will not satisfie that promise therefore thou must be turned over from the promise of life to the curse and there thou shalt find thy name written Therefore it is absolutely necessary that Jesus Christ be made under the Law and give obedience in all things even to the death of the Crosse and so be made a curse for us and sin for us even he who knew no sin and thus in him you find the law fulfilled Justice satisfied and God pleased in him you find the promise of life indeed established in a better surer way than was first propounded you find life by his death you find life in his dying for you And again consider the Ceremonial Law What were all those Sacrifices and Ceremonies Did God delight in them Could he savour their incense and sweet smels and eat the fat of Lambs and be pacified No he detastes and abhorres such imaginations because that people did stay in the Letter and went no further then the Ceremony he declares that it was as great abomination to him as the offering up of a Dog while they were separated from Jesus Christ in whom his soul rested and was pacified they were not expiatious but provocatious they were not propitiations for sin but abominations in themselves But take these as the shadows of such a living substance take them as remembrances of him who was to come and behold Jesus Christ lying in these swadling cloaths of Ceremonies untill the fulnesse of time should come that he might be manifested in the flesh and so you shal find eternall life in those dead beasts in those dumb Ceremonies If you consider this Lamb of God slain in all these Sacrifices from the beginning of the world then you present a sweet smelling savour to God then you offer the true propitiation for the sins of the world then he will delight more in that sacrifice than all other personall obedience But what if I should say that the Gospel it self is a killing Letter ministration of death being severed from Christ I should say nothing amisse but what Paul speaketh that his Gospel was a savour of death to many take the most powerfull Preaching the most sweet discourse the most plain Writings of the free grace salvation in the Gospel take all the preachings of Jesus Christ himself and his Apostles you shal not find life in them unlesse ye be led by the Spirit of Christ unto himself who is the resurrection and the life It will no more save you than the Covenant of works unlesse that word abide and dwell in your hearts to make you believe in him and imbrace him with your souls whom God hath sent suppose you heard all and heard it gladly and learned it and could discourse well upon it and teach others yet if you be not driven out of your selves out of your own righteousnesse as well as sin and persued to this City of refuge Jesus Christ you have not eternal life Your knowledge of the truth of the Gospel and your obedience to Gods Law will certainly kill you and as certainly as your ignorance and disobedience unlesse you have imbraced in your soul that good thing Jesus Christ contained in these truths who is the Diamond of that Golden Ring of the Scriptures and unlesse your souls imbrace these promises as soul-saving as containing the chief good and worthy of all acceptation as well as your mind receive these as true and faithfull sayings 1 Tim. 1. 15. Thus ye see Christ Jesus is either the subject of all in the Scriptures or the end of it all he is the very proper subject of the Gospel Paul knew nothing but Christ crucified in his preaching and he is the very proper end and scope of the law for righteousness Rom. 10. 3. All the preaching of a covenant of works all the curses and threatnings of the Bible all the rigidexactions of obedience all come to this one great design not that we may set about such a walking to please God or do something to pacifie him but that we being concluded under sin and wrath on the one hand and an impossibility to save our selves on the other hand Gal. 3. 22. Rom 5. 20 21. may be pursued into Jesus Christ for righteousness life who is both able to save us and ready to welcome us Therefore the Gospel opens the door of salvation in Christ the Law is behind us with fire and sword and destruction pursuing us and all for this end that sinners may come to him and have life Thus the Law is made a Pedagogue of the soul to lead to Christ Christ is behind us cursing condemning threatning us and he is before us with stretched-out arms ready to receive us blesse us and save us inviting promising exhorting to come and have life Christ is on mount Sinai delivering the Law with thunders Act. 7. 38. and he is on mount Sion in the calm voice he is both upon the mountain of cursings and blessings and on both doing the part of a Mediator Gal. 3. 19 20. It is love that is in his heart which made him first cover his Countenance with frowns and threats and it is love that again displayes it self in his smilling countenance Thus souls are inclosed with love pursuing and love receiving And thus the Law which seems most contrary to the Gospel testifies of Christ it gives him this testimony that except salvation be in him it is no where else The Law sayes it is not in me seek it not in obedience I can do nothing but destroy you if you abide under my jurisdiction The Ceremonies and Sacrifices say if you can behold the end of this Ministery if a Vail be not on your hearts as it was on Moses face 2 Cor. 3 13 14 you may see where it is it s not in your obedience but in the death sufferings of the Son of God whom we represent Then the Gospel takes all these Coverings and Vails away and gives a plain and open testimony of him There is no Name under heaven to be saved but by Christ's The Old Testament speak by figures and signs as dumb men do but the New speaks in plain words and with open face Now I say for all this that there is no salvation but in him yet many souls not only those who live in their grosse sins and have no form of godlinesse but even the better sort of people that have some knowledge and civility and a kind of zeal for God yet they do not come to him that they may have life Rom. 10. 1 2 3. they do not submit to the righteousness of God Here is the march that divides the wayes of Heaven and Hell coming to Jesus Christ and forsaking our selves the confidence of these souls is chiefly or only in that little knowledge or zeal or profession they have they do not as really abhore themselves for their own righteousnesse as for their unrighteousnesse they make that the covering of
