and from enslaving fears The Spirit of Life which is in Christ Iesus hath made me free from the law of Sin and Death Rom. 8. 2. And here is freedom indeed If the Son make you free then are you free indeed John 8. 36. And here is freedom from fears Luke 1. 74 75. Those that will not endure any restraint from their lusts they will have their freedom to sin a freedom they shall have such as it is Rom. 6. 20. When ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness Let none therefore be prejudiced at the ways of Duty and strict Godliness The law of Christ is the perfect law of liberty James 1. 25. Not liberty to sin but liberty from sin XVII Excellency 'T is a Mercy purchased by the blood of Christ for Believers and one of the principal Mercies setled upon them by the new Covenant grant A peculiar mercy which none but the Redeemed of the Lord partake of a mercy which cost the blood of Christ to purchase it I do not deny but there are thousands of other mercies bestowed upon the unregenerate they have Health Wealth Children Honours Pleasures and all the delights of this Life but for communion with God and the pleasures that result therefrom they are uncapable of these No supping with Christ upon such excellent privileges and mercies as these till the heart be opened to him by faith you cannot come nigh to God until you be first made nigh by reconciliation Eph. 2. 13. Heb. 10. 19 20 21 22. What would your lives Christians be worth to you if this mercy were cut off from you There would be little sweetness or savour in all your outward mercies were it not for this mercy that sweetens them all And there is this difference among many others betwixt this mercy and all outward mercies You may be cut off from the enjoyment of those you cannot from this no prison can keep out the Comforter O bless God for this invaluable Mercy XVIII Excellency 'T is Natural to the new Creature the inclination and instinct of the new Creature leadeth to Communion with God. 'T is as natural to the new Creature to desire it and work after it as it is to the new-born babe to make to the breast 1 Pet 2. 2 As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby There is a law upon the regenerate part which inwardly and powerfully obliges it to acts of Duty and converse with God in them Communion with God is a thing that riseth out of the principles of grace You know all Creatures in this lower World act according to the Laws of Nature the Sun will rise and the Sea will flow at its appointed time and the gracious Soul will make towards its God in the times and seasons of Communion with him They are not forced on to those Duties by the frights of Conscience and the fears of Hell so much as by the natural inclination of the new Creature Two things demonstrate Communion with God to be co-natural to the regenerate part called the inner-man and the hidden-man of the heart viz. 1. The Restlesness of a gracious Soul without it Cant. 3. 2. The Church in the first verse had sought her beloved but found him not doth she sit down satisfied in his absence No no I will rise now and go about the City in the streets and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my Soul loveth 2. The Satisfaction and Pleasure the rest and delight which the Soul finds and feels in the enjoyment of Communion with God plainly shews it to be agreeable to the new Nature Psal. 63. 5. My Soul shall be satisfied whilst I think on thee And when it is thus then Duties become easie and pleasant to the Soul 1 Iohn 5. 3. His commandments are not grievous Yea and such a Soul will be constant and assiduous in those Duties That which is natural is constant as well as pleasant what 's the reason Hypocrites throw up the Duties of Religion in times of difficulty but because they have not an inward principle agreeable to them The motives to Duty lie without them not within them XIX Excellency 'T is the Occupation and trade of all sanctified persons and the richest Trade that was ever driven by men This way they grow rich in Spiritual Treasures the Revenues of it are better than Silver and Gold There be many of you have Traded long for this World and it comes to little and had you gained your designs you had gained but trifles This is the rich and profitable occupation Phil. 3. 20. Our conversation is in Heaven Our Commerce and Trade lies that way so that word signifies There be few Christians that have driven this Soul-enriching Trade any considerable time but can shew some Spiritual Treasures which they have gotten by it Psal. 119. 50. This I had because I kept thy precepts As Merchants can shew the Gold and Silver the Lands and Houses the rich Goods and Furniture which they have gotten by their succesful Adventures abroad and tell their Friends so much I got by such a Voyage and so much by another So Christians have invaluable treasures though their humility conceals them which they have gotten by this heavenly Trade of Communion with God. Their Souls were weak and by Communion with God they have gotten strength Psal. 13 8. 