the world make their maine prize and they thinke thereby to procure praise unto themselves and great preferment in their owne eyes this way let me speake a little to these you that are guilty of this sinne see the compasse of it take notice of the reach how farre this rebellion goeth I would wish these men that persecute the Saints I would have them underst the compasse of their course how farre their wicked practice extendeth it is not against a despised Christian no let them know it their rage and malice ascends up to Heaven and offers violence to the Lord Iesus Christ and the labour what they can to plucke Christ from the right hand of his Father and they endevour what in them lies to shed his blood and take away his life let all know that have beene professed opposers and dead haters of the Saints of God let them know they are melted of light treason and that in a most hainous manner against the Lord of Heaven and Earth against the Lord Iesus Christ the Redeemer of the world I would that these men would not cozen themselves for God will not bee mocked they professe they love Christ with all their hearts and they will doe any thing for him but those nice fellowes those spruce fellowes it is those that they hate to the death doe you so indeed thou hast said enough then for thou hatest Christ in hating them and thou persecutest Christ in persecuting them Esay 37.23.28 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed saith the text and against whom hast thou exalted thy voyce and lifted up thine eyes on high even against the Holy one of Israel and in the 28. verse I know thy abode and thy going out and thy comming in and thy rage against me so that how ever Senacherib aymed at Hezekia onely and those that professe the truth yet the Lord takes it at done to himselfe he that knew their hearts and their malice hee saith I know thy rage against me it was against the holy One of Israel that they rayled Wicked men persecute the lives of beleevers now Christ lives in them and thou hatest the life of Christ and persecutest the life of Christ Acts 9. Paul had gotten letters from the Synagogue and hee would have haled to prison all the Saints of God that professed the Name of Christ now if a man had come to Paul and asked him Paul why doe you persecute Christ hee would have beene in great indignation what reverenced Paul learned Paul zealous Paul what hee persecute the Lord of life why Christ proclaimes it he doth so and hee puts it to an upshot and ends the controversie and puts the question out of doubt I am Iesus saith he whom thou persecutest as if he had said Poore foole thou knowest not and I perceive thou thinkest it not but I receive the wound the foot is prickt and the head complaines I would have a man make the case his owne and be his owne Judge If any man should pretend friendship to you and professe hee loves you and tells you hee tenders your person but yet hee will torment your body and hee loves your head but yet he will cut off your arme there is no man so weake but he would loath such cursed kinde of dissimulation a man cannot love the head and hate the member love the person and torment the body just so these men deale with the Lord Iesus Christ Gods faithfull beleeving servants are his eyes Zacharie 2.8 He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye they are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone thou that pretendest to love Christ and to tender the head and in the mean time loathest his members and his poore Saints know that thou dost not persecute the Saints so much but thou persecutest Christ much more but haply thou wilt say I am no drunkard nor no whore-monger I tell thee this sinne is worse than drunkennesse or whoredome the text saith Luke 13. that Herod was an incestuous person and married his brother Philips wife but he added this sinne above all the rest hee put Iohn in prison therefore all that heare the Word of God if a man did see an incestuous wretch in the congregation whom humanity and reason and nature doth loath we would abhorre and detest him nay every man knowes that it deserves death Looke upon thy owne soule and lay thy hand upon thy heart thou that persecutest the Saints thy sinne is greater and thy condemnation shall be farre sorer than such a mans hence it is that God threatens such men with the heaviest judgements Psalme 82.5 it is spoken there concerning Doeg we may see the story 1 Samuel 22. When Abimelech gave David shew-bread and Goliahs sword Doeg saw it and told Saul and afterwards slew eighty five persons of the Priests now this Psalmist made this Psalme against this man and he saith Thy tongue deviseth mischiefe lik a sharp razor working deceitfully and God shall likewise destroy thee for ever He shal take thee away and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place and out of the land of the living because he did oppose himselfe against Abimelech therefore the Lord would not let him go without a punishment nay as God threatens the sorest punishment against such person so the Saints of God by their prayers set themselves most against them Psalme 129.5 Let them all he confounded and turned backe that have ill will at Sion neither doe they that goe by say The blessing of the Lord bee upon you the poorest man that lives that is in the meanest place if he walkes in an honest calling the Saints wish a blessing to him but they that oppose the Saints of God the Saints curse them in the name of the Lord it is true I confesse wee must bee wary and wise but being wise and wary it is a thing wee may and should doe David by way of Revelation knew who were implacable and obdurate though wee know not this yet aiming at none in particular but onely in the generall at those who bee incorragible the Saints of God curse them and that bitterly in all their desires that they put up to God nay the greatest indirement at the day of judgement proceeds against sinners because of the persecution of his Saints because in them they persecute Christ himselfe they teare out the very eyes of Christ and rend his heart in peeces Iud. 14. The Lord commeth with thousands of his Angels to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly amongst them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Matthew 25. the latter end Depart from mee ye cursed I know ye not I was in prison and ye visited mee not I was naked and ye cloathed me not why Jesus Christ is gone to Heaven and haply they never saw him bâ—â— faith hee in that you did it not
save me another clambring upon the trees all floting and crying and dying there there was no saving but for those only that were gotten into the arke Oh so it will be you poore foolish beleevers the world is like this sea wherein are many floods of water many troubles much persecution Oh get you into the arke the Lord Iesus and when one is roring and yelling Oh the devill the devill another is ready to hang himselfe or to cut his owne throat another sends for a Minister and hee crieth Oh there is no mercy for me I have opposed it get you into Christ I say and you shall bee safe enough I will warrant you your soules shall bee transported with consolation to the end of your hopes This was that which comforted Saint Paul and made him bid defiance to all the world Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect as who should say shall all the angels in Heaven shall all the devils in Hell shall all the men upon the earth shall sinne within shall actions without it is God onely that justifieth not for anything we have or doe but for Christs sake This is that I conclude withall this one doctrine affords supply in all wants and courage in all trials I know what troubleth you will this blinde minde never bee inlightned I thinke I shall never be able to conceive of the truths of God aright how can the Lord accept of mee when I condemne my selfe how can the Lord shew any favour to mee when I fall out with my selfe and wonder that I am not in the bottomlesse pit such a base heart I carry about with me and such a polluted conversation and yet live and not in hell I have thought sometimes God cannot be Iust if he doe not condemne me why I say art thou burthened with thy sinnes and dost thou goe out of thy selfe for the pardon of them why goe away comforted the Lord will justifie thee not for thy workes but for Christs merits thou hast committed all iniquitie Christ hath performed all righteousnesse thou hast nothing of thy selfe Christ hath enough for thee and thou art not justified for what thou hast or dost but for the Lord Iesus sake looke up to him therefore and bring him to Gods tribunall to answer for thee that when Satan shall bring in his bils of inditement against thee and say what doe you hope to goe to Heaven doe you not consider the sinnes which you have committed doe you not remember the base courses which heretofore you have taken up and practized doe you not know that every sinner must die why answer Satan again all this is true Ay but remember the Lord Iesus it is true I can doe nothing but Christ hath done all for me what canst thou say to the Lord Iesus though I have offended hee hath never offended though I have sinned yet Christ hath fully satisfied I have deserved the wrath of God why Christ hath bore the wrath of God My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee He was once forsaken of God that I might bee for ever accepted of God goe thy wayes therefore comforted and refreshed the place is admirable Isaiah 43.25 Thou hast made mee serve with thy sinnes and wearied mee with thy rebellions but I even I am hee that blotteth out all thine iniquities and will remember thy transgressions no more The Lord takes notice of this are there any wicked they are as bad are there any vile they are as sinnefull they tired God with their wickednesse All you poore drunkards you trie God with your drunkennesse you prophaners of the Lords day you tire God with your prophanations and you swearers you trie Christ Iesus with your oaths and hidious blasphemies that you belch forth against him upon all occasions you would wonder that God should save such as you and truly so you may well enough for it is a wonder it is a miracle indeed but if you can goe out of your selves and sinnes and goe unto Christ and rest upon him the Lord saith I will blot out all those abominations of yours and Ezekiel 33.32 compare both those places together I will forget all your sinnes even for mine owne names sake as who should say it is not for your sakes no no bee it knowne to those stout hearts of yours it is not for your parts or gifts or graces no nor it is not for all the services wee can discharge but it is onely for mine owne Names sake that I will pardon you and remember your sinnes no more remember thy pride and stubbornnesse no more remember thy prophanenesse no more remember thy vanitie and loosenesse no more remember thou to bee humbled and the Lord will never remember thy sinnes any more Satan it may bee will come in and accuse thee here is a Sabbath-breaker Lord condemne him no more of that Satan saith God Christ hath suffered and satisfied for him no more therefore of that let mee heare no more of those things I have forgotten them saith God this will cheere a mans heart at