Priests and for all the People of the Congregation Intimating that all had defilement cleaving to them by reason of imperfections in those who were concerned in them And for this reason we are to seek acceptance through Christ for our best duties and the very prayers of the Saints must come through his hands and be offered with his incense Rev. 8. 3. There was given him much incense that he should offer it with Prayers of all Saints c. And why so but to perfume them and take away the unsavouriness that cleaves to them which would not be needed if there were no sin adhering to them 5. The best of Gods People do profess themselves to be short of perfection and engaged in the pursuit of farther degrees of Holiness If a man hath reached so far as is expected of him by the tenour of the Covenant of Grace under which God hath taken him there is no need or occasion for him to aspire after any more inasmuch as that is the Covenant which he is to stand to and by the terms whereof he is to judge of his duty Certainly the holy men of old knew what they did when they professed their own great defects bewailed them It was the same Covenant that Old-Testament Saints were under and yet we find them acknowledging sinful defects in the best Prov. 20. 9. Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin And Eccl. 7. 20. There is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Nor have believers in Christ in Gospel days been otherwise perswaded or thought that their New-Covenant state took from their imperfect actions the nature and denomination of sinful 1 Joh. 1. 8. If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us and this apprehension hath put them upon it earnestly to prosecute more perfection not being content with the degrees obtained of this we have a full instance in Paul Phil. 3. 13 14. I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things than are behind and reaching forth unto those things that are before I press toward the mark Paul when he wrote this Epistle was a Prisoner aâ— Rome and so it was not long before his death he was not only a sincere Christian but one that had made a very great progress in Godliness and arrived to an high pitch in Grace and yet he assures us that he was a great way short of that perfection which he was in pursuit of and counted it his duty to use utmost endeavours after the obtaining it and it was not a Legal perfection which he sought for that he utterly disclaims but it was Evangelical or that which according to the Rule of the Gospel he was to pursue 6. The Children of God when they do their best do still bitterly bewail themselves that they can do no better It must needs be granted that such imperfection in us as is a just ground for the sorrow and mourning of the people of God and which they do and ought to cry out of as their burden and bitterness is a short coming in them which ought not to be else all those complaints and self judgings about it must needs be superfluous and unreasonable Not that the sense of this should drive them to despair of Gods gracious acceptance of them sinâ—â— he hath provided for that in Christ notwithstanding all this but yet it exciteâ— Godly Sorrow in them and helps to keep them humble and mournful all their days and directs them where to fix their hope viz. upon Gods free mercy in and through Christ We find therefore how Paul amplifieth in his bemoaning of himself on this account in Rom. 7. And though it hinders not but helps his thanksgiving verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yet â—he complains of it as a thing that was grievous to him verse 15. That which I do I allow not for what I would that do I not but what I hate that do I. And verse 23. I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members And upon the review of all this he cries out as one that was in very sore distress verse 24. Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death And this was not a representation of his natural state when under the legal convictions of sin and remorses of Conscience by reason of it but under the conflict between Grace and Corruption in him as the whole tenour of his expressions doth evince Nor was it on the account of bold Transgressions and more enormous and scandalous prevaâ—ications â—or he could make that challenge 1 Thes 2. 10. Ye are witnesses and God also how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved our selves among you that believe But it was the mixture which he experienced of sinful corruption with his grace which discovered him not as yet arrived at full perfection 7. The best of men do deprecate the rigour of God in his animadverting upon them which they would have no occasion to do if they did not know themselves to be short of that perfection which they ought to seek after and that the want of it belongs to the remaining sin in them They do indeed hope in his Grace and accordingly look to receive free Salvation from it and they believe that this failing of theirs shall not hinder their partaking in it because God hath laid in for their pardon and acceptance in another but there is a way in which they come to have a title to this Salvation and on account whereof they may claim it according to or consistent with the Justice of the first Covenant under which they once were and they dare not to put themselves on the tryal of their own holiness for this and the reason is because they know it to be so short and defective that if God should take advantage from what his holy eye sees to be wanting therein he would have occasion and provocation offered him to make severe animadversions upon them on this account David so pleads Psal 130. 3 4. If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities O Lord who should stand but there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared And makes that deprecation in Psal 143. 2. Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no man living be Justifyed And though they can plead their interest in his favour from the evidence of their integrity and comfort themselves in it it being an effect of his distinguishing Grace in them and having the promise secured to it yet they dare not plead any personal Righteousness of their own for the procuring of any favour for them but renounce it Dan. 9. 18. We do not present our Supplications before thee for our Righteousnesses but for thy
