thing that ever was Never did any creature so stoop to another as God stoops to sinners He comes and knocks at their door before ever they knock at his 2 Cor. 5. 12. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself Mark the World was not reconciling it self to God nor God to it self but God reconciling the World to himself God's love is always the first love 'T is the Fountain and the Cause of our love to him 1 John 4. 19. We loved him because he first loved us 'T is true that the Lord is sought unto for mercy by them to whom he intends to shew it but 't is the Lord that stirs up their hearts to do it He sets them a crying and then they cry They come to Christ but 't is the Father that draws them There could be no desires or breathings in us after God if they were not begotten of his Spirit Alas our corrupt nature wont afford one good desire till God give it It will go further from God but it wont come nearer to him of it self And therefore the mercy of God towards poor souls is a very wonderful thing not only in that it is so large but in that it is so early It is up before the soul is up Isa 65. 1. I am sought of them that asked not for me I am found of them that sought me not I said Behold me behold me unto a nation that was not called by my name Oh how much are we beholding to Christ for coming to us first 4. If the Son shall make you free If he shall Observe this next That 't is much to be feared whether some that have the Offers of Grace will ever close with them Here you see they had an Offer of Freedom but Christ puts a doubtful word upon it as to their acceptance If he shall c. As if he should say It may be some of you will hear of this and yet never partake in it but live and die in the bondage that you are in In this very Chapter where Christ is offering this Freedom he tells some of them in ver 21. that they would die in their sins Now beloved oh what a joyful thing would it be if you would all accept of this Freedom and close with this Grace that is offered to you Why truly it would be such a joyful thing if but one amongst you should accept of it that it would be enough to set all Heaven a rejoycing Luke 15. 7. 10. And why should I not hope but that it may be thus with some or other of you yea perhaps with many of you The Lord grant that there may not be one amongst you that shall turn his back upon Christ Whoever that man or woman shall be wo be to them And yet now 't is much to be feared that Christ will be rejected by some to whom he hath been offered The Apostle Paul tells the Corinthians that he was with them in weakness and in fear and in much trembling 1 Cor. 2. 3. Why what made Paul fear and tremble so that while he was a preaching he was as 't were all of a trembling What was it because he was afraid to preach No but he was afraid what his preaching would come to in respect of some of them whether ever it would profit them whether ever it would prevail with them Now give me leave to acquaint you a little what things as to some persons may be grounds of fear whether ever they will close with Christ's gracious offer of Freedom 1. In that there be so few in comparison in all Ages of the World that have done it Beloved Christ's flock will be but little when he hath gathered all his sheep Heaven would hold a thousand times more than ever will come there No doubt but there be some that seem now as if they had closed with Christ and yet will be found at last not to have done it They have mistaken their whole work and their hearts have deceived them from the beginning to the end A right closing with Christ is a very exact thing 'T is not every one can hit on it Mat. 7. 14. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to life and few there be that find it And therefore may it not be feared that this present Generation yea and this present Assembly may have some amongst them that will never close with Gospel Offers 2. The little good news that there is up and down where the Gospel comes of the conversion of souls People flock to Meetings but who believes our report or to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed Sinners abiding in an unconverted condition is a great ground of fear what will become of their souls If you have not yet closed with Christ as unregenerate persons have not we cannot but fear you may lose him If a man be in a very dangerous sickness is there not cause to fear he will die So if a man be still out of Christ why certainly this is something to question whether ever he will be in him Acts 8. 22. Peter puts it as a doubtful case whether ever Simon Magus would be pardoned his sins because he was still in an unrepenting condition 3. When men do set light by Christ and the Offers of Grace There 's great hopes of those souls that tho they have not closed with Christ yet they begin to have good thoughts of him and his mercy and love and salvation is somewhat commended if they acknowledg yea truly this is the rich goodness of God that ever such Offers should be made to me I confess I do look upon Christ and the Freedom that he holds forth to poor sinners as an excellent thing God forbid that I should say to the contrary I know the pardon of sin and the love of God are great Priviledges happy is that soul that hath them and I would I might be one of them Ay why this is something Methinks 't is a kind of Language that would give one some hope concerning such a soul as the young man in the Gospel when he did approve and commend of what Christ said in Mark 12. 32 33. Well master thou hast said the truth c. is answered by Christ v. 34. Thou art not far from the kingdom of God But now when a man shall look upon all that Christ offers to him as nothing and set himself to despise and disgrace his invitations as if Christ had done him no kindness in sending all his messages of love to him and let Christ go where he will and his salvation go where it will for his part he does not care for them This is a great ground of fear that such a person will never close with the Offers of Grace See Mat. 22. 3. Those who in the Parable were called to the Marriage-Supper it 's said first they would not come then ver 4. being invited again ver 5. they fell a slighting of
10 11. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Therefore my heart is glad c. Herein Christ is an Example to us above all the Examples of other believers No afflictions were like to Christs afflictions and yet no Faith like to his Faith the Tryals of other believers were very great some of them as the Tryals of Abraham and David and their Faith was of a more than ordinary stature but without disparagement be it spoken even the Faith of Abraham himself was but a poor little weak Faith in comparison of this Faith that Christ had All those Worthies which you read of there in Heb. 11. who through Faith obtained a good report they were Giants in respect of us but they were Babes in respect of Christ Now I say what an unparalel'd Example is Christ to us then of trusting in God in the worst condition It may be you think I hope I should trust God if it were not so exceeding sad with me as 't is alas you cannot think how sad 't is with me nor can I tell how to express my misery Well I am sure 't is not so sad with thee as 't was with Christ and yet he trusted in God the very enemies of Christ could take notice that he did Psal 22. tho they wickedly reproached him for it And in deed this is the only sinking thing in affliction let it be never so great that we cannot trust God and to what end hath God made the Promises but that they should be believed Usually when you doubt of a Friends helping of you in your straits 't is because you had not a Promise from him it may be he put you in some hopes that he would help you but for all that you doubt whether he will or no but if you have a Promise from him and he be a Friend indeed and one that useth to keep his word then you conclude upon it Now I am sure he will help me he hath promised me faithfully to do it Thus 't is now with God towards you that are his Children you have got a Promise from him that he will help you in your distresses nay not only one but many Nay you have got his Covenant and his Oath for it Oh! rely upon him then however 't is or shall be with you 3. In that he did it with so much Wisdom as one that fully knew and understood what he went about in this great undertaking You shall find in Scripture that his Wisdom is much taken notice of in reference to the work of our Redemption He is called the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. and in Col. 2. 3. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg Mark not only knowledg but Wisdom and Knowledg and that in such abundance that he hath a treasure of them yea Treasures yea and all the Treasures of them And you shall see in the Old Testament when it was prophesied of him that he should come upon this work of giving Freedom and Salvation to us how his discreet and wise carrying on of all things about it is foretold see Isa 11. 2 3. chap. 52. 13. He dealt with such Wisdom that he could tell how to deal with God for men and with men for God and to discharge the three great Offices of a Prophet Priest and King with admirable understanding and how to undermine and infatuate all the Policies of the Devil and the World and to render their deepest designs against his Kingdom and Gospel void and of none effect see 1 Cor. 2. 19 20. and how to carry himself so wisely even amongst his worst Enemies that they could have no just occasion to speak evil of him tho they watched all that possibly could be to get advantages against him both for his Actions and Speeches and Doctrine and therefore what an excellent person must this needs be And in this Wisdom Christ doth all things still that are yet to be done he governs the World in Wisdom and as the great and good Shepherd he feeds his Flock with Knowledg and Understanding as a Pastor that is after Gods own heart and one great thing amongst the rest that he is made of God to his people is Wisdom 1 Cor. 1. 30. to instruct them and teach them by his Spirit how to behave themselves as the children of God and to make them to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven and to be to them a Counsellor according to that name which is given him Isa 9. 6. And if his Disciples are called at any time to bear a Testimony for him before the great ones of the World he hath promised to give them a mouth and wisdom which all their adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or resist Luke 21. 15. And therefore Gods people should learn to carry themselves wisely in all their ways and walking and take heed of doing things rashly and indiscreetly as those that have Wisdom for their pattern see Eph. 5. 15 17. See that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is And the Wisdom that you must do all things with is not a carnal politick craftiness but the Wisdom which is from above it must be the Scripture-wisdom and spiritual Understanding 4. In that he did it with so much Love Rev. 1. 5. He loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood Gal. 2. 20. He loved me and gave himself for me and in Tit. 3. 4. when the Apostle would briefly sum up the whole work of Christ in giving this Freedom to us he expresses it in these words The kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared While he suffered he was in love with those for whom he suffered when he died he was in love with those for whom he died he did not barely do the work it self but he did it with such affection to poor sinners as who should say he would have them see and know that they could not have a greater Friend then he was he bare them upon his heart while he bare their sins upon the Cross If he had not been an excellent person the dreadful pains and sufferings that our iniquities had put him to would have made him for ever to loath us and not to have endured the sight of any man more but his Love to us was neither removed nor abated for any thing that he endured for our sakes neither was his Love to his Father in the least diminished by all the grief which he put him to tho he bruised him and took as the Scripture saith a kind of pleasure and delight in the doing of it Isa 53. 10. Justice as it were requiring at this time that he should afflict him willingly which he doth not use to do to the Children of Men yet under all this Christ kept up in
perfect Love to God And this you may observe from his manner of speaking to God when he was just stepping into his great suffering when his Soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto Death Matth. 26. 28. Yet mark v. 39. and 42. in what a loving way he speaks to him Father and oh my Father let this Cup pass away from me And oh what an Example is Christ in this to believers to love the Lord and not to question but that the Lord loves them what ever he lays upon them The Lord sees a great proneness in us to think it is not thus when his hand is heavy upon us in that he hath left such kind of sayings as these upon record in Scripture As many as I love I rebuke and chasten and whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth We are too ready to measure Gods affection to us by prosperity and smiles and when things go as we would have them but if we would be like to Christ we must make account that God can be our Father tho he beats us and hides his Face from us 5. In that he did it with so much Patience 'T is not to be thought what Christ suffered in obtaining this Freeeom for us from God from Men from Devils by their Temptations yet under all his Spirit was in a composed still frame he had not an hard thought of God for the low condition which he had cast him into he had not an unbecoming repining discontented word dropping from his mouth Isa 53. 7. He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth God might do what he would to him and put as much Gall and Wormwood and Wrath into his Cup as he pleased and he would take it off You may remember 't was one of his patient Speeches The Cup which my Father giveth me to drink shall I not drink it And men they might say and do what they would against him they might mock and revile and scourge and crucifie him and he could take all with an inward peaceableness he could meet that Traitor Judas when he was come to betray him and even then he could call him Friend Matth. 26. 50. Job you know is worthily counted an excellent person for his Patience under Afflictions and so he is pointed out to us in Jam. 5. Ye have heard of the Patience of Job and yet in Christ there are two things to be considered which are far beyond what was in Job 1. Christs Afflictions did out of measure exceed what Job was exercised with take all the Sufferings of the Saints in their Bodies and Souls too and put them into one Scale and put the Sufferings of Christ into the other these will outweigh them as much as a Mountain will outweigh a Mole-hill the greatest Suffering-Saints in the Scriptures such as David c. were but Types of Christ in his Sufferings and so they had but the shadow of sorrow in respect of him whose sorrows were so great and of such a nature that he is said to be a man of sorrows which is as much as to say he was made up as it were of nothing else 2. Jobs great Patience was mixed with great Impatience tho he held out in his Tryals to Admiration for a great while yet afterwards he had his fits of distempered passion and he that before had blessed God tho he had stript him naked at last opened his mouth and cursed his day But Christ held on in Patience and held out in Patience he did not at all stain or blemish the state of his Humiliation with a spot of discontent in him indeed that was done which the Apostle James exhorts us to Patience had its perfect work when his Sufferings were at the full his Patience was at the full too and therefore what an excellent Person is Christ and what an excellent Pattern for us In 1 Pet. 2. 