sweet and precious Doctrine and it might be applyed severall wayes But I shall onely apply the consideration of it as offering you ground and matter First of Humiliation Secondly of Instruction Thirdly of Examination Fourthly of Exhortation Fiftly of Consolation First of all for Humiliation Use 1 Harke Christians is it so that thou wert so lost and undone that none but Jesus Christ could raise thee and hee hath done it when none else could and wil raise thee higher yet and this hee could not have done without taking thy flesh dying upon the Crosse suffering the bitternesse of his Fathers wrath consider then what cause thou hast to be humbled for thy sins 1. Considering that these were they put Christ to death 2 that by these since that time thou hast crucified the Lord of life 1. Consider that thy sins were those that put Christ to death Rom. 4.25 He was delivered to death for our sinnes Me thinks every one when they heare of Christs Agony and bloudy Sweat of his Whippings Buffetings of his bitter Sufferings c. should be ready to cry out with Pilate Quid mali fecit What evill I pray hath he done Ah none Christian it was to raise thee thou wert dead lost undone he dyed to raise thee thou stolest the fruit he climbed the tree thou enjoyedst the sweetnesse of sinning and he for that was acquainted with the bitternesse of suffering He bore thy iniquity even thine and mine too if we be elected Certainly it was a great griefe of heart to David to remember that he had an hand in the bloud of Uriah that was surely the great transgression that hee complained of to be sure that heart-troubling sinne for which hee puts up that particular Petition Deliver mee from bloud-guiltinesse O God And questionlesse it was no small Trouble of Spirit to Paul afterwards to consider that he was one of them that were consenting to Stephens death Acts 7.59 60. Chap. 8. verse 1. he afterwards repeats it with shame I was a persecuter Christian here is one murdered by cruell hands not an Uriah not a Stephen but hee that is worth ten thousand of these not an Abell yet his bloud troubled Cain all his life time but one whose bloud cries for better things than the bloud of Abell did here 's the Lambe of God slaine slaine by thy hands he was bruised for thine iniquities and his soule was made an Offering for thy sinnes Is it nothing to thee O Christian when Pilate was but about to condemne him his wife came startled in and cries Have nothing to doe with that just man and when Stephen charged the Jewes Acts 7.52 for being the betrayers and murtherers of the Lord Jesus they apprehended it as a thing so hainous that they would not endure him beyond that word but were cut to the heart and gnashed upon him with their teeth verse 54. Christians there is none of you here but your sinnes were the betrayers and murtheres of the Lord Jesus that Christ that had such eternall sure and unchangeable thoughts of love to your soules Ah! how great were those sins which could not be remitted without the bloud of the immaculate Lamb of God Me thinks every one of you should sit downe and say Ah Lord that ever I should be such a wretch so farre to provoke the fire of thy wrath that nothing could quench it but the bloud of thy Sonne that I should throw my selfe so deep into Hell that nothing could raise mee but the bloud-shedding of the deare Sonne of Gods love You have had to doe with that just man Christians not to doe with condemning him but even with the vildest acts of Barbarisme were done unto him your hypocrisie was the kisse that betrayed him the sinnes of your hands and feet were the nailes that fastened his hands and feet to the Crosse the sinnes of your body were the Spears that pierced his sacred side the sinnes of your soules were they that made his soule heavy to the death that caused the with-drawings of his Fathers love from him and made him in the heavinesse of his panged soule to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me O sit downe goe alone weep and weep bitterly for him whom you have pierced for those stripes by which you are healed 2. But secondly if any thing will move your soules to make your head a Fountaine of water and your eyes Rivers of teares Consider That this Christ you have crucified even since his death upon the Crosse for you When the Apostle St. Peter Acts â— had made a long Sermon of Christs love shewing the Auditors what Christ had done and what he was he summeth up all verse 36. God hath made that same Jesus whom yee have crucified both Lord and Christ Now saith the Text verse 37. When they heard this viz. that they had crucified this Christ they were pricked at the heart This Christ my beloved whom you have crucified by your youth sinnes and life sins this was he that was crucified for you O be pricked at the hearts at this saying Was it not enough that he once was pierced scoffed wounded crucified for you but must you againe crucifie him and which of you doe it not daily Causinus tels us a story of Clodoveyus one of the Kings of France that when he was converted from Paganisme to Christianity while Remigius the Bishop was reading in the Gospell concerning the Passion of our Saviour and the abuses he suffered from Judas and the rest of the Jewes he brake out into these words If I had been there with my Frenchmen I would have cut all their throats In the meane time not considering that by his daily sins he did as much as they had done Which of us is not condemning the crucifiers of Christ for their cruelty and in the meane time we condemne not our selves who by our daily sinnes make him to bleed againe afresh Ah let us judge our selves and sit downe and mourne we are they that have added to Christs bonds that have increased his wounds and the pangs of his grieved soule which is now glorified with our renewing lusts and corruptions I shall conclude this use with a prayer that God would fulfill to all our soules that gracious promise Zach. 12.10 That he would poure out the spirit of grace and of supplications upon us and make us to look upon him whom we have pierced and doe pierce daily and mourn as a man mournes for his only Son And be in bitternesse for him as one that is in bitternes for his first-borne I passe on to a second way of Application viz. by way of Instruction Hath Christ and Christ alone raised us 1. Let us hence be instructed Instruction How much the Lord Jesus Christ loved us And here let my soule be drowned in sweetnesse and in sinking cry out O the depth of unfadomable love What tongue what Saint what Angell can speake out this unspeakable love Pray
