me O most Blessed and Glorious TRINITY Father Son and H. Spirit Thy favor is my Life and thy Loving kindness is better then Life Thy Will should have been my Rule thy word my Law thy Glory my end to please thee my principal Business and to injoy thy Love and Presence my ultimate Felicity But I am one of thy revolted Creatures who have lost thine Image and rebell'd against thy Law slighted thy Authority and rejected thy Grace and deserve to be cast out of thy sight and banisht from thy Presence for ever Nevertheless O most mercifull God and Father upon thy gracious invitation and call I now return to thee my rightfull Lord acknowledging thee as my Allmighty Wise and Bountifull Creator my absolute Owner my Righteous Governour my End my Happiness and Chief Good. I now accept thine offer'd Mercy I now submit to the Scepter of thy Grace and give up my self to Thee as my King and my God to rule and sanctifie me now and be my Everlasting Portion I desire to be no longer my own but Thine to whom of right I belong and ought to be devoted I yeild my self to Thee O my Lord Accept and possess that which is thine own I lay my self at thy Foot at all Times and in all Conditions to be at thy dispose and in every thing to acquiesce in thy Good Pleasure Deliberately resolving with unfeigned and free consent of my Will to walk before Thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of my Life Hereby I consecrate and devote my self to be thy perpetual avowed Servant Lord I am thy servant I am thy servant the Son of thine Hand maid Tho other Lords have had dominion over me I will now make mention of thy Name and of thy Righteousness only by Jesus Christ O Blessed Jesus my All sufficient Saviour Thy dying Love infinite Condescention and matchless Grace hath at last overcome me and constrain'd me to resolve to be wholly Thine who hast redeem'd and bought me with thy most precious Bloud I now acknowledge and own Thee as my Lord and my Jesus my Prophet Priest and King my Sacrifice Surety and Ransom to satisfie for my sins and reconcile me unto God to instruct me in his will and teach me the Mysteries of his Kingdom and the way to the Father How often hast thou open'd thine arms and called me yea beseecht me to come unto thee and accept of Life but I refused to come I adore thy mercifull Condescention that yet thou wilt receive me on such easy Terms O thou Lord of life and glory now accept of an unworthy helpless Sinner who flies to Thee as his only Refuge and Hope who is convinc't that None but Christ None but Christ can make his Peace with God and save from wrath come I acknowledge thy Title to me and my obedience and to all I have by dying for me I desire to take thy yoke upon me for it is Easy and thy Burden which is Light. I desire to be intirely and for ever thine in an Everlasting Covenant never to be broken to take up the Crosse and follow thee whither so ever thou shalt lead me thro the straight Gate and the narrow way I will reserve no Lust refuse no Labor grudge at no suffering stick at no difficulty so I may please and honour thee and continue in thy Love. Os hed abroad more of thy Love in my Heart to make all Things easy for his sake who hath loved me and washed me from my Sins in his own Bloud O God the Holy Ghost I acknowledg Thee as my Great Teacher and Sanctifier and give up my self to Thee as the Author of all saving Knowledg and Holiness By Thee I have been convinc't of my Sin against the Law of God and the Gospel of Christ and of my necessity of his merit satisfaction and Righteousness to Justifie my guilty Soul by procuring the Forgiveness of Sin and my acceptance with God and of the freeness of his Love the Riches and all sufficiency of his Grace towards all who come unto God by Him. I adore Thee O most Blessed Spirit as proceeding and sent from the Father and the Son to renew all the Powers of my Soul and restore the divine Image there to enlighten my mind to know and receive the Truth as it is in Jesus and purifie my Heart and to sanctifie all the Members of my Body and make them Instruments of Righteousness unto Holiness which before were servants unto Sin and gradually to deliver me from the power the defilement and abode of Sin as from the Guilt and Punishment by the bloud of Jesus And as the Witness of God to the Truth of the H. Scriptures and as the Great Paraclete to comfort and establish the Hearts of Belivers sealing them up to the day of Redemption and giving them the Earnest of the Heavenly Inheritance O Blessed Spirit be thou my witness that tho I have violated the Law of God and defac't his Image and formerly undervalu'd the Love of Christ and the Grace of the Gospell yet by thine