will turn away his anger from thee and behold thee with a smiling countenance thou being in Christ and Christ in thee and God being well pleased with his Sonne must needs bee well pleased with thee too great is your benefit by having an interest in Christ I may say in this case what Elisha the Prophet said to King Jeroboam 2 King 3. 14. Verily sayes hee were it not that I regard the person of Jehosaphat King of Judah I would not looke toward thee nor see thee just so does God say to us were it not for my Sonne Jesus Christ you should never see my face nor have a good look from me 6. If thou hast a real interest in Christ then this is another part of thy comfort that God the Father doth as truly accept of thee in his Sonne as if thou hadst in thine own person done and suffered what Christ did this is a great benefit God accepts of what Christ hath done for us as if we had none it our selves as in Ephes 1. 6. Hee hath made us accepted in the beloved that is in Christ God lookes upon thee in Christ and accepts of all thy duties and performances as well as if thou hadst prayed as well as ever Christ prayed and done and suffered as much as ever Christ did 7. Art thou now in Christ well take this for thy comfort thou maist be confidently assured that thou shalt bee one day with Christ This is the last consolation and I shall give you a pregnant text to prove it though it be not so well understood in the common reading of it as it should bee Rom. 8. 10. sayes the Apostle if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sinne but the Spirit is life because of righteousnesse What is the meaning of this the body is dead because of sinne the meaning is not that the body does mortifie sin but the body is dead because of sin that is sin shall bring your bodies to the grave but your spirits shall live because of righteousnesse that is the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ through the righteousnesse of Christ your souls shall live for ever in glory with Christ though your bodies die and sin bring them to the grave yet the killing of your bodies shall but make way for the living of your spirits being in Christ here you shall for ever live with Christ in glory hereafter the death of your bodies shall but give you an entrance into Glory and therefore why should death be grievous to those that are in Christ Jesus for death is but as it were the marriage day wherein Christ and their soules shall bee united together if Christ bee in you your bodies shall die because of sin but your spirits shall live because of righteousnesse You have another pertinent place to prove this in Joh. 17. 23 24. sayes Christ there I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me and Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me Some conceive that this prayer of Christ was made onely for the Apostles that they might be where Christ was in heaven but if you marke the precedent words you shall find that it was for all Beleevers for saies Christ himself neither pray I for these alone but for all those that shall beleeve in my Name to the end of the world Great is your comfort in having an interest in Christ here you shall one day reign with him for ever in Glory Thus I have done with these seven consolations to those that have a real and well grounded interest in Christ I have onely now a word or two by way of Use to apply and set home what I have said concerning this particular Use Here you see what unspeakable comforts redound to you that have an interest in Christ you have all things though you have nothing Christ is yours and all that Christ hath is yours and all that you have is Christs Christ sweetens all afflictions and crosses to you and the having of Christ represents God the Father to you not with terrour and dread but with goodnesse and meeknesse and loving-kindnesse and mercy and long-suffering and through Christ God doth as freely accept of you and of what you doe as if it were done as well as ever Christ did it and being in Christ here you shall for ever live with Christ in glory hereafter Oh how should all these mercies and priviledges stir up all those that have yet no part in Christ never to give rest to their eyes nor slumber to their eye-lids till they have gotten an interest in him SERMON VI. EPHES. 2. 12. That at that time ye were without Christ LEst any of you that hear mee this day should lie under a spirit of delusion and think that all that I have said touching the happinesse of those that have an interest in Christ belongs to them when it doth not I shall therefore spend this houre in shewing you some characters whereby you may know whether you have a real interest in Christ or no this is the needfullest point that ever in my life I prest upon you and the Lord give you grace to lay these characters close to your own hearts and by them seriously to examine your own souls whether you have a reall interest in Christ or no but before I give you these characters give me leave by the way to premise these three or four Cautions or cautelary conclusions which will the better make way to the handling the point in hand Caution 1 1. Take this caution that men may be strongly conceited and opinionated that they have an interest in Christ when they have not I shall give you a plain text for this in 2 Cor. 10. 7. Doe you look on things after the outward appearance sayes the Apostle if any man trust to himself that hee is Christs let him of himself think this again that as he is Christs even so are we Christs This is a very notable place there were some among the Corinthians that were strongly conceited they did belong to Christ when they did not and had an ill opinion of the Apostles and thought they did not belong to Christ and to such as these the Apostle Paul here speaks men may be strongly conceited they have an interest in Christ when there is no such matter as it was with the Church of Laodioea in Rev. 3. 17. Thou sayest I am rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blinde and naked 2. Another cautelary conclusion I would have you take notice of is this that in laying down the characters of a man that hath an interest in Christ I do not
by meaning and purposing to be rich but by labouring and endeavouring after it so no man ever went to heaven by good meanings without good actions accompanying them 2. But say they we do no body any harm but pay every man his own Ans 1. Though you pay every man his own yet do you give God his own or rather do you not wrong God and do him infinite indignities 2. Though you do not do man wrong yet doe you not your own souls wrong as we use to say of free-hearted men they are enemies to no man but themselves So now do not you doe your own souls wrong by harbouring of bosome lusts and corruptions in your souls What benefit will it be to thee that you do no body else wrong when you doe your own souls wrong you are no better then the Pharisees for they were very exact in giving every man his due the proud Pharisee could boast in Luk. 18. 11. I am no extortioner nor unjust man you may mean well and give every man his own and yet be a wicked man SERMON XIV EPHES. 2. 12. Having no hope WE come now to the last prop that wicked men doe build their hopes of heaven upon which is this if you beat them off from all the former props from their small sins from the mercies of God in generall from their good duties and good meanings c. then they run to this last plea say they Have not we reason to nourish hopes for heaven for we have been present with dying men that have been as bad as wee in their life time and yet they have had very strong hopes for heaven and strong hopes in God and you know dying men will speak the truth and therefore why may not we nourish hopes for heaven as well as they This is a very strong prop wicked men build their hopes upon but I shall shew you the rottennesse and insufficiency of it in these three or four particulars 1. You must know that it is one thing to die stupidly and another thing to die hopefully and peaceably indeed the worst men in the world may die stupidly their consciences may not doe its office when they die they may have their consciences feared as it were with a hot iron and think they are going to heaven and never think otherwise till they drop down into hell but now the godly they die full of peace and comfort as in Psal 37. 37. Mark the upright man and behold the just for the end of that man is peace but there is no peace saith my God to the wicked Esai 57. 41. There may be a fearednesse of conscience and stupidity of heart but they cannot die peaceably and in hope 2. You that make this a prop for your hope because you have seen wicked men die peaceably like Lambs let me tell you thus much that it is the greatest judgement in the world for a wicked man to die peaceably and quietly in delusions and conceits of going to heaven when they are tumbling down headlong to hell it were better for him that God did let the flashings of hell fire to flie in his face it were better for him that his conscience did tell him his danger and his doom then thus to die in a stupid manner In Job 21. 23. it is said that a wicked man dies in his full strength being wholly at ease and quiet no sin troubles him nor no danger makes him afraid so in Psal 73. 4 5. they have no bands in their death but their strength is firm they are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued as other men they have no trouble in their life time and no bands in their death now this is rather to be looked upon as a judgement upon them and not as a mercy 3. If this peace and quietnesse in a wicked mans conscience did arise from any grounded assurance or hope of heaven then it might be lookt upon as a blessing but when it doth arise meerly from the delusions of his own heart then it is nothing but as it were a golden dore to let him into hell it shall be with him as in Esai 29. 8. An hungry man dreameth and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his soul is empty so a wicked man dreams he is going to heaven when he is falling down into hell 4. There may be great hopes of heaven exprest in a dying mans words when there is not so much peace and quietnesse in his heart as in Prov. 14. 