this in God to poor Sinners that he unbosoms himself to them that he should give Christ to be their Life When they were carnal wicked and sinful that then Jesus Christ should be revealed unto them that the Lord should bestow on dead Sinners such a precious Life who were by Nature poor dead heavy Lumps of Hell What infinite surpassing Love is this that should give such a Life to raise up Lumps of Hell to Heavenly Glory Christ cloathed himself with Human Flesh and Blood that so he might become an Infinit Mass and boundless Sea of visible speaking breathing weeping bleeding living dying Grace All the glorified Saints and Angels are but living Monuments and ever-living Tenants of this Free Grace this Grace of Christ perfumeth Heaven and Earth All the Grace which God doth or can put forth for the Salvation of Sinners is laid up and exhibited by Christ he has broad and strong Shoulders which can bear to Heaven the most heavy Lumps of Hell There is more Force and Omnipotence in Christ's Infirmity and Sufferings than in all the strength and efficacy of Men and Angels There is more Life in Christs Death more Riches in his Poverty more Victory in his hanging on the Cross than in all the World besides yea Christ's very Sighs Tears Sweat Stripes Reproaches and Faintings have a Sovereign Efficacy in them for the procuring and conferring Grace on his redeemed ones Thence we receive of Christs Fulness Grace for Grace Look as the Child receiveth from his Parent Limb for Limb Member for Member as the Sons of Adam receive all of his Fulness Sin for Sin Lust for Lust so Christs regenerated ones receive of his Fulness Grace for Grace there is not any Grace in the Heart of Christ but his Members have an Impartment and Resemblance thereof Now this infinite Plenitude of Grace in Christ which renders him so glorious proceeds originally from the Election of God the Father for all the Treasures of Grace are originally lodged in the Sovereign good pleasure or Heart of God the Father who has ordained Christ as Mediator through whom all are to be conveighed to the Elect. This ought greatly to be remarked or heeded by the Friends of Christ that albeit the Divine Essence and Sovereign Will of God be the Original Fountain of all Grace yet he has determin'd that not one drop of this Grace shall be derived unto Sinners but through Christ a Mediator This is the gret Mystery of the Gospel the great Wonder of Heaven and Earth that the blessed God who is the Fountain of all Grace Mr. Gale of the Saints Amity with God in Christ should so far condescend to Sinners as to assume Human Nature and to make it a Receptacle and Vehicle to convey all Grace unto them 4 Infer Is Christ a Believers Life and such a Life as hath been discoursed How should Believers be endeared to Jesus Christ What a thriving happy blessed glorious surpassing Life do Believers live It is natural to Persons to love their Lives more than all Enjoyments What Cost and Pains will Persons be at to preserve their natural Lives but what are all the Lives that have been since Adam to the end of the World if compared with Christ who is a Believers Life all their present and future Blessings are bound up in this Life What cause hath every every Believer to mourn that they love Christ so little that hath loved them so much His Love to them passeth Knowledge the Depths of it can never be fathomed With what purpose of Heart should every Believer cleave to Christ Christ loved with his whole Heart as it doth appear by what he hath suffered for his redeemed ones Methinks I should hear a Believer say with Peter Lord thou knowest I love thee It is much to be lamented Christ hath many professed Friends but few real Lovers as a Learned Author saith Multi osculantur Christum pauci vero amant Many kiss Christ but few love him Many do as Orpha did to her Mother Naomi Kiss and take their leave And many with Judas Kiss and betray But Oh with what an hearty and fervent Love should every Believer love Christ 5 Infer Is Christ a Believers Life Then what Life should there be in a Believers Love towards each other They that are bound up in the same bundle of Life should be bound up in a bundle of Love How can our Love be hid from them in whom we see the Love of Christ appear How can those pretend to be made partakers of the Life of Christ that are Strangers to the Love of Christ Rivers of Waters ran down David's Eyes because Men kept not God's Law Have we not cause in our days to shed a Flood of Tears that Christians break Christ's new Commandment who hath commanded his Disciples to love one another There are many that pretend to be passed from Death to Life but few there are that love the Brethren Are not many so bound up in their own Opinion as if their whole Salvation lay therein laying such weight and stress thereon as if none could be saved but them that jump in with them in their Opinion while it may be all the while they are grosly mistaken But if their Form and way of Worship be right they mistake the Mark that rest there for Salvation How do such despise Persons holier and sounder in the Principles of Religion than themselves and while they profess themselves to be Christians of the highest Rank they deny an Article of our Christian Faith that all that own themselves Christians profess to believe viz. the Communion of Saints denying Fellowship with them that have Fellowship with the Father and his Son Christ Jesus such as are bound up in 〈◊〉 things as Tith of Mint Annis and Cummin neglect the weightier matters Judgment Mercy and Faith not but that it is good to be zealous for every Truth of Christ but not to let our Zeal run out more in the Form than the Power of Godliness as the Pharisees of old did Where Love is wanting the life and power of Godliness is absent from such Persons If Love to the Brethren is a mark of Grace I believe many that account themselves very good Christians fail of that mark except none are their Brethren but those of their own Opinion then Papists and Quakers and all such Persons that hold together in a cursed Unity to uphold damnable Heresies may be said to love the Brethren as well as such for they love not for Christ's sake nor as they bare the Image of God but for Opinions sake They that love the Brethren that love such as have the Lord Jesus formed upon their Hearts will love every person that is sound in the Faith and holy in Life though he differ in Judgment in some outward Forms Persons being great in their own Eyes makes them look so loftily upon their Brethren as Luther saith of himself Tantus eram sanctus ut purissimus
fuerim omnes si potuissem occidere I was so great a Saint in my own esteem that I was ready to slay all if I could and this he did out of a blind Zeal The Pride of Men's Hearts together with their blind Zeal cause persons to exalt themselves and strive to make the Doctrin and Life of others odious to the People altho they are such as God has given his Vrim and Thummim to While Persons are contending about Words and distracting their Hearers with things that concern not their Salvation and endeavouring to beget a Prejudice in their Hearts against Godly Ministers they in the mean time neglect to preach down Heresies and false Doctrins that strike at the Principles of Faith and welfare of immortal Souls Surely all those that are begotten from the Dead unto a lively hope by Christ Jesus will love all those that are made partakers of the same Life and will not cease daily to mourn for their Deficiency therein 6 Infer Is Christ a Believers Life and such a Life as you have heard then what a miserable state is a Christless Soul in A state of Darkness while they live a state of misery when they die the Cup of Wrath without mixture eternal misery will be the portion of the wicked Oh what a state of blindness and darkness do they live on Earth And what a state of misery will they be in in the other World But you may say How shall I know that Christ is mine I shall lay down a few Characters but I shall First Shew who they are that have not Christ for their Life Secondly Who they are that have Christ for their Life I shall begin with the Negative First That Soul that was never sick unto Death for Christ never yet had Christ for its Life that Soul that never saw himself undone without Christ that Soul never made Christ his Life They that never groan under the body of Sin and Death that never cried out Wo is me I am undone what shall I do to be saved they are dead in Trespasses and Sins They that never saw the Sentence of Death in themselves never made Christ their Life 2 Cor. 1.9 But we had the Sentence of Death in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead When a Soul comes to say Alass I have gone as far as I can but I cannot get peace nor comfort by all I do therefore I must lie down and perish if I have not Christ to be mine I have nothing of my own to cover me I shall be naked if I have not his Blood to wash me I shall die in my sins If you believe not in me saith Christ you shall die in your sins Better die on a Dunghil better die in a Prison better die in a Fiery Furnace in Christ than in a Palace out of him But what remedy shall there be to save us from our sins Why Christ doth not set them to work for Life but to believe in him who is the believing Sinners Life Let a Legalist or Formalist they that never were pained at the Heart with a sense of their undon state they that have not Christ for their life what a deal of difference is between a Believer and them as much as thereis between a person that is sick and another that is dead He that is dead if he be laid on the ground there is all quiet and lay a Weight on him he is quiet but go and lay your Ear at the sick Man's Bed and there is groaning and crying O my Head O my Heart What is it you want I want Breath I want a Physician I want Life We preach Christ to you poor sinners What is the reason You do not groan for this Christ Why You are dead in your sins You go away and it may be some particular things we tell you of you can repeat them when you go home Some particular Duties you perform but are your Souls awakened Do you groan for Christ Do you go home pained at the Heart Was Christ ever your Life Do you cry out I am dead and undon without Christ be my Life If you were sick at Heart and were pained for Christ we should hear of you It may be you go to hear as your fancy leads you but not with a sense of your wants You fancy somtimes this Man sometimes that Man but were your Souls ever sick for Christ Did your Hearts ever break within you Did your Souls ever mourn in secret Lord give me a Christ I am afraid of this little number many that are dead that Christ was never your Life When persons are in a Swound put Spirits or any thing into their Nose they do not mind it but when they come to themselves they cry out I am sick O give me something Saith our blessed Lord Jesus John 5.25 Verily Verily I say unto you the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live When Christ comes with an effectual Call by his Spirit to the Heart in his Word it raises up the dead Man If there be a whole Family dead there is not one Groan heard but if one that is alive be sick or in pain he fills the place with Groans Talk of any thing rather than Christ any preaching is for some Men rather than Christ that is foolishness to some Ay but Soul whether thou wilt have Christ or no we must preach Christ and then we can give up our account with Joy It is the whole Work of a Minister to preach Christ whatever Duties are Spiritual they all flow from Christ but where Christ is not dwelling in the Soul all they perform is dead and formal Silent Professor quiet Professor quiet with outward Duties with a Form of Religion and so rest until you are undone If once God calls you and awakens you by the effectual working of his Spirit then your Souls will cry out O give me a Christ If I have not the Blood of Christ I am undone If I have not the Righteousness of Christ I am undone If I have not the Spirit of Christ I am none of his And whose are you then The Devils Rom. 8.9 Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his There is no middle state you are the Devils that are not Christs you are dead in sin under Bondage if you have not the Spirit of Christ Be what you will a Professor a Person in Communion or out of Communion be rich or poor a person of Gifts a person that can hear read and pray if you have not the Spirit of Christ you are none of his When the dead persons were raised up by Christ something was called for them to eat O saith the Soul when he is awakened by Grace give me a Christ or I perish O that I had a Cordial of his Blood I want his Blood I want his Righteousness his
