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will justify you from all that law, conscience, and Satan can charge upon you, Rom. viii. 33, 34.He will give you free access into his presence, and accept your person, and receive your prayers, Eph. iii. 12. andi. 6. 1 John v. 14. He will abide in

you, and makes you the man of his secrets, and hold a constant and friendly communion with you John xiii. 23. and xv. 15. 1 John i. 3. His ear shall be open, his door open; his store open at all times to you. His bleflings shall rest upon you, and he will make your enemies to serve you, and work out “ all things for good unto you," Pfalia cxv. 13. Rom. viii. 28.

4. The terms of mercy are brought as low as « possible to you." God has stooped as low to finners as with honour he can: Hewill not be thought the author of fin, nor stain the glory of his holineís : And whither could he come lower than he hath, unless he should do this He hath abated the impossible terms of the firft covenant, Jer. iii. 23. Mark v. 36. Aets xvi. 31. and iii. 19, Prov.

He doth not impose any thing unreasonable or impossible as a condition of life upon you: Two things were necessary to be done, according to the tenor of the first covenant : 1. “ That you should fully satisfy the demands of

justice for past offences. '2. That you should

perform personally, perfectly, and perpetually, « the whole law for the time to come." Both these are to us impossible, Rom. viii. 3.; but behold God's gracious abatement in both : He doth not stand

satisfaction ; he is content to take of the Surety (and he of his own providing too) what he might have exacted from you, 2 Cor. v. 19. He declares himself to have received a ran

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xxviii. 13.

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some, Job xxxiii. 24. Tim. ii. 6. and that he ,

1 expects noc hing but that you should accept his Son, and " he shall be righteoustess and redemption to "! you.” John i, 12. i Cor. i. 30: And for the future obedience, here he is content to yield to your weakness and omit the rigour. He doth not stand upon perfection as a condition of life, though he still infifts upon it as his due, but is content to accept of fincerity, Gen. xvii. 1.

Prov. xi. 20. Though you cannot pay the full debt, he will accept you according to that which

you

have, and take willingness for doing, and the purpose for the performance, 2 Cor. viii. 12. 2 Chron. vi. 8. Heb. xi. 17. And if you come in his Christ, and set your hearts to please him, and make it the chief of your care, he will approve and reward you, though the vessel be marred in your hands.

O, consider your Maker's condescention! let me say to you as Naaman's servant to him, “ My “ father, if the prophet had bid thee do some “ great thing, would you not have done it? « How much rather when he saith to thee, Wash “ and be clean ?" 2 Kings v. 13. If God had demanded some terrible, fome severe and rigorous thing of you, to escape eternal damnation, would you not have done it? Suppose it had been to spend all your days in sorrow in some howling wilderness, or pine yourselves with famine, or to o offer the fruit of your bodies for the fin of your ! fouls,” would you not have thankfully accepted eternal redemption, though these had been the conditions ? If your offended creator should have held you but one year upon the rack, and then bid you come and forsake your fins, accept Christ,

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and serve him a few years in self-deniel, or lie in this case for ever and ever, do you think you fhould have ftuck at the offer, and disputed the terms, and have been unresolved whether yoá were to accept of the motion? O finner, retarn and live ; why shouldest thou die when life is to be had for the taking, when mercy seems beholden to thee (as it were) to be saved iCouldest thou say indeed, Lord, I knew that thou waft an “ hard man,” Matt. xxv. 24. ; thou hadít fome little excuse; but when the God of heaven has ftooped fo low, and condescended so far, if now thou shouldeft fiand off, who shall plead for thee? "Ohjellion. Notwithstanding all these abatements, I am no more able to perform these conditions (in themselves fo easy) of Faith, Repentance, and fincere Obedience, than to satisfy and fulfil the law.

Answer. These you may perform by God's grace enabling, whereas the other is naturally impofliblc in ihis state, even to believers them fulves.- But let the next confideration serve for a fuller answer.

5. Wherein you are impotent, God doth offer grace to enable you." I have stretched out my hand, and no man regard:d,”. Prov. i. 24 What though you are pianged into the ditch of thit misery from which you can never get out, Christ offereth to help you out; he reacheth out his hard to you, and if you perish, it is for refufing his help. Behold, I stand at the door and “knock, if any man open to me I will come « in," Rev. iii. 20. What though you are poor, and wretched, and blind, and naked ? Christ of. fereth a cure for your blindness, a covering for your nakedness, a remedy for your poverty; he

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tenders you his righteousness, his grace. “I

" « counsel thee to buy of me gold, that thou mayett “ be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest “ be clothed ; and anoint thine eyes with eyes + falve, that thou mayest fee," Rev. iii, 17. 18. Do you say the condition is impoffible, for I have not wherewith to buy! You must krow that this buying is “ without money and without price," Ifa. lv. I. ; this buying is by begging and Iceking with diligence and constancy in the use of God's means, Prov. ii. 3, 4. God commanded thee to know him and to fear him. Doft thoả say yea, but

my mind is blinded, and my heart is hardened from his fear! I answer, God doth offer to enlighten thy mind, and to teach thee this fear; that is presented to thy choice, Prov. i. 29. " For that they hated knowledge, and did not to choose the fear of the Lord.” So that now if men live in ignorance and estrangement from the Lord, it is because they, “ will not understand and “ defire the knowledge of his ways, Job xxi. 14. “ If thou criest after knowledge, if thcu seekett “ her as filver, &c, then shalt thou understar.d the " fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of " God." Prov, ii. 3,5. Is not here a fair offer? “ Turn ye at my reproof, behold I will pour out “my Spirit unto you," Prov. i. 23. Though of yourselves you can do nothing, yet you may do all through his Spirit enabling you, and he doth offer assistance to you. God bids you as wash and make

your clean,” Ifa. i. 16.; you say you are unable, as much as the leopard to wash out his spots, Jr. xüji. 23.; yea, but the Lord' doth offer to purge you, so that if you be filthy ítill, it is through your own wilfu!ness, Ezek. xxiv. 13. “I have

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pured thee, and thou wast not purged.” Jere

« O Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be ?”—God doth wait when you will be made clean, when you will yield to his motions, accept of his offers, and let him do for you and in you, what you cannot do for yourselves. You do not know how much God will do upon your importunity, if you will be but restless and instant with him, Luke xi. 8. and

xviii. 5.

Though God hath not bound himself by express promise to wicked men, to give them grace in the diligent use of the means, yet he hath given them abundance of encouragement to expect it from him, if they seek it earnestly in his way. His most gracious nature is abundant encouragement. If a rich and most bountiful man should see thee in misery, and bid thee come to his door, wouldst thou not with condence expect at thy coming to find some relief? Thou art not able to believe, nor repent : God appoints thee to use such and such means, in order to thy obtaining faith and repentance ; doth not this argue, that God will be

; itow these upon thee if thou doft ply him diligently in prayer, meditation, reading, hearing, felf-ex. amination, and the rest of his means? Otherwise God should but mock his poor creatures, to put them upon these self-denying endeavours, and then when they have been hard put to it, and continued waiting upon him for grace, deny them at last. Surely if a good-natured man would not deal thus, much less will the most merciful and gracious God.

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