Paul must be laid exceeding low in his Conversion that he might be the fitter as a chosen Vessel to bear Christs Name among the Gentiles Lay all this now together Sirs and consider what cause you have to cherish the Humbling works of Grace and not to quench them When your hearts begin to be afflicted for sinne go not among foolish and merry Companions to drink or laugh it away drive it not out of your minds as unkindly as if it came to do you hurt But get alone and consider of the matter and on your knees in secret beseech the Lord to follow it home and break your hearts and make you meet for his healing consolations and not to leave you in this red sea but to bring you through and put the Songs of praise into your mouths DIRECT V. Having thus directed you about your Humiliation the next Direction which I would offer you that you may not miscarry in the worke of Conversion is this See that you close with the Lord Jesus Christ understandingly heartily and entirly as he is revealed and offered to you in the Gospel In this your Christianity doth consist Upon this your Justification and Salvation lie This is the summe of your Coversion and the very heart of the New creature The rest is all but the preparatives to this or the fruits of this Christ is the end and the fulfiling of the Law the substance of the Gospel the way to the Father the life the help the hope of the Believer If you know not him you know nothing If you possess not him you have nothing And if you are out of him you can do nothing that hath a promise of Salvation And therefore I shall distinctly though briefly tell you what it is to close with Christ Vnderstandingly heartily and entirely as he is offered in the Gospel And I. That you may close with Christ Vnderstandingly you must look to these things 1. That you understand who Christ is as in his Person and his Offices 2. That you understand the Reason of his undertaking 3. That you understand what it is that he hath done and suffered for us 4 That you understand the Nature and worth of his benefits and what he will do for you 5. That you understand the terms on which he conveyeth these benefits to men and what is the nature extent and condition of his promises And 6. that you understand the Certain Truth of all this For the first you must understand that Jesus Christ hath two Natures in one Person that he is both God and Man As he is God he is of the same substance with his Father and one in essence with him the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity the Word of God the only begotten Sonne of the Father Eternal Incomprehensible and Infinite As Man he hath a true Humane Soul and body as men have so that his Godhead his Humane Soul and his Body are really distinct This Humane Nature was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the Virgin Mary without man and born of of her and is so truly united to the Divine Nature as that they are one Person Not that the Godhead is turned into the manhood nor the manhood into the Godhead but the Godhead hath taken the manhood into Personal Unity with it self This was not from Eternity but when man had sinned and had lost himself and needed a Redeemer By reason of his Miraculous Conception he was free from all Original sinne being holy harmless and undefiled His Person and Natures were fit for his Office which was to be the Mediator between God and man to make Reconciliation and recover us to God Had he not been God but meer man his dignity would not have been sufficient for such an interposition nor his obedience or sufferings of any such value as to be the price of our Redemption Nor could he have born our burden or conquered death and risen again and overcome the Prince of death the Devil nor have ruled his Church and preserved and sanctified them and prospered his Cause and subdued his enemies nor effectually interceded with the Father nor judged the world or raised the dead and done the work of a perfect Saviour Nor was the Angelical Nature sufficient for this Office Had he not been man he had not been neer enough to us to have suffered in our stead and taught us by his Doctrin and given us his Example nor could he have suffered or dyed for us For God cannot die or suffer As he is God he is One in Nature with the Father and as he is man he is One in Nature with us and therefore is fit to Mediate for us and in him we are brought thus nigh to God To this Office of the Mediator there are many acts belonging from whence it hath several denominations of which more anon So much of Christ's Person 2. The next thing that you must understand is the Reason and Ends of his Undertaking which though we are not able fully to comprehend nor the Reason of any of the works of God yet must we observe so much as is revealed And these following Ends or Reasons of this work do shew themselves clearly in the Scripture and in the event 1. One is The Demonstration of Gods Justice as he is Governor of the world according to the Law of Nature He made man rational and a voluntary Agent capable of Good or Evil with Desires and Hopes of the Good and fears of the Evil and so to be ruled according to his Nature He made for him a Law that Revealed Good and Evil with Promises to move him by Desire and Hope and with Threatnings to drive him by necessary Fear By these engins God resolved to govern mankind This Law was the Rule of mans Duty and of his Receivings or of Gods Judgment According to this Law the world was to be Governed by God His Governing Justice consisteth in giving all their Due according to his Law At least so far as that the End of the Law may be attained that is the honour of the Law-giver preserved transgression made odious by the terror of penalty and obedience made honourable by its fruits of impunity and reward Otherwise the Law would not have deterred effectually from Evil nor encouraged to Good especially to so much as Creatures must go through for the Crown of Life And so the Law would have been no fit Instrument for the Government of the world that is the Law would have been no Law But this the Wise and Righteous God would not be guilty of of making a Law that was no Law and was unmeet for the ends to which he made it which was essential to it as a Law There was no way to avoid this intollerable consequent when man had sinned but strict execution of the Law or by sufficient Satisfaction in stead of such an Execution The Execution would have destroyed the Commonwealth even the whole inferior world at least the reasonable