this God is near hand every one of us Who of us think of a Divine Majesty nearer us than our very souls and consciences in whom we live and move and have our being How is it we move think not with wonder of that first Mover in whom we move How is it we live persevere in being do not always cōsider this fountain-being in whom we live and have our being O the Atheism of many souls prosessing God! We do speak walk eat and drink go about all our businesses as if we were self-being independent of any never thinking of that all-present quickning Spirit that acts us moves us speaks in us makes us to walk and eat and drink as the barbarous people who see hear speak reason and never once reflect upon the principle of all these to discern a soul within This is bruitish in this Man who was made of a straight countenance to look upward to God to know himself and his Maker till he might be differenced from all creatures below is degenerated and become like the beasts that perish Who of us believes this al-present God We imagine that he is shut up in heaven and takes no such notice of affairs below but certainly he is not so far from us though he shew more of his glory above yet he is as present and observant below V. If he be a Spirit then as he is incomprehensible and immense in being so also there is no comprehension of his knowledge The nearer any creature come to the nature of a Spirit the more knowing and understanding it is life is the most excellent being and understanding is the most excellent life Materia est imers mertua the nearer any thing is to the earthly matter as it hath lesse action so lesse life and feeling Man is nearer an Angel then beasts and therefore he hath a knowing and understanding Spirit in him There is a spirit in man and the more or lesse this spirit of man is abstracted from sensual and material things it lives the more excellent and pure life and is as it were more or lesse deliverd from the chains of the body These souls that have never risen above retired from sensible things O how narrow are they how captivated within the prison of the flesh But when the Lord Jesus comes to set free he delivers a soul from this bondage he makes these chains fall off leads the soul apart to converse with God himself and to meditate on things not seen sin wrath hell and heaven the further it goes from it self the more abstracted it is from the consideration of present things the more it lives a life like Angels And therefore when the soul is separated from the body it is then perfectly free and hath the largest extent of knowledge A mans soul must be almost like Pauls whether out of the body or in the body I know not if he would understand aright spiritual things Now then this infinite spirit is an al-knowing spirit al-seeing spirit as well as al-present There is no searching of his understanding Isa. 40. 28. and Psal. 147. 5. Who hath directed this spirit or being his counsellour hath taught him Rom. 11. 34. Isa. 40. 1◅ He calls the Generations from the beginning and known to him are all his works from the beginning O that you would alwayes set this God before you or rather set your selves alwayes in his presence in whose sight you are alwayes How would it compose our hearts to reverence fear in all our actions if we did indeed believe that the Judge of all the World is an eye-witnesse to our most retired and secret thoughts and doings If any man were as privy to thy thoughts as thy own spirit and conscience thou wouldst blush and be ashamed before him If every one of us could open a window into one anothers spirits I think this assembly should dismisse as quickly as that of Christs when he bade them that were without sin cast a stone at the Woman we could not look one upon another O then Why are we so little apprehensive of the al-searching eye of God who can even declare to us our thought before it be How much Atheism is rooted in the heart of the most holy We do not alwayes meditate with David Psal. 139. on that al-searching and al-knowing spirit who knows our down-sitting up-rising understands our thoughts a far off and who is acquainted with all our wayes O How would we ponder our path and examine our words and consider our thoughts before hand if we set our selves in the view of such a Spirit that is within us and without us before us and behind us He may spare sinners as long as he pleases for there is no escaping from him you cannot go out of his dominions nay you cannot run out of his presence Psal. 7. 8. 9. He can reach you when he pleases therefore he may delay as long as he pleases Joh. 4. 