so he hath Bowels of Compassion What Mercy may we not expect from so gracious a Mediator that took our Nature on him that he might be Gracious Let us therefore go to God by Christ who has satisfied his Justice by his Death and who without him is to us Sinners as a consuming fire Let us go boldly to his Throne in the name of Jesus and we shall find that the God of whom we were afraid will become our Friend and we shall experience him to be better to us than we ever thought he would have been Our unbelieving hearts whilst they are such will be full of darkness and of trouble but upon our Faith the Storm will cease and the Morning will begin to dawn upon us and instead of that wrath which we feared and had deserved we shall find there is Mercy with the Lord and plenteous Redemption Psal 130. The first thing that a convinced awakened sinner thinks of is his own danger and how he may avoid the Wrath of God and what it is that he must do in order to it now it is not to be accomplished by pompous ceremonious Services not by external mortifications nor by offering the fruity of his Body for the sin of his own Soul but by Faith in Jesus Christ and his Death by the means of which God is become propitious and favourable to us And the first view that as one says an humble Soul is to take of Christ is of his being a Saviour as made a Sin and a Curse and obeying to the death And Christ must be considered not only with respect to the Excellencies of his person but as cloathed with his Garments of Blood and the Qualifications of a Mediator and a Reconciler and this renders him the fit object of a Sinners Faith If we think of God without thinking of Christ he is vastly terrible and amazing to us but in and through him those otherwise-overwhelming apprehensions become very pleasant and comfortable to us Let us honour the Love that he hath shewed in him with admiring thoughts and never have low nor mean apprehensions of his Grace Christ is near unto God and pitiful to us able to help us and most willing to do so for those that come unto him he will in no wise cast out He will not upbraid us for our former follies he will not encrease our grief but when he sees us once lying at his feet and washing them with the tears of an unfeigned humiliation he will raise us up and bid us be of good cheer V. Faith will remove the troubles that we have from the sense of God's displeasure by conveying to us that life and strength from Christ which will enable us to subdue all our spiritual Enemies Phil. 4.13 It will bring him to us and when he is in our Vessel let the Waves threaten us with never so formidable a noise we are sure not to be cast away And all the Spectres that afright us will vanish if we do but hear him once say as to his Disciples It is I be not afraid This Grace will unite us to Christ and communicate to us of his Power in the several measures that we need and without his assistance long and sore afflictions will tire our Spirits and destroy our Hope He is necessary for us for he has a perfect knowledg of our Enemies of their Force their Policies and their Designs He has by his own Combat learn'd to Fight and by his Experience can teach us to get the Victory neither the multitude nor violence nor obstinacy of our Enemies can hinder the Success and the glory of his Triumph Col. 1.11 He prayeth that they might be strengthned with all might because as we have to do with divers Enemies and are sick of divers Infirmities we have need to receive not one or two kinds of strength but many different ones * Vide Daille in loc For as in nature you see the strength of Bodies is different one resisting one thing and yielding to another one has the virtue to repulse the force of one Element but not to guard it self from another So in a manner is it in the Souls of Men such a Man will free himself from the temptation of one sin that will not be able to defend himself from another such a Man will resist the temptations of prosperity whom adversity will overthrow such an one will bear troubles for a while whom the length or tediousness of them will overcome and if one of our Spiritual Enemies succeed against us we are undone for ever Therefore as the Apostle says we have need to have recourse to Christ who can furnish us with skill and strength to defeat whatsoever stands in the way of our Peace or our Salvation To have one on our side that has returned from the Field of Battel as a Conqueror is a mighty encouragement and privilege Such is our Lord he is a Victorious and a Triumphant Saviour he will not leave his Conquests incompleat for he goes on Conquering and to Conquer and the glory of his enterprizes has not fill'd him with disdain or contempt of the poor and needy for he that is the King of Zion is as I said before a meek and lowly King By Faith in Christ we obtain his Spirit which by opening our eyes will shew us that Fountain of Living-waters where we may both quench our thirst and wash away our filth This Spirit will take away the sting of guilt and sweeten the Cross that was very bitter to us and when our Lord is come to help us when we know that he is afflicted in our affliction that yoak which gall'd us before will become as an Ornament about our Necks and when we have the pardon of our sins and the hope of God's acceptance that affliction that we thought a burthen too heavy for us to bear will become light and easie to us Out of the devourer shall come forth sweetness From those very fears that overwhelmed us shall spring glorious hopes and those hearts which a slavish fear of the Wrath had contracted shall be enlarged with a sense of his Goodness and his Love and we shall not look upon him as an Enemy but as a Friend not as a Judge but as a Father Isa 33.14 The inhabitants shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities Alas when God leaves us the smallest danger terrifies us the least Dart of Satan makes an impression on our spirits the least trouble sinks such low such inconsiderable creatures are we But if the Lord be with us if Christ be on our side neither the Law nor Sin nor Death can hinder us from bidding a defiance to all that is against us 2 Cor. 15. 