Are you worse than some he hath commanded Jer. 3.1,4,5 Thou hast plaid the harlot with many lovers yet return again to me saith the Lord. Such a practice in your Land would greatly defile it saith the Lord but such acts of Grace become the Throne of Grace Rev. 3.17,18 Are you worse than poor and blind and miserable and wretched and naked yet the King of this Throne commands them to come to him though he sweetly calls it Counsel and in it we may joyn his two Names Wonderfull Counselor Is 9.6 Object 2. But Christ calls and invites them that are weary and heavy laden Matth. 11.28 the thirsty Is 55.1 And I am not such and therefore he commands not me to come Answ 1. Do you expect any Grace but at this Throne of Grace Think you to work it out in your selves and come to him for more Or to get the beginning some where else and then come to Christ for the rest This bewrays your Pride and Ignorance of the intire corruption of your Nature and of your Impotency to any good This frame discovers your Ignorance of the Nature of the Grace of God that consists in its freedom as its Glory is in its being the original cause of all Good done for us and wrought in us or by us 2. Christ never bid any man be or do any thing without him and then come to him and he would do more for him Christ calls men as he finds them and then makes them what he would have them He begins the good work in them and performs it Phil. 1.6 3. These and many such like Calls and Invitations do not limit and restrain the universality of the Gospel command but do graciously apply it to such cases wherein they that are are apt to think that they are specially excepted What is more common than such arguings of Unbelief I have a vast load of sin lying on me I have spent my time and strength and money on Sin and Vanity I have been wearied in the greatness of my way of departing from the Lord and therefore the Lord will not recieve me Therefore such are named particularly by the Lord and specially called Therefore let no man whatsoever he hath been or is think that he is not commanded to come to this Throne of Grace Take the command lay it on your Conscience give Obedience to it take the command for your Warrant and never fear but ye shall be welcome Can your soul say Lord no man out of Hell is more needy of thy saving Grace than I no sinner more unworthy of it than I yet because thou commandest me to come I come to beg and to recieve He will sweetly recieve you Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out John 6.37 A Text that hath been an Anchor-hold to many a sinking sinner 4. All should come to the Throne of Grace because of the universality vast extent and indefiniteness of the promise of welcome to all that come The Command of God is a warrant and ground for our Obedience and the Promise is a ground for confidence The promise is Gods great mean for working faith Faith is the impression God makes on the soul of a man by the Promise When God takes the promise of the Gospel and applies it with the power of his grace upon the soul it leaves an abiding Mark and Signature and that is Faith The promise comes as the promise of a faithful God who cannot lie of a great salvation to a great sinner When the sinner seeth and feels the truth and goodness of this promise he believes This promise of God is to be preached to all that hear the Gospel or rather this promise is the Gospel the Lord will make it effectual as he seeth good The Apostle Peter encouraged such men to come to the throne of grace who if ever any in the world should have been kept back it should have been they a crew of the bloody Murtherers of the Son of God But the word preached by Peter takes hold of their souls and they cry out What shall we do No wonder they said so when the cry of Christs Blood was in their Consciences The Apostle saith to them Act. 2.38 Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of the Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost c. their sin was very great peculiar to them only none before nor after them were guilty of this The cry of innocent blood is a dreadful cry but this was more than all the Murthers ever committed in the World It was the murthering of the Son of God it was slaying the Prince of Life it was all that the Devil and wicked World could do to cut the Throat of the Gospel and of all the Elect of God and this wicked Act was done against Christ because he taught that he was the Son of God and that he came from the Father to be the Saviour of the World Yet saith the Apostle to them Repent and be baptized in his name for the remission of that sin you that have been dipt in his blood and so dreadfully guilty by the shedding of it be baptized in his name for the remission of that guilt and of all others This calling for repenting of their guilt of Christ's blood was plainly a requiring of Faith in him not only that he was the Lord Christ they had slain in their unblief but that pardon in the vertue of that Blood might be had by them on their betaking themselves to him by Faith So did the same Apostle preach to the Council Acts 5.28,31 when he and his Brethren were charged by the High-priest for filling Jerusalem with the Doctrine of Christ and intending to bring his blood upon them Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of Sins He directs them to look to Christ as the giver of repentance for and of forgiveness of all their sins not excluding but by v. 30. plainly including the greatest of all their sins their slaying of Christ and hanging him on a tree and this they did with wicked hands Acts 2.23 and with hearts as wicked as their hands Yet thus did Peter preach Christ So well did he remember his Lords command Luke 24.47 That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem His argument is Acts 2.39 For the promise is to you and your children Had they not slain the Heir and foundation of all the promises had they not done as much as men could do to forfeit all interest in the promise Yes but Peter still invites them to the throne of grace by an interest yet in the promise The promise of grace and salvation by Jesus Christ is the Rope and Cord that God casts out to sinking sinners it s equally in the offer of
