implyed in this Call to come That there is a gracious provision made and revealed by God for the removal and making up of this Distance and getting of a gracious nearness to God This is in the Constitution and Revelation of this Throne of Grace 3. That the improving of this Provision is Mens Duty and should be their exercise in order to possess and enjoy the Priviledge and Advantage of this Provision What then is this Coming to the Throne of Grace 1. It is in Believing on Jesus Christ This is the first approach to the Throne of Grace He is the propitiation and Mercy-Seat and Throne of Grace 1 John 4.10 Believing on him is coming to him John 6.35 It is coming to the Father by him John 14.6 It is believing on God by him 1 Pet. 1.21 It is believing on him and on him that sent him John 12.44 Believing on Jesus Christ is an imploying of Christ in way of Trust as to all his fulness of Grace and our utter indigence thereof Whatever a man do whatever Exercises of Religion he be taken up in he never comes to the Throne of Grace till his heart and Soul go forth towards Jesus Christ for Righteousness and Life The first right step heaven-ward is saving faith in Christ. Nothing savingly good can preceed it and all saving good follows it for faith unites the man to Christ and all the fruits of Holiness and Righteousness spring from the virtue of the Vine Christ with whom the Believer hath first union by Grace and then communion of Christs grace by which he lives and works and grows 2. Coming to this Throne is acted in all acts of Gospel-worship and in the use of all Gospel-ordinances They all belong to the Throne of Grace are the Institutions of this Throne and appointed as means wherein we should approach to it and which when blessed by the appointer of them do convey to us the Blessings of this Throne Of them there are several 1. Prayer This is coming to to the Throne of Grace if rightly managed Though asking is not expressed in this ver yet it is strongly implyed both in the commanded Coming and in the expressed obtaining of Mercy and finding of grace to help in time of need All that make a fashion of Prayer do not come to the Throne of Grace yet all that pray rightly do come to it And because this approaching to the Throne of Grace by and in Prayer is plainly hinted in the Text and is so commonly understood by Christians I would have my eye principally upon it in handling this Scripture 2. There is the word Read Preached and Meditated on that is another principal means in which men should approach to the Throne of Grace In Prayer we pour out our heart before this Throne and express our Desires to him that siteth on it In the Word the King on this Throne delivers his Will and Mind to us And we should come to hear it and receive the Law from his Mouth Cornelius expressed an excellent frame for this Ordinance Acts 10.33 We are all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God This word is the word of his Grace Acts 20.32 It is the Proclamation of his Grace to Men. 3. Praising of God is a coming to the Throne of Grace This is the Sacrifice we should offer by our high Priest Heb. 13.15 Who minds this as they ought If we want we ask and so we should But where is the Christian that can say though I had nothing to ask I would yet go to the Throne of Grace that I might praise him that sits on it 4. Receabing of the Lord's Supper is a coming to the Throne of of Grace to feast on the King of Grace to feed on that Body broken for us and that Blood shed for us that is given to us in the Word for food to our Souls and is given to us by his Command in Bread and Wine at his Table that in eating and drinking of them we may remember him and show forth his Death till he come glorying and avowing and boasting that we have our salvation and all our hopes of it built and fixed on that man Jesus Christ that was rejected by the Builders in his Time and hath had little better entertaiment since because they knew him not Application Is there a Throne of Grace and doth God sitting on it invite and call men to come to it or to him on it We are called to admire adore and praise the Grace that shines in this Constitution of God and call to men That person is sadly out in his praises and such are never right in their Prayers that doth not deeply admire and heartily praise for this Mercy of a Throne of Grace We count a man ill imployed in prayer that asks many things of God but forgets to ask the One thing needful Is he any better imployed in praise who gives thanks for many Mercies but neglects or forgets to praise for the Greatest of all Mercies the Throne of Grace Before which all Prayer and Praise must come if accepted and for which highest praises should be given In order to the raising of more Sense of this Highest Favour that God now deals with us on a Throne of Grace Consider 1. The Deep condescendence of Grace that appears in this Dispensation There is a Glorious and Stately stooping in it The Lord had resolved in his own Heart from Eternity to have the company of many of Adam's Off-spring for ever with him in Heaven He seeth them fallen into a deep Pit out of which they can never get out by themselves God and Man by sin are at a vast distance Sinners cannot remove it nor make so much as one step towards God Saved they cannot be unless the Distance be removed Saved they must be because of his unalterable purpose In this case saith the Lord of Meer Grace if men cannot ascend up to me I will descend down to them and draw them up again to me This condescendence of Grace we should admire and praise When David had got a gracious Message and promise from God and Christ and the Throne of Grace was in it 2 Sam. 7. he sits down as a man amazed before the Lord and most significantly expresseth his Admiration and Praise Who am I O Lord God and what is my house and is this the manner of men and what can David say more and what can David say better to be swallowed up of Wonder is the best and highest praising who can forbear wondering at Grace that considers duly whose Grace it is where it finds us and whither it brings us When Paul speaks of it and it was his usual Theme how sweetly doth he discourse of it Eph. 2. Where did this Grace find him and the Ephesians what was their case and qualification for Grace They were dead in sin walking after the course of this world according to the prince of
breeds Contempt Condescensions from Superiours oft make Inferiours forget their place The Lord deals so graciously with his People hears their Prayers readily stoops low to them in his Love and Pity that unless they watch and keep a Guard on their Spirits they may soon fall into the Sin of being too saucy and peremptory with God The first Prayer in the Bible made by the greatest Believer in the World Abraham is upon a most condescending appearance of God to him The Son of God in humane shape becomes Abraham's Guest at Meat Gen. 18. Some think that Christ respects this appearance in John 8.56 Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad He gives him the last Promise of a Son with a determination of the precise time of its accomplishment ver 10. He deals with him as a Friend and so Abraham is called 2 Chron. 20.7 Isa 41.8 and Jam. 2.23 But all Believers are called Friends by Christ John 15.14,15 and after a great Commendation of Abraham the Lord tells him his purpose of wrath against Sodom ver 17. to ver 22. The Angels are sent to execute the Vengeance and Abraham stands before the Lord to plead for Mercy With what Boldness and Reverence doth he plead The more the Lord stoops in condescending to his Petitions the more low doth Abraham lye before him He neither forgot the Lord's Majesty nor his own Meanness and expresseth again and again a holy Fear of offending by his renewed Suits ver 27 30 31 32. I would have you considering this Instance of Prayer because it is the first recorded in the Word and because it was excellently managed by the Father of the Faithful So Gideon prays in Judg. 6.39 And Gideon said unto God Let not thine anger be hot against me and will speak but this once I am afraid that many sincere Christians are guilty of this Peremptoriness The Lord hath been so condescending to them that they become too peremptory about some Particulars Beware of it and see how the Lord hath dealt with his People and the best of them Psal 99.6,7,8 See Moses's Lot in this Matter He had often sought of God and prevailed Psal 106.23 Therefore the Lord said that he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the Breach to turn away his Wrath lest he should destroy them A Man to whom God spake Face to Face a Man to whom God spake so amazing Words Let me alone that my Wrath may wax hot against them Exod. 32.10 and Numb 14.20 I have pardoned according to thy word Yet even this Moses in a small matter for Life to cross Jordan and to see the promised Land hath this Answer Deut. 3.26 Let it suffice thee speak no more unto me of this matter Samuel is check'd also in a small matter that had prevailed for far greater 1 Sam. 16.1 How long wilt thou mourn for Saul seeing I have rejected him A Case may be such that though Moses and Samuel stood before the Lord they should not prevail Jer. 15.1 It is the only Priviledge of Jesus Christ to be always heard John 11.42 Yet he in his Agony pray'd so as to teach us to beware of this sinful Boldness Matth. 26.39 If it be possible let this Cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Believers must remember that in all Cases they must deal humbly and in some Cases they must take Denyals Patiently 3. There is the boldness of presumption Presumption is like Faith in appearance but in reality it is very unlike it Presumption works this way the Presumer may have the mercy in his eye but he hath no promise in his eye Take heed to this If there be strong desires after a mercy and that mercy not pleaded for as in the promise there is a spice of presumption in that pleading The reason why Believers ask so great things of God is because God hath promised so great things to them 2 Sam. 7.27 Hence it is that presumption acts ordinarily in pleading with God not for the main spiritual blessings but for some outward mercy that their hearts may be too much set upon It is about such that Believers should watch against this presumptuous boldness But if the pleading at the Throne of Grace be about Salvation and spiritual Blessings the difference betwixt Faith and Presumption appears in this Presumption can never plead with God neither in deep distress nor in the view of sin But it is the excellent property of Faith that it can plead with God in both cases Psal 65.3 Iniquities prevail against me but as for our transgressions thou shalt purge them away Spoken like a Believer and Psal 130.3,4 If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand But can David stand Yes and he stands on this ground But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared There is just cause to suspect that there is presumption in that Mans heart when his Boldness is only kept up when sin is out of sight and disappears A Believer believes most humbly and often most strongly when his Sinfulness and Unworthiness is best seen For true Boldness of Faith is not supported by any good and worth in us but by what is in Christ The boldness of Faith cannot be entertained with regarding of iniquity in the heart Psal 66.18 1 John 3.20 Yet it can with the being and seeing of Iniquity in both heart and life Rom. 7.24,25 1 Tim. 1.15 But of this furder from the next head of the Boldness of Faith I now touch it only as it differs from the presumptuous Boldness that is allowed to none Again Faith can stand under that distress that breaks the back of Presumption Job 13.15,16 Though he slay me yet will I trust in him but I will maintain mine own ways before him He also shall be my Salvation for an Hypocrite shall not come before him He hath taken away my Children all at once my Estate in one day hath taken away my health and made me miserable to a Proverb in all Ages although he should proceed and slay me with his own hand my slayer is my Saviour my death shall be my Salvation Great words and hard to be spoken in the day of heavy tryal God slaying Job is Job's Salvation God slays Job trusts and maintains his confidence under the stroke No Hypocrite can do this and many Believers do but bungle at the doing of it There is an extremity a coming on every man that will try and discover what mettle there is in his Faith Prepare for it What then is the Boldness allowed in coming to the throne of grace It must not be an ignorant peremptory or presumptuous boldness What must it then be Answ It is only the Boldness of Faith Eph. 3.12 Heb. 10.19 The Boldness of Faith hath this in general in it that it is grounded and bottomed on somewhat without a man and on nothing
