jealousie shall smoke against that man c. We are but now entred into the point but it would make your hearts ake throb within you if you should hear the particulars of it All that I have done is to perswade you to make a right choise to take heed of Satans delusions Why will ye die Ezek. 33. Therefore cast away your sins and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die Where the golden candlestick stands there Christ walks there he saith I am with you Where the word and Sacraments are there Christ is and when the woâ—d shakes thy heart take that time now choose life Why will you die Consider of the matter Moses put before the people life and death blessing and cursing We put life and death before you in a better manner He was a Minister of the letter we of the spirit Now choose life But if you will not hearken but will needs try conclusions with God therefore because you will choose your own confusions and will not hearken unto God because you will needs try conclusions with him will not obey him when he calls therefore he will turn his deaf ear unto you and when you call and cry he will not answer Prov. 1. I presse this the more to move you to make a right choise But now to turn to the other side as there is nothing but death the wages of sin and as I have shew'd you where death is so give me leave to direct you to the fountain of life There is life in our blessed Saviour if we have but an hand of faith to â—ouch him we shall draw vertue from him to raise us up from the death of sin to the liâ—e of righteousnesse 1 John 5.12 He that hath the Son hath life he that hath not the Son hath not life You have heard of a death that comes by the first Adam and sin and to that stock of original sin we had from him we have added a great heap of our own actual sins and so have treasured up unto our selves wrath against the day of wrath Now here is a great treasure of happiness on the other side in Christ have the Son and have life The question is now whether you will choose Christ and life or sin and death Consider now the Minister stands in Gods stead and beseeches you in his name he speaks not of himself but from Christ. When he draws near to thee with Christs broken body and his blood shed and thou receive Christ then as thy life and strength is preserved and encreased by these Elements so hast thou also life by Christ. If a man be kept from nourishment a while we know what death he must die If we receive not Christ we cannot have life we know that there is life to be had from Christ and he that shall by a true and lively faith receive Christ shall have life by him There is as it were a pair of Indentures drawn up between God and a mans soul there is blood shed and by it pardon of sin and life convey'd unto thee on Christs part Now if there be faith and repentance on thy part and thou accept of Christ as he is offered then thou mayst say I have the Son and as certainly as I have the bread in my hand I shall have life by him This I speak but by the way that the Sun might not set in a cloud that I might not end only in death but that I might shew that there is a way to recover out of that death to which we have all naturally praecipitated our selves ROM 6.23 The wages of sin is death THe last day I entred on the Declaration of the cursed effects and consequents of sin and in general shew'd that it is the wrath of God that where sin is there wrath must follow As the Apostle in the Epistle to the Galathians As many as are under the works of the Law are under the curse Now all that may be expected from a God highly offended is comprehended in Scripture by this term Death Wheresoever sin enters death must follow Rom. 5.2 Death passed over all men forasmuch as all had sinned If we are children of sin we must be children of wrath Eph. 1.3 We are then children of wrath even as others Now concerning death in general I shew'd you the last time that the state of an unconverted man is a dead and desperate estate He is a slave It would affright him if he did but know his own slavery and what it is that hangs over his head that there 's but a span betwixt him and death he could never breath any free aire he could never be at any rest he could never be free from fear Heb. 2.15 the Apostle saith that Christ came to deliver them that through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage This bondage is a deadly bondage that when we have done all that we can doe what 's the payment of the service Death And the fear of this deadly bondage if we were once sensible if God did open our eyes and shew us as he did Belshazzar our doom written did we but see it it would make our joynts loose and our knees knock one against another Every day thou livest thou approachest nearer to this death to the accomplishment and consummation of it death without and death within death in this world and in the world to come Not onely death thus in gross and in general but in particular also Now to unfold the particulars of death and to shew you the ingredients of this bitter cup that we may be weary of our estates that we may be drawn out of this death and be made to fly to the Son that we may be free indeed Observe that Death is not here to be understood of a separation of the soul from the body only but a greater death then that the death of the soul and body We have mention made of a first resurrection Rev. 20.6 Blessed and happy is he that hath his part in the first resurrection for on such the second death hath no power What is the first resurrection It is a rising from sin And what is the second death It is everlasting damnation The first death is a death unto sin and the first resurrection is a rising from sin And so again for all things the judgments or troubles that appertain to this death all a man suffers before It is not as fools think the last blow that fells the tree but every blow helps forward 'T is not the last blow that kills the man but every blow that goes before makes way unto it Every trouble of mind every anguish every sicknesse all these are as so many strokes that shorten our life and hasten our end and are as it were so many deaths Therefore however it is said by the Apostle It is appointed for all men once to die yet we see the Apostle to
