him to them gave he Power to become the Sonnes of God even to them that believe in his Name Joh. 1. 12. This is the wonderfull Love that the Father hath bestowed on those that were his Enemies that they should not only be reconciled to him by the death of his Sonne but also be called the Sonnes of God Rom 5. 10. 1 Joh. 3. 1. For he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be Holy and without blame before him in love having predestiuated us to the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his Will to the praise of the Glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved Ephes. 1. 4 5. 6. O what an unspeakable Mercy is it to have the blessed God whom we had so oft offended to become our Reconciled Father in Christ. For it is not an empty title that he assumeth but he hath more abundant love to us and tenderness of our welfare then any title can make us understand 5. And hereupon it doth immediatly follow that we have a right to the blessed Inheritance of his Sonnes and are certain Heirs of his Heavenly Kingdom Col. 1. 12. For if Sonnes then Heirs Heirs of God and Joint Heirs with Christ Rom. 8. 17. Being saved by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost and justified by Grace through Christ we are made Heirs according to the hope of Eternal Life Tit. 3. 5 6 7. Being begotten againe to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. 6. With all the Holy Ghost is given to us not only to close us at first with Christ but to take up his abode in us as his temples and to be the Agent and Life of Christ within us and to do his work and maintain his Interest and clense us of all filthiness of flesh and Spirit and Sanctifie us throughout and to strive against and conquer the flesh and to keep us by Divine Power through Faith unto Salvation 1 Cor. 6. 19. Gal. 5. 17 22. 2 Cor. 6. 1. 1 Pet. 1. 5. For because we are Sonnes God seudeth forth the Spirit of his Sonne into our hearts whereby we cry Abba Father Gal. 4. 6. This Spirit of Adopton which we receive doth bear witness with our spirits that we are the Sonnes of God Rom. 8. 15 16. For if any man have not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8. 9. By this Spirit is the spirit of the world cast out of us the spirit of pride and of blindness and of delusion and hard-heartedness and of sensuality and malice and hypocrisie are cast out By this is Gods Image imprinted on our Souls we are conformed to his blessed Will we are made partakers of the Divine Nature being Holy as God is Holy Col. 3. 10. 2 Pet. 1. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 16. Hereby we are delivered from the thraldom of sinne and the slavery of the Devil and the seduction of the world and our treacherous Flesh. Hereby also we are fitted for the Service of God to which before we were undisposed and unfit O what an ease is it to the Soul to be free from so much of the burden of sinne What an honour is it to have the Spirit of God within us and to have a Nature so truly Heavenly and Divine How can it go ill with him that hath God dwelling in him and that dwells in God 1 Joh. 4. 15. 7. Another of our precious benefits by Christ is that we shall be actually imployed in the special and neerest Service of God that on Earth is to be performed Let diseased Souls desire idlenes and swinish sinners take pleasure in the mire and feed like ravenous beasts on carrion or as dogs on dung but the Saints will ever rejoice in God and take it for the most blessed life on Earth when they can but do him the greatest Service Let his Enemies that hate his Service be weary of it as if it were a toile or drudgery but his Children will desire no sweeter work They never think themselves so well as when they are most serviceable to their blessed Lord though at the greatest cost and labour to the flesh So sweet is Gods Service that the more of it we can do the more is our pleasure and honour and content Other work spendeth strength but this increaseth it Other work must have râ—creation intermixt but this is it self the most delightfull recreation Other service is undertaken for the love of the wages but this is undertaken for the Love of the Master and the work and is wages it self to them that go through with it For other service is but a means and that to some inferior end but this is a means to the Everlasting perfection and blessedness of the Soul and such a means as containeth or Presently procureth somewhat of the end All the Saints are even here a chosen Generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People that they should shew forth the praises of him that hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light They are an holy Priesthood to offer up a Spiritual Sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2. 5 9. Their very bodies are a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable to God in their reasonable service What a sweet work is it to live in the daily Love of God in his Praises in the hopes and sweet fore-thoughts of Everlasting Joyes The world affordeth not such a Master nor such a work 8. Another of the precious benefits by Christ is The liberty of accesse in all our wants to God by Prayer with a promise to be heard The flaming sword did keep the way to the tree of life till Christ had taken it down and consecrated for us a new and living way through the Vaile which is his flesh and now we have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus and therefore may draw neer with a true heart in full assurance of Faith Heb. 10. 19 20 22. When worldlings may cry to their Baal in vaine the Righteous cry and the Lord heareth them and delivereth them out of all their hurtfull troubles O what a Mercy is it in our falls in our distresses in our dangers in our wants to have a God a faithfull mercifull Father to go to and make our moane to for relief What a Mercy is it when our flesh and our hearts do faile us when friends and worldly things all fail us to have God for the Rock of our hearts and our Portion Psal. 73. 26. When sickness begins to break these bodies and earthly delights do all forsake us and death calls us to come to our endless state then to have a Reconciled Father to go to and crave his ayd upon
