Rom. i. 30. And if they could, they certainly would make him another than what he is. For, confider it is a certain truth, That whatfoever is in God, is God: and therefore his attributes or perfections are not any thing really diftinct from himfelf. If God's attributes be not himself, he is a compound being, and so not the first being (which to fay is blafphemous) for the parts compounding are before the compound itself; but he is Alpha and Omega, the first and the laft. the Now upon this, I would, for your conviction, propofe to your confciences a few queries, (1.) How ftand your hearts affected to the infinite purity and holiness of God? Confcience will give an answer to this, which the tongue will not speak out, If ye be not partakers of his holiness, ye cannot be reconciled to it. The Pagans finding they could not be like God in holinefs, made their gods like themselves in filthiness: and thereby discovered what fort of a god the natural man would have. God is holy; can an unholy creature love his unfpottel holiness Nay, it is the righteous only that can give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness, Pfal. lxxxvii. 12. God is light; can creatures of darkness rejoice therein? Nay, every one that doth evil hateth the light, John iii. 29. For, what communien hath light with darkness? 2 Cor. vi. 14. (2.) How ftand your hearts affected to the juftice of God? There is not a man, who is wedded to his lufts, as all unregenerate are, but would be content, with the blood of his body, to blot that letter out of the name of God. Can the male factor love his condemning judge? Or an unjuftified finner, a juft God? No, he cannot, Luke vii. 47. To whom little is forgiven, the fame loveth little. Hence feeing men cannot get the doctrine of his Juftice blotted out of the Bible; yet it is fuch an eye-fore to them, that they ftrive to blot it out of their minds. And they ruin themselves by prefuming on his mercy; while they are not careful to get a righteoufnefs, wherein they may stand before his Juftice; but fay in their heart, The Lord will not do good; neither will he do evil, Zeph. i. 12. (3.) How ftand ye affected to the Omniscience and Omniprefence of God? Men naturally would rather have a blind idol, than an all-feeing God; and therefore do what they can, as Adam did, to hide themfelves from the prefence of the Lord. They no more love an all-feeing, every-where-prefent God, than the thief loves to have the judge witnefs to his evil deeds. If it could be carried by votes, God would be voted out of the world, and closed up in heaven: For the language of the carnal heart is, The Lord feeth us not; the Lord hath for faken the earth, Ezek. viii. 12 (4.) How ftand ye affected to the Truth and Veracity of God? There are but few in the world, that can heartily fubfcribe to that fentence of the apostle, Rom. iii. 4. Let God be true, but every man a liar. Nay truly, there are many, who, in effect do hope that God will not be true to his word. There are thousands who hear the gospel, that hope to be faved, and think all fafe with them for eternity, who never had any experience of the new birth, vor do at all concern themselves in that question, Whether they are born again, or not? A question that is like to wear out from among us this day. Our Lord's words are plain and peremptory, Except a man be | born again, he cannot fee the kingdom of God. What are fuch hopes then, but real hopes that God (with profoundest reverence be it spoken) will recal his word, and that Chrift will prove a falfe prophet? What elfe means the fianer, who, when he heareth the words of the curfè, bluff th him. If in his heart, faying, I fhall have pace, tho' I walk in the imagination of mine heart, Deut xxix 19. Laftly, How ftand ye affected to the Power of God? None but new creatures will love him for it, on a fair view thereof; tho' others may flavishly fear him, upon the account of it. There is not a natural man, but would contribute to the utmoft of his power to the building of another tower of Babel, to hem it in. On thefe grounds, I declare every unrenewed man an enemy to God. 2dly, Ye are enemies to the Son of God That enmity to Chrift is in your hearts, which would have made you join the hufbandmen, who killed the heir, and caft him out of the vineyards If ye had been befet with their temptations, and no more reftrained than they were. Am I a dog, you will fay, to have fo treated my fweet Saviour? fo faid Hazael in another cafe; but when he had the temptation, he was a dog to do it. Many call Chrift their fweet Saviour, whofe confciences can bear witness, they never fucked fo much sweetness from him, as from their fweet lufts, which are ten times fweeter to them than their Saviour. He is no other way fweet to them, than as they abufe his death and fufferings, for the peaceable enjoyment of their lufts; that they may live as they lift in the world; and when they die, may be kept out of hell. Alas! it is but a mistaken Chrift that is fweet to you, whofe fouls lothe that Chrift, who is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the exprefs image of his perfon. It is with you as it was in the carnal Jews, who delighted in him while they miftook his errand into the world, fancying that he would be a