of that And therefore no wonder if the Redeemer be neglected and God denied the honour of the work So much of this second point the Reasons and Ends of Christ's undertaking I shall purposely be shorter on the rest 3. The third point to be understood concerning our Redeemer is What he hath done and suffered for mankind and wherein his Redeeming work consisted both as to the General and the special part Should I stand on these at large I must needs be voluminous and therefore I shall but briefly reciet them for your remembrance I. The first thing that Christ did for the saving of the world was his Interposing between offending man and the wrath of God and so preserving the world from the destruction which the execution of the violated Law would have procured Undertaking then to become the Seed of the woman and so to break the Serpents head and revealing this Grace by slow degrees till the time of his coming And then when the fullness of time was come he was made man being conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary and so the Word was made flesh and dwelt among men who beheld his Glory as the Glory of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1. 14. Thus God was manifested to men in the flesh 1 Tim. 3. 16. 3. And as he was perfectly Holy in his Nature without any stain or guilt of Original sinne so was he perfectly Holy in his Life and never broke the least Command of God in thought word or deed Never could any convince him of sinne Joh. 8. 46. He fulfilled the Law of Nature which all the world was under and the Mosaical Law which the Jews were under and the special Law that was given to himself as Mediator and was common to no other Creature in the world And thus he performed these excellent works I. By the fullfilling of all Righteousness he pleased the Father alwaies accomplishing his Will and so did much of the work of a Saviour in Meriting for for us Matth. 3. 15. 5. 17. Joh. 8. 29. Matth. 12. 18. 17. 5. Rom. 5. 19. For such an High-priest became us who is Holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7. 26. 2. He hath conquered the Tempter that conquered us And therefore did he purposely yield himself to such sore temptations Matth. 4. That his Victory might be glorious and the Second Adam might overcome him that had overcome the first And thus he hath done much to the rescue of the Captivated 3. Hereby also he hath overcome the world which overcame the first Adam and his posterity He trampled upon its seeming glory he neglected and despised its baits and allurements he went through all its cruel persecutions and oppositions So that the world now as well as the Devil are conquered things By which he hath made way for the Victory of his followers and given them ground of great encouragment Joh. 16. 33. Be of good cheer I have overcome the world Yea I may say in a sort he hath overcome the flesh also For though Christ had no corrupt flesh as we have to contend with yet had he a natural and sensitive appetite which the Command of God did forbid him to fulfill And therefore when innocent Nature diâ—â—red that the Cup might pass from him and abhor death by a simple Aversness yet perfect Holiness permitted not this to proceed to a Refusal by the comparing Intellect and Choosing or Refusing Will but saith Not my will but thine be done And when Christ was hungry and weary the desire of food and rest by the sensitive appetite was no sinne But when the Work of God forbad the fullfilling of such desires he still denyed them 4. Hereby also he hath set us a perfect copy and patern of obedience and is become our Example whom we must endeavour to imitate For he knew that it is the most effectual teaching to do it by words and deeds together It is a great help to us when we do not only heare his voice but see also which way he hath gone before us When he saith Learn of me he directs us not only to his words but to himself who was meeke and lowly Matth. 11. 28. 5. Moreover Christ received of the Father fullness of the Spirit and Power for the benefit of the Redeemed that he might be meet to be the Head and the Treasury of the Church and to shower down the streams of Grace upon his Members and when all Power was given him in Heaven and Earth he might be fitted to the following application of his benefits and to rule and support and defend his people 6. Moreover he was pleased himself to become a Preacher of the Gospel of Salvation not to all the world but principally as a Minister of the Circumcision that is the Jews Rom. 15. 8. He that purchased Salvation condescended also to proclaime it The preaching of the Gospel is a work that Christ thought not himself too good for Sometimes to many sometimes to one or two as he had opportunity often with tears and alwaies with earnestness and compassion did he go about doing good and seeking the lost and healing the diseased and calling men to Faith and Repentance and offering them the Grace and Life which he purchased 7. And he was pleased also to seale up his Doctrine by his Works casting out Devils healing all diseases raising the the dead and working divers other Miracles to assure them that he came from God and did his Work and revealed his Will that so the world might have no excuse for their unbelife but that they that would not believe upon any other account might yet believe him for the sake of his works Joh. 3. 2. Acts 2. 22. Heb. 2. 4. Joh. 5. 36. 10. 25 38. 14. 11 12. 15. 24. 8. Besides all this he gave up himself to a life of suffering being despised by his Creatures whom he came to Redeeme and destitute voluntarily of fleshly pleasures and of that riches and worldly provision that might procure it He was a man of sorrows afflicted from his youth persecuted from the Cradle he gave his Cheeks to the smiters and his Person to be made the scorn of fools He was crowned with thornes spit upon and buffited and having sweat water and blood in his Agonie in the garden he was hanged on a Cross where thieves were both his companions and revilers where they gave him gall and vineger to drink pierced his blessed Body with a spear and put him to a shamfull cursed death But he endured the Cross despising the shame and gave up himself thus a Sacrifice for sinne and bore our transgressions that we might be healed by his stripes and having ransomed us by his Blood he was buried as an offender continuing for a time in the Power of the grave Isa. 53. throughout Matth. 26 27. Heb. 12. 2. All this he consented to undergo
