petual punishment, for in His Wifdom He hath con reived a Way, and in His Goodness bath revealed this His Contrivance, in order to your Deliverance from the Wrath to come, fo that upon your non aps plication of Gods gracious Method, His inlufferable Vengeance will unavoidably feife upon you, againft which ye fhall have nothing to obje&t, nor can ever justly reclaim: yea to you are Chritts words proper ly applicable, it fhall be more tollerable in the day of Judgement for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you; Their Account will not have this direfull ditto in it, that will be the blackest of all the Items in your Li 1: Joh.15.22, Ifthad not come viz into the World, and jpok n unto them, viz, the words of eternal Life, they has not bad fin, viz, this molt grievous in to ac: count for, of rejecting Me, and My Offers, but ow, ie, this being their day of Vilitation with the Revelation of Gofpel-grace, they have no Clock, or Excufe, for their fin, of defpifing Me: Q Sirs, it is not improbable that the horrid fhrickes and cryes of Chriftians in the Lake will be the lowdeft,this fad fonnet will go bigbeft, alas for we might have had Chrift and we would not, we might have been bappy and we would be miferable; O that the fore thoughts of this hazard might work on finners to Bargain and Tranfact with Chrift in good time, leaft they come into this Condemnation. Infer. Hath God contrived and conftituted a Device for faving linners, bow facrilegious and foolith are they who fet up another Device than Gods, to compete therewith, there have been not a few els ays made to exalt the Wifdom of the Flesh, and to fruftrate vanity! fruftrate the Wifdom of God; 0 madness Can Infinit Wildom be our witted? who makes the Wildom of the Prudent to perish, can Gods Device bave a flaw in it? Who never erred in any of His Works; Oh then what madcap Panaticks are they, who would add or pair with relpect to His moft wife and perfe& Contrivance, or who dream to make up a hotch potch or confofed alley, betwixt Gods faultlefs Method and the foolish Methods of Human-inven tion; they are furely moft unrighteous, who attempt to couple Chrifts Righteoufnels, and Human rotten Righteoufnels together for our Juftification in Gods fight, who fees that all our Righteouns are as filthy Tags, la, 64.6, hence the Apoßile Paul zealously taxes fuch ungedly Tinkers as thefe, Rom, 0,2 3 4. For 1 bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God Righteoafness, and going about to eftablish their own Righteousness have not fubmitted themselves to the Righteousness of God, for Chrift is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believerb. 6. Infer. Hath God fallen upon a Device for fav ing loft finners, how concerned fhould we be to fing forth His Praises with joy, and thanksgiving, and to exprefs our gratitude by ferving Him cheerfully and carefully all the days of our Life: If one should gratis give a thou(and pound to a fallen aback Mere chant, thereby to fet him up again, he were a moft unworthy Aupid Sort, if he did not think bimfelf obliged to do his kind Ben for all the fervicable good Offices that be had Occafion and Capacity to perform, and much more are we addebted to vote our felves to Gods Service, who supplieth all our Wants, who forgiveth all our Iniquities, who bealeth all our Difcafes Sc, Plalms 103. SECTION VII Propofition 4. THO "Ho' our Lord Jefus has fet up Shop among us, and exposes His Warce to Sale, yet alas, He has more Ridders than Buyers; fometimes the Mercat looks out right throng-like as if there would be abundance of Buyers, when yet there is very little bought or fold; my meaning is, there may be great Croudes attending Gospel-Ordi hances, who come not to be edified, or to make a Bargain with Chrilt. Ezek. 33.31. Luke 15. 24, 25, 26,27. John 6 26. may we not lay, with fadnels, of the molt part of common Gofpellers who throng to Church upon Occafions, as it is faid of that confused Affembly, Acts 19 32. The most part knew not where? fore they were come together; or as the Apostle fays of the Corinthians, Epift. 11.17. You come tegether not for the better, but for the worse; alas are there not many who come to the Sanctuary, who come not fan&tified, & who enter into the Temple of the Lord, who are not the Temples of God, and come for the most part from Ordinances far worse than they came to them, it may be carrying away this Judicial fentence and froack of God upon them, let him that is ignorant be ignorant ftill, let him that is filthy be filthy fill, let him that is obdured, impenitent, or unbelieving, be fo ftill, which is a deplorable curled Mtion indeed, botrefco referens! Now to fole low low forth this Allation, of many coming to Mercat and yet not for Merchandize that I may thereby res prefent bow that after the fame manner many throng to Publick Ordinances, not for Godly ends, but bafe byends, take thefe few Obfervations, 1. Objerv. Are there not many who come to the Mercat only out of Curiofity, to fatis fie their luxu riant Fancies, in feeing lome new things, or as we ufe to lay, to Spy Farles; fo are there not too many who frequent Ordinances from the fway of the like vain bumor, to hear if the Minifter medles wxba ny new or nice Point of Controverfie, or falls upon fome novel Opinions, that they have not been ac quainted with before,like the Arbenians who were affe&ters of Novelties, and Spent their time in nothing elfe but either to tell or to hear fome new thing, A&, 17. 11, Othat God would cure this Itch of Curiolity. 2. Obferv. Are there not fome who come to the Mercat m erly put of idlenefs, having nothing to do at home, and as little abroad, but to divert them felves; fo are there not fome who go to Church (specially on week-days) to pass an hour, or to drive off fo much fpare time, that they know not how to employ otherwife, I grant indeed they may many ways employ their time not fo well, but I wifh they had a more fpiritual end before them, than only to fpend an hour idly. 3. Obferv. Are there not fome who go to the Mercat, & all their bufinefs when they come there, is to find fault with every thing they fee, they them felves do not mind to buy, but rather binder others from buying, by difparaging the things they loo upon. So are there not fome who on fet purpose at tend Gofpel-occalions, lying in wait for a catch of fomething to cavill and carp at, and that they may carry away fome Pallages, thereby to turuith matter of Mockery and Jock, and to make merry with their Caball Comerads, by fuch Arts fuch fad Souls become Satans Tools and Inftruments for afperling Godly Minifters, to difgrace the Miniftry, to bring up an evil report on the Ways of God, & to expole all Religion to ridicule and reproach, bur Ob the dreadfull Account that fuch miscreants will haveto give; it had been happy that fuch felt conceited debauched Criticks had never been born, or elle born deaf and dumb, and devoid of understanding; 'tis very rare to see, but such unhallowed Perfons who make a mock of facred things, either turn quire Irreligious and Atheists, or fome fearfull Plague of God follows them. I would have fuch to mind I a. 28 22. Now therefore be ye not Mockets leaf your bands be made frongi, e.fays Pool in loc, leaft inch Mock ers of Gods Word make the Judgements of God more fure and unavoidable and more severe & ter rible; but as to those of this kind of fpirit, the Spi rit of God gives us to understand whom they are like, even the ftated Enemies of Chrift, the Phari fes and Herodians, who watched to catch Him in His Words, Mark 12, 13. 4. Obferv. Are there not many who go to the Mercat to fee and be feen, to wit, in their beft Busks and braveft Drefs: fo we fufpect fome haunt the Church, more to fee than to hear, and more to be feen and fpoken of, than to take heed to what is fpoken from |