of this will adde also to the exalting and magnifying of the exceeding riches of the grace of God in Christ to men to shew what a blessed condition this Spouseship is to those that are strangers unto both hearing the Love of the Church to be the chiefest of ten thousands may by the power of the Spirit of the Lord be won to seek after-him it was the very same case in the Canticles The daughters of the world say unto the Spouse of Christ hearing her so extoll her love What is thy beloved more then other beloveds that thou chargest us Oh saith the Church My Beloved is white and ruddy my beloved is the chiefest of ten thousands now when they had heard of the excellencies of Christ they began as last to have their affections taken too and to say Whiterh is thy Beloved gone that we may seek him with thee Even so it may pleave God when by my endeavour the excellencies of the priviledges of the Spouse of Christ are set forth and the gloriousnesse of the priviledges of the Gospel manifested I say when these appear and when Christ as the chief of ten thousands is declared some may seek after him yea and imbrace him with joy But I cannot stand now to speak of them but hereafter God willing if I shall have further opportunity SERMON XI COLOSSIANS 1.18 And he is the head of his body the Church the beginning THE Apostle after his supersciption and direction of his Epistle wherein he makes mention of his commission for the exercise of his Apostolicall office and after his Apostolicall benediction given unto them comes to give an account of the cause of the writing of this Epistle It was this namely he had received comfortable intelligence and information from Epaphroditus a Minister of the Gospel that had loboured among these Colossians of their receiving the faith and of their love to the brethren This was glad news to the Apostle and therefore he tells them that he was not unmindfull or backward to return thanks and praise to the Lord for so good a work begun in them and for the joy he had received by the work among them and also to pray for them making mention of many particulars he sought of God on their behalf namely That they may be filled with the knowledge of his wil in all wisdom and spirituall understanding closing up in thankfulness in remembrance and rehersall of the fountain and rise from whence all that grace and goodnesse received flowed and sprung and that is the dear Son of God in the 13. verse Having thus let himself into his own way namely the mentioning of the dear Son of God he takes the oppertunity from an apt connexion to go on according to the main discourse of this Epistle wherein the Apostle first sorts his materials and then he falls upon his businesse The two main matters he deals upon are first the foundation and that is the Sonne of God expressed in the 13. verse Secondly the structure raised upon this foundation and that is redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins Here is the distribution of his matter Now by and by having sorted his materialls he falls to work beginning first w th the foundation which he polisheth that he puts such a lustre upon it that it shines even like the Sun yea more glorious then the Sun in beauty He sets forth Christ the foundation in so many aimable considerations as to ravish the world And the Apostle at the 15. and 16. verses begins to shew his faculty and expertnesse in this gret work that Christ did entrust him withall namely to be a wooer in the behalf of Christ to win people to him as in a former discourse upon this place I have told you and therein I say the Apostle doth most Rhetorically hold forth every thing that is of a winning and desirable nature to draw forth the love of people unto Christ If people look for beauty and that catch men the Apostle tells us here that Christ is an admirable peece of beauty there is none like to him saith the Church in the Canticles He is the chief of ten thousands but behold the beauty the Apostle mentions here He is the Image of the invisible God In the Epistle to the Hebrews in the 1. chapter and the 3. verse he speaks more fully to the businesse He is the expresse Image of his person and the brightnes of his glory Here is a face for you if you be enamored with beauty there is none like him Yea but some they look for parentage one of Noble blood and of a great House As they would have beauty so they would marry into an honourable Family Well the Apostle will tell you here is a match for you with a witnesse Here is beauty and a good race too He is not only the expresse Image of God but he is the first born of God The first begotten of every creature nay the dear Son of God In the 15. verse of this chapter here is a stock for you of the highest kindred in the world hee is the heir of glory the heir apparant that if you will match for honour if you will match into a great House here is beauty and honour too Yea but you will vay it may be he may be in disgrace it may be he hath no authority and power and ability we would have one that hath authority and power and bears rule Christ he is called such a one too the whole soveraignty of the world is at his command and disposall as you would have it to be so you have it in the next verse In vers 16. All things were made by him saith the Apostle whether things in heaven or things in earth visible or invisible principalities and powers thrones or dominions all things were made by him for him as much as to say every thing is subject unto him every thing bows their knees to him And in 2 Philip. he hath a name given to him above