for want of Resolution and Regeneration 〈◊〉 Do you think that Judas himself had not some good Desires that followed Christ so long and preached the Gospel Do you think that Herod had not some good Desires that heard John gladly and did many things accordingly Agrippa had some good Desires when he was almost perswaded to be a Christian. They that for a time believe have sure some good Desires and more Matth. 13. 20. And so had the young man that went away sorrowfull from Christ when he could not be his Disciple unless he would part with all that he had Luke 18. 23. Matth. 19. 22. And doubtless those had more then good Desires that had known the way of Righteousness and had escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledg of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 2. 20 21. And so had those Heb. 10. 26 29. That had received the knowledg of the Truth and were Sanctified by the blood of the Covenant And those Heb. 6. 4 5 6. That were once inlightened and tafted of the Heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come And sure Ananias and Saphira had more then some good Desires when they sold all and brought half the price to the Apostles Believe it Sirs there are none of your Desires or Endeavours that will serve turn to prove you in a state of Grace unless they be accompanied with firm Resolution Be it known to you that you are unconverted if you are not habitually Resolved And therefore I must here intreat you all to put the question close to your hearts Are you Resolved firmly Resolved to give up your selves and all to Christ and to be wholly his and follow his conduct or are you not The question is not what good meanings or wishes or purposes you may have but whether you are Resolved and firmly Resolved Take heed Sirs what you venture your Souls upon God will not be dallied with nor be deceived He will have no unresolved false-hearted servants Before I proceed to urge you further I shall here tell you what kind of Resolution it must be that will prove a man converted and then I shall give you such Motives as should perswade you to it It is not all kind of Resolution that will serve turn but it is only that which hath these following properties that will evidence a state of Grace 1. As to the Matter it must be the whole Essence of Christianity that must be Resolved on It must be no less then a closing with God as your chiefest happiness to be Loved above all and as your chiefest Lord to be obeyed before all and a closing with Jesus Christ as your only Saviour your Teacher and your Lord to bring your hearts again to God and reconcile you to him and a closing with the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier to make you a holy people and clense you from all your sinne of heart and life and guide you by the Ministery Word and Ordinances to Everlasting life Thus must you Resolve to deliver up your selves to God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost to be made a peculiar people zealous of good works Should you be never so Resolute in some point of Religion and as Ananias to give God Half and to become half Religious and half Holy and half Heavenly this is but to be half Christians and will not bring you half way to Heaven It 's entire Christianity that must be Resolved on 2. You must also be Resolved for present obedience and to turn without any more delay and not only Resolve to turn to morrow or sometime hereafter No Resolution is sincere in this case if it be but for the future If you had rather stay but one day or hour longer in the state of sinne and service of the flesh you are no true Disciples of Christ though you should be Resolved to turn to morrow 3. And your Resolution must be Absolute and peremptory not only without any secret Reserves but Positively against any such Reserves Here it is that Hypocrites commonly fall short They see they must mend and they are convinced that a holy life is necessary and they Resolve hereupon to change their course and turn religious but either it is with this secret Reserve Provided alwaies that I look to my credit or estate or life what ever I do and provided that I go no further in Religion then will stand with these provided that godliness be not my undoing in the world Or else if he have not actually such thougths he hath them alwaies virtually and habitually He is not Resolved against such Reserves He hath not considered that Christ will have no Disciples that cannot and will not part with all and that if he hope for Heaven he must not look for a treasure on earth but only pass through the world as a travailer or labour in it as the harvest of the Lord in expectation of a Reward and Rest hereafter and so Resolved to take Christ on these self denying terms But he that will be saved must be thus resolved Even to sell all to buy the unvaluable pearl Matth. 13. 46 47. To make sure of Heaven though he lose all on Earth by it to lay up his hopes in the life to come and venture and let go all rather then those hopes to take Christ absolutely upon his own terms for better and worse as being certain that there is no other way to life and that there is no danger of losing by him The Hypocrite is like a man that when he delivereth up the possession of his house will make his bargain that he will keep this room or that room to himself for his own use Or like a servant that will not be hired but on Condition that his Master shall not set him to such or such work that he loves not But Christ will have no such servants You must deliver up all to him or he will accept of none You must give him leave to make his Conditions for you and tell you on what terms you must serve him and wholly referre the matter to him even for life it self and not offer to put Conditions upon him and think to bring him to any terms of yours It is not true Resolution unless it be Absolute and unreserved and against all reserves Yea and that also as to perseverance that you Resolve to give up your selves finally as well as totally not only without any Reserve of a Revocation but against any such Revocation It must not be a coming to Christ upon essay or meer tryal that if you do not like you may leave again But you must make an unchangable everlasting Covenant It must be part of your Covenant that you will never revoke it 4. Moreover your Resolution must be well grounded You must know what the Essentials are of that Religion which you Resolve on and you must
