God not Synagogues of the Devil And when some objected their want of gifts for prayer he gave them such Directions and Instructions both for matter and manner that in a short time the blessed fruits and effects thereof was very visible many being able to pour out their Souls in prayer unto God with proper Words and melting Affections He always charged them to be upon their knees in prayer Gods familarity with us should not make us saucy towards him but to ingage us to keep our distance and to serve him with a more holy fear and filial reverence The Lord gave him a large seal unto his Ministry in so much that he was the Spritual Father of many whom he begat to Christ in the Gospel When he altered his condition he sought and found a meet help for him every way a neighbour Ministers Daughter to whom he was Married and with whom he lived Religiously and comfortably to his dying day and the blessing of God was upon his Marriage giving him by his vertuous Wife ten Sons and three Daughters She is now left a desolate Widow like the chast Turtle mourning for the loss of her Mate and her Children Orphans but he laid up for them Treasure in Heaven a stock of prayers to the God hearing prayer and they have the Promises God is the Husband and Judg of his Widow and Father to the fatherless out of his holy Habitation their Fathers God will be their God and his seed will be blessed after him Leave thy Fatherless children unto me and let thy Widows put their trust in me saith the Lord. In the government of his Family he was very exact and shewed a rare example of piety to his whole Family He began with God first in his own closet and suffered none under his roof to live without secret prayer When it was a convenient time for the whole house to meet together he came from his Study and summoning them to Duty he expounded one or two Chapters and examined his Children and Servants what they did remember encouraging the diligent reproving the negligent which being done he called upon God for them and with them In prayer he was always fervent vehemently wrestling with the Lord for his blessing In his daily prayers he begged hard for Mercy for King and Kingdom for Church and State he sought the prosperity of Zion earnestly and would not brook a denial Duty being ended he retired shortly upon it into his Study where he commonly abode till Dinner and when he crav'd a blessing upon his meat it was in the presence of his whole Family he was very sparing in his diet and at Table ever turning his discourse Heavenwards and would lead his guests and family from their mercies to the God of Mercies At every meal he preached as it were a short Sermon and Thanks being returned unto God he hastned again into his Study allowing himself no recreation but what arose from reading praying and instructing others He spent most of his time in studying the Scriptures searching out the Mind and Will God in them Well knowing that all humane writings had their defects but the Book of God was perfect and infallible He common-plac'd all his reading this was a store-house for present and after uses At night he carefully kept good hours for Evening-prayer so that his family did not serve God between sleeping and waking A Chapter being read and prayer offered up unto the Lord he withdrew himself again into his Study where as he began so he closed the day with secret Devotion When he lay down in his bed it was with some heavenly discourses which took up his time till he fell asleep His first thoughts in the morning were of God His meditations before his uprising were improved heavenward He rose early and would discourse in the day how his reins instructed him in the night season 'T is a thousand pities that so many precious thoughts as Gods Saints have of God should be lost and not recorded A godly Gentleman of the Inner Temple told a Reverend Minister that he would not lose his morning-thoughts of God for all his worldly estate which yet was a very fair and great one But his observation of the Lords day was most strict and religious The fourth Commandment is the hedg and mound about the whole Law Break down this and you violate all the rest The Jews stiled the sabbath the Bride of the Synagogue This holy man of God decked himself up for it as a Bridegroom to meet his Bride The Sabbath was his delight and he was exceeding careful not only in his own person but that all in his family and under his charge should sanctifie it unto the Lord. He had no worldly business no worldly discourses on that day but he and his whole houshold spent the whole day in the Service of God Blessed is the man that doth this and the son of man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it In his house 't was the Lords day indeed the Queen of daies all his children servants and whoso lodged within his gates were wholly taken up in reading hearing repeating meditating praying and singing of Psalms that day On the Sabbath evenings he examined his childrens servants proficiency by the Sabbath-ordinances and laboured mightily to awaken their consciences and to put them upon early seeking of God He was very communicative of his knowledg As a Fountain freely yields its water and the field its corn and the garden herbs for the use of man so did his heart and tongue disperse abroad his spiritual gifts and experiences to the edification of others He would talk with any child or servant that so he might drop into them something of the mystery of godliness Frequently would he take his younger children into his closet and offer up particular supplications for them he would not indulge any of them in a sinful action 'T was his judgment that a Father might wink at any thing saving sin against God Therefore in his use of the Rod he designed their good He first convinced them of the dishonour they had done the Lord the danger they had brought upon themselves and professed that as God their heavenly Father had not so neither had he any pleasure in chastising them that sin being bound up in the heart of a child 't was the Lords Ordinance that the rod of correction should drive it out and therefore he always accompanied the rod with prayer that so they might have the spirit and blessing of the rod and correction might be seconded with conversion and crowned with universal reformation He seemed by his indulgence and kindness to his servants a Father rather than a Master He was very compassionate on their Souls and pressed them powerfully to secure the main their interest in Christ And some of them have cause everlastingly to bless God they came under his roof and stood related to so pious and good a Master The tenderness of
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
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
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