delights in and as to all Ordinances he values them not but as he meets with Jesus Christ in them if he finds not Christ in an Ordinance he counts the Ordinance as no Ordinance And if a Lord's Day doth pass without some communion with Christ he counts 't is no day to his Soul And the Gospel of Christ Jesus that he prizes so much it is because it is Christ's Gospel and the Truths of the Gospel that are so dear to to him that he can venture all for it is because they are Christ's Truths Now Christians examine your state and condition by this also what is it that you value your selves by Do you value your selves by your bare professions Do you value your selves by your enlargement Do you value your selves by your gifts Do you value your selves by the name that you have amongst men Those that are in Christ do not value themselves thus but by what they apprehend themselves to be in and to have received from Christ Jesus Thirteenthly Again The Soul that is interested in Christ rises and falls in its spirit according unto the sensible manifestations or withdrawings of Christ in his heart he rejoyces as Christ doth appear and he is saddened as Christ doth withdraw and his joy is coming and going as Christ is coming and going in his heart an appearance of Christ makes day in his heart and the withdrawings of Christ makes night in his Soul When there is a Curtain drawn between Christ and him then he is in the dark and then his Soul sits in sorrow then he is covered over with mourning but upon the return of Christ his Soul leaps within him and he is filled and satisfied as with marrow and fatness Isa 61.10 I will rejoyce in the Lord my Soul shall be joyful in my God Why so because Christ doth appear and puts on something of his own clothing and giveth out something of himself to me he comes as a Bridegroom decketh himself with Ornaments and makes me as his Bride and decks me with his Jewels Now this doth cause me to rejoyce in the Lord and makes me joyful in my God Days of communion and seasons of manifestation they are the festival days that his Soul enjoys and nothing causes so great a damp upon his heart as when Christ draws off This was seen in David he rises and falls in his spirit as were the manifestations or the withdrawings of Christ there Lord says he thy loving kindness is better than life Ay there was his joy and gladness And Lord says he at another time thou didst but hide thy face and I was troubled there was his sorrow for Christ's absence And says the Spouse Cant. 1.2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth By kiss here is meant some visible manifestation of Christ unto his Soul some discernable token of his love Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for thy love saies he is better than Wine Wine you know was to be given to those that were of a heavy heart by Solomons direction Proverbs 31.6 and Psal 104.15 Wine that maketh glad the heart of man and Oil to make his face to shine So as Wine it is to be given to those that are of a heavy heart it is that which is to make joyful and to exhilarate the Spirits Now saies David Lord thy love is better then Wine there is more in a little communication of Christ Jesus then in the greatest refreshment and heart chearing in the world for this love that is better then Wine is not love simply considered but the effects of love in gracicious manifestations as John 14.21 22. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him and saies Judas not Iscariot Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self unto us and not unto the world This love was a love of manifestation now saies he Let him kiss me mith the kisses of his mouth Let love be manifested and this manifesting love is better than Wine O it will make all other things dainties to him and sweets to be bitter in his Spirit this is sweet indeed and an abiding ground of joy and comfort to his Soul upon the evidence of his love and upon the sight of his face and communion with him Now Christians examine your hearts by this if that your joy be determined upon something else then upon Christ and if that the withdrawments of Christ don't cause the greatest sadness unto your Spirits it is a shround sign that you have no interest in Christ But now where Christ Jesus is lookt upon as the very joy of your Souls and you most of all joy in his presence and you are most of all troubled at his departure and at the hidings of his face it is a sign of interest O it is a sign that that Woman doth intirely love her Husband that cannot bear that he should be long absent from her and is most of all pleased in his company so it is a sign that that Soul is married unto Christ Jesus that cannot bear the withdrawments of Christ and that is never so much troubled and tossed and discomforted and afflicted in his Spirit as when Jesus Christ stands behind the Curtain and refuseth to make answer to his Soul when he is crying after him SERMON VIII Habakkuk 3.18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord I will Joy in the God of my Salvation VVE proposed to give you some notes of evidence whereby you may come to know that this Jesus is your Jesus and that you are interesced in him We have already gone through 13 particulars and shall now proceed Fourteenthly The Soul that is interested in Christ hath constraining abiding endearments in his heart unto Jesus Christ so as no discouragement shall turn him off from Christ but he will cut the way through all opposition