for you and by the Spirit which he sent to you that he might lead you into all truth and make you partakers of a pretious inheritance amongst the Saints in glory Custodite animas nulli credite raso keep your soules with all diligence and let nothing draw you from the love of Christ Jesus cleave to the Lord with all perseverance and what God hath joyned let no man sever In vaine do we renew the league of divine friendship if we do not hold it inviolably without provocation of great offence The fathers would have Caudam hostiae as well as Caput hostiae both head and rump to be offered no lesse in spirituall sacrifices then heretofore in the just performance of legall observances The pretious robe of Christian holinesse ought to be like the embroydered Coat of the Patriarch Joseph which is said to be talaris downe to the feet and below the ancles that we may adhere constantly to the Lord and finish our Course in the perfection of holinesse It is a great interest we have in God by meanes of this present union labour to improve it and do not grieve the Holy Spirit whereby yee are not only joyn'd and coupled but Sealed and confirmed unto the time of your redemption Christ saies yee are made whole sinne no more lest a worse thing come unto you I say yee are made friends sinne no more lest a worse thing come unto you when the house of your Soule and tabernacle of your Conscience being swept and garnisht may draw many uncleane spirits in and the end prove worse then your beginning Are yee not washt are yee not cleansed are yee not reconciled are yee not justified are yee not cured are yee not healed are yee not renewed are yee not sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Christ hath obtained for you the remission of your sinnes and Christ hath put on you the garment of his righteousnesse that yee may find grace in the sight of God and be adopted into the family of his dearest children with all the Company of his elect Angels Beware then of relapsing into sinne and take heed there be not found among you a heart of unbeliefe to depart from the living God O let not the poyson of sinne abide in you because the love of God hath abounded towards you but hate it as a Serpent and embrace him that hath taken away the sting Avoyd it as a Syren and hold what you have that no man take away your Crowne the Crowne of your life the Crowne of your rejoycing whereby we are enabled to cry with the Apostle and to sing triumphantly with joy in God through our Lord Jesus by whom we have now received the atonement And so I come to my last observation The result or extraction of delight and glory exultation and jucundity Which indeed is pleasing and may serve for application of all that hath been spoken In Deogloriamur we joy in God Saul had a Jonathan David an Absalon and Paul himselfe a beloved Timothy and a deare Philemon wherein they took much pleasure and delight But God alone is the joy of our hearts and the Solace of our Spirits that hath called us to his eternall glory through Christ Jesus And doubtlesse we may very well joy in God that enjoy so much from God in temporall mercies spirituall graces outward benedictions and inward refections that fill our soules with marrow and fatnesse For to speak in the words of Salomon The winter is past the showers are gone the singing of Birds is come and the flowers appeare in our land Choyce flowers of grace and peace truth and righteousnesse whereof we may compose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St Chrysostome speaks a thousand garlands of divine celebrities and tripudiant gratulations He that turned water into wine before his death turned blood into wine at his death the blood of his Crosse into the wine of gladnesse the blood of his passion into the wine of consolation A sweet wine a pleasant wine the mulsum of grace and the mustum of his Spirit for so I promise you St Bernard termes it reserved for the marriage of the lambe and kept as t were in the wine cellars of the King that we may be cheared and wholy forget the vanities of the world the pleasures of sinne the lusts of the flesh and the lures of Satan For indeed he is the right object of humane Comfort most absolute and compleat most adequate and perfect that can satisfy the heart of man and fill every corner of that winding Labyrinth with delicious Content We joy in him and we joy of him in him for the grace of present adoption of him for the hope of future exaltation to our selves and to our brethren In him simply as he is God in himselfe of infinite power and incomprehensible majesty in him respectively as he is God to us of infinite goodnesse and unspeakable mercy In him as a God in him as a Father in him as a Lord in him as a Saviour that we are his and that he is ours by the gracious stipulations of Evangelicall promises Our God and our Father our Lord and our Saviour the Author of peace and everlasting tranquillity the donor of life and immortall glory which makes the spouse