THE SPOVSE Raised FROM Vnder the APPLE-TREE OR The way by which Children of Wrath come to be made the Children of Grace Opening the Doctrine of our Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ both in respect to the Purchase and Application By JOHN COLLINGS M. A. Isa 63.5 And I looked and there was none to help and I wondred that there was none to uphold therefore my owne arme brought salvation unto me LONDON Printed for Rich Tomlins 1649. The Spouse raised from under the APPLE-TREE CANT 8. ver 5. I raised thee up under the Apple-tree there thy mother brought thee forth there she brought thee forth that bare thee I Have now done with my first general Doctrine containing Mans misery Hee was brought forth under the Apple-tree there his mother brought him forth there she brought him forth that bare him I am now come to the second Generall part expressing Gods mercy to poore man fallen and undone in this condition expressed in those words I raised thee you may observe 1. The Agent I. 2. The Act Raised 3. The Object Thee I thy Bridegroome the Lord Jesus Christ raised It presupposes a fall I helped up thee My Spouse being in a sad and undone condition The Doctrine is shortly this Doct. 2. That it is the Lord Jesus Christ that helpeth his redeemed ones out of their undone condition 1. I shall inlarge and prove this truth in the generall In these particulars 1. He was designed to doe it 2. He can doe it 3. He must doe it for none else could 4. He hath done it 5. He will doe it After this I shall explicate to you the manner how the Lord Christ raised up his servants under the Apple-tree then thirdly I shall give you the reasons and lastly I shall come to Application First in regard that the Doctrine is propounded indefinitely I shall prove it to you in severall particulars which possibly may some of them beare the force of Reasons too 1. He was designed to doe it It was a designe of Eternity that Jesus Christ should step out of heaven and raise up his elected ones from their lost condition therefore Christ is said by the Apostle to the Hebrewes chap. 3. ver 2. To be an High-Priest faithfull to him that appointed him The businesse from Eternity lay thus Here is man lost and here are those amongst others lost saith God the Father to his Sonne that I have given thee for a portion what shall be done for man Well yet I will study to doe good to a wretched creature Thou shalt in the fulnesse of time goe and bee borne of flesh and bloud and dye for them and satisfie my justice and they shall be thine for a portion therefore they are called the Lords Redeemed ones Isa 35.9 The holy People the redeemed of the Lord. Isa 62.12 This thou shalt do saith the Father and upon these termes they shall live believing in thee This was Gods Covenant with the Sonne of his love for us For it is worth the noting that though the Covenant of Works was made betwixt the Lord and Adam personally yet the Covenant was made with Christ and all us in him mystically this the Apostle largely proves Gal. 3.26 The promises were made to Abraham and his seed hee saies not to seeds as of many but as of one And to thy seed which was Christ The Covenant was made then betwixt God and our representative The Lord Jesus Christ God sayes thou shalt goe and dye for them and I will yet save them believing in thee Content saith the Lord Jesus Christ I will goe and fulfill thy pleasure and they shall bee mine for ever I will in the fulnesse of time dye for them and they shall live in me Psalme 40. verse 6. Burnt-offering and Sinne-offering thou hast not required no it was Self-offering Then said I Loe I come in the Volume of thy booke it is written of mee to doe thy will O my God Hebr. 10. verse 5 6. In what Booke was it written that Christ should come to doe the will of God It was written in Cyphers in the Ceremoniall Law it was written in plainer English in the Prophets But it was written in the Book of Gods Decrees in this sense the Lord Jesus Christ is called Rev. 13. verse 8. The Lamb slain before the beginning of the World And in regard of Gods Decree we may say the Saints were redeemed pardoned Justified from eternity His Father from before all time appointed him to be our High-Priest and hee from before all Eternity subscribed to his Fathers pleasure in it Thus from Eternity he raised us up Secondly as he was designed to doe it so it was not a worke beyond the greatnesse of his strength God in doing it laid help on one that was mighty There was power enough in his mercy price enough in his merits to have bought more than the handfull of his redeemed ones out of the hands of the Devill had they beene to bee sold It is a slandering thought of infinite mercy for me to thinke there is no balme in Gilead there is no Physitian there though our sinnes be mighty yet hee that hath helpe laid upon him is mighty too and the might of our sinnes is nothing to the power of his mercies He was God as well as man his manhood made him our helper his Godhead made him a Mighty helper able to pardon all the sinnes of his Saints and to furnish all their soules with long white Robes of his Righteousnesse Yea thirdly Such a worke it was to raise us that it was hee alone that could doe it all heaven and earth had been at a losse for a satisfaction for divine Justice if it had not satisfied it selfe upon it self See it in Gods word Isaiah 63. verse 5. And I looked and there was none