the wounds of Christ Isa. 53. 5. By his stripes we are healed his blood only is innocent and precious blood 1 Pet. 1. 19. blood of infinite worth and value the blood of God Act. 20. 28. blood prepared for this very purpose Heb. 10. 5. this is the blood that performs the cure and how great a cure is it for this cure the souls of Believers shall be praising and magnifying their great Physician in Heaven to all eternity Rev. 1. 5 6. To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood c. to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Secondly The next evil in sin cured by Christ is the dominion 2. of it over the souls of poor sinners Where sin is in dominion the soul is in a very sad condition for it darkens the Understanding depraves the Conscience stiffens the Will hardens the Heart misplaces and disorders all the Affections and thus every faculty is wounded by the power and dominion of sin over the soul. How difficult is the cure of this disease it passes the skill of Angels or men to heal it but Christ undertakes it and makes a perfect cure of it at last and this he doth by his Spirit As he cures the guilt of sin by pouring out his blood for us so he cures the dominion of sin by pouring out his Spirit upon us Justification is the cure of guilt Sanctification the cure of the dominion of sin For First As the Dominion of sin darkens the understanding 1 Cor. 2. 14. so the spirit of holiness which Christ sheds upon his people cures the darkness and blindness of that noble faculty and restores it again Eph. 5. 8. they that were darkness are hereby light in the Lord the anointing of this Spirit teacheth them all things 1 John 2. 27. Secondly As the dominion of sin depraved and defiled the Conscience Tit. 1. 15. wounded it to that degree as to disable it to the performances of all its Offices and Functions so that it was neither able to apply convince or tremble at the word So when the Spirit of holiness is shed forth O what a tender sense fills the renewed Conscience for what small things will it check smite and rebuke how strongly will it bind to duty and bar against sin Thirdly As the dominion of sin stiffned the Will and made it stubborn and rebellious so Christ by sanctifying it brings it to be pliant and obedient to the will of God Lord saith the sinner what wilt thou have me to do Act. 9. 6. Fourthly As the power of sin hardneth the Heart so that nothing could affect it or make any impression upon it when sanctification comes upon the soul it thaws and breaks it as hard as it was and makes it dissolve in the breast of a sinner in godly sorrow Ezec. 36. 26. I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh It will now melt ingenuously under the threatnings of the word 2 Kings 22. 19. or the strokes of the Rod Jer. 31. 18. or the manifestations of grace and mercy Luke 7. 38. Fifthly As the power of sin misplaced and disordered all the affections so sanctification reduces them again and sets them right Psal. 4. 6 7. And thus you see how sanctification becomes the rectitude health and due temper of the soul so far as it prevails curing the diseases that sin in its dominion filled the soul with True it is this cure is not perfected in this life there are still some grudgings of the old diseases in the holiest souls notwithstanding sin be dethroned from its dominion over them but the cure is begun and daily advances towards perfection and at last will be compleat as will appear in the cure of the next evil of sin namely Thirdly The Inherence of sin in the soul this is a sore disease the very core and root of all our other complaints 3. and ayles This made the holy Apostle bemoan himself and waile so bitterly Rom. 7. 17. because of sin that dwelt in him and the same misery is bewailed by all sanctified persons all the world over 'T is a wonderful mercy to have the guilt and the dominion of sin cured but we shall never be perfectly sound and well till the existence or indwelling of sin in our natures be cured too When once that is done then we shall feel no more pain nor sorrows for sin and this our great Physician will at last perform for us and upon us but as the cure of guilt was by our Justification the cure of the dominion of sin by our Sanctification so the third and last which perfects the whole cure will be by our Glorification and till then it is not to be expected For it 's a clear case that sin like Ivy in the old Walls will never be gotten out till the Wall be pulled down and then it 's pulled up by the roots This cure Christ will perform in a moment upon our dissolution For 't is plain First That none but perfected souls freed from all sin are admitted into Heaven Eph. 5. 27. Heb. 12. 23. Rev. 21. 27. Secondly 'T is as plain that no such personal perfection and freedom is found in any man on this side death and the grave 1 Joh. 1. 8. 1 Kings 8. 46. Philip. 3. 12. a truth sealed by the sad experience of all the Saints on earth Thirdly If such freedom and perfection must be before we can be perfectly happy and no such thing be done in this life it remains that it must be done immediately upon their dissolution and at the very time of their glorification as sin came in at the time of the union of their souls and bodies in the womb so it will go out at the time of their separation by death then will Christ put the last hand to this glorious work and perfect that cure which hath been so long under his hand in this world and thenceforth sin shall have no power upon them it shall never tempt them more it shall never defile them more it shall never grieve and sadden their hearts any more henceforth it shall never cloud their evidences darken their understandings or give the least interruption to their communion with God when sin is gone all these its mischievous effects are gone with it So that I may speak it to the comfort of all gracious hearts according to what the Lord told the Israelites in Deut. 12. 8 9. to which I allude for illustration of this most comfortable truth Ye shall not do after all the things that ye do here this day every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes for ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you Whilst you are under Christs cure upon earth but not perfectly healed your understandings mistake your thoughts wander your affections are dead your communion
p. 76 10. 3. p. 79 10. 4. p. 82 83 Galatians Gal. 2. 20. p. 169 3. 23. p. 148 4. 4 5. p. 341 4. 6 7. p. 409 5. 17. p. 112 5. 6. p. 152 5. 17. p. 452 5. 24. p. 456 6. 1. p. 187 6. 22 23. p. 441 Ephesians Eph. 1. 22 23. p. 35 1. 10. p. 36 1. 19 20. p. 72 1. 7. p. 298 1. 6. p. 309 1. 18. p. 568 2. 10. p. 76 2. 1. p. 90 91 2. 10. p. 100 2. 13. p. 310 2. 12. p. 337 2. 12. p. 350 2. 1 2 3. p. 433 3. 17. p. 127 3. 8. p. 173 4. 15 16. p. 27 4. 7. p. 235 5. 31 32. p. 166 5. 14. p. 527 6. 32. p. 27 Philippian Phil. 1. 29. p. 79 1. 29. p. 282 2. 15. p. 503 3. 8. p. 81 3. 12. p. 91 3. 9. p. 168 3. 12. p. 500 4. 19. p. 176 Colossians Col. 1. 2 4. p. 29 1. 27. p. 136 1. 19. p. 250 1. 17. p. 251 1. 22. p. 310 2. 13. p. 95 2. 6. p. 158 3. 11. p. 172 3. 3. p. 434 2. 14. p. 326 1 Thessalonians 1 Thess. 1. 5 6. p. 7 5. 23. p. 98 2 Thessalonians 2 Thess. 1. 10. p. 282 1 Timothy 1 Tim. 1. 16. p. 190 1. 15. p. 193 5. 6. p. 108 2 Timothy 2 Tim. 2. 19. p. 499 Titus Tit. 2. 10. p. 284 3. 8. p. 16 Hebrews Heb. 2. 14. p. 327 3. 14. p. 28 3. 14. p. 344 4. 3. p. 205 5. 14. p. 111 5. 2. p. 223 5. 4. p. 504 7. 25. p. 196 7. 25. p. 253 10. 14. p. 29 10. 27. p. 187 11. 6. p. 194 11. 26. p. 281 12. 24. p. 257 12. 8. p. 326 James Jam. 1. 18. p. 431 4. 12. p. 279 1 Peter 1 Pet. 1. 2. p. 8 1. 2. p. 409 1. 5. p. 474 2. 4. p. 12 2. 2. p. 112 3. 18. p. 335 4. 4. p. 86 4. 4. p. 433 2 Peter 2 Pet. 1. 4. p. 96 1. 4. p. 481 1 John 1 Joh. 2. 27. p. 139 2. 27. p. 377 2. 6. p. 495 2. 6. p. 515 3. 7. p. 13 3. 9. p. 99 3. 8. p. 103 3. 7. p. 130 3. 24. p. 403 5. 11. p. 99 5. 9. p. 118 Jude Jude v. 6. p. 52 v. 21. p. 155 v. 6. p. 155 v. 12. p. 536 Revelation 2. 7. p. 11 3. 2. p. 438 5. 6. p. 257 21. 9. p. 255 Reader NOtwithstanding the extraordinary care of the Printer and Corrector some faults have escaped the Press which a little care of thine may easily rectifie in this manner CORRIGENDA PAge 12. line 4. add be before registred p. 27. l. 8. read though p. 31. l. 9. for it r. him p. 36. l. 20. add by nature p. 47. l. 31. for when r. whence p. 38. l. 22. dele And p. 71. l. 22. dele either and l. 23. for or r. this p. 74. l. 7. for of r. or p. 81. l. penult is is transposed p. 88. l. 3. for contain r. continue p. 117. l. 22. dele of and put it after actings p. 167. l. ult add to justifie us after as Christ hath p. 244. l. 26. for seems r. sees p. 158. l. 27. for of r. by p. 300. l. 9. for essentially r. especially p. 307. l. 38. for by r. of salvation p. 422. l. 2. dele not p. 323. l. 28. for are r. is p. 454. l. 9. for creature r. nature p. 475. l. 6. dele The earthliness of p. 487. l. 4. for our r. one p. 519. l. 19. for weaken r. meeken p. 507. l. 28. for as r. was p. 536. l. 12. for spiritual r. specifical p. 541. l. 23. for or r. and p. 549. l. penult for your r. you p. 558. l. 27. for us r. him Υποτυπωσις TOTIUS OPERIS Redemption hath 2 Parts viz. meritorious Impetration opened Part 1. and effectual Application opened in this 2d Part wherein it is considered and improved 1. Doctrinally both in its 1. General nature opened Sermon 1. 2. Special nature consisting in our 1. Union with Christ Serm. 2. including four things in it viz. 1. The Gospel offer Serm. 3 2. The Spirits drawing Serm. 4 3. Infusion of Life Serm. 5 4. Actual Faith Serm. 6 7 2. Communion with Christ in graces and Priviledges Serm. 8 2. Practically in 4. Uses 1. Exhortation to come to Christ Serm. 9. enforced by motives drawn from his 1. Encouraging Titles which are six 1. Title Serm. 10 2. Title Serm. 11 3. Title Serm. 12 4. Title Serm. 13 5. Title Serm. 14 6. Title Serm. 15 2. Excellent priviledges which are four 1. Priviledge Serm. 16 2. Priviledge Serm. 17 3. Priviledge Serm. 18 4. Priviledge Serm. 19 2. Conviction proving that none can ordinarily come to Christ without 1. The application of the Law Serm. 20 21 2. The teachings of the Father Serm. 22 23 3. Examination of our interest in Christ by four Trials viz. 1. The donation of the spirit Serm. 24 2. The new Creation Serm. 25 26 3. The mortification of sin Serm. 27 28 4. The imitation of Christ. Serm. 29 30 4. Lamentation representing the misery of Christless persons as they lie under and are exposed to 1. The Death of sin Serm. 31 2. The curse of the Law Serm. 32 3. Greater guilt and damnation Serm. 33 4. And in order thereunto they are blinded by the God of this world which forerunner of Damnation is opened and applied in Serm. 34 35. The First SERMON Serm. 1. 1 COR. 1. 30. Opening the general nature of Effectual Application But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdome and righteousness sanctification and redemption HE that enquires what is the just value and worth of Christ asks a question which puts all the men on earth and Angels in heaven to an everlasting non-plus The highest attainment of our knowledge in this life is to know that himself and his love do pass knowledge Eph. 3. 91. But how excellent soever Christ is in himself what treasures of righteousness soever lye in his blood and whatever joy peace and ravishing comforts spring up to men out of his incarnation humiliation and exaltation they all give down their distinct benefits and comforts to them in the way of Effectual application For never was any wound heaâ—…ed by a prepared but unapplied plaister Never any body warmed by the most costly garment made but not put on Never any heart refreshed and comforted by the richest Cordial compounded but not received nor from the 〈◊〉 of the world was it ever known that a poor deceived condemned polluted miserable sinner was actually delivered out of that woful state until of God Christ was made unto him wisdom and righteousness sanctification and redemption For look * Parisiensis de causis cur deus homo cap. 9. Quemadmâ—…dum non transit Adae damnatio nisi per generationem in carnaliter ex â—…o generatos Sic non transit Christi gratia peccatorum remissio nisi perregenerationem ad