aid I now accept what I have so long neglected and thankfully devote my self hence forward to be the Lords in a Covenant Relation But fearing and distrusting my self I give up my self entirely to the conduct of thy Grace depending upon it for my establishment and perseverance O form my Heart into an obediential Frame that in every thing I may endeavor to answer the Ends and Obligations of this Devoted State. To this One God I have once againe dedicated and resign'd my self to serve and please and honour Thee in Thought Word and Act to the last moment of my Life in the Performance of all Duties even those whic I have been most averse from in the mortification of every Lust and the forsaking of every Sin even those which I was once most addicted to Resolving deliberately to allow my self in nothing great or little secret or open which I shall know or believe to be contrary to thy holy will making it my business to be fruitfull in good works to the praise of my Redeemer waiting in the use of all his apointed means for higher measures of Grace and Holiness to be more victorious over inward Lusts and outward temptations still pressing towards the mark for the prize of my high and holy Calling even eternal Life I call Heaven and Earth O Lord to witness this day that I own and avow this to be my Mind and the setled Prevailing Purpose of my Soul. This I againe ratifie and confirm with out any Clauses or Exceptions So help me O my God. Glory be to God the Father God the Son and God the H. Spirit XXIX Prastical and Consolatory Reflexions on the preceding Self-dedication or Covenant with God. I Have this day solemnly avouched the Lord to be my God Deut. 6. c. 17.18 to walk in his ways therby to fortifie my Resolutions that I and my House and All that I can
find every year that the Day dies into night the summer into winter and herbs and plants lose their beauty and verdure and shed their blossoms may I not hence learn to consider and prepare for my own approaching Change In prosperity health and ease and life to expect and make provision for trouble sickness paine and Death as every wise man in summer would do for winter and work with all my might while it is called to day while the Light continues because the night of darkness is at hand when none can work VIII Of Evills to be Expected in this Year the wisdom and mercy of God in concealing from us the knowledg of Future Events NOt only few and uncertaine but Evill likewise are the days of the years of my Life may every one say with the Patriarch Jacob. A sufficient portion of evil for every year may well be expected when our Lord tells us there is a certaine measure alloted for every day Sufficient to the day is the evil of it Not only is our Life short but troublesome full of vexatious mixtures We can not sing a Requiem to our souls when one Great Calamity is past for we know not in this Region of Changes but another a greater may be at hand one messenger of ill news may succeed and out doe another as it was with Job We come weeping into the world in a most helpless forloen state and if we escape the dangers of Infancy and the casualties of childhood and after that out live the snares follies of youth we are tost upon the Pikes of Time and Chance and sadden and disquiet our selvs with a thousand griefs and sorrows by inevitable and unexpected occasions tho we increas the number of needless Cares and Fears and discontents till at length a sudden stroke arrests us we fetch a groan and dye Who can give a Catalogue of the Afflictions and Calamities Perplexities and Disapointments incumbrances crosses and Evill accidents of Humane Life by means whereof millions are disconsolate and sad mourn and complaine weep and sigh and from day to day are fed with the Bread of Affliction and the water of Adversity Not to mention mens fluctuating restless thoughts of Heart importunate desires bafled projects defeated Purposes which suppose or bring vexation A good share of these is not to be auoided and yet very few can be particularly fore seen who could prognosticate a year agoe the Evills which have happened since publick and private personal and relative to the Countries Citties Families and persons we are concerned for and who can certainly foretell the Events of this insueing year God hath intermixt Good and Evill in the Life of Man he hath set Prosperity against Adversity saith Solomon to the end that man should find nothing after him 7. Eccles 14. that he may not know what shall come next wither a Prosperous or a Calamitous Event What a change may be made in a year by the meer Casualty of humane Events by the Treachery of friends or the malice of Enemies or the more