23. In the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowfull In the midst of a wicked mans boasting there is a fear of hel 5. Though you have seen some men that have dyed with stupidity of heart depart quietly yet there are other wicked men whose consciences are awakened that die full of horror and terror and amazement When their consciences tell them they have dyed swearers or lyers or drunkards or adulterers c. they are filled with horror and terror of conscience that though he thought all his life time he should goe to heaven yet he now fears he is going down into hell And thus I have done with the third Question in shewing you the reasons why seeing the Scripture saies that a wicked man hath no hope that of all the men in the world wicked men do nourish greatest hopes for heaven in their hearts there are only two queries more to handle and then come to the fifth branch of mans misery Quest 4 4. The fourth Query in order is this that seeing the Scripture sayes a wicked man hath no hope and esteems of their false and presumptuous hope to be as good as no hope then how shall we know the difference between those well grounded hopes a godly man hath and those presumptuous and deluding hopes wicked men have Answ Ans I shall here give you six apparent differences between them 1. The hopes of a godly and regenerate man for heaven it is gotten by and grounded upon the word of God and therefore it is called the hope of the Gospell because it is gotten by the Gospell as the means and grounded upon the Gospell as the end that we sayes the Apostle through the comfort of the Scriptures might have hope a godly man hath his comforts from the Scriptures Psal 119. 49. Good is the word of the Lord wherein thou hast caused thy servant to hope But now the hopes of wicked men as they are gotten they know not how so neither do they know upon what they are grounded and this is the reason why they are called presumptuous hopes for this is presumption when a man does beleeve a thing when he can have no visible nor likely means to ground or bottome his hopes upon 2. True and patient hope is bottomed upon the mercies of God and the merits of Jesus Christ and hence it is that Christ is called our hope because he is the foundation on
born from the dead not that hee was the first that was raised from the dead howbeit he was the first that arose others were raised by the power of another but Christ arose by his own so he is called 1 Cor. 15 20. The first fruits from the dead as the offering of the first-fruits was a blessing to all the store so Christ dying and rising is a ground of conquest to all the elect Christ before his death had beene combating with the powers of darknesse and all the subordinate instruments Death was Satans beast of prey that was set upon him but our Lord foiled it in its own dungeon the battail between Christ and Death was begun upon the Crosse he grappled with it there and they went tugging and wrestling to the Grave Christ like a prudent warriour carryed the war into his enemies countrey and there got loose of the grasp of Death foiled it in its own territory he arose and left Death gasping behinde him so that the quality of the grave is quite altered before 't was a prison Satans dungeon now 't is a chamber of repose a bed of ease ever since Christ slept there when the Prophet speaketh of Christs resurrection he saith Isa 53. 8. He shall be taken from prison and from judgement by prison meaning the grave but speaking of the death of the faithfull he saith Esai 57. 2. They shall rest in their beds 't was for a while to Christ a prison that to us it might be a bed of ease 2. The next question is how far he hath delivered us from death we see the godly are obnoxious to the changes and decayes of nature yea to the strokes of violence as well as others and how are we delivered I answer 't is enough that the second death hath no power over us Rev. 20. 6. Nothing to do with us Rom. 8. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not one condemnation c. We may dye but we shall not be damned and though we go to the grave yet we are freed from hell But this is not all in the first death beleevers have a priviledge they doe not dye as others doe 1. The habitude and nature of it is changed that which is poenall in death is now gone 't is not a destruction but a delivery beleevers have wrong thoughts of Death we are delivered from it as 't is a punishment and a curse now 't is a blessing one of Christs Legacies of the Church all things are yours Death is yours 1 Cor. 3. 18. while Death was in the Devils hands it was an enemy but 't is made a friend and a blessing in Christ a passage from the vale of tears to the kingdome of glory the end of a mortall life and the beginning of that which is immortall as Haman to Mordecai it intended a mischief but it proved a priviledge to a wicked man it is properly an execution but to the godly a dismission of their souls into the bosome of Christ Luk. 2. 28. Now lettest thou thy servant to depart in peace they quietly send away their souls but a wicked mans soul is taken away t is twice so expressed Luk. 12. 20. This night shall they take away thy soul from thee and Job 27. 8. When God taketh away his soul c. they would fain keep it longer but God taketh it away whether they will or no a godly man resigneth and sendeth away his soul in peace his life cannot be taken away t is only yeelded up upon the call of providence and he dyeth not because he must dye but because he would dye he may dye sooner then he thought but not sooner then he would for when God willeth it he submitteth But to return the blessing of death lieth in 3 things 1. The Funerals of the godly are but the Funerals of their sins and frailties and weaknesses peccatum moritur miseria moritur homo non moritur 't is not the man dyeth but the sin the misery dyeth all other means and dispensations doe but weaken sin but Death destroyeth it when God justifieth the damning power is gone when God sanctifieth the reigning power is gone but when by death we come to be glorified then the very beeing of it is gone when the house was infected with leprosie so as scraping would not serve the turn it was to be digged down we are so infected with sin that all other remedies are too weak nothing but death will serve the turn when Ivy is gotten into a wall it cannot be wholly destroyed till the wall it self be demolished cut off the stump the body the boughes the branches still there are some strings that are ready to sprowt again so t is here originall sin cannot be destroyed the constant groans of the faithfull are Who shall deliver us from this body and masse of sin But now Death is a sudden cure sinne brought in death and as it were in revenge death destroyeth sin 2. There is a way made for a present and compleat Vmon of the soul with Christ Phil. 1. 23. I desire to be dissolved and be with Christ we are loosed from the body and joined to Christ t is better a soul be separated from the body then absent from Christ we have an Union here but not a presence now judge you which is better to be present with the body or to be present with the Lord to have the company of the body or the company of Christ Here the soul is inclosed and imprisoned as it were but there thou hast the free enjoyment of Christ without the clog of an earthly estate the soul as soon as it departs the body goeth immediately to Christ as when Potiphars wife laid hold on Josephs coat he escaped so you leave your upper garment in Deaths hand but the soul flyeth to God the body came from Adam and runneth in a fleshly channell and what we had from Adam must for a while be mouldred to dust to purge it from the impurity of the conveyance but the soul by a naturall right returneth to God that gave it and by a speciall interest to Christ that redeemed and sanctified it by his own spirit 3. The body which seemeth most to suffer hath much advantage a shed is taken down to raise up a better structure 't is sown a naturall body 't is raised a spirituall body c. 1 Cor. 15. 44. here 't is not capable of high injoyments 't is humbled with diseases unfit for duties again it 's sown'd corruptible body 't is raised an incorruptible body here 't is liable to changes there it may live forever without change and decay if we love long life there is eternall life 't is carnall self-love that maketh us willing to abide in the flesh if we did but love our selves but love our own flesh we would not be afraid to dye for to dye is to be perfected to have body and soul free from sin and incorruption 2. The hurt of it is prevented
dying life or a living death but all tears shall be wiped from your eyes death shall be no more and you shall take the harps of God in your hands and in an holy triumph say O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory t is true we may say it yea and sing it now in hope as some birds sing in winter but then we are properly said to triumph Application To apply it now Use 1 1. Here is terrour for wicked men you may think it strange that I should draw terrour out of such a comfortable doctrine but consider Jesus Christ hath conquered death for none but those that have an interest in him others alas are under the full power of it for the present the case of wicked men is sad in death 't will be worse in hell 't will be worst of all 1 'T is sad for the present there is a bondage upon your souls not alwaies felt but soon awakened you cannot think of death and hell without torment the thought of it like Belshazzers hand-writing against the wall smiteth you with trembling in the midst of all your cups and bravery a small thing will awaken a wicked mans conscience the fingers of a mans hand upon the wall Belshazzer seemed a jolly fellow a brave spirit sets light by the Persian forces that were even at his door but God soone taketh off the edge of his bravery and then his joints trembled his knuckles smote one against another for fear if the Lord will but whist to conscience the bravest spirits are soon daunted he needeth arm nothing against you but your own thoughts certainly none but a childe of God can have a true and solid courage against death you cannot suppose it without consternation David said Psal 23. 4. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death yet I will fear no evill that 's a griesly sad dark place to walk in the very borders of death side by side with terrours and destruction yet there David would be confident t is otherwise with wicked men hereafter they would not live and here they would not dye 2. In death it will be worse the nearer you draw to the everlasting estate the more will conscience be opened and scourge you with horrour and remorse I confesse every wicked man doth not dye sensible some are stupid and foolhardy they may sacrifice a stout body to a stubborn minde but at last they dye uncertain doubtfull if not anxious and full of horrour As Adrian to his soul O Animula vagula blandula c. Oh poor soul whither doest thou now goe thou shall never sport it more jest it more Or as he said anxius vixi dubius morior heu quo vado I have lived doubtfully and dye uncertainly alas whither doe I go A man that leapeth in the dark near a deep gulfe knoweth not where his feet shall light and this is the case of wicked men But this is not all usually their death is full of terrour things written with the juice of a Lemmon when they are brought to the fire are plain and legible so when wicked men are within the stench and smell of hell they howl upon their beds few or none are able to look death in the face with confidence Oh consider when you come to dye sin stareth in the face of conscience and conscience remitteth you to the law and the law bindeth you over to hell and hell enlargeth her mouth to receive you what will you doe in such a case Satan insulteth your old tempter is become your new accuser nay you are at oddes with your self the body curseth the soul for an ill guide and the soul curseth the body for a wicked instrument 't is a sad parting when they can never expect to meet again but in flames and torments and therefore curse the memory of that day when ever they were joyned together A godly man can take fair leave of his body Farewell flesh goe rest in hope thou shalt one day awake out of the dust and then I shall be satisfied with Gods likenesse I have a longing desire of thy reunion we have lived together and glorified God together thus long God will not suffer thee to see corruption c. 3 In Hell t will be worst of all envie will be a part of your torment as well as despair Luk. 16. 23. 't is said of the rich man in hell he lifted up his eyes and seeth Lazarus in Abrahams bosome and saith I am tormented in this flame 't will be an additionall torment to compare the beleevers eternall happinesse with your own misery they are in the presence of God and his holy Angels you have no company but the devill death hell and the damned and are holden under the power of everlasting torments you would not live and cannot dye when you have run through many thousands of years you cannot look for one minute of rest conscience gnaweth more and more you burn but consume not Oh! t is a dreadfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God mark that attribute living God we do not speak in the name of an Idol that cannot avenge his quarrell upon you or of a God that shall dye and suffer decay but in the name of a living God that liveth for ever to see vengeance executed upon his adversaries there is no hope of release as long as God is God Hell is Hell Use 2 2. It serveth to exhort us all to get an interest in this conquest of Christ every one is not fit to make use of Christs victory over death there are many things necessary to injoy the full comfort of it I shall name them 1. A care to get sinne pardoned all the power of the devill and death hangeth on sin therefore see sinne buryed ere thou art buryed or it will not be well with thee there are two deep pits wherein you may bury your sins and you shall never hear of them any more the Ocean of divine mercy and the Grave of Christ see them buryed in the Ocean of mercy Mich. 7. 18. Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea there is depth enough to bury them and drown them that they may no more come into remembrance then there is the Grave of Christ the merit of Christ is a deep grave deep enough wherein to bury all the sins of the world buryed with him in Baptisme Rom. 6. 3. Otherwise if this be not done you will desire to be buryed eternally and never to rise more Let me use one metaphor more in this matter and it shall take its rise from that expression of the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 3. we shall be cloathed upon saith he if so be that we shall be not found altogether naked t is the great fault of Christians when they come to die they are to seek of a shrowd and are found altogether naked 't is uncomely to see a man
and thy mother an Hittite and as for thy Nativity in the day that thou wast born thy Navill was not cut neither wert thou washed in water to supple thee no eye pitied thee to do any of these unto thee but thou wert cast out into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born that thou maist remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done saith the Lord They must remember their guilt and their shame when God is pacified towards them and when God is reconciled to them and so you have another place for the same purpose in Ezek. 20. 43. And there shall you remember your wayes and your doings wherein you have been defiled and you shal loath your selves in your sight for al the evil that you have committed I remember what Plutarch relates of one Agathocles who was advanced from a potters son a low mean and contemptible condition to be King of Sicilie this man when he might have been served every day in golden dishes yet he would stil have his provisions brought in earthen dishes because sayes he I may remember what I was and what I am a potters son that so I may not be too much lifted up and exalted why so do you remember what you were your Father a potter and you a poor miserable sinfull creature and this will abate the pride of your hearts Reas 5 5. And lastly God wil have us cal to minde our former sinfulnesse because this wil make us more watchful and circumspect that we do not run again into those sins that we were guilty of before conversion God would not have us do it to drive us into despair or to question our evidences for heaven but to make us humble and watchful that we run not again into the same sins Thou maist thus think with thy self Before conversion I spent my dayes in sin and wickednesse and consumed my years in vanity and pleasures in fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and of the mind and the consideration of this will lay an engagement upon thy soul to walk more carefully and prudently and holily in time to come this the Apostle makes use of in Ephes 5. 8. You were sometimes darknesse saith he but now are you light in the Lord walk therefore as children of the light we should now hate and abhorre those sins that formerly we have delighted in Use These are the reasons of the point I shal only make one short use of it which shal be of reprehension to those that notwithstanding it is the will of God that men after conversion should cal to minde the sin they were guilty of before conversion do yet crosse this doctrine either in their judgement or practice 1. This reproves those that do contradict this Doctrine in their judgement and think that when once they are converted they must never look back upon their former wretchednesse but only now live in Divine raptures and revelations and spirituall joyes and comforts for 1. If Pauls precept be warrantable then this opinion is unwarrantable for he tels us that we must remember what we were in our unconverted estate that we were at that time without Christ and without hope and without God in the World 2. Paul tels the Ephesians that were an elected people who were elected before the beginning of the world that they must remember that they were dead in trespasses and sinnes heretofore though now they were quickened and if Paul bids them call to minde their former sinfulnesse then why should not we do it 2. This reproves those that though they do not deny this Doctrine in judgement yet do not make it their practise to call to minde their former sins that they were guilty of before conversion I dare warrant that many of you can remember what you have done and what debts have been owing you twenty years agoe but yet cannot cal to minde what sins you have committed 20. yeares agoe it may be some of you have been cheaters and swearers adulterers and prophaners and yet now you never think of it but imagine all is well I doe not know how to expresse what sad dismall and deplorable condition thy poor soul is in thou that dost never call to mind thy former sins But thus much shall suffice for this first Doctrine SERMON II. EPHES. 2. 12. That at that time ye were without Christ WE come now to the body and bulk of the words That at that time ye were without Christ from whence note Doctr. That every man during the time of his unregeneracy is in a condition without Jesus Christ My Beloved if I should tell you now that when you come home you should have never a bit of bread to put in your mouths that all your subsistence and livelihood should be taken away that you should be heirs of never a foot of Land and that you should have nothing at all to live upon you would count this a hard case but I tel you my Brethren that to be without Jesus Christ is a far worse case it is the saddest and miserablest thing in the world to be without Jesus Christ when I tell you that you are without Christ I tell you the saddest News in the World but before I can bring home this Doctrine to you there is one Objection and one Question that I must spend a little time in answering the Objection is this Object Object How can it be said of these Ephesians here that were elected that before their conversion they were without Jesus Christ for they were chosen of God in Christ before the world was made and therefore how can the Apostle say that when they were born they were without Jesus Christ seeing they were chosen in Christ before the beginning of the world Answ I answer That the same man in a different sense may be said both to be in Christ and out of Christ it is true the Apostle sayes in the first that they were chosen in Christ before the world was 1 If you respect the eternall decree and determination of God so they were in Christ for God did purpose to make Jesus Christ a Mediatour between God and man by whose bloud they should be saved 2 Though they were in Christ in regard of Gods decree yet they were without Christ in regard of the application of the bloud of Christ to their souls for till a man hath Faith he can make no application of the love of God to him for he that hath not the spirit of Christ he is none of his though they were in Christ in regard of the eternall decree of God yet they were without Christ in regard of the actuall application of the love of God to them for they could not apply to their own souls that Christ did love them and own them as his children till they were brought into a
