Duty of his Obedience rendring it amiable in the sight of God and useful unto us So when he went unto John to be baptized he who knew he had no need of it on his own Account would have declined the Duty of administring that Ordinance unto him but he replied Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness Mat. 3. 15. This I have undertaken willingly of my own accord without any need of it for my self and therefore will discharge it For him who was Lord of all universally thus to submit himself to Universal Obedience carrieth along with it an Evidence of Glorious Grace 2. THIS Obedience as unto the use and end of it was not for himself but for us We were obliged unto it and could not perform it he was not obliged unto it any otherwise but by a free Act of his own Will and did perform it God gave him this Honour that he should obey for the whole Church that by his obedience we should be made righteous Rom. 5. 19. Herein I say did God give him Honour and Glory that his Obedience should stand in the stead of the perfect Obedience of the Church as unto Justification 3. HIS Obedience being absolutely universal and absolutely perfect was the great Representative of the Holiness of God in the Law It was repreâ—â—nted glorious when the Ten Words were written by the Finger of God in Tables of Stone It appears yet more eminently in the Spiritual Transcription of it in the Hearts of Believers But absolutely and perfectly it is exemplified only in the Holiness and Obedience of Christ which answered it unto the utmost And this is no small Part of his Glory in Obedience that the Holiness of God in the Law was therein and therein alone in that one Instance as unto human Nature fully represented 4. HE wrought out this Obedience against all Difficulties and Oppressions For although he was absolutely free from that Disorder which in us hath invaded our whole Natures which internally renders all Obedience difficult unto us and perfect Obedience impossible yet as unto Opposition from without in Temptations Sufferings Reproaches Contradictions he met with more than we all Hence is that glorious Word Although he were a Son yet he learned Obedience by the things which be suffered Heb. 5. 8. See our Exposition of that place But 5. THE Glory of this Obedience ariseth principally from the Consideration of the Person who thus yielded it unto God This was no other but the Son of God made Man God and Man in one Person He who was in Heaven above all Lord of all at the same time lived in the World in a Condition of no Reputation and a Course of the strictest Obedience unto the whole Law of God He unto whom Prayer was made prayed himself Night and Day He whom all the Angels of Heaven and all Creatures worshiped was continually conversant in all the Duties of the Worship of God He who was over the House diligently observed the meanest Office of the House He that made all Men in whose Hand they are all as Clay in the Hand of the Potter observed amongst them the strictest Rules of Justice in giving unto every one his Due and of Charity in giving good things that were not so due This is that which renders the Obedience of Christ in the Discharge of his Office both mysterious and glorious 2. AGAIN The Glory of Christ is proposed unto us in what he suffered in the Discharg of the Office which he had undertaken There belonged indeed unto his Office Victory Success and Triumph with great Glory Isa. 63. 1 2 3 4 5. but there were Sufferings also required of him antecedently thereunto Ought not Christ to suffer and to enter into his Glory BUT such were these Sufferings of Christ as that in our Thoughts about them our Minds quickly recoil in a Sense of their Insufficiency to conceive a Right of them Never any one launched into this Ocean with his Meditations but he quickly found himself unable to fathom the Depths of it Nor shall I here undertake an Enquiry into them I shall only point at this Spring of Glory and leave it under a Vail WE might here look on him as under the Weight of the Wrath of God and the Curse of the Law taking on himself and on his whole Soul the utmost of Evil that God had ever threatned to Sin or Sinners we might look on him in his Agony and bloody Sweat in his strong Cries and Supplications when he was sorrowful unto the Death and began to be amazed in apprehensions of the things that were coming on him of that dreadful Tryal which he was entring into we might look upon him conflicting with all the Powers of Darkness the Rage and Madness of Men suffering in his Soul his Body his Name his Reputation his Goods his Life some of these Sufferings being immediate from God above othâ—rs from Devils and wicked Men acting according to the Determinate Counsel of God we might look on him praying weeping crying out bleeding dying in all things making his Soul an Offering for sin So was he taken from Prison and Judgment and who shall declare his Generation for he was cut off from the Land of the Living For the Transgression saith God of my People was he smitten Isa. 53. 