9.1.5 What prays he for them Roin 10.1 My hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved All right Prayer should be the Hearts desire Salvation is the best thing we can pray for to our selves or to them we love And no Man can heartily pray for Salvation to others who hath not got it himself 2. I would now direct some Words to them that have obtained mercy and know it Blessed be the Lord that there are not a few in the World not a few in this City and I hope not a few in this Meeting that have obtained mercy of the Lord and know it also Who can remember when their misery was great and when the mercy of the Lord made a visit to them and what great things it brought to them and wrought in them 1. Let such be very thankful for special saving mercy Praise is a great Debt as well as a great Blessing Let none take this as an ordinary Duty but let all Christians know that the main point of the Life and Practice of Christianity lies in the performance of it 1 Pet. 2.9 Praise should rise according to the worth of what we praise for Greatest Favours call for highest Praises and special mercy from the Lord is the highest favour It is a good Custom and a Duty also that people when they receave their daily bread from God do give him thanks for it as well as beg his Blessing on it Pray then how do you think the Lord will take unthankfulness for his special mercy How many hath the Lord to give in this Charge against I never gave thee a nights rest but thou gave me thanks for it in the morning but I have by my mercy raised thee up to newness of Life and I was never thanked for it I never fed thy Body but thou blessed me for my Bounty but I have given thee my Son for the bread of thy Soul but no praise for this Gift When thou wast near death I did in mercy restore thee and was praised for it but special mercy hath delivered thy Soul from eternal destruction but when didst thou praise for that Have a care this Charge be not given against you Live to his Praise and let Praise be the main Work of your Life 2. Walk tenderly under God's special mercy The more special the mercy be the more carefully it should be improved God's saving mercy is a Load a Burthen not indeed hard to be born but it is hard to bear it aright A Burden that will not break the Back but will weigh heavy on the Shoulders of the Bearers and such as are under it are in no small danger of stumbling Isa 38.15 What shall I say he hath both spoken unto me and himself hath done it I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my Soul And that there was special mercy in his Eye see ver 17. Thou hast in love to my Soul delivered it from the pit of corruption for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back Here is a right sense of mercy and a good Resolution about the guiding of it I will walk softly all the Years fifteen of them that God hath added to my Life But what performance was there 2 Chron. 32.25 But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done to him for his heart was lifted up 3. Obtainers of mercy should ask grace to guide mercy and ask it the more earnestly and confidently because they have obtained mercy Be not discouraged in asking more mercy because you have made so poor improvements of what you have received Every mercy lays us under an Obligation for more service and Grace to enable for that Service must be given and therefore should be asked We need mercy God gives it when we get it we should guide it well and in order to that we must beg more New mercy to enable us to guide the old No mercy from the Lord but it may be ill guided but the last eternal Life Jude 21. A Christian is not out of all danger of abusing any mercy of the Lord till he receave perfecting mercy in Heaven To them that have not obtained mercy or at least do not know that they have only four things I would say to such Ask mercy Receave mercy Plead mercy Hope in his mercy 1. Ask mercy The Lord hath two designs in offering and dispensing his mercy to Men To be honoured by the Prayers of them that want it and to be glorified by the Praises of them that get it This Duty of asking mercy is frequently commanded by the Lord commonly practis'd by his people and never in vain 1. Ask mercy like it self Ask some way according to your Need and its Worth If our begging bore any tolerable proportion to the great Blessing of God's saving mercy what mighty praying would there be Let not mercy be sought as a small thing it 's the one thing needful and it 's the one thing we should seek of the Lord. God's mercy Saving mercy Free mercy Mercy great vastly above all our misery O how would it be asked if asked like it self 2. Ask mercy at the right Door There is not a Crumb of saving mercy that comes to any perishing Sinner but by Jesus Christ. There is no Corn in Egypt but what comes through this Joseph's Hand He is a mad Beggar of mercy that forgets Christ 3. Ask mercy in God's time He that commands us to ask and tells us at what Door to beg and promiseth to give tells us also when we should ask Men have their times as in great distress when dying and at Judgment Beware of putting off asking till God's time of giving be past It is an awful Word of Christ Luke 13.25 When once the master of the house is risen up and hath shut to the door and ye begin to stand without and to knock at the door saying c. There are two sad beginnings here Beginning to stand without when the door is shut such will eternally stand without Beginning to knock at the door Such as begin to knock at God's shut Door will never get in There is no good answer to be given by God to such for eternity Is not that a very unhappy beginning So our Lord tells us in the Parable of the Ten Virgins Matth. 25.10 The foolish came when the Door was shut They were foolish that they came no sooner and miserable that they came too late I believe the Damned will see more of the Blessedness of the Saved than the Saved will see of the Misery of the Damned Christ expresly aggravates the misery of the Damned by what they shall see of the Bliss of the Saved Luke 13.28 But all we see in the Word that the Saved shall see or hear of the misery of the Damned is their Resurrection to Damnation John 5.29 which is a most miserable one better were it for them to have their Bodies lye eternally in