21. the Apostle there tell us that Christ suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps Have we then afflictions upon us in any kind and doth it seem good to the Lord to exercise us with troubles without or within or both Oh but let us pray that we may be Patient however that we may not resist the Holy Will of God by unwillingness to suffer And I pray consider this That tho in some respects Christ had that to quiet and compose his Spirits to Patience in his Sufferings which we have not yet in other respects we have something to be thought upon for the quieting of our Spirits in our Sufferings which Christ had not There are two things which Christ had to quiet him that we have not as 1. That no suffering of any kind came upon him but what he foresaw this is a great means to keep persons patient to foresee such or such an Affliction if they be surprized with some great Calamity on a sudden and had no inkling of it before but it breaks in upon them like the Sea unexpectedly then many times there is much impatience mingled with that condition tho it should not be so but now Jesus Christ knew of his troubles particularly before they came which we do not we cannot tell what will befall us between this and Death what Affliction will meet us such a time in such a place as Paul Acts 20. 22. Not knowing the things that shall befall me he had a general notion about it as vers 23. but particularly he knew not what would befall him but it was not so with Christ See a place where he speaks of his going up to Hierusalem as Paul doth here and you shall find that Christ knew what would befall him Matth. 20. 17 18 19. Behold we go up to Jerusalem and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the Scribes and they shall condemn him to death And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucifie him and the third day he shall rise again Mark how particularly Christ foresaw things and no doubt but this was one help to Christs Patience he knew it would be thus 2. That he had not so much as a principle of Impatience within him there was no tendency in his spirit that way for that 's true in this case which he said of himself Joh. 14. 30. The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me But now the Lord knows 't is not so with us we have corrupt natures that are breeding of discontent and impatience and very apt upon all occasions to be breaking out and we have much to do the best of us nay 't is more than the best of us can do without the Grace of God assisting us to bear any Affliction patiently we have such seeds of sin within us But as I said in some
it or as in the Greek they set it all at nought and ver 6. they dealt with his Servants as if he that had sent them had been their Enemy Why see ver 7. what becomes of these persons they were destroyed and their City burnt and compare with it Luke 14. 24. for 't is all to the same purpose they were not to taste of the supper 4. Another ground of fear that some will never close with Christ is when they turn back again from that forwardness to good things which they began to put forth They seemed to have a love and a zeal and a desire towards Christ But it may be they are now grown dead and cold and careless They had fine and hopeful buds a while ago One might see how they were convinced and stirred Oh what hope was there that such a one would prove a Convert and a Saint But it may be all is gone and worn off Their goodness was but like a morning cloud and as the early dew it passed away Hosea 6. 4. 'T is thus beloved with many that make a Profession They promise fair at the first and for a while but then there comes something and turns off such a one and then there comes another thing and turns off such a one and Christ and they are parted for ever And therefore I beseech you as you love your soâ—â— take heed of growing loose and vain 〈◊〉 lukewarm after you have begun to have set out for God Oh! consider what a serious thing Religion is and if you begin to own it why stand to it charge your hearts against back-sliding 'T is a great sin to fall off from good beginnings and exceeding dangerous to the soul see 2 Pet. 2. 20 21. If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledg of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousnes than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them 5. Another ground of fear of this is when persons are grown old and are ready to go out of the World and yet have not closed with Christ that they have let it alone all their life hitherto and now their life is even spent by course of nature I would discourage none tho they be stricken in years from looking out for Christ I know God is not bound to any time He saves whom he will and calls when he will But oh you that have put off closing with Christ till old age why why did you not minde it sooner I ask you Is this the fittest time for such a work or the likeliest time for such a work Do you think there is not some reason to fear lest you should die Christless as you have lived thus far without him I dare not say that your condition is hopeless but I will say that the condition of young ones is more hopeful Christ hath said They that seek me early shall find me Prov. 8. 17. I am certain 't is the great design of the devil to do what he can to hinder persons from being good while they are young because he hopes that then they won't be good when they are old 5. If the Son shall make you free Shall make you observe one thing more from this kind of Expression viz. That upon whomsoever Christ bestows this Freedom he takes in the consent and will of that person in the doing of it Tho at the first there is an unwillingness in the Soul and Christ hath a cross piece to deal with and there 's somewhat to do to get its consent as there is sometimes in a person to whom a man goes with a desire to take her for his wife she is hard to be won yet at last the free and the full consent comes So that when Christ hath put the question Soul shall I make thee free and hath pressed it home with plentiful and powerful Arguments as he knows how to do it the Soul is brought to make this answer Thou shalt make me free much like to that Gen. 24. 57 58. where Rebekah being askt Whether she would go with Abrahams servant answers I will go The match between Christ and the Soul 't is not a forced business altogether not but that he puts forth an holy violence in the work else he would never obtain his suit he compells them to come in but it is such a compulsion that carries such love with it as that the Soul neither can nor will finally stand out against him but it casts it self at last into his arms and bosom and 't is glad 't is there Cant. 2. 3. And unless Christ should take in the will of the Soul the Soul and Christ could never live comfortably together and that 's the great design of Christ that the Soul should live comfortably with him that it should have a husband that she can rejoice in Yea the soul is made so willing that it would have Christ upon any terms If Christ should to try the truth and the constancy of her love make as if he would not have her and seem to cast her off oh the thoughts of this would wound her and grieve her so as that she cannot but faint under it nothing will satisfie her but his person and presence Cant. 1. 