done him no good unless he had been interested in Christ himself Psal 116. 16. 6. No religious or godly Education that you have had It may be you have been brought up in the Families where there hath been much of God and Goodness set up yea perhaps you have spent all your days in the company and communion of the Saints and yet at last you must have your eternal abode and portion with Sinners if you have not a part in this Freedom Ishmael was brought up in a good Family in the Family of Abraham of whom God said I know him that he will command his children and his houshold after him Gen. 18. 19. And yet for want of this Freedom he was rejected and so was Esau 7. No moral Virtues that you have lived in It may be thou hast been a civil Person an honest Person a chast Person a sober Person perhaps never wronged any Body by unjust Dealing never told a Lie never swore an Oath never disguisedst thy self by Drunkenness never defiledst thy Body with Uncleanness it won't do thee a jot of good for the saving of thee from Hell if thou hast no part in this Freedom Matth. 5. 20. Thou must have a righteousness that exceeds this even the righteousness of Christ by Faith or else Heavens door will be shut against thee 8. No profession that you have made of the Gospel of Christ tho to a very high degree Tho thou hast outwardly seemed to be a very zealous and forward Disciple of his hast worn his Livery and hast been baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost tho thou hast often in the Sacrament eaten of that Bread that signifies his Body and drank of that Wine that signifies his Blood yet if thou hast not this Freedom 't is nothing 1 Joh. 5. 12. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life let him profess what he will of him 9. No good thoughts that the People of God have had of you It may be thou hast been taken for a true Child of God no body suspects thee of Hypocrisie thou art current Gold by their Weights yea but if thou hast not a part in this Freedom when thou comest to be weighed in Gods Ballance thou wilt be found wanting 10. No sufferings that you have met with for Conscience-sake Tho thou hast thus suffered yet thou must suffer again and that for ever if thy Conscience be not purged from dead works by the Blood of Christ as Paul saith 1 Cor. 13. 1. that tho he gave his body to be burned if he had not charity it profited him nothing No more would it thee if thou hast not Christ 11. Again No bitter cries or earnest intreaties that you shall at last make to God for the escaping of his wrath Oh! when Christ is just ready to pronounce the Sentence against thee what a lamentable ado wilt thou make that it might not be past but if thou hast not a part in this Freedom all thy wringing of hands and falling upon thy knees will be in vain 12. Once again Not all the mercy that is in God Tho God hath an infinite Ocean of mercy yet it won't be for thee if thou dost not look after this Freedom Luk. 19. 27. As there is no misery to the Saints so there is no mercy to the wicked beyond this life Vse 1. This then sharply reproves the great slothfulness of the World in the matters of their Souls 'T is every ones duty to look after a share in this Freedom and yet almost every body is idle the whole earth is quiet and at rest Oh how little stirring is there for an Interest in Christ What Pharaoh said of the Israelites in their Bondage I am sure may be said of Sinners in this Bondage Exod. 4. 17. Ye are idle ye are idle Oh! what cause is there now that I should preach with tears to bewail the lamentable carelessness of people about their everlasting Concernments The good Lord of his infinite mercy be in the midst of us at this time by the power of his Spirit to convince you that are out of Christ of this great sin and to humble you for it I offer my self now in Gods Name to plead with you about your woful negligence in not looking after this Freedom which you have heard is every ones duty to look after and therefore 't is yours There is Freedom to be had by Christ but pray now you that are in your sins what have you done to get it Oh! what would many of you do to get the World How would you ride and run and rise early and go late to bed for a gainful Bargain or great Estate You are so forward and eager some of you for the things of this World that you are like a high-metall'd Horse you can hardly be held in Christ is fain as it were to call from Heaven to bid you stop Isa 55. 2. Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not You 'll try all ways and turn every stone to see what may be done for a part in these uncertain Riches though it may be you shall never get them when you have done your utmost and if you do you may leave them as soon as you have them Why but Sirs is there not another life and are there not better things and have you not precious Souls to look after and is it not high time for some of you by course of nature to think of removing to Eternity and of being in a fitness for Death and Judgment And yet ah Lord you live as to spiritual things as if you had nothing to do Upon these accounts the Scripture sets you forth as persons that are standing still Why stand you here all the day idle Matth. 20. 6. and as persons that have their hands in their bosoms Prov. 19. 24. and as persons that are asleep upon their beds Prov. 6. 9. The children of God if there be any of them that live about you or among you they are as 't were all of a trembling for fear they should fall short of Heaven and fail of the Grace of GOD tho they are not like you to let all run at random Phil. 2. 12. But you tho your Sins be unpardoned and your Souls unconverted and nothing is set at rights between God and you yet you set neither your Hand nor your Heart to any good thing Why now is this the way to do well Dare you think that you are going to happiness under all this remissness Do you believe that strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to life and few there be that find it What have you no talent to trade with for the glory of God and the good of your own Souls If you have not five nay if you have not two have you not one Sure thou hast one Talent
