The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ Under the Law the People could not eat of the Sin-Offering but only the Priest for the same Reason they were forbidden to eat Sacrifice and drink Blood Levit. 17.11 12. For the Life of the Flesh is in the Blood and I have given it to you upon the Altar to make an atonement for your Souls for it is the Blood that maketh an atonement for the Soul Therefore I said unto the Children of Israel No Soul of you shall eat Blood compared with Mat. 26.26 This is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the Remission of Sins The Priest was to become one with the Sacrifice to figure Christ's Person but now Atonement being made another Union is necessary of Sinners with the Sacrifice Nothing is so one with us as that we eat and drink it becometh a part of our Substance it resembleth that streight and near conjunction between us and Christ. This is a means appointed to engage us to look after this Union here we come to profess it to promote it it is a Means under a Blessing 3. Receive him thankfully Oh what am I and whence is it to me that the Mother of my Lord should come to me Luke 1.43 that Christ should come to me and dwell in my Heart 4. Entertain him kindly be careful to preserve the Motions Quicknings Comforts of his Spirit This is the respect we should show to be sensible of Accesses and Recesses and accordingly suit our Carriage Rejoice in his Presence such a precious Guest must be observed Grieve when you do not feel the Comforts of it Cant. 5.4 My Beloved put in his Hand at the hole of the Door and my Bowels were moved for him Vse 3. Examine whether Christ be in you or no. You may know it 1. By his manner of Entrance Christ is not wont to come into the Heart without Opposition The Devil is loth to be dispossessed Luke 11.21 When a strong Man armed keepeth his Palace his Goods are in Peace Christ came into the Temple with a Whip to drive out the Mony-changers He cometh to Rule alone 2. By the Fruits of his Abode Life Fruitfulness Tendency 1. Life It will stir and quicken you to good Duties Gal. 3.20 I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me He is a Living Fountain of Vital Union 2. Fruitfulness of Soul John 15.2 Every Branch in me that beareth not Fruit he taketh away and every Branch that beareth Fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more Fruit. And Vers. 4. Abide in me and I in you As the Branch cannot bear Fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine no more can you except you abide in me 3. Tendency 1. to Heaven Heaven is the place of our full enjoiment of him They do not admire Worldly Excellencies Luke 19.8 Behold Lord the half of my Goods I give to the Poor and if I have taken any thing from any Man by false Accusation I restore him four-fold The Woman left her Pitcher John 4.28 Matthew followed Christ. 2. To God's Glory as our last Aim their Aim is according to their Principle Secondly I come to the End of this Union I. With respect to Believers That they may be made perfect c. II. With respect to the World and their Conviction That the World may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me I. With respect to Believers that they may be made perfect in One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Oneness is either with God or with one another Both are included in the Mystical Union we cannot be united to the Head but we must also be united to the Members Exod. 25.20 The Golden Cherubims did so look to the Ark and Mercy-Seat that they did also look one towards another So in this Union as we respect God and Christ so we must also look to our Fellow-Members Let them be perfect in One let them all center in God which is the Creature 's Perfection Observe Our perfect Happiness lieth in Oneness in being one with God through Christ. I shall evidence it to you in a few Particulars 1. Since the Fall Man's Affections and Thoughts are scattered Eccles. 7.29 God hath made Man upright but they have sought out many Inventions When Man lost his Happiness he sought out many Inventions A Sinner is full of Wandrings as a wayfaring Man that hath lost his Direction turneth up and down and knows not where to pitch or the Needle in the Compass when it is jogged shaketh and wavereth and knoweth not where to rest till it turneth to the Pole again There is a restlesness in our Desires still we have new Projects and know not where to pitch are not content with what we do possess this is not the Pole where we rest Quaerunt in vanitate creaturarum quod amisserunt in unitate Creatoris A River the further it runneth from the Fountain the more it is dispersed into several Streams Blindness maketh us grope and feel about for Happiness as the Sodomites did for Lot's Door We change Objects striving to meet with that in one thing which we cannot find in another as Bees fly and go from Flower to Flower we seek patch up things as well as we can 2. In all this Chase and distraction of Thoughts there is no Contentment in the vast World nothing that can satiate the Heart of Man Transitory Things may divert the Soul but they cannot content it After Solomon's Survey Eccles. 1.2 Vanity of Vanities saith the Preacher Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity He had made many Experiments but still found himself disappointed and Disappointment is the worst Vexation 3. This Distraction continueth till we return to God again 1 Pet. 2.25 Ye were as Sheep going astray but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your Souls There is no safety but in the Fold God who is the Principle of our Being is the only Object of our Contentment We began in a Monade or Unity and there we end God is the Boundary of all Things Rom. 11.36 For of him and through him and to him are all Things to whom be Glory for ever Amen In him or no where the Soul findeth content He is our first Cause and our last End There are some Strictures and Rays of Goodness in the Creature but they cannot satisfy because there we have Happiness by Parcels it is dispersed nothing is dispersed in the Creature but what is recollected in the Creator there is all in him because all came out from him 4. The great Work of Grace is to return us to God again that we may pitch upon him as the chief Object and Center of our Rest. Jer. 32.39 I will give them one Heart and one Way that they may fear me for ever It is the great Blessing of the Covenant this one Heart is to pitch upon God as
any temporal Accident The discourse between Modestus a Governour under Valence and Basil the Great in Naz. his twentieth Oration is very notable to this purpose when he threatned him with banishment I know no Banishment that know no abiding place here in the World I cannot say that this place is mine nor can I say the other is not mine where ever God shall cast me rather all is the Lords whose Stranger and Pilgrim I am Every place is alike near to Heaven and thither I am tending This is to carry our selves as Strangers and Pilgrims Indeed to be more indifferent as to the good things of this life and to take them as God sendeth them but Heaven will make amends for all Many times the World proveth a Step-mother The ground that bringeth forth Thistles and Nettles of its own accord will not bear choicer Plants But 't is your comfort you shall be transplanted Heb. 10.34 From whence do you fetch your supports in any cross 1 John 3.1 A Prince that travaileth abroad in disguise may be slighted and ill treated but you have a Glorious inheritance reserved for you therefore this should be your comfort and support 5. Beg direction from God that you may go the shortest way home Psa. 119.19 I am a stranger upon Earth hide not thy Commandments from me It concerneth a stranger to look after a better and a more durable estate there is no direction how to attain it but in the Word of God and there is no saving understanding of it but in the light of his Spirit this we must earnestly â—eâ—k that in every thing we may understand our duty that we be not found in a false way Saved as by fire 1 Cor. 3.13 Make an hard shift to scramble to Heaven 6. Get as much of home as you can in your pilgrimage in the earnest and first fruits of the Spirit Rom. 8.23 And not only they but our selves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Bodies In Ordinances Matth. 26.29 But I say unto you I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the Vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom Meditation Word Prayer and Communion of Saints 2. Doct. The main reason why a good Christian counteth himself not at home is because he is absent from the Lord while he is in the Body I shall here enquire 1. How believers are absent from the Lord. 2. Why this maketh them look upon the World as a strange place and Heaven as their House 1. How are believers absent from the Lord When he dwelleth in them as in his Temple and there is a near and close union between him and them And he hath promised that where two or three are gathered together in his name he is in the midst of them I answer Christ is with us indeed but we are not with him He dwelleth in us by his grace and influenceth us with quickening and strength but he is at a distance we can have no personal converse with him though there be a Spiritual commerce between us But in Heaven we shall be translated to Christ and injoy the fulness of his grace here we walk by faith and not by sight as it is in the next verse In short our Communion with Christ is 1. Not Immediate 2. Nor full 3. Often interrupted 1. 'T is not Immediate We see him now as covered and vailed in Ordinances and Providences but then we shall see him Face to Face In providences we injoy him only at the second or third hand Hosea 2.21 22. I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth and the Earth shall hear the Corn and Wine and Oyl and they shall hear Jezreel The mercy and goodness of God passeth from Creature to Creature before it cometh to us So in Ordinances all that we have from him is by the means of the Word and Sacraments there we shall injoy him without means and without these external helps for there God will be all in all 1 Cor. 15.28 We shall then ever be before him in his Eye and presence And in his presence is fulness of joy Psa. 16.11 Our Communion with him is not a fancy but indeed 1 John 1.3 Truly our Communion is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. But this commerce is maintained at a distance he is in Heaven and we are upon Earth 't is maintained by Faith but then all is evident to sense 2. Now 't is not full There is a defect both in the Pipe and the Vessel we cannot contain all that he is able to give out nor can the means convey it to us the means are as narrow conduits from the fountain or as Creeks from the Sea the fountain could send forth more water but the pipe or conduit can convey no more The Sea could pour a greater floud but the Creek can receive no more When God dispenseth himself by means either in a way of punishment or blessing he doth not give out himself in that fulness and Latitude as when he is all in all In punishing the wicked here he punisheth us by a Creature A Giant striking with a straw cannot put forth his strength with it So in blessing no Creature nor Ordinance can convey all the goodness of God to us Therefore now we have an imperfect power against sin imperfect peace and comfort in our Consciences an imperfect Love to God but when our Communion is Immediate then will it be full we converse with Christ without lett and impediment and he maketh out himself to us in a greater latitude and fulness then now 3. Our Communion with Christ is often interrupted but in Glory we shall injoy his company for ever and shall have constant and near fellowship 1 Thes. 4.17 We shall be ever with the Lord. That day is never darkened with Cloud or night we shall meet and never part more all distance is gone and weakness is gone and we shall everlastingly abide before his Throne 2. Why Gods Children count themselves not at home till they are admitted into this perpetual society with Christ 1. Because this is the blessedness which is promised to them And therefore they expect it and thirst after it John 12.26 Where I am there shall my Servant be 'T is our duty to follow him where ever he leadeth us here And 't is our happiness to be with him for ever hereafter We often look upon the Happiness of Heaven as it freeth us from all pains and torments No The chiefest part is to be with Christ. Our Glory and Happiness consists much in being in his company So when he maketh his last will and Testament John 17.24 Father I will that those whom thou hast given me may be where I am and behold my glory That 's it He prayeth they may be brought safe there and be happy for
us to all holy endeavours of Obedience this is sometimes called the activity or working of Grace Faith worketh by love Gal. 5.6 Sometimes Zeal or an earnest burning of affection towards God or that holy Ardor whereby we repress those affections unruly motions and desires which are contrary to his Will and do excite and stir up our selves more and more to honour him and please him Titus 2.14 Zealous of good works Sometimes Alacrity and Chearfulness as we prevail in striving against sin and our Love to God increaseth 1 John 5.3 4. All these are as so many degrees First We make Conscience of doing our Duty but that 's not enough a Convinced man may have his Conscience stirring and pleading for God but a Converted man or a renewed Heart hath an inclination and not only an inclination but some fitness and not only some fitness but there is an impulsion which discovereth its self either by stirring or exciting to that which is good though with difficulty which is the lowest degree All Grace is stirring and would fain break out into action for 't is not a dead and sleepy habit but seeketh to break forth and is called by the Apostle The Lustings of the Spirit Gal. 5.17 Another Degree is Zeal and Love to the glory of God whom they honour and desire to exalt continually which maketh them complain of Corruption and to strive against it and to shake off sloathfulness and the weights of sin that hang upon us when the Spirit gets the upper hand but the flesh is not easily subdued Then we are more at liberty to serve God and so Alacrity followeth when a man hath Pleasure in good actions and the Flesh is so overcome and subdued that it can make little or no opposition and so we perform our Duty with more ease and delight which is the highest degree SERMON III. MATTH XXV v. 3 4. They that were foolish took their Lamps and took no Oyl with them But the wise took Oyl in their Vessels with their Lamps I Come now to the Second Effect Secondly An habitual Aversation to that which is evil Psal. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil 'T is as natural to Grace to hate evil as to love good As Love was made for God and the things which he hath Commanded and tends to the enjoyment of him so Hatred was made for sin and what is contrary to God Man hath an eschewing faculty as well as an embracing and choosing faculty and Grace falleth upon both and sanctifyeth the one as well as the other Amos 5.15 Hate the evil and love the good Love was given us for good and Hatred for evil Love was made for the chiefest good and all things that tend to it and Hatred for that which is truely and properly evil Now concerning this Effect of Grace I shall observe these things 1. Grace produceth an Hatred of sin not a bare abstinence from it Sin may be restrained by forreign reasons not proper to Grace as a Dogg that hath a mind to the Bait may abstain for fear of the Cudgel So Men may abstain because of the Penalty of Laws Infamy shame in the World or other reasons as Haman refrained himself that he might the better take Revenge upon the whole race of the Jews Men may refrain from sin when there is not a rooted Enmity against it whereas in the Saints there is a constant Principle of resistance against it 1 John 3.