your Cross and follow him You must be hated of all men for his sake and the Gospels and you must prepare for prison and fire and sword There 's no hope of being saved while you purpose to save your pleasures riches liberties or lives Matth. 16. 25. Marke 8. 35. Luke 9. 24. And will a man that is unresolved forsake his friends estate and life for the sake of Christ and the hopes of Glory He cannot do it I know that a carnal ungrounded Resolution may decive a man in the day of tryal when the self-suspecting fearfull Christian may hold out But yet without a humble self-denying Resolution joyned with an adherence to Christ for strength there 's no man will hold out If thou be a wavering minded man thou wilt be unstedfast in all thy waies Jam. 1. 8. If thou be not Resolved the words of a mans mouth will turn thee out of the way the very mocks and scorns of a drunkard or a fool that hath no understanding in the matters of Salvation will make thee shrink and hide thy profession and be ashamed of Christ in whom alone thou hast cause to Glory If thou be not a Resolved man what better can be expected but that thou turn as the weather-cock with every wind and fit thy Religion to thy worldly ends and as another Judas sell thy Lord for a little money If thou fall not away it will be but for want of a tryal to procure it and therefore in Gods account thou art gone already because thy Resolution was never with him When you turn to God there will remain within you the remnants of your corruption a body of death a rebelling flesh and this will be still tempting you and drawing you from God And O how strong do these temptations seem to the Soul that is unresolved Yea without a firm habituate Resolution it is impossible to overcome them Your whole way to Heaven is a continual warfare You have enemies that will dispute every foot of the way with you There 's no going a step forward but as the ship doth in the Sea by cutting its way through the waves and billows and as the plow doth in the earth by cutting through the resisting soil There is self which is your principal enemy and there is Satan and the world and almost all that you meet with in it will prove your hinderers And you must make your way by valour and Holy Violence through all And will an unresolved man do this You will scarce ever how your knee to God in secret prayer nor set your selves upon serious Meditations but the flesh and the Devil will be drawing you off You will never attempt a faithfull reproof a liberal work of Charity a hazardous confession of Christ or any dangerous or costly duty but the flesh and the Devil will plead against it and put you to it And in these and many such cases of your lives you will never break through nor do any good on it without Resolution Do I need to tell you how hard the way of Salvation is that fly from it on mistake because you think it harder then it is Do I need to tell you how false you will prove to Christ if you have not Resolution that know it by your ordinary miserable experience that a poor temptation will make you sinne against your knowledg How many good wishes and purposes have you had already in sickness or at a lively Sermon that are all come to nothing for want of a firm Habituate Resolution What abundance of time-servers and of chaffie professours are lately fallen off to the way of rising and riches in the world or to the pride and giddy levity of dividers that oppose the Truth of God and their Teachers and trouble the Church and all because they were never well rooted by a sound Resolution They that take Christ but upon liking do usually mislike him when he calls them to self-denial For they had never that connatural principle that should effectually dispose their Souls to like him nor had they ever the inward experiences of power and sweetness which are proper to the sincere and should increase their liking of him Either Resolve therefore or stand by and perish 10. I beseech you consider also what abundance of clear undeniable Reasons doth God give in to thee to turn the Scales and cause thee to Resolve He fetcheth Reasons from his own Dominion and Soveraignty Should not a creature obey the Lord that made him He reasoneth with you from his daily preservations Do you live upon him and should you not obey him He reasoneth with you from his Almightiness You are all at his Mercy and wholly in his hands and yet dare you disobey him He reasoneth with you from his Love and Goodness Never did evil come from him nor did he ever do any wrong Never was there man or Angel that was a loser by him it is not possible to have so good a master and yet will you not obey him He fetcheth reasons from all his Mercies Every bit of bread is from him and should be an Argument with thee to obey him Every daies health and strength and comforts and every nights rest and ease thy Mercies at home and thy Mercies abroad in private and in publike all should be so many Arguments with thee to Resolve You cannot look upon a plant or a flower under your feet upon the Sun or a Starre that 's over your heads or upon any creature but you may see so many Reasons that should move you to Resolve If all these will not serve he fetcheth yet stronger Reasons from the Incarnation example and blood of the Sonne of God Canst thou look on God incarnate for sinne combating with Satan and conquering for thee and dying and bleeding and buried for thy sinne and yet be unresolved to leave that sinne and turn to him that hath bought thee by his blood If all this will not serve he Reasoneth with thee from thy own benefit If thou care not for God dost thou care for thy self Dost thou regard thy own Soul If thou do it 's high time to Resolve He reasoneth with thee from Everlasting Glory Is a certain Kingdom an Everlasting glorious Kingdom nothing to thee Art thou content to be thrust out of that Eternal Inheritance Is the filthy pleasure of the flesh for a few hours better then the endless joys of the Saints He pleads also with thee from the danger that thou art near Poor Soul thou little seest what others see that are dead before thee Thou little knowest what they feel that died before they were Resolv'd for God He fetcheth his Reasons from the certaine everlasting flames of Hell and is there not force enough in these for to Resolve thee Good Lord what a thing is a senseless sinner Dost thou believe Heaven and Hell as thou takest on thee to do If thou do believe them is it possible for thee believingly to think of
