not thy law and Jeremiah 9.1.2 3. See how the Prophet complains of that which the Lord doth make a complaint of They proceed from evil to evil saith the Lord and O saies he that my Head were Waters and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears that I might weep for this Hence the Saints are called Mourners in Zion and we read of those that mourned in the midst of the Lords People they mourned sometimes for their own sins as dishonouring Christ Jesus Thus did Peter when he had displeased the Lord and was sensible of it he goes out and weeps bitterly And sometimes they weep for the sins of others that they see the Lord is so much dishonoured and offended by the lives and conversations of Saints Now by this make a judgment of your selves Christians and bring your hearts to this touchstone if that you stand at a distance from the concerns of the honour of Christ Jesus in the world and you look upon the eoncerns of his glory as Alien that you are not concerned in and the dishonours of Christ you are not touched with them they make no impression upon your Spirits truly this speaks very sadly But now on the other hand if that you find your Spirits in fellowship with Christ in all his dishonours if you find that whatsoever doth disturb displease and grieve the Lord is a weight upon your Spirits and that because it is a weight upon the heart of Christ Jesus this is some evidence that you are interested in and united unto the Lord Jesus Eightly Again The Soul that is interested in Christ is restless in all pursuits after Christ until it can compass something of him Christ is the center of the heart and he cannot rest out of Christ neither can he be long satisfied without him but is continually pressing after a sight of and fellowship and communion with the Lord Jesus his heart being as it were swallowed up with him lead him unto other things and they won't satisfy him out of Christ lead him unto ordinances this won't do if Christ be not there advance him unto all Gospel priviledges that give him a name and renown amongst Saints this won't satisfy him if he hath not Christ Jesus there Thus it was with the Spouse she had lost her sight of Christ and now she had her ordinances still and her priviledges still yet this would not satisfy her but she goes from ordinance to ordinance and from priviledge to priviledge to seek after Christ O saw ye him whom my Soul loveth And truly I may say of such a heart as is interested in Christ as Absolom spake in another case when he was well provided for and had royal Princely accommodations O! says he what is all this to me if I may not see the King's face 2 Sam. 14.32 So whatsoever be the outward accommodations that a Soul hath that is interested in Christ still he will be saying O! what is all this if I have not Christ he will be restless in his pursuit after Christ until he can compass something of him Now Christians examine your hearts by this if that you can sit down with something short of Christ if that you can come to an Ordinance and have no communion with Christ in the Ordinance and yet are well satisfied if that you can take up your rest in the priviledges of the Gospel without the Lord Christ himself it is a very shroud sign that you are not yet interested in him but if no Ordinance will please you where Christ is not no enjoyment will satisfie you if Christ be away that your eye is upon Christ in and through all enjoyments as the only rest and center of your Souls this is a good sign of Interest Ninthly In the ninth place The Soul that is interested in Christ makes his preparations and his reformations in his heart which Christ principally respects He that is united unto Christ looks chiefly a the heart which Christ looks chiefly upon and his great care is to have his heart swept cleansed purified sanctified fitted and furnished for the Majesty of Christ Jesus And heart-disturbances and heart-disorders are matters of great grief unto him because he knows that thereby Christ is displeased Jesus Christ takes up his abode with the Soul that is united to him Now Christ's residence is in the heart and the Soul that is united to Christ will principally look to prepare that Room where Christ's residence is to be he will be in the use of all means to bring his heart into some Gospel decency for the entertainment of the Lord Jesus and all that comes from him it comes from the heart The profession that he makes of Christ it is a heart-rooted profession and the change of his life it springs from the change of his heart and the holiness and sanctity that he discovers and manifests is holiness from the heart Now Christians examine your own hearts by this particular also some preparations you make some reformations you are able to shew but are your preparations only life and conversation preparations are they not heart preparations too Or is your reformation only a life reformation and not a heart reformation They they that are not interested in Christ they may prepare and reform but they will look only to the washing of the outside of the Cup and the adorning of the outward man not the inward man but now if your greatest care be upon your hearts and your utmost diligence is to have them thorowly reformed and to have them under a heavenly dispose for Christ to make provision there and to be fitted in the inward man for communion with the Lord Jesus and in all your reformings you first begin there and carry on outwardly as you are able to succeed inwardly This is an evidence of an Interest in the Lord Jesus Christ Tenthly Again The Soul that is interested in Christ lives not upon himself nor upon his own actings but upon Christ unto whom he is joyned The Soul that is brought into union with the Lord Jesus he makes the Lord Jesus his all and he leans upon him and stays upon him and not upon any thing short of him Jesus is full and he lives upon the fulness of Jesus he comes hungry and empty and naked unto Jesus to be satisfied and to be clothed he stays himself upon the merits of Christ and he confides in the faithfulness of Christ and he leans upon the power of Christ and he acts by the strength of Christ he lives in all his whole Christian course upon Christ Says the Spouse Cant. 2.3 As the Apple tree among the trees of the wood so is my Beloved among the Sons I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my tast Here Christ was the Spouse's all she got under his shade and there she rested and she fed upon Christ and lived upon Christ His fruit was sweet unto my tast The true Believer cannot
in against him at last that after-reckonings may undo all No saies God when I forgive sin I do it with this resolve of grace never to remember it more and therefore Psal 103.12 As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us east and west can never meet together so the sins of a believer that are forgiven by God shall never return again never return again to his Condemnation The sense of them may return again and again for his humiliation but the sins themselves shall never return again unto Condemnation for God having once blotted them out will never more write them down therefore Rom. 11.29 The gifts and callings of God are without repentance God doth all in wisdom in righteousness and in judgment he knows what he doth he sees all before and he sees after at once and therefore there can never be any repentance in God for him to recede from his own act of grace but having once absolved the poor sinner he shall remain so to eternity Micah 7.19 Thou wilt cast their iniquities into the depth of the Sea That which is thrown in at the Havens mouth may be washt up again but now take a milstone and carry it into the vast Ocean and cast it into the depth of the Sea and it will never be seen more and thus the Lord to illustrate his own grace doth make use of such comparisons to speak to our understanding This act of his grace is done in Judgment and God will never repent of it it is an irrevocable act Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus VVE made entrance upon these words and gave you this Proposition from them Doct. That all those that are in Christ are acquitted absolved and discharged by God We have given you the properties of this discharge that God gives out unto the believer in Christ And shall now proceed Object But you will say if that believers be thus fully and irrevocably discharged by God how comes it to pass that they are the persons that God doth so much afflict in the world that they are seldom free but followed with adversity upon adversity trial upon trial and yet all their sins done away Ans I answer Though Gods People are the People of affliction and adversity ordinarily in the world yet their afflictions are not from wrath but from love and consistent with his pardoning grace you must distinguish between punishments that are satisfactory and punishments that are monitory You must distinguish between wrathful proceeds from justice and fatherly corrections and chastisements God doth afflict his people upon two accounts in the world sometimes for sin and sometimes for the trial of grace God I grant doth sometimes Chastise his people for sin that Scripture clears it to me Psal 89.30 31 32 33. If his Children forsake my law and walk not in my Judgements if they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments then will I visit their transgressions with rods and their iniquity with stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail c. Here you see God doth chastise for sin he hath reserved to himself a power so to do that if his Children break his law if they transgress and walk contrary to it they shall hear of it they shall feel the smart of his rod ay but it is such a chastisement and visitation as is consistent with the stability of his Covenant for that is not shaken thereby it is such a chastisement as is consistent with unchangeable love and grace and by these afflictions God carries on his work in them the more to humble them and to recover the Soul and to bring it to a due consideration of its self and waies in order unto a closer walking with God and sometimes again afflictions are for the exercise the trial and the improvement of grace and all that God might be the more glorified 1 Pet. 1.6 7. Now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations that the tryal of your faith being much more precious than that of Gold that perisheth may be found unto praise and honour c. Afflictions stir up patience and patience that encreaseth experience and experience hope so as under the trial grace is made to abound and much glory is brought forth to God Obj. Ay but you will say further The believer is taken near to God and forgiven but he sins again don't his renewed transgressions break his pardon Ans Renewed and repeated transgressions they are found in those whom God pardons and they may break their peace and take away the comfort of their pardon but they don't null the pardon of God Their pardon that is continued that is renewed as their transgressions are renewed so as the obligation to punishment obligation to Hell and the wrath of God that returns no more upon their head really before God it returns no more for the pardon that is given forth of God takes it off but the sense of the pardon and all the comforts of the pardon may be lost for a considerable while This seems clear to me from that of the Prophet 2 Sam. 12.13 David said unto Nathan I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David The Lord also hath put away thy sin thou shalt not die God had blotted out the sin of David and yet if you look into the 51 Psalm you will find there that the comfort of his pardon was gone he was not able to read it nor to make Faith nor to take any joy from it O says he Verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness That seems to be a strange voice in his ears the voice of joy and gladness that he had so often heard from the Lord he was a stranger to O! says he that I could hear that voice again Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit V. 12. The joy of his pardon was out of sight and till God returned again to him with fresh consolations and till the Comforter came again to visit him he was not able to apply a Promise nor to take in the comfort of his pardon although the Prophet had told him that God had pardoned him But the obligation to condemnation that doth not return For says the Apostle 1 Joh. 2.1 If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous Christ lieth there in Heaven to secure the state of a Believer and he keeps up the torrent and stream of God's love to the Soul though the manifestations of that love are under a soveraign over-rule and dispose But 3. We proposed to give you the ground upon which God doth proceed in the giving out of this discharge unto those that are in Christ And that is the merits and the satisfaction the propitiation and atonement
in the overcoming and binding of all enemies that are against thee Let thine enemies be never so strong let the powers of men engage against a poor Soul Jesus Christ hath a power greater then them all and will bind them at his pleasure and will take the prey out of the hands of the terrible let Satan the Prince of darkness put in against a poor creature he shall never be able to take him and carry him Captive for Jesus Christ will secure him because greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world 1 John 4.4 He is greater than the Prince the God of the world now the great power that Jesus Christ hath is a power for you Jesus Christ he is invested with this power as he is Mediator that he might over rule all the enemies of your state vanquish them at his pleasure so as let them for a while tyrannize and vaunt it yet they shall never be able to carry one poor believer to Hell nor out of the dominion power of Gods Grace for all this power that Jesus hath he is intrusted withal for your security And 2. For the over-ruling of all your wants in your state Jesus Christ hath a power and all power that he might supply you in all your occasions necessities it may be the poor believer is discouraged he sees but a little meal in the barrel but a little Oil in the cruise he sees his stock begins to wast he thinks he spends upon the principal and it will soon be all done and how shall he live then the water in the pitcher is almost out and the cake that is baked is almost eaten and the Soul begins to think now it must die ay but Christian this Jesus hath an all-power to answer all thy wants let thy necessities be never so many do but consider who it is that thou hast to deal with it is he that hath the fulness of the earth in his own possession Psal 50.12 If I were hungry I would not tell it thee for the world is mine and the fulness thereof and Psal 89.11 The Heavens are thine the Earth also is thine and as for the world and the fulness thereof thou hast founded it whose is the world I pray In whose hand is it is it not in the hand of your Jesus Hath not a dominion over all creatures for you his mediatory power is for you to be improved for you and to be imployed for you so as let your necessities be what they will they cannot be greater then your Jesus hath a supply by him for and is able to answer You know the thousands of Israel were called to live 40 years in a howling wilderness where there was no plowing nor sowing and yet behold they were alwaies supplied They did but cry unto the Lord when they seemed to be in want and the Lord gave them bread from Heaven and flesh from Heaven and he gave them water out of the Rocks and the fulness of the earth is still in his hand Elijah was in a low condition and did not know what to do and God commands a Raven to feed him and God commanded an Angel to be his Servant All the Creatures they are in covenant for your good I have made saith the Lord a Covenant for you with the Beasts of the field and with the Fowls of heaven and with all Creatures And if God does but command the quails to come and feed the people of Israel they shall do it And if God do but command the Ravens to seed the Prophet he shall not want saies Christ Mat. 16.9 do ye not yet understand neither remember the 5 loaves of the 5 thousand and how many Baskets ye took up They were in a little strait and reasoned among themselves Why saies Christ have you forgotten how I fed so many thousand with 5 loaves and 2 fishes and my arm is not shortned my power is not lessened It is an absolute power an uncontroulable dominion that I have therefore fear not Soul do not weep over your empty bottle do not weep over your lost estate do not weep over your past comforts but look up to the fulness of Jesus he hath enough for your relief he can command of the fulness of the earth into your condition and give it you by what hand he pleaseth And as he hath an uncontroulable power that can rebuke all your enemies and make a supply to you in all your wants So 2. He hath an unexhaustible treasure It hath pleased the Father to put his all-fulness of Grace into him and make him Lord of all that Grace that is to be dispensed to believers in that known place Col. 1.19 It hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell All Grace it comes from Christ it is placed in him as the Fountain and he hath the fulness of all Grace for your relief 1. Vnto vital influences And 2. Vnto actual assistance 1. He hath a fulness of all Grace unto vital influences Therefore the second Adam was made a quickning Spirit as the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 15.45 he hath received life that he might give it unto others the Son of God is said to raise those that were dead he is a living spring of Grace that sends vital Grace into our hearts It is he that doth implant vital principles of Faith of love of patience and of new obedience and makes us new creatures to God and causeth us to live before him and this may be matter of encouragement to those that are yet dead in trespasses and sins those that are yet void of Grace and destitute of spiritual life why Sirs Jesus Christ is a living Spring Jesus Christ is a quickning Spirit and he gives life to those that are dead he is furnished with life by the Father to give life to dead Souls let the dead sinner then hope in Jesus and let him wait upon Jesus he that hath commanded those that have been dead to live can also command thy dead Soul to live he hath still life-power in him and life-grace in him And 2. He hath all grace for actual assistance he is the true Olive that empties of his golden Oil into the hearts of believers hence Christ saies John 15.5 Without me you can do nothing I am the Vine and ye are the branches or I am the Root and ye are the Branches Why Jesus Christ he is an influential root he is a root full of sap and full of nourishment and full of moisture that he does convey to believers for their spiritual growth and improvement by his strength it is that we are able to stand in a day of temptation by his strength it is that we are able to manage spiritual duties O alass a little duty would be too great for us were it not for the strength of Christ Jesus and a little of the grace of Christ Jesus will make a Soul wonderfully strong that