temporal deliverer to them, Mal. But when he was come, and fut as a refiner and purifier of filver, verfe 2, 3. and caft them as reprobate filver, who thought to have had no fmall honour in the kingdom of the Meffiuh; his doctrine galled their confciences, and they refted not till they imbrued their hands in his blood. To open your eyes in this point, which ye are fo loth to believe, I will lay before you, the enmity of your hearts against Christ and all his offices. iii. I 1. Every unregenerate man is an enemy to Chrift in his Prophetical Office. He is appointed of the Father, the great Prophet and Teacher; but not upon the world's call, who, in their natural ftate, would have unanimously voted againft hin: And therefore, when he came, he was condemned as a leducer and blafphemer. For evidence of this enmity, I will inftance in two things. Evidence 1. Confider the entertainment he meets with, when he comes to teach fouls inwardly by his Spirit. Men do what they can to stop their ears, like the deaf adder, that they may not hear his voice. 1 2 The They always refift the Holy Ghost. They defire not the knowledge of his ways; and therefore bid him depart from them. The old calumny is often raised upon him, en that occafion, John x. 20. He is mad, why hear ye him? Soul-exercife raised by the fpirit of bondage, is accounted by many, nothing elfe but diftraction, and melancholy fits; men thus blafpheming the Lord's work, becaufe they themselves are befide themselves, and cannot judge of thefe matters. Evid. 2. Confider the entertainment he meets with, when he comes to teach men outwardly by his word. 1.) His written word, the Bible, is flighted; Chrift hath left it to us, as the book of our inftructions, to thow us what way we must fteer our course, if we would come to Emmanuel's land. It is a lamp to light us through a dark world to eternal light. And he hath left it upon us, to fearch it with that diligence, wherewith men dig into mines for filver and gold, John v. 39. But ah! how is this facred treafure profaned by many! They ridicule the holy word, by which they must be judged at the laft day; and will rather lofe their fouls than their jeft, dreffing up the conceit of their wanton wits in fcripture phrafes; in which they act as mad a part, as one who would dig into a mine to procure metal to melt and pour down his own and his neighbour's throat. Many exhauft their fpirits in reading romances, and their minds purfue them, as the flame doth the dry ftubble; while they have no heart for, nor relifh of the holy word, and therefore feldom take a Bible in their hands. What is agreeable to the vanity of their minds, is pleafant and taking: but what recommends holiness to their unholy hearts, makes their fpirits dull and flat. What pleasure will they find in reading of a profane ballad, or story book, 'to whom the Bible is taftelefs, as the white of an egg! Many lay by their Bibles with their Sabbath-day's clothes; and whatever ufe they have for their clothes, they have none for their Bibles, till the return of the Sabbath. Alas! the duft or finery about your Bibles is a witness now, and will, at the laft day, be a witness of the enmity of your hearts against Christ, as a Prophet. Befides all this, among thefe who ordinarily read the fcriptures, how few are there that read it as the word of the Lord to their fouls, and keep communion with him in it. They do not make his ftatutes their counfellors, nor doth their particular cafe fend them to their Bibles. They are ftrangers to the folid "comfort of the fcriptures. And if at any time they be dejected, it is fomething elfe than the word that revives them: as Ahab was cured of his fullen fit, by the fecuring of Naboth's vineyard for him. (2.) Chrift's word preached is defpifed. The entertaininent moft of the world, to whom it has come, have always given it, is that which is mentioned, Matth. xxii. 5. They made light of it. And for its fake they are defpifed whom he has employed to preach it; whatever other face men put upon their contempt of the miniftry, John xv. 20. The fervant is not greater than the Lord: if they have perfecuted me, they will alfo perfecute you; if they have kept my fayings, they will keep yours yours alfo. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's fake. That Levi was the fon of the hated, feems not to have been without a mystery, which the world in all ages, hath unriddled. But tho' the earthen veffel, wherein God has put the treasure, be turned, with many, into veffels wherein there is no pleasure, yet, why is the treasure itfelf flighted? But flighted it is, and that with a witness this day. Lord, who hath believed our report? To whom shall we speak? Men can, without remorfe, make to themfelves filent Sabbaths, one after another. And alas! when they come to ordinances, for the most part, it is but to appear (as the word is, to be feen) before the Lord, and to tread his courts; namely, as a company of beasts would do, if they were driven into them, Ifa. i. 12. fo little reverence and awe of God appears on their fpirits. Many ftand like brazen walls before the word, in whofe corrupt converfation the preaching of the word makes no breach. Nay, not a few are growing worfe and worfe, under precept upon precept and the refult of all is, They go and fall backward, and be broken, afnared, and taken, Ifa. xxviii. 