that are sanctified are all of one He is of the same Stock with all Mankind but the Kindred is reckoned to the Sanctified because there it holdeth of both sides Christ is born of a Woman and they are born of God and so he is a Kinsman doubly ratione incarnationis fuae and regenerationis nostrae In regard of his own Incarnation and our Regeneration He partaketh of the humane Nature and we partake of the Divine Nature And it followeth therefore he is not ashamed to call us Brethren We are said to be ashamed when we do any thing that is filthy dishonest or base or misbecoming our Dignity and Rank which we sustain in the World The former Consideration is of no place here For the latter those that bear any Port and Rank in the World are ashamed to shew too much familiarity towards their Inferiors but such is the love of Jesus Christ towards his People that though he be infinitely greater and more worthy than these yet he is not ashamed to call us Brethren Well then here is the first step of our Comfort and Hope to see God in our Natures The Eternal Son of God became our Kinsman that he might have the Right of Redemption and recover the Inheritance which we had forfeited We could not have such familiar and confident recourse to an Angel and one who was of another Stock and different Nature from ours nor put our selves into his hands with such trust and assurance Now he and we are of one Nature we my be the more confident 'T is a motive to Man Lev. 8. 7. Thou shalt not hide thy self from thine own Flesh. In Christ all the perfections of Man were at the highest This made Laban though otherwise a churlish Man kind to Iacob Gen. 29. 14. Surely thou art my Bone and my Flesh. One of our Stock and Lineage will pity us more than a Stranger 2. This Kinsman was to pay the Price and Ransom of his captivated Brother that also is implied in the Notion of a Redeemer Lev. 25. 48 49. After that he is sold his Uncle or his Uncles Son may redeem him or any that is nigh of Kin to him of his Family may redeem him So when we had sold our selves Jesus Christ who only of the Kindred was free and able to do it paied a price for us 1 Cor. 6. 20. We are bought with a Price And this Price was no less than his own precious Blood 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. A Price was necessary for God was not an Enemy that could be overcome but must be satisfied and Amends made for the Wrong done to his Majesty that the Notions which are ingrafted in Mans Heart concerning God might be kept inviolate The Lord knows how apt we are to please our selves with the thoughts of Impunity as if it were nothing to sin against God and a small matter to break his Laws Now to prevent this thought in us before his Justice would let go the Sinner he demandeth Satisfaction and equivalent Satisfaction to the Wrong done to expiate the Offence done to an infinite Majesty Therefore no less could be a sufficient Ransom for lost Sinners than the Blood of Christ. This is the Price which our Kinsman hath paid down for us In short the Wrong was done to an infinite Majesty the Favour to be purchased was the Eternal Enjoyment of the Ever-blessed the Sentence to be reversed was the Sentence of everlasting Death And therefore Christ alone could serve the turn Here is another Ground of Comfort Cyril calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. This Kinsman was to revenge the Quarrel of his slain Kinsman upon the Murtherer So he is a Redeemer and that not only by Merit but by Power not only as a Lamb but as a Lion There needed no Price to be paid to Satan we are redeemed from him not by Satisfaction but by Rescue The Apostle tells us Col. 2. 15. He spoiled Principalities and Powers Luk. 11. 21. He bindeth the strong Man and taketh away his Goods Heb. 2. 14 15. That through Death he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil And deliver them who through Fear of Death were all their Life time subject to Bondage The Devil had partly an usurped Power over Man as the God of this World or at least as the Enemy of Mankind so Christ rescues us by force partly a ministerial and permitted Power as the Executioner of God's Curse and Vengeance so he over-aweth him and puts him out of Office by the Merit of his Passion Satan had no Power over Death as Dominus Mortis as the Supreme Lord that hath power to save and to destroy but as Minister Mortis as an Hangman and Executioner hath power from the Law to put the Malefactor to death So Christ destroyed him not in regard of Essence as if there were no more a Devil to tempt and hurry us to Destruction nor in regard of Malice as if he did no longer seek to devour but in regard of Office and Ministry he is put out of office and hath no more law-Law-power to destroy those that have fled to Christ for Refuge and so hath freed us from all the fears of Death and Hell which our Guilt and Satan's Temptations subjected us to 2. That he is their Redeemer is the next Ground of Comfort Iob doth not profess Faith only in a Redeemer but in his Redeemer I know that my Redeemer liveth not by an uncharitable Exclusion shutting out others and engrossing the Redeemer to himself But 1. By a fiducial Application making out his own Title and Interest Some things in Nature are common Benefits not lessened to any because others enjoy them As a Speech heard and the Sun shining c. The Saints do not exclude others 1 Ioh. 2. 2. And he is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but for the Sins of the whole World 2 Tim. 4. 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness not for me only but for all them also that love his Appearing This doth not lessen the Benefit to us and our Obligations to him Plato thought himself obliged in kindness to one that paid his Fare for his Passage over a River and reckon'd it positum apud Platonem Officium a Courtesy that obliged Plato but when he saw others Partakers of the same Benefit he disclaimed the Debt and onely took part of it on himself Upon which Seneca groundeth this Aphorism That it is not enough for him that will oblige me to him to do me a good Turn unless he do it to my self directly non tantùm mihi sed tanquam mihi otherwise quod debeo cum multis solvam cum multis I will only pay my Portion and Share of Thanks and Respect But this cannot be applied to this extraordinary Kindness of Christ for every Man is indebted for the whole not every Man for a part of Redemption God's Love to every
