that are subject to faint and droop in respect of the afflictionâ— that are likely or at least seeme to be likely to grow upon the Church of Christ Feare not be not dismayed I am thy God I am with thee In the words there are two generalls very remarkable and observable First the temper of the spirit that the Lord aimes to reduce his people unto Secondly the course the Lord takes to reduce them thereunto The temper of spirit that the Lord desires to reduce his people unto is delivered in a double expression Feare not bee not dismayed They are both one saving that dismayednesse is the highest extremity of feare so then the temper that he endeavours to reduce them unto is a quietnesse and settlednesse and undauntednesse of spirit Secondly the course that God takes to bring them to this temper of spirit is a proposall of motives and arguments of sufficient effect and prevalency to pull down vain feare out of the heart Feare not for I am thy God I am with thee and so forth The result of the Text is briefly this They need never to be affraid nor dismayed at any thing though it appeare never so hideous who have God for their God and present with them and a help unto them Beloved these are times as I hinted before unto you that require such a cordial as this now mentioned unto you For now in a more eminent way then ever before is the glory of the Kingdome of Christ contested against and attempted to be thrown down to the dust Now when wee heare of evills our hearts are subject to be dismayed and especially when wee see them with our eyes the sword is drawne nay blood is drawne the hearts of men are full of faintings and many almost at their wits ends many begin to suspect what will become of things out of the fainting suspicion of their spirits And therefore now now it is time to bring forth out of the treasures of the Lord that that may stay the spirits of the people of God that is such an incouragement as the Lord himselfe gives which will be the best way in the world to establish our hearts namely when God will say to a soule Feare not be not dismayed for I am thy God it is a cup of consolation indeed And that wee may draw it forth to you with the better advantage for you to drinke deepe of it let us take these particulars into consideration First what it is not to feare nor to be dismayed Secondly what it is that wee must not feare and be dismayed at Thirdly what the fruite of fear or dismayednesse is or what prejudice or disadvantage feare or dismayednesse brings along with them Fourthly wee shall then consider the motives of the Lord to take us off from these distempers of feare and dismayednesse namely because God is our God and in that wee shall consider First what it is for God to be thy God Secondly we shall consider what strength there is in this Argument God being thy God how this takes off fear and dismayednesse And Thirdly seeing there is such strength in this Argument we shall consider how God doth become the God of persons and people that so you may see the way to enter into this priviledge to have God for your God and so to bee secured from fear and dismayednesse To begin with the first what it is for a person not to feare nor be dismayed I have observed concerning all the passions and affections of men that the sense of them far better open their nature then any discourse possibly can When a fit of feare especially when the height of dismayednesse it selfe seizes upon a spirit that spirit may read a playner lecture to it self of that Passion then all the Rhetorick of men in the world can expresse I mean fear is such a passion as every one knowes better by those experiments they have of it what it is then another is possible able to discribe It is a very distracting disturbing confounding passion it is a kinde of besotting passion that makes men lose themselves especially if it be in the extremity of feare It arises from an apprehension of some unavoidable insupportable evill growing upon a person and occasioned either by some symptomes of that evill or by some messenger or other relating it or by some foresight of the evill in the eye Now as evill appears greater or lesser and more or lesse tolerable so the passion of feare is more or lesse in persons In brief I will give you but a touch of the nature of this passion and you shall have it delivered to you in the words of the Psalmist where he sets it forth by its contrary by what it is not to be afraid or not to be dismayed in 112 Psalme the 7. and 8. verses the Psalmist hath divers expressions that plainly shew what it is for a person not to bee affraid Hee shall not bee moved saith hee his heart is fixed hee shall not be affraid his heart is established Marke the phrases and in them you shall have a full Lecture read to you of a heart not affraid nor dismayed First it is a heart that is not moved nor stirred suppose evill grows on it may bee the sword the enemy appeares bigger and bigger still the dangers are greater and greater what is it now not to be affraid It is not to be moved at all at any time so farre forth as the appearance of danger moves the heart or turnes it so farre hee is affraid So the other phrase doth import His heart is fixed You know that feare in the heart is oftentimes expressed by the shaking and trembling of it and therefore the Holy Ghost expresseth it also by the shaking of the tops of trees so it causeth an unstedfastnesse of spirit Now saith the Psalmist they shall not be affraid whose hearts are fixed that is as a post that is set deep in the ground and rammed in stands fast so that if you thrust against it it stirs not it is fixed so when any thing beats against the heart to shake it and to overthrow it when the heart of a man stirs not at it it is a fixed heart and is not affraid And so the phrase that followes his heart is established signifieth that it is made a stable and firm heart so that it cannot bee shaken In briefe to have a heart not affraid nor dismayed is to have a heart calm that lookes with a regardlesse eye as I may say upon evills when they doe grow out You shall see beloved this affection or temper of spirit not to be affraid in that sense I mention excellently described unto you in the third of Daniel and the 16. verse and there when ever you would know whether you be affraid or no you shall find alwayes as in a Lecture the thing discovered unto you You know what danger was in the eies of those three children Shadrach Meshach and
all the members of Christ all that Christ hath prevailed for with the Father they are the beloved of the Father and the darlings of his soule and his love ceaseth not nay his love diminisheth not to them when they are under the rod. One word of application and so I shall have done Is it so beloved that Christ is such an Advocate that having such a strength of plea in his righteousnesse he produceth such a good issue as to bring at the last reconciliation In a word then you know what to trust unto for your soules discharge and comfort In many things wee sin all what should uphold your spirits that your sinnes should not sink your soules Here is held out unto you the great Supporter the Righteousnesse of Christ the Righteousnesse of God I will uphold thee with the right hand of thy righteousnesse Isaiah 41. vers 10. feare not be not discouraged and why the close of all is this I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousnesse If you goe any where else for support when sin is committed your sins will sink you and swallow you up nothing can beare you up in respect of the weight of sin but the right hand of his righteousnesse that alone is the thing that must uphold your spirits or nothing at all can doe it O that the Lord would be pleased to work upon your spirits to betake your selves to this support and to fix your spirits upon the fulnesse of support and strength that is in this righteousnesse of his When the Israelites were stung by the fiery Serpents it was not the applying of a plaister could heal them only the brazen Serpent could heal them and nothing but the brazen Serpent Oh look upon the brazen Serpent the Lord Jesus look not upon any other plaister in the world but him to heal your wounded soules stung with the Serpent of your sins though they may serve for other uses yet they have not so much vertue in them as to heale the sting of sin Fix your eyes here cast your selves here rest here let the weight of your souls lean here Hee that believeth shall be saved hee that believeth not shall be damned He that believeth shall be established hee that believeth not shall not be established Oh go not to Christ as if there were not enough in him to answer your transgressions that you must carry something else with you to him that may be a help to your discharge if ever discharge from heaven come unto your spirits it is onely the hand of Christ by his Spirit that must bring it down to you and nothing in the world can doe it but that discharge as it is recorded in the Word of Grace in things that come by relation unto men and so are opened unto them How can men be satisfied concerning the thing reported but upon the credit of him that is the reporter thereof to sit down satisfied by faith concerning the truth thereof Let a man tell me never so good news if I doe not believe him my spirit is not satisfied So concerning the discharge from sin beloved you heare it related from heaven Wee have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins Now there is no way in the world to know that there is such a thing as an Advocate and Propitiation but as it is revealed from heaven The Apostle Iohn hee indeed reveales it here if hee had delivered it meerly as hee is man so it had occasioned suspicion and doubting but as it is the revelation of the Holy Ghost and of Christ himselfe by the Apostle so wee are to stick close unto it and wee shall finde rest unto our soules as wee can credit the report of it therefore as the Lord will work upon your spirits take up your rest where rest is to be found so your souls shall rest you shall lie down and sleep in peace and safety you shall sing and leap for joy and you shall have all peace and joy in believing O that men would keep up the dying language of a Martyr None but Christ none but Christ in matters of faith and stability of spirit in matters of peace of conscience as well as in matters of salvation And so I shall commend this word to the grace of God in respect of the issue thereof upon your spirits SERMON X SOLOMONS SONG 4.10 Thou art all fair my Love and there is no spot in thee THe Gospel of Christ being the great and invaluable treasure of the Church the Helena for which the Church should contend yea the Sanctuary and refuge thereof It hath pleased the Holy Ghost to present and hold forth this Gospel in variety or change of rayment as I may so speak sometimes presenting the Gospel as it were in a cloud more darkly by Visions and dreams when deep sleep was fallen upon Gods people Thus the Lord in former ages frequently held out the Gospel especially in that notable example of Jacob who while he slept had the Gospel preached unto him in the vision of a ladder that reached from earth unto heaven by which the Angels ascended and descended which Ladder was nothing else but Christ by whom alone the sons of men doe mount from the lowest condition of Sin and Misery to the highest condition of Grace and Glory Sometimes the Gospel was brought forth to the Church with a mask upon the face of it I mean in hard Riddles and dark Sentences to exercise the wits of Gods people and thus among other times the Gospel was presented unto Sampson You know the Riddle that was put forth occasioned by a Lion shine by him which being dead there was a stocke of honey in the Lion which represented unto his thoughts the admirable benefit and priviledge of the preaching of the Gospel Out of the eater came meat and out of the strong came sweetnesse It was nothing else but this Jesus Christ the Lion of the Tribe of Judah by death had a stock of honey not only nourishing but sweet to the eater Sometimes again the Gospel was presented though not with so darke masks yet with a vail over the visage and face of it that though some of the beauty of it might be seen yet in respect of the glory of it in an obscure way and thus the Gospel was exhibited unto the Jewes in their types and shadowes and thus the Gospel was held forth in their Sacrifices Temples Tabernacles Altars Mercy-seat and Incense and the like In all of which there was a generall darknesse namely a puting over the face of Moses a vail who in that represented Christ the Mediator as he was to be exhibited unto the people in those times and yet although for royalty and honours sake the Gospel was vailed yet sometimes the Holy Ghost was pleased to lift up the vail for a moment as it were that there might some glance of the beauty of it appeare