he shall be able to do even to amazement to bear and to suffer to astonishment A little of the Grace of Christ O now patient will it make the Soul under great afflictions and how will it strengthen a poor weak believer to hold on in the face of all difficulties he shall be able to hold pace not only with the Footmen but with the Horsemen by the grace of Christ are we sweetly swiftly and joyfully carried on in the ways of new obedience hence is it that we are oft-times commended unto the grace of the Lord Jesus in divers Epistles I commend you saies the Apostle to the grace of the Lord Jesus and the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you and indeed there needs no more because there is enough for our supply at all times and therefore when we are poor and weak and empty and low in our selves we should look up to Jesus Jesus is alwaies full we know not how to go through such a duty nor how to manage such a condition we have not grace for it and we think we shall sink and fail under discouragements why Christian if indeed thou hadst no more then what thou hast in thy self thou mightest fear this but keep thine Eye upon Jesus he is full and filled for the supply of thee and he will communicate according to thy necessities we may therefore at all times and upon all occasions wait upon him SERMON III. Habakkuk 3.18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord I will Joy in the God of my Salvation VVE are shewing you from this Scripture what a constant ground of joy and rejoycing there is in Jesus Christ for the believing Soul at all times and in all conditions as to what Christ is and as to what Christ hath we spake the last day and shall now proceed unto the third particular proposed to be considered 3. And that is what Jesus Christ will do and is a doing for the believing Soul that may be a ground of comfort and joy to him in all his heart saddening conditions and tribulations in this world And first Jesus Christ appears as an Advocate in Heaven at the right hand of God for all believers answering and silencing all accusations and charges brought in against them whereby they are continued in that justified peace state that in their first coming over to God they were stated in There are many failings and provocations in a Christians way and walking with God The remains of sin that yet abide in them they will be rising up and putting forth into the life and life-acts of a Christian But Jesus Christ as his Advocate in Heaven ever stands up before God to see the peace of a Christians state kept Satan that old accuser of the Brethren he is daily observing a Christians walking and viewing a Christians steps to see if he can gather up any thing in his life to improve it and carry it unto God against him and believe it friends he won't better your case as he represents it unto God he won't lessen your fault but he will greaten it and make it worse than it is he is called 1 Pet. 5.8 The adversary of believers The word that we translate adversary some read it a Court adversary one that puts in something against you in the Court of Heaven but I would rather read the word thus one that will charge beyond truth one that will go beyond the bounds of truth in the charges and accusations that he brings in for the word in the Original does import so much one that acts against all rules of justice in the plea's that he shall put in or the charges that he shall deliver against a Christians state in the Court of Heaven Rev. 12.10 he is there called the Accuser of the Brethren which accused them before God day and night he is the old Accuser and Traducer of the Saints at the Bar of Gods justice Now Jesus Christ he alwaies stands up at the right hand of God there to appear as an Advocate on the believers account suing out on the account of his blood new pardons for their renewed transgressions or the continuance of justification and of pardons upon their state so as nothing may be heard in the Court of Heaven against them Jesus Christ stands up to see that a Christians peace with God be not violated and therefore he removes sin as fast as it appears and he answers the accusation as soon as it is made and he silenceth the adversary as soon as he comes Rom. 8.34 Who saies the Apostle shall condemn It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us If sin appears he will remove it and if Satan step in he will silence him he is there upon this account as an Advocate or as an Attorney to answer for you whenever your name is called in Question and therefore saies the Apostle 1 John 2.1 My little Children these things write I unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous as soon as ever an offence is committed Christ steps up and he pleads your case and he urges the value of his blood that was shed for the remission of sins that your peace with God into which you were brought in your first coming over to him may be maintained Now Christians do but consider this and you will find that it is a ground of joy and comfort in your present state It may be your outward peace is broken in upon you have enemies that have disturbed you as to your outward comforts and as to your outward joy and settlement you have those that have incensed it may be your intimate friends against you that now they stand aloof from you well though it be so yet your peace with God that abides and Jesus Christ as your Advocate continues you in your justified state before God let the Devil do his utmost he shall never incense God against a believer because Jesus Christ is an Advocate alwaies at his right hand speaking for him let him tell never such stories of a Christians carriage and conversation unto the Lord yet he shall never incense God against him You know that he did his utmost to incense God against Job he told the Lord fair stories of him that there was no truth no sincerity in him and that he served him but for the comforts of his state and for the outward advantages that he did enjoy but Jesus Christ he saw the peace of Job kept he was his Advocate then so early and he maintained Job in the love and favour of God and thus will he do for all believers he will silence all accusations and remove all objections and he will continue you in your peace state with God the vertue of Christs death is a continued vertue it is alwaies influential upon the heart of God
saith the Lord so as I will never cast thee off I will never give thee a Bill of Divorce I will be thy Husband for ever and thou shalt be my Spouse for ever The relation is alwaies pleadable And in your near and intimate union with himself as you stand in relations of grace to him so you stand in relations of grace to the Father You are the Adopted Children of God God the Father of Christ is your Father and he is alwaies your Father and you are alwaies his Children nothing can come between nothing can cause him to cast you out and disinherit you having received you into this firm into this intimate union you are Heirs being made one with Christ you are Joynt-Heirs with Jesus Christ Heirs of God once an Heir and for ever an Heir so as all the blessed things of the purchase of Christ Jesus and the whole Inheritance of Christ Jesus is before you 't is yours and for you And now Christian what a ground of rejoycing is here for you What though your outward comforts are coming and going they are fading and vanishing It may be you have your hands full of them to day and to morrow they will be gone and you shall see them no more for ever yet know that you have an abiding ground of Joy in Christ Jesus for he it is that maintains your union with himself he hath not only united you but he keeps you in union and he maintains all the gracious relations of the union both with him and also with his Father so as though you have not a Friend upon Earth you may go and say well I have a Friend in Heaven I have not a Father upon Earth ay but I have a Father in Heaven I have not a Husband upon Earth ay but I have a Husband in Heaven I have not a faithful Brother upon Earth ay but I have a sincere hearted Brother in Heaven the relations of Grace they hold and they are alwaies pleadable and improveable And then Eightly In the eighth and last place Jesus Christ is making glorious provisions in Heaven and will in due time glorify all his people with himself for ever saies Christ Jesus It is expedient for you that I go away 't is for your good it was for your good that I came and it is for your good that I staid so long and it is for your good that now I go away For I go to prepare a place for you In my Fathers House are many mansions and I go to make these mansions ready for you I go to Heaven as your fore-runner Consider Jesus as your fore-runner that is entered in for you before-hand making Heaven ready preparing the Crown and the Kingdom for you now though you be robbed of your earthly comforts you cannot be robbed of your Heavenly glory you may be spoiled of your Treasures here upon Earth but you cannot be cheated of your Treasures in Heaven Why Jesus Christ is there to secure it and he hath it in possession he is there as your fore-runner he is there to make all ready I will Father saies he that those that thou hast given me be with me where I am and the glory that thou hast given to me be bestowed upon them that they may be one as thou Father and I are one Now under all your vicissitudes and changes and emptyings and spoylings in this world look up to Christ Jesus and see Heaven sure in him and see glory sure in him and see a Crown and a Kingdom sure in his hand take comfort then Christians in all your necessities here below in the Lord Jesus Christ and with the Prophet do you alwaies glory and rejoyce in him Vse All that I shall super-add shall be only in a sentence or two unto Sinners for as to Saints how they should come to improve Christ Jesus and to live by faith upon him in all conditions I shall shew you afterward if God gives the opportunity but here in a word let Sinners consider how miserable their state and condition is Why Sirs you have heard that there is an abiding ground of joy in Christ Jesus for the believer whatsoever his state is But do you consider that none of this belongs to you all this comfort belongs to Saints not to you you have no part in it there is an abiding ground of terrour of sorrow and of bitterness that belongs to you because you are apart from Christ that hath such a fulness of all joy in him for believers Take heed therefore how you content your selves in a Christless state and how you bless your selves whilest you are remote from Jesus Christ and without a part and interest in him thou art not under the blessing but under the curse there is the flaming Sword that hangs over thy head and there is the hand writing that is over thee upon the wall Let then the Sinner tremble on the consideration of his perishing condition in which he is out of Christ And let it be an inviting word to all of you who have not yet made your close with Jesus that you enquire after him that you earnestly pursue after him for your rest and your peace your comfort and your blessedness it is all in him and can only be obtained by a closure with him SERMON IV. Habakkuk 3.18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord I will Joy in the God of my Salvation THe Proposition that we are upon from the words is this Doct. That there is enough in Christ Jesus alone for the Souls full rejoycing and triumph whatsoever his condition be in this world Before I come to that which I further proposed to consider and speak to viz. how the believer should be helped to live a life of faith upon Christ Jesus unto his spiritual joy and comfort in all conditions I shall alittle insist upon and labour to clear to you the Souls interest in this Jesus that hath such abiding grounds of joy at all times in him saies the Prophet here in the text Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation I shall insist upon the Pronoun my and labour to clear the believers standing that he may know his interest and that he is indeed united unto Christ Jesus it is not in Christ at large that a Person can glory in but it is in Christ under or in a peculiar Gospel relation unto his Soul it is not in Christ in general but in Christ that his Soul is interested in that he can rejoice in in all conditions and this I suppose is an inquiry that all of you will be desirous should be spoken to viz. Qu. How the believer may know that he hath an interest in Christ Jesus That this glorious and blessed Jesus this full Jesus is his Jesus his Saviour That he may be able to say with the Prophet here Yet I will rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation
these things that we have laid down in truth though not in high degrees and measures you may be comforted Many Persons they wrong their case and so darken themselves thereupon by looking more unto the height of those things that are notes of evidence then the truth of them Now examine your selves I say by the truth of these things though you cannot yet find that you have overcome temptation that you have got into an holy triumph over temptation yet if that you can find that under all contrary inclinations and drawings the habitual frame and inclination of your heart is secured for Christ you may be comforted though you cannot find that you are able to do much towards the repairing of the glory of Christ in your place yet if you have a heart that is deeply affected with the dishonour that is done to Christ because Christ is dishonoured thereby you may be comfotted Though Christians you can find in your searches but very little of Christ in your hearts yet if your Souls are restlesly carried out after Christ in all your seekings of him that you must compass something of Christ or you cannot be satisfied this seeking heart and restless Spirit after Christ is a note of evidence to you and though you cannot live up to Christ as you would yet if your preparations and reformations be heart-preparations and heart-reformations that the work is begun and going on in you this may be matter of comfort to you and so you may go on to all the other particulars that I have given you look more to the truth of them then to the height and degree of them if you would upon them come to a right understanding of your present state Secondly If upon a search you can find but some of those things that have been given you as evidential of an interest you may be comforted though for the present you cannot speak of them all upon a particular experimental sense The Lord he speaks unto one Soul by one word and he speaks unto another Soul by another word and we don't know what particular word the Lord will make use of nor what particular of all these the Lord hath singled out and made of use advantage and comfort unto any of you but if the Spirit of the Lord hath singled out any one of them and given you a hint of interest thereupon you have cause to rejoice in the Lord and if the Lord hath given you but the least hint of his love and the least intimation by any word of Grace of your interest let not this be lookt upon as a small thing Take heed of refusing the consolations of the Lord when they are offered to you remember him of whom it is said Psal 77.2 My Soul refused to be comforted Thirdly Know this that full assurance and clear evidence of interest is gradually brought into the heart as the light of Grace comes in gradually so also does the light of comfort which is a light unto your Souls to discern Christ and to take comfort in him now the Lord it may be at first let in a little light as it were through the cravis don't set light by this thus doth the Lord work he gives in a little light at one time that doth as it were put the Soul between hope and fear and by and by he comes in with a little more light and then with a little more light and so gradually he carries on the Soul until he hath led him unto a clear evidence and given him a full assurance of interest so as if you have but yet the day star in your hearts don't despise it if you have yet but the beginnings of the light of consolation don't judge this small though comparatively to what some do enjoy it is but small yet let it not be small in your apprehensions but know that the light of interest gradually comes in encreases I may liken the light of interest unto the Prophets Cloud that was at first but like a mans hand and it was a great way off there was some hope of rain upon it but they did not know what would come of it but this was the beginning of such a Cloud that brought abundance of rain So thou hast Christian a little light that is glimmering in thy heart that sets thee it may be between hope and fear well let not this be small to thee for though for the present thou canst not come to a full assurance yet thou dost not know what this will come to thou doest not know what a growing light this is and how much it may encrease in thy heart Now unto those that have as yet but a little light in their Souls some small hopes through grace of an interest but they dare not positively conclude nor they dare not absolutely deny they have not that full assurance that some have neither are they left wholly in the dark unto these Souls I would speak something by way of encouragement and something by way of direction First By way of encouragement to those that have a little hope through grace and have some small glimmerings of their interest and some buddings of their evidence though it is not yet fully blown let such hearts consider First That if thou hast any thing that is a note of evidence or gives thee hope through grace any thing I mean that is in truth know that though it be never so small yet thy interest in Christ is as great as his is that dwells in the height of assurance my friends your interest in Christ is not the less because your evidence of interest is very small but your little evidence that is in truth or this little word of grace that the Spirit hath spoken that gives you some hopes about your condition doth give you as full an interest in Christ as he hath that hath the highest measures of assurance in this world The young Child that can but run to his Father and cry Father Father he hath as full an interest in and relation to his Father as the grown Child that in understanding and judgment is able to reflect upon and improve the relation and so it is with thy Soul in thy union with Christ though thou canst but look up unto the Lord and cry unto him that he would help thee though thou canst but just cry Father though thou art not able to improve thy interest as some others can yet if upon the least hint of grace from the Spirit thou art able to cry Father thy interest is as good and as great as that Souls that is able to rejoyce in Christ in full evidence Christ is yours and you are Sons you are heirs as well as others and you have the same Spirit and the same Fountain of Grace to go to under the smallness of the evidence of your interest Secondly You are under the same preservable maintainable care that those are that dwell upon the top of
assurance Jesus Christ doth not take the less care of you because your interest is very dark and cloudy for the present but his care over you is the same he is alwaies opening his watchful eye upon you and he is alwaies doing for you alwaies defending of you see what he saies Isaiah 40.11 He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd he shall gather the Lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young O alass they are scarceble to believe that they are Lambs in the flock of Christ they would hope so and they dare not wholly deny it but that Christ hath a part in them and hold of them but it is all they can do to say so but be it so they are under as much care as any He will carry them in his arms he will gently lead those that are with young Christ Jesus in one single act doth equally respect all those that are interested in him be their evidence of interest more or less clearer or more clouded Thirdly Again The comprehensions of Christ upon the union are not proportioned unto but do far exceed our apprehensions of him in the union Christ doth not say I will be unto you as you are unto me and as you do so will I do and as you be so will I be and according to your apprehensions so will I be unto you but he does exceeding abundantly for us above our faith and above our hope it may be we can but say unto him Lord help and though we are so weak he will not do the less but he will prosecute and manage the interest on his part upon your Souls though your apprehensions may be very small of him you have a very full satisfying Scripture for this Eph. 3.20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above what we are able to ask or think according to the power that worketh in him So that Jesus Christs actings towards us and dealings with us and comprehendings of us are not proportioned to our apprehensions of him not according to our faith and hope and not according to our prayer but saies he he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we are able to ask or think and that according to the power that worketh in him So that though you cannot at all times make faith of that power yet that power is working and though your apprehensions be very small yet the comprehensions of Christ are very great it is in Heaven that we shall know as we are known we are fully known here but our selves know but in part Fourthly The weaknesses discovered upon your interest and the provocations given will be covered and forgiven by the Lord Jesus in the strength of the love of his relation to you or interest in you The Soul that is in relation is not able in a clear Gospel way to live up unto his standing in Christ Jesus but he oft-times walks very dishonourably unto his interest and very unbecomingly to his hopes of evidence well Soul though it be thus the Lord Jesus Christ will display such love on his part as shall cover and forgive all the Father will not disinherit his Child because he doth provoke him and because he doth