we have offended God we must seek to him for pardon and mercy and the like But that God communicates himself through Christ and that not one drop of mercy in order to eternal life can be communicated from God but through Christ the mediator of this there is not one footstep in all the works of God This is that which is so supernaturall that 't is above perfect nature Adam knew nothing of this in his perfect estate Yea this is that which the Angels themselves desire to pry into looking upon it as a mighty depth 1 Peter 1. 12. the Angels stoop downe for so the word signifieth 't is as if a thing should lye in a deep pit and when any would see it they stoop down with their bodies to pry into the pit that 's the propriety of the word so the Angels they see a mighty depth in the mystery of the Gospell and they stoop downe to pry into it that they may know what it is Yea this is that which requires a worke of the spirit beyond the ordinary work of the spirit of God to reveale it to the soul 1 Cor. 2. 10. speaking there of the Mystery of the Gospell sayes the Apostle The spirit that searcheth the deep things of God c. discovers this that is the spirit of God in an extraordinary worke of his as he is a spirit searching the deep things of God so he is a discovering spirit of this truth unto us and therefore seeing it is thus it is not so light to be past over I you will say 't is true all must come through Jesus Christ well you see a little at first but there is much more in this truth then we are aware of 'T is a truth that is the most profitable of all the truths contained in the book of God there is no growing up in godlinesse till we come to know God in Christ the knowledge of God is something to worke upon the heart and many labour against their sinne because they see it is against the law of God and set upon duties because God requires them and this is well but till they come to understand indeed the mystery of the Gospell of Gods letting himselfe out unto his people through a mediator they doe but bungle in the wayes of godlinesse they doe not thrive and grow up in them and therefore these Christians that live under such a ministry where though they have many good truths revealed to them yet having but little of the mystery of Christ as the mediator their way of Christianity is very low they doe not sanctifie God in their conversation I remember a speech that Erasmus hath when they would have had him write against Luther and promised him a great Bishopricke for it he answers Luther is greater then that I can write against him for I am instructed more in one small page of Luther then out of whole Thomas Aquinas that was the great Schoolman So certainly the understanding but some one truth some one sentence in the mystery of the Gospell in this way of Gods communication of himselfe unto us through his Christ doth instruct the soul and cause it to thrive and grow up in godlinesse abundantly more then thousands of Sermons about meere moralities and you have a most admirable Text for this Ephes 3. 17. and so on That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge marke what followes That yee might be filled with all the fulnesse of God v. 19. By coming to know God in Christ that is to know Christ to be the way of Gods communicating himselfe unto us we come to be filled with all the fulnesse of God many Christians their hearts are very scant and empty there is not a fulnesse in their spirits and all because they know so little of God in Christ in this mystery of the Gospell Lastly there is no truth revealed in all the Scriptures whereby we can honour God so much as by this this indeed is the great honour that God would have in the world to be honoured in his Son and in the great designe he hath of bringing forth glorious things by his Son and therefore though we know never so much of God and would honour him meerely as the Creator of heaven and earth yet God doth not accept of that honour that is but to honour him in a naturall way we never know what it is to honour God aright so as to be accepted of him till we come to honour him in an Evangelicall way to honour him in his Son and yet the greatest honour he hath from most in the world yea from multitudes in the very Church of God that heare the mystery of Christ opened to them is tendred up to him meerly in a naturall way and not in this spirituall Evangelicall service of God You see now the consequence of the point let us then fall to it And First I shall shew you the truth of it in Scripture And Secondly how it comes to passe that there can be no good communicated to us from God in order to eternall life but by Christ And Thirdly how Christ comes to be the meanes and way of conveighance of all good unto us from his father Fourthly I shall instance in some speciall things great things wherein most of the goodnesse of God is communicated to us and shew you how in them Christ is all in all to us And Fifthly the reasons why God will have this way of communication of himselfe unto us through his Son why he will not communicate himselfe immediatly to us but through a mediator these are the five things for the doctrinall part For the first the course of Scripture especially of the new Testament runs this way you know that of Christ John 14. 6. I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me there is no coming to the Father but by Christ and Christ he is the way and that in 1 Cor. 3. at the latter end sayes the Apostle there All things are yours whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours How is that marke All are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods God the Father he is the principle of all good all firstly comes from him but it comes not from him immediatly he doth not say all are yours for ye are Gods because you have an interest in God therefore all comes to be yours no but all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods so that you see here how that Christ comes between yours and Gods All good is in God true but how shall we come to partake of that good there is such a distance between these