then saith he it is excluded By what Law by the Law of works No but by the Law of faith there is a Law of works and a Law of faith God doth not only give thee leave to come and take him and draw near unto him but he commands thee there 's a Law by the breach of that Law of faith thou art made guilty of a high sin There 's a full testimony of this 1 John 3.23 And this is the Commandment that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. If a man should ask may I love my Neighbour would you not think him a fool because he must do it he is commanded So should a poor soul come and say to me may I believe thou fool thou must believe God hath laid a Command upon thee it is not left to thy choice The same Commandment that bids thee love thy brother bids thee to believe on Christ. To entreaty is added Gods Command and therefore if thou shalt argue what warrant have I to believe Why God injoyns it thee and commands it As the impotent man said so mayst thou He that healed me said unto me take up thy bed and walk This is the very Key of the Gospel and this is the way to turn it right When being thus clean nâ—ked we have as it were a Cable put into our hands to draw our selves out of this flesh and blood 5. The last thing is if keeping open house special Invitations Entreaties and Commands will not serve the turn then Christ waxeth angry What to be scorn'd when he profer'd Mercy and as it were invite all sorts and compel them to come in by his Preachers and by a peremptory Command Then he falls a threatning We are not of those which draw back unto perdition if thou wilt not come upon this Command thou shalt be damned Mar. 16.16 He that believed not shall be damned Christ commands them to go into the world and preach the Gospel to every Creature unto every soul this Gospel which I speak If you will not hear and believe if you will not take God at his Word you shall be damned John 3. He that believeth not shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Here 's an Iron scourge to drive thee thou that art so flow of heart to believe In Psalm 78. where is set down Gods Mercy unto the Isâ—aelites afterwards comes one plague upon another verse 22. it is said They hardened their hearts as in the day of provocation This is applyed in Heb. 3.12 to Unbelievers The Lord heard this and was wrath a fire was kindled against Jacob and against Israel Why was this because they believed not in him because they trusted not in his salvation Nothing will more provoke God to anger then when he is liberal and gracious and we are straitned in our selves hearden our hearts and not trust him never forget this Sermon while you live this is the net which Christ hath to draw you out of the world I shal hereafter tell you what faith is which is to receive Christ and to believe in his name but that will require a more particular explication and on that I shall enter the next time FINIS EPHE 1.13 In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the Word of truth the Gospel of your salvation In whom also after you believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise THE last time I entred on the declaration of that main point and part of Religion which is the foundation of all our hopes and comfort namely the offering of Christ unto us that as he did offer himself a Sacrifice to his Father for us upon the Cross so that which is the basis ground and foundation of our comfort he offereth himself unto us And here comes in that gracious gift of the Father which closes in with God That as God saith To us a child is born to us a Son is given c. so there is grace given us to receive him And as the greatest gift doth not enrich a man unless he accept it and receive it so this is our case God offers his Son unto us as an earnest of his love if we will not receive him we cannot be the better for him If we refuse him and turn Gods Commodity which he offers us back upon his hand then Gods storms and his wrath abides on us for evermore That it is his good pleasure that we should receive Christ it is no doubt we have his word for it all the point is how we may receive him and that is by Faith And in this Text is declared how Faith is wrought and that is by the Word of truth In whom also you trusted after you had heard the Word of Truth Now after this Faith there cometh a sealing by the Spirit of God In whom also after you believed you were sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise Now lest a man should through ignorance and indiscretion be misled and deceived there is faith and there is feeling Where this is not I say not that there is no faith No for feeling is an after thing and comes after Faith If we have Faith we live by it But after you believed you were sealed You see then Faith is that whereby we receive Jesus Christ and to as many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God to as many as believe on his name The blood of Christ is that which cureth our souls but as I told you it is by application A Medicine heals not by being prepared but being applied so the blood of Christ shed for us unless applied to us doth us no good In Heb. 12. It s called the blood of sprinkling and that in the 51. Psalm hath relation to it where he saith Purge me with hysop In the Passover there was blood to be shed not to be spilt but to be shed and then to be gathered up again and put into a Basin and when they had so done they were to take a bunch of Hysope and dip and sprinkle c. Faith is this bunch of Hysope that dips it self as it were into the Basin of Christs blood and our souls are purged by being sprinkled with it In Levit. 14.6 There was a bird to escape alive but see the preparation for it You shall take it and the scarlet and the Cedar wood and the Hysop and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed c. and then you shall sprinkle on him that had the leprosie seven times and shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird loose into the open field We are thus let loose cleansed and freed but how unless we are dipt as the living bird was in the blood of the dead bird there is no escaping unless we are dipt in the blood of Christ Jesus this dead bird and sprinkled with this Hysop we cannot be freed