Men and Angels and exposed us to an open Shame or hardens us in a dead careless Course Lusts let alone end in gross Sins and gross Sins in final Apostacy Love of Pleasure will end in Drunkenness or Adultery or the rage of unclean Desires or else in such a vain light frothy Spirit which is no way fit for Religion Envy will end in Mischief and Violence if not in Murder Iudas by his Covetousness was brought to betray his Master Gehazi was first surpriz'd with Covetousness then blasted with Leprosy and then became a Shame and Burthen to himself The Devil trieth by Lust to bring us to Sin and by Sin to Shame and by Shame to Horror and Despair But do the Children of God run into such notable Excesses and Disorders Yes when they let Sin alone discontinue the exercise of Mortification when they do not remember the Sacrifice must be salted with Salt Witness David who ran into Lust and Blood Witness Peter who ran into denying Christ with Oaths and Execrations Witness Solomon who ran into Sensuality and Idolatry And in all of us old Sins long since laid asleep may awake again and hurry us into spiritual Mischiefs and Inconveniencies if we make not use of this holy Salt 2. As to Punishment Sins prove mortal if they be not mortified Either Sin must dye or the Sinner There is an Evil in Sin and there is an Evil after Sin The Evil in Sin is the Violation of God's righteous Law the Evil after Sin is the just Punishment of it Eternal Death and Damnation Now those that are not sensible or will not be sensible of the Evil that is in Sin they shall be made sensible of the Evil that comes after Sin The unmortified Person spares the Sin and destroys his own Soul the Sin lives but he dies In the Prophets Parable to the King of Israel when he had let go the Syrian saith he Thy Life shall go for his Life So our Lives shall go for the Life of our Sins The End of these things is Death Rom. 6. 21. And The Wages of Sin is Death v. 23. But you will say What is this to a justified Person There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ. I answer You must take in all Those who are in Christ that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit they have the Salt of the Covenant But if you can suppose a justified Person to live after the Flesh you may suppose also a justified Person shall be condemned Eternal Death may be considered two ways either as to the Merit or as to the Event As to the Merit as an Evil which God hath appointed to be the Fruit of Sin or as to the Event an Evil that will certainly befall us A justified Person one that is really so may must fear it in the first Sence There is such a Connection between living in Sin and Eternal Punishment that he ought to represent the Danger to his Soul of living willingly and allowedly in his Sins that he may eschew it For this is nothing but a holy making use of the Threatnings or considering the Merit of Sin But as to the actual Event and perplexing Trouble that ariseth from the apprehension of it if his Sincerity be clear and unquestionable he must not fear it Now to make Application I. For the Reproof of those that cannot abide to hear of Mortification The Unwillingness and Impatience of this Doctrine may arise from several Causes 1. From sottish Atheism and Unbelief They despise all sober spiritual Counsel they make no Conscience of yeilding obedience to God Solomon tells us Prov. 19. 16 He that keepeth the Commandments keepeth his own Soul but he that despiseth his Way shall dye There are the different Issues of a strict Obedience and a slight vain Conversation And mark the Opposition of the two Tempers he that keeps the Commandments and he that despiseth his own Ways that is takes no heed to his Life and Actions to order them according to the Will of God He cares not whether he please or displease whether he honour or dishonour God but leaves the Boat to the Stream lives as his brutish Lusts incline him come of it what will come He despiseth his own Ways and so runs into Vanity Luxury Riot Fraud Injustice and all manner of Licentiousness Now no Man thus despiseth his own Ways but he despiseth other things which should be very sacred and of great regard and esteem with him He despiseth God and the Word of God and his own Soul Prov. 14. 2. He that walketh in his Uprightness fears God but he that is perverse in his Ways despiseth him He that makes Conscience of his Duty hath a high esteem of God he looks on his Authority as supreme his Power as infinite his Knowledge of all things exact his Truth in Promises and Threatnings as unquestionable his Holiness as immaculate his Justice as impartial and his Goodness exercised to us in sundry Benefits as rich and every way glorious Therefore he dare not but please God he hath such a deep reverence for him that he is always saying within himself What will the Holy and All-seeing God have done Or How can I do this Wickedness and Sin against God But now the careless and slight Person that takes no care to govern his Actions according to the Will of God hath contemptuous and slight thoughts of God as if he were a senslels Idol that took no notice of humane Affairs that sees not or would not punish the breaches of his Laws They also despise the Word of God Prov. 13. 13. He that despiseth the Word shall be destroyed but he that fears the Commandment shall be rewarded There are some gracious Hearts that stand in awe of the Word and though their Minds be never so much set upon a thing yet if a Commandment stand in the way it is more than if an Angel with a drawn Sword stood in the way to keep them back they dare not break through God's Hedge But now a carnal careless and unbelieving Wretch sets at nought all the Precepts Promises and Threatnings of God and can break with him for a trifle for a little vain delight and profit Nay further he despiseth his own Soul Prov. 15. 32. He that refuseth Instruction despiseth his own Soul He only cares for the Body but neglects his Soul scarce ever considers whether he has a Soul to save or a Soul to lose as if he counted all fabulous which is spoken of God and Immortality of the Day of Judgment or of Heaven and Hell Now it is in vain to speak to these to renounce and mortify their pleasing Lusts till their Atheism and Carelessness be cured And their Case is the more desperate because the Disease doth not lye in their Minds but in their Hearts and comes not so much from Opinion as Inclination A setled Opinion must be vanquish'd by Reason but a brutish Inclination must be
