So this riches of assurance makes the life of a Christian comfortable put that joy into the heart that all the riches of the world cannot Psal 4. 6. Now to Psal 4. 6. shew you how sweet and comfortable this assurance will be I might be very large but may not the time preventing me tast it a little briefly what sweet thoughts mightest thou have of God when thou art assured of his love and thine own salvation All that greatness jealousy and Justice in God which is the terror of others will be matter of incouragment and joy to thee as the Son of a King doth rejoyce in his fathers magnificence and power which is the awe of subjects and terror of rebels When the thunder roars the lightning flashes the Earth quakes and the signes of Gods dreadful omnipotency appear then thou canst say all this is the effect of my Fathers power So how sweet may every thought of Christ be of the blood that he hath shed and the benefits he hath procured be to thee who hast got this assurance when thou canst put thy finger into his side and say with Thomas my Lord and my God or as St. Paul who loved me and gave himself for me now the name of a Saviour will be a sweet name indeed Yea every passage of the word will now afford the comfort how sweet will the promises be to thee when thou art assured they are thine own the Gospel will now be glad tydings indeed the very threatnings will occasion thy comfort to remember thou hast escaped them thou wilt now cry with David O how I love thy Law it is sweeter then the honey and the honey combe it is better to me then thousands of Silver and Gold and wilt say with Luther that thou wilt not take all the world for one leaf in the Bible and for the ministry of the word thou wilt account their feet beautiful that bring the glad tydings of good things Rom. Rom. 10. 15. 10. 15. O what sweetness doth this assurance put into the ordinanes of God Into prayer when thou canst say our Father with full assurance and knowest thou art welcome and accepted in Christ and hast a promise to be heard Into the Sacrament gives it a sweet relish makes it a feast of fat things a refreshing banquet indeed This assurance will sweteen every mercy to thee yea multiply the sweetness of every mercy when thou art sure they all proceed from love and are the beginings and earnest of everlasting mercies thou maist now take comfort in them and with David stile them loving kindnesses and tender mercies that come from the very bowels of a loving and tender Father thou wilt now take more comfort in a morsel of bread then the worldling hath in the greatest abundance of all things Yea this assurance will make bitter things sweet afflictions when thou knowest they are for thy profit that God means thee no hurt by them and will bring good to the out of them Rom. 8. 28. It will make death Rom. 8. 28. it self sweet which is called a bitter thing a sweet sleep the grave a sweet bed when thou art assured it shall not seperate thee from but bring thee to the full injoyment of him who hath loved thee and dyed for thee sweet when you know the day of your desolution shall be the day of sins destruction the Souls absolution coronation and glorification Oh labour for this assurance which is so comfortable and will sweeten to thee all things and all conditions mercies promises thretnings duty ordinances afflictions losses death it self 5. Mot. This assurance as t is comfortable so very profitable It will put life into all thy affections and graces it will help thee to repent and melt over thy sins when thou knowest how dearly God loved thee even then when thou didst abuse his mercy It will inflame thy heart with love to God when thou knowest thy near relation to him and how tenderly affected he is to thee Psal 18. 1 2. Psal 18. 1 2. Psal 116. 1. Psal 116. 1. It will quicken thy desires after him it will confirm and strengthen thy trust in him Psal Psal 46. 1 2 3. 46. 1 2 3. It will fill thy heart with thankfulness and heavenly mindedness and exceedingly tend to thy perseverance It will put courage into thee in all thy works and duties and make thee rejoyce to work righteousness It will be Oyl to the wheels and wind to the Sayles With what courage wilt thou run when thou knowest thou shalt have the prize and fight when thou knowest thou shalt conquer and work when thou knowest thy labour is not in vaine and endure all things when thou art assured of the recompence of reward Thus having heard thus much of assurance me thinks every one of you should desire it and inquire after the means to attaine it which are briefly these I shall but name them 1. Labour to be humbled to see your sin and to sorrow for it 2. Seek after faith in Christ and the Spirit to renew and sanctifie thee 3. Be much in self examination self probation to know thy self this assurance is called knowledge of our selves 2 Cor. 13. 