about their Eternal State Hope is an Anchor cast within the Vale as soon as they set out and begin their Voyage they may cast their Anchor into their Port and Haven and so have their Hearts established Heb. 6.19 2. Those that have hope of this Salvation are supported under Afflictions and Persecutions 2 Tim. 18.9 Partake thou of the Afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God who both saved us and called us As if Paul should say Murmure not at faint not under the Afflictions of the Gospel for God hath saved you from the greatest Enemies and from the worst Evils and all your Afflictions shall turn to your Salvation Phil. 1.19 They shall further advance promote it they shall refine Saints from their Dross wean them from their strange Land and cause them to long more after their Father's House and Heavenly Country Have they any Reason to be discontented whom God loves 1 John 4.59 and that are Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1.14 and of the Kingdom James 2.5 3. These may die with comfort they have hope in Death Prov. 14.32 That which doth shipwrack others shall land them safe on the calm Shores of a Blessed Eternity that which impoverishes others shall enrich them Though Death doth pluck off the Rags of Mortality yet God shall cloath them with Robes of Glory When their Bodies drop down into the Pit their Souls shall be taken up into the Palace when their Flesh feeds Worms their Spirits shall feast with Saints and Angels though God doth kill them yet they may trust he will be their Salvation Joh 13.15 16. When the Eye of Sense shall be shut so that Saints shall no more see Worldly Objects yet then God will shew them his Salvation Psal 91. last They shall see God's Salvation from Sins Temptations Troubles Afflictions they shall see a freedom from Spiritual and Temporal Evils and also be translated into an Eternal Kingdom Christ will receive their departing Souls and be their Guardian and Trustee till the Resurrection O it is sweet when God adds to the Mercies of Sixty Seventy Eighty Years the enjoyment of a blessed Eternity It is Salvation that must crown Old Age with Glory Death is the critical time the Soul must then see Life or Death a Heaven must shine from God's pleasing Countenance or Hell be rained from his angry Face O how sweet is it then to see the truth of God's Promises in the enjoyment of an Eternal Salvation 4. Those interested in this Salvation shall be saved in the Day of the Lord 1 Cor. 5.6 when Sins will find out others and Vengeance will take hold of them then Believers shall be saved O what unexpressible comfort will it be to point out Jesus Christ at the Great Day and to say This is our God we have waited for him and he will save us and we will be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation Isa 25.9 This is a Salvation that will for ever set Souls beyond Gun-shot out of the reach of all Dangers Evils Enemies They shall then fully receive the end of their Faith even an Eternal Salvation 1 Pet. 1.9 Christ will appear unto Salvation to those that look for him Heb. 9. last Then Saints shall be Heirs in full possession of Salvation Heb. 1.14 They shall be redeemed from all Evils or possessed of all goodness be exalted to the Kingdoms and be placed in the Throne I shall lastly give you some Directions how you may be saved 1. You must be enlightned and convinced of your Danger you must see the Evils you are under and the Danger and Destruction you are exposed to Few do think themselves to be condemned to Death and to be sick unto Death That they are Children of Satan and Enemies to God They will not believe that they are captivated by the Devil enslaved by Sin and chained to the World The Scripture teaches us that Men are held Rom. 7.6 and that they are led 1 Cor. 12.2 they are held in the Snares of Sin and led by Satan Their Lusts are Bonds their depraved Wills and corrupt Affections are the Chains that the Devil leads them by Men discourse see or discern what are the true Evils that they should be saved from they are not sensible of the blindness and vanity of their Minds the deceit and desperate wickedness of their Hearts That their Wills are perverse and rebellious and the greatest Enemies to God and their own Souls They will account that Troubles Afflictions Reproaches Wants and Death are Evils but they do not perceive that their