In all these God hath shewed great Wisdom I. As to the purchase and impetration of Grace by the Death and Incarnation of the Son of God 1. There is Wisdom in this that in our faln estate we should not come immediately to God without a Mediator and Reconciler God is out of the reach of our commerse being at such a distance from us and variance with us The wise Men of the World pitched on such a way 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. The Heathens saw so far that it was an uncomfortable thing to make their immediate approaches to their Supream God But here is the true God and the true Mediator But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him One God the Father from whom we derive all Graces to whom we direct all Services one Lord Iesus Christ who conveyeth the Graces and Benefits to us and returneth our Prayers and Acts of Obedience to God This is a mighty relief to our thoughts for the apprehensions of the pure God-head do amaze us and confound us when we come to consider of that glorious and infinite Being As heretofore before they found out the use of the Compass they only coasted as loth to venture themselves in the great Ocean So by Christ we come to God He is the true Iacob's Ladder Joh. 11. 50. 2. That this Mediator is God in our Nature Therein the Wisdom of God appeared in crossing and counter-working Satan's design Satan's great design was double to dishonour God and depress the Nature of Man 1. To dishonour God to Man by a false representation as if he were envious of Man's Happiness Gen. 3. 5. God doth know in the day that ye eat thereof your Eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil His first Battery was against the Goodness of God to weaken the esteem thereof Now by the Incarnation of Christ the Lord's Grace is wonderfully manifested he is represented as lovely and amiable in our Eyes not envying our Holiness and Happiness but promoting it and that at the most costly rate and shewing love to Man above all his other Creatures God is Love 1 Joh. 4. 8. 'T is eminently demonstrated to us in the Son of God assuming our Nature and dying for us Rom. 5. 8. When Christ was incarnate Love was incarnate Love walked up and down and healed all Sicknesses and Diseases Love died and Love hung on a Cross Love was buried in the Grave When that ill representation was suggested to us it was necessary there should be some eminent demonstration of the Love of God to Man Especially after we had made our selves liable to his Wrath and were conscious to our selves that we had incurred his displeasure and so it was necessary that we should have some notable discovery of his Philanthropy or Love to Mankind Many Believers are harrast with doubts and fears and cannot come to be perswaded that God loves them Herein is Love and God commended his Love to us in that his Son died for us 2. The next design of Satan was to depress the nature of Man which in its innocence stood so near to God Now that the humane nature so depressed and debased by the malicious suggestion of the Tempter should be so elevated and advanced and set up so far above the Angelical Nature and admitted to dwell with God in a personal Union it is a mighty counter-working of Satan and sheweth the great Wisdom of God When he laboured to put God and us asunder the Lord sent his Son who took the unity of our Nature into his own Person 3. That being in our Nature he would set us a Pattern of Obedience by his Holy Life for he lived by the same Laws that we are bound to live by He imposed no Duty upon us but what he underwent himself that he might be an Example of Holiness unto us we learn of him Obedience to God at the dearest rates contempt of the World and contentation with a low and mean Estate and to be lowly and meek in Heart Mat. 11. 29. Now Man being so prone to imitation it is the greatest effect of the Wisdom of God thus to oblige us unless we would be utterly unlike him whom we own as our Lord and from whom we have all our Hopes and Expectations 4. That he should die the Death of the Cross to expiate our Sins Gal. 3. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us c. Phil. 2 8. He humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross. That the Justice of God might be eminently demonstrated the Law-giver vindicated and the breach that was made in the frame of Government repaired and God might keep up his just Honour without prejudice to his Peoples Happiness that he might be manifested to be Holy and an hater of Sin and yet the Sinner saved from Destruction Rom. 3. 25 26. An absolute Pardon without satisfaction might have exposed God's Laws to contempt as if the violation of them were not much to be stood upon therefore God dispensed his Grace with all Wisdom and Prudence would shew eminent Mercy but withal a demonstration of his Justice and Holiness that the World might still be kept in awe and there might be a full Concord and Harmony between his Mercy and Justice 5. That after his Death he should rise from the Dead and ascend into Heaven to prove the reality of the Life to come 1 Pet. 3. 21. Guilty Man is faln under the power and fear of Death strangely haunted with doubts about the other World therefore did Christ in our Nature arise from the Dead and ascend into Heaven that he might give a visible demonstration of the Resurrection and Life to come which he had promised to us and so encourage us by a Life of Holiness and Patience in Sufferings to follow after him into those Blessed Mansions So that from first to last you see the Wisdom of God II. The Publication of it in the Gospel or Covenant of Grace 'T is ordered in all things and sure 2 Sam. 23. 5. The Messengers by whom it is published are not extraordinary ones but Men of like Passion with our selves The great thing in a Minister is love to Souls Christ saith he came not to be ministred unto but to minister In the Covenant of Grace you see the Wisdom of God in two things 1. The Priviledges offered 2. The terms or Duties required 1. In the Priviledges offered to us which are Pardon and Life In these Benefits Pardon and Life there is due Provision made for the desires necessities and wants of mankind Pardon answereth the fears of the Guilty Creature and Life those desires of Happiness which are so natural to us and therefore are the most powerful and inviting Motives to draw our Hearts to