56 57. VI. Faith will give us relief under the apprehensions of God's displeasure or our Sin as it will shew us the period and conclusion of those miseries which we now are groaning under our
Kingdom and relies upon his faithful Promise to bring him thither he knows when he is most pained he is under the Conduct of a tender and a skilful Physician that though he search his Sore will not fail to advance and compleat his Cure and therefore does encourage himself to trust in him whom he shall praise as the health of his countenance and his God He knows that when he is thrown down by Sickness the Everlasting Arms will be underneath and that he shall be strengthned with strength in his Soul when his Body begins to decay but now without the favour of God every little Cross proves a burthen too heavy for us to bear When a man thinks with himself thus These pains that I feel are the wounds of an Enemy when a man sees nothing but what is dismal dark and troublesome and has do prospect of a dawning or approaching Light how sad and how overwhelmed must he needs be how small a thing will sink us when the Comforter that should relieve our Souls is departed Lam. 1.16 3. This Fâ—â—â—â—â— of God is Life to us in the Troubles of our Conscience and there are no Troubles in the World like to these Psal 88.3 4. In all other Troubles our Friends by their kind Discourses and their pitiful Expressions may mitigate our Sorrow but how can they speak peace when God has declared a War against us Job 34.29 When he giveth quietness who then can make trouble and when he hideth his face who then can behold him When he in his just displeasure raises a Storm who can make the Warers smooth again When the Sun is once set can all the power of Nature make it to rise again Other Troubles make the Body droop but these make the Soul it self to languish and to pine away What but the Favour of God can revive us when our Hearts under the sense of Sin and Guilt begin to dye within us When our Sins are set in order before us who can free us from the formidable sight Who but he can teach our hands to fight and to get the Victory When we are awakened with the sense of Wrath with the fear of Hell and of Destruction who can close our eyes again When we are under these inward Wounds who can pour in Oyl who can bind them up or heal them but he alone When our Consciences accuse us for our former and our later Sins who then can plead our Cause who can be on our side when God himself has overthrown us When the spiritual and holy Law slays us who can give us Life When the Word pronounces a dreadful Sentence against us who is able to reverse it Who in Heaven or Earth can be our Helper if we find not help he God Who will give us any comfort when through the terrors of our Souls we are looking for the Wrath to come Who will give us rest when we lie down and rise again with a sense of the Fury and the Displeasure of the Lord Deut. 28.66 67. VVhen a Soul is continually venting its presaging Fears and saying Now I am troubled but I shall shortly be in much greater trouble now I am with my Friends but it may be shortly I shall be with Devils now I am on Earth but it may be shortly I shall be in Hell now the Favour of God brings life to the dying Soul one beam of his favour causes the disconsolate Mourner to lay aside his mourning Garments and to rejoice After long Terrors how sweet is the Voice of God that brings the news of a pardon how welcome are the Tidings of a Pardon to a Malefactor at the very place of Execution and when God has brought us out of the deep VVaters and the miry Pit our very Bones begin to rejoice it spreads a chearfulness over every part to think that one whom we had so highly offended will yet be reconciled again it raises us even to transport and wonder what will he be gracious and merciful to such as we are Is it not pleasant after a long war to be at peace after hard labour to rest after a long Journey to arrive at our home so it will be to see the Face of God after a long darkness to shine upon us again As a devout Lady once said I have found him whom I sought the Love of my Soul and the Joy of mine Heart My Lord and my God Now my Joys return I now behold the Face of God and feel his Comforts in the service and worship of him and therefore every hour seems five till the hour of Prayer comes till by Contemplations and Meditations I bring my God to my Soul I could wish every one of the days for the solemn worship of God to be a Joshua's day the longest is too short for me and my wonted hours of Devotion and Meditation are too narrow a confinement for them and when I am refresht with the Comforts of God my heart