ESSAY IV. 149 us in the other. O my friends, beg of God to convince you deeplyof sin, and that there is no hope by all your pretences of this kind." II. The second mistaken way of coming to God is " by a mere dependence on the absolute and sovereign goodness of his nature," while you neglect the particular methods of salvation which you hear and read he has appointed in the book of his grace. It is true, his tender mercies are over all his works; Ps. cxlv. 9. and men imagine this eternal love to his creatures will not suffer him to make any of them miserable hereafter, for what they call a little misconduct here : And while they lessen their own sins, and enlarge upon his goodness, they venture their souls upon an unsafe foundation, and build up a dangerous and ungrounded hope. " Fancy his goodness, O sinners, as large and glorious as you will, and I may venture to affirm it yet larger and snore glorious than your fancy ; but if all your hopes rest here, and you walk onward in this confidence, you will never see the face of God with comfort ; nor arrive at his favour." Re- member this is spoken particularly, and only, to those who have known and heard the gospel of Christ, and yet have neglected to receive it. Yet how common a mistake is this, even among those who are calledby the christian name ? Many will confess, " We are sinners indeed, and so are all men ; but God is infi- nitely merciful, and he will not damn us : Surely he will never condemn so many millions of souls ; he did not make mankind to destroy them ; his goodness will not bear to see us eternally mise- rable, and therefore though we do indulge a little sin here, we shall not perish for ever." Thus that very sin is committed, which the apostle warns men of ; Rom. i;. 4. The riches of the goodness and forbearance, and long-suffering of Godwhich should lead men to repentance are abused to indulge and uphold them in sin. It is a shameful indignity and dishonour done to the goodness of God, to pretend to trust to it for salvation from pu- nishment, and yet neglect the means this very goodness hath appointed to obtain it. But I will endeavour to convince you here, that this is not a sufficient or safe way. I. Infinite goodness doth not save sinning angels, and 'why should it save sinning men ? Those noble creatures, who sinned against God, and left their station, are for ever damned and miserable, and yet God is for ever good : How largely is his goodness diffused through all the heavenly world, and he receives end1egs hallelujahs for it ; how largely on this earth, though we often overlook it, and neglect his praise : But he is not bound to exercise goodness in hell too ; nor is his heart to be charged with hardness, nor his hand with shortness, because he will not save those who deserve destruction. x3
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