So that now to come to that great matter without which Christ profiteth us nothing which is Faith The Well is deep and this is the bucket with which we must draw This is the hand by which we must put on Christ As many as are baptized put on Christ thus must we be made ready we must be thus clothed upon and by this hand attire our selves with the Son of Righteousness Wherefore I declared unto you that this Faith must not be a bare conceipt floating in the brain not a device of our own The devil taking hold on this would soon lead a man into a fools Paradise To say I am Gods Child and sure I shall be saved I am perswaded so this the Devil would say Amen to and would be glad to rock men a sleep in such conceipts Such are like the foolish Virgins That went to buy oyl for their Lamps and were perswadâ—d they should come soon enough to enter with the Bride-groom but their perswasion is groundless and they are shut out So such groundless perswasions and assurances in a mans soul that he is the child of God and shall go to heaven is not Faith thou mayst carry this assurance to hell with thee This Faith is not Faith For faith comes by hearing and that not of every word or fancy but by hearing the word of Truth Faith must not go a jot further then the Word of God goeth If thou hast an apprehension but no warrant for it out of the Word of God it is not faith for it s said After you heard the Word of Truth you believed So that we must have some ground for it out of the Word of Truth otherwise it is presumption meer conceipts fancy and not Faith Now I shew'd unto you the last time how this might be for while a man is an Unbeliever he is wholly defiled with sin he is in a most lothsom condition he is in his blood filthy and no eye pities him And may one fasten comfort on one in such a condition on a dead man And this I shew'd you was our case When Faith comes to us it finds no good thing in us it finds us stark dead and stark nought yet there is a Word for all this to draw us unto Christ from that miserable Ocean in which we are swimming unto perdition if God catch us not in his Net Hearken we therefore to Gods Call there is such a thing as this Calling God calls thee and would change thy condition and therefore offers thee his Son Wilt thou have my Son Wilt thou yield unto me Wilt thou be reconciled unto me Wilt thou come unto me and this may be preacht to the veriest Rebel that is It is the only Word whereby faith is wrought It is not by finding such and such things in us before-hand No God finds us as bad as bad may be when he proffers Christ unto us He finds us ugly and filthy and afterwards washes us and makes us good It is not because I found this or that good thing in thee that I give thee interest in my Son take it not on this ground No he loved us first and when we were defiled he washt us with his own blood Rev. Now there is a double love of God towards his Creatures 1. Of Commiseration 2. Of Complacency That of Commiseration is a fruit of love which tenders and pities the miserable estate of another But now there is another love of Complacency which is a likeness between the qualities and manners of persons for like will to like and this love God never hath but to his Saints after Conversion when they have his Image instamped in them and are reformed in their Understandings and Wills resembling him in both then and not till then bears he this love towards them Before he loves them with the love of pity and so God lov'd the world that is with the love of Commiseration that he sent his only Son that whosoever believed in him might not perish but have everlasting life Now we come to the point of Acceptation the Word is free and it requires nothing but what may consist with the freest gift that may be given Although here be something that a man may startle at Object Is there not required a condition of faith and a condition of obedience Sol. Neither of these according to our common Understanding do hinder the fulness and freedom of the Grace of the Gospel 1. Not Faith because Faith is such a condition as requires only an empty hand to receive a gift freely given Now doth that hinder the freeness of the gift to say you must take it Why this is requisite to the freest gift that can be given If a man would give something to a Begger if he would not reach out his hand and take it let him go without it it s a free gift still so that the condition of Faith requires nothing but an empty hand to receive Christ. 2. Obedience hinders it not I am required may some say to be a new man a new Creature to lead a new life I must alter my course and is not this a great clog and burthen and do you account this free when I must crucifie lusts mortifie Passions c. Is this free when a man must renounce his own Will Yes It is as free as free may be as I shewed you the last time The very touching and accepting of Christ implies an abnegation of former sinfulness and a going off from other courses that are contrary to him If the King give a pardon to a notorious Rebel for Treason so that now he must live obedient as a Subject the King need not in regard of himself to have given the pardon if he give it it takes not from its freeness that he must live like a Subject afterwards the very acceptance of the pardon implies it But now to declare Faith and to open the Mystery thereof Faith is a great thing it is our life our life stands in the practise of it that as in the offering of Christ for us there is given him a name above every name That at the name of Jesâ—s every knee shall bow As I say in the purchasing of Redemption so in the point of acceptation God hath given unto this poor vertue of faith a name above all names Faith indeed as it is a vertue is poor and mean and comes far short of love and therefore by the Apostle love is many degrees prefer'd before faith because love fills the heart and faith is but a bare hand it lets all things fall that it may fill it self with Christ. It s said of the Virgin Mary That God did respect the low estate of his hand-maid So God respects the low estate of Faith that nothing is required but a bare empty hand which hath nothing to bring with it though it be never so weak yet if it have a hand to receive it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a like
