planted them with such graces as flourish and grow up in them Thirdly as one delights in a Feast so God delights in them Cant. 5. 1. I have eaten my honey comb with my honey I have drunk my wine with my milk Revel 3. 20. I will come and sup with them I delight in them as in a Feast Fourthly where a man dwells there he is active one that doth nothing is not said to dwell in the place but rather to be imprisoned as one said of an idle man pointing to his body hic situs est his soul was buried in his body So Christ is said to dwell in us in regard of his activity and influence in regard of the works that he doth in us he works efficaciously in the soul making it fit for himself Christ hath an influence into the Saints he is still active in them furnisheth them with qualities that they had not and with actions that they did not before as one having an house makes his garden he dwells in us as the fire in the iron That is as the fire giveth to the iron all the qualities and properties of fire as hot burning and giving light it makes it like the fire so the spirit of a man when Christ dwelleth in him is made as the Spirit of Christ in all thinâ—s according to that degree of grace that he hath received We now come to the second thing we propounded and that is to shew you the benefits that we have by Christ his dwelling in our hearts and those are six First Where ever Christ dwelleth he maketh that person glorious he filleth his heart with glory This I take out of the Psal. 24. v. 7. Be ye lift up ye everlasting doors That the King of glory may come in The meaning is this when ever Christ cometh into any mans heart he comes as the King of glory That is not as one that is glorious in himself and keepeth his glory to himself but as one that communicateth his glory to that place where he cometh For there is that difference between Christ his coming in to an house and the coming of a Prince when a Prince cometh though he bring never so much glory with him yet he putteth it not upon the house the house remaineth the same But when Christ cometh into the heart he changeth he altereth the house he beautifieth and decks the soul with such excellencies as in themselves are glorious and appear glorious unto the view of others So Moses when he was with God his face did shine when he came down from the Mount because there God communicated his glory to him Indeed it is true that was an outward visible glory but yet the resemblance of that inward glory which God communicateth to the soul of him in whom he dwelleth That is he makes an impression of his own glory of his own Image upon that heart into which he cometh he stampeth it I say upon the heart and it is glorious in the Inward man it shineth forth also in the life and conversation even as the light shineth through the window so is it when Christ dwelleth in the heart he putteth a glory there which shineth forth makes him glorious in the eyes of others giveth a gracious and heavenly tincture to all his actions And the reason is because where he dwelleth he bringeth the spirit with him the Spirit of glory resteth upon them as you have it in 1 Pet 4. The Spirit of glory resteth upon you when you are railed upon for his names sake That is that spirit dwelleth in you covereth you and let them say what they can they shall not be able to hurt you for you are compast about with light even with the glorious Spirit of God As if one should cast dirt upon the Sun he cannot obscure the glory of it because light dwells in it so when men speak evil of the Saints disgrace and revile them they cannot hurt them for there is glory in them that shineth about them Now glory is nothing else but the manifestation of some excellencie to the view of others so we attribute still the word glory to such in whom we see some excellency to see a man in gorgeous apparel An Army under banners to see a ship under sail we say they are glorious So Michal said of David How glorious was the King of Israel to day because then he manifested himself Now when God sheddeth abroad his Spirit into the heartâ— of any whom he infuseth the graces of his Spirit into them he is said to put glory into them This Christ doth wheresover he cometh because he furnisheth them with grace and every grace is glorious As it is said of wisdom in the Proverbs He that is in estimation for wisdom and glory That is for wisdom which is glorious so when Christ cometh into the heart of any he makes them wise and therefore glorious The like may be said of anâ— other vâ—rtue therefore in the Epistle of Peter vertue and glory are joyned together In a word the Image of God is in them which is compounded of many graces Now that image is a glorious Image 2 Cor. 3. You are changed to the Image of God from glory to glory That is from one gloâ—i us degree of grace to another And this is the first bâ—n siâ— we have by Christ he makes them glorious in whom he dwelleth because he putteth his graces in them and stamps his similitudes upon them Secondly A second benefit that we have by Christs dwelling in us iâ— this where ever he dwelleth he ruleth and governeth he guideth the spirit wherein he dwelleth he keepeth the heart in order from mutinies and tumults he keepeth all the affections in obedience And this is a great benefit and this he doth where he dwelleth Therefore in Psal. 24. it is said Be you lift up ye everlasting doors speaking there of the soul which onely is everlasting and the King of glory shall come in That is he ruleth as a King dwelleth as a King that ruleth in the place where he cometh That as Satan ruleth in the hearts of the children of disobedience so Christ ruleth in the children of obedience he guideth them and governeth them he ordereth their steps the right way That is when there are in them lusts fighting in their mind a law in their members rebelling against the Law of the spirit he keepeth down these Rebels he mortifieth these lusts and therefore in Rom. 8. The affections are said to be servants to righteousness That is because righteousness ruleth in the hearts of those in whom Christ dwelleth But you will say what benefit is this what priviledge is it to have Christ rule us it seemeth rather to be contrary it seemeth rather that this is to be restrained and to be over-ruled is it not better to have our liberty I answer that it is not but it is a great priviledge to
