need not a Physician but those that are sick Bid a man that thinks himself sound and whole go to the Physician and he will but laugh at the motion If you offer him the richest composition he will refuse it slight it and it may be spill it upon the ground ay but if the same man did once feel an acute disease and were made to sweat and groan under strong pains if ever he come to know what sick dayes and restless nights are and to apprehend his life to be in eminent hazard then messengers are sent one after another in post-haste to the Physician then he begs him with tears to do what in him lyes for his relief he thankfully takes the bitterest potions and praises the care and skill of his Physician with tears of joy and so the Patients safety and the Physicians honour are both secured So is it in this method of grace The Uses follow Inference 1. Use. If sin-burthened souls are solemnly invited to come to Inference 1. Christ Then it follows that whatever guilt lye upon the Conscience of a poor humbled sinner 't is no presumption but his duty to come to Christ notwithstanding his own apprehended vileness and great unworthiness Let it be carefully observed how happily that universal particle all is inserted in Christs invitation for the encouragement of sinners Come unto me All ye that labour q. d. let no broken-hearted sinner exclude himself whenas he is not by me excluded from mercy my grace is my own I may bestow it where I will and upon whom I will 'T is not I but Satan that impales and incloses my mercy from humbled souls that are made willing to come unto me he calls that your presumption which my invitation makes your Duty But I doubt my case is excepted by Christ himself in Matth. Object 1. 12. 31. where blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is exempted from pardon and I have had many horrid blasphemous thoughts injected into my soul. Art thou a burdened and heavy laden soul If so thy case is not in that or any other Scripture exempted from mercy Sol. for the unpardonable sin is alwayes found in an impenitent heart as that sin finds no pardon with God so neither is it followed with contrition and sorrow in the soul that commits it But if I am not guilty of that sin I am certainly guilty of many Object 2. great and heinous abominations of another kind too great for me to expect mercy for and therefore I dare not go to Christ. The greater your sins have been the more need you have to go to Jesus Christ. Let not a Motive to Christ be made Sol. an Obstacle in your way to him Great sinners are expresly called Isa. 1. 18. great sinners have come to Christ and found mercy 1 Cor. 6. 7. And to conclude it 's an high reproach and dishonour to the blood of Christ and mercy of God which flowes so freely through him to object the greatness of sin to either of them Certainly you have not sinned beyond the extent of mercy or beyond the efficacy of the blood of of Christ but pardon and peace may be had if you will thus come to Christ for it Oh but it 's now too late I have had many thousand calls by the Gospel and refused them many purposes in my heart 3. Obj. to go to Christ and quenched them my time therefore is past and now 't is to no purpose If the time of grace be past and God intends no mercy for thee how comes it to pass thy soul is now filled with trouble Sol. and distress for sin Is this the frame of a mans heart that is past hope Do such signs as these appear in men that are hopeless Beside the time of grace is a secret hid in the breast of God but coming to Christ is a duty plainly revealed in the Text and why will you object a thing that is secret and uncertain against a duty that is so plain and evident Nor do you your selves believe what you object for at the same time that you say your seasons are over it is too late you are notwithstanding found repenting mourning praying and striving to come to Christ. Certainly if you knew it were too late you would not be found labouring in the use of means Go on therefore and the Lord be with you 'T is not presumption but obedience to come when Christ calls as here he doth Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden Inference 2. Hence it follows That none have cause to be troubled when God makes the souls of their friends or relations sick with the Inference 2. sense of sin It was the saying as I remember of Hierom to Sabinian Nothing said he makes my heart sadder than that nothing can make thy heart sad 'T is matter of joy to all that rightly understand the matter when God smites the heart of any man with the painful sense of sin of such sickness it may be said This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God Yet how do many carnal relations lament and bewail this as a misery as an undoing to their friends and acquaintance as if then they must be reckon'd lost and never till then that Christ is finding and saving them O if your hearts were spiritual and wise their groans for sin would be as musick in your ears When they go alone to bewail their sin you would go alone also to bless God for such a mercy that ever you should live to such a happy day you would say now is my friend in the blessed pangs of the new birth now is he in the very way of mercy never in so hopeful a condition as now I had rather he should groan now at the feet of Christ than groan hereafter under the wrath of God for ever O Parents beware as you love the souls of your Children that you don't damp and discourage them tempt or threaten them divert or hinder them in such cases as this lest you bring the blood of their souls upon your own heads Inference 3. It also follows from hence That those to whom sin was never Inference 3. any burthen are not yet come to Christ nor have they any interest in him We may as well suppose a Child to be born without any pangs or throes as a soul to be born again and united to Christ without any sense or sorrow for sin I know many have great frights of conscience that never were made duly sensible of the evil of sin many are afraid of burning that never were afraid of sinning Slight and transient troubles some have had but it 's vanisht like an early cloud lickt up like a morning dew Few men are without checks and throbs of conscience at one time or other but instead of going to the Closet they run to the Ale house or Tavern for a cure If their sorrow for sin
nature begins to recover ease and vigour again and shall we not much more rejoyce when our souls begin to mend and recover sensibly and all comfortable signs of life and health appear upon them particularly when the understanding which was ignorant and dark hath the light of life beginning to dawn into it such is that in 1 John 2. 27. When the will which was rebellious and inflexible to the will of God is brought to comply with that holy will saying Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9. 6. When the heart which was harder than an Adamant is now brought to contrition for sin and can mourn as heartily over it as ever a tender Father did for a dead Son a beloved and only Son When its aversations from God are gone at least have no such power as once they had but the thoughts are now fixed much upon God and spiritual things begin to grow pleasant to the soul when times of duty come to be longed for and the soul never better pleased than in such seasons When the Hypocrisie of the heart is purged out so that we begin to do all that we do heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men Coll. 3. 23. 1 Thess. 2. 4. when we begin to make Conscience of secret sins Psal. 119. 113. and of secret duties Mat. 6. 5 6. when we have an equal respect to all Gods Commandments Psal. 119. 6. and our hearts are under the holy and awful Eye of God which doth indeed over-awe our souls Gen. 17. 1. O what sweet signs of a recovering soul are these Surely such are in the skilful hand of the great Physician who will perfect what yet remains to be done Second Use for Direction In the last place this point yields us matter of advice and direction to poor souls that are under the disease of sin Use 2. and they are of two sorts which I will distinctly speak to viz. First Such as are under their first sickness or spiritual sorrow for sin and know not what course to take or Secondly such as have been longer in the hands of Christ the Physician but are troubled to see the cure advance so slowly upon them and fear the issue First As to those that are in their first troubles for sin 1. and know not what course to take for ease and safety I would address to them these following Counsels First Shut your Ears against the dangerous counsels of carnal persons or relations for as they themselves are unacquainted with these troubles so also are they with all proper memedies and it is very usual with the Devil to convey his temptations to distressed souls by such hands because by them he can do it with least suspicion It was Augustins complaint that his own Father took little care for his soul and many Parents act in this case as if they were imployed by Satan Secondly Be not too eager to get out of trouble but be content to take Gods way and wait his time no woman that is wise would desire to have her travail hastned one day before the due time nor will it be your interest to hasten too soon out of trouble 'T is true times of trouble are apt to seem tedious but a false peace will endanger you more than a long trouble a man may lengthen his own troubles to the loss of his own peace and he may shorten them to the hazard of his own soul. Thirdly Open your case to wise judicious and experienced Christians and especially the Ministers of Christ whose office it is to counsel and direct you in these difficulties and let not your troubles lye like a secret smothering fire always in your own breasts I know men are more ashamed to open their sins under convictions than they were to commit them before conviction but this is your interest and the true way to your rest and peace If there be with or near you an Interpreter one of a thousand to shew you your righteousness and remedy as it lies in Christ neglect not your own souls in a sinful concealment of your case it will be the joy of their hearts to be imployed in such work as this is Fourthly Be much with God in secret open your hearts to him and pour out your complaints into his Bosome The 102. Psalm bears a title very suitable to your case and duty yea you will find if your troubles work kindly and God intend a cure upon your souls that nothing will be able to keep God and your souls asunder whatever your incumbrances in the world be some time will be daily redeemed to be so spent betwixt you and God Fifthly Plead hard with God in prayer for help and healing Heal my soul saith David for I have sinned against thee Psal. 41. 4. tell him Christ hath his Commission sealed for such as you are he was sent to bind up the broken hearted Isai. 61. 1. tell him he came into the world to seek and save that which was lost and so are you now in your own account and apprehension Lord what profit is there in my bood Wilt thou pursue a dried leaf And why is my heart wounded with the sense of sin and mine eyes opened to see my danger and misery are not these the first dawnings of mercy upon sinners O let it appear that the time of mercy even the set time is now come Sixthly Understand your peace to be in Christ only and faith to be the only way to Christ and rest let the great enquiry of your souls be after Christ and faith study the nature and necessity of these and cry to God day and night for strength to carry you to Christ in the way of faith Secondly As to those that have been longer under the hands of Christ and yet are in troubles still and cannot 2. attain peace but their wounds bleed still and all they hear in Sermons or do in way of duty will not bring them to rest to such I only add two or three words for a close First Consider whether you ever rightly closed with Christ since your first awakening and whether there be not some way of sin in which you still live if so no wonder your wounds are kept open and your souls are strangers to peace Secondly If you be conscious of no such flaw in the foundation consider how much of this trouble may arise from your constitution and natural temper which being melancholy will be doubtful and suspicious you may find it so in other cases of less moment and be sure Satan will not be wanting to improve it Thirdly Acquaint your selves more with the nature of true justifying faith a mistake in that hath prolonged the troubles of many if you look for it in no other act but assurance you may easily overlook it as it lies in the mean time in your affiance or acceptance A true and proper conception of saving faith would go far in the cure of many
the Saints would fall a weeping even in Heaven it self and say Lord Heaven will be no more Heaven to us except thou be there thou art the better half of Heaven Eleventhly Christ is an unsearchable mercy who can spell his wonderful name Prov. 30. 4. who can tell over his unsearchable riches Eph. 3. 8. Hence it is that souls never tire in the study or love of Christ because new wonders are eternally rising out of him he is a deep which no line of any created understanding angelical or humane can fathom Twelfthly and Lastly Christ is an everlasting mercy the same yesterday to day and for ever Heb. 13. 8. All other enjoyments are perishable time eaten things time like a Moth will fret them out but the riches of Christ are durable riches Prov. 8. 18. the graces of Christ are durable graces Joh. 4. 14. all the creatures are flowers that appear and fade in their month but this Rose of Sharon this Lilly of the Valley never withers Thus you see the mercy performed with his desirable properties Thirdly The last thing to be opened is the manner of 3. Gods performing this mercy to his people which the Lord did 1. Really and truly as he had promised him 2. Exactly agreeable to the promises and predictions of him First Really and truly as he had promised so he made good the promise Act. 2. 36. Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus whom ye crucified both Lord and Christ. The manifestation of Christ in the flesh was no phantasm or delusion but a most evident and palpable truth 1 Joh. 1. 1. That which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled A truth so certain that the assertors of it appealed to the very enemies of Christ for the certainty thereof Act. 2. 22. yea not only the sacred but prophane writers witness to it not only the Evangelists and Apostles but even the Heathen writers of those times both Roman and Jewish as Suetonius Tacitus Plinius the younger and Josephus the Jewish Antiquary do all acknowledge it Secondly As God did really and truly perform Christ the promised mercy so he performed this promised mercy exactly agreeable to the promises types and predictions made of him to the Fathers even to the most minute circumstances thereof This is a great truth for our faith to be established in let us therefore cast our eyes both upon the promises and performances of God with respect to Christ the mercy of mercies See how he was represented to the Fathers long before his manifestation in the flesh and what an one he appeared to be when he was really exhibited in the flesh First As to his person and qualifications as it was foretold so it was fulfilled His original was said to be unsearchable and eternal Mica 5. 2. and so he affirmed himself to be Rev. 1. 11. I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last Joh. 6. 31 32. Before Abraham was I am his two natures united in one person was plainly foretold Zech. 13. 7. the man my fellow and such a one God performed Rom. 9. 5. His immaculate purity and holiness was foretold Dan. 9. 24. to anoint the most Holy some render it the great Saint the Prince of Saints and such an one he was indeed when he lived in this world Joh. 8. 46. Which of you convinceth me of sin His Offices were foretold the prophetical Office predicted Deut. 18. 15. and fulfilled in him Joh. 1. 18. his Priestly Office foretold Psal. 110. 4. fulfilled Heb. 9. 14. his Kingly Office foretold Mica 5. 2. and in him fulfilled his very enemies being Judges Mat. 27. 37. Secondly As to his birth the time place and manner thereof was foretold to the Fathers and exactly performed to a tittle First The time prefixed more generally in Jacobs Phophecie Gen. 44. 10. when the Scepter should depart from Judah as indeed it did in Herod the Idumean more particularly in Daniel seventy weeks from the decree of Darius Dan. 9. 24. answering exactly to the time of his birth so cogent and full a proof that Porphyry the great enemy of Christians had no other evasion but that this Prophecie was devised after the event which yet the Jews as bitter enemies to Christ as himself will by no means allow to be true and Lastly The time of his birth was exactly pointed at in Haggai's Prophecie Hag. 2. 7 9. compared with Mal. 3. 1. he must come whilst the second Temple stood at that time was a general expectation of him Joh. 1. 19. and at that very time he came Luke 2. 38. Secondly The place of his birth was foretold to be Bethlehem Ephrata Mica 5. 2. and so it was Mat. 2. 5 6. to be brought up in Nazareth Zech. 6. 12. Behold the man whose name is the branch the word is Netzer whence is the word Nazarite and there indeed was our Lord brought up Mat. 2. 23. Thirdly His Parent was to be a Virgin Isai. 7. 14. punctually fufilled Mat. 1. 20 21 22 23. Fourthly His Stock or Tribe was foretold to be Judah Gen. 49. 10. and it is evident saith the Apostle that our Lord sprang out of Judah Heb. 7. 14. Fifthly His Harbinger or forerunner was foretold Mal. 4. 5 6. fulfilled in John the Baptist Luk. 1. 16 17. Sixthly The obscurity and meanness of his birth was predicted Isai. 53. 2. Zech. 9. 9. to which the event answered Luk. 2. 12. Thirdly His Doctrine and Miracles were foretold Isai. 61. 1 2. and Isai. 35. 4 5. the accomplishment whereof in Christ is evident in the History of all the Evangelists Fourthly His death for us was foretold by the Prophets Dan. 9. 26. The Messiah shall be cut off but not for himself Isai. 53. 5. He was wounded for our transgression and so he was Joh. 11. 50. The very kind and manner of his death was prefigured in the brazen Serpent his Type and answered in his death upon the Cross Joh. 3. 14. Fifthly His burial in the Tomb of a rich man was foretold Isai. 53. 9. and accomplished most exactly Mat. 27. 59 60. Sixthly His resurrection from the dead was Typed out in Jona and fulfilled in Christs abode three days and nights in the Grave Mat. 12. 39. Seventhly The wonderful spreading of the Gospel in the world even to the Isles of the Gentiles was fore-prophesied Isai. 49. 6. To the truth whereof we are not only the witnesses but the happy instances and examples of it Thus the promised mercy was performed Inference 1. If Christ be the mercy of mercies the medium of conveying all other mercies from God to men Then in vain do men expect Inference 1. and hope for the mercy of God out of Jesus Christ. I know many poor sinners comfort themselves with this when they come upon a bed of sickness I am sinful but God is merciful and it is very
mercy to give than Christ thy portion in him all necessary mercies are secured to thee and thy wants and straits sanctified to thy good O therefore never open thy mouth to complain against thy bountiful God Inference 4. Is Christ the mercy i. e he in whom all the tender mercies Inference 4. of God towards poor sinners are then let none be discouraged in going to Christ by reason of the sin and unworthiness that is in them his very name is mercy and as his name is so is he Poor drooping sinner incourage thy self in the way of faith the Christ to whom thou art going is mercy it self to broken-hearted sinners moving towards him in the way of faith Doubt not that mercy will repulse thee 't is against both its name and nature so to do Jesus Christ is so merciful to poor souls that come to him that he hath received and pardoned the chiefest of sinners men that stood as remote from mercy as any in the world 1 Tim. 1. 15. 1 Cor. 6. 11. Those that shed the blood of Christ have yet been washed in that blood from their sin Act. 2. 36 37. Mercy receives sinners without exception of great and heinous ones Joh. 7. 37. If any man thirst let him come to me and drink Gospel invitations run in general terms to all sinners that are heavy laden Mat. 11. 28. When Mr. Billney the Martyr heard a Minister preaching at this rate O thou old Sinner who hast been serving the Devil these fifty or sixty years dost thou think that Christ will receive thee now O said he what a preaching of Christ is here Had Christ been thus preached to me in the day of my trouble for sin what had become of me But blessed be God there is a sufficiency both of merit and mercy in Jesus Christ for all sinners for the vilest among sinners whose hearts shall be made willing to come unto him So merciful is the Lord Jesus Christ that he moves first Isai. 65. 1 2. So merciful that he upbraids none Ezec. 18. 22. So merciful that he will not despise the weakest if sincere desires of souls Isai. 42. 3. So merciful that nothing more grieves him than our unwillingness to come unto him for mercy Joh. 5. 40. So merciful that he waiteth to the last upon sinners to shew them mercy Rom. 10. 21. Mat. 23. 37. In a word so merciful that it is his greatest joy when sinners come unto him that he may shew them mercy Luk. 15. 5. 22. But yet it cannot enter into my thoughts that I should obtain Object mercy First You measure God by your selves 1 Sam. 24. 19. If Sol. a man find his enemy will he let him go well away Man will not but the merciful God will upon the submission of his enemies to him Secondly You are discouraged because you have not tryed Go to Jesus Christ poor distressed sinner try him and then report what a Christ thou findest him to be But I have neglected the time of mercy and now it is too late Object How know you that Have you seen the Book of Life or turned over the Records of Eternity Or do you not unwarrantably Sol. intrude into the secrets of God which belong not to you Besides if the treaty were at an end how is it that thy heart is now distressed for sin and solicitous after deliverance from it But I have waited long and yet see no mercy for me May not mercy be coming and you not see it or have you Object not waited at the wrong dore If you wait for the mercy of Sol. God through Christ in the way of humiliation and faith and continue waiting assuredly mercy shall come at last Inference 5. Hath God performed the mercy promised to the Fathers the great mercy the capital mercy Jesus Christ then let no Inference 5. man distrust God for the performance of lesser mercies contained in any other promises of the Scripture the performance of this mercy secures the performance of all other mercies to us For First Christ is a greater mercy than any other which yet remains to be performed Rom. 8. 32. Secondly This mercy virtually comprehends all other mercies 1 Cor. 3. 21 22 23. Thirdly The promises that contain all other mercies are ratified and confirmed to Believers in Christ 2 Cor. 1. 20. Fourthly It was much more improbable that God would bestow his own Son upon the world than that he should bestow any other mercy upon it Wait therefore in a comfortable expectation of the fulfilling of all the rest of the promises in their seasons hath he given thee Christ he will give thee bread to eat rayment to put on support in troubles and whatsoever else thy soul or body stands in need of the blessings contained in all other promises are fully secured by the performance of this great promise thy pardon peace acceptance with God now and enjoyment of him for ever shall be fulfilled the great mercy Christ makes way for all other mercies to the souls of Believers Inference 6. Lastly How mad are they that part with Christ the best of Inference 6. mercies to secure and preserve any temporal lesser mercies to themselves Thus Demas and Judas gave up Christ to gain a little of the world O soul-undoing bargain How dear do they pay for the world that purchase it with the loss of Christ and their own peace for ever Blessed be God for Jesus Christ the mercy of mercies The Twelfth SERMON Sermon 12. CANT 5. part of verse 16. Text. Containing a third motive to enliven the general exhortation from a third title of Christ. yea he is altogether lovely AT the ninth verse of this Chapter you have a query propounded to the Spouse by the Daughters of Jerusalem What is thy Beloved more than another Beloved To this question the Spouse returns her answer in the following verses wherein she asserts his excellency in general vers 10. He is the chiefest among ten thousands confirms that general assertion by an enumeration of his particular excellencies to vers 16. where she closes up her Character and Encomium of her Beloved with an elegant Epiphonema in the words that I have read Yea he is altogether lovely The words you see are an affirmative proposition setting forth the transcendent loveliness of the Lord Jesus Christ and naturally resolve themselves into three parts viz. 1. The Subject 2. The Predicate 3. The manner of Predication First The subject He viz. the Lord Jesus Christ after 1. whom she had been seeking for whom she was sick of love concerning whom these Daughters of Jerusalem had enquired whom she had endeavoured so graphically to describe in his particular excellencies This is the great and excellent Subject of whom she here speaks Secondly The predicate or what she affirmeth or saith of 2. him viz. that he is a lovely one machamaddim desires according to the import of
the necessary consequent of that Union there is no condemnation Rom. 8. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not one condemnation how many soever our sins have been Thirdly The least measure or degree of saving faith is a greater mercy than God hath bestowed or ever will bestow upon many that are far above you in outward respects all men have not faith nay 't is but a remnant among men that believe Few of the Nobles and Potentates of the world have such a gift as this they have houses and lands yea Crowns and Scepters but no Faith no Christ no pardon they have authority to rule over men but no authority to become the sons of God 1 Cor. 1. 26 27. Say therefore in thy most debased straitned afflicted condition Return to thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Fourthly The least degree of saving faith is more than all the power of nature can produce there must be a special revelation of the arm of the Lord in that work Isa. 53. 1. Believers are not born of flesh nor of blood nor of the will of man but of God Joh. 1. 12 13. all believing motions towards Christ are the effects of the Fathers drawing Joh. 6. 44. a glorious and irresistable power goes forth from God to produce it whence it 's call'd the faith of the operation of God Col. 2. 12. So then Let not believers depise the day of small things or overlook that great and infinite mercy which is wrapt up in the least degree of saving faith Inference 5. Learn hence the impossibility of their salvation who neither know the nature nor enjoy the means of saving faith Infer 5. My soul pities and mourns over the infidel world Ah what will become of the millions of poor unbelievers there is but one door of salvation viz. Christ and but one Key of faith to open that door and as that key was never given to the heathen world so it 's laid aside or taken away from the people by their cruel guides all over the Popish world were you among them you should hear nothing else prest as necessary to your salvation but a blind implicite faith to believe as the Church believes that is to believe they know not what To believe as the Pope believes that is as an Infidel believes for so they confess he may be * Non enim fides interior Romani Poâ—…tificis ecclesiae est necessaria Canus Loc. Theol. p. 344. and though there be such a thing as an explicite faith sometimes spoken of among them yet it is very sparingly discoursed very falsely described and exceedingly slighted by them as the veriest trifle in the world First It is but sparingly discoursed of they love not to accustome the peoples ears to such doctrine one of themselves confesses that there is so deep a silence of explicit particular faith in the Romish Church that you may find many every where that believe no more of these things than heathen Navarr cap. 11. p. 142. Philosophers Secondly When it is preacht or written of it is falsely described for they place the whole nature and essence of justifying and saving faith in a naked assent which the Devils have as well as men James 2. 19. no more than this is prest upon the people at any time as necessary to their salvation Thirdly And even this particular explicit faith when it is spoken or written of is exceedingly slighted I think if the Devil himself were in the Pulpit he could hardly tell how to bring men to a more low and slight esteem of faith to represent it as a verier trifle and needless thing than these his Agents have done Some a Petr. à S. Joseph sum Art 1. p. 6. say if a man believe with a particular explicit faith i. e. if he actually assent to Scripture truths once in a year it is enough Yea and others b Bonacina Tom. 2. in 1. praecept think it too much to oblige people to believe once in twelve months and for their ease tell them if they believe once in twelve years it is sufficient and lest this should be too great a task c Jo. Sanc. Disp. 41. n. 32. others affirm that if it be done but once in their whole life and that at the point of death too it is enough especially for the rude and common people Good God! what doctrine is here it was a saying long ago of Gregory as I remember malus minister est nisus diâ—…boli a wicked minister is the devils Gosshawk that goes a birding for hell and O what game have these hawks of hell among such numerous flocks of people O bless God while you live for your deliverance from Popery and see that you prize the Gospel and means of grace you enjoy at an higher rate lest God bring you once more under that yoak which neither you nor your Fathers could bear Second Use for Examination Doth saving faith consist in a due and right receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ then let me perswade you to examine 2. Use. your selves in this great point of faith Reflect solemnly upon the transactions that have been betwixt Christ and your souls think close on this subject of meditation If all you were worth in the world lay in one precious stone and that stone were to be tried by the skilful Lapidary whether it were true or false whether it would flye or endure under the smart stroke of his Hammer sure your thoughts could not be unconcerned about the issue why all that you are worth in both worlds depends upon the truth of your saith which is now to be tried O therefore read not these lines with a running careless eye but seriously ponder the matter before you you would be loth to put to Sea though it were but to cross the channel in a rotten leaky bottome and will you dare to venture into the ocean of eternity in a false rotten faith God forbid you know the Lord is coming to try every mans faith as by fire and that we must stand or fall for ever with the sincerity or hypocrisie of our faith Surely you can never be too exact and careful about that on which your whole estate depends and that for ever Now there are three things upon which we should have a very tender and watchful eye for the discovery of the sincerity of our faith and they are The Antecedents of Faith Concomitants Consequents As these are so we must judge and reckon our faith to be And accordingly they furnish us with three general Marks or tryals of faith First If you would discern the sincerity of your faith examine 1. Mark whether those Antecedents and preparative works of the Spirit were ever found in your souls which use to introduce and usher it into the souls of Gods Elect such are illumination conviction self-despair and earnest crys to God First Illumination is a necessary antecedent to faith you
