The Sinners Last Sentence, Chapter 34
CHAP. XXXIV. Arguments againſt Omiſſions. The poſitiveneſs of our Rule, and of Gods Mercies.
I Begin with the firſt, viz. The Arguments to move us to mind poſitive Duties.
1. Conſider the Law which God hath given us for the Rule of our Lives, is both poſitive and negative; and therefore our Obedience muſt be ſuch. What need poſitive Precepts, but to require poſitive Practices? Single Prohibitions would have ſufficed for a negative Religion. The Law is holy, (in its Commands that immediately concern God) just, (in what it commands concerning our Neighbours) and good, (in what it commands concerning our ſelves) Rom. 7.12. Look to the Moral Law, every negative command hath a poſitive Precept. Take the Prophets all along that ſpeak in the Name of the Lord, and we ſhall find that they ſtill enjoyn Duty, as well as forbid Sin, Deut. 12.29. to the end. Take heed that thou be not ſnared by following the Nations that are destroyed before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, ſaying, How did theſe Nations ſerve their gods? even ſo will I do likewiſe. Here is Sin forbidden: But mark alſo Duty is commanded, What thing ſoever I command you, obſerve to do it: thou ſhalt not add thereto, nor diminiſh from it. Nay, a Copy of this Law both poſitive and negative muſt be written out by the Magiſtrate, that we might obſerve it; and it was alſo written in a Book by Moſes, and put into the Ark, as a witneſs againſt the Iſraelites, if they ſhould not obſerve it, Deut. 31.24, 25, 26. Joſhua ſucceeds Moſes in his Charge over the Jews, and in his Commands to them both affirmatively and negatively, Joſhua 23.7. Samuel follows after and ſpeaks the ſame Language, Serve the Lord with all your heart, fear him, and ſerve him in truth: And turn ye not aſide, for then ye ſhould go after vain things, which cannot profit or deliver, for they are vain, 1 Sam. 12.20, 21, 24. David doth the like, Depart from evil, and do good, Pſal. 34.14. Solomon writes after his Fathers Copy in the very qualifications of thoſe whom he intreats Mercy for. If they ſin, and afterwards bethink themſelves, and turn, (i. e. from their ſins,) and return unto thee with all the Heart, and with all the Soul, then hear thou from Heaven, from thy Dwelling-place, 2 Chron. 6.36, to 40. Iſaiah calls on men not only to forſake their evil ways and evil thoughts, but alſo to return unto the Lord, Iſa. 55.7. Jeremiah crieth to his people, Not to oppreſs the Stranger, the Fatherleſs, and the Widows; and alſo throughly to execute Judgment between a man and his Neighbour, Jer. 7.5, 6. So Ezekiel and the reſt of the Prophets, Ezek. 18.21. Our Saviour in his Expoſition of the Law, doth forbid what is Evil, and command what is Good, Matth. 5.43, 44. So Matth. 7. per tot. The Apoſtle St. Paul commands Not to be conformed to the World, there is the Prohibition; but to be transformed, by the renewing of our mind, proving what is the good, and perfect, and acceptable will of God, there is the Precept, Rom. 12.1, 2. Again, Put off the works of Darkneſs, put on the armour of Light. Put off the old man, which is corrupt according to his deceitful lusts. And put on the new man, which after God is created in righteouſneſs, and true holineſs, Epheſ. 4.23, 24. Lye not one to another, but ſpeak the truth. The Apoſtle St. James tells us, Religion conſiſteth in Negatives and Poſitives alſo, James 1.21, 22, 26, 27. So St. Peter, 1 Pet. 1.14, 15. 1 Pet. 2.11, 12. St. Joh. 3.9, 10. Jude, verſ. 21, 22, 23. Thus we ſee through the whole Bible the Mind of God, by his Meſſengers, to be Poſitive as well as Negative, and this Mind of his he hath ordained to be the rule of our Hearts and Lives; and what ſhall we anſwer when we ſhall be called to an account for our Diſobedience? To what purpoſe is a Rule, if it be not followed? and to what end is the Penalty denounced againſt the Ungodly, if it be not executed?
This is the Voice of the Law of God, and therefore, Reader, either thou muſt betake thy ſelf to practical godlineſs, or elſe diſown the Scriptures for thy rule and ſquare. Thy Duty muſt (at leaſt in thy deſires and endeavours) carry ſome proportion to thy ſtandard and rule, or elſe thy Religion is a meer cypher, and ſignifieth nothing.
