Mediator the Life which they who have him have with him is that which he hath as Mediator which the Father hath given to all that believe and is put into the hands of the Son to give unto them To open this great Mystery the more you will find that the Son as God hath Life himself as in a Fountain yea he is Life And as he is Mediator and Redeemer the Father hath given to the Son to have Life in himself John 5.26 And gave him power to give eternal Life to as many as he hath given him John 17.2 And again John 6.57 As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me shall live by me Mark the place Christ was speaking of eating his Flesh and comparing himself to Bread more excellent than Manna and of the singular Benefit which they who made use of him by Faith as Men do eat Bread they should have Life by him But how could he give Life to them that believe He opens that in this vers 57. where note 1. The gracious Act of the Father in sending his Son in our Natures to be a Mediator and Saviour with Commission and Power 2. He who as God the Son had Life in himself receiv'd Life from the Father by whom he lived and this Life he did communicate to all that believed 3. So he that eateth me shall live by me The Benefit and Blessing derived to them that eat him that by Faith apply him is Life and as eating of Bread is the means of living by Bread so believing or spiritual eating is the means of living so he that eateth me shall live by me O! How marvellous is the manifold Wisdom of God in the way of Life as his Grace and Mercy is in bringing forth Life to the Dead in Sin and in bringing Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel Our miserable and helpless condition required no small help but a great and all-sufficient Saviour And so the Life of our Mediator shews the Death of every Sinner and our Deliverance from Death must in order go before though not in time the free Gift of Life It was by an easie passage which seemed wonderful delightful to the deluded minds of our first Parents that we fell under Condemnation and Death but the recovery was hard and two things were to be done for us to the praise of the Glory of Grace 1. The Evils under which we lay were to be removed 2. Our Life and Happiness procured and communicated and both these are done by our Mediator and Saviour I. The Evils under which we lay are contained under that bitter and terrible Word Death which is four-fold 1. We were dead in respect of the Guilt of Sin We were all Filii Mortis As in Adam all die That Threatning In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die hangs over our Heads Gen. 2.17 The Death contained in the Threatning and Curse of the Law Grot. de Satisfac p. 71. the eternal Death especially We are dead and our sed by the Law and we are all guilty before God Rom. 3.19 2. We are all spiritually dead dead in Trespasses and Sins under the power of our Corruptions and sinful Lusts Eph. 2.1 and 5. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins dead to God and all spiritual Good Even when we were dead in sins hath he quickned us together with Christ making us alive to God and Holiness 3. We were dead as to all real and spiritual Comforts born to misery as the Sparks fly upward Comfortless without Hope Eph. 2.12 As Adam was naked and ashamed thrust thorough with Fears and Perplexities driven to invent helpless Shifts for felt necessities Paul did sadly mistake his condition when he thought himself alive and was brisk and well Rom. 7.9 I was alive without the Law once I thought my self well and safe but it was my Ignorance and Senselesness for when the Commandment came by which I was convinced of Sin then sin revived then the Snake appear'd to be alive by that Fire and I died I was a lost man I died and had no hope nor comfort that way 4. We are dead as Death is opposed to Eternal Life in Heaven dead under God's everlasting Wrath which is an everlasting Separation from the Presence of God and the Punishment of the Eternal Fire This is the wages of sin Rom. 6. II. The good which we need and which is procured for us is Life and Happiness All Blessings are comprehended in and presented to us under the sweet and comfortable Word Life and this Life is in the Son Christ and they who have him have it and every Branch and Distinction of Life and that in Perfection 1. He hath in him the Life of Righteousness and through his Righteousness they who believe in him are justified and pardoned and have their precious Life given unto them who were under Condemnation Righteousness and Life are equivalent to have the one is to be secure of the other Rom. 5.17 18. Therefore as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all to condemnation so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to the justification of Life How came this to pass See 2 Cor. 5.21 For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him He paid the Ransom and endured the Curse of the Law and as a Sin-offering bare the punishment of our Sin that we migh be made the Righteousness the Abstract put for the Concrete that is that we might be made fully righteous in his sight with that righteousness which is of God compleat and acceptable He was made of God to be righteousness for us that we might be justified and not come into Condemnation 1. Cor. 1.30 2. He hath in him the Life of Grace Sanctification and Holiness He hath a quickning Power in effectual Calling raising out of the Death and Grave of sin and rolling away the stony Heart that the dead in sin may rise to a spiritual Life John 5.25 Verily verily I say unto you the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live They shall hear his Voice and they that hear shall live O then most mighty Lord put forth thy Voice and say Awake thou that sleepest and rise from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Life Ephes 5.14 And that our Lamps should never want Oyl our Hearts never want Supplies there is a fulness in Jesus Christ and that to be communicated to all that receive him And of this fulness have all we received Grace for Grace John 1.16 The Life of Holiness conceived and brought forth in Regeneration is encreased and continued by the Mortification and Death of Sin and living to God and both these Powers we receive from Christ Rom. 6.11 Likewise
them Thousands yea Millions of Lives are lost in their Quarrels and Wars But here is the Son who saves his Subjects Lives raiseth their dead Bodies to Life he is the Prince of Peace and Life and he that believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting Life O what love and thanks shall be render'd to the Father of Mercy for his Son and to the Son for Life 5. Then here is good News to Sinners that are sensible of sin that know somewhat of the Death which they deserved and that fear it that desire Life and long for it but fear and doubt if not despair of Life O Souls here 's good News for you for Christ and Life are both to be had If you would have Life you must have Christ and if you have Christ you have Life both Christ and Life are to be had Life may be had O! if the Soul cry out and say How how is Life the Life of my Soul to be had The Spirit of God hath told you and his Servant John He that hath the Son hath Life the way to have Life is to have Christ Have him and you have Life that is most certain If the Soul pant and faint and pine for Life and cry out O when shall I be so happy as to live The Answer is ready As soon as you have Christ so soon you shall have Life Long long for Christ then make haste and come he will receive the Soul whom necessity drives 6. The way of having life is very wonderful and high yet attainable It is by Christ and by having Christ God gives life eternal life to his beloved ones but not one of them is fit to keep it for himself much less for others it is in his Son The Son comes down from Heaven in our Natures and he must die or we cannot have it We are dead and love Death in loving the way of Death and we are under the power of Murderers and Destroyers nay more we are under a Law of Sin and Death under the Curse of God Christ could cast out Devils with a Word and destroy the Destroyers without pain or shedding one drop of Blood but he could not deliver us from Death under the Sentence and Curse of the Law but by Blood The life of pardon by forgiving Sin was by precious Blood for without the shedding of Blood there is no remission of Sin Heb. 9.22 Behold how costly a life is our life Whence comes it From Heaven By whom by the Son By the imputation of his merit infusion and communion of his Spirit Per imputationem sc quae faciunt ad justificationem partim per participationem quae pro nostra sanctificatione gloria So those great Divines agree Bp. Reynold 's Life of Chr. and Hoornbeck as before p. 801. How by the Son By his Death and Life Passion and Resurrection From what O wonder at it it is life fetcht out of the Fire out of Death and Hell pluckt out of the Jaws of Devils and secured from all Dangers and Hazards but then he who hath it hath the Son 7. Then he who hath Christ is happier in having Christ than all other Persons in the World for he and he alone hath life when and while all other Persons are dead dead in Law dead in Sin dead to God and dead to their own Souls Good 8. Then the only sure and ready way to escape Death and to be sure of Life is to have Christ to come to him to believe in him and make him your own You know the ordinary way is that of the rich Man Good Master what good thing shall I do that I may inherit life Mat. 19.16 Memorable is the Relation of blessed Bilney's Conversion As the Woman in the Gospel had consumed all she had upon Physicians and yet was still worse and worse till she came to Christ c. Before I came to Christ I had likewise spent all I had upon ignorant Physicians they appointed me Fastings Watchings buying of Pardons and Masses c. But at last I heard speak of Jesus even then when the N. Testament was put forth by Erasmus At first I was allured to read rather for the Latin than for the Word of God At the first reading I hit upon the Sentence of St. Paul O most comfortable Sentence to my Soul It is a faithful Saying c. 1 Tim. 1.15 This did so exhilerate my Heart wounded with the guilt of my Sins insomuch that my bruised Bones leapt for joy And then I learnt that all my Travels all my Fasting and Watches all the Redemption by Masses and Pardons without Faith in Christ were but an hasty and swift running out of the way or like sowing Fig-leaves c. Neither could I be relieved or eased of the sharp stingings of my sins before I was taught of God that as Moses lift up the Serpent in the Wilderness c. That whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting Life c. B. of Martyrs 2 Vol. Letter to