every name that at the name of Iesus every knee should bow whether things in heaven or things iâ— earth or things under the earth Tell me one that hath greater power and authority then this iâ— If you will therefore match with advantage to the purpose here is a match for you saith the Apostle I but some will say He may have honour enough himself but it may be he is a niggard I may be kept hard enough and poore enough Is he bountifull and free Beloved the Apostle tells us in Colos 2.10 First what he hath he is not only honourable but rich also In him dwelleth the fulnes of the Godhead bodily saith he What is that to me some will say he may hoard it all up I may have little enough of it No saith the Apostle we are compleat in him Here is the fulness of the Godhead and ye are compleat in him he cannot abide to keep any thing to himself
the person there is no act of believing The truth is this the Father gives his elect to Christ his Son Thiâ—e they were saith Christ in the 17. of Iohn and thou gavest them me and the Father that gave the elect unto Christ he gives unto Christ also power both in heaven and in earth so saith Christ in the 28. of Matthew and in the latter end All power saith he both in heaven earth is given me Go teach all nations as much as to say I give you Apostles and Ministers that follow you a commission from my self a commission to preach and in preaching to convert and how so All power in heaven and earth is mine So that beloved the Lord takes his elect as they are self-willed and as they are untamed he brings them as they are self-willed and untamed to his Son and by vertue of all power that is given to that Son when they are brought unto him he himself doth break tame and bring them to his own bent The Father saith Christ judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son Take notice of it that now as Christ is ordained the Mediator of the covenant the Father doth nothing towards or concerning his elect people but what he doth by his Son it is the Son doth all so that all that the Father doth is to deliver up elect persons such as they are in blood enemies and rebellious he delivers them up to his Son and the framing of their spirits to his own bent is the sole work of Christ himself Christ is become by the donation of the Father the life and the soule of every elect person Now the Philosophers do observe of the naturall soul that it is the framer of its own body and the maker of its own organs that so they may be fitted for it to act its own will so may I say is it with Christ Christ hath the framing and the disposing of the whole man to bring every thing in this man to his own bent The Father bringing the creature as he is a stubborn and stiff-necked creature so delivers him up to his Son so that I say there is not a pevious foregoing act wrought by the Father without Christ I say no previous act of believing wrought by the Father or by the Spirit without Christ by which a person comes and doth close with Christ but the Father doth give that person without any faith at all or any qualifications whatsoever to his Son and his Son Christ himself he frames and creates that very faith in persons to come to him and therefore in the 42. of Isai v. 6. you shall plainly see there is not an opening of blind eyes a giving of believing eyes to close with Christ before Christ himself be given and given as a covenant to persons So saith the Text I will give thee for a covenant Here you see Christ passed to persons not with a supposition that when persons do believe he shall be theirs and they his but I will give thee for a covenant to open the blind eyes Here is not the eyes opened before Christ comes but Christ comes when the eyâ— are blind and when he comes he opens the eyes that are blind But to go further Let us suppose that coming into this place is spoken of believing Ye will not come to me that ye might have life it cannot follow that although there be no life till believing therefore there can be no union till believing I say if it possibly might be imagined that there may not be life from Christ till believing yet it follows not that there must be believing before there is union Nay beloved there is nothing cleerer in all the world then this principle namely Suppose there cannot be life before there be believing yet there must be union before there can be life fetched from Christ I say there must be union before believing can fetch life from Christ For suppose that the fruit upon a branch should have such a faculty to draw life into the branch from the root though this would be a strange conceit that the fruit growing upon a tree should have a faculty to draw life from the root to the branch whereas the root communicates life to the branch and the branch by vertue of that life communicated brings forth fruit But yet suppose the fruit should draw life into the branch from the root that is suppose that faith which is a fruit growing upon a member of Christ that is a Believer and a branch of that body suppose that faith this fruit should have such a faculty to draw life from Christ the root into the branch yet it is impossible that faith should draw life into the branch till the branch be united unto the stock For beloved that is Christs comparison I am the Vine ye are the branches Now take this comparison suppose a branch growing upon a wilde Olive is cut off from the wilde Olive and for the present it is not united to the good Olive tree Now can a wilde Olive or suppose it to be a good Olive upon this branch of the wilde tree can this fruit upon the