divine nature gave up it self though only in the second Person God was in Christ as much as to say whole God the divine nature assumed a humane nature and so makes up a Christ And thus God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself You shall see in the Apostles expression elsewhere that the beginning of life in a member of Christ flows from Christ Your life is hid with Christ in God It is such another phrase as the two former It is hid with Christ in God that is it is hid in that God who by being man is become Christ For that is all the difference between God and Christ all the difference I say is between God simply and absolutely considered in himself and God considered as ineffably united to the humane nature God I say thus united becomes Christ and so in such a union is reconciling the world unto himself and takes the Church who is his body The Apostle tells us further Now I live but he presently checks himself yet not I but Christ lives in me Christ is the soul of the body and as the body without a soul is dead so a person without Christ is dead I will not dispute that needlesse dispute of the Philosophers whether the soul be seated in the head principally or in the heart but this I am sure of the life and soul of the Church is in the head of the Church I am the way the truth and the life he is the life of the soul of man as the body without the soul is dead even so if there could be such a thing as the body of the Church without Christ that body were but a dead thing It hath all animal vertue from him alone It hath all life in all respects from him Take life in the first fruits in its sence or motion all spirituall sence all spirituall motion all spirituall actions and activenesse for action receives being and beginning only from Christ Hee is given for a covenant to open the blind eyes All eyes are blind till Christ opens them there is no seeing till the body receive sight and seeing from the head The head causeth us also to sinell as wel as to see the sweet savour of the ointment of Christ that makes the Virgins love him Because of the sweet savour of thy oyntments therefore do the Virgins love thee Now this savour the smell thereof being as the smel of a field that the Lord hath blessed to smel this is the sole work of Christ himselfe So also the spiritual taste to tast how good God is to relish the fatnesse and marrow and sweetnesse of the spirituall wine well refined upon the lees is all by the power of Christ and hath its being from Christ So all our feeling to feel comfort joy unspeakable and glorious all is from Christ Christ opens our eyes he boars the eares he causeth us to smell You will say all this is the worke of the Spirit why doe you say it is the work of Christ Mark what John saith in the 16. chapter the words are these He that is the spirit shal glorifie me For he shall receive of mine and he shall shew it unto you The Spirit himselfe as he dealeth with the members of Christ is the agent of Christ proceeding from Christ communicating that that is Christs to those members So that the Spirit is as it were the conduit-pipe through whom the fulnesse of the fountaine conveyes it selfe and runs forth to every member The Spirit is as the veins and nerves in the naturall body The blood you know hath its fountain from the liver but the veins carry it into every part of the body And as the naturall eye cannot see except the nerves feed it with visive spirits so neither can any eye behold the secrets of the Lord the hidden things of Christ such as he thanks his Father hee reveales unto babes while he hides them from the wise of the world except the Lord Christ do feed the members with his own Spirit It is not the eye that doth discerne and see of it selfe but the spirits that do come from the head cause sight by the eye For there may be an eye and no sight where a want of these spirits are Looke over all the Book of God and you shall finde that there is no action that comes from the Spirit but Christ is the head and spring of it You shall finde the strength and hearts of people faile when hee withdrawes himselfe It is hee that is the strength of them for ever Feare not saith the Text be not dismayed I will uphold thee I will strengthen thee There must needs be miscarriage for want of power except Christ come with his strength and power to uphold Therefore when Paul exhorts those to whom he writes to worke the workes of the Lord hee gives them this counsel Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and again saith hee Put on the whole armour of God Now it is a vain thing to think of taking up of arms except there be strength to manage them Saul thought David to be a puny when he was to sight with Goliah and had no regard to him although hee might have good armour on hee was too little a man What Saul thought of David is true of all the whole armour of God it is to no purpose except men be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might And therefore when Paul was in a strait hee begged and begged again to have strength given though hee had not an answer to his mind yet God told him My grace is sufficient for thee My strength is made perfect in weaknesse All persons are weak but as they have strength in Christ Yea there is no strength but what is his and is sent by him Let me tell you this and I beseech you consider they that have Christ for their head they have an infinite advantage above the closest hypocrite in the world although he goe never so farre All he doth is but from a weake principle Christ is not the principle of that hee doth but hee that hath Christ for his head hee hath a spring of fulnesse The Holy Ghost tells us He is full of Grace and Truth and in him dwells the fulnesse of the God-head bodily and It pleased the Father that in him all fulnesse should dwell So that you may plainely see that the preaching of Christ as head and setting up of all the glory of Christ is not the preaching of licentious liberty to men Hee that can win a person to be a true member of this head that is Christ hee brings that person into a fat soile hee transplants him from a barren soile from a rocky soil into a rich soile whereby he come to abound in all manner of fruitfulnesse And certainly beloved fruitfulnesse will be more abundant as the soule can apprehend it selfe by true faith to be a part of this head
For the head will communicate that the soule it selfe cannot contain it selfe in its own bounds The love of Christ constraines me saith Paul hee can doe no otherwise hee that is driven must needs goe Christ he drives and makes himselfe a way into his members hee breakes his own way into them and so sets them on and puts them forwards Then again Christ being the beginning of all our being he is the beginning also of all prerogatives priviledges whatsoever the Church of Christ hath they have no priviledge but as it flows from the grant of Christ As first of all Justification even Justification it selfe comes from Christ It may be that you will object that the Text saith that God justifies the ungodly and how then doth Christ justifie them I say still as I said before That which God doth Christ doth God is still in Christ God doth nothing but Christ doth all things All the Father hath he hath given to the Son The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son The meaning I take it is this God as hee is simply one divine essence in himself he doth in this simple consideration of himself not manage any thing in this kind but all that ever he manageth he manageth in his Son and this Son as he is become man So that whosoever they are that are justified they are justified by the Sonne and whosoever come to the knowledge of Justification they attaine to the knowledg of Justification also by Christ We have not received the spirit of the world but wee have received the Spirit that is of God that wee may know the things that are freely given us of God Now this Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ So then the knowledge of the things freely given us of God is by the Spirit of Christ Nothing can acquaint the soule and satisfie it of a portion and interest in Christ and being a member of Christ but by the Spirit of God that must resolve the case at last do what you can Every thing is dumb and silent but as the Spirit of God doth speak The Word of God and even the word of grace is a dumb letter but as the Spirit of the Lord doth speak in it or with it and so of all things in the world And therefore beloved know you run into those two great evills the Holy Ghost speakes of in Jeremiah the forsaking the fountaine of living water and the digging to your selves cisterns that can hold no water while you forsake Christ the spring fountain and go to pump and fetch any thing you take from any thing besides him If you run to creatures you make not Christ the beginning You will say you suppose Christ to be the beginning in all and you believe him so to be But I say Is this a good supposition of Christ when he is not thought of shall he be but supposed and shall services be set up to take up all the affections and all the suits and pleadings of your hearts How hath Christ all the priority In the 18. verse of the 1. chapter to the Colossians hee is said to be the head of the body of the Church That hee might have the pre-eminence in all things Why do people then run to other things and magnifie and extoll and exalt other things while Christ shall not have a good word Nay people are affraid to speake out of things that are Christs for fear of giving liberty to people to sin and charge people to take heed of the setting forth of Christ and Grace by him as a dangerous Doctrine So seldome daring to speake of the excellencies of Christ and of the excellent priviledges and benefits that come by and from Christ nor of the freenesse of those things that are conveyed to us in and through Christ And why Oh! this will make men run out into all manner of licentiousnesse and prophanenesse without controll and so Christ shall be suppressed for feare of giving liberty and in the meane while other things shall bee set up above Christ the divine Rhetorick of Repentance and Humiliation the prevalency of teares to wash away sin and our conscionable walking will commend us to GOD at the last day Here must bee a magnifying of mans righteousnesse and when these things come to be examined they are but rhetoricall expressions Beloved God grant that our Rhetorick may advance him that is to bee advanced and keepe all other things in their own places that are to be kept low that nothing may have the preeminence of Christ Christ being the head and the beginning of all things that the people of God may go with their buckets to the wells of salvation and draw waters of life from thence and not runne to muddy puddles The zeale of the Lord I meane of the Lord Christ who hath so magnified the riches of his grace to the Sons of men should eat up your spirits raise up your soules against every thing that doth raise it selfe up to exalt it self above Christ If Christ be not the beginning but somthing else let that have the preeminence but if Christ be the beginning let him have the preeminence as Eliah once said to the Idolatrous Israelites that had fortaken the Lord had set up the works of their own hands instead of him If Baal be God then worship him but if God be God then serve and worship him So I say at this present unto you If you will acknowledge Christ to be the beginning let it appear in the setting of him up above all other things in your hearts and thoughts Make him your sanctuary make him your refuge wait upon him for all things Why are your hearts so cast downe It may be corruptions prevail within you fear not Is not there enough in the fountaine to refresh thee and supply thee with strength against them Doth Satan seek to overcome you by his temptations like a roaring Lion seek to devour you he is able to tread down Satan under your feet Beloved will you starve in a Cooks shop as they say Is there such plenty in Christ will you perish for hunger You wil answer it may be you would close with Christ you would goe to Christ for supply with all your hearts but you dare not you are afraid Christ will reject you if you come to him Beloved come to Christ Christ will not cast you off Is there any thing in the world you would have would you have joy and peace come to him and the God of peace wil ful you with all peace and joy in believing Would you have your iniquities subdued come to him and sin shall not have dominion over you saith the Apostle for Ye are not under the Law but under Grace For it is the grace of God that brings salvation salvation from sin as well as salvation from wrath And this Grace of God saith the Apostle will teach you to deny all ungodlinesse and worldly â—usts There is no greater motive in the world to encourage man to venture upon any thing that Christ puts him upon then this That he hath Christ to inable and to lead him through it In the mean time give me leave to â—ut one caution to you Christ I say being the head and as the head being the beginning the supplier of all things pertaining to life godlinesse if there bee any person that either now or at any other time make these most desperaâ—â— conclusions from any thing that they have heard as that they may continue in sin and that they may go on in iniquity Christ hath dyed for them let them sin as much as they can they cannot out-sin the death of Christ If there be any person that doe charge any such untruth upon any Minister and will collect such blasphemies from the Doctrine of the Gospel oâ— Christ let them know that God will eitheâ— bring them to see the greatnes of their folly 〈◊〉 to be ashamed of it or for ought I know theâ— may have their deserved portion in the loweâ— part of hell I dare be bold to say there is noâ— people under heaven who are so prejudiciall 〈◊〉 the Gospel of Christ as such stumbling blocks are nor unto trembling hearts that would faiâ— close with the free grace of God in Christ aâ— such persons that take liberty to sin that gracâ— may abound causing the Gospel to be evill spoken of and detested causing that scandalouâ— name to be raised upon the Gospel that it is a doctrine of liberty Beloved as hee that hath called you is holy so you that are called 〈◊〉 ye holy in all manner of conversation and 〈◊〉 he that hath called you will make you holy 〈◊〉 he is holy First in a word here is matter of exhortatiâ—â— if Christ be the head and the beginning of â—â—l things look up to the head suck at the head raw from the heâ— let nothing draw you â—om the head 2ly Here is matter of consolation to all the â—embers of Christ as long as the head hath in self the body shall never want Such a head â—hrist is that hath al fulnes in him he can neâ—â—r be drawn dry Christ is not as the springs â—â—b speaks of brooks that fail in summer but â—is spring is of such an excellent nature that he â—akes an everlasting spring in the heart whereâ—to he pours himself so saith he He that drinâ—â—th of the waters that I will give him shall never â—irst again but the waters shall be in him a well â—ith Christ bubling up unto eternall life Know â—ssuredly be consident of it God must cease 〈◊〉 be God before there can be a lack of supply 〈◊〉 what is useful for you Christ is head as he 〈◊〉 head he is God as wel as man God himselfe â—en must be drawn dry before you shal want â—ny thing that is good for you Therfore let Saâ—â—n all the world set themselves against you â—â—u shall never have cause to say all the springs â—e dried up now there is no hope of any more â—pply for certainly the Lord will maintain â—â—ntinue that which he hath undertaken I am â—d and change not therefore ye sons of Jacob are consumed FINIS