Tonstale The way he approved of was hard and he went a great way in it but there was a harder way and he could not find in his Heart to take it Souls Souls the way is but one and it is very fair save your pains of Pilgrimages and Cords and all the devised ways of human Reason and Superstition The way you know and me you know said our Saviour So say I because his Word saith so Have Christ and you shall live 2. Use of Exhortation to you all to have the Son O that I could perswade you to have Christ and to have him for Life and so to have him as to have Life by him Oh! how many have but Notions of him Some know not as much as the meaning of his Names and Office and such as their Faith is such their Life is A Notional Faith can have but a conceited Life an imaginary Life such as will last no longer but while they neglect their Salvation and receive the Grace of God in vain O have him as you have been taught what it is to have him I beseech you go along with me and set Consideration on work while I perswade you and then I will answer what you desire to know Arguments drawn from necessity and that extream and from advantage and gain and loss and both the greatest are very prevailing Let the greatest Wit in the World think if he can what is more necessary or equally necessary What Gain comparable to the gain of Life eternal Or what loss can come into a comparison with a loss of Life Who can number the Reasons to perswade you to have the Son for your Saviour and if you weigh them all other things are lighter than Vanity being put in the Ballance with them This one Reason should perswade us to have Christ because our life and all those good great and glorious things contained in life is first in Christ and
Bidbanck M. A. Price 6 d. bound A new System of the Apocalyps or plain and methodical Illustrations of all the Visions in the Revelation of St. John Written by a French Minister in the year 1685 and finished but two days before the Dragoons plundred him of all except this Treatise 1 John V.xii. He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life WE that have this Prize put into our hands of labouring to save your Souls near the last Day and Hour and the going down of the Sun of your Lives are constrained to make short Work As blessed Mr. Perkins did in calling down a Malefactor from the very Ladder saying Man come down and thou shalt see what God's Grace will do to strengthen thee In the Life of Mr. Perkins but as true as we can in this little time If we should hold you under the Conviction Wrath and Condemnation of the Law of God for Sin deserving it we should keep you in the dark Prison of Unbelief and endanger your everlasting state by with-holding from you the saving Knowledge of Jesus Christ We have endeavoured faithfully to set before you your Sins and the Ways of Sin not to keep you under Terrors but to draw you to Christ not to bind upon you the heavy Burden of Ten Thousand Talents which you owe to the Justice of God and leave you to groan under it without hope of unbinding or releasing your Souls but that you may come weary and heavy laden to Christ We have cause of great sadness and heaviness of Spirit to think how nigh you are to the Judgment-Seat of Jesus Christ and how long you have been ignorant careless Despisers of him in whom you must believe or perish everlastingly Oh! How sad and grievous would it be if you should go out of the World without saving Knowledge and Faith without turning to God through Jesus Christ by whom alone you must come to God and obtain remission of Sin and everlasting Life You have now but a little Time left you to learn Christ and we must now open to you the Kingdom of God and set forth Jesus Christ before you evidently for Grace and Life or leave you in the Dark as we found you You must take hold of Christ and of Eternal Life or sink into the Gulf of Eternity You are upon the Brink of that boundless Ocean O now even now while there is any part of this Day left lay hold of eternal Life by Jesus Christ But how shall you believe except you hear and how shall you hear without a Preacher O now then hear a Sermon of Jesus Christ and of eternal Life by him If I were to Preach for my Life and but one Sermon and never to Preach more it should be of God my Saviour of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ This is certainly like to be the last that you for whose sake principally it is designed shall hear before you die O! therefore now hearken for it is for your Life and by how much the more negligent you have been of your great Salvation be you the more diligent and attentive now O hearken now and the Lord open your Hears to attend to what the Lord shall say unto you from the Text now read to you The Reason why I have chosen this Text is because I would drive home the Point which you heard already Preached by Mr. Dudley the Wednesday before in the Prison and to purpose handled the other day That you cannot contend with God nor stand in his Judgment without Christ from Job 9.3 If he will contend with him he cannot answer him one of a thousand you cannot answer to your Charge therefore take Counsel And this being the last Service I shall ever do for you in this kind the best Service I can do you that are so near your appointed End yea and to all that hear me this day is to open and apply to you this Text which I have read unto you In the Words we may find full Resolutions and Answers to the greatest Questions of Concernment to all Men living The great Case of every Mans Life and Death is determined in them If the Question were asked by any of you 1. Who is the Man that shall escape in the day of the Lords Wrath and live happily with God in Heaven for ever The Answer is That Man and that Man only who hath the Son of God that is to say He who heartily believes in him embraces and receives him as the Son of God the Saviour The Decision is plain in few words He that hath the Son hath Life 2. If a contrary Question be asked Who is that wretched miserable Man who shall not see Life nor come into the Kingdom of Heaven but perish everlastingly in Hell not in respect of his being but happiness and well-being The Answer is plain and peremptory He who hath not the Son of God hath not Life hath no title nor right to Life nor any grounds of hope of it 3. If the Question be What a Man shall do to be saved Or how may a Soul that is convinced of Sin and Death that is made sensible of his Sin and Misery that confesseth how he hath sinned and how he deserves to die for ever for it How may a Soul I say thrust thorough with the fear of the Curse of the Law as with a fiery Dart that sigheth and groaneth under the Sentence of Death and is afraid of dying and being condemned to Hell when he dieth come to be cured of his Wounds and to Hope to see Life This this is the way the Only way the sure and certain way let him come to Christ and have him as he is offered and then he shall not die in his sins but have eternal Life For He that hath the Son hath Life as sure as he hath the one he shall have the other O then you that pant for Life embrace the Son 4. Grant it to be true that such are the Merits Grace and Power of Jesus Christ the Son of God that whoever hath him and believeth in him with a right hearty uniting effectual Faith hath Life But may not a Man who hath not the Son have Life Is there no other way or means of Life and Salvation but Christ Hearken to the Word and give Credit to it it speaks fully to the Question He who hath not the Son of God hath not Life This one Scripture carries Evidence and Conviction with it to stop the Mouths of all Gainsayers and Cavillers But this Text is not alone there are three Scriptures more that conclude in the same Sense both in the Affirmative and Negative See 1. John 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life there 's the Affirmative He that hath the Son hath Life And he that believeth not the Son shall not see Life there 's the Negative or Contrary He who hath
Matth. 20.28 Oh! what an inestimable Ransom is that 3. The Nature of Christs Mediation His Work was not so easie and cheap as the Socicinians make it They make our Mediator to be a Messenger sent from God to make known his Will to the World Catech. Racov. de prophetico Christ munere or an Interpreter of his Mind But to what End doth the Apostle add this Who gave himself a Ransom for all if that was all But he who is that One and only Mediator between God and Man gave himself a Ransom for those who could never have redeemed their own Lives who lay under the Sentence of Death and Condemnation Let it not be tedious to you to read and ponder Heb. 9.14 15. How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offer'd himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God The Offerer or Priest was Christ the Offering or Sacrifice was Himself Body and Soul even unto Death and Blood that which gave Efficiency and Power to the Offering was the eternal Spirit or Divine Nature he to whom it was offered was God who in Justice required and in Mercy accepted it for them who believe and repent to purge Conscience from Guilt and Pollution vers 15. And for this Cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of Death for the Redemption of the Transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called may receive the Promise of the Eternal Inheritance Here we have the Reason or Cause of Christ's Mediatory Office He is a middle Person dealing between both Parties God and Men and for both To God he gave himself a Ransom Nam ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 officium non minus pertinent hominum vice apud Deum fungi quam Dei vice apud homines Grot. de Satisfactione Christi p. 172. which is a Satisfaction for Sin and sinful Men For them that are called he procured the Promise of the Eternal Inheritance the means by which he obtained Pardon for the sins of the Hebrews under the First Testament whereof Moses was a Typical Mediator and the eternal Inheritance for them who are called and believe was his Blood the Blood of Attonement And this great Work of Christ was performed by him as a Priest and so he is a Mediator in his Priestly Office and procures Peace and Reconciliation as a Priest and therefore as a Priest he is Mediator As a Priest he offered up himself to God in our sted and for our Good so he stood between us Sinners and the offended God and made Attonement and as Priest he appears for all that believe in him for he is an Advocate and makes intercession which he could not do if he were not the Propitiation for our sins 1 John 2.2 And so he is a Mediator between both for both for he is the Mediator of the New Testament having satisfied by his Death and Obedience for the Violation of the first Covenant made with