of Hell is unspeakably great methinks you should break forth into holy admirations of the grace and love of God and say O Lord I was indebted unto thee in the debt of sin and of that I am discharged and freed and now I am indebted in the debt of thankfulness unto thee O the riches of this grace O the greatness of this love and favour Was ever love like this Was any kindness ever comparable to the kindness and the bounty which thou hast shewed to my soul O Lord I am forced to cry out I never had and never can have in heaven or in earth such another friend as thou hast been and art unto my soul But alas O Lord I find my heart exceeding dull and dead a smaller kindness from a fellow-creature would have greatly affected me and have made deep impressions on my heart but by sad experience and to the grieving of my Soul I find I am too too stupid and unsensible of this manifest and matchless mercy which thou hast freely vouchsafed unto me I believe that there are many now in the hellish prison as certainly as if I saw them with mine eyes where I also might have been and I see others in this world still Captives to the Devil fast bound in the cords and chains of lust and sin that are going to the place of that cursed damned crew of lost souls eternally separated from the enjoyment of thy blessed Majesty amongst whom thou hast given me good hope through grace I shall never be thou shewest mercy unto me while thou pourest out thy wrath and fury upon them Oh whence is this and how comes this to pass why am I poor silly wretch partaker of this love what didst thou see in me but filth and sin that might have provoked thee to deal with me as thou hast done with them surely Lord thou hadst mercy on me because thou wouldst have mercy on me when I did lye in my blood and bonds in my fetters and my chains of sin and guilt thou didst pass by me but didst not pass me by but shewedst grace and goodness to me When thy Servant and Apostle Peter was in prison bound with chains and the keepers before the door kept the prison thou didst send thine Angel who came upon him and a light shined in the prison and he said unto him arise up quickly and his chains fell off from his hands but when I was in a worser case and sorer condition having fetters on my Soul and darkness in my understanding and the Devil the keeper of the prison stood to watch me to keep me in his strong hold thou didst send thy Son for an Angel could not do it to knock off thy chains wherewith I was held and thy Spirit came upon me and a light did shine into my mind and he said Arise up quickly and the chains fell off from my Soul all this thou didst for me a Captive and a Prisoner and it was long before I knew that it was true which was done for me but while I think and muse hereon how I was bound and now am set at liberty how I was inthralled and in great distress and thou hast enlarged me I begin to find and feel my love to kindle in my breast and my heart to be enlarged with thy praise and as thy Apostle did sit in the prison and sing so shall my soul being brought forth and delivered from captivity magnifie thy name Come then awake O my soul triumph and sing be glad and greatly rejoice since thy loving holy Blessed Lord hath opened the Prison-doors and brought thee forth into the liberty of the Sons of God Oh! Bless the Lord O my soul and and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies To quicken your hearts to real thankfulness for deliverance from this Bondage and captivity dwell in your thoughts upon these Particulars following 1. The greatness of your Debt for which you were exposed to everlasting imprisonment Consider here the kinds of your sins the number and the aggravations of them 2. Work upon your thoughts your utter inability and incapacity to make payment of your Debt for want of which you might have been a Prisoner for ever You could not say to God as the servant did to his fellow-servant that demanded his Debt of him Have patience with me and I will pay thee all Mat. 18. 29. There was a double Debt that you owed unto God one as a reasonable creature the other as an unreasonable sinner the first was the debt of obedience required by the Law the other the debt of punishment for the transgression of the Law and you could have paid neither of them Not the debt of perfect and perpetual Obedience First because all that you can do is due for the present and that which is due for the present will not be accepted as payment for that which is past as if a Tenant owe for Rent due many quarters past the payment of what is the rent of the last quarter will not satisfie for all that was due before Secondly all that you could do is less than what you ought to do and in strict justice a part of payment is not accepted for the whole every living man comes far short of his duty to God and runs more and more in arrears with God and therefore so far from paying that we run daily behind hand Thirdly man in bondage had not the least mite of that kind which the Law requireth and accepts to wit sinless spotless and perfect Obedience without mixture of sin pure gold without any dross and if the Prisoner offer for his liberty money that is not current the Creditor may refuse it and keep him in the Prison still And as you could not pay the debt of obedience to the Law so neither could you satisfie for the debt of punishment due to you for your disobedience thereunto the payment or satisfaction must be equivalent to the wrong that was done God that was offended is an infinite God therefore that which satisfieth that the Offender might be free must be something of an infinite value which no meer man had to give to God and therefore those Prisoners that are not set free by Christ shall be always paying but can never fully pay satisfying but can never fully satisfie and therefore such shall never be released but must lie in Prison for ever Thirdly weigh also this satisfaction must be made or the Prisoner never have his liberty God might and did demand his Debt When Adam sinned Hue and Cry was made after the Offender Adam Where art thou was apprehended and arraigned at the Bar What hast thou done Hast thou eaten of the fruit of the Tree of which I commanded that thou shouldst
part then thy soul and hope shall part and thou shalt lose both hope and soul together The parting of the soul and body is a sad parting but the parting of the soul and hope is a sadder parting and when thy soul hath parted with its hopes at death hope shall never return again thy soul parted from thy body shall return to it again but not thy hope unto thy soul thy body falls and shall rise again but there shall never be a resurrection of thy hope Some translate these words thus and their hopes shall perish at the expiration of the soul The sinner shall breath out his soul and hope at once These words The giving up of the Ghost are but two words in the Hebrew Text and the one signifies not only the soul but also the breath or a puffe of wind and the other signifyeth to blow which Imports that the hope of wicked men the Devils captives shall be but as puffe of wind or as the blast of a mans mouth and one of the words doth signifie sometimes to grieve and to be sad so the hope of these captives shall end in sorrow and sadness it shall make him sad to puff and blow that he trusted for such great and weighty things as Heaven and Salvation upon such sleight and slender grounds Again the Hebrew Word hath another signification to despise and loath and nauseate â— thing this may teach us that though these captives do now think well of their hope yet at last they shall loath it and abhor it as a man will do some rotten and unsavoury thing Now you will not loath your sins but hereafter you shall loath your very hope now you will not loath your selves for your iniquity but hereafter you shall for your folly The third Text is Job 27. 