saved For he comes in the Fathers and in the Sons name and authority to put the last hand to our Salvation work by bringing all the fruits of election and redemption home to our souls in this work of effectual vocation hence the Apostle 1 Pet. 1. 2. noting the order of causes in their operations for the bringing about of our Salvation thus states it Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ here you find Gods election and Christs blood the two great causes of Salvation and yet neither of these alone nor both together can save us there must be added the Sanctification of the Spirit by which Gods decree is executed and the sprinkling i. e. the personal application of Christs blood as well as the shedding of it before we can have the saving benefit of either of the former causes Propos. 4. The application of Christ with his saving benefits is exactly of the same extent and latitude with the Fathers election and the Sons intention Propos. 4. in dying and cannot possibly be extended to one soul farther Whom he did predestinate them he also called Rom. 8. 30. And Acts 13. 48. as many as were ordained to eternal life believed 2 Tim. 1. 9. who hath saved and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world The Father Son and Spirit betwixt whom was the council of peace work out their design in a perfect harmony and consent as there was no jarr in their council so there can be none in the execution of it those whom the Father before all time did chuse they and they only are the persons whom the Son when the fulness of time for the execution of that decree was come dyed for John 17. 6. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world thine they were and thou gavest them me and ver 19. for their sakes I sanctifie my self i. e. consecrate devote or set my self apart for a sacrifice for them And those for whom Christ died are the persons to whom the Spirit effectually applys the benefits and purchases of his blood 〈◊〉 comes in the name of the Father and Son but the world cannot receive him for it neither sees nor knows him Joh. 14. 17. they that are not of Christs sheep believe not Joh. 10. 26. Christ hath indeed a fulness of saving power but the dispensation thereof is limited by the Fathers will therefore he tells us Matth. 20. 23. it is not mine to give but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my father in which words he no way denies his authority to give glory as well as grace only shews that in the dispensation proper to him as mediator he was limited by his Fathers will and counsel And thus also are the dispensations of grace by the Spirit in like manner limited both by the counsel and will of the Father and Son For as he proceeds from them so he acts in the administration proper to him by commission from both Joh. 14. 26. The Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name and as he comes forth into the world by this joynt Commission so his dispensations are limited in his Commission for it 's said John 16. 13. he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak i. e. he shall in all things act according to his Commission which the Father and I have given him The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do Joh. 5. 19. And the Spirit can do nothing of himself but what he hears from the Father and Son and it 's impossible it should be otherwise considering not only the Unity of their Nature but also of their will and design So that you see the applications of Christ and benefits by the Spirit are commensurable with the Fathers secret counsel and the Sons design in dying which are the rule model and pattern of the Spirits working Propos. 5. The Application of Christ to Souls by the regenerating work of the Spirit is that which makes the first internal difference and distinction Propos. 5. among men It is very true that in respect of Gods fore-knowledge and purpose there was a distinction betwixt one man and another before any man had a being one was taken another left and with respect to the death of Christ there is a great difference betwixt one and another he laid down his life for the sheep he pray'd for them and not for the world but all this while as to any relative change of state or real change of temper they are upon a level with the rest of the miserable world The Elect themselves are by nature children of wrath even as others Eph. 2. 3. and to the same purpose the Apostle tells the Corinthians 1 Cor. 6. 11. when he had given in that black bill describing the most Iewd profligate abominable wretches in the world men whose practices did stink in the very nostrils of nature and were able to make the more sober Heathens blush after this he tells the Corinthians And such were some of you but ye are washed c. q. d. look these were your Companions once as they are you lately were The work of the Spirit doth not only evidence and manifest that difference which Gods Election hath made between man and man as the Apostle speaks 1 Thes. 1. 4 5. but it also makes a twofold difference it self namely in state and temper whereby they visibly differ not only from other men but also from themselves after this work though a man be the who yet not the what he was This work of the spirit makes us new creatures namely for quality and temper 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are past away behold all things are become new Propos. 6. The Application of Christ by the work of regeneration is that which yields unto men all the sensible sweetness and refreshing comforts Propos. 6. that they have in Christ and in all that he hath done suffered or purchased for sinners An unsanctified person may relish the natural sweetness of the creature as well as he that is sanctified he may also seem to relish and tast some sweetness in the delicious promises and discoveries of the Gospel by a misapplication of them to himself but this is like the joy of a beggar dreaming he is a King but he awakes and finds himself a beggar still but for the rational solid and genuine delights and comforts of religion no man tasts it till this work of the Spirit have first past upon his soul it is an enclosed pleasure a stranger intermeddles not with it The white stone and the new
hearts which have a strong aversation from God naturally in them to close with him according to the Articles of peace contained in the Gospel that thereby they may be capable to receive the mercies and benefits purchased by the death of Christ which they cannot receive in the state of enmity and alienation Secondly Their Capacity described they act in Christs stead as his Vicegerents He is no more in this world to treat personally with sinners as once he did in the dayes of nâ—…s flesh but yet he still continues the treaty with this lower world by his officers requiring men to look upon them and obey them as they would himself if he were Corporally present Luke 10. 16. He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me Thirdly The manner of their acting in that Capacity prescribed and that is by humble sweet and condescending intreaties and beseechings this best suits that meek and Lamb-like Saviour whom they represent Thus he dealt with poor sinners himself when he conversed among them he would not break a bruised reed nor quench smoaking flax Isa. 42. 3. This is the way to allure and win the souls of sinners to Christ. From hence the Note is Doct. That the preaching of the Gospel by Christs Ambassadors is the Doct. means appointed for the reconciling and bringing home of sinners to Christ. This is clear from Rom. 10. 14. 1 Cor. 1. 21. and many other Scriptures Here we shall take into Consideration these three things First what is implyed in Christs treating with sinners by his Ambassadors or Ministers Secondly What the great Concernment they are to treat with sinners about is Thirdly What and when is the Efficacy of preaching to bring sinners to Christ. First We will open what is implyed and imported in Christs treaty with sinners by his Ambassadors or Ministers And here we find these six things implied First it necessarily implies the defection and fall of man from his estate of favour and friendship with God if no war with heaven what need of Ambassadors of peace the very office of the Ministry is an argument of the fall Gospel Ordinances and Officers came in upon the fall and expire with the Mediators dispensatory Kingdom 1 Cor. 15. 24 25. Then shall he deliver up the Kingdom to God even the Father thenceforth no more Ordinances no more Ministers what use can there be of them when the treaty is ended They have done and accomplished all they were ever intended and designed for when they shall have reconciled to God all the number of his Elect that lay dispersed among the lost and miserable posterity of Adam and have brought them home to Christ in a perfect state Eph. 4. 12. c. Secondly It implies the singular grace and admirable condescension of God to sinful man That God will admit any treaty with him at all is wonderful mercy it 's more than he would do for the Angles that fell Jude 6. they are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgement of the great day Christ took not on him their nature but suffered Myriads of them to perish and fills up their vacant places in glory with a number of sinful men and women to whom the Law a warded the same punishment But that God will not only treat but entreat and beseech sinful men to be reconciled is yet more wonderful Barely to propound the terms of peace had been an astonishing mercy but to wooe and beseech stubborn enemies to be at peace and accept their pardon Oh how unparallell'd as this condescension Thirdly It implyes the great dignity and honour of the Inter illos qui regi regum inserviunt â—…egatisumus Dei Christique personam gerimus â—…ullus unquam nos impuâ—…e despicatâ—… habuit quin in Deum Chriâ—…umque idem injurius Bowles prâ—…fat ad past Evang. Gospel ministry We are Ambassadors for Christ Ambassadors represent and personate the Prince that sends them and the honours or contempts done to them reflect upon and are reckon'd to the person of their Master Luke 10. 16. he that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me Neither their persons nor parts are the proper ground and reason of our respects to them but their office and Commission from Jesus Christ. We are fallen into the dreggs of time wherein a vile contempt is poured not only upon the persons but the very Office of the Ministry and I could heartily wish that Scripture Mal. 2. 7 8 9. were throughly considered by us possibly it might inform us of the true cause and reason of this sore judgement but surely Christs faithful Ministers deserve a better entertainment than they ordinarily find in the world and if we did but seriously bethink our selves in whose name they come and in whose stead they stand we should receive them as the Galatians did Paul Gal. 4. 14. as Angels of God even as Christ Jesus Fourthly Christs treating with sinners by his Ministers who are his Ambassadors implies the strict obligation they are under to be faithful in their Ministerial imployment Christ counts upon their faithfulness whom he puts into the Ministry 1 Tim. 1. 12. They are accountable to him for all acts of their office Heb. 13. 17. If they be silent they cannot be innocent necessity is laid upon them and wo to them if they preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 16. Yea necessity is not only laid upon them to preach but to keep close to their Commission in preaching the Gospel 1 Thes. 2. 3 4 5. Our Exhortation was not of deceit nor of uncleanness nor in guile but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel even so we speak not as pleasing men but God which trieth our hearts the word is not to be corrupted to please men 2 Cor. 2. 17. their business is not to make them their disciples but Christs not to seek theirs but them 2 Cor. 12. 14. to keep close to their instructions both in the matter manner end of their Ministry So did Christ himself the treasure of wisdom and knowledge yet being sent by God he saith Job 7. 16. my doctrine is not mine but his that sent me And so he expects and requires that his Ambassadors keep close to the Commission he hath given them and be according to their measure faithful to their trust as he was to his Paul is to deliver to the people that which he also received from the Lord 1 Cor. 11. And Timothy must keep that which was committed to him 2 Tim. 1. 14. Fifthly It implies the removal of the Gospel ministry to be a very great judgment to the people The remanding of Ambassadors presages an ensuing War If the reconciling of souls to God be the greatest work then the removal of the means and instruments thereof must be the forest Judgement Some account the falling of the Salt upon the Table ominous but surely the falling of them whom
with God is daily interrupted but it shall not be so in Heaven where the cure is perfect you shall not know love or delight in God as you do this day for you are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you and so much as to the diseases of sin and Christs method of curing them Secondly As sin is the disease of the Saints so also is Sorrow The best of Saints must pass through the vally of 2â—… Bacha to Heaven How many tears fall from the Eyes of the Saints upon the account of outward as well as inward troubles even after their reconciliation with God Through much tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom of God Acts 14. 22. It would be too great a digression in this place to note but the more general heads under which almost infinite particulars of troubles and afflictions are found It shall suffice only to shew that whatever distress or trouble any poor soul is in upon any account whatsoever if that soul belong to Jesus Christ he will take care of it for present and deliver it at last by a compleat cure First Christ cures troubles by sanctifying them to the souls of his that are under affliction and makes their very troubles medicinal and healing to them Trouble is a Scorpion and hath a deadly sting but Christ is a wise Physician and extracts a Soveraign Oyl out of this Scorpion that heals the wound it makes By affliction our wise Physician purges our corruptions and so prevents or cures greater troubles by lesser inward sorrows by outward ones Isai. 27. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Secondly Christ cures outward troubles by inward consolations which are made to rise in the inner man as high as the waters of affliction do upon the outward man 2 Cor. 1. 5. One drop of spiritual comfort is sufficient to sweeten a whole Ocean of outward trouble It was an high expression of an Nihil Corpus sent it in nervâ—… cum Anima sit in Coelo afflicted Father whom God comforted just upon the death of his dear and only Son with some clearer manifestations of his love than was usual O said he might I but have such consolations as these I could be willing were it possible to lay an only Son into the grave every day I have to live in this world Thus all the troubles of the world are cured by Christ John 16. 33. In the world ye shall have trouble but in me ye shall have peace Thirdly Christ cures all outward sorrows and troubles in his people by death which is their removal from the place of sorrows to peace and rest for evermore Now God wipes all tears from their eyes and the days of their mourning are at an end they then put off the Garments and Spirit of mourning and enter into peace Isai. 57. 2. they come to that place and state where tears and sighs are things unknown to the Inhabitants one step beyond the state of this mortality brings us quite out of the sight and hearing of all troubles and lamentations These are the diseases of souls sin and sorrow and thus they are cured by Christ the Physician Secondly Next I shall shew you that Jesus Christ is the only Physician of souls none like him for a sick sinner and this will be evident in divers respects First None so wise and judicious as Jesus Christ to understand 2. and comprehend the nature depth and danger of soul diseases O how ignorant and unacquainted are men with the state and case of afflicted souls but Christ hath the tongue of the Learned that he should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary Isai. 50. 