8. But these things I shall not insist on in particular but leave them under such a Vail as may give us a Prospect into them so far as to fill our Souls with holy Admiration LORD What is Man that thou art thus mindful of him and the Son of Man that thou visitest him Who hath known thy Mind or who hath been thy Councellor O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God! How unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out What shall we say unto these things that God spared not his only Son but gave him up unto Death and all the Evils included therein for such poor lost Sinners as we were that for our Sakes the Eternal Son of God should submit himself unto all the Evils that our Natures are obnoxious unto and that our Sins had deserved that we might be delivered HOW Glorious is the Lord Christ on this Account in the Eyes of Believers When Adam had sinned and thereby eternally according unto the Sanction of the Law ruined himself and all his Posterity he stood ashamed afraid trembling as one ready to perish for ever under the Displeasure of God Death was that which he had deserved and immediate Death was that which he looked for In this State the Lord Christ in the Promise comes unto him and says Poor Creature How woful is thy Condition How deformed is thy Appearance What is become of the Beauty of the Glory of that Image of God wherein thou wast created How hast thou taken on thee the monstrous Shape and Image of Satan And yet thy present Misery thy
all these things pass by without any further consideration BUT here I must fix with them unto whom I speak at present unless there be a full Conviction in them of the woful deplorable condition of every Soul of whatever Quality Profession Religion outward State it be who is not yet made partaker of Christ all that I have further to add will be of no signification Remember then that the due consideration hereof is unto you in your State your chiefest concernment in this World and be not afraid to take in a full and deep sense of it for if you are really delivered from it and have good Evidence thereof it is nothing unto you but matter of eternal Praise and Thanksgiving And if you are not so it is highly necessary that your Minds should be possessed with due Apprehension of it The work of this Conviction is the first effect of true Religion and the great Abuse of Religion in the World is that a pretence of it deludes the Minds of men to apprehend that it is not necessary for to be of this or that Religion of this or that way in Religion is supposed sufficient to secure the Eternal State of men though they are never convinced of their lost estate by Nature 4. HEREON consider the Infinite Condescention and Love of Christ in his Invitations and Calls of you to come unto him for Life Deliverance Mercy Grace Peace and Eternal Salvation Multitudes of these Invitations and Calls are recorded in the Scripture and they are all of them filled up with those blessed Encouragements which Divine wisdom knows to be suited unto lost convinced Sinners in their present state and condition It were a blessed Contemplation to dwell on the Consideration of the Infinite Condescention Grace and Love of Christ in his Invitations of Sinners to come unto him that they may be saved of that mixture of Wisdom and perswasive Grace that is in them of the force and efficacy of the pleading and Argument that they are accompanied withal as they are recorded in the Scripture but that belongs not to my present Design This I shall only say that in the Declaration and Preaching of them Jesus Christ yet stands before Sinners calling inviting encouraging of them to come unto him THIS is somewhat of the Word which he now speaks unto you Why will ye dye why will ye perish why will you not have compassion on your own Souls Can your Hearts endure or can your hands be strong in the day of Wrath that is approaching It is but a little while before all your Hopes your Reliefs and Presumptions will forsake you and leave you eternally miserable Look unto me and be saved come unto me and I will ease you of all Sins Sorrows Fears Burthens and give rest unto your Souls Come I entreat you lay aside all Procrastinations all delays put me off no more Eternity lyes at the door cast out all cursed self-deceiving Reserves do not so hate me as that you will rather perish than accept of Deliverance by me THESE and the like things doth the Lord Christ continually declare proclaim plead and urge on the Souls of Sinners as it is fully declaclared Prov. 1. ver 20. to the 34. He doth it in the preaching of the word as if he were present with you stood amongst you and spake personally to every one of you And because this would not suit his present state of Glory he hath appointed the Ministers of the Gospel to appear before you and to deal with you in his stead avowing as his own the Invitations that are given you in his Name 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. CONSIDER therefore his Infinite Condescention Grace and Love herein Why all this towards you doth he stand in need of you Have you deserved it at his hands Did you love him first Cannot he be happy and blessed without you Hath he any Design upon you that he is so earnest in calling you unto him Alas it is nothing but the overflowing of Mercy Compassion and Grace that moves and acts him herein Here lyes the entrance