24. GOD is a Spirit c. THere are two common notions engraved on the hearts of all men by nature That God is and that he must be worshipped and these two live and die together they are clear or blotted together According as the apprehension of God is clear distinct and more deeply engraven on the soul so is this notion of mans duty of worshipping God clear imprinted on the soul and when ever the actions of men do prove that the conception of the worship of God is obliterate or worn out when ever their transgressions do witnesse that a man hath not a live◅y ◅otion of this duty of Gods worship that doth al◅o prove that the very notion of a God-head is worn out and cancelled in the soul For How could souls conceive of God as he is indeed but they must needs with Moses Exod. 34 make haste to pray and worship It is the principle of the very Law of Nature which shall make the whole world inexcusable because that when they knew God they gloriesied him not as God A Father must have honour and a Master must have fear and God who is the common Parent absolute Master of all must have worship in which reverence and fear mixed with rejoycing and affection predomines it is supposed and put beyond all question that it must be He that worships him c. It s not simply said God is a Spirit must be worshipped no for none can doubt of it If God be then certainly Worship is due to him for who is so worshipfull And because it is so beyond all question therefore woe to the irreligious world that never puts it in practice O What excuse can you have who have not so much as a form of Godlinesse Do you not know that its beyond all Controversie that God must be worshipped Why then do you deny it in your practice which all men must confesse in their conscience Is not he God
desired tasting of it only begets a kindly appetite after it the more tasted still the fresher and more recent But yet it is above both desire and fruition thou cannot see my face c. All our knowledge of God all our attainments of experience of him do reach but to some dark confused apprehension of what he is the clearest and nearest sight of God in the world is as if a man were not known but by his back which is a great point of estrangement It 's said in the heaven we shall see him face to face and fully as he is because then the soul is made capable of it Two things in us here puts us in an incapacity of nearnesse with God Infirmity and Iniquity Infirmity in us cannot behold his glory it 's of so weak eies that the brightnesse of the Sun would strike it blind and Iniquity in us he cannot behold it because he is of pure eyes that can look on no unclean thing it 's the only thing in the Creation that Gods holinesse hath antipathy at and therefore he is stil about the destroying of the body of sin in us about the purging of all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit and till the soul be thus purged of all sin by the operation of the Holy Ghost it cannot be a Temple for an immediate vision of him an immediate exhibition of God to us Sin is the wall of partition and the thick cloud that eclipses his glory from us it is the opposite Hemesphere of darknesse contrary to light according to the accesse or recesse of Gods presence it is more or lesse dark the more sin reigns in thee the lesse of God is in thee and the more sin be subdued the readier nearer is Gods presence but let us comfort our selves That one day shal put off both Infirmity and Iniquity mortality shal put on immortality and corruption be cloathed with incorruption we shal leave the rags of mortall weaknesse in the grave and our menstruous cloaths of sin behind us then shal the weak eyes of flesh be made like Eagles eyes to behold the Sun and then shal the soul be cloathed with holinesse as with a Garment which God shal delight to look upon because he sees his own Image in that glasse We come to the Lords satisfying of Moses desire and proclaiming his Name before him it is himself only can tell you what he is it is not Ministers preaching or other discourse can proclaim that Name to you we may indeed speak over those words unto you but it is the Lord that must write that Name upon your heart he only can discover his glory to your spirit There is a spirit of life which cannot be inclosed in Letters and Syllables or transmitted through your ears into your hearts but he himself must create it inwardly and stir up the outward sense feeling of that Name of those Attributes Faith indeed comes by hearing and our knowledge in this life is thorow a glasse darkly thorow ordinances and senses but there must be an inward teaching and speaking to your souls to make that effectuall the anointing teacheth you all things 1 Ioh. 2. 27. Alas its the separation of that from the word that makes it so unprofitable if the spirit of God were inwardly writing what the word is teaching then should our souls be living Epistles that ye might read Gods Name on them O be much in imploying of depending on him that teacheth to profit who only can declare unto your souls what he is These names expresse his Essence or Being his Properties what he is in himself what he is to us in himself he is Jehovah or a self-being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we heard in the 3. Chap. I am that I am and EL a strong God or Almighty God which two hold out to us the absolute incomprehensible perfection of God eminently and infinitely enclosing within himself all perfections of the creatures the unchangeable and mutable being of God who was and is is to come without succession without variation or shadow of turning and then the Almighty power of God by which without difficulty by the inclination and beck of his will pleasure he can make or unmake all create or annihilate to whom nothing is impossible which three if they were pondered by us till our souls received the stamp of them they would certainly be powerfull to abstract and draw our hearts from the vain changeable and empty shadow of the creature gather our