25. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye make clean the out side of the cup and platter but with they are full of extortion and excesse so with the same woe pronounced verse 27. Ye are like unto whited sepulchers which indeed appear beautifull outward but are within full of dead mens bones and of all uncleannesse verse 28. Even so also ye outwardly appear righteous unto men but within ye are full of Hypocrisie and iniquity Mark the Lords words within ye are thus and thus As if the Lord should say God regards not what you are outwardly and your observing the law with the outward man seeing you have abundance of all iniquity within which every unregenerate soul in the world hath so you may see that an outward keeping of the law standes for nothing in the account of God whatever it do with men and your selves which you hear Jesus Christ gives forth as the mark of an Hypocrite Now you have heard the law requires inward as well as outward perfection perfect holinesse within as well as righteousnesse in the outward man I verily believe want of this conviction upon the soul sends more soules to Hell then any other thing in the world besides how confident are poor Creatures if they are a little consciencious in dealing and sober and blamelesse to men this you may be and be no better then devils as in your selves in Gods account and thy best Character from Jesus Christ Mat. 23.26 is a Blind Pharisee Every place I fear abounds with them therefore this inveterate cursed plea of being outwardly blamelesse in keeping the Law will not in the least tender you more accepted with God but t is at the best but painted Hypocrisie And yet wretched souls that you are none so well perswaded of themselves as these This the fourth reason 5. All the best keeping of the Law doth not cannot make satisfaction to God for one sin of thy soul therefore t is worth nothing Gods Justice is wronged and if the sinner be remitted God must be satisfied by the sinner himself or by another Now all the obedience of a sinner cannot make satisfaction to God in the least If he had the whole world to offer up to God it could not satisfie him for the the wrong of one sin see that known place Micah 6.6 7. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt offerings with Calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oyle shall I give my first borne for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul Implying that there is nothing that a poor sinner of himself can offer up to God to make atonement or satisfaction to God for the least sin of his soul should he offer up thousands of prayers rivers of tears whole ages spent in services to God take up to a severe new obedience if you should so take up to a new course as never to sinne more all your dayes it would not make God satisfaction or atonement for one evil thought of thy soul Now observe this for if thou art not rightly convinced of this thing thou art lost for ever T is naturally upon every man and womans heart that hath sinned to imagine that when they have sinned they can put off God as to his displeasure with something or other they will reckon what good they have done gone to Church as you style it given Almes bin just to men or some such thing and the poor blind Creature imagines and pleaseth himself in it that this good thus done will well enough pacifie God for his sins or at least he will go over some prayers be strickt for a little while and then they doubt not but God because also he presently smites not with judgment is well enough apayed and he need no more trouble himself Is not this the very way of your hearts hath not the word found you out Object But you will say why cannot these duties and this obedience satisfie and pacifie God well enough for sin Answ 1. Because there is sinne mixt in them they come from a profane heart as is shew'd in the last reason though thou ignorantly because thou knowest not thy heart call'st it a good heart now that which is in it self sinfull cannot sure satisfie for sinne 2. Because of the infiniteness of Gods justice as well as purity of it A finite creature cannot offer up a proportionable atonement to an infinite God Suppose a poor man were under the guilt of treason condemn'd to dye and he should go offer up a little coorse broken bread to the Prince would any one think that this would satisfie the Prince for his treason So poor deceived creature thou art guilty of treason and rebellion against the great and most high God and thou comest and offerest up to him thy poor polluted broken obedience and duties and thinkest he will be satified with this whereas God may in the same moment justly send thee to Hell for the iniquity of them A poor sinfull soul thinkes that because such doings and services do satisfie himself his own conscience therefore he thinks they will satisfie God also because they quiet him upon any trouble for guilt he thinks they will also quiet God and take off his anger and justice from punishing him poor creature this thy way is thy folly and the ready way to come under the severe justice of the Almighty who will not thus be dealt with nor be thus bribed with thy cursed sacrifices This is a further convincement of the point All the creature can do cannot pacifie God for one sin and therefore all his best keeping of the law cannot justifie a poor sinner before God nor give him acceptance in the least with him till he sees pacification another way and takes up obedience from another principle and to another end as we are to shew 6. All a mans endeavour in setting himself to keep the law to the utmost cannot give him acceptance with God because it cannot give life to the soul Gal. 3.21 For if there had bin a law which would have given life verily righteousnesse had come by the law Man hath procured death and weaknes upon his soul and the law cannot give life nor strength to obey it All that righteousness which leavs the soul dead comes to nothing while a soul is under the law and upon the fulfilling of it as he hopes in a good measure still the soul is as dead as sin left it and void of the life of God true A poor soul thinkes himself alive by his legall performances as Paul thought Rom. 7.9 but he is dead in sin and under the sentence of death by the Law and all the performances towards the keeping of it can never give a drop of life to such a poor soul they are dead
Wilderness perfumed with Myrrhe and Frankincense Chap. 3.6 So saith that Word of Promise Chap. 4.6 His smell shall be as Lebanon And when Jesus Christ breathes in his Ordinances upon blessed Souls it is as a sweet and delightsome Perfume to them Fifthly There is a new feeling wrought as an effect of this new life which the Soul hath in Christ when a new Creature is in him The natural man is without feeling as a dead man is let never so great a weight lye on a dead man and he feels not but now take a Soul created into Christ and he feels a new Weight within him Heb. 12.1 Sin is not onely a burden as to the weight of guilt but every corruption even when the sense of guilt is removed by Jesus Christ is a Weight to the Soul under which the Soul cryes out mourns groans to be delivered Rom. 7.24 Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Sin hangs like a dead body about him Vse If the Gospel-new-creature is a living new creature and doth exercise Spiritual Life and hath new spiritual senses Let this then be a word of Tryal to discover the state of your Souls Can you say I that was dead am alive I was once spiritually dead without feeling did neither see nor hear nor taste in a Spiritual way but now the Lord in rich grace hath opened my deaf Ear and my blind Eyes now I have heard the Lord himself speak to my soul now I have seen the Lord and my Heart is taken with him Now I savour the Word of Grace and the Ministration of the Gospel is a sweet savour in Christ to me the Name of Jesus Christ is as good