dilates it self further by looking on the Joys of Heaven for if there be such joy during the Seed time See Life of the Countess of Falkland p 22. now infinite is the soy Harvest VVhat can be more great more delicious and more comfortable than to find that the Sun of Righteousness will shine upon us with his healing beams assuring us of his Grace here and of his Glory in the VVorld to come To see that Hell and that Curse of the Law in which we thought our selves involved to be under our feet to see the Yoke of Sin broken and the power of Death abolisht to see the Heavenly Sanctuary open and Christ our Salvation on the Throne reaching out to us his hand and guarding us to that happiness which he hath purchased with his Blood Oh! how cold and how miserable are all the Delights of the VVorld to such a delightful sight as this and how happy are the People whose God is the Lord No Pleasures no Creature-comforts no merry Songs can give quiet to a troubled Soul without the Favour and the Love of God till he come all other methods do but make the Clouds more black and encrease our Sorrows 4. His Favour is Life in the vehement Assaults and Temptations of the Devil VVhen the strong man armed comes against us when he darts his fiery darts what can hurt us if he compass us about with his loving-kindness as with a shield Psal 5.12 He can disarm the Tempter and restrain his Malice and tread him under our feet If God be not with us if he do not give us sufficient Grace so subtle so powerful so politick an Enemy will be too hard for us how surely are we foild and get the worse when we pretend to grapple with him in our own strength How many falls and how many bruises by those falls have we got by relying too much on our own skill How often have we had the help of God when we have humbly ask'd it And how sure are we
the last day but he will come to you in the Spirit and judge for your Soul against your Enemies to deliver you from all even Sin which is such a burthen to you As also from Satan the great Troubler of your peace who does either accuse you falsly or aggravates all your Infirmities and Miscarriages though such as he has tempted you to above all reason I shall be glad to have some account from you how it is with your Soul .......... I shall endeavour what lies in me as enabled by the Spirit of Christ to be a helper to your faith and joy ............ I shall add no more at this time but only to let you know That I have you and others in your condition daily in my prayers so I commend you to the mercy of God in our dear Redeemer I am Your very affectionate Friend and Brother in Christ GEORGE PORTER Febr. 21. 1688 9. LETTER II. Written to a Relation of the Author 's by one that had been under Melancholly Mrs. Rogers IF you dare believe one that hath been in your Case which I confess is very sad and much to be pitied you have very much of a Bodily distemper and tho by reason of your Clouds you cannot hope for relief either by spiritual or natural means yet know that nothing is too hard for God to do use both and look up to God as well as you can for a Blessing The Lord's arm is not shortned that he cannot save nor his ear heavy that he cannot hear And tho your Sins and sad Apprehensions keep you in sadness that you cannot see the Lord Jesus nor call him yours yet he sees you bemoaning your Misery and Disability to love and serve him I know you would give all the World were it at your disposal for a glimpse of this favour Do not side with your Enemy so far as to believe that you would not accept of the Lord Jesus to be your King as willingly as to be your Saviour If you can get so much ground of your self then judge you are not alone in this for those that have been in deep Melancholly have not only had hard thoughts of themselves but hard and sinful thoughts of God as if he delighted in the death of a Sinner although he hath sworn the contrary In that dismal condition they could not see the loveliness of Christ nor hardly discern desires after him unless only to be saved from Hell they could plead against themselves That their Day of Grace was past and that they had sinned the unpardonable sin and that for several years Much more I could say but I know it is to no purpose none can speak to the heart but God alone only I beg of you to cherish that hope you have which the Devil would have you disown but had you none you would not ask any to pray for you I knew one that was in so despairing a Condition that did not that nor believed it more possible to be saved than the Devil At length was persuaded to use a Steel Course and Drink the Waters and other means which by God's Blessing did good and as the bodily distemper wore off more clearness came into the Mind and hope returned which before seemed to be quite dead and tho the Party still hath Clouds ........... and Satan is apt to put in that all is naught still through God's Mercy the poor creature can reply I am changeable in my frame God is unchangeable in his Covenants Tho I cannot find the sensible joy nor love nor delight that I would yet blessed be God that he inables me to wait on him in the use of the means by which he hath promised to renew my strength and tho I want that sweet sensible Communion with God which is the Life of Heaven Is it not a Mercy that I can hope in his Mercy Have I deserved such high favours that I must be always full of Joy This is what I would but if