their Wicked Ways, Then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their Sin, and will heal their Land: Now Mine Eyes shall be open, and Mine Ears attent, unto the Prayers that are made in this Place They had to do with a God Gracious and Merciful; not eafily Provok'd, yet Easy to be Entreated. The Conditions of Reconciliation were no more than This Search and Try your Ways, and Turn unto the Lord your God. Yet were they Courted and Entreated with Tenderness of Affection, to Accept of his Grace and Mercy, even upon thofe Easy Terms: Ezek. xxxiii. 11. As I live, faith the Lord, I have no Pleasure in the Death of the Wicked, but that he should Turn from his way and Live: Turn ye, Turn ye from your Evil Ways, for Why will ye Dye,0 House of Ifrael? He did not, like the Heathen Deities, require the Blood of their Sons and of their Daughters; the Fruit of their Bodies Mic.vi. 7. for the Sin of their Souls; but after many Repeated Provocations and frequent Abuses of his Goodness, they might yet at last upon eafier Terms be receiv'd to Mercy. Though Ifrael had been a Rebellious Unfaithful People, and had play'd the Harlot with many Lovers, yet Return unto me, faith the Lord.Go, and Fer. iii. Proclaim thefe Words faith the Lord, (to12, 13. his Prophet Jeremy,) Return thou Backfliding A a 3 fliding Ifrael, and I will not caafe mine Anger to fall upon thee, For I am Merciful, faith the Lord, and I will not keep Anger for ever: Only Acknowledge thine Iniquity that thou haft tranfgreffed against the Lord thy God, and hast not obeyed my Voice. And whenever they were Reclaim'd by the Prophets, or by the Plagues and Judgements that their Sins had brought upon them, and fincerely turn'd to the Lord their God, with Weeping and with Fafting and with Mourning, and with fuitable Amendment of Life, he never fail'd to answer them by a speedy Deliverance : For as he Chaftis'd, or Threaten'd them only to Reclaim and Amend them fo whenever That was effected, he did thereupon Reverse the Sentence; or if his Anger was already gone out, immediately Remand the Judgement. And now having run through some of the Particulars that make up the Jewish Happiness, comparatively with the Heathen State, might we not, upon a Review, take up Balaam's Parable; How Goodly are thy Tents, O Jacob, and thy Tabernacles, O Ifrael! And thereupon Conclude with Mofes in his FarewellBleffing to them, Deut. xxxiii. Happy art thou, O Ifrael; who is like unto thee? O Pea O People faved by the Lord, who is the Shield of thine Help, and the Sword of thy Excellency Or with the Royal Plalmift Bleffed is the Nation whofe God is the Lord Jehovah, and Blessed are the People whom he has thosen for his own Inheri tante. A People they were furrounded with Bleffings; fupply'd with Spiritual Food from Above; and, like Gideon's Fleece, water'd with the Dew of Heaven, whilst all the Earth about was Dry. This was once their Happy State: But now the Ark of God is Remov3d, `and A the Glory is departed from Ifrael. We are now Adopted into that glorious Inheritance which They forfeited by Unbelief; and are made Partakers of, and there fore ftand Accountable for, all those foremention'd Privileges of the Law, with a Superaddition of many more, and those far more excellent, which are the proper Prerogatives of the Gospel, that Se cond General Revelation of his Will, the Special Advantages of which I fhould now come in order to speak to, and to fhow, as I propos'd, the great Obligations we have from thence to Gratitude and Obedience. But This I must reserve for another Difcourfe: And in the mean time shall only add for the Conclufion of what has been already faid, That our extraordinary Advantages of SpiriA a 4 tual 7 tual Knowledge, which were given to be the Means of our Salvation, will be fo far from being fo, unless we Live accordingly, and fincerely conform our Practice to our Knowledge, that it will be fadly to be accounted for, and prove the highest Aggravation of our Guilt. I am not concern'd here to determine, whither, or how far the Heathens Ignorance will be allow'd as a Plea for Them; Apud illos Ignorantia eft, apud Nos Prevaricatio Minoris Cri minis Reatus eft, Legem nefcire quam fpernere. Salvian de Gub. yu Q odal andhelg Adv. e but certainly their Ignorance will be to Them more Avail able, than our Knowledge will be to Us, if we use it not to the Honour of Him that gave it.o Let us therefore implore the Divine Affiftance, according as the Church has 2 S. in directed us this Day to Pray-That He who has caufed all Holy Scriptures to be written for our Learning, would enable us in fuch wife to Hear them, Read, Mark, Learn, and inwardly Digeft them, that by Patience and Comfort of his Holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast the Bleffed Hope of Everlasting Life, which he has gi ven us in our Saviour Jefus Chrift. fordd ont Sus vine H MONS TABOR SIVE.. LUX EVANGELICA. The Second DISCOURSE. Showing the Advantages that the Gospel has given us Chriftians above both Jew and Gentile. PSAL CXLVII. 29. He hath not dealt fo with any Nation, and as for his Fudgement's, They have not known them. H Aving Propos'd from these words, of Divine Revelation above Natural Light, because there have been Two General Revelations whereby God has been pleas'd to Communicate himfelf to his Church, I thought it neceffary to treat of them apart, that I might more distinctly show, I. What 361 |