greatest Evils and worst Enemies are within themselves A Root of Bitterness an evil Treasure a Body of Death a Fountain of Iniquity that is in their Souls But Sinners must know what first cleaves to them abide in them do defile and deform their Souls and testify against them before God Isa 59.12 Our Transgressions are with us and as for our Iniquities we know them Yea Men have no liking of that which is the true Salvation Saints are said to love God's Salvation Psal 70.4 but a Carnal Creature doth not love but loath God's Salvation to be delivered from his false Notions his vain Thoughts his corrupt Opinions his inordinate love of himself and of the Creatures to be taken off from his sensual Pleasures carnal Delights to be brought to give his Heart to God set his Love on Christ to delight in Spiritual Future Invisible things this is a Salvation he dreads and hates and if he could go to Heaven with this vain Mind and carnal Heart it would be a place of Exile and of Punishment to him You must see your Danger that you are as Isaac bound laid on the Altar and ready to be sacrificed as a whole Burnt-Offering in the Flames of Wrath. You must hear the just dreadful Sentence Matth. 18.25 The Lord commanded the Debtor to be sold and Payment to be made It is dreadful to be sold into the Prison into a Place of Eternal Bondage Your Heart must be broken your Spirit wounded your Soul burdened under the sense of the guilt and filth of Sin else you will not have a due value of the Doctrine and Promise of Salvation 1 Tim. 1.15 We must account it worthy of all acceptation more valuable than all the Riches Pleasures Honours of the World If a Man were sinking and drowning he would not regard a Bag of Gold or a Box of Diamonds but prefer a Cord cast out to save him a Boat to take him in more than all the things of the World Believe that your Condition is exceeding bad and dangerous Lot's Wife looked back as one that doubted whether Sodom would be destroyed and Lots Sons in Law could not believe that the danger of Sodom was so great and its Destruction so near Gen. 19.14 So Sinners believe not that to be Carnally minded is Death that they that live after the Flesh shall die that they that are far off from God shall perish Psal 73.27
Captain of our Salvation is the mighty God Isa 9.6 no Enemy can stand before him or prevail against him no Disease is so strong or malignant but the great Physitian can cure it no Dross cleaves so close to us but he can separate it from us Christ is a refining Fire to his People and a consuming Fire to their Enemies As the first Adam corrupts and defiles inevitably so the second Adam can renew cleanse sanctify irresistibly And infallibly he can speak so as to cause the Deaf and Dead to hear Isa 29.18 John 5.25 He can woo so as to cause himself to be loved and chosen he can draw so as to make Sinners to run to him at first Isa 55.5 and to run after him ever after Cant. 1.4 The spirit of Christ is mighty in its Operations it acts as a spirit of Power it causeth Men to pass under Christ's Pastoral Rod and brings them under the Bond of the Covenant Ezek 20.37 It causeth Men to approach to God and dwell in his House Psal 65.4 It causeth Men to walk in God's ways and to keep his Statutes Ezek. 36.27 This word Cause is observable and emphatical and signifies the spirit's mighty and effectual way of working It doth not only propose Arguments and sollicite the Souls of the Elect in a moral way but renews the Will changes the Heart effectually inclines men to yield to and follow after God The event is not pendulous and uncertain and suspended on Man's free-will but Christ undertakes that his Sheep shall hear his Voice and he will bring them to his Fold John 10.16 4. Christ's Salvation is a full and comprehensive Salvation Luke 1.71 That we should be saved from the Hand of our Enemies and from all that hate us Sin the World and Death are our Enemies 1. Sin is our Enemy Our Lusts do Satan's work if he should stand still James 1.14 15. A Man is tempted and drawn away by his own Lust This is a Body of Death Rom. 7.24 it deforms our Souls as much as Death deforms our Bodies it makes them corrupt putrify and stink in the Nostrils of God it renders us as unactive for God as a dead Carcase is unserviceable to Man it defiles and enslaves our Souls lets us only do dead works Heb. 9.14 such works as are the