his conscience and great zeal for the purity of Gospel-worship kept him from conformity Hereupon with some thousands of his brethren he was slain by that fatal Axe the Act of bartholomew-Bartholomew-day O! when will the living God give them resurrection Lord revive thy work in the midst of our days in the midst of judgment remember mercy These Abels tho dead are yet speaking The Bush burns and is not consumed Certainly God hath some great work for them who tho sentenced unto death are yet alive We hope in the living God who quickneth the dead who hath delivered them from many and great deaths we hope I say that he will yet deliver them from this death also For sometime after his silencing Mr. Ball lived in the same Parish where he had been formerly Minister and when the Oxford Act came forth he removed five Miles farther Where he peaceably behaved himself and won upon many of a different perswasion by his moderation sweetness of deportment and holy and unblameable conversation He bore a singular love to all that lookt heavenward tho of a different perswasion from himself therefore kept up a brotherly and Christian correspondence with that worthy Conformist in whose Parish he lived He judged it his duty to preach and that necessity was laid upon him a wo unto him if he did not preach the Gospel Hereupon be neither could nor would be idle but preached frequently and studied to preach in such times and places as were least offensive to authority It grieved him to hear his spiritual children complain they wanted Bread when he had it for them Very many reaped the fruit and benefit of his labours since he was outed his publick Ministry as Cambridg Epping Bayford and other places to which he was related He spent himself in doing good to Souls for maintenance he relied upon that providence which feeds the fowls and cloathes the Lillies and was of blessed Mr. Hierons mind That God who feeds the Ravens would not starve his young Hierons And indeed his numerous family were maintained to a miracle He sought not the world but his God He did his masters work trusting to his bounty for wages and would often say he never lived better than when he knew not how to live He liv'd by faith upon Gods promises committed his ways unto God and had a firm perswasion that the Lord would provide for him and his which was verified He kept a Diary of Gods providences to himself and family of mercies and afflictions of supports and deliverances This quickned him unto thankfulness these experiences strengthned his faith and made him abound in hope in the Lord his God When his goods were seized on for preaching contrary to Law this holy man took that spoil patiently and joyfully knowing that he had a better and more enduring substance reserved in the Heavens and that those losses sustained for Christ and a good conscience would prove gains at last and work out for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory If he was concerned it was for his enemies whom he pitied from his Soul and for whom he prayed as his Lord and Master that they might be forgiven because they knew not that they did the Devils work His great labours in his Masters Vineyard shortned his days but drew him the nearer and sooner to his rest In his sickness his patience was most exemplary bearing his pains with a Christian fortitude resigning himself for life and death unto his Lords disposal For him to live was to glorifie Christ to die gain So he might be farther useful and serviceable in his Ministry he was well contented with life but to be dissolved and to be at home with Christ being better for him in case of unserviceableness this was earnestly desired by him To such as visited him in his languishing he gave serious counsels of providing in health for sickness in life for death in time for eternity He was much in prayer for the afflicted Church of God bitterly lamenting the case of England mourning for those great sins committed in the midst of us and trembling at the thoughts of those heavy Judgments hanging over our heads He sadly and sorrowfully laid to heart the unnatural breaches among Protestants the divisions of Reuben the quarrels and enmities among Joseph's Brethren especially now the Canaanite was in the Land He was grieved at the heart for the unbecoming lives of many Ministers and of multitudes of professors of so pure a Religion whose lives indeed are a flat contradiction to it and for whose abominations God would certainly visit unless there were speedy sincere and extraordinary humbling and reforming with seven worse plagues than ever But the Lord took him from the evil to come after he had languished for some time in a Consumption and breathed ardently after Heaven and Glory He was called upon as the Witnesses to come up hither He had long waited for his blessed charge and that salvation he had believed prayed and expected the Lord his Master whom he had faithfully served put him into the possession of at last He left this life for a better this vale of tears for a Paradise of joys for rivers of evelasting pleasures the eight day of September and in the year of our Lord 1681. and the 58th year of his age Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours and their works follow them Spiritual Bondage AND FREEDOM John 8. 36. If the Son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed CHAP. I. The Text opened The Doctrine inferred thence The first Branch of it handled FOR the making of our passage clear to this Text we must look back a little upon the foregoing Verses where we shall see that Christ is a preaching to the people and what the success of his preaching was In his preaching amongst other things I would desire you specially to take notice of Two things that he delivers concerning himself which I mention because I would by no means have you to let them pass because they are of great moment to your Souls One is that in ver 12. a very precious place Christ was sent to give light to the World i. e. to bring them out of that darkness which they are in by nature 'T is just as if a man stood in some dismal dark place where he can see nothing knows not where he is nor whither to go and one comes to him with a light and if he does but follow it it brings him into the open view of things So Christ those that follow him he leads them into the light of life into the light of spiritual life that he shall see spiritual things which no man doth or can that does not follow Christ and into the light of Eternal life where at last he shall see and be with God for ever So that all that live without Christ they
as much intend them as the other that his people might not precisely know the very time when their deliverance should be that it should be this year or this day to teach them still to depend upon him for deliverance even when they might think that their deliverance was nearest We must trust God for deliverance but the very time when it shall be we must leave that to him He useth to reserve that in his own breast But to go on 3. In that deliverance God honoured his people Deut. 4. 34. Isa 43. 3 4. He gat them a Name and made them high above all Nations They were a People that all the World did talk of that heard what God had done for them how he had redeemed them and how he had chosen them and how he went before them Well now beloved you see this was an honourable deliverance that God gave to them but this Freedom by Christ is the most honourable Freedom of all God never so honoured himself by any deliverance as by this nor did he ever so honour his promises nor did he ever so honour his people For the first see John 12. 28. for the second Luke 1. 68. to 74. for the third Luke 2. 32. They are so honoured by this that they that partake of this Freedom are said to be made Kings to God Property 4. This Freedom is a Heavenly Freedom They who are interested in it are said to be partakers of the heavenly calling Heb. 3. 1. And they are called the heavenly Jerusalem cap. 12. 22. and Jerusalem which is above Gal. 4. 26. 'T is such an Heavenly Freedom that the very Angels desire to look into this salvation which it brings 1 Pet. 1. 10 11 12. Other Deliverances were earthly or at most the best and greatest of them as I said were but types and shadows of better things but this Freedom is all made up of Heavenliness I shall make out this by Four things a little 1. It is the Sons Freedom 2. The Souls Freedom 3. The Saints Freedom 4. The Scripture-Freedom 1. I say 't is the Sons Freedom that which the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God hath procured 'T is the Son that makes free You have had this largely opened to you Now what an heavenly Freedom must this be that God imployed his own Son in and sent him from Heaven on purpose about it When the Lord would redeem his people out of Egypt he sent Moses and Aaron for that work and they were but Men but when he would give this Freedom he sent one that was more than a Man 'T is true he raised up Christ from amongst the Jews according to the flesh and the humane Nature did not come immediately from God but 't was made of the Seed of David Yea but God was manifested in this flesh and upon this account he is said to come down from Heaven John 3. 13. and to come out from God and to come forth from the Father cap. 16. 27 28. So that in this Freedom beloved there came one from the Throne of God yea one that was God to give it to us 2. 'T is the Souls Freedom the Freedom of the Soul Now you know they must be all heavenly things that can reach that to do it any good In other Deliverances they were the Bodies of men that were set free but in this Christ brings Souls out of Prison and Bondage And indeed herein lies the very main of all the excellency of this Freedom that it is a Freedom for Souls If I should have said nothing else about it but only this That the precious Souls of Men and Women are redeemed by it you must needs have said 't is an excellent Freedom Yea beloved all that I have said or have yet to say or can say runs into this Oh blessed joyful heavenly Freedom by Christ What a thing is this What to bring salvation to Souls to set the Heart Mind Will Understanding Affections Conscience at liberty that when all was bound within with spiritual Chains and Fetters that were Ten thousand times stronger than those that are made of Brass and Iron that when the Soul sat in darkness and in the shadow of death there should be redemption for that that Christ should pity lost and undone souls Oh heavenly heavenly heavenly Freedom Well may I use those words to you here which the Angel used to the Shepherds Luke 2. 10 11. Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savioue which is Christ the Lord. Here 's a Saviour for your Souls Where are your Souls Sirs by Nature What a condition are they in Oh! they are kept the closest Prisoners that ever were in the deepest darkest Dungeon that ever was and this Prison they are cast into for Debt for Theft for Murder for Treason and no Debt like this Debt for 't is the Debt of Sins and Iniquities and no Theft like this Theft for 't is for robbing God of his Glory and no Murder like this Mruder for 't is for destroying your own Souls and no Treason like this Treason for t is against the Crown of Heaven And yet if you will repent and believe the Gospel here 's a Freedom for your Souls out of all this Methinks it should be even with us in the hearing of this as 't is said in Luke 19. 37 38. that we should rejoyce and praise God with a loud voice And if we should not be affected with this Freedom one might think as ver 40. that if we should hold our peace the stones would immediately cry out 3. It is the Saints Freedom Indeed 't is to make sinners free but it is not the Freedom of sinners That is as long as persons are out of Christ they cannot truly call it theirs 'T is the portion and priviledg of the children of God A wicked man may have it but a true Believer hath it The one is under a possibility of it but the other is in possession of it Rom. 5. 2. They have their standing in this Grace They stand upon Gospel-ground Now what a Heavenly Freedom is this that none but Saints enjoy The men of the World may enjoy other Freedoms but one must be in Christ to enjoy this It belongs to the holy Company Eph. 2. 19. Ye are Fellow-Citizens with the Saints Indeed this Freedom doth not find us Saints but it makes us so And therefore hereby you may know whether you have any thing of it Do you think that you are made free by Christ and abide ungodly To be sure you deceive your selves The Lord Christ never redeemed any Soul to leave it where he found it he puts it into a contrary state to that which it had before he found it in darkness but he puts it into Light he found it in Death but he puts it into Life he found it in Wickedness but he puts