for the Glory of God and the Advancement of his own Kingdom I say the Glory of God Rom. 6. 10. In that he liveth he liveth unto God His own Kingdom Psal. 110. 1. Sit thou at my right Hand till I make thine Enemies thy Footstool He is at the right-hand of God and there shall abide till he return to judge the World In the mean time he hath the Inspection of all Affairs All Iudgment is put into his Hands Joh. 5. 22. Things are not left to the Will of Man nor to their own Contingency but are guided and ordered by him with good Advice However Matters go Christ is Governor who is not cannot be deposed from his Regal Office nor justled out of the Throne As Luther said upon some Loss that befel the Friends of the Gospel Etiamnum vivit regnat Christus When the Floods lifted up their Voice and all things seemed to threaten Ruin and to over-whelm then follows The Lord reigneth The Lord on high is mightier than the Noise of many Waters Psal. 93. 1 4. It is spoken of the Kingdom of Christ for the advancing and preserving of which he gives forth signal Testimonies of his Regal Power 2. In spiritual Distresses when we want Life and Quickning are opposed with troubled thoughts about our sinful Infirmities Your Redeemer hath Life in himself but not for himself alone he came into the World that we might have a fuller Communication of his Grace Ioh. 10. 10. Now he is gone back again to God and filled with the Spirit to communicate it to the Members of his Mystical Body Eph. 4. 10. He is ascended up to fill all things When we are dead our Redeemer liveth as a Fountain of Life to God's People 3. In outward Calamities He liveth when other Comforts fail or are taken away from us he will prove the nearest and best Friend when all others forsake us he will not only sympathize with us but help us and knoweth how to to give a comfortable Issue out of the sorest Troubles 2 Cor. 4. 14 16. Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Iesus shall raise up us also by Iesus and shall present us with you For which cause we faint not 4. It is a great Comfort in Calumnies and Slanders when our Names are taken up in the Lips of the Taunters and cast forth as evil Iob here when his Friends suspected him as fallen from the Grace of God puts his Cause into the Hands of the great Mediator who was now with God in Heaven making Intercession for him and will one Day stand on the Earth judging the World We need not fear any partial Judge here below nor be troubled at their Prejudices and Misconstructions Christ is the true Judge who will bring to light the hidden things of the Heart and then shall every Man have praise of God 1 Cor. 4. 15. That is every one that hath done well Though we have Failings yet those that flee to a Redeemer for Pardon and Reconciliation with God and Grace to walk uprightly shall then be acquitted 5. Chiefly it is a Comfort against the Fears of Death that you may yeeld up yourselves into Christ's Hands Thoughts of dwelling with God in Eternal Life are less comfortable because Death and the Grave interpose we must pass through them before we can enjoy him But though we die Christ liveth who is the Resurrection and those that believe in him shall live though they die Ioh. 11. 25. For our Souls he standeth ready to receive them Acts 7. 54. Lord Iesus receive my Spirit And our Bodies at the last day shall be raised again to immortal Life When Christ who is our Life shall appear we shall appear with him in Glory Col. 3. 4. We need not fear Death for by his dying and rising again the Powers of the Grave are shaken and Death it self is become mortal The Grave is not a Prison but a Place of Repose Isa. 57. 2. And Death not a final Extinction but a Passage into Glory It is ours 1 Cor. 3. 22. All things are yours Life Death Things present Things to come all are yours And it is Gain Phil. 1. 21. For to me to live is Christ and to die is Gain Therefore we may go to the Grave with Comfort and Hope Christ died and yet is alive so shall we He is risen as the First-fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15. 20. The whole Harvest was blessed and sanctified by an handful of the first-Fruits dedicated to God When Christ arose he virtually drew all the Elect out of the Grave with him being renewed and reconciled by his Grace they may be confident of a joyful Resurrection for Christ is their fore-fruits The First-fruits did not bless the Tares Darnel and Cockle that grew amongst the Corn no Man that ever offered the first-Fruits desired a Blessing upon the Weeds no Bind the Tares in Bundles and gather the Wheat into my Barn But if he indeed be your Redeemer and hath redeemed you from all Iniquity that is from the Guilt and Power of Sin it is a Comfort to you to know that he lives gloriously with God and will draw all his own after him that they may live gloriously with him He is our Fore-runner Heb. 6. 20. Who is gone to Heaven and hath taken Possession for himself and in our Behalf to make the Way more passable for us When we die we do but go thither whither he is gone before us he standeth upon the Shore ready to receive us into Glory Use of Exhortation I. Believe it and be perswaded of this Truth that you have a Redeemer living with God in the Heavens 1. This is a matter of meer Faith and therefore it must be soundly believed before it can have any efficacy upon us Some points of Faith are mixed partly evident by Natural Reason partly by Divine Revelation as that there is a God it is matter of sensible Experience Rom. 1. 20. and a matter of Faith also whosoever comes to God must believe that God is Nature helpeth forward the entertainment of these things but Redemption by Christ is a matter of pure and meer Faith and is received by believing Gods Testimony 2 Thess. 1. 10. there is no improving these points till we soundly believe them 2. Because we often think we believe these general Truths when indeed we do not believe them at all or not with such a degree of assent as we imagine Our Lord when he speaks of these Truths Joh. 11. 26. He that believeth in me shall live though he die Believest thou this Joh. 16. 31. Do ye now believe We conceit our Faith to be much stronger than indeed it is about the main Articles of Faith 3. Because among them that profess themselves Christians there are monstrous defects in their Faith Naturally we look upon the Gospel as a well devised Fable 2 Pet. 1. 16. and many that dare not speak it out yet do but speak of Christ
