The Common Principles of the Christian Religion, Sermon 9
Exod. 24 5, 6, 7, 8. The Lord, the Lord God, mercifull and gracious, &c.
THere is nothing can separate between God & a people but iniquity, and yet he is very loath to separate even for that; he makes many shews of departing, that so we may hold him fast; and indeed he is not difficult to be holden. He threatens often to remove his presence from a person, or Nation, & he threatens, that he may not indeed remove, but that they may intreat him to stay, & he is not hard to be entreated: Who is a God like unto him, slow to anger, and of great mercy? he is long of being provoked, and not long provoked; for it is like the anger of a Parents love: Love takes on anger, as the last remedy, & if it prevail, it is as glad to put it off, as it was unwilling to take it on. You may see a lively picture of this in Gods dealing with Moses & this people in the preceeding Chapter. He had long endured this rebellious and obstinate people, had often threatned to cut them off & yet as it were, loath to do it, & repenting of it, he su…ers himself to be entreated for them; but all in vain to them, they corrupted their way still more: And in the 32. Chap. falls in grosse Idolatry, the great trespasse that he had given them so solemn warni…g of often, whereupon great wrath is conceived. And the Lord, Chap. 33. 1. threatens to depart from them, Go your way, saith he, to Canaan, but I will not go with you; take your venture of any judgements, & the people of the Lands cruelty: Here is a sad farewell to Israel, & who would think he could be detained after all that? Who would think that he could be entreated? And yet he is not entreated, he is not requested before he give some ground of it, and before he fi…st condescends; Go, saith he, and put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. Will he then accept a repenting people, and is there yet hope of mercy? Should he that is going away shew us the way to keep him still? And he that flees from us, will he strengthen us to pursue & follow after him? This is not after the manner of men, it is true, whose compassion fails, when their passion ariseth, but this is the manner & method of grace; or of him who waits to be gracious: He flees so as he would have a follower: yea, while he seems to go away, he draws the soul that it may run after him; hence is that word, Psal. 63. 8. My soul follows hard after thee; thy righe hand upholds me. Well, the people mourns and puts off their ornaments in sign of humiliation & abasement, but all this deth not pacifie and quench the flame that was kindled: Moses takes the Tabernacle out of the Camp, the place of judgement where God spake with the people; and the cloud, the sign of Gods presence removes: In a word, The signs of Gods loving & kind presence departs from them, to signifie that they were divorced from God, and in a manner, the Lord by Moses excommunicates all the People, and Rulers both, and draws away these holy things from the contagion of a prophane people: But yet all is not gone; he goes far off, but not out of sight, that you may alwayes follow him, & if you follow, he will stand still; he is never without the reach of crying, though we do not perceive him. Now, in this sad case you may have a tryal who is godly: Every one that seeks the Lord will separate from the unholy Congregation, & follow the Tabernacle: And this affects the whole people much, that they all worship in the tent-doors. Now, in the mean time God admits Moses to speak with him; though he will not speak to the people, yet he will speak with their Mediator, a typicall Mediator, to shew us that God is well pleased in Christ, & so all Christs intercessions and requests for us will get a hearing; when they are come once in talking, the businesse is taken up, for he is not soon angry, & never implacably angry, slow to anger, and keeps it not long: Moses falling familiar with God, not only obtains his request for the people, but becomes more bold in a request for his own satisfaction and confirmation: He could not endure to lead that people, except God went with him, & having the promise of his going with them, he cannot endure distance with him, but aspires to the nearest Communion that may be: Oh that it were so with us. His request is, That the Lord would shew him his glory; Had he not seen much of this already? And more than any man ever saw, when he spake in the Mount with God, &c. Nay, but he would see more, for there is alwayes more to be seen, & there is in a godly soul alwayes more desire to see it, the more is seen, the more is loved and desired; tasting of it only begets a kindly appetite after it, & the more tasted, still the fresher and more recent; But yet it is above both desire and fruition, thou cannot see my face &c. All our knowledge of God, all our attainments of experience of him, do reach but to some dark & confused apprehension of what he is; the clearest and nearest sight of God in the world, is, as if a man were not known but by his back, which is a great point of estrangement: It's said, in the heaven we shall see him face to face, and fully as he is, because then the soul is made capable of it.