Sirs I see now that which I never saw before I wonder how I could venture so madly upon sinne and how I could make light of God of Christ of death of Judgment and Everlasting life I have been hitherto your Companion in sinne but I would not take the same course again for all the world I see now there is a better portion hereafter to be obtained which I was mindless of I see now we were all this while making merry at the brink of Hell and there was but a step between us and death Now I see that the course that we have taken is wicked and deceitfull and will not serve turn If I serve the flesh it will reward me but with rottonness I will therefore hereafter serve that God that will certainly reward me with Evorlasting life I beseech you Sirs come away with me and see and try what I have seen and tryed I have lived with you in sinne O now let us joyn together in Repentance and a Holy life I shall be glad of your company to Heaven but if you will not do it take your course For my part I am Resolved by the Grace of God I am fully Resolved to be from this day forward a New man and never to joyn with you more in a fleshly and ungodly life Never tempt me or perswade me to it for I am Resolved Thus if you will declare your Resolutions to others and seek to win them you may possibly do them good but however you will be the deeper engaged to God your selves Yea though I would have no ostentation of Conversion nothing done rashly in publike nor without the advice of a faithfull Minister beforehand yet with these Cautions I must say that it 's a shame that we hear no more in publike of the Conversion of sinners As Baptism is to be in publike that the Congregation may witness your engagement and pray for you and rejoice at the receiving of a member So the solemn renewing of the same Covenant by Repentance after a wicked life should ordinarily be in publike to give warning to others to avoid the sinne and to give God the honour and to have the Prayers of the Church and to satisfy them of our Repentance that they may have Communion with us The Papists do more offend of the two in so much confining Confession and Penitence to the Priests eare in secret and not bringing it before the Church then they do in making a Sacrament of it I wonder that people should every day thrust into our hands their requests to pray for them when they are sick and that it is so rare a matter to have any desire our Prayers for the pardon of all the sinnes of their natural unconverted state I would here seriously advise all those that it concerneth that when God hath shewed them so great a Mercy as to Convert them and make them New Creatures they would go to their faithfull Minister and by his advice put up such a bill as this Such a man of this parish having long lived in blindness and deadness and ungodliness and name the particular sinnes if they were publickly known and being by the great Mercy of God convinced of his sinne and misery and sustained with some hopes of Mercy by the Blood and Merits of Jesus Christ and being now Resolved by the Grace of God to forsake this fleshly worldly life and to give up himself to Christ and Holiness doth earnestly intreat the Church to pray for him that his many and hainous sins may be all forgiven and that God would againe receive him into Mercy and that he may hold on in Faith and Holiness to the last and never turn again to the course of his iniquity And if the Minister think it meet refuse not to make your selves an open Confession of your former life of sinne and misery and to Profess openly your Resolution to walk with God for the time to come This course should be more ordinary with us and if Conversâ—ion it self were not so rare or else so defective that it doth too little quicken men to a sence of duty and sinne and Mercy or so doubtfull and by slow degrees that it is scarce discerned by many that have it were it not for some of these more ordinary would it be to the great rejoycing and benefit of the Church The Conclusion And now I have given you Directions in the most great and necessary business in this world They are such as I received of God and if Faithfully practised will put your Salvation past all hazard But what they have done or what they will do I cannot tell but must leave the Issue to God and you It s pitty eternall Glory should be lost for want of yielding to so holy and sweet and reasonable a course It is lamentable to observe what ignorant base unworthy thoughts the most have of the very Office of the holy Ghost who is the sanctifier of all that God will save The very name of Regeneration and Sanctification is not understood by some and is but matter of derision to others and the most think that it is another kind of matter then indeed it is To be baptized and come to Church and to say some cold and heartless Prayers and to forbeare some gross disgracefull sins is all the Sanctification that most are acquainted with and all have not this And thus they debase the work of the holy Ghost If a Prince have built a sumptuous Pallace and you will shew men a Swine-stie and say This is the Pallace that the Prince hath bin so long a building were not this to abuse him by contempt If he build a Navy and you shew a man two or three pig-troughs and say These are the Kings ships would he not take it for a scorn Take heed of such dealing with the holy Ghost Remember what it is to believe in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost and remember that you were Baptized into the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost And do you not yet know why nor know the meaning of your Baptismall Covenant It is not only to believe that there are three Persons in the Trinity but to consent to the Relations and duty to them in respect to their several Relations and works If the Father had not Created you how could you have been men The Lord of nature must be acknowledged as the End and the governour of nature and accordingly obeyed And this is to believe and be Baptized into the Name of God the Father If the Son had not Redeemed you you had bin as the Divels were forsaken and given over to dispaire The Purchaser Procurer and Author of Grace of Pardon and Salvation must be acknoledged to be such and himself and his Salvation accordingly accepted and his terms submitted to And this is to believe in the name of the Son and in baptisme we make profession hereof And certainly the work of the holy