of grace nor of thy need and want of it but wast well content with thy lost State and that in this State grace came from this throne and did beset thy Heart and overcome it May you not argue If the Lord sought me out and found me in my departing from him and stopp'd me and turned my Heart towards himself may not I come now confidently and ask mercy and grace It is a matter of great use to Believers to keep up a savoury remembrance of the gracious change that preventing grace wrought upon them Paul could never forget Christs first visit to him but speaks of it before Kings and Rulers and People Acts 22. and 26. He remembers time and place and every Circumstance I say not that Christs first visit is so sensible to all or it may be to any as it was to Paul But Christs work of grace may be known by it self even when some circumstances of time and place and outward means are not known 2. The Experience of the Spirit of Prayer and of Answers of Prayer is a great ground of boldness of Faith I joyn these two together for the Lord usually doth so Psal 116.1,2 I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my Supplications Because he hath inclined his Ear unto me I will call upon him as long as long as I live Have ye not known that sometimes yon have been so troubled that you could not speak as Psal 77.4 that your Hearts have been so bound up and straitned that you could say nothing and do nothing before the Lord but fit as dumb and oppressed all dark above all dead within and all doors shut upon you you durst not neglect Prayer and you could not perform it And have you not quickly found the two-leaved Gates cast open to you your Hearts enlarged and your Mouth wide open in asking The remembrance of such Experiences should strengthen the confidence of your Faith Have you not known what the answer of Prayer is That he hath prepared your heart and hath caused his ear to hear as Psal 10.17 Come the more boldly at all other times They are Triflers in Prayer that know nothing of God by the Name of Hearer of Prayer Psal 65.2 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy Whoever hath gone forth weeping bearing and sowing his precious seed hath doubtless come again rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him Psal 126.5,6 and should therefore sow in hope 3. The Experience of Communion and Fellowship with God is a great ground of Boldness in coming to the throne of grace for more Such as have most of this Blessing desire most earnestly more of it and may desire it the more confidently 1 John 1.1,2,3,4 Surely we have this Fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ and we would fain have you share with us therein that your joy may be full This Communion with God is a Mystery undoubted to him that tasteth it and surpassing all the delights of Sense or Reason incredible and unintelligible to all that have it not A Stranger intermeddles not with this joy Prov. 14.10 It lies more deep than that any Eye of Flesh can see it It is of that nature that only tasting can declare its transcendent sweetness Psal 34.8 O taste and see that the Lord is good Saints feel much of it they talk much of it the Word is full of suitable and savoury Expressions of it Yet all are Riddles and dark Parables to them that experience it not You that know what it is though you cannot express it yet you can relish and understand some sound Words about it You know what it is to be brought near to him and to have the Clouds and Vails that are either on your Hearts or on his Face scattered and the light of his Countenance lifted up upon you Psal 4.6,7 You have been sometimes so in the Mount as to think O how good it is to be here You have known what the warm and healing Beams of the Sun of Righteousness upon you are Mal. 4.2 You have tasted that in his Company that hath made the puddle of the Worlds Wells of comfort loathsome and unsavoury yea as hath made you groan in this Tabernacle and long to be in at that compleat and uninterrupted Communion above whereof all you taste on earth is but a small earnest and first-fruits And may not should not such come boldly to the throne of grace Appl. Is there an allowed boldness in coming to the throne of grace Then let us use this boldness Alas many come doubtingly and discouragedly Their Unbelief is so strong and their Faith so weak that they not only come without this boldness but think that they ought not to come with it but with a frame contrary to it They think that it is true Humility to come with a Fear that is inconsistent with this boldness It is indeed required that Men should come before the Lord with awful Fear and Reverence and that they should judge themselves unworthy and undeserving both of the Priviledge of coming and of the least of the Blessings they come for Yet the boldness of Faith is not prejudiced thereby I shall therefore answer some of the common Pleas of Unbelief as to this Priviledge and its improvement Obj. 1. Is from conscience of Sin and Guilt grounded specially on these two Scriptures Psal 66.18 and 1 John 3.20 This Plea seems to be strong and to justifie or excuse doubtings in Christians and doth usually marr the due sense of this Duty of coming boldly to the Throne of Grace To remove it therefore consider that Sin affects the Heart and Conscience two ways 1. It defiles the Conscience 2. It disturbs it 1. Sin defiles the Conscience Tit. 1.15 Vnto the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled But we must see when and how the Conscience is defiled by Sin Conscience is God's Tribunal in every Man It is an active and awful power in Men judging of themselves as to their State and Actions as they think God judgeth of them So that there are two main causes tried and to be decided at this Court of Conscience 1. Am I at peace with God and he with me And this is only truly resolved when Conscience pronounceth as God declares in his Word And that Declaration is that every Man by Nature and as in the first Adam is an Enemy to God and God to him and that every one that is in Jesus Christ by Faith is a Child and Friend of God and God is at Peace with him The answer then is different if according to Truth Some may but will not conclude their State of Enmity by their not believing on Jesus Christ Some may but dare not conclude that they are at Peace with God though they cannot deny their Faith in Jesus Christ A second Cause is about particular Actions
and before he came to you Woful is that Cure and worse than the Wound Many poor Creatures are wounded by the Law and to the Law they go for Healing But God never appointed the Law to heal a wounded Conscience and it never did nor can nor will to the end of the World nor to Eternity It is Christ's name and property and glory to be the only Physician of Souls and all must die of the Disease of Sin that are not his happy Patients 3. There is common restraining grace An Act of God's grace and wisdom which he often puts forth in his ruling of this wicked World How quickly would this Earth become a Hell were it not for this restraining grace If all unrenewed Men were permitted by God to commit all the Sin Satan tempts to and their Natures incline them to there would be no living in this World for the golly This restraining grace we find a Heathen â—ad Gen. 20.6 I with-held thee from sinning against me faith the Lord to Abimelech And which is more we find a great Saint praying for it Ps 19.13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have Dominion over me That is lay a powerful restraint on me by thy grace that when I am tempted my way may be hedged up and I may be kept from complying with the Temptation But yet bare restraining grace is not desired by a Christian in good case without sanctifying grace He desires not only the restraining of the outward Acts of Sin but the removing of inward Inclinations to Sin he begs the renewing and changing of the Heart So David when he had fallen foully by the strength of inward Corruption and God's leaving him to himself when recovered by Grace and renewed unto Repentance prays like a wise Believer Psal 51.10 Create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right spirit within me 4. There is common assisting grace Many a bad Man hath had good Assistance from God in a good Work The Spirit of God hath cloathed many and enabled them to great and good Works which God gets Service by and the World good by though the Doers thereof be not accepted Matth. 7.22 Many shall say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works All great things and all done in Christ's Name and done by his Assistance In their casting out of Devils and in working of Miracles there was an exerting of Omnipotency with and by their Faith which is the greatest divine Assistance we can imagine And no doubt they were assisted by Christ's Spirit in their prophecying in his Name Now such things they thus did Christ in his Reply denies not their doing of them finds no fault with the Works in themselves but all his Quarrel is with the Workers I never knew you you are workers of iniquity 5. To common Grace belongs some Comfort and Joy reaching the Heart in hearing the Word Our Lord expresly explains the Stony ground this way Matth. 13.20 He that receaved the seed in stony places the same is he that heareth the word and anon with joy receaveth it Lastly There is reforming grace that belongs to common grace The power of the Word may come so on natural Mens Consciences that they may reform many things As Mark 6.20 Herod when he heard John Baptist did many things and heard him gladly So 2 Pet. 2.20 If any say What should we come to the Throne of Grace for common Grace I answer Not for it alone but for it and better It is a mercy to have common grace it is grace that is undeserved but it is a woful Snare to him that rests in it If the Lord restrain your Corruptions if he enlighten your Minds and awaken your Consciences if he assist you with Gifts for good Works if he help you to mend any thing that is amiss in your Conversation bless him for all but rest not on any of these things It is a higher and better Grace that is Saving and that you must seek after Saving grace as distinct from and beyond all that is common respects three things 1. It respects and works a change in a Man's State which common grace never performs Saving grace changeth a Person 's State by this grace an Enemy is reconciled to God a guilty sinner is justified freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus a Stranger receaves Sonship by Christ Common Grace never alters the State of a Man's Person but it leaves him where it found him it never doth nor can take him out of the old Stock of fallen Adam he still lyes in that Pit and is never by it translated into Christ and engraffed in him as a new Head But saving grace when it comes doth all Eph. 2.4,18 2. Saving grace respects Man's sinful nature and changeth it And this grace thus working is called Regenerating Sanctifying and renewing of Men. Christ calls it being born again John 3.3 If any man be in Christ through this grace he is a new Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 This the Apostle calls Tit. 3.5 According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Natural Men are apter to look to their Conversation than to their Nature They may see many things amiss in their way who are loath to look into their Heart and if Light shine in to discover inward Heart-faults they are still backward to own that all is naught and that there is no good in their Hearts If the Light pursuâ— them yet closer and make them see that all is stark naught within they are still more backward to own the true Spring of their Disease and the true Remedy for it That all this Dominion of Sin over them flows from the natural State of their Persons as standing still in and under the first sinful Adam and can never be altered and mended but by Grace putting them into Christ as the Root of their New Life 3. Saving grace respects and works on the new Nature Special grace not only changeth a Man's State nor his old corrupt Nature only but it works on this new Nature wrought by Grace The special Operation of the grace of God in and from the Fountain is upon his own new Creation in the Hearts of his Children We cannot conceave it fully our Minds are not able take in these depths of God We hear from and read in the Word of the intimate Correspondence the Lord entertains with them in whom he dwells Christ dwells in the heart by faith Eph. 3.17 His Spirit dwells in his people Rom. 5 9,10,11 But what is it in their Hearts that he dwells in He dwells in his own Workmanship in their Hearts in his own new Creation in his own Garden he hath planted in them There his Presence is and there his Eye is on that his hand is this is