to be pityed But if all be dark about and the darkest of all Clouds on the amiable Face of God this is the extremity our Lord was in Yet he prayed and in his Agony prayed yet more fervently Deserted Believers take comfort in a Deserted Saviour His Desertion was Penal yours but Medicinal though it be better Physick it is of the great Physician 's Prescription and he can and will bless it and make you bless him both for the Physick and the Cure 3. Christ had Temptation as an Errand to his Father In all points tempted like as we are yet without sin ver 15. O that Christians would learn to behave under Temptation in some measure aâ— Christ did Temptation to Christ was â— far other thing than it is to us Temptation is bad to us because of the danger of it therefore he bids us Watch and pray that we enter not into Temptation Matth. 26.42 when he was in the depth of his Agony But Temptation to Christ was a meer Affliction There were never but two sinless Men in the World the first and second Adam Satan came to both When he came to the first Adam he found nothing of his own in him but he quickly got somewhat put in him and left it with him and in him and all his Posterity When he came to the second Adam he found nothing in him and could put nothing in him by Temptation John 14.30 The holier a Saint be and the more gross the sin be he is tempted to and the more hatred he have of the Sin the greater is his trouble in and by the Temptation What Affliction then must it have been to Christ to be so tempted as he was Matth. 4. 4. Our Lord had the charge and burden of sin on his Soul not upon his Conscience The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all Isa 53.6 And was not that a mighty Load Sense of Sin is the greatest discouragement to Believers But never was there a Man out of Hell or in it that had such a load of sin on him as Christ had His own self bare our sins in his own body on the Tree 1 Pet. 2.24 Law and Justice charged Christ severely and exacted more of him than ever they did of any other Person None but Christ was made sin 2 Cor. 5.21 Men are Sinners by nature and increase their sinfulness by their Life and an inexhaustible Fountain of sin is in their Heart Eccles 9.3 But none of them is or can be made Sin He only that knew no sin was made sin And because he was made sin for us he was also made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 The Law curseth the Sinner but cannot make a Sinner a Curse for others It can and doth make him accursed and a Curse for himself Here is Heaven's Art All the Righteousness we are made flows from Christ's being made sin for us All the Blessing we get springs out of Christ's being made a Curse for us Believers learn where to seek and find true Righteousness and the true Blessing In vain are they sought any where but in Christ and in his being thus made Sin and a Curse for us The Lord Jehovah charged Christ with the Debt of his People's Sins and he could not deny the Debt though he contracted none of it yet he undertook as Surety to answer for it and to discharge and pay it Therefore the Law and Justice exacted it of him abated him nothing Because the Law will have Blood and Life for Sin Christ offers and gives his Our Lord Jesus had no Challenges in nor Burden upon his Conscience yet he had a heavy Burden upon his Soul therefore he had a troubled Soul John 12.27 though a quiet Conscience For trouble of Conscience properly flows from the sight and Sense of committed Sin but Christ's trouble of Soul was from the Sense of Wrath for the charged and imputed Sins of others Object But may a poor Believer say Christ knew not what a Body of sin and death was he knew not what a bad Heart is and these I feel and am discouraged by Answ Christ did not know these things indeed by feeling and experience as you do but he knew them better than you do or can 1. Christ knew them by the Wrath due to them He that paid the Debt knew best the Debt that was contracted though he himself did not contract it He knew how dear the Expiation was for the Sin of your Heart and Nature 2. Christ knew it by Temptation Temptation brought Sin as near to Christ as it was possible it could be brought to a sinless Man Some Saints know some Sins only this way There are several Acts of Wickedness that the Lord restrains his People from before their Conversion sometimes and usually after it Those Sins they know not by the committing of them nor it may be by any special Inclination to them yet they may know them to be dreadful Evils by an external Temptation to them and by the sight of their Sin and Misery that wallow in them 2. As our Lord Jesus Christ had many Errands to the Throne of Grace so he did ply that Throne Our Saviour was a praying Saviour He spent whole Nights in Prayer to God his Father As he was so should we be in the World 1 John 4.17 Are we afflicted and should we pray So afflicted Jesus prays Is our Soul troubled and do we pray So Christ did John 12.27 Are we deserted and pray So did our Lord. But here is a depth too deep for us to wade in how our elder Brother how God's own Son in Man's Nature did plead at the Throne of Grace This Throne he ply'd was not the same we come to To us he sits on the Throne himself and therefore it is a Throne of Grace to us We approach to God in Christ and in Christ's Name Christ came in his own Name and needed no Mediator We find he came to his Father frequently earnestly and confidently The Church of Christ owe him eternal Praifes for that Prayer John 17. which is only properly Christ's Prayer That in Matth. 