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
Spiritual Bondage and Freedom OR A TREATISE Containing the Substance of several SERMONS Preached on that Subject from JOHN VIII 36. By the late Reverend Mr. NATHANAEL BALL M. A. Late Pastor of Barley in Hartfordshire Isa 61. 1. The Lord hath sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683. To the Right Honourable and truly Vertuous the Lady Archer of Coopersail in Essex Madam IT is too notorious That the most usual pretensions of Epistles Dedicatory are patronage from and their real Scope flatteries of the Persons to whom they are directed For the former 't is an apparent vanity in that a Worthy Work needs it not and an Unworthy neither deserves nor is capable of it For the latter as it ill becomes the entrance of so serious and searching a Subject as that of this Book and the impartial simplicity of a Minister of Divine Grace and Truth So I am confident it would be entertained by your Ladiship with distaste and contempt Madam To say my errand in short I do but pay to your Ladiship the Legacy of my reverend Brother and your dear Friend in and Minister from the Lord Jesus who is now at everlasting rest A Legacy worthy his bequeathing and your Ladiships accepting Yet it is not only a Legacy of Love but also a Debt of Justice both which Obligations he was not insensible of when he designed and ordered the offering of this excellent Service more peculiarly to your Ladiship than to any other You were not so little acquainted with him as not to know him to be a Person immured in his Study and strongly I wish I could not say too strongly inclined to solitude and privacy Otherwise his large Talents of Grace and Ministerial Abilities might have rendred him conspicuous and met with very large acknowledgments from the truly godly and intelligent not only to himself alive but to his Pious and Desolate Widow and his Children after his Decease Madam I must beg your pardon if it be a fault that I omit not to confirm what I said of the Justice of this Dedication for what can be more just than to render those labours next to Gods primarily to your Service who did so bountifully minister to the reverend Authors subsistence in his greatest straits equally to if not beyond any other mortal so that this work is in no small respects your own and a reaping the blessing you have sowed But to make it your own beyond the interest a meer Dedication can give you a sensible remembrance of the Spiritual Bondage and a gracious experience of the Spiritual Freedom treated of in this excellent Discourse will exceedingly conduce Madam I shall not undertake the unnecessary task of commending the Book it being commendation enough to its self where it meets with a Spiritual and Judicious taste Only I shall say That the Author speaks like one that hath felt and experienced what he speaks in his own Soul I shall add no farther only commend you to God and to the word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an Inheritance among all them that are sanctified and subscribe my self Your Ladiships Humble Servant and an unworthy Minister of the Gospel JOHN FALDO shall be captivated unto the obedience of his Truth These Worthies of Christ have been very careful to avoid Scandals and giving Offence that their Ministry might not be justly blamed Hence in all things they have approved themselves as the Ministers of God in much Patience and Affliction in Necessities and Distresses in Stripes and Imprisonments in tossings to and fro and in labours in watchings and fastings by pureness by knowledg by long-suffering by kindness by the Holy Ghost by love unfeigned by the word of truth by the Power of God by the armour of Righteousness on the right hand and on the left by honour and dishonour by evil report and good report as deceivers and yet true as unknown and yet well-known as dying yet living even to a miracle as chastened and not killed persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed being reviled they bless being defamed they intreat they bless and curse not Touching the Reverend and Blessed Author of this Book it will not be unacceptable to give some short Account of him who was an Interpreter one of a thousand an able and faithful Minister of the New-Testament not of the letter but of the Spirit a Minister as of great abilities so of great success in his Ministry The Lord himself hath erected Monuments to his dead Saints and took care for the embalming their memories unto posterity Whilest the name of the wicked doth rot the memory of the just shall be blessed Whilest the ungodly are forgotten or if remembred 't is with a note of Infamy as This is that Ahaz This is Jeroboam that made Israel to sin the righteous are had in everlasting remembrance Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken to you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation This holy man of God Mr. Nathanael Ball was born in the year 1623. at Pitminster near Taunton Dean in the County of Sommerset His Parents were godly and of the number of them who in those days were nick-named Puritans They gave him Religious Education he received it from their instructions and examples Parents are either the best or worst Copies to their Children none can do more either to hinder or further their Childrens Conversion They have the greatest advantages for the sowing Seeds of Grace in their very many were convinced and converted by him He seldom spread the Net of the Gospel but this Fisherman of Souls caught some Soul or other for Christ. He not only preached publickly but visited the Families of his Congregation particularly examining and instructing the ignorant in private and was never satisfied till he had wrought upon them a deep and awakened sence and feeling of their woful estate by nature the necessity of closing with the offers of Salvation tendred by Christ Jesus He left powerful impressions upon their consciences which stuck as so many daggers in their hearts of the reality of things Invisible That there is a God and Devil a Heaven and Hell That they had precious and immortal Souls which must be sav'd or damn'd and that as God was merciful so also was he a just and terrible God that would by no means acquit the guilty and that it was impossible for them to escape the damnation of Hell if they did neglect so great Salvation as was now offered them in this day of their Visitation He put all Masters of Families in their own Persons upon the performance of Family-Duties of prayer and reading the Scriptures of Singing and Catechizing that so their Families might be Bethels not Bethavens little Churches of
