you meet with many temptations here and you meet with many afflictions here trial upon trial one following another well under all comfort your selves with the Hope that is laid up in Heaven for you and ballance all your trials and temptations with the Hope that is in Heaven And Use 5. In the last place You that have a Hope laid up in Heaven for you see that you walk answerable to your Hope This is expected of you as the A postle tells you 1 Thes 2.12 That ye would walk worthy of God who hath called you unto his Kingdom and glory See that you walk worthy of the Hope that you have received Have you a Hope laid up in Heaven for you of such great things as we have mentioned a Hope ever to be with the Lord then carry it in a way correspondent to these Hopes in raised frames breathings and longings of heart after God The Hopes of an eternal enjoyment of God in the world to come should fill us with desires after the enjoyment of God here in those means and according to those waies in which he hath promised to let out of himself to his People You should be continually pressing after the enjoyment of God mediately who have the Hopes of the eternal enjoyment of God immediately And says the Apostle 1 Joh. 3.3 He that hath this Hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure If you have such a Hope then testifie it by laying siege to corruption and by seeking to mortifie the body of sin and death that you bear about you and correspond with your Hopes in pressing after holiness and a growth in all grace for he that hath this Hope and he that hath the Promise of these things will be perfecting Holiness in the fear of God Make it your business therefore to grow in grace and to advance in all Holiness that so you may abound and that yet more and more in the work of the Lord. Christians Freedom FROM Condemnation in Christ Romans 8.1 There is therefore now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit THIS Chapter is as one calls it the Magazine of a Christian's comfort it is the Cabinet where many Jewels are lockt up the Ship where much of his Treasure is imbarqued The Apostle gives out comfort upon comfort unto Believers here 1. In the first part of the Chapter he endeavours to comfort them under the afflictive and discouraging sense that they had of the remaining corruption that did annoy and pester them every day shewing that it was pardoned and done away out of the sight of God 2. He endeavours to comfort them under all their trials tribulations and afflictions that were many and to be many in this world and shews them that there was a weight of glory in reserve that would more than ballance them all 3. He also endeavours to comfort them against their fears of falling away or of God's casting them off shewing of them that nothing shall separate them from the love of Christ And in the close of the Chapter Faith breaks out into an high act and he is able to triumph over all in this world and all the Principalities of Hell and Darkness that were engaged against him shewing that in Christ Jesus he was and all those in his state and condition were more than Conquerors through him that had loved them In the first verse you have a heart-reviving Proposition laid down There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus In the following verses you have the confirmation of this Proposition For says he the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death In ver 9. he makes application of all unto those in Christ Jesus to whom he had written But ye says he are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be the Spirit of God dwelleth in you All you that have the Spirit of God you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit and therefore there is no condemnation to you and he proposes it in such general terms as that all who have the Spirit may take it up and make application of the comfort thereof to their own Souls The Assertion that he lays down in the Text is no condemination to them that are in Christ Jesus Or a Conclusion that is drawn from the whole Doctrine of our Justification in and by the Righteousness of Jesus Christ of which he had treated in the preceeding Chapters of the Epistle Now this he concludes from it that being accepted in Christs righteousness and being in that justified before God there is now no condemnation for us so as you have in the words 1. This assertion laid down that there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus 2. A Mark and Character given whereby we may come to know whether we are these to whom there is no condemnation that is such saies he walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit In the Proposition or assertion you may take notice 1. Of the Subjects and they are such as are in Christ 2. Of the Predicate and that is there is no Condemnation to them Some there are that make our being in Christ Jesus our vocation and they construe our Non-condemnation our justification and our walking not after the flesh but after the spirit to set forth our sanctification Condemnation it is the doom or sentence of a just and righteous Judge against an offender Now Non-condemnation it is the contrary hereunto that is to be acquitted to be discharged to have the sentence of death revoked and taken off and this is that that God doth for all those that are in Christ Jesus he revokes the sentence that was gone our against them There is in the Gospel a cancelling of our law obligation to die the Gospel that brings in life and removes the death that the law threatned and denounced against us and so the Proposition from the first part of the verse is this Doct. That all those that are in Christ they are acquitted absolved and discharged by God There is now saies he no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus No condemnation from God no condemnation in Heaven for them God the Father that is in Christ a Father of Mercies and a Father of Forgivenesses he comes and forgives and discharges them There are 3 Courts as I may so say there is the Court of Heaven there is the Court of Conscience and there are the Courts of Men. Now a Child of God may be sentenced in the two latter and yet acquitted and cleared in the former he may be condemning himself he may be drawing up charges against himself he may write nothing but bitterness against himself when he is acquitted before God he may be accused and condemned by Men Jesus Christ was so counted a Sinner numbred amongst Transgressours and yet the
Gospel that is consecrated for us to hold and enjoy fellowship with him in and now Christians what a ground of rejoycing is here Friends they die A bosom acquaintance in the flesh is taken from thee they die from thee and their places know them no more but here is Jesus he ever abides upon the Throne clearing the way of communion between God and thee So that God is alwaies thy friend alwaies in reconciliation to thee alwaies ready to make known himself and to impart of his Love and Grace to thee Here is an abiding ground of joy for us in Christ Jesus if we consider him as he is a glorious Person in his Mediatory Constitution SERMON II. Habakkuk 3.18 Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation THE words have been opened unto you and we have given you this Proposition from them Doct. That there is enough in Christ alone for the Soul that is interested in him to rejoyce in whatsoever his case and condition is You need no more than Jesus to make you blessed upon Earth and there is enough in Jesus to make you blessed for ever in Heaven there is enough in Jesus to make you happy in time and enough in Jesus to make you happy to eternity Now here for the Direction of your Faith in looking up to and in dealing with Christ in a dark or low condition we proposed to consider First What Jesus Christ is And here we told you that 1. In the first place He is glorious in his Person I now proceed 2. As he is glorious in his Person so he is gracious in his Nature full of grace full of kindness full of compassion both unto Saints and unto Sinners He might have apâ—eared glorious in his Person and not gracious in his Nature He might have appeared altogether terrible a glorious Person and yet surrounded with terrible Majesty but Jesus Christ is as gracious in his Nature as he is glorious in his Person he is full of compassion unto the Sons of men there is no harshness there is no bitterness in Christ Jesus there is nothing in him my friends that will discourage you if you search him never so narrowly and if you look him through there is nothing in him to discourage you but he is full of love and full of all encouragement I do not mean that he is full of love only as he is God absolutely considered The Apostle says That God is Love he speaks it of God the Father and so as Christ Jesus is God equal with the Father in the Divine Nature it is applicable to the Second Person but that is not all but he is full of grace in his Nature as he is clothed with our flesh and his Love it is alwaies an encouraging Love it is alwaies a heart-casing Love it is alwaies a Soul-satisfying Love You cannot find such an Object upon Earth nor such an Object in Heaven as Jesus Christ is that is so full of compassion and so full of grace as he is and the greatness of his Love as a ground of Joy unto the believing Soul in all conditions is such as First Does break through and conquer all opposings Secondly It heightens under all our sorrows And Thirdly It abides unmixed in all seasons First His Love is such and so great that it breaks through all opposings and forbiddings Though there is nothing in Christ to discourage our Love to him yet I must tell you that there is enough in us to discourage Christ's Love to us and indeed there is nothing else in us but that which may forbid the Love of Jesus Christ dealing with us Now whatsoever are the matters of discouragement in us the Love of Jesus breaks through them all it sticks at nothing Let the heart be never so vile let the sinner in himself be never so loathsom let his waies be never so contrary let the principles upon which he acts be never so averse the Love of Jesus Christ breaks through all What is the state of a sinner when Christ Jesus comes to visit him a vile loathsom filthy abominable state You have it set out in the 16th of Ezekiel by all manner of strange expressions that shews the sinner is in a very loathsom state in the 5th and 6th verses Thou layest in thy blood saith he and none Eye pitied thee One casts his Eye upon thee and says There is a loathsom Object I will have nothing to do with him another comes by and casts his Eye There is a loathsom Creature Who