hast First All the common inducements of a firm perswasion which are as much in this as in any No man's last Testament can have more grounds for the ensuring us it is firm and stable than his last VVill of Christ He was in strictest propriety a Person who might optimo jure in best right make his VVill. He had wealth and riches spiritual Riches fulness of Grace and merit Testes suntin primis discipuli ejus Apostoli sancti man tyres quoque testes sunt -Testes etiam bom ministri omnes Testes etiam Angeli omnesque Pii Ben. Aretius in Prolegem ad Matth. he had large demeasnes was heir of all things he could sua legare bequeath his own he did also make his VVill by his death he confirmed all the promises and made them the Legacy of every Believer He did condere Testamentum ordain his Testament To which he added sufficient VVitnesses to him give all the Prophets and Apostles witness that whosoever believeth in him hath good title and right to eternal Life he bequeathed it by VVill and adhibuit testes * call'd in Witnesses And farther he publish'd his Will sent out his Apostles who declared Christs death and the Believers life Every Minister of Christ is one by whom Christ still publisheth this Will of his Now if thou who readest this hadst such a Ground of Plea for an inheritance wouldst thou not say thou hadst a good Title wouldst thou fear to claim thy Legacy wouldst thou not sue the Executor rather than lose thine inheritance when thou shouldest read what thy dying Friend commanded to be written what witnesses are to it how plain and full he made every thing be written publisht would not thy perswasion grow as thou readest So then it is in this case every promise is reduced into the form of a will and the more thou readest and considerest the more wilt thou discern the stability and the certainty of the promises The words which thou believest on which thou may'st claim and make good thy claim to any promise it is the Legacy thy dying Lord hath bequeathed thee Say then before thou goest to the Lords Table I am now preparing to renew the memorial of Christs death and what thoughts am I to entertain ought they not to be thoughts of the precious promises which are comprised in the Lord Jesus in whom they are all yea and amen made to us in him before he died made most sure to us by him when he died And who dares go about to reverse what he hath so consirmed who shall presume to annul and make void his will I see others believe their interest in the last will of their Friends I know I am the Friend of Christ and in his Will what then should make me doubt Nay I will endeavour to have as inviolatam fidem inviolate and unshaken Faith as I have inviolate and Sacred ground of Faith in the last Will of my Lord. Secondly The Believer hath yet more to increase his faith and to confirm him in the perswasion that there shall be a performance of all that is promised For it is all made sure by the last Testament of him who could not exceed his own treasures he hath not given larger Legacies than his estate will bear though his Gifts are great yet his Estate will make them good He is heir of both Worlds with all that is in both he is heir of the world to come and he is proprietary of all grace which fits for Glory and he is also Proprietary of all Glory fitted unto Grace that is prepared and apportioned unto Grace He is Lord of this present world although we do not yet see all things put under him yet he is the man of whom David spake Psal 8. witness the Apostle Heb. 2. He shall inherit all Nations he is a King whose dominion is over all In one word the greatest wants the largest desires the highest expectations of his kindred could not be too much for his Treasures Though none ever gave as he hath given yet none ever did or ever shall be put to abate or to forgo any part of his Gift This oh believing soul is peculiar to thy Lord his Riches will pay all his Legacies Say then to thine unbelief what is it thou stickest at where lieth the difficulty are the promises so rich they exceed the Estates and Treasures of this world do they amount to more than all the world can make up why still they are not greater than the Riches of both worlds and remember thy self he hath both this and that world which is to come at his disposal and his Bequests are to be disbursed and paid out of both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Arab. reads Quicquid est in ea will both be enough cannot the fulness of the Earth fill thy emptiness why the Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof the World is his and they that dwell therein Banish thine unbelief which ordinarily stumbles most at the wants and streights of Christians in this life and look to the last Will of Christ which is unto Godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He bequeaths all the promises of the life that now is and of that which is to come Oh now where