of innumerable Souls into a Death and Condemnation far more severe than those contained in the Curse of the Law 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. In the contempt of this Infinite Condescention of Christ in his Holy Invitation of Sinners to himself lies the sting and poyson of Unbelief which unavoidably gives over the Souls of Men unto Eternal Ruine And who shall once pity them to Eternity who are guilty of it Yea but 5. PERHAPS if you should on his Invitation begin to look to him and resolve to come to him you are greatly afraid that when it comes to the Tryal he will not receive you for no Heart can conceive no Tongue can express what wretched vile and provoking Sinners you have been That the Lord Christ will receive unto him such as we are we have no hopes or that ever we shall find Acceptance with him I say it is not amiss when Persons come so far as to be sensible of what Discouragements they have to conflict withall what difficulties lye in their way and what objections do arise against them for the most do perish in a senceless stupidity they will not consider how it is with them what is required of them nor how it will be in the latter end they doubt not but that either they do believe already or can do so when they please but when any come so far as to charge the failure of their Acceptance with Christ on their own unworthiness and so are discouraged from coming unto him there are Arguments for their Conviction and Perswasion which nothing but the Devil and Unbelief can defeat Wherefore that which is now proposed unto consideration in answer hereunto is the Readiness of Christ to receive every Sinner be he who or what he will that shall come unto him And hereof we have the highest Evidences that Divine Wisdom and Grace can give unto us This is the Language of the Gospel of all that the Lord Christ did or suffered which is recorded therein This is the Divine Testimony of the Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and of the Three that bear witness in Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood all give their joynt Testimony that the Lord Christ is ready to receive all Sinners that come to him they who receive not this Testimony make God a Lyar both Father Son and Spirit Whatever the Lord Christ is in the Constitution of his Person in the Representation of the Father in his Office in what he did on the Earth in what he doth in Heaven proclaims the same Truth Nothing but cursed Obstinacy in Sin and Unbelief can suggest a thought unto our minds that he is not willing to receive us when we come unto him Herein we are to bear Testimony against the Unbelief of all unto whom the Gospel is preached that come not unto him Unbelief acting
unto him whereof they express First The Cause which was his meer Grace and Mercy For in thee the Fatherless findeth Mercy And Secondly The Effect of it which is Praise and Thanksgiving So will we render the Calves of our Lips And some things we may hence farther observe as unto the Case under Consideration As 1. ALTHOUGH God will repair our Spiritual Decays and heal our Backslidings freely yet he will do it so or in such a way as wherein he may communicate Grace unto us to the praise of his own Glory Therefore are these Duties prescribed unto us in order thereunto for although they are not the procuring Cause of the Love and Grace from whence alone we are healed yet are they required in the method of the Dispensation of Grace to precede the Effect of them Nor have we any where a more illustrious Instance and Testimony of the Consistency and Harmony which is between Soveraign Grace and the diligent discharge of our Duty than we have in this place For as God promiseth that he would heal their Backslidings out of his free Love verse 4. and would do it by the Communication of Effectual Grace ver 5. so he injoyns them all these Duties in order thereunto 2. THAT Tunless we find these things wrought in us in a way of preparation for the receiving of the Mercy desired we have no firm ground of Expectation that we shall be made partakers of it For this is the method of Gods dealing with the Church Then and then only we may expect a gracious Reviving from all our Decays when serious Repentance working in the ways declared is found in us This Grace will not surprize us in our Sloth Negligence and Security but will make way for it self by stirring us up unto sincere endeavours after it in the perseverance of these Duties And untill we see better Evidences of this Repentance among us than as yet appears we can have but small Hopes of a general Recovery from our present Decays 5. THE Work it self is declared 1. By it's Nature 2. In it's Causes 3. From it's Effects 1. IN the Nature of it it is the healing of Backslidings I will heal their Backslidings the Sin whereby they are fallen off from God unto whom they are now exhorted to Return These bring the Souls of Men into a diseased Estate and danger of Death The Cure hereof is the Work of God alone Hence he gives himself that Title I am the Lord that healeth thee Exod. 15. 26. And because of the poysonous Nature of Sin and the danger it brings of Eternal Death unto the Souls of Men the Removal of it or a Recovery from it is often called by the name of Healing Psal. 6. 