they run shallow they may run clearely but when once the waters rise and overflow they run muddy and usually there is a great deale of filth comes in with great streames so though in common and ordinary workes we doe not manifest our uncleannesse yet 't is seldome when we ayme to doe great things but we manifest a great deale of filthinesse but it is otherwise with God God is great in power and in that keeps the glory of his holinesse And God manifested here the greatnesse of his wrath upon his enemies and yet the glory of his holinesse too It is a very hard thing for men to doe so let men have their anger stirr'd a little O how much filth doe they presently discover how many have we that all the while they are pleased are exceeding meeke and loving but let any thing stirre their passion and O what a great deale of filth appeares like a pond that is full of mud at the bottome and cleare at top but stirre it a little and then it s nothing but filth A father or a mother cannot tell how to be displeased with a childe or correct it but abundance of corruption comes with that anger and so a governour a servant Who can execute Justice upon others but there will be much of self self-ends and self-interest but now here is the glory of God that when he manifesteth his wrath though it be sore wrath yet he is glorious in holinesse in great wrath he is infinitely powerfull in his wrath and in the execution of his Judgements and yet infinite in holinesse too therefore the vials of Gods wrath are said to be of gold which is the purest mettall so is God in the executing of his Judgements O let us labour to imitate God in this thou that hast a passionate spirit and art soon provoked and discoverest abundance of filthinesse see how unlike thou art unto God though thou shouldest be displeased with that which is sinfull and mayst correct thy children and servants yet be sure to keep that which is the beauty of all in thy correcting of others and that is holinesse Againe this Title is given to God here because in this great worke of his he did manifest his faithfulnesse in fulfilling of his promises to his people many promises God had made to his Church for their preservation and deliverance and God in this worke of his did fulfill these promises now Gods faithfulnesse is a branch of his holinesse therefore because he manifested his faithfulnesse in this worke Moses and the people extoll his name by this Title glorious in holinesse It is observable and it is of great use to us that Gods faithfulnesse is a branch of his holinesse if you compare two Scriptures you will finde it so Isaiah 55. 3. sayes God I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David and this Scripture is quoted Acts 13. 34. I will give you the sure mercies of David so we read it but in the originall it is the holy and faithfull things of David so that when God comes to shew mercy according to his word he doth manifest the glory of his holinesse and it is of admirable use to Gods people to strengthen their faith You have heard that the glory of God is his holinesse now one part of this holinesse is his faithfulnesse in fulfilling his promises to his people therefore it concernes God as he loves his own glory to be faithfull in fulfilling of his promises and God lookes at it as his glory to doe it thy comforts are deere to thee and thy preservation is deere to thee but Gods glory is dearer to him yea Gods glory is dearer to him then thy soul or thy eternall estate can be to thee and the top of Gods glory is his holinesse and his holinesse consists in this in one thing his faithfulnesse in his promises Now for the application of this first hence you may observe whether ever you understood God aright or no let me put this question to you what is that excellency of God that your soul closeth with we speak much of Gods excellency and we all say we love God and delight in God and blesse God but now what is it in God that drawes thy heart so to him and causeth thy soul to love thy God and to blesse thy God and to delight in thy God as thou sayest since the time that ever thou knewest him what is it that God will shew mercy to thee and pardon thy sinne and save thy soul and bring thee to heaven these are things indeed that we are to love and blesse God for but there must be more it is the very person of God himselfe that our hearts must be taken with and it must be the person of God in his excellency and what is that his holinesse therefore hath ever the luster of the infinite holinesse of God shined upon thy heart and drawne thy heart to God and caused thee to stand and adore him and admire him and hath thy heart leaped upon the sight of the brightnesse of his holinesse and doest thou therefore love him if so thou knowest God aright and thy heart hath been aright drawn to him sayes David Psalm 119. 140. thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loves it Canst thou say so O Lord thou art pure thou art holy therefore doth thy servant love thee and thy word is holy and thy worship is holy and thy servants are holy and thy Ordinances are holy and therefore doth thy servant love all these for if the beauty of Gods holinesse be that which drawes thy heart forth in love unto God then proportionably it will be the beauty of holinesse in all holy things that will draw thy heart to love and delight in them then thou wilt looke upon his Saints as glorious in holinesse and upon his worship and word and Ordinances as glorious in holinesse and so thy heart will be drawn unto them Psalm 33. 21. you shall see there how the Saints of God did rejoyce in the Lord and had their hearts drawn to him because of his holinesse for our hearts shall rejoyce in him because we have trusted in his holy name the trusting in Gods holy name is that which makes our hearts rejoyce in him But Secondly hence the people of God should exceedingly comfort themselves in God in that they have to deal with him as a holy God that though they meet with much unholinesse in the spirits of men with whom they doe converse yet there is in God nothing but holinesse yea the very beauty and glory of holinesse Brethren it is a delightfull thing yea a rare and a blessed thing to meet with a friend that hath a cleane and a pure heart that hath no mixture in him that is holy in his ends and aymes and that hath a spirit free from guile O what rejoycing is there when one friend that hath a heart pure and cleane
it should be the content of your souls to baffle out your time in vanity and things that will not profit Well if you would have an evidence to your souls that Christ is all in all to you and shall be to all eternity take it in this if ever God hath opened thine eyes to see his glory in the mystery of the Gospell and that thy heart is taken with it and overcome by it it is an argument that thou art indeed the soul which God hath received to mercy in his Christ but sayes the Apostle 2 Cor. 4. 3. If our Gospell be hid it is hid to them that are lost There are a great many to whom the Gospell is preached and yet t is hidden to them and it is hidden to you if you speak of Christ only in a formall way and think it enough to say I hope to be saved by God in Jesus Christ but doest thou see that in the Gospell which raises thy heart with admiration and that darkens all the glory of the world doest thou see more of the glory of God shining in that one sentence God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life then thou seest in the whole frame of the creation of Heaven and Earth thou hopest thou sayest to get to Heaven but what wouldest thou doe there the work of Saints and Angels in Heaven joyned together is to magnifie God for this great work of his doe thou then begin this work here and give God his glory for the great things he hath done for the children of men The Second use should have been this If Christ be thus all in all then let us blesse God that ever we knew Christ and that the mystery of the Gospell hath been revealed to us for otherwise we had been without God in the world and what would have become of us had not this grace of God in the Gospell been revealed to us could you ever have thought of it your selves could it ever have entered into your hearts certainly no nor into the heart of any creature in Heaven or Earth therefore blessed are your eares that heare the things which you heare and blessed are your eyes that see the things which you see and know that when you come to live under the Ministry of the Gospell you enjoy the greatest mercy that ever you enjoyed since you were borne the coming under a powerfull Ministry that reveals Christ and brings the day of salvation to the soul it is no other then the fruit of the prayer of Jesus Christ for that soul compare Isaiah 49. 8. with 2 Cor. 6. 1. 2. and you shall see this Isaiah 49. 8. Thus saith the Lord in an acceptable time have I heard thee and in a day of salvation have I helped thee c. Now it is apparent by the context that this is to be understood of Christ that God the Father speakes there to his Son well what is this acceptable time and day of Salvation in which Christ is heard look 2 Cor. 6. 1. 2. in the chapter before he had told them That they were ambassadors for Christ We then as workers together with God beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vaine Now what is this grace of God t is the Ministry of the Gospell For he saith I have heard thee in a time accepted and mark how he applyes it Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation As if he should say the acceptable time and day of salvation in which God the Father hath heard Christ is now now that we the ambassadors of Christ come and open the mystery of the Gospell to you now is the time wherein God the Father hears the Son for you what a mercy is this and what an engagement upon you that when you heare any thing of the mystery of the Gospell opened to you you are to look upon it as the fruit of the prayer of Jesus Christ and so when Gods sends a faithfull Minister to any congregation t is the fruit of the prayer of Christ Christ prayes O Father that there might be an acceptable time for such a people for such a man and woman it may be they have gone on a long time in ignorance and prophanesse I but Christ hath been praying to the Father for them and when this acceptable time comes then God disposes of them that this man shall goe out of such a wicked family and shall live