10 11. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Therefore my heart is glad c. Herein Christ is an Example to us above all the Examples of other believers No afflictions were like to Christs afflictions and yet no Faith like to his Faith the Tryals of other believers were very great some of them as the Tryals of Abraham and David and their Faith was of a more than ordinary stature but without disparagement be it spoken even the Faith of Abraham himself was but a poor little weak Faith in comparison of this Faith that Christ had All those Worthies which you read of there in Heb. 11. who through Faith obtained a good report they were Giants in respect of us but they were Babes in respect of Christ Now I say what an unparalel'd Example is Christ to us then of trusting in God in the worst condition It may be you think I hope I should trust God if it were not so exceeding sad with me as 't is alas you cannot think how sad 't is with me nor can I tell how to express my misery Well I am sure 't is not so sad with thee as 't was with Christ and yet he trusted in God the very enemies of Christ could take notice that he did Psal 22. tho they wickedly reproached him for it And in deed this is the only sinking thing in affliction let it be never so great that we cannot trust God and to what end hath God made the Promises but that they should be believed Usually when you doubt of a Friends helping of you in your straits 't is because you had not a Promise from him it may be he put you in some hopes that he would help you but for all that you doubt whether he will or no but if you have a Promise from him and he be a Friend indeed and one that useth to keep his word then you conclude upon it Now I am sure he will help me he hath promised me faithfully to do it Thus 't is now with God towards you that are his Children you have got a Promise from him that he will help you in your distresses nay not only one but many Nay you have got his Covenant and his Oath for it Oh! rely upon him then however 't is or shall be with you 3. In that he did it with so much Wisdom as one that fully knew and understood what he went about in this great undertaking You shall find in Scripture that his Wisdom is much taken notice of in reference to the work of our Redemption He is called the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. and in Col. 2. 3. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg Mark not only knowledg but Wisdom and Knowledg and that in such abundance that he hath a treasure of them yea Treasures yea and all the Treasures of them And you shall see in the Old Testament when it was prophesied of him that he should come upon this work of giving Freedom and Salvation to us how his discreet and wise carrying on of all things about it is foretold see Isa 11. 2 3. chap. 52. 13. He dealt with such Wisdom that he could tell how to deal with God for men and with men for God and to discharge the three great Offices of a Prophet Priest and King with admirable understanding and how to undermine and infatuate all the Policies of the Devil and the World and to render their deepest designs against his Kingdom and Gospel void and of none effect see 1 Cor. 2. 19 20. and how to carry himself so wisely even amongst his worst Enemies that they could have no just occasion to speak evil of him tho they watched all that possibly could be to get advantages against him both for his Actions and Speeches and Doctrine and therefore what an excellent person must this needs be And in this Wisdom Christ doth all things still that are yet to be done he governs the World in Wisdom and as the great and good Shepherd he feeds his Flock with Knowledg and Understanding as a Pastor that is after Gods own heart and one great thing amongst the rest that he is made of God to his people is Wisdom 1 Cor. 1. 30. to instruct them and teach them by his Spirit how to behave themselves as the children of God and to make them to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven and to be to them a Counsellor according to that name which is given him Isa 9. 6. And if his Disciples are called at any time to bear a Testimony for him before the great ones of the World he hath promised to give them a mouth and wisdom which all their adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or resist Luke 21. 15. And therefore Gods people should learn to carry themselves wisely in all their ways and walking and take heed of doing things rashly and indiscreetly as those that have Wisdom for their pattern see Eph. 5. 15 17. See that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is And the Wisdom that you must do all things with is not a carnal politick craftiness but the Wisdom which is from above it must be the Scripture-wisdom and spiritual Understanding 4. In that he did it with so much Love Rev. 1. 5. He loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood Gal. 2. 20. He loved me and gave himself for me and in Tit. 3. 4. when the Apostle would briefly sum up the whole work of Christ in giving this Freedom to us he expresses it in these words The kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared While he suffered he was in love with those for whom he suffered when he died he was in love with those for whom he died he did not barely do the work it self but he did it with such affection to poor sinners as who should say he would have them see and know that they could not have a greater Friend then he was he bare them upon his heart while he bare their sins upon the Cross If he had not been an excellent person the dreadful pains and sufferings that our iniquities had put him to would have made him for ever to loath us and not to have endured the sight of any man more but his Love to us was neither removed nor abated for any thing that he endured for our sakes neither was his Love to his Father in the least diminished by all the grief which he put him to tho he bruised him and took as the Scripture saith a kind of pleasure and delight in the doing of it Isa 53. 10. Justice as it were requiring at this time that he should afflict him willingly which he doth not use to do to the Children of Men yet under all this Christ kept up in
merry Oh! this sets their hearts a bleeding Now take some Scriptures where you shall see that this Freedom is good for this excellent use and purpose see Psal 119. 158. also ver 136. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy law Obj. But you 'l say this is the Old Testament Ans What tho it be the Freedom was in force then and David was a partaker of it But would you have something out of the New Testament for it see then Phil. 3. 18. Rom. 9. 1 2 c. where you find that Paul who was in this Freedom had tears in his eyes and heart-breaking grief within him for those that went Christless And beloved this Freedom will teach Ministers that have it to pity their Christless Hearers and Parents that have it to pity their Christless Children and Masters that have it to pity their Christless Servants c. And is not this an excellent use now I dare say you can't be in this Freedom any of you but your bowels and compassion will work in some measure insad be moaning the wretched condition of persons in a state of Nature 2. It is good to make us understand the Gospel This Freedom sets up a light to shew us what that is Friends this word Gospel is a Mysterious word and carries such things in at as no natural man can receive or percieve 1 Cor. 2. 14. Now oh what an excellent thing would it be to understand those things which all the wisdom of the men of this World who understand abundance upon other accounts is not able to tell what to make of Why now come into this Freedom and the mind and the Mysteries of God will be unfolded to you you will be brought out of darkness into the marvellous light Christ and the Covenant of Grace will be revealed to you you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free vers 32. of this 8th of John As Luther said when he was brought to the knowledg of Christ and of justification by faith that the whole Scripture seemed to be a new thing to him he saw that in it which he never saw before so 't will be with you What 's the reason that persons are so ignorant of heavenly things as they are of the new Birth of the Life of Faith of Communion with Christ but because they are not brought into this Freedom Certainly this would make the Bible another manner of thing to many of you than ever 't was yet Oh the insight that those get into the Wisdom and Grace of God who are brought into this liberty of that they had before Now they can speak of Salvation by the Son of God and the things which belong to it like knowing men this Freedom hath opened the eyes of their understanding Beloved what Sampson said to the Philistines when he had propounded a riddle to them the meaning of which they were not able to pick out but by the help of his Wife Judg. 14. 18. If saith he ye had not plowed with my heifer ye had not found out my riddle the same I may say of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God you 'l never discern them if you don't make use of Christs Freedom for they are like the Book Rev. 5. which was sealed with seven seals and none was able to open it or to look thereon with any understanding till Christ had opened the Seals thereof In Eph. 1. 7. the Apostle-speaks that they had gotten this Freedom by Christ and then in vers 9. he brings in this Having made known to us the Mystery of his will then they came to know it 3. Another excellent use of this Freedom is this It is good to endear Christ to the Soul Alas what is Christ to those who remain in the Bondage of sin What beauty do they see in him What breathings have they after him You were even as good tell them of a chip as tell them of Christ for any regard they have to him there 's nothing that is of less account or esteem with them than he is He is called there in Isa 49. 7. one whom man despiseth and whom the nation i. e. of the Jews did abhor What two greater words for undervaluing of Christ can you meet with than to despise him and abhor him But now the having of this Freedom oh 't will make Christ a precious Christ to the Soul 1 Pet. 2. 7. they can't but prize him who have been redeemed by him when they consider what he hath done for them that he came down from Heaven for them and became poor for their sakes and that he was mocked and scourged and spit upon for them and upon the Cross for them and bear the Wrath and Curse of God for them Oh how doth this make them to be highly in love with him and to wish that they had a thousand times more love for him then they have And certainly you that believe in Christ this is one great means to raise up your love to him when you do find or fear that your Affection to him begins to be chilled to set your selves to meditate upon the Freedom that he hath given you and how abundantly he hath shewed his dear Love to you in dying for you and in washing of you in his own Blood ply your hearts a while as hard as you can with deep and serious thought about this I am perswaded 't will prove a love-kindling and a love inflaming consideration to you you will find that you have affections and dear affections for Christ again 4. It is good to make all ones life comfortable As the being without this Freedom is the way to make all ones life miserable so the having of it and the knowing that one hath it laies in matter of daily consolation Let whatever will befall a man this will be always at hand to cheer him there is no cordial to the heart like it when a man can look upon his troubles and say Notwithstanding 't is thus and thus with me yet blessed be God he hath had mercy on me I belong to Christ and what can hurt me You would not much fear living comfortably if you had but two things in your comfort 1. That it were so strong that nothing could overcome it And 2. That it should be so lasting that it would never have an end Why now such comfort this Freedom brings Heb. 6. 18. and 2 Thess 2. 1. in the one place 't is called strong Consolation and in the other everlasting Consolation And therefore away with that vile reproach which some are apt to cast upon the condition of Gods people that 't is a melancholy life as if persons must never look to be merry more in this World after they are once turned Godly the Devil hath always something or other to blind and befool sinners and to make them think that their condition is the merry condition and the Saints condition the mopish
