interessing us in the grace of Redemption so we cannot doubt that the Lord hath put upon it this office also to be after the manner of a condition if we observe these Scripture-expressions Rom. 4.24 if we believe on him that raised up Jesus it shall be imputed to us for righteousness Rom. 10.9 If thou shalt believe in thy heart thou shalt be saved and the want of this condition is threatned with death Jo. 8.24 See also Jo. 20.31 Acts 8.37 But 2. This faith towards the Lord Jesus is ever accompanied with repentance towards God which is called repentance from dead works and coupled with faith in God as twins in the doctrine of the foundation of Christ Heb. 6.1 This is the souls irking with its former sinfull estate and wayes and a deep displeasure at himself for them together with a forsaking of them and turning away from them unto God in the sincere purpose of the heart and serious endeavour of the conversation And that repentance hath some hand in this business to be a mean and as a condition too in part of interest in Redemption may appear by promises of mercie pardon and healing made to it Pro. 28.14 Iob 33.27 28. Job 11.14 15 c. 2 Chron. 7.14 Acts 3.19 and the contrary threatning Luke 13.3 which plainly implies that without this there is no escaping of perdition and therefore no actual Redemption So that the sinner now as by one hand of faith he takes Christ's Righteousness unto himself so by Repentance as by the other hand he thrusts away sinne from himself out of his heart and hands that he may enjoy a part in the grace of Redemption Christ the Redeemer himself made these the chiefest subject of his preaching Mark 1.15 and so did his Apostles to whom the publication of this Doctrine was committed Acts 20.21 and directed humbled soules to both these as they had occasion S. Peter ascribes Repentance with Baptisme Acts 2.38 and S. Paul saith Act. 16.31 not that those two preachers differed in their judgements or that either of these two graces were sufficient alone by it self but rather to shew their near affinity that they cannot be separated that the right and thorough performance of the one is the performance of both This is the Kings High-way if you hope to compass Redemption and salvation in any other way you will certainly be deceived Oh that you the careless sinners in Zion for unto you I speak all this while would at length be rouzed by the sound of this trumpet to look out for deliverance by Christ before the prison doors be made so fast upon you that there will be no remedy and to provoke you the more to a thing so necessary consider these Motives 1. There is no possibility of deliverance from sinne and the Curse by any other means A redeemer you must have or you are undone and the redeemer must pay a vaste summe for your Redemption This is done to your hand by Jesus Christ if you will accept it upon his termes If you will not I would aske where will you finde a Redeemer Do you look for another to come He that must do this work must bear the Curse for you But where is the man that can or will undertake this God hath found none in heaven or earth mighty enough to lay this help upon Isa 63.5 but Jesus Christ therefore he hath laid it upon him Psal 89.19 and now there remaines no more sacrifice for sinne There is no wisedome nor power in all the world that can relieve or bestead the sinner which will not submit to this way of God 2. If thou wilt not give way to Christ to glorifie his mercie in rescuing thee from the Curse and Condemnation he will glorifie his Justice in letting thee lie an accursed prisoner for ever If thou wilt seek the Lord his hand will be upon thee for good But if thou forsake him his power and his wrath will bee against thee to thy ruine Ezra 8.22 If thou wilt not kiss the Sonne he will be angry and thou shalt perish in the way Psal 2.12 His taking the Curse upon him will not serve thy turne to secure thee from the danger of it unless thou wilt be perswaded to come up to his termes and heartily embrace him as thine onely Lord-Redeemer will give a large commission to it to destroy thee without mercie He that obeyes not the Sonne the wrath of God abides on him John 3.36 and he will come with vengeance in his hands against them that obey not the Gospel 2 Thes 1.18 3. Now the Lord offers you this incomparable mercie you have the render of it still continued in the Ministerie of the Word and the Spirit is Still inviting and beseeching you to accept of this redemption and reconciliation thereby Oh then hearken to the motion and yeild your selves forthwith unto the Lord. For although you do not give a peremptory denial yet if you sit still and triffle your hearts will be hardened Psal 95.7 8. I know thy thoughts thou takest it for granted that thou canst come and get a part in Christ when thou pleasest but it is not so It 's easie to say God be mercifull to me and it is in thy power to presume but to repent and to believe unfainedly and in truth thou shalt finde to be a work above thy strength I tell thee thou bold sinner God will one day come near and plead thus with thy conscience I gave thee Twenty thirty fortie yeares and all that while my Spirit hath been wrastling with thee to draw thee to Christ and thou sayest I can come at my pleasure If thou canst why hast thou not come all this while Seing therefore thou hast dallied with my grace and rendred all my importunity and waiting void and ineffectuall thou shalt never enter into this blessed rest of Redemption 4. If you have any true love to the Ministers of Christ or any desire of their welfare and comfort then come in and seek for a share in this benefit Wee are the servants of the Lord Jesus sent forth to proclaim Redemption to the world How would it glad our hearts to see you all flocking in as doves to the windowes for your interest therein that we may rejoyce in the day of Christ and say Behold here am I and the soules whom thou hast ransomed with thy blood which have yielded themselves to thee through our Ministery If you set light by this grace and love the world and the contentments of it better than Jesus Christ you break our hearts and you will bring down our heads with shame and sorrow to the grave But if you have no regard of us yet at least pittie your selves When the Lord of the whole world shall call us to give an account of our stewardship and we shall be forced to give in this true evidence against you Lord we have stretched out our hands all the day all the
will is carryed towards him in desires and longings to injoy him for thy All in all So that now poor soul Christ is willing and thou art willing the match is made thou enjoyest him by faith although thou dost not perceive it onely stand not here but endeavour to scrue it up to more sensible resting on him and so to the riches of full assurance CHAP. XI Sect 1. Exhortation to the Redeemed in two Duties 3. THis Doctrine calls upon the Lords Redeemed ones for such a carriage as is most suitable to their condition Every remarkable change of estate requires an answerable change of course and practise If a prisoner suppose Joseph be hastily brought out of the Dungeon to stand before a King he must shave himself and change his rayment his speech apparel gestures and all his behaviour must be quite of another strain than they were in his low condition Even so beloved Christians if you feel your selves bought out from the slavery of the curse I beseech you to consider that this excellent benefit layes a strong engagement upon you to walk as it becomes the Lords ransomed people And this walking must be manifested and held forth in sundry remarkable duties Gen. 41.14 Ergo tu dignum te gere tali pretio Ambros which I shall rank in such order as I conceive to be most proper The first duty which the Redeemed soul hath to do is this Admire the riches of the mercy of God in Christ laying this benefit in thy lap and let it stir thee up to an holy rejoycing yea glorying in God and let this joy break forth in praises 1. Let this glorious work take up thy heart and fill it with an holy wondring Say Oh what admirable condescension is here that Jesus Christ should be at such cost for me to buy out such a wretch from the curse of the Law and to make me actually partaker of this blessed liberty The thought of this incomparable design thus brought home to my soule doth even astonish me that the Lord should pluck me as a brand out of the fire and when I had little savour or desire that way did break open the prison doores and set me free Psal 126.1 2. Tune and teach thy soul to rejoyce in Jesus Christ Entertain this gift with all gladness Let the inwards of thy heart be much affected with joy in the consideration of the Lord's mercie to thee Mary rejoyced in God her Saviour Luke 1.46 47. When the Jewes were rescued from destruction by the dashing in pieces of Haman's bloodie project they had joy and gladness Esther 8.16 17. Thou hast now received the atonement by Jesus Christ therefore thou mayest now glorie in him Rom. 5.11 Thou seest sinne the Curse condemnation vanquished by the Cross of Christ and thy self a Conquerour through faith in his blood therefore thou hast abundant cause to rejoyce in him and in his salvation Hab. 3.13 17 c. 3. Let this joy vent it self on all fit occasions by thanksgiving both in songs Psal 126.2 and other expressions of his praise speaking good of his Name When the L rd hath redeemed his people they shall come to Zion with singing everlasting joy shall be upon their heads sorrow and mourning shall flee away Isa 35.10 This Prophesie doth either wholly or chiefly concern the Churches spiritual deliverance and shall be most fully verified when their deliverance is compleat The four beasts and Twenty four Elders sing a new song unto the Lamb upon this account because he was slain Vide. Pareum in locum and had redeemed them c. Rev. 5.8 9. which some apply to the Church triumphant in heaven Solomon in Type but Jesus Christ in truth should redeem the poor and needie and shall dayly be praised Psal 72.14 15. Psal 71.23 Take notice of this and practise it Oh It 's a mercie that calls for all that is within us to praise him and all little enough Psal 103.1 2 c. Keep in thy heart the remembrance of this benefit Let it still be warme upon thy spirit that thou mayest express some thankfulness every day but especially on the Lord's day which being the day of Christ's resurrection Psal 118.24 is applied by the Fathers to the Lords day is therefore to be observed as a solemne weekly Commemoration of the work of Redemption which was perfected thereby and that I doubt not by Divine or Apostolical warrant Let this be the principal work of the day and let it have an influence into all the parts of your lives It is to be bewailed that too many of the Lords ransomed ones spend their dayes in sorrow lowrness and dejection of spirit Whereas they should rather give up themselves to delight in him who hath plucked their feet out of the net 2. Hold fast the Libertie which Christ hath given you Seing you are now set free inslave not your selves again unto a second bondage which may be 1. More gross and palpable by apostasie from Jesus Christ in the Doctrine profession and obedience of the Gospel When thou hast entertained this truth of Redemption by Christ and hast gone so farre in applying it to thy self that thou darest claim a part in it beware now of backsliding that thou leave not Christ on the plain field in casting off the truth and abandoning the profession of it before men If thou drawest back the Lord will have no pleasure in thee Heb. 10.38 Let these terrible thunderclaps be ever in thine eares that those which fall away cannot be renewed unto repentance Heb. 6.4 c. That if we sinne willingly by a totall Apostasie from the truth received there remaineth no more sacrifice for sinnes but an expectation of Judgement and fierie indignation c. Heb. 10.26 27. See also 2 Pet. 2.20 21. 2. More covert or refined and that either of conscience or of conversation 1. Bondage of conscience is when the redeemed soule gives way to the threats and terrours of the Law and suffers them to get so farre within him as they cause him in some degree to lie down under the power of them Yield not to this slaverie Onely know and make account that every sinne is in it self of such a malignant quality that it would certainly bring the curse and wrath of God upon thee If it were not prevented And therefore when thou art overtaken with it thou must judge thy self worthy to be destroyed and that the Lord might justly charge it upon thee and follow the Law against thee to thy condemnation and hereupon it will be necessary that thou be often renewing thy repentance in Godly sorrow with faith on the Redeemer for pardon and fencing thy soul more against thy sinne by hatred of it and resolution against it Do all this and spare not but let not the Law throw the fire-balls of hell into thy conscience Look not on thy self as one that lies under the Curse Thy Redeemer hath cleared the