would come near such a one Thou wert cast out says he to the loathing of thy person but says Jesus I passed by thee and it was a time of love And in the 10th of Luke you may see it set out in a Parable of the Samaritan one passed by a poor Creature that lay in his blood and would have nothing to do with him and another passes by and would have nothing to do with him but Jesus the good Samaritan he passes by and he pities him and binds up his wounds and heals him You may see what forbiddings this Love of Christ marches through Titus 3 3. For we our selves were sometimes foolish disobedient deceivers serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice hateful and hating one another Good Lord one would think is it possible that such a Soul as this should be brought home and loved by Jesus Christ that is in such a state and have such a heart and walks in such waies But says the Apostle v. 4. After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but accoridng to his mercy he saved us c. And 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you but ye are washed c. Jesus he loves you notwithstanding this and continues to love you Nay my Friends this is not all but his love is such as doth not only march through great opposings and forbiddings before grace but high discouragements after grace Why what is the walk of the Soul after grace Is it not very crooked and very perverse Doth not he fall short of the Rule Doth not he offend God in every thing he doth Is there not a great deal of unbelief Is there not a great deal of pride a great deal of carnality and impatience and passion in your hearts after grace Do not you stumble and fall in the Christian walk every day violate the Covenant of your gracestate break the Commandments of God and yet notwithstanding all be continues to love you in the 80th Psalm v. 30.31 Supposing says God there that my Children my Redeemed Ones that I have set my love upon and visited with my grace that they will forsake my Law and walk out of the way of my Commandments that I have called them to walk in and charged them to abide in Now the Love of Jesus Christ keeps up through all therefore says the
for a Christian the blood of Jesus is said to be a pleading blood Heb. 12.24 And to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things then the blood of Abel It is a pleading blood and it saies Father Remember the merits of the Sacrifice of my death remember the satisfaction that thou hast received and do thou continue to love and continue to bless and continue to delight in and to acknowledge these poor ones though they fail and though they provoke thee The believer it may be is so ashamed of himself upon an overcome that he hath not one word to say for himself he can give no reason why a decree of justice should not come out against him but the blood of Jesus that is alwaies speaking and alwaies interceeding whereby we are kept in that justified peace-state with God that in our first coming over to God we are stated in and this may satisfie the Christian under all the disquiets troubles turmoils and unsettlements that he meets withal in this world Secondly Jesus Christ is a powerful Intercessor in Heaven daily urging the merits of his Death and improving the Interest that he hath with God for the compleating of the work begun in the hearts of Believers whereby they are growing up to perfection Jesus Christ is not only an Advocate with the Father silencing and answering all accusations and charges and so maintaining of the Believer in his justified Peace-state with God but as a lively and living Intercessor he is alwaies urging the merits of his Death and improving the Interest that he hath with God for the compleating of the good work of his Grace that is begun Jesus Christ hath not only a Fountain of all Grace for your constant supply but he acts the part of an Intercessor and improves the merits of his Death for the managing of the work of Grace that is begun in your Souls This you have Heb. 9.24 Jesus Christ is gone into Heaven to appear in the presence of God for us And he is not there to appear only as an Advocate or an Attorney but he is there as a mighty Intercessor pleading with God in the strength of the merits of his own Death improving all his Interest with the Father for you Rev. 5.6 In the midst of the Elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain having seven Horns c. This Lamb is Christ Now Christ Jesus he is in Heaven advanced upon a Throne for you He is in the midst of the Throne near unto his Father and how doth he sit or how doth he appear Why says he he appears as a Lamb as it had been slain that is Christ he bears the marks of his Death before his Father upon the Throne he is there to make a fresh commemoration of his sufferings presenting his bloody death and his bloody Sacrifice before his Father As Jesus Christ after he was risen said unto Thomas Come says he behold my wounds and see the print of the Nails in my hands and in my feet So Jesus Christ saies as it were to his Father Father behold these wounds behold how I was pierced behold how I was wounded for these people and as one says so many wounds so many cries Every wound hath a crying mouth that is daily pleading with God for the Believer Jesus alwaies stands as a Lamb as it were slain urging his death urging his agony urging the greatness of his sufferings when justice had him under the lash when he trode the Wine-press of his Fathers wrath alone and he is urging the value of his death for the succeeding of the work of grace begun for the encreasing of strength for the carrying on of your Souls unto perfection Jesus Christ lives upon the Throne carrying on this work and for this great end he considers the Christians state in all his dangers and in all his weakness and under all his wants and he is improving his death for more grace and for an increase of spiritual blessings he knows your dangers by reason of your temptations in the world and he is praying for you there and improving his interest with his Father on that account John 17.15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil O Father saies he they cannot stand against the temptations of the world in their trades and concerns in the world not alone let thy grace be sufficient and let thy strength be sufficient to secure them in their dangers he sees that your grace is yet but small and will hardly stand against a small encounter and therefore he prays that it may be encreased as Luke 22.31 32. I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not as if he had said I know that thy grace will be sorely tryed and will meet with great opposition but I have prayed that it may not fail he pleads with the Father for a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit upon the hearts of his people John 14.16 17. And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth c. And when Jesus Christ does pray for the Spirit he prays that he may come in the royalties of his office into your hearts bringing in the fruits of grace of peace and of joy and of spiritual comfort And thus he in Heaven looks after the work that is begun and upon that account he is called not only the Author but the Finisher of our Faith Heb. 12.2 The intercessory work of Christ is not only at your first coming over to God to give you favour with God peace with God but it is a continued act over your whole state till you come in glory Heb. 7.25 He is able to save to the uttermost or to carry on salvation work till he hath compleated it Why because he ever liveth to make intercession for us Jesus Christ by his intercession does deliver out of one streight to day and he will continue in the same work and if a new streight does appear to morrow he will aid through that also and he will go on so until he hath setled thy Soul in a compleat salvation state Jesus Christ does daily exhibit and urge and present the merits of his death for the carrying on and managing of the work that he hâ—th begun And here take notice by the way that when we say Jesus Christ continueth to interceed you must know that he doth not interceed in a way of free Grace as we do at the throne of Grace he doth not interceed in a precarious way as believers do but he interceeds in the merit of his own sufferings his interceeding is an authoritative act he doth not only pray the Father for Grace and for acceptance for us but he urges the Father upon the account of the infinite price of his own sufferings that
much to us that howsoever spotted and howsoever defiled and howsoever tainted our duties are as they come from us Jesus Christ makes them sweet and savoury and pleasant unto his Father and presents them as a sweet memorial unto him Isa 56.7 Even them will I bring to my holy Mountain and I will make them joyful in my house of prayer their burnt Offerings and Sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine Altar c. Why the Believer comes and brings his poor Petitions but they are not fit for the great God to read over to consider nor to look upon but Jesus Christ he examines them and he mends the Petitions and draws them up fit to be presented to his Father and delivers them with his own hand and then they come to be accepted You are says God unto his Church of old a Kingdom of Priests unto me and an holy Nation Exod. 19.6 Now this is applied unto the Church in New-Testament daies 1 Pet. 2.5 And in v. 9. Ye are a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People Ye are made a holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices Ay but will they be accepted yes through Jesus Christ acceptable to God by Christ Jesus And Rev. 1.6 He hath made us Kings and Priests unto God the Father that is to offer up spiritual Sacrifices but this will not do alone Jesus Christ he stands to receive every Offering and it passes through his refining and cleansing hand and his perfuming Incense and so it comes unto God and then 't is a valuable Sacrifice then 't is a pleasant and delightful Sacrifice he puts it into his golden Censure and offers it up to his Father as Rev. 8.3 Here is the great Mystery of the Intercession of Jesus Christ held forth to you in reference to your spiritual Oblations he had a golden Censer and there was given him much Incense he hath enough for all your prayers there was given him much Incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints so we read it but it might also be read That he should add it unto the prayers of all Saints so as our prayers are not weighty as they come from us nor acceptable but they have the Incense of Christ Jesus added to them and then they are weighty