in a godly family or shall come to such a Sermon and there shall heare the wonderfull things of the Gospell opened to him and shall come to understand this great mystery of Gods letting himself out through Christ unto his people and there the Lord will renew him by a work of grace and bring his heart over unto himselfe this is the acceptable time when God reveales the mystery of the Gospell to any soul therefore blesse God for this Thirdly this shewes how dear Jesus Christ should be unto us O how should we delight and take contentment in him that brings the Treasuries of grace from the bosome of the Father and opens them unto us and not only opens the minde of God the father to us but comes and lets out the treasure of Gods goodnesse to us It was stopt before I but Christ he opened as it were the flood gates and lets the current of grace and mercy in upon us O how deare therefore should Christ be unto us it was the speech of that Martyr Master Lambert None but Christ none but Christ Yea when he suffered Martyrdome for Christ then none but Christ was deare to him because he saw that Christ was the way of conveyance of all good unto him as if God now make a man a meanes of conveyance of a great deal of good to a nation every man will be ready to have his eye upon that man I but there was never such a way of conveyance of good to us as Christ is therefore how should our hearts love him and prize him and rejoyce at the very thoughts of him If you have a friend and God makes that friend an instrument of mercy to you O how doth it indeare you to that friend if the husband be an instrument of good to the wife or the wife to the husband if a Minister to his people or people to their Minister and so in all relations when we can look upon others as a meanes of conveyance of Gods mercy to us it is a mighty argument to knit our hearts unto them and indeed this is the way to obtain love It may be the wife complaines she hath not love from her husband or the husband complaines he hath not love from his wife Why now be as instrumentall as you can to convey the goodnesse of God to them and this will mightily indeare and knit them to you and if it doth
misery that they shall indure to eternity to fill up every moments misery that all the misery they shall indure to eternity they shall possesse it presently and together and therefore the torment of a brute creature is infinitely short of a reasonable suppose a brute beast were in hell yet its misery would come infinitely short of a mans because a brute creature apprehends no more misery then that instant but now if a reasonable creature be in torment and knowes it shall be in it eternally by thought and discourse it can fetch into that very instant all the paine that it must endure for ever And so for happinesse those that are saved shall be infinitely happy every moment because they shall fetch in all the happinesse they shall have to eternity to make them every moment happy this is the work of reason Now if reason can make future things to be as present how much more can faith that is not only reason elevated but is a principle higher then reason as it is in dispaire a man that dispaires brings hell to himself before he is in hell and makes hell that is absent as if it were present Hence some in their dispairing have cryed out they were in hell as Francis Spira he said he was in hell and hell fire was upon him because by dispaire that which is future hath a reall kinde of subsistance in the heart of a man as if it were now present Now as dispaire brings in the reallity of Gods wrath that is future and makes it as present so faith brings in the reallity of Gods love and mercy that is to come and makes it as present and it is as genuine a work of faith to make future things present as any work of faith Now I should have shewn you in what respects faith makes things present that are to come and what is the work of faith in them But briefly it makes all things present that are to come First because it sees all things as certain as if they were already if a man have a bond of one for a hundred pounds that he is sure off he sayes here is a hundred pounds because of the certainty of it Secondly because faith lookes upon the possession of things that not only they shall be but that now there is a possession of them and that two wayes First Christ our head is gone before to prepare mansions for us and in our name to take possession of heaven therefore we have taken possession in our head and then Secondly we have the first fruits of the spirit the first fruits of the glorious things of heaven and in that regard we our selves have taken possession and therefore they are as present to faith Thirdly there is such an infinitenesse in eternity that the time that is to be before we have ful possession is not considerable therefore faith lookes upon them as present And then Fourthly faith eyes the things of heaven continually and they are therefore present because they are alwayes in the eye of faith And Fifthly the presentnesse of them is seen in this because the Saints enjoy all in God for this is the happinesse of heaven to see all glory and blessednesse in God Now faith doth something of this here faith inables us to see great things in God Now the enjoying communion with God for the present and beholding of heaven in God and seeing all things in him this must needs make a present reall subsistance of them to the soul Thus I have spoken briefly of faiths being the substance of things hoped for For the use If faith be the substance of things hoped for and gives being to things so high and glorious as the things of God are First then certainly faith it self must needs be a very substantiall thing faith is not a conceit and notion for it gives reality and substantial being to those things the world counts conceits faith is the most substantialest glorious thing in the world It is that in the working of which the power of God appeares more then in any thing in the world therefore in Ephes 1. 