as much intend them as the other that his people might not precisely know the very time when their deliverance should be that it should be this year or this day to teach them still to depend upon him for deliverance even when they might think that their deliverance was nearest We must trust God for deliverance but the very time when it shall be we must leave that to him He useth to reserve that in his own breast But to go on 3. In that deliverance God honoured his people Deut. 4. 34. Isa 43. 3 4. He gat them a Name and made them high above all Nations They were a People that all the World did talk of that heard what God had done for them how he had redeemed them and how he had chosen them and how he went before them Well now beloved you see this was an honourable deliverance that God gave to them but this Freedom by Christ is the most honourable Freedom of all God never so honoured himself by any deliverance as by this nor did he ever so honour his promises nor did he ever so honour his people For the first see John 12. 28. for the second Luke 1. 68. to 74. for the third Luke 2. 32. They are so honoured by this that they that partake of this Freedom are said to be made Kings to God Property 4. This Freedom is a Heavenly Freedom They who are interested in it are said to be partakers of the heavenly calling Heb. 3. 1. And they are called the heavenly Jerusalem cap. 12. 22. and Jerusalem which is above Gal. 4. 26. 'T is such an Heavenly Freedom that the very Angels desire to look into this salvation which it brings 1 Pet. 1. 10 11 12. Other Deliverances were earthly or at most the best and greatest of them as I said were but types and shadows of better things but this Freedom is all made up of Heavenliness I shall make out this by Four things a little 1. It is the Sons Freedom 2. The Souls Freedom 3. The Saints Freedom 4. The Scripture-Freedom 1. I say 't is the Sons Freedom that which the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God hath procured 'T is the Son that makes free You have had this largely opened to you Now what an heavenly Freedom must this be that God imployed his own Son in and sent him from Heaven on purpose about it When the Lord would redeem his people out of Egypt he sent Moses and Aaron for that work and they were but Men but when he would give this Freedom he sent one that was more than a Man 'T is true he raised up Christ from amongst the Jews according to the flesh and the humane Nature did not come immediately from God but 't was made of the Seed of David Yea but God was manifested in this flesh and upon this account he is said to come down from Heaven John 3. 13. and to come out from God and to come forth from the Father cap. 16. 27 28. So that in this Freedom beloved there came one from the Throne of God yea one that was God to give it to us 2. 'T is the Souls Freedom the Freedom of the Soul Now you know they must be all heavenly things that can reach that to do it any good In other Deliverances they were the Bodies of men that were set free but in this Christ brings Souls out of Prison and Bondage And indeed herein lies the very main of all the excellency of this Freedom that it is a Freedom for Souls If I should have said nothing else about it but only this That the precious Souls of Men and Women are redeemed by it you must needs have said 't is an excellent Freedom Yea beloved all that I have said or have yet to say or can say runs into this Oh blessed joyful heavenly Freedom by Christ What a thing is this What to bring salvation to Souls to set the Heart Mind Will Understanding Affections Conscience at liberty that when all was bound within with spiritual Chains and Fetters that were Ten thousand times stronger than those that are made of Brass and Iron that when the Soul sat in darkness and in the shadow of death there should be redemption for that that Christ should pity lost and undone souls Oh heavenly heavenly heavenly Freedom Well may I use those words to you here which the Angel used to the Shepherds Luke 2. 10 11. Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savioue which is Christ the Lord. Here 's a Saviour for your Souls Where are your Souls Sirs by Nature What a condition are they in Oh! they are kept the closest Prisoners that ever were in the deepest darkest Dungeon that ever was and this Prison they are cast into for Debt for Theft for Murder for Treason and no Debt like this Debt for 't is the Debt of Sins and Iniquities and no Theft like this Theft for 't is for robbing God of his Glory and no Murder like this Mruder for 't is for destroying your own Souls and no Treason like this Treason for t is against the Crown of Heaven And yet if you will repent and believe the Gospel here 's a Freedom for your Souls out of all this Methinks it should be even with us in the hearing of this as 't is said in Luke 19. 37 38. that we should rejoyce and praise God with a loud voice And if we should not be affected with this Freedom one might think as ver 40. that if we should hold our peace the stones would immediately cry out 3. It is the Saints Freedom Indeed 't is to make sinners free but it is not the Freedom of sinners That is as long as persons are out of Christ they cannot truly call it theirs 'T is the portion and priviledg of the children of God A wicked man may have it but a true Believer hath it The one is under a possibility of it but the other is in possession of it Rom. 5. 2. They have their standing in this Grace They stand upon Gospel-ground Now what a Heavenly Freedom is this that none but Saints enjoy The men of the World may enjoy other Freedoms but one must be in Christ to enjoy this It belongs to the holy Company Eph. 2. 19. Ye are Fellow-Citizens with the Saints Indeed this Freedom doth not find us Saints but it makes us so And therefore hereby you may know whether you have any thing of it Do you think that you are made free by Christ and abide ungodly To be sure you deceive your selves The Lord Christ never redeemed any Soul to leave it where he found it he puts it into a contrary state to that which it had before he found it in darkness but he puts it into Light he found it in Death but he puts it into Life he found it in Wickedness but he puts
live without light they are dark men and women in their Souls Another thing that Christ preaches to them is in ver 24. the Lord open your hearts in the reading of it I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins Dying in ones sins is the saddest death that a man can die that person dies to die As the children of God die to live so these they die to die again When they die the natural death they die the Eternal death they die to be damned to be separated for ever from the Lord as those that he will never have any thing to do with more but in a way of tormenting them for their living and dying in their sins And these of all that die out of the World are the persons whose death is to be most lamented If God takes away any of your Relations or Friends or Neighbours if you have but good hopes that they died in Christ 't is comfortable but this same dying in sin Oh! that 's the terrible that 's the lamentable death as you say of some persons sometimes that died in some horrible way Oh! such an one he came to a sad end so do all that die in their sins A sad end the Lord knows One were better never to have been born than to die such a death But I pray mark here what is it that will bring people to such a death Why says Christ If ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins If ye abide Unbelievers if you don't come to me own me give up your selves to me as sure as can be saith he this will be your case ye shall dye in your sins There be some that die to their sins that 's a good death and all Gods Children dye so There be some that die in their sins that 's a sad death as you have heard and all Reprobate Sinners die so There be some that die for their sins eternally and such are all they that die in them and the way to die in them and for them is to live in them These and such kind of things Christ is here preaching I have but named that which I conceive to be most needful for you Well now what 's the success of Christs preaching to his Hearers Why you may observe it was this That of those that heard him some were complying and some were cavilling The Lord grant that all of you may be of the first sort and none of the second Some were complying Hearers This kind of Doctrine took upon their Souls v. 30. As he spake these words many believed on him Oh that there might be such a presence and power of God in our Assembly here that as we are speaking you might be believing applying taking home the Truths of the Gospel so as to be converted to Christ Now these kind of Hearers Christ encourages and bids them go on as they had begun and they should have a Threefold Priviledg The first of them is in v. 31. They should be Disciples indeed not in name and in shew only but in reality q. d. I 'le own you for sincere ones such as Nathanael was concerning whom Christ said John 1 48. Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile You have some that do offer towards Christ begin as if they would follow his Rules and Doctrine but they don't continue in his Word and so shew that they are not Disciples indeed none of the right kind of Professors The other Two Priviledges which Christ saith these shall have are in v. 32. 1. Ye shall know the Truth i. e. have experimental knowledg of the Truths of God God and Christ would reveal themselves further and further to them in the matters and mysteries of salvation He promises inward and sound illumination to them that they should have another manner of knowledg of spiritual things than they have who have nothing but what swims in the brain 2. That the Truth which they should have an understanding of should make them free not like those that abide in slavery and bondage but they should have a state of Freedom Now amongst these Hearers some as I said were cavilling Hearers And this is the sad success that the Word hath upon some that it sets them but a cavilling at what is delivered And thus the Gospel is the favour of life to some and the savour of death to others Now the carnal and unbelieving Hearers take occasion unjustly to cavil at Christ from those last words which he spake to his complying Hearers in the Text shall make you free As if they should say Why then pray what do you make of us We perceive that you count us Slaves or Bond people Your Disciples and Followers shall be taken out of the company of such as are in thraldom why then be-like we are no Freemen Here they thought they had a great advantage against Christ see v. 33. They answered him We be Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man How sayest thou Ye shall be made free This that they said was not true in the letter and as to the outward bondage that they had never been in bondage to any man for had they not been in bondage in Egypt and in bondage in Babylon And they were at this present under Tribute and subjection to the Romans Note that a cavilling Spirit is a lying Spirit too They that are given to the one sin are given also to the other But Christ did not mean this in the letter or of any outward bondage but of bondage by sin that they were in And so v. 34. he doth explain himself Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin i. e. is in bondage to it and so will find himself to be at last v. 35. when he shall see that he must not abide any longer among the Children and Sons of God but shall be sent away as the Servant or he that is bound to his Master is afterwards sent out of the house while those that are the sons and Free ones are kept in as those that have a Right and a Priviledg to stay as I that am Gods natural Son do and shall abide for ever in my Father's house together with all his adopted Children who believe on me This 36th Verse to which I am now come is Christ's drawing a conclusion from all this applying this that he had been speaking about Bondage and Freedom to their case that they if they had had Grace might have made a saving use of it for their own everlasting good If the Son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed i. e. If I who am the Son of God and therefore am free and can give freedom to others if I make you free ye shall be free indeed Wherein you have 1. The name by which Jesus Christ calls himself the Son of God or as 't is in the Greek that Son that is such a Son as none is