that great day This also is a ground of incouragement to us against all the trials that can befall us in the course of the world we see that innocencie goeth to the wals no man can stand against envie and hatred and backbiting why though you finde hard dealing here at the hands of wicked men though you be accused here with false surmises and false accusations and slanderous speeches yet set one against the other you shall never bee condemned hereafter There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ there may bee persecutions there may bee accusations there may be oppositions here upon earth raised against thee why yet goe on cheerily there is no condemnation in Heaven if God acquit let men condemne if God approve let men disallow nay lastly here is consolation even in death also what though your bodies bee deprived of your soules and you leave all when you returne again it is but onely thus Come yee blessed of my Father you that are beleevers you shall bee for ever blessed Vse 3 The third use is of exhortation will nothing doe the deed but a Christ why Oh then above all labour for a Christ more than all labour to prize a Christ never let thy heart bee quieted never let thy soule bee contented untill thou hast obtained Christ Take now a malefactor sentence is passed execution to bee administered upon him suggest any thing to him how to be rich or how to bee pardoned how to bee honoured or how to be pardoned Ay saith hee riches are good and honours are good but oh a pardon or nothing ay but then you must leave all for a pardon why take all saith he and give me a pardon that I may live thought in povertie that I may live though in misery though in beggary this is the nature of such a poore creature So it is with a poore beleeving
if they will take the guilt of your sinnes upon them they say we have too many inabilities to procure pardon for any one sinne and never a Saint in the world dares to meddle with the guilt of anothers sinnes and therefore they dare not meddle with them but they say as the wise virgins did to the foolish ones Matth. 25.9 When the foolish virgins said give us of your oyle for our lamps are gone out not so said they lest there bee not enough for you and us too but rather goe unto them that sell and buy for your selves Even so if you goe to the Saints and say I pray you undertake the pardon of my sinnes and rebellions and beare you the guilt of my sinnes because you are holy and righteous no say they we cannot so all the creatures cannot succour you If all the creatures in heaven and earth should conspire together to save you from the burthen of any one sinne they could not doe it nay the creatures become your accusers the bed whereupon thou hast committed so many abominations and the alehouse where thou hast beene drunke and hast blasphemed and the habitation where thou dwellest and all the creatures groane against thee under the burthen of thy abominations as Rom. 8.22 Therefore they wil take no more guilt upon them than what they have already they are too weary of the weight of what they fele already but though the saints dare not and the creatures cannot save you yet there is hope in heaven there is help to be had in Christ well were it with thee if thou hadst any share in that Christ but this is that which will sinke thy heart that there is no hope for thee there what dost thou talke of grace and of mercy when thou hast opposed the Gospell of grace and of mercy and thou continuest in unbeleefe this is the height and depth of the misery of all unbeleevers that there is no hope for them in heaven This was that which the wicked said when they insulted against David in Psalme â— 2 There is no helpe for him in his God what they said of David falsly God saith it truly of thee there is no help for thee in God there is mercy in Christ but that 's thy misery for there is none for thee being an unbeleever Psalme 18.41 David there expresseth the miserie of the wicked Because the Lord leaves them in their troubles they cried but there was none to save them yea even unto the Lord but he answered them not That 's thy estate right though thou callest to heaven and to Christ and to the God of mercy and to the merits of Christ yet they will not helpe thee thou hast many sinnes and thou shalt beare them every one Now thinke what your sinnes have deserved and how you will be able to beare them when all flesh shall appeare before God then the Lord will charge all thy sinnes upon thy soule and thou must beare and if every sinne deserves condemnation then how wilt thou be able to beare all those condemnations that are due to all thy sins which thou canst not number even the dregs of vengeance and the bottome of the cup of the Lords indignation Christ in Iohn 17.9 speaking of the faithfull and how hee praies to the Father for them he saith I pray not for them of the world but for these whom thou hast given mee out of the world When a poore unbeleever shall come to Jesus Christ and shall intreat him to speake a good word for him when hee hath never regarded his person not accepted of his gracious offers of mercy and shall intreat Christ to pray for him no saith Christ I never prayed for the obstinately wicked now if Christ will not speake a good word for thee dost thou thinke that hee will pardon the guilt of thy sinnes upon him nay he only pardons the guilt of the sinnes of the faithfull but as for thee thou must beare thy sinnes and suffer for them for evermore Vse 3 The third use is a word of exhortation and instruction to all the saints and faithfull of God if Christ were content to bee made sin for all the faithfull then what must you be contented to doe for your Saviour was he made sinne for thee then be thou content to be made shame for him be thou willing to beare the shame and disgrace and reproach that comes unto thee for the Name of Christ be content to be accounted the such and off-scouring of the earth bee not evill doers but be contented to bee counted as evill doers 1 Cor. 4.13 Wee are persecuted and yet wee pray we are reviled and yet we blesse we are accounted as the off-scouring of the earth untill this time So doe you bee content to beare any shame that is unjustly laid upon thee for thy Saviour which was accounted a sinner for thee Acts 24.14 S. Paul was resolute in it and said after the way that ye call heresie worship I the Lord God of my Fathers nay hee presseth this upon the hearts of Gods Children Hebrewes 13.12 13. speaking in the 12. verse that Christ tooke our sinnes upon him and went out of the citie and was slaine without the gate he saith in the 13. verse Let us therefore goe out of the Camp to him bearing our reproach be not afraid to be seene in a Christian cause nor to be disgraced for it goe out boldly and resolutely harden your faces and steel your hearts against all such things and let the dogs barke and the winds blow and the waves roare goe you out of the Campe for his honour bearing his reproach comfortably he hath borne sinne for thee beare thou shame for him Vse 4 Fourthly it is a word of comfort and consolation to all the faithfull be thy sinnes never so many and the guilt of them never so great yet learne this skill to cast it all on the Lord Jesus Christ ease thy owne soule of it and hurle thy care on him that careth for thee This is that which I would have all the faithfull wary of not to make their miseries more than they should Now Christ not onely tooke our sinnes by imputation but also the payment of the debt was really discharged by our Saviour he laid downe the payment of the debt and suffered the punishment really though I doe not conceive this to be directly intended yet it may be inferred from the words of the Text in the former point Christ was charged with the sinnes of all the faithfull and now Christ did suffer their pains and underwent the whole punishments which their sinnes required so the point of Doctrine from hence is this Doctrine The Lord Jesus Christ suffered fully whatsoever punishments divine justice required or were deserved by the sinnes of the faithfull I ground this Doctrine out of the Text thus the text saith Christ was made sinne that is he had our sinnes imputed to him and therefore hee must
the mountaines fall on us and to the hils cover us from the presence of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lambe for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand If any man could beare up himselfe then it were the great ones of the world now take a scantling of your owne strength if any were able to beare the wrath of the Lord it were the kings and the mightie men and the captaines and the rich men of the world but faith the text The day of the Lords wrath is come and who shall bee able to stand It is not the soveraigntie of the king nor the skill and courage of the captaine or the libertie of the freeman or the slavery of the bondman that can deliver them but they all crie to the rocks fall on us and cover us from the presence of the Lord nay that you may yet see the vildnesse and wretchednesse of your hearts and the miserablenesse of your condition when the presence of the Lord appeares see what the text saith Psalme 114.5 7. The sea fled and the earth trembled the hils melted at the presence of the Lord nay the devils themselves tremble as in the 6. and 8. verses of the epistle of Saint Iude The Angels which kept not their first love he hath reserved in everlasting chaines under darknesse to be kept for the judgement of the last day they have their portion for the while but there is a great deale of wrath to come and there are many plagues comming and they know Gods wrath and they shake and tremble in the apprehension of it now when you see this goe home to your owne soules and let every man that would heretofore as his owne conscience can tell him flout God to his face and make a scorn of hell and of judgement and condeÌ„nation go home I say lay this to your owne hearts and say is it so that the mountains shak and the sea shrinks and the devils tremble at the wrath of the Lord good Lord then how shall I be able to beare it that am not able to coÌ„ceive of it nay if any man think that hee is able to undergoe the wrath of God and to bear it off with head and shoulders look but here upon the Lord Jesus Christ that was perfect God and perfect man he that created heaven and earth and bote up the foundation of heaven and earth yet when hee came to beaâ—t the wrath of God it forced teares from his eyes and clodded blood from his body and made him crie out My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Doe but now compare your selves with Christ and say did my Saviour buckle under the wrath of God then certainly it will breake you therefore say thou if hee that was the Creator of heaven and earth could not beare it then how shall I be able to beare it when he comes against me for my siâ— and corruption committed by me therefore heart and feare all you stout hearted of the world rather now tremble while you may be comforted than hereafter when you shall never be eased thinke but with your selves how dreadfull that day will be when all the glorious attributes of God shall take their leaves of you he that before had a great deale of mercy and patience and the Lord hath