for his mercy it is a sign that he would have his mercy to be his glory and excellency but I will stay no longer upon the proving of this point let us now make some use of it First If the mercies of God be his glory doubt not then but that when you come to ask at his hand any request that is meet for you he will be ready to grant it for it is his glory to shew mercy and God loveth his glory now if so be to shew mercy be his glory doubt not then I say of obtaining what you desire at his hands for glory is nothing else but the manifestation of some excellency to the view and knowledge of man When a thing is excellent and beautiful and is shut up we say it is beautiful but not glorious except it be explicated and spread abroad to the view of others as a peacock is then said to be glorious when he spreadeth abroad his feathers and the Sun is said then to be in his glory when he shineth in his brightness when Ahasuerus made that great feast he did it for the glory of his kingdom because in the feast his riches and potency was manifest therefore it made him glorious So doth the Lord if all his perfections were shut up in himself they were excellent but not properly glorious for glory is when any excellency is made manifest to the view of others therefore God iâ— said to be glorious when he manifesteth his mercy If therefore this be his glory then doubt not but that he will be ready to shew mercy to men that is not onely to be merciful in himself but to shew mercy to you learn hence now to strengthen your faith and to come with more boldness to the throne of grace and beseech God to grant you what you ask that he might glorifie himself when you have therefore occasion to ask any grace any help or any succour in temptation this will help to prevail with him Lord if thou shuttest thy hand and keepest thy mercy within thy self what glory wilt thou bring to thy self but if thou openest thy hand and manifestest thy mercy thence will glory redound to thee Secondly if Gods mercy be his glory or his excellency then let us praise him for his mercy let us give him the glory of it for that he looks for at our hands on Gods part there is but this to make him glorious viz. an explication or shewing of his mercy on our part it is required that we see it and take notice of it be inwardly perswaded that he is merciful Seeing now God hath done his part in making manifest his mercy let us also do our dutie and give him what is required on our part even to praise him for his mercy that is it which he looks for from his Children whatsoever others do Wisdom is justified of her children whatsoever others do let the Saints and children of God justifie him for his mercy let them say that he is merciful Others will not say it or at least they do not think it but as those wicked men that were devoured with fire that came from God brake cut into this speech who shall dwell with everlasting burnings even so every evil man thinketh God a cruel master thinkes him a severe judge this secret thought hath every evil man in him but yet let his children justifie him for his mercy let him say as David did yet God is good to Israel c. that is though he afflict them often yet he is good to Israel and to them that are of a pure heart Let us be readie to say as the Seraphims in Isay 6. holy and holy is the Lord of hostes it is spoken upon this occasion The prophet Isaiah was sent forth upon this errand to make the hearts of the people heavy this seemed a strange judgement God seemed to be very cruel to make their hearts heavy that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand yet they justified God notwithstanding that hee was holy so let us do though we see not the reason of all his wayes yet let us justifie him and say he is glorious and give him the praise of his mercy that is let us be perswaded of it our selves that he is merciful that he is not hard to the wicked that he is an indulgent father to his children and when we have don let us be ready to speak of it to others and indeed when we our selves have the sence of his mercies then we will be ready to speak of them to others then speeches will come from us easily naturally and plentifully but contrariwise when we are not inwardly perswaded of the mercies of God our selves our speeches of them come forcibly and sparingly and truly my brethren this is the reason we are so little in praising the Lord because our selves are not touched with a sence of his mercies we are not perswaded he is so exceeding merciful as he is we think better of men then we do of him therefore if any thing greive us we are readier to complain unto men then unto God and for matter of mercy we are exceeding in praising of those men that are merciful to us but we are not perswaded of the exceeding mercifulness of God for if we were we would be speaking of his praise we would be exhorting others to serve the same master but we are short in this and the reason is because we are not perswaded of the riches of his mercy our selves I will now add but one word more fully to convince you of the glorious riches of mercy that is in God because you may object Is God so merciful what is the reason then that he doth so sharply afflict even his dearest children why doth he afflict evil men with such a great affliction as hell iâ— selfe why are so many damned and why do so many perish while it is in his power to save them Lastly is he not an hard master to condemn many that could not be saved as the Gentiles that came not to the knowledg of the Gospel before Christs time and since also doth not God exact that at their hands which they could not perform and doth he not look to reap there where he did not sow how can we therefore be perswaded of his exceeding mercifulness I will answer all these breiflly For the first I answer that though God indeed be exceeding rich in mercy yet that doth not contradict his other Attributes though he be rich in mercy yet it contradicteth not his wisdom therefore he afflicteth his children otherwise he were not wise as you have heard heretofore at large Secondly though he be rich in mercy yet that contradicts not his juâ—…ice therefore he must deal with the wicked according to their sins for he holdeth not the wicked innocent their punishments therefore are great because their sins are great Thirdly for the multitude