Two things in us here puts us in an incapacity of nearnesse with God, Infirmity, and Iniquity? Infirmity in us cannot behold his glory, it's of so weak eies that the brightnesse of the Sun would strike it blind; and Iniquity in us, he cannot behold it, because he is of pure eyes, that can look on no unclean thing; it's the only thing in the Creation that Gods holinesse hath antipathy at, and therefore he is stil about the destroying of the body of sin in us, about the purging of all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit; and till the soul be thus purged of all sin, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, it cannot be a Temple for an immediate vision of him; & an immediate exhibition of God to us. Sin is the wall of partition, and the thick cloud that eclipses his glory from us; it is the opposite Hemesphere of darknesse, contrary to light, according to the accesse or recesse of Gods presence, it is more or lesse dark; the more sin reigns in thee, the lesse of God is in thee, and the more sin be subdued, the readier & nearer is Gods presence: but let us comfort our selves: That one day shal put off both Infirmity and Iniquity, mortality shal put on immortality, and corruption be cloathed with incorruption; we shal leave the rags of mortall weaknesse in the grave, and our menstruous cloaths of sin behind us, & then shal the weak eyes of flesh be made like Eagles eyes, to behold the Sun; and then shal the soul be cloathed with holinesse, as with a Garment, which God shal delight to look upon, because he sees his own Image in that glasse.
We come to the Lords satisfying of Moses desire and proclaiming his Name before him; it is himself only can tell you what he is, it is not Ministers preaching, or other discourse, can proclaim that Name to you; we may indeed speak over those words unto you, but it is the Lord that must write that Name upon your heart, he only can discover his glory to your spirit: There is a spirit of life which cannot be inclosed in Letters and Syllables, or transmitted through your ears into your hearts, but he himself must create it inwardly, and stir up the outward sense & feeling of that Name, of those Attributes: Faith indeed comes by hearing, and our knowledge in this life is thorow a glasse, darkly, thorow ordinances and senses; but there must be an inward teaching and speaking to your souls to make that effectuall, the anointing teacheth you all things, 1 Ioh. 2. 27. Alas! its the separation of that from the word that makes it so unprofitable; if the spirit of God were inwardly writing what the word is teaching, then should our souls be living Epistles, that ye might read Gods Name on them: O, be much in imploying of, & depending on him that teacheth to profit who only can declare unto your souls what he is.
These names expresse his Essence or Being, & his Properties, what he is in himself, & what he is to us; in himself he is Jehovah, or a self-being, foreign, as we heard in the 3. Chap. I am that I am, and EL, a strong God, or Almighty God; which two hold out to us, the absolute incomprehensible perfection of God, eminently and infinitely enclosing within himself all perfections of the creatures; the unchangeable and mutable being of God who was, and is, & is to come without succession, without variation, or shadow of turning; and then the Almighty power of God, by which without difficulty, by the inclination and beck of his will & pleasure, he can make, or unmake all, create or annihilate, to whom nothing is impossible; which three if they were pondered by us, till our souls received the stamp of them, they would certainly be powerfull to abstract and draw our hearts from the vain, changeable, and empty shadow of the creature, & gather our scattered affections that are parted among them, because of their unsufficiency, that all might unite in one, and joyn with this self-sufficient and eternal God; I say, if a soul did indeed believe and consider how All sufficient he is, how insufficient all things else are, would it not cleave to him and draw near to him. Psal. 73. ult It is the very torment and vexation of the soul to be thus racked, distracted & divided about many things; & therefore