the fitting of him unto this great work Now this he did in his state of Humiliation the application of this belongs especially to his Exalted State Acts 5. 31. Him hath God exalted c. to give Repentance to Israel and remission of sins but he laid in for it in bis humbled state which was therefore introductory to the other as we are told in Phil. 2. 7 8. 9. In this he made the atonement without which Guilt could never have been removed hitherto belongs that â— Cor. 5. 21. He was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God through him in this his blood was made cleansing blood for the purifying us from all our iniquities according to 1 Joh. 1. 7. The Blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin 3. That the Reason of this was because there were some that needed it whom God purposed to make partakers in the benefits of it As if mans sin had not brought him to that exigency that without such a fountain he must have perished for ever Christ had not come so if God had not resolved to impart the efficacy of it to some such necessitous ones he would never have been at the charge of providing it God did not only intend the provision and exhibition of this fountain that so if any would come to and make use of it they might be saved from their Sins by it if that had been all Christ had died in vain for it is certain that none of fallen men would ever of their own accord come to him that is true of all till Christ draws them Joh. 5. 40. Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life The natural man loveth his Sin and delighteth to wallow in the mire of his uncleanness but God chose some from eternity to be made the monuments of his rich Grace in taking away all their iniquities and he provided Christ for this end and therefore all such he designed this for shall come to Christ Jâ— 6. 37. All that the father hath given me shaâ— come unto me they shall be cleansed and washed and healed 4. That they may partake in this benefit there must be a saving application of the vertue of it tâ— them These waters quench the thirst of the Soul by being drank of they wash off the Guilt and filth which cleaves to the Soul by being washed with them they heal the mortal diseases which Sin had infected â—â— withal by the influence of the sanative vertue of them on the Soul It is not enough that they have all these good qualities â—â— them the Gospel therefore acquaints us with an Application consequent upon the Redemptiâ—â— wrought out by Christ whereby he becomes ours and we are saved by him and hereupon life is restrained to our having of Christ 1 Joh. 5. 12. He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 5. It is savingly applied to those only who comâ— to him by saving faith in him for it Faith is the uniting Grace by which we are made one with Christ and receive him to be our own for all the ends of his Mediatorship This therefore is the great Gospel condition on which Christ is offered to be made ours and we are given to understand that if thus we do not receive him we shall not partake in his saving mercies Mark 16. 16. He that beâ—ieves shall be saved and he that believes not shall â—e damned And as faith comes to Christ so it draws the waters out of this fountain it fetcheth in supplies from Christ continually Heb. 10. 38. The Just shall live by his faith 6. God himself is the Author of this Faith in order to our participation in these benefits Faith is not of our selves it is the gift of God Eph. 2. 8. God by his Spirit puts this grace into us and enables us to exert it and that which he aims at in this is to bring us to Christ by it and so give us a title to these living waters that they may be ours and we may challenge a property in them and make use of them for all our occasions continually 7. Hence all that do thus come to him shall receive this vertue from him Whosoever is united unto Christ the fountain of life shall live by him Where God gives faith he gives all that is connected in the proâ—ise with it All saving good is firmly promised to believing God therefore on our believing pardons our sin the Guilt of it passeth off our persons are freed from Condemnation and he sanctifies our hearts by laying a foundation of holiness in us which though imperfect at present and mixed with deâ—â—lement yet shall in due time aim at entire holiness without spot or blemish Hence we have that title put upon believing Heb. 10. 39. We are of them that believe to the 〈◊〉 of the Soul USE I. This may serve to Commend Chriâ—â— to the Sinful Children of men as a desiraâ—â— object And surely there is nothing that 〈◊〉 more set him forth as a suitable and necessaâ— one than this consideration In nothing coâ—â— he have been more accommodable to the coâ—dition of fallen man for his relief Let thâ— the contemplation of this draw your eyes aâ— your hearts after him and render him in yâ—â— esteem most precious and desirable And â— this end Consider 1. You are all by nature under the Guilt and â— filement of Sin This is the state of all mankind and indeed if we look upon Sin in its relaâ—â—ons it will infer this As it relates to the â—â—venant of works and the Sanctions of that â— it involves Guilt Sin is the Transgression of â—â— Laâ— and that Law hath ordained Death to â— the wages of every Transgression of it Rom 6. 23 The wages of sin is Death And by vertue of this Ordination the Sinner is held a faâ— Prisoner of the Law obnoxious to destruction And if we look upon Sin as it relates â—â— the Sanctity or purity of the Law of God â—â— it pollutes the man stains him with uncleanneâ— Now there is none of you but besides the imputation of the Guilt of the first Transgression have a corrupt fountain of Original Sin in yoâ—â— and innumerable actual pollutions which you have made your selves odious withall hence that Prov. 20. 9. Who can say I have made mine â—â—art clean I am pure from my sin 2. Your misery is unconceivably great whiles you are under the Dominion of these Indeed all mans misery began upon his Sinning and â—here are two springs from whence all this inâ—â—licity flows viz. Guilt and Filthiness nor can â—â— be taken off but by the removal of these And one would think the greatness of your misery should rouse you up to seek a deliverance from it and you may know that it is â—â—comparably great by viewing the effects of â—â— which are 1. By Sin you are exposed to the whole Curse of â—â— Law And that is of the
whom God imparts the largest measure of a spirit of mourning and supplication Where God intends to build highest he will lay the foundation lowest The greatest spiritual mouâ—ners are appointed for the more abundant consolations They are the humble and contrite whom God delights to dwell with and to revive Isa 57. 15. Christs anointing had a special regard for such as these and therefore his applications will be eminently made to them Isa 61. begin The Lord hath anointed me c. to bind â—â— the broken hearted to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto them beauty for ashes the oyl of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness c. Doth God then bring you into Godly Sorrow Doth he make Sin bitter to you Doth he fill you with grief at and cause you deeply to bewail your Sins before him be not discouraged but take iâ— as a good Omen and wait for the Consolations of his Spirit remember what he hath said Psal 126. 5. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy It is also certain that when God excites in us an heart to pray to him and fills us with ardent desires and groans unutterable after him for his grace for his pardoning for his cleansing of us and we cannot let him alone it is a sign that he hath great mercies to bestow on us which in this way he will communicate to us God who hath promised that his shall pray unto him and it is he who giveth prayer to his own hath assured us of a gracious audience and a good return to our prayers Jer. 29. 12 13 14. Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you and ye shall seek me and find me c. Be not then discouraged and though you may not at present experience those sensible apprehensions of the efficacy of the Fountain for the taking away of your Sin yet doubt not that God will in the best way do it for you and give you the experience of it to your abundant Consolation God will exalt his Grace on you in this way and make it to appear how great is his kindness to you in taking off your Guilt and washing away your pollution And when you are suitably prepared so to glorifie him he will fill you with the discoveries of his love for which you shall admire him for ever USE II. For Examination Let us hereby prove whether ever this Fountain were savingly Opened to us and it concerns all to put themselves upon this Trial. For Motive then Consider 1. You are all by Nature under the guilt and defilement of Sin Sin and Uncleanness are hereditary to all Adams Children and they derive to them in the Channel of Natural Generation for this we are told Eph. 2. 3. We â—e Children of wrath even as others and he demands and resolves Job 144 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one This then is the condition in which every one is born Adams First Transgression was ours by a legal Imputation and his corrupt Image which he contracted instead of Gods Image which he lost is ours by Propagation and thus we come into the world guilty and filthy Creatures Psal 51. 5. Behold I was shapen in â—â—iquity and in Sin did my Mother conceive me And this Guilt and Defilement are encreased by all the actual sins that we have committed since we came into the World 2. Except this be done away it will be your ruine All Sin in its own nature and operation is deadly Sin and Death are closely connected each with the other Rom. 5. 12. By one man sin came into the world and death by sin The guilt that ahderes to sin binds the man under the Curse and that is Death Ezek. 18. 4. The Soul that sinneth it shall dy The Law â—â—ath already past the Sentence upon the man and unless it be removed it will without fail take place on him and the defilement of sin is it self the very spiritual death of the Soul it hath deprived the man of the life of Sanctification and he can no more perform a gracious action than a dead man can a life action hence that expression Eph. 2 1. Ye were dead in trespasses and sins So that as long as it abides on him he cannot at all answer the end of his Creation 3. Nothing else can do it for you but this Fountain There is a sufficiency of vertue in it for this end God provided it for this very purpose and he doth nothing in vain it therefore never failed of producing this effect where it was savingly applied But except you repair hither all your other attempts will prove lost labour this Salvation is no where else to be had Acts 4. 12. There is nothing else that can expiate the Guilt of sin or make atonement to the Justice of God for the remission of it but this one Sacrifice of Christ thousands of rams will not procure it God therefore blows upon them with contempt Mic. 6. 6 7 8. Nor will all the waters of Abana and Pharpar cleanse this Leprosy it is only the Blood of Christ is cleansing and that Blood doth cleanse from all sin 1 Joh 1. 7. 4. Except it be applied to you it will not have this saving efficacy Christ doth not profit all although his vertue be sufficient yet all are not pardoned and healed by him there are multitudes that perish in their sins notwithstanding and that not only of those to whom he was never revealed in the Gospel but of such also who have been told of and invited to come to him and whence is this but because application hath not been made of him to them for this end Sinners that are outwardly called perish as well as others and the reason â— because they do not answer the Call and come to the waters the threatning is therefore declared against such Prov. 1. 24. c. Because I have called and ye refused c. I will also laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear 〈◊〉 c. 5. Till then you know that he hath been thus applied to you your condition must needs be dubious It is from the work of Application that we â—â—e to fetch our evidence of our safe estate It is not enough that there is a Christ and that he is a Fountain of Salvation but is he â—â—rs for this reason Professors are put upon it to prove and try themselves and the enquiry is not whether there be such a Fountain and there be a fulness in it but whether Christ be in us 2 Cor. 13. 5. Know ye not your own selves how that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates And hence we have such an expression Col. 1. 27. Christ in you the hope of Glory And though if the thing be so your state is out of danger yet till you know that it is so you cannot enjoy inward
quiet or satisfaction 6. There are many who cheat themselves with false hopes on this account The natural security in sinful man makes him ready to take easy satisfaction about his good estate and the delusions of Satan and the false reports of a carnal mind and the fair shews which there are in a common work of the Spirit aâ— snares which they are entangled by there â— upon this account great need to be cautioneâ— against rash presumption lest otherwise you labour of a pernicious mistake thus the Apostle to them 1 Cor. 6. 9. Be not deceived 7. The Doctrine in hand affords you a sure Rule of Trial. Whatsoever difference there may be in the manner or degree of mourning oâ— of the impressions which are made on thâ— Conscience by the Terrors of the Lord yet when God makes the Gospel effectual for the application of the vertue of this Fountain to a Sinner he always gives a Spirit of Mourning and Prayer i. e. He gives Grace to mourn and pray after a Godly manner If therefore you can discover this to be in you and are not mistaken about it you have an evidence that will not deceive you Put your selves then upon the trial of them severally and that by such Rules as follow 1. Hath God poured upon you a Spirit of mourning for Sin have you received the Grace of God by sorrow And for proof of this 1. Did you ever mourn at all for Sin if not this Trial is resolved at once He that never mourned for sin did never partake in the saving vertue of this fountain and it is to be feared that a great many forward Professors will fall at this first Trial. There are many that build high but did never dig for a founâ—tion The stony ground hearers Religion â—egins with joy as Mat. 13. 20. He heareth â—e word and anon with joy receiveth it It may â—e you have mourned for the fruits of sin for â—our outward losses bereavements reproachâ—s pains c. but it hath not been the Sin that procured them but the things themselves â—hat stirred up your sorrow and if the Sin it â—elf was not bitter to you you never repaired â—o the Grace of Christ to take it away 2. Have you mourned after a Godly sort It may be you have been touched with remorâ—es of Conscience Sin hath been set home upon you with terror but that may be and yet be only a part of the punishment of Sin in this life there is therefore a double sorrow for sin Godly and Worldly 2 Cor. 7. 