2 3 4. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for thy love is better than wine Draw me we will run after thee We will be glad and rejoice in thee we will remember thy love more than wine You see how sweetly the Soul comes off to him she resolves to run after him and resolves to love him and resolves to rejoice in him Hence then you may know when there is like to be a match betwixt Christ and your Souls How do your wills come off to the business Are your affections turning towards him and prizing of him That 's a sign that Christ hath laid some good hold upon you if he holds you by the heart God hath undertaken that Christ shall have the free consent of those whom he is to make his own Psal 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Isa 55. 5. Nations that knew thee not shall run unto thee It is therefore this willingness that we pray that God would work in you and when that is once wrought let all the devils in hell keep you from Christ if they can The second thing proposed to be inquired into upon this second Branch of the Point is Where Christ offers this freedom And I answer Where ever the Gospel comes You that live under the Gospel and the preaching of the Gospel you live under a Dispensation where Soul-freedom is to be gotten You shall find that when the preaching of the Gospel is spoken of it is set forth as a
such good things for you and now to have none of them Why hath he not deserved better at your hands then this Was there no love nor no mercy to your souls in what Christ hath done for poor sinners Nay did you ever hear of the like love or the like mercy Is it not beyond all comparison and beyond all expression Did you ever hear of a Saviour that delivered from so great danger Did you ever hear of a Surety that undertook to pay such great Debts Did you ever hear of a Physician that healed such great Diseases What and shall this be all the thanks he shall have now to be rejected If God will take it ill at your hands to pass by those mercies that are but for the comfort of your bodies without thankfulness how much more will he be displeased with you for passing by the offers of those mercies that are for the salvation of your Souls Why Sirs you that refuse Christ where is your sense of God's goodness where is that acknowledgement that he should have from you Hath he done you no courtesie in sending his Son Is the very hopes and possibility of being recovered out of your lost condition a thing not to be at all affected with If a man doth but offer you his help in your need you 'll thank him and you 'll shew that you are taken with his kindness by accepting of it and you 'll tell him how much you are beholding to him and that you shall own him for your Friend as long as you live Why where is your thankfulness to Christ then why don't you own him for your Friend Obj. Why you 'll say perhaps We are thankful to Christ for his kindness to poor sinners Ans What and not close with him how can that be 't is the closing with him that is the thankfulness to him If you do not this you may say you are thankful but who will believe it shew it by your acceptance Col. 1. 1 2. Giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light They give thanks but see vers 14. they had closed with it We have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins 3. You are guilty of Willfulness It may be you 'll put it upon your weakness that you don't close with Christ and I grant indeed that you are without strength and that you must have a power beyond your own to inable you Joh. 6. 44. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and if ever you come to him it must be by grace from above But yet I pray consider that it is such a weakness as is joined with wilfulness Joh. 5. 40. Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life The great thing that hinders your closing with Christ is your will is against it I am certain that if you were but willing you would do it only you must know what a willingness I mean Such a willingness as is spoken of in Psal 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Oh if the power of Christ were but once come upon your wills to turn them and bring them in you would run to him with strong and swift desires If sinners were not willful in refusing of Christ do you think that God would ever charge them with willfulness How oft would I have gathered you c. and ye would not saith our Saviour of the Jews Matth. 23. 37. A wicked man carries it so to Christ as that 't is plain he is unwilling to have him He laies it upon his weakness and he thinks thereby to come off the better I cannot repent saith he and 't is true God saith so too and I cannot please God and God saith so too Rom. 8. 8. and yet this shall not excuse him for there is a will not with his cannot If he were only weak and desirous to come and did not oppose and resist the motions and strivings of the Spirit and the calls of Grace 't were something if he were faithfull in the use of that natural Power that he hath though indeed he wants a spiritual Power 't were something But alas he doth not like Christs terms and Christs yoke his will is against them 4. You are guilty of the love of sin not only of sinning but of loving of sin By your not closing with Christ you declare that you have some beloved Lust or other which you cannot indure to part with and that takes up those affections and that delight which should be set upon Christ Sirs tho I cannot see nor search your hearts yet thus much I know of that which is within you that you who stand out against Christ have something in the Throne that should not be there There is as sure as can be some darling-reigning sin if there were not Christ and you would quickly make up a Match Obj. But how can you tell this since you don't know our hearts Answ Why we know it because God hath told us so in his Word that 't is by reason of some unmortified sin that people don't close with Christ they have bosom'd up some dear corruption or other I ground it upon that Scripture in Gal. 5. 24. They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Mark if this be a sign that persons are come to Christ That the flesh with the affections and lusts are crucified in them then the reason why they don't come to Christ is because there are uncrucified affections and lusts in them they have some Idol in their hearts to which they bow down and worship And therefore let me allude to that Scripture Act. 3. 14. where Peter is dealing with the Jews about their standing out against Christ But ye denied the holy One and the Just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you Beloved every unmortified reigning lust is a murderer a murderer of your souls and now what 's the reason that you don't own and close with this holy and just One the Lord Jesus Christ Why 't is because you desire that this murderer should be granted unto you As the People there in Matth. 8. 32. with 34. that they might keep their Swine they besought Christ that he would depart out of their coasts So you would keep your swinish Lusts 5. You will be guilty of Pride Oh in what pride of heart do you walk that reject the Grace of GOD You have high thoughts of your selves certainly you take your selves to be what you are not as Christ saith to them of Laodicea Rev. 3. 17. Thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Pray give me leave to be free with you Why Sirs you that stand out against those Calls of Grace why are you so proud