becoms comely through Christs comlinesse that is cast upon him if you want Christ you want your best ornament a man without Christ is like a body full of sores and botches he is like a dark house without light and like a body without a head and such a man must needs be a deformed man 6. Another property of a Christlesse man is that he is a disconsolate man Christ is the only spring of comfort and the fountain of all joy and consolation take away Christ from the Soul and it is all one as if you did take away the Sun from the firmament if a man hath all the blessings in the world yet if he want Christ he wants that which should sweeten all the rest of his comforts In Exod. 15. 23. 25. you read there of the waters of Marah they were so bitter that none could drink of them but then the Lord shewed Moses a tree which when he had cast into the waters the waters were made sweet why Jesus Christ he is this tree that sweetens the bitternesse of any outward affliction and he can make all thy sorrowes to flee away there is nothing in the world that sweetens the comforts and gives us joy in the possession of the things of this world more then the having an interest in Jesus Christ it is not Beloved the having of much of the creature in your house but the having of Christ in your hearts that makes you live comfortably all the bread you eat will be but bread of sorrow if you do not feed upon the body of Jesus Christ and all your drink will be but wine of astonishment if you do not drink of the bloud of Jesus Christ without an interest in Christ al your comforts are but crosses and al your mercies are but miseries as in Job 20. 22. In the fulnesse of his sufficiency he shall be in straits though you have abundance of the things of this life though you have more then enough yet if you have not an interest in Christ you have nothing 7. Another property of a man out of Christ is that he is a dead man You know that common place in 1 Joh. 5. 12. He that hath the Son he hath life and he that hath not the Son he hath not life hence we read in Eph. 2. 1. that unregenerate men are dead in trespasses and sins and the reason is because that Christ is a Beleevers life Col. 3. 3. Our life is hid with Christ in God take away Christ from a man and you take away his life and take away life from a man and he is a dead lump of flesh unregenerate men are termed strangers to the life of godlinesse and therefore must needs be dead in their sins though they do injoy the life of a man yet if the life that he lives be not by the Faith of the Son of God he is spiritually dead As for example you know a dead man he feels nothing do what you will to him he does not feel it so a man that is spiritually dead he does not feel the weight of his sins though they are a heavie burden pressing him down into the pit of Hell he is a stranger to the life of godlinesse and past feeling given over to a reprobate sense so that he feels not the weight and burden of all his sins 2. A dead man he hath a title to nothing here in this life though he were never so rich yet he loseth his title to all and his riches goes from him to another why so being spiritually dead you can lay claim to nothing neither to grace nor mercy heaven or happinesse by Jesus Christ 3. A dead man is still rotting and returning to the dust from whence he came and so a man that is spiritually dead he fals from iniquity to iniquity and from one sinne to another till at last he drops down into Hell fire 8. The last property of a Christlesse man is that he is a damned man if he live and dye without Christ hee is a damned man So Joh. 3. 18. He that beleeveth not he is condemned already he is as surely damn'd as if he were in hell already he that is without Jesus Christ must needs goe without Heaven for Heaven and Glory and happinesse are entailed upon him Heaven is given to none but those that are heirs together with Christ and therefore you that are without Christ must needs be without heaven and consequently without happinesse and salvation and therefore must needs be damn'd So that you see in these eight particular properties in what a sad and miserable condition every Christlesse man is in and oh that what has been now declared concerning the wretchednesse of a Christlesse man might provoke every soul of you to a holy eagernesse and earnestnesse of spirit above all your gettings to labour to get Jesus Christ SERMON III. EPHES. 2. 12. That at that time ye were without Christ WE come now to the 2. Question which I promised you to resolve Quest What are the Characters of a Man without Jesus Christ This Query is very necessary because hereby we may know whether we are the men that are without Jesus Christ or no now I shall reduce these characters of a Christlesse man into these seven heads and go over them very briefly 1. That man that is without the Spirit of Christ he is without any reall actuall interest in Christ this the Apostle layes down to us in so many expresse terms in Rom. 8. 9. If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Christ and the Spirit are inseparable companions have the one and you enjoy the other want the ione and you are without the other And here Beloved to apply this more particularly you are without any interest in Christ if you are without the Spirit of Christ in the threefold operation of it 1. If you are without the enlightning work of the Spirit to teach your minds to know Christ 2. If you are without the inclining work of the Spirit to draw your hearts to love Christ And 3. If you are without the constraniing work of the Spirit to impower your wils to obey Christ If you are thus without the Spirit of Christ in these three particulers you can lay no just claim to any interest in Jesus Christ With what face therefore can any of you lay claim to Christs person that are not guided by his Spirit but are led by the corrupt dictates of your own hearts and follow the desires of the flesh and of the minde you that are thus can lay no claim to Jesus Christ for whosoever hath not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his this is the first character 2. He that is without any saving power derived from Jesus Christ enabling him to mortifie his bosome lusts that man is without Jesus Christ as in Gal. 5. 24. the Apostle tels us there that they that
me ask you this question Did you ever see an absolute necessity in your own souls of getting an interest in Jesus Christ were you ever sensible of the want of Christ and of the worth of Christ of the need you have of Christ and in what a sad and miserable and deplorable and damnable condition you are in without Christ if you are not sensible of this you are to this day without Jesus Christ 4. Let me ask you this question How can you evidence that you have an interest in Christ by your walking what saith the Apostle in 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away and all things are become new are you new creatures are all your old sins passed away the Apostle tels you that they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts why now hast thou killed any lust in thy heart or rather do not every lust reign in thee with as much power as ever they did If it be so then surely you have no interest in Christ at all Use 2 Thus much for the first sort of people those that are plunged into a spirituall delusion we come now to the second sort of people those that are doubting and perplexed souls that say they have not an interest in Christ when they have those which say they are without Christ when indeed they are not as there are many such people in the world now to such as these I have two or three words of consolation 1. Let me speak this for your comfort it is a very ordinary thing with the people of God to passe very hard and uncharitable sentences upon their own souls and to run upon very sad mistakes in reference to their own salvation A childe of God he sees so many lusts in his own heart and so many sins within him that he can scarse have a charitable thought of his own soul as David when he said The Lord had forsaken him and cast him off for ever godly men are very apt to passe very harsh censures upon their own souls 2. Let me tell you this for your comfort you may have Christ and yet not know that you have him it may be with you as it was with Mary Magdalen when she was talking to Christ face to face yet sayes she they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him so you may have an interest in Christ yet not know of it in Joh. 14. 