many, because there is none of them can supply all our wants, our wants are infinit, our desires insatiable, & the good that is in any thing is limited & bounded, it can serve one but for one use, and another for another use, and when all are together, they can but supply some wants, but they leave much of the soul empty: But often these outward things crosses one another, and cannot consist together; and hence ariseth much strife and debate in a soul, his need requireth both, and both will not agree, But O that you could see this one universall good, One for all, and above all, your souls would choose him certainly, your souls would trust in him; ye would say, Ashur soal not save us, we will not ride on horses: Creatures shal not satisfie us, we will seek our happinesse in thee, and no where else, since we have tasted this new wine, away with the old, the new is better. I beseech you make God your friend, for he is a great one; whether he be a friend or an enemy, he hath two properties, that make him either most comfortable, or most terrible, according as he is at peace or war with souls, Eternity and Omnipotency. You were once all enemies to him. O consider what a Party you have, an Almighty Party, and unchangeable Party; & if you will make peace with him, and that in Christ, then know, he is the best friend in the world, because he is unchangeable and Almighty; if he be thy friend, he will do all for thee he can do, and thou hast need of; But many friends willing to do, yet have not ability, but he hath power to do what he will and pleases; Many friends are changeable, their affections dry up, of themselves die; and therefore even Princes friendship is but a vain confidence, for they shal die, & then their thoughts of favour perish with them, but he abides the same for all Generations, there is no end of his duration, & no end of his affection; He can still say, I am that I am; What I was, I am, and I will be what I am; men cannot say so, they are like the Brooks that the companies of Teman looked after, & thought to have found them in Summer as they left them in Winter; but behold they were dried up, & the companies ashamed. God cannot make thee ashamed of thy hope, because he is faithfull & able, Ability and Fidelity is a sure Anchor to hold by in all storms and tempests.
Such is God in himself; now, there are two manner of wayes he vents himself toward the Creatures, In a comfortable way, or in a terrible way. This glorious perfection, and Almighty power, hath an issue upon sinners, and it runs in a twofold channell, of mercy and justice: Of mercy towards miserable sinners that finds themselves lost, and flee unto him, and take hold of his strength; and justice towards all those that flatter themselves in their own eyes, and continue in their sinnes and put the evill day far off: There is no mercy for such as fear not justice, and there is no Justice for such as flee from it unto mercy. The Lord exhibites himself in a twofold appearance, according to the condition of sinners, He sits on a Throne and tribunal of Grace & mercy, to make accesse to the vil est sinner, who isafraid of his wrath, and would … be at peace with him; and he sits on a Throne of justice and wrath to seclude and debar presumptuous sinners from his. Holinesse. There were two mountains under the Law, one of cursings, another of blessings; These are the Mountains God lets his Throne upon, and from these he speaks, and sentences mankind: From the Mountain of cursings he hath pronounced a curse. & condemnatory sentence upon all flesh, for all have sinned, therefore he concludes all under sin, that all flesh might stop their mouth, and the whole world become guilty before God. Now, the Lord having thus condemned all Mankind because of disobedience, he sits again upon the Mountain of Blessings, and pronounces a sentence of absolution; of as many as have taken with the sentence of condemnation, and appealed to his grace and Mercy, and those which do not so, the sentence of condemnation stands above their heads unrepealed. He erects his Tribunal of Justice in the Word for this end, that all flesh might once be convicted before him, and therefore he cites, as it were, and summons all men to fift themselves and compear before his Tribunall, to be judged; he layes out an accusation, in the Word against them; he takes their consciences witnesse of the truth of all that is charged on them, and then pronounces that sentence on their conscience, Cursed is he that abides not in all things, which the conscience subsumes and concludes it self accursed, and subscribes to the equity of the sentence; and thus the man is guilty before God, and his mouth stopped; he hath no excuses; no pretences, he can see no way to escape from Justice, and God is justified by this means, in his speaking and judging Psal. 51. 