yearning bowels after him whether he be yours or not you cannot tell but that you are resolved to be his that you can tell whether he will save you is a doubt but that you resolve to lye at his feet and wait only on him and never look to another for salvation is no doubt Well well poor pensive soul if it be so arise lift up thy dejected head take thine own Christ into thy arms These are undoubted signs of a real closure with Christ thou makest thy self poor and yet hast great riches such things as these are not found in them that despise and reject Christ by unbelief 3. Use of Exhortation This point is likewise very improveable by way of Exhortation 3. Use. and that both to Unbelievers and Believers First To unbelievers who from hence must be prest as ever they expect to see the face of God in peace to receive Jesus Christ as he is now offered to them in the Gospel this is the very scope of the Gospel I shall therefore press it by three great Considerations viz. First What is in Christ whom you are to receive Secondly What is in the offer of Christ by the Gospel Thirdly What is in the rejecting of that offer First Motive First Consider well what is in Christ whom I perswade you this day to receive did you know what is in Christ you Motive 1. would never neglect or reject him as you do For First God is in Christ 2 Cor. 5. 19. the Deity hath chosen to dwell in his flesh he is God manifest in flesh 1 Tim. 3. 16. a Godhead dwelling in flesh is the worlds wonder so that in receiving Christ you receive God himself Secondly The Authority of God is in Christ Exâ—… 23. 21. My name is in him him hath God the father sealed Joh. 6. 27. he hath the Commission the great seal of heaven to redeem and save you all power in heaven and earth is given to him Matth. 28. 18. he comes in his Fathers name to you as well as in his own name Thirdly The wisdome of God is in Christ 1 Cor. 1. 24. Christ the wisdom of God yea in him are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge Col. 2. 3. Never did the wisdome of God display it self before the eyes of Angels and men as it hath done in Christ. The Angels desire to look into it 1 Pet. 1. 12. yet they are not so much concerned in the project and design of this wisdome in redemption as you are Fourthly The fulness of the Spirit is in Christ yea it fills him so as it never did nor will fill any creature Joh. 3. 34. God giveth not the Spirit by measure to him all others have their limits stints and measures some more some less but the Spirit is in Christ without measure O hâ—…w lovely and desirable are those men that have a large measure of the Spirit in them but he is anointed with the Spirit of holiness above all his fellows Psal. 45. 2 7. Whatever grace is found in all the Saints which makes them desirable and lovely wisdome in one faith in another patience in a third they all Centre in Christ as the rivers do in the Sea quae faciunt divisa beatum in hoc mixta 〈◊〉 Fifthly The righteousness of God is in Christ by which only a poor guilty sinner can be justified before God 2 Cor. 5. 21. we are made the righteousness of God in him he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. i. e. the i. e. Autorem justitiae nostrae Calv. in Loc. author of our righteousness or the Lord who justifies us by that name he shall be known and call'd by his people than which none can be sweeter Sixthly The love of God is in Christ yea the very yearning bowels of divine love are in him what is Christ but the love of God wrapt up in flesh and blood 1 Joh. 4. 9 10. In this was manifested the love of God towards us and herein is love that God sent his Son this is the highest 〈◊〉 that ever divine love made and higher than this it 〈◊〉 mount O love unparalell'd and admirable Seventhly The mercies and compassions of Christ are all in Christ Jude v. 21. Mercy is the thing that poor sinners want it 's that they cry for at the last gasp it 's the only thing that can do them good O what would they give to find mercy in that great day Why if you receive Christ you shall with him receive mercy but out of him there is no mercy to be expected from the hands of God for God will never exercise mercy to the prejudice of his Justice and it is in Christ that justice and mercy meet and embrace each other Eighthly To Conclude The salvations of God are in Christ. Acts 4. 12. Neither is there salvation in any other Christ is the dâ—…r of salvation and Faith is the key that opens that door to men if you therefore believe not i. e. if you so receive not Jesus Christ as God hath offer'd him you exclude your selves from all hopes of salvation The Devils have as much ground to expect salvation as you you see what is in Christ to induce you to receive him Motive 2. Next I beseech you confider what there is in the offer Motive 2. of Christ to sinners to induce you to receive him Consider well to whom and how Christ is offered in the Gospel First To whom he is offered not to the fallen Angels but to you they lye in chains of darkness Jude 6. as he took not their nature so he designs not their recovery and therefore will have no treaty at all with them but he is offered to you creatures of an inferiour rank and order by nature nor is he offered to the damned the treaty of peace is ended with them Christ will nevermake them another tender of salvation nor is he offered to millions of millions as good as you â—…ow living in the word the sound of Christ and Salvation is not come to their ears but he is offered to you by the special favour and bounty of heaven and will you not receive him O then how will the devils the damned and the heathens upbraid your folly and say had we had one such tender of mercy of which you have had thousands we would never have been now in this place of torments Secondly Consider how Christ is offered to you and you shall find that he is offered First Freely as the gift of God to your souls you are not to purchase him but only to receive him Isa. 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money let him come c. Secondly Christ is offered importunately by repeated intreaties 2 Cor. 5. 20. As though God did beseech you we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God O what amazing condescension is here in the God of
be called death if it were not for what follows him Rev. 6. 8. but when they consider that hell follows they tremble at the very name or thoughts of death Thirdly Such is the nature of these inward troubles of spirit that they swallow up the sense of all other outward troubles alas these are all lost in the deeps of soul sorrows as the little rivulets are in the vast Sea he that is wounded at the heart will not cry Oh at the bite of a Flea and surely no greater is the proportion betwixt outward and inward sorrows a small matter formerly would discompose a man and put him into a fret now ten thousand outward troubles are lighter than a feather For saith he why doth the living man complain am I yet on this side eternal burnings O let me not complain then whatever my condition be have I losses in the world or pains upon my body alas these are not to be named with the loss of God and the feeling of his wrath and indignation for evermore Thus you see what troubles inward troubles for sin be Secondly If you ask in the second place how it comes 2. How souls are supported under such troubles to pass that any soul is supported under such strong troubles of Spirit that all that feel them do not sink under them that all that go down into these deep waters of sorrow are not drowned in them The Answer is First Though this be a very sad time with the soul much like that of Adam betwixt the breach of the first Covenant and the first promise of Christ made to him yet the souls that are thus heavy laden do not sink because God hath a most tender care over them and regard to them underneath them are the everlasting arms and thence it is they sink not were they left to grapple with these troubles in their own strength they could never stand but God takes care of these mourners that their Spirits do not fail before him and the souls that he hath made I mean those of his Elect whom he is this way preparing for and bringing unto Christ. Secondly The Lord is pleased to nourish still some hope in the soul under the greatest fears and troubles of Spirit though it have no comfort or joy yet it hath some hope in the bottom and that keeps up the heart the afflicted soul doth in this case as the afflicted Church Lam. 3. 29. he putteth his mouth in the dust if yet there may be hope he saith its good for a man to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of God there are usually some glimmerings or dawnings of mercy through Christ in the midnight darkness of inward troubles non dantur purae tenebrae in hell indeed there is no hope to enlighten the darkness but it is not so upon earth Thirdly The experiences of others who have been in the same deeps of trouble are also of great use to keep up the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est primum picturae lineamentum sumitur hic pro exemplo ut viderent quid sibi spâ—…randum sit 〈◊〉 domino gratiam esse uberiorem ac potentiorem peccatoâ—… quis qui credit diffidereti sibi paratam esse veniam Poli Synops in Loc. above water The experience of another is of great use to prop up a desponding mind whilest as yet it hath none of its own and indeed for the support of souls in such cases they were recorded 1 Tim. 1. 16. For this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting for an encouraging pattern an eminent precedent to all poor sinners that were to come after him that none might absolutely despair of finding mercy through Christ. You know if a man be taken sick and none can tell what the disease is none can say that ever they heard of such a disease before it 's exceeding frightful but if one and another it may be twenty come to the sick mans bedside and tell him Sir be not afraid I have been in the very same case that you now are and so have many more and all did well at last why this is half a cure to the sick man So it is here a great support to hear the experiences of other Saints Fourthly As the experiences of others support the soul under these burdens so the riches of free grace through Jesus Christ uphold it 't is rich and abundant Psal. 130. ult plenteous redemption and 't is free and to the worst of sinners Isa. 1. 18. and under these troubles it finds it self in the way and proper method of mercy for so my Text a Text that hath upheld many thousand drooping hearts states it all this gives hope and encouragement under trouble Fifthly Lastly Though the state of the soul be sad and sinking yet Jesus Christ usually makes haste in the extremity of the trouble to relieve it by sweet and seasonable discoveries of his grace cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses in the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen It is with Christ as it was with Joseph whose bowels yearned towards his brethren and he was in pain till he had told them I am Joseph your brother This is sweetly exhibited to us in that excellent parable of the Prodigal Luke 15. when his Father saw him being yet a great way off he ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him mercy runs nimbly to help when souls are ready to fail under the pressure of sin And thus you see both how they are burthened and how upheld under the burthen Thirdly If it be enquired in the last place why God makes the burden of sin press so heavy upon the hearts of poor 3. Why doth God make the burden of sin lie so heavy upon the souls of some sinners sinners 't is answered First He doth it to divorce their hearts from sin by giving them an experimental taste of the bitterness and evil that is in sin mens hearts are naturally glewed with delight to their sinful courses all the perswasions and arguments in the world are too weak to separate them and their beloved lusts The morsels of sin go down smoothly and sweetly they roll them with much delectation under their tongues and it is but need that such bitter potions as these should be administred to make their stomachs rise against sin as that word used by the Apostle in 2 Cor. 7. 11. signifies in that ye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indignatio stomochatio Leigh's Critica in verb. sorrowed after a godly sort what indignation it wrought it notes the rising of the stomach with rage a being angry even unto sickness and this is the way the best and most effectual way to separate the soul of a sinner from his Lusts for in these troubles conscience saith as it is in
Christ he doth all gratis he sells not his medicines though they be of infinite value but freely gives them Isai. 55. 1. He that hath no money let him come if any be sent away 't is the rich Luk. 1. 53. not the poor and needy those that will not accept their remedy as a free gift but will needs purchase it at a price Ninthly and Lastly None rejoyces in the recovery of souls more than Christ doth O it is unspeakably delightful to him to see the efficacy of his blood upon our souls Isai. 53. 11. He shall see the travail of his soul i. e. the success of his death and sufferings and shall be satisfied when he foresaw the success of the Gospel upon the world it 's said Luk. 10. 21. In that hour Jesus rejoyced in spirit and thus you see there is no Physician like Christ for sick souls The Uses of this Point are For Information and Direction First From hence we are informed of many great and necessary truths deducible from this as Inference 1. How inexpressible is the grace of God in providing such a Physician Inference 1. as Christ for the sick and dying souls of Sinners O blessed be God that there is Balm in Gilead and a Physician there that your case is not as desperate forlorn and remediless as that of the Devils and damned is There is but one case excepted from cure and that such as is not incident to any sensible afflicted soul Mat. 12. 31. and this only excepted all manner of sins and diseases are capable of a cure Though there be such a disease as is incurable yet take this for thy comfort never any soul was sick i. e. sensibly burthened with it and willing to come to Jesus Christ for healing for under that sin the will is so wounded that they have no desire to Christ. O inestimable mercy that the sickest sinner is capable of a perfect cure There be thousands and ten thousands now in Heaven and earth who said once never was any case like theirs so dangerous so hopeless The greatest of sinners have been perfectly recovered by Christ 1 Tim. 1. 15. 1 Cor. 6. 11. O mercy never to be duly estimated Inference 2. What a powerful restraint from sin is the very method ordained Inference 2. by God for the cure of it Isai. 53. 5. by his stripes we are healed The Physician must dye that the Patient might live no other thing but the blood the precious blood of Christ is found in Heaven or earth able to heal us Heb. 9. 22. 26. This blood of Christ must be freshly applied to every new wound sin makes upon our souls 1 John 2. 1 2. every new sin wounds him afresh opens the wounds of Christ anew O think of this again and again you that so easily yield to the solicitations of Satan is it so cheap and easie to sin as you seem to make it Doth the cure of souls cost nothing True it is free to us but was it so to Christ No no it was not he knows the price of it though you do not hath Christ healed you by his stripes and can you put him under fresh sufferings for you so easily Have you forgot also your own sick days and nights for sin that you are careless in resisting and preventing it Sure 't is not easie for Saints to wound Christ and their own souls at one stroke if you renew your sins you must also renew your sorrows and repentance Psal. 51. Title 2 Sam. 12. 13. you must feel the throes and pains of a troubled Spirit again things with which the Saints are not unacquainted of which they may say as the Church Remembring my affliction the Wormwood and the Gall my soul hath them still in remembrance Lam. 3. 19. Yea and if you will yet be remiss in your watch and so easily incur new guilt though a pardon in the blood of Christ may heal your souls yet some Rod or other in the hand of a displeased Father shall afflict your bodies or smite you in your outward Comforts Psal. 89. 32. Inference 3. If Christ be the only Physician of sick souls what sin and folly is it for men to take Christs work out of his hands and attempt Inference 3. to be their own Physicians Thus do those that superstitiously endeavour to heal their souls by afflicting their bodies not Christs blood but their own must be the Plaister and as blind Papists â—…o many carnal and ignorant Protestants strive by confession restitution reformation and a stricter course of life to heal those wounds that sin hath made upon their souls without any respect to the blood of Christ but this course shall not profit them at all It may for a time divert but can never heal them the wounds so skinned over will open and bleed again God grant it be not when our souls shall be out of the reach of the true and only remedy Inference 4. How sad is the case of those souls to whom Christ hath not Inference 4. yet been a Physician They are mortally wounded by sin and are like to dye of their sickness no saving healing applications having hitherto been made unto their souls and this is the case of the greatest part of mankind yea of them that live under the discoveries of Christ in the Gospel which appears by these sad symptoms First In that their eyes have not yet been opened to see their sin and misery in which illumination the cure of souls begins Act. 26. 18. to this day he hath not given them Eyes to see Deut. 29. 4. but that terrible stroke of God which blinds and hardens them is too visibly upon them mentioned in Isai. 6. 9 10. no hope of healing till the sinners Eyes be opened to see his sin and misery Secondly In that nothing will divorce and separate them from their lusts a sure sign they are not under Christs cure nor were ever made sick of sin O if ever Christ be a Physician to thy soul he will make thee loath what now thou lovest and say to thy most pleasant and profitable lusts get ye hence Isai. 30. 22. till then there is no ground to think that Christ is a Physician to you Thirdly In that they have no sensible and pressing need of Christ nor make any earnest enquiry after him as most certainly you would do if you were in the way of healing and recovery These and many other sad symptoms do too plainly discover the disease of sin to be in its full strength upon your souls and if it so continue how dreadful will the issue be See Isai. 6. 9 10. Inference 5. What cause have they to be glad that are under the hand and Inference 5 care of Christ in order to a cure and who do find or may upon due examination find their souls are in a very hopeful way of recovery Can we rejoyce when the strength of a natural disease is broken and
troubled souls Fourthly Be more careful to shun sin than to get your selves clear of trouble 'T is sad to walk in darkness but worse to lye under guilt Say Lord I would rather be grieved my self than be a grief to thy Spirit O keep me from sin how long soever thou keep me under sorrow Wait on God in the way of faith and in a tender spirit towards sin and thy wounds shall be healed at last by thy great Physician Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ. The Eleventh SERMON Sermon 11. LUKE 1. 72. Text. Containing the second motive to enforce the general exhortation from a second Title of Christ. To perform the mercy promised to our Fathers and to remember his holy Covenant THis Scripture is part of Zechariahs Prophecy at the rising of that bright Star John the Harbinger and forerunner of Christ they are some of the first words he spake after God had loosed his tongue which for a time was struck dumb for his unbelief His tongue is now unbound and at liberty to proclaim to all the world the riches of mercy through Jesus Christ in a song of praise Wherein note The Mercy celebrated viz. Redemption by Christ vers 68. The description of Christ by place and property vers 69. The faithfulness of God in our Redemption this way vers 70. The benefit of being so Redeemed by Christ vers 71. The exact accomplishment of all the promises made to the Fathers in sending Christ the mercy promised into the world vers 72. To perform the mercy promised to our Fathers c. In these words we find two parts viz. 1. A mercy freely promised 2. The promised mercy faithfully performed First You have here a mercy freely promised viz. by God the Father from the beginning of the world and often repeated 1. and confirmed in several succeeding ages to the Fathers in his Covenant transactions This Mercy is Jesus Christ of whom he speaks in this Prophecie the same which he stiles an horn of salvation in the house of David vers 69. The mercy of God in Scripture is put either for 1. His free favour to the Creature or 2. The effects and fruits of that favour 'T is put for the free and undeserved favour of God to the creature and this favour of God may respect the creature two wayes either as undeserving or as ill deserving It respected innocent man as undeserving for Adam could put no obligation upon his Benefactor it respecteth fallen man as ill deserving Innocent man could not merit favour and fallen man did merit wrath the favour or mercy of God to both is every way free and that is the first acceptation of the word mercy but then it is also taken for the effects and fruits of Gods favour and they are Either 1. Principal and primary or 2. Subordinate and Secundary Of Secundary and Subordinate Mercies there are multitudes both Temporal respecting the body and Spiritual respecting the soul but the Principal and Primary Mercy is but one and that is Christ the first-born of mercy the capital mercy the comprehensive-root-mercy from whom are all other mercies and therefore called by a singular emphasis in my Text The Mercy i. e. the mercy of all mercies without whom no drop of saving mercy can flow to any of the sons of men and in whom are all the tender bowels of Divine mercy yearning upon poor sinners The Mercy and the mercy promised The first promise of Christ was made to Adam Gen. 3. 15. and was frequently renewed afterwards to Abraham to David and as the Text speaks unto the Fathers in their respective generations Secondly We find here also the promised mercy faithfully performed To perform the mercy promised What mercy 2. soever the love of God engageth him to promise the faithfulness of God stands engaged for the performance thereof Christ the promised mercy is not only performed truly but he is also performed according to the promise in all the circumstances thereof exactly So he was promised to the Fathers and just so performed to us their Children hence the Note is DOCT. That Jesus Christ the Mercy of mercies was graciously promised and faithfully performed by God to his people Doct. Three things are here to be opened First Why Christ is stiled the Mercy Secondly What kind of Mercy Christ is to his people Thirdly How this promised Mercy was performed First Christ is the mercy emphatically so called the peerless invaluable and matchless mercy because he is the 1. prime fruit of the mercy of God to Sinners The mercies of God are infinite mercy gave the world and us our beings all our protections provisions and comforts in this world are the fruits of mercy the after-births of Divine Favour but Christ is the first-born from the womb of mercy all other mercies compared with him are but fruits from that root and streams from that fountain of mercy the very bowels of Divine mercy are in Christ as in vers 78. according to the tender mercies or as the Greek the yearning bowels of the mercy of God Secondly Christ is the mercy because all the mercy of 2. God to sinners is dispensed and conveyed through Christ to them Joh. 1. 16. Col. 2. 3. Eph. 4. 7. Christ is the medium of all Divine communications the Channel of Grace through him is both the decursus recursus gratiarum the flows of mercy from God to us and the returns of praise from us to God fond and vain therefore are all the expectations of mercy out of Christ no drop of saving mercy runs beside this Channel Thirdly Christ is the mercy because all inferiour mercies derive both their nature value sweetness and duration from 3. Christ the fountain mercy of all other mercies First they derive their nature from Christ for out of him those things which men call mercies are rather traps and snares than mercies to them Prov. 1. 32. The time will come when the rich that are Christless will wish O that we had been poor and Nobles that are not ennobled by the new birth O that we had been among the lower rank of men All these things that pass for valuable mercies like Ciphers signifie much when such a speaking Figure as Christ stands before them else they signifie nothing to any mans comfort or benefit Secondly They derive their value as well as nature from Christ for how little I pray you doth it signifie to any man to be rich honourable politick and successfull in all his designs in the world if after all he must lye down in Hell Thirdly All other mercies derive their sweetness from Christ and are but insipid things without him There is a twofold sweetness in things one natural another spiritual those that are out of Christ can relish the first Believers only relish both they have the natural sweetness that is in the mercy it self and a sweetness supernatural from Christ and the Covenant the way in
which they receive them Hence it is that some men taste more spiritual sweetness in their daily bread than others do in the Lords Supper one and the same mercy by this means becomes a feast to soul and body at once Fourthly All mercies have their duration and perpetuity from Christ all Christless persons hold their mercies upon the greatest contingencies and terms of uncertainty if they be continued during this life that 's all there is not a drop of mercy after death but the mercies of the Saints are continued to eternity the end of their mercies on earth is the beginning of their better mercies in Heaven There is a twofold end of mercies one perfective another destructive the death of the Saints perfects and compleats their mercies the death of the wicked destroys and cuts off their mercies for these reasons Christ is called the mercy Secondly In the next place let us enquire what manner of mercy Christ is and we shall find many lovely and transcendent 2. properties to commend him to our souls First He is a free and undeserved mercy called upon that account the gift of God John 4. 10. And to shew how free this gift was God gave him to us when we were enemies Rom. 5. 8. needs must that mercy be free which is given not only to the undeserving but to the ill deserving the benevolence of God was the sole impulsive cause of this gift John 3. 16. Secondly Christ is a full mercy replenished with all that answers to the wishes or wants of sinners in him alone is found whatever the justice of an angry God requires for satisfaction or the necessities of souls require for their supply Christ is full of mercy both extensively and intensively in him are all kinds and sorts of mercies and in him are the highest and most perfect degrees of mercy for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Col. 1. 19. Thirdly Christ is the seasonable mercy given by the Father to us in due time Rom. 5. 6. in the fulness of time Gal. 4. 4. a seasonable mercy in his exhibition to the world in general and a seasonable mercy in his application to the soul in particular the wisdom of God pitched upon the best time for his incarnation and it hits the very nick of time for his application When a poor soul is distressed lost at its wits end ready to perish then comes Christ all Gods works are done in season but none more seasonable than this great work of Salvation by Christ. Fourthly Christ is the necessary mercy there is an absolute necessity of Jesus Christ hence in Scripture he is called the bread of life Joh. 6. 48. he is bread to the hungry he is the water of life Joh. 7. 37. as cold water to the thirsty soul he is a ransome for captives Mat. 20. 28. a garment to the naked Rom. 13. ult only bread is not so necessary to the hungry nor water to the thirsty nor a ransom to the Captive nor a garment to the naked as Christ is to the soul of a sinner the breath of our nostrills the life of our souls is in Jesus Christ. Fifthly Christ is a fountain mercy and all other mercies flow from him a believer may say of Christ all my fresh springs are in thee from his merit and from his Spirit flow our Redemption Justification Sanctification Peace Joy in the Holy Ghost and blessedness in the world to come In that day shall there be a fountain opened Zech. 13. 1. Sixthly Christ is a satisfying mercy he that is full of Christ can feel the want of nothing I desire to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified 1 Cor. 2. 2. Christ bounds and terminates the vast desires of the soul he is the very Sabbath of the soul how hungry empty straitned and pinched in upon every side is the soul of man in the abundance and fulness of all outward things till it come to Christ The weary motions of a restless soul like those of a River cannot be at rest till they pour themselves into Christ the Ocean of blessedness Seventhly Christ is a peculiar mercy intended for and applied to a remnant among men some would extend redemption as large as the world but the Gospel limits it to those only that believe and these Believers are upon that account called a peculiar people 1 Pet. 2. 9. The offers of Christ indeed are large and general but the application of Christ is but to few Isai. 53. 1. the greater cause have they to whom Christ comes to lye with their mouths in the dust astonished and overwhelmed with the sense of so peculiar and distinguishiug mercy Eighthly Jesus Christ is a suitable mercy fitted in all respects to our needs and wants 1 Cor. 1. 20. wherein the admirable wisdom of God is illustriously displaied ye are complete in him saith the Apostle Col. 2. 20. Are we enemies He is reconciliation are we sold to sin and Satan He is redemption are we condemned by Law He is the Lord our righteousness hath sin polluted us He is a fountain opened for sin and for uncleaness are we lost by departing from God He is the way to the Father Rest is not so suitable to the weary nor bread to the hungry as Christ is to the sensible sinner Ninthly Christ is an astonishing and wonderful mercy his name is called Wonderful Isai. 9. 6. and as his name is so is he a wonderful Christ his person is a wonder 1 Tim. 3. 16. Great is the mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh his abasement wonderful Phil. 2. 6. his love is a wonderful love his redemption full of wonders Angels desire to look into it he is and will be admired by Angels and Saints to all eternity Tenthly Jesus Christ is an incomparable and matchless mercy as the Apple-tree among the Trees of the Wood so is my Beloved among the Sons saith the enamoured Spouse Cant. 2. 3. Draw the comparison how you will betwixt Christ and all other enjoyments you will find none in Heaven or earth to match him he is more than all externals as the light of the Sun is more than that of a Candle nay the worst of Christ is better than the best of the world his reproaches are better than the worlds pleasures Heb. 11. 25. he is more than all Spirituals as the Fountain is more than the Streams he is more than justification as the cause is more than the effect more than sanctification as the person himself is more than his image or picture he is more than all peace all comfort all joys as the Tree is more than the Fruit. Nay draw the comparison betwixt Christ and things eternal and you will find him better than they for what is Heaven without Christ Psal. 73. 25. Whom have I in Heaven but thee If Christ should say to the Saints Take Heaven among you but as for me I will withdraw my self from you
true God is merciful plenteous in mercy his mercy is great above the heavens mercy pleaseth him and all this they that are in Christ shall find experimentally to their comfort and salvation but what is all this to thee if thou beest Christless There is not one drop of saving mercy that comes in any other Chanel than Christ to the soul of any man But must I then expect no mercy out of Christ This is a hard case very uncomfortable doctrine Yes thou maist be a Christless and Covenantless soul and yet have variety of temporal mercies as Ishmael had Gen. 17. 20 21. God may give thee the fatness of the Earth Riches Honours Pleasures a numerous and prosperous Posterity will that content thee Yes if I may have Heaven too no no neither Heaven nor Pardon nor any other Spiritual or Eternal mercy may be expected out of Christ Jude vers 21. O deceive not your selves in this point There are two bars betwixt you and all Spiritual mercies viz. the guilt of sin and the filth of sin and nothing but your own union with Christ can remove these and so open the passage for Spiritual mercies to your souls Why but I will repent of sin strive to obey the Commands of God make restitutions for the wrongs I have done cry to God for mercy bind my soul with vows and strong resolutions against sin for time to come will not all this lay a ground work for hope of mercy to my soul No no this will not this cannot do it First All your sorrows tears and mournings for sin cannot obtain mercy could you shed as many tears for any one sin that ever you committed as all the children of Adam have shed upon any account whatsoever since the creation of the World they will not purchase the pardon of that one sin for the Law accepts no short payment it requires plenary satisfaction and will not discharge any soul without it nor can it acknowledge or own your sorrows to be such the repentance of a soul in Christ finds through him acceptance with God but out of him it 's nothing Secondly All your strivings to obey the Commands of God and live more strictly for time to come will not obtain mercy Mat. 5. 20. Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Thirdly Your restitution and reparation of wrongs you have done cannot obtain mercy Judas restored and yet was damned man is repaired but God is not remission is the act of God 't is he must loose your Consciences from the bond of guilt or they can never be loosed Fourthly All your cryes to God for mercy will not prevail for mercy if you be out of Christ Mat. 7. 22. Job 27. 9. A righteous Judge will not reverse the just sentence of the Law though the Prisoner at the Bar fall upon his knees and cry mercy mercy Fifthly Your vows and engagements to God for time to come cannot obtain mercy for they being made in your own strength 't is impossible you should keep them and if you could yet it is impossible they should obtain remission and mercy should you never sin more for time to come yet how shall God be satisfied for sins past Justice must have satisfaction or you can never have remission Rom. 3. 25 26. and no work wrought by man can satisfie Divine Justice nor is the satisfaction of Christ made over to any for their discharge but to such only as are in him therefore never expect mercy out of Christ. Inference 2. Is Christ the mercy of mercies greater better and more necessary Inference 2. than all other mercies then let no inferiour mercy satisfie you for your portion God hath mercies of all sorts to give but Christ is the chief the prime mercy of all mercies O be not satisfied without that mercy When Luther had a rich present sent him Valde protestatus sum me nolle sie ab eo satiari Luth. he protested God should not put him off so and David was of the same mind Psal. 17. 14. If the Lord should give any of you the desires of your hearts in the good things of this life let not that satisfie you whilst you are Christless For First What is there in these earthly enjoyments whereof the vilest of men have not a greater fulness than you Job 21. 7 8 9 10 11. Psal. 17. 10. Psal. 73. 3 12. Secondly What comfort can all these things give to a soul already condemned as thou art Joh. 3. 18. Thirdly What sweetness can be in them whilst they are all unsanctified things to you Enjoyments and their sanctification are two distinct things Psal. 37. 16. Prov. 10. 22. Thousands of unsanctified enjoyments will not yield your souls one drop of solid spiritual comfort Fourthly What pleasure can you take in these things out of which death must shortly strip you naked You must die you must dye and whose then shall all those things be for which you have laboured Be not so fond to think of Tunc edax flamma combâ—…ret quos nunc carnalis delectatio polluit leaving a great name behind you 't is but a poor felicity as Chrysostom well observes to be tormented where thou art and praised where thou art not the sweeter your portion hath been on earth the more intolerable will your condition be in Hell yea these earthly delights do not only encrease the torments of the damned but also prepare as they are instruments of sin the souls of men for damnation Prov. 1. 32. Surely the prosperity of fools shall destroy them be restless therefore till Christ the mercy of mercies be the root and fountain yielding and sanctifying all other mercies to you Inference 3. Is Jesus Christ the mercy of mercies infinitely better than all other mercies then let all that be in Christ be content and well Inference 3. satisfied whatever other inferiour mercies the wisdom of God seems fit to deny them you have a Benjamins portion a plentiful inheritance in Christ will you yet grumble Others have Houses splendid and magnificent upon earth but you have an house made without hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5. 1. Others are cloathed with rich and costly apparel your souls are cloathed with the white pure robes of Christs righteousness Isai. 61. 10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord my soul shall be joyfull in my God for he hath cloathed me with the garment of salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness as a Bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a Bride adorneth her self with Jewels Let those that have full Tables heavy Purses rich Lands but no Christ be rather objects of your pity than envy 't is better like store-cattle to be kept lean and hungry than with the fatted Ox to tumble in flowry Meadows thence to be led away to the shambles God hath not a better