the Gout or Sâ—one or other disease and he forbid him wine or strong drink or such meats as he desireth as long as he feeles himself at ease he will be venturing on them and will not be curbed by the words of the Physion But when the fit is on him and he feels the torment then he will be ruled Pain will teach him more effectually then words could do When he feeleth what is hurtfull to him and feeleth that it alway makes him sick it will restraine him more then hearing of it could do So when Humiliation doth break your hearts and make you feel that you are sick of sinne and filleth your Soul with smart and sorrow then you will be the more willing that God should destroy it in you When it lyeth so heavy on you that you are unable to look up and makes you go to God with groanes and teares and cry O Lord be mercifull to me a sinner When you are faine to go to Ministers for ease to your Consciences and fill their eares with accusations of your selves and open even your odious shamefull sinnes then you will be content to let them go Now there is no talking to you of Mortification and the resolute rejecting of your sinnes The Precepts of the Gospel are too strict for you to submit to But a broken heart would change your mindes The healthfull Plow-man saith Give me that which I love these Physicians would bring us all to their Rules that they may get money by us I never mean to follow their directions But when sickness is upon him and he hath tryed all his own skil in vaine and paine giveth him no rest then send for the Physician and then he will do any thing and take any thing whatever he will give him so that he may but he eased and recovered So when your hearts are whole and unhumbled these Preachers and Scriptures are too strict for you You must have that which you love self-conceited precise Ministers must have leave to talk but you will never believe that God is of their mind or will damn men for taking that which they have a mind of O but when these sinnes are as swords in your hearts and you begin to feele what Ministers told you of then you will be of another mind Away then with this sinne There 's nothing so odious so hurtfull so intollerable O that you could be rid of it what ever it cost you Then he will be your best Friend that can tell you how to kill it and be free from it and he that would draw you to it would be as Satan himself to you Matth. 16. 22 23. Gal. 1. 8 9. Humiliation diggeth so deep that it undermineth sinne and the fortress of the Devil and when the foundation is rooted up it will soone be over throwne When the Murderers of Christ were pricked to the heart they 'l then cry out for counsell to the Apostles Acts 2. 37. When a murderer of the Saints is stricken blindfold to the earth and the Spirit withall doth humble his Soul he will then cry out Lord what would'st thou have me to do Acts 9. 6. When a cruel Jaylour that scourged the Servants of Christ is by an Earth-quake brought to a heart-quake he will then cry out What shall I do to be saved Acts 16. 30. And here comes in the usefulness of Afflictions even because they are so great advantages to Humiliation Men will be brought to some Reason by extreamities When they lie a dying a man may talk to them and they will not so proudly fly in his face nor make a scorne of the word of the Lord as in their prosperity they did God will be more regarded when he pleadeth with them with the rod in his hand stripes are the best Logick and Rhetorick for a fool When sinne hath captivated their Reason to their flesh the Arguments to convince them must be such as the flesh is capable of perceiving We may long tell a beast of dangers and discommodities before we can perswade him from that which he loves Sensuality doth brutifie men in too great a measure And so far as they are brutish it is not the clearest Reasons that will prevaile And if God did not maintaine in corrupted man some remnants of free Reason we migh preach to beasts as hopefully as to men But Afflictions tend to weaken the Enemy that doth captivate them as prosperity by accident tends to strengthen him The flesh understandeth the language of the rod better then the language of Reason or of the Word of God And as the sensible part of our Humiliation promoteth Mortification so the rational and voluntary Humiliation which is proper to the Sanctified is a principal part of Mortification it self And thus you may see that it 's necessary that we be throughly humbled that sin may be throughly killed in us 3. Another use of Humiliation is to fit the Soul for a meet entertainment of further Grace and that both for the honour of Christ and Grace and for our own welfare 1. In respect of Christ it is equal that he should dwell in such Souls only as are fit to entertaine him Neither his person nor his business are such as can suit with the unhumbled heart Till Humiliation make a sinner feel his sinne and misery it is not possible that Christ as Christ should be heartily welcome to him or received in that sort as his honour doth expect Who cares for the Physician that feels no sickness and feares not death He may pass by the doores of such a man and he will not call him in But when paine and feares of death are on him â—e will send and seek and bid him welcome Will any man fly to Christ for succour that feeleth not his wants and danger Will they lay hold on him as the only refuge of their Souls and cleave to him as their only hope that feele no great need of him Will they lie at his feet and beg for mercy that feel themselves well enough without him When men do but hear of sinne and misery and superficially believe it they may coldly look after Christ and Grace and feel the worth of the later in such a manner as they feel the weight of the former But never is Christ valued and sought after as Christ till sorrow have taught us how to value him Nor is he entertained in the necessary honour of a Redeemer till Humiliation throw open all the doores No man can seek him with his whole heart that seeks him not with a broken heart And it 's certain that Christ will come on no lower terms into the Soul Though he come to do us good yet he will have the honour of doing it Though he come to heâ—l us and not for any need he hath of us yet he will have the welcome that 's due to a Physician He comes to save us but he will be honoured in our Salvation He inviteth all to the