Ghost is as necessary to your Salvation Without the sanctifying work of the Spirit you could never be delivered from sin and Satan nor restored to Gods Image and consepuently could never be the Members of Christ nor have any saving benefit by his Sufferings Would you not think him unworthy to live that would reproach the Fathers work of nature and say that the whole Creation is but some poor contemptible work And would you not think him unworthy the name of a Christian that had contemptible thoughts of the Sons Redemption as if we could be saved as well without a Saviour or as if it were but some poor and triviall commodity that Christ had purchased us I know you would confess the mistery of that man that believeth no better in the Father and the Son And how comes it to pass that you think not of your own misery that believe no better in the holy Ghost Do not you debase the Sanctifying office of the holy Spirit when you shew us your knowledg and parts and outward duties and civility and tell us that these are the work of sanctification What is Sanctification but such a thing as this Why Holiliness is a new Life and Spirit in us and these that you talk of are but a few flowers that are stickt upon a Corps to keep it a while from stinking among men till death convey it to a buriall in Hell O Sirs Sanctification is another kind of matter then the forsaking of some of your fouler vices and speaking well of a Godly life It is not the patching up of the Old man but the Creating of a New man I give you warning therefore from God that you think not basely of the work of the holy Ghost and that you think no more to be saved without the Sanctifying work of the Spirit then without the redeeming work of the Son or Creation Government or Love of the Father Sanctification must turn the very bent and stream of heart and life to God to Christ to Heaven it must mortifie Carnall Self and the world to you it must make you a people Devoted Consecrated and Resigned up to God with all that you have it must make all sin odious to you and make God the Love and Desire of your Souls so that it must give you a new Heart a new End a new Master a new Law and a new Conversation This is that noble Heavenly work which the holy Ghost hath vouchsafed to make the business of his office To slight and despise this is to slight and despise the holy Ghost To refuse this is to refuse the holy Ghost and not to believe in him to be without this work is to be without the holy Ghost if any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8. 9. The holy Catholick Church is composed of all through the world that have this work upon them and therefore it is called Holy The Communion of Saints is the blessed Vitall fellowship of these Sanctified Ones For these only is the Resurrection unto blessedness the life everlasting with the Lord of life for all others is the Resurrection of Condemnation the everlasting punishment But if the other two Articles of our Faith have been so denied by the blind it is less wonder if this be so Some Hereticks denied God to be the Creatour of the world and because they saw so much evill in the world they said that it was made by Devils or evill Angels who indeed made the sin but not the world So dealt the Jewes by the Son and the Second Article of our Faith The Sacrifice of Bulls and Goats and such Beasts was all the Sacrifice for sin that they believed in And thus deale the multitude of the ungodly by the Spirit Indeed they know not themselves sufficiently to know the need and worth of Sanctification They are too whole to value the skill and care of Christ or the holy Ghost The insensibility of spirituall death and misery and thinking too lightly of Originall Corruption and too well of our depraved nature is both the cause of many of the Heresies of the learned and of the common contempt of Christ and the Spirit and recovering grace in all the unregenerate For it is not possible that men should have any deeper sence of the need or worth of the remedy then they have of the greatness of their sinne and misery O Sirs did we not come upon this great disadvantage to you that we speak to dead men that have indeed a naturall life which doth but take pleasure in their spirituall death how confidently should we expect to prevaile with you all But while you think lightly of your disease we can expect no better but that you think as lightly of Christ and holiness and all the meanes that tend to your recovery and think of the new man as the Poets fabled of the Promethean race that it grows out of the earth of your own poor sorry purposes and performances like ordinary plants Truly Sirs I have led you even as farre as I can and what more to say to you or what more to do for you to procure your Conversion I do not know If it had been in my power to have shewed you Heaven and Hell it self that you might better have known the matters that we speak of I think I should have done it But God will not have men live by sense in this life but by Faith If I could but help you all to such a knowledge and apprehension of these in visible things as the worst of you shall have as soon as you are dead then I should make but little doubt of your Conversion and Salvation Sure if you had but such a sight the force of it would so work upon you that before I went out of the Congregation you would all cry out that you are resolved to be new Creatures But though this be beyond my power and though I cannot shew you your great and wonderfull things that every eye here must shortly see yet I come not to you without a glass of Gods own making and in that glass you may see them There if you have but an eye of Faith you may see that God that you have so long offended and that now so earnestly inviteth you to return There you may see that Crucified Christ that hath opened you a way for Repentance by his Blood and pleadeth that Blood with you for the melting of your impenitent obstinate hearts There you may see the odious face of sinne and the amiable face of Holiness which is the Image of God There you may see both Heaven and Hell for all that they are invisible and may know what will be and that to all Eternity as well as what is And will not such a sight in the glass of Gods Word serve turn to move thee presently to give up the trade of sinning and to Resolve before thou stir for God I