Adam in the Guilt of which all Mankind are involved and for the sins of the Hebrews under the first Testament made with their Fathers which no Sacrifice could expiate or satisfie for All the Mercy and Goodness of God is conferred upon them that are called and brought to believe and obey him by a Testament or Covenant and all that Man is obliged to as Duty and Obedience is required in that Testament whereof Christ is Mediator And therefore some judicious Divines put this into the Description of the Office of Christ Mediator that Christ is the Person God-Man who doth confederate God and Man in the same Covenant of Grace Christianus Schotanus Disput 19. De Mediatore Thess prima Le Blanc Thess 1. An Christus sit Mediator secund utramque naturam p. 109. Tileni Syntagma de Incarnatione Fil. Dei Disput 1. Thess 4. and make them one again The whole Work of Christ as Mediator may be reduced to two Heads 1. To satisfie for the Breach of the first Covenant and redeem sinful Men from the Curse of it 2. To bring God and Man into another Covenant the Covenant of Grace and to make them one To this end it was necessary 1. That he should be a Mediator of Redemption and Reconciliation 2. That as God is one there should be one Mediator and so there is one and but one 1 Tim. 2.5 3. This one Mediator is said to be Man in this Text but not meer Man nor Mediator as Man only excluding the Divine Nature but the Man Christ Jesus He addeth to the Nature Man the Names Christ Jesus which contain the Nature and Person of the Son of God and signifie that wonderful Person Pet. Martyr administros Regn. Polonici L. Com. p. 1113. our Lord Jesus Christ The Words do not shew according to which Nature Christ is Mediator but that the Mediator is Man and that Jesus Christ is Man who bringeth us to God It is usual in Scripture to speak of the Person of our Mediator Jesus Christ by one of his Natures Genevenses Thes Theol. de Christo Med. Thes 27. p. 49. Centur. 1. not excluding the other from the Unity of the Person So by the Man Christ may be understood that Person who hath that Nature which is truly called Man and that for divers Reasons 1. That the Apostle would encourage us to put our Trust and Confidence in him Reverend Mr. J. Ball of the Covenant p. 269. as being our Elder Brother 2. To encourage us in the Duty of Prayer through the Mediator to which we are exhorted as knowing the greatness of that Power and Authority which Christ hath with his Father residing in our Nature 3. That it might appear that our Mediator was the same Christ or Messiah which was promised from the Beginning as the only Restorer of miserable Sinners the Seed of the Woman Gen. 3.14 4. That no man to whom the Gospel is preached Nequis igitur se torqueat ubinam ille quaerendus Mediator aut qua via ad ipsum perveniendum hominem nominans propinquum imo contiguum nobis esse admonet quandoquidem caro nostra est Calvin Instit l. 2. c. 12. S. 1. 2. of any Condition or Quality whether in Authority or under Authority high or low rich or poor should be discouraged or terrified from seeking and accepting that Salvation which by the Gospel is proposed and offered to all Conditions of men seeing there is one Mediator for all as there is one God over all and good to all and that one Mediator is the man Christ Jesus who is near to us and bound not only by the bond of Nature as Man but by Office and Undertaking as Mediator Redeemer and Reconciler to save all that come unto him Now if you have cause to fear everlasting Destruction for want of a Mediator and Redeemer nor for want of Tenderness of Compassion or
It will be more tolerable in Hell for Devils than for any of you if you die in Unbelief for Christ died not to save them nor was he ever offer'd to them as he is to you Will you chuse Sin and Death rather than Christ and the Life of Pardon Grace and Glory because the Devil would have you do so What Evil have you heard of the Son of God that rather than have him you would be tied to a stake yea dragged in pieces yea lose Life rather than have it if you must have him for it Oh! the Prejudices Strangeness and Enmity of the World against Christ and his ways of Salvation But will you live and die without a Saviour And walk in that Faction of Men against God which hath the Devil in the Head of them You should turn out of all the Paths of the Devil for he brought in Sin and Death by Sin into the World If you come to Christ and have him with his Merits and Benefits with his Fathers Love and Spirits Grace and Comfort you shall have a Christian's Life in Heaven but if not you must take what Follows the Life of a Sinner which is a Slave's Life upon Earth and a Devil's Life in Hell Precious and Beloved Soul whoever seriously reads and is moved with any of these things take these Advices and Directions following and the Lord give you a Heart to follow them 1. Do not carelesly lay by the Book and the Thoughts of what is written together If one Eye be opened to see somewhat of your Case close it not up to sleep upon it but open both to see the true state of your Soul as to Life and Death If you are prickt in the Heart receive more Pricks and fear not to be wounded for sin for Christ can heal thee and give thee Life 2. Do not receive the Word upon my Credit and do not reject it for any Prejudice against me but go to the Word of God it self Read the Text and recieve it as it is the Word of God for so it becomes effectual 1 Thess 2.13 3. Dread a slight Work upon thy Heart The Son of God finished his Work and left nothing undone that was to be done It lay heavy upon him yet he did it till all was finished Be faithful to thine own Soul to thine own Life in working out thine own Salvation with fear and trembling with a wise care and diligence fearing to fail and miscarry And when you are heartily and seriously engaged to work out your Salvation Take these Directions 1. Study well with reading hearing praying the Word of Grace and Salvation As you shall pass from Death to Life in your Justification so you must have a new Principle of Life and be changed from Death to Life in Regeneration and Sanctification How was the Apostle changed The Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus Christ hath made me free from the Law of sin and death Rom. 8.2 The Gospel is the Ministration of Life 2 Cor. 3.6 and by it we are changed while we behold the Glory of the Lord the Son Jesus Christ with open face as in a glass v. 18. 2. As you are dead and can never be saved but by Christ the Saviour so you can never be quickned nor believe nor have Christ but by the Holy Spirit We are changed from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 It is the real effectual Work of the Spirit of the Lord and it is so done as to demonstrate the Finger of God to be in it 3. Rest not in outward Performances and Acts of Devotion but wait upon God in all his Ordinances as appointed means for Salvation Pray for the Spirit of the Lord to work in you a sincere Separation from sin Satan and Self and to implant you in Jesus Christ to work your Hearts to believe and joyn you to him in love that you may have him for all those kinds of Life that have been spoken of 4. Rest not in Wishes that you had Christ but by humble Applications with great earnestness of Soul by the quickning Assistance of the Holy Spirit come to Jesus Christ himself for Himself and Life You must have Christ himself therefore come to him directly and see that no overloved Creature or Sin whatever lie in the Heart like a Stone between the Grass and the Tree to hinder a closure Idols and Harlots must be shaken off or there will be no Marriage-Union between the Son and you And now the God of all Grace supply what I am wanting in and give Life with his Son to whom be Glory for ever A Narrative of the Occasion of Preaching and Printing this Discourse and of the Behaviour of those two condemned Criminals from their Condemnation to their Death submitted to the charitable Judgment of Pious Readers THE last day of the Assizes at Even which ordinarily was in Lent but then put off I received a Message at my House to desire me to visit a Woman a meer Stranger to me as was her Father also condemned for the Murder of a Child Next Morning I waited on the Lord Chief Justice Pollixfen on the Road towards Rutland being but two Mile from my House to desire the favour of a Reprieve for some convenient Time for me to use my endeavours with her His Lordship told me he had reprieved her not being satisfied in the Proof that the Child was born alive He entertained me with very Divine Discourse and proper for me and the Woman and obliged me to give him an account of her at his return from the Circuit that if there were good hopes of her leading a Life answerable to Repentance he might procure her Pardon and his last Words to me deserve my remembrance Pray Sir do it sincerely Her Name was put into the Pardon by his Lordship and expected to come the next Assizes but came not then as was expected The next Assizes I waited upon his Lordship and staying there giving what Assistance I could to the most afflicted good Father of the Woman Mr. Samuel Dudley my kind Friend came to me and told me He was shortly to come and settle in Town and was resolved to make it his business to visit the Prisoners and desired my Assistance which I promised when desired and had opportunity The Afternoon after the Woman was ordered to be Executed being condemned two years before and the Man received his Sentence Mr. D. sent for me into the Prison where he was performing his Visit to these poor condemned Criminals After we had privately discoursed them as fully as time would give us leave the Honoured Thomas Catesby Esq the High Sheriff was desired to give us leave to preach to them before Execution which was readily granted with Thanks for our willingness to take pains with them They had but about a Week to live we agreed That one of us should preach the Wednesday following