3. I cryed and thou strengthnedst me with strength in my Soul. They have gotten peace by it a treasure inestimable Psal. 119. 165. Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them They have gotten purity by it Psal. 119. 3. They do no iniquity that walk in thy ways O what rich returns are here Nay they get sometimes full assurance by it The riches of both the Indies will not purchase from a Christian the least of these mercies These are the rich rewards of our pains in the Duties of Religion In keeping thy Commandments there is great reward XX. Excellency 'T is Oyl to the Wheels of Obedience which makes the Soul go on chearfully in the ways of the Lord Psal. 119. 32. Then will I run the ways of thy Commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart Non tardat uncta rota Oyled Wheels run trig and nimble How prompt and ready for any Duty of Obedience is a Soul under the influences of Communion with God! Then as Isaiah having gotten a sight of God Here am I Lord send me Isa. 6. 8. Now the Soul can turn its hand to Duties Of 1. Active And 2. Passive Obedience I. Hereby the Soul is prepared and fitted for the Duties of Active Obedience to which it applies it self with pleasure and delight Psal. 43. 3 4. Then will I go unto the Altar of God unto God my exceeding joy or as it is in the Hebrew the gladness of my joy It goes to prayer as an hungry man to a feast or as a covetuous man to his
of sin and still continue in it How shall we that are dead to sin continue any longer therein Rom. 6. 2. Trust Providence for the supply of your wants and the wants of yours in ways of Duty and Righteousness A little that a Righteous man hath is better than the Riches of many wicked You 'l have more comfort in Bread and Water with peace of Conscience than in full Tables with Gods curse You 'l lye more at ease on a burden of Straw than on a Bed of Down with a grumbling conscience III. Instance How many lye under the condemnations of their own consciences for the lusts of Uncleanness in which they live and though they read and their consciences apply to them such Scriptures as that 1. Cor. 6. 9. Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Abusers of themselves with mankind c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God a dreadful Sentence and that Heb. 13. 4. Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Yet convictions are overborn and stifled by 1. The Impetuous Violence of carnal Lusts which permit not of calm debates but hurry them on to the sin and leave them to consider the evil and dangerous consequences afterward Thus they go as an Oxe to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks Prov. 7. 22. Lust besots them To give counsel now is but to give Physick in a Paroxisme or counsel to him that is running a Race Lust answers conscience as Antipater did one that presented him a Book treating of Happiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have no leisure to read such Discourses 2. Others would feign solve their scruples with the sinful failings of good men as David Solomon c. not considering what brokenness of Heart it cost David Psal. 51. and the other sorrow more bitter than death Eccl. 7. 26. Laeta venire venus tristis abire solet This is a presumptuous way of sinning and how dreadful that is see Numb 15. 30. IV. Instance Truth is often held in unrighteousness by sinful Silence in not reproving other mens sins and thereby making them our own We are sometimes cast into the company of ungodly Men where we hear the name of our God blasphemed the Truth Worship or Servants of God reproached and have not so much courage to appear for God as others have to appear against him In such cases Conscience useth to instigate men to their duty and charge it home upon them in the authority of such a Scripture as that Lev. 19. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin upon him O saith Conscience thy silence now will be thy sin This poor wretch may perish for want of a seasonable plain and faithful rebuke Thy silence will harden him in his wickedness No sooner doth such a conviction stir in the Conscience but many things are ready to lay hold on it as 1. A Spirit of Cowardice which makes us afraid to displease men and chuses rather the wrath of God should fall on them than that their wrath should fall on us We dare not take as much liberty to reprove sin as others do to commit it They glory in their shame and we are ashamed of what is both our glory and our duty 2. Dependance on or near relation to the Person sinning 'T is a Father an Husband a Superior on whose favour I depend and should I displease him I may ruine my self this is the voice of the Flesh. Hence duty is neglected and the Soul of a Friend basely betrayed Our Interest preferr'd to Gods and thereby frequently lost for there is no way to secure our own interest in any mans heart as to settle it by our Faithfulness in his Conscience and by being willing to hazzard it for Gods interest and glory The Lord blesseth Mens Faithfulness above all their sinful Carnal Policies Prov. 28. 