the sinne of your soules all this and more could be no satisfaction for the least sinne nor bring any peace to your mindes but you must of force cry out at last as Saint Paul did stating this sad condition of all mankind under the law Ob wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Justly is it called a body of death for man is of a fraile and weake condition at the best a considerate man hath death alwayes before him What joy or comfort then can hee take all his life long being in the hatred of God a vessell of wrath and liable to eternall death in hell fire for ever What can he looke upon that can give him content Present a man that walkes in the sense of his sinfull condition with all the pleasures the world afford and his sad heart turnes all into death his conscience continually afflicts him terrours and feares and eternall torments are ever in his thoughts and such a wounded Spirit who can beare My beloved I would not be mistaken in what I have said of this woefull condition as though I presented it to your thoughts as a meanes to terrifie you from any your sinfull courses I know full well it is not the way it is not Gods way nor doe I wish this sad condition to be any of yours though happily it may be thus with many of you many of you may through sense of sinne and of wrath due for sinne walke in a very disconsolate condition feares and terrours may abound in you to whom I doubt not though great heavinesse may indure for a night yet greater joy shall come in the morning which as much as in mee lyes I shall indeavour to produce in every one of you I have presented this woefull condition of all mankind under the law thus sadly and truly because I finde generally men doe not seriously consider the bottomlesse depth of the misery from the which they are redeemed I am not a preacher of the law but of the gospell nor are you under the law but under grace the law was given by Moses whose minister I am not but grace and truth came by Iesus Christ whose minister I am whose exceeding love hath appeared and because I would have you fully to see and consider his love therefore did I shew the woefull condition from which only by his love you are delivered Another principle I shall pray you to consider is that God loves nothing but what is pure and holy without spot or blemish so as it is a vaine and delusive doctrin to say that God passes by our daily infirmities accepting our wills for our performances our desire to be obedient to his Commandements for obedience for where there is the least defect God hates for that very defect and loves not but where there is perfect holinesse and righteousnesse which makes this truth appeare that by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be iustified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sinne It is a sad favour that the law ever did unto mankinde to make his sinne appeare out of measure sinfull stopping every mans mouth admitting no plea or excuse on mans behalfe And yet it is so naturall to thinke that he is still bound to doe something for obtaining the love and favour of God that you will finde it is the hardest thing in the world to free your selves from it though it be the grossest Antichristian errour that ever was for if righteousnesse come by the law then Christ died in vaine It it such an errour that untill it be removed out of your mindes it will be but labour lost to endeavour to worke any truth upon your mindes and I have much cause to feare your mindes are tainted therewith because our publicke catechismes bookes and Sermons are for the most part corrupted therewith so as we sucke this errour in even with our very milke and it becomes one substance with many of us even to our old age It was so in the Apostles times as may be seene in Acts the 15 from the 5. verse to the end of the chapter where you shall find that some that beleeved affirmâ—â— that it was necessary to circumcise and to keepe the law but you will finde by the story it was their errour Also in the second to the Corinthians the third to the end where you shall find the law stiled the ministration of death written in tables of stone which was the 10 Commandements and verse the 11. to be done away and a more glorious ministration to take place and remaine and yet the breeding of the Iewes being under the law though they did beleeve the comming of Christ yet still even to that day the Apostle wrote their minds were blinded and the vaile remained at the reading of the old Testament which vayle is done away in Christ These things beloved you are to consider seriously for that untill you doe undoubtedly see your selves not to be under the law no not in the least respect you cannot see your selves to be under grace that is in the favour and love of God untill when you cannot with sound judgment affirme that which my text affirmeth that is that the love of God hath appeared for he that in any measure conceiveth himselfe to be under the law doth not clearely discerne the love of god for that vayle is before his eyes you all give credit to the word of God let S. Paul then be your guide to leade you out of this sad Aegyptian bondage who knew all things that concerned the law yet cryes out I account all things as losse and dung that I may be found in Christ not having my owne or mans righteousnesse which is of the law but the righteousnesse which is of God in him make it your own cases by sound consideration for yee are all justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Iesus Christ your feares nor sinnes nor doubtings cannot alter that condition which Christ hath purchased for you for though the sting of death be sinne the strength of sin be the law yet thankes be unto God for he hath given us the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ so as you may all boldly say Oh death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory And that none of you may doubt of his exceeding love and your perfect reconciliation with God I wil reade unto you certaine passages in the 5 chapter to the Romans which if well weighed will leave you without all scruple verse,6 When we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly you see there that ungodlinesse did not hinder but that Christ died for thee that art ungodly dost thou stand amazed and canst not throwly beleeve the Apostle grants that to mans judgment it is incredible for amongst men scarcely for a righteous man will one dye yet peradventure for a good man one would even
