of heaven gates to unlock them this is a sign of Gods great favour to you when he graciously heares and grants your suits it s a sure sign of an upright heart hating all sin Psalm 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me verse 19. But verily God hath heard me therefore he might safely conclude he regarded not iniquity in his heart friends will say to one another you shall prevail with me sooner than others shall I will do more for you than for others doubtless its a sign you are good friends when you find good hearing and granting your prayers so our Saviour cals them friends Iohn 15.14 15. 2. You shall abide in the love of God Iohn 15.10 If ye keep my commandements ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Fathers commdements and abide in his love what greater happiness can you desire in this world you need not fear the malice and fury of devils and wicked men you need not fear famine sword pestilence poverty nor death it self whilest you abide in the love of God his loving kindness will be better to you than life for in his love is life yea it is better than wine his love will make every thing work together for your good it will sweeten crosses and want to you what if you loose your outward estate your liberty your favour with the world yea your bodily life for Christ yet your continuing in Gods love will make amends for all it will repair your losses renew your comforts establish your hearts in grace and promote you to glory you cannot be in a better condition than to abide in the love of God 3. Christ will present you glorious to God Ephes 5.26 27. That he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish as if he had said that he might sanctifie and cleanse it by his holy Spirit working in us by his Word and by his Sacrament of baptisme as the meanes thereof that he might present it to himself a glorious Church c. Christ presents his Church to God at three several times The first time was when he was upon the cross 1 Peter 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree c. for he died for all the elect and the Lord said upon him the iniquities of them all the merit of his bloud then shed and the power of his death extends to all the elect from the beginning of the world to the end of it and God looks upon them washt with that bloud and reconciled to himself by his death The second time is from his death to the end of the world now he is interceding in heaven Rom. 8.34 Who also maketh intercession for us Christ is our intercessour four wayes 1. By appearing for us in the sight of God Hebr. 9.24 he is gone before us to prepare a place for us John 14.2 and Hebr. 6.20 Whether the fore-runner is for us entred even Jesus c. 2. By the force of his sacrifice once offered to make full satisfaction to Gods justice Hebr. 10 12 14. Christ presents his merits as a publick satisfaction for the debt of sin and as a publike price for the purchase of glory for the justice of God was not to be intreated or pacified without a satisfaction and therefore where Christ is called an Advocate he is called a propitiation too 1 Iohn 2.1 2. because he intercedes for us in the right and vertue of the price which he payed for the Lord spared not his Son Rom. 8.32 but dealt in the full rigour of his justice with him 3. By his constant will that for the merit of that sacrifice God would be pacified to wards the elect Hebr. 10.10 Iohn 17.24 4. By the assent and agreement of the Father resting in this will of his Son for us Iohn 11.42 Math. 17.5 The third time is at the day of judgement when he will say Behold I and the children which thou hast given me then the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord then Christ will say to his true Members Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world then shall true Christians have boldness in the day of judgement 1 Iohn 4.17 because as he is so are we in this world that is our hearts tell us that we desire to be every way conformable to his will labouring towards that holiness and perfection which it in him we are as Christ was in this world when by the mortification of our sins we represent Christ dying for us and by true brotherly love we come as neer to him as we can 3. I told you in the third place that Christ washeth us with his precious bloud This Use still serves to comfort all that be so washed these blessed priviledges belong to you First it s a sure sign that Jesus Christ hath loved you Revel 1.5 Vnto him that hath loved us and washed us in his own bloud If he had not loved thee he would not have washt thee this is thy great honour and comfort to be beloved of him it is a true proverb he is rich whom God loves and poor who God hates the love of Christ is better than wine it s the ground of all other comforts thou needest not fear the malice of devils and wicked men for the love of Christ can do more for thee than their malice can do against thee devils are mighty wicked men are mighty and sinnes are mighty but Christ is Almighty for he is God over all blessed for ever neither can any thing separate thee from his love Romans 8. last 2. A second priviledge is thou art a spiritual King and a Priest Revel 1.6 And hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father that is as he redeemed us by his bloud so he hath regenerated us by his Spirit 1 Iohn 5.6 and made us Kings to rule over the devil the world and the flesh and priests to offer up to God the personal sacrifice of our selves Rom. 12.1 the verbal sacrifice of praise and reall sacrifice of almes Hebr. 13.15 16. what though thy outward estate be mean and low thou art nothing set by yet thou art honourable because thou art precious in Gods sight Eccles 10.7 I have seen servants upon horses and Princes walking as servants upon the earth yet they are Princes still for the righteous though he be low and contemned is better than his rich neighbour that is wicked and leud though the world look upon thee with scorn and hatred yet God and his glorious
