the way of faith He is a restless spirit himself and would make us so too it is an excellent note of Minutius Foelix Those desperate Ad Solamen calamitatis suae non definunt per iâ—…i perdere Minut Felix and restless Spirits saith he have no other pleasure but in bringing us to the same misery themselves are in he goeth about as a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour It frets and grates his proud and envious mind to see others find rest when he can find none an effectual Plaister applied to heal our wound when his own must bleed to eternity and he obtains his end fully if he can but keep off souls from Christ look therefore upon all those objections and discouragements raised in your hearts against coming to Christ as so many Artifices and cunning Devices of the Devil to destroy and ruine your souls 'T is true they have a very specious and colourable appearance they are guilded over with pretences of the Justice of God the heinous nature of sin the want of due and befitting qualifications for so holy and pure a God the lapsing of the reason of mercy and an hundred other of like nature but I beseech you lay down this as a sure conclusion and hold it fast that whatever it be that discourages and hinders you from coming to Christ is directly against the interest of your souls and the hand of the Divil is certainly in it Inference 2. Hence also it follows That unbelief is the true reason of all that disquietness and trouble by which the minds of poor sinners are Inference 2. so rackt and tortured If you will not believe you cannot be established till you come to Christ peace cannot come to you Christ and peace are undivided Good souls consider this you have tryed all other ways you have tried duties and no rest comes you have tried reformation restitution and a stricter course of life yet your wounds are still open and fresh bleeding these things I grant are in their places both good and necessary but of themselves without Christ utterly insufficient to give what you expect from them why will you not try the way of faith why will you not carry your burthen to Christ O that you would be perswaded to it how soon would you find what so long you have been seeking in vain how long will you thus oppose your own good how long will you keep your selves upon the rack of Conscience is it easie to go under the throbs and wounds of an accusing and condemning Conscience You know it is not you look for peace but no good comes for a time of healing and behold trouble alas it must and will be so still untill you fall into the way of faith which is the true and only method to obtain rest Inference 3. What cause have we all to admire the goodness of God in providing for us a Christ in whom we may find rest to our Inference 3. souls How hath the Lord filled and furnished Jesus Christ with all that is suitable to a Believers wants Doth the guilt of sin terrifie his Conscience Lo in him is perfect righteousness to remove that guilt so that it shall neither be imputed to his person nor reflected by his Conscience in the way of condemnation as it was before In him also is a Fountain opened for washing and for cleansing the filth of sin from our souls in him is the fulness both of Merit and of Spirit two sweet Springs of Peace to the souls of men well might the Apostle say Christ the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 30. and well might the Church say he is altogether lovely Cant 5. 16. Had not God provided Jesus Christ for us we had never known one hours rest to all eternity Inference 4. How unreasonable and wholly inexcusable in Believers is the sin of backsliding from Christ Have you found rest in him Inference 4. when you could not find it in any other Did he receive and ease your souls when all other persons and things were Physicians of no value and will you after this backslide from him again O what madness is this Will a man leave the Snow of Lebanon which cometh from the Rock of the Field or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken No man that is in his wits would leave the pure cold refreshing streams of a Crystal Fountain to go to a filthy pudled Lake or an empty Cistern as the best enjoyments of this world are in comparison with Jesus Christ. It was Christs melting expostulation with the Disciples Joh. 6. 67 68. when some had forsaken him will ye also go away and it was a very suitable return they made Lord whither away from thee should we go q. d. from thee Lord no no where can we mend our selves Be sure of it when ever you go from Christ ye go from rest to trouble Had Judas rest had Spira rest and do you think you shall have reâ—… no no The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways Prov. 14. 14. you shall have your bellies full of it Cursed be the man that departeth from him he shall be as the Heath in the Desart that seeth not when good cometh and shall inhabit the parched places of the wilderness Jer. 17. 5. If fear of sufferings and worldly temptations ever draw you off from Christ you may come to those straights and terrors of Conscience that will make you wish your selves back again with Christ in a Prison with Christ at a Stake Inference 5. Let all that come to Christ learn to improve him to the rest and peace of their own souls in the midst of all the troubles and Inference 5. outward distresses they meet with in the world Surely rest may be found in Christ in any condition he is able to give you peace in the midst of all your troubles here So he tells you in Joh. 16. ult These things have I spoken to you that in me you might have peace in the world you shall have tribulation by peace he means not a deliverance from troubles by taking off affliction from them or taking them away by death from all afflictions but it is something they enjoy from Christ in the very thick of troubles and amidst all their afflictions that quiets and gives them rest so that troubles cannot hurt them certainly Believers you have peace in Christ when there is little in your own hearts and your hearts might be filled with peace too if you would exercise faith upon Christ for that end 't is your own fault if you be without rest in any condition in this world Set your selves to study the fulness of Christ and to clear your interest in him believe what the Scriptures reveal of him and live as you believe and you will quickly find the peace of God filling your hearts and minds Blessed be God for Jesus Christ. The Tenth SERMON
take their Timbrel and Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ He doth not say they take the Bible turn to the promises and rejoyce in Christ and the Covenant 't is not the melody of a good Conscience the joy of the Holy Ghost no no they have no acquaintance with such musick as that but the rejoycing of Believers is in those things 2 Cor. 1. 12. And this is well-built consolation which reaches the heart Secondly I told you that propriety and interest in Christ and the promises is required to all Spiritual Consolation but no unbeliever hath any title or interest in Christ and the promises and so they can signifie nothing to him in point of Comfort 'T is not another mans mony but my own that must feed cloath and comfort me nor is it another mans Christ but my own Christ that must justifie save and comfort my soul. Thirdly You were told that evidence of a mans peace and reconciliation with God is necessary to his actual consolation which no unbeliever can possibly have he hath neither grace within him to make him a qualified subject of any special promise nor any witness or seal of the spirit to confirm and clear his propriety in Christ for he never seals but where he first sanctifies So that it is beyond all contradiction that Believers and none but Believers are partakers of the Consolations that are in Christ Jesus Fourthly and Lastly There is one inquiry remains to be satisfied namely seeing Jesus Christ is consolation to Believers how it comes to pass that so many Believers in the world should walk so dejectedly as they do without any Spiritual Consolation First This may not be wondred at if we consider that the Consolations of Christ are of two sorts Seminal and in preparation or actual in present possession Every Believer in the world hath the root and seed of comfort planted and sown for him Psal. 97. 11. Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart They have Christ and the promises which are the seeds of Consolation and will bring forth joy at last though at present they have no actual Consolation the seed of all joy is sown and in due time they shall reap the full ripe fruit thereof Secondly It must be remembred that interest and evidence are distinct blessings every Believer hath interest in Christ but every Believer hath not the evidence thereof Isai. 50. 10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his Servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light Every Child of God is not of sufficient age to know his Father or take comfort in that blessed inheritance whereunto he is begotten again 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. Thirdly Every Believer doth not walk with like strictness and exact holiness all do not exercise faith in a like degree among Christians some are strong in grace rich in faith strict in obedience tender of sin to an eminent degree these usually are owners of much Consolation but others are weak in grace poor in faith comparatively careless of their hearts and ways frequently grieving the good Spirit of God and wounding their own Consciences the vessel into which Spiritual Consolation is poured and these are usually denied the joy and comfort which others abound withal Fourthly The Consolations of Christ are arbitrarily dispensed by the Spirit who is the Comforter and giveth to every man in such proportions and seasons as pleaseth him whence it comes to pass that he that is rich in comfort to day may be poor to morrow and contrarily the heart that is brimful of sorrow one hour is filled with peace and joy in believing the next Things that are necessary to the being of a Christian are fixed and stable but things belonging only to the well-being of a Christian come and go according to the good pleasure and appointment of the Spirit The use of all follows Inference 1. Hence it follows that the state of unbelievers is the most sad and uncomfortable state in the world having no interest in Christ Inference 1. the Consolation of Israel 'T is true they abound in Creature-comforts they live in pleasure upon earth Joy displaies its colours in their faces but for all this there is not the least drop of true Consolation in any of their hearts they have some comfort in the Creature but none in Christ that little they gather from the Creature now is all their portion of joy Luke 6. 24. Ye have received your consolation as this is all they have so they shall enjoy it but a little while Job 21. 13 17. and while they do injoy it it 's mixt with many gripes of Conscience Job 14. 13. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness whatever consolation any unbeliever speaks of besides this is but by rote for when the day of his distress cometh and the terrors of Conscience shall awake him out of his pleasant dreams all his sensual joys will vanish from him and the dores of true Consolation will be all shut against him Let him go to Jesus Christ knock at that dore and say Lord Jesus thy name is Consolation my heart is ready to burst within me hast thou no Consolation for me O Lord for one drop of Spiritual Comfort now but alas there is none no not in Christ himself for any unbeliever 'T is Childrens bread the Saints priviledge comfort and grace are undivided let him return into himself search his own Conscience for comfort and say O Conscience thou art more than a thousand witnesses and thousands have been comforted by thee where thou speakest comfort none can speak trouble hast thou no Consolation for me in my deepest distress Alas no if God condemn thee wherewithal shall I comfort thee I can speak neither more nor less than the Scriptures put into my mouth and I find not one word in all the Book of God warranting me to be thy Comforter believe it as an undoubted truth though the sense of the bewitched world over-rules it that the state of unbelievers even at the best is a sad and dismal state Inference 2. Let all Believers fetch all their Comfort out of Christ who is Inference 2. the Consolation of his people we rejoice saith the Apostle in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh That 's the true temper of a believing soul Take heed you live not partly upon Christ and partly upon the Creature for your Comfort much rather beware that you forsake not Christ the fountain of living waters and hew out Cisterns for your selves which can hold no water Jer. 2. 13. If you make any Creature the spring and fountain of your comfort assuredly God will dry up that spring if your souls draw their Comfort from any Creature you know they must out-live that Creature and what then will you do for Comfort Beside as your Comforts are so are you The food of