scattered affections that are parted among them because of their unsufficiency that all might unite in one and joyn with this self-sufficient and eternal God I say if a soul did indeed believe and consider how All sufficient he is how insufficient all things else are would it not cleave to him and draw near to him Psal. 73. ult It is the very torment and vexation of the soul to be thus racked distracted divided about many things therefore many because there is none of them can supply all our wants our wants are infinit our desires insatiable the good that is in any thing is limited bounded it can serve one but for one use and another for another use and when all are together they can but supply some wants but they leave much of the soul empty But often these outward things crosses one another and cannot consist together and hence ariseth much strife and debate in a soul his need requireth both and both will not agree But O that you could see this one universall good One for all and above all your souls would choose him certainly your souls would trust in him ye would say Ashur soal not save us we will not ride on horses Creatures shal not satisfie us we will seek our happinesse in thee and no where else since we have tasted this new wine away with the old the new is better I beseech you make God your friend for he is a great one whether he be a friend or an enemy he hath two properties that make him either most comfortable or most terrible according as he is at peace or war with souls Eternity and Omnipotency You were once all enemies to him O consider what a Party you have an Almighty Party and unchangeable Party if you will make peace with him and that in Christ then know he is the best friend in the world because he is unchangeable and Almighty if he be thy friend he will do all for thee he can do and thou hast need of But many friends willing to do yet have not ability but he hath power to do what he will and pleases Many friends are changeable their affections dry up of themselves die and therefore even Princes friendship is but a vain confidence for they shal die then their thoughts of favour perish with them but he abides the same for all Generations there is no end of his
long-suffering patient and if he had not been so we had been damned ere now patience hath a long term and we cannot out-run it out-weary it Why do we not wonder that he presently and instantly executed his wrath on angels gave them not one hours space for repentance but cast them down head-long into destruction as in a moment and yet his Majesty hath so long delayed the execution of our sentence and calls us to repentance and forgivenesse that we may escape the condemnation of Angels His patience is not slacknes and negligence as men count it 2 Pet. 3. 9. He sits not in heaven as an Idol and idle spectator what men are doing but he observes all wrongs and is sensible of them also And if we were mindfull and sensible of them also he would forget them He is long-suffering This is extended and stretched-out patience beyond all expectation beyond all deserving yea contrary to it Therefore as long as he forbears if thou apprehend thy misery and sin and continuance in it so not conclude that it is desperate Why should a living man complain As long as patience lengthens thy life if thou desire to come to him believe he wil accept thee But saith the doubting soul I am exceeding perverse and wicked there is nothing in me but wickednesse it so abounds in me that there is nothing in me but wickednesse it so abounds in me that there is none like me but saith the Lord I am aboundant in goodnesse Thy wickednesse though it be great it is but a created wickedness but my goodness is the goodness of God I am as abundant in grace goodnesse as thou art in sin nay infinitely more thy sin is but the transgression of a finite creature but my mercy is the compassion of an infinite God it can swallow it up suppose thy sin cry up to Heaven yet mercy reaches above Heaven is built up for ever Here is an invitation to all sinners to come and taste O come taste and see how good the Lord is goodnesse is communicative it diffuses it self like the Suns light There is riches of his goodnesse Rom. 2. 4. Poor soul thou canst not spend it though thou have many wants But I am full of doubtings fears and jealousies I cannot believe his Promises I often question them How then will he perform them I say saith the Lord I am abundant in truth He will certainly perform Shal our unbelief or doubting make the faith of God of none effect c. Rom. 3. 3. God forbid His faithfulnesse reaches unto the Clouds he will keep Covenant with thee whose soul hath chosen him though thou often question and doubt of him Indeed thou would not give indulgence to thy doubtings jealousies but look on them as high provocations for what can be more grievous to fervent love than to meet with jealousie jealousie would quench any creatures love but though it grieve provoke him yet he will not change he will not diminish his only do not think your disputings quarrellings innocent and harmlesse things no certainly they grieve the Spirit stir up the Beloved to go away as it were before he please make thee walk without comfort without fruit yet he will bear with quench the smoaking flax of a Believers desires though they do not arise to the flame of Assurance But the wounded spirit hath one or two burdens more I have abused much mercy How can mercy pitty me I have turned grace into wantonnesse so that when I look to mercy and grace to comfort me they do rather challenge me the sins of none are like mine none of such a hainous presumptuous nature But let us hear what the Lord speaks I keep mercy for