pains and the everlasting prison and the everlasting undoing Well then you must look out for this Freedom by Christ for otherwise these things will certainly come upon you Joh. 3. 36. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him And therefore that man or woman that refuses Christ is not only no friend to Christ but such are no friends to themselves they have not the ttue self-self-love in them they don't love their own Souls 'T is said of the Prodigal when he began to repent he came to himself Luk. 15. 17. He was gone from himself the true self before but when he returned then indeed he came to look out after self-preservation Well now to proceed upon this Third Branch more throughly That it is every ones duty to look after a part in this Freedom I will 1. give you an observable thing about it 2. Shew you the reasons and grounds why every one is to do this 3. Make application To the 1. There is one thing that is very observable about this in the Scripture which I would commend unto you and that is That Christ in the offers of his Grace doth not only speak in a general way to all in common as if he should say Here 't is amongst you but in many places he comes to offer it in a particular kind of Language as if he had to deal with persons severally and apart one from another and were singling of them out one by one to teach us that every particular person must own it as his great duty to look after Christ and the Benefits that come by Christ for himself See Joh. 4. 10. Mark how particularly Christ speaks here Jesus answered and said unto her i. e. the woman of Samaria If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee Give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water So Rev. 3. 18. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayest see So vers 20. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me q. d. There must not be one of you but must each for himself be labouring for a share in these things Now for the reasons of this I desire that you would seriously mind these four following 1. Every one should labour to have a share in the Freedom because every one hath had share in the Bondage as the Apostle saith in Rom. 5. 12. Death passed upon all men in that all have sinned There 's none of us can say concerning this Freedom as Paul did concerning his being a partaker of the Roman Freedom Act. 22. 28. But I saith he was free-born They that have this Freedom are said in Scripture to be made free they are not born free but made so Rom. 6. 18. So in the Text If the Son shall make you free Now suppose Beloved that there were a company of People in the World that had been all of them in great distress or that they had been all taken by the Turks and put to miserable slavery that never any poor Creatures had a harder condition than they and suppose that it had been one of you that were of this number that had a fellowship with them in their bitter Bondage And that some merciful Prince that knew of the lamentable case that these wretches were in should be willing by the paying of a great Ransom to redeem them and he layes down that which is demanded by him that held them in slavery and so sets this Company at liberty at which Oh how their hearts rejoice Only there is one amongst them that won't accept of this favour though his Captivity was as great as others and he was as fair for deliverance as the rest he that set the other free would have done it for him too if he would not have been willful but for his part he would not have his liberty he would lye and perish in his thraldom Why what a fool and mad-man would he be counted that would have his part in all the affliction which that Company hath indured but would have none of their Redeemers kindness Now Sirs you may go travel over all the World and not find such an instance as this for the Bondage of the Body but we need not go far to find many such instances for this Bondage of the Soul Oh how many be there that have been partakers of the Curse that don't look after the Blessing that have been Satans slaves but won't be the Lords free-men that had rather be strangers and foreigners still than to be fellow-citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God Reas 2. Because no man must rest in the general offers of Grace without a particular application of all to himself The general offers of Grace are like the hearing of some excellent Medicine that is good for them that are under some dangerous Disease now 't is not the hearing of this that will cure but he that would have good by it must get it for himself and take it and make use of it You know tbo there be never so good a Plaister upon the Table for the healing of a Wound it may be the Salve of which 't is made is the best in the World for such a purpose yet that won't help at all if it be not applyed and laid on So now if you do not look after a particular share in this Freedom to bring it home to your own Souls you do but rest in the general notions of Grace This is but the Plaister upon the Table as it were 't is too far off to do you any good thou hast nothing for thy self all this while You know there 's a great deal of difference betwixt a mans saying This is a brave House and This House is mine So there is a precious Christ and precious Freedom and precious Promises yea but are they thine Art thou one of them that can say they are given to us 2 Pet. 1. 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises Mark he doth not say barely these exceeding great and precious Promises are given but given to us So that you don't come nigh enough to Christ and the Benefits by Christ if you don't get them for your selves 'T is the great sin of Men and Women that they sit down in things at large about Christ they know and say and read that Christ came into the World to save sinners and to seek and to save that which was lost Ay 't is most true yet what are you the better for all this unless this Salvation be yours And how can it be yours without your labouring to make
it yours Beloved there be many that are and will be undone for ever because they went no further than the hearing of a Christ at a distance Now those that shall be saved by him he and their souls have been brought nigh together and they make such an application of him to themselves that the relation they have to him is like that of the Members to the Head or of the Wife to the Husband they are so joined to him by Faith that they become one with him now the general offers of Grace never make us one with Christ till he is my Christ I am never united to him Now this is the great thing that you should look after to have Union with Christ and 't is application that makes the Union and you have nothing of him in a saving manner till you are in him and he in you Col. 1. 27. Christ in you the hope of glory Obj. It may be some will say that have but small cause for it Oh if it be Faith that makes Christ mine why then I have a part in him for I do believe I thank God in my Saviour Jesus Christ I put my whole trust in him with all my heart Ans Those that have the true Faith have been made to see that there is a false Faith a counterfeit Faith yea and to fear and question and examine whether their Faith were not a counterfeit Faith Beloved there is a counterfeit of every Grace and certainly there be many that think they believe and don 't As I would have no child of God to think he doth not believe when he doth so I would have no Christless person to think he doth believe when he doth not The way to find out the truth of our Faith is to put our Faith to the proof have you not taken it for granted that you have Faith without trying it I 'll give you but two Notes of the true Faith and I am sure they 'll be enough to prove divers to be Unbelievers that think themselves to be Believers The true Faith is always accompanied with love to Christ with a high prizing love to him they that believe with their hearts they set their hearts upon Christ he hath their dearest and choicest affections placed upon himself they have discerned such a Beauty in Christ that they cannot but love him best 1 Pet. 2. 