13. What tears of blood are fufficient to lament that (the gospel) the grace of God, is thus received in vain! We are but the voice of one crying the Speaker is in heaven; and speaks to you from heaven by men: why do ye refufe him that speaketh? Heb. xii. 25. God has made our Mafter heir of all things, and we are fent to court a spouse for him. There is none fo worthy as he; none more unworthy than they to whom this match is promised; but the prince of darkness is preferred before the Prince of Peace. A dismal darkness overclouded the world by Adam's fall, more terrible than if the fun, moon and stars had been for ever wrapt up in blackness of darkness; and there we thould have eternally lain, had not this grace of the gofpel, as a fhining fun, appeared to dispel it, Tit. ii. 11. But yet we fly like night owls from it; and like the wild beafts, lay our felves down in our dens; when the fun arifeth, we are struck blind with the light thereof; and, as *creatures of darkness, love darkness rather than light. Such is the enmity of the hearts of men againft Chrift, in his prophetical office. 2. The natural man is an enemy to Chrift in his priestly office. He is appointed of the Father a Prieft for ever: that, by His alone facrifice and interceffion, finners may have peace with, and accefs to God; but Chrift crucified is a stumbling-block, and foolishness to the unrenewed part of mankind, to whom he is preached, 1 Cor. i 23. They are not for him, as the new and living way. Nor is he by the voice of the world, an High Prieft over the house of God. Corrupt nature goes quite another way to work. Evidence 1. None of Adam's children naturally incline to receive the blefling in borrowed robes; but would always, according to the fpider's motto, owe all to themfelves; and fo climb up to heaven on a thread fpun out of their own bowels. For they defire to be under the law, Gal. iv. 24. And go about to establish their own righteoufness, Rom. x. 3. Man, naturally, looks on GOD as a great Mafter; an They always refift the Holy Ghost. They defire not the knowledge of his ways; and therefore bid him depart from them. The old calumny is often raised upon him, en that occafion, John x. 20. He is mad, why hear ye him? Soul-exercife raised by the fpirit of bondage, is accounted by many, nothing elfe but diftraction, and melancholy fits; men thus blafpheming the Lord's work, because they themselves are befide themselves, and cannot judge of these matters. Evid. 2. Confider the entertainment he meets with, when he comes to teach men outwardly by his word. 1.) His written word, the Bible, is flighted; Chrift hath left it to us, as the book of our instructions, to thow us what way we must fteer our course, if we would come to Emmanuel's land. It is a lamp to light us through a dark world to eternal light. And he hath left it upon us, to fearch it with that diligence, wherewith men dig into mines for filver and gold, John v. 39. But ah! how is this facred treafure profaned by many! They ridicule the holy word, by which they must be judged at the laft day; and will rather lofe their fouls than their jeft, dreffing up the conceit of their wanton wits in fcripture phrafes; in which they act as mad a part, as one who would dig into a mine to procure metal to melt and pour down his own and his neighbour's throat. Many exhauft their spirits in reading romances, and their minds purfue them, as the flame doth the dry ftubble; while they have no heart for, nor relifh of the holy word, and therefore feldom take a Bible in their hands. What is agreeable to the vanity of their minds, is pleafant and taking: but what recommends holipefs to their unholy hearts, makes their fpirits dull and flat. What pleasure will they find in reading of a profane ballad, or story book, 'to whom the Bible is tasteless, as the white of an egg! Many lay by their Bibles with their Sabbath-day's clothes; and whatever ufe they have for their clothes, they have none for their Bibles, till the return of the Sabbath. Alas! the duft or finery about your Bibles is a witness now, and will, at the laft day, be a witnefs of the enmity of your hearts against Christ, as a Prophet. Belides all this, among these who ordinarily read the fcriptures, how few are there that read it as the word of the Lord to their fouls, and keep communion with him in it. They do not make his ftatutes their counsellors, nor doth their particular afe fend them to their Bibles. They are ftrangers to the folid comfort of the fcriptures. And if at any time they be dejected, it is fomething elfe than the word that revives them: as Ahab was cured of his fullen fit, by the fecuring of Naboth's vineyard for him. (2.) Chrift's word preached is defpifed The entertaininent moft of the world, to whom it has come, have always given it, is that which is mentioned, Matth. xxii. 5. They made light of it. And for its fake they are defpifed whom he has employed to preach it; whatever other face men put upon their contempt of the miniftry, John xv. 20. The Servant is not greater than the Lord: if they have perfecuted me, they will also perfecute you; if they have kept my fayings, they will keep yours |