paid her all in counterfeit Coin The best wages that the Devil gives for his work is but deceit Rev. 12. 9. He is said to deceive the World and the whole World There is not one that works for him that is not deceived by him What a cruel Bondage is this to be working so hard and to be put off with a cheat But yet further there are two things more that make this Bondage to be more cruel than any other Bondage And they are 1. That tho the Devil's Servants do their Tasks yet they shall be beaten You read of that cruel Bondage in Egypt That when they did not do their Tasks they were beaten Exod. 5. 14. but here they are beaten tho they do them 'T is a fruit and effect of the Devils Service that the more one serves him the more one is beaten the more lashes and the more stings of Conscience one shall have To serve the Devil 't is the way to be beaten black and blew see Mat. 27. 3 4 5. Judas had done his work the Devil set him about he had done out his Task and then is the time that Judas must be beaten Then Conscience fell upon him so that he hangs himself 2. This also makes this Bondage more cruel than any other Bondage that in this Bondage the Souls of sinners are in Bondage Other Bondages are upon the Body and the outward Man but this is upon the Soul chiefly Indeed the Members of the Body are under this Bondage too The eye that is an Instrument of sin and the ear that 's another and the tongue and the hands and the feet and all the Members are imployed about evil Rom. 6. 19. But above all the Soul and the Faculties of that are in this spiritual thraldom The Vnderstanding bondage is upon that by reason of darkness and ignorance the Will bondage is upon that by reason of that stubbornness and disobedience that is in sinners against God the Affections Bondage is upon them by reason of their disorder the Mind and Heart Bondage is upon them by reason of their being defiled and hardened the Conscience bondage is upon that by reason of its searedness So that the very Seat and Throne of the Devil is within them 2 Cor. 4. 4. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not c. The Bondage is within them Eph. 2. 2. He worketh in the children of disobedience Now what a cruel Bondage is this to have the precious Soul in the hand of the Devil to be a Slave inwardly to all unrighteousness This is the Fourth thing in the Description of this Bondage 'T is a cruel Bondage that sinners are in And then 5. As 't is a cruel Bondage so 't is a cursed Bondage The wrath and curse of God belongs to this Condition When the Children of Israel were in their cruel Bondage in Egypt yet notwithstanding they were beloved of God The Scripture says That God had respect to them Exod. 2. 25. He cast an affectionate look upon them But he hath annexed his high displeasure and threatned his vengeance against all that shall abide in this Bondage He threatens to cast them off for ever This you have implied in that Gal. 4. 30. out with them A little while hence if they don't now get their Freedom God will send them to their own place from their Prison of Sin to the Prison of Hell And therefore amongst other parts of their Bondage they are said to be in Bondage to the Law or to be under the Law which because they have broken and have no surety to stand up for them denounceth all its Plagues and all its Curses against them let them live never so much in the outward Righteousness of the Law Gal. 3. 10. As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse 6. Yet tho this is a cruel and a cursed bondage that sinners are in it is not a bondage without hope We don't know what a merciful purpose the Lord may have concerning some of you that are yet shut up in this house of bondage whether he may not deal with you as he did with Israel Pray read that precious place Exod. 6. 5 to 9. I saith God to Moses have heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage and I have remembred my covenant Wherefore say unto the children of Israel I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will rid you out of their bondage and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm and with great judgments And I will take you to me for a people and I will be to you a God and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians And I will bring you in unto the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and I will give it you for an heritage I am the Lord. If it may but be thus with you now why who can tell There is a way of deliverance out of this bondage if you will but hearken after it as I shall shew upon the second branch of this Doctrine That Jesus Christ doth offer Freedom to poor sinners that are in the house of bondage But before I come to that I will make a little Application of this That sinners are in bondage Vse 1. And are they so Then 1. This may serve to cast an everlasting contempt and reproach upon all the ways of sin in that it brings into and keeps all that walk in them in bondage Oh what a thing is sin now What do you think of sin Sirs upon this account Is not this an Enemy that you should all rise up against and never be quiet till you have got it rooted up out of your hearts Is this a thing to be loved and pleaded for and to be let alone as if there were no hurt in it Oh! now methinks I might hope that there is none of you that would speak one word on sins side Why behold what it hath done It hath brought the whole World into slavery As soon as ever we began to have any thing to do with it it took us Prisoners It made our first Father and all his Children miserable creatures It set up the Kingdom of the Devil in every one of us Yea beloved there is not a sin that any of you commit but would undo you to all eternity if infinite mercy do not come between you and the mischief that would follow upon it I cannot express the evil that is in sin to you 'T is a thing of a dreadful nature and of dreadful effects As for the nature of it 't is the transgression of the holy Law of God 't is opposition to his Will 't is emnity against his blessed and holy Majesty 't is that which doth as
such good things for you and now to have none of them Why hath he not deserved better at your hands then this Was there no love nor no mercy to your souls in what Christ hath done for poor sinners Nay did you ever hear of the like love or the like mercy Is it not beyond all comparison and beyond all expression Did you ever hear of a Saviour that delivered from so great danger Did you ever hear of a Surety that undertook to pay such great Debts Did you ever hear of a Physician that healed such great Diseases What and shall this be all the thanks he shall have now to be rejected If God will take it ill at your hands to pass by those mercies that are but for the comfort of your bodies without thankfulness how much more will he be displeased with you for passing by the offers of those mercies that are for the salvation of your Souls Why Sirs you that refuse Christ where is your sense of God's goodness where is that acknowledgement that he should have from you Hath he done you no courtesie in sending his Son Is the very hopes and possibility of being recovered out of your lost condition a thing not to be at all affected with If a man doth but offer you his help in your need you 'll thank him and you 'll shew that you are taken with his kindness by accepting of it and you 'll tell him how much you are beholding to him and that you shall own him for your Friend as long as you live Why where is your thankfulness to Christ then why don't you own him for your Friend Obj. Why you 'll say perhaps We are thankful to Christ for his kindness to poor sinners Ans What and not close with him how can that be 't is the closing with him that is the thankfulness to him If you do not this you may say you are thankful but who will believe it shew it by your acceptance Col. 1. 1 2. Giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light They give thanks but see vers 14. they had closed with it We have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins 3. You are guilty of Willfulness It may be you 'll put it upon your weakness that you don't close with Christ and I grant indeed that you are without strength and that you must have a power beyond your own to inable you Joh. 6. 44. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and if ever you come to him it must be by grace from above But yet I pray consider that it is such a weakness as is joined with wilfulness Joh. 5. 40. Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life The great thing that hinders your closing with Christ is your will is against it I am certain that if you were but willing you would do it only you must know what a willingness I mean Such a willingness as is spoken of in Psal 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Oh if the power of Christ were but once come upon your wills to turn them and bring them in you would run to him with strong and swift desires If sinners were not willful in refusing of Christ do you think that God would ever charge them with willfulness How oft would I have gathered you c. and ye would not saith our Saviour of the Jews Matth. 23. 37. A wicked man carries it so to Christ as that 't is plain he is unwilling to have him He laies it upon his weakness and he thinks thereby to come off the better I cannot repent saith he and 't is true God saith so too and I cannot please God and God saith so too Rom. 8. 8. and yet this shall not excuse him for there is a will not with his cannot If he were only weak and desirous to come and did not oppose and resist the motions and strivings of the Spirit and the calls of Grace 't were something if he were faithfull in the use of that natural Power that he hath though indeed he wants a spiritual Power 't were something But alas he doth not like Christs terms and Christs yoke his will is against them 4. You are guilty of the love of sin not only of sinning but of loving of sin By your not closing with Christ you declare that you have some beloved Lust or other which you cannot indure to part with and that takes up those affections and that delight which should be set upon Christ Sirs tho I cannot see nor search your hearts yet thus much I know of that which is within you that you who stand out against Christ have something in the Throne that should not be there There is as sure as can be some darling-reigning sin if there were not Christ and you would quickly make up a Match Obj. But how can you tell this since you don't know our hearts Answ Why we know it because God hath told us so in his Word that 't is by reason of some unmortified sin that people don't close with Christ they have bosom'd up some dear corruption or other I ground it upon that Scripture in Gal. 5. 24. They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Mark if this be a sign that persons are come to Christ That the flesh with the affections and lusts are crucified in them then the reason why they don't come to Christ is because there are uncrucified affections and lusts in them they have some Idol in their hearts to which they bow down and worship And therefore let me allude to that Scripture Act. 3. 14. where Peter is dealing with the Jews about their standing out against Christ But ye denied the holy One and the Just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you Beloved every unmortified reigning lust is a murderer a murderer of your souls and now what 's the reason that you don't own and close with this holy and just One the Lord Jesus Christ Why 't is because you desire that this murderer should be granted unto you As the People there in Matth. 8. 32. with 34. that they might keep their Swine they besought Christ that he would depart out of their coasts So you would keep your swinish Lusts 5. You will be guilty of Pride Oh in what pride of heart do you walk that reject the Grace of GOD You have high thoughts of your selves certainly you take your selves to be what you are not as Christ saith to them of Laodicea Rev. 3. 17. Thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Pray give me leave to be free with you Why Sirs you that stand out against those Calls of Grace why are you so proud