not we have no part with him 1 Corinth 6.10 11. Nor theeves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God and such were some of you but ye are washed c. implying that such wicked persons for want of this washing are like to be damned Reas Because no filthy unclean thing can come into heaven for God is of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on iniquity now such as be not washt with Christs bloud are very filthy heaven is a place of infinite purity and holiness on earth unclean persons are suffered to dwell but into heaven they shall never enter 2. Because if Christ wash us not we have no peace with God for all true peace with God ariseth from Christ his washing us Rom. 5.1 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Justification is Gods gratious sentence whereby for Christ apprehended by faith he absolves a beleiver from sin and death and reputes him just to life for in justification Christs bloud by its merit washeth away sin which provokes God to anger but when that is removed we have peace with God but such as have no peace with God are never like to have part with Christ 3. Because if he wash us not we shall never enjoy the precious benefits of his death resurrection ascention and intercession Ephes 5.25 26. As Christ loved the Church and gave himself viz. to death for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that is by baptismal water and his word taught for whom he washeth they enjoy the spiritual benefit of his death resurrection c. and as Paul proves at large Rom. 6.3 4 5 6. Colos 3.1 2. yea this washing is a sure sign of his love to us Revel 1.5 unto him who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own bloud but such as have no right to the death resurrection ascention and intercession of Christ cannot be saved Next I shall teach you how to use this point The Uses I shall draw out of those five wayes mentioned whereby Christ washeth us Vse I told you that Christ washeth us by the Sacrament of Baptisme This Use still serves to reprove all such as were never washt inwardly as never felt the spiritual fruit of baptisme in their hearts and lives they content themselves with the bare outward washing and would be accounted Christians but no life of Christ appears in their lives such as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ Galat. 3.27 but these never put on Christ they go to hell with a Trumpet before them proclaiming their leudness openly they declare their sin as Sodom they hide it not they have not crucified their old man nor destroyed the body of sin neither do they walk in newness of life Simon Magus was baptized yet was in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity so are these they shew themselves to be servants of sin and their end is like to be according to their works 2. I told you in the second place that Christ washeth us by his sacred word This Use still serves to reprove such as never felt the lively vertue and working power of the Word upon their own soule the Word preached to them was like water poured upon a Rock God would have purged but they would not be purged therefore they shall not be purged any more till he cause his fury to rest upon them the Word they heard did not profit them because they did not beleive it it seemed as a fable to them had they regarded it they would have reformed their lives by it more than they did but they are so wedded to their wicked wayes that Gods Word hath no place in them but they are like a Smiths Anvil more hardened by many blowes so be they by frequent preaching they please themselves in that they can sometimes weep under a cross but stone wals can sweat against rain and yet be hard within so are their hearts as hard and their lives as wicked as any heathen Christ may say to them as he did to Jerusalem Jerem. 13.27 Woe to thee wilt thou not be made clean when shall it once be Object But many such will say They hope to do as well as the best for God is mercifull Answ Will ye live in swearing whoredome drunkenness sabbath-breaking contempts of godliness blaspheming Gods people lying and deceit and yet say you hope for mercy are these the wayes to find mercy with God if you look no better about you then thus but live and die in these sins you are as sure to damned as you are to die John 8 24. there Christ threatned the Pharisees that they should die in their sins which is the most fearful kind of death that can be we account hanging a dogs death pining a most painful death or to die in a stinking dungeon a miserable death and so they be yet one may die any of these wayes and his soul be saved but they that die in their sins cannot be saved for they die out of Gods favour they die enemies to God 3. I told you in the third place that Christ washeth us with the merit of his precious bloud This Use still serves to reprove such as never seek to have themselves washt with it but still lie under the guilt of sin they content themselves with a little overly knowledge of Christ and with a bare historical faith but they never apply Christs merits to their soules for justification their consciences are extreamly defiled they are more full of filthy lusts than a Serpent is of poyson the Papists teach that a Christiā may merit heaven by good works so they offer horrible indignity to Christ precious merits and many carnal Protestants follow them thinking they can addle heaven by their good deeds and good meaning but all this while they endeavour not to be found in Christ that they may be clothed with his righteousness at their death and at the end of the world they will find their sins the heaviest burthen they ever bare and then for ever will they be ashamed of their ugly lusts and filthy sins which were never washt away with Christs bloud 4. I told you in the fourth place that Christ washeth us with the saving graces of his holy Spirit This Use still serves to reprove such as were never thus washed too many loose and prophane people who have not so much as a form of godliness these hate and deride holiness they beleive not those places Psalm 9.17 The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the Nations that forget God Hebr. 12.14 Without holiness no man shall see the Lord but they shall find these places true when they find these judgements threatned executed upon them too many be there who rest in bare civil honesty and in some outward form of holiness but are as dead in sins