before his face but the merciful God casts them all behind his back never to behold them more so as to charge them upon his pardoned people And thus you see what the pardon of sin is what the price that purchaseth pardon is and what riches of grace God manifesteth in the remission of Believers sins which were the things to be explained and opened in the Doctrinal part The improvement of the whole you will have in the following Uses Inference 1. If this be so that all Believers and none but Believers receive Inference 1. the remission of their sins through the riches of grace by the blood of Christ What a happy condition then are Believers in Those that never felt the load of sin may make light of a pardon but so cannot you that have been in the deeps of trouble and fear about it those that have been upon the rack of an accusing and condemning Conscience as David Heman and many of the Saints have been can never sufficiently value a pardon Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity Psal. 32. 1 2. or O the blessednesses and felicities of the pardoned man as the Hebrew sounds Remission cannot but appear the wonder of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mercies if we consider through what difficulties the grace of God makes way for it to our souls what strong bars the love of God breaks asunder to open our way to this priviledge for there can be no pardon without a Mediator no other Mediator but the Son of God the Son of God cannot discharge our debts but by taking them upon himself as our surety and making full payment by bearing the wrath of God for us and when all this is done there can be no actual pardon except the spirit of grace open our blind eyes break our hard hearts and draw them to Christ in the way of believing And as the mercy of remission comes to us through wonderful difficulties so it is in it self a compleat and perfect mercy God would not be at such vast expence of the riches of his grace Christ would not lay out the invaluable treasures of his precious blood to procure a cheap and common blessing for us Rejoyce then ye pardoned souls God hath done great things for you for which you have cause to be glad Inference 2. Hence it follows That interest in Christ by faith brings the Inference 2. Conscience of a Believer into a state of rest and peace Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith we have peace with God I say not that every Believer is presently brought into actual peace and tranquillity of Conscience there may be many fears and much trouble even in a pardoned soul but this is an undoubted truth that faith brings the pardoned soul into that condition and state where he may find perfect rest in his Conscience with respect to the guilt and danger of sin The blood of Christ sprinkles us from an evil that is an accusing condemning Conscience We are apt to fear that this or that special sin which hath most terrified and affrighted our Consciences is not forgiven but if there be riches enough in the grace of God and efficacy enough in the blood of Christ then the sins of Believers all their sins great as well as small one as well as another without limitation or exception are pardoned For let us but consider if God remits no sin to any man but with respect to the blood of Christ then all sins are pardoned as well as any one sin because the dignity and desert of that blood is infinite and as much deserves an universal pardon for all sins as the particular pardon of any even the least sin Moreover remission is an act of Gods Fatherly love in Christ and if it be so then certainly no sin of any Believer can be retained or excluded from pardon for then the same soul should be in the favour of God so far as it is pardoned and out of the favour of God so far as it is unpardoned and all this at one and the same instant of time which is a thing both repugnant to it self and to the whole stream of the Gospel To Conclude what is the design and end of remission but the saving of the pardoned soul But if any sin be retained or excluded from pardon the retaining of that sin must needs irritate and void the pardon of all other sins and so the acts of God must cross and contradict each other and the design and end of God miscarry and be lost which can never be So then we conclude faith brings the believing soul into a state of rest and peace Inference 3. Hence it also follows That no remission is to be expected by any Inference 3. soul without interest by faith in Jesus Christ no Christ no pardon no faith no Christ. Yet how apt are many poor deluded souls to expect pardon in that way where never any soul yet did or ever can meet it Some look for pardon from the absolute mercy of God without any regard to the blood of Christ or their interest therein we have sinned but God is merciful Some expect remission of sin by vertue of their own duties not Christs merits I have sinned but I will repent restore reform and God will pardon but little do such men know how they therein diminish the evil of sin undervalue the justice of God slight the blood of Christ and put an undoing cheat upon their own souls for-ever to expect pardon from absolute mercy or our own duties is to knock at the wrong dore which God hath shut up to all the world Rom. 3. 20. Whilst these two principles abide firm that the price of pardon is only in the blood of Christ and the benefit of pardon only by the application of his blood to us this must remain a sure conclusion that no remission is to be expected by any soul without interest by faith in Jesus Christ. Repentance restitution and reformation are excellent duties in their kind and in their proper places but they were never meant for saviours or satisfactions to God for sin Inference 4. If the riches of grace be thus manifested in the pardon of sin Inference 4. how vile an abuse is it of the grace of God to take the more liberty to sin because grace abounds in the pardon of it Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid Rom. 6. 1 2. Will no cheaper stuff than the grace of God serve to make a cloak for sin O vile abuse of the most excellent thing in the whole world did Christ shed his blood to expiate our guilt and dare we make that a plea to extenuate our guilt God forbid If it be intolerable ingratitude among men to requite good with evil sure that sin must want a name bad enough to express it which puts the greatest
spiritualiter per ipsum regeneratos Sicut deâ—…ictum Ade non nocet nisi suis in eo quod sui sunt Sic nec gratia Christi prodest nisi suis in eo quod sui sunt as the Condemnation of the First Adam passeth not to us except as by generation we are his so grace and remission pass not from the Second Adam to us except as by regeneration we are his Adams Sin hurts none but those that are in him and Christs blood profits none but those that are in him how great a weight therefore doth there hang upon the effectual application of Christ to the Souls of men and what is there in the whole world so awfully solemn so greatly important as this is Such is the strong consolation resulting from it that the Apostle in this context offers it to the believing Corinthians as a superabundant recompence for the despicable meanness and baseness of their outward condition in this world of which he had just before spoken in ver 27 28. telling them though the world contemned them as vile foolish and weak yet of God Christ is made unto them wisdom and righteousness sanctification and redemption In which words we have an Enumeration of the chief priviledges of believers and an Account of the method whereby they come to be invested with them First Their priviledges are enumerated namely wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption mercies of 1. Quatuor Christo â—…logia hic adscribit quae totam ejus virtutem quicquid ab ipso bonorum recipimus complectuntur Calv. in loc inestimable value in themselves and such as respect a fourfold misery lying upon sinful manâ—… viz. Ignorance guilt pollution and the whole 〈◊〉 of miserable consequences and effects let in upon the nature of men yea the best and holiest of men by sin Lapsed man is not only in deep misery but grossly ignorant both that he is so and how to recover himself from it Sin hath left him at once senseless of his state and at a perfect loss about the true remedy To cure this Christ is made to him Wisdome not only by improvement of those treasures of wisdome that are in himself for the benefit of such souls as are united to him as an head consulting the good of his own members but also by imparting his wisdome to them by the Spirit of illumination whereby they come to discern both their sin and danger as also the true way of their recovery from both through the application of Christ to their souls by faith But alas Simple illumination doth but increase our burden and exasperate our misery as long as sin in the guilt of it is either imputed to our persons unto condemnation or reflected by our consciences in a way of accusation With design therefore to remedy and heal this sore evil Christ is made of God unto us righteousness compleat and perfect righteousness whereby our obligation to punishment is dissolved and thereby a solid foundation for a well settled peace of conscience firmly established Yea but although the removing of guilt from our persons and consciences be an inestimable mercy yet alone it cannot make us compleatly happy for though a man should never be damned for sin yet what is it less than an hell upon earth to be under the dominion and pollution of every base lust it's misery enough to be daily defiled by sin though a man should never be damned for it To compleat therefore the happiness of the redeemed Christ is not only made of God unto them Wisdome and righteousness the one curing our ignorance the other our guilt but he is made Sanctification also to relieve us against the dominion and pollution of our corruptions he comes both by water and by blood not by blood only but by water also 1 Joh. 5. 6. purging as well as pardoning how compleat and perfect a cure is Christ But yet something is required beyond all this to make our happiness perfect and entire wanting nothing and that is the removal of those doleful effects and consequents of sin which notwithstanding all the forementioned priviledges and mercies still lye upon the souls and bodies of illuminated justified and sanctified persons For even upon the best and holiest of men what swarms of vanity loads of deadness and fits of unbelief do daily appear in and oppress their souls to the imbittering of all the comforts of life to them And how many diseases deformities pains oppress their bodies which daily moulders away by them till they fall into the grave by death even as the bodies of other men do who never received such priviledges from Christ as they do For if Christ be in us as the Apostle speaks Rom. 8. 10. the body is dead because of sin Sanctification exempts us not from mortality But from all these and whatsoever else the fruits and consequences of sin Christ is Redemption to his people also this seals up the sum of mercies this so compleats the happiness of the Saints that it leaves nothing to desire These four wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption take up amongst them all that is necessary or desirable to make a soul truly and perfectly blessed Secondly we have here the method and way by which the Elect come to be invested with these excellent priviledges 2. the account whereof the Apostle gives us in these words Who of God is made unto us in which expression four things are remarkable First That Christ and his benefits go inseparably and undividedly together 't is Christ himself is made all this unto us we can have no saving benefit separate and apart from the person of Christ many would willingly receive his priviledges who will not receive his person but it cannot be if we will have one we must take the other too yea we must accept his person first and then his benefits as it is in the marriage Covenant so 't is here Secondly That Christ with his benefits must be personally and particularly applied to us before we can receive any actual saving priviledge by him he must be made unto us i. e. particularly applied to us as a sum of money becomes or is made the ransome and liberty of a Captive when it is not only promised but paid down in his name and legally applied for that use and end when Christ dyed the ransome was prepared the sum laid down but yet the elect continue still in sin and misery notwithstanding till by effectual calling it be actually applied to their persons and then they are made free Rom. 5. 10 11. reconciled by Christs death by whom we have now received the attonement Thirdly That this application of Christ is the work of God and not of man Of God he is made unto us the same hand that prepared it must also apply it or else we perish notwithstanding all that the father hath done in contriving and appointing and all that the son hath done in executing and accomplishing the
