Apostle Neither life nor death c. shall separate us from the love of Christ Rom. 8.38 The life of a Believer after grace is full of provocation and it may be he continues to provoke God as long as he lives There are provocations and unkindnesses in his way to the Lord all his life long till he come to the end of his daies and yet says the Apostle Life shall not separate Now this is a great ground of rejoycing that thou mayest look unto thy Jesus and see him alwaies loving of thee Thy waies are very uneven and unconstant and thou canst not keep in so good a frame as thou wouldest do yet still Jesus loves thee thou art full of wandrings still Jesus loves thee why here 's a love that marches through all opposings Secondly It is a Love that heightens under all our sorrows I mean as to the communications and dispenses of it or the actual and saving discoveries of it unto the Believer it heightens under all our sorrows that the greater our troubles are the more he loves and the more pitiful our state is the more compassionate he is he sees a Believer it may be lying under great distresses of body or in great Agonies of spirit why this draws out his love he loves thee more he is the more pitiful and the more compassionate to thee as he sees that thy state is a sorrowful state and thy condition a troubled condition and indeed the Believer never hath such discoveries and evidences of the love and kindness of God to him as when he is in a low condition Jesus Christ he did come you know into a wilderness to walk with Israel And let their troubles be never so many Jesus Christ would not leave them but the greater their troubles were the more was his love discovered and the more did his faithfulness to them appear and they never had such an eminent and signal appearances of God with them as when they were in their Wilderness Travels Jacob a holy man never had so much of God nor never had such a sight of God as when he was in a low condition Gen. 28.15 Behold I am with thee and I will keep thee in all places whither thou goest and will bring thee again to this Land and will not leave thee till I have done what I have spoken to thee of And Gen. 31.42 Here the good man was in a great strait he was afraid that he should be cut off Ay but says he The Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac he it was that rebuked thee yesternight He did charge thee that thou shouldest speak no hurt no evil unto me And when Israel Exod. 3. came into a groaning captivity and bondage when their bondage grew very great and unsufferable then did the Lord wonderfully discover himself v. 7. And the Lord said I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their Task-masters and am come down to deliver them c. And Psa 34.16 The Eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his Ears are open to their cry Here is a supposition of a condition that the Soul is in or may be brought into that makes it groan and cry Well for your comfort know that then in a special manner is the Eye of the Lord upon you and his Ear open to you And Psal 56.18 Thou tellest my wanderings c. Thou tellest my flights so some read it I have never an enemy to pursue me but the Lord takes notice of it and seeth whither the enemy hunts me and drives me he takes notice of the fury of the oppressor that comes out against me Thou tellest my wanderings and puttest my tears in thy bottle Every tear in a sorrowful condition Jesus Christ bottles up he keeps it in remembrance God's Peoples highest visits of favour and grace their choicest experiences and the most comfortable manifestations that they have of God have been when they have been in a low condition In prosperity there God many times lets the Soul walk more at liberty ay and he hath less of God in prosperity then in adversity there he is left to walk by his own light as I may so say and he bears up himself more upon his own comforts he stands then as it were more upon his own legs but in a weak condition and in an afflicted state in a time of trouble then is the Lord present discovering himself more fully to him and hence it is that the Saints have had their highest Joys in the prison and have been made to sing in the flames They have commended the sharpest distress that ever they were brought into in this world to be such as could never separate Christ and their Souls the love of your Jesus is so great that it will leap into a furnace to keep you company It is such as it will come into any strait and hazard to support and bear up your spirits Lo this is your friend your comforter that you have O believer to rejoyce in Jesus his heart is alwaies towards you and the love of his heart it heightens under all your sorrows let darkness grow upon your state the light of his love will shine through it and give you a light that you shall see your way let your disconsolations be never so many in the creature the love of Jesus Christ will countervail all for if the creature be taken away Jesus Christ will be the more and in the want of all things he will discover himself so as shall answer all to your Souls 3. As his love is such as heightens under all our sorrows so it abides unmixed in all seasons as it is a love that cannot be diverted so it is a love that cannot be adulterated but it is alwaies a sweet alwaies a pure love a heart easing a soul pacifying a soul rejoycing love none can throw any bitterness into the love of Jesus but it is alwaies a pure clear Chrystal love that hath no mixture in it it is not thus with the love of friends the sweetest the best the firmest friends that ever man had upon earth there is some mixture in their love They will sometimes rejoyce your hearts and sometimes they will make your hearts sad loving friends may sometimes frown and be churlish and unkind and you may go to them with your hopes and expectations and be disappointed you may soon weary out their love and they may discover such a mixture that their hearts seem sometimes to be alienated But it is not thus with the Lord Jesus but his love is alwaies a pure clear soul satisfying love there is light in him and no darkness at all there is sweetness in him and there is no bitterness at all There are as I said before things that may encourage you but there is nothing that will discourage you in Jesus no not unto eternity now believer this is
he shall be able to do even to amazement to bear and to suffer to astonishment A little of the Grace of Christ O now patient will it make the Soul under great afflictions and how will it strengthen a poor weak believer to hold on in the face of all difficulties he shall be able to hold pace not only with the Footmen but with the Horsemen by the grace of Christ are we sweetly swiftly and joyfully carried on in the ways of new obedience hence is it that we are oft-times commended unto the grace of the Lord Jesus in divers Epistles I commend you saies the Apostle to the grace of the Lord Jesus and the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you and indeed there needs no more because there is enough for our supply at all times and therefore when we are poor and weak and empty and low in our selves we should look up to Jesus Jesus is alwaies full we know not how to go through such a duty nor how to manage such a condition we have not grace for it and we think we shall sink and fail under discouragements why Christian if indeed thou hadst no more then what thou hast in thy self thou mightest fear this but keep thine Eye upon Jesus he is full and filled for the supply of thee and he will communicate according to thy necessities we may therefore at all times and upon all occasions wait upon him SERMON III. Habakkuk 3.18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord I will Joy in the God of my Salvation VVE are shewing you from this Scripture what a constant ground of joy and rejoycing there is in Jesus Christ for the believing Soul at all times and in all conditions as to what Christ is and as to what Christ hath we spake the last day and shall now proceed unto the third particular proposed to be considered 3. And that is what Jesus Christ will do and is a doing for the believing Soul that may be a ground of comfort and joy to him in all his heart saddening conditions and tribulations in this world And first Jesus Christ appears as an Advocate in Heaven at the right hand of God for all believers answering and silencing all accusations and charges brought in against them whereby they are continued in that justified peace state that in their first coming over to God they were stated in There are many failings and provocations in a Christians way and walking with God The remains of sin that yet abide in them they will be rising up and putting forth into the life and life-acts of a Christian But Jesus Christ as his Advocate in Heaven ever stands up before God to see the peace of a Christians state kept Satan that old accuser of the Brethren he is daily observing a Christians walking and viewing a Christians steps to see if he can gather up any thing in his life to improve it and carry it unto God against him and believe it friends he won't better your case as he represents it unto God he won't lessen your fault but he will greaten it and make it worse than it is he is called 1 Pet. 5.8 The adversary of believers The word that we translate adversary some read it a Court adversary one that puts in something against you in the Court of Heaven but