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
they do what they can to make good their Fortifications against him to keep out such a Word from entring and such a Conviction from fastning and it sets up its own carnal plea's and excuses and delaies and self-righteousness c. and all to keep out Christ from setting up his Throne but all before he hath done tumbles like a Babel and crumbles into dust before him 'T is true there is a great deal of strength put out against him the sinner calls all his shifts together and the devil calls all his devices together to resist but Christ is resolved to have the day And therefore mark how he is described as one that goes forth with invincible Power in this Work Psal 45. 3 4 5. So Rev. 6. 2. He went forth conquering and to conquer Beloved we must offer this Freedom to you tho we of our selves have no power to prevail with you but he in whose Name we come he can break your gates of Brass and cut in sunder your bars of Iron Vse And now doth the Lord Jesus Christ offer this Libâ—â—â—â— you Oh then I beseech you let 〈…〉 â—â—cepted of you Oh Beloved 't is offâ—◠〈◊〉 to this end that it should be accepted 〈◊〉 â—ot that it should be made light of as if tâ—â—â—e were no great matter in it whether you had it or had it not I therefore urge that Scripture upon you now Heb. 12. 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven What shall Christ make such an offer to you and will you not close with it Will you that are in Bondage perish in your Bondage when you might be set free Is it such a good condition that you are in that you should desire to stay in it The prison and bondage of the Body tho it be nothing to this that your souls are in yet how glad are poor Creatures to hear that there is any hope or way for deliverance out of that Oh sirs let not Christ lose his love let him not lose his labour let him not lose his longing fain he would have you set at liberty And therefore don't hug your chains as if you were loth to part with them Lay this to your heart that Freedom is offered you how can you shift it but you must close with it now If it had not been offered there had been some excuse but will you put it off now it hath been offered yea when it hath been offered particularly to every one of you that there is none of you have been excluded from this gracious Invitation and when it hath been offered with a notwithstanding notwithstanding all the great and grievous sins which you have lived in as it was said to Judah Jer 3. 1 2. Thou hast played with many lovers yet return to me saith the Lord And when it hath been offered frequently not once or twice but often How often would I have gathered you saith Christ to Jerusalem God hath seen you neglect this Salvation such a Sermon and such a Sermon and yet he hath sent again and again and again to you And when it hath been offered with so much importunity and earnestness that you have never been pleaded with about any thing in this World as you have about getting this Freedom And when it hath been offered to you so freely that you shall be redeemed at anothers cost and not at your own you have sold your selves for nought and ye shall be redeemed without price I say when it hath been offered and thus offered why what 's your duty from all this but to close with it 1. Close with it thankfully What Is there yet Freedom for me for such a one as I Oh blessed be God! admired be his Mercy adored be his Name 2. Close with it throughly Take heed of doing it by halves take heed of parting with your sins but as Pharaoh would part with the children of Israel he would yield to this and that upon force but he never came up to Gods terms 3. Close with it quickly before your day of Grace be at an end before it be too late to look out for it Oh sirs stir stir for your souls for the Lords sake quickly quickly you may else be undone to all eternity Opportunities of grace are not long liv'd and when they are over you will wish you had improved them and then there will be no fetching them back I commend that awakening Scripture to you Heb. 12. 15 16 17. Look diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat fold his birth-right For ye know how that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears That may be lost in a little time that can never be recovered But because this closing with Christ is a great Subject and of so great importance and because I know there is a great deal of backwardness in the heart of man to close with Christ and for fear lest you should not have as mueh said to you as can well be spoken by man to perswade you to accept of this soul-delivering Jesus whom I preach unto you this day give me leave to carry on the Vse somewhat further by way of motive And tho many things might be insisted on to stir you up yet I will single out this one thing especially namely to beseech you to consider how guilty you will be if you don 't close with Christ and what grievous sinners you are and will be found to be at the great day of his appearing 1. You are guilty of Ignorance You 'll shew your ignorance of Christ that his worth and excellency was never seen by you that you never took him to be a Pearl of great Price for if you had to be sure the next thing would have been to make him yours Matth. 13. 45 46. Beloved there is none that ever refused Christ that knew him I don't mean that knew him after the flesh or that saw him with the eye of the body there were many that beheld him so and had no desire to him Joh. 1. 10 11. but none that ever knew him in a spiritual manner but fell in love with him He draws all the hearts and all the affections of them to whom he hath been revealed by the Holy Ghost It is therefore certain that you dwell in darkness to this day if you have no mind to close with Christ for if you were brought into the light you would follow him 2. You are guily of unthankfulness What! to make such a sad requital to Christ for all his kindness towards you as to prepare
is that People get no good under Ordinances do no good upon a spiritual account in their Places and Generation why they are out of Christ yet from whom they should draw virtue and strength to bring forth fruit unto God And so I have done with the second Branch of the Doctrine That Christ offers Freedom to poor sinners that are in the house of Bondage CHAP. III. Wherein is handled the third Branch of the Doctrine viz. That it is every ones duty to look after a share in this Freedom THe third Branch of the Doctrine which I now come to is That it is every ones duty to look after a share in this Freedom by getting a particular and personal Interest in it that so we may be of the Corporation or Society of those whom the Son hath made free And before I go any further I would shew a little that this is our duty though we be never so great sinners The greatness of your sins must not hinder or discourage any of you from looking after it you must not say It is in vain for me to think or hope that ever I shall have it who am such a grievous sinner The Lord humble thee that art such a grievous sinner and make thee as sensible of it as thou hast need to be My work is not to go about to perswade thee to the contrary but rather to assure thee that it is so indeed And if thou speakest so from thy heart and from an inward sense and feeling of the burden of sin 't is well There be many grievous sinners that are not grieved with their sins great sinfulness and great insensibleness is the general condition of the World but as great a sinner as thou art thou must look after this Freedom The greater ones Sickness is the more need to send for the Physician Do not thou conclude thou shalt never be free because thou art so much in bondage whatever comes of it look out for Deliverance Pray mark There be two things that we are greatly to take heed of about the grace of God by Christ 1. That we don't despise it Oh! how many be there that make no more of Christ and Salvation by him than they do of a straw 'T is wonderful to see how the most do cast all the things of God behind their backs and the reason why they do so is not because there is no worth in the things but because they do not see the worth of them But I do but name this 2. That we don't despair of it whatever our sins have been The truth is amongst those whom we preach to there be nothing near so many of this latter sort â—â— there be of the first Oh! there 's a multitude of despisers and slighters of Christ and his Freedom these may go where they will for any thing that many care for them But because sometimes we may meet with one here and there that will be ready to speak in a very discouraged way as if it were to no purpose at all for them to look out for this Freedom by reason of the greatness of their sins therefore I would say a little to take away this hopelessness that some may have in them As 1. That this Freedom was intended for sinners and grievous sinners Rom. 5. 6. In due time Christ died for the ungodly Ver. 8. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us 1 Tim. 1. 15. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners Luk. 19. 10. The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost You see 't was intended for them that were ungodly for sinners for them that were lost God sent Christ to be Saviour to such and Christ meant such in what he did in the work of Redemption If we had been without sin we should not have needed that Christ should have died for us why then should our sins hinder us from looking out for this Freedom since the aim and thoughts and heart of Christ was towards us to do us good upon this very consideration that we were those that lay in a sinful and lost estate and that there were divers of us to whom God did bear an everlasting love and so such of us were given by the Father to Christ to be redeemed out of that miserable condition Obj. But you 'll say Christ intended all this for Believers and they are none but Believers that shall have the good of what Christ hath done Ans That 's very sure He that believes shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned in respect of what they were to be afterwards So 't is none but Believers that shall reap the saving benefit of his Redemption but at first and in respect of Christs dying for them they were Sinners before they were Believers and so Christ dyed for them not as Believers but as they were Sinners tho 't is true 't was as they were chosen Sinners and so to be made Believers I know that what I am now hinting would give me a very fair opportunity to shew you that therefore Christ did not intentionally die for all Sinners and that the Doctrine of universal Grace or Redemption is to be taken heed of But if any desire it I had rather give them satisfaction in private if they please to bring their Objections than needlessly to spend time about it now since I do not know whether any of you that hear me are of that Perswasion That which I now drive at is that your sins must not discourage you from labouring after a share in this Freedom since Christ was intended for Sinners tho not for all Sinners Thou that art a great Sinner art in the very case for which Christ was sent to give Salvation to and thy Misery should not make thee despair of a Remedy but stir thee up to look out for it 2. If thou art a great sinner already then thou shouldst not make thy self a greater sinner which hopelessness will do It is the fruit of despair that it makes him that is very sinful to be always growing worse There is less and less hope of one that casts away hope and many would sooner be recovered if they did not conclude they should never be recovered A despairing soul is going on to further wickedness I will give you two notable Scriptures for it Jer. 2. 25. Thou saidst there is no hope No for I have loved strangers and after them will I go And chap. 18. 20. And they said there is no hope but we will walk after our own devices and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart What was their strong resolution to go on in their sins grounded upon What made them that as bad as they were they would still be worse Why they said there is no hope Oh! however thou hast sinned don't shut up the door of Mercy against thy self for then thou openest the door wide to more sin still