they do what they can to make good their Fortifications against him to keep out such a Word from entring and such a Conviction from fastning and it sets up its own carnal plea's and excuses and delaies and self-righteousness c. and all to keep out Christ from setting up his Throne but all before he hath done tumbles like a Babel and crumbles into dust before him 'T is true there is a great deal of strength put out against him the sinner calls all his shifts together and the devil calls all his devices together to resist but Christ is resolved to have the day And therefore mark how he is described as one that goes forth with invincible Power in this Work Psal 45. 3 4 5. So Rev. 6. 2. He went forth conquering and to conquer Beloved we must offer this Freedom to you tho we of our selves have no power to prevail with you but he in whose Name we come he can break your gates of Brass and cut in sunder your bars of Iron Vse And now doth the Lord Jesus Christ offer this Libâ—â—â—â— you Oh then I beseech you let 〈…〉 â—â—cepted of you Oh Beloved 't is offâ—◠〈◊〉 to this end that it should be accepted 〈◊〉 â—ot that it should be made light of as if tâ—â—â—e were no great matter in it whether you had it or had it not I therefore urge that Scripture upon you now Heb. 12. 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven What shall Christ make such an offer to you and will you not close with it Will you that are in Bondage perish in your Bondage when you might be set free Is it such a good condition that you are in that you should desire to stay in it The prison and bondage of the Body tho it be nothing to this that your souls are in yet how glad are poor Creatures to hear that there is any hope or way for deliverance out of that Oh sirs let not Christ lose his love let him not lose his labour let him not lose his longing fain he would have you set at liberty And therefore don't hug your chains as if you were loth to part with them Lay this to your heart that Freedom is offered you how can you shift it but you must close with it now If it had not been offered there had been some excuse but will you put it off now it hath been offered yea when it hath been offered particularly to every one of you that there is none of you have been excluded from this gracious Invitation and when it hath been offered with a notwithstanding notwithstanding all the great and grievous sins which you have lived in as it was said to Judah Jer 3. 1 2. Thou hast played with many lovers yet return to me saith the Lord And when it hath been offered frequently not once or twice but often How often would I have gathered you saith Christ to Jerusalem God hath seen you neglect this Salvation such a Sermon and such a Sermon and yet he hath sent again and again and again to you And when it hath been offered with so much importunity and earnestness that you have never been pleaded with about any thing in this World as you have about getting this Freedom And when it hath been offered to you so freely that you shall be redeemed at anothers cost and not at your own you have sold your selves for nought and ye shall be redeemed without price I say when it hath been offered and thus offered why what 's your duty from all this but to close with it 1. Close with it thankfully What Is there yet Freedom for me for such a one as I Oh blessed be God! admired be his Mercy adored be his Name 2. Close with it throughly Take heed of doing it by halves take heed of parting with your sins but as Pharaoh would part with the children of Israel he would yield to this and that upon force but he never came up to Gods terms 3. Close with it quickly before your day of Grace be at an end before it be too late to look out for it Oh sirs stir stir for your souls for the Lords sake quickly quickly you may else be undone to all eternity Opportunities of grace are not long liv'd and when they are over you will wish you had improved them and then there will be no fetching them back I commend that awakening Scripture to you Heb. 12. 15 16 17. Look diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat fold his birth-right For ye know how that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears That may be lost in a little time that can never be recovered But because this closing with Christ is a great Subject and of so great importance and because I know there is a great deal of backwardness in the heart of man to close with Christ and for fear lest you should not have as mueh said to you as can well be spoken by man to perswade you to accept of this soul-delivering Jesus whom I preach unto you this day give me leave to carry on the Vse somewhat further by way of motive And tho many things might be insisted on to stir you up yet I will single out this one thing especially namely to beseech you to consider how guilty you will be if you don 't close with Christ and what grievous sinners you are and will be found to be at the great day of his appearing 1. You are guilty of Ignorance You 'll shew your ignorance of Christ that his worth and excellency was never seen by you that you never took him to be a Pearl of great Price for if you had to be sure the next thing would have been to make him yours Matth. 13. 45 46. Beloved there is none that ever refused Christ that knew him I don't mean that knew him after the flesh or that saw him with the eye of the body there were many that beheld him so and had no desire to him Joh. 1. 10 11. but none that ever knew him in a spiritual manner but fell in love with him He draws all the hearts and all the affections of them to whom he hath been revealed by the Holy Ghost It is therefore certain that you dwell in darkness to this day if you have no mind to close with Christ for if you were brought into the light you would follow him 2. You are guily of unthankfulness What! to make such a sad requital to Christ for all his kindness towards you as to prepare
comes by Christ 4. After what manner this Freedom is in Christ 5. I shall make Application To the 1. When this Freedom that is in Christ did begin to be of force I answer Immediately upon the fall of mankind It is a great mistake to think that this Freedom did not begin to be of force till Christ came in the flesh If that were so then all that died before that time would have died in their sins 'T is true when Christ came there were some things about this Freedom that were not before As 1. It was more clearly manifested They before us had it in shadows and types and figures the deliverance of the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt and then a long time after out of the bondage of Babylon did point at this and all the ceremonial Worship and Sacrifices did look this way signifying that there was one to come that should redeem them to God by his Blood and all the good and benefit of those things that were then observed in those Ministrations lay only in this that they did lead them to Christ who was held forth in them tho in a more dark and obscure manner Yea but when Christ came this Freedom was brought unto light for then he appeared who was the Substance of all and then when the substance came the shadows ceased 2. It was more largely extended Before this Freedom was kept within the bounds of the Jewish Nation Psal 147. 19 20. 'T was a great priviledge then to be one of that People because salvation was of the Jews and all the rest of the World were Strangers and Foreigners But when Christ came then the other Nations poor Heathen and Gentiles had this Salvation sent to them The Lord now makes his way to be known upon earth and his saving health among all nations But for all this you must know that this Freedom was in force ever since the fall for then God made the Promise of sending Jesus Christ viz. That the seed of the woman should bruise the serpents head Gen. 3. 15. and all that were saved were saved in the way of looking to that promised Seed though he was not to come into the World till the fulness of time I must needs desire you to take notice of four things from hence That this Freedom hath been of force since the Fall As 1. That persons not living in the days wherein Christ was upon Earth is no hindrance at all to their eternal Salvation for many are saved both before his coming in the Flesh and since his ascending into Heaven who never saw him in his bodily presence I confess it would have been a very desirable thing to have seen our dear and blessed Saviour here in our Nature and to have had the priviledge to have conversed with him about the things of the kingdom of God and to have heard him that spake as never man spake But we are hindred neither from Grace nor Glory for the want of this we may be sanctified without it and we may be saved without it As for sanctification many that did so see him did remain unsanctified and People were not converted by the Humane Nature of Christ but by the Divine Power and Spirit that dwelt in him Joh. 6. 63. And as to salvation that 's obtained not by beholding Christ with an eye of Flesh but with an eye of Faith and they who have that eye here 's their comfort Though they never saw Christ upon Earth they shall see him in Heaven If thou hadst seen him upon Earth thou wouldst have seen him in the form of a servant in a poor and mean condition for then he came to humble himself and to be of no reputation but 't will be another manner of sight to see him in Heaven to behold his glory there Joh. 17. 24. 2. That there were Believers and as great Believers in the days of the Old Testament as there are in the New Believing was the way to Salvation then as well as now Because this Freedom by Christ did not then begin when Christ came in the Flesh therefore you must think that Faith in Christ did not then begin neither Believing was the old and the only way to Heaven ever since the Covenant of Works was broken all in pieces by Adam's Transgression Indeed there have been more Believers since the times of the New Testament than formerly because the Gospel hath been propagated further but there were as true and as great Believers before as you may see Heb. 11. where the Faith of Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and the rest is recorded and propounded as an Example to us And if there were such eminent Believers then how shall we answer it if we be Unbelievers now who have greater helps for our Faith than they had It should much stir us up to believe to consider what times we live in how many things we have to help our Faith of that they had they had the Promises of Christ made but we have them fulfilled they were fain to spell out Christ in a heap of Ceremonies but we may read him in his own Story 3. Take notice of the wonderful Virtue that is in Christ such a Virtue as reaches from the beginning of the World to the end of it You see his Freedom was of force in the first Generation and so it shall be to the last You know that Christ said when the woman that had the bloody Issue touched him I perceive that virtue is gone out of me But Oh what a deal of virtue is there gone out from Christ in this respect that he hath been the Redeemer of Souls from the entrance of Time and will be so till Time shall be no more Things may be very precious when they are made and for a while after as cordial Waters and curious Ointments and costly Perfumes but they won't always keep their Virtue and especially if they stand open it will not be long before they be corrupted but Jesus Christ is such an excellent Cordial and such an excellent Ointment that tho he hath been so long standing open for the use of every comer to him yet he hath not lost any thing of his Virtue or Savour he is as refreshing and as sweet still as evet he was You find in Solomon's time in the Old Testament how he speaks in Cant. 1. 3. Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth therefore do the virgins love thee What a savour Christ sent forth to the People of God then and in 1 Pet. 2. 7. in the times of the New Testament still Christ held his Virtue he was precious to them that believed and so he is still A Believer can be refreshed and comforted with Christ he is so full of Virtue still when he can be refreshed and comforted with nothing else 't is the present experience of the Saints in this Age as well as in the
is so useful that the greatest in Grace can't say they have no need of him 1 Cor. 12. 21. and mark what 't is said of Onesinus Phil. vers 10. Whom I have begotten in my bonds that is Christ hath now given him his Freedom by using me as an instrument for his conversion Well what then Why vers 11. Which in time past was to thee unprofitable but now profitable to thee and to me Now he becomes a profitable man 7. It is good again to knit our hearts in love to all the people of God Oh! how dear will the Saints be to us when we see that we are delivered from the power of darkness and that God hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son When we can say to them Now blessed be the Lord I am one of you I am a partaker of your Grace and have obtained like precious Faith with you that Blood which hath washed you hath washed me that righteousness of Christ which covers your unrighteousness covers mine also For if one finds it so one may to the Glory of God tell them so as Paul did to the Galatians chap. 2. 20. That Christ had loved him and given himself for him This now will so joyn our affections to the Saints at least it will be the way to it that our Souls will as it were cleave to their Souls 't will not only joyn hand to hand but Soul to Soul That 's a notable place Acts 4. 32. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul c. When once they were got into this Freedom together which is included in the word believed Oh what a love here was to one another This is an uniting Freedom not only to Christ as you have heard but to all his members 8. It good is to strengthen our Faith in the greatest straits For by this Freedom a Child of God may reason thus Why he that brought me out of that dreadful misery of my sinful condition that did so great a work as that and gave me so great a deliverance as that can bring me out of this I cannot come into such a woful condition again as that was let befall me what will for affliction or trouble 't is not like my spiritual Bondage that I was in while out of Christ and yet through infinite mercy I am freed from it and did God remember me there and shall he not remember me here David when he prays for deliverance out of his present distresses thinks of this that God hath redeemed him so you may fetch a mighty support from your redemption by Christ for your weak Faith when great Tryals are upon you what do you think that God will let you perish in them and he hath redeemed you why which is more to deliver thee out of the hand of the Devil and out of the hand of Gods Justice and from the Wrath to come or to deliver thee out of some light Afflictions in this World 9. It is good to make you rich Oh! how do many desire to be rich Now this is the way to make you 1. Really rich not to seem to be rich and yet be poor as some do but rich indeed So rich that you shall have treasures In the house of the rightousness is much treasure 't is because he hath this Freedom indeed this Freedom is his treasure as 't is said Prov. 13. 8. The ransom of a mans life are his riches 't is true here 2. Inwarldly rich rich towards God in Grace and things of a spiritual nature Obj. But I would fain have something if please God of this World too Ans Why this Freedom is the way to that too Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is 1 Tim. 4. 8. Obj. But they who have this Freedoms are generally the poorer sort 1 Cor. 1. 27. Not many mighty not many noble are called Ans 1. They are not all so then as you see there 2. God doth that for them tho they be poor which is equivalent to great riches even in this World For 1. He supplies them many times by special Providence God stirs up the hearts of others to do them good There were poor Saints at Jerusalem that had not of their own but the Lord provided for them by putting it into the hearts of others that were able to make a Collection for them Rom. 15. 26. So Paul tho he had not of his own yet the Philippians sent once and again to his necessity cap. 4. 16. and that supplied him so in his present wants that he looked upon himself as a rich man vers 18. 2. What is wanting in abundance God makes up in contentment vers 11 12. of that chap. and this is equivalent to a great Estate nay there be many that have great Estates and yet are not contented Now pray who is the rich man he that hath but a little and yet is contented or he that hath a great deal and yet is discontented 3. God gives his blessing with that little they have and the blessing of the Lord maketh rich Prov. 10. 22. 't is not so much what a man hath as what God blesses to him A great Estate without that will prove cankered and wormeaten and with that less by far will do the business 3. This Freedom is good to make you eternally rich there be many that are very rich in this World and yet will be miserably poor in the World to come because they never had this Freedom by Christ Indeed people use to say when a man hath a great Estate that he is made yea but for how long 't is but at most for this life If he be not in Christ there 's that a coming that will unmake him again but he that is so is made for ever Prov. 8. 21. That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance and I will fill their treasures Substance and Treasures there 's their riches yea but then saith he I 'll cause them to inherit it too i. e. I will make them for ever 10. This Freedom is of excellent use to keep Christians humble it greatly becomes the people of God to have low thoughts of themselves of all Christians the humble Christian is the most lovely Christian If I see a man tho I hope and believe he hath grace yet if he be not humble methinks he is not half so beautiful in his walking Whatever good thing one hath in him besides yet to have the heart to be lifted up 't is even like the dropping of a great blot of Ink upon fair writing How fair would the story of good Hezekiahs Life and Reign have been of whom you read so many excellent things all along the 2 Chron. cap. 29. and 30. and 31. and 32. had it not been for that one great blot which you meet with in vers 25. of chap. 32. Beloved the Grace of Humility is the Glory of ones Graces
Why I will cast it up for you and the whole sum amounts to this You have got that that you must lose all this getting 't is in order to losing you have it but you cannot hold it when you have got the World you have got Vanity you have got vexation of spirit Eccl. 1. 2. and will you spend your whole time and thoughts for this I will throw some Scripture-Water upon the Fire of this Love to the World to see if it will put it out Consider seriously these three Text 1 Joh. 2. 15. Jam. 4. 4. Luk. 12. 20 21. Again this imforms us 3. That this Freedom by Christ is highly worth the pains that any Soul which hath it hath taken to obtain it or that any Soul is now taking to get it oh it will quit the cost and bear the charges for 't is excellent Freedom It is a great encouragement to a man to lay out his labour upon a thing when he is sure he shall not lose his labour convince him that he shall be a gainer and a great gainer and you have done enough to set him a work If you had but told him of a probability and a hope of advantage you should have seen him stir but if he can be sure that it will be a profitable business he thinks long ere he is at it Now I assure you from the sure word of God That take what pains you will to get this Freedom it shall be like that seed that was sown in the ground it will be encreased thirty sixty yea an hundredfold you 'l find it the best employment that ever you were about there never was any Child of God that wished Would I had not medled with this Freedom by Christ nor ever will Christ scorns that any that trade with him should be losers As they shall not want for work so they shall not want for wages 'T is true he doth expect that they who will have his Freedom should take great pains for it but he will graciously reward their great pains with great gains If they will fell all that they have to get the Pearl they shall find that the Pearl when they have it is a Pearl of great price I would put you in mind here of some Verses in the 2. and 3. chapters of Rev. which I would allude to read cap. 2. 7. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradice of God Vers 11. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death Vers 17. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hiden manna and will give him a white-stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving be that receiveth it And chap. 3. v. 5. He that overcometh the same shall be cloathed in white raiment and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels Vers 12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the name of God and the name of the city of my God which is new Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new name Vers 21. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne That which I say to you from hence is this There are difficulties and great difficulties in the way of obtaining this Freedom but will you not be daunted at them but labour so as to overcome will you resolve through the help of God let there be what pain there will I 'll overcome them Why then you see how every verse that I have read to you carries its gains with it Again this informs us 4. That the people of God are an excellent people they must needs be so for they are gotten into this excellent Freedom This is the company that no company in the World can compare with I know that the people of God don't desire to commend or speak honourably of themselves But beloved I have here a very fair occasion to commend them to you very like some of you may have low and mean thoughts of them and the rather because you see them so contemptible in their outward appearance it may be some of your cloathes are better than theirs and some of your estates are greater than theirs and some of your food is finer than theirs and some of your kindred may be richer than theirs Well I grant this may be true one way but I am sure if you be out of Christ 't is false another way Be you what you will in wordly respects upon the account of the condition that this excellent Freedom hath brought them into you that are out of Christ never wore such cloathes as they do for they have put on the new man the Lord Jesus Christ and they go every day of the week in robes see Rev. 7. 9 13 14 15. And for Estate that which you have in the World is nothing to what they have in Christ for they are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Rom. 8. 17. and the Promises are theirs and the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs and all things are theirs and for food you never in all your lives tasted any thing so sweet as that which they feed upon they eat of the bread which came down from God they eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man whose flesh is meat indeed and whose blood is drink indeed and for hindred why all your carnal Relations are no better than beggars in comparison of them that they are a kin to Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren Heb. 2. 11. And God is not ashamed to be called their God cap. 11. 16. Obj. Why then sure if they have all this excellency by their Freedom their Freedom will make them proud Ans No beloved for all this they were never so humble and never had such mean thoughts of themselves as since they got into this Freedom they never loathed themselves till now they were more lifted up in their misery than now they are in their excellency Now they desire to give God all the Glory and to take nothing to themselves but shame tho God hath made them great yet they do not count themselves good Rom. 7. 18. Vse 2. Of Admiration That ever such an excellent Freedom should be bestowed upon the Sons of men There are two things in this that may raise our Admiration 1. That ever it should be given to men that the Lord should pass by Angels with a purpose never to recover them when they were fallen and that we should be those to whom he would send redemption He might have let us all alone Angels to perish and
snare is broken and we are escaped If you be not made free by Christ you will have a darling sin Vse 5. Of Expostulation And that with such as are not made free by Christ And here tho I shall speak but few words yet I wish they may be piercing What mean you that you don't accept of Christs excellent Freedom 'T is to be had and you want it and you 'l be eternally lost without it and yet you abide in your Bondage the sins you had you have still the sloth that was in you is in you still I dont perceive some of you stir a jot towards the New-birth I have been endeavouring upon this Text to hale you to Christ and yet you hang back Why Sirs for the Lords sake what do you mean I thought that if any Scripture in the Bible would have won you this and that which hath been said upon it would have done it And now after I have delivered all this message from God to you will you not here I must needs here put you in mind of the Prophets words to David what he said to him when he had delivered Gods message to him that I say to you 2 Sam. 24. 13. Now advise and see what an answer I shall return to him that sent me You have heard what I have said from Christ to you now let me hear what I shall say from you to Christ I must go back to him for a new message now I have done with this subject But what Sirs shall I answer him when he asks me what is become of the old You preached a great while about Freedom that I had to give sinners how did it speed with your hearers I should be glad with all my heart that I might be able to say to Christ of this Text as they did of the Talents see Luk. 19. 15 16 18. Lord thy pound hath gained ten pounds saith one five pounds saith another So that my Text that I have been a trading with for God amongst you had gained ten Souls or five Souls or one Soul rather then nothing Well but what shall I say to him that sent me I must go to reckon with him for this Text and as near as I can I must give him a faithful account and that is that I don't hear of one that is converted by all these Sermons not a Man or Woman of you that were out of Christ when I began them have been with me to bring me this joyful news that this Text hath been the word of Life and Power to you If any such mercy hath been shewed to you 't is between God and your selves but if it be so indeed methinks you should easily conclude Certainly Gods beginning to work upon me under such a mans Ministry must needs be welcome newes to him and therefore I 'll go to him and tell him what God hath done for my Soul And Friends I long to see some of you to come to my house upon such an errand I know my labour hath not been in vain in speaking of this Freedom to them here who are in Christ Jesus but God hath given them many a sweet refreshment in the hearing of it and if there should be none that are brought in yet blessed be God that there are some that are built up But oh Sirs what will become of you that have neither gotten nor are getting this Freedom Why don't you consider before it be too late under what Offers of Grace you live what heart-rending thoughts do you think you shall have a little while hence when you shall look back upon the opportunities you have lost without hope of having any more Will it not be an heavy charge against you that you have despised a precious Christ and lost a precious Soul If you believe that you are sinners what 's the reason that you don't regard a Saviour Is Christ beholding to you to accept of his Salvation or are you beholding to him that he is so willing you should have it If you could be contented to live in your sins all your days can you be contented to suffer for them to all eternity I tell you Hell is ready for you if you will not repent and believe the Gospel and the more calls you have now the more Torments you 'l have there Is it fit that such sinful Worms as you are should take upon you to tell Christ that you wont have him And do you think that he doth not observe your unkindness and frowardness to him tho for the present he lets you alone If you have no love for Christ have you none for your selves Will this World last always that you provide no better for another Do you think that Christ cannot tell what to do with his mercy because he offers it to you And now I have blown the Trumpet and given you warning because I see the Sword is a coming now read Ezek. 33. the nine first Verses Vse 6. Of Exhortation Take it amongst you in three things briefly 1. Bless the Lord that you live under the Ministration of such an excellent Freedom Oh Sirs think what a mercy you have and be thankful How many be there that want what you enjoy God hath made the way to Heaven plain before you You may see by the light that shines amongst you how fain he would have you saved You may read those words as your own Princiledge Luke 1. 78 79. Through the tender mercy of God the day-spring from on high hath visited us To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace God might have left you as he hath many without the means of Grace your feet might have stumbled upon the dark Mountains you might have gone all your lives and not have heard so much of Christ as you have heard from this one Text. Oh! that now you could be praising God for his goodness to your Souls I say no more to you but this Unthankfulness for the Gospel endangers the Gospel they who don 't look upon it as a great mercy are not like to have such a mercy long 2. If any of you be looking after Freedom for your Souls or when ever it shall please God that any of you shall which the Lord grant may be quickly for in this case delays are dangerous be sure you look after Freedom indeed take heed that you be not deceived with a Counterfeit with the shew and shadow of this Freedom but that it be that very Freedom which Christ gives to believers An hypocrite he thinks he hath this Freedom but he is in Bondage still you never have this true Freedom till your hearts be right in the sight of God Acts 8. compare vers 21 23. together There be two great fears concerning persons that are out of Christ the first whether ever they will look after him at all and then if they do whether it will be in
that one that hath this Freedom were to walk in the flames of Hell they would not hurt him they would all part and give way as who should say this is one that we must not fasten upon as the Children of Israel past through the Red-Sea that dreadful gulf and all the waters fell back as if they were frighted at them why they were the people who were under Gods redeeming love therefore they were not drowned no not so much as wetted So if those who have obtained through faith a part in this Freedom were to pass to Heaven through Hell it would be with them as it were with the three Children when they were cast into the burning fiery furnance Dan. 3. 28 29. 3. That the highest mercy should be reconciled to the strictest justice It would have posed any but a God to tell what to say to this which way to shew the greatest severity against sin and yet to shew the greatest mercy to the sinner but by this Freedom this is done Mercy doth not fall out with Justice for being so terrible and Justice doth not fall out with Mercy for being so favourable but both are well pleased in what is done and so well pleased with one another that as Davids expression is they can kiss each other as most intimate loving Friends Gods Attributes as I may speak with reverence did never seem to be so near a falling out as when the Covenant of Works was broken by our first Parents Mercy lookt as if it would fain have pittied us but Justice looked as if it would by no means let it these two they were only by way of allusion to it like the Twins in Rebekahs Womb that strugled together Gen. 25. 22. And one did not prevail over the other like two Armies when they fight and one puts the other to the worst and so gets the Victory but a sweet peace and harmony was kept between them by the intended Freedom that should be by Christ Take notice by the way what a dreadful breach sin made in our first Apostacy in that it did not only make us to fall out with God but also as much as lay in us to give an occasion if it had been possible for God to fall out with himself to set Attribute against Attribute Mercy against Justice and Justice against Mercy but now by this Freedom all is quiet and well enough on both sides as the Apostle saith when he is speaking of it in Gal. 3. 21. Is the law then against the promise God forbid 4. That one that hath but a little grace should be looked upon as one that hath no sin What a Wonder is this you have not one Child of God but is very ready to confess that he hath but a little grace yea you 'l say that 's their holy modesty and humilty it may be 't is not so indeed I grant it is so in some that they have much more of God and Christ in them then they desire to speak of and the more grace any one hath the more apt I think they are to bewail their own vileness and in this case we must not take every Child of God just at their word but we may tell some of them Come blessed be God you are better than you will acknowledg But really beloved there be some in Christ that have but a very little Grace some I know they have and they must have It is inconsistent with being truly in Christ to have no grace at all but there are some of them that are but new-born Babes their Grace is but like the bruised reed and the smoaking flax they be for their Souls as Zacheus was for his Body of whom 't is said that he was little of stature Luk. 19. 3. Now you may think that certainly they who have so little Grace must needs be counted by God to be persons that have a great deal of sin but in respect of their justification by Christ who hath made them free it is not so Observe 2 Cor. 7. 1. Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God As if he should say Oh Friends you have a deal of filthiness yet to be got out of you both as to your outward conversation and as to your inward frame and you are very imperfect and short in point of holiness and grace and yet he had told them before cap. 5. 21. that being in Christ they were made or reckoned and counted such as had no less a righteousness than the righteousness of God 5. That the eyes of one should be opened that was born blind this is such a Wonder that you read in Joh. 9. 32. that since the World began 't was not heard that ever any man did it but this is done in this Freedom they who have it were born blind as blind as Moles and so continued in respect of spiritual sight till Christ had made them free and then as it is said of Saul immediately there fell from their eyes as it had been scales and they received sight forthwith This same Freedom by Christ is that eye salve which you read of Rev. 3. 18. If any hath but the eyes of his understanding anointed with it it will make him see that he never saw 't will make him behold wondrous things out of Gods law things that he past by and took no more notice of than a blind man doth of the beautifullest sight that ever was seen 6. That a man that is possessed by the Devil should have the Devil cast out of him Would you not count it a wonderful thing to see a man that had been possessed with the Devil and he his now cast out If any should tell you when you are in the streets There goes a man that a little while ago the Devil spoke in him and dwelt in him as a man doth in his own house where he counts himself at home how would you look upon and marvel to see such a man Well this Freedom is such a thing that it casts out Devils Mary Magdalen that was brought into it had seven Devils cast out of her what is the heart of men by nature but an habition of Devils 't is not an expression that at all deserves to be thought much on to say concerning wicked men That the Devil is in them the Scripture it self saies so Eph. 2. 2. and the Devil was in Judas Satan entred into him and where the Devil is there he will be he will keep his hold till this Freedom comes and then let him look to himself he shall be cast out tho he hath legions with him 'T is observable there in Luk. 10. how the seventy Disciples whom Christ had sent out to Preach this Freedom returned with joy to see what work the Gospel made with the powers of darkness Lord say they even the Devils are subject to us through thy name vers 17. And mark what Christ