5. and that thou maist not be deceived in proving thy self let thy examination be 1. Frequent and often 2. Regular by the word 3. Painful and diligent 4. Constant and continued 4. Means is serious meditation on the offers of the Gospel the promises of the Gospel and performances of the Gospel meditation on thee freeness of Gods mercy the fulness of Christs merits and the firmness of the covenant of grace 5. Diligently and skilfully improve those notable assuring ordinances the word the Lords supper and prayer 6. Endeavour to keep a good conscience and conversation towards God and men this is an excellent means to obtain this assurance For 1. This hath the promise of assurance Psal 50. 24. last Verse Psal 50. 24. 2. This produceth assurance as the cause the effect Isa 32. 17. Isa 32. 17. 3. St. Paul found this fruit of a good conscience Act. 24. 15 10. 2 Cor. 1. 12. Act. 24. 15 16. 2 Cor. 1. 12. Rom. 5. 4. 6. Make use of experiences for experience breeds hope and hope assurance Rom. 5. 4. The experience you have of Gods goodness all your days experience of Gods goodness to you in spirituals The experience of the fruits of Gods grace in you take notice of all these register them recal them read them over and repeat them to thy Soul and that for this very cause because experience breeds hope and that upon this ground because though we be variable yet Gods love is unchangable whom he once loves he ever loves Jam. 1. 17. Oh Christians labour by these and all other means to attain this assurance of Gods love and your own salvation if you once have it it will repay you for all your pains and if once thou art
cause to fear with an Holy fear lest by sin he displease God his loving Father and so provoke him to scourge him not only in his body but in his Soul and conscience as he did David whose sin put him to more grief and anguish in his Soul than ever man felt that was wracked in his body to the breaking of his bones it put him to such a torture terror and anguish that he would have given his Kingdom to have been eased of it Psal 51. 8. Psal 51. 8. Object 3. But doth not the Scripture say Prov. 8. 17. I love them Prov. 8. 17. that love me God continues his love to us if we continue our love to him but if we cease to love him he may cease to love us Answ 1. For answer to this place the meaning is this It is Gods love to us that makes us love him and doubtless he that loves us so as to make us love him cannot but love us when we doe love him 2. It is denyed that a Child of God can cease to love God he may fall from some degrees of this love he may loose his first love and loose the exercise of this grace of love but he cannot fall totally or finally from his love to God much water cannot quench his love to God nor can floods drown it therefore some Interpreters make the words of my text to bear this sense nothing shall separate us from the love we bear to God in Christ Jesus as well as the former 3. It is an idle dream that Gods love to us doth depend upon our love to him and the continuance of it upon the constancy of our love to him for so the love of God should be variable and changable according to the change and alteration that is in us which is contrary to the Scripture 1 Jam. 17. 1 Jam. 17. and to the text when the Apostle speaks not conditionally but possitively and Absolutely that nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus 4. Such is the nature of Gods love that as it is constant to his Children so it is effectual in them to keep them continually in their love to him so as it cannot be quite extinct shaken out of their hearts or quenched in them Cant. 8. 6 7. Cant. 8. 6 7. Object 4. But why are the faithful exhorted to continue in the love of God Joh. 15. 9. Joh. 15. 9. Jude 21. so Jude 21. keep your selves in the love of God if there were no possibility of falling from the love of God Answ Some understand these places of Scripture to speak of the love of God and Christ to us then they are exhortations to us to take heed of doing any thing whereby we provoke God to hide his face to withold the sense of his love from and to frown upon us for if we fall into sin as negligence and security 't is the high way to loose the sense and fealing of the love of God and to feel his anger and displeasure against us in so much that we may be brought to question his love towards us Or if you understand them of our love to God and Christ then they are only incitations to quicken us to a growth and perseverance in that grace of love Thus much for this first use Use 2. Is it so that nothing can separate the faithful from the love which God bears to them in Christ Jesus their