not doubting but that the Spirit of Christ which made it so delightful and ravishing to themselves would make it the same to other Believers if once Printed At their earnest Request I did make a Promise of Publishing the same when I found my self thereunto Encouraged by Providence All the Harm I wish thee kind and charitable Reader is that the Spirit of Truth who Inspir'd Solomon the Penman of that Glorious Mystery handled in this short Treatise may graâ—iously vouchsafe unto thee such a measure of the Anointing from above as may Render thee capable of understanding and applying thy self by Faith the things held forth and contain'd in it that so thou may'st Experimentally come to taste and feel the sweet Joy and Delight wherewith the unworthy Author met in Studying and Preaching the same And wherewith those godly Believers who heard it Preacht did meet at whose Importunity I have now Publisht the same for the publick Good If thou findest any Comfort and Soul Advantage by reading it let it be a Motive to stir thee up to joyn with me in heartily requesting the more Learned and Experienced of the Bridegrooms Friends and faithful Ambassadors to supply my great Deficiency and shortness in setting forth the Commendation of this Incomparably Excellent Appletree in whose Shadow and Fruit consists the very Life and the Ail of all true Believers both here and hereafter If it happens thou think me too sharp and too bâ—ld in handling the Papist the Quaker and Arminians c. In this Treatise I heartily desire thee to consider but two things for preventing Prejudice in thy Spirit either against the Truth herein discover'd or against the Instrument by whom the Providence of God sees fit to make the Discovery to thee First The apparent Disparagement which the Principles and Practises of the above mention'd Hereticks put upon the â—hurches Appletree in that they hold and teach that Christs Righteousness alone is not sufficient to justifie a Sinner at the Bar of God without the Sinners Qualifications as concauses with Christs Righteousness in Justification This is a disparagment to Christ the Churches Appletree which the God of Love and Patience himself cannot bear Deut. 18.18 Jo. 5.23 And should not I herein Patrizare that is Imitate my Father in decrying and condemning such a Christ debasing and Soul damning Principle I should not by being silent herein evidence my self to be the Adopted Son of God Secondly Boldness for God and Zeal for the Honour of his Son are some of those blessed Effects which the Shadow and Fruits of the Appletree produce in all true Believers who sit under the shadow and feed on the Fruit of the Churches Appletree Acts 4.13 Gal. 4.18 To convince any hereof who question the Truth of what I now assert Let such but once get saving Acquaintance with this Appletree by sitting under its comfortable and delightful shadow in time of the most raging Storms they meet with and by feeding believingly on its Fruit And in case they become not bold and zealous for God and Christ I shall be willing to bear the ignominious Brand or Character of a false Prophet Acquaint now thy self with him and be at Peace thereby God shall come unto thee Job 22.21 O taste and see that the Lord is goodâ— blessed is the Man that trusteth in him Psal 34.8 Sermon I. Cant. 2.3 As the Appletree among the Trees of the Wood so is my Beloved among the Sons I sat down under his Shadow with great Delight and his Fruit was sweet to my taste AMong all the Metaphors whereby the Wisdom of God hath seen sit to set forth the Excellency and Commodiousness of Christ his Son as he is design'd for the Happiness and Comfort of poor elected Sinners None so sets him forth to the life as this of the Appletree as will most plainly appear by two things First By explaining or unfolding the Sense and Meaning of the Spirit of God in this Allegory or Metaphor Secondly By a due and scriptural Application of the same to the Souls of poor weak tempted Believers for the Relief and Comfort of whom the same is left upon Record I begin with the first viz. to Explain and unfold the Sense and Meaning of the Spirit of God in this Allegory or Metaphor The design of the Spirit of God in this Allegory is I humbly conceive to set forth the incomparable and transcendent Excellency of Jesus Christ above all other of Adams Children and that on a twofold Account First On the Account of what he is in himself Secondly On the Account of the great Work he is design'd and call'd to by his Father First On the Account of what Christ is in himself he far and unspeakably transcends all the Children of Adam so witnesseth the Spirit of God concerning him Psal 45.2 Thou art fairer than the Chlidren of Men Grace is poured into thy Lips therefore God hath Blessed thee for ever To this also witnesseth the Church of God the true Spouse of Christ which is acted and guided by the Spirit of God Cant. 5.10 My Beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousand and ver 16. His mouth is most sweet yea he is altogether lovely This transcendent Excellency of Christ in himself on which account he Excells all the Children of Adam is to be considered with respect to two things First In respect of his Godhead as Christ is God he is blest with an uncreated essential Excellency above all Created Beings from whom as such all created and communicated Excellency in Angels and Saints flows and springs Zach. 13.7 Jo. 17.5 Phil. 2.9 Heb. 1.3 Secondly In respect of his Humanity Christ is transcendently more Excellent than all the Children of Adam and that on a twofold Account First On the account of the Spotless Purity and perfect Integrity of his Human