redeemed them Tit. 4. 5. Rev. 1. 5. Now Love doth not work for wages Beloved you must know that when the Lord Jesus was upon this redeeming-Work his heart was as full of love towards poor sinners as it could hold you may say of Christ in this respect as they said of him once when he was weeping at Lazarus his Grave Behold how he loved him Joh. 11. 35 36. So when he was in his bloody Agony and Sweat and hung pierced upon the Cross and was suffering all that wrath from God and Men this might have been in the thoughts of them that beheld him and no doubt was in the thoughts of them that believed in him Behold how he loves poor sinners Now you know when a man comes to do any thing for you out of love why if you ask him What will you have Why nothing saith he because I love you Set one about any thing that you have to do and if he doth not love you why he will be paid to the full and perhaps he will make unreasonable demands too But Love will labour for you for nothing 't will be glad of an opportunity to do you a kindness Thus 't was with Christ he went through hard things for you you cannot think what he suffered that you might be saved and yet as Jacob's serving so many years for Rachel seemed to him but few days for the love he had to her So tho Christ suffered many things for you that are his yet to him they seem less than they are for the Love he hath to you 2. Because Christ knew that he wrought for the poor Psal 72. 2 4 12 13. Now the poor why they must be helped freely Alas we have nothing to give him for his labour and Christ knew this and yet he did not do as many do when the poor have need of their help they are ready to say I 'll not work for them they can't pay me Men love to work most for the Rich where they shall be sure of their Money But the Lord Jesus he doth the poor mans work and so tho they have a great deal of profit by it yet he hath none to himself 3. Because the great design of this redeeming Work which is in the hands of Christ is the everlasting exalting of Free Grace that Glory might be ascribed unto God throughout all Ages World without end See Eph. 1. 6 7. Therefore all must come freely that Free Grace might be advanced that every one that is saved might admire the riches of the Goodness and Love of GOD in Christ to their Souls Oh what Praises hath the Lord from his People and will have to all Eternity for this Free Grace Oh admire it more you that are under it It must be your work in Heaven and we may be glad that it shall be our work in Heaven when we consider how short we come in the admiring of it here upon Earth 4. This Freedom is in Christ only As to the Body there may be many Physicians for one Disease but as to the Soul there is but one Physician for all Diseases Isa 45. latter part of ver 21. and the 22. A Saviour there is none beside me Look unto me and be ye saved all ye ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else We have many spiritual Sicknesses but 't is Christ alone that can heal us whoever doth not come 〈◊〉 his hand he dies for it and therefore don't trust to Physicians of no value Many are apt to do for their Souls as you read Ahaziah did when he had gotten a very dangerous Fall he sent to the Idol gods 2 Kings 1. 2. Go and inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease And what he got by this you shall see by what the Lord bids the Prophet go and tell him ver 3 4. Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron Now therefore thus saith the Lord Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up but shalt surely die Let me allude a little to this Scripture Sinner thou art just in the case of this man thou hast gotten a most dangerous Fall thou art fallen from the upper Chamber when God created thee at first by that Image of his in which he made thee he put thee into the upper Chamber Oh the high Preferment that thou wast in 't was a heavenly condition that thou hadst to be without sin and to be like to God but thou art fallen from hence and thy Fall hath done thee a world of hurt now when thou beginnest to be sick of thy Fall and thereupon to think that some course must be taken for the getting of a Cure Oh take heed to whom thou goest for if thou goest to any but the God in Israel I mean to Jesus Christ who is the hope of Israel and the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble I tell thee from the Lord thou shalt surely die The great fear when Souls begin to be awakened about their condition is Whether they will go to Christ only and if they join any thing with him to trust to and rest in they spoil all you must come up to that Scripture or you are undone Phil. 3. 3. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Remember what a warning Christ gave in another case I may fitly allude to it Matth. 24. 4 5. Many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many This is ordinary amongst Professors to be thus deceived there comes this and that Profession Duties common Workings upon the Soul and the like and these are apt to say Why I am Christ Now 't is thus and thus with thee thou wilt do well and many believe this and are deceived And therefore when you begin to look after a Christ be sure to look after the true One for 't is he and none but he that can do the Work and don't think that because there be so many false christs therefore 't is impossible to know the true One read for that 1 Joh. 5. 20. Obj. But how shall I know that it is the true Christ that I trust to Ans I 'll only say this to it The true Christ makes a true Christian they are not only Christians to men but Christians to God Now thou art thus and thus to men but what art thou to God Is thy heart savingly wrought upon Hast thou the Life and Spirit of Jesus Christ within thee It may be thou art for thy outward appearance as the King's Daughter thy clothing is of wrought gold but art thou all glorious within Psal 45. 13. 5. This Freedom is in Christ continually We may apply that place to him even for this 2 Cor. 1. 10. He hath delivered many
with all their Prayers are able to open this Freedom as it is Why truly then you may even say with astonishment concerning it as they did when the Lord had so strangly turned the captivity of Zion Psal 126. 2. The Lord hath done great things for his people there is some great some excellent thing in it without doubt 2. I would tell you this also before I go any further That when we have done what we can through Gods assistance to set out the excellency of this Freedom and when you have heard it may be such things about it as may even cause you to say Well now we have had this Subject opened to us we cannot but acknowledg that this Freedom by Christ hath abundance of worth in it oh what a precious thing it is Yet still that which must make it excellent indeed in the eye and esteem of your Souls is your having an interest in it Beloved a man may say of Christ and of the things of Christ they are precious and yet they may not be precious to him no doubt but many a wicked man hath said that Christ is precious and yet he was not so to him because he did not believe in him 1 Pet. 2. 7. Vnto you therefore which believe he is precious Mark he is precious to you this is the difference between an unbeliever and a believer the one says that Christ is precious but the other prizes him Nothing will make this Freedom so precious to you as your part in it Our propriety in a thing puts a kind of excellency upon it in our account tho it be but mean in it self and the want of that makes us have but low thoughts of a thing tho it be never so good one may drop some words by way of commending a good thing but if it be not ones own one hath no prizing thoughts of it You know if a man hath but an ordinary house of his own tho he may say of one that is anothers and ten times better than his such a one hath a brave seat yet his prizing thoughts run most out to his own he hath an interest and propriety in that but he hath not in the other So you may in words commend this Freedom and say what an excellent thing 't is but if it should be with you as Peter said to Simon Acts 8. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right in the sight of God it will not be excellent to you Tho Christ cannot be more beautiful then he is as to himself yet propriety in him will make him look as to us ten thousand times more lovely then otherwise Cant. 5. ult Well now to proceed to the clearing up of this that this is an excellent most excellent Freedom I shall make it out by opening these Seven following things 1. The excellent Names by which it is called 2. The excellent Person by whom it was performed 3. The excellent Price by which it was purchased 4. The excellent properties belonging to it 5. The excellent Priviledges which come by it 6 The excellent Vses that may be made of it 7. The many Wonders that may be observed in it And when I have gone through these things I shall make Application of this Branch of the Doctrine and so finish my whole work upon this Text. To the 1. This Freedom by Christ is an excellent Freedom as we may gather from the excellent Names which are given to it in the Scriptures It was taken for a great honour amongst the Romans to have more Names than one and when they would reprove one that was of a low condition that did take more upon him than became his place they would tell him that he carried himself as if he had three names for that was a note of excellency among them to have three names Now 't is the excellency of this Freedom by Christ that it hath more than three it hath many names and every one of them will help you to see what an excellent Freedom ' t is Sometimes 't is called deliverance see Joel 2. 32. In mount Zion and Jerusalem shall be Deliverance In this place this Freedom by Christ is alluded to and prophecied of and hence Christ himself is called the Deliverer Rom. 11. 26. Now what an excellent thing is deliverance counted among us If any body be in trouble affliction pain or danger any way oh they would fain have deliverance If a woman be in travel oh how she groans for deliverance Rev. 12. 