17. 4. I have finished the work he means this Work of our Redemption And in Joh. 19. 30. you read that these words It is finished were the last words that Christ spake before he died as if he should have said Though I am a dying yet the work of my Life is done I do not go off the World like a Bungler that went about what he was not able to effect All that believe in me will find that I have not been a half but a whole Saviour to them the business hath not miscarried in my hands that they should wish I had never medled with it You know the Apostle tells the Colossians chap. 2. 10. that they were compleat in him and in Heb. 9. 12. 't is said that Christ hath obtained eternal Redemption for us he did not only endeavour to obtain it but he hath obtained it The Greek word is he hath found it he did not do as a man doth sometimes when a thing is lost he seeks it but then he comes back again and saith he cannot find it Isa 53. 10. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand that is he shall be sure to carry it through 'T is true he met with many difficulties in his way as it was the highest Work that ever was gone about so 't was the hardest Work if it had not been Christ that had been about it it would never have been brought to pass but because 't was he that had it in his hand therefore he brought it to a blessed period And in this Christ is an Example to us not only to begin good things but to hold out to the finishing of them whatever hardship we must undergo Beloved difficulty doth attend all Duty and great difficulties do attend some Duties but for all that we must see the end of them God loves such a frame of spirit as to have Christians to be crowding and pressing to Heaven through many things that stand in their way 'T is no great matter you know to get to a place when one hath Elbow room enough but when the way is thronged up and there is this to hinder him and that to hinder him and yet the man will not give over till he comes where he should it speaks that he was resolved to get thither And remember this Note That the going on in our Duty notwithstanding difficulty is an evident sign of our Sincerity There was a great deal of difficulty in Abraham's way when he was to offer up his only Son at the Command of God but because he would not stick at that see what is said to him Gen. 22. 12. Now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me As if he should have said Now thou hast given a proof it to purpose You may judge of the Sincerity or Hypocrisie of your Hearts in this case You begin many things that are good it may be ay but do you carry them on to perfection Don't you fly back again when you find 't is hard It may be thou beginnest to deny thy self in this and that Sin or Lust yea but as thou art a doing of it thou findest that Self-denial is a very hard thing and so thou returnest with the dog to his vomit and with the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire Oh! this is a bad sign that thy heart is not right in the sight of God One that is sincere will desire to stir himself up the more now because he finds 't is hard and he will be thinking What shall I be worsted and let alone because my way is not smooth and easie for the Flesh to walk in And tho he finds it difficult yet he doth not think it impossible he believes through Grace such a strong Corruption may be subdued and such a Temptation may be overcome and such a great Affliction may be born with a patient spirit and therefore he will go to God for power tho he hath none of his own and go to God to make things easie tho they are so hard to him and then he finds he can go on Col. 4. 13. To the Third How doth it appear that this Freedom comes by Christ Ans For this I shall give you two sorts of Arguments 1. Some that prove it more directly 2. Others that prove it more remotely being drawn from such considerations as are not immediately about Christ himself Those Arguments that prove it more directly which do more nearly relate to Christ himself are these 1. This Freedom was to come by one that was the only begotten Son of God who could call God Father and whom God could call his Son after such a manner as none else could they must have such a Relation one to another as could not upon some accounts be communicated to any other For tho 't is true God doth in his rich mercy enter into the Relation of a Father with Believers and gives them power to become the Sons of God Joh. 1. 12. Yet as I have formerly hinted to them God is a Father by Grace Covenant and Promise and they are children to him by Faith see 2 Cor. 6. ult Gal. 3. 26. But this was not enough for him that was to bring in this Freedom he must not be one that was made the Son of God so as to be none before but he was to have this Relation to him from all eternity We cannot express the manner of it it is such a glorious Mystery Well now who can this be but Christ The Saints they do not claim their Sonship this way tho they are called Sons and wonder at it that they should 1 Joh. 3. 1. Yet they acknowledge that they were not the Sons of God by nature no but children of wrath Eph. 2. 3. They 'll quickly tell you 't was not their natural due to be the Children of God but to be fire-brands in Hell for so this Scripture last quoted doth intimate And the glorious Angels in Heaven they don't claim their Sonship this way neither they acknowledge that they are Sons by Creation and they all of them praise and bless the Lord for this and shout as it were for joy in singing together to his Name Job 38. 7. But Christ he hath this Sonship by eternal Generation this is the only begotten of the Father as he is often called and therefore Freedom must come by him And in my Text you may observe that when Christ speaks of this Freedom he puts in this Relation of his to God he useth the word Son If the Son c. To teach them that it must needs come by him since he was the eternal Son of God for such a one he must be who was to give this Freedom There is one Objection before I can go on that I would take notice of Obj. But it is said in Scripture that this Freedom and the Works about it were to be by a Servant
and I am the way and the truth and the life Yea it would cast a lie upon God himself for he said this was his beloved Son and owned him by a Voice from Heaven 2. If Freedom doth not come by Christ then all the Saints hope is lost They have all placed their hope in him 1 Tim. 1. 2. They hope that they shall have eternal life by believing in him they hope that it won't be long now before he will come again and receive them to himself according to his Promise that where he is there they may be also They are described there in Tit. 2. 13. to be a People looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ And oh how many breathings and longings of Soul have they and do they send forth to him and having the first fruits of the Spirit they groan within themselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of the body Rom. 8. 23. And what shall all this be lost 3. If Freedom did not come by Christ certainly the Devil would not keep such a do to hinder Souls from coming to him He makes this his great business to blind the minds of them that believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them 2 Cor. 4. 4. But they might come and come to Christ and he would put forth no power nor use no subtilty to hinder them at all if there were no Freedom to be found in him The Devil knows 't is otherwise and therefore he sets all his devices a work to block up that way 4. If Freedom did not come by Christ then no Soul that comes to him could find rest in him But every Soul that comes to him finds rest in him Heb. 4. 3. Yea they find a glorious rest in him as God promised they should Isa 11. 10. Obj. Why but there are many that come to Christ and yet are much disturb'd and full of disquieting thoughts Ans Yea that 's true and yet notwithstanding they do find rest in Christ for ask such a person in the midst of all his fears It is thus and thus with you ay but would you change Would you place your hope in another Oh! no here he desires to pitch for ever Well then he finds rest here as to the Objection and all his trouble is not that he fears whether there be rest in Christ but whether he be truly come to him To the Fourth After what manner this Freedom is in Christ I answer 1. 'T is in Christ personally i. e. Jesus Christ who is the Second Person in the Godhead is he who is our Deliverer and Redeemer When a poor Creature is delivered by some one out of his Slavery certainly he must needs desire to know who was the person that did it Now the Lord Jesus Christ is the very person that hath done this great Work for us as he said to the woman of Samaria Joh. 4. 26. when she spake of the Messias or Redeemer that was to come I that speak unto thee am he Now the reason why I mention this that our Freedom is in the person of Christ is in order to the answering of one Question that may profitably be propounded here which is this Quest Whether our Redemption be so to be appropriated to Christ the Second Person in the Godhead as that the other Persons namely the Father and the Holy Ghost had nothing or have nothing to do in it Answ 1. Our Freedom comes in some respects from the Father and the Holy Ghost as well as from the Son or from all the three Persons jointly 2. In other respects it comes from Christ personally and peculiarly so as that in some sense he is and must be looked upon as more immediately our Redeemer I will open these two things a little 1. Our Freedom comes from all the three Persons That it comes from Christ you know that 's the whole business of this 4th Branch of the Doctrine and much hath been spoken to it already But now for the Father and the Holy Ghost they are also concerned in this Freedom For the Father see that place Col. 1. 12 23. Giving thanks unto the Father who hath delivered us from the power of darkness c. And for the Holy Ghost you read 2 Cor. 3. 17. that where he comes into the heart he brings Liberty with him So that the giving of this Freedom is in some respects the joint work of all the Persons I shall shew you what you are to gather from this by and by that they all have a hand in it But first I will shew you what hand the Father and the Holy Ghost have in conjunction with Jesus Christ about this Freedom and then how Christ as I said is more personally and peculiarly concerned in it For God the Father I shall give you five things for his having a hand in this Work 1. He did appoint design and choose the Son to be our Redeemer he did in his infinite Wisdom and Goodness contrive the way for the bringing of those that should believe out of the misery that they were fallen into by sin Gal. 4. 4 5. So that our Redemption was from the Father as the Original and Fountain of it He broke as it were this Business to his Son and by his own consent he pitched upon him to be the Saviour and Mediator You may observe in many places of the Old Testament that the Father is brought in speaking to Christ as one that he had called and chosen to this Work Isa 42. 6 7. and 49. 8 9. and 55. 4 5. and 61. 1. Zech. 9. 11. By these places you may see that the Father and the Son did as it were agree together from all Eternity about this thing and took as I may say a delight to confer together in Heaven about it There were many wonderful things done between them even there there this admirable Design was laid and there Christ as it were ingaged and entred into Covenant with his Father that he would undertake and faithfully perform this great Work and there the Father past his promise to the Son that those whom he should redeem should have eternal Life Tit. 1. 2. And there the Father did as it were give in to the Son the Number List or Roll of all the persons that were to be redeemed Joh. 17. 6. So that when Christ came into the World he knew for whom he was to die and for whom he was to make intercession that it was not for all the World but for them whom the Father had given him and he knew who they were as he saith Joh. 10. when he speaks that he was to lay down his Life for the Sheep ver 15. I know my sheep ver 14. he must needs know them for he stood charged with every one of them Joh. 6. 39. So that Christ was a long