waâ— before So it is with all â—istempers in your soules by reason of sin if you look upon any beside the brazen Serpent your distemper will returne with double vigour upon you But certainly one vision of Jesus Christ will hid defiance to the stoutest of your lusts and all the powers of darknesse combined with them and in an encounter wilmore than conquer them The Host of Israel was very great well prepared for the battel but if ever the day be won David must come into the field Our fastings and prayers appeare a huge Host but they will rather gaze upon than ingage against an enemie if Jesus Chrisâ— be not in the field but the very câ—â—nte nance of Jesus Christ doth soon â—ill the enemie the avenger and makes all theâ— issue of sia in the soul to orove abortive The marrow of al this you have clearly laia open in the demonstration oâ— the Spirit in the following Sermons which I am confident to all that are led by the â—perit wilâ— be a ful vindication of the truth of Christ and of the worthy Author from those basâ— aspersions cast upon both by pride ignorance You shall sinde the sumâ—ne of this Work to be the sole exaltation of the Lord Jesus in Saints and duties and the debasing and trampling upon all flesh that shaâ— aspire to the seat of Christ the reviving and encouraging of drooping hearts by presenting Christ not themselves in alâ— his accomplishments to them Now if the world shall haptize this doctrine Antinomianisme the Lord grant that all the doctrine preached throughout the world may deservedly he caled by that name Ye thaâ— know Christ be not afraid notwithstanding all the censures of the world to reade the book and receive the truth be assured it is not presented to thee as a bait which is an 〈◊〉 troduction to a snare but if the Spirit of Jesus accompany it thou wilt certainly say as Christ did I have meate to eat which ye know not of I should rather cloud the work then honour it if I should proceed to a further commendation of it I leave it therefore to the Spirit to make out the worth of it to the spirits of the Saints and am concluded under this faith that all the malice and carnall wisdome of this generation shall never be able to interrupt the course of it As for the Author though hee was never known to me yet those works of his which I have perused do encourage me to believe that whilst he lived in the world he lived in God and now his earthly tabernacle being dissolved he is taken up into that fulnesse which hee only saw in part whilst he lived here and though whilst he was upon earth it might he his portion with his Lord and Master to bee mocked and buffeted in the High Priests hall yet now sits with him 〈◊〉 fruition of that glory for which â—e was theâ— a susserer what â—ow reâ—eatins but that yeâ— which through the Spirit have tasted thâ— sweetness of 〈◊〉 Ministry in the same spirit look up to your Father and neg of 〈◊〉 that those who survive in the worke of the Gospel may goe on where he left in the plentifull effusion of the Spirit the glorious truths of Christ may bee amongst thâ— Saints as the Sun in his height and amongst the rest forget not him though unworthy to be numbred with them who iâ— ambitious of nothing else but to he All in Christ and nothing in self Geo. Cokain To the impartial READER READER TRUTH needs no shield to shelter it her oâ—â—n bare breasts are armor of proof against all daring darts of ignorance and pride and therefore walks fearlesse in the midst of all those vollies of bitter words who ever vaunts in putting on his harness Truth only triumphs in putting it off this never quits the field without the Garland God that calleth to the combat carrieth on with a conquering hand the gates of hell assaolt but prevail not wee can do nothing against the truth but for the truth The Prince of the air musters up his forces and retreats his blacke guard falls on with him and are shamefully beaâ—e back kings with their armies flie before it the powers of darkness like Jebu march against it suriously they attempt storm but a the brightness that is before this Sun the thick clouds remove one of truth subverts the tents of darknessâ— What is stronger then truth whâ—â—e going out is as the morning â—â—eth up to a gloâ—â—ious day That ancient Emâ—â—eme is a true Image of truth a candle in a lanthorn upon 〈◊〉 bill beleaguered 〈…〉 blasts 〈…〉 the flag of defiâ—â—ce with this Morto Frusi à . It is buâ— lost labour to dig a trouch about that city for which the Lord â—ath appâ—â—ted salvation for walls and bulwachâ— but though it be secured from subveâ—sion yet it is not protected froÌ„ opposition You know how it went with Christ was not his cradle cut out of the same wood of which his crosse was made His first entrance upon the stage of this world portended a black day at his departing his sudden flight into Egypt from Herods barbarouâ— jealousie was but the Prologue to that sad Tâ—agedy which he ended on Mâ—unt-Calvary nor may his children or servants expect better antertainmâ—nt bonds or afflictions or both abide them that are faithfull they have called the Master an impostor 〈◊〉 Beelzebub Is the servant above his 〈◊〉 I know this sâ—â—vant of truâ—h hath had 〈◊〉 in suffering for it â—nâ—â—â—â—s men pursue those that out-goâ— them a Pâ—â—â—sâ—e will frone any even Christ that shall 〈◊〉 to teach them beyond their old diviâ—â—y Much dirty geer hath been cast upon the Author of this book which if it could have fastned on him I were by speciall ingagements bound to wipe it off but a false tongue cannot make a guilty person Rabsheka's railing made no breach in Jerusalems wals Christ alone must be exalted and all flâ—sh made his foot-stool But there bee some that seeke to darken the wisdome of God with the words of man and draw a specious vail over divine mysteries that so it may be not intentionally understanding is hid from the simple these make a fair shew in the flesh But I had rather see the King in his plainest cloaths then his fool in a painted coat Where is the Scribe where is the wise where is the disputer of this world The loftinesse of man must be laid low his glory buried in the dust all his perfections come to an end but if thou desirest to see truth in a comely dresse cleer complexion thou maist have a full view thereof in this ensuing Discourse Say not the Treasise is too smal to contain so vast a subject but rather admire his skill that discovers so much of heaven through so smal a prospective Wee applaud their art that contract the wide world into the narrow compasse of a slender Map What a deal of worth
him and the doctrine he preached which for that reason amongst others are now come into the world before their ful growth the Author being taken away before he could bring forth all his conceptions in the pursuite of those two subjects which we desire the Reader candidly to accept as the last breathings forth of the Spirit in that precious Saint whilest hee was below But if this stops not the mouth of envie I shall not thinke any cost too great to raise up continue the memory of truths favorites and friends nor esteeme any labour too much whereby I may approve my selfe the friend and servant of Je-Christ Jesus and his Church otherwise then which by Gods grace thou shalt never finde The subject of Christ and servant of his Saints Henry Pinnell A briefe Table of the Heads of these SERMONS SERMON I. VPON Isaiah 41.10 Fear not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I wil help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousnesse p. 1 Wherein are observed First the temper of spirit God aims to reduce them to not to fear page 11 Wherein I. What it is not to fear or be dismayed p. 13 II. What it is we must not feare nor be dismayed at p. 18 1 Not our sins explained and proved p. 19 2 Not the sins of others p. 27 3 Not afflictions or chastisements p. 29 4 Not men p. 31 1 Not their wrath p. 32 2 Not their policie p. 33 3 Not their instruments of cruelty 34 III. What are the fruits or disadvantages by fearfulnesse 1 In respect of God which are that it casts slanders 1 Vpon the power of God p. 40 2 Vpon his faithfulnesse p. 41 3 Vpon his care providence p. 42 4 Vpon his free grace p. 43 5 Vpon the sufferings of Christ p. 44 2 In respect of Gods service 1 By weakening faith p. 45 2 By damping all other religious services as prayer c. p. 45 SERMON II. Secondly the course the Lord takes to reduce them to this temper of spirit as to be free from fear dismayednesse which is by proposing to them the motives in the Text I am thy God c. Where are observed 1 What it is for God to be thy God p. 62 wherein the faithful propriety in God is largely explained in generall 2 What he hath who hath God for his Where his treasure is looked upon p. 72 1 In regard of the quality or worth of it p. 74 2 In regard of the vertue of it p. 75 3 In the universality and variety of the usefulnesse of it p. 76 3 By answering severall Objections is shewed how it is so wel with those that are the Lords by their interest in this treasure notwithstanding some appearances to the contrary beginning p. 78 4 How God doth become their God and upon what terms Answ Freely from Gods own good pleasure in Christ p. 88 5 How God is found or known to be the God of his people Answ 1 By the Spirit of God as the efficient p. 93 2 By faith as the passive instrument laying hold upon the word of grace Subordinately in Prayer and other Ordinances p. 94 SERMON III. VPON 1 John 2.1 2. My little children these things I write unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins not for our sins only but for the sins of the whole world Herein observe 1 First the connexion of these words These things I write that ye sin not where this point is offered Doct. That the knowledge of Propitiation and forgivenesse is the strongest meanes to restrain sin p. 106. This is 1 Proved from p. 106 by Scriptures at large 2 Objections answered from p. 119 to the end SERM. IV. 2 The words themselves wherein four generall heads are considered I. What it is for Christ to be an Advocate and how he doth manage it p. 152 Answ 1 Aduocateship is an office to plead the indemnity of the client in a way of Justice Christ having made satisfaction unto Justice p. 153 SERM. V. 2 He manageth his Advocateship by his intercession or continuall representation of his satisfaction as Alsufficient for us p. 169 c. II. Whos 's cause it is that Christ doth undertake to be an Advocate for Answ 1 For all Believers at all times 173 2 Yea for all the elect in some degree though they be for the present in a state of unbelief p. 175 III. How Christ is gifted or qualified for this office of advocateship p. 181 Answ He is First Christ Secondly Jesus Thirdly The Righteous 1 He is Christ that is anointed which imports 1 That hee is authorized and called to this office p. 182 2 That he is sufficiently gifted thereunto p. 185 2 He is Jesus i.e. Certainly saving those he pleads for p. 187 SERM. VI. 3 Hee is the righteousnesse hence is observed 1 That all the strength of Christs plea consists in his Righteousness p. 197 2 What this Righteousnesse is 1 Negatively Not the righteousnesse of our workes p. 221 2 Not the righteousnesse of faith it 〈◊〉 as acted by us and 〈…〉 in us p. 214 SERM. VII 3 Here â—â—â—â—sonally is shewed that justification in the Court of heaven is before faith p. 225 2 Pâ—sitevely The righteousnesse of Christ as Mediator God and man p. 238 That is 1 His active obedience 239 2 His passive obedience 241 3 There is an accesse of value comming hereunto by the dignity of the person being God as well as man p. 243 SERM. VIII 4 An Objection that faith is said to be our coming to Christ therefore there can be no union before it which is at large answered from p. 258. to the end SERM. IX IV. What it is for Christ to be the Propitiation for the sins of the people p. 288 1 Explained first in its type It is to have him for our Mercy-seate where 1 Where only the incense of our services being offered are acceptable p. 290 2 Where the Scape-goatis prepared that hath carried all our sinnes into a land of forgetfulnesse p. 291 3 Where God returneth all his gracious answers to us p. 291 2 In its own nature being the same with Atonâ—mâ—n or Reconciliation p. 292 to the end SERMON X. UPON Solomoâ—s 〈…〉 â—4 10. Thou art all fair my Lâ—ve and 〈…〉 spot in thee Herein 1 He digressed by way of Apologie to cleer himself 〈…〉 in imputations cast upon him page 322. As 1 The first slander that â—â—e had affirmed that the Righteousnesse of Christ as God-mâ—â— was not sufficient to make a compleat righteousness p. 322 2 That he had denyed Christ by denying faith and repentance p. 325 3 That he should affirme that an elect person might live and die an Whoremonger an Adulterer and in all kind of prophanenesse p. 326 All which hee utterly