cannot believe till God hath opened your eyes to see your sin your misery by sin and your remedy in Jesus Christ alone you find this act of the Spirit to be the first in order both of nature and time and introductive to all the rest Acts 26. 18. To turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God As faith without works which must be a consequent to it is dead so faith without light which must be an Antecedent to it is blind faith is the hand by which Christ is received but knowledge is the eye by which that hand is directed Well then hath God opened your eyes to see sin and misery in another manner than ever you saw it before for certainly if God have opened your eyes by saving illumination you will find as great a difference betwixt your former and present apprehensions of sin and danger as betwixt a painted Lion upon the wall or sign post and the real living Lion that meets you roaring in the way Secondly Conviction is an Antecedent to believing where this goes not before no faith can follow after the Spirit first convinces of sin then of righteousness Joh. 16. 8. So Mark 1. 15. repent ye and believe the Gospel believe it O man that breast of thine must be wounded that vain and frothy heart of thine must be pierced and stung with conviction sense and sorrow for sin thou must have some sick days and restless nights for sin if ever thou rightly close with Christ by faith 't is true there is much difference found in the strength depth and continuance of conviction and spiritual troubles in converts as there is in the labours and travailing pains of women but sure it is the child of faith is not ordinarily born without some pangs Conviction is the application of that light which God makes to shine in our minds to our particular case and condition by the conscience and sure when men come to see their miserable and sad estate by a true light it cannot but wound them and that to the very heart Thirdly Self-despair or a total and absolute loss in our selves about deliverance and the way of escape either by our selves or any other meer creature doth and must go before faith So it was with those believers Acts 2. 37. men and brethren what shall we do they are the words of men at a total loss it is the voyce of poor distressed souls that saw themselves in misery but knew not saw not nor could devise any way of escape from it by any thing they could do for themselves or any other creature for them and hence the Apostle uses that emphatical word Gal. 3. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. shut up to the faith i. e. as men besieged and distressed in a garrison in time of a storm when the enemy pours in upon them through the breaches and over-powers them there is but one sally-port or gate at which they can escape and to that they all throng as despairing of life if they take any other course Just so do mens convictions besiege them distress them beat them off from all their holds and intrenchments and bring them to a pinching distress in themselves shutting them up to Christ as the only way of escape Duties cannot save me reformation cannot save me nor Angels nor men can save me there is no way but one Christ or Condemnation for evermore I thought once that a little repentance reformation restitution and a stricter life might be a way to escape wrath to come but I find the bed is too short and the covering too narrow all is but loss dung dross in comparison with Jesus Christ if I trust to those Aegyptian reeds they will not only fail me but pierce and wound me too I see no hope within the whole Horizon of sense Fourthly Hence come vehement and earnest crys to God for faith for Christ for help from heaven to transport the soul out of this dangerous condition to that strong rock of salvation to bring it out of this farious stormy Sea of trouble where it 's ready to wreck every moment into that safe and quiet harbour Christ. O when a man shall see his misery and danger and no way of escape but Christ and that he hath no ability in himself to come to Christ to open his heart thus to receive him but that this work of faith is wholly supernatural the operation of God How will the soul return again and again upon God with such crys as that Mark 9. 24. Lord help my unbelief Lord enable me to come to Christ give me Christ or I perish for ever what profit is there in my blood why should I dye in the sight and presence of a Saviour O Lord it is thine own work and a most glorious work reveal thine arm in this work upon my soul I pray thee give me Christ if thou deny me bread give me faith if thou deny me breath it 's more necessary that I believe than that I live O Reader reflect upon the days and nights that are past the places where thou hast been conversant where are the bed-sides or the secret corners where thou hast besieged heaven with such crys if God have thus inlightned convinced distressed thy soul and thus set thee a mourning after Christ it will be one good sign that faith is come into thy soul for here are certainly the Harbingers and fore runners of it that ordinarily make way for faith into the souls of men Secondly If you would be satisfied of the sincerity and truth 2. Mark of your faith then examine what Concomitants it is attended with in your souls I mean what frames and tempers your souls were in at that time when you think you received Christ. For certainly in those that receive Christ excepting those into whose hearts God hath in a more still and insensible way infused faith betime by his blessing upon pious education such concomitant frames of Spirit may be remarkt as these following First The heart is deeply serious and as much in earnest in this matter as ever it was or can be about any thing in the world This you see in that example of the Jaylor Acts 16. 29. he came in trembling and astonished it is the most solemn and important matter that ever the soul had before it in this world or ever shall or can have how much are the hearts of men affected in their outward straits and distresses about the concernments of the body their hearts are not a little concern'd in such questions as these What shall I eat what shall I drink where withal shall I and mine be fed and cloathed but certainly the straits that souls are in about salvation must be allowed to be greater than these and such questions as that of the Jaylors Sirs what must I do to be saved make deeper impressions upon the heart than what shall I eat or drink Some indeed
Gal. 6. 1. You that are spiritually minded restore or set him in joint again in the spirit of meekness considering thy self Israel was commanded to be kind to strangers for saith God you know the heart of a stranger and surely if any case in the world require help pity and all compassionate tenderness this doth and yet how do some slight spiritual troubles upon others Parents slight them in their own children Masters in their servants the more bruitish and wicked they O had you but felt your selves what they feel you would never handle them as you do But let this comfort such poor creatures Christ hath felt them and will pity and help them yea he therefore would feel them himself that he might have compassion upon you If men will not God will pity you if men be so cruel to persecute him whom God hath smitten God will be so kind to pour balm into the wounds that sin hath made if they pull away the shoulder from you and will not be concerned about your troubles except it be to aggravate them God will not serve you so but certainly you that have past through the same difficulties you cannot be without compassion to them that are now grapling with them Inference 4. How unexpressibly dreadful is the state of the damned who must bear the burden of all their sins upon themselves without relief or Inference 4. hope of deliverance Mark 9. 44. where their worm dyeth not and the fire is not quenched O if sin upon the soul that 's coming to Christ for deliverance be so burdensome what is it upon the soul that is shut out from Christ and all hopes of deliverance for ever For do but ponder these differences betwixt these two burdens First No soul is so capacious now to take in the fulness of the evil and misery of sin as they are who are gone down to the place of torments Even as the joyes of Gods face above are much unknown to them that have the foretastes and first-fruits of them here by faith so the misery of the damned is much unknown even to them that have in their consciences now the bitterest taste and sense of sin in this world as we have the visions of heaven so we have the visions of hell also but darkly through a glass Secondly No burden of sin presseth so continually upon the soul here as it doth there afflicted souls on earth have intermissions and breathing times but in hell there are no Lucid intervals the wrath of God there is still flowing it is in fluxu continuâ—… Isa. 30. 33. a stream of brimstone Thirdly No burden of sin lyes upon any of Gods elect so long as the damned do and must bear it our troubles about sin are but short though they should run parallel with the line of life but the troubles of the damned are parallel with the endless line of eternity Fourthly Under these troubles the soul hath hope but there all hope is cut off all the Gospel is full of hope it breathes nothing but hope to sinners that are moving Christ-ward under their troubles but in hell the pangs of desperation rend their consciences for ever So that upon all accounts the state of the damned is inexpressibly dreadful Inference 5. If the burden os sin be so heavy how sweet then must the Inference 5. pardon of sin be to a sin-burdened soul Is it a refreshment to a prisoner to have his chains knockt off a comfort to a debtor to have his debts paid and obligations cancelled What joy must it then be to a sin-burthened soul to hear the voice of pardon and peace in his trembling conscience Is the light of the morning pleasant to a man after a weary tiresome night the Spring of the year pleasant after a hard and tedious Winter they are so indeed but nothing so sweet as the favour peace and pardon of God to a soul that hath been long restless and anxious under the terrors and fears of conscience for though after pardon and peace a man remembers sin still yet it is as one that remembers the dangerous pits and deep waters from which he hath been wonderfully delivered and had a narrow escape O the unconceivable sweetness of a pardon Who can read it and not wet it with tears of joy Are we glad when the grinding pain of the Stone or racking fits of the Colick are over and shall we not be transported when the accusations and condemnations of conscience are over Tongue cannot express what these things are this joy is something that no words can convey to the understanding of another that never felt the anguish of sin Inference 6. Lastly In how sad a case are those that never felt any burden in Inference 6. sin that never were kept waking and restless one night for sin There is a burthened conscience and there is a benummed conscience The first is more painful but the last more dangerous O 't is a fearful blow of God upon a mans soul to strike it senseless and stupid so that though mountains of guilt lye upon it it feels no pain or pressure and this is so much the more sad because it incapacitates the soul for Christ and is a presage and fore-runner of hell It would grieve the heart of a man to see a delirious person in the rage and height of a fevor to laugh at those that are weeping for him call them fools and telling them he is as well as any of them much so is the case of many thousand souls the God of mercy pity them Second Use for Counsel The only further Use I shall make of this Point here shall Use 2. be to direct and counsel souls that are weary and heavy laden with the burden of sin in order to their obtaining true rest and peace And first First Counsel Satisfie not your selves in fruitless complaints to men Many 1. Counsel do so but it 's never the near I grant it 's lawful in spiritual distresses to complain to men yea and it is a great mercy if we have any near us in times of trouble that are judicious tender and faithful into whose bosomes we may pour out our troubles but to rest in this short of Christ is no better than a snare of the Devil to destroy us Is there not a God to go to in trouble The best of men in the neglect of Christ are but Physicians of no value Be wise and wary in your choice of Christian friends to whom you open your complaints some are not clear themselves in the doctrine of Christ and faith others are of a dark and troubled spirit as you are and will but entangle you more As for me saith Job is my complaint to man and if it were so why should not my spirit be troubled Job 21. 4. One hour betwixt Christ and thy soul in secret will do more to thy true relief than all other counsellors and comforters in