28. For what is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul yea what is it indeed thou hast gained riches and thou hast gained in a way of hypocrisie which men could not judg of credit and esteem a name of a good and holy zealous man but what is this gain or what is thy hope though thou hast gained the name of being Religious when God taketh away thy soul from whence from thy body whither to eternal torments what will be your hope then and will you still be bound by this chain this hath had a greater proportion of time than can be allowed to the rest because I judg it to be one of the strongest bonds in which multitudes are carried captive to the hellish prison CHAP. VII The fifth Chain whereby Captives are held is Despair 5. ANother Chain whereby some Captives are fast bound is contrary to the former a despairing of mercy not only a despairing in a mans self seeing an utter inability to help himself this is necessary but a despairing of pardon and salvation notwithstanding the mercy of God and the merit of Christ through which pardon and salvation is tendered unto them The Devil useth various yea contrary means and methods to hold fast sinners in their bonds if he can he will keep them from a sight and sense of sin and misery thereby If he cannot but God openeth a sinners eyes and awakeneth his conscience the Devil will set out his sins with all the aggravations of them but indeavours to keep from the sight of Christ sometimes perswading sinners that their sins are not so great but they may do well enough sometimes that they are so hainous that there is no hope nor help for them sometimes he blinds their eyes that they see no need of a Saviour sometimes he shews them their sin in a multiplying or magnifying glass that a Saviour can do them no good and the poor captive is held and kept from Christ the Redeemer either way thought it is more rare that sinners do despair but it is more frequent and more ordinary for them to presume as it was said of Saul and David Saul slew his thousands but David his ten thousands 1 Sam. 18. 7. so we might say if thousands perish in their captivity by despair there are ten thousands many times told that perish by presumption and false hopes of Heaven Sometimes the sinner cries out with Cain Gen. 4. 13. My sin is greater than can be forgiven and with Judas is tempted to despair and to destroy himself But that the poor Captive that is convinced of his sins might not be kept from Christ the Redeemer by this bond I shall speak three things towards the breaking of it Dost thou then cry out in the anguish of thy soul Oh the greatness of my sins they are scarlet crimson sins oh the Number of my sins they cannot be reckoned up there is not a viler wretch upon Gods earth not a man that hath a worser heart that breaths in Gods air did you know me and the wickedness I am guilty of and were privy to my secret sins you would think as well as I that there is no mercy for me that there is no hope Let such a soul consider 1. The mercies of God are more and greater than thy sins let them be never so great never so many thy wickedness doth not exceed Gods Goodness his goodness is the goodness of a God and his mercy the mercy of a God and therefore Infinite without bounds limits or measure It is as easie for Infinite mercy to forgive many sins as few and great as small the Sea covereth great rocks as well as the smallest sands If thou hast a multitude of sins God hath a multitude of mercies Psal 51. 1. if thou hast manifold sins God hath manifold mercies Nehem. 9. 19. if thou hast abundantly sinned God can and will abundantly pardon Isa 55. 7 8 if thy sins be sins of all sorts of all sizes God can and will forgive iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34. 6 7. only be thou willing heartily willing to leave thy sins only be thou willing soundly willing unfeignedly willing to accept of mercy as it is tendered to thee and of Christ the Redeemer as he is offered to thee and the number the greatness of thy sin shall not hinder thee from pardon and salvation 2. The merits of Christ the Redeemer are fully sufficient to purchase pardon for thy sins were they more and greater than they be Darest thou say thy sinnings are more than Christs sufferings or that thy debts for which thou art in bonds are more than Christ the Surety for poor captives is able to satisfie and pay Christ hath more pardons than thou hast sins more healings than thou hast wounds there is more in Christ to save thee than in thy sins to condemn thee thy sins are but pennies in comparison of the pounds that Christ hath to pay Come forward then poor captive sinner approach nearer to thy Lord-Redeemer come forwards why dost thou thus go from him come and though thou doubts yet do not despair If thou hadst not
obedience to Christ your Lord-Redeemer freely and voluntarily as matter of your choice from a free principle of love because you love him you will pray to him because you love him you will hear from him and wait and attend upon him rejoicing when you please him grieving when you do offend him If by these things you discover what you are bond or free I shall close the whole with an Exhortation to both sorts both bond and free Use of Exhortation 1. To you that are bound that you would look after spiritual freedom young men that have hard service long to be made free and those that be in prisons and chains long to be at liberty and shall any of you be content to abide in your thraldom what will sin do for you and what will Satan do for you that you are so loth to leave their service Is the Redeemer come and wilt thou not mind him hath he paid the ransom and waiteth for thy acceptance of him and wilt thou still refuse him and the liberty and freedom thou mayest have by him and canst not have without him What say you sirs you young and old shall I have your answer will you be made free or will you continue in your bondage if thou wilt thou mayest be but willing and thy chain shall be taken from thee If thou will not remember liberty was offered to thee and thou didst refuse it thou wouldst not be free Though thou hast been a very vile sinner and rebellious yet thou mayest be made free Psal 68. 18. Isa 49. 6. Do these things 1. Labour to convince thy self that thou wast born in bondage a slave by nature to Satan and Sin The Pharisees did not believe that they were in bondage and therefore did not look out to Christ to be made free Joh. 8. 33. This is the undoing of multitudes that they conclude their condition to be good when it is not so and they conclude before they try Did you but see your bonds and understand your slavery Ministers would have hopes that by their Sermons they may do you good 2. Work upon thy heart by serious consideration thy misery and deplorable condition while thou art in a state of bondage When by diligent search thou hast found thy self in a bondage-condition hold thy thoughts unto this subject till thou art awakened and affected with it think with thy self and say Oh my soul being yet a Captive to Satan and to Sin thou art yet an enemy to God a slighter of Christ under the guilt of all thy sin in danger of damnation awake arise and look about thee and get out of this condition lest it be too late for ever 3. Set thy self under the preaching of the word and constantly attend upon God and come to the hearing of the word as to an Ordinance of God and look upon faithful Ministers as the Ambassadors of Jesus Christ that come to you in the Name of Christ as having Authority from God to propose the Gospel-conditions of deliverance from Captivity and to treat with you in the Name of God about your being made free So indeed it is 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. You come to hear a mans Parts but you do not look upon them as persons in Office having a commission from God to propound Articles of Peace betwixt God and you to treat with you from God and in the Name of God about your everlasting state and your deliverance from your present bondage and future torment Did you believe this would you sit and sleep as if what were delivered to you were not worth the hearing and regarding or would you sit and hear and go away and slight all that hath been said unto you 4. Make application of the Word of God when you hear it unto your selves This is spoken unto me this is my misery and this is my condition and this is my danger and mercy offered to sinners is offered unto me and Christ is tendered unto me to help me out of my woful state of bondage The Minister maketh Uses of the Doctrine he delivers but all this is ineffectual till you take it and lay it home to your own hearts for want of this you sit and hear like people not concerned you sit and hear without affection and go away without the due and powerful effect of the Word upon your hearts Let Conscience tell thee thou art the Drunkard the Hypocrite the Unbeliever that is threatned and in danger of damnation 5. Look up to God through the Ordinance and beyond the Minister that doth speak unto thy ear that God would speak unto thy heart and conscience Ministers might speak and yet Conscience might not speak Minister and Conscience might both speak Conscience seconding the Minister that saith Thou art in a dreadful condition while thou art in spiritual bondage Yes saith Conscience too so thou art and yet till God shall speak thou wilt not hearken Oh then when you come to the place where sinners are made free look up to God that he would speak unto your hearts 6. Pray to God that he would have mercy on thee and pity thee in thy bondage and help thee out As a poor prisoner look through the grates to Heaven and say Lord some pity for a poor Prisoner