Sermons preached

1. In respect of God, that our Hearts may be possessed with a full apprehension of his Grace, who in the new Covenant appeareth not as a revenging and condemning God, but as a pardoning God. This reason is rendered by the Apostle, Rom. 4. 16. It is of Faith, that it might be of Grace. The Law brought in the Terror of God, by being the Instrument of revealing Sin, and the punishment due thereunto. ver. 15. The Law worketh Wrath: for where there is no Law, there is no Transgression, no such stinging sense of it: but the Gospel brought in Grace. The Law stated the Breach, but the Gospel showed the way of our Recovery. And therefore Faith doth more agree with Grace, as it makes God more amiable ⟨p. 316⟩and lovely to us, and beloved by us, by the discovery of his Goodness and Grace. The saving of Man by Christ, that is, by his Incarnation, Life, Sufferings, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, do all tend to possess our Hearts with his abundant Grace. To the same tend also his merciful Covenant, gracious Promises, and all the Benefits given to us, his Spirit, Pardon, and Communion with God in Glory, all is to sill our Hearts with a Sense of the Love of God. And all this is no more than necessary: for a guilty Conscience is not easily settled, and brought to look for all kind of Happiness from one whom we have so much wronged. Adam, when once a Sinner, was shy of God, Gen. 3. 10. and Sin still makes us hang off from him. Guilt is suspicious, and if we have not one to lead us by the Hand, and bring us to God, we cannot abide his Presence. For this End serveth Faith; That Sinners, being possest of the Goodness and Grace of God, may be recovered, and return to him by a fit Means. In the new Covenant, Repentance more distinctly respects God, and Faith respecteth Christ; Acts 20. 21. Repentance towards God, and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance respects God, because from God we fell, and to God we must return. We fell from him, as we withdrew our Allegiance, and sought our Happiness elsewhere; to him we return, as our rightful and proper Happiness: but Faith respects the Mediator, who is the only Remedy of our Misery, and the Means of our Eternal Blessedness. He opened the way to God by his Merit and Satisfaction, and actually bringeth us into this way by his renewing and reconciling Grace, that we may be in a capacity both to please and enjoy God;