to helpe and I wondred that there was none to uphold therefore mine owne arme brought salvation to them And so Isaiah 59. verse 16. And he saw there was no man and wondred that there was no intercessor therefore his arme brought salvation unto him and his righteousnesse sustained him He saw none would And no wonder at that for none could but if they could they would not All creatures would have been like the Priest and Levite Luke 10. verse 31 32. they would have passed by on the other side Christ was he that was the good Samaritane onely that had compassion on us Ez. 16. verse 5. None eye pittied us to doe any thing to us that might doe us any good wee were cast out in the open yield to the loathing of our person in the day wherein we were borne But if they would yet none could Alas they had been all Physitians of no value man had beene past their cure Here was the state of a poore Creature An infinite debt was due to infinite justice for mans offence Alas where shall it be had as Job said concerning wisedome Job 28.13 14. Man knoweth not the
brought them out of their misery who were his elected and redeemed ones He hath pardoned their sinnes acquitted them of their guilt paid their debts set them cleare againe in Gods books and this he hath done for all those that are his Spouses for to them only he speaks saying I raised thee meritoriously when he dyed upon the Crosse for them he did it intentionally from all Eternity he gave his word to his Father for the debt that it should be paid upon demand but when he dyed he made paiment and discharged his word yet he doth not come and proclame the soule discharged till justification when the Lord actually and formally acquits the soule from all and accepts it as perfectly cleare of all accounts due upon any score whatsoever to God and therefore I say in the second place That some he hath raised Actually that is Actually and formally justified them pardoning all their sins and imputing his owne righteousnesse to them and accepting of them as Righteous for his owne sake even for his owne Names sake He hath done it meritoriously he said upon the Crosse All is finished he bore our griefes the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we were healed saith the Apostle Isa 53. And he hath done it for some Actually having justified them Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God where the Apostle speaks of justification as of a past act of grace concerning the beleeving Romanes and so 1 Cor. 6 1. concerning the beleeving Coriathians And Christ is stil justifying every day all his time is spent either in reading pardons for his redeemed Saints or in presenting Petitions from them and pleading for them I raised thee I have done it and I will doe it That is my last Proposition Fifthly He will doe it I meane actually and formally he hath done it already 1. By the engaging of his word to his Father nay more than so by paying downe the price his father abated him not an ace he paid every groat yea and left a surplusage too only he hath not taken out their pardon yet the Actuall and formall discharging of some is behind but they need not feare it is to come out of course without a farthing more paid 1 John 1.9 If we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes There is not a farthing more due and it were in justice with God to deny justification to those that sue it out by confession of their sinnes and seeking of his face God speaks of it here therefore as done I raised thee I take the words to imply the whole reparation of mankind I meane that part of mankinde whom the Lord had from Eternity chosen to everlasting life and for whom Jesus Christ had paid the Ransome of his precious bloud Christ I say speakes of it here as done because of the certainty of it Take onely one place for this John 10.27 28 29. My sheep he are my voice and I know them and they follow me And I give unto them eternall life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand My Father which gave mee them is greater than all and no man is able to plucke them out of my Fathers hand I and my Father are one Observe the thing proposed to be confirmed that is that those that are Christs should never perish Now to root this in their mindes he tells them 1 That they were his sheep and hee knew them they could not bee lost then at unawares and he not misse them 2. They were his Fathers gifts to him therefore they should not be lost hee would have a care of his Fathers love-tokens 3 But may they not be taken away No for 1. He is resolved to give them eternall life 2. He hath given his sure word for it Neither shall any man plucke them out of my hand They cannot doe it whether hee will or no for saith hee my Father which gave them me is greater than all Yea and further I and my Father are one My owne power and my fathers power united are ingaged for their preservation Those therefore that are elected though for the present they may be out of Christ yet they shall be raised But what I have already said may be enough to prove the in of the Doctrine that it is Jesus Christ that raiseth his elected ones out of their naturall undone condition It is hee that was designed by the Father to doe it that can and that alone could doe it he therefore must or none else can that hee hath done it meritoriously for all his Elect and actually for some of them and that in his due time he will do it actually and formally for all Now for a little further explication and clearing of this truth let us examine how hee hath done or will doe it To that question I shall answer in these particulars and indeed the answer may be drawne out of what I have already said First he did it stipulatione by entring into a Covenant and engaging his word for us The Covenant of Grace from which flowes all salvation to poore Creatures was originally made with the Lord Jesus Christ as I before prooved from Gal. 3.15 16. Christ engaged himselfe to his Father for the fulfilling of the Law and satisfying his