redeemed them Tit. 4. 5. Rev. 1. 5. Now Love doth not work for wages Beloved you must know that when the Lord Jesus was upon this redeeming-redeeming-Work his heart was as full of love towards poor sinners as it could hold you may say of Christ in this respect as they said of him once when he was weeping at Lazarus his Grave Behold how he loved him Joh. 11. 35 36. So when he was in his bloody Agony and Sweat and hung pierced upon the Cross and was suffering all that wrath from God and Men this might have been in the thoughts of them that beheld him and no doubt was in the thoughts of them that believed in him Behold how he loves poor sinners Now you know when a man comes to do any thing for you out of love why if you ask him What will you have Why nothing saith he because I love you Set one about any thing that you have to do and if he doth not love you why he will be paid to the full and perhaps he will make unreasonable demands too But Love will labour for you for nothing 't will be glad of an opportunity to do you a kindness Thus 't was with Christ he went through hard things for you you cannot think what he suffered that you might be saved and yet as Jacob's serving so many years for Rachel seemed to him but few days for the love he had to her So tho Christ suffered many things for you that are his yet to him they seem less than they are for the Love he hath to you 2. Because Christ knew that he wrought for the poor Psal 72. 2 4 12 13. Now the poor why they must be helped freely Alas we have nothing to give him for his labour and Christ knew this and yet he did not do as many do when the poor have need of their help they are ready to say I 'll not work for them they can't pay me Men love to work most for the Rich where they shall be sure of their Money But the Lord Jesus he doth the poor mans work and so tho they have a great deal of profit by it yet he hath none to himself 3. Because the great design of this redeeming Work which is in the hands of Christ is the everlasting exalting of Free Grace that Glory might be ascribed unto God throughout all Ages World without end See Eph. 1. 6 7. Therefore all must come freely that Free Grace might be advanced that every one that is saved might admire the riches of the Goodness and Love of GOD in Christ to their Souls Oh what Praises hath the Lord from his People and will have to all Eternity for this Free Grace Oh admire it more you that are under it It must be your work in Heaven and we may be glad that it shall be our work in Heaven when we consider how short we come in the admiring of it here upon Earth 4. This Freedom is in Christ only As to the Body there may be many Physicians for one Disease but as to the Soul there is but one Physician for all Diseases Isa 45. latter part of ver 21. and the 22. A Saviour there is none beside me Look unto me and be ye saved all ye ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else We have many spiritual Sicknesses but 't is Christ alone that can heal us whoever doth not come 〈◊〉 his hand he dies for it and therefore don't trust to Physicians of no value Many are apt to do for their Souls as you read Ahaziah did when he had gotten a very dangerous Fall he sent to the Idol gods 2 Kings 1. 2. Go and inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease And what he got by this you shall see by what the Lord bids the Prophet go and tell him ver 3 4. Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron Now therefore thus saith the Lord Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up but shalt surely die Let me allude a little to this Scripture Sinner thou art just in the case of this man thou hast gotten a most dangerous Fall thou art fallen from the upper Chamber when God created thee at first by that Image of his in which he made thee he put thee into the upper Chamber Oh the high Preferment that thou wast in 't was a heavenly condition that thou hadst to be without sin and to be like to God but thou art fallen from hence and thy Fall hath done thee a world of hurt now when thou beginnest to be sick of thy Fall and thereupon to think that some course must be taken for the getting of a Cure Oh take heed to whom thou goest for if thou goest to any but the God in Israel I mean to Jesus Christ who is the hope of Israel and the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble I tell thee from the Lord thou shalt surely die The great fear when Souls begin to be awakened about their condition is Whether they will go to Christ only and if they join any thing with him to trust to and rest in they spoil all you must come up to that Scripture or you are undone Phil. 3. 3. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Remember what a warning Christ gave in another case I may fitly allude to it Matth. 24. 4 5. Many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many This is ordinary amongst Professors to be thus deceived there comes this and that Profession Duties common Workings upon the Soul and the like and these are apt to say Why I am Christ Now 't is thus and thus with thee thou wilt do well and many believe this and are deceived And therefore when you begin to look after a Christ be sure to look after the true One for 't is he and none but he that can do the Work and don't think that because there be so many false christs therefore 't is impossible to know the true One read for that 1 Joh. 5. 20. Obj. But how shall I know that it is the true Christ that I trust to Ans I 'll only say this to it The true Christ makes a true Christian they are not only Christians to men but Christians to God Now thou art thus and thus to men but what art thou to God Is thy heart savingly wrought upon Hast thou the Life and Spirit of Jesus Christ within thee It may be thou art for thy outward appearance as the King's Daughter thy clothing is of wrought gold but art thou all glorious within Psal 45. 13. 5. This Freedom is in Christ continually We may apply that place to him even for this 2 Cor. 1. 10. He hath delivered many
imperfections you can't say yet I am well my heart is clean enough No I know 't is your grief that you are no better Yea but go on to touch Christ still keep the finger of Faith upon him and you shall find by that time he hath done that you shall be made perfectly whole he hath begun to cure you already and he will finish what he hath begun 5. Observe how quickly Christ healed them Luke 13. 13. immediately which shews what a speedy Alteration the Lord Jesus can make in your condition 'T is it may be very sad with thy Soul now but how soon if he please can he bring you to a better pass If he speak but a word 't will be done therefore wait with patience for a recovery and a reviving in thy Soul think of this it may be done immediately for ought I know Why then should I be out of hope 6. Observe again That Christ healed them of whatsoever Diseases they had Matth. 4. 23 24. 't is that which lies many times very heavy upon the Souls of some What such a sinner as I be received I find mercy one in my condition why my case is an extraordinary case for Sin and Guilt and Misery But mind here he healed all manner of Sicknesses as if the Evangelist should have said he healed all manner of sinners that come to him for that is the spiritual meaning of it see Matth. 12 31 7. Observe that he healed those who could not be healed of any other Luke 8. 43. the poor Womans case was desperate as to any other Physician she could not be healed Very like the words may be delivered in the same language that her Physicians had spoken to her they might tell her when they had tried all means Now you cannot be healed and yet Christ healed her Beloved a sinner may be given up for Desperate and a Soul may give up its case for Desperate and yet healing may come from Christ for all that And therefore take heed both to others tho they be very wicked and as to your selves too tho your condition be very sinful and very sad that you do not cast away all hope tho it looks never so much like a condition that cannot be healed take heed don't undervalue Christs skill when thou sayest this sinner cannot be turned this condition cannot be got out of thou forgettest how thou undervaluest Christs skill 8. Observe again You find that when Christ had healed them they had an inward perceiving of it See Mark 5. 29 33. she felt in her she knew what was done in her Oh! how ignorant are many of this who profess that they have come to Christ and have touched him and some of them I believe have done so Ah! but how many be there even of Gods own Children that have not that feeling that knowledg of it as to say Sure enough I have been healed by Christ otherwise it could not be thus and thus with me as it is blessed be God I feel the healings of Christ within me I know there is some feeling some sense of it in those who are healed and therefore examine you that think you are in this healed condition What do you feel What Knowledg have you of any such thing done in you I observe in mine own experience that when it comes to this close question If a Minister of Christ ask some who are too ready to look upon themselves as converted when they are not Well pray what have you inwardly found or felt of such a change They have nothing to say 9. Again observe what a running and striving and crowding there was by them to come to this healer See Mark 3. 9 10. and chap. 6. 54 55 56. Oh! that we could see this forwardness and diligence in people to get spiritual healing from Christ Oh Friends did they do thus for their bodies and will you not do it for your Souls Christ suffered it to be thus when he was upon Earth that they that came for healing should throng in upon him to teach us how earnestly we should make out to him for our precious Souls 10. One thing more observe That Jesus Christ would certainly have us to look after this healing by him in a special manner on the Lords dayes and while we are gathered in religious Assemblies for you shall find how he went into their Synagogues and healed on the sabbath-Sabbath-days See Luke 13. 10 c. Mark 1. 21 c. Beloved I beseech you mind this well for I bring it to you that you may be very careful to improve your Lords days opportunities of meeting together in Gods Worship and Ordinances that you may get healing from Christ on these days Beloved these are such kind of days as you read of Luke 5. 17. Wherein the power of the Lord is present to heal persons Oh! that this day in this Assembly you may have healing from Christ 6. Another excellent name by which this Freedom is called is Light Isa 9. 2. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great Light they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined This Scripture is a Prophecy that Freedom by Christ should be made known unto us blind and ignorant Gentiles and the Apostle tells them there in 1 Pet. 2 9. who were now partakers of this Freedom that God had called them out of darkness into his marvellous Light What a marvellous Light this is we shall speak some thing to it when we come to shew the many wonders that are to be observed in this Freedom but for the present let us consider a little the name it self Light what an excellent thing is that Eccl 11. 7. Truly the Light is sweet The excellency of Light will appear by comparing it with it's contrary and by considering it in it self what 's the contrary to Light Why Darkness Now you know that this is a thing in which there is neither Beauty nor Order nor Safety nor Comfort 't was one of Egypts Plagues and the last but one of all the Plagues they had which shews what a dreadful thing 't is the saddest Afflictions outward or inward are compared to Darkness The Devil is called the Prince of Darkness Hell it self is called the place of Darkness And then if you consider Light as it is in it self why 't is one of the desirablest things that is in the World You have not a house but they will have Windows in it to let in Light this was the first thing which God made and as soon as he had made it he commended it Gen. 1. 3 4. God saw the Light that it was good God himself is said to dwell in Light 1 Tim. 6. 16. Heaven it self is compared to Light Col. 1. 12. 't is called the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Now this Freedom by Christ is Light and therefore sure 't is an excellent Freedom To make out this let us consider a