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Seed of God abideth in him The Grace of Sanctification doth change the nature of a man and his Heart is set against that he loved before Look as the Lord will not respect mens external practice of Good when it may be their Hearts abhor and loath it and are bent on other courses he requireth chiefly that they be rooted in the Love of good and delight in it so he will not accept a simple not-doing or forbearing evil while it may be their Hearts are going a Whoring after it but will have them really hate and detest it that there should be an abiding Enmity in their Hearts against it and where 't is so that there is an habitual Love of good and hatred of evil Christ will pass by many failings in practice as you may see Rom. 7.22 23 24 25. that is the Case there The evil that I hate that do I and I delight in the Law of God in the inward man Clear these two once and the remainders of sin will not be your ruine 2. Grace produceth an hatred of sin as sin out of a principle of Love to God and as it is contrary to his Law and the new nature planted in us Ye that love the Lord hate evil and he that is born of God sinneth not that is the principle because the Seed of God abideth in you The School-men distinguish of two sorts and kinds of Hatred Odium abominationis and Odium inimicitiae the first is defined by Aquinas to be Dissonantia quaedam appetitus ad id quod apprehenditur ut repugnans noxium an aversation of the Appetite to what is apprehended repugnant and contrary to us Such an hatred there is in the regenerate for they apprehend sin as repugnant and contrary to their renewed Will to the unregenerate 't is agreeable and suitable as Draffe to the appetite of a Swine or Grass and Hay to a Bullock and Horse The other is an Hatred of Enmity so called both for the ground of it and the effect of it the ground as an evil that which is an Enemy and hurtful to us as sin is to our Peace and Happiness Temporal Spiritual and Eternal but chiefly as to the effect of it Hatred is a willing of evil and mischief to the thing or person hated Both these Hatreds are in the Children of God They hate sin not only as it may bring Loss and Detriment horrour of Conscience and Damnation but out of the pure Love of God as 't is contrary to his Image and Will and they hate it with an hostile Hatred so as to seek the destruction of it Non cessat in laesione Peccati sed in exterminio it doth not scratch at the Face of sin but is seeking to mortifie and subdue it and therefore are alwayes Mourning Praying Watching Striving Famishing it by cutting off its Provisions and denying its Satisfactions and still following the work close 'till we get the Mastery of it 3. I Observe That renewing Grace doth so far obtain and produce this effect in the Hearts of those that are under it that their Hatred to sin is greater than their Love to it and sin is thereby more and more weakened and subdued in the Soul We flatter our selves with notions of Love and Hatred unless there be some answerable Success and Prevalency It cannot be Imagined that sin should Live in its full strength where there is a fixed settled frame of Heart against it that there should be in the Soul
our Bridegroom to come into his presence with our filthy Rags therefore we come to present his Bride with Glory 3. Then there is an open Manifestation of his Dearest Love before the last day the Match is concluded between the Parties there is love expressed but 't is secret and hidden Our Life is hid with Christ in God But then he will own Believers man by man Luk. 12.8 invite them into his bosom in the sight of the World Mat. 25.34 pronounce their Pardon on the Throne Acts 3.19 set them at his Right-hand as Judging the World together with himself 2 Cor. 6.2 Alas now all is under a Vail the World sees us not 1 John 3.1 Now we our selves question whether he loves us or no question it often If the Lord be with us why are these things befallen us But then all is open and clear when the Clouds vanish about Christs Person so about us also 'T is called the day of the manifestation of the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 4. Then we are brought home to his House conducted in State to Heaven John 14.3 Then the day is come when you shall have all that you have hoped desired looked for Oh what an happy day will that be When the great Shepherd of the Sheep shall lead his Flock into their everlasting Fold and the Husband of the Church carry her with him into his Fathers House John 17.24 Father I will that those whom thou hast given me may be where I am and behold my Glory And his Will and Testament is made good now we are in the outer Court if one day in the House of God be better than a Thousand elsewhere Oh what is it to be brought home to God! In these blessed Mansions there we shall abide for ever and never to part more 5. Everlasting Cohabitation and living with him We shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thes. 4.17 not get a Glimpse and away but for ever to enjoy his presence Christs Presence for a time upon Earth was very sweet to his Disciples 't was bitter to them to think of his going from them though it were Expedient for them but now remain in an everlasting State of Intimacy and Familiarity with him Now we have a taste of Christ but then our Communion shall be without Intermission or Interruption we shall be out of the Croud and press of Troubles and Temptations and Sins and study Divinity in the Lambs Face and he will communicate himself to us according to the vastest Extent of our Capacity VSE Oh then be Espoused to Christ Otherwise he will not come as a Bridegroom but as a Judge For Motives 1. Consider your Necessity there is a deep necessity lyeth upon you you are undone for ever if you are not married to Christ The Apostle saith 1 Cor. 7. if a Woman can live without an Husband she doth well if she marryeth not But now you are undone for ever if you have him not you are liable to the Wrath of the Eternal God The Apostle saith Rom. 7.4 That all those are dead to the Law who are marryed to Christ that must be done necessarily First now What is it to be dead to the Law but to see our selves miserable and undone for ever and Impotent and no way able to help our selves The Law which is written upon every mans Conscience is there represented as an hard and cruel Husband that requireth an hard task to do but affordeth no strength at all to do it Therefore it bindeth us over to Death and the Curse The Sense of the Law being in-bred in the Conscience and Natural to us cannot be extinguished but will return with the more Violence Well then the Law suggesteth what we should do threatneth us if we do it not and Conscience telling us we have not done it this is a continual Grief and Vexation to us and a man is kept under fear of Death and Hell all his days 2. Consider the Excellency of Christ who is altogether Lovely as to his Person and Offices and every way suited to your necessities As to his Person he is God-man able and willing to do you good for what cannot God do and surely he will not be strange to his own flesh You are condemned by the Law he is a Priest to make Atonement for you You are ignorant of the way to true Happiness he is a Prophet to teach and guide you you have many Enemies and Difficulties to overcome in that way he points it out to you and your own flesh is weak but he is a King to vanquish your Enemies and to assist you with the Powerful Succours of his Spirit he will help you to perform your Duty in the midst of all Temptations to the contrary For we are to serve him in Newness of Spirit Rom. 7.5 6. 3. Consider the Vtility and Profit of it 1 Cor. 3.22 23. All things are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods If you could as heartily devote your selves to the Service of Christ as Christ as Mediatour did to the work of Redemption nothing would be wanting to you to promote your present Holiness and future Happiness 4. 'T is no Presumption to aspire to this Marriage for God maketh the first Motion God hath made Love to you and Wooed you by all manner of ingaging Expressions that he may win your Hearts and ingage your consent Oh do not refuse the Lords kindness or neglect to bestow your Hearts upon him or to give up your selves to him Christ hath imployed Spokes-men sends his tokens as presents of Love Mat. 23.37 I would but you would not All Marriages are brought about by earnest Suit on the one side and Consent on the other so it is here Oh therefore consider and say as Rebecka I can say no more nor no less the thing is the Lords 5. Consider how ill Christ will take it to be refused Prov. 1.29 30. They would none of my Counsel and despised all my Reproofs And Psal. 81.11 But my People would not hearken to my Voice Israel would none of me Despising of kindness is very provoking Oh then give Christ a free and a full and firm consent and all is ended First A free Consent not Extorted When men are a little frighted into a good Conscience Christ seemeth to be welcome to them but as their Trouble weareth off so doth their Resolution to take Christ for their Lord and Saviour Psal. 78.34 35. When he slew them then they sought him and returned and enquired early after God and they remembred that God was their Rock and the most High their Redeemer In such cases men put a force upon themselves and their Heart is not inclined but compelled as those that marry against their wills 'T is only in a pang and fit of Conscience that they like Christ when some great distress forceth them to resolve for him and their fears drive them to Christ rather than his excellencies draw them to him That
find it narrower 't is so broad that he cannot pass at all Every delay brings on a new degree of hardness of Heart on our part and a new desertion on Gods part Now how wilt thou untwist the former Web which thou hast been so long a weaving That Soul must needs be in perplexity at the hour of Death that seeth the day spent and the business appointed to him not yet begun and a Disease disabling him for any serious reflections As if a Traveller seeth the Sun setting when he is entring upon his Journey the Evening of the day and the Morning of the task do not well agree together All the time that remaineth is too short to lament the lost time already past Therefore if Watching inferreth Preparation it inferreth speedy Preparation and a man is not in a good condition to live that is not fit to die 2. It must be a serious and thorough Preparation such as will serve the turn and be accepted by Christ at his Coming The whole design of this Parable is to caution us against the shallowness and slightness of the work of Grace upon our Hearts Heathens have a Conscience as Felix trembled much more Christians Men may see and have a taste of sins bitterness and have a longing mind after Christ but the life of Grace is not begun in them they do not awake to righteousness 1 Cor. 15.34 We should often think what is required in order to that day and what the Scripture maketh our readiness to consist in Repentance and actual conversion to God this is pressed upon us Act. 3.19 Repent that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshment shall come from the presence of the Lord. Repentance is the Souls Return to God in Love And Act. 17.30 31. Now he commandeth all men to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness That day is kept off that we might have time to repent 2 Pet. 3.9 So Faith in Christ that will unite us to him or an hearty taking him for our Lord and Saviour Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. Phil. 3.9 found in him 1 John 2.28 And now little Children abide in him that when he shall appear you may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming We must be in Christ and abide in Christ. To abide in Christ is to persevere in our adhering to him as our Lord and Saviour in the profession of his Name observation of his Precepts recumbency on his Merits imitation of his Graces Communion with his Person Certainly he will not cast off those who are Members of his Mystical Body and abide in him by Faith nor condemn those whom he hath redeemed and washed in his Blood and sanctified by his Spirit This is our Preparation yea the Scripture doth not only look to our Hearts but to our Lives Jam. 2.1 2. 3. It must be a constant and daily Preparation You must not only get ready but keep ready Besides Habitual Preparation there must be Actual Preparation We must every day be more in a readiness The Centinel is to watch all hours 't is death to be taken sleeping though he hath watched all the night before We know neither the day nor the hour 'T is in the Text implying there must be no intermission of our care What if my Master should come and find me idle said Calvin to his Friends that demanded of him why he wasted his body in such constant labours Few are like-minded that put this question to their Souls Am I as I would meet with Christ We should alwayes stand with our Lamps burning and our Loyns girt Luk. 12.35 A Christian should be always as a Ship that hath taken in its Lading and is prepared and furnished with all manner of Tackling ready to set Sail only expecting the good wind to carry him out of the Haven So should we be ready to set Sail for Eternity stand at Heaven Gates be in a perpetual exercise of Faith and Love and be fittingly prepared to meet our Saviour O what a happiness is it to live so that we care not when death cometh upon us and so live every day as if we were presently to be summoned before the Tribunal of Christ. The World thinketh this a foolish strictness becaâ—se many dayes go over our heads and it proveth not so But let them mock on when they come to Hell they will find this to be the greatest wisdom A Christian will count every day his last Not only his own necessity but his love and earnest desire of Christs Coming maketh him look out 3. The last thing in this Watching is Earnest expectation of Christs last Appearance and the Grace he will bring along with him 1 Pet. 1.15 Gird up the loyns of your minds and be sober and hope to the end for the Grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Our Hearts and Minds should be more taken up with the thoughts of his Coming and the Priviledges we shall have by him 'T is expressed by looking longing waiting and Christians are often described by these acts Tit. 3.13 Looking for the blessed hope Phil. 3.20 21. From whence we look for a Saviour Heb. 10.27 We should stir up our minds to look for his Coming and not only stir up our hopes but our desires 2 Tim. 4.8 To them that love his appearing 't is a sign and Token that he cometh with a Blessing to us To them he cometh with a Crown of Righteousness So for waiting 1 Cor. 1.7 Ye come behind in no gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were converted for this end to wait for his coming from Heaven 1 Thes. 1.10 Now I come to shew you the Reasons why this Watching is required of us or to move us to it First Consider who it is that biddeth you watch Christ himself whom you call Lord and Master who knows the worth and danger of Souls and hath a tender esteem and value for them If we did impose so strict a Duty upon you you might take or leave it as it shall be for your conveniency In the first of Proverbs Solomon bringeth in Wisdom lifting up her voice and crying Prov. 1.20 What to do to accept of the Grace offered The most then will miss the season they shall never receive advantage by the cry if they neglect it vers 26. and vers 28. They shall call upon me but I will not answer Many Clauses in these Verses do fitly agree with the passages of the Parable It agreeth with the foolish Virgins who lost their opportunity of getting Oyl and with the wise who in a time of plenty provided against a Famine as Joseph advised the Aegyptians A greater than Joseph is here Now in the times of Grace watch Secondly Consider whom it is he inviteth Do not put it off to others Mar. 13.37 What I
our Sins This had its rise from the Grace and Mercy of the Father But let us see what the Father doth in the Business of our Redemption that we may with comfort look upon Christ as a constituted authorised Mediator by the Decree and Counsel of Heaven 1. As the Supream Author it was the Father's Contrivance and Motion to Christ to regard the Case of Sinners I look and there is no Intercessor I see there is none fit to go between fallen Man and me Son you shall take their Case in Hand And therefore he is said to give Christ John 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son In the purpose of his Thoughts to send Christ Gal. 4.4 When the fulness of the Time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman I shall open it in the next Verse To sanctify him John 10.36 Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the World c. to consecrate him for the great Work of Redemption as when a thing is set apart for Divine Uses and Purposes it is said to be sanctified so was Christ sanctified when he was set apart for the Work of Redemption Nay to seal him John 6.37 Him hath God the Father sealed a Metaphor taken from those who give Commissions under Hand and Seal Christ is a Mediator confirmed and allowed under the Broad Seal of Heaven So Heb. 10.5 A Body hast thou prepared for me And Vers. 7. Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me to do thy Will O God as if God had set down in a Book a Dâ—aught and Model of his Designs and then shewed it to Christ. 2. As the Supream Cause in whom Divine Power was eternally resident he assisteth Christ in the accomplishment of this Work and qualifieth him for his Office with Power and Mercy Christ in his own Person would shew us the Fountain from whence all Mercies do arise Psal. 45.7 He was anointed with the Oil of Gladness above his Fellows the Father is not only said to beget him but to anoint him His compassionate Spirit he received from the Holy Ghost Luke 4.18 The Spirit of the 〈…〉 on me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach the Gospel c. God gave him tenderness and bowels to poor broken-hearted Sinners So for Power and Strength John 5.19 The Son of Man can do nothing of himself as separate and distinct from the Eather not out of any weakness but because of the Unity of the Essence as God and on the foederal Agreement as Mediator 3. As Supream Judg he appointeth his Sufferings and the measure of the Satisfaction he was to make Acts 4.28 To do whatsoever thy Hand and thy Counsel determined before to be done Whatever Men did to him it was by his Hand and Counsel We must look to an higher Court from God's Providence to God's Decree If it had been done without his knowledg and consent nothing would have been done for our Salvation Him being delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the determinate Counsel of God ye have taken Acts 2.24 a word taken from Alms to Beggars We wanted a Price for our Redemption and God gave it out of his own Treasury Rom. 4 ult He was delivered for our Offences a Metaphor taken from a Judg who delivereth up the Malefactor into the Hands of the Executioner Christ was delivered by God as our Surety one that by his Decree was to be responsible to his Justice for Man's Sin The Father was to reward him for this by raising him from the dead and to give him leave to return to his own Glory therefore he asketh leave to return to Heaven Vers. 5. And now O Father glorify thou me with thine own self with the Glory which I had with thee before the World was After the Price and Ransom was paid the Father was to give Christ a Power to rise from the Dead and to go into Heaven There is Potestas and Potentia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ had Power in himself and leave from the Father till the Father should declare himself to be satisfied Christ was not to be dismissed from Punishment Our Surety was not to break Prison but honourably to be brought out by the Judg for this was the Assurance God would give the World Acts 17.31 He will judg the World in Righteousness by the Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the Dead It is not only an Effect of the Divine Power but an Act of Divine Justice And being raised up he is to be crowned with Glory and Honour as having abundantly done his Work for the Salvation of Creatures Heb. 2.9 We see Jesus for the suffering of Death crowned with Glory and Honour The Father's Heart was so taken with it that he honoureth Christ for this Reason And again he giveth Power and Authority to save Sinners Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance to Israel and forgiveness of Sins He hath raised him up to be a Prince of Salvation Here is the end of all that Christ as Mediator might be in a Capacity to bring Souls to Heaven And in this Work there is a constant co-operation of the Divine Power 1 Cor. 1.30 Of God he is made to us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption All the Emanations of Grace come originally from the Father in and through Christ to all his Members Vse 1. Comfort What would have become of us if the Father himself had not found out such a Remedy God had Power to punish Sins in our own Person he needed no Mediator To save Sinners is not proprietas divine naturae but opus liberi consilii it dependeth on God's Appointment and if Christ had been a Mediator only by the Vote of the Creature he might have been refused Exod. 32.33 Whosoever hath sinned against me him will I blet not of my Book These is much in the Father's Act. Now God hath given Christ a Faculty to this purpose when we go to God we may offer a Mediator authorized by himself thou hast sent thy blessed Son to be a Mediator for me 2 Epist. John 9. He that abideth in the Doctrine of Christ he hath the Father and the Son You may urge it upon your Fears and Suggestions of Satan God is not only the wronged Party but Supream Judg it is no matter what Satan saith or your own Hearts say if the Lord hath said he will accept Sinners in Christ. Rom. 8.33 34. Who shall lay 〈◊〉 thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died Who can condemn Satan may say I can and Conscience I can God whose Act is Sovereign doth acquit God hath so great an interest in Christ that he can deny him nothing John 14.31 That the World may
have finished the work that thou gavest me to do The greatest work that ever could be done if you respect the importance of it The creating of a thousand Worlds would not bring in such a Revenue to Heaven as this one work of Redemption Or the difficulty of it the Son of God to be made Flesh Sin a Curse States most abhorrent from the Felicity of the Divine Nature Or his willingness to undertake it Lo I come to do thy Will He longed to be at it tho he had infinite complacency in the Bosom of the Father yet as soon as God had made an habitable World Prov. 8.30 31. There I was by him as one brought up with him and I was daily his delight rejoicing always before him Rejoicing in the habitable part of his Earth and my delights were with the Sons of Men. He longed for that time when he might leave the company of Angels and dwell among us and feasted himself with the thoughts of his own Grace And with so much faithfulness I not only finished the Work but glorified thee all he did was for his Father's Glory This could Christ plead as the ground of his Requests he hath paid for all that he asketh not only made satisfaction for Sin but given a price for Glory He cannot out-ask his own Merit his Blood speaketh if Christ should hold his peace Heb. 12.24 And to the Blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel ' s. As clamorous as Abel's Blood for Vengeance It doth not speak against us tho we have made him to serve with our Iniquities but speaks the more for us to pacify his Wrath to pardon us and to do us good 3. The Sublimity of his Office It is an Authoritative Act. God hath always refused such Mediation as is not authorized by himself When Moses interposed for the Children of Israel said God Exod. 32.10 Let me alone that my Wrath may wax bot against them Because he would reserve this honour for him who alone hath this Office under the Broad Seal of Heaven So it is very notable that Christ refused all Mediation to him in the days of his Flesh. As of his Apostles Mat. 15.23 His Disciples came and besought him saying Send her away for she crieth after us c. But Christ would shew that he was sollicitous enough for the welfare of Sinners he needed no Intercessors So his own Mother when she interposed for the Honour of the Wedding John 2.4 Woman saith he What have I to do with thee As if he had said Cannot I do it without your intermedling In these Answers Christ would shew that he would have Sinners come of themselves without any mediation of their Fellow-Creatures they being no authorized Mediators God alloweth no other Mediator of Redemption but Christ and Christ no other Mediator of Intercession but himself It is Sacriledg in the Papists to set up others none is worthy to appear before God but Christ and how unworthy soever we are Christ will have us to come to himself God hath set him up for this purpose and no Copartners are allowed As it was said to Vzziah 2 Chron. 26.18 It pertaineth not to thee to burn Incense but to the Priests the Sons of Aaron that are consecrated to burn Incense Incense could be offered by no other but a Priest and our Prayers by none but by Christ. Heb. 7.28 The Law maketh Men Priests which have Infirmity but the Word of the Oath which was since the Law maketh the Son who is consecrated for ever-more Christ is consecrated by an Oath to abide ever-more in the Office which Oath is renewed and confirmed upon his return to Heaven Psal. 110.4 The Lord hath sworn and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedeck compared with Vers. 1. God will never repent of dispensing Grace in and through him to Sinners as long as Christ's Consecration lasteth none must meddle with his Office 4. The Articles of the Covenant or the Promise of being heard Therefore Christ speaketh with such Confidence John 11.42 I know that thou hearest me always and Psal. 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance c. There was a Covenant drawn up between God and Christ the Lord promised him as the Fruit of his Labours and Sufferings that he should obtain all manner of Grace for his People All these things shew us the Advantages of having such a Mediator and Intercessor Secondly The Nature of Christ's Intercession It is a part of his Priestly Office of which there were two Acts Oblation and Intercession Oblation was made once on the Altar of the Cross and Intercession is the continuation of his Sacrifice or the presenting it in Heaven It must be explained by Analogy to the Priests of the Law The Sacrifice was slain without the Camp and then the Priests were to enter with the Blood within the Vail into the Holy of Holies with sweet Incense and so to cause a Cloud to arise over the Mercy Seat But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this Building Neither by the Blood of Goats and Calves but by his own Blood he entred in once into the Holy Place having obtained eternal Redemption for us Heb. 9.11 12. Jesus Christ having offered up himself upon the Cross where he was both Priest and Sacrifice he is gone within the Vail Not into the Holy Places made with Hands which are the Figures of the True but into Heaven it self now to appear before the Presence of God for us Heb. 9.24 It is not a vocal but a real Intercession Christ is gone into Heaven and there presents his Person both in our Nature and his own together with his Merits lifting up Desires which are as a Cloud of Incense before the Mercy-Seat for our Comfort and Salvation Rev. 8.3 And another Angel came and stood at the Altar having a Golden Censer and there was given unto him much Incense that he should offer it with the Prayers of all Saints upon the Golden Altar which was before the Throne The High Priest entred not for himself but for the People having the Names of the Twelve Tribes upon his Breast and Shoulders So Christ is entred on the behalf of us all bearing the particular Memorial of every Saint graven upon his Heart The High Priest staid within the Sanctuary for a short time and so came out to bless the People Christ entred within the Vail at his Ascension and we must wait till his coming out to bless us which will be at the Day of Judgment All this while he hath his Residence in Heaven and then he will open to us and give us entrance So that Christ's Intercession is A constant representation of his Merit for the pardon of our Sins and for our Acceptance together with strong Desires
will be like them that go back to fetch their Leap more commodiously Vse 3. When you stand let it incite you to Love and Thankfulness Nothing maketh the Saints more love God than his Unchangeableness His Mercy made you come to him and his Truth will not suffer you to depart from him Mercy and Truth are like Jachin and Boaz. Micah 7.20 Thou wilt perform the Truth to Jacob and the Mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn unto our Fathers from the days of old The Covenant was made with Abraham and made good to Jacob. You may rejoyce notwithstanding your Weakness and Satan's daily Assaults as Daniel in the Lion's Den to see the Lions ramping and roaring about him yet their Mouths muzzled 2 Sam. 2.9 By strength shall no Man prevail that is by his own That any of us have stood hitherto let us ascribe it wholly to God we might have been vile and scandalous even as others Many of better Gifts may fall away and thou keepest thy standing what is the reason We have done enough a thousand times to cause God to depart from us Deut. 23.14 If he see any unclean thing among thee he will turn away from thee And is it not strange that the Spirit of Grace should yet abide with us hitherto when there is so much uncleanness in every one of us The great Argument of the Saints why they love and praise him is the Constancy and Unchangeableness of his Love Psal. 136. For his Mercy endureth for ever and Psal. 106.1 Praise the Lord O give Thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his Mercy endureth for ever No Form more frequent in the Mouths of his Saints Vse 4. If any fall often constantly frequently and easily they have no Interest in Grace 1 John 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he maketh not a Trade of Sin that is the force of that Phrase God's Children slip often but not with such a frequent constant readiness into the same Sin Therefore he that liveth in a course of Prophaneness Worldliness Drunkenness his Spot is not the Spot of God's Children Deut 32.5 You are tried by your constant Course Rom. 8.1 That walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit What is your Road and Walk I except only those Sins which are of usual incidence and sudden surreption as Anger Vanity of Thoughts and yet for them a Man should be more humble If it be not felt nor striven against nor mourned for it is a bad Sign What is your Course and Walk There is an Uniformity in a Christian's Course It is nothing to have some Fits and good Moods and Motions Vse 5. It provoketh us to get an Interest in such a sure Condition Be not contented with outward Happiness things are worthy according to their duration Nature hath such a sense of God's Eternity that the more lasting things are it accounteth them the better The immortal Soul must have an eternal Good Now all things in the World are frail and passing away therefore they are called uncertain Riches 1 Tim. 6.17 compared with Prov. 8.18 Riches and Honour are with me yea durable Riches and Righteousness The Flower of these things perisheth their Grace passeth away in the midst of their Pride and Beauty like Herod in his Royalty they vanish and are blasted The better part is not taken away Luke 10.42 Mary hath chosen the better part which cannot be taken away from her A Man may outlive his Happiness be stripped of the Flower of all Worldly Glory is sure to end with Life that is transitory And still they are uncertain Riches uncertain whether we shall get them uncertain whether we shall keep them By a care of the better part we may have these Things with a Blessing Mat. 6.33 Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added to you Gifts they are for the Body rather than the Person that hath them Men may be carnal and yet come behind in no Gifts Judas could cast out Devils and yet afterwards was cast out among Devils 1 Cor. 12.31 the Apostle had discoursed largely of Gifts but saith he Yet I shew you a more excellent Way and that is Grace that abideth Many that have great Abilities to pray preach discourse yet fall away according to the Place which they sustain in the Body so they have great Gifts of Knowledg Utterance to comfort direct instruct others to answer their Doubts to reason in holy Discourse and yet may fall fouly Heb. 6.4 5. They may be once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly Gift and were made Partakers of the Holy-Ghost and have tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come They may have a great share of Church-Gifts Nay Gifts themselves wither and vanish when the bodily Vigor is spent 1 Pet. 1.24 All Flesh is Grass and all the Glory of Man as the Flower of Grass the Grass withereth and the Flower thereof falleth away Whatever Excellency we have by Nature Wit Knowledg Strength of natural Parts nothing but what the Spirit of God worketh in us will last for ever So for seeming unsound Grace as false Faith such as beginneth in Joy will end in Trouble it easeth you for the present but you shall lie down in Sorrow General Probabilities loose Hopes uncertain Conjectures vanishing Apprehensions of Comfort all fail The planting of true Faith is troublesom at first but it leadeth to true Joy you may look upon the Gospel with some kind of delectation Thorns may blaze under the Pot tho they cannot keep in the Fire Do not rest in tasting the good Word of God Heb. 6.5 in some sleight and transitory Comfort Hymeneus and Alexander are said to make shipwrack of Faith 1 Tim. 1.19 20. that is of a false Faith So for a formal Profession Men may begin in the Spirit and end in the Flesh. Gal. 3.3 Are ye so foolish having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the Flesh A Man may seem to himself and to the Church of God to have true Grace nay he may be enlightned find some comfort in the Word escape the Pollutions of the World foul gross Sins yea these good things may be the Works and the Effects of the Spirit of God not of Nature only not professed out of a carnal Aim but there is no setled Root and therefore it is but of short continuance But certainly that Form that is taken up out of private Aims will surely fail God delighteth to take off the Mask and Disguise of Hypocrites by letting them fall into some scandalous Sins Paint is soon washed off Therefore rest not in these things till solid and substantial Grace be wrought in your Hearts Vse 6. Is Comfort to God's Children Grace is sure and the Privileges of it sure Grace is sure through your Folly it may be nigh unto Death but it cannot
die This is the Advantage of spiritual Comforts that they do not only satisfy our Desires but secure us against our Fears Isa. 35.10 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 flie away Once in Christ and you shall be for ever preserved The Leaven and the Dough can never be severed when kneaded together so neither can you from Christ. Grace would be little better than temporal Things if it did yield but temporary Refreshment You are sure that nothing shall cut you off from enjoying God for nothing shall altogether cause you to cease to love God The Children of God would be troubled tho their Grace should not fail if their Privileges should be cut off but you are sure of both God will maintain a Spark and the Seed remaineth and the Privileges of Grace are sure too This was figured under the Law An Israelite could never wholly alienate his Title to the Land Lev. 25.23 The Land shall not be sold for ever for the Land is mine for ye were Strangers and Sojourners with me His Title to the Land shall not be quite cut off it shall not be sold for ever Which was a Type of our spiritual Inheritance in Christ which cannot be alienated from us He might for a while alienate and pass away his Inheritance yet the Property remained he knew it would return again So here God's Children are never disinherited By Regeneration we are made Coheirs with Christ we have an Interest in the whole Patrimony of the Gospel Now God will not cut off the Entail nor take the advantage of every Offence which his Children commit To insure us he hath not only put the Entail into our hands by giving us his Promise but he hath given us Earnest and Seisin in part and he hath chosen a Feoffee in Trust to keep the Estate for us our heavenly Patrimony is kept safe in his hands It is true we forfeit it by the Merit of our Actions but the Trust standeth still enrolled in the Court of Heaven and is not cancelled Christ is to look to that and it being conveyed in and by him as the first Heir he is to interpose his Merit As under the Law if the Person were not able to redeem the Inheritance the Kinsman was to redeem it Christ is our Kinsman after the Flesh he is our Goal and maketh all firm and sure between God and us It is true we lose the Evidences that are in our keeping Peace of Conscience Joy in the Holy-Ghost but the Estate is undefeizable and cannot be made away from us Well then you see that Grace is kept and the Privileges of Grace are kept O what a sweet Comfort is this But now because Comforts are never prized but in their Season Men that have not been exercised in spiritual Comforts nauseate these sweet Truths they know not what it is to be left to uncertainty when Troubles come like Waves one upon the neck of another let us see when these Truths will be sweet and seasonable 1. In great Troubles when God seemeth to hide his Face Oh! how sweet is it to hear God say Gen. 28.15 Behold I am with thee and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest and will bring thee again into this Land for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of All this shall better thy Heart or hasten thy Glory We are apt to think that God will cast us off and will never look after us any more tho formerly we have had real Experience of his Grace What a foolish Creature is Man to weaken his Assurance when he should come to use it to unravel all his Hopes and Experiences Times of Trouble are a fit Season to make use of this Comfort 2. In the Hour of Temptation and hard Conflicts with Doubts and Corruptions when you find their Power growing upon you you are ready to say as David did after all his Experiences I shall one day perish by the Hand of Saul 1 Sam. 27.1 and many times out of Distrust ye give over the Combate Then say Who shall separate us from the Love of God One came to a pious Woman when she had been exercised with a long and tedious Conflict and read to her the latter part of the 8th of the Romans she broke forth in Triumph Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us Sin or Death cannot divide you from Christ Christ will tread Satan under your Feet and weaken the malignant Influence of the World 3. In times of great Danger and Defection through Terror and Persecution as Sanders trembled to think of the Fire especially when others fall fearfully that were before us in Privileges and Profession of Zeal and Piety when the first become last when eminent Luminaries are eclisped and leave their Orb and Station as the Martyrs were troubled to hear of the Revolt of some great Scholars that had appeared for the Gospel When Hymeneus and Philetus two eminent Professors fell it was a great shaking 2 Tim. 2.18 19. Who concerning the Truth have erred saying That the Resurrection is past already and overthrow the Faith of some Nevertheless the Foundation of the Lord standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth them that are his 4. In times of disheartning because of the Difficulties of Religion and the use of means groweth troublesome To quicken us in our Christian Course think of the Unchangeableness of God's Love all Grace riseth according to the Proportion and Measure of Faith loose Hopes weaken Endeavours 1 Cor. 9.26 I therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beateth the Air As those that run at all give over when one hath over-reached them they are discouraged when Hope is broken the Edg of Endeavours is blunted Go on with Confidence ye are assured of the Issue by these Endeavours God will bless you and keep you there is a sure Recompence 5. In the Hour of Death when all things fail you God will not fail you this is the last Branch Do but wait I will not forsake you notwithstanding all that I have done all that I have promised there is more behind than ever you have enjoyed Death shall not separate Olevian comforted himself with that Isa. 54.10 For the Mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my Kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed saith the Lord that hath Mercy on thee In the Pains of Death Sight is gone Speech and Hearing is departing Feeling almost gone but the Loving-Kindness of God will never depart Oh! the Lord give us such a Confidence in that Day that we may fix this Comfort in our Thoughts Doct. 2. That we are kept in the state of Grace by God's Name by his Power for
sat down under a Juniper Tree and be requested for himself that be might die and said It is enough now O Lord take away my Life for I am not better than my Fathers 3. From the peevishness of fond and doting Love 2 Sam. 18.33 O my Son Absalom my Son my Son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my Son my Son As the Wives of the Barbarians that burn themselves to attend the Ghosts of their dead Husbands 4. From Distrust and Despair the Evil is too hard for them they are at their Wits end Job 7.15 My Soul chuseth strangling and Death rather than Life In all these Cases it is but a shameful Retreat from the conflict and burden of the present Life from carnal Irksomeness under the labours and burdens of the present Life or a distrust of God's Help There may be Murder in a rash Wish if it proceed from a vexed Heart These are but froward Thoughts not a sanctified Resolution 3. Such desires of Death and Dissolution as are lawful and must be cherished come from a good ground A Heart deadned to the World they are crucified to it their Hearts are mortified set on things above Col. 3.1 Some competent Assurance Rom. 8.23 We groan waiting for the Adoption viz. the Redemption of our Body They have tasted the Clusters of Canaan as Simeon Luke 2.28 29. Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation the Eyes of his Faith as well as of his Body Now Lord I do but wait for my departure hence as a Merchant-man richly laden desires to be at his Port. 4. You must look to the End Men have a blind Notion of Heaven they expect a Carnal Heaven as the Jews looked for a Carnal Messiah to enjoy a Turkish Paradise full of Ease and Pleasure The People of God desire Heaven to have a perfect Union and Communion with him whom their Souls love Phil. 1.23 I desire to depart and be with Christ. Phil. 3.20 Our Conversation is in Heaven whence we look for a Saviour they long to see him to be where he is Heart and Head should be together And so also to be freed from Sin Bâ—om 7.24 O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this Body of Death They would be in Heaven that they may sin no more Men look upon Heaven as a kind of Reserve if the World do not hold We should desire Heaven not to be freed from Trouble but to be freed from Sin and to be with Christ there must be an holy desire of a better Life 5. The manner must be regarded it must be with Submission Phil. 1.24 Nevertheless to abide in the Flesh is more needful for you otherwise we encroach upon God's Right and would deprive him of a Servant without his leave A Christian will die and live as the Lord will while others want submission to live in trouble he is satisfied or to die if he be not in trouble if it be the Lord's Pleasure a Believer is satisfied with long Life Psal. 91.16 he is willing to live and die as God liketh he will wait till his change comes when God will give him a discharge by his own immediate Hand or by Enemies Gratias agiâ—â—â— quòd à molestis Domiesis liberaâ—ur God knoweth how to chuse the fittest time otherwise we know not what we ask 3. Obs. That a Spiritual Victory over Evil is to be preserved before a total Exemption from it Christ doth not pray for an absolute immunity and deliverance but a preservation from the Evil of the World Christ prayeth thus and so he teacheth us to pray Mat. 6.13 Lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil. When we say Lead us not into Temptation he doth not mean that we should pray foâ—â—n absolute exemption from Temptation that is the Lot of all the Saints but that we may not fall under the weight of a Temptation that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is explained that he would not as a Judg by a Spiritual Excommunication put us into the Hands of Satan to be crushed by him as it is explained in the next Verse But deliver us from Evil. Vse 1. It teacheth us how to pray to God Our Prayers should be to be delivered not from the World so much as from the Evil of the World from Sins rather than Afflictions The Saints seek Grace rather than Deliverance in their Afflictions Direction as well as Protection that they may do nothing unseemly while they suffer Psal. 141.3 4. Set a match O Lord before my Mouth keep the Dear of my Lips Incline not my Heart to any evil thing to practise wicked Works with them that work iniquity and let me not eat of their Dainties And they desire Improvement rather than a Discharge for the Saints do not conceive Prayers out of Interest but from a principle of the new Nature to a gracious Eye Sustentation under the Cross is better than absolute Deliverance the Deliverance is a common Mercy the Sustentation is a special Mercy Carnal Men may be without Affliction but Carnal Men have no experience of Grace and bare Deliverance is no sign of special Love but Improvement is My Grace is sufficient for thee It is Divinity preached from Heaven makes the Saints to rejoice in Infirmities Paul before was earnest to be freed from the trouble Vse 2. How to wait and hope for the Blessings of Christ's Purchase Absolute Immunity is not to be looked for but Victory and Conservation 2 Tim. 4.18 The Lord shall deliver me from every evil Work and will preserve me unto his Heavenly Kingdom A Christian placeth his Hope chiefly on that Paul could not look for such a deliverance again from the Lion but from an unworthy Carriage The Blessings which Christ hath obtained of his Father are rather Spiritual and Celestial than Temporal therefore he is more sollicitous to free us from Sin than from Trouble Mat. 1.21 Thâ—â— shalt call his Name Jesus for he shall save his People from their Sins not from their Troubles their Sorrows but their Sins We would be delivered from Sickness Trouble Danger but Christ is a Spiritual Saviour the great Deliverance is to be freed from Sin Vse 3. To teach us to suffer with Patience Let us endure the Evil of Punishment that we may escape the Evil of Sin Moral Evil is worse than Natural it is better to be miserable than to be sinful Of all Evil Sin is the greatest to be Carnal a Swearer a Drunkard an unclean Person this is a greater Evil than Poverty Sickness Blindness Lameness this doth not separate from God 4. Obs. The Danger of the Worldly Estate It appears in two things First The multiplicity of Snares The whole World is full of Snares and we can walk no where but we are like to be defiled It is a Vale of Tears and a Place of Snares and therefore a Vale of Tears because a
could not be supposed to feign Now he appealeth to their Experience You know in all your Hearts c. So Solomon speaks 1 Kings 8.56 Blessed be the Lord that hath given rest unto his People Israel according to all that he promised there hath not failed one word of all his good Promise which he promised by the Hand of Moses his Servant So if a Man would but observe the Course of Providence after a little Faith and Patience which is required of all that would inherit the Promises God never failed but made good his Word to a Tittle Object Many Temporal Mercies are Promises which Promises are not accomplished Answ. They are promised still with exception of the Cross. God is tied no further than the Covenant tieth him Psal. 89.31 32 33. If they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments Then will I visit their Transgression with a Rod and their Iniquity with Stripes Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my Lips Object But the Scriptures do absolutely press and inculcate these Hopes of temporal Mercies Answ. No only they are mentioned in the Promise partly to encourage our Hearts to pray we should not else ask them 2 Chron. 20.9 If when Evil cometh upon us as the Sword Judgment or Pestilence or Famine we stand before this House and in thy Presence and cry unto thee in our Affliction then thou wilt hear and help Psal. 119.49 Remember thy Word unto thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope Partly to shew that God is able to keep them from such distress and if it be good for them will keep them Dan. 3.17 Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery Furnace and he will deliver us out of thine Hand O King Partly to shew that if we have such Mercies we have them by virtue of a Promise Psal. 128.5 The Lord shall bless thee out of Sion To see a Mercy come out of the Womb of a Promise is very sweet and comfortable Partly to comfort them if they have them not they shall have the spiritual Part nothing shall light on them as a Curse We must go into the Sanctuary to know the meaning of such Promises God will deliver either from the Lion or from every Evil Work 2 Tim. 4.17 18. I was delivered out of the Mouth of the Lion And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil Work If there be any Temporal Promise you may expect the Mercy in kind or as good There is not a waste word in the Promise God will give them satisfaction The People of God never complain when their Thoughts are regular Partly because God seldom faileth a trusting Soul few Experiences can be given to the contrary Psal. 91.2 3. I will say of the Lord He is my Refuge and my Fortress my God in him will I trust Surely he shall deliver me from the Snare of the Fowler and from the noisom Pestilence Thereby there is another Engagement on God Isa. 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect Peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusted in thee Psal. 9.10 And they that know thy Name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee Vse Learn to regard the Promises and Threatnings of the Word with more Reverence as if God in Person had delivered them to you 1 Thess. 2.13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing because when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the Word of Men but as it is in Truth the Word of God Look to the Threatnings God hath left room for his Mercy and that must be sought in God's way or else we have no Security and Peace Look to the Promises 1. Seek after them more and mind them more Sure your Neglect saith you do not count them true 1 John 5.10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the Witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a Liar because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son If one should proffer you an hundred Pounds and you should go away and never heed it it is a sign you do not believe him 2. Venture more on the Promises they are God's Bills of Exchange whereby you have Treasures in Heaven Deny Interests God will make it up 3. Rejoice in them more You have Blessings by the Root Heb. 11.13 These all died in Faith not having received the Promises but having seen them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them they hugged the Promises Do you ever refresh your selves with the remembrance of them Do you ever bless God for your Hopes and say I will rejoice in God because of his Word 4. Wait for the accomplishment of them The Word of the Lord is a tried Word The Saints are tried and the Word is tried Psal. 12.6 The Words of the Lord are pure Words as Silver tried in a Furnace of Earth purified seven times It is enough for Faith that we have the Promise Fourthly God hath owned the Word by associating the Operation of his Grace and powerful Spirit with it and with no other Doctrine Things of a powerful Operation do evidence themselves as Fire by Heat the Wind by its Noise and Strength Salt by its Savour the Sun by Light and Heat and the like Moral Principles that are effectually operative manifest themselves also Let us see how the Case standeth with the Scripture It is called Rom. 1.16 The Power of God unto Salvation and the preaching of the Cross is to them which are saved the Power of God 1 Cor. 1.18 And 1 Cor. 2.4 My Speech and my Preaching was not with enticing words of Man's Wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power And 1 Thess. 1.5 Our Gospel came not unto you in Word only but in Power and in the Holy Ghost and in much Assurance It giveth a perswasion of it self by its being the Power of God and the Rod of his Strength Psal. 110.2 The Lord shall send the Rod of his Strength out of Sion When the Egyptians saw the Miracles that Moses wrought they confessed the Power of God that God was with him Exod. 8.19 Then the Magicians said to Pharaoh This is the Finger of God And when the Scripture evidenceth so great a Power it shews it self to be of God as in judging the Hearts of Men. Heb. 4.12 The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joints and Marrow and is a Discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart In convincing them of their evil Estate 1 Cor. 14.25 And thus are the Secrets of the Heart made manifest and so falling down on his Face
with his Death II. That the Sacraments are a solemn means of this Communion Here are three things 1. That Union with Christ is the ground of our Communion with him 2. This Union and Communion is signified and sealed by the Sacraments 3. That both the Sacraments do chiefly refer to Christs Death 1. That Union with Christ is the ground of Communion with him This is evident every where for it is said 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption We are first ingrafted into Christ and then partake of his influence and he conveyeth to us all manner of Grace and is the cause both of our Justification and Sanctification and final Deliverance So 1 Joh. 5.12 He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life Christ is the first gift first God giveth Christ to us and with him all things Rom. 8.32 Christ himself is the first saving gift and therefore before we can have spiritual life we must have Christ himself who is offered to us in the Promises of the Gospel principally and immediately to be received by us and with him all his benefits as the Members receive sense and life and motion from the Head and the Branches sap from the Root We have not what he hath purchased unless we have him first as we are not possessors of Adams guilt till we are united to his person by carnal generation so not of the grace of the Redeemer till united to him by effectual calling In short Christ hath purchased and the Father hath given all things into Christs own hands the gifts and graces of the Spirit are not intrusted with our selves but him we have so foully miscarried already that God will no more trust his Honour in our hands we have nothing but what we have in and from the Son The Spirit dwelleth in Christ and there it can never be lost he dwelleth in Christ by way of radication in us by way of influence and operation We have many disputes about the inhabitation of the Spirit the Spirit is not given to any Believer immediately but to Christ and to us derivatively from Christ. Therefore the Spirit i◠called the Spirit of Christ Rom. 8.9 and the Spirit of his Son Gal. 4.6 and 't is Christ liveth in us Gal. 2.20 and as head of the Church he filleth all in all Eph. 1.22 23. From this great Cistern the Waters of Life come to us and not immediately from the Godhead and it is our Head which doth communicate and send to all his Members from Himself that Spirit which must operate in them as they have need this Grace our Mediator distributeth to all his Members 2. That this Union and Communion is signified and sealed by the Sacraments and so they are special means to preserve and uphold the Communion between Christ and us Baptism is spoken of in the Text and that is called a being baptized into Christ nnd is elsewhere said to be a putting on Christ and here v. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a being planted together in the likeness of his death and 1 Cor. 12.13 By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body and are all made to drink into one Spirit The Union is begun by the Spirit but sealed in Baptism then carried on by the same Spirit and further sealed in the Lords Supper Our first implantation is represented by Baptism which is a Solemnization of the New Covenant whereby the Party is solemnly entred a visible Member of Christ and his Church It is carried on by the same spirit the Lords Supper is a Seal of that Communion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 10.16 The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ the bread which we bless is it not the communion of the body of Christ There is not only a solemn Commemoration of the Death and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ but a Participation of his Benefits it is the Communion of his Body and Blood There is a difference between an Historical Representation of Christs Death and a spiritual Communion of his Blood and Body Now the Lords Supper is an holy Rite instituted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in remembrance of him and also to convey to us the benefits of Christs Death Well then you see this Union and Communion is signified and sealed by the Sacraments Baptism is our first implantation and the Lords Supper concerneth our growth and nourishment the external and visible incorporation is by Baptism or Profession of the Christian Faith which all visible Christians have Joh. 15.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit The real and saving Union belongeth to the Regenerate who really believe in Christ in their hearts Christ dwelleth Eph. 3.17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith and love is requisite 1 Joh. 4.16 God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him and new obedience 1 Joh. 3.24 He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby know we that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us This is the summ then Christ maketh his first entrance into us by his Spirit who regenerateth us this is figured in Baptism continueth his Presence by Faith Love and New Obedience which are exercised and quickened by the Lords Supper 3. The Sacraments do chiefly relate to our Communion with Christs Death as appeareth 1. By the interpretation of both in Scripture Baptism is explained in the Text the chief thing represented is his Death and by what is said 1 Cor. 1.13 Is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized in the name of Paul Whence I gather that for any to have been crucified made a Curse and a Sacrifice to God for us would draw an obligation upon us to be baptized into his Name And that one peculiar reason of our being baptized into the Name of Christ was his having been so crucified for us The Lords Supper is explained 1 Cor. 11.26 As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come The use of the Lords Supper is a solemn Commemoration and Annunciation of the Lords Death We annunciate and shew it forth with respect to our selves that we may anew believe and exercise our Faith with respect to others that we may solemnly profess this Faith in the crucified Saviour with a kind of glorying and rejoycing with respect to God that we may plead the Merits of the Sacrifice of his own Son with affiance expecting the benefits thereof which are Pardon and the sanctifying Spirit Thus you see Christ hath instituted two Sacraments which represent him dead not one to represent him glorified This signification
The life spent in the service of God 3. I assert This is the only amiable Life because the Life spent in sin is full of shame and horrour of shame because of the baseness and turpitude of that Life disagreeable to the reasonable Nature of horrour because of the dreadful issue The end of these things is death On the contrary this Life spent in the Service of God is amiable 1. Because of the present Fruit Sanctification or Holiness which daily increasing in them breedeth comfort and confidence and will never be matter of shame to them 2. Because of the final issue Eternal Life is the consummation of it the matter doth not rest in Sanctification but looketh further at last they obtain everlasting Happiness the hope of which breedeth joy and comfort in us Well then it rests upon me to prove two things That this Life is the most amiable Life because of the Pleasure and Honour that doth accompany it the Pleasure because of the End the Honour because of the Work 1. The Pleasure of a Life spent in Gods Service Man is ever inviting himself to some delight and so far Nature and Grace are agreed but the difference is where true pleasure of mind is to be found Man in his natural estate consults with flesh and blood for then the Beast rideth the Man and he careth for the Body more than the Soul and nothing is sweet and pleasant but what gratifieth sensual Appetite but this soon bringeth slavery upon us for it was our old bondage and servitude to prefer Appetite before Reason and Conscience Tit. 3.3 We were sometimes disobedient serving divers lusts and pleasures These delights corrupt the Mind and make it an incompetent Judge of what is true and sincere pleasantness to such a Creature as man is who hath a Conscience and is capable of an immortal Estate and to give an account of his actions to the God that made him and besides they pervert the heart and dull our desires and endeavours towards better things and breed such a peace as is not the quiet and repose of the Soul in God but a numness and deadness of Conscience as may be called carnal Security rather than a true and solid Peace But by Grace we are invited to more chast and rational delights such as ennoble the Soul and raise it to God whose matter is not base and dreggy but heavenly and spiritual and cannot ensnare Nature by any excess but perfect it so that a man shall live as a man not as a beast and have a solid peace and durable comfort and confidence that will not fail him in any condition and this pleasure we can only have by having our fruit unto Holiness I prove it thus 1. It is pleasant to do good there is a pleasure and a peace that resulteth from the very rectitude of our actions Psal. 119.165 Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them Our Will is conformed to the Law and Will of God now the compliance of our Will with the Will of God carrieth a quieting pleasure with it for then it agreeth with its proper rule and measure all is right as it should be Our subjection to God is to the Soul as health to the Body when all the humors and members of the Body keep their due proportion temper and place according to the intention of Nature a man findeth himself at ease both in his work and in his rest and as to his Body he injoyeth himself with full contentment of mind It is so as to his Soul when Sense and Appetite is subordinated to Reason and Reason guided by the Will of God all is in its proper place and there must needs be a serenity and contentment of mind 2. God owneth him that liveth in his Service for those that love him and keep his commandments he will love them and manifest himself to them Joh. 14.21 23. Two ways doth God owne them 1. He will forgive their Sins 2. Assure them of his Love 1. He will forgive their Sins how can any man be truly chearful till his sins be forgiven If Conscience be but a little awakened in the midst of all his mirth he would see a sharp Sword hanging over his head by a slender thread and ready to drop upon him every moment and that all his jollity is but like dancing about the bottomless pit into which ever and anon he is ready to tumble Nay let him stifle Conscience as much as he can he can never totally get the Victory of it but he hath his qualms and pangs and hidden fears and stinging remorse of Conscience which though not always felt are soon awakened So that if you could dig a carnal man to the bottom you will find that he is never truly and sincerely merry Suppose none of this ever felt yet you must grant that there cannot be a man who ever recollects his ways or life and hath any serious consideration why he came into the World or where he shall be when he goes out of it but this trouble is revived and will haunt him and sour his contentments and put a damp upon all his mirth But now he that hath sued out his Pardon and being made free from sin is become a Servant unto God and so hath his fruit to Holiness he hath true and solid cause of rejoycing for God owneth him as one that is pardoned and adopted into his Family and admitted into Fellowship with him 1 Joh. 1.7 If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin His great care is over his wounds are healed he hath got rid of his great sore and burden which made his Soul sit uneasie with him Mat. 9.2 Son be of good chear thy sins are forgiven thee When the guilt of sin is taken away the root of all trouble is taken away 2. He will assure him of his Love Joh. 15.10 If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love as I have kept my Fathers commandments and abide in his love Holiness and Obedience as it is an evidence of our Love to Christ so it is a means of keeping up the sense and assurance of his Love to us holy walking giveth us a large share of the Love of God and Christ the Lord delighteth to owne such and to put peculiar marks of his Favour upon them Now it is a comfortable Life to live in the Love of God if all the World loveth you and God hateth you you can have no solid peace for you must at length fall into his hands but if you have all the World at will you may have it with Gods hatred who can make you miserable whenever he pleaseth he can blast you with diseases fill you with disquiets of Soul imbitter all your comforts but if God loveth you and assureth you of his Love what is wanting
Christs Holy Government saith Diodate they are freed from the deadly Tyranny of Sin by the Spirit of Life freed from the Yoke and Dominion of Sin which bringeth Death and so walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit This I think to be the true meaning of the words Now I come to the Doctrines 1 Doct. That the new Covenant is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus 2. That the new Covenant giveth liberty to all that are really under it from the slavery of Sin and the condemning power of the Law For the first point That the new Covenant is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus I shall divide it and prove 1. That the new Covenant is a Law 2. That 't is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus First That 't is a Law That the Gospel hath the force of a Law I shall evidence by these Considerations 1. That man being Gods Creature is his subject and standeth related to him as his rightful governour and therefore is to receive what Laws he is pleased to impose upon him Isa. 33.22 The Lord is our Judg the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King and he will save us and Jam. 4.21 There is one Law giver who is able to save and to destroy our subjection to God as our Soveraign is built on our total and absolute dependance upon him both for our creation and preservation for we could neither make our selves nor preserve our selves and therefore we are subject to the will of another whose we are and whom we should serve 2. Man as a reasonable and free agent is bound voluntarily to yield up himself in subjection to his proper Lord. All the Creatures are under the government of God and so in a sense are under a Law for there is a certain course within the bounds of which their natures and motions are limited and fixed Psal. 119.91 They continue to this day according to thine ordinances for they are all thy servants And Psal. 148.6 he hath established them for ever and made a decree beyond which they shall not pass So Prov. 8.29 he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandments All Creatures are ballanced in a due proportion and guided in their tract and course by an unerring hand which is a kind of Law to them so man as a Creature is subject to the direction of Gods Providence as other creatures are but as a reasonable creature he is capable of moral Government and of a Law properly so called for so he hath a choice of his own a power of refusing evil and chusing good Other Creatures are ruled by a rod of Iron Gods Power and Sovereignty but man whose Obedience depends upon choice is governed by Laws which may direct and oblige him to good and warn him and drive him from evil Man is apt to be wrought upon by hopes and fears which are the great instruments of Government by hopes of reward and fears of punishment and therefore he not only out of his own Interest but Duty to his Creator is bound to give up himself to do the Will of God this is called for 2 Chron. 30.8 Yield your selves to the Lord and 2 Cor. 8.5 they first gave themselves to the Lord and Rom. 6.13 yield your selves to the Lord and in many other places 3. Man being bound to obey the Will of God needeth a Law from God to constitute his Duty and direct him in it for without his Laws the Subject cannot know what is due to his Sovereign nor can man understand what his duty is to his Creator In innocency he gave him a Law written upon his heart for God made him holy and righteous Eccles. 7.29 and he was to perform such actions as became an holy and righteous Creature his nature bound him and fitted him to love God and his Neighbour and Himself in a regular and due subordination to God This Law was sufficient to guide him while he stood in his Integrity and to inable him to please God in all things for this Law written upon his heart was both his Rule and his Principle But consider men in their fallen estate surely they needed a Law and that God should shew them what was good and evil The Gentiles had some relicks of the Law of Nature Rom. 2.14 15. and so much sense of their Duty left as leaveth them not only culpable for their neglect of it Rom. 1.20 But they are all become guilty before God Rom. 3.19 With his people he dealt more favourably and graciously Psalm 147.19 20. He shewed his word unto Jacob and his statutes unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any nation as for his judgments they have not known them Alas in the weakness to which we were reduced after the fall how miserable should we be and grope in the dark if God had not given us a Law and shewed us what is good Were it not for the relicks of Nature in the Gentiles the World would be but a Den of Thieves and a stage of wickedness and every one would do what is right in his own eyes but the Interests of men causeth them to make Laws for their own safety but yet there is no sure and sufficient direction to guide them in their Obedience to God without his Word The Laws of men have no other end than the good of Humane Society and reacheth no further than the Government of the outward Conversation there is little or nothing in them to guide us in our obeying or injoying God This God hath done in his word to the Jews of old and to us Christians more fully for we are built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Eph. 2.20 namely as they have shewed us to live in obedience to God as our proper and rightful Lord and to injoy him as our proper happiness But to leave this general view of these things 4. The Gospel which is both our Rule and Charter is the Law which in Christs name is given to the World That appeareth 1. By the titles or terms wherein it is expressed as Isa. 2.3 Out of Sion shall go forth the Law and the word of God from Jerusalem so Isa. 42.4 The Isles shall wait for his Law so Isa. 51.4 A Law shall proceed from me and I will make my judgment to rest for a light to the people And in the New Testament 't is called the law of Faith Rom. 3.27 and the law of Christ Gal. 5.2 so that the Doctrine of Salvation by Christ is that Law which we should abide by 2. The reason of the thing sheweth it For here is 1. A Governor or Ruler the Lord Christ who hath acquired a new Dominion and Empire over the World to save and to rule men upon his own Terms Rom. 14.9 For to this end Christ both dyed and and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of dead and
every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need so for all duties that we are called unto 1 Cor. 15.10 By the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain but I laboured more abundantly than they all and yet not I but the grace of God which was in me and Heb. 13.21 Working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. Now you see what 't is to have Christ in us none but these are real Christians 1. Because We must first be partakers of Christ before we can be paratkers of any saving benefit purchased by him As members are united to the head before they receive sense and motion from it Christ giveth nothing of his purchase to any but to whom he giveth himself first 1 John 5.12 And to whom he giveth himself to them he giveth all things needful to their salvation 2. Where Christ once entreth there he taketh up his abode and lodging not to depart thence dwelling noteth his constant and familiar presence he doth not sojourn for a while but dwelleth as a man in his own house and castle There is a continued presence and influence whereby they are supported in their Chistianity He dwelleth in us and we in him and we know that he abideth in us by his spirit 1 John 3.24 and John 14.23 If a man love me he will keep my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him and take up our abode with him Not a visit and away but a constant residence John 15.5 He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit 3. Where Christ is he ruleth and reigneth for we receive him as our Lord and Saviour Col. 2.6 As ye received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him We received him that he may perform the office of a Mediator in our hearts and teach us and rule us and guide us by his spirit All others know him by hearsay but these know him by experience the testimony of Christ is confirmed in them Others talk of Christ but these feel him others have him in their ears and tongues but not in their hearts or if the heart be warm and heavenly for a fit it quickly cooleth and falleth to the earth again Then here doth our true happiness begin to find Christ within us this is that which giveth the Seal to Christ without us and all the Mysteries of Redemption by him for you have experienced the power and comfort of it in your own souls you find his image in your hearts and his spirit conforming you to what he commandeth in the word and have a suitableness to the Gospel in your souls you may look with an holy confidence for help to him in all your necessities when others look at him with strange and doubtful thoughts because nearness breedeth familiarity and the sense of his continual love and presence begets an holy confidence to come to him for mercy and grace to help in short when others have but the common offer you have a propriety and interest in Christ Christ without us is a perfect Saviour but not to you the appropriation is by union he came down from Heaven took our nature died for sinners ascended us into Heaven again to make Intercession at the Right Hand of the Father all this is without us Do not say only there is a Saviour in Heaven is there one in thy heart There is an Intercessor in Heaven is there one in thy heart Rom. 8.26 But the spirit its self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered He was born of the Virgin is he formed in thee Gal. 4.19 He died are you planted into the likeness of his death Rom. 6.5 He is risen from the dead do you know the power of his Resurrection Phil. 3.10 Are you raised with him Col. 3.1 He is ascended are you ascended with him Eph. 2.6 Christ without us established the merit but Christ within us assureth the Application Secondly I come now to the concession The body is dead because of sin Here observe the Emphasis of the expression the body is dead not only shall die or must die but is dead He expresseth himself thus for two reasons first because the sentence is past Gen. 2.17 and Heb. 7.29 It is appointed for all men once to die Therefore as we say of a condemned man he is a dead man by reason of the Sentence past upon him So by reason of this sentence our body is a mortal body liable to death sentenced doomed to death and must one day undergo it The Union between it and the Soul after a certain time shall be dissolved and our bodies corrupted The execution is begun mortalitity hath already seised upon our bodies by the many infirmities tending to and ending in the dissolution of nature We now bear about the marks of Sin in our bodies the harbingers of death are already come and have taken up their lodging aforehand The Apostle saith In deaths often how many deaths do we suffer before death cometh to relieve us by several diseases as Collicks Meagrims Catarrhs Gout Stone and the like all these prepare for it and therefore this body though glorious in its Structure as it is the workmanship of God is called a vile body as it is the subject of so many diseases yea and its self is continually dying Heb. 11.12 therefore sprang there even of one and him as good as dead We express it a man hath one foot in the grave 2. The reason is assigned Because of Sin death is the most ordinary thing in the world but its cause and end are little thought of this expression will give us occasion to speak of both its meritorious cause and its use and end both are implyed in the clause Because of Sin 1. It implyeth the meritorious cause Death is not a natural accident but a punishment we die not as the beasts die or as the Plants decay no the Scripture telleth us by what Gate it entered into the World namely that 't is an effect of the justice of God for mans Sin Rom. 5.12 By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin And 't is also by Covenant therefore called wages Rom. 6.23 Sin procured it and the law ratifies it I but doth it so come upon the faithful I Answer though their sins be forgiven yet God would leave this mark of his displeasure on all mankind that all Adams Children shall die for a warning to the World Well then sin carryes death in its bosome and to some this death is but a step to Hell or death to come 't is not so to the Godly yet in their instance God would teach the World the sure connexion between death and Sin whosoever hath been once a sinner must die 2. It s end and use The
afflictions of the Gospel 2 Cor. 5.8 9. Death its self may then be born for 't is but the Key to open the prison-door and let out that soul that hath long desired to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 Gratias agimus vobis quod a molestis Dominis liberamur You do them a favour to send them home to their dear Lord. 2. 'T is accompanied with hope they expect within a little while to have their desires accomplished and will a soul that is at Heavens Gates lose all that he hath waited for because the entrance is troublesome When men have crouded to any Mask or Show and have waited long they will not lose their waiting tho they venture many a knock or broken pate to get in so when salvation is very near will a Christian give over his waiting seeking and striving for it Matth. 11.12 Even from the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of heaven suffered violence and the violent take it by fâ—rce 3. Delight We have gotten in part a tast and earnest of our fruition and enjoyment of God and Christ hereafter and it is very pleasing to the soul so that the tempter must needs have a hard task to draw off the soul from him in whom he delighteth Worldly men will not let go their vanities nor sinful wretches their foulest sins because they delight in them Many who never knew what it is to love Christ and delight in his salvation do noâ— so earnestly long for and fixedly hope for the promised blessedness Now these may be easily taken off but the other will venture upon the greatest difficulties Oh. But may not a sound believer be foiled as to his inward man by these afflictive temptations Ans. Yes The experience of the Saints sheweth it too often But 1. 'T is not totally and finally their heel is bruised not only as the outward man is molâ—sted by afflictions but as they may be drawn to some sinful slips and temptations the hâ—el is the lowest and basest part of the body far enough from any vital part the wounds whereof endanger not the life at all the devil may draw them into some sins which may cause much unquietness and affliction of spirit but these wounds are not deadly and do not quench the life of grace in them these wounds may be painful but not mortal They shall not be hurt of the second death Rev. 2.11 2 Upon recovery by repentance The Lord sanctifieth these falls to them to make them the more cautious and watchful so they grow wiser and better and more resolute as being warned before by their own bitter cost as a ball with the more force it is beaten down it rebounds the higher or as a child that hath gotten a knock or been bitten by a sâ—appish Cur groweth the more wary Josh. 22.17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little fâ—r us They were not yet whole of the iniquity of Peor and therefore should be careful not to wound themselves again 3. All ends in final conquest over Satan Rom. 16.20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly We are now in our combat 't is some conquering to keep up our resistance but our full triumph is hereafter 2. Ob. But will it not hurt to press believers to this confidence Will not this weaken their care and diligence No. 1. This is pleasing and acceptable to God to believe that he will perfect and maintain his begâ—n work Phil. 1.6 Being confident of this that he that hath begun a good work in you will pâ—rfect it to the day of Christ. 2. 'T is honourable unto God and doth excite us to praise and thanksgiving when we can trust our interests in his hands with a quiet and well composed mind 2 Tim. 1.12 And I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him A Christian in all respects of time can bless God for what he hath done called us when strangers and enemies 1 Pet. 2.9 What he doth do keepeth the feet of his Saints 1 Sam. 2.9 For what he will do 2 Tim. 4.17 18. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthned me And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and preserve me to his heavenly kingdom To be satisfied in Gods conduct is certainly very honourable to him 3. 'T is very profitable to the Children of God 1. To keep us from falling God promiseth to keep us but in his own way and that engageth us to an intire dependance upon him in the use of means John 15.4 Abide in me and I in you So 1 John 2.16 17. Ye shall abide in him And then he presently addeth Little children abide in him First a promise and then an exhortation and then we use the means with the more diligence and encouragement as Paul had a promise that not one should perish Acts 27.23 But yet they must all abide in the ship v. 31. 2. To encourage us to return when fallen we have some holdfast on God when we seek to recover our selves by repentance Psal. 119.170 Let my supplication come before thee deliver me accordâ—ng to thy word And Jer. 3 4. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me My father the guide of my youth 4. 'T is very comfortable and breede 〈◊〉 everlasting joy that should be in Gods redeemed ones Isa. 35.10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads Nâ—y it begets an heroâ—cal spirit when we can bear up on the love of God in the sorest tryals As here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VSE It cautioneth us not to be dismayed when the people of God seem to be run down by oppositions and reproaches and the cause of Religion to suffer loss and visibly to go to ruin No Christ hath promised that the gates of helâ— shall not prevail against the Church Matth. 16.18 All the Powers which the devil can muster up cannot destroy Christs interest in the world his Kingdom is like a Rock in the midst of the Sea which being beaten on every side with waves standeth unmoveâ—ble his people many times may be scattered oppressed their profession discountenanced and opposed every where seemingly beaten out of the world but then the Church groweth inwardly the graces of his people are strengâ—hned and increased and their hearts bettered their glory hastned their profession more honoured and râ—verenced in the consciences of men Some converted others confirmed When the Christians were butchered and went to wrack every where Oftentimmes it falleth out so when God breaketh that temporal interest to which we lean he provideth for his own Glory and the advancement of the Gospel by other and better means and Religion gaineth when it seemeth to lose as in the primitive times when the slaughters were frequent they sought to drive Christians to deny Christ but they confess him the more they fumed and chafed because they could not get their will and
earthly Clay House is dissolved there were a building not made with hands eternal in the Heavens we would groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with that House For a Christian while out of Heaven is out of his proper place Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God are joyned together 2. Pet. 3.12 The one word implyeth Faith and the other desire surely men do not believe eternal Blessedness who are coldly affected towards it For an estate so Blessed if it were soundly believed it would be earnestly desired 2. Love They that love Christ will long to be with him Phil. 1.23 I desire to be dissolved and to be vvith Christ c. That Christ is there is the great motive to draw our hearts thither Col. 3.1 If ye then be risen vvith Christ seek those things vvhich are above vvhere Christ sitteth on the right hand of God love desireth the nearest union with the party loved Is Jesus Christ the beloved of our Souls Are we espoused to him as to one Husband 2 Cor. 11.2 do we desire to meet him and delight in his Presence in his Ordinances here Surely then we would desire to be with him hereafter for love doth always desire the nearest conjunction the fullest fruition and the closest communion The absence of our best Friend would be troublesome to us therefore we would groan and desire earnestly to be there where he is to behold his Glory How can we love him when we are so contentedly pleased to be long from him 3dly Hope That is a desirous expectation made up of looking and longing and shewing its self in Hearty groans after as well as delightful foretasts of the Blessedness expected what you hope for will be all your desire This estate is a good absent possible but difficult to be obtained as 't is good it is the object of Love as absent and future of desire as possible we look for it as desirable we groan after it well therefore hope hath a great influence upon these affectionate breathings after Heaven and happiness when joined with earnest expectation Phil. 1.20 5thly The Holy Ghost stirreth up in us these groans or a fervent desire partly by revealing the object in such a lively manner as it cannot otherwise be seen Eph. 1.17 18. 1 Cor. 2.22 Partly by his secret influences as he stirreth up holy Ardors in Prayer Rom. 8.25 26. Inutterable groans after happiness He that imprinteth the firm perswasion doth also imprint the desires of these things in our Hearts 6thly All the Ordinances of the Gospel serve to awaken these desires and longings in us and to raise up our affections towards Heavenly things The word is our Charter for Heaven or Gods Testament wherein such rich Legacies are bequeathed to us that every time read it or hear it or meditate upon it we may get a step higher and advance nearer Heaven The promises of the Word tend to this 2 Pet. 5.4 So do the Precepts to put us in the way everlasting Psal. 119.96 All Gods Commandments have an Eternal influence So for Prayer in company or alone 't is but to raise and act those Heavenly desires There we groan and long in the Lords Supper for New wine in our Fathers Kingdom To put an Heavenly relish upon our Hearts All is done in formality and with Hypocrise if it doth not promote these ends 7thly These desires are necessary because of their effect If we do not desire we will not labour and suffer trouble and reproach and persecution What maketh the Christian so Industrious So patient so self denying so watchful Only because he breatheth after Heaven with so much earnestness Desires are the vigorous bent of the Soul that bear us out in all difficulties The Soul leaneth that way its desires carry it If they be weak and feeble they are controlled with every lust abated upon every difficulty the desire of the other world beareth us out in the midst of the Temptations of this world otherwise a man is soon put out of the humour brought under the power of present things Whatever it is that gets your heart that will command you Foolish and hurtful lusts drown and sink you into a base Spirit 1 Tim 6.9 that all the Counsel that can be used will not reclaim you But if you be groaning and longing for and desiring the happiness of another world you have a victory over Temptations you have overcome the world for you regard it then only as your passage you cannot settle here 8thly The state of the present world doth set the Saints groaning and longing for this House from Heaven For this world is vexatious the pleasures of it are meer dreams and shadows and the miseries of it are real and many and grievous Gal. 1.4 To deliver us from this present evil world The present world is certainly an evil world take the best part of the world the state of the Church here it is quite different from what it will be hereafter Now Gods Children are pilgrims and can hardly get leave to pass thorow as Israel could not get leave to go thorow Edom at other times enemies come forth to stop them in the very wilderness Sometimes the Church is like a Ship in the hands of foolish guides that know not the right art of steerage at other times spotted with the Calumnies of adversaries or the stains and scandals of its own Children sometimes rent and torn by sad Divisions every party impaling and enclosing the Common Salvation within their own bounds unchristianing and unchurching all the rest and the name of Christians challenged to themselves and denyed to others and like a ball of contention carryed away by that party that can rustle down others who stand in their way Though with all this disadvantage 't is better to dwell in the Courts of the Lord than in the Tenâ—s of wickedness Yet surely a tender Spirit that mindeth Sions welfare will groan under these disorders and long to come at that great Council of Souls who with perfect Harmony are lauding and praising of God for evermore That innumerable company of Spirits made perfect Heb. 12.23 That general Assembly gathered together out of several Countries into one Body and one place who live together sweetly and serve God without weakness weariness and imperfection obj But how can Christians groan and long for their Heavenly state since there is no passage to it but by Death and 't is unnatural to desire our own Death Answ. 1. They do not simply desire Death for its self but as a means to injoy these better things So Phil. 1.23 I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. 'T is not our duty to Love Death as Death No so 't is an evil that we must patiently bear because of the good which is beyond it But it is our Duty to Love God and to long after Communion with him and to be perfected in holiness Had it not been an evil
parentage is from Heaven every thing tendeth to the place of its original Men Love their native soil things bred in the water delight to return thither Inanimate things tend to their centre a stone will fall to the ground though broken in pieces by the fall air imprisoned in the bowels and caverns of the Earth causes terrible Convulsions and Earthquakes till it get up to its own place All things seek to return thither from whence they came Grace that came from Heaven carryeth the Heart thither again Jerusalem from above is the Mother of us all Heaven is our native Country but the World is a strange place And therefore though the man be at home yet the Christian is not he is out of his proper place Contempt of the World is usually made the fruit of our regeneration 1 John 5.4 Whosoever is born of God overcometh the World There is something in them that intitleth it self to God and worketh towards him and carryeth the Soul thither where God sheweth most of himself so 2 Pet. 1.4 We are made partakers of the Divine Nature and escape the corruption which is in the World through lust The World will not satisfy the Divine Nature there is a strong inclination in us which disposeth us to look after another World 1 Pet. 1.3 Assoon as made Children we reckon upon a Childs portion another Nature hath another aim and tendency There is a double reason why the new Creature cannot be satisfied here 1. Here is not enough dispensed to answer Gods Love in the Covenant I will be your God noteth the gift of some better thing than this World can afford unto us Heb. 11.16 God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City That Title is not justified till he give us Eternal rewards For to be a God to any is to be an Infinite Eternal Benefactor Compare Matth. 22.32 with the forementioned place 2dly Here is not enough to satisfy the desire expectation and inclination of the renewed heart The aim of it is carryed after two things Perfect injoyment of God and perfect conformity to God There is their home where they may be with God and where they may be free from sin Their Love to Christ is such that where he is there they must be Phil. 1.23 Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ Col. 3.1 If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God And there is a final perfect estate to which the new Creature is tending when it shall never dishonour God more but be made like him and compleatly subject to him when never troubled with sin more 2. There lyeth their Treasure and their Inheritance 'T is said Eph. 1.3 that Christ had blessed us with spiritual Blessings in heavenly places He hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in earthly places hath he not Here he hath Adopted Justified and Sanctified us in part but the full accomplishment is reserved for the World to come God would not dispense the fulness of our blessedness in the present World that 's an unquiet place we are not out of Gun-shot and harms way nor in an earthly Paradise There Adam injoyed God among the beasts but we shall injoy him in Heaven among the Angels In the World God would shew his bounty to all his Creatures A Common Inn for Sons and Bastards the place of tryal not of recompense the place where God hath set his Foot-stool not his Throne Isa. 66. 'T is Satans walk the Devils Circuit Whence comest thou From compassing the Earth too and fro Job 2.2 A place defiled with sin and beareth the marks of it given to all mankind in Common Psa. 115.16 The Heaven even the Heavens are the Lords but the Earth hath he given to the Children of men The slaughter House and shambles of the Saints for they are slain upon Earth A receptacle for elect and reprobate 3. There are all our kindred There is our home and Country where our Father is and our Lord Jesus Christ and all the Holy ones of God Vbi pater ibi patria We pray to him Our Father which art in Heaven 'T is Heaven that is our Fathers House and the everlasting mansions of the Blessed There is our Redeemer and Elder Brother Col. 3.1 The Heaven of Heavens doth contain him There are the best of the family Matth. 8.12 There is Abraham Isaac and Jacob. 'T is a misery to be strangers to the common-wealth of Israel to be shut out from the society of Gods people but in Heaven there are other manner of Saints there To be shut out from the company of the Blessed is a dreadful excommunication indeed 4. There we abide longest An Inn cannot be called our home Here we abide but for a night but there for ever with the Lord. The World must be surely left if we had a certain term of years fixed yet 't is very short in comparison of Eternity Therefore since we live longest in the other World there is our home Mic. 2.10 Arise depart hence this is not your rest God speaketh it of the Land of Canaan when they had polluted it with sin 't is true of all the world sin hath brought in Death and there must be a riddance This Life is but a passage to Eternity Israel first dwelt in a wandring Camp before they came to dwell in Cities and walled Towns and the Mysteries of their Religion were first seated in a Tabernacle and then in a Temple So here first in a Mortal Frail Condition and then come to the place of our Eternal rest There is an appointed time for us all to remove Job 7.1 There is an appointed time for man upon Earth his days are as the days of an hireling An hireling when he hath done his work then he receiveth his wages and is gone Actors when they have finished their parts they go within the curtain and are seen no more So when we have served our generation and finished our course our place will know us no more and God will furnish the World with a new Scene both of Acts and Actors 5. The necessary graces that belong to a Christian shew that a Christian is not yet in his proper place as Faith Hope and Love 1. Faith hath another World in prospect and view and our great aim is to come at it Sense sheweth us we have no abiding City upon Earth but Faith points at one to come where Christ is and we shall one day be Now this Faith were but a fancy if we should always abide in this Earthly Tabernacle and there were no other Life to be expected when this is at an end The Salvation of our Souls is called the end of our Faith 1 Pet. 1.9 That is the main Blessing we look for from Christ. So 1 Tim. 1.16 We believe on him to Life everlasting So Heb. 10.39 We are not of them who draw
present life requireth many ministries and services at our hands Besides sinful distractions there are many worldly occasions to divert us but then 't is our work and our wages to see God our business and blessedness to study divinity in the Lambs face John 17.24 That they may be where I am and Behold my Glory 'T is our constant work in Heaven to admire and adore God in Christ. The difficulties and distractions are removed and that mass of Flesh which we then carry about us will be then no clog to us 1 Cor. 6.13 Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall destroy both it and them Nature calleth for them and in this life there is an absolute necessity of them but the necessity and use shall cease the Spiritual body will need no other supplies and put us upon no other Imployments than the loving pleasing and serving of God All the things which we shall see will leave more sweet enlivening and powerful Impressions on us than possâ—bly now they can because we shall understand them better and have more leisure to attend upon them 3. Our presence with him shall be perpetual We shall meet never to part more 1 Thes. 4.17 We shall be for ever present with the Lord. Wicked men shall see Christ for they must appear before his Tribunal but they shall see him to their confusion Rev. 1.7 Every Eye shall see him and they that have pierced him shall wail because of him But the Godly shall see him to their Consolation Job 19.26 I know that my Redeemer liveth and with these Eyes I shall see him The one shall see him as their Judge the other as their Saviour but the chiefest difference is the one shall see him for a while and then be banished out of his presence Matth. 25.41 depart ye cursed There is a dispute whither paena damâ—i or Paena sensus be the greatest I cannot determine such nice points The sense of pain is from the wrath of God Conscience reflecteth upon our loss the Agents are not to be compared yet on the other side the object is greater the thing lost is God himself 'T is the creature that is pained but I am sure the loss will be much greater than now we apprehend it to be for the present we do not value communion with Christ we have other things wherewith to entertain our Souls there are no pleasures of the flesh to abate and divert the sense of our loss nothing left but the vexing remembrance of our own folly and perverse choice which will torment us for ever but now to be received into Christs presence and ever abide with him how great is the Happiness 4. The person whom we see and with whom we be present he is our best friend 'T is with Jesus Christ who is the life of our lives and the whole felicity of his people as long as the Church is without him she cannot take full contentment What doth the Spouse esteem when she seeth him not to whom she is espoused What can delight the wife when the husband is absent What comfort when they want the presence of Christ to whom their Souls cleave When the Church is here upon Earth she heareth much of Christ he is evidently set forth before their eyes in the Word and Sacraments but we do not see him face to face we do not injoy his presence nor his Immediate Imbraces The Church is left upon earth but Christ is received into Heaven with his Father we believe in him now rejoyce in him now when we see him not 1 Pet. 1.8 But how shall we love him when we see him and see him glorious in our nature and injoy him by seeing Hearsay and report could not convey such a knowledge and report as this personal experience as they said John 4 42. Now we believe not because of thy saying but we have seen him our selves Here is but a sight at Second hand as the Queen of Sheba 1 Kings 10.17 It was a true report which I heard in my own land of thine acts and thy wisdom but when I came and mine eyes had seen it the half was not told me We believe the report of Christ in the Word but when we come to see him we shall find that prophesy was but in part the one half was not told us however sight is the more precious because faith went before we believed him a Saviour and now we find him to be so How glad was Simeon when he had Christ in his Arms Luke 2.29 30. Now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation 5. The Place and the Company where we shall be present with him The place is glorious the Heaven of Heavens must contain him Acts 3.24 The Earth is not a fit place for his glorified body nor for us to converse with him in his glorified estate We shall be there where God dwelleth and where he hath designed to manifest himself to his People and amongst the Servants of the Lord shall we ever remain Heb. 12.22 23. To an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judg of all and the Spirits of just men made perfect A choice company picked and chosen out of the World to be objects of his grace In this Council of Souls we are to abide for ever Use. Let us often think of this Blessed Estate what it is to be present with the Lord among his Holy Ones to be called to Heaven as Witnesses of his glory The Queen of Sheba said of Solomon 2 Kings 8.10 Happy are the men that stand in thy presence They that stand before the Lord and see his glory are much more happy Zacheus being a little Man pressed to see Christ upon Earth and got upon a Sycamore Tree The Wise men came from the East to see him in his Cradle 'T is our burden in the World that the Vail of the Flesh and the Clouds of Heaven interpose between us and Christ that there is a great Gulph between us and him which cannot be passed but by Death That Christ is at a distance therefore our Enemies so often ask us Where is your God But then when we are in his Arms then we can say Here he is here is he whom we loved here is he in whom we trusted Then our Redeemer shall be ever before our Eyes to remember us of the grace purchased for us and we are as near him as possibly we can be we dwell in his Family and abide in his House David envyed the Swallows that had their Nests about the Tabernacle He telleth us Psal. 64.10 One day in thy Courts is better than a thousand elsewhere Now you shall be always before the Throne and look upon Jesus so as to live on him This sight shall ravish and content your hearts The Three Children walked comfortably in the Fiery
is satisfied with Christs Obedience as a perfect Ransom for us and is well pleased with those who make use of it and apply it in the appointed way by the subordinate New Testament Righteousness Now as it is the Righteousness of God 't is a great comfort for the Righteousness of God is better than the Righteousness of a meer creature With the Righteousness of God we may appear before God with all confidence and look for all manner of Blessings from him The Law which condemneth us is the Law of God The wrath and punnishment which we fear is the wrath of God The Glory which we expect is the Glory of God The Presence into which we come is the Presence of God And to suit with it the Righteousness upon which we stand is the Righteousness of God which is a great support to us 4. Mark again How the business is carried on by way of exchange Christ made Sin and we Righteousness Christ is dealt with as the sinner in Law and we are pronounced as Righteousness before God our Surety is to bear our punishment and we to be accepted as pleasing and acceptable to God Thus by a wonderful exchange he taketh our evil things upon himself that he might bestow his good things upon us He took from us misery that he might convey to us mercy He was made a curse for us that the Blessing of Abraham might come upon us by Faith Gal. 3.13 14. He suffered death that he might convey life took our sin upon himself that he might impart to us his Righteousness This exchange agreeth in this that on both sides something not merited by the person himself is transferred upon them What more averse from the Holy Nature of Christ than sin He knew no sin and yet is made sin What more alien and strange on our part than Righteousness who are so many ways culpable Yet we are made the Righteousness of God in him This is by no errour of judgment but the wise contrivance ordination and appointment of God that by something done by another it should be imputed and esteemed to that other as if done in his own person So for our sin was Death imposed upon Christ as if he had been the sinner And for Christs Righteousness Life and the Heavenly Inheritance is bestowed upon us as if we had fulfilled the Law and satisfied it in our own person But here is the difference our sins are imputed to Christ out of Gods Justice he being our Surety His Righteousness is imputed to us out of Gods Mercy Our sin was transferred upon him that he might abolish it or take it away for he came to take away sin 1 Joh. 3.5 His Righteousness was imputed to us that it might continue as an everlasting ground of our acceptance with God therefore he is said to finish transgression and to make an end of sin and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in an everlasting Righteousness The vertue of his Righteousness is never spent it abideth for ever He was made a curse for us that this curse might be dissolved and swallowed up but his Blessing is derived to us that it may abide and continue with us to all eternity He took our filthy rags that he might throw them into the depth of the sea but we have the garment of our Elder Brother that we might put it on and Minister in it before the Lord and find grace in his sight Hence is it that though we may be said truly to be Righteous and the Children of God yet Christ cannot be said to be a sinner or the Child of wrath because he had no sin of his own and the wrath of God did not remain on him but only pass over him 2dly There is but one thing remaining in the Text In him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that noteth the time when and the manner how we are actually interested in this benefit When we are in him We are by faith grafted into Christ before this Righteousness is made ours upon this union This Righteousness is adjudged to us 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made to us Wisdom Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption First in him by a lively Faith then 't is imputed to us And as we abide in his love by a constant obedience so 't is continued to us This Righteousness is revealed from Faith to Faith Rom. 1.17 And 't is by Faith unto all and upon all that believe Rom. 3.22 So that we must look to this also how we come to be possessed of it as well as how it is brought about on Christs part As sin or sins could not be imputed to Christ but by the common bond of the same nature and unless he had been united to us by his voluntary Suretyship and undertaking so neither could the Righteousness of Christ have been imputed to us unless we had become one with him in the same Mystical Body so that we believing in Christ and abiding in him are made partakers of his Righteousness and so are pleasing and acceptable to God The Price was paid when Christ died our actual possession and admission into the priviledge is when we are planted into Christ by a lively Faith Doct. That Christ being made sin for us is the meritorious cause and way of our being the Righteousness of God in him Isa. 53.11 By his Knowledge shall my Righteous Servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities So that his bearing of our iniquities is the cause of our being accepted as Righteous through Faith in him So Rom. 5.18 19. Therefore as by the offence of one Judgment came upon all men to condemnation Even so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made Righteous On this foundation hath the Lord established for the Saints an unchangeable rule of Justification I shall give you the Sum of this point in these Propositions 1. The First covenant requireth of us perfect obedience upon pain of eternal death if we perform it not for the tenor of it is do and live sin and dye The least sin according to that covenant merits eternal Death Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them 2dly All mankind have sinned and so are liable to that Death Rom. 3.23 For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God And Rom. 5.12 Wherefore as by one man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned 3dly Christ became the Mediatour and stepped between us and the full execution of it and took the penalties upon himself and became a Sacrifice to offended Justice and a ransom for the sinners So that his sufferings were