unto a Living Stone disallowed indeed of Men but chosen of God as precious They disallowed the living stone chosen of God and precious upon whom as upon a Corner-stone the Church is built and that was their Unbelief they would not have him but laid him aside and threw him by He was to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness but to them that believe Christ the wisdom and power of God The Believer approves what the Unbeliever disalloweth the one admireth what the other despiseth II. To have the Son is to have him highly in our Estimation it is to have him by a new spiritual convincing Evidence in our Minds and to think highly of him to esteem so highly of him as to honour the Son as we honour the Father John 5.23 Mark the place before quoted 1 Pet. 2.4 Certainly saith the Soul God cannot be mistaken in the choice of a Saviour a Rock of Salvation for one to build upon for eternal Life Christ is a Stone perfectly fitted for his Place he is a Living Stone that will put Life into all the Stones the Spiritual Building as the Church is called 1 Cor. 3.9 He is chosen of God and precious therefore the rightly informed and illuminated Soul esteems him highly as a living stone as chosen of God who perfectly knew his Excellency and precious But to you that believe he is precious 1 Pet. 2.7 Life is precious to him that hath been convicted and found himself condemned and lost and the Son that hath Life for him is most precious to him He can't prize him according to his Worth The greatest Honour he can do him is to believe what is testified of him O how base is every thing in comparison of his Saviour They that are called out of Darkness to Light do see the Wisdom and Power of God in him 1 Cor. 2.24 They admire him in all his Characters and Properties They glorifie him as the Son of the highest as the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth as the only Name under Heaven given among men whereby they shall be saved They fall down and worship him they cannot reach him with their highest Thoughts As his Name is wonderful so is he wonderful in his Person Emmanuel God-man the Holy one of God the fairest among ten thousand yea altogether lovely They esteem him for himself for his All-sufficiency for the greatest and hardest of all Works that of a Saviour They esteem him for his Singularity He is One and but one like the Sun in the Firmament one Sun for the whole World so he is one Sun of Righteousness with healing in his Wings for all that are wounded and fear the scorching burning Wrath of the just and holy God They esteem him as a Pearl of great Price all the goodly Pearls sought for by the Merchants will be given for him at any time by every wise understanding Heart They who have him count all things but Dung and Loss that they may win him There is nothing in him but unsearchable Riches They who have him have nothing but gains and winnings by him yea tho they should lose their Lives for him they can't lose them but shall have eternal Life Mat. 16.25 That I may win Christ said Paul O that the World could believe it Believers are made Partners with him in the Benefits of his Sufferings Victories Exaltation and Glory What things are these O think of him as he is that you may have him O labour to be acquainted with him that you may set up a Throne for him in your Hearts as for a Prince and Saviour that you may prize him 1. As he who is all and in all 2. That you may prize him according to your need of him and his fulness and freeness to supply Mean things are valued when we need them But Christ is one of incomprehensible Worth he hath in him the desirableness of all things necessary and of all things that are called incomparable 3. Esteem him as your Souls Alas who esteems them tho not to be exchanged for a World esteem him as your Life yea infinitely better than the longest and happiest Life upon Earth The highest and dearest thing you can reckon of is Life is eternal Life esteem Christ as that Life He gave his Life for it he hath it in his Gift and Power he brought Life to the Dead and Life from Death III. He that hath Christ for Life hath him in his Will and Heart He doth understandingly judiciously and heartily receive him He hath him so as to close with him with a voluntary intire gladsom Consent He hath him with the Approbation of his Mind and Judgment he hath overcome his Doubts and his Cavils if he had any he hath not a Word nor a Thought against him he is fully satisfied with him and therefore doth receive him into his Heart and with it No man hath the Son for Life except the Son hath his Heart that is the House in which Christ will dwell That Christ may dwell in your Hearts by Faith The Heart of Faith is wanting till Faith hath the possession of the Heart Holy Mr. Baxter in that Excellent Treatise Dir. and Perswasions to a sound Conversion p. 283. Ephes 3.17 That is the place of his Rest which he desires to dwell in who dwells not in Temples that are made with Hands Such was his Grace and Love that he came down from Heaven to cast out Devils fleshly and worldly Lusts out of thy Heart to make thee free to recover the possession of thy Heart for himself O give him thy Heart he best deserves it This is the Word of Faith which we Preach If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe with thy Heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the Heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation Rom. 10.8 9 10. He that believeth with his Heart that God raised Christ from the Dead for our Justification Rom. 5.24 is righteous and justified before God He and he alone who believeth with his Heart will have Courage and Boldness in dangerous Times to confess him before men and call upon him and he alone shall be saved and have Life through him Then Lidia had Christ and Salvation when the Lord opened her Heart Acts 16.14 Judas had Christ in his Head and upon his Tongue as a Preacher but he had not the Son for Life because he had him not in his Heart In the Gospel the Son is set forth in his Names and Properties which are admirable commending and inviting all that know him and believe the Testimonies concerning him And not only so but he is propounded and offered by his Embassadors yea he makes gracious Offers standing at the Door If any man hear my voice and open unto me I will come in to him c. The Covenant of Grace is a
Christian are knit together our very Persons Soul and Body are coupled to the Person of Christ by the same Holy Ghost which dwelleth in him and in us 1 Joh. 4.13 Worthy Lyford p. 116. Hoornb Theol. practic l. 7. de Spirituali nostri cum Christo unione Zanch. in Ep. ad Ephes c. 3. De Spirituali Connubio A. B. Arm. Serm. before cited p. 19 20 21. And by him the Protestant Schoolman as a learned Person calls him Zanc. in c. 5. Ep. ad Ephes Q. 3. Thess 4. l. 3. Spiritualis connubii It was an high Dishonour that some did to Christ and injury to Souls that exposed the having acquaintance with the Person of Christ to the pleasure of vain ignorant Men or disgusted Palates at the Doctrin of God our Saviour We must not only know but have the Person of the Son as sent into the World to save Sinners as Mediator in the Execution of that Office as Prophet Priest and King as was said before But if any will ask How is it possible for us upon Earth to have the Son who is now ascended above all Heavens This Question or Objection was answered long ago by the renowned Vsher The Conjunction is Spiritual and Supernatural no Local Presence no Physical or Mathematical Continuity or Contiguity is requisite thereunto It is sufficient for the making of a real Union in this kind that Christ and we tho never so far distant in place each from other be knit together by those Spiritual Ligatures the quickning Spirit and a lively Faith wrought by the same Spirit A Wife is a Wife joyned in Marriage to her Husbands Person tho separate in divers Countries Subjects are related to the Person of their King and Politically united and enjoy the Benefit of his Government and pay Duty to him tho they never saw him But tho the Body of our glorious Redeemer be in Heaven his Person and his Spirit are in all that believe and with them whom having not seen yet believing ye live 1 Pet. 1.8 3. Every particular Believer who hath the Son hath Life and hath the Son for himself and by his own particular Faith as really and truly as the Catholick Church hath which is made up of all Believers What is the Universal Church but the Whole existing in Particulars The Text speaks in particular and not in general He that hath the Son hath Life Camero de Eccles p. 226. Itaque nullum est membrum corporis Christi ne vilissimo quidem judicio humamano quod non aeque Christum contingat atque illa quae sunt nobilissima c. quia Christus totius Ecclesiae singulorum Ecclesiaâ— membrorum Sponsus est and this having is an immediate having of him by every particular Believer for himself He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 By this therefore let this Truth enter into your Hearts That every one of you not one excepted must have Christ for your own particular Life and Salvation Except we are living Stones living Members we are not Members of the Catholick Church The wise Virgins might as well have given of their Oyl to the foolish Virgins All Believers are immediately joyn'd to Christ one is not more united than another in the Body every Member is not proximly joyn'd to the Head but in Christ the meanest and weakest Believer is immediately joyned to him Rev. Mr. Burgess on 17 of John p. 589. as the Catholick Church give Life to any particular Member of it Christ is the Fountain of Life and except we have Life from him we are not Members of his Body the Catholick Church nor have Spiritual Communion with it Do not think of entring into Life by any new-invented Door or round about by which you shall not speed but come to him that hath Life and calleth you to come to him himself Make haste then for it is for Life 4. If he who hath the Son hath Life O what a Prize have they who have him They have him who is all Worth and Excellency A Pearl and nothing but Pearl There is no dross at all cleaving to him whose Head is of the most fine Gold Cant. 5.11 Yea he is altogether lovely all Desires Most desirable and most desirable for this that he is good to make a Man that is dead to live O what a Prize have all that have him They have Life What an Immense Loss was that of Adam's losing Life and Goods God and Creatures Soul and Body But now behold all that was lost is recovered All was sunk in the Sea of Perdition Man and his whole Estate of Happiness but now all regained and brought to Light he hath brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel Is there any thing to be given in exchange for a Soul Here is now a Jewel more valuable than a World Here 's Life with the Lord Jesus Christ Such a Life as none should live without but those miserable condemned ones who cannot have it The loss of it will be lamented for ever How joyful should the Souls be that have it Let us make merry saith the Prodigal's Father for this my Son was lost but is found was dead but is now alive O how glad should we be of having this Life For it was lost and is now found and shall never more be lost O value value Christ and what is to be had with him He is infinitely better than your selves and by him you have the best of the best of things Life is more precious than all things but this Life is the Crown of Life 4. You who have Christ owe more to him than to all the World Parents have done nothing for you in comparison of Christ they were Instruments of giving Life to you but they were also unhappy Instruments of Sin and of bringing Death upon you and when they had made you miserable and brought you into a World of Misery and Danger of Sin of every Sin and of Temptation They never sweat drops of Blood nor shed their Blood to save you They reckon they have done much in nursing and bringing you up and giving you a Portion of such perishing things poor stuff as they have But the Son of God who never did you harm and whom you never obliged to do you good sorrowed pray'd wept sweat drops of Blood yea died a cursed Death to save you from everlasting Death and to procure everlasting Life What have Physicians done for you or can they do but give some ease and some relief and for a few days prolong your natural Life Did they ever bear your Sorrows or raise your Dead or make your recovered Lives the happier But the Son hath born our Griefs and by his Stripes we are healed There 's a way of healing and all the happiness of life he provided for you What can Kings and Princes do for you VVe acknowledge the Blessing of Peace and Protection under