Creature who was the Subject The Wisdom and Love and Mercy of God would not give way to this that the world should be destroyed so soon after it was made and man left remediless in everlasting Misery Satisfaction therefore must be the Remedy This must be such as might be as fit to procure the Ends of the Law as if the Law it self had been executed that is as if the offendors had all dyed the death that it did threaten It must therefore be a publik Demonstration of Justice and of the odiousness of Sinne to the terrour and warning of sinners for the future And this was done by Jesus Christ when none else in Heaven or Earth could do it For it did as fully demonstrate this Justice of God and preserved his honour and the usefullness of his Law and government that a Person so high and Glorious and so dear to him should suffer so much for sinne as if all the world had suffered for themselves And thus God made him to be sinne for us who knew no sinne 2 Cor. 5. 21. And thus Christ hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Gal. 3. 13. 2. Hereby also God Demonstrated the Holiness of his Nature How much he hateth sinne and how unreconcilable he is to it as light to darkness As the Law and Judgments of God do proceed from his Perfect Nature and Will so do they bear the Image of that perfection and demonstrate it to the world This therefore is the nobler End and work of Christ in our redemption to declare the Holiness and Perfection of God in his Nature and Will though the former the declaring of his Governing Justice be the neerer End If the death of Aarons two sonnes were such a Declaratition that God will be sanctified in all that draw neer him Lev. 10. 2 3 If his Laws and present Judgments do declare him to be a Holy and Jealous God that will not forgive sinne without a valuable consideration or satisfaction Jos. 24. 19. how much more evidently is this declared in the death of Christ If the Bethshemites cry out who is able to stand before this Holy Lord God 1 Sam. 6. 20. Upon the death of 50070 men how much more may the guilty Soul say so when he thinks on the Crucified Sonne of God As it is the End of Gods execution on transgressors that the Lord may be exalted in Judgment and God that is Holy may be Sanctified in Righteousness Isa. 5. 16. So was it his End in the Sacrifice of his Sonne 3. Another End of our Redemption by Christ is the Demonstration of the Infinite Wisdom of God His Wisdom in the preventing the ruin of the late-created world that it might not be said that sin and Satan had frustrated him of the Glory of his Creation and destroyed it almost as soon as he had made it Yea in getting an advantage by the malice of his enemies for the more admirable attainment of the Ends of his Law and the Glorifying of all his Governing Attributes He would not have made man a free Agent and left him in the hand of his own will and suffered him to sinne if his Wisdom had not known how to secure his own Intrest and Honour to the full And so also in the oeconomy and admirable frame of his Gracious Sapiential Government by Christ the manifold Wisdom of God doth shine forth Ephes. 3. 9 10. As the wonderfull structure of Heaven and Earth and every part of this Natural frame doth gloriously reveale the Wisdom of the Creator so the wonderfull Contrivance of our Redemption by Christ and the Reparation of the world by him and the Moral frame of this Evangelical dispensation doth wonderfully demonstrate the Wisdom of the Redeemer And as the observation of our Natures may give us Cause to say with David Psal. 139. 14. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made So the observation of our new Natures and condition may well cause us to say I will praise thee for I am graciously and wonderfully Redeemed marvelous are thy Works and that my Soul knoweth right well As Nature may teach us to admire the frame of Nature so Grace will teach us to admire the frame of Grace and to see the beauty of its several parts and much more of the whole where all the parts are orderly composed 4. Yea the very Power of God is demonstrated in Christ. And therefore he is called 1 Cor. 1. 24. The Power of God and the Wisdom of God not only formally because Christ himself is the Wise and Powerfull God nor only Efficiently because God doth exercise his Power and Wisdom by his Sonne in Creation Redemption and Government but also Effectually and Objectively as Christ is the great and most admirable Demonstration of the Power and Wisdom of God in the world What work transcendeth the incomprehensible Miracle of the Incarnation That God should assume the Nature of man into personal Union The Creation of the Sunne is no greater a work of Power then the Incarnation and sending of the Sonne of God the Intellectual Sunne the Light of the world That living Light that lightneth every one that cometh into the world though yet the darkness comprehendeth not his light Joh. 1. 4 6 9. What was he but the living visable Power of God when he healed all diseases cast out Devils raised the dead and rose from the dead himself and ascended into Glory and sent down the Holy Spirit on his Church enduing them with Power from on high Acts 1. 8. Luke 24. 49. when he was on Earth he was Anointed with the Holy Ghost and with Power and went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil Acts 10. 38. Being dead he was declared to be the Sonne of God with Power by the Resurrection from the dead Rom. 1. 4. When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive Eph. 4. 8. Yea he filled his servants with power Act. 6. 8. Even such as was admired and desired by the ungodly Act. 8. 19. He being the brightness of Gods Glory and the express Image of his Person and upholding all things by the Word of his Power when he had by himself purged our sinnes he sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high being made so much better then the Angels as he hath by Inheritance obtained a more excellent Name then they Heb. 1. 3 4. As Christ therefore in his glorified Humanity united to the Godhead is far more excellent then the Angels of God and more glorious then the Sunne so is the Power of God more abundantly demonstrated in him than in the Sunne or the Angels or any other Creature The Illuminated do know this and what is the exceeding greatness of his Power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at