the world can do Second Counsel Beware of a false peace which is more dangerous than your trouble for sin can be Many men are afraid of their troubles 2. Counsel but I think they have more cause to fear their peace a great deal There is a twofold peace that ruines most men Peace in sin and peace with sin O how glad are some persons when their troubles are gone but I dare not rejoyce with them It 's like him that rejoyces his Ague is gone though it hath left him in a deep Consumption You are got rid of your troubles but God knows how you have left them your wounds are skinn'd over better they were kept open There 's no wise woman would desire to have her pains and throes cease till the Child be born And surely they have much to answer that help on these delusions healing the hurt of souls slightly by crying peace peace when there is no peace The false peace you beget in them will be a real trouble to your selves in the issue Jer. 6. 14. Third Counsel Let all that are under inward troubles for sin take heed of 3. Counsel drawing desperate conclusions against themselves and the final state of their own souls Though your case be sad 't is not desperate though the night be troublesome and tedious keep on in the way to Christ and light will spring up To mourn for sin is your duty to conclude there is no hope for you in Christ is your sin You have wronged God enough already do'nt add a farther and greater abuse to all the rest by an absolute despair of mercy 'T was your sin formerly to presume beyond any promise 't is your sin now to despair against many commands I would say as the Apostle in another case I would not have you mourn as men that have no hope your condition is sad as it is but yet it 's much better than once it was you were once full of sin and void of sense now you have the sense of sin which is no small mercy you were once quite out of the way and method of mercy now you are in that very path wherein mercy meets the elect of God Keep hope therefore at the bottom of all your troubles Fourth Counsel Observe whether your troubles for sin produce such fruits and effects in your souls as theirs do which end at last in Christ and 4. Counsel everlasting peace First One that is truly burdened with sin will not allow himself to live in the secret practice of sin either your trouble will put an end to your course of sinning or your sinning will put an end to your troubles Consult 2 Cor. 7. 11. Secondly True sorrow for sin will give you very low and vile thoughts of your selves as you were covered with pride before so you will be covered with shame after God hath convinced and humbled you Rom. 6. 21. Thirdly A soul really burdened with sin will never stand in his own justification before God nor extenuate and mince it in his confessions to him Psal. 51. 3 4. Fourthly The burdens of sin will make a man set light by all other burdens of affliction Lam. 3. 22. Mic. 7. 9. The more you feel sin the less you feel affliction Fifthly A soul truly burdened for sin will take no hearty joy or comfort in any outward enjoyment of this world till Christ come and speak peace to the soul Lam. 3. 28. Just so the soul sits alone and keepeth silence merry company is a burden and musick is but howling to him Fifth Counsel Beware of those things that make your troubles longer than they 5. Counsel ought to be There be several errors and mistakes that hold poor souls much longer in their fears and terrors than else they might be And such are First Ignorance of the nature of saving faith and the necessity of it till you come to believe you cannot have peace and while you mistake the nature or apprehend not the necessity of faith you are not like to fall into that path of peace Secondly Labouring to heal the wounds that the Law hath made upon your consciences by a more strict obedience to it for the future in the neglect of Christ and his righteousness Thirdly Inobservance of what God hath already done for you in these preparatory works of the Law in order to your salvation by Jesus Christ. O if you would but compare what you now are with what you lately were it would give some relief but the last and principal thing is this Sixth Counsel Hasten to Christ in the way of faith and you shall find rest and till then all the world cannot give you true rest The sooner 6. Counsel you transact with Christ in the way of faith the sooner you shall be at peace and enter into his rest for those that believe do now enter into rest You may tugg and strive look this way and that but all in vain Christ and peace come together No sooner do you come to him and roll your burden on him receive him as he offers himself but the soul feels it self eased on a suddain being justified by faith we have peace with God Rom. 5. 1. And thus in finishing the first we are brought home to the second Observation Doct. 2. Doct. 2. That Sin-burdened souls are solemnly invited to come to Christ. THIS Point sounds sweetly in the ear of a distressed sinner it is the most joyful voice that ever the soul heard the voice of blessing from Mount Gerezim the ravishing voice from Mount Sion Ye are come to Jesus the Mediator In opening of it I will shew 1. What it is to come to Christ. 2. How Christ invites men to come to him 3. Why his invitation is directed to burdened souls First We will enquire what it is to come to Christ and 1. how many things are involved in it In general To come to Christ is a phrase aequipollent or of the same amount with believing in Christ. It is an expression that carries the nature and necessity of faith in it and is reciprocated with believing John 6. 35. He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth in me shall never thirst Coming to Christ is believing in Christ and believing in Christ is coming to Christ they are Synonyma's and import the self same thing only in this notion of faith there are many rich and excellent things hinted to us which no other word can so aptly convey to our minds as First It hints this to us That the souls of convinced and burdened sinners do not only discern the reality of Christ or that he is but also the necessity of applying Christ and that their eternal life is in their union with him for this is most certain that the object of faith must be determinate and fixed the soul must believe that Christ is or else there can be no emotions of the soul after him all coming
had been right nothing but the sprinkling of the blood of Christ could have appeased their consciences Heb. 10. 22. How cold should the consideration of this thing strike to the hearts of such persons Methinks Reader if this be thy case it should send thee away with an aking heart Thou hast not yet tasted the bitterness of sin and if thou do not then shalt thou never taste the sweetness of Christ his pardons and peace Inference 4. How great a mercy is it for sin-burthened souls to be within the Inference 4. sound and call of Christ in the Gospel There be many thousands in the Pagan and Popish parts of the world that labour under distresses of conscience as well as we but have no such reliefs or means of peace and comfort as we have that live within the joyful sound of the Gospel If the conscience of a Papist be burdened with guilt all the relief he hath is to afflict his body to quiet his soul a penance or pilgrimage is all the relief they have If a Pagan be in trouble for sin he hath no knowledge of Christ nor notion of a satisfaction made by him The voice of nature is Shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul The damned endure the terrible blows and wounds of conscience for sin they roar under that terrible lash but no voice of peace or pardon is heard among them It is not come unto me ye that labour and are heavy laden but depart from me ye cursed Blessed are your ears for you hear the voice of peace you are come to Jesus the Mediator and to the blood of sprinkling O you can never set a due value upon this priviledge Inference 5. How sweet and unspeakably relieving is the closing of a burdened Inference 5. soul with Jesus Christ by faith 'T is rest to the weary soul. Soul troubles are spending and wasting troubles The pains of a distressed conscience are the most acute pains A poor soul would fain be at rest but knows not where he tryes this duty and that but finds none at last he falls into the way of believing he casts himself with his burden of guilt and fear upon Christ and there is the rest his soul desired Christ and rest come together till faith bring you to the bosome of Jesus you can find no true rest the soul is rolling and tossing sick and weary upon the billows of its own guilt and fears Now the soul is come like a Ship tossed with storms and tempests out of a raging Ocean into the quiet harbour or like a lost Sheep that hath been wandring in weariness hunger and danger into the fold Is a soft bed in a quiet chamber sweet to one that is spent and tired with travel Is the sight of a shoar sweet to the shipwrackt Mariner that looks for nothing but death much more sweet is Christ to a soul that comes to him pressed in conscience and broken in spirit under the sinking weight of sin How did the Italians rejoyce after a long dangerous voyage to see Italy again Crying with loud and united voices which made the very heavens ring again Italy Italy But no shoar is so sweet to the weather-beaten passenger as Christ is to a Italiam Italiam lâ—…to clamore salutant Virg. broken-hearted sinner this brings the soul to a sweet repose Heb. 4. 3. We which have believed do enter into rest and this endears the way of faith to their souls ever after Inference 6. Learn hence the usefulness of the Law to bring souls to Jesus Inference 6. Christ. It 's utterly useless as a Covenant to justifie us but exceeding useful to convince and humble us It cannot relieve or ease us but it can and doth awaken and rouze us it 's a fair glass to shew us the face of sin and till we have seen that we cannot see the face of Jesus Christ. The Law like the Fiery Serpents smites stings and torments the conscience this drives us to the Lord Jesus lifted up in the Gospel like the Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness to heal us The use of the Law is to make us feel our sickness this makes us look out for a Physician I was alive once without the Law saith Paul but when the Commandment came sin revived and I dyed Rom. 7. 9. The hard vain proud hearts of men require such an hammer to break them to pieces Inference 7. It 's the immediate duty of weary and heavy laden sinners to Inference 7. come to Christ by faith and not stand off from Christ or delay to accept him upon any pretence whatsoever Christ invites and commands such to come unto him 't is therefore your sin to neglect draw back or deferr whatever seeming reasons and pretences there may be to the contrary When the Jaylor was brought where I suppose thee now to be to a pinching distress that made him cry Sirs what must I do to be saved the very next counsel the Apostles gave him was Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Acts 16. 30 31. And for your encouragement know he that calleth you to come knows your burden what your sins have been and troubles are yet he calls you if your sin hinder not Christ from calling neither should it hinder you from coming He that calls you is able to ease you to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him Heb. 7. 25. Whatever fulness of sin be in you there is a greater fulness of saving power in Christ. Moreover he that calls you to come never yet rejected any poor burdened soul that came to him and hath said he never will Joh. 6. 37. He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out Fear not therefore he will not begin with thee or make thee the first instance and example of the feared rejection And Lastly Bethink thy self what wilt thou do and whither wilt thou go in this case if not to Jesus Christ Nothing shall ease or relieve thee till thou dost come to him Thou art under an happy necessity to go to him With him only is found rest for the weary soul. Which brings us to the third and last Observation Doct. 3. Doct. 3. That there is rest in Christ for all that come unto him under the heavy burden of Sin REST is a sweet word to a weary soul all seek it none but believers find it We which have believed Non dicit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ingressi sumus sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ingredimur significans initia quietis fideles nunc habere plenam quietem suo temporâ—… consecuturos Pareus in loc saith the Apostle do enter into rest Heb. 4. 3. he doth not say they shall but they do enter into rest noting their spiritual rest to be already begun by faith on earth in the tranquillity of conscience and shall be consummated