some relief and help for a poor Captive Lord I am in chains of sin but cannot break them held fast by Satan oh let me not perish oh let me not live and dye in this spiritual bondage the ransome is paid for my redemption I give my self to thee upon my knees I do resign my self my will my love my heart and all to thee Sinner Wilt thou when thou comest home not sit and talk vainly and not sit idly as heretofore but go apart and beg of God for mercy and do it earnestly for it is for thy life thy soul 2. Exhortation To you that are set at liberty Your priviledg is a singular priviledg and calleth for something singular from you You were debtors to God and prisoners to his Justice and were liable to everlasting imprisonment in the life to come but Christ hath made you free and you are free indeed Joh. 8 36. Stir up and awaken your selves to these following duties First Be thankful unto God and Christ that of bond-men you are made free If a Captive were delivered out of Turkish slavery by the means of another or a man exposed to a perpetual Imprisonment for his debt another should free him from the prison and the danger thereof What expressions of thankfulness would he abundantly utter saying O Sir I ow my present ease and freedom from my future danger unto you I shall never forget your kindness while I live I do acknowledg I have not such another friend that hath done the like for me in all the world Forasmuch then as the difference of being a debtor to God and a debtor to man of being exposed to a prison upon earth and to the prison
10. Where God doth plainly say and positively lay down for a certain truth and which within a few years or months or weeks all the Drunkards Whoremongers and graceless persons in the world without exception of any one dying so shall find to be so that they shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Come then you that say you hope to be saved as well as the precisest of you all come and produce your reasons and in the fear of God seriously weigh the answers that shall be given to them 1. One Link in this Chain of false hopes by which these Captives are bound is misapprehension and misapplication of the mercy of God thou sayest God is a merciful God and is ready to shew mercy to his creature it is true in me there is no merit but in God there is mercy and God did not make his creatures to damn them God did make me and therefore I hope that he will save me Is this all thou hast to say in such a weighty matter why thou thinkest thou art redeemed from thy bondage and shall be free for ever from the torments of the Damned that thou maist be no longer bound with this Chain Consider 1. The Devils themselves and the damned souls in Hell themselves can say as much as this Poor damned Devils do know that God is a merciful God and that he is willing to shew mercy to the penitent and the humble sinner Devils and damned souls can say that they are Gods creatures and yet notwithstanding they are miserable and must be so for ever and this is the aggravation of their misery that though God is merciful yet they are for ever damned this cuts them to the heart that a merciful God hath condemned them and sentenced them down to eternal torments what is that to them that God is merciful in himself and shews mercy unto others if he is not merciful unto them and what is it unto thee that God is so if thou by reason of thy continuance in a state of unregeneracy shalt never be benefited by his mercy I know there is a difference betwixt the damned in Hell and wicked men on Earth the damned in Hell are past a possibility of mercy but so are not you they shall have no more tenders of mercy which you yet have but then you must repent and be converted which they were not or else you shall have no saving benefit by Gods mercy as they had not 2. God might be infinite in mercy though thou and thousands such as thou art do perish in thy bondage and be for ever damned What a proud blasphemous thought is this that God should not be merciful except he take thee reaking in thy sins except he take thee off thy Ale-house-bench and put thee into Heaven The greatness of Gods mercy is not manifested so much by the number of the persons that shall be saved as by the way and method which he saveth them by If God had saved but one man out of all the many millions of mankind without his own desert and contrary to it by the death of his own Son it would have been a plain demonstration of the mercy of God Must thou measure the mercy of God by thy being saved or not saved while thou walkest contrary to his Laws and to his revealed Will This is as if a Malefactor that for murder hath deserved death and is to be tried for his Life yet hopes he shall escape because the Judg is a merciful man when notwithstanding the Judg proceedeth to pass a sentence of death upon him you will all acknowledg he might be a very merciful man and that the Prisoner was a fool from the mercy of the Judg to be confident he should escape the execution due unto him for the violation of the Law So it is in this case which is easie to apply 3. God is just and true as well as merciful and gracious and why maist thou not fear that God will damn thee because he is a just God as well as hope that he will save thee because he is a merciful God You do not conceive of God aright when you consider him to be merciful without justice and to be gracious without truth there are both in God This merciful God hath said Except you repent and turn from sin you shall find no mercy from him and what shall become of Gods Truth if contrary to his Word he should save thee without repentance and while thou goest on in thy sinful ways must God falsifie his word to save thy Soul never hope for it for he will never do it Where God proclaims his mercy to the penitent he doth also declare his justice and his jealousie and his fixed resolution that the guilty shall not go free Exod. 34. 6 7. and that he is full of fury to the wicked as of mercy to the godly and that as he reserveth a Crown for the one so also wrath for the other Nahum 1. 2 3. 4. Though God be merciful yet he propoundeth conditions in the Gospel which you must comâ— up unto if you will be partakers of his mercy and God is resolved that if thou wilt not have mercy upon the terms of mercy thou shalt never have it When thou shalt come to put in thy claim for mercy Lord have mercy on me for thou art a gracious God yes may God say and so I am and those that have repented and believed shall find me to be so but did I not also tell thee what manner of person thou shouldst have been holy humble and repenting if thou wouldst be saved by my mercy but that thou wouldst not be therefore now I have no mercy for thee God may say unto thee did I ever promise thee or any other that I would save thee or them without repentance and faith in Christ my Son did I ever promise that I would pardon the Impenitent that I would save the unbelieving that finally persevere therein If I have produce my words alledge my promise when and where and by whom did I ever make thee such a promise and and if I have not as indeed I have not promised any such thing why wast thou so vainly confident of my mercy therefore take thy answer and be gone for I tell thee I will have no mercy on thee Luke 13. 25 26 27. Mercy it self will not save thee but in the way of mercy propounded in the Gospel 5. Whereas thou sayst God did make thee therefore he will save thee consider the vilest â—â—nner in the world upon this account should go to Heaven yea every one of them The whoremonger whom thou thy self wilt condemn might plead this as well as thou and so thou wilt make the way to Heaven broader than ever God did make it Moreover if thou hadst continued such a one as God did make he would then have made thee happy indeed for ever God made thee holy and upright but thou hast rebelled against