grieve him by many foolish and unchildlike acts but the love of the relation on the Fathers part will forgive the Child The Husband won't give a bill of divorce to his Wife because he finds failings in her waies but the love of the relation doth bind him and influence him to cover all her weaknesses and continue his kindness to her if we have a member that is full of pain and puts us to a great deal of smart and puts us much out of order we do not presently call for the cutting off of this member but we bear with the pain and smart remembering that it is a member now thus it is my friends between the Lord Jesus Christ and you though there are weaknesses discovered in your waies yet he will remember that you are interested in him and though he meet with provocations from you yet he will remember that you are his Children and that you are in relation and that will engage him to cover and forgive all though I speak not this to give any a liberty to indulge themselves and I hope none of you will abuse discoveries of grace so I am sure an honest heart will not but for your terrour if your temptation be thereunto know that though Jesus Christ will not proceed in the utmost of his displeasure against you to give you a bill of divorce yet there are rebukes and there are frowns that are as bitter as death that the Soul may meet withal from Christ upon his high provocations though we don't presently cut off a member that is full of pain yet we may see cause to send for the Surgeon to make an incision and so verily will Jesus Christ be forced to do in your hearts that give your selves such an allowance Psal 89.31 32 33. If his Children forsake my laws and walk not in my judgments if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments then will I visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail c. Fifthly Know that your interest in Christ is not dissolvible as the evidence of your interest is loosable Christian it may be the Lord hath singled out some word that he hath made use of by his Spirit to give you some hopes in and about your interest in and relation unto Christ I would hope that all hath not been spoken to you in vain but if the Lord hath given you some hint by his word of your interest possibly within a little while all this will be lost again and thou maist be as much in the dark as ever thou wert since thou camest into Christ well Christ will not disown thee and Christ will hold thee up that thou shalt never be left to disown him still thy interest is sure in Christ Jesus though light is coming and going in thy Soul and thy evidence is sometimes coming and sometimes going yet know that thy interest is firm and inviolable Sixthly Thy present interest in and relation unto Christ in a state of Grace is a certain and infallible pledge of thy future possession of Christ in glory Christian thou hast now a little hope through grace O make much of it thou dost not know what is in it There is not only matter of consolation in it but it contains a pledge of Heaven and of thy full possession of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory for ever therefore saith Christ He that believeth on me hath everlasting life believing that gives the interest thereby the Soul is united to Christ now upon the union he hath everlasting life he hath the pledge of it his union is the
pledge of it and he is reserved for eternal life and he is going on to perfection to enjoy eternal life The Lord is in grace and by grace fitting of him for a glorious enjoyment of himself for ever now these things are for thy comfort in thy present condition whilest the light of evidence is but glimmering in thy heart Secondly Some few things briefly I shall give you by way of direction First Have you the least intimation of the Lords love to you and of your standing in his love be thankful for these small appearances of light in your Souls I say be thankful Christians there is a great deal in a little and small word of evidence or in a small word of hope Therefore take every hint that the Lord gives and wear it with thankfulness bless his name for it that is the way to have it encreased Secondly Joy and triumph in the Lord upon the present evidence that you have living up to it I say live up to the light that you have in a holy joy and rejoycing in Christ Jesus get into the Prophets Spirit and into his frame here in the text To joy in the Lord and to rejojce in the God of your Salvation and learn Christian to live up unto a small measure of assurance and that is the way to have a greater Thirdly Acknowledge all sense of interest to be given forth in a way of grace I say acknowledge that not only the grace of your union but also the light and comfort of your union is dispensed in a way of free grace The Lord is pleased to give out all manifestations of interest in Christ in a way of grace John 14.22 Judas saith unto him not Iscariot Lord how is it that thou manifestest thy self unto us and not unto the world He must speak this upon a reflect act or else he could not speak with that confidence Lord that thou hast manifested thy self to us and not to others this is to be acknowledged unto free grace Fourthly Have you a little light of your Interest do you gather in upon Christ from that little that you have for more Christians though you have but a little light for the present and are weak in assurance for the present yet there is a full measure of assurance to be given out There is not only the Soul's comfort from a reflect act by the light of the Lord upon his own grace that is wrought but there is the immediate Testimony of the Spirit that is ready to be given out which is a Witness not argumentative or in a way of argumentation but it is a Witness and Evidence that is given in by and in the immediateness of his own presence in the heart of the Believer Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God He bears witness in some immediate act in the Soul It is a clear undeniable soul-satisfying Divine Testimony that the Spirit gives in the Soul that resolves all its doubts and clears his whole Interest and settles him in the full enjoyment of the Lord Jesus and enables him to act upon it And then Fifthly and lastly Have you a little evidence of your Interest for the present Christian do you improve this little unto the comforting of your Souls in Christ in all straits and unto a living upon him in all the necessities of your present condition Jesus is yours and you are interested in him the Lord hath given you some little hope of this this hope through grace Christians should be improved by you upon all occasions you should run out unto the Lord Jesus and have recourse to him and venture upon him you should glory in him and live upon his fulness and rely upon his power and faithfulness Jesus that is so full is your Jesus and Jesus that is so free is your Jesus and Jesus that is so faithful is your Jesus you have some sight of this and some hope of this through grace the Lord now expects that you should come and live upon him in all conditions and comfort your Souls in him in all disconsolations when you are weak and when you are tempted and when you are tryed and when you meet with discouragements from without then to retire to the Lord Jesus and act Faith upon him SERMON IX Habakkuk 3.18 Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation I Shall now proceed to help and direct those Souls that are able to reflect upon their own Interest and standing in Christ that they may live upon Christ and glory in him in all conditions and under all changes of Providence that though they have none else though they have nothing else in this world but the Lord Jesus Christ to live upon their hearts may be full of joy and comfort And before I come particularly to speak unto this I shall premise and propose several considerations that may help to clear the way to what we design to speak to and to encourage your hearts unto a living upon and glorying in Christ when you have nothing else to rejoyce in First Consider that all the comforts of an outward condition are held at great uncertainties and continued at the soveraign pleasure of the great disposer of Heaven The Lord hath not fixt us unchangeably in the enjoyments and comforts of an outward state but he reserves a soveraign power in his own hand to remand from us what at a time he was pleased to command down upon us And all the comforts of an outward condition they are mutable and we are exposed unto a variety of changes of condition in this world All our outward comforts they are exposable unto the spoil and the very foundation of our Joy in this world is avertable He that hath to his own apprehension a mountain that stands strong that he thinks can never be moved is exposed to the soveraign alterations of the great Ruler of Heaven that he may have his mountain overturned in a moment and he that is lifted up on high and seems to himself to be so upon the advance that he shall never fall The Lord can suddenly like unto Job lay him in the dust We are full one day and the Lord may empty us before the next we are rich to day and we may be poor before to morrow we are comforted to day on every side and we may be left naked destitute and broken before to morrow As to our Stocks they are losable and spendable and as to all Lands and Inheritances they are saleable and morgageable uncertain riches they make to themselves wings and flee away they have the wings of fire or the wings of Thieves or the wings of this providence and the other to flee away with The Lord he suffers one man to run away with so much of such a man's estate and suffers another to run away with another part of his estate that those that were