doe this and they doe it He blinds their minds hardens their hearts and works in them powerfully Eph. 2.2 Indeed they spitt at him and say they defie him yet neverthelesse they are his drudges and carry his pack and doe his worke And while they professe that they scorne to serve him yet even then they serve him willingly and with both their hands Oh miserie beyond all expression 3. Unfruitfulness towards God He may complaine of Mankind as once of Israel Jer. 2.21 I had planted the a noble Vine wholly a right seed how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange Vine unto me All our fruit is fruit unto death we can bring forth no fruit unto God The curse of the Law hath blasted us we are as it were Thunder-struck and made unserviceable We can doe nothing that is truly good or wel pleasing to God Rom. 8.8 When Christ came neere to the figtree and saw nothing on it but leavs he cursed it and then it withered Mat. 21.19 So the Lord seeing Adam and his posteritie now by their Apostasie become degenerate plants pronounced a curse upon them saying Never fruit grow on you any more and so we are become no better than withered stumps Thou thinkest that thou dost good duties this and that good work thou hadst thy hand in such and such good fruits thou canst shew but alas it s nothing so thou art a drie and a barren tree 4. Liablenes to all the plagues and judgments of God The curse setts us in such a posture as we are continually exposed to some mischiefe or other The ground which brings forth bryars and thornes being neere unto cursing its end is to be burned Heb. 6.8 The foolishman thinks his tongue is his owne to use as he will Psal 12.4 But Solomon tells him his mouth is neere to destruction Pro. 10.14 See Ezech. 7.5 6 7. 2. Pet. 2.3 Speaking of false Teachers he saith their judgment lingers not but is hastening on its way their damnation slumbreth not it keeps waking to seize on them in due time And indeed what is it that hindreth vengeance from falling on sinners but onely the Lords patience Thaâ— consuming fire is at hand readie to lick thee up and to destroy thee there is but one stepp betwixt thee and death The Lord might forthwith stop thy breath anâ— then thou art gone for ever the ladder iâ— every moment like to be turned thoâ— hangest but by one weake threed and wheâ— that is broken then thou droppest into thâ— flames of hell 5. Punishing sinne with sinne a very sad effect of the curse when the Lord hath determined to set home the curse upon a sinner with a witnesse then he leaves him to himself for his former provocations either to run himself deeper into the same sinnes or else to fall into more vile and vicious courses and so to heap up wrath against himself As sometimes a father saith of an hopeless child Seeing he will not be reclaymed let him take his course let him run himself out of breath and hasten to his owne ruine Thus he scourged the Gentiles for their wilde courses against the light of Nature Rom. 1.26.28 And the Jewes for their contempt of the word Psal 81.11 12. And their opposing the Gospell 1. Thes 2.15 16. Thus the Lord deales with many of the secure sleepie sinners they give no regard to the offer of mercie therefore the Lord shutts them up in ignorance and saith let him that is ignorant filthy carnall be so still they are not bettered by mercies or judgments therefore they shall be made worse The close deceiver becomes a grosse robber and God gives him over to lying swearing forswearing c. The immoderate use of the creatures becomes grosly riotous God gives him up to beastly drunkenness mispending of his time wasting his estate yea sometimes to wantonness and bodily filthyness to hatred yea scorning of good counsel and the like abhominable practices 6. Hellish terrours startlings of conscience feare of death and of the Judgment to come These are the sparkles which flie up out of these everlasting burnings while the furnace is in heating to devoure the ungodly of the earth Isa 33.14 Fearfulness surprizeth the hypocrites Heb. 2.15 It s one maine branch of mans naturall miserie that through feare of death he is all his life subject unto bondage Act. 24.25 When the Aostle Paul preached of the Judgment to come Felix trembled The sinner feeles many a privie nippe while he is walking on in the wayes of his owne heart he hath gripings in his spirit that torment him and he feeles the flashing of hell fire sometimes in his conscience so that he is appaled with the foresight of the wrath to come His heart smites him and tels him that Vengeance lyes in wait for him because of ignorance drunkenness contempt of the Gospell c. The thoughts of death and judgment damp him and strike him to the heart and he saith oh I must once goe downe into the dust what shall then become of this poore soule * Animula vagula blandula Quae nunc abâ—bis in loca I must be brought to judgment how shall such a sinful wretch as I look the great Judge of heaven and earth in the face Alas poore sinner thou settest a good face on the matter before men but thy heart knowes that it is thus 2. The strange properties or qualities of the curse Strange properties of the Curse are especially these 5. I call them strange because 1. Most of them lie out of the road of the naturall mans apprehension and beliefe they are hid from his eyes he will not easily be perswaded of them 2. Yea the godly themselves doe not so clearly discerne nor so carefully observe or make use of them as they might 1. It is a grievous and a bitter curse Can there be any thing more grievous and bitter than the abandoning of the creature from God It was a very girevous curse which Shimei the Benjamite shott against King David as David himself termes it 1. Kin. 2.8 A strong sore forcible curse so the originall word signifies How much more rightly may all this be spoken of the curse of Gods Royall Law When the Angel of the Lord would measure out a curse against the Merozites according to the bredth of their sinne he bids curse them bitterly Jud. 5.23 Gods curse against sinners is bitter Jer. 4.18 It s made up of gall and worme-wood * Ier. 8.14.9.15 When Solomon would give warning of the danger which may come by the ensnaring of an whorish woman he tells us that in his owne experience he finds her more bitter than death Eccl. 7.26 If he had knowne any thing more bitter he would have mentioned it Now the curse of the Law is the death 〈◊〉 â—he sinner Gen. 2.17 The curse of the people upon Merciles self-seeking persons is grievous it bites sore Pro. 11.26 28.27 Oh
Christ testifies of the woman that was a sinner that her sinnes which were many are forgiven her Luke 7.47 Be thy sinnes never so many if they fill a roll that reacheth from the East to the West or from earth to heaven they can but wrap thee in the curse and Christ hath taken upon him the whole curse that he might redeem thee from it If thou hast multiplied to sin God will multiply to pardon Isa 55.7 he will cast all our iniquities into the depths of the Sea Mic. 7.19 If thou shouldest fill a thousand baskets with sand and cast them all into the midst of the Sea the waves would so sweep them all away that no remnant of them would appear so the streames of Christ's blood are able to wash away thy manifold sinnes that not one of them shall remain When the dew is fallen upon the ground thou mayest see infinite millions of drops but when the Sun breaks out and shines in its strength it licks up and scatters them all in a very short time and thou seest not one left So the Sonne of righteousness can dispel thy numberless transgressions as a cloud or a mist that they cannot be found Isa 44.22 Jer. 50.20 3. Long continuance in the state and trade and under the guilt and power of sin Oh I am a sinner of a long standing I am old and aged in sin Ierem. 2.33 Ier. 22.21 Eze. 23.43 I am soaked in iniquity I have served many apprentiships in it and am grown gray-headed I have drawn out a long train of vanitie and sin as it were with cartropes Isa 5.18 Methinks I feel the guilt of it so sodered into my spirit by dayly custome that it cannot be plucked out But stay a while poor soul if the Lord hath begun to draw thy heart to seek an interest in the grace of Redemption let not this dismay thee Although thou hast spent all thy dayes in a course of sin spun out a long thread of iniquity lived under guilt even to the age of Methuselah yet the Redemption that is in Christ is richly able to set the free He to whom a thousand years are but as one day can take of thy guilt of 1000 years standing There were means for cleansing an old Leprosie of long continuance and sacrifices to be offered to that end Lev. 13.11 and 14.2 The Israelites after the death of every Judge returned to their old trade of sin and ceased not from their stubborne way Judg. 2.19 Yet the Lord stirred them up Saviours still and though thou hast continued long in sin yet Christ continues still a Saviour The sinner that is 100 year old is accursed Isa 65.20 but the curse which thy Redeemer did undergoe is strong enough to shatter in peices the most inveterable curse and to turn it into a blessing The removal of guilt so deeply rivetted into thy soul by length of time seems to thee impossible but to him all things are possible To shut up this I would have the humbled soul to resolve thus Christ Jesus hath offered up himself to God through the eternal spirit and wherefore thus surely that he might by his blood purge my conscience from dead works and so deliver my soul from that eternal guilt and curse wherein it is intrapped Heb. 9.4 4. The advantage which Justice might have against the sinner for rejecting or neglecting the offer and season of grace Oh how often hath the Lord made a render of salvation to me by the Gospel how affectionately hath he invited me to come in and to take hold on the strength of this great Redeemer yet I have resisted the spirit and trampled this great grace under my feet or at least slighted it shamefully therefore I have cause to fear that the time is past and that mercy shall never reach to my soul Had I thoroughly closed at the first call or seen some reasonable time to lay down armes and submit I could hope that the Lord would have passed by all my former offences But that he should now accept me after the abuse of so much mercy such unprofitableness under his ordinances strong opposition against grace so unweariedly offered and settling my self on the lees of mine old sinful condition contrary to the light which I had received this is quite beyond mine expectation These and the like aggravating circumstances cannot but exasperate divine Justice and even compel it to vindicate its own honour and to avenge it self on such a notorious wretch as I am Surely the Lord hath determined to glorifie himself in my finall condemnation Thus the poor afflicted soul is apt to plead against its interest in this redemption But oh my dear heart be not so peremptory open thine eyes thou shalt see mercy glorying against Judgement James 2.13 None of these aggravations shall obstruct the sweet fruit of this glorious benefit but it shall break through them all True it is one of the Lords ends in suffering sin to abound and shewing forth so much patience to sinners is the manifesting of his Justice upon the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction Rom. 9.22 as in the case of Pharaoh Exod. 9.16 But what is this to thee who hast laid down thine armes and art gasping for mercie He hath another and a more desirable end in respect of thee namely that grace may much more abound and may raign thorough righteousness unto life Rom. 5.20 21. And what wilt thou say if the glory which he gets by delivering thee from the curse be double to that which he might have by leaving thee under it By this he onely glorifies his justice but by the former he glorifies both his justice and mercy this in rescuing thee from guilt and wrath that in laying the curse upon his onely Son that mercy might have free way to serve thee Why then dost thou not rather conclude thus surely the Lord which doth all things for his own glory will more regard a greater then a lesser glory my unbelieving heart saith it will be his choicest glory to destroy me being guiltie of such foul rebellions But the mercy of the redeemer saith No not so I have borne the whole curse for thee that justice might have no advantage by thy rebellion therefore I will rather raise up my glory by thy deliverance The Jews did alwayes resist the Holy Ghost Acts 7.51 and trample the grace of God under their feet even to the shedding of the blood of the Son of God yet a great number of them are and shall be ransomed by the merit of that same blood which they shed Zach. 12 1â— 13 1â— Ioh. 6.9 Peter having plainly confessed that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the living God Matt. 16.16 yet shortly after he rebukes Christ for speaking of his suffering and death vers 22. whereby although ignorantly he opposed the work of redemption and when the time of suffering came he disowned him with swearing and cursing Matth.