Nature whereby a Foundation was laid for uniting the elect World to God in a Bond of an Everlasting Union Had not the Humanity of Christ been spotless and free from all Stain of sin it could not possibly have been capable of Union with thâ— Divine Being Psal 5.4 Mal. 1.13 2 Cor. 5.21 It is on this Account that Christ is stil'd the Lamb of God Jo. 1.36 John speaks with Allusion to the Pascal Lamb under the Law which was to be a Lamb without Spot or Blemish Exod. 12.5 To this also alludes the Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 1.19 But with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without Blemish and without Spot The sinless Purity of his Human Nature and the exact Conformity of all his Human Actions to the demand of Gods Law are here intended Secondly On the Account of the extraordinary Anointing of the Spirit poured out on the Humanity of Christ to sit and meeten him for the great Work of Mediation between God and elect Sinners Of this Christ himself gives an Account by the Evangelical Prophet Esa 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me
Providence of God is to be seen and acknowledg'd in preserving the Bodies of Men from perishing by the former So his special Care and saving Providence is to be seen and thankfully acknowledg'd in preserving the Souls of the Elect from perishing by the latter And as the storms at Sea are occasion'd by the four Winds East West North and South Winds so the spiritual Storms which threaten and endanger the Soul they proceed from and are occasioned by a fourfold Party First The Devil who ever since his Apostacy is become an implacable and an irreconcileable Enemy as to the Majesty of God so also to the Souls of Men who hath on this very Account the names given him both in Hebrew and in Greek which signifie and import the same thing with his Nature viz. Destroyer So the Names of Abaddon in Hebrew and Apollyon in Greek signifie as the Learned know Rev. 9.11 Secondly the World I mean the wicked of the World which is not only at Enmity with God but a real Hater and Persecutor of all that love God and bear his Blessed Image These the Devil makes use of in his service The Devil makes use of these in his Service as they are his Children and Servants Jo. 8.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and the Lusts of your Father ye will do Gal. 4.29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now Thirdly Corrupt Nature which i◠the worst Enemy a Man hath and which is that which gives the Devil the greatest Advantage against a Man's self of any thing in the World This Corruption of Nature lies in two things First The sad and wretched Aversion of the Heart to God and all things spiritually good Secondly The Devil◠like Propensity of the Heart and Soul to what is hateful to God and really Destructive to the Man 's own self Were it not for this Corruption o◠Nature the Devil and his other Auxiliary Forces could do nothing which would prove of any Avail to Ruin or undo a Soul but herein lies his great Advantage that he hath within a Man's self a Party or a Principle which i◠the Spirit and Grace of God prevent not he can by his serpentine Craft and Lyon-like Fury stir up and draw forth to such a degree as will cause the Man to cry out and say that his worst and most destructive Enemy is within himself and that were it not for that he need not value or fear all the Storms and overwhelming Hurricanes which all the Legions of Apostate Angels in Hell and all the Pollitick and Mallicious Persecutors in the World could possibly devise or raise against him Were it not for the Tinder of Heart Corruption the Devil would soon grow weary of throwing into the Soul the poysonous Sparks of his Infernal Temptations The Prince of this world cometh saith Christ and hath nothing in me Jo. 14.30 No Immorality in Practise whereof to accuse him neither any Pollution or Corruption in the assumed Nature on which his Temptations could possibly catch hold and herein lay Christ's and the Elects Advantage For had the Tempter found the least matter in Christ on which his Temptations could fasten the Elect for whom Christ undertook as Vademony and Surety would have been over and over miserable and wretched to endless Eternity The fourth Party who hath a Hand in those Storms wherewith Elect sinners do meet in this Life is God himself who by the Methods his wise Providence takes with the Elect seems t◠outward appearance to design thei◠utter Ruin this the Devil frequently 〈◊〉 suggests to the Soul and this the poo◠bewildred sinner is easily perswade◠to credit And when matters come t◠this pass that when the Poor sinner i◠surrounded with perplexing Trials o◠all hands the Billows and Waves o◠all kind of Temptations being read◠even to cover his Head and swallow him up He concludes that God himself is his Enemy it must needs be very dismal with the poor sinner in such 〈◊〉 Condition There are four things especially i◠respect whereof the poor sinner may be said to be in a Storm in each of which the four Parties above mention'd may have a hand First Extream Poverty and outward Streights which is a very sore Trial◠and a Burden so heavy especially to those who have sometimes enjoy'd Plenty and Fulness that many have sunk under its Weight some hanging themselves some drowning themselves and others cutting their own Throats not able to bear the Reproach of outward Poverty Secondly Black Reproach upon the Name and Reputation this is a Storm harder to go through than most Men think till they come to be try'd thereby Oh! how doth the Spirit that is in Adam's Children lust to Envy and Revenge when they meet with Affronts in