Fathers wrath for us and hence it is that the Prophet sayes speaking Prophetically concerning the Lord Jesus Christ He shall bear their iniquities Isaiah 53. verse 11. Isa 53.6 He hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all verse 5. Hee was bruised for our iniquities With what Justice could God our Father lay our iniquities upon the Lord Jesus Christ Christ was a guiltlesse person nor could wee engage him in our cause but it was a voluntary engagement that himselfe entred to his Father As it is with us A poore Debtor is ready to be arrested for a debt that he is not able to pay there is no way but one either pay or to prison Let him have never so rich and great friends the Creditor cannot charge a farthing of the Debt upon them it is no Justice But if this poore Debtor hath some rich friend that will step in and say Sir this is my friend I pray bee patient with him I will undertake for the debt I will engage my word and bond that the debt shall bee paid at such a time or when you will please to call for it c. The Creditor it may be will be so favourable as to say Sir I know you are able to do it if you will engage your word I shall spare your friend pay it at such a time or when you will set the time and I will acquit your friend The engagement is entred in the Creditors Book and from that day forward the Creditor looks upon this his Debtors friend as now by his own voluntary engagement become his Debtor and never
regards his old Debtor more This is our case Adam had runne us in debt an infinite debt which neither he nor we are able to pay A Writ of Vengeance was out mankinde ready to bee arrested and bound in Chaines and throwne into an everlasting prison from whence hee should have been sure never to come out till hee had paid the utermost farthing which he could never have done with all the friends and estate he could have made Jesus Christ seeing some of his elected friends that his Father had given him having their names in the Writ steps in and sayes Father these are my friends Isa 63.8 Surely they are my people children that will not lye so he was their Saviour I will undertake their debt upon me charge it upon my score I will pay every farthing if thou pleasest to accept it it shall be paid at such a time Gal. 4.4 When the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his Sonne made of a woman made under the Law to redeeme them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of sonnes The Father accepts this tender therefore he is stiled Gods beloved Sonne in whom he is well pleased The word is in whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An emphaticall word which generally signifies to love but more specially and properly it signifies to love something by adhering to it with the minde and heart and so to be content and fully satisfied with it that one desires nothing else Me thinks I cannot but observe three things in it 1. God signifies by it that he is pleased with him and with his tender As if wee should say I like that well 2. God signifies by it that he is fully content with him so that hee desires nothing else As if we should say I desire no better security than his 3. God doth signifie by it that he will trust to it As it we should say in such a case to a surety Well then I will no more look after my Debtor now I will trust to you onely So upon Christs offer saith God I like thy tender as sufficient and am so fully content with it that I desire no more but now I shall wholly trust to thee for all Now God repeateth these words in the Gospell at Christs Baptisme and at Christs Transfiguration Matth 3. Mat. 17. And to what purpose but to witnesse to the world as that hee was well pleased with Christ as his Sonne that in heaven his worke was to delight in his Sonne and he did so delight in him that he desireth no other pleasure than the company and beholding of his Sonne which puts me in minde of a sweet notion of Master Rutherfords that God spent all his time from Eternity till the Creation of the World in delighting himselfe in Christ But I say as it doth signifie that and so set out the infinite love of the Father that he would be pleased to part with such a darling of glory for us as also in this it sets out the Fathers love that he should send to looke after inglorious wretches when hee needed not our companies for hee had pleasure and delight enough in the company of his Eternall Sonne whose company did so content him that he desired nothing else for himselfe So I also thinke that God by his twice repeating of it after Christ came would have us understand that God was well pleased with him as our Surety Heb. 7.22 Christ is called our Surety with what payment hee should make c. But now in regard it was in time that Christ came in the fulnesse time saith the Apostle Gal. 4.4 How did the Lord Jesus make our paiment sure I answer By engaging his word God the Father had nothing but the Lord Jesus Christs word for the paiment of all the Elects debts not from eternity till Christ came and made payment according to his engagement Now thus hath the Lord Jesus Christ raised us out of our lost condition by engaging his word and entring into a Covenant 2. He did it Assumptione carnis By assuming of our flesh He made a Covenant with his Father for us from all Eternity But hee tooke out this Bond in time canceling it with his owne bloud Therefore saith the Apostle Galatians Chapt. 