fruits of spiritual death and the seeds of eternal death Where it prevails and reigneth it causeth us continually to go a whoring from God and to rise up in Rebellion against him it causeth us to lead a life of Vanity here and prepares us for a life of Misery hereafter 2. The World is an Enemy We need the Armour of Righteousness on the Right Hand to secure us from the danger of Prosperity and the Aamour of Righteousness on our Left Hand to guard us from the evil of Adversity 2 Cor. 6.7 Height of Prosperity and depth of Misery Rom. 8.39 are dangerous snares and may prove mortal Enemies to us if Grace doth not prevent The World's Musick is to draw and its Furnace is to drive us from God Satan takes his Bait and fetches his Weapons from some thing in the World How doth it blow up and inflame our Hearts fire and fuel our Lusts How many are made to forget God and to think they have no want and need of him in their Plenty and Abundance Psal 50.22 Job 1.14.15 Job 22.17 Jer. 3.31 3. Death is an Enemy to God's People 1 Cor. 15.26 it strikes them dumb and deprives them of the use of their Tongues in praising God which is their Glory Saints as well as others when they die go down into silence Psal 115.17 Isa 38.18 Death disables us from working for God in a body of Flesh it gives a Quietus est to one half of us and dischargeth it from the service of God The Temple in which the spirit dwelt is now pulled down and sinks into Dust and Ashes and Death that deprives us of so great and glorious an Inhabitant in our Bodies and takes us off from such noble service with our Tongues and Members must needs be our Enemy But Christ saves from these Enemies Sin shall not Reign Rom. 6.14 and in due time it shall cease to be sin and shall be utterly extirpated out of the People of God As Israel's Freedom was begun in the death of the First-born of the Egyptians and was compleated in the drowning of Pharaob and all his Host in the Red Sea so the liberty of Saints is begun in destroying the reign of beloved sins that are the first-born of the Old Man and shall be compleated by the total extirpation and destruction of all sin We are Baptized into the Death and Burial of Christ Rom. 6.3 and we must be made Partakers of the saving Benefit of both Sin shall not only die but also be buried A Dead Man hath lost his Command in the House yet his Carcase may remain in it but when he is to be buried his Corps is carried out and he ceaseth any longer to be in the House So sin shall not only cease to reign but also to be in the soul we shall be washed and free from every spot and wrinkle Ephes 5.25 26 27. 2. The World is foiled and overcome by Christ Joh. 16. last It could not divert or draw him from doing his Father's work and will and this conquered Enemy shall not have strength to captivate and destroy Believers they overcame by the Blood of the Lamb Rev. 12.1 Our victorious Saviour hath purchased conquering Strength and merited Victory for us in the midst of all snares and temptations We are more than Conquerors through the Lord Jesus that hath loved us Rom. 8.39 3. Christ will save his People from Death after this Enemy hath not only swallowed them up but digested them Christ hath abolished Death already in himself and will abolish it also in all his People Hos 13.14 he threatens Death that holds the Rod over and threatens the whole World he menaceth Death that he will be the plague of Death a mortal Disease to it He threatens the Grave that he will destroy it and in due time Triumphant Saints shall sing this Song O Death where is thy sting O Death what hast thou gotten by killing our Bodies they are alive again O Grave where is thy Victory what hast thou gotten by taking away all the shape of a Body and crumbling it into Dust 3ly This Body is now restor'd our Particles of Dust are gathered together and formed into a Body like the glorious Body of Christ 1 Cor. 15.55.57 Phil. 3.21 Christ will in Living Saints at the last day swallow up Mortality of Life 2 Cor. 5.4 and in dead Saints he will swallow up Death into Victory Isa 25.8 2dly There are those that hate Saints and so wicked Men and Satan do they hate them because they bare the Image and live the Life and uphold the interest of God but the wicked cannot kill the Souls of the Saints