2. and when she is delivered oh how glad she is of it John 16. 21. Deliverance is such a thing if one be in distress that they who want faith will have it if it be possible tho they use unlawful means for it Yea 't is such a thing that Gods own people many times cannot tell how to wait for it We are very apt to be impatient till deliverance comes Every body concludes that deliverance is an excellent thing Well now this Freedom is deliverance we shall be all delivered if we be made Free by Christ I don't tell you from what yet I am not come to that therefore I speak as yet in a general way Again Another name by which this Freedom is called is Redemption Rom. 3. 24. and those that are made Free by Christ are very often in the Scripture said to be redeemed Now the word Redemption properly signifies the buying back again of things or persons that were alienated from the right owner by being gotten into Bondage Hence it appears what an excellent thing this Freedom by Christ is in that it is set out by this word 't is a bringing of out of us Captivity a bringing of us back to God who is our right owner 't is a fetching of us out of the House of Bondage an opening of the prison as 't is called Isa 61. 11. this Freedom by Christ is a Goal-delivery You may fitly apply that Scripture to this in Psal 107. 10. to 17. when the poor wretch is cast into some loathsom Prison and there he sits in darkness and 't is such a darkness as is the very shadow of Death and he is not only thus but he is bound too and that not with Cords but with Iron and there his very heart is brought down all his spirits and courage and strength are gone out with the misery he undergoes I say when 't is thus with a poor wretch oh what a precious thing would it be to him to have Redemption how doth his Soul long to be out of that condition Isa 51. 14. The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed he is in heast that is it is in his desires that he might be redeemed Why now this Freedom by Christ brings Redemption it breaks the yoke of our oppression by this we come out of the Iron Fornace Again Sometimes this Freedom is called Salvation Tit. 2. 11. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation
imperfections you can't say yet I am well my heart is clean enough No I know 't is your grief that you are no better Yea but go on to touch Christ still keep the finger of Faith upon him and you shall find by that time he hath done that you shall be made perfectly whole he hath begun to cure you already and he will finish what he hath begun 5. Observe how quickly Christ healed them Luke 13. 13. immediately which shews what a speedy Alteration the Lord Jesus can make in your condition 'T is it may be very sad with thy Soul now but how soon if he please can he bring you to a better pass If he speak but a word 't will be done therefore wait with patience for a recovery and a reviving in thy Soul think of this it may be done immediately for ought I know Why then should I be out of hope 6. Observe again That Christ healed them of whatsoever Diseases they had Matth. 4. 23 24. 't is that which lies many times very heavy upon the Souls of some What such a sinner as I be received I find mercy one in my condition why my case is an extraordinary case for Sin and Guilt and Misery But mind here he healed all manner of Sicknesses as if the Evangelist should have said he healed all manner of sinners that come to him for that is the spiritual meaning of it see Matth. 12 31 7. Observe that he healed those who could not be healed of any other Luke 8. 43. the poor Womans case was desperate as to any other Physician she could not be healed Very like the words may be delivered in the same language that her Physicians had spoken to her they might tell her when they had tried all means Now you cannot be healed and yet Christ healed her Beloved a sinner may be given up for Desperate and a Soul may give up its case for Desperate and yet healing may come from Christ for all that And therefore take heed both to others tho they be very wicked and as to your selves too tho your condition be very sinful and very sad that you do not cast away all hope tho it looks never so much like a condition that cannot be healed take heed don't undervalue Christs skill when thou sayest this sinner cannot be turned this condition cannot be got out of thou forgettest how thou undervaluest Christs skill 8. Observe again You find that when Christ had healed them they had an inward perceiving of it See Mark 5. 29 33. she felt in her she knew what was done in her Oh! how ignorant are many of this who profess that they have come to Christ and have touched him and some of them I believe have done so Ah! but how many be there even of Gods own Children that have not that feeling that knowledg of it as to say Sure enough I have been healed by Christ otherwise it could not be thus and thus with me as it is blessed be God I feel the healings of Christ within me I know there is some feeling some sense of it in those who are healed and therefore examine you that think you are in this healed condition What do you feel What Knowledg have you of any such thing done in you I observe in mine own experience that when it comes to this close question If a Minister of Christ ask some who are too ready to look upon themselves as converted when they are not Well pray what have you inwardly found or felt of such a change They have nothing to say 9. Again observe what a running and striving and crowding there was by them to come to this healer See Mark 3. 9 10. and chap. 6. 54 55 56. Oh! that we could see this forwardness and diligence in people to get spiritual healing from Christ Oh Friends did they do thus for their bodies and will you not do it for your Souls Christ suffered it to be thus when he was upon Earth that they that came for healing should throng in upon him to teach us how earnestly we should make out to him for our precious Souls 10. One thing more observe That Jesus Christ would certainly have us to look after this healing by him in a special manner on the Lords dayes and while we are gathered in religious Assemblies for you shall find how he went into their Synagogues and healed on the Sabbath-days See Luke 13. 10 c. Mark 1. 21 c. Beloved I beseech you mind this well for I bring it to you that you may be very careful to improve your Lords days opportunities of meeting together in Gods Worship and Ordinances that you may get healing from Christ on these days Beloved these are such kind of days as you read of Luke 5. 17. Wherein the power of the Lord is present to heal persons Oh! that this day in this Assembly you may have healing from Christ 6. Another excellent name by which this Freedom is called is Light Isa 9. 2. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great Light they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined This Scripture is a Prophecy that Freedom by Christ should be made known unto us blind and ignorant Gentiles and the Apostle tells them there in 1 Pet. 2 9. who were now partakers of this Freedom that God had called them out of darkness into his marvellous Light What a marvellous Light this is we shall speak some thing to it when we come to shew the many wonders that are to be observed in this Freedom but for the present let us consider a little the name it self Light what an excellent thing is that Eccl 11. 7. Truly the Light is sweet The excellency of Light will appear by comparing it with it's contrary and by considering it in it self what 's the contrary to Light Why Darkness Now you know that this is a thing in which there is neither Beauty nor Order nor Safety nor Comfort 't was one of Egypts Plagues and the last but one of all the Plagues they had which shews what a dreadful thing 't is the saddest Afflictions outward or inward are compared to Darkness The Devil is called the Prince of Darkness Hell it self is called the place of Darkness And then if you consider Light as it is in it self why 't is one of the desirablest things that is in the World You have not a house but they will have Windows in it to let in Light this was the first thing which God made and as soon as he had made it he commended it Gen. 1. 3 4. God saw the Light that it was good God himself is said to dwell in Light 1 Tim. 6. 16. Heaven it self is compared to Light Col. 1. 12. 't is called the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Now this Freedom by Christ is Light and therefore sure 't is an excellent Freedom To make out this let us consider a
reason of deadness and backwardness to such a good work as edifying of one another in love when they are together and for want of making it as sometimes they should the very design and end of their coming together to build up one another in their most holy faith c. But I say if they can but once get into it and especially if they be not only true Christians but fervent Oh what comfortable profitable Communion will there be sometimes between them that their very hearts will be knit together by it as it was between Jonathan and David when they had had Communion together The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David and they loved one another as their own Souls Now the having of this living Communion together is a thing which the Lord sets a very high esteem upon I speak this to encourage Gods people to be more frequent and forward in it then many of us are See Mal. 3. 16. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkned and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name This is a Scripture that one would think should make you even long to be more at this work for mark what encouragement it carries in it 1. The Lord hearkned as it were by way of Attention and 2. Heard it as it were by way of Acceptation And then 3. This must not only be accepted but it must be written 4. Not in some loose little Paper or Scroll but in a Book And 5. This Book must be called a Book of Remembrance Remembrance must be the very name of it And 6. That it might be remembred it must not be laid away but be before him 4. This Freedom by Christ we being interested in it puts Life into our Hopes If we have not this all our Hopes of Mercy and Salvation are but dead Hopes and you 'l have no more benefit by them then you will have of a man that you had great hopes in that he would be a mighty Friend to you in your distress and you count upon it before your distress comes upon you that certainly you shall have such a Friend as passes of that man and thus you go on and when your great distress comes upon you then you begin to look out for this Friend that he may now do for you according to what he put you in hope he would do and when you have enquired after him and now have such great need of help you find the man is dead So if you are not partakers of this Freedom by Christ hope what you will it will come to nothing and therefore what the Apostle tells the people of God they should not do I tell you that are not the people of God that you should do it Heb. 10. 35. He saith they must by no means cast away their confidence But oh Sirs you that are out of Christ must by all means cast away yours you must throw it out for a cast-away and if you don't make that a cast-away that will help to cast away you What a slave to sin and yet hope to enjoy the Priviledges and Happiness of them that are made Free by Christ Away with it In this Sense I pray with all my heart that God Almighty would bring you to final desperation What sinner dost thou think to live by a dead Hope Obj. But how do you prove that my Hope is a dead Hope Answ I will tell thee but even in three words 1. Because the Scripture calls it no Hope Eph. 2. 