No sooner am I set down under that refreshing Shadow and become sensible of my Safety but I presently fall upon solacing my spiritual Senses with beholding and feeding upon its Fruit applying unto my self by Faith the saving Benefits of Christs personal Graces and the Improvement he hath made of the same for me a poor Worm together with the saving Benefits of his Word and Works as above discovered appropriating each Particular unto my self Thus the Improvement which my dear Lord Jesus made of the Anointing poured out upon him by the Father to fit him for the Work of Mediation it is mine The Promises of the Everlasting Covenant of Grace which are suited to every Condition I either am or can be in they are mine That wonderful and amazing Work of his Incarnation or becoming Man it is mine It was to Unite me to God in a nearer and firmer Bond of Union than was between God and me in the first Creation The Work of his unparallell'd and matchless Humiliation in my Nature it is mine It was for me to prevent my Perishing by the Damning Pride of my corrupted Nature and to merit and purchase for me Gospel Humility That Work of his perfectly obey'd the Moral Law in Heart and Life it is mine he obeyed the Law for me as my Surety The Death which he suffer'd and underwent it is mine It was for me that he might unsting Death for me and to give full Satisfaction to Justice for my breaking the Law that my Sins might be Arraign'd and put to death in his Death The Guilt of Sin can now no more condemn or cast me at God's Bar neither can its reigning Power from henceforth detain me as its Captive or Slave that I should obey it in the Lusts thereof The Resurrection of Christ from the Dead it is mine He Rose for my Justification hereby I am fully Assured from under the Hand of the Spirit of God that the Whole of my Debt for which Christ my Surety Actually Dy'd and lay confin'd in the Grave is new fully Discharg'd I am from henceforth no more liable to the Arrest of the Law for Sin for that the Justice of God hath by raising my Surety from the Dead Releas'd and Discharg'd me The Ascension of Christ from Earth to Heaven it is mine be Ascended for me as my Surety and Representative to present before his Father the Success of his Negotiation which he undertook for me when on Earth The compleat and perfect Righteousness he fulfilled for me to answer the Laws Demand and the Universal Conquest and Victory which he by that Rigâ—â—eousness hath Atchiev'd over all his and my Enemies he makes open shew of them in Heaven Besides this he Ascended to enter upon the Possession of that Crown and Mansion in Heaven which he himself purchased for me the which he hath as my Forerunner taken into his own keeping for me until I have accomplisht the Service to which he hath appointed me on Earth The Intercession of Christ in Heaven is mine He sits at the Fathers right Hand to lay my Case in all its various Circumstances open before Gods Throne of Grace pleading in my Behalf the Price which he himself hath paid to Justice for the Procurement of all the Good I stand in need of till I come to the end of my Race And to Encourage my coming to God's Throne of Grace in Prayer with a Humble and Holy Boldness to obtain in the Virtue and Merit of the Price he hath paid and the Intercession he makes in Heaven the Mercy and Deliverance which at any time or in any case I stand in need of The Providence of Christ whereby he governs the World it is mine He Orders and Rules all Creatures or secondary Causes wherein I am concern'd for my Advantage and spiritual Good Devil World Indwelling Sin Poverty Reproach Friends Enemies Adversity Prosperity Health Sickness Life and Death No further will the All and Over-ruling Providence of Christ suffer any of these to move or stir then he will order for my Good and Eternal Advantage Matters being brought to so Excellent an Issue through the powerful Operation of the Holy Ghost my Soul finds it self under a Holy Constraint of crying out Admiringly Here 's Fruit indeed none could ever compare with it of these Celestial Fruits that Feast of Fat things promised in Esa 25.6 is made up and they are by Christ himself intended in those Words For my Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed Jo. 6.55 What the Prime and Fatness of Beasts and the most delicious and purest of Wines are to feast and satiate the Body The Flesh and Blood of Christ the Son of God as held forth in the Gospel and by Faith apply'd and fed upon is unspeakably more to the Soul of a true Believer to feed his spiritual Hunger and to quench his spiritual Thirst The Believer while he finds himself thus overcast with the Shadow of the Appletree and his spiritual Senses so unspeakably cheer'd and ravish'd with its Fruit he cries out with Peter on the Mount at the Transfiguration of Christ it is good to be here Mat. 17.3 There 's no Shelter like this of the Apple-tree which secures from all manner of Storms be they inward or outward from Devil from the envious wicked World from Heart Corruption or from God hiding his Face Neither is any Fruit to be compared to its Fruit. A Fruit which never fails a Hungry Soul which feeds on it to feed to fatten to corroborate the Soul against all spiritual Qualms and Faintings of Soul A Fruit which as soon as tasted brings the perplexed melancholly distracted despairing Heart and Mind to Rights again A Fruit which is so far from cloying or surfeiting the Believer that the more and the oftener he makes use of it the more doth he long to be at it again This Fruit produceth in the Soul of a Believer such a Holy Dropsie or unquenchable Thirst as nothing short of the Beatifical Vision in Heaven will perfectly cure Rev. 7.16 Come then Oh! come all ye Poor distressed melancholly despairing Souls who dread the Terrible Sentence of the Law who are frightened by thâ—â— Devils Temptations who are readâ—â— to die away in Despair of the Agonies and Wounds which Sin hath occasion'd in your Consciences ye who are afraid ye shall perish for want And are afraid that God's Wrath will be your Portion for ever hasten under the Shadow of the Spouses Appletree lest the Avenger of Blood overtake thee And for thy Encouragement know it that this Appletree affords Shelter to all comers to all sorts of Sinners The oldest Sinners the vilest and most notorious Sinners who breath this sicâ— Hell and Destruction all will find Welcome none will be rejected who have a mind to come All that the Father gieth me shall come unto me and he that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out Jo. 6.37 Ho! Every one that Thirsteth come ye to the Waters and he that hath no Money conâ— and Eat yea come buy Wine and Milk without Money and without Price Esa 55.1 2. And the Spirit and the Briâ—â— say come and let him that heareâ—â— say come and let him that is athirâ—â— come and whosoever will let him taâ—â— of the Water of Life freely Rev. 22.1 All other spiritual Physitians and Means of Cure will be found Insignificant and of no value Here 's the Physitian who must cure thee if ever thou be saved Jo. 8.36 Acts 4.12 And I dare boldly to assure thee that the whole World cannot afford thee a safer Physitian with whom to trust thy Sin-sick dying Soul than this dear Lord Jesus under whose Hands never any Soul yet miscarry'd and for cheapness never was the like The Scriptures last quoted make this plain to which I will only add that of the Apostle Paul Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them Heb. 7.25 And in a better and more Encouraging Place of Scripture I cannot end FINIS
gives that honourable Title of Mediator to any but the Son of God Secondly None was ever found by the Wisdom of God who was capable of such an high Office and that for two Reasons First Because the Mediator who must come in between God and sinners must be God as well as Man Now it is most certain that neither the Virgin Mary nor any other of the Saints of whom Papists make use as Mediators are God Secondly Because none of the Creatures to be Redeem'd were able to encounter with the Death and Miseries through which the Mediator was to go in making up the Breach between God and the Elect. Neither Virgin Mary nor any other Saint shed their Blood on the Account of Ransoming sinners I have trodden the wine press alone and of the people there was none with me Esa 63.3 And I looked and there was none to help and I wondred that there was none to uphold therefore mine own Arm brought Salvation unto me and my fury it upheld me ver 5. Is Christ divided was Paul Crucified for you c. 1 Cor. 1.13 This Work of bearing sin as a Surety for sinners was for unconceiveably great that I am very bold in affirming that had the Virgin Mary that Capital Idol of the Romish Synagogue with all the other Saints whom the Papists joyn with her as Coadjutors or fellow Helpers to make her Mediation and Intercession in Heaven the more successful joyn'd with her in lying under the weight of the sins of God's Elect It would have sunk her and them to into the nethermost Hell yea and all the Angels of Heaven had they been under that Load It never yet belonged to any to be a Mediator of Intercession but to him that was a Mediator of Redemption These two constitutive Parts of a compleat Mediator must never be parted they are both in Christ and in none other in Heaven or Earth Esa 53.12 with the Scriptures already Quoted To which I add a third Reason viz. Because neither Virgin Mary nor any other Saints or Angels were ever nominated or appointed to that High and most Sacred Office by God the Father This is Christ's Right excluding all others and that by the Priviledge of his Birth I will declare the Decree the Lord hath said unto me thou art my Son this day have I Begotten thee Ask of me and I will give thee c. Psal 2.7 8. to this great Office he was Anointed and set apart by the declared Will and sacred Oath of him who cannot lie or change The Lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a Priest forever after the Order of Melchizedech Psal 110.4 Neither of these things can be said of the Virgin Mary or any meer Creature without horrid Lying and Blasphemy against the Glorious and ever Blessed Trinity Branch the second Learn hence how near akin to Popery such be who notwithstanding they declare against Popery lay the stress of their Hope of obtaining any Mercy on their own worse than Threadbare Performances Such Persons sacrifice to their own drag Hab. 1.16 Their own deep Humiliations their Prayers their Fastings their Almsdeeeds something of their own Qualifications must claim the Honor of procuring the favor and kindness God shews them or at least be brought in collaterally with Christ's Merits as the procuring Cause of the Mercy they receive How do these kind of Professors extol and and advance the Honour and Dignity of the Lord Jesus Christ These instead of running to shelter themselves under the shadow of this Appletree viz. The Righteousness and Satisfaction of Christ They run to the false covering of their own Qualifications ascribing their success unto them not to Christ How little differing from downright Papists are these Esa 30.1 Oh! how hard a thing is self-denial for a Man to do duty and not to trust to it For a Christian to be all in Christ and nothing in himself in the point of Merit and Trust to obtain the good he wants These are as great strangers to the Grace of the Gospel and will in the end be found as far from the Kingdom of Heaven as those Papists from whom they think they separate being no better than those foolish Virgins in Mat. 25. who for want of the Oyl of Grace in their Hearts were shut out of Heaven He that is a Christian in Truth as he devolves the whole concerns of his Life and Salvation on the Lord Jesus Christ to be secured by him alone and in his own way so he ascribes the Praise of every Blessing he receives for Soul and Body to Christ the Son of God not excluding God the Father and the Holy Ghost such a Soul knows it to be high Sacriledge to ascribe any part of the Praise of his Salvation to any but God Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give Glory for thy Mercy and for thy Truths sake Psal 115.1 For my Names sake will I defer mine Anger and for my Praise will I refrain for thee that I cut thee not off Esa 48.9 Not for your sakes doo I this saith the Lord God be it known untâ—â— you be ashamed and confounded for your own ways O house of Israel Ezek. 36.32 To which I will only add that of our Saviour So likewise ye when ye have done all these things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do Luke 17.10 In the Scriptures now Quoted it is most plain and conspicuous to any who are not either judicially or wilfully blind that all occasion is taken away from saved sinners of ever boasting of any worth or goodness of their own in the sight of a Holy God Ephes 2.9 Branch 3d. See and learn hence what little Cause or Reason any true Believers have to be dismay'd or discouraged at any Difficulties which lies in their way of Duty to God He who sits by Faith and humble Dependence under the shadow of this Almighty Redeemer and All-sufficient Saviour needs not fear tho' all the World were up in Arms against him For most certain it is the Word of God and rooted Experience assures me of it that Christ will either blast and confound all the crafty Pollicy and Strength of the Believers Enemies that they shall not be able to touch him so as to spoil him or else he will endue the Believer with an Heroick Spirit of Fortitude and heavenly Courage whereby he shall be enabled to suffer patiently and constantly for the Cause of God which is unspeakably better and every way more eligible to that Believer who would give an Evidence of his Faith in and his Love to the Person and Cause of his Beloved Jesus I even I am he that comforteth you who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die and the Son of man that shall be made as the grass Esa 51.12 Fear not for I have Redeemed thee I have called thee
Blessing to all the Members of Christ viz. All who savingly believe in him There are some whose Names I am unwilling to mention who tell Men that bodily Death is a Part of the Curse due to sin and that the Believer as well as the Unbeliever must undergo and bear it as such namely the Curse which is due to the Believer for sin From whom I do and shall for ever dissent and that for the two Reasons here following First Because Death puts an end to all a Believers sinning and sorrowings which occasioned holy Master Dod's Saying that Death was the greatest Friend to a true Believers Grace that is in the World For saith he that which Praying and Hearing and Sacraments c. do but help to weaken viz. sin in the Heart and Life of the Believer Death comes and with one stroak cuts it off And at the same time and with the same Blow puts an end to all the Believers Sorrows and Afflictions And if this be a Curse to a Believer for my part I do not understand what it is to be Blest Though Death in it self be a Curse to the first Adam and his Children as it is the Wages of sin Rom. 6.23 yet to them who are in Christ that Curse is turned into a Blessing so saith the Holy Ghost whose Testimony goes beyond all other Testimonies in Matters of Faith See Rev. 14.13 And I heard a voice from Heaven saying write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord From henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them And of such it is also said And God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying nither shall there be any more paâ—n for the former things are passed away Rev. 21.4 Secondly Because Death not only perfects the Grace of a true Believer but it is also an Inlet to the Kingdom of Glory On these two Accounts it is I doubt not that the day of Death is preferrable before the day of ones Birth Eccles 7.1 A good Name is better than precious Oyntment and the day of death than the day of ones Birth On the same Accounts I do not question Paul did prefer to die rather than to continue in the Body as he himself tells us Phil. 1.21 For to me to live is Christ and to die is Gain Herewith also concurs 1 Cor. 3.22 Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods In this Enumeration of Particulars of second causes wherein the Members of Christ are said to be interrested I understand the same thing to be intended which is held forth in that general Assertion And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose Rom. 8.28 And is not this a sweet Fruit to a Believers spiritual Taste Fourthly The Powerful and Glorious Resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the Dead is most sweet and delightful to the true Believer That Christ was raised up from Death is beyond controversie Acts 2.24 Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of Death because it was not p ssible he should be holden of it Acts 17.31 Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given Assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead Rom. 1.4 And declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection f om the dead This Resurrection of Christ from the dead can be no other than sweet to all true Believers and that on a threefold Account First As it is God the Fathers Actual Discharge to Christ the Publick Head and Representative of Gods Elect and to them in him from that sin of theirs which he as their Surety stood charg'd with and from the whole of that Debt which he undertook to pay for them As Christs Active and Passive Obedience was the full Payment of Believers Debts to God so Gods raising him from Death was Gods Actual Discharge to his Son and in him to all Elect Believers to assure them that the Debt which Christ his Son undertook to pay for them is now fully paid and satisfied witness his Actual Release and Discharge from the Prison of the Grave where Christ as Undertaker and Surety for Gods Elect was detain'd until the Justice of his Father said it is enough I am now satisfied to the full every Iota and Tittle of the Law is by him perfectly obey'd both Actively and Passively I have no more to lay to his or the Elects Charge for whom he became a Surety Discharge him let him be set at Liberty as Christ the Son prov'd faithful to the Father in performing to the utmost what he had undertaken for securing the Fathers Glory and the Salvation of the Elect committed and given in charge to him by the Father So God the Father proves Just and Righteous to Christ in giving him under the Hand of his Unerring Spirit of Truth a full Release and General Discharge not only for himself but for his Redeemed ones also Of this Christ had not the least doubt when he struck Hands with his Father he knew his Father to be the God of Truth who could not lie or deal unjustly with any much less with his own only Son who he could not but know would stick at nothing though it were to empty himself and to become nothing And which was worse to be made a Curse to finish the Work his Father had given him to do For the Lord God will help me therefore I shall not be confounded therefore have I set my Face like a Flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed He is near that justifieth me who will contend with me Let us stand together who is mine Adversary let him come near to me Isa 50 7 8. What was of old predicted by this Evangelical Prophet concerning God the Fathers justifying his Son upon his finishing the Work he had undertaken to go through it is now declared and made known by the Gospel to be Actually accomplished and made good according to those and other the like Predictions of him I have glorified thee on the Earth I have finished the Work which thou gavest me to do Jo. 17.4 5. And now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self with the Glory which I had with thee before the World was All Power is given me in Heaven and in Earth Mat. 28.18 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins Acts 5.31 And without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the flesh
Yea so far are Afflictions and Tribulations from being a Token of God's being a Mans Enemy that indeed to be exempt and free from them is an Argument that the Person is none of Gods But if ye be without chastening then are ye Bastards and not Sons Heb. 12.8 * God 's Afflictive Dispensations are to his own Children the purging Pills whereby God the Great and only Wise Physitian will purge out of the Heart and Affections of his Children those Remains of Sin yet abiding in them And as in Nature those Pills or that Potion which are Bitterest and which makes the Patient sickest are the best for curing though they are hardly gotten down So in Christianity those Corrections and Chastenings from God's own Hand which are the sorest and sharpest to corrupt Nature they are Attended with the greatest Efficacy to kill Indwelling Corruption in the Believer Before I was Afflicted said Holy David I went astray but now have I kept thy Word Psal 119.67 And in another place I know O Lord that thy Judgments are right and that thou in Faithfulness hast Afflicted me Psal 119.75 When the darkest and most dismal Cloud of Affliction and Trouble seems to overcast the true Believer and not only to overcast him but to compass him about so as there appears no likelihood of his Escape yet even then there is a Bright side in that Cloud which shines on the Believers Inside to comfort and encourage him in Trusting in and Relying on God in the way of Believing and Dependance And not only so but we Glory in Tribulation also knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience and Patience Experience and Experience Hope and Hope maketh not ashamed because the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us Rom. 5.3 Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort Who comforteth us in all our Tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any Trouble by the Comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God 2 Cor. 1.3 4. Nevertheless God that comforteth those that are cast down c. 2 Cor. 7.6 Seventhly and lastly The Lord Jesus Christ the Head and King of all true Believers being Pilot to sit at the Helm of all Affairs wherein the Glory of his Father and the Salvation of his Elect are concern'd he will so Steer the Course of all second Causes in this World as not one of his Believing Members shall ever come short of a Safe and Happy Arrival at Glory but shall most infallibly be securely conducted through all Storms and Hurricanes which can possibly arise to overwhelm and sink the true Believer Let what Times soever God pleases come let what Calamities soever fall out in the Land Plague Famine Civil War Forreign Invasion Penal Laws Bishops Court Devil World indwelling Sin Let all come upon thee at once and display the Banner of their Force Policy and Malice against thee to ruine and destroy thee yet thou who art a real Believer art safe being secur'd under the shâ—dow of the Appletree and not only safe from any Harm which can come to thee by such Storms or Enemies But thou shalt be infallibly assur'd of safe Landing in Heaven and that by Virtue of that Universal Conquest and Victory Atchiev'd by thy Head and King over all his and thy Enemies And his having gone through all those kind of Storms which thou fearest thou shalt meet with and that as thy Representative and hath shot the Gulph of Death and is now Actually Possest of thy Crown and Mansion in the highest Heavens whereto the Efficacious Virtue and Power of thy Redeemers Ascension will in a very short space of time bring thee to behold and enjoy the great and unspeakable things which he hath purchas'd for thee and for all that truly Love and long for his Appearing God is our Refuâ—e and Strength a very present Help in Trouble therefore will not we fear though the Earth be removed and though the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea Though the Waters thereof rear and be troubled though the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof Psal 46.1 2 3. Whither the forerunner is for us entred even Jesus made an high Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedech Heb. 6.20 What hath been observ'd from the latter part of the Text concerning the Fruits of the Appletree which are so sweet to the Taste of a true Believer many things might have been spoken by way of Application both to the Comfort and Joy of all true hearted Believers and also to the Terror and Amazement of all Papists Quakers Arminians c. who are destitute of the Fruit of this Appletree When spiritual Famine from God comes on these graceless because Christless Souls when they come to be Hunger-bitten and their starv'd Souls languish away in them for want of the Fruit they now ridicule and scorn Then will that dreadful and killing Word take hold of and be Actually fulfilled in them Esa 65.13 Therefore thus saith the Lord God behold my Servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry behold my Servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty behold my Servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed Behold my Servants shall sing for Joy of heart but ye shall cry for Sorrow of heart and shall howl for vexation of Spirit This is and will be the Doom of all those who sit not under the Protecting Shadow of this Appletree The Fruit of this Tree is sweet to none but to those to whom its Shadow is Delightful The Shadow and the Fruit belongs to none but to God's Elect even Christs Redeemed ones Well therefore may the Believer cry out and say with the Prophet Although the Figtree shall not Blossom neither shall Fruit be in the Vine the Labour of the Olive shall fail and the Field shall yield no Meat The Flock shall be cut off from the Fold and there shall be no Herd in the Stalls Yet will I rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation Hab 3.17.18 The Mediatorial Righteousness of God Man is upon me and his protecting Care and Providence is over me for my Covering to shelter me from the Laws Curse From the Agonies of a fearful Conscience from the dreadful Temptations of Satan and from the deserved Wrath of God Here 's my hiding place in time of Storm and Tempest of whom should I be afraid Psal 27.5 Whenever a Storm arises whether rais'd by Satan or the World or by my own corrupt Nature or by Gods deserting or hiding his Face for a time I presently by Faith and Prayer run to the Appletree and take up my place under its Shadow crying out with Holy David Keep me as the Apple of the Eye hide me under the Shadow of thy Wings from the wicked that oppress me from my deadly Enemies who compass me about Psal 17.8 9.