4. Verse 4. God in the fulnesse of time sent forth his Son made of a Woman born under the Law to Redeem those that were under the Law that they might receive the adoption of sons He could Covenant for us as God but he must dye for us as man In the fulnesse therfore of time he bowed the heavens and came downe and tooke upon him our flesh not changing the Godhead into flesh neither confounding the substances nor the Natures but personally uniting of them that the two Natures became one Person and so he became a Saviour fit to raise us Now to him that raised this was necessary 1. That justice might be done It had been no justice in God to have charged the guilt of one Nature upon another Gods wayes appeare equall in charging the guilt upon the guilty Ez. 18.3 Forasmuch then as the children whom he came to redeeme were partakers of flesh and bloud he also tooke part with them that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death even the Devill Heb. 2.14 and ver 17. In all things it behoved him to be made like to his brethren and why ver 16. He had taken upon him the seed of Abraham that is the guilt of the seed of Abraham to satisfie for them 2. It was requisite That he might be a faithfull High-priest faithfull to his word You shall observe it that Christ gives it as a great reason of his condescentions and actions of Grace That all righteousnesse may be fulfilled and that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet c. Christ is tender of his Fathers Truth Now God had said that the womans seed should bruise the serpents head Gen. 13 ver 15. And though by Abrahams seed was spiritually meant Christ Gal. 3.15 16. to whom the Promises were made yet the Promises had not been fulfilled if that Christ had not also been Abrahams seed and therefore Heb. 3.17 one reason is given why the Lord Jesus became man and tooke part of flesh and bloud with us that he might be a faithfull High-priest 3. It was requisite that he should thus raise us that he might fulfill the Law for us Now the Law was to be fulfilled two wayes 1. Actively 2. Passively Neither could have been done without the Assumption of our flesh There is not such a contradiction between the Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Works as some ignorant Libertines would this day make God gave a Law and his Covenant was doe this and live this is that which we call the Covenant of Works man could not doe it What is Gods mind altered now no such matter God sayes Doe this and live
Eph. 3.17 18. O pray Christians That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints What is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge Is it love in a friend to passe his word for his friend arrested and ready to be haled to gaole and to take the debt upon himselfe and is it no love in Christ yea is it not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the unspeakable of loves for Jesus Christ when a writ of eternal vengeance was Ready to issue out against you to be your surety and beare the blow off to the breaking of his own armes Was it love in the Roman to personate his friend and upon the Scaffold and after to suffer for him and is it not infinite love for Jesus Christ to take the raggs of your flesh upon him and indeed to dye a death upon the crosse for you for you deare friends for you he was smitten despised rejected of men he dyed to make you live he was content to fall so you might rise Let your thoughts sinke in this ocean and spend your lives in spelling the letters of love that must be joyned in this one word or sentence I Raised thee From hence Secondly be Instructed What a perfect Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ is he leaves nothing for thee to doe but to thanke him hee makes the plaister and layes it on hee trod the Wine-presse alone and there is none with him he hath left thee nothing to do but to believe his last words All is finished he conquered sinne upon the Crosse and death and hell in the grave He will have none to be a sharer with him either in his worke of Merit or Application get but hands he will deliver thee thy pardon ready written granted sealed nay he will help thee with hands too He was made perfect through sufferings Hebr. 2.10 Heb. 5.9 Being made perfect hee became the author of salvation to them that obey him 3. From hence againe bee instructed Christian What need thou and every poore soule hath of the Lord Iesus Christ Thou wert fallen and layest as unable to helpe thy selfe as an Infant throwne into an open field Men and Angels were at their wits ends to answer to this question How then can any be saved The Heavens said Salvation was not in them and Earth sayes Salvation is not in us nothing but God-man can doe this great work There is no other name but onely the Name of Iesus by which thou or I or any of the children of men can be saved If thou hast him thou hast enough if thou hast not him it is not all the righteousnesse of Saints and Angels that will make a garment which will not bee too short to cover thy nakednesse O cry Lord give mee Christ Lord give mee Christ or else I dye Thinke not of thy owne merits thy righteousnesse is as a menstruous cloth and as a filthy ragge Christs Righteousnesse is sufficient for thee 4. Let all the redeemed ones of the Lord be instrushed How much they owe and shall for ever owe to him that is become their Saviour It is no slight mercy Sirs to be saved out of everlasting burnings It is a piece of love which as wee can never comprehend so we can never walke up to O let us all say What shall wee render unto the Lord for his mercies wee will take the cup of salvation and praise the Name of the Lord. You would thinke you owed a great deale to him that should exalt you from a Dungeon to a Throne Mephibosheth thought he was mightily honoured to be admitted to eate bread at the Kings Table How much Ah! How much Christians is every of your soules indebted to the Lord Jesus Christ who remembred you in your low estate For his mercy endureth for ever But I passe on further From hence may every one try himselfe Use 3 whether he be raised out of that lost undone condition wherein he was by Nature I have spoke to this in the former Doctrine but because I here meet it so fit again take two Notes of Triall from this Doctrine 1. If you be raised you are raised by Christs merits 2. You are raised according to Christs method 1. If you be raised It is by Christs merits all the Abana and Parphars of thy owne merits would not doe it One drop of that fountaine that was set open for Iudah and Ierusalem for