4. He only understands the weight of sin and depth of inward troubles for sin Secondly None so able to cure and heal the wounds of afflicted souls as Christ is he only hath those medicines that can cure a sick soul. The blood of Christ and nothing else in Heaven or Earth is able to cure the mortal wounds which guilt inflicts upon a trembling Conscience let men try all other receipts and costly experience shall convince them of their insufficiency Conscience may be benummed by stupefactive medicines prepared by the Devil for that end but pacified it can never be but by the blood of Christ Heb. 16. 22. Thirdly None so tender hearted and sympathizing with sick souls as Jesus Christ he is full of bowels and tender compassions to afflicted souls he is one that can have compassion because he hath had experience Heb. 5. 2. If I must come into the Chirurgeons hand with broken bones give me such a one to choose whose own bones have been broken who hath felt the anguish in himself Christ knows what it is by experience having felt the anguish of inward troubles the weight of Gods wrath and the terrors of a forsaking God more than any or all the sons of men this makes him tender over distressed souls Isai. 42. 3. A bruised reed he will not break and smoaking flax he shall not quench Fourthly None cures in so wonderful a method as Christ doth he heals us by his stripes Isai. 53. 5. The Physician dyes that the Patient may live his wounds must bleed that ours may be cured he feels the smart and pain that we might have the ease and comfort No Physician but Christ will cure others at this rate Fifthly None so ready to relieve a sick soul as Christ he is within the call of a distressed soul at all times Art thou sick for sin weary of sin and made truly willing to part with sin Lift up but thy sincere cry to the Lord Jesus for help and he will quickly be with thee when the Prodigal the embleme of a convinced humbled sinner said in himself I will return to my Father the Father ran to meet him Luke 15. 20. he can be with thee in a moment Sixthly none so willing to receive and undertake all distressed and afflicted souls as Jesus Christ is he refuses none that come to him Joh. 6. 37. He that cometh unto me I will in no wayes cast out whatever their sins have been or their sorrows are however they have wounded their own souls with the deepest gashes of guilt how desperate and helpless soever their case appears in their own or others Eyes he never puts them off or discourages them if they be but willing to come Isai. 1. 18 19. Seventhly None so happy and successful as Christ he never fails of performing a perfect cure upon those he undertakes never was it known that any soul miscarried in his hands John 3. 15 16. other Physicians by mistakes by ignorance or carelesness fill Church-yards and cast away the lives of men but Christ suffers none to perish that commit themselves to him Eighthly none so free and generous as
Christ he doth all gratis he sells not his medicines though they be of infinite value but freely gives them Isai. 55. 1. He that hath no money let him come if any be sent away 't is the rich Luk. 1. 53. not the poor and needy those that will not accept their remedy as a free gift but will needs purchase it at a price Ninthly and Lastly None rejoyces in the recovery of souls more than Christ doth O it is unspeakably delightful to him to see the efficacy of his blood upon our souls Isai. 53. 11. He shall see the travail of his soul i. e. the success of his death and sufferings and shall be satisfied when he foresaw the success of the Gospel upon the world it 's said Luk. 10. 21. In that hour Jesus rejoyced in spirit and thus you see there is no Physician like Christ for sick souls The Uses of this Point are For Information and Direction First From hence we are informed of many great and necessary truths deducible from this as Inference 1. How inexpressible is the grace of God in providing such a Physician Inference 1. as Christ for the sick and dying souls of Sinners O blessed be God that there is Balm in Gilead and a Physician there that your case is not as desperate forlorn and remediless as that of the Devils and damned is There is but one case excepted from cure and that such as is not incident to any sensible afflicted soul Mat. 12. 31. and this only excepted all manner of sins and diseases are capable of a cure Though there be such a disease as is incurable yet take this for thy comfort never any soul was sick i. e. sensibly burthened with it and willing to come to Jesus Christ for healing for under that sin the will is so wounded that they have no desire to Christ. O inestimable mercy that the sickest sinner is capable of a perfect cure There be thousands and ten thousands now in Heaven and earth who said once never was any case like theirs so dangerous so hopeless The greatest of sinners have been perfectly recovered by Christ 1 Tim. 1. 15. 1 Cor. 6. 11. O mercy never to be duly estimated Inference 2. What a powerful restraint from sin is the very method ordained Inference 2. by God for the cure of it Isai. 53. 5. by his stripes we are healed The Physician must dye that the Patient might live no other thing but the blood the precious blood of Christ is found in Heaven or earth able to heal us Heb. 9. 22. 26. This blood of Christ must be freshly applied to every new wound sin makes upon our souls 1 John 2. 1 2. every new sin wounds him afresh opens the wounds of Christ anew O think of this again and again you that so easily yield to the solicitations of Satan is it so cheap and easie to sin as you seem to make it Doth the cure of souls cost nothing True it is free to us but was it so to Christ No no it was not he knows the price of it though you do not hath Christ healed you by his stripes and can you put him under fresh sufferings for you so easily Have you forgot also your own sick days and nights for sin that you are careless in resisting and preventing it Sure 't is not easie for Saints to wound Christ and their own souls at one stroke if you renew your sins you must also renew your sorrows and repentance Psal. 51. Title 2 Sam. 12. 13. you must feel the throes and pains of a troubled Spirit again things with which the Saints are not unacquainted of which they may say as the Church Remembring my affliction the Wormwood and the Gall my soul hath them still in remembrance Lam. 3. 19. Yea and if you will yet be remiss in your watch and so easily incur new guilt though a pardon in the blood of Christ may heal your souls yet some Rod or other in the hand of a displeased Father shall afflict your bodies or smite you in your outward Comforts Psal. 89. 32. Inference 3. If Christ be the only Physician of sick souls what sin and folly is it for men to take Christs work out of his hands and attempt Inference 3. to be their own Physicians Thus do those that superstitiously endeavour to heal their souls by afflicting their bodies not Christs blood but their own must be the Plaister and as blind Papists â—…o many carnal and ignorant Protestants strive by confession restitution reformation and a stricter course of life to heal those wounds that sin hath made upon their souls without any respect to the blood of Christ but this course shall not profit them at all It may for a time divert but can never heal them the wounds so skinned over will open and bleed again God grant it be not when our souls shall be out of the reach of the true and only remedy Inference 4. How sad is the case of those souls to whom Christ hath not Inference 4. yet been a Physician They are mortally wounded by sin and are like to dye of their sickness no saving healing applications having hitherto been made unto their souls and this is the case of the greatest part of mankind yea of them that live under the discoveries of Christ in the Gospel which appears by these sad symptoms First In that their eyes have not yet been opened to see their sin and misery in which illumination the cure of souls begins Act. 26. 18. to this day he hath not given them Eyes to see Deut. 29. 4. but that terrible stroke of God which blinds and hardens them is too visibly upon them mentioned in Isai. 6. 9 10. no hope of healing till the sinners Eyes be opened to see his sin and misery Secondly In that nothing will divorce and separate them from their lusts a sure sign they are not under Christs cure nor were ever made sick of sin O if ever Christ be a Physician to thy soul he will make thee loath what now thou lovest and say to thy most pleasant and profitable lusts get ye hence Isai. 30. 22. till then there is no ground to think that Christ is a Physician to you Thirdly In that they have no sensible and pressing need of Christ nor make any earnest enquiry after him as most certainly you would do if you were in the way of healing and recovery These and many other sad symptoms do too plainly discover the disease of sin to be in its full strength upon your souls and if it so continue how dreadful will the issue be See Isai. 6. 9 10. Inference 5. What cause have they to be glad that are under the hand and Inference 5 care of Christ in order to a cure and who do find or may upon due examination find their souls are in a very hopeful way of recovery Can we rejoyce when the strength of a natural disease is broken and
affliction as Jesus Christ doth with his friends in all our afflictions he is afflicted Heb. 4. 15. He feels all our sorrows wants and burthens as his own Whence it is that the sufferings of Believers are called the sufferings of Christ Col. 1. 24. Fourthly No Friend in the world takes that complacency in his Friend as Jesus Christ doth in Believers Cant. 4. 9. Thou hast ravished my heart saith he to the Spouse thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes with one chain of thy neck the Hebrew here rendred ravished signifies to puff up or to make one proud how is the Lord Jesus pleased to glory in his people how is he taken and delighted with those gracious ornaments which himself bestows upon them no friend so lovely as Christ. Fifthly No Friend in the world loves his Friend with so ferverous and strong affection as Jesus Christ loves Believers Jacob loved Rachel and endured for her sake the parching heat of Summer and cold of Winter but Christ indured the storms of the wrath of God the heat of his â—…ignation for our sakes David manifested his love to 〈◊〉 in wishing O that I had died for thee Christ manifested his love to us not in wishes that he had died but in death it self in our stead and for our sakes Sixthly No Friend in the world is so constant and unchâ—…ble in friendship as Christ is Joh. 13. 1. Having loved his own which were in the world he loved them unto the end He bears with millions of provocations and injuries and yet will not break friendship with his people Peter denied him yet he will not disown him but after his resurrection he saith go tell the Disciples and tell Peter q. d. let him not think he hath forfeited by that sin of his his interest in me though he have denied me I will not disown him Mark 16. 7. Oh how lovely is Christ in the relation of a friend I might farther shew you the loveliness of Christ in his Ordinances and in his providences in his communion with us and communications to us but there is no end of the account of Christs loveliness I will rather choose to press Believers to their dutys towards this altogether lovely Christ which I shall briefly dispatch in a few words Use 1. First Is Jesus Christ altogether lovely then I beseech Use 1. you set your souls upon this lovely Jesus methinks such an object as hath been here represented should compel love from the coldest breast and hardest heart Away with those empty nothings away with this vain deceitful world which deserves not the thousandth part of the love you give it let all stand aside and give way to Christ. O did you but know his worth and excellency what he is in himself what he hath done for and deserved from you you would need no arguments of mine to perswade you to love him Secondly Esteem nothing lovely but as it is enjoyed in 2. Christ or improved for Christ affect nothing for it self love nothing separate from Jesus Christ. In two things we all sin in the love of creatures viz. in the excess of our affections loving them above the rate and value of creatures and in the inordinacy of our affections i. e. in loving them out of their proper places Thirdly Let us all be humbled for the baseness of our hearts 3. that are so free of their affections to vanities and trifles and so hard to be perswaded to the love of Christ who is altogether lovely Oh how many pour out streams of love and delight upon the vain and empty creature whilst no arguments can squeese out one drop of love from their obdurate and unbelieving hearts to Jesus Christ I have read of one Johannes Mollius who was observed to go often alone and weep bitterly and being prest by a Friend to know the cause of his trouble Oh said he it grieves me that I cannot bring this heart of mine to love Jesus Christ more fervently Fourthly Represent Christ as he is to the world by your 4. carriages towards him Is he altogether lovely Let all the world see and know that he is so by your delights in him and communion with him zeal for him and readiness to part with any other lovely thing upon his account proclaim his excellencies to the world as the Spouse here did convince them how much your Beloved is better than any other Beloved Display his glorious excellencies in your heavenly Conversations hold him forth to others as he is in himself altogether lovely See that you walk worthy of him unto all well-pleasing Col. 1. 10. Shew forth the praises of Christ 1 Pet. 2. 9. Let not that worthy name be blasphemed through you James 2. 7. He is glorious in himself and will put glory upon you take heed ye put not shame and dishonour upon him he hath committed his honour to you do not betray that trust Fifthly Never be ashamed to own Christ he is altogether 5. lovely he can never be a shame to you 't will be your great sin to be ashamed of him Some men glory in their shame be not you ashamed of your glory if you be ashamed of Christ now he will be ashamed of you when he shall appear in his own glory and the glory of all his holy Angels Be ashamed of nothing but sin and among other sins be ashamed especially for this sin that you have no more love for him who is altogether lovely Sixthly Be willing to leave every thing that is lovely upon 6. earth that you may be with the altogether lovely Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven Lift up your voices with the Spouse Rev. 20. 20. Come Lord Jesus come quickly 'T is true you must pass through the pangs of death into his bosom and enjoyment but sure 't is worth suffering much more than that to be with this lovely Jesus The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and the patient waiting for of Jesus Christ 2 Thes. 3. 5. Seventhly Strive to be Christ-like as ever you would be 7. lovely in the eyes of God and men Certainly my Brethren 't is the Spirit of Christ within you and the beauty of Christ upon you which only can make you lovely persons the more you resemble him in holiness the more will you discover of true excellency and loveliness and the more frequent and spiritual your converse and communion with Christ is the more of the beauty and loveliness of Christ will still be stamped upon your Spirits changing you into the same image from glory to glory Eighthly Let the loveliness of Christ draw all men to 8. him Is loveliness in the creature embodied beauty so attractive And can the transcendent loveliness of Christ draw none Oh the blindness of man If you see no beauty in Christ why you should desire him 't is because the God of this world hath blinded your minds The Thirteenth SERMON