wooed him saying Oh once at last heare and see the things that belong to thy peace there is not one of you all in this congregation but that you have beene compast about with mercies and the justice of God it would have broken out against you had not mercy stepped in to rescue you how easie were it for the Lord to dash us all into the bottomlesse pit every creature of us therefore thanke mercy and patience and forbearance that still you breathe and say blessed bee God that I have to deale with a gracious mercifull and compassionate God that hath kept mee from judgement that I have not ere now perished in it Now thinke with your selves what a day it wil be when mercy shal weep over you take his leave of you say remeÌ„ber thou poore creature how I met thee in thy walkes and kneeled downe before thee and besought thee to take mercy and to be saved and pardoned but thou wouldst not adem therefore this is the last time of asking I will never see thy face more and with that patience as it were buckles under the burthen and saith I have bond with their thus longe I have borne twenty years with some thirtie years with some fortie years with others and all this which I have borne with thee in thy pride and stubbornesse and loosenesse and uncleannesse but now adew never more patience to beare with you what no more mercy nor no more goodnesse saith the soule and they all say no and stake their hands and say adew thou rebellious heart for ever it will make thy heart shake within thee and thou wilt say I shall sinke downe suddenly there is nothing but wrath to bee expected they are all gone to heaven and you must be forever packing to hell Oh feare and feare all you whom it doth concerne this day if so bee Christ cannot beare it then you cannot suffer it but you will sinke under the same for ever Now I come to the reasons of the point in generall why our Saviour suffered paines both in body and in soule then the reasons of it are three and they are all of speciall use Reason 1 First it is taken from the divine justice of God which required this by way of satisfaction as being onely surable and agreeable to the divine justice of God by reason of sinne whereby Adam had intrenched upon the privilege of God the Father every breach of the Law of God intrencheth neerly upon God himselfe and therefore every sinne is of a provoking nature because it is committed against an infinite majestie therefore that divine justice may not be a loser there must be a punishment not onely corporall but also spirituall for justice abates not any thing of the satisfaction God is just and this is justice to give every one his due honour to whom honour belongs and punishment to whom punishment belongs therefore that justice may bee preserved she must inflict these punishments upon our Saviour being in our roome the Jesuites have devised a cavill against this reason say they it needed not that Christ should suffer these for the dignitie of the person of our Saviour may dispence with some part of the punishment and if he beare death it is sufficient he may bee freed from the other paines in his soule Now that this conceit of theirs is a thing marvellous injurious to the justice of God the Father and to the wisedome of the Lord Jesus Christ and to the death of Christ I prove it thus for by the same right that the dignitie of the person of our
the union drawes somewhat neerer so that wee see first there is a holy Ghost in the promise and secondly wee see that the Holy Ghost leaves a supernaturall worke upon the soule and brings it home to Christ Conclus 3 The third conclusion is this the Spirit of grace in the promise working thus upon the heart it causeth the heart to close with it selfe in the promise the Spirit of God by the promise so works upon the soule that it makes the soule close with the promise and with it selfe in the promise and this is to be one Spirit and this I take to bee the meaning of that place Philippians 3.12 Paul saith that he was apprehended of Christ as if he should say I was not so much apprehending as apprehended not so much that he did it but Christ in him and upon him and by him for I told you the worke of the Lord in the worke of conversion is upon us by us to bring us to himselfe The Spirit of the Lord is in heaven and it is in the promise and that Spirit in the promise comes to the soule of a beleever and leaves a spirituall worke upon the soule of a beleever and the soule is moved by vertue of that Spirit to close with that promise and with that Spirit that is in the promise I would expresse my selfe by these two comparisons looke as it is with the moone the naturall Philosopher observes that the ebbing and flowing of the sea is by vertue of the moone she flings her beames into the sea and not being able to exhale as the sunne doth shee leaves them there and goes away and that drawes them and when they grow wet they returne backe againe now the sea ebs and flowes not from any principle in it selfe but by vertue of the moone being moved it goes being drawne it comes the moone casting her beames upon the waters it moves the sea and so drawes it selfe unto it selfe and the sea with it so the heart of a poore creature is like the water unable to move towards heaven but the Spirit of the Lord doth bring in its beames and leaves a supernaturall vertue by them upon the soule and thereby drawes it to it selfe or looke as it is with a claspe and a keeper take a great claspe put it thorow the keeper and being brought thorow it closeth with it selfe so it is with an humble broken heart it is like this keeper the good Spirit of the Lord is like this claspe the Spirit workes upon the soule and leaves a supernaturall vertue upon the soule and goeth with that vertue and puls the soule by the power of it selfe and knits it to its selfe it workes upon the heart in this manner and clasps the humbled sinner and brings him home and holds him to the promise and to it selfe in the promise Now I would contract these three conclusions in the former sermons into three questions to make them so familiar that weake ones which have any spirituall grace may be able to come to aprehend and understand them Quest 1 I aske therefore what is there in the promise of the Gospell or what is there in the Word of God is there nothing but letters and sillables and sentences Answ I answer Yes humane Authours have words and sentences but oh the glorious God the third person of the Trinitie the blessed Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ is inseparably present with and accompanying of the promises of God the words are but the shell but the substance is the Spirit of grace how were your hearts comforted in the time of trouble and how were your hearts broken and brought out from your lusts Oh it was the Spirit for man was never able to doe it but Lord thy almighty hand came downe from heaven and broke this heart of mine and if Christ that Lion of the tribe of Judah had not come downe from heaven this lion-like heart of mine would never have yeelded nor come downe this is the answer to the first question Quest 2 What doth the beleever doe aske your owne hearts doe your hearts close and meet with the good Word of the Lord and doe you say Oh it is the good Word of the Lord my heart consented to it and closed with it thus Answ Oh yes saith the soule me thought I was even knit to the Word then I aske againe was thy heart knit to the Word onely and the sillable only and did thy heart close with the sentences only the soule answers No the truth is my eare did receive the sound and my minde the sense but my soule received the Lord Jesus Christ To as many as received him to them he gave power to become the sonnes of God 1 Iohn 12. the words are but only as the conduit to convey the water of life and the Spirit of grace but they lay hold upon Christ there and that it is so I prove it thus did not you finde your hearts comforted at such a time Oh yes saith the soule me thinks I see the Ministers face still and when he came to such a point and such a passage good Lord mee thought I was in heaven could words and reasons and sentences have done it No surely the Spirit of grace was there and my heart did close with the same the stomack receives not meat as the dish or vessell doth but the stomack doth receive it and is fastned to it and hath the sweetnesse of it and is made one with it Iohn 6.63 The words that I speake they are Spirit and life and this is the excellencie of the Word when all the learned Doctors and Schoolemasters shall have the tongues but shall never humble one soule nor purge nor convert one heart yet the Word and the Spirit in it will doe that which is usefull and helpfull for thee in this kinde the Words that I speake they are Spirit and they are life saith our Saviour so then you see you that are ignorant and weake you say to your selfe how shall I come to be knit to the Lord Jesus Christ seeing hee is in heaven and I am on earth Oh but quiet thy selfe in this he is in a most speciall manner in the preaching of the Word and if thou cleavest to the Word aright then thou cleavest to the Spirit of Christ Quest 3 In the third place I aske how doth the Spirit of man come to close and to be one with the Spirit of Christ in the promise Answ I answer are your owne hearts able to doe this or is nature or your wits or parts able to doe this for you No the good Spirit of the Lord wrought upon and fitted and framed the hearâ— hereunto and put this temper upon it as the workman gives a temper to the knife and another makes iron draw iron and he doth it thus he drawes the magnet or load-stone over the iron and the vertue thereof makes it able to draw iron to it selfe so the soule saith