the Lord will keep me a poor Beggar 't is infinite Mercy that I am not in Hell and that the desire of my heart is after him I chuse to love him I cast my self on him I neither expect nor desire any other Saviour if I perish it shall be in serving him as well as I can and let him do his will There is forgiveness with him that he should be feared This poor Creature often thinks of that Scripture when Christ spoke to Thomas Thou seest and believest blessed are they that do not see yet believe You say this is no Comfort to you it is not your Case true but you know not how soon it may be This Party that I speak of was in your Case and I verily believe in worse therefore pray cast not off your confidence the Lord I verily hope will shew you Mercy But you must wait be not impatient Is not Redemption from Hell and hope of Heaven-worth waiting for .... The Lord shine in upon your Soul and let you see that whatever he doth is in love and faithfulness Pray for me that I may not forget how it hath been with nor be insensible of your Condition or others in your case ................ I am in some small manner sensible of your trouble I wish I were abundantly more so for then I should hope to be hereafter a partaker with you in your Joys July 24. 89. LETTER III. To a Relation of the Author 's MY very kind and dear Friend whom I much respect and love in the Lord even as I have Cause having found you to be one who I am persuaded Love the Lord Jesus in sincerity which you have fully manifested by your longings after him and your great inward sorrow when you could not enjoy him as you would And now he is returned unto you your soul is at rest rejoycing in him as the Lord your Righteousness Peace and Life in whom you have all your soul needs and desires And the Lord manifest himself to you more and more and fill you with abundance of Peace and Joy in Believing which I doubt not you desire for this end That his Joy being your Strength and your Heart enlarged by it you may be able to run the ways of his Commandments and to serve him not only in sincerity but with all gladness in all love and thankfulness for all his loving-kindness and all the great things he has done for your soul in bringing it out of that horrible pit of darkness and the shadow of death wherein you saw neither Sun nor Moon nor Stars but were afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted without all light comfort and joy tho the Father of Lights and the God of all Consolation were with you when you perceived him not and could discover no tokens of his Gracious Presence as neither could I in the like gloomy Condition But I now find as you also do blessed be the Father of Mercies That he was ready at hand to
Hell as he thinks preparing for him and yet have calm and quiet thoughts It must needs fill him with horror and confusion it must needs eclipse his Reason and put all his Apprehensions into an inexpressible ferment to see himself so like to perish He can mind nothing else nor think of nothing else but his danger and his misery this always returns this always perplexes and overwhelms him I have met but with one that ever handled this Question and because of his Judgment his Learning and the good report that he has in the Churches of Christ I will give you the substance of his Answer 1. This may be for the good of others Is there not many a lesson that such as are not so afflicted may learn from so sad a Providence May not they learn more to admire the Goodness and the Mercy of God to them that they are not in the like case And it is so far good to the person himself tho he discern it not that he is used as an Instrument to promote the Glory of God 2. It may as he says do him the same good as Death will i. e. deliver him from the evil to come from the beholding of such Sorrows on the Church or on his Friends as would have been a daily torment to him and on which being deprived of the use of his Reason he cannot reflect with so great a grief as otherwise he would have done Or 3. By this means the Wise God may have prevented his falling into many such Sins and Temptations as might have been very hurtful to others and have more defiled his own Soul And who knows but this may be the case of the distracted Person See Mr. Richard Allen 's Godly man's Portion p. 62 63. Thus Reader we have been travelling as through a Wilderness of Fiery Serpents You have as I may so say born me company whilst I have been shewing you how God leads his Children through a Desart and the House of Bondage And I hope it has not been without some profit to some poor Troubled Souls for whose sakes especially I have so long insisted on this Subject In the following Part shall with God's Assistance lead you to the brighter side of the Cloud where you will not meet with things very Doleful but very Pleasant A DISCOURSE Concerning TROUBLE of MIND AND THE DISEASE of MELANCHOLY PART II. PSAL. XXX 5. In his favour is Life CHAP. I. Of the several sorts of Life that we enjoy by God's favour and in what conditions of our present Pilgrimage it doth more especially revive us 1. IN God's favour is our Natural life We are the work of his hands and his kindness and bounty does continually maintain what he at first created his Providence secures us from innumerable dangers he gives us meat and drink and health and strength but his displeasure does quickly deprive us of all these 'T is said of all the