God not Synagogues of the Devil And when some objected their want of gifts for prayer he gave them such Directions and Instructions both for matter and manner that in a short time the blessed fruits and effects thereof was very visible many being able to pour out their Souls in prayer unto God with proper Words and melting Affections He always charged them to be upon their knees in prayer Gods familarity with us should not make us saucy towards him but to ingage us to keep our distance and to serve him with a more holy fear and filial reverence The Lord gave him a large seal unto his Ministry in so much that he was the Spritual Father of many whom he begat to Christ in the Gospel When he altered his condition he sought and found a meet help for him every way a neighbour Ministers Daughter to whom he was Married and with whom he lived Religiously and comfortably to his dying day and the blessing of God was upon his Marriage giving him by his vertuous Wife ten Sons and three Daughters She is now left a desolate Widow like the chast Turtle mourning for the loss of her Mate and her Children Orphans but he laid up for them Treasure in Heaven a stock of prayers to the God hearing prayer and they have the Promises God is the Husband and Judg of his Widow and Father to the fatherless out of his holy Habitation their Fathers God will be their God and his seed will be blessed after him Leave thy Fatherless children unto me and let thy Widows put their trust in me saith the Lord. In the government of his Family he was very exact and shewed a rare example of piety to his whole Family He began with God first in his own closet and suffered none under his roof to live without secret prayer When it was a convenient time for the whole house to meet together he came from his Study and summoning them to Duty he expounded one or two Chapters and examined his Children and Servants what they did remember encouraging the diligent reproving the negligent which being done he called upon God for them and with them In prayer he was always fervent vehemently wrestling with the Lord for his blessing In his daily prayers he begged hard for Mercy for King and Kingdom for Church and State he sought the prosperity of Zion earnestly and would not brook a denial Duty being ended he retired shortly upon it into his Study where he commonly abode till Dinner and when he crav'd a blessing upon his meat it was in the presence of his whole Family he was very sparing in his diet and at Table ever turning his discourse Heavenwards and would lead his guests and family from their mercies to the God of Mercies At every meal he preached as it were a short Sermon and Thanks being returned unto God he hastned again into his Study allowing himself no recreation but what arose from reading praying and instructing others He spent most of his time in studying the Scriptures searching out the Mind and Will God in them Well knowing that all humane writings had their defects but the Book of God was perfect and infallible He common-plac'd all his reading this was a store-house for present and after uses At night he carefully kept good hours for Evening-prayer so that his family did not serve God between sleeping and waking A Chapter being read and prayer offered up unto the Lord he withdrew himself again into his Study where as he began so he closed the day with secret Devotion When he lay down in his bed it was with some heavenly discourses which took up his time till he fell asleep His first thoughts in the morning were of God His meditations before his uprising were improved heavenward He rose early and would discourse in the day how his reins instructed him in the night season 'T is a thousand pities that so many precious thoughts as Gods Saints have of God should be lost and not recorded A godly Gentleman of the Inner Temple told a Reverend Minister that he would not lose his morning-thoughts of God for all his worldly estate which yet was a very fair and great one But his observation of the Lords day was most strict and religious The fourth Commandment is the hedg and mound about the whole Law Break down this and you violate all the rest The Jews stiled the sabbath the Bride of the Synagogue This holy man of God decked himself up for it as a Bridegroom to meet his Bride The Sabbath was his delight and he was exceeding careful not only in his own person but that all in his family and under his charge should sanctifie it unto the Lord. He had no worldly business no worldly discourses on that day but he and his whole houshold spent the whole day in the Service of God Blessed is the man that doth this and the son of man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it In his house 't was the Lords day indeed the Queen of daies all his children servants and whoso lodged within his gates were wholly taken up in reading hearing repeating meditating praying and singing of Psalms that day On the Sabbath evenings he examined his childrens servants proficiency by the Sabbath-ordinances and laboured mightily to awaken their consciences and to put them upon early seeking of God He was very communicative of his knowledg As a Fountain freely yields its water and the field its corn and the garden herbs for the use of man so did his heart and tongue disperse abroad his spiritual gifts and experiences to the edification of others He would talk with any child or servant that so he might drop into them something of the mystery of godliness Frequently would he take his younger children into his closet and offer up particular supplications for them he would not indulge any of them in a sinful action 'T was his judgment that a Father might wink at any thing saving sin against God Therefore in his use of the Rod he designed their good He first convinced them of the dishonour they had done the Lord the danger they had brought upon themselves and professed that as God their heavenly Father had not so neither had he any pleasure in chastising them that sin being bound up in the heart of a child 't was the Lords Ordinance that the rod of correction should drive it out and therefore he always accompanied the rod with prayer that so they might have the spirit and blessing of the rod and correction might be seconded with conversion and crowned with universal reformation He seemed by his indulgence and kindness to his servants a Father rather than a Master He was very compassionate on their Souls and pressed them powerfully to secure the main their interest in Christ And some of them have cause everlastingly to bless God they came under his roof and stood related to so pious and good a Master The tenderness of
paid her all in counterfeit Coin The best wages that the Devil gives for his work is but deceit Rev. 12. 9. He is said to deceive the World and the whole World There is not one that works for him that is not deceived by him What a cruel Bondage is this to be working so hard and to be put off with a cheat But yet further there are two things more that make this Bondage to be more cruel than any other Bondage And they are 1. That tho the Devil's Servants do their Tasks yet they shall be beaten You read of that cruel Bondage in Egypt That when they did not do their Tasks they were beaten Exod. 5. 14. but here they are beaten tho they do them 'T is a fruit and effect of the Devils Service that the more one serves him the more one is beaten the more lashes and the more stings of Conscience one shall have To serve the Devil 't is the way to be beaten black and blew see Mat. 27. 3 4 5. Judas had done his work the Devil set him about he had done out his Task and then is the time that Judas must be beaten Then Conscience fell upon him so that he hangs himself 2. This also makes this Bondage more cruel than any other Bondage that in this Bondage the Souls of sinners are in Bondage Other Bondages are upon the Body and the outward Man but this is upon the Soul chiefly Indeed the Members of the Body are under this Bondage too The eye that is an Instrument of sin and the ear that 's another and the tongue and the hands and the feet and all the Members are imployed about evil Rom. 6. 19. But above all the Soul and the Faculties of that are in this spiritual thraldom The Vnderstanding bondage is upon that by reason of darkness and ignorance the Will bondage is upon that by reason of that stubbornness and disobedience that is in sinners against God the Affections Bondage is upon them by reason of their disorder the Mind and Heart Bondage is upon them by reason of their being defiled and hardened the Conscience bondage is upon that by reason of its searedness So that the very Seat and Throne of the Devil is within them 2 Cor. 4. 4. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not c. The Bondage is within them Eph. 2. 2. He worketh in the children of disobedience Now what a cruel Bondage is this to have the precious Soul in the hand of the Devil to be a Slave inwardly to all unrighteousness This is the Fourth thing in the Description of this Bondage 'T is a cruel Bondage that sinners are in And then 5. As 't is a cruel Bondage so 't is a cursed Bondage The wrath and curse of God belongs to this Condition When the Children of Israel were in their cruel Bondage in Egypt yet notwithstanding they were beloved of God The Scripture says That God had respect to them Exod. 2. 25. He cast an affectionate look upon them But he hath annexed his high displeasure and threatned his vengeance against all that shall abide in this Bondage He threatens to cast them off for ever This you have implied in that Gal. 4. 30. out with them A little while hence if they don't now get their Freedom God will send them to their own place from their Prison of Sin to the Prison of Hell And therefore amongst other parts of their Bondage they are said to be in Bondage to the Law or to be under the Law which because they have broken and have no surety to stand up for them denounceth all its Plagues and all its Curses against them let them live never so much in the outward Righteousness of the Law Gal. 3. 10. As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse 6. Yet tho this is a cruel and a cursed bondage that sinners are in it is not a bondage without hope We don't know what a merciful purpose the Lord may have concerning some of you that are yet shut up in this house of bondage whether he may not deal with you as he did with Israel Pray read that precious place Exod. 6. 5 to 9. I saith God to Moses have heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage and I have remembred my covenant Wherefore say unto the children of Israel I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will rid you out of their bondage and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm and with great judgments And I will take you to me for a people and I will be to you a God and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians And I will bring you in unto the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and I will give it you for an heritage I am the Lord. If it may but be thus with you now why who can tell There is a way of deliverance out of this bondage if you will but hearken after it as I shall shew upon the second branch of this Doctrine That Jesus Christ doth offer Freedom to poor sinners that are in the house of bondage But before I come to that I will make a little Application of this That sinners are in bondage Vse 1. And are they so Then 1. This may serve to cast an everlasting contempt and reproach upon all the ways of sin in that it brings into and keeps all that walk in them in bondage Oh what a thing is sin now What do you think of sin Sirs upon this account Is not this an Enemy that you should all rise up against and never be quiet till you have got it rooted up out of your hearts Is this a thing to be loved and pleaded for and to be let alone as if there were no hurt in it Oh! now methinks I might hope that there is none of you that would speak one word on sins side Why behold what it hath done It hath brought the whole World into slavery As soon as ever we began to have any thing to do with it it took us Prisoners It made our first Father and all his Children miserable creatures It set up the Kingdom of the Devil in every one of us Yea beloved there is not a sin that any of you commit but would undo you to all eternity if infinite mercy do not come between you and the mischief that would follow upon it I cannot express the evil that is in sin to you 'T is a thing of a dreadful nature and of dreadful effects As for the nature of it 't is the transgression of the holy Law of God 't is opposition to his Will 't is emnity against his blessed and holy Majesty 't is that which doth as
thing that ever was Never did any creature so stoop to another as God stoops to sinners He comes and knocks at their door before ever they knock at his 2 Cor. 5. 12. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself Mark the World was not reconciling it self to God nor God to it self but God reconciling the World to himself God's love is always the first love 'T is the Fountain and the Cause of our love to him 1 John 4. 19. We loved him because he first loved us 'T is true that the Lord is sought unto for mercy by them to whom he intends to shew it but 't is the Lord that stirs up their hearts to do it He sets them a crying and then they cry They come to Christ but 't is the Father that draws them There could be no desires or breathings in us after God if they were not begotten of his Spirit Alas our corrupt nature wont afford one good desire till God give it It will go further from God but it wont come nearer to him of it self And therefore the mercy of God towards poor souls is a very wonderful thing not only in that it is so large but in that it is so early It is up before the soul is up Isa 65. 1. I am sought of them that asked not for me I am found of them that sought me not I said Behold me behold me unto a nation that was not called by my name Oh how much are we beholding to Christ for coming to us first 4. If the Son shall make you free If he shall Observe this next That 't is much to be feared whether some that have the Offers of Grace will ever close with them Here you see they had an Offer of Freedom but Christ puts a doubtful word upon it as to their acceptance If he shall c. As if he should say It may be some of you will hear of this and yet never partake in it but live and die in the bondage that you are in In this very Chapter where Christ is offering this Freedom he tells some of them in ver 21. that they would die in their sins Now beloved oh what a joyful thing would it be if you would all accept of this Freedom and close with this Grace that is offered to you Why truly it would be such a joyful thing if but one amongst you should accept of it that it would be enough to set all Heaven a rejoycing Luke 15. 7. 10. And why should I not hope but that it may be thus with some or other of you yea perhaps with many of you The Lord grant that there may not be one amongst you that shall turn his back upon Christ Whoever that man or woman shall be wo be to them And yet now 't is much to be feared that Christ will be rejected by some to whom he hath been offered The Apostle Paul tells the Corinthians that he was with them in weakness and in fear and in much trembling 1 Cor. 2. 3. Why what made Paul fear and tremble so that while he was a preaching he was as 't were all of a trembling What was it because he was afraid to preach No but he was afraid what his preaching would come to in respect of some of them whether ever it would profit them whether ever it would prevail with them Now give me leave to acquaint you a little what things as to some persons may be grounds of fear whether ever they will close with Christ's gracious offer of Freedom 1. In that there be so few in comparison in all Ages of the World that have done it Beloved Christ's flock will be but little when he hath gathered all his sheep Heaven would hold a thousand times more than ever will come there No doubt but there be some that seem now as if they had closed with Christ and yet will be found at last not to have done it They have mistaken their whole work and their hearts have deceived them from the beginning to the end A right closing with Christ is a very exact thing 'T is not every one can hit on it Mat. 7. 14. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to life and few there be that find it And therefore may it not be feared that this present Generation yea and this present Assembly may have some amongst them that will never close with Gospel Offers 2. The little good news that there is up and down where the Gospel comes of the conversion of souls People flock to Meetings but who believes our report or to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed Sinners abiding in an unconverted condition is a great ground of fear what will become of their souls If you have not yet closed with Christ as unregenerate persons have not we cannot but fear you may lose him If a man be in a very dangerous sickness is there not cause to fear he will die So if a man be still out of Christ why certainly this is something to question whether ever he will be in him Acts 8. 22. Peter puts it as a doubtful case whether ever Simon Magus would be pardoned his sins because he was still in an unrepenting condition 3. When men do set light by Christ and the Offers of Grace There 's great hopes of those souls that tho they have not closed with Christ yet they begin to have good thoughts of him and his mercy and love and salvation is somewhat commended if they acknowledg yea truly this is the rich goodness of God that ever such Offers should be made to me I confess I do look upon Christ and the Freedom that he holds forth to poor sinners as an excellent thing God forbid that I should say to the contrary I know the pardon of sin and the love of God are great Priviledges happy is that soul that hath them and I would I might be one of them Ay why this is something Methinks 't is a kind of Language that would give one some hope concerning such a soul as the young man in the Gospel when he did approve and commend of what Christ said in Mark 12. 32 33. Well master thou hast said the truth c. is answered by Christ v. 34. Thou art not far from the kingdom of God But now when a man shall look upon all that Christ offers to him as nothing and set himself to despise and disgrace his invitations as if Christ had done him no kindness in sending all his messages of love to him and let Christ go where he will and his salvation go where it will for his part he does not care for them This is a great ground of fear that such a person will never close with the Offers of Grace See Mat. 22. 3. Those who in the Parable were called to the Marriage-Supper it 's said first they would not come then ver 4. being invited again ver 5. they fell a slighting of
it or as in the Greek they set it all at nought and ver 6. they dealt with his Servants as if he that had sent them had been their Enemy Why see ver 7. what becomes of these persons they were destroyed and their City burnt and compare with it Luke 14. 24. for 't is all to the same purpose they were not to taste of the supper 4. Another ground of fear that some will never close with Christ is when they turn back again from that forwardness to good things which they began to put forth They seemed to have a love and a zeal and a desire towards Christ But it may be they are now grown dead and cold and careless They had fine and hopeful buds a while ago One might see how they were convinced and stirred Oh what hope was there that such a one would prove a Convert and a Saint But it may be all is gone and worn off Their goodness was but like a morning cloud and as the early dew it passed away Hosea 6. 4. 'T is thus beloved with many that make a Profession They promise fair at the first and for a while but then there comes something and turns off such a one and then there comes another thing and turns off such a one and Christ and they are parted for ever And therefore I beseech you as you love your soâ—â— take heed of growing loose and vain 〈◊〉 lukewarm after you have begun to have set out for God Oh! consider what a serious thing Religion is and if you begin to own it why stand to it charge your hearts against back-sliding 'T is a great sin to fall off from good beginnings and exceeding dangerous to the soul see 2 Pet. 2. 20 21. If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledg of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousnes than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them 5. Another ground of fear of this is when persons are grown old and are ready to go out of the World and yet have not closed with Christ that they have let it alone all their life hitherto and now their life is even spent by course of nature I would discourage none tho they be stricken in years from looking out for Christ I know God is not bound to any time He saves whom he will and calls when he will But oh you that have put off closing with Christ till old age why why did you not minde it sooner I ask you Is this the fittest time for such a work or the likeliest time for such a work Do you think there is not some reason to fear lest you should die Christless as you have lived thus far without him I dare not say that your condition is hopeless but I will say that the condition of young ones is more hopeful Christ hath said They that seek me early shall find me Prov. 8. 17. I am certain 't is the great design of the devil to do what he can to hinder persons from being good while they are young because he hopes that then they won't be good when they are old 5. If the Son shall make you free Shall make you observe one thing more from this kind of Expression viz. That upon whomsoever Christ bestows this Freedom he takes in the consent and will of that person in the doing of it Tho at the first there is an unwillingness in the Soul and Christ hath a cross piece to deal with and there 's somewhat to do to get its consent as there is sometimes in a person to whom a man goes with a desire to take her for his wife she is hard to be won yet at last the free and the full consent comes So that when Christ hath put the question Soul shall I make thee free and hath pressed it home with plentiful and powerful Arguments as he knows how to do it the Soul is brought to make this answer Thou shalt make me free much like to that Gen. 24. 57 58. where Rebekah being askt Whether she would go with Abrahams servant answers I will go The match between Christ and the Soul 't is not a forced business altogether not but that he puts forth an holy violence in the work else he would never obtain his suit he compells them to come in but it is such a compulsion that carries such love with it as that the Soul neither can nor will finally stand out against him but it casts it self at last into his arms and bosom and 't is glad 't is there Cant. 2. 3. And unless Christ should take in the will of the Soul the Soul and Christ could never live comfortably together and that 's the great design of Christ that the Soul should live comfortably with him that it should have a husband that she can rejoice in Yea the soul is made so willing that it would have Christ upon any terms If Christ should to try the truth and the constancy of her love make as if he would not have her and seem to cast her off oh the thoughts of this would wound her and grieve her so as that she cannot but faint under it nothing will satisfie her but his person and presence Cant. 1. 2 3 4. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for thy love is better than wine Draw me we will run after thee We will be glad and rejoice in thee we will remember thy love more than wine You see how sweetly the Soul comes off to him she resolves to run after him and resolves to love him and resolves to rejoice in him Hence then you may know when there is like to be a match betwixt Christ and your Souls How do your wills come off to the business Are your affections turning towards him and prizing of him That 's a sign that Christ hath laid some good hold upon you if he holds you by the heart God hath undertaken that Christ shall have the free consent of those whom he is to make his own Psal 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Isa 55. 5. Nations that knew thee not shall run unto thee It is therefore this willingness that we pray that God would work in you and when that is once wrought let all the devils in hell keep you from Christ if they can The second thing proposed to be inquired into upon this second Branch of the Point is Where Christ offers this freedom And I answer Where ever the Gospel comes You that live under the Gospel and the preaching of the Gospel you live under a Dispensation where Soul-freedom is to be gotten You shall find that when the preaching of the Gospel is spoken of it is set forth as a
and help them to Heaven He hath given them Gifts and graces for it and a Scripture call to the Work and he hath put a willingness in their hearts to do good to souls and he hath and doth give success and blessing to the word of his grace by them and by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1. 21. So that Christ is here still by his Embassadors But 2. Which is more than this He is here by his Spirit and as long as that is here there is no fear but Freedom may be gotten This is the great Successor to Jesus Christ in that work of doing good to souls Joh. 16. 7 8 9 c. I beseech you consider that the Spirit doth attend the preaching of the Gospel and therefore 't is called the Ministration of the Spirit and what that can do in our preaching you may see 2 Cor. 3. 6. the Spirit giveth life And were it not for the presence of this Spirit of Christ in his Ordinances both our preaching and your hearing would be in vain But now because Christ hath sent his Embassadors and sends his Spirit also with them I tell you Beloved you are under a glorious Ministration 2 Cor. 3. 7 8 9 c. because whatever veil is upon peoples hearts and whatever bondage they are in this Spirit can take it away and bring them into liberty vers 16 17. But I must hasten The 3d Inquiry is Vpon what account Christ doth offer this freedom in respect of himself I will give you an answer to this in three things 1. Upon the account of his Purchase he hath purchased Freedom and therefore he may offer it 't is his own to dispose of as a thing that a man hath bought is his own the Lord Jesus was willing to buy Freedom for you that he might give it to you And here it may be you may desire to be resolved in two Questions Qu. 1. Of whom did Christ buy it Qu. 2. And what did Christ pay for it Ans to the 1. He bought this Freedom at the hand of his Fathers Justice for by sin we were all fallen into the hand of Justice and out of that hand we could not be taken but by Christs making full Satisfaction to it therefore he had to deal with a just and an angry God in this business This is the meaning of that in Gal. 4. 