of that And therefore no wonder if the Redeemer be neglected and God denied the honour of the work So much of this second point the Reasons and Ends of Christ's undertaking I shall purposely be shorter on the rest 3. The third point to be understood concerning our Redeemer is What he hath done and suffered for mankind and wherein his Redeeming work consisted both as to the General and the special part Should I stand on these at large I must needs be voluminous and therefore I shall but briefly reciet them for your remembrance I. The first thing that Christ did for the saving of the world was his Interposing between offending man and the wrath of God and so preserving the world from the destruction which the execution of the violated Law would have procured Undertaking then to become the Seed of the woman and so to break the Serpents head and revealing this Grace by slow degrees till the time of his coming And then when the fullness of time was come he was made man being conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary and so the Word was made flesh and dwelt among men who beheld his Glory as the Glory of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1. 14. Thus God was manifested to men in the flesh 1 Tim. 3. 16. 3. And as he was perfectly Holy in his Nature without any stain or guilt of Original sinne so was he perfectly Holy in his Life and never broke the least Command of God in thought word or deed Never could any convince him of sinne Joh. 8. 46. He fulfilled the Law of Nature which all the world was under and the Mosaical Law which the Jews were under and the special Law that was given to himself as Mediator and was common to no other Creature in the world And thus he performed these excellent works I. By the fullfilling of all Righteousness he pleased the Father alwaies accomplishing his Will and so did much of the work of a Saviour in Meriting for for us Matth. 3. 15. 5. 17. Joh. 8. 29. Matth. 12. 18. 17. 5. Rom. 5. 19. For such an High-priest became us who is Holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7. 26. 2. He hath conquered the Tempter that conquered us And therefore did he purposely yield himself to such sore temptations Matth. 4. That his Victory might be glorious and the Second Adam might overcome him that had overcome the first And thus he hath done much to the rescue of the Captivated 3. Hereby also he hath overcome the world which overcame the first Adam and his posterity He trampled upon its seeming glory he neglected and despised its baits and allurements he went through all its cruel persecutions and oppositions So that the world now as well as the Devil are conquered things By which he hath made way for the Victory of his followers and given them ground of great encouragment Joh. 16. 33. Be of good cheer I have overcome the world Yea I may say in a sort he hath overcome the flesh also For though Christ had no corrupt flesh as we have to contend with yet had he a natural and sensitive appetite which the Command of God did forbid him to fulfill And therefore when innocent Nature diâ—â—red that the Cup might pass from him and abhor death by a simple Aversness yet perfect Holiness permitted not this to proceed to a Refusal by the comparing Intellect and Choosing or Refusing Will but saith Not my will but thine be done And when Christ was hungry and weary the desire of food and rest by the sensitive appetite was no sinne But when the Work of God forbad the fullfilling of such desires he still denyed them 4. Hereby also he hath set us a perfect copy and patern of obedience and is become our Example whom we must endeavour to imitate For he knew that it is the most effectual teaching to do it by words and deeds together It is a great help to us when we do not only heare his voice but see also which way he hath gone before us When he saith Learn of me he directs us not only to his words but to himself who was meeke and lowly Matth. 11. 28. 5. Moreover Christ received of the Father fullness of the Spirit and Power for the benefit of the Redeemed that he might be meet to be the Head and the Treasury of the Church and to shower down the streams of Grace upon his Members and when all Power was given him in Heaven and Earth he might be fitted to the following application of his benefits and to rule and support and defend his people 6. Moreover he was pleased himself to become a Preacher of the Gospel of Salvation not to all the world but principally as a Minister of the Circumcision that is the Jews Rom. 15. 8. He that purchased Salvation condescended also to proclaime it The preaching of the Gospel is a work that Christ thought not himself too good for Sometimes to many sometimes to one or two as he had opportunity often with tears and alwaies with earnestness and compassion did he go about doing good and seeking the lost and healing the diseased and calling men to Faith and Repentance and offering them the Grace and Life which he purchased 7. And he was pleased also to seale up his Doctrine by his Works casting out Devils healing all diseases raising the the dead and working divers other Miracles to assure them that he came from God and did his Work and revealed his Will that so the world might have no excuse for their unbelife but that they that would not believe upon any other account might yet believe him for the sake of his works Joh. 3. 2. Acts 2. 22. Heb. 2. 4. Joh. 5. 36. 10. 25 38. 14. 11 12. 15. 24. 