Object Do you not see them dead you will say Answ But marke what the Apostle saith Our life is hid with Christ in God It is true there is a naturall life and that life may be destroyed as well as the life of a wicked man but yet the soule of a Believer is not destroyed the soul is cannon-proof all the devills in hell cannot destroy it The life that I now live I live by the faith of the Some of God Christ himselfe is our life Now when Christ who is our life shall appeare then shall wee appeare with him in glory So that Christ himselfe may be killed before our lives shall bee destroyed by the enemies You that are Believers have this advantage of your enemies the unbelievers you may take away their lives but they cannot take away your lives They have but one life a naturall life but they that are Believers have a life in Christ nay Christ is their life he himself shall be annihilated before they shal All the power of the sword cannot take away that life from you it is true they may take you out of this world and the comforts of it but know this world when the Lord will have the soule separated from it is a comfortlesse world If the Lord himself should answer a person to give him life in the world when himself hath purposed to take him out of the world the world and life it self would be a hell to him Beloved know this that the Lord intends only your good in all your changes and that which is best the Lord provides for you Though your life be taken away from you where is the losse where is the hurt Consider it well beloved death is but the opening of the prison doors to let you out of prison it is but the arriving of a vessell into the haven of rest What doth the sword do when it enters into a Believer it makes but a change of immortality for mortality of life for death of strength for weaknesse of glory for shame of holinesse for sin It doth but pull down a rotten house of clay to give possession of mansions of glory It doth but take persons from a cottage at will to enter into a Lordship of inheritance for it gives full possession of an eternall inheritance The sword that enters into the breast of a Believer it doth but put him into the chamber of the Bridegroome and consummates the marriage of the Lamb to that person It is the fulfilling of the great cry of the Saints Come Lord Jesus come quickly and I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ It takes the Bride into communion and fellowship with her long-looked for Beloved and gives her possession of those things that take up her longing While we are in the flesh we are absent from the Lord we enjoy the vision of Christ now but in hope and we enjoy it but darkly but when this earthly tabernacle shall bee dissolved we have an house not made with hands saith the Apostle It doth but carry the Believer out of a barren blustering troublesome wildernesse unto his home to sit downe with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdome of glory What hurt is there in all this Confider this that when the worst comes to the worst if ye should be brought into the greatest strait that ever man was in when cruelty shall rage and swell to the very top and to its utmost bounds This is that which stayes up the heart and makes the weakest spirits strong and the want of this makes the strongest run away When a man shall thinke with himselfe if I should be now thrust through by the sword of the enemy what will become of me If I be not a member of Christ I shall go to Hell for ever Oh how will this startle him This in the heart of the stoutest souldier is enough to make him run away have he never so much courage but when a man shall stand in the face of an enemy and the bullets flye about him on every â—ide if when he shall thus think with himself What if one of these should hit me what shall become of me whither should I goe If he can but say in true faith Heaven is mine and Christ is mine I shall goe presently unto God my Father at whose right hand are ioyes for evermore I cannot have a better turne done unto me then by one of these messengers to be sent presently thither It is recorded that there was a man had a spear run at him by one that sought his life and entring it happened to lance an ulcer that all the Physitians could never cure that thrust of the spear cured the ulcer Oh beloved all the world is not able to cure the ulcers that are in Believers in respect of the cohabitation and practice of sin for sin will arise and breake forth in spite of all the world and they shall not cease to sin till they shall cease to be here below Now the sword that enters into the hearts of the Believers and members of Christ that sword at one thrust perfectly cures all the ulcers of sinfulnesse that there shall never arise any more after that Now what hurt is there in that spear that cures in stead of killing This beloved I speake by way of encouragement to all the faithfull when the enemy looks big upon you and your hearts are ready to faint consider what the Lord saith I am your God be not affraid nor dismayed Sometimes I observe people looke upon Believers with an evill eye because they doe not see them of such dejected countenances and so full of fearful expressions as are in themselves or are in others Thereupon they presently censure them to bee such as are void of sense and full of security But consider hath not the Lord promised that they shall not be moved with evill tydings Is there nothing in all the promises of God Will you say there is no strength nor truth in him in whom is the fulnesse of all that when you finde such an undauntednesse of spirit in any man that when men speake of fire and sword and the cruelty of the enemy shall say we are carelesse as touching this matter you shall say they are stupified or carnally secure Do you not therein charge the three children for the same Shall the people of God whoâ—ut of the apprehension of God being their God and being out of the gun-shot of sin say we fear not touching this matter shall they be condemned for it They know wherein pain is and misery is and death is which thou art not sensible of Do not then condemn God therefore Is thine eye evill because Gods is good Now what are the disadvantages by this dismayednesse of spirit there are three sorts of them First fearfulnesse and dismayednesse of spirit doth produce a great deal of prejudice unto God not simply to the being of God but to the glory and honour of
dismayednesse is prejudiciall to all religious duties first it is a damper of prayer Beloved you know that the life of prayer lies in faith If any man pray let him aske in faith saith St. James Faith is the wing of prayer and carries it up to heaven clip the wings of prayer and the motions of it must be slow Beloved you that are afraid doth feal and dismayednesse take hold of your spirits marke in such a fit what hearts you have to pray In brief there is this great prejudice in fear it makes all the duties that persons perform meerly selfish You know that a servant is very diligent for his master when no danger cometh but let the servant be in fear of any danger he will leave his masters businesse to shift for himselfe and seek for his own safety So consider it well whether your hearts are not for your selves in your services when there is a strong passion of feare in your spirits when a man is in prayer against some evill he fears is approaching unto him what prayer is it He is altogether for himselfe that he may be delivered from his present feare there is not a thought so far as this fear prevails that God may be glorified all the while but only of the evill that is upon him or that is like to fall upon him whereas the Believer should serve with sincerity and singlenesse of spirit he should do that which he doth as unto the Lord saith the Apostle Do not mistake it is not the spiritualnesse nor the fervency in the performance of duties that carries it duties are not expiatory helpers with Christ But I say when duties are performed as to the Lord and for the Lord and not to and for himself then are they right as services But all our hope that we must have in any condition must be only from the grace of God and all our performances that we do act must be to the Lord for what he hath done for us Therefore seeing it is the Lord himself that calls upon you and claps you on the back and bids you be not affraid take courage from the Lord and quit your selves like men In danger be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might There is this difference between Gods call and mans call to do any thing men call men to services and employments but cannot give them power ability to perform that which they are called unto but God calls and gives influence of his owne to make men doe such things as he calls them unto The Lord saith Feare not and in the voyce of the Lord there is life to frame the same temper in your hearts Christ he shall stand over your dead hearts as he did over the dead body of Lazarus saying Lazarus arise who immediatly arose the word of his mouth carried life into it and with it So it saith Fear not and immediately it takes away all feare from the spirit of that man he speaks inwardly unto other men may speak and speak their hearts out and never the better but when God calls upon you not to be afraid he is present in his Ordinances meerly for his owne sake to hold out this undauntednesse of spirit to you it is now with you if you imbrace it it is at your dores he wil make you of a strong and undaunted spirit he shal strengthen you as that Leviathan the Lord speakes of in the 41. of Job which esteemed Iron as straw and brasse as rotten wood because his scales were so strong know this that Believers are the Leviathans of God hee will so steel their spirits that they shall cut Iron as straw and Brasse as rotten wood The Lord is able to put such a spirit into you and he will make good his promise wherein he hath ingaged himselfe that his strength shall be made perfect in weaknesse therefore though you have said My strength faileth me 〈◊〉 yet the Lord shall be the strength of your heaâ—ts and your portion for ever thus you shall give that to the Lord that fearfull men rob him of that is the glory of his power of his faithfulnesse of the freenes and riches of his grace and care of his peoples welfare and Christ of his sufficiency wherein he hath promised plentifully to supply you with all spirituall strength and vigor that you shall run and not be weary that you shall walk and not be faint In a word there are a few civill respects that I will mention as motives against this fear I will but touch them First know fear especially dismayednesse puts a man besides his wits that while he is in such a passion he is to seek for common wayes of safety so that whereas men thinke that fear will hâ—lpe them to avoid danger commonly in amazednesse you shall have people stand still not able to stir or slip aside to save themselves Besides this fear is such a rack and torment that commonly those evills so much feared prove not so hurtfull nor evill to a person as the present fears and besides this feare many times it doth not only daunt the spirit of a man in himself but proves very dangerous to others you already have had sufficient experience not long since of the evill and mischiese this fear had like to have occasioned in the Army a thousand to one it was that the fear of some had not made all the rest to flye and it was a miracle of mercy that there should be so great a feare in the Army and the Army yet stand so to it feare at such a time is of a wonderfull spreading and dangerous nature fearfulnesse in one kindles fearfulnesse in many and so not only mens persons but also the Cause it selfe is hazarded but these are but low things in respect of the prejudice God himselfe sustains in the feare of men therefore for your encouragement consider what the Lord hath in store for you nothing he hath nothing he is or can give doth he think too good for you but he is willing to part with it to make you happy he parts not with his goods but with his Son for you nay beloved he parts with that which is more if any thing can be more then his Son that is himselfe Will you now deprive your selves of the sweet enjoyment of all these by your base and unbelieving and fearfull hearts Nay rather let us freely receive let us thankfully acknowledge and confidently rest upon our Fathers abundant mercy expressed in so many blessings but especially in the gift of his only Son given unto us that we might serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life Luke 1.74 75. SERMON II. Isaiah 41. vers 10. Feare thou not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousnesse VPon the like occasion that