think all their business is to get a Victory over their Consciences and though they do not deny their Lusts yet if they can be strongly perswaded that God will be merciful to them in Christ they shall not perish but obtain everlasting Life No we must obey we must deny our selves or else we do not trust Christ to bring us to Heaven in his own ways and methods but trust to some vain conceits of our own II. How this is to be understood That whosoever believeth since many other things are required of us as Repentance Mortification of Sin Self-denial new Obedience or Holiness Luk. 13. 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Mortification Rom. 8. 13. If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the Body ye shall live Self-Denial Luke 14. 16. If any Man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple New Obedience or Holiness Heb. 12. 14. Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. I answer all Truths are not delivered in one place and therefore a solitary Faith will not bring us to Heaven but that which is seconded with other things But more distinctly I. Faith is not required to exclude other things that are connexed with it by the Ordination of God For every one that believeth Christ believeth the whole Gospel to be true Except against one part and you may except against all the rest Now it is evident in the Gospel that without Regeneration Repentance and Holiness no Man can be saved and see God therefore every one that believeth in Christ must trust him to obtain it in the way that he hath appointed and promised to give it 2. Faith is not required to exclude other things that are included in the nature of it or flow as genuine Effects from such a cause A purpose of Obedience is included in the Nature of Faith and actual Obedience is the fruit of it Every one that believeth Christ receiveth him in all his Offices therefore a purpose of Obedience is included in the nature of it and if Faith be sincere universal Obedience in Self-denial Mortification and our duty to God and Men will naturally be derived from it Therefore as he that is to entertain a King makes reckoning of his Train and that he will not come alone so every one of whom Faith in Jesus Christ is required must reckon that his Faith must be evidenced to be sincere by the Fruits of it III. Why is Faith required that we may receive Benefit by Christ For these Reasons 1. In respect of God 2. In respect of Christ. 3. In respect of the Creature 4. In respect of our Comforts 1. In respect of God that our Hearts may be possessed with a full apprehension of his Grace who in the new Covenant appeareth not as a revenging and condemning God but as a pardoning God This reason is rendred by the Apostle Rom. 4. 16. It is of Faith that it might be of Grace The Law brought in the Terror of God by being the Instrument of revealing Sin and the punishment due thereunto ver 15. The Law worketh Wrath for where there is no Law there is no Transgression no such stinging sense of it but the Gospel brought in Grace The Law stated the Breach but the Gospel shewed the way of our Recovery And therefore Faith doth more agree with Grace as it makes God more amiable and lovely to us and beloved by us by the discovery of his Goodness and Grace The saving of Man by Christ that is by his Incarnation Life Sufferings Death Resurrection and Ascension do all tend to possess our Hearts with his abundant Grace To the same tend also his merciful Covenant gracious Promises and all the Benefits given to us his Spirit Pardon and Communion with God in Glory all is to sill our Hearts with a Sense of the Love of God And all this is no more than necessary for a guilty Conscience is not easily setled and brought to look for all kind of Happiness from one whom we have so much wronged Adam when once a Sinner was shy of God Gen. 3. 10. and Sin still makes us hang off from him Guilt is suspicious and if we have not one to lead us by the Hand and bring us to God we cannot abide his Presence For this End serveth Faith That Sinners being possest of the Goodness and Grace of God may be recovered and return to him by a fit Means In the new Covenant Repentance more distinctly respects God and Faith respecteth Christ Acts 20. 21. Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Iesus Christ. Repentance respects God because from God we fell and to God we must return We fell from him as we withdrew our Allegiance and sought our Happiness elsewhere to him we return as our rightful and proper Happiness but Faith respects the Mediator who is the only Remedy of our Misery and the Means of our Eternal Blessedness He opened the way to God by his Merit and Satisfaction and actually bringeth us into this way by his renewing and reconciling Grace that we may be in a capacity both to please and enjoy God and that is the reason why Faith in Christ is so much insisted on as our Title and Claim to the Blessedness of the new Covenant It hath a special aptitude and fitness for our recovery from Sin to God because it peculiarly respects the Mediator by whom we come to him 2. With respect to Christ. 1. Because the whole Dispensation of Grace by Christ cannot well be apprehended by any thing but Faith partly because the Way of our Recovery is so supernatural strange and wonderful that unless we believe God's Testimony how can we be perswaded of it That the Carpenter's Son should be the Son of that great Architect and Builder who framed Heaven and Earth that Life should come to us by the Death of another that God should be made Man and the Judge a Party and he that knew no Sin be condemned as a Criminal Person that one crucified should procure the Salvation of the whole World and be Lord of Life and Death and have such Power over all Flesh as to give Eternal Life to whom he will Reason is puzsed at these things Faith can only unravel them Partly because the Comfort of the Promises is so rich and glorious and the Persons upon whom it is bestowed so unworthy that it cannot easily enter into the Heart of a Man that God will be so good and gracious to us 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of Man to conceive the Things God hath prepared for them that love him Therefore Sense and Reason could look for no such thing Faith is necessary and a strong Faith that it may work upon us These are things