I would rather read the word thus one that will charge beyond truth one that will go beyond the bounds of truth in the charges and accusations that he brings in for the word in the Original does import so much one that acts against all rules of justice in the plea's that he shall put in or the charges that he shall deliver against a Christians state in the Court of Heaven Rev. 12.10 he is there called the Accuser of the Brethren which accused them before God day and night he is the old Accuser and Traducer of the Saints at the Bar of Gods justice Now Jesus Christ he alwaies stands up at the right hand of God there to appear as an Advocate on the believers account suing out on the account of his blood new pardons for their renewed transgressions or the continuance of justification and of pardons upon their state so as nothing may be heard in the Court of Heaven against them Jesus Christ stands up to see that a Christians peace with God be not violated and therefore he removes sin as fast as it appears and he answers the accusation as soon as it is made and he silenceth the adversary as soon as he comes Rom. 8.34 Who saies the Apostle shall condemn It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us If sin appears he will remove it and if Satan step in he will silence him he is there upon this account as an Advocate or as an Attorney to answer for you whenever your name is called in Question and therefore saies the Apostle 1 John 2.1 My little Children these things write I unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous as soon as ever an offence is committed Christ steps up and he pleads your case and he urges the value of his blood that was shed for the remission of sins that your peace with God into which you were brought in your first coming over to him may be maintained Now Christians do but consider this and you will find that it is a ground of joy and comfort in your present state It may be your outward peace is broken in upon you have enemies that have disturbed you as to your outward comforts and as to your outward joy and settlement you have those that have incensed it may be your intimate friends against you that now they stand aloof from you well though it be so yet your peace with God that abides and Jesus Christ as your Advocate continues you in your justified state before God let the Devil do his utmost he shall never incense God against a believer because Jesus Christ is an Advocate alwaies at his right hand speaking for him let him tell never such stories of a Christians carriage and conversation unto the Lord yet he shall never incense God against him You know that he did his utmost to incense God against Job he told the Lord fair stories of him that there was no truth no sincerity in him and that he served him but for the comforts of his state and for the outward advantages that he did enjoy but Jesus Christ he saw the peace of Job kept he was his Advocate then so early and he maintained Job in the love and favour of God and thus will he do for all believers he will silence all accusations and remove all objections and he will continue you in your peace state with God the vertue of Christs death is a continued vertue it is alwaies influential upon the heart of God
and shall further be glorified upon him and in him I have thought sometimes that many a poor Believer is just as Hagar was when her Bottle was empty and she sate down weeping that now she must die Why she need not fear famishing when there was a well of water near her that she and the Lad might drink their fill Ay but she did not know this well of water to be so near her So the Believer's state is safe and good ay but he does not know it Jesus Christ deals with his People as Joseph did by his Brethren he fed them and nourished them and comforted them a great while but would not discover himself to them that he was Joseph their Brother A Believer that hath an Interest may yet want the evidence of that Interest Thirdly Evidence of Interest is attainable and it is the will of God that Believers should give all diligence to make it clear It is possible that a Soul may come to see his own standing in Christ Jesus and know unto his full satisfaction and rejoycing in all conditions that he is interested in him Many Scripture-Saints have delivered it to us upon record that they did attain to an evidence of their Interest The Spouse in the Cant. did attain an evidence of her Interest Cant. 2.16 My Beloved is mine and I am his Job had a clear sight of his Interest Job 19.25 I know that my Redeemer liveth c. David had his Interest cleared up to him The Lord is my Light and my Salvation whom shall I fear Psal 27.1 Paul was assured of his Interest in Christ 2 Cor. 5.1 2. For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven And it is the mind and will of God that Believers should give all diligence to clear their Interest 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether you be in the faith prove your own selves know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates And 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give diligence to make your calling and your election sure There is the command which implies a possibility of attaining it The possibility of it doth further appear in that the Father and the Son have both sent forth the Spirit to be a Comforter to be a Witnesser to those that are in Christ and his Office it is an Ensuring Office The Spirit he comes being sent forth by the Father and the Son into a poor heart that is full of fears doubts questionings and misgivings and doth settle this Soul in the stedfast belief of his abiding Interest in Christ Jesus and Christ's everlasting relation unto it This you may see Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God And Ephes 1.13 In whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise And a considerable part of the Scripture is given forth to this end to clear up a Believers Interest in and Relation unto Christ that he may know his standing in him 1 John 5.12 13. There is Life in the Son says he and I write unto you that ye may know that ye have an Interest in the Son and so have life from him and this is that which the Lord's People have gloried in Isa 63.16 Doubtless thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledgeth ' us not c. And this is one end of that grand Ordinance of the Lord's Supper to seal and ensure Believers It is not only an Ordinance of Communion but it is a sealing Ordinance wherein the Lord Jesus does come and set upon the heart clearing up the Soul's Interest in himself and telling of him what he hath done for him and sealing all that hath past upon his Soul It is sometimes hereupon made a feast of fat things It is an Ordinance of Joy It is not a converting Ordinance but it is an Ordinance of comfort unto those that are converted being often owned by the Lord as a sealing Ordinance to confirm all that hath formerly past between God and the Soul So as an evidence of Interest is attainable and it is the will of God that Believers give all diligence to make it clear Fourthly The Interest and Relation that one Believer is owned in with Christ is not different in its nature and properties from what every Believer is owned in but all that are interested in Christ are equally interested in him If you speak of the Interest and Relation absolutely it is the same Jesus Christ is not more one believers than he is anothers Jesus Christ hath not given one believer a greater propriety in himself then he hath given another believer but all are equally interested in and related unto Christ all have an equal share in Christ All have an equal standing in Christ in point of interest and relation Indeed if you speak of interest and relation quo ad effectum as we say if you speak of it in reference to improvement and effects there indeed there is a difference between believer and believer One believer may improve Christ more than another and one believer may grow up in Christ more then another and one believer may in point of application and enjoyment possess more of Christ more of the Grace of Christ then another believer doth but they are all equally interested in and related unto Christ Jesus and the interest that one believer hath is as pleadable and as improvable as the interest that another believer hath Jesus Christ is equally a Head and a Husband and a Brother unto all his People and they are equally Members of the same body in point of interest though not in point of growth saies the Apostle in 1 Cor. 6.17 But he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit It is spoken in general let him be an Apostle let him be an eminent Saint or let him be a meaner or more obscure Saint let him be a strong believer or let him be a weak believer if he be joyned to the Lord he is one Spirit alike joyned alike related and alike interested Fifthly The believers interest in Christ is abiding and can never be crush't it can never be broken it can never be violated but the evidence of interest though once obtained and seem clear may be obscured and darkned A Christians joy that is passing away it is transient but as to his interest that is inviolable and inseparable none can disunite Christ and the believer being once Gospelly joined So you have it spoken out by the Apostle Rom. 8.35 and so on Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword No saies he they