4 5. God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law To redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons Mark here how 't was with us and how it must be with Christ that he might redeem us We were under the Law i. e. we lay liable to all that the Law could threaten to us or inflict upon us And therefore Christ he must be and he was made under the Law i. e. in what he was to do for our Deliverance he must give the Law or the Justice of God its full demand and he must not expect to have any thing abated of it by any such thing as mercy for he had not at all to deal with that in this work he was not made under Mercy but under the Law Now from hence we may quickly give an answer to the 2d Question What did Christ pay for this Freedom Ans Why to be sure some great price since he had to do with the offended and inraged Justice of God For you must know and believe that for our sins the wrath of God was dreadfully kindled against us and if Christ would put himself in our place and be our Redeemer all this wrath must dreadfully burn against him he must suffer so as that he must be made a curse for us and he must be so bruised and broken and marred by the heavy weight of Punishment that lay upon him that people might even be astonished to see him and so as to make him that he could not even be known who he was he looked so ghastly See Isa 52. 14. and therefore his precious Life and Blood must go for it Body Soul and all must be filled with the tokens of God's displeasure And therefore you shall find the Lord as it were stirring up of his Justice as if that it self were too slow against him when his sufferings are spoken of Zech. 13. 7. Awake O sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow Oh Beloved the great worth that there is in one drop of Christs Blood but in this Work he must pour it out like water See Psal 22. 14 15. And therefore I pray observe this that generally when you have this Redemption of Christ spoken of his Blood is mentioned with it to shew what an inestimable price he paid for it See Zech. 9. 11. As for thee also by the blood of thy covenant Eph. 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood Heb. 9. 11 12. By his own bloud 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things but with the precious blood of Christ 2. Upon the account of his Pity The Pity and tender Compassion that was in the heart of Christ towards poor sinners as he saw them lie in their lost condition he saw they needed Deliverance and he could not pass him by as this and that man did the man that lay among thieves but as the good Samaritan he would go to them to pour in Wine and Oil into their Wounds and bind them up Do you think Beloved that ever Christ would have indured that such cruelty from his Enemies and such severity from his Fathers Justice should have been exercised upon him if he had not had his heart full of pity towards poor sinners as it could hold Certainly 't was his mercy that made him undergo all that misery See Heb. 5. 1 2. Tit. 3. 4. Beloved Jesus Christ saw that we were pitiful creatures by sin and by reason of what was due to us for sin and he did pity us Isa 63. 9. In his pity he redeemed them Yea and he doth pity us still and he hath compassion for poor sinful creatures still Heb. 4. 15. We have not an high Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities Therefore his pity to you makes him that he cannot but offer this Liberty to you 3. Upon the account of his Power He offers this Freedom to sinners because he can set them free how fast soever they are bound he can loose them Hence 't is said Psal 89. 19. I have laid help upon one that is mighty As the Lord when he came to redeem Israel out of their Bondage in Egypt he came with a mighty hand and with a stretched out arm So doth Christ when he comes to redeem a soul let him meet with what as wâ—ll in his way he carries all before him where he will deliver he will deliver 〈◊〉 goes all that stands against him The sinner at first and Satan with him
such good things for you and now to have none of them Why hath he not deserved better at your hands then this Was there no love nor no mercy to your souls in what Christ hath done for poor sinners Nay did you ever hear of the like love or the like mercy Is it not beyond all comparison and beyond all expression Did you ever hear of a Saviour that delivered from so great danger Did you ever hear of a Surety that undertook to pay such great Debts Did you ever hear of a Physician that healed such great Diseases What and shall this be all the thanks he shall have now to be rejected If God will take it ill at your hands to pass by those mercies that are but for the comfort of your bodies without thankfulness how much more will he be displeased with you for passing by the offers of those mercies that are for the salvation of your Souls Why Sirs you that refuse Christ where is your sense of God's goodness where is that acknowledgement that he should have from you Hath he done you no courtesie in sending his Son Is the very hopes and possibility of being recovered out of your lost condition a thing not to be at all affected with If a man doth but offer you his help in your need you 'll thank him and you 'll shew that you are taken with his kindness by accepting of it and you 'll tell him how much you are beholding to him and that you shall own him for your Friend as long as you live Why where is your thankfulness to Christ then why don't you own him for your Friend Obj. Why you 'll say perhaps We are thankful to Christ for his kindness to poor sinners Ans What and not close with him how can that be 't is the closing with him that is the thankfulness to him If you do not this you may say you are thankful but who will believe it shew it by your acceptance Col. 1. 1 2. Giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light They give thanks but see vers 14. they had closed with it We have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins 3. You are guilty of Willfulness It may be you 'll put it upon your weakness that you don't close with Christ and I grant indeed that you are without strength and that you must have a power beyond your own to inable you Joh. 6. 44. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and if ever you come to him it must be by grace from above But yet I pray consider that it is such a weakness as is joined with wilfulness Joh. 5. 40. Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life The great thing that hinders your closing with Christ is your will is against it I am certain that if you were but willing you would do it only you must know what a willingness I mean Such a willingness as is spoken of in Psal 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Oh if the power of Christ were but once come upon your wills to turn them and bring them in you would run to him with strong and swift desires If sinners were not willful in refusing of Christ do you think that God would ever charge them with willfulness How oft would I have gathered you c. and ye would not saith our Saviour of the Jews Matth. 23. 37. A wicked man carries it so to Christ as that 't is plain he is unwilling to have him He laies it upon his weakness and he thinks thereby to come off the better I cannot repent saith he and 't is true God saith so too and I cannot please God and God saith so too Rom. 8. 8. and yet this shall not excuse him for there is a will not with his cannot If he were only weak and desirous to come and did not oppose and resist the motions and strivings of the Spirit and the calls of Grace 't were something if he were faithfull in the use of that natural Power that he hath though indeed he wants a spiritual Power 't were something But alas he doth not like Christs terms and Christs yoke his will is against them 4. You are guilty of the love of sin not only of sinning but of loving of sin By your not closing with Christ you declare that you have some beloved Lust or other which you cannot indure to part with and that takes up those affections and that delight which should be set upon Christ Sirs tho I cannot see nor search your hearts yet thus much I know of that which is within you that you who stand out against Christ have something in the Throne that should not be there There is as sure as can be some darling-reigning sin if there were not Christ and you would quickly make up a Match Obj. But how can you tell this since you don't know our hearts Answ Why we know it because God hath told us so in his Word that 't is by reason of some unmortified sin that people don't close with Christ they have bosom'd up some dear corruption or other I ground it upon that Scripture in Gal. 5. 24. They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Mark if this be a sign that persons are come to Christ That the flesh with the affections and lusts are crucified in them then the reason why they don't come to Christ is because there are uncrucified affections and lusts in them they have some Idol in their hearts to which they bow down and worship And therefore let me allude to that Scripture Act. 3. 14. where Peter is dealing with the Jews about their standing out against Christ But ye denied the holy One and the Just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you Beloved every unmortified reigning lust is a murderer a murderer of your souls and now what 's the reason that you don't own and close with this holy and just One the Lord Jesus Christ Why 't is because you desire that this murderer should be granted unto you As the People there in Matth. 8. 32. with 34. that they might keep their Swine they besought Christ that he would depart out of their coasts So you would keep your swinish Lusts 5. You will be guilty of Pride Oh in what pride of heart do you walk that reject the Grace of GOD You have high thoughts of your selves certainly you take your selves to be what you are not as Christ saith to them of Laodicea Rev. 3. 17. Thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Pray give me leave to be free with you Why Sirs you that stand out against those Calls of Grace why are you so proud
Soul what art thou that thou lookest so coy upon Jesus Christ I would fain have thee understand thy self a little Why I pray thee consider what Portion is Jesus Christ like to have with thee if he should have thee What canst bring to him Canst thou bring any thing to him but a broken ruin'd undone condition 'T is true thou hast a deal of thine own but what is it A deal of sin a deal of misery a deal of deformity a deal of poverty If these things will make thee rich thou hast enough of them but as for any thing else thou hast it not nothing at all to render thee desirable or lovely in Christs eyes and yet doth he offer love to thee and woo thee as heartily as if thou wert some great and excellent person and hadst riches and beauty and worthiness tho alas if ever he have thee he must clothe thee from top to toe And yet wilt thou refuse him why I marvel at thy Pride You know 't is counted an odious thing by the common Proverb that goes among us to be Poor and Proud so sinner what art so Proud and yet art so Poor The Lord in mercy shew thee what thou art 6. You will be guilty of Cruelty to your selves I might stand upon that of Cruelty to us the Ministers of Christ who take all this pains with you as though God did beseech you by us to pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled unto God Beloved if we should spend our strength and spirits as we do in earnest intreaties of you to close with Christ and you should not be perswaded would you not shew in this a great deal of hardness of heart against Christ's Embassadors in suffering them to weary and wear out themselves in pleading with you to repent and believe the Gospel and all in vain I tell you the account of this will lie heavy upon you another day that you should let our Strength and Spirit and Labours run to waste You must needs think that the pains that the Ministers of Christ take with you in this kind of work are very spending to their outward man their Strength is not the strength of Stones nor their Flesh of Brass therefore there should be some pity towards them and you should not by your delays and backwardness to imbrace their Message put a kind of necessity upon them even to lay out themselves beyond their strength But now to come nearer to you What Cruelty do you shew to your selves by not closing with Christ Saith Wisdom that is Christ himself Prov. 8. 