branch draw life from the root of the good Olive tree while it is separated and laid aside and is not united to the good Olive from which root it must draw life It is known to all men that communion is the fruit of union there is no participation nor communion of any thing that is Christs but as it doth flow from union with Christ so that either you must say that faith which you speak of is not of Christ the root but hath some other root and fountain from whence it hath its being and essence or else you must confesse if Christ be the root then it must come from Christ by vertue of union of a Believer to Christ first Finally suppose it should be that coming is believing suppose that this life spoken of here is not in persons till they do believe What is meant by life here Beloved I beseech you consider the Apostle tells us our life is hid with Christ in God and Christ is the life of the world that is of the elect It seems then that the life of every elect person hath a being in Christ before he doth believe believing therefore doth not produce a new life that was not before only it manifests that life which was before and it makes that life which was before an active life or is an instrument by which that life that is hid in Christ doth now after believing become an active and appearing life in this person So that all that can be made of this is but this till believing there is no activenesse of the life of Christ in the person that is elected his life is in Christ and was in Christ and reserved in Christ till the time of believing for him and then doth he the elect person become active in life when Christ doth
CHRIST ALONE EXALTED In the PERFECTION and ENCOURAGEMENTS of the SAINTS notwithstanding Sins and Trialls Being laid open in severall SERMONS By the late spirituall and faithfull Preacher of the Gospell Tobias Crispe D. D. Volume III. Psal 71.16 I wil go in the strength of the Lord God I wil make mention of thy righteousnesse even of thine only Isal 60.1 Arise shine for thy Light is come the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee LONDON Printed by M. S. for Henry Overton and sold at his shop in Popes-head Alley 〈◊〉 To all that live godly in CHRIST JESUS Precious Hearts IT is your honour above many Professors in the world to seale in your sufferings the most refreshing and ennobling truths of Christ Your life which is bid with Christ in God is that spark of glory which hath alwayes attracted the most venemous envies of those men who make the flesh their residence Be confident of this that did you live in your selves you should live more quietly in the world were you lower as Saints you should be higher as Creatures Never expect to build peaceably upon earth while you lay not your foundation in the dust The carnall minde cannot but bee enmity against that which is the Basis of your Principles sutable to that expression of our Saviour Joh. 17.14 The world hath hated them because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world It hath ever been the policy of usuâ—pers to keepe downe those which can justly prove their descent from the royal blood lest they and their ill goâ—â—en glory fall together so those that have â—ndâ—â—â— iâ—vested themselves with the titles of the Saints presently coâ—tend for a râ—om in the seat of the scornful to disparage and destroy those who can cleerly shew their communion with a higher blood than their own where Christ doth most sweetly and clearly râ—ign there the flesh will most presumâ—tuously cruelly tyâ—annize However Sâ—â—â—ts though it be your Fathers pleasure to alâ—ot you the vailey of the shadow of â—eath for your flesh to walke in whilest your condition is in its infancy yet know that your glorious union with the Son of God shall be more than enough in thâ— pate 〈…〉 seâ—â—ure you The world may out run you come first to the top of their glory but suâ—ey 〈◊〉 the end the inheritance will be yours their first shall be lost and your last shall be first Esau out-â—â—â—stles Jacob iâ— the womb and conâ—s first into the world and according to the signification of his name he is a great doer a cunnâ—â—ing hunter he was but Jacob that comes forth last takes the game Esau was the first-born but Jacob goeâ— away possessect of the birth right and blessing also Thus doth your Father deal with you to make your latter end in brightness to out-shine your beginning Neither will your God deny you bread here in the middest of famine Heaven rains Manna in a wildernesse the Rock gives water in the heat of drought Believe it you Gospel-Christians your beloved shal be all to you in the want of all that possession which he hath in you will for ever entitle you A Spring shut up and a Fountain sealed he will be in you an everlasting head for your supply to all expences in all conditions when the moisture of every thing below him shal he exhousted by the creatures which suck all they have from thence even then and so to eternity shall Jesus Christ be to you in the height of his fulnes I know nothing you have that is long-lived but Jesus Christ Earth more grosly carnall and Heaven more reâ—inedly â—crnall shall passe away even the Kingdom of Heaven so far as it is made up of forms and administrations shall wither and die but the Kingdome of God within you shall never be shaken That divine nature which hath swallowed you up shall for ever fatisfie you with variety of contentments Let not therfore your hearts be troubled ye believe in God believe also in Christ you are satisfied that the fulness of all things dwels in God be also