19 20. there are some six or seven gradations of the wonderfull power of God that appeares in the working of faith Now that must needs be an exceeding substantial thing that hath such a mighty power of God in working of it God doth not use to put forth extraordinary power for the doing of ordinary things Now when he speaks of faith he sets out his power in a glorious manner and in an extraordinary way and thereby tells us that faith hath some great matter in it And indeed faith hath much in it though it be a grace that empties us of our selves yet it is that whereby the believer is enabled to doe one of the most glorious workes that ever creature was enabled to doe as now for a poor soul to see its self in its own filth under sinne and guilt and to see the wrath of an infinite deity incensed against it to see the infinite justice of God requiring satisfaction and the infinite holinesse of God hating of sinne to have the accusations of conscience of Satan of the world and being sensible of all this yet to lay hold upon a mediator between God and man and to trust in a righteousnesse beyond it self and to tender it up to God the Father for a full attonement and satisfaction and to venture its self and eternall estate upon it and being unholy and filthy in it self yet to unite it self to God in as neer a union for the kinde of it as possibly a creature can have with the Creator next the hypostaticall union of the humane nature of Christ with the divine I say for faith to be able to doe this it is a high and most glorious work and there is an abundance of the power of God appeares in it By this how may we discover the vanity of the faith of the greatest number of people in the world who have nothing but meer emptinesse in them their very faith is only a notion and no marvell then if all things they believe be but notions they can doe nothing with their faith You say you hope and believe and trust in Gods mercy but what can you doe with your faith what reall substantiall work of faith is upon your hearts when faith comes there comes the mighty power of God and his wonderfull glory into the soul that creats as it were and gives substantiall being to the most high and glorious objects in the world therefore know that faith is not a dead slight empty thing in the soul but it hath a mighty operation upon the hearts of men and women and certainly that faith that must save a soul must have high and glorious operations in the soul Againe if faith gives a substantial being to things hoped for then we must learne to strengthen and exercise our faith in the things we hope for which of us doe not
hope for great and glorious things as I gave you a hint of them Now let faith be exercised and strengthened in these things if all those blessed things we spak of were present to the soul O how would our hearts be above the creature how should we look upon all things here below as dung filth drosse how would our thoughts be raised in the admiration of spirituall and heavenly things how would our spirits be taken up in wondering at the glory of God that appeares in these things how would our hearts be enflamed with love to God! how would our conversations be in heaven for the present what heavenly thoughts and heavenly affections would be in us in all our wayes and how would we venture to goe through fire and water for God! to doe any thing suffer any thing be any thing for God And did our faith make such glorious things as these reall and substantial to us how substantial would our duties and services be Why is it then that our duties have so much vanity in them are so empty having nothing but circumstance in them certainly brethren if our faith gives a subsistance to such blessed glorious things of eternal life it will likewise give a subsistance to all our duties and services that we shall not tender to God empty and dead services Consider this you who though you dare not omit duties yet what empty duties doe you tender to God your works should be the works of faith and faith should give them a subsistance as well as it gives your hopes therefore satisfie not your selves with that faith that will not give a subsistance to your duties and doe not think it will give a subsistance to such glorious things we speak of Thus much of the first particular Faith is the substance of things hoped for I would faine speak a little of the second It is the evidence of things not seen There are two things here First that the things of grace spiritual and heavenly things are things not seen And secondly that faith gives an evidence to those things First that grace spirituall and heavenly things are things not seen The Apostle sayes Gal. 5. 19. 22. the works of the flesh are manifest but when he comes to the workes of the spirit he sayes the workes of the spirit are these he doth not say they are manifest for indeed they are things that are not seen though t is true the operations of them appear yet there is no externall work of grace but an hypocrite may doe it therefore the workes of the spirit cannot be said to be seen either by the eye of sense or reason And then for the things of heaven sayes the Apostle 2 Cor. 2. 