immediate hand of God We know not what shall be on the morrow much less what a twelve moneth may produce Because what ever may be disposed to happen from natural causes or Civil counsels may be altered by a perticular decree of Providence Prepare me Lord and every of those in whose Felicity I more especially take part for all the Calamities and Sorrows thine Infinite Wisdom shall think fit to exercize us with this following year and by thy mercifull Providence and gracious Conduct cause them to work for Good Furnishing us with suitable strength and wisdom to acquiesce in thy good pleasure and obey they Will. I thank thee O Heavenly Father that thou hast reserved the knowledg of future Times and Seasons to thy self and hid Events from men Least by considering them certaine we should presume in case they are Good or should despairingly afflict our selves by foreseeing the Evill we know to be inevitable Did we certainly foreknow the Good that would befall us we should not Trust in thee to bring it to pass or heartily implore thy Care and conduct Did we forsee the Evills we shall suffer before they overtake us we should be overwhelmed with diffidence and Despair Many a Mother who rejoiceth at the Birth of a son would mourn to foresee what a man what a Son he will prove Such an increas of knowledg would increas our sorrow such a Prescience would transport and discompose us by unseasonable Joys and Sorrows born out of Time make us Remiss in our Duty to thee and weaken our Dependance on thine unerring Wisdom Truth and Power IX The Supposition of dying this Year should be improved the consequence of redeeming time and providing for Eternity farther prest The Folly of Elder persons is condemned and checkt from the Example of Children 'T is adviseable to familiarize the thoughts of Death and to imagine before hand what apprehensions of things we shall then have THe longest Life is but a day multiplied and who can certifie or assure me which will be my last He only who was God as well as man could say Mine Hour is not yet come Is all my Life given me to resolue this Question Whither I shall be in Heaven or Hell for ever And have I any time to lose and squander away as superfluous have I any more then needs 'T is no impossible or unreasonable supposition to make that I may dye this year Let me admit that thought and imagine my self on a bed of sickness wearied with paine and ready to leave this world the Physitians gone despairing of my recovery my friends about me weeping and all things in a doleful melancholy posture suited to such a state feeling within my self the presages of Death expecting the final stroke in an hour or two more What is then the value of sensual Pleasures can I then relish or savor them what then is Honour to me who shall never goe abroad more to receive it till carried to my grave will it then comfort me to have lived in Reputation and Applause if my Heart was not humble under it and the Honour of God promoted by it can Riches and a great estate support me when I am just packing up for a removal to the other world in that hour will it be any satisfaction to have made a stir and noise for a few years upon Earth to be talkt of for a while longer then other men are thes the things my dying thoughts will be most concerned to reflect on Thes dignities pleasures and possessions offerd to a dying man would rather opraid then tempt him they come too late as a Princes pardon to a man whose head is off Dye I must and appear before my Judge to answer for all that I have received and done in the body Fool that I was shall I then too justly say to my self not to have considered this much sooner not to have provided for
humble preparation for it with the greatest strictness and severity of Life during all that Time it were infinitely less then to spend an hour or two in preparing for the greatest Dignity and Imploy on Earth which can be injoyed but for a few years at longest For to these an hour hath some proportion but an hundred or thousand years have none with an Everlasting Duration Therefore to consider how many years of toyl and pains and diligence many bestow on the probable prospect of some Temporal Good should reprove and shame my negligence and remisness in providing for Eternity XIX The Punishments of the Damned considered as intolerable and Everlasting and as unquestionably certaine What the Reflexion upon Hell-Torments may and ought to teach us THe Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom the entrance into the way of Life as it is ordinarily one of the first means to awaken the soul to a serious concern for Eternity let me therefore first consider the Endless Punishment