excelling in Holiness himself loveth the Vertue and Holiness of his Creature Prov. 11. 20. For how can he be imagined but to love his own Image And as Goodness and Holiness are loved by him so he hateth the Workers of Iniquity Psal. 5. 5. and abhorreth those that despise that which is most glorious in Himself his Holiness And then if God loveth the Good and hateth the Evil he will express this in answerable Effects Good with Life and Evil with Death In short The Difference between Good and Evil is not more naturally known than it is naturally known that the one is to be punished the other rewarded Whether we consider the Wisdom of God which sorteth and joyns all things according to their natural Order and therefore Sin which is a Moral Evil is joyned with Sufferings a Natural Evil that is a feeling of something painful to Nature and afflictive to it Or the Justice of God which dealeth differently with Men that differ in themselves Or the Holiness of God who therefore will express his Love to the Good in making them happy and his Detestation of the Wicked in the Misery of their Punishment 2. The Greatness of both these Life and Death they are both Eternal Punishment in one Scale holdeth Conformity with the Reward in the other The full Reward is an Eternal and far more exceeding Weight of Glory called everlasting Life so is the full Punishment the Eternal Abode of Body and Soul under Torments expressed by everlasting Fire If we did only deal with you upon slight and cheap Motives you might refuse to hearken but when we tell you of Life and Death Eternal you ought most seriously to consider Whatever can be hoped or feared from Man is comparatively of little moment because his Power of doing Good or Evil is limited But on the one side it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God Heb. 10. 31. On the other side Rom. 5. 2. We rejoyce in the Hope of the Glory of God God will act like himself infinitely gloriously especially when he is All in All when he doth not act by the mediation of the Creatures but immediately punishing the Wicked and rewarding the Good The Vessel can convey no more than it receiveth When the Creature is an Instrument of Vengeance God acteth according to the proportion and rate of that Creature as if a Giant should strike one with a Straw If God doth us good by an Ordinance the Water runneth but as the Pipe will contain he cannot manifest himself in that Latitude but then God is All himself immediatly Consider 1. The Greatness of the Death that accompanieth Evil. The Afflictions and Sorrows of this Life are a part of this Death When Moses here had insisted on many temporal Plagues which should befall his People he saith I have set Life and Death before you There are many Miseries in this Life which are the Fruit of Sin which would make your Hearts ake and your Ears tingle to hear of And then Death which consists in the separation of the Soul from the Body is the King of Terrors But we speak of the second Death which is far more terrible which consists in an Eternal Separation from the blessed and glorious Presence of the Lord no Death like this In all Creatures that have Sense Death is accompanied with Pain but this is a perpetual living to deadly Pain and Torment from whence there can be no Release In the first Death the Pain may lie in one place but in the second it extends all over The first Death the more it prevaileth the more we are past feeling but in this Death the Sufferer has a greater vivacity than ever the Capacity of every Sense is enlarged and made more receptive of Pain While we are in the Body Vehemens sensibile corrumpit Sensum the more vehemently and violently any thing strikes upon the Senses the more doth it dead the Sense as the Inhabitants about the Fall of Nilus are deaf with the continual noise Too much Light puts out the Eyes Taste is dulled by Custom But here the Capacity is improved by feeling The Power of God sustains the Sinner whilst his Wrath torments him As the Saints are prepared for the Blessedness of Heaven we cannot bear the least Glimpse of that Happiness which they enjoy above so the wicked are fitted to endure those inconceivable Pains When the first Death approaches there is strugling for Life Men would not dy but in the second Death they desire a final Destruction they would not live 2 The Greatness and Excellency of that Life that ensueth Good All manner of Blessings in this Life is the lowest step of it At Death when the Spirit returneth to God that gave it then it beginneth to be discovered but it is consummated when Body and Soul shall be translated to Heaven This is Life indeed Nescio an ista Vita mortalis Vita an vitalis Mors dicenda sit the present Life is a kind of Death always in fluxu like a Stream it runneth from us as fast as it cometh to us Iob 14. 1. He fleeth away as a Shadow and continueth not We die as fast as we live like the Shadow of a Star in a flowing Stream This Life is annoyed with a thousand Sorrows and Calamities but there is a freedom from all Sin and Misery and a full fruition of Pleasures for evermore Psal. 16. 11. And our Capacities are strong to bear them This Life is patched up with Supplies from the Creatures there is a full Fruition of God himself 1 Cor. 13. 12. And in this Life such Days may come wherein we have no pleasure Eccl. 12. 1. Life it self becomes a Burthen but that Life as it lasteth for ever so we are never weary of it The Enjoyment of God is new and fresh to us every moment As the Angels for thousands of years are beholding the Face of God but never weary of so doing so shall we always delight our selves in seeing God as he is 3. The Certainty of both these Life and Death Hell and Heaven as the Fruits of Good and Evil. 1. Reason sheweth it certainly that there is Eternal Life and Death or a State of Torment and Bliss after this Life All Men are perswaded that there is a God and very few have doubted but that he is a Rewarder of Vertue and and a Punisher of Vice Now neither the one nor the other is fully accomplished in this World even in the Judgment of those that have no great knowledg of the Nature of Sin nor what Punishment is competent thereto Therefore there must be after the sojourning in the Body a time in which retributive Justice shall be executed and Punishments and Rewards that here are dispensed so disproportionably even to what natural Reason would expect from the Hand of God shall most equally be dispens'd to Persons If any say Vertue is a Reward to it self as in some sence
