with all their Prayers are able to open this Freedom as it is Why truly then you may even say with astonishment concerning it as they did when the Lord had so strangly turned the captivity of Zion Psal 126. 2. The Lord hath done great things for his people there is some great some excellent thing in it without doubt 2. I would tell you this also before I go any further That when we have done what we can through Gods assistance to set out the excellency of this Freedom and when you have heard it may be such things about it as may even cause you to say Well now we have had this Subject opened to us we cannot but acknowledg that this Freedom by Christ hath abundance of worth in it oh what a precious thing it is Yet still that which must make it excellent indeed in the eye and esteem of your Souls is your having an interest in it Beloved a man may say of Christ and of the things of Christ they are precious and yet they may not be precious to him no doubt but many a wicked man hath said that Christ is precious and yet he was not so to him because he did not believe in him 1 Pet. 2. 7. Vnto you therefore which believe he is precious Mark he is precious to you this is the difference between an unbeliever and a believer the one says that Christ is precious but the other prizes him Nothing will make this Freedom so precious to you as your part in it Our propriety in a thing puts a kind of excellency upon it in our account tho it be but mean in it self and the want of that makes us have but low thoughts of a thing tho it be never so good one may drop some words by way of commending a good thing but if it be not ones own one hath no prizing thoughts of it You know if a man hath but an ordinary house of his own tho he may say of one that is anothers and ten times better than his such a one hath a brave seat yet his prizing thoughts run most out to his own he hath an interest and propriety in that but he hath not in the other So you may in words commend this Freedom and say what an excellent thing 't is but if it should be with you as Peter said to Simon Acts 8. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right in the sight of God it will not be excellent to you Tho Christ cannot be more beautiful then he is as to himself yet propriety in him will make him look as to us ten thousand times more lovely then otherwise Cant. 5. ult Well now to proceed to the clearing up of this that this is an excellent most excellent Freedom I shall make it out by opening these Seven following things 1. The excellent Names by which it is called 2. The excellent Person by whom it was performed 3. The excellent Price by which it was purchased 4. The excellent properties belonging to it 5. The excellent Priviledges which come by it 6 The excellent Vses that may be made of it 7. The many Wonders that may be observed in it And when I have gone through these things I shall make Application of this Branch of the Doctrine and so finish my whole work upon this Text. To the 1. This Freedom by Christ is an excellent Freedom as we may gather from the excellent Names which are given to it in the Scriptures It was taken for a great honour amongst the Romans to have more Names than one and when they would reprove one that was of a low condition that did take more upon him than became his place they would tell him that he carried himself as if he had three names for that was a note of excellency among them to have three names Now 't is the excellency of this Freedom by Christ that it hath more than three it hath many names and every one of them will help you to see what an excellent Freedom ' t is Sometimes 't is called deliverance see Joel 2. 32. In mount Zion and Jerusalem shall be Deliverance In this place this Freedom by Christ is alluded to and prophecied of and hence Christ himself is called the Deliverer Rom. 11. 26. Now what an excellent thing is deliverance counted among us If any body be in trouble affliction pain or danger any way oh they would fain have deliverance If a woman be in travel oh how she groans for deliverance Rev. 12. 2. and when she is delivered oh how glad she is of it John 16. 21. Deliverance is such a thing if one be in distress that they who want faith will have it if it be possible tho they use unlawful means for it Yea 't is such a thing that Gods own people many times cannot tell how to wait for it We are very apt to be impatient till deliverance comes Every body concludes that deliverance is an excellent thing Well now this Freedom is deliverance we shall be all delivered if we be made Free by Christ I don't tell you from what yet I am not come to that therefore I speak as yet in a general way Again Another name by which this Freedom is called is Redemption Rom. 3. 24. and those that are made Free by Christ are very often in the Scripture said to be redeemed Now the word Redemption properly signifies the buying back again of things or persons that were alienated from the right owner by being gotten into Bondage Hence it appears what an excellent thing this Freedom by Christ is in that it is set out by this word 't is a bringing of out of us Captivity a bringing of us back to God who is our right owner 't is a fetching of us out of the House of Bondage an opening of the prison as 't is called Isa 61. 11. this Freedom by Christ is a Goal-delivery You may fitly apply that Scripture to this in Psal 107. 10. to 17. when the poor wretch is cast into some loathsom Prison and there he sits in darkness and 't is such a darkness as is the very shadow of Death and he is not only thus but he is bound too and that not with Cords but with Iron and there his very heart is brought down all his spirits and courage and strength are gone out with the misery he undergoes I say when 't is thus with a poor wretch oh what a precious thing would it be to him to have Redemption how doth his Soul long to be out of that condition Isa 51. 14. The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed he is in heast that is it is in his desires that he might be redeemed Why now this Freedom by Christ brings Redemption it breaks the yoke of our oppression by this we come out of the Iron Fornace Again Sometimes this Freedom is called Salvation Tit. 2. 11. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation
condition but if ever he were a liar he is a liar in this and God will judg him and his instruments for bringing up this evil report upon the good Land which he hath given his people Beloved be not discouraged by this slander from looking after this heavenly Canaan as the Children of Israel were from entring into the earthly Canaan when the Spies that went to search the land had spoken evil of it to them for as Caleb said to them the same I say to you The Land is an exceeding good Land I mean now the state into which Christ hath brought believers is even in this World a joyful state You shall see how it was prophecied of in the Old Testament that it should be so Psal 67. read vers 1 2. where he speaks of the coming of this Freedom God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us Selah That thy way may be known upon earth thy saving health among all nations and what follows why vers 3 4 5. Let the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee O let the nations be glad and sing for joy there 's the joy that it brings with it So Isa 35. 10. this chapter is to he understood of Gospel Freedom and Salvation and mark what Joy here is now The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away Obj. But where can you shew us the people in the New Testament that live so comfortably and joyfully by this Freedom and that in this World Why turn to Rom. 5. 2. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and vers 10 11. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life And not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the attenement Obj. But it may be they were a people that met with no great afflictions if they had it would have spoiled their joy tho they were in this Freedom Well for that I 'll give you a full Scripture see 1 Pet. 1. These were scattered abroad by persecution vers 1. They had manifold temptations vers 6. And in v. 7. the Apostle speaks of the tryal of their Faith by fire Yet in vers 8. how comfortable they were for all this In whom tho now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Sirs you that are out of this Freedom are hindred by it from abundance of joy you don't know what true joy and true comfort is without it 5. It is good to make us taste the sweetness that is in the ways of God 't was the Spouse of Christ the redeemed company that uttered that in Cant. 2. 3. I sat down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste Duties Ordinances are sapless things without this but they are refreshing yea ravishing things with it What made David say that a day in Gods Courts was better than a thousand otherwhere 't was because he was in this Freedom Why did the Lord call his Ordinances that should be under the Gospel A feast of fat things a feast of wine on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wine on the lees well fined Isa 25. 6. But because he knew they would be so to Souls that should be brought into this Freedom Oh this is that which will make a Prayer sweet and a good Sermon sweet and a Sacrament sweet and Grace and the Exercise of it sweet You that are in the Bondage of sins may come and hear precious truths but you cannot tell what is in them for savour and relish that Bondage hath put your mouths quite out of taste as I may say to you there 's nothing so sweet as that which is most bitter and that is sin if your palat were not vitiated by this Bondage you would call it as the Scripture calls it viz. The gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity Acts 8. 23. 6. This Freedom is good to make us spiritually useful Indeed one that hath it not may be useful and very useful for earthly respects and if he should be taken away by death there might be a great miss of him the family might want him or the Parish may want him But spiritually useful such a one is not nor can be any otherwise then as a wooden leg can be useful to the body which tho it helps it a little yet 't is but outwardly it hath none of that life or motion that the true members have But now they whom Christ hath made free oh what a deal they are good for upon a spiritual account they are useful persons to bring up a Family for God they are good for the Souls of their Relations You that are out of Christ you may be good for the bodies of your Children you may be good to provide them Meat and Drink and Cloaths and to take care of them when any of them fall sink that they may not want attendance or the like or you may be good to train them up in a civil way and to lay up for them what you can for a Portion in this World or to put them to a good Trade or help them to as rich a match as you can and in these kind of things your usefulness to them is at its journeys end As for the poor Souls of your Children you forget them because you never rememberd your own it may be you 'l say to your Children sometimes you must be a good boy or a good girl and there 's all the good counsel that they shall have of you but alas you take no care to tell them which way they must be good indeed and truly if God should take you away from them and leave them Fatherless and Motherless their outward man would miss you sadly it may be but their Souls would not you were never good for them but they who are in this Freedom are good for the Souls of their Family And beloved they are very useful persons to promote a good work when they see it would tend much to the Glory of God to have it carried on and to take occasions and opportunities of speaking to others about everlasting concernments and to mourn for the sins of the times and places in which they live and to stand in the gap when the Wrath of God is breaking in upon a Nation and when God takes away one of these oh what a miss there is of them and what a loss 't is upon the best account If God had pleased a hundred wicked men might have been better spared than one of these The least of these
Spiritual Bondage and Freedom OR A TREATISE Containing the Substance of several SERMONS Preached on that Subject from JOHN VIII 36. By the late Reverend Mr. NATHANAEL BALL M. A. Late Pastor of Barley in Hartfordshire Isa 61. 1. The Lord hath sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683. To the Right Honourable and truly Vertuous the Lady Archer of Coopersail in Essex Madam IT is too notorious That the most usual pretensions of Epistles Dedicatory are patronage from and their real Scope flatteries of the Persons to whom they are directed For the former 't is an apparent vanity in that a Worthy Work needs it not and an Unworthy neither deserves nor is capable of it For the latter as it ill becomes the entrance of so serious and searching a Subject as that of this Book and the impartial simplicity of a Minister of Divine Grace and Truth So I am confident it would be entertained by your Ladiship with distaste and contempt Madam To say my errand in short I do but pay to your Ladiship the Legacy of my reverend Brother and your dear Friend in and Minister from the Lord Jesus who is now at everlasting rest A Legacy worthy his bequeathing and your Ladiships accepting Yet it is not only a Legacy of Love but also a Debt of Justice both which Obligations he was not insensible of when he designed and ordered the offering of this excellent Service more peculiarly to your Ladiship than to any other You were not so little acquainted with him as not to know him to be a Person immured in his Study and strongly I wish I could not say too strongly inclined to solitude and privacy Otherwise his large Talents of Grace and Ministerial Abilities might have rendred him conspicuous and met with very large acknowledgments from the truly godly and intelligent not only to himself alive but to his Pious and Desolate Widow and his Children after his Decease Madam I must beg your pardon if it be a fault that I