12. As a dead man is as good as no man so a dead Hope is no Hope 2. Because 't is not a Hope to which God hath begotten thee thou hast given thy self this Hope but the living Hope is that which God hath given to his people by begetting of them to himself by causing them to be born again 1 Pet. 1. 3. 3. Because it doth not bring forth any purifying fruits thou keepest thy Hope and keepest thy sins too thy Hope and Holiness do not go together thou canst allow thy self in ways of wickedness and mindest not a being like to God Whereas 't is otherwise with them that have the living Hope they purifie themselves as he is pure 1 Joh. 3. 3. 8. One thing more briefly about this Freedom by Christ as to another name by which 't is called serving to set out the excellency of it and that is 't is called the Blessing of God Now that 's a precious things indeed What 's all that we have if we have not Gods Blessing with it Why 't is his Blessing that keeps us from his curse when God intended the greatest good to Abraham he summed it up in this I will bless thee Gen. 12. 2. And so when you wish the greatest mercy to others you pray that God would bless them his blessing is the comfort of every Calling of every Relation of every Condition Why now this Freedom by Christ is Gods blessing See Acts 3. ult Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities And therefore all that I shall say upon it is this That if you have not this Freedom by Christ you 'l never have Gods blessing and therefore you 'l have Gods curse that will be your Portion I grant that in some sense you may be said to have his blessings that is you may have outward mercies in which respect God said he would bless Ishmael himself tho he were the Son of the Bondwoman Gen. 17. 20. But he may bless you thus and yet you may be cursed for ever and so you will be if Christ doth not make you Free And oh Sirs what a dreadful thing will it be to lye under the curse of God to eternity Do you think you are strong enough to bear such a load as this is World without end You may see some inkling of it now what a dreadful thing this curse is if God doth but let fall a drop of it upon a great Estate how it moulders or upon any person for his wickedness what a forlorn Creature he becomes as Cain Why this is a thing that will dry one up to the roots as the Fig-tree when Christ cursed it immediatly it whithered away But what then will it be in Hell where it shall be in its full force But as for them who are interested in this Freedom by Christ I may say to them as in Psal 115. 15. You are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth CHAP. VI. Concerning the Excellency of the person by whom this Freedom was performed TO the Second The excellency of this Freedom will appear if we consider the excellent person by whom it was performed You have already heard that this Freedom comes by Christ and Christ is an excellent person indeed he is
a breach between God and you as the whole Creation cannot make up But now there is one thing and but one that can make God amends and full amends for sin yea for all manner of sins and for never so many and never so great sins and that is this Blood of Christ 1 Joh. 1. 7. and 2. 1 2. Tho thou hast been never so vile and ungodly yet if thou can'st but get this Blood sprinkled upon thee through Faith in it it will make God himself to say deliver him for I have found a Ransom this will make amends for thy Swearing and for thy Drunkenness and for thy Uncleanness and for all the wicked Abominations of thy heart and life Oh what a precious Blood is this then And take but one thing more for it which is 4. The dreadful Vengeance which God doth take upon men wherever the Guilt of this Blood of Christ lies If he doth but come once to avenge the blood of a man he doth that severely if any one hath committed wilful murder upon his Neighbour God is resoved that that man shall be surely put to death for it Numb 34. 31. but when he comes to take vengeance for the Blood of his Son here the Vengeance is dreadful beyond all others You have divers Instances that I might give you of it in Scripture How terribly did God deal with Judas for the betraying of this innocent Blood he filled him with that horror of conscience that he must be his own Executioner Matth. 27. 5. and in the hanging of himself he fell headlong and burst asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out Acts 1. 18. And after all this he sent him to his own place and that was a sad one vers 25. So the people of the Jews that brought upon themselves the Guilt of Christs Blood Matth. 27. 25. they have been under the Curse of God for this these Sixteen hundred years And such as are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord by eating and drinking unworthily in the Sacrament you see what Vengeance God saith he will take of them 1 Cor. 11. 27 29. And if any Professor shall prophane this Blood by sinning wilfully after he hath received the knowledg of the truth you may see what a dreadful doom God denounceth against him in Heb. 10. v. 26. There remains no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment c. to the end of v. 31. Well now beloved this blood which is the great seal of the Covenant of Grace and without which no service or duty ever was or ever shall be accepted from the hands of any man and which is the blood of Atonement for all manner of sins and the guilt of which God will so dreadfully avenge wherever it shall be found to lye I say this blood was the price wherewith the Lord Jesus Christ purchased this Freedom And therefore your selves being Judges Was it not an excellent price and hereupon is not this Freedom an excellent Freedom since Christ may well say of it as the chief Captain did to Paul Acts 22. 28. With a great sum attained I this freedom Now I will end this with but Two Considerations briefly 1. Consider from hence this for your instruction you that are Believers Be often thinking What shall I do for this Christ that hath done so much for me Obj. But it may be you 'l say What doth Jesus Christ look for a requital Alas then we are undone on t'other side I answer No Whatever you do for Christ you must be sure you do nothing upon the account of requiting of him as who should say you are greatly in his debt and you 'l do what you can to come out of it 'T is not a recompence that I call upon you for you are never able to do that but the manifestation of your gratitude to him by an obediential fruitfulness Do but live as those that are his and that 's all he desires Why now shall he that hath paid this great price for you require any duty at your hands and will you not do it or call you to any difficulty for his sake and will you stick at it Remember Christ observes how you walk after such great things as he hath done for you and don 't give him cause to say to you by your unfaithfulness to him as Absalom said to Hushai concerning David Is this thy kindness to thy friend Why wentest thou not with thy friend 2 Sam. 16. 17. Oh! keep with your friend 2. Consider this from hence for your consolation This Jesus Christ who hath bought you will never sell you You know men many times after they have bought a Purchase and made it their own they sell it again Something or other is in it that they do not like and so they 'l part with it But I am sure and be you sure that Christ will never deal thus with you Obj. But you 'l say We have such great sins that we fear he will Ans Yea but you know that after a Man hath married a Wife unless she offend him so by Adultery as utterly to break the bond of Wedlock which Christ will never suffer true Believers to do tho she hath a great many faults yet he resolves he won't put her away The Law of the Land won't let him nor which is more the Law of his Love won't let him He thinks when he looks upon her with all her failings Ay but she is mine I have made her mine tho So is it here See 1 Sam. 12. 20 22. And Samuel said unto the people Fear not ye have done all all this wickedness yet turn not aside from following the Lord but serve the Lord with all your heart For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name sake because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people CHAP. VIII Concerning the excellent properties belonging to this Freedom AND now in the Fourth place I am to demonstrate that this is an excellent Freedom by the excellent Properties belonging to it That you may plainly understand what I mean by these Properties it is as much as this That I am now to speak that of this Freedom which is peculiar or proper to it self and that cannot be said of any other Freedom Tho you read of other Freedoms in the Scripture as that of the children of Israel out of Egypt and afterwards out of Babylon which indeed were very great and glorious deliverances yet they will not reach to this Never was there the like to this As the Book of Canticles is called the Song of Songs for the excellency of it so I may call this Fredom the Freedom of Freedoms because there is none to be compared with it And therefore this may be the 1st Property That you may take of it That it is an incomparable Freedom It hath not any fellow nor any match That which was done in this Freedom
ws never done in any before nor never shall be in any for the time to come What is said there in Joel 1. 2 3. of a great Judgment which the Lord threatens I may say of this great Redemption Hear this ye old men Hath this been in your days or even in the days of your fathers c. And what God speaks to the Children of Israel about their Freedom out of Egypt I may well apply to this Freedom Deut. 4. 32. For ask now of the days that are past which were before thee since the day that God created man upon earth and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is or hath been heard like it Consider Three things here and you will see that this is an incomparable Freedom 1. The other greatest deliverances that you read of which God gave to his people they were but the types and shadows and forerunners of this Freedom Particularly see it in that deliverance out of Egypt you that are acquainted with the story of it know what a great deliverance that was 'T is seldom spoken of in the Scripture but there is a glance upon the greatness and famousness of it 'T was so great that they were charged never to forget it Deut. 8. 14. And to that end the Lord appointed that they should begin their reckoning of the Months of the Year with that Month in which this deliverance came Exod 12. 1 2. And on the 4th day of that Month in the Evening of it which was the very day on which the Lord brought them out of their Bondage they were to keep the Passover every year throughout their Generations for a Memorial of it ver 6. 14. compared And it was such a great deliverance that Moses and all the children of Israel sung together unto the Lord in solemn praises and thanksgivings for it admiring the riches of his mercy towards them in it as you may see in Exod. 15. 