Luke 12.4 and Satan though he may destroy the natural Life yet he shall not quench the Life of God in them and in due time the Saints shall tread down the wicked they shall be as Ashes under the soles of their Feet Mal. 4.2 3. and the God of Peace shall shortly tread Satan under the Feet of Believers Rom. 16.20 5. This is an everlasting Salvation Isa 45.17 Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation Saints shall have a full and an eternal Victory as God did swear to Abraham that his Seed should possess the Gates of their Enemies Gen. 22.17 When not only the Field Army is beaten but the strong Towns and Cities are taken then there is a total and lasting Conquest Saints shall be saved from Sin Sinners and Satan for ever and this Salvation must needs be eternal for it is founded on the Everlasting Righteousness Psal 92.24 and the eternal Redemption of Christ Heb. 9.12 There is no possibility for glorified Saints to sin or fall there shall no Serpent creep into the Heavenly Paradise to tempt Saints shall never make Forfeitures of it or be driven out of it they shall there eat of the Tree of Life and live for ever Rev. 2.7 6. This Salvation Salvation is joined with Vengeance executed on our spiritual Enemies Isa 35.4 Your God shall come with vengeance God shall come with a Recompence and save you Isa 61.2 the acceptable Year of the Lord is come with a Day of Vengeance As Israel could not be delivered out of Egypt or be freed from Babylon but the First-born of Egypt Pharaoh and all his Host must be swallowed up and destroy'd and Babylon's Empire must cease and her Kingdom be destroyed Jer. 50.18.26 So the Elect cannot have liberty and salvation but Satan himself must be destroy'd Heb. 2.15 and his works also be rootod out of the Hearts of Men 1 John 3.5 O what Mercy is this to Believers that the wrath of God is turned away from them and that the vengeance of God falls on Satan and Sin that Sin is condemned and executed but Sinners are justified and saved Rom. 8.3 with Rom. 9.1.33 3. But why is it said that Judah should be saved and Israel dwell safely in the Days of Christ why is Salvation so eminently put on Gospel times I answer though Saints before Christ were saved yet still it was with an Eye to and prospect of Christ's coming If Christ had not been exhibited in the Flesh and bled and died in our Natures no Sinners could have been saved The Faith Hope Salvation of Saints did depend on Gospel-times and days Christ was a Lamb slain in the purpose of God and in the Typical Sacrifices from the Foundation of the World Rev. 13.3 God took Christ's word when he became a surety he depended on his performance of his Promises and his Oblation of a Sacrifice and the Eyes of Saints was to him and upon him John 9.56 Your Father Abraham saith Christ to the Jews rejoyced that he might see my day he saw it and was glad He saw the day of Christ's Birth in the Birth of Isaac He saw the day of his Death when Isaac was bound laid on the Altar and ready to be offered up in Sacrifice and in the Lamb that was substituted in Isaac's Room which pointed out Christ that was our Exchange and so our Ransom and Redeemer The words that Jacob spake was the Language of Saints in the Old Testament Gen. 49.18 I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord. Our Saints of the New Testament have this Priviledge and Advantage that they can speak as Simeon Luke 2.29 30. Mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation which thou hast prepared before the Face of all People The Prophets were but Seeds-Men they ministred to the Church a Promise of the Messiah to come John 4.37.38 but the Apostles and Ministers of the New Testament are Harvest-men they relate the History and preach the glad Tidings of Christ's Incarnation Death Resurrection and Ascention into Heaven and the Saints of the Old Testament enjoyed no Spiritual Liberty but with respect to the Ransom to be paid by Christ and no Legacies had been bestowed but in prospect of the Death of Christ There is therefore great Reason why it should be said with an Emphasis that in Christ's Days Judah should be saved But what is the benefit of Christ's Days What peculiar influence have they on Salvation I answer It may well be said that in Christ's Days Men are saved because 1st That now Christ is incarnate he that made all things is now made Flesh 1 John 1.2.14 And we have a two-fold Advantage for our Salvation by Christ's Incarnation 1. He is now