Satan will indefatigably endeavour to darken your evidence and to obscure the sense of interest Satans design is to keep Souls as long as he can from a closure with Christ he will meet the Soul in all waies if possible to turn him out of his way and if he cannot do that his next design is to obscure your evidence and to darken your sense of interest that so he may make you to walk heavily and in the dark he will follow you with false reports and false suggestions he will hint to you this falsity and the other if possible to make you to believe a lye and to deny what Jesus Christ hath done and to deny your interest and standing in him that it may be is clear upon undenyable grounds and demonstrations the Devil you know came to Christ with this very temptation to make him to question the truth of his relation to God though the Devil knew it well enough that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and the true Son of God yet he comes and sets upon him with this temptation if possible to make him question If thou beest the Son of God then do so and so And he levels at the Believer in the same manner and his design is to keep you in the dark to rob you of all the peace and comfort and joy that you might have upon the sense and evidence of your Interest Tenthly There are many that presume upon a groundless confidence that they have an interest in Christ and yet are wholly ignorant of the nature of a Gospel-Interest There are many that do promise themselves great things in and from Christ Jesus and yet they are wholly ignorant of him they have hopes of large blessings that shall come in by Christ and yet are ignorant of Christ and the nature of a close with Christ that gives right to him Doubtless the foolish Virgins had hopes that as to the bulk of them were as large and as promising as the hopes of the wise Virgins were they never at all questioned their admittance when the Bridegroom should come In Deut. 29.19 And it shall come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse that he bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imaginations of my heart c. So when we are discoursing of the terrours of the Law that do belong to persons uninterested in Christ there are many that bless themselves in their hearts and say These things do not belong to us And when we are opening the comforts that Believers have in Christ those that are strangers to Christ will presume and say All these are mine Micah 3.11 The Heads thereof judge for reward and the Priests thereof teach for hire and the Prophets thereof divine for money yet will they lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among us no evil can come upon us In the midst of all their wickedness they would still presume upon an Interest in the Lord and think all should go well with them My friends what think you of the Church of Laodicca they were a people of a very great and high profession they stood in a Gospel body and lived under the enjoyment of the great Priviledges of a Gospel-state and they promised themselves that all was well with them and yet see what the Lord says Rev. 3.17 Because thou sayest I am rich and encreased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art poor and miserable and wretched and blind and naked They had a profession upon them and they thought there was a great deal in that They were in a Church-state and they thought that would serve their turn They did enjoy Church-Priviledges and they thought upon it that their condition was good and that they might well say Now we are rich we are Professors in a Church-state we are under the common and sacred blessings of the Gospel and who better than we We are rich but says the Lord you say so but I say otherwise you say you are rich but I say you are poor you say you are full but I say you are empty you say you are encreased with goods and have need of nothing but I say you have nothing and have need of all things Verily my friends this is a deceivable Age an Age wherein many do not only deceive others but their own Souls and therefore it concerns you to enquire whether the Lord be your God or no and not to satisfie your selves with general notions of the Lord 's being your God In the Eleventh and last place An evidence of Interest obtained maintained and Gospelly managed will be of singular advantage to a Christian in his whole Christian course You do not know Believers you that are careless in and about the clearing of your state you do not know what a change a Gospel sight of your Interest in Christ will make in your hearts an evidence of your Interest will expel all your fears and will resolve all your doubts and will cause a calm in your hearts whatsoever the present storm is Why if that we could look into the hearts of many or most of us I believe they would be found very tempestuous storms they threaten sore fears are ready to overwhelm and doubts are even ready to swallow up a Christian why an evidence of your Interest will remove all these Christian an evidence of your Interest will make all in Christ Jesus precious to you and will strangely raise and inhaunse the price of Christ and the blessings of Christ in your esteem The evidence of Interest O how precious will it make the Blood of Jesus to you O how precious will it make the Death of Jesus to you O how precious will it make the Life of Jesus to you O how precious will it make the Offices of Jesus to you when you can see that you are concerned in his Blood that Jesus he is your Surety your Mediator that he hath suffered for you and satisfied for you that he is your forerunner in Heaven this will make all of Christ exceeding precious An evidence of Interest is that that will carry your Souls chearfully through all sufferings that do or may befal you in the way of Christ There are reproaches that Believers meet withal in the way of Christ and the sense of Interest will help you to bear them all There are great losses that we are exposed to in bearing our Testimony to the Truths of Jesus sense of Interest will bear you up under all Why we have a building of God that is above It is said of those in the Hebrews that they did not regard their outward comforts knowing that they had in Heaven a better and an induring substance Sense of Interest will bear you up under all changes of providences when the Lord is taking as well as when he is giving Why will the Soul say there is still enough in Christ Christ is still
full my Jesus is full though I am robbed he is not robbed though I have little or nothing Jesus Christ he hath all and Christ is all and all his fulness is mine Sense of Interest will raise your hopes and expectations upon Christ Jesus My friends now we look upon Christ and have low thoughts of him we look upon Christ and our expectations are not raised upon Christ We come to an Ordinance where Christ is discovered and displayed in the riches of his Death and in the glories of his Life and our hearts are not raised upon this why but because we have not the sense of our Interest The sense of Interest will raise your expectations and will comfort you against the thoughts of death Now Lord says good old Simeon lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation Luk. 2.29.30 And says the Apostle I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all The sense of Interest will lay you in against all fears of the approaching Judgment instead of being afraid of it it will make you long for it when the Soul comes to see and know and be ascertained that the judge of the Court is his friend and is in relation to him and hath loved him so as to lay down his life for him and hath ever been designing upon him in a way of love and grace this Soul will not be afraid to appear before him but will long for the day when he shall come to see his Jesus clothed with glory So as a clear evidence of interest in Christ obtained maintained and gospelly managed will be of singular advantage unto a Christian in his whole Christian course SERMON V. Habakkuk 3.18 Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation THe Proposition was this Doct. That there is enough in Jesus Christ alone for the Souls full rejoycing and triumph whatsoever his state and condition is in this world Now we proposed First To give you several introductory particulars by way of premise These we have dispatched And shall now proceed to consider what are the grounds of a believers darkness about his interest 2. It may be said in the second place if there be such solid and substantial grounds of joy in Christ Jesus for the believing Soul at all times and in all conditions what is the reason then that believers are so often in a dark dubious uncomfortable shattered state that they are seldom able in any stedfastness of spirit to look up unto Christ Jesus and glory in him Ans 1. I answer The darkness of the believers interest doth oft-times arise from a looking more unto such things in the examination of himself as argue the height of an interest then to such things as do discover the truth of an interest They do fix upon such things as are discoveries of a grown state in Christ when as they should fix upon such things as do discover an in-being in Christ they propose to themselves that corruption must be so and so brought under and mortifying work must be carried on to such a height or else they can have no grounds of their interest in Christ they propose to themselves such a measure of love as must be flaming to