profitable How warmly do they discourse of the Kingdom of God How longing after it Luke 24.32 And they said one to another Did not our Hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures He might have talked of the Scriptures long enough and opened the meaning of them and no warmth come to their Heart till he shined into their Souls You that are united to this Sun of Righteousness you that live on him by Faith you are under these thriving Beams though you have not always the same manifestation But when these glorious Beams dart into your Souls how lively are you in your walking and in your talking Though you may have some frosty Nights some cold Fits yet while you are united to this Sun of Righteousness you shall have some warm Beams that shall make you thrive and grow All means of Grace are like the Prophet's Staff which will not bring the dead Child to Life until the Prophet comes When the Prophet came and lay on the Child the Child was warm and it breathed and stirred and rose up and walked Poor doubting Soul is there Breath in thee Dost thou breath after Christ Dost thou desire no means mercies nor blessings but what thou mayest enjoy Christ in them I say Christ hath already breathed on you and his Divine Beams of Grace will cause you to rise up and walk I mean to grow stronger and stronger so that the Sun of Righteousness heals the Affections of many A poor Soul cries I cannot love Christ it is impossible I should ever love him But if you desire to love Christ with your whole Heart you love him already The Soul that hath a spark of Faith that works by Love shall be sure to increase in Love When Christ comes down when he puts in his Finger by the hole of the Door saith the Soul Draw me I will run after thee his Love is better than Wine Christ sometimes gives you drops of Wine sometimes Flagons of Wine sometimes but a Sip and sometimes full Draughts Draw me and I will run after thee as if she had said Draw me and I will commend thee to others As Melancthon said when he was converted He thought that he could have converted all that he conversed with but he found the old Serpent was too hard for young Melancthon When the Soul comes to know this glorious Christ by Faith and to live upon him the Soul thinks he could so commend him that he could make all about him to love Christ Draw me I will run after thee Why what is the matter Thy Love is better than Wine vers 3. Because of the savour of thy good Oyntments thy Name is as Oyntments poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee vers 4. Draw me we will run after thee When the Lord Jesus Christ witnesses to the Believer by the Spirit that he is united to him when he sends forth Divine Beams from this Glorious Light and Life and Warmth the Soul hath his Love drawn out abundantly When Peter was freezing by the Fire in the High Priest's Hall one look from Christ melts his Heart Ah my Friends you may have the Fire of Ordinances kindled yet have an Heart as cold as a stone but when Christ looks on you then does he melt your Souls into the very Image of Love then he draws the Heart after him in Divine Acts of Love that what the Soul hath often thought of now it comes more and more to the Soul that Love is stronger than Death When the Divine Beams of Divine Love are darted into the Soul and the Soul comes to consider First What unconceivable Love the Love of Christ is O saith the Soul Christ hath loved me with an unconceivable unspeakable Love So Paul saith who loved me and gave himself for me Not I live but Christ lives in me the Soul is acquainted this is an unspeakable Love John 1.3 Behold what manner of Love is this that we should be called the Children of God! O what unspeakable Love is this saith the Soul that I should be called a Child of God! How comes it about O the Wonders of this Love O that I should be called a Child of God What me to be made like Christ For God to be my Father in Christ What manner of Love is this How unspeakable how wonderful is this love Secondly When Christ comes to shine on the Soul it comes to see what distinguishing Love this is Why me O Lord Who gave himself for me Saith the Apostle There is an application of this Love Why me Lord Why not many thousands chosen and I left out Why I chosen and many thousands left O that Christ should love me redeem me die for me O my Soul love thou the Lord live to this Lord let him be all in all who loved me before the World was That I am not among the Damned in Hell is a wonderful mercy But that I should be one of the Lords redeemed ones that I should be chosen out of the Kindred and Tongues and Nations of the Earth O what Love is this The Expressions and Impressions of Divine Love A Believer would live with it all his days and die with it and go to Glory with it Why me Lord Why hast thou pardoned me sanctified me O that God should give Christ for me That Christ should go through his Sorrows for me Through his bloody Sweat for me That I should have a part in Christ's precious Merits What though Christ loved sinners if I am not the sinner that Christ loves But when the Beams of Divine Love are darted into the Soul it cries O that Christ hath loved me more than his own Life more than his own Glory and love me above others in the World O what distinguishing Love is this Then the Soul must needs have an endeared Love to Christ O that for me to live may be Christ O that I may enjoy him in all my enjoyments Thirdly The Soul sees the Love of Christ is undeserved Love O wretch that I am that ever Christ should love me It is an heightning our Love when the Divine Beams of his Love shines on our Souls to reveal how unworthy we are of Christ's Love This is that the Apostle speaks of and nothing more heightens our Love than that Christ loved us when we were unworthy of his Love 1 Tim. 1.12 13. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the Ministry who was before a Blasphemer and a Persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy It is a glorious Beam of Divinity shines on the Soul when the Soul comes to see its own Unworthiness Why me Lord so wretched and miserable a sinner What Christ come from his Glorious Throne from Heaven to Earth to heal my Heart To come here to die for me a wretched Soul O when the Sun of Righteousness rises on the
Professor complains for want of Gifts and Enlargements Shall we bring thousands of Rams or ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl or my first born for my Transgressions the Fruit of my Body for the sin of my Soul Micah 6.7 What a proud absurd Question is this A carnal Heart will do any thing rather than come to Christ and yet have no Contentment in what they do But Soul when Christ becomes thy Life and the glorious Divine Beams of his Grace shine on your Soul you will live a contented Life all comes through Christ's hands all your Blessings and Mercies are bought with the Blood of Christ all your Duties sanctified by Christ Surely this Soul must needs thrive We say discontentedness make an unthriving Person Indeed it is impossible the Soul that is not united to Christ should thrive for he hath altogether Impossibilities before him It is impossible for you to reach Heaven with your Duties to get your sins done away with all your Tears and Prayers without you are wash'd in the Blood of Christ that cleanseth from all Sin 1 John 17. If you can fulfil the Law you shall live by the Works of the Law but it is an impossible thing If you can pray your way to Glory you shall be saved it is impossible But when a Man comes to Christ he takes away all the Impossibilities To what purpose were a Man commanded to bring in a Sum of Mony of his own to save his Life if he never had it nor ever will have it to pay Man since the Fall hath not nor never can have a Power of his own to obey God's Commands Whatever God commands Christ hath done it for the Believer what ever Law commands or Justice demands it is all done for you by Christ Saith the Apostle As for the Works of the Law if you can do them you shall live in them Gal. 3.6 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the Curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them Gal. 3.22 But the Scripture hath concluded all under Sin that the promise by Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe Verse 23. But before Faith came we were kept under the Law shut up unto the Faith which should afterward be revealed But saith he we were all concluded under sin that the promise by Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe Christ comes and opens the Prison Doors le ts the Soul out from Unbelief le ts the Soul out from under the Curse of the Law How does Christ let the Soul from Prison Christ comes to the Heart causeth it to believe the Soul now believes the Promises takes hold of Christ in the Promise Christ comes to the Unbeliever to the Soul under the fear of God's Wrath and Curse assisting it with a Divine Promise working Faith in the Heart As suppose a Soul is under the burden of his Sins and should say I am so great a Sinner I fear I shall never obtain Mercy Christ comes with this Promise It is a faithful Saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am chief The believing Sinner layeth hold on Christ in the Promises and findeth Relief The Soul lies burdened with the sense of God's Wrath for sin Christ comes in with that Promise Come to me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest Saith the Soul Is it so indeed What rest in Christ for me What will Christ give me rest The Soul closes with the Promise makes Christ his Life and Rest to live upon As supposing a Man should be in a Crowd among Pikes and Guns and Halberts among mischievous Men he is afraid one will wound him another kill him but comes a Friend of his and a strong Man and carries him through all So does Christ when a poor Soul is under fear in himself he is afraid of every Frown of every Trouble Christ comes and carries him through all from the Curses of the Law from the Wrath of God from sinking Fears by applying himself a suitable Remedy who died for their sins and rose again for their Justification Now the Soul goes out and is at Liberty Until you know this Life you are but poor Prisoners Slaves and Servants and you do Duty but in Servitude till you come to know Christ The Soul that knows Christ shall grow many do not grow and they think it is for want of such a Grace or for want of Gifts and Enlargements But here is the fault It is in not living upon Christ and making him your Life As you know the Flowers and Roots that are in the Earth peep up their Heads in Spring as if they were rejoycing to see a Jubile So does a Soul that hath been tugging under the Law that hath not known Christ When Christ comes to shine on the Soul the Soul comes to look up and to breath in a new Air. Now Christ appears to his Soul he as it were hears a new Voice Come away my Beloved the Winter is past the singing of Birds is come Cant. 2.10 My beloved spake and said unto me rise up my Love my fair one and come away Vers 11. For lo the Winter is past the Rain is over and gone Vers 12. The Flowers appear that is when the glorious Spring comes the Sun shines warm and gloriously and what then The Spring is come the Flowers appear on the Earth the time of the singing of Birds is come and the voice of the Turtle is heard in our Land the Fig-Tree putteth forth her green Figs. When the Soul comes to live by Faith in Christ and grow up in Christ it puts forth green Leaves They are all withered Duties that are performed out of Christ Persons may make a great Discourse of Religion and be divided into Parties and they will all pretend to own Christ whereas if they are examined they deny Christ But the Souls that do live on Christ they do bring forth Fruit. What is the Law but the Winter to the Soul Arise saith Christ my Love my fair one and come away for lo the Winter is past the Rain is over A Man you know can't travel in Rain because of the Floods The Floods of God's Wrath are dryed up when you come to know Christ The Rain is sweet and pleasant when it comes down moderately but when it comes down hastily and in abundant manner it causes Floods Whatever a Soul does until it knows God in Christ there are Flouds of Wrath between God and them But when a Soul comes to know Christ all God's Dealings are like moderate Rain Rise up my Love and come away for lo the Winter is past the Rain is over no Rain to hinder you from God no Rain to keep you from the enjoyment of him Mild all your Mercies