reason of deadness and backwardness to such a good work as edifying of one another in love when they are together and for want of making it as sometimes they should the very design and end of their coming together to build up one another in their most holy faith c. But I say if they can but once get into it and especially if they be not only true Christians but fervent Oh what comfortable profitable Communion will there be sometimes between them that their very hearts will be knit together by it as it was between Jonathan and David when they had had Communion together The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David and they loved one another as their own Souls Now the having of this living Communion together is a thing which the Lord sets a very high esteem upon I speak this to encourage Gods people to be more frequent and forward in it then many of us are See Mal. 3. 16. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkned and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name This is a Scripture that one would think should make you even long to be more at this work for mark what encouragement it carries in it 1. The Lord hearkned as it were by way of Attention and 2. Heard it as it were by way of Acceptation And then 3. This must not only be accepted but it must be written 4. Not in some loose little Paper or Scroll but in a Book And 5. This Book must be called a Book of Remembrance Remembrance must be the very name of it And 6. That it might be remembred it must not be laid away but be before him 4. This Freedom by Christ we being interested in it puts Life into our Hopes If we have not this all our Hopes of Mercy and Salvation are but dead Hopes and you 'l have no more benefit by them then you will have of a man that you had great hopes in that he would be a mighty Friend to you in your distress and you count upon it before your distress comes upon you that certainly you shall have such a Friend as passes of that man and thus you go on and when your great distress comes upon you then you begin to look out for this Friend that he may now do for you according to what he put you in hope he would do and when you have enquired after him and now have such great need of help you find the man is dead So if you are not partakers of this Freedom by Christ hope what you will it will come to nothing and therefore what the Apostle tells the people of God they should not do I tell you that are not the people of God that you should do it Heb. 10. 35. He saith they must by no means cast away their confidence But oh Sirs you that are out of Christ must by all means cast away yours you must throw it out for a cast-away and if you don't make that a cast-away that will help to cast away you What a slave to sin and yet hope to enjoy the Priviledges and Happiness of them that are made Free by Christ Away with it In this Sense I pray with all my heart that God Almighty would bring you to final desperation What sinner dost thou think to live by a dead Hope Obj. But how do you prove that my Hope is a dead Hope Answ I will tell thee but even in three words 1. Because the Scripture calls it no Hope Eph. 2. 12. As a dead man is as good as no man so a dead Hope is no Hope 2. Because 't is not a Hope to which God hath begotten thee thou hast given thy self this Hope but the living Hope is that which God hath given to his people by begetting of them to himself by causing them to be born again 1 Pet. 1. 3. 3. Because it doth not bring forth any purifying fruits thou keepest thy Hope and keepest thy sins too thy Hope and Holiness do not go together thou canst allow thy self in ways of wickedness and mindest not a being like to God Whereas 't is otherwise with them that have the living Hope they purifie themselves as he is pure 1 Joh. 3. 3. 8. One thing more briefly about this Freedom by Christ as to another name by which 't is called serving to set out the excellency of it and that is 't is called the Blessing of God Now that 's a precious things indeed What 's all that we have if we have not Gods Blessing with it Why 't is his Blessing that keeps us from his curse when God intended the greatest good to Abraham he summed it up in this I will bless thee Gen. 12. 2. And so when you wish the greatest mercy to others you pray that God would bless them his blessing is the comfort of every Calling of every Relation of every Condition Why now this Freedom by Christ is Gods blessing See Acts 3. ult Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities And therefore all that I shall say upon it is this That if you have not this Freedom by Christ you 'l never have Gods blessing and therefore you 'l have Gods curse that will be your Portion I grant that in some sense you may be said to have his blessings that is you may have outward mercies in which respect God said he would bless Ishmael himself tho he were the Son of the Bondwoman Gen. 17. 20. But he may bless you thus and yet you may be cursed for ever and so you will be if Christ doth not make you Free And oh Sirs what a dreadful thing will it be to lye under the curse of God to eternity Do you think you are strong enough to bear such a load as this is World without end You may see some inkling of it now what a dreadful thing this curse is if God doth but let fall a drop of it upon a great Estate how it moulders or upon any person for his wickedness what a forlorn Creature he becomes as Cain Why this is a thing that will dry one up to the roots as the Fig-tree when Christ cursed it immediatly it whithered away But what then will it be in Hell where it shall be in its full force But as for them who are interested in this Freedom by Christ I may say to them as in Psal 115. 15. You are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth CHAP. VI. Concerning the Excellency of the person by whom this Freedom was performed TO the Second The excellency of this Freedom will appear if we consider the excellent person by whom it was performed You have already heard that this Freedom comes by Christ and Christ is an excellent person indeed he is
excellent in his Names and excellent in his Natures and excellent in his Offices his Life his Death his Satisfaction Righteousness Intercession are excellent Beauty Grace are in him to perfection he is so excellent that God and all Saints do set their best love upon him that all the Riches Hope and Happiness of believers are laid up in him So excellent that he is the chiefest among ten thousand the Pearl of great price in comparison of whom all things are counted but loss and dung But my purpose is not here to treat of the excellency of Christ at large for that would fill up a Volume of it self there being no Subject of Divinity of a vaster extent than this is But I shall confine my thoughts to the considering of the excellency of his person a little as it relates to this Freedom which we have in hand He must needs be an excellent person in that he performed this Freedom according to these twelve following things 1. In that he did it with so much power Psal 93. 1. The Lord is cloathed with strength wherewith he hath girded himself The Lord Jesus Christ bewrayed no weakness in his work from the beginning of it to the end Our help was laid as God saith in the Scripture upon one that is mighty he had such an heavy burthen upon him as was enough to have broken the back of a thousand Worlds but he stood under it he could as it were swim in the whole Sea of his Fathers Wrath one drop of which no meer man could bear without sinking What an excellent person must this needs be that could grapple with the Divine Indignation with red hot Justice with all the Curse of the Law with the Powers of darkness and not be daunted Never was there a work so full of difficulty as this was and yet Christ had enough to carry him through it he met with many Enemies but he overcame every one of them Oh the strength that he put forth in the work of our redemption all the Devils in Hell were resolved and combined if it had been possible to have worsted him and to have spoiled the whole design of our Salvation that it should never have come to any thing and there was not any thing wanting that they could do to hinder it but this Lion of the Tribe of Judah was too strong for the roaring Lion and all his confederates he wrought out our Freedom notwithstanding opposition on all hands And from this consideration let me mind you That good things must be set about and carried on with courage for so you see Christ did what he had to do difficulty did not discourage him And as this did speak the excellency of Christ in his work so it speaks the excellency of a Christian in his work that 's a brave Christian that won't be discouraged that whatever he meets with in the way of Service aad Duty his heart holds up still You are like to Christ when 't is thus with you I know that you that are the people of God meet with difficulties you have this and that which is hard to go through but remember the Captain of your Salvation would not be daunted take example from him Obj. But thou wilt say it may be But I am not so strong as he was he could come with that Power to his work that I have not Answ As thou hast not Christs strength so neither hast thou his work 'T is true thou hast thy work too but it is not such work as Christ in some respects had to do thou never wert nor ever shalt be called to such great things as he was but then mark that Power of Christ by which he did his work is also in him for the enabling of thee which believest to do thy work So was it promised to the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 12. 9. And he said unto me My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness And because of this you see Paul would be so far from being discouraged at difficulties that he would rather glory and take pleasure in them Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in mine infirmities that the Power of Christ may rest upon me 2. In that he did it with so much Faith What an excellent person must this needs be that could go through such a work so believingly as Christ did and hold forth his Hope and Confidence in God his Father notwithstanding all the hard things he met with in procuring our Freedom How apt are we when we are in distress and under desertion tho all our afflictions and sufferings are but a Fleabiting in comparison of what he underwent to let go our hold of the Promises as you may see it even in those who were very eminent for Grace and had had great experience of the former goodness of God to them Psal 77. 7 8 9. 1 Sam. 27. 1. But now here is one that had such a Faith that tho he were in the Red-Sea of his Fathers Wrath and the deep Waters of his afflictions and sufferings did not do to him as the Red Sea that the Children of Israel came to did to them the waters of that were divided and became a wall to them on their right hand and on their left so that they were in the very midst of them as upon dry ground but the waters of Christs afflictions were overflowing overwhelming Waters such as plunged and drencht him into the deeps his Soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto Death his very sweat was like blood yet even then he could believe that God was his Father and that he had an unspeakeble Love to him And this Faith of his had no mixture of unbelief or of sinful doubting as ours hath but 't was a firm and full Faith whereby he resolved for ever to trust perfectly in God let him do what he would with him and to him Take two Scriptures for this among others Isa 50. 7. The Lord will help me therefore shall I not be confounded therefore have I set my face like a flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed Mark what Faith he had he does not say now he is looking upon his sufferings for so you are to conceive of him in this place Oh! what shall I do I shall never go through these Tribulations I shall never be able to drink off this bitter Cup that is prepared for me but he believes he shall and that his Father would help him he did not doubt of it I know it saies he and in the confidence of this he doth as it were harden himself against all the sufferings of one kind and another that he was to be called to which is the meaning of that expression I have set my face like a flint Another Scripture for the acting of his Faith even in the sight and under the Sense of the pains of Death and Hell-torments in his Soul you have in Psal 16. 8 9