Person and Righteousness and Priesthood have more room in the Religion of the Gentiles Christianity is not like to leaven the Jews This Doctrine of Christ's Priesthood and of the Sacrifice of himself he offered in that Office the Apostle doth often intermix with suitable Exhortations from it as in the context ver 14. Seeing then we have a great highpriest all the Old Testament Highpriests were but types and shadows of Him and were but little highpriests that is passed into the heavens no highpriest but Christ went further than the Holy of Holies for the peoples advantage Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession The dignity of Christ in his advanced State as well as his Grace in his humbled State lays Christians under a strong engagement to cleave to him with steadfast confidence Yet for as great as this person is and for all that he is in Heaven and in unspeakable Dignity and Glory there you must not think that he in Heaven and we on Earth can have no communion ver 15. for we have not an highpriest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities though now he hath none of his own yet can he feel these of his people and his feeling engageth speedy relief The reason the Apostle gives for this sympathy of Christ with his people is from Christ's experience when on earth But was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin The Apostle delivers the mind of the Holy Ghost about Christ's sympathy negatively we have not an high-priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities in which manner of exhortation he reflects on the meanness of the Levitical Priests to whom it was impossible to know and feel all the infirmities of the people for whom yet they appeard before God and he implys the affirmative strongly we have an high priest which can be and is touched with the feeling of our infirmities How a sinless man as Christ ever was can be touched with the feeling of the infirmities of sinners and many of these infirmities sinful ones How a glorified man as Christ now is exalted to and possessed of the highest Glory and Bliss can be and is touched with the feeling of all the infirmities of all his people is what the word plainly reveals to be believed but it s not to be fully known till we come to Heaven But he is the Head and all his people are his Body his members of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 a marvellous word Can the flesh be torn and the bones be broken and the head not feel it Though he be glorified above what we can conceave he is a living sensible and compassionate Head and as nearly and closely united to all his Members now as when they saw with their eyes and heard with their ears and with their hands handled the word of life 1 John 1.1 There is nothing ails a poor Believer in Christ there is no groan riseth from his distressed Heart but it is immediately felt at the tender Heart of the Lord Jesus at the Fathers right hand We would groan and sing with the same breath if we believed this firmly In my Text there is a most blessed exhortation from this same ground of Christ's sympathy in Heaven unto a bold approaching to the Throne of Grace The nativeness and strength of the Inference is obvious to the most ordinary attention The exhortation is unto the improving of the greatest priviledge an erected and revealed Throne of Grace and that in the practice of the greatest Duty believing approaching unto this Throne or unto God sitting on this Throne of Grace What I would take up in and handle in speaking to these words shall be the resolution of four weighty Questions which should be in the hearts of all worshippers of God 1. The first great Question is Where may I find God This was Job's question and wish Job 23.3 O that I knew where I might find him that I might come even to his seat and that this seat was a Throne of Grace to Job is evident from ver 6. This Text tells you God is on a Throne of Grace A fit place for God to be sought in and where only he can be found graciously by a sinner 2. Question is How should we come to God on this Throne Let us come boldly saith the Apostle The original word signifieth coming freely with free open bold speaking pouring out all our hearts and minds to him Let us come without making use of Saint or Angel to introduce us to this Throne Any poor sinner may come himself alone to this Court and that boldy without fear of being repulsed The 3 Question is the hardest what ground hath a sinner for this boldness The ground the Apostle gives for it is hinted in the word therefore which relates to ver 14 15. Because of Jesus the Son of God our great high-priest in heaven If we had not such a high-priest ministring in glory at the high Altar above no sinner could come boldly to the Throne of Grace on earth So he argues chap. 10.19,20,21,22 4. The last question is What shall we get and for what may we come to this Throne of Grace The Apostle speaks fully to this in the Text let us come that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need These precious things Mercy and Grace are scattered round this Throne any poor needy creature should come for a saving Alms from this Throne and may have it for the coming The first of these I would begin with Where is God to be found The Apostle tells us on a Throne of Grace This word is only here no where else in the Scriptures is the word to be found but what is signified by it is frequently in the Old and New Testament as we shall hear But though the phrase the Throne of Grace be only once named in this Heb. 4.16 yet the thing signified is so precious and the expression of it is so savory significant and suitable that this form of speaking the Throne of Grace is become famous known and used amongst Christians and will doubtless be till the end of Time As long as God hath a mind to give Mercy and Grace as long as any of the Children of men are sensibly needy of Grace and Mercy and askers and receivers thereof from the Lord and that will be till the Heavens be no more this Throne of Grace will be plyed and praised I would first consider the proper meaning of this word a Throne of Grace It 's obvious that the Apostle in this Epistle doth every where if I may use a much abused word Christen the Old Testament Types and gives them New Testament names and applys them to the Doctrine of Christ he is teaching the Christian Jews he writes to The Old Testament Church knew what a high-priest was what his Institution Office and performance were in the Tabernacle in
as if there was no Throne of Grace at all They that never hear of Christ must perish It is an idle dream that the efficacy of Christ's Death may be apply'd and profitable to the saving of adult persons that never heard of him There is no Salvation for Men but by Jesus Christ there is no knowing of it or partaking of it but by the word of Truth the Gospel of our Salvation Eph. 1.13 Christ and his name go together Acts 4.12 Neither is there Salvation in any other No Saviour but he For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved No other way of getting good by him but by hearing of his Name and believing on his Name How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard Rom. 10.14 It is a wonderful Mercy to hear of Him But Wo to them that hear and do not believe None can believe without hearing Rom. 10.17 But alas many hear and believe not Isa 53.1 2. Consider the great advantages of this priviledge of having a Throne of Grace erected for us and revealed to us All blessings may be had here by coming for them If there was such a Throne in this world for Silver and Gold and Health and outward Mercies what strange crowding would there be to it The Blessings to be had here are innumerable for multitude All spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesus Eph. 1.3 Blessings invaluable for their worth Eternal in their duration most free in their Tenure and all given in Love Every act of favour from the throne of grace is more worth than all God's common Mercies Lord lift up upon us the light of thy countenance Psal 4.6,7 that will put joy into the soul Every thing given at the throne of grace is a blessing of Grace It s very name should teach people how to come and how to call what they get at it If it be a throne of Grace we should come to it as empty needy Beggars and when we recieve any thing there we should call and count it Grace Ask all Saints on Earth and they will witness that great and good things are to be had at the throne of grace Try it your selves and you will find it is not invain to beg here Nay the damned in Hell do bear sad witness that great are the blessings that are to be had at the throne of grace which they feel and know by their woful and eternal loss of them The glorified in Heaven know what a rich throne of grace this is Only sinners on earth will not believe this nor use this throne as they should 3. Consider that this Court and Throne is of short continuance It will not be kept up always There is a limitation of the time of its lasting As Heb. 4.7 He limiteth a certain day The day of the continuance of the throne of grace is bounded and limited with four days The day of a mans life the Gospel day the Worlds day and the Spirits day 1. The day of every mans life This hath bounds set to it by God Job 14.5 The throne of Grace continues unto men no longer than they live When men die they go not to the throne of grace but of Glory and Judgment If we have sped well at the throne of grace we shall be welcome to the throne of glory The uncertainty and shortness of life with the certainty of the expiring of all Treaties betwixt God and us about Salvation at the end of Life should make people careful to secure the main matter in Gods time 2. There is the Gospel day this is also set and limited by the Lord. He hath determined how many offers you shall have of Christ and when they come to an end there will not be one more And then the throne of grace is taken down as to you Luke 19.42 If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes saith our Lord to Jerusalem This was the ending determining day to Jerusalem as a City and to its Inhabitants as a Body though many particular persons had another day of grace Yet the slipping of that day hangs on that poor people and their Posterity to this very day 3. There is the Worlds day and then the day of grace will end as to all when the Bridegroom cometh they that are ready enter with him to the marriage and the door was shut Matth. 25.10 There was no more grace to be dispensed to men and we know not when that day will come Miserable is their case who shall see Christ coming in the Clouds of Heaven before they have seen him by Faith in the Gospel who heart the voice of the Archangel and the Trump of God before they have heard the quickning voyce of the Son of God from the throne of grace who have neglected calling on him in time and begin out of time Luke 13.25 When the Master of the house is risen up and hath shut to the door and ye begin to stand without and to knock at the door saying Lord Lord open to us Is it not just that they should be kept at the shut door that would not enter at an open door in Christ's time and when he called When Christ comes and hath shut the door no man will be let in knock as he will Now while the throne of grace is patent no man will be kept out be what he will that hath a mind to enter and knocks for entrance 4. There is the Spirits day Here is a great depth of Gods Soveraignty and Wisdom a great depth of his Severity an unaccountable and awful Judgment how the Spirit of God strives with men in the Gospel how near he comes to them sometimes how close he besiegeth them that they seem to be on the point of yielding and are not far from the kingdom of God and yet he draws back his hand and leaves them I believe that many ungodly men many reprobates have been sometimes in their life nearer to Heaven if such may be said to be near to Heaven that never come there then many an Elect person was half an hour before his Conversion Gen. 6.3 My Spirit shall not always strive with man What kind of striving this was and what became of them striven with we have 1 Pet. 3.19,20 Nothing will more bitterly aggravate the eternal misery of the Damned than the remembrance of this that they had a day and in that day grace offered to them and that they did reject the offer Mens carnal hearts are now full of cavils against the unsearchable methods and ways of God towards the Sons of Men but the last days Judgment will determine and declare That in the perdition of the Ungodly there was and is most pure and unspotted Justice and Righteousness and in the salvation of all the Elect pure perfect and predominant grace that
of the Blessings that Christ came to purchase and hath to dispense and to prefer them above all present sensible things yet notwithstanding all the bright light of the Word darting daily in mens eyes the dross and dung of this World is more precious in the eyes and savory to the heart of every ungodly man than all the Grace given on Earth and all the Glory to be given in Heaven 2. This sin of not coming is committed by delaying to come The call of God is Let us come The answer of many hearts is Let us delay to come Whence think you that these delays come We have it daily to bewail before God and you that a multitude will come together to hear and do so day by day yet all that can be said to them from their childhood to their old Age never prevailed with many of them to spend one hour in serious treating at the Throne of Grace with God in Christ for the eternal Salvation of their Souls It is undeniable that ye are but a pack of gross Hypocrites if you attend on the means of grace in the Assemblies of Saints and yet have no particular personal errand to the Throne of Grace for your own Souls The Salvation of the Soul is not carried on in a crowd The Grace of God must be particularly applyed to you and you must particularly apply it to your selves and your selves to the Throne of Grace if ever you be saved The fellowship of Saints was never ordained for this end to render personal applications to God needless and it is grosly abused when it is so perverted It is impossible that a person can have any true fellowship with Saints in any ordinance of God unless he have particular business at the Throne of Grace for himself He hath indeed no true Religion whose all of Religion is in Company and in Publick Yet we see how backward many Professors are to this personal treating with God how many shifts and delays they make To such I say would it not be a terror to you if either God or Man or Angels or the Devil should tell you this day that from this time to your dying day you shall never have leasure nor heart nor time to spend one quarter of an hour in dealing with God for your eternal Salvation Would not this be terrible to you But the same dreadful thing is daily done by mens delays The call of God is to day you say to morrow when to morrow comes then you say next day when that comes you put it still farther off This you may be sure of that whatever is the true spring and cause of delays in this matter will still remain and gather strength unless the Grace of God come in Men deceive themselves with vain pretences but the true spring of all delays in treating in earnest with God at the Throne of Grace is Unbelief and Unwillingness and the more