omit not to confirm what I said of the Justice of this Dedication for what can be more just than to render those labours next to Gods primarily to your Service who did so bountifully minister to the reverend Authors subsistence in his greatest straits equally to if not beyond any other mortal so that this work is in no small respects your own and a reaping the blessing you have sowed But to make it your own beyond the interest a meer Dedication can give you a sensible remembrance of the Spiritual Bondage and a gracious experience of the Spiritual Freedom treated of in this excellent Discourse will exceedingly conduce Madam I shall not undertake the unnecessary task of commending the Book it being commendation enough to its self where it meets with a Spiritual and Judicious taste Only I shall say That the Author speaks like one that hath felt and experienced what he speaks in his own Soul I shall add no farther only commend you to God and to the word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an Inheritance among all them that are sanctified and subscribe my self Your Ladiships Humble Servant and an unworthy Minister of the Gospel JOHN FALDO shall be captivated unto the obedience of his Truth These Worthies of Christ have been very careful to avoid Scandals and giving Offence that their Ministry might not be justly blamed Hence in all things they have approved themselves as the Ministers of God in much Patience and Affliction in Necessities and Distresses in Stripes and Imprisonments in tossings to and fro and in labours in watchings and fastings by pureness by knowledg by long-suffering by kindness by the Holy Ghost by love unfeigned by the word of truth by the Power of God by the armour of Righteousness on the right hand and on the left by honour and dishonour by evil report and good report as deceivers and yet true as unknown and yet well-known as dying yet living even to a miracle as chastened and not killed persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed being reviled they bless being defamed they intreat they bless and curse not Touching the Reverend and Blessed Author of this Book it will not be unacceptable to give some short Account of him who was an Interpreter one of a thousand an able and faithful Minister of the New-Testament not of the letter but of the Spirit a Minister as of great abilities so of great success in his Ministry The Lord himself hath erected Monuments to his dead Saints and took care for the embalming their memories unto posterity Whilest the name of the wicked doth rot the memory of the just shall be blessed Whilest the ungodly are forgotten or if remembred 't is with a note of Infamy as This is that Ahaz This is Jeroboam that made Israel to sin the righteous are had in everlasting remembrance Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken to you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation This holy man of God Mr. Nathanael Ball was born in the year 1623. at Pitminster near Taunton Dean in the County of Sommerset His Parents were godly and of the number of them who in those days were nick-named Puritans They gave him Religious Education he received it from their instructions and examples Parents are either the best or worst Copies to their Children none can do more either to hinder or further their Childrens Conversion They have the greatest advantages for the sowing Seeds of Grace in their very many were convinced and converted by him He seldom spread the Net of the Gospel but this Fisherman of Souls caught some Soul or other for Christ. He not only preached publickly but visited the Families of his Congregation particularly examining and instructing the ignorant in private and was never satisfied till he had wrought upon them a deep and awakened sence and feeling of their woful estate by nature the necessity of closing with the offers of Salvation tendred by Christ Jesus He left powerful impressions upon their consciences which stuck as so many daggers in their hearts of the reality of things Invisible That there is a God and Devil a Heaven and Hell That they had precious and immortal Souls which must be sav'd or damn'd and that as God was merciful so also was he a just and terrible God that would by no means acquit the guilty and that it was impossible for them to escape the damnation of Hell if they did neglect so great Salvation as was now offered them in this day of their Visitation He put all Masters of Families in their own Persons upon the performance of Family-Duties of prayer and reading the Scriptures of Singing and Catechizing that so their Families might be Bethels not Bethavens little Churches of
God not Synagogues of the Devil And when some objected their want of gifts for prayer he gave them such Directions and Instructions both for matter and manner that in a short time the blessed fruits and effects thereof was very visible many being able to pour out their Souls in prayer unto God with proper Words and melting Affections He always charged them to be upon their knees in prayer Gods familarity with us should not make us saucy towards him but to ingage us to keep our distance and to serve him with a more holy fear and filial reverence The Lord gave him a large seal unto his Ministry in so much that he was the Spritual Father of many whom he begat to Christ in the Gospel When he altered his condition he sought and found a meet help for him every way a neighbour Ministers Daughter to whom he was Married and with whom he lived Religiously and comfortably to his dying day and the blessing of God was upon his Marriage giving him by his vertuous Wife ten Sons and three Daughters She is now left a desolate Widow like the chast Turtle mourning for the loss of her Mate and her Children Orphans but he laid up for them Treasure in Heaven a stock of prayers to the God hearing prayer and they have the Promises God is the Husband and Judg of his Widow and Father to the fatherless out of his holy Habitation their Fathers God will be their God and his seed will be blessed after him Leave thy Fatherless children unto me and let thy Widows put their trust in me saith the Lord. In the government of his Family he was very exact and shewed a rare example of piety to his whole Family He began with God first in his own closet and suffered none under his roof to live without secret prayer When it was a convenient time for the whole house to meet together he came from his Study and summoning them to Duty he expounded one or two Chapters and examined his Children and Servants what they did remember encouraging the diligent reproving the negligent which being done he called upon God for them and with them In prayer he was always fervent vehemently wrestling with the Lord for his blessing In his daily prayers he begged hard for Mercy for King and Kingdom for Church and State he sought the prosperity of Zion earnestly and would not brook a denial Duty being ended he retired shortly upon it into his Study where he commonly abode till Dinner and when he crav'd