18. While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporall but the things which are not seen are eternall I might here discover to you how it comes to passe that spirituall and heavenly things are not seen unto sense and reason Many arguments I thought to have given to discover this I must but cull out two or three particulars The riches of a Christian in spirituall and heavenly things are like the riches of the Sea it may be outwardly you see nothing but hideous waves and a great deal of filth I but the riches are at the bottome and the riches of the earth are within and hidden they doe not appear so the riches and treasures of a Christian are things not seen they are things that are in the very bosome of God in the very heart of God Now as no man knowes the things of a man but the spirit of man so no man knowes the things of God but the spirit of God and him to whom God doth reveal them And then they are things that are beyond the principles of reason they are too high and so too glorious for such a faculty as reason is if an object be too glorious for sense it destroyes the sense so these objects are too high for reason and and therefore cannot be seen by reason And the blindnesse of man naturally is such that he cannot see these things And chiefly God so orders things in his providence that he goeth a quite contrary way as to sense and reason to that which he hath promised I say it is the way of God to hide his glorious excellencies by seeming to goe in the wayes of his providence directly crosse to what he hath promised we might shew how God hath hid from sense and reason his mercy to his own people that of Abraham is considerable there were two promises God made to Abraham the one of going out of his own country and carrying him to a land flowing with milk and honey the other that he would make his seed as the stars of heaven for multitude and that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed Mark now if Abraham had not had something to evidence that which was not seen he could never have seen the faithfulnesse of God in these promises for when he was gone out of his own country he comes to Ganaan the country promised but as soon as he was there he was ready to starve and was faine to flye to Egypt and if he had not had faith he would have fallen off and have been ready to turne back againe And then for the second promise That in his seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed Abraham goeth on seaventy yeares and his wife had no childe and it ceased to be with her after the manner of women she was old and Abrahams body dead and after he had a child he must kill him and being saved Isaac must be forty yeares before he is married and when he is married he must have no childe in twenty yeares and in the first hundred and fifty yeares after the promise there was but seaventy of all his seed yet this was the promise that in his seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed thus God seemes to goe crosse to what he promised We might instance also in Jacob God commands Jacob to returne from Laban and after that mark how God followes him First his uncle Laban followes him with thoughts to slay him Secondly In his Journey his wives nurse dyeth Thirdly his wife dyes Fourthly Dinay is ravished Fifthly his two Sons Simeon and Levy commit that villany that makes him stink in the nostrils of the people of the land Sixtly Esau comes to destroy him and all this in that journey that God commanded Jacob to take Now if Jacob had not had faith to look through these to the things that might encourage him in his way to things not seen it had been impossible he should have gone on So when God brings Israel to Canaan you know what a way they goe about through the wildernesse when they were come to Canaan a land flowing with milk and hony God
it is observable what time the Trumpet of the Jubile was to be blown Levit. 29. 9. Then shalt thou cause the Trumpet of the Jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh moneth in the your land What was this day of atonement it was the day of the publike humiliation of all the people for their sins the day of fasting and prayer appointed by God to afflict their souls is called a day of atonement and the Trumpet to proclaime the Jubile must be blown upon that very day wherein the people had been afflicting their souls for their sins therefore now if there be any soul that hath been humbled before the Lord and hath been afflicted for sin behold this is the work that is now to be done to blow the Trumpet of Jubile to such a soul and to proclaime liberty in the name of Christ unto you and as the Psalmist sayes Psalm 89. 