23. He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with his lips 3. Mens own Guilt stops their Mouths and silences them They are ashamed and afraid to reprove other mens sins left they should hear of their own Fear of Retortion keeps them from the duty of Reprehension Thus we fall into a new sin for fear of reviving an old one He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame and 〈◊〉 that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a bist Prov. 9. 7. But this is the fruit of our Pride and Ignorance What we fear might turn to our benefit The Reproof given is a Duty discharged and the Retortion in return a fresh call to Repentance for sin past and a caution against sin to come V. Instance Another Instance of Convictions of unrighteousness imprisoned in mens Souls is in not distributing to the necessities of others especially such as fear God when it is in the power of our hands to do it and Conscience as well as Scripture calls us to our Duty Men cannot be ignorant of that Text Math. 25. 40 41. where by a Synecdoche Charity to the Saints is by Christ put for the whole of Obedience and mens Eternal States are cast according to their observance of this command though I fear few very few study and believe it as they ought Thou canst saith Conscience if thou wilt relieve such or such a poor Christian and therein express thy love to Christ yea refresh the bowels of Christ do it God will repay it if thou refusest how dwelleth the love of God in thee 1 Ioh. 3. 17. This is the Voice of God and Conscience but divers Lusts are ready to lay hold on and bind this Conviction also assoon as it stirs viz. 1 The excessive love of Earthly things The World is got so deep in mens Hearts that they will rather part with their peace yea and with their Souls too than to part with it Hence come those Churlish answers like that of Nabal 1 Sam. 25. 11. Shall I take my bread and my water and my flesh and give it to men whom I know not whence they be 2. Unbelief which denies to give Honour and due Credit to Christs Bills of Exchange drawn upon them in Scripture and presented to them by the hands of his poor Saints They refuse I say to credit them though Conscience protest against them for their Non-compliance Christ saith Mark 9. 41. Whosoever shall give you a cup of cold water to drink in my name because ye belong to Christ verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward He shall gain that which he cannot lose by parting with that which he cannot keep 3. The want of love to Jesus Christ. Did we love Christ in sincerity and were that love so fervent as it ought to be it would make thee more ready to lay down thy neck for Christ than thou now art to lay out a shilling for him 1 Ioh. 3. 16. 'T is our Duty in some cases
pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God. He did not commissionate Angels to be his Legates their presence would confound and terrifie us but Men cast into the same mould with your selves who may say to you as Elihu said to Iob Iob 33. 6 7. Behold I am according to thy wish in Gods stead I also am formed out of the clay Behold my terrour shall not make thee afraid neither shall my Hand be heavy upon thee Upon these Commission Officers of Christ he poured forth excellent gifts in great diversity and useful variety to fit the capacities and various dispositions of Mens Souls When he ascended up on high he gave gifts unto Men this Ministerial Office is by him established in the Church Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect Man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes. 4. 11 12 13. Unto these his Ministers he gives the highest encouragements to quicken them to their labour if one do but one part of the work and another the other one soweth and another reapeth he tells them both He that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice togther John 4. 36. He tells them that every Soul they win to him shall be as a Jewel in their Crown of glory Dan. 12. 3. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever What is Christs intention in all these incouragements to his Ministers Surely it is as if he should say to his Servants Study hard Pray earnestly Plead with sinners affectionately every Soul you win to me shall make an addition to your glory in Heaven Weigh now the force of this second Demonstration from the Life of Christ will you have a proof of Christs earnest suit to gain the Hearts of sinners his whole Life upon Earth was a great proof of it his Doctrin so full of pathetical invitations proves it the Joy of his Heart at the success of the Gospel his Tears and Sorrows for the obstinacy of unbelievers his Labours and Travels to gather sinners to him his admirable Encouragements put into general invitations his dreadful Threatnings to all that reject his motions his commissionating and qualifying continuing and encouraging his Ministers to carry on this suit in his Name All these things make up a full Demonstration that Jesus Christ is an earnest suiter for union and communion with the Soul of sinners which was the thing to be proved Thirdly The Death of Christ is the fullest Demonstration that ever was or can be given of his love to sinners and desire after union and communion with him His Doctrin and Life discovered much but his Death and Sufferings abundantly more in his Doctrin he spent his Breath but upon the Cross he spent his Blood. Here he comes a suiting to the Souls of sinners in his Scarlet robes his Red garments garments dipt in his own Blood You may now propound the same admiring question the Church propounded Isa. 63. 