from him in all that have him Life is first in God So often the great Evangelical Dr. Sibs Expos on the 4 c. 2 Ep. to the Corinth So in the Excellency of the Gospel above the Law p. 418. c. then in Christ Mediator and then in us who believe All our Mercies Blessings Comforts of all kinds and degrees from Election to Glorification are first in Christ and from him to us Therefore in having him you have all as in a Fountain as large as an Ocean running in a full stream to Eternity O what a thing is this life It is everlasting life begun in Faith in Christ and Regeneration running up hill a marvellous cross and hard passage against mighty and unwearied opposition of Satan and the VVorld and our indwelling Corruption labouring to choak it at the very mouth of it in our Sanctification till it run into the vastness of immeasurable Eternity Mark what it is called It is Life it is a life of Sentence as the Reverend Dr. Sibs often calls it or Absolution from the Sentence of the Law and Death It is a life of Grace from Christ by his Spirit kindled in a dead Nature and this is the Spring of Heavenly Glory The least Beam of the light and life of Grace has more Glory in it than all the VVorld on this side Heaven can shew It is for the Excellency of it called The life of God Ephes 4.18 And the life of Jesus 2 Cor. 4.10 11. For we which live are alway delivered unto unto Death for Jesus sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal Flesh Nature teacheth Men to prize life above all things therefore life whether of Sense or Reason is the best thing in Nature's Orb But for the life of Grace and Glory Grace teacheth Faith which is called a wise Grace by that named Divine teacheth a gracious Man who is the best of Men to lose his life for Grace and eternal life For we which live are always delevered unto Death for Jesus sake c. And will not this move you to have Christ the Son and life with him VVhat do you stick at Do you know that if you have the Son he must have you and that you must forsake your Sins and all the World at his Call And will you stick at these things O what an Act of Grace Mercy Pity and love is it in Christ to receive and have you If Christ have you not the Devil will and your Enemies shall and will have you What should I speak of Sin and the pleasures of Sin and all the Vanities under the Sun Will you stick at these And not part with them at the first word that you may have Christ and Life I will only say to you if every Hair of your Head were a life of Pleasure Wit Mirth Diversion Riches and Honour you should part with them all for this life of Grace and Glory Christ paid more for your Redemption for life than all the lives in the whole World are worth If you will not forsake Sin your loathsom Disease for life and spiritual Health If you will not deny your selves in your Vanities for Christ and the hopes of Glory how many drops of Blood would you have shed for your own Redemption if such a price had been set upon your own Souls Now Christ and Life are offered you for having how cruel and merciless are you to your precious Souls that will not have them And O! how happy for ever shall you be if you have life and that more abundant more abundant in duration and confluence of all things to make you fully and for ever happy Hearken again That which is to be had is life eternal it is the life of life who can describe it This life is but a Vapour which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away James 4.14 It fleeth as it were a shadow Job 14.2 The natural life is sustained by corruptible earthly matter The spiritual life is a noble Heaven-born life but encumbred with a mixture of much evil while upon Earth A life rooted in Christ or it could not continue a life of continual Contention and Warfare much clouded and distracted with vain Thoughts Doubts Fears Unbelief Cares for the body for the Morrow and things of this life It hath its good days and times foresights and foretastes of Heaven in Communion with God and Christ by the Spirit in Ordinances it hath its Victories Peace Increase Comforts and Supports by the way But when Time is run out into Eternity and the new Man grown into a perfect Man then life will appear to be life indeed That life is a life all of Grace and Holiness without one dark or vain thought or indwelling Sin A life like God's in conformity to him a life of Vision perfect Union and Communion A life free from any thing that shall cause Trouble and Repentance A life without Care for what we shall eat or wherewith we shall be clothed Immortality and Glory shall be our Clothing and the living God that is a full infinite Fountain shall be our life A life full of God Goodness Holiness Light Peace Joy and satisfaction for ever It is happy now to walk with God and to be under Grace O what will it be to be for ever with the Lord When Adam took his Death by the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil he would have made his way to the Tree of Life but that he was kept off by a Flaming Sword But all that have Christ shall live upon him as upon a Tree of life which will yield all manner of Fruit and satisfie every blessed one with blessedness Have Christ and you shall have eternal life immediately upon your believing in Christ your Head Your Soul shall enter into eternal life upon your Dissolution and Body as well as Soul shall have eternal life at the Resurrection Q. But some may desire to know How they may come at this Eternal Life A. The Text is your Direction for that Have the Son and you have Life Q. But how shall I come to have the Son 1. A. The original and first Cause of our having the Son and so the first way by which we have him is by God's gracious Act of giving us his Son As he gave him for us to be a Saviour so he gives him to every Soul prepared by Grace and that is the Work of the Holy Ghost and so we have him The Spirit of Grace gives to every one that hath Christ understanding to know him and a heart to receive him and when we receive him Whatsoever is wrought in Man it is by the Spirit all comes from the Father as the Fountain and through the Son as Mediator but whatsoever is wrought it is by the Holy Ghost in us Excel Dr. Sibs as before p. 579. Grace is in the Father as a Fountain in Christ as Treasurer in the Spirit as
Dispenser Excellent Charn made known and offered to us then we have him God shines in our hearts 2 Cor. 4.6 The God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory giveth the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him Ephes 1.17 Every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh to me John 6.45 This is the way by which we come to the Son and have him 2. But the meaning of the Question may be What must I do What means may I use Or what manner of Man must I be that I may have the Son And then I answer in this general Sentence or Rule Then a man may have the Son when he is made heartily glad to have him on any Terms that is according to the Son 's own Proposals Here mark We do not mean by the Word Terms Condition Propositions any Bargain or Exchange Price or Commodity of our own We receive all from Christ being nothing to him in consideration whereof we have Christ We find in him all fulness riches and honours But what have we of our own but Baseness Poverty and Misery This Misery contracted by sin is the Dowry Cameron as above-cited in Myrothecio The Son as the Son of God gets nothing by us nor doth our Union which he affecteth bring any gain or happiness to him but by much loss and many Sufferings he obtained it But respectu nostri omnia candida we receive from him nothing but good and magnificent and only such things Hoornb ubi supra p. 797. which we bring to our Husband Christ I say again then are you prepared to have Christ when you would gladly have him with all your Soul with all that he requireth of you He hath set down the Terms your Hearts consent you subscribe to them all as the VVritings are drawn by the Spirit in the Gospel you desire no new Articles nor abatement of any but stand to his Mercy and Grace And well you may for he is VVisdom and Love Goodness Mercy and Compassion and will enable you to do and suffer all that you bind your self unto Q. But when is the Sinner made glad to have him A. Then when he seeth there is but one way for him if he have him not that is when he is under actual strong Apprehensions and Convictions that he must perish and die for ever a Death of Privation of the enjoyment of God in Heaven yea and in Earth also when he is humbled and poor in his own Sense when he feels himself sinking into the bottomless Pit under the Burden of his Sin and Guilt 2. VVhen he finds all Creatures Helps and Confidences in the Flesh fail him Phil. 3.4 When he looks upon his right hand and upon his left hand and there is no Helper nor Intercessor that can save him when he believes for certain there is Salvation in any other Acts 4.12 Oh how formidable and terrible doth Hell look with its Flames and utter Darkness How wonderful doth Salvation appear to such a Soul 3. When he cannot think of being damned without Horror and not of being saved without Wonder and Astonishment And then when he hears of the Grace of God in Christ and of the graciousness of Jesus Christ his Fulness his Fitness his Compassions his Kindness his willingness to save every one that comes unto him O how glad is the miserable humbled Soul to hear of his Offers his Invitations to come to him and his Promises to them that come and have him Those Jews who were pricked in their Hearts gladly or willingly received the Word of Advice and Grace in