condition but if ever he were a liar he is a liar in this and God will judg him and his instruments for bringing up this evil report upon the good Land which he hath given his people Beloved be not discouraged by this slander from looking after this heavenly Canaan as the Children of Israel were from entring into the earthly Canaan when the Spies that went to search the land had spoken evil of it to them for as Caleb said to them the same I say to you The Land is an exceeding good Land I mean now the state into which Christ hath brought believers is even in this World a joyful state You shall see how it was prophecied of in the Old Testament that it should be so Psal 67. read vers 1 2. where he speaks of the coming of this Freedom God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us Selah That thy way may be known upon earth thy saving health among all nations and what follows why vers 3 4 5. Let the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee O let the nations be glad and sing for joy there 's the joy that it brings with it So Isa 35. 10. this chapter is to he understood of Gospel Freedom and Salvation and mark what Joy here is now The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away Obj. But where can you shew us the people in the New Testament that live so comfortably and joyfully by this Freedom and that in this World Why turn to Rom. 5. 2. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and vers 10 11. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life And not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the attenement Obj. But it may be they were a people that met with no great afflictions if they had it would have spoiled their joy tho they were in this Freedom Well for that I 'll give you a full Scripture see 1 Pet. 1. These were scattered abroad by persecution vers 1. They had manifold temptations vers 6. And in v. 7. the Apostle speaks of the tryal of their Faith by fire Yet in vers 8. how comfortable they were for all this In whom tho now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Sirs you that are out of this Freedom are hindred by it from abundance of joy you don't know what true joy and true comfort is without it 5. It is good to make us taste the sweetness that is in the ways of God 't was the Spouse of Christ the redeemed company that uttered that in Cant. 2. 3. I sat down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste Duties Ordinances are sapless things without this but they are refreshing yea ravishing things with it What made David say that a day in Gods Courts was better than a thousand otherwhere 't was because he was in this Freedom Why did the Lord call his Ordinances that should be under the Gospel A feast of fat things a feast of wine on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wine on the lees well fined Isa 25. 6. But because he knew they would be so to Souls that should be brought into this Freedom Oh this is that which will make a Prayer sweet and a good Sermon sweet and a Sacrament sweet and Grace and the Exercise of it sweet You that are in the Bondage of sins may come and hear precious truths but you cannot tell what is in them for savour and relish that Bondage hath put your mouths quite out of taste as I may say to you there 's nothing so sweet as that which is most bitter and that is sin if your palat were not vitiated by this Bondage you would call it as the Scripture calls it viz. The gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity Acts 8. 23. 6. This Freedom is good to make us spiritually useful Indeed one that hath it not may be useful and very useful for earthly respects and if he should be taken away by death there might be a great miss of him the family might want him or the Parish may want him But spiritually useful such a one is not nor can be any otherwise then as a wooden leg can be useful to the body which tho it helps it a little yet 't is but outwardly it hath none of that life or motion that the true members have But now they whom Christ hath made free oh what a deal they are good for upon a spiritual account they are useful persons to bring up a Family for God they are good for the Souls of their Relations You that are out of Christ you may be good for the bodies of your Children you may be good to provide them Meat and Drink and Cloaths and to take care of them when any of them fall sink that they may not want attendance or the like or you may be good to train them up in a civil way and to lay up for them what you can for a Portion in this World or to put them to a good Trade or help them to as rich a match as you can and in these kind of things your usefulness to them is at its journeys end As for the poor Souls of your Children you forget them because you never rememberd your own it may be you 'l say to your Children sometimes you must be a good boy or a good girl and there 's all the good counsel that they shall have of you but alas you take no care to tell them which way they must be good indeed and truly if God should take you away from them and leave them Fatherless and Motherless their outward man would miss you sadly it may be but their Souls would not you were never good for them but they who are in this Freedom are good for the Souls of their Family And beloved they are very useful persons to promote a good work when they see it would tend much to the Glory of God to have it carried on and to take occasions and opportunities of speaking to others about everlasting concernments and to mourn for the sins of the times and places in which they live and to stand in the gap when the Wrath of God is breaking in upon a Nation and when God takes away one of these oh what a miss there is of them and what a loss 't is upon the best account If God had pleased a hundred wicked men might have been better spared than one of these The least of these