Christ at all times or else they think they have no love at all they think they must have such a measure of faith as to believe without staggering or else they have no part in Christ Now hereby they â—o ensnare their own Spirits and encrease their darkness But you should look more at such things as argue the truth of an interest then at those things that do argue the growth and improvement of that interest Secondly Darkness of evidence doth oft-times arise from the believers viewing his wants and overlooking his present receits Jesus Christ hath done a great deal for him and hath given out a great deal to him and hath made a wonderful change in him he cannot deny it if he be put to it but he overlooks all this and considers his present wants his weaknesses his short comings his failings his smallness of strength his staggering before a temptation the uncertainty of his Spirit in his walking with God and he bears the stress of his condition upon his present wants not considering what Jesus Christ hath already done nor considering that the work is gradually carried on Now Christians if you would lay your selves fair for the Spirits Gospel evidence in your souls then you must take in the encouragements of your condition as well as your discouragements you must not only insist upon your discouragements but consider also what Jesus Christ hath done and what a change he hath begun to work and what have been the movings of your souls towards him from divine influences upon your Spirits Thirdly The darkness of evidence or obscurity of interest do oft-times arise from the prevailings of sin in the heart upon which Christ suspends Sin that rallies that gathers head in the Soul that presses forward and the Soul gives way to the temptation and is overcome and upon it darkness does arise this was Davids case David was assured ay but sin prevailing in his heart drove him into the dark that all the joys of the holy Spirit were for a time taken from him 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. And Nathan said unto David thou art the man thus saith the Lord God of Israel I anointed thee King over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul c. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight I have done all this for thee saith the Lord thou hast despised my commandment and done evil in my sight So the Lord Jesus speaks unto the Soul I have thus and thus manifested my self to thee I thought it not too much to take thee into communion with my self I thought it not too much to dandle thee upon my knee and to give thee the assurance of all that I have done for thee But thou hast wickedly departed from me and broken my Commandments and it is just with the Lord now to suspend prevailings of sin will cause a suspense You know that Absolom upon his rebellion was excluded for a while from his Fathers House he must not see his Fathers face just thus it is with a Soul when it hath turned aside into some way of folly after it hath provoked the Lord the Lord he hides himself from him he won't let him see his face he must not come into his presence to see him and to rejoyce in the light of his countenance as formerly he had done The prevailings of sin after Grace do many times cause a suspense Fourthly Darkness of evidence is occasioned from the Souls crediting the reports of Satan that lead him to deny what Jesus Christ hath done for him and in him upon undenyable demonstrations of the power of his Grace in his
Spirit is satisfied in the government of Christ he is reconciled unto all the commands of Christ and he delights in the dominion of Christ and he freely and chearfully resigns up himself unto the Scepter of Jesus Christ Lord saies the Soul here I am rule over me Christ never interests a Soul in himself that he doth not bear the sway in its heart and command the powers of its Soul Psal 110.3 Thy people shall be a willing people in the day of thy power When Jesus Christ makes a willing people that is displays the power of his Grace and brings home a Soul and gives it an interest in himself he subjects the heart unto his Government he makes the Soul freely willing to be ruled by the laws and by the Authority of Christ Jesus no laws seem so desirable unto him as the laws of Jesus no rule no Scepter so pleasant as the Scepter of Christ and all the commands of Christ are chosen by him as being equal righteous holy pleasant and good the Spirit is reconciled to Christ Jesus in the whole of his Gospel Government over the heart of the Christian My Lord and my God saies Thomas these alwaies go together My God and also my Lord. And this particular I ground upon and gather out of my Text he is become the God of my Salvation how shall I know that He is my Lord saies the Prophet I will rejoice in the Lord the title Lord notes Dominion and Soveraignty Now the Soul that is interested in Christ rejoyceth in the Dominion and Soveraignty of Christ Jesus I will rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation The inference that is drawn from this Scripture for our present purpose is this that the Soul that is interested in Christ will rejoyce in the dominion of Christ or doth receive Christ Jesus as a Lord and as a Lord doth rejoyce in and under him Indeed there may be much weakness in his obedience I don't say that he doth exactly and to a tittle walk up to the rule to fulfill every command of God No I know there is a great deal of weakness in the strongest believer upon earth and through the strength of corruption and the violence of temptation he may sometimes be fovled and born down ay but when he is so still his heart is right and he loves the commands of Christ that he cannot come up to and he honours the rule of Christ and to his utmost makes way for the sway of the Scepter of Christ in his Soul though he may be born down by temptation yet his love remains still unto every command of Jesus Rom. 7.25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord so then with my mind I my self serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin Saies Paul I am born down I am overcome but I don't justify my self herein but I bless God saies he that my heart is secured my love doth not abate I have not waved a command through my dissatisfaction in it I have not been disobedient to a command because I judged it unreasonable or were dissatisfied in it No but my heart that stands right for those commands that I cannot reach in my life with my mind I my self serve the law of God So Romans 1.9 saies the Apostle For God is my witness whom I serve with my Spirit in the Gospel of his Son so as you see the Spirit that stands clear and is under a constant and full engagement though it may be the life doth not discover that evenness that it should with my Spirit saies he I serve the Lord. It may be said in the case of the temptation of a believer as was said concerning the Spouse I sleep but my heart awâ—kâ—th thus it is with many a poor Soul he may be brought into a sleepy condition and he staggers and stumbles in his way he finds it so difficult but saies he while I sleep my heart awaketh his declensions do not arise from dissatisfaction but his love is reconciled to the command still and he honours those precepts that he is not able to come up to Now Christian bring your condition to this touchstone if thou hast a heart that doth slight the government of Christ and if thou canst not bear the strict rule and dominion of Christ Jesus over thy Soul if that thou hast thy exceptions against the Scepter of Christ Jesus being lifted up in thy heart it is a sign that thou art not yet interested in Christ thou never didst bear rule over them they were not called by thy name I pray remember that that rule that thou despisest is the only saving rule and that power that thou refusest to stoop to is the only saving power the only blessed and blessing power But on the other side if thou canst find that thy heart is open unto the Lord Jesus Christ as he is the Lord as he is invested with all power as the Father hath given all Authority unto him if thy heart be open to him and thou dost love his Laws in their holiness and strictness and his Government and Rule for its closeness and if way be made in thy Soul for the Throne of Christ to be set up it argues thou art interested in Christ for those that are Christ's doth the Lord bear Rule over Fourthly The Soul's Interest in Christ may be known by the distance that the heart standeth in from the power and interest of his former state that Christ Jesus hath overturned The Soul before his coming over to Christ was under the Rule of another Lord and was in subjection to another Interest to the power and interest of sin and that bore sway in his heart and commanded his life he yielded up himself a servant to sin and devoted himself unto the service of sin This the Apostle speaks out Rom. 6.16 17. Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness but God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart the form of Doctrine which was delivered to you And in 19 and 20 verses you have it again And says he When you were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness He doth plainly shew that they were formerly servants to another Interest they were engaged in the service of sin they acted sin as in a service as a servant observes and respects and obeys his Master so doth the natural heart observe respect and obey sin and it is his Lord it hath the commanding power of his Soul and it is a most pleasant service to the sinner though he will find it a sad service in the latter end yet it is a most pleasant and a most delightful service therefore a sinner's walking in sin and gratifying the lusts of the flesh is called his pleasure the pleasures of