how long his patience will yet endure you or what hour he will call away your Souls And if death come alas what a case will it find you in how lamentably unready are you to meet him how unready to appear before the dreadfull God whom you have offended and what a terrible appearance do you think that will be to you most certainly if you die before you are converted you will not be from among the Devils and damned souls an hour The Law hath cursed you already and the execution will be answerable if you die in your sins And thus you may see the gain of sin and what it is that you have been doing all this while for your own Souls and what a case it is that you have brought you selvs into and what need you have speedily to look about you 5. The next step of your Consideration should be this Bethink your selves what a blessed Condition you might be in if by Conversion you were but recovered from this misery and brought home to God This moved the heart of the Prodigall son to return Luke 15. 16 17. When he came to himself he said How many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger He that had not husks to feed on with the swine considered the plenty that he had for saken at home The poorest member of the houshold of Christ is in a better condition then the greatest King on earth that is unconverted You might have lived another kinde of life then you have done for safety and benefit and true content if you would have turned your minds and life to God Were you but Converted you would be the living members of Christ and his precious benefits would be yours His blood would clense you from all your sins and they would be all freely forgiven you God would be Reconciled to to you and become your friend yea your Father and your God and will take you for his houshold servants and adopted children The Holy Ghost would dwell in you and guide your understandings and shew you that which flesh and blood connot reveal and bring you into acquaintance with the mysteries of God He will be a Spirit of Light and Life within you and work your hearts yet more to God and give you yet stronger inclinations and affections to the things above He will help you when you are weak and quicken you where you are dull and be your remembrancer when you are forgetfull of necessary things He will help you in prayer both for matter and for manner and help you in Meditation and conference and other duties He will warn you of your danger and strengthen you against temptations and cause you to overcome and if you fall he will cause you to rise again he will be an in-dwelling comforter to you and so effectually speak peace to you in the midst of your disquietness that by speaking it he will create it in you And in the multitude of your thoughts within you his comforts will delight your Souls O what a life might you live if Christ by his Spirit did once live in you you may easily conjecture how tender Christ would be of his own members how dearly he would love them how constantly he would watch over them how plentifully he would provide for them and how safely he would preserve them And if you should come into a rougher way he would lead you out Afflictions should never be laid on you but for your good and continue no longer then your need continueth them and be taken off at last to your satisfaction and contentment Indeed your life would be a life of mercies and that which is but a common Mercy to common men would be a speciall Mercy to you as coming from your Fathers love and furthering you salvation and hinting out to you your everlasting Mercies You could not open your eyes but you would see that which may encourage and comfort you all the works of God which you behold would shew you his Majesty his love and power and lead you to himself You could not open your Bible but you would find in it the blessed lines of Love O what good it would do you to read there the blessed Attributes of your God! to look upon his Name to peruse the description of his most perfect nature what good would it do you to read of the nature and incarnation and life and death and resurrection and assension and intercession and return of your blessed Redeemer what good would it do you to find those holy Rules which your new nature is agreeable to and to read over the Law that is written in your hearts and read the curse from which you are delivered what life and joy would your Souls receive from the many and full and free promises of grace were you once but truly sanctified and made new your condition would be often comfortable but alwaies safe and when you were in the greatest fears and perplexities you would still be fast in the armes of Christ And what a life would that be to have daily access to God in prayer to have leave in all your wants and dangers to seek to him with a promise of hearing and success that you may be sure of much more from him then a child can from the tenderest father or a wife from the most loving husband upon earth What a life would it be when you may alwaies think on God as your felicity and fetch your higehest delights from him from whom the ungodly have their greatest terrours And it is no contemptible part of your benefits that you may live among his people and in their speciall love and have a speciall Communion with them and interest in their prayers may possess among them the priviledges of the Saints and the Ordinances of God That in stead of idle talk and the unprofitable fellowship of the children and works of darkness you may joyne with the Church of God in his Praises and feed with them at his table on the body and blood of Christ and then have conveyances of renewed grace and a renewed pardon sealed to your Souls But how long should I stay if I should tell you but one half the blessings of a Sanctified and spirituall state In a word God would be yours Christ would be yours the Holy Ghost would be yours all things would be yours the whole world would have some relation to your wellfare Devils would be subdued to you and cast out of your Soules sinne would be both pardoned and overcome Angels would be ministring spirits unto you for your good The promises of Scripture would be yours and everlasting Glory would at last be yours and while you staid on earth you might comfort your selves as oft as you would with the believing foresight of that unconceiveable unspeakable endless felicity O sirs what a treasure have I here expressed in a few words what hearts would you have if they