hath the promise And therefore the Scripture compares it to conjunction with Christ. And as in the Sacrament we spiritually eat his flesh and drink his blood the conjunction is between Christ and his Church And therefore the Scripture compares our conjunction by faith to the mystery of wedlock What makes a marriage its consent Wilt thou have this man to be thy husband she answers I will that expression makes the marriage The knot is knit by this mutual pledging of troth all other things are but subsequents of it So God saith Wilt thou have my Sonne Thou shalt have with him all his wealth though for a time thou must go bare and fare hard yet thou shalt have a Kingdome When a man considers deliberately here is the losse I must deny my self and obey him but I shall have a Kingdome Gods blessing and peace of conscience All things considered casting the best with the worst then the resolution is this is a true saying worthy of all acceptation c. I 'le take him on any termes be they never so hard for I shall be a saver in the end when we can take Christ as it were with all his faults this is the will which God requires There is another comparison in Scripture John 6.35 it s compared to hunger and thirst Believing was exprest by coming Believing is exprest by hungring and thirsting So when I see such a will and desire after Christ that I hunger and thirst after him that a hungry man longeth not more for bread nor the Hart thirsteth more for the water-brooks than my soul doth for Christ why then there is a promise made unto us and a promise is never made unto us till we be in Christ. Matth. 5. Rev. 22. Esay 55. We finde promises in them all in Mat. 5.6 Blâ—ssed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for theirs is the Kingdome of heaven they shall be filled Consider here what the nature of hunger and thirst is they shall be filled which implies they were empty before but now they shall be filled Suppose now I am not fill'd with Christ What am I without him No I want him yet there 's a blessing to the hungry and thirsty and there 's no blessing without faith If we be not heires of the faith we cannot be heires of the blessing Dost thou finde in thy self an hungring and thirsting after Christ Thou art blessed this faith will save thee Now faith will say I am wonderfully pained faint and even starved that I cannot be filled with Christ yet be content man thou shalt be filled with him in the mean while thou hast him and hast blessednesse and shalt be blessed It 's said 1 John 5.13 These things have I written unto you that believe in the Name of the Sonne of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the Name of the Sonne of God Mark how the Apostle distinguishes these two things thou believest on the Name of Christ yet sayst thou though I believe I am not sure of my salvation I do not know it Why let not that much trouble thee that 's a consequent of it and that assurance will follow after therefore you should not confound it with believing These things have I written unto you that ye might know c. then there is a conclusion to be deduced from the premisses so that a man may have full hold of Christ and yet not be fully assured of his salvation So then here is the will which is the first thing But the Lord works the deed also And whereas it is said that God takes the will for the deed the place had need be well understood when we say God takes the will for the deed it is not alwayes true unlesse it be thus understood When a man hath done to the utmost of his power what he is able hath endeavoured by all means then God will take the will for the deed but if there be ability in me and I do not as much as I am able I do not my utmost endeavour then God will not take it but now God works the will and the deed when a man comes to the Throne of grace and sets forward in his journey towards God the first thing he doth is to come to the Throne of grace with Christ in his armes and then having fast hold on Christ he hastens and delayes not having hold as Joab on the horns of the Altar He hastens he sees its no time to delay he sees its now a time of need and Need as the old proverb is makes the old wife trot Is it not need to make haste when the pursuer of blood follows to the City of Refuge who would make delays and demurs and not run as fast as his legs would carry him Asson as I apprehend my need and see the golden Scepter stretched out then I come with might and main with Christ in my armes and present him to the Father and this is the approaching and drawing near in the Text to the Throne of grace But now when I am come thither what do I say there What shall I come and say nothing The prodigal soon resolved to go to his Father and say I will up and go there 's the will and say there 's his speech The believer is not like to the sonne that said to his father I will go but went not but when his father bids him come he will come he will not onely say so but will draw near and then he hath a promise He that cometh to me I will in no wise cast off But when we come thither what must we do why we must take unto our selves words according to the Prophets expression Hos. 14.2 Take unto you words and go unto the Lord and say Take away all our iniquities and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips When he comes to the Throne of grace the thing that he doth is he presents unto the Father Christ bleeding gasping dying buried and conquering death and when he presents Christ to him he opens his case and confesses his sin to the full and sayes Lord this is my case As a beggar when he comes to ask an almes of you he will make a preface and tell you his extremity Sir I am in great want I have not tasted a bit of bread in so many dayes and unless you help me by your charity I am utterly undone Now when these two concur that there is true need in the beggar and liberality in him of whom he begs it encourages the beggar to be importunate and he prevails you may know when the beggar hath need by his tone accent or language The needy beggars tone and accent is different from the sturdy beggars that hath no need but yet though the beggar be in great misery if he see a churlish Nabal go by him he hath no heart to beg and follows him