saies again vers 18. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven As if he should say I foresaw this when I sent you out that it would be so I knew that he would come down as swift as the lightning Beloved this Freedom makes sinners vomit up Devils where it comes what a wonderful thing is this 7. That the dead should be raised would you not Wonder to see a man raised from the dead If so be that any of you should stand in a Church-yard and while you are looking upon a grave and think of the person that lies dead and buried there and how many years ago it is since he died and that now he were rotten and consumed to see him come forth and stand up and live Why now such a marvellous work is done by this Freedom it hath spiritually opened the graves of many thousand Souls and blessed be God we are not without some such that live and walk amongst us at this day and that are with us in this Congregation Beloved do but turn your eyes now and look upon such a man and such a woman that fears God and you have this wonderful sight before you concerning whom it may be said as in Eph. 2. 1. And you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins By this Freedom God shews Wonders to the dead the dead arise and praise him Psal 88. 10 11 12. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead shall the dead arise and praise thee Selah Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction Shall thy wonders be known in the dark and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness Why yes God doth so in this case that I am upon And therefore if you that have any Relations any Children any Friends that are for the condition of their Souls stark dead you cannot perceive the least motion or breathing in them towards God or any thing that is good Why 't is true indeed if you be spiritually alive your selves you can't but do that which persons use to do for their Friends that are dead you cannot but mourn for them and in this sense you may and you must do that which would be a great sin in another sense you may pray for the dead and you may be stirred up to it by the consideration of the wonderful nature of this Freedom that it is a thing that will put life into the dead You may look upon a wicked Child or Relation it may be so far gone in sin that they are even past hope as we use to do upon people when they are dead oh as long as they were alive tho very sick yet while there 's life there is hope as we use to say but when we see they are dead then hope is gone Yea but as to this I am speaking of how know you but Christ may come to the grave of that dead Soul and raise it as he did to Lazarus So beloved we that are Ministers of Christ we preach of this Freedom to you and as to divers of you we are afraid we preach to the dead and one would think Why then what hope is there were it not as good to give over Oh no! Preach we must for all this in hope that you may live we are sure that if God please to give you this Freedom tho you have it not yet when it comes it shall do Wonders in you 't will fetch you out of your graves Our Preaching to sinners 't is like Ezekiels prophecying to the dry bones cap. 37. God brought him and set him down in the midst of a Valley full of them vers 1 2. and when he had been viewing them well and seen what a sad Spectacle there was now Son of man can these bones live saith he dost think 't is possible that ever they should live And he answered O Lord God thou knowest As if he should say O Lord that 's with thee who can resolve that but thy self verse 3. Well in vers 4. Come do thou prophecy upon them saith God and keep on prophecying and see what I will do by it Now vers 7. the Prophet prophesied as he was commanded As if he should say That I did and that was all that I could do but mark what wonderful success here was see vers 7 8 9 10. and you read in vers 10. that they lived c. The Lord bless our preaching as he blessed Ezekiels prophecying here 8. That Death it self should be killed Is not this a strange thing You know what a killing thing Death is you have heard of many and seen many that have been slain by it it is a killing all over the World Whether you consider Death naturally or spiritually what a great destroyer ' t is But now that there should be something that should cause Death it self to dye would not this be a wonder why this Freedom doth it it kills the bodily death by the Resurrection of the body it kills the spiritual Death by their being risen with Christ it kills the eternal Death by giving them eternal Life You have two Verses in Joh. 11. 25 26. that speak to this says our Saviour there I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me tho he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye See also 1 Cor. 15. 54 55 56 57. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 9. That a man should be made able to do all things Would you not Wonder to see a man that is so able It may be you will not believe that there is any such man in the World Nay that if he could do all things he would not be a man and 't is true if you take all things in the largest sense he cannot do all things that God can do but he can do all things through God that he hath to do Phil. 4. 11. A true Christian is in some sense weak and yet strong as Paul saith When I am weak then am I strong 2 Cor. 12. 10. And says our Saviour to the man that brought to him his Son possessed with a Devil beseeching him to help him Mark 9. 23 If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth As if he should say Art thou got into Freedom if so there 's nothing that thou hast to do but thou maist go through with it by faith in me A man that hath this Freedom and improves it as he should do he can be poor he can be rich he can do and he can suffer he can live