they are indulged by delaying the stronger they grow Therefore the Holy Ghost saith to day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Heb. 3.7,8 See how the Spirit of God fixeth an opposition betwixt these two present hearing and present hardening and a conjunction betwixt these two present not hearing and hardening If there is present hearing there is no present hardening if not there is The refusal given to the to days call of God hardens the heart against to morrows call O that men dreaded delays as most perillous things and the cause of the everlasting ruine of multitudes under the Gospel 3. Another way wherein this sin of noâ— coming to the Throne of Gods Grace is acted is iâ— refusing to come All do not so grosly buâ— some do There are two sorts of refusers thâ— Secure and the Discouraged There is a wofâ—… plague of secure despair a strange plague but â— certain one Some people find things are baâ— with them as to their Souls sins many corruptions strong they have made some essay to get matters mended and all in vain whereon they conclude that it will never be better and they sit down in security and give themselves up to their pleasures Isa 22.13 Leâ— us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die A strange Argument approach of death usually marrs the taste of pleasure The hand writing on the Wall even when not known marr'd Belshazzars cheer Dan. 5. This is a very miserable and sinful case It springs from mens being ignorant of the true remedy when they were sick of sin and because all the Physick and Physicians they used and tried did them no good they conclude their sickness is unto death But let such know that there is Hope in Israel concerning this thing Only come and see and try what may be done Beware of despair it is the Devils sin but he hath reason for it for he is condemned and all doors of hope are eternally shut upon him or rather none was ever opened to him But for a man that hath the riches of Gods long-suffering forbearance and patience Rom. 2.4 daily laid out upon him that hath the door of grace set open to him and the Lord calling entreating promising acceptance on his coming for such a man to give over all hope is a sin some way worse than the Devils a frame pleasing only to the Devil most dishonourable to God and his Son Jesus Christ and to the Holy Ghost I do not call it the sin against the Holy Ghost A reflection on all the glorious appearances and manifestations of the Throne of Grace and most surely damning if continued in Away with it speedily conclude thy case is not desperate and if you cannot shake it off come to the Throne of Grace and complain of it If ye can but see the Throne and him that sits upon it despair will vanish as a Night-Owl on the bright shining of the Sun of Righteousness Despair cannot live in the presence of the glorious grace of Jesus Christ. Come then and see and lay hold on the hope set before you The other Refusers to come are the Discouraged they do not despair that their case cannot be mended but they see so much and so many things out of Order that their hearts fail them in applying to the only Remedy In the time of their Carnal Security and Ignorance of God and of themselves that bred and kept up that Security they could rush into Gods presence without fear and call and count all the blessings of the Covenant theirs without any doubt and yet without any ground But when God begun to deal with them and to come close to them and to send in light and life into their Consciences then they see their former mistakes they see their utter want and great need of those blessings they once dreamed they were rich in the possession of they see their utter unworthiness of them and therefore find it hard to believe that ever the Lord will welcome them to the Throne of his
Grace Usually beginners in Christianity have greater light and sense as to their necessity of saving Grace and Mercy then about the Lords willingness to give them And this is the season wherein Satan doth usually come in if permitted and often he is with his Temptations and fiery darts that they felt nothing of while they were in his Kingdom and power of darkness To such I would propose 3 things 1. What is the ground of thy discouragement Hereto I know they will say a great deal and it may be more than is true I grant all can be said to be true But the sum of all is I am a great sinner and exceeding miserable Be humbled as low as Hell in the sense thereof yet be not discouraged What is in thy case but what is common only thou sees and feels for thy self and so did others 2. What is the tendency of it doth it tend to keep thee aloof from the Throne of Grace it is then of Satan 3. What can be the cure of it You would not be always in this heartless frame how think you to get it removed By keeping still from the Throne of Grace Will or can any spiritual plagues be cured but by Christ the Physician Or any spiritual Blessing be got but at his door Can you expect it without coming and begging David took the right course with his fainting heart Psal 42.5 He challengeth his Soul for its disquietment He chargeth it to trust in God and because he had not prevailed with his Soul he brings it to God by Faith ver 6. O my God my Soul is cast down within me Do ye so and call upon him by that name God that comforteth those that are cast down 2 Cor. 7.6 I shall name no more of the ways this sin is acted then these three despising delaying and refusing Several other Expressions there are of this sin in the Word but if you be kept from these three you are innocent from the great Transgression 2. What is the Wrath revealed from Heaven for this Great sin of not coming to the Throne of Grace 1. God testifies his Displeasure against this sin by taking away of his Gospel nothing is more just with God then that when his Grace is slighted the means of Grace should be removed If the Lord argue so as to correction Isa 1.5 Why should ye be stricken any more Ye will revolt more and more much more may he argue thus Why should I keep up a Throne of Grace any longer You will but despise it more and more Christ teacheth a sad parable Matth. 21.33 c. and makes a just but dreadful application of it to the hearers ver 43. Therefore I say unto you the Kingdom of God another name of the Throne of Grace shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof They were cut off for their unbelief Rom. 11.20 With what face can an unbeliever beg of God the continuance of the means of Grace who hath no mind to enjoy the end and blessinâ—… of those means A general contempt of the Grace of God enfeebleth the Spirit of Ministers and Christians in standing before the Lord for the continuance of the Gospel with a people that use it not This dreadful Judgment hath been often threatned in the Word and inflicted in the severe Providence of God on many once famous Churches and Nations As the Lord saith But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh where I set my name at the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel Jer. 7.12 So may I say go to Jerusalem and the Seven Churches in Asia go to Greece and Africa where many a famous Church was planted and learn to fear for your selves Not to speak of later desolations in ours and our Fathers days The Lords removing of his Gospel is a judgment that is very deep As the Apostle speaks of the same subject Rom. 11.33 We may take notice of this judgment as brought on by prevailing errors in and about the foundation Jesus Christ or by gradual Apostasie and Impurity of Conversation in Professors or by the rage of persecution wearing out the Saints of the most High Dan. 7.25 But yet we have good grounds from the word of God to believe and hope that the Gospel may be secured to a Generation ordinarily if they be careful to get the blessing thereof and to walk worthy of it If the grace of God its self be prized the means of grace will be continued 2. The Lord witnesseth his displeasure against slighters of his grace by fearful outward Judgments So far'd it with Jerusalem according to our Lords prediction Luke 19.42,43,44 It hath been a Remark of wise Observers of the Providence of God towards Nations since the Reformation from Popery that in those places where the greatest light of the Gospel hath shined there the greatest judgments have been inflicted As in Germany France and amongst our selves in Brittain 3. The Lord visits for this sin with spiritual judgments the most wrathful dispensations of God on this side Hell As hardness of heart blindness of mind searedness of Conscience vileness of affections Judgments which they that are under never feel nor complain of nor will be convinced of though they are sometimes visible to others If the Lord inflict them on the Heathen for their abuse of the dim light of Nature Rom. 1.21,24,26,28 How much greater are such that are sent for the abuse of the light of the Gospel That dreadful Commission given to the most eminent Prophet Isaiah ch 6.9,10 is often applyed and fulfilled in the New Testament Matth. 13.14 and John 12.39,40 Therefore they could not believe their sin was v. 37. they believed not on him here is their plague they could not believe because that Esaias said again he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts and be converted and I should heal them Paul applies it to some of his unbelieving Hearers with a strange Preface Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias to our Fathers saying Acts 28.25 The Interest and Influence of God in such spiritual Judgments is a great depth They are always just and always deep and dreadful are their effects They on whom they fall feel nothing see nothing fear nothing So that truly we may say as Psal 68 35. O God thou art terrible out of thy holy places But such as have a Heart to the Grace of God and would fain be blessed thereby need not fear those Judgments and shall never feel them 4. Lastly The Wrath of God against such as come not to the throne of grace is engraven in the singular vengeance of eternal Ruine There is something singular in their Hell The Law sends all unpardoned Sinners to a Law-Hell The Lord send Despisers of saving grace to a special Hell Heb. 2.3 and 10.29 A much
in him It is grounded on Jesus Christ as we shall hear further It is a great mistake in Christians to think that they cannot come to the throne of grace with Boldness because of the many Infirmities in their Hearts and in their Addresses Your complaint may be just and true but the Inference is not good Do you never in your counting your Infirmities put in this great one amongst them in your Confessions the want of Boldness of Faith For this Boldness stands not in any thing in us and done by us We must not come boldly because we can pray well and plead hard we must not think to be heard in Heaven neither because of our much speaking nor well speaking Matth. 6.7 as the Pharisees did The boldness of Faith hath a higher and more noble and firm Foundation even Jesus Christ I shall conclude this Discourse with these three Acts of this allowed and commanded Boldness of Faith 1. Believe firmly that the Throne of Grace is erected for poor empty sinful Creatures just such as you be As Paul saith of the Law 1 Tim. 1.9 It is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient so may we say of the throne of grace it is not made framed and revealed for the holy and happy but for miserable Creatures that want Mercy and sinful helpless Creatures that want Grace By what is dispensed here we may know for whom and for what sort of Folks it was design'd and erected 2. Believe firmly that coming to the Throne of Grace by you is allowed and commanded by the Lord. Say confidently while I am coming to the throne of grace for Mercy and Grace I am in the Work that the Lord would have me to be in Take in all Discoveries you have made unto you or that you can find out by searching of the Weakness and Infirmities that are in your way of addressing to it own them humbly but maintain this stedfastly that though you cannot do as you would as others do nor as you are bid that yet you are doing what ye are bid They are called Luke 14.21 Who are the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind See a Promise looking that way Jer. 31.8.9 Now may not the halt and maimed be confident that they are coming when called although they cannot go so fast and straight as others do Every Believer walks in the steps of the Faith of Abraham Rom. 4.12 though not his Pace When you draw near to the throne of grace assure your Hearts you are in your Duty though many do it better than you do 3. Believe firmly that upon coming you shall speed This is coming with the boldness of Faith We should not come with a may be the Lord will be gracious It 's true that in some particulars not absolutely promised nor simply needful to Salvation this may be is all we can have or should seek But in addressing for Saving Mercy and Grace people should come expecting Success It had been a cold Word if it had been said Let us come to the Throne of Grace it may be we shall obtain Mercy and find Grace No the Apostle speaks in another Dialect Let us come that we may obtain Never doubt of obtaining if you come I say not that the confidence of good Entertainment at this Throne is common to all comers to it But only that it is the Duty of all that come for God's Mercy and Grace in Jesus Christ to perswade their Hearts that they shall obtain and find it and good grounds there are for it as we shall hear How is it with you Christians you often come to this Throne What are the Thoughts of your Hearts as to the issue of your Addresses It may be you think it is