dare to dye but to confirme thy timerous heart verse 8. God commendeth his love towards us in that whilst we were yet sinners Christ died for us v. 9. much more being then justified by his bloud we shall be saved from wrath through him v. 10. for if when we were enemies we were reconciled by the death of his Sonne much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life so as now thou hast cause to joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom thou hast received the atonement and to take from thee all staggering in the 18. v. he confirmes thee saying As by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousnesse of one the free gift came upon all men to justification of life and in â—he 20. vers because he knew thy pronenesse to make questions still about the Law he tels thee the Law entred that sinne might abound but withall assures thee that where sinne abounded grace or love did much more abound that as sinne had reigned unto death even so grace or love might reign through righteousnesse unto eternall life through Christ our Lord. Beloved God by the power of his Word hath begotten so ful assurance of these things in me as that thereby he hath made me an able Minister of the New Testament not of the Letter or the Law but of the Spirit for the Letter killeth but the Spirit that is the Gospel giveth life Nor doe I see any cause why any of you here present should so much as doubt your salvation I am a Minister of reconciliation and am thereby bound to tell you for woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel as in the 2 Cor. 5. 19. that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the Word of reconcilation Now then we are Ambassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you to be reconciled unto God for he hath made him to be sinne for us that knew no sinne that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him so as however we may vainely conceive to our owne prejudice God considers us not as we see our selves full of sinne full of iniquity but as we should consider our selves agreeable to all these passages of his blessed Word fully and perfectly washed from all our sinnes by the bloud of his Son which every one of us doe beleeve though we doe not consider and then with unspeakable joy we shall see that we are reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne that we are justified freely by his grace that for our lost righteousnesse of the Law we are made the righteousnesse of God In him having peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost by whose word these blessed truths are declared unto us Are these things so indeed doth God accept me a poore miserable sinner as righteous in his sight and freed from sinne from all sinne Heare still the Word of God he hath borne our sinnes in his body on the tree and it is the bloud of Christ that cleanseth thee from all sinne he by his one oblation once offered hath made a full perfect and sufficient satisfaction and sacrifice for the sinnes of the whole world and if we sinne we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sinnes and not for ours onely but for the sinnes of the whole world This worke of your redemption and reconciliation with God was perfected when Christ died and nothing shall be able to separate you from his love then purchased neither infidelity nor impenitencie nor unthankfulnesse nor sinne nor any thing whatsoever can make void his purchase no though with the Jewes you should deny the Lord that bought you so powerful was his bloud-shed ding and of so full value for discharging of all our debts past present and to come so infinite is his goodnesse so free is his love and so abundantly happy is our condition though many of us have beene too too ignorant thereof and for want of this knowledge many of us have walked very uncomfortably spending our time in fasting weeping and mourning in praying reading and hearing and in performance of other duties as you call them and all to get Christ our feare distracts our judgements that wee consider not what the Scripture sets forth unto us if we did wee should see aparently that it sets forth salvation wrought and perfected for ever to whom doth it manifest the same to sinners to the ungodly to all the world a worke perfected depending on no condition no performance at all What would people have to give peace to their mindes you doe wrong your selves through nice distinctions the word of God is given to declare these truths and that he is our peace the word of God you doe beleeve and so cannot but be comforted the onely end for which it is preserved unto you that you might reade and know and understand your blessed condition for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God and you are to looke for no other testimony nor are you to doubt your selves for though your present comfort depends upon your beleeving this word yet the worke of Christ depends not on your beleeving and though you should not beleeve yet hee is faithfull and cannot deny himselfe to be your redeemer your peace-maker your Saviour Men are not pleased except salvation be proved to be very difficult to bee obtained it must still depend either on our beleeving or doing or repenting or selfe-deniall or Sabbath-keeping or something or other or else man is not pleased too easie good God! that free love should be suspected that because it is easie to be had we should put it farre from us why God knew full well thou wert dead he considered that thou wert but dust suppose he had required any thing of thee without which thou shouldst have no part in Christ what a sad case hadst thou beene in goe thy wayes and with chearefulnesse possesse his infinite love and declare unto thy brethren what the Lord hath done for al our souls tel them that the love of God bringing salvation hath appeared teaching us to deny all ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And I shall desire to know of all that heare me this day whereof some may happily be addicted to the corruptions of this world for our times though we call them times of light yet do abound with gluttony drunkennesse and whoredome usury pride oppression and all kinde of wickednesse such as is not to be named amongst Christians what shall I say to these things it will be in vaine for me to reprove you for them for men never reforme their vices till first their judgements be well informed and then they kindly reforme themselves I shall onely demand