him God did make thee a Creature but he did not make thee a Drunkard he did not make thee a Worldling nor a Lyar therefore let Gods creature be holy and God will not damn his creature but if thou be a drunkard or an hypocrite and God shall damn the drunkard or the hypocrite what will become of Gods creature God doth peremptorily answer this and I will give it thee in his own words Isa 27. 11. It is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour Is not this directly contrary to the reason of thy hope wilt thou then plead this no more while thou continuest in thy sin and let not Satan keep thee bound with this cord any longer if thou dost remember it hath been told thee that this is but a sandy foundation of thy hope that thou shalt have the everlasting mercy that shall be shown to Gods redeemed ones that are indeed delivered from their bondage and captivity 2. Another Link in this Chain of false hopes whereby Captives are bound is a strong though false perswasion of salvation by the death of Christ the Redeemer If you ask many carnal ignorant and ungodly persons why they perswade themselves that they shall be saved they will tell you because Christ died for sinners and I am a sinner saith one God help me as all men are yea I am the chief of sinners and therefore I hope it shall go well with me and so will a second say and a third and multitudes will give no better account without care or knowledg of applying the death of Christ unto them and the virtue and power of it for the killing of their sins and thus the very means for the redeeming of captives is abused to make their bonds the stronger and keep them faster bound in their Captivity By way of Concession it is granted 1 that the death of Christ and the satisfaction made to the justice of God thereby is the only meritorious cause of mans Redemption from his bondage and of Salvation and whosoever is saved is saved by Christs death for there is no other Saviour nor Redeemer besides him Act. 4. 12. and if Christ had not died we had certainly been for ever captives without redemption 2 It is true that this Redeemer is offred unto all where the Gospel is preached none are excluded from the offers of grace and pardon and benefits of Redemption and his death shall be sufficient and effectual for deliverance from bondage and making of them free that do obey his call and accept of him for Lord Redeemer as offered in the Gospel Act. 10. 43. Joh. 3. 16. But yet that you might not through your own mistake be the more enthralled by the means of Redemption and be the faster bound by the misunderstanding of the way of Salvation by the death of Christ Consider 1. If this were enough to prove your Redemption and Salvation because Christ died for Sinners and you acknowledg your selves to be such then the damned souls in Hell might have hope of being delivered and saved for they know that Christ died for Sinners and they are now sensible that they are Sinners and miserable the pains they feel do convince them that they are sinners I know as I have already said that there is a difference betwixt the state of Devils and damned Souls and of sinners upon earth Christ is preached to the one and not to the other freedom from bondage is possible to one but not to the other mercy doth entreat and the Spirit doth strive and patience doth wait upon the one but not upon the other mercy and patience hath done with them for ever no more asking them what will you have Christ now and will you be pardoned now which yet through mercy is not your condition but yet as to the ground of your plea for Redemption and Salvation by Christ before alledged Christ died for sinners and you are sinners what is the difference all men upon earth and the damned in hell that ever heard of Christ might say as much and is it not matter of great astonishment to sober serious men to see poor sinners bound so fast in a captive-state with this vain confidence of being set free by Christ and yet can say no more than damned Souls might say That they are sinners and Christ died for sinners 2. Consider that all shall not be saved by the death of Christ that are sinners Christ hath died yet thousands shall for ever be tormented Mat. 7. 13 14. and the damnation of many shall be the greater than it would have been if Christ had never suffered 3. Know and understand that the benefits of Redemption and the compleating of all in salvation at the last is propounded by God in the Gospel conditionally and why then should you be so confident when you have not come up unto the condition there is pardon to be had by the blood of Christ but there is a condition without which you shall never be pardoned Act. 10. 43. there is Salvation by Christ but there is a condition without which you shall never be saved Joh. 3. 16 36 Mar. 16. 16. Act. 16. 31. there is justification to be had by the blood of Christ but remember still there is a condition without which you shall never be justified Rom. 5. 1. all along in the Word of God offers and grants of pardon deliverance from Hell and the curse of the Law offers and grants of Salvation and Eternal life are made conditionally if you do believe and if you do repent and if you are converted and born again but not else Christ did not die that sinners meerly as sinners should be saved for then all sinners should be saved and that which is the reason of mens condemnation should be a qualification of mens salvation buâ— Christ did die that believing sinners might be saved and repenting and returning sinners might be saved Christ did die that unholy ones might be made holy and so be saved that unbelievers might believe and so be saved and not that unholy and impenitent and unbelieving persons living and dying so should have Salvation by his death Know therefore O vain man that if thou hadst a thousand souls they should all be damned though Christ hath died except thou dost believe repent and be converted unto God for the effusion or shedding of the blood of Christ upon the Cross saveth no mans soul without the application of it to the Conscience and Faith in Christ and Regeneration and Holiness and repairing of the Image of God in the Soul are necessary to Salvation in their place as the death of Christ is necessary in its place and for its end As when mâ—ny persons be in bondage and are taken capâ—ives that cannot give a ransome for themselves the Kings son pays it down for them but the King and his Son do propound
at the bar Come then ye captives is this true or is it not Yes Lord our consciences do compel us to acknowledg that thy Ministers did declare such things unto us Did they so why then did you not believe them go get you gone go get you down to your deserved torments Come hither ye my glorious Angels take the Prisoners at the bar that in their life-time were fettered and bound with chains of sin Now come ye hither and take them bind them hand and foot and cast them into utter darkness drive them from my presence away with them away with them come ye damned Devils you took them captive and kept them in their sinful bondage I would have redeemed them and knockt off their fetters from them but they would not hearken unto me and now I will not hearken unto them come take them then and drag them down to the place of punishment where you and they shall be for ever Oh woful Souls poor wretched Sinners ah poor condemned Prisoners how do they tremble how do they hang down their heads How are their countenances changed what hideous out-crys what doleful lamentations will there be at that day and especially by those that hoped for Heaven but their hopes are disappointed Methinks I hear them say Is all our hopes come to this Is this the end of all our confidence Prisoners we were to the Devil and our lusts we might have been made free Wo unto us that ever we were born that we did befool our selves and that these then tempting and now tormenting Devils should so much befool us contrary to the plain declarations of the Will of Christ we should so confidently hope for life and for salvation by him while we did refuse him for our Lord and to yield obedience to him Oh now we are ashamed of our hope of our vain and foolish hope yet thus it is we were deceived and we are now disappointed Now farewell Christ for ever now farewell Heaven for ever and now farewell hope for ever Hope we did but now can hope no longer but now can hope no more for ever Farewell all ye holy blessed Angels ye shall be rejoycing for ever while we shall be sorrowing for ever Farewell all ye Saints of God ye that are the Lords redeemed that once were captives as well as we but ye were redeemed by the blood of Christ and were sanctified and now are saved for ever ye shall rejoyce but we must mourn ye are blessed but we are cursed ye shall be with God and Christ your Redeemer for ever while we shall be with the Devil and his Angels for ever Farewell farewell adieu adieu to all eternity Beloved hearers if this shall be the doleful end of vain and groundless hopes of unwarrantable and unscriptural confidence in the death of Christ without faith and sanctifying grace be no longer kept as captives bound by this chain of false hopes of Heaven 3. Another Link in this Chain of false hopes wherewith these captives are bound is that they have oftentimes great trouble of Conscience and inward terrours of mind after they have committed sin I have saith one been troubled for my Oaths and cried God forgive me and if I have been drunk saith another I have been troubled for it sometimes it breaks my sleep and sometimes I cannot eat in peace nor think of my sin but my heart is filled with horror at the remembrance of it and therefore I hope that I am redeemed