Grace and Mercy 3. There is a Throne of Gods Justice spoken of This is that Throne David deprecates his being brought before Psal 143.2 Enter not into judegment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified If a man be wronged and oppressed by men stronger than he he may appeal to this Throne of Justice and expect redress But if a mans business be with God he should be afraid of this Throne of Justice Men are oft proud and vain in their thoughts and before others but if the Lord call them before this High Court of Justice they will surely be cast Job 9.2,3 How should a Man be just with God! If he will contend with him he cannot answer him one of a thousand When God sits on a Throne of Justice to judge men according to his Law and their Works nothing but Condemnation can justly be pronounced on sinners Whoever he be of sinful Adam's seed that expecteth saving favour from God's Throne of Justice will find himself wofully deceived 4. We find the Throne of the last judgment before this all must appear 2 Cor. 5.10 Rev. 20.12 This is not the Throne of Grace in the Text. No grace nor mercy is shown to any from this Throne but to them that have plyed and sped at the Throne of Grace before When our Lord comes and sits on the Throne of his Glory Mat. 25.31 no sinner that hath despised his Grace now will find any quarter then Luke 19.27 What then is this Throne of Grace It is God in Christ dealing with men according to the Grace of the Gospel It is God in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing to them their trespasses 2 Cor. 5.19 It is Christ set forth by God to be a propitiation Rom. 3.25 This is the true Mercy-seat or Throne of Grace or Propitiation 1 John 2.2 1 John 4.10 This is the New Court or Throne erected by God and declared in the Gospel to which sinful man is invited to come 2. Why is it called a Throne of Grace Passing what is said of the Apostles alluding to the Mercy-seat in the Tabernacle and Temple of Old 1. It is called a Throne because of the Glory and Majesty of God manifested here God's condescending to display and dispense his Grace and Mercy to sinners is no debasing of God but an advancing of his Glory When he gives Grace he acts Royally and as a King with Majesty Araunahs offering to David is said to be like a King 2 Sam. 24.23 he was no King but a Subject but he had a free noble Heart The Lord on this Throne of Grace dispenseth all acts of Grace with great Majesty and as a King But not as a King-Judge and Ruler but as a King-Benefactor and Giver This Royalty of Grace shines 1. In the greatness of the Gifts Grace and Mercy Vastly above all that the Creation can give 2. In the manner of giving Free Soveraignly free Grace and Mercy is his own and he doth with them as he will When Moses prays Exod. 33.18 I beseech thee shew me thy Glory We cannot conceive what was in his holy heavenly heart He was now just come down from the Mount the first time he is going up again to spend other 40 days there in such Communion with God as never meer man enjoyed before or since out of Heaven he had prevailed with God for Israel and hath a most gracious answer vers 17. And the Lord said unto Moses I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken for thou hast found grace in my sight and I know thee by name What means Moses then by this prayer Ver. 18. What ever he meant the Lords answer is much to be observed Vers 19. And he said I will make all my goodness or Beauty pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee What is in this Name that hath so much of Glory and Goodness in it as should satisfie such a mighty hungerer for more of God as Moses was I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy God's Glory shines highly in his being the Soveraign disposer of his own Grace and Mercy and happy is the Believer that adores this glorious Soveraignty Paul in Rom. 9.15.25 makes a deep improvement of it Jer. 17.12 A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary See then that you in all your pleadings for Grace and Mercy remember that you are before a high stately Throne Approaches to God on the Throne of Grace should be managed with the deepest Reverence and Humility So did the Publican when he came to it Luke 18.13 God be merciful propitious to me a sinner or me the sinner the great singular sinner So the Greek runs as Luke 7.37,39 The deepest profoundest adoration of the Glorious Majesty of God is performed by a self-condemned sinner pleading at this Throne for the obtaining of the soveraign free grace of God Lastly it is called a Throne because Grace reigns and is enthroned here Rom. 5.21 Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Blessed Reign and blessed are all that are under the Reign and Dominion of the Grace of God Sin reigned through the unrighteousness of the first Adam unto eternal death if men be let alone and if Grace do not break this Reign of sin and Grace reigns through the righteousness of the Second Adam unto etrnal life and nothing can dethrone Grace it will prevail and reach its end eternal life in all it falls upon O that captives to Satan and slaves to Sin and the Law would long to be under the Reign of this stately power the Grace of God And that Believers themselves would give a more free and large subjection to it 2. It is called a Throne of Grace 1. Because Grace erected and reared it up Psal 89.2 Mercy shall be built up for ever Nothing but Grace and Mercy framed the Throne of Grace I may allude to the Lords stately words to Job 38.4,5,6 speaking of the first Creation but this Throne of Grace was fixed before as the King himself saith Prov. 8.23 I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the earth was Where wast thou when I laid the foundation and who laid the corner stone thereof No creature was on the Counsel It is a Divine Contrivance but now it is revealed our faith on the ground of this Revelation may and should go back and take a refreshing view of this eternal Contrivance The Lord builds a House of Mercy that a company of sinners may dwell in with him for ever What laid the foundation of this house but Grace What laid the Corner Stone of this Throne but Grace What brings in the Inhabitants preserves them and perfects them but Grace For whom is it prepared and by whom shall this House of Mercy be possessed and with
and the Law comes by Jesus Christ When this Victor and Victory in Christ is seen by a Believer Death is defied and despised as a sting-less overcome thing Much and strong Faith is needful to enable a Man to play on the hole of this Asp Christ reveals himself to John almost dead with fear Rev. 1.17,18 Fear not I have the keys of Hell and of Death Behold them in my Hand and behold me as the Lord of them Should a Believer in Jesus fear any thing that Christ hath the power of The bitterness of death is past to all Believers by Christ's death and Victory over it And if their Faith was strong their Fears would be small 2. To have Faith enabled to look through death and beyond death If a Man's Eyes be fixed on Death only and see no further it is Death to look on Death But when the Believers Eye of Faith is so quickened that he can look through the Trance of Death and see within the Vail where Christ is that is a blessed help fo Grace Christians Faith and Hope enters within the Vail Heb. 6.19 And a view within the Vail is specially desirable and useful when the Christian is walking in the Valley of the shadow of death Psal 23.4 3. Faith is helped when the dying Believer is enabled to cast his Anchor on God in Christ confidently in this last Storm This last act of Faith is a great one The more sensible a Man is that he is on the point of eternal Ruin the nearer he is to drop into Hell without divine help the more sensibly he acts Faith Then the clingings and graspings of Faith on Christ are sensible and strong When a Believer looks on himself and on his way and seeth nothing in them pleasing or staying to his Soul he looks into the dark Passage before him and its frightful to Heart and Flesh he looks on Judgment and Eternity as just at hand and his Thoughts are swallowed up with their Greatness In this case to stay his Soul and say with dying David 2 Sam. 23.5 Although my house be not so with God tho' my Heart my ways be not so with God as they ought to have been yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure and this all my salvation and all my desire requires singular help of the Grace of God To shut the Eyes and give the hand to Christ and to quiet the Mind by trusting our Guide in this last Step is a mighty Blessing I would