so foul a sight that it would make us out of our wits as it were to behold it A man that is but natural cannot imagine what a black Devil there is within him But though he seeth it not yet he that hath eyes like a flame of fire Rev. 1.14 seeth our stains and spots Our Saviour shewes the filthinesse of the heart by that which proceeds out of the mouth Mat. 15.18 Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart And v. 19. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts c. Observe Of all evils we account evil thoughts the least This we think strange what thoughts defile a man what so light a matter as a thought Can they make any impression Yes and defile a man too leaving such a spot behind them which nothing but the hot blood of Christ can wash away So many evil thoughts so many blasphemies so many filthy things come from the heart every one being a new defilement and pollution that a man is made so nasty by it and filthy that he cannot believe that it is so bad with him as indeed it is The Apostle having shewn the Corinthians their former life and exhorted them against it 1 Cor. 6. goes on cap. 7. v. 1. Let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit Mark then there is a double filthinesse a filthinesse of the flesh and a filthinesse of the spirit The filthinesse of the flesh that every one acknowledgeth to be filthy carnality Fornication and Adultery c. These bestial lusts every one knowes to be unclean But then there is a filth of the Spirit too and such are evil thoughts They are the filth of the Spirit Corruptio optimi est pessima The corruption which cleaves to the best thing is worst The soul is the Best thing the most noble thing the filthinesse which cleaves to it therefore must needs be the greatest Fleshly filthiness as Adultery is filthy but contemplative Adultery to dwell thereon is worse however such a man may be pure from the filth of the flesh yet if he delight himself in filthy thoughts his spirit is abominable in the sight of God there is a stain by every one of thy impure thoughts left behind However an actual sin be far greater then the sin of a thought yet if that be but once committed and these are frequently in thee if thou alway lie tumbling in the suds of thy filthy thoughts thy continuing therein makes thy sin more abominable then Davids outward act which he but once committed So that we see there is a filthinesse of the spirit as well as the flesh In James 1.21 we have a word sets out the filthinesse of it which is Superfluity Lay apart saith he all filthinesse and superfluity of naughtinesse First it 's expressed by the name of filthinesse â—hewing there 's nothing so defiles a man as sin Then 't is call'd superfluity of naughtinesse But what is there any naughtinesse to be born with and what exceeds that is it superfluity No that 's not the meaning of the place By superfluity is meant the excrements of sin Excrements are the refuse of meat when the good nourishment is taken away from it And 't is as if the Apostle had said Lay aside filthy nasty or excrementitious sin The word was used in the Ceremonies of the Jewes and thereby we may see what was taught concerning sin Deut. 23.12 13. Thou shalt have a place without the camp whither thou shalt goe c. Though the comparison be homely yet it shews the filthinesse of the sin that it is as a very excrement Thou shalt have a paddle and it shall be that when thou wilt ease thy self thou shalt dig therewith c. and thou shalâ— cover that which cometh from thee But what did God care for these things No it was to teach them a higher matter As the reason following implies For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of the Camp God would thereby shew them that those things at which every man stoppeth his nose are not so filthy to man as sin is unto God So that you see how the case stands with a sinful man sin defiles him it pollutes him 2. And then in the next place It makes Gods soul to hate and abhor him It 's true some sins there are that every man imagineth to be shameful and filthy but we see all sin is so to God 't is filâ—hinesse of flesh and spirit A man may hate carnality fleshly filthinesse peradventure also he may hate covetousnesse but pride and prodigality that he may get as he thinks credit by that he cannot maintain the reputation of a Gentleman without them A miserable thing that a man should account that a garnish of the soule which doth defile and pollute it If a man should take the excrements of a beast to adorn himself would not we think him an ass Well when we thus defile our selves by sin God cannot endure us he is forced to turn from us he abhors us And that 's the next woe 2. When thou hast made thy self such a black soul such a dunghill such a sty then God must be gone he cannot endure to dwell there It stands not with his honour and with the purity of his nature to dwell in such a polluted heart there must now be a divorce Holinesse becomes his house for ever His delight is in the Saints He is King of the Saints he will not be in a sty When thou hast thus polluted and defiled thy soul God and thee must presently part God puts thee off and thou puttest God off too We read in that place before alledged Eph. 2 12· that before they knew Christ they were without God in the world c. Atheists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in cap. 4. v. 18. Having your understanding darkned and being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them The presence of God is the life of our soules and we having through sin and ignorance banish't God we become strangers until the time of our ingrafting into Christ we are aliens to the life of God whereupon comes a mutual kind of abhorring one another God abhors us and we vile and filthy wretches abhor God again There is enmity betwixt God and us and between all that belongs to God and all that belongs to us There 's an enmity betwixt God and us and observe the expression of it Levit. 26.15 If you shall despise my statutes or if your soules shall abhor my judgments so that you will not doe my commandements c. See here how we begin to abhor God and then for judgment on such persons v. 30. My soul shall abhor you We are not behind hand with God in this abhorring Zach. 11.8 My soul loathed them and their soul abhorred me When we begin to abhor God Gods soul also abhors us When a man hath such a polluted soul he becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
