Alas I doe it not it was the Lord that wrought this heart in mee I have seene the day when I could have beene as well content to heare the Minister preach plainly as to have a knife run to my heart but the Lord wrought my heart to it therefore the Spirit puts that magnet stone of the mercie and grace of Christ upon my heart hee puts this temper upon my heart and makes it able to close with it selfe in the promise in 2 Corin. 5.5 when Paul there had disputed of his desire to lay downe his life for the Gospell and to put his body upon suffering for the Gospels sake he was even weary of the world and would faine have beene gone how gat he this temper why the text saith Now he that hath wrought us for the same thing if God who also hath given us the earnest of his Spirit it is a great while before wee can bee brought to this temper when all the Ministers tongues are even worne to the stumps and the wicked will bee wicked still yet the Lord doth worke it so then you see that the Spirit of God by the promise works upon the soule and leaves a dint upon the heart and so brings the soule by the Spirit to close with it selfe in the promise and hence you may collect two things for your information in this kinde Colect 1 First that the beleever being moved by the stroke of the Spirit of the Father is made able to close with the Father and the Sonne because the Spirit of the Lord doth fasten fit and frame the heart hereunto in this manner and hence it is that the soule can close with the Father and the Sonne too why because the Spirit which proceeds and comes from the Father and the Sonne is able to frame the soule to close with both for the Spirit hath something of the Father and something of the Sonne and therefore is able to make the soule to close with both 1 Iohn 1.3 These things have I written unto you that you may have fellowship with us holy Iohn was a spirituall father unto them and hee writes to them that thereby they might have fellowship with the Saints and he saith Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Sonne Iesus Christ why doth he not say our fellowship is with the Father as well as to say our fellowship is with the Father and the Sonne because it is presumed before hand that a man must have fellowship with the Spirit before hee can have fellowship with the Father and the Sonne because it is the Spirit that hath fitted the heart and framed it to close with both Colect 2 Secondly hence it comes to passe that the person of the beleever may bee knit to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ the foot is knit to the head by the continuance of the order of the body and the members thereof as the foot is knit to the leg and the leg to the thigh and the thigh to the body and so to the head this is the meaning of that phrase Iohn 6.56 our Saviour presseth this hard upon the Disciples and saith My flesh is meat indeed and my bloud is drinke indeed hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and in him then they begun to wonder at it and to say How can this be and yet Christ saith what if you see the the Sonne of man carrying the body of his flesh into heaven you will thinke it more hard to eat my flesh then yet you must eat my flesh then too how it is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak they are Spirit and life as if he had said my good Spirit is in the word and promise close you with my Spirit and then you draw my Spirit my flesh and my blood downe into your whole natures the words that I speake they are Spirit and Life that is my Spirit is in the Word of the promise though my body be gone up into heaven therefore close you with my Spirit in the promise and then you close with my flesh spiritually Thus much for the manner of the union Now for the order of this union how this is done and there the question will be this Whether the beleever is knit first to the humane nature of Christ or to the Divine nature Quest. 2 I am not greatly willing to meddle with this point in this popular congregation because there are many wise and orthodox Divines and godly too which are of contrary opinion they confesse both but they differ about the order but that I may bring no prejudice to the judgement of any I will shortly shew you the summe of those arguments Answ which either side hold and will shew to which I doe incline and so leave the point to the judgement of those that heare it to incline to which side they thinke best and thus I shall wrong none at all First some Divines wise holy and orthodox and many too doe goe that way all of them have it from that root they that hold that the soule is knit to the humane nature of Christ first have two reasons for it First say they as the Scripture reveales Christ to us so also our hearts embrace him and close with him but the Scripture reveales the Lord Christ more often and frequently in regard of his Manhood than in regard of his Godhead as in that place The seed of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head