Grace we enjoy You that live Christ though you go mourning from a Sermon this may encourage you to wait for the Blessing of the means of Grace It may be a Soul may object and say I am a poor sorrowful Soul am I blessed Soul thou art blessed Blessed are they that mourn The contrite Heart is an acceptable Sacrifice to God Blessed are they that mourn This is your case sometimes you mourn at other times you rejoyce in God and joy in the God of your Salvation You are rich in Blessings all Sermons that you hear do your Souls good and all Ordinances do your Souls good you are blessed when you are humbled when you mourn when you thirst as well as when you rejoyce These are Spiritual Blessings in Christ O Christless Soul till you know Christ there is not one of these belongs to you O Sinners you have innumerable Curses hang over your Heads that are out of Christ you have a Book 〈◊〉 of Wo and Lamentation written without and within Ezek. 9.10 Many sorrows are to the wicked but he that trusteth to the Lord mercy compasseth him about Psal 32 10. Innumerable are the Blessings that Believers are compassed about with When you come to an Ordinance and think you do not meet with God you complain and go away mourning you are blessed if you go away in the dark you are blessed How so I blessed that cannot see Christ Yes blessed are they that trust in him and stay themselves upon him though they walk in Darkness and see no Light O what a rich Soul art thou that livest this Life of Faith You are blessed in all Ordinances all Opportunities I tell you whatever comes God will bless his people God's Providence is to all the World he takes care of the whole Creation he is wonderful in Goodness and Mercy yet as a rich Man that gives to many yet in an especial manner saith he I must remember my Children at home my dying Child my weak Child this Child that Child every Child So God gives liberally to all but gives his special Blessings to his Children his choice Blessings are reserved for his redeemed ones O what a rich Life it is to live Christ The Saint is rich in Faith rich in Love rich in Peace rich in all Blessings Then the Soul admires What am I blessed in every condition What with all spiritual Blessings O Lord not long ago I was crying out Sure God hath forsaken me But this was your infirmity and sin But is not Christ more precious to you than ever Do not you long for Christ thirst for Christ Then you are blessed Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Under Darkness under Temptation under every Affliction you are blessed and every Sermon and every Sacrament and every Ordinance you have you are blessed though you cannot rejoyce in God in all yet you are blessed in all though you go away hanging down your Head O I have not met with God! I tell you you are blessed For it is said Blessed are they that mourn and Blessed are the poor in Spirit Fourthly You are enriched with the Love of God I do not know what you can have more to enrich you If the love of God doth not make you rich I am sure nothing can and you can never be rich if you have not the love of God and be sure God loves you if you know Christ he looks on you in Christ loves you in Christ delights in you in Christ John 16.27 For the Father himself loveth you because you have loved me and have believed that I came out from God God's favour maketh rich those whom God favours he hath grace that heals his Soul which is that that makes his Happiness and is that which is the inward fashioning of every Man's apprehension that makes him happy that brings comfort to him Pray mind the Lord Jesus speaks with an Emphasis for the Father himself loveth you You have my Father's love a choice Love indeed And how comes this Love about because you have loved me and have believed that I came out from God because you have believed in me and made me your life God loves you What God love me I confess it would make a Christian go comfortably through all the Tryals in the World the very ardency and application of that the Heart of God is the Ocean the first rise of all Love to the Creature Christ is the Spring that first receives from him Dr. Crisp and then through him all Love is diffused to the Creature God loves me for the Father himself loveth you What God love me I pray how comes it about because you have loved me and believed that I came out from God You have made me your Life you have Faith in me and now God loves you God never loved you whatever you did without Christ God abhors all out of Christ God elected you all in Christ chuses you all in Christ pardons you all in Christ and then Oh what Immense Love is this God loves you in Christ O unspeakable Love O infinite Love this Love is Love that passes Knowledge Love that passes Bounds O highth and depth of Love you that live in Christ and believe in Christ are rich Souls We use to say when we see Men thrive and prosper in the World This will be a rich Man And what may you say of the Saints O they will be rich indeed they will have a rich portion because they believe that Christ came out from God O Soul hast thou with thy Heart chose Christ with thy Heart lived to Christ with thy Heart wrapt up thy self in Christ is it the out-cry of thy Soul none but Christ none but Christ thou art a rich Soul for thou art already possest of the presence of God it will be thy portion to live in the House of God for ever For Brethren to dwell together in love and unity how sweet is it O the harmony of it but what a divine Harmony is there in that Soul where the Love of God dwells Turn about your Thoughts turn about your Ears Hear I beseech you for Christ's sake accept of Christ that you may have God's love God indeed loved the Elect with Everlasting Love in Christ but God's Love is not manifested to you until you believe in Christ then all the things of this life are yours there are many things which we cannot reach here the price is too great Is not that rare which costs dear there is not a bit of Bread you have you that are Saints but it cost the Bloud of Christ all your Mercies are in a way of redemption all is yours Paul and Apollos and Cephas and life and death and things present and things to come for ye are Christs and Christ is Gods May it not be said of them that know not Christ Nothing is theirs Is not the Minister yours as well as others Is
me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest But how Shall I come Lord may a poor sinner say Says Christ No man can come to me except the Father draw him I must first come by my â—pirit to the sinner before he can come to me by Faith But saith a poor Soul I cannot lay hold of Christ I cannot believe nor I cannot make Christ my Life I am a poor undone sinner but if Christ comes to you and takes you by the Arm as he did Ephraim Hos 11.3 cannot you go along with him If he comes and gives you an hand of Faith and takes hold of you can you not follow him This fruitful Tree of Life bends down with his Fruit that sinners may lay hold on him If the Husbandman expects to have Corn he must sow it if a Man would have a fine Garden he must plant it for the ground naturally brings forth nothing but Briers and Thorns The Ground was cursed when Adam had sinned and every Heart is cursed and all the sinner can bring forth by Nature is cursed Fruit there may be something like Grace something like Faith but no true saving Faith as there may be Field-herbs like Garden-herbs and many other things alike that are not the same natural Gifts may shew like Grace But by natural Reason there is never a Man nor Woman do the most they can that can lay hold of Christ till Christ comes and lays hold of them There is nothing in our Hearts but Briers and Thorns we cannot believe but when Christ comes and works Faith in our Hearts then we lay hold on Christ then we are safe for ever When you are got into Christ all Storms whatsoever cannot hurt you you are safe So the Lord Jesus speaks Prov. 8.35 For whosoever findeth me findeth Life Whoever is a stranger to Christ is under the power of Death the sentence of Death and Condemnation but whoever findeth me findeth Life What then They shall obtain Favour of the Lord. In the Favour of a King or great Man they say is safety but that is not true always nor very often but they are certainly for ever safe that enjoy the favour of God You must find Christ before you know the favour of God God's favour is manifest in Christ when he shews kindness it is in Christ whosoever finds Christ shall have God's favour Psal 68.18 He hath received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that God may dwell among them If you would have the favour of God seek after Christ in this Temple the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily and when you come to live in Christ God lives in you he comes and takes up his abode with you Thou hast ascended up on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for men What Men The Rebellious What encouragement is here for rebellious sinners to come to Christ O sinner come Christ hath received Gifts for you To what end That God may dwell among you Christ hath received enough to make you lovely in the sight of the Father for ever How should Saints also be encouraged by this under all their Infirmities and Troubles If you had all the comforts of a present Life and had not the favour of God you would be undone for ever He that finds Christ finds Life and shall obtain favour of the Lord God will dwell among such As Christ by Death made way for the Soul to come to God so by the Revelation of his Grace a Soul comes to taste of the Love of God When a Soul comes to know Christ then the favour of God shines on him and is not this a safe Life O Christless Soul that lives but not in Christ that knows many things but not Christ that performs Duties but not by Faith in Christ you are never safe you do not know how soon your slaughter-day will come and it will be eternal You that have not Christ for your Sacrifice you must be the Sacrifice for ever The Lamb of God was offered up once for all but if he be not your Sacrifice your Souls must be a Sacrifice in Hell for ever But you that live Christ live an happy Life for it is a safe Life As Abigail spake to David when she met him the greatest comfort that she brought to him was That his Life should be bound up in the Life of his Lord 1 Sam. 25.28 29. I pray thee forgive the trespass of thine handmaid for the Lord will certainly make my Lord a sure House because my Lord fighteth the Battels of the Lord and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days Yet a man is risen to pursue thee and to seek thy Soul Saith she Here is a mighty Man risen to pursue thy Life but though he is risen up against thee thou shalt be sure to be safe Why What is the reason The Soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of Life with the Lord thy God Whatever pursues a Soul in Christ shall never hurt him All Temptations and Troubles and Accusations that pursue the Soul shall not hurt it Saith she A Man is risen to pursue thy Life but however the Soul of my Lord is bound up in the bundle of Life with the Lord thy God Friends you are never safe till your Souls are bound up in the bundle of Life with Christ till you come to take Christ lay hold on him as your own you are never safe you have Pursuers A man is risen up to pursue the life of my Lord But one poor Christian is pursued with Temptation another with strong Corruption another with strong Fears and Terrors another with great Desertion but Christians never fear your Life is bound up in the bundle of Life the Life of Righteousness the Life of Grace the Life of Comfort the Life of Glory The Soul that believes in Christ is so bound up in him that the Devil cannot reach him Temptation cannot harm him sin cannot undo him Trouble cannot overcome him O what a Life is a Believers Life I am not speaking of a Professors Life only not one that performs Duty but one that lives on Christ For me to live is Christ O it is the safest of Lives Whatever you have done you will never be safe whatever you have professed you will never be safe till you are bound up with Christ There is nothing you can do in outward Duty but the Devil will have more to say against you than you have to say for your selves There is no fear O Saint whatever comes against thee if thou art in Christ Therefore consider it every one of you as you would appear at the Great Day and your Faces not be ashamed pray see that Christ be yours pray see that you can produce the Seals and Witness of the Spirit of God that you are Believers or all your Profession will leave you miserable To live Christ is a safe Life John
Delusions of Satan that they may not wait upon God in the way of his Appointment they think they need no more Teaching But the Lord will not leave his People to these Delusions for they shall through his Grace be so kept they shall be kept waiting on him in his Ordinances and Appointments so from Ordinance to Ordinance from Duty to Duty carried on strength to strength If you had a full Harvest presently you would be ready for Glory and if your Vessel were filled here you would be ready for an immortal Life you would be ready for your Life to be swallowed up in Victory as when you are distilling Aqua Vitae or any other Spirits you set a Bottle under it and that drops in drop by drop and when it is full you take it away and if it had been filled at once you would have took it away The Lord Jesus Christ could fill the Vessel at once But what then Could you contain your Joy You must enter into the Joy of your Lord. When the Bottle is full it is taken â—way it can hold no more so when a Soul is filled with Grace and Comfort and Assurance What is he fit for but Glory To go to enjoy God in that full measure that the Saints and Angels do But you have Mercy distilled out some drops in one Sermon and some in another that your Souls may be still filling up till you are fit for Glory If you were full at once you would not need any more Ordinances But now the Soul saith I bless God for his Ordinances for I have received some comfort by them O that I had a full Assurance O that I could see more of Christ O that I were perfect in Christ O that I could love him as the Saints do that are in Glory If you could then you need not come any more to Ordinances You see in a Cloud a bright side and a dark side in Ordinances you have Peace and Joy Ay and you have Temptation that you may long for another Ordinance that you may have Peace and Comfort so you are led from Ordinance to Ordinance you are led from Duty to Duty till you are brought to Glory So when you have received some Revelations of Christ you long for Ordinances again that you may receive more I say a sincere Believer that waits upon the Lord Jesus Christ that waits for a shower from Heaven he may see that in every Complaint he hath cause to rejoyce he must needs see something though he has a dark Cloud he cannot but say Truly he hopes to see a