son of a temporary Prince be free how much more shall the Son of God be free But yet it behoves us to fulfill all righteousness He would be a subject unto Caesar and in recognition of his subjection he would pay Tribute though he fetched it out of the fishes belly Hence the Apostle tells us Rom. 13. For this cause you pay Tribute to testifie your subjection Neither was Christ only a servant to them who were in some Authority but generally among men he was in the state of a servant Mat. 20.28 The son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many Not to be a Master to command and have others to attend him but he came to be a servant see in what esteem he was had We account a servant in the next degree unto a beast for liberty is that whereby a man breâ—â—hs and a man were better be dead then have his liberty took from him and so Christ was not only a bond-man in regard of hâ—s Father but in regard of men In the estimation of men he was vilified for a bond-man and that will appear by the price for which he was sold. It was thirty pieces of silver To consider what the price was is a considerable part of his passion There is a Prophesie cited out of Jeremy in your books but it is Zachary though I have seen some copies which mentioned neither but only according to the words of the Prophet it is Zach. 11.13 Cast it unto the potter a goodly price that I was prized at of them He speaks it with disdain And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. Exod. 21.32 There is a place parallel to it which will expound it clearly If an Ox shall push a man-servant or a maid-servant that he die the Owner of the Ox shall give to the Master of the servant thirty shekels and the Ox shall be stoned It was the very price that was paid for a slave Thirty shekels which is 3 l. 15 s. in our money A base estimation they had of Christ as if he were a bond-man the same price that was given for a slave that was killed by an Ox for this same price was he sold. In the second book of Josephus cap. 12. When Ptolomaeus Philadelphus would redeem all the Jews which were bond-men It s set down what he paid for a slave There is set down a great summ of money and the number of the slaves Here stands the valuation divide the number of Drachms by the number of slaves and you shall find the quotient for every man 120 drachms four Drachms make a shekel thirty shekels was the ordinary rate cryed in the Market for the price of a bond-man Thus Christ took on him the form of a bond-man not only Gods bond-man but in the estimation of men so despicable that they valued him at no higher rate then thirty pieces of silver This is but the beginning and entrance on Christs humiliation to be made in the similitude of sinfull flesh and in the verity of true flesh Christ had all infirmities as weariness hunger thirst which follow a sinfull man which were not sinfull such a nature he took upon him and then he became obedient both by active and passive obedience That which remains of the pains of his life to the passage of his dolefull death we will speak of the next time FINIS PHIL. 2.8 And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto the death even the death of the Cross. IN these words and those that went before you see there is delivered unto us the point of the humiliation of the Son of God It stands in this 1. That he took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man God the Son the second person in the Trinity did assume our dust and ashes unto the Unity of his own sacred person 2. This humane nature being thus assumed he was content to deprive himself a long time of that beatifical vision which he might have still enjoyed in that time was as obedient as the meanest and poorest servant of his Father Nor was he only actively but passively obedient He was obedient unto the death he was content to lay down his life for our Redemption And it was not every death that would serve the turn but it must be the death of the Cross the most accursed shamefull and painfull death that death which was most suitable and best able to answer the wrath of God First He humbled himself by taking our nature upon him He that thought it no robbery to be equal with God took upon him the form of a man If it were an abasement for God to look upon heaven the most glorious of his works how much more to take upon him a clod or peice of this earth and unite it to his own sacred person for ever This was a descending indeed he descended first that he might ascend Eph. 4.9 Now that he ascended what is it but that he descended first into the lower parts of the earth That is he descended into the womb of the Virgin and it was a great abasement indeed for him thus to descend Wherefore the Psalmist speaking of the wonderfull framing of the Babe in the womb saith Psalm 139.15 My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth So that we see God descended into the lowermost parts of the earth and there was he fashioned A great humiliation it was for him to be thus inclosed Thus did he humble himself in taking our nature Had he taken the form of a King upon him it hâ—d been a great humiliation how much more when he took on him the form of a servant He came not in state to be ministred unto but to minister as we shewed the last day Nor was he only his Fathers servant but a servant of servants and therein underwent Canaans curse A servant of servants shalt thou be Our Saviour became such a servant He which was the Author of freedom John 8.26 If the Son make you free then are you free indeed He I say who was the Kings son and so the most free the Author of it to all that enjoy any spiritual freedom became a servant that we which were servants might be made free But besides this it s added here that he humbled himself Having taken on him the form of a servant he humbled himself Where we may observe what made the suffering of our Saviour so meritorious It was because it was active free and voluntary Our Passions are contrary to our Will We are drawn to it as it is said of Peter When thou art old they shall lead thee whether thou wouldst not John 21.18 Peter dyed the same death our