and then they are acceptable and from hence God the Father comes to be delighted in the supplications of his servants Now by the way Christians I beseech you take in this notion into your faith it is generally received and believed that we must rest upon the satisfaction of Christ Jesus for the acceptance of our persons let me tell you that you must also act Faith upon Jesus Christ as an Intercessor and rest upon the Merit of his Incense and of his Mediation for all your speedings in your approaches unto God As you must act Faith upon the Merits of Christ Jesus for the acceptance of your persons so you must act Faith upon the Merits of Christ's Death and of Christ's Life now in Heaven for the acceptance of all your spiritual performances with God And here my Brethren you have another ground of Joy and Comfort in your low estate here Suppose that you be tossed to and fro by many tempests suppose that you were sorely broken in upon by breaches of providence suppose that you have lost many dear friends that you did use to consult withal and to go to for assistance why yet you have Jesus Christ keeping your way clear unto the Father and he it is that gives you a constant boldness with him Bring all your Petitions ask what you will in the Name of Christ Jesus and it shall be granted to you Christ stands ready to receive your Petitions and to mend whatsoever is amiss in them and to present them in his own dress unto his Father that they may be accepted and in and through Christ you have a liberty and boldness with God Let us come boldly saies the Apostle unto the Throne of Grace Heb. 4. ult And in Heb. 10.19 Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus Jesus Christ will not throw out a Petition because it was no better worded Jesus Christ will not throw back a Prayer because the Spirit was no more composed ond ordered in it Jesus Christ will not throw back a duty because he sees a little unbelief in it or something of self in it or something that is displeasing to his Father in it but he takes out whatsoever is displeasing and he adds his own incense to it and carries it unto his Father and delivers it an acceptable offering unto him And on this ground you may joy and rejoyce in the Lord Jesus whatsoever your condition in this world is 4. Jesus Christ doth in wisdom direct and with love and grace influence all the losses crosses and afflictions of your Christian state whereby they are all made to further your spiritual interest and be subservient unto your great soul advantage It is the lot and portion of Gods People to be often afflicted to be sore broken as in the place of Dragons and they are many times emptied from Vessel to Vessel but there is infinite wisdom Christian infinite reconciled wisdom that doth order all the motions of providence in all the changes of thy condition Jesus Christ he hath hold of every providence and he directs it in wisdom and influences it with love and grace that so it must do thee good it cannot be unto thy harm or prejudice in Eph. 1.22 And hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things unto the Church Christs providential Kingdom is subordinate unto his spiritual Kingdom unto which thou doest belong and by his grace and wisdom he directs all and in mercy doth manage all for thy advantage Psal 34.15 The Eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry The Lord Jesus is ever viewing of a Christians state in his goings out and in his comings in in his lyings down and in his risings up he is ever viewing a Christians condition and wisdom doth direct all for the best it is said therefore Ezekiel 1.18 and it is an observable Scripture as for their rings they were so high that they were dreadful and their rings were full of Eyes round about them four The Prophet is here speaking of the great mystery of providence sometimes saies he Gods providences are very deep they are very tremendous and dreadful but be it so the rings of the wheels of providence they are alwaies full of Eyes saies he round about them four they are full of Eyes Eyes note wisdom directing guiding influencing and managing Now saies he the rings of the wheels that move in every state condition are alwaies full of Eyes there is not only an Eye one way but there is an Eye that looks every way The wheels of
shall not they cannot do it and Hosea 2.19 I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercy c. I know full well what I do saies the Lord I will betroth thee in judgment I know what the Soul is that I take I take him so as to keep him and to maintain him I will hold him and never lose him I will do it in judgment and it shall be a relation for ever I will betroth thee unto me for ever But now the evidence of the relation that is passable that may be clouded after you have had some clear discoveries of it A Soul that is brought into the light may be turned into the dark again thus it was with Job Job he had a very clear and full sight of his interest at one time that he glories in Christ Jesus I know that my Redeemer liveth and yet the same Job at another time Job 6.4 Tells us that the Arrows of the Almighty did set themselves in array against him the poyson whereof saies he drinketh up my Spirit It was not the terrours of men it was not the terrours of his condition of his poverty or of his sores or of his great disgrace but saies he the terrours of God they are entered into my Soul and so David at one time he rejoyceth in Christ Jesus saies then though I pass through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil Psal 23.4 and another time he cries out Why art thou cast down O my Soul why art thou disquiered within me And in another place hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious are his mercies clean gone he mourns after the Lord and complains as one that was banished from his face though your interest cannot be shaken Christians yet the evidence of your interest may be darkned the love of Christ Jesus to your souls may be so obscured as you may be left without the feelings of it And the Soul that is sometimes under comfortable manifestations and filled with joy with peace and with comfort may at another time be darkned with clouds with vails and with curtains and know not where he is the seal of the Spirit of the Lord may be so defaced as that you cannot tell what to make of it the believer that is built upon the rock can never be washt off the rock yet the wayes may dash against him upon the rock he may be sorely dasht upon the rock though he cannot be washt off though your interest stands sure yet the evidence of your interest is not sure it is a passable evidence 6. Sense of interest is in a soveraign hand and is given out to whom the Lord pleaseth and when the Lord pleaseth The Lord is pleased Soveraignly to act in the sealing and ensuring and comforting of his People sometimes he will come in upon a believer at his first conversion and will fill him with joy and gladness that shall abide upon his Soul many years and sometimes the believer shall wait upon God from ordinance to ordinance and follow him many years in the dark and not have a discovery of his love sometimes the Lord will give a Soul no sight of his interest nor evidence of his relation until he come to die and some believers have walked with the evidence of Gods love in their hearts almost all their daies and when they have come to die they have died in the dark Sense of interest is under a soveraign dispense both as to the persons to whom it is given out and as to the time when and as to the way and manner how 7. Though the interest that believers have and are owned in with the Lord is the same and is not different as to its nature and properties yet the evidence of the interest will admit of degrees in different persons and also in the same Persons at divers times those that are taken into relation with Christ Jesus they are all owned in a near blessed intimate relation as I told you before so that there is no difference in the relation neither is the relation an encreasing relation indeed the benefits of the relation they are encreasing but the relation it 's self is not encreasing A believer is not more a Child of God afterward then he was at first when the Spirit of adoption came upon him but the evidence of the interest that admits of degrees the relation its self is capable of an improvement as to the advantages of it but that is not all but the evidence of the relation is sometimes clearer fuller and more satisfying then at some other times It is said Prov. 4.18 That the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day A believer hath a little sight of Christ a glimmering of Christ through the cravis this may be improved and it is possible that the Soul may come into a full assurance of its interest in Christ Jesus ay and it is possible you may be assured more at one time then at another Therefore Christian the little joy that thou hast may grow to a great deal and the small apprehensions that thou hast of Christ may greatly encrease in thy Soul and in this respect the day of small things is not to be despised 8. It is possible that believers may disingenuously act upon low principles in their carnest pursuits after sealings and ensurings I pray mark it assurance it is the Flower of Faith it is the growth the improvement the flourishing of Faith it is the fragrancy the odour and the sweetness nay the very brightness of faith the sealings of the Spirit they are the high strains as I may call them of the Spirit in and upon the hearts of believers And yet it is possible that the believer may act upon low principles in his eager pursuits of the sealings of the Spirit that is such an high act Then does the believer act disingenuously in a pursuit after an evidence of his interest when he presseth after the sense of his interest more for peace and comfort then to improve his interest unto more grace and holiness Your interest in Christ hath two streams the one runs with grace and the other runs with peace and comfort now then does the Soul disingenuously act when he presseth more after the stream of peace comfort then he doth after the stream of grace and holiness then is the believer acted upon low principles when he advanceth the sense of interest above the interest or if you will thus when the desires of the sense of interest do over-ballance the desires of more grace and holiness upon the interest Therefore in all your eager pursuits after the sealings of the Spirit consider the principle Christians upon which you act search whether there be no disingenuous actings n your spirits in your eager desires after assurance 9.