to come to the enjoyment of him My Friends if you are really interested in Christ and have upon an interest tasted how gracious the Lord is difficulties in your way to Christ will be no difficulties so you may enjoy him the Soul in Christ will be contented to be reproached for Christ so he may enjoy him and the reproaches that he meets withal in the way of Christ will be no great matter to him so Christ and he may keep together You may see what was the Spirit of an old Testament Saint in Heb. 11.24 25. By Faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the Son of Pharaohs Daughter chusing rather to suffer affliction with the People of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season v. 26. Esteeming the reproaches of Christ greater riches then the Treasures of Egypt Persecutions won't part Christ and the real sincere Christian but though he shall be persecuted for Christ yet if Christ and he
Lord Jesus Christ and this works up his heart to the frame he is in and causeth him to move towards the Lord and makes him unsatisfied without Jesus Christ Now my Friends bring your Soul-state into an examination by this What change is there wrought in your hearts Do not eye your profession so much as your hearts Consider what work hath past upon your Souls Are you spiritually renewed Have you received Life from Christ Is there such a real spiritual Change wrought in your Souls as doth amount to a New Creature And have you received of the Divine Nature from Christ And is there a living Spring that moves your Souls in all your motions towards Christ If so it argues an Interest but if the Spring of your motion be from without it is a sign that it is artificial and not living and so it argues no Interest in Christ Jesus Secondly Interest in Christ mixeth concerns and may be discovered by reciprocal acts in a mutual Interest The Interest that the Soul hath in Christ is never alone but the Soul that is interested in Christ Jesus hath Christ Jesus interested in him so as the Interest is mutual and upon a mutual Interest concerns are mixt so as Christ and the Believer have one concern between them Christ is interested in the Believer's concerns and the Believer is interested in Christ's concerns The Believer concerns himself for Christ and Christ concerns himself for the Believer The Believer is interested in all that Christ is and in all that Christ hath and Christ is interested in all that the Believer is and in all that the Believer hath The Believer hath a room in Christ's heart and Christ hath a room in the Believer's heart The believer hath a propriety in Christ and Christ hath a propriety in the believer saies the Spouse I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine the interest is mutual Jesus is my Jesus saies the believing Soul Christ is my Christ he is my Saviour and I have an interest in his love and grace and I have an interest in his life in his power in his strength fulness and Christ he hath an interest in me also he hath an interest in my love he hath an interest in my heart and in my strength and in all that have and am and the interest being mutual mixing concerns it may be discovered by reciprocal acts that is as Christ makes over himself to the Soul so the Soul makes over himself unto Christ 1 John 4.19 We love him because he first loved us he hath set his love upon us and there will be a reciprocal acting in the Soul towards him he will also set his love upon Christ Christ indeed is the first mover and so the glory must be given unto him but the interest it is mutual and the acting is reciprocal The Lord Jesus Christ he makes over himself to the Soul to be his The Soul he accepts of Christ when tendered and that is not all but he makes a return unto Christ devoting himself unto him yielding and resigning himself unto Christ to be his to walk in his waies Ezek. 16.18 there you may see the actings of Christ towards the Soul saies he I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness yea I sware unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee saith the Lord and thou becamest mine I sware unto thee there the Lord did pass over himself to the believer Now there are reciprocal actings in the Soul towards him Deut. 26.17 Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God to walk in his waies and to keep his Statutes c. and the Lord v. 18. hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people as he hath promised here are reciprocal acts now Christian if thou wouldst make a discovery of thy state to know whether thou art interested in Christ Consider what interest Christ hath in thee what interest he hath in thy heart what a share he hath in thy affections and what a place he hath in thy life is there a kind of sacredness in thy heart for the Lord Jesus Christ in a holy resignation to him So there is in the Soul that is interested in Christ Cant. 4.12 A Garden enclosed is my Sister my Spouse a Spring shut up a Fountain sealed She is under a peculiar dedication to and reserve for her Lord whom she hath devoted her self unto and is as a Garden enclosed Now Christian if thy heart lieth in common and there be no sacredness upon it and no secret reserve of it it speaks but sadly for thee but where there is a dedication unto Christ and if you can find Christ interested in you it is an evidence that your are interested in Christ for we can never move towards Christ till he first moveth towards us We can never choose Christ until Christ hath first chosen us If that thou canst find thy heart open for Christ and towards Christ it is a clear evidence that Christs heart hath been first opened to thee all our love to Christ is but the reflection of Christs love to us Mary did not call Raboni till Christ first called Mary So as if thou findest thy heart under a dedication to Christ that Christ is thy joy and delight and hath full rule and liberty in thy heart that thy heart is opened or at least opening and there are outgoings of Soul in thee towards the Lord Jesus Christ It doth argue that thou hast an interest in him and that he hath begun to draw thee that he hath cast the skirt of his Grace over thee and made thee his Thirdly The Soul that hath an interest in Christ is brought under the ruling power of Christ so as he chooseth him to be his only Lord. That Soul hath as yet no interest in Christ that despiseth the government of Christ that resuseth obedience unto the Scepter and dominion of Jesus Christ these you know are reckoned among Christs enemies that say concerning him this man shall not reign over us you have a clear Scripture for this Isaiah 63.19 We are thine How did it appear that they were the Lords Because it was implicitely and tacitly asserted that the Lord did bear rule over them And how did it appear that they were none of Christ's and Christ none of theirs Because he did never bear rule over them neither were they called by his name So then those that slight and despise the Scepter of Christ Jesus and refuse allegiance to this glorious King of Heaven are none of his Subjects and so have no part nor interest in him but now that Soul that hath an interest in Christ is brought under the rule of Christ and Christ doth exercise and display an over-ruling power in his heart that brings him unto his foot and he is enabled to live in a professed subjection to the Scepter and Kingly power of Christ Jesus upon this interest the Soul hath in Christ his
believers shall be placed in the immediate presence of God where shall be the full display of his glory upon them to all eternity an immediate and powerful display of the glory of the Divine Majesty upon their Souls to eternity here the Saints can see the face of God but in a glass 1 Cor. 13.12 For now we see through a glass darkly it is but a dim glass that we have here to see God in but then saies he face to face Moses you know did importune the Lord that he might see his glory Exod. 33.18 saies the Lord at the 20 v. Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and live in thy present mortal state saies God thou art not able to bear my immediate glory but I will cause some of my goodness to pass before thee to satisfy thee for the present So God he makes some discoveries of himself in the glass of some Gospel-Institution but now in Heaven there is face to face in the immediate presence of the Lord ever to behold his glory These are some of those blessed things that are laid up for the Saints in Heaven that their hopes and expectations should be upon whilst they are here Appl. I shall now make a little Application of this Use 1. If that the Saints have such a Hope laid up for them in Heaven Then here you may see the difference between them and the men of this world who are taken up with the good things that are here below They cry out Who will shew us any good They look for things that are seen and that are pleasing to the flesh and they look no further O Sirs how poorly provided are the men of the world with all their hundreds and with all their thousands when they have all their good things here and they have nothing to come Do not you see that the portion of God's People is another manner of portion than the portion of the wicked in all their plenty and fulness Says the Prophet Jer. 10.16 The portion of Jacob is not like them So the portion of a Saint is not like the portion of a Sinner Though God hath not made you rich in this world and hath not given you the fulness and the honours that the men of this world do possess if you have a Hope laid up in Heaven for you hath not he dealt better by you Hagar and her Child they are packt away out of the family with a Loaf of bread and a bottle of water and that was their portion and allowance when the Inheritance was reserved for Isaac Gen. 21.14 So the Lord he gives the good things of this life unto wicked men he throws them in common unto them and they are sent away out of his presence with them and when the Loaf is done and the Bottle is empty they have nothing more to betake themselves unto then they must sit down in eternal misery Now under all the short commons that the Saints have here they have a Hope that is laid up in Heaven You see then that the portion of a Saint is not like the portion of a worldly man Use 2. See here the dignity and the honour that the Lord hath put upon all his Saints The worth of a Child of God is not known here like his Lord and Master he is despised and contemned and reproached they are men and women of scorn and contempt of sorrow and bitterness in the world but there is honour that the Lord puts upon them though the world count them the off-scouring of all things as those Worthies were of whom the world was not worthy Heb. 11.36 37 38. They had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment They were stoned they were sawn asunder were tempted were slain with the sword they wandered about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy And who were these These