So far as the beſt come ſhort of the Law they ſin, 1 Joh. 5.3. Sin is a tranſgreſſion of the Law. And that becauſe the Law is given to him as a rule of Life, God hath therefore qualified it with the porperties of a Rule: 1. A Rule muſt be perfect, and not defective, not redundant; The Law of the Lord is perfect, Pſal. 19.7. 2. A Rule muſt be plain, not dark; All her ways are plain to him that underſtandeth. 3. A Rule muſt be publiſhed and known, otherwiſe it's a ſnare to intrap men. God hath proclaimed his Law; The Command is not hidden from thee, nor far off, Deut. 30.11. It's not in Heaven, that thou ſhouldst ſay, Who ſhall go up for us thither, and fetch it thence, that we may hear it, and do it? Nor beyond the Seas. But the Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, (12, 13, 14, verſes,) that thou mayſt do them. 4. A Rule is that by which men ſhall be judged, ſo is this Law, Joh. 12. 48. The Word that I have ſpoken, the ſame ſhall judge you at the last day.
2. The Mercies of God to thee are poſitive as well as privative; and why ſhould not thy Duty be ſuitable to the Divine Bounty. God is not only a Shield to defend thee from evil in thy Body, in thy Soul, in thy Perſon, in thy Relations; in thine Out-goings and in thine Incomings, by Night and by Day, at all times, and in all places; but he is alſo a Sun to refreſh thee with good, with temporal good, Food, Raiment, Friends, Relations, Sleep, Liberty, Wealth, eſteem in the World, &c. With ſpiritual good, with Sabbaths, Scriptures, Sacraments, ſeaſons of Grace, with the tenders of Pardon, and Peace, and Adoption, and eternal Salvation, upon excellent and equitable terms. And what reaſon can we give why our Obedience ſhould not bear a proportion to his Beneficence. He is a Sun and a Shield, and gives Grace and Glory, and with-holdeth no good things from them that walk uprightly, Pſal. 84.
Shall God with-hold no good thing from thee, and canſt thou find in thy heart to deny the doing of any good thing for him? Is his Bounty of ſo large an extent, as to comprehend protection from all Evil, and the fruition of all good? and muſt thy Duty be ſo narrow and ſcanty, as if he did not deſerve ſo much as he requireth? Is it honeſt to receive or buy in by one Meaſure, and to return and ſell out by another? Divers Weights and divers Meaſures, both of them are abomination to the Lord.
A Weight and a Weight, a Meaſure and a Meaſure, one to buy with that's large, another to ſell with that is leſs; I only allude to it. It's abominable for thee to receive of God by the largeſt meaſure, and to return to him by the leaſt. Reader, if thou art born of God, and guilty of theſe partial temporary Omiſſions, conſider it ſeriouſly, let ingenuity plead for God. When he firſt wrought upon thy Soul, he did not only tranſlate thee out of the Kingdom of Darkneſs, but alſo bring thee into the Kingdom of his dear Son. He did not only turn thee from Satan, but alſo cauſe thee to return to himſelf. He brought thee out of a ſtate of Wrath, and brought thee into a ſtate of Love and Favour, 1 Pet. 2.9. He redeemed thee from thoſe Enemies which had carried thee Captive, Sin, Satan, Death, Hell, Rom. 6.11. Epheſ. 2.3, 4. Heb. 2. 2 Tim. 1.9, 10. 1 Theſſ. 1. ult. But this is not all, he hath alſo brought thee into the glorious liberty of the Children of God, 1 Joh. 12. 1 Joh. 3.1. He hath delivered thee from this preſent evil World, (that its affrightments, its allurements, that all its power and policy ſhall not be able to deſtroy thee,) but this is not all, he hath made thee an Heir of a better World. Of a Child of the Devil, thou art made a Child of God, of a Slave to ſin, a Citizen of Sion; nay, he doth not only free thee from damnation, and the curſe of the Law; but alſo give thee the bleſſing of eternal life in and with himſelf among his innumerable Company of Angels, and the Congregation of the Firſt-born. Now, Reader, judge whether it be not very diſingenious to receive from God all ſorts of Mercies, and to give to God not half the Duties we owe to him. How canſt thou mete to God one meaſure, and expect from him another? Friend, God doth not put thee off with half-Happineſs; and why ſhouldſt thou put him off with half-Holineſs?