their good Name and Reputation To be miscall'd and misrepresented among Men to be accounted not fit or worthy to live among Men Proud Nature cries out Flesh and Blood cannot bear it What! to be so and so abused to have my good Name taken away I 'll die before I 'll pocket or put up such an Affront such an Abuse Either Arrest the Person in an Action of Slander or Peg him to the Wall And in case any peaceable Friend disswade from such revengeful Practices What 's the Reply What! unman my self be accounted a Coward to be laugh'd at by every body this is the Language of the first Adams Nature Ja. 4.1.5 But where the work of Renovation hath past on a sinner his Note is changed His unman my self is turned into undog my self undevil my self Let but the Experience of the most mortified Believer be call'd in to speak to the Point and it will be readily acknowledged that Reproach and Slanders on the Name and Reputation are not easily gone through it is a sharp and a trying Storm Reproach and Contempt from Men especially from Inferiours was a part of Jobs Trials Job 30.1 And had he not been Blest with such an extraordinary stock of Patience he could never have born it as he did Reproach hath broken mine heart said Holy David Psal 69.20 And others had Trials of cruel Mockings c. Heb. 11.36 Thirdly To be smitten in the Body with Sickness and wasting Distempers when the sad Symptoms of Death and Mortality invade languishing Nature This goes close to the very Root it being a stroke at the very Being of Nature threatning its Dissolution this is a storm which will cause the Face of the strongest and stoutest of Adam's Children to gather Paleness and will put the Sons of Men into sorer Frights than any of the former Storms which were so uneasie when Death that all-conquering King of Terrours looks the dying Man full in the Face it is a difficult thing to go through the Pangs and Agonies of a dying Hour Fourthly Soul Desertion When the Clouds from above interpose between the sensible Manifestations of God's
which can never be overthrown Jo. 3.16 For God so loved the World that he gave his only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Everlasting Life In this was manifested the Love of God towards us because that God sent his only Begotten Son into the World that we might live through him 1 Jo. 4.9 Here 's also a clear Discovery what little Reason the poorest and weakest Believer hath to question or doubt of Christ's Love to him or her What! step in between thee and Hell and not love thee To take all thy Guilt and filth of sin upon himself And for the same to be made a Curse that thou poor undone sinner mightest be made the Righteousness of God in him and not love thee When the incensed Justice of God was up in Arms against thee and just ready to fall on thee for Christ his own Son to step in between thee and that fatal Stroak which had it fallen on thee would have compleated thy Misery and have put thee beyond the reach of all Possibility of ever being saved I say for Christ to step in between thee and that fatal Stroak and to suffer the Sword that would have killed thee to be lodg'd in his own Bowels was as strong and convincing an Argument that he lov'd thee as any can be made use of by God himself Never was there greater and more end aring Love in one Party towards another than the Love wherewith God the Father and Christ his Son lov'd the Elect Neither can God Angels or Men lay down stronger and more convincing Arguments to prove or confirm it so to be than God the Fathers Readiness and Willingness to Sacrifice his own and only Son whom he lov'd equally with himself and the Sons Willingness to lay down his Life and not only so but consenting to be made a Curse for the Elect. Oh! matchless and astonishing Love who ever knew or heard of the like except it self I am the good Shepherd the good Shepherd giveth his Life for the Sheep Jo. 10.11 Greater Love hath no Man than this that a Man lay down his Life for hiâ— Friend Jo. 15.13 But God commendeth his Love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Hereby perceive we the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us c. 1 Jo. 3.16 And as the Just and Righteous Law of God did not spare the sinless Son of God when Arraign'd at his Bar as a Surety for sinners So neither did the Son of God flinch or shrink in the Contest till he had vanquisht and overcome the Condemning Power of the Law leaving it and all the other Enemies of his Elect Nail'd to the Cross having by his Death on the Cross put to death the Damnatory Sentence of God's Righteous Law against God's Elect and spoil'd all Principalities and Infernal Powers of that accusing Power they had by sin obtain'd against God's chosen Yea having rifled Hell it self with Death and the Grave those destroying and devouring Enemies of Mankind so as that nothing was left in the way to obstruct or hinder the Elects safe Arrival in Heavenly Glory And all this by the Virtue and Merit of that Satisfaction he gave to the Justice of his Father by obeying the Law both Actively and Passively in the Assumed Nature On this Account it is that there remains now no Condemnation in force against that Man or Woman which believes in the Son of God The Moral Law is indeed a Law or Rule of Holy Living to all Believers and as a Looking-glass to discover to Believers the Spoâ—s and Defects which abounds in their Hearts and Lives while in a state of Imperfection and to shew them the continual need they stand in of the Blood and Righteousness of Christ the Mediator till they come to the end of their Race But to condemn or sentence any true Believer in Jesus to Damnation or