and the Question then is Is this or that or the other Action pleasing or displeasing to God And this is to be determined by the light of Conscience acting according to God's Holy Law For God is the only Lord of Conscience and his Will the only Rale and Law of Conscience Conscience therefore may be three ways defiled 1. By the unpardoned Guilt of a natural State as it is in all Unbelievers Nothing can purge the Conscience but the Blood of Christ Heb. 9.14 An Unbeliever doth not apply to it nor apply it to himself and God applys it to none but by Faith Therefore all such Unbelievers have all the loathsome filth of their natural State lying on their Consciences defiling it The answer of a good Conscience towards God is by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 3.21 All Unbelievers Consciences can speak nothing towards God by any thing Christ hath done or suffered for they know him not and are not in him They would give an Answer or make their Plea from their good Works and honest Meanings but all such answers and pleas are rejected by God in his judging of a Man's State For all God's Judgment of Mens State proceeds on these two in Christ or out of Christ And as it is with them with respect to one or other of these two so do Men stand or fall before God's Judgment whatever the Judgment of their Consciences be 2. Conscience is defiled by Sinful Actions known to be such Now if these be loved and delighted in they do justly marr Confidence neither can any Man in this Case draw near to God but with the Mouth and hypocritically Isa 2.9,13 This is a Frame not to be found in a Believer He may be guilty of known Sin but it is not delighted in To this David's Words refer Psal 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me It is not If there be iniquity in my heart for who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my Sin Prov. 20.9 It is not If I see iniquity in my heart For where there is least sin it is best seen Paul saw enough Rom. 7.23,24,25 and groaned under it and yet blesseth God through Jesus Christ for the hope of Victory But it is only If I regard iniquity in my heart if I look kindly on it God will not hear me and indeed the Man in this Case cannot pray It is as impossible that a person approving and loving Sin can make a real approach to God as it is for a Man to depart from and approach to one at the same time and with the same motion 3. The Conscience is defiled by doubtful practice Of this the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 8.7 And their conscience being weak is defiled To this belongs also the Words in Rom. 14.5 Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind and ver 22 23. Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin In deliberate Actions especially of Worship to God to act without a clear Warrant from the Word of God defileth the Conscience 2. Sin disturbs the Conscience And Conscience is disturbed by Sin two ways 1. When the evil and filth of Sin is seen a man loaths himself therefore No defilement on the Conscience disturbs it till it be seen Men like Swine wallow in the puddle and see no filth therein till God open the Eyes of their Consciences 2. When the danger of sin is seen and the Wrath it deserves is perceaved then perplexing Fears and sensible Sorrow works in the Soul Now what is the course such a poor Creature should take The Sin is committed the Guilt is contracted the Conscience is defiled the Defilement is seen Disturbance and Trouble is felt in the Conscience What should such a sick Soul do Will any say to him wash thy self where thou canst and cast away the burthen of thy sin the best way thou canst and then come to the throne of Grace This would be strange Gospel indeed We know no other course a Man should take in this Case but coming to the Throne of Grace to have the Conscience sprinkled with the Blood of Christ the only Cordial for a disturbed Conscience and the only Purger of a defiled Conscience Therefore Peter was quite out in his Prayer he prayed backward when he said Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord Luke 5.8 Were ever worse Words uttered at the Knees of Jesus Christ He had said better if he had prayed Lord come near to me and abide with me and let me ever abide with thee for I am a sinful Man Where can a sinful Man be better than with the Saviour of Sinners But Peter's Prayer is the natural Prayer of every Man that seeth his Sinfulness and is ignorant of Jesus Christ The Publican understood Prayer and plyed it better Luke 18.13 when he said God be merciful to me a Sinner I feel my sinfulness I see thy Mercy Lord let them meet and thy Mercy shall be glorified and I saved Whoever therefore are distressed with the guilt of Sin in their Consciences or with the power of it in their Hearts and Lives must seek all their relief at this Throne of Grace It is only the power