of the wicked in the other world before I enter upon the Ravishing Prospect of the Blessedness of Heaven promised to the Righteous And with what serious trembling dâ—â—â—ld I think of the Terrors of 〈◊〉 Everlasting Destruction which 〈◊〉 Lord shall be revealed from Heaven to render to All who know not God and obey not the Gospel When the wicked shall goe away into Everlasting Punishment as the righteous into Life Eternal The Dreadfulness of that Punnishment the endless Duration of it joyn'd to the consideration of its unquestionable Certainty deserves the most attenitve Thoughts of every man who loves his soul and would manifest he doth so by securing his greatest Interest The description of that misery under insupportable and Eternal Torments demands more then a transient view because no words can sufficiently express the Horror of that State. What is it o my soul to be banisht from the Blessed Sight and Presence of God for ever and all the Impressions of his holy Image and likeness and to know that this is the fruit of my own choice that I lost it by my own Fault and Folly that I deserved to lose it that the sentence is as Just as it is irrevocable Who can fully imagine the dismal Despair of a condemned Sinner under this anguish of a Guilty self-accusing Mind while under the stroke of God's Allmighty revenging Justice with a distincter view and knowledg then now of God and his Excellencies of himself and his own vileness and malignity which must greatly increas his rage and Torment add to this his being inraged by the accusations and cries of wicked Acquaintance and Relations and his being mockt and insulted over and tortured by malicious damned Spirits with a clear understanding of that glorious Felicity he despised refused and forfeited with a deep sense of his former Madness in preferring the sinfull Pleasures and Advantages of this world and this after so many warnings and invitations and calls from God to have prevented it never to be diverted one moment from the consideration sense and feeling of his misery and the duration of it to have all his Passions let loose with the greatest violence and nothing to satisfie them and continually to preserve an Hell of wickedness and Horror in him self and to indure the reproaches convictions regrets stinging Reflexions of Conscience the Gnawing worm which shall never dye who can conceive the unspeakable misery of such an accursed State So great Calamity yet Everlasting How long doth one Day or Night now seem to a man under some violent racking Paine in any one part of his body tho he be under the means for cure and have his friends about him to pitty comfort and assist him with the hopes of ease in a little while and the certaine knowledg that it cannot last long Vide Mr. Baxters Saints Rest part 2. chap. 4. Oh what then will be the dismal state of tormented sinners in Hell how infinitely must it exceed the most Terrible Idea we can now frame of it to languish out a long Eternity in that Gulph of Darkness and Despair under unpitied intolerable Torments without Intermission or hope of End Miseries without measure Judgment without Mercy Pains and sorrows intense and yet Endless without the least succour or relief relaxation or remedy diminution or change without a drop of Comfort without a moments Rest without the smallest beam of Light or the least glimmering of Hope Perpetually dying and never dead under unsufferable Wrath which yet will be for ever Wrath to come seeking Death and never able to find it but Eternally to indure all that Calamity which the Conjunction of Death and Life together can render dreadfull what Groans and Cries will these Thoughts and these sufferings wring from their Hearts But no Refuge will then be found no excuses admitted no prayers no intreaties will then prevail no Tears move pitty He that made them will show them no mercy and he that formed them will show them no favor When once delivered over to that prison of God's wrath they shall no longer be prisoners of Hope Judgment shall be brought forth unto final victory and the Redemption of the soul shall cease for ever Might we but suppose that one of those Miserable Souls in the place of Torment did let fall but one Tear in an hundred thousand years and if after he had by this means wept so much as that his Tears would equall the drops of water in the whole Sea his Misery should have an end this were Hope this were Comfort But alas after that period his Misery will be as far from an end as when he first began to feel it It will then be but the Beginning of sorrows which will never never never End. Think o my Soul that this is the Portion of the Sinners Cup this is the wages