is not my basenesse that hinders mee but my corruptions that oppose the worke of grace in my soule and that will be my bane I know that God is able to doe what is needfull and Christ is willing to doe what he is able to those that beleeve in him and rest upon him but this proud heart opposeth the worke of his grace and the operation of his Spirit my minde is so blinde that nothing in the world takes place my heart is still polluted and my distempers still hang upon mee nay sometimes my soule is wearie of the good word of the Lord that would pluck them from me insomuch that I could almost bee content to pluck out my heart and will the Lord shew mercie to mee that oppose mercie and will the Lord make mee partaker of his redemption that resists the worke of his redemption I answer God hath appointed Christ for this purpose and Christ hath undertooke this worke therefore if God hath appointed it and Christ will worke it who can hinder it thy ignorance cannot hinder the Lord Jesus Christ if hee will teach thee hee will inlighten thy blinde minde and convince that stubborne heart of thine nay all the corruptions under heaven cannot oppose this worke of God hee hath appointed it and hee hath power to pull downe a stout stomack and bee hath power to sanctifie a polluted heart corruptions are many and temptations fierce but if he will redeeme who can destroy if he sanctifie who can pollute if he justifie who can condemne this is the worke of a Saviour if Christ will doe it none can hinder it if God hath appointed it nothing can let it but it is the worke of a Christ and God hath appointed it therefore cheare up thy heart in the consideration hereof you that are the Saints of God cast off all those cavils and pretences against the power of Christ and his grace and goe out of your selves and see the privileges that God vouchsafes unto you and reason thus with your selves It is true Lord my heart is naught and I have no power my minde is blinde and I have no wisdome but I know that Christ is made wisdome to mee and thou hast appointed the Lord Jesus Christ to be made wisdome and sanctification to the soule of thy servant though sin pollute me yet Christ can sanctifie mee though the guilt be great yet the pardon of a Christ is greater than the guilt and where sinne abounds grace abounds much more therefore lift up your selves and cheare up your hearts and goe away comfortably what is awanting God will give what hee gives he will maintaine what hee maintaines hee will quicken what hee quickens hee will perfect and he will crowne you and your grace and all in the kingdome of heaven for ever what would you have in this kinde nay let mee speak one thing more Hee is the redeemer of his servants what is that why the Scripture saith the last enemy of all is death and that is the aime of all the wicked that is the worst they can doe now in Saint Matthew Christ saith Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevaile against it the gates of hell what 's that it was the fashion among the Jewes as our sessions and assises are kept in the market place so their place of meeting was at the gates so that when he saith The gates of hell shall not prevaile against it his meaning is this when Beelzebub and all the Devils in hell shall joyne together to destroy the Church all the policie of all the Devils in hell shall not prevaile the worst they can doe is to bring them unto death but Christ will bee redemption unto them art thou in captivity he will free thee art thou in persecution he will deliver theeâ— nay when thy body shall lye downe in the grave though the Heathen said when they had burnt the bodies of Gods Saints and throwne them into the water Let us now see how they will rise againe they were deceived thou must be contented for Christ will redeem that dust and say to the earth Give up and to the sea Give up thy dead deliver up the bodies of my servants let their sinews and bones come together and body and soule shall come together and enjoy happinesse in heaven together for evermore if then neither the guilt of sinne can condemne us nor the filth of sinne pollute us if neither misery nor persecution can hurt us then goe away not only comfortably but triumphantly into persecution and prison into holes and caves and dens of the earth Christ will bee all in all unto you in grace here and in glorie hereafter therefore let this comfort you Vse 3 In the third place it is the use the holy Ghost here makes Is it so that there is a conveyance of all grace from Christ to the beleever hee doth what he doth by him and hath what he hath from him then it is a word of instruction to teach us all to lye downe in the dust let no man glorie in man but let him that glories glorie in the Lord this is the maine collection the Apostle inferres God hath chosen the foolish and base things of the world that no man might glorie in flesh as who should say it is not my parts but Christ it is not my abilities but mercie it is not what I can doe but what Christ will performe therefore if Christ then bee Author of all wee have or can doe let him receive all the honour and praise of all we have or doe doth the Lord worke all our workes in us and for us then let him receive the tribute due to his Name and take nothing to your selves away with that proud heart that bars God of his honor and praise and of the due which indeed belongs unto him and ought to be performed by all his servants dost thou thinke the Lord will bestow all his favour upon thee and worke all for thee and thou in the meane time pranke up thy selfe and lift up thy crest no I charge you you Saints of God as to know your owne privileges to be thankfull for them so to know your owne unworthinesse and to lie downe in the dust and be abased for ever and to give God the honour due unto his Name Revel 4.8 The foure and twentie Elders fell downe and laid downe their crownes at the Lambes feet and said Thou onely art worthy to receive all honour and glory and praise If wee had a thousand crownes never so much honour and riches and credit and abilities fling away all at the foot of Christ let him have all the praise thou art worthy Lord we are unworthy thy assistance wee have received thy comfort thou hast continued and thou art worthy of all the honour in that thou hast beene pleased to worke any worke in us and by us to the praise of
looke up to God from whence it comes looke to those mountaines of mercy that will succour you look up to a Lord Jesus that will supply all your wants that will furnish you with all grace looke onely to him for all for he onely is the Author and giver of all looke as I have observed it there is a foolish conceit that hath beene bred by some curious nice brains that they have perswaded themselves they can make the Philosophers stone the nature of which is to turne all metall into gold which is utterly impossible for the Mines of gold are in the earth and God continueth them by an ordinary course of his providence but all the men upon earth can never make gold by any Art or means in the world To turne the nature of one metall into the nature of another it is a kinde of creation therefore beyond the reach of any man to doe it they may trie and trie and spend their heart blood and all but it is all but lost labour So it is with our foolish blinde deluded hearts and distracted spirits we thinke to make gold and to coine grace out of our owne powers and parts and abilities I tell you you can never doe it while the world stands no no you doe but lose your labour goe to the Mine of gold the Mine of grace goe to the God of all mercy away to the Lord Jesus Christ I say he is made unto us wisedome and hee will informe us hee is made unto us righteousnesse and hee will acquit us hee is made unto us grace goe to him therefore and hee will communicate all grace unto our soules Looke as Iacob said to his sonnes when the famine was sore in the Land of Canaan hee sent his sonnes into Egypt to buy corne that they and their little ones might not famish and marke how hee calls upon them Why stand you here gazing one upon another I doubt not but then they were laying their heads together and plotting and conferring saying the famine is great and the times dangerous and wee are miserable now but oh what will become of us afterwards if these times last now the Lord help us now the Lord bee mercifull to us and deliver us what meanes shall wee use what course were wee best to take In the mean time Iacob calls upon them Why stand you here gazing one upon another away get you downe to Egypt presently and buy us food you will never get provision to sustaine us by plotting and talking one with another you will never get any come to sustaine you by looking and gazing one upon another no no downe to Egypt with all speed there corne is to be had that we and those that belong unto us may live and not die so it is with the soules of Gods children the poore distressed heart partly through the Devils cunning and subtiltie partly also through our owne ignorance and folly wee stand gazing at our corruptions and it begin to thinke and wonder what will become of us no means prevaile no mercies melt no judgements humble no reproofs awe us the famine growes strong my corruptions fierce and my case heavie that I know not almost what course to take why stand you thus gazing after this fashion what doe you thinke to get grace upon these termes by discouragements and disquieting your selves and vexing your owne hearts thus No no away to Egypt to the promise of life to the Lord Iesus for help and assistance and then you shall have mercy and grace abundantly bestowed upon you and that freely with your money in the mouth of your sacks againe you shall have grace that you need and sufficiently bestowed upon you Looke as it is with Eliah when he was to depart from Elisha and bee taken up into Heaven Elisha craves one thing of him and that was this 1 Kings 2.9 That the Spirit of Elias might he doubled upon Elisha now marke how Eliah answered Thou hast asked a hard thing saith hee neverthelesse if thou canst see mee when I am taken from thee it shall bee granted to thee Now some Interpreters have observed and that very wisely that it was not so much the sight of Elias as the sight of God taking up of Elias that should doe this as if hee had said wouldst thou have a double portion of Gods Spirit vouchsafed unto thee because many miseries are like to come in upon thee great and heavie troubles and sore persecution is approching what course then is to bee taken why see God taking up of Elias that God that tooke up Elias and that God that wrought grace in the heart of Elias see that God and be within the view of that God and thy request shall be granted to thee the collection is faire so I say here if thou wouldst have a double portion of grace doe not goe to prayer onely doe not goe to hearing onely doe not goe to the Sacraments onely and barely but oh see a Christ and looke upon a promise and then thou shalt have a double portion of wisedome to informe thee a double portion of sanctification to cleanse thee a double portion of grace and power and strength against thy corruptions from Christ conveyed and communicated to thy soule and this is the first rule The second rule is this as we must have an eye dayly upon the promise so wee must labour to yeeld the soule to the power of that Spirit and to the vertue of that Grace which is in Christ and would worke upon thee doe not onely eye a Saviour and behold grace in the promise but yeeld thy selfe and give way to the stroke of the promise and to the power of the spirit that by the power thereof thou maist bee inabled to doe what God requires 2 Cor. 3.18 The holy Apostle disputing there how men should bee transformed into the glorious Image of God or as the word is metamorphosed from one degree of glorious grace unto another more holy and more meeke and more patient and more heavenly minded Hee that was cold before should now become more zealous he that was faint hearted before should now become more couragious how is this done even as by the Spirit of the Lord saith the Text as if he had said it is not by your spirits that this must or can be done doe not thinke that you can master your owne corruptions or that you can pull downe the distempers of your owne hearts and get what grace you list no no it is not your spirits can doe this it must bee the Spirit of Christ as by the Spirit of the Lord so the Apostle The phrase of the Prophet David is sweet in his kinde Teach me the way unto thee thy Spirit is good as who should say O Lord my spirit is a naughtie spirit my spirit is a proud spirit my spirit is a prophane spirit my spirit is a weake spirit my spirit is an ignorant and a blind spirit but oh