a breach between God and you as the whole Creation cannot make up But now there is one thing and but one that can make God amends and full amends for sin yea for all manner of sins and for never so many and never so great sins and that is this Blood of Christ 1 Joh. 1. 7. and 2. 1 2. Tho thou hast been never so vile and ungodly yet if thou can'st but get this Blood sprinkled upon thee through Faith in it it will make God himself to say deliver him for I have found a Ransom this will make amends for thy Swearing and for thy Drunkenness and for thy Uncleanness and for all the wicked Abominations of thy heart and life Oh what a precious Blood is this then And take but one thing more for it which is 4. The dreadful Vengeance which God doth take upon men wherever the Guilt of this Blood of Christ lies If he doth but come once to avenge the blood of a man he doth that severely if any one hath committed wilful murder upon his Neighbour God is resoved that that man shall be surely put to death for it Numb 34. 31. but when he comes to take vengeance for the Blood of his Son here the Vengeance is dreadful beyond all others You have divers Instances that I might give you of it in Scripture How terribly did God deal with Judas for the betraying of this innocent Blood he filled him with that horror of conscience that he must be his own Executioner Matth. 27. 5. and in the hanging of himself he fell headlong and burst asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out Acts 1. 18. And after all this he sent him to his own place and that was a sad one vers 25. So the people of the Jews that brought upon themselves the Guilt of Christs Blood Matth. 27. 25. they have been under the Curse of God for this these Sixteen hundred years And such as are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord by eating and drinking unworthily in the Sacrament you see what Vengeance God saith he will take of them 1 Cor. 11. 27 29. And if any Professor shall prophane this Blood by sinning wilfully after he hath received the knowledg of the truth you may see what a dreadful doom God denounceth against him in Heb. 10. v. 26. There remains no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment c. to the end of v. 31. Well now beloved this blood which is the great seal of the Covenant of Grace and without which no service or duty ever was or ever shall be accepted from the hands of any man and which is the blood of Atonement for all manner of sins and the guilt of which God will so dreadfully avenge wherever it shall be found to lye I say this blood was the price wherewith the Lord Jesus Christ purchased this Freedom And therefore your selves being Judges Was it not an excellent price and hereupon is not this Freedom an excellent Freedom since Christ may well say of it as the chief Captain did to Paul Acts 22. 28. With a great sum attained I this freedom Now I will end this with but Two Considerations briefly 1. Consider from hence this for your instruction you that are Believers Be often thinking What shall I do for this Christ that hath done so much for me Obj. But it may be you 'l say What doth Jesus Christ look for a requital Alas then we are undone on t'other side I answer No Whatever you do for Christ you must be sure you do nothing upon the account of requiting of him as who should say you are greatly in his debt and you 'l do what you can to come out of it 'T is not a recompence that I call upon you for you are never able to do that but the manifestation of your gratitude to him by an obediential fruitfulness Do but live as those that are his and that 's all he desires Why now shall he that hath paid this great price for you require any duty at your hands and will you not do it or call you to any difficulty for his sake and will you stick at it Remember Christ observes how you walk after such great things as he hath done for you and don 't give him cause to say to you by your unfaithfulness to him as Absalom said to Hushai concerning David Is this thy kindness to thy friend Why wentest thou not with thy friend 2 Sam. 16. 17. Oh! keep with your friend 2. Consider this from hence for your consolation This Jesus Christ who hath bought you will never sell you You know men many times after they have bought a Purchase and made it their own they sell it again Something or other is in it that they do not like and so they 'l part with it But I am sure and be you sure that Christ will never deal thus with you Obj. But you 'l say We have such great sins that we fear he will Ans Yea but you know that after a Man hath married a Wife unless she offend him so by Adultery as utterly to break the bond of Wedlock which Christ will never suffer true Believers to do tho she hath a great many faults yet he resolves he won't put her away The Law of the Land won't let him nor which is more the Law of his Love won't let him He thinks when he looks upon her with all her failings Ay but she is mine I have made her mine tho So is it here See 1 Sam. 12. 20 22. And Samuel said unto the people Fear not ye have done all all this wickedness yet turn not aside from following the Lord but serve the Lord with all your heart For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name sake because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people CHAP. VIII Concerning the excellent properties belonging to this Freedom AND now in the Fourth place I am to demonstrate that this is an excellent Freedom by the excellent Properties belonging to it That you may plainly understand what I mean by these Properties it is as much as this That I am now to speak that of this Freedom which is peculiar or proper to it self and that cannot be said of any other Freedom Tho you read of other Freedoms in the Scripture as that of the children of Israel out of Egypt and afterwards out of Babylon which indeed were very great and glorious deliverances yet they will not reach to this Never was there the like to this As the Book of Canticles is called the Song of Songs for the excellency of it so I may call this Fredom the Freedom of Freedoms because there is none to be compared with it And therefore this may be the 1st Property That you may take of it That it is an incomparable Freedom It hath not any fellow nor any match That which was done in this Freedom