â—onvinced that Jesus Christ by his Fathers appointment is made partaker of the same fulnesse For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell Now what ever Jesus Christ hath as Mediatour you in your measure enjoy it for it is the great ordinance of God that all the Saints should be sharers and partners with Jesus Christ we are fellow citizens with him and so interessed in the immunities and priviledges of the same Charter with him that as in our first state wee had all which Adam had so also in our second we have all which Christ hath Why then doth palenesse appear in your faces and trembling sit upon your lips as if in the frowns of the creature all your felicity was buried Oh remember you are one spirit with him whose presence is a constant spring in a vision of whose glory your beauty will be alwayes lovely I leave it as my humble request to you thaâ— you would not forget your resting place For the least ignorance of that will make you apprehend every condition full of anxietie this was that which was the bottome of Israels misery Jer. 50.6 They have saith the Text forgotten their resting place Or their place to lye down in as the originall will bear it If you make the creatures or your ordinance priviledges your duties or your own righteousnesse to be your resting places the least disturbance in the pursuit of all or any of these will be very grievous and distracting but if the Spirit helps you to remember him to be your rest who is the rest of God trouble upon any of your enjoyments below himselfe will not have an us comely iâ— fluence upon you To see a man treâ—ting and vexing that whilest hee was riding his journey noises did keep him waking would easily evince our reason to believe that this man had forgotten that his resting place was somewhere else So to see you whilest you were in your travell discontented at that unquietness wherewith you are infested would-bring you under this suspition that you had sergotten your resling place Israel expected beds in the wildernesse when God had appointed Canaan to be their rest his was the ground of all their murmurings against Gods dispensations Oh that the Spirit therefore would alwayes in the middest of sin and miserie lead you to the rocke that is higher than your selves or any thing you esteeme above your selves Many as they create troubles so also create remedies even such which God never sealed many times we sin and then endeavour to make use of sin for a cure we break a command of God and then cal upon some duty or other bâ—low Christ to make up that breach and thus we bring a double pain and vexation upon our selves When a wound is made by a weapon a contrary plaister applied makes it more uncapable of cure then it
this discharge from sin goes all along under the notion of Grace and free Grace and pardon how can this be if it be meerly an act of justice for God to forgive sins This may easily be reconciled with a distinction discharge from sin in respect of us or what we can bring by way of recompence for the sin committed is meerly free Grace Wee can bring nothing at all Also in respect of Christ as he is allowed to stand in the room of us it is Grace too But thirdly Christ being allowed and admitted and the Lord having taken the full payment he could ask at the hands of Christ and acknowledging satisfaction upon such payment this act of Christ makes it an act of justice and right that God should forgive sins and therefore the Apostle in the first Chapter of this Epistle of John tells us That the blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanseth us from all our sins And therefore he concludes that he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins But I cannot insist upon what I have formerly delivered Now peradventure some though I confesse a little over-curious desire to understand how Christ being now in Heaven doth execute this office of Advocateship or in what sense he is said to plead the cause of his people I call it a curious querie because the Scriptures are very sparing in declaring the manner of Christs managing this office That he is an Advocate is cleer enough how he doth deale with God in the execution of it is more obscure Frequent mention is made indeed of Christs intercession in Heaven be ever liveth to make intercession for us as the Apostle testifieth he doth intercede for the Saints saith the holy Gost yet though this be so frequently mentioned and the comfort of Gods people much laid upon this nâ—â—ely this intercession yet the Scriptures are very sparing what kind of intercession he makes whether he prays to his Father in heaven as he did upon earth or no The like I say oâ— this businesse of Advocateship Some few passages of Scripture there are that will give some â—int at least to have some glimmerings of the very manner of Christs Advocateship and the exâ—cution of it In Heb. 11.4 there is something that wil give us some light Bâ— faith saith the Apostle Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice then Cain whereby he received or obtained witnesse of God that he was righteous by which he being dead et speaketh that is by which sacrifice he being dead yet speaketh The sacrifices you know they were Christ in the Antitype for all the life of sacrifices from which persons obtain testimony of God that they are righteous is Christ himself And it is Christ in sacrifice that speaks even when the sacrifice it selfe is offered I conceive therefore beloved as sacrifices speak in respect of a prevailing power they have with God when he sits in judgement we are to