8. Besides all this he gave up himself to a life of suffering being despised by his Creatures whom he came to Redeeme and destitute voluntarily of fleshly pleasures and of that riches and worldly provision that might procure it He was a man of sorrows afflicted from his youth persecuted from the Cradle he gave his Cheeks to the smiters and his Person to be made the scorn of fools He was crowned with thornes spit upon and buffited and having sweat water and blood in his Agonie in the garden he was hanged on a Cross where thieves were both his companions and revilers where they gave him gall and vineger to drink pierced his blessed Body with a spear and put him to a shamfull cursed death But he endured the Cross despising the shame and gave up himself thus a Sacrifice for sinne and bore our transgressions that we might be healed by his stripes and having ransomed us by his Blood he was buried as an offender continuing for a time in the Power of the grave Isa. 53. throughout Matth. 26 27. Heb. 12. 2. All this he consented to undergo
the encouragment of a promise and recommend our Souls into his hand as to a faithfull Creator and our surest deerest friend this is a Mercy that no man can well value till they come to use it To know every day that as oft as ever we come to God we are alwaies welcome and that our persons and prayers are pleasing to him through his Sonne what a Mercy is it One would think we should live joyfully if we had but one such promise as this for Faith to live upon Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Psal. 50. 15. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Sonne Joh. 14. 13 14. No wonder if they be rich that have so free access to such a treasure and if they be safe that have access to so sure a help For God is a very present help in trouble Psal. 46. 1. 9 Another precious benefit is that we have Peace of Conscience or ground for it at the least in our Peace with God and so may come to assurance of Salvation and may partake of the Joy in the Holy Ghost For in this Peace and Joy the Kingdom of God doth much consist When the chief cause of all our fear and sorrow is done away what then is left to break our Peace When we have no cause to fear the flames of Hell nor the sting of death or the appearance of our Judge any further then to move us to make ready what then should greatly trouble the Soul If God and Heaven be not matter of comfort I know not what is If we saw a man that had got many Kingdoms to be still sad and dumpish because he had no more we would say he were very ambitious or covetuous And yet he might have reason for it But if you have the Love of God and a title by promise to the Heavenly Inheritance and yet you are discontented and God and Glory is not enough for you this is most unreasonable 10. Another of our precious benefits by Christ is Our Spiritual Communion with his Church and holy members We do not only joyne with them in outward Communion but we unite our desires and there is an harmony of affections We are in the maine of one Mind and Will and Way and we joyntly constitute the Body of our Lord We are come unto Mount Zion and unto the City of the Living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Câ—venant Heb. 12. 22 23 24. We are joyned to that Body and have Communion with it which consisteth both of militant and triumphant Saints and of the Angels also We are no more strangers and forreiners but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and are built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the cheif corner-stone in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an Holy Temple in the Lord in whom we also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit Ephes. 2. 19 20 21 22. And as in holy concord we serve the Lord having one God one Christ one Spirit one Faith one Baptism one Rule the Word of God one mind one heart one work of Holines and Righteousness in the main one hope one Heaven the place of our expectations so have we the fruit of the Prayers of each other and of all the Church and have the honour the safety and other benefits of being members of so blessed a Society Yea we have in this Communion the whole Church obliged and disposed according to their capacity to endeavour the good of every member So that Ministers and Magistrates yea though they were Apostles and Prophets Paul or Apollos all are ours 1 Cor. 3. 22. Kings have their Power for us Ministers have their Gifts for us and for us they must use them If we suffer every member must be as forward to assist us and if we want to relieve us according to their power as if they suffered with us 1 Cor. 12. 25 26. Yea the Angels are our Brethren Rev. 22. 9. and fellow servants yea ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them that shall be Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1. 14. To encamp about them and to bear them in their arms rejoycing to behold their graces and prosperity as was shewed before 11. Another of our precious benefits by Christ is that All things shall work together for our good Rom. 8. 28. When we are Sanctified to God all things are Sanctified to us to serve us for God and help us to him Every Creature that we have to do with is as it were another thing to the Saints then to other men They are all wheels in that universal Engine of Grace to carry us to Salvation The same things that are common Mercies to others are special to us as proceeding from a special Love and being designed to a special use As flesh-pleasing is the ultimate end of the ungodly and all things are thereby debased to be but means to that ignoble end So the Pleasing and fruition of God is the End of all the Saints and thereby all things that they have to do with are advanced to the honour of being Sanctified means to this most high and noble End And as they are engaged to use them to this End and consequently to their own greatest advantage so God hath engaged himself to bless them in that holy use and to cause them all by his gracious providence to cooperate to their good The greatest afflictions the cruellest persecutions from the most violent enemies our wants our weaknesses and death it self all must concurre to carry on this work What then should a Christian fear but sinne How honourable and how safe and how happy a life may he live that hath all these assured for his service And what causeless fears are they that use to afflict the Servants of God concerning their outward troubles and necessities What do we fear and groan under and complaine of but our Fathers physick and the means of our Salvation If this one Truth were but believed and received and used according to its worth O what a life would Christians live 12. The last and greatest of our benefits by Christ is Our Resurrection and our Justification at the barre of God and our reception into Glory This is the end of all and therefore containeth all For this Christ died for this we are Christians for this we believe hope and labour for this we suffer and deny our selves and renounce this world Our bodies shall then be spiritual and glorious no more troubled with infirmities diseases or necessities Our Souls shall be