rejoyce with melody and sing with jubilee my beloved is mine and I am his He feedeth among the lilies the white Soules and pure Consciences of men Sanctified with the Spirit of holinesse Aeneas Sylvius used to say as t is recorded in his life by Platina nullum gaudium sine virtute solidum there Could be no sollid joy without the exercise of virture Had it been said without the love of God in Jesus Christ it had been spoken most divinely Some joy in their strength but that is Carnall some joy in their wisdome but that is imperfect some joy in their treasure but that is deceitfull some joy in their greatnesse and honour but that is inconstant and sometimes mutable and therefore we joy in God that are endeared to him and have received the benefit of divine atonement Our heart doth rejoyce and our flesh doth rejoyce in God the living God that makes us a rejoycing and Creates us a very joy through Christ his Sonne and the powerfull working of his Continuall intercession The originall word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is most emphaticall and impleyes a kind of joy more then ordinary even gestient gladnesse and triumphant glory I know not whether I should call it an exultation or an insultation because it makes us insult over the adversary and triumph over the enemy laughing at his destruction and exposing him openly as the Graecian did of whom the verse goes Ter circum Iliacos raptaverat Hectoramuros for by this we do not only joy in God but we joy over that which may anoy our soules and trample on it with derision and contempt Not unlike our blessed Saviour when he
Christian Reconcilement OR GOD AT PEACE with MAN IN CHRIST Delivered in a Sermon at St Mary's in Oxford By JOHN WALL Dr in Divinity and PRAEBENDARY Of CHRIST-CHURCH in OXFORD Psalm 37. 4. Delight thou in the Lord and he shall give thee thy hearts desire OXFORD Printed by H. Hall for R. Davis 1658. To the Honourable and truly noble Lady the Lady SARAH HOGHTON Wife to Sr RICHARD HOGHTON Knight and Daughter of PHILIP Lord STANHOPE late Earle of CHESTER-FIELD Grace and Peace be daily multiplied Noble MADAM PArdon my Confidence that I make use of your Name and place so rare a Frontispice before so meane a Piece My desire hath been to honour your Lady-ship some kind of way for those many favours derived to me not only from the Root and Stemm but also from the severall branches of that your noble Generation and Parentage Yet in this I must needs Confesse I honour my selfe while the eminency of your graces casts a lustre upon my Services and the high esteem of those magnetique virtues draws greater acceptance to these endeavours However be pleased to receive this manuall give it some place in your Closet among the Saints of God departed this life with whom you have beene used to Converse frequently in their writings It will not take up much roome and though it Containe little that you may learne yet doth it somewhat that you may remēber the incōparable blessing of Christian atonement which is the very foundation of all our Comfort This I Commend to your pious thoughts and the religious exercise of your diviner Meditations that you may joy in God and be strengthened daily in the Spirituall Vnion which you have with him in Christ Jesus For I well know when the Scriptur's were a delight unto you and you had as Saint Ierome writeth of Marcella a Roman Lady ardorem incredibilem c an incredible desire to read understand the pretious Mysteries of those saving Oracles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the words of the Apostle from a Child wherein I have late evidence that you persevere Constantly to the honour of God and the rejoycing of your Spirit with the Continuall feast of a Good Conscience Sure I am it was the practise of that Honorable Lady your dear Mother now with God blessed for ever whose Goodnesse like an Oyntment poured out left a Sweet Savour in the parts where she lived round about whose paths you tread and seeme to enlarge or make plaine in a Pious aemulation and zealous Imitation of Her choicest Graces But I will not make an Elogie of an Epistle or a Panegyrick of a presentment though you well deserve it least I seeme to dipp my Pen in Oyle and mingle Hony with my Oblation Contrary to the direction given to Moses by God himselfe in those Leviticall instructions The Lord poure a blessing upon you all from the top and head to the severall branches of your Noble Family Irest MADAM Your most Humble Servant in him that took upon him the forme of a Servant our Lord Jesus Christ JOHN WALL CHRISTIAN RECONCILEMENT Rom. 5. 