call it fancies are as various as faces and confederacies presuppose mutual acquaintance and conference Fourthly Christ the desire of all Nations implies the vast extent his Kingdom hath and shall have in the world out of every Nation under Heaven some shall be brought to Christ and to Heaven by him And though the number of Gods elect compared with the multitudes of the ungodly in all Nations is but a remnant a little flock and in that comparative sense there are few that shall be saved yet considered absolutely and in themselves they are a vast number which no man can number Mat. 8. 11. Many shall come from the East and from the West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven In order whereunto the Gospel like the Sun in the Heavens circuits the world it arose in the East and takes its course towards the western world rising by degrees upon the remote Idolatrous Nations of the earth out of all which a number is to be saved even Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands to God Pfal 68. 31. And this consideration should move us to pray carnestly for the poor Heathens who yet sit in darkness and the shadow of death there is yet hope for them Fifthly It holds forth this that when God opens the eyes of men to see their sin and danger by it nothing but Christ can give them satisfaction 't is not the amenity fertility riches and pleasures the Inhabitants of any Kingdom of the world do enjoy that can quench and satisfie the desires of their souls when once God touches their hearts with the sense of sin and misery Christ and none but Christ is desirable and necessary in the eyes of such persons Many Kingdoms of the world abound with riches and pleasures the providence of God hath carved liberal portions of the good things of this life to many of them and scarce left any thing to their desires that the world can afford Yet all this can give no satisfaction without Jesus Christ the desire of Nations the one thing necessary when once they come to see the necessity and excellency of him then take the world who will so they may have Christ the desire of their souls Thus we see upon what grounds and reasons Christ is stiled the desire of all Nations But there lies one great Objection against this truth Object which must be satisfied viz. if Christ be the desire of all Nations how comes it to pass that Jesus Christ finds no entertainment in so many Nations of the world among whom Christianity is hissed at and Christians not tolerated to live among them who see no beauty in him that they should dedesire him First We must remember the Nations of the World have their times and seasons of conversion Those that Sol. once embraced Christ have now lost him and Idols are now set up in the places where he once was sweetly worshipped The Sun of the Gospel is gone down upon them and now shines in another Hemisphere and so the Nations of the World are to have their distinct days and seasons of illumination The Gospel like the Sea gaineth in one place what it loseth in another and in the times and seasons appointed by the Father they come successively to be enlightned in the knowledge of Christ and then shall that promise be fulfilled Isai. 49. 7. Thus saith the Lord the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One to him whom the nation abhorreth to a servant of Rulers Kings shall see and arise Princes also shall worship because of the Lord that is faithful Secondly Let it also be remembered that although Christ be rejected by the Rulers and Body of many Nations yet he is the desire of all the Elect of God dispersed and scattered among those Nations Secondly In the next place we are to enquire upon what 2. account Christ becomes the desire of all Nations i. e. of all those in all the Nations of the world that belong to the election of grace And the true ground and reason thereof is because Christ only hath that in himself which relieves their wants and answers to all their needs As First They are all by nature under condemnation Rom. 5. 16 18. under the curse of the Law against which nothing is found in Heaven or earth able to relieve their Consciences but the blood of sprinkling the pure and perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus and hence it is that Christ becomes so desirable in the eyes of poor sinners all the world over If any thing in nature could be found to pacifie and purge the Consciences of men from guilt and fear Christ would never be desirable in their eyes but finding no other remedy but the blood of Jesus to him therefore shall all the ends of the earth look for righteousness and for peace Secondly All Nations of the world are polluted with the filth of sin both in nature and practice which they shall see and bitterly bewail when the light of the Gospel shall shine amongst them and the same light by which this shall be discovered will also discover the only remedy of this evil to I le in the spirit of Christ the only fountain opened to all Nations for sanctification and cleansing and this will make the Lord Jesus incomparably desirous in their eyes Oh how welcome will he be that cometh unto them not by blood only but by water also John 1. 5 6. Thirdly When the light of the Gospel shall shine upon the Nations they shall then see that by reason of the guilt and filth of sin they are all barr'd out of Heaven Those dores are chained up against them and that none but Christ can open an entrance for them into that Kingdom of God that no man cometh to the Father but by him John 14. 6. neither is there any name under Heaven given among men whereby they must be saved but the name of Christ Act. 4. 12. Hence the hearts of sinners shall pant after him as the Hart panteth for the water brooks And thus we see upon what grounds Christ becomes the desire of all Nations The improvement of all followeth in five several uses of the point viz. 1. For Information 2. For Examination 3. For Consolation 4. For Exhortation 5. For Direction Use for Information First Is Christ the desire of all Nations How vile a sin is Use 1. it then in any Nation upon whom the light of the Gospel hath shined to reject Jesus Christ and say as those in Job 21. 14. Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways To thrust away his worship government and servants from amongst them and in effect to say as it is Luke 19. 14. we will not have this man to reign over us thus did the Jews Act. 13. 46. they put away Christ from among them and thereby judged themselves unworthy of eternal life This is at once a fearful sin and a dreadful
but it will be hard for you to do so whose souls burn with desire after Christ. Seventhly Blessed in this that your desires after Christ will make death much the sweeter and easier to you Phil. 1. 23. I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better When a Christian was once asked whether he were willing to dye He returned this answer let him be unwilling to dye who is unwilling to go to Christ and Illius est nolle mori qui nolitire ad Christum much like it was that of another vivere renuo ut Christo vivam I refuse this life to live with Christ. 4th Use for Exhortation In the fourth place let me exhort and perswade all to Use 4. make Jesus Christ the desire and choice of their souls And here I fall in with the main scope and design of the Gospel and Oh that I could effectually press home this Exhortation upon your hearts Let me offer some moving Considerations to you and the Lord accompany them to your hearts First Every Creature naturally desires its own preservation do not you desire the preservation of your precious and immortal souls If you do then make Christ your desire and choice without whom they can never be preserved Jude vers 1. Secondly don 't your souls earnestly desire the bodies they live in how tender are they over them how careful to provide for them though they pay a dear rent for those Tenements they live in and is not union with Christ infinitely more desirable than the union of soul and body Oh covet union with him then shall your souls be happy when your bodies drop off from them at death 2 Cor. 5. 1 3. yea soul and body shall be happy in him and with him for evermore Thirdly How do the men of this world desire the enjoyments of it They pant after the dust of the earth they rise early sit up late eat the bread of carefulness and all this for very vanity Shall a worldling do more for earth than you for Heaven Shall the Creature be so earnestly desired and Christ neglected Fourthly What do all your desires in this world benefit you if you go Christless Suppose you had the desire of your hearts in these things how long shall you have comfort in them if you miss Christ Fifthly Doth Christ desire you who have nothing lovely or desirable in you And have you no desires after Christ the most lovely and desirable one in both worlds His desires are towards you Prov. 8. 31. O make him the desire and choice of your souls Sixthly How absolutely necessary is Jesus Christ to your souls Bread and water breath and life is not so necessary as Christ is One thing is necessary Luk. 10. 42. and that one thing is Christ if you miss your desires in other things you may yet be happy but if you miss Christ you are undone for ever Seventhly How suitable a good is Christ to your souls Comprizing whatsoever they want 1 Cor. 1. 30. Set your hearts where you will none will be found to match and suit them as Christ doth Eighthly How great are the benefits that will redound to you by Jesus Christ In him you shall have a rich inheritance setled upon you all things shall be yours when you are Christs 1 Cor. 3. 22. and is not such a Christ worth desiring Ninthly All your well-grounded hopes of glory are built upon your union with Christ 1 Cor. 1. 21. If you miss Christ you must dye without hope will not this draw your desires to him Tenthly Suppose you were at the Judgement Seat of God where you must shortly stand and saw the terrors of the Lord in that day the Sheep divided from the Goats the sentences of absolution and condemnation past by the great and awful Judge upon the righteous and the wicked would not Christ be then desirable in your eyes As ever you expect to stand with Comfort at that Bar let Christ be the desire and choice of your souls now 5th Use for Direction Do these or any other Considerations put thee upon this Use 5. enquiry how shall I get my desires kindled and inflamed towards Christ Alas my heart is cold and dead not a serious desire stirring in it after Christ to such I shall offer the following Directions Direction 1. Redeem some time every day for meditation get out of the noise and clamour of the world Psal. 4. 4. and seriously bethink your selves how the present state of your soul stands and how it is like to go with you for ever here all sound Conversion begins Psal. 119. 59. Direction 2. Consider seriously of that lamentable state in which you came into the world children of wrath by nature under the curse and condemnation of the Law So that either your state must be changed or you inevitably damned Joh. 3. 3. Direction 3. Consider the way and course you have taken since you came into the world proceeding from iniquity to iniquity What Command of God have you not violated a thousand times over What sin is committed in the world that you are not one way or other guilty of before God How many secret sins are upon your score unknown to the most intimate Friend you have in the world Either this guilt must be separated from your souls or your souls from God to all eternity Direction 4. Think upon the severe wrath of God due to every sin The wages of sin is death Rom. 6. ult and how intolerable the fulness of that wrath must be when a few drops sprinkled upon the Conscience in this world is so insupportable that it hath made some to choose strangling rather than life and yet this wrath must abide for ever upon you if you get not interest in Jesus Christ Joh. 3. 63. Direction 5. Ponder well the happy state and condition they are in who have obtained pardon and peace by Jesus Christ Psal. 32. 12. And seeing the grace of God is free and you are yet under the means thereof why may not you be as capable thereof as others Direction 6. Seriously consider the great uncertainty of your time and preciousness of the opportunities of salvation never to be recovered when they are once past Joh. 9. 4. Let this provoke you to lay hold upon those golden seasons whilst they are yet with you that you may not bewail your folly and madness when they are out of your reach Direction 7. Associate your selves with serious Christians get into their acquaintance and beg their assistance beseech them to pray for you and see that you rest not here but be frequently upon your knees begging of the Lord a new heart and a new state In Conclusion of the whole let me beseech and beg all the people of God as upon my knees to take heed and beware lest by the carelesness and scandals of their lives they quench the weak desires beginning to kindle in the hearts of