bright Cloud also He cannot but own that he hath some Glimmerings of Hope that were never found before Conversion that was never found in a carnal Heart as sometimes the Lord is pleased in an Ordinance to give unto the Soul at one time one Promise and at another time another If a Man had a Field of Corn and should thresh and grind it at once could he eat it all at once No but a little and a little at a time So the Field of the Promises is a large Field when you come to Glory all the Field will be bound up and all the Promises will be accomplished and you will have your Souls in that glorious Paradice of perfect Blessedness But now the Lord is pleased to drop in one Promise at one time and another at another The poor Woman of Canaan desired to be under Christ's Table to be fed with Crumbs They that wait on Christ for Crumbs shall not miss of having their fill at last A poor Soul in Christ gets at one time one Promise and at another time another and so is carried on till the Harvest is white when you are ripe for Glory there will be a perfect accomplishment of all the Promises but in the mean time we must wait for those great and precious Promises 2 Pet. 1 4. Hereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the Divine Nature exceeding great and precious Promises but these Promises drop down as you have need hereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises great incomparable Grace Love and Mercy are wrapt up in them at one time one and another time another is dropt into the Soul The Sons and Daughters of Sion that wait on God in a way of Duty O the sweet and precious Promises that they have given them As Ruth followed Boaz's Reapers and gleaned after them all day and then lay down at Boaz's Feet at night To spiritualize this Who was Ruth but a poor Gentile she was a Moabitish Woman O how good it is to be waiting It is the Believers Duty to be waiting on the Word and all the means of Grace and what should he do at night Lie down at Christ's feet leave him not till you are married to him nor then till you are brought home to Glory while you enjoy him fully So I say wait on him gleaning in his Field and you shall have sweet Divine Comfort and Consolation from him at last Secondly As for Promise so for quickening your Hearts by his Spirit when you cry with David Psal 119.25 Quicken me for my Soul cleaveth to the Dust The Lord is pleased sometimes to come in with quickening Grace to your Souls that you find your Heart quickened and revived like a dry Tree or Plant after Rain So the Soul complains I am like a barren Wilderness I do not find my Heart ascend up to God my Heart is even cleaving to the Dust but he desires Quickenings Quicken thou me according to thy word thou hast promised quickening Grace therefore I wait for Quickenings So a Soul saith O that I had Christ Could but my Soul taste him Could my Soul experience his Revivings And in waiting have you not found his Quickenings when you have confessed your Soul was free among the Dead Again Have you not found new strength to believe in Christ You have gone home sometimes and said in your Hearts I will never doubt more I will never give way to Unbelief more I will never to my dying hour misbelieve the Promises of God for his promises are sure and his mercies never fail I could sing with the Psalmist Praise the Lord for his Mercies endure for ever praise the Lord for his goodness never fails And can witness what the Psalmist saith Psal 138.2 3. I will worship towards thy holy Temple and praise thy Name for thy loving-kindness and for thy truth for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy Name in the day when I cried thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my Soul In the day that I cried that I waited upon thee immediately I had new strength from thee When my Heart was faint when my Soul was in a languishing condition I cried unto thee and thou strengthenedst me with strength in my Soul I had strength to believe I had strength to wait I
had strength to hope and I had strength to live upon Christ for all Have you not experienced this that you have come weak to an Ordinance yet have found strength as one that hath drank new Wine Therefore the Lord is pleased to give you strength that you may go from Duty to Duty from Mercy to Mercy from Peace to Peace O you that wait on Christ in a way of dependence for new Revivings and new Manifestations to your Souls what Comfort will it be to you tho you have but little strength to go from strength to strength The Lord hath promised it Psal 84. They shall go from strength to strength till they appear before God in Sion This was spoken of the willing Israelites many tarried at home to worship Jeroboam's Gods they would not come to Jerusalem the Journey was too far and the cost and pains too much they would rather serve the Calves that Jeroboam had set up But the Godly Israelites went to Jerusalem and what did the Lord do for them See vers 5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee in whose heart are the ways of them whose Heart is found believing and waiting for Christ whose Heart is united to Christ and found waiting in his appointments What then They go from strength to strength every one of them in Sion appeareth before God not one shall faint by the way every one shall appear before God in Sion if they have never so far to go as sure as if they had but a Mile to go So it is in this day of our Gospel-worship in our waiting on Christ in the means the Soul saith I have many Duties on my Hand to perform and I do not know how to do them but if your Soul desires to believe in Christ to live in Christ to rowl upon Christ to wait on him in his Ordinances you shall go from strength to strength you shall every one come to Glory though you go through the Vally of Bacha tho you have dark places and barren places you shall have Wells of Salvation and they shall refresh your Souls Christ will be dropping his Comforts and Grace that you shall be filled with Comfort you shall go from strength to strength till you appear before God Again As for your Strength so for your Victory and Conquest over Corruption Have not you found in your waiting that the Life of Christ hath been manifest in the Death of your Corruptions in your Conquest that when you have cried out O wretched Man or Woman O how unfit to wait on Christ O how dark and dead am I Yet have not you through the Grace of Christ found the Life of Christ made manifest that you have gone away conquering and Victorious Though you do desire to live upon Christ yet you are not brim full of him at once but do receive your Joy and Comfort from him drop by drop that you may live on Christ in the way of his Appointments Thirdly The third Reason is that your Souls shall not be filled as you desire but drop by drop because we are not able to bear much of God's Glory at once we shall be over-set with the Feast if it be too much we are not able to drink much of this new Wine it is a Joy unspeakable and full of Glory therefore the Saints are called to enter into the Joy of their Lord because this Glory is unspeakable and cannot enter into them as good Mr. Whelch when he was in Prayer and Communion with God Hold Lord saith he it is enough So the Spouse complains of being sick of Love not for an absent Christ but for the great Enjoyment Cant. 2.4 He brought me into his banqueting House and his Banner over me was Love What then Stay me mith Flagons comfort me with Apples for I am sick of Love But in the 5th Chapter she was sick of Love for an absent Christ for a withdrawn Christ not absent in Union then she could not be sick of Love nor for Communion but over-set with manifestations not in that manner as she enjoyed when she sat under his Shadow in the third Chapter that she tasted his Fruit to be sweet for then she had it by degrees but here in more abundant manner vers 3. As the Apple-tree among the Trees of the Wood so is my Beloved among the Sons I sat under his shadow with great delight and his Fruit was sweet to my taste While the Fruit drops from the Tree the Spouse could eat it taste it relish it and that with delight and was not over-set with it but she wants more Communion He brought me into his Banqueting-House to the Love-Feast there his Banner over me was Love First You see a Believer in a state of Grace cannot move one Foot till Christ move him how much less can a Soul that is in a state of Sin move after Christ Christ brings a Soul on from lesser to greater enjoyments from lesser to greater manifestations he brought me into his banqueting house where it was sweet to sit where I had an Apple a drop of his Love a taste of his Grace But he brought me I could not get thither of my self he brought me to his banqueting house what Sauce to the Feast His Banner over me was Love What would have been the Banquet without the Banner of Love His Banner over me was Love What then I was made so much of filled with such joy such comfort filled with such assurance filled with such delight that she was fain to cry out Stay me with Flagons comfort me with Apples my narrow Vessel will not hold it I must have new strength Stay me with Flagons new Wine that is the thing containing for the thing contained in it By Flagons is meant the Wine contained in the Flagons as we speak in the Lord's Supper We say this Cup is the New Testament in his Blood that is the Wine in the Cup. So here the Spouse Stay me with Flagons I have such a Love Feast I want Flagons of Wine to strengthen me yea and let me have some of the Apples too that before dropt from the Tree I am sick of Love Do you not wish sometimes O that I were filled with Christ O that I could praise him love him behold his Face and enjoy him as they do above Could our poor weak Vessels bear this No. When the Lord passed by Moses was to lie in the Clefts of the Rock and John fell down before him therefore he gives drop by drop that we might not have our Hearts over-set but with an Appetite long for more of him But for the full manifestation of him that is reserved for you in Glory where you will have strength for Vision and where you will have support for Fruition there you will have your fill of him when he brings you to the Throne of his Glory Fourthly The Lord Jesus Christ is pleased not to come down with those full Streams and pour
in the Glass of the Gospel this glorious Lord how glorious Christ is then the Soul cries out O let me live in Christ Let me glorifie Christ Surely now you are thriving Souls in the knowledge of Jesus Christ I mean saving knowledge sanctified knowledge such as the Sun of Righteousness reveals when he rises with healing under his Wings There are some places that have not the Sun for many Months and O how dark and uncomfortable are they then How dark are Souls till Christ comes into them Whatever knowledg you have though you could discourse whole Bodies of Divinity yet you are dark and ignorant till Christ comes to enlighten and teach you The weakest Believer is brought to this Frame to thirst after Jesus Christ and to desire him with his whole Soul most do not believe the Report Ministers give of him Isa 53.1 Who hath believed our report and to whom hath the Arm of the Lord been revealed for he shall grow up as a tender plant and as a root out of the dry ground he hath no form nor comliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him many see something in good Duties they would be doing something for their Salvation and think to patch up a Righteousness thereby but for to know Jesus Christ so as to live on him they see no desirableness in him How much did the Pharisees do Yet Jesus Christ was rejected by them We shall see his Glory as the Glory of the only begotten Son of God full of Grace and Truth O what a Christ full of Grace and full of Truth and full of Love and full of Clory did these Jews reject The Sun of Righteousness though he was come he had not risen with his Glory upon them Ah glorious Lord that any should be so blind as not to see some Beauty in this glorious Christ And yet so blind is the most of the World and many Professors that though they have the glorious Light of his Word yet how dark are their Souls We may say as the Prophet When they see him there is no beauty that they see in him that they should desire him Tell a carnal Heart of Christ and Grace and Heaven they go away and have no desire to him but when Christ comes in his Word and shines into the Soul and rises with healing under his Wings O then saith the Soul let me have a Christ let me live to Christ Before they saw no Beauty in him that they should desire him no Beauty and yet altogether beautiful What is the most glorious Object when a Man is blind What is the glorious Sun to a Man that cannot see So what is this glorious Christ this lovely Christ this precious Christ to a poor blind Sinner But for the Believer that hath Christ his Life he cries out for more Knowledge more Grace more Communication with Christ Christ doth daily shine more and more in a Believers Understanding removing Ignorance and Darkness The poorest Believer in Knowledge cannot but give God praise for healing his Understanding though I know we are rather crying out for what we want than giving thanks for what we have receiv'd The Lord Jesus heals the gross Ignorance of your Understanding and heals it more and more Though God is pleased to give to every one according