of that Grace revealed and dispensed at this Throne of Grace that is too hard for Sin and all its powers And for any Man to think to subdue Sin except by the power of this Grace or to think that he shall have this powerful Grace without coming for it to the Throne of Grace is to dream to his own destruction Object 2. I am in the dark about my Interest in God and Christ and therefore I cannot come boldly to this Throne If I did know that God was at peace with me and I reconciled to him and justified then I might come boldly Answ 1. Whose fault is it that thy Interest in Christ is not put out of question Were Christians more in self-examination more close in walking with God and if they had more near Communion with God and were more in acting of Faith this shameful darkness and doubting would quickly vanish It is a thing to be heavily bewailed that many Christians have lived twenty or forty years since Christ called them by his Grace yet doubting is their life they doubted when they began they go on doubting and many die doubting when the blame is justly to be laid on themselves There is an assurance of Faith that is a Duty as well as a Blessing Heb. 10.22 And were it more minded as a Duty it would be more often attained as a Mercy That assurance of Faith I press you to have stands in firm and strong Believing The faithful Promise of Christ in the Gospel is the Foundation of it And the Ground will bear all the weight we can lay on it This Assurance is not only a Blessing that comes down from Heaven but it may by his blessing of Means spring up out of the
to be pityed But if all be dark about and the darkest of all Clouds on the amiable Face of God this is the extremity our Lord was in Yet he prayed and in his Agony prayed yet more fervently Deserted Believers take comfort in a Deserted Saviour His Desertion was Penal yours but Medicinal though it be better Physick it is of the great Physician 's Prescription and he can and will bless it and make you bless him both for the Physick and the Cure 3. Christ had Temptation as an Errand to his Father In all points tempted like as we are yet without sin ver 15. O that Christians would learn to behave under Temptation in some measure aâ— Christ did Temptation to Christ was â— far other thing than it is to us Temptation is bad to us because of the danger of it therefore he bids us Watch and pray that we enter not into Temptation Matth. 26.42 when he was in the depth of his Agony But Temptation to Christ was a meer Affliction There were never but two sinless Men in the World the first and second Adam Satan came to both When he came to the first Adam he found nothing of his own in him but he quickly got somewhat put in him and left it with him and in him and all his Posterity When he came to the second Adam he found nothing in him and could put nothing in him by Temptation John 14.30 The holier a Saint be and the more gross the sin be he is tempted to and the more hatred he have of the Sin the greater is his trouble in and by the Temptation What Affliction then must it have been to Christ to be so tempted as he was Matth. 4. 4. Our Lord had the charge and burden of sin on his Soul not upon his Conscience The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all Isa 53.6 And was not that a mighty Load Sense of Sin is the greatest discouragement to Believers But never was there a Man out of Hell or in it that had such a load of sin on him as Christ had His own self bare our sins in his own body on the Tree 1 Pet. 2.24 Law and Justice charged Christ severely and exacted more of him than ever they did of any other Person None but Christ was made sin 2 Cor. 5.21 Men are Sinners by nature and increase their sinfulness by their Life and an inexhaustible Fountain of sin is in their Heart Eccles 9.3 But none of them is or can be made Sin He only that knew no sin was made sin And because he was made sin for us he was also made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 The Law curseth the Sinner but cannot make a Sinner a Curse for others It can and doth make him accursed and a Curse for himself Here is Heaven's Art All the Righteousness we are made flows from Christ's being made sin for us All the Blessing we get springs out of Christ's being made a Curse for us Believers learn where to seek and find true Righteousness and the true Blessing In vain are they sought any where but in Christ and in his being thus made Sin and a Curse for us The Lord Jehovah charged Christ with the Debt of his People's Sins and he could not deny the Debt though he contracted none of it yet he undertook as Surety to answer for it and to discharge and pay it Therefore the Law and Justice exacted it of him abated him nothing Because the Law will have Blood and Life for Sin Christ offers and gives his Our Lord Jesus had no Challenges in nor Burden upon his Conscience yet he had a heavy Burden upon his Soul therefore he had a troubled Soul John 12.27 though a quiet Conscience For trouble of Conscience properly flows from the sight and Sense of committed Sin but Christ's trouble of Soul was from the Sense of Wrath for the charged and imputed Sins of others Object But may a poor Believer say Christ knew not what a Body of sin and death was he knew not what a bad Heart is and these I feel and am discouraged by Answ Christ did not know these things indeed by feeling and experience as you do but he knew them better than you do or can 1. Christ knew them by the Wrath due to them He that paid the Debt knew best the Debt that was contracted