26.70 c. yet the Lord Jesus passed by all these provocations and he became both a witness of his sufferings and a partaker of the glory to be revealed Acts 13.9 1 Pet. 5.1 Saul who was also called Paul did not onely reject Christ and the tender of Salvation by him but also was injurious a persecuter a blasphemer plaid the mad man against the Saints and compelled them to blaspeme Might not Paul have despaired of favour and said surely God will plead the cause of his Justice against me he will never put up such high affronts against mercie But we hear no such language No the grace of our Lord saith he was exceeding abundant c. 1 Tim. 1.13 14. Herein he was set for a pattern to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 16. Let the same minde be in us 2. For the latter The converted soule who is actually made partaker of the grace of Redemption and all his scores cleared as to his estate of unregeneracy yet even he may see matter of discomfort by reason of 〈◊〉 1. It s presence or in dwelling Oh saith the Godly soul I feel a lump of sinne still â—â—â—â—ing in me there is a troublesome Inmate that still hampers me a continual dropping 〈◊〉 â—oâ—ome-enemy which besets and clogs 〈◊〉 wofully it is as near me as my very bowels I cannot be quiet for it if I lie down or if I rise up if I go forth or if I come in it is still about me In the business and imployments of my ordinary calling it't ' puting in an oar and in performance of Religious duties but it act's with all its might raising up oftentimes such base passions and lusts as like a malignant East-winde are ready to blast my best fruits Oh sad complaint But pause a while and take one thing with another Thou thinkest thou art still under the Curse while the case is thus with thee but it is not so The great designe of thy Redeemer in destroying sinne and delivering thee from it doth not take place fully whilest thou art in this mortality His meaning was not to remove it wholly out of thy soul so as no footstep of it should remain but onely to take away the sting and deadly ruining power of it for the present The total abolishing of it must be a gradual work not to be perfected till thou shalt put on incorruption Thy happiness here stands not in the not having sin but in the Lords not imputing of sin through the satisfaction of Christ It is the wisedome of our heavenly Father thus to exercise those whom he prepares to be vessels of mercy He will have their remaining time here to be a warfare that they may know the fellowship of Christs sufferings He was burthened with thy sin and could not be rid of it till death thou must be conformed to thine head and make account it will be thy neighbour while thou art in the body But remember that while thou art yoked with this body of sin and groaning under it thy Redeemer hath compassion on thee If the Canaanite be in the Land he will be a thorn in Israels side yet he shall not prevail Holy Paul had a law in his members which led him captive to the law of sin and made him cry out Oh miserable man yet even then he can thank God in the view of full deliverance by Christ Rom. 7.21 23 c. Thine head is now conforming thee to himselfe and will not cease till hee hath wrought out thy victory with triumph 2 It is prevalency or domineering Oh! if I had it under I could have some ground of comfort but alas it is exceeding masterful it doth not onely lead but hold me captive Oh! how doth sin rage within me Strong lusts like the Anakims If there be any grace in me any thing of the new man it is but as a grashopper in comparison of a Gyant One cryes out of the lust of the flesh which soon kindles and gets up into a flame of inclination to bodily uncleanness Another of the lust of the eyes in too eager desires after the world A third of pride of life in ambitious aspirings after great things A fourth of rash anger which bears him down as with the stream and puts him upon unseemly language and carriage And although I pray and strive against my lust saith the Christian yet it still ever and anon gets the upper hand I have been overtaken with a gross sin I have fallen into it again and again yea I have sinned willingly against knowledge and with delight I fear I shall one day perish by the hand of sin But stay a while and hearken what the Lord will speak to thee It is a sad thing that Christs free-man should be so hankled in a snare and so trampled under the feet of a masterful lust and more sad if he should lay under the power and command of a gross sin in the actual committing of it yet there is hope in Israel concerning this Onely take notice that I have no designe to bolster up the sinner in his way of inquity my endeavour is to speak peace to the disconsolate Saint I say then thou art not alone poor soul others of the Lords people have been and may be in this very condition Noah foulely overcome with wine yet commended by God himself to be a righteous man Sampson intangled in the love of one Harlot after another yet numbred among those which by faith obtained a good report David deeply implunged into those two gross sinnes Adultery and murder and abiding under the guilt of them a long time yet who among all the Lords Worthies registred in Scripture was comparable to him There were sacrifices in the Law for sins against knowledge as well as sins of ignorance A man that was grievously infected with the Leprosie Levit. 6.1 2 6 7. Levit. 13. â— 14 4 c. had means of cleansing at hand as well as he that was defiled with ordinary uncleanness The blood of the Redeemer can purge all sorts of sins and therefore the mercy of God doth reach out to pardon all Exod. 34.7 Is thy sin in too great power Remember that Christ crucified is the power of God he will break the head of Leviathan he came to destroy the works of the Devil 1 Joh. 3.8 Hast thou sinned willingly and with delight Jesus Christ delighted to do his Fathers will Ps 40.8 he suffered willingly for thy sin The Lord sometimes gives lust and sin leave to rage and master his servants for a season but it shall not totally prevail Although thy corruptions be as the sons of Zeruiah to David too hard for thee yet if the bent of thy soul bee against them if thou fightest against them with the heart of an enemy thou shalt at last bee conquerour over them through the Cross of Christ See the promise Rom. 6.14 3 The advantage which Justice might get against him by
distinctness to his heart and conscience for doubtless every natural man may say of the Law as the Eunuch of the Text in the Prophecy of Isaiah How can I understand it except some man should guide me Act. 8.31 God sends Moses to conduct the children of Israel towards the Land of Canaan but they must go thorow the wilderness and there the Law must be promulgated in a terrible manner with thundrings and lightnings c. that the fear of the Lord might be before their faces Exod. 20.20 Sinners must come to mount Sinai before they come to mount Sion Jesus Christ himself when he comes with healing in his wings and his heart and mouth full of blessing for sinners yet even then he will send his messenger before his face to prepare the way before him they must remember the Law of Moses in the mean time and before his coming he will send them one to go before him in the spirit and power of Elias c. lest he come and smite the earth with a curse Mal. 4.2 4 5 6. Luke 1.17 So that to shut up this use we must crave your excuse if we harp sometimes on this harsh string for although it be not toothsome physick yet it is wholsome We should be both unfaithfull to our great Master and treacherous to your souls if we should withhold from you this so necessary a part of Gods counsel We were not worthy to be admitted Counsellors at Law if we would not plainly tell our Clients the worst of their causes We know the terrour of the Lord therefore we perswade you by the light of the Law to consider of your misery 2 Cor. 5.11 That speech of the Pharisees is a truth though ill meant and worse applied by them John 7.49 The people which know not the Law are cursed When people cannot endure to hear of their sin and curse by the ministery of the Law it is too probable a sign that they lie fast bound hand and foot under the curse Oh my brethren were it not better to hear the curse ringing aloud in your ears in this world while there is a possibility of escaping it than to feel it lying on your souls and bodies in the full power and fury of it in the world to come when the time of mercy and blessing is expired Oh consider it and the Lord give you understanding Sect. 6. Vse 7 8. 7. SUffer the words of exhortation and give me leave to impart unto you counsel from God Oh that your ears were open and your hearts pliable that this counsel mght be acceptable unto you about a matter of so great importance Let this exhortation run in two streams 1. To all the sons and daughters of Adam you see in what wofull case you stand by the just verdict of the holy Law of God I beseech you weigh it well it s the great curse of Almighty God that you lie under Would you see it yet more clearly in its hideousness then look upon it in all its dimensions for breadth it wraps in all mankind Adam and his whole generation to the last man that shall stand upon the earth and all creatures which serve for his use for length it reacheth to eternity for depth it goes down to hell and there puts forth its greatest mischief for height it gets up to heaven and inâ—ects it the moon and stars are not pure in his sight Job 25.5 Review the sad effects and strange properties before mentioned and then tell me are you now convinced of your misery is it come so near to your consciences that you cannot now shake it off any longer Oh then I intreat you for the love of your souls get from under it how dare ye abide in this condition how can ye eat or drink or sleep with such a massie weighty curse lying upon your souls Say Oh wretch that I am I was born at first to blessedness but I am now implunged into a most wofull curse and shall I lie still under it and not go about to recover my first estate Oh no haste away and escape for thy life the longer thou continuest under the curse the more sinfulness and guilt thou contractest and so makest thy self more accursed Deliver thy self betimes how long wilt thou linger in this blacke Sodome 2. To parents and such as have the charge of others alas your children are under the curse of the Law Suppose that some of them were infected with the leprosie pestilence or any contagious disease threatening death or were under any calamity at present which would certainly be their ruine if not timely prevented would ye not use the best means for their help especially if your hearts can tell you that you have had a great hand in bringing them into this danger Oh then if you have the bowels of parents earning in your bellies you will spare no cost nor pains but lay out your selves freely in all ways possible for their seasonable recovery you you have been the immediate instruments of putting them into this lamentable pickle you have begotten and brought them forth and from you they have derived together with their being this dolefull curse and will you suffer them to lie under it still and not put forth your hands to help them out Do ye not tremble to think into what a deep gulf you have implunged them Oh what joy can you have in them in their beauty comeliness towardliness or their sweet natural parts whiles this sad thought is ever and anon coming into your mindes Alas these tender babes these hopefull children are in themselves no better than accursed creatures But we may well mourn over the desperate carelesness of the greatest part of parents and masters which suffer those that are under them to continue in that wofull plight without looking after their recovâ—ry yea give them leave in these licencious days to run up and down from one sect to another and from one wickedness to another and to make themselves still more vile and yet do not restrain them as it is said of Eli 1 Sam. 3.13 And what shall we think of those parents that encourage their children to sinfull ways they may swear scorn at godliness break the Lords day profane his worship neglect yea trample upon his Ordinances and they give them good leave to do so saying in effect to them as Rebecca said to her darling Jacob when she set him on to get the blessing Upon me be thy curse my son Gen. 27.13 While you carry thus towards them I tell you you may bless them morning and evening yet God curseth them Ah cruel father mother master dame you must one day answer for their souls and their blood will be required at your hands You say you love them and would see them do well but I beseech you love them better than thus or you will one day waile and wring your hands to see them irremedilesly miserable 8. This truth being duly
determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God The hands whereby he was taken crucified and slain were wicked hands yet those hands therein did that very thing which the hand and counsel of God determined before to be done Act. 2.23 4.28 Therefore he is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Rev. 13.8 that is 1. In respect of Gods eternal purpose manifested by the promise made in Paradise That the seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 And 2. Of the efficacie of his death upon all the Elect from the beginning of the world although the world was four thousand years old before he was actually slain It is observable that the Scripture ascribes the dispensation of this whole work to God the Father as the first moover and sovereign Manager of it He laid on him our iniquity Isa 53.6 He made him to be sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 He set him forth Rom. 3.25 He sent him Rom. 8.3 Gal. 4.4 It pleased the Lord to bruise him Isa 53.10 The Lord calls on the sword Zach. 13.7 to awake and smite his Shepherd the man that is his fellow he means Jesus Christ God-man who is equal to the Father as God but inferiour to him as man appointed to be the great Shepherd of the sheep the Lords little flock But saith the Lord I will smite the Shepherd Symbol Athanasâ—â— The application of this Prophesie we have Matth. 26.31 2 Christs voluntary condescention thereunto Joh. 14.31 having disavowed Satans power over him he professeth his own willingness and that from a principle of love to do that which his Father had commanded him Compare this with Joh. 10.18 where he saith I lay down my life of my self c. And it will appear that this was his own act to be made a Curse for us in that he did freely and of his own accord submit to his Fathers Commandment touching the laying down of his life God the Father made him perfect by sufferings Heb. 2.10 and he sanctified himself Joh. 17.19 by preparatory sufferings first and then by offering up himself even as the Priests in the Law were first sanctified by the sprinkling of blood upon them and then they offered for the sins of the people Exod. 29.20 21. He gave himself for our sins Gal. 1.4 He made himself of no reputation He took on himself the form of a servant he humbled himself and became obedient c. Phil. 2.7 8. yea although he knew before what was his Fathers will and his own duty yet by the sufferings themselves he learned obedience that is he came experimentally to know as a man what it is to obey and how hard a thing it is for the creature to grapple with the wrath of the Almighty and to submit to the pleasure of his justice in conflicts with the second death Vide Bezam Pareum Gerhardum in Locum Heb. 5.8 His willingness appears further by his setting his face stedfastly to go to Jerusalem when the time of his suffering drew near Luke 9.51 by his taking up Peter very sharply for discouraging and dis-swading him from it Matth. 16.22 23. and by his speech to him at his apprehension when he had cut off the ear of Malchus The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it Joh. 18.11 3 A compact or agreement solemnly made betwixt God and Christ the Mediator which is the result of the two former Gods Commandement and Christs obedience We may present it to our understanding in this form God the Father saith to Christ the Mediator I look upon Adam and his posterity as a degenerate seed a generation of Apostates and back-sliders yea Traitors and Rebels liable to my severest wrath and utterly undone yet I cannot finde in my heart to see them all perish I have determined to shew mercy upon a considerable number of them to save them and bring them to glory If therefore thou wilt undertake for them becoming a Curse in their stead and so making satisfaction to my justice for their sins I will give them unto thee to take care of them and to bring them up to my Kingdome for the manifestation of the glory of my grace Well saith Christ I am content I will do it with all my heart and so the agreement is made This may be gathered from Psal 2.7 8 9. and Psal 40.6 7 8. Christ the Son speaks in both places In the former he publisheth the Decree or Ordinance of heaven touching himself and bringeth in the Father installing him into the Priesthood or office of Mediator for so the Apostle applieth that Text Heb. 5.5 Thou art my Son c. and also avouching this Covenant and agreement in the two main parts of it 1 The Condition which he will have performed on Christs part or what Christ must do He must ask of God that is not onely verbally by prayers and supplications beg mercy pardon righteousness and salvation for poor lost sinners but also really by fulfilling the righteousness of the Law both in doing and suffering and so by his satisfaction and merit purchasing acceptation for them at his hands 2 The Promise which he ingageth to perform on his part or what he will do himself thereupon The Son must ask and the Father will give he will give him the heathen c. that is he shall both be the Lords salvation to the ends of the earth Isa 49. â—6 Mâ—t. 28.18 Phil. 2.10 11. and have all power given him in heaven and earth so that all knees shall bow to him and every tongue shall confess him to be Lord. In the other Text before mentioned Psal 40. Christ declares his compliance to the agreement and his subscribing the Covenant on his part when he came into the world as the Apostle explains it Heb. 10.5 c. Mine ears saith he hast thou digged or pierced Lo I come to do thy will as if he should say Oh Father thou dost ingage me to be thy servant in this great work of saving sinners Lo I come to do the work I here covenant and agree to yeeld up my self to thy disposing and to serve thee for ever It seems to be an allusion to the Masters boaring through the servants ear Exod. 21.6 we have an abridgement of this Agreement Isa 53.10 in both parts Si posuerit sacrificium pro reatu animam suam or Si posuerit sacrificium anima eâ—us 1 On Christs part his soul shall be made an offering for sin 2. On the Fathers part he promiseth that thereupon Christ shall see his seed he shall have a numerous spiritual posterity begetting and bringing many thousands to the obedience of his Father Yea further vers 11. So ample shall be the fruit of his sufferings that he shall be satisfied in seeing the travel of his soul he shall have abundant joy and contentment even in that which hath cost him dearest he shall justifie many poor guilty
must lye by it for ever Let us work this meditation on our hearts for our deeper humiliation 3 It presents unto us the exactness and impartialness of the justice of God against sinners in that he will let the curse fall even on the head of his onely begotten Son if he finde sin upon him Tribulation and anguish must be upon every soul of man that doth evill without respect of persons Rom. 2.9 11. An unquestionable Maxime for we see tribulation and anguish have fallen heavy upon the soul of the Man-Christ though he did no evil himself onely because he was numbred with the Transgressors and bare the sins of many by imputation We may look upon it as a miracle of Justice and stand wondring at the Lords proceedings against Christ how the curse was inflicted on him in all the punishments of it yea the most grievous and piercing that can be imagined If any might have escaped who more likely than the Son of his bosome the Son of his delights but he might not be spared Justice will not suffer it but puts in its plea and saith I expect reparation for the transgression of my righteous Law If therefore Jesus Christ hath undertaken to pay this debt for sinners let him look to it I must and will be satisfied to the uttermost farthing He is willing to be their Surety and to stand in their room let him therefore bear the whole burden I will not acquit him till he hath discharged the whole debt No no his loud crying and tears his bloody and painful sweats his fervent and heaven-piercing prayers his often renewed petitions that this cup might pass away from him not any one of these nor all these could prevail to stay the hand of Divine justice but he must take off this cup of the Curse and drink it even to the bottome Oh that our secure sinners in Sion would weigh these things sadly and take the measure of the Lords severity against sin by his dealing with his own Son and think thus If these things be done in the green tree what shall be done in the dry Luke 23.31 If he was so strict with his Son what will he be to his slave If he dealt so sharply with his darling how will he deal with his enemy If his righteous servant escape thus hardly where shall the ungodly and sinner appear Prov. 11.31 4 It commends unto us the unspeakableness of the love of the Lord Jesus to poor undone sinners Behold here the Son of God the only begotten of the Father who is the image of the invisible God the first-born of every creature the brightness of his Fathers glory and the dearly beloved of his soul who is cloathed with honour and majesty and whom all the Angels worship even he is come down from heaven hath laid aside his Majesty put off the robes of his glory and abased himself to the lower parts of the earth to become not onely a worm and a reproach of men but also a curse for Adam his wretched posterity to take off the curse of the Law from their shoulders and to stand accursed in their stead Listen and hear 〈…〉 Dien Carth. how sweetly he bespeaks the Lord on our behalf Holy Father here is a company of poor miserable debtors very bankrupts wretched malefactors which lye under thy heavy displeasure and are the children of death but I appear here as their Surety I have taken all upon me require no debt inflict no punishment on them put it all on mine accounts I will discharge all their scores I will answer whatsoever can be laid to their charge Oh incomparable love surpassing all that can be found in the creature the highest pitch whereof reacheth but to friends Joh. 15.13 that is to such as are friendly kinde beneficial to us from whom we have received such good turns as do oblige us to a return of thankfulness and yet even this love is very rare To dare to dye for a good man that is a kinde man that hath been good to us is but a peradventure So much doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 import in some places as in Mat. 20.15 Eph. 4.29 Rom. 5.7 But God commends his love to us in that while we were sinners and therefore enemies Christ dyed for us vers 8.10 So then here is unparalleld loving kindness for who would stoop thus low Who would become contemptible yea abominable for others who would bee content to lye under the extremest miseries for enemies traitors and the worst of creatures Who would entertain and imbrace a curse upon any tearms and not rather shun and avoid it yet this hath the Lord Jesus done for us Oh that we had hearts