a blessing upon his meat it was in the presence of his whole Family he was very sparing in his diet and at Table ever turning his discourse Heavenwards and would lead his guests and family from their mercies to the God of Mercies At every meal he preached as it were a short Sermon and Thanks being returned unto God he hastned again into his Study allowing himself no recreation but what arose from reading praying and instructing others He spent most of his time in studying the Scriptures searching out the Mind and Will God in them Well knowing that all humane writings had their defects but the Book of God was perfect and infallible He common-plac'd all his reading this was a store-house for present and after uses At night he carefully kept good hours for Evening-prayer so that his family did not serve God between sleeping and waking A Chapter being read and prayer offered up unto the Lord he withdrew himself again into his Study where as he began so he closed the day with secret Devotion When he lay down in his bed it was with some heavenly discourses which took up his time till he fell asleep His first thoughts in the morning were of God His meditations before his uprising were improved heavenward He rose early and would discourse in the day how his reins instructed him in the night season 'T is a thousand pities that so many precious thoughts as Gods Saints have of God should be lost and not recorded A godly Gentleman of the Inner Temple told a Reverend Minister that he would not lose his morning-thoughts of God for all his worldly estate which yet was a very fair and great one But his observation of the Lords day was most strict and religious The fourth Commandment is the hedg and mound about the whole Law Break down this and you violate all the rest The Jews stiled the sabbath the Bride of the Synagogue This holy man of God decked himself up for it as a Bridegroom to meet his Bride The Sabbath was his delight and he was exceeding careful not only in his own person but that all in his family and under his charge should sanctifie it unto the Lord. He had no worldly business no worldly discourses on that day but he and his whole houshold spent the whole day in the Service of God Blessed is the man that doth this and the son of man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it In his house 't was the Lords day indeed the Queen of daies all his children servants and whoso lodged within his gates were wholly taken up in reading hearing repeating meditating praying and singing of Psalms that day On the Sabbath evenings he examined his childrens servants proficiency by the Sabbath-ordinances and laboured mightily to awaken their consciences and to put them upon early seeking of God He was very communicative of his knowledg As a Fountain freely yields its water and the field its corn and the garden herbs for the use of man so did his heart and tongue disperse abroad his spiritual gifts and experiences to the edification of others He would talk with any child or servant that so he might drop into them something of the mystery of godliness Frequently would he take his younger children into his closet and offer up particular supplications for them he would not indulge any of them in a sinful action 'T was his judgment that a Father might wink at any thing saving sin against God Therefore in his use of the Rod he designed their good He first convinced them of the dishonour they had done the Lord the danger they had brought upon themselves and professed that as God their heavenly Father had not so neither had he any pleasure in chastising them that sin being bound up in the heart of a child 't was the Lords Ordinance that the rod of correction should drive it out and therefore he always accompanied the rod with prayer that so they might have the spirit and blessing of the rod and correction might be seconded with conversion and crowned with universal reformation He seemed by his indulgence and kindness to his servants a Father rather than a Master He was very compassionate on their Souls and pressed them powerfully to secure the main their interest in Christ And some of them have cause everlastingly to bless God they came under his roof and stood related to so pious and good a Master The tenderness of
hath friends must shew himself friendly Quest Oh! How shall I do that to Christ Ans I will but only name three things 〈◊〉 you know peâ—â—onâ— use to do towards their greatest and best Friends I would commend them to you in reference to that great Friend of yours Jesus Christ 1. Shew your selves friendly to him thus Commend him to others This is an ordinary thing amongst us to speak of one that we are much beholding to by way of singular commendation so as if we can to bring every one that we speak to in love with him So now commend this Friend of yours wherever you come Tho Christ doth not need your Commendation yet you don't know what a great deal of use he may make of it for the bringing in of such as are strangers to him The Spouse is much at this work in the Book of Canticles 2. If you have a special Friend you 'll do all that you can to please him I dare not displease such a one he is my great Friend you 'll say So carry your selves pleasingly to Christ now do what he would have you and you 'll please him Let not Christ be for any thing and you be against it nor he be against any thing and you be for it It would be a sad thing if Christ should be displeased by Enemies and Friends too his Enemies they carry themselves untowardly and crossly to him but oh don't you that are his Friends do so too this best Friend hath deserved your best carriage towards him Joh. 15. 13 14. 3. If you have a great and special Friend you won't leave him you 'll think you shall never have such another as indeed true Friends are very scarce Thus let it be with you in respect of Christ Oh don't leave him be not like those Disciples who went back and walked no more with him Joh. 6. 66. I may apply that in Prov. 27. 10. Thy own friend and thy fathers friend forsake not Why Christ is a Friend to thee and he was a Friend to thy father forsake him not If thou turnest a backslider from Christ there will be two great Evils in it among others 1. To be sure thou wilt never meet with such a Friend again 2. Thou goest the way to make this great Friend thy great Enemy Vse 3. Doth Freedom come by Christ Then they and they only who are in Christ are safe 'T is the having of this Freedom and that is by being in him that puts Souls out of danger and all that are without it are in harms-way they stand where the Storm will fall There is an excellent place to illustrate this Exod. 9. 