of Sin and the certaine doom of final Impenitence and unbelief 'T is no politick Cheat or melancholy dream but the express repeated word of God and Christ the holy Prophets and Apostles and the voice of Reason too supposing but the Immortality of the soul and the power of self-Reflexion the punishment of Sinners must needs be Everlasting as carrying continually an Hell within them unless God work a miracle to prevent it which there is no ground to imagine he will or shadow of reason why he should God hath pawn'd his Truth and his Eternity Deut. 32. c. 40 41. to execute this sentence of his threatned wrath He is a God of infinite mercy 't is true but he hath told us how far his Mercy shall extend He will not exercise one Attribute to the dishonor and the disparagement of the rest That obstinate and impenitent Sinners shall thus perish is not because the Goodness and mercy of God are not infinite but because his other Perfections are so viz. His Holiness Justice Truth Soveraignty and wisdom Was it wisdom and goodness to annex such a penalty to the
by the glory of his Father be meant that of the Divinity as the Original and Author of all things in nature as Creator of the World and by the Glory of his holy Angels be understood that of the Legal administration the Law being given by the disposition of Angels and by his own Glory that of the Gospel as he is the Messiah that in the Glory of all these he shall come to Judgment we have a summary account of the three different Revelations which God hath made of himself to mankind by the Light of Nature that of the Law and the more manifest one of the Gospel According to which every man is to be judged at the last day Tho we cannot distinctly tell what or how great our Lord's Glory will then be we may be certaine it will be suitable to the dignity of his Royal person suitable to the grandeur of his Fathers Majesty with the splendor of a Triumphant Prince who is Heir of all Things and hath all power in Heaven and in Earth committed to him the Great Lord of both Worlds Head of Angels an men and suitable to his glorious office as Mediator and the apointed Judge of Quick and Dead If at his Transfiguration his Face shone and his Rayment was white and glittering how much more splendid will his last Appearance be When the Bodies of his Saints shall be seven times brighter then the lustre of the Sun and if his Members shall then be so glorious how transcendently more so will their Head their Lord appear If the delivery and promulgation of the Law on Mount Sinai was accompanied with such circumstances of terrible Majesty how much more may we suppose the Great Assize will be attended with When he comes to judge for the violation of the Law and the contempt of the Gospel And if even Moses did then exceedingly quake and fear what will be the consternation and trembling of the wicked World at the Coming of Christ When he shall be revealed from Heaven in flaming Fire with a glorious retinue of his mighty Angels as so many bright Stars about the more glorious Sun of Rightousness The lights of Heaven shall be Ecclipst the visible Sun shall vail its blushing head as infinitely out shone the present glory of the Creation be all benighted by reason of his transcendent Brightness Yea the Heavens shall be wrapt up as a scrol the Elements melt away with a mighty noise the Earth and all its works be burnt up and the whole universe as one great Bonefire to adorn the Triumph of our Lords Appearance And this ushered in by the voice of an Archangel proclaiming his approach and the voice of God supplying the use of a Trumpet to raise the Dead and possess mankind with an awefull Reverence of their Judge Thus in triumph as a Conqueror and a Judge shall he come againe who once appear'd in the form of a Servant to be judged and condemn'd by Man. Then he was called King in scorn now he will appear as much above all Earthly and Humane Greatness as once he stoopt for our sakes beneath it Then the Contempt of Nations and no way esteem'd Desireable when he came from the womb of his Virgin-Mother now the Terror of the World when he comes againe from the right hand of his Father No more to be subject to a state of Meaness but to render vengeance to all 2 Thess 1. chap. who know not God and obey not the Gospell and to be glorified in his Saints and admired in and by all them that believe The Holy Scripture doth frequently and expressly assure us that he will thus come againe and for these ends He is exalted and gone to Heaven as the Head of his Church and the King of Glory and when he foretold his Ascension he gave a promise of his Return The Heavens are to containe him till the Restitution of