4. The soul ratifies and confirms the truth & justice of all our threatnings & judgements. Rom. 3. 4. Now for such souls as joyn with God in judging and condemning themselves; the Lord hath erected a Throne of grace, & Tribunall of mercy in the word, whereupon he hath set his Son Jesus Christ, Psal. 2. 6. and 89. 14. and 45. 6. Heb. 1. 8. And O, this Throne is a comfortable Throne, mercy and truth goes before the face of the King to welcome & entertain miserable sinners, & to make access to them. And from this Throne Jesus Christ holds out the Scepter of the Gospel to invite sinners, self-condemned sinners, to come to him alone, who hath gotten all finall judgement committed to him, that he may give eternall life to whom he will Ioh. 5. 21, 22. O that is a sweet and ample Commission given to our Friend & Brother Jesus Christ, power to repeal sentences past against us, power to loose them whom Justice hath bound, power and authority to absolve them whom justice hath condemned, and to blesse them whom the Law hath cursed, & to open their mouth to praise whose mouth sin and guiltinesse hath stopped; power to give the answer of a good conscience to thy evill self-tormenting conscience, in a word, he hath power to give life, to make alive, and heal those who are killed or wounded by the Commandement. Now I say seeing God hath of purpose established this Throne of mercy in the Word, thou mayest well after receiving and acknowledging of the justice of the curse of the Law, appeal to divine mercy and grace, sitting on another Throne of the Gospel, thou may if thy conscience urge thee to despair, and to conclude there is no hope, thou may appeal, I say, from thy conscience, from Satan, from Justice unto Jesus Christ, who is holding out the Scepter to thee; the Minister calls thee: Rise and come, stand no longer before that Bar, for it is a subordinate Judicatory, there is a way to redresse thee by a higher court of Grace: Thou may say to justice, to Satan, to thy own Conscience, It is true, I confesse that I deserve that sentence; I am guilty and can say nothing against it, while I stand alone, but though I cannot satisfie, and have not; yet there is one Jesus Christ, who gave his life a ransom for many, and whom God hath given as a propitiation for sins; he hath satisfied and paid the debt in my name; go and apprehend the Cautioner, since he hath undertaken it, nay, he hath done it and is absolved. Thou had him in thy hands, O justice! Thou had him Prisoner under the power of death; since you have let him go, then he is acquited from all the charge of my sins; & therefore, since I know that he is now a King, & hath a Throne to judge the world and plead the cause of his poor sheep, I will appeal to him; refer the cause to his decision, I will make my supplication to him, and certainly he will hear, and interpole himself between wrath and me he will rescind this sentence of condemnation, since he himself was condemned for us, and is justified, it is Christ that died, nay rather is risen again, who shal condemn me? He is near that justifies me. Rom. S. 33. 34. Now i… thou do indeed flee into him for refuge, that City is open for thee, and nothing to prejudge thy entry: but no curse, no condemnation can enter in it. Rom. 8. 1. He will justifie & absolve thee from all things whereof the Law could not justifie thee, but condemn thee, there is forgivenness with him, that he may be feared. David may teach thee this manner of appellation, Ps. 130. & 142. 2. of appealing from the deserved curse to free undeserved blessing & mercy in Christ.