Ointment to me Now I feel a body of sin and groan under it and press after the destroying and crucifying of it Souls If this be not your Experience you are dead you are without the Life of God and Christ in you Oh! go to God sinners as you have been exhorted and cry to him to open your ear to hear and your eye to see Be convinced that as yet your Ear hath been stopt as to hearing the Lord himself speak to you Oh say Woe is me that I am where the Lord useth to speak under the Ministration of his Gospel and yet he never spake to my Soul Doth the Lord love me and never speak to me Pity Lord Pity a poor deaf blind stupid unsavoury Wretch and breathe life into me And then wait for the Lord's Voice in his Word Now let the Spirit himself speak unto me and unveil my heart that I may see into the Mysteries of Jesus Christ and may savour them upon my poor Soul 2. Let living Souls in Christ exercise their Spiritual Senses keep the Ear open to and waiting for the Spirits Voice be prying into the mystery of God in Christ and all Gospel-Truths get a clearer sight of Jesus Christ till you shall be infinitely taken with him and love him for himself And keep the heart savoury and the precious scent of Gospel-grace upon your Spirits and labour so to feel the weight of the body of sin how it poyseth polluteth cloudeth the Soul that you may come to that frame to cry out to be delivered from it And let it be abundant matter of praise to the riches of grace that God hath given life and senses to your souls which he might have left under the death of sin to all Eternity 5. The next Discovery of our Gospel New-Creature is this namely He hath a new heart So Ezek. chap. 18.31 Make you a new heart and a new spirit which the Lord hath in Free-grace promised in the New-covenant Chap. 36.26 A new heart will I give you which I shall precisely consider and shew particularly wherein the heart is made new 1. The heart naturally in its old corrupt frame is a rebellious heart Jer. 5.23 This people have a rebellious heart the usual complaint of the Prophets Now when the Lord makes the heart new he begins to take away the rebellion of heart as it naturally opposeth the Word Power and Spirit of God and the heart is made obedient and plyable to the power of the Word the Spirit 's Teachings Isa 1.19 If ye be willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the Land but if ye refuse and rebel ye shall be devoured c. My people shall be willing in the day of my power Psal 110. The heart of it self is stubborn obstinate unwilling to stoop to the power of Truth to yield to Jesus Christ but when it is made new it becomes of an yieldable frame to the practical Obedience of Gospel-Truths 2. The heart as an effect of the former is naturally hard and impenitent Rom. 2.5 cannot mourn for sinne But When 't is made new God makes it soft Ezek. 36.27 I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh which is a soft and tender heart whereby a Soul can pour out its complaints to God yea the heart will pour out it self like water to the Lord Lam. 2.19 The Heart receives impressions of truth as by its softness 't is more and more wrought to a new frame as in the hand of the Lord. 3. The Heart is naturally proud and makes the sinner self-conceited and well-opinioned of his own condition and will not suffer the sinner to abase himself to God and to take shame to himself But when a new Work of God's upon it the sinner humbles himself under the mighty hand of God bears his reproach before him and cryes out Oh! What shall I do for an humble heart Lord take away subdue Pride in a wretched creature Jam. 4.10 Now he becomes a poor self-emptyed creature undone helpless and to a full Christ he at last goes 4. The Heart is naturally hypocritical The hypocrite in heart heaps up wrath Job 36.13 Now when God makes the heart new then it begins to be sincere in some good measure for God before the poor deceived sinner thought he did all with a good heart that he did bear much upon that he did all with a good heart but when God shews him his heart by the Candle of his Word and Spirit then the poor Creature sees what a Hell of Hypocrisie was and is within him that he acted in all Duties as from himself so to himself and not uprightly unto God But when the Lord new frames the heart then the Soul is after new sincere holy aims for God in all it does is most abased for selfish and hypocritical mixtures and would account nothing well done but as God is designed in it and labours to walk in simplicity of heart and godly sincerity as of God and in the sight of God c. 2 Cor. 1.12 5. The old Heart is full of all uncleanness and impurity and cares not to be cleansed So saith Christ to the Jews Mat. 23.27 Within you are
shewed you may be under the Law condemned for one transgression and what can you be more then be condemned Neither doth all this as in it self any more prepare you for Jesus Christ And therefore let all the Convictions Arguments Demonstrations we have produced from the clear Light of the Word of the Lord at last prevail with you that you who thus satisfie your selves because you are baptized believe the Scriptures frequent the service of God are just and sober therefore it is well with you and you will trouble your selves no further in the matter of your salvation that the estate of your soules is as unsafe and desperate how secure soever as the profoundest Drunkard in the Countrey Therefore let this Conviction have force upon your Conscience that you must come anew to Jesus Christ as a mere sinner having nothing to commend you to him Say from the Light of the Word Though I have thus satisfied my self pleas'd my self in these Duties and outward Priviledges yet there 's no difference between me and the vilest sinner in order to my acceptance with Jesus Christ Nay if this Conviction take upon thee thou wilt say to the glory of God and thy own confusion If there be any difference 't is that thou art the greatest sinner having mocked the Lord rested in out-side service dealt hypocritically with the jealous God offered him abominable sacrifice and therefore fit to be abhorred of the Lord for ever Oh! that this might be the posture of thy Soul and so thou mayest come and lye prostrate at the feet of Jesus Christ crying Oh! no more no more a righteous person but a sinner a guilty sinner a condemned sinner a poor blind naked sinner nothing else but a sinner Away with all my former confidences tear them from my heart Lord. Now Lord Jesus I cast my self upon thee Oh! let me creep unto thy blessed feet Oh! I come to thee not because I am righteous for I would abhor my self for ever in the thought of it but as a poor perishing sinner the worst of sinners an hypocritical sinner Oh! that I could take hold of thy righteousness to cover my naked Soul I expect it onely upon the account of thy Free-Grace Oh Lord I come unto thee do not do not reject me And thus have I been endeavouring to lay the sinner before Jesus Christ in such a posture having proved him under the Law excuseless in his transgressing of it guilty before God under an impossibility of reaching to an acceptance with God by the best keeping of the Law laboured to beat him off such props and confidences that the Heart naturally cleaves to and stript him of all naked as Adam when he had sinned before the Lord as nothing else but a sinner which is that I have driven at I now come to speak of the way of a poor Souls justification and acceptance with God by Jesus Christ as the Lord shall assist to the capacity of the weakest ROM 3.24 Being justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ I Am now come to open the Gospel-righteousness wherein a poor sinner finds acceptance with God which in ver 21. of this 3d of the Romans is said to be now manifested that is more fully manifested by the Revelation of Jesus Christ in the Gospel being witnessed before by the Law and the Prophets Even the righteousness of God which is by the Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe ver 22. called the righteousness of God namely that whereby God doth onely justifie and accept of a sinner wrought forth by the obedience of Jesus Christ and made over and imputed to a poor Soul that doth embrace it by Faith whether Jew or Gentile outwardly righteous or profane all that ever come to God must come this way and stand before him in this righteousness or perish for ever which I shall begin to open from ver 24 25. 