Lord this then is ground of abundant comfort of firm lasting and everlasting consolation to all the faithful who are interested in the special love of God in Christ Jesus that are in the Estate of Gods love in the state of grace as divines call it I call it the Estates of Gods love in opposition to the Estate of Gods wrath wherein we are all by nature I say this is matter of unspeakable comfort to all such and that first 1. Against the fear of all enemies and evils whatever none of them can separate from Gods love Poverty may take away thy wealth sickness thy health disgrace thy good name death thy life but none of these can take away Gods love from thee that is unchangable inseparable love 2. It affords you comfort against the mutability of mens love the love of great men of Princes is mutable Joseph and Haman are east out of the Kings favour The love of friends is changable they may love to day and hate to morrow yea more friends and familiars who were wont to shew much love may shew much hatred of which David complaines Psal 38. 11. and Psal 38. 11. Psal 55. 12 13. Psal 55. 12 13. that his equal his Guide and acquaintance with whom he took sweet council he did reproach him and magnifie himself against him And Job saith that his former friends did abhor him and did not spare to spit in his face Job 30. 10. And Job 30. 10. have not we seen this in our days friends not only ceasing to be friends but turning mortal killing enemies now that which hath befallen others may befal us and if it doth if thou art a Child of God one whom God loves thou hast this to comfort thee Gods love is not mutable as mans is Though thou mayst be cast out of the love and favour of men yet thou canst not be cast out of the love and favour of God though they separate their love from thee and hate thee yet they cannot separate the love of God from thee nor cause him to hate thee his love to thee as it was from everlasting so it is to everlasting Psalm 103. 17. So that it is better to love Psal 103 17. the love of God than the love of all the world for the worlds love is mutable but Gods love is Eternal 3. It affords you comfort against the separability of all beloved and desired comforts here below 1. Happily thou hast a pleasant habitation and with it many desirable accommodations this is a comfort but thou maist be separated from it thou maist be driven from house and home as those worthys were in Heb. 11. who were driven in Heb. 11. to dens and desarts and caves of the Earth But yet you cannot be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus when thou hast not an house to put thy head in thou hast this love of God to warm thy heart in thou canst not be put out of Gods love wherein thou dwellest Psal 90. 1. Lord saith Psal 90. 1. the Church thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations that is in all our sojournings and wandrings thy love and favour hath been our Harbour shelter and protection 1 Joh. 4. 16. We have 1 Joh. 4 16. known and believed the love that God hath to us God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him No matter where our dwelling be in a Wood in a Wilderness in a Cave in
a Cottage in a strange Country so long as we dwell in the love of God nay though our dwelling be in a Prison a dungeon yet we still dwell in the love of God there and that will make a Prison a Pallace a Paradise a Garden of Joy 2. Probably thou hast a loving wife Husband beloved children and other dear friends and relations these are comforts choise comforts but uncertain thou maist be put to forsake Father and Mother Wife and Children to keep a good conscience But thou canst not be separated from Gods love A Prison and Wilderness a forraign Land may separate and sever thee from all these but all these cannot separate from the love of God in Christ Jesus thy Lord wherever thou art and whitherever thou goest God will be with thee and will be better and sweeter to thee than Wife or Children or any relations yea then all relations I will be with thee saith the Lord and will not leave thee nor forsake thee Isa 43. 2 4. Isa 43. 2 4. 3. Thou hast now sweet society with Gods people in his ordinances both publique and private communion with them this is a great comfort but thou maist be separated from these too where thou shalt scarce hear a Sermon injoy a Sabbath have liberty to read a Chapter or converse with any of Gods Children this is a sad separation indeed woe is me saith David because of this and yet this cannot separate thee from the love of God in Christ Jesus His love like wine will chear thee when thou wantest the water-brooks of Gods Ordinances to refresh thee as it did John Baptist in the Isle of Patmos Paul and Sylâ—s in Prison Daniel when Dan. 10. 