conclude this Discourse with these four 1. It is a great Mystery of Faith and a great Tryal of Faith that the way to eternal Life should lye through the midst of this dark Valley of Death Our Lord Jesus Christ bought eternal Life for us by the price of his Blood he went through death to take possession of his Kingdom and Glory and yet his People must go through death to take Possession of the Gift of eternal Life If there were any allowed Room or Place for Prayer in this Affair how many and how earnest Prayers would we make to be delivered from going in this way to Glory But after a Life of Tryals Temptation and manifold Tribulations this last is still before us and we must pass through and set our Feet in the cold Waters of this Jordan ere we enter the heavenly Canaan After all the lively hopes of Heaven and sweet fore-tastes of it we have had after our Faith hath risen to a full assurance yet through death must all the Heirs of Glory pass 2. There is no Wisdom like that of preparing for this awful Hour Job 14.14 If a man die shall he live again all the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come I will think on it I will look for it I will prepare for it Men are wise or foolish according to their faithful diligence or unbelieving negligence in this preparing for death Many have bewailed their neglect never did any repent their diligence in this Work 3. There is no right and sure way of preparing for Death but by seeking saving acquaintance with Jesus If you set about the study of Holiness without Christ you mistake your way and will never reach your end But labour to be intimately acquainted with Jesus Christ and the Communications of his Grace will make you holy Death deals with Men and billets them into their eternal Quarters in Heaven or Hell as Men are in Christ or out of Christ Their Works according to which they are judged are but the Fruits and Effects of their different States These two different States of Men in this Life in Christ or not in Christ are the Foundation of the two different States in the next Life in Heaven or in Hell Tho' all in Christ are holy and all out of Christ are unholy 4. There is no Life truly comfortable but that which hath a comfortable prospect of Death and Judgment Never envy the condition of them who seem to be the only chearful Men in the World whom one quarter of an hours serious thought of Death and Judgment is enough to make them like Belshazzar at his great Feast Dan. 5.6 Whose countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joynts of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another Amazement seized on Soul and Body How can a Man be said to live comfortably that dare not think of Death for fear of marring his comfort Miserable is that Consolation that cannot bear a serious thought of an approaching unavoidable thing This is the Wisdom and Mercy of the Lord to his People that their true Consolation doth not only stand and abide in the view of Death and Judgment but it ariseth from that view that is so terrible to all natural Men. This is the blessedness of Believers that his Grace allows them a right to and can give them a possession of And therefore we should come to the Throne of Grace for it Then you are happy Christians when serious thoughts of Death breed serious Joy SERMON XIII HEB. IV. 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need YOU have heard of the helpfulness of the Grace of God in time of need both in geneneral and with particular instances of some special times of need The last whereof is the time of dying This I left at last day and would speak a little more unto it and then conclude all in a few Words Death is a Theme of great importance and of very obvious Influence If people would let it enter into their serious thoughts and would take a serious and steddy view of it they would quickly find more in it and about it than ever they did or could hear by all that is told them Next to the saving Illumination of the Holy Ghost with and by the Word there is no
had said I am sure to be heard for I pray for them that are partakers of thine everlasting Love They are thine by Election and giving to me they are mine by receaving and redeeming of them We are bid give diligence to make our Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 They are sure in themselves and sure to God but we should make them sure to our selves and many Christians smart sadly by neglecting this Diligence 2. The gift of Christ for us is a great priviledge that gives boldness at the throne of grace So the Apostle argues Ro. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all you may see who this all are ver 28 29 30. How shall he not with him freely give us all things As if he said it is a small thing to God to give us all other things when he hath given his Son We receave now many Blessings blessed be the giver we have greater things in the Promise than we yet receave or can yet receave but shall surely receave in his time yet all we get and shall to Eternity receave is far less than the gift of Christ. It is like our Lord had respect to this in that Word to the Woman of Samaria John 4.10 If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water If she had known Christ as the Well of Salvation to Sinners she would have employed him and should have been accepted of him But here many Christians stick they doubt not but Christ was given for his Church and People but they know not how to apply this to themselves If I knew say many that Christ was given for me I would then come boldly to the throne of grace and ask any thing confidently I answer None can know that Christ was given for them till they come unto him And all that come to him may know that he was given for them and should believe it He was given by the Will of the Father and his own for his Elect. This is a Secret hid with God He comes to Men in the Gospel offering himself and all his Purchase and Fulness to all that hear of it He that hath his Heart drawn forth to like this Bargain and accepts by Faith of the Saviour and his great Salvation hath possession thereof immediately and by that may come to know that it was designed for him in God's purpose of Love So Paul Gal. 1.14,15,16 He was one of the Holiest and most Religious Jews in their Church and yet was at the same time one of the most wicked young Men in all the Country a very Hypocrite a proud self Justiciary and a bloody Persecutor of Christ and his Church Yet of this wicked Creature it is here said That God had separated him from his Mother's Womb and Acts 9.15 He is a chosen Vessel unto me I will pour out of my grace on him and will do much for him and by him When did all this break out When he called me by his Grace and revealed his Son in me Then he can say Gal. 2.20 He loved me and gave himself for me And again 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sirners All say so but had he any mind of thee and hast thou any share in his coming to save Sinners Yes saith he of whom I am chief He came to save me the chief of Sinners Any Sinner may come after me and expect Mercy at Christs hand when Paul hath sped so well ver 16. He hath made me a Pattern of his Mercy for the encouragement of all Sinners that have a mind for a good turn from Jesus Christ 3. The Priviledge of Actual Reconciliation and of being brought into a State of Grace is a ground of Boldness in coming to the throne of grace Rom. 5.9,10 where the Apostle having shewn God's Love in giving Christ to the death for us ver 8. he adds the Blessings that flow from this Gift Justification by his blood and therefore much more Salvation from Wrath through him ver 9. And Reconciliation to God by his death and therefore much more Salvation by his life ver 10. The Improvement he makes thereof is in ver 11. And not only so but we also joy in God the Original is we glory and boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now receaved the Attonement A State of grace is a State of boldness all that are in it should and all that know they are in it will use boldness of Faith at this throne of grace Rom. 5.1 to ver 6. 