Eternal Death the Moral Law hath no Power There is therefore now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus c. Rom. 8.1 Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 And can this be any other than sweet to true Believers especially to such as have lain so long in the Laws Prison till the Irons thereof have reached even to the very Soul Secondly The Death of Christ is most sweet and delightful to the true Believer in that in Christ's Death all the Sins and Iniquities of the Believer were Arraign'd and put to death so as the Believer shall never never be Arraign'd or Condemn'd for them either here or hereafter There were two things in sin by which the Elect of God were held captives First the Guilt of sin which lays them open to Condemnation and the Wrath to come From this the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ set them for ever free as hath been already observ'd Secondly The defiling Power of Indwelling sin this also is slain and put to death in the Death of Christ and by Virtue hereof it is that every Believer in Jesus is made to die to sin in Heart and Life through the powerful Efficiency of the Holy Ghost inwardly applying to the Soul of the Believer the Efficacy of the Mediator's Death For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the Likeness of sinful Flesh and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh Rom. 8.3 For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 Who his own self bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree 1 Pet. 2.24 Let this Caution be observ'd and improv'd by every true Believer viz. that not the Being of indwelling sin but its condemning and reigning Power are condem'd and put to death in the Death of Christ So as that that indwelling sin which yet remains in a justified Believer shall never either lay him open to Condemnation or to keep the Believer under its captivating Power as before Regeneration it did He will subdue our Iniquities and thou wilt cast all our sins into the depth of the Sea c. Mic. 7.18 For sin shall not have Dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace Rom. 6.14 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 Jo. 3.8 He that is born of God doth not commit sin ver 9. Thirdly The Death of Christ is most sweet to a true Believer in that the Curse which sin put into bodily Death it is by Christ's Death taken away to every Believer the Curse due to sin was the very Sting of Death so witnesseth the Holy Ghost The Sting of death is sin c. 1 Cor. 15.56 This Christ the Surety of the Believer bore that the Curse in Death might be turn'd into a
because the Lord hath anointed me to Preach glad tidings to the meek c. This was excellently held forth in the Person of Aaron the High Priest under the dark Dispensation of the ceremonial Administration an Eminent and Glorious Type and Shadow of Christ the Elects High Priest Psal 133.2 It is like the Precious Ointment upon the Head that ran down upon the Beard even Aarons Beard that went down to the Skirts of his Garment The material Oyl wherewith Aaron Christs Type was anointed did prefigure and type out the Effusion of the Spirits Gifts and Graces on the Human Nature of Christ to fit and qualifie him for the Work the Father hath sent him about this anointing was poured out on Christ without measure as witnesseth the Scripture Jo. 3 34. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the Words of God for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him This is further backt and confirm'd by Colos 1.19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell And Colos 2.9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Besides the personal Anointing of Christs Human Nature wherewith the Father anointed him above his fellows Psal 45.7 there was a Soul enriching Stock of Grace put into his Hands as Mediator in time to be communicated to all the Elect who are to be the Members of his Mystical Body Hence it is that Believers are said to receive of Christ's Fulness Jo. 1.16 And of his Fulness have all we received and Grace for Grace Ephes 4.7 But unto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ Christ as God is the Source and Fountain of all the Graces of Believers as God-man he is the Meriter and Purchaser of all Grace for them and Christ as Mediator he hath the dispencing Power committed to him by the Father to communicate to and bestow upon every Member of his Body what measure of Grace he pleaseth Secondly Christ far excels all Adam's Children on the account of the Work to which the Father design'd him in Eternity and whereto he in time call'd him This great Work is to reconcile God and elect Sinners together by the Interposition of his Mediatorial Righteousness to make up that Breach which the Sin and Apostacy of Adam had effected between God and the Elect and to keep and continue them in an everlasting Covenant of Love and Peace so as that there should never be any Possibility of their being at Enmity any more for ever 2 Cor. 5.19 to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their Trespasses to them By World in this as in other places is intended the elect World for whom Christ was made Sin and a Curse and between whom and God his offended Father he stept in as a Mediator to make Peace by offering up himself in Sacrifice to God's Justice 1 Tim. 2.5 6. for there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus Who gave himself a Ransom for all to be testified in due time Compare with this Jo. 10.15 and Jo. 17.9 and it will plainly appear that Christ became a Mediator of Redemption and Intercession for God's Elect and none else If what hath