conceive likewise of the Advocateship of Christ which iâ— nothing else but the speaking of Christ is in such a kinde managed after such a manner Christ speaks as sacrifice speaks for indeed Christ as Advocate pleads only as a sacrifice form an In the 12th Chapter of the same Epistle and the 14. verse you have another expression having a little more cleernesse in it We are come saith the Apostle to Mount Sion the City of the living God to an innumerable company of Angels and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things then the blood of Abel Here you see whereas the Apostl in the former Chapter imports a voyce or a plea in the mouth of sacrifices in this Chapter and verse he speaks more plainly and puts a voyce or plea to that which is the life of sacrifices namely the blood of sprinkling the blood of Jesus Christ Wee are come unto the blood of sprinking And this blood is that which speaks better things then the blood of Abel You know that there was a strong plea in the blood of Abel which cryed from earth to heaven till it brought vengance upon the head of Cain The blood of Christ hath a stronger plea and hath a stronger cry and is for better purposes So that under favour for in this I shall not contend much so far as I can see the value and working and desert and preciousnesse of the bloodshed of Christ that is the plea that Christ makes as Advocate in heaven that when a Believer doth commit sin the efficacy of this blood-shed is fresh in the pretence of the Lord in the behalfe of that poore wretch that hath thus sinned I say the blood is present and the whole efficacy power and vertue of that blood is fresh in the thoughts of the Lord. And as it is thus effectuall and powerfull it procures the discharge and brings the discharge and acknowledgement of the Lord to his thoughts too if I may so speak whereby he is pacified towards them and pleased with them This is alwayes before him and present with him yea present before him when the sins that a Believer commits are present and the counterplea of the value of the blood of Christ overcomes the naturall plea of the sin it selfe But I will not dwell upon this but rather hasten to a second thing very considerable which is Whose cause it is that Christ doth plead with the Father or for whom the value and vertue of his blood doth plead I remember the Disciples when Christ spake generally concerning his betraving were very inquisitive Is it I saith one Is it I saith another I doubt not but in regard of the prevalency of the plea of the blood of Christ many persons present will fal upon this inquiry Is it I that he means is he my Advocate Am I his client to plead my cause I shall endeavour to make it cleer and to resolve it is the Apostle doth here propose it The plea that Christ puts up for the persons whose câ—use he doth undertake are first all sorts of Believers whatsoever high or low rich or poor â—ay strong or weak Christ I say pleads their cause he is the Advocate of the weakest Believer iâ— the world Nay more he is the Advocate of the weakest Believer when he is the greatest sinner I mean when he falls foulely when he falls it may be through the weaknesse of his faith making him suspect that Christ will be silent in his cause in regard of such failings and sinfulnesse I say he is then as properly the Advocate of such a person a Believer who peradventure falls into some scandalous evill at that very time when this person that is a Believer falls thus Mark but the Apostle If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father he makes no exception neither in respect of persons nor in respect of sins If any man sin he doth not say if any man sin meerly of infirmity and common frailty but
abundance of marrow and fatnesse in this very word and I doubt much of it is lost in respect of sense and comfort for lack of understanding the extent of the word That you may the better therefore dive into the mysterie of this Propitiation you must understand that the word in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of the same originall and signification with the word the Septuagint translation doth use when they do interpret the Hebrew word that is rendred by Mercy-seat for Mercy-seat is here Propitiation he is our Propitiation that is he is our Mercy-seat And if you would know in Scripture what it is for Christ to be our Mercy-seat look into the 16. Chapter of Leviticus and the 14. and 15. verses you shall there finde the main end for which this was erected by the Lord For of all those Ordinances that the Lord did establish among the Jews this Mercy-seat was the uppermost Now if you mark in the 16. Chapter of Leviticus you shall finde three things especially appropriated unto the Mercy-seat The first is the sweet incense that none ought to make upon pain of death but Aaron alone that incense must burn upon the Golden Altar every morning before the Mercy-seat Secondly you shall finde that the most notable of all the Rites and Types of the Jews was to be prepared before the Mercy-seat the Type of the Scape Goat with the Live Geat as you may finde it registered there and handled at large in that Chapter The Live Goat must be brought before the Mercy-seat and Aaron must lay his hand upon the head of it and then the Scape Goat must be sent into the Wildernesle and carry the sins of the people into a land of forgetfulnesse Thirdly at this Mercy-seat as it is in Exod. 30. chap. vers 6. the Lord did appoint to meet with Moses and there to speak graciously unto him and there God will hear him speak and God will be