thousands and forgive iniquity transgression and sin Thou hast wasted much mercy but more is behind all the treasure is not spent though there were many thousand worlds beside I could pardon them all if they would flee unto my mercy thou shalt not be straitned in me mercy will pardon thy abuse of mercy it will forgive all faults thou dost against it self Thou that sins against the Son of man the Redeemer of the World remedy of sin yet there is pardon for thee what ever thy quality condition or circumstance of thy sin be whoever convinced of it and loadned with it desires rest to thy soul thou may find it in Christ whose former kindnesse thou hast answered with contempt many sins many great sins and these presumptuous sins cannot exclude nay no sin can exclude a willing soul. Unbelief keeps thee unwilling and so excludes thee Now as the Spider sucks poyson out of the sweetest Flower so the most part of souls suck nothing but delusion and presumption and hardening out of the Gospel Many souls reason for more liberty to sin from mercy but behold how the Lord backs it with a dreadful word who will by no means clear the guilty As many as do not condemn themselves and judge themselves before his Tribunall of Justice there is no rescinding of the condemnatory Sentence but it stands above their heads He that believes not is condemned already Justice hath condemned all by sentence he that doth not in the sense of this flee into Jesus Christ from sin and wrath is already condemned his Sentence is standing there needs no new one since he flees not to mercy for absolution the sentence of condemnation stands unrepealed Yoâ—… guilty souls who clear your selves God will not clear you alas How many of you do clear your selves Do you not extenuate and mince your sins How hard is it to extort any confession of guilt out of you but in the general If we condescend to particulars many of you will plead innocency almost in every thing though ye have like children learned to speak these words That ye are sinners I beseech you consider it it is no light matter for God will by no means clear the guilty by no means by no intreaties no flatteries What will he not pardon sin Yes indeed His Name tells you he will pardon all kind of sins absolve all manner of guilty persons but yet such as do condemn themselves such as are guilty in their own conscience their mouths stopped before God you who do not enter into the serious examination of your wayes and no not arraign your selves before Gods Tribunal daily till you find your selves loathsome and desperate and no refuge for you you who do flatter your selves alwaies in the hope of heaven and put the fear of hell alwayes from you I say God will by no mean no prayers no intreaties clear or pardon you because you come not to Jesus Christ in whom is preached forgivenesse and remission of sins You who take liberty to sin because God is gracious and delay repentance till the end because God is long suffering know God will not clear you he is holy and just as he is mercyfull If his
and glory to his ever glorious Name for whom are all things There is none but they will allow God some government in the world Some would have him as a King commanding and doing all by Deputies and Substitutes Some would have his influence generall like the Suns upon sublunary things but how shallow are all mens thoughts in regard of that which is God has prepared indeed his Throne in heaven that is true that his glory doth manifest it self in some strange and majestick manner above but he whole tenour of Scripture shews that he is not shut up in heaven but that he immediatly cares for governs disposes all things in the world for his kingdome is over all It is the weaknesse of Kings not their glory that they have need of Deputies it is his glory not basenesse to look to the meanest of their creatures it is a poor resemblance empty shadow that Kings have of him He rules in the Kingdomes of men to him belongs the dominion the glory he deserves the name of a King whose beck Heaven earth obeyes Can a King command that the Sea flow not Can a Parliament act and ordain that the Sun rise not or will these obey them Yet at his decree and command the Sun is dark the Sea stands still the Mountains tremble at thy rebuke the Seafled Alas What do we mean that we look upon creatures act our selves as if we were independent in our being and moving How many things fall out you call them casuall attribute them to Fortune How many things do the World gaze upon think upon and discourse upon and yet not one thought one word of God all the time What more contingent than the falling of a sparrow on the grōnd And yet even that is not unexpected to him but it flows from his will counsel What lesse taken notice of or know than the hairs of your head yet these are particularly numbred by him and so no power in the World can add to them or diminish from them without his counsell O what would the belief of this do to raise our hearts to sutable thoghts of God above the creatures to encrease the fear faith and love of God and to abate from our fear of men our vain and unprofitable cares and perplexities How would you look upon the affairs of men the counsels contrivances endeavours successes of men when they are turning upside down and plotting the ruine of his people establishing themselves alone in the earth What would you think of all these revolutions at this time Many souls are astonished at them and stand gazing at what is done and to be done and this is the very language of your spirits and wayes The Lord hath forsaken the earth the Lord seeth not this is the language of our Parliaments and people they do imagine that they are