4. Christ told his Disciples there sayes he Whither I go you know and the way you know Thomas saith unto him Lord we know not whither thou goest therefore how can we know the way Now the reason why they did not know as Augustine well observes was because they did not know their own thoughts they thought they did not know but yet Christ he knew that they did know It is with a beleever sometimes as it was with Benjamin the cup was in his sack and yet he did not know of it now Benjamin was the beloved of Joseph so you may be the beloved ones of Christ and yet not know of it 3. To you that think you are without Christ when you are not let me tell thee this for thy comfort though the having of Christ be indispensably necessary for the bringing of our souls to heaven yet the knowing that we have Christ is not so much necessary As it is with a man asleep in a ship the ship may bring him home safe to the harbour and yet he not know of it so Christ may bring us through a sea of boisterous afflictions and temptations to heaven our haven of rest and yet we not know of it till we come there 4. Let me tell you this likewise for your comfort though you do not know that Christ is yours yet Christ doth know that you are his wil you count your child an unhappy childe because he does not know that you are his father 't is no matter though the childe does not know that you are his father so long as you know that he is your childe so it is no great matter though you doe not know that Christ is yours so long as Christ knowes that you are his for the foundation of the Lord standeth sure the Lord knows who are his Thus now beloved I have done with this use that belongs to this examination both for those that say they have Christ when they have not and also for those that say they have not Christ when they have SERMON IV. EPHES. 2. 12. That at that time ye were without Christ I Come now to the 3. Query which I promised to handle which is this to shew the misery and sad condition of a man without an interest in Jesus Christ and oh that I could speak it you hear it with a bleeding heart to see in what a dismall and doleful and deplorable condition every poor soul in the world without Christ is plunged into I shall reduce all that I have to say touching this particular under these two heads to shew you 1. Positively what he undergoes and 2. Privatively what he wants I shall run over them briefly 1. For the Positive part the misery of a man out of Christ lies in these three particulars there are these three great evils that every man out of Jesus Christ lies under 1. A man out of Christ is surrounded and compassed about with misery which way soever he turns himselfe and to illustrate this the more fully I shall heare lay you down 8. particulars wherein a Christlesse man is compassed about with miseries on all sides Thou art surrounded with misery Oh Christlesse man if thou lookest either outward or inward upward or downward forward or backward on thy righthand or on thy left nothing but miseries accompany thee 1. If thou lookest outward all the creatures are armed against thee and hence it is so often exprest in Scripture that the Beast shall be at war with the wicked but at peace with the godly all the creatures are against thee to avenge their Masters quarrell 2. Look within thee and there you shall finde a galling an accusing and a condemning conscience haling thee to the judgement seat and witnessing against thee thy conscience shall be like a thousand witnesses to witnesse against thee and to register and enroll all thy sins till the day of judgement 3. Look upwards into the heavens and there is nothing but an angry God a severe Judge that hath a flame of fire a furbished sword and a sharp arrow and all against thee as in Rom. 1. 18. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse of men that hold the truth in unrighteousnesse 4. If you look downwards there is death ready to receive you which is but as a back-door to let you into hell and if you look lower there is nothing but a dungeon
Christ hath is yours 3. Take this for your comfort that all that you have is Christs I shall sum up all that I have to say concerning this under these three comprehensive particulars 1. Your sinnes are Christs to pardon them and satisfie Gods justice for them 2. Your sufferings are Christs to sanctifie them And 3. Your bodies and soules are Christs to save them 1. You that have an interest in Christ your sins are his to pardon them Esay 53. 6. The Lord hath laid on him the Iniquity of us all the chastisements of our peace were laid upon him and by his stripes we are healed hee bore our sins in his own body on the tree and to this purpose the Apostle hath an expression in 2 Cor. 5. 21. He was made sin for us that we might be the righteousnesse of God in him Christ was no sinner but hee was made a sinner for us he bore our sins upon him our sinnes are Christs to pardon them 2. Our sufferings are Christs sufferings to sanctifie them unto us Act. 9. Christ says to Saul Saul Saul why persecutest thou me hee lookes upon the injuries and wrongs that are done to his people as if they were done to him 3. Your bodies and soules are Christs to save them our members are Members of Christs body as in 1 Cor. 6. 15. says the Apostle shall I take the Members of Christ and make them Members of an harlot God forbid thy bodie is Christs and thy soule is Christs the Apostle hath it in so many expresse tearms in 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. What know you not says the Apostle that your bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have of God and you are not your own for you are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and souls which are his Thus you see what a large field of mercie al you that have an interest in Christ have here to walk in you have all things though you have nothing all things equivalently all things conditionally all things finally and all things inheritively all the Ministers of Christ are yours the whole world is yours life and death is yours things present are yours whether present afflictions or present mercies things to come are yours whether afflictions or temptations or trouble or want or any things and mercie to come is yours as life and Salvation Heaven and Happinesse all is yours all that Christ hath is yours Christs Father is your Father his Spirit is your Spirit his righteousnesse is your righteousnesse his graces are your graces his peace is your peace and his sufferings are your sufferings and all that you have is Christs your sins are Christs to pardon them and your sufferings Christs to sanctifie them and your soules and bodies Christs to save them I might here adde one head more that all your duties and services are Christs too he persumes them with the sweet odour of his merits and so presents them and makes them acceptable to God hence it is that you read in the Revelation that Christ addes his incense to the prayers of all his Saints and this is a very great consolation 4. All you that have an interest in Christ take this for your comfort that the having of Christ is that which will sweeten all the crosses and afflictions and adverse conditions that you meet withall here in this world the having of Christ will sweeten every trouble as I told you before what the tree was to the waters of Marah that Christ will be to every sad and dejected soul in every troublesome condition the waters of Marah were so exceeding bitter none could drink of them but when the tree was cast into the waters then they became sweet Why so it may be thy condition here in this world is as the waters of Marah full of bitterness and sorrow and trouble and affliction but now doe but cast this tree of life the Lord Jesus into these waters and then this will convert them from waters of Marah bitter and troublesome to be rivers of joy and streams of comfort Christ will be to thy soul as the honie in the Lions bellie was to Samson it became good for food to feed upon it may be afflictions and troubles may come in upon thee like a roaring Lion but Christ is as the hony in this Lion that sweetens all thy sorrows and makes them advantagious and comfortable for thee I might apply to this purpose what an Author observes concerning the water of the Sea it is very salt in its self but when it comes to run through the bowels of the earth it then loseth its saltnesse and becomes pleasant why so though thy condition here in the world be full of sharp and sore afflictions yet when these come to run through Christ he sweetens them all unto thee Great is your comfort in having an interest in Christ for this is that which sweetens all the crosses and troubles you meet withall here in the world and Beloved doe but seriously consider of it and let mee a little reason the case with you What though thou mayst feed upon the bread of sorrow yet how canst thou be uncomfortable when withall thou feedest upon the bread of life the Lord Jesus Christ What though thou mayest drink the water of affliction and wine of astonishment yet how canst thou be uncomfortable so long as thou dost drink drops of Christs bloud What though you have not a house to put your head in yet let this be your comfort that you have a house preserved for you a building not made with hands eternall in the heavens What though you have nothing but a stone for your pillow to lay your head upon when every night you lay your head in the bosome of Jesus Christ Thus much concerning the fourth consolation 5. All you that have a reall and well-grounded interest in Christ herein lies your comfort that in and through Christ you may look upon God that in himselfe is cloathed with dread and terriblenesse with a great deal of joy and comfort Christ makes all the attributes of God to be delightfull and comfortable to thee that though God be a consuming fire to burn up thy soul like stubble out of Christ yet in Christ you may look upon God as fire but yet so as that Christ interposeth between you and it Christ is as a skreen between the fire of Gods wrath and you thou art to look upon God not as an enemy that sets himselfe against thee but as a friend reconciled to thee not as an angry Judg that is desirous to condemne thee but as a mercifull Father that is willing to pardon thee you are not to looke upon God cloathed with dread and terrour but with mercy and compassion that God that will frown upon thee out of Christ yet bring but a Christ in thy armes and present him to God the Father and then hee