were Heirs of Heaven Children of the Promise these were persons that had a Hope laid up for them in Heaven and in all their disgraces and contempts here were waiting for a glory that was to be revealed Great honour hath the Lord put upon his Saints in the Hope that is laid up in Heaven for them Use 3. If that there be a Hope which the Saints have laid up for them in Heaven a Hope that will hold then all of you look into your selves and examine your Hopes and see that you be not mistaken in them There is a Hope that will stand you in no stead We read of the Hope of the Hypocrite that is like unto the giving up of the Ghost which is but as the Spider's web he shall trust to it and it shall deceive him O Sirs look well to your Hopes that you be not mistaken consider whether your Hope be laid up in Heaven whether you have cast Anchor within the Vail examine your state and condition to see how 't is with you lest at last you should miss of all this glory that the Saints hope for and in the examination of your selves look to these two things which the Apostle speaks of in the verse before the Text One is Faith and the other is Love First Look to your Faith and see whether you have made a true close with Jesus Christ True Faith it unbottoms the Soul from all things on this side Christ and founds the Soul upon Christ himself Now if you would know whether your Hope be good see whether your Faith be sound have you taken the Lord Jesus Christ for yours for your Prophet and for your Priest and for your King have you made a close with him and have you resigned up your selves unto him examine your selves about your believing Secondly Examine your selves about your Love When Jesus Christ came to put Peter upon the examination of himself says he Simon Peter lovest thou me Simon lovest thou me more than these Dost thou love me more than all the world besides that is Christ's meaning more than his Nets more than all his employments in the world So hath God and Jesus Christ the uppermost room in thy heart are they principal in thy affections are they more to thee than all the world besides dost thou love God and love Jesus Christ more than all Examine your selves by your Faith and by your Love and take heed that you do not take up in a false Hope that will deceive you Use 4. Again If that you have a Hope that is laid up in Heaven for you then comfort your selves with this Hope under all the discomfortures that you meet withal in the world The Apostle he makes this use of the point 1 Thes 4.18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words With what words That says he we shall meet the Lord in the Air and so shall be ever with him Comfort one another and comfort your own hearts with these words You meet with many losses here and
For the Lord is not slack concerning his Promises as some men count slackness but is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance Why in Christ Jesus God he is patient and God he glorifies his Patience that he might be known to be gracious Fifthly The Love and Goodness of God out of Christ is not relieving for 't is at an end The Soul may think well his love is at an end he hath no more love for me I am his enemy Man when he had sinned must turn out of Paradise he must pack away and be gone See my face no more says God But now in Christ Jesus is the Love of God revealed and the Goodness and Mercy of God revealed Sixthly The Immensity and Benignity of God out of Christ is not relieving What though God may give thee a considerable portion in the world he may fill thine hands with wealth and thy house with treasure and fill thy chest with store But all this is given in anger and displeasure there is nothing of love in it and thy fulness is but fitting thee for the slaughter There is the Curse of God upon all thy store and plenty this will not at all avail thee But now in Christ Jesus the Immensity and Benignity of God is reconciled and how doth it speak out love and grace God is an Immense God and he gives out according to his own Immensity And what then are the gifts of his Love and Grace they are such as cannot be weighed they are such as cannot be measured there is a height and depth and length and breadth in all his goodness that cannot be fathomed And all this he is to the Soul through Christ And Seventhly If you consider his Eternity out of Christ it is no way relieving That God is my enemy says the Soul and is an everlasting God he will be my enemy for ever and all that is in God will be engaged against me for ever his Justice his Wisdom and his Power and all his Attributes will be engaged against me for ever But now in Christ Jesus the Eternity of God is matter of great comfort to thee because he is an Eternal God being thy God he will be thy God for ever thy dwelling place for ever and thy portion for ever he will never depart from thee he will never leave thee he will never cease to be what he hath promised to be because he is an everlasting God and thus you may run over all the Attributes of God the glory and the fulness of them is exhibited and unfolded published and revealed by Christ Jesus unto us and hence it is that in Scripture ordinarily there is no great mention made of the mercy and kindness of God to sinners but through and with respect to Christ Jesus Eph. 1.3 Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus And hence is it said that we with open face behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2. Cor. 3.8 and 2 Cor. 