in heaven in the full enjoyment of God There is a sweet calm upon the troubled soul after believing an ease or rest of the mind which is an unspeakable mercy to a poor weary soul. Christ is to it as the Ark was to the Dove when she wandred over the watery World and found not a place to rest the soal of her foot Faith centres the unquiet spirit of man in Christ brings it to repose it self and its burden on him It is the souls dropping anchor in a storm which stayes and settles it The great debate which cost so many anxious thoughts is now issued into this resolution I will venture my all upon Christ let him do with me as seemeth him good It was impossible for the soul to find rest whilest it knew not where to bestow it self or how to be secured from the wrath to come but when all is embarqued in Christ for eternity and the soul fully resolved to lean upon him and trust to him now it feels the very initials of eternal rest in it self it finds an heavy burden unloaded from its shoulders it is come as it were into a new world the case is strangely altered The word rest in this place notes and is so rendered by some a recreation 't is restored renewed and recreated as it Recreabo vos nempe à lassitudine à molestia onere Vatab. Erasm. were by that sweet repose it hath upon Christ. Believers know that faith is the sweetest recreation you can take Others seek to divert and lose their troubles by sinful recreations vain company and the like but they little know what that recreation and sweet restoring rest that faith gives the soul is You find in Christ what they seek in vain among the creatures Believing is the highest recreation known in this world But to prevent mistakes three Cautions need to be premised lest we do in ipso limine impingere stumble at the threshold and so lose our way all along afterward Caution 1. You are not to conceive that all the souls fears troubles and sorrows are presently over and at an end as soon as it is come to Caution 1. Christ by faith They will have many troubles in the world after that it may be more than ever they had in their lives Luther upon his conversion was so buffeted by Satan ut nec calor nec sanguis nec sensus nec vox superesset Our flesh saith Paul had no rest 2 Cor. 7. 5. They will be infested with many temptations after that it may be the assaults of Satan may be more violent upon their souls than ever horribilia de deo terribilia de fide Injections that make the very bones to quake and the belly to tremble they will not be freed from sin that rest remains for the people of God nor from inward trouble and grief of soul about sin These things are not to be expected presently Caution 2. We may not think that all believers do immediately enter into Caution 2. the full actual sense of rest and comfort but they presently enter into the state of rest Being justified by faith we have peace with God Rom. 5. 1. i. e. we enter into the state of peace immediately Peace is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Psal. 97. 11. And he is a rich man that hath a thousand acres of corn in the ground as well as he that hath so much in his barn or the money in his purse They have rest and peace in the seed of it when they have it not in the fruit they have rest in the promise when they have it not in possession and he is a rich man that hath good Bonds and Bills for a great summ of money if he have not twelve pence in his pocket All believers have the promise have rest and peace granted them under Gods own hand in many promises which faith brings them under and we know that the truth and faithfulness of God stands engaged to make good every line and word of the promise to them So that though they have not a full and clear actual sense and feeling of rest they are nevertheless by faith come into the state of rest Caution 3. We may not conceive that faith it self is the souls rest but Caution 3. the means and instrument of it only We cannot find rest in any work or duty of our own but we may find it in Christ whom faith apprehends for Justification and Salvation Having thus guarded the point against misapprehensions by these needful cautions I shall next shew you how our coming to Christ by faith brings us to rest in him And here let it be considered what those things are that burden grieve and disquiet the soul before its coming to Christ and how it is relieved and eased in all those respects by its coming to the Lord Jesus and you shall find First That one principal ground of trouble is the guilt 1. of sin upon the conscience of which I spake in the former point The curse of the Law lyes heavy upon the soul so heavy that nothing is found in all the world able to relieve it under that burthen as you see in a condemned man spread a Table in Prison with the greatest dainties and send for the rarest Musicians all will not charm his sorrow but if you can produce an authentick pardon you ease him presently just so it is here faith plucks the thorn out of the conscience which so grieved it unites the soul with Christ and then that ground of trouble is removed for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Rom. 8. 11. The same moment the soul comes to Christ it is past from death to life is no more under the Law but Grace If a mans debt be paid by his surety he need not fear to shew his face boldly abroad he may freely meet the Sergeant at the prison door Secondly The soul of a convinced sinner is exceedingly 2. burdened with the uncleanness and filthiness wherewith sin hath defiled and polluted it Conviction discovers the universal pollution of heart and life so that a man loaths and abhorrs himself by reason thereof If he do not look into his own corruptions he cannot be safe and if he do he cannot bear the sight of it he hath no quiet Nothing can give rest but what gives relief against this evil And this only is done by faith uniting the soul with Jesus Christ. For though it be true that the pollution of sin be not presently and perfectly taken away by coming to Christ yet the burden thereof is exceedingly eased for upon our believing there is an heart-purifying principle planted into the soul which doth by degrees cleanse that fountain of corruption and will at last perfectly free the soul from it Acts 15. 9. Purifying their hearts by faith and being once in Christ he is concerned for the soul as
a member now of his own mystical body to purifie and cleanse it that at last he may present it perfect to the Father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 5. 26. The reigning power of it is gone immediately upon believing and the very existence and being of it shall at last be destroyed O what rest must this give under those troubles for sin Thirdly It was an intolerable burthen to the soul to be under the continual fears aiarms and frights of death and 3. damnation It s life hath been a life of bondage upon this account ever since the Lord opened his eyes to see his condition Poor souls lye down with tremblings for fear what a night may bring forth 'T is a sad life indeed to live in continual bondage to such fears But faith sweetly relieves the trembling Conscience by removing the guilt which breeds it fears The sting of death is sin when guilt is removed fears vanish Smite Lord smite said Luther for my sins are forgiven Now if sickness come 't is another thing than it was Feri Domine feri nam à peccatis meis absolutus sum Luth. wont to be Isai. 33. 21. The Inhabitant shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities a man scarce feels his sickness in comparison to what he did whilst he was without Christ and hope of pardon Fourthly A convinced sinner out of Christ sees every thing 4. against him nothing yields any comfort yea every thing increases and aggravates his burthen whether he look to things past present or to come If he reflect upon things past his soul is filled with anguish to remember the sins committed and the seasons neglected and the precious mercies that have been abused if he look upon things present the case is doleful and miserable nothing but trouble and danger Christless and comfortless and if he look forward to things to come that gives him a deeper cut to the heart than any thing else for though it be sad and miserable for the present yet he fears it will be much worse hereafter all these are but the beginning of sorrows and thus the poor awakened sinner becomes a Magor missabib fear round about But upon his coming to Christ all things are marvellously altered a quite contrary face of things appears to him every thing gives him hope and comfort which way soever he looks so speaks the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. All things are yours saith he whether life or death or things present or things to come all is yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods they are ours i. e. for our advantage benefit and comfort more particularly upon our coming to Christ First Things past are ours they conduce to our advantage and comfort Now the soul can begin to read the gracious end and design of God in all its preservations and deliverances whereby it hath been reserved for such a day as this O! it melts his heart to consider his Companions in sin and Vanity are cut off and he spared and that for a day of such mercy as the day of his espousals with Christ is Now all his past sorrows and deep troubles of spirit which God hath exercised him with begin to appear the greatest mercies that ever he received being all necessary and introductive to this blessed union with Christ. Secondly Things present are ours though it be not yet with us as we would have it Christ is not sure enough the heart is not pure enough sin is too strong and grace is too weak many things are yet out of order yet can the soul bless God for this with tears of joy and praise him for this brimful of admiration and holy astonishment that it is as it is that he is where he is though he be not yet where he would be O 't is a blessed life to live as a poor recumbent by acts of trust and affiance though as yet it have but little evidence that it is resolved to trust all with Christ though it be not yet certain of the issue O this is a comfortable station a sweet condition to what it was either when it wallowed in sin in the days before conviction or was swallowed up in fears and troubles for sin after conviction now it hath hope though it want assurance and hope is sweet to a soul coming out of such deep distresses now it sees the remedy and is applying it whereas before the wound seemed desperate now all hesitations and debates are at an end in the Soul 't is no longer bivious and unresolved what to do all things have been deeply considered and after consideration issued into this resolve or decree of the will I will go to Christ I will venture all upon his Command and Call I will imbarque my eternal interests in that Bottom here I fix and upon this ground I resolve to live and dye O how much better is this than that floating life it lived before rolling upon the billows of inward fears and troubles not able to drop Anchor any where nor knowing where to find an Harbour Thirdly Things to come are ours and this is the best and sweetest of all man is a prospecting creature his eye is much upon things to come and it will not satisfie him that it is well at present except he have a prospect that it shall be so hereafter but now the soul hath committed it self and all its concernments to Christ for eternity and this being done it 's greatly relieved against evils to come I cannot saith the Believer think all my troubles over and that I shall never meet any more afflictions it were a fond vanity to dream of that but I leave all these things where I have left my soul he that hath supported me under inward will carry me through outward troubles also I cannot think all my temptations to sin past O I may yet meet with sore assaults from Satan yet it is infinitely better to be watching praying and striving against sin than it was when I was obeying it in the lusts of it God that hath delivered me from the love of sin will I trust preserve me from ruine by sin I know also death is to come I must feel the pangs and agonies of it but yet the aspect of death is much more pleasant than it was I come Lord Jesus to thee who art the death of death whose death hath disarmed death of its sting I fear not its dart if I feel not its sting And thus you see briefly how by faith Believers enter into rest How Christ gives rest even at present to them that come to him and all this but as a beginning of their everlasting rest Inference 1. Is there rest in Christ for weary souls that come unto him Then certainly it 's a design of Satan against the peace and welfare Inference 1. of mens souls to discourage them from coming to Christ in