6. The Experiences of Believers are a great ground of boldness Experience works Hope Rom. 5.4 The Experience of others as well as our own are of great use herein Sometimes we find David improving the Experience of others for the strengthning his own Faith sometimes he offers his own Experience for the comfort of others Psal 66.16 Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my Soul Because David was in distress of Conscience and got Peace and Pardon Psal 32.1,6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found Psal 119.74 They that fear thee will be glad when they see me because I have hoped in thy word There is no Christian that hath not Experience As he hath a Soul that needs much to be done for it so the Lord doth much for all he saves And because the Lord dealeth variously with his People therefore there is much difference in their Experiences Yet because all Believers are Members of the same Body and receave all from the same Head Jesus Christ there is some Skill and Capacity in every Christian to understand and to be profited by the Experience of any Christian Hence it is that communicating of Experiences is a Christian Duty and a good part of the Communion of Saints But there is much Christian Prudence requisite in the discharge of it Let no Man boast of a false gift and pretend to that he hath no sense of Nor talk vainly and proudly of what God hath done for him All true Experiences are Acts of Grace from God felt on the Soul And Grace is humbling 1 Cor. 4.7 For who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receave Now if thou didst receave it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not receaved it Three Questions confounding the Pride of Men and Christians Of these Experiences that should give boldness in coming to the throne of grace I shall name three 1 The Experience of the first visit of Grace is a good ground of Confidence in asking any blessing of God Can you remember when you were dead in sin and had no thought
a Divine eternal Person I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen They that saw him dead could hardly believe he should ever live again and they that saw him alive had need of Faith to believe he had ever been dead He asserts both and we should believe both Since death entered into the World by Sin never was there a Man more truly really and fully dead than the Man Christ was who died for our Sins And there is no Man on Earth more truly alive than the Man Christ is now a living Man in Heaven He in his rising gave proof of his Divine Power He was crucified through weakness yet he liveth by the power of God 2 Cor. 13.4 There was never such an appearance of Weakness in the Man Jesus as when he expired and lay cold dead in his Grave Never did sin reign so unto death nor the Law 's Power more appear than in slaying the second Adam As great and greater was the appearance of his Divine Power in his rising again John 10.17 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life that I may take it again Christ died that he might rise again He went amongst the dead that he might rise from the dead ver 18. No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again This commandment have I received of my Father Christ was bid both die and rise again Blessed be the Commander and blessed be the Obeyer for our everlasting life is in this Commandment John 12.50 Never any but Christ had this power of his own Life We must yield our Life when God calls for it and till then we must keep it and when that Call comes we must obey We die because we can live no longer and because our times are in God's hand And when it shall please the Lord to raise up our bodies at the Resurrection we receave our life again but have no power to take it up again till the powerful Word of Christ come Arise from your Graves And that Word gives us our life again None but Christ had power of his own life both to lay it down and to take it again We dare we can we should do neither but only obey and submit to the Sovereign Will of our High Landlord at whose Pleasure we are Tennants in these clay cottages 2. Christ's Resurrection was a Demonstration of the Acceptance of the Sacrifice of himself That the Blood he shed and Sacrifice he offered was savoury and acceptable with God that the Debt was fully paid and the Payment accepted when the Surety was discharged of his Prison Therefore we find it so often written that God raised him from the dead Acts 2.24 and 32. even when it 's said that it was not possible he should be holden of death Death and the Grave are strong and cruel Song 8.6 They have taken or will take all Mankind Prisoners and are able to keep them Only they took one Prisoner Jesus Christ who was too hard too strong for them Death had dominion over him but for a little while and by his own consent Rom. 6.9 but it hath no more dominion over him But he hath dominion over it I have the Keys of hell and of death Rev. 1.18 Courage Believers in and Heart-Lovers of Jesus Christ Death and Hell are indeed dreadful Jayls but as long as Christ keeps the Keys and that will be till he cast them both into the Lake of fire Rev. 20.14 no Believer shall ever be locked up in them If Hell were searched never so narrowly amongst all the condemned Prisoners there no Man or Woman could be found in it in whose Heart there was never one spark of true Faith in or Love to the Lord Jesus Heb. 13.20 God brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant Christ also is often said to rise by his own power Christ put forth his Divine Power in his Resurrection the Father declared his full satisfaction with his Undertaking of the Work and Payment of the Price of Redemption by discharging of him in and by his Resurrection The Angels Work was only to roll away the Stone but by his own divine Power his blessed Soul did take possession of his dead Body and he did rise up immediately a truly living Man And this he did by his Father's Leave and Will and the Angels served only as Sergeants and Officers to unlock the Prison-doors of the Grave For Christ could easily have removed that Stone by his own power as he did greater things in his Resurrection No wonder the Apostle Paul made it one of his great aims in Christianity to know the power of Christ's Resurrection Phil. 3.10 It is not to know the History of his Resurrection nor is it to know the Mystery of his Resurrection but it is to know the Power of it the same Power that Christ raised himself from the dead by is put forth and no less is needful for the raising of a dead Sinner The same Power that raised the Saviour dead for Sin is needful for raising a Sinner dead in Sin Rom. 4.5 Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we should also walk in newness of life Eph. 1.19 There is an exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead c. How loath are Men to admit this that the saving quickening of a Sinner requires the same divine Power that quickened the dead Saviour All saving Conversions are the Fruits of Christ's Resurrection and of Almighty Power 3. Christ's Resurrection is the Pledge and Earnest of our Resurrection and of eternal Life How great things doth Paul build upon it 1 Cor. 15. He proves our Resurrection from Christ's Resurrection He argues for Christ's Resurrection by enumerating of Absurdities that must follow on the contrary As ver 14. If Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain ver 15. We the Apostles are found false Witnesses of God ver 17. Then you are yet in your sins ver 18. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished ver 19. Then we are of all men most miserable But now Christ is risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept ver 20. For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead The first Adam was made a living soul ver 45. but when he became a sinner he became a killing Head to all his Posterity Rom. 5.12 The second Adam is a quickening spirit and gives eternal Life to all his Seed And he took possession of this eternal Life in his humane Nature and in our stead at his Resurrection He conquers and subdues that death the