their extremity and soreness of heart And they who gladly received the Word of Salvation were baptized They by Baptism a sign of their having him put on Christ and had him They who are sick will gladly have the Physician and the Soul that is poor desolate lost a Syrian ready to perish will most gladly have Christ for a Covering of their Eyes for their Head and Husband when they hear the Record and Testimonies those high Characters and Reports that are given of him Mark a condemned Prisoner When we behold our selves in our Blood O how comfortable is that word of Grace and Mercy Live that fears the Execution and lies under the terror of Death will most gladly receive his Life at the hands of his Gracious Prince and serve him as his Prince with the hazard of Life What will not a Man do for Life How much for eternal Life Q. But how may I be brought to this to be made glad and willing to have the Son for my Saviour 1. You must awake out of your Sleep and Dreams And will not the Alarum of Death and Wrath hastning towards you awake you Will not a Cry at Midnight rouze you The last Enemy and the last Trump stir you The Drowsiness of this Generation is a fearful Sign and Forerunner of a Spirit of Slumber and a dead Sleep You then that have Ears to hear hear and then we shall shew you how you may have Life Eternal 2. Hear read and ponder upon the Word of God The more you know and seriously consider of these things the better it will be I say ponder the things and the drift of them and do not lay them up as Notions and Historical Passages in a careless Head 1. Understand how the case of Mankind stood before the Fall 2. How it is with all Mankind under the ruins of that Fall how we are under Guilt Sin Satan and the Curse how great our Darkness is how we are all out of the way what our Enmity is against God and true Holiness what our Impotency is to turn to God as without Strength to help or recover our selves 3. How we must be restored by Jesus Christ alone Rom. 5.8 9 10 12. c. 4. What the Gospel declares to be our Duty Knowledge Faith Repentance Love Obedience Active and Passive Obedience and Self-denial when our Lord calls for us to forsake all and suffer for him 5. None of these things are called for as a price or Mony as the Prophet speaks Isa 55.1 2. The great main thing that is required of you is your rational deliberate free Consent Will you have me That 's the great Question say understandingly and sincerely you will and you have him who is infinitely worth your having 6. Study the invaluable worth of your precious Souls and of your great Saviour the Son of God and the Life of your Souls Know that one thing needful Luke 10.42 and the first thing to be sought Mat. 6.33 And tho the Gate be strait you will enter because it is unto Life 7. Think not much of the way of Salvation but submit to be led into every step of it It is the Invention of infinite Wisdom out of Grace and Mercy 8. No Man is excluded from Eternal Life but he that will not believe and have the Son John 6.37.9 Understand
Son seeing that is no less than to put off the having of Life Who would run his Life upon such an Hazard seeing their are so many Enemies that seek our Damnation and work it by gaining the time of our delaying Can any Business or Pleasures in the World be thought of that Consequence as for them to venture the loss of eternal Life Many Men given much to the Pleasures and Vanities of Life have cast them off and fallen to the study of the Law or to follow their Business when but some Branch of their Estates have been in Question much more when the whole was in Danger Oh! how diligent and wise for the World and careless for a World to come are Men Put on Consideration and know for certain that the greatest matters of care and diligence meet in this one Life for this Life comprehends in it the whole of a Man's Estate He who hath not Life hath lost all in one and both these inestimable things and both these inestimable things an everlasting Kingdom an Heavenly Treasure a Crown of Life and Glory and that Life in the possession whereof the blessed Saints shall rejoyce for ever and in the privation of which the miserable and damned shall weep and lament for ever And this Punishment of Privation of Life will be the more intolerable when it shall come upon the Unbeliever for this Cause of his not having the Son For not having the Son who is the Son of God's love infinitely amiable and dear to all that love their own Nature for he is the Son in our Nature and now in our Nature glorified All Men think themselves honoured in the Honour of their Blood and Kindred and esteem the Person that is advanced But such is the Nature of Unbelief that it moves to no Estimation or Love to our Lord in Glory who hath promised Glory to all that believe and follow him and can see no excellency in him who is highly exalted and hath a Name that is above every Name The not having of the Son is upon Refusal and Contempt in Deeds if not in Words And because this Privation of Life is for Unbelief and Refusal the loss will be the greater for the Punishment of Unbelief must needs be great because Unbelief is a great sin and we need not go further than this Text to prove it Unbelief and not having is the undervaluing neglecting and refusing the only two things that cannot be valued the Son of God and everlasting Life O that I could say something that may enter and stick to the Heart Hath God been pleased to make manifest the Mystery of Redemption by Jesus Christ which hath been hid from Ages Col. 1.26 and now will ye not look into it but reject the Counsel of God as the Lawyers did against themselves Luke 7.30 Hath God so loved the World that he sent his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish and now he is sent to you who have as much need of him as any in the World will you not have him Is there Salvation in no other and will you not have him Do you no more value the Grace and Love of God in his Son Christ Nor the love of Christ in humbling himself unto Death even the Death of the Cross for you And now he is at the Right Hand of God in possession of his Kingdom and is able to save all that come to God by him and will you not have him and Life by him Oh then you must perish Then you must have no part in the Tokens of God's everlasting Love no Saving Benefit of all the Cost our Lord hath been at to redeem you no Joy or Consolation by the Spirit no Communion with Saints in Glory nor Light Rest Peace in your own Souls for ever No pardon of Sin or Peace and Comfort by it nor any other Blessing of Grace Obj. But some may say If I have not Life then I shall die A. So you shall But you hope you shall be extinct and be no more but that shall not be eternal Death will not be like the blowing out of a Candle which shall never be lighted again No if you are Unbelievers and Atheists of that sort the everlasting Pain and Torment shall convince you of your wicked Error and of the loss of not having Life And this should be a 2. A Second effectual Motive to have Christ and Life for else you shall not have Life but enough of Death the first moment Oh! how bitter and dreadful will it be to Eternity All they that hate me love Death Prov. 8. vers ult They love the way and the sins which deserve it This shall be the Punishment of all Unbelievers Oh! who would make light of Christ and Life that shall be condemned if they have him not to Death Eternal Death A word containing innumerable and endless Evils The loss of God and Heaven will be a Death The sight of Hell and Devils with Millions of Workers of Iniquity under Condemnation will be Death Death not an End of the Sinner but of his Happiness If the Flames shall never be quenched as they shall not as Christ hath declared whose word is true Mat. 25.41 And this everlasting Fire is called everlasting Punishment vers 46. If the Punishment shall be everlasting it will follow that they who are punished must live in it and endure it for ever And Men may as well say that the blessed of the Father shall not go into everlasting Life as that the wicked shall not go into everlasting Punishment As long as the Punishment shall endure they shall endure that have deserved it and shall be condemned to it Oh! what a cursed Death will this be Oh! how miserable will an immortal Body be with an immortal Soul All the Miseries of the Damned are set forth by the Name of Death Every drop of the Rivers of Brimstone every Spark of the unquenchable Fire every Tear that the Damned shall drop every Gnash of their Teeth every Bite of the Worm will be a Death O Death How full of Stings This Death will be a Death of Separation from God and Good When Christ shall bid the wicked depart from him then all presumptuous Thoughts all fond Imaginations all vain Hopes all carnal Confidences and all that ever they deceived themselves withal shall depart from them and under this Death they shall weep and roar for ever Now if the Life everlasting with God in Heaven were no better than a Prisoners Life upon Earth or of a Persecuted Protestant kept from Sleep and tortured by Dragoons the Devils black Regiments and bare-fac'd Wolves the Consideration of this fearful Death should make all Men that have any Consideration desire and prefer the Son's Grace before the whole World But when the Life that is entail'd upon Believers is a Son's Life in the Kingdom of God an Heirs of Life what desperate Folly and Madness is it for any