though he himself did not contract it He knew how dear the Expiation was for the Sin of your Heart and Nature 2. Christ knew it by Temptation Temptation brought Sin as near to Christ as it was possible it could be brought to a sinless Man Some Saints know some Sins only this way There are several Acts of Wickedness that the Lord restrains his People from before their Conversion sometimes and usually after it Those Sins they know not by the committing of them nor it may be by any special Inclination to them yet they may know them to be dreadful Evils by an external Temptation to them and by the sight of their Sin and Misery that wallow in them 2. As our Lord Jesus Christ had many Errands to the Throne of Grace so he did ply that Throne Our Saviour was a praying Saviour He spent whole Nights in Prayer to God his Father As he was so should we be in the World 1 John 4.17 Are we afflicted and should we pray So afflicted Jesus prays Is our Soul troubled and do we pray So Christ did John 12.27 Are we deserted and pray So did our Lord. But here is a depth too deep for us to wade in how our elder Brother how God's own Son in Man's Nature did plead at the Throne of Grace This Throne he ply'd was not the same we come to To us he sits on the Throne himself and therefore it is a Throne of Grace to us We approach to God in Christ and in Christ's Name Christ came in his own Name and needed no Mediator We find he came to his Father frequently earnestly and confidently The Church of Christ owe him eternal Praifes for that Prayer John 17. which is only properly Christ's Prayer That in Matth. 6.9 is a pattern of our Prayer taught us by Christ but this is the Prayer made by Christ and therefore truly the Lord's Prayer Of Christ's praying the Apostle speaks Heb. 5.7 Who in the days of his Flesh when he had offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared This is a great Word When a poor Believer is hanging over Hell and a Spirit of Prayer working in him how mightily doth he cry to be saved from that Death O let me not fall in if ever thou hadst Mercy on a sinking Soul save me But never did a distressed Believer cry so mightily to be saved from Hell as Christ did to be saved from death But that death Christ prayed against was another sort of death than we know or
us Aaron and his Successors in the Office of High Priest were appointed to offer the great Sacrifice of yearly Attonement at the Altar and with the Blood thereof to enter into the Holy of Holies and to sprinkle the Mercy-Seat their Throne of Grace with that Blood Lev. 16.14 Our Lord Jesus the Anti-type offered the Sacrifice of himself in his death and in and with the virtue of that Sacrifice he entred Heaven to sprinkle the highest Altar therewith It is but a fond Popish fancy to think that there do remain visible Marks and Signatures of his humbled State on the glorified body of our Lord Jesus that is indeed to know Christ after the Flesh in a bad sense 2 Cor. 5.16 But his entring with his own blood is spiritually to be understood that Christ's Appearance in Heaven is to bring up a Memorial continually before God of the virtue and savour of that Sacrifice he offered without the Gates of Jerusalem Eph. 5.2 Christ loved us and hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour This savour never spends or wears out The Blood of Jesus in the Virtue of it in the Merit of it and in the Power of it is as fresh this day as in the day it was shed on the Cross He is still the â—ew-slain way to the holiest of all Heb. 10.20 â—s fresh and fragrant as ever If Men by their â—nbelief count it old or stale and to have lost â—ts savour and virtue to themselves and if they will seek for somewhat else to procure them â—cceptance in Heaven let them try and peâ—ish for none can help them that reject Christ â—ut our Lord presents nothing for the Salvation of his Body the Church but his own Blood and nothing else is accepted in Heaven for this End but that precious Blood And all they to whose Consciences this Blood is applyed and who come unto it and feel its virtue and power will abhor all vain and dangerous mixtures of any thing with this Sovereign Balsom It is always savoury in Heaven and it is always savoury to all them that are in the right way to Heaven Our Lord in his Intercession fills Heaven with the Almighty and Eternal savour of his Blood and Heaven is filled with the Praises of it and of the shedder of it Rev. 5.9,12 If its savour do not fill the parts of the Earth where it is preached it is because Men have lost or rather never had the spiritual sense that only can take in this savour and not because this Blood is impaired in its virtue But this is the sin and misery of this condemned World that what is most savoury in Heaven is least savoured on Earth and what is most sought after prized and doted on in Earth is vanity and abomination in Heaven Luke 16.15 3. In Christ's Intercession there is his knowledge of and sympathy with the Ails and Distresses of his people This the Apostle takes notice of in ver 15. His knowledge of their Distresses we can more easily account for than for his Sympathy His Omniscience as God we believe Peter sweetly owned it John 21.15,16,17 O that Christ would with power ask the same Question at all of you and that you could give the same Answer Christ's Question is lovest thou me more than these Not long since thou said'st so what saist thou now Peter's Answer is Yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee And on the repeating of the Question Peter gives the same