himself a Peculiar People zealous of good works Tit. 2. 14. To which he createth us that we should walk in them Ephes. 2. 10. And with such Sacrifice God is well-pleased Heb. 13. 16. Phil. 4. 18. The blood of the Covenant was therefore shed to make us perfect in every good work to do his will who worketh in us that which is wel-pleasing in his sight Heb. 13. 20 21. And this must be our care to walk worthy of the Lord in all well-pleasing being fruitfull in every good work Col. 1. 10. And then whatsoever we ask we shall receive of him because we keep his Commandement and do those things that are Pleasing in his sight 1 Joh. 3. 22. see 1 Thes. 4. 1. Heb. 11. 6. Rom. 8. 8. 2 Tim. 2. 4. 1 Cor. 7. 32. Heb. 11. 5. But principally when we are Glorified and fitted by our perfection for the Perfect Love and Promises of God then will God perfectly take Pleasure in us and in our Love and Praise The Glory of the new Jerusalem and the Harmony of everlasting Praise and Thanksgiving will be his delight He will Rejoyce over us with Joy he will Rest in his Love he will joy over us with singing Zeph. 3. 17. 8. Another End of Christ's undertaking this blessed work is the Everlasting Glory of God which shall shine forth in the Glorified Manhood of the Redeemer and the everlasting complacency that God will have in him for his own perfection and the work that he hath wrought Though Christ had no need to suffer for any sinne or want of his own yet was it his personal dignity dominion and Everlasting Glory as well as our Salvation that was intended by him and by the Father in this work and which he was to receive as the Reward of his performances Rom. 14. 7. Phil. 2. 8 9 10. Matth. 28. 18 19 Heb. 1. 3 4 6. Ephes. 12. 22. Nay if we may make comparisons this seemeth the highest part of Gods End in the sending of his Sonne As there is no part of all the Works of God to be compared to the Person of the Redeemer so consequently there is none in which the Glory of God will shine forth so admirably and illustriously as in Christ. If on Earth the Heavenly voice bare witness that it was in him that the Father was well-pleased Matth. 3. 17. 17. 5. 12. 18. Which was uttered both at his Baptism and his Transfiguration when his Disciples saw a glympse of his glory and he was the chosen Servant of God in whom his Soul delighted Isa. 42. 1. Much more is it apparent that in his Heaveny Glory he will be the Fathers Everlasting Pleasure and delight and in him and by him and for the work that he hath wrought the Redeemed in glory will honour him for ever Rev. 5. 9. He is the Head of the body the Church the beginning the first-born from the dead that in all things he might have the preheminence For it Pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell Col. 1. 17 18 19. And therefore in him the Glory of God will shine in fullness and he shall have the preheminence in the Fathers Everlasting Love When Christ prayed Joh. 12. 28. Father Glorifie thy Name He was answered by a Voice from Heaven I have Glorified it and will Glorifie it again Even in the Sonne that thus desired it He hath done it on Earth and he will do it again more perfectly in Heaven He hath glorified the Sonne that the Sonne also may glorifie him Joh. 17. 1. As he glorified his Father on Earth and finished the work which he gave him to do so the Father hath now glorified him with himself that in his Glory he may be yet more glorified Joh. 17. 4 5 6. In his Transfiguration his Face did shine as the Sunne Joh. 17. 2. And in his appearance to Paul his shining light did cast him blindfold and trembling on the Earth Acts 9. 4 6. It was Stephen's encouragment to the suffering of his Martyrdom to see the Glory of God and Jesus standing on Gods right-hand Acts 7. 55 56. When John saw him on the Lords Day in the spirit he beheld his eyes as a flame of fire and his feet like burning brass in the furnace and his voice was as the sound of many waters and in his right-hand were the starres and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword and his countenance was as the Sunne that shineth in his strength Rev. 1. 14 15 16. His voice also did proclaim his Glory I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the keys of Hell and of death vers 17 18. It was the Lord of Glory that was crucified 1 Cor. 2. 8. God was manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached to the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into Glory 1 Tim. 3. 16. Where he is Glorified with the Father in the praises of the Saints Rev. 5. 12 13. The Glory in the Holy Mount was great at the giving of the Law But it was no Glory to that of the Gospel administration 2 Cor. 3. 7 10 Much more to that purpose of the Glorified Redeemer who hath overcome and is set down with the Father in his throne Rev. 3. 21. Yea the Glory that will be given to God for ever will be through Jesus Christ Rom. 16. 17. And indeed it is a very great Question whether we shall immediately see the Essence of God in Heaven or only see him in the glorified Redeemer and whether Christ will not then be the Mediator of our Fruition as he was here the Mediator of Acquisition But certain we are that God will be everlastingly pleased and glorified in the Person of the Redeemer as well as in the Church which is his body 9. And reductively it may be said to be Gods End in this blessed work that he may more fully demonstrate his Vindictive Justice according to the Gospel or Law of the Redeemer upon them that finally reject his grace then it would have been manifested on the terms of the Law of Creation on Adam and his off-spring Though Christ came not into the world primarily to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved yet was it his purpose that unbelievers that love darkness rather then light sâ—ould fall under the special condemnation Joh. 3. 18 19. And that they should not see life but the Wrath of God should abide upon them vers 36. God would not so much as permit them to reject his Salvation but that he knows how he may be no loser by them He suffereth with much patience the vessels of wrath to make his Wrath and Power known Rom. 9. 22. The mouths of the condemned will be utterly stopped and they will be left speechles when they are judged on terms of Grace much more then