36. He that sinneth against me sinneth against his own soul The great hurt of all is that which you do your selves by refusing of Christ you are with your own hands making weapons of Death to destroy your selves If you would study which way in all the World to do your selves the greatest mischief 't is in this to neglect this great Salvation I tell you In this you take the shortest cutt that can be to manifest that you have no greater enemy than your selves And this is the reason why the Lord will condemn at the last day every Christ-refusing sinner for self destruction Oh Sirs you are not in a right sense self-lovers till you are Christ-receivers 'T is true you have a carnal self love but that 's but a love to sin 't is not a love to the soul and therefore 't is not the right self-love which teacheth one to look after ones own everlasting Salvation next to the Glory of GOD. 7. You 'll be guilty of undervaluing the highest mercies Consider you are offered as precious things as God himself can give to his Creatures what can he give more than Himself and his Son and Spirit his everlasting Love and everlasting Life his Pardon his Promises Why you 'll be found despisers of all these if you don't come to Christ And what is it nothing in your account to be a Child of God to have all your sins blotted out to be justified and sanctified and saved Is it nothing to be delivered from the curse of God and the wrath to come Methinks you should be dealing with your own thoughts a little thus Why what shall I let these great things go a great God and a great Saviour and a great Reward Certainly Friends if you undervalue these things 't is because you overvalue other things you overvalue your sins and you overvalue the world and you overvalue your own righteousness If you could but count these loss you would count Christ to be gain Phil. 3. 7. 8. You 'll be guilty of Hypocrisie What! do you come hither and seem to be a people that would close with Christs offers of Grace and yet when all comes to all you will not do it What Hypocrisie what double dealing is this You put us in hope by your attendance upon the Means that you will give up your selves to Christ and upon this account we are glad to see every one of you here hoping that you will be willing to list your selves into the number of Christ's true Disciples and now what won't you be sincere Shall your faces be towards him and your hearts against him Will you not be as you seem Pray be down-right with us give in your Souls to what you are about This is no place to dissemble with God and with his Ordinances and therefore as in 1 Pet. 2. 1 2. Laying aside all guile and hypocrisies As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby 9. You 'll be guilty of Vnbelief You that close not with Christ you believe him not We tell you he came into the world to save sinners we tell you that there is mercy and pardon and life for you if you come unto him but you believe not our report if you close not with him you believe not the Scripture you believe not the Gospel See 1 Joh. 5. 9. This is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son Shall God testifie these things concerning Christ which we preach to you and shall he not be believed Will you make God a liar vers 10. 10. You 'll be guilty of Foolishness What not to accept of an offer that is so much for your good Is there any wisdom in this Do you use to do thus about the things of the World Come eat of my bread Forsake the foolish Prov. 9. 5 6. Observe here we shall be among the fools till we close with Christ 11. You 'll be guilty of Presumption You talk of your hope to be saved what and not close with Christ Why 't is high presumption in you a tempting a daring of God 12. You 'll be guilty of Vnprofitableness Why till you close with Christ what good do you do This is that which must enter you into a holy fruitful life without this you have not laid the foundation of any spiritual walking Glorifying of God begins here hence it
a thing that through Grace may be effected Why Sirs why may you not be converted why may you not be pardoned why may you not yet be washed and justified and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God Why may not as great Sinners be brought in yet as have been brought in already Methinks that Scripture would come in very seasonably here Ezr. 10. 2. We have trespassed against our God and have taken strange wives of the people of the land yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing 1. d. 'T is very true our provocations against God have been very great and particularly in this that we have taken strange wives of the people of the land which was the sin that they were now mourning for yet let us not sit down hopeless now and do nothing and give up all for lost there 's some hope left still and therefore ver 3 Let 's make a covenant to put away all the wives c. So now in your case that are yet under the guilt of so many and so great iniquities yet there is hope and therefore seek out for this Freedom by Christ See Zech. 9. 12. Turn ye to the strong hold ye prisoners of hope Tho thou art a prisoner yet thou art a prisoner of hope and therefore turn to the strong hold turn to Christ So that you see I have made way to go on upon this now to shew you that 't is every ones duty to look out after a share in this Freedom And there are two things among others that make this to be your duty 1. The Command of God He hath commanded you to look out after Christ and your Souls Friends it is the will of him that made you revealed in his blessed Word that you should come to Christ and close with Christ and not refuse the great and good things which he offers to you Matth. 17. 5. Hear ye him Mark 1. 15. Repent and believe the Gospel Act. 17. 30. God commandeth all men every where to repent Heb. 12. 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh c. And as all the other Commands of God are backed with Promises to them that obey them and with Threatnings to those that do them not So 't is to be observed in a special manner concerning this Command of looking after Christ and believing in him with what precious Promises it is accompanied to those that close with Christ and with what heavy Threatnings to those that reject him The Command it self you may take one place more for which speaketh the fullest of any yet 1 Joh. 3. 23. This is his commandment that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ Now for the Promises they are so many that do belong to this that I cannot name them all See Act. 10. 43. and 13. 39 40. for a taste And for Threatnings Act. 3. 22. Prov. 1. 24. to the end but only that the last verse is a Promise of everlasting safety to them that receive him We should therefore much awe our hearts with the strict Commands that are about looking out for Christ and hearkning to his Calls and know that the not accepting of Christ is the most damning sin Joh. 3. 18 19. This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil The condemnation as if there were none but this And this sin of not believing in Christ is such a great sin that when the Holy Ghost comes to work upon the heart he doth as it were single out this in a principal manner to charge that upon the Conscience and to reprove and to convince for that to be sure Joh. 16. 8 9. And this is a sin which we must and shall be most humbled for if ever God intend mercy to us and whatever other sins we are smitten for till the heart comes to be smitten for this we fall short of those Convictions which the Spirit useth to give in in order to a true Conversion Tho I don't say that this is always the first sin that the Spirit of God sets before the Soul and wounds it for many times a man's inward trouble begins from some other sins yet sooner or later the guilt of this Unbelief is discovered to such a soul and from the sight of that it is brought to the deepest and the truest sorrow Zech. 12. 18. 2. The obligation that lies upon you even by the very light of Nature to look after self-preservation Indeed there is a self that we must not look after the preservation of but do all that we can to bring it to destruction our sinful-self or our Sins and Lusts which are as dear to us by corrupt nature as our selves this we must be sworn enemies to Col. 3. 5. Mortifie your members which are upon the earth c. And the reason is because this is not the right self our sins are the Devils Bratts and therefore they must be dash'd against the walls there must be no sparing of them no pleading for their life for if you give sin its life you 'll lose your own as the Prophet told Ahab from the Lord concerning the King of Syria that great enemy of the children of Israel when the Lord had delivered him into Ahab's hand and he out of favour to him had let him escape when he should have destroyed him 1 Kin. 20. 42. Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction therefore thy life shall go for his life c. So thus it will be to all you that spare your sins and stroak them instead of striking them and because they bring you a little pleasure to the flesh for the present therefore they must be let alone God hath put many opportunities into your hand for the destroying of them every time you come to hear you have as it were an advantage given you again but it may be that you so love this painted strumpet and are so overcome by the flatteries of it that it is as Death to you to part with it Well Soul if thou wilt not have sin to die thou must die if thou wilt not be the death of that that will be the death of thee But there is another self the true self or your selves as you are God's creatures that you are bound to look after the preservation of that is to speak plainly you must take care that you don't go the way to be eternally lost and to have Soul and Body cast into hell And if you are so careful as you know you use to be to preserve your selves from the evils of this World you do all that you can to keep your selves from Pains and Prisons and Poverty why will it not follow that you should be as careful yea and much more because the Soul is more precious to keep your selves from the everlasting
it yours Beloved there be many that are and will be undone for ever because they went no further than the hearing of a Christ at a distance Now those that shall be saved by him he and their souls have been brought nigh together and they make such an application of him to themselves that the relation they have to him is like that of the Members to the Head or of the Wife to the Husband they are so joined to him by Faith that they become one with him now the general offers of Grace never make us one with Christ till he is my Christ I am never united to him Now this is the great thing that you should look after to have Union with Christ and 't is application that makes the Union and you have nothing of him in a saving manner till you are in him and he in you Col. 1. 27. Christ in you the hope of glory Obj. It may be some will say that have but small cause for it Oh if it be Faith that makes Christ mine why then I have a part in him for I do believe I thank God in my Saviour Jesus Christ I put my whole trust in him with all my heart Ans Those that have the true Faith have been made to see that there is a false Faith a counterfeit Faith yea and to fear and question and examine whether their Faith were not a counterfeit Faith Beloved there is a counterfeit of every Grace and certainly there be many that think they believe and don 't As I would have no child of God to think he doth not believe when he doth so I would have no Christless person to think he doth believe when he doth not The way to find out the truth of our Faith is to put our Faith to the proof have you not taken it for granted that you have Faith without trying it I 'll give you but two Notes of the true Faith and I am sure they 'll be enough to prove divers to be Unbelievers that think themselves to be Believers The true Faith is always accompanied with love to Christ with a high prizing love to him they that believe with their hearts they set their hearts upon Christ he hath their dearest and choicest affections placed upon himself they have discerned such a Beauty in Christ that they cannot but love him best 1 Pet. 2. 7. Vnto you that believe he is precious Now there be many of you that think you have Faith and yet let one listen never so much to you one cannot hear you talk of Christ nor utter any longings or breathings of Soul after him and when the beauty and sweetness and fulness and freeness of Grace that is in Christ is spoken of you have no delight to be upon such a Discourse And pray now what do your thoughts and desires run out most upon Are not your minds and affections taken up with the present and perishing things of this World more than with Christ Is there not something that sits nearer to your hearts than he doth Surely here 's a discovery of a false Faith to say one believes in him and yet not love him Ask thy soul Hast not gone many a day many a week many a year nay all the days of thy life and had never one raised desire towards him Thou dost not know what 't is to be unsatisfied without his presence and without communion with him thou dost not know what 't is to be sick of love for him he may stay never so long from thy Soul and thou never grieve nor groan thou canst do well enough with the Creature though thou hast not Christ I tell thee if it be so thou hast thy Faith to seek thou never madest any particular application of him yet to thy self for if thou hadst application of him would beget affection to him A true Believer is greatly in love with the Lord Jesus he had rather be without any thing than him he accounts all loss in comparison of him Phil. 3. 8. 