and such like therefore the understanding first closeth with this and the heart first receives it the second reason why they hold this is thus much If say they all the great works of our redemption both sanctification and justification and redemption were wrought in the humane nature of Christ and as by a channell conveyed to us by his humane nature then it is reason that the soule should first close with the humane nature but it is so that all the great workes of justification sanctification c. were all accomplished in the humane nature of Christ for as the text saith He died for our sins and triumphed over sin and hell and death therefore say they it is fit that the soule should first close with the humane nature of Christ and this is the life and pith of all their arguments Againe other Divines and they are wise and orthodox they hold this and though all hold the maine substantiall truths of eternall life yet they differ in this they say the beleever is first knit to the Deity and they have also two arguments and the first is this That which is the maine and the proper object of faith to that the soule first lookes and to that the soule is first united for all union comes by operation in this kinde but the Godhead is the first object of faith in beleeving the Godhead and the third person of Trinity they are the first objects of
to be forsaken that we might not be forsaken and to bee condemned that wee might bee acquitted Oh all you stubborne hearts that heretofore have made nothing of the blood of Christ and his honour but though the judgements of God and the hammer cannot breake your hearts yet let this mercy breake you and reason with thy owne heart in this manner and say Good Lord is this possible Lord this is too much for reason cannot reach it nor nature cannot doe it to give himselfe and his life and to bee forsaken and despised that a rebbell and a traitor should be received to mercy certainly I shall love him as long as I live yes and doe so too and seeke to that Jesus Christ and honour him and say for ought I know I may obtaine a part in Christ therefore I will never wrong him nor grieve his good Spirit more The Lord say Amen to the good desires of your hearts that you may stand and wonder at this compassion of the Lord that is out of measure great Vse 4 Hath the Lord suffered all these punishment for us then what shall wee doe for the Lord Jesus Christ returne an answer to the Lord what course you will take to answer the kindnesse of the Lord. When David had received many kindnesses from the Lord he lookes up to Heaven and saith I will love thee dearly O Lord my strength Love is the loadstone of love therefore have love inlarged in this dutie be not scantie in your love but bestow your hearts fully and liberally upon the Lord Jesus Christ and let all returne love to the Lord Jesus Christ and love him in all things by all means and at all times and know that the death of Christ requires this and will call for it I doe not love that a man should give the Lord Iesus Christ a little scanty desire and a few lazy wishes but love him with all thy soule and with all thy strength and say I will love thee dearly Oh Lord my strength when thou dost rise in the morning love Iesus Christ and bathe thy heart in it and when thou art in the way or at thy labour love Iesus Christ that strengthens thee when thou feedest upon the sweetnesse of thy meat thinke upon the sweetnesse that is in Christ and thanke the blood of Christ for all that thou hast in all the riches thou seest and in all the honours thou hast and in all thy friends and means and whatsoever thy heart loves or esteems in that see Christ and in that love Christ why what doth that concerne Jesus Christ I answer it will make it appeare that all that thou hast is from the blood of Christ and the blood of Christ is better than all the blessings you doe enjoy and they are all nothing without this for it is the death of the Lord Iesus Christ that ads a seasoning vertue to all the good things thou hast so that these are not good to us neither doe they worke good to us but that they are given to us in and by the Lord Jesus Christ for were they not given us in Christ there is such venome and gall in our sinnes and the wrath of God it selfe which slides thorow all the good things here below that it makes all the morsels gravell in the belly In a word the blood of Christ takes away the venome and indignation of Gods curse which otherwise would bring a plague upon what wee have and what we doe enjoy how many rich and honourable are there if the Lord let but in a veine of vengeance into their consciences all their riches and honours are base and worth nothing what 's that to me if I bee rich and a reprobate honoured and damned and the wrath of God to pursue me therefore without the death of Christ all these things are but curses to us the world is a prison and the creatures are our enemies and every one of our