so presse them as that unlesse you have them all in you you cannot have an interest in Christ for if you have but one of them in you in truth and sincerity it is an evidence that you have an interest in Christ I give you this caution for fear of casting down any poor dejected soul if you have but one link of this golden chain you have as sure hold as if you had all of it 3. In laying down these characters of one that hath an interest in Christ I lay them down onely in the affirmative not in the negative that is all those that have these characters in them may be confidently assured that they have an interest in Christ but I do not say that those that have not these characters in them have not an interest Christ for should I say so I should cast down many a humble and dejected soul I do not say that if you have not these characters in you you have no interest in Christ but this I say that you may confidently and indubitatively know and be assured that you have an interest in Christ if you finde these things in you 4. Lastly take in this caution likewise that in giving you these Characters I shall not presse them so as if the having of all these in exercise and feeling and in your own apprehensions can only evidence your having an interest in Christ but if you have them in habit and in truth though not in exercise and practise it is sufficient to evidence your interest in Christ For a poor soul may have many graces of Gods Spirit in truth in him though he doth not feel and exercise and apprehend them in himself as I told you it was with Mary Magdalen she talked to Christ face to face and sayes she they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him And thus I have done with the cautions or cautelary conclusions wherein I have only made way for my better proceeding in giving you the severall Characters of a man that hath a reall interest in Christ and I wish to God they may be all engraven upon every one of your hearts that you may be unquestionably assured in your own souls of your interest in him I shall reduce all I have to say concerning this particular under these 12. heads 1. That man that hath an interest in Christ he is cast out of himself that is he is cast out of all conceit of his own self-sufficiency and righteousness good works or merits no man is in Christ but he is out of himself this character the Apostle gives you in Phil. 3. 8 9. Yea doubtlesse saith he I count all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having on my own righteousnesse Here Paul having won Christ would not be found having on his own righteousnesse the Apostle doth not mean his own righteousnesse in point of being but in point of dependence not having on his own righteousnesse to be justified by it in that regard he would not be found having it on So in 1 Cor. 4. 4. sayes the Apostle there I know nothing by my self now one would think this man were a very holy and exact man for sayes he I know nothing by my self that is I know no sin upon my soul that I perform wittingly or willingly but mark the next words yet sayes he am I not hereby justified he was quite out of conceit of all the good works that ever he did every man that is in Christ he is out of himself he sees his own in sufficiency and Christs all-sufficiency he sees his emptinesse of grace and Christs fulnesse of grace he sees himself to be nothing and Christ to be all in all Luk. 16. 15. sayes Christ there to the Pharisees Ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts as if hee should have said you think well of your selves and of your graces but God knoweth your hearts that you are not such as you seem to be and therefore Beloved consider seriously of it if God hath wrought this grace in your hearts that you are cast out of your selves to see your own emptinesse and vilenesse and insufficiency and want of Christ if there be this work of grace wrought in you then you may know you have a reall part and portion in Jesus Christ Character 2 2. Another distinguishing character of a man in Christ is this that he makes conscience of keeping every known command of Christ This you have in 1 Joh. 2. 5. Whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected hereby know we that we are in him hereby we know that we are in Christ if we keep every known command of Christ and therefore you that can appeal to heaven that there is no one known command of Christ but bears sway in your heart and carries an authority over your conscience that you can subject your selves to it although you have many weaknesses and failings yet this is an undoubted character that you are in Christ as in 1 Joh. 3. 22. If that therefore sayes the Apostle that you have heard from the beginning shall remain in the you you also shall continue in the Son and in Father You that keep every known command of Christ have an interest in him and he in you and therefore beloved all you that doe make conscience of keeping the known and revealed wil of God that there is no known sin but you labour to avoid and no known grace but you labour to exercise and no known duty but you labour to perform if it be thus with you you may comfort your selves in this that you have a reall interest in Christ Character 3 3. Another character or discovery is this he that hath an interest in Christ he hath a power derived from Christ enabling him to mortifie his inward and bosome lusts as in Gal. 5. 24. They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts when Christ came in the flesh amongst us we crucified him but if ever Christ come in thy heart he will crucifie thee the crucifying of the flesh with the affections and lusts that the Apostle here speaks of is not the killing and totall extirpation of sin but the giving a deadly blow to sin that sin shall never reign in us nor have dominion over us any more if you be in Christ sin will be like those beasts spoken of in Daniel their dominion was taken away but their lives were preserved for a little season so the dominion of sin wil be taken away that sin shal not reign in you yet the life and being of sin will remain in you for a little season but still as the house of Saul grew weaker
yet yours shall be accepted when theirs shall be rejected Thus I have done with the use of terrour in laying down to you this sixfold misery of those men that are strangers to the covenant of grace and here because I would not have any poor soul that is under the covenant of grace and partaker of all the great priviledges of it to goe away with a sad heart I shall onely leave with you two or three words of comfort to them You children of the covenant that are under the covenant of grace let not your hearts be troubled at what hath been said this day concerning the misery of those men that are strangers to this covenant and to bear up and support your spirits I shall give you two or three comfortable considerations 1. That all the outward blessings that you enjoy comes to you in a covenant way God hath given you these blessings as an appendix to the covenant and by vertue of an entail to his covenant the Lord never gives you a common blessing but you see the love of a Father and of a husband and of a friend and the love of God in that blessing and therefore as I told you before in that very chapter where God promiseth the blessings of the covenant of grace he promiseth the blessings of this life too as an intail to the covenant wicked men may have blessings but not by vertue of a promise not by vertue of the covenant of grace But now if you ask mee how you may know whether the blessings you enjoy come unto you by vertue of the Covenant of Grace I answer you may know it by these two things 1. In case you doe use and imploy all the blessing you receive from God to the honour of God thus Abraham did as you may see in Gen. 17. 1 2 8 12. his using the blessings of God to promote the service of God did demonstrate that those blessings came to him from God in a covenant way but those that are strangers to this Covenant the mercies they enjoy are given them for their hurt 2. When blessings are as cords to draw you nearer to God and as bands to tye you fast to God then they come to you in a Covenant way as in Jer. 31. 11 12. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the hand of him that is stronger then he therefore they shall come and rejoice in the height of Sion and shall run to the bountifulnesse of the Lord even for the wheat and for the wine and for the oyle and for the increase of sheep and bullocks c. That is all the mercies of God shall make them to come nearer and nearer and cleave closer to God you then that do enjoy your share of the blessings of God and they do not endeer you and draw you nearer to God you cannot look upon them as flowing in upon you in a Covenant way 2. You that are in covenant with God know this for your comfort that the Lord does accept of a little that you do in his service better then a great deal that a wicked man performs to him God will accept of a few turtle doves of you when he will not accept of 1000 Rams or 10000 rivers of oyle of the wicked he will accept of a cup of cold water given to a righteous man in the name of a righteous man when he will not accept of the costliest sacrifice from the wicked Oh what a happy condition art thou in that art under the covenant of grace wicked men may heare more Sermons and performe more duties and say more prayers to God then you and yet in all their duties be rejected when thou art accepted 3. Take this for your comfort that when ever you offend God and provoke him to anger you have a Mediator to stand between God and you though you are guilty yet you have an Advocate to plead your cause for you you that are under the covenant of grace you may say to Christ your Mediator as the Israelites said to Moses when they had offended God goe thou and speak unto God for us so may you say when you have nothing but thundring and lightning and tempests in your souls and the flashings of hell fire in your consciences then you may say to Christ go now to God and speak for me mediate with thy Father for the pardon of all my sins I have offended God oâ— intercede with him in my behalf I have committed a great offence oh plead with thy Father and beg a pardon for me thus thou maist say to Christ being under the covenant of grace But here lest any one should lye under a spirituall delusion and think himself under the covenant of grace when he is a stranger to it lest the Dogs should snatch at the Childrens meat I shall lay down to you some distinguishing Characters whereby you may know whether you are under the covenant of grace or no and before I make entrance upon this I will only premise four sad and dismall conclusions which will make way the better for what I have to handle in the examination 1. Take in this conclusion that a man may be within the outward and common priviledges of the covenant of grace and yet be without the saving and spirituall priviledges of it as pardon of sin having God to be your God and Christ to be your Saviour c. as in Deut. 29. 