18. Behold to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now You see what a Storm was a coming here Well now read verse 19. and that will tell you who would be saved from it and who would be destroyed by it Send therefore now and gather thy cattel and all that thou hast in the field for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field and shall not be brought home the hail shall come down upon them and they shall die And accordingly it came to pass ver 20 21-23 24 25. That which I allude to here is this That whoever shall not be brought home when this grievous hail and thunder and fire of Gods wrath comes he dies for it And now when is a Soul brought home Why when it is brought to Christ Be brought to what you will you are not brought home till you are in him And if you shall be found in him at the last day this will be your Priviledge you shall see others drowned but you will be in the Ark. See it at large in Psal 91. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. CHAP. V. Wherein the Fifth Branch of the Doctrine is handled namely That this Freedom which Christ offers is an excellent Freedom and in particular concerning its excellent Names THe last but not the least Branch of the Point which I now come to is That this Freedom which Christ offers to Sinners and gives to Believers is an excellent Freedom according to Christ's words here in the Text If the Son shall make you free ye shall be free INDEED As if he should have said If I make you free it shall be a Freedom to purpose a Freedom with a Witness you your selves if you have it shall say 't is so shall find it so Beloved there 's not a Soul made free by Christ but is ready as it were to set its Hand and Seal to this That 't is an excellent Freedom that the Lord Jesus bestows upon such as believe in him and to say to Christ upon this account as Laban did to Jacob in another case I have found by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake Gen. 30. 27. I will presently proceed to the opening of the Excellency of it only I would tell you two things by way of Preface to it 1. There is more in this Freedom than I am able to make known to you I shall endeavour to do something towards it and the Lord help me in it but you must not expect that I should set it forth as it is I confess mine own inability to handle this Subject as it deserves If you had some others to speak to you about it they would lead you further into it than I can but whoever should speak to you about it no Tongue of Man is able to unfold it in such a manner as to say Now I have told you all and there is no more in this Freedom than you have heard of it Beloved this Freedom by Christ is one of the deep things of God we cannot fathom it 't is so deep we cannot reach it 't is so high we cannot measure it 't is so broad and so large If we could but see it as it is it would be with us as it was with the Queen of Sheba of whom you read that when she came and saw the Glory of Solomon she was so ravished with it that there was no more spirit in her 1 Kings 10. 4 5. And tho she confessed that the report that she had heard of it before was true yet she saw that in it when she beheld it that the half was not told her ver 6 7. And therefore if it were no more but this that I should say about this Freedom by Christ That it is such a kind of thing that all the Ministers of the Gospel in the World are not sufficient to set it forth Why you might conclude even from thence Then certainly 't is a very excellent Freedom For Oh what abundance doth the Lord help his Ministers to declare about Christ and heavenly things And yet that not one not any not all of them with all their Gifts with all their Graces with all their Study
heart of Boaz inclined to her first he highly commends her for her pitching upon him that she would be satisfied with none but him v. 10. and then he promises her that he would grant her all her request v. 11. and then in the next chap. he doth solemnly Marry her So the Lord Jesus is inclinable and willing to Marry you Go and try if he be not Lye you at his feet beg earnestly that he would spread his Skirt over you see if he do not can you think that he is not willing when instead of your coming to woo Christ as Ruth here did Boaz Christ comes to woo you he would fain be your Saviour be your Husband he tells you so and all that when you have him you may have Rest and that it may be well with you which it never will till you have him Again Another Name by which this Freedom by Christ is set forth to shew the excellency of it is Health or Healing Isa 53. 5. With his stripes we are healed we get Health by them 't is all one with this Freedom here And Psal 67. 2. where this is prayed for that it might be manifested to the World and that the knowledg of Salvation by Christ might be spread all over the Earth as it was to be in the days of the Gospel 't is called Saving Health That thy way may be known upon earth thy saving health among all nations Now you all know what an excellent thing Health is some by the enjoying of it and some by the want of it this is such a mercy that whatever one hath besides yet if there be no Health with it all is imbittered it makes life it self burdensom and uncomfortable and tho ones condition in the World be but poor in other respects yet sometimes you shall hear people say but thanks be to God they have their Health tho and as long as they have that they may make the better shift Health beloved is more then a single mercy 't is a double treble yea a tenfold yea a hundredfold mercy because it helps us to take the comfort and taste the sweetness of all else what is all the World to a man that is very Sick or near to Death Health is such an excellent thing that no body can tell what to do without it 'T is an usual expression or cry with persons that have it not and are Sick and are in pain oh what shall I do and you know how they will be enquiring of this Neighbour and that which comes to visit them whether they can tell what they should take and they 'l send to the Physician and he must come and see them and tho he prescribes sharp or loathsom things yet they 'l take them they 'l Purge they 'l Vomit they 'l Bleed they 'l Sweat and all to have their Health again Well now this is the nature of this Freedom by Christ 't is Health if a man be Sick at his very heart 't will recover him if he be never so like to dye I mean by it if he be never so like to be damned which is the Second and the worst Death If he never so much faint away in his Spirits through the Anguish and Terror of a wounded Conscience yet this Freedom by Christ if he believes in it will fetch him again if he hath never so many sores this will bind him up There are some very observable things about Christs manner of healing while he was here upon Earth I would desire you to take much notice of them because the thing that we are to gather from it is what this same bealing Freedom by Christ will do 1. Observe That Christs manner of healing persons that were diseased was by touching he touched them and they touched him See Matth. 8. 3 15. There Christ touched them and in Mark 6. 56. There you find that they touched Christ now there is much to be learnt by this If you would have healing by Christ he must touch you by the finger of his Spirit for 't is spiritual healing that we are now speaking of and therefore the touch must be spiritual now both in him and you and you must touch him by the finger of Faith for you must have Faith to be healed See what a Question Christ put to the Blind men Matth. 