to their place and station yet every one shall have a saving Knowledg There is Milk for Babes and Meat for strong Men. Secondly You shall prosper and thrive because the Sun of Righteousness when he arises on your Souls heals your Affections Before the Heart was as dead and as cold as a stone no love for Christ whatever you loved no love for this Lord of Glory But now when this Sun of Righteousness is risen with healing under his Wings he heals the Affections of the Soul that now the Soul is let out in affection to Jesus Christ now the Soul cries out How lovely is thy dwelling-place as David did and why is it so lovely David Because there I enjoy God So saith a Believer How lovely are the Ordinances of Christ Why Christian what makes them so lovely Oh saith the Christian I meet with a lovely Christ there Saith the Spouse Tell thou me O thou whom my Soul loveth where thou feedest where thou makest thy Flock to rest at noon Why would you be there I would be where the Flock is because Christ is there Cant. 1.7 When the Soul feels the warm Divine Beams of the Sun of Righteousness then the Soul comes to see a Loveliness in Christ Before you can love Christ you must see that Christ loved you first he first darts his Divine Love into your Souls When Elijah cast his Mantle over Elisha saith Elisha Let me I pray thee kiss my Father and Mother and then I will follow thee Why what have I done to thee What hast thou done Enough to draw me after thee It was not any vertue in the Mantle but a Divine Power from Heaven that did draw his Heart after the Prophet Away he runs after him and when he was taken from him he cries out My Father my Father the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof When the Divine Beams of the Love of Christ are cast into the Soul then the Soul cries out For me to live is Christ O that I may live to the Lord O that I may die in the Lord O that I may have upholdings that I may have strength in every Trial Then I care not what I go through that I may enjoy the Lord. Sometimes a Believer comes with an Heart very cold dead and narrow and doth not Jesus Christ send him away as a burning Lamp When he rises with healing under his Wings what Divine Love does he draw forth in your Souls after him The Spouse was so cold she could not so much as open to Christ but when Christ had left his Myrrh upon the handle of the Lock she runs after him crying out She was sick of Love So sometimes a Believer is in a very dead frame a very cold frame a very narrow frame but the Lord Christ comes in the Ordinance with his Divine Beams and the Soul is warmed and transformed into the very Image of the God of Love As for Example the Disciples were walking in a freezing condition Christ was among them but a little while and their Hearts were burning hot within them Was it Christ's bodily Presence only No no that many Thousands enjoyed but he came to them with the healing Beams of his Divine Love to their Souls he darted Divine Beams of his Grace into their Hearts O then they talk after another manner With what fervency and delight did they discourse of the Kingdom of Heaven to what they did before Sometimes when Believers meet together how dead and cold and narrow are they But when Christ arises with new healing Beams of Divine Grace in their Hearts how thriving is their Discourse How
Christ always when the Soul wants Fruit comes with a Divine Beam darting into the Soul Christ doth cast many sweet Looks on a sinner when he breaks his Heart for sin First A Look of Love Hast thou dealt so with the Lord that loved thee Ah Peter tho thou hast denied me I will not forsake thee Oh Peter though thou hast swore and curst I know not the Man yet I know thee and will take notice of thee and will make known my self to thee O consider what Love this was Christ looked with a first Love on Peter we love him because he first loved us Ah Peter thou hast made the Breach but I will come to make it up thou hast turned from me but I will follow thee with my Love I will begin with thee As Christ began our Life of Grace so he begins all our Revivings Take a Saint under an hard Heart under Guilt he may sit under means and it is his Duty so to do but no stirring till Christ comes When Peter was in his sin and rebellion Christ looked on him with a first Love Secondly Christ looks with a free Love Peter I will not wait till thou comest to me with Legal Repentance I will look on thee before thou confessest me Christ begins first he comes freely with his Love Peter had smote on his Heart he had no preparation to come to Christ Christ loves freely Hosea 14. when he heals Backsliders he loves freely Verse 4. I will heal their back sliding I will love them freely for my anger is turned away from them Every Act of Christ's Love to us is free Love there is not any moment of our time that we can bring any thing that is our own to Christ to love us Thirdly Christ's Love was a very strong Love sinners shall never break the Cords of it Therefore have I drawn them with the cords of a man with the bands of Love Hos 11.4 O how strong was Christ's Love to Peter When a Soul laments that it cannot love Christ then the â—oul is growing in the Grace of Love Love then is stronger than Death and so is Christ's Love to every one that he redeems and so it was to Peter The strong love of Christ broke in upon him and now he falls a weeping Ah Peter have I loved thee and yet thou hast forsaken me yet here I am with a new look of Love Love stronger than Death that overcomes all our deadness and coldness then the Heart breaks and melts when Christ comes with his look of Grace he will break the hardest Heart there Fourthly Christ's Love was a very seasonable Love Then was the time of love when thou wert weltering in thy Blood Ezek. 16. How seasonably does the Sun shine on the Flowers and Plants to revive and comfort them When the Soul complains Corruption is strong Grace is weak my Heart is cold Love dies I find my Soul fainting I fear I decay Christ comes in seasonably with a new Manifestation of his love to the Soul and this breaks the very Heart That which is spoke of the Sun in the Firmament may be spoken of this glorious Sun of Righteousness the Sun comes like a Bridegroom out of his Chamber so does the Lord Jesus Christ appear to his Bride The Sun rejoyceth to run its Race as a strong Man and as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber does it appear So does Christ comes as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber and as a strong Man delights to run his Race so does the Lord Jesus Christ break forth into the Soul with his glorious Beams of Divine Grace Fifthly Christ's love is a great love How great is that love that can pardon such sins pardon such sinners visit the Saints under such Frames of Heart This was the love of Christ to Peter he lookt on Peter to break his Heart with a look of love Secondly He looked with a look of Mercy O Peter I will pardon thee Return to me saith the Lord I am married unto thee Jer. 3. Ah Peter I am thine he looked upon Peter it was Mercy broke Peter's Heart The Terrors of the Law may make Men run distracted but their Hearts are hardned against God But when pardoning Grace comes that breaks the Heart melts the Heart Peter went out and wept bitterly what shall I find mercy shall I find favour shall such rich mercy be shewed in pardoning me O give thanks unto the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever Psal 107. Psal 136. Thirdly The Lord Jesus Christ breaks in with a Divine Shine of Sanctification If Christ is your Life you shall never want Grace it is our Duty to be waiting for Grace praying for Grace but a Believer shall never want Grace he gives Grace to him in a time of need if ever it was a time of need this was a time of need with Peter It is good you should see your want it is good you should seek the Lord he gives the Grace of Repentance the Grace of Humility he gives the Grace of Godly Sorrow How seasonably is Grace given to a Soul that longs for it When there is no Water in their own Cisterns the Lord Jesus comes with new Springs of Grace to such a Soul A Believer never walks more comfortably than when he walks humbly then the Soul mourns before the Lord. Such Divine Beams of Love from Christ work in the Soul true Contrition and Humiliation Ah saith the Soul have I had so many wooings so many offers of Grace yet have kept Grace out of my Heart Could I shut out the remembrance of him one moment Hath his love been so soon forgotten He that wept for me and bled for me and died for me have I kept him out of my Heart The Spouse tasted of this but it was a growing time but her Soul was in great bitterness Oh saith she it was the voice of my Beloved I knew him yet I did not open to him Cant. 5.2 I sleep but my heart waketh saying open to me my Sister my Love my Dove my Vndefiled for my Hand is filled with Dew and my Locks with the drops of the night Verse 3. I have put off my Coat how shall I put it on I have washed my feet how shall I defile them Verse 4. My Beloved put in his Hand by the hole of the door and my Bowels were moved for him When I opened my Bowels my Bowels were moved to think that I knew it was my Beloved yet would not open to him When a Soul comes to know Christ it cries O the many Offers I have had O the many sweet Wooings I have had O that ever I should slight and neglect and resist as I have done O that I should love so little when he loves so much O how slight have I thought of him How unkindly have I carried it and how untenderly O now let Christ be all in all Now the Soul hath a weeping Eye I looking cannot but love
and loving cannot but mourn O now I wonder how I could shut him out of my Admiration of my Adoration out of my Praises and Delights one Moment Thus the loving-kindness of Christ melts the Heart when Christ is made our Life and Christ sends forth new glorious Beams of his Grace into the Soul the Saint would not walk with a slighting Thought of Christ but would be always admiring and glorifying Divine Love When a Soul comes to have a look from Christ then there is the weeping Eye Whâ—t dost weep for Soul O I weep for joy yet mourn for sorrow O that I should be so unkind so ungrateful as to slight and disregard him O that ever Christ should knock and knock again love and love again O Christ is my Life had he not been my Life I had been dead and undone unto all Eternity The Soul that before thought it self something now sends forth sad Complaints complaints of an unbelieving Heart that Christ hath been entertained no more believed no more relied on no more now the Soul complains and cries out O wretched Creature that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death and sin This is not a pining Unbelief but Faith being raised up in an higher pitch the Soul grows in Humility that it hath been so misbelieving If ever a Soul comes to have the blessed revelation of the excellency of Christ the thing which they lay to Heart is unbelief Many think if they can but keep touch with Duty it is well enough but when Christ comes the Soul mourns that it has not believed the Soul comes to see how worthless its self is and how precious Christ is O saith the Soul methinks all of Christ is precious His Offers are precious his Promises are precious his Precepts are precious O how unworthy am I of such Grace Thirdly When this Glorious Sun of Righteousness shines into the Heart of a poor sinner the Will is subdued they shall be a willing People in the day of my Power Man hath a Will to set up something of his own but now the Will is conquered When the Soul is brought to this Mr. Perkins in his Grain of Mustard-seed to have a constant and earnest desire to be reconciled to God to believe and to repent if it be in a touched heart is in acceptation with God as Reconciliation Faith and Repentance it self Saith the Soul Let me have nothing but Christ whatever I have without Christ it will do me no good let me live to Christ let me glorifie Christ blessed and glorious is such a Life I would be swallowed up in that Life and so then the Will is brought down Lord let me be any thing so that I may glorifie Christ then the Soul will trifle no longer Saith the Soul I am resolved to have a Christ he is offered why may I not have him God hath given him freely Why not to me that am a sinner the poor Soul presently laies hold on him presently stretches out his hand of Faith to lay hold on him Thus the Soul is growing though not with those Affections as it would yet the Affections are healed in growing in Contrition by the Sun of Righteousness shining on it Secondly A Soul is healed of the Wounds and Guilt that is on him When a Sinner comes to have the Sun of Righteousness shine on his Soul his Guilt is healed Isa 53. The Prophet saith by his Stripes we are healed The Stripes of Christ are our healing Verse 4 5. Surely he hath born our Griefs and carried our Sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted But he was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed There is no thriving in Grace till the Wounds of the Soul are healed all our Wounds are inward Wounds it is not an outward Prayer will heal your Wounds nor outward Fasting nor outward Confession no it must be the streams of the Blood of Christ running through the Veins of the Heart by Faith The Soul never comes to have his Wounds healed till Christ rises with