Because thou hast seen thou believest blessed are thâ—y that have not seen and yâ— have believed Now Thomas having such a checke what had he to rest upon but this My Lords and my God When Christ seemed to be angry he closed with this O God thou aâ—â— my God thou canst not forsake me thou canst not be wanting to me thou art my own It will be worth the while to consider what the Lords being a mans owne God is I am tâ—â— God The best way to set this out unto you is to speake as plainly as may be even in the familiarest way by which you may reach some of the depth of this mystery I am thy God is aâ— much as to say thou hast a propriety in me or I am thine owne even as much thine owne as any goods or any thing else in the world is thine looke therefore what difference you may observe between these two things Much treasure great revenews in generall and thus much treasure is mine and this great revenew is mine and this land is mine I say what difference you observe between these two particulars things simply considered and things considered as yours the same difference there is between God simply considered and God considered as thine You know what difference there is in the spirits of men looking upon things in these two considerations There is this difference in outward things a poor man looks upon the riches and honours of great men with a wan heart and unâ—omfortable spirit Now the ground of it is this he looks upon them as none of his own Two malefactors are condemned to die one hath a pardon sent him the other hath none now look how these two persons do differ looking upon this one pardon so are you to conceive of the difference between God simply being God and God being their God Hee whose the pardon is can say It is my pardon Oh his heart leaps within him conceiting he hath found a ransome he hath received his life again his heart is taken up infinitly in the consideration of his pardon But look upon the other man he seeth the same pardon and looks upon it with a trembling heart and sad spirit Now all the difference of the case of these two persons depends upon the propriety in the one and want of propriety in the other A wicked man may think of God simply as God but he can never say til God reveal unto him that he is an elect person that God is his God and think upon him as his own God see then how much thy case is better for thee to consider God as thire then to consider him in himself and how great thy priviledge in of having God to be thy God But what kinde of propriety is it I answer thus much it imports as much as when thou sayest that such money is thy money or such land is thy land If you will have the nature of propriety in the 5 of the Acts and 4. verse the Apoâ—le will tell you in generall what propriety is The land speaking of that which was sold by Ananias was it not thine own When it was sold was not the money in thine owne fower So then for a man to have a thing as his owne is to have it in his own power to do with it as it is bâ—st and most prositable for his own advantage to the utmost extent of the worth of the thing As for example suppose a man hath money in his purse he wants bread he hath this mony in his owne power to dispose of it for the supply of this want and so in generall he may make use of all his money for the supplying of all his wants So Gods being a mans own God imports that so far as God will go as I may so say for a mans use and for the supply of all his necessities so far he hath power with him God himself is ingaged to give forth himself to the utmost for such a mans good Now Gods All-sufficiency reaches beyond all wants so that he that hath God for his God he hath him for all the uses that can be for his good If a man be many hundred pounds in debt and hath land that is his owne he may make use of it for the best to make him a free man again ingaged to none He may sell it and dispose of it as far as it will reach to pay his debts and to procure his discharge But if it be another mans land and not his own then he cannot make use of it to pay his own debts but must remain as he was before So the Lord is able to make up every thing that is defective or wanting to all that have propriety in him I do not say that a man can sell the Lord but I say so far as God can reach with his All-sufficiency so far may I draw up from him as from a well of salvation whatsoever I stand in need of The believer hath as free and uncontrollable right in God being his owne as hee hath in the money in his purse and the land that is his owne The one is not more in his power then the other It is true indeed a man may abuse his land or moneys and so he may abuse God too but using things as men use things that are their own that is for their best advantage they have as much use and interest in God for the uses they have occasion to use him in they have as much power with him as any thing in the world they conceive to be in their own power When God gives gold and silver to men he gives but some thick clay from himself but when God communicates himselfe he gives all that he is and he that hath God for his God hath every thing that God is or can doe God can doe nothing in the world by his Omnipotent power hee can devise nothing in the world by his infinite wisdome but all this is as much in propriety his who hath God for his God as it is Gods own Gods propriety in himself is but that he is his own Gods peoples propriety in him is that he is theirs All the difference will be this God in respect of himselfe hath the disposing of himself by himself and no other disposeth of him but himself As for the people of God because they know not how to dispose of him as I may say to their best advantage therefore hee is pleased to give out himself according to their severall occasions as he in his wisdome seeth most conducing to their good and so doth it for them As for example a father hath an Inheritance of his own the childe of this father hath land by inheritance too now during minority the childe is not capable to manage it now the one hath as much propriety in his land as the other all the difference is this the father disposeth of his land for his own use himselfe the
God should fetch any argument or any motive to make himselfe our God from what wee do And if wee could do any such thing yet there cannot be any moving power in such performances to obtaine God for our God for in the very best of our performances there is unrighteousnesse there is filthinesse any the Prophet saith that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags sweet motives to prevail with God for such a gift as to communicate himself No beloved it is not what we do but what he in his own thoughts hath freely determined to do for us Object But you will say Christ makes God to be our God Ans I answer beloved in some sense that is true but as I said before originally Christ doth not make God to be our God Give me leave to open this clearly unto you for I must tell you that Christ himself is marvellous chary and wary not to assume or take to himself that which belongs unto his Father nor should wee give to Christ himself that which belongs unto God peculiarly as giving Christ himself unto us Christ saith Give to Cesar the things that are Cesars and to God the things that are Gods and this holds as true between God and Christ as Mediator Give unto God the things that are his and to Christ the things that are his For our Saviour in John 17. at the beginning of the Chapter saith speaking to the Father in prayer I have finished the worke that thou hast given me to doe What worke was that towards the latter end of the Chapter you shall finde As thou Father art one in mee and I in thee so also they may bee one in us as much as to say that thou mightest communicate thy selfe to them observe it Christ doth professe that it is the work that his Father hath given him to do that he did not put himselfe upon it originally but the Father did put him upon it The truth is the meer good pleasure of God contriving determining and ordaining this communicating of himselfe was the first originall and ground that Christ was sent into the world that hee was conceived in the womb of a Virgin c. And the Lord by the obedience and righteousnesse of Christ hath actually brought all the benefits of the Gospel upon us to which end Christ hath done this work But the first conception of it and the foundation of it was the thing by which he was Christ and Mediator and therefore Christ could not be the originall of that eternall decree and purpose of God to communicate himself to us for the execution whereof Christ was sent into the world The Schooles have a rule that the end of a thing is first intended though it be last in execution so this that God would communicate himself to the sons of men being the end for which Christ was sent though till Christ had by vertue of his death made way there was no actuall communion yet still it was the end of Christs coming into the world it was in the mind of God before the means was in being Therefore if you will have God to be your God you must not thinke that such and such things will make God to be yours Nothing will get God to be yours but his owne free motion from himselfe by his Son Secondly there is a way by which God is found to be the God of such peopleâ— now these things being confounded together put people into a labyrinth thinking the way to find God and to get God is all one now although it is the meer good pleasure of God himself that doth bestow himselfe upon us yet he is pleased to chalk out a way whereby he may be found to be our God and that we may find him to be so we must meet God in those wayes he useth to be met in But you will say How doth God usually manifest himselfe and how is he found of his people to be theirs I answer there is an efficient of our finding out of God or a passive instrument of finding him out the way of finding out of God efficiently to be our God is the Spirit of the Lord acquainting the spirits of men with the minde of the Lord. I say he is the efficient All the world is not able to work any impression upon the spirit of a man that the Lord is his God but only the Spirit of the Lord must perswade the spirit of man that he may receive this principle It is true indeed the Spirit of the Lord doth it according to the word of Grace and speaks no more to the spirit of a man but what is in the word of Grace but the word of Grace it selfe doth not of it selfe work this impression that God is my God or thy God but the impression is wrought by the Spirit of the Lord. Object What serve all the Ordinances for will you say is not here a crying down of Ordinances There will bee still this scandall cast upon us But let me tell you there is a most comfortable use of Ordinances though they â—erve not to such high purposes as these are I say though they are not efficient to beget and finde out and reveale to the spirits of men the things that concerne God yet besides the efficient revelation of God to be our God from the Spirit alone there is a passive inâ—â—rument by which the Lord doth make himself â—nowne to be the God of his people but that way is meerly passive and not active First passively God makes himself knowne to be the God of his people by the word of his Grace and Faith laying hold upon the word of Grace revealed and more subordinately in Prayer Fasting receiving of the Lords Supper and such Ordinances so far as they are mixed with faith Now give me leave in a few words to communicate unto you the full use and utmost extent of Gods thoughts concerning the Ordinances that he hath propounded how far forth he would have the creature look upon the Ordinances and as much as may be put upon the use of them so farre forth as they are usefull Know therefore as I said before that all these Ordinances are but passive wayes of conveying this great Gift the knowledge of God to bee our God I mean more plainly thus These Ordinances are only of and in themselves empty dry chanels or pipes through which the Spirit of the Lord brings from God himselfe the Spring these riches and conveyes the same into the spirit of a man Look as a chanell digged in a dry ground is the way through which the Spring conveyes his water into a Cisterne the chanell it selfe communicates none of its own only it is a passage through which the Spring conveys his water so are all the Ordinances even Faith it self Prayer and all other services they are but chanels through which the Spirit of the Lord passeth and bringeth from the Lord himselfe the Spring and Fountain the revelation
therein Wherein he puts it to the Objectors themselves whether they can make it out how it is possible it should bee so Therefore the Apostle doth make use of it as the strength of his argument to prevaile with people In the 12. to the Romans I beseech you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice You see hee makes use of mercy and what mercy is it In the latter part of Chap. 11. he seems to intimate what that mercy is O the depth and the exceeding riches both of the Wisdome and Knowledge of God! Why wherein It follows in that he hath concluded all under sinne that he might have mercy upon all I beseeeh you by these mercies saith he and all other mercies of free Grace present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God not conforming your selves to this world as if hee had said mercy is that which wil prevail with you most of al to present your bodies a living sacrifice and not conform your selves to the world but I must go on to that we have yet to consider I have spent some time in Obiections and Answers but wee cannot now dwell upon them We are to consider now the specialties of the argument the Apostle useth here to prevail with people that they sin not Beloved this very Text is the opening of the fountaine that is set open forâ—â—ne and for uncleannes it is a spring of strong water to revive a fainting swooning spirit it is the prop of a sinking tottering soule to keep it from sinking and perishing In it the Lord Christ is revealed unto us an All-sufficient succour to all his own notwithstanding all their sins that ever they do commit Herein we are to consider 1. The matter of this argument 2. The force and strength of it in reference to the thing the Apostle would argue from hence First concerning the matter of the argument it selfe that is contained in these words If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins The force of it lies in the reference of it to the thing the Apostle calls for wherein we may consider what prevalency this Position hath to keep from sin namely for persons to know that when they doe sin they have an Advocate with the Father We will begin with the matter of the Argument first and in this Proposition there are two things observable First a Supposition Secondly a Provision of indemnity against the mischiefe of the thing supposed The Supposition laid downe is in these words If any man sin or If any man do sin The Provision of indemnity is in these words We have an Advocate with the Father c. In the supposition you may note First the thing supposed and that is Sin Secondly note the time which doth illustrate it hee doth speak of present and future sins Note I say the time whereunto the Apostle doth refer the thing supposed he doth not say If any man hath sinned heretofore in the Pretertense but he speakes of the time present If any man sin that is if any man doe sin there are some things that are spoken of the present time that are in force but onely that very instant in which they are spoken and that in stant being past the thing it selfe is also past But for this exptession If any man doe sinne it is not a transient but a permanet expression The Apostle speakes not only of his time and of the people of his time If any man sin now the words are not to be understood of that very instant onely and exclusively as having reference onely to those that did