2. The true Faith is always accompanied with likeness to Christ A Believer in him is a Conformer to him and a Follower of him he bears about Christ's Image in the World he lives according to Christ's Life and according to Christ's Law and according to Christ's Example he partakes with him in his crucified and in his quickned State As Paul in Gal. 2. 20. when he speaks that the life of faith was in him in the beginning of the verse saith he I am crucified with Christ he died to sin and walked in newness of life But now how many be there of you that think you have Faith and yet are as much for sin as ever you were and as contrary to goodness as ever you were you can be as vain and as vile and as carnal and as covetous and as proud and passionate and lukewarm as ever you were If it be thus with thee I tell thee if there were no better Believers than thou art there would not be one true Believer in the World A Faith that doth not change thee into a new Creature is a false Faith 2 Pet. 1. 1. To them that have obtained like precious faith with us How doth he make out that they had this precious faith why vers 4. they had escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust True Faith is of a sanctifying purifying nature It is at peace with no sin nor at war with any duty Reas 3. We should every one look after this Freedom because a diligent looking out for it is the way to obtain it You know how much diligence hath done sometimes in other cases how it hath by the blessing of God upon his Labours raised a man to great Riches that before had nothing yea it may be was worse than nothing So if you would be diligent how can you tell but that you may be rich tho you are now so very poor and that you may be made free tho for the present you are in Bondage Why may not a man get a spiritual Estate by taking pains as well as many have gotten an earthly one Obj. Oh but you 'll say there are some discouraging places that I meet with in the Scripture Ans Well What are they let us hear And before thou goest any further let me tell thee it is a great mistake to think that there is any place of Scripture rightly understood that doth discourage any Soul from taking pains to look after his own Salvation Doth not God every where almost call upon People to do it Is not the Word full of Precepts to that purpose and full of Promises to that purpose Take but one place among many Matth. 7. 7 8. Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened Well I pray thee let 's hear thy
manifest signs and tokens of a person in slavery what 's the meaning that thou art so in love with sin and under the power and dominion of these and these Lusts that thou art so given to such and such wicked Ways and so contrary to all that is good That thou hast such an unclean Heart and such a disobedient Life such a dark Mind such vile Affections such a rebellious Will Why doth not this speak that thou art an Enemy to God and a Child of Wrath Would or could any Man or Woman live such a carnal vain Conversation as thine is if they were not in an unregenerate condition Therefore you read Joh. 16. 9. that it is the Spirit that reproves the world of sin Again It is the Spirit that humbles the soul that is to be saved that abases and laves it low in the sight of its own sin and misery that makes sin grievous and odious to it and that brings the Soul under a sense of that wrath that belongs to the workers of iniquity So that it shall cry out Oh what have I done Oh what have I deserved what a dangerous case am I in Here 's this and that sin forbidden by God and yet committed by me and thereupon the Law threatens thus and thus Oh how shall I escape Here 's this and that Duty commanded by God and yet neglected by me and thereupon the Law threatens thus and thus again Oh what shall become of me Hence that sorrow and heaviness that is in such a Soul now is called the spirit of heaviness Isa 61. 3. to note that this heaviness comes from the Spirit 't is he that sets the Soul a mourning thus Again It is the Spirit that discovers to the Soul that is to be saved where its remedy is for all this that acquaints it with the Gospel and Salvation by Christ and what things God hath freely given to his People in and by his Son 1 Cor. 2. 12. That shews it Tho thou art such a great sinner yet there is a great Saviour one that is a Physician appointed to cure such Diseases as thine are one that 's a Surety appointed to pay such Debts as thine are 'T is said here that the Spirit makes those who shall be saved to know such things as these are what God hath done for the raising and recovering of poor sinners in a way of free Grace what a glorious Contrivance he hath found out by Jesus Christ revealed in the Gospel to shew mercy to them and indeed that 's a knowing that is worth the having to know these things so as the Spirit makes them known to the People of God There be many that have a kind of Knowledge of these things by bare reading of them and hearing of them and by common Illumination of the Spirit but this knowing here is another manner of thing Again It is the Spirit that doth help and inable the Soul to look out for this Christ to use all the means and to go all the ways that may be to come to this Christ and to get an interest in him that works in it faith to lay hold upon him and that makes the Soul able to take him Eph. 3. 16 17. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith Mark 't is the Spirit that by his might doth strengthen the inner man that Christ may dwell in the heart by faith Take notice by the way what a deal of Power there must go out from this Spirit to make a Soul believe with the true saving Faith They that have the false Faith they can believe with ease there needs not an Almighty Arm to be stretched out to work their Faith they give it themselves and have had it all their days they find no difficulty either in the getting of it or in the keeping of it But the true Faith comes into the hearts of Saints by no less a strength than that which God by his Spirit puts forth See Eph. 1. 19 20. Again It is the Spirit that seals and witnesses to the Soul the Assurance that this Freedom doth belong to it and that proves to the Soul that it is so by such Evidences as it gives out of the Word Eph. 1. 13. This is he that carries as I may say God's Privy Seal and when and to whom he pleases he gives it but he gives it to none but them that are sanctified The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show them his covenant And this is an unspeakable mercy to have the Spirits Seal set to our Graces to have ones repentance sealed for a true Repentance and ones faith sealed for a true Faith and ones comfort sealed for true Comfort and ones interest in Christ sealed up We must make our state of Grace sure by Signs but the Spirit can make it sure by Seal Again It is the Spirit that ingages and stirs up the Soul to such a walking as is sit for one that is brought into a state of Freedom therefore 1 Pet. 1. 2. the People of God are said to have the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience And Oh! how much are they beholding unto this Spirit for many heavenly Notions that he gives in to them and for fresh quicknings when they find abundance of deadness and formality in their Duties hath seised upon them This Spirit is often calling upon the Saints to pray more fervently to hear more profitably to walk more closely to bring forth more fruit to God who hath done so much for them It often minds them of their Mercies that they may be more stirred up to Duties and of the hope of their Calling that so they may walk more worthy of it Again It is the Spirit that preserves and keeps them in the state of Freedom that they shall not lose it again and that makes them to persevere to the end in a holy life that so they may come at last to the full injoyment of all that their dear Redeemer hath purchased and prepared for them This Spirit is that Power of God by which they are said through Faith to be kept unto Salvation See Ezek. 36. 27. Thus you see that both the Father and the Holy Ghost have a hand in this Freedom But yet according to the second thing that was said in answer to the Question our Freedom in other respects comes from Christ personally and peculiarly so as that in some sense he is and must be look'd upon as more immediatly our Redeemer for he did that in his Person which the other Persons did not They did not take our nature and come in the likeness of sinful flesh but the Son did Rom. 8. 3. and therefore 't was not they but he that was made under the Law and that yielded perfect obedience to it neither did they but he died
a sword and with a spear and with a shield but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts and so he prevailed This is the Cordial that true Christians must take along with them in their journey to Heaven to keep them from fainting That Father Son and Spirit are all ingaged in the matters of their Salvation And 't is certain that they would not be so fearful and so weak in their work as they are apt to be if they did but know their strength And so this is the first thing that shews After what manner this Freedom is in Christ 'T is in him Personally 2. This Freedom is in Christ abundantly So Paul found it when the Lord had mercy on him 1 Tim. 1. 14. You know the manner of men is when they give others of their good things to give but a little of them it may be rhey have not such a store of their own as to be able to part with much But 't is not so with Christ this Freedom is stor'd up in him he hath Treasures of it 't is much that Christ can do for Souls that place is very full for it Heb. 7. 25. He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him The word in the Greek is as if you should read it He is able to save to the finishing or perfecting of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatever is in Christ 't is in him abundantly Consider four things and you 'll see 't is thus with him in respect of this Freedom 't is in him plentifully 1. He can save more than ever shall be saved The reason why such multitudes do post and flock to Hell is not because there was not enough in Christ to keep them from it but because they will not be ruled by him they do not follow this Physicians Prescriptions Here upon Earth though the Patient makes the best use that can be of the Physician and follows his Prescriptions and Advice to a tittle and doth all things to the exactest obedience yet many times the Patient dies notwithstanding or he is never the more delivered from the pain and danger of his Disease as it was with the Woman that had the bloody Issue Mark 5. 25 26. And the Disease is so inveterate and malignant that all the skill of the Doctors is not able to cure them or preserve them But here no Soul is lost for want of Skill or Power in the Physician but 't is because they would not do as he would have them they would not submit to his Cure nor accept of his Help they should have found him a Healer if he had found them obedient Psal 81. 11 12. Obj. But you may say If Christ hath such a Power he could have made them obedient if he pleased Ans That 's true he could have done so and so he doth to some he doth make them obedient and willing that he will not only give Advice but they shall take Advice and give up themselves to be wholly at Christ's direction and counsel and where-ever this is wrought in the Soul it is the free Grace and distinguishing Love of God The overcoming of the Will to close with Christ is indeed the breaking forth of God's eternal Election and he will do this in all whom he hath chosen but when God sees that tho men cannot of themselves receive Christ yet they do wickedly and wilfully resist the offers of his Grace and through the pride of their Hearts will not cry to him to make them willing and to bring down the stubbornness and rebellion of their spirits who will dare to blame 〈…〉 if he leave them to themselves 〈…〉 sure as 't is unspeakable Mercy in God to draw some to willingness So 't is a very righteous thing in him to leave others to their wilfulness God is not bound to save any man against his will and whom he pleases he may make willing and whom he pleases he may let alone in their rebellion and so they don't perish because Christ could not save them but because they would not be saved and they manifested that they would not because they always resisted the Holy Ghost Acts 7. 51. Obj. But how doth this consist with that great willingness that is in Christ to save Sinners of which we are so often told that so many Sinners should perish and yet Christ could save them Ans 1. The willingness that is in Christ to save Sinners must especially and principally as I conceive be understood of those kind of Sinners who seek to him out of a sense of their need of his Salvation and of their undone condition without him as appears from Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest As the Lord Jesus in the days of his Flesh did upon all occasions of the coming of the diseased persons to him manifest his great readiness to cure them and he turned away none that offered themselves to him by them he would be prevailed with and by them he would be touched and as many as touched him were made perfectly whole of whatever Disease they had So whoever they be whatever spiritual Plagues they have that do humbly and sensibly offer themselves to Christ as the Physician of their Souls and cry to him Lord Jesus be intreated to cure me of a blind Mind of a hard Heart of the strong Possession that the Devil hath taken hold of me by such a sin and such a sin 't is certain that Jesus Christ doth as I may say stand prepared to help such a Soul and to have mercy upon him and heal him And therefore you must know that Jesus Christ requires this at your hands that you who would have Mercy and Salvation from him should repair to him and come and spread as it were your Wounds before him and implore his help You must not stay away from Christ and keep at a distance from him but go and tell him the misery that your Souls are in and beseech him to shew his skill upon you and this will be the way to get him to be moved with compassion towards you Then you 'll find that he hath a willingness in his heart to do you good and the more importunate you are with him the more hopes you will have to speed with him yea you need not doubt or fear if you do sincerely make out to him for his help but you shall have it you are to believe that you shall And if you do not thus look out for help in Christ but neglect coming to him that is appointed of God to save you as you will certainly perish so tho you shall yet your destruction doth not proceed from a want of willingness in Christ to save you tho I confess this willingness that is in Christ to save even them that shall never be saved is not the same with that which is in him