by Christ and got loose from my bondage state and that God will have mercy on me and will save my Soul I answer 1. False repentance is a strengthning of false hopes and many times the more the sinner is troubled for his sin the faster he is bound in his sinful captive state the more tears do fall from thine eyes the faster are thy fetters lockt upon thy Soul because as true repentance maketh way for a well-grounded peace of conscience and for solid comfort so a false and counterfeit repentance afterwards makes the sinner more secure and doth strengthen his mistake concerning his spiritual condition he hath sinned and he hath sorrowed and now he thinketh all is well and the Devil hath him faster in his hold than he had before 2. Terrours of Conscience for sin though great and grievous in so much that thou art restless and weary of thy life are no argument that of a captive thou art made free Hast thou ever been so much troubled as was Cain or hast thou ever been so filled with amazing horrors as was Judas and yet these were captives to the Devil still and are bound in chains of sin and guilt and punishment to this day and so shall be for ever and who have greater terrors reprovings and reproaches from their own consciences than the damned in Hell and these terrors in thy soul and conscience might be the fore-runners and beginning of those hellish horrors thou shalt be filled with in another world 3. But what are thy terrors and thy tears the agonies and anguish of thy heart without an inward change What are all these legal fits of sorrow while thou art the same man in sinning still and thy love the same unto thy sin and when the temptation comes thy course and practice is the same If thou shouldst wear the skin from off thy knees by going often to confess thy sin and weep thy self blind and pine away with sorrow yet if thy heart do secretly like thy sin and thou still art not inwardly renewed nor acceptest of nor closest with Christ by faith whatever thy apprehensions are of thy good condition thou art still a captive to the Devil especially when one while thou seemest with sorrow to lament thy sin and another while dost with pleasure and delight commit the sin lamented dost commit the sin and then confess it confess it and go on again to commit and so like a slave indeed runnest round in the Devils Mill betwixt confession and commission of thy sins whereas in a true penitent there is the renovation of the heart and the reformation of the life a loathing and a leaving of the sin lamented Ezek. 36. 31. 18. 30 31. Isa 57. 7. Joel 2. 12 13. 4. Another Link in this Chain of false hopes wherewith these Captives are bound is in that they have good meanings and good wishes and desires and though they cannot discourse as others can nor have those gifts that others have yet they thank God their hearts are good and ever were even from their childhood and though they cannot utter themselves yet they have it in their hearts Thus the Devil keepeth some in this fetter and this bond but towards the breaking of it consider 1. Many have gone to hell with such good meanings in their hearts and with such good wishes in their mouths as Balaam for one Numb 23. 10 Let me dye the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his Who would
been a sinner thou wouldst have stood in no need of a Saviour and the greater sinner thou hast been the greater haste thou shouldst make unto a Saviour methinks I hear Christ calling to thee poor sinner why art thou thus dismaid at the sight and thoughts of thy Iniquities come unto me and I will help thee why art thou thus cast down at the remembrance of what a sinner thou hast been and what wickedness thou hast done come I have healing for thy wounds I have plaisters for thy sores come to me I will surely help and heal thee art thou affrighted by the justice of my Father come to me relie on me leave thy sins and relie on me and I will undertake to make thy peace with God and I will get and give thee pardon of thy sins Methinks I hear him say thou criest out because thou hast sinned and if thou hadst not there had been no need of my coming from heaven to earth there had been no need of my dying on the Cross Art thou a sinner I knew thou wast and therefore I came on purpose for to help thee art thou a lost sinner I knew thou wast and therefore I came to seek thee art thou a captive bound in fetters I knew thou wast and therefore I came to ease thee and release thee only be but heartily willing to receive me for thy Prophet Priest and King and consent to the conditions of the Gospel and do no more despond as if there were no hope nor help for thee come hither and see me in my sweat and agony come hither and behold the wounds made in my side my feet my hands my heart and all and these I suffered for such sinners look through the wounds made in my side and see if thou canst not there see Love in my heart and pity in my heart to poor returning sinners what did I suffer for and what did I bleed and die for but to help and save poor sinners come to me and I will be thy friend come to me believe on me receive me and God will be thy friend So then poor captive soul if thou be willing indeed willing to leave thy sins thy fetters and thy bonds to resign thy will thy love thy heart to Christ make him thy end and take him for thy Lord-Redeemer there 's no reason thou shouldst despair of pardon and salvation let not then Satan keep thee in this bond from coming unto Christ to be set at liberty 3. Thy sins and thy wickednesses are not greater are not more than all the sins of all the elect of God were that are now in Heaven and yet mercy hath pardoned them and yet Christs merits hath purchased life and salvation for them and they are now in possession of it thou hast out-sinned any one single man yet hast thou committed more or greater sins then all the sins of all the millions now in glory put them all together and yet hath God been able and willing to pardon them and Christ able and willing to save them if thou wilt repent and believe as they did thou shalt be saved as they are if thou wilt leave thy sins and be converted as they were do not despair nay do not doubt but thou shalt be happy as they be Hast thou sinned more than Adam did that at one blow did wound and kill so many souls as never man did the like no nor never shall again Hast thou sinned more than Manasseh read and judge 2 Chron. 33. 1. to 14 Hast thou sinned more than Paul that was a bloody persecutor of Gods people 1 Tim. 1. 13. Hast thou sinned more than Peter that did swear and curse he knew not Jesus Christ or more than Mary Magdalen or if thou couldst say thou hast sinned more than any one of these yet hast thou sinned more than all these put together and thousands of thousands more thou canst not say it Why then what is the matter with thee that thou sittest in thy chains lamenting of thy self saying there is no hope for me there is no help no mercy for me what no hope for a sinner and a Saviour by thee no help no deliverance for a Captive and the Ransom paid and the Redeemer come unto thee waiting that thou would be but willing to receive him for thy Lord and Saviour and he is ready to receive thee Say O say then what did this tempting Devil mean one while to draw into sin because it was no great matter he did tempt me to and what now doth this accusing Devil mean that when he hath wounded me would perswade me there is no healing for me O my soul once this enemy did befool thee when he did perswade thee thy condition was so good that thou didst not need to fear and now shall he befool thee to make thee think thy condition is now so bad that there is no reason why thou shouldst hope Tell him O tell him that yet his condition is is not thine though thou hast sinned as he hath done yet there is a Saviour offered unto thee that never was that never shall be offered unto him Oh my soul Satan is bound in this chain of despair himself and it never â—â—n be knocked off tell him then O mine enemy thou canst not repent and therefore canst not hope thou canst not believe and therefore canst not be saved Christ did not die for thee but he died for sinful men that shall have the benefits of his death by believing on him Oh I will now repent and by the grace of God I will believe and while the Devil doth despair and would hold me from going unto Christ by despairing too yet since there is mercy in God and merit in Christ whereby other have been saved and this is offered unto me God doth call me and Christ doth call me and the Spirit striveth with me to come to Christ and mercy is promised if I do and pardon is promised if I do why then should I sit here lamenting of my doleful case or why do I sit here despairing of mercy I will arise and go and venture to cast my self on Christ and trust my soul with him If I stay here from Christ I am sure I shall perish but if I go it may be I shall live Did I say it may be oh God hath declared in his word that if I do repent and believe that it shall be that I shall be saved Resolve therefore as those four Lepers 2 Kings 7. 3. that said one to another Why sit we here until we die 4. If we say we will enter into the City then the famine is in the City and we shall die there and if we sit still here we die also Now therefore come and let us fall into the Hosts of the Syrians if they save us alive we shall live and if they kill us we shall but die If thou fittest still in thy natural state and wilt not go to Christ