creatures Psal 104.28 29. What thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good Thou hidest thy face they are troubled thou takest away their breath they dye and return to the dust 'T is this great God to whom we owe our peace and plenty our liberties and all the comforts we enjoy he saves our Bodies from Plague and long sickness and pining wasting sorrows all the delight we have in our Friends in our Families or in our Relations flows from his goodness and his meer mercy and 't is he that saves our Houses from Fire our Estates from Robbers and our Country from desolating Wars Ps 30.7 Lord by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong Man being the noblest creature and the most dignified in all this lower World God has appointed the lower creatures to Minister to his use and his delight The Air as one observes is his Aviary the Sea and Rivers his Fishponds the Vallies his Granary the Mountains his Magazine The first affords Man creatures for nourishment the other Metals for perfection The Animals were created for the support of the Life of Man the Herbs the Dews and Rains for the same purpose there is not the most despicable thing in the whole creation but is endowed with a nature to contribute something for our welfare either as food to nourish us when we are healthful or as Medicine to cure us when we are distempered or as a Garment to cloath us when we are naked and arm us against the cold of the season or as a refreshment when we are weary or as a delight when we are sad all serve for necessity or ornament either to spread our Table beautify our Dwellings furnish our Closets or store our VVardrobes The whole earth is full of his Riches Psal 104.24 2. Spiritual Life is in his favour 'T is he that draws the first lineaments of the new creature and his hand that brings it to perfection he first infuses a vital principle into the soul that is dead in sin and that maintains it afterwards against all the powerful motions of sin and against all the stratagems and tentations of the Devil from his own Grace he did elect his people to Salvation and gives them in time his word and his spirit to quicken them together with all those other blessings of Adoption and Justification and Sanctification which are the product and the fruit of his Electing Love The first quickning and those exercises of Life afterwards which his chosen do perform the first motion and the renewed strength which they receive to enable them to walk in his ways is his own gift 't is his pardon that bestows upon his Servants a new Life when they were dead in Law and could see nothing to ensue but a terrible execution 'T is his favour that contrived the way of our escape from death through the Blood of Christ and that was pleased to accept of the sufferings of that Holy person in our stead That Faith is of his own operation which unites us to his Son the fountain of Life and conveys quickening influences to us Joh. 5.24 He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not enter into condemnation but is passed from death to life This Faith is of his bestowing which enables us to be moderate in our prosperity and to bear the Cross when we are afflicted All those acts that are the fruit of the New Birth as well as the New birth it self are the work of his own hands for he gives both to will and to do he teaches us to fight against our spiritual enemies and his power being employed for us causes us to get the Victory When we are bewildred his Word is our guide to direct us and when we are fainting we have many great and precious Promises to revive our spirits when we are in darkness and when we are in danger he is both our Sun and Shield his Wind blows upon our Gardens and causes
should wish to be learned and yet never read or study as if a Soldier should wish for victory and yet never fight or an Husbandman for a gainful Crop and yet neither plow nor sow It is not a careless wish for God's favour that will serve the turn you must pray constantly and resort to those places of Worship where he usually manifests his presence in his own Ordinances and read his word with reverence humility and frequency you must seek him with your whole heart you must expect and wait tho it be long for a gracious answer of your Prayers how many days will men give their attendance for some Preferment or High Place in a Prince's Court And it should not grieve us to stay for the Favour and the Love of God for when it is once bestowed it will requite all your pains and labour 1 Cor. 15. last verse You will meet in the quest of this with manifold trials and with great oppositions your Carnal Nature and your old Sins will present motives to your sense to draw you back Satan will perplex you with a thousand doubts and troubles for you may be sure this Lyon will roar when he is like to lose his Prey but nothing of this must discourage you The Favour of God is so great a mercy that you may justly be importunate and restless till you get it notwithstanding all the dangers that you meet withal No great things are obtained but with difficulty you 'll see hereafter that it was worth the while to take pains in a matter of so great consequence You now find that after all the pleasure of Sin is past it leaves a sting and fills your minds with bitterness and trouble but you 'll hereafter find nothing but comfort nothing but an overflowing-pleasure in the love of God and you 'll find it to be so very pleasant that you will wish that you had done more for him than you have done There 's not a Soul in Heaven that repents of the pains he took to get thither 3. You must he deeply sensible of your own miserable and undone state without it Luke 5.31 They that are whole need not a Physician but they that are sick Matth. 