rich are soon made poor and as to your relations that you at present take comfort in now they are and anon they are not Parents Children Friends Comforters Counsellors they die away from us and we see them and we know them no more for ever and which of you that are here in the Lord's presence that may not sit down weep over your broken pitchers and say This once I had and that once I had but now I have it not once I was full but now I am empty once I was lifted up on high but now I am brought down very low once I was a lender but now I am a borrower once I had most comfortable relations none happier than I in a tender Father in a loving Yoke-fellow in a desirable Child in a faithful Friend but now it is quite otherwise they are all like Jonah's Gourd that grew up and withered on a sudden This you may see in the verse before the Text the Figg tree that blossoms not the fruit of the Vine and the labour of the Olive they fail and the Fields yield no meat the Flocks are cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stall The Lord you see hath given us but a weak tenure to all these outward enjoyments and he maintains a Soveraignty over every comfort that he is pleased to bestow upon us that so we shall hold all that we have in this world at great uncertainties and must day by day stand to the allowance of the great disposer of Heaven who will sometimes give and will sometimes take what he hath given Secondly The Lord Jesus Christ is and hath whatsoever the Scripture hath said and much more than we are able to conceive of him in our largest and utmost apprehensions He is and he hath according unto all Old Testament Prophecies and Predictions in the utmost Exposition that can be made of them in the largest extent and he is and he hath according to the utmost word of the revelation that is made of him in the New Testament and you are not able to conceive and apprehend what he is and what he hath in the considering of the Scripture expressions that are made use of to set him forth unto you You cannot measure Christ by your thoughts and imaginations but when you have conceived all that you can Christ is more and Christ hath more than you are able to apprehend of him The Scripture tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ hath a fulness of grace in him now you are not able to apprehend what this fulness of grace is it is an infinite fulness and you are not able to comprehend it in your finite thoughts how comprehensive soever they are The Gospel tells you of the outgoings of Christ's heart unto sinners but you are not able to apprehend nor to measure what is the love of the heart of Christ to poor sinners but when you have conceived never so much of his love there is more still than you are able to grapple The Scripture tells you of a great power that is in Christ conceive never so much of his power what it is that he is able to do for you in a strait and how wonderfully he is able to work there is yet a greater extent in the power of Christ than your apprehensions can reach The Gospel tells you of an All-fulness or an Allness that is in the Lord Jesus Christ Sum up all that you can think of and all that the Scripture can help you to conceive of to add unto this Allness of Christ and yet behold you are not able to tell what his All is you may soon tell what your All is or you may tell what anothers All is what a great man 's All is or what a Prince's All is or what a Kingdom 's All is but you cannot tell what Christ's All is but when you have thought and conceived when you have dived and reached until you are weary still the grace the power the love the fulness of the Lord Jesus is above your reach and there is more than ever entered into your hearts to conceive of him This you have Isa 55.8.9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your waies my waies saith the Lord for as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my waies higher than your waies and my thoughts than your thoughts See how the Lord tells us that he is advanced above all our imaginations of him Now the thoughts of Christ's heart are alwaies towards us and alwaies proportioned unto the fulness that he hath received Now says he My thoughts are not like to your thoughts you thought that I could relieve only in such a case or I could help only in such a strait you thought I could do thus and that I could do thus and do no more but alas says Christ you are mistaken there is as great a distance between my thoughts and your thoughts as there is between Heaven and Earth so as the fulness of Christ Jesus is a most glorious and blessed fulness enough for all your Soul's relief and to spare Thirdly Christ's fulness of grace is alwaies subjectively and objectively the same First It is alwaies subjectively the same Christ's Spring is not a rising and a falling Spring but the waters of it are alwaies of the same depth the waters of this Fountain do not admit of an ebb and of a flow but they are alwaies at one and the same height Christ hath not a more and a less his fulness will not admit of an augmentation and a diminution but notwithstanding all the overflowings of the fountain still it is a fountain-fulness notwithstanding all the streams that have run from it still it is as full as ever notwithstanding all the thousands of Souls that Jesus hath relieved and empty hearts that Jesus hath filled still he is as full of grace as ever as full of mercy as ever There is no less in this fountain as it is subjectively considered upon all that he hath given and dispensed but he is as rich in grace and there is as great a plenty in him as there was when he first opened his fountain unto sinners Col. 1.19 For it hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell There it doth alwaies abide and the same fulness without change the same fulness without diminution That fulness that God placed in his Son there it doth abide in the glory of its utmost height Heb. 13.8 Jesus is the same yesterday to day and for ever This is that that is said of your Jesus his fulness was a great fulness at first why he is the same to day spend Christians what you will and draw out of the fountain what you can it will be as full to morrow as it is to day Yesterday to day and the same for ever Secondly Christs fulness is alwaies objectively the same unto all those that do possess it the Soul that
hath an interest in Jesus once hath an interest in him for ever and the Soul that is once admitted unto the fountain of Christ Jesus shall never be debarr'd more you have not a coming and a going interest an interest that is to day and may be taken away to morrow indeed your outward comforts they are losable comforts and your outward blessings are spendable God may give you much to day and you may have nothing of all that much to morrow but it is not so here you are not interested in Christ to day and dis-interested in him to morrow but once interested and for ever interested not gracious now and graceless by and by but your interest in the grace of Christ is an everlasting interest and you have the immutable fulness of the Lord Jesus ever to go unto whatever your strait is having once an interest given you in him the Lord doth not give you a part in himself and then take away that part but Christ once yours is for ever yours and your fountain fulness none shall ever be able to take from you nor to deprive you of so as if thou hast once Christ to go unto thou hast alwaies Christ to go unto and if thou doest once discern thy interest in Christ upon good and Gospel substantial grounds thou mayest alwaies glory in the Lord that thou art once interested in Fourthly All Saints have the same Jesus to live upon and the same fulness of Jesus in all its dimensions to go unto The Lord hath not given one believer a greater propriety in himself then he hath given another neither hath one a fuller way prepared for him of going unto Christ than another hath the same Jesus that Abraham had to do with and did live upon is in common for every Son and Daughter of Abraham and the same fulness of Jesus that Abraham had you have in all its dimensions the Lord did not open a Fountain unto Abraham and open only a stream unto you but if you be a Son or Daughter of Abraham you have the same great Ocean to go unto in all its fulness that Abraham had you have the same merits to implead that Abraham had you have the same blood to be washed in and to wash in that any other believer hath and you have the same great and precious promises to apply that another believer hath one believer cannot lay a challenge upon this promise and say it is mine and not yours but 't is yours as well as his the same Fountain in all its dimensions you have to go unto in all your streights that another believer hath and therefore if you have not that strength if you have nor that grace if you have not that riches if you have not that fulness that another believer hath you must blame your felves and not Christ for he offers himself alike unto all and discovers and holds forth his Fountain alike unto all Fifthly There is a vast disproportion between your creature losses and your gains and enjoyments in Christ your losses in the creature they are but shadows and not substance there is an emptiness in the fullest outward condition take it as an outward condition and there is a bitterness in the sweetest outward enjoyment and the losses that you can meet withal in this world they are only such as reach and concern an animal life but now there is more in a little of Christ Jesus then there is in a great deal of the Creature nay in all creature enjoyments so as whatsoever the loss is that you meet withal in the creature a little of Christ Jesus will make it up the least gift of Christs right hand doth far exceed all the gifts of his left hand and one draught of the water of the upper springs is more then all the waters in the nether springs so as though thou meetest with sore losses and great blows and breakings in the outward man yet know that a little of Christ will fill up thy Soul that there will be no want whatsoever thou hast lost it may be Christian that the Creature that thou hast lost would have been enjoyed to thy disadvantage if it had still been kept in thy hand it may be it had been to the loss to the hurt of the possessour but now Jesus Christ is alwaies enjoyed to the advantage and Christ Jesus is such an advantage as will answer all losing disadvantages so as Christian be not overmuch dejected at the passing away of the Creature when there is still enough in Christ to make up the loss that thou hast sustained Sixthly The joy that is drawn from Christ depend not upon sensible things but lives in the Soul when all outward comforts are gone you may as to the world be an undone man broken in your outward estate and yet your joy none can take from you but now whatsoever you have in the Creature if you have not Christ with the creature you have no