10 11 12. sayes Moses there You stand this day all of you before the Lord your God your Captains of Tribes your Elders and your Officers with all the men of Israel your little ones your wives and the stranger that is in thy camp from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water that thou shouldst enter into covenant with the Lord thy God Now here you see were all from the rich to the poor to enter into covevenant with God and yet it is not imaginable that all these did partake of the inward priviledges of the Covenant of grace they did all partake of circumcision which was the seal of the covenant of the outward priviledges of it but not all did partake of the inward and speciall mercies of the covenant of grace as pardon of sin peace of conscience joy in beleeving God to be their God and Christ to be their Saviour and so in Rom. 9. 4 5. sayes the Apostle They are the Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the promises of whom are the Fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came these were very great priviledges and yet saies the text in vers 8. These are not all the children of God though they had the externall blessings of the Covenant yet they were not all the children of God so that you see you may be within the Church of God and partake of the outward blessings
hast thou to do to meddle with my covenant of grace you can lay no claim to the Covenant till you have cast off the old man and subdued and overcome your sins and corruptions 2. Another concomitant of the covenant of grace that will accompany you is this you will be a people wholly devoted and given up to the service of God Jer. 31. I will be your God and you shall be my people the covenant of grace is called an holy covenant Luk. 1. 72. not so much because it was made by a holy God as because it was made for the holy creature it will make them holy that do enter into it and therefore those that are in Covenant with God are called a holy people and they must be a holy people as in 1 Cor. 6. 20. sayes the Apostle You are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and souls which are Gods and in 2 Cor. 7. 1. Seeing therefore we have these promises dearly beloved Let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse both of flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the fear of God those that are in covenant with God they are a holy and crucified people 3. Another concomitant is this that man that hath a share in the blessings of the Covenant he doth make conscience to walk in the wayes of the Covenant hee will not only close with the promise of the Covenant but also make conscience of keeping the commands of the Covenant for the covenant of grace does not onely bestow blessings upon you but require something of you too as in Esai 55. sayes God Incline your ears and come unto me and hear hearken and your souls shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David the covenant of grace is a sure and everlasting covenant but sayes God you shall come unto me first and then I will make with you an everlasting covenant God will have you to obey him if ever you think to have any share in the covenant of grace those that let God command what he will will doe what they please this argues that they doe not belong to the covenant of grace but if the blessings of the covenant of grace are given by God to you and the concomitants of it found with you and lastly the conditions of it found in you which is faith the only condition of the covenant of grace beleeve and be saved if God hath brought thee into a believing estate that there is not one promise in the Gospell but you do beartily assent unto and close with if it be thus then you may conclude that you do belong to the covenant of grace And thus I have done with these charactars by way of tryall Use I have only now a word or two more by way of use and so have done with this third part of mans misery and the Use that I shall make of this shall be for consolation to all those whose hearts can bear them witnesse that they doe enjoy the saving blessings of the Covenant of grace God to be their God and they to be his people and that God hath sanctified and renewed your natures and pardoned and passed by all your sins and iniquities and hath written his Law in your hearts that you doe not depart from him if you have the concomitants of the Covenant that you are disingaged from the league and covenant you have made with sin and death and hell if you are wholly devoted and given up to the service of God and doe make conscience to walk in the ways of the Covenant and if the conditions of the Covenant of Faith in Christ be found in you if you are brought into a beleeving condition if all these things be wrought in you then hearken to the great happinesse and benefit you enjoy by being under the Covenant of Grace 1. Thou hast that which is more worth then a kings ransome nay then all the world thou hast God to be thy God which is all in all it is more then that which was promised to Esther by King Ahasuerus to the half of his Kingdome you have more then the Devill promised to Christ when he carryed him to the top of the mountain and shewed him all the Kingdomes of the world and the glory of them thou hast more then the whole world for thou hast God to be thy God and thou hast an interest in the Covenant of Grace which is a bundle of promises and includes in it all the promises of the Gospell which are all yours and you may goe and apply them to your own soules in whatsoever condition you are in 2. You that are in Covenant with God labour to admire the great condescension of God that he would be pleased to proceed with you by way of a Covenant I have read of some Authors that have more wondred and stood amazed at this then at any thing else in the World that God that is the Soveraign Lord of all the workes of his hands that he should not rule us and command us by a Law but deal with us by way of a Covenant for God is not bound to give us a reward though we should serve him all the dayes of our lives God might command us as we are his creatures to serve and obey him to pray read hear and walk holily and humbly before him and when we have done all this yet he might say to us I will never give you heaven nor happinesse nor any reward at all he might have said thus to us but he hath condescended so far as to make a bargain with us that if we will beleeve in his Son Jesus Christ and live holily and walk uprightly before him then he will be our God and we shall be his people he will write his Law in our hearts and sanctifie and renew our natures and pardon and forgive all our sins and give us heaven and hapninesse when we dye Oh what an infinite condescension is this in God and what unspeakable bounty and free grace that when he might say to us you are bound to serve me and obey me and to love and fear me but I am not bound to make a Covenant with you and promise you my Son and life and Salvation through him but though I am not bound to it yet I will give you my Son and heaven and happinesse and I will be your God and you shall be my people and I will regenerate and sanctifie your natures and create in you new hearts and write my Law in your inward parts I will freely do all this for you sayes God Oh what infinite condescension and free grace and mercy is this 3. Another great happinesse you doe enjoy under the Covenant of Grace is this the Lord will pardon all the great sinnes you commit against him and accept of all the weak duties and services you perform to him though you commit great and mighty sins
commit great and gross sins if you labor to resist them and strive against them 2. Thou committest small sinnes with more security and lesse penitency then great sins when a man commits a great and scandalous sin he is sensible of what he hath done and layes it to heart and is ashamed of it and must repent of it or else it will be a shame to him all his life long but he can venture upon a small sin never be troubled at it nor grieved for it he can cōmit a smal sin with a great deal of security impenitency so that hereby they do the soul more wrong then great sins 3. You are apt to run into small sinnes with more frequency then you commit great sins for they are so open to the reproof of the Word and so obvious to the eyes of all men that you cannot find opportunities to commit them so often whereas small sins you commit again and again and one day after another and a thousand times in one day and yet never take notice of them and therefore this may convince you that your exemption from great sins can be no sufficient ground to build your hopes for heaven upon 4. You that build your hopes for heaven upon this ground because your sins are none of the greatest let me tell you that the smallest sins that ever you committed in all your life time without repentance on thy part and satisfaction on Christs part will forever keep thy soul out of heaven if you repent peradventure you shall be pardoned the smallest sins cannot be forgiven without the bloud of Christ to wash them away for without the shedding of bloud there is no remission and thus I have shewed the insufficiency and deceitfulnesse of the first prop that wicked men do build their hopes for heaven upon we come now to the second 2. But sayes a wicked man I have heard and read of those that have committed far greater and more crying sins then ever I have been guilty of and yet they hoped for heaven and are gone to heaven and therefore why should not I hope for heaven as well as they I read of David that committed Adultery and of Noahs drunkennesse and Pauls persecuting Christ and Peters denying of him and divers others and yet these men are gone to heaven and why may not I as well as they Concerning this plea of wicked men I shall give you these three things by way of answer 1. You that make this a ground for your hope you do pervert the end for which God hath recorded the examples of his servants in Scripture for God did not record them there to be a provocation to thee to goe on presumptuously in sinning against him but meerly to be a restraint and caveat to keep thee from falling into the same sins which they did if Noah and Lot and David and Peter c. such holy and excellent men as these had their failings and did commit great and grosse sins oh then let me take heed lest I am overtaken and fall into the same sins this is the use that we should make of the failings of other man as in 1 Cor. 10. 