First, That we have received such a blessing, in setting at liberty the truths of the gospel, as is the croAvn of all other mercies, yea, without which they were not valuable, yea, were to be despised ; for success NAdthout the gospel is nothing but a prosperous conspu-acy against Jesus Christ.
Secondly, That this mercy is of mercy; this love, of free love; and
the grace that appeareth, of the eternal, hidden, free gi-ace of God. He
hath showed his love unto us because he loved us, and for no other
reason in the world ; — this people being guilty of blood and murder
' Home's Master-piece. ' Royal favourite.
UNCHANGEABLE, FREE MERCY. SI
of soul and body, adultery, and idolatry, and oppression, with a long catalogue of sins and iniquities.
Thirdly, That the height of rebellion against God is the despising of spiritual gospel mercies. Should Mordecai have trodden the robes under his feet that were brought him from the king, would it not have been severely revenged? Doth the Kmg of heaven lay open the treasures of his wisdom, knowledge, and goodness for us, and we despise them? What shall I say? I had almost said, hell pmiishes no greater sin : the Lord lay it not to our charge ! 0 that we might be solemnly humbled for it this day, before it be too late !
Use 3. To discover unto us the freedoin of that effectual grace which is dispensed towards the elect, under and with the preaching of the word ; for if the sending of the outward means be of free, ^ un- deserved love, surely the working of the Spirit under that dispensa- tion for the saving of souls is no less free; for " who hath made us differ from others? and what have we that we have not received?" O that God should say unto us in our blood, Live; — that he should breathe upon us when we were as dry bones, dead in trespasses and sins ! Let us remember, I beseech you, the frame of our hearts and the temper of our spirits, in the days whereia we knew not God and his goodness, but went on in a swift ^ course of rebellion. Can none of you look back upon any particular days or nights, and say. Ah, Lord, that thou shouldst be so patient and so full of forbearance, as not to send me to hell at such an instant ! But, 0 Lord, that thou shouldst go farther, and blot out ixdne iniquities, for thine o\vn sake, " when I made thee serve with my sins!" — Lord, what shall I say it is? It is the free grace of my God ! What expression transcendeth that, I know not.
Use 4. Of caution. England received the gospel of mere mercy; let it take heed lest it lose it by justice ; — the placer of the candle- stick can remove it. The tinith is, it wiU not be removed unless it be abused; and woe to them from whom mercies are taken for being abused, — from whom the gospel is removed for being despised ! It had been better for the husbandmen never to have had the vineyard, than to be slain for their ill using of it : there is nothing left to do them good who are forsaken for forsaking the gospel.
The glory of God was of late by many degrees departing from the temple in our land. That was gone to the threshold, yea, to the mount. If now at the return thereof, it find again cause to depart, it will not go by steps, but all at once. This island, or at least the greatest part thereof, as I formerly intimated, hath twice lost the gospel ; — once, when the Saxons wi-ested it from the Britons, — when,
• " Non libertate gratiam, sed gratia libertatem conseqiiimur." — Aug. 2 Ezek. xxxvi. 26; Acts xvi, 14 j Phil. i. 29, ii. 13.
32 A VISION OF
if we may believe tlieii' own doleful, moaning^ historian, they were given over to all wickedness, oppression, and villauy of life; which doubtless was accompanied with contempt of the word ; though for faith and persuasion we do not find that they were coiTupted, and do find that they were tenacious enough of antique discipline, as appeared in their following oppositions to the Roman tyranny, as in Beda. Secondly, It was lost in regard of the purity and power thereof, by blind superstition and anticliristian impiety, accompanied also with abominable lewdness, oppression, and all manner of sin, in the face of the sun; so that first profaneness working a despising of the gospel, then superstition ushering in profaneness, have in this land showed their power for the extirpation of the gospel. Oh, that we could remember the days of old, that we could " consider the goodness and severity of God; — on them which fell severity, but to- wards ns goodness, if we continue in that goodness; for otherwise even we also shall be cut off!" Yet here we may observe, that thouofh both these times there was a forsaking in the midst of the land, yet there was in it a tenth for to return " as a teil-tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves;" so was the holy seed the substance thereof, Isa. vi. 13. As in the dere- liction of the Jews, so of this nation, there was a remnant that quickly took root, and brought forth fruit, both in the one devasta- tion and the other. Though the watcher and the holy one from heaven had called to cut down the tree of this nation, and to scatter its branches from flourishing before him ; yet the stump and root was to be left in the earth with a band of iron, that it might spring again. Thus twice did the Lord come seeking fruit of this vine, doing little more than pruning and dressing it, although it brought forth wild grapes; but if he come the third time and find no fruit, the sentence will be, " Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground ?" Now, to prevent this, I shall not follow all those gospel-supplanting sins we find in holy writ, only I desire to cautionate you and us all in three things.