hasting away me thinks if you have your wits and sense about you you should presently turn and make sure of Heaven without any more delay 31. Consider also whether it be equal that you should delay your Conversion when you can seasonably dispatch your worldly business and when your flesh would be provided for you can hearken to it without Delay You have wit enough to sow your seed in season and will not delay it till the time of harvest You will reap your corn when it is ripe and gather your fruit when it is ripe without delay You observe the seasons in the course of your labours day by day and year by year You will not lie in bed when you should be at your work nor delay all night to go to your rest nor suffer your servants to delay your business You will know your dinner time and supper time day by day If you be sick you will seek help without delay lest your disease should grow to be uncurable And yet will you delay your Conversion and the making sure of Heaven Why Sirs shall these trifles be done without delay and shall your Salvation be put off In the Name of God Sirs what do you think of Do you imagine that you can better suffer Hell-fâ—re then hunger or nakedness Or that you can better bear the loss of Everlasting Joyes then the loss of your commodities and provisions in the world Sure if you believe the life to come you cannot think so And can you have while for every thing except that one thing which all the rest are meerly to promote and in comparison of which they are all but dreams Can you have while to work to plow and sow and reap and cannot you have while to prepare for Eternal Life Why Sirs if you cannot find time yet to search your hearts and turn to God and prepare for death give over eating and drinking and sleeping and say you cannot have time for these You may as wisely say so for these smaller matters as the greater 32. Moreover if men offer you courtesies and commodities for your bodies you will not stand Delaying and need so many perswasions to accept them If your Landlord would for nothing renew your lease if any man would give you houses or lands would you delay so long before you would accept them A beggar at your doore will not only thankfully take your almes without your intreaty and importunity but will beg for it and be importunate with you to give it And yet will you Delay to accept the blessed offers of Grace which is a greater thing 33. Ye Consider that it is God that is the Giver and you that are the miserable beggars and receivers And therefore it is fitter that you should wait on God and call on him for his Grace when he seemeth to delay and not that he should waite on you He can live without your receiving but you cannot live without his giving The beggar must be glad of an alms at any time and the condemned person of a pardon at any time but the giver may well expect that his gift be received without delay or else he may let them go without it 34. And me thinks you should not deal worse with God when he comes to you as a Physician to save your own Souls then you would do with a neighbour or a friend when it is not for your own good but for theirs If your neighbour lay a dying you would go and visit him without delay If he fell down in a swoon you would catch him up without delay If he fell into the fire or water you would pluck him out without delay Yea you would do thus much by a very beast And yet will you delay when it is not another but your selves that are sinking and drowning and within a step of death and desparation If a woman be but in travaile her neighbours will come to her without delay And yet when their own Souls are in bondage to sinne and Satan and a state of death they will let them lie there year after year and when we desire them to be Converted here 's nothing but delaies 35. If yet you perceive not how unreasonably you deale with God and your Souls I beseech you consider whether you do not deal worse with him then you do with the Devil himself If Satan or his servants perswade you to sinne you delay not so long but you are presently at it You are ready to follow every tipling companion or gamester that puts up the finger You are as ready to go as they to invite you The very sight of the cup doth presently prevaile with the drunkard and the sight of his filthy mate prevaileth with the fornicatour and sinne can be presently entertained without delay But when God comes when Christ calls when the Spirit moveth when the minister perswadeth when Conscience is convinced we can have nothing after all but wishes and purposes and promises with Delaies O what a stomack hath that man or what a brain that will snatch at poyson and swallow dung and dirt with greediness without any chewing and when you offer him meat stands sighing and looking on it and hardly will be perswaded to put it in his mouth and if he do he is chewing it so long that at last he even spits it out againe and cannot get it down Thus deal ungodly wretches between their poisonous sins and the saving means and Grace of Christ. Nay more then this so eager are they on their sinne that we are not able to intreat them to delay it When the passionate man is but provoked we cannot perswade him to delay his rayling language so long as to consider first of the issue We