10. And is yours a Godly one Try it by these things 1. Have you ever felt the bitterness of Sin it self Many an one finds sorrow by his sins and is forced to acknowledge that his Sin hath brought it upon him who yet is not led by it to see and believe that Sin is in its own nature so vile and evil as to be odious It may be he only reads it in the Law and he sees that God will maintain his own Law but mean while he lays the blame not on the sin that procured his sorrow but on the Law that had such a Sanction in it and he is therefore sorry for his sin only because he is sorry that there is such a Law that will not suffer him to siâ— with impunity this is no Godly Sorrow it â—â— not acted by Humility but by pride anâ— prejudice and he saith as they Ezek. 33. 10 If our transgressions and our sins be upon us anâ— we pine away in them how shall we then live 2. Have you been deeply oppressed with the burden of siri so as thereby to be made weary of it Though God improves the troubles and mischiefs procured by Sin to bring us to see the evil of it and cry out by reason of thâ— bitterness there is in it yet in a kindly mourning sin it self is made to be a burden that we cannot tell how to bear and hereupon we long to be rid of it and earnestly seek after a freedom from it thus it was with Paul Rom. 7 24. Oh wretcheâ— man that I am whâ— shall deliver the from the body of this death We seek a parâ—â—â— for we are undone without it but we â—eek the death of Sin too nor can we be at quieâ— but in the assurance and experience of the beginning of it in us and a comfortable perswaâ—â—on that it will ere long be wholly destroyed hence that groan of his Psal 38. 4. Mine iniquities are gone over mine heaâ— as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me 3. Hath your mourning reached to and fined upon the sin of your nature It is not enough to have bewailed this or that particular actual Sin although God usually makes the conviction â—f and the sorrow for such to be leading to â—he other but he that hath truly mourned for Sin hath been led up from thence to the fountain of corruption which is within and that hath driven him to seek after the Fountain of Grace which is in Christ and always true mourning ceaseth not till it cometh hither and lays out its greatest lamentations here thus it did in David in the forecited Psal 51. 5. And in the Church Isa 64. 6. We are all as an unclean thing and in Paul Rom. 7. 21. I find a law that when I would do good evil is present with me 4. Hath this sorrow wrought in you unto a true Repentance from Sin Repentance is one of the saving works of the Spirit wrought in Application and wherever Christ is communicated to any as a fountain of Grace there will be this effect of it Now Godly Sorrow is an ingredient of this Repentance and therefore if it be right it will ever accompany such a thing Repentance is a cordial turning from Sin to God Sorrow for sin is that which helps and promoves this turning if it be kindly for it is a separating Affection and as it derives from hatred of that which procures our trouble so it will express it in carrying us away from it hence that 2 Cor. 7. 9. Ye sorrowed to Repentance for ye were made sorry after a godly manner Iâ— then ye have mourned never so bitterly for Sin yet if you have not reached to such a Repentance it hath not been right nor will it evidence your being in Christ 5. Hath this sorrow kindled in you an universal hatred of Sin When God embitters sin to us it is to make us to loath it and if this hatred be of the right stamp it will not only be against that one sin that hath done us the present sensible harm but all of the kind but every thing that bears the nature of sin on it we can say as he Psal 119. 104. I hate every false way And the reason is because if we mourned for sin under the consideration of its being sin we shall be engaged against every other sin in which we see the same grounds of hatred or
are of Israel i. e. All do not belong to the true Seed that have the external denomination and yet these are they to whom the Ministration of the letter is equally afforded 3. This notwithstanding the direct aim and great design of opening this fountain is for the sake of those that are given to Christ This is a great truth though the carnal minds of natural men are prejudiced at it and engage in so many earnest cavils against it and it becomes a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to them yet it is fully asserted in the Word of God and is necessary to be laid open in the Ministry of the Gospel That then this truth may be cleared up let us observe the following Propositions 1. That there is a select number of Adams ruined Posterity whom God hath appointed to bring to eternal life by Christ We must begin here if we would follow this grace down from the fountain of it Gods last end in this great affair was the exaltation of the glory of his Grace but in the oâ—dering of the Media by which this was to be brought about there must be a subject in whom it is to be exalted and that can be no other than a Creature that needed it This necessity man brought upon himself by his undoing Apostasy out of the ruines whereof God would pick up such as should be made the monuments of it and these were not intended to be all but only some who are called his Chosen those whom he hath given to Christ those whose names are written in the Book of Life and other like distinguishing notes differencing them from the rest of mankind nor could this appointment be only general and conditional for then it were improper to say that their names were written or that God knows who they are but we are assured that he doth 2 Tim 2. 19. 2. Hence it was for their sakes that Christ was prepared and appointed to be a fountain of life to them All mankind died in the first Transgression Rom. 5. 12. By one man sin came into the world and death by sin so that death passed upon all men for that all have sinned There must therefore a Well of Salvation be opened for the man if ever he be restored to life again The Son of God barely considered as a Divine person could not be so to Fallen man as the case stands between God and him He was capable of being made so but there was a great deal to be done in this affair to bring it about he must become a Surety for us he must as such take our nature upon him and in it put himself in our room under the Law and comport with the Sanctions of it accordingly he must do and dy for us and therein fulfil all righteousness and in that way he became able to save us to the uttermost God is therefore said to have made him all this 1 Cor. 1. 30. Who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption Now that which was designed in this was our Salvation and therefore it had a peculiar respect to those whom he was to save Christ therefore declares the very design of this Joh. 17. 19. For their sakes do I Sanctifie my self and it is a thing altogether unquestionable that if it had not been for this the Son of God had never taken this province upon him and gone through it as may be gathered from Joh. 3. 