sin he takes pleasure therein O! it is his meat and drink to satisfie the lusts of his heart in gratifying this Lord that is over his Soul Now my Friends your Interest in Christ may be discovered by the distance that your hearts stand in from the power and interest of this Lord that Jesus Christ hath overthrown that is a constant enemy to your in-being and standing in Christ And that I may help you to make a right judgment of your state in reference to this particular I shall open to you in several particulars what this distance is that the Soul stands in unto the interest of sin that Jesus Christ hath overthrown in the heart upon his making over himself to the Soul First There is upon the Soul's Interest in Christ this distance unto sin his former Lord that he proclaims war against it and becomes its professed enemy It may be the life of a Christian is not at present a Conquering life ay but it is a Conflicting life Rom. 7.23 But I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members Well there is opposition for opposition as sin riseth up against him so he riseth up against sin And as sin upon his Interest in Christ declares against him so he declares against sin and he watcheth it as one enemy watcheth the motions of another and he taketh all waies and useth all endeavours to foil and bring under this enemy Secondly The opposition that is carryed on and managed in the heart against sin it is general It is not an opposition in one part only but it is an opposition that the whole Soul doth engage in and all the powers of the Soul are concerned in it It is not only an opposition in the Conscience but there is an opposition in the Affections as well as in the Conscience and there is an opposition in the Will as well as in the Conscience and Affections and also an opposition in the Judgment both the Conscience and the Affections the Will and the Understanding and Judgment do all discharge against sin and all the renewed powers of the Soul enter into a strict combination against the interest of sin The Conscience that lays loads upon it whenever it appears and the Affections they declare against it and the Will that resolves against it and the Understanding and Judgment do discover it and witness against it The opposition that is made it is general Thirdly In this distance that the heart stands in unto sin upon its Interest in Christ the heart in its most deliberate actings stands in an irreconcileableness unto it The opposition that is made is not upon a sudden motion it is not upon a passion of the Soul that in cool thoughts will be called in again but the Soul in its most deliberate actings stands in an irreconcileableness unto it That the Affections will never be enticed over to sin again the Love will never be invited over to sin again indeed he may be overpowered to sin but he will never be reconciled to sin more his Love and Affections can never be gained to sin again but the Affections are so broken that the distance will ever remain and the Soul will alwaies stand in and act upon an irreconcileableness to it Fourthly The distance of the heart unto the interest of sin upon the Soul's Interest in Christ is universal unto all sin It is not only alienated and drawn from notorious and gross sins that make a great noise in the world or against some particular sins that his walking in will turn to his disadvantage but it stands at a distance from all sin from heart-sins as well as from life sins from small sins as well as from great sins and from such sins as are connatural to us from inclination complexion and condition and employment and the like the heart stands at an universal distance from all sin Fifthly The distance of the heart from sin upon its Interest in Christ is unto sin as it hath a contrary nature in it to the Interest of Christ in him He doth oppose sin not upon a particular but upon a general account he opposeth sin as sin as it hath a contrariety in its nature unto the Lord and the Interest and Dominion of the Lord in his Soul and so he will oppose sin while sin is sin and whilst there is any sin remaining in him The distance that his heart stands in unto sin is unto it as it hath a contrary nature in it unto Christ's Interest in him and his Interest in Christ Sixthly The distance of the heart unto the Interest of sin that Christ hath overturned upon his having an interest in himself it is such as hates sin in the temptation It doth not only hate sin when it is committed and when Conscience lays hold upon him for the commitment of it but it sets the Soul at a distance from sin in the temptation whilst it is a great way off and hence we are commanded to abstain from the appearance of evil and the Saints they hate the appearance of evil that which looks like a disputable evil the gracious heart stands at a distance from it or that which hath a probability in it of being an occasion of sin to him that will the gracious heart stand off from he will oppose sin at a distance and he hates and watcheth against sin in the temptation the heart stands at such a distance from it Seventhly The distance of the heart from sin is such that it chuseth rather to suffer than to sin Nay it will chuse a great suffering before a little sin It will say Lord any thing rather than sin and no burthen will be like the burthen of sin to him no weight like the weight of sin upon his Conscience and therefore he says Lord any condition rather than to be driven upon a temptation whereby I shall sin any thing Lord but sin Eighthly The distance that the heart stands in unto sin upon its Interest in Christ is such as doth discover a great reluctancy of spirit and deep searchings of heart upon the invasions of sin and the Soul 's passive captivities by it Probably he may be foiled and overcome by sin and many times against his will he is overcome ay but when he is so he mourns and he weeps and that bitterly he doth not justifie the fault he doth not extenuate the offence he doth not hide his transgression but his Soul breaks out into mourning by reason of it and that upon the passive captivities of the Soul by it when the Soul against his will is overcome he watches and he strives to keep it under and yet sin is too hard for him and whether he will or no sometimes leads him captive and carries him out of the way he goes mourning into these captivities and he groans when he falls into the hands of sin
assurance Jesus Christ doth not take the less care of you because your interest is very dark and cloudy for the present but his care over you is the same he is alwaies opening his watchful eye upon you and he is alwaies doing for you alwaies defending of you see what he saies Isaiah 40.11 He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd he shall gather the Lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young O alass they are scarceble to believe that they are Lambs in the flock of Christ they would hope so and they dare not wholly deny it but that Christ hath a part in them and hold of them but it is all they can do to say so but be it so they are under as much care as any He will carry them in his arms he will gently lead those that are with young Christ Jesus in one single act doth equally respect all those that are interested in him be their evidence of interest more or less clearer or more clouded Thirdly Again The comprehensions of Christ upon the union are not proportioned unto but do far exceed our apprehensions of him in the union Christ doth not say I will be unto you as you are unto me and as you do so will I do and as you be so will I be and according to your apprehensions so will I be unto you but he does exceeding abundantly for us above our faith and above our hope it may be we can but say unto him Lord help and though we are so weak he will not do the less but he will prosecute and manage the interest on his part upon your Souls though your apprehensions may be very small of him you have a very full satisfying Scripture for this Eph. 3.20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above what we are able to ask or think according to the power that worketh in him So that Jesus Christs actings towards us and dealings with us and comprehendings of us are not proportioned to our apprehensions of him not according to our faith and hope and not according to our prayer but saies he he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we are able to ask or think and that according to the power that worketh in him So that though you cannot at all times make faith of that power yet that power is working and though your apprehensions be very small yet the comprehensions of Christ are very great it is in Heaven that we shall know as we are known we are fully known here but our selves know but in part Fourthly The weaknesses discovered upon your interest and the provocations given will be covered and forgiven by the Lord Jesus in the strength of the love of his relation to you or interest in you The Soul that is in relation is not able in a clear Gospel way to live up unto his standing in Christ Jesus but he oft-times walks very dishonourably unto his