18.11 The Son of Man is come to save that which is lost Job 33.27 He looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profiteth me not he will deliver his soul from going down to the pit and his life shall see the light If you are once convinced that your sins have made him angry that his Anger is very just and yet so severe that if it continue it will be intolerable If you are once sensible what a great God you have provoked what an holy Law you have broken what an Hell you have deserved you will reckon it as a great mercy that you are not already there whence there is no return If your Conscience have been awakened with a deep impression of his Wrath all the Riches the Honours and the Pleasures of this World will seem to you to be very poor and empty things The sight of Sin that has deceived you that has defiled you that has exposed you to so great danger will fill you with shame and sorrow with fear and trouble Of all your desires this will be your chief and your only desire Let me have the Favour of God whatever else I want Let me have his Favour or I dye for ever you will be restless and unsatisfied till you have the hope of this The reason why men are so industrious for all other things and so little concerned for the Favour of God is because they are blinded by the Devil and their own Lusts and under a spiritual insensibility But if you once find Sin to be bitter this will be very sweet If that has thrown you into painful Agonies and deep distress of Soul this will greatly comfort and revive you you will see then great cause to humble and to loath your self and not find any cause of pride or of the boast of the Pharisee but in the better posture and temper of the Publican say Lord be merciful to me a sinner Never did a Traveller after a tedious Journey more desire his home or a Mariner long tost with Tempests to see the quiet Shore than you will desire this Favour of God When you have been scorcht with inward thirst you will pant for this Fountain of Love wherein you may quench your thirst when you have been in a long war with God and come at length to see the danger of it Oh how beautiful will be the feet of those who are Ambassadors of Peace You will then say as it is in Luke 1.53 He bath filled the hungry with good things and the rich he hath sent empty away 4. The Favour of God is only to be had in and through Jesus Christ and you must apply your selves tn him for it It is not all your Zeal your Repentance your Self-denial or your Mortifications that of themselves will be sufficient to bring you to the Favour of God Tho you labour in his Service all the day and mourn for your Miscarriages all the night what satisfaction will this give to his offended Justice and to the honour of his violated Law We were happy indeed at our first Creation in his Love and happy had we been still had we persevered but our first Apostacy by the fall from that Innocent Condition has made a large breach between God and us and there is none found in Heaven or in Earth that can make it up but his only Son The loss of Original Righteousness has made us to lose his Favour and occasioned a vast distance between him and us this has brought forth all the miseries of the World Irregular Seasons overflowing Inundations and dreadful Wars all the sickness and pain of our Bodies and all the guilt and unquietness and disorder of our Souls in Adam we all died both natural and spiritual death came upon all because all have sinned but God has in his mercy not left us hopeless As soon as Adam fell He was pleased to provide for his rising a-again and as soon as ever he had wounded himself he did prepare a Balsom to heal and cure his Wounds and when he was stung and poisoned with the Venom of the Serpent he did prepare an Antidote The poor guilty Creature could have expected nothing but a Curse and yet God gave him the Promise of Redemption and of a Blessing by the Seed of the Woman that should break the Serpent's head when he drive Adam out of Paradise he might have put him out of Heaven and out of his Presence for evermore and have said Go and dwell with that Devil that tempted thee to sin Upon the Fall he withdrew indeed his usual Favour this raised a cloud that obscured the beauty of his morning-glory and that intercepted the beams that a little while before