Answer ver 16. When Christ a third time ask'd the same Question Peter was grieved ver 17. and answers thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee As if he said I dare not compare my Love to thee with that of others to thee thou hast reason to question my love to thee because of my late woful denyal of thee but yet I dare call thee to Witness who knowest all things that I do love thee Though all my Brethren love thee better than I do or can though I be more unworthy than any to be loved by thee yet I am sure I love thee If the love of Christ were as a hot Fire within and its Coals were casting out a vehement Flame as Song 8.6 Believers would more often call Christ by that sweet Name sweet to us to speak and sweet to him to hear O thou whom my Soul loveth Song 1.7 Miserable Souls are they who love not Christ And dull unobservant people are they that know not what or whom their Souls love Is the love of Christ a meer Notion Is it not a most sensible holy and spiritual Passion or rather a heavenly Grace Can Men love Christ and not feel it Should they feel it and not avow it Is there any thing we should be ashamed of in the love of Christ but the shameful smalness of it That our highest and hottest love is so unsutable a Return to his incomparable Loveliness and his Wonderful Love to us and the dear Demonstrations of it All ye that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity look on him and love him more love him with all your Souls and blush with shame that you love him no better Blow the coals of Love by Faith and let the Flame mount up to Heaven and ascend ye in the Flame of the Altar as Manoah's Angel did Judg. 13.20 You that doubt of your Love to Christ go to him fall down before him answer Peter's Question according to the true sense of your Souls and it will be Lord thou knowest that I love thee Love Christ and ye will quickly feel ye love him A sight of Christ will beget Love and Love will quickly speak for it self 2 Cor. 5.14,15 But for Christ's Sympathy with his people this is harder to conceave than his knowledge of their Distresses It is a Sympathy different from what he had in the days of his own Infirmity it is as tender but not disturbing as real but not afflicting It is inconsistent with his glorifieâ— State to have any trouble His Sympathy it self is to be believed the manner how it acts is unsearchable Heb. 2.17 In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God Heb. 4.15 He is touched with the feeling of our Infirmities and was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin About this deep point of Christ's Sympathy we may soberly conceave 1. Our Lord's Remembrance of his own Infirmities Temptations and Afflictions in the days of his Flesh This is plain and certain 2. His sure and distinct particular Knowledge and Remembrance of his people and of all that concerns them within and without 3. His Interest in them and Care of them and Concern for them as his Members 4. His Power and Wisdom as their Head to send down vital Influences upon them as their Case requires Eph. 4.16 Col. 2.19 Lastly Christ's
is saving it comes from the Heart and Love of God Eph. 2.4 and is treasured up for and laid out only upon his chosen It is the favour he bears to his people Psal 106.4 Common mercies are thrown about with a large and indifferent hand He maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Matth. 5.45 Now these two sorts of mercies are as far different as Heaven and Earth The excellency of the one is far beyond that of the other though we be unworthy of either I am less than the least of all thy mercies said a great Saint Gen. 32.10 And so should all say But few do perceave this great difference and many give the preference to common outward mercy Who but a Christian doth count it a greater mercy to have the Conscience sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus than to have a large and prosperous Estate in the World That the light of God's Countenance and an hour spent in his Courts when the King's presence is in them is better than all the Enjoyments of this World Moses was a Man that obtained singular mercy from the Lord it appeared in this that he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt Heb. 11.26 He had excellent Balances and true Weights He put in the one Scale Egypt's Honours Treasures and Pleasures and how weighty are such things in the Worldlings Balances and in the other the reproach of Christ and affliction with the people of God His Judgment on this weighing is That this Reproach because of Christ's concern in it and this Affliction because it is of and with God's people is better than all the other things The true Test of Mens Spirit is justly taken from their setled inward Apprehension of the worth and value of spiritual saving mercy above all outward mercy Psal 4.6,7 There be many that say Who will shew us any good Most Men are for any good they know not well what and from any hand that can show it and give it But David knew what good he would have and who could show it Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Why is he so earnest for this Blessing Thou hast put gladness in my heart Carnal Men seek Gladness and make it and take it to themselves as well as they can But Gladness of God's putting in their Heart they know not more than in the time that their corn and their wine encreased David doth not here compare though he doth discover the holiness of his Heart with the earthliness of that of others he compares not the tenderness of his Conversation