7. Vnto you that believe he is precious Now there be many of you that think you have Faith and yet let one listen never so much to you one cannot hear you talk of Christ nor utter any longings or breathings of Soul after him and when the beauty and sweetness and fulness and freeness of Grace that is in Christ is spoken of you have no delight to be upon such a Discourse And pray now what do your thoughts and desires run out most upon Are not your minds and affections taken up with the present and perishing things of this World more than with Christ Is there not something that sits nearer to your hearts than he doth Surely here 's a discovery of a false Faith to say one believes in him and yet not love him Ask thy soul Hast not gone many a day many a week many a year nay all the days of thy life and had never one raised desire towards him Thou dost not know what 't is to be unsatisfied without his presence and without communion with him thou dost not know what 't is to be sick of love for him he may stay never so long from thy Soul and thou never grieve nor groan thou canst do well enough with the Creature though thou hast not Christ I tell thee if it be so thou hast thy Faith to seek thou never madest any particular application of him yet to thy self for if thou hadst application of him would beget affection to him A true Believer is greatly in love with the Lord Jesus he had rather be without any thing than him he accounts all loss in comparison of him Phil. 3. 8. 2. The true Faith is always accompanied with likeness to Christ A Believer in him is a Conformer to him and a Follower of him he bears about Christ's Image in the World he lives according to Christ's Life and according to Christ's Law and according to Christ's Example he partakes with him in his crucified and in his quickned State As Paul in Gal. 2. 20. when he speaks that the life of faith was in him in the beginning of the verse saith he I am crucified with Christ he died to sin and walked in newness of life But now how many be there of you that think you have Faith and yet are as much for sin as ever you were and as contrary to goodness as ever you were you can be as vain and as vile and as carnal and as covetous and as proud and passionate and lukewarm as ever you were If it be thus with thee I tell thee if there were no better Believers than thou art there would not be one true Believer in the World A Faith that doth not change thee into a new Creature is a false Faith 2 Pet. 1. 1. To them that have obtained like precious faith with us How doth he make out that they had this precious faith why vers 4. they had escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust True Faith is of a sanctifying purifying nature It is at peace with no sin nor at war with any duty Reas 3. We should every one look after this Freedom because a diligent looking out for it is the way to obtain it You know how much diligence hath done sometimes in other cases how it hath by the blessing of God upon his Labours raised a man to great Riches that before had nothing yea it may be was worse than nothing So if you would be diligent how can you tell but that you may be rich tho you are now so very poor and that you may be made free tho for the present you are in Bondage Why may not a man get a spiritual Estate by taking pains as well as many have gotten an earthly one Obj. Oh but you 'll say there are some discouraging places that I meet with in the Scripture Ans Well What are they let us hear And before thou goest any further let me tell thee it is a great mistake to think that there is any place of Scripture rightly understood that doth discourage any Soul from taking pains to look after his own Salvation Doth not God every where almost call upon People to do it Is not the Word full of Precepts to that purpose and full of Promises to that purpose Take but one place among many Matth. 7. 7 8. Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened Well I pray thee let 's hear thy
redeemed them Tit. 4. 5. Rev. 1. 5. Now Love doth not work for wages Beloved you must know that when the Lord Jesus was upon this redeeming-Work his heart was as full of love towards poor sinners as it could hold you may say of Christ in this respect as they said of him once when he was weeping at Lazarus his Grave Behold how he loved him Joh. 11. 35 36. So when he was in his bloody Agony and Sweat and hung pierced upon the Cross and was suffering all that wrath from God and Men this might have been in the thoughts of them that beheld him and no doubt was in the thoughts of them that believed in him Behold how he loves poor sinners Now you know when a man comes to do any thing for you out of love why if you ask him What will you have Why nothing saith he because I love you Set one about any thing that you have to do and if he doth not love you why he will be paid to the full and perhaps he will make unreasonable demands too But Love will labour for you for nothing 't will be glad of an opportunity to do you a kindness Thus 't was with Christ he went through hard things for you you cannot think what he suffered that you might be saved and yet as Jacob's serving so many years for Rachel seemed to him but few days for the love he had to her So tho Christ suffered many things for you that are his yet to him they seem less than they are for the Love he hath to you 2. Because Christ knew that he wrought for the poor Psal 72. 2 4 12 13. Now the poor why they must be helped freely Alas we have nothing to give him for his labour and Christ knew this and yet he did not do as many do when the poor have need of their help they are ready to say I 'll not work for them they can't pay me Men love to work most for the Rich where they shall be sure of their Money But the Lord Jesus he doth the poor mans work and so tho they have a great deal of profit by it yet he hath none to himself 3. Because the great design of this redeeming Work which is in the hands of Christ is the everlasting exalting of Free Grace that Glory might be ascribed unto God throughout all Ages World without end See Eph. 1. 6 7. Therefore all must come freely that Free Grace might be advanced that every one that is saved might admire the riches of the Goodness and Love of GOD in Christ to their Souls Oh what Praises hath the Lord from his People and will have to all Eternity for this Free Grace Oh admire it more you that are under it It must be your work in Heaven and we may be glad that it shall be our work in Heaven when we consider how short we come in the admiring of it here upon Earth 4. This Freedom is in Christ only As to the Body there may be many Physicians for one Disease but as to the Soul there is but one Physician for all Diseases Isa 45. latter part of ver 21. and the 22. A Saviour there is none beside me Look unto me and be ye saved all ye ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else We have many spiritual Sicknesses but 't is Christ alone that can heal us whoever doth not come 〈◊〉 his hand he dies for it and therefore don't trust to Physicians of no value Many are apt to do for their Souls as you read Ahaziah did when he had gotten a very dangerous Fall he sent to the Idol gods 2 Kings 1. 