interest and very unbecomingly to his hopes of evidence well Soul though it be thus the Lord Jesus Christ will display such love on his part as shall cover and forgive all the Father will not disinherit his Child because he doth provoke him and because he doth grieve him by many foolish and unchildlike acts but the love of the relation on the Fathers part will forgive the Child The Husband won't give a bill of divorce to his Wife because he finds failings in her waies but the love of the relation doth bind him and influence him to cover all her weaknesses and continue his kindness to her if we have a member that is full of pain and puts us to a great deal of smart and puts us much out of order we do not presently call for the cutting off of this member but we bear with the pain and smart remembering that it is a member now thus it is my friends between the Lord Jesus Christ and you though there are weaknesses discovered in your waies yet he will remember that you are interested in him and though he meet with provocations from you yet he will remember that you are his Children and that you are in relation and that will engage him to cover and forgive all though I speak not this to give any a liberty to indulge themselves and I hope none of you will abuse discoveries of grace so I am sure an honest heart will not but for your terrour if your temptation be thereunto know that though Jesus Christ will not proceed in the utmost of his displeasure against you to give you a bill of divorce yet there are rebukes and there are frowns that are as bitter as death that the Soul may meet withal from Christ upon his high provocations though we don't presently cut off a member that is full of pain yet we may see cause to send for the Surgeon to make an incision and so verily will Jesus Christ be forced to do in your hearts that give your selves such an allowance Psal 89.31 32 33. If his Children forsake my laws and walk not in my judgments if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments then will I visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail c. Fifthly Know that your interest in Christ is not dissolvible as the evidence of your interest is loosable Christian it may be the Lord hath singled out some word that he hath made use of by his Spirit to give you some hopes in and about your interest in and relation unto Christ I would hope that all hath not been spoken to you in vain but if the Lord hath given you some hint by his word of your interest possibly within a little while all this will be lost again and thou maist be as much in the dark as ever thou wert since thou camest into Christ well Christ will not disown thee and Christ will hold thee up that thou shalt never be left to disown him still thy interest is sure in Christ Jesus though light is coming and going in thy Soul and thy evidence is sometimes coming and sometimes going yet know that thy interest is firm and inviolable Sixthly Thy present interest in and relation unto Christ in a state of Grace is a certain and infallible pledge of thy future possession of Christ in glory Christian thou hast now a little hope through grace O make much of it thou dost not know what is in it There is not only matter of consolation in it but it contains a pledge of Heaven and of thy full possession of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory for ever therefore saith Christ He that believeth on me hath everlasting life believing that gives the interest thereby the Soul is united to Christ now upon the union he hath everlasting life he hath the pledge of it his union is the
pledge of it and he is reserved for eternal life and he is going on to perfection to enjoy eternal life The Lord is in grace and by grace fitting of him for a glorious enjoyment of himself for ever now these things are for thy comfort in thy present condition whilest the light of evidence is but glimmering in thy heart Secondly Some few things briefly I shall give you by way of direction First Have you the least intimation of the Lords love to you and of your standing in his love be thankful for these small appearances of light in your Souls I say be thankful Christians there is a great deal in a little and small word of evidence or in a small word of hope Therefore take every hint that the Lord gives and wear it with thankfulness bless his name for it that is the way to have it encreased Secondly Joy and triumph in the Lord upon the present evidence that you have living up to it I say live up to the light that you have in a holy joy and rejoycing in Christ Jesus get into the Prophets Spirit and into his frame here in the text To joy in the Lord and to rejojce in the God of your Salvation and learn Christian to live up unto a small measure of assurance and that is the way to have a greater Thirdly Acknowledge all sense of interest to be given forth in a way of grace I say acknowledge that not only the grace of your union but also the light and comfort of your union is dispensed in a way of free grace The Lord is pleased to give out all manifestations of interest in Christ in a way of grace John 14.22 Judas saith unto him not Iscariot Lord how is it that thou manifestest thy self unto us and not unto the world He must speak this upon a reflect act or else he could not speak with that confidence Lord that thou hast manifested thy self to us and not to others this is to be acknowledged unto free grace Fourthly Have you a little light of your Interest do you gather in upon Christ from that little that you have for more Christians though you have but a little light for the present and are weak in assurance for the present yet there is a full measure of assurance to be given out There is not only the Soul's comfort from a reflect act by the light of the Lord upon his own grace that is wrought but there is the immediate Testimony of the Spirit that is ready to be given out which is a Witness not argumentative or in a way of argumentation but it is a Witness and Evidence that is given in by and in the immediateness of his own presence in the heart of the Believer Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God He bears witness in some immediate act in the Soul It is a clear undeniable soul-satisfying Divine Testimony that the Spirit gives in the Soul that resolves all its doubts and clears his whole Interest and settles him in the full enjoyment of the Lord Jesus and enables him to act upon it And then Fifthly and lastly Have you a little evidence of your Interest for the present Christian do you improve this little unto the comforting of your Souls in Christ in all straits and unto a living upon him in all the necessities of your present condition Jesus is yours and you are interested in him the Lord hath given you some little hope of this this hope through grace Christians should be improved by you upon all occasions you should run out unto the Lord Jesus and have recourse to him and venture upon him you should glory in him and live upon his fulness and rely upon his power and faithfulness Jesus that is so full is your Jesus and Jesus that is so free is your Jesus and Jesus that is so faithful is your Jesus you have some sight of this and some hope of this through grace the Lord now expects that you should come and live upon him in all conditions and comfort your Souls in him in all disconsolations when you are weak and when you are tempted and when you are tryed and when you meet with discouragements from without then to retire to the Lord Jesus and act Faith upon him SERMON IX Habakkuk 3.18 Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation I Shall now proceed to help and direct those Souls that are able to reflect upon their own Interest and standing in Christ that they may live upon Christ and glory in him in all conditions and under all changes of Providence that though they have none else though they have nothing else in this world but the Lord Jesus Christ to live upon their hearts may be full of joy and comfort And before I come particularly to speak unto this I shall premise and propose several considerations that may help to clear the way to what we design to speak to and to encourage your hearts unto a living upon and glorying in Christ when you have nothing else to rejoyce in First Consider that all the comforts of an outward condition are held at great uncertainties and continued at the soveraign pleasure of the great disposer of Heaven The Lord hath not fixt us unchangeably in the enjoyments and comforts of an outward state but he reserves a soveraign power in his own hand to remand from us what at a time he was pleased to command down upon us And all the comforts of an outward condition they are mutable and we are exposed unto a variety of changes of condition in this world All our outward comforts they are exposable unto the spoil and the very foundation of our Joy in this world is avertable He that hath to his own apprehension a mountain that stands strong that he thinks can never be moved is exposed to the soveraign alterations of the great Ruler of Heaven that he may have his mountain overturned in a moment and he that is lifted up on high and seems to himself to be so upon the advance that he shall never fall The Lord can suddenly like unto Job lay him in the dust We are full one day and the Lord may empty us before the next we are rich to day and we may be poor before to morrow we are comforted to day on every side and we may be left naked destitute and broken before to morrow As to our Stocks they are losable and spendable and as to all Lands and Inheritances they are saleable and morgageable uncertain riches they make to themselves wings and flee away they have the wings of fire or the wings of Thieves or the wings of this providence and the other to flee away with The Lord he suffers one man to run away with so much of such a man's estate and suffers another to run away with another part of his estate that those that were