effect of pure grace done for his own name sake Isai. 43. 25. discharging us without any satisfaction at all by us there is much grace in that and providing a surety for us every way able to pay our debt there is more grace in that 'T is the gracious act of God in and through Christ the satisfaction of Christ is the procuring cause of our remission and so God declares himself just in the remission of our sin Rom. 3 25. Gracious is the Lord and righteous Psal. 116. 5. Justice and mercy meet here and embrace each other in whom saith the Text we have remission no other price could purchase this priviledge Micah 6. 6 7. not rivers of Oyl or humane Blood And this gracious act of God discharges the pardoned soul both from guilt and punishment guilt is nothing else but the force and power that is in sin to oblige the sinner to undergo the penalty due to sin Therefore sinners are said to be guilty of Hell-fire Mat. 5. 22. Guilty of eternal judgement Mark 3. 29. to be under the judgement of God Rom. 3. 19. Remission takes away both guilt and punishment together it takes away all guilt Acts 13. 38 39. and all punishment And so much of the first thing to be opened namely what the remission of sin is Secondly Now that this remission of sin is the priviledge of Believers is most apparent for all the causes of remission are in conjunction to procure it for them The love of God which is the impulsive cause of pardon the blood of Christ which is the meritorious cause of pardon and saving faith which is the instrumental cause of pardon do all cooperate for their remission as is plain in the Text. Besides all the promises of pardon are made to them Jer. 31. 34. Micah 7. 18. and Lastly All the signs of pardon are sound in them and in them only that love God Luk. 7. 47. mercisulness to others Mat. 6. 14. a blessed calmness and peace in the Conscience Rom. 5. 1. So that it is a truth beyond controversie that all that are in Christ are in a pardoned state Secondly Next I will shew you that the Pardon of Believers 2. is the purchase of the blood of Christ nothing but the blood of Christ is a price equivalent to the remission of sin for this blood was innocent and untainted blood 1 Pet. 1. 19. the blood of a Lamb without spot This blood was precious blood blood of infinite worth and value the blood of God Acts 20. 28. it was prepared blood for this very purpose Heb. 10. 5. prepared by Gods eternal appointment prepared by Christs miraculous and extraordinary production by the operation of the Spirit prepared by his voluntary sequestration or sanctification of himself to this very use and purpose The blood of Jesus is not only innocent precious and prepared blood but it is also blood actually shed and sacrificed to the justice of God for the expiation of guilt and procurement of our discharge Isai. 53. 5. To conclude the severe justice of God could put in no exception against the blood of Christ 't is unexceptionable blood being as before was noted untainted by sin and dignified above all estimation by the person whose blood it was Justice required no less and could demand no more and this is the price at which our pardons are purchased and without which no sin could be pardoned for without shedding of blood such blood as this there is no remission Heb. 9. 22. Thirdly The last thing to be opened is That God hath 3. manifested the riches of his grace in the remission of our sins so speaks the Apostle Rom. 5. 20. Where sin abounded grace did much more abound And 1 Tim. 1. 14. The grace of our Lord viz. in the pardon of sin was exceeding abundant Which will appear if we bring our thoughts close to the matter in several particulars First From the nature of the mercy which is the richest of all mercies except Christ the purchaser of it no mercy sweeter than a pardon to a condemned sinner No pardon like Gods pardon to a man condemned at his Bar all the goodness of God is made to pass before our eyes in his pardoning acts of grace Exod. 33. 19. Secondly The very riches of grace must needs be in the pardon of sin if we consider the method in which pardons are dispensed which is as the Text speaks through his blood Herein God commends his love to us Rom. 5. 8. he commends it more than if he had pardoned sin without such a sacrifice for then he had only displayed his mercy but not caused Mercy and Justice to meet and triumph together Thirdly The riches of his grace shines forth in the peculiarity of the mercy Remission is no common favour it was never extended to the fallen Angels nor to the far greater part of the children of men but only to a little flock a small remnant of mankind Luke 12. 32. Joh. 17. 9. Fourthly The riches of grace are manifested in remission if we consider the subjects of this priviledge who are not only equally plunged into sin and misery with others by nature Eph. 2. 3. but many of the Lords pardoned ones are actually guilty of deeper-died abominations than many unpardoned ones in the civilized world are defiled with To me saith Paul the greatest of sinners one that was before a blasphemer a persecutor c. yet to me is this grace given I obtained mercy 1 Tim. 1. 15. and such were some of you but ye are justified 1 Cor. 6. 11. Yea God singles out the most base despised poor and contemptible ones among men to be the subjects of this glorious priviledge 1 Cor. 1. 26. You see your calling brethren c. Fifthly More of the riches of grace still appears if we view the latitude and extent of this act of grace Oh how innumerable are our transgressions Who can understand his errors Psal. 19. 12. Yet the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin 1 Joh. 1. 7. Small and great sins open and secret sins old and new sins all pardoned without exception O the riches of grace O the unsearchable goodness of God! With the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption and he shall redeem Israel from all his Iniquities Psal. 130. 7 8. Sixthly and lastly The riches of Grace shine forth in the irrevocableness and perpetuity of remission as grace pardons all sins without exception so the pardons it bestows are without revocation The pardoned soul shall never come into condemnation Joh. 5. 24. As far as the East is from the West so far hath he removed our transgressions from us Psal. 103. 10. The East and West are the two opposite points of Heaven which can never come together neither shall the pardoned soul and its sins ever meet any more Thou hast cast saith Hezekiah all my sins behind thy back The penitent Believer sets his sins
dreadful stab to that noble power Gods vicegerent in the soul. And thus you see the first thing made good that light puts deep guilt and aggravation into sin Secondly In the next place let us examine why sin so aggravated by the light makes men liable to the greater condemnation 2. for that it doth so is beyond all debate or question else the Apostle Peter would not have said of those sinners against light as he doth 2 Pet. 2. 21. That it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness nor would Christ have told the Inhabitants of Chorazin or Bethsaida that it should be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Judgement than for them There is a twofold reason of this 1. Ex parte Dei on Gods part 2. Ex parte Peccatoris on the Sinners part First Ex parte Dei on Gods part who is the righteous Judge of the whole earth and will therefore render unto every man according as his works shall be for shall not the Judge of the whole earth do right he will judge the world in righteousness and righteousness requires that difference be made in the punishment of Sinners according to the different degrees of their sins Now that there are different degrees of sin is abundantly clear from what we have lately discoursed under the former head where we have shewed that the light under which men sin puts extraordinary aggravations upon their sins answerable whereunto will the degrees of punishment be awarded by the righteous Judge of Heaven and earth The Gentiles who had no other light but that dim light of nature will be condemned for disobeying the law of God written upon their hearts but yet greater wrath is reserved for them who sin both against the light of nature and the light of the Gospel also and therefore it is said Rom. 2. 9. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Impenitent Jews and Gentiles will all be condemned at the Bar of God but with this difference to the Jew first i. e. principally and especially because the light and mercy which he abused and violated were far greater than those bestowed upon the Gentiles because unto them were committed the Oracles of God and God had not dealt with any Nation as with that Nation Indeed in the rewards of obedience the same reason doth not hold he that came into the Vineyard at the last hour of the day may be equal in reward with him that bare the heat and burthen of the whole day because the reward is of grace and bounty not of debt and merit but it is not so here justice observes an exact proportion in distributing punishments according to the degrees deserts and measures of sin and therefore it is said concerning Babylon Rev. 18. 7. How much she had glorified her self and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her Secondly Ex parte Peccatoris upon the account of sinners it must needs be that the heaviest wrath and most intolerable torments should be the portion of them who have sinned under and against the clearest light and means of grace for we find in the Scripture account that a principal and special part of the torment of the damned will arise from their own Consciences Mark 9. 44. Where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched and nothing is more manifest than this that if Conscience be the tormentor of the damned then sinners against light must needs have the greatest torments For First The more knowledge any man had in this world the more was his Conscience violated and abused here by sinning against it and O what work will these violations and abuses make for a tormenting Conscience in Hell With what rage and fury will it then avenge it self upon the most stout daring and impudent sinner the more guilt now the more rage and fury then Secondly The more knowledge or means of knowledge any man hath enjoyed in this world so much the more matter is prepared and laid up for Conscience to upbraid us with in the place of torments and the upbraidings of Conscience are a special part of the torments of the damned O what a peal will Conscience ring in the ears of such sinners Did not I warn thee of the issue of such sins undone wretch How often did I strive with thee if it had been possible to take thee off from thy course of sinning and to escape this wrath Did not I osten cry out in thy bosom stop thy course sinner Hearken to my counsel turn and live but thou wouldst not hearken to my voice I forewarned thee of this danger but thou slightedst all my warnings thy lusts were too strong for my light and now thou seest whither thy way tended but alas too late Thirdly The more knowledge or means of knowledge any man hath abused and neglected in this world so many fair opportunities and great advantages he hath lost for Heaven and the more opportunities and advantages he hath had for Heaven the more intolerable will Hell be to that man as the mercy was great which was offered by them so the torment will be unspeakable that will arise from the loss of them Sinners you have now a wide and open door many blessed opportunities of salvation under the Gospel it hath put you in a fair way for everlasting happiness many of you are not far from the kingdom of God there will be time enough in Hell to reflect upon this loss What think you will it not be sad to think there O how fair was I once for Heaven to have been with God and among yonder Saints My Conscience was once convinced and my affections melted under the Gospel I was almost perswaded to be a Christian indeed the bargain was almost made betwixt Christ and my soul there were but a few points in difference betwixt us but wretch that I was at those points the bargain stuck and there the treaty ended to my eternal ruine I could not deny my lusts I could not live under the strict yoak of Christs government but now I must live under the insupportable wrath of the righteous and terrible God for ever and this torment will be peculiar to such as perish under the Gospel The Heathen who enjoyed no such means can therefore have no such reflections nay the very Devils themselves who never had such a plank after their shipwrack I mean a Mediator in their nature or such terms of reconciliation offered them will not reflect upon their lost opportunities of recovering as such sinners must and will this therefore is the condemnation that light is come into the world but men loved darkness rather than light Inference 1. Hence it follows that neither knowledge nor the best means of knowledge are in themselves sufficient to secure men from wrath Inference 1. to come Light in it self is a choice
mercy and therefore the means that begat and encreased it must be so too but yet it is a mercy liable to the greatest abuse and the abuse of the best mercies brings forth the greatest miseries Alas Christians your duty is but half learnt when you know it obedience to light makes light a blessing indeed Joh. 13. 17. If ye know these things happy are ye if you do them Happiness is not entailed upon simple knowing but upon doing upon obedience to our knowledge otherwise he that increaseth knowledge doth but increase sorrow for that servant which knew his Lords will and prepared not himself nor did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes Luke 13. 47. And to him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin Jam. 4. 17. We are bound with all thankfulness to acknowledge the bounty of Heaven to this sinful generation in furnishing us with so many excellent means of light beyond many other nations and generations that are past but yet we ought to rejoice with trembling when we consider the abuses of light in this wanton age and what a dismal event is like to happen unto many thousands among us I fear the time is coming when many among us will wish they had never set foot upon English ground God hath blessed this nation with many famous burning and shining lights it was once said to the honour of this Nation that the English Ministry was the worlds Clerus Anglicanus stupor mâ—…ndi wonder and when a man of another Nation began to Preach methodically and convincingly they were once wont to say we perceive this man hath been in England the greater will our Peâ—…cipimus â—…c hominem fâ—…isse in Anglia account be for abusing such light and rebelling against it the clearer our light is now the thicker will the mists of darkness be hereafter if we thus wantonize under it and rebel against it The Devils have more light than we and therefore the more torment of them it is said Jam. 2. 19. The Devils also believe and tremble the horror of their Consciences is answerable to their illumination they tremble the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 aâ—…itatio Eustach signifies the rote of the Sea or such a murmuring dreadful noise as the tempestuous Seas use to make when they break themselves against the Rocks Inference 2. If the abuse of light thus aggravates sin and misery then times of great temptation are like to be times of deep guilt Wo to an Inference 2. inlightned knowing generation when strong temptations befall them How do many in such times imprison the known truth to keep themselves out of Prison offer violence to their own Consciences to avoid violence from other hands * Opificeâ—…â—…iversorum 〈◊〉 invenire fâ—…le neque inventum iâ—…â—…gus promulgare tutum Plato was convinced of the unity of God but durst not own his own convictions but said it was a truth neither easie to find nor safe to own And even * In â—…nimi religione non habeat sed in actibus fiâ—…t Seneca the renowned moralist was forced by temptation to dissemble his conviction of whom * Colebat quod reprebendebat agebat quod arguebat quod culpabat adorabat Augustin saith he worshipped what himself reprehended and did what himself reproved and even a great Papist of later times was heard to say as he was going to Mass eamus ad communem errorem let us go to the common error O how hard is it to keep Conscience pure and peaceable in days of temptation doubtless it is a mercy to many weak and timerous Christians to be removed by a seasonable death out of harms way to be disbanded by a merciful providence before the heat of the battle Christ and Antichrist seem at this day to be drawing into the field a fiery tryal threatens the professors of this age but when it comes to a close grapple indeed we may justly tremble to think how many thousands will break their way through the convictions of their own Consciences to save their flesh Believe it sirs if Christ hold you to himself by no other tye than the slender thread of a single conviction if he have not interest in your hearts and affections as well as in your understandings and Consciences if you be men of great light and strong unmortified lusts if you profess Christ with your tongues and worship the world with your hearts a man may say of you without the gift of prophecie what the Prophet said of Hazael I know what ye will do in the day of temptation Inference 3. If this be so what a strong engagement lieth upon all enlightned Inference 3. persons to turn heartily to God and reduce their knowledge into practice and obedience The more men know the more violence they do to their own Consciences in rebelling against the light this is to sin with an high hand Num. 15. 30. Believe it sirs you cannot sin at so cheap a rate as others do knowledge in a wicked man like high mettle in a blind Horse doth but the sooner precipitate him into ruine You may know much more than others but if ever you come to Heaven it must be in the same way of faith and obedience mortification and self-denial in which the weakest Christian comes thither whatever knowledge you have to be sure you have no wisdom if you expect salvation upon any other or easier terms than the most illiterate Christian finds it It was a sad observation of the Father surgunt indocti rapiunt coelum the unlearned rise and take Heaven What a pity 't is that men of such excellent parts should be enslaved to their lusts that ever it should be said sapientes sapienter descendunt in Gehennam their learning doth but hang in their light it doth but blind them in spiritual things and prepareth them for the greater misery Inference 4. Hence it also follows that the work of conversion is a very difficult work the soul is scarcely half won to Christ when Satan Inference 4. is cast out of the understanding by illumination The Devil hath deeply intrenched himself and strongly fortisied every faculty of the soul against Christ. The understanding indeed is the first entrance into the soul and out of that faculty he is oftentimes expulsed by light and conviction which seems to make a great change upon a man Now he becomes a professor now he takes up the duties of Religion and passes up and down the world for a convert but alas alas all the while Satan keeps the Fort-royal the heart and will in his own possession and this is a work of more difficulty The weapons of that warfare must indeed be mighty through God which do not only cast down imaginations but bring every thought of the heart into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. While the heart stands out though the understanding
seasonably A sound of judgement is in our ears the Lords voice crieth unto the City and the man of wisdom shall see thy name hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it Mica 6. 9. All things round about us seem to posture themselves for trouble and distress Where is the man of wisdom that doth not foresee a shower of wrath and indignation coming We have heard a voice of trembling of fear and not of peace Ask ye now and see whether a man doth travel with child Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in travail and all faces are turned into paleness Alas for that day is great so that none is like it it is even the day of Jacobs trouble but he shall be delivered out of it Jer. 30. 5 6 7. Many eyes are now opened to see the common danger but some foresaw it long ago when they saw the general decay of godliness every where the notorious Prophanity and Atheism that overspread the Nations the spirit of enmity and bitterness against the power of godliness whereever it appeared and though there seemed to be a present calm and general quietness yet those that were wise in heart could not but discern distress of nations with great perplexity in these seeds of judgement and calamity but as the Epha fills more and more so the determined wrath grows more and more visible to every eye and 't is a fond thing to dream of tranquillity in the midâ—… of so much iniquity Indeed if these Nations were once swept with the besom of reformation we might hope God would not sweep them with the besome of destruction but what peace can be expected whilst the highest provocations are continued It is therefore the great and present concernment of all to provide themselves of a refuge before the storm overtake them for as Augustin well observes non facile inveniuntur praesidia in adversitate quae non fuerint in pace quaesita O take up your lodgings in the Attributes and Promises of God before the night overtake you view them often by faith and clear up your interest in them that you may be able to go to them in the dark when the Ministers and Ordinances of Christ have taken their leave of you and bid you good night Whilst many are hasting on the wrath of God by prophaneness and many by smiting their fellow Servants and multitudes resolve if trouble come to fish in the troubled waters for safety and preferment not doubting whensoever the overflowing flood comes but they shall stand dry O that you would be mourning for their sins and providing better for your own safety Reader it is thy one thing necessary to get a cleared interest in Jesus Christ which being once obtained thou maist face the storm with boldness and say Come troubles and distresses losses and tryals prisons and death I am provided for you do your worst you can do me no harm let the winds roar the lightnings flesh the rains and hail fall never so furiously I have a good roof over my head a comfortable lodging provided for me my place of defence is the munition of rocks where bread shall be given me and my waters shall be sure Isa. 33. 16. The design of the ensuing Treatise is to assist thee in this great work and though it was promised to the world many years past yet providence hath reserved it for the fittest season and brought it to thy hand in a time of need It contains the method of grace in the application of the great redemption to the souls of men as the former part contains the method of grace in the impetration thereof by Jesus Christ. The acceptation God hath given the former part signified by the desires of many for the publication of this hath at last prevailed with me notwithstanding the secret consciousness of my inequality to so great an undertakement to adventure this second part also upon the ingenuity and candour of the Reader And I consent the more willingly to the publication of this because the design I first aimed at could not be intire and compleat without it but especially the quality of the subject matter which through the blessing and concurrence of the spirit may be useful both to rouze the drousie Consciences of this sleepy generation and to assist the upright in clearing the work of the spirit upon their own souls These considerations have prevailed with me against all discouragements And now Reader it is impossible for me to speak particularly and distinctly to the case of thy soul which I am ignorant of except the Lord shall direct my discourse to it in some of the following suppositions If thou be one that hast sincerely applied and received Jesus Christ by faith this discourse through the blessing of the Spirit may be useful to thee to clear and confirm thy evidences to melt thy heart in the sense of thy mercies and to ingage and quicken thee in the way of thy duties Here thou wilt see what great things the Lord hath done for thy soul and how these dignities as thou art his Son or Daughter by the double title of regeneration and adoption do oblige thee to yield up thy self to God intirely and to say from thy heart Lord whatever I am I am for thee whatever I can do I will do for thee and whatever I can suffer I will suffer for thee and all that I am or have all that I can do or suffer is nothing to what thou hast done for my soul. If thou be a stranger to regeneration and faith a person that makest a powerless profession of Christ that hast a name to live but art dead here it 's possible thou maist meet something that will convince thee how dangerous a thing it is to be an old creature in the new creatures dress and habit and what it is that blinds thy judgement and is likeliest to prove thyruine a seasonable and full conviction whereof will be the greatest mercy that can befall thee in this world if thereby at last God may help thee-to put on Christ as well as the name-of Christ. If thow be in darkness about the state of thy own soul and willing to have it faithfully and impartially tried by the rule of the word which will not warp to any mans humour or interest here thou wilt find some weak assistance offered thee to clear and disintangle thy doubting thoughts which through thy prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ may lead thee to a comfortable settlement and inward peace If thou be a proud conceited presumptuous â—…oul who hast too little knowledge and too much pride and self-love to admit any doubts or scruples of thy state towards God there are many things in this Treatise proper for thy conviction and better information for woe to thee if thou shouldest not fear till thou begin to feel thy misery if thy troubles do not come on till
yet refuses Christ who comes to him with heavenly light and wisdome he is condemned by the terrible sentence of the Law to eternal wrath and yet rejects Christ who tenders to him compleat and perfect righteousness he is wholly polluted and plunged into original and actual pollutions of nature and practice yet will have none of Christ who would become sanctification to him he is oppressed in soul and body with the deplorable effects and miseries sin hath brought upon him and yet is so in love with his bondage that he will neither accept Christ nor the redemption he brings with him to sinners Oh what monsters what beasts hath sin turned its subjects into you will not come unto me that you may have life Joh. 5. 40. sin hath stabb'd the sinner to the heart the wounds are all mortal eternal death is in his face Christ hath prepared the only plaister that can cure his wounds but he will not suffer him to apply it he acts like one in love with death and that judges it sweet to perish So Christ tells us Prov. 8. 36. all they that hate me love death Not in it self but in Non quod quisque ita insaâ—…iat ut sciens volens diligat mortem quam omnes natura exhorrescimus sed quia ista est fructus spretae sapientiae Dei ut mortem tandem afferat Lavat in loc its causes with which it is inseparably connected they are loth to burn yet willing to sin though sin kindle those everlasting flames So that in two things the unbeliever shews himself worse than bruitish he can't think of damnation the effect of sin without horror and yet cannot think of sin the cause of damnation without pleasure he is loth to perish to all eternity without remedy and yet refuses and declines Christ as if he were an enemy who only can and would deliver him from that eternal perdition How do men act therefore as if they were in love with their own ruin many poor wretches now in the way to Hell what an hard shift do they make to cast themselves away Christ meets them many times in the Ordinances where they studiously shun him many times checks them in their way by convictions which they make an hard shift to overcome and conquer oh how willing are they to accept a cure a benefit aremedy for any thing but their Souls You see then that Sinners cannot should they study all their days to do themselves a mischief take a readier course to undo themselves than by rejecting Christ in his gracious offers Surely the sin of Sodom and Gomorrha is less than this sin mercy it self is exasperated by it and the damnation of such as reject Christ so prepared for them with whatever they need and so seriously and frequently offer'd to them upon the Knee of Gospel intreaty is just inevitable and more intolerable than any in the world beside them It is just for the sinner hath but his own option or choice he is but come to the end which he was often told his way would bring him to It is inevitable for there is no other way to Salvation but that which is rejected and it will be more intolerable than the Damnation of others because neither Heathens nor Devils ever aggravated their sins by such an horrid circumstance as the wilful refusing of such an apt offered and only remedy Infer 4. What a tremendous Symptome of wrath and sad Character of Death appears upon that mans Soul to which no effectual application Infer 4. of Christ can be made by the Gospel Christ with his benefits is frequently tendered to them in the Gospel they have been beseeched once and again upon the Knee of importunity to accept him those entreaties and perswasions have been urged by the greatest arguments The Command of God the love of Christ the inconceiveable happiness or misery which unavoidably follows the accepting or rejecting of those offers and yet nothing will stick all their pleas for infidelity have been over and over confuted their reasons and consciences have stood convinced they have been Speechless as well as Christless not one sound argument is found with them to defend their infidelity they confess in general that such courses as theirs is lead to destruction they will yield them to be happy souls that are in Christ and yet when it comes to the point their own closing with him nothing will stick all arguments all entreaties return to us without success Lord what is the reason of this unaccountable obstinacy in other things it is not so if they be sick they are so far from rejecting a physician that offers himself that they will send and pray and pay him too if they be arrested for debt and any one will be a surety and pay their debts for them words can hardly express the sense they have of such a kindness but though Christ would be both physician and surety and what ever else their needs require they will rather perish to eternity than accept him what may we fear to be the reason of this but because they are not of Christs sheep Joh. 10. 26. the Lord open the eyes of poor sinners to apprehend not only how great a sin but how dreadful a sign this is Infer 5. If Christ with all his benefits be made ours by Gods special application Infer 5. what a day of mercies then is the day of conversion What multitudes of choice blessings visit the converted soul in that day This day saith Christ to Zacheus Luke 19. 9. is Salvation come to this house in this day Christ cometh into the soul and he comes not empty but brings with him all his treasures of wisdom and righteousness sanctification and redemption Troops of mercies yea of the best of mercies come with him It is a day of singular gladness and joy to the heart of Christ when he is Espoused to and received by the believing soul it is as a Coronation day to a King So you read Cant. 3. 11. Go forth O ye daughters of Zion and behold King Solomon with the Crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his Espousals and in the day of the gladness of his heart Where under the Type of Solomon in his greatest magnificence and glory when the royal Diadem was set upon his head and the people shouted for joy so that the earth did ring again is shadowed out the joy of Christs heart when poor souls by their high estimation of him and consent to his government do as it were Crown him with glory and honour and make his heart glad Now if the day of our Espousals to Christ be the day of the gladness of his heart and he reckons himself thus honoured and glorified by us what a day of joy and gladness should it be to our hearts and how should we be transported with joy to see a King from heaven with all his treasures of grace and glory bestowing himself