17. God-sent not his Son into the world to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved 3. That the Gospel in which this fountain is opened was appointed to be the way of the communication of the vertue of it unto these It is not enough that there was a fulness of all Grace stored in Christ but there must be a derivation of the saving vertue of it to all those that live by it Now though the spirit of God to whom the Application of it belongeth is he who derives it to us from Christ yet he hath a way in which he so doth and we are given to understand that this is by the Gospel and therefore the vertue of it is Metonymically assigned to the Gospel which is called the power of God to Salvation Rom. 1. 16. And the reason is because as it is to become ours so God deals with us in bringing us to this faith according to our nature â—s Reasonable Creatures by shewing us our object and the fulness and sufficiency of it by discovering the terms of the Covenant on which we may come to be interested in it by setting before us all the incentives to move us to entertain it all of which are discovered to us in and by the Gospel for we are told 2 Tim. 1. 10. Life and Immortality are brought to light by the Gospel When therefore God intends men Salvation in the ordinary dispensation of himself to them he makes use of the Gospel as a Medium by which he will apply himself to them 4. Those to whom it is thus to be dispensed live mixt among other men It is Gods good pleasure that his Chosen shall be scattered up and down in the World and have their dwelling among those that are his Enemies he therefore calls them from the Lions dens and from the mountains of the Leopards Cant. 4. 8. There are indeed some places in the world that are wholly in darkness and we know not of any of those that are given to Christ among them but in other places they dwell one with another in some places there are more in others there are fewer of these bâ— there are no places where Christ hath a Seâ— but there are wicked men dwelling with thâ— Godly The Apostle therefore tells us thâ— we must go out of the world if we would â—â— wholly separated from such 1 Cor. 5. 10. Anâ— we are acquainted that God hath some whoâ— he will sooner or later make sharers in thâ— benefit in every Nation Rev. 5. 9. Thou â—â— redeemed us to God by thy blood out of everâ— kindred and tongue and people and nation Tâ— tares and the wheat must grow together till thâ— end of the world then will a separation bâ— made between the one and the other anâ— not till then Mat. 13. 40 41. And these nâ— only dwell together in one City or Town but oftentimes they live in the same house and ly in the same bed Luk. 13. 34. There shall be two men in one bâ—â— the one shall be tâ—ken and the other left 5. That God hath appointed men who are called by him unto it to be the ordinary dispensers â—â— this Gospel He could indeed have done it immediately by his Spirit or he could have employed the Glorious Angels in this Affair whâ— would have accounted it an honour thus â—â— minister for the heirs of Salvation but he hath Chosen this way in his wisdom as that which is best accommodated for us and that
for a Praise and for a Glory Jer. 13. 11. 2. In the order of the means to this end there was nothing wherein God designed the exaltation of this Grace and Mercy equally with that of Christ in respect of his Redemption and Salvation He that designs an end must chuse and use means for the bringing of it about and many times there is an order of many means for the accomplishment of that which is intended and in this order there is a subordination of them â—â—e to another in their serving â—â— the design of them â—nd this is very manifest in the wonderful counsel of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the exaltation of 〈◊〉 glory of â—is Grace and Mercy Now as 〈◊〉 way in which God chose to glorify these 〈◊〉 fections of his was by the Redemption and Sâ—vation of man in and by which man was â— be made the monument of them so he â—pointed Jesus Christ to be the Redeemer aâ—â— Saviour in which he had a regard to Chriâ—â— Mediatorial Glory Christ therefore tells us Jâ—â— 5. 22 23. The Father Judgeth no man but 〈◊〉 committed all Judgment unto the Son that 〈◊〉 men should honour the Son even as they honoâ—r 〈◊〉 Father The person of Christ considered â— God and man was a great Medium in 〈◊〉 afâ—air and for that reason he is called a 〈◊〉 diator or a middle person 1 Tim. 2. 5. 〈◊〉 is one Mediator between God and man the 〈◊〉 Christ Jesus God therefore constituted 〈◊〉 to be such a person that so in and throuâ—â— him this rich Grace of his might shiâ—e foâ—â— to all eternity and for that reason we are 〈◊〉 to be chosen in him for this end Eph. 1. 4. 〈◊〉 6 According as he hath chosen us in him c. 〈◊〉 the praise of the glory of his Grace And thâ— wherein this Glory was to be illustrated 〈◊〉 in the Redemption which he was to work 〈◊〉 by which our Salvation was to be procâ—â—ed 〈◊〉 the conferring of this purchased Salvation upâ—â— us by him hence that Verse 7. In whom w◠〈◊〉 Redemption through his blood And indeed 〈◊〉 nothing coâ—â— the Grace of God so illustriouâ—â— â—ppear as â—â— the appointing oâ— his own Son t◠〈◊〉 a Redeemer for man when his case was â—â—duced to that exigence that in no other way 〈◊〉 could be Saved Joh. 2. 16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotton Soâ— Rom. 5. 6. When we were without strength in due time Christ dyed for the ungodly 3. That way might be made for this there must â—â— a subject for it to work upon which needed this Redemption and Salvation A Redeemer and Redeemeâ— are Correlates and one cannot be without the other This is a Relative Title and â—â—â—refore if there had been nothing to Reâ—â—â—m Christ could never have born that Title â—â— him Redemption supposeth a forfeiture â—â— captivity which the subject which is to parâ—ake in it is fallen under and from whence his â—ecessity of being redeemed doth arise in that â—â— is by this means to be restored from it â—â— is true there are other ways among men by which such an one may be delivered viz. â—ither by a free setting him at liberty without any satisfaction made by the bounty of the Creditour or by a forcible recovery of him out of the hands of those that hold him but this is one way and the only one in the case before us viz. by the laying down of an indented price or by an exchange of persons to â—oth of which the case in hand is referred 1 Cor. 6. 20. Ye are bought with a price 1 Tim. 2. 6. Who gave himself a ransom forâ—â—s Gal 3. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse o◠〈◊〉 Law being made a Curse for us Hence 〈◊〉 appointing of Christ to be a Redeemer haâ— respect to mans faâ—â—ing into such a conditionâ—â— made him to stand in need of one wâ—â— necessity was another Medium for the 〈◊〉 festation of this Grace and Mercy 4. That which was to enhauâ—ce this Mercy 〈◊〉 the forlorn state of the subject and his helplesâ—â—â— out of it in any other way The more there â— of Grace and Mercy in it the more are thâ— Attributes glorified by it hence every circuâ—stancâ— in this affair belongs to the 〈◊〉 The more of unworthiness there is in the 〈◊〉 ject the greater is the Grace afforded to 〈◊〉 and this Grace also holds proportion with 〈◊〉 greatness of the kindness it self that is done 〈◊〉 it The more miserable the subject is 〈◊〉 more aâ—â—onishing is that mercy which Succoâ—â— it and the more ample deliverance it affordâ— the greater is its praise and that which givâ— a peculiar lustre to both of these is when tâ—â— subject is brought into such a streight thâ—â— there is but one door at which its help câ—â— come in when there is no other possibâ—â— way of relief and then that affords it we aâ—â— therefore acquainted how all these circumstaâ—â—ces concentâ—ed in the case before us hoâ—â— miserable we were become how unworthâ— we had rendred our selves who indeed neveâ— had any meâ—â—torious worthiness in us may bâ— read in the word of God and that â—â—r condition was helpless if Christ had not stept in for our Succoâ—â— is there also witnessed to we aâ—â—â—old Acts 4. 12. Neither is there Salvation in 〈◊〉 â—ther for there is no other name under heaven giâ—â—â— amongst men whereby we must â—e Saved aâ—â— we have that remark Isa 59. 16. He saw that there was no man and he wondred that ther◠〈◊〉 â—o intercesâ—oâ—r therefore his arm brâ—â—â—ht salvation unto him c. This therefore is given as a great commendation of Christ Psal 7â— â—â— Hâ— shall deliver the poor â—nd him that hath â—◠〈◊〉 And God himself mentions this as a â—â—morable thing Ezek. 16. 5 6 None eye pitie ◠〈◊〉 and when I passed by thee and saw thâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in thy blood I said unto thee live 5. Way was made unto tâ—â—s by that sin and â—â—â—â—â—ness that man had contracted to himself It is certain that the abounding of sin made the way for the abounding of this Grace Rom. 5. 20. Man indeed had he kept his priâ—itive integrity would have been a sâ—bject of Gods Grace every thing that he received from God would have been a free favour but Grace is wonderfully enlarged in and by the Salvation which is provided for and afforded to fallen and sinful man and as to Mercy in the strict sense of it man was not a subject â—â—xtly capable of it till sin had made him so he was not miserable nor was there any distress upon him which called for succour and compassion It was sin that hurled him into all his inconveniencies and those mischiefs that now ly upon him and have hiâ— in pursuit We are therefore acquainted hoâ— this came about Rom. 5. 12. By one man 〈◊〉 came into the world and death by sin 〈◊〉 now when man is brought into such a state he is a subject
thee This is the fittest posture to pray in and God is ready to hear such in their Souls distress that cry unto him for his help David puts both together Psal 6. 8 9. The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping the Lord hath heard my supplication It is good to come unto God in such a case and make an argument of it as he did Isa 38. 14. Oh Lord I am oppressed undertake for me 3. Let the Children of God nourish this spirit in them A Spirit of mourning and of supplication is the proper Evangelical Spirit it is therefore one of the properties that belong to them whom Christ hath pronounced blessed Mat. 5. 4. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Nor is it only proper in our first returning to God but you will have occasion to use it as long as you live while you carry about with you a body of death you will never be without occasion for bitter mourning and lamentation you will see reason to go softly all your days and as long as Sin stirs in you and leads you into Captivity you will need the pity and help of God the vertue and efficacy of the fountain to derive fresh supplies of pardon and healing to you and therefore prayer is a duty that you cannot do without and no prayer is acceptable to God but what proceeds from such a spirit 4. Be we here directed what to pray for and endeavour to promote in others We ought to seek and use means for the Salvation of Sinners and peculiarly for those to whom we are tied by the bonds of near relation and if ever they be saved they must repair to this fountain for it and if they so do and succeed it must be with mourning and supplication Let us then use means to bring them to this by shewing them their need and shewing them where their help is and how it is alone to be obtained and let us bring them to God and ask for them this grace and if we see them brought into distress and made to enquire how they may find redress let us nourish this in them and not go about to suppress or stifle it 5. This calls all those on whom God hath poured such a Spirit to Thankfulness to him for it Hath God given us truly to mourn and pray by reason of Sin he hath done us an unconceivable kindness there is no greater token of his Everlasting Love it saith that he hath been laying a foundation for eternal life in us these tears and these cries have solid consolation in them they are his gift and he gave them to us that so he might bring us to himself and put us into the way of blessedness Let this then be one thing for which we praise him and let this nourish and strengthen such a frame in us to consider that eternal joy is secured to it for we are assured in Psal 126. 5 6. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him FINIS Rather than this Page should stand Empty the Reader may be gratified with the last Clause of Dr. Thomas Goodwin's Exposition of the Revelation which is as followeth AND for the JEWS Call which is conjunct with this Killing Rising of the Witnesses As it depends not upon ordinary Means to effect it so there are like to be no Preparations at all unto it until it comes as there are not for Things extraordinary but a Nation shall bring forth in a Day as the Prophet speaks And so in the very Year before it there will be no more outward Appearrances or Probabilities of it than there are now or than there have been many hundred Years since And therefore our Faith need not be put off from this by the seeing as yet no Stirrings or Motions at all unto it or towards it And the Truth is both the Killing and Rising of the Witnesses and also the Calling of the JEWS may fall out sooner than we are aware of Evangelical Perfection OR How far the Gospel requires Believers to Aspire after being compleatly Perfect As it was Delivered on a Lecture at Boston on June 10th 1694. By Samuel Willard Teacher of a Church in Boston MATH V. 48. Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect IN this Chapter with the two following an account is given of the substance or heads of a Sermon which Christ preached to his Disciples in the audience of a multitude soon after he had called them The matters contained in this fifth Chapter may be reduced to three heads 1. He points the way to true Blessedness by describing the subjects of it in several distinguishing Characters of them and declaring wherein theâ— appear to be really happy Verse 3. to 13 2. He lays open the Office and Duty oâ— such as would approve themselves to be faithful and edifying Ministers of the Gospel to Verse 17. 