into England then he is here accounted a good subject and he is so far from being condemned that hee is wonderfully advanced and honoured by the King here is a change in Turkie hee was condemned as a Traitor but in England hee is counted a good subject and is received into favour and honoured here is a morall change but now here is no naturall change here is nothing put into this man If he were ignorant before he is ignorant still if he were wicked before he is wicked still but he hath a good relation as a subject and is pardoned in England he is in another roome and rank this is a morall change But now if a man were ignorant before and since he came into England he were framed and made wise and holy this is a spirituall change before hee was ignorant and now hee is learned before gracelesse but now gracious this is a naturall change or rather a spirituall change Just so it is with a faithfull soule the poore sinner as hee is landed here upon the shore of sinne and corruption take him as he is by nature he is liable to divine justice and a Traitor in Gods account and as he stands liable to the Law hee is a damned man hee is sicke of sinne But now when the Father hath brought him home to the Lord Jesus Christ and landed him upon another Coast hee is now sure to partake of life and of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ and he that before was attached of treason is acquitted of all in the Lord Jesus Christ the respects of treason and condemnation are taken off and other respects and relations are put on this is done in justification and afterward when hee is justified then the Lord will honour and adorne the soule so that though the soule before was ignorant the Lord will now make him wise unto salvation though before hee were polluted yet now hee shall bee sanctified And thus much of the reasons why I call it an act of God the Father upon the beleever Vse 1 The proper fruit of this Doctrine is this Is it so that justification is an act of God the Father upon the beleever then it is a ground of admirable comfort to beare up the heart of a poore sinner above all the accusations and all the power and the policies of our enemies against us or the intendments of the wicked to hurt us remember but this that God the Father justifies and this will bee a cordiall to beare up the heart against whatsoever the world or the devill or the wicked shall lay to the charge of a beleever If thou art justified before Gods tribunall in Heaven why shouldst thou care or feare or bee troubled or disquieted when thou art condemned by the wicked upon the earth this justification on Gods part can wipe away and scatter all the clouds and all the accusations on mans part 1 Cor. 4.2.3 It is required of the dispensers that every man be found faithfull but as for mee I passe very little to be judged by mans judgement the word in the originall is very excellent I passe not to bee judged by mans day men have their dayes of meeting and of judging and their dayes of rioting in the alehouse and in the brothel-house and there they can tosse the names of Gods Servants up and downe and they sit upon their names and lives and liberties and they raise what reports they will these are the drunkards dayes and the malicious mans dayes there they sit and give their doomes what they will doe to such a Christian and to such a Minister but marke what Saint Paul saith I passe not for mans dayes it is no more to mee than the dust of the ballance or the drop of the bucket but hee alludes to another day to the day of judgement when the Lord shall judge all the world when hee that is holy shall bee approved of and acquitted and hee that is vilde and wicked shall bee condemned I looke to that day Were he not worthy to be begged for a foole that should goe away troubled and disquieted because a company of drunkards had condemned him upon the alebench when the Judge had cleared him upon the bench of justice therefore steele your faces against all the malicious accusations of the wicked let them sit and condemne thee upon the alebench if they will so long as thou art acquitted in heaven herein bee for ever cheared through his mercy It was that which made the holy Prophet so marvellously confident in Isaiah 50.8.9 and to throw downe the gantlet saying Hee is neer that justifies mee who will contend with mee see whether you can set your foot to mine vow for vow and word for word who is mine adversary let him come neere behold the Lord God will succour me who will condemne me lo they all shall wax old as a garment the moth shall eat them up they shall vanish and shall not be able to appeare at the day of accounts nay the moth shall eat them up nay the wicked shall say in hell as the wise man saith We fooles thought this mans life madnesse and wee past our judgements upon these precise fellowes that must ever and anon bee in a corner to weepe for their sinnes but we finde now that wee are the fooles that have neglected grace and salvation and happinesse which now they enjoy for ever If a man had a case to bee tried in the Chancerie if the Lord Chancellour were his friend hee need not feare any thing for the Lord Chancellour would suffer nothing to come in against him but would cast them all out and heare none of them so you that are beleevers and have a friend and a Father that sits in the high Court of Chancery in Heaven howsoever there are many which would be medling with you yet your Father is the Judge of the Court and he will dishonour all those that seeke to dishonour you It is the ground of that blessed boldnesse which the Apostle concludes with himselfe not onely that the thing should not bee carried against him as Rom. 8.33 but that all should be for him Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods chosen it is God that justifieth Let the gates of Hell bee set open and Belzebub and all the Devils come roaring out against him and let the wicked come that beare him ill will and let all his sinnes come and his owne conscience too yet hee need not feare any thing the ground is hence because it is God that justifies hee doth not say they shall never prevaile against Gods servants but they shall not plead against them and hee doth not say they shall not condemne them but they shall not accuse them as hee said Acts 19.38 The Law is open and there are Deputies let them accuse 〈◊〉 plead one against another so that here shall not bee so much as pleading against a poore beleever because God the Father hath
marke thou feest then the sonne concludes with the father and they enter into agreement and the son saith I will feed and keep those sheep so it is with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ God the Father gives all the names of all the faithfull from the beginning of the world to the end of it and saith all these are my children there is a poor creature in such a blinde corner of the countrie which I must have saved and in another place there is another base drunkard which I must have saved that I may make the world to wonder at it the foundation of the Lord standeth sure and hath this seale the Lord knoweth who are his the Lord hath elected and called them that 's his marke and therefore our Saviour Christ undertakes the care of them and God the Father looks that all those that are committed to the care of Christ should bee saved as in Iohn 17.12 Of all that thou hast given me have I lost none but the childe of perdition that is he was a wolfe and no sheep and a lion and a cunning fox and none of my charge but of all that thou hast given mee hove I lost none all you poore ignorant and weake Christians little lambes that cannot helpe your selves Christ will not lose one of you but though you are never so mean and poore the Lord will carry you in his armes and bring you to everlasting life 1 Cor. 15.24 Then shall the end be when the Lord Iesus hath delivered up the Kingdome to the Father and shal say Father thou hast given me the charge of so many in England so many in Spain so many in Asia so many in the Palatinate the Lord Jesus Christ shall deliver up the whole number to God the Father Secondly our Saviour having undertaken to keepe these he addresseth himselfe to the worke to use those means by which hee may keepe and save them and that he doth thus he puts himselfe into the roome and place of all those poore lost sheepe of his and this is the difficultie to open this to you that are weake Now what is it to be put in the roome and place of another Christ doth willingly submit himselfe to the power of the revenging justice of the Father that whatsoever the Law and Justice of God required at the hands of the faithfull that doth Christ stand unto and will answer it all as thus the debter is taken and imprisoned and they that are his friends desire some releasment for him how upon consultation and conference with the creditor it is agreed that such a man shall undertake to help him and to free him from all the extremitie that he lies in for the debt and hee must doe it by one of these two wayes either hee must breake the prison and so rescue him by strong hand or else he must yeeld and submit to what the Law requires and is due to the creditor and the creditor saith if you will bee content to become debtor and acquit him of the debt if you will enter bond with me to become a pay-master of the whole debt due to me then I am content to free him Now the man that thus yeelds himselfe to what the power of Law and Justice can do against the debtor that man becomes a suretie for him he will bee as one that owes the money and that must pay and the Law proceeds as fully against him as against the debtor the debtor did personally owe the money and lay in prison for it but the suretie is as one that hath forfeited and must pay hee submits himselfe to the power of Law and Justice that looke what the Law requires of a man forfeiting and owing hee is content that the Law require it of him Just so it is here the sinner is this debtor and Christ undertakes for him by a mutuall consent betweene the Father and him and hee yeelds and submits himselfe to all the power of Justice that looke how the Law accounts of a sinner it should account of him Now the Law of God accounts of this man as one that hath broken the Law and deserved eternall death and Christ submits himselfe to these the Law requires doing and suffering and Christ is contented to undergoe all these for all that shall beleeve as Gal. 4.4 5. When the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his onely Sonne made of a woman and made under the Law that he might redeeme them which were under the Law the meaning is this looke how we were under the Law so was Christ under the Law for us that so he might redeeme those that were under the Law the Law laid guilt to our charge and the Law did condemne us and the Lord Christ was content to be under all that commanding revenging authority which the Law had over us so that now Christ is come into the roome of all the faithfull hence is that speech of Luther which the Papists so much cavill at hee saith our Saviour was the greatest sinner of all the faithfull that ever was upon the face of the earth not that he had any sin of his owne inherent in him or committed by him but because all the sins of all the world were charged upon him and Christ put himselfe into the roome of all the world that looke whatsoever the Law required of any the same it required of him and what the Law accounted of any it accounted the same of him Thirdly our Saviour having put himselfe into the roome of a sinner the Law now proceeds with full scope against him and God the Father may justly proceed according to rule and may justly expresse the power of his revenging Justice upon him and hence it is that God the Father accounts of Jesus Christ as a sinner and proceeds against him and condemnes him as a sinner and doth require of him whatsoever hee requires of a sinner a sinner must doe or die and so must the Lord Christ because hee hath put himselfe into the roome of a sinner As it is with a creditor haply the debtor growes a bankrupt and flies his countrie the creditor cares not for saith hee I will lay the debt upon the sureries backe such a man was bound for him I have him still in my chest and it is as good to mee as if the debtor himselfe were able to pay me so it is here when poore sinners wrong God and wound his Spirit and dishonour his Name and transgresse his Lawes and they are not able to answer him one of a thousand though they should goe to bell for it now God the Father saith I must be righteous I will lay all their sinnes upon the Lord Jesus Christ he became a debtor and undertook for them and therefore I will require it of him as well as of them Thus much of the first part of the discovery of this point that God the Father charged our sinnes upon our Saviour and