complained of Some Professors spend all the little Religion they have upon their Afflictions Take heed to your Hearts under Afflictions It is to be bewailed that many Christians their Afflictions come on them they know not whence they lye on them they know not not wherefore and they go off they know not how that if I may allude to such sacred Words and apply the Phrase to such a sinful Frame Afflictions come on many and they feel the smart of them but know not whence they come nor whither they go They come on them when they are sent and go off when they are called but they neither knew what God meant by them nor did by them No Christian can ever make a spiritual and hearty Song of Praise for Afflictions unless there be some Sense or Hope of Profit thereby If the Profit be seen the Wisdom and Love of God in afflicting will be heartily acknowledged 5. Time of special need of the grace of God is a time of special Duty and Service to God called for All the course of our Life is to be constant Service we ought to live to his Praise we are made as Creatures and as new Creatures for this end Isa 43.21 1 Pet. 2.9 But there are some Seasons in which special Work is called for and then there is great need of grace to help in that Hour It is a mighty Word of the Preacher Eccl. 8.6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment therefore the misery of man is great upon him And it is only the wise man's heart that discerneth time and Judgment ver 5. I would name four of those times 1. The time that Men are called to believe on Jesus Christ and to secure their eternal Salvation by a full closing with him This is a now a day an accepted time a day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 All that hear the Gospel are bound by the Call of God in it and warranted by the Promise of it to receave by Faith Jesus Christ and eternal Life every time they hear the Gospel But sometimes this Duty is specially called for which if neglected may be of fatal consequence to Men. Hence that Exhortation Isa 55.6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near When Christ is knocking at the Door of the Heart then it is special Duty to open to him Rev. 3.20 This was the day Jerusalem had and neglected and that that Christ mourned over them for Luke 19.41,42 Unspeakable is Mens need of the prevailing help of grace when their Hearts and Consciences are warmed with the Calls of grace in the Gospel In such Seasons the everlasting Bargain is either fixed by the power of grace working Faith in the Heart or people are left to themselves and are further from Heaven than ever 2. Some special Call to Men to give their Testimony to Christ and his Gospel by suffering The Lord comes and craves Mens Testimony to his Truth and chargeth them thus If thou hast any love to me and my Honour I demand thy Witness venture thy all take up thy Cross Many Christians have neglected such trying Seasons which in vain and sorrowfully they have wished for again There is much of God's Grace needful to discern these Seasons and wisely to improve them 3. There is another remarkable Season of Mens need of God's Grace to help them in and that is The Season of the Lord 's calling them to a Duty-Tryal A Duty called to by way of Tryal The Lord gives the Call to try Men and very great are the Consequences of obeying or disobeying of such a Call Many instances are of this in the Word One is in Numb 14. The Passage is plain and awful When Israel had been above a Year in the Wilderness twelve Spies are sent to view the Land they all bring back an evil Report save Joshua and Caleb the People murmur God threatens them with Judgments They seem to be sensible of their Sin it 's like by the Plague that slew the ten false Spies ver 37. and by what Moses spake to them They acknowledge their Sin and resolve to go up next Morning ver 40. Moses tells them they now sinned again and that the Lord was not among them ver 41 42. What severe dealing is this The Lord was among them vesterday not this morning They were bid go up yesterday they are forbid next morning Because they did not what the Lord bid them do in his time he will not protect them when they do the same thing in their time Thus Saul was tryed twice 1 Sam. 3. Samuel bid him tarry for him seven days at Gilgal Saul tarried six days and part of the seventh and then offered Sacrifice not as I think that he did invade the Priest's Office himself but commanded some Priest to do it Profane Princes never want profane Chaplains What a severe Sentence doth Samuel pronounce against him ver 13.14 Again the same Man is tryed with another Duty 1. Sam. 15. and fails therein and is punished therefore This sort of trying Men by Duty is like that in 2 Kings 13.14.20 which Elisha did put Joash unto How may of the people of God through the want of the present help of Grace in some Duty-Trials have stepped into such Paths and have fallen into such Pits and Snares as they have never got well and clearly out of as long as they lived 4. It is a Season of great need of Grace to help us in when the Lord by his Providence puts several things in a persons choice and leaves them to choose The fullest of this kind was that offer made to David about Judgments 2 Sam. 24.12,13 A hard choice but David did choose wisely His Son Solomon had another Offer but it was of Blessings and not of Judgments 2 Chron. 1.7 Ask what I shall give thee And he chose wisely and by his choice proved that he had already receaved a good measure of Wisdom Moses had a great Offer and things of vast difference were in his Choice and he chose like a Man taught of God Heb. 11.24,25,26 Moses in his last Sermon to Israel Deut. 30.15,19 puts them on choosing I call Heaven and Earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live that thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest obey his voice and that thou mayest cleave unto him for he is thy life and the length of thy days So did his Successor Joshua when he had setled Israel in the promised Land a little before his death Josh 24.15 Chuse ye this day whom ye will serve Elijah did so with Apostate Israel 1 Kings 18.21 Somewhat like this is laid before Men in the daily Ministry of the Word The Curse of the Law or the Blessing of the Gospel is in Mens Offer And Men get as they
not turn away from me A most blessed Answer to a dreadful Question ver 4. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me my Father thou art the guide of my youth An Interest in God by Christ is offered and promised to all in the Gospel plead it by Faith and it is yours 3. We find Instances in the Word and the like the Lord can make again of great Confidence in some at their first coming to the Throne of Grace As the blind man Mark 10.46 end He only heard of Christ's passing by He staid not for Christ's calling him but began to cry out Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on me When many charged him to hold his Peace he cried the more a great deal Thou Son of David have mercy on me Christ was never in my way before and he shall not pass now without shewing mercy on me if crying may prevail And that his crying was in Faith Christ witnesseth ver 52. In all appearance the Woman of Candan was never at the Throne of Grace before Matth. 15.22,28 at least never at Christ's Feet before yet she managed her first Address with that confidence that she not only got her desire but that high Commendation with it O woman great is thy Faith So the Centurion Matth. 8.5,10 But above all Instances is that of the believing Thief on the Cross Luke 23.40,43 Never had the Throne of Grace so little to encourage an Address to it as when the King of Grace was dying on the Cross Never had a Sinner less encouragement to come to the Throne of Grace than when the Saviour was nailed to one Tree and the Sinner to another Marvellous Faith a dying Sinner dying for his Sins imploys a dying Saviour for Salvation Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom How little did Christ nailed to and dying on the Cross look like a King How strong was the Man's Faith to believe that Christ through death was going to his Kingdom And that Christ's gracious thought of him would save him And Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise As if our Lord had said this is thy first and thy last Address to me verily it shall be heard Believers do not think how pleasing to the Lord large and high thoughts of the Sufficiency Fulness and Freedom of the Grace that is in Jesus Christ be Believers should devise liberal things and by liberal things they shall stand Isa 32.8 Let a Believer ask and think on the Warrant of the Promise as much as he can the Lord is able to do exceeeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all Ages world without end Amen Eph. 3.20,21 SERMON V. HEB. IV. 