been said concerning what Christ is in himself and the great Work to which the Father hath design'd and call'd him be rightly considered it will appear beyond all Contradiction that he infinitely excels and transcends all the Children of Adam None of Adam's Posterity were ever qualified like him neither were any of them ever call'd to so great and glorious a Work as he was this in the general But more particularly to come to the Allegory or Metaphor by which his transcendent Excellency is allegorically set forth there are three things in the Apple-Tree which bespeaks the Lord Jesus a None-such to the Elect. First The Lowness and Comliness of the Apple-Tree above other Trees It grows lower and nearer the Ground than other Trees usually do The matchless Lowliness and Humility of Christ is hereby set forth none could ever compare with him herein Mat. 11.29 Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly This is anciently Predicted of him as appears Zach. 9.9 Rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Zion shout O Daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee he is just and having Salvation lowly and riding upon an Ass and upon a Colt the Foal of an Ass Mat. 21.4 5. Six things wherein this will appear First His condescending to become his Father's Inferior first as a Son a Relation which imports Superiority and Inferiority Psal 2.7 I will declare the Decree the Lord hath said unto me Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee c. Jo. 3.16 For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. Jo. 14.28 For my Father is greater than I. Secondly As a Servant to do his Work Psal 89.20 I have found David my Servant with my Holy Oil have I anointed him Esa 42.1 Behold my Servant whom I uphold mine Elect in whom my Soul delighteth * This Inferiority of Christ to God is to be understood in respect of the Office he voluntarily took on him for the Elects sake not in respect of Nature or Essence as appears Zach. 13.7 Awake O Sword against my Shepherd and against the Man that is my Fellow Jo. 10.30 I and my Father are one Heb. 1.3 Who being the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person c. Secondly His condescending to assume the Humane Nature Heb. 2.14 Forasmuch as the Children did partake of Flesh and Blood he also himself took part of the same Vers 16. For verily he took not upon him the Nature of Angels but he took upon him the Seed of Abraham There are two things which if considered will put a bright Lustre on this Act of Christ's Condescention First The Baseness of the Matter of that Body he assumed viz. A Clod of Earth and that the worst of Earth viz. Red Earth so the word Adam in Hebrew signifies Secondly The abject State and wretched Condition into which it fell by the Apostacy and Rebellion of Adam to which he knew he must become subject Hence it is he is stiled a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief Esa 53.3 4. Rom. 8.3 For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh c. Thirdly In his being Born of mean Parents Christ as God did single out and choose the Womb in which his Humanity was to be Conceived which was not an Empress a Queen or some Lady of Rich and Noble Extraction according to the Flesh but a mean and despicable Maid of a mean and poor Family so poor that she was not able to compass a Lamb but must be trusting to a pair of Turtle Doves for a Sacrifice
Blessing to all the Members of Christ viz. All who savingly believe in him There are some whose Names I am unwilling to mention who tell Men that bodily Death is a Part of the Curse due to sin and that the Believer as well as the Unbeliever must undergo and bear it as such namely the Curse which is due to the Believer for sin From whom I do and shall for ever dissent and that for the two Reasons here following First Because Death puts an end to all a Believers sinning and sorrowings which occasioned holy Master Dod's Saying that Death was the greatest Friend to a true Believers Grace that is in the World For saith he that which Praying and Hearing and Sacraments c. do but help to weaken viz. sin in the Heart and Life of the Believer Death comes and with one stroak cuts it off And at the same time and with the same Blow puts an end to all the Believers Sorrows and Afflictions And if this be a Curse to a Believer for my part I do not understand what it is to be Blest Though Death in it self be a Curse to the first Adam and his Children as it is the Wages of sin Rom. 6.23 yet to them who are in Christ that Curse is turned into a Blessing so saith the Holy Ghost whose Testimony goes beyond all other Testimonies in Matters of Faith See Rev. 14.13 And I heard a voice from Heaven saying write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord From henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them And of such it is also said And God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying nither shall there be any more paâ—n for the former things are passed away Rev. 21.4 Secondly Because Death not only perfects the Grace of a true Believer but it is also an Inlet to the Kingdom of Glory On these two Accounts it is I doubt not that the day of Death is preferrable before the day of ones Birth Eccles 7.1 A good Name is better than precious Oyntment and the day of death than the day of ones Birth On the same Accounts I do not question Paul did prefer to die rather than to continue in the Body as he himself tells us Phil. 1.21 For to me to live is Christ and to die is Gain Herewith also concurs 1 Cor. 3.22 Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods In this Enumeration of Particulars of