Gospel Reconciliation, Chapter 3
CHAP. 3. That there is a way to make up a Peace between God and Sinful Man.
II. Would it not now be joyful news to you to hear of a poſſibility for God to be Reconciled to you? You ſee there is an enmity in your hearts to God; and not only an enmity; but a moſt deadly, and deſperate one. I could ſhew you abundance of particulars of this enmity, but the maine thing that I ayme at, is, only to open the Doctrine of Reconciliation: therefore if thou apprehendeſt this truth of God; and if God hath darted it into thy Conſcience: wil not the Doctrine of Reconciliation be acceptable to thee? O! it would; and it is unto thoſe that feare God, and rightly apprehend themſelves as enemies unto him. But I fear, leaſt while I am treating of the Doctrine of Reconciliation between God you, you ſhould not apprehend the excellency of it, and not relliſh it in the ſweetneſs of it. And therefore if I have ſaid any thing that ſeems to be terrible to you in my other treatiſes. If I have ſhewed to you what an evil, and dangerous Condition you are in naturally, and how liable to the wrath of God, and to the torments of Hel, where the worme dies not, & the fier goes not out; it is al to this end; that you might the better reliſh the bleſſed, and ſweet doctrine of Reconciliation between God, and your Souls. This is that then which we ſhall begin withal, as the firſt ſound of the bleſſed Silver Trumpet of the Goſpel; namely;
Doct. That there is a way to make up a peace between God and ſinful man. God hath not left mankind, who hath Sunk himſelf into ſuch a depth of miſery, I ſay, God hath not left them irrecoverable irreconcilable: the Lord doth here profeſſe unto you, that he is willing to be reconciled unto you; yea, we ſhal ſee afterward, that he doth intreat you to be reconciled. But here is the firſt ſound of the Trumpet of the Goſpel, and bleſſed are they that hear this joyful ſound: namly, that there is a poſſiblity of being reconciled; that the Lord is content to enter into parly with his enemies, for God might have caſt them off forever, and never ſo much as parly with them, as he hath done the Angels that ſinned, againſt whom he was ſo provoked, that he reſolved within himſelf, and he hath kept his reſolution ſince the beginning of the world, and he will keep it unto all eternity, that he wil not ſo much as enter into parly with thoſe Creatures, or be reconciled with them upon any tearms. As when a man is ſo fallen out with an another, as that if one ſhould come to ſpeak about terms of peace, he cannot endure to hear of them; no, ſaith he, I will never enter into treaty with him ſo long as I live, about it. So God wil never enter into treaty with the Angels, he wil not hear of any terms of Reconciliation, but is reſolved to revenge himſelf upon them to al eternity: therefore the Apoſtle ſaith, they are reſerved in chains to the judgmtnt of the great day. But now, Lord what ſhal become of man? poor man might well fear, when he hears what God hath reſolved upon againſt the Angels, he hath cauſe enough to ſhake at that, for indeed man is a far more poore, and mean, and wretched Creature than thoſe Angels are. If it be ſo between man, and man, that when a great Prince is offended with ſome Noble man in his Court, and ſo offended with him, yea, for his firſt offence, as that all the men in the world cannot perſwade that Prince ſo much as to vouchſafe to hearken to any terms of reconciliation, and if ſome meaner officer, ſome poore Groom ſhal have offended the King, and provoked his wrath, and hears of this, that his Cheif favorite, one that was neer unto him; that was alwaies in his preſence did but offend him once, and yet the King ſhould never hearken to any means of pacification: ſurely this man would ſoon think with himſelf, Lord what wil become of me,? Is there any hope that there ſhal be a parly between the King and me? Certainly this poor man wil even be ready to have his heart ſink within him, and ſit down altogether overwhelmed with fear, and diſpaire. And ſo indeed ſhould we all have done upon our reaſoning within our ſelves concerning Gods dealing with the fallen Angels, had we not had this glorious, and bleſſed ſound of the Goſpel, and hopes of Reconciliation with God through Jeſus Chriſt, we would all have ſunk down into the battomleſſe Gulf of diſpaire, and concluded certainly againſt our ſelves, that there can be no peace between God and us, we being ſuch enemies unto him as we are by nature. But though this be beyond our thoughts as farr as the Heaven is above the Earth; and though this could never enter into the heart of man, that ever God would parly with poor falen man after ſo great an emnity begot by ſin; yet know, this is the meſſage that is come from Heaven, even from God himſelf, that he is contented to parly with you; yea, ſo Contented, as that he himſelf hath ſent ambaſſadors to us to intreat us be reconciled. But of that hereafter. God I ſay is Content to enter into treaty with man concerning duplicate page duplicate page a Reconciliation and the making up of a peace between him, and their ſouls; for that indeed is the very ſcope of the Goſpel. If I ſhould a little dwell here to inquire the Reaſon of this, why the Lord ſhould be willing to enter into this treaty with man-kind: the truth is, it is an unſearchable depth, we cannot imagine any Reaſon why the Lord ſhould rather chuſe to parly with us, and to treat concerning terms of peace with us than with the Angels. There is ſomething indeed which we may have in our thoughts; As thus. If God did not Reconcile himſelf to man, and ſave him, he ſhould looſe his whole Creature; he did not looſe all the Angels when they fell, but if God ſhould not provide a way to be Reconciled to man, the whole kind of