cannot intreat the drunkard to put off his drunkenness but for one twelve-month while he tryeth another course All the ministers in the Country cannot perswade the worldling to forbear his worldliness and the proud persons their pride and the ungodly person his ungodliness for the space of one moneth or week or day And yet when God hath a command and a request to them to Turn to him and be saved here they can Delay without our intreaty 36. Consider also that it is not possible for you to turn too soon nor will you ever have cause to repent of your speediness Delay may undoe you but speedy turning can do you no harm I wonder what hurt you think it can do you to be quickly reconciled to God And why then should there be any Delay where it is not possible to be too hasty Do you think that there is ever a Saint in Heaven yea or on Earth either that is sorry that he stayed not longer unconverted No you shall never hear of such a repentance from the mouth of any that is indeed converted 37. But I must tell you on the contrary side that if ever you be so hapy as to be Converted you will Repent it and an hundred
am now come to the End of this part of my work if the reading of it have brought thee to the End of thy ungodly careless life it will be happy for thee and I shall so far attain the End of my labour I have purposely put this Direction of the Necessity of Resolution in the last place that I might leave upon thy spirit the Reasons for Resolution that here I have laid down And now I beseech thee Reader whoever thou art with all the earnestness that I am able to use with thee as ever thou wouldest scape the fruits of all thy sinne as ever thou wouldest see the face of God with comfort and have him thy reconciled Father in Christ as ever thou wouldest have a saving part in Christ and have him stand thy friend in thy extremities as ever thou wouldest have hope in thy death and stand on the right hand and be justified at Judgment as ever thou wouldest scape the day of Vengeance prepared for the unconverted and the endless misery that will fall upon all unsanctified Souls as sure as the Heaven is over thy head See that thou Resolve and Turn to God and trifle with him no more Away with thy old transgressions away with thy careless worldly life away with thy ungodly company and set thy selfe presently to seek after thy Salvation with all thy heart and mind and might I tell thee once more that Heaven and Hell are not matters to be jested with nor to be carelesly thought of or spoken of or regarded The God of Heaven stands over thee now while thou art reading all these words and he seeth thy heart whether thou art Resolved to turn or not Shall he see thee read such urgent Reasons and yet wilt not Resolve Shall he see thee read these earnest requests and yet not Resolve What not to come home to thy God to thy Father to thy Saviour to to thy self after so long and wilfull sinning What not to accept of Mercy now it is even thrust into thy hands when thou hast neglected and abused Mercy so long O let not the Just and Jealous God stand over thee and see thee guilty of such wickedness If thou be a Christian shew thy self a Christian and use thy belief and come to God If thou be a man shew thy self a man and use thy Reason and come away to God I beseech thee read over and over again the Reasons that I have here offered thee and judge whether a reasonable man should resist them and delay an hour to come in to God I that am now writing these lines of Exhortatation to thee must shortly meet thee at the barre of Christ. I do now adjure thee and charge thee in the Name of the living God that thou do not thy self and me that wrong as to make me lose this labour with thee and that thou put me not to come in as a witness against thee to thy coufusion and condemnation Resolve therefore presently in the strength of Christ and strik an unchangeable Covenant with him Get thee to thy knees and bewaile with tears thy former life and deliver up thy self wholly now to Christ and never break this Covenant more If thou lay by the Book and go away the same and no perswasion will do any good upon thee but unholy thou wilt still be and sensual and worldly still thou wilt be I call thy Conscience to witness that thou wast warned of the evill that is neer thee and Conscience shall obey this call and bear me witness whether thou wilt or not And this Book which thou hast read which I intended for thy Conversion and Salvation shall be a witness against thee Though age or fire consume the leaves and lines of it yet God and Conscience shall bring it to thy memory and thou shalt then be the more confounded to think what Reasons and earnest perswasions thou didst reject in so plain so great and necessary a case But if the Holy Ghost will now become thy tutor and at once both put this Book into thy hand and his Heavenly light into thy understanding and his life into thy heart and effectually perswade thee to Resolve and Turn how happy wilt thou be to all Eternity Make no more words on it but answer my request as thou wouldest do if thou wert in a burning fire and I intreated thee to come out Thou hast long enough grieved Christ and his Spirit and long enough grieved thy friends and Teachers Resolve this hour and Rejoyce them that thou hast grieved and now grieve the Devil that thou hast hitherto rejoyced and hereafter grieve the wicked and thy own deceitfull flesh whose sinfull desires thou hast hitherto followed And if thou also grieve thy self a little while by that moderate sorrow that thy sinne hath made necessary for thee it will be but a preparative to thy endless joyes and the day is promised and coming apace when Satan that thou turnost from shall trouble thee no more and God that thou turnâ—st to shall wipe away all tears from thy eyes And if the reading of this Book may be but a means of so blessed an End as God shall have the Glory so when Christ cometh to be glorified in his Saints and admâ—red in all them that do believe 2 Thes 1. 10. both thou and I shall then partake of the Communication of his Glory if so be that I be sincere in writing and thou and I sincere in obeying the Doctrine of this Book Amen July 5. 1657. FINIS