Satan will indefatigably endeavour to darken your evidence and to obscure the sense of interest Satans design is to keep Souls as long as he can from a closure with Christ he will meet the Soul in all waies if possible to turn him out of his way and if he cannot do that his next design is to obscure your evidence and to darken your sense of interest that so he may make you to walk heavily and in the dark he will follow you with false reports and false suggestions he will hint to you this falsity and the other if possible to make you to believe a lye and to deny what Jesus Christ hath done and to deny your interest and standing in him that it may be is clear upon undenyable grounds and demonstrations the Devil you know came to Christ with this very temptation to make him to question the truth of his relation to God though the Devil knew it well enough that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and the true Son of God yet he comes and sets upon him with this temptation if possible to make him question If thou beest the Son of God then do so and so And he levels at the Believer in the same manner and his design is to keep you in the dark to rob you of all the peace and comfort and joy that you might have upon the sense and evidence of your Interest Tenthly There are many that presume upon a groundless confidence that they have an interest in Christ and yet are wholly ignorant of the nature of a Gospel-Interest There are many that do promise themselves great things in and from Christ Jesus and yet they are wholly ignorant of him they have hopes of large blessings that shall come in by Christ and yet are ignorant of Christ and the nature of a close with Christ that gives right to him Doubtless the foolish Virgins had hopes that as to the bulk of them were as large and as promising as the hopes of the wise Virgins were they never at all questioned their admittance when the Bridegroom should come In Deut. 29.19 And it shall come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse that he bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imaginations of my heart c. So when we are discoursing of the terrours of the Law that do belong to persons uninterested in Christ there are many that bless themselves in their hearts and say These things do not belong to us And when we are opening the comforts that Believers have in Christ those that are strangers to Christ will presume and say All these are mine Micah 3.11 The Heads thereof judge for reward and the Priests thereof teach for hire and the Prophets thereof divine for money yet will they lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among us no evil can come upon us In the midst of all their wickedness they would still presume upon an Interest in the Lord and think all should go well with them My friends what think you of the Church of Laodicca they were a people of a very great and high profession they stood in a Gospel body and lived under the enjoyment of the great Priviledges of a Gospel-state and they promised themselves that all was well with them and yet see what the Lord says Rev. 3.17 Because thou sayest I am rich and encreased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art poor and miserable and wretched and blind and naked They had a profession upon them and they thought there was a great deal in that They were in a Church-state and they thought that would serve their turn They did enjoy Church-Priviledges and they thought upon it that their condition was good and that they might well say Now we are rich we are Professors in a Church-state we are under the common and sacred blessings of the Gospel and who better than we We are rich but says the Lord you say so but I say otherwise you say you are rich but I say you are poor you say you are full but I say you are empty you say you are encreased with goods and have need of nothing but I say you have nothing and have need of all things Verily my friends this is a deceivable Age an Age wherein many do not only deceive others but their own Souls and therefore it concerns you to enquire whether the Lord be your God or no and not to satisfie your selves with general notions of the Lord 's being your God In the Eleventh and last place An evidence of Interest obtained maintained and Gospelly managed will be of singular advantage to a Christian in his whole Christian course You do not know Believers you that are careless in and about the clearing of your state you do not know what a change a Gospel sight of your Interest in Christ will make in your hearts an evidence of your Interest will expel all your fears and will resolve all your doubts and will cause a calm in your hearts whatsoever the present storm is Why if that we could look into the hearts of many or most of us I believe they would be found very tempestuous storms they threaten sore fears are ready to overwhelm and doubts are even ready to swallow up a Christian why an evidence of your Interest will remove all these Christian an evidence of your Interest will make all in Christ Jesus precious to you and will strangely raise and inhaunse the price of Christ and the blessings of Christ in your esteem The evidence of Interest O how precious will it make the Blood of Jesus to you O how precious will it make the Death of Jesus to you O how precious will it make the Life of Jesus to you O how precious will it make the Offices of Jesus to you when you can see that you are concerned in his Blood that Jesus he is your Surety your Mediator that he hath suffered for you and satisfied for you that he is your forerunner in Heaven this will make all of Christ exceeding precious An evidence of Interest is that that will carry your Souls chearfully through all sufferings that do or may befal you in the way of Christ There are reproaches that Believers meet withal in the way of Christ and the sense of Interest will help you to bear them all There are great losses that we are exposed to in bearing our Testimony to the Truths of Jesus sense of Interest will bear you up under all Why we have a building of God that is above It is said of those in the Hebrews that they did not regard their outward comforts knowing that they had in Heaven a better and an induring substance Sense of Interest will bear you up under all changes of providences when the Lord is taking as well as when he is giving Why will the Soul say there is still enough in Christ Christ is still
full my Jesus is full though I am robbed he is not robbed though I have little or nothing Jesus Christ he hath all and Christ is all and all his fulness is mine Sense of Interest will raise your hopes and expectations upon Christ Jesus My friends now we look upon Christ and have low thoughts of him we look upon Christ and our expectations are not raised upon Christ We come to an Ordinance where Christ is discovered and displayed in the riches of his Death and in the glories of his Life and our hearts are not raised upon this why but because we have not the sense of our Interest The sense of Interest will raise your expectations and will comfort you against the thoughts of death Now Lord says good old Simeon lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation Luk. 2.29.30 And says the Apostle I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all The sense of Interest will lay you in against all fears of the approaching Judgment instead of being afraid of it it will make you long for it when the Soul comes to see and know and be ascertained that the judge of the Court is his friend and is in relation to him and hath loved him so as to lay down his life for him and hath ever been designing upon him in a way of love and grace this Soul will not be afraid to appear before him but will long for the day when he shall come to see his Jesus clothed with glory So as a clear evidence of interest in Christ obtained maintained and gospelly managed will be of singular advantage unto a Christian in his whole Christian course SERMON V. Habakkuk 3.18 Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation THe Proposition was this Doct. That there is enough in Jesus Christ alone for the Souls full rejoycing and triumph whatsoever his state and condition is in this world Now we proposed First To give you several introductory particulars by way of premise These we have dispatched And shall now proceed to consider what are the grounds of a believers darkness about his interest 2. It may be said in the second place if there be such solid and substantial grounds of joy in Christ Jesus for the believing Soul at all times and in all conditions what is the reason then that believers are so often in a dark dubious uncomfortable shattered state that they are seldom able in any stedfastness of spirit to look up unto Christ Jesus and glory in him Ans 1. I answer The darkness of the believers interest doth oft-times arise from a looking more unto such things in the examination of himself as argue the height of an interest then to such things as do discover the truth of an interest They do fix upon such things as are discoveries of a grown state in Christ when as they should fix upon such things as do discover an in-being in Christ they propose to themselves that corruption must be so and so brought under and mortifying work must be carried on to such a height or else they can have no grounds of their interest in Christ they propose to themselves such a measure of love as must be flaming to Christ at all times or else they think they have no love at all they think they must have such a measure of faith as to believe without staggering or else they have no part in Christ Now hereby they â—o ensnare their own Spirits and encrease their darkness But you should look more at such things as argue the truth of an interest then at those things that do argue the growth and improvement of that interest Secondly Darkness of evidence doth oft-times arise from the believers viewing his wants and overlooking his present receits Jesus Christ hath done a great deal for him and hath given out a great deal to him and hath made a wonderful change in him he cannot deny it if he be put to it but he overlooks all this and considers his present wants his weaknesses his short comings his failings his smallness of strength his staggering before a temptation the uncertainty of his Spirit in his walking with God and he bears the stress of his condition upon his present wants not considering what Jesus Christ hath already done nor considering that the work is gradually carried on Now Christians if you would lay your selves fair for the Spirits Gospel evidence in your souls then you must take in the encouragements of your condition as well as your discouragements you must not only insist upon your discouragements but consider also what Jesus Christ hath done and what a change he hath begun to work and what have been the movings of your souls towards him from divine influences upon your Spirits Thirdly The darkness of evidence or obscurity of interest do oft-times arise from the prevailings of sin in the heart upon which Christ suspends Sin that rallies that gathers head in the Soul that presses forward and the Soul gives way to the temptation and is overcome and upon it darkness does arise this was Davids case David was assured ay but sin prevailing in his heart drove him into the dark that all the joys of the holy Spirit were for a time taken from him 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. And Nathan said unto David thou art the man thus saith the Lord God of Israel I anointed thee King over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul c. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight I have done all this for thee saith the Lord thou hast despised my commandment and done evil in my sight So the Lord Jesus speaks unto the Soul I have thus and thus manifested my self to thee I thought it not too much to take thee into communion with my self I thought it not too much to dandle thee upon my knee and to give thee the assurance of all that I have done for thee But thou hast wickedly departed from me and broken my Commandments and it is just with the Lord now to suspend prevailings of sin will cause a suspense You know that Absolom upon his rebellion was excluded for a while from his Fathers House he must not see his Fathers face just thus it is with a Soul when it hath turned aside into some way of folly after it hath provoked the Lord the Lord he hides himself from him he won't let him see his face he must not come into his presence to see him and to rejoyce in the light of his countenance as formerly he had done The prevailings of sin after Grace do many times cause a suspense Fourthly Darkness of evidence is occasioned from the Souls crediting the reports of Satan that lead him to deny what Jesus Christ hath done for him and in him upon undenyable demonstrations of the power of his Grace in his