2. Go and inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease And what he got by this you shall see by what the Lord bids the Prophet go and tell him ver 3 4. Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron Now therefore thus saith the Lord Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up but shalt surely die Let me allude a little to this Scripture Sinner thou art just in the case of this man thou hast gotten a most dangerous Fall thou art fallen from the upper Chamber when God created thee at first by that Image of his in which he made thee he put thee into the upper Chamber Oh the high Preferment that thou wast in 't was a heavenly condition that thou hadst to be without sin and to be like to God but thou art fallen from hence and thy Fall hath done thee a world of hurt now when thou beginnest to be sick of thy Fall and thereupon to think that some course must be taken for the getting of a Cure Oh take heed to whom thou goest for if thou goest to any but the God in Israel I mean to Jesus Christ who is the hope of Israel and the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble I tell thee from the Lord thou shalt surely die The great fear when Souls begin to be awakened about their condition is Whether they will go to Christ only and if they join any thing with him to trust to and rest in they spoil all you must come up to that Scripture or you are undone Phil. 3. 3. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Remember what a warning Christ gave in another case I may fitly allude to it Matth. 24. 4 5. Many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many This is ordinary amongst Professors to be thus deceived there comes this and that Profession Duties common Workings upon the Soul and the like and these are apt to say Why I am Christ Now 't is thus and thus with thee thou wilt do well and many believe this and are deceived And therefore when you begin to look after a Christ be sure to look after the true One for 't is he and none but he that can do the Work and don't think that because there be so many false christs therefore 't is impossible to know the true One read for that 1 Joh. 5. 20. Obj. But how shall I know that it is the true Christ that I trust to Ans I 'll only say this to it The true Christ makes a true Christian they are not only Christians to men but Christians to God Now thou art thus and thus to men but what art thou to God Is thy heart savingly wrought upon Hast thou the Life and Spirit of Jesus Christ within thee It may be thou art for thy outward appearance as the King's Daughter thy clothing is of wrought gold but art thou all glorious within Psal 45. 13. 5. This Freedom is in Christ continually We may apply that place to him even for this 2 Cor. 1. 10. He hath delivered many
There were Two great Attributes amongst all the rest which God did intend to glorifie and that is his Mercy and his Justice His Mercy would have been pleased well enough if sinners had been set free without the purchasing of their Freedom But then his Justice would have been offended still How should that have been quieted and satisfied Therefore this must be so done as that mercy and truth might meet together and that righteousness and peace might kiss one another Justice would have made a loud cry that Heaven would have rung of it again if all should have been swallowed up in mercy and in giving away all without any consideration had to it For Law and Justice could say We have a curse against these sinners and they are as legally condemned as ever were any Traitors And therefore pray let us be heard for they shall not nor cannot go free if the Debt be not paid And therefore if they be not able to redeem themselves where 's the Surety that must do it for them that we may come upon him for all This now makes it necessary that Christ must purchase this Freedom Acts 17. 3. He must needs have suffered Why needs Because here was Justice to be glorified as well as Mercy Quest 3. But if we are thus purchased by Christ may believers say Then it may seem that God the Father hath quitted his interest in us for so 't is in the manner of purchasing amongst men he that sells to the purchaser quits all his right and title to that which is bought and we are very sorry for that we would be Christs but we would be the Fathers too Ans And so you are for all this See John 17. and compare ver 6. and 10. together In ver 6. saith Christ Thine they were and thou gavest them me This looks now as if the Father had quitted all his interest in them But 't is not so for in ver 10. and all mine are thine Still they are thine and thine are mine too saith he As if he should say We have a mutual interest in them their being mine doth not hinder them from being thine as well as their being thine doth not hinder them from being mine God had an interest in you upon the account of Creation and that he keeps still and which is more upon the account of Election or of everlasting love to you and that he keeps still and Christ he hath a right to you upon the account of Redemption And tho that doth enter you into a new relation to him yet it doth not break off your former relation to God the Father He loves you and delights in you as much as ever he did and your happiness by Christs buying of you is no way diminished but increased For both have an interest in you and both love you John 14. 21. Now for the Second thing That this Freedom was purchased with an excellent price Here I shall do Two things 1. I shall labour to make the truth of this appear to you That 't was an excellent most excellent price that Christ paid for it 2. I shall draw some profitable Considerations from it First For the truth of it Beloved Jesus Christ paidwell for this Freedom God did not deal with Christ in this case as you read Ephron the Hittite would have dealt with Abraham if he would have let him when he would purchase his Field and the Cave that was in it for a Burying-place Gen. 23. he would have given it him ver 11. He tells him indeed the Land was so much worth Four hundred Shekels of Silver if it should be sold to the full value of it but saith he what is that botwixt me and thee bury therefore thy dead ver 15. And thus he would even have forced it upon him for nothing But Abraham notwithstanding he stood upon it that if he had it he would lay down as much money as it was worth ver 9. and so he did in ver 16. Nor did the Father say to Christ as Ornan the Jebusite did to David when he would purchase the place of his Threshing-floor that he might there build an Altar to the Lord that the Plague might be stayed Take it to thee says he I give thee all 1 Chron. 21. 22 23. tho David would not accept of it So ver 24. Nay verily I will buy it for the full price So he did ver 25. But God stood upon his price his full price with Jesus Christ He held him up without any abatement of what this Freedom was worth He paid to the worth of it 'T is true 't is a worthy precious Freedom but yet I may safely say Christ gave enough and enough for it Oh the price that he paid for it He did not buy of his Father as we may buy of him without price Isa 55. 