healing under his Wings There is an inward Wound within the Soul there is Guilt within that will sit as a Judge condemning the Soul Now by his stripes we are healed there must be an Union with Christ the Sufferings of Christ to be made over to the Soul Christ's Righteousness to be made as surely the Soul 's own as if it had a perfect Righteousness of its own Take away all iniquity saith the Prophet so will we render the Calves of our Lips Take away all iniquity while there is any Guilt on you you are altogether guilty Psal 143 2. Enter not into Judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man be justified If you are called to answer for one Transgression you are undone if you are called to account for one you lie under the condemnation of all but when Christ is become your Life then all your Guilt is removed no Justification but by Christ alone The Diseases and Distempers of our Souls are our sins the guilt of sin is a wound that is cut deep in the Soul Now when a Soul is brought under the healing Wings of the Sun of Righteousness he heals this Wound Psal 103.3 Who forgiveth all thy iniquities and healeth all thy diseases Sin cut off a Creature from God and so maketh a Wound which now is healed and made up When they are pardoned forgiveness and healing is all one with them in the Prophet Hosea 14.4 I will heal their backslidings I will love them freely the Justification freely by his Grace as the Apostle calls it Poor sinner thou that ever knewest what sin was what a Wound it was to thy Soul knewest that thy pardon was a healing in thee so then this arising is by his Spirit in his Word he conveyeth the Blood of Jesus Christ the merit there of maketh it over to the poor Soul that believeth to the doing away of all the Guilt that lay on the Soul it also taketh away that Anguish and Trouble that did lie upon the Soul When a Wound is healed the Anguish and smart is taken away tho it may be while searched and tented there will be smart and sore yet afterwards it is taken away Broken Bones are nothing to a broken Heart nor the broken Flesh any thing to a broken Bone The Lord heals the broken Heart he bindeth up their Wounds Psal 141.3 I have seen his ways and I will heal him saith the Lord. He speaks to the conditions of a poor disconsolate Soul under the sense of God's Wrath Isa 57.8 9. He was wrath and smote him yea he did hide and was wrath Oh how this troubles a poor Soul he cannot but have his Heart full of Darkness Terror and Trouble that hath the face of God hidden from him Well saith the Lord tho
I warrant you think that they that conversed with Christ on Earth were happy I tell you there were thousands saw Christs Face on Earth that shall never see his Face in Glory It may be you think if you come and hear a Sermon you have conversed enough with Christ for all the Week though you never had one precious thought of Christ but to have Christ your Life you have a Glorious Life Soul is thy Heart wrapt up in Christ What would you desire if you were to have your Wishes granted Is it Christ More of Christ To live more to Christ To enjoy more of Christ If it is so you live a glorious Life there is more Glory in one Believer than in all Creatures on Earth beside When Chrysostom was put to silence said some Better the whole World were left in darkness than such a glorious Light should be put out Now if the preaching of Christ be so glorious what is the Life of Christ in the Believer Fourthly To live Christ is a glorious Life for there comes a glorious Train with Christ all the Graces of the Spirit Believers are God's Habitations Eph. 2.22 You are the Terrestrial wherein the King of Glory keeps his Abode till you be removed to abide with him in Heaven If we did but consider and our Eyes were opened to see what a Train of Hellish Lusts dwell in us before Christ is in us we should be amazed the Apostle tells you of many of them While you are fleshly and not know Christ I tell you whatever you are in Profession you are what the Apostle speaks Gal. 5.9 Now the works of the Blesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witcheraft Hatred Variance Emulation Wrath Strife Sedition Heresies Envyings Murders Drunkenness Revellings and such like as if he should say I will not foul my mouth with what dwells in a carnal Heart May be you may say Many that have no Grace abhor many of these things I answer It may be the Devil may not lead Persons into all at once but the Works of the Flesh are manifest in unconverted Persons What Man is there that knows not Christ but loves something below Christ and that is Idolatry though you do not worship a strange God Do you love a strange God Is God first and last Highest and best Most prized and loved Is all well when Christ is enjoyed Do you not complain more for other things than for Christ Hatred is a very reigning sin Variance Emulations Wrath Strife many sins dwell in the Heart all sin is rooted in corrupt Nature but what is meet for Sale he brings forth like a Shop-keeper he brings forth Goods that are fit for Sale he hath all sorts but he doth not sell all sorts at once So the sinner hath all sin in him to be brought forth Satan tempts him sometimes to one sin sometimes to another When the Devil comes to buy the Sinner is furnished with all sorts of sins for him and sells what the Devil pleases to buy But when Christ comes what Train does he bring with him He brings a glorious Train Verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance against such there is no Law the Law hath nothing to say against them for Christ is formed upon their Heart O what a glorious Train does Christ bring When Christ is your Life you come to Christ and walk with Christ what a glorious Train of Graces possess the Soul Now the angry Man the wrathful Person is a meek an humble Person the worldly Man is come to love Christ and God and the Kingdom of Heaven and the Saints and Holiness he is come to have the Fruit of the Spirit O what a glorious Life is it to live Christ It sets Christ on the Throne and unthrones Ungodliness and at the last Day Christ will set you on his Throne and crown you with Glory Christ and the Believer are all one he dwells in you and you live on him Alas to be a Professor and walk at random to walk in the Suburbs of Hell while we Profess to be Citizens of Heaven I profess it is a shame some Professors should profess Religion Blessed be God that many are waiting on God but till you know Christ there is a black Train in the Soul The Hearts of many swell if they know but a little of the Letter if they can but speak or discourse but when Christ comes there is a new frame of Heart not new in Faculties but in Qualities O what a glorious Life it is to live Christ I This Life is not to be parallel'd If I had the Tongue of an Angel I could not set forth the Life of a Soul that lives on lives Christ it is so far beyond the Life of the carnal Professor that makes me repeat it over and over There is so much difference between this Life and the Life of carnal Professors that they do not deserve to be once named in the day the Believer that lives on Christ is spoke of What for Christ to have Union with the Believer For the Believer to have Union with Christ It is such a Mystery that the Angels desire to look into the Mystery of it Those that live not this Life tho they make a Profession they are cold Professors ignorant Professors and indeed nothing but Professors Fifthly It is a glorious Life because it is the richest Life you can live You never live richly till you live holy and you never live holy till you come to live on Christ Of his fulness have we all received Grace for Grace There is not only in Christ a fulness of Abundance but also fulness of Redundance there is an everflowing fulness in Christ as a Fountain overflows and yet remains full Grace for Grace or Grace upon Grace abundance of Grace and the increases of Grace one by another there is all good in Christ that poor Sinners want Omne bonum in summo bono Mr. Brook's Unsearchable Riches of Christ all good is in the chiefest good You may see Corn that is scattered on a thatch'd House spring up but it soon withers it is not like Corn sown in its natural Soyl. You may see some new Professors under some Convictioons how hot and zealous they are but it soon withers there being no root But when a Soul is planted in Christ it is got in good ground it is not thorny ground or stony ground Many Persons are very unhappy they are very diligent to do something to attain Happiness yet miss of Happiness at last Many Professors are very unhappy they make a great noise of Religion yet never come to know Christ so never thrive in Religion You never thrive nor lead a rich Life till you know Christ all Treasures of Wisdom dwell in him that is the true Wisdom and the Lord humble this Generation because they exalt Christ no more
not your Bread yours and your Meat yours and your Drink yours and Cloaths yours No Soul they are borrowed Mercies stoln Mercies and you will be damned for them without Christ has paid for them for you but the Soul that loves Christ his Mercies are all bought the Ministers of Christ those Ambassadors of Peace are all yours in Christ Paul is yours Apollos is yours and Life and Death is yours You that art out of Christ it makes my Heart tremble to consider that your Mercies are all to be payed for to be reckoned for and you that are in Christ you may leap and rejoyce at a drop of cold water and a bit of bread O! it is a rich Mercy it is bought with the Bloud of Christ and then at last you will be inriched you will sit like Kings in Glory with your Lord and Redeemer for ever and ever Fifthly It is a happy life because it is a Soul-satisfying life the Soul cannot be satisfied with any thing below Christ whatever a person does enjoy whatever a person does in a way of duty he cannot be satisfied if he hath not Christ Take who you will whether they be Formalists or Legalists whether Moral men or Profane men whether Rich men or Poor men or Professors that have not made Christ their Life they will tell you they want satisfaction there is a complaint of this thing or that thing wanting to give contentment if they have Golden duties if they do not bring the Water of life they cannot satisfie their Souls but this life of living upon Christ doth satisfie the Soul I shall shew in these following Particulars The Lord will satisfie her Poor with Bread the poorest Man that lives upon Christ lives more plentifully than the richest Man that knows not Christ Psalm 132.5 I will abundantly bless her provision I will satisfie her Poor with Bread Who is the Poor the Poor is a longing person a craving person the poor desire something they stand in need of saith the Lord I will bless Sion's provision it is a great Mercy to have our provision blessed we may be fed high and yet not have healthy bodies Many may fare high in means of Grace but not having a Blessing with it they do not prosper Many have been long under the means of Grace and yet do not thrive nor grow in Grace saith God I will satisfie her poor with bread The Poor are craving and desiring and longing so the longing Soul in Christ shall be satisfied they shall not want the Prophet Isaiah speaks of spending their Money for that which is not bread which will not satisfie but the Lord Jesus satisfies the Soul fills up the Desires whatsoever they be Take one which is under the Law and hath the greatest Gifts and Parts but is a stranger to Christ and one that is the poorest in gifts and parts yet in Christ he hath more satisfaction than the other with all his great Gifts and Parts the poorest and meanest in Grace that is in Christ lives a higher life than the richest in Gifts and Parts or in worldly things that does not know Christ so that it is a satisfying life to live Christ Here is enough for this present life enough for hereafter there is enough in Christ to fill up all the Faculties of the Soul John 6.35 I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger he that believeth on me shall never thirst Coming and Believing is the same he that comes or believes in me shall never hunger What doth not a Soul in Christ hunger doth he not long for Christ yes but as he hungers and thirsts for Christ he shall be filled his wants shall be supplied we say in our outward things Money answers all things but Money will not satisfie the Soul But saith Christ he that comes to me I will satisfie all his desires he shall have Contentment Supplies Satisfaction he shall want nothing I am the bread of life I will satisfie his hunger I am the water of life he that comes to me shall never thirst they shall never cry I perish for hunger or I perish for thirst The Prodigal when he came to his Fathers house he did hunger but he had bread to satisfie his hunger A Soul believing in Christ making Christ his life there is enough in Christ to â—â—ll up all the desires of the Soul and to heal all the Wounds of the contrite Heart Whatever the Soul desires in Christ are Eternal Springs to fill up the Soul every thing that is below Christ is too empty to satisfie an Immortal Soul they are not Springs they are but Cisterns take Ordinances take away Christ what can the Ordinances do will not the Soul wither immediately Ordinances are but Cisterns and not Springs the Psalmist saith All my Springs are in thee Psal 87.7 Doth a Soul desire to love God hath the Soul a desire to be satisfied with Love with Beauty with the Glory of Christ there are divine Springs from Christ who is an overflowing and ever-flowing Fountain to the Souls of Believers to satisfie all their desires So that a Believer let him desire as much as he will he shall have his desires satisfied Psal 17.15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness The longing Soul shall not miss of being filled with Wisdom in Christ with Redemption in Christ with Sanctification with Salvation Let the Soul crave for Holiness there is enough in Christ to fill it let it crave for Love there is enough in Christ let it crave for Peace and Joy there is enough in Christ to fill it Christ being such an inexhaustible Fountain is still flowing into the Soul to give it daily satisfaction the Soul may weary it self in other things and not be the better Believers that can but experience the least true Longings after Jesus Christ tho with a weak Faith need not doubt but that they have true Faith and shall not miss of a true and full satisfaction A weak Faith shews it self by this Grace of God namely an unfeigned Desire not only of Salvation for that the Wicked and Graceless Man may have but of Reconciliation with God in Christ This is a sure sign of Faith in every touched and humbled heart and it is peculiar to the Elect. Perkins on the Creed What a Mercy and Blessing it is to have the least true Desires after Jesus Christ since such Souls are assured in Gods Word that their longing Souls shall be satisfied Saith Holy Bernard He that Thirsts let him Thirst more and he that Desires let him Desire more abundantly because so much as he can Desire so much he shall Receive Persons will be weary of their Pleasures weary of their Treasures and weary of their Duties that Soul which hath made Christ his rest hath the truest satisfaction when a Soul comes to know Christ it may say with the