Let us consider this Name of the Lord, and it shall answer all our suspicions of him; all our objections against coming to him & believing in him, it is certain, Ignorance is the mother of unbelief, together with the naturall perversenesse of our heatts, if wee knew his Name we would trust in him, if his Names were pondered and considered, wee would believe in him, Satan knowes this, & therefore his great slight and cunning is, to hold our minds fixed on the consideration of our misery and desperate estate, he keeps the awakned conscience still upon that comfortlesse sight, & he labours to represent God by halfes, & that it is a false representation of God, he represents him as clothed with justice and vengeance, as a consuming fire, in which light a soul can see nothing but desperation written; and he labours to hold out the thoughts of his mercy and grace, or diverts a soul from the consideration of his promises, whence it comes, that they are not established, that though salvation be near, yet it is far from them in their sense and apprehension, therefore I say, you should labour to get an intire sight of God, and you shall see him best in his word, there he reveales himself, and there you find, if ye consider, that which wil make you fear him indeed, but never flee from him, that which may abase you, but withall embolden you to come to him, though trembling: what ever thought possesse thee of thine own misery, of thy own guiltinesse, labour to counterpoise that which a thought of his mercy and free promises: what ever be suggested of his holynesse, & Justice, hea… himself speak out his own Name, and thou shalt hear as much of mercy and grace, as may make these not terrible unto thee, though high and honourable. The Lord hath so framed the expression and proclamation of his name in this place, that first a word of Majesty and power is premised (The Lord, The Lord God) that it may compasse our hearts in fear and reverence of such a glorious One, & make a preparatory impression of the Majesty of our God, which indeed is the foundation of all true faith. It begins to adore and admire a Deity, a Majesty hid from the world, the thoughts of his power and glory possesses the soul first, and makes it begin to tremble to think that it hath such a high and Holy One to deal with.
But in the next place, you have the most sweet, alluring, comforting styles that can be imagined, to meet with the trembling and languishing condition of a soul that would be ready to faint before such a Majesty, here mercy takes it by the hand, & gives a cordial of grace, pardon, forgivenesse, &c. to it, which revives the soul of the humble, and intermingles some rejoycing with the former trembling. Majesty and greatnesse goes before to abase, and humble the soul in its own eyes, and mercy and goodnesse seconds them, to lift up those who are low, and exalt the humble, and in the description of this, the Lord spends more words, according to the necessity of a soul, to signifie to us how great and strong consolation may be grounded on his Name, how accessible he is, though he dwel in inaccessible light, how lovely he is though he be the high and the lofty one, how good he is, though he be great, how merciful he is, though he be majestick: In a word, that those that flee to him may have all invitation, all encouragement to come, & nothing to discourage, to prejudge their welcome, that whoever, will, may come, and nothing may hinder on his part & then after all this, he subjoynes a word of his Justice, in avenging sin, to shew us that he leaves that as the last, that he assayes all gaining wayes of mercy with us, and that he is not very much delighted with the death of sinners, that so whosoever perishes may blame themselves, for hating their own salvation, and forsaking their own mercy.
Now whoever thou art that apprehends a dreadful & terrible God, and thy self a miserable and wretched sinner, thou canst find no comfort in Gods highnesse & power, but it looks terrible upon thee, because thou doubts of his good-will to save and pardon thee: thou sayest with the blind man, if thou wilt, thou can do it; Thou art a strong God; but what comfort can I have in thy strength, since I know not thy good-will? I say, the Lord answers thee in this name, I am mercifull, saith the Lord, if thou be miserable, I am mercifull as well as strong, if thou have sin & misery, I have compassion & pitty: my mercy may be a coppy & patern to all men to learn it of me, even towards their own brethren, Luk. 6. 36. Therefore he is called the Father of mercies. 2 Cor. 1. 3. Misericors est cui alterius miseria cordi est. Mercy hath its very name from misery, for it is no other thing than to lay anothers misery to heart, not to despise it, not to adde to it, but to help it, it is a strong inclination to …uccour the misery of sinners, therefore thou needs no other thing to commend thee to him: art thou miserable, & knows it indeed? Then he is mercifull, and know that also, these two suit well.