doing their own businesse and making all sure for themselves But O what would a soul think that could escape above them all and arise up to the first wheele of present motions A soul that did stand upon the exaled Tower of the Word of God and looked off it by the prospect of faith would presently discover the circle in which all these wandrings and changes are confined and see Men States Armies Nations and all of them doing nothing but turning about in a round as horse in a Mill from Gods eternall purpose by his Almighty Power to his unspeakeable glory you might behold all these extravagant motions of the creatures inclosed within those limits that they must begin here and end here though themselves are so beastly that they neither know of whom nor for whom their counsels and actions are Certainly Satan cannot break without this compasse to serve his own humour principalities and powers cannot do it if they will not glorifie him he shal glorifie himself by them and upon them Gen. 2. 17. In that day thou eatest thou snalt die the death Gen. 1. 26. Let us make man according to our image THe state wherein man was created at first you heard was exceeding good all things very good and he best of all the choisest externall visible peece of Gods workmanship made according to the most excellent pattern after our Image though it be a double misery to be once happy yet seeing the knowledge of our misery is by the grace of God made the entry to a new happinesse it is most necessary to take a view of what man once was that we may be more sensible of what he now is You may take up this Image and likenesse in three branches First there was a sweet conformity of the soul in its understanding will and affections unto Gods holinesse light A beautifull light in the mind dirived from that fountain-light by which Adam did exactly know both divine and naturall things What a great difference doth yet appear between a learned man and an ignorant rude person though it be but in relation to naturall things the one is but like a beast in comparison of the other O how much more was there between Adams knowledge and that of the most learned The highest advancement of Art and Industry in this life reaches no further then to a learned ignorance of the mysteries in the works of God and yet there is a wonderfull satisfaction to the mind in it But how much sweet complacency hath Adam had whose heart was so enlarged as to know both thing higher and lower their natures properties vertues and severall operations No doubt could trouble him no difficulty vex him no controversie or question perplex him but above all The knowledge of that glorious eternall Being that gave him a being and iniused such a spirit into him the beholding of such infinite treasures of wisdome and goodness power in him what an amiable and refreshfull sight would it be when there was no cloud of sin and ignorance to interpose and eclipse the full enjoyment of that increated light When the Aspect of the Sun makes the Moon so glorious beautifull What may you conceive of Adams soul framed with a capacity to receive light immediatly from Gods countenance How fair and beautifull would that soul be until the dark cloud of sin did interpose it self Then consider what a beautifull rectitude and uprightnesse what a comely order and subordination would ensue upon this light and make his will and affections wonderfull good Eccl. 7. 29. God made man upright There was no throw or crack in all all the powers of the sou bending upright towards that fountain of all gooness now the soul is crooked bends downward towards those base earthly things that is the abasement of the soul then it looked upright towards God had no appetite no delight but in him and his fulnesse and had the Moon or changeable World under its feet there was a beauty of holynesse and righteousnesse which were the colours that did perfect
that so many do abide in themselves and trusting to their own good purposes resolutions endeavoâ—…s do think to pacifie God and help themselves out of their misery But O look again and look in upon your selves in the glass of the Word and there is no doubt but you vvill straightway be filled vvith confusion of face and be altogether spoiled of good confidence and hope as you call it you vvill find your self plunged in a pit of misery and all strength gone and none on the right hand or the left to help you and then and not till then vvill the second Adams hand stretched out for our help be seasonable That vvhich next follows is that vvhich is the companion of sin inseparably Death hath past upon all and that by sin Adams one disobedience opened a port for all sin to enter upon mankind and sin cannot enter vvithout this companion Death Sin goes before and Death follows on the back of it and these suite one another as the vvork and the vvages as the tree and the fruit they have a sibness one to another sowing to corruption reaps an answerable harvest to vvit corruption Sowing to the vvind and reaping the vvhirlewind how suitable are they That men may know how evil and bitter a thing sin is he makes this the fruit of it In his first Law and sanction given out to men he joyns them inseparably sin and death sin and vvrath sin and a curse By Death is not only meant bodily death which is the separation of the soul from the body but first the spiritual death of the soul consisting in a separation of the soul from Gods blessed enlightning enlivening and comforting countenance Mans true life wherein he differs from beasts consists in the right aspect of God upon his soul in his walking with God and keeping communion with him all things besides this are but common and base and this