look upon as chains of ornament and do glory in them For the breaking of this Bond Consider 1. The external performance of Religious Duties hath been done by many now in Hell some of the now damned souls when in their bodies were often present at Sermons as well as you and often on their knees as well as you and yet were then in the bonds of sin and you also yet may be and are now in chains in utter darkness which God in mercy grant you may never be Outward duties may be done to God when there is Inward prevailing love to self to sin and to the world it is not so much the matter as the manner of your duties that argues your freedom from captivity not what you do as from what principle and for what end you do them that doth distinguish the Devils captives from the Lords free-men Christ plainly tells you that not every one that makes a profession of Religion shall be delivered from the prison of Hell Mat. 7. 21 22 23. and that the children of the Kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness Mat. 8. 12. Know therefore though you should hear ten thousand Sermons and make as many prayers yet without an inward real change by converting grace upon your hearts except you love God above all and chuse and prize Christ before all that you may not be released from captivity for the present nor saved hereafter 2. There is no certain judgment can be made of your spiritual slavery or freedom by the thoughts that others have of you Men judg charitably but God judgeth certainly Men judg of your hearts by your actions but God judgeth of your actions by your hearts you might be admitted among the purest Congregation and yet not admitted into Heaven If Christ himself were upon the earth thou mightest be an hearer of Christ and yet a captive to the Devil Christ tells you as much Luk. 13. 26 27 28. And I pray you what is it to be applauded or approved by men and to be condemned by God You are not to stand or fall to be damned or saved by what men think of you but by what God knows of you Remember Judas that carried himself so amongst others that the rest of the Disciples did rather suspect themselves than him saying Lord is it I and another is it I when Christ told them one of them should betray him Remember him and beware that as others are bound captives with the bonds of open and visible iniquity that you remain not bound with the bonds of hidden and secret Hypocrisie CHAP. IX Containing the 8 9 10. Chain or Bond of these Captives 8. ANother Chain by which some are held captive is the Examples of others And these are either the examples 1. of those that lived formerly or 2. those that are now alive And saith one I am of the same Religion as my forefathers were my Father and my Fathers Father were of this way and who will say our forefathers were not Redeemed nor are saved who will say that our fore-fathers died captives and are gone down to hell will any zealous Preacher of them all condemn our Fore-fathers And should we be wiser than our Fore-fathers Besides if we look unto this present age saith another the greatest part of the world live as I do or worse and if my condition is not good God help many others will God send such multitudes to hell and if I be damned wo be to thousands it will be others case as well as mine Both these ways are persons held in their captivity towards breaking then of this Bond and cutting off of this Chain consider in answer to the first 1. We have nothing to do to pass any sentence upon your Fore-fathers they are out of the reach of our preaching and exhortations them we leave to the righteous judgment of God who hath disposed of them before this day to the places where they must for ever be and God doth not send us to tell you whither your Fore-fathers souls are gone our Message is to you that are yet alive and our business and imployment is to tell you of your sin and misery and to call you unto repentance and to acquaint you with the conditions of peace to be made betwixt God and you to tell you what you must be and what you must do to escape the Damnation of Hell and to be partakers of the Redemption which Christ hath purchased for poor captive sinners 2. You might be of the same profession of Religion as your Fore-fathers were and they might be saved and yet you might be damned they might be redeemed and delivered and yet you remain captives still Your Fore-fathers professed faith in Christ did pray to God and performed religious duties unto God as you profess to do and yet if they did these things sincerely and you hypocritically they in reality and you in shew their souls are now in glory and at rest where your souls notwithstanding may never be Many of the same age make the same profession and yet some are good and some are bad some are made free and some continue captives as the five foolish Virgins made the same profession as the wise Mat. 25. 1. to 13. and Judas as the rest of the Disciples and yet the one was captivated while the others were Redeemed and so it may be with persons that live and profess in several ages 3. But why should you content your selves in being such as your Fore-fathers were though I do not dare not will not say that they are damned yet are you so sure that they are saved are you all sure that all your Fore-fathers did believe and did repent that they were all sanctified and saved if so surely that age was better than this and better it would have been to have lived then than Now. But if they did not believe did not repent would you then go to the place where now they are or would it be any ease to your pain to meet any of your Fore-fathers there your wisest safest course is not to say we will live as our Fore-fathers did but as God in his Word doth command and direct you to do 4. But why might you not be wiser and better than your Fore-fathers were Were they perfect in wisdom and goodness If they were not wise indeed for heaven and their souls and if they were not good indeed you must be wiser and better than they were or you shall not be saved If they were truly wise and good it was their burden and their grief that they were no wiser and no better and why should that be a fault in you to be wiser than they were which they complained of as a fault in themselves that they were no wiser and no better than they were Besides would you not be richer than your Fore-fathers were and greater and more honourable in the World if possibly you can Do not you labour for greater Estates than they
hath paid the ransom for their deliverance When some years since I was called occasionally to preach to the Prisoners in Newgate and saw my Hearers come in Fetters and heard their Chains ratling at their heels methoughts it was an affecting spectacle to see men before me that were shortly to be called to the Bar of Men and be tried for their lives and some likely to be sentenced to death and put to execution but if we do behold our Hearers standing before us though free from such material Chains of Iron yet bound fast in their lusts and sins and consider they must be shortly tried at the Bar of God and if not delivered by Christ must receive a sentence of death banished from the presence of the blessed God cast down to Devils and damned Spirits it should move us to pray for them weep over them and preach unto them with greatest pity and compassion To stand and view so many persons amongst whom many are the Devils Captives whom he is leading Fettered to eternal perdition should raise in our hearts strong workings of affection towards them and speak unto them with that earnestness and tender love as becometh those that are speaking in the Name of God to lost sinners in order to their recovery and deliverance from Captivity 2. Let Parents that are made free pity and compassionate their Children that yet are bound If any of your Children should be laid in Irons for some Fact committed against the Laws of men and carried bound to Execution would not this like a Sword pierce your very hearts be matter of grief and trouble to you would not tears plentifully flow from your eyes and bitter lamentations from your