hearts which have a strong aversation from God naturally in them to close with him according to the Articles of peace contained in the Gospel that thereby they may be capable to receive the mercies and benefits purchased by the death of Christ which they cannot receive in the state of enmity and alienation Secondly Their Capacity described they act in Christs stead as his Vicegerents He is no more in this world to treat personally with sinners as once he did in the dayes of nâ—…s flesh but yet he still continues the treaty with this lower world by his officers requiring men to look upon them and obey them as they would himself if he were Corporally present Luke 10. 16. He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me Thirdly The manner of their acting in that Capacity prescribed and that is by humble sweet and condescending intreaties and beseechings this best suits that meek and Lamb-like Saviour whom they represent Thus he dealt with poor sinners himself when he conversed among them he would not break a bruised reed nor quench smoaking flax Isa. 42. 3. This is the way to allure and win the souls of sinners to Christ. From hence the Note is Doct. That the preaching of the Gospel by Christs Ambassadors is the Doct. means appointed for the reconciling and bringing home of sinners to Christ. This is clear from Rom. 10. 14. 1 Cor. 1. 21. and many other Scriptures Here we shall take into Consideration these three things First what is implyed in Christs treating with sinners by his Ambassadors or Ministers Secondly What the great Concernment they are to treat with sinners about is Thirdly What and when is the Efficacy of preaching to bring sinners to Christ. First We will open what is implyed and imported in Christs treaty with sinners by his Ambassadors or Ministers And here we find these six things implied First it necessarily implies the defection and fall of man from his estate of favour and friendship with God if no war with heaven what need of Ambassadors of peace the very office of the Ministry is an argument of the fall Gospel Ordinances and Officers came in upon the fall and expire with the Mediators dispensatory Kingdom 1 Cor. 15. 24 25. Then shall he deliver up the Kingdom to God even the Father thenceforth no more Ordinances no more Ministers what use can there be of them when the treaty is ended They have done and accomplished all they were ever intended and designed for when they shall have reconciled to God all the number of his Elect that lay dispersed among the lost and miserable posterity of Adam and have brought them home to Christ in a perfect state Eph. 4. 12. c. Secondly It implies the singular grace and admirable condescension of God to sinful man That God will admit any treaty with him at all is wonderful mercy it 's more than he would do for the Angles that fell Jude 6. they are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgement of the great day Christ took not on him their nature but suffered Myriads of them to perish and fills up their vacant places in glory with a number of sinful men and women to whom the Law a warded the same punishment But that God will not only treat but entreat and beseech sinful men to be reconciled is yet more wonderful Barely to propound the terms of peace had been an astonishing mercy but to wooe and beseech stubborn enemies to be at peace and accept their pardon Oh how unparallell'd as this condescension Thirdly It implyes the great dignity and honour of the Inter illos qui regi regum inserviunt â—…egatisumus Dei Christique personam gerimus â—…ullus unquam nos impuâ—…e despicatâ—… habuit quin in Deum Chriâ—…umque idem injurius Bowles prâ—…fat ad past Evang. Gospel ministry We are Ambassadors for Christ Ambassadors represent and personate the Prince that sends them and the honours or contempts done to them reflect upon and are reckon'd to the person of their Master Luke 10. 16. he that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me Neither their persons nor parts are the proper ground and reason of our respects to them but their office and Commission from Jesus Christ. We are fallen into the dreggs of time wherein a vile contempt is poured not only upon the persons but the very Office of the Ministry and I could heartily wish that Scripture Mal. 2. 7 8 9. were throughly considered by us possibly it might inform us of the true cause and reason of this sore judgement but surely Christs faithful Ministers deserve a better entertainment than they ordinarily find in the world and if we did but seriously bethink our selves in whose name they come and in whose stead they stand we should receive them as the Galatians did Paul Gal. 4. 14. as Angels of God even as Christ Jesus Fourthly Christs treating with sinners by his Ministers who are his Ambassadors implies the strict obligation they are under to be faithful in their Ministerial imployment Christ counts upon their faithfulness whom he puts into the Ministry 1 Tim. 1. 12. They are accountable to him for all acts of their office Heb. 13. 17. If they be silent they cannot be innocent necessity is laid upon them and wo to them if they preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 16. Yea necessity is not only laid upon them to preach but to keep close to their Commission in preaching the Gospel 1 Thes. 2. 3 4 5. Our Exhortation was not of deceit nor of uncleanness nor in guile but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel even so we speak not as pleasing men but God which trieth our hearts the word is not to be corrupted to please men 2 Cor. 2. 17. their business is not to make them their disciples but Christs not to seek theirs but them 2 Cor. 12. 14. to keep close to their instructions both in the matter manner end of their Ministry So did Christ himself the treasure of wisdom and knowledge yet being sent by God he saith Job 7. 16. my doctrine is not mine but his that sent me And so he expects and requires that his Ambassadors keep close to the Commission he hath given them and be according to their measure faithful to their trust as he was to his Paul is to deliver to the people that which he also received from the Lord 1 Cor. 11. And Timothy must keep that which was committed to him 2 Tim. 1. 14. Fifthly It implies the removal of the Gospel ministry to be a very great judgment to the people The remanding of Ambassadors presages an ensuing War If the reconciling of souls to God be the greatest work then the removal of the means and instruments thereof must be the forest Judgement Some account the falling of the Salt upon the Table ominous but surely the falling of them whom
Christ calls the Salt of the earth is so indeed What are those once famous and renowned places from whence Christ as he threatned hath removed the Candlestick but magna latrocinia dens of Robbers and mountains of prey Sixthly and Lastly It implyes both the wisdome and condescension of God to sinful men in carrying on a treaty of peace with them by such Ambassadors negotiating betwixt him and them without a treaty there would be no reconciliation and no method to carry on such a treaty like this for had the Lord treated with sinners personally and immediately they had been overwhelmed with such an awful Majesty The appâ—…ces of God confound the creature Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God saith Israel neither let me see this great fire any more that I dye not yea so terrible was that sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Deut. 18. 16. Heb. 12. 21. Or had he Commissionated Angels for this imployment though they stand not at such an infinite distance from us as God doth yet such is the excellence of their glory being the highest Species and order of creatures that their appearances would be more apt to astonish than persuade us besides they being creatures of another rank and kinde and not partaking with us either in the misery of the fall or benefit of the recovery by Christ 't is not to be supposed they should speak to us so feelingly and experimentally as these his Ministers do they can open to you the mysteries of sin feeling the workings thereof daily in their own hearts they can discover to you the conflicts of the flesh and spirit as being daily exercised in that warfare and then being men of the same mould and temper they can say to you as Elihu did to Job Chap. 33. 6 7. Behold I am according to thy wish in Gods stead I also am formed out of the clay behold my terror shall not make thee afraid neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee So that in this appointment much of the Divine wisdom and condescension to sinners is manifested we have this treasure in â—…arthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us 2 Cor. 4. 7. Gods glory and mans advantage are both promoted in this dispensation Secondly Next we are to consider that great Concernment 2. about which these Ambassadors of Christ are to treat with sinners and that as the Text informs us is their reconciliation to God Now reconciliation with God is the restoring of men to Reconciliarenihil aliud est quam amicitiam offensione aliquagravi diremptam resarcire sic inimicos in pristinam concordiam reducere Daven in 〈◊〉 Col. 20. that former frindship they had with God which was broken by the fall and is still continued by our Enmity and aversation whilst we continue in our Natural and unregenerate Estate Now this is the greatest and most blessed design that ever God had in the world an astonishing and invaluable mercy to men as will clearly appear by considering these particulars following First That God should be reconciled after such a dreadful breach as the fall of man made is wonderful No sin all things considered was ever like to this sin other sins like a single bullet kill particular persons but this like a chain-shot cuts off multitudes multitudes as the sand upon the sea shore which no man can number If all the posterity of Adam in their several generations should do nothing else but bewail and lament this sin of his whilst this world continues yet would it not be enough lamented for a man so newly Created out of nothing and admitted the first moment into the highest order Crowned a King over the works of Gods hands Psal. 8. 5. a man perfect and upright without the least inordinate motion or sinful inclination A man whose minde was most clear bright and apprehensive of the will of God whose will was free and able to have easily put by the strongest temptation A man in a paradise of delights where nothing was left to desire for advancing the happiness of soul or body A man understanding himself to be a publick complexive person carrying not only his own but the happiness of the whole world in his hand so soon upon so slight a temptation to violate the Law of his God and involve himself and all his posterity with him in such a gulph of guilt and misery all which he might so easily have prevented O wonderful amazing mercy that ever God should think of being reconciled or have any purposes of peace towards so vile an Apostate creature as man Secondly That God should be reconciled to men and not to Angels a more high and excellent order of creatures is yet more astonishing when the Angels fell they were lost irrecoverably no hand of mercy was stretched out to save one of those Myriads of excellent beings but chains of darkness were immediately clapt on them to reserve them to the judgment of the great day Jude v. 6. That the milder attribute should be exercised to the inferiour and the severer attribute to the more excellent Creature is just matter for eternal admiration who would cast away vessels of gold and save earthen potsherds Some indeed undertake to shew us the reasons why the wisdom of God made no provision for the recovery of Angels by a Mediator of reconciliation partly from the high degree of the malignity of their sin who sinned in the light of heaven partly because it was decent that the first breach of the Divine Law should be punished to secure obedience for the future And besides the Angelical nature was not entirely lost Myriads of Angels still continuing in their innocency and glory whenas all mankind was lost in Adam But we must remember still the Law made no distinction but awarded the same punishment and therefore it was mercy alone that made the difference and mercy for ever to be admired by men how astonishing is the grace of God that moves in a way of reconciliation to us out of design to fill up the vacant places in heaven from which Angels fell with such poor worms as we are Angels excluded and men received O stupendious mercy Thirdly That God should be wholly and throughly reconciled to men so that no fury remains in him against us according to that Scripture Isai. 27. 4. is still matter of farther wonder The design he sends his Ambassadors to you about is not the allaying and mitigating of his wrath which yet would be matter of great joy to the damned but throughly to quench all his wrath so that no degree thereof shall ever be felt by you O blessed Embassy Beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that bring such tydings God offers you a full reconciliation a plenary remission Fourthly That God should be freely reconciled to sinners and discharge them without any the least satisfaction to his justice
with you no more when a gulph shall be fixed betwixt him and you for ever Luk. 13. 25. O what will you do when the season of mercy and all hopes of mercy shall end together When God shall become inaccessible inexorable and unreconcilable to you for evermore O what wilt thou do when thou shalt find thy self shut up under eternal wrath when thou shalt feel that misery thou art now warned of is this the place where I must be are these the torments I must endure what for ever Yea for ever will not God be satisfied with the sufferings of a thousand years No nor of Millions of years Ah sinners did you but clearly see the present and future misery of unreconciled ones and what that wrath of the great and terrible God is which is coming as fast as the wings of time can bring it upon you it would certainly drive you to Christ or drive you out of your wits O 't is a dreadful thing to have God for your eternal enemy to have the great and terrible God setting on work his infinite power to avenge the abuse of his grace and mercy Believe it friends it 's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God knowing the terrors of the Lord we perswade men an eternal weight hangs upon an inch of time O that you did know the time of your visitation That you would not dare to adventure and run the hazard of one day more in an unreconciled state Thirdly and Lastly This point speaks to those who 3. have believed our report who have taken hold of Gods strength and made peace with him who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy who once were afar off but now are made nigh by the blood of Christ with you I would leave a few words of exhortation and I have done First Admire and stand amaz'd at this mercy I will praise thee O Lord saith the Church Isai. 12. 1. though thou wast angry with me thine anger is turned away and thou comfortest me O how overwhelming a mercy is here before you God is at peace at peace with you that were enemies in your minds by wicked works Colos. 1. 21. at peace with you and at enmity with Millions as good by nature as you at peace with you that sought it not at peace for ever no dissolving this friendship for evermore O let this Consideration thaw your hearts before the Lord and make you cry What am I Lord that mercy should take in me and shut out fallen Angels and millions of men and women as capable of mercy as my self O the riches O the depths of the mercy and goodness of God! Secondly Beware of New breaches with God God will speak peace to his people and to his Saints but let not them return any more to folly Psal. 85. 8. What if this state of friendship can never be dissolved yet it is a dreadful thing to have it clouded you may lose the sense of peace and with it all the joy of your hearts and comforts of your lives in this world Thirdly Labour to reconcile others to God Especially those that are endeared to you by the bonds of Natural relation When Paul was reconciled to God himself his heart was full of heaviness for others that were not reconciled for his brethren and kinsinen according to the flesh Rom. 9. 2 3. When Abraham was become Gods friend himself then O that Ishmael might live before thee Gen. 17. 18. Fourthly and Lastly let your reconciliation with God relieve you under all burdens of affliction you shall meet with in your way to heaven let them that are at enmity with God droop under Crosses and afflictions but don't you do so Tranquillus deus tranquillat omnia Rom. 5. 1 2 3. Let the peace of God keep your hearts and minds As nothing can comfort a man that must to Hell at last so nothing should deject a man that shall through many troubles win heaven at last The Fourth SERMON Serm. 4. Joh. 6. 44. Explaining the work of the Spirit as the internal most effectual means of the Application of Christ. No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him OUR last discourse informed you of the usefulness influence of the preaching of the Gospel in order to the Application of Christ to the souls of men there must be in Gods Ordinary way the external ministerial offer of Christ before men can have Union with him But yet all the preaching in the world can never effect this Union with Christ in it self and in its own vertue except a supernatural and mighty power go forth with it for that end and purpose Let Boanerges and Barnabas try their strength let the Angels of heaven be the preachers till God draw the soul cannot come to Christ. No saving benefit is to be had by Christ without Union with his person no Union with his person without faith no faith ordinarily wrought without the preaching of the Gospel by Christs Ambassadors their preaching hath no saving efficacy without Gods drawings as will evidently appear by considering these words and the occasion of them The occasion of these words is found as Learned Cameron well observes in the 42. verse And they said Is not this Jesus Cameronis Myrothes p. 139. the son of Joseph whose Father and Mother we know Christ had been pressing upon them in his ministry the great and necessary duty of faith but notwithstanding the Authority of the preacher the holiness of his life the miracles by which he confirmed his doctrine they still objected against him is not this the Carpenters Son from whence Christ takes the occasion of these words No man can come unto me except my Father which hath sent me draw him q. d. In vain is the Authority of my person urged in vain are all the miracles wrought in your sight to confirm the doctrine preached to you till that secret almighty power of the Spirit be put forth upon your hearts you will not you cannot come unto me The words are a Negative proposition In which the Author and powerful manner of divine operation in working faith are contained there must be drawing before believing and that drawing must be the drawing of God every word hath its weight we will consider them in the order they lye in the Text. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No man not one let his Natural qualifications be what they will let his external advantages in respect of means and helps be never so great it is not in the power of any man all persons in all ages need the same power of God one as well as another every man is alike dead impotent and averse to faith in his Natural Capacity No man or not one among all the sons of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can or is able he speaks of impotency to special and saving actions such as believing in Christ is no act
have their thoughts sinking deeper into these things than others these thoughts lye with different degrees of weight upon men but all are most solemnly and awfully concerned about their condition all frothiness and frolicks are gone and the heart settles it self in deepest earnest about its eternal state Secondly The heart that receives Jesus Christ is in a frame of deep humiliation and self-abasement O when a man begins to apprehend the first approaches of grace pardon and mercy â—…y Jesus Christ to his soul a soul convinced of its utter unworthiness and desert of hell and can scarce expect any thing else from the just and holy God but damnation how do the first dawnings of mercy melt and humble it O Lord what am I that thou shouldest feed me and preserve me that thou shouldest but for a few years spare me and forbear me but that ever Jesus Christ should love me and give himself for me that such a wretched sinner as I should obtain Union with his person pardon peace and salvation by his blood Lord whence is this to such a worm as I and will Christ indeed bestow himself upon me shall so great a blessing as Christ ever come within the arms of such a soul as mine will God in very deed be reconciled to me in his son what to me to such an enemy as I have been shall my sins which are so many so horrid so much aggravated beyond the sins of most men be forgiven me O what am I vile dust base wretch that ever God should do this for me And now is that Scripture indeed fulfill'd and made good Ezech. 16. 63. That thou maist remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done saith the Lord God Thus that poor broken-hearted believer stood behind Christ weeping and washing his feet with tears as one quite melted down and overcome with the sense of mercy to such a vile sinner Luke 7. 38. Thirdly The soul that receives Jesus Christ is in a weary Condition restless and full of disquietness neither able to bear the burden of sin nor knowing how to be discharged from it except Christ will give it ease Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me that is believe in me you that are weary and heavy laden if they do not look into their own souls they know there 's no safety and if they do there 's no comfort O the burdensome sense of sin overweighs them they are ready to fail to sink under it Fourthly The soul that rightly receives Christ is not only in a weary but in a longing condition never did the hart pant more earnestly for the water-brooks never did the hireling desire the shadow never did a condemned person long for a pardon more than the soul longs after Jesus Christ. O said David that one would give me of the waters of the well of Bethlehem to drink O saith the poor humbled sinner that one would give me of the open'd fountain of the blood of Christ to drink O for one drop of that precious blood O for one encouraging smile from Christ O now were ten thousand worlds at my command and Christ to be bought how freely would I lay them all down to purchase him but he is the gift of God O that God would give me Christ if I should go in raggs and hunger and thirst all my days in this world Fifthly The soul in the time of its closing with or receiving Christ is in a state of conflict it hangs betwixt hopes and fears encouragements and discouragements which occasion many a sad stand and pause in the way to Christ sometimes the number and nature of its sins discourage it then the riches and freeness of the grace of Christ erects his hopes again there 's little hope saith unbelief nay it 's utterly impossible saith Satan that ever such a wretch as thou shouldst find mercy now the hands hang down O but then there 's a necessity an absolute necessity I have not the choice of two but am shut-up to one way of deliverance others have found mercy and the invitation is to all that are weary and to all that are athirst he saith he that cometh to him he will in no wise cast-out now new hopes inspire the soul and the hands that did hang down are again strengthned These are the Concomitant frames that accompany faith Lastly Examine the Consequents and effects of Faith if you 3. Mark would be satisfied of the truth and sincerity of it and such are First Evangelical meltings and ingenuous thawings of the heart under the apprehensions of grace and mercy Zech. 12. 10. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and shall mourn Secondly Love to Christ his ways and people Gal. 5. 6. Faith worketh by love i. e. it represents the love of God and then makes use of the sweetness of it by way of argument to constrain the soul to all acts of obedience wherein it may testifie the reality of its love to God and Christ. Thirdly Heart purity Acts 15. 9. purifying their hearts by faith it doth not only cleanse the hands but the heart no principle in man besides faith can do this morality may hide corruption but faith only purifies the heart from it Fourthly Obedience to the commands of Christ Rom. 16. 26. the very name of faith is call'd upon obedience for it accepts Christ as Lord and urges upon the soul the most powerful arguments in the world to draw it to obedience In a word let the poor doubting believer that questions his faith reflect upon those things that are unquestionable in his own experience which being well considered will greatly tend to his satisfaction in this point It 's very doubtful to you whether you believe but yet in the mean while it may be past doubt being a matter of clear experience that you have been deeply convinced of sin struck off from all carnal props and refuges made willing to accept Jesus Christ upon what terms soever you might enjoy him you doubt whether Christ be yours but it 's past doubt that you have a most high and precious esteem of Christ that you heartily long for him that you prize and love all whether persons or things that bears his image that nothing in the world would please your hearts like a transformation into his likeness that you had rather your souls should be fill'd with his Spirit than your houses with Gold and Silver 'T is doubtful whether Christ be yours but it 's past doubt that one smile from Christ one token of his love would do you more good than all the honours and smiles of the world and nothing so grieves you as your grieving him by sin doth you dare not say that you have received him nor can you deny but that you have had many sick days and nights for him that you have gone into many secret places with
mercy God now beseeches you will you not yield to the intreaties of your God O then what wilt thou say for thy self when God will not hear thee when thou shalt intreat and cry for mercy Which brings us to the Motive 3. Consider the sin and danger that there is in refusing or Motive 3. neglecting the present offers of Christ in the Gospel and surely there is much sin in it the very malignity of sin and the summ of all misery lyes here for in refusing Christ First you put the greatest contempt and slight upon all the Attributes of God that it is possible for a creature to do God hath made his justice his mercy his wisdome and all his attributes to shine in their brightest glory in Christ never was there such a display of the glory of God made to the world in any other way O then what is it to reject and despise Jesus Christ but to offer the greatest affront to the glory of God that it is possible for men to put upon him Secondly you hereby frustrate and evacuate the very design and importance of the Gospel to your selves you receive the grace of God in vain 2 Cor. 6. 1. as good yea better had it been for you that Christ had never come into the world or if he had that your lot had fallen in the dark places of the earth where you had never heard his name yea good had it been for that man if he had never been born Thirdly hereby a man murthers his own soul. I said therefore unto you that you shall dye in your sins for if ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins Joh. 8. 24. unbelief is self-murther you are guilty of the blood of your own souls life and salvation was offered you and you rejected it yea Fourthly The refusing of Christ by unbelief will aggravate your damnation above all others that perish in ignorance of Christ. O 't will be more tolerable for heathens than for you the greatest measures of wrath are reserved to punish the worst of sinners and among sinners none will be found worse than unbelievers Secondly To Believers this point is very useful to perswade 2. them to divers excellent duties among which I shall single out two principal ones Viz. 1. To bring up their faith of acceptance to the faith of assurance 2. To bring up their conversations to the principles and rules of faith First You that have received Jesus Christ truly give your selves no rest till you are fully satisfied that you have done so acceptance brings you to heaven hereafter but assurance will bring heaven into your souls now O what a life of delight and pleasure doth the assured believer live what pleasure is it to him to look back and consider where once he was and where now he is to look forward and consider where he now is and where shortly he shall be I was in my sins I am now in Christ I am in Christ now I shall be with Christ and that for ever after a few days I was upon the very brink of hell I am now upon the very borders of heaven I shall be in a little while among the innumerable company of Angels and glorified Saints bearing part with them in the Song of Moses and of the Lamb for evermore And why may not you that have received Christ receive the comfort of your union with him there be all the grounds and helps to assurance furnisht to your hand there is a real union Viget apâ—…d nos spei immobilis virtus firmitas Cypr. Sermone de patientia betwixt Christ and your souls which is the very groundwork of assurance you have the Scriptures before you which contain the signs of faith and the very things within you that answer those signs in the word So you read and so just so you might feel it in your own hearts would you attend to your own experience The spirit of God is ready to seal you 't is his office and his delight so to do O therefore give diligence to this work attend the study of the Scriptures and of your own hearts more and grieve not the holy Spirit of God and you may arrive to the very desire of your hearts Secondly Bring up your conversations to the excellent principles and rules of faith As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him Col. 2. 6. live as you believe you received Christ sincerely in your first close with him O maintain the like seriousness and sincerity in all your ways to the end of your lives you received him intirely and undividedly at first let there be no exceptions against any of his commands afterward you received him exclusively to all others see that you watch against all self-righteousness and self-conceitedness now and mingle nothing of your own with his blood whatever gifts or enlargements in duty God shall give you afterwards You received him advisedly at first weighing and considering the self-denying terms upon which he was offered to you O shew that it was real and that you see no cause to repent the bargain whatever you shall meet with in the ways of Christ and duty afterwards Convince the world of your constancy and chearfulness in all your sufferings for Christ that you are still of the same mind you were and that Christ with his cross Christ with a prison Christ with the greatest afflictions is worthy of all acceptation as you have received him so walk ye in him let him be as sweet as lovely as precious to you now as he was the first moment you received him yea let your love to him delights in him and self-denyal for him increase with your acquaintance with him day by day 4 Use of Direction 4. Use. Lastly I will close all with a few words of direction to all that are made willing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ and sure it is but need that help were given to poor Christians in this matter it is a time of trouble fear and great temptation mistakes are easily made and of dangerous consequence attend heedfully therefore to a few directions Direction 1. First In your receiving Christ beware you do not mistake Direct 1. the means for the end many do so but see you do not Prayer Sermons Reformations are means to bring you to Christ but they are not Christ to close with those duties is one thing and to close with Christ is another thing if I go into a Boat my design is not to dwell there but to be carried to the place whereon I desire to be landed So it must be in this case all your Duties must land you upon Christ they are but means to bring you to Christ. Direction 2. Secondly See that you receive not Christ for a present shift Direct 2. but for your everlasting portion many do so they will enquire after Christ pray for Christ cast themselves in their