was cut off his comfort his joy and peace in God extinct God became terrible to his conscience and therefore man did flee and was araid when he heard his voice in the garden Sin being interposed between God and the soul cut off all the influence of heaven Hence arises darkness oâ—… mind hardness of heart delusions vile affections horror of conscience Look what difference is between a living creature and a dead carcase so much is between Adams soul upright living in God and Adams soul separated from God by sin Then upon the outward man the curse redounds the body becoms mortal which had been incorruptible it 's now like a besiedged City now some outward sorts are gained by diseases now by pains and torments the outward wals of the body are at length overcome and when life hath fled into a Castle within the City the heart that is at last all besiedged so straitly and stormed so violently that it must render unto death upon any terms The body of man is even a seminary of a world of diseases and grievances that if men could look upon it aright they might see the sentence of death every day performed Then how many evils in estate in friends and relations in imployments which being considered by Heathens hath made them praise the dead more then the living but him not yet born most of all because the present life is nothing else but a valley of misery and tears a sea of troubles where one wave continually prevents another and comes on like Iobs messengers before he speak out his woâ—…ul tydings another comes with such like or worse But that which is the sum and accomplishment of Gods curse and mans misery is that death to come eternal death not death simply but an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power An infinite loss because the loss of such a glorious life in the enjoyment of Gods presence and an infinite hurt and torment beside and both eternal Now this is that we would lay before you you are under such an heavy sentence from the womb a 〈◊〉 of the Almighty adjudging you for Adams guilt and your own to all the misery in this world and the next to all the treasures of wrath that are heaped up against the day of wrath and strange it is how vve can live in peace and not be troubled in mind vvho have so great and formidable a party Be perswaded O be perswaded that there shal not one â—…ot of this be removed it must be fulfilled in you or your Cautioneâ—… and vvhy then is a Savior offered a City of refuge opened and secure sinners vvill not flee into it But as for as many as have the inward dreadful apprehension of this vvrath to come and knows not vvhat to do know that to you is Jesus Christ preached the second Adam a quickning Spirit and in that consideration better then the first not only a living soul himself but a Spirit to quicken you vvho are dead in sins one that hath undertaken for you and vvill hold you fast Adam vvho should have kept us lost himself Christ in a manner lost himself to save us And as by Adams disobedience all this sin misery hath abounded on man know that the second Adam his obedience and righteousness is of greater vertue and efficacy to save and in stead of sin to restore righteousness and in stead of death to give life therefore you may come to him and you shal be more surely kept then beâ—…ore 1. Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Iesus Christ came in the world to save sinners OF all Doctrines that ever vvere published to men this contained here is the choisest as you see the very preface prefixed to it import And truly as it is the most excellent in it self it could not but be sweet unto us if we had received into the heart the belief of our own wretchedness misery I do not know a more soveraign cordial for a fainting soul then this faithful saying That Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners And therfore we are most willing to dwel on this â—…ubject and to inculcate it often upon you That without him ye are undone and lost and in him you may be saved I profess all other subjects howsoever they might be more pleasing to some hearers are unpleasant and unsavory to me This is that we would once learn and ever be learning to know him that came to save us and come to him We labored to show unto you the state of sin and misery that Adams first transgression hath subjected all mankind unto which if it were really and truly apprehended I do not think but it would make this saying welcome to our souls Man being plunged into such a deep pit of misery sin and death having over-flowed the whole world and this being seen and acknowledged by a sinner certainly the next question in order of nature is this Hath God left all to perish in this
estate Is there any remedy provided for sin and misery And this will be indeed the query of a self-condemned sinner Now there is a plank afâ—…er this broken ship there is an answer sweet and satisfactory to this question Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners We shal not expatiate into many notions about this or multiply many branches of this The matter is plain and simple and we desire to hold it out plainly and simply that this is the remedy of sin and misery When none could be â—…ound on the right hand or left hand here a Savior from heaven comes down from above whence no good could be expected because a good God was provoked Can any good come out of Nazareth that was a proverb concerning him But I think in some sense it might be said can any good thing come down from heaven from his holy â—…abitation to this accursed earth Could any thing â—…e expected from heaven but wrath and vengeance And if no good could be expected that way what way could it come Sure if not from heaven