1 c. And it was so great that it put the wicked Nations of the Earth into a trembling to hear of it ver 14 15 16. And again it was so great a deliverance that the Lord made use of it as the great and strong tie to bind them to himself in the strictest obedience And therefore when he gave them the Ten Commandments he set this engaging Preface before them I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage And then he gives them the Moral Law and in them to us by whom the aforesaid Preface is now to be understood spiritually of his bringing us out of the spiritual Egypt and the spiritual Bondage And therefore we are to be obedient unto him But now beloved tho this deliverance was such a great and glorious work as you must needs say it was to bring a matter of Six hundred thousand Men besides Women and Children with all their Herds and Flocks out of the Iron Furnace in Egypt where they had been strangers and slaves for Four hundred and Thirty years together and that with such a mighty hand and stretched-out arm as brought destruction to their enemies and redemption to his chosen people yet I say this was but a type of this Freedom by Christ This and all else that Moses did as Gods instrument among them was but to hold forth better things that were afterwards to be done by Christ See Heb. 3. 5. The like might be said of their deliverance out of their Seventy years Captivity in Babylon but I would only instance further in one great Freedom that was among the Jews by the appointment of God himself and that was That every 50th year which was called the year of Jubilee of which you read Levit. 25. there was to be a general Release and Liberty was to be proclaimed throughout all the Land so that they who had sold or mortgaged their land or possessions were then every one to return to them again and every Hebrew Servant was then to have his Freedom So that this year was a great and a famous year amongst them and 't was welcomed with a great deal of joy insomuch that it was called by them the Acceptable year Why this also was to point out this Freedom by Christ you shall find it alluded to in Isa 61. 1 2. where the same expressions are used by Christ in his setting forth his Redemption as were spoken of that year of Jubilee He saith he was sent to proclaim liberty to the Captives and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. So that other Deliverances and other Freedoms were but to usher in this They were but the Harbingers of this great salvation and in the reading of them you must have your thoughts upon this not only to read them as stories that did but concern that people but as shadowing out the great Gospel-redemption 2. Again 't is an incomparable Freedom thus In that no misery is like that misery which this Freedom brings us from If ever there were a Wretch indeed he is one that lies in that condition out of which Christ was sent to deliver us 't is such a condition that if one were truly sensible of it he would not be in it one day for the whole World I mean our natural condition which is such a miserable state that if God bears everlasting love to any person to be sure he brings him out of it and if he intends everlasting wrath to any then he leaves them in it 3. Again In that no mercy is like to that mercy which this Freedom brings us to as they shall have misery enough and enough that continue in the Bondage so they shall have mercy enough and enough that partake of this Freedom they shall have mercy in abundance they shall be monuments of mercy for ever and therefore God gives them this Freedom by his Son that he may convey to them such riches of Grace and Mercy as that all the common goodness which is bestowed upon the whole World in general is as nothing in respect of that mercy which one single redeemed person hath and shall have bestowed upon him But what this mercy is we shall hear particularly when we come to speak of the Priviledges of this Freedom Property 2d This Freedom is an unconceivable Freedom that is 't is an unknown thing Here take notice 1. What I do not mean by this 2. What I do mean by it I do not mean by this as if the Saints knew nothing of it Oh! yes blessed be God they do see 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redemed with corruptible things c. but with the precious blood of Christ So Colos 1. 26 27. The mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations but now is made manifest unto his Saints Mark those words 't is now made manifest to his Saints and God
well come in here Psal 87. 3. Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of God Beloved I would fain engage your most serious attention to what shall be delivered upon this Subject and to prepare you for it I beseech you to know that I hope you shall hear some glorious things spoken to you of this City of God in the opening of the excellent Priviledges which this Freedom by Christ brings with it which when you have heard I am sure you will have cause to say of these redeemed ones as Moses once did of the Children of Israel Deut. 33. 29. Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O people saved by the Lord. I shall not spend time in things that are but of a general consideration otherwise I might shew you that there must needs be very precious Priviledges attending this Freedom 1. From the great difficulty that there is to get into this Freedom As you know those places and conditions that have great Priviledges what a hard thing 't is to get into them there must be a great deal of seeking and waiting and much cost and pains laid out and such and such a great person must be made ones friend so 't is no easie matter to get into this Freedom to be made one of the Company If ever you be admitted into it you must strive to enter you must think no pains or labour too much and you must patiently wait upon the Lord till he have mercy on you and you must be sure to get God and Christ to be your friends for they have the power and the disposing of this Freedom they give it to whom they will Now what 's the Reason that there is so much ado amongst men to procure such a Place and to be one of such a Society as many times there is Why 't is because if they were once admitted into it there be such Priviledges to be enjoyed and such profits to be received as will abundantly recompence all their pains So here the difficulty of becoming one of these that are made free by Christ speaks that this Freedom is full of excellent Priviledges 2. From the high esteem that they have of this Freedom who are admitted into it through Grace Say what you will to them you can never bring them out of love with it again they 'l like their Christ and like their Condition tho all the world should set themselves to turn away their hearts from it They 'l part with if for no good They like it so well that they set an higher value upon the worst of Christ than they do upon the best of the World as Moses did Heb. 11. 25 26. Now certainly this is because their condition is full of Priviledges They know they are better here than they can be any where else in the World 3. From the consideration of the Saints being so often called upon in Scripture to praise the Lord. They who observe may frequently find how much they are stirred up to this duty How many Psalms doth David begin and end with this Praise ye the Lord And he says that the People of God should be a singing to him blessing of him rejoycing and giving thanks extolling of the Name of God declaring his wonderful Works towards them Now you shall see that one main thing that he drove at why they should do this was upon the account of the Freedom which God had brought them into Psal 107. 1 2. and 136. 1 2 3. compared with ver 10 11 12 23 24. And in Rev. 5. you read that the Saints were at this work of more than ordinary thanksgivings to God They sung a Song What is it for Oh! for the Freedom they had received Certainly then if God hath such great praises for it there are great Priviledges in it But I shall not go on thus but will bring in a List of the Priviledges so far as I can in particular And here as the Prophet said Isa 63. 7. I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord c. They are a priviledged people For Priviledg 1. Being made free by Christ they are translated out of the Kingdom of the Devil His Prison-doors are now opened that were shut so fast upon them as that none could open them but he that hath the key of David Now their bondage under that great Tyrant over Souls is at an end He shall no more have them captive at his will The yoke of their oppression is broken See Col. 1. 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son They are redeemed from the hand of the terrible Satan hath been forced to yield them up and now he can lay no more claim to them This Priviledg you read of further in Heb. 2. 14 15. That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who all their life-time were subject to bondage Mark he hath delivered them from the Devil by destroying of him not as to his Being for the Devil is not dead 't is not the Nature of a Spirit to die but as to his power over them So he is destroyed he is quite routed as to any slavery that he now keeps them in He may Lord it over his Vassals whose God he is but with these he hath nothing to do but in a way of molestation so indeed he will vex them all that he can and he won't be wanting to follow them with his Temptations and his siery Darts In this kind these redeemed ones must expect a War with him Eph. 6. 11 12 13 c. Christ will have them fight tho he hath made them free and tho the Devil doth cease to be their Owner yet he doth not cease to be their Enemy and he designs all the hurt and mischief to them that possibly he can for they went out of his Kingdom against his will and consent If he could have staid them they should never have gone And therefore his wrath is the more kindled against them and that to such a degree that he is not only compared to an Adversary but to a Lion and this Lion is in the siercest posture of all he is a roaring Lion But notwithstanding all his rage his Dominion is gone Now beloved this is an excellent Priviledg Oh to be loosed from the Chains of Darkness to be turned from the power of Satan to God! In this sense they that are made free by Christ are past the Devil's Quarters And therefore tho they should diligently watch against him yet they should not be slavishly afraid of him Do but keep Gods way and what hurt can he do you See John 5. 18. 'T is a very unbecoming thing for a child of God to be afraid of the Devil What have all the Devils in Hell to do with you for whom Christ shed his precious Blood He himself knows that you