them yet they shall never be able to fasten any guilt upon thee to condemne thee Looke as it was with the three children the fire in its owne nature was able to burne them therefore they that put them in were consumed by the flame but the three children had no hurt the Lord stopped the power of the flames that it burnt onely their bonds but not one haire of their head was sienged nor there was no smell of fire upon them it was not because the fire would not or could not but the Lord stopt the acting of the fire So every sinne is able to fasten guilt upon thee and to condemne thee but upon thy repentance the Lord hinders it in the act and therefore though sinne doth send the wicked and impenitent downe to hell to frie in torments yet it shall never send thee downe nor fasten guilt upon thee Thus it was likewise with Daniel Chap. 6.22 23 24. when he was put into the Lions denne the Princes of the king Darius had a spleene against Daniel because he was a holy man and had gotten some interest in the kings favour and they could get no hold against him but in the matter of his God now hee that loved God better than himselfe He opens his window boldly towards Ierusalem professing Gods truth when hee was called to it therefore they went to the king to have him to be cast into the den of Lions according to the decree now he was cast into it and though the Lions were hungrie yet God shut the mouth of the Lions they had power and were able to hurt him if they had not beene restrained but God had shut up their mouthes that they could not hurt him but when the enemies of Daniel were cast into the denne the Lions did teare them all to peeces before they came at the bottome of the denne they rent them in peeces suddenly what 's the reason of it they had as much power before and were as able and as hungry before but the Lord stopt their mouths that they could not devour Daniel Just so it is with the sinnes of the penitent and the sinnes of the impenitent the sinnes of the one though they are of a killing and a Lion-like nature for the wages of every sinne is death and there is condemnation in it yet the Lord stops the mouth of the Lion hee takes off the guilt and condemning power of sinne that though it hath power in it selfe to condemne yet it cannot doe it but now when it meets with an impenitent unbeleever the malice of the malicious shall kill him and the pride of the ambitious shall one day rend his heart but it is not so with the sins of the penitent beleevers their sinnes have teeth indeed and power to make a man worthy of condemnation but they shall never fasten condemnation upon him this is the meaning of that place Romans 8.3 That which was impossible to the Law to doe in as much as it was weake because of the flesh God sending his onely Sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh It is an excellent place and hath much weight in it and howsoever there are many interpretations of the place yet I will follow that interpretation which I now expresse that it was impossible for the Law to acquit a man of sinne because he cannot keepe the Law and therefore he cannot bee justified by it but how comes it to passe then that the Saints of God are delivered The text saith Christ tooke flesh on him and it was sinfull flesh by similitude or imputation not actually by commission the nature of our Saviour had no evill inherent in him nor committed by him but hee was only a sinner by imputation and then he condemned sinne in the flesh what is that it is a law case and Master Calvin hath it excellently he damned sinne as a man will say when he loseth the suit hee fell from his cause and from his plea which he made he lost it utterly so Christ taking upon him our nature by imputation he made sinne lose its claime which it would make to the soule in this case hee that breaketh the Law of God is guiltie and shall be condemned by it but this man hath broken the Law of God and therefore is guiltie of condemnation thereby Now Christ takes off these and saith It is true hee is guiltie of sinne and worthy of condemnation unlesse another be contented to be guilty for him but I have undertaken the guilt for him and have paid the debt for him and therefore this soule is free from sinne thou hast nothing to doe with this soule neither shalt thou condemne him Observe it when all your sinnes shall muster in upon you and come from East to West saying thou art guiltie of pride guiltie of malice c. and shalt be condemned for them make answer and say it is true Lord I am so but Christ hath taken away the guilt and condemnation and I have repented of my sinnes therefore sinne thou hast nothing to doe with this soule of mine Christ hath taken it and redeemed it and therefore I leave it with him This is the first conclusion Vse 2 In the second place wee heare what the Doctrine saith that God the Father charged all our sinnes upon Christ and that they shall never condemne the penitent and faithfull then what will become of the faithlesse and unbeleevers thinke ye This truth is like a thunder-bolt and it is able to shake the hearts of all unbeleevers and to dash them all in peeces Hence it is evident that every obstinate unbeleever is destitute of all hope of succour and pardon of his sinne consider of this all you that are unbeleevers you must pay your owne debts and beare your owne burthens I know your hearts cannot but testifie that the condition of such poore soules is very miserable it is that which sometimes comforts a man that either hee hath good friends that will helpe him or else hee hath means of his owne by which he is able to relieve himselfe but he that hath no reliefe of himselfe nor cannot expect noâ— hope for any this man sinks downe in sorrow because hee knowes there is no way in the world to help him This is thy condition right thou that art an unbeleever what to be cast out of heaven and earth too this is miserable to be for saken of God and man too that no means in heaven nor earth will stand him in steed for his good whilest hee thus continues Consider of this you that make nothing of the sinne of unbeleefe though you have some care of other sinnes whither will you goe for succour in that great day of accounts will you goe to the Saint they dare not will you goe to the Creatures they cannot will you goe to the Lord Jesus Christ he will not succour you If you goe to any of the Saints to see
what will ye spit in my face what you what and to a Saviour too and will ye pierce my soule by the corruptions of your hearts and by the actions of your hands thus the Lord Jesus Christ perswades you to see sin and to abhorre and 〈◊〉 it upon all occasions and therefore let us answâ—â— the requests of our Saviour and not shew our selves desperately wicked to pierce him againe and to renew his sufferings Vse 2 In the second place did our Saviour suffer these paines then see here the strictnesse of Gods justice Oh that exact precise severitie of Gods proceedings without exception of any mans person God puts no difference although hee were his Sonne but hee layes punishment upon him This is the reason of that exact dealing of God in Rom. 2.9 Tribulation and anguish shall bee upon the soule of every one that sinned and why 〈◊〉 God is no respecter of persons as verse 11. that the ground of it and it is not onely exprest but it 〈◊〉 also proved undeniable Rom. 11.22 Behold therefore the bountie and severitie of God towards them which have fallen severitie but towards that bountifulnesse remember Gods just proceeding against the Jewes and therefore it is that the Apostle citeth all the proceedings of Gods judgements not onely against the heathens that never knew him or his enemies that alwayes opposed him but even to his friends such as he had shewed much favour and mercy to if they sinne they shall be destroyed for their sinne But oh the just exactnesse of the justice of the Lord how severely just he is for this exactnesse is not onely upon the wicked and open profane but upon his owne deare children and they that have had his ordinances as in Amos the Prophet shewes what favours they had received in regard of the means but yet feel how severely the Lord punisheth them but he hold the miracle of justice in the Lord Jesus Christ his onely Sonne in whom his soule delighted our Saviour that had but the shadoâ—s of sinne had all punishments laid upon him in thick 〈◊〉 Now answer me whether God the Father bee not a strict God or no and a just and righteous God that would thus deale with his onely Sonne A man would have thought if any thing in the world could have stopped the hand of Divine justice that it should not proceed from God the Father then Christ he might have done it for her had all that ever any one in the world could have If the excellency of the person of our Saviour could have done it or the holinesse of the soule of our Saviour then he might have beene exempted from punishment yet all these were not able to doe it because hee was a suretie but yet a man would have thought that those teares of blood might in some measure moderate the matter could not those servent petitions of him have had so much as some abatement of the punishment when he cried out saying Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me and then againe the second time Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from mee nay the third time Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from me The Son of God was now upon the racke with it if it be possible let this cup passe from mee let mee onely have a sip and away and so let it passe from mee Surely if any thing could have stopped the hand of divine justice then Christ might have done it but God would not nor did not abate our Saviour one drop of his indignation but God