second causes wherein the Members of Christ are said to be interrested I understand the same thing to be intended which is held forth in that general Assertion And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose Rom. 8.28 And is not this a sweet Fruit to a Believers spiritual Taste Fourthly The Powerful and Glorious Resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the Dead is most sweet and delightful to the true Believer That Christ was raised up from Death is beyond controversie Acts 2.24 Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of Death because it was not p ssible he should be holden of it Acts 17.31 Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given Assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead Rom. 1.4 And declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection f om the dead This Resurrection of Christ from the dead can be no other than sweet to all true Believers and that on a threefold Account First As it is God the Fathers Actual Discharge to Christ the Publick Head and Representative of Gods Elect and to them in him from that sin of theirs which he as their Surety stood charg'd with and from the whole of that Debt which he undertook to pay for them As Christs Active and Passive Obedience was the full Payment of Believers Debts to God so Gods raising him from Death was Gods Actual Discharge to his Son and in him to all Elect Believers to assure them that the Debt which Christ his Son undertook to pay for them is now fully paid and satisfied witness his Actual Release and Discharge from the Prison of the Grave where Christ as Undertaker and Surety for Gods Elect was detain'd until the Justice of his Father said it is enough I am now satisfied to the full every Iota and Tittle of the Law is by him perfectly obey'd both Actively and Passively I have no more to lay to his or the Elects Charge for whom he became a Surety Discharge him let him be set at Liberty as Christ the Son prov'd faithful to the Father in performing to the utmost what he had undertaken for securing the Fathers Glory and the Salvation of the Elect committed and given in charge to him by the Father So God the Father proves Just and Righteous to Christ in giving him under the Hand of his Unerring Spirit of Truth a full Release and General Discharge not only for himself but for his Redeemed ones also Of this Christ had not the least doubt when he struck Hands with his Father he knew his Father to be the God of Truth who could not lie or deal unjustly with any much less with his own only Son who he could not but know would stick at nothing though it were to empty himself and to become nothing And which was worse to be made a Curse to finish the Work his Father had given him to do For the Lord God will help me therefore I shall not be confounded therefore have I set my Face like a Flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed He is near that justifieth me who will contend with me Let us stand together who is mine Adversary let him come near to me Isa 50 7 8. What was of old predicted by this Evangelical Prophet concerning God the Fathers justifying his Son upon his finishing the Work he had undertaken to go through it is now declared and made known by the Gospel to be Actually accomplished and made good according to those and other the like Predictions of him I have glorified thee on the Earth I have finished the Work which thou gavest me to do Jo. 17.4 5. And now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self with the Glory which I had with thee before the World was All Power is given me in Heaven and in Earth Mat. 28.18 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins Acts 5.31 And without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the flesh
two things in this place reserving the vindicating this Doctrin to a more seasonable Opportunity First I do affirm in the fear of the great God that none on Earth do more hate and loath Sin than those Persons who find in their Experience that God hath done them unspeakable Good by their Sins and herein I shall I doubt not be seconded by the Suffrage not only of all Orthodox Divines but of all serious and Experienced Christians Secondly I do affirm that it no more follows from hence that a true Believer will or can take Encouragement to commit or continue in the Practice of Sin than it follows that he will or can venture to drink down deadly Poyson because he is told that an Able and Skilful Physitian is by his Art and Skill able to Extract out of the rankest Poyson an Antidote to Expel Poyson or that a Believer should be willing to throw himself off the Top of a House which he cannot but expect will issue in breaking his Bones because he knows that such or such a Bonesetter is skilful at setting Bones England is come to a sad Pass when the People are grown so wise in their own Conceits that they think themselves able to instruct and teach their Teachers the Sense hereof endangers the most faithful and lively Reprovers for God in this formal and sleepy Age being struck dumb not well knowing either what to Preach or how to speak to their Auditory without snuffing and offending them If we press People to the necessary Duries of practical Holiness then we are accounted Legal Preachers Men who Preach up Moses and who are for being justified by Works If we Preach up Justification by the alone Râ—ghteousness of the Son of God freely imputed by God's Act of free and sovereign Grace without any thing of the Sinners own Qualifications joyn'd as Con-causes therewith Then we are accounted Antinomians we Preach Free Grace Free Grace and who sees not who have their