1 2. Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah This that is glorious in his apparel travelling in the greatness of his strength Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the Wine-fat Wilt thou know sinner why he cometh to thee in Red garments It is to give thee such a Demonstration of his love as may draw forth all the love of thy Heart to him by this Blood he hath bought and purchased thy Soul for a Spouse for himself Acts 20. 28. Now there are two things in the Death of Christ evidential of the fervency of his desires after us 1. The greatness of the sufferings which he endured 2. The Use and End to which they were designed Both these shew how the Heart of Christ is heated with the vehemency of his own desires after union with our poor Souls 1. The greatness of the sufferings of Christ discover the ardency of his affection Christs sufferings are two-fold 1. External in his Body 2. Internal in his Soul. Both together making up the fulness of his Sufferings When you shall hear what Christ hath endured in both kinds to purchase you to himself then you may guess what value he put upon you what desire he hath after you Now 1. as to the external Sufferings of Christ in his Body they were exceeding great for the Death he died was not a Natural but a Violent Death indeed he could not dye a Natural Death for there was no sin in his Nature to open a door to Death that way His Body was intended for a Sacrifice to God and as a Sacrifice it dyed therefore it is said 1 Pet. 3. 18. He was put to Death in the Flesh his Soul and Body were violently rent asunder in the fulness and perfection of his strength and vigour and this violent Death was also a cursed Death He was made a Curse for us For it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree Gal. 3. 13. A ceremonial Curse was affixed to the Death of the Cross He that is hanged is accursed of God saith the Law The intention of that Death was to shew the person that dyed to be so vile that he was not worthy to touch Heaven or Earth and therefore was hanged betwixt both Moreover this violent Death Christ dyed was a most painful Death full of Torture and very Slow and Lingering the Cross was a Rack to the Body of Christ I may tell all my bones saith he they look and stare upon me Psal. 22. 17. But yet 2. the Sufferings of his Body were but the Body of his Sufferings it were the Sufferings of his Soul that were the very Soul of his Sufferings These inward Sufferings of Christ may likewise be considered two ways 1. In his bitter propassions in the Garden O what Agonies and Conflicts what sharp Encounters and Distresses did his Soul there meet with from the Wrath of God there endured for your sakes Once and again he cried out Abba Father all things are possible let this Cup pass Father if it be possible let this Cup pass thrice he returned to the same place rowling himself on the ground The Sufferings of his Soul cast his blessed Body into a bloody Agony His sweat was as it were great drops of Blood falling to the ground Luke 22. 43 44. 2. In the fulness of his Passions on the Cross there was his blessed Soul for a time deserted of the Father as to any sensible communications of Joy and Comfort from him which occasioned that bitter out-cry Matth. 27. 46. My God my God why hast thou for saken me Never was there such a cry heard since the Heavens were spread over the Earth never had Christ seen one frown in his
Fathers Face from Eternity before this time but now the smiling Face of God was hid and a strong impression of his Wrath made upon him And now Brethren you see what Christ hath endured both in his Body and in his Soul and all for the sake of Sinners What think you now is not Christ an earnest Suiter Doth not all this fully and plainly speak the ardours of his Love the fervencies of his desires after union and communion with us If this do not then nothing can demonstrate Love and Desire That 's the first thing the greatness of the Sufferings which he endured Secondly Let us next consider the Use and Intention of these Sufferings of Christ and how this also demonstrates the earnestness of his desires after Conjugal union with us Now there was a double Use and End of the Sufferings of Christ. 1. To make us free that we might be capable of Espousals 2. To win our Affections by the argument of his Sufferings I. One End of Christs death was to purchase our Freedom that we might be capable of being Espoused to him for you must know that we were not in a capacity whilst under the curse of the Law to be married unto Christ the Apostle Rom. 7. 