become our Brother Cant. 8.1 and so hath right to redeem us as he is our near Kinsman Lev. 25.47 48 49. If an Israelite did sell himself for a Servant after he was sold his Brother or any that was near of Kin to him might redeem him and so restore him again to liberty We are by the first Adam and since by our sinful choice sold under sin we know of no Kinsman or Brother that could give to God a Ransom for us It was God's infinite and free Mercy to raise up Jesus Christ in our Nature to pay a Ransome for us we did not think or dream of such a Brother or Kinsman No meer Creature should have undertook the work of Redemption but he must have miscarried and sunk under it but Christ is fitted now to redeem us because he is God's Son and our Brother 2. Christ as our Brother and incarnate Kinsman is fit to be our God or Avenger of Blood he that was the Kinsman of one that was slain did claim a right to avenge his Blood on him that shed it So Christ by assuming our Nature is fitted to avenge us of Sin and Satan that are our great Enemies to destroy those that have ruined and undone us the same Hebrew Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both a Redeemer and an Avenger so it is said God shall come with Vengeance and save us Isa 5.4 2ly Jesus Christ hath now made his Soul an Offering for sin Isa 53.10 He came to make atonement and is a propitiation for our sins 1 John 2.2 he made Peace by the Blood of his Cross Col. 1.20 and reconciles Enemies to God by his Death Rom. 5.10 And this is observable that the Year of Jubilee began from the day of Attonement Lev. 25.9.10 Then Servants were restored to their Liberty and those that had alienated their Lands recovered their sold Inheritances Even so Christ having now made at Atonement he can and doth proclaim a Year of Jubilee for the Remission of Sins and the Releasing of Sins Servants God's Prisoners and the Devil 's Captives Isa 61.2 as in David's Days when a Pestilence was sent by God for numbring the People first God bid the Angel that came to destroy Jerusalem to stay his Hand 2 Sam. 24.16 But
he that Instructs us should learn obedience himself Heb. 5.8 The Father that laid Sins inflicted Punishment executed the Curse on Christ was as the Master and the Son that endured all things was as the Scholar He learned by experience what a hard and difficult thing Obedience was how costly and painful it was to subject himself to the Father loading him with Sins and sorrows chastising him for our Iniquities bruising him for our Transgressions that such an Obedience should be rendered by the Son is a deep Mystery and we should never have known it if Jesus Christ had hid it in his heart As the Israelites did not know Manna Dent. 8.3 he fed thee with Manna which thou knewest not neither did thy Fathers know when they found it and saw it first on the ground they wondered and cried out What is this Exod. 16.4 So the Margin renders the word very properly and this is most suitable to the following words for they wist not what it was To say they called it Manna for they wist not what it was is not so good and fit a sense Some have conceived that the phrase hidden Manna was borrowed from the Israelites Question and Ignorance of Manna indeed the Jews were and all Natural Men are ignorant of the Righteousness of God Rom. 10.3 The Wrath of God is indeed revealed from Heaven to all Men by Afflicting Providences Desolating Destroying Judgments as War Famin Pestilence Inundations and Earthquakes but the Righteousness of God is only revealed in the Gospel God might have stopt in the Revelation of his Wrath and have gone no farther but he hath proceeded to reveal his Righteousness in the Gospel that he is Just and the Justifier of them that believe in Jesus Rom. 3.25 26. The Fountain is now opened in which we must wash the Ransom is now paid for which we must be Released the Obedience is now performed by which we must be Justified The Sun of Righteousness is now risen with Healing under his Wings Mal. 4.2 The glorious beams of this Sun of Righteousness dispels not only the thinner Mists of lesser Sins but the thickest Clouds of Heinous Iniquities that not only hide the Light of God's Countenance from us but would pour down a storm of Vengeance upon us 5. The Gospel is the Ministration of Righteousness 2 Cor. 3.9 and the Ministry of Reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.18 