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
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
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
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
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
reason of deadness and backwardness to such a good work as edifying of one another in love when they are together and for want of making it as sometimes they should the very design and end of their coming together to build up one another in their most holy faith c. But I say if they can but once get into it and especially if they be not only true Christians but fervent Oh what comfortable profitable Communion will there be sometimes between them that their very hearts will be knit together by it as it was between Jonathan and David when they had had Communion together The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David and they loved one another as their own Souls Now the having of this living Communion together is a thing which the Lord sets a very high esteem upon I speak this to encourage Gods people to be more frequent and forward in it then many of us are See Mal. 3. 16. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkned and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name This is a Scripture that one would think should make you even long to be more at this work for mark what encouragement it carries in it 1. The Lord hearkned as it were by way of Attention and 2. Heard it as it were by way of Acceptation And then 3. This must not only be accepted but it must be written 4. Not in some loose little Paper or Scroll but in a Book And 5. This Book must be called a Book of Remembrance Remembrance must be the very name of it And 6. That it might be remembred it must not be laid away but be before him 4. This Freedom by Christ we being interested in it puts Life into our Hopes If we have not this all our Hopes of Mercy and Salvation are but dead Hopes and you 'l have no more benefit by them then you will have of a man that you had great hopes in that he would be a mighty Friend to you in your distress and you count upon it before your distress comes upon you that certainly you shall have such a Friend as passes of that man and thus you go on and when your great distress comes upon you then you begin to look out for this Friend that he may now do for you according to what he put you in hope he would do and when you have enquired after him and now have such great need of help you find the man is dead So if you are not partakers of this Freedom by Christ hope what you will it will come to nothing and therefore what the Apostle tells the people of God they should not do I tell you that are not the people of God that you should do it Heb. 10. 35. He saith they must by no means cast away their confidence But oh Sirs you that are out of Christ must by all means cast away yours you must throw it out for a cast-away and if you don't make that a cast-away that will help to cast away you What a slave to sin and yet hope to enjoy the Priviledges and Happiness of them that are made Free by Christ Away with it In this Sense I pray with all my heart that God Almighty would bring you to final desperation What sinner dost thou think to live by a dead Hope Obj. But how do you prove that my Hope is a dead Hope Answ I will tell thee but even in three words 1. Because the Scripture calls it no Hope Eph. 2. 12. As a dead man is as good as no man so a dead Hope is no Hope 2. Because 't is not a Hope to which God hath begotten thee thou hast given thy self this Hope but the living Hope is that which God hath given to his people by begetting of them to himself by causing them to be born again 1 Pet. 1. 3. 3. Because it doth not bring forth any purifying fruits thou keepest thy Hope and keepest thy sins too thy Hope and Holiness do not go together thou canst allow thy self in ways of wickedness and mindest not a being like to God Whereas 't is otherwise with them that have the living Hope they purifie themselves as he is pure 1 Joh. 3. 3. 8. One thing more briefly about this Freedom by Christ as to another name by which 't is called serving to set out the excellency of it and that is 't is called the Blessing of God Now that 's a precious things indeed What 's all that we have if we have not Gods Blessing with it Why 't is his Blessing that keeps us from his curse when God intended the greatest good to Abraham he summed it up in this I will bless thee Gen. 12. 2. And so when you wish the greatest mercy to others you pray that God would bless them his blessing is the comfort of every Calling of every Relation of every Condition Why now this Freedom by Christ is Gods blessing See Acts 3. ult Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities And therefore all that I shall say upon it is this That if you have not this Freedom by Christ you 'l never have Gods blessing and therefore you 'l have Gods curse that will be your Portion I grant that in some sense you may be said to have his blessings that is you may have outward mercies in which respect God said he would bless Ishmael himself tho he were the Son of the Bondwoman Gen. 17. 20. But he may bless you thus and yet you may be cursed for ever and so you will be if Christ doth not make you Free And oh Sirs what a dreadful thing will it be to lye under the curse of God to eternity Do you think you are strong enough to bear such a load as this is World without end You may see some inkling of it now what a dreadful thing this curse is if God doth but let fall a drop of it upon a great Estate how it moulders or upon any person for his wickedness what a forlorn Creature he becomes as Cain Why this is a thing that will dry one up to the roots as the Fig-tree when Christ cursed it immediatly it whithered away But what then will it be in Hell where it shall be in its full force But as for them who are interested in this Freedom by Christ I may say to them as in Psal 115. 15. You are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth CHAP. VI. Concerning the Excellency of the person by whom this Freedom was performed TO the Second The excellency of this Freedom will appear if we consider the excellent person by whom it was performed You have already heard that this Freedom comes by Christ and Christ is an excellent person indeed he is