Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A32722
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A sermon preached by the late eminent Mr. Steph. Charnock on 2 Cor. V. XIX.
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Charnock, Stephen, 1628-1680.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing C3710; ESTC R13260
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12,455
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38
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it He Dyed not only to make Peace but he Dyed also to make us Holy and purifie a People to himself The Designe of God in the Manifestation of Christ in the Flesh was to destroy the VVorks of the Devil The chief VVork of the Devil was to enter Man into a League with himself in his Rebellion against God his Maker God aimed at the Death of Sin when he aimed at the Life of our Souls The Ends of Christ's Death are not separated He is no Atoner where he is not a Refiner 'T is as certain as any VVord the Mouth of God hath spoken That there is no Peace to the Wicked An unspotted Conscience and a pure Will are the Benefits of this Reconciliation For this Reconciliation must be Mutual As God lays down his VVrath against us so we must throw down our Arms against him As there is a double Enmity the one rooted in our Nature the other in our wicked VVorks so there must be an Alteration of our State and of our Actions The End of Christ's Reconciling us to God was to bring us back to him We cannot be link't in Peace to him except we be transform'd into the Image of his Son How can we expect to be received into the Bosom of God if we every Day dawb our Souls Can there be any Familiarity with God when we daily lay Bars in the way God was in Christ Reconciling the World because he was a Holy as well as a Gracious God because he had a Detestation of Sin as well as because he had a Love for the Creature He is of purer Eyes than to behold the least Iniquity As before God was sanctifyed in Christ when he Reconciled the World so he will be in those that entertain it There must be an Enmity with that for which the Son of God was made a Sacrifice Else we shall act but Judas's Part with God's Grace betray it to serve our Lusts Be afraid therefore of offending God not only because he hath Power to hurt but because of his Love whereby he hath obliged you The Peace that was broken by the Disobedience of Adam was restored by the Obedience of Christ But our Obedience is necessary for the Joyful Fruits of it Psal 119. Great Peace have they that love thy Law III. EXHORTATION BE Industrious and Affectionate in your Services to God Hath God done so much for us and shall we put off God with a little Service with the scantlings of Duty God hath done his utmost to engage our Affection and encourage our choicest Service There was not an higher way to Procure it nor a dearer way to Conferr it View the Creatures and God's Goodness in them to Man and it will raise a Natural Love But What an Height of Love should we ascend to that have an higher Step to mount The least Love is more than is due to us How much more that Immensity of Love he hath shewn us And Shall we return but Drops for an Ocean when he hath stopt the Torrent of Legal Penalties that were deserved by us How should we combine all our Thoughts and Affections together to serve that God who hath made all his Thoughts conspire to reduce us Honourably and Successfully I am the Lord thy God that brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt c. is the Preface to the Decalogue and an Incitement to the Israelites to obey all his Precepts God hath been in Christ Reconciling us to himself is the Tenour of the Gospel and should be an Incitement to greater Service by how much our Spiritual Deliverance the Antitype of it is greater We should serve God as Friends And as he hath given us an higher State so we should give him the greater Honour Do all things therefore unto God as Reconciled without base Ends and sordid Designs God had no other End in being the Author of Peace but his own Glory and Man's Good We should have no other Design but God's Glory and our own Welfare Serve him then with Delight a dull and sluggish Temper doth not become us when we approach so hearty a Friend that was so industrious to be at Peace with us Next to that Delight God hath in his Reconciling Son is that he hath in his Reconciled Children IV. EXHORTATION LEt all your Approaches to God be begun and ended with a Sense of this in any Duty especially in Prayer God in all his Communications to his People acts as a Reconciling God we should eye him so in all our Addresses to him As there is not one Mercy not one Act of Grace God shews to us but the Spring is from this restored Affection so there is not a Duty we offer to God but should do it in the Sense of this What is not by and through Christ will not be accepted as a Duty This Consideration should animate us in all our Addresses This is necessary to be acted by us to make us humble and to consider what we were before we were freely reduced to make us believe and come with holy Boldness And What Ground can there be for Despondency when we have so many Tokens of his Heartiness in it This will make us more earnest to fetch Fire from Heaven to enflame our Souls This will raise our Hope For What can be a greater Foundation for it than this We should think before we perform our Duties of the Love that God bears to Chr st and this will be Ground of Confidence for this Love was with a respect to those that Believe Think much of the Vertue of Christ's Death when he sprinkled the Mercy-seat with his Blood Turn God's Mercy-seat into a Throne of Grace Every Act about Christ is a fit Argument in Prayer God will never deny his own Acts nor the Ends of them which made way for him to Communicate himself Christ and God in Christ is Entertaining as well as Reconciling us Let us not therefore lift up our Eyes to Heaven but then carry this Atonement by Faith in his Blood in the Hand of every Prayer to him V. EXHORTATION LOok for Grace and Strength from God in Christ The Conduit of Grace and Mercy was unstopt in Christ and by him it flows freely down to Man This is the Foundation of all Regeneration In the 16 17 18. Verses of this Chapter having spoken of the New-Creature Verse 16. he shews the Ground of it It was all from this Reconciler Seek for Grace only on this Bottom for Strength and increase in it only on this Ground 'T is not the Consideration of God's Precepts but of his Promises and the Application of this Reconciling Love by Faith that is attended with a Vigorous Benediction on the Soul for the pulling up the Foundation of Enmity The Spirit is received by the Mediation of the Gospel not by the Precepts of the Law Men begin at the wrong End when they would rise from Obedience to Faith They deal with God as if he were gratified