Christ in sprinkling Nations with the dew of the Gospel Isa 52. last he doth also sprinkle them with the drops of his Blood Jesus Christ is Justified himself Isa 50.8 and so in a full capacity to Justifie us and that because he hath born our Iniquities Isa 53.11 He that hath loosed his own pains of Death Act. 2.24 can loose our bonds of Iniquity There is an exhibiting and Communication of Righteousness for Justification in the Dispensation of the Gospel 3. Consider the Excellency of this Righteousness it is clean water to wash us Ezek. 36.25 It is clean Linen to adorn us Revel 19.8 Saints are but a Candle or Lamp of Righteousness but this is a Glorious Sun Mal. 4.2 It is a during lasting Righteousness it is styled Everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9.24 This garment never wears or decays It hath been of price and virtue in all Former Ages and it will last till the end of the World yea we may consider whether Saints shall not call Christ by this Glorious Name The Lord our Righteousness to Eternity A Candle wastes and consumes but so doth not the Sun So this Sun of Righteousness will never decay or lose his light and glory The Blood of Christ is still fresh he appeares even now as if he had been but a Lamb lately slain Revel 5.6 And because his Blood is still so fresh and the virtue of it so lasting therefore the Redemption that flows from it is Eternal Heb. 9.12 But more particularly I shall set forth the excellency of Christ's Righteousness and the pretiousness of his Sacrifice in these Following propositions 1. Jesus Christ's Obedience and Righteousness was one whole entire piece it was a continual Series of Holy acts without any interuption our Righteousness is made up of patches and pieces there are interuptions in our obedience but Christ obey'd during his whole Life and at last became obedient to the Death of the Cross Phil. 2.8 As Oxen of old did draw in the Yoke and at last were Offered in Sacrifice 2. Christ did neither stop or pause in his Work or stray at all from his way John 8.29 2. Jesus Christ did not pay our debt by halves but discharged it at once in an intire sum The Damned are always Suffering and yet never satisfie God But Jesus Christ offered one Sacrifice the vertue of which lasts for ever and by this one Sacrifice he perfected us for ever Heb. 10.12.14 Christ hath by this one Sacrifice put an end to all Offerings for Sin Heb. 10.18 Bloody Sacraments do cease in the Church and Bloody Sacrifices are much abolished now out of the World 3. Jesus Christ by his Sacrifice hath taken down the Vail and opened a way to the Heavenly Sanctuary This shewed that the Sacrifices of the Law were weak and defective that though they were still offered yet the Vail still stood and the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest those Sacrifices could not give access to God and entrance into Heaven But this discovered the excellency and efficacy of Christ's Sacrifice that when he Died Matth. 27.50 51. The Vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom To intimate that now a way to Heaven was made by the renting the Vail of Christ's Flesh and by separating of his Soul from his Body Heb. 10.19 Christ by travelling to Heaven hath made a way by entring into it he hath made a door by landing on the Shores of a Blessed Eternity he hath made a Harbour this is a way still new a living way This way is never stale dead or out of date the High-Priest of old did kill a Sacrifice and with the Blood of it he entred into the Typical Holy of Holies Levit. 16.11.14 But the virtue of that Sacrifice was exhausted and the way made by it was dead so that he could not enter again a Second year without killing of a new Sacrifice But Christ's Sacrifice is of such virtue that it makes a way always new a living lasting way into the Heavenly Sanctuary that Believers in all ages may make use of 4. Jesus Christ hath carried his Blood into Heaven and Sprinkled the Throne of God with it The Mercy-Seat was sprinkled with the Blood of the Sacrifice Levit. 16.14 and this did figure and teach that the Throne of God must be sprinkled with the Blood of Christ and how admirable a change doth it make by turning a terrible Tribunal of Justice into a sweet and amiable Throne of Grace Heb. 4. last Let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace Dan. 7.9 10.