all things By his Providence and by the H. Spirit he now carries on the designs of his Death and when these are accomplisht he will appear to the Joy of Believers and the confusion of the Wicked He is entred as our Forerunner Heb. 19 â—â— 10. c within the vail to prepare Mansions and to take possession for us and will not allways leave us in this dark and defiling World. He knoweth our sorrows and heareth our prayers and bottles our Tears takes notice of our groans and in all our Afflictions he is afflicted Being reconciled by his Death at his first Coming we shall be saved by his Life since he lives to make good his word of coming againe How confortable is the news of it how joyfull will be the meeting to such as expect and prepare to see him When the Sea and the Graves shall yeild up their Dead and all the Prisoners of Hope lift up their heads arise goe up and meet the Lord in the Air and ascend with him to the Heavenly Glory But who can express how dismal a Sight this will be to the secure and the Impenitent to all who dye in their Sins to behold their Judge who formerly offered to be their Saviour upon a glorious Throne and all the Children of Adam summon'd to his Tribunal to have nothing to answer against his charge and no way to escape his condemning sentence they despised him as a Lamb offer'd in Sacrifice to take away the sins of the World but shall no longer do so when he comes as the Lion of the tribe of Juda to devour and destroy the Enemies of his Crosse Now they will not own him for their Lord but shall then find he is so by the vengeance he will execute As a Jesus as a Saviour they rejected him making light of his Salvation despising his Mercy refusing his Grace but the neglected Gospell will then be a more killing Letter then the Law. He who by his Ambassadors doth now intreat Sinners to be reconciled will then be as deaf to their Intreaties as they have been to his Because they would not turn at his Reproof hearken to the call of his word and obey its voice they must hear the sentence of Condemnation and feel the Execution of it wither they will or no. Yea the bloud of his Crosse will upbraid accuse and plead against them And what ever foolish Evasions they now make to continue in security they shall then be speechless and self-condemned Nothing will be able to hide them from the amazing Presence of their Judge or from the Wrath of the Lamb. Who will inflict an intolerable and righteous vengeance an Everlasting Destruction upon all the Ignorant and ungodly World. The Greatest the Stoutest the boldest of them shall then be humbled and stand before Christ's Tribunal upon an equal Level with the meanest seized with horror filled with Guilt Anguish and Despair and find to their Eternal Confusion that the Judge is no respecter of Persons but every man shall receive according to his wâ—rks The Mighty shall not be
spared for his Greatness nor the mean man for his Poverty O Fool o Wretch that I am shall many then say who now brave it out in Pride and vanity unconcern'd about a future Judgment not to be persuaded by the Terrors of the Lord which I was so often warn'd and foretold of what refuge of Hope can I now flye to what can I say for my self what can I doe to escape to dye to exist no longer I would have no compassion on my own Soul I would not so much as consider its Danger I shall now find none from Christ I can expect none his Mercy is gone and gone for ever I am lost undone tormented and must Eternally be so O the amazement Horror and Despair of self condemned Sinners in that day of Vengence O my Soul what is there of greater Consequence or of greater Certainty from the word of God then that I must appear to Judgment when Christ shall come againe Lord teach me to believe it firmly to consider it often to lay it seriously to Heart to act under the influence and power of it as long as I live that at the Great Resurrection from the Dead I may lift up my head with a joyfull Hope and find the Judge to be my Friend my Advocate my Jesus and not my Enemy and Destroyer XXIII Meditations of the Glory of Christ in his Glorifyed Saints and of the thankfull Admiration of Believers when He shall come againe from Heaven which shall be continued to all ETERNITY THe Terror of our Lords Appearance to Judgment cannot be greater to the wicked then the comfort and Joy it will be to the Saints When they shall see him whom their Souls love ascend with him to Heaven and be wellcom'd according to his promise with those indearing words Matt. 25. Come the Blessed Children of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world 'T was for your sakes I assumed flesh lived on Earth and dyed on the crosse