actions are our witnesses to condemne us and all our comforts are but gall and wormwood to us nay were it not for the blood of Christ your prosperity would be your ruine your beds your graves and your comforts your confusion and therefore that they are not so and that thou hast any comfort from these goe blesse God for it and say Lord it is through thy blood that I have received any blessing upon these blessings Lord I might have drunke the cup of thy wrath when I drunke this beere I might have eaten my bane when I eat my meat I blesse thy Name blessed Redeemer for thy love it is thy blood that hath purchased these things for me if you have received from any thing here below any good at all looke up to Christ and blesse his Name for it and say if this meat be so sweet then what is the blood of Christ therefore love Christ by all means let all your words be words of love and all your labour be the labour of love and all your thoughts bee thoughts of love and muse of love and speake of the treasures of mercy and let all your affections be full of love and all your workes be love and lift up his Name and say all ye that see my conversation that I walke so comfortably blesse his Name for it the blood of Jesus Christ hath done all this for me I was a wretched creature but the blood of Christ hath overpowred this rebellious heart of mine honour him and lift him up and say my heart was hard and filthy and my soule was destitute of all good and my sinnes many yet now I have some evidence of the love of God blessed bee his Name for it the blood of Christ hath done this for me muse of him speake for him worke for him and doe all for him in all miseries and troubles sorrowes and vexations temptations without and terrours within love Jesus Christ therein though these befall thee yet the venome and poyson of them is gone and they are sweetned unto thee thy prison is libertie thy contempt is advancement in all the things thou hast love Jesus Christ that hath procured these and now if you will not love Jesus Christ let mee aske you whom will you love nay whom else can you love answer mee will you love your friends that are deare unto you or your Parents that doe provide for you or your wife that is loving and mercifull to you you will love these as there is good cause you should but love Christ more than all these If you will love a friend or a father then much more Christ that is the Author of all and the continuer and preserver of all a friend would be an enemy but that the blood of Christ frames his heart A wife would rather bee a trouble than a helpe but that the blood of Christ orders her therefore I say with Paul 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Iesus Christ let him bee Anathema Maranatha aske your neighbours if they love not the Lord Jesus Christ Let that soule bee accursed untill the comming of Christ to judgement Curse him all yee Angels in Heaven and all yee Devils in Hell Curse him all yee creatures and let this curse remaine upon him untill the comming of Christ unto judgement and let these curses bee sealed downe upon him for ever and when you are come to the end of all this will bee the plague and the curse of all that you had Christ and mercy rendered to you once and you would not receive it therefore since Christ hath thought nothing too good for us even his life and blood and was content to part with the sense and feeling of the sweetnesse of the love of God the Father thinke nothing too good for Christ but love him in all things and by all means the Lord grant wee may FINIS
onely because of mercies bonds and engagements which the beleever hath received but because a man is come so neere to Christ and now to commit sinne and vex him it must needs bee a marvellous provocation to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his good Spirit he that should entertaine a friend into his family or the King into his house or a woman to entertaine a loving husband in matrimony with her all base dealing by any of these a man can hardly brooke it It was one of my own subjects saith the King it was my wife saith the husband and it was my friend as David saith that did eat at my table but now to entertaine a profest enemy or a traytor into the bed-chamber with the King and to lodge them both in one bed this were abominable and so the wife not onely to entertaine a whoremonger into the house but also to lodge him in the same bed this were not to be endured Oh how his blood would rise against it as the King said of Haman Hester 7.8 What will hee force the Queene before my face Now therefore brethren goe home to your owne soules and behaviours in particular dost thou through Gods grace and mercy receive this favour at the hands of God that thou art become one Spirit with the Lord Jesus Christ and wilt thou then receive a company of base lusts and that in the very face and sight of the Lord Iesus Christ and lodge an uncleane spirit with the cleane Spirit of the Lord the holy