then from no â—…rt yet from heaven ouâ—… help is come from vvhence it could not be looked for even from him vvho vvas offended and his justice engaged against man that he might both satisfie justice and save man that he might not vvrong himself nor destroy man utterly he sends his only begotten Son equal vvith himself in majesty and glory into the vvorld in the state of a servant to accomplish mans salvation and perform him satisfaction Therefore Christ came into the world to save sinners There vvere two grand impediments in the way of mans salvation which made it impossible to man one is Gods justice another is mans sin these two behoved to be satisfied or removed ere there can be access to save a sinner The sentence of divine Justice is pronounced against all mankind Death past on all A sentence of death and condemnation Now vvhen the righteousness and faithfulness of God is engaged into this how strong a party do you think that must be What power can break that prison of a divine curse and take out a sinner from under Justice hand Certainly there is no coming out till the uttermost farthing be paid that was owing till compleat satisfaction be given to all vvrongs Now truly the redemption of the soul had ceased for ever it 's so precious that no creature can give any thing in exchange for it except Jesus Christ had come into the vvorld one that might be able to tread that winepress of wrath alone give his life a ransomer in value far above the soul and pay the debt of sin that vve vvere owing to Goâ—… And indeed he vvas furnished for this purpose a peâ—… son suted and fitted for such a vvork A man to undertake it in our name and God to perform it in hiâ—… own strength A Man that he might be made undeâ—… the Law and be humbled even to the death of 〈◊〉 cross that so he might obey the commandment aâ—… suffer the punishment due to us and all this was elevated beyond the vvorth of created actions or sufferings by that divine nature This perfumed all hiâ—… Humanity and all done by it or in it this put the stamp of Divinity upon all and imposed an infinite value upon the coyn of finite obedience and sufferings And so in his own person by coming into the vvorld and acting and suffering in the place of sinners he hath taken the first great impediment out of the vvay taken down the high vvall of divine Justice vvich had enclosed round about the sinner and satisfied all its demands by paying the price so that there is nothing upon Gods part to accuse or condemn to hinder or obstruct salvation But then there is an inner vval or dark dungeon of sin into vvhich the sinner is shut up and reserved in chains of his own lusts until the time of everlasting darkness and vvhen Heaven is opened by Christs death yet this keeps a sinner from entring iâ—… Therefore Jesus Christ vvho came himself into thâ—… vvorld to satisfie Justice and remove its plea thâ—… there might be no obstruction from that airth 〈◊〉 sends out his powerful Spirit vvith the Word to deliver poor captive sinners to break down the vval of ignorance and blindness to cast down the high tower of vvickedness and enmity against God to take captive and chain our lusts that kept us in bondage And as he made Heaven accessible by his own personal obedience and sufferings so he makes sinners ready â—…nd free to enter into salvation by his Spirits vvorking in their persons In the one he had God as it vvere his party and him he hath satisfied so far that â—…here vvas a voice came from heaven to testifie it â—…is is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased â—…nd therefore in testimony of it God raised him from the dead In the other he hath Satan and mans vvicked nature as his party and these he must conquer and subdue these he must overcome ere vve can be saved A strange business indeed and a great vvork to bring such two opposite and distant parties togetheâ—… a holy and just God and a sinful and rebellious creature and to take them both as parties that he might reconcile both Now vvhat do ye think of this my beloved that â—…uch a glorious person is come down from Heaven â—…or such a glorious vvork as the salvation of sinners 〈◊〉 put no doubt it vvould be most acceptable unto you 〈◊〉 ye knew your misery and knowing your misery you could not but accept it if you believed that it vvere true and faithful I find one of these two the great obstruction in the vvay of souls receiving advanâ—…age by such glad tydings either the absolute necessiâ—…y and excellency of the Gospel is not considered or â—…he truth and reality of it is not believed Men eiâ—…er do not behold the beauty of goodness in it or 〈◊〉 not see the light of truth in it either there is noâ—…ing discovered to engage their affections or nothing â—…en to perswade their understandings Therefore â—…he Apostle sounds a Trumpet as it vvere in the entry before the publication of these glad news and commends this unto all men as a true and faithful â—…aying and as vvorthy of all acceptation There is â—…ere the highest truth and certainty to satisfie the mind It 's a faithful saying and there is here also thâ—… chiefest good to satiate the heart It 's worthy of alâ—… acceptation Now if you do really apprehend your lost and miserable estate you cannot but behold that ravishing goodness in it and behold that you cannot til you see the other first Whence is it I pray you that so many souls are never stirred vvith the propâ—…sition of such things in the Gospel that the riches aâ—… beauty of salvation in JESUS CHRIST doth not once move them Is it not because therâ—… is no lively apprehension of their misery vvithoâ—… him FINIS GLASGOW Printed by ROBERT SANDERS and are to be sold at his Shop M. DC LXVII