which maketh us Creatures only That came from his general Goodness this from his peculiar Love there it is Goodness here it is Grace 2 Tim. 1. 9. He hath called us with an holy Calling according to his own Purpose and Grace Creatures are sustained by his common Providence but new Creatures by his special Care and Covenant He openeth his Hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing Psal. 145. 16. But he especially preserveth and supplieth Believers 1 Tim. 4. 10. He giveth others bodily Comforts but these Soul-refreshings and spiritual Graces Eph. 1. 3. There is Vestigium a Tract or Foot-print of God in all the Creation these have his Image restored in them Eph. 4. 24. The new Man is created after God Well then this is that we should look after that we may be his Workmanship made again It is a woful thing to be God's Workmanship by Creation and not by Renovation it is better never to have been God's Creature in the first making if not his Creature in the second making Better thou hadst been a Beast yea a Toad or Serpent than a Man for when the Beasts die Death puts an end to their Pains and Pleasures at once but all thy Comforts end with Death and then thy Pains begin the Beasts have no remorse to sowre their Pleasures but Man hath Conscience and therefore can have no rest till he return to God Secondly God's way of Concurrence to establish this Relation It is a Creation the Phrase is often used Eph. 4. 24. The new Man is created after God No other Hand could finish this piece of Workmanship God often sets it forth by this Term Isa. 43. 7. I have created him for my Glory I have formed him yea I have made him So vers 21. This People have I formed for my self they shall shew forth my Praise So in other places Now Creation is a Work of Omnipotency and proper to God There is a twofold Creation in the beginning God made some things out of nothing and somethings ex inhabili materia out of foregoing Matter but such as was wholly unfit for such things as was made of it As when God made Adam out of the dust of the Ground and Eve out of the Rib of Man Take the Notion in the former or latter Sence and it will sute with the Matter in hand 1. We are formed anew of God as it were out of a State of Nothing and get a new Being and a new Life To this there are frequent Allusions in Scripture as Rom. 9. 7. He calleth the things that are not as though they were 2 Cor. 4. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who speaketh Light out of Darkness he bringeth Life out of Death something out of nothing Now there is such a Distance between these two Terms that the Work can only be accomplished by a Divine Power 2. Creation out of unfit Matter We were wholly indisposed averse from Good perverse Resisters of it Now to bring us to love God and Holiness to restore God's lost Image to us it is a new forming or making of us and must be looked upon not as a low natural or common thing but as the Work of him who gave us his Image at first Col. 3. 10. The new Man is renewed after the Image of him that created him To turn a Heart of Stone into an Heart of Flesh God challengeth it to Himself Ezek. 36. 26. This Creation sheweth two things 1. The Greatness of the Disease that is clearly seen in the difficulty of the Remedy Nothing doth make a Man so sensible of the Corruption of his Nature as when we hear by what Terms our Recovery or Restitution by Grace is set forth It is a second Creation a new Birth a Resurrection a raising up of Stones to be Children to Abraham yea in a sort Beasts are turned into Angels From these things we may a little conceive of the greatness of that Disease which all Mankind were sick of Every Faculty of our Souls was both weakned and corrupted and God only by his Divine Power can restore us for to be cured we must be wholly new made and who can make or create but God Surely we contributed nothing to it What Enemies were we to our own Mercies It is no small matter for Darkness to become Light in the Lord for a rugged stubborn Creature to be mollified and submissive to the Spirit 's Discipline for a Slave of the Devil to become the Subject of Christ that an Heap of Rubbish should be erected into a Temple to God and a Dung-hill turned into a Bed of Spices 2. It teaches us to magnify this renewing Work If you think the Cure is no great matter it will necessarily follow that it deserveth no great praise and so God will be robbed of the Honour of our Recovery But why then is this Work so magnified in the Scriptures and such high Expressions used about it Why is it called an opening of our blind Eyes a turning us from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God a quickning them that were dead and making us new Creatures Why must the Holy Ghost be shed so abundantly upon us for our Renovation Surely it is some great thing which all these Expressions do intend and should be more magnified in our thoughs that we may give God his due praise and honour And they sin greatly that have contemptuous thoughts or a low esteem of it or see not the absolute necessity of it and by extenuating this great Change give shrewd suspicion they were never acquainted with it Surely all that have felt what God hath done for their Souls they know how little they have contributed to it they dare not make light of it and ascribe it to their own Wit or Will or entertain undervaluing thoughts of this Grace Alas there is an Enmity in every carnal Heart against Holiness till God remove it and subdue it Rom. 8. 7. Col. 1. 21. And what shall conquer this Enmity but his invincible Power Surely this is the gracious and powerful Work of the ever-blessed GOD and to be ascribed to Him alone Can a stony Heart of it self become tender Or a dead Heart quicken it self Or a Creature wholly led by Sense and addicted to the Pleasures of Sin be brought of it self to seek its Happiness in an unseen World and of its own accord deny present things and lay up all its Hopes in Heaven No it is God must take away the Heart of Stone quicken those that are dead in Trespasses and Sins 3dly How far the Mediation of Christ is concerned in this Effect We are renewed by God's creating Power but through the intervening Mediation of Christ. 1. This creating Power is set forth with respect to his Merit The Life of Grace is purchased by his Death 1 Ioh. 4. 9. God sent his only begotten Son into the World that we might live by him Here spiritually hereafter eternally Life opposite to