call it fancies are as various as faces and confederacies presuppose mutual acquaintance and conference Fourthly Christ the desire of all Nations implies the vast extent his Kingdom hath and shall have in the world out of every Nation under Heaven some shall be brought to Christ and to Heaven by him And though the number of Gods elect compared with the multitudes of the ungodly in all Nations is but a remnant a little flock and in that comparative sense there are few that shall be saved yet considered absolutely and in themselves they are a vast number which no man can number Mat. 8. 11. Many shall come from the East and from the West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven In order whereunto the Gospel like the Sun in the Heavens circuits the world it arose in the East and takes its course towards the western world rising by degrees upon the remote Idolatrous Nations of the earth out of all which a number is to be saved even Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands to God Pfal 68. 31. And this consideration should move us to pray carnestly for the poor Heathens who yet sit in darkness and the shadow of death there is yet hope for them Fifthly It holds forth this that when God opens the eyes of men to see their sin and danger by it nothing but Christ can give them satisfaction 't is not the amenity fertility riches and pleasures the Inhabitants of any Kingdom of the world do enjoy that can quench and satisfie the desires of their souls when once God touches their hearts with the sense of sin and misery Christ and none but Christ is desirable and necessary in the eyes of such persons Many Kingdoms of the world abound with riches and pleasures the providence of God hath carved liberal portions of the good things of this life to many of them and scarce left any thing to their desires that the world can afford Yet all this can give no satisfaction without Jesus Christ the desire of Nations the one thing necessary when once they come to see the necessity and excellency of him then take the world who will so they may have Christ the desire of their souls Thus we see upon what grounds and reasons Christ is stiled the desire of all Nations But there lies one great Objection against this truth Object which must be satisfied viz. if Christ be the desire of all Nations how comes it to pass that Jesus Christ finds no entertainment in so many Nations of the world among whom Christianity is hissed at and Christians not tolerated to live among them who see no beauty in him that they should dedesire him First We must remember the Nations of the World have their times and seasons of conversion Those that Sol. once embraced Christ have now lost him and Idols are now set up in the places where he once was sweetly worshipped The Sun of the Gospel is gone down upon them and now shines in another Hemisphere and so the Nations of the World are to have their distinct days and seasons of illumination The Gospel like the Sea gaineth in one place what it loseth in another and in the times and seasons appointed by the Father they come successively to be enlightned in the knowledge of Christ and then shall that promise be fulfilled Isai. 49. 7. Thus saith the Lord the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One to him whom the nation abhorreth to a servant of Rulers Kings shall see and arise Princes also shall worship because of the Lord that is faithful Secondly Let it also be remembered that although Christ be rejected by the Rulers and Body of many Nations yet he is the desire of all the Elect of God dispersed and scattered among those Nations Secondly In the next place we are to enquire upon what 2. account Christ becomes the desire of all Nations i. e. of all those in all the Nations of the world that belong to the election of grace And the true ground and reason thereof is because Christ only hath that in himself which relieves their wants and answers to all their needs As First They are all by nature under condemnation Rom. 5. 16 18. under the curse of the Law against which nothing is found in Heaven or earth able to relieve their Consciences but the blood of sprinkling the pure and perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus and hence it is that Christ becomes so desirable in the eyes of poor sinners all the world over If any thing in nature could be found to pacifie and purge the Consciences of men from guilt and fear Christ would never be desirable in their eyes but finding no other remedy but the blood of Jesus to him therefore shall all the ends of the earth look for righteousness and for peace Secondly All Nations of the world are polluted with the filth of sin both in nature and practice which they shall see and bitterly bewail when the light of the Gospel shall shine amongst them and the same light by which this shall be discovered will also discover the only remedy of this evil to I le in the spirit of Christ the only fountain opened to all Nations for sanctification and cleansing and this will make the Lord Jesus incomparably desirous in their eyes Oh how welcome will he be that cometh unto them not by blood only but by water also John 1. 5 6. Thirdly When the light of the Gospel shall shine upon the Nations they shall then see that by reason of the guilt and filth of sin they are all barr'd out of Heaven Those dores are chained up against them and that none but Christ can open an entrance for them into that Kingdom of God that no man cometh to the Father but by him John 14. 6. neither is there any name under Heaven given among men whereby they must be saved but the name of Christ Act. 4. 12. Hence the hearts of sinners shall pant after him as the Hart panteth for the water brooks And thus we see upon what grounds Christ becomes the desire of all Nations The improvement of all followeth in five several uses of the point viz. 1. For Information 2. For Examination 3. For Consolation 4. For Exhortation 5. For Direction Use for Information First Is Christ the desire of all Nations How vile a sin is Use 1. it then in any Nation upon whom the light of the Gospel hath shined to reject Jesus Christ and say as those in Job 21. 14. Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways To thrust away his worship government and servants from amongst them and in effect to say as it is Luke 19. 14. we will not have this man to reign over us thus did the Jews Act. 13. 46. they put away Christ from among them and thereby judged themselves unworthy of eternal life This is at once a fearful sin and a dreadful
every Creature is suitable to its nature You see divers Creatures feeding upon several parts of the same herb the Bee upon the flower the Bird upon the seed the Sheep upon the stalk and the Swine upon the root according to their nature so is their food sensual men feed upon sensual things spiritual men upon spiritual things as your food is so are you If carnal comforts can content thy heart sure thy heart must then be a very carnal heart yea and let Christians themselves take heed that they fetch not their Consolations out of themselves instead of Christ. Your graces and duties are excellent means and instruments but not the ground-work and foundation of your Comfort they are useful buckets to draw but not the well it self in which the springs of consolation rise If you put your duties in the room of Christ Christ will put your comforts out of the reach of your duties Inference 3. If Christ be the Consolation of Believers what a comfortable Inference 3. life should all Believers live in this world Certainly if the fault be not your own you might live the happiest and comfortablest lives of all men in the world If you would not be a discomfort to Christ he would be a comfort to you every day and in every condition to the end of your lives your condition abounds with all the helps and advantages of consolation you have the command of Christ to warrant your comforts Phil. 4. 4. You have the Spirit of Christ for a spring of comfort you have the Scriptures of Christ for the rules of comfort you have the duties of Religion for the means of comfort why is it then that you go comfortless If your afflictions be many in the world yet your encouragements be more in Christ your troubles in the world may be turned into joy but your comforts in Christ can never be turned into trouble Why should troubles obstruct your comfort when the blessing of Christ upon your troubles makes them subservient to promote your happiness Rom. 8. 28. Shake off despondency then and live up to the principles of Religion your dejected life is uncomfortable to your selves and of very ill use to others Inference 4. If Christ be the Consolation of Believers then let all that desire Inference 4. comfort in this world or in that to come imbrace Jesus Christ and get real union with him The same hour you shall be in Christ you shall also be at the fountain head of all Consolations Thy soul shall be then a pardoned soul and a pardoned soul hath all reason in the world to be a joyful soul in that day thy Conscience shall be sprinkled with the blood of Christ and a sprinkled Conscience hath all the reason in the world to be a comforting Conscience in that day you become the Children of your Father in Heaven and he that hath a Father in Heaven hath all reason to be the joyfullest man upon earth in that day you are delivered from the sting and hurt of death and he that is delivered from the sting of death hath the best reason to take in the comfort of life O come to Christ come to Christ till you come to Christ no true comfort can come to you The Sixteenth SERMON Sermon 16. EPHES. 1. 7. Text. Enforcing the general exhortation by a seventh motive drawn from the first benefit purchased by Christ. In whom we have redemption through his blood the remission of sins according to the riches of his grace SIx great Motives have been presented already from the Titles of Christ to draw the hearts of sinners to him more are now to be offered from the benefits redounding to Believers by Christ. Essaying by all means to win the hearts of men to Christ. To this end I shall in the first place open that glorious priviledge of Gospel remission freely and fully conferred upon all that come to Christ by faith in whom we have redemption by faith c. In which words we have first a singular benefit or choice mercy bestowed viz. Redemption interpreted by way of apposition the remission of sins this is a priviledge of the first rank a mercy by it self none sweeter none more desirable among all the benefits that come by Christ. And therefore Secondly You have the price of this mercy an account what it cost even the blood of Christ in whom we have redemption through his blood Precious things are of great price the blood of Christ is the meritorious cause of remission Thirdly You have here also the impulsive cause moving God to grant pardons at this rate to sinners and that is said to be the riches of his grace Where by the way you see that the freeness of the grace of God and the fulness of the satisfaction of Christ meet together without the least jar in the remission of sin contrary to the vain cavil of the Socinian adversaries In whom we have redemption even the remission of sins according to the riches of his grace Fourthly You have the qualified subjects of this blessed priviledge viz. Believers in whose name he here speaks we have remission i. e. we the Saints and faithful in Christ Jesus vers 1. we whom he hath chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and predestinated unto the adoption of Children vers 4 5. we that are made accepted in the beloved vers 6. 't is we and we only who have redemption through his blood Hence observe DOCT. That all Believers and none but Believers receive the remission Doct. of their sins through the riches of grace by the blood of Jesus Christ. In the explication of this point three things must be spoken to 1. That all that are in Christ are in a pardoned state 2. That their pardon is the purchase of the blood of Christ. 3. That the riches of Grace are manifested in remission First That all that are in Christ are in a pardoned state where I will first shew you what pardon or the remission of sin is Secondly That this is the priviledge of none but Believers First Now remission of sin is the gracious act of God in and through Christ discharging a believing sinner from all the guilt and punishment of his sin both temporal and eternal 'T is the act of God he is the author of remission none can forgive sins but God only Mark 2. 7. against him only i. e. principally and essentially the offence is committed Psal. 51. 4. To his Judgement guilt binds over the soul and who can remit the debt but the Creditor Mat. 6. 12. 'T is an act of God discharging the sinner it is Gods loosing of one that stood bound the cancelling of his bond or obligation called therefore remission or releasing in the Text the blotting out of our iniquities or the removing our sins from us as it 's called in other Scriptures see Psal. 103. 11. Mica 7. 18 19. It is a gracious act of God the