ignorance thou hast no feeling yet if thou consent thou art justified it s the consent makes the match If thou consent to the Father and take Christ the Son know it or know it not thou hast him though thou knowest not whether thy sins are forgiven yet as long as thou keepest thy hold all the Devils temptations shall never drive thee from him thou art justified and in a safe case though ignorance and other things in thee cause thee not to feel it if thou layest hold on him for his sake thou art apprehended Object Now then this is an easie matter you will say Sol. Not so easie a matter as you guess it to be It were easie indeed were there nothing but saying the word to make man and wife there are terms and conditions to be agreed upon God casts not his Son away he looks there shall be conditions on thy side he must be thy King and Head if thou wilt have him to be thy husband But what shall I get by him then saith the wife Get there is no end of thy getting All is thine Paul Apollos Cephas Life c. Thou art Christs and Christ is Gods Every man will take Christ thus for the better but there 's somewhat else in the match If thou wilt have him thou must take him for better for worse for richer for poorer Indeed there are precious things provided for you It s your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom you shall be Heirs with Christ but for the present while you are in the Church Militant you must take up your Cross you must not look for great things in this world In this world you must have tribulation you must deny your selves and your own Wills What would you have Christ the wife and you the husband No If you think so you mistake the match Christ must be the Husband and the Head and as the wife promises to obey her husband to stick to her husband in sickness and in health and to forsake all others so Christ asketh wilt thou have me if thou wilt thou must take me on these terms thou must take my Cross with me thou must deny thine own Will yea it may be thine own life also Let a Christian consider all these things these are the words and these are the benefits and then compare them together then if he can say I will have Christ howâ—ver for I shall be a saver by him I 'le take him withâ—ll faults I know I shall make a good bargain therefore I will have him on any terms come what will when a man can have his will so perpendicularly bent on Christ that he will have him though he leave his skin behind him there 's a true acceptation of him We must not here distinguish with the Schools about Velleities a general wishing and woulding and true desires after Christ Wishers and Woulders never thrive but there must be a resolution to follow Christ through thick and thin never to part with him a direct Will is here required And therefore Christ bids us consider before hand what it will cost us If any man come to me and hate not Father and mother wife and children and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple Do not think that our Saviour here would discourage men from love Doth the God of love teach us hatred The phrase in the Hebrew is loving less as it is said Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated that is loved less If a man hath two wives one beloved and the other hated and they have born Children both the beloved and the hated By hated is not meant that the man hated one wife but less loved her then the other so if any man come to me and hate not father and mother and that is if he love not all less then me and that it is so we may see it expounded by our Saviour Mat. 10.37 He that loveth father or mother more then me is not worthy of me There Christ expounds it He that will follow Christ in calm weather and not in a storm is not worthy of him Luke 14.28 Which of you intending to build a Tower sitteâ—â— not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it What is that to the purpose See verse 33. So likewise wâ—osoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my Disciple It s a small matter to begin to be a Christian unless you consider what it will cost you Do you tâ—â—â—k it a small matter to be the Kings son think not on so great a business without consideration what it will cost you It will be the denying of your own wills You must be content to follow naked Christ nakedly follow him in his persecution and tribulation in his death and suffering if thou wilt be conformable to him in glory When this case comes it makes many draw back as the rich man in the Gospel when he must forsake all he drew back When troubles arise many are offended so when it comes to a point of parting they go back Now we come to speak one word of the sealing in the Text. After that ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise This sealing which is a point of feeling is a distinct thing of it self from faith no part of faith If I have faith I am sure of life though I never have the other these are two seals VVe put to our seals to the counter-part that is drawn betwixt God and us The first seal is our faith I have nothing but Gods VVord and indeed I have no feeling yet I venture my salvation and trust God upon his bare VVord I will pawn all upon it He that believeth saith John hath set to his seal that God is true If men doubt and trust God no further then they see him it is not faith But when God gives me a good word though I am in as much distress as ever yet I trust though it be contrary to all sense or outward seeming yet I put to my seal and trust him still Then comes Gods counter-part God being thus honoured that I believe his Word though contrary to all sense and feeling even his bare Word then God sets to his seal and now the Word comes to particularizing Before it was in general now it comes and singles out a man Say thou unto my soul that I am thy salvation Psalm 35.3 that is as I did apply the generality of Gods Word unto mine own case to bear me up against sense and feeling then comes the Spirit of God and not only delivers generalities but saith unto my soul I am thy salvation This is called in Scripture a manifestation when God manifests himself unto us as in Isa. 60.16 Thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles and shalt suck the brest of Kings and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer c. that