1. but he came as I may say to a dear Market when he came to make his purchase Quest Well then you will say pray what was the Price which Christ paid for this Freedom Ans Here I shall speak that which may make you wonder and that is this Truly beloved he did not pay one farthing for it there did not go a penny out of his Purse Now it may be that which will be next in you thoughts will be this truly then 't was even cheap enough of conscience here 's a Price indeed we expected that you would have named some vast sum of Silver and Gold that would have been so great as to have beggar'd any man in the World to give it No I have not one such word to speak to you but this I have to speak to you about it that Christ had been as good to have brought a company of Pebblestones to his Father for this Freedom as all the Gold and Silver in the World and one would have done as much as the other but he and his Son must drive another manner of trade than this to make poor sinners Free there must be anotherghess Price Why what was it Oh that which was infinitely beyond all the treasures of this World If these would have served Christ by his power could have rained them down from Heaven for a thousand years together But beloved there must be as I may so express it another rain it must rain Blood and Blood from the side and heart of Jesus Christ i. e. he must come down from Heaven and shed his Blood to make a Ransome for us see Acts 20. 28. Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood there 's the Price that he paid Now mark a little while I shew you in a few things that this was a Price indeed an excellent Price The Blood of Christ to be sure is precious as you find it called in 1 Pet. 1. 19. For this weigh but these four things well and you 'l say 't is precious Blood 1. This Blood of Christ is the great Seal of the Covenant of
that one that hath this Freedom were to walk in the flames of Hell they would not hurt him they would all part and give way as who should say this is one that we must not fasten upon as the Children of Israel past through the Red-Sea that dreadful gulf and all the waters fell back as if they were frighted at them why they were the people who were under Gods redeeming love therefore they were not drowned no not so much as wetted So if those who have obtained through faith a part in this Freedom were to pass to Heaven through Hell it would be with them as it were with the three Children when they were cast into the burning fiery furnance Dan. 3. 28 29. 3. That the highest mercy should be reconciled to the strictest justice It would have posed any but a God to tell what to say to this which way to shew the greatest severity against sin and yet to shew the greatest mercy to the sinner but by this Freedom this is done Mercy doth not fall out with Justice for being so terrible and Justice doth not fall out with Mercy for being so favourable but both are well pleased in what is done and so well pleased with one another that as Davids expression is they can kiss each other as most intimate loving Friends Gods Attributes as I may speak with reverence did never seem to be so near a falling out as when the Covenant of Works was broken by our first Parents Mercy lookt as if it would fain have pittied us but Justice looked as if it would by no means let it these two they were only by way of allusion to it like the Twins in Rebekahs Womb that strugled together Gen. 25. 22. And one did not prevail over the other like two Armies when they fight and one puts the other to the worst and so gets the Victory but a sweet peace and harmony was kept between them by the intended Freedom that should be by Christ Take notice by the way what a dreadful breach sin made in our first Apostacy in that it did not only make us to fall out with God but also as much as lay in us to give an occasion if it had been possible for God to fall out with himself to set Attribute against Attribute Mercy against Justice and Justice against Mercy but now by this Freedom all is quiet and well enough on both sides as the Apostle saith when he is speaking of it in Gal. 3. 21. Is the law then against the promise God forbid 4. That one that hath but a little grace should be looked upon as one that hath no sin What a Wonder is this you have not one Child of God but is very ready to confess that he hath but a little grace yea you 'l say that 's their holy modesty and humilty it may be 't is not so indeed I grant it is so in some that they have much more of God and Christ in them then they desire to speak of and the more grace any one hath the more apt I think they are to bewail their own vileness and in this case we must not take every Child of God just at their word but we may tell some of them Come blessed be God you are better than you will acknowledg But really beloved there be some in Christ that have but a very little Grace some I know they have and they must have It is inconsistent with being truly in Christ to have no grace at all but there are some of them that are but new-born Babes their Grace is but like the bruised reed and the smoaking flax they be for their Souls as Zacheus was for his Body of whom 't is said that he was little of stature Luk. 19. 3. Now you may think that certainly they who have so little Grace must needs be counted by God to be persons that have a great deal of sin but in respect of their justification by Christ who hath made them free it is not so Observe 2 Cor. 7. 1. Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God As if he should say Oh Friends you have a deal of filthiness yet to be got out of you both as to your outward conversation and as to your inward frame and you are very imperfect and short in point of holiness and grace and yet he had told them before cap. 5. 21. that being in Christ they were made or reckoned and counted such as had no less a righteousness than the righteousness of God 5. That the eyes of one should be opened that was born blind this is such a Wonder that you read in Joh. 9. 32. that since the World began 't was not heard that ever any man did it but this is done in this Freedom they who have it were born blind as blind as Moles and so continued in respect of spiritual sight till Christ had made them free and then as it is said of Saul immediately there fell from their eyes as it had been scales and they received sight forthwith This same Freedom by Christ is that eye salve which you read of Rev. 3. 18. If any hath but the eyes of his understanding anointed with it it will make him see that he never saw 't will make him behold wondrous things out of Gods law things that he past by and took no more notice of than a blind man doth of the beautifullest sight that ever was seen 6. That a man that is possessed by the Devil should have the Devil cast out of him Would you not count it a wonderful thing to see a man that had been possessed with the Devil and he his now cast out If any should tell you when you are in the streets There goes a man that a little while ago the Devil spoke in him and dwelt in him as a man doth in his own house where he counts himself at home how would you look upon and marvel to see such a man Well this Freedom is such a thing that it casts out Devils Mary Magdalen that was brought into it had seven Devils cast out of her what is the heart of men by nature but an habition of Devils 't is not an expression that at all deserves to be thought much on to say concerning wicked men That the Devil is in them the Scripture it self saies so Eph. 2. 2. and the Devil was in Judas Satan entred into him and where the Devil is there he will be he will keep his hold till this Freedom comes and then let him look to himself he shall be cast out tho he hath legions with him 'T is observable there in Luk. 10. how the seventy Disciples whom Christ had sent out to Preach this Freedom returned with joy to see what work the Gospel made with the powers of darkness Lord say they even the Devils are subject to us through thy name vers 17. And mark what Christ