his Tribunal to be solemnly sentenced They are as my Text speaks condemned already but then that dreadful sentence will be solemnly pronounced by Jesus Christ whom they have despised and rejected then shall that scripture be fulfilled Luke 19. 27. These mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me Inference 2. Hence be informed how great a mercy the least measure Inference 2. of saving faith is for the least measure of true faith unites the soul to Jesus Christ and then there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1. Not one sentence of God against them So Acts 13. 39. By him all that believe are justified from all things The weakest believer is as free from condemnation as the strongest the righteousness of Christ comes upon all believers without any difference Rom. 3. 22. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Christ Jesus unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference 'T is not in imputed as it is in inherent righteousness one man hath more holiness than another The faith that receives the righteousness of Christ may be very different in degrees of strength but the received righteousness is equal upon all believers A piece of gold is as much worth in the hand of a child as it is in the hand of a man O the exceeding preciousness of saving faith Inference 3. How dreadful a sin is the sin of unbelief which brings Inference 3. men under the condemnation of the great God! no sin startles less or damns surer 'T is a sin that doth not affright the conscience as some other sins do but it kills the soul more certainly than any of those sins could do for indeed other sins could not damn us were it not for unbelief which fixes the guilt of them all upon our persons This is the condemnation Unbelief is the sin of sins and when the spirit comes to convince men of sin he begins with this as the capital sin John 16. 9. But more particularly First Estimate the evil of unbelief from its Object It is the slighting and refusing of the most excellent and wonderful person in heaven or earth The fiducial vision of Christ is the joy of Saints on earth the facial vision of Christ is the happiness of Saints in heaven 'T is a despising of him who is altogether lovely in himself who hath loved us and given himself for us 'T is the rejecting of the only Mediator betwixt God and man after the rejecting of whom there remains no sacrifice for sin Secondly Let the evil of unbelief be valued by the offer of Christ to our souls in the Gospel 't is one part of the great mystery of godliness that Christ should be preached to the Gentiles 1 Tim. 3. 16. That the word of this salvation should be sent to us Acts 13. 26. A mercy denied to the fallen angels and the greatest part of mankind which aggravates the evil of this sin beyond all imagination So that in refusing or neglecting Jesus Christ is found vile ingratitude highest contempt of the grace and wisdom of God and in the event the loss of the only season and opportunity of salvation which is never more to be recovered to all eternity Inference 4. If this be the case of all unbelievers it is not to be admired Inference 4. that souls under the first convictions of their miserable condition are plunged into such deep distresses of Spirit It 's said of them Acts 2. 37. That they were pricked at the heart and cried out Men and brethren what shall we do And so the Jayler He came in trembling and astonished and said Sirs what must I do to be saved Certainly if souls apprehend themselves under the condemnation and sentence of the great God all their tears and tremblings their weary days and restless nights are not without just cause and reason Those that never saw their own miserable condition by the light of a clear and full conviction may wonder to see others so deeply distressed in Spirit They may misjudge the case and call it melancholy or madness but spiritual troubles do not exceed the cause and ground of them let them be as deep and great as they will and indeed it is one of the great mysteries of grace and providence a thing much unknown to men how such poor souls are supported from day to day under such fears and sorrows as are able in a few hours to break the stoutest Spirit in the world Luther was a man of great natural courage and yet when God let in spiritual troubles upon his soul it is noted of him ut nec vox nec calor nec sanguis superesset He had neither voyce nor heat nor blood appearing in him Inference 5. How groundless and irrational is the mirth and jollity of all carnal and unregenerate men they feast in their prison Inference 5. and dance in their fetters O the madness that is in the hearts of men If men did but see their mittimus made for hell or believe they are condemned already it were impossible for them to live at that rate of vanity they do and is their condition less dangerous because it is not understood Surely no but much more dangerous for that O poor sinners you have found out an effectual way to prevent your present troubles it were well if you could find out a way to prevent your eternal misery but 't is easier for a man to stifle conviction than prevent damnation Your mirth hath a twofold mischief in it it prevents repentance and encreaseth your future torment O what an hell will your hell be who drop into it out of all the sensitive and sinful pleasures of this world If ever a man may say of mirth that it is mad and of laughter what doth it he may say so in this case Inference 6. Lastly what cause have they to rejoyce admire and praise the Lord to Eternity who have a well grounded Inference 6. confidence that they are freed from Gods condemnation O give thanks to the Father who hath delivered you from the power of darkness and translated you into the Kingdom of his dear Son Col. 1. 13. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for if you be freed from condemnation you are out of Satans power he hath no more any dominion over you The power of Satan over men comes in by vertue of their condemnation as the power of the Jayler or Executioner over the bodies of condemned prisoners doth Heb. 2. 14. If you be freed from condemnation the sting of death shall never touch you For the sting of death smites the souls of men with a deadly stroak only by vertue of Gods condemnatory sentence 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law If you be freed from condemnation now you shall stand with comfort and boldness
in good earnest that would receive no repulse take no denial but even force themselves through all difficulties into heaven and so would it be with you If the God of this world had not blinded your minds you would never pray with so much unconcernedness nor hear with so much oscitancy and carelesness pray as if you prayed not and hear as if you heard not It is with many of our hearers as it was with Aristotle who after a quaint Oration made before him was asked how he liked it Truly said he I did not hear it for I was thinking all the while of another matter Fifthly This also is a plain evidence that the God of this world hath blinded many mens eyes among us for that they fear not to commit great sins to avoid small hazards and troubles which all the world could never perswade them to do if they were not hoodwink'd by the God of this world Those that have seen sin as sin in the glass of Gods Law will choose as Moses did to suffer any affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin which are but for a season Heb. 11. 25. Those that have seen and felt the evil of sin in the deep troubles of their spirits sor it will account all reproaches all losses all sufferings from men to be but flea-bitings to the burthen of sin Sixthly The pride and self-conceitedness of many thousands who profess Christianity plainly shews their minds to be blinded by the Sophistry of Satan and that they do not understand themselves and the woful state of their own souls Those that see God in the clearest light abhor themselves in the deepest humility Isa. 6. 5. Job 42. 5. If ever the Lord had effectually opened your eyes by a clear discovery of your state by nature and the course of your life under the efficacy and influence of continual temptations and corruptions how would your plumes fall None in the world would rate you lower than your selves would By all which it appears that multitudes are blinded by the God of this world Thirdly In the third place we are to consider what policies Satan useth to blind the minds of them that believe not 3. and we shall find there are three sorts of policies practised by the God of this world upon the minds and understandings of men which he darkens By 1. Hindering the reception of Gospel-light 2. Obstructing the efficacy of it when received 3. Making mis-applications of it to other purposes First It is a great policy of Satan to blind the understandings of men by hindering and preventing the reception of Gospel light which he doth especially these five ways First By tempting the dispensers of the Gospel to darken the truths thereof in their delivering of them to shoot over the heads of their hearers in lofty language and terms of art so that common understandings can give no account when the Sermon is done what the preacher would have but however commend him for a good Scholar and an excellent Orator I make no doubt but the Devil is very busie with Ministers in their Studies tempting them by the pride of their own hearts to gratifie his design herein he teaches them how to paint the glass that he may keep out the light I acknowledge a proper grave and comely stile befits the lips of Christs Ambassadours they should not be rude and careless in their language or method But this affectation of great swelling words of vanity is but too like the proud Gnosticks whom the Apostle is supposed to tax for this evil Jude v. 16. This is to darken counsel by words without knowledge Job 31. 2. To amuse and bemist poor ignorant souls and nullifie the design of preaching for every thing is accounted so far good as it is good to the end it is ordained for A sword that hath an hilt of Gold set thick with Diamonds is no good sword if it have no edge to cut or want a good back to follow home the stroke O that the Ministers of Christ would choose rather sound than great words such as are apt to pierce the heart Qui populariter pueriliter trivialiter simplicissime docent optimi ad vulgus sunt concionatores Bucholtz rather than such as tickle the fancy and let people beware of furthering the design of Satan against their own souls in putting a temptation upon their Ministers by despising plain preaching The more popular plain and intelligible our discourses are so much the more probable they are to be successful that is the most excellent Oratory that perswades men to Christ. Secondly Satan hinders the access of light to the understandings of men by imploying their minds about impertinent things while they are attending upon the Ordinances of God Thus he tempted them in Ezek. 33. 31 32. And they come unto thee as thy people cometh and they sit before thee as my people and they hear thy words but they will not do them for with their mouth they show much love but their heart goeth after their covetousness And lo thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice The modulation of the Prophets voice was very pleasing to their ears but mean while their fancies and thoughts were wandring after their lusts their hearts were full of earthly projects Thirdly Satan hinders the access of light to the understandings of men by raising Objections and picking quarrels with the word on purpose to shake its authority and hinder the assent of the understanding to it and so the word makes no more impression than a fable or Romance would do And never did this design of Satan obtain more than in this Atheistical age wherein the main pillars and foundation of Religion are shaken in the minds of multitudes The Devil hath perswaded many that the Gospel is but a cunningly devised fable Fabula Christi as that blaspheming Pope called it That Ministers must say somewhat to get a living That heaven and hell are but fancies or at most things of great uncertainty and doubtsul credit This being once obtained the door of the soul is shut against truth And this design of Satan hath prospered the more in this generation by the corrupt doctrines of seducing spirits which have overthrown the faith of some 2 Tim. 2. 18. And partly from the scandalous lives of loose and vain professors the Gospel hath been brought into contempt but especially by Satans artificial improvement of the corrupt natures of men in an age wherein conscience hath been so much debauched and Atheism thereby spread as a gangreen in the body politick Fourthly Satan hinders the access of light by helping erroneous minds to draw false conclusions and perverse inferences from the great and precious truths of the Gospel and thereby bringing them under prejudice and contempt thus he assists the errors of mens minds about the doctrine of Election when he either perswades them that it