well if you can reach so far as this It may be the Lord will receave and welcome me and therefore I will try Though there is often Faith lurking under such doubtings and though a may be should stir up Men to come yet this is far from the boldness of Faith which glorifies this Throne and him that sitteth on it and which is so becoming and profitable to all that approach it See how an Old Testament-Saint speaks Job 23.3,6 O that I knew where I might find him that I might come even to his Seat that is this Throne I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with Arguments But cannot God easily stop this Man's Mouth and bring Arguments against Job that he could not answer Yes surely he can but he will not Will he plead against me with his great power No but he will put strength in me He that I plead with will help me to plead and prevail Few Christians know how much Glory is given to God by an enlarged Heart filled with believing expectations of good from him and how a Heart thus enlarged by Faith is fitted and disposed for receaving a large Blessing We easily conceave how sharp Hunger and Thirst strong Desires deep sense of Need and mighty Pleadings and Importunity do prepare the way for great Receavings but we little think how much force is in the bare-like Argument of Faith Psal 16.1 Preserve me O God for in thee do I put my trust Psal 33.22 Let thy merey O Lord be upon us according as we hope in thee Psal 57.1 Be merciful unto me O God be merciful unto me for my Soul trusteth in thee There is a mighty force in such Pleadings of Faith I know no help but in and with thee I expect it from thee and therefore beg it of thee Faith in a Believer never rose so high but the Lord 's gracious Answer went higher Eph. 3.20 Look well to your Faith Believers raise it high use it well and plead by it and plead upon it Blessed Jesus will never cast that Soul into Hell that cannot forbear to entertain in his Heart an expectation of eternal Life from him in the Virtue of his precious Blood and on the Warrant of his gracious Promise He that believeth on him shall never be confounded Never was any neither shall you if you believe It was a great Word of Faith spoke by a dying Man who had been converted in a singular way betwixt his Condemnation and Execution of whom Mr. Fleming speaks in the Fulfilling of the Scriptures his last Words were these spoke with a mighty shout Never Man perished with his Face towards sweet Christ Jesus SERMON IV. HEB. IV. 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need IT is one of the Names given to the Godly in the Word that they are the Generation of them that seek the Lord that seek his Face Psal 24.6 And they must be bold and arrogant Pretendâ—…ers to this Name that are guilty of the utter neglect of this Duty Since it is a Duty of so great importance it is needful to know how
Importunity in asking as if he were unwilling to give when indeed it is that they may be more fit to receave and that he may give the more Thus Christ tryed the Woman of Canaan Matth. 15.22,28 So much for the first thing What is the boldness of Faith allowed and commanded in Approaches to the Throne of Grace 2 What Grounds are there for this Boldness There is need of great and solid ones to bear up this Frame And blessed be God we have such 1. The Gracious Discovery made to us of God in Christ This is as it were the Essence of the Throne of Grace The Fathers Name declared by the Son John 7.25,26 It is utterly impossible that there can be any lawful Boldness in approaching unto God unless we know this Name and take up this Discovery of God Many Professors busie their Minds and Heads with general Notions and Names of God as that he is Gracious Merciful long-suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth forgiving Iniquity All good Names of God but is he not just and a hater of Iniquity holy and of purer Eyes than that he can behold it But the main Inquiry is little thought on Where shall we find the benefit of all the comfortable Names of God and escape the harm of his awful Names It is all in this blessed Name the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph. 3.14 If you approach to God out of Christ you run into a consuming Fire Here is the Ground of the Believer's Boldness The God he seeks and before whom he comes is revealed to us as Christ's Father and ours in him John 20.17 Go to my Brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God Blessed be the Words and the Speaker of them and happy is the Believer of them Faith cannot stand strong without the remembrance of them They are my Brethren for all their fainting and forsaking of me I count and call them such though I be entred in part into my Glory Tell them whither I am going and where they are henceforth to seek me and how to call on and Worship the Father as Mine and Theirs and Theirs because Mine 2. Another Ground of Boldness is the Mediation of Jesus Christ. But this being the third thing in the Text I leave it to its proper place 3. The Intercession of the Holy Ghost in his People is a great ground of Boldness They have not only Christ making Intercession for them at the Right Hand of God but they have the Spirit himself making Intercession in them and for them Rom. 8.26,27 A special Scripture that I would remark five things from relating to this purpose 1. Who is the Assister of Believers in Prayer The Spirit it self as also he is called as to his Witnessing ver 16. and the Word points at the immediateness of his Assistance 2. What this Assistance is applyed to our Infirmities Infirmities in our selves and in our Prayers as the Apostle declares We know not what we should pray for as we ought The Communion of the Holy Ghost is only with Believers for he dwells in them only and his Communion with them is only with his own new Creation in them and because this as in them labours with Infirmities his care is about them also 3. The way of his helping is in the Original hinted he helpeth with us or over-against us as a powerful Assistant to the Weak in bearing a heavy Burthen As Col. 1.29 Whereunto I labour striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily It is in vain to expect the Spirit 's Assistance in Work we neglect or against Infirmities we indulge and comply with 4. What this Assistance is making Intercession for us ver 26 27 and that according to the Will of God How can a Believer but prevail who hath the Blood of the High Priest speaking in Heaven Heb. 12.24 and the Spirit of Christ crying in his Heart on Earth Gal. 4.6 The voice of the Spirit is the best thing in our Prayer it is that God hears and regards 5. But lastly how doth this Assistance and Intercession work in us with Groanings which cannot be uttered What! only with Groanings We would think it should be that he assists with piercing cries that might reach Heaven with strong Arguments that cannot but prevail with mighty force and power that cannot be resisted Is all this great Preamble of the Spirit it self helping our Infirmitie's and making Intercession for us according to the Will of God Is all this come to a poor unutterable Groaning How strange seems this to be yet how sweet is it Some Groanings are so small that they cannot be uttered for the Believer hardly feels them Some Groans are so great that they cannot be expressed as Job 23.2 Even to day is my complaint bitter my stroke is heavier than my groaning Sometimes the Spirit of Grace and Supplications is a Spirit of Liberty and Enlargement unto Christians in Prayer so as they can by his Help pour out all their Hearts to God and plead strongly Sometimes he is a Spirit of Groaning working only sense of want and breathings after Supply There is more of the Spirit in a sensible Groan than in many formal Words of Prayer The Spirit is called the Spirit of Faith 2 Cor. 4.13 and the Spirit of Grace and Supplication Zech. 12.10 Joyn both those Names together He is the Spirit of Faith in Prayer or the Spirit of Prayer in Faith Rom. 8.15 The Spirit of Grace belongs to the Throne of Grace and his Assistance doth give Boldness to Believers The more you feel of his Help pray the more boldly 4. The covenant of Grace gives boldness to Believers in their coming to the Throne of Grace The Covenant of Grace as well as the Spirit of Grace belongs to the Throne of Grace Dying David had that sight of this Covenant that gave Consolation to him under sad Reflections 2 Sam. 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my Salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow Let us consider some properties of the Promises of this Covenant for the Covenant of Grace is a Covenant of Promise Rom. 9.4 Eph. 2.12 that do give just ground for the boldness of Faith in coming to the Throne of Grace 1. The Exceeding greatness of the Promises They are exceeding great and precious Promises that are given to us 2 Pet. 1.4 When a Believer looks within he seeth great and manisold Wants and Necessities that he hath nothing and wants every thing Some have thought that they wanted more Grace than ever any Sinner did yet never any wanted more than is in the Promises There is surely more Grace in the Promises than there is want in the Creature Creatures Wants cannot exhaust Gods Fulness of Grace and all this fulness is
had said I am sure to be heard for I pray for them that are partakers of thine everlasting Love They are thine by Election and giving to me they are mine by receaving and redeeming of them We are bid give diligence to make our Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 They are sure in themselves and sure to God but we should make them sure to our selves and many Christians smart sadly by neglecting this Diligence 2. The gift of Christ for us is a great priviledge that gives boldness at the throne of grace So the Apostle argues Ro. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all you may see who this all are ver 28 29 30. How shall he not with him freely give us all things As if he said it is a small thing to God to give us all other things when he hath given his Son We receave now many Blessings blessed be the giver we have greater things in the Promise than we yet receave or can yet receave but shall surely receave in his time yet all we get and shall to Eternity receave is far less than the gift of Christ. It is like our Lord had respect to this in that Word to the Woman of Samaria John 4.10 If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water If she had known Christ as the Well of Salvation to Sinners she would have employed him and should have been accepted of him But here many Christians stick they doubt not but Christ was given for his Church and People but they know not how to apply this to themselves If I knew say many that Christ was given for me I would then come boldly to the throne of grace and ask any thing confidently I answer None can know that Christ was given for them till they come unto him And all that come to him may know that he was given for them and should believe it He was given by the Will of the Father and his own for his Elect. This is a Secret hid with God He comes to Men in the Gospel offering himself and all his Purchase and Fulness to all that hear of it He that hath his Heart drawn forth to like this Bargain and accepts by Faith of the Saviour and his great Salvation hath possession thereof immediately and by that may come to know that it was designed for him in God's purpose of Love So Paul Gal. 1.14,15,16 He was one of the Holiest and most Religious Jews in their Church and yet was at the same time one of the most wicked young Men in all the Country a very Hypocrite a proud self Justiciary and a bloody Persecutor of Christ and his Church Yet of this wicked Creature it is here said That God had separated him from his Mother's Womb and Acts 9.15 He is a chosen Vessel unto me I will pour out of my grace on him and will do much for him and by him When did all this break out When he called me by his Grace and revealed his Son in me Then he can say Gal. 2.20 He loved me and gave himself for me And again 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sirners All say so but had he any mind of thee and hast thou any share in his coming to save Sinners Yes saith he of whom I am chief He came to save me the chief of Sinners Any Sinner may come after me and expect Mercy at Christs hand when Paul hath sped so well ver 16. He hath made me a Pattern of his Mercy for the encouragement of all Sinners that have a mind for a good turn from Jesus Christ 3. The Priviledge of Actual Reconciliation and of being brought into a State of Grace is a ground of Boldness in coming to the throne of grace Rom. 5.9,10 where the Apostle having shewn God's Love in giving Christ to the death for us ver 8. he adds the Blessings that flow from this Gift Justification by his blood and therefore much more Salvation from Wrath through him ver 9. And Reconciliation to God by his death and therefore much more Salvation by his life ver 10. The Improvement he makes thereof is in ver 11. And not only so but we also joy in God the Original is we glory and boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now receaved the Attonement A State of grace is a State of boldness all that are in it should and all that know they are in it will use boldness of Faith at this throne of grace Rom. 5.1 to ver 6. 6. The Experiences of Believers are a great ground of boldness Experience works Hope Rom. 5.4 The Experience of others as well as our own are of great use herein Sometimes we find David improving the Experience of others for the strengthning his own Faith sometimes he offers his own Experience for the comfort of others Psal 66.16 Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my Soul Because David was in distress of Conscience and got Peace and Pardon Psal 32.1,6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found Psal 119.74 They that fear thee will be glad when they see me because I have hoped in thy word There is no Christian that hath not Experience As he hath a Soul that needs much to be done for it so the Lord doth much for all he saves And because the Lord dealeth variously with his People therefore there is much difference in their Experiences Yet because all Believers are Members of the same Body and receave all from the same Head Jesus Christ there is some Skill and Capacity in every Christian to understand and to be profited by the Experience of any Christian Hence it is that communicating of Experiences is a Christian Duty and a good part of the Communion of Saints But there is much Christian Prudence requisite in the discharge of it Let no Man boast of a false gift and pretend to that he hath no sense of Nor talk vainly and proudly of what God hath done for him All true Experiences are Acts of Grace from God felt on the Soul And Grace is humbling 1 Cor. 4.7 For who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receave Now if thou didst receave it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not receaved it Three Questions confounding the Pride of Men and Christians Of these Experiences that should give boldness in coming to the throne of grace I shall name three 1 The Experience of the first visit of Grace is a good ground of Confidence in asking any blessing of God Can you remember when you were dead in sin and had no thought