presently they are proud of it and if no body will commend them they 'l commend themselves I beseech you watch much against this sin Jesus Christ hath made it the great mark of an Hypocrite Matth. 6. 5. A true Christian sees so many defects in his best works that he desires rather to be ashamed of them than to glory in them 7. We may consider the Excellency of his Person in Relation to this Freedom in his doing of what he did in it with so much desire Beloved this work did not at all look desirably in it self never was there such a black and dreadful face upon any work that ever was undertaken and yet upon some accounts Christ desired it and desired it so much that I doubt not to say he did rejoyce in his Spirit to think that he was the Person that was to do it You know that when there is a motion made for the carrying on of some great design that will be of publick and unspeakable benefit tho indeed it will cost a deal to bring it to pass and the Person that is engaged in it whoever he be must be at a vast charge before he can finish it why the very motioning of such a thing raises our desire and we are full of good wishes towards it and all people generally will long Oh that it might be carryed on and they 'l say 't is a World of pitties that such a noble design should not be put forward but suppose that the carrying on of it should be cast by Authority upon any of our particular persons that the King should single out such a man whom he sees to be much taken with the motion and should say Well I pitch upon you to be engaged in this business truly then our desire towards the thing would be much damped if it be our selves that must do it and now we it may be can rather desire that the business should be quite laid aside than that it should be carried on by us that 't is we that must bear the burthen of it and we that must be at the charge how chill and cold will our affections grow to a work then tho it be never so useful but Jesus Christ desired that this great and costly work of our Redemption should go on tho the lot fell upon himself to do it You have divers expressions in Scripture that signifie thus much I will quote Four amongst many One is in Isa 53. 11. where what he did in this work is called the Travel of his Soul which as I think I have formerly hinted I look upon as not only setting out the greatness of his Sufferings in it but also the great desire that he had to go through with it A second is Luk. 12. 50. But I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I straitned till it be accomplished A third is Joh. 18. 11. speaking of the bitter Cup of his Sufferings shall I not drink it A fourth is that in Heb. 10. 9. Lo I come to do thy will O God The very words sound as if Christs desire were upon the work and if you compare it with Psal 40. 7 8. from whence this is quoted you shall see that there is no less a word put in there than delight which must needs carry desire along with it I delight to do thy will O my God Now what an excellent person must this needs be that could come to such a hard painful costly work under the weight of which all the Angels in Heaven would have sunk into nothing with so much desire 8. Which will yet further appear if we consider that he should do it with so much exactness as he did there are some things that when they are done we use to say they are done after a fashion meaning that they are sorrily done if another had had it in hand it would have been another kind of thing But beloved this same Freedom of ours that Christ hath been a performing oh 't is excellently done most admirably done 't is the exactest curiousest piece that ever was wrought 't is done to the life Christ hath shewn himself in it a workman that needeth not to be ashamed I remember 't is said in Exod. 39. 43. That when they into whose hearts God had put wisdom to devise curious works for the Tabernacle brought all to Moses when they had finished it Moses looked upon all their work and beheld that they had done it as the Lord commanded Even so had they done it i. e. with that exactness and Moses blessed them so we have great cause to bless Christ when we look upon this exact work of his and to say he hath done all things well very well there is not the least thing missing in it every way perfect his work is like himself Christ is a none-such and so is his work View it from the beginning to the end 't is all over compleat let the Saints look upon it they 'l say the like was never seen let Angels look upon it and they 'l say so too let God himself look upon it and he will say so too and therefore his work is called the pleasure of the Lord Isa 53. 10. i. e. 't is so done as that he is well pleased with it From hence we should learn of Christ to be no bunglers in our work Two things there be that Christians should much aim at 1. To do what they should that God may not set us about such and such work and we be doing that is contrary when God bids you serve him take heed don't go and instead of that sin against him don't be about the Devils work when you should be about the Lords remember you owe him Service but you owe the Devil none 't is a good question to be often asking your selves Whose work am I a doing 2. To do it as they should here the Lord knows we come miserably short sometimes we can see through grace that what we are about is good for the matter but oh then for the manner of doing it how we fail in that Sirs where is your exactness in duty You pray but where is your exactness in prayer You sing but where is your exactness in singing You hear but where is your exactness in hearing How much better might every thing be done than we do it Eph. 5. 15. See then that you walk circumspectly It may be rendred thus out of the Greek Look how exactly you walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how you come up to the height and fulness of duty A man may be about that which he should and yet may be doing of it by halves here may be a fault and there may be a fault tho you cannot work so fast as you should yet be careful to do what you do well If you cannot write a fast hand yet labour to write a fair hand 9. Christs excellency will appear further in this That he did it for so many
ws never done in any before nor never shall be in any for the time to come What is said there in Joel 1. 2 3. of a great Judgment which the Lord threatens I may say of this great Redemption Hear this ye old men Hath this been in your days or even in the days of your fathers c. And what God speaks to the Children of Israel about their Freedom out of Egypt I may well apply to this Freedom Deut. 4. 32. For ask now of the days that are past which were before thee since the day that God created man upon earth and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is or hath been heard like it Consider Three things here and you will see that this is an incomparable Freedom 1. The other greatest deliverances that you read of which God gave to his people they were but the types and shadows and forerunners of this Freedom Particularly see it in that deliverance out of Egypt you that are acquainted with the story of it know what a great deliverance that was 'T is seldom spoken of in the Scripture but there is a glance upon the greatness and famousness of it 'T was so great that they were charged never to forget it Deut. 8. 14. And to that end the Lord appointed that they should begin their reckoning of the Months of the Year with that Month in which this deliverance came Exod 12. 1 2. And on the 4th day of that Month in the Evening of it which was the very day on which the Lord brought them out of their Bondage they were to keep the Passover every year throughout their Generations for a Memorial of it ver 6. 14. compared And it was such a great deliverance that Moses and all the children of Israel sung together unto the Lord in solemn praises and thanksgivings for it admiring the riches of his mercy towards them in it as you may see in Exod. 15. 1 c. And it was so great that it put the wicked Nations of the Earth into a trembling to hear of it ver 14 15 16. And again it was so great a deliverance that the Lord made use of it as the great and strong tie to bind them to himself in the strictest obedience And therefore when he gave them the Ten Commandments he set this engaging Preface before them I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage And then he gives them the Moral Law and in them to us by whom the aforesaid Preface is now to be understood spiritually of his bringing us out of the spiritual Egypt and the spiritual Bondage And therefore we are to be obedient unto him But now beloved tho this deliverance was such a great and glorious work as you must needs say it was to bring a matter of Six hundred thousand Men besides Women and Children with all their Herds and Flocks out of the Iron Furnace in Egypt where they had been strangers and slaves for Four hundred and Thirty years together and that with such a mighty hand and stretched-out arm as brought destruction to their enemies and redemption to his chosen people yet I say this was but a type of this Freedom by Christ This and all else that Moses did as Gods instrument among them was but to hold forth better things that were afterwards to be done by Christ See Heb. 3. 5. The like might be said of their deliverance out of their Seventy years Captivity in Babylon but I would only instance further in one great Freedom that was among the Jews by the appointment of God himself and that was That every 50th year which was called the year of Jubilee of which you read Levit. 25. there was to be a general Release and Liberty was to be proclaimed throughout all the Land so that they who had sold or mortgaged their land or possessions were then every one to return to them again and every Hebrew Servant was then to have his Freedom So that this year was a great and a famous year amongst them and 't was welcomed with a great deal of joy insomuch that it was called by them the Acceptable year Why this also was to point out this Freedom by Christ you shall find it alluded to in Isa 61. 1 2. where the same expressions are used by Christ in his setting forth his Redemption as were spoken of that year of Jubilee He saith he was sent to proclaim liberty to the Captives and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. So that other Deliverances and other Freedoms were but to usher in this They were but the Harbingers of this great salvation and in the reading of them you must have your thoughts upon this not only to read them as stories that did but concern that people but as shadowing out the great Gospel-redemption 2. Again 't is an incomparable Freedom thus In that no misery is like that misery which this Freedom brings us from If ever there were a Wretch indeed he is one that lies in that condition out of which Christ was sent to deliver us 't is such a condition that if one were truly sensible of it he would not be in it one day for the whole World I mean our natural condition which is such a miserable state that if God bears everlasting love to any person to be sure he brings him out of it and if he intends everlasting wrath to any then he leaves them in it 3. Again In that no mercy is like to that mercy which this Freedom brings us to as they shall have misery enough and enough that continue in the Bondage so they shall have mercy enough and enough that partake of this Freedom they shall have mercy in abundance they shall be monuments of mercy for ever and therefore God gives them this Freedom by his Son that he may convey to them such riches of Grace and Mercy as that all the common goodness which is bestowed upon the whole World in general is as nothing in respect of that mercy which one single redeemed person hath and shall have bestowed upon him But what this mercy is we shall hear particularly when we come to speak of the Priviledges of this Freedom Property 2d This Freedom is an unconceivable Freedom that is 't is an unknown thing Here take notice 1. What I do not mean by this 2. What I do mean by it I do not mean by this as if the Saints knew nothing of it Oh! yes blessed be God they do see 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redemed with corruptible things c. but with the precious blood of Christ So Colos 1. 26 27. The mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations but now is made manifest unto his Saints Mark those words 't is now made manifest to his Saints and God