with theirs But he compares the Joy God gave him by the Light of his Countenance not with the Joy he had but with that the Ungodly have in their sensual Satisfactions Try your selves by this Where is your Esteem lodged What sort of things are they that relish with your Spirits Common outward Mercies carry away the Hearts of the most part of Men and this shews that few Men have obtained special mercy 2. He that hath obtained special mercy hath a love to it and to the Giver of it and to the way God gives it and in which he receaves it He that is a lover of God's mercy in Christ is an Obtainer of it A natural Man may have a liking of God's mercy in general But mercy as from God through Jesus Christ mercy shown on the account of a full Satisfaction made to Justice in and by his Blood mercy given freely to glorious Ends and Purposes every natural Man seeth no Glory no Goodness no Beauty in it But every Obtainer of it doth admire every thing in it It is rich mercy saith he it flows from a blessed Fountain Free-love runs in a blessed Channel the Redemption of Jesus comes to me in a well-ordered Covenant and was shown me for his Praise in my Salvation from sin and misery 3. An Obtainer of mercy is a daily Beggar for more mercy Whenever God's special mercy is tasted hunger and thirst after more is raised No sooner did Paul obtain mercy but behold he prays Acts 9.11 There is more of mercy yet to be had mercy quickens the Soul's Desires and enlargeth them The greatest Receivers are the greatest Beggars 1 Pet. 2.2,3 Desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious This Mark is plain and will never fail They that drive not a Trade of Prayer for special mercy have not yet obtained it 4. An Obtainer of mercy from the Lord is a shower of mercy to others He is a merciful Man to others Matth. 5.7 Col. 3.12,13 Put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercies kindness c. forbearing forgiving as Christ forgave you And Eph. 4.32 even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you How unbecoming it is that such should have Bowels of Brass on whom God's Bowels of mercy have been poured out This is a Mark that will never fail but in a high fit of Temptation All that have obtained God's mercy will be disposed to shew their mercy Forgiving one another is an easie thing it costs nothing but to think a kind thought Yet how hard is this to many through the power of Corruption There are some acts of mercy as Bounty and Charity that poor Christians have no ability for But the principal Act of mercy is in every Christians Power and that is mercy to Mens Souls We cannot give them that mercy we have obtained but we can and should wish the like to them Never did a Man obtain mercy from the Lord for himself but he wisheth that others should partake of it also The Woman of Samaria John 4. of whose Conversion we have the largest account of any Convert in the Bible as soon as she obtained mercy she forgot what she came to the Well for she had got somewhat better than the Water of Jacob's Well she met with Jacob's God and had got Jacob's Blessing she goes to the City and turns a sort of a Preacher to them Come see a man that told me all things that ever I did Is not this the Christ ver 29. She obtained mercy and would have all the City come and get mercy also And a great many came and obtained mercy Christ caught that Woman by his Grace and made her as a Bait to catch many more No Believer can deny his sense of such a Frame as this There are some Persons thou dost love and shouldst love thou prayest for them What dost thou mainly ask for Wife Children Brothers Sisters and all or any thou lovest heartily Is it not O that they might share in God's saving mercy If thou ask it for others as the greatest mercy thou thy self art an Obtainer of mercy Paul obtained mercy He loved his Countrymen the Jews dearly and on good grounds Rom.
God of peace make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ We need Grace's help in every good Work no Work is truly good but what grace helps us to Grace and Works agree sweetly in this Order Grace begins and Works follow Grace works on the Man and makes him a Worker Grace passeth on the Person and his Works and makes them accepted and the accepted Worker gives grace all the glory both of his Works and of his own and their Acceptance Whence his help comes thither his Praises go Lastly Grace helps in Extremities But of this in the last thing in the Text. This then is the first Exhortation Come to the throne of grace seeking helping grace Enlarge and heighten the sense of your Need and Weakness as much as you will the Supply to be had at the Throne of grace is sufficient Phil. 4.19 My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus And in Paul's Stile Glory and Grace change Names frequently Eph. 1.6,12,14 and 3.16 2 Cor. 3.18 Exhort 2. You must not only seek grace to help but when you seek it you must expect it The Text runs plainly this way The Apostle implies asking but expresseth finding and coming that we may find therefore we should come with expectation of finding The Spirit and Life of Prayer in Faith lyeth more in Expectation then in asking Unwise Christians let out the life-Life-Blood and vital Spirits of Prayer when they let their Expectations languish Here is a common but unregarded Error in Christians exercise When they set their Face to pray they make some Conscience of searching out their Wants they labour to improve that sight to the raising of fervent desires of a supply of them if they yet go higher to take in a sense of the fulness and freeness of that grace where their help is yet how rarely are they careful to raise up Expectations of that helping grace few can say as Psal 55.16 As for me I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me ver 17. Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice Few can charge their Souls as he did Psal 62.5 My Soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from him See how the Prophet's Faith rose Micah 7.7 I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my Salvation my God will hear me Looking is a needy Act of Faith waiting is an expecting Act and assurance is the highest If you look to the Lord you may quickly know he is the God of your Salvation if you know him as the God of your Salvation and your God you will ask earnestly wait patiently and by the same Faith Prophecy a gracious answer What do you take Praying in Faith to be Jam. 1.6 It is not only to pray believing that we call upon the true God in the Name of Christ and for things agreeable to his Will it is not only that we believe that he is able to give what we ask but that he will give what is good But because his grace to help is not only good and always good but nothing is good without it Christians should beg grace with confident Expectations What means Christ's frequent answer to Men Matth. 8.13 As thou hast believed so be it done unto thee and Matth. 9.29 According to your Faith be it unto you Is it not to tell us that he measures out his Bounty to Men according to their believing Expectations from him John 11.40 Jesus saith unto Martha Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of God Our way is if we could see the glory of God then we would believe Christ's way is just contrary we must first believe and then we shall see the glory of God We say if the Lord would glorifie himself in performing his Promises and in hearing our Prayers then we would believe strongly But this is interverting of Christ's Order Martha was a Believer in Christ and expresseth Faith several ways in this Chapter It appears in the joynt Message they sent to Christ ver 3. Lord behold he whom thou lovest is sick ver 5. Now Jesus loved Martha and her Sister and Lazarus A blessed Family and few like it all loved of Christ and doubtless lovers of Christ but they built more on his love to them than on their love to him like humble and wise Believers ver 21 22. Martha said unto Jesus Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died Her Sister Mary said the same ver 32. It is likely that none ever died in Christ's Presence when he was on earth he cured all that imployed him But I know that even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God God will give it thee Here was some Faith When Christ promiseth ver 23. that her brother should rise again she acts Faith as to the Doctrine of the Resurrection ver 24. I know that he shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last day When Christ goes on in preaching himself ver 25.26 and asks her of her Faith she answered bravely Yea Lord I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of God which should come into to the world ver 27. A Confession like Peter's Matth. 16.16 What then was wanting in this good Woman why doth our Lord put such an if thou wouldest believe to one that did believe so much and so well Because notwithstanding her Faith in Christ's Person as the Christ the Son of God the Saviour of the world notwithstanding her Faith of his power yet in this instance of raising Lazarus she expected nothing When Christ ver 39. bids take away the stone she said Lord by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four days She that believed Lazarus should rise at the last day could not believe that he should rise after death had held him but four days Such is the very nature of Unbelief or of weak Faith in true Believers they can or rather think they do believe greater and harder things when not much tryed about them better and more easily than smaller and easier things that their Faith is called to a present exercise about Let all Christians in all their approaches to the throne of grace behold this as written on the open Gates to this Throne and hear it proclaimed by him that sitteth on it Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of God Some Believers are apt to think that a trembling fearing frame is fitter for them and that raising of expectation of good from God will prevent or hinder Humility and lying low before the Lord. But they are quite mistaken that think Faith and Humility are inconsistent They not only agree well together but they cannot be parted Hab. 2.4 Behold his Soul which is
to have a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward Men. Acts 24.16 It is usually seen that times of great Tryals do dart in some Light into Mens Consciences and do make Men look into their Hearts and Ways more narrowly and spy small Faults that they could not see at other times For they are days of darkness in one sense and days of light in another Study therefore to keep thy Conscience clean and pure by holy and tender walking and by daily believing For it is the Blood of Christ that only can purge the Conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9.14 And let me assure you of this and if you will not believe it I dare say you will feel it and feel it the more then if you believe it not now that such as make all their care about their Consciences to stand in watchfulness about their Hearts and Ways and are utterly