1. Being justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ 2. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his bloud c. We have endeavoured in the former Discourse to go along with the Apostle in proving that by all the Deeds of the Law all the best Obedience that a sinner can reach unto he cannot be justified before God neither in part nor in whole that your good deeds will not procure pardon nor poise down your sins but all by the Law equally under condemnation Of what importance then is it for poor condemned soules to be well acquainted with and really and practically invested in that way of justification that God in infinite wisdome mercy and love hath set forth in the Gospel which is that I now design The Apostles arguing is thus If all fall short of righteousness and acceptance with God by their own obedience If all have sinned and come short of the glory of God then are all and that equally condemned If so condemned then acceptance with God and justification and remission of sinnes must come in another way The Rise and Fountain of which must necessarily be Gods free mercy and grace If made righteous it must be in the righteousness of another wrought forth by another Justice must be satisfied by another a price paid to God for a sinners redemption by another which is Jesus Christ blessed for ever From the words then I shall first lay down this plain Observation viz. Observ Gods free mercy and grace is the first Fountain of any sinners salvation or 'T is upon the account of ' Gods free grace that any sinner is saved Thus runs the current of the whole Gospel the main design of the Gospel being to glorifie the riches of Gods free grace by Jesus Christ Among many other Scriptures the Apostle doth most convincingly discourse in Rom. 5. from the 15th to the end letting the free grace of God unto justification in opposition to a sinners condemnation But not as the offence so also is the free gift for if through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many To the same import run the rest of the verses The free gift of many unto justification much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ All of grace and of free-gift abundance of grace from first to last That as sin reigned unto death so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord vers last So the Apostle in that Epistle to the Ephesians wherein the Doctrine of grace is blessedly given forth drives all the spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ mentioned Chap. 1.3 c. to this blessed Fountain Chap. 2.4 c. But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were
thou biddest fair for Heaven yea there will presently be joy in Heaven for thee In a word I protest against you in the Name and Authority of God and the Lord Iesus Christ who hath sent me if you shall withstand the grace of God in Jesus Christ freely most freely offered you I shall be a Witness against you and if any sinners in the World shall be certainly damned you are they who neglect this great Salvation 'T is come to this I would saith Jesus Christ and ye will not What a do to have a sinner that 's sinking to Hell to come to the Lord Jesus Christ to be freely saved What should a guilty sinner do but come to a free Saviour to be saved and accept of his tearms which are so blessed with a thousand hearts if he had them Now say how am I straitned till I get to him I would go and weep my heart out to him had I a heart to do it Now I leave what hath been spoken to the good pleasure of God and the work of his Power who is able to send away every Soul trembling and resigning up themselvs to him Onely a word to any poor humbled doubting soul that thinks infinitely well of all this but saith in his heart All this grace is too good for me I have sinned against it and sleighted it I fear whether ever I may be accepted Oh remember and consider that Grace were not Grace if 't were no free God can save a sinner freely that 's enough to stay thee yea though thou hast sleighted grace as where is the Saint but did so before effectually called yea God will save a sinner freely that will come by Jesus Christ unto him He will What would'st have more Do not stand reasoning thus but If thou art a sinner undone without him cast off from thy own Confidences go to him in the Name of God and believe him upon his own word say I take thee Blessed Lord upon thy own word Thou sayest Whosoever will let him come and Lord therefore I come I durst not come were I not invited freely and if I must be saved freely if ever then thou art to bestow all work all begin and perfect all Oh blessed Lord I come unto thee for it go and do thus and thou shalt be comforted and rejoyce in his Salvation I might also here press blessed Souls who have been drawn to Jesus Christ and overcome by Free-grace to do it to live in the admiration of that grace and to be low and poor and empty in your selves in the abundant sense of it all your days Let your enjoyments and attainments be what they will be it known unto you that by grace ye are saved and you had and have as much need of it as any sinner in the World God's Design in saving you was to glorifie Grace and it must be your Design also here and for ever Having thus opened in some measure the grace of God to be the Fountain of a sinner's Salvation I shall now proceed to discover the way of the conveyance of this grace which is by Jesus Christ being justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ though God resolved to bestow grace upon such as shall be saved freely yet in a way of his own most wise and blessed Designing by his Eternal Son Jesus Christ to whom this Dispensation of Grace was committed which I shall further open in this Doctrine Namely Doct. All that Grace and Mercy which GOD gives out freely to sinners is conveyed to them by his Eternal Son Jesus Christ I might be abundant in the proof of this See in that 5th of the Rom. v. 17.21 Much more they which receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ And vers 21. That as sinne hath reigned unto death even so might Grace reign through Righteousness unto Eternal Life by Jesus Christ our Lord All the grace that should reign unto Life is given out by one Jesus Christ. The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1.17 All the Treasures of Grace were laid up in him and therefore he saith of himself Matth. 