formerly No but his Light is greater his eyes are open'd and now he sees more clearly what sinne is When the Sunne shines and its rayes come in what a number of motes do we discover which before we saw not Not as if the Sunne-beames made them or the Sunne raised the dust no there are here as many motes and as much dust flying about as if the Sunne shined here What 's the matter then Why this the Sunne discovers them to us So that here 's the point Our sinnes in our souls are as motes in the ayre and are not more than they were before conversion but we cannot see them till the glorious beams of Gods Spirit shine upon us The sight of sinne and of the danger that comes by it is the work of Gods Spirit The Spirit discovers sinne unto us John 16.8 When the Spirit cometh he shall convince the world of sinne the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit shall convince them and the same word is used Heb. 11.1 where Faith is said to be the evidence of things not seene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heretofore we had a slight imagination of our sinnes but to have our mouth stopped and to be convinced is not a work of flesh and blood but of Gods Spirit Rom. 3.19 Till we are awakened by his Spirit we cannot see nor feele the mountains and heaps of sinnes that lie upon our souls Thou art dead in sinne Rom. 8. Thou art in bondage and to know it is a work of the Spirit not of nature The spirit of bondage what is that Why however we are all bondmen untill the Son hath made us free in a woful estate slaves to sinne and Satan yet till Gods Spirit convince us and shew it us and make us know it we sleep secure are not afraid but think our selves the freest men in the world and see not this to be a time of need This therfore is the first preparative when God brings his people by Mount Sinai Heb. 12.18 For you are not come unto the Mountain that may be touch't and that burned by fire nor unto the blacknesse and darkness and tempest so Gal. 4. Mount Sinai is made a figure of the Law which begets bondage Not that Mount which might be touch't and that burnt with fire where was the sound of the Trumpet and voice of words such a sound as never before was heard nor never will be till one day we shall hear the same The sound of the Trumpet which sounded at the delivery of the Law Exod. 19.19 where it is described for when the voice of the Trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder that Moses heard it was such a noise a great noise at first but it grew higher and and higher and at last it came to that heighth that it was almost incomprehensible then Moses spake And what spake he The Holy Ghost sets not down what he spake in that place Look in Heb. 12.21 So terrible was the voice that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Such a kind of lightning and loud voice this was the Lord commands such a voice as this Esay 58.1 Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a Trumpet and shew my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins When God shall sound with the voice of the Trumpet of his holy Word of his Law and shew thee that thou art a trayterous Rebel and that there is an Execution gone out against thee body and goods when God sounds thus to the deaf ear of a carnal man then cometh the spirit of bondage of necessity on him which shews that we have a time of need The Law must have this operation before thou comest to the Throne of grace None will flie to the City of Refuge till the revenger of blood be hard at his heels Nor any to Christ till he sees his want Thus the Lord makes us know our need by turning the edge of his Axe towards us Offenders when they are brought to the bar at Westminster for Treason have the edge of the Axe turned from them but when they have received the sentence of condemnation and are carried back to the Tower the edge of the Axe is turned towards them Thus is it here The Law turns the edge of Gods Axe towards us and therefore it 's said of St. Peters hearers Acts 2.38 That they were pricked to the heart The Law puts the point of Gods sword to our very brests as it were and brings us to see that we stand in great need of heaven This is the first preparative when God enlightens our minds to see our dangerous estate and then there must of necessity follow fear and desire to be rid of this condition for the will and affections alwayes follow the temper of the minde And hence when a man hath a false perswasion that he is in a good case that he is safe and well what works it but pride presumption confidence and security So on the contrary contrary effects must follow If a man be in health and jollity and on a sudden be proclaimed a Traytor that he must lose his life and goods is it possible it should be thus and he not wrought on nor have any alteration So when news comes from the Law that thou art a dead man and everlastingly must perish the Law then works wrath that is it manifests unto us the wrath of God When it is thus there follows a shaking and a trembling and it 's impossible but with Moses thou shouldst exceedingly quake and tremble 2. For all this there is a Throne of grace erected God hath not forgotten to be merciful though thy sins be never so great This is the next preparative for faith namely the discovery and acknowledgement of the Gospel of Christ Jesus We see in Ezra 10.2 We have trespassed against our God and have taken strange wives of the people of the Land yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing we have trespassed What then must we be the subjects of Gods wrath No Yet notwithstanding though we have committed this great offence there is hope in Israel concerning this thing What though we have provoked God to indignation must we be the matter for his wrath to work on No There is balme in Gilead Jer. 8. ult Is there no balme in Gilead Is there no Physitian there Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered What though then we are sick to death yet there is an help in time of need And this knowledge of the people that there is a Throne of grace is the first comfort comes to a miserable and sinful soul. A man that hath a deadly disease though the Physitian do him no good which he hath made use of yet this he comforts himself in when he sees a Physician that hath cured the same disease he sees then there is some hope Thus it is with a sinful soul. When the