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
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
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