they would have been if they had been judged only by the first Law When they see Christ and Heaven that was offered them and remember their wilfull and obstinate contempt of them their own Consciences and tongues shall justifie God and confess that he is Righteous in the dreadfulest of his Judgments If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall they escape that neglect of great Salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and then was confirmed by them that heard him God also bearing them witness with signs and wonders and with divers Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost Heb. 2. 3 4. And if they escaped not that refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not they escape that turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven For our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12. 25 29. So much of the Ends of Christ's undertaking in our Redemption In which you may see that there are divers things which Demonstrate the Glory of the forementioned Attributes of God in this Gospel Dispensation 1. It shineth forth in the Person of the Redeemer as he was on Earth in his Nature and wonderfull conception and his perfections 2. And it also shineth forth in the Actions of his life overcoming the world and the Devil and perfefectly fullfilling the Law of God So that the Image of his Father did shine forth in his Conversation 3. And also in his Death and Sufferings was the Father glorified as I shewed before 4. And also in the most Wise and Holy frame of those Laws by which the grace of the Mediator is conveyed and the Church governed 5. And by the Image of God by the impress of those Laws on the Souls of his Saints and by the holiness of their lives the Glory of God is also demonstrated 6. As also by the Justifying sentence of the Judge and the glorious Reward bestowed on the Faithfull 7. And by the Condemning sentence and execution on the ungodly in whom Vindictive Justice will be honoured 8. And in the perfection of the Individual Saints and their perfect Love and Praise 9. And in the Saints as imbodyed in the Heavenly Jerusalem the Glory of which will be the Glory of God 10. And pricipally in the Blessed Person and Work of the Redeemer In all these will Gods Glory shine forth for ever Quest. But to whom is it that God doth thus Demosntrate his Glory Answ. 1. To the Saints in this life in that degree as is suited to a state of Grace and the condition of a travailer that lives by Faith We are apt to look upward and long after fuller revelations of the Heavenly Kingdom and mystery and marvail that God will not shew himself more fully to his Saints on Earth Fain we would know more of God and Christ and the life to come and it is oft matter of some temptation to us that God doth not satifie these desires but leaveth them in so much darkness that are willing of his light But this is because we do not consider how much of Glory consisteth in the light and that Grace is more in the Disires of it then in the possession and if we should have as much of it as we desire it were but to bring down Heaven to Earth Means must be suited to their ends God will discover to us so much of his Glory as may quicken our desires and keep alive our hope and patience and endeavours but not so much as shall satisfie us and answer our expectations For Heaven is not here We must not carry our Home about with us but travail towards it that we may reach it at the last 2. God doth even now Demonstrate the Glory of his forementioned Attributes in the work of Redemption not only to his Saints but to the Angels of Heaven The consideration of this hath often satisfied me when I have been tempted to wonder at the work of Redemption that God should so far condescend as to be incarnate and make such glorious discoveries of himself and yet that so few in the world should take notice of it and be should have from men so little of the honour that he seemeth by his preparations to expect But the most part of the world did never once see the Glory that shineth to them in the Redeemer But God hath another world besides this and other Creatures besides man in all likelyhood incomparably more numerous perhaps thousands for one and certainly more excellent And though Christ did assume the Nature of Angels and came not to Redeem them that needed no Redeemer yet may the lustre of this work of Redemption appear to the Angels more clearly then to man and God may have a thousand-fold more Glory from them that are but the spectators and admirers then from us in our present darkness that are yet possessors As we that are here on Earth do look upon and admire the Glory of the Sunne which is as it were in another world and out of our reach so the Angels much more may gaze upon the Glory of the Sonne of God and admire the Lord in the work of our Redemption though they were not the Redeemed ones So that unto them doth God shine forth by it in his excellencies Perhaps you 'l say that cannot be because this is but seeing him in a glass when the Angels see him face to face and immediately behold his blessed Essence or else how can the Saints expect that beatificall Vision To which I answer First that I am uncertain whether seeing face to face bean immediate intuition of the Essence of God or only such a sight of his Glory in those emanations that are as appropriated to the place or state of Bliss Gods Essence is every where but that Glory is not every where And so I know not whether our present knowledg be not called Enigmaticall and as in a glass comparatively to that Glory prepared for the Saints But secondly I answer that certain I am that God is Demonstrated to his Angels in the Redeemer yea in the Church it self which is the Subject of his Grace and that they are both Affected and Imployed about us accordingly He that spoiled Principalities and Powers and openly triumphed over them and by death overcame him that had the power of death Col. 2. 15. Heb. 2. 14. And had so much to do against the evill Angels as Enemies no doubt is joyfully observed by the good Angels And he that is set so far above Principalities and Powers and Might and Dominion and every name that is named in this world or that which is to come Ephes. 1. 21. And is gone in to Heaven and is on the right hand of God Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject to him 1 Pet. 3. 22. no doubt is honoured and admired by Angels And indeed it is expresly said Let all the Angels of God worship him