the Death incurred by Sin And how by him by his being a Propitiation that he speaks of there vers 10. We were in a State of Death when the Doors of Mercy were first opened to us under the Guilt and Power of Sin for while the Guilt and Tyranny of Sin remaineth we are said to be dead and strangers to the Life of God and we begin to live when first regenerated by the Spirit of Christ. Now this we have not without Christ being a Propitiation for our Sins that is without doing something whereby God without any impeachment of his Honour might shew himself placable and propitious to Mankind his Justice Holiness and Hatred of Sin being sufficiently demonstrated in the Sufferings of Christ. Now the Honour of his governing Justice being kept up his pardoning Mercy is the more freely exercised God may be propitious to Mankind and yet still be acknowledged as a sin-hating God 2. In regard of Efficacy Christ is a quickening Head or a life-making Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45. Whatever Grace we have comes from God through Christ as Mediator and from him we have it by virtue of our Union with him 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any Man be in Christ he is a new Creature As soon as joyned to him as our Head this Grace is applied to us by his Spirit It is first applied by converting Grace and then continually supplied by the confirming Grace of the Spirit and so we are fitted to every good Work Christ first applieth it in Conversion when he giveth us Repentance and a new Nature Acts 5. 31. And supplieth it by continual Influence Iohn 15. 5. We live on him as the Branch doth on the Root Now from hence we learn what a great Benefit renewing Grace is it is a Fruit of reconciling Grace 2 Cor. 5. 18. All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Christ. God giveth Grace only as the God of Peace that is as pacified by Christ's Death The holy Spirit is the Gift of his Love and the Fruit of this Peace and Reconciliation which Christ made for us First our Lord Jesus Christ merited this Grace by the value of his Sacrifice and bloody Sufferings and then doth apply it by the Almighty Power of his Spirit and Christ is first our Ransom and then the Fountain of Life unto our Souls and so the Honour of our whole and entire Recovery is to be ascribed to our Redeemer When he satisfied God's Justice for our Sins he purchased a Power to change the Heart of Man and he purchased this Power into his own Hands not into anothers and therefore doth accomplish it by his Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 18. We should often think what a Foundation God hath laid for the Dispensation of his Grace and how he would demonstrate his infinite Love in giving his Son to be a Propitiation for us When he would shew forth his infinite Power in determining and changing the Heart of Man all the Persons concurred the Father purposing the Son by way of Redemption and Purchase the Holy Ghost by effective Power and all to bring back our Souls to God and to make us capable of serving and pleasing him it is surely a Workmanship of much cost Two Reasons why they are as it were created anew 1. Because of the Badness of our former Estate Ruinous and decayed Buildings are only to be thrown down to make way for a new Structure and House to stand in the same place Man naturally is a Creature in a State of Apostacy and Defection under a loss of Original Righteousness averse from God yea an Enemy to him prone to all Evil weak yea dead to all Spiritual Good And what must be done with such a Creature to bring him out of his Misery but wholly to new-mould him and make him that he may have a new Being and Life The Scripture represents Man as blind in his Mind 2 Pet. 1. 9. Perverse in his Will Zech. 7. 12. Rebellious in his Affections Eph. 2. 3. fulfilling the Desires of the Flesh and of the Mind What sound Part is there left in us to mend the rest If we will be brought home to God we must of sinful and polluted become clean and holy and Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one Job 14. 4. We must of carnal become spiritual and therefore we must be new-born new-made Ioh. 3. 6. That instead of minding the things of the Flesh we may mind the things of the Spirit we must of Wordly become Heavenly Now he that formeth us for this very thing is God 2 Cor. 5. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that frameth and createth us for this Heavenly State is God He that is the Framer and Maker of all things of infinite Wisdom Power and Love he createth us anew in Christ that we may look after Eternal Life The Heavenly Disposition wrought in us is a Pledge of it 2. From the Nature of God's Work which is not meerly by helping the Will but by giving us the Will it self or the Act of Volition of it not by curing the Weakness of it but by sanctifying it and taking away the Sinfulness of it and inclining it to himself If the Will were only in a Swoon and Languishment a little moral Perswasion and Excitation outward or inward by the Word and Spirit would serve the turn but we cannot say of it as Christ of the Damsel She is not dead but sleepeth No the Scripture saith We are dead in Trespasses and Sins Eph. 2. 1. God's Grace is not only necessary for facilitation that we may more easily pursue and chuse that which is good as a Horse is necessary that a Man may pass on his Journey more easily which otherwise he might perform on foot with Difficulties No 't is impossible as well as difficult to escape the Carnal Life without God Mat. 19. 26. He doth work such a Change on a carnal Man's Heart that he contemns the World and seeks after Heavenly Things Nay he doth not only give us a remote Power to will if we please or a remote Power to do if we please but he giveth to will and to do Phil. 2. 13. the Will it self and the Deed it self Thus is God's Operation set forth he reneweth the Faculties and exciteth the Act of willing and doing by his powerful and victorious Influence Ezek. 36. 26 27. Otherwise if Grace did only give us an Indifferency so that a Man may or may not then Man would be the principal Cause of his own Conversion and God lose the Glory of his Grace and the Honour of it be ascribed to the Liberty of Man 's own Will God doth not give a power to repent and believe and leave it to the Determination of Man's Will to make it effectual but he giveth Faith it self and Repentance it self Faith is his Gift Eph. 2. 8. To you it is given to believe Phil. 1. 29. The Redeemer was raised to give Repentance