11. Wee joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom wee have now received the atonement WHEN St. Paul wrote to the Saints at Rome there was a ball of contention as t' were throwen betwixt the Iewe and the Gentile And howsoever they were converted as true proselytes to the Doctrine of Christ yet did they burne with jealousy one towards another and receive the gospell with strife and envy and sharpe contests of mutuall reproach and fervent emulation a fault to much used in these our Dayes both in the expressions and impressions of many Christians though interdicted by St. Paul to the Ephesians and condemned by St. James in the very brethren with a note and character of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is meer bitternesse the gaul and wormewood of crabbed Zeale and corrupt affections The Iew boasted of his stock the Gentile of his Wisedome the Iew of his priviledges the Gentile of his Endowments the Iew despised the Gentile as a wild olive the Gentile despised the Iew as a withered branch cut off from the right olive the Iew despised the Gentile as a stranger from the Covenant the Gentile despised the Iew as one despised of God and rejected of him for murdering his only Son and crucifying the Lord of glory But as it is said of Nestor an antient Counsellor of the Grecians Nestor Componere lites Inter Peliden festinat inter Atriden So doth the Apostle use all diligence to represse the animosity of their carnall spirits and to reduce both to love and unity patience and humility shewing plainly that all were debters unto God and that none had cause to boast of themselves first by reason of their naturall condition they were subject unto wrath then by reason of their spirituall renovation they were justified by faith not of merit but of grace free grace rich grace the grace of God through faith in Christ Jesus All which is copiously delivered in the precedent Chapters and compendiously gathered in the latter verses whereof my Text is a briefe Synopsis Wee joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom wee have now received the atonement Wee joy in tribulation because it tends unto hope wee joy in hope because it ends in glory as the precedent Words doe rightly insinuate But the top of our joy and the crown of our rejoycing is God alone pacified by his Sonne in the wood of his Crosse the blood of his Crosse who indeed is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Theophylact speakes the author of joy the author of rest the author of glory the author of righteousnesse Have our conflicts abounded and have not our Comforts abounded Have our tryals abounded and have not our triumphs abounded Yea doubtlesse as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so doth our consolation abound through Christ Jesus And wee never had more Cause to rejoyce than now wee have in the Day of our peace the blessed re-union of God with us the heavenly redintegration of his infinite love and mercifull Kindnesse Wee joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom wee have now received the atonement These words are exceeding jubilar and not unsuitable with the present time which is dies palmarum or as wee terme it Palme-Sunday a Day of spreading garments unfolding graces discovering holynesse singing praises and crying Hosanna in the highest blessed is hee that cometh in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest not with green bowes of Pagan wildnesse but with palme branches of faith and godlynesse which St. John will have to be most flourishing and victorious with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is the victory which overcometh the World even your faith the 5th and the 4th of his 1. Ep. You may compare them to the Song of Mary when she cryed My Soul doth magnify
Crosse In death there is misery in blood there is cruelty in a crosse there is shame and notorious infamy All which meet together like three fatall sisters in Conjunction for ill to Christ for good to us the aggravation of his punishments the instauration of our nature that we may be joyned with the Saints above and gathered into the bosome of our heavenly father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the body of his flesh through death and that with blood the blood of his Crosse the blood of his crosse that hath drowned our iniquities the blood of his crosse that hath purged our Consciences the blood of his Crosse that hath destroyed our enemies the blood of his Crosse that hath justified our persons the blood of his Crosse that hath quenched the violence of that flaming sword that hung at the gate of our celestiall paradise to keep us back from the sight of God and the blessed Communion of his glorious Angells Insomuch that Augustine speaking of Satan hath these words victus in patibulo qui vicerat in par adiso He is now overcome in the blood of his Crosse that did first overcome in the garden of paradise The Apostle affirmes we are bought with a price I confesse we are reconciled with a price a great price the price of blood whilst the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him and his stripes were our healing for it cost him deare and whatsoever he got for us he purchased at a very high rate our peace with his owne travell our freedome with his owne bondage our favour with his owne disgrace our comfort with his owne