estranged from believing Applications to the Blood of Jesus when an evil Day and an evil Conscience meet together and meet they will that they will be in a sad and dreadful Confusion And no better will their Condition be who upon a false Pretence and in this case it is always false of trusting in Christ have no care either of their Conscience or Conversation The Mystery of the Faith is to be held and kept in a pure Conscience 1 Tim. 3.9 We should hold Faith and a good Conscience 1 Tim. 1.19 they cannot be got nor kept but together Whoever suffers Shipwrack of the one loseth the other Christ is the Saviour of Sinners but he is no Minister of Sin Gal. 2.17 He came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 Not to save Saints for there are none in it but of his making and his making Sinners to be Saints is a notable part of his saving 2 Tim. 1.9 The Inheritance is for them that obtain forgiveness of Sins and who are sanctified by Faith in him Acts 26.28 None are saved but the Sanctified and none are sanctified but by Faith in Christ Jesus There may be in an Unbeliever a Picture and shadow of Holiness but it is an Abomination in the sight of God whatever the Man that hath it or they that see it may think of it A holy Vnbeliever or an unholy Believer never was since the World began nor will be while it lasts 5. Multiply your Addresses to the Throne of Grace before the time of need come Happy were that Christian that could cry as earnestly for that Grace that can help him before the time of need come as he will see it needful to have it when that time doth come But it is the weakness of our Minds as Men and of our Grace as Christians that we cannot take up so clear a Prospect of things to come and that they are not so big in our Eyes at a distance as when present Yet by Faith we may foresee times of need and should pray much for Grace to help us when that time comes Suppose you should for twenty years together beg that Grace and Mercy that you should not have occasion for till those years were expired would there be any hurt in it 6. In any special Prospect of an approaching time of need make special Addresses to the Throne of Grace for Grace to help in that time There are two things in these Addresses I recommend to you 1. Let them be Personal Partticular and Secret Our Lord's Direction Matth. 6.6 Many Christians find it an easier thing to keep a day of Prayer with others than to spend an hour in Prayer in secret by themselves It were far easier to know a Man's Frame and State by his secret dealings with God if we were acquainted with them than by all his Professions and Duties besides 2. Let these Addresses be sometimes solemn and long There are some Mercies not to be got as some sort of Devils not to be cast out but by fasting and prayer Matth. 17.21 Secret personal Fasts I am afraid are very rare amongst Christians in our Days Christ commands and directs us about them Matth. 6.16.17,18 as well as about secret Prayer Matth. 6.6,7 Ministers should not load Christians with work above the Strength of their Bodies or Minds or Grace But surely it is but reasonable Service required of you that you should make Addresses to the Throne of Grace in some suitableness to your need of that Grace that is dispensed from it There are four things which if they were the Fruit of my speaking and of your hearing so often from this Text we should both have cause to bless the Lord who teacheth his people to profit Isa 48.17 1. If you learn to pray better and to ply Prayer more David gave himself to Prayer Psal 109.4 The Apostles those extraordinary Officers of the Primitive Church gave themselves continually to Prayer and to the Ministery of the Word Acts 6.4 There are times in which private Christians should give themselves to fasting and prayer 1. Cor. 7.5 If you belong to God he will make you pray and reach you with Briars and Thorns if you will not yield to more gentle Methods How sad is the Reflection that riseth in the Heart under some heavy Tryal This is brought on me for my indulged distance and estrangement from God 2. If you learn to mind Christ more and make more use of him in your Praying He is the King on this Throne of Grace As much as Christ is out of your Minds in Praying so much are you out in Praying and your Praying out of that it ought to be That which we beg is out of Christ's Store In whose Name do we beg it but in his for whose sake but for his Out of whose hand do we receave what we ask and get but out of his It is marvellous that People should pretend to Prayer and think they pray who yet forget Jesus Christ who is all in all in all right Prayer 3. If you learn to mind and plead more God's Free-Grace in Jesus Christ in your praying Free-Grace is the sensible humble Min's Plea he is a proud ignorant Person that seeks or useth any other Plea at God's Throne of Grace Free-Grace is the only thing that Faith can first lay hold on it 's a Plea that any Man may use it is the constant and powerful Plea of a wise Besiever It answers every case and suits every Prayer and the lowest Case and the highest Prayer best 4. If you learn never to leave off improving of christ and pleading for Grace at this Throne of Grace till ye have no more need of Grace And that will never be as long as you live If any Man fall into such a Dream that he is got beyond the need of Grace and so of Praying he is one that never rightly knew himself nor Grace nor Christ nor Praying The Believer knows he stands in need of Christ and Grace and therefore prays as long as he liveth