to admire this miracle of mercy Sect. 5. Use 2. Exhortation in two branches SEcondly Hence we may also draw wholesome matter of Exhortation Hath Christ undergone the Curse Was he made a Curse in our stead who lye under the curse of the Law Oh that all the sons and daughters of Adam would take this into their serious thoughts that thereby they may be excited to learn and to practise two very necessary lessons 1 Of wisdome for themselves 2 Of duty to the Lord Jesus 1 Such poor sinners as have been convinced by the former doctrine of their accursed condition should now be wise for themselves even to give free way to him to take the curse from off them that he may bear it and not to take it to themselves Art thou now sensible of thy sinfull condition Dost thou hear the Law cursing thee aloud in thy conscience And dost thou feel the sting and venome of it drinking up thy spirit Then take to thy self the boldness to send it to Christ tell it Jesus Christ hath removed the curse from thee and laid it on his own shoulders Say Indeed I am a great sinner deeply implunged in transgression mine own iniquities have prevailed against me and are gone over my head and therefore the curse doth justly lye upon me and might presse me down into the nethermost hell but the Lord Jesus blessed be his name for ever is become a curse for me he hath born it in my stead it lyes not now on me but on him If thou hast ought to say against me go to him he will answer thee to the full This might be very seasonable if well digested to such convinced humbled sinners as are of so little faith that they dare not reckon of any good by Jesus Christ Oh saith the poor broken soul Wo is me I am undone for I am a vile accursed wretch I hear indeed that the Lord Jesus is becomed a curse for sinners but as for my self I fear the news are too good to be true I cannot be perswaded that he is made a curse for me What the Son of God made a curse for me for such a base sinful worthless creature as I am It is not probable I cannot beleeve it No no I must
money Isa 52.3 Although it cost Jesus Christ the price of blood in an accursed death yet it was according to the riches of Gods grace Eph. 1.7 In regard of Christ our Surety it was not free but dearly bought for as Almighty God the person offended did require satisfaction to be made to Justice so Christ undertaking for us answered his demands accordingly But in all other respects it is free The appointing of such a thing as Redemption for lost sinners the providing of such a Surety to undertake the work the managing of it all along in such a way as it might not faile of its accomplishment the accepting of it when it was done for full satisfaction the particular application of it to the needs of all the Elect all these were acts of free grace and mercy Poor soul the Lord doth not expect the worth of one farthing from thee towards the purchase of thy Redemption Look thou upon it as the meer fruit of rich grace 2 It is full and plenteous Psal 130.7 Jesus Christ hath gone thorough-stitch with it he hath done it to the full for there is no defect or flaw in it at all He doth not work one or some few parts of it making an entrance for us and leaving us to grapple with the rest to bear the heat and burden of the day and to wrastle out as we can but he makes compleat work of it he redeems us from all our iniquities he delivers us out of the hands of all our enemies he takes off from our backs the whole curse and sets us in a state of true freedom Therefore in the bringing of it home to poor sinners they are said to receive abundance of grace Rom. 5.17 1 Tim. 1.14 I grant it is not made out to us at present in all the parts and degrees of it but it shall be entire and perfect in heaven there shall not an hoof be left behinde Take it in the whole from first to last and it is every way plenteous he will save to the uttermost Heb. 7.25 3 It is eternal and without period Heb. 9.12 The liberty whereinto Christ Jesus brings the Elect is permanent it shall never turne into bondage it abides irrevocable and unchangeable to all eternity The Jews which had sold themselves to bee servants were to be set free at the Jubilee yet that Jubilee lasted but for one year therefore the same persons might afterwards become bondmen again but this acceptable year of the Lords Redeemed Isa 61.2 63.4 is an everlasting year it shall never end therefore they shall never be subject to bondage any more When the Lord would comfort the Jews with hopes of a return from Babylon he usually annexeth Evangelical promises respecting the deliverance of poor sinners from the slavery of Satan whereof that captivity was a type some of which promises do plainly express the perpetuity of that spiritual freedome which they shall enjoy Isa 35.10 Isa 51.6 60.19 20. Jer. 31.11 12. 32.39 Ezek. 37.25 26. 39.29 and these shall begin to be fulfilled most visibly at the calling of the Jews 2 Redemption by Christ doth beget and bring with it many rare spiritual benefits It is a rich Mine containing a mass of treasure of unspeakable worth Could we dig into it we might finde variety of the choisest pearls in comparison whereof the most orient pearles that this world can afford are no better than dross What the Lord said once to his Anointed Cyrus a temporal deliverer of his people the same he hath spoken much more to his Anointed Jesus the Churches great Redeemer I will give thee the treasures of darkness the hidden riches of secret places Isa 43.3 These are the unsearchable riches of Christ Suscepit mala nostra ut â—hueret bonasua Aug. Eph. 3.8 The things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard c. 1 Cor. 2.9 He hath taken upon him our evill things that he might bestow upon us his good things That we may rightly understand the nature of these several benefits in reference to the mother-benefit from whence they spring I shall briefly make way to them by these three considerations 1 The Redemption that is in Christ hath in it not onely satisfaction Impunitas pramium but also merit from the former ariseth freedome from deserved punishment from the latter the conferring of everlasting reward Hence it is that some benefits consists in deliverance from evil and others in bestowing of good things 2 As the woful condition of the sons of men through sin is made up of two sorts of evills some referring to what they are in Gods account others to what they are in themselves answerably the condition whereinto Redemption brings them consists of two sorts of benefits 1 Relative importing a change in Gods account of them 2 Real standing in an alteration of qualities in themselves 3 The benefits which flow from Redemption do not immediately follow the sufferings of Christ on the Cross so as thereby and thenceforth to be actually existent and to enure to all the elect but are onely made feasible by them yet so as to be communicated infallibly in due time They are contained in the womb of redemption but yet their several births are according to the time of life I mean they are in it virtually as the fruit in the seed but not actually laid in the bosomes of sinners till redemption it self be applied unto them I may compare the whole fabrick of the salvation of sinners to a mighty tree the root of it is upward in heaven the decree of it election the boil of it is redemption having many spiritual benefits as so many branches growing out of it virtually contained in the boil breaking forth and deriving their several fruits to poor sinners at the time of their conversion These things being premised let us take a view of them as they are scattered here and there in the Scriptures I shall present them in that order which I conceive to be most proper These things being premised let us take a view of them as they are scattered here and there in the Scriptures I shall present them in that order which I conceive to be most proper Falling out with God was the beginning of our Apostasie and Reconciliation is the beginning of our actual recovery 1. Reconciliation This is so near a kin to Redemption that for substance it is the same differing onely in some respects As treason murther or the like crime commited against the Law of the Magistrate doth not onely make the offender liable to the penalty of the Law but also sets them at a distance and provokes the wrath of the Magistrate against him Even so the sin of man did not onely make him a prisoner under the Curse of the Law of God but brought on a wofull enmitie betwixt God and him The Scripture often presents the Lord displeased with sinners and gives all men as they stand
them out of my sight and let them go forth or as Zach. 11.9 I will not feed them that that dyeth let it dye c. So that we may sadly complain and bewail it that our defence is departed from us and we are exposed to all dangers that not only judgements but also mercies may become poysonful and baneful to us But now the Lord Jesus by paying our ransome from the curse hath renewed our interest in the providence of God so that he looks after us and watcheth over us in a special manner for our good It is said of the earthly Canaan that it is a Land which the Lord cared for his eyes were alwayes upon it from the beginning of the year to the end of it Deut. 11.12 It is true much more of the heavenly Canaan the invisible Church whereof that was a type His special providence is at work for the whole and every particular member of it continually Hee will keep his Vineyard of red wine both night and day Isa 27.3 This is the Theme or Argument of the 90. and 121. Psalmes where it is largely handled And the Apostle saith That God is the Saviour of all men specially of them that beleeve 1 Tim. 4.10 This priviledge is very comprehensive and might be inlarged in many particulars We may take a short view of them thus The special providence of God towards the Redeemed is exercised about good and evil 1. About good things It goes before them Psal 5.11.12 103.4 5. compasseth them round and is their rereward The Lord takes care of them and as I may say fore-casts what may be best for them puts them upon honest and warrantable courses in their going out and comming in prospers them in all things they take in hand Psalm 1.3 as Joseph Gen. 39.3.23 and Hâ—zekiah 2 Chron. 31.21 blesseth a little unto them and makes it to go far Psal 37.16 It is our Redeemer Christ that turns our water into wine and multiplies a few loaves and fishes to feed many thousands 2. About evill things by saving them 1. From 2. In 3. Out of evils 1. He saves them from evills The Lord is not onely a Sun to inlighten and to warm us but a Shield to proâ—ect and guard us Psalm 84.11 Hee saveth the poore from the sword c. Job 5.15.19 20. Sometimes hee doth so carefully watch over his people that troubles and dangers do not overtake them the floods of great waters do not come near them Psal 32.6 for he hideth them in the hollow of his hand till the storms be blown over and so they are safe 2. He saves them in evills When afflictions and troubles are upon them He keeps all their bones â— Psal 36.20 Dan. 