and the Question then is Is this or that or the other Action pleasing or displeasing to God And this is to be determined by the light of Conscience acting according to God's Holy Law For God is the only Lord of Conscience and his Will the only Rale and Law of Conscience Conscience therefore may be three ways defiled 1. By the unpardoned Guilt of a natural State as it is in all Unbelievers Nothing can purge the Conscience but the Blood of Christ Heb. 9.14 An Unbeliever doth not apply to it nor apply it to himself and God applys it to none but by Faith Therefore all such Unbelievers have all the loathsome filth of their natural State lying on their Consciences defiling it The answer of a good Conscience towards God is by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 3.21 All Unbelievers Consciences can speak nothing towards God by any thing Christ hath done or suffered for they know him not and are not in him They would give an Answer or make their Plea from their good Works and honest Meanings but all such answers and pleas are rejected by God in his judging of a Man's State For all God's Judgment of Mens State proceeds on these two in Christ or out of Christ And as it is with them with respect to one or other of these two so do Men stand or fall before God's Judgment whatever the Judgment of their Consciences be 2. Conscience is defiled by Sinful Actions known to be such Now if these be loved and delighted in they do justly marr Confidence neither can any Man in this Case draw near to God but with the Mouth and hypocritically Isa 2.9,13 This is a Frame not to be found in a Believer He may be guilty of known Sin but it is not delighted in To this David's Words refer Psal 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me It is not If there be iniquity in my heart for who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my Sin Prov. 20.9 It is not If I see iniquity in my heart For where there is least sin it is best seen Paul saw enough Rom. 7.23,24,25 and groaned under it and yet blesseth God through Jesus Christ for the hope of Victory But it is only If I regard iniquity in my heart if I look kindly on it God will not hear me and indeed the Man in this Case cannot pray It is as impossible that a person approving and loving Sin can make a real approach to God as it is for a Man to depart from and approach to one at the same time and with the same motion 3. The Conscience is defiled by doubtful practice Of this the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 8.7 And their conscience being weak is defiled To this belongs also the Words in Rom. 14.5 Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind and ver 22 23. Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin In deliberate Actions especially of Worship to God to act without a clear Warrant from the Word of God defileth the Conscience 2. Sin disturbs the Conscience And Conscience is disturbed by Sin two ways 1. When the evil and filth of Sin is seen a man loaths himself therefore No defilement on the Conscience disturbs it till it be seen Men like Swine wallow in the puddle and see no filth therein till God open the Eyes of their Consciences 2. When the danger of sin is seen and the Wrath it deserves is perceaved then perplexing Fears and sensible Sorrow works in the Soul Now what is the course such a poor Creature should take The Sin is committed the Guilt is contracted the Conscience is defiled the Defilement is seen Disturbance and Trouble is felt in the Conscience What should such a sick Soul do Will any say to him wash thy self where thou canst and cast away the burthen of thy sin the best way thou canst and then come to the throne of Grace This would be strange Gospel indeed We know no other course a Man should take in this Case but coming to the Throne of Grace to have the Conscience sprinkled with the Blood of Christ the only Cordial for a disturbed Conscience and the only Purger of a defiled Conscience Therefore Peter was quite out in his Prayer he prayed backward when he said Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord Luke 5.8 Were ever worse Words uttered at the Knees of Jesus Christ He had said better if he had prayed Lord come near to me and abide with me and let me ever abide with thee for I am a sinful Man Where can a sinful Man be better than with the Saviour of Sinners But Peter's Prayer is the natural Prayer of every Man that seeth his Sinfulness and is ignorant of Jesus Christ The Publican understood Prayer and plyed it better Luke 18.13 when he said God be merciful to me a Sinner I feel my sinfulness I see thy Mercy Lord let them meet and thy Mercy shall be glorified and I saved Whoever therefore are distressed with the guilt of Sin in their Consciences or with the power of it in their Hearts and Lives must seek all their relief at this Throne of Grace It is only the power of that Grace revealed and dispensed at this Throne of Grace that is too hard for Sin and all its powers And for any Man to think to subdue Sin except by the power of this Grace or to think that he shall have this powerful Grace without coming for it to the Throne of Grace is to dream to his own destruction Object 2. I am in the dark about my Interest in God and Christ and therefore I cannot come boldly to this Throne If I did know that God was at peace with me and I reconciled to him and justified then I might come boldly Answ 1. Whose fault is it that thy Interest in Christ is not put out of question Were Christians more in self-examination more close in walking with God and if they had more near Communion with God and were more in acting of Faith this shameful darkness and doubting would quickly vanish It is a thing to be heavily bewailed that many Christians have lived twenty or forty years since Christ called them by his Grace yet doubting is their life they doubted when they began they go on doubting and many die doubting when the blame is justly to be laid on themselves There is an assurance of Faith that is a Duty as well as a Blessing Heb. 10.22 And were it more minded as a Duty it would be more often attained as a Mercy That assurance of Faith I press you to have stands in firm and strong Believing The faithful Promise of Christ in the Gospel is the Foundation of it And the Ground will bear all the weight we can lay on it This Assurance is not only a Blessing that comes down from Heaven but it may by his blessing of Means spring up out of the
Intercession stands in presenting his People and their Desires and Wants to the Father for acceptance and answers of Peace Both our Persons and our Prayers must be presented by this great High-priest set over the House of God Heb. 10.21 or no Welcome no Acceptance An Israelite though he brought might not offer the Sacrifice on the Altar only the Priest and the High-priest only must offer the great Sacrifice for all Israel in the day of Attonement Christians must bring themselves Rom. 12.1 and all their spiritual Sacrifices but Christ must present them and we only by him Heb. 13.15 What a mighty encouragement is there in this for Faith Our High-priest makes another thing of our Sacrifices than we can Believers often know not rightly their own Case Christ knows it exactly Many of our Prayers are meer mistakes we complain when we should praise we ask what would do us hurt and are unwilling to receave what would do us much good Our Lord Jesus puts all to rights he can say over our Prayers rightly he can make good sense of them can purge them of their Faults can spy out any thing of his own Spirit in them and lastly add his own Incense to them Rev. 8.3 And thus are they accepted We may best understand Christ's Heart and Work in Intercession by John 17. Wherein we find three 1. Christ conceals all the Faults and Weakness of his people Not a Word of these in all that Prayer and they were guilty of a great many 2. He tells all their good and makes much of it ver 6 7 8. I have given to them the Words which thou gavest me and they have receaved them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me He knew and reproved them for the weakness and staggering of their Faith he foretold an approaching tryal and their fainting in it John â—6 31,32 Yet he knew they were true Believers and he makes much of it in his Prayer aâ— again ver 14,25 3. Chrise declares fully â—…ir necessity and begs supply for them No Christian needs any more than a full answer of this Prayer of Christ And it was put up for all his Body and will be answered as to every Member of it Whenever you are on your Knees at the Footstool remember who is at the Throne above and what his business is there Footstool-supplications of Believers would be all quite lost if it were not for the Saviour's Intercession at the Throne Heb. 8.1 Our High-Priest is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens And he ever liveth to make intercession for us Heb. 7.25 This is the end of his living in Heaven to make Intercession for us Take heed and mind Christ much in your Prayers and never fear his forgetting you Shall Christ live for ever to make Intercession for you And will you live all your days without making use of him as an Intercessor Alas that Christ in Heaven gets so little employment from Believers on Earth He seeks your employment he loves it and loves them best that give him most of it He undertakes for every thing put in his hand and in due time will give you a good account of all you entrust him with and make you say He hath done all things well Mark 7.37 Appl. Is all the ground of Confidence at the Throne of Grace laid in Jesus Christ our High-Priest Build then your Confidence on this safe and sure Ground Not only may you lawfully make use of Christ's Mediation but you must do it It is not only a Priviledge the Lord allows you to make use of but it is his Command and your Duty to use it You are commanded to come to the Throne of Grace and commanded also to come in Christ's Name and to come boldly in this Name The neglect of either of these is sin Not to come to the Throne of Grace when he calls is a great sin To come to it or rather to pretend to come in any other Name but Christ's is a great Sin too And to come in this Name diffidently is to reflect unworthily on Jesus Christ and the Power and Virtue of his mighty Name John 14.13,14 Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son If ye shall ask any thing in my Name I will do it Can a Man desire a larger Promise than this Can one desire a stronger Plea than Christ's Name and a better Hand than his to have our Answers from Be ye Askers and Askers in my Name I will be the Doer The Father's Glory in the Son and the Sons Glory is concerned in giving good answers to all Prayers put up in Christ's Name You cannot Honour and please Christ more than in using his Name confidently All Bills with Christ's Name at them will be accepted at the Throne of Grace and will surely be answered But Coming to the Throne of Grace in Christ's Name is another thing than commonly people take it to be Some think it enough that they conclude their Prayers with the Words Christ taught Matth. 6.9 but never for that use it is oft formally and superstitiously put to Some think that it is only to say in their Prayers for Christ's sake To ask in his Name is a higher business than to be reached by Unbelievers and Men void of the Spirit of God If no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 If Praying be required to be in the Holy Ghost Jude 20. If praying always with all Prayer and Supplication should be in the Spirit Eph. 6.18 How shall Men call on him in whom they have not believed Rom. 10.14 But can you take the searcher of Hearts to Witness that you build all your hopes of Acceptance at the Throne of Grace in this Name and Mediation of Jesus That you durst no more rush into God's awful Presence without the Protection of this great Name than you durst leap into a devouring Flame Can ye say I have no Name to come to God in but Christ's my own Name is abominable to my self and deservedly hateful in Heaven No other Name is given under Heaven but that of Jesus Christ in which a Sinner may safely approach to God Since the Father is well pleased in this Name and the Son commands me to use it and the Holy Ghost hath broke this Name to me and made it as an Ointment poured forth Song 1.3 And since its savour hath reached my Soul I will try to lift it up as Incense to perfume the Altar and Throne above Since all that ever came in this Name were made welcome I will come also Having no Plea but Christ's Name no covering but his-borrowed and gifted Robe of Righteousness I need nothing I will ask nothing but what his Blood hath bought and all that I will ask I will expect answers of