come to it already and to make it sure that not one of his redeemed ones shall miss of it he intends to come himself and bring them all thither Joh. 14. 3. So that not only Christ hath a Crown but they shall have one too a Crown of life a Crown of Righteousness because I live saith he ye shall live also and he doth not count himself fully glorified till he hath got every particular Saint into Heaven And not only have the people of God upon Earth great longings after Christ oh that we might be with him but surely Christ hath greater longings after them oh that they might be with me Priviledg 8. The indwelling of the Spirit is another Priviledg bought by this Freedom Christ having freed them the Holy Ghost takes possession of them now their Bodies must be his Temples and their Hearts his Throne Rom. 8. 11. and oh the great things that his Spirit doth in them and for them which I might set down as distinct Priviledges But I must hasten By this they are enlightned by this they are sanctified by this they are quickned strengthned comforted guided the Spirit that dwelt in them before led them into dark and dangerous paths gave them evil counsel was always a provoking of them to be worse and worse but here 's one that will be checking and reproving of them when they walk disorderly and that will be grieved at their sins and that will countenance and encourage them in way of duty which is a great benefit Priviledg 9. This Freedom brings a right to all the Promises Gal. 3. ult And there is more riches in one Promise than in a thousand Worlds I know not what portion some of you may desire or where you would have your lot to fall if you could have your wish very like you would desire some huge things in this World that you might have so great an estate as such a man hath c. and then perhaps you would think if it were but so you had wished your selves into a very good condition But oh beloved the Promises the Promises they are the Priviledges indeed when you have them you have God in Covenant with you If you consider who 't is that promises and what 't is that is promised and the certainty that there cannot but be of the faithful and full performance of them you must needs say 't is an high Priviledg to be interested in them Priviledg 10. It brings Peace of conscience Rom 5. 1. Heb. 9. 14. This is such a thing that the having of it is a kind of Heaven upon Earth and the want of it is a kind of Hell upon Earth If a mans conscience fly in his Face and the Sence of Guilt and the Horror of spirit seizes on him let him enjoy the World if he can 't will bring down the stoutest heart that is to have but one sound gripe of it but these redeemed ones are in the way of Peace Christ is to them the Prince of Peace God is to them the God of Peace the Word is to them the Word of Peace When we come amongst you in our preaching and denounce the Wrath and Judgments of God they are not these persons that we mean we have another message for them and we must in effect say to them in our Sermons as Paul doth to them in the beginning of his Epistles Grace be to you and Peace c. As amongst the Children of Israel there were two Mountains Gerizim and Eball one to pronouce the blessings upon and the other for the curses So beloved tho when we would give you that are out of Christ your portion we must do that as it were from the Mount of curses yet when we speak to these we must get up on the Mount of blessings Priviledg 11. Is Preservance in holiness Hypocrites may fall away because they were never well on Joh. 15. 7. there may come something or other that will dash their profession to pieces but these are well rooted and nothing will be able to pluck them up you shall not see them turn Saints in the beginning and turn Devils in the end as Judas did 1 Pet. 1. 6 you read that they had manifold temptations there were divers ways of suffering invented for them to beat them off from Christ and ver 7. their faith was tried with fire and yet it would be found unto praise at the appearing of Jesus Christ and vers 9. for all that they went through and should receive the end of their faith the salvation of their souls they should persevere still Priviledg 12. Is Access to the Throne of Grace Heb. 4. ult Oh! what a Priviledg would it be counted upon Earth that when the King is set down upon his Throne tho he be in the posture of Majesty to have free admission to him about a business of great concernment You know how Esther the Queen was afraid to come into the Kings presence and what a favour 't was to her when the King was upon his Throne that he would reach out his golden Scepter to her that she might speak freely and ask what she would and it should be given to her But beloved here 's the Throne of the gracious God may be come to in and through Christ by these redeemed ones They may pour out their very hearts before him and while they are a praying he will be hearing he will bow down his ear and attend to the voice of their cry He will not bid them go out of his presence but they shall have audience in Heaven And if the Lord sees them afraid or unable to utter their desires to him his Spirit shall encourage them and help their Infirmities Priviledg 13. Hence follows another Priviledg That they shall have supply to all their wants If God withhold any thing from them to be sure tho it be good for others yet 't is not good for them in particular or not good for them at that time when they would have it and so they have good reason either to wait for it till it comes or to be contented without it if it should not come at all Now that this is their Priviledg see Phil. 4. 19. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus And God's children should live as those that believe this And they should be careful for nothing and take no thought for their life nor for their meat nor their drink nor their cloathing I don't say you must not use means for these things God doth not now provide for us as he did for the children of Israel in the Wilderness by raining down bread from Heaven No if you will eat you must work but you must work without perplexity the Cares of the Wotld must not fret your hearts If they do either you do not belong to God or you forget your Priviledg which indeed is a very great one That having given you his Son