2. Isai. 57. 18 19. Hos. 6. 1. Here it includeth two things First the pardon of Sin past and then a supply of Grace to make us fruitful in Obedience I will be as the Dew to Israel as we shall see This is God's Healing of Backslidings 2. IN the Causes of it which are 1. The Principal moving Cause and that is free undeserved Love I will love them freely From hence alone is our Recovery to be expected 2. The Efficient Cause which as unto Sins past is pardoning Mercy Mins Anger is turned away from him And as unto renewed Obedience in which two our Recovery consists it is in a plentiful Supply of Effectual Grace I will be as the Dew unto Israel Fresh supplies of the Spirit of Grace from above are so expressed This is necessary unto our Healing and Recovery 3. IT is described by it's Effect which is a much more abundant Fruitfulness in Holiness and Obedience in Peace and Love than ever they had before attained This the Prophet sets out in multiplied Similitudes and Metaphors to denote the Greatness and Efficacy of the Grace so communicated I have a little insisted on the opening of this Context for sundry Reasons 1. THE Case which I would consider is in all the parts of it stated distinctly and represented clearly unto us There is nothing remains but only the especial Way whereby in the Exercise of Faith this Grace may be obtained which is that which I shall speak unto in the last place as that which is principally intended in this Discourse 2. THAT I might shew how great a thing it is to have our Spiritual Decays made up our Backslidings healed and so to attain the vigorous acting of Grace and Spiritual Life with a flourishing Profession and fruitful Obedience in Old Age It is so set forth here by the Holy Ghost as that every one must needs have a sense of the Beauty and Glory of the Work It is that which Divine Love Mercy and Grace are eminently effectual in unto the Glory of God that which so many Duties are required to prepare us for Let no Man think that it is a light or common work every thing in it is peculiar It is unto them who are made partakers of it a Life from the Dead 3. THAT none may utterly despond under their Decays When Persons are awakened by new Convictions and begin to feel the weight of them and how 〈◊〉 they are intangled with them they 〈◊〉 ready to faint and even to despair of Deliverance But we see that here is a Promise of Deliverance from them by pardoning Mercy and also of such fresh Springs of Grace as shall cause us to abound in Holiness and Fruitfulness Who is it that is entangled with Corruptions and Temptations that groans under a sense of a cold lifeless barren frame of Heart he may take in Spiritual Refreshment if by Faith he can make Application of this Promise unto himself 4. THAT which remains is to declare the particular Way whereby in the Exercise of Faith we may obtain the Fruit of this and all other Promises of the like Nature unto the End so often proposed namely of being flourishing and fruitful even in Old Age. Now supposing a due Attendance unto the Duties mentioned I shall give some Directions with respect unto that which gives Life Power and Efficacy unto them all and which will infallibly bring us unto the full Enjoyment of this Signal Mercy And they are these that â—ollow 1. ALL our Supplies of Grace are from Jesus Christ. Grace is declared in the Promises of the Old Testament but the way of it's Communication and our receiving of it is revealed unto us in the New This belongs to the Mystery of it that all Grace is from Christ and shall be in vain expected any other way He hath assured us that without him we can do nothing we can no more bring forth Fruit than a Branch can that is separated from the Vine John 15. 3 4 5. He is our Head and all our Spiritual Influences that is Divine Communication of Grace are from him alone He is our Life efficiently and liveth in us effectively so as that our Ability for vital Acts is from him Gal. 2. 20. Col. 3. 1
and offences of others I SHALL at present give this Assertion no other confirmation but only that God hath often done so who will who can do no iniquity SO he affirms that he will do Exod. 20. 5. Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children under the third and fourth generation It is no exception of weight that they also are sinners continuing in their Fathers sins for the worst of sinners must not be dealt unjustly withal but they must be so if they are punished for their fathers sins and it be absolutely unlawful that any one should be punished for the sin of another SO the Church affirms Our fathers have sinned and are not and we have born their iniquities Lam. 5. 11. And so it was For in the Babylonish captivity God punished the sins of their fore-fathers especially those committed in the days of Manasses 2 King 23. 26 27. As afterwards in the final destruction of that Church and Nation God punished in them the guilt of all bloody persecutions from the beginning of the world Luke 11. 50 51. SO Canaan was cursed for the sin of his Father Gen. 9. 25. Saul's seven Sons were put to death for their Fathers bloody Cruelty 2 Sam. 21. 8. 