Nay, but saith the convinced soul, I know not if he will be mercifull to me, for what am I? There is nothing in me to be regarded, I have nothing to conciliat favour, & all that may procure hatred. But, saith the Lord, I am gracious, and dispenses most freely, without respect to condition or qualification: say not, If I had such a measure of humiliation as such a one, if I loved him so much, if I had so much godly sorrow and repentance, then I think he would be mercifull to me. Say not so, for behold he is gracious, he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and there is no other cause, no motive to procure it, it comes from within his own breast; It is not thy repentance will make him love thee, nor thy hardnesse of heart will make him hate thee, or obstruct the vent of his grace towards thee: no, if it be grace, it is no more of works, no works in that way that thou imagines; it is not of repentance, not of faith in that sense thou conceivest, but it is freely, without the hyre, without the price of repentance, or faith, because all those are but the free gifts of grace, thou would have these graces to procure his favour, and to make them the ground of thy believing in his promises, but grace is without money, it immediatly contracts with discovered misery, so that if thou do discover in thy self misery and sin, though thou find nothing else, yet do not cast away confidence; but so much the more adresse thy self to mercy and grace which doth not seek repentance in thee; yet there is something in the awakened conscience: It have gone on long in sin, I have been a presumptuous sinner; can he endure me longer? well, hear what the Lord saith, I am long-suffering, & patient, and if he had not been so, we had been damned ere now, patience hath a long term and we cannot out-run it, out-weary it. Why do we not wonder that he presently and instantly executed his wrath on angels, & gave them not one hours space for repentance, but cast them down head-long into destruction, as in a moment: and yet his Majesty hath so long delayed the execution of our sentence, and calls us to repentance and forgivenesse, that we may escape the condemnation of Angels: His patience is not slacknes and negligence, as men count it, 2 Pet. 3. 9. He sits not in heaven as an Idol and idle spectator what men are doing, but he observes all wrongs, and is sensible of them also: And if we were mindfull and sensible of them also, he would forget them; He is long-suffering: This is extended and stretched-out patience beyond all expectation, beyond all deserving, yea, contrary to it. Therefore as long as he forbears if thou apprehend thy misery and sin, and continuance in it; so not conclude that it is desperate: Why should a living man complain? As long as patience lengthens thy life, if thou desire to come to him, believe he wil accept thee
But saith the doubting soul, I am exceeding perverse and wicked, there is nothing in me but wickednesse, it so abounds in me that there is nothing in me but wickednesse, it so abounds in me that there is none like me; but saith the Lord, I am aboundant in goodnesse. Thy wickednesse though it be great, it is but a created wickedness, but my goodness is the goodness of God; I am as abundant in grace & goodnesse as thou art in sin, nay, infinitely more; thy sin is but the transgression of a finite creature, but my mercy is the compassion of an infinite God, it can swallow it up; suppose thy sin cry up to Heaven, yet mercy reaches above Heaven, & is built up for ever. Here is an invitation to all sinners to come and taste, O come & taste and see how good the Lord is; goodnesse is communicative, it diffuses it self like the Suns light. There is riches of his goodnesse. Rom. 2. 4. Poor soul, thou canst not spend it though thou have many wants.
But I am full of doubtings, fears and jealousies; I cannot believe his Promises, I often question them; How then will he perform them? I say, (saith the Lord) I am abundant in truth, He will certainly perform. Shal our unbelief or doubting make the faith of God of none effect &c. Rom. 3. 3. God forbid. His faithfulnesse reaches unto the Clouds, he will keep Covenant with thee, whose soul hath chosen him, though thou often question and doubt of him. Indeed thou would not give indulgence to thy doubtings & jealousies, but look on them as high provocations: for what can be more grievous to fervent love than to meet with jealousie, jealousie would quench any creatures love; but though it grieve & provoke him, yet he will not change, he will not diminish his; only do not think your disputings, & quarrellings innocent and harmlesse things; no certainly, they grieve the Spirit, stir up the Beloved to go away, as it were, before he please, & make thee walk without comfort, & without fruit; yet he will bear with & quench the smoaking flax of a Believers desires, though they do not arise to the flame of Assurance.