the second we partake with him the former is the remote the later the next cause thereof In the explication of this point I shall speak to these four things 1. What are those things in which Christ and believers have fellowship 2. By what means they come to have such a fellowship with Christ. 3. How great a dignity this is to have fellowship with Jesus Christ. 4. And then apply the whole in divers practical inferences First What are those things in which Christ and believers 1. have fellowship to which I must speak both negatively and positively First The Saints have no fellowship with Jesus Christ in Negatively those things that belong to him as God such as his consubstantiality coequality and coeternity with the father 't is the blasphemy of the wicked Familists to talk of being Godded into God and Christed into Christ neither men or Angels partake in these things they are the proper and incommunicable Justitia Christi fit nostra non quoad universalem valoremsed particularem necessitatem imputatur nobis non ut causis salvationis sed ut subjectis salvandis Bradshaw de justificatione glory of the Lord Jesus Secondlly The Saints have no communion or fellowship in the honour and glory of his mediatory works viz. his satisfaction to God or redemption of the elect 't is true we have the benefit and fruit of his mediation and satisfaction his righteousness also is imputed to us for our personal justification but we share not in the least with Christ in the glory of this work nor have we an inherent righteousness in us as Christ hath nor can we justifie and save others as Christ doth we have nothing to do with his peculiar honour and praise in these things though we have the benefit of being saved we may not pretend to the honour of being Saviours as Christ is to our selves or others Christs righteousness is not made ours as to its universal value but as to our particular necessity nor is it imputed to us as to so many causes of salvation to others but as to so many subjects to be saved by it our selves Secondly But then there are many glorious and excellent Posi ively things which are in common betwixt Christ and believers though in them all he hath the preeminence he shines in the fulness of them as the Sun and we with a borrowed and lesser light but of the same kind and nature as the Stars Some of these I shall particularly and briefly unfold in the following particulars First Believers have communion with Christ in his names and titles they are call'd Christians from Christ Eph. 3. 15. from him the whole family in heaven and earth is named this is that worthy name the Apostle speaks of James 2. 7. He is the son of God and they also by their union with him have power or authority to become the sons of God Joh. 1. 12. He is the heir of all things and they are joynt heirs with him Rom. 8. 17. He is both King and Priest and he hath made them Kings and Priests Rev. 1. 6. but they do not only partake in the names and titles but this communion consists in things as well as titles and therefore Secondly They have communion with him in his righteousness i. e. the righteousness of Christ is made theirs 2 Cor. 5. 21. and he is the Lord our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. 'T is true the righteousness of Christ is not inherent in us as it is in him but it is ours by imputation Rom. 4. 5. 11. and our union with him is the ground of the imputation of his righteousness to us 2 Cor. 5. 21. we are made the righteousness of God in him Phil. 3. 9. for Christ and believers are considered as one person in construction of Law as a man and his wife a debtor and surety are one and so his payment or satisfaction is in our name or upon our account Now this is a most inestimable priviledge the very ground of all our other blessings and mercies O what a benefit is this to a poor sinner that owes to God infinitely more than he is ever able to pay him by doing or suffering to have such a rich treasure of merit as lyes in the obedience of Christ to discharge in one entire payment all his debts to the least farthing Surely shall one say In the Lord have I righteousness Isa. 45. 24. even as a poor woman that owes more than she is worth in one moment is discharged of all her obligations by her marriage to a wealthy man Thirdly Believers have communion with Christ in his holiness or Sanctification for of God he is made unto them not only righteousness but Sanctification also and as in the former priviledge they have a stock of merit in the blood of Christ to justifie them so here they have the Spirit of Christ to sanctisie them 1 Cor. 1. 30. and therefore we are said of his fulness to receive grace for grace Joh. 1. 16. i. e. say some grace upon grace manifold graces or abundance of grace or grace for grace that is grace answerable to grace as in the seal and wax there is line for line and cut for cut exactly answerable to each other or grace for grace that is say others the free grace of God in Christ for the sanctification or filling of our souls with grace be it in which sense it will it shews the communion believers have with Jesus Christ in grace and holiness Now holiness is the most precious thing in the world it 's the image of God and chief excellency of man it is our evidence for glory yea and the first-fruits of glory in Christ dwells the fulness of grace and from him our head it is derived and communicated to us thus he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one Heb. 2. 11. You would think it no small priviledge to have Baggs of Gold to go to and enrich your selves with and yet that were but a very trifle in comparison to have Christs righteousness and holiness to go to for your Justification and Sanctification More particularly Fourthly Believers have communion with Christ in his death they dye with him Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ i. e. the death of Christ hath a real killing and mortifying influence upon the lusts and corruptions of my heart and nature true it is he died for sin one way and we dye to sin another way he dyed to expiate it we dye to it when we mortifie it the death of Christ is the death of sin in believers and this is a very glorious priviledge for the death of sin is the life of your souls if sin do not dye in you by mortification you must dye for sin by eternal damnation if Christ had not dyed the Spirit of God by which you now mortifie the deeds of the body could not have been given unto you then you must
non succumbitis Chrysostomus intelligit oneratos legalibâ—… oneribus nos vero in genere intelligimus universos eos qui peccatorum pondere naturaeque corruptae malitiâ quam sentiunt pressi ad ejiciendam pravitatem assequendam justitiam lucta t ur Muâ—… câ—…lus in Loc. two very Emphatical words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye that labour and are heavy laden the word which we translate labour signifies a labouring even to faintness and tiring to the consumption and wast of the spirits and the other word signifies such a pressure by a burden that is too heavy to be born that we do even sink down under it There is some difference among expositors about the quality of this burthen Chrysost. some others after him expound it of burden of the legal rites Ceremonies which was a heavy burden indeed such as neither they nor their fathers could bear under the task and burden of these legal observances they did sweat and toyl to obtain a righteousness to justifie them before God all in vain and this is a pious sense but others expound it of the burthen of sin in general the corruption of nature and evils of practice which souls are convinced have brought them under the curse and will bring them to hell and therefore labour and strive all that in them lyes by repentance and reformation to clear themselves from it but all in vain whilest they strive in their own strength Such are they that are here called to come to Christ which is the second thing namely Secondly The Invitation of burthened souls to Christ. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden come unto me i. e. believe in me lean and rest your burthened souls upon me I am able to ease all your burthens in me is that righteousness and peace which you seek in vain in all the legal rites and Ceremonies or in your repentance reformations and duties but it will give you no ease 't will be no benefit to you except you come unto me Faith is often expressed under this notion see Joh. 6. 37. and Joh. 7. 37. 2. and it is to be further noted that all burthened souls are invited to come All ye that labour whatever your sin or guilt hath been whatever your fears or discouragements are yet come i. e. believe in me Thirdly Here is the encouragement Christ gives to this duty And I will give you rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will refresh you 3. Quid alibi quaeritis quod non licet invenire ego is sum qui possum vos juvare solus Musc. in Loc. I will give you rest from your labour your Consciences shall be pacified your heart at rest and quiet in that pardon peace and favour of God which I will procure for you by my death But here it must be heedfully noted that this promise of rest in Christ is not made to men simply as they are sinners nor yet as they are burthened and heavy laden sinners but as they come to Christ i. e. as they are believers For let a man break his heart with sin let him weep out his eyes for sin let him mourn as a dove and shed as many tears for sin if it were possible as ever there fell drops of rain upon the ground yet if he come not to Christ by faith his repentance shall not save him nor all his sorrows bring him to true rest Hence Note Doct. 1. That some souls are heavy laden with the burthensome sense of sin Doct. 1. Doct. 2. That all burthened souls are solemnly invited to come to Christ. Doct. 2. Doct. 3. That there is rest in Christ for all that come to him under the heavy burthen of sin Doct. 3. Doct. 1. Some souls are heavy laden with the burthensome sense of sin I Do not say all are so for fools make a mock of sin Prov. Doct. 1. 14. 9. 't is so far from being burthensome to some that it is a sport to them Prov. 10. 23. but when a mans eyes are opened to see the evil that is in sin and the eternal misery that follows it sin and hell being linkt together with such strong chains as nothing but the blood of Christ can loose then no burthen is like that of sin a wounded conscience who can bear Prov. 18. 14. For let us but consider the efficacy that the Law of God hath upon the consciences of men when it comes in the spirituality and power of it to convince and humble the soul of a sinner For then First The memory of sin long since committed is refresht and revived as if it had been but yesterday there are fresh recognitions 1. What inward troubles for sin are of sin long since acted and forgotten as if they had never been what was done in our youth is fetcht back again and by a new impression of fear and horror set home upon the trembling conscience Job 13. 26. Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the sins of my youth Conscience can call back the days that are past and draw up a new charge upon the score of old sins Gen. 42. 21. all that ever we did is recorded and entred into the book of Conscience and now is the time to open that book when the Lord will convince and awaken sinners we read in Job 14. 17. of sealing up iniquities in a bag which is an allusion to the Clerk of the Assizes that takes all the indictments that are made against persons at the Assizes and seals them up in a bag in order to a Tryal This is the first office and work of conscience upon which The second namely its Accusations do depend these accusations of Conscience are terrible things who can stand 2. before them they are full they are clear and all of them referring to the approaching Judgement of the great and terrible God Conscience dives into all sins secret as well as open and Prima est haec ultio quod se judice nemo uocens absolvitur into all the circumstances and aggravations of sin as being committed against light against mercy against the strivings warnings and regretts of conscience So that we may say of the efficacy of conscience as it is said Psal. 19. 6. of the influence of the Sun nothing is hid from the heat or power thereof Come saith the woman of Samaria see a man that hath told me all that ever I did Joh. 4. 29 Christ convinced her but of one sin by that discourse but conscience by that one fetcht in and charged all the rest upon her And as the accusations of conscience are full so they are clear and undeniable a man becomes self-convinced and there remains no shift excuse or plea to defend himself a thousand witnesses cannot prove any point more clearly than one testimony of conscience doth Matth. 22. 12. the man was speechless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ille
Gal. 6. 1. You that are spiritually minded restore or set him in joint again in the spirit of meekness considering thy self Israel was commanded to be kind to strangers for saith God you know the heart of a stranger and surely if any case in the world require help pity and all compassionate tenderness this doth and yet how do some slight spiritual troubles upon others Parents slight them in their own children Masters in their servants the more bruitish and wicked they O had you but felt your selves what they feel you would never handle them as you do But let this comfort such poor creatures Christ hath felt them and will pity and help them yea he therefore would feel them himself that he might have compassion upon you If men will not God will pity you if men be so cruel to persecute him whom God hath smitten God will be so kind to pour balm into the wounds that sin hath made if they pull away the shoulder from you and will not be concerned about your troubles except it be to aggravate them God will not serve you so but certainly you that have past through the same difficulties you cannot be without compassion to them that are now grapling with them Inference 4. How unexpressibly dreadful is the state of the damned who must bear the burden of all their sins upon themselves without relief or Inference 4. hope of deliverance Mark 9. 44. where their worm dyeth not and the fire is not quenched O if sin upon the soul that 's coming to Christ for deliverance be so burdensome what is it upon the soul that is shut out from Christ and all hopes of deliverance for ever For do but ponder these differences betwixt these two burdens First No soul is so capacious now to take in the fulness of the evil and misery of sin as they are who are gone down to the place of torments Even as the joyes of Gods face above are much unknown to them that have the foretastes and first-fruits of them here by faith so the misery of the damned is much unknown even to them that have in their consciences now the bitterest taste and sense of sin in this world as we have the visions of heaven so we have the visions of hell also but darkly through a glass Secondly No burden of sin presseth so continually upon the soul here as it doth there afflicted souls on earth have intermissions and breathing times but in hell there are no Lucid intervals the wrath of God there is still flowing it is in fluxu continuâ—… Isa. 30. 33. a stream of brimstone Thirdly No burden of sin lyes upon any of Gods elect so long as the damned do and must bear it our troubles about sin are but short though they should run parallel with the line of life but the troubles of the damned are parallel with the endless line of eternity Fourthly Under these troubles the soul hath hope but there all hope is cut off all the Gospel is full of hope it breathes nothing but hope to sinners that are moving Christ-ward under their troubles but in hell the pangs of desperation rend their consciences for ever So that upon all accounts the state of the damned is inexpressibly dreadful Inference 5. If the burden os sin be so heavy how sweet then must the Inference 5. pardon of sin be to a sin-burdened soul Is it a refreshment to a prisoner to have his chains knockt off a comfort to a debtor to have his debts paid and obligations cancelled What joy must it then be to a sin-burthened soul to hear the voice of pardon and peace in his trembling conscience Is the light of the morning pleasant to a man after a weary tiresome night the Spring of the year pleasant after a hard and tedious Winter they are so indeed but nothing so sweet as the favour peace and pardon of God to a soul that hath been long restless and anxious under the terrors and fears of conscience for though after pardon and peace a man remembers sin still yet it is as one that remembers the dangerous pits and deep waters from which he hath been wonderfully delivered and had a narrow escape O the unconceivable sweetness of a pardon Who can read it and not wet it with tears of joy Are we glad when the grinding pain of the Stone or racking fits of the Colick are over and shall we not be transported when the accusations and condemnations of conscience are over Tongue cannot express what these things are this joy is something that no words can convey to the understanding of another that never felt the anguish of sin Inference 6. Lastly In how sad a case are those that never felt any burden in Inference 6. sin that never were kept waking and restless one night for sin There is a burthened conscience and there is a benummed conscience The first is more painful but the last more dangerous O 't is a fearful blow of God upon a mans soul to strike it senseless and stupid so that though mountains of guilt lye upon it it feels no pain or pressure and this is so much the more sad because it incapacitates the soul for Christ and is a presage and fore-runner of hell It would grieve the heart of a man to see a delirious person in the rage and height of a fevor to laugh at those that are weeping for him call them fools and telling them he is as well as any of them much so is the case of many thousand souls the God of mercy pity them Second Use for Counsel The only further Use I shall make of this Point here shall Use 2. be to direct and counsel souls that are weary and heavy laden with the burden of sin in order to their obtaining true rest and peace And first First Counsel Satisfie not your selves in fruitless complaints to men Many 1. Counsel do so but it 's never the near I grant it 's lawful in spiritual distresses to complain to men yea and it is a great mercy if we have any near us in times of trouble that are judicious tender and faithful into whose bosomes we may pour out our troubles but to rest in this short of Christ is no better than a snare of the Devil to destroy us Is there not a God to go to in trouble The best of men in the neglect of Christ are but Physicians of no value Be wise and wary in your choice of Christian friends to whom you open your complaints some are not clear themselves in the doctrine of Christ and faith others are of a dark and troubled spirit as you are and will but entangle you more As for me saith Job is my complaint to man and if it were so why should not my spirit be troubled Job 21. 4. One hour betwixt Christ and thy soul in secret will do more to thy true relief than all other counsellors and comforters in
the world can do Second Counsel Beware of a false peace which is more dangerous than your trouble for sin can be Many men are afraid of their troubles 2. Counsel but I think they have more cause to fear their peace a great deal There is a twofold peace that ruines most men Peace in sin and peace with sin O how glad are some persons when their troubles are gone but I dare not rejoyce with them It 's like him that rejoyces his Ague is gone though it hath left him in a deep Consumption You are got rid of your troubles but God knows how you have left them your wounds are skinn'd over better they were kept open There 's no wise woman would desire to have her pains and throes cease till the Child be born And surely they have much to answer that help on these delusions healing the hurt of souls slightly by crying peace peace when there is no peace The false peace you beget in them will be a real trouble to your selves in the issue Jer. 6. 14. Third Counsel Let all that are under inward troubles for sin take heed of 3. Counsel drawing desperate conclusions against themselves and the final state of their own souls Though your case be sad 't is not desperate though the night be troublesome and tedious keep on in the way to Christ and light will spring up To mourn for sin is your duty to conclude there is no hope for you in Christ is your sin You have wronged God enough already do'nt add a farther and greater abuse to all the rest by an absolute despair of mercy 'T was your sin formerly to presume beyond any promise 't is your sin now to despair against many commands I would say as the Apostle in another case I would not have you mourn as men that have no hope your condition is sad as it is but yet it 's much better than once it was you were once full of sin and void of sense now you have the sense of sin which is no small mercy you were once quite out of the way and method of mercy now you are in that very path wherein mercy meets the elect of God Keep hope therefore at the bottom of all your troubles Fourth Counsel Observe whether your troubles for sin produce such fruits and effects in your souls as theirs do which end at last in Christ and 4. Counsel everlasting peace First One that is truly burdened with sin will not allow himself to live in the secret practice of sin either your trouble will put an end to your course of sinning or your sinning will put an end to your troubles Consult 2 Cor. 7. 11. Secondly True sorrow for sin will give you very low and vile thoughts of your selves as you were covered with pride before so you will be covered with shame after God hath convinced and humbled you Rom. 6. 21. Thirdly A soul really burdened with sin will never stand in his own justification before God nor extenuate and mince it in his confessions to him Psal. 51. 3 4. Fourthly The burdens of sin will make a man set light by all other burdens of affliction Lam. 3. 22. Mic. 7. 9. The more you feel sin the less you feel affliction Fifthly A soul truly burdened for sin will take no hearty joy or comfort in any outward enjoyment of this world till Christ come and speak peace to the soul Lam. 3. 28. Just so the soul sits alone and keepeth silence merry company is a burden and musick is but howling to him Fifth Counsel Beware of those things that make your troubles longer than they 5. Counsel ought to be There be several errors and mistakes that hold poor souls much longer in their fears and terrors than else they might be And such are First Ignorance of the nature of saving faith and the necessity of it till you come to believe you cannot have peace and while you mistake the nature or apprehend not the necessity of faith you are not like to fall into that path of peace Secondly Labouring to heal the wounds that the Law hath made upon your consciences by a more strict obedience to it for the future in the neglect of Christ and his righteousness Thirdly Inobservance of what God hath already done for you in these preparatory works of the Law in order to your salvation by Jesus Christ. O if you would but compare what you now are with what you lately were it would give some relief but the last and principal thing is this Sixth Counsel Hasten to Christ in the way of faith and you shall find rest and till then all the world cannot give you true rest The sooner 6. Counsel you transact with Christ in the way of faith the sooner you shall be at peace and enter into his rest for those that believe do now enter into rest You may tugg and strive look this way and that but all in vain Christ and peace come together No sooner do you come to him and roll your burden on him receive him as he offers himself but the soul feels it self eased on a suddain being justified by faith we have peace with God Rom. 5. 1. And thus in finishing the first we are brought home to the second Observation Doct. 2. Doct. 2. That Sin-burdened souls are solemnly invited to come to Christ. THIS Point sounds sweetly in the ear of a distressed sinner it is the most joyful voice that ever the soul heard the voice of blessing from Mount Gerezim the ravishing voice from Mount Sion Ye are come to Jesus the Mediator In opening of it I will shew 1. What it is to come to Christ. 2. How Christ invites men to come to him 3. Why his invitation is directed to burdened souls First We will enquire what it is to come to Christ and 1. how many things are involved in it In general To come to Christ is a phrase aequipollent or of the same amount with believing in Christ. It is an expression that carries the nature and necessity of faith in it and is reciprocated with believing John 6. 35. He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth in me shall never thirst Coming to Christ is believing in Christ and believing in Christ is coming to Christ they are Synonyma's and import the self same thing only in this notion of faith there are many rich and excellent things hinted to us which no other word can so aptly convey to our minds as First It hints this to us That the souls of convinced and burdened sinners do not only discern the reality of Christ or that he is but also the necessity of applying Christ and that their eternal life is in their union with him for this is most certain that the object of faith must be determinate and fixed the soul must believe that Christ is or else there can be no emotions of the soul after him all coming
to perswade us to believe Joh. 15. 26. or external namely the preaching of the Gospel by Commissionated Embassadors who in Christ's stead beseech men to be reconciled to God i. e. to come to Christ by faith in order to their reconciliation and peace with God But all means and instruments employ'd in this work of bringing men to Christ entirely depend upon the blessing and concurrence of the Spirit of God without whom they signifie nothing how long may Ministers preach before one soul come to Christ except the Spirit co-operate in that work Now as to the manner in which men are perswaded and their wills wrought upon to come to Christ I will briefly note several acts of the Spirit in order thereunto First There is an illustrating work of the Spirit upon the minds of sinners opening their eyes to see their danger and misery Till this be discovered no man stirs from his place 't is sense of danger that rouzes the secure sinner that distresses him and makes him look about for deliverance crying What shall I do to be saved and 't is the discovery of Christs ability to save which is the ground and reason as was observed above of its motion to Christ. Hence seeing the Son is joyned with believing or coming to him in John 6. 40. Secondly There is the Authoritative call or commanding voice of the Spirit in the Word a voice that 's full of awful majesty and power 1 Joh. 3. 23. This is his Commandment that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ. This call of the Spirit to come to Christ rolls one great block namely the fear of presumption out of the souls way to Christ and instead of presumption in coming makes it rebellion and inexcusable obstinacy to refuse to come This answers all pleas against coming to Christ from our unworthiness and deep guilt and mightily encourages the soul to come to Christ whatever it hath been or done Thirdly There are soul-encouraging conditional promises to all that do come to Christ in obedience to the Command Such is that in my Text I will give you rest and that in John 6. 37. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out and these breathe life and encouragement into poor souls that hang back and are daunted through their own unworthiness Fourthly There are dreadful threatnings denounced by the Spirit in the Word against all that refuse or neglect to come to Christ which are of great use to engage and quicken souls in their way to Christ Mark 16. 16. He that believes not shall be damned Dye in his sins John 8. 24. The wrath of God shall remain on him John 3. ult Which is as if the Lord had said Sinners don't dally with my Christ don 't be alwayes treating and never concluding or resolving for if there be Justice in heaven or Fire in hell every soul that comes not to Christ must and shall perish to all eternity upon your own heads let the blood and destruction of your own souls be for ever if you will not come unto him Fifthly There are moving and working examples set before souls in the Word to prevail with them to come alluring and encouraging Examples of such as have come to Christ under deepest guilt and discouragement and yet found mercy 1 Tim. 1. 15 16. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief howbeit or nevertheless for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe in him to life everlasting Who would not come to Christ after such an example as this And if this will not prevail there are dreadful examples recorded in the Word setting before us the miserable condition of all such as refuse the calls of the Word to come to Christ 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. By which also he went and preached to the spirits which are in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah The meaning is the sinners that lived before the Flood but now are in hell clapt up into that prison had the offers of grace made them but despised them and now lye for their disobedience in prison under the wrath of God for it in the lowest hell Sixthly and Lastly There is an effectual perswading overcoming and victorious work of the Spirit upon the hearts and wills of sinners under which they come to Jesus Christ. Of this I have spoken at large before in the fourth Sermon and therefore shall not add any thing more here This is the way and manner in which souls are prevailed with to come to Jesus Christ. Thirdly In the last place if you enquire why Christ makes his invitations to weary and heavy laden souls and to 3. no other the answer is briefly this First Because in so doing he follows the Commission which he received from his Father for so you will find it runs in Isa. 61. 1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tydings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound You see here how Christs Commission binds him up his Father sent him to poor broken hearted sinners and he will keep close to his Commission He came not to call the righteous but sinners i. e. sensible burthened sinners to repentance Matth. 9. 13. I am not sent saith he but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel Thus his Instructions and Commission from the Father limit him only to sensible and burthened souls and he will be faithful to his Commission Secondly The very order of the Spirits work in bringing men to Christ shews us to whom the invitations and offers of grace in Christ are to be made For none are convinced of righteousness i. e. of the compleat and perfect righteousness which is in Christ for their Justification until first they be convinced of sin and consequently no man will or can come to Christ by faith till convictions of sin have awakened and distressed them John 16. 8 9. This being the due order of the Spirits operation the same order must be observed in Gospel offers and invitations Thirdly It behoves that Christ should provide for his own glory as well as for our safety and not expose that to secure this but save us in that way which will bring him most honour and praise And certainly such a way is this by first convincing humbling and burthening the souls of men and then bringing them to rest in himself Alas Let those that never saw or felt the evil of sin be told of rest peace and pardon in Christ they will but despise it as a thing of no value Luke 5. 31. The whole
had been right nothing but the sprinkling of the blood of Christ could have appeased their consciences Heb. 10. 22. How cold should the consideration of this thing strike to the hearts of such persons Methinks Reader if this be thy case it should send thee away with an aking heart Thou hast not yet tasted the bitterness of sin and if thou do not then shalt thou never taste the sweetness of Christ his pardons and peace Inference 4. How great a mercy is it for sin-burthened souls to be within the Inference 4. sound and call of Christ in the Gospel There be many thousands in the Pagan and Popish parts of the world that labour under distresses of conscience as well as we but have no such reliefs or means of peace and comfort as we have that live within the joyful sound of the Gospel If the conscience of a Papist be burdened with guilt all the relief he hath is to afflict his body to quiet his soul a penance or pilgrimage is all the relief they have If a Pagan be in trouble for sin he hath no knowledge of Christ nor notion of a satisfaction made by him The voice of nature is Shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul The damned endure the terrible blows and wounds of conscience for sin they roar under that terrible lash but no voice of peace or pardon is heard among them It is not come unto me ye that labour and are heavy laden but depart from me ye cursed Blessed are your ears for you hear the voice of peace you are come to Jesus the Mediator and to the blood of sprinkling O you can never set a due value upon this priviledge Inference 5. How sweet and unspeakably relieving is the closing of a burdened Inference 5. soul with Jesus Christ by faith 'T is rest to the weary soul. Soul troubles are spending and wasting troubles The pains of a distressed conscience are the most acute pains A poor soul would fain be at rest but knows not where he tryes this duty and that but finds none at last he falls into the way of believing he casts himself with his burden of guilt and fear upon Christ and there is the rest his soul desired Christ and rest come together till faith bring you to the bosome of Jesus you can find no true rest the soul is rolling and tossing sick and weary upon the billows of its own guilt and fears Now the soul is come like a Ship tossed with storms and tempests out of a raging Ocean into the quiet harbour or like a lost Sheep that hath been wandring in weariness hunger and danger into the fold Is a soft bed in a quiet chamber sweet to one that is spent and tired with travel Is the sight of a shoar sweet to the shipwrackt Mariner that looks for nothing but death much more sweet is Christ to a soul that comes to him pressed in conscience and broken in spirit under the sinking weight of sin How did the Italians rejoyce after a long dangerous voyage to see Italy again Crying with loud and united voices which made the very heavens ring again Italy Italy But no shoar is so sweet to the weather-beaten passenger as Christ is to a Italiam Italiam lâ—…to clamore salutant Virg. broken-hearted sinner this brings the soul to a sweet repose Heb. 4. 3. We which have believed do enter into rest and this endears the way of faith to their souls ever after Inference 6. Learn hence the usefulness of the Law to bring souls to Jesus Inference 6. Christ. It 's utterly useless as a Covenant to justifie us but exceeding useful to convince and humble us It cannot relieve or ease us but it can and doth awaken and rouze us it 's a fair glass to shew us the face of sin and till we have seen that we cannot see the face of Jesus Christ. The Law like the Fiery Serpents smites stings and torments the conscience this drives us to the Lord Jesus lifted up in the Gospel like the Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness to heal us The use of the Law is to make us feel our sickness this makes us look out for a Physician I was alive once without the Law saith Paul but when the Commandment came sin revived and I dyed Rom. 7. 9. The hard vain proud hearts of men require such an hammer to break them to pieces Inference 7. It 's the immediate duty of weary and heavy laden sinners to Inference 7. come to Christ by faith and not stand off from Christ or delay to accept him upon any pretence whatsoever Christ invites and commands such to come unto him 't is therefore your sin to neglect draw back or deferr whatever seeming reasons and pretences there may be to the contrary When the Jaylor was brought where I suppose thee now to be to a pinching distress that made him cry Sirs what must I do to be saved the very next counsel the Apostles gave him was Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Acts 16. 30 31. And for your encouragement know he that calleth you to come knows your burden what your sins have been and troubles are yet he calls you if your sin hinder not Christ from calling neither should it hinder you from coming He that calls you is able to ease you to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him Heb. 7. 25. Whatever fulness of sin be in you there is a greater fulness of saving power in Christ. Moreover he that calls you to come never yet rejected any poor burdened soul that came to him and hath said he never will Joh. 6. 37. He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out Fear not therefore he will not begin with thee or make thee the first instance and example of the feared rejection And Lastly Bethink thy self what wilt thou do and whither wilt thou go in this case if not to Jesus Christ Nothing shall ease or relieve thee till thou dost come to him Thou art under an happy necessity to go to him With him only is found rest for the weary soul. Which brings us to the third and last Observation Doct. 3. Doct. 3. That there is rest in Christ for all that come unto him under the heavy burden of Sin REST is a sweet word to a weary soul all seek it none but believers find it We which have believed Non dicit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ingressi sumus sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ingredimur significans initia quietis fideles nunc habere plenam quietem suo temporâ—… consecuturos Pareus in loc saith the Apostle do enter into rest Heb. 4. 3. he doth not say they shall but they do enter into rest noting their spiritual rest to be already begun by faith on earth in the tranquillity of conscience and shall be consummated