Why I will cast it up for you and the whole sum amounts to this You have got that that you must lose all this getting 't is in order to losing you have it but you cannot hold it when you have got the World you have got Vanity you have got vexation of spirit Eccl. 1. 2. and will you spend your whole time and thoughts for this I will throw some Scripture-Water upon the Fire of this Love to the World to see if it will put it out Consider seriously these three Text 1 Joh. 2. 15. Jam. 4. 4. Luk. 12. 20 21. Again this imforms us 3. That this Freedom by Christ is highly worth the pains that any Soul which hath it hath taken to obtain it or that any Soul is now taking to get it oh it will quit the cost and bear the charges for 't is excellent Freedom It is a great encouragement to a man to lay out his labour upon a thing when he is sure he shall not lose his labour convince him that he shall be a gainer and a great gainer and you have done enough to set him a work If you had but told him of a probability and a hope of advantage you should have seen him stir but if he can be sure that it will be a profitable business he thinks long ere he is at it Now I assure you from the sure word of God That take what pains you will to get this Freedom it shall be like that seed that was sown in the ground it will be encreased thirty sixty yea an hundredfold you 'l find it the best employment that ever you were about there never was any Child of God that wished Would I had not medled with this Freedom by Christ nor ever will Christ scorns that any that trade with him should be losers As they shall not want for work so they shall not want for wages 'T is true he doth expect that they who will have his Freedom should take great pains for it but he will graciously reward their great pains with great gains If they will fell all that they have to get the Pearl they shall find that the Pearl when they have it is a Pearl of great price I would put you in mind here of some Verses in the 2. and 3. chapters of Rev. which I would allude to read cap. 2. 7. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradice of God Vers 11. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death Vers 17. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hiden manna and will give him a white-stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving be that receiveth it And chap. 3. v. 5. He that overcometh the same shall be cloathed in white raiment and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels Vers 12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the name of God and the name of the city of my God which is new Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new name Vers 21. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne That which I say to you from hence is this There are difficulties and great difficulties in the way of obtaining this Freedom but will you not be daunted at them but labour so as to overcome will you resolve through the help of God let there be what pain there will I 'll overcome them Why then you see how every verse that I have read to you carries its gains with it Again this informs us 4. That the people of God are an excellent people they must needs be so for they are gotten into this excellent Freedom This is the company that no company in the World can compare with I know that the people of God don't desire to commend or speak honourably of themselves But beloved I have here a very fair occasion to commend them to you very like some of you may have low and mean thoughts of them and the rather because you see them so contemptible in their outward appearance it may be some of your cloathes are better than theirs and some of your estates are greater than theirs and some of your food is finer than theirs and some of your kindred may be richer than theirs Well I grant this may be true one way but I am sure if you be out of Christ 't is false another way Be you what you will in wordly respects upon the account of the condition that this excellent Freedom hath brought them into you that are out of Christ never wore such cloathes as they do for they have put on the new man the Lord Jesus Christ and they go every day of the week in robes see Rev. 7. 9 13 14 15. And for Estate that which you have in the World is nothing to what they have in Christ for they are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Rom. 8. 17. and the Promises are theirs and the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs and all things are theirs and for food you never in all your lives tasted any thing so sweet as that which they feed upon they eat of the bread which came down from God they eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man whose flesh is meat indeed and whose blood is drink indeed and for hindred why all your carnal Relations are no better than beggars in comparison of them that they are a kin to Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren Heb. 2. 11. And God is not ashamed to be called their God cap. 11. 16. Obj. Why then sure if they have all this excellency by their Freedom their Freedom will make them proud Ans No beloved for all this they were never so humble and never had such mean thoughts of themselves as since they got into this Freedom they never loathed themselves till now they were more lifted up in their misery than now they are in their excellency Now they desire to give God all the Glory and to take nothing to themselves but shame tho God hath made them great yet they do not count themselves good Rom. 7. 18. Vse 2. Of Admiration That ever such an excellent Freedom should be bestowed upon the Sons of men There are two things in this that may raise our Admiration 1. That ever it should be given to men that the Lord should pass by Angels with a purpose never to recover them when they were fallen and that we should be those to whom he would send redemption He might have let us all alone Angels to perish and