convey water into your houses so doth faith receive from the Lord Jesus Christ and convey into your Souls Faith is the great Conduit that Jesus Christ doth send down his grace in into our hearts Faith that deals with Christ in all his royalties of grace and takes life from him and takes comfort from him and peace from him and joy from him and whatsoever the Soul standeth in need of Faith is the life-grace that feeds your Souls and that keeps you living and thriving and that makes you strong in the Lord we are said therefore to stand by faith Rom. 11.20 Well because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by faith Faith is a confirming grace it doth build the Soul upon it doth root the Soul in the Lord Jesus Christ and doth receive strengthening confirming assisting grace from Christ according to to the Soul's necessity So as Christians if you would be strong in the Lord you must get your faith strengthened more and more Tenthly The Lord Christ in the dispence of mercy hath great respect unto the glory of his office-fulness and office-faithfulness The Lord Christ in the communications of grace hath not only a respect unto your necessity but also to his own glory and he will dispense in such a way and at such a season and under such circumstances as shall make most for the glory of his office-fulness and office-faithfulness The Lord Jesus Christ therefore he comes in such a way and at such a time as shall most of all publish his glory unto those to whom he comes and before whom he comes When the creature is run into emptiness and hath spent all then doth Jesus Christ open his fountain-fulness In the weakness of the creature does Jesus Christ discover his all-power and in the uncertainty of the creature doth Jesus Christ glorifie his constancy in the darkness of an outward condition doth the Lord Jesus Christ cause his morning Star to arise and shine from on high that gives light to our feet when we know not how to direct our own paths when we have lost all here below and all our comforts have failed us and forsaken us then doth Jesus Christ appear as a friend that stands up in a time of adversity that neither troubles nor crosses nor trials nor temptations shall separate And he chuses this most dismal state to come in that he might glorifie his office-fulness and his office-faithfulness that he might glorifie his office-fulness to let us know it is a never failing fulness it is a fulness that is alwaies running over that is not dry when streams are dry but can fill streams at any time when they are never so dry and empty and then he comes that he may glorifie his office-faithfulness to appear as one that never doth forget his people that can bear all the concerns of his people upon his heart 2 Cor. 1.9 But we had the sentence of death in our selves So the Lord Jesus Christ he comes and discovers himself when the sentence of death is upon our outward mercies and upon all our outward supporters that they are fading dying and falling down under us then doth the Lord Jesus Christ appear as our God Ye had the sentence of death in your selves that ye might trust in the living God The Lord will so appear as his appearance shall be unto the glory of his own Name in the Office that he is placed in by the Father And therefore do but consider what titles Jesus Christ hath put upon himself that are denominative thereof Psal 9.9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble A poor distressed Soul that hath no whither to go that is driven off from all his former holds and that hath all his other Wells of consolation dryed up Jesus will be a refuge to such an one and that at such a time And Psal 10.14 The poor committeth himself to thee and thou art the helper of the fatherless And Psal 68.5 A Father of the fatherless and a Judge of the widdow is God in his holy habitation Why says the Soul Now all is gone my Father is gone and my Husband is gone and my Friends that use to comfort me have left me and I am now a miserable creature No says Christ this is my time to appear to shew my self to be a Father to the Fatherless and a Judge of the widdow And Isa 25.4 Thou hast been a refuge from the storm a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible one is like a storm against the wall Why Christian do not fear an outward distress then do not fear a low condition do not fear a breaking providence why because Jesus Christ doth then take his time to discover his All to you he will then take his time to discover a Fountain to you that can never be exhausted he is a refuge to the poor and needy And these considerations might be prevailing upon your spirits to gather off your eyes from beholding other objects and place them upon the Lord Jesus Christ where there is a sufficient ground of Joy to us whatever our condition is SERMON X. Habakkuk 3.18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord I will Joy in the God of my Salvation I Proposed several weighty Considerations to encourage your spirits to be getting up into this Life of Faith I have already gone through Ten and shall now proceed 11. Consider That to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ without the least encouragement of sense is the most noble exercise of Faith and that which doth most please the Lord. To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ when he is breaking of you and when he is frowning upon you and when you have nothing else to live upon this is the most noble exercise of Faith in this life To believe on the Lord Jesus when your heads are lifted up in the world and when your Table is spread and when your Borders are enlarged is no great difficulty but now to live by Faith upon Christ when there is no encouragement in the creature this is the most noble exercise of Faith What! says Sense live by Faith upon Christ when he hath impoverisht me and emptied me of all creature-enjoyments Ay now is the time to exercise Faith and this is the most noble exercise of Faith and that which doth most of all please the Lord Such an exercise of Faith as this was found in Job When the Lord had taken away his estate and taken away his Children says Job Job 1.21 Blessed be the Name of the Lord. There was a great exercise of Faith in that word and such an exercise of Faith was found in David in the case of Ziklag he had a little place given him in the enemies Country where he might live alone but he had it not long before enemies came and smote the place of his habitation and take away his relation and his goods and leave him
if they had not something in reserve to mend their condition they were poorly on 't saies Christ John 16.33 In the world ye shall have tribulation The Saints have nothing but sorrows tryals temptations troubles and afflictions here But there is a glory which remains a glory that is in reserve that is to be revealed that is another manner of inheritance then what is possessed and enjoyed by them here Col. 3.4 For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God The life of the Saints is a hidden life God hath hid it from the world he hath hid their estate he hath hid their riches he hath hid their glory from the world they do not know what they are born and entitled to but when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory as for the men of the world you may see all they have for they have their All here All the portion that God intends to give them it is possest by them here and therefore they are called men which have their portion in this life Psal 17.14 And thus 't is said of the rich man in the Parable Luke 16.25 That he received his good things in this life And Abraham said Son remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things thou hadst thy portion and thy All here all the comfort and all the peace and all the honour and all the riches and all the plenty that ever God intends to bestow upon wicked men they have it here but now besides all that the Saints have here they have a hope that is laid up for them in Heaven They can look beyond and over things that are seen unto those things that are not seen that is with a carnal eye they can look from present things that are perishing unto spiritual things that are eternal 2 Cor. 4.18 Whilest we look not saies the Apostle at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal We look at those things that are not seen at the unseen things of another world and Rom. 5.2 We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God We have saies he peace with God now which is something of Heaven let down into our hearts but this is not all but we rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and Rom. 8.17 18. Being Children we are heirs heirs of God and Joynt-heirs with Christ and saies he there is a glory that shall be revealed that all the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with it 2 Tim. 4.8 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 to