sin in his time then these words should have been transient But the meaning of the Apostle is that the present of which hee spake should bee a standing present time and the words should be of force for present even as long as the Word of God should remain upon record If any man sin So that the words are to bee understood of this present time and all present times that shall bee in the next age that shall succeed If any man sinne now or if any man sin in the next age so that there is to be understood a perpetuity of present time to bee included in this expression If any man do sinne It is of great concernment beloved that you receive this truth unlesse you exclude your selves from the benest of the Advocateship of Christ For if the words were spoken of the present time and intended only for that time wherein they were expressed what should become of us that live so many ages after that time They must therefore be of a perpetuall and permanent being Thirdly note in the supposition the nature of it if any man sinne saith the Apostle this word If here admits of a double construction either the Supposition imports a thing possible but not likely or a thing that may be likely to come to passe or rather a thing that may and will come to passe Either it is a supposition in case a thing is which it may bee will not or a supposition by way of confession and granting of the thing supposed In this place John puts not the word If by way of supposition as if it were onely likely there should bee a sinning and if there were a sinning there were an Advocate but he puts the word here by way of concession as if hee had said there must and will be sinning We Gods own people shall fall into sin it cannot be denied But for refuge when there is such sinnes committed know that there is an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous Thus you have the first part of the Text branched out unto you namely the Apostles Supposition Secondly consider the Provision that the Lord by the Apostle holds forth unto persons that are Beleevers the Members of Christ I say the provision the Lord holds out by the Apostle for their indempnity against these sins that they do or shall commit namely We have an Advocate with the Father In this Provision observe First the office assigned for the making good of such provision The office assigned here is mentioned in these words We have an Advocate with the Father Secondly note in this provision the person to whom this office of Advocateship is given and therein the ability and qualification of this person to this office to manage it effectually in these words Jesus Christ the righteous Thirdly the issue and the event of the execution of this office in these words He is the propitiation for our sins In the office that the Lord sets on foot for the provision of indemnity against sin being committed you may observe in it 1. The office it selfe and that is an Advocateship 2. The propriety of this office or the relation of it to the persons that are the members of Christ The Apostle doth not say
is Jesus Christ the righteous we have therefore proposed to be considered First how cleer the Scripture is in this truth that it is his righteousnesse that carries the cause of a poor Believer when he hath sinned and gets the discharge for his sin after it is committed I say the plea lies in his righteousness I cannot insist upon the Scriptures mentioned they are very plentifull We came further to consider what this righteousnesse of his is that hath such a strength of plea in it the resolution of this I distributed into two heads First Negative Secondly Affirmative First the righteousnesse which carries away the cause and obtains the discharge of a Believers sin is no righteousnesse of our own no not so much as the righteousnesse of faith as it is our act of believing Here we left the last day I will give you a touch of the impossibility that faith should so plead for the discharge from sin in its own name or strength as to carry away the cause on the side of this person sinning It is true the Apostle speaks of the righteousnesse of faith in the 10. to the Romans about the 4. verse A righteousnesse of faith there is indeed but that righteousnesse which is here given and ascribed unto faith is afterwards appropriated to the Word that is unto the Gospel that is the righteousnesse of faith speaks on this wise say not in thine heart who shall ascend up into Heaven that is to bring Christ from thence or who shall descend into the deep But what saith it The Word is nigh thee in thy heart in thy mouth That is in the word in the heart and in the mouth that is the word of Faith and so not the righteousnesse of a mans own act of believing I cannot dwell upon what I have delivered before There are some things briefly to be considered even about our believing as it hath a stroke in the discharge from sin or in the pardon of sin The truth is beloved some hand faith hath in this businesse but it is not any righteousnesse in the act of believing that carries any stroke in it If you will consider it well you shall easily see there is no more righteousnesse in our believing as we do act believing then there is in any other gracious act whatsoever we do there is no more righteousnesse in the act of our beleving then is in our love of God nay more there is as much sinfulnesse in our act of believing as in our acting of other gifts There is no man under Heaven hath attained unto that height of believing or that strength of faith but there is still something wanting some imperfection and sinfulnesse in it And as there is weaknesse and imperfection in believing so it is not possible that this believing should give forth such a righteousnesse as to constitute a person who is unrighteous in himself to be righteous before God That which cannot set it self compleat and righteous before God can never set another righteous before God Faith must be first just it self or else it is not possible it should be imagined it can ever by the righteousnesse of its own act justifie another Beloved what ever the Scriptures speak concerning faith justifying it must of necessity be understood objectively or declaratively one of these two wayes Either faith is said to be our righteousnesse in respect of Christ onely who is believed on and so it is not the righteousnesse of his own act of believing but the righteousnesse of him that is apprehended by that act of believing Or else you must understand it declaratively that is whereas all our righteousnesse and all our discharge from sin flowing only from the righteousness of Christ alone is an hidden thing that which in it self is hid to men doth become evident by believing And as faith doth make the righteousnesse of Christ evident to the Believer so it is said to justifie by its own act declaratively and no otherwise And whereas in the 5. Chapter to the Romans and the 1. verse the Apostle there saith being justified by faith we have peace with God In Rom. 8. vers 33. the Apostle saith It is God that justifieth Now I beseech you compare these Texts together then tell mee whether the act of believing except it hath reference to the object which is Christ of it self doth justifie whether or no these two places caÌ„possibly be reconciled without contradiction It is God that justifieth and it is Faith that justifieth Faith is not God neither is God Faith If therefore it be faith in justification in respect of its own act that justifieth it is not God that justifieth us and if it be God that justifieth then it is not Faith in respect of its own act How will you reconcile it When therefore the holy Ghost speaks of faith justifying it speaks of faith as laying hold upon God for our justification and therefore though faith doth here appeare as that which doth lay hold upon the righteousnesse of God yet faith here cannot be said to be that righteousnesse that doth justifie us Ob. But I know some will be ready to say it is not to be understood as if saith had any innate power of its owne to procure the discharge or pardon from sin but saith is to bee understood as the Instrumentall cause that laies hold upon that justification and so it goes before the justification of a person and it is to be understood no otherwise Answ I shall desire to keep in the plain path for the cleering up of this truth and so far as possible may be I abhor to walk in the clouds in a truth that so highly concerns the comfort and establishing the consciences and spirits of men and therefore I say that faith as it layes hold upon the righteousness of Christ it doth not bring this righteousnesse of Christ to the soul but only doth declare the presence of this righteousnesse in the 〈◊〉 that was there even before faith was I beseech you mark me wel I know beloved I have many very catching ears about me I speak it the rather that there may be the more warines because there are frequent mis-understandings misâ—â—â—ings of the things I deliver especially by those that come to catch I say again there is no pâ—â—son under Heaven reconciled unto God justified by God through â—he righteousnesse of Christ but this person is justified and reconciled unto God before hee doth believe And therefore faith is not the instrument radically to unite Christ and the soul together but rather is the fruit that follows flows from Christ the root being united before hand to the persons that doe believe so that the efficacy and power of believing is to be instrumentall for the declaration of an act that was done before only it was hid For the cleering up of this to you beloved consider that expression in the 12. Chapter to the Hebrews vers 1. Faith saith the Apostle
is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seene Faith is the evidence saith the Text of things not seen The Apostle here doth not give any efficacy to faith to procure or bring forth a new thing but he gives to faith only an evidencing power and that not to evidence any new thing but to be an evidence of things not seen that is of things that were before in being but were hid but by faith come to be apparent and cease to be hid and are manifest and open when the evidence of faith doth bring them forth to light Either you must say it is not in being till faith is come and so faith doth more then evidence even beget and give being to the very thing or you must confesse the thing indeed was but faith makes it evident that before was hid and obscure Now though faith be honoured with the greatest businesse of all the gifts of the Spirit of God yet that Christ may not be robbed of that which is peculiar unto him and properly his own that is to give compleat being to our justification that it should be given unto faith it self I say give me leave to propose to you some particulars wherein it is as cleer as the day-light that it is impossible for any person under Heaven to believe till such time as this person be first united unto Christ and become one with him and that faith it self being but a fruit that flows from our union with him is not the uniter that knits Christ and a person together I shall not need to insist upon that place I have often made mention of in the 16. of Ezekiel But beloved when you take this point into consideration I beseech you remember that passage in the 8. and 9. verses The time when God fastened his love upon the Church was the time of the blood of the Church When I saw thee polluted in thy â—lood I said unto thee Live In vers 7. it is three mes repeated When thou wast in thy blood I said unto thee Live and in vers 8. Thy time was be time of love that is the time of thy blood that he spake of before this time was the time of love And I spread my skirt over thee saith the Text and I sware unto thee and entered into covenant with thee and thou becamest mine then washed I thee with water yea I throughly washed thee from thy blood Here is first loving and spreading the skâ—â—t over the Church before the Church is washed Here is not first washing and then loving and spreading the skirt over them but here is first a spreading of the skirt in blood and after that comes washing and throughly washing from blood If any man do think that this washing is to be understood of sanctification let them but consider whether or no there be a through-washing from bloud a perfect washing from bloud such a washing from bloud as that the person so washed is presently all fair or as the Prophet speaks expresly in that Chapter compleat in beauty that is perfect and that through his comeliness put upon this person But to go on consider I beseech you beloved that expression in Isa 43.22 23. the Lord there is pleased first to deciare himself concerning his people in what a condition they were their condition was this Thou hast not called upon me but thou hast been weary of me yea thou hast wearied me with thy sins and thou hast made mee to serve with thy transgeessions saith the Lord. And mark what follows I even I am hee that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine owne sake and will not remember thy sins Here the people whose sins God blotted out are not considered as believing people but are considered as a people that wearied God with their sins and people that made him serve with their transgressions they are considered as a people that had not so much as an heart to call upon God but were quite weary of God for so he doth expresse himself concerning this people and even while he doth consider them thus even then he for his owne sake blotteth out their transgressions And in the 53. of Isaiah whereof I spake so largely heretofore if you marke well in the 6. verse you shall see plainly there is nothing but sin considered in the person whose iniquitles the Lord laid upon Christ All wee like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one of us to our own way and hee hath laid on him the iniquity of us all Here is not a consideration of people as believing people as though there must be a believing before there can be a discharge from sin but there is a consideration of people before they are believing people even while they are a people going astray and turning every one to their owne way But the most notable expression of all to this purpose is in the 15. of John I desire you that you would seriously consider the strength of Christs plea in that place about the 4. 