heard to speak and will return his gracious answer at the Mercy-seat Well then to come to the businesse in hand that I may cleer it the better Christ is our Mercy-seat that is the incense or the sweet savour that smells with acceptance and delight in the nostrils of the Lord as I may so speak I say that which makes a sweet savour is the Mercy-seat Incense had it been burned any where else but here according to the appointment and commission of the Lord every morning the very place it self being changed would have taken away the savour of the Incense before the Lord therefore the Mercy-seat is that for which the incense becomes a sweet savour as much as to say all our prayers and all our duties and services notwithstanding our sins being believers become as a sweet savour to the Lord as they are presented up before the Mercy-seat by Christ he is the Propitiation then that is it is he by whom our persons and performances become a sweet savour to the Lord a sweet incense Again the Scape Goat and the Live Goat to be slain were to be prepared before the Mercy-seat as much as to say our sins â—re carryed away into a land of forgetfulnesse by vertue of Christ as the Scape Goat being presented before the Mercy-seat was made a type capable to carry away the sins of the people in 〈◊〉 a Land of forgetfulnesse So that as we are presented unto God in and through Christ 〈◊〉 our sins are carryed by Christ into a land of â—rgetfulnesse Lastly before this Mercy-seat the Lord appeared and at the Mercy-seat God will return his gracious answer as much as to say in Christ and through Christ the Lord returns â—ll the gracious answers that are returned to â—is people upon earth Not a voyce of grace â—ot a voyce of peace not a voyce of comfort is â—o be heard but at the Mercy-seat For mark â—t well you shall finde God hath made over all â—hat gracious language of heaven unto his Son Christ and only unto his Son Christ there â—ame this voyce from heaven when he was bapâ—ized This is my beloved Son in whom I am â—ell pleased But upon the Mount the voyce was 〈◊〉 little more plain for upon the Mount it â—ith This is my beloved Son in whom I am well â—leased hear him as much as to say all the grace I have to speak to men I have put it into the mouth of Christ my Son and not a voyce is to be expected of grace from me but as 〈◊〉 cometh out of the mouth of my Son there is not a word of comfort to be heard but as it is spoken from the Mercy-seat so that putting these three things together in respect of the sacrifice of the Scape Goat the Text in Leviticus telling us of an atonement that is made by the presenting of this sacrifice before the Mercy-seat In a word the sum of all is this 1. In and through Christ our Advocate we become a sweet favour to the Lord. 2. There is an atonement made with the Lord for us our sins being carryed into a land of forgetfulnesse 3. And in Christ the Lord doth speak all the gracious language of heaven to us Now whereas at this Mercy-seat the speciall thing intimated unto us is the atonement that is made It seems that propitiation hath reference in the signification of it to atonement as when a man desires one that is at variance with him that he would be propitious that is to say he would admit of a propitiation or atonement Now that you may know what atonement is and so propitiation likewise Look into the 5. of the Romans and the 9. and 10. verses there saith the Apostle If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God â—y the death of his Son much more being reconciâ—ed shall we be saved by his life Reconciliation What is that Mark what follows and not only so but we rejoyce in God through our Lord Iesus Christ by whom we have received atonement First you see he makes a Proposition hypothetically by way of supposition If when we were eâ—emies we were reconciled much more being reconciled shall we be saved by his life And in the next words the Apostle proves that there is reconciliation or rather shews the fruits of it being obtained We rejoyce saith he In what We rejoyce in him by whom we have received the atonement What is atonement Atonement in this place is but the reconciliation which Christ makes between God and persons So that thâ— upshot is Propitiation indeed comes at the last or runs at the last into this cistern namely reconciliation with God herein lyeth the efficacy of the plea of Christ for his people committing sin Christ is the Mercy-seat the Propitiation the Atonement or Reconciliation This is the issue of the plea of Christ when Christ doth plead for discharge this pleading produceth reconciliation between God and this person If we could but dive into the mysterie of reconciliation between God and us
all the members of Christ all that Christ hath prevailed for with the Father they are the beloved of the Father and the darlings of his soule and his love ceaseth not nay his love diminisheth not to them when they are under the rod. One word of application and so I shall have done Is it so beloved that Christ is such an Advocate that having such a strength of plea in his righteousnesse he produceth such a good issue as to bring at the last reconciliation In a word then you know what to trust unto for your soules discharge and comfort In many things wee sin all what should uphold your spirits that your sinnes should not sink your soules Here is held out unto you the great Supporter the Righteousnesse of Christ the Righteousnesse of God I will uphold thee with the right hand of thy righteousnesse Isaiah 41. vers 10. feare not be not discouraged and why