and he can dye he can love his Enemies he can gain by losses he can prevail with God c. 10. That a poor creature should come to know what thoughts God had of him before the World began and what he intends to do with him to all eternity Why many will be ready to say how is it ever possible that such a thing should be Why now 't is one of the Wonders of this Freedom that by the having of it a man may come to know this if you look backward from all eternity he may be sure that God hath chosen him if you look forward to all eternity he may be sure that God will receive him into Glory See how Paul speaks about this 1 Thes 5. 9. For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Many there be who are in this Freedom that are assured of this and such as are in it tho they be not sure as yet of it yet they are in the way to it You see something of the Wonders of this Freedom and now is it not an excellent Freedom also upon this account I will only add this That the Scripture holds forth to us that Gods wonderful works must have five Duties performed about them and so must this wonderful Freedom 1. They must be talked of Psal 105. 2. So now oh speak of this wonderful Freedom one to another as you sit in the house and as you walk by the way declare what God hath done for his people by Jesus Christ 2. They must be considered pondered upon Joh. 37. 13. So this wonderful Freedom you must observe the Wonders in it have deep and serious thoughts of it Search into it by Meditation Mysteries cannot be understood by a superficial looking upon them but they must be dived into 3. They must be remembred Psal 105. 4 6. So take heed of forgetting this wonderful Freedom 't is a mercy never to be forgotten 4. God must be praised for them yea praised and praised again Psal 136. 1 2 3 4. So highly bless God for this wonderful Freedom see in two Psalms which are made about it Psal 72. and he closes up all with this vers 18. 19. Blessed be the Lord God the God of Israel who only doth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious name for ever and let the whole earth be filled with his glory Amen and amen And Psal 98. read the whole Psalm 5. They must be believed Psal 78. 32. So you must believe this report about this wonderful Freedom you must close with it by faith you must not continue in your sins as if all this were a lye that we tell about Salvation by Christ I will end this Seventh thing of the Wonders of this Freedom with that Scripture Acts 13. 38 to 42. Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgivness of sins And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses Beware therefore lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish for I work a work in your days a work which you shall in no wise believe tho a man declare it unto you Do you Wonder at the things you have heard Oh! take heed that you don't Wonder and perish for want of believing of them CHAP. XII The Application of this fifth Branch of the Doctrine AND now is this Freedom of Christ such an excellent Freedom as you have heard it is Then I shall finish this fifth Branch and so this whole Text with seven Uses 1. Of Information 2. of Admiration 3. of Lamentation 4. of Examination 5. of Expostulation 6. of Exhortation 7. of Consolation Use I. Of Information It informs of four things 1. That the remedy that is prepared for sinners misery is beyond all exception their misery is their Bondage by sin their remedy is Freedom by Christ and 't is beyond all exception for 't is excellent Freedom The Lord Jesus cares not who looks upon his redeeming-work 't is done so well it wants nothing to make it sufficient and all-sufficient for the ends and purposes to which it was intended we are sure therefore that if we can but use this soveraign Plaister as we ought it will without question heal our wound There is that in Christ that will do our work do but make trial and you 'l find 't is true for in this case trial is all in all Christ desires to be put to the proof whether he cannot do all things for a poor Soul that it hath need should be done for it If you 'l but venture your Souls he will venture his Salvation what would you desire more to manifest that a receit for a disease is the best that can be got than that every one that hath made use of it should give their approving-testimony that they have been cured by it Now this is the witness that all believers will give of Christ If you should go up and down for their hands they will be all ready to sign and seal to the great cures that they have by him Isa 53. 5. 't is as it were the general voice of all that have made use of Christ We are healed Again it informs us 2. That there is something that is much better than that which the men of the World do spend their time and thoughts about The truth is they follow this World as if it were the best thing that ever was or ever shall be But ah Sirs you whose life and labour is thus laid out are mistaken There is an excellent Freedom by Christ that is better than all that you cark and care and rap and rend for Would I could but tell what to say to you to bring you out of love with this World you that are so much in love with it What do you see or find in it that you should set your hearts upon it you run after that and that runs from you and that so fast that some of you cannot overtake it for your lives I may say that the World looks upon some persons as if it were afraid to come near them they would fain lay hands upon it and God wont let them he bids the things of this World run away from them and this surely is in much mercy to some for God sees that if they should gain the World they would lose their Souls and if he bears a love to them he had rather they should miss of Earth than Heaven Well but it may be God suffers some of you to overtake this World you make such haste after it and when you have got it what have you got I don't speak to lessen thankfulness for any of these outward mercies but my drift is to set the World in its place and this Freedom in its place but what have you gotten