a member now of his own mystical body to purifie and cleanse it that at last he may present it perfect to the Father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 5. 26. The reigning power of it is gone immediately upon believing and the very existence and being of it shall at last be destroyed O what rest must this give under those troubles for sin Thirdly It was an intolerable burthen to the soul to be under the continual fears aiarms and frights of death and 3. damnation It s life hath been a life of bondage upon this account ever since the Lord opened his eyes to see his condition Poor souls lye down with tremblings for fear what a night may bring forth 'T is a sad life indeed to live in continual bondage to such fears But faith sweetly relieves the trembling Conscience by removing the guilt which breeds it fears The sting of death is sin when guilt is removed fears vanish Smite Lord smite said Luther for my sins are forgiven Now if sickness come 't is another thing than it was Feri Domine feri nam à peccatis meis absolutus sum Luth. wont to be Isai. 33. 21. The Inhabitant shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities a man scarce feels his sickness in comparison to what he did whilst he was without Christ and hope of pardon Fourthly A convinced sinner out of Christ sees every thing 4. against him nothing yields any comfort yea every thing increases and aggravates his burthen whether he look to things past present or to come If he reflect upon things past his soul is filled with anguish to remember the sins committed and the seasons neglected and the precious mercies that have been abused if he look upon things present the case is doleful and miserable nothing but trouble and danger Christless and comfortless and if he look forward to things to come that gives him a deeper cut to the heart than any thing else for though it be sad and miserable for the present yet he fears it will be much worse hereafter all these are but the beginning of sorrows and thus the poor awakened sinner becomes a Magor missabib fear round about But upon his coming to Christ all things are marvellously altered a quite contrary face of things appears to him every thing gives him hope and comfort which way soever he looks so speaks the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. All things are yours saith he whether life or death or things present or things to come all is yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods they are ours i. e. for our advantage benefit and comfort more particularly upon our coming to Christ First Things past are ours they conduce to our advantage and comfort Now the soul can begin to read the gracious end and design of God in all its preservations and deliverances whereby it hath been reserved for such a day as this O! it melts his heart to consider his Companions in sin and Vanity are cut off and he spared and that for a day of such mercy as the day of his espousals with Christ is Now all his past sorrows and deep troubles of spirit which God hath exercised him with begin to appear the greatest mercies that ever he received being all necessary and introductive to this blessed union with Christ. Secondly Things present are ours though it be not yet with us as we would have it Christ is not sure enough the heart is not pure enough sin is too strong and grace is too weak many things are yet out of order yet can the soul bless God for this with tears of joy and praise him for this brimful of admiration and holy astonishment that it is as it is that he is where he is though he be not yet where he would be O 't is a blessed life to live as a poor recumbent by acts of trust and affiance though as yet it have but little evidence that it is resolved to trust all with Christ though it be not yet certain of the issue O this is a comfortable station a sweet condition to what it was either when it wallowed in sin in the days before conviction or was swallowed up in fears and troubles for sin after conviction now it hath hope though it want assurance and hope is sweet to a soul coming out of such deep distresses now it sees the remedy and is applying it whereas before the wound seemed desperate now all hesitations and debates are at an end in the Soul 't is no longer bivious and unresolved what to do all things have been deeply considered and after consideration issued into this resolve or decree of the will I will go to Christ I will venture all upon his Command and Call I will imbarque my eternal interests in that Bottom here I fix and upon this ground I resolve to live and dye O how much better is this than that floating life it lived before rolling upon the billows of inward fears and troubles not able to drop Anchor any where nor knowing where to find an Harbour Thirdly Things to come are ours and this is the best and sweetest of all man is a prospecting creature his eye is much upon things to come and it will not satisfie him that it is well at present except he have a prospect that it shall be so hereafter but now the soul hath committed it self and all its concernments to Christ for eternity and this being done it 's greatly relieved against evils to come I cannot saith the Believer think all my troubles over and that I shall never meet any more afflictions it were a fond vanity to dream of that but I leave all these things where I have left my soul he that hath supported me under inward will carry me through outward troubles also I cannot think all my temptations to sin past O I may yet meet with sore assaults from Satan yet it is infinitely better to be watching praying and striving against sin than it was when I was obeying it in the lusts of it God that hath delivered me from the love of sin will I trust preserve me from ruine by sin I know also death is to come I must feel the pangs and agonies of it but yet the aspect of death is much more pleasant than it was I come Lord Jesus to thee who art the death of death whose death hath disarmed death of its sting I fear not its dart if I feel not its sting And thus you see briefly how by faith Believers enter into rest How Christ gives rest even at present to them that come to him and all this but as a beginning of their everlasting rest Inference 1. Is there rest in Christ for weary souls that come unto him Then certainly it 's a design of Satan against the peace and welfare Inference 1. of mens souls to discourage them from coming to Christ in
every Creature is suitable to its nature You see divers Creatures feeding upon several parts of the same herb the Bee upon the flower the Bird upon the seed the Sheep upon the stalk and the Swine upon the root according to their nature so is their food sensual men feed upon sensual things spiritual men upon spiritual things as your food is so are you If carnal comforts can content thy heart sure thy heart must then be a very carnal heart yea and let Christians themselves take heed that they fetch not their Consolations out of themselves instead of Christ. Your graces and duties are excellent means and instruments but not the ground-work and foundation of your Comfort they are useful buckets to draw but not the well it self in which the springs of consolation rise If you put your duties in the room of Christ Christ will put your comforts out of the reach of your duties Inference 3. If Christ be the Consolation of Believers what a comfortable Inference 3. life should all Believers live in this world Certainly if the fault be not your own you might live the happiest and comfortablest lives of all men in the world If you would not be a discomfort to Christ he would be a comfort to you every day and in every condition to the end of your lives your condition abounds with all the helps and advantages of consolation you have the command of Christ to warrant your comforts Phil. 4. 4. You have the Spirit of Christ for a spring of comfort you have the Scriptures of Christ for the rules of comfort you have the duties of Religion for the means of comfort why is it then that you go comfortless If your afflictions be many in the world yet your encouragements be more in Christ your troubles in the world may be turned into joy but your comforts in Christ can never be turned into trouble Why should troubles obstruct your comfort when the blessing of Christ upon your troubles makes them subservient to promote your happiness Rom. 8. 28. Shake off despondency then and live up to the principles of Religion your dejected life is uncomfortable to your selves and of very ill use to others Inference 4. If Christ be the Consolation of Believers then let all that desire Inference 4. comfort in this world or in that to come imbrace Jesus Christ and get real union with him The same hour you shall be in Christ you shall also be at the fountain head of all Consolations Thy soul shall be then a pardoned soul and a pardoned soul hath all reason in the world to be a joyful soul in that day thy Conscience shall be sprinkled with the blood of Christ and a sprinkled Conscience hath all the reason in the world to be a comforting Conscience in that day you become the Children of your Father in Heaven and he that hath a Father in Heaven hath all reason to be the joyfullest man upon earth in that day you are delivered from the sting and hurt of death and he that is delivered from the sting of death hath the best reason to take in the comfort of life O come to Christ come to Christ till you come to Christ no true comfort can come to you The Sixteenth SERMON Sermon 16. EPHES. 1. 7. Text. Enforcing the general exhortation by a seventh motive drawn from the first benefit purchased by Christ. In whom we have redemption through his blood the remission of sins according to the riches of his grace SIx great Motives have been presented already from the Titles of Christ to draw the hearts of sinners to him more are now to be offered from the benefits redounding to Believers by Christ. Essaying by all means to win the hearts of men to Christ. To this end I shall in the first place open that glorious priviledge of Gospel remission freely and fully conferred upon all that come to Christ by faith in whom we have redemption by faith c. In which words we have first a singular benefit or choice mercy bestowed viz. Redemption interpreted by way of apposition the remission of sins this is a priviledge of the first rank a mercy by it self none sweeter none more desirable among all the benefits that come by Christ. And therefore Secondly You have the price of this mercy an account what it cost even the blood of Christ in whom we have redemption through his blood Precious things are of great price the blood of Christ is the meritorious cause of remission Thirdly You have here also the impulsive cause moving God to grant pardons at this rate to sinners and that is said to be the riches of his grace Where by the way you see that the freeness of the grace of God and the fulness of the satisfaction of Christ meet together without the least jar in the remission of sin contrary to the vain cavil of the Socinian adversaries In whom we have redemption even the remission of sins according to the riches of his grace Fourthly You have the qualified subjects of this blessed priviledge viz. Believers in whose name he here speaks we have remission i. e. we the Saints and faithful in Christ Jesus vers 1. we whom he hath chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and predestinated unto the adoption of Children vers 4 5. we that are made accepted in the beloved vers 6. 't is we and we only who have redemption through his blood Hence observe DOCT. That all Believers and none but Believers receive the remission Doct. of their sins through the riches of grace by the blood of Jesus Christ. In the explication of this point three things must be spoken to 1. That all that are in Christ are in a pardoned state 2. That their pardon is the purchase of the blood of Christ. 3. That the riches of Grace are manifested in remission First That all that are in Christ are in a pardoned state where I will first shew you what pardon or the remission of sin is Secondly That this is the priviledge of none but Believers First Now remission of sin is the gracious act of God in and through Christ discharging a believing sinner from all the guilt and punishment of his sin both temporal and eternal 'T is the act of God he is the author of remission none can forgive sins but God only Mark 2. 7. against him only i. e. principally and essentially the offence is committed Psal. 51. 4. To his Judgement guilt binds over the soul and who can remit the debt but the Creditor Mat. 6. 12. 'T is an act of God discharging the sinner it is Gods loosing of one that stood bound the cancelling of his bond or obligation called therefore remission or releasing in the Text the blotting out of our iniquities or the removing our sins from us as it 's called in other Scriptures see Psal. 103. 11. Mica 7. 18 19. It is a gracious act of God the
dishonour upon God for the greatest mercy that ever was given by God to the world there is mercy with thee saith the Psalmist that thou maist be feared not that thou maist be the more abused Psal. 130. 4. Nay let me say the Devils never sinned at this rate they cannot abuse the pardoning grace of God because such grace was never offered unto them And certainly if the abuse of the common mercies of God as meat and drink by gluttony and drunkenness be an hainous sin and highly provoking to God then the abuse of the riches of his grace and the precious blood of his Son must be out of measure sinful and the greatest affront we can put upon the God of mercy Inference 5. To Conclude If this be so as ever you expect pardon and Inference 5. mercy from God come to Christ in the way of faith receive and embrace him now in the tenders of the Gospel To drive home this great Exhortation I beseech you as in the bowels of Christ Jesus and by all the regard and value you have for your own souls let these following Considerations sink down into your hearts First That all Christless persons are actually under the condemnation of God John 3. 18. He that believeth not is condemned already and it must needs be so for every soul is concluded under the curse of the Law till Christ make him free John 8. 36. Till we are in Christ we are dead by Law and when we believe unto justification then we pass from death to life A blind mistaken Conscience may possibly acquit you but assure your selves God condemns you Secondly Consider what a terrible thing it is to lye under the condemnation of God the most terrible things in nature cannot shadow forth the misery of such a state Put all sicknesses all poverty all reproaches the torments invented by all Tyrants into one Scale and the condemnation of God into the other and they will be all found lighter than a Feather Condemnation is the sentence of God the great and terrible God 'T is a sentence shutting you up to everlasting wrath 't is a sentence never to be reversed but by the application of Christ in the season thereof O souls you cannot bear the wrath of God you do not understand it if you think it tolerable one drop of it upon your Consciences now is enough to distract you in the midst of all the pleasures and comforts of this world yet all that are out of Christ are sentenced to the fulness of Gods wrath for ever Thirdly There is yet a possibility of escaping the wrath to come a dore of hope opened to the worst of sinners a day of grace is afforded to the Children of men Heb. 3. 15. God declares himself unwilling that any should perish 2 Pet. 3. 9. O what a mercy is this Who that is on this side Heaven or Hell fully understands the worth of it Fourthly This dore of mercy will be shortly shut Luk. 12. 25. God hath many ways to shut it he sometimes shuts it by withdrawing the means of grace and removing the Candlesticks a judgement at this time to be greatly feared Sometimes shuts he it by withdrawing his Spirit and blessing from the means whereby all Ordinances lose their efficacy 1 Cor. 3. 7. But if he shut it not by removing the means of grace from you certain it is it will be shortly shut by your removal from all the means and opportunities by Salvation by death Fifthly When once the dore of mercy is shut you are gone beyond all the possibilities of pardon and salvation for evermore the night is then come in which no man can work John 9. 4. All the golden seasons you now enjoy will be irrecoverably gone out of your reach Sixthly Pardons are now daily granted to others some and they once as far from mercy as you now are are at this day reading their pardons with tears of joy dropping upon them The world is full of the examples and instances of the riches of pardoning grace And whatever is needful for you to do in the way of repentance and faith to obtain your pardon how easily shall it be done if once the day of Gods power come upon you Psal. 110. 3. Oh therefore lift up your cries to Heaven give the Lord no rest take no denial till he open the blind eye break the stony heart open and bow the stubborn will effectually draw thy soul to Christ and deliver thy pardon signed in his blood The Seventeenth SERMON Sermon 17. EPHES. 1. 6. Text. Opening the eighth motive to come to Christ drawn from the second benefit purchased by Christ for Believers To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved IN our last discourse we opened to you the blessed priviledge of remission of sin from the following verse in this verse lies another glorious priviledge viz. the acceptation that Believers have with God through Jesus Christ both which comprise as the two main branches our justification before God In the words read to omit many things that might be profitably observed from the method and dependance of the Apostles discourse three particulars are observable viz. 1. The Priviledge it self 2. The Meritorous Cause 3. The ultimate end thereof First The priviledge it self which is exceeding rich and 1. sweet in its own nature he hath made us accepted the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath ingratiated us or brought us into the grace favour and acceptance of God the Father endeared us to him so that we find grace in his sight Secondly The meritorious cause purchasing and procuring this benefit for us noted in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 2. the beloved which words are a periphrasis of Christ who is here emphatically called the Beloved the great favorite of Heaven the delight of Gods soul the prime object of his love 't is he that obtaineth this benefit for Believers he is accepted for his own sake and we for his Thirdly The ultimate end and aim of conferring this benefit upon Believers to the praise of the glory of his grace or 3. to the end that his grace might be made glorious in praises there are riches of grace in this act of God and the work and business of Believers both in this world and in that to come is to search and admire aknowledge and magnifie God for his abundant grace herein Hence the note is DOCT. That Jesus Christ hath purchased and procured special favour Doct. and acceptation with God for all that are in him This point lies plain in Scripture Ephes. 2. 13. But now in Jesus Christ ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made nigh a term of endearedness nothing is taken into the very bosom and embraces but what is very dear precious and acceptable and in Rev. 1. 5 6.
God The heart of God is so propense and ready to grant the desires of Believers that it is but ask and have Mat. 7. 7. the dore of grace is opened at the knock of prayer that is a favourite indeed to whom the King gives a blank to insert what request he will If ye abide in me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you John 15. 7. Oh blessed liberty of the sons of God! David did but say Lord turn the Counsel of Ahitophel into foolishness and it was done as soon as asked 2 Sam. 15. 31. Joshua did but say Thou Sun stand still in Gibeon and a miraculous stop was presently put to its swift motion in the Heavens nay which is wonderful to consider a prayer in the womb yet unborn I mean conceived in the heart and not yet uttered by the lips of Believers is often anticipated by the propenseness of free grace Isai. 65. 24. And it shall come to pass that before they call I will answer and whilst they are yet speaking I will hear The prayers of others are rejected as an abomination Prov. 15. 8. God casts them back into their-faces Mal. 2. 3. But free grace signs the petitions of the Saints more readily than they are presented we have not that freedom to ask that God hath to give 't is true the answer of a Believers prayers may be a long time suspended from his sense and knowledge but every prayer according to the will of God is presently granted in Heaven though for wise and holy ends they may be held in a doubtful suspense about them upon earth Fourthly The free discoveries of the secrets of Gods heart to Believers speaks them to be his special favourites men open not the counsels and secrets of their own hearts to enemies or strangers but to their most inward and intimate friends The secret of the Lord is-with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Psal. 25. 14. When God was about to destroy Sodom he will do nothing in that work of judgement till he had acquainted Abraham his friend with his purpose therein Gen. 18. 17. And the Lord said Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do for I know him c. So when a King was to be elected for Israel and the person whom God had chosen was yet unknown to the people God as it were whispered that secret unto Samuel the day before 1 Sam. 9. 15. Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear a day before Saul came according to the manner of Princes with some special favourite Fifthly The Lords receiving every small thing that comes from them with grace and favour when mean while he rejects the greatest things offered by others doth certainly bespeak Believers the special favourites of God There was but one good word in a whole sentence from Sarah and that very word is noted and commended by God 1 Pet. 3. 6. She called him Lord. There were but some small beginnings or buddings of grace in young Abijah and the Lord took special notice of it 1 Kings 14. 12. Because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam Let this be an encouragement to young ones in whom there are found any breathing desires after Christ God will not reject them if any sincerity be found in them a secret groan uttered to God in sincerity shall not be despised Rom. 8. 26. The very bent of a Believers will when he hath no more to offer unto God is an acceptable present 2 Cor. 8. 11. The very intent and purpose that lies secretly in the heart of a Believer not yet executed is accepted with him 1 Kings 8. 18. Where as it was in thine heart to build an house to my name thou didst well that it was in thine heart Thus small things offered to God by Believers find acceptance with him whilst the greatest presents even solemn assemblies Sabbaths and prayers from others are rejected They are a trouble unto me saith God I am weary to bear them Isai. 1. 14 15. Incense from Sheba the sweet Cane from a far Country are not acceptable nor sacrifices sweet unto God from other hands Jer. 6. 20. From all which it appears beyond doubt that the persons and duties of Believers are accepted into the special favour of God by Jesus Christ which was the second thing to be spoken to and brings us to the third general viz. Thirdly How Christ the Beloved procures this benefit for 3. Believers And this he doth four ways First By the satisfaction of his blood Rom. 5. 10. When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son No friendship without reconciliation no reconciliation but by the blood of Christ therefore the new and living way by which Believers come unto God with acceptance is said to be consecrated for us through the veil of Christs flesh and hence believers have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus Heb. 10. 19 20. Secondly The favour of God is procured for Believers by their mystical union with Christ whereby they are made members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5. 30. So that look as Adams posterity stood upon the same terms that he their natural head did so Believers Christs mystical members stand in the favour of God by the favour which Christ their spiritual head hath John 17. 33. I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me Thirdly Believers are brought into favour with God by Christs becoming their Altar upon which their persons and duties are all offered up to God the Altar sanctifies the gift Heb. 13. 10. And this was typified by that legal rite mentioned Luke 1. 9 10. Christ is that golden Altar from whence all the prayers of the Saints ascend to the throne of God perfumed with the odours and incense of his merits Rev. 8. 34. And another Angel came and stood at the Altar having a golden Censer and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which was before the Throne and the smoak of the incense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand And thus you see how the persons and duties of Believers are brought into favour and acceptance with God by Jesus Christ. The Uses follow Inference 1. If all Believers be in favour with God how great a mercy is Inference 1. it to have the prayers of such ingaged on our behalf Would we have our business speed in Heaven let us get into favour with God our selves and engage the prayers of his people the favourites of Heaven for us vis unita
The freedom of Believers is a comfortable freedom the Apostle comforts Christians of the lowest rank poor servants with this consideration 1 Cor. 7. 22. He that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lords freeman q. d. Let not the meanness of your outward condition which is a state of subjection and dependance a state of poverty and contempt at all trouble you you are the Lords freemen of precious account in his eyes O 't is a comfortable liberty Sixthly and Lastly 'T is a perpetual and final freedom they that are once freed by Christ have their manumissions and final discharge from that state of bondage they were in before Sin shall never have dominion over them any more it may tempt them and trouble them but shall never more rule and govern them Acts 26. 18. And thus you see what a glorious liberty the liberty of Believers is The improvement whereof will be in the following Inferences Inference 1. How rational is the joy of Christians above the joy of all Inference 1. others in the world shall not the captive rejoycé in his recovered liberty The very Birds of the air as one observes had rather be at liberty in the woods though lean and hungry than in a golden Cage with the richest fare every creature naturally prises it none more than Believers who have felt the burthen and bondage of corruption who in the days of their first illumination and conviction have poured out many groans and tears for this mercy What was said of the captive people of God in Babylon excellently shadows forth the state of Gods people under spiritual bondage with the way and manner of their deliverance from it Zech. 9. 11. By the blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water Believers are delivered by the blood of Christ out of a worse pit than that of Babylon and look as the Tribes in their return from thence were overwhelmed with joy and astonishment Psal. 126. 1 2. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Sion we were like them that dream then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing they were overwhelmed with the sense of the mercy so should it be with the people of God 'T is said Luke 15. 24. when the Prodigal Son there made the embleme of a returning converting sinner was returned again to his Fathers house that there was heard musick and dancing mirth and feasting in that house The Angels in Heaven rejoice when a soul is recovered out of the power of Satan and shall not the recovered soul immediately concerned in the mercy greatly rejoyce Yea let them rejoyce in the Lord and let no earthly trouble or affliction ever have power to interrupt their joy for a moment after such a deliverance as this Inference 2. How unreasonable and wholly inexcusable is the sin of Apostasie from Jesus Christ What is it but for a delivered captive Inference 2. to put his feet again into the shackles his hands into the manacles his neck into the iron yoke from which he hath been delivered 'T is said Mat. 12. 44 45. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none then he saith I will return into mine house from whence I came out and when he is come he findeth it empty swept and garnished then goeth he and taketh with him seven other Spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first Even as a Prisoner that hath escaped and is again recovered is loaded with double irons Let the people of God be content to run any hazzard endure any difficulties in the way of Religion rather than return again into their former bondage to sin and Satan O Christian if ever God gave thee a sight and a sense of the misery and danger of thy natural state if ever thou hast felt the pangs and throes of a labouring and distressed Conscience and after all this tasted the unspeakable sweetness of the peace and rest that is in Christ thou wilt rather choose to dye ten thousand deaths than to forsake Christ and go back again into that sad condition Inference 3. How suitable and well-becoming is a free spirit in Believers to Inference 3. their state of liberty and freedom Christ hath made your condition free O let the temper and frame of your hearts be free also do all that you do for God with a spirit of freedom not by constraint but willingly Methinks Christians the new nature that is in you should stand for a command and be instead of all arguments that use to work upon the hopes and fears of other men See how all creatures work according to the principle of their natures you need not command a Mother to draw forth her breasts to a sucking Child nature it self teaches and prompts to that you need not bid the Sea ebb or flow at the stated hours O Christian why should thy heart need any other argument than its own spiritual inclination to keep it s stated times and seasons of communion with God Let none of Gods commandments be grievous to you let not thine heart need dragging and forcing to its own benefit and advantage Whatever you do for God do it cheerfully and whatever you suffer for God suffer it cheerfully it was a brave spirit which acted holy Paul I am ready saith he not only to be bound but also to dye at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Acts 21. 13. Inference 4. Let no man wonder at the enmity and opposition of Satan to the Inference 4. preaching of the Gospel For by the Gospel it is that souls are recovered out of his power Acts 26. 18. 't is the express work of Ministers to turn men from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God Satan as one faith is a great and jealous Prince he will never endure to have liberty proclaimed by the Ministers of Christ within his dominions and indeed what is it less when the Gospel is preached in power but as it were by beat of Drum and sound of Trumpet to proclaim liberty liberty spiritual sweet and everlasting liberty to every soul that is made sensible of the bondage of corruption and cruel servitude of Satan and will now come over to Jesus Christ and oh what numbers and multitudes of prisoners have broken loose from Satan at one proclamation of Christs Acts 2. 41. but Satan owes the servants of Christ a spite for this and will be sure to pay them if ever they come within his reach persecution is the Genius of the Gospel and follows it as the shadow doth the body Inference 5. How careful should Christians be to maintain their spiritual liberty Inference 5. in all and every point thereof Stand fast saith Paul in the liberty wherewith