4.6 God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and hence is it that Jesus Christ is said to be the brightness of the Fathers glory and the express image of his Person Heb. 1.3 So as here is another thing that is an abiding ground of joy and rejoycing for us in Christ Jesus he is the exhibiter revealer and unfolder of the fulness of all the blessed and glorious properties of Gods nature in a salvation way hence when God comes to enter into Covenant with a believer he doth not enter into Covenant with him absolutely but in and through Christ Jesus and hence is it that all the promises of the Covenant that are Gods gifts of grace to us they are yea and Amen in Christ Jesus now do but consider this you may see that Christ is one your Souls may take comfort in consider the glory of his Person as he is Mediator and consider the graciousness of his nature as he is full of love and consider how he is the exhibiter and unfolder of the fulness of all the blessed and glorious Attributes of God in a saving way And whatsoever discouragement Christian thou hast here below look up to Jesus and thou mayest see encouragement have you men that are engaged against you look up to Jesus and you may see God in him engaged to be your God Gods power engaged for you Gods mercy Gods name and Gods glory all engaged for you Thus as to the first particular what Jesus Christ is 2. We shall now proceed to speak something to the second and that is what this Jesus hath you have seen what he is we will now consider what he hath and there are but two things that I shall glance upon under this head that may be relieving to us in our looking up to Jesus 1. He hath an irresistible power 2. He hath an unexhaustible treasure 1. Jesus in whom we should rejoyce at all times hath an irresistible power A power over all flesh over all Creatures over good Angels and over bad Angels a power over men a power over every creature in the whole Creation of God Col. 2.1 Ye are compleat in him which is the head of all principalities and powers and Mat. 28.18 All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth Jesus Christ hath an absolute dominion over all Creatures as he is God and this is a dominion that he received not by gift from the Father but he hath it from the right of Creation as he is with the Father God over all blessed for evermore But there is a delegated power as I may so say a power that is committed to Christ Jesus by special grant from the Father as he is Mediator over the whole Creation of God Eph. 1.21 22. Far above all principalities and powers and might and dominions and every name that is named not only in this world but in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church Now Phil. 2.9 10 11. there you may see that he received this power from God Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name c. and 1 Cor. 15.27 For he hath put all things under his feet and Psal 8.6 Thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of thine bands Christ hath an universal power as Mediator over the whole Creation of God Now that which is for thy comfort in it is in that this power is imployed and improved 1. For the overcoming of all thine enemies And 2. For the over-ruling and filling up of all thy wants 1. This great and universal power that Christ hath received over all creatures is improved and imployed
if they had not something in reserve to mend their condition they were poorly on 't saies Christ John 16.33 In the world ye shall have tribulation The Saints have nothing but sorrows tryals temptations troubles and afflictions here But there is a glory which remains a glory that is in reserve that is to be revealed that is another manner of inheritance then what is possessed and enjoyed by them here Col. 3.4 For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God The life of the Saints is a hidden life God hath hid it from the world he hath hid their estate he hath hid their riches he hath hid their glory from the world they do not know what they are born and entitled to but when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory as for the men of the world you may see all they have for they have their All here All the portion that God intends to give them it is possest by them here and therefore they are called men which have their portion in this life Psal 17.14 And thus 't is said of the rich man in the Parable Luke 16.25 That he received his good things in this life And Abraham said Son remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things thou hadst thy portion and thy All here all the comfort and all the peace and all the honour and all the riches and all the plenty that ever God intends to bestow upon wicked men they have it here but now besides all that the Saints have here they have a hope that is laid up for them in Heaven They can look beyond and over things that are seen unto those things that are not seen that is with a carnal eye they can look from present things that are perishing unto spiritual things that are eternal 2 Cor. 4.18 Whilest we look not saies the Apostle at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal We look at those things that are not seen at the unseen things of another world and Rom. 5.2 We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God We have saies he peace with God now which is something of Heaven let down into our hearts but this is not all but we rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and Rom. 