11.27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father and none can come unto the Father but by me which he makes as the great Argument why sinners should come unto him vers 28. Now so far as the Lord hath revealed the wise and holy Counsels of his heart in his Word unto us let us inquire into the Reasons why he took such a way to give all his grace to the children of men Reason 1. The first is this That as mankind lost all in the Fall of the first Adam as he was a publique person representing all that came of him so it was the wisdome of God in the recovery of lost-man to bring forth another person that should be fully stockt with grace and righteousness as a publique person to represent all the Elect unto the Father upon which account Jesus Christ is called the Second Adam 1 Cor. 15. And the Apostle sets the first Adam in his offence unto Death and the grace and Righteousness of Iesus Christ as the second Adam one against the other Rom. 5.15 16 c. For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous And so the Apostle sets the Life Grace Righteousnesse of Iesus Christ as the Second Adam against the Death Condemnation Disobedience of the first man that sinned in the 7 last Verses of that Chapter And herein the Wisdome of the Father is most excellently set forth and the ground of Consolation to Believers laid upon a most sure Foundation That whatsoever they lost in the First Adam they recover with much more abundance in Iesus Christ for so the Apostle hath that much more in the Scripture mentioned three or four times that Saints may see how abundantly compleat they are in Christ Reas 2. All grace is conveyed by Iesus Christ because there needed a person to stand between GOD and Sinners as a Mediatour to work forth Reconciliation between them Now who was meet but the Lord Iesus Christ to undertake this He being the Eternal Son of God equal with God was near unto God A mere Creature was infinitely unfit for such an undertaking And he being also the Son of man cloathed in the nature of man he thus partaking of the nature of God who was to be appeased and of the Nature of Man who was to be reconciled he became a most meet Undertaker of so glorious a Work Whence he hath that blessed Title given him of Mediatour Jesus the Mediatour of a New Covenant Heb. 12.24 There is one God and one Mediatour between God and Man the Man Christ Iesus 1 Tim. 2.5 3. God resolved that his blessed Son Iesus Christ should have the honour in this blessed Transaction to
convey his grace to lost Sinners Iam. 5.22 23. That all men should honour the Son So the Apostle fully Col. 1.16 17 18 19 20. All things were for him And that in all things he might have the preheminence c. For by him and to him and for him are all things This honour the Father committed to the Son to bring about this great Contrivance of bringing Man back again unto God 4. God letting out his Grace by Iesus Christ renders his love more abundant and acceptable to poor sinners Ioh. 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his onely begotten Son c. So loved it that he could not give forth a greater manifestation of his love Now the Father purposed to render his love to sinners by the gift of his Son most full and glorious and therefore gave him out of his Bosome and all the Riches of his Love and Grace by him 5. This way of the Father's dispensation of grace by his Son Iesus Christ hath rendered the grace of God most sure and unchangeable to his own The Covenant of Grace being now establisht between the Father and Iesus Christ Iesus Christ being the Undertaker in it for all the Father gave him it is certainly founded upon a sure Bottome This was the Father's Promise Isa 42.6 I will give him for a Covenant to the People Iesus Christ as a common person did represent all the Elect in the Covenant as the first Adam in the first Covenant did represent all his and Iesus Christ did undertake to bring them to God to bring them into the Covenant and so to estate them in all the grace and mercy and blessing of it Therefore the mercies of the Covenant are stiled The sure mercies of David Isa 55.3 As a Type of Iesus Christ coming of the Seed of David wherein is set forth the excellency of the New Covenant the whole Transaction of it intrusted in the hands of Jesus Christ and therefore not one drop of the mercy of it can ever fail those that are taken into it 6. By the giving forth of Jesus Christ the whole of Gospel-Salvation is rendered more glorious The Wisdome Justice Holiness of God as well as mercy and love do shine forth in Jesus Christ And therefore the Gospel-mystery is styled The manifold Wisdome of God Ephes 3.10 Every Attribute of God is glorified in the giving out of Jesus Christ 7. Yea had not God taken this way of making out himself by Jesus Christ the World had dwelt in gross darkness of him Therefore Jesus Christ is styled The Image of the Invisible God Col. 1.15 The express Image of the Father The brightness of his glory Heb. 1. And in 2 Cor. 2.6 The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is said to shine in the face of Jesus Christ. The Creation is but a dark shadow of the glory of God as to what is revealed of God in the manifestation of Jesus Christ There are the Footsteps of God in the Creatures but his Character and Image in his Blessed Son Jesus Christ 8. There could not have been access to God but by Jesus Christ for through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father Eph. 1 18. How could polluted Dust draw nigh to the absolute majesty and glory of God had not he let forth himself in Jesus Christ as in our own Nature and so makes way for a poor sinner to come before him 9. Had God let forth mercy to sinners and not given out his Son Jesus Christ His justice must have been violated which is the main of all The word of the Lord was absolute In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye Gen. 2.17 which was meant of the Eternal Death of the Soul in its separation from the life of God as is clear in Rom. 5. last where grace unto eternal life by Jesus Christ is put in opposition to that death which was by sin which must therefore needs be meant of Eternal Death So Rom. 6. ver last Now this Death must be executed upon all the Posterity of Adam or else God must take some other way to satisfie his justice he will save the sinner which was upon his own son Jesus Christ as will further be evidenced in the following Discourse 10. The Blessed God took this way of letting out himself his grace by Jesus Christ that thereby Saints might have union with him which was a holy design of rhe Father in saving them That they may be one in us Ioh. 17.21 The deepest and most unconceiveable mystery in our Salvation Now Iesus Christ as the Eternal Son of God taking upon him our natures we became capable of being united to him through the Spirit and made one with the humane nature of Christ whereby we are also united to the God-head and so become one with the Father and the Son which is the top of the Saints perfection Use 1. Now what hath bin said as to the grounds and reasons of God in given out his eternall Son and letting forth all grace by him may serve to acquaint us with this rich and glorious Mystery as it is styled Col. 1.27 Namely God reconciling the word by Jesus Christ letting forth the knowledge of himself glorifying all his Attributes making such discoveries of his glory providing such a way of Mediation such a glorious Mediator laying the blessed project of a sinner's glorious salvation so sure rendring his love so acceptable and glorious making way for free accesse unto himself and how we might become one with him Oh! the depths of the wisdome and love of God which of them may we admire most well may Angels pry into this holy Mystery well may it be the astonishment of Heaven and Earth of the whole Creation How much more of a sinner for whose sake it was thus ordered Oh that we might fall upon our faces and adore the wisdom and grace of God in such a contrivance as this Oh! unmeasurable goodnesse unfathomed wisdom Eternity is but enough to admire it To behold God in Christ will be the vision which the souls of blessed Saints will be wrapt up into to all eternity 2. Oh! therefore what infinite mercy is it to be brought forth in new Testament-times when the Mystery hid in God hid from ages kept secret since the word began 1 Cor. 16.25 is brought to light and sparkling upon the darknesse of the world when the glory of God is risen upon the world Now If this Gospel be hid t is hid to them that are lost 2 Cor. 4.3 Woe unto them that close their eyes when the light shines round about them Oh! you that yet sit in darknesse and the shaddow of death Arise Awake look up that Gospel-light may shine into you Oh cry wait that your eyes may be opened to behold God coming forth in the Revelation of Jesus Christ in the glorious Gospel waite for the spirit and thar the Gospel in the preaching of it