and what an account have those men to give to God for the blood of those souls by them betrayed to the everlasting burnings Such flattery is the greatest cruelty those whom you bless upon earth will curse you in Hell and the day in which they trusted their souls to your conduct Inference 3. How great a mercy is it to be awakened out of that general sleep and security which is fallen upon the world You cannot estimate Inference 3. the value of that mercy for it is a peculiar mercy O that ever the Spirit of the Lord should give thy soul a jog under the Ministry of the word startle and rouse thy Conscience whilst others are left snoring in the deep sleep of security round about thee when the Lord shall deal with thy soul much after that rate he did with Paul in the way to Damascus who not only saw a light shining from Heaven which those that travelled with him saw as well as he but heard that voice from Heaven which did the work upon his heart though his Companions heard it not Besides it is not only a peculiar mercy but it is a leading introductive mercy to all other spiritual mercies that follow it to all eternity if God had not done this for thee thou hadst never been brought to faith to Christ or Heaven for from this act of the Spirit all other saving acts take their rise so that you have cause for ever to admire the goodness of God in such a favour as this is Inference 4. Lastly Hence it follows that the generality of the world are in the direct way to eternal ruine and whatever their vain confidences Inference 4. are they cannot be saved Narrow is the way and strait is the gate that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Hear me all you that live this dangerous life of carnal security and vain hope whatever your perswasions and confidences are except you give them up and get better grounds for your hope you cannot be saved For First Such hopes and confidences as yours are directly contradictory to the established order of the Gospel which requires repentance Acts 5. 31. faith Acts 13. 39. and regeneration John 3. 3. in all that shall be saved and this order shall never be altered for any mans sake Secondly If such as you be saved all the threatnings in Scripture must be reversed which lie in full opposition to your vain hopes Mark 16. 16. John 3. 16. Rom. 3. 8 9. either the truth of God in these threatnings must fail or your vain hopes must fail Thirdly If ever such as you be saved new conditions must be set to all the promises for there is no condition of any special promise found in any unregenerate person Compare your hearts with these Scriptures Mat. 5. 3 4 5 6. Psal. 24. 4. Psal. 84. 11. Gen. 17. 1 2. Fourthly If ever such a hope as yours bring you to Heaven then the saving hope of Gods elect is not rightly described to us in the Scriptures Scripture hope is the effect of regeneration 1 Pet. 1. 3. and purity of heart is the effect of that hope 1 John 3. 3. Nay Fifthly The very nature of Heaven is mistaken in Scripture if such as you be Subjects qualified for its enjoyment for assimilation or the conformity of the soul to God in holiness is in the Scripture account a principal ingredient of that blessedness by all which it manifestly appears that the hopes of most men are vain and will never bring them to Heaven The Twenty first SERMON Sermon 21. Doct. 2. That there is a mighty efficacy in the Word or Law Doct. 2. of God to kill vain Confidence and quench carnal Mirth in the hearts of men when God sets it home upon their Consciences THe weapons of the word are not carnal but mighty 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. In the opening of this point I shall 1. Demonstrate the efficacy of the word or Law of God 2. Shew wherein the efficacy thereof lies 3. From whence it hath all this mighty power and efficacy First I shall give you some demonstrations of the mighty power and efficacy that there is in the word or Law of God 1. which will appear with fullest evidence First From the various subjects upon whom it works the hearts and Consciences of men of all orders and qualities 1. have been reached and wounded to the quick by the two-edged sword of Gods Law Some among the great and honourable of the earth though indeed the fewest of that rank have been made to stoop and tremble under the word Act. 24. 16. Mark 6. 20. 1 Sam. 15. 24. the wise and learned of the world have felt its power and been brought over to imbrace the humbling and self-denying ways of Christ Acts 17. 34. Thus Origen Hierom Tertullian Bradwardine and many more came into Canaan laden with Egyptian Gold as one speaks i. e. they came into the Church of God abundantly enriched and furnished with the learned arts and sciences devoting them all to the service of Christ Yea and which is as strange the most simple weak and illiterate have been wonderfully changed and wrought upon by the power of the word the testimonies of the Lord make wise the simple Men of weak understandings in all other matters have been made wise to salvation by the power of the word Mat. 11. 25. 1 Cor. 1. 27. Nay the most malicious and obstinate enemies of Christ have been wounded and converted by the word 1 Tim. 1. 13. Act. 16. 24. Those that have been under the prejudice of the worst and most idolatrous education have been the subjects of its mighty power Act. 19. 26. To conclude men of the most profligate and debauched lives have been wonderfully changed and altered by the power of the word 1 Cor. 6. 10 11. Secondly The mighty efficacy of the Law of God appears in the manner of its operation which works suddenly strikes like a Dart through the hearts and Consciences of men Act. 2. 37. a wonderful change is made in a short time and as it works quickly and suddenly so it works irresistibly with an uncontrouled power upon the spirits of men 1 Thes. 1. 5. Rom. 1. 16. Let the soul be armed against conviction with the thickest ignorance strongest prejudice or most obstinate resolution the word of God will wound the breast even of such a man when God sends it forth in his authority and power Thirdly The wonderful power of the Law or word of God is evidently seen in the strange effects which are produced by it in the hearts and lives of men For First It changes and alters the frame and temper of the mind it moulds a man into a quite contrary
abortions and miscarriages under the Word Luke 8. 12 13 14. there are hopeful and promising beginnings and budding of affections in some persons especially in their youth but when once they come to be engaged in the world how soon are they dampt and quenched as the cares of a Family grow on so do the cares of salvation wear off 't is not as it was wont to be what shall I do to be saved how shall I get interest in Christ but what shall I eat and drink and wherewithal shall I and mine be maintained Thus earth justles out heaven and the present world drowns all thoughts of that to come Good had it been for many men they had never been engaged so deep in the world as they are their life is but a constant hurry of business and a perpetual diversion from Christ and things that are eternal Thirdly Lastly The deceitfulness and treachery of the heart which too easily gives way to the designs of Satan and suffers it self to be imposed upon by him is not the least cause why so many hopeful beginnings come to nothing and the effects of the word vanish Pride and self-love are very apt to over-value every little good and slight or undervalue every evil that is in us and so quickly choaks those convictions that begin to work in our souls But oh that such men would consider that the dying away of their convictions is that which threatens the life of their souls for ever now is the bud withered the blossome blasted and what expectation is there of fruit after this except the Lord revive them again The Lord open mens eyes to discern the danger of such things as these are Jud. ver 12. Heb. 10. 38. Yet I deny not but there are many stands and pauses in the work of conversion it seems to dye away and then revives again and revive it must or we are lost but how many are there who never recover it more This is a sore Judgement of a most terrible consequence to the souls of men 3. Thirdly In the last place Let it be a word of counsel and advice to them upon whom the word works effectually 3. and powerfully to whose hearts the commandment is come home to revive sin and kill their vain hopes and these are of two sorts 1. Embryos under the first workings of the Spirit 2. Compleat births of the Spirit regenerated souls First Embryos that are under the first workings of the Spirit in the word O let it not seem a misery or unhappiness 1. to you that the Commandment is come and sin revived and your former hopes overthrown It must be thus if ever God intend mercy for you Had you gone on in that dangerous security you were in before you had certainly been lost for ever God hath stopt you in that path that leads down to hell and none that go in there do ever return again or take hold of the paths of life O 't is better to weep tremble and be distressed now than to mourn without hope for ever let it not trouble you that sin hath found you out you could never have found out the remedy in Christ if you had not found out the disease and danger by the coming of the commandment And I beseech you carefully to observe whether the effects and operations of the word upon your hearts be deeper and more powerful than they are found to be in such souls as miscarry under it the Commandment comes to them and shews them this or that more gross and startling sin doth it come to you and shew you not only this or that particular sin but all the evils of your heart and life the corruption of your natures as well as the transgressions of your lives if so it promises well and looks hopefully and comfortably to you The commandment comes to others and startles them with the fears of damnation for their sin it puts them into a grievous fright at hell and the everlasting burnings but doth it come to thee and discover the infinite evil that is in thy sin as it is committed against the great holy righteous and good God and so melts thy heart into tears for the wrong that thou hast done him as well as the danger into which thou hast brought thy self This is a hopeful work and may encourage thee It comes to others and greatly shakes but never destroyes and razes the foundation of their vain hopes if it so revive sin as to kill all vain hopes in thee and shut thee up to Christ as thy only door of hope fear not these troubles will prove the greatest mercies that ever befell thee in this world if thus they work and continue to work upon thy soul. Secondly Others there are upon whom the Word hath 2. had its full effect as to Conversion O bless God for ever for this mercy you cannot sufficiently value it God hath not only made it a convincing and wounding but a converting and healing word to your souls he hath not only revived your sins and killed your vain hopes but begotten you again to a lively hope see that you be thankful for this mercy How many have sate under the same word but never felt such effects of it As Christ said in another case There were many Widows in Israel in the time of Elijah but unto none of them was the Prophet sent save unto Sarepia a City of Sidon to a certain Widow there Luke 4. 46. So I may say in this case there were many souls in the same Congregation at the same time but unto none of them was the word sent with a Commission to convince and save but such a one as thy self one as improbable to be wrought upon as any soul there O let this beget thankfulness in your souls and let it make you love the word as long as you live I will never forget thy precepts for by them thou hast quickened me Psal. 119. 93. But above all I beseech you make it appear that the Commandment hath come home to your hearts with power to convince you of the evil of sin by your tenderness and care to shun it as long as you live If ever you have seen the face of sin in the glass of the Law of God if your hearts have been humbled and broken for it in the dayes of your trouble and distress certainly you will choose the worst affliction rather than sin it would be the greatest folly in the world to return again to iniquity Psal. 85. 8. you that have seen so much of the evil that is in it and the danger that follows it you that have had such inward terrours and fears of Spirit about it when that terrible representation was made you will be loth to feel those gripes and distresses of Conscience again for the best enjoyment in this world Blessed be God if any word have been brought home to our hearts which hath been instrumental to bring us
the way be never so great or many As he said necesse est ut eam non ut vivam 't is necessary that I go on 't is not necessary that I live so saith the soul that is taught of God 't is easier with me to dispense with ease honour relations yea with life it self than to part with Christ and the hopes of eternal life Lesson 12. Twelfthly They that come to Christ are taught of God that whatever guilt and unworthiness they discover in themselves and whatever fears and doubts hang upon their hearts as to pardon and acceptance yet as the case stands it is their wisdom and great interest to venture themselves in the way of faith upon Jesus Christ whatever the issue thereof be Three great discouragements are usually found upon the hearts of those that come to Christ in the way of faith First The sensible greatness of guilt and sin how can I go to Christ that am in such a case that have been so vile a wretch and here measuring the grace and mercy of Chris by what it finds in it self or in other creatures 1 Sam. 24. 19. the soul is ready to sink under the weight of its own discouraging and misgiving thoughts Secondly The sense they have of their own weakness and inability to do what God requires and must of necessity be done if ever they be saved my heart is harder than an Adamant how can I break it My will is stubborn and exceeding obstinate I am no way able to bow it the frame and temper of my spirit is altogether carnal and earthly and it is not in the power of my hand to alter and change it alas I cannot subdue any one corruption nor perform one spiritual duty nor bear one of those sufferings and burthens which religion lays upon all that follow Christ this also proves a great discouragement in the way of faith Thirdly And which is more than all the soul that is coming to Jesus Christ hath no assurance of acceptance with him if it should adventure himself upon him 't is a great hazard a great adventure 't is much more probable if I look to my self that Christ will shut the door of mercy against me But under all these discouragements the soul learns this Lesson from God that as ungodly as it is as weak and impotent as it is as full of fears and doubts as it is nevertheless it is every way its great duty and concernment to go on in the way of faith and make that great adventure of it self upon Jesus Christ and of this the Lord convinceth the soul by two things viz. 1. From the absolute necessity of coming 2. From the incouraging probabilities of speeding First The soul seeth an absolute necessity of coming necessity is laid upon it there is no other way Acts. 4. 12. God hath shut it up by a blessed necessity to this only dore of escape Gal. 3. 23. damnation lies in the neglect of Christ Heb. 2. 3. The soul hath no choice in this case Angels Ministers duties repentance reformation cannot save me Christ and none but Christ can deliver me from present guilt and the wrath to come why do I dispute demur delay when certain ruine must inevitably follow the neglect or refusal of Gospel offers Secondly The Lord sheweth those that are under his teaching the probabilities of mercy for their encouragement in the way of believing and these probabilities the soul is enabled to gather from the general and free invitations of the Gospel Isai. 55. 1 7. Rev. 22. 17. from the conditional promises of the Gospel Joh. 6. 37. Mat. 11. 28. Isai. 1. 18. from the vast extent of grace beyond all the thoughts and hopes of creatures Isai. 55. 8 9. Heb. 7. 25. from the incouraging examples of other sinners who have found mercy in as bad condition as they 1 Tim. 1. 13. 2 Chron. 33. 3. 1 Cor. 6. 10 11. from the Command of God which warrants the action and answers all the objections of unworthiness and presumption in them that come to Christ 1 John 3. 23. and lastly from the sensible changes already made upon the temper and frame of the heart Time was when I had no sense of sin nor sorrow for sin no desires after Christ nor heart to duties but it is not so with me now I now see the evil of sin so as I never saw it before my heart is now broken in the sense of that evil my desires begin to be enflamed after Jesus Christ. I am not at rest nor where I would be till I am in secret mourning after the Lord Jesus Surely these are the dawnings of the day of mercy let me go on in this way it saith as the Lepers at the siege of Samaria 2 King 7. 3 4. If I stay here I perish if I go to Christ I can but perish Hence Believers bear up against all objected discouragements certum exitium commutemus incerto 't is the dictate of wisdom the vote of reason to exchange a certain for an uncertain ruine And thus you have heard what those excellent Lessons are which all that come to Christ are taught by the Father The Twenty third SERMON Sermon 23. JOHN 6. 45. Text. It is written in the prophets And they shall be all taught of God every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me IN the former Sermon you have been taught this great truth Doct. That the teachings of God are absolutely necessary to every soul that cometh unto Christ in the way of faith What the teachings of God import hath been formerly opened and what those special Lessons are which all believers hear and learn of the Father was the last thing discoursed that which remains to be further cleared about this subject before I come to the Application of the whole will be to shew you 1. What are the Properties of divine teachings 2. What influence they have in bringing souls to Christ. 3. Why it is impossible for any man to come to Christ without these teachings of the Father First what are the properties of divine teachings Concerning the teachings of God we affirm in general that though 1. they exclude not yet they vastly differ from all humane teachings as the power of God in effecting transcends all humane power so the wisdom of God in teaching transcends all humane wisdom For First God teacheth powerfully he speaketh to the soul with a strong hand when the word comes accompanied with the Spirit 't is mighty through God to cast down all imaginations 2 Cor. 10. 4. Now the Gospel comes not in word only as it was wont to do but in power 1 Thess. 1. 4 5. a power that makes the soul fall flat before it and acknowledge that God is in that word 1 Cor. 14. 25. Secondly the teachings of God are sweet teachings Men never relish the sweetness of a truth till they learn it from God Cant. 1. 3. His
his Tribunal to be solemnly sentenced They are as my Text speaks condemned already but then that dreadful sentence will be solemnly pronounced by Jesus Christ whom they have despised and rejected then shall that scripture be fulfilled Luke 19. 27. These mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me Inference 2. Hence be informed how great a mercy the least measure Inference 2. of saving faith is for the least measure of true faith unites the soul to Jesus Christ and then there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1. Not one sentence of God against them So Acts 13. 39. By him all that believe are justified from all things The weakest believer is as free from condemnation as the strongest the righteousness of Christ comes upon all believers without any difference Rom. 3. 22. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Christ Jesus unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference 'T is not in imputed as it is in inherent righteousness one man hath more holiness than another The faith that receives the righteousness of Christ may be very different in degrees of strength but the received righteousness is equal upon all believers A piece of gold is as much worth in the hand of a child as it is in the hand of a man O the exceeding preciousness of saving faith Inference 3. How dreadful a sin is the sin of unbelief which brings Inference 3. men under the condemnation of the great God! no sin startles less or damns surer 'T is a sin that doth not affright the conscience as some other sins do but it kills the soul more certainly than any of those sins could do for indeed other sins could not damn us were it not for unbelief which fixes the guilt of them all upon our persons This is the condemnation Unbelief is the sin of sins and when the spirit comes to convince men of sin he begins with this as the capital sin John 16. 9. But more particularly First Estimate the evil of unbelief from its Object It is the slighting and refusing of the most excellent and wonderful person in heaven or earth The fiducial vision of Christ is the joy of Saints on earth the facial vision of Christ is the happiness of Saints in heaven 'T is a despising of him who is altogether lovely in himself who hath loved us and given himself for us 'T is the rejecting of the only Mediator betwixt God and man after the rejecting of whom there remains no sacrifice for sin Secondly Let the evil of unbelief be valued by the offer of Christ to our souls in the Gospel 't is one part of the great mystery of godliness that Christ should be preached to the Gentiles 1 Tim. 3. 16. That the word of this salvation should be sent to us Acts 13. 26. A mercy denied to the fallen angels and the greatest part of mankind which aggravates the evil of this sin beyond all imagination So that in refusing or neglecting Jesus Christ is found vile ingratitude highest contempt of the grace and wisdom of God and in the event the loss of the only season and opportunity of salvation which is never more to be recovered to all eternity Inference 4. If this be the case of all unbelievers it is not to be admired Inference 4. that souls under the first convictions of their miserable condition are plunged into such deep distresses of Spirit It 's said of them Acts 2. 37. That they were pricked at the heart and cried out Men and brethren what shall we do And so the Jayler He came in trembling and astonished and said Sirs what must I do to be saved Certainly if souls apprehend themselves under the condemnation and sentence of the great God all their tears and tremblings their weary days and restless nights are not without just cause and reason Those that never saw their own miserable condition by the light of a clear and full conviction may wonder to see others so deeply distressed in Spirit They may misjudge the case and call it melancholy or madness but spiritual troubles do not exceed the cause and ground of them let them be as deep and great as they will and indeed it is one of the great mysteries of grace and providence a thing much unknown to men how such poor souls are supported from day to day under such fears and sorrows as are able in a few hours to break the stoutest Spirit in the world Luther was a man of great natural courage and yet when God let in spiritual troubles upon his soul it is noted of him ut nec vox nec calor nec sanguis superesset He had neither voyce nor heat nor blood appearing in him Inference 5. How groundless and irrational is the mirth and jollity of all carnal and unregenerate men they feast in their prison Inference 5. and dance in their fetters O the madness that is in the hearts of men If men did but see their mittimus made for hell or believe they are condemned already it were impossible for them to live at that rate of vanity they do and is their condition less dangerous because it is not understood Surely no but much more dangerous for that O poor sinners you have found out an effectual way to prevent your present troubles it were well if you could find out a way to prevent your eternal misery but 't is easier for a man to stifle conviction than prevent damnation Your mirth hath a twofold mischief in it it prevents repentance and encreaseth your future torment O what an hell will your hell be who drop into it out of all the sensitive and sinful pleasures of this world If ever a man may say of mirth that it is mad and of laughter what doth it he may say so in this case Inference 6. Lastly what cause have they to rejoyce admire and praise the Lord to Eternity who have a well grounded Inference 6. confidence that they are freed from Gods condemnation O give thanks to the Father who hath delivered you from the power of darkness and translated you into the Kingdom of his dear Son Col. 1. 13. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for if you be freed from condemnation you are out of Satans power he hath no more any dominion over you The power of Satan over men comes in by vertue of their condemnation as the power of the Jayler or Executioner over the bodies of condemned prisoners doth Heb. 2. 14. If you be freed from condemnation the sting of death shall never touch you For the sting of death smites the souls of men with a deadly stroak only by vertue of Gods condemnatory sentence 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law If you be freed from condemnation now you shall stand with comfort and boldness
at the Judgement Seat of Christ in the great day and verily in this thing is the love of God perfected 1 John 4. 17. O 't is a priviledge in which the grace mercy and love of God do â—…ine forth as clearly as the sun when it shineth in its full strength And certainly you will find cause to lye at the feet of God astonished and overwhelmed with the sense of this mercy when you shall find your selves freed from the condemnation of God whilst many others as good as you were are still under condemnation Yea your selves freed and many of your Superiors in the world still under the curse 1 Cor. 1. 26. Yea your selves freed and others that sate under the same means of grace and had the same external advantages you had still in chains 2 Cor. 2. 16. O brethren this is a marvellous deliverance look on it which way you will your ransome is paid and not a peny of it by you it cost you nothing to procure your pardon Your pardon is full and not one sin excepted out of it that you ever committed Your are freed and Jesus Christ condemned in your stead to procure your discharge your pardon is sealed in his blood and is irrevocable for ever so that you shall never any more come into condemnation He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life John 5. 24. Let them that are so delivered spend their days on earth in praise and cheerful obedience and when they die let them not shrink away from death nor be afraid to take it by the cold hand it can do them no harm Yea let them close their dying lips with Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ. The Thirty third SERMON Sermon 33. JOHN 3. 19. Text. And this is the Condemnation that light is come into the Of the Aggravation of the sin and punishment of unbelief under the light of the Gospel world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil OUt of the fore-going Verse it was fully proved in our last Sermon that all Christless and unregenerate men are no better than dead men being Condemned already Our Saviour proceeds in this Verse to aggravate the misery of those that refuse and despise him yet farther and to let them know that those who remain in unbelief and the state of unregeneracy must expect some greater and sorer wrath than other men not only a simple Condemnation but an aggravated and peculiar Condemnation This is the Condemnation that light is come c. In the words we find these three parts 1. The aggravation of sin by the abuse of Gospel light Light is come c. 2. The aggravation of misery in proportion to that abuse of light this is the condemnation 3. The cause and occasion drawing men into this sin and misery because their deeds were evil First We have here the aggravation of sin by the abuse of Gospel Light Light is come By Light we are to understand 1. the knowledge discovery and manifestation of Christ and Redemption by him in the Gospel He is the Son of righteousness that arises in the Gospel upon the nations Mal. 4. 1. When he came in the flesh then did the day-spring from on high visit us Luke 1. 78. And the light may be said to come two ways either First In the means by which it is conveyed to us or Secondly in the efficacy of it upon our minds when it actually shines into our souls Light may come among a people in the means and yet they actually remain in darkness all the while As it is in nature The sun may be up and a very glorious morning far advanced whilst many thousands are drouzing upon their beds with their curtains drawn about them Light in the means we may call potential Light Light in the mind we may cali actual light It is but seldom that light comes in the means and continues long among men but some light must needs actually shine into their souls also but this actual light is twofold 1. Common and intellectual only to conviction or 2. Special and efficacious light bringing the foul to Christ by real conversion call'd in 1 Cor. 4. 6. Gods shining into the heart Where ever light comes in this last sense it is impossible that such men should prefer darkness before it but it may come in the means yea it may actually shine into the consciences of men by those means and convince them of their sins and yet men may hate it and choose darkness rather than light And this is the sense of this place Light was come in the Gospel dispensation among them yea it hath shined into many of their consciences gauled and reproved them for sin but they hated it and had rather be without such a troublesome inmate In a word by the coming of light we are here to understand a more clear and open manifestation of Christ by the Gospel than ever was made to the world before for we are not to think that there was no light in the world till Christ came and the Gospel was published in the world by the Apostles ministry For Abraham saw Christ's day John 8. 56. and all the faithful before Christ saw the promises i. e. their accomplishment in Christ afar off Heb. 11. 13. for it was with Christ the Son of righteousness as it is with the natural Sun which illuminates the hemisphere before it actually rises or shews its body above the Horizon but when it rises and shews it self the light is much Sol nonduâ—… conspectus illuminat orbem clearer so it was in this case The greater therefore was their sin that rebelled against it and preferred darkness to light this was their sin with its fearful aggravation Secondly In a most just proportion to this sin we have 2. here the aggravated condemnation of them who sinned against such clear Gospel-light This is the condemnation this is the judgement of all judgements the greatest and most intolerable judgement a severer sentence of condemnation than ever did pass against any others that sinned in the times of ignorance and darkness they that live and dye impenitent and unregenerate how few soever the means of salvation have been which they have enjoyed must be condemned yea the Pagan world who have no more but natural light to help them will be condemned by that light but this is the condemnation i. e. such sinning as this is the cause of the greatest condemnation and sorest punishment as it 's called Heb. 10. 19. Thirdly The cause and occasion drawing men into this sin and misery because their deeds were evil i. e. the convincing 3. light of truth put a great deal of vigour and activity into their Consciences which they could not endure The accusations and condemnations of Conscience are very irksome and troublesome things to
men to avoid this they were willing to be ignorant An enlightned Conscience gives an interruption also unto men in their sinful courses and pleasures they cannot sin at so easie a rate in the light as they did in darkness and this made them hate the light as a very troublesom thing to them Thus you see what was the sin and what the punishment and what the cause of both DOCT. That the greater and clearer the light is under which the impenitent and unregenerate do live in this world by so much greater Doct. and heavier will their condemnation and misery be in the world to come Mat. 11. 21 22. Wo unto thee Chorazin woe unto thee Bethsaida for is the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes but I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgement than for you Two things require explication in the doctrinal part of this point viz. 1. How light puts a deeper guilt and aggravation into sin 2. Why sin so aggravated makes men liable to greater condemnation First We will enquire into the grounds and reasons why greater and clearer light greatens and aggravates proportionably 2. the sins that are committed under it and it will appear that it doth so upon divers accounts First All light especially Evangelical-light is a great preservative from sin and an excellent means to prevent it 't is the property of light to inform the judgement and rectifie the mistakes and errors of it and thereby to give check to the affections in the pursuit of sinful designs and courses 't is a plain case that many men would never do as they do if their understandings were better informed 1 Cor. 2. 8. Which none of the Princes of this world knew for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory It was want of light and better information which drew them under that horrid and unparallel'd guilt Our Saviour also supposes in the place before cited that if Tyre and Sidon had enjoyed the same light and means of grace that Chorazin and Bethsaida did they would never have been so sinful as they were light discovers danger and thereby overaws and stops men from proceeding farther in those paths and courses that will run them into it Secondly sinning under and against the light supposes and involves in it a greater contempt and despight of Gods authority than sinning in ignorance and darkness doth every man that breaks the law of God doth not in the same degree despise and slight the authority of the Law maker but when a man hath light to discover the evil and danger of what he doth and yet will dare to do it what is this but the treading of Gods authority under foot the casting of his word behind our backs Wilfull sinning is a despightful sinning against God Heb. 10. 26. it argues a low and vile esteem of the law of God which is reverent and holy and by so much the more it maketh sin to be exceeding sinful Thirdly Sinning under and against the light admits not of those excuses and pleas to extenuate the offence which sins of pure ignorance do Those that live without the sound of the Gospel may say Lord we never heard of Christ and the great redemption wrought by him if we had we would never have lived and acted as we did and therefore Christ saith Joh. 15. 22. If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin The meaning is that if the Gospel-light had not shined among them their sin had not been of that deep guilt that now it is for now it is so foul and heinous by reason of the light under and against which it is committed that they have no pretence or excuse to extenuate or mitigate it Fourthly Evangelical light is a very rich favour and mercy of God to men one of the choicest gifts bestowed upon the Nations of the world and therefore it 's said Psal. 147. 19 20. He sheweth his word unto Jacob his statutes and his judgements unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any nation and as for his judgements they have not known them Other Nations have Corn and Wine Gold and Silver abundance of earthly delights and pleasures but they have not a beam of heavenly light shining upon them We may account this mercy small but God who is best able to value the worth of it accounts it great Hos. 8. 12. I have written unto them the great things of my Law Christ reckoned Capernaum to be exalted unto Heaven by the Ministry of the Gospel in that place Now the greater the mercy is which the light of truth brings with it by so much the more horrid and heinous must the abusing and despising of it be Fifthly Sinning against the light argues a love to sin as sin to naked sin without any disguise or covert It is nothing so bad for a man to sin through a mistake of judgement when he thinks that to be lawful which is indeed sinful he doth not now close with sin as sin but he either closes with it as his duty or at least his liberty 'T is hard for Satan to perswade many men to embrace a naked sin and therefore he cloaths it in the habit of a duty or liberty and thereby deceives and draws men to the commission of it But if a man have light shining into his Conscience and convincing him that the way he is in is the way of sin quite contrary to the revealed will of God stripping the sin naked before the eye of his Conscience so that he hath no covert or excuse and yet will persist in it this I say argues a soul to be in love with sin as sin Now as for a man to love grace as grace is a solid argument to prove the truth of his grace so on the contrary for a man to love sin as sin doth not only argue him to be in the state of sin but to be in the forefront and among the highest rank of sinners Sixthly The greater and clearer the light is under and against which men continue in sin the more must the Consciences of such sinners be supposed to be wasted and violated by such a way of sinning for this is a sure rule that the Maxima violatio conscientiâ—… est maximum peccatâ—…m greatest violation of Conscience is the greatest sin Conscience is a noble and tender part of the soul of man it is in the soul as the eye in the body very sensible of the least injury and a wound in the Conscience is like a blow in the eye but nothing gives a greater blow to Conscience nothing so much wastes it and destroys it as sins against the light do this puts a plain force upon the Conscience and gives a