all them also that love his appearing Now saies he that I have fought the good fight now that I have finished my course now that I am come to the end of my journey now that I am a going out of the world and leaving all that I have here there is a Crown of righteousness which is in reserve for me that is just ready to be set upon my head and 1 Pet. 1.3 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled which fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you It is not known what a Saint is whilest he is here in this world nor yet what a Saint hath what he hath in reversion what he is called to and what he shall be put into the possession of 1 Joh. 3.2 Beloved now are we the Sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is In speaking to this Proposition we shall shew you what Hope the Saints have laid up in Heaven for them A few particulars we shall alittle glance upon for the help of your Faith by the way But what the Hope of a Saint is which is laid up in Heaven for him is that which no man upon Earth is able to tell you The Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 2.9 That eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him And the Apostle Paul was mounted up into the third Heavens and when he came down he tells us that the glory that was there and the high and blessed enjoyments that are there they were unspeakable he was not able to utter them 2 Cor. 12.4 He was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter unspeakable words unutterable words he was not able to utter them when he was come down again He says at the 3d verse Whether he was in the body or out of the body he could not tell but when he was come down again he was not able to tell what he heard and what he saw when he was in the transport But yet there is something that the Word of Truth hath made known to us for the reviving of our spirits and the strengthening of our hope whilst we are in our Journey and some of those things I shall briefly lay before you As First In Heaven the Saints shall have the perfection of all grace Here they have grace but grace is under-age grace is in a great deal of weakness grace is mixed with a great deal of corruption that is there is a great deal of sin in the heart with grace they are not all grace grace doth not stand alone grace is not in its full strength grace here is so low and so little so born down and so often overtopt with corruption as that it can hardly be seen by another it can hardly be discerned by themselves That a Child of God is oftentimes at a loss to know what to make of his condition he knows not whether he hath any grace or no. Says Christ Matth. 14.31 O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt The same may be said to us all O ye of little faith O ye of little love O ye of little patience O ye of little humility O ye of little self-denial grace is in a great deal of weakness here grace indeed lieth under a growing promise and they that have received but a little receive it as the earnest of a great deal but they have only the earnest here But now when they come in Heaven there is perfection all their graces are put into perfect strength there will be no weakness in their love to God there will be no short comings in their submission to the will of God but in
beloved Son of God all the while but yet there is a time a coming when all those that are discharged in Gods Court in Heaven shall be cleared both in the Court of their own consciences and also before the whole world We shall observe this method in our brief handling of it 1. To shew you the truth of it from Scripture 2. To give you the properties of this discharge that is given out by God to believers 3. The ground upon which God proceeds in the discharge 4. The time when the Soul is taken into this priviledge and hath the discharge given out to him And then the Application 1. Scripture clears this That there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ they are absolved they are discharged by God Believers are so but as for all those that are in their Sins they are under the sentence of condemnation it hangs over them and it follows them where-ever they go John 3.18 He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already really condemned he hath the sentence really denounced against him he is really declared a dead man in the sense of the law as we say when the judge hath denounced sentence of death against a Malefactor he is a dead man so every one in his sins is a dead man he is condemned already There is indeed this difference between him and one that is in Hell he that is in Hell is condemned and executed but the sinner upon Earth is condemned and not executed The Sinner in Hell is condemned and executed and there remains no hope for him The Sinner upon Earth he is condemned and yet there is hope that comes in at the door of the Gospel which gives some probability that if he will bestir himself the sentence may be removed the patience of God is exercised and it is drawn out into a great length and it is to lead the Sinner to repentance Rom. 2.4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance After the Sentence God waits upon the Sinner and will not suffer the law presently to take hold and to do its work the hand of Justice that is held from smiting the Sinner is not presently executed and in the patience in the forbearance and long-suffering of God there is a pardon that is tendered and a way discovered whereby the Sinner may come to get free from the doom that was upon him but the sentence that hangs over the head of every unbeliever as John 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not sâ—e life but the wrath of God abideth on him the wrath of God that hangs over his head it hangs over his head in that ancient sentence that was denounced against man upon his first transgression Gen. 2.17 In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die or thou shalt die the death here is the sentence here is the doom and God abideth by his word to this day hereupon saies the Apostle Gal. 3.10 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 being under the works of the law you are under the curse because the broken law doth denounce a curse against all the breakers of it so as all those that are unbelievers all those that are under the first Covenant all those that are in a state of sin before God they are condemned already But now all those that are in Christ Jesus have this sentence of death taken off they are absolved and discharged by the Lord saies the Prophet Isaiah 38.17 For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back It is spoken by God after the manner of men when a man gives out the bond of another and freely dischargeth him of the Debt the Bond is cancelled and thrown away it is cast behind his back for wast-paper never more to be made use of the Debt never more to be brought into question again nor yet the Debtor upon the account of the Debt Now says he thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back thou hast given me a discharge that they shall no more lie against me Rev. 2.17 To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Manna Manna of old was a type of Christ The Apostle to the Corinthians clears it Now says he he shall eat of the hidden Manna he shall feed upon Christ every overcomer shall have communion and fellowship with Christ and that is not all but I will give him a white stone The Lord in this expression doth allude unto the Custom that was amongst the Romans when a person upon his tryal was found guilty he had a black stone given him in token of his condemnation and he that was discharged and cleared he had a white stone given him in token of his absolution Now says he I will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which none knows but he that receiveth it I will discharge him says the Lord Every overcomer every one in Christ he hath a white stone given him by the Lord. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus 2. We shall proceed to shew you what are the properties of this discharge that the Lord grants unto those that are in Christ First It is a real discharge It is no imaginary thing It is a real truth that the Apostle doth here affirm There is says he therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus The absolution of a Believer is as real as his sinning was real as his condemnation was real he was really a sinner and he was really condemned on the account of his sin and he is as really discharged You have the word of the Lord for it The same word of truth that tells us there is condemnation to every Unbeliever tells us that there is no condemnation to the Believer But you have not only the Word of God for it but you have your discharge under hand and seal And therefore the Apostle tells us that those that believe they are sealed by the Spirit of the Lord. The Seal of the Spirit it is God's Seal Eph. 1.13 In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the Word of Truth the Gospel of your Salvation in whom also after that you believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise And again Eph. 4.30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed to the day of Redemption He comes and gives you a sealed pardon he gives you the Seal of God's pardon upon your own hearts And hence the Apostle speaks with as much confidence as man can speak upon a sure testimony 1 Joh. 3.14 We know that