is thy faith what forbids thee to be perswaded of the truth of the promise of Christ 1 Tim. 4.8 he hath not laid it on an uncertainty much less on an untruth he hath not given so much if his Goods will amount to it He hath not as that beggarly Cardinal given much but his Legatees must find it out No but he had enough to give what he hath given and every one shall in due time have all that Christ hath given there are Assets to pay these debts believe than that thou may'st receive See how much greater cause thou hast to believe than any man can have to expect from the Testamentary disposition of a mortal friend who may possibly out give his Estate but Christ thy Friend did not could not out-give his 3. Next consider as he had wealth both spiritual eternal and temporal sufficient to discharge his leagacies so he had wisdom which could not and love in sincerity which would not err in the ordaining of his Will that so any Legatee should lose through the ambiguity or defect of his last Will. He needed none to direct him how to make a will which should hold good and be valid to all the intents and purposes of his love towards his poor Friends He is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that one Law-giver whose wisdom directeth to the making Laws good profitable and seasonable for his Church He is that Lawgiver whose soveraign authority gives validity and warranteth his word for a law to his Church He is the King of his Church and his Church knows not a law beside the word of his mouth And the words of his mouth are right there is nothing forward or
adoptionis illius vim senserunt in Spiritu Sanctificante PP Salmur de Sp. Adop Sect. 12. so they who are sealed with the spirit of Adoption have still found the power of that Adoption by the spirit of Sanctification Now I say Christ Dying a Testator and leaving us his last Will or Testament to meditate upon hath left us a good answer to our doubts and the due meditations of the soul on the last Will of Christ will much dispel our fears and quiet the soul For whereas there are two sorts of fears which afflict a gracious soul 1. A fear it shall miss of Glory And 2. A fear it doth want truth of grace Christ by his last Will hath secured the believing soul against both these fears against the first by giving a Kingdom and Glory to such by Will he appointed them unto a Kingdom to a Glorious Crown Against the second by bequeathing the spirit of Truth and Grace unto them to lead them in holiness unto the end and this Will of our best Friend who Died to confirm it is a very sure Title on the sacred reverence authority of last Wills and Testaments Legum servanda fides suprema voluntas Quod mandat fierique subet parere necesse est Aug. Imper. de vol. Virg. which must be sacred and inviolate when the man is dead Command of Laws must duly be fulfill'd And so must that our dying friend last will'd how much more when he who died once hath for ever conquered death and lives for ever to see his own Legacies both bestowed and enjoyed which peculiar to Christ our dying friend gives greatest encouragement against such doubts and might very well ease us of all such fears and so be an excellent defence and prop to weak grace whence will soon follow a considerable growth in grace Sect. 3. 3. That which confirms the truth certainty and immutability of the promises improveth Grace I need not give long Proofs of so known a Truth Praecipuum maximè proprium objectum Fidei situm est in promissionibus PP Salm. de Fide sect 7. the promisies are the objects of our faith the good things contained in the promises are the object of our hope the grace and mercy making the promises is the Load-stone of our love In one word we are made partakers of the Divine Nature we do purify our selves and perfect holiness through these promises Grace is as the vine the promises are the frame which beareth up and carrieth the vine which thriveth best when it resteth on the surest and stedfastest frame Grace is a spiritual building which needeth a sure Foundation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such is the promise which as the word of God is in it self sure and stedfast for it is impossible that God should lie Tit. 1.2 Heb. 6.18 Yet to this the Lord hath superadded the confirmation and certainty of a Testamentary disposition or last Will making all the promises in Christ and making them all sure and unchangeable by the death of Christ whereby they become to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 that we might have such assurance as should render it next to a moral impossibility for us soberly and deliberately to doubt them Now all this is excellently effected by resolving and moulding the promises into a last Will or Testamentary disposition which is of such a nature that it becomes unalterable on the Death of the Testator Heb. 9.17 for a Testament is of force after men are dead and so the law maxim ensureth us In publicis Lex in privatis Testamentum firmissimum habetur that what the law is in publick concerns that a last Will in private concerns is for ensurance and firmness In brief therefore the last Will of Christ Dying confirms the Promises to us what confirms the promises confirms our faith and hope with other graces faith and hope confirmed do greatly tend to purifying and sanctifying our hearts and making our life fruitful in these things lieth the growth and improvement of grace so that due reflections and right manage of our thoughts on Christ dying a Testator do as is said improve the communicants Graces Sect. 4. 