8.17 18. Being Children we are heirs heirs of God and Joynt-heirs with Christ and saies he there is a glory that shall be revealed that all the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with it 2 Tim. 4.8 There is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to all them also that love his appearing Now saies he that I have fought the good fight now that I have finished my course now that I am come to the end of my journey now that I am a going out of the world and leaving all that I have here there is a Crown of righteousness which is in reserve for me that is just ready to be set upon my head and 1 Pet. 1.3 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled which fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you It is not known what a Saint is whilest he is here in this world nor yet what a Saint hath what he hath in reversion what he is called to and what he shall be put into the possession of 1 Joh. 3.2 Beloved now are we the Sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is In speaking to this Proposition we shall shew you what Hope the Saints have laid up in Heaven for them A few particulars we shall alittle glance upon for the help of your Faith by the way But what the Hope of a Saint is which is laid up in Heaven for him is that which no man upon Earth is able to tell you The Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 2.9 That eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him And the Apostle Paul was mounted up into the third Heavens and when he came down he tells us that the glory that was there and the high and blessed enjoyments that are there they were unspeakable he was not able to utter them 2 Cor. 12.4 He was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter unspeakable words unutterable words he was not able to utter them when he was come down again He says at the 3d verse Whether he was in the body or out of the body he could not tell but when he was come down again he was not able to tell what he heard and what he saw when he was in the transport But yet there is something that the Word of Truth hath made known to us for the reviving of our spirits and the strengthening of our hope whilst we are in our Journey and some of those things I shall briefly lay before you As First In Heaven the Saints shall have the perfection of all grace Here they have grace but grace is under-age grace is in a great deal of weakness grace is mixed with a great deal of corruption that is there is a great deal of sin in the heart with grace they are not all grace grace doth not stand alone grace is not in its full strength grace here is so low and so little so born down and so often overtopt with corruption as that it can hardly be seen by another it can hardly be discerned by themselves That a Child of God is oftentimes at a loss to know what to make of his condition he knows not whether he hath any grace or no. Says Christ Matth. 14.31 O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt The same may be said to us all O ye of little faith O ye of little love O ye of little patience O ye of little humility O ye of little self-denial grace is in a great deal of weakness here grace indeed lieth under a growing promise and they that have received but a little receive it as the earnest of a great deal but they have only the earnest here But now when they come in Heaven there is perfection all their graces are put into perfect strength there will be no weakness in their love to God there will be no short comings in their submission to the will of God but in
you meet with many temptations here and you meet with many afflictions here trial upon trial one following another well under all comfort your selves with the Hope that is laid up in Heaven for you and ballance all your trials and temptations with the Hope that is in Heaven And Use 5. In the last place You that have a Hope laid up in Heaven for you see that you walk answerable to your Hope This is expected of you as the A postle tells you 1 Thes 2.12 That ye would walk worthy of God who hath called you unto his Kingdom and glory See that you walk worthy of the Hope that you have received Have you a Hope laid up in Heaven for you of such great things as we have mentioned a Hope ever to be with the Lord then carry it in a way correspondent to these Hopes in raised frames breathings and longings of heart after God The Hopes of an eternal enjoyment of God in the world to come should fill us with desires after the enjoyment of God here in those means and according to those waies in which he hath promised to let out of himself to his People You should be continually pressing after the enjoyment of God mediately who have the Hopes of the eternal enjoyment of God immediately And says the Apostle 1 Joh. 3.3 He that hath this Hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure If you have such a Hope then testifie it by laying siege to corruption and by seeking to mortifie the body of sin and death that you bear about you and correspond with your Hopes in pressing after holiness and a growth in all grace for he that hath this Hope and he that hath the Promise of these things will be perfecting Holiness in the fear of God Make it your business therefore to grow in grace and to advance in all Holiness that so you may abound and that yet more and more in the work of the Lord. Christians Freedom FROM Condemnation in Christ Romans 8.1 There is therefore now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit THIS Chapter is as one calls it the Magazine of a Christian's comfort it is the Cabinet where many Jewels are lockt up the Ship where much of his Treasure is imbarqued The Apostle gives out comfort upon comfort unto Believers here 1. In the first part of the Chapter he endeavours to comfort them under the afflictive and discouraging sense that they had of the remaining corruption that did annoy and pester them every day shewing that it was pardoned and done away out of the sight of God 2. He endeavours to comfort them under all their trials tribulations and afflictions that were many and to be many in this world and shews them that there was a weight of glory in reserve that would more than ballance them all 3. He also endeavours to comfort them against their fears of falling away or of God's casting them off shewing of them that nothing shall separate them from the love of Christ And in the close of the Chapter Faith breaks out into an high act and he is able to triumph over all in this world and all the Principalities of Hell and Darkness that were engaged against him shewing that in Christ Jesus he was and all those in his state and condition were more than Conquerors through him that had loved them In the first verse you have a heart-reviving Proposition laid down There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus In the following verses you have the confirmation of this Proposition For says he the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death In ver 9. he makes application of all unto those in Christ Jesus to whom he had written But ye says he are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be the Spirit of God dwelleth in you All you that have the Spirit of God you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit and therefore there is no condemnation to you and he proposes it in such general terms as that all who have the Spirit may take it up and make application of the comfort thereof to their own Souls The Assertion that he lays down in the Text is no condemination to them that are in Christ Jesus Or a Conclusion that is drawn from the whole Doctrine of our Justification in and by the Righteousness of Jesus Christ of which he had treated in the preceeding Chapters of the Epistle Now this he concludes from it that being accepted in Christs righteousness and being in that justified before God there is now no condemnation for us so as you have in the words 1. This assertion laid down that there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus 2. A Mark and Character given whereby we may come to know whether we are these to whom there is no condemnation that is such saies he walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit In the Proposition or assertion you may take notice 1. Of the Subjects and they are such as are in Christ 2. Of the Predicate and that is there is no Condemnation to them Some there are that make our being in Christ Jesus our vocation and they construe our Non-condemnation our justification and our walking not after the flesh but after the spirit to set forth our sanctification Condemnation it is the doom or sentence of a just and righteous Judge against an offender Now Non-condemnation it is the contrary hereunto that is to be acquitted to be discharged to have the sentence of death revoked and taken off and this is that that God doth for all those that are in Christ Jesus he revokes the sentence that was gone our against them There is in the Gospel a cancelling of our law obligation to die the Gospel that brings in life and removes the death that the law threatned and denounced against us and so the Proposition from the first part of the verse is this Doct. That all those that are in Christ they are acquitted absolved and discharged by God There is now saies he no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus No condemnation from God no condemnation in Heaven for them God the Father that is in Christ a Father of Mercies and a Father of Forgivenesses he comes and forgives and discharges them There are 3 Courts as I may so say there is the Court of Heaven there is the Court of Conscience and there are the Courts of Men. Now a Child of God may be sentenced in the two latter and yet acquitted and cleared in the former he may be condemning himself he may be drawing up charges against himself he may write nothing but bitterness against himself when he is acquitted before God he may be accused and condemned by Men Jesus Christ was so counted a Sinner numbred amongst Transgressours and yet the
in against him at last that after-reckonings may undo all No saies God when I forgive sin I do it with this resolve of grace never to remember it more and therefore Psal 103.12 As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us east and west can never meet together so the sins of a believer that are forgiven by God shall never return again never return again to his Condemnation The sense of them may return again and again for his humiliation but the sins themselves shall never return again unto Condemnation for God having once blotted them out will never more write them down therefore Rom. 11.29 The gifts and callings of God are without repentance God doth all in wisdom in righteousness and in judgment he knows what he doth he sees all before and he sees after at once and therefore there can never be any repentance in God for him to recede from his own act of grace but having once