9. vers 27. Two blind men followed him crying and saying Thou Son of David have mercy on us then v. 28. you have his Question Believe ye that I am able to do this And their Answer They said unto him Yea Lord. And what followed upon it you read afterwards vers 29 30. Then touched he their eyes saying According to your faith be it unto you And their eyes were opened So you have such and such spiritual diseases you have inward blindness and inward deafness and inward hardness but do you believe that Christ can heal you Doth not unbelief keep off the cure in you Do you touch him by Faith Christ and you as I said but now must touch one another that you may be healed He by his Spirit and you by your Faith Beloved this finger of the Spirit is such a thing that by it Christ can touch you tho you be upon Earth and on the other side this finger of Fath is such a thing that by it you can touch Christ tho he be in Heaven If Christ doth but send his Spirit to you it will tell you where you are it will find you out and it will give you such a touch as you 'l never forget and when Christ hath thus touched you he will help you to touch him he will work Faith in you by his Spirit Oh! look after these touches and don't think you are healed if Christ hath not touched you and you have not touched him 2. Observe that as they must touch him that would be healed so they were healed if they did but touch him Matth. 9. 20 21. Here is a great deal of comfort for weak believers Many a poor Soul is ready to think that because they have not Faith in that strength and growth and full assurance that some have therefore alas they shall get nothing from Christ do no good at all with that poor sorry staggering Faith of theirs Truly poor Soul I wish thy Faith were stronger but I tell thee if thou hast but a grain of true Faith tho it be never so weak if it be but true 't will bring thee a cure for 't will touch Christ if it be true tho never so small 3. Observe that as many as touched him were healed Mark 6. last words of the chapt He did not turn away one that did it he accepted of the weakest Faith there is not one that comes to Christ shall be refused 4. Observe that they who touched him were not almost healed by him but they were healed perfectly Matth. 14. 36. You that are the people of God you have yet a great many weaknesses and
it into Righteousness he changes the person whom he frees 2 Cor. 5. 17. and continuance in sin is a certain sign that this Redeemer hath not yet been there 4. It is the Scripture-Freedom Beloved tho you read as I said of other Freedoms in the Scripture yet this is the Scripture Freedom Joh. 5. 39. Search the Scriptures and they are they which testifie of me You know what heavenly things are contained in the Scriptures Why now beloved this Freedom by Christ is the great thing that the Scripture treat of all other things that are there spoken of are but in order to this all its Precepts all its Promises all its Threatnings look this way It is as I may call it the substance of the Scripture that would not speak of sin so as is doth if it were not for this Freedom it would not speak of Christ so as it doth if it were not for this Freedom it would not speak of Death and Judgment and Heaven and Hell so as it doth if it were not for this Freedom Yea beloved 't is a question whether we should have had any written word at all if it had not been for this Freedom this is the great thing that the Scripture commands and the great thing that the Scripture commends it blesses all them that have it and it curses all them that have it not And which is an unspeakable comfort to think of when a poor Soul hath this Freedom by Christ 't is then Freed by Scripture it is in a good condition by Scripture there be many that think themselves in a good condition but they have no Scripture-grounds for it ask them how they prove their hopes they have not one word to shew for it in the whole Book of God but now the Scripture will come and joyn with one that is freed by Christ it will help him to read his Freedom there and he is one that however he may be fearing and questioning his condition for a time yet at last he will come to this to be able to say why Lord I am freed by thine own word certainly this is a heavenly Freedom then which the Holy Scriptures are so much taken up with You see now by all that hath said upon this fourth Property What great Reason there is for that Text of Scripture Eph. 2. 6. And hath raised us up together and made us sit togegether in heavenly places in Christ Jesus This is done by this heavenly Freedom 5th Property This Freedom is a perfect Freedom it is so already in Christ and by that time he hath done what he intends to do in and for his people it shall be so to them You know the Apostle tells the Colossians cap. 2. 11. that they were compleat in him It hath not only the perfection of parts as a Child hath that hath all the members tho they be not grown but it hath the perfection of degrees as a man hath that is at his full stature Christ's Freedom as it is in himself is full grown and therefore 't is able to do great things for us as you know if you speak to a Child to help you he can do but little but speak to a man that is grown and in his strength he can powerfully assist you And oh what a vast difference there is between the Freedom that man can give and the Freedom that Christ can give men may be instrumental to deliver us one way but then they cannot another way the Creatures arm is too short to reach us and his hand too weak to help us in every strait But this Freedom by Christ is such a perfect thing that in whatsoever we have need of it 't is as able to help us in one as in t'other Beloved there was never such a Saviour as Christ is of all the Saviours that ever God raised up to do his people good he is able to save to the uttermost When God made use of them to be Saviours and Deliverers to his Church yet still his Church needed another Saviour and they did not save them from their greatest dangers but now in Jesus Christ the Church hath got such a Saviour that they need none other I mean as to spiritual Deliverance 6th Property And so I shall end this fourth thing This Freedom is an eternal Freedom Amongst men tho persons may be set free at one time yet they may come into Bondage at another time a man may be twice a Slave and twice a Prisoner yea many times but 't is not so here Where Christ gives this Freedom he settles it for ever Heb. 9. 