p. 385 Believers their general assembly p. 338 Believers undergo two changes p. 335 Believers have Christ for their Altar p. 316 Believers should have a free spirit p. 332 Believers in what manner brought to God p. 338 Bodies of sinners how smitten by death p. 536 Blindness of mind what it is p. 569 Blindness-spiritual what it includes p. 571 Blindness-spiritual what it excludes p. 570 Blindness of mind evidenced six ways p. 574 Blinding artifices of Satan what ibid. Burdensom nature of sin opened p. 185 Burden of sin why it must be felt p. 191 C. CAre of Christians over Christs honour p. 28â—… Carnal relations admonished p. 85 Charity to Saints strongly urged p. 37 38 Causes of spiritual life twofold p. 532 Christ transcendent in holiness p. 500 Christians no troublers of the world p. 476 Christ outbids all other offerers p. 74 Christ the mercy of mercies p. 234 Christ eight things in him attractive p. 154 Christ communicates all blessings to us p. 172 Christ makes hast in extremity p. 191 Christs burden exceeding heavy p. 185 Christ the only Physician p. 217 Christ qualified as foretold p. 240 Christ comprehensive of all that 's lovely p. 250. Christ an incomparable friend p. 257 Christ the desire of all Nations and how p. 264 Christ the Lord of Glory p. 277 Christs glory twofold p. 278 Christ the only comfort of Saints p. 290 Christ should be precious to Saints p. 319 Christians why void of comfort p. 293 Circumspection how necessary p. 588 Civility no evidence of grace p. 449 Companions in sin to be abandoned p. 384 Communion with Christ twofold p. 166 Communion with Christ in what it consists p. 167 Communion with Christ a great mysterie p. 173 Communion with Christ admirable p. 174 Communion with Saints how pleasant p. 179 Compassion due to the distressed p. 186 Coming to Christ what it includes p. 193 Communion with God kills sin p. 484 Conviction precedaneous to faith p. 147 Contentation of Christ in a low estate p. 513 Condemnation twofold p. 542 Content pressed upon Converts p. 23 Conversion introductive to all mercies p. 19 Condescension of God in the Gospel p. 50 Conversion how illustrated p. 76 Consent included in faith p. 120 Consolation what it is p. 288 Consolation three kinds thereof ibid. Consolation three ingredienâ—…s thereof p. 289 Contempts of the world contemned p. 318 Conviction the first work of the Spirit p. 414 Congruity of divine drawings with the will of man p. 72 Concomitants of faith what they are p. 150 Conversion its stupendious effects p. 86 Conscience the offices thereof p. 186 Conscience benummed how sad p. 189 Complaints to men fruitless ibid. Confidence without ground what p. 349. Converts exhorted to praise p. 371 Corruption of nature discovered p. 8â—… D. DAmned their dreadful state opened p. 187 Danger of refusing Christ. p. 156 Damnation how aggravated p. 354 Danger of false confidence ibid. Death and deadness how differenced p. 422 Degrees of faith the least precious p. 142 Despair in our selves necessary p. 147 Despair not of carnal relations p. 87 Death how made sweet p. 43 Death on what account dreadful p. 189 Death of Christ its design and end p. 336 Deliverance from sin what a mercy p. 380 Decrees of God how executed p. 409 Delight in God eminent in Christ. p. 509 Death spiritual what it is p. 530 Dignity of Saints whence inferred p. 36 Discourses of Heaven sweet in the way p. 343 Difficulty of faith discovered p. 137 Diseases of the soul what they are p. 217 Directions about faith six p. 159 Directions to inflame desires p. 273 Discouragements in godliness unreasonable p. 387 Divine authority of Scriptures p. 364 Dominion of sin cured by Christ. p. 219 Dominion of sin destroyed in Saints p. 327 Dominion of sin wherein it consists p. 461 Drawings of God what they are p. 71 Drawings of God opened five ways p. 73 Duties no evidences of grace p. 450 Desires after Christ examined p. 270 Desires after Christ include blessings ibid. Dejections of Saints groundless p. 344 E. EFficacy of the Gospel how great p. 358 Efficacy of preaching whence it is p. 55 End of the new Creature twofold p. 435 English preaching its encomium p. 560 Embryo's spiritual what they are p. 370 Enjoyment of God mans chief good p. 337 Enemies to souls who are so p. 355 Engagements to obedience what p. 561 Engage not sin in our own strength p. 486 Esteem nothing lovely but Christ. p. 259 Eyes opened two ways p. 585 Evidences of spiritual death p. 531 Evidences of persons unreconciled p. 61 Evidences of carnal security p. 350 Evidences of the power of the word p. 359 Evidences of the Spirit in us p. 415 Evidences of mortification p. 469 492 Extent of Christs Kingdom large p. 265 Expectations of wrath terrible p. 187 Examples motives to faith p. 198 Expectation implied in faith p. 195 Experiences of others relieving p. 190 Examples useful in mortification p. 491 Examples of the world not to be imitated p. 587 F. FAith its subject act and enemies p. 79 Faith considered two ways p. 128 Faith whether in two faculties p. 120 Faith its encomium above other graces p. 129 Faith justifies not as a work p. 132 Faith justifies as an applying instrument p. 133. Faith precious in the least degree p. 144 Faith of Papists an absurd faith p. 145 Faith its Antecedents Concomitants and Consequents p. 146 Faith is not the souls rest p. 207 Faith how great a mercy to men p. 546 Faith its instrumentality in mortification p. 483 Fall of Adam how aggravated p. 51 False joy the only joy of carnal men p. 350 False joy twofold p. 351 Fears of death how cured p. 209 Fellowship with Christ our dignity p. 163. Fellowship with Christ not natural p. 171 Fellowship of Saints advantageous p. 478 Filth of sin what and how removed p. 208 Folly of self-righteousness p. 226 Following Christ the Saints duty p. 344 Free-grace and full satisfaction consistent p. 53. Freedom from the rigour of the Law p. 326 Freedom from guilt what a priviledge ibid. Freedom from the first Covenant p. 409 Frustration of the Gospel how p. 354 Fulness of Christs saving power p. 383 G. GEnerality of men in the way to Hell p. 3â—…6 Gifts of the Spirit twofold p. 407 Gifts no evidences of Grace p. 450 Glory of the Saints will be very great p. 282 Gospels strange success whence is is p. 396 Gospel an invaluable mercy p. 365 Gospel why so unsuccessful p. 355 Gospel Embassy what it implies p. 47 48 Gospel why ineffectual to men p. 87 Gospels scope to bring men to believe p. 131 Gospel its power to awaken men p. 360 Gospel its enlightning efficacy ibid. Gospel its wounding power p. 361 Gospel how it turns the heart ibid. Gospel its power not in it self p. 362 Gospel efficacy not in the instrument ibid. Gospel in every part presses mortification p. 466 Gospel
be attended p. 89 Outward troubles how cured p. 222 Oyl of gladness what it notes p. 164 P. PArdon of sin how sweet p. 188 Papists how they still Conscience p. 203 Pauses made in Conversion p. 77 Penance no act of mortification p. 460 Peace two sorts worse than trouble p. 190 Pleas for converting souls p. 21 22 Pleasures of the spiritual life p. 97 Pleasure of sin cost dear p. 186 Physitian noue like Christ p. 223 Pledge of glory what is so p. 410 Pleasure none in carnal men p. 534 Policy of Satan in what discovered p. 283 Powers of the soul twofold p. 405 Power of sin gradually weakened p. 462 Propositions about applying Christ p. 6 7 8 Persecutors warned of danger p. 42 Presumption falsely pretended p. 200 Presumption a general sin p. 350 Prayer how prevalent p. 314 Prayers of Saints desirable p. 316 Prayer evidential of the Spirit p. 417 Prayerless persons unregenerate p. 453 Probabilities of mercy incourage p. 388 Proper sins to be especially eyed p. 487 Principles of mortification what p. 467 Promises of temporals how secured p. 246 Practical nature of Gods teaching p. 399 Purity of Conscience how needful p. 484 Purposes accepted by God p. 315 Q. QUalifications of Ministers p. 63 Qualities of the new creature p. 434 Quickning of two sorts p. 94 Quickning the Spirits work in order to union with Christ p. 93 Quickning a supernatural work p. 103 Quietness of men what it argues p. 353 R. REconciliation with God what p. 51 Reconciliation wonderful p. 52 Readiness in God to grant prayer p. 313 Receiving Christ the vital act p. 115 Receiving Christ what it improts p. 116 Remission the Saints priviledge p. 299 Remission what it is p. 300 Remission none without Christ p. 305 Reconciled persons their duties p. 66 Renovation of nature p. 430 Regenerate their duties p. 445 Religion precise and strict p. 499 Religion falâ—…y charged p. 518 Represent Christ as he is p. 260 Respect due to Ministers and why p. 48 Reluctance of nature how cured p. 76 Rest coming by faith sweet p. 203 Rest of Believers present and how p. 207 Righteousness connected with holiness p. 16 Riches of Christ how great p. 178 Right to glory Christs purchase p. 341 Rome shall feel the force of prayer p. 317 Rods of affliction the Saints lot p. 325 Rules of two sorts p. 498 Rules to discern the spirit in us p. 411 Rule no man a rule to others p. 498 S. SAints have real communion with Christ p. 165 Saints honourable on what account p. 175 Satans great design opened p. 211 Satisfaction none short of glory p. 342 Satans power destroyed and how p. 327 Satans policy wherein seen p. 368 Selfishness an odious sin p. 176 Secrets of God opened to Saints p. 314 Skill bred by experience what p. 193 Signs of divine teaching p. 398 Sins evil not seen at first p. 378 Sin is long a dying in the best p. 464 Sin yields neither profit nor pleasure p. 489 Sin against the Spirit mistaken p. 200 Sins of Believers most piercing p. 319 Sound of the Gospel sweet p. 202 Sorrows of the soul not quickly over p. 206 Souls of great value p. 341 Small things accepted by God p. 314 Small remnant in Christ p. 447 Spiritual sickness a mercy p. 201 Spirits threefold power in conversion p. 363 Spirit taken two ways p. 406 Spirit the bond of union p. 408 Spirit works arbitrarily in us p. 411 Spirit works variously in men ibid. Sting of death pluckt out by Christ p. 328 Striving ineffectual when so p. 381 Stability the result of mortification p. 481 Success of the word to be waited for p. 110 Supports under defects of obedience p. 524 Supports under spiritual troubles what and whence they are p. 189 190 Sufferings for Christ honourable p. 281 Sweetness of Religion in application p. 11 Sympathy a mark of the Spirit p. 41â—… Symptoms of a desperate state p. 227 T. TEmptations not removed here p. 325 Terms on which Christ is offered p. 122 Teachings of God twofold p. 377 Teachings of God necessary p. 375 Teaching of God not opposed to mans p. 376 Teachings of God infallible p. 390 Teaching of God clear ibid. Teachings of God permanent p. 391 Teachings of God harmonical p. 399 Tenderness of Conscience p. 492 Time of conversion in the hand of the Spirit p. 364 Time of Christs incarnation exactly agreeable to the promises p. 240 Things past present and to come ours p. 209 Thoughts of death how sweetned p. 342 Troubles of Conscience great p. 188 Troubles for sin wean the heart p. 191 Troubles for sin prevent falls p. 192 Troubles for sin make Christ sweet ibid. Troubles for sin tryed p. 191 Trials of our union with Christ. p. 43 Trials of spiritual life p. 111 V. VExing the Spirit p. 489 Visions not to be expected p. 376 Unition supposed to union p. 94 Union with Christ how illustrated p. 26 Union with Christ no fancy p. 28 Union with Christ what it is not p. 30 Union mystical what it is p. 32 Union ingages to godliness p. 44 Union the ground of acceptation p. 315 Union fundamental to benefits p. 383 Unregenerate in a sad state p. 〈◊〉 110 Unbelief unreasonable p. 17 Unreconciled exhorted p. 65 Unbelief the damning sin p. 136 Unbelief the root of ingratitude p. 212 Unworthiness no bar to faith p. 245 Unbelievers their sad estate p. 294 Unbelievers under condemnation p. 541 Unbelief the evil thereof p. 543 Voluntary motions of souls to Christ p. 194 Voyce of God never heard by some p. 400 Upbraidings of Conscience what p. 187 Usefulness of the Law is great p. 204 W. WAnts relieved by union with Christ p. 40 Wants of Saints provided for p. 176 Want of outwards quietly born p. 244 Wants not to be feared p. 318 Willingness to dye what it signifies in carnal men p. 353 Will how allured by God p. 393 Workings of the word when slight p. 368 World its damping efficacy p. 369 Work of grace supernatural p. 445 Work of new creatures what p. 4â—…4 Wonderful preservation of grace p. 438 Wrath due to sin how great p. 379 Z. ZEal in wicked men dangerous Zeal improved against Zeal p. 580 FINIS This Author hath writ the several Books following A Saint indeed the great work of a Christian opened and pressed from Prov. 4. 23. a seasonable Discourse for recovery of decayed godliness A Touch-stone of Sincerity or signs of Grace and symptoms of Hypocrisie being the Second Part of the Saint Indeed Husbandry Spiritualized or the Heavenly use of Earthly things The Seamans Compass spiritually improved The Seamans Companion wherein the mysteries of Divine Providence relating to Seamen are opened the sins and dangers discovered their duties pressed their several troubles and burdens opened and profitably applied Divine Conduct or the Mystery of Providence its Being and Efficacy asserted and vindicated all the methods of Providence in our course of life opened with directions how to apply and improve them A Token for Mourners or Boundaries for Sorrow on death of Friends The Fountain of life opened or a display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory wherein the impetration of our redemption by Christ is unfolded as it was begun carried on and finished These following Books lately Printed HEavenly and Earthly mindedness in two Parts with an Appendix about laying hold on Eternal Life The Life and Death of Mr. John Row of Credditon in Devon Emanuel or the love of Christ explicated and applied in his incarnation being made under the Law and his satisfaction in 31 Sermons all three by Mr. John Row Minister of Gods word Christs power over bodily diseases by Edward Lawrance now Minister of the Gospel in London The Saints nearness to God by Richard Vines Minister of the Gospel Of Idolatry a Discourse in which is endeavoured a declaration of its distinction from superstition by Tho. Tenison Dr. in Divinity and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty FINIS