spots will be all out Thou Child of God shall have no more of this deadness no more of this hardness and unbelief of heart here thou canst not pray one quarter of an hour without vain thoughts there thou shalt praise and glorifie him to all eternity without the least distraction Oh! what a Priviledge will this be when sin and you shall be quite parted Now you hear of it in every duty but there you may be good as long and as much as you will and no evil to hinder you Paul's complaint is now at an end as to himself because he is at home Rom. 7. 21. Priviledge 5. They who are made free by Christ are made nigh to God Eph. 2. 13. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the Blood of Christ As the people of Israel whom he redeemed out of Egypt are called a people near to God Psal 147. 14. You know 't is counted a Priviledg to stand near to an earthly King in some cases The Queen of Sheba pronounced the Servants of Solomon happy upon this account 1 Kings 10. 8. But as Christ said once of himself a greater than Solomon is here here 's the King of Heaven and Earth that is the most high God and these are near to him whatsoever is dear to us is near to us Now the Saints are very dear to God How dear is a Friend to you And how dear are your Children to you And how dear is the Apple of your eye to you Why by these names the Lord calls his people in the Scripture Yea beloved the Lord is very near to them when they think he is far off from them Psal 73. 23. don 't make account that God is at such a distance from you you that belong to him as many times you do you think he is gone away so that he will never return and all that while he is hard by you if you could but see him remember what he saith in Isa 41. 10. Fear thou not for I am with thee c. Priviledg 6. This Freedom brings Union with Christ Eph. 5. 30. it joyns those to him who are redeemed by an inseparable bond Christ is in them and they are in him therefore Paul saith Gal. 2. 20. that Christ liveth in him and 't is said of the Saints that Christ dwells in their hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. and Christ and they are not to be considered as two but as one he owns them as his Members and you know they are one with the head as his Wife and she is one with the Husband Now what an unspeakable Priviledg is it to be united to Jesus Christ and what greater honour can a Soul desire or enjoy than this is If you have such a deal of comfort from those earthly Relations in which you stand one to another as some of you have tho this is a Union of a low degree in comparison of this yet you find there is much sweetness in being joyned to a loving Wife or a loving Husband Oh what is it to be joyned to the Lord Jesus Christ Obj. But you 'l say What 's a bare Vnion if there be no Communications from him if Christ doth not give out that which he is and that which he hath to us there 's many a one that is joyned to another in an uniting Relation that is little the better for it Ans Yea but to be sure they who are one with Christ shall be the better for it for in the next place Priviledg 7. From this Union flows Communion with Christ and a communication from Christ of abundance of good things to them I will instance in some 1. They partake of his likeness and image to this you read that they were of old predestinated Rom. 8. 29. Hence they are said to have put on Christ as soon as ever he brought them into this Freedom he began presently as I may say to draw his Picture upon them and they grow more and more like him every day by resembling of him in his Graces and walking The Saints desire to live no other life but that which is suitable to the life that Christ led and they would fain imitate and follow him in his holy conversation they 〈◊〉 mightily taken with it all their trouble is that they can reach it no more 2. They partake of his fulness Joh. 1. 16. 'T is their Priviledg being made free by him to be fetching from him what they need for tho he hath it in himself yet he doth not keep it to himself no he means to be liberal of what he hath to all his Members He is not like the Rich covetous men of the World that tho they have abundance yet they hoard it up they have no readiness in them to distribute but Christ is all for distributing and that which his redeemed ones have had and shall have from him is an unknown deal 3. They partake of his Death and Resurrection Rom. 6. 5. They dye to sin by the vertue of Christs Death and they live to God by the vertue of Christs rising again For beloved Christ did not do those things barely that they should end in himself that none should have a fellowship with him in them But his design was that his Death should bring forth another Death and his Resurrection another Resurrection in the Souls of his people that they should feel in themselves that he died by their being crucified to sin and crucified to the World and that they should feel in themselves that he rose by their newness of life and by their setting their affections upon things above Now this is a great Priviledg to have the experience of these things within us people talk how Christ died and rose again but where is our conformity to this Oh! how little doth the power and the virtue of this come to us 4. They partake of his Righteousness I mean 't is imputed to them as their own that perfect unspotted obedience of his 't is to cover all the unrighteousness that is in them 2 Cor. 5 ult Oh beloved what a thing is this that a righteousness that is just as the Scripture would have it without the least defect wherein all the holy rules and commands of the word are fulfilled to a tittle that this should be made over to one with as great and sure an interest in it as if one had done all this in ones person why thus 't is with those whom Christ hath made free 5. They partake of his Intercession the Lord Jesus is at the right hand of the Father on their behalf Heb. 9. 24. he is speaking good words to God for them continually and his intercession is powerful Oh with what great Arguments can Christ back all the requests that he makes to his Father for them even from what himself hath done and suffered and satisfied 6. They shall partake with Christ in his Glory many of them are
he will with him also freely give you all things Rom. 8. 32. Priviledg 14. They that are made free by Christ are under special protection as you know the children of Kings and great Persons they must have some always with them to see that they get no harm So beloved these persons they are well guarded the Lord himself watches over them 'T is true he doth employ Angels for their safety and you 'l say that 's a great matter that Angels must wait on them and be doing them all the good they can Psal 91. 11. Heb. 1. ult But God is so tender over them that he will not trust Angels alone with them but he hath also committed them the care of them particularly to his Son Whereupon Christ saith Joh. 17. Those whom theu hast given me I have kept and yet he will look after them himself too He is with them Isa 41. 10. or he goes before them and then he is behind them too Isa 52. 12. and then on every side of them Psal 125. 2. If this be not enough for their protection then he will lead them Isa 49. 10. if that be not enough then he will cover them Psal 91. 4. if that be not enough then he will carry them Isa 46. 4. Priviledg 15. They are interested in the prayers of all the Saints in the World It may be they are prayed for some where or other all the day long yea all the week yea all the year yea all their life For it is like that there is a continual stock of Prayers a going by some or other of them night and day And they don't use to pray for themselves alone but for others and for their Fellow-Members most of all as Paul did for the Churches of Christ Priviledg 16. Their Priviledges about their Afflictious are very great as that they shall be 1. moderated God will not lift his Arm too high when he strikes nor make his Rod too big when he whips them 1 Cor. 10. 13. 2. Sweetned Heb. 12. 6. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth Loveth and Son these be words to sweeten his Corrections 3. They shall be sanctified they shall be for our profit ver 10. There is either some Sin to purge out or some Grace to be brightned or increased or some choice Experience to be learned 4. At last removed God will be sure to hold his hand when 't is enough and to comfort them when they have mourned enough and to take them out of the fire when they have been tried enough He that hath redeemed Israel it self shall also redeem Israel out of all his troubles Priviledg 17. They have acceptance of their poor sincere duties Alas what is it that they do or can do for the great God to take any notice of it and yet God is well pleased with them Heb. 13. 16. But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased 1 Pet. 2. 5. Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Priviledg 18. They shall be blessed in and after death in their death for they shall die in the Lord and after death for they shall be for ever with the Lord. As here they are brought into a Kingdom of Grace so there they shall be brought into a Kingdom of Glory Then comes the rest the inheritance the pleasures for evermore the building of God the house not made with hands eternal in the heavens the blessed hope the everlasting life Much time might be spent about these Priviledges and many others that might have been mentioned But I shall stay no longer upon them Now beloved Is not this Freedom by Christ an excellent thing upon this account too namely the excellent Priviledges which come by it And truly now you have heard them methinks you should not be able to forbear going to God when you come home pouring out your most earnest cries to him in these words with which I will close up this 5th Head Psal 106. 4 5. Remember me O Lord with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people O visit me with thy salvation That I may see the good of thy chosen that I may rejoyce in the gladness of thy nation that I may glory with thine inheritance CHAP. X. Concerning the excellent Vses that may be made of this Freedom THE Sixth way of making out the excellency of this Freedom by Christ is to acquaint you with the excellent Vses that may be made of it The worth and value of any thing is seen in the Uses to which it may be put That which is of no use is naught that which is of some use is good that which is of great use is very good but that which is of the greatest use is best of all Now beloved to give this Freedom its due place I must put it amongst those things which are of the highest use and in doing so I shall not set it one jot above what it deserves for the highest place doth of right belong to it Now in speaking upon this I might shew 1. The excellent Vses which Christ makes of this Freedom 2. The excellent Vses which Christians may make of it I shall be brief upon the first because I do chiefly intend the latter To the 1st I will hint but Four excellent Uses which Christ makes of it 1. By this Freedom he brings home all the elect of God He fetches them one after another into the Kingdom of Grace and Glory It was the will of God concerning those whom he hath chosen in the eternal purpose of his love that they should be made holy in this World and happy in the World to come Now by this Freedom Christ doth accomplish that will of his Father he brings them unto holiness by it Tit. 2. 14. and he brings them to happiness by it 2 Tim. 1. 10. So that this Freedom will discover who they are that are elected and who are not For they that are elected will be sanctified and glorified and they that are not will remain in their sins and be damned It will separate between the precious and the vile between the Tares and the Wheat between the Sheep and the Goats By that time the work of this Freedom is finished it will set the children of God by themselves and the children of the Devil by themselves that they shall never come near one another more Matth. 25. 31 32 46. 2. By this Freedom Christ repairs the great breach by the Fall of mankind He heals that deadly wound and makes up that unspeakable loss for as many as believe on his Name In that Apostacy from God the Devil did a World of mischief to the Sons of Men but by this Freedom Christ undermines him and out-plots him and he brings his whole design against the Elect of God to nothing and
condition but if ever he were a liar he is a liar in this and God will judg him and his instruments for bringing up this evil report upon the good Land which he hath given his people Beloved be not discouraged by this slander from looking after this heavenly Canaan as the Children of Israel were from entring into the earthly Canaan when the Spies that went to search the land had spoken evil of it to them for as Caleb said to them the same I say to you The Land is an exceeding good Land I mean now the state into which Christ hath brought believers is even in this World a joyful state You shall see how it was prophecied of in the Old Testament that it should be so Psal 67. read vers 1 2. where he speaks of the coming of this Freedom God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us Selah That thy way may be known upon earth thy saving health among all nations and what follows why vers 3 4 5. Let the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee O let the nations be glad and sing for joy there 's the joy that it brings with it So Isa 35. 10. this chapter is to he understood of Gospel Freedom and Salvation and mark what Joy here is now The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away Obj. But where can you shew us the people in the New Testament that live so comfortably and joyfully by this Freedom and that in this World Why turn to Rom. 5. 2. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and vers 10 11. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life And not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the attenement Obj. But it may be they were a people that met with no great afflictions if they had it would have spoiled their joy tho they were in this Freedom Well for that I 'll give you a full Scripture see 1 Pet. 1. These were scattered abroad by persecution vers 1. They had manifold temptations vers 6. And in v. 7. the Apostle speaks of the tryal of their Faith by fire Yet in vers 8. how comfortable they were for all this In whom tho now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Sirs you that are out of this Freedom are hindred by it from abundance of joy you don't know what true joy and true comfort is without it 5. It is good to make us taste the sweetness that is in the ways of God 't was the Spouse of Christ the redeemed company that uttered that in Cant. 2. 3. I sat down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste Duties Ordinances are sapless things without this but they are refreshing yea ravishing things with it What made David say that a day in Gods Courts was better than a thousand otherwhere 't was because he was in this Freedom Why did the Lord call his Ordinances that should be under the Gospel A feast of fat things a feast of wine on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wine on the lees well fined Isa 25. 6. But because he knew they would be so to Souls that should be brought into this Freedom Oh this is that which will make a Prayer sweet and a good Sermon sweet and a Sacrament sweet and Grace and the Exercise of it sweet You that are in the Bondage of sins may come and hear precious truths but you cannot tell what is in them for savour and relish that Bondage hath put your mouths quite out of taste as I may say to you there 's nothing so sweet as that which is most bitter and that is sin if your palat were not vitiated by this Bondage you would call it as the Scripture calls it viz. The gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity Acts 8. 23. 6. This Freedom is good to make us spiritually useful Indeed one that hath it not may be useful and very useful for earthly respects and if he should be taken away by death there might be a great miss of him the family might want him or the Parish may want him But spiritually useful such a one is not nor can be any otherwise then as a wooden leg can be useful to the body which tho it helps it a little yet 't is but outwardly it hath none of that life or motion that the true members have But now they whom Christ hath made free oh what a deal they are good for upon a spiritual account they are useful persons to bring up a Family for God they are good for the Souls of their Relations You that are out of Christ you may be good for the bodies of your Children you may be good to provide them Meat and Drink and Cloaths and to take care of them when any of them fall sink that they may not want attendance or the like or you may be good to train them up in a civil way and to lay up for them what you can for a Portion in this World or to put them to a good Trade or help them to as rich a match as you can and in these kind of things your usefulness to them is at its journeys end As for the poor Souls of your Children you forget them because you never rememberd your own it may be you 'l say to your Children sometimes you must be a good boy or a good girl and there 's all the good counsel that they shall have of you but alas you take no care to tell them which way they must be good indeed and truly if God should take you away from them and leave them Fatherless and Motherless their outward man would miss you sadly it may be but their Souls would not you were never good for them but they who are in this Freedom are good for the Souls of their Family And beloved they are very useful persons to promote a good work when they see it would tend much to the Glory of God to have it carried on and to take occasions and opportunities of speaking to others about everlasting concernments and to mourn for the sins of the times and places in which they live and to stand in the gap when the Wrath of God is breaking in upon a Nation and when God takes away one of these oh what a miss there is of them and what a loss 't is upon the best account If God had pleased a hundred wicked men might have been better spared than one of these The least of these
would make it known to them he was resolved that his people in the days of the New Testament should in a special manner have it revealed to them see also Eph. 2. 6 7. and cap. 3. 8 9 10 11. Yea beloved 't is so made known now as that there is not one Child of God upon Earth but hath the knowledg of it and none are altogether ignorant of it but such as are in their lost condition 2 Cor. 4. 3 4 6. But if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this World hath blinded the minds of them which believed not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine upon them For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our heart to give the light of the knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ And therefore look you to it you that live in darkness and have none of this saving-light shining into your hearts that cannot tell what to make of Christ and the Gospel you may see from this Scripture what a case you are in and to what company you belong for the present God is teaching his people in these mysteries It is written that they shall be all taught of God and so they are tho not to alike degree That which I do mean when I say that this is an unknown Freedom is in these three things 1. That Gods people themselves don 't know it in that full manner and measure as it is to be known Surely there is more in it than they do understand even they who see and know most of it Nay 2. That which any of the people of God upon Earth do know of it as yet is but little in comparison of what is in this Freedom and therefore they are said to know but in part 1 Cor. 13. Now you know that but a part of a thing is very short of the whole They that have attained to the highest degree of spiritual understanding had need pray that they might be carried further and further still as Paul doth for the Ephesians cap. 1. 17 18. and 3. 18 19. Nay 3. The Saints in Heaven it self will never be able to take in all that concerns the glory of this Freedom tho they shall know it there clearly yet they cannot know it fully 't is that which is too great for any but God to comprehend just as it is He only knows his own Love and his own Mercy to the utmost yet this shall be no diminution of the Saints happiness that they cannot even there fully reach the knowledg of it for they shall know as much of it as it is possible for a Greature to know they shall be like Bottles cast into the Sea that tho they cannot take in the Sea yet they shall take in so much as shall make them so full that they cannot hold a drop more but if they could take in more there is more still to be taken in So that indeed this is an unconceivable Fredoom the Saints do admire it and they will admire it for ever Now our admiring of things doth not only proceed from our being affected with them but also from hence that there is more in them than we can well dive into so we cannot go to the bottom of this Freedom nor ever shall for it hath no bottom So that the truth is here we are all posed Saints and Angels are posed to conceive what this Freedom comes to You may go to some in the World that can scarch out deep Mysteries that can expound Riddles but this is such a Mystery and such a Riddle as no Creature in Heaven or Earth is able exactly to unfold I may say of it as 't is in Rom. 11. 33. O the depth c. Other Freedoms you can fathom but this you can't 3d Property It is the most honourable Freedom you know when God redeemed the Children of Israel out of Egypt he did it in an honourable way take it in these three things 1. He gat honour to himself Exod. 14. 17 18. by this he declared himself to be above all gods and above all great Ones of the Earth God should never have done this work if the Egyptians and all their Idols could have hindred it You know what a fierce on-set they made upon Israel at the Red-Sea to bring them back again but instead of that they never went back again themselves the waters covered their Enemies there was not one of them left what a name did the Lord make himself at that time 2. He honoured his Promises the Children of Israel had had many Promises of Deliverance which by reason of the anguish of their spirits in their Bondage they could not tell how to believe they called the Faithfulness and Truth of God into question as we are too ready to do when we are in great straits instead of trusting in God firmly as they should have done when once they had a word from God what depth of distress soever they were in they did not rely up-God's Promise Exod. 6. 6 7 8 9. But when God delivered them he honoured his Promise for all that he shewed that he did remember it by the performing of it Exod. 12. 41. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years even the self-same day it came to pass that all the hosts of the Lord went out of the land of Egypt You must know that this place looks back chiefly to the promise that God made to Abraham that tho his seed should be afflicted in Egypt yet he would bring them out after such a time Gen. 15. 13 14. Now here in this 12th of Exod. you see how God honoured his promise he kept his word to the very day Obj. But how did God honour his promise and how were they delivered the self-same day when as in that place of Genesis there is just Four hundred years spoken of that they should be in Egypt and in the other of Exodus 't is Four hundred and Thirty years It seems therefore that God failed of his promise Thirty years Ans No God forbid that we should think so Heaven and earth shall pass away but one tittle of his word shall not perish But you must know that there may be Two Reasons why the Thirty years are not mentioned in the promise to Abraham 1. Because 't is not an unusual thing amongst us to swallow up a lesser number in a greater As if a man ask you how old you are you say so many years and tho there be some odd weeks or months you omit them putting the greatest number for all So the Thirty years are to be understood in the Four hundred as the Text in Exodus with which the other is to be compared doth shew 2. I suppose the Lord might of purpose conceal these Thirty years tho he did