Conscience as clean as may be, that thou mayest have a clear discerning of the difference of Gods dealing between one and the other.
And therefore, take, heed first of any sins against light; hath ever God given thee that comfort to thy soul, that though thou hast many failings, yet that God looks upon thee with another eye than upon the wicked? I say take heed ever after of any sin against Conscience:
Take heed of repeating that same sin again and again —— Take heed of lying in sin a long time: And take heed of being hardned in sin: For if ever thou shouldst fall to sin against Light, against thy Conscience, thou wilt hardly be able to discern any difference between thy sin and the sin of the wicked: And therefore look to thy self in this thing:
Oh let those that are godly, take heed that they bring not themselves, in regard of their own sense into as lamentable a condition as the wicked are, to have as much horrors of Conscience in their own feeling, as the wicked and ungodly have O how great a pity is it that those between whom and the wicked, God hath made so great a difference, yet that through their negligence they shall bring themselves into as great a horror as the wicked and ungodly are in!
And lastly, That this may not be abused, let those that pretend unto God, and say they are his Children, and they are in the Covenant of grace, and speak much of free-grace, and yet by their wicked scandalous lives do manifest that indeed they are not Gods Children; let them know, that their spots are the worst spots of all, they are not onely the spots of wicked men, but even have the spots of Devils upon them: If any spot be a loathsome, an accursed, an abominable spot, it is the spot of a Man or Woman that makes much profession of the Gospel, and yet lives a scandalous, wicked, and ungodly life:
—— And especially, there are some whose spots are such as the heart of a man cannot but tremble at the very thoughts of them; Those that will put off their sin even to God himself: They take liberty to sin, and say they can do nothing without him: and so give way to wickedness, and think if God would give them more grace, then they should do better; but till then they cannot be better; and so what blame there is, they lay it upon God himself: O what a spot is this, that thou wilt cast thy sin upon the infinite pure God! It's very observable in this Text:
They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of Gods Children. Oh do not think to cast it upon Gods; as if Moses should have said, Do not you think to cast your sin upon God, for you have corrupted your selves, and your spot is not the spot of Gods Children.
And then for others that take liberty in sin; they think that all their sin is done away by the blood of Jesus Christ, and therefore they may take liberty; and though they dare not say, That therefore they may, yet this is the language of their hearts and lives, many that in these latter dayes hath spoken much about the Covenant of free grace, yet they have made the blood of Christ that is appointed by God to cleanse us from our iniquities, they have made this blood an occasion of defiling their souls by their iniquity. O what an horrible spot is this, that thou shalt make the blood of Christ to be the cause of it, as far as thou canst! that must be an abominable defilement when thou contractest filthiness from the blood of Christ, and from the grace of God in the Gospel. O this is the most dreadful spot of all spots whatsoever! the Lord rebuke thy wicked and cursed heart that shalt contract wickedness from hearing the Doctrine of free grace: Is there not reason of speaking these things? for do not you see some that speak more of free grace then ever they did, and yet more loose then ever they were before? O these are spots in our Feasts indeed, and in
our converse and communion; they are spots to a Christian profession, such men and women as these are: For thy spots do not onely defile thy own soul, but the name of God, and profession of Jesus Christ. Thou dost what in the lyest, to defile the very blood of Christ, and to defile the Covenant of grace; in the Epistle of Jude 4.
They were afore of old ordained to this condemnation, saith the Text:
Ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into Lasciviousness; There are two black brands of a reprobate: We have indeed no absolute notes and signs of a reprobate, but these are the two blackest. One is, God gives a man up to his hearts desire in wicked wayes —— And the other, is to turn the grace of God into wantoness.
How vile are those spots likewise, that men come now through the knowledg that they say they have of the Covenant of grace, to have no kind of work of conscience upon them for their sin? Now their
Consciences do not at all trouble them for their sin, there's no kind of sense at all upon them upon that account, and all because of grace
(as they say:) Well, that spot must needs be an irrecoverable spot, that there's no sense at all of. —— And if it come to that, that now thou canst take liberty to sin freely, and hast no conscience at all of this thy sin, I say, thy spot is a most dreadful spot, and 'tis to be fear'd an irrecoverable spot; all the mercy of God that serves to help to ease others when they have committed their sins, doth but plead against thee, to aggravate thy sin —— I'le conclude all with that one Text that we have in Jer. 23. that shews the difference of the sins of those that are nearer to God in way of profession, if they be wicked and ungodly; v. 13. 14. I have seen folly, saith the Prophet, in the Prophets of Samaria, they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to sin. In v. 14. I have seen also in the Prophets of Jerusalem, an horrible thing —— That that is but
folly in the Prophets of Samaria, in the Prophets of Jerusalem, is an horrible thing: The more near we are to God in the way of our profession, the more horrible are our sins if we make Religion to be a colour of our wickedness; if we seek to cover our wickedness by profession of Religion, that that is but folly in others, comes to be horrible in them —— Consider what hath been said, and the Lord give you understanding.
FINIS.