the hand of Satan I gave thee into the bosom of Christ I have pardoned unto thee millions of sins I have bestowed upon thee the riches of mercy my favour hath made thee great and as if all this were too little I have prepared Heaven for thee for which of all these favours dost thou thus requite me Inference 6. How precious should Jesus Christ be to Believers by whose Inference 6. blood they are ingratiated with God and by whose intercession they are and shall for ever be continued in his favour When the Apostle mentions the Believers translation from the sad state of nature to the blessed priviledged state of grace see what a Title he bestows upon Jesus Christ the purchaser of that priviledge calling him the dear Son Col. 1. 13. not only dear to God but exceeding dear to Believers also Christ is the favourite in Heaven to him you owe all your preferment there take away Christ and you have no ground to stand one minute in the favour of God O then let Jesus Christ the fountain of your honour be also the object of your love and praise Inference 7. Estimate by this the state and condition of a deserted Saint Inference 7. upon whom the favour of God is eclipsed If the favour of God be better than life the hiding of it from a gracious soul must be more bitter than death deserted Saints have reason to take the first place among all the mourners in the world the darkness before conversion had indeed more of danger but this hath more of trouble Darkness after light is dismal darkness Since therefore the case is so sad let your preventing care be the more grieve not the good Spirit of God you prepare but for your own grief in so doing Inference 8. Lastly Let this perswade all men to accept Jesus Christ as Inference 8. ever they expect to be accepted with the Lord themselves It is a fearful case for a mans person and duties to be rejected of God to cry and not be heard and much more terrible to be denied audience in the great and terrible day Yet as sure as the Scriptures are the sealed and faithful sayings Si voluntatem Dei nosse quisquam desiderat fit amicus Deo August of God this is no more than what every Christless person must expect in that day Mat. 7. 22. Luke 13. 26. Trace the history of all times even as high as Abel and you shall find that none but Believers did ever find acceptance with God all experience confirms this great truth that they that are in the flesh cannot please God Reader if this be thy condition let me beg thee to ponder the misery of it in a few sad thoughts Consider how sad it is to be rejected of God and forsaken by all creatures at once what a day of streights thy dying day is like to be when Heaven and Earth shall cast thee out together Be assured whatever thy vain hopes for the present quiet thee withal this must be thy case the dore of mercy will be shut against thee no man cometh to the Father but by Christ. Sad was the case of Saul when he told Samuel the Philistins make war against me and God is departed from me 1 Sam. 28. 15. The Saints will have boldness in the day of Judgment 1 John 4. 17. but thou wilt be a confounded man there is yet blessed be the God of mercy a capacity and opportunity of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. 19. Isai. 27. 5. But this can be of no long continuance O therefore by all the regard and love you have for the everlasting welfare of your own souls come to Christ embrace Christ in the offers of the Gospel that you may be made accepted in the beloved The Eighteenth SERMON Sermon 18. JOHN 8. 36. Text. The liberty of Believers opened and stated If the Son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed FRom the 30th verse of this Chapter unto my Text you have an account of the different effects which the words of Christ had upon the hearts of his hearers some believed verse 30. these he encourageth to continue in his word verse 31. giving them this encouragement vers 32. Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free Hereat the unbelieving Jews take offence and commence a quarrel with him vers 33. We be Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man We are of no slavish extraction the blood of Abraham runs in our veins this scornful boast of the proud Jews Christ confutes vers 34. where he distinguisheth of a twofold bondage one to men another to sin one civil another spiritual whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin then tells them vers 36. The servant abideth not in the house for ever but the Son abideth for ever Wherein he intimateth two great truths viz. that the servants and slaves of sin may for a time enjoy the external priviledges of the house or Church of God but it would not be long before the master of the house will turn them out of dore but if they were once the adopted Children of God then they should abide in the house for ever And this priviledge is only to be had by their believing in and union with the natural Son of God Jesus Christ which brings us fairly to the Text If the Son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed In which words we have two parts viz. 1. A Supposition 2. A Concession First A Supposition if the Son therefore shall make you free 1. q. d. The womb of nature cast you forth into the world in a state of bondage in that state you have lived all your days servants to sin slaves to your lusts yet freedom is to be obtained and this freedom is the prerogative belonging to the Son of God to bestow if the Son shall make you free Secondly Christs Concession upon this supposition then 2. shall ye be free indeed i. e. you shall have a real freedom an excellent and everlasting fredom no conceit only as that which you now boast of is if ever therefore you will be free men indeed believe in me Hence note DOCT. That interest in Christ sets the soul at liberty from all that Doct. bondage whereunto it was subjected in its natural state Believers are the Children of the New Covenant the denizons of Jerusalem which are above which is free and the mother of them all Gal. 4. 26. the glorious liberty viz. that which is spiritual and eternal is the liberty of the Children of God Rom. 8. 21. Christ and none but Christ delivers his people out of the hands of their enemies Luk. 1. 74. In the Doctrinal part of this point I must shew you First What Believers are not freed from by Jesus Christ in this world Secondly What that bondage is from which every Believer is freed by Christ. Thirdly What kind of
freedom that is which comes in upon believing Fourthly Open the excellency of this state of spiritual freedom First What those things are from which Believers are 1. not made free in this world we must not think that our spiritual liberty by Christ presently brings us into an absolute liberty in all respects For First Christ doth not free Believers from obedience to the moral Law 'T is true we are no more under it as a Covenant for our justification but we are and must still be under it as a rule for our direction The matter of the moral law is unchangeable as the nature of good and evil is and cannot be abolished except that distinction could be destroyed Mat. 5. 17 18. The precepts of the Law are still urged under the Gospel to enforce duties upon us Eph. 6. 12. 'T is therefore a vain distinction invented by Libertines to say it binds us as Creatures not as Christians or that it binds the unregenerate part but not the regenerate but this is a sure truth that they who are freed from its penalties are still under its precepts though Believers are no more under its curse yet they are still under its conduct the Law sends us to Christ to be justified and Christ sends us to the Law to be regulated Let the heart of every Christian joyn therefore with Davids in that holy wish Psal. 119. 4 5. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently O that my heart were directed to keep thy Statutes 'T is excellent when Christians begin to obey the Law from life which others obey for life because they are justified not that they may be justified When duties are done in the strength and for the honour of Christ which is Evangelical not in our own strength and for our own ends which is servile and legal obedience had Christ freed us from obedience such a liberty had been to our loss Secondly Christ hath not freed Believers in this world from the temptations and assaults of Satan even those that are freed from his dominion are not free from his molestation 'T is said indeed Rom. 16. 20. God shall shortly bruise Satan under your feet but mean time he hath power to bruise and buffet us by his injections 2 Cor. 12. 7. he now bruiseth Christs heel Gen. 3. 15. i. e. bruiseth him in his tempted and afflicted members though he cannot kill them yet he can and doth afflict and fright them by shooting his fiery darts of temptation among them Eph. 6. 16. 'T is true when the Saints are got safe into Heaven they are out of Gun-shot there is perfect freedom from all temptation A Believer may then say O thou enemy temptations are come to a perpetual end I am now arrived there where none of thy fiery darts can reach me but this freedom is not yet Thirdly Christ hath not yet freed Believers in this world from the motions of indwelling sin these are continually acting and infesting the holiest of men Rom. 7. 21 23 24. Corruptions like Canaanites are still left in the Land to be thorns in our eyes and goads in our sides Those that boast most of freedom from the motions of sin have most cause to suspect themselves still under the dominion of sin All Christs freemen are troubled with the same complaint who among them complains not as the Apostle did Rom. 7. 24. Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliever me from the body of this death Fourthly Jesus Christ doth not free Believers in this world from inward troubles and exercises of soul upon the account of sin God may let loose Satan and Conscience too in the way of terrible accusations which may greatly distress the soul of a Believer and wofully eclipse the light of Gods Countenance and break the peace of their souls Job Heman and David were all made free by Christ yet each of them hath left upon record his bitter complaint upon this account Job 7. 19 20. Psal. 88. 14 15 16. Psal. 38. unto vers 11. Fifthly Christ hath not freed Believers in this world from the rods of affliction God in giving us our liberty doth not abridge his own liberty Psal. 89. 32. all the Children of God are made free yet what Son is there whom the Father chastneth not Heb. 12. 8. Exemption from affliction is so far from being the mark of a Freeman that the Apostle there makes it the mark of a slave Bastards not Sons want the discipline and blessing of the Rod to be freed from affliction would be no benefit to Believers who receive so many benefits by affliction Sixthly No Believer is freed by Christ from the stroak of death though they are all freed from the sting of death Rom. 8. 10. The bodies of Believers are under the same Law of mortality with other men Heb. 9. 27. we must come to the Grave as well as others yea we must come to it through the same agonies pangs and dolours that other men do the foot of death treads as heavy upon the bodies of the redeemed as of other men Believers indeed are distinguished by mercy from others but the distinguishing mercy lies not here Thus you see what Believers are not freed from in this world if you shall now say what advantage then hath a Believer or what profit is there in regeneration I Answer Secondly That Believers are freed from many great and 2. sad miseries and evils by Jesus Christ notwithstanding all that hath been said For First All Believers are freed from the rigour and curse of the Law the rigorous yoak of the Law is broken off from their necks and the sweet and easie yoak of Jesus Christ put on Mat. 11. 28. The Law required perfect working under the pain of a curse Gal. 3. 10. accepted of no short endeavours admitted no repentance gave no strength it is not so now proportionable strength is given Phil 4. 13. Sincerity is reckoned perfection Job 1. 1. Transgression brings not under condemnation Rom. 8. 1. O blessed freedom when duty becomes delight and failings hinder not acceptance this is one part of the blessed freedom of believers Secondly All Believers are freed from the guilt of sin it may trouble but it cannot condemn them Rom. 8. 33. The hand writing which was against us is cancelled by Christ nailed to his Cross Colos. 2. 14. When the seal and hand-writing is torn off from the Bond the Debtor is made free thereby Believers are totally freed Acts 13. 39. Justified from all things and finally freed John 5. 24. They shall never come into condemnation O blessed freedom How sweet is it to lie down in our beds yea in our graves when guilt shall neither be our Bed fellow nor Grave fellow Thirdly Christ frees all Believers from the dominion as well as the guilt of sin Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace Rom. 6. 14. The law of the spirit of life