sinne and for uncleanenesse is worth all the waters of thine own Damascus What trusts thou in Christian Is it what thou hast done Alas thou art so far from having any naturall strength as Pelagians and Arminians dreame or any other strength of merits either of thy owne or thy friends which Papists dreame of that if all the Saints in the earth and all the Angels of heaven could unite their forces in one arme and to one act they could as little have lifted thee up out of the pit into which thou wert fallen as thou couldst lift up an house with the palme of thy hand if it were fallen downe It was onely this mighty one this Prince of glory this King of power that could doe it Say therefore as they say that great Papist concluded Tutissimum est Christi meritis confidere it is most safe onely to rest upon him believe it all other trusts are as the bruised Reed of Egypt and as the broken staffe of Assyria which if thou trusteth too they run into thy hand and pierce thee they will cause thee to fall many strides short of heaven when they have carried thee to their furthest their Nil ultra O trust not in them if there be all thy confidence thou art not yet raised 2. If Christ hath raised you it hath been in his method of Application Christ saves none but whom he sanctifies and sanctifies none but whom he justifies and justifieth none but whom he calls Some men are justified they think but they know not which way and they shall be saved I know not which way too Christian thou wert lost and undone thou wert in Adams loines as well as any thou hadst an adventure in his ship as well as any the ship was wrackt Did the Lord ever call thee Didst thou ever yet find a powerfull worke of Gods spirit joyned with the word upon thy heart Did the Lord ever make thee in any measure to see thy lost condition Did the Lord ever yet bid thee when thou sawest thy selfe lost and wert confounded in thy owne insufficiency looke upon Jesus Christ and live Was sinne ever yet a sting to thy soule if not I doubt yea I am out of doubt Christ was never a true comfort to thee Christ was lift up as the brazen serpent now for whom was that lift up but for those that felt the smart of the fiery serpent and no way else be cured
Againe Christ sancrifies before he glorifies he hath ordained us to good works and then to obtaine everlasting life though not for them this is Christs method of raising Dost thou looke to be saved Art thou sanctified Christian Is thy heart changed and thy tongue changed Beleeve it no uncleane thing shall ever enter into the new Jerusalem Christ useth to raise to holinesse before he raiseth to happinesse But I have in the former Doctrine spake so fully to this worke of Examination in relation to this thing of so great a concernment to every soule as nothing can be more that I shall now adde no more but passe on This Doctrine may in the fourth place be applyed by way of Exhortation Use 4 1. To those that yet have no part at all in the Lord Jesus Christ 2. To those that through free grace have an interest in this Saviour and have been raised by him 1. Is there any poore soule here that is to this day so miserable as that it hath no portion in the Lord Jesus Christ Now I beseech you as an Ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ as in Christs stead I beseech you get an interest in him You have heard he is he whom the Lord hath ordain'd to be the Saviour of the world he is the mighty one upon whom help was laid yea the only mighty one upon whom help could be laid O then above all things looke for a portion in him in whom alone you can be rich Wouldst thou be saved This all desire Glory and happinesse are fine things Omnibus in voto every man would dye the death of the Righteous and have his later end like his Wouldst thou goe to Heaven Christian he is the way Wouldst thou live he is the life yea he and none but he Be assured thou art now a child of wrath and there is but an haires breadth betwixt thee and hell thou art wounded past the cure of the whole Creation loe here is balme in Gilead If thou wilt enquire enquire returne come Were there a poore wretch sicke of an incurable disease to ordinary Physitians and Chirurgians and some rare one should come to the Towne that alone had found out the mystery in the Art of curing that very trouble he should be throng'd with Patients How is it that Christ hath no more practise he that is the great Physitian that all the creatures are Physitians of no value to him Alas the reason is too perspicuous men are sensible of their bodily troubles but their soul-troubles are not felt by them To direct thee a little to him wert thou sicke of such a disease and hadst heard of so rare a Physitian what wouldst thou aske 1. How shall I speake with him 2. What must I give him 3. How must I apply his physicke 4. What Rules of diet or walking c. must I observe 1. Dost thou aske how thou shalt speake with the Lord Jesus Christ to lay open thy soules wounds unto him And where doth he exhibite his balme I answer to thee The word is near thee even in thy mouth it is the word of faith which we preach Behold Christ keeps open shop Wisedome cries and Understanding puts forth her voice she standeth in the top of the high Places by the way in the places of the paths She cries at the gates at the entring in of the doores Unto you O men she cals and her voice is to the sonnes of men O ye simple understand wisedome and ye fooles be of an understanding heart Prov. 8. ver 1 2 3 4 5. The Lord Christ keeps open shop in every place We as the Embassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ intreat you to be reconciled to God Did ever such naturall balme goe on begging The word is neare thee there Christ offers himselfe Dost thou aske what is his price 2. He offers it freely Heare the Market proclamed and the price set Isa 55.1 2. Hoe every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat wine and milke without money and without price This is the condition bring nothing the