But the wounded spirit hath one or two burdens more: I have abused much mercy, How can mercy pitty me? I have turned grace into wantonnesse, so that when I look to mercy and grace to comfort me, they do rather challenge me; the sins of none are like mine, none of such a hainous presumptuous nature: But let us hear what the Lord speaks, I keep mercy for thousands, and forgive iniquity, transgression and sin; Thou hast wasted much mercy, but more is behind, all the treasure is not spent; though there were many thousand worlds beside, I could pardon them all, if they would flee unto my mercy, thou shalt not be straitned in me, mercy will pardon thy abuse of mercy, it will forgive all faults thou dost against it self, Thou that sins against the Son of man, the Redeemer of the World, & remedy of sin, yet there is pardon for thee what ever thy quality, condition, or circumstance of thy sin be; whoever convinced of it, and loadned with it, desires rest to thy soul, thou may find it in Christ, whose former kindnesse thou hast answered with contempt, many sins, many great sins, and these presumptuous sins cannot exclude, nay, no sin can exclude a willing soul. Unbelief keeps thee unwilling, and so excludes thee.
Now as the Spider sucks poyson out of the sweetest Flower, so the most part of souls suck nothing but delusion and presumption, and hardening out of the Gospel: Many souls reason for more liberty to sin from mercy; but behold how the Lord backs it with a dreadful word, who will by no means clear the guilty. As many as do not condemn themselves, and judge themselves before his Tribunall of Justice, there is no rescinding of the condemnatory Sentence, but it stands above their heads, He that believes not is condemned already. Justice hath condemned all by sentence; he that doth not in the sense of this flee into Jesus Christ from sin and wrath, is already condemned; his Sentence is standing, there needs no new one; since he flees not to mercy for absolution; the sentence of condemnation stands unrepealed. Yo… guilty souls who clear your selves, God will not clear you; & alas! How many of you do clear your selves? Do you not extenuate and mince your sins? How hard is it to extort any confession of guilt out of you, but in the general? If we condescend to particulars, many of you will plead innocency, almost in every thing, though ye have like children, learned to speak these words, That ye are sinners. I beseech you consider it, it is no light matter, for God will by no means clear the guilty; by no means, by no intreaties, no flatteries; What? will he not pardon sin? Yes indeed: His Name tells you he will pardon all kind of sins, & absolve all manner of guilty persons but yet such as do condemn themselves, such as are guilty in their own conscience, & their mouths stopped before God; you who do not enter into the serious examination of your wayes, and no not arraign your selves before Gods Tribunal daily, till you find your selves loathsome and desperate, and no refuge for you; you who do flatter your selves alwaies in the hope of heaven, and put the fear of hell alwayes from you, I say, God will by no mean; no prayers, no intreaties clear or pardon you, because you come not to Jesus Christ, in whom is preached forgivenesse and remission of sins. You who take liberty to sin, because God is gracious, and delay repentance till the end, because God is long suffering; know God will not clear you; he is holy and just as he is mercyfull. If his mercy make thee not fear and tremble before him, and do not separate thee from thy sins; if remission of sins be not the strongest perswasion to thy soul of the removing of sin, certaiuly thou dost in vain presume upon his mercy; Now, consider what influence all this glorious Proclamation had on Moses; it stirs up in him reverence and affection, reverence to such a glorious Majesty, & great desire to have him amongst them, and to be more one with him: If thy soul rightly discover God, it cannot but abase thee, he made bade haste to bow down and worship; O, Gods Majesty is a surprising and astonishing thing, it would bow thy soul in the dust if it were represented to thee; labour to keep the right and intire representation of God in thy sight, his whole Name, Strong, Mercifull & Iust, Great and Holy. I say, keep both in thy view, for half representations are dangerous, either to beget presumption and security, when thou looks on mercy alone, or despair, when thou looks on Justice and power alone; Let thy soul consider all joyntly, that it may receive amixed impression of all; & this is the holy composition and temper of a Believer, Rejoice with trembling, love with fear; let all thy discoveries of him aime at more union & communion with him, who is …ch a self-sufficient, al-sufficient and eternal Beeing.