3. He asserts the great usefulness of the Moral Law under the Gospel assuring us that his design was not to Abolish but Establish it and thereupon proceeds to Vindicate the true sense of it from the corrupt and false glosses of the Jewish Doctors to the end of the Chapter In which he insists upon severaâ— Articles which had been more especially depraved by them and the words of our Text are an Exhortation which he draws from the whole foregoing discourse though I know there are some who needlesly restrain it to the next foregoing duty of expressing our cordial love to our enemies in opposition to the Doctrine of the Scribes who taught that we should love our neighbour and hate our enemy I know the words are expressed in the Future tense Ye shall be perfect but yet they are noâ— to bâ— understood Promissorily as some do interpret them but Preceptively as an injunctâ—on laid upon us And we have several like instances in this Chapter yea it is frequenâ— in all languages to use the Future for the Imperative You shall do thus or so intending require or command you so to do In the words besides thâ— Illation therefore which refers to the foregoing discourse there â—e two parts 1. A duty enjoyned Be ye perfect The â—bject of this command are Christs Disciples â—rse 1. The thing required is perfection which what it is will be afterward considerâ— 2. The Pattern which is set before us to â—llow in our essayes after this perfection â—â— your Father which is in heaven is perfect So â—at here the Divine perfection is proposed to â—â— for our imitation and an argument is used â—o urge it from the consideration of that relaâ—ion which he bears to us he is our Father in â—eaven and Children are apt to take after â—heir Parents Hence that 1 Pet. 1. 15 16. As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy â—â— all manner of conversation because it is
which Salvation they are delivered from that misery under which they were fallen by reason of sin unto all that felicity which they had so lost hence we are told that it is by Grace that we are saved Eph 2 8. on which account it is called the Grace of God which brings Salvation Tit. 2 11. When therefore the undone Sinner is brought to the enjoyment of perfect felicicity then hath the Grace of God accomplished its design 2. That in order to the bringing about of this purpose of God there are two things requisite to be done for the man viz The Justification of his person and the Sanctification of his nature The ground of this is because there is a double misery befallen the man by the Apostasy viz. Guilt which hath rendred him obnoxious to the wrath of God yea brought him under a sentence of Condemnation binding him over to suffer the whole Curse that is contained in the threatning of Death unto the execution whereof the Justice of God stands engaged in the Covenant of works And Pollution by which his nature is depraved and fallen under the Dominion of Sin which reigns as a King in him and so he is rendred utterly impotenâ— to the doing of that which is good and iâ— which his formal happiness did consist and alâ— his powers are violently bent to that which is evil and so long as these two abide upon him he cannot be happy but must needs be miserable As long as the man lies under the Curses of the Law a Prisoner of Revenging Justice doomed to suffer all the wrath that is contained in the threatnings that are out against Sinners in which the quintessence of alâ— evil is contained and is held fettered in Cordâ— of Iniquity so as that he can do nothing of that business which he was made for but is by the force of his carnal lusts hurried and precipitated into repeated provocations of God he must needs be a miserable Creature Nor can he be recovered to a state of blessedness but by the removal of both these evils from him and if either of them remain upon him he is incapable of being a blessed man in that condition The former of these is done by Justification and the latter by Sanctification In the one his Condemnation is removed his Guilt is taken away he is acquitted from the Law and delivered from all danger of suffering the direful penalties of it yea and is adjudged to life to partake in the good that is laid up in the promise in the latter his nature is restored and renewed again and he is rendred able to Serve God in newness of life he who before was unprofitable is now made profitable and can glorify God which was his last end And for this reason both these benefits of the new Covenant are so much celebrated in the Gospel both of these are included in that reason of the Name which was put upon Christ at his birth Matth. 1. 21. Thou shalt call his Name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins And in Gods taking away all iniquity from them Hos 14. 2. 3. That the end of this Sanctification is to make him a fit subject to enjoy true blessedness It is true without Justification of the mans person and in it a pardon of his Sins applied to him he cannot be happy for how is it possible that he should be so as long as the wrath of God abides on him and he is every moment liable to the fearful stroke of Divine Vengeance which is ready to fall on him and cut him off Whereas if once this state of his be changed and he is a Justified and Pardoned man he is forthwith blessed according to Psal 32. 1. Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Yet this alone is not sufficient for his actual enjoyment of the felicity promised in the New-Covenant for true blessedness can only consist in the closure of the faculty with its Object and resting satisfyed in it for without satisfaction the man is not happy and that it may thus do it is necessary that there be a suitableness between the faculty and the object how else should it either close with or take real content in it Now the blessedness which God hath laid in to entertain his people withall is suited only to Holiness in the subject of it so that without it it is impossible that the man should ever participate in it or be delighted with it Heb. 12. 14. Without Holiness no man shall see God So that the sinful pollution which is upon the very nature of fallen man by reason of the sin that dwells in him renders him in the present condition and so long as he abides under the prevailing efficacy of it altogether unmeet for blessedness yea indeed incapable of it He cannot have Communion with God in which his felicity must consist for God alone is an happifying object nor if he could can he take any content to himself in it because God is Holy and such is the fellowship which he holds with the Creature than which nothing can be more contrary to the corruption wherewith his nature is defiled We read of A meetness for the Inheritance of the Saints Col. 1. 12. â—hich meetness implies a suitable disposition â—â—s thereto in which it is absolutely requisite â—t there be in us such gracious qualifications â— render us conformable to the Inheritance it â—f these we have not in us by nature as we â—rive it from the unclean fountain from which â—â— are originated for Who can bring a cleanâ—â—g out of an unclean It must then be done â— Sanctification in and by which we are assiâ—ilated to our Inheritance because hereby â—â— are made holy and so are fitted for the â—joyment of the holy place and of all those â—ly things which are there prepared to make â— happy in it 4. That the man can only be truly blessed in the â—rifying of God and enjoying of him The â—essedness of the Reasonable Creature requires â—e concurrence of two things to make it comâ—eat viz. Well doing and Wâ—ll being nor can â—ther of these be alone A man is then happy â—â—en he fully reacheth the end that he was â—ade for now man was made for God not â—ly Ultimately but Immediately too and to â—se this end must needs be his misery Now Gods Glory being his own last end in all his â—orks of Efficiency hence it follows that the â—ast end oâ— all these works of â—his must be to â—erve to that glory how else should he obtain â—is end by it in the event And every one of â—is Creatures is to Serve to this end agreeably to that nature which God put into it when hâ— made it in which he bestowed on it a capâ—city of so serving his design by it Accordingly man was made capable of doingly this aâ—ively inasmuch as he was endowed with suâ— powers as enabled him to act as a cause