97. 11. though the harvest to reap and gather in that Joy and Comfort be not yet come and there are many other wayes beside that of joy and comfort whereby the indwelling of the spirit may evidence it self in thy soul if he do not enable thee to rejoyce yet if he enable thee sincerely to mourn for sin if he do not enlarge thy heart in Comfort yet if he humble and purge thy heart by sorrows if he deny thee the assurance of faith and yet give thee the dependance of faith thou hast no reason to call in question or deny the indwelling of the spirit in thee for that cause But the Apostle saith they that walk in the spirit do not fulfil Obj. 5. the Lusts of the flesh Gal. 5. 16. but I find my self entangled and frequently overcome by them therefore I doubt the spirit of God is not in me 'T is possible the ground of your doubting may be your Sol. mistake of the true sense and meaning of that Scripture it is not the Apostles meaning in that place that sin in believers doth not work tempt and oftentimes overcome and captivate them for then he would contradict himself in Rom. 7. 23. where he thus complains but I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members but two things are meant by that expression you shall not fulfil the Lusts of the flesh First That the principle of grace will give cheque to sin in its first motions and cause it to miscarry in the womb like an untimely birth before it comes to its full maturity it shall never be able to gain the full consent of the will as it doth in the unregenerate Secondly if notwithstanding all the opposition grace makes to hinder the birth or commission of it it do yet prevail and break forth into act yet such acts of sin as they are not committed without regret so they are followed with shame sorrow and true repentance and those very surprizals and captivities of sin at one time are made cautions and warnings to prevent it at another time if it be so with thee thou dost not fulfill the Lusts of the flesh And now Reader upon the whole if upon examination of thy heart by these rules the Lord shall help thee to discern the saving work of his spirit upon thy soul and thereby thine interest in Christ what a happy man or woman art thou what pleasure will arise to thy soul from such a discovery Look upon the frame of thine heart absolutely as it is in it self at present or comparatively with what once it was and others still are and thou wilt find enough to transport and melt thy heart within thee certainly this is the most glorious piece of Workmanship that ever God wrought in the world upon any man Eph. 2. 10. the spirit of God is come down from heaven and hath hallowed thy soul to be a Temple for himself to dwell in as he hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people 2 Cor. 7. 16. Moreover this gift of the spirit is a sure pledge and earnest of thy future glory time was when there was no such work upon thy soul and considering the frame and temper of it the total aversation strong opposition and rooted enmity that was in it it is the wonder of wonders that ever such a work as this should be wrought upon such an heart as thine that ever the spirit of God whose nature is pure and perfect holiness should choose such an unclean polluted abominable heart to frame an habitation for himself there to dwell in to say of thy soul now his spiritual Temple as he once said of the material Temple at Jerusalem Psal. 132. 13 14. The Lord hath chosen it he hath desired it for his habitation this is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it O what hath God done for thy soul Think Reader and think again are there not many thousands in the world of more ingenuous sweet and amiable disposition than thy self whom yet the spirit of God passeth by and leaveth them as Tabernacles for Satâ—… to dwell in such a one thou lately wast and hadst still remained if God had not wrought for thee beyond all the expectation and desires of thine own heart O bless God that you have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that ye might know the things which are freely given unto you of God The Twenty fifth SERMON Sermon 25. 2 COR. 5. 17. Text. Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a New Creature Of the nature and necessity of the New Creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new YOU have seen one tryal of an interest in Christ in our last discourse namely by the donation of the Spirit we have here another Tryal of the same matter from one of the greatest and most noble effects of the Spirit upon our souls namely his work of renovation or new creation if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature The Apostles scope in the immediate context is to disswade Christians from a carnal sinful partiality in their respects to men not to dispense them after the manner of the world according to the external differences but the real internal worth and excellency that is in men This the Apostle presses by two arguments one drawn from the end of Christs death verse 15. which was to take us off from those selfish designs and carnal ends by which the world is swayed Secondly from the new spirit by which believers are acted they that are in Christ are to judge and measure all things by a new rule if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature old things are passed away q. d. we have done with that low selfish spirit of the world which was wholly governed by Carnal interest we are now to judge by a new rule to be acted from a new principle aim at a new and more noble end behold all things are become new In these words we have three general parts to be distinctly considered viz. 1. The great question to be determined if any man be in Christ. 2. The Rule by which it may be determined viz. he is a new Creature 3. This general rule more particularly explained old things are passed away behold all things are become new First We have here the great question to be determined Whether a man be in Christ a question upon the determination 1. whereof we must stand or fall for ever by being in Christ the Apostle doth not here mean the general profession of Christianity which gives a man the reputation of an interest in him but by being in Christ he means an interest in him by vital union with his
stranger to regeneration all the while John 3. 10. Secondly That many strong convictions and troubles for 2. sin may be found where the new creature is never formed Conviction indeed is an antecedent unto and preparative for the new creature as the blossomes of the tree are to the fruit that follows them but as fruit doth not always follow where those blossoms and flowers appear so neither doth the new creature follow all convictions and troubles for sin Conviction is a common work of the Spirit both upon the elect and reprobates but the new creature is formed only in Gods elect Convictions may be blasted and vanish away and the man that was under troubles for sin may return again with the dog to his vomit and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire 2 Pet. 2. 22. but the new creature never perishes nor can consist with such a return unto sin Thirdly That excellent gifts and abilities fitting men for service in the Church of God may be where the new creature 3. is not for these are promiscuously despensed by the Spirit both to the regenerate and ungenerate Mat. 7. 22. Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name Gifts are attainable by study prayer and preaching are reduced to an art but regeneration is wholly supernatural Sin in dominion is consistent with excellent gifts but wholly incompatible with the new creature In a word these things are so different in nature from the new creature that they oft times prove the greatest barrs and obstacles in the world to the regenerating work of the spirit Let no man therefore trust to things whereby multitudes deceive and destroy their own souls Reader it may cost thee many an aking head to obtain gifts but thou wilt finde an aking heart for sin if ever God make thee a new creature Fourthly Be convinced that multitudes of religious duties may be performed by men in whom the new creature was never formed Though all new creatures perform the duties of religion yet all that perform the duties of religion are not new creatures regeneration is not the only root from which the duties of religion spring Isa. 58. 2. Yet they seek me dayly and delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God they ask of me the ordinances of justice they take delight in approaching to God These are but weak and slippery foundations for men to build their confidence and hopes upon 3d. Use for Examination Next therefore let me perswade every man to try the state of his own heart in this matter and closely consider and weigh Use 3. this great question Am I really and indeed a new creature or am I an old creature still in the new creatures dress and habit Some light may be given for the discovery hereof from the considerations of The 1. Antecedents of the new Creation 2. Concomitants 3. Consequents First weigh and consider well the Antecedents of the new creature have those things past upon your souls which ordinarily make way for the new creature in whomsoever the Lord forms it First hath the Lord opened the eyes of your understanding in the knowledge of sin and of Christ hath he shewed you both your disease and remedy by a new light shining from heaven into your souls Thus the Lord doth whereever he forms the new creature Acts 26. 18. Secondly hath he brought home the word with mighty power and efficacy upon your hearts to convince and humble them this is the method in which the new creature is produced Rom. 7. 9. 1 Thes. 1. 5. Thirdly have these convictions overturned your vain confidences and brought you to a great pinch and inward distress of soul making you to cry what shall we doe to be saved These are the ways of the spirit in the formation of the new creature Acts 16. 29. Acts 2. 37. If no such antecedent works of the spirit have passed upon your hearts you have no ground for your confidence that the new creature is formed in you Secondly Consider the concomitant frames and workings of spirit which ordinarily attend the production of the new creature and judge impartially betwixt God and your own souls whether they have been the very frames and workings of your hearts First have your vain spirits been composed to the greatest seriousness and most solemn consideration of things eternal as the hearts of all those are whom God regenerates When the Lord is about this great work upon the soul of man whatever vanity levity and sinful jollity was there before it is banished from the heart at this time for now heaven and hell life and death are before a mans eyes and these are the most awful and solemn things that ever our thoughts conversed with in this world now a man of the most airy and pleasant constitution when brought to the sight and sense of those things saith of laughter it is mad and of mirth what doth it Eccles. 2. 2. Secondly A lowly meek and humble frame of heart accompanies the new Creation the soul is weary and heavy laden Matth. 11. 28. convictions of sin have plucked down the pride and loftiness of the spirit of man emptied him of his vain conceits those that were of lofty proud and blustring humours before are meekened and brought down to the very dust now it is with them to speak allusively as it was with Jerusalem that lofty City Isa. 29. 1. 4. Wo to Ariel to Ariel the City where David dwelt thou shalt be brought down and shalt speak out of the ground and thy speech shall be low out of the dust Ariel signifies the Lyon of God so Jerusalem in her prosperity was other Cities trembled at her voice but when God brought her down by humbling Judgements then she whispered out of the dust so it is in this case Thirdly Alonging thirsting frame of spirit accompanies the new creation the desires of the soul are ardent after Christ never did the hireling long for the shadow as the weary soul doth for Christ and rest in him if no such frames have accompanied that which you take for your new birth you have the greatest reason in the world to suspect your selves under a cheat Thirdly Weigh well the effects and consequents of the new creature and consider whether such fruits as these are found in your hearts and lives First Whereever the new creature is formed there a mans course and conversation is changed Eph. 4. 22. That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind the new creature cannot but blush and be ashamed of the old Creatures conversation Rom. 6. 21. Secondly The new Creature continually opposes and conflicts with the motions of sin in the heart Gal. 5. 17. The spirit lusteth against the flesh grace can no more
furious beasts of prey Tantaene animis coelestibus ira O how repugnant are these practices non secus ac Cum duo conversis inimica in praelia tauri Frontibus 〈◊〉 with the study of mortification which is the great study and endeavour of all that be in Christ They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts So much for the order of the words the words themselves are a proposition wherein we have to consider both The 1. Subject 2. Predicate First The Subject of the proposition they that are Christs 1. viz. true Christians real members of Christ such as truly Vere Christiani qui ad Christum pertinent qui se ei dedâ—… regendâ—…s Pol. Synopsis belong to Christ such as have given themselves up to be governed by him and are indeed acted by his Spirit such all such persons for the indefinite is equipollent to a universal all such and none but such Secondly The predicate theâ—…â—…ve crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts by flesh 〈◊〉 are here to understand carnal 2. concupiscence the workings and motions of corrupt nature and by the affections we are to understand not the natural but the inordinate affections for Christ doth not abolish and destroy but correct and regulate the affections of those that are in him and by crucifying the flesh we are not to understand the total extinction or perfect subduing of corrupt nature but only the deposing of corruption from its regency and dominion in the soul its dominion is taken away though its life be prolonged for a season but yet as death surely though slowly follows crucifixion the life of crucified persons gradually departing from them with their blood so it is just so in the mortification of sin and therefore what the Apostle in this place calls crucifying he calls in Rom. 8. 13. mortifying if ye through the Spirit do mortifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if ye put to death the deeds of the body but he chooses in this place to call it crucifying to shew not only the conformity there is betwixt the death of Christ and the death of sin in respect of shame pain and lingring slowness but to denote also the principle means and instrument of mortification viz. the death or cross of Jesus Christ in the vertue whereof believers do mortifie the corruptions of their flesh the great arguments and perswasives to mortification being drawn from the sufferings of Christ for sin In a word he doth not say they that believe Christ was crucified for sin are Christs but they and they only are his who feel as well as profess the power and efficacie of the sufferings of Christ in the mortification and subduing of their lusts and sinful affections And so much briefly of the parts and sense of the words The Observation followeth DOCT. That a saving interest in Christ may be regularly and strongly inferred and concluded from the mortification of the flesh with Doct. its affections and lusts This point is fully confirmed by those words of the Apostle Rom. 6. 5 6 7 8. 