sin in the flesh that the righteousnesse of the Law might fulfill'd in us c. Gal. 4.4 But when the fulnesse of the time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law c. So that the Law was fullfilled by Iesus Christ as if the sinner had kept it fully in his own person by Christ's becoming obedient to the death of the Crosse and so suffering the punishment of the Law still in the stead and name in the sinner and by his keeping the Law in the pure originall righteousnesse of his nature 2 Cor. 5.21 and Heb. 7.26 27. and by his actuall obedience to it in the perfect observing of it Rom. 5.19 For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many were made righteous Namely by the obedience of Iesus Christ which he gave unto the Law Now all sinners being condemned by the Law the Law could not remit them till it was satisfied it call'd for punishment and full obedience which Iesus Christ gave unto it 5. God could not so freely to speak after the manner of men let out grace and mercy unlesse such satisfaction had bin given by Iesus Christ now it can come easily delightfully chearfully from the righteous and gracious God seeing his justice will not plead against it but for it being blessedly satisfied and Iesus Christ by his death did fully merit it and deserve it at the hands of God and laid down as much as God in infinite justice would require therefore t is now as well justice as mercy for God to remit a sinner that comes to God by Iesus Christ 1 Iohn 1.7 God is just to forgive us our sins Now hereupon God having ordained and accepted of such a way of atonement his justice glorified and satisfied his word that the sinner should dye made good his Law to the utmost satisfied what remaines but that the blessed God can remit the bondage guilt condemnation of the sinner having thus accepted of satisfaction what remaines but that he should pronounce as he doth Iob 33.24 Deliver him for I have found a ransome God can now pardon the sinner that comes believingly by Iesus Christ to him for it without any regreat his justice shall be glorified by it as well as his mercy God hath charg'd all upon another and accepted of full payment call'd himself to witnesse of it and will never repent of it Object If any should Object Wherein is free grace glorified if God have received full satisfaction to his justice Answ I answer 1. 'T was infinite free grace for God to give out his blessed Son Iesus Christ when there was no obligation upon him he gave him and sent him freely Iohn 3.16 from his own free love therefore there 's a world of free grace in mans salvation 2. 'T was infinite grace towards the sinner to accept of satisfaction by a Surety Heb. 5. and not on the sinner the party offending himself what abundant grace and love to lay the sins and guilt upon another specially the onely Son of his bosome who was without all sinne 2 Cor. 5.21 and not to condemn the poor helpless sinner for ever 3. 'T was infinite free grace for God himself to contrive the way of such a Redemption had it bin left to sinfull man to have found out a way how justice might be satisfied he could never have done it It could never have entred into the heart of Man or Angels to have offered to God a satisfactory way for the making up of his wronged justice but he must have perished for ever therefore this is a world of grace 4. The Father was at Liberty to impute this Redemption of Christ to whom he would to this sinner and not to another Rom. 9. He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy c. So that 't is indeed a debt to Christ but all of free mercy and grace to any Sinner that is saved Use 1. If then Salvation remission of sins came in this way by the death blood of Iesus Christ then it may discover to us the infinite hatred that God bears to sin that to make expiation atonement to his justice there could no sacrifice be found but the death of his eternall Son Iesus Christ Oh! that ever a sinner should delight in that which the holy God so much hates and abhorres 2. Let it be for convincement to poor sinners of the infinite necessity of this way of Redemption by Iesus Christ in laying down his life to satisfie the justice of God and of getting their part in it you have heard the case of a sinner condemn'd by the Law liable to eternall death subject to the rigour of divine justice no way able or in a Capacity to make satisfaction to God mercy as it were bound up by justice Oh! therefore what necessity of a Mediator of a Redeemer to work forth deliverance to lay down a ransome for sinners dye and undergo the curse and wrath of the great and dreadfull God fullfill the Law make satisfaction to the wronged justice of God to the utmost this Iesus Christ hath done for miserable sinners that will come to him Now the most of poor souls have but a notion of Christs dying but know not what is meant by Christ dying for me though sometimes in their mouths Oh! sinner for Christ to dye for thee if thou gettest a part in his death is to undergo the punishment and curse and death that thy soul was liable to which otherwise must have come upon thee to the utmost it was to be made sin and curse for thee to bear thy sins and stand in them Oh! that thou couldst really be convinced of the necessity of this Redemption that thou couldst never come to God without it and therefore to get thy poor soul stated in it 3. If satisfaction to Gods justice can onely be by the blood of Iesus Christ then let me again presse you that you take heed of performing your duties and repentings as if thereby you did satisfie and pacifie God for the sin of your souls This is the most dangerous snare upon poor souls that though they have sinned yet they hope God will be pacified with some praying and sorrowing and amendement now though this shall be in a spirituall manner upon every pardoned sinner and t is a capacity God puts the sinner into when he applyes the death of his Son and so gives out mercy and pardon yet you must most carefully take heed that you offer not up such duties as if they did make God amends and pacifie him for your sins but look above and beyond them as if they were not and so to cast your eye to the great sacrifice of the blood of Jesus Christ which Alone makes atonement to God and makes way for a poor sinner to come to him 4. That as sinners would learn the blessed Mystery of
changed in thy self pray and be holy and obey God in all things yet canst thou not be hereby justified but still thy justifying righteousness is in Christ and not in thy self as the onely procuring-meritorious cause of pardon and peace with God Ierem. 33.16 Isa 54. last 3. The great question therefore that should come upon thy heart is Whether thou art in a state of condemnation or justification If not justified thou art still as I have shewed under the condemnation of the whole Law nothing thou hast yet done or shalt ever be able to do will stand between Wrath and Hell and thy poor soul till thou comest to be justified in the bloud and righteousness of Iesus Christ Oh sinners ponder of this great thing that is now laid before you Can you say from a Testimony within you Oh! I was thus and thus once under the reign power guilt condemnation of sin but now now blessed be rich and free grace I am washed justified in the Name of the Lord Iesus Christ See that Word 1 Cor. 6.10 11. And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Iesus and by the Spirit of our God Or at least that I may speak to poor weak willing trembling soules Is this it that your soules are restless after Oh that I were that I were in such a blessed state Oh that I could but believingly say the righteousness of Iesus Christ were mine and that now I am I am justified Oh what peace and sweetness and joy would fill my heart Why Soul If this be indeed the breathing of thy Soul Iesus Christ is thine and thou art justified and pardoned and God will at last