way to have thy sacke filled as full as thou canst carry it is to bring it empty Only come and live look up and be healed was there ever so cheap a Market of so rich commodities Christian poore Christian wert thou but sensible of thy soules wants thou wouldst give as many thousand worlds if thou hadst them and they could be given as there are graines of dust upon the face of the earth to have a portion in the Lord Jesus Christ Imagine but what a poore damned wretch would give to have but so much liberty as to cast up a long looke to Heaven what a comfort it would be to them if the light of the Gospell might but shine into hell a few dayes And is mercy offered freely mayest thou be saved if thy owne cursed will were not in the way Ah Christian turne turne why should thy soule dye when there is balme in Gilead and so glorious a Physitian there Dost thou aske how must I apply his bloud 3. I answer only by Faith God so loved the world saith the Apostle that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Nay to speake lower yet on thy part is only required a seeking of Christs face Thus saith the Lord seeke my face and live The truth of it is as the merit was Christs so the Application is his too Faith is required but it is a gift infused it is the gift of God Indeed it is an act too but as so it is Gods gift I meane the strength by which thou must act He is the Author and finisher of our faith saith the Apostle to the Hebrewes O therefore cry cry mightily unto God he will help thee doe this too Goe alone and wrastle with God and take no answer without Christ cry and take no deniall like the blind man that when the Disciples discouraged him and Christ seemed to slight him cryed yet the more earnestly till the Lord said What wilt thou And he answered Lord that I might receive my sight Goe thou and doe likewise beg Lord that I might be washed with thy bloud Lord that my sinnes might be pardoned though thou meetest with discouragements and thou thinkest that thou art one that art a dog to whom the childrens bread must not be given yet leave not beg againe but for a crumme of mercy a drop of bloud verily thou shalt not goe away without comfort 4. There is but one Querie more What Rules must I observe in the using of his physicke To this Christ hath shaped an answer for me Goe thy way sinne no more lest a worse thing befall thee Thou must take heed that thou dost not returne againe with the dog to the vomit and the swine to the wallowing in the mire He that is borne of God sinneth not sayes the Apostle not constantly nor wilfully but
weakly This for direction And remember this last which I shall conclude with that of the Prophet Ez. 18.24 If the Righteous man turneth away from his righteousnesse and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall he live all his righteousnesse that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespasse that he hath trespassed and in his sinne that he hath sinned shall he dye saith the Lord. Shall I need adde any thing for motive I should thinke not but only call upon you to get eyes to see your sad and undone condition in which you are It is no wonder that you should say we have need of nothing when you thinke you are rich Get but a true understanding 1. Of your owne vile and undone condition what an hell you carry about with you 2. What an hell you tread over every day and it will be enough to pricke on your soules to seeke a portion in the Lord Jesus Christ especially if yee well consider what I have sufficiently proved to you that it is impossible that in Heaven and earth there should be found any way of salvation for your poore soules but in himselfe Now the Lord worke these things upon your hearts 2. Give me leave now to speake a word of Exhortation to you my Brethren to whom the Lord hath of his free grace given a portion in the Lord Jesus Christ and you are become his raised redeemed ones The duty which I shall in generall presse upon you is thankfulnesse O give thanks unto the Lord he remembred you in your low estate for his mercy endureth for ever O what shall ye render Christians what can ye render to the Lord for this mercy For Motives Consider but every word of the Text apart and methinks it should be Motive enough to prevaile with those that have any thing tasted of this heavenly gift First I. To open this word a little and shew you what there is in it to melt your hearts into obedience 1. I that was infinitely above thee Christ was the brightnesse of his Fathers Image God blest for ever even from all Eternity He was from Eternity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the unicè dilectus the only beloved of his Father in whom his Father tooke infinite delight he was the Prince of glory God blest for ever Now for an Eternall God to stoop to a poore worme O mercy for a King to visit an Hospitall to come with his owne hands and dresse the putrified wounds of his meanest subject it is a condescention scarse found amongst the sons of men and yet if you could find it it should come infinitely short of this condescention 2. I that did not at all need thee The Lord stood not in need of a worme the Father was pleased with the Sonne from all Eternity and taken up with delighting himselfe in him and the Sonne was againe pleased with the Father They had an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a self-sufficiency of glory and were enough each of them to other had it not been his bowels of mercy that had yerned towards thee for thy good he had never been moved towards thee from any other principle 3. I whom thou hadst offended Greater love than this is not found amongst men than for one to dye for his friend yet greater love than this hath Christ shewne that he dyed for his enemy Rom. 5.8 Scarcely for a righteous man will one dye yet peradventure for a good man some will dare to dye But God commendeth his love to us-ward in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us O love infinite unfadomable love Secondly