redeemed them Tit. 4. 5. Rev. 1. 5. Now Love doth not work for wages Beloved you must know that when the Lord Jesus was upon this redeeming-Work his heart was as full of love towards poor sinners as it could hold you may say of Christ in this respect as they said of him once when he was weeping at Lazarus his Grave Behold how he loved him Joh. 11. 35 36. So when he was in his bloody Agony and Sweat and hung pierced upon the Cross and was suffering all that wrath from God and Men this might have been in the thoughts of them that beheld him and no doubt was in the thoughts of them that believed in him Behold how he loves poor sinners Now you know when a man comes to do any thing for you out of love why if you ask him What will you have Why nothing saith he because I love you Set one about any thing that you have to do and if he doth not love you why he will be paid to the full and perhaps he will make unreasonable demands too But Love will labour for you for nothing 't will be glad of an opportunity to do you a kindness Thus 't was with Christ he went through hard things for you you cannot think what he suffered that you might be saved and yet as Jacob's serving so many years for Rachel seemed to him but few days for the love he had to her So tho Christ suffered many things for you that are his yet to him they seem less than they are for the Love he hath to you 2. Because Christ knew that he wrought for the poor Psal 72. 2 4 12 13. Now the poor why they must be helped freely Alas we have nothing to give him for his labour and Christ knew this and yet he did not do as many do when the poor have need of their help they are ready to say I 'll not work for them they can't pay me Men love to work most for the Rich where they shall be sure of their Money But the Lord Jesus he doth the poor mans work and so tho they have a great deal of profit by it yet he hath none to himself 3. Because the great design of this redeeming Work which is in the hands of Christ is the everlasting exalting of Free Grace that Glory might be ascribed unto God throughout all Ages World without end See Eph. 1. 6 7. Therefore all must come freely that Free Grace might be advanced that every one that is saved might admire the riches of the Goodness and Love of GOD in Christ to their Souls Oh what Praises hath the Lord from his People and will have to all Eternity for this Free Grace Oh admire it more you that are under it It must be your work in Heaven and we may be glad that it shall be our work in Heaven when we consider how short we come in the admiring of it here upon Earth 4. This Freedom is in Christ only As to the Body there may be many Physicians for one Disease but as to the Soul there is but one Physician for all Diseases Isa 45. latter part of ver 21. and the 22. A Saviour there is none beside me Look unto me and be ye saved all ye ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else We have many spiritual Sicknesses but 't is Christ alone that can heal us whoever doth not come 〈◊〉 his hand he dies for it and therefore don't trust to Physicians of no value Many are apt to do for their Souls as you read Ahaziah did when he had gotten a very dangerous Fall he sent to the Idol gods 2 Kings 1. 2. Go and inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease And what he got by this you shall see by what the Lord bids the Prophet go and tell him ver 3 4. Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron Now therefore thus saith the Lord Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up but shalt surely die Let me allude a little to this Scripture Sinner thou art just in the case of this man thou hast gotten a most dangerous Fall thou art fallen from the upper Chamber when God created thee at first by that Image of his in which he made thee he put thee into the upper Chamber Oh the high Preferment that thou wast in 't was a heavenly condition that thou hadst to be without sin and to be like to God but thou art fallen from hence and thy Fall hath done thee a world of hurt now when thou beginnest to be sick of thy Fall and thereupon to think that some course must be taken for the getting of a Cure Oh take heed to whom thou goest for if thou goest to any but the God in Israel I mean to Jesus Christ who is the hope of Israel and the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble I tell thee from the Lord thou shalt surely die The great fear when Souls begin to be awakened about their condition is Whether they will go to Christ only and if they join any thing with him to trust to and rest in they spoil all you must come up to that Scripture or you are undone Phil. 3. 3. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Remember what a warning Christ gave in another case I may fitly allude to it Matth. 24. 4 5. Many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many This is ordinary amongst Professors to be thus deceived there comes this and that Profession Duties common Workings upon the Soul and the like and these are apt to say Why I am Christ Now 't is thus and thus with thee thou wilt do well and many believe this and are deceived And therefore when you begin to look after a Christ be sure to look after the true One for 't is he and none but he that can do the Work and don't think that because there be so many false christs therefore 't is impossible to know the true One read for that 1 Joh. 5. 20. Obj. But how shall I know that it is the true Christ that I trust to Ans I 'll only say this to it The true Christ makes a true Christian they are not only Christians to men but Christians to God Now thou art thus and thus to men but what art thou to God Is thy heart savingly wrought upon Hast thou the Life and Spirit of Jesus Christ within thee It may be thou art for thy outward appearance as the King's Daughter thy clothing is of wrought gold but art thou all glorious within Psal 45. 13. 5. This Freedom is in Christ continually We may apply that place to him even for this 2 Cor. 1. 10. He hath delivered many
with all their Prayers are able to open this Freedom as it is Why truly then you may even say with astonishment concerning it as they did when the Lord had so strangly turned the captivity of Zion Psal 126. 2. The Lord hath done great things for his people there is some great some excellent thing in it without doubt 2. I would tell you this also before I go any further That when we have done what we can through Gods assistance to set out the excellency of this Freedom and when you have heard it may be such things about it as may even cause you to say Well now we have had this Subject opened to us we cannot but acknowledg that this Freedom by Christ hath abundance of worth in it oh what a precious thing it is Yet still that which must make it excellent indeed in the eye and esteem of your Souls is your having an interest in it Beloved a man may say of Christ and of the things of Christ they are precious and yet they may not be precious to him no doubt but many a wicked man hath said that Christ is precious and yet he was not so to him because he did not believe in him 1 Pet. 2. 7. Vnto you therefore which believe he is precious Mark he is precious to you this is the difference between an unbeliever and a believer the one says that Christ is precious but the other prizes him Nothing will make this Freedom so precious to you as your part in it Our propriety in a thing puts a kind of excellency upon it in our account tho it be but mean in it self and the want of that makes us have but low thoughts of a thing tho it be never so good one may drop some words by way of commending a good thing but if it be not ones own one hath no prizing thoughts of it You know if a man hath but an ordinary house of his own tho he may say of one that is anothers and ten times better than his such a one hath a brave seat yet his prizing thoughts run most out to his own he hath an interest and propriety in that but he hath not in the other So you may in words commend this Freedom and say what an excellent thing 't is but if it should be with you as Peter said to Simon Acts 8. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right in the sight of God it will not be excellent to you Tho Christ cannot be more beautiful then he is as to himself yet propriety in him will make him look as to us ten thousand times more lovely then otherwise Cant. 5. ult Well now to proceed to the clearing up of this that this is an excellent most excellent Freedom I shall make it out by opening these Seven following things 1. The excellent Names by which it is called 2. The excellent Person by whom it was performed 3. The excellent Price by which it was purchased 4. The excellent properties belonging to it 5. The excellent Priviledges which come by it 6 The excellent Vses that may be made of it 7. The many Wonders that may be observed in it And when I have gone through these things I shall make Application of this Branch of the Doctrine and so finish my whole work upon this Text. To the 1. This Freedom by Christ is an excellent Freedom as we may gather from the excellent Names which are given to it in the Scriptures It was taken for a great honour amongst the Romans to have more Names than one and when they would reprove one that was of a low condition that did take more upon him than became his place they would tell him that he carried himself as if he had three names for that was a note of excellency among them to have three names Now 't is the excellency of this Freedom by Christ that it hath more than three it hath many names and every one of them will help you to see what an excellent Freedom ' t is Sometimes 't is called deliverance see Joel 2. 32. In mount Zion and Jerusalem shall be Deliverance In this place this Freedom by Christ is alluded to and prophecied of and hence Christ himself is called the Deliverer Rom. 11. 26. Now what an excellent thing is deliverance counted among us If any body be in trouble affliction pain or danger any way oh they would fain have deliverance If a woman be in travel oh how she groans for deliverance Rev. 12. 2. and when she is delivered oh how glad she is of it John 16. 21. Deliverance is such a thing if one be in distress that they who want faith will have it if it be possible tho they use unlawful means for it Yea 't is such a thing that Gods own people many times cannot tell how to wait for it We are very apt to be impatient till deliverance comes Every body concludes that deliverance is an excellent thing Well now this Freedom is deliverance we shall be all delivered if we be made Free by Christ I don't tell you from what yet I am not come to that therefore I speak as yet in a general way Again Another name by which this Freedom is called is Redemption Rom. 3. 24. and those that are made Free by Christ are very often in the Scripture said to be redeemed Now the word Redemption properly signifies the buying back again of things or persons that were alienated from the right owner by being gotten into Bondage Hence it appears what an excellent thing this Freedom by Christ is in that it is set out by this word 't is a bringing of out of us Captivity a bringing of us back to God who is our right owner 't is a fetching of us out of the House of Bondage an opening of the prison as 't is called Isa 61. 11. this Freedom by Christ is a Goal-delivery You may fitly apply that Scripture to this in Psal 107. 10. to 17. when the poor wretch is cast into some loathsom Prison and there he sits in darkness and 't is such a darkness as is the very shadow of Death and he is not only thus but he is bound too and that not with Cords but with Iron and there his very heart is brought down all his spirits and courage and strength are gone out with the misery he undergoes I say when 't is thus with a poor wretch oh what a precious thing would it be to him to have Redemption how doth his Soul long to be out of that condition Isa 51. 14. The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed he is in heast that is it is in his desires that he might be redeemed Why now this Freedom by Christ brings Redemption it breaks the yoke of our oppression by this we come out of the Iron Fornace Again Sometimes this Freedom is called Salvation Tit. 2. 11. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation
heart of Boaz inclined to her first he highly commends her for her pitching upon him that she would be satisfied with none but him v. 10. and then he promises her that he would grant her all her request v. 11. and then in the next chap. he doth solemnly Marry her So the Lord Jesus is inclinable and willing to Marry you Go and try if he be not Lye you at his feet beg earnestly that he would spread his Skirt over you see if he do not can you think that he is not willing when instead of your coming to woo Christ as Ruth here did Boaz Christ comes to woo you he would fain be your Saviour be your Husband he tells you so and all that when you have him you may have Rest and that it may be well with you which it never will till you have him Again Another Name by which this Freedom by Christ is set forth to shew the excellency of it is Health or Healing Isa 53. 5. With his stripes we are healed we get Health by them 't is all one with this Freedom here And Psal 67. 2. where this is prayed for that it might be manifested to the World and that the knowledg of Salvation by Christ might be spread all over the Earth as it was to be in the days of the Gospel 't is called Saving Health That thy way may be known upon earth thy saving health among all nations Now you all know what an excellent thing Health is some by the enjoying of it and some by the want of it this is such a mercy that whatever one hath besides yet if there be no Health with it all is imbittered it makes life it self burdensom and uncomfortable and tho ones condition in the World be but poor in other respects yet sometimes you shall hear people say but thanks be to God they have their Health tho and as long as they have that they may make the better shift Health beloved is more then a single mercy 't is a double treble yea a tenfold yea a hundredfold mercy because it helps us to take the comfort and taste the sweetness of all else what is all the World to a man that is very Sick or near to Death Health is such an excellent thing that no body can tell what to do without it 'T is an usual expression or cry with persons that have it not and are Sick and are in pain oh what shall I do and you know how they will be enquiring of this Neighbour and that which comes to visit them whether they can tell what they should take and they 'l send to the Physician and he must come and see them and tho he prescribes sharp or loathsom things yet they 'l take them they 'l Purge they 'l Vomit they 'l Bleed they 'l Sweat and all to have their Health again Well now this is the nature of this Freedom by Christ 't is Health if a man be Sick at his very heart 't will recover him if he be never so like to dye I mean by it if he be never so like to be damned which is the Second and the worst Death If he never so much faint away in his Spirits through the Anguish and Terror of a wounded Conscience yet this Freedom by Christ if he believes in it will fetch him again if he hath never so many sores this will bind him up There are some very observable things about Christs manner of healing while he was here upon Earth I would desire you to take much notice of them because the thing that we are to gather from it is what this same bealing Freedom by Christ will do 1. Observe That Christs manner of healing persons that were diseased was by touching he touched them and they touched him See Matth. 8. 3 15. There Christ touched them and in Mark 6. 56. There you find that they touched Christ now there is much to be learnt by this If you would have healing by Christ he must touch you by the finger of his Spirit for 't is spiritual healing that we are now speaking of and therefore the touch must be spiritual now both in him and you and you must touch him by the finger of Faith for you must have Faith to be healed See what a Question Christ put to the Blind men Matth. 9. vers 27. Two blind men followed him crying and saying Thou Son of David have mercy on us then v. 28. you have his Question Believe ye that I am able to do this And their Answer They said unto him Yea Lord. And what followed upon it you read afterwards vers 29 30. Then touched he their eyes saying According to your faith be it unto you And their eyes were opened So you have such and such spiritual diseases you have inward blindness and inward deafness and inward hardness but do you believe that Christ can heal you Doth not unbelief keep off the cure in you Do you touch him by Faith Christ and you as I said but now must touch one another that you may be healed He by his Spirit and you by your Faith Beloved this finger of the Spirit is such a thing that by it Christ can touch you tho you be upon Earth and on the other side this finger of Fath is such a thing that by it you can touch Christ tho he be in Heaven If Christ doth but send his Spirit to you it will tell you where you are it will find you out and it will give you such a touch as you 'l never forget and when Christ hath thus touched you he will help you to touch him he will work Faith in you by his Spirit Oh! look after these touches and don't think you are healed if Christ hath not touched you and you have not touched him 2. Observe that as they must touch him that would be healed so they were healed if they did but touch him Matth. 9. 20 21. Here is a great deal of comfort for weak believers Many a poor Soul is ready to think that because they have not Faith in that strength and growth and full assurance that some have therefore alas they shall get nothing from Christ do no good at all with that poor sorry staggering Faith of theirs Truly poor Soul I wish thy Faith were stronger but I tell thee if thou hast but a grain of true Faith tho it be never so weak if it be but true 't will bring thee a cure for 't will touch Christ if it be true tho never so small 3. Observe that as many as touched him were healed Mark 6. last words of the chapt He did not turn away one that did it he accepted of the weakest Faith there is not one that comes to Christ shall be refused 4. Observe that they who touched him were not almost healed by him but they were healed perfectly Matth. 14. 36. You that are the people of God you have yet a great many weaknesses and
come to it already and to make it sure that not one of his redeemed ones shall miss of it he intends to come himself and bring them all thither Joh. 14. 3. So that not only Christ hath a Crown but they shall have one too a Crown of life a Crown of Righteousness because I live saith he ye shall live also and he doth not count himself fully glorified till he hath got every particular Saint into Heaven And not only have the people of God upon Earth great longings after Christ oh that we might be with him but surely Christ hath greater longings after them oh that they might be with me Priviledg 8. The indwelling of the Spirit is another Priviledg bought by this Freedom Christ having freed them the Holy Ghost takes possession of them now their Bodies must be his Temples and their Hearts his Throne Rom. 8. 11. and oh the great things that his Spirit doth in them and for them which I might set down as distinct Priviledges But I must hasten By this they are enlightned by this they are sanctified by this they are quickned strengthned comforted guided the Spirit that dwelt in them before led them into dark and dangerous paths gave them evil counsel was always a provoking of them to be worse and worse but here 's one that will be checking and reproving of them when they walk disorderly and that will be grieved at their sins and that will countenance and encourage them in way of duty which is a great benefit Priviledg 9. This Freedom brings a right to all the Promises Gal. 3. ult And there is more riches in one Promise than in a thousand Worlds I know not what portion some of you may desire or where you would have your lot to fall if you could have your wish very like you would desire some huge things in this World that you might have so great an estate as such a man hath c. and then perhaps you would think if it were but so you had wished your selves into a very good condition But oh beloved the Promises the Promises they are the Priviledges indeed when you have them you have God in Covenant with you If you consider who 't is that promises and what 't is that is promised and the certainty that there cannot but be of the faithful and full performance of them you must needs say 't is an high Priviledg to be interested in them Priviledg 10. It brings Peace of conscience Rom 5. 1. Heb. 9. 14. This is such a thing that the having of it is a kind of Heaven upon Earth and the want of it is a kind of Hell upon Earth If a mans conscience fly in his Face and the Sence of Guilt and the Horror of spirit seizes on him let him enjoy the World if he can 't will bring down the stoutest heart that is to have but one sound gripe of it but these redeemed ones are in the way of Peace Christ is to them the Prince of Peace God is to them the God of Peace the Word is to them the Word of Peace When we come amongst you in our preaching and denounce the Wrath and Judgments of God they are not these persons that we mean we have another message for them and we must in effect say to them in our Sermons as Paul doth to them in the beginning of his Epistles Grace be to you and Peace c. As amongst the Children of Israel there were two Mountains Gerizim and Eball one to pronouce the blessings upon and the other for the curses So beloved tho when we would give you that are out of Christ your portion we must do that as it were from the Mount of curses yet when we speak to these we must get up on the Mount of blessings Priviledg 11. Is Preservance in holiness Hypocrites may fall away because they were never well on Joh. 15. 7. there may come something or other that will dash their profession to pieces but these are well rooted and nothing will be able to pluck them up you shall not see them turn Saints in the beginning and turn Devils in the end as Judas did 1 Pet. 1. 6 you read that they had manifold temptations there were divers ways of suffering invented for them to beat them off from Christ and ver 7. their faith was tried with fire and yet it would be found unto praise at the appearing of Jesus Christ and vers 9. for all that they went through and should receive the end of their faith the salvation of their souls they should persevere still Priviledg 12. Is Access to the Throne of Grace Heb. 4. ult Oh! what a Priviledg would it be counted upon Earth that when the King is set down upon his Throne tho he be in the posture of Majesty to have free admission to him about a business of great concernment You know how Esther the Queen was afraid to come into the Kings presence and what a favour 't was to her when the King was upon his Throne that he would reach out his golden Scepter to her that she might speak freely and ask what she would and it should be given to her But beloved here 's the Throne of the gracious God may be come to in and through Christ by these redeemed ones They may pour out their very hearts before him and while they are a praying he will be hearing he will bow down his ear and attend to the voice of their cry He will not bid them go out of his presence but they shall have audience in Heaven And if the Lord sees them afraid or unable to utter their desires to him his Spirit shall encourage them and help their Infirmities Priviledg 13. Hence follows another Priviledg That they shall have supply to all their wants If God withhold any thing from them to be sure tho it be good for others yet 't is not good for them in particular or not good for them at that time when they would have it and so they have good reason either to wait for it till it comes or to be contented without it if it should not come at all Now that this is their Priviledg see Phil. 4. 19. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus And God's children should live as those that believe this And they should be careful for nothing and take no thought for their life nor for their meat nor their drink nor their cloathing I don't say you must not use means for these things God doth not now provide for us as he did for the children of Israel in the Wilderness by raining down bread from Heaven No if you will eat you must work but you must work without perplexity the Cares of the Wotld must not fret your hearts If they do either you do not belong to God or you forget your Priviledg which indeed is a very great one That having given you his Son