that Creature would be utterly loſt: now the Lord wil not caſt away the whole kind of ſuch an excellent Creature as man is. But the truth is, theſe are but gueſſes at this Reaſon in chuſing to treat with us about ſalvation, and not with the Angels. But the main thing is: God hath waies to glorifie himſelf that we know not of in reconciling himſelf to man-kind. We know this, that there are glorious intentions that God hath in this work, but what theſe are, we ſhal never know througbly til we come to Heaven; and that indeed wil be the very work of Heaven it ſelf to be praiſing of God to all eternity for that great act of his, namely his willingneſſe to be reconciled to loſt man, rather than to the fallen Angels. We ſhal know ſome Reaſons of that afterward, for God doth things according to the Counſel of his wil; and there is nothing he doth, but he hath a great deal of Reaſon for which we muſt adore though we cannot now fully underſtand. Only for the preſent let me hint this unto you; let the Conſideration of but thus much affect your hearts. O ſhould we be ſent to preach to the Devils ſuch a point as this is, or to the Angels in Hell; and ſay, the Lord hath kept this Councel from you almoſt this ſix thouſand years, and his waies towards you have been …o as if he would never enter parly with you, but now God hath revealed his wil towards you, that he is content to enter into a Treaty with you about the things that concern your peace, and the reconciling of you unto himſelf, what a meſſage would this be to them think you? but this never was, nor never ſhal be preached unto them. If God ſhould ſend this meſſage to the damned in Hel, and ſay to them, the Lord is content to enter into a parly with you about the reconciling of himſelf unto you, what a meſſage would this be to them? but this cannot be; this is only a meſſage to thoſe that are alive here in this world, to that part of the children of men that are living upon the earth, unto them only can this be preached, that there is a poſſibility of Reconciliation between God and them. Truly the conſideration of a poſſibility is that which may ſatisfie the heart of man, let the terms be what they wil. O! is it poſſible that God may be reconciled, I wil never inquire about the terms out of fear that the hardneſſe of them ſhould diſcourage me; O! let the terms be what they will, this is the moſt acceptable news, this is the beſt tidings to my ſoul, more acceptable than it I were told, that I had a thouſand worlds given unto me, even this that I hear, that there is a poſsiblity of reconciliation betwixt God and my ſelf. This may ſerve to be ſome prop to ſupport, and keep up any troubled Conſcience from diſpair, even the very reading of this, though ſtill they are afraid of Gods willingneſſe to make up the peace, but it is poſsible thou may'ſt have it. No Angel in Heaven, Nor man in the world, do, or can know to the contrary, but that it is poſsible for thee, and thee, for ſuch a ſinner as thou art, or ſuch as thou art to come to be reconciled.
And doth this begin a little to ſtir thy heart, but to read that the Condition of man is not deſperate, but there is a poſſibility of his being Reconciled: do'ſt thou believe becauſe of this? then (as Chriſt ſaid unto Nathaniel) thou ſhalt ſee greater things than theſe. So, if thy heart begin to be affected by this: thou ſhalt before we have done with this ſubject, read greater things of the councel of God about his willingneſs to be reconciled unto the Children of men.
Only before I paſs let me ſpeak this one Word about this point. Let us take heed that we do not turne this grace of God that we hear of this day, to the increaſe of our more fearful condemnation, or make our condemnation far more dreadful then the condemnation of the Devils is, becauſe we have more means afforded us for our delivery than ever they had, for if we look not to it, it may prove ſo, that our condemnation may be more dreadful then the condemnation of the Devils; and therefore you had need, when you hear anything of this Decoctine of Reconciliation, or of a poſſibillity of being reconciled unto God, to lift up your hearts unto God, and deſire that the reading of this bleſſed Doctrine may not prove to the increaſe of your condemnation. There is not ſuch a thing preached to the Devils; therefore if I come not in, and accept of the terms, of Reconciliation, I ſhal be in worſe caſe than the Devils. It can never be charged upon them, that God was willing to be reconciled, and they would not; but it may be thus ſaid of al wicked and ungodly men, that live under the ſound of the Goſpel, and ſo Continue in their wickedneſs, and die in it: this wil be the charge that wil lie upon them another day; and God wil ſaie unto them; you did indeed hear that you were naturally enemies to me; yet I manifeſtd in my Goſpell, that I would enter into terms of peace with you, but you refuſed it, and ſlighted it, and ſcorned it. What can poſſibly provoke the heart of a man ſo much as this, that when he hath his enemy who hath deeply offended him, at an advantage, ſhould yet offer tearms of peace to him; and yet his enemy goes away ſcorning, ſlighting and contemning him. Truly, thus do wicked men that live under the light of the Goſpel; when the Miniſters of the Goſpel come, and preach peace and Reconciliation to them; tel them, that God is willing to be at peace with them; that he is willing to treat, and to parly with them about the buſineſs of ſalvation; they go away, and the language of their actions is this; wel, we wil ſhift as wel as we can for our ſelves, we are reſolved to have our waies of ſin, and to have our Satisfaction in this, and the other luſt. Now God forbid that this ſhould be in the heart of any one that caſts his eyes on this book.