11. he was in Babylon the Angel tells him he was a man greatly beloved Thus when thou art in a dry and desart Wilderness ready to dye for thirst after the waters of the sanctuary Gods love in Christ will then be a dew to thee and as Rivers of waters in a dry place it will be hid Manna to thee and bread to eat which the world knows not of 4. Possibly thou hast a fair estate in Land in money and movables this is a comsort but thou maist be separated and sequestred from that too and made as poor as Job was by the plundring Caldeans and Sabeans But still these cannot separate thee from Gods love which is better than riches than Silver and Gold than stock and Lands better then all this worlds goods and will put that joy into thy heart when thou art without them that they never could yeild to any man injoying them in the greatest fulness Psal 4. 6. Hab. 3. 17 18. Psal 4. 6. Hab. 3. 17 18. 5. Thou hast a precious life that men will give all they have for but bloody persecutors may take this away also principalitys and powers may separate Soul and body but neither Soul nor body from the love and favour of God which is better than life Psalm 63. 3. Psal 63. 3. 4. This doctrine affords the comfort against the loss of the sense and feeling of Gods love A child of God may loose the comfortable aprehension of his fathers affection as David did Psal 51. 11 12. and as Psal 51. 11 12. Cant. 5. the spouse did Cant. 5. for her remisness and carelesness her beloved departed from her and her bowels were troubled for him and hence a child of God is apt to conclude though by no good Logick that God loves him not But know for thy comfort that thy want of feeling and exercise of faith cannot separate thee from Gods love and though thy comfort be in the feeling yet thy happiness is in thy being in Gods love and thou always hast Gods love though not always the sense of it Yea God loves the as truely when he hides away his face from thee as when he kisseth thee with the kisses of his mouth Joh. 17. 23. thou hast loved them as Joh. 17. 23. thou hast loved me now God loved Christ as dearly and truely when he hung upon the Cross tormented in Soul and body crying out my God my God why hast thou forsaken me as he did when he said in a voyce from Heaven this is my beloved Son in whom I am well Mat. 3. 17. pleased The Sun shines as clearly in the darkest as in the brightest day the difference is not in the Sun but in some clouds that interposing hinder the manifestations thereof So Gods love is as hot and fervent to us when he clouds his face towards us as when he shines in the brightness of his countenance upon us And those cloudings Christians are but for a time not for ever nay but for a moment a little moment Isa 54. 7. for a small moment Isa 54. 7. have I hid my face from thee but with great mercies will I gather thee Though thou sittest in darkness yet the Lord will be a light to thee yea though thou fittest in darkness dyest under a cloud yet thou shalt be saved and received to glory because God loves thee not because thou perceivest he loves thee where thou shalt behold the beauty of his Holiness without clouds or darkness to all eternity 5. This doctrine yeilds thee great comfort against the world of divisions that in these days are amongst Christians Christians are divided and separated one from another both in judgment and affection and therefore in affection because in judgment not only their heads but their hearts are divided Well this may comfort us against this evil For all that fear God and are called according to his purpose though they may be divided and separated one from another for a time as Paul and Barnabas were and many among the Corinthians were one saying I am of Paul another I am of Appollo and a third I am of Cephas yet they can never be separated nor divided from the love of God Devils and Tyrants and Romish Achitophels bad events and their own pride and passions may separate them one from another but none of these can separate them from the love of God And God continuing to love his people will in time heal these divisions and make all those that are his to be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind His love to them will set his wisdom on work to find out a way to doe this As his love set him on work to find out a way to reconcile the world of his Elect to himself by Jesus Christ so also to reconcile them one to another and he hath many ways to doe this and if nothing else will doe it his rod shall for whom he loves he corrects and his rod shall scourge them into union as it did some of the martyrs in Q. Mary's days as Riddly and Hooper though they could not agree in Edward 6. days yet in Q. Mary's time they agreed very well saith Mr. Fox they agree in black in