and trespasses as the other sort be if there were as many people upon earth naturally dead as there be spiritually dead it would be very sad fearful and doleful you may hear them wish for grace but they take no paines for it their hearts rise against such as are gracious when they be in health though in sickness they desire to die the death of the righteous it s very sad to see how long many have lived graceless under excellent meanes of grace if a man fall into a swound and we pour Aqua vitae into him we rub him and use meanes to recover him but we perceive in him no heat sense nor motion we conclude he is dead the like we may say of very many who have been long rubb'd and stirred by powerful preaching but there appears in them no motion towards holiness no warmth of love to Christ and his image no sense of grace but coldness in their hearts and lives doubtless these men are dead having no life of God in them 5. I told you in the fift place that Christ washeth us by gentle corrections and trials sanctified to us This Use still serves to reprove such as be nothing bettered by afflictions many crosses hath God laid upon them to humble and reform them but they like wicked King Ahaz sin more in their affliction 2 Chron. 28.22 Jerem. 5.3 he complains of the Jews for their perverseness O Lord are not thine eyes upon the truth thou hast stricken them but they have not greived thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive correction they have made their faces harder than a rock they have refused to return In Amos the fourth chapter God by him complained of the Jewes how he had many wayes afflicted them Yet ye have not returned unto me saith the Lord To many plunge themselves deeper into wickedness when Gods hand is upon them they are incorrigible and grow more obstinate proud prophane worldly minded and malitious against the truth to such lesser crosses will prove the beginning of sorrows thou canst complain of bitter troubles and smarting miseries thou hast suffered but what change have they wrought in thy heart and life have they made thee more fearful to offend God and more studious and careful to please him then thou art in a blessed condition if it be so but if thou beest more hardened in sin by afflictions then know to thy terrour that the worst is behind Hosea 5.12 God threatens to be unto Ephraim as a moth and to the house of Judah as rottenness that is he would try them with lesser afflictions and wast them by degrees but if those did them no good he threatens verse 14. For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion and as a young lion to the house of Judah I even I will tear and go away I will take away and none shall rescue him that is he would come with more fearfull and terrible judgements to destroy them forbearance is no forgiveness though God have leadē heels yet he hath iron hands easie warnings neglected ever end in destruction you that have been oftentimes crusht and prest with heavy crosses yet you are nothing better but wax worse and worse your judgement lingers not your damnation slumbers not Vse 2. For comfort I told you in the first place that Christ washeth us with the Sacrament of Baptisme This Use serves for singular consolation to all that be thus washed you are happy and have cause to rejoyce for 1. First you were baptized into Christ his death Rom. 6.3 4. you are buried with Christ by baptisme into death your old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth you should not serve sin now his death will destroy your corruptions as Irish earth kils venomeous creatures applied to it sin may dwell in you but it shall not have dominion over you it troubles you like a tyrant but it shall never be laid to your charge you by faith applying Christs death to your soules shall find your corruptions weaker and your hearts rising against them as Davids house waxed stronger and Sauls house weaker so shall grace grow stronger and sin weaker in you 2. You are planted together with Christ in the likeness of his resurrection that ye may walk in newness of life you live above others in a farre more excellent way than they do blessed are you that ever you were born but chiefly that you were born again you are more excellent than your carnal neighbours you are such of whom the world is not worthy you are precious in the eyes of Jehovah and he will honour you for ever your life is gracious and your death shall be glorious 3. You shall have the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 3.21 The like figure whereunto even baptisme doth also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience c. Here Peter hath respect to that custome which was used in the baptisme of those who were of age the person baptizing asked the person to be baptized Whether he beleived and he answered I beleive c. hence by the answer of a good conscience we may understand that unfained faith whereof they made confession at their baptisme and whereby their consciences were purified and whereby they received remission of their sinnes testified by Christs resurrection from the dead also we may understand that covenant whereinto they entred at their baptisme the embracing whereof they testified by their unfained confession of their faith this benefit you shall receive by baptisme by applying unto your soules the power of Christs resurrection your consciences shall be both quieted and assured of pardon and favour and is thereupon enabled to treat for and expect mercy from God and reconciliation with him and so the faithful soul in the confidence hereof boldly questioneth with God about his favour reconciled unto him by Christs death and testified by his resurrection saying hath not Christ reconciled thy favour unto us by his death to endure for ever certainly it is so for his resurrection doth testifie it seeing that unless he had made a perfect expiation of our sins by his death and reconciled thy favour unto us he could not have risen again to life and heavenly glory 2. I told you in the second place that Christ washeth us with his sacred Word This Use still serves to comfort all such as are washed it by these benefits thou shalt enjoy by it 1. You shall ask what you will if it be according to Gods will and for his glory and it shall be done unto you John 15.7 which is an high priviledge prayer is the wing of the soul wherewith it flies up to heaven to Christ it peirceth the clouds it is a corner of heaven to a gracious soul it hath a kind of omnipotency in it it is the key