11. All things are written for our example to admonish us upon whom the ends of the world are come and in 1 Tim. 1. 16. sayes the Apostle Iobtained mercy that I might be an example to all that should hereafter beleeve in Jesus Christ. 2. You that make the sins of other men that have obtained mercy to be a ground to build your hopes of heaven upon let me ask you this Question you that do fall into the same sins with Noah or David or Peter do you repent with them too it is true Noah did fall once into the sin of drunkenness but yet the Scripture records this of him that he was an upright man in his generation and so David though he did once defile his bed yet afterwards he repented of it and made his couch to swim with tears for it so Peter after he had denyed Christ he went out and wept bitterly for it but I say what is all this to thee that doest make a trade of sin and fall into grosse sins every day time after time and yet never mourn and grieve for them as David did for his sin nor weep bitterly for them with Peter what plea can this be for thee to encourage thee to hope for heaven 3. Know this further that a godly man may fall into the same sins that others fall into for the matter of them but not for the manner now it is the manner of falling into sin and not the matter of it that dams a man it is true Noah did fall into the sin of drunkennesse but I shall distinguish Noah from any wicked drunkard in the world and that in these five particular considerations as 1. Noah was drunk but it was before he did know that wine would make him drunk and if you read the story you shall finde that there was never any wine drunk till that time for Noah did then begin to be a husbandman and did plant a Vineyard but now there is never a one of you but doe very well know that wine and strong beer and the like will intoxicate you and yet you will not refrain from excesse in drinking there is a great deal of difference between you and Noah 2. Noah was drunk but he did not proclaim his drunkennesse but the text sayes he went into his tent and slept he was ashamed of what he had done but now you proclaim your sin and swear and stare and commit many other sins in your drunkennesse 3. It is true Noah was drunk but you never read that he was drunk any more then once but you are drunk again and again one day after another 4. Though he did once fall into this sin yet for the ordinary course and practise of his life he was an upright man in his Generation whereas it may be your ordinary and frequent practise is drunkennesse 5. Noah was an aged man and in this regard his age might call for more wine and strong liquor to chear up his spirits then young people do want so that all these considerations do little mitigate and allay Noahs fault though it be not wholly excusable An so likewise David he committed the sin of adultery he wallowed in an unclean bed but yet his sin likewise may admit of some extenuation and excuse as 1. David when he came up to the house top he little dream't to have seen a naked woman there which was a very great temptation to him but it may be some of you do seek occasion and contrive and plot how you may commit such a sin 2. David did fall into this sinne neither but once you shall commonly finde that godly men fall into great sins but once they take warning by the first transgression and seldome fall into the same sinne again but now it may be
as you are chosen and sanctified in Christ Jesus it cannot hurt you I say again death may kill you but it cannot hurt you it hath no power over the better part like a Serpent it feedeth only upon your dust nay and for your bodies that which dyeth as a creature is sure to live as a member of Christ the Lord Jesus is our head in the grave your bodies have a principle of life within them beleevers are raised by the Spirit of holinesse the same Spirit that quickneth them now to the offices of grace shall raise their mortall bodies So Rom. 8. 11. He shall quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you The holy Ghost can never leave his old mansion and dwelling place how many grounds of comfort have we against the mortality of the body Christ is united to body and soul and he will not let his Mysticall body want one sinew or joynt in the account that he is to make to the Father he saith he is to lose nothing Joh. 6. 39. Mark he doth not say none but nothing Christ will not lose a leg or a piece of an ear Again God is in Covenant with body and soul when you go down to the chambers of death you may challenge him upon the Charter of his own Grace God is the God of Abrahams dust of a beleevers dust though it be mingled with the remains of wicked men yet Christ will sever it Mat. 22. 32. Christ proveth the resurrection of the body by that argument that God is the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob the ground of the argument is that God made his Covenant not only with the souls of the Patriarchs but with their whole persons Again Christ hath purchased body and soul so much is intimated in that place 1 Cor. 6. 20. Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies Christ had payed price enough to get a title to body and soul and therefore he will not lose one bit of his purchase the Lord will call the grave to an account Where is the body of my Abraham my Isaac my Jacob t is said Rev. 20. 13. The Sea gave up her dead and the Grave gave up her dead and Hell gave up her dead let me note that Hell is there taken for the state of the departed or else what 's the meaning of that passage that followeth afterward and death and hell were cast into the lake that burneth c. Well then all the dead shall be cast up as the Whale cast up Jonah so the grave shall cast up her dead the grave is but a chest wherein our bodies are kept safe till the day of Christ and the key of this chest is not in the Devils hands but Christs see Rev. 1. 18. I have the keys of Death and Hell when the body is laid up in the cold pit 't is laid up for another day God hath an especiall care of our dust and remains when our friends and neighbours have left is Christ leaveth it not but keepeth it till the great and glorious day 3. We are eased from the terrours and horrors of death death is terrible as t is a poenall and a naturall evill as I distinguished before 1 As it is naturall evill death in it selfe is the greatest of all evils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said an heathen which in Jobs language may be rendred The King of terrours Job 18. 14. We gush to see a Serpent much more the grim visage of death morall Philosophy could never finde out a remedy against it Heathens were either desperate rash stupid or else they dissembled their gripes and fears but Christ hath provided a remedy he hath delivered us not only from the hurt of death but the fear of death Heb. 2. 14. to deliver them from the fear of death that all their life time were subject to bondage by his spirit hee filleth the soul with the hopes of a better life nature may shrink when we see the pale horse of death approaching but we may rejoyce when we consider its errand 't is to carry us home as when old Jacob saw the chariots come from Egypt how did his heart leap within him because he should see his son Joseph Death however we figure it with the pencill of fancy is sent to carry us to heaven to transport us to Jesus Christ now who would bee afraid to be happy to be in the Armes of our beloved Jesus Let them fear death that know not a better life a Christian knoweth that when he dyeth he shall not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 17. The world may thrust you out but you may see heaven alluring ready to receive you as Stephen saw heaven opened Act. 7. latter end there is an intellectuall vision or perswasion of Faith which is common to all the Saints though every one hath not such an extasie and sensible representation as Stephen had yet usually in the hours of their departure faith is mightily strengthned and acted so that they are exempted from all fear and sorrow 2. As 't is a poenall evill 't is sad when death is sent in justice and cloathed with wrath and cometh in the quality of a curse you know what was said before The sting of death is sin they dye indeed that dye in their sins death is a black and gloomy day to them they drop down like rotten fruit into the lake of fire now Christ hath taken away the sting the dolours and horrours of it he hath taken away death as he hath taken away sin he hath not cast it out but cast it down taken away the guilt and power of it though not the beeing of sin so the hurt the sting is gone though not death it self 't is like a serpent disarmed and unstinged we may put it into our bosomes without danger there are many accusations by which Satan is apt to perplex a dying soul these make death terrible and full of horrours But they overcome by the bloud of the Lamb Rev. 12. 11. and get the victory of these doubts and fears when sins are pardoned fears vanish Luther said Feri domine feri absolutus sum a peccatis meis strike Lord strike my sinnes are pardoned 4. 'T will be utterly abolished at the last day We scarce know now what Christs purchase meaneth till the day of judgement 't is said 1 Cor. 15. 26. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death t is weakened now but then it shall be abolished as to the elect Rev. 20. 14. And death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire this is the second death the dominion of death is reserved for hell it must keep company with the damned whilest you rejoyce with God for the present t is continued out of dispensation it doth service to promote Gods glory but then the wicked must share death and hell amongst them and be kept under a