Eyes open this to be a sad Prognostick of God's approaching Judgment on the Land God sometimes causeth the Tongue of his faithful Reprovers to cleave to the Roof of their Mouth that they shall not be able to reprove or warn a rebellious People who are to be plagued with the Scourge of God's Judgments as in the Case of the Prophet Ezekiel Ezek. 3.26 And I will make thy Tongue cleave to the Roof of thy Mouth that thou shalt be dumb and shalt not be to them a Reprover for they are a rebellious House The like Instance we have Recorded in the Prophet Amos. They hate him that reproveth in the Gate and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly Here was the Sin of that Day they would not bear or endure to be toucht by God's Reprovers And God takes such a Way and Method with them as to cause them to see and read their Sin in the Punishment which was to come upon them which was That when they stood most in need of a faithful Monitor or Reprover even then when the Rod of God was heavy upon them they should not have him read and compare Amos 5.10.13 With this agrees that of Paul to Timothy where he tells him That the time will come wherein Men will not endure sound Doctrin but after their own Lusts will they heap up unto themselves Teachers having itching Ears 2 Tim. 4.3 This day is this Scripture fulfilled in England For by woful Experience the true Ambassadors of Christ find that they can reprove no kind of Error in Religion but one or other is presently toucht even to a being rootedly prejudiced against the Minister I 'll hear this railing Preacher no more he Preaches against other Mens Religions and what hath he to do with the Papists with the Quakers with the Arminians Cannot he Preach the Gospel And so in like manner if the Preacher comes close to particular Faults as the Pride in Apparel in Professors Mens taking a Liberty now and then to be Drunk now and then to Game and to spend their precious Time in Ale-houses and Taverns chatting and prating away the time which should be spent at Home in the Family or in the Closet in working out their own Salvation with Fear and Trembling they cannot bear faithful and plain dealing I know saith the guilty Conscience he means me I like it not This is harsh Preaching I 'll hear it no more I like such and such better Such a Preacher he Preacheth Free Grace clearly and such a Minister he Preaches the Love of God sweetly When perhaps neither the Preacher so highly commended and cry'd up for a Non-such nor yet he that so commends him understands savingly or experimentally what the Grace of God means or how the same is made the Sinners It even amazes me to think how few of those Preachers who now pass current for Free Grace Preachers will be own'd by Christ at the great Day for right Gospel Preachers And how few of those who make so great a Noise in crying such up will be found what they seem to be viz. true and sound hearted Believers This is not design'd as a Stumbling-block or a Discouragement in the way of any weak Believer but rather for a seasonable Warning or Caution to empty Talkers who think highly of themselves to take heed they prove not mististaken in their Opinion of themselves Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10.12 Sixthly In the darkest Night of Affliction and Temptation the sweet Smiles of Christ's Face will cheer and comfort the true Believer The Pillar of Cloud in Moses his time it was both Darkness to the Egyptians and Light to the People of God Exod. 14.19 20. The same Dispensation may be a Cross for Good to Gods Child and a dreadful Curse to a Reprobate The Knowledge and Belief hereof put the Church upon giving that seasonable Caveat to her boasting Enemy who in the time of God's chastizing her for Sin did not a little rejoyce at the Afflictions of the Church concluding that those Afflictions were the Forerunner of the Churches Destruction Rejoyce not against me O mine Enemies when I fall I shall arise when I sit in Darkness the Lord shall be a Light nuto me Mic. 7.8 Fatherly Chastisements and Fatherly Love do very well consist together so saith Christ who as he is God knows all things and who as he is Man found it in his own Experience that his Father the God of Love who loves him his Son as he loves himself yet when venting his dislike of and his Displeasure against the Sins of the Elect charg'd on Christ He handled him so sharply and severely that the Son of God found a Necessity of crying out in the Bitterness of his Soul My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me Mat. 27.46 And yet God was still his God and his dearly loving Father for all that As many as I love saith Christ I rebuke and chasten c. Rev. 3.19
Yea so far are Afflictions and Tribulations from being a Token of God's being a Mans Enemy that indeed to be exempt and free from them is an Argument that the Person is none of Gods But if ye be without chastening then are ye Bastards and not Sons Heb. 12.8 * God 's Afflictive Dispensations are to his own Children the purging Pills whereby God the Great and only Wise Physitian will purge out of the Heart and Affections of his Children those Remains of Sin yet abiding in them And as in Nature those Pills or that Potion which are Bitterest and which makes the Patient sickest are the best for curing though they are hardly gotten down So in Christianity those Corrections and Chastenings from God's own Hand which are the sorest and sharpest to corrupt Nature they are Attended with the greatest Efficacy to kill Indwelling Corruption in the Believer Before I was Afflicted said Holy David I went astray but now have I kept thy Word Psal 119.67 And in