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not have crucified the Lord of glory,' 1 Cor. ii. 8. Sin was first the cause of ignorance, but now ignorance is the cause of all sin. Swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and whoring, abound, (saith the prophet,) because there is no knowledge of God in the land.'* There are none so bold and frequent in the ways of sin, as ignorant men: they mind not what they do or say against God, Christ, heaven, holiness, and their own souls. Our tongues are our own, who shall controul us? They are corrupt and speak wickedly, concerning oppression, they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? Who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord.' Ps. lxxiii. 8, 9. xiv. 4.

They did as Oedipus, who killed his father Laius, king of Thebes, and thought he killed his enemy.

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AN APPENDIX,

TOUCHING FOUR MORE OF

SATAN'S DEVICES.

Whereby he prevents poor souls from receiving and embracing the Lord Jesus, and from relying upon him only for everlasting happiness, according to the gospel: and remedies against these devices.

CHAPTER I.

His first Device to keep the soul from believing in Christ, is,

BY suggesting to him the greatness and vileness of his sins. What, saith Satan, dost thou think that thou shalt ever obtain mercy by Christ, who have sinned with so high a hand against him? Thou hast slighted the tenders of grace, grieved the Spirit, and despised the word of God; and hast spoken and done all the evil

that thou couldst, Jer. iii. 5.

No, no, saith Sa

tan, he hath mercy, pardon, and righteousness, for others, but not for thee, &c.-Now the remedies against this device are these:

Remedy 1. Consider, that the greater your sins, the more you stand in need of a Saviour: the heavier your burden, the more you stand in need of one to help to bear it: the deeper the wound, the more need is there of the surgeon: the more dangerous the disease is, the more need of the physician. Who but mad men will argue thus? My burden is great, therefore, I will not call for help; my wound is deep, therefore, I will not call for balm; my disease is dangerous, therefore I will not go to the physician. Ah! it is spiritual madness, it is the devil's logic, to argue thus: My sins are great, therefore, I will not go to Christ, I dare not rest nor lean on Christ,' &c. whereas the soul should reason thus: 'The greater my sins are, the more I stand in need of mercy, of pardon: and, therefore, I will go to Christ, who delights in mercy, who pardons sin for his own name's sake.' Micah vii. 18. Is. xliii. 25.

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Rem. 2. Remember, that the promise of grace and mercy, is to returning souls. And, therefore, though you may have been never so wicked, yet if thou wilt return, God, and mercy, and pardon, shall be thine. 2 Chron. xxx. 9. Jer. iii. 12. Go, and proclaim these words'-Joel

·

iii. 13. 'And rend your hearts, and not your garments,'-Is. lv. 7. Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon:' or as the Hebrew reads it,' He will multiply pardons.' So Ezek. xviii.

Sinner! it is not thy great transgressions that can exclude thee from mercy, if thou wilt break off thy sins by repentance, and return to the fountain of mercy. The heart and arms of Christ are wide open to embrace the returning prodigal. It is not simply the greatness of your sins, but your obstinately persisting in sin, that will be your eternal overthrow.

Rem. 3. Solemnly consider, that the greatest sinners have obtained mercy; and therefore all the angels in heaven, all the men on earth, and all the devils in hell, cannot tell to the contrary, but that thou mayest obtain mercy. Manasseh was a notorious sinner, he made Judah to sin more wickedly than the heathen did, whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel, and caused the streets of Jerusalem to run down with innocent blood.* What a devil incarnate did he appear to be in these proceedings? Yet when he humbled himself, and sought the Lord,

The Hebrew doctors write, that he slew Isaiah the prophet, who was his father-in-law.

the Lord was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him to Jerusalem, and made himself known unto him, and crowned him with mercy and loving kindness, as you may see in 2 Chron. xxxiii. So Paul was once a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious, yet he obtained mercy. 1 Tim. i. 13. Mary Magdalene also, was a notorious strumpet, one out of whom Christ cast seven devils, yet she is pardoned and dearly beloved of Christ. Luke vii. Mark xvi. 9.

Bodin hath a story concerning a great rebel who had made a strong party against a Roman emperor. The emperor made proclamation, that whoever should bring the rebel, dead or alive, should have a great sum of money. The rebel hearing of this, came and presented himself before the emperor, and demanded the money. Now, (said the emperor) if I put him to death, the world will say, I did it to save my money.' And so he pardoned the rebel, and gave him the money.

Oh sinners! shall a heathen do this, who had but a drop of mercy and compassion in him? And will not Christ do much more, who hath all fulness of grace, mercy, and glory in himself? Surely his bowels do yearn toward the worst of rebels. Oh! if you do but come in, you will find him ready to pardon, yea, one made up of pardoning mercy. Oh! the readiness and wil

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