mouth that ever you should bring forth and bring up children that should end their days in such reproach and infamy to you and them or if any of you had a Son abroad and you should hear he were taken Captive by the Turks or were in the Spanish Inquisition what shedding of tears what wringing of hands what smiting on your brest would these tidings make what dolorous complaints and grievous moans would you make saying O my Son my Son my poor afflicted and distressed Son thou art fallen into the hands of barbarous and cruel men thou art put to drudgery and slavery O my Son my Son what shall I do for thee my Son Oh that I could give or find a ransom for him if all I have would set him free he should not lie in Chains and Fetters nor continue in that sore Captivity Why you Parents would you thus lament the misery of your Childrens body and do you make nothing of the the misery of your Childrens souls would you thus take on and grieve and mourn for their outward bondage which is consistent with the good condition of their souls and will shortly have an end and yet is it nothing to you to see them in their spiritual bondage captivated by Satan and in danger of being cast into an everlasting Dungeon of black and thick darkness Oh why do you not speak to them and tell them of their misery and their remedy how they came into this condition and how they may get out of it why do you not day and night plead with them instruct them and exhort them that they may escape the torments of Hell hereafter by being brought out of their bondage now why do you not pray to God that he would make them free why do you not plead at the throne of grace and say Lord I have Children that are Satans Captives my poor Children are fast bound in Fetters of sin in the Bonds of iniquity O thou God of grace that hast shewed favour unto me shew favour to my children also Oh that they may be released Oh that thou wouldst please to pity them in their Bondage and for the ransom of thy Son let them be redeemed and by the powerful workings of thy spirit have their wills subdued and inclined to accept of the only Redeemer him thou didst send to proclaim liberty to Captives Oh that by thy grace thou wouldst cause them to come in and lay hold upon the mercy granted in the proclamation of the Gospel that they might not perish in their Bonds 3. Let Masters that are made free and set at liberty have compassion on their servants that are fettered in their Chains of sin They are not only bound to you to be so bound is in order to their good and their freedom but are also bound in the Cords of their iniquity which is their present slavery and tendeth to their eternal misery doth it not pity you to see your servants to be servants of the Devil and in bondage to their lusts doth not your hearts work within you to consider that any under your Roof should be drudges unto Satan or do you see this and have you nothing to say unto them all the week long to make them apprehensive of their danger and sensible of their misery is it enough for you to teach them the skill and art of your trade and at the expiration of seven years to make them free while you do neglect to help them as instruments under God out of the thraldom of Satan and of sin or can it satisfie you that they have at the end of their Service to you the freedom of the City or Corporation where you and they do dwell while they are not brought into the liberty of the Sons of God or can you have peace in the neglect of your duty to think they came into your family Bond-slaves to sin and after seven years time they go out as they came in or should you not endeavour that they may be spiritually free while they continue servants unto you Oh how would they have cause to bless God for you and that ever they came within your doors and dwelt within your walls if they may say when I first became a Servant to my Master I was a servant to my lusts also but by his instructions admonitions and example I became a servant of God before I ceased to be a servant unto him if it should be otherwise let it not be through your neglect for as it will not be without sin and misery to your servants so neither will it be without guilt on you The like I might urge upon other relations acquaintance and friends husbands to have compassion on their wives wives on their husbands one Neighbour on another you that know what it is to have been in these cursed Bonds and what it is to be made free do your utmost to help and succour them that be in chains of sin and and know not the evil of it nor the good of the contray condition and therefore mourn not under the one nor desire to be brought forth into the other Third Exhortation Were you in Bonds and are they broke in Fetters and are they knocked off then walk in the whole course of your lives as becomes
howl and fruitlesly lament their woful state and their irrecoverably-lost-happiness 3. Death to the Lords Free-men is the gate to glory and their passage and entrance into eternal life It is the opening of the door to let them into their Fathers house a Messenger sent by God to fetch them into the presence of their God and Redeemer to live and reign and dwell with him for ever that their freedom here begun might be consummated and perfected in heaven In that very day they dye they are admitted as free Citizens of the glorious Kingdom of God Luk. 16. 22. 4. Death to the Lords Free-men shall come in the best time All men dye in Gods time whenever he appointeth but the redeemed by Christ shall dye in the best time when their work is done and when God seeth it is better for them to dye than to live God takes the best time and fittest season for the removing of his by death out of the world But the wicked slaves of sin and Satan are cut off in a bad time when-ever they dye it is a bad time to them because whenever it is they go that day to hell and to eternal torments the day of their dissolution is the day of their damnation and will not that be the saddest day they ever had they dye before their work is done before they have believed and before they have repented and that must be a sad day when-ever it comes Men cut down Weeds at any time but the Corn in the best time in the fittest season when it is ripe to be carried into the barn 5. Death to the Lords freemen hath lost its terribleness And though all Gods redeemed are not actually and totally freed from the fears of death but sometimes kept in bondage through the fears of death yet they have grounds and reasons why they might not fear it But the Devils Captives have always cause and reason to be terribly afraid of death and if they be not it ariseth from the blindness of their minds and the hardness of their hearts It is a wonder that men should be as near to hell as to the grave and yet not be afraid to dye It is a wonder that men should be as near to an endless miserable life as they are to the end of this short uncertain life and yet their fears should not prevent their sleeping in the night and their jovial merriments in the day-time The Devil hath blinded them as well as bound them and that is one reason of it But these cannot upon any solid rational and religious grounds be freed from the fears of death But so may the Lords freemen and this they have from and through Jesus Christ Heb. 2. 14 15. 5. Christ will set believers free from the grave by a joyful resurrection that though they come under the stroke and power of death and are lodged in the grave for a while yet it shall be but for a while Death and the grave shall not always have dominion over their body Death doth bind them but Christ will loose these bonds and will set them free as Christ did break the bonds of death for death was not able to hold him in his grave Act. 2. 24. So he will knock off the fetters of death from all his and bring them forth and make them happy and this as surely as he himself is risen 1 Cor. 15. 13 c. And not only free them out of the grave but also from those evils and imperfections that in this life their bodies are subject to that though they shall have the same bodies for substance that now they have yet they shall be better bodies as to the qualities that they then shall have 1. Then Christ will free them from that mortality that now they are subject to now liable to death every day and hour but then they shall dye no more for ever 2. Then Christ shall free them from all pain and sickness from cold and hunger and thirst they are now often sensible of their head shall never ake their hearts shall never be sick no part in the least pained to all eternity 3. Then Christ shall free them from a necessity of food to sustain them and of nourishment from the use of creatures by which they are repaired and supported daily on this side the grave but on the other side of the grave they shall need this no more than the Angels do in heaven 4. Then Christ shall free them from that weariness that now our bodies often feel and do groan under for he will make them strong and powerful bodies Now-a-days work in the service of God doth weary our bodies but hereafter though they shall be imployed through an endless eternity in praising and glorifying of God they shall neither be weary of it through wickedness nor weary in it through weakness for as much as Christ will free them from both 1 Cor. 15. 