reason of deadness and backwardness to such a good work as edifying of one another in love when they are together and for want of making it as sometimes they should the very design and end of their coming together to build up one another in their most holy faith c. But I say if they can but once get into it and especially if they be not only true Christians but fervent Oh what comfortable profitable Communion will there be sometimes between them that their very hearts will be knit together by it as it was between Jonathan and David when they had had Communion together The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David and they loved one another as their own Souls Now the having of this living Communion together is a thing which the Lord sets a very high esteem upon I speak this to encourage Gods people to be more frequent and forward in it then many of us are See Mal. 3. 16. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkned and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name This is a Scripture that one would think should make you even long to be more at this work for mark what encouragement it carries in it 1. The Lord hearkned as it were by way of Attention and 2. Heard it as it were by way of Acceptation And then 3. This must not only be accepted but it must be written 4. Not in some loose little Paper or Scroll but in a Book And 5. This Book must be called a Book of Remembrance Remembrance must be the very name of it And 6. That it might be remembred it must not be laid away but be before him 4. This Freedom by Christ we being interested in it puts Life into our Hopes If we have not this all our Hopes of Mercy and Salvation are but dead Hopes and you 'l have no more benefit by them then you will have of a man that you had great hopes in that he would be a mighty Friend to you in your distress and you count upon it before your distress comes upon you that certainly you shall have such a Friend as passes of that man and thus you go on and when your great distress comes upon you then you begin to look out for this Friend that he may now do for you according to what he put you in hope he would do and when you have enquired after him and now have such great need of help you find the man is dead So if you are not partakers of this Freedom by Christ hope what you will it will come to nothing and therefore what the Apostle tells the people of God they should not do I tell you that are not the people of God that you should do it Heb. 10. 35. He saith they must by no means cast away their confidence But oh Sirs you that are out of Christ must by all means cast away yours you must throw it out for a cast-away and if you don't make that a cast-away that will help to cast away you What a slave to sin and yet hope to enjoy the Priviledges and Happiness of them that are made Free by Christ Away with it In this Sense I pray with all my heart that God Almighty would bring you to final desperation What sinner dost thou think to live by a dead Hope Obj. But how do you prove that my Hope is a dead Hope Answ I will tell thee but even in three words 1. Because the Scripture calls it no Hope Eph. 2. 12. As a dead man is as good as no man so a dead Hope is no Hope 2. Because 't is not a Hope to which God hath begotten thee thou hast given thy self this Hope but the living Hope is that which God hath given to his people by begetting of them to himself by causing them to be born again 1 Pet. 1. 3. 3. Because it doth not bring forth any purifying fruits thou keepest thy Hope and keepest thy sins too thy Hope and Holiness do not go together thou canst allow thy self in ways of wickedness and mindest not a being like to God Whereas 't is otherwise with them that have the living Hope they purifie themselves as he is pure 1 Joh. 3. 3. 8. One thing more briefly about this Freedom by Christ as to another name by which 't is called serving to set out the excellency of it and that is 't is called the Blessing of God Now that 's a precious things indeed What 's all that we have if we have not Gods Blessing with it Why 't is his Blessing that keeps us from his curse when God intended the greatest good to Abraham he summed it up in this I will bless thee Gen. 12. 2. And so when you wish the greatest mercy to others you pray that God would bless them his blessing is the comfort of every Calling of every Relation of every Condition Why now this Freedom by Christ is Gods blessing See Acts 3. ult Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities And therefore all that I shall say upon it is this That if you have not this Freedom by Christ you 'l never have Gods blessing and therefore you 'l have Gods curse that will be your Portion I grant that in some sense you may be said to have his blessings that is you may have outward mercies in which respect God said he would bless Ishmael himself tho he were the Son of the Bondwoman Gen. 17. 20. But he may bless you thus and yet you may be cursed for ever and so you will be if Christ doth not make you Free And oh Sirs what a dreadful thing will it be to lye under the curse of God to eternity Do you think you are strong enough to bear such a load as this is World without end You may see some inkling of it now what a dreadful thing this curse is if God doth but let fall a drop of it upon a great Estate how it moulders or upon any person for his wickedness what a forlorn Creature he becomes as Cain Why this is a thing that will dry one up to the roots as the Fig-tree when Christ cursed it immediatly it whithered away But what then will it be in Hell where it shall be in its full force But as for them who are interested in this Freedom by Christ I may say to them as in Psal 115. 15. You are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth CHAP. VI. Concerning the Excellency of the person by whom this Freedom was performed TO the Second The excellency of this Freedom will appear if we consider the excellent person by whom it was performed You have already heard that this Freedom comes by Christ and Christ is an excellent person indeed he is