and the other the Friday Mr. D. preached the Wednesday after I had been in private with the Prisoners clearing some necessary things to them for their Profit as we had good reason to hope they were not unprofitable Hearers after hearing that Sermon When I came about the time appointed on Friday I did not a little wonder to see so many stand in the Street before the Prison-Gate and a Crowd within and the Room in which I did intend to preach as my Brother had done so full that there was no getting in As soon as I came within the Gate the Mistress of the House in her Husbands Absence desired me shewing a great Concern in her Speech 〈◊〉 Countenance that I would preach in the Seâ— house for the Crowd was too great for the 〈◊〉 I foreseeing what Offence some would 〈…〉 that new thing and how I should be censuâ—… 〈◊〉 offered to preach in the Prison-yard or in any other convenient place The Officers of the House press'd me to preach in the Sessions-House for the Debtors stood in need of and would be glad of a Sermon as well as others and they could easily and safely bring all of them into the Bar there being a Vault to convey the Prisoners from the Prison to the Bar up a Trap-door Being overcome by their Reasons and Earnestness I consented to that which was most convenient and safe for the House the Auditory and for me tho it was a large place And to this day I know not how otherwise to have done so well nor had I any ways to avoid it either by refusing to preach because the Assembly was so great or desiring them to depart and go about other business If either of these had been suggested to me at that time I hope I should have rejected the Temptation I foresaw not the Auditory nor desired the place It was not my Zeal nor my Vain-glory that led me to the first occasion of visiting nor to this of preaching And this may satisfie my Friends and those others that they did wisely forbear to give us trouble for this Service for which we had Authority sufficient to have born us out The Reasons for Printing this plain Sermon enlarged are not to vindicate my self nor condemn others but purely for the Excellency of the Subject the very Sum of the Gospel and pertinency to all praying that God would pardon its Defects and make it profitable to many more than those that heard it several of whom desired a Copy of it and I could not deny their Request and some of my Fellow-labourers and Brethren hearing what the Subject was have perswaded me to print it But the prevailing Reason is taken from God's Glory alone and desire of saving Souls I have nothing to say to any particular Man But why so angry Why so troublesom to themselves What Evil had I or my Fellow-Servant done Know ye not yet what Spirit ye are of I should be glad if this Evil Spirit were cast out for its own sake I was very much taken with a Story I read of Mr. John White a very Judicious Divine He liv'd a while in a House that was haunted his Maid-Servant complained much of the trouble in the House He chid her for going near the haunted Chambers and bad her keep within the compass of her own business One Night the Spectre after Mr. White was laid down in his Bed came to his Beds Feet opened the Curtains and looked upon him to which the fearless Minister said If thou hast nothing else to do stand there and I will go to sleep Was ever poor Ghost more blew'd So I would say to this restless Spirit If thou wilt not go to rest and hast nothing else to do I am resolv'd to do my Masters Work as well as I can when call'd unto it and not be scared or frighted from it by thee I trust that he who was a Shield to me from Dangers in Evil Times will do as much for me in better times He who walketh uprightly walketh surely And so good Night Judge charitably of the Success of our Endeavours which in short was as followeth And first of the Woman We might have looked for better Fruit from a Branch of that Stock from which she sprang had her Parents lived to have seen her past the years of dangerous and foolish Youth Her Parents left her young with other Children and her Friends gave 60. l. with her to a Trade in the Exchange There the old Deceiver and Murderer would soon find her out and draw out her Inclinations to suitable Actions and bring her such Confidents and Acquaintance as could serve his Designs upon her When she came to set up she came into the Country and followed the Calling of a Milliner travelling with Horses Her Husband went about as a Bedder he had married and buried a Sister of a Family that for Estate might live reputably at home but delighted in the rambling course of Gipsies and this Man had learn'd the Cant and followed that kind of Life with his Relations Some of her Friends betrayed her to this Marriage as she said and others were against it and she and her Family were so well known that they were constrained to go a great way before they could be married Because of this Marriage and meeting sometimes with the Gipsies in their Travels and being present when as she constantly affirmed to her Death the Gipsie her Husband's Brother-in-law kill'd the Inn-keeper she was counted one of that Crew but she constantly affirmed that she understood not their Cant nor their way of living and could never endure that her Husband should have any Familiarity with them She had a ready Wit and Speech a great stout Spirit but too little knowledge she was more apprehensive than the poor Fellow was but came short of a preparedness to die After that we had opened the Nature and Desert of Sin in general we came to those particular Sins for which they were condemned and when I aggravated their Sins from the Ignominy of the Punishment that such Offenders were thought unfit to live among Men she stomach'd the Expression and cried bitterly through Pride and the sense of the dishonour of the Death she was condemned to and slew out in angry Expressions at her Prosecutors We gave way to her Passion and made as good use of it as we could for her Consideration of the shamefulness of sin and a far worse End to come without Repentance I laboured to convince her of the Truth of what I had said and went on to other things She confessed freely she had been a great Sinner but not guilty of several sins which she named nor of that for which she was to die altho Mr. D. told her he was sent for while he left us by some Persons of Quality upon the Grand Jury who remembred the Evidence against her and looked upon her as a very ill Woman yet she persisted in the Denial of the
danger of a partial Confession and Repentance of the horridness of the Judgment of God of the sinfulness of having and hiding Sin and pleaded with him by the Patience and Mercy of God by his Grace in affording him the means and helps God had granted him how that notwithstanding what was done upon him all would be to no purpose as to his Salvation but would aggravate his Condemnation Nothing would stir him nor a Word come from him At last I told him 't was Satan's Great Design to lock him up for his own to harden him against Christ and that we would have him know and the Devil know that we were the Ministers of Christ and must declare his Word and should leave him to the Judgment of the Great God We told him That whose confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy but he that hideth his sin shall not prosper i. e. shall not be blessed or happy but on the contrary We spared no Arguments or Pains to recover him out of the hands of the strong Man armed There were some good People with us who dealt with him to the same purpose At last God was pleased to own us and preserve us from a Foyl and baffle off the Devils and so he told us He believed none of his Confederates were living however he knew of none And then we went on again His Heart was melted his Tears returned his Ears were opened to further Instruction As he went along to the place of Execution he sighed mourned wept groan'd that I never heard the like Oh! how did he complain of his hard and obstinate Heart Oh this hard Heart O mercy mercy Oh sweet Jesus have mercy upon me When he came in sight of the Tree Oh! there is the place I am going to Oh! my sins have brought me to it Oh! my stealing my drinking my swearing my whoring my Sabbath-breaking my gaming I turned to him and said And your stealing was to maintain your other sins Oh! Ay ay Oh my hard and obstinate Heart Oh sweet Jesus have mercy upon me Oh Father have mercy upon me Oh pardon my sins And thus he continued from the Prison to the place of Execution which is I suppose a good Mile or more He said little upon the Ladder but desired all present to take Example He died very soon after he was turned off so that I believe his Heart was almost broken with Grief before the last stroke of Death This is a plain and true Account of both these Persons as to the matter and as to the very Words that are most remarkable I have but few Remarks upon them 1. They who are not at all ashamed of the most shameful sins think the Punishment deserved a great shame to themselves and Kindred 2. It is a good sign when persons are more grieved for their sins than ashamed of the Punishment 3. The Devil will hold out to the last and baffle Ministers if he can but we must not suffer it but resist him with those Weapons that are mighty through God 4. What Honourable Reverent Sweet Words will poor Souls that have been ignorant Despisers of Christ give him when they come to see their need of him Grace and Mercy to every Reader of what is written Three useful Books written by Mr. Edward Pearse viz. The Best Match or the Souls Espousal to Christ A Serious Warning to a lively and thorough Preparation for Death A Treatise of God's Unchangableness Books lately Printed A Discourse of Sickness and Recovery By T. Rogers M. A. A Treatise of Closet-Prayer by Mr. Slater Hearts Ease in Heart Trouble A Book useful for those that are in Affliction By J.B. An Abridgment of the Holy History By S. Clark Author of the Annotations on the Bible lately Published Sold by J. Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard FINIS
to refuse him or any thing enjoyned by him Men have sold their Services and hir'd themselves for Slaves but who ever sold his Life but Sinners for no Hire 3. But whatever others do or whatever becomes of others do not you to whom the Lord of Heaven and Earth doth make a gracious Tender of his only Son and Eternal Life refuse not nor delay to have the Son of God for you profess and are engaged to have him Your Baptismal Covenant binds you to go thorough with the Match you have put him on Gal. 3.25 26. O know him as he is esteem as he deserves joyn Hearts and Affections to him renounce all Friendship with Sin and the World and receive the Son to dwell in your Hearts as Sovereign Lord and Master and cleave to him to the end and you shall have all that he is gone before to prepare for them that love him 4. I know not how to make an end of perswading you the business is so great and urgent If there were any Comparison to be made between these two of having Christ and Life and not having him and Life there might be something to be said for chusing the worst before the best but there being no comparison between the one and the other let me urge you for the love of Jesus and your own Souls to have the Son of God Many a Man may be such a Fool as to chuse the worst and part with the best of it Esau chose a Mess of Pottage before his Birthright in his Extremity of Hunger and Impatience Our first Parents thought of bettering themselves by eating the forbidden Fruit. But mark it here is no colour for chusing If the case were If you have the Son of God you shall have the best of Lives but if you have not this Christ the Son of God you may have another tho not so great and good But if you have not the Son you can have no other Saviour there is no pretence for refusing him If the Case were If you have the Son you shall be justified and all your Iniquities forgiven you shall have the Life of a glorious King a Saint in Heaven and of perpetual and endless Communion with God in his Glory But if you have him not you