to purchase this Glorious Kingdom for you which I now come to give you the Possession of 'T was for this I prayed and suffered on Earth for this I interceded ever since in Heaven I was heard in that prayer accepted in those sufferings and my Intercession granted that where I am you may be also to behold my Glory Come therefore Good and Faithfull Servants enter into your Lords Joy. O what Ravishing words will thees be what an Extasy of Love and kindness is implied in them What matter of Rejoycing may it now give me to admit the Hope that my Blessed Saviout will say such words as these to me and bid me stand upon his Right Hand among his sheep O what an exulting frame of soul will such Expressions raise how shall all my doubts and fears and sorrows be scatter'd in a moment and cease for ever O Glorious Day when my Blessed Lord shall thus publickly acknowledg me for his own and plead my cause against all the accusations of Satan and the malicious Calumnies of all his Instruments when I shall be able to say of all my Sins and sufferings as my Lord upon the crosse It is Finished It is Finished My warfare being accomplisht being more then Conqueror over all thro him who loved me and dyed for me and now is come to wipe away all Tears from mine Eyes as it were with the Napkin that was bound about his Head when laid in the Grave all being the fruit of his Meritorious Death Then shall I have nothing more to fear or wish or beg I shall offend provoke and dishonour him no more or by my folly and scandal discredit his holy name and Gospell But by consummate Holiness be fitted to Rejoyce in his Presence Love and celebrate his Praise for ever I shall never more lament his Absence or complaine of his Anger never see a cloud on his Face or a Frown in his look any more Now I must wait and pray struggle and strive labor and suffer desire and expect believe and hope c. but then perfect Rest and Holiness love and joy vision and fruition bliss and glory unutterable and everlasting shall take place All the Attributes of God all the wonderfull Perfections of Christ will then be glorifyed in Believers and admired by them His invariable Truth will then be honoured which they trusted to and waited for for now they shall know and find they did not wait in vaine they hoped in his word and ventured their Salvation upon it and now they shall receive the End of their Faith and Hope infinitely beyond what they ever expected or believed The Glory of Divine Wisdom will then appear when the Constitution Administration and design of the Mediators Kingdom shall be fully known in the admirable order and beauty of every part of it with the exact tendency of all the particulars to one Glorious end and the whole undertaking crownd with so blessed an issue What is now a mystery even to Believers themselvs and hath a vail upon it shall then no longer be so all the riddles of Gods Graee and Providence be plainly understood O how transporting a view must it needs be when the Glory of all the divine Attributes which God intended to accomplish in and by Christ shall be manifest to his Redemed Saints The whole method of our Salvation will then appear to be the fruit of unscearchable Wisdom when we shall all see the reality and substance and intire scheme of all that God designed in and by him all that was typified of him and foretold concerning him in the old Testament How will it all appear to be the Manifold Wisdom of God. Ephes 3. c. 10. As in uniting Heaven and Earth together in the Person of our Mediator fullfilling the Truth of a terrible Threatning in his death by the same way accomplishing many gracious Promises Vid. Mr. Charnock of the Div. Attrib Wisdom Satisfying Justice and at the same time showing Mercy manifesting infinite Grace and kindness by shedding of bloud conquering Death by dying and disarming the Law by obedience to it c. afterwards subduing the world to the Faith of the Gospel by the foolishness of preaching making men wise to Salvation by the knowledg of the Crosse and spreading that Faith the more by all the opposition made against it c. how wonderfully will a clear view of these things discover and glorifie the Wisdom of God. But the Love and Grace of Christ the infinite Goodness and Compassion of God will then be magnified in an especial manner What but Soveraine Love in the whole Contrivance and Counsell of God about our Redemption what admirable Love and Grace in the whole management of that design what unparrallel'd kindness in the accomplishment of it by the sacrifice of the son of God and how glorious will this Love appear when he shall come againe to give us the full Harvest of all his Purchase with what admiring