assurance Jesus Christ doth not take the less care of you because your interest is very dark and cloudy for the present but his care over you is the same he is alwaies opening his watchful eye upon you and he is alwaies doing for you alwaies defending of you see what he saies Isaiah 40.11 He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd he shall gather the Lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young O alass they are scarceble to believe that they are Lambs in the flock of Christ they would hope so and they dare not wholly deny it but that Christ hath a part in them and hold of them but it is all they can do to say so but be it so they are under as much care as any He will carry them in his arms he will gently lead those that are with young Christ Jesus in one single act doth equally respect all those that are interested in him be their evidence of interest more or less clearer or more clouded Thirdly Again The comprehensions of Christ upon the union are not proportioned unto but do far exceed our apprehensions of him in the union Christ doth not say I will be unto you as you are unto me and as you do so will I do and as you be so will I be and according to your apprehensions so will I be unto you but he does exceeding abundantly for us above our faith and above our hope it may be we can but say unto him Lord help and though we are so weak he will not do the less but he will prosecute and manage the interest on his part upon your Souls though your apprehensions may be very small of him you have a very full satisfying Scripture for this Eph. 3.20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above what we are able to ask or think according to the power that worketh in him So that Jesus Christs actings towards us and dealings with us and comprehendings of us are not proportioned to our apprehensions of him not according to our faith and hope and not according to our prayer but saies he he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we are able to ask or think and that according to the power that worketh in him So that though you cannot at all times make faith of that power yet that power is working and though your apprehensions be very small yet the comprehensions of Christ are very great it is in Heaven that we shall know as we are known we are fully known here but our selves know but in part Fourthly The weaknesses discovered upon your interest and the provocations given will be covered and forgiven by the Lord Jesus in the strength of the love of his relation to you or interest in you The Soul that is in relation is not able in a clear Gospel way to live up unto his standing in Christ Jesus but he oft-times walks very dishonourably unto his interest and very unbecomingly to his hopes of evidence well Soul though it be thus the Lord Jesus Christ will display such love on his part as shall cover and forgive all the Father will not disinherit his Child because he doth provoke him and because he doth grieve him by many foolish and unchildlike acts but the love of the relation on the Fathers part will forgive the Child The Husband won't give a bill of divorce to his Wife because he finds failings in her waies but the love of the relation doth bind him and influence him to cover all her weaknesses and continue his kindness to her if we have a member that is full of pain and puts us to a great deal of smart and puts us much out of order we do not presently call for the cutting off of this member but we bear with the pain and smart remembering that it is a member now thus it is my friends between the Lord Jesus Christ and you though there are weaknesses discovered in your waies yet he will remember that you are interested in him and though he meet with provocations from you yet he will remember that you are his Children and that you are in relation and that will engage him to cover and forgive all though I speak not this to give any a liberty to indulge themselves and I hope none of you will abuse discoveries of grace so I am sure an honest heart will not but for your terrour if your temptation be thereunto know that though Jesus Christ will not proceed in the utmost of his displeasure against you to give you a bill of divorce yet there are rebukes and there are frowns that are as bitter as death that the Soul may meet withal from Christ upon his high provocations though we don't presently cut off a member that is full of pain yet we may see cause to send for the Surgeon to make an incision and so verily will Jesus Christ be forced to do in your hearts that give your selves such an allowance Psal 89.31 32 33. If his Children forsake my laws and walk not in my judgments if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments then will I visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail c. Fifthly Know that your interest in Christ is not dissolvible as the evidence of your interest is loosable Christian it may be the Lord hath singled out some word that he hath made use of by his Spirit to give you some hopes in and about your interest in and relation unto Christ I would hope that all hath not been spoken to you in vain but if the Lord hath given you some hint by his word of your interest possibly within a little while all this will be lost again and thou maist be as much in the dark as ever thou wert since thou camest into Christ well Christ will not disown thee and Christ will hold thee up that thou shalt never be left to disown him still thy interest is sure in Christ Jesus though light is coming and going in thy Soul and thy evidence is sometimes coming and sometimes going yet know that thy interest is firm and inviolable Sixthly Thy present interest in and relation unto Christ in a state of Grace is a certain and infallible pledge of thy future possession of Christ in glory Christian thou hast now a little hope through grace O make much of it thou dost not know what is in it There is not only matter of consolation in it but it contains a pledge of Heaven and of thy full possession of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory for ever therefore saith Christ He that believeth on me hath everlasting life believing that gives the interest thereby the Soul is united to Christ now upon the union he hath everlasting life he hath the pledge of it his union is the
all believers and Jesus Christ doth not live and spend upon the fulness of grace that he hath received but he discovers it to the Saints that they may have it to live upon and he lieth under indispensible obligations to dispense it to those that come unto him and Jesus Christ will not debar any Soul that comes unto him for spiritual relief he is engaged in faithfulness unto his Father to relieve those that come and he must deny his office which he can never do should he not do it for the Father hath entrusted him with grace that he might dispense it and he hath given him his fulness that he might communicate of his fulness to those that are in want Psal 68.18 Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led Captivity Captive thou hast received gifts for men Jesus Christ he hath received great gifts from his Father he hath received grace gifts office gifts and he hath received personal gifts and all these gifts that he hath received they are for men and 1 Cor. 3.21 All is yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or things present or things to come all is yours all that Christ hath received from his Father or is ordained to dispense he must dispense and he will dispense Isaiah 61 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound c. saies Christ there is a poor Soul that I must deliver and there is a wounded heart that I must heal and there is a bruised reed that I must bind up and there is one weak in grace that I must strengthen and why must I do it Why saies he I am anointed to do this the Father hath commissionated him to do this he hath ordained him hereunto and he must deny his ordination and refuse the office that he is to act in should he refuse a poor Soul and not give liberally to those that come to him John 6.27 Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for that meat that endureth to everlasting life which the Son of man shall give unto you for him hath God the Father Sealed in these expressions are discovered the great blessings of the Gospel that are dispensible by the hands of Christ now go unto Christ Jesus if you be hungry if you be thirsty go unto Christ Jesus if you be naked go unto Christ Jesus if you be empty why will he bless such an one as I am will he look upon such an one as I am yes saies the Father go and you shall speed my Son shall give these things to you for I have sealed him or you may consider these words as spoken by Christ and as the indispensible obligation that lies upon the Son from the charge that he hath received an Office-charge of all that grace that the Father hath designed should be dispensed do not question therefore the Lord Jesus Christ but let your applications be frequent to him he will be faithful unto his Office Eightly There is an exceeding tenderness in the heart of Christ unto distressed Sinners according to all the concernments of his Office There is a very great willingness and forwardness in the Lord Jesus Christ to be dealing out his grace unto those for whom grace was designed or to whom grace is to be dispensed there is an unexpressible desire in the Soul of Christ Jesus to be dealing out the grace that he hath received the charge of all Office-work is most desirable work to Christ though never so hard therefore when he speaks concerning his death saies he I have a Baptism to be Baptized with and how am I streightned till it be accomplished But now we may conceive that there is much more a desire in the heart of Christ to dispense the grace of his death Psal 16.3 Thou art my Lord my goodness extendeth not unto thee but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight My delight saies Christ it is with the Saints to be relieving the Saints and to be comforting