shall live indeed tho more meanly you shall live tho barely and poorly by the sweat of your Brows you shall live but between Sickness and Health Pain and Ease Peace and Trouble sometimes you shall be well but for the most part ill you shall have no better a Life than Lot had in Sodom or David in Meseck some such Life as Sinners have upon Earth you shall have but the Life of Heaven you shall not have nor the Life of Faith nor the Life of Joy and Hope But now this is the case If you have not the Son you have not Life no better Life than the Life of the damned in Hell What madness of Unbelief is this Here is no comparison but direct opposition and the greatest Contrariety of Good and Evil. Many a Man and Woman do chuse the worse for an Husband or Wife But what a Self-hater is that Man or Woman that would have none of an Abraham or a Sarah or any other great and blessed Man or Woman and have a cursed Branch of some cursed Stock yea to lead ones Life with a very Devil Apply this Consideration and then you will find worse than the worst Comparison you can make No Son of God no Life not one good Day or Moment of a Day to Eternity O that you would hold your Thoughts to some such Illustrations of the greatest Loss where there is not the least Advantage the greatest Loss of the greatest Good to fall into the greatest Misery 5. You cannot separate either of these things from the other both go together You cannot refuse Christ the Son of God and yet have Life and you cannot separate the not having Life from the not having Christ Christ will make any Soul happy in the highest degree that hath him But if there were no better a Life to be had with Christ than Christ with Banishment Persecution with with a Cross yea many Crosses in this Life to live as the Apostles did sometimes in Bonds Prisons Stocks how infinitely is that to be preferred before all other Lovers The excellent Properties of a Person in Marriage will make a Wife follow him through the World The Perfections of the Son of God make him most desirable with all Afflictions and Sufferings But what when you have Christ you have a blessed Life now and a glorious one hereafter But you cannot have the Glory without Christ yea now if you consider the Life of Glory you should have Christ tho he were but like a curs'd Husband O ponder the Comparison and Supposal it is but to illustrate the Point As many a Woman marries a Crab-stick for a great Estate and ample living fat Sorrow is digested the Sorrow is swallow'd because it is fat But Oh! there is nothing but Sorrows and Wo attends them who have him not nothing to shew be it never so little that is good and abides with them nothing but what will make them as ill at ease in their Minds as their Bodies in Flames of Fire O! then before I leave you let me in the Name of Christ on hiâ— Behalf and for your dearest Life sake beg you to be prevail'd and won this day over to Jesus Christ 6. Consider one thing more whose Work it is to make you averse from Jesus Christ Oh! the wonderful power of the Devil upon the corrupt Natures of Men The Devil himself never had the Impudence to bely or slander the Son of God with his own lying Tongue The Father of Lies did never forge an ill word to the Dishonour of the Lord of Glory nay he spake to his Honour and yet he works by means of the World upon the sinfulness of Man to dishonour him to belie him We remember this Deceiver said Men spake what the Devil durst not yet he was that lying Spirit from whom they speak he filled the Heart of Judas to betray him and the Hearts of all others with Prejudices against the embracing of him he crams them with the Chaff of worldly things they tho now gilded laid over with various Colours and strewd with Spice will prove no better that feeding them to the full they may lie under the Wo to them that are full Luke 6. that there may be no room for the Son of God in your Thoughts and Affections It is he that keeps all he can possibly prevail upon not to have the Son of God for Satan must out when the Son of God comes in Therefore knowing the design of the Devil be not such Enemies to Christ and your own precious Life and such Instruments of the Devil against Christ and your own Souls as to lose Life and lie under eternal Death through his Temptations and prevailing Power
Murder to the last as I said before We opened to her the ways whereby she might participate in the Guilt but still she denied all saving that she stood at a distance when her Husband 's Brother-in-law stabb'd the Man and when he had done the Fact he told her Husband in their Cant that he had kill'd the Man and threw away the Knife The next time I came I found her very much humbled in Spirit bewailing that she had been a very great Sinner and with many Tears and loud Cries for sin she seemed glad that she should go out of a sinful World in which she desired to live no longer What said Mr. D that you may sin no more Yes yes that I may sin no more against a merciful God The World said she was a sinful World And how are you reconciled to the manner of your Death said I Said she I could bear it I can suffer it tho all the Friends I have in the World look'd on I judg'd this to be a considerable degree of Humiliation remembring how high she was before While Mr. D. was preparing to preach I was preparing them for it and did explain and enlarge upon some things which I was afraid they understood not she apprehended me and her Knowledge grew I remember I told her That she should not think the way to obtain Pardon was to diminish her Sin in Number Nature and Aggravation and that Pardon extended even unto Blood to all penitent Believers that the Blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanseth from all Sin and therefore besought her to acknowledge her sin of Blood-guiltiness She received my Words with meekness and sense but persisted as before At Prayer and Sermon she behaved her self with Attention and Reverence and we hope it was not in vain she promised to observe our Direction in our absence Her Demeanour at my Sermon was very attentive and with Signs of inward Affection After we had done Mr. D. desired them to remember what was preach'd and to retire and that we would come again to them that night When we thought it most convenient we repaired to them there were several others in the Room well employed but she was at Prayers at her Bed-side Her Heart was so full that she could not refrain from speaking out the Language of her own Heart with good words and matter Flames of Fervency and then with Silence When she rose up she thanked us for our Pains and said She blessed God now she understood how it was and must be with her She understood her Case and found her self willing to die and tho she had been a great Sinner she hoped she should find Mercy She now knew the way she told us she was not afraid to see her Coffin which was brought into the Room She desired to live no longer to sin in a sinful World Next Morning we came betimes and adjusted several matters of Reckonings as Offences that nothing might be a stop in her way She reproved some and counselled others She reproved an old Man for flouting at me when I was wont to visit There comes or there goes your Soul-saver which we took not well but she spake well While we were busie with the poor Fellow she the Room filling fell on her Knees to secret Prayer and continued a good space taking no notice of any thing that might interrupt her When the Officer came to unlock her Irons she wept bitterly and roar'd sorrowing and rejoycing at her end I applied my self as pertinently as I could to that occasion upon which she was very quiet and well composed After a preparatory Preface concerning Prayer as the last Exercise of the Thief upon the Cross one of us praid in the Prison I told her I would attend her to the place and bad her if any Doubt or Fear should arise that she should let me know it She went along weeping praying confessing and counselling one that held her by the Arm. When once I turned from her to speak to the Fellow she turned quick and said O Sir do not leave me When she came in sight of the Tree she burst out into more Tears and said O yonder is the place yonder is the place but I am to suffer nothing for my Sins in comparison of what my Saviour suffered for me for my Sins and was much upon that till we came to the place of her End There one of us pray'd and she went up the Ladder without Fear or Boldness spake little she desired them all to reverence and hearken to the Ministers of God confessed she had been a great sinner and being ask'd about the Murder she denied it as before she prayed a little while and went off to Eternity The Fellow had disobediently ran away from his Master and Father who knew not what was become of him He gave himself to Thieving and other Sins maintained by his Theft He was arraigned the foregoing Assizes and burnt in the Hand before my Lord Chief Justice Pollixfen who shewed by his Countenance and Carriage an unwillingness to condemn him to die but that he feared there was no hope of his amendment that would not carry his Warning in his Hand so lately given him We found him grosly ignorant in the three Forms of Religion the Lords Prayer Ten Commandments and Creed he could not repeat them without help He was ripe in Sin but slow to take in what was good He had the same pains taken with him which the other had if not more for he stood in need of more His Face was covered with shame exceedingly dejected and he was penitent something he spake of Pardon of Sin Repentance and Mercy but understood nothing of Jesus Christ as Mediator and Salvation by him or Faith in him We instructed him in those things and had some weak Hopes concerning him but we had cause to fear all would be lost the morning of his Dying Day Then we instructed him in the knowledge of Christ the Mercy and Grace of God in the Nature of Repentance Confession of Sin that his Repentance and Confession might be full that God might be glorified and others might be warned and called from the Evil of their ways We pressed him to detect his Complices and acknowledge the Injuries he had done and to ask Pardon who could not restore or compensate Mr. D. told him he was at Coventry when he and others had broken into several Houses when they were going towards Ireland Here all the signs of Ingenuity and Goodness fell flat and went in again An horrid sullen paleness and dulness of Spirit seized him We told him his Detection would be no accusation of any we should make no ill use of what he told us to endanger any Man's Life but if it lay in our Power to warn them and call them from the way of Death to Life and break the Knot and Combination We applied our selves to him with Mercy and Judgment we told him of the