42 43. 5. Christ will then so free them from all imperfections that they shall be made like to Christs glorious body And can we desire greater freedom for our bodies than to be made like to Christs glorious body Phil. 3. 21. 6. Christ doth free all his from the damnation of hell that when the Devil 's Captives shall be pained and tormented by exquisite and unspeakable punishment rowling and tumbling shrieking and howling and with bitter cries lamenting themselves the redeemed of Christ shall never be touched with the flames of that fire the second death shall have no power over them Rev. 20. 6. Christ will take care that those that love him above all and chuse him before all shall never come into condemnation Joh. 3. 16 18. Oh what mercy is this to be freed from hell Oh what grace and kindness is this to those that once were Captives and had deserved it and were in danger of it that by Christ they should be freed and delivered from it Oh what mercy would the damned that have felt the pains and punishment of hell think say and confess it to be if they may be let out and freed from it But they are in it and shall never be delivered from it but the Lords free-men are out of it and shall never be cast into it so great is the liberty we have by Christ the Redeemer of Captives in respect of what we are freed from What are the positive blessings that by Christ we are made free unto For Christ did come to poor sinners to redeem them when Captives not only that they should not be miserable but that they should also be happy These things are many and great and glorious let me give you a taste in these few 1. By Christ believers have freedom and liberty to come to the throne of Grace A burden to wicked graceless hearts it is to come and pray to God are backward to it weary of it as if it were a part of their slavery and bondage to come and beg for mercy for
their souls for pardon for their sin for converting and renewing grace now and for eternal endless glory hereafter Judg of this as you will yet know it cost Christ dear to purchase this liberty for us it is not only a duty that we must but it is a real priviledg that we may have the freedom to come to God upon our knees to beg for special spiritual temporal and eternal mercies Would not a poor prisoner that hath deserved to dye account it a priviledg to have liberty as oft as he will and when he will to have liberty of access unto the King to prefer his petitions to him and to beg for a pardon of his fact and for the saving of his life and all this with hopes of speeding and obtaining what he doth petition for When man had sinned he was driven out of Paradise and was afraid because of guilt and there was no freedom for the rebellious sinner without Christ to come before a provoked angry God with hopes of mercy but there is a new and living way now found out for you Heb. 10. 19 20 21 22. that you might come with freedom and ask with freedom of spirit and with freedom of speech what Christ hath purchased for you and God hath promised to you Eph. 3. 12. Heb. 4. 16. You may with freedom come to God and tell him all your grievances and all your burdens and all your temptations and all your wants and open all your heart unto him 2. By Christ believers have a freedom and a liberty to apply the promises of the Gospel to themselves These promises are many great and precious promises of many great and precious things and you are free to them all not only free to read them but free to apply them to your selves and to live upon them and to wait and hope for the fulfilling and performance of them Here is a promise of pardon and it is made to me a promise of more grace and of perseverance and it is made to me a promise of eternal life and glory and the blessed glorious God hath made it unto me and by Christ I may freely apply it and build and rest upon it 3. By Christ we are made free to all the priviledges of redeemed people These are also many great and precious very many very great and very precious priviledges 1. Believers by Christ are free to a state of friendship and favour with God As there is a a freedom betwixt friends so there is betwixt God and his redeemed by Christ that are partakers of the benefits of his redemption from a state of enmity to a state of friendship and reconciliation God is no more your enemy nor you any longer enemies to God a peace is made by Christ betwixt God and your souls and this is a firm and lasting an everlasting peace Col. 1. 20 21. Now with comfort thou may'st conclude though men do hate me yet God doth love me though men are my enemies yet God is my friend my surest and my fastest friend 2. By Christ Believers are free to a state of Justification the righteousness of Christ is freely imputed to them That as the Devils Captives are under the imputation of Adam's disobedience so the Lords freemen are under the imputation of Christs righteousness and obedience Rom. 5. 19. 2 Cor. 5. 21 and you are free to trust to and to plead the righteousness of Christ for your Justification in the sight of God 3. By Christ believers are made free to a state of Sonship and the priviledg of Adoption Of Slaves you are become not only Servants out Sons of the children of the Devil are become the children of God of the children of Gods wrath the children of his love Men may redeem Captives but do not adopt them for their children but all that Christ redeems have the liberty to become the Sons of God Joh. 1. 12. 2 Cor. 6. latter end 4. By Christ believers are free to have communion with God in his Ordinances God is no longer a stranger to them nor they any longer strangers unto God but have sweet converse and fellowship with God 1 Joh. 1. 3. They come to duty and meet with God in duty in praying hearing and receiving they have experience of the gracious powerful and heart-quickening and soul-comforting chearing softning influences of the Spirit of God and of the goings forth of their Souls in love unto desires after and delight in God And when it is so how sweet is this unto their Souls 5. By Christ believers are free to a right to heaven and to the enjoyment of the blessed glorious God for ever in his Kingdom They are made free to the happiness of the life to come they shall have free admission into the heavenly Paradise the gates of heaven shall be set wide open for their departing Souls freely without any stop or hinderance they are free in part now and they shall be perfectly free among the Saints in glory when they dye Rom. 8. 21. This glory is prepared for them Mat. 25. 34 and they are prepared for it Rom. 9. 23. Col. 1. 12. And what shall be your happiness then is beyond the power and ability of any man upon earth fully to declare unto you 1 Cor. 2. 8. It might be better done by a glorious Angel that is in possession of it than by a sinful though sanctified man that lives and waits and hopes and prayeth in expectation of it Yet the very names by which it is called might help you to some conceptions of the greatness of its excellency and glory 1 It is called a Crown and that which far surpasseth all earthly Crowns 1 Pet. 1. 4 5 a Crown of life Jam. 1. 12 a Crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4. 8 a Crown of glory 1 Pet. 5. 4. 2 It is called a Kingdom Mat. 25. 34. 3 It is called our Masters joy Mat. 25. 21 23. 4 It is called our Fathers house and the house of the Father of our Lord Jesus Joh. 14. 2. 5 It is called the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. 6 It is the purchase of Christ Eph. 1. 14. 7 It is called eternal life Rom. 6. 23. Besides these names by which it is called dwell in your thoughts upon one Text that sets it forth till you find your hearts to be affected with it and long to be possessed of it and that is 2 Cor. 4. 17 where you observe how the Apostle proceeds by steps to come to the top-expression of this happiness to which you are made free 1. It is called glory Now free in grace then in glory The thought of that glory would darken and disgrace the greatest glory of this world 2. It is called a weight of glory not a burdensom weight not a weight to weary you are your afflictions weighty so shall your glory be but afflictions are but light if compared to the weight of glory 3. It is an exceeding weight of glory