〈◊〉 if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him Mark the force of the Apostles reasoning if we have been planted into the likeness of his death viz. by the mortification of sin which resembles or hath a likeness to the kind and manner of Christs death as was noted above then we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection and why so but because this mortification of sin is an undoubted evidence of the union of such a soul with Christ which is the very ground-work and principle of that blessed and glorious resurrection and therefore he saith vers 11. Reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord q. d. reason thus with your selves these mortifying influences of the death of Christ are unquestionable presages of your future blessedness God never taking this course with any but those who are in Christ and are designed to be glorified with him the death of your sin is as evidential as any thing in the world can be of your spiritual life for the present and of your eternal life with God hereafter Mortification is the fruit and evidence of your union and that union is the firm ground-work and certain pledge of your glorification and so you ought to reckon or reason the case with your selves as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there signifies Now for the stating and explicating of this point I shall in the doctrinal part labour to open and confirm these five things 1. What the mortification or crucifixion of sin imports 2. Why this work of the Spirit is expressed by crucifying 3. Why all that are in Christ must be so crucified or mortified unto sin 4. What is the true evangelical principle of mortification 5. How the mortification of sin evinces our interest in Christ. And then apply the whole First What the mortification or crucifixion of sin imports 1. And for clearness sake I shall speak to it both negatively and positively shewing you what is not intended and what is principally aimed at by the Spirit of God in this expression First The crucifying of the flesh doth not imply the total abolition of sin in Believers or the destruction of its very Neg. 1. Mortificari carnem non est eam ita perimi ut aut prorsus non sit aut nulla prava in homine desideria commoveat quod in corpore mortis bujus non contingit c. Estius in loc being and existence in them for the present sanctified souls so put off their corruptions with their bodies at death this will be the effect of our future glorification not of our present sanctification it doth exist in the most mortified Believer in the world Rom. 7. 17. it still acteth and lusteth in the regenerate soul Gal. 5. 17. yea notwithstanding its crucifixion in Believers it still may in respect of single acts surprize and captivate them Psal. 65. 3. Rom. 7. 23. This therefore is not the intention of the spirit of God in this expression Secondly Nor doth the crucifixion of sin consist in the suppression of the external acts of sin only for sin may reign over the souls of men whilst it doth not break forth into their lives in gross and open actions 2 Pet. 2. 20. Mat. 12. 43. Morality in the Heathens as Tertullian well observes did abscondere sed non abscindere vitia hide them when it could not kill them many a man shews a white and fair hand who yet hath a very foul and black
and obedience here 3. Motive The Conformity of your lives to Christ your pattern is Motive 3. your highest excellency in this world the measure of your grace is to be estimated by this rule The excellency of every creature rises higher and higher according as it approaches still nearer and nearer to its original the more you resemble Christ in grace the more illustrious and resplendent will your conversations be in true spiritual glory 4. Motive So far as you imitate Christ in your lives and no farther you will be beneficial to the world in which you live So far Motive 4. as God helps you to follow Christ you will be helpful to bring others to Christ or build them up in Christ for all men are forbidden by the Gospel to follow you one step farther than you follow Christ 1 Cor. 11. 1. and when you have finished your course in this world the remembrance of your ways will be no further sweet to others than they are ways of holiness and obedience to Christ 1 Cor. 4. 17. If you walk according to the course of this world the world will not be the better for your walking 5. Motive To walk as Christ walked is a walk only worthy of a Christian this is to walk worthy of the Lord 1 Thes. 2. 12. Col. 1. Motive 5. 10. by worthiness the Apostle doth not mean meritoriousness but comeliness or that decorum which befits a Christian as when a man walks suitably to his place and calling in the world we say he acts like himself So when you walk after Dignitatis vocabulum in scripturis non semper denotat exactam proportionem aequalitatis rei ad rem sed quandam convenieâ—…tiam decentiam quae tollit repugnantiam Davenant in Col. p. 52. Christs pattern you then act like your selves like men of your character and profession This is consonant to your vocation Eph. 4. 1. I beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called This walking suits with your obligation 2 Cor. 5. 15. For it is to live unto him who died for us This walking only suits with your designation Eph. 2. 10. For you are created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained we should walk in them In a word such walking as this and such only becomes your expectation 2 Pet. 3. 14. wherefore beloved seeing that you look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless 6. Motive How comfortable will the close of your life be at death if you have walked after Christs pattern and example in this Motive 6. world A comfortable death is ordinarily the close of a holy life Psal. 37. 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace A loose careless life puts many terrible stings into death As worms in the body are bred of the putrefaction there so the worm of conscience is bred of the moral putrefaction or corruption that is in our natures and conversations O then be prevailed with by all these considerations to imitate Christ in the whole course and compass of your coversations 3d. Use for Consolation Lastly I would leave a few words of support and comfort to such as sincerely study and endeavour according to the tendency Use 3. of their new nature to follow Christs example but being weak in grace and meeting with strong temptations are frequently carried beside the holy purposes and designs of their honest meaning hearts to the great grief and discouragement of their souls They heartily wish and aim at holiness and say with David Psal. 119. 5. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes They follow after exactness in holiness as Paul did Phil. 3. 12. If by any means they might attain it But finding how short they come in all things of the rule and pattern they mourn as he did Rom. 7. 24. O wretched maâ—… that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Well well if this be thy case be not discouraged but hearken to a few words of support and comfort with which I shall close this point 1. Support Such defects in obedience make no flaw in your Justification For your Justification is not built upon your obedience 1. Support but upon Christs Rom. 3. 24. and how incompleat and defective soever you be in your selves yet at the same instant you are compleat in him which is the head of all principality and power Col. 2. 10. Wo to Abraham Moses David Paul and the most eminent Saints that ever lived if their Justification and acceptation with God had depended upon the perfection and compleatness of their own obedience 2. Support Your deep troubles for the defectiveness of your obedience doth not argue you to be less but more sanctified than those 2. Support who make no such complaints for this proves you to be better acquainted with your own hearts than others are to have a deeper hatred of sin than others have and to love God with a more fervent love than others do the most eminent Saints have made the bitterest complaints upon this account Psal. 65. 3. Rom. 7. 23 24. 3. Support The Lord makes excellent uses even of your infirmities and failings to do you good and makes them turn to your unexpected 3. Support advantage For by these defects he hides pride from your eyes he beats you off from self-dependance he makes you to admire the riches of free grace he makes you to long more ardently for heaven and entertain the sweeter thoughts of death and doth not the Lord then make blessed fruits to spring up to you from such a bitter root O the blessed Chymistry of heaven to extract such mercies out of such miseries 4. Support Your bewailed infirmities do not break the bond of the 4. Support everlasting Covenant The bond of the Covenant holds firm notwithstanding your defects and weaknesses Jer. 32. 40. Iniquities prevail against me saith David yet in the same breath he adds as for our transgressions thou shalt purge them away Psal. 65. 3. He 's still thy God thy Father for all this 5. Support Though the defects of your obedience are grievous to God yet your deep sorrows for them are well-pleasing in his eyes 5. Support Psal. 51. 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Ephraim was never a more pleasant child to his father than when he moaned himself and smote upon his thigh as thou dost Jer. 31. 20. Your sins grieve him but your sorrows please him 6. Support Though God have left many defects to humble you yet he hath given many things to comfort you This is a 6. Support comfort that the desire of thy soul is to God and to the remembrance of his name This is a comfort that thy sins are not
thy delight as once they were but thy shame and sorrow This is a comfort that thy case is not singular but more or less the same complaints and sorrows are found in all gracious souls through the world and to say all in one word This is the comfort above all comforts that the time is at hand in which all thâ—…se defects infirmities and failings shall be done away 1 Cor. 13. 10. When that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away For ever blessed be God for Jesus Christ. And thus I have finished the third general Use of Examination whereby every man is to try his interest in Christ and discern whether ever Christ hath been effectually applied to his soul. That which remains is a Use of Lamentation Wherein the miserable and most wretched state of all those to whom Jesus Christ is not effectually applied will be yet more particularly discovered and bewailed The Thirty first SERMON Sernâ—… EPHES. 5. 14. Wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest and rise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Text. Of the state of Spiritual Death and the misery thereof THis Scripture represents unto us the miserable and lamentable state of the unregenerate as being under the power of spiritual death which is the cause and in-let of all other miseries From hence therefore I shall make the first discovery of the woful and wretched state of them that apply not Jesus Christ to their own souls The scope of the Apostle in this Context is to press believers to a circumspect and holy life to walk as children of light This exhortation is laid down in ver 8. and pressed by diverse arguments in the following verses First from the tendency of holy principles unto holy fruits and practices ver 9 10. Secondly from the convincing efficacy of practical godliness upon the consciences of the wicked ver 11 12 13. It awes and convinces their consciences Thirdly from the co incidence of such a conversation with the great design and drift of the scriptures which is to awaken men by regeneration out of that spiritual sleep or rather death which sin hath cast them into And this is the Argument of the Text Wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest c. There is some difficulty in the reference of these words Some think it refers to Isa. 26. 19. Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust Others to Isa. 60. 1. Arise shine for thy light is come c. But most probably the words neither refer to this or that particularly but to the drift and scope of the whole Scriptures which were inspired and written upon this great design to awaken and quicken souls out of the state of spiritual death And in them we are to consider these three things more distinctly and particularly 1. The miserable state of the unregenerate they are asleep and dead 2. Their duty which is to awake and stand up from the dead 3. The power enabling them thereunto Christ shall give thee light First The miserable state of the unregenerate represented under the Notions of sleep and death both expressions intending 1. one and the same thing though with some variety of Notion The Christless and unregenerate world is in a deep sleep a spirit of slumber senselesness and security is fallen upon them though they lie exposed immediately to eternal wrath and misery ready to drop into hell every moment Just as a man that is fast asleep in a house on fire and whilst the consuming flames are round about him his fancy is sporting it self in some pleasant dream this is a very lively resemblance of the unregenerate soul. But yet he that sleeps hath the principle of life entire in him though his senses be bound and the actions of life suspended by sleep Lest therefore we should think it is only so with the unregenerate the expression is designedly varied and those that were said to be asleep are positively affirmed to be dead on purpose to inform us that it is not a simple suspension of the acts and exercise but a total privation of the principle of spiritual life which is the misery of the unregenerate Secondly We have here the duty of the unregenerate which is to awake out of sleep and arise from the dead This is their great 2. concernment no duty in the world is of greater necessity and importance to them Strive saith Christ to enter in at the strait gate Luke 13. 24. And the order of these duties is very natural First awake then arise Startling and rousing convictions make way for spiritual life till God awake us by convictions of our misery we will never be perswaded to arise and move towards Christ for remedy and safety Thirdly But you will say if unregenerate men be dead men to what purpose is it to perswade them to arise and stand up 3. The very exhortation supposes some power or ability in the Quamvis verba videntur velle primum excitari surgere deinde illuminari tamen intelligendum est vi lucis Christi excitari eum surgere Roll. in Loc. unregenerate else in vain are they commanded to arise This difficulty is solved in this very Text though the duty be ours yet the power is Gods God commands that in his word which only his grace can perform Christ shall give thee light Popish Commentators would build the power of free will upon this Scripture by a very weak argument drawn from the order wherein these things are here expressed which is but a weak foundation to build upon for it is very usual in Scripture to put the effect before and the cause after as it is here so in Isa. 26. 19. Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust But I will not here intangle my discourse with that controversie that which I aim at is plain in the words viz. DOCT. That all Christless souls are under the power of Spiritual death Doct. they are in the state of the dead Multitudes of testimonies are given in Scripture to this truth Eph. 2. 1 5. You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins Col. 2. 13. And you being dead in your sint and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him with many other places of the same importance But the method in which I shall discourse this point will be this First I will shew you in what sence Christless and unregenerate men are said to be dead Secondly what the state of spiritual death is Thirdly how it appears that all unregenerate men are in this sad state And then apply it First In what sense are Christless and unregenerate men 1. said to be dead men To open this we must know there is a threefold death viz. Death 1. Natural 2. Spiritual 3. Eternal Natural death is nothing else but the privation of the principle of natural life or the separation of