would make it known to them he was resolved that his people in the days of the New Testament should in a special manner have it revealed to them see also Eph. 2. 6 7. and cap. 3. 8 9 10 11. Yea beloved 't is so made known now as that there is not one Child of God upon Earth but hath the knowledg of it and none are altogether ignorant of it but such as are in their lost condition 2 Cor. 4. 3 4 6. But if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this World hath blinded the minds of them which believed not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine upon them For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our heart to give the light of the knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ And therefore look you to it you that live in darkness and have none of this saving-light shining into your hearts that cannot tell what to make of Christ and the Gospel you may see from this Scripture what a case you are in and to what company you belong for the present God is teaching his people in these mysteries It is written that they shall be all taught of God and so they are tho not to alike degree That which I do mean when I say that this is an unknown Freedom is in these three things 1. That Gods people themselves don 't know it in that full manner and measure as it is to be known Surely there is more in it than they do understand even they who see and know most of it Nay 2. That which any of the people of God upon Earth do know of it as yet is but little in comparison of what is in this Freedom and therefore they are said to know but in part 1 Cor. 13. Now you know that but a part of a thing is very short of the whole They that have attained to the highest degree of spiritual understanding had need pray that they might be carried further and further still as Paul doth for the Ephesians cap. 1. 17 18. and 3. 18 19. Nay 3. The Saints in Heaven it self will never be able to take in all that concerns the glory of this Freedom tho they shall know it there clearly yet they cannot know it fully 't is that which is too great for any but God to comprehend just as it is He only knows his own Love and his own Mercy to the utmost yet this shall be no diminution of the Saints happiness that they cannot even there fully reach the knowledg of it for they shall know as much of it as it is possible for a Greature to know they shall be like Bottles cast into the Sea that tho they cannot take in the Sea yet they shall take in so much as shall make them so full that they cannot hold a drop more but if they could take in more there is more still to be taken in So that indeed this is an unconceivable Fredoom the Saints do admire it and they will admire it for ever Now our admiring of things doth not only proceed from our being affected with them but also from hence that there is more in them than we can well dive into so we cannot go to the bottom of this Freedom nor ever shall for it hath no bottom So that the truth is here we are all posed Saints and Angels are posed to conceive what this Freedom comes to You may go to some in the World that can scarch out deep Mysteries that can expound Riddles but this is such a Mystery and such a Riddle as no Creature in Heaven or Earth is able exactly to unfold I may say of it as 't is in Rom. 11. 33. O the depth c. Other Freedoms you can fathom but this you can't 3d Property It is the most honourable Freedom you know when God redeemed the Children of Israel out of Egypt he did it in an honourable way take it in these three things 1. He gat honour to himself Exod. 14. 17 18. by this he declared himself to be above all gods and above all great Ones of the Earth God should never have done this work if the Egyptians and all their Idols could have hindred it You know what a fierce on-set they made upon Israel at the Red-Sea to bring them back again but instead of that they never went back again themselves the waters covered their Enemies there was not one of them left what a name did the Lord make himself at that time 2. He honoured his Promises the Children of Israel had had many Promises of Deliverance which by reason of the anguish of their spirits in their Bondage they could not tell how to believe they called the Faithfulness and Truth of God into question as we are too ready to do when we are in great straits instead of trusting in God firmly as they should have done when once they had a word from God what depth of distress soever they were in they did not rely up-God's Promise Exod. 6. 6 7 8 9. But when God delivered them he honoured his Promise for all that he shewed that he did remember it by the performing of it Exod. 12. 41. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years even the self-same day it came to pass that all the hosts of the Lord went out of the land of Egypt You must know that this place looks back chiefly to the promise that God made to Abraham that tho his seed should be afflicted in Egypt yet he would bring them out after such a time Gen. 15. 13 14. Now here in this 12th of Exod. you see how God honoured his promise he kept his word to the very day Obj. But how did God honour his promise and how were they delivered the self-same day when as in that place of Genesis there is just Four hundred years spoken of that they should be in Egypt and in the other of Exodus 't is Four hundred and Thirty years It seems therefore that God failed of his promise Thirty years Ans No God forbid that we should think so Heaven and earth shall pass away but one tittle of his word shall not perish But you must know that there may be Two Reasons why the Thirty years are not mentioned in the promise to Abraham 1. Because 't is not an unusual thing amongst us to swallow up a lesser number in a greater As if a man ask you how old you are you say so many years and tho there be some odd weeks or months you omit them putting the greatest number for all So the Thirty years are to be understood in the Four hundred as the Text in Exodus with which the other is to be compared doth shew 2. I suppose the Lord might of purpose conceal these Thirty years tho he did
well come in here Psal 87. 3. Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of God Beloved I would fain engage your most serious attention to what shall be delivered upon this Subject and to prepare you for it I beseech you to know that I hope you shall hear some glorious things spoken to you of this City of God in the opening of the excellent Priviledges which this Freedom by Christ brings with it which when you have heard I am sure you will have cause to say of these redeemed ones as Moses once did of the Children of Israel Deut. 33. 29. Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O people saved by the Lord. I shall not spend time in things that are but of a general consideration otherwise I might shew you that there must needs be very precious Priviledges attending this Freedom 1. From the great difficulty that there is to get into this Freedom As you know those places and conditions that have great Priviledges what a hard thing 't is to get into them there must be a great deal of seeking and waiting and much cost and pains laid out and such and such a great person must be made ones friend so 't is no easie matter to get into this Freedom to be made one of the Company If ever you be admitted into it you must strive to enter you must think no pains or labour too much and you must patiently wait upon the Lord till he have mercy on you and you must be sure to get God and Christ to be your friends for they have the power and the disposing of this Freedom they give it to whom they will Now what 's the Reason that there is so much ado amongst men to procure such a Place and to be one of such a Society as many times there is Why 't is because if they were once admitted into it there be such Priviledges to be enjoyed and such profits to be received as will abundantly recompence all their pains So here the difficulty of becoming one of these that are made free by Christ speaks that this Freedom is full of excellent Priviledges 2. From the high esteem that they have of this Freedom who are admitted into it through Grace Say what you will to them you can never bring them out of love with it again they 'l like their Christ and like their Condition tho all the world should set themselves to turn away their hearts from it They 'l part with if for no good They like it so well that they set an higher value upon the worst of Christ than they do upon the best of the World as Moses did Heb. 11. 25 26. Now certainly this is because their condition is full of Priviledges They know they are better here than they can be any where else in the World 3. From the consideration of the Saints being so often called upon in Scripture to praise the Lord. They who observe may frequently find how much they are stirred up to this duty How many Psalms doth David begin and end with this Praise ye the Lord And he says that the People of God should be a singing to him blessing of him rejoycing and giving thanks extolling of the Name of God declaring his wonderful Works towards them Now you shall see that one main thing that he drove at why they should do this was upon the account of the Freedom which God had brought them into Psal 107. 1 2. and 136. 1 2 3. compared with ver 10 11 12 23 24. And in Rev. 5. you read that the Saints were at this work of more than ordinary thanksgivings to God They sung a Song What is it for Oh! for the Freedom they had received Certainly then if God hath such great praises for it there are great Priviledges in it But I shall not go on thus but will bring in a List of the Priviledges so far as I can in particular And here as the Prophet said Isa 63. 7. I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord c. They are a priviledged people For Priviledg 1. Being made free by Christ they are translated out of the Kingdom of the Devil His Prison-doors are now opened that were shut so fast upon them as that none could open them but he that hath the key of David Now their bondage under that great Tyrant over Souls is at an end He shall no more have them captive at his will The yoke of their oppression is broken See Col. 1. 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son They are redeemed from the hand of the terrible Satan hath been forced to yield them up and now he can lay no more claim to them This Priviledg you read of further in Heb. 2. 14 15. That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who all their life-time were subject to bondage Mark he hath delivered them from the Devil by destroying of him not as to his Being for the Devil is not dead 't is not the Nature of a Spirit to die but as to his power over them So he is destroyed he is quite routed as to any slavery that he now keeps them in He may Lord it over his Vassals whose God he is but with these he hath nothing to do but in a way of molestation so indeed he will vex them all that he can and he won't be wanting to follow them with his Temptations and his siery Darts In this kind these redeemed ones must expect a War with him Eph. 6. 11 12 13 c. Christ will have them fight tho he hath made them free and tho the Devil doth cease to be their Owner yet he doth not cease to be their Enemy and he designs all the hurt and mischief to them that possibly he can for they went out of his Kingdom against his will and consent If he could have staid them they should never have gone And therefore his wrath is the more kindled against them and that to such a degree that he is not only compared to an Adversary but to a Lion and this Lion is in the siercest posture of all he is a roaring Lion But notwithstanding all his rage his Dominion is gone Now beloved this is an excellent Priviledg Oh to be loosed from the Chains of Darkness to be turned from the power of Satan to God! In this sense they that are made free by Christ are past the Devil's Quarters And therefore tho they should diligently watch against him yet they should not be slavishly afraid of him Do but keep Gods way and what hurt can he do you See John 5. 18. 'T is a very unbecoming thing for a child of God to be afraid of the Devil What have all the Devils in Hell to do with you for whom Christ shed his precious Blood He himself knows that you