15. Blessed is the people that know the joyfull sound It is translated by some they are blessed that know the joyful sound of the Jubile Now this Jubile having reference to our Jubile by Christ blessed are they that heare this joyful sound that we have here in the Gospel Now the first thing of this joyful sound of the Jubile and liberty we have proclaimed by Christ from the law is this thou shalt not be cast for thy eternal estate by the law the law may terrifie thee but it shall not cast thee indeed it must cast the children that are in bondage to it for their eternal estate but if thou beest a believer in Christ if thou art a childe of the free woman this is thy liberty I say thou shalt not be cast for thy eternal estate by the law we doe not love to have any businesse of great concernment to be cast by those that are rigid and severe be of good comfort O believer thou hast heard of much severity in the law but the great businesse concerning thy soul and eternal estate is above the law It hath nothing to doe with thee thou hearest many times dreadful threats of the law and these threats it may be doe often terrifie thee and thou art ready to say who can stand before this holy God but peace be to thee thou believing soul for thou art set at liberty from the law by Christ and this is the first joyful sound The second joyful sound of liberty thou hast by the Gospel is this thy law-giver is no other then he that is thine husband thou hast to deal with no other now in the matters of thy soul but with him that is thy husband and thy advocate by whom all is ruled John 1. 2. 1. If we sin we have an advocate with the Father and advocate that is thou hast to deal now with Christ thy law-giver who upon every transgression presently is thy advocate with the Father who stands up to plead for thee and to answer all accusations against thee I say he that undertakes for thee and engageth all the interest he hath in his Father for thee thou hast to deal with him for thy law-giver about thy soul and eternal estate and this is the second joyful sound thou hast of the Trumpet of the Jubile of the Gospel of the liberty thou hast by Christ Thirdly being delivered from the bondage of the law this is now thy liberty that thou art made a law to thy self I meane thus there is nothing now required of thee but it is written in thy own heart God writes his law in the tables of stone and all that is required of thee in obedience to it is written in thy heart so that thou doest not now so much yeild obedience to the law because of the condemning power of it and punishment due unto it as from a principle of love to it For we must know that we are not set free by Christ from obedience to the law we are bound to obey the law still but here is the difference we are not servile to the law we keep it freely thou keepest the law now by being a law to thy self and having all that God requires of thee in his law written in thy heart by the law of sanctity that he hath given thee that is the third joyful sound The fourth joyful sound is this by the liberty thou hast now by Christ this is thy condition that whatever thou doest though there be never so many imperfections in it yet if God can spy out but the least good thing in thee he will take notice of that and cast away all the evil if God sees but any thing of his own spirit in thee he will be sure to take notice of that If there be but one dust of Gold though it be mixt with abundance of drosse God will not loose it but will finde it out God he is not strict to mark what is done amisse by his children but he is strict to marke what is done well by them Indeed the law tells us nay a moral man will tell us that to make an action good all circumstances must concurre but the liberty of the Gospel tells us that where there is any good any grace in an action God observes and takes notice of it To give but one instance for this and it is an excellent one for this purpose Peter 1. 3. 6. the Apostle propounds Sarah as a patterne for good women Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord. Shee never calls him Lord but then when shee did it unbelievingly and yet God takes notice of that word and never mentions her unbeliefe Now Sarah was a free woman and this is the gracious dealing of God with the free woman and if thou beest a child of the free woman this is thy priviledge that God wil take notice of every good action thou doest Isai 42. 3. A bruised reed shall he not break and the smoaking flax shall he not quench The word signifies as soon as ever the flax begins to be black God will not reject it so that if there be but the least degree of good it is accepted And that is the fourth joyful sound by the Gospel The fifth joyful sound is this suppose thou canst not doe any thing yet if there be but a will a desire in thee God accepts that will for the deed Many carnal hearts please themselves with this but this is the case of those that are set at liberty by Christ perhaps thou canst not pray I but present thy self before God as the Apostle speakes and that shall be accepted of God and know if ther be any excuse to be made for thee Christ will finde it out and make it before God for thee that is the fifth joyful sound The sixt thing wherein the liberty we have by Christ consists is that though the Gospel call for obedience yet it doth it in such a sweet and loving way that it would make any heart in the world in love with it it drawes by