Body Christ was always in sound and perfect Health of Body For Sickness is a consequent of inherent Sin and Corruption of Nature and of that Christ had none Many particular Distresses we meet with and wrestle with that Christ knew not by his own Experience But this sad case of Temptation he knew and felt But ye may say if Christ had never been tempted had he not been able to succour them that are tempted Yes no doubt for no bounds can be set to his Divine Power as God What then doth his Experience of Temptation signifie to the Succour of the tempted Believer It is the Ground of his Sympathy with them and Sympathy draws forth his helping Grace It is a ground for the Faith of the Tempted to act upon How sweet is this thought to a Christian thus exercised I am indeed a tempted Believer but I have a Saviour that was tempted himself and remembers it still and pities them and will help them that are in that case that was once so grievous to himself 4. A Tempted Person is needy of God's helping grace because Sin came in at first by Temptation Temptation was the Door that sin came in by and entered into the world of Mankind How sin came in upon the Angels that fell is deeper than that we can know it And it is no great matter for us to be ignorant of it We know they are now the worst and most wicked and most miserable of all the Creatures and that originally they were of the most eminent Order as one well said The Lord wisely would not declare the nature of that Disease he was resolved never to cure And so we must leave it in the dark But as to Sins coming into the World of Mankind we have more light The Lord created the root of Mankind upright and perfect first the Man then the Woman in their created State there was no sin in either of them But Temptation was so applyed by Satan that it quickly begot sin This Argument the Apostle useth 2 Cor. 11.3 I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ If Satan did prevail to bring in sin by Temptation upon the sinless and perfect what may he not do on sinners in whom he hath so much Interest and over whom he hath so great advantage by somewhat of his own in them 5. There is great need of the Grace of God in a time of Temptation because of the frequent sad Effects of Temptation unless present help of Grace be given Rarely doth a Temtation and our Hearts meet but some fire of sin is kindled I would name a few of those Effects of Temptation 1. Temptation doth often discover hid and unseen evil and brings it to light It brings forth that which the Person before the Temptation never thought was in him So it is with the Ungodly and the Godly themselves When Hazael was told by the Prophet Elisha what mischief he would do to Israel he said 2 Kings 8.13 But what is thy servant a dog that he should do this great thing But saith Elisha the Lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be King over Syria Then thou wilt have Power and Will to do it What wickedness will not that Man do whom Satan-tempts and whom God leaves David fell dreadfully by Temptation And Hezekiah 2 Chron. 32.31 Howbeit in the business of the Embassadors of the Princes of Babylon who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the Land God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his heart When the Vessel is broach'd by a convenient Temptation that Liquor will come out that was never thought to be within When Herod feared John and observed or preserved him when on his hearing him he did many things and heard him gladly who would have thought he would have beheaded him Mark 6.20,21 But a convenient day came a day when Herod lay fair for Temptation and a day that Satan and Herodias and her Daughter his Servants laid the Temptation before him then the poor wretch was soon overcome But indeed it was more strange that such a King as Herod should hear such a Prophet as John Baptist preach than that he should murder him At least it is and hath been far more usual to bad Kings to slay Prophets than to hear them gladly Peter was so confident in his Courage that in a manner tho' against both Grace and good Manners he gives the Lie to his Master Matth. 26.31,35 Then said Jesus to them All ye shall be offended because of me this night ver 33. Peter answered and said unto him Though all men should be offended because of thee yet will I never be offended As if he had said Lord at least except me out of this All thou speaks of Because he would not take the general Warning Christ gives him a particular one ver 34. Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee that this night before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice Will not Peter believe Christ speaking so peremptorily and plainly No. ver 35. Peter said unto him though I should die with thee or for thy sake as John 13.37 yet will I not deny thee Likewise also said all the Disciples So loath and backward are even Godly Men to own that to be in them that they do not see and feel at present working in them These Words Peter and the rest spoke bating that awful fear that should have seized on them from such a warning as Christ gave them were Words of Duty and were doubtless the honest Expressions of their present thoughts Yet when the Temptation came Christ's Warning took place and their Resolutions vanished like Smoak They all forsook him and fled Peter followed afterward and denyed him shamefully The Voice of a Damsel overthrew this Man that had Courage to draw his Sword in his Masters defence against armed Men. John 18. He denyed he knew his dear Master when if he had owned him and himself as his Servant there was no danger John was there and at the Cross too without any harm 2. Temptation often brings on a great and fudden damp and eclipse on the work of God's Grace in the heart It is as the Smoak of Hell in the Soul that darkens the Room so that is Believer cannot see what of God is in him It is as Christ calls it Luke 22.31 A sifting a man as wheat Wheat and Chaff and Dust are then mingled together No Believer in this case can give such a clear and distinct Account nor have so plain a discovery of God's Work in him as before and after the Temptation Christians give the Devil the advantage he seeks when they judge of themselves and their State in the fit of a Temptation Act Grace diligently when in Temptation and try your State as carefully as you can when you are
out of Temptation 3. Temptation increaseth greatly and suddenly seen and known Corruption If Temptation come on a latent hid Corruption it may bring it forth but if it come on a known Corruption though it was not so powerful before Temptation will make it rage The Temptation came on Judas For as hateful as his name is justly to all Christians yet before he fell no Man suspected him only Christ knew him When Christ gave the Warning John 13.21 That one of the twelve should betray him All the eleven said Is it I and at last the Traitor said so and was answered Matth. 20.21,25 The lust the Devil acted on was his Covetousness He was a Thief a lover of Money and the Devil put him at last upon a Bargain that was his Ruin For a Servant to betray his Master and such a Master for a sinnen to sell the Saviour of all sinners that are saved for so inconsiderable a Summ after so fair a warning of his Sin and Ruin by it was a proof of the mighty power of Temptation over a Man The Apostle Peter chargeth Ananias thus Acts 5.3 Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost The filling of his Heart was Satan's Work as Peter saith Why then doth he ask the Man an account of or charge him with Satan's Action Because the Devil can fill no Man's Heart with a sinful purpose till the Man give way to and comply with the Devils working 3. What is that help that Grace gives to the Tempted We have heard how Temptation renders a Man needy of Grace now let us consider how this Grace can and doth help in this Case Paul in his Temptation 2 Cor. 12.7,8,9 betakes himself to the right course to Prayer to the Lord And thrice he besought the Lord that it might depart from him He is answered My Grace is sufficient for thee We would be apt to think that Paul's great stock of Grace and manifold Experience and his late extraordiry Enjoyment might have been sufficient to have supported Paul in his Conflict No they could not Our Lord saith not Thy Grace is sufficient for thee which I have abundantly bestowed on thee But my grace is sufficient for thee So the same Apostle exhorts another 2 Tim. 2.1 Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus And Eph. 6.10 There are many Enemies of the Grace of God because few are Partakers of it Such as have not felt the Power of it on their own Hearts will alway pick quarrels with the pure Doctrine of Grace Some cannot receave this plain Gospel-Truth that a Man must be constituted Righteous in the sight of God only through the Righteousness of another Person even Jesus Christ imputed to the sinner of Free-grace And some that own this Truth stumble again on this other Truth that the Sanctification of a justined Believer flows from the constant Supplies of Grace from Christ their Head and Root They think that there are Habits of Grace implanted in the new Creature and this is not to be denyed and if they guide well what they have received in the Grace of Regeneration they may live well and grow on to Perfection But it is not duly minded in Men's spiritual Exercise that no Stock of Grace was ever given to any Believer to take him off the Sense of his need of daily dependance on the original Grace in Christ Jesus But the greatest Receavers always act their dependance most humbly and see their need of it most clearly and find the benefit of that dependance most comfortably Observe also our Lord's Argument for the Encouragement of Paul For my strength is made perfect in weakness What is Christ's Grace in the Answer is Christ's strength in this Argument What is sufficiency in the one is making perfect in the other As if Christ had said to Paul I see the Devil is too hard for thy weakness but thy weakness supported by my strength shall be too hard for Satan Now see how Paul improves this answer Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my Infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me No wonder he glory in Christ and in Christ's Grace bestowed on him for that any Christian can do but this glorying in Infirmities is an exercise of Grace only found with such Fathers in Christ as Paul was Who is not humbled and afraid of his Infirmities Here is a Believer that glories in them but why and how that the power of Christ may rest upon me Infirmities as Infirmities have nothing in them to excite glorying But Infirmities as Opportunities for displaying of the Glory of Christ's Grace in helping under them are to be gloried in Christ acts on them and the sensible Believer imploys him therein Our Weakness is the Field his Strength is glorified in Whoever doth not own his Infirmities forfeits the Assistance of the Grace of Christ The Grace that helps in Temptation is Christ's Grace the imploying of him for it and drawing it from him is by Faith and should be the Christians Work How doth his Grace help the tempted Believer 1. In discovering of Satan's Wiles and Devices Eph. 6.11 He hath fiery darts ver 16. and he hath Wiles also His most dangerous Temptations are his most cunning ones This Serpent hath his Subtilty 2 Cor. 11.3 The less they be perceaved the more dangerous Temptation is And the more clearly they are seen the more easily they are overcome The Apostle owns this in 2 Cor. 2.9 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices Satan gets greatest advantage of them that are and because they are ignorant of his devices The case the Apostle speaks of is that of the incestuous Corinthian He had sinned greatly the Church had not resented it as they ought Paul in his first Epistle chap. 5. chargeth them for their want of Zeal commands them to cast out that scandalous Member The Lord blesseth that Letter and his Advice both to that Church and to the offending person Now here lay Satan's Device he that had puffed them up with Pride and Security in their former Carriage toward that Offender when impenitent seeks also to stir them up to an Uncharitable severity towards him when renewed again unto Repentance And of this kind are many of his Wiles He drives Men to extreams on each hand Thus many Professors are like the Devils Foot-balls kicked about from one extream to another and seldom are kept in the right midst The Devil keeps Men asleep in Sin as long as he can If they awake against his Will he runs them on despair if Faith be wrought in them he labours to make them turn the Grace of God into Wantonness The Instances of his Devices are innumerable The multitude and danger of his Wiles must be great if we consider 1. His created State A Spirit more knowing than Man A sinless Angel is a higher Creature than sinless Adam was 2.