punishment our welcome and reception with his owne contempt and dereliction a strange dereliction a grievious dereliction that made him cry and lift up his voyce with anguish of heart and agony of Spirit Eli Eli lammasabachthani my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Now me thinkes I stand amazed at the love of God that hath reconciled us with the death of his Sonne the bitter death of his only begotten Son at the love of Christ that hath reconciled us with his blood the voluntary effusion of his owne most pretious blood What shall he not do for us now we are made friends and righteous that did so much for us being enemies and sinners dabit tibi bona sua qui pertulit mala tua saith learned Augustine He must needs bestow his rest upon us that hath taken his burdens upon himselfe The truth is his death is available unto life his life is available unto glory his death plucks us out of Satans hands his life puts us into Gods hand and the protection of his majesty We are absolved by his death we shall be advanced by his life we are saved by his death we shall be kept by his life never to depart from the obedience of his truth when he shall have bound us to himselfe with everlasting mercy in a three-fold cord of faith hope and charity Quem nec satanae ir a nec ignis Nec ferrum potuit nec edax abolexe vetustas as the Poet hath it in another sense which no force shall be able to break no age to consume no power to dissolve nor yet the gates of hell ever to prevaile against It is recorded of St Bernard in his life Guilielmus when Satan came to him in his sicknesse and thought to drive him to despaire with remembrance of his sinnes that he was much troubled at first but afterwards gathering strength said unto him non sum aignus c. I confesse I am not worthy of my selfe neither can I expect to enter heaven by any righteousnesse of my owne but Christ hath a double right unto that glorious kingdome one of inheritance by the father another of purchase by his passion That of inheritance he keeps to himselfe and rests in it that of purchase he gives to me and I lay hold on it with faith and confidence At these words the enemie was confounded and vanished away but the holy father was much comforted and triumph't exceedingly in the merits of his Saviour By this we learne to cast our selves upon God for eternall safety with a perfect abdication of humane infirmity and may justly Condemne the vanity of such as go from the Sunne to the Moone from the lord to our lady from the fountaine of living waters to the broken cisterne of humane emptinesse and from the protection of our Saviour to the mediation of any creature from the temple of God to the temple of idols from the sacrifice of Christ and the satisfaction of his death to the shrines of Diana or the rotten sepulchers of the most holy Martyrs These I might argue and these I might condemne but that indeed they are not so much to be refuted with care and deliberation as to be exploded with scorne and derision The use I shall make of this doctrine is a short expostulation out of St Augustine with à quanta iniquitas quanta perversitas c If the peace of our soules and the reconcilement of our natures be the price of blood the blood of Christ the true Sonne of the everliving God what a pravity what injustice what a phrensy what a madnesse is it to sell againe those soules unto the Divell for a little gaine a little pleasure a little smoke a little honour or any the like shadow of outward meanes and temporall felicity which God hath purchased to himselfe with extreame paine and infinite misery The Argument which the Apostle frames is most considerable and worthy of observation yee are bought with a price and are not your owne Your bodies are his your soules are his that did emancipate and set them free from the strong mans hand and danger of the enemy his by creation his by redemption his in making his in reconciling and therefore he must be glorified in both and loved of both that we may delight in him and he delight in us that we may rejoyce in him and he may rejoyce in us with joy unspeakable and full of glory For if it be life eternall to know God what is it to love God and to have the gracious returnes of love from him againe Without controversy it is the fulnesse of joy and the marrow of blisse as rivers of oyle and floods of peace whereof the Angels drink most plenteously and are continually refresht And therefore saith Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To love God and to be loved of God with the sweet reciprocation of mutuall dilection is more then a Kingdome to the Saints the Kingdome of glory the Kingdome of heaven My deare brethren I beseech you with the Apostle or rather I charge you with King Salomon by the hinds and by the roes by the mercies of God and bowels of Christ Jesus by the obedience of his life by the power of his death by his Word and by his Gospel by his Sacraments and by his ordinances by the blood which he shed