Covenant of Grace We do now stand upon other terms with God through Christ in the New Covenant whereof we are partakers by faith in him But still the Precepts of the Moral Law abide on us as our Duty there never was any repeal of the Command nor indeed can they ever cease to be a Rule to man for the guiding of him in the right ordering of his Conversation inasmuch as they are every way suited to the nature of man considered as being made on purpose for the actual glorifying of God so that if we would actually glorify him as men we must do it in compliance with these precepts All that is contained in this rule is reduced to those two heads Mat. 22. 37 39. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self And this can never cease to be our duty so long as we are men nothing can discharge us from the obligation of loving God and our neighbour inasmuch as the Relation we bear to both cannot cease and the duty is inseparable from such a Relation It is also certain that all of these Duties are reinforced in the Gospel or under the dispensation of the Kingdom of Grace and may be all of them found on record in the preceptive part of the New-Testament required of Christians as they would walk worthy of the vocation with which they are called and are therefore called New Commands because they are there reinforced with arguments fetcht from the consideration of the Grace of God appearing to us we have this summarily commended to us in Tit. 2. 11 12. The Grace of God which brings Salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Under which three heads are comprized all those duties which are required in and by the Moral Law 8. That all the Commands of the New-Covenant which are purely Evangelical are inclusively Comprehended in this Rule It is to be observed that there are some Duties introduced by the New Covenant and are enjoyned on all such unto whom it is promulgated which were not Duties incumbent on man whiles he continued in a state of Integrity such as Faith in Jesus Christ Repentance unto life and the several things that are contained in these as they point to us the way for fallen man to recover Gods favour and obtain eternal Salvation and indeed these Duties were inconsistent with that state Man had not forfeited himself to the Law and so needed not a Redeemer he stood in his uprightness and was defiled with no sin and had no occasion for Repentance These Duties therefore were not immediately comprized in the law of nature nor was man in Innocency able by the improvement of his reason to gather that there were any such Duties hypotheâ—ically belonging to his Rule Nor is it to be supposed that when God at first indented with man in the Covenant of Works and warned him a-against disobedience by shewing him the threatning that he made any discovery to him of an hope that in case of his miscarriage he might be saved or that he foretold a way of his recovery in case he ruined himself by trespassing against the command and bringing of himself under the threatning doubtless he reserved this for the Opening of the Covenant of Grace and till he so made it known man could not possibly so much as guess at such a thing However there is thus much contained in the Moral Law and the light of nature clearly discovered to man at first viz. that the rightful authority and supremacy that God hath over all men claims a liberty for him at any time to enjoyn man in any thing and make it his duty by vertue of his command to do it if it be within the power which he at first endowed him withal and consequently that he ows Obedience to God in whatsoever he shall at any time declare to be his will hereupon Positive Commands oblige men by the light of nature as well as Natural duties supposing there be a Revelation of them made to them We find therefore that God at first exerted this authority over our first Parents when he put them into the Garden by an arbitrary exempting the Tree of Knowledge from their eating of it under pain of death nor did they dispute but acknowledge his Soveraignty over them in that regard though afterwards the adversary used it as a snare to draw them into Sin And how many such positive Precepts did God give to Israel of which he renders 〈◊〉 other reason but this I am the Lord Hence there fore when God once reveals to fallen men that it is his will that they should repent and believe in order to their being made partakers in Pardon and Salvation it becomes their bounden duty by vertue of that Command that they so do and not only will they miss of Salvation if they neglect to comply with these terms on which it is offered but they will thereby Sin against God and so aggravate their Guilt and in this respect the Gospel may well be called the Law of Christ Hence we are told Acts 17. 30. Now God commandeth all men every where to repent i. e. Now when the Gospel is promulgated and 1 Joh. 3. 23. This is his Commandment that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ. 9 This being a perfect Rule requires every sort of personal perfection in us Our perfection must needs consist in our conformity to the Rule of it and if so we cannot be entirely perfect unless our conformity be as large as the duties which are required by it and that not only in all the parts of it by answering to every precept in it and having a respect to all the Commandments of God but also in the degrees of our compliance with it which must consist in such an Holiness as hath not the least mixture of the contrary in it that doth not only do the thing but doth it with that accuracy that there be nothing wanting in the matter of it with that diligence that we never fail either in omission or commission with that intenseness of love that hath no mixture of reluctancy or backwardness with that singleness of heart that hath no allay or mixture of any sinister aimes or ends and with that constancy that we hold on without wavering to the end which though none of the Children of God ever did or shall in this life attain unto yet it is the perfection which we are called to aspire after and not to rest in any thing short of it but to be in an earnest pursuit of it as long as we abide here and till we reach it in the Kingdom of Glory And that this is required of us will appear if we consider 1. That every thing short of this Perfection is