the soul from the body James 2. 26. The body without the spirit is dead Spiritual death is the privation of the principle of spiritual life or the want and absence of the quickening spirit of God in the foul the soul is the life of the body and Christ is the life of the soul the absence of the foul is death to the body and the absence or want of Christ is death to the soul. Eternal death is the separation both of body and soul from God which is the misery of the damned Now Christless and unregenerate men are not dead in the first sense they are naturally alive though they are dead while they live Nor are they yet dead in the last sense eternally separated from God by an irrevocable sentence as the damned are but they are dead in the second sense they are spiritually dead whilst they are naturally alive and this spiritual death is the fore-runner of eternal death Now spiritual death is put in scripture in opposition to a two-fold spiritual life Viz. 1. The life of Justification 2. The life of Sanctification Spiritual death in opposition to the life of Justification is nothing else but the guilt of sin bringing us under the sentence of death Spiritual death in opposition to the life of sanctification is the pollution or dominion of sin In both these fen ses unregenerate men are dead men but it is the last which I am properly concerned to speak to in this place and therefore Secondly Let us briefly consider what this spiritual death is which as before was hinted is the absence of the quickening 2. spirit of Christ from the soul of any man That soul is a dead soul into which the spirit of Christ is not infused in the work of regeneration and all its works are dead works as they are called Heb. 9. 14. For look how it is with the damned they live they have sense and motion and an immortality in all these yet because they are eternally separated from God the life which they live deserves not the name of life but is every where in scripture stiled death So the unregenerate they are naturally alive they eat and drink they buy and sell they talk and laugh they rejoyce in the creatures and many of them spend their days in pleasures and then go down to the grave This is the life they live but yet the scripture rather calls it death than life because though they live yet it is without God in the world Eph. 2. 12. Though they live yet it is a life alienated from the life of God Eph. 4. 18. And therefore while they remain naturally alive they are in scripture said to remain in death 1 John 3. 14. and to be dead while they live 1 Tim. 5. 6. And there is great reason why a Christless and unregenerate state should be represented in scripture under the notion of death for there is nothing in nature which more aptly represents that miserable state of the soul than natural death doth The dead see and discern nothing and the natural man perceiveth not the things that are of God The dead have no beauty or desirableness in them Bury my dead said Abraham out of my sight neither is there any spiritual loveliness in the unregenerate True it is some of them have sweet natural qualities and moral excellencies which are taking things but these are as so many flowers decking and adorning a dead corpse The dead are Objects of pity and great lamentation men use to mourn for the dead Eccles. 12. 5. Man goeth to his long home and the mourners go about the streets But unregenerate and Christless souls are much more the Objects of pity and lamentation How are all the people of God especially those that are naturally related to them concerned to mourn over them and for them as Abraham did for Ishmael Gen. 17. 18. O that Ishmael might live before thee Upon these and many other accounts the state of unregeneracy is represented to us in the notion of death Thirdly And that this is the state of all Christless and unsanctified persons will undeniably appear two ways 3. 1. The causes of spiritual life have not wrought upon them 2. The effects and signs of spiritual life do not appear in them and therefore they are in the state and under the power of spiritual death First The causes of spiritual life have not wrought upon them There are two causes of spiritual life 1. Principal and internal 2. Subordinate and external The principal internal cause of spiritual life is the regenerating spirit of Christ Rom. 8. 2. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death 'T is the spirit as a regenerating spirit that unites us with Christ in whom all spiritual life originally is John 5. 25 26. Verily I say unto you that the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live for as the father hath life in himself so hath he given to the son to have life in himself As all the members of the natural body receive animation sense and motion by their Union with their natural head so all believers the members of Christ receive spiritual life and animation by their Union with Christ their mystical head Eph. 4. 15 16. Except we come to him and be united with him in the way of faith we can have no life in us John 5. 40. Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life Now the spirit of God hath yet exerted no regenerating quickening influences nor begotten any special saving faith in natural unsanctified men whatever he hath done for them in the way of natural or spiritual common gifts yet he hath not quickened them with the life of Christ. And as for the subordinate external means of life viz. the preaching of the Gospel which is the instrument of the spirit in this glorious work and is therefore called the word of life Phil. 2. 16. this word hath not yet been made a regenerating quickening word to their souls Possibly it hath enlightned them and convinced them it hath wrought upon their minds in the way of common illumination and upon their consciences in the way of conviction but not upon their hearts and wills by way of effectual conversion To this day the Lord hath not given them an heart opening it self in the way of faith to receive Jesus Christ. Secondly The effects and signs of spiritual life do not appear in them for First They have no feeling or sense of misery and danger I mean no such sense as throwly awakens them to apply Christ their remedy That spiritual judgment lies upon them Isa. 6. 9 10. And he said go and tell this people Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy and
change from sin to grace is no way inferiour to it Nay in some respect beyond it for the change which glory makes upon the regenerate is but a gradual change but the change which regeneration makes upon the ungodly is a spiritual change Great and admirable is this work of God and let it for ever be marvellous in our eyes Inference 3. If unregenerate souls de dead souls what a fatal stroke doth death give to the bodies of all unregenerate men A soul dead in sin and Inference 3. a body dead by vertue of the curse for sin and both soul and body remaining for ever under the power of eternal death is so full and perfect a misery as that nothing can be added to make it more miserable 't is the comfort of a Christian that he can say when death comes non omnis moriar I shall not wholly die there is a life I live which death cannot touch Rom. 8. 13. The body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power As death takes a believer from amidst many sorrows and troubles and brings him to the vision of God to the general assembly of all the perfected saints to a state of compleat freedom and full satisfaction so it drags the unregenerate from all his sensitive delights and comforts to the place of torments It buries the dead soul out of the presence of God for ever 'T is the king of terrours 't is a serpent with a deadly sting to every man that is out of Christ. Inference 4. If every unregenerate soul be a dead soul how sad is the case of Hypocrites Inference 4. and temporary believers who are twice dead These are those cursed trees of which the Apostle Jude speaks Jude v. 12. Trees whose fruit withereth without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots The Apostle alludes unto dying trees Trees that are dying the first time in the spring they then fade decay and cast their leaves when other trees are fragrant and flourishing But from this first death they are sometimes recovered by pruning and dressing or watering the roots But if in Autumn they decay again which is the Critical and Climacterical time of trees to discover whether their disease be mortal or not if then they wither and decay the second time the fault is ab intra the root is rotten there is no hope of it The husbandman bestows no more labour about it except it be to root it up for fewel to the fire Just thus stands the case with false and hypocritical prosessours who though they were still under the power of spiritual death yet in the beginning of their profession they seemed to be alive They shewed the world the fragrant leaves of a fair profession many hopeful buddings of affection towards spiritual things were seen in them but wanting a root of regeneration they quickly began to wither and cast their untimely fruit However by the help of ordinances or some rouzing and awakening providences they seem to recover themselves again but all will not do the fault is ab intra from the want of a good root and therefore at last they who were always once dead for want of a principle of regeneration are now become twice dead by the withering and decay of their vain profession Such trees are prepared for the severest flames in hell Mat. 24. 51. Their portion is the saddest portion allotted for any of the sons of death Therefore the Apostle Peter tells us 2 Pet. 2. 20 21. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered unto them Double measures of wrath seem to be prepared for them that die this double death Inference 5. If this be so then unregenerate persons deserve the greatest lamentations Inference 5. And were this truth heartily believed we could not but mourn over them with the most tender compassion and hearty sorrow If our husbands wives or children be dying a natural death how are our hearts rent in pieces with pity and sorrow for them what cries tears and wringing of hands discover the deep sense we have of their misery O Christians is all the love you have for your relations spent upon their bodies Are their souls of no value in your eyes is spiritual death no misery Doth it not deserve a tear The Lord open our eyes and duly affect our hearts with spiritual death and soul miseries Consider my friends and let it move your bowels if there be bowels of affection in you whilst they remain spiritually dead they are useless and wholly unserviceable unto God in the world as to any special and acceptable service unto him 2 Tim. 2. 21. they are uncapable of all spiritual comforts from God they cannot taste the least sweetness in Christ in duties or in promises Rom. 8. 6. They have no beauty in their souls how comely soever their bodies be 't is grace and nothing but grace that beautifies the inner man Ezek. 16. 6 7. The dead have neither comfort nor beauty in them They have no hope to be with God in glory for the life of glory is begun in grace Phil. 1. 6. Their graves must shortly be made to be buried out of the sight of God for ever in the lowest hell the pit digged by justice for all that are spiritually dead The dead must be buried Can such considerations as these draw no pity from your souls nor excite your endeavours for their regeneration Then 't is to be feared your souls are dead as well as theirs O pity them pity them and pray for them in this case only prayers for the dead are our duty who knows but at the last God may hear your cries and you may say with comfort as he did This my son was dead but is alive was lost but is found and they began to be merry Luke 15. 24. The Thirty second SERMON Sermon 32. JOHN 3. 18. Text. But he that believeth not is condemned already The Condemnation of unbelievers opened and applied because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God CHrist having discoursed Nicodemus in the beginning of this Chapter about the necessity of regeneration proceeds to shew in this following discourse the reason and ground why regeneration and faith are so indispensably necessary viz. Because there is no other way to set men free from the curse and condemnation of the Law The curse of the Law like the fiery serpents in the wilderness hath smitten every sinner with a deadly stroke and sting for