4. That improves grace which doth soften the heart and as it were ripen it unto a mellow temper as the showers which soak into the earth in the spring time which soften the earth do both prepare the way that tender roots of trees and plants may spread abroad and root deeper and also do afford nourishing moisture and sap whence the verdure blossom and the fruit it self so it is here a hard and rocky heart is as unkind a soil for grace as stony ground is for Corn neither can take root to any good purpose Trees of righteousness are planted by the rivers of waters which is a tender soil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the water courses divide themselves and run out into many branches gently and kindly softening the ground And though some vines of the Lord are planted in high Mountaines naturally hard and barren in proud and hard hearts yet these hearts are like plowed ground laid a fallowing and mellowing and so prepared for the seed time every high Mountain is laid low before Christ In one word the pleasant Lillies do grow in the Valleys low and softned grounds so grace thrives best in the humble and tender soul Now there are in the last Will of Christ many both common and ordinary as also Singular and extraordinary motives and inducements to tenderest affections towards Christ Whatsoever cause any true friend any kind Brother any dutiful Child can see in the care love and bounty of his Dying Friend Brother or Father expressed and contained in the porvision made by such one for him that all that and more may the meditating and considerate soul see in the last Will of Christ to melt him into affections for Christ in whose Death he may see love living and growing strong when life fainted and grew weak And as his veines and heart grew empty of blood both grew full of love to you and me So he loved his own to the end What in particular these common and speciall motives are I shall not now specify but reserve them to another more fit place thus you have the sum of this fourth argument before you in the next place Sect. 5. 5. That improves our graces which endeareth the Lord Jesus to us what increaseth our love to Christ doth increase our holiness and addeth to our graces love will long for a more close union love will study the most intire complyance it will ambitiously strive to advance and honour it will without ceasing endeavour to please That soul is most endeared to holiness and most studious of holiness which is most endeared to Christ and most in love with him such a soul keeps his Commandments Now the view and consideration of Christ s last Will and Testament will surely endear
were it all to be done over again Now this doth add new evidence of the certainty of the Promise and ought to add new degrees of strength to our Faith How sure must those Promises be which are the Promises of one unchangable and who repenteth nothing which he hath spoken Away then with unbelief and doubts banish them all from thy soul If thou wouldst but love thy Lord in truth of heart if thou grievest for thy deadness and non-proficiency if thou strivest to walk more worthy of thy relation unto Christ and of his love to thee be not too much dejected Thy Lord foresaw this and hath provided a pardon for and help against it and notwithstanding all the baseness thou confessest and bewailest in thy self Christ would make the same VVill if he were to make it anew and give thee as much as he hath done Raise up thy Faith therefore and at the Sacrament be think thy self Here are the Promises reduced to the form of a last VVill that they might be sure and they are so disposed by my Lord who foresaw all that can discourage me and who would not change any thing were all to be new done Surely he intends as he speaketh is in very good earnest he will perform that at last which he would not change or alter in the least Oh then I must perswade my self it is all truth which is in these Promises and I should believe them more stedfastly if I did understand them more clearly None can have such equal ground of believing his friend none shall equal me in believing Christ my friend and Lord. 6. Lastly let it be considered for ensuring the promises they are the legacies of one who is sole and supreme judge of all pleas and causes which can arise concerning our Right and Title to them Symbol Nicen. John 5.25 We believe that he shall come to be our Judge is an article of our faith and the Father hath committed all judgement to the Son having appointed a day wherein he will judge the world by the man whom he hath ordained Acts 17.31 who was adjudged by man unto death died and was buried but rose again and shall come to judge Quick and Dead whose sentence shall stand for ever good so he hath a Prerogative Royall peculiar to himself for others last wills are by other men decided if any thing of controversy arise concerning them No man is judge in the case and plea of right between those he hath made joint Legatees but one is the Testator and dieth another is the Judge and interpreter of the Testament whence it doth not seldom fall out that the Legatees are defeated of their right and lose the gift of their Friend and the mind of the Testator is not fulfilled because it is either not understood by the judge or because it must not be understood although indeed it is well enough known this therefore leaves some uncertainty in a man's claim and the event upon trial is sometime a disappointment But here is no such uncertainty in the event for he is Judge who is Testator and he is to declare his own mind of whom we expect the gift and who certainly doth well understand his own mind Besides in expecting and claiming the Legatee shall assuredly have all the favour shewed him that hee needeth It is a rule in law that wills should be interpreted in the more favourable sense That love which was so great to give the Legacy will be great enough to adjudge it to the Legatee Moreover it is not possible that a case should arise between the Legatees of Christ wherein the one should gain and the other lose for such are the gifts of Christ that they are intire and whole to each one none hath the less for any ones having much so the controversy shall never be but between the soul and its unbeleif fears and doubts between the soul and Satan accusing and impleading it And in this case Christ being Judge of his own Will you may soon say what favourable gracious and merciful judgement he will give and how surely he will adjudge their title good whose faith love and desires sue for it to him Awaken thy self then and look on what sure ground thou standest who hast Promises so full of certainty and unchangeable truth Let thy soul admit no more unbelief than the Promises confirmed by Christ framing them into his last VVill and Testament do admit uncertainty Let not unbelief enter until thou seest uncertainty attend thine expectation from the Will of Christ Reason with thy soul propose the case to thy serious thoughts At a Sacrament I do remember the Death of my Lord Dying and making his VVill wherein is given to me all that which the Sacrament representeth to me remission of sin peace in believing strength to walk with God and after my drinking this wine with his people at his Table Luke 22. The drinking it new with him in his Father's Kingdom This Ordinance is as all other Ordinances of Christ are exceeding full of grace for every one that heartily willeth it and this fulness of grace is bequeathed by VVill this VVill valid and to be judged if any case arise by him who made it Come then Will Christ think you enervate his own Will Can it be imagined that he will not see it performed who lives to be his own Executor who would make no other if he were now to die and make his VVill again Fear not oh believing soul thy claim will be adjudged good doubt not thy Plea of right he is Judge who gave thee the right stagger not through unbeleef He did designedly give thee all assurance possible not to prevent any unfaithfulness in himself but to prevent all infidelity in thee Not to confirm his own word by any new arguments or new bonds which might be sure to hold if others did break for his word and promise is faithfullness and truth but to confirm thy faith and that if unbeleef broke through some yet it might not break through others if it did prevail with the soul against any one it might not prevail against every one of the encouragements and perswasives to believe Weigh well the certainty of those promises which are confirmed by the last will of such I say of such a Testator who changeth not who cannot be overruled by any superiour Judge and then say how great your perswasion of the truth of them should be It should be great faith that hath such great assurance and strong perswasion which hath such perswasives Oh that our faith were porportioned to the ground of faith laid down before us in this very matter there can be no colour of doubt where these grounds and perwasives of our belief are rationally considered Bring therefore to the Sacrament an extract of the promises set them in order before your eyes see them all summarily contained in that one clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luc. 22.20 This is
bearing his sin its curse and punishment that Justice may not lay any sentence of condemnation upon it but absolve and acquit justifie and save it Where can the soul better rest and congratulate its happiness in its rest than in a pacified propitious God Tell me who ere thou art reading or hearing these lines canst thou desire more than happiness Is any thing greater and better in thy wishes Certainly either thou knowest not what thou answerest or else dost answer it is thy greatest dailyest hourly desire and that the man or woman who would assure thee of this would fill thy heart with raptures of joy Now behold these desires answered in the Lord Jesus dying to remove that Curse which kept thee from thy happiness If Joy be the enlarging of the heart to entertain a desired good lo here a good worth the entertaining Christ bearing thy Curse lo here a good so great that no heart but an enlarged heart can rightly entertain it Oh be perswaded to receive it and tell me then what affection it raiseth in thy soul Certainly he never feared because he never knew the danger of Hell who doth not greatly rejoyce in his deliverance and escape from it Open but thy heart to receive and thy Joy will as surely break out as the streams do when the springs and fountains are opened Secondly Christ dying a Curse for thee will heighten thy Joy For whatever thou canst approve a ground of Joy in other mens rejoycing without this thou mayest much more approve in thine own rejoycing in this without any other There is very much Joy in the world which is unseemly and there is some which is justifiable seemly and seasonable but whatever makes it so seemly that and much more is in the Death of Christ dying an accursed Death for us to justifie and warrant the Christian 's Joy I dare stand to plead the Christian's Joy to excel on this account as much as the Joy for recovery of a Crown and Kingdom doth excel the Joy of a wise man for the finding of a Pin. Could a Christian enlarge his Joy to the exceeding greatness of his cause of Joy it would incomparably excel all other mens Joy as much as the recovery from a mortal wound excels the healing of a scratcht finger Indeed all other Joy without this is the unseemly Joy of fools or madmen but this without all other is Joy of wise considerate and knowing men and might we enter the comparison it would appear what trifles men of the world how great soever and how wise soever in the account of the world do rejoice in It is reported of Francis the first recovering the French shore upon his delivery out of his Captivity Je suis le Roy. That he leapt and rejoyced with this I am a King And who that values liberty or safety or power or a Kingdom censureth him for it or doubts whether it were seemly But oh believing soul thou seest at a Sacrament a worse prison a more doleful Captivity crueller enemies and more deadly dangers left behind thee and thou set at liberty in a more blessed safety and entitled to a Crown and Kingdom as much better as Heaven is better than France was and this by Christ's Death as it was an accursed Death to free thee from the Curse The men of the world rejoice in their full harvests The victorious Conqueror rejoiceth in the dividing of the spoils The ambitious Courtier rejoiceth in his Court-preferment But what Joy will the Barns and Stores of the wealthy man be when he dies the accursed Death and with Dives is tormented in endless fires Will the Joy of the preferred Courtier continue to him under the disgrace which he shall fall into when God shall arrest imprison condemn and execute him as an accursed wretch What will become of the Joys of Victories and Triumphs when the Crowns shall wither before the hot displeasure of God and when the crowned Conqueror shall be delivered up an accursed wretched prisoner and captive in eternal chains In few words there are many daggers lifted up and striking at the Joy of every man who rejoiceth in any thing but the Cross of Christ and first or last some one or other of these daggers will reach the heart and let out the life of such Joys But the Believer's Joy in the Death of Christ dying a Curse for him is a Joy which is immortal and cannot be destroyed It is a Joy will most gloriously crown the Believer when other mens Joys do most shamefully forsake deceive and torture them If then any may rejoice the Believer may much more and this he may do at every remembrance of his Redeemer's dying a Curse for him And such renewed remembrance of our cause of Joy will undoubtedly renew our Joy he may rejoice still more than yet he hath rejoiced who seeth he hath more to rejoice in than all the jovial merry world ever shall have Thirdly Renewed Meditations of Christ's dying such a Death for us will renew our Joy appeareth from this That our Joy will be most full satisfactory and transporting to us when we come to the distinctest fullest and liveliest knowledge and apprehension of this Death of Christ They who most fully apprehend and who most particularly apply the Benefits of this Death to themselves who live upon it and know what life it is how excellent how happy c. These are fullest of purest Joy and truly as we abate in our ability and skill to meditate on this Death of Christ or as we abate in the exercise and actual meditation and thought of Christ's dying for us as a Curse the more our Joy will abate also The Saints in glory do now rejoice and will forever rejoice for they do ever behold the scars which this Curse hath left in Christ they ever remember that Christ dying a Curse hath given them that blessed Life in which they ever shall rejoice Now what it hath wrought on them and what it will work one day upon us proveth to us what it might work in us at the present It hath now all in it which it ever will have but we have not all in us which we shall have when this dying of our Lord shall fill us with a never-dying or abating love to him who did it and with Joy in the thing done for us The reason why the Believer rejoiceth more in the sight of Christ dying a Curse for him as his distinct knowledge of it groweth is not that his knowledge addeth any thing to it but because his knowledge of it now maketh more of that Death which appeared not so much then to his own eye so his Joy groweth with his knowledge But now it is not so with other Joys they lessen as our knowledge of them increaseth and those which at distance we flattering our selves hoped would be pure and deep sweet and lasting as a Crystal stream prove to us when we come nearer and
live on them muddy and shallow scarce worth the tasting and which is worse yet they prove bitterer than gall and wormwood and of shorter continuance than a morning dew But our Joy in blessed peace with God in sweet hopes of glory in sure foundations of faith in endless happiness to crown our faith to satisfie our hopes and to be the manner of enjoying our God which are the pleasant fruits of Christ thus dying do increase upon us as our insight into them increaseth and are purest when nearest are deepest in the spring or rather ocean of true Delight and Joy are sweetest when most lived upon and are most lasting when we enter at last into them The Joys of others are never so great as their hopes nor so lasting as their desires But the Joy of a Believer in his Dying Lord is at last greater than his hopes and as long liv'd as his desires And in this he may exalt his Joy above the greatest that ever the world boasted of If ever mortal man satiated and glutted himself with worldly Joy it was with a sudden gush which left him so soon that he had the more time to lament himself and wofully wrack himself with the loss of it I believe Caesar never met his expected content and joy in obtaining Rome's Empire I know it lasted not with him so long as he desired in one or both of these it proved less to him when he knew most of it This made a good Emperour once say That if men knew what thorns and cares a Crown was lined with they would not take it up if they found it in the street Now oh blessed soul whose Joy lives upon the Death of thy Lord tell me did ever any experienced knowing and expert Christian abase the worth of those Joys with such a report of them Can thy own jealous fears suggest a rational probable likely ground of suspicion that these Joys are greater in hope than they will be in hand dost thou think that there is any disappointment in Heaven Are there any complaints that less is possessed than was looked for Hast thou ever had any cause to wish thou hadst known less of Christ and his Death or couldst thou ever say that the Joy had been greater if thy knowledge and experience had been less I know thou darest not say so nor debase the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus thy Lord. Turn therefore thy serious thoughts upon this meditate more that thou mayest know more for the more thou knowest of this the more wilt thou rejoice in Christ Thus renew thy Meditations on the Cause of thy Joys and they will renew thy Joys Others will see and thou wilt find in thy own soul that the more thy Cause of Joy aboundeth the more thy Joy will abound Now that Christ hath thus died thy soul oh happy Believer shall not be left in Hell nor shalt thou see an eternal corruption This is ensured to thee by the Lord whose Death thou commemoratest Say then and speak it with enlarged heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoiceth moreover my flesh shall rest in hope for God will not leave my soul in hell And now oh my soul set thy self to hear what may be spoken to thee By these who will have to do with thee in thy most weighty matters And so 1. First what would a judicious and affectionate Believer say What news would such a one tell thee from Mount Calvary from the Cross of Christ Suppose thou heardest such an one improving this Doctrine why should I fear when the iniquity of my heels compasseth me about hath not my Lord taken away all the Curse I feared Do I not see him evidently set forth crucified before mine eyes he drank off the bitter cup of astonishment I will therefore take the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. I will rejoice in him yea and I will tell my Brethren the good news that they may rejoice with me Come all ye that fear the Lord hear and rejoice for I have found at the Cross of Christ the blessing which I lost in Paradise and which is more I found yours there too and if you will go with me quickly you shall find it too Come oh come and see Christ laying down a Blessing for thee when he took up thy Curse would not such a friend's voice sounding in thine ear ravish thy heart or at lest revive thy drooping spirits and turn thy grief into joy Could'st thou do less than smile to see thy lost Heaven found thy dying Soul recovered to life thy God reconciled and delighting in thee Hear next 2. What language the Embassadour of thy Soveraign and Gracious Lord useth to thee when he offereth a Dying Christ unto thee a Christ bearing thy Curse for thee Behold thou drooping Believer That Blood which I offer thee in this Cup is the purchase of that happiness which thou desirest the atonement of that wrath thou fearest Lo here is that Blood which can abate the scorching heat of a self-accusing condemning and tormenting soul Oh taste drink of it this never failed of curing easing comforting so many Saints in Heaven In one word Christ's Minister doth in Christ's Name offer thee that Blood which was shed for the remission of the sins of many and in which thou mayest find forgiveness of thine also and thou findest little if thou findest not Joy in the forgiveness of sins Thou art very slow of understanding if a Publick Officer proclaiming thee acquitted and cleared doth not raise thy joy But yet oh fainting soul hearken Lastly What will be the language of Christ himself to thee when he unfolds thy blessedness and declareth before Men and Angels that he took upon him thy sin thy guilt thy punishment was made a Curse for thee and so presents thee to God and makes good all thy claim to Blessedness What heart is large enough to conceive the thousandth par of that Joy Oh! a single sight of this one unrepeated once pronounced sentence of Christ's own mouth Soul thou art blessed for I was made a Curse for thee would swallow up all other Joys and would fill the heart of the believing soul with Joy unspeakable Now I must tell thee oh thou doubting sollicitous and trembling Believer that Christ will so bespeak thee ere long and so give thee an entrance into thy Master's Joy that thou mayest rejoice for ever in this Blessedness which I tell thee is the fruit of Christ's Death as it was an accursed Death And if after all this thou wilt weep and not be comforted I must also tell thee thy tears are not wiped away because thou wilt not suffer us to do it thou art a stranger to thy desired joy because thou art so much a stranger to the Death of thy Lord. Oh that our eys were opened to see that fountain whence most refreshing streams do flow continually
those which have equal share and interess with thy self in this peace and wilt thou not judge it comely convenient necessary and what must be done by thee viz. to embrace them with hearty peaceable affections who are embraced by thy God with as hearty affections as thou art or canst be Oh come then make peace with all thy Brethren and forgive them as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven thee And thus I have very briefly drawn out three particular inducements among many other which from Christ dying a Curse for us and all Believers should perswade us and them to live in a Christian brotherly peace which becomes a Sacrament and which should be improved by each Sacrament I now proceed to A seventh Sacramental Grace 7th Sacramental grace a Thankful heart which ought to be exercised at each Sacrament and which may receive some addition from the consideration of Christ's Death as a Curse in our stead Now this grace is a Thankfull acknowledgment of the great mercy we have by Christ's dying a Curse for us It doth exceeding well become us to be thankful and praise the Lord for his mercy to us in Christ dying for us And though praise be ever seasonable yet a Sacrament is the season of seasons for praise then it is most in season though it be never out of season The commonness and universal praenotion of this truth among all Christians saveth me the labour of proving it I need not prove that to any one which is denied by no one let then praise and thanks attend our communion at the Lord's Supper And among other motives unto praise let us view some few arising from the Death of Christ as it was an accursed death for us And so 1. First To this kind of Death of thy Lord thou must be beholden for all the sweetness which thou tastest in thy mercies Thy sin which brought thee under the Curse imbittered every thing to thee also nay that sin which cursed thee forfeited all thy mercies thou hadst no right to them when once thou hadst sinned and thou couldst taste no sweetness in them if thou hadst still lain under the Curse thou hadst no more right to thy estate and life than a condemned man hath to his thou couldest have no more enjoyed them than a pensive condemned person who is kept in prison with a daily allowance to keep them alive unto the day of his near approaching execution every morsel is bitter to him so would it have been to thee Thou mayest read this in the emblem of the sinner's state a naked man cast out of a fruitful garden and left in a place of thorns and briars Such was the consequence of thy sin cast naked out of what thou hadst and turned out among grieving thorns and briars Now would he not deserve thanks who restoreth thee to a title gives thee a new right unto all desirable blessings who shall root up those cursed thorns and plant the Vine and the Olive to yield thee fruit Look then this and more than this done for thee by the Death of thy Lord made a Curse for thee Lo thy title renewed to necessary mercies and mercies renewed unto their sweetness and delightfulness thou a Prodigal received as a Son and the husks thou didst feed on turned into bread in thy Father's house Christ was accursed for thee that every blessing might be sweetened to thee Ever praised be our Physician who hath taken out the most of the poison and hath turned the rest into necessary and seasonable Physick God hath blest thee with every thing in Christ that thou mightest bless and praise that thou mightest be thankful for every thing and ascribe it all to the goodness of God in Christ We owe all to this Death of Christ and how little do we pay when we are thankful Let us not then with-hold this little too In one word read over the latter part of Deut. 28. from v. 15. to the end of the chapter and consider how well he deserves blessing and thanks from thee who hath delivered thee from the bitterness of so many Curses imbittering all thou enjoy'dst Secondly The renewed thoughts of Christ bearing thy Curse will be renewed Thankfulness in renewed security and assurance against the fears and terrours of a self-accusing and condemning heart Thou shalt never bear that Curse which the righteous Law threatned thou needst not fear it if Christ died for thee for he did die a Curse for every one in whose stead he did die and that God who accepted his Death will never go from his word or disown the virtue of his Son's Death nor cast the Curse upon thy soul Oh thou trembling Believer thy fears are the weakness of thy graces or the want of exercising them either thou knowest not what it is to have a Christ a Jesus dying a Curse for thee or else thou dost not enough consider it nor observe how little ground of fear is left Oh! It would be a blessed tranquility of mind to us to feel as little fear within our souls as Christ hath left of Curse behind him in the Law against us Happy soul who believeth that Christ died for him He may look upon the Law and find that there is not in it any Curse against him for Christ made a Curse died to redeem them who were under it There is no doubt to be made of this Truth there cannot be just cause of fear where Christ hath taken away the Curse Which the Law threatned Now there is no condemnation to such nor may any one lay any thing to the charge of these redeemed ones And when this is duly weighed how thankful will it make us How much would a feeble swouning person thank you for a sweet reviving cordial what life would there be in his expressions of kindness for such a courtesie what loving embraces would such a one court his friend with especially if his life had certainly miscarried without this Oh unkindness unthankfulness of us Christians who lay in a swound of death strucken with the thunder-bolt of the Law perishing without recovery hopeless without a Christ accursed for ever unless Christ become a Curse for us and we profess to know all this and to believe it and yet are straitned in our thankfulness to him The a Plutarch in vit Artaxerxes Historian reports that Artaxerxes King of Persia gave one a thousand b The Darick was a coin bearing the image of Darius and the value of each piece was two shillings four pence so the whole sum amounted to one hundred and sixteen pounds six shillings and eight pence beside the Cup of Gold Daricks in a Cup of Gold for a recompence of a little fair water offered him in the palms of the man's hand But what have we given unto Jesus Christ who hath brought us not a little water in his hands but his heart and hands full of love and blood shed for us Oh come magnifie the