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need IT is God's great and wonderful Mercy that ever there was a Throne of Grace erected and revealed and that he makes such a Proclamation as this in his Word Let all Men come boldly to it I have spoke unto two things in the Text. 1. Of the Throne of Grace to which we are invited to come 2. Of the Boldness allowed in coming to it The third thing follows to be spoke to the Ground of this Boldness implyed in this Therefore And we must look back to ver 14.15 for the finding the force of this Therefore The Words are Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly The Doctrine I am to handle from this Inference of the Apostle is this That the main ground of all the boldness allowed in coming to the Throne of Grace is in our Lord Jesus Christ The Interest and Room and Place that Christ hath in this Throne of Grace is the ground of all allowed boldness in coming to it When people are secure nothing is more commonly practised by them than fearless rushing into God's Presence Any carnal careless Sinner can when he will bow the Knee and make that he calls a Prayer to God But when Conscience is awakened and Light darts in to make them know somewhat of God and of themselves it is then found a matter of wonderful Mystery and difficulty to perceave any thing that can justly and sufficiently support the confidence of a self-condemned Sinner in his Approaches to God for Mercy Hence it is so often seen that this is the common way of all the ungodly and of such as are ignorant of God in Christ while they are secure and blind and hardened they feel nothing and fear nothing But when Death and Judgment approach and stare them near in the Face and when they begin to think in earnest that they must stand before God and receave their eternal Doom being ignorant of a Mediator and quite estranged from any believing imploying of him they sink in discouragement and Despair And alas How many miserable Sinners are there that are never awakened out of the sleep of security until they are plunged in the very Pit of Despair The Resolution therefore of this Question How a Sinner may draw near to the Throne of Grace with confidence so as he may be welcomed by him that sitteth on it and may receive good things thence is only in this that this Boldness is all in and by Jesus Christ My Work therefore at this time and it is indeed the main Work of Ministers at all times is to declare and shew you how our Lord Jesus Christ is the Ground and Foundation of true confidence in coming to God And herein I would lead you to such things that concern the Lord Jesus as are commonly known usually talked of but rarely duly pondered and improv'd 1. Let us consider the Person of this Mediator by whom we may have access with boldness Eph. 3.12 A wonderful Person The Son of God made Man a marvellous Man by whom all Men may be accepted with God when there is not a Man in the World that can be accepted of God in his own Name Yet all that come in Christ's Name are accepted Our Lord Jesus Christ is God's own Son the Son of God tabernacling in the Flesh God manifest in the Flesh The brightness of the Father's Glory and the express image of his Person Heb. 1.3 There is one God and one Mediator betwixt God and Men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time 1 Tim. 2.6,7 In due time it will be seen what this Ransom was paid for and for whom for every one of the Ransomed shall get
us Aaron and his Successors in the Office of High Priest were appointed to offer the great Sacrifice of yearly Attonement at the Altar and with the Blood thereof to enter into the Holy of Holies and to sprinkle the Mercy-Seat their Throne of Grace with that Blood Lev. 16.14 Our Lord Jesus the Anti-type offered the Sacrifice of himself in his death and in and with the virtue of that Sacrifice he entred Heaven to sprinkle the highest Altar therewith It is but a fond Popish fancy to think that there do remain visible Marks and Signatures of his humbled State on the glorified body of our Lord Jesus that is indeed to know Christ after the Flesh in a bad sense 2 Cor. 5.16 But his entring with his own blood is spiritually to be understood that Christ's Appearance in Heaven is to bring up a Memorial continually before God of the virtue and savour of that Sacrifice he offered without the Gates of Jerusalem Eph. 5.2 Christ loved us and hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour This savour never spends or wears out The Blood of Jesus in the Virtue of it in the Merit of it and in the Power of it is as fresh this day as in the day it was shed on the Cross He is still the â—ew-slain way to the holiest of all Heb. 10.20 â—s fresh and fragrant as ever If Men by their â—nbelief count it old or stale and to have lost â—ts savour and virtue to themselves and if they will seek for somewhat else to procure them â—cceptance in Heaven let them try and peâ—ish for none can help them that reject Christ â—ut our Lord presents nothing for the Salvation of his Body the Church but his own Blood and nothing else is accepted in Heaven for this End but that precious Blood And all they to whose Consciences this Blood is applyed and who come unto it and feel its virtue and power will abhor all vain and dangerous mixtures of any thing with this Sovereign Balsom It is always savoury in Heaven and it is always savoury to all them that are in the right way to Heaven Our Lord in his Intercession fills Heaven with the Almighty and Eternal savour of his Blood and Heaven is filled with the Praises of it and of the shedder of it Rev. 5.9,12 If its savour do not fill the parts of the Earth where it is preached it is because Men have lost or rather never had the spiritual sense that only can take in this savour and not because this Blood is impaired in its virtue But this is the sin and misery of this condemned World that what is most savoury in Heaven is least savoured on Earth and what is most sought after prized and doted on in Earth is vanity and abomination in Heaven Luke 16.15 3. In Christ's Intercession there is his knowledge of and sympathy with the Ails and Distresses of his people This the Apostle takes notice of in ver 15. His knowledge of their Distresses we can more easily account for than for his Sympathy His Omniscience as God we believe Peter sweetly owned it John 21.15,16,17 O that Christ would with power ask the same Question at all of you and that you could give the same Answer Christ's Question is lovest thou me more than these Not long since thou said'st so what saist thou now Peter's Answer is Yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee And on the repeating of the Question Peter gives the same Answer ver 16. When Christ a third time ask'd the same Question Peter was grieved ver 17. and answers thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee As if he said I dare not compare my Love to thee with that of others to thee thou hast reason to question my love to thee because of my late woful denyal of thee but yet I dare call thee to Witness who knowest all things that I do love thee Though all my Brethren love thee better than I do or can though I be more unworthy than any to be loved by thee yet I am sure I love thee If the love of Christ were as a hot Fire within and its Coals were casting out a vehement Flame as Song 8.6 Believers would more often call Christ by that sweet Name sweet to us to speak and sweet to him to hear O thou whom my Soul loveth Song 1.7 Miserable Souls are they who love not Christ And dull unobservant people are they that know not what or whom their Souls love Is the love of Christ a meer Notion Is it not a most sensible holy and spiritual Passion or rather a heavenly Grace Can Men love Christ and not feel it Should they feel it and not avow it Is there any thing we should be ashamed of in the love of Christ but the shameful smalness of it That our highest and hottest love is so unsutable a Return to his incomparable Loveliness and his Wonderful Love to us and the dear Demonstrations of it All ye that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity look on him and love him more love him with all your Souls and blush with shame that you love him no better Blow the coals of Love by Faith and let the Flame mount up to Heaven and ascend ye in the Flame of the Altar as Manoah's Angel did Judg. 13.20 You that doubt of your Love to Christ go to him fall down before him answer Peter's Question according to the true sense of your Souls and it will be Lord thou knowest that I love thee Love Christ and ye will quickly feel ye love him A sight of Christ will beget Love and Love will quickly speak for it self 2 Cor. 5.14,15 But for Christ's Sympathy with his people this is harder to conceave than his knowledge of their Distresses It is a Sympathy different from what he had in the days of his own Infirmity it is as tender but not disturbing as real but not afflicting It is inconsistent with his glorifieâ— State to have any trouble His Sympathy it self is to be believed the manner how it acts is unsearchable Heb. 2.17 In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God Heb. 4.15 He is touched with the feeling of our Infirmities and was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin About this deep point of Christ's Sympathy we may soberly conceave 1. Our Lord's Remembrance of his own Infirmities Temptations and Afflictions in the days of his Flesh This is plain and certain 2. His sure and distinct particular Knowledge and Remembrance of his people and of all that concerns them within and without 3. His Interest in them and Care of them and Concern for them as his Members 4. His Power and Wisdom as their Head to send down vital Influences upon them as their Case requires Eph. 4.16 Col. 2.19 Lastly Christ's
Christ saith John 14.17 3. There is Communion and fellowship with God much spoke of in the Word well known by Believers 1 John 1.3 But I shall name no more of these Enjoyments 2. As all Christians know what these special Enjoyments are so all of them do greatly desire them This is so sure that many do over-desire them This desire ariseth 1. From the Genius and Instinct of the new Nature What is more natural to the new Creature than kindly breathing after Heaven When a poor Soul hath got of the Water of Life from Christ it becomes in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life John 4.14 Immediately the Soul saith What shall I do to be saved When shall I be saved Now if desires of Heaven be the native breathing of the new Creature surely breathing after much of Heaven upon Earth must be so too For the highest Enjoyments of God on Earth are far short of what is reserved for Heaven 2. Experience of first Love and of the first gracious Welcome he gave to the Believer when he first fled to the City of Refuge makes them desire more of those Enjoyments 3. These special Enjoyments are very profitable as well as pleasing They are given for profit and do usually profit 1. They are supporting under Tribulation In the multitude of my thoughts within me and doubless they were sad ones thy comforts delight my Soul Psal 94.19 Usually much Affliction and Joy of the Holy Ghost are together 1 Thes 1.6 The Promises are fitted for distress and the performance of them given to Christians under it Some distresses are so great that nothing can bear up under them but a special appearance of Divine Grace and in that case such Blessings may be more importunately begged 2. Special Enjoyments do fit and strengthen for Work and Service There is a joy of the Lord that is the Believers Strength Neh. 8.10 Flijah's double Meal was to strengthen him for a forty days Journey in the Wilderness and the extraordinary Manifestation he had of God was to fit him for his Translation 1 Kings 19. Many Saints have found this so often in their Experience that they do with fear receave singular Enjoyments of God because they have so oft found them followed with some special Tryal and Difficulty 4. Although most Christians have somewhat of these special Enjoyments and all desire them and they be profitable in themselves Yet special spiritual Enjoyments are dangerous and render a Man very needy of the helping Grace of God 1. Because they do usually expose to special Temptation Satan is a constant Enemy to all Christians but there are two times specially that he would fainest assault the Believer when he is at his worst and when he is at best Let Believers be never so low if Satan get his Will he would bring them lower No Man is as low as the Devil would have him but he that is in Hell but thither he cannot bring a Believer If a Christian be never so high if the Devil be let loose upon him he will quickly bring him down Do not think that the Devil will fear to engage a Believer even when in his best State He that had the boldness to fall on sinless Adam in Paradise will think it an easie matter to deal with any sinful Man in this Wilderness He that had the Impudence to tempt our Almighty sinless Saviour will he have either modesty or fear in tempting a feeble Believer You whom the Lord makes at any time to ride on your high Places bless him and yet fear your Adversary 2. There are some special Corruptions that are apt to grow under special Enjoyments as Weeds by warm Sun-shine If there were any such Enjoyment of God to be found in this Life as would remove Corruption altogether out of the Heart there would be no fear of abusing it But now when the greatest Enjoyments that can be had in this Life are given to them that have a body of death dwelling in them there are some workings of that remaining Corruption that are very ready to appear in this Case As 1. Pride of Heart spiritual Pride All Pride is a spiritual sin but Pride that riseth on spiritual Blessings receaved is specially spiritual Pride Pride on the account of Beauty of body or Strength or Riches is a carnal foolish Pride If it rise on the account of Gifts and Endowments of the Mind it grows yet a worse Pride But if the Gifts of God be yet of a more high and noble kind as his special Love and the precious fruits of that Love in begun Conformity to Christ and Communion with him if Pride rise on such grounds it is yet the worst of all sorts of Pride For the more precious the Gifts of God be and the more eminently they be of free distinguishing Grace and the more plainly the design of God in giving those Gifts be to glorifie the Grace of the Giver and to save the Receaver to the Praise of that Grace Pride of Heart on the account of such Gifts is yet the worst of all Pride Now that such a Corruption may grow under special Enjoyments of God is past all doubt 2 Cor 12. Paul speaks of his being lifted up unto Heaven like a Man that had not fully recovered himself I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago whether out of the body or in the body I know not God knoweth It was a long while since but in the time of the Enjoyment and fourteen Years after it he could not tell whether he was in or out of the body He never speaks plainly of it till he came to speak of his Infirmities ver 7. Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh a messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure Where we may perceave plainly that whatever was in that extraordinary Enjoyment Paul had in that Vision from Heaven or in that Visit to Heaven that was allowed him when he came back he found the same Heart he had formerly felt and the same body of Death he so often had groan'd under before Although we know not what Paul enjoyed in that time nor what the nature of that Exercise by Satan was that he was put to yet the Lord's design and Paul's danger is plain It is indeed a marvellous Passage Such an extraordinary Person as Paul was the chief of the Apostles and most eminent Saint in all the New Testament after such a great Revelation must be exercised with Hell to prevent harm by his being in Heaven before he was fully ready and fit for Heaven 2. Contentedness with a present good condition and dulness of desires after a better State is a common Corruption that is apt to rise up under special Enjoyments If the Disciples be on the Mount of Transfiguration and Christ be glorified in their sight and
know what is to be sick to be in great pain to faint and fall into a swoun which is a little Image of death as also the Heathen Poet called Sleep Death 's elder Brother But none knows what dying is It was a very sensible Word a dying Christian in this City spoke to my self when visiting him a few Hours before his Death No Man can tell another what dying is I feel I am dying but I cannot tell you what it is Death is a Path that you never trode before you never walked in it hitherto you may have thought your selves to have gone a good way in the Valley of the Shadow of Death but you never walked through it Paul died daily 1 Cor. 15.31 he was in deaths often 2 Cor. 11.23 Yet he was a living Man then when he said so and he dyed but once All new Tryals require new supplies of Grace And the Tryal of Death is quite new When we are tempted one day we may know what Temptation is thereby and be thereby fitted for the next but no past Experience can teach us fully what dying is 3. Dying is not only a necessary and new Tryal but it is such a Tryal in which a Man 's All is concerned for Eternity Immediately on Death follows Judgment Heb. 9.27 Death is the dark Trance betwixt Time and Eternity While we live we are in time when we are a dying we are leaving time and passing into eternity When we are dead we are quite and for ever out of time and are in eternity for ever If a Man miscarry in this Passage if a Man stumble in the dark Valley of death if he fall here he falls for ever I would not have people to imagine that the stress of their Salvation depends on their Frame when a dying For some Christians when near to death have neither the use and exercise of Sense or Reason much less of Grace But surely when the case of Mens Bodies permits Acts of a Man or of a Christian there is great need of grace to enable us to die well 4. Dying is a great Tryal of Faith Tho' we know not fully what dying is yet we may know so much of it as to be convinced that it is much harder to die in Faith than to live by Faith and yet living by Faith is the hardest thing we have to do in this World To trust in an unseen God to believe his unchangeable Love when we feel his Anger to trust his bare Word when we see no appearance of Performance but many to the contrary are no easie things to the hest Our frequent Experience of the difficulty and of our many failings in this daily Exercise of living by Faith may justly make us sensible of our need of great help of Grace when we shall be called to the new and more hard Work of dying by Faith To enforce this a little consider 1. Usually when death draws near to Men and they draw near to it the Eye of the Mind is clearer and the Conscience more tender and sharp-sighted in the review of their Life and Actions Many never saw their Lives well till they are just at the end of them And many Believers walk so as a spiritual review of their ways breeds no small Storm in their Consciences and Tryal and shaking to their Faith Though Death be a dark Valley yet great light of Convictions and Challenges springs up in it Wo to them that never knew till they are a dying what an awakened Conscience is Ways that are pleasing to Men when the evil day is put far away look frightfully on them when that day approacheth and is very nigh 2. A dying time is a time wherein the Devil is very busie He fetcheth then his last stroke on Saints and on Sinners He doth his utmost to secure the Damnation of Sinners that he may not lose them at last The Devil 's Deathhold of a dying Sinner is a strong one He also doth his utmost against Believers if not to marr their Salvation yet to hinder their Consolation The Devil 's parting Blow hath been dreadful to many a Saint It is a weighty Word Heb. 2.14 Where he is said to have the power of death It is true there it is said also that Christ overcame him and through death Death is properly and strictly in the Devil's Dominions Sin and Death are properly the Devil 's though the Lord hath the wise ordering of both he permits Sin and inflicts Death and Death lyes near the Devil 's great Prison Hell Through the Valley of death there are two Passages one leading to Hell and another to Heaven Most fall into the Pit others are brought through safe and sound by the Skill and Mercy of their blessed Guide Christ It fares here with Believers as with Israel and with Vnbelievers as with the Egyptians Heb. 11.29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry Land which the Egyptians essaying to do were drowned 3. Judgment and Eternity when near and seen at hand are awful things And a near view of them will try Faith greatly This view blows away the Presumption and Hope of the Hypocrite Job 27.8 What is the hope of the Hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his Soul Job 11.20 Their hope is as the giving up of the Ghost His Hope lived as long as he lived and when he dies it dies also Wo to them that have a dying hope a hope that cannot out live Death Christians are begotten to a living or lively hope 1 Pet. 1.3 He hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 The Man's body dies but the Christian's Hope and Faith lives He lyes down in the Grave in hope Psal 16.9 He dies in that Faith he lived by Heb. 11.13 2. What is the helpfulness of Grace in this time of great need a time of dying I am speaking to living Men but to such as must die and know not how soon I shall only insist on one thing at this time The Grace of God helps Believers by strengthening of their Faith That is the help they mainly need in that hour And this help stands in these 1. When a dying Believer is helped by Grace to see death in Christ's hand There is a vast difference betwixt Death in the Devil's hand who hath the power of it and Death in Christ's hand who is Master both of Death and the Devil Betwixt a Man's seeing Death approaching and the Devil behind it and with it and a Man's seeing Death coming on him and Christ with it Paul's Triumph rose on this ground 1 Cor. 15.55,56,57 O death where is thy sting O grave or Hell where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That by which Death stings Men is Sin unpardoned and God's Holy Law binding Sin and Wrath on their Persons Victory over both Sin
better School for Men to learn weigh and duly to understand the things of God in than a frequent and near view of death What an edge would this put upon our Praying Hearing Worship and Walking Every thing that is done by Men as dying Persons is usually well done I shall only add this that there are some sorts of dying that are very desirable in which the Grace of God is very useful and needful 1. Patient dying Dying is not properly a Duty but a Suffering It is not our Act but there is a manifold Exercise of Grace called for in dying Never did any Man act in dying but Jesus Christ he could lay down his life and take it again John 10.17,18 We cannot lay down our Lives they are not our own We are bid keep them as long as we lawfully can and when the great Command comes Return we are to yield obedience to it It is a great Blessing to have Patience for dying and Patience in dying Heb. 10.36 You have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye may receave the Promise And we often need Patience most when just upon the receaving of the Promise We should run with patience the Race set before us Heb. 12.1 And must of Patience is usually most needful in the last Stage of this Race Patience should have her perfect work Jam. 1.4 And the perfect and perfecting Work of Patience is the last act of it We all know that usually death comes on by such steps as are grievous to the Flesh There are Pains Sickness and Languishings that are no small Tryals of Patience but these are in a manner but Tryals of the Patience of the Flesh There are other things about dying that Patience is tryed by as time and place and many Circumstances that it is no small or easie thing to be quietly submitted to Javob the Heir of the Promise goes down to Egypt to Joseph for Bread after he is starv'd our of the Land of Promise and must die in Egypt and leave his Family there where they were to be long and heavily oppressed as the Lord told his Grandfather Abraham Gen. 15.13 Moses must die on the other side of Jordan David must not see a Stone laid in the Temple Josiah must die in Battel and that by not hearkening to the words of Necho from the mouth of God 2 Chron. 35.22 But what of such sad Circumstances of dying did not our Lord himself die under a dark Cloud on his dear Father's Face and on his own blessed Soul My God my God why hast thou forsaken me were sad Words from the sad Soul of our dying blessed Lord. His Disciples forsook him the Sun forsook him Earth and Hell bandyed against him yet all was nothing to his Father's forsaking him How bitter was this to our Lord and yet how sweet is it to the Faith of Believers If you be called to die under a Cloud remember the Lord the Heir the Purchaser of Heaven went to Heaven in the greatest Storm that ever blew from Earth and Hell and Heaven on any man's Face at death Men are ashamed to express any quarrel against dying but there are many things about it that make us needy of much Grace to help to quiet submitting unto it both in substance and all circumstances attending it 2. Safe dying This is very needful and it is Grace's doing Many die Patiently as Men think that die not safely There are no bands in the death of the wicked sometimes Psal 73.4 Some go out of this Life to Hell more calmly than some of the Heirs of Glory pass to their blessed home Safe dying is to die without any hurt to the Soul that when the Cage of the Body is broken by death the Soul the Bird may take Wing and fly straight and safe to Heaven Death is the Believers 1 Cor. 3.22 as well as Life But what have we to do with death or death with us It is a black Boat that we must sail out of time to Heaven in And Christ steers the Boat and lands all Believers safely on Heaven's Shore This is all we have to do with death And when all the Passengers are brought over Christ will burn this ugly Boat Rev. 20.14,15 And death and hell or the Grave were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death And whosoever was not found written in the book of Life was cast into the lake of fire And then in the New Jerusalem