inflicts it all and Christ suffers â— all behold therefore if thus bee not a just God heare and feare all you that heare the good word of the Lord this day you that thinke that Christ is made all of mercy it is a God of your owne imagination and your owne devising it is not that God which is the Lord of heaven and earth it is not the God of hoâ—sts the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ Oh say poore ignorant people he is a very mercifull God and full of compassion it is true hee is mercifull indeed but know this also to thy terrour that God is strict and precisely righteous you thinke to put off God with a few good words and lazy wishes and with a Lord have mercy upon us and if you can have but an houres time before your death to cry God mercy oh their you thinke all shall be well and God will goe away with anything and because you suffer a little punishments and afflictions in this life therefore you thinke to bee freed from them altogether hereafter no no know thou shalt not carry it away so indeed thou hast troubles and afflictions here but thou shalt have eternitie of torments for ever in the life to come if thou still continuest to bee a sinfull wretch and an unbeleeve there is no way with thee but to beare thy owne plagues and miseries hereafter when thou seest the Sonne of God himselfe corrected dost thou thinke to goe free if God would not bare oils Saviour any thing of it dost thou thinke he will abate thee any thing againe our Saviour had our sins onely imputed to him but thy sins thou hast committed them thy selfe and canst thou thinke to escape that are proud and stubborne and malicious and liest and livest be thy sins and dost wallow in them and allow of thy selfe in the commission of them no surely God will not spare any blasphemer nor unclean wretch nor profane person under heaven if he did not spare his owne Son he will not spare thee but hee will inflict upon thee the sharpest punishments that can bee imagined therefore now if God bee so severe against sinne then let your affections be answerable thereunto doe you pitie none that are sinfull not onely slaves but in a childe a son a husband let us labour to get a hearefull of hatred against sin in any of these nay though shee were the wife of thy bosome or thy childe or thy deere friend if thou seest sin in them bee sure to punish it especially you that are in places of authoritie into whose hands God hath committed the sword of the Magistracie for the execution of justice You that are Gods vice-gerents upon earth doe you as God himselfe hath done and walke in his way and so bee blessed in whatsoever you doe I said ye are Gods saith David every Magistrate every Justice in the countrie and every Master of a family ye are Gods that is ye have the Image of God put into you and therefore say thou with thy selfe in this manner would God suffer a swearer or a blasphemer or a prophane person or a drunkard or an adulterer to goe unpunished and would God suffer a prophaner of his Sabbath and would not reforme him then whatsoever is amisse in thy owne soule or in thy wife or childe or servant if it be in thy place punish if
whole heavens as I may say and did darken all the Sunne-shine of Gods favour as it is with the Sun in the firmament when a little cloud growes greater and greater untill it cover the whole heaven then we thinke it is almost night so all the sinnes of all the faithfull did overspread all the whole heavens that even the star-light of Gods compassion and the lightning of Gods love and favour appeared not Now I come to the reasons of our Saviours grievous sufferings in his soule and the reasons are these First from the cause Secondly from the place to which our Saviour was called Thirdly from the love of the Lord Jesus Christ which makes it most plaine of all Reason 1 First from the cause it cannot bee that it was the Jewes and Herod and Pilate that made him crie out in this manner but the justice of God the Father came against him and the devill entred the combate with the Lord Jesus Christ upon the crosse Luke 22.53 This is your houre and the power of darknesse hell gates were set open and the devils were all let loose upon our Saviour and therefore as Divines doe wisely and judiciously observe in Coloss 2.15 Hee led captivity captive and spoyled principalities and powers and tooke the hand writing of ordinances that was against us and fastned them to his crosse hee was now in the maine combat with all the powers of sinne hell and death These were they that did make the combat with the Lord of life Reason 2 The second reason is taken from the place which he underwent he was to be a Priest and he was to offer up himselfe for a sacrifice not his body alone but also his soule as Hebrewes 9.20.24 Christ offered up himselfe for a sacrifice Reason 3 Thirdly the love of the Lord Jesus was such that of necessitie it must bee so and those that thinke that the Lord Jesus suffered nothing else but onely the death of the body they wonderfully wrong the love of the Lord Jesus Christ the like love was never seene for had he suffered only the death naturall then some of Gods people had shewed greater love than ever Christ did as Paul Romans 9.3 I could bee content to want the sense of the love of Christ for the people of the Iewes c. Now if our Saviour had onely suffered the death naturall then Paul could have beene content to doe more than Christ did Thus you see the nature of this forsaking of Christ Secondly there was also a curse which befell our Saviour which here is intimated but is fully exprest Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law why because he was made a curse for us how doth he prove that because it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree He proves the truth by the Type the curse lay in this that Christ did suffer whatsoever was due unto us So the Apostle reasons that whatsoever curse was due unto us that our Saviour did suffer the curse was this the Father did not only withdraw the sense and sweetnesse of his love and favour from the Lord Jesus Christ but hee also let in his heavie indignation and wrath into his soule and that seized upon and fild the soule of our Saviour brim full and this was the curses The Scripture doth expresse it in two particulars or there are two degrees of it First the justice of God had a single combat with our Saviour in the garden and there it had three bouts with him the Lord dealt very roughly with him and the blowes were very heavie that hee laid upon our Saviour there for they went to the heart of him and yet that was but a little skirmish Esay 53.4 5. God smote him and bruised him insomuch that there was clodded blood seene to come dropping from him these heavie bouts that hee had wounded him and went to the very heart of him but now patience and forbearance and longsuffering and mercy and compassion they all come into rescue our Saviour and they afford him a little breathing and refreshing so that though the blowes were heavie and the thrusts were sore yet he did breathe and live and it was not the maine stroke of all and the reason was because patience mercy and goodnesse and bountie came in to rescue him but then the second part was this Not only Gods anger had a single combat with him but at last the justice of God gathered up all the powers of it and the wrath of God drew up all the forces together and they marched in furiously against Christ and whereas before the Father smote at him and did thrust at him now hee slew him When our Saviour came to the crosse and the heat of the battle lay upon him then all the sense and sweetnesse of Gods countenance and favour they all left our Saviour in the open field for in the garden hee had some refreshings and some breathing times and mercy and goodnesse did step in and say slay him not but let him have some refreshings but now the sense and the feeling of all these was gone Vse The use of this last branch it is a word of terrour and it is able to shake the hearts of the proudest wretches under heaven they that let themselves against God and Heaven and make nothing of the sinnes they have committed nor of the wrath of God threatned and when the Minister saith Oh the end of those sins will be bitternesse this contempt of God and grace and holy services and these oaths will be bitter in the latter end How can you beare the wrath of God and you cannot possibly avoid it tusâ— say they come let us talke of other matters and not busie our selves with these matters well saith the Minister but the word is true and the word saith it well then saith the soule and I will beare it as well as I can If I sinne I will beare it and if I come into hell I shall beare it as well as another and I shall make a shift for one Oh poore sinfull creature wilt thou beare it and make thy part good as well as another dost thou know what thou saist ler all those stouthearted men that sit in the feat of the scornfull and make nothing of God nor his wrath nor of hell nor of the sinnes that they have committed let them know that they shall never bee able to beare the indignation of the Lord see here and behold a little all you that make nothing of the withdrawing of Gods favour Psalme 97.4 5. and Revelation â— 14 15 16 17. The heavens departed away as a scrowle when it is rowled and every mountaine and Isle were removed out of their places and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chiefe captaines and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and rocks and in the mountaines and said to
have a title to it and that have great parts and abilities and answerable obedience let those take it and blesse God that ever they saw the day but what I have I any share in the death of Christ and what did Christ suffer the death of the crosse for me my sinnes so many and my condition so bad and I cannot tell whether I have any faith or no it is so weake and feeble are all punishments removed I cannot thinke it This is your owne fault for this mercy is for thee for every faithfull beleeving soule bee his estate never so low be thy saith never so weake Hast thou faith but as a grain of mustard seed that thou canst scarcely know whether thou hast faith or no yet if it bee true faith there is grace and mercy enough for thee in the Lord Jesus therefore come and draw the water of life and comfort out of the wels of salvation that is out of the sufferings and obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ You have heard that the heart of our Saviour was amazed and astonished it was for thee therefore bee thou cheared Christ suffered the wrath of the Father and came from under it and that is thy victory be thou for ever cheared Our Saviour was imprisoned that thou mightest bee delivered hee was accused that thou mightest be acquitted he was condemned and therefore there is no condemnation to thy soule he suffered death that thou mightest live for evermore therefore goe your way and goe chearily and the God of Heaven goe with you feare not any punishment now for why should you feare them when you shall not feele them You may here have a ground of double comfort in the time of thy greatest distresse whether it be in horrour of heart within or trouble without in both these the Lord Jesus Christ will