12. Having obtained eternal Redemption for us It is very true there will be great and strong endeavours put forth by the Enemies of those whom he hath redeemed to recoverthem again as it was in Israel's case but they 'l be overthrown in their undertaking as Pharaoh and his Host was Satans furious attempts to keep those Souls still in Bondage whom Christ will have to be delivered and to brings back those Souls into Bondage whom Christ hath made free will cost him the fall of his Kingdom and it will be such a fall as he and all the forces of Hell that he can raise will never be able to get it up again Well now beloved having heard the Properties of this Freedom give me leave to ask you How do you like it as when a man brings a thing to you and bids you make trial of it and see the Conditions and properties of it when he comes to you again he will say Well how do you like it So pray now how do you like this Freedom What are you pleased or displeased with it Will you have it or will you not what fault can you find in it Why surely Sirs 't is not to be misliked is not an incomparable unconceivable most honourable heavenly Freedom to be liked What is there any of you here so disdainful as wont like the Freedom of the Son the Freedom of the Soul the Freedom of the Saints the Freedom of the Scripture Can't you find in your hearts to like Christ's perfect eternal Freedom Why then what can you like Truly I may even say of such as cannot like this as Job doth cap. 33. of very diseased persons whose soul abhorreth dainty meat in vers 20. Your Soul without infinite mercy draweth nigh to the grave and your life to the destroyers vers 22. CHAP. IX Concerning the excellent Priviledges which this Freedom brings with it FIfthly This is an excellent Freedom in respect of the excellent Priviledges which it brings with it I have formerly told you that this is a purchased Freedom and now I am to tell you that it is a priviledged Freedom it is full of good things They who are redeemed by Christ are an heavenly Corporation the City of the living God Now Corporations and Cities have their Priviledges and some have greater than others but none so great as these that Scripture may
he will with him also freely give you all things Rom. 8. 32. Priviledg 14. They that are made free by Christ are under special protection as you know the children of Kings and great Persons they must have some always with them to see that they get no harm So beloved these persons they are well guarded the Lord himself watches over them 'T is true he doth employ Angels for their safety and you 'l say that 's a great matter that Angels must wait on them and be doing them all the good they can Psal 91. 11. Heb. 1. ult But God is so tender over them that he will not trust Angels alone with them but he hath also committed them the care of them particularly to his Son Whereupon Christ saith Joh. 17. Those whom theu hast given me I have kept and yet he will look after them himself too He is with them Isa 41. 10. or he goes before them and then he is behind them too Isa 52. 12. and then on every side of them Psal 125. 2. If this be not enough for their protection then he will lead them Isa 49. 10. if that be not enough then he will cover them Psal 91. 4. if that be not enough then he will carry them Isa 46. 4. Priviledg 15. They are interested in the prayers of all the Saints in the World It may be they are prayed for some where or other all the day long yea all the week yea all the year yea all their life For it is like that there is a continual stock of Prayers a going by some or other of them night and day And they don't use to pray for themselves alone but for others and for their Fellow-Members most of all as Paul did for the Churches of Christ Priviledg 16. Their Priviledges about their Afflictious are very great as that they shall be 1. moderated God will not lift his Arm too high when he strikes nor make his Rod too big when he whips them 1 Cor. 10. 13. 2. Sweetned Heb. 12. 6. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth Loveth and Son these be words to sweeten his Corrections 3. They shall be sanctified they shall be for our profit ver 10. There is either some Sin to purge out or some Grace to be brightned or increased or some choice Experience to be learned 4. At last removed God will be sure to hold his hand when 't is enough and to comfort them when they have mourned enough and to take them out of the fire when they have been tried enough He that hath redeemed Israel it self shall also redeem Israel out of all his troubles Priviledg 17. They have acceptance of their poor sincere duties Alas what is it that they do or can do for the great God to take any notice of it and yet God is well pleased with them Heb. 13. 16. But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased 1 Pet. 2. 5. Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Priviledg 18. They shall be blessed in and after death in their death for they shall die in the Lord and after death for they shall be for ever with the Lord. As here they are brought into a Kingdom of Grace so there they shall be brought into a Kingdom of Glory Then comes the rest the inheritance the pleasures for evermore the building of God the house not made with hands eternal in the heavens the blessed hope the everlasting life Much time might be spent about these Priviledges and many others that might have been mentioned But I shall stay no longer upon them Now beloved Is not this Freedom by Christ an excellent thing upon this account too namely the excellent Priviledges which come by it And truly now you have heard them methinks you should not be able to forbear going to God when you come home pouring out your most earnest cries to him in these words with which I will close up this 5th Head Psal 106. 4 5. Remember me O Lord with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people O visit me with thy salvation That I may see the good of thy chosen that I may rejoyce in the gladness of thy nation that I may glory with thine inheritance CHAP. X. Concerning the excellent Vses that may be made of this Freedom THE Sixth way of making out the excellency of this Freedom by Christ is to acquaint you with the excellent Vses that may be made of it The worth and value of any thing is seen in the Uses to which it may be put That which is of no use is naught that which is of some use is good that which is of great use is very good but that which is of the greatest use is best of all Now beloved to give this Freedom its due place I must put it amongst those things which are of the highest use and in doing so I shall not set it one jot above what it deserves for the highest place doth of right belong to it Now in speaking upon this I might shew 1. The excellent Vses which Christ makes of this Freedom 2. The excellent Vses which Christians may make of it I shall be brief upon the first because I do chiefly intend the latter To the 1st I will hint but Four excellent Uses which Christ makes of it 1. By this Freedom he brings home all the elect of God He fetches them one after another into the Kingdom of Grace and Glory It was the will of God concerning those whom he hath chosen in the eternal purpose of his love that they should be made holy in this World and happy in the World to come Now by this Freedom Christ doth accomplish that will of his Father he brings them unto holiness by it Tit. 2. 14. and he brings them to happiness by it 2 Tim. 1. 10. So that this Freedom will discover who they are that are elected and who are not For they that are elected will be sanctified and glorified and they that are not will remain in their sins and be damned It will separate between the precious and the vile between the Tares and the Wheat between the Sheep and the Goats By that time the work of this Freedom is finished it will set the children of God by themselves and the children of the Devil by themselves that they shall never come near one another more Matth. 25. 31 32 46. 2. By this Freedom Christ repairs the great breach by the Fall of mankind He heals that deadly wound and makes up that unspeakable loss for as many as believe on his Name In that Apostacy from God the Devil did a World of mischief to the Sons of Men but by this Freedom Christ undermines him and out-plots him and he brings his whole design against the Elect of God to nothing and