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
and he can dye he can love his Enemies he can gain by losses he can prevail with God c. 10. That a poor creature should come to know what thoughts God had of him before the World began and what he intends to do with him to all eternity Why many will be ready to say how is it ever possible that such a thing should be Why now 't is one of the Wonders of this Freedom that by the having of it a man may come to know this if you look backward from all eternity he may be sure that God hath chosen him if you look forward to all eternity he may be sure that God will receive him into Glory See how Paul speaks about this 1 Thes 5. 9. For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Many there be who are in this Freedom that are assured of this and such as are in it tho they be not sure as yet of it yet they are in the way to it You see something of the Wonders of this Freedom and now is it not an excellent Freedom also upon this account I will only add this That the Scripture holds forth to us that Gods wonderful works must have five Duties performed about them and so must this wonderful Freedom 1. They must be talked of Psal 105. 2. So now oh speak of this wonderful Freedom one to another as you sit in the house and as you walk by the way declare what God hath done for his people by Jesus Christ 2. They must be considered pondered upon Joh. 37. 13. So this wonderful Freedom you must observe the Wonders in it have deep and serious thoughts of it Search into it by Meditation Mysteries cannot be understood by a superficial looking upon them but they must be dived into 3. They must be remembred Psal 105. 4 6. So take heed of forgetting this wonderful Freedom 't is a mercy never to be forgotten 4. God must be praised for them yea praised and praised again Psal 136. 1 2 3 4. So highly bless God for this wonderful Freedom see in two Psalms which are made about it Psal 72. and he closes up all with this vers 18. 19. Blessed be the Lord God the God of Israel who only doth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious name for ever and let the whole earth be filled with his glory Amen and amen And Psal 98. read the whole Psalm 5. They must be believed Psal 78. 32. So you must believe this report about this wonderful Freedom you must close with it by faith you must not continue in your sins as if all this were a lye that we tell about Salvation by Christ I will end this Seventh thing of the Wonders of this Freedom with that Scripture Acts 13. 38 to 42. Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgivness of sins And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses Beware therefore lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish for I work a work in your days a work which you shall in no wise believe tho a man declare it unto you Do you Wonder at the things you have heard Oh! take heed that you don't Wonder and perish for want of believing of them CHAP. XII The Application of this fifth Branch of the Doctrine AND now is this Freedom of Christ such an excellent Freedom as you have heard it is Then I shall finish this fifth Branch and so this whole Text with seven Uses 1. Of Information 2. of Admiration 3. of Lamentation 4. of Examination 5. of Expostulation 6. of Exhortation 7. of Consolation Use I. Of Information It informs of four things 1. That the remedy that is prepared for sinners misery is beyond all exception their misery is their Bondage by sin their remedy is Freedom by Christ and 't is beyond all exception for 't is excellent Freedom The Lord Jesus cares not who looks upon his redeeming-redeeming-work 't is done so well it wants nothing to make it sufficient and all-sufficient for the ends and purposes to which it was intended we are sure therefore that if we can but use this soveraign Plaister as we ought it will without question heal our wound There is that in Christ that will do our work do but make trial and you 'l find 't is true for in this case trial is all in all Christ desires to be put to the proof whether he cannot do all things for a poor Soul that it hath need should be done for it If you 'l but venture your Souls he will venture his Salvation what would you desire more to manifest that a receit for a disease is the best that can be got than that every one that hath made use of it should give their approving-testimony that they have been cured by it Now this is the witness that all believers will give of Christ If you should go up and down for their hands they will be all ready to sign and seal to the great cures that they have by him Isa 53. 5. 't is as it were the general voice of all that have made use of Christ We are healed Again it informs us 2. That there is something that is much better than that which the men of the World do spend their time and thoughts about The truth is they follow this World as if it were the best thing that ever was or ever shall be But ah Sirs you whose life and labour is thus laid out are mistaken There is an excellent Freedom by Christ that is better than all that you cark and care and rap and rend for Would I could but tell what to say to you to bring you out of love with this World you that are so much in love with it What do you see or find in it that you should set your hearts upon it you run after that and that runs from you and that so fast that some of you cannot overtake it for your lives I may say that the World looks upon some persons as if it were afraid to come near them they would fain lay hands upon it and God wont let them he bids the things of this World run away from them and this surely is in much mercy to some for God sees that if they should gain the World they would lose their Souls and if he bears a love to them he had rather they should miss of Earth than Heaven Well but it may be God suffers some of you to overtake this World you make such haste after it and when you have got it what have you got I don't speak to lessen thankfulness for any of these outward mercies but my drift is to set the World in its place and this Freedom in its place but what have you gotten
Service blessed be his Name but should you not do him more You bring forth some fruit but should you not bring forth more 'T is not enough for you to be gracious but you should be zealous Christ as I may so speak hoped you would when he gave you this Freedom see Tit. 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works 3. That so many are gone to Hell for refusing this excellent Freedom Oh what a sad thing 't is to think how many Souls have perished for want of closing with Christ 'T is true they had other sins but whatever other sins they had they would have been forgiven if they had not neglected this great Salvation that made them that they could not escape As the receiving of this Freedom by Faith hath been the Salvation of many so the refusing of it by unbelief hath been the Damnation of more tho poor wretches they are not here to be told of it because they are now gone to their own place Oh! the price that they had once in their hands but now they have lost it for ever and it may be some of these might be your Friends and Relations the Wives of your own bosoms and the Children of your own bodies Well if they were they are perished without hope there 's no fetching them back again you may perhaps mourn to think what is become of them but now they are past recovery your prayers can do them no good and your tears can do them no good and now you must labour to rest satisfied with this that the Will of the Lord is done and that he is glorified tho it be in their eternal destruction 4. That so many sinners tho they are yet on Earth will shortly be in Hell too for the same sin For alas how many be there of those who are yet alive that are making light of Christ and of this excellent Freedom and many of them will go on to do so to their dying day and so come to the same pass to which the unrepenting sinners before them have brought themselves The generations of Christ refusers is not all gone they that were in the ages that are past are swept and snatch away but there are others that stand up in their room there 's a succession of these ungodly hard-hearted sinners that tho we offer Christ and Salvation to them and beseech them as for our lives to be reconciled to God yet they go on and 't is to be feared will go on in the broad way that leadeth to Destruction 'T was a sad word that Christ spake to them in Joh. 5. 40. Ye will not come to me that ye might have life Mark he doth not say you do not come but he delivers it in a kind of hopeless expression you will not come As if he should say I see some of you are of that temper that as you are you will be you are in your sins and you will be in your sins let them that hear me mark it concerning you if you do not dye out of me I pray God it be not so with some of you that are here Really Sirs 't is matter of mourning to see how some of you trifle in the things of your Souls would it not grieve ones heart to think that some of you that have attended upon all this that hath been preached upon this Text should yet look after a Christ no more than you do I am this day to finish this work and I am afraid of divers of you that this Text will leave you as dead as it found you Well the Lord be witness between you and me whether I have not set Life and Death before you and whether if you perish it be for want of being sufficiently told of the misery of your Bondage of sin or of the excellency of the Freedom by Christ Beloved 't will be a sad thing when such a Text as this is done to leave any of you undone Vse 4. Of Examination You have heard much of this excellent Freedom put this question home to your selves every one of you Am I got out of prison yet How shall I know that you 'l say Ans Take it in three things 1. If a man be got out of Prison he hath made his peace with those that cast him in suppose it be for debt that one hath been laid up and you see him afterwards out of prison and you ask him why you were a prisoner how got you out Why saies he I have compounded with my Creditors I have made my peace or I have got an able surety to be bound for me So Sirs have you made your peace with God for your great debt of sin Have you got Jesus Christ to stand bound for you Why then you are no longer Prisoners but if you have not peace with God through Christ you are in Prison still for the condition of your Souls see Zech. 9. 11. As for thee also by the blood of thy covenant I have set forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water God sends forth none out of Prison but by the Blood of that Conant which Christ hath made with God on the behalf of the Prisoner that he will pay the debt for him 2. Another sign that a man is got out of Prison is That he bears a great love to him that freed him If one comes and sees him lye there in a sad condition and hath compassion upon him Well saith he I 'll procure your Freedom for you I 'll undertake it he will have a great respect for that person to be sure when he hath done it Oh! saith he if it had not been for this Friend I had perished I have reason to make much of him Sirs if you don't prize Christ you are in Prison still you have not his Freedom if he hath not your best Love Col. 1. 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son Mark how those words his dear Son are brought in with the mention of this Freedom and I look upon them as to be understood not only in reference to his Father but also those who are freed by him As if he should say Dear to his Father and dear to us too 3. If a man be got out of Prison or Bondage he is afraid to go thither again he thinks what a sad condition he had when he was there and he desires he may not come there again so do you fear and watch lest any sin bring you into Bondage again Is there no lust that you would be any longer a servant to Do you dread the thoughts of holding secret correspodence with any false way Why then you are made free You may say as 't is in Psal 124. 7. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler the