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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A62906 A discourse on 2 Cor. III. 6 ... by Samuel Tomlyns ... Tomlyns, Samuel, 1632 or 3-1700. 1699 (1699) Wing T1858A; ESTC R37158 25,093 52

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A DISCOURSE On 2 Cor. III. 6. Who also hath made us Able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit For the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life BY Samuel Comlyns M. A. Minister of the Gospel in Marleborough LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the Lower End of Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel 1699. THE DEDICATION To my Well-beloved Friends in Christ Mr. Stephen Lock Mr. William Smith Mr. John Isgar and other Christian Friends living in Gospert Grace Mercy and Peace be multiply'd IT is near Thirty years ago that I was first Acquainted with some of you and Conversant among you Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God I am now drawing towards the Confines of Time and the Borders of Eternity I was therefore willing to Dedicate this Discourse of Christ's Testament to you as a Grateful Acknowledgment of your Kindness to me and as a Token and Pledge of that Real Love that I bare towards you The Testament of Christ is the most Noble and Sweet Subject that your Minds can be Conversant about and your Affections feed on that which was contrived from Eternity may well be Matter of Contemplation in time and of Admiration to Eternity This Testament was drawn in the Mind and Counsel of God before the Foundations of the World and hath been since Written in the Blood and established by the Death of the Son of God In it there are the most precious and inestimable Legacies Bequeathed God gives himself as a Father and Portion Jesus Christ gives himself as a Husband and the Spirit is given as a Sanctifier and Comforter and Christians are caused to inherit the Church and Heaven that once were desolate Heritages as to them though the Testator be alive again yet this doth not lessen our Portion or worst our Estate Isa 4.8 as the Death of Christ doth Purchase so the Life of Christ is powerful to conveigh and bestow his Legacies Christ hath passed through the most hard and difficult part of his Work Rom. 5.10 he died to reconcile us that he may live and save us and may sit in Heaven and Enrich us and perfect whatever concerns our Happiness Consider these following particulars in Relation to the Testament of Christ 1. The Wisdom of God shines in this that such a way should be found out to set God's House in Order and to dispose of the most Rich and Great Estate all ways of Communicating Good to the Creature seemed to be shut up and obstructed by the Guilt of Sin God's Treasury was Locked his Fountain Sealed his giving Hand bound but Christ died for the Redemption of Transgressions Heb. 9.15 to buy off those sins that would separate between God and us that would hinder good things from us and sink us down into the Bottomless Pit and shut us up in the Eternal Prison The Conveyance therefore of a Rich Estate to Guilty Beggerly Bankrupt Creatures through the Death and Testament of Christ is the bare contrivance of Infinite Wisdom In the Lord's Supper the Seal of Christ's Testament his Blood is set forth as Purchasing us to be a peculiar People Acts 20.10.41.15 and his Flesh is set forth as Bread to strengthen and enable us to perform our Duty towards our Saviour By Redemption we are obliged to be First-Fruits to God and the Lamb Rev. 14.4 and by Regeneration we are fitted to be First-Fruits James 1.18 that is to consecrate and devote our selves to God and Christ and to live to them 2. Consider the Admirable Righteousness of God that appears in this Testament that Jesus Christ purchased what he Bequeathed he is a Priest of good things Heb. 9.1 that is he Merited he procured them by his Death Good things do not come to us as a Gift from Christ Living but as a Legacy from Christ Dying It is now just with God to forgive the sins of Believers John 1.9 It might have been just with God to punish and destroy but now through the Death of Christ it is just for God to Forgive Grace may now Reign through Righteousness to Eternal Life Rom. 5. last And they that receive an Abundance of Grace and of the Gift of Righteousness shall Reign in Life Rom. 5.17 Jesus Christ doth not as other Testators by Death leave the Inheritance empty but Purchases a Right for us to enter upon the Inheritance and to possess and enjoy it 3. Consider the wonderful Grace of God and Christ that is manifested in this Testament 1. That Christ should Constitute us as his Heires then he might have Executed us as Malefactors 2. That when the Threatnings were in force for our Death that Jesus should die to put the Promises in force for our Life that he should cease to live for a time that we might live eternally 3. That he should make a Testament to enrich us with Spiritual and Eternal Blessings when we had by sin forfeited our Lives and deserved to be stript of all Temporal Comforts and Enjoyments 4. That Jesus Christ should become poor to enrich us 2 Cor. 8.9 He became poor that we by his Poverty might be made Rich. Jesus Christ had no House to put his Head in he lived on what others Ministred to him Matth. 8.20 Luke 8.3 He was robbed of his good Name and censured as a Blasphemer of God and Condemned as an Vsurper and Enemy to Caesar they stript him of his Garments and did not cease afflicting him till every drop of Strength was gone out of his Body and every spark of Life was quenched and he became a weak cold Carcase Christ was thus emptied to fill us and stooped so low to lift us up to Glory 5. What the Law of God requires as a Duty by Christ it is Bequeathed as a Legacy and bestowed as a pure Gift What is required of the Heirs of Promise is purchased for them by the Blood of the Testator and wrought in them by the Spirit of Promise They are changed from Glory to Glory as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. last The Holy Ghost doth excite actuate and draw forth Grace This North and South Wind blowing on Christ's Garden doth cause the Spices of it flow forth Cant. 4. last If Duties were required to be performed by our Free-will and Natural Strength the New Covenant would not differ from the Covenant of Works The First Promise was a most Free and preventing Promise and in it undertakes to break the League and Amity that was between the Woman and the Serpent and to kindle Enmity between them and their Seed Gen. 3.15 And this Free Promise was to be apprehended by Faith only God doth not say Do and your Soules shall live but hear that is Believe and your Soules shall live Isa 55.3 The Promise doth not run thus I will be your God if you will be my People but I will be their God and they shall be my People Joel 31.33 Christ takes it upon himself