snare is broken and we are escaped If you be not made free by Christ you will have a darling sin Vse 5. Of Expostulation And that with such as are not made free by Christ And here tho I shall speak but few words yet I wish they may be piercing What mean you that you don't accept of Christs excellent Freedom 'T is to be had and you want it and you 'l be eternally lost without it and yet you abide in your Bondage the sins you had you have still the sloth that was in you is in you still I dont perceive some of you stir a jot towards the New-birth I have been endeavouring upon this Text to hale you to Christ and yet you hang back Why Sirs for the Lords sake what do you mean I thought that if any Scripture in the Bible would have won you this and that which hath been said upon it would have done it And now after I have delivered all this message from God to you will you not here I must needs here put you in mind of the Prophets words to David what he said to him when he had delivered Gods message to him that I say to you 2 Sam. 24. 13. Now advise and see what an answer I shall return to him that sent me You have heard what I have said from Christ to you now let me hear what I shall say from you to Christ I must go back to him for a new message now I have done with this subject But what Sirs shall I answer him when he asks me what is become of the old You preached a great while about Freedom that I had to give sinners how did it speed with your hearers I should be glad with all my heart that I might be able to say to Christ of this Text as they did of the Talents see Luk. 19. 15 16 18. Lord thy pound hath gained ten pounds saith one five pounds saith another So that my Text that I have been a trading with for God amongst you had gained ten Souls or five Souls or one Soul rather then nothing Well but what shall I say to him that sent me I must go to reckon with him for this Text and as near as I can I must give him a faithful account and that is that I don't hear of one that is converted by all these Sermons not a Man or Woman of you that were out of Christ when I began them have been with me to bring me this joyful news that this Text hath been the word of Life and Power to you If any such mercy hath been shewed to you 't is between God and your selves but if it be so indeed methinks you should easily conclude Certainly Gods beginning to work upon me under such a mans Ministry must needs be welcome newes to him and therefore I 'll go to him and tell him what God hath done for my Soul And Friends I long to see some of you to come to my house upon such an errand I know my labour hath not been in vain in speaking of this Freedom to them here who are in Christ Jesus but God hath given them many a sweet refreshment in the hearing of it and if there should be none that are brought in yet blessed be God that there are some that are built up But oh Sirs what will become of you that have neither gotten nor are getting this Freedom Why don't you consider before it be too late under what Offers of Grace you live what heart-rending thoughts do you think you shall have a little while hence when you shall look back upon the opportunities you have lost without hope of having any more Will it not be an heavy charge against you that you have despised a precious Christ and lost a precious Soul If you believe that you are sinners what 's the reason that you don't regard a Saviour Is Christ beholding to you to accept of his Salvation or are you beholding to him that he is so willing you should have it If you could be contented to live in your sins all your days can you be contented to suffer for them to all eternity I tell you Hell is ready for you if you will not repent and believe the Gospel and the more calls you have now the more Torments you 'l have there Is it fit that such sinful Worms as you are should take upon you to tell Christ that you wont have him And do you think that he doth not observe your unkindness and frowardness to him tho for the present he lets you alone If you have no love for Christ have you none for your selves Will this World last always that you provide no better for another Do you think that Christ cannot tell what to do with his mercy because he offers it to you And now I have blown the Trumpet and given you warning because I see the Sword is a coming now read Ezek. 33. the nine first Verses Vse 6. Of Exhortation Take it amongst you in three things briefly 1. Bless the Lord that you live under the Ministration of such an excellent Freedom Oh Sirs think what a mercy you have and be thankful How many be there that want what you enjoy God hath made the way to Heaven plain before you You may see by the light that shines amongst you how fain he would have you saved You may read those words as your own Princiledge Luke 1. 78 79. Through the tender mercy of God the day-spring from on high hath visited us To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace God might have left you as he hath many without the means of Grace your feet might have stumbled upon the dark Mountains you might have gone all your lives and not have heard so much of Christ as you have heard from this one Text. Oh! that now you could be praising God for his goodness to your Souls I say no more to you but this Unthankfulness for the Gospel endangers the Gospel they who don 't look upon it as a great mercy are not like to have such a mercy long 2. If any of you be looking after Freedom for your Souls or when ever it shall please God that any of you shall which the Lord grant may be quickly for in this case delays are dangerous be sure you look after Freedom indeed take heed that you be not deceived with a Counterfeit with the shew and shadow of this Freedom but that it be that very Freedom which Christ gives to believers An hypocrite he thinks he hath this Freedom but he is in Bondage still you never have this true Freedom till your hearts be right in the sight of God Acts 8. compare vers 21 23. together There be two great fears concerning persons that are out of Christ the first whether ever they will look after him at all and then if they do whether it will be in