another place I know O Lord that thy Judgments are right and that thou in Faithfulness hast Afflicted me Psal 119.75 When the darkest and most dismal Cloud of Affliction and Trouble seems to overcast the true Believer and not only to overcast him but to compass him about so as there appears no likelihood of his Escape yet even then there is a Bright side in that Cloud which shines on the Believers Inside to comfort and encourage him in Trusting in and Relying on God in the way of Believing and Dependance And not only so but we Glory in Tribulation also knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience and Patience Experience and Experience Hope and Hope maketh not ashamed because the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us Rom. 5.3 Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort Who comforteth us in all our Tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any Trouble by the Comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God 2 Cor. 1.3 4. Nevertheless God that comforteth those that are cast down c. 2 Cor. 7.6 Seventhly and lastly The Lord Jesus Christ the Head and King of all true Believers being Pilot to sit at the Helm of all Affairs wherein the Glory of his Father and the Salvation of his Elect are concern'd he will so Steer the Course of all second Causes in this World as not one of his Believing Members shall ever come short of a Safe and Happy Arrival at Glory but shall most infallibly be securely conducted through all Storms and Hurricanes which can possibly arise to overwhelm and sink the true Believer Let what Times soever God pleases come let what Calamities soever fall out in the Land Plague Famine Civil War Forreign Invasion Penal Laws Bishops Court Devil World indwelling Sin Let all come upon thee at once and display the Banner of their Force Policy and Malice against thee to ruine and destroy thee yet thou who art a real Believer art safe being secur'd under the shâ—dow of the Appletree and not only safe from any Harm which can come to thee by such Storms or Enemies But thou shalt be infallibly assur'd of safe Landing in Heaven and that by Virtue of that Universal Conquest and Victory Atchiev'd by thy Head and King over all his and thy Enemies And his having gone through all those kind of Storms which thou fearest thou shalt meet with and that as thy Representative and hath shot the Gulph of Death and is now Actually Possest of thy Crown and Mansion in the highest Heavens whereto the Efficacious Virtue and Power of thy Redeemers Ascension will in a very short space of time bring thee to behold and enjoy the great and unspeakable things which he hath purchas'd for thee and for all that truly Love and long for his Appearing God is our Refuâ—e and Strength a very present Help in Trouble therefore will not we fear though the Earth be removed and though the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea Though the Waters thereof rear and be troubled though the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof Psal 46.1 2 3. Whither the forerunner is for us entred even Jesus made an high Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedech Heb. 6.20 What hath been observ'd from the latter part of the Text concerning the Fruits of the Appletree which are so sweet to the Taste of a true Believer many things might have been spoken by way of Application both to the Comfort and Joy of all true hearted Believers and also to the Terror and Amazement of all Papists Quakers Arminians c. who are destitute of the Fruit of this Appletree When spiritual Famine from God comes on these graceless because Christless Souls when they come to be Hunger-bitten and their starv'd Souls languish away in them for want of the Fruit they now ridicule and scorn Then will that dreadful and killing Word take hold of and be Actually fulfilled in them Esa 65.13 Therefore thus saith the Lord God behold my Servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry behold my Servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty behold my Servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed Behold my Servants shall sing for Joy of heart but ye shall cry for Sorrow of heart and shall howl for vexation of Spirit This is and will be the Doom of all those who sit not under the Protecting Shadow of this Appletree The Fruit of this Tree is sweet to none but to those to whom its Shadow is Delightful The Shadow and the Fruit belongs to none but to God's Elect even Christs Redeemed ones Well therefore may the Believer cry out and say with the Prophet Although the Figtree shall not Blossom neither shall Fruit be in the Vine the Labour of the Olive shall fail and the Field shall yield no Meat The Flock shall be cut off from the Fold and there shall be no Herd in the Stalls Yet will I rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation Hab 3.17.18 The Mediatorial Righteousness of God Man is upon me and his protecting Care and Providence is over me for my Covering to shelter me from the Laws Curse From the Agonies of a fearful Conscience from the dreadful Temptations of Satan and from the deserved Wrath of God Here 's my hiding place in time of Storm and Tempest of whom should I be afraid Psal 27.5 Whenever a Storm arises whether rais'd by Satan or the World or by my own corrupt Nature or by Gods deserting or hiding his Face for a time I presently by Faith and Prayer run to the Appletree and take up my place under its Shadow crying out with Holy David Keep me as the Apple of the Eye hide me under the Shadow of thy Wings from the wicked that oppress me from my deadly Enemies who compass me about Psal 17.8 9.