there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away Rev. 21.4 Who would not venture to pass out of this bad World to that blessed Land under Christ's Conduct though sailing through the Gulf of death be unpleasant in it self to us Men for Gain will sail from one end of the Earth to the other through heat and cold and stormy Seas and Winds and manifold Perils in the probable hope of advantage But Balievers may be assured that they shall arrive at their Port. Never did a Believer in Jesus Christ die or drown in his Voyage to Heaven They will be all found safe and sound with the Lamb on Mount Zion Christ loseth none of them nay nothing of them John 6.39 Not a Bone of a Believer is to be seen in the Field of Battel They are all more than conquerors through him that loved them Rom. 8.37 3. It is very desirable to have an honourable dying It is a part of the Vanity of this World that many dote upon an honourable Burial Some respect indeed should be paid to the dead Bodies of Believers but honourable dying is a great deal more considerable than that Men call an honourable Burial Our Lord told Peter of his dying John 21.19 This spake Jesus signifying by what death Peter should glorifie God That is honourable dying that brings Glory to God Paul is confident of this as to himself Phil. 1.20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed but that with all boldness as always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death The most honourable dying is dying for the Lord this Honour is not given to all his Saints All Saints die in the Lord and blessed are they Rev. 14.13 Our desire should be to be enabled by his Grace to hear our dying Testimony to Christ and his Gospel There have been strong Convictions given to the Consciences of Sinners wonderful Supports to the Hearts of surviving Saints by the honourable dying of some Believers Their example their words their very looks and Behaviour in the Shadow of death have been of great use to them that have seen and heard them 4. It is also desirable to have the Mercy of comfortable dying To have an entrance ministred to us abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.11 The Lord's
dealings with his people in this matter are a great depth Some that have given most shining Evidences of the truth and strength of the Grace of God in them who have spent their days eminently to the Lords Praise and to the edifying of his Body the Church have gone to Heaven under a Cloud Others that were hardly known or regarded in Christ's Flock have gone off the Stage triumphantly No Observer can escape the notice of such instances Therefore we must not say that Consolation in dying is a certain sign of eminency in Grace or of tenderness in Walking It is not very unusual to see the greatest Storm overtake even a strong Believer just as he is putting into the Harbour However this Dispensation of the Lord's Grace in granting a comfortable Exit is what we should beg earnestly and pray for heartily I believe that there are few Christians so cast down with Fears and clouds and darkness but if they could be assured that all shall be dispell'd at death and it is sometimes so and that they should have a clear Evening and strong Consolation in their last hours they would bear their present Sorrows better Tho' comfortable dying be not simply necessary to the Salvation of a Believer yet it is a Blessing more valuable than many others that are more in our Prayers Grace can help to it and a precious help it is and we should mind it much in our Addresses to the Throne of Grace So much of these times of need and of the help of Grace in them There are a few Exhortations from this whole Doctrine of the helpfulness of Grace in a time of need that I would conclude this Text with The general Exhortation is this Learn not only to submit as to what is determined and that you cannot alter but to be heartily content with this wise dispensation of God about your Need and his Grace as a Contrivance becoming his Wisdom and levelled at your Good As 1. That our Necessities are so many so great and so unavoidable and yet there is a sufficient supply provided for them The new Creature is the most needy Creature of all God's Creation The Lord hath framed the new Creature in a singular way and for a singular use and end All other Creatures have their Being from God and have that Being continued by God in the common Course of his wise and powerful Providence But the new Creature is not only of and from God but it is wrought and hath its being in Christ Jesus and its Life is continued by a continual gracious Efflux from him for without him the new Creature can do nothing John 15.5 Let not such a Thought arise in your Heart or if it arise give it no entertainment why hath God made this new Creature so needy a Creature as it is Surely he might have done otherwise He made the first Adam in another State He was made perfect in Soul and Body immediately His State was perfect he needed little and all at hand But the new Creature is framed weak and necessitous the difference is as great betwixt the first Adam and a Christian at his Regeneration as betwixt perfect Adam and a young Babe newly born or a Child conceaved in the Womb. Yet the Lord hath made provision of Grace sufficient for all these Necessities And he loves the glory of his Grace so and takes so great delight in giving of his Grace that he not only lets the Heirs of this Grace fall into the common Pit of Sin and Misery with others and sometimes deeper than many of them that are left that his Grace may be glorified in loving them out of the pit of Corraption as Hezekiah's Word is Isa 38.17 for all that are converted are plucked out of their natural damnable State by a mighty Act of the Love of God Eph. 2.4 But when he hath pulled them out he sets them down in his Kingdom of Grace in so indigent and weak a condition that they may glorifie him by begging and believing and he may glorifie himself in giving of his Grace to them Who should find fault with this wise way 2. Be satisfied that this Grace which is your Supply is all in Christ Jesus and not in your own hand Since Adam fell and ruined himself and all his Posterity by having his and their Stock in his own hand and sinning it away the Lord in Mercy hath resolved never to intrust a meer Man again with his own Stock but hath lodged all the Grace his people are saved and supplyed by in Christ's hand and there it is safe Adam was created perfect and had a sufficient Stock to have enriched himself and all his Off-spring but he was left to his Free will and so came on it This is an eternal disgrace to Man's Free will What must the Free will of a Sinner be able to do when the Free will of perfect sinless Man opened the Door to Sin and Death and Ruin upon the whole World of Mankind It is therefore graciously and wisely provided that Free will shall have no hand in the Salvation of Sinners and indeed Free will to good is but a vain Name usurped by willing and wilful Slaves of Sin and that in its stead the Free Grace of God in Jesus Christ shall be and do all in all But we are so proud that we would fain have somewhat in our own hand and are so used to sense and unskilful in Believing that we can hardly reckon that our own that is not in our Possession and at our disposing But in this Order the Lord consults the Interest of his Glory and the Security of our Salvation and daily Supplies by lodging our All in Christ's hand who is able to keep it safely for us and ready and willing to give forth of it to us according to our real necessity 3. Be satisfied with this That the special times of our need are not usually known to us before they come There is none of the people of God nor of the Children of Men that usually know twenty four hours before what Temptations and Tryals they may meet with We know we may be tempted but we know not when nor how and in what part the Adversary may assault us or with what Weapons We know we may be afflicted but we know not with what Rod nor when We know we must die but we know not how nor when There is a foolish and sinful Curiosity in our Nature that raiseth desires to know future things concerning our selves It were well if Men were duly desirous to know from the Word what their eternal State shall be But in other things that may befal us in time it is dangerous Curiosity to be inquisitive People imagine that it would be of great advantage to them to fore-know future Evants as to themselves But I am sure it would be a great disadvantage and what you would quickly repent of If the Lord should reveal to any of you