14.19 saith Christ Because of him you shall live also He lives and you shall live he is in Glory and you shall be in Glory he is on the Throne and you shall be on the Throne he is beloved of the Father and you are beloved of the Father Believing in Christ is a safe way no way safe but by believing in Christ There is a poor Christian in Troubles and Trials but he is happy his Life is bound up in his Lords Life which is the Life of Lives When Jacob was in his Journey to Padan Aram when he came to lie down at night he had but an hard Pillow Indeed many times it is hardest with the outward Man when it is best with the inward Man He had a stone for his Pillow but a cordial for his Soul A Ladder that reached from Heaven to Earth This Ladder hath six glorious Rounds that make a Believer to ascend up to the enjoyment of God his Birth his Life and Doctrin his Death and Resurrection his Ascension and Intercession Christ is that Ladder that reacheth from Heaven to Earth the Saints Salvation is begun carried on and finished in and through and by him he is the Author and Finisher of our Faith we are elected in him Ephes 1.1 Christ is Principium Caput Electionis he is the first Elect in whom and for whom all other are elected God elected Christ to be Head of the Body all the Members chosen in him he is made All to the believing Soul from first to last he is made of God Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 It was a Figurative Discovery of the Lord Jesus Christ whose Deity and Humanity was set forth by this Ladder This Ladder may be considered either 1. Literally and so it is represented to Jacob the Providence of God who tho he dwells in Heaven extends his Care and Government to the Earth and particularly makes use of the Angels as ministring Spirits for the good of his people and these Angels do not appear idle or standing still but always in motion either ascending to God to receive his Commands or descending to Earth for the execution of them which was a most seasonable Vision for Jacob in his sad and sorrowful condition that though he was forsaken and persecuted by Men and forced to flie away secretly for fear of his Life yet he neither was nor should be neglected or forsaken of God in his whole Journey Or Mystically and so it represents Jesus Chist by whom Heaven and Earth are united who is called the way to Heaven which this Ladder was who as the Head of Angels Mr. Pool's Annotations is perpetually sending them forth either to God or from God to minister to the Heirs of Salvation And he dreamed a Dream and behold a Ladder set upon the Earth and the top of it reached up to Heaven and behold the Angels of God ascending and descending Gen. 28.11 And he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night It is best tarrying though night when Christ is present because the Sun was set When outward Comforts go down and Christ arises it is a blessed change And he took of the stones of the place and put them for his Pillows It is a blessed Lodging where Christ is And lay down in that place to sleep Well may a Soul sleep quiet when Christ is present with him And he dreamed a Dream and behold a Ladder set upon the Earth and the top of it reached to Heaven This must be Jesus Christ figuratively For First His Protection was ready though this was but a Dream God did visit his People in Dreams of old before Christ was manifest in the Flesh Jesus Christ whose Humanity was set forth who humbled himself to the Death of the Cross he came from Heaven to Earth he was truly God truly Man And behold the Angels of God ascending and descending on it Still there are always ministring Spirits about the Heirs of Salvation still they keep the Rounds of the Ladder they are ready to serve God if they are sent a thousand Miles yea Millions of Miles to minister to the Saints shewing still only that a Soul in Christ hath protection and Guardian Angels to attend upon him he hath the Chariots of God to accompany him Psal 68.17 O Believer what are you Christ's And have you so many Angels waiting on you daily Where is your thankfulness Where is your Heart-love to God Psal 34. The Angel of the Lord encamps round about those that fear him Have you Angels waiting and attending on you Angels ascending and descending for your Good you are in a safe condition Believing Souls have you not found this Ladder many times when you have been in Trouble and under Desertion have you not found your Hearts hard your Comforts dead your Souls cast down have not you found Jesus Christ the Ladder by which you have ascended up to the Father Hath he not brought you out of that Wilderness condition Whosoever thou art that fearest the Lord be of good courage take thou no care neither be faint-hearted nor make any doubt of the Angels waking watching and Protection for most certainly they are about and by thee and do carry thee upon their hands But how or in what manner Take thou no care God saith it Luther therefore it must be sure and certain Although now adays they appear not visibly nor afford such outward help yet are these Heavenly Messengers employed for the safeguard and benefit of the Saints As Embroidered Cherubims environed the Tabernacle Ainsworth so do those Heavenly Soldiers guard God's true Tabernacle the Church Cant. 3.6 Who is this that comes out of the Wilderness Who is this From whence doth she come From the Wilderness a Wilderness of Trials Temptations and Desertions she turns her Back on them and her Face on Christ And how doth she come She ascends like Pillars of smoke What Incense hath she She hath perfumed Incense Myrrh and Frankincense with all Powders of the Merchant with the sweet savour of Christ with the Righteousness of Christ It ascends being drawn up by the Spirit of God it is perfumed having Christ's Righteousness No Powder of the Merchant can be sweeter than the Prayers of a Saint to God in Christ but they would not ascend if it were not for the Spirit of God While Persons employ their Gifts and Parts out of Christ they descend though they do perform Duty in the exactest manner yet there is Evil enough in them for God to abhor it they are as smoak in the Nostrils of a pure God But when they are perfumed by Jesus Christ they are a sweet savour Therefore be not afraid of those weak Prayers smoky Prayers they are perfumed with Christs Righteousness It may be the poor Soul complains I have been at Prayer but I have prayed with such wandrings and such deadness and such coldness that I fear God will abhor me But
Soul hast thou breathed after Christ in them Then Soul they are perfumed they will be accepted in Christ Therefore by Faith in Christ your Prayers are safe O blessed be God for Jesus Christ blessed be God for the Persume and blessed be God for this ascending for you never would have ascended if it were not for the Spirit of God nor have your Prayers perfumed were it not for the sweet Odour of Christ's Righteousness There are two things a carnal Heart is ready to do if they do a Duty to their mind then they are apt to be proud of it and rest on it and if they do not do it to their Mind then they are cast down and complain I cannot pray I cannot profit by hearing God hath forgotten me The humble Godly believing Soul that hath made Christ his Life he can truly say Though I am poor in my self yet I am rich in Christ I am indifferent and cold in Prayer but Christ is my Offering and Altar and therefore in him I put up all to God Therefore you see how safe a Soul is that is in Christ First Your Souls are safe none can rob you of them go where you will your Souls are safe in the hands of Christ you that live Christ know Christ believe in Christ lay hold on Christ your Souls are safe indeed he will keep you Saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 1.12 What I have committed to him he will keep my All I have left with him he that hath bought me that hath paid the price I have committed all to him As you know if a Man hath purchased a rich Jewel and leaves it in the hand of a trusty Friend saith he I have left it with one that is an able Man but is he faithful Yes he is a very honest Man O how much more may we speak of Christ Hast thou committed thy Soul to Christ Why Because he is able to pay whatever Justice can demand He hath paid it all Whatever Troubles or Trials I go through Christ can bare me up But is Christ faithful He is a faithful High Priest saith Paul I have committed my All to him You do not know what you lose by not committing your selves to Christ We commit our selves to our selves and that is our great loss If you believe Christ to be faithful commit your Souls to him it is safe to leave your All with Christ Sometimes a Man will not leave the worth of six pence in another Mans hand why Because he is in debt and so he thinks it is not safe Christ is not in debt he hath paid all that God hath demanded therefore do you commit your Souls to him the Apostle had committed his All to him and truly Paul had learn'd very much of the knowledg of Christ For the which cause I also suffer these things nevertheless I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed Many times a person says I am ashamed I was such a Fool to believe such a Person Many times you trust to your own Heart ay the more Fool you Many times you say I trust to my own Duties ay the more Fool you But I have committed my All to Christ Why Because I know him I have left all with him and I am perswaded when I meet the great God I shall not be a Farthing in debt for Christ hath paid all I am perswaded my Comforts will be safe I am perswaded my Hopes my Faith my Soul my Body my Treasure are all safe when the poor Hypocrite will be ashamed when the carnal Professor will be ashamed Whatever Denomination Believers go under by a reproaching World let them do all they can you that have committed your Souls to Christ shall not be ashamed Nevertheless I am not ashamed saith the Apostle for I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day Look to that day that great day of accounts is coming that day that you must meet God at the Judgment-seat If Christ doth not then present his satisfaction for you to God you must lie by it to all Eternity But if you are in Christ your Souls are safe Paul was as sure of Glory as if he were in Heaven he was as certain of a Crown of Righteousness as if possess'd of it 2 Tim. 4.7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith henceforward there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto them also that love his appearing Friends look to your Crown look to your Souls look to your Glory ay and that you may secure them look that you lay hold on Christ Methinks to consider how many Millions of Souls will stand at the great Day strangers to Christ that have made a great Profession of Religion but have rested upon their own Duties for Salvation should awaken us to throw our selves upon Christ alone in all we do for acceptance before God Do as many Duties as can be performed if Christ be not yours at that day you will be confounded but if Christ is yours your Souls are safe But Christians are your Souls in the hands of Christ Bought with the Blood of Christ Have you committed your Souls to Christ Do you live on him Psal 37.5 Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall hring it to pass he will never fail them that commit themselves unto him Heb. 13.8 Yesterday and to day the same for ever If the World be turned upside down he is the same for ever Secondly The Soul that lives Christ his Soul is safe none can rob him of his Comforts First Afflictions shall not rob you of your Comforts Truly I tell you Friends there are many we hope they are Believers but for want of a real demonstration of Faith in Christ and living on Christ they are afraid in every Trouble that God is coming to destroy them But if Christ is your Life who can destroy you Mat. 10.28 And fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell What hurt can all Affliction do when God is your God There is not one Affliction comes but it is in Love You may write Love upon all your bitter Portions they are all safe you have them from a kind and tender Physician that understands his Practice and loves his Patients If it is a bitter Portion yet Love and Care may be writ upon all Many are apt to cry God is against me he is destroying me he hath found me out but when Christ is become your Life it is all in Love from God If a Child be running in a pleasant way to the Rivers side where many Children have been drowned and one pulls this