of the Saints and to be blessing and strengthening of the Saints The heart of Christ takes great delight in this my delight is with them saies he as to all my goodness as to all my kindness as to all the gifts of grace that I have received and as to all my fountain fulness it doth not extend to the Lord but it is to the Saints and my delight is with the Saints on the consideration of the grace that I have to dispense to them and Heb. 4.25 Jesus Christ he is touched with us he hath a feeling of our infirmities not a feeling in a way of passion and suffering but a feeling in a way of compassion and tenderness that is his feeling as the Mother hath a feeling of the pain and sickness and weakness of the Child through the sympathy of her spirit and the yernings of her bowels over it so the Lord Jesus Christ stands with yerning bowels over his Children and he is touched with our infirmities You have not a weight upon your spirit but in compassion and tenderness Jesus Christ feels it and you have not a burthen on this respect or the other but Jesus Christ feels it such are the compassions of his spirit towards you in all the concernments of his Office It may be you are ready to say in a great strait or under a sore Trial O that such a friend knew how it is with me O that my Father were here or such a Relation were here that they did but know how it is with me Why Soul Jesus Christ he knows and he feels the weight of thy troubles sympathiseth with thee under all thy sorrows We have not an High Priest that cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities Now this tenderness of spirit this sympathy of Christ does influence his hand unto a liberal and free discharge of his Office So that whatever are your losses in the creature and however your outward condition is broken you may go to the Lord Jesus you see he is such a one as you may take comfort in Ninthly Faith is the great instrumental means that receives from Christ and that establishes the Soul in Christ All our blessings they are lodged in the Lord Jesus Christ and there they meet as in a fountain Now faith that is the drawing grace that draws out of this fountain for the Soul's supply The Father hath placed all in Christ and faith is the receiving grace that takes all out of the hand of Jesus Christ that he offers to the Soul by faith we are united to Christ and by faith we receive from Christ upon the union As the Pipe that is laid unto the mouth of the fountain doth receive and
convey water into your houses so doth faith receive from the Lord Jesus Christ and convey into your Souls Faith is the great Conduit that Jesus Christ doth send down his grace in into our hearts Faith that deals with Christ in all his royalties of grace and takes life from him and takes comfort from him and peace from him and joy from him and whatsoever the Soul standeth in need of Faith is the life-grace that feeds your Souls and that keeps you living and thriving and that makes you strong in the Lord we are said therefore to stand by faith Rom. 11.20 Well because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by faith Faith is a confirming grace it doth build the Soul upon it doth root the Soul in the Lord Jesus Christ and doth receive strengthening confirming assisting grace from Christ according to to the Soul's necessity So as Christians if you would be strong in the Lord you must get your faith strengthened more and more Tenthly The Lord Christ in the dispence of mercy hath great respect unto the glory of his office-fulness and office-faithfulness The Lord Christ in the communications of grace hath not only a respect unto your necessity but also to his own glory and he will dispense in such a way and at such a season and under such circumstances as shall make most for the glory of his office-fulness and office-faithfulness The Lord Jesus Christ therefore he comes in such a way and at such a time as shall most of all publish his glory unto those to whom he comes and before whom he comes When the creature is run into emptiness and hath spent all then doth Jesus Christ open his fountain-fulness In the weakness of the creature does Jesus Christ discover his all-power and in the uncertainty of the creature doth Jesus Christ glorifie his constancy in the darkness of an outward condition doth the Lord Jesus Christ cause his morning Star to arise and shine from on high that gives light to our feet when we know not how to direct our own paths when we have lost all here below and all our comforts have failed us and forsaken us then doth Jesus Christ appear as a friend that stands up in a time of adversity that neither troubles nor crosses nor trials nor temptations shall separate And he chuses this most dismal state to come in that he might glorifie his office-fulness and his office-faithfulness that he might glorifie his office-fulness to let us know it is a never failing fulness it is a fulness that is alwaies running over that is not dry when streams are dry but can fill streams at any time when they are never so dry and empty and then he comes that he may glorifie his office-faithfulness to appear as one that never doth forget his people that can bear all the concerns of his people upon his heart 2 Cor. 1.9 But we had the sentence of death in our selves So the Lord Jesus Christ he comes and discovers himself when the sentence of death is upon our outward mercies and upon all our outward supporters that they are fading dying and falling down under us then doth the Lord Jesus Christ appear as our God Ye had the sentence of death in your selves that ye might trust in the living God The Lord will so appear as his appearance shall be unto the glory of his own Name in the Office that he is placed in by the Father And therefore do but consider what titles Jesus Christ hath put upon himself that are denominative thereof Psal 9.9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble A poor distressed Soul that hath no whither to go that is driven off from all his former holds and that hath all his other Wells of consolation dryed up Jesus will be a refuge to such an one and that at such a time And Psal 10.14 The poor committeth himself to thee and thou art the helper of the fatherless And Psal 68.5 A Father of the fatherless and a Judge of the widdow is God in his holy habitation Why says the Soul Now all is gone my Father is gone and my Husband is gone and my Friends that use to comfort me have left me and I am now a miserable creature No says Christ this is my time to appear to shew my self to be a Father to the Fatherless and a Judge of the widdow And Isa 25.4 Thou hast been a refuge from the storm a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible one is like a storm against the wall Why Christian do not fear an outward distress then do not fear a low condition do not fear a breaking providence why because Jesus Christ doth then take his time to discover his All to you he will then take his time to discover a Fountain to you that can never be exhausted he is a refuge to the poor and needy And these considerations might be prevailing upon your spirits to gather off your eyes from beholding other objects and place them upon the Lord Jesus Christ where there is a sufficient ground of Joy to us whatever our condition is SERMON X. Habakkuk 3.18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord I will Joy in the God of my Salvation I Proposed several weighty Considerations to encourage your spirits to be getting up into this Life of Faith I have already gone through Ten and shall now proceed 11. Consider That to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ without the least encouragement of sense is the most noble exercise of Faith and that which doth most please the Lord. To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ when he is breaking of you and when he is frowning upon you and when you have nothing else to live upon this is the most noble exercise of Faith in this life To believe on the Lord Jesus when your heads are lifted up in the world and when your Table is spread and when your Borders are enlarged is no great difficulty but now to live by Faith upon Christ when there is no encouragement in the creature this is the most noble exercise of Faith What! says Sense live by Faith upon Christ when he hath impoverisht me and emptied me of all creature-enjoyments Ay now is the time to exercise Faith and this is the most noble exercise of Faith and that which doth most of all please the Lord Such an exercise of Faith as this was found in Job When the Lord had taken away his estate and taken away his Children says Job Job 1.21 Blessed be the Name of the Lord. There was a great exercise of Faith in that word and such an exercise of Faith was found in David in the case of Ziklag he had a little place given him in the enemies Country where he might live alone but he had it not long before enemies came and smote the place of his habitation and take away his relation and his goods and leave him
nothing but ruines that when he returned he found nothing but emptiness a heap of Ashes What does David do then he exercises Faith upon Jesus Christ and encouraged himself in the Lord his God And this is the exercise of Faith that the Prophet speaks of in our Text and that which he is driving Believers up to When the Figg-tree shall not blossom c. What is here left here is nothing for sense to live upon yet says he I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation Such a noble exercise of Faith was found in the Woman of Canaan in the midst of all discouragements she had discouragements from the Disciples of Christ they were not so kind to her as they might have been but that was not all but she met with discouragements from the Lord Jesus Christ himself unto whom she made her applications he seems to give her a repulse and checks her forwardness and yet she goes over to the Lord Jesus and in a bold act ventures upon him alone Why Christians whatever are your discouragements from Sense yet in the face of all rebukes to cast your self upon the Lord Jesus and comfort your Souls in his All fulness is the most noble act of Faith that you can put forth 12. The great improbabilities of relief and succour after grace whatever your case is are not answerable to the improbabilities that your Souls were in before grace and Christ Jesus helped you then Christ came thorow them all and with ease removed them to do your Souls good Do but consider you that sit down with your hearts full of discouragement upon the loss of a creature or upon the emptyings of providence do but consider how unlikely and improbable your condition was of help and succour before you did believe on Christ you were then covered over with the shadow of death you were then in a hopeless condition Who had then any hope of you When you were seen marching in the fury of your spirits against the Lord Who would have thought that there were hope in the Lord for you You were at the very brink of Death and at the very brink of Hell there was as it were but a hairs breadth between you and Hell and who would have thought that you should have been recovered And then the Lord Jesus he broke thorough all the improbabilities of your state to save you and do you think that he cannot break thorough all the improbabilities of your present state to comfort you He came leaping over greater mountains of opposition and discouragement and impossibility I mean as to other help I say he came