God cannot endure this nay he will not beare it at the hands of those that belong to the election of grace 1 Sam. 2.17 The sonnes of Ely were great sinners before the Lord saith the text and why because they waited upon the Lord to doe the worke of the Sanctuarie for where the ordinances of the Lord are there is God himselfe therefore Cain in the apprehension hereof said I am cast out from the presence of the Lord that is from the powerfull beautie of the Lord in his ordinances Now because they were the Priests and Leaders and they were greater sinners they would out-brave the Lord with their sinnes and commit them in the sight of God therefore their sin was the greater as in Ezechiel 8.3 The Lord brought the Prophet to behold the abominations of the Elders of Israel he brought him into a secret place and shewed him the image of jealousie which provoked to jealousie they did it in the sight of the Sun to provoke him to anger therefore it is called the image of jealousie as if he had said Let your idols goe to the land of Vrre but will you dare to set up idols in the sight of God to provoke him to jealousie I beseech you apply this to your selves are not wee Priests and the very Spouse of Christ and not onely the outward Sanctuary but the Temple of the Lord it selfe is with us as the Apostle saith Ye are the temples of the living God Now wilt thou set up an idol lust and an idolatrous selfe seeking heart and set it up by the Lord Iesus Christ â— this is a horrible crying sin and it provokes the Lord marvellous fiercely it was the collection which the Apostle made a little before the text in 1 Cor. â— where he saith speaking concerning adultery and fornication he comes with a glrâ— and a gall to the hearts of beleevers saying What shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot God forbid that 's carefull Doe you not know that he which coupleth himselfe to an harlot is one body shall I doe thus no the Lord forbid I am neere to Christ let the members of Satan bee made the members of a harlot if they will but you that are the members of Christ will you doe so Consider it wilt thou take the head of Christ and contrive wickednesse with it and wilt thou take the heart of Christ and make it a cage of uncleane lusts and wilt thou take the tongue of Christ and make it speake wickedly and wilt thou take the foot of Christ and make it run to all wickednesse what a fearfull thing is this shall the uncleane spirit be put to the cleane spirit shall the motions of the Devill be here and the motions of the good Spirit of the Lord too the Lord in mercy keepe you off from this Ephes 4.29 Let no filthy communication come out of your mouth why what if there doe If there were no greater sinnes than these I hope I should doe well enough What saith the Apostle A Christian and a lier a Christian and a swearer a Christian and a base vile wretch Oh grieve not the good Spirit of God why because by it yee are sealed up unto the day of redemption the good Spirit of the Lord hath sealed you up unto redemption and knit you unto him and will you rend your selves from him and grieve him if you were not sealed up and if you had none of the Spirit of Christ it were no great matter but now Oh grieve not the holy Spirit if you doe you have no salvation by it away to hell if you will grieve the good Spirit of the Lord if the Lord doe bestow his Spirit upon thee wilt thou then grieve his good Spirit how canst thou or how darest thou doe thus and dishonour the Name of God looke that place Matthew 12.44 When the uncleane spirit returnes againe to his rest hee findeth it empty swept and garnished then hee taketh to himselfe seven other spirits worse than himselfe and they enter in and dwell there the end of that man is worse than the beginning It is well observed by one that pride and idlenesse sweeps the house for the devill a proud heart which stayes it selfe up upon its owne abilities and so growes idle and lazie and secure if it be a Minister or Magistrate this makes cleane worke for the Devill you cannot doe this but you will grieve the good Spirit of the Lord Now looke to this when a man stayes himselfe upon his parts and gifts he doth little good you sweep the house for the Devill whereas a watchfull painfull heart doth wonderfully please God it is a good and a pure meeke and holy Spirit which God accepts of therefore be thou so too now you that are Christians doe not goe away and thinke that you have warrant to be idle and carelesse take heed of such cursed distempers of heart if thou art a Christian thou darest not doe or say as others dare for the sinne of a Christian is abominable in the eyes of God because he is so neerly united to his blessed Spirit this is the first use of the point Vse 2 Againe in the second place here is a word of examination and triall here a man may see of what spirit the most men of the world are You know not of what Spirit you are saith Christ looke how the soule closeth with