does trouble you with Temptations and Corruptions you that are Believers he shall not rob you of your comfort because you live on Christ Fourthly Death shall not rob you of your comfort If Christ is yours Death in and through Christ is conquered If a Lion or Bear did lie dead in the street every little Boy would be ready to stand on them and make nothing of them but if they were alive they would be afraid of them and not dare to come near them So Death being conquered by Christ the Sting being taken away the weakest Believer in Christ may insult over Death Death comes peaceably to tell you God would have you come home to your Mansions of Glory But a carnal Man out of Christ Death undoes him he may cry out I am undone lost and damned for ever I shall never breath on Earth more I shall never hear a Sermon I shall never have an Offer of Christ more I am going to everlasting Destruction But to a Believer the Sting is taken out Sin was the Instrument that brought Death into the World and the Death of Christ is the Death of sin A Believer when he dies may say I shall change my Life for a better it doth not rob him of his Joy Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. When Christ who is your Life shall appear you shall also appear with him I am going to live a better Life I am going to live with him that I live to Death is conquered to a Believer it cannot rob you First It cannot rob you of your Joy for you are going to a better Life A Believer may say I am going where I shall never grieve God more where I shall never cry more Why hidest thou thy Face I am going to that Christ I live to my very Heart longs for him whose Presence I shall e're long enjoy You are but going out of the lower Room into the upper you are but going from the Church Militant below to the Church Triumphant above you are going up to him that came down to you That Life is safest that Death cannot rob us of O what a lamentable Outcry will there be with many at their Death There would be more Outcries with Sinners than there are when Death comes but that the Devil stupifies them that they do not cry out till they are in Hell But if Men were set on the brink of Hell and could see the misery they are going to Christ not being theirs O what a dreadful Outcry would there be But now a Soul in Christ may challenge Death O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory O Death what hast thou against me Christ hath took away thy Sting O you that have Christ your Life how sweet should every Sermon be How sweet should every Sabbath be How sweet should every Word be Methinks your Souls should be bound up in Love Grace Glory and the Comforts and Blessings of the Covenant of Grace and when Death approaches you should think of Christs sweet Words to you Enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord. O what a joyful Day will the day of Death be to a Believer Secondly Death cannot take away the comfort of a Believers Company We are sorry to leave our Relations and Friends and Company that we delight in here but never was your Heart so taken up with Delight in the Saints in the best Frame that ever you were in to the thousandth part to what you will be in Glory But the Wicked will be rob'd of the comfort of their Company they will then curse the Day that ever they saw each others Face but the Saints will meet all the glorious Saints Patriarchs and Prophets God is yours Christ is yours and you will come to a glorious Assembly the Company that you delighted in on Earth you will come to after Death Heb. 12.22 23. But ye are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect What a glorious company are these O how many glorious Suns will you see in one day The very first moment you enter into Glory what a glorious sight will you see O how will you admire that blessed Face that was spit on for you O how will you admire those blessed Wounds in his Arms Legs Side and Heart that was made for your healing Satan cannot rob you of your company you loved the People of God on Earth and you are going to them So the Apostle comforts the Thessalonians that at the Death of their Relations they should not complain 1 Thes 4.13 14. But I would not have you to be ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep that they sorrow not even as others that have no hope for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Do not you fear Death shall not rob you of your company Christ will bring them with him For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. Death cannot rob you of your glorious Company the glorious Saints that are gone to Heaven before and they that remain behind You shall never lose one Friend by Death Thirdly Death cannot rob the Believer of his Life for his Life is hid with Christ when Death comes they do but sleep that Immortal Soul that God breathed into the Body that is now living that goes immediately into Immortal Glory Death does but enlarge it and set it in that place where it will never be confined to a sinful Body The Saints will never cry out with David Ps 102.2 Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble But the time will then come that all his Fetters will be knockt off and he will then indeed come to know that Life that he hath long wished for So that Death cannot rob them of their Life they do but fetch a Nap in the Grave till Christ comes and calls for them If we would live for ever let us live Christ now if we would not have Death kill us let us kill sin now Rom. 6.23 For the wages of sin is Death but the gift of God is eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So that there is eternal Life laid up in Christ Dying it is but a going out of your dark Chambers here below to that Glory above where you will have no need of a Candle or the Sun for God and the Lamb are the Light of that place there the Saints shall never cry out O my Heart or O my Head but shall be taken up in the Arms of the Lord of Glory When Christ appears who is our Life What then we shall appear with
Soul to draw out its Love to Christ then the Soul sees its own unworthiness then a Soul loves Christ really when he sees Christ loved him unworthy How unworthy is my Soul of his Love This was Paul's Cry and so it is every Believers and the more Christ shines on your Soul the more do you see your unworthiness of his Love and Grace and the Soul cries out Lord hast thou passed by all my unworthiness crown'd me with Love enriched me with Love and shall I have my fill of Love O what Love is this Fourthly The Soul finds it a Love that passes Eph. 3.14 And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge Truly saith the Soul I cannot tell you wherefore Christ loved me nor I cannot tell you the Depths of his Love but this I can tell I shall ever shine in the Ocean of his Love to all Eternity The more they meditate the more they consider the more they think of it the more they wonder what was from Eternity in the Breast of God that was manifested in time in giving Christ If you ask me to tell you from whence it comes it was from Eternity Secondly The Sun of Righteousness with his glorious Beams heals the affection in giving the Soul an humble and contrite Heart Many think when they are not shooting up they are not growing but there may be a taking Root though not a shooting up the golden Mines are not seen above the Earth they lie low By the Influence of the Sun the Seed takes root in the Earth and springs up Thus it is with the Sun of Righteousness the Lord Jesus Christ in changing the Heart of a Believer when he is increasing in the inner Man not shooting forth not growing in the apppearance yet he takes Root is growing in Humility When once the Lord Jesus Christ comes with his Grace and shines into the Soul it humbles the Soul and makes it low in its own Eyes and then the Soul sees its self wanting in Grace wanting in Love wanting in Enlargements and Delights but it grows humble When Christ appears the Soul sees its own Deformity the Soul thinks it is decaying in Grace when it is not acting those Graces as we may say above ground The Fruit-Trees do not bear Fruit all the Year yet are alive all the Year So I say to the Believer it is the surest way of Growth when they grow in Humility When a Soul comes to see Christ the more he shines with the Divine Lustre of his Grace and Righteousness the more the Soul is contrite Saith Paul When the Law came sin revived and I died Paul was it the Law in the Letter that shewed you your sin then why does it not teach those poor Creatures that read it and have it read to them No but it was the Power of Christ in the Law the Spirit of the Law of Life in Christ that shined into his Heart and brought home the Law to him to be a condemning Judge on the Bench to give the Sentence of Death that Christ might be there to be the Object of Life and Salvation to his Soul Saith he Sin revived and I died Persons will strain what they can to keep an even reckoning with the Law by doing some outward Duties Such as the Lord Jesus hath not risen upon they are yet in Darkness Children of the Night they walk at uncertainty they know not whether they go Alas many a poor Soul thinketh he is as sure to go to Heaven as he is to die when he is in the very Road to Hell only some go in the broad trodden Path open profane impudent sinners some steal thither behind the Hedg they are going to Hell but in a closer walk hidden from others and from many that are said to be Children of the Kingdom Mr. Murcot on Mal. 4.2 that are Strangers in Heart to an inward Revelation of Jesus Christ But when Christ comes to the Soul he comes to the inward part then the Soul is unhorsed of it self and laid low before the Lord. It was the Saying of an Holy Divine We may sooner call twenty from Profaneness than one from his own Righteousness For saith he sin is a feverish Distemper to the Soul and when the Man hath sinned he knows he is out of order But for a Man 's own Righteousness it is so born and bred with him that he makes it his grand Idol till Christ appears to the Soul with Divine Beams of his Righteousness and Grace this lays a Soul low and humble before the Lord and makes a poor Soul behold its own Ignorance Saith the Soul I am foolish but Christ is my Wisdom I cannot manage my Salvation nor I cannot chuse aright but Christ is my Wisdom to chuse for me Thus a Soul is humbled under its own Ignorance he beholds Christ that glorious Sun that gives Light to see his Fathers Face and to have all the glorious Will of God revealed to the Soul in him The Sun is the Glory of the Heavens but one Star differs from another Star in Glory but there is none like the Glory of the Sun O the Lord hath put the Excellence of Glory on the Lord Jesus He is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the shining forth of his Fathers Glory He speaks here of Christ as Incarnate As the Glory of God did shine in the Face of Moses so that the People could not behold so now the Glory of the Lord shineth in the Face of Jesus Christ as the Apostle hath it so that we cannot behold it it dazles our Eyes stedfastly to hold his Glory as it doth to behold the Sun in its Glory Here is the Glory of his Grace the Glory of his Wisdom of his Mercy of his Power and all in Christ he is the Glory as it were of Divine Attributes they all shine forth in him each with his peculiar Glory The Temple the Glory of the Lord filled it so that they could not stand to Minister before him sometimes So Brethren now the Lord hath placed us in Jesus Christ he hath filled him with his Glory Therefore saith the Prophet The Glory of the Lord is risen on thee Isa 60.3 Mr. Murcot that is Christ manifested to thee Secondly The Soul sees its self unrighteous therefore it is humbled under its sinfulness till Christ is made its Righteousneses Thirdly The Soul sees its self cloathed with Rags like a Man that works hard yet cannot cloath himself with any thing but Rags Saith a Soul notwithstanding all that I have done I have not a Righteousness to cloath me to stand with before God But Christ is my Robe of Righteousness therefore when the Soul is humbled when he does not grow in enlargements yet he grows numble under the sense of his own Unworthiness and of Christ's Excellency Many Trees are planted in shady places that grow up tall tho they bear no Fruit. When a Soul knows not Christ there may be some