6.9 is a pattern of our Prayer taught us by Christ but this is the Prayer made by Christ and therefore truly the Lord's Prayer Of Christ's praying the Apostle speaks Heb. 5.7 Who in the days of his Flesh when he had offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared This is a great Word When a poor Believer is hanging over Hell and a Spirit of Prayer working in him how mightily doth he cry to be saved from that Death O let me not fall in if ever thou hadst Mercy on a sinking Soul save me But never did a distressed Believer cry so mightily to be saved from Hell as Christ did to be saved from death But that death Christ prayed against was another sort of death than we know or
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
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
as David resolved Psal 116.2 And when he comes to die and hath prayed his last Prayer with Stephen Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receave my Spirit and gets it answered Praying Believing and the Throne of Grace it self as to him is at an end and everlasting Praises before the Throne of Glory of God and of the Lamb begin never to have an end Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly Finish thy Work fulfil all thy Promises answer fully all the Prayers of all thy People Put an end to Sin and Time and Trouble and Temptation And hasten the Marriage Day that thy people may be glad and rejoyce and give honour to thee Rev. 19.7 Let the Bride be made ready and let the Bridegoom appear in his Wedding Garments of Glory O how blessed will the Meeting and the Marriage be He married his Bride when on Earth in Garments dyed in his own precious Blood and the Bride receaves him as Glorious even in 〈◊〉 bloody Raiment This most precious Blood was shed in love to his Bride and for her Salvation and therefore he is amiable to her in that Dress Believers in Christ are contracted to a slain Husband but shall be married to him in a far other Manifestation of himself How great is the difference betwixt our dearest Lord Jesus under his Cross and under his Crown And yet under his Cross he is infinitely amiable to a Believer's Heart and Eye If it were not that the Light of that glorious day of his Appearance will prevent all Mistakes the Nations of them which are saved as they are called for their Multitude out of all Nations Rev. 21.24 might doubt but doubt they cannot but wonder they will both at him and at themselves 2 Thess 1.10 and say Is this that blessed Saviour I believed on so feebly whom I trusted with my Soul and its Salvation with so much fainting and with so many Fears is this he whom I loved so little and so coldly Is this he whom all the time I liv'd on Earth after he had revealed himself to me I depended and lived on by Faith and that with so many Staggerings through Unbelief because I knew not so well as now I do whom I then believed And until this blessed Day come and come it will for it is promised and sworn by him who cannot lie it is not far off for it is above 1600 years since he testified Surely I come quickly Rev. 22.20 It is his last Promise to his Bride Let his most excellent Name be poured out as Oyntment and let the Savour of his Knowledge be made manifest in every place Let his Saving blessed Death be remembered gloryed in and fed upon by all Believers the greatest Token of his Love to us the only Price of our Redemption 1 Pet. 1.19 and the only Food of our Souls Let his justifying Righteousness be only mentioned before God on Earth by believing Sinners as it will be only mentioned by glorified praising Saints in Heaven Let the Throne of Grace reared up by the Father in his Son and consecrated by the Blood of this Son God manifest in the Flesh be revealed to the darkened World and set up amongst the blinded Nations And let Grace from thence be dispensed to many thousands of perishing Sinners Let the glory of God's free most free every way free Grace in Jesus Christ shine so in the Nations as it may and when that Glory shines it will darken confound and put to shame all the Antichristian Darkness and Dreams of false Christs of men's making and of Works Hire and Merit under all their Names and Pretences and make it all hateful in Sinners Eyes as it is hurtful to their Souls and as it is hateful in God's sight Let the Praises of my Lord and my God as recovered Thomas calls him John 20.28 fill Heaven and Earth and fill the Hearts and fill the Mouths and shine in the Lives of all Believers on his Name and let his Praise fill all the Gospel Worship in all the Churches till the Day of the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2.13 And unto these Wishes let every Believer on and sincere Lover of Jesus Christ say and every one that is such will say Amen So let it be so will it be FINIS