received and taken not as when a man inviteth another to a feast and he cannot come the master is at no charge but when the promise is made and the dinner prepared and then the guests not to come it is loss so it is in this offer of Christ all is ready Christ is slain and his blood is poured out if you do not come and take it you put away from you the blood of Christ and so in as much as in you lieth you make the death of Christ of none effect and so by consequence you shall be guilty of the blood of Christ and therefore the Apostle saith 1 Pet. 1. 19. You are not redeemed with silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ. First If you had put God to the losse of silver and gold and precious stones it had been no great losse but you have put him to the losse of Christ and his blood so that whosoever refuseth Christ is guilty of the spilling of his most precious blood Secondly consider that the Gospel which you refuse agrevateth the sin for the Gospel disobeyed hath much more terrour then the law disobeyed and therefore the Apostle in Heb. 2. verse 2. reasoneth to this purpose for saith he If the Law that was given by Angels was stedfast and every transgression received a due reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which was manifested to us by his Son and so Chap. 10. If the Law that was given by Moses if he that disobeyeth that Law should die how much more shall he be worthy of punishment that trampleth underfoot the blood of Christ. First It is the refusing of Christs most precious blood therefore I say in these respects the Gospel hath more terrour in it then the Law disobeyed For the clearer understanding of this you are to know that the Gospel hath two parts Not onely if you believe you shall be saved but also if you believe not you shall be damned which sheweth that the Gospel broken is more terrible then the Law and therefore Iohn Baptist the first preacher of the Gospel came with more terrour and severity then the Prophets did he came in a course habit and severe in his doctrine and therefore when he came to preach the Gospel he saith Now is the axe laid to the root of the tree and those that are found chaffe shall be cast into the fire and what was the reason because the Gospel was preached therefore if it be refused and this pardon rejected God will now sooner lay the axe to the root then aforetime and so indeed they found it by experience afterwards for if we observe the Scripture from the time that the Iews became a Nation for all their transgressions he gave them not a fullbill of divorcement till Christ was preached unto them and they refused to receive him then those natural branches were broken off and the wild Olive ingrafted in till that time I say the Iewes were not rejected by this therefore we may see the danger of refusing the Gospel God had indured their provocations yet now for their refusing of Christ he cut them off and so he will do to every particular person for there is no Law that can be preached that is so dangerously refused as the Gospel and therefore we shall see the Carriage that is appointed to the seventy Disciples which he sent forth to preach the Gospel that when they offered Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven and remission of sins if they will receive the mercy offered so it is they shall be saved but if not Tell them the Kingom of God is come near them indeed but seeing they have refused it shake off the dust of your feet against that City and here you may see what terrour there is in the Gospel if they would receive it well and good if not shake off the dust of your feet against them and further consider that nothing but their refusing the land of Canaan made God swear in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest God can bear with other sins but this is a sin that provoketh God to anger more then the rest For the better understanding hereof we will compare the Law and the Gospel together you shall find these differences between them First the condition of the Law is do this and live The condition of the gospel is Believe and live The condition of the law is much more difficult the condition of the Gospel is more easie and therefore the sin committed against the Law is less hainous then the sin against the Gospel Secondly the command in the Law cost God nothing but his word but the command in the Gospel cost him the Death of his Son Thirdly when we broke the Law we did it in the loins of Adam with whom we accompanied our voices and consent but when we reject the Gospel we do it in our own persons Fourthly when the Law was broken there was but one breach to God but in rejecting of the Gospel there is a is a double Law transgrest for when we had cast our selves into a desperate condition with Adam God offered us an help and means of recovery now the refusing of this makes sin the greater by how much the more the mercy is the greater with the Angels Gods intent was to exercise onely a single mercy and therefore a peremptory command was given them If you will obey you shall live But now this was not onely offered to mankind but a second mercy was also offered a greater then ever was offered to the Angels now God offereth thee a board to swim upon after ship-rack to the Angels God would show but one kind of mercy to mankind a double mercy a sparing mercy a merciful mercy and so a severer kind of justice upon the refusal of it and therefore the reprobates that live in the Church shall exceed the Devils in Hell in judgement because they have had more mercy tendred to them then ever the Devils had and therefore in this respect God will exercise on them a more severe kind of justice Let all these things teach you how dangerous it is to disobey the Gospel and to refuse Christ. Thirdly you are to consider that Christ who is offered unto you is the Chiefest of all Gods works the utmost end that God propounded to himself in making of mankind it is he that is the top of his fathers glory in whom the glory of God most shineth therefore be assured God will not lose his chiefest glory he will not lose one jot of his glory much lesse the principal part of it and therefore he that refuseth Christ contemneth the chiefest of Gods works and layeth the chiefest of his glory in the dust and therefore God will not suffer that to be done without great judgement Whatsoever God is known by that is his Name whatsoever he makes himself more known by that is his special Name and his