the cords of love 2. Cor. 5. 20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ stead be ye reconciled to God and Philip. 2. 1. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfill ye my joy c. The Gospel comes not as the law upon mount Sinai with thunder and lightning and darknesse but it comes in a milde and gentle way and by that allures and draws the soul unto it self and that is the sixt joyful sound The seventh joyful sound of the Gospel is that the Gospel and liberty of it comes as gently so with abundance of life and strength together with it it comes as the spirit is and where the spirit is there is power as the Apostle speakes I remember Luther hath this note upon Rom. 8. sayes he the law is a spiritual law because it is the law of God but it is not the law of the spirit of life t is the law of the Gospel that brings the spirit of power and life along with it there goes a vertue together with the commands of the Gospel to strengthen the sould to obedience And the Gospel gives grace and strength beyond what Adam had two wayes the grace that Adam had was onely a power to doe but there was not the will and the deed given but the grace of the Gospel it gives both the power and the will and the deed The eight joyful sound of the Gospel is that tender pity and compassion that is in God to those that are made free by it This is the difference between the sins of those that are under the law and those under the Gospel the sins of those under the law makes them hated by God but the sins of those that are under the Gospel makes them pityed by God The ninth joyful sound is this the Gospel hath a mighty efficacy to melt the heart and to resolve it into sorrow and mourning such mourning that is one of the most acceptable things to God in the world the law I told you accepts not of repentance I but the Gospel doth the teares of repentance that come from believers next to the blood of Jesus Christ are the most precious things in the world I say next to the drops of the blood of Christ the drops of thy teares coming from Evangelical repentance are most acceptable unto God That is the ninth joyful sound Tenthly another is this the Gospel it comes with healing as it hath a melting power so it hath a healing power Christ is described to come with healing in his wings water makes the lime burne the more but oyle which provokes other things to burne quenches that so it is with the oyle of the Gospel Christ was annointed for this purpose to heal thee and to quench thy lust and corruptions In Isai 57. 18. we have an excellent promise vers 17. He went on frowardly in the way of his heart marke what followes I have seen his wayes and I will heal him The eleventh joyful sound is that now being set at liberty by Christ though thou doest sin not onely against the law but against the Gospel thy sins against the Gospel shall not have power to root out any habits of grace but still the grace of the Gospel will uphold the habits of grace in thy soul It is otherwise with the law for one offence against the law doth not onely root out the habit that is contrary to that offence but all other habits also but the grace of the Gospel is such that the habits of grace within us are not touched The twelfth joyful sound is this the Gospel is so full of grace that it takes advantage of our misery this is a good argument of the tenour of the Gospel Pardon my sin O Lord for it is great strange argument of a childe of the bond-woman but a good argument of a childe of the free-woman and t is Gods argument Gen. 8. 21. I will not destroy the world againe for the imagination of mans heart is evil from his youth Thirteenthly Another joyful sound of the Gospel is this the Gospel proclaimes this liberty to us that all that is required of us may be done and accepted by and from another namely Christ Fourteenthly Further the grace of the Gospel shewes a way wherein God shall have all the wrong made him up that ever thy sins did him for suppose the Gospel had proclaimed that God were willing to pardon this were not enough as long as God stood wronged but now the Gospel doth not onely proclaime to thee that God is content to forgive thee all thy sins but it tells thee of a way how God shall have all the wrong made up that ever thou hast done him and this Son that sets thee at liberty hath undertaken it and hath done it Fifteenthly And then another joyful sound of the Gospel is this That there is a most absolute perfect righteousnesse made over to us the righteousnesse of the Son of God is thine made over to thee to be presented before the Father for thee Sixteenthly yet further there is this joyful sound of the Gospel It proclaimes admirable promises glorious and high things even the infinite Treasures of Gods grace the Son is come from the bosome of the Father and hath opened the treasures of the grace of God and hath discovered those things that were kept secret from the foundations of the world Seventeenthly And yet there is one thing more that is necessary for the full consolation of the liberty of the Gospel and this blessed Jubile that it may make a Jubile indeed in thy heart and that is this that such is the covenant of the Gospel and Christ hath so undertaken for thee that it shall never be forfeited this is the full rich and glorious grace of the Gospel that now Christ hath undertaken and engaged himself to the Father and the Father hath promised and hath engaged his own truth and mercy and faithfulnesse that this covenant shall never be forfeited yea the very condition of the covenant that is required of thee is that which Christ hath undertaken to the Father to performe in thee If perseverance be a spiritual blessing it is part of the purchase of Christ and must stand and therefore peace be to thee thou art in such a condition as thou canst not forfeit and breake the covenant the marriage covenant between thee and thy Saviour can never be dissolved I should now have shewn you a little more the blessednesse of this liberty that all this grace comes in and by the Son not from the bounty of God in general but in a higher way by the Son of God we come to be set at liberty by being made one with him who is God and man the heire of all things and so are made co-heires with him But