give in unto thee if thou continue to follow him the sense and comfort of it in thy poor Soul Onely by the way take a Discovery or two of the reality of thy Heart in this matter 1. If thy Soul from a Spiritual Conviction be under a real making out after justification by Iesus Christ then thou would'st also be as really sanctified be made holy 'T was as much in the purpose of God to call thee out of a state of sinne and to sanctifie thee as to pardon and justifie thee 1 Ep. John 5.6 2. If thou art brought into a justified state thy soul making out after it thou art made alive in the Spirit Rom. 8.1 Thou art in Iesus Christ and wouldst walk no more after the flesh and the lusts thereof but after the Spirit Gal. 5.18 If ye are led by the Spirit ye are not under the Law namely to condemn you but are freed from the curse of it and verse 23. Against such there is no Law that is such as would walk after the Spirit be led by the Spirit and shew forth the fruit of the Spirit And this is that which the Apostle intimateth 1 Ep. Joh. 5.10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the Witness in himself namely of the Spirit So that every justified person hath the Spirit of Christ according to the measure of the grace of God dwelling in him is quickned in the Spirit being once dead prays in the Spirit mortifies sin through the Spirit is taught by the Spirit and so in all other saving and sanctifying vertues of it If it be not thus with thee thou as yet hast no part in this blessedness but art under condemnation unto death And therefore sinner come before God in the sense of thy condemned estate and give up thy self to Jesus Christ to be washed justified sanctified and then blessed for ever 3. Let called and sanctified Believers labour to live in the sense of a pardoned-justified state that God is not off and on with them in the matter of justification though it may be sometimes darkned and clouded as to the evidence of it Oh! do you labour to preserve the sense and sweet and blessed peace of it in your souls give glory to the riches of grace for now there is No No condemnation to you you are passed from Death to Life and the Blessed God imputes no sin unto you Let this be the highest and strongest Argument to Holiness and love to the glory that possibly may be and if indeed you walk in the comfort of it it will be so unto you Onely let me give caution here to young Converts whose hearts at the first discovery of the free and glorious grace of the Gospel and of Iesus Christ are wonderfully taken and affected with it but after a time are apt to want on with it unless the first humiliation be the deeper and to wax sleight in Duties and so their Lusts recover strength again and return upon them and either they fall or are near unto it to the fresh wounding of their Soules This hath been the condition of many therefore be well caution'd in it and walk with fear in the midst of your joyous apprehensions of the sweetness of grace and the endearing love of the Lord Iesus to you Having briefly shewed what the nature of justification is what it is to be in a justifyed state before God I now come to open more particularly how a Soul comes to be partaker of this justification through the redemption of Iesus Christ namely Through Faith in his bloud ver 25. of this 3d of Rom. Observ As God through Free-grace hath set forth Iesus Christ to work forth Redemption for sinners so there must be a special believing on and applying the bloud of Iesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins by every one that is saved Therefore justification is attributed to Faith Rom. 5.1 Therefore being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ So Gal. 2.16 3.11 In all which places Faith is put in opposition to the Works of the Law And so the righteousness of Christ is called the righteousness of Faith Rom. 9.30 10.6 in opposition to righteousnesse by Works Not as if Faith were the matter of our justification that it did as an Act or Work in the Soul justifie before God but that God doth thus make over the bloud and righteousness of Iesus Christ to a Soul by inabling the Soul to come unto to take hold of to apply to it self to appropriate the merit of the bloud of Iesus Christ for its own Redemption and Salvation which may afford us a plain Description of justifying Faith precisely considered namely Faith is a work of the Holy Ghost in the Soul inabling it to appropriate or apply to it self the bloud and righteousness of Iesus Christ for the remission of sin and its justification unto eternal life So it is called the work of Faith with power 2 Thes 1.11 and 't is expressed by receiving of Iesus Christ Joh. 1. and believing on his Name coming unto him resting upon him So that plainly Faith is a going out to believing in trusting on another namely the Lord Iesus Christ for what it
can never be able to find or bring about in or by it self which may lead us to the more particular way of the Holy Ghost's working this power in the soul in the saved ones of God 1. In the working of Faith in the soul it is first brought to see an impossibility of coming to God as in its self or by its self concluded under an utter unability to pacifie God or make up a righreousness in it self to get access with God The soul is emptyed from vessell to vessell till all the things that it counted gain before become losse for Jesus Christ This is the first work of the Spirit it emptyes a poor sinfull Creature of all its refuges all its dependencyes all its sufficiencyes and so becomes naked in its guilt before God and therefore is brought to this that its acceptance to God if ever it be accepted must be out of its self what ever become of him he must perish as in himself 2. In the work of saith The soul is brought to see that this was the end of the Revelation of Jesus Christ of Gods setting him forth to be a propitiation that he might work forth Redemption and Righteousnesse for some that this is a way of Gods own ordaining Jesus Christ was set forth for this very end even by God himself and therefore the soul is brought to this conclusion to venture the issue of its life and eternall salvation upon it and so throwes it self as in a sinking condition upon the the grace blood righteousnesse of Jesus Christ sink or swim live or perish saved or damned there the soul casts Anchor there it pitcheth to this it will stand or fall before the righteous God If there be not enough in the blood of Jesus to give it acceptance with God the soul resolves to Hell it must and will There saith a poor self-emptyed soul I cast even away my self if it might be upon it Phil. 3.9 3. The soul is brought on to believe the report that God in his word makes concerning his Son Jesus Christ and of the price value merit and all-sufficiency of his blood to save a poor sinner even to the utmost that comes to God by him Heb. 7.25 to answer all the wants and distresses of a poor soul namely in pacifying the Justice of God fulfilling the Law making atonement removing guilt procuring remission of sins reconciling to God Rom. 5.9 10. Much more being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life In all which things the soul is enabled to believe the report of the Gospell that the blood and death of Jesus Christ can do all this for poor sinners that shall pitch upon it 4. In this working of faith the soul comes to see and fasten upon an absolute unlimited Free promise where any sinner that will may come to Jesus Christ and so have the vertue of his death and blood applyed to it and therefore that he as well as any other sinner in the world may come to him and make claime to his blood and plead it before God whosoever will let him come Rev. 22. Now saith a poor self-emptyed sinner I do not find that I am any where excluded but invited and called upon to come to the Lord Jesus and claime an interest in his blood and that I may plead it even at the