Lord hath not given unto this day eyes to see their misery in themselves or their remedy in Christ so as to make an effectual Application of him to their own souls To all such my counsel is 1. To get a sense of your own blindness 2. To seek out for a cure whilst yet it may be had First Labour to get a deep sense of the misery of such a condition for till you be awakened by conviction you can never be healed O that you did but know the true difference betwixt common and saving light the want of this keeps you in darkness you think because you know the same things that the most sanctified man doth that therefore there is no difference betwixt his knowledge and yours and are therefore ready to say to them as Job to his friends Lo mine eye hath seen all this mine ear hath heard and understood it What ye know the same do I know also I am not inferiour unto you Job 13. 1 2. But O that you would be convinced that your knowledge vastly differs from the knowledge of believers Though you know the same things that they do it is a knowledge of another kind and nature You know spiritual things in another way meerly by the light of reason assisted and improved by the common light of the Gospel they know the same things by spiritual illumination and in an experimental way 1 John 2. 20. Ye have an unction from the holy one and ye know all things Their knowledge is practical yours is idle They are working out their salvation by that light which God hath given them Psal. 111. 10. Their knowledge of God and Christ produces the fruits of faith obedience mortification and heavenly mindedness in them It hath no such fruits in you whatever light there be in your understandings it makes no alteration at all upon your hearts Their light brings them to heaven John 17. 3. Yours shall be blown out by death 1 Cor. 13. 8. and your selves left in the mists of eternal darkness except your eyes be opened seasonably by the anointing of the holy Ghost Conviction is a great part of your cure Secondly Labour to get a remedy for this dangerous disease of your minds Awake to righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God I speak this to your shame 1 Cor. 15. 34. These things speak incouragement to you though it be a sore Judgement that lies upon you and very difficult to be removed yet remember Jesus Christ is put into Commission by God the Father to open the blind eyes Isa. 42. 6 7. and this excellent Physician bespeaks you for his patients Rev. 3. 18. Anoint thine eyes saith he with eye-salve that thou mayest see Yea the most enlightned Christians were once as dark and blind in spiritual things as you are and Christ hath cured them Eph. 5. 8. Once were you darkness now are ye light in the Lord. Attend therefore upon the Ordinances of the Gospel diligently that 's Gods enlightning instrument by which he couches those Cataracts which blind the eyes of mens understandings Acts 26. 18. And if ever you will have your eyes opened allow your selves time to ponder and consider what you hear The duty of Meditation is a very enlightning duty Above all cry to the Lord Jesus Christ as that poor man did Lord that mine eyes may be opened that I may receive my sight Say Lord this is my disease and danger that in seeing I see not others see natural things in a spiritual way whilst I see spiritual things only in a natural way their light is operative upon their hearts mine is but an idle impractical notion of Religion which brings forth â—…no fruit of holiness Their knowledge sets their hands a work in duties of obedience mine only sets my tongue a work in discourses of those things which my heart never felt Lord open mine eyes and make me to see out of this obscurity All the light that is in me is but darkness O Lord enlighten my darkness enlighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death Secondly Let it be a word of counsel and exhortation to such as once were blind but do now see First I beseech you bless God for the least degree of spiritual illumination Truly light is sweet and 't is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun Eccles. 11. 7. But Oh how sweet is spiritual light and what a pleasant thing to behold the Son of Righteousness Blessed are your eyes for they see God hath brought you out of darkness into marvellous light And marvellous indeed it must needs be when you consider how many wise and prudent men are under the power of spiritual darkness whilst such babes as you are enlightened Mat. 11. 25. It greatly affected the heart of Christ O let it affect yours also Secondly Labour to get a clearer sight of spiritual things every day For all spiritual light is encreasing light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4. 18. O if a little spiritual light be so comfortable what would more be The wisdom of God is a manifold wisdom Eph. 3. 16. The best of us see but little of it Labour therefore to know spiritual things more extensively and more experimentally Phil. 3. 8 9. be still encreasing in the knowledge of God Thirdly Walk as men whose eyes are opened Once ye were darkness now are ye light in the Lord walk as children of the light Eph. 5. 8. Else your light will but aggravate your sin Remember how it displeased God that Solomons heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel which had appeared to him twice 1 Kings 11. 9. Remember how angry God was with the Heathens for abusing the dim common light of nature Rom. 1. 21. how much more evil is it in you to abuse the most precious light that shineth in this world and what mischievous effects the abuse of your light will have upon this blind world It was a smart rebuke given once by an Atheist to a good man who being asked by him how he could satisfie his conscience to live as he did nay rather said the Atheist I wonder how you can satisfie your self to live as you do for did I believe as you do that there is such a Christ and such a glory as you believe there is I would pray and live at another rate than you do The Conclusion And now Reader after all my discourses of the method of Christ in purchasing the great Salvation for us and the way of the Spirit in applying it and making it effectual to Gods Elect thou hast two wonders before thine eyes either of which may astonish thy soul in the consideration of them Viz. 1. The admirable Grace of God in preparing this great salvation 2. The desperate wickedness of man in rejecting First Behold the riches of the goodness and mercy of God 1. in preparing such a remedy as this for lost
man This is that which is justly called the great mystery of Godliness 1 Tim. 3. 16. That mystery which the Prophets enquired diligently after yea which the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1. 10 12. In this glorious mystery of Redemption thaâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 manifold wisdom of God or that wisdom which hath such curious and admirable variety in it is illustriously displayed Eph. 4. 10. Yea the contrivement of our Redemption this way is the most glorious display of Divine Love that ever was made or can be made in this world to the children of men for so the Apostle will be understood when he saith Rom. 3. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God hath set forth or presented his love to man in the most taking manner in a way that commends it beyond all compare to the acceptation of men This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. It might be justly expected that when this glorious mystery should come to be published by the Gospel in the ears of sinners all eyes should be withdrawn from all other objects and fixed with admiration upon Christ all hearts should be ravished with these glad tidings and every man pressing to Christ with greatest zeal and diligence But behold instead thereof Secondly The desperate wickedness of the world in rejecting the only remedy prepared for them This was long since foretold by the Prophet Isaiah 53. 3. He is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 desitio virorum Nil habit infoelix paupertas durius in se quam quod ridiculos homines facit Juver and we esteemed him not His poor and mean appearance which should endear him beyond all considerations to the souls of men since it was for their sakes that he emptied himself of all his glory yet this lays him under contempt he is looked on as the very offcast of men when his own love to man had emptied him of all his riches the wickedness of men loaded him with contempt and as it was prophesied of him so it was and at this day is sadly verified all the world over For First The Pagan world hath no knowledge of him they are lost in darkness God hath suffered them to walk in their own ways Acts 14. 16. Secondly The Mahumetans which overspread so great a part of the world reject him and instead os the blessed Gospel which they hiss out with abhorrence embrace the blasphemous and ridiculous Alcoran which they confidently affirm to have come down srom God immediately in that laylatto Hanzili as they call it the night of demission calling all Christians Cafirouna i. e. infidels Thirdly The Jews reject him with abhorrence and spit at his very name and being blindfolded by the Devil they call Jesus Anathema 1 Cor. 12. 3. And in a blind zeal for Moses blaspheme him as an Impostor He came to his own and his own received him not John 1. 11. Fourthly The far greater part of the Christianized world reject him those that are called after his name will not 〈◊〉 nomen 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 viâ—… 〈◊〉 quâ—… 〈◊〉 est quam praevaricatiâ—… divini nominis Cyp. de Zelo. submit to his Government The Nobles of the world think themselves dishonoured by submitting their necks to his yoke The Sensualists of the world will not deny their lusts or forsake their pleasures for all the treasures of righteousness life and peace which his blood hath purchased The worldlings of the earth prefer the dirt and dung of the world before him and few there be among them that profess Christianity who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity The only reason why they are called Christians is because by the advantagious cast of providence they were born and educated in a nation where Christianity is professed and established by the laws of the Countrey and if the wind should turn and the publick Authority think fit to establish another Religion they can shift their sayls and steer a contrary Course But now Reader let me tell thee that if ever God send forth those two grim Sergeants his Law and thine own conscience to arrest thee for thy sins if thou find thy self dragging away by them towards that prison from whence none return that are once clapt up therein and that in this unspeakable distress Jesus Christ manifest himself to thy soul and open thy heart to receive him and become thy surety with God pay all thy debts and cancel all thy obligations Thou wilt love him at another rate than others do his blood will run deeper in thine eyes than it doth in the shallow apprehensions of the world he will be altogether lovely and thou wilt account all things but dung and dross in comparison of the excellency of Jesus Christ thy Lord. To work thy heart to this frame these things are written which the Lord prosper upon thy soul by the blessing of his good Spirit upon them Blessed be God for Jesus Christ. FINIS An Alphabetical Table of the principal points insisted on in this Treatise A. ABortives Spiritual whence they are pag. 369 Absurdity of Believers sins p. 39 Accounts of our time kept in Heaven p. 57 Accusations of Conscience what they are p. 186 Acts of the Spirit sixfold in Conversion p. 197 Acceptation with God what it is p. 311 Acceptation with God what it includes ibid. Acceptance none without Christ. p. 320 Activity for the world what it speaks p. 352 Activity of Christ our pattern p. 507 Adventures of Faith how great p. 82 83 Advocate none like Christ in five respects p. 256 Affections how bewitcht by sin p. 394 Ambassadors of Christ their dignity p. 48 Application what it imports p. 5 6 Application of Christ the end of Ordinances p. 7 Application of Christ of equal latitude with Gods election and Christs death p. 9 Apologies cut off from Gospel-despisers p. 57 Approbation of Christ implied in faith p. 119 Aâ—…ointing how it teacheth p. 139 Alsufficiency of Christ for all our wants p. 196 Altogether lovely Christ only so p. 250 Apostasie an inexcusable sin p. 332. Annihilation better than damnation p. 444 Arminians sense of Justification rejected p. 132 Assent implyed in saving Faith p. 117 Assent three degrees thereof ibid. Assent how discovered to be true p. 140 Aversion from God how discovered p. 84 Awakening out of security how great a mercy it is to the souls of men p. 356 B. BAcksliding an inexcusable sin p. 213. Benefits of Christ how conveyed to us p. 13. Believers more than know themselves so p. 138 Believers why uncomfortable p. 139 Believing the immediate duty of weary souls p. 204 Believers advancement how great p. 281 Boldness of Saints in Prayer p. 313 Blood of Christ its dignity p. 301 Beauty of holiness very great
p. 385 Believers their general assembly p. 338 Believers undergo two changes p. 335 Believers have Christ for their Altar p. 316 Believers should have a free spirit p. 332 Believers in what manner brought to God p. 338 Bodies of sinners how smitten by death p. 536 Blindness of mind what it is p. 569 Blindness-spiritual what it includes p. 571 Blindness-spiritual what it excludes p. 570 Blindness of mind evidenced six ways p. 574 Blinding artifices of Satan what ibid. Burdensom nature of sin opened p. 185 Burden of sin why it must be felt p. 191 C. CAre of Christians over Christs honour p. 28â—… Carnal relations admonished p. 85 Charity to Saints strongly urged p. 37 38 Causes of spiritual life twofold p. 532 Christ transcendent in holiness p. 500 Christians no troublers of the world p. 476 Christ outbids all other offerers p. 74 Christ the mercy of mercies p. 234 Christ eight things in him attractive p. 154 Christ communicates all blessings to us p. 172 Christ makes hast in extremity p. 191 Christs burden exceeding heavy p. 185 Christ the only Physician p. 217 Christ qualified as foretold p. 240 Christ comprehensive of all that 's lovely p. 250. Christ an incomparable friend p. 257 Christ the desire of all Nations and how p. 264 Christ the Lord of Glory p. 277 Christs glory twofold p. 278 Christ the only comfort of Saints p. 290 Christ should be precious to Saints p. 319 Christians why void of comfort p. 293 Circumspection how necessary p. 588 Civility no evidence of grace p. 449 Companions in sin to be abandoned p. 384 Communion with Christ twofold p. 166 Communion with Christ in what it consists p. 167 Communion with Christ a great mysterie p. 173 Communion with Christ admirable p. 174 Communion with Saints how pleasant p. 179 Compassion due to the distressed p. 186 Coming to Christ what it includes p. 193 Communion with God kills sin p. 484 Conviction precedaneous to faith p. 147 Contentation of Christ in a low estate p. 513 Condemnation twofold p. 542 Content pressed upon Converts p. 23 Conversion introductive to all mercies p. 19 Condescension of God in the Gospel p. 50 Conversion how illustrated p. 76 Consent included in faith p. 120 Consolation what it is p. 288 Consolation three kinds thereof ibid. Consolation three ingredienâ—…s thereof p. 289 Contempts of the world contemned p. 318 Conviction the first work of the Spirit p. 414 Congruity of divine drawings with the will of man p. 72 Concomitants of faith what they are p. 150 Conversion its stupendious effects p. 86 Conscience the offices thereof p. 186 Conscience benummed how sad p. 189 Complaints to men fruitless ibid. Confidence without ground what p. 349. Converts exhorted to praise p. 371 Corruption of nature discovered p. 8â—… D. DAmned their dreadful state opened p. 187 Danger of refusing Christ. p. 156 Damnation how aggravated p. 354 Danger of false confidence ibid. Death and deadness how differenced p. 422 Degrees of faith the least precious p. 142 Despair in our selves necessary p. 147 Despair not of carnal relations p. 87 Death how made sweet p. 43 Death on what account dreadful p. 189 Death of Christ its design and end p. 336 Deliverance from sin what a mercy p. 380 Decrees of God how executed p. 409 Delight in God eminent in Christ. p. 509 Death spiritual what it is p. 530 Dignity of Saints whence inferred p. 36 Discourses of Heaven sweet in the way p. 343 Difficulty of faith discovered p. 137 Diseases of the soul what they are p. 217 Directions about faith six p. 159 Directions to inflame desires p. 273 Discouragements in godliness unreasonable p. 387 Divine authority of Scriptures p. 364 Dominion of sin cured by Christ. p. 219 Dominion of sin destroyed in Saints p. 327 Dominion of sin wherein it consists p. 461 Drawings of God what they are p. 71 Drawings of God opened five ways p. 73 Duties no evidences of grace p. 450 Desires after Christ examined p. 270 Desires after Christ include blessings ibid. Dejections of Saints groundless p. 344 E. EFficacy of the Gospel how great p. 358 Efficacy of preaching whence it is p. 55 End of the new Creature twofold p. 435 English preaching its encomium p. 560 Embryo's spiritual what they are p. 370 Enjoyment of God mans chief good p. 337 Enemies to souls who are so p. 355 Engagements to obedience what p. 561 Engage not sin in our own strength p. 486 Esteem nothing lovely but Christ. p. 259 Eyes opened two ways p. 585 Evidences of spiritual death p. 531 Evidences of persons unreconciled p. 61 Evidences of carnal security p. 350 Evidences of the power of the word p. 359 Evidences of the Spirit in us p. 415 Evidences of mortification p. 469 492 Extent of Christs Kingdom large p. 265 Expectations of wrath terrible p. 187 Examples motives to faith p. 198 Expectation implied in faith p. 195 Experiences of others relieving p. 190 Examples useful in mortification p. 491 Examples of the world not to be imitated p. 587 F. FAith its subject act and enemies p. 79 Faith considered two ways p. 128 Faith whether in two faculties p. 120 Faith its encomium above other graces p. 129 Faith justifies not as a work p. 132 Faith justifies as an applying instrument p. 133. Faith precious in the least degree p. 144 Faith of Papists an absurd faith p. 145 Faith its Antecedents Concomitants and Consequents p. 146 Faith is not the souls rest p. 207 Faith how great a mercy to men p. 546 Faith its instrumentality in mortification p. 483 Fall of Adam how aggravated p. 51 False joy the only joy of carnal men p. 350 False joy twofold p. 351 Fears of death how cured p. 209 Fellowship with Christ our dignity p. 163. Fellowship with Christ not natural p. 171 Fellowship of Saints advantageous p. 478 Filth of sin what and how removed p. 208 Folly of self-righteousness p. 226 Following Christ the Saints duty p. 344 Free-grace and full satisfaction consistent p. 53. Freedom from the rigour of the Law p. 326 Freedom from guilt what a priviledge ibid. Freedom from the first Covenant p. 409 Frustration of the Gospel how p. 354 Fulness of Christs saving power p. 383 G. GEnerality of men in the way to Hell p. 3â—…6 Gifts of the Spirit twofold p. 407 Gifts no evidences of Grace p. 450 Glory of the Saints will be very great p. 282 Gospels strange success whence is is p. 396 Gospel an invaluable mercy p. 365 Gospel why so unsuccessful p. 355 Gospel Embassy what it implies p. 47 48 Gospel why ineffectual to men p. 87 Gospels scope to bring men to believe p. 131 Gospel its power to awaken men p. 360 Gospel its enlightning efficacy ibid. Gospel its wounding power p. 361 Gospel how it turns the heart ibid. Gospel its power not in it self p. 362 Gospel efficacy not in the instrument ibid. Gospel in every part presses mortification p. 466 Gospel
be attended p. 89 Outward troubles how cured p. 222 Oyl of gladness what it notes p. 164 P. PArdon of sin how sweet p. 188 Papists how they still Conscience p. 203 Pauses made in Conversion p. 77 Penance no act of mortification p. 460 Peace two sorts worse than trouble p. 190 Pleas for converting souls p. 21 22 Pleasures of the spiritual life p. 97 Pleasure of sin cost dear p. 186 Physitian noue like Christ p. 223 Pledge of glory what is so p. 410 Pleasure none in carnal men p. 534 Policy of Satan in what discovered p. 283 Powers of the soul twofold p. 405 Power of sin gradually weakened p. 462 Propositions about applying Christ p. 6 7 8 Persecutors warned of danger p. 42 Presumption falsely pretended p. 200 Presumption a general sin p. 350 Prayer how prevalent p. 314 Prayers of Saints desirable p. 316 Prayer evidential of the Spirit p. 417 Prayerless persons unregenerate p. 453 Probabilities of mercy incourage p. 388 Proper sins to be especially eyed p. 487 Principles of mortification what p. 467 Promises of temporals how secured p. 246 Practical nature of Gods teaching p. 399 Purity of Conscience how needful p. 484 Purposes accepted by God p. 315 Q. QUalifications of Ministers p. 63 Qualities of the new creature p. 434 Quickning of two sorts p. 94 Quickning the Spirits work in order to union with Christ p. 93 Quickning a supernatural work p. 103 Quietness of men what it argues p. 353 R. REconciliation with God what p. 51 Reconciliation wonderful p. 52 Readiness in God to grant prayer p. 313 Receiving Christ the vital act p. 115 Receiving Christ what it improts p. 116 Remission the Saints priviledge p. 299 Remission what it is p. 300 Remission none without Christ p. 305 Reconciled persons their duties p. 66 Renovation of nature p. 430 Regenerate their duties p. 445 Religion precise and strict p. 499 Religion falâ—…y charged p. 518 Represent Christ as he is p. 260 Respect due to Ministers and why p. 48 Reluctance of nature how cured p. 76 Rest coming by faith sweet p. 203 Rest of Believers present and how p. 207 Righteousness connected with holiness p. 16 Riches of Christ how great p. 178 Right to glory Christs purchase p. 341 Rome shall feel the force of prayer p. 317 Rods of affliction the Saints lot p. 325 Rules of two sorts p. 498 Rules to discern the spirit in us p. 411 Rule no man a rule to others p. 498 S. SAints have real communion with Christ p. 165 Saints honourable on what account p. 175 Satans great design opened p. 211 Satisfaction none short of glory p. 342 Satans power destroyed and how p. 327 Satans policy wherein seen p. 368 Selfishness an odious sin p. 176 Secrets of God opened to Saints p. 314 Skill bred by experience what p. 193 Signs of divine teaching p. 398 Sins evil not seen at first p. 378 Sin is long a dying in the best p. 464 Sin yields neither profit nor pleasure p. 489 Sin against the Spirit mistaken p. 200 Sins of Believers most piercing p. 319 Sound of the Gospel sweet p. 202 Sorrows of the soul not quickly over p. 206 Souls of great value p. 341 Small things accepted by God p. 314 Small remnant in Christ p. 447 Spiritual sickness a mercy p. 201 Spirits threefold power in conversion p. 363 Spirit taken two ways p. 406 Spirit the bond of union p. 408 Spirit works arbitrarily in us p. 411 Spirit works variously in men ibid. Sting of death pluckt out by Christ p. 328 Striving ineffectual when so p. 381 Stability the result of mortification p. 481 Success of the word to be waited for p. 110 Supports under defects of obedience p. 524 Supports under spiritual troubles what and whence they are p. 189 190 Sufferings for Christ honourable p. 281 Sweetness of Religion in application p. 11 Sympathy a mark of the Spirit p. 41â—… Symptoms of a desperate state p. 227 T. TEmptations not removed here p. 325 Terms on which Christ is offered p. 122 Teachings of God twofold p. 377 Teachings of God necessary p. 375 Teaching of God not opposed to mans p. 376 Teachings of God infallible p. 390 Teaching of God clear ibid. Teachings of God permanent p. 391 Teachings of God harmonical p. 399 Tenderness of Conscience p. 492 Time of conversion in the hand of the Spirit p. 364 Time of Christs incarnation exactly agreeable to the promises p. 240 Things past present and to come ours p. 209 Thoughts of death how sweetned p. 342 Troubles of Conscience great p. 188 Troubles for sin wean the heart p. 191 Troubles for sin prevent falls p. 192 Troubles for sin make Christ sweet ibid. Troubles for sin tryed p. 191 Trials of our union with Christ. p. 43 Trials of spiritual life p. 111 V. VExing the Spirit p. 489 Visions not to be expected p. 376 Unition supposed to union p. 94 Union with Christ how illustrated p. 26 Union with Christ no fancy p. 28 Union with Christ what it is not p. 30 Union mystical what it is p. 32 Union ingages to godliness p. 44 Union the ground of acceptation p. 315 Union fundamental to benefits p. 383 Unregenerate in a sad state p. 〈◊〉 110 Unbelief unreasonable p. 17 Unreconciled exhorted p. 65 Unbelief the damning sin p. 136 Unbelief the root of ingratitude p. 212 Unworthiness no bar to faith p. 245 Unbelievers their sad estate p. 294 Unbelievers under condemnation p. 541 Unbelief the evil thereof p. 543 Voluntary motions of souls to Christ p. 194 Voyce of God never heard by some p. 400 Upbraidings of Conscience what p. 187 Usefulness of the Law is great p. 204 W. WAnts relieved by union with Christ p. 40 Wants of Saints provided for p. 176 Want of outwards quietly born p. 244 Wants not to be feared p. 318 Willingness to dye what it signifies in carnal men p. 353 Will how allured by God p. 393 Workings of the word when slight p. 368 World its damping efficacy p. 369 Work of grace supernatural p. 445 Work of new creatures what p. 4â—…4 Wonderful preservation of grace p. 438 Wrath due to sin how great p. 379 Z. ZEal in wicked men dangerous Zeal improved against Zeal p. 580 FINIS This Author hath writ the several Books following A Saint indeed the great work of a Christian opened and pressed from Prov. 4. 23. a seasonable Discourse for recovery of decayed godliness A Touch-stone of Sincerity or signs of Grace and symptoms of Hypocrisie being the Second Part of the Saint Indeed Husbandry Spiritualized or the Heavenly use of Earthly things The Seamans Compass spiritually improved The Seamans Companion wherein the mysteries of Divine Providence relating to Seamen are opened the sins and dangers discovered their duties pressed their several troubles and burdens opened and profitably applied Divine Conduct or the Mystery of Providence its Being and Efficacy asserted and vindicated all the methods of Providence in our course of life opened with directions how to apply and improve them A Token for Mourners or Boundaries for Sorrow on death of Friends The Fountain of life opened or a display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory wherein the impetration of our redemption by Christ is unfolded as it was begun carried on and finished These following Books lately Printed HEavenly and Earthly mindedness in two Parts with an Appendix about laying hold on Eternal Life The Life and Death of Mr. John Row of Credditon in Devon Emanuel or the love of Christ explicated and applied in his incarnation being made under the Law and his satisfaction in 31 Sermons all three by Mr. John Row Minister of Gods word Christs power over bodily diseases by Edward Lawrance now Minister of the Gospel in London The Saints nearness to God by Richard Vines Minister of the Gospel Of Idolatry a Discourse in which is endeavoured a declaration of its distinction from superstition by Tho. Tenison Dr. in Divinity and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty FINIS
before his face but the merciful God casts them all behind his back never to behold them more so as to charge them upon his pardoned people And thus you see what the pardon of sin is what the price that purchaseth pardon is and what riches of grace God manifesteth in the remission of Believers sins which were the things to be explained and opened in the Doctrinal part The improvement of the whole you will have in the following Uses Inference 1. If this be so that all Believers and none but Believers receive Inference 1. the remission of their sins through the riches of grace by the blood of Christ What a happy condition then are Believers in Those that never felt the load of sin may make light of a pardon but so cannot you that have been in the deeps of trouble and fear about it those that have been upon the rack of an accusing and condemning Conscience as David Heman and many of the Saints have been can never sufficiently value a pardon Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity Psal. 32. 1 2. or O the blessednesses and felicities of the pardoned man as the Hebrew sounds Remission cannot but appear the wonder of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mercies if we consider through what difficulties the grace of God makes way for it to our souls what strong bars the love of God breaks asunder to open our way to this priviledge for there can be no pardon without a Mediator no other Mediator but the Son of God the Son of God cannot discharge our debts but by taking them upon himself as our surety and making full payment by bearing the wrath of God for us and when all this is done there can be no actual pardon except the spirit of grace open our blind eyes break our hard hearts and draw them to Christ in the way of believing And as the mercy of remission comes to us through wonderful difficulties so it is in it self a compleat and perfect mercy God would not be at such vast expence of the riches of his grace Christ would not lay out the invaluable treasures of his precious blood to procure a cheap and common blessing for us Rejoyce then ye pardoned souls God hath done great things for you for which you have cause to be glad Inference 2. Hence it follows That interest in Christ by faith brings the Inference 2. Conscience of a Believer into a state of rest and peace Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith we have peace with God I say not that every Believer is presently brought into actual peace and tranquillity of Conscience there may be many fears and much trouble even in a pardoned soul but this is an undoubted truth that faith brings the pardoned soul into that condition and state where he may find perfect rest in his Conscience with respect to the guilt and danger of sin The blood of Christ sprinkles us from an evil that is an accusing condemning Conscience We are apt to fear that this or that special sin which hath most terrified and affrighted our Consciences is not forgiven but if there be riches enough in the grace of God and efficacy enough in the blood of Christ then the sins of Believers all their sins great as well as small one as well as another without limitation or exception are pardoned For let us but consider if God remits no sin to any man but with respect to the blood of Christ then all sins are pardoned as well as any one sin because the dignity and desert of that blood is infinite and as much deserves an universal pardon for all sins as the particular pardon of any even the least sin Moreover remission is an act of Gods Fatherly love in Christ and if it be so then certainly no sin of any Believer can be retained or excluded from pardon for then the same soul should be in the favour of God so far as it is pardoned and out of the favour of God so far as it is unpardoned and all this at one and the same instant of time which is a thing both repugnant to it self and to the whole stream of the Gospel To Conclude what is the design and end of remission but the saving of the pardoned soul But if any sin be retained or excluded from pardon the retaining of that sin must needs irritate and void the pardon of all other sins and so the acts of God must cross and contradict each other and the design and end of God miscarry and be lost which can never be So then we conclude faith brings the believing soul into a state of rest and peace Inference 3. Hence it also follows That no remission is to be expected by any Inference 3. soul without interest by faith in Jesus Christ no Christ no pardon no faith no Christ. Yet how apt are many poor deluded souls to expect pardon in that way where never any soul yet did or ever can meet it Some look for pardon from the absolute mercy of God without any regard to the blood of Christ or their interest therein we have sinned but God is merciful Some expect remission of sin by vertue of their own duties not Christs merits I have sinned but I will repent restore reform and God will pardon but little do such men know how they therein diminish the evil of sin undervalue the justice of God slight the blood of Christ and put an undoing cheat upon their own souls for-ever to expect pardon from absolute mercy or our own duties is to knock at the wrong dore which God hath shut up to all the world Rom. 3. 20. Whilst these two principles abide firm that the price of pardon is only in the blood of Christ and the benefit of pardon only by the application of his blood to us this must remain a sure conclusion that no remission is to be expected by any soul without interest by faith in Jesus Christ. Repentance restitution and reformation are excellent duties in their kind and in their proper places but they were never meant for saviours or satisfactions to God for sin Inference 4. If the riches of grace be thus manifested in the pardon of sin Inference 4. how vile an abuse is it of the grace of God to take the more liberty to sin because grace abounds in the pardon of it Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid Rom. 6. 1 2. Will no cheaper stuff than the grace of God serve to make a cloak for sin O vile abuse of the most excellent thing in the whole world did Christ shed his blood to expiate our guilt and dare we make that a plea to extenuate our guilt God forbid If it be intolerable ingratitude among men to requite good with evil sure that sin must want a name bad enough to express it which puts the greatest