〈…〉 2â— â— 2â— 23. he bears a part with them Isa 63.9 he sustains and succours them he gives them patience in suffering he strengthens them with heavenly might he conforms them to himself purging out their dross and making them partakers of his holiness yea sometimes he conveyes for them miraculously preserving them safe in the very mouth and midst of mischief as the three Children and Daniel restraining the rage and violence of the creatures even contrary to their natures that they could do them no hurt 3 He saves them out of evills Although in his wise and just counsel he suffers troubles to seize upon them and chastens them with rods yet he hath his times of deliverance here sooner or later The godly injoy many petit partial redemptions in this life before that great day of Redemption come Psal 34.22 He knows how to deliver them 2 Pet. 2.9 Jacob hath his time of trouble but he shall be delivered out of it Jer. 30.7 For the rod of wickedness shall not alwayes rest on their lot Psa 125.3 Yea their death is precious in his sight Psal 116.15 so that even then they have hope And in a word this providence doth so order all things both good and evill that all shall work together for their good Rom. 8.28 All the parcels of this precious priviledge flow from the Redemption which is in Christ Jesus It is prophesied of Christ under the type of Solomon that he shall deliver the needy and redeem their souls Psal 72.12 c. When the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious there shall be a Tabernacle for a shadow and a covert from the storm Isa 42.6 When Christ shall reigne the man shall be as a hiding place from the wind Isa 32 1 2. It is Jacobs Redeemer that will help him Et erit vir sc Christus Rex c. Jun. in Sch. ad loc and be with him in the water and fire Isa 41.14 43.12 God will save Judah by the Lord their God that is by the Messiah to come Hos 1.7 See that special promise Mark 16.18 What say you to this yee ransomed souls your own experience may make out all these things For hath not the Lord made provision for you Psal 94 13. and laded you with benefits even beyond expectation Do yee not see how hee keeps some sad stroaks off from you while some of the Devils slaves are beaten black and blue gives rest to you while the pit is in digging for the wicked bears your hearts up while some of your neighbours sinke under the burden rescues you out of six and seven troubles while they are swallowed up of them you may rejoyce in Benjamins portion The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him c. Deut. 33.12 and say as David The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want Psal 23.1 Thus you have a Septenary of priviledges besides that of benefits which are the peculiar portion of the Lords Redeemed Let our hearts breath out the Psalmists admiration Oh how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee c. Psal 31.19 Sect. 6. Four priviledges more common I Shall add other four which though they be more common and not proper to the elect yet deserve the name of priviledges too 1. Redemption by Christ is the opening of a sluce for the waters of life to run amongst the Gentiles The Prophets are very frequent in holding forth this priviledge that strangers shall come in and submit themselves Psal 18.43 c. all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God Psal 98.2 3. the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord Psal 86.9 Psal 87.4 Isa 65.1 Isa 11.9 waters shall break out in the wilderness c. Isa 35.6 7. and 41.18 19. This was the work of Christ our Redeemer so it was prophesied Gen. 49.10 Shiloh shall come and to him shall be the gathering of the people Psal 22.27 David tells us that all the ends of the earth shall turn to the Lord and that upon this ground because he is King and governour among the nations vers 28. but how comes he to this Soveraigntie it was
the consequent of his great sufferings which are largely described before Isa 52.14 15. the Lords servant shall have his visage marred by a deep humiliation yet he shall sprinkle many nations God gives Christ for a Covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles to bring out the prisoners from the prison Isa 42.6 7. There was a famous prophesie of the shining of great light upon the people that walked in darkness Isa 9.2 this was fulfilled when Christ sojourned in Capernaum Matt. 4.13 14. By the blood of Christ the middle wall of partition being broken down those that were far off are made near Eph. 2.13 14. and so no more strangers but fellow-citizens with the Saints vers 19.20 therefore Christ having said I lay down my life for my sheep presently adds I have other sheep which are not of this fold them also I must bring c. John 10.15.16 This is a great priviledge and so to be accounted The Apostle Paul calls upon us gentiles to glorifie God for his mercy Rom. 15.9 c. for alas what would have becomed of us sinners of the Gentiles if this Redemption had not opened a door of hope we had been left as dead bones altogether helpless and undone for ever 2. It s the foundation of that general Covenant which God is pleased to strike with all those whom he makes willing to come in and to joyn themselves unto him in a visible profession of his name and with their seed both of old among the Jews and now with all nations to whom he sends the Gospel The Apostle Peter presseth the men of Judea and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to a thorough entertaining of Christ by this argument because the promise is general Acts 2.38 39. which implies that Christ crucified is the basis of the Covenant Circumcision was a visible sign of the external Covenant whereby God owned the Jewish nation for his people above all others therefore it s called the Covenant it self Gen. 17.10 11 13. and Baptisme now is a visible sign of it to all those throughout the world which submit to the Gospel Both these institutions have reference to Christ as the inward marrow and substance of them for we are said to be circumcised in Christ and by the circumcision of Christ and to be buried and raised again with him in Baptisme Col. 2.11 12. Assuredly if the Lord Jesus had not undertaken to buy out sinners from the curse by becoming a curse for them there had been no such thing as a Covenant God would never have owned any of the sons of men in order to eternal life no nor so much as have suffered them to be called by his name But now by the work of Redemption all that are retainers to Christ in the visible Church though strangers to the life of grace have some kinde of right to all Church-ordinances Jus ad rem if not in re and are allowed a share in sundrie boons of favour they may get a general acquaintance with Christ and attain to some common graces whereby it may go better with them and they are nearer the kingdome of God than those that are mere strangers Oh take heed of slighting this mercie If the Lord will vouchsafe to own you and your seed in the way of a Covenant thereby making you in some degree capable of the choisest good things even heaven and eternal life you may thank your redeemer for this and if you do not improve it to better proficiency to raise you to an higher forme in his school and kingdome it will make a sad reckoning one day 3. It shall be by the all-sufficient merit and vertue of the grace of redemption that the people of the Jews once the people of God but now rejected and under wrath for their unbelief and hatred against the Lord Jesus shall be called to the knowledge of the truth and obtain mercy and the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in to make up one glorious Church and new Jerusalem There be many excellent promises in the writings of the Prophets which hold forth both these The restauration of the Lords ancient people is plainly foretold in those texts which I have formerly made use of on other occasions Isa 59.20 21. compared with Rom. 11.26 27. The Apostle cleares the meaning of that prophesie and applies it to the calling of the Jews Psal 69.35 36. God will save Zion and will build the Cities of Judah c. Isa 24.22 23. the prisoners shall be visited after many dayes and the Lord of hosts shall raign in mount Zion c. see also Jer. 30.8.9 and 18. Ezek. 20.34 37 40. c. This is lively represented by the resurrection of the drie bones Ezech. 7.31.1.14 The coming in of the Gentiles is spoken of Isa 60.3 4 c. and 66.19 20. c. Rev. 21.10 11 24 c. zach 8.20 c. all this flowes from the Redemption which is in Christ Isa 11.10 11 12. the root of Jess shall stand up for an ensigne both to the Jews and Gentiles Jer. 50.33 34. Israel and Judah are held captives but their Redeemer the Lord of hosts is strong and will thoroughly plead their cause c. Zach. 9 11. it is by the blood of the Churches Covenant that the Lord sends forth her prisoners out of the pit Zach. 10.8 yea the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall look upon him whom they have pierced and mourn for him Mal. 4.2 Zach. 12.10 the white robes of those which came out of great tribulation were washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb Rev. 7.14 which our Brightman referrs to the calling of the Jews Oh how glorious shall those times be when the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold Isa 30.26 and he that is feeble among them shall be as David c. Zach. 12.8 Let us long for this day and have it much on our hearts Pray the Lord to bring again the captivity of his people and to plant them upon their Land to send forth watchmen which may call upon the Shulamite to return Amos 9.14 15. Can. 6.13 and to stirr up remembrancers which may give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth Isa 62.6 7. 4. The overflowings of this glorious work do reach even to the bettering of the whole Creation The whole company of reasonable creatures Angels and Men are the purpose of Jesus Christ he hath bought them into his own hands to be their Lord to possess command and dispose of them at his pleasure He commanded not onely the windes and the Sea and they obeyed him but also the evil Spirits and they owned his authority Matth. 8.27 Luke 4.35 36. He bought even those that denyed him 2 Pet. 2.1 God's patience towards the wicked preservation of them provision for them
lawfull selflove in your breasts if you have not wholy abandoned all compassion of your selves and are become your own enemies be awaked from your sloth and look about you Do you thus requite the Lord Jesus O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy father Rom. 7.9 that hath bought thee Rather let my counsel be acceptable to you in these few particulars 1. Give way to the Light and authority of the Law in the ministry of it to bring thee to a thorough conviction of thy misery and extream need of the help of their Redeemer Think it not sufficient that the Law hath lent thee light enough to say All men are sinners and so to wrappe thy self in gross with them and to be content to be reckoned among them seeing thou canst not avoid it but bring it home to thy conscience believe thy self to be his accursed sinner and say I am the man Imprison not the truth in unrighteousness but let it so overpower thy soul that thou mayest be no longer able to resist it but mayest yield thy self into the arrest of God's justice that the spirit of bondage may cause thee to fear the curse and wrath of God and thou mayest lie slain Deut. 32.6 and dead in thy self utterly unable to recover thy self and therefore helpless and hopeless as to thy self or any thing in the world Let the Law have its free course to work thee into this frame When the Lord meane's to apply the ransome to a poor sinner for his deliverance from the pit he first open's his ears and scale's his instruction that he may hide pride from him Job 33 17.