throne of his justice and that I may warrantably safely upon good grounds given out from the mouth of God himself take hold of the Lord Jesus in such a promise and there is no sin or unworthinesse can exclude me unlesse I will frowardly and wretchedly exclude my self I do not find saith a poor soul that any sin is too great for the sacrifice of that blood of Jesus so the sinner will come to it yea that 't is the greatest sin and the top of condemnation not to come to it that I more injure God by standing off from Jesus Christ then by all the filthinesse blasphemies ungodlinesses my soul ever wallowed in Heb. 10.29 The blood of Christ is a price sufficient for the sins of the whole world therefore saith a poor soul For mine He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world therefore he can take away mine and I am freely call'd and invited to it and t is my rebellion not to come what can I have more And so sense of peace and reconciliation falls in upon the Soul 5. The soul by its often renewing of such Acts of believing comes at last to see the blood of Jesus Christ appropriated to him now it can stay it self upon the word of promise and can sometimes rejoyce in believing If I rolle my self upon the blood of Jesus I have the word of God for it that I shall be saved we shall be saved from wrath through him not it may be but we shall be saved and all upon the account of being justified by his blood Rom. 5.9 which justification ariseth upon this believing we have mention'd Thus have I opened the nature of faith as it is precisely justifying as it applyes and appropriates the blood and righteousnesse of the Lord Jesus for remission of sins and Justification unto eternall Life I might insist upon the discovery of the effectuall operations of faith in the soul as may distinguish it from a mere belief of the History of the death of Jesus Christ take two or three 1. When the soul by faith doth act upon the blood of Jesus Christ for justification it doth also bring the power and efficacy of it for the purging of the soul Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternall Spirit offer'd himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God So Act. 15.9 Purifying your hearts by faith There is a purifying vertue in the blood of Jesus Christ upon the souls of believers They are for the purging away the filth as well as the guilt of sin There 's no believing soul but cryes out Purge me Oh Lord purge me and thoroughly from my filth 2. The soul hath a secret yet reall fellowship with the death of Jesus Christ to crucifie and destroy the body of sin in a justified believer which ariseth from its union with Christ Rom. 6.5 6. For if we have bin planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likenesse of his Resurrection knowing that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin Every true believer can really say I am or I would be Crucified with Christ Gal. 2.20 Which the Apostle there brings in as an effect of Justification by faith 3. Every justified believer looks upon this as one great end of his Justification
verse in the removal of that Objection which the Heart puts up against this blessed Truth ROM 3. last Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law THE former Verses intermitted might have afforded us much choise matter in the opening the Doctrine of Grace and the Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ namely that God is just in the remission of a Believer upon Faith in the bloud of Jesus from verse 26. And that the Doctrine of Grace excludes all boasting from the Creature from v. 27. That Jew and Gentile all that are saved must come to God and be justified in this way and no other from v. 29 30. But I must contract my self I come now to the Objection that the Heart so far as it is carnal doth naturally make against this Doctrine namely If a Soul be onely justified by grace through the righteousness of Jesus Christ doth not this then make void the Law and all obedience to it What need then of our Obedience God forbid saith Paul we establish it that is the Doctrine of justification by Faith doth rather establish it The Law doth stand establisht in a three-fold sense First Jesus Christ hath establisht it by fulfilling it whereby the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled upon us Rom. 8.4 Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the Law and kept it and so makes over the righteousness of it to Believers as hath been shewed and so the Law stands establisht Secondly The Law stands establisht as a meanes through the Spirit to convince of sin and of our shortness of the righteousness of it as ver 20. And so Christ often made use of it for such ends Thirdly The Law stands establisht as an everlasting Rule of Righteousness and Holiness promised in the New Covenant to be written in the Heart Heb. 8. So that though Jesus Christ in justifying by his bloud hath quit the sinner from all guilt and condemnation by the Law yet he hath not given the Believer a discharge from all obedience of it And therefore to evince this I shall lay down this Position That Observ Though all a Believer hath done or can do cannot justifie him before God yet there are other blessed ends why he should obey God and delight in his Law 1. Obedience to God is placed as the great end of our redemption Luk. 1.74 75. That we might serve him without fear a fear of bondage in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life God had not onely in his purpose the remission and salvation of the sinner but that thereby he would have all that are called into this grace to serve him in Holiness And this end is to be upon the heart of the Believer when justified by Faith The purpose of God in this is that I should serve him in holiness 1 Tim. 1.9 That I should live to God Rom. 6.11 as hath been shewed 2. From the Soveraign Command of God who saith Be ye holy 1 Pet. 1.15 16. This is enough to a Believer that God hath commanded it though there should be no other end in it 3. Holiness and Righteousness is the Soul's conformity unto God it is a Beam of God an Image of God which he designs to be renewed upon all that shall be saved as shall be further shewed 4. Justified Believers do see an equity goodness and blessedness in the Law of God in all his holy and righteous Precepts though they were not commanded The Law is holy just and good Rom. 7. saith Paul speaking after the regenerate part So David Psal 119. often Thy Commandements which I have loved They give God his due and the Creature his due and therefore to be walkt in though not thereby justified 5. There is a principle of love to God shed abroad in the heart of every justified Believer from the sense of his rich pardoning-grace the freeness of his love which acts and constrains a Soul to take delight so far as it is regenerated in every Command of God Rom. 5.5 2 Cor. 5.14 15. For the love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead And that he died for all that they which live should not live to themselves but to him that dyed for them 6. Called and justified Believers have blessed sight of Jesus Christ that wonderfully take their hearts they have glimpses of the beauty of his Holiness and would therefore be made like unto him 1 Joh. 3.2 3. They would obey the Will of the Father as Jesus Christ did They would be holy and righteous and wise and patient and Heavenly as Jesus Christ was 7. Believers in the way of their Duty and Obedience have blessed fellowship and communion with God Saith God of his Ordinances Exod. 25.22 There will I meet thee and commune with thee And Exod. 20.24 In all places where I record my Name there will I come unto thee and bless thee They are everlasting Promises to all the ways of obedience wherein the people of God do walk before him in They pray they read hear they partake of the Supper in Christs way and there they have life and blessing