leaping over greater mountains of impossibility in his first dealings with you than there are for him to come thorough in his after-dealings with you Cant. 2.8 The voice of my Beloved behold he cometh leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills These mountains and these hills did lye between Christ and you that were the improbabilities or I may call them the impossibilities of your state as to help and relief in a rational consideration and apprehension Now Jesus Christ he skipt over this mountain and the other mountain that lay in his way and he came unto your Souls to do you good and if Jesus Christ hath done this do you think that he will not do the lesser When you were without grace did he bring grace into your Souls and do you think that he cannot comfort you now when you want comfort Do you think that he cannot bless you with the annexed blessings of your state when he hath brought in the great fundamental blessings of your state Christians you should reason thus I was once ready to die and the Lord Jesus came and saved me I was in a Soul-undone state and Jesus Christ hath set me up and what hath he set up my Soul and cannot he set up my Body Hath he made up the great breach that was upon my spiritual condition and cannot he make up the breaches that are in my outward condition Jesus Christ came and pluckt me out of the fire when I was burning and the fire was so hot that none could take me out but Jesus Christ he came and snatcht me out of the paw of the Lion and the Bear and none could rescue me but he and he that came over all these impossibilities to save you do you think that he cannot make up a breach in the loss of a relation or make up a distress in your outward condition the Lord that hath done the greater can easily do the lesser 13. Again To rejoyce only in visibles and sensibles is to go no further than those may go that have no interest in Christ I pray consider it To have your spirits born up only by sensible supports is not to exceed those that are strangers to Jesus Christ that have not an interest in Jesus Christ as you have For your spirits to rise and fall only as the creature ebbs and flows this is to do no more than a carnal man doth Is this living upon Christ Is this to make Christ your Joy and Christ the Peace and the Comfort of your Life Says Christ in another case To love those that love you and to do good to those that do good to you if you do no more Publicans and Sinners do this The Christian is under peculiar and distinguishing blessings and it is expected that he should peculiarly and distinguishingly live under the distinguishing blessings of his state Matth. 6.31 32. Wherefore take no thought saying What shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith shall we be clothed for after all these things do the Gentiles seek Why says Christ to be so thoughtful about our outward condition as others are is to place our selves in common with them Says he After these things do the Gentiles seek It is the case of a Gentile to say when his outward comforts are gone O now must I die now there is no further help for me I must now perish this is the language of a Gentile that hath no interest in Jesus Christ O you that have interest in Jesus Christ what will you take up the language of a Gentile O no! having a God to go to you must live upon that God that you have given up your selves to God doth expect a distinguishing acting under the distinguishing blessings that he hath brought into your condition therefore know that to rejoyce only in visibles is to set your selves in common with those that have no interest in Christ and is not this to dishonour your interest and to reflect upon the Lord of your interest to live in joy when the Creatures are about you and to sit down discouraged when Creatures are taken from you 14. Faith exercised upon the Lord Jesus will have an universal influence upon all other graces in your hearts Christians do but once exercise faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ under a sinking
beloved Son of God all the while but yet there is a time a coming when all those that are discharged in Gods Court in Heaven shall be cleared both in the Court of their own consciences and also before the whole world We shall observe this method in our brief handling of it 1. To shew you the truth of it from Scripture 2. To give you the properties of this discharge that is given out by God to believers 3. The ground upon which God proceeds in the discharge 4. The time when the Soul is taken into this priviledge and hath the discharge given out to him And then the Application 1. Scripture clears this That there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ they are absolved they are discharged by God Believers are so but as for all those that are in their Sins they are under the sentence of condemnation it hangs over them and it follows them where-ever they go John 3.18 He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already really condemned he hath the sentence really denounced against him he is really declared a dead man in the sense of the law as we say when the judge hath denounced sentence of death against a Malefactor he is a dead man so every one in his sins is a dead man he is condemned already There is indeed this difference between him and one that is in Hell he that is in Hell is condemned and executed but the sinner upon Earth is condemned and not executed The Sinner in Hell is condemned and executed and there remains no hope for him The Sinner upon Earth he is condemned and yet there is hope that comes in at the door of the Gospel which gives some probability that if he will bestir himself the sentence may be removed the patience of God is exercised and it is drawn out into a great length and it is to lead the Sinner to repentance Rom. 2.4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance After the Sentence God waits upon the Sinner and will not suffer the law presently to take hold and to do its work the hand of Justice that is held from smiting the Sinner is not presently executed and in the patience in the forbearance and long-suffering of God there is a pardon that is tendered and a way discovered whereby the Sinner may come to get free from the doom that was upon him but the sentence that hangs over the head of every unbeliever as John 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not sâ—e life but the wrath of God abideth on him the wrath of God that hangs over his head it hangs over his head in that ancient sentence that was denounced against man upon his first transgression Gen. 2.17 In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die or thou shalt die the death here is the sentence here is the doom and God abideth by his word to this day hereupon saies the Apostle Gal. 3.10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse for it is written cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them being under the works of the law you are under the curse because the broken law doth denounce a curse against all the breakers of it so as all those that are unbelievers all those that are under the first Covenant all those that are in a state of sin before God they are condemned already But now all those that are in Christ Jesus have this sentence of death taken off they are absolved and discharged by the Lord saies the Prophet Isaiah 38.17 For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back It is spoken by God after the manner of men when a man gives out the bond of another and freely dischargeth him of the Debt the Bond is cancelled and thrown away it is cast behind his back for wast-paper never more to be made use of the Debt never more to be brought into question again nor yet the Debtor upon the account of the Debt Now says he thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back thou hast given me a discharge that they shall no more lie against me Rev. 2.17 To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Manna Manna of old was a type of Christ The Apostle to the Corinthians clears it Now says he he shall eat of the hidden Manna he shall feed upon Christ every overcomer shall have communion and fellowship with Christ and that is not all but I will give him a white stone The Lord in this expression doth allude unto the Custom that was amongst the Romans when a person upon his tryal was found guilty he had a black stone given him in token of his condemnation and he that was discharged and cleared he had a white stone given him in token of his absolution Now says he I will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which none knows but he that receiveth it I will discharge him says the Lord Every overcomer every one in Christ he hath a white stone given him by the Lord. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus 2. We shall proceed to shew you what are the properties of this discharge that the Lord grants unto those that are in Christ First It is a real discharge It is no imaginary thing It is a real truth that the Apostle doth here affirm There is says he therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus The absolution of a Believer is as real as his sinning was real as his condemnation was real he was really a sinner and he was really condemned on the account of his sin and he is as really discharged You have the word of the Lord for it The same word of truth that tells us there is condemnation to every Unbeliever tells us that there is no condemnation to the Believer But you have not only the Word of God for it but you have your discharge under hand and seal And therefore the Apostle tells us that those that believe they are sealed by the Spirit of the Lord. The Seal of the Spirit it is God's Seal Eph. 1.13 In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the Word of Truth the Gospel of your Salvation in whom also after that you believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise And again Eph. 4.30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed to the day of Redemption He comes and gives you a sealed pardon he gives you the Seal of God's pardon upon your own hearts And hence the Apostle speaks with as much confidence as man can speak upon a sure testimony 1 Joh. 3.14 We know that