better School for Men to learn weigh and duly to understand the things of God in than a frequent and near view of death What an edge would this put upon our Praying Hearing Worship and Walking Every thing that is done by Men as dying Persons is usually well done I shall only add this that there are some sorts of dying that are very desirable in which the Grace of God is very useful and needful 1. Patient dying Dying is not properly a Duty but a Suffering It is not our Act but there is a manifold Exercise of Grace called for in dying Never did any Man act in dying but Jesus Christ he could lay down his life and take it again John 10.17,18 We cannot lay down our Lives they are not our own We are bid keep them as long as we lawfully can and when the great Command comes Return we are to yield obedience to it It is a great Blessing to have Patience for dying and Patience in dying Heb. 10.36 You have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye may receave the Promise And we often need Patience most when just upon the receaving of the Promise We should run with patience the Race set before us Heb. 12.1 And must of Patience is usually most needful in the last Stage of this Race Patience should have her perfect work Jam. 1.4 And the perfect and perfecting Work of Patience is the last act of it We all know that usually death comes on by such steps as are grievous to the Flesh There are Pains Sickness and Languishings that are no small Tryals of Patience but these are in a manner but Tryals of the Patience of the Flesh There are other things about dying that Patience is tryed by as time and place and many Circumstances that it is no small or easie thing to be quietly submitted to Javob the Heir of the Promise goes down to Egypt to Joseph for Bread after he is starv'd our of the Land of Promise and must die in Egypt and leave his Family there where they were to be long and heavily oppressed as the Lord told his Grandfather Abraham Gen. 15.13 Moses must die on the other side of Jordan David must not see a Stone laid in the Temple Josiah must die in Battel and that by not hearkening to the words of Necho from the mouth of God 2 Chron. 35.22 But what of such sad Circumstances of dying did not our Lord himself die under a dark Cloud on his dear Father's Face and on his own blessed Soul My God my God why hast thou forsaken me were sad Words from the sad Soul of our dying blessed Lord. His Disciples forsook him the Sun forsook him Earth and Hell bandyed against him yet all was nothing to his Father's forsaking him How bitter was this to our Lord and yet how sweet is it to the Faith of Believers If you be called to die under a Cloud remember the Lord the Heir the Purchaser of Heaven went to Heaven in the greatest Storm that ever blew from Earth and Hell and Heaven on any man's Face at death Men are ashamed to express any quarrel against dying but there are many things about it that make us needy of much Grace to help to quiet submitting unto it both in substance and all circumstances attending it 2. Safe dying This is very needful and it is Grace's doing Many die Patiently as Men think that die not safely There are no bands in the death of the wicked sometimes Psal 73.4 Some go out of this Life to Hell more calmly than some of the Heirs of Glory pass to their blessed home Safe dying is to die without any hurt to the Soul that when the Cage of the Body is broken by death the Soul the Bird may take Wing and fly straight and safe to Heaven Death is the Believers 1 Cor. 3.22 as well as Life But what have we to do with death or death with us It is a black Boat that we must sail out of time to Heaven in And Christ steers the Boat and lands all Believers safely on Heaven's Shore This is all we have to do with death And when all the Passengers are brought over Christ will burn this ugly Boat Rev. 20.14,15 And death and hell or the Grave were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death And whosoever was not found written in the book of Life was cast into the lake of fire And then in the New Jerusalem there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away Rev. 21.4 Who would not venture to pass out of this bad World to that blessed Land under Christ's Conduct though sailing through the Gulf of death be unpleasant in it self to us Men for Gain will sail from one end of the Earth to the other through heat and cold and stormy Seas and Winds and manifold Perils in the probable hope of advantage But Balievers may be assured that they shall arrive at their Port. Never did a Believer in Jesus Christ die or drown in his Voyage to Heaven They will be all found safe and sound with the Lamb on Mount Zion Christ loseth none of them nay nothing of them John 6.39 Not a Bone of a Believer is to be seen in the Field of Battel They are all more than conquerors through him that loved them Rom. 8.37 3. It is very desirable to have an honourable dying It is a part of the Vanity of this World that many dote upon an honourable Burial Some respect indeed should be paid to the dead Bodies of Believers but honourable dying is a great deal more considerable than that Men call an honourable Burial Our Lord told Peter of his dying John 21.19 This spake Jesus signifying by what death Peter should glorifie God That is honourable dying that brings Glory to God Paul is confident of this as to himself Phil. 1.20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed but that with all boldness as always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death The most honourable dying is dying for the Lord this Honour is not given to all his Saints All Saints die in the Lord and blessed are they Rev. 14.13 Our desire should be to be enabled by his Grace to hear our dying Testimony to Christ and his Gospel There have been strong Convictions given to the Consciences of Sinners wonderful Supports to the Hearts of surviving Saints by the honourable dying of some Believers Their example their words their very looks and Behaviour in the Shadow of death have been of great use to them that have seen and heard them 4. It is also desirable to have the Mercy of comfortable dying To have an entrance ministred to us abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.11 The Lord's
to have a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward Men. Acts 24.16 It is usually seen that times of great Tryals do dart in some Light into Mens Consciences and do make Men look into their Hearts and Ways more narrowly and spy small Faults that they could not see at other times For they are days of darkness in one sense and days of light in another Study therefore to keep thy Conscience clean and pure by holy and tender walking and by daily believing For it is the Blood of Christ that only can purge the Conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9.14 And let me assure you of this and if you will not believe it I dare say you will feel it and feel it the more then if you believe it not now that such as make all their care about their Consciences to stand in watchfulness about their Hearts and Ways and are utterly estranged from believing Applications to the Blood of Jesus when an evil Day and an evil Conscience meet together and meet they will that they will be in a sad and dreadful Confusion And no better will their Condition be who upon a false Pretence and in this case it is always false of trusting in Christ have no care either of their Conscience or Conversation The Mystery of the Faith is to be held and kept in a pure Conscience 1 Tim. 3.9 We should hold Faith and a good Conscience 1 Tim. 1.19 they cannot be got nor kept but together Whoever suffers Shipwrack of the one loseth the other Christ is the Saviour of Sinners but he is no Minister of Sin Gal. 2.17 He came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 Not to save Saints for there are none in it but of his making and his making Sinners to be Saints is a notable part of his saving 2 Tim. 1.9 The Inheritance is for them that obtain forgiveness of Sins and who are sanctified by Faith in him Acts 26.28 None are saved but the Sanctified and none are sanctified but by Faith in Christ Jesus There may be in an Unbeliever a Picture and shadow of Holiness but it is an Abomination in the sight of God whatever the Man that hath it or they that see it may think of it A holy Vnbeliever or an unholy Believer never was since the World began nor will be while it lasts 5. Multiply your Addresses to the Throne of Grace before the time of need come Happy were that Christian that could cry as earnestly for that Grace that can help him before the time of need come as he will see it needful to have it when that time doth come But it is the weakness of our Minds as Men and of our Grace as Christians that we cannot take up so clear a Prospect of things to come and that they are not so big in our Eyes at a distance as when present Yet by Faith we may foresee times of need and should pray much for Grace to help us when that time comes Suppose you should for twenty years together beg that Grace and Mercy that you should not have occasion for till those years were expired would there be any hurt in it 6. In any special Prospect of an approaching time of need make special Addresses to the Throne of Grace for Grace to help in that time There are two things in these Addresses I recommend to you 1. Let them be Personal Partticular and Secret Our Lord's Direction Matth. 6.6 Many Christians find it an easier thing to keep a day of Prayer with others than to spend an hour in Prayer in secret by themselves It were far easier to know a Man's Frame and State by his secret dealings with God if we were acquainted with them than by all his Professions and Duties besides 2. Let these Addresses be sometimes solemn and long There are some Mercies not to be got as some sort of Devils not to be cast out but by fasting and prayer Matth. 17.21 Secret personal Fasts I am afraid are very rare amongst Christians in our Days Christ commands and directs us about them Matth. 6.16.17,18 as well as about secret Prayer Matth. 6.6,7 Ministers should not load Christians with work above the Strength of their Bodies or Minds or Grace But surely it is but reasonable Service required of you that you should make Addresses to the Throne of Grace in some suitableness to your need of that Grace that is dispensed from it There are four things which if they were the Fruit of my speaking and of your hearing so often from this Text we should both have cause to bless the Lord who teacheth his people to profit Isa 48.17 1. If you learn to pray better and to ply Prayer more David gave himself to Prayer Psal 109.4 The Apostles those extraordinary Officers of the Primitive Church gave themselves continually to Prayer and to the Ministery of the Word Acts 6.4 There are times in which private Christians should give themselves to fasting and prayer 1. Cor. 7.5 If you belong to God he will make you pray and reach you with Briars and Thorns if you will not yield to more gentle Methods How sad is the Reflection that riseth in the Heart under some heavy Tryal This is brought on me for my indulged distance and estrangement from God 2. If you learn to mind Christ more and make more use of him in your Praying He is the King on this Throne of Grace As much as Christ is out of your Minds in Praying so much are you out in Praying and your Praying out of that it ought to be That which we beg is out of Christ's Store In whose Name do we beg it but in his for whose sake but for his Out of whose hand do we receave what we ask and get but out of his It is marvellous that People should pretend to Prayer and think they pray who yet forget Jesus Christ who is all in all in all right Prayer 3. If you learn to mind and plead more God's Free-Grace in Jesus Christ in your praying Free-Grace is the sensible humble Min's Plea he is a proud ignorant Person that seeks or useth any other Plea at God's Throne of Grace Free-Grace is the only thing that Faith can first lay hold on it 's a Plea that any Man may use it is the constant and powerful Plea of a wise Besiever It answers every case and suits every Prayer and the lowest Case and the highest Prayer best 4. If you learn never to leave off improving of christ and pleading for Grace at this Throne of Grace till ye have no more need of Grace And that will never be as long as you live If any Man fall into such a Dream that he is got beyond the need of Grace and so of Praying he is one that never rightly knew himself nor Grace nor Christ nor Praying The Believer knows he stands in need of Christ and Grace and therefore prays as long as he liveth