14. For the Sin of David seventy thousand of the People were destroyed by an Angel concerning whom he said It is I that have sinned and done evil these sheep what have they done 2 Sam. 24. 15 17. See also 1 King 21. 29. So was it with all the Children or Infants that perished in the Flood or in the Conflagration of Sodom and Gomorrah And other instances of the like nature may be assigned IT is therefore evident That there is no inconsistency with the nature of Divine Justice nor the Rules of Reason among Men that in sundry Cases the Sins of some may be punished on others 2. IT is to be observed that this Administration of Justice is not promiscuous that any whatever may be punished for the sins of any others There is always a special Cause and Reason of it and this is a peculiar conjunction between them who sin and those who are punished for their sins And two Things belong unto this Conjunction 1. Especial Relation 2. Especial mutual Interest 1. THERE is an especial Relation required unto this Translation of Punishment Such as that between Parents and Children as in most of the Instances before given or between a King and Subjects as in the Case of David Hereby the Persons sinning and those suffering are constituted one Body wherein if one Member offend anonother may justly suffer The back may answer for what the hands takes away 2. IT consists in mutual Interest Those whose sins are punished in others have such an Interest in them as that their being so is a punishment unto themselves Therefore are such sinners threatned with the punishment and evils that shall befall their Posterity or Children for their sakes which is highly poepal unto themselves Numb 14. 33. Your Children shall wander in the wilderness forty years and bear your whoredoms The Punishment due to their sins is in part transferred unto their Children and therein did the sting of their own Punishment also consist 3. THERE is a greater a more Intimate Conjunction a nearer Relation an higher mutual Interest between Christ and the Church than ever was or can be between any other Persons or Relations in the world whereon it became just and equal in the sight of God that he should suffer for us and that what he did and suffered should be imputed unto us which is farther to be cleared THERE neither is nor can be any more than a Threefold Conjunction between diverse distinct Persons The first is Natural the second is Moral whereunto I refer that which is Spiritual or Mystical and the Third Foederal by vertue of mutual compact In all these ways is Christ in Conjunction with his Church and in every in one of them in a way Singular and Peculiar 1. THE first Conjunction of distinct Persons is Natural God hath made all Mankind of one blood Act. 17. 26. Whereby there is a Cognation and Alliance between them all Hence every Man is every Mans Brother or Neighbour unto whom loving kindness is to be shewed Luk. 10. 36. And this Conjunction was between Christ and the Church as the Apostle declares Heb. 2. 14. Forasmuch as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Hence both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one v. 11. His Infinite Condescention in coming into this Communion and Conjunction of Nature with us was before declared But it is not common like that between all other Men partakers of the same Nature There are Two Things wherein it was peculiar and eminent 1. THIS Conjunction between him and the Church did not arise from a necessity of Nature but from a voluntary act of his Will The Conjunction that is between all others is necessary Every Man is every Mans Brother whether he will or no by being a Man Natural Generation communicating to every one his subsistence in the same Nature prevents all acts of their own Will and Choice With the Lord Christ it was otherwise as the Text affirms For such Reasons as are there expressed he did by an act of his own Will partake of Flesh and Blood or came into this Conjunction with us He did it of his own choice because the Children did partake of the same He would be what the Children where Wherefore the Conjunction of Christ in humane Nature with the Church is ineffably distinct from that common Conjunction which is amongst all others in the same Nature And therefore altho it should not be meet amongst meer Men that one should act and suffer in the stead of others because they are all thus related to one another as it were whether they will or no yet this could not reach the Lord Christ who in a strange and wonderful manner came into this Conjunction by a meer act of his own 2. HE came into it on this design and for this only end nâ—mely that in our Nature taken to be his own he might do and suffer what was to be done and suffered for the Church So it is added in the Text That by death he might destroy him who had the power of death and deliver them who for fear of death were subject to Bondage This was the only end of his Conjunction in Nature with the Church And this puts the case between him and it at a vast distance from what is or may be between other Men. IT is a foolish thing to argue that because a mere participation of the same Nature among Men is not sufficient to warrant the Righteousness of