pittie you and will rescue you from all in his owne season therefore lift up your heads in the middest of all troubles whatsoever First in all outward troubles and in the heaviest trials thou shalt be pittied in them though Christ be gone up to heaven yet hee hath his bowels of pitty and of mercy with him and his bowels of mercy in heaven earne over a poore dismaid creature that is dismaid either because of thy sinnes or because of those punishments which thou fearest for sinne Hebrews 4.15 Wee have not an high Priest that cannot bee touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all things tempted in like sort wee have not an high Priest that is a stranger to crosses and troubles neither have wee an high Priest like Gallio that cared nothing for those things that is he was not troubled with the persecutions of others as their cups are full and they are not troubled with the poverty of others they are at rest and ease and they are not troubled with those that are in misery but hee was tempted in all things like unto us and so Hebrewes 2.13 wherefore in all things it behoved him to bee made like unto his brethren that he might be mercifull and a faithfull high Priest because he suffered and was tempted hee is also able to succour those that are tempted When the poore doe crie oh pittie and compassion for the Lords sake oh you know not what belongs to a hungry belly nor to a naked backe so I say you know not what it is to have a distressed conscience and therefore you have no remorse to them that are such but you must not think that Christ was not touched with our infirmities though hee sit at the right hand of the Father yet he hath not forgotten his people but he hath left his love and his compassion with us and he is touched when we are troubled Paul persecuted the Church and Christ saith Saul Saul why persecutest thou me the foot is pricked in earth and the head complaineth of it in Heaven he felt the rage and malice of Pauls persecutions though haply poore goodman such a one and poore goody such a one was persecuted yet our Saviour was touched and troubled with it therefore let me tell you how to succour your selves when you finde the wrath of God lie heavie upon you and the anguish of soule lies sore upon you I might also speake of the rage and malice of the wicked but when the arrowes of Gods wrath seize upon the soule and God seemes to bee displeased and to goe away from the soule and mercy and love and the sweetnesse of compassion is going as it was with Christ when he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Hee findes not that sweetnesse of mercies that formerly hee had done these are troubles indeed Now learne you to looke up to Christ and looke to bee pittied by the Lord Jesus Christ It may be thy husband or thy wife or thy friends will not pittie thee but will say he is turned a precise fellow and see now what good hee hath gotten by running to Sermons thus they adde sorrow to sorrow and persecution to persecution because God hath smitten thee therefore they smite thee too but yet notwithstanding all this looke thou up to the Lord Jesus Christ and know that thou shalt finde favour he will have a fellow-feeling with thee in all thy miseries therefore plead with the Lord Jesus Christ and say Lord in thy estate of humiliation thou wert a man full of sorrowes and thou sufferedst much perplexity thou knowest what it is to suffer the wrath of a displeased Father and thou didst crie out Father is mercy and love and goodnes and all gone Oh blessed redeemer heare those cries of them that crie to thee for mercy thou that didst suffer for poore sinners doe thou succour poore sinners and Jesus Christ will certainly pitie you and will send his good Spirit from heaven to comfort you and he will command loving kindnesse to comfort and refresh thee You that groane under your burthens hee will command loving kindnesse to come to such a mans house and to visite such a one and will say such a man is troubled I command thee to comfort him and salvation I charge thee goe to such a house and tell such a man that I love him tell him that I suffered for him and was forsaken that he might not be forsaken I was condemned that he might be redeemed It is a great comfort that the Lord Jesus Christ is touched and knowes how to deliver such as are tempted He that bore up the frame of the heavens and never groaned under the pillars of the earth yet when he was to beare the wrath of God he shrunke at it and said Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me he that bore the wrath of God for thee he will certainly pity thee Secondly you shall not be pittied in outward sorrowes onely but goe your way for ever cheared you shall bee free from all inward miseries and troubles you shall bee delivered from
threatnings of God can take no hold upon them but though they are so rebellious here yet everlasting condemnation shall take hold of them and shall have power over them hereafter and will drag their soules and bodies downe to hell and there they shall suffer intolerably and incomprehensibly and then hell and condemnation shall tell them thus much seeing the commands of God could take no hold upon you therefore we will the mercies of God could not perswade with you but the judgements of God shall prevaile against you What becomes of all the great and mighty men of the world where is Pharaoh and Nimrod and the rest of them the wrath of God hath throwne them upon their backs in hell but you that are true beleevers the second death shall have no power over you though wrath and condemnation seeme to lay hold upon you yet there is no power in them to condemne you because if Christ hath taken away the paines of the second death then it shall never oppresse such as belong to the Lord Jesus Christ therefore goe your way comforted there is nothing that shall ever prevaile against you Object Oh but saith the soule could I see Heaven gates set open if the way were open and plaine that I might see the way and walke in it then I could be comforted but what I in heaven the Angels are all holy and God is a holy God and a pure redeemer and all things there are pure and undefiled can such a wretch as I am come to heaven certainly the Saints will goe out of heaven if I come there Answer No the blood of Christ will doe all this for you and it will make way for thee into heaven as Hebr. 10.19 20. Seeing therefore brethren that by the blood of Iesus we may most boldly enter into the holy places by the new and the living way which hee hath prepared for us through the vaile which is his flesh marke two things in that place you may have boldnesse you feare now that your sinnes will not bee pardoned and that God the Father will not accept of you well be not proud and sawcie but take the blood of Christ along with you and goe on boldly and chearfully All you that have an interest in the great worke of God either for brokennesse of heart or vocation to call you to rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ bee thou a sinner If thou hast faith I speake not of the measure of faith but hast thou faith then why sittest thou here drooping Go you on cheerily and undauntedly and goe with comfort to everlasting happinesse every thing gives you comfort had you but eyes to see it God and men Heaven and earth sinne justice hell and condemnation gives you all comfort If you looke up to justice that saith you poore beleeving creatures goe your way comforted I am setisfied to the full If you looke to hell and death and condemnation they say be comforted you poore beleeving soules we have no power over you the Lord Iesus Christ hath conquered us and if you looke to your owne sinnes they tell you thus much and say be for ever comforted for wee have pleaded against you but wee have lost the cause If you looke up to heaven there you may see glory and happinesse and blessednesse ready to entertaine every beleeving soule and they all call after you and say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you therefore goe away cheerily and get you to heaven and when you come there be discomforted if you can if Christ and God and Heaven and all call you and say come all hither you beleeving soules then lift up your heads with joy and draw the waters of comfort and consolation from this truth onely remember this here when you finde your sins roaring upon you and telling your Father that you have sinned and justice cries and hell threatens then take the blood of Christ and see before your eyes all that ever Christ hath suffered and see justice fully satisfied and heare the blood of Christ speaking as well as the clamours of sinne it is the misery that we are in that we can here the bawlings of Satan and of corruption crying and saying what you salvation and yet have these and these corruptions we heare these and we hearken not to the other the blood of Christ hath pardoned all and will cleanse all Oh heare that voyce and you shall see and heare that it speakes admirable things this is the second use Vse 3 Thirdly hath Christ done all this then stand amazed at that endlesse and boundlesse love of the Lord Jesus Christ but onely that the Scripture cannot lie and God hath said which is faithfull and true and cannot be deceived and is infinite in all his workes otherwise man that is sensible of his sins and wants could not beleeve it but yet Christ hath done it and it is worth the while to weigh it and to consider of it in a holy admiration although wee are not able to walke in any measure answerable thereto had our Saviour only sent his creatures to serve us and had we onely had some Prophets to advise us in the way to Heaven or had hee onely sent his holy Angels from his chamber of presence to attend upon us and minister to us it had beene a great deale of mercy or had Christ come downe from the heavens to visit us It had beene a peculiar favour that a King will not onely send to the Prison but goe himselfe to the lungeon and aske saying is such a man here a man would thinke himselfe strangely honoured and the world would wonder at it and say the King himselfe came to the prison to day to see such a man certainly he loves him dearly or had Christ himselfe come onely and wept over us and said Oh that you had never sinned and oh that you had more considered of my goodnesse and the excellency of happinesse oh that you had never sinned this had beene marvellous mercy but that Christ himselfe should come and strive with us in mercy and patience and we slight it and not onely to provide the comforts of this life but the means of a better life and to give us peculiar blessings nay that the Lord Jesus should be so fond of a company of rebels and hell-hounds that he thinkes nothing good enough for them hee hath prepared heaven for them and he gives them the comforts of the earth for their use too nay he hath given them his blood and his life and all and yet you are not at the highest what doe you talke of life hee was not onely content to part with life but hee was content to part with the sense and sweetnesse of Gods love which is a thousand times better than life it selfe as David saith The loving kindnesse of God is better than life it selfe He was content to be accused that we might be blessed he was content