5. ver you see Christ comparing himself in the beginning of the Chapter saith I am the Vine and my Father is the Husbandman every branch in me that beareth fruit my Father purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit every branch in me that beareth not fruit is cast forth as a branch and withereth But the main thing that I defire to be observed is this Abide in me as the branch abideth in the Vine for as the branch that abideth not in the Vine cannot bring forth fruit no more can yee except yee abide in me Out of which passage of Scripture I shall desire you to observe briefly these particulars wherein I hope it will be cleer and plain unto you that it is impossible a person should believe till Christ hath united himself to this person I know beloved there is none or at least I cannot meet with any yet that will deny but that faith or believing is a fruit of the branch that groweth upon the Vine that is one of the fruits of the Spirit that are wrought by the Spirit of Christ in those that are Christs For in the 5th Chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians towards the end of the Chapter you shall finde the Apostle reckon up the fruits of the Spirit and he takes up faith for one of those fruits amongst the rest If therefore believing be a fruit that persons beare by vertue of union to the Vine Christ then it must needs follow men must first be in Christ then believe For if persons do believe before they are vnited and their union by by a faith that they do act then surely the branch must beare this fruit before it be in the Vine before there be union And if faith be the uniter it is present before the union be made and so the branch doth bear fruit before it doth abide in the Vine contrary to Christs words For it is maintained
the person there is no act of believing The truth is this the Father gives his elect to Christ his Son Thiâ—e they were saith Christ in the 17. of Iohn and thou gavest them me and the Father that gave the elect unto Christ he gives unto Christ also power both in heaven and in earth so saith Christ in the 28. of Matthew and in the latter end All power saith he both in heaven earth is given me Go teach all nations as much as to say I give you Apostles and Ministers that follow you a commission from my self a commission to preach and in preaching to convert and how so All power in heaven and earth is mine So that beloved the Lord takes his elect as they are self-willed and as they are untamed he brings them as they are self-willed and untamed to his Son and by vertue of all power that is given to that Son when they are brought unto him he himself doth break tame and bring them to his own bent The Father saith Christ judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son Take notice of it that now as Christ is ordained the Mediator of the covenant the Father doth nothing towards or concerning his elect people but what he doth by his Son it is the Son doth all so that all that the Father doth is to deliver up elect persons such as they are in blood enemies and rebellious he delivers them up to his Son and the framing of their spirits to his own bent is the sole work of Christ himself Christ is become by the donation of the Father the life and the soule of every elect person Now the Philosophers do observe of the naturall soul that it is the framer of its own body and the maker of its own organs that so they may be fitted for it to act its own will so may I say is it with Christ Christ hath the framing and the disposing of the whole man to bring every thing in this man to his own bent The Father bringing the creature as he is a stubborn and stiff-necked creature so delivers him up to his Son so that I say there is not a pevious foregoing act wrought by the Father without Christ I say no previous act of believing wrought by the Father or by the Spirit without Christ by which a person comes and doth close with Christ but the Father doth give that person without any faith at all or any qualifications whatsoever to his Son and his Son Christ himself he frames and creates that very faith in persons to come to him and therefore in the 42. of Isai v. 6. you shall plainly see there is not an opening of blind eyes a giving of believing eyes to close with Christ before Christ himself be given and given as a covenant to persons So saith the Text I will give thee for a covenant Here you see Christ passed to persons not with a supposition that when persons do believe he shall be theirs and they his but I will give thee for a covenant to open the blind eyes Here is not the eyes opened before Christ comes but Christ comes when the eyâ— are blind and when he comes he opens the eyes that are blind But to go further Let us suppose that coming into this place is spoken of believing Ye will not come to me that ye might have life it cannot follow that although there be no life till believing therefore there can be no union till believing I say if it possibly might be imagined that there may not be life from Christ till believing yet it follows not that there must be believing before there is union Nay beloved there is nothing cleerer in all the world then this principle namely Suppose there cannot be life before there be believing yet there must be union before there can be life fetched from Christ I say there must be union before believing can fetch life from Christ For suppose that the fruit upon a branch should have such a faculty to draw life into the branch from the root though this would be a strange conceit that the fruit growing upon a tree should have a faculty to draw life from the root to the branch whereas the root communicates life to the branch and the branch by vertue of that life communicated brings forth fruit But yet suppose the fruit should draw life into the branch from the root that is suppose that faith which is a fruit growing upon a member of Christ that is a Believer and a branch of that body suppose that faith this fruit should have such a faculty to draw life from Christ the root into the branch yet it is impossible that faith should draw life into the branch till the branch be united unto the stock For beloved that is Christs comparison I am the Vine ye are the branches Now take this comparison suppose a branch growing upon a wilde Olive is cut off from the wilde Olive and for the present it is not united to the good Olive tree Now can a wilde Olive or suppose it to be a good Olive upon this branch of the wilde tree can this fruit upon the branch draw life from the root of the good Olive tree while it is separated and laid aside and is not united to the good Olive from which root it must draw life It is known to all men that communion is the fruit of union there is no participation nor communion of any thing that is Christs but as it doth flow from union with Christ so that either you must say that faith which you speak of is not of Christ the root but hath some other root and fountain from whence it hath its being and essence or else you must confesse if Christ be the root then it must come from Christ by vertue of union of a Believer to Christ first Finally suppose it should be that coming is believing suppose that this life spoken of here is not in persons till they do believe What is meant by life here Beloved I beseech you consider the Apostle tells us our life is hid with Christ in God and Christ is the life of the world that is of the elect It seems then that the life of every elect person hath a being in Christ before he doth believe believing therefore doth not produce a new life that was not before only it manifests that life which was before and it makes that life which was before an active life or is an instrument by which that life that is hid in Christ doth now after believing become an active and appearing life in this person So that all that can be made of this is but this till believing there is no activenesse of the life of Christ in the person that is elected his life is in Christ and was in Christ and reserved in Christ till the time of believing for him and then doth he the elect person become active in life when Christ doth
to God as the injury comes to and what is from the Godhead is Gods own before Secondly therefore some say that there is a satisfying justice properly though there be not a full recompence as in every point to answer the injury done I will but give you a familiar illustration of it that you may not say it is not unknown and an unheard of thing that justice is satisfied although no plenary recompence in the former sense for satisfaction be brought Suppose one man murther another an ordinary case now for a plenary recompence to the injury done he that is slain must be in statu quo prius that is he that is slain must be made alive again and till that person slain be restored to life here is not a compleat recompence made But how is it possible that any man that hath committed murther should make this full and plenary recompence to the person that is injured He cannot restore life to him again and yet for all this although he cannot bring in a full recompence in this way this man may properly satisfie justice For if life answer for life if the murtherer be executed the Law and Justice may truly be said to be satisfied Here then they say that there may be satisfaction of justice and yet not the fulnes of recompence in the strictest sense brought in Justice I say is satisfied in this respect because here is as much brought in by way of recompence as is possible to be had You know beloved you have a Proverb Where there is nothing to be had the King must lose his right when a man payes all that ever he hath he can pay no more he doth satisfie justice In this sense justice is said to be satisfied when the Law of justice is satisfied and so the satisfying of justice doth not necessarily imply the fulness of recompence in the strictest sense according to the injury done How cometh it to passe when a murtherer is executed that upon this execution of the murtherer onely the Law doth esteem this tobe a recompence and justice to be satisfied though it be not a plenary recompence answering the injury that is done but onely as it answers to the Law that is the rule of justice so it is satisfaction Even so say they the justice of God is truly satisfied when the will and pleasure of God is fulfilled whether or no there be a bringing in a full and plenary recompence If the will and pleasure of God be satisfied concerning transgression that satisfaction of the will of God is the satisfaction of the justice of God Now what is the will of God It is this that in the day that man sins man must die either he must doe it in person or he must do it by deputation for among men the satisfaction of the Law is made either in the mans own person that is the debtor or his surety that will pay the debt for him The Law in some cases looks more upon the thing that is brought in to answer to it than it doth upon the person that doth bring the thing in The justice of God looks upon the fulfilling of his will although it be not by the same person that sinned this alters not the nature of 〈◊〉 thing whether I my self pay the debt or anâ— ther for me pay my debt the payment is satâ— factory so in that the will of God hath 〈◊〉 utmost bounds for the satisfying of justiâ— whereas transgression must be recompence with death Now Christ the surety of 〈◊〉 people going under the punishment and 〈◊〉 filling the punishment the Law is satisfied be cause every tittle of the Law is fulfilled anâ— there is nothing in the Law remaines to 〈◊〉 answered But yet thirdly I say further that the satisfaction of Christ is compleat even in thâ— strictest sense although it be granted that the bare sufferings and righteousness of the humane nature cannot effect it without the divine nature and the righteousnesse thereof and whereas it is urged that the righteousness of the divine nature is Gods own already it is granted and that both because it is essentiall unto God and incommunicable unto the creature therefore and also for the reasons alledged before in the objection it cannot be formally either the whole or any part of our righteousnesse yet notwithstanding the divine nature and so the divine righteousness doth so by the Hypostaticall Union fit and furnish Christ to be an All-sufficient Saviour and satisfier that thereby the person of Christ is so glorious that his active and passive obedience is thereby made of infinite worth and â—alue that so he might give satisfaction for â—s compleat perfect and that in the strictest sense making a full reparation and restauration of all things in the behalfe of the elect for whom he undertakes and brings upon them salvation to the uttermost In brief beloved and so to conclude this businesse though there may be some hint given for your better understanding by way of illustration how justice may be satisfied yet the truth is the fullest and most satisfying resolution wherewith persons ought sit down without further dispute is not by argumentation but by divine faith Suppose wee could not sound the bottome of this Principle that Gods justice should be satisfyed yet we may sit down as fully resolved that it is satisfyed though we know not how it should be so in that the Lord reveales to us he is satisfied whose word must be more to us then all the evidences and demonstrations in the world can be by way of Argument that here Christ is said to be the propitiation for our sins that God himself doth acknowledge else-where that he is satisfied What matter is it to me how he is satisfied I mean in respect of resolving me by way of Argument how he should be satisfied his ownâ— Word speaking it and resolving it to us is that with which we should sit down withall without any further dispute If therefore all this while you cannot know how he is satisfied your believing upon the testimony of Godâ— Word that it is so may be as full a satifaction to you yea may be a more full resolution to your spirits then all the arguments and demonstrations in the world can be And so I come in brief to the last clause of the Text namely the issue of this Advocateship of Christ in the behalf of his people when they sin The issue is this He is the propitiation for our sins I say the words containe in them the upshot or the conclusion of the pleading of Christ telling us what this pleading of Christ comes to at the last it comes to this that by this pleading of his Christ becomes the propitiation for our sins The main thing to be considered here that wee may understand aright our portion in this Grace is to know what this propitiation meaneth or what it is for Christ to be a propitiation Beloved there is
Church may appear to you if you will consider First what is spoken before there is the commendation of the breasts Now commendation of breasts hath reference to the Spouse but most plainly it appeares in the words that follow the Text in the 8. verse Come with me from Lebanon my Spouse saith Christ either they must be the words of Christ to the Church or they must be the words of the Church to Christ but they cannot be the words of the Church to Christ for the Church doth not call Christ the Spouse for the word Spouse is spoken in reference to the woman and not to the man You shall have it further cleered in the contents of the chapter which shew the drift of the whole chapter the Author of the contents holds forth according to the Hebrew where the Genders are more distinct then in our English that these very words are the expressions of Christ unto his Church Whereby you see that this is no new doctrine neither is it set forth by any obscure person being delivered by Solomon or rather by Christ personated by Solomon that the Church should be all fair and without spot The Proposition is briefly this That the Love of Christ is all fair and without spot You may remember beloved that I have hitherto at large indeavoured to set forth the Gospel of our blessed Saviour to you in the first great part thereof the Gospel consisting principally in two things the negative and the affirmative priviledges of the members of Christ their great priviledge and invaluable benefit being first exemption from evill and secondly a participating of all good things All the discourse I have had with you hitherto hath had reference principally to the former branch of the Gospel setting forth to you the gracious discharge of the members of Christ from all miquity and so consequently from all the fruits of iniquity in these words And the Lord bath laid on him the iniquity of us all and I have further shewed you how the people of God and members of Christ do partake of such discharge as this is which is the way of God by which the sons of men Believers can have their portion and their possession of this immunity and that out of the Text of Iohn If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins It was in my thoughts beloved to have made present progresse into the Text that I have 〈◊〉 unto you but yet in some respect a necessary lies upon me to give you a brief touch of some things I have formerly delivered by way of acquitting my self from injurious slanders It is and hath heen my portion and I know not unknown to many of you that while I have laboured freely and by the assistance of the Spirit of the Lord indeavoured to make known the minde of the Lord to the comfort and rest of the weary and heavy laden I my self have not wanted my burthen yet were it not for the Gospels sake lest that should receive prejudice I should never open my mouth to vindicate a truth as it doth concern my self in so publick a way But as there hath been most false imputations laid upon me in respect of the Gospel so for the Gospels sake only I shall acquit my self publikely before you of such things as are most injuriously charge upon me It hath been affirmed and that by persons who have gone for persons of credit and consequently the wound must strike the deeper and the report must take the greater impression it hath been given forth I say that in my discourse among you I should deliver to you that the active and passive obedience of Christ considered as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Christ considered both as 〈◊〉 and man that the active and passive obedience of Christ in reserence to both his natures hath not a sufficiency in it to make up a compleat righteousnesse for us and further that the ground of it should be this Namely that Christ did not perform the severall duties of the severall relations wherein many persons stand as the office of a Magistrate and the relation of a Husband c. For the vindicating of my self herein I shall repeat the matter I delivered before and you shall also know the truth of what my judgement is in this thing and then leave it to the Church of God whether it be a slander or no. This I then said that the active and passive obedience of Christ properly are the actions and passions of the humane nature for the divine nature is not subject to obedience because there is not any superiour to whom the divine nature should obey neither is it subject to passion God cannot suffer and therefore doing the commands and suffering the punishments are more proper to the actions of the humane nature And this humane nature is but a meer creature and therefore the actions of it as a creature cannot extend to a proportion answerable to the injurie done by sin to God For this cause I say as I said before there must be an addition of vertue from the divine nature of Christ to make the active and passive obedience of the humane nature a compleat righteousnesse So that all I said is this That the actions and passions of the humane nature are not sufficient to make up our righteousnesse a compleat righteousnesse but there must be something of the divine nature superadded to raise up a righteousnesse proportionable to the transgressions we commit And that expression concerning the not performing of duties of these several relations I spake it only to this purpose to shew wherein the humane nature of Christ in obedience did not fulfill every thing in particular which is the duty of a man and that therefore the divine nature of Christ by the eminent dignity thereof is as I said before to make up that righteousnesse a compleat righteousnesse Concerning this whether it be truth or no let the Church judge according to the word As for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ as God and man it is well known I used not the word neither had I the thing in my minde nor in my tongue to the purpose they alledge it against me In a word this I say that Christ as God and man hath in himself an absolute compleatnesse of righteousnesse for all the elect persons There need not be a going forth from Christ to any thing in the world besides for a perfect righteousnesse Secondly there is another charge deep indeed and I appeal to you that have frequently heard me whether ever you have heard any such thing from me Namely that by way of inference I should deny Christ How true this is let the whole course of my Ministery witnesse which altogether aimed and endeavoured the exalting of Christ above all the creatures in the world and except my being so busie with this truth be become an
occasion of so manifest slanders and false aspersions that are raised I know not what should be the cause of them But beloved how is it that I should deny Christ In that say they I deny repentance unto life Now whether ever I did so I appeal to you that heard me This I say concerning faith and repentance unto life in brief that neither faith nor repentance hath any efficacy of their own to produce life but those that attain to life in time the Lord giveth them to beleeve and repent indeed But a third charge is â— more strange then all the rest this I must touch also I will name no persons nor hint them but my scope is to deliver plainly unto you the truth of my own thoughts and so lie under censure or be acquitted The charge is this that I should affirm that an elect person should live and die a whoremonger and an adulterer and in all kinde of propitanenesse and though living and dying in this kinde of prophanenesse he shall be saved Which how contrary it is unto the whole course of my ministery ye are witnesse I dare be bold to say you all know it to be a grosse notorious and groundlesse slander You know concerning this thing an elect perso being an elect person it is impossible that such an one should mis-carry and not be saved He that is elected unto salvation either Gods election must be frustrated which is impossible or this person must attain unto salvation I think no man of those that have cast this impuntion upon me will deny it but withall this I said before and so I say still There is no elect person suppose him to be capable and come to yeers shall die before he be called that is before the Lord give faith to this person to beleeve and in some meaâ—ure frame this elect person to walk by the Spirit according to the ruse of the Spâ—it In a word this person is changed in conversation The principle is this He that beleeveth shall be saved and he that beleeveth not shall be damned and Noâ—unclera thing shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven every soul therefore being elected as it shall be saved at last so is it or shall in time be called and inabled to beleeve and walk as a child of light If this be not true doctrine then I desire my mouth may be stopped Having thus endeavoured to take off those aspersions though not in respect of my self yet in respect of some of you who peradventure may receive such things for truth especially coming out of the mouths of such persons as those from whom the charge comes Now to the Text that I have taken to my self to handle namely Thou art all fair my Love there is no spot in thee I shall say but little concerning this latter branch of the Text it having been all my work heretofore to set forth this immunity we have by the blood of Christ the cleansing from all sin I shall keep my self to the former branch Then art all fair my Love Let us therefore take into consideration these particulars that will give some hint of the grace revealed here The first is who this Love is of whom Christ speaks Secondly why this person that is so fair is here called my Love Thirdly what this fairnesse is that is appropriated to the love of Christ Fourthly what it is for the love of Christ to be all fair Fifthly when this time is that this love of Christ is all fair Thou art all fair my Love I will begin here with the first namely who this is here that is called the Love of Christ The next words will unriddle the question Come with me from Lebanon my Spouse The love of Christ then here is the Spouse of Christ And beloved if you knew all you would soon see what glorious unspeakable and unsearchable excellencies are contained in this Grace that the Church should be admitted into the bosome of Christ to be the very Spouse of Christ There are two things very considerable by which you may perceive at the least some of the glory and excellency of this priviledge to be the Spouse of Christ First if you consider the inequality of the persons that are matched Secondly if you will consider the great priviledge that will issue from such a match as this is The word Spouse you know is nothing else but a title of relation in reference to a Husband Now I say first consider the inequality of the persons matched and therein you shall see an admirable condeseending and grace I remember in the first book of Samuel when the servants of Saul came to David to make mention of Sauls mind concerning Davids marrying Sauls daughter David was in a kind of astonishment and amazement And when they spake to him of the matter David replied Seemeth it a light matter unto you to be the kings son in law seeing I am a poor man and my father of a small house in Israel This was strange news to poor ' David What presently to marry the Kings daughter and to be the son in law to a King being a poor man as I am is this a small matter in your eyes Much more may we be astonished that we poor miserable wretches should marry the son and heir of the world nay the Son and Heir of Glory Shall this seem a light matter to you to be the Spouse of a King to be the sons and daughters of the King of kings It was an admirable witty expression of Abigail in the 25. Chapter of the first book of Samuel vers 41. when David sent messengers unto her to commune with her to take her to be his wife Abigail in humility replied to the messengers thus Let thy hand-maid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord a high strained complement if it had been a meer complement But it was reall so it doth expresse the great distance she conceived there was between her self and David and therefore doth not spare to shew her thoughts of her great unworthinesse to be matched with Daviâ—k Let thy hand maid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord. This is an office good enough for me to wash the servants feet and not to lie in the bosome of David Why what a great matter was this she was as rich as Davil was and you may manifestly see she was very beautifull and her stock and parentage was of as good a stock as Davids There was but this difference a kingdom was promised to David and he was anointed king but yet for the present a persecuted anointed but yet notwithstanding she admires the great condescending of David that he should take her to be his wife Oh then beloved what must be the condescending of the Son of God the Heir of the world and the expresse Image of the Father and the brightnesse of his glory as you have it in the 3. verse of