to their Soules and many a sweet intimation of love and mercy they have whispered into them they set themselves to walk with God in his fear and counsel and God walks with them and their lives if they keep close to God are sweet and comfortable to them And this is even as much to them as if they were thereby justifyed They would not miss the sweetness they meet with in such ways of Duty for all the World 8. By their Sanctification and Obedience their justification is comfortably evidenced to them Rom. 6.16 Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sinne unto Death or of obedience unto Righteousness And Ye know that every one that doth righteousness is born of him 1 Ioh. 2.29 We know that we have passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren So that no doubt Believers may come to a sweet and blessed Evidence of their good estate and of their justification by the work of Sanctification in them and their willing obedience to God though a Believer doth not always and at all times fetch in his Evidence of Believing and of comfort this way but sometimes from the Promise and from the more immediate Testimony of the Spirit But though a Believer doth not and it may be cannot always fetch in his consolation and peace from Sanctification and Obedience yet that Soul that wholly neglects it and sleights Evidences from Humiliation Sanctification and Obedience had best timely look to it that the Witness in himself he pretends to be not from imagination of his own heart from the wicked ones delusion and from some overly notions of grace that may affect his heart but leave him on this side Regeneration 9. Believers do
works and there 's no life in them or from them therefore they stand no soul in stead while under the law as under it he is while he goes upon this account 7. The main reason of all which is now but to be touched is this If a soul endeavouring to keep the law of God as well as he can may be accepted of God thereby what need Jesus Christ to have dyed t is Pauls great argument Rom. 8.3 4. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own son in the likenesse of sinfull flesh condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous of the law might be fulfilled in us c. Mark ye what the law could not do that it could not give us a righteousnesse whereby God might accept us therefore God sent his son in the flesh and condemned sinne upon him which otherwise had bin condemned upon the sinner himself Another place to this purpose is Gal. 2. last I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousnesse come by the law then Christ is dead in vain If there were a possibility of a Creatures attaining to such a degree of keeping the law as well as he can that might render him accepted with God and procure pardon wherein he failed then the dying of Jesus Christ was in vain to no purpose at all Take heed you that are outwardly righteous that you do not frustrate the grace of God and the death of Jesus Christ for ever to your own souls by thinking you indeavour to keep Gods law as well as you can and make some conscience of it and there fix your hope wholly or in part and so be undone for ever Another place in the same Epistle Gal. 4.4 5. speakes out the same truth But when the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law To redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons What need Jesus Christ to have dyed to redeem the elect from under the law if they had bin able to reach forth to such a keeping of it that God might be well pleased with and with them in it Now Jesus Christs being made under the law implyes these things which I now but hint forth 1. His being under the punishment of the law which was due to such as were under it what ever the law pronounced to the transgressours of it Jesus Christ in effect did undergo it See Gal. 3. Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the law being made a curse for us If good prayers making a conscience in dealing outward sobriety harming no body giving of Almes to poor people could have taken away the curse did the wise and blessed God do well in giving out his Son to be made a curse were prayers righteousnesse good deeds made a Curse They will be indeed in another sense if thou thinkest to be accepted by them 2. Jesus Christ being made under the Law was to satisfie Gods offending justice for the breach of the Law for such as shall be saved to make atonement for God Rom. 5.11 If now all that thou hast done or shalt ever do could make the least satisfaction or atonement to God in thy good keeping the Commandements as well as thou canst as hath been shew'd God might have kept his Son in Heaven and not sent him to make atonement for any sinners 3. To reconcile sinners unto God Rom. 5.10 When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son c. If reconciliation to God can be had no other way but by the death of Jesus Christ will thy good endeavours for the time to come to keep the Law of God as well as thou canst and take up from a loose course will those I say reconcile thee to God See poor creature how little need thou thinkest thou hast of Jesus Christ and what a mere notion a Saviour is to thee when it comes to the tryal 4. Jesus Christ dyed to purchase righteousnesse for all that shall be saved Now if thou couldst come up to such a degree of being righteous by thy fair and good carriage as thou thinkest to God and man this purchase of Jesus Christ was to little purpose Rom. 10.4 Christ is the end of the law for righteousnesse to every one that believeth Now see mistaken soul how thy hope to please God well enough and make him amends for thy sin by thy good endeavours to serve him in his law as well as thou mayst makes void the whole designe of God in the glorious gift of his eternall Son as much as in thee lyeth and robs him of the glory of his grace and makes thy salvation if it might be had in such a way not of grace but of debt Rom. 4.4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of debt but of grace And thus thou in effect becomest thy own Saviour Yet bear with me a little further because a sinner can never be too thoroughly convinced of this matter let me shew you some examples in the Scriptures of such that thought as you do and as all men naturally do that they by their honest and conscionable endeavour to worship God and harm no body they should be saved and yet were found light in the balance The first is that Pharisee Luke 18.11 He thanks God he was not as other men are Extortioners Unjust Aduterers c. Here was hope for his acceptance with God He was not so bad as others as many riotous profane persons were not unjust in his dealings no Adulterer And should any one question his Salvation and going to Heaven Enough for great sinners to misse of Heaven and not such as he was reputed a good and honest man in his Country and amongst his neighbours well thought of by most And yet for all this confidence and security a great sinner was accepted before him and he not justified in the sight of God though he was in his own sight and the sight of others See another Mat. 19.20 which place hath bin at large opened to you There came a young man a man of parts a Ruler with the same confidence to reason with Jesus Christ about his condition The man conceived he wanted nothing that a man should have or do for Heaven All these things saith he I have kept from my youth up meaning specially the second Table of the Law which Christ gave out not as thereby to put him upon the law but to find him out and discover him under the law When Iesus Christ searcheth the mans heart and finds him under the power of the love of the world as a reigning soul-damning sin for all his outward blamelesnesse and so to discover his heart to himself puts him upon tryall of self-denyall Away the man packs as mute as a fish and would hear no more as worldlings now of such doctrine unlesse he