ground of joy so as Christ he is alwaies a ground of joy whether the Creature be absent or present but the Creature is never so without Christ do but consider the Apostle Paul he had an interest in Christ and he glories in his interest when he had nothing else Rom. 5.3 We have peace with God saies he through our Lord Jesus Christ and we rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and now saies he we glory in tribulation we are spoyled in our goods and we are sore broken and left sorrowful and desolate and forsaken as to outward supports and supporters and yet saies he in the midst of all we glory in tribulation or if you will according unto another Scripture we are saies he but as sorrowful and but as poor 2 Cor. 6.10 For indeed we make many rich we have grace and abundance of grace in Christ Jesus and we are in no want Paul and Silas Acts 16.26 they were in Prison and in the Stocks and yet behold at midnight they break out in singing praises unto God their hearts were full of joy when they had nothing of the Creature in their hands and thus did the Prophet in the text there comes a famine upon all his outward comforts that behold he had nothing to live upon and yet will I rejoice in the Lord we have all in him saies he when we have nothing out of him Joy that is drawn from Christ shall abide in the Soul when all visible creature supports shall fail though his entertainment in the world be very mean and his outward burthens be very great and his poverty very pressing upon his outward man yet the Soul that hath an interest in Christ will joy notwithstanding all this Seventhly Again The Lord Jesus Christ in his Gospel-fulness of grace is under an indispensible obligation to dispense that grace that as the great officer of Heaven he hath received the charge of The fulness of Christ Jesus it is a common fulness it is a fulness for
discouraging providence and you will immediately see and find a strange alteration in your hearts you will find those graces that are weak begin to gather strength and you will find those graces to arise and appear and shine forth that you could scarce discern faith exercised upon the Lord Jesus Christ will have a mighty influence upon your love to raise that when the Soul is got into Christ and can improve his interest in Christ O how will his Soul be enlarged and his heart burn in love to him who is the Lord of his interest and of his comforts faith exercised upon the Lord Jesus will have a mighty influence upon your hopes that were even just giving up the Ghost to your apprehensions faith exercised upon the Lord Jesus will have a mighty influence upon your patience to strengthen and quicken that when a frowning providence comes that would royl your Spirits and put you besides your selves and drive you out of a Christian frame faith will raise up your patience and learn you to be quiet under the hand of the Lord faith exercised upon Christ will have an influence upon your joy it will cause a mighty and wonderful rejoycing in your Souls that you have such a full Jesus to live upon faith exercised upon the Lord Jesus will have an influence upon your zeal and will wonderfully excite you and stir you up unto all duties of serving and following the Lord so as Christians do but lay these considerations together and you will see what great encouragement you have to glory in the Lord Jesus Christ whatsoever your outward condition is and you will see the way of living by faith upon Christ to be clear and to be the only way that the Christian should walk in Well having premised these things we shall now come to give you some particular directions how you may get up your faith and your Spirits in the exercise of faith unto a glorying and rejoycing in the Lord Jesus Christ whatsoever your saddening outward providences are And here 1. If you would come to live upon Christ Jesus alone in the saddest providences of your state then entertain and keep up low thoughts of the great things of this world Truly Christians you may think of it what you will but while you have hearts that are magnifying and adoring of the things of the world and the enjoyments of the world and counting these great things you will never come gospelly to live upon the Lord Jesus your thoughts must be altered in and about the comforts of this life and you must possess your hearts with this that they are the smallest comforts of your state and the blessings of this life they are the least blessings that the Lord hath given you you must have very low thoughts of the world and of the comforts of it if you would come to live by faith upon Christ Jesus alone whilest you have vast thoughts oâ— your creature enjoyments and creature comforts and creature conditions and suppose your comforts to lye here and your comforts to lye there short of Christ alas you will be driven out of all the exercise of faith in an emptying providence I will give you two instances for this in the eleventh Chapter of the Hebrews the first is that of Father Abraham in the 8 and 9 verses By Faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and went out not knowing whither he went by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange Countrey dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac c. Here Abraham was called to leave the possessions of his natural place the possession that he was born to and to follow Christ whither he would lead him and to accept of that condition that Christ would place him in and to stand to the allowance of God let it be more or less this Abraham was called to Now it is said Abraham by Faith did obey this command and call of God and went out why how did faith help him here doubtless by shewing of him Christ Jesus for faith in every exercise hath to do with Christ and therefore his faith carried him up to Christ and when he was once got up to Christ then behold how low were these things to him my Countrey Lord saies he what is my Country to thee I will leave my Countrey to follow thee and my Friends are nothing to me and my possessions are nothing to me I will leave all to follow thee what a low esteem had he of these things And the other instance is that of Moses in vers 24 25 26 27. By faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the Son of Pharaohs Daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproaches of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he had respect to the recompence of reward Here are great things that Moses left for the sake of Christ he left the Court yea he probably left the Crown of Egypt and all the glories thereof now he did this by faith the Creature was of a low esteem with him O alass what is it to be called the Son of Pharaohs Daughter and what is it to be an heir of an earthly Crown and to be King of Egypt I had rather be afflicted and spoyled and destitute in my outward condition with Christ then to enjoy all these things without him Christians you must get mortified affections to all enjoyments on this side Christ if you would come to live upon and glory in Christ alone 2. Acquaint your selves more with the royalties of Christ and the greatness of his Gospel-glory as he is proposed the object of your saith if you would come to glory in him alone and live upon him in an empty condition One great reason why we can take no more comfort in Christ in an empty condition is because we are such strangers to the fulness of Christ Jesus we don't know what is in Christ we know not what Christ can do what is in his heart and hand to give forth to you Christians if you would live more by faith upon Christ then view Christ in his royalties of Grace Look into the length of Christ and into the breadth of Christ and see what he is the owner and possessour of what the Father hath betrusted him with view the extent of his Offices and consider the largeness of his power and what he is able to do for you study and acquaint your selves with the royalties of Christ as he is proposed an object for your faith to fix upon there is no condition but he can comfort you in it let the condition be never so comfortless in its self study the fulness of the Lord Jesus 3. Get by faith upon the all sufficiency of Christ and there take a prospect of your losses
not for me only says he but for you also rest with us You shall come into the same Rest with us Ministers and People that are faithful in Christ Jesus shall all come into the same Rest a Rest that none of the troublers shall be able to disturb Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them The labours and the pains that you take here they are very many We were driven by God into this condition in the sweat of our faces to eat our bread Well but this is but for this life You have a Hope that is laid up in Heaven for you of a blessed and a glorious Rest wherein you shall have freedom from all your labours you shall have freedom from all the disturbances and pressures that you have here 4. There is a fulness of Joy that is laid up in Heaven for all Believers Says the Prophet Isa 66.11 That ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolation that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory If that there be such a time a coming wherein this may be true of the Saints here upon Earth it will be much more so in Heaven for Heaven will heighten all it will heighten all your joy and heighten all your comfort and not only heighten the joy and comfort that you have but that succeeding Saints shall have when the whole Earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord still there shall be a disproportion between Earth and Heaven When the voice saith Come up hither that which follows is Enter into your Master's Joy Matth. 