the close of all is this I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousnesse If you goe any where else for support when sin is committed your sins will sink you and swallow you up nothing can beare you up in respect of the weight of sin but the right hand of his righteousnesse that alone is the thing that must uphold your spirits or nothing at all can doe it O that the Lord would be pleased to work upon your spirits to betake your selves to this support and to fix your spirits upon the fulnesse of support and strength that is in this righteousnesse of his When the Israelites were stung by the fiery Serpents it was not the applying of a plaister could heal them only the brazen Serpent could heal them and nothing but the brazen Serpent Oh look upon the brazen Serpent the Lord Jesus look not upon any other plaister in the world but him to heal your wounded soules stung with the Serpent of your sins though they may serve for other uses yet they have not so much vertue in them as to heale the sting of sin Fix your eyes here cast your selves here rest here let the weight of your souls lean here Hee that believeth shall be saved hee that believeth not shall be damned He that believeth shall be established hee that believeth not shall not be established Oh go not to Christ as if there were not enough in him to answer your transgressions that you must carry something else with you to him that may be a help to your discharge if ever discharge from heaven come unto your spirits it is onely the hand of Christ by his Spirit that must bring it down to you and nothing in the world can doe it but that discharge as it is recorded in the Word of Grace in things that come by relation unto men and so are opened unto them How can men be satisfied concerning the thing reported but upon the credit of him that is the reporter thereof to sit down satisfied by faith concerning the truth thereof Let a man tell me never so good news if I doe not believe him my spirit is not satisfied So concerning the discharge from sin beloved you heare it related from heaven Wee have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins Now there is no way in the world to know that there is such a thing as an Advocate and Propitiation but as it is revealed from heaven The Apostle Iohn hee indeed reveales it here if hee had delivered it meerly as hee is man so it had occasioned suspicion and doubting but as it is the revelation of the Holy Ghost and of Christ himselfe by the Apostle so wee are to stick close unto it and wee shall finde rest unto our soules as wee can credit the report of it therefore as the Lord will work upon your spirits take up your rest where rest is to be found so your souls shall rest you shall lie down and sleep in peace and safety you shall sing and leap for joy and you shall have all peace and joy in believing O that men would keep up the dying language of a Martyr None but Christ none but Christ in matters of faith and stability of spirit in matters of peace of conscience as well as in matters of salvation And so I shall commend this word to the grace of God in respect of the issue thereof upon your spirits SERMON X SOLOMONS SONG 4.10 Thou art all fair my Love and there is no spot in thee THe Gospel of Christ being the great and invaluable treasure of the Church the Helena for which the Church should contend yea the Sanctuary and refuge thereof It hath pleased the Holy Ghost to present and hold forth this Gospel in variety or change of rayment as I may so speak sometimes presenting the Gospel as it were in a cloud more darkly by Visions and dreams when deep sleep was fallen upon Gods people Thus the Lord in former ages frequently held out the Gospel especially in that notable example of Jacob who while he slept had the Gospel preached unto him in the vision of a ladder that reached from earth unto heaven by which the Angels ascended and descended which Ladder was nothing else but Christ by whom alone the sons of men doe mount from the lowest condition of Sin and Misery to the highest condition of Grace and Glory Sometimes the Gospel was brought forth to the Church with a mask upon the face of it I mean in hard Riddles and dark Sentences to exercise the wits of Gods people and thus among other times the Gospel was presented unto Sampson You know the Riddle that was put forth occasioned by a Lion shine by him which being dead there was a stocke of honey in the Lion which represented unto his thoughts the admirable benefit and priviledge of the preaching of the Gospel Out of the eater came meat and out of the strong came sweetnesse It was nothing else but this Jesus Christ the Lion of the Tribe of Judah by death had a stock of honey not only nourishing but sweet to the eater Sometimes again the Gospel was presented though not with so darke masks yet with a vail over the visage and face of it that though some of the beauty of it might be seen yet in respect of the glory of it in an obscure way and thus the Gospel was exhibited unto the Jewes in their types and shadowes and thus the Gospel was held forth in their Sacrifices Temples Tabernacles Altars Mercy-seat and Incense and the like In all of which there was a generall darknesse namely a puting over the face of Moses a vail who in that represented Christ the Mediator as he was to be exhibited unto the people in those times and yet although for royalty and honours sake the Gospel was vailed yet sometimes the Holy Ghost was pleased to lift up the vail for a moment as it were that there might some glance of the beauty of it appeare