shone upon his head but tho we had destroyed our selves in God was our help He sent his own Son to dye for us to give a satisfaction to his Justice which would otherwise have slamed against us and though we are enemies yet he is willing to reconcile us by the death of his Son Rom. 5.10 It is by him that he will treat with us to him must we address our selves as being ordain'd of God to make our peace To his Righteousness must we look as being very sensible that our own at the best is miserably defective If our Persons and our Services be accepted it must be through his Beloved he is the Principal and the great Favourite of Heaven all the mercy that we need will be bestowed for his sake alone all the miseries that we deserve will he keep from us it pleases God to behold what Christ has done he will be pleased with us if we are in him It is the Blood of Jesus and the merit of his Death and our application of these by faith that will re-instate us in his Favour and 't is the power and the virtue of his Intercession that will preserve us in it Christ is the way and the truth and the life 't is he that will conduct and lead us to his Father and make him that was our Enemy because of our Sin to be our Friend a-again It is his Office as a Mediator and a Saviour to heal the Wounded to reduce the Wanderers to call home the banished to make the Lame to walk and the blind to see Isa 61.1 and our blessed Lord is willing to plead our Cause and to help our Wants for those that come unto him he will in no-wise cast out if you believe his Father shall be your Father and his God your God for God has resolved that all the communication of his Grace shall be made through his dearly beloved Son and if you do sincerely beg his Favour for Christ's sake you shall not be denied He that hath the Son hath life You shall indeed flourish when you are united to this great and glorious Head and the death that you found by the first shall be removed by the second Adam As in Adam all died even so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 1.22 The Office of our Redeemer in Heaven is still to be a Reconciler and not all the Angels or the Saints there can do for us what he does When you are complaining of the yet remaining defilement and power of Sin and saying with the great Apostle Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Then remember that there is help laid upon one that is mighty one that is compassionate and hath a tender sense of all your griefs and miseries and therefore when you are amazed with the view of your own guilt terrified with the Accusations of your own Consciences and perplext with the violent Assaults and Temptations of the Devil when you are afraid you shall be the Stubble to the devouring Wrath of God then lay hold of his strength Isa 27.5 i. e. on Christ who is the power of God and the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.24 And it may be said of you as in Ephes 2.12 Though in time past ye were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the World but now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ for he is our peace 5. That you may have an interest in the favour of God which is Life your natures must be renewed It is not enough that your Consciences are delivered from guilt and from an obnoxiousness to punishment but they must also be delivered from the dominion and the power of sin If your Lusts are unsubdued they will by their unquiet and disorderly motions create an Hell within and then you cannot expect an Heaven without if you relish only temporary carnal joys you must not expect to taste the Joy of God nor think that if you will wallow in the mire that he will place you on his Throne Tho' his Sun gives refreshment with his chearful beams to all the World to the bad as well as to the good yet the beams of his special favour will not shine upon a Dunghil nor visit those hearts which are full of all manner of pollution his pure and holy nature will not allow him to behold iniquity with approbation Think not to see the reviving smiles of his face so long as you turn your backs upon him so long as you love what he abhors so long as without any remorse or grief you scorn his Government and violate his Laws Till you are born again by the Spirit of God you are in a state of death and are unfit for the communications of the Divine favour You are in that condition no members of the Body of Christ for all that are joyned to that glorious Head have life and strength from him to mortify their Lusts What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial 2 Cor. 6.14 15. There is no Communion between God and you till your natures your inclinations your principles your designs are all changed from what they once were The righteous Lord loveth righteousness Psal 11.7 Till you have his image and a resemblance of him wrought in you by the Holy Ghost you are not his favourites nor such in whom he can take a peculiar delight without holiness his presence will not seem amiable to you or at least without it you cannot see his face Isa 59.1 2. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you And thâ—refore t hey are compared to a thick Cloud they obstruct and dim the light that otherwise would shine upon your heads Therefore David prays Create in me a clean heart and then restore unto me the joy of thy salvation Psal 51.10 12. Whil'st sin is lodged and entertained in the soul it is like wind in the bowels of the Earth it will cause Convulsions and troublesome agitations there It was the sin of Adam that made so many frowns in the face of God that caused the first eruption of his Wrath that makes it so frequently to flame out with terror against the guilty Sons of Men. Till you are born again you will have an aversion to God And how can you expect that his favour should be given to you whilest you care not to think of him Till your darkness be removed and you be acquainted with him you cannot be at peace VI. That you may have the favour of God you must in conformity to the new Nature and those holy dispositions that you receive by his Grace yield him a sincere and a constant obedience all your lives His countenance