-24 If thou be wise thou wilt meet the Lord in this way though it be unpleasant yet it is profitable But if thou either continuest dead and blockish under the discoveries of the Law or favourest thy self in thy sloth and ease or liftest thy crests in confidence of the safety of thy condition there is no hope for the present of any saving good towards thee And yet alas how is the Spirit of the Law straitened in these sad times Our people will not suffer it to come near them much less to master them If any thing be offered them in way of conviction they either drown it in their cups or sing it away in merry Jiggs or laugh it out of countenance or at the best suffer it to wear off and to die in their hands But in the fear of God beware of these things I tell thee thou mayest be quite dismounted and cast down at the Lords feet All wayes must be block'd up whereby the carnal heart may take occasion to nourish hope of escaping out of this prison 2. Being at this loss advisedly resolve not to abide in this condition but to make hast out of it Say to thy self O my soul Where in what case art thou It 's no tarrying here It 's too hot to be under the curse in the flames of hell Who can dwell with the devouring fire with everlasting burnings Isa 33.14 Search enquire ask counsel Go to the ministers of Christ and say unto them as these Acts 2.37 Men and brethren what shall we do and the Jaylour Acts 16.30 Sirs what must I do to be saved They are the messengers of the Lord of hosts their lips should preserve knowledge and you must seek the law at their mouths Mal. 2.7 Their office is to publish this ransome and to declare unto the humbled sinner his righteousness in pronouncing him delivered by virtue of that Ransome Job 33.23 24. But oh alas if there be a Minister in the Town an Interpreter one that is willing according to the measure of the gift bestowed on him to reveal the counsel of God to poor sinners how long may he sit at home before any of his neighbours will knock at the door to tell him that they are wretched prisoners under the Curse and know not how to get out yea although he be accounted one of a thousand scarcely four persons in a whole twelve-moneth will come to him travelling under their burthen and propounding such questions as these Oh how shall I get from the Curse of the Law who shall draw me out of this woful dungeon wherein I ly Truly this speaks sad things to such a people and testifies against them that they are seared in their consciences and sealed up unto condemnation 3. Fall down before the glorious Majestie of the great Lawgiver the Lord of heaven and earth as forlorne prisoners and condemned Slaves Spread your case before him by a free and full Confession ripp up the bowels of that darkness and death that sinkhole of hell that lies in your souls Tell him in what a desperate state thou art deal plainly seriously and sincerely leave no covert or shelter or figg-leaf to hide thy self under but lay thy soul bare and naked before him Let thy Laughter be turned into mourning James 4.9 and in the sence of thine undone condition crie mightily as the prisoner at the barre for mercy and deliverance Ionah 3.9 who can tell but that the Lord will returne and have compassion on thee that thou perish not in the hands of the Curse When Saul was stricken down to the earth by a light and voice from heaven and stood before the Lord trembling and astonished he forthwith falls to this work Lord saith he What wilt thou have me to do as if he should say Lord thou hast overcome I must yield what shall I do in this exigent If thou wilt shew me thy minde and the way which I should go Lo I am here willing to obey Acts 9.3 4 c. and the Lord speaking of him to Ananias mentions it as a thing very remarkable even with a starre in the forehead Behold See Iob 3â— 26 he prayeth verse 11. And certainly If the Spirit of bondage hath brought the Curse close home to thy soul and caused it to sting thee to the purpose thou wilt not be restrained but thy chamber and closet and every corner where thou canst have Libertie to disburden thy self will be witnesses of thy complaints and petitions and thou wilt let the Lord see that thou art in good earnest But wo is me while our people continue so sottish and prophane and their hearts so unaffected with their misery that they cannot bow nor bend they have neither expressions nor affections of prayer it is no marvel if the grace of Redemption lie altogether neglected Restraint of prayer argues security Iob 15.4 If the bankrupt debtor be so stout and stiff that he will not fall down and beseech his Creditor to have patience and compassion on him he may lie by it who can pittie him 4. In the mean time take notice that there is a Ransome paid for sinners by Jesus Christ that he hath taken upon him the Curse to buy them out from it Take it for granted and write upon it as unquestionable that redemption is feasable
so that there is hope that even thou mayest be actually delivered out of this wofull prison Labour to understand the nature of this mystery be perswaded of the realness of it get thy soul bottomed on the certainty of this main Gospel-truth work on thy heart the consideration of the necessity of it in reference to thine own state Study it and dwel upon it in thy most serious thoughts that thy heart may be duly affected with it as a thing most nearly concerning thine own particular But alas our people although they hear this Doctrine frequently yet either they are as the horse and mule without understanding or they hear it as a common story deserving onely some weak confused assent or they look upon it as an ordinary mercie or as drie Manna never so much as going about to ponder the personal importance of it but busying themselves about and enslaving themselves unto the profits and pleasures and poor contentments of the world so that they have neither minde nor leasure to think of saving their soules from the stroke of God's curse It cannot be expected that these persons continuing such should ever attain to an actual interest in this benefit they forsake their own mercie by observing lying vanities Jon. 2.8 and judge themselves unworthy of everlasting life Acts 13.46 5. But then take this along with you and be it known unto you all that the Lord hath measured out and appointed a way wherein you must go if ever you will come to this city of Refuge Reckon not on actual Redemption meerly upon this score because Christ hath taken upon him the Curse and thereby satisfied the justice of the Law God hath as well fixed the means as the End He hath prescribed something in the nature of a condition Cum unusquisque actui ex sua voluntate pendenti legem possit imponere c. Grotius de Satisfac cap. 6. to be performed on our part yet by his strength in order to the obtaining of a real interest in this benefit In every act which depends upon a mans will and pleasure to do it or not to do it he hath liberty to set down his own termes as that the effect or fruit of it shall enure either absolutely or under a condition As in case I am willing to be at cost for the ransoming of a slave out of Turkie I may lawfully impose upon him some honest reasonable conditions whereunto if he do not submit he shall have no benefit by the ransome If this may be allowed to a man whose breath is in his nostrils how much more to God the great Monarch and Governour of the world Although he was very well satisfied with the price which Christ paid as being fully satisfactory to his justice Yet it was not the minde either of the Father or the Sonne that any sinner should actually be discharged forthwith upon the payment of the price but onely upon a condition of something in himself which may be a ground of a personal title thereunto Suppose the Prince or state should accept of the satisfaction given by another be it his eldest Son for the crimes of certain prisoners resolving that their release should become actual onely upon some conditions to be performed by themselves although not by their one power should any of them under pretence of this satisfaction take it ill that they are not forthwith set at liberty and thereupon offer to make an escape may not this be justly interpreted a breach of prison may not they expect to hear some say Stay friends you make too much haste there goes too words to a bargain Look to your task do that which you are enjoyned and the prison doores will instantly flie open else you must be fetch'd back again and your bonds made more strong Even so if you will snatch at this freedome assoon as ever you heâ—r that the price is paid creeping out at the window and not going forth by the door you will finde at length that you are wretched Bondmen still if you will take possession by leaping over the hedge and not by the way of Liverie Rom. 10.3 Luke 13.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ejected out of illegal possession If not from eternity or before they were borne and Seisin you must be cast out as Intruders and Usurpers Yet alas this is a very common but a dangerous Solaecisme in Christianitie which is rendred more plausible by the late Antinomian doctrine of the actual acquittance of all the Elect at and from the very time of Christ's sufferings Men hear the report of the Redemption of the world by Christ and they presumptuously claim a part in it at the first news not regarding the termes upon which it must become theirs if ever they enjoy it If a Minister go to a careless sinner lying on the bed of languishing and present unto him his sinne and the Curse that he may see his danger and look out for the remedie he will confidently avouch that Christ hath shed his blood for him and will save him he never fears it and yet this man hath all his life time rejected the counsel of God against himself concerning the way to get a particular interest therein Alas poor soul this confidence is nothing else but a pleasant dream and there will be a sad awaking at last when thou hast cheated thy self into everlasting chains Sect. 2. The way to get an actual Interest in Redemption BUt what is that way or mean which God hath fixed as a kinde of condition of the sinners actual interest in this grace of Redemption I Answer 1. The proper and most principal mean is faith in the Lord Jesus The Scripture layes the stress of this business mainly upon Faith As Christ is the way to the Father John 14.6 so Faith is the way to Christ therefore it is called the faith which is into Christ Acts 26.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uâ—tâ— me So 2 Tim. 2.15 by which sinners receive forgiveness and an inheritance and it is described to be a comming unto Christ John 6.39 God hath set him forth to be a propitiation and he becomes such actually to me through Faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 This is as an hand created in the soule by the Spirit of God to receive and take home Jesus Crist the Redeemer with all his benefits unto eternal life It is when a sinner sensible of his sinne and the curse and so lost in himself renounceth his own righteousness and all creature-helps and betakes himself to Jesus Christ alone accepting him as he is offered in the Gospel that is both to be his Saviour and his Lord both to rest upon him for righteousness and salvation an to resigne himself up to his Government in subjection to his Lawes This is the Faith of the Gospel which as it hath a special aptness in that it acts as the eye sees Non extramittendo sed intramittendo to be a mean of