we are passed from death to life we know it says he And the Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God Rom. 8.16 There is a report and a testimony of the Spirit of God within and there is by the work of the Spirit and by the hand of the Spirit the discharge and the work of God in the discharge sealed upon the Soul of the Believer so as he knows as really as he hath known that he was a sinner that he is discharged from his sins Though a person may be discharged and not know it for the Spirit of God doth not alwaies witness the Spirit of God doth not alwaies seal Nay he may seal and his Seal may be hid he may make report and give evidence and this evidence may be lost Those that have had the assurance of the pardon of their sins may lose it again or it may be some considerable time after the Soul hath been discharged before he is able to read his discharge but the Spirit of the Lord first or last will be a Witnesser and Sealer to all those that have their discharge and they shall know it and have the comfort of it It is a real discharge Secondly It is a free discharge God doth all that he doth for his People gratis there is nothing in them that hath procured and bought in the blessing at the hand of the Lord. But when he comes to discharge a Soul he doth it for his own Names sake As Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins I will blot them out says God not for thy sake for thou hast deserved no such thing at my hand but I will blot them out for my own sake I do all that I do freely and therefore says he Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his grace We are justified freely by the grace of God When the sinner deserveth the full and the effectual execution of the sentence that was denounced against him then comes the Lord in a way of free and soveraign grace and he discharges and he pardons As Hos 14.4 I will heal their backslidings I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from them I will love them freely and I will pardon freely and I will pass by and I will forgive freely So Col. 2.13 And you being dead hath he quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses So we read it But it may be read Having freely forgiven you all trespasses God freely forgives the trespasses of his People those that he takes unto himself and those that are in Christ therefore we are called upon by the Lord for to come unto him without money and without price Come ye says he that thirst to the waters such as have no money such as have no price come and hearken diligently and your Souls shall live Isa 55.1 2 3. Thirdly It is a full discharge which the Lord grants unto his People a discharge that takes off all their sins at once Psal 103.3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases They are not hundreds and thousands only but all that you stand guilty of All sins of omission and all sins of commission all sins against the first Table and all sins against the second Table they are all at once forgiven all secret sins and all open sins all heart-sins and all life-sins they are all forgiven Hezekiah he made Faith of this Isa 38.17 For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back The sinner when he returns to God comes with a load of sins upon him thousands of thousands of sins he brings with him a multitude of sins and the Lord when he receives this guilty Soul he forgives them all at once Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his waies and the unrighteous man his thoughts Or the man of wickedness and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and unto our God for he will abundantly pardon Or as it may be read he will multiply pardons Sins have been multiplied in daies of ignorance and multiplied in daies of knowledge multiplied against all the strivings of the Spirit multiplied under many tenders of Christ multiplied under many of the beseechings of the Spirit multiplied in the clear Light of a Gospel-day But says he this shall not keep off for I will abundantly pardon God's pardon shall be as extensive as all his transgressions were Hereupon says the Apostle There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus There is no sin remaining to condemn him of all his repeated transgressions of all the thousands and ten thousands that he is guilty of there is no condemnation not one sin left upon the score to condemn him V. 33. Who shall lay any thing unto the charge of God's Elect it is God that justifieth Satan will heap up things against them but there shall not condemn them their own Consciences may bring in Indictment after Indictment against them but says he there is not any thing that shall stand in record against them not any thing that shall be laid to their charge to condemn them not any of their sins be they never so small not any of their sins be they never so great that shall remain against them Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect when God justifies Whereupon says the Prophet Jer. 50.20 The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found for I will pardon them whom I reserve Their iniquity shall be sought for and there shall be none found why because the pardon of God reacheth every one Col. 2.13 Having forgiven you all trespasses And Heb. 8.12 I will be merciful to their unrighteousnesses and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more I will be merciful not to this unrighteousness or the other but to all their unrighteousnesses to their sins and to their iniquities It is spoken of in general terms that they might know it will reach every particular It is a full discharge in so much as the believer is counted righteous he is constituted righteous before God Heb. 11.4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice then Cain by which he obtained witness that he was righteous that is in his justification in Christ Jesus in which justification he had absolution and in the compleatness of his justification before God by Gods imputative act he was reckoned he was constituted righteous 4. The discharge that God gives out to those in Christ it is irrevocable It is such an act of grace as God will abide by as God will never recede from no not to eternity therefore he saies Jeremiah 31.34 I will forgive their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more The believer he is afraid it may be that something may be brought
Apostle Neither life nor death c. shall separate us from the love of Christ Rom. 8.38 The life of a Believer after grace is full of provocation and it may be he continues to provoke God as long as he lives There are provocations and unkindnesses in his way to the Lord all his life long till he come to the end of his daies and yet says the Apostle Life shall not separate Now this is a great ground of rejoycing that thou mayest look unto thy Jesus and see him alwaies loving of thee Thy waies are very uneven and unconstant and thou canst not keep in so good a frame as thou wouldest do yet still Jesus loves thee thou art full of wandrings still Jesus loves thee why here 's a love that marches through all opposings Secondly It is a Love that heightens under all our sorrows I mean as to the communications and dispenses of it or the actual and saving discoveries of it unto the Believer it heightens under all our sorrows that the greater our troubles are the more he loves and the more pitiful our state is the more compassionate he is he sees a Believer it may be lying under great distresses of body or in great Agonies of spirit why this draws out his love he loves thee more he is the more pitiful and the more compassionate to thee as he sees that thy state is a sorrowful state and thy condition a troubled condition and indeed the Believer never hath such discoveries and evidences of the love and kindness of God to him as when he is in a low condition Jesus Christ he did come you know into a wilderness to walk with Israel And let their troubles be never so many Jesus Christ would not leave them but the greater their troubles were the more was his love discovered and the more did his faithfulness to them appear and they never had such an eminent and signal appearances of God with them as when they were in their Wilderness Travels Jacob a holy man never had so much of God nor never had such a sight of God as when he was in a low condition Gen. 28.15 Behold I am with thee and I will keep thee in all places whither thou goest and will bring thee again to this Land and will not leave thee till I have done what I have spoken to thee of And Gen. 31.42 Here the good man was in a great strait he was afraid that he should be cut off Ay but says he The Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac he it was that rebuked thee yesternight He did charge thee that thou shouldest speak no hurt no evil unto me And when Israel Exod. 3. came into a groaning captivity and bondage when their bondage grew very great and unsufferable then did the Lord wonderfully discover himself v. 7. And the Lord said I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their Task-masters and am come down to deliver them c. And Psa 34.16 The Eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his Ears are open to their cry Here is a supposition of a condition that the Soul is in or may be brought into that makes it groan and cry Well for your comfort know that then in a special manner is the Eye of the Lord upon you and his Ear open to you And Psal 56.18 Thou tellest my wanderings c. Thou tellest my flights so some read it I have never an enemy to pursue me but the Lord takes notice of it and seeth whither the enemy hunts me and drives me he takes notice of the fury of the oppressor that comes out against me Thou tellest my wanderings and puttest my tears in thy bottle Every tear in a sorrowful condition Jesus Christ bottles up he keeps it in remembrance God's Peoples highest visits of favour and grace their choicest experiences and the most comfortable manifestations that they have of God have been when they have been in a low condition In prosperity there God many times lets the Soul walk more at liberty ay and he hath less of God in prosperity then in adversity there he is left to walk by his own light as I may so say and he bears up himself more upon his own comforts he stands then as it were more upon his own legs but in a weak condition and in an afflicted state in a time of trouble then is the Lord present discovering himself more fully to him and hence it is that the Saints have had their highest Joys in the prison and have been made to sing in the flames They have commended the sharpest distress that ever they were brought into in this world to be such as could never separate Christ and their Souls the love of your Jesus is so great that it will leap into a furnace to keep you company It is such as it will come into any strait and hazard to support and bear up your spirits Lo this is your friend your comforter that you have O believer to rejoyce in Jesus his heart is alwaies towards you and the love of his heart it heightens under all your sorrows let darkness grow upon your state the light of his love will shine through it and give you a light that you shall see your way let your disconsolations be never so many in the creature the love of Jesus Christ will countervail all for if the creature be taken away Jesus Christ will be the more and in the want of all things he will discover himself so as shall answer all to your Souls 3. As his love is such as heightens under all our sorrows so it abides unmixed in all seasons as it is a love that cannot be diverted so it is a love that cannot be adulterated but it is alwaies a sweet alwaies a pure love a heart easing a soul pacifying a soul rejoycing love none can throw any bitterness into the love of Jesus but it is alwaies a pure clear Chrystal love that hath no mixture in it it is not thus with the love of friends the sweetest the best the firmest friends that ever man had upon earth there is some mixture in their love They will sometimes rejoyce your hearts and sometimes they will make your hearts sad loving friends may sometimes frown and be churlish and unkind and you may go to them with your hopes and expectations and be disappointed you may soon weary out their love and they may discover such a mixture that their hearts seem sometimes to be alienated But it is not thus with the Lord Jesus but his love is alwaies a pure clear soul satisfying love there is light in him and no darkness at all there is sweetness in him and there is no bitterness at all There are as I said before things that may encourage you but there is nothing that will discourage you in Jesus no not unto eternity now believer this is