can fully apprehend Christ prayed with great servency and with great confidence We rarely have them join'd in our Prayers If we have confidence of a good issue we are apt to grow cold in asking Christ knew the blessed issue of all his distress and believed it confidently Isa 50.7,8,9 Yet prayed earnestly He was heard and knew it John 11.41,42 Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me And I know that thou hearest me always Christians take encouragement and direction to pray and how to pray by Christ's Practice when he was on Earth 4. Let us consider Christ's Death for encouraging us to confidence in coming to the throne of grace This is the main ground of boldness in coming Heb. 10.10 Having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus There is precious Blood must be shed or we cannot enter we must see it by Faith or we dare not venture We must come to the Blood of sprinkling Heb. 12.24 We dare not step one step into God's awful Presence unless we see the way marked consecrated and sprinkled with the Mediator's Blood How shall the Unholiest of Sinners venture to come into the Holiest of all God's Presence Yes faith the Holy Ghost such may by the Blood of Jesus Let us therefore consider what this Blood of Christ doth and speaks in order to our boldness in approaching to the throne of grace 1. This Blood satisfies Justice and answers all the Claims and Charges of the Law against us What marrs boldness like fears of a standing Controversie betwixt Heaven and us God is Holy we are vile Sinners God's Law is strict we have sinfully broke it and deserve Hell most justly No answer can be given but by this Blood What would the Law have but Christ gave Would the Law have a sinless Man to answer it as it was first given to sinless Adam Lo I come saith our Lord Jesus without all Sin a Man against whom for himself the Law hath no Charge or Challenge Would the Law have perfect sinless Obedience Christ did perform it Must the Law have Life and Blood for every breach of it Christ never broke the Law but the Burden of Millions of Breakers and Breaches of it lay on him and his Blood was shed for them And thereby he fulfilled the Law put away-sin by the sacrifice of himself Heb. 9.26 finished the transgression made an end of sin made reconciliation for iniquity brought in everlasting Righteousness sealed up the vision and prophecy and anointed the most Holy Dan. 9.24 You can never have boldness at the throne on grace unless by Faith you apply this Blood Christ is set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 The Propitiation is in his Blood Faith in it makes it our Propitiation 2. This Blood as it is satisfying Blood so it is purchasing Blood It is both an Attonement and Satisfaction and it is a Price It is Redeeming Blood for Persons and Purchasing Blood for Blessings All the Blessings we come to the throne of grace for are all bought by this Blood So that we may say that though we have nothing and deserve nothing yet when we ask all things we ask nothing but what is well and truly paid for by our Lord Jesus 3. All the Blessings purchased and bought by Christ's Blood are bequeathed to us and left by him that shed it Christ's Blood is a Test amentary bequeathing Blood And Believers in their coming to the Throne of Grace may come as Suers for the Execution and fulfilment of the last Will and Testament of our Lord Jesus For Christ by his death turned the Gospel and new Covenant into a Testament Heb. 9.15,16,17 His Death confirms his Testament His last Will is that all the Blessings his Blood purchased might be secured and laid up for and in due time given forth to them they were purchased for and bequeathed to The whole Legacy of Grace and Glory and all the Legatees are and were well known to the Testator and Executor though not to us particularly and the Testament will be punctually fulfilled So much for the assistance to Faith that Christ's death affords Learn to feed on it He that cannot make a Soul-meal and take a Soul-fill of a slain Saviour is a sorry Christian A true Christian is a poor starving Sinner digging in Christ's Grave for eternal Life There it only is and there he surely finds it 5 We find further in our Lord Jesus and indeed every thing in and of him helps forward our confidence in coming to God that this great Person the Son of God in our Nature this great Officer that lived so holily and died so virtuously That he also rose again from the dead The Resurrection of our Lord is also a mighty ground of boldness 1 Pet. 1.3 Blessed be the Lord and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead If Christ had lain still in his Grave our Hope had lain there too but because he rose our Hope also riseth with him So 1 Pet. 3.21 where the Apostle hath an elegant Similitude He compares Christ to the Ark of Noah All that were in this Ark were saved and they only the Deluge drowned all the World besides They that were saved in the Ark were saved from drowning in the Water and were saved by water The like Figure whereunto Baptism now saveth us Will bare Water-Baptism save No not the putting away the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ As if the Apostle said He that by Faith hath sucked in the Virtue of Christ's Resurrection and can by that Faith plead it before God is a saved Man If all the World perish in the Deluge of God's Wrath this Man is in the Ark and nothing shall hurt him But alas Christ's Resurrection is looked upon by many Professors as a part of Gospel-History and Truth that it is a shame for any to be ignorant or doubt of and therefore they profess the Faith of it but they consider not that a great part of the Food of our Souls and of our Faith doth lye in this point of Truth This I would shew in three things 1. Christ's Resurrection was a Demonstration of the Divine Dignity of his Person Rom. 1.4 He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the dead The glorious Rays of his God-head did appear in his Word and Works and some had eyes to behold his Glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth even when he dwelt amongst Men. John 1.14 But his Glory was under an Eclipse till his Resurrection How stately and how sweetly doth he himself express it Rev. 1.17,18 I am the first and the last high Names of
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