basely unthankful to the Lord Jesus Hath he laid aside his majestie and descended into the lower parts of the earth yielding himself a prisoner to the Curse of the Law and all that he might rescue thee from it and make thee a freeman of heaven Hath he purchased thy ransome with so great a summe and made so hard an adventure to hale thee out of hell Hath he brought thy deliverance even to the very nick of enjoyment and now is readie to lay it in thy lappe and to thrust it into thy bosome and dost thou shrink back from the gift wilt thou render all this coste and labour of love to be as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again Oh! do not requite him so badly There be some that draw back and that threaten's their perdition and there be some few that believe and this tends to the salvation of their soules Heb. 10.39 Now consider whether of these two companies is the more desirable and betake thy self thereunto without delay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It 's the most commendable Self-love 8. Yea and besides thou art else very injurious to thy self If it might be any gain to thee or at least no loss to be so unthankfull to thy Redeemer and yet this can admit of no excuse something might be spoken towards the extenuation of thy folly but truly thy loss will be invaluable thou foregoest that commodity which can never be recovered and implungest thy self into that mischief which will stick by thee for ever If thou wert floating on the Sea or some deep river in danger of present drowning should any well-willer of thine come and venture his life to save thee if thou shunnest him and refusest his help is not this to destroy thy self But oh thou hast cast thy self headlong into the Sea of God's curse and Jesus Christ hath as it were put his life in his hands that he might fetch thee out If now thou wilt not apply thy self to him but holdest off from him thou perishest through thine own default for there is no salvation in any other Acts 4.12 If thou missest it here thou mayest bid it farewell for ever 9. It is a blessed thing to believe when there is nothing visible to the eye of reason which may give encouragement thereunto but all things speak the contrary this is the excellency of faith it presents things which are not seen and convincingly evidenceth them to the soul They that reach up to this height are pronounced blessed John 20.29 Mary was eminently blessed in bearing Christ and this was an addition to her blessedness that she believed the message of the Angel concerning it though cross to her reason Luke 1.28 42 45. God's appearances are sometimes dark he threatens to condemne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11 â— when he mean's to save he rejects when he will embrace as the woman of Canaan to whom he gave sundrie sad repulses and yet both entertained her and highly commended her faith Matth. 15.28 The tender Mother doth sometimes set her self out of her childes sight yet even then her eye is upon it she takes care of it and it is then safest when it apprehends danger neerest Thus doth the Lord deal with thee therefore now stirre up thy self to trust in his name There is a choice promise Isa 41.17 If thou seekest water and findest none and thy tongue faileth for thirst yet then the Lord will hear thee and not forsake thee Every word hath weight and sweetness Take hold upon it and let it not go 10. Consider that thousands of poor captive souls have gone this way and have sped well When David said he was cut off and gave himself for lost he did but cry and the Lord heard him Psal 31.22 The Psalmist sighing out of the depths hoped in the word waited on God and at length was able to say out of his own experience With the Lord is mercy and plenteous redemption Psal 130.1.5 7. The Jaylour comes trembling to Paul and Silas and being exhorted to beleeve on Christ he followes their counsel and rejoyceth Act. 16 29.-34 This use we may make of the Parable of the Prodigal when he comes to himself and resolves to return his Father meets him falls on his neck kisseth him puts on him the best Robe with a ring on his hand and shooes on his feet and kills for him the fatted Calf which holds forth Gods wonderful graciousness to impoverished sinners that return to him by faith and repentance Luke 15.20 c. and the Publican in sense of unworthiness crying to God for mercy goes away justified rather than the Pharisee Luke 18.13 14. But especially look upon the example of Saul who is after called Paul the Lord meeting him on the rode as he was posting to persecute the Saints having convinced him of his sin sends him to Aâ—anias by whose Ministry hee is brought to imbrace Christ and to preach him zealously Act. 9.6 17 20. and herein he is set forth for a patterne to others in time to come that they might be encouraged to beleeve 1 Tim. 1.15 16. Do thou so too and expect the same success Thus the Lord speaks to thee O desolate soul as Laban to Abrahams servant Gen. 24.31 Come in thou blessed of the Lord wherefore standest thou without as a meer stranger to mee and to the grace of Redemption my Sonnes satisfaction by his bearing thy curse hath made room for thee in mine house and he hath provided for thee all spiritual accommodations to make thee happy I am loath to leave thee till thou art perswaded therefore I shall adde one thing more Thou sayest I do not I cannot beleeve But what if I make it appear that thou dost beleeve even now when thou verily thinkest thou dost not Observe then the very stress of faith lyes in the wills hearty consenting to the offer of Christ in the Gospel Thou art a wretched sinner accursed by the sentence of the Law utterly unable to help thy self Thou hearest the good news of Redemption by Jesus Christ The Lord invites thee and saith If thou wilt renounce all confidence in thy self and the creature and unfainedly accept of Christ alone for thy Redeemer to save thee and thy Lord to sanctifie and rule thee he shall both free thee from the curse and bring thee to the Kingdome of glory See here he is for thee Art thou willing to have him Thou sayest yea with all my heart if I might And is it even so with thee thou canst not deny it else what mean those breathings and groanings towards him in prayer those solicitous inquiries and searchings after him in addresses to Gods Ministers Oh where shall I finde Jesus Christ Whither is he turned aside When will he own me That restlesness of thy spirit that thou canst not be satisfied without him These are plain demonstrations that he hath thy heart and that the strength of thy
magnanima satis est prostrasse Leoni than the dearest mother can be over her childe The lyon of the Tribe of Judah will not hurt that soul which lies prostrate before him 2. It is a special clause in the Mediatours Commission that he should proclaim Liberty to the Captives Isa 61.1 God the Father saith to him Lo I give thee for a Covenant of the people that thou mayest say to the prisoners Go forth Isa 49.8 9. Be sure thou take special care of poor sensible sinners pour oyl into their woundes and give them beauty for ashes Cherish those distressed soules which lie sighing and sobbing under the burthen of their bolts and fetters those that are lost in themselves and come running to thee like the chased Hart panting after the water-brooks and cannot be satisfied without thee Dost thou think that Jesus Christ will not execute his Commission to the full 3. The termes on which thou mayest actually enjoy Christ and Redemption are very fair being both reasonable and easie 1. What can be more reasonable then that the poor slave should in the sence of his undone condition heartily own him for his onely Redeemer who hath both paid his ransome and fetch him out of prison and what is faith but the lost sinner's acknowledging and accepting of Jesus Christ for his All in all 2. What can be more easie than to do a work the stress whereof lies upon another hand not on thine It 's true of thy self thou art no more able to believe than to keep the whole Law for the dead man can stirre his right hand no more then his left but the Gospel or Covenant of grace affords strength to believe whereas the Law or Covenant of works affords none at all to obey Ier. 31.37 Heb. 8.6 â— 10. Therefore Christ tells them His yoke is easie and his burthen light in opposition to those Law-burthens which the Pharisees imposed and call's them to come to him upon that account Matth. 11.28 c. Thus Christ makes believing an easie work to a self-denying soul Even as it is easie for one that knowes not how to fashion a Letter to write a word or a sentence legibly if he will wholly refigne his hand up to be holden moved guided and carried on by the hand of a cunning Writer throughout I may now say to thee poor captive soule as the servants said to Naaman If the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldst thou not have done it how much more c. 2 Kin. 5.13 So here If the Lord did enjoyn thee some difficult exploit or some desperate adventure as the condition of thy salvation would'st thou not have put forth thy self to the furthest how much more when he saith Believe and be saved 4. Faith layes a kinde of engagement on Jesus Christ to relieve a soul in extremitie When a poor creature lies succourless if he can now advisedly look after him and cast his burthen upon him this doth after a sort oblige him to come in with succour An honest man will the rather do his neighbour a pleasure if he see Psal 55.22 Donabile tuum quod tibi dari desideras Buxtorf Io. 6.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he depends upon him A mercifull man will make this an Argument why he must do this or that for a poor man Oh saith he the man put 's confidence in me it 's a matter of weight if I fail him he may be undone so Christ takes himself bound to help thee if thou wilt come and commit thy way to him Otherwise Christ lookes down from heaven upon thee and saith There goes a wretched sinner that would gladly be delivered from the Curse and saved but alas he is not capable of help for he dares not trust me hâ— will not come at me The poor servant mâ— have his wages paid because he set's his heart upon it Deut. 24.15 and if thou settest thine heart upon Christ and his satisfaction he will render unto thee thy righteousness If the ship of thy soul be covered with waves through sence of sin and wrath and Christ be asleep thou hast no way but to jogge him by the hand of faith and to awake him as the disciples did Mat. 8.24 c. and if thus thou doest he will turn the storme into a calme Yea if he see thee but offering to come to him by faith and thou art begining to sink by reason of the weakness of it yet if thou canst but sigh towards him he will stretch forth his hand and save thee as he did Peter Matth. 14.29 c. 5. I know thou art vile in thine own eyes thou art willing to be abased even unto the dust thou thinkest thou canst not cast down thy self low enough Well friend this is the right way to self-abasement If thou wilt not come to Jesus Christ till thou canst bring something with thee which may commend thee to him or till thou canst get into a more pleasing posture thou takest the course to raise up thine own Crests and to glory in thy self But if thou wilt denie thy self in the thoughts of unworthiness as well as worthiness and without further disputing put thy self wholly upon his grace and strength for thy deliverance this is the way to a more kindely abasement than any Legal humiliatiâ—â— can possibly work For while thou standest 〈◊〉 from Christ thou wilt flie from God and thy heart will be hardened against him But if thou canst but touch the hemme of his garment thou shalt come in due time to know that in thy self which will lay thee humbly at his feet and melt thy soul in the bosome of his love See the example of the woman labouring long under her bloodie Issue and the manner of her cure Mark 5.26 c. 6. I know thou wouldst advance Jesus Christ thou wouldst give him all the honour thou possibly canst thou wouldst make his praise glorious Well if thou wilt break through all difficulties and heartily accept the offer of deliverance through him alone this is the way to exalt him this is his Crown and his glory It may be thou canst say Let God have his glory whatever become of me Why if thou wilt now come to him in the sorrowfull sence of thy wofull bondage and lay the whole stress of thy soul-affairs upon him thou shalt see that he will work out his own glory by thy salvation Thy Designe is to set up his glory by lying down in thy sorrow as altogether helpless and pining away in discontent but that will not do it thou canst not honour him in thy condition wherein thou art by any other way than by believing It is by trusting in Christ That poor sinners come to the praise of his glory Eph. 1.12 This is the best part of thy thankfulness 7. If thou wilt still hold off from embraceing this free mercy then thou addest one sinne to another even ingratitude to unbelief thou art