absolved the poor sinner he shall remain so to eternity Micah 7.19 Thou wilt cast their iniquities into the depth of the Sea That which is thrown in at the Havens mouth may be washt up again but now take a milstone and carry it into the vast Ocean and cast it into the depth of the Sea and it will never be seen more and thus the Lord to illustrate his own grace doth make use of such comparisons to speak to our understanding This act of his grace is done in Judgment and God will never repent of it it is an irrevocable act Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus VVE made entrance upon these words and gave you this Proposition from them Doct. That all those that are in Christ are acquitted absolved and discharged by God We have given you the properties of this discharge that God gives out unto the believer in Christ And shall now proceed Object But you will say if that believers be thus fully and irrevocably discharged by God how comes it to pass that they are the persons that God doth so much afflict in the world that they are seldom free but followed with adversity upon adversity trial upon trial and yet all their sins done away Ans I answer Though Gods People are the People of affliction and adversity ordinarily in the world yet their afflictions are not from wrath but from love and consistent with his pardoning grace you must distinguish between punishments that are satisfactory and punishments that are monitory You must distinguish between wrathful proceeds from justice and fatherly corrections and chastisements God doth afflict his people upon two accounts in the world sometimes for sin and sometimes for the trial of grace God I grant doth sometimes Chastise his people for sin that Scripture clears it to me Psal 89.30 31 32 33. If his Children forsake my law and walk not in my Judgements if they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments then will I visit their transgressions with rods and their iniquity with stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail c. Here you see God doth chastise for sin he hath reserved to himself a power so to do that if his Children break his law if they transgress and walk contrary to it they shall hear of it they shall feel the smart of his rod ay but it is such a chastisement and visitation as is consistent with the stability of his Covenant for that is not shaken thereby it is such a chastisement as is consistent with unchangeable love and grace and by these afflictions God carries on his work in them the more to humble them and to recover the Soul and to bring it to a due consideration of its self and waies in order unto a closer walking with God and sometimes again afflictions are for the exercise the trial and the improvement of grace and all that God might be the more glorified 1 Pet. 1.6 7. Now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations that the tryal of your faith being much more precious than that of Gold that perisheth may be found unto praise and honour c. Afflictions stir up patience and patience that encreaseth experience and experience hope so as under the trial grace is made to abound and much glory is brought forth to God Obj. Ay but you will say further The believer is taken near to God and forgiven but he sins again don't his renewed transgressions break his pardon Ans Renewed and repeated transgressions they are found in those whom God pardons and they may break their peace and take away the comfort of their pardon but they don't null the pardon of God Their pardon that is continued that is renewed as their transgressions are renewed so as the obligation to punishment obligation to Hell and the wrath of God that returns no more upon their head really before God it returns no more for the pardon that is given forth of God takes it off but the sense of the pardon and all the comforts of the pardon may be lost for a considerable while This seems clear to me from that of the Prophet 2 Sam. 12.13 David said unto Nathan I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David The Lord also hath put away thy sin thou shalt not die God had blotted out the sin of David and yet if you look into the 51 Psalm you will find there that the comfort of his pardon was gone he was not able to read it nor to make Faith nor to take any joy from it O says he Verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness That seems to be a strange voice in his ears the voice of joy and gladness that he had so often heard from the Lord he was a stranger to O! says he that I could hear that voice again Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit V. 12. The joy of his pardon was out of sight and till God returned again to him with fresh consolations and till the Comforter came again to visit him he was not able to apply a Promise nor to take in the comfort of his pardon although the Prophet had told him that God had pardoned him But the obligation to condemnation that doth not return For says the Apostle 1 Joh. 2.1 If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous Christ lieth there in Heaven to secure the state of a Believer and he keeps up the torrent and stream of God's love to the Soul though the manifestations of that love are under a soveraign over-rule and dispose But 3. We proposed to give you the ground upon which God doth proceed in the giving out of this discharge unto those that are in Christ And that is the merits and the satisfaction the propitiation and atonement