2 3 4. compares the Law to a Husband to whom the Wife is bound as long as he liveth and not capable of a second marriage until her Husband be dead The Death of Christ was the Death of the Law as a Covenant of Works holding us under the bond of a Curse of it and so it gave us a manumission or freedom from that bond and a capacity of espousals to Christ as vers 4. Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead A Slave to another is not capable of being disposed in marriage until made Free you were in bondage to the Law the slaves of of Sin and Satan Christ bought out your liberty for his Blood is call'd a ransom Matth. 20. 28. and so put you into a capacity of being espoused unto himself here you see Christ loved you not for any advantage he could have by you for you had nothing to bring him nay he must purchase you and that with his own Blood before he can be united to you O incomparable love O fervent desires II. Another design and end of the Death of Christ was to win and gain our Hearts and Affections to himself by the argument of his Death this himself hath declared to be the very end and intention of it Ioh. 12. 32. And I if I be lifted up from the Earth will draw all Men unto me this he said signifying what Death he should dye Christ endured all that you have heard and infinitely more than the Tongue or Pen of Man can express and all to draw thy Soul and win thy consent to come unto him the Lord Jesus by his sufferings casts a threefold cord over the Souls of Sinners to draw them to himself 1. The Death of Christ obtains compleat righteousness for guilty sinners and if any thing in the World will draw the Heart of a sinner this will the anxious search and enquiry of a convinced sinner is after a perfect righteousness to justifie him before God. O that 's it the sinner wants Conscience saith thou hast broken all the Laws of God and art therefore a Law condemned wretch the sentence of the Law casts thee for Hell Now what would a poor sinner give for a release from this sentence of the Law O ten thousand Worlds for a Pardon Why here it is saith Christ Come unto me and thou shalt receive a free full and final pardon my Blood cleanseth from all sin my righteousness answers all the demands of the Law. I have taken away the Hand-writing that was against thee and nayled it to my Cross Col. 2. 14. Come unto me and take up thy Bonds thy cancelled Bonds come unto me and that dreadful attribute of Divine Justice shall never scare or fright thy Conscience any more nay thou shalt build thy hope upon it you read Rom. 3. 25. That God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Iesus Here you see the justification and pardon of a sinner built upon that very Attribute which was so frightful and dreadful to him before Well then poor sinner is there guilt upon thy Conscience And doth thy Soul shake and quiver to think how it shall stand before the Just and Terrible God in the great Day Hearken to the voice of Christ crucified who calls thee to him to receive thy discharge which if thou refuse the Law still stands in its full force and vertue against thy Soul. This is one cord Christ casts from the Cross over the Souls of guilty sinners to draw them to him 2ly The Death of Christ purchases and procures perfect cleansing from the filth and pollution of sin to wash the defiled Souls of sinners from all their uncleanness For this is he that came by water and by blood not by blood only but by water also 1 Joh. 5. 6. He comes by way of Sanctification as well as by way of Justification Lord saith a convinced sinner what an unclean Nature Heart and Life have I O I am nothing but a heap of uncleanness an abhorence to God and my self how shall such an Heart as mine such an Augean Stable be cleansed Come unto me saith Christ I came by Water as well as Blood in me thou shalt find a Fountain for Sanctification as well as Justification come unto me and my Spirit shall undertake the cleansing of thy Heart he shall take away the pollutions of sin perfectly so that it shall be presented to God without spot 3ly And lastly The transcendent love of Christ shines out in its full strength upon the Souls of sinners from the Cross and there 's nothing like love to draw love when Christ was lifted up upon the Cross he gave such a glorious demonstration of the strength of his love to sinners as one would think should draw love from the hardest Heart that ever lodged in a sinners Breast Herein is love saith the Apostle not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4. 10. q. d. Here 's the triumph the riches and glory of Divine Love never was such love manifested in the World. There 's much of Gods love in Temporal Providences but all 's nothing to this this is love in its highest Elevation Love in its Meridian Glory before it was none like it and after it shall none appear like unto it And thus you