25.21 Here the Lord for the bearing up of the hearts of his People sends down a little joy into their spirits he sends down the Comforter unto them and he comes and now and then speaks a reviving word now and then he gives a drop of consolation and it may be it is upon the end of the Rod too and this is counted a great matter and truly it should be so with us But there is a hope of another manner of Joy or other measures laid up in Heaven for you Joy it shall be the Air that the Saints shall breath in it shall be the very Orb that they shall move in the very Elements that they shall dwell in their hearts cannot hold all it shall be overflowing it shall be round about them 1. The Joy that is laid up in Heaven for the Saints it is that that shall be fully satisfying They shall have enough of it they shall be filled with it to the full so as there shall be no room for more Psal 16.11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of Joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore But shall the Saints have enough of this yes Psal 17.16 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness The Soul hath not its satisfaction here when it hath a little it is enlarged to bless God but it hath not enough it would have more still a little more communion with God But in Heaven there is satisfaction to the full When I awake that is in the morning of the resurrection when this mortality is blown out of his eyes when he comes to open his eyes in the other world then shall I be satisfied with thy likeness 2. The Joy that is laid up in Heaven is unmixed Here there is a mixture with your Joy you have a little joy and a great deal of sorrow you have a little peace and a great deal of trouble you have darkness with your light and you have vexation and crosses with your comforts But in Heaven there is nothing to cross there is nothing to grieve there is only joy there is no mixture with your joy It will be pure joy 3. And thirdly That Joy that is laid up in Heaven will be permanent It is such as you shall sit down in and that which you shall partake of to eternity Here your joy is not only mixed with sorrows but it meets with great overwhelmings it is coming and going it is partaken of here at great uncertainties but now in Heaven it will be alwaies the same 4. There is in Heaven laid up for you absolute freedom and full liberty of Soul in the Service of God Here 't is not so when the spirit is willing the flesh is weak and how often are our hearts ready to die within us The Spirit will not hold out we can hardly watch with Christ one hour bodies tire and spirits tire but now there will be a fulness of strength in Heaven and there will be liberty of spirit proportionable to all strength and to all grace the Soul will be in absolute freedom for God and the body under an absolute freedom too answerable unto all the freeness of the Soul now the body is a great clog to the Soul it is a great hinderance that you cannot do for God and you cannot lay out your selves for God as you would but there will be no weariness in Heaven in your Spirits though you shall serve night and day world without end the promise is Isaiah 40.31 That they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not be faint The Saints rejoyce as they can experience something of this here but the fulness of this promise will be in Heaven there you shall mount up indeed as with wings there Soul and Body shall be in all liberty in the service of God Now what would Saints give to have their Spirits in a freedom and full liberty for God but one day O they would count it a corner of Heaven if that they could have their Spirits set in full liberty for God but one of his daies that they may serve God and delight themselves fully in the service of God a whole day But Sirs in Heaven you shall be fully delighted in the service of God to eternity all clogs shall be taken off from your Spirits 5. The Saints have a hope laid up in Heaven for them of an eternal abode in the glorious pallace of their Father here their dwelling is uncertain they have no sure dwelling place upon earth their Landlords sometimes warn them out of their Houses and command them to seek a new dwelling sometimes God turns them out of their Houses they may be driven out of their Houses here by the Sword they may be driven out by fire but the Lord he hath chosen Heaven as the place of their perpetual residence Deut. 1.33 Who went in the way before you to search out a place The Lord went before Israel in the Wilderness by Fire and by the Cloud to search out a place for
we are passed from death to life we know it says he And the Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God Rom. 8.16 There is a report and a testimony of the Spirit of God within and there is by the work of the Spirit and by the hand of the Spirit the discharge and the work of God in the discharge sealed upon the Soul of the Believer so as he knows as really as he hath known that he was a sinner that he is discharged from his sins Though a person may be discharged and not know it for the Spirit of God doth not alwaies witness the Spirit of God doth not alwaies seal Nay he may seal and his Seal may be hid he may make report and give evidence and this evidence may be lost Those that have had the assurance of the pardon of their sins may lose it again or it may be some considerable time after the Soul hath been discharged before he is able to read his discharge but the Spirit of the Lord first or last will be a Witnesser and Sealer to all those that have their discharge and they shall know it and have the comfort of it It is a real discharge Secondly It is a free discharge God doth all that he doth for his People gratis there is nothing in them that hath procured and bought in the blessing at the hand of the Lord. But when he comes to discharge a Soul he doth it for his own Names sake As Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins I will blot them out says God not for thy sake for thou hast deserved no such thing at my hand but I will blot them out for my own sake I do all that I do freely and therefore says he Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his grace We are justified freely by the grace of God When the sinner deserveth the full and the effectual execution of the sentence that was denounced against him then comes the Lord in a way of free and soveraign grace and he discharges and he pardons As Hos 14.4 I will heal their backslidings I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from them I will love them freely and I will pardon freely and I will pass by and I will forgive freely So Col. 2.13 And you being dead hath he quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses So we read it But it may be read Having freely forgiven you all trespasses God freely forgives the trespasses of his People those that he takes unto himself and those that are in Christ therefore we are called upon by the Lord for to come unto him without money and without price Come ye says he that thirst to the waters such as have no money such as have no price come and hearken diligently and your Souls shall live Isa 55.1 2 3. Thirdly It is a full discharge which the Lord grants unto his People a discharge that takes off all their sins at once Psal 103.3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases They are not hundreds and thousands only but all that you stand guilty of All sins of omission and all sins of commission all sins against the first Table and all sins against the second Table they are all at once forgiven all secret sins and all open sins all heart-sins and all life-sins they are all forgiven Hezekiah he made Faith of this Isa 38.17 For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back The sinner when he returns to God comes with a load of sins upon him thousands of thousands of sins he brings with him a multitude of sins and the Lord when he receives this guilty Soul he forgives them all at once Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his waies and the unrighteous man his thoughts Or the man of wickedness and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and unto our God for he will abundantly pardon Or as it may be read he will multiply pardons Sins have been multiplied in daies of ignorance and multiplied in daies of knowledge multiplied against all the strivings of the Spirit multiplied under many tenders of Christ multiplied under many of the beseechings of the Spirit multiplied in the clear Light of a Gospel-day But says he this shall not keep off for I will abundantly pardon God's pardon shall be as extensive as all his transgressions were Hereupon says the Apostle There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus There is no sin remaining to condemn him of all his repeated transgressions of all the thousands and ten thousands that he is guilty of there is no condemnation not one sin left upon the score to condemn him V. 33. Who shall lay any thing unto the charge of God's Elect it is God that justifieth Satan will heap up things against them but there shall not condemn them their own Consciences may bring in Indictment after Indictment against them but says he there is not any thing that shall stand in record against them not any thing that shall be laid to their charge to condemn them not any of their sins be they never so small not any of their sins be they never so great that shall remain against them Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect when God justifies Whereupon says the Prophet Jer. 50.20 The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found for I will pardon them whom I reserve Their iniquity shall be sought for and there shall be none found why because the pardon of God reacheth every one Col. 2.13 Having forgiven you all trespasses And Heb. 8.12 I will be merciful to their unrighteousnesses and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more I will be merciful not to this unrighteousness or the other but to all their unrighteousnesses to their sins and to their iniquities It is spoken of in general terms that they might know it will reach every particular It is a full discharge in so much as the believer is counted righteous he is constituted righteous before God Heb. 11.4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice then Cain by which he obtained witness that he was righteous that is in his justification in Christ Jesus in which justification he had absolution and in the compleatness of his justification before God by Gods imputative act he was reckoned he was constituted righteous 4. The discharge that God gives out to those in Christ it is irrevocable It is such an act of grace as God will abide by as God will never recede from no not to eternity therefore he saies Jeremiah 31.34 I will forgive their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more The believer he is afraid it may be that something may be brought