consider the Act with its circumstances I raised thee 1. Out of a low condition What lower than hell that was thy portion Christian thou wert a child of wrath by nature even as others He remembred thee in thy low estate his mercy endureth for ever 2. To a glorious condition It is an estate more glorious than thy naturall estate was or could be miserable to be free men in Jesus Christ Rom. 6.18 into marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 to to be children and if children then heirs of God and joynt-heires with the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 8.17 Heires of salvation Heb. 1.14 Heires of the Promises Heb. 11.9 Heires of the Kingdome Jam. 2.5 Ye which in times past were not a people are now the people of God you that had not obtained mercy have now obtained mercy and are become 1 Pet. 2.10 11. A chosen Generation a royall Priesthood an holy Nation a pecullar people wherefore is it but that you should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darknesse into marvellous light 3. He raised you by his owne falling yes nothing else could doe it Without bloud there had been no remission Heb 9.22 His owne soule must be grieved to the death that your soules might be comforted He must be smitten despised rejected of men that the chastisement of your peace might be upon him and by his stripes you might be healed Was ever love like his Thirdly Consider it further in the object of this Act I raised thee 1. Thee not others Thee not Angels Thee not many other men 1. Not Angels yet the Angels were far more glorious creatures which if raised had sinned no more but spent their time in singing forth his glory and serving him with cheerfull readinesse all their dayes yet Heb. 2.16 He in no wise took upon him the Nature of Angels but he tooke on him the seed of Abraham 2. If the Lord would have chosen men might not he have chosen ten thousand more great more noble more wise that in a carnall eye were by Nature cut out far more fit to have made vessels of glory of than thou art yet the Lord hath passed them by he hath passed by Eliab and Shammah that were sonnes of the same Father with thee and hath chosen thee that wert the least of all Ishmael and Esau that were thy elder brethren and hath chosen thee 2. Thee that wert as low as others Adam left thee as deep in hell as any reprobate there Loe here the infinitenesse of free grace Two were in the same house yea grinding at the same mill of iniquity and thou art taken and the other is left possibly thou wert in thy wildest youth seeming to ride faster to hell than the other were that were thy brethren friends and acquaintance yet the Lord hath raised thee and let the others lye wallowing in their bloud he hath not said to them live 3. Thee that wert his Enemy Was ever dying love yea love in dying extended to an enemy before You have heard of two stories one of a Grecian the other of a Roman paire Theseus and Perithous Pilades and Orestes that would have dyed for their friends each for another but hath any offered to dye for his Enemy Moses would offer to have his name blotted out for his people that
were Gods people and which he loved but would Moses have done it for a Philistine yet this hath Christ done O love ye the Lord all his Saints 4. Thee that never askt it He was found of them that sought it not Alas mankind lay as well without a tongue to aske as an hand to help themselves and behold Christ pitied them and amongst them thee his love declared from Eternity towards thee had not so much cause in thee as a poore prayer would have amounted to he was not moved by thy sighs and teares but by his owne infinite love 5. Lastly thee that hast still Rebellion in thee Christ said within himselfe when he dyed upon the Crosse Now is my heart-bloud powred out for as vile wretches as any are and for those that I know will requite my bleeding wounds my dying love with new speares and thornes thus he knew that thou wouldst doe in the time of thy unregeneracie yea and after thou shouldst be called too Who lives and sinnes not Now Christian lay these things to thy heart meditate of study out this love and see if thou hast not cause to say My soule and all that is within me my tongue and all that is without me praise the Lord. But O remember I Christian Remember Burnt offering and sacrifice he doth not require but this he requires that thou shouldst doe his will O say Loe I come I am ready to do it But more particularly let me point thee out some particular duties that the Lord requires of thee in a poor answer to his rich Acts of eternall love First hath not he thought his glory too deare to lay aside for a while for thee nor his Word and Truth too dear to pawne for thee not his bloud too deare to spill for thee hath he valued nothing in comparison of thee O doe thou value nothing in an equall ballance with him be willing to deny thy selfe for him who in every thing hath denyed himselfe for thee Thy Lusts cannot be so pleasing to thee as Christs glory was to him Be content to leave them Thy Honour cannot be so great as his was which he left for thee and became ignoble in our eyes Surely when wee saw him we esteemed him despised smitten of God and afflicted Isa 53.4 But it was when hee was wounded for our Transgressions and bruised for our Iniquities when the chastisement of our peace was upon him and that by his stripes we might be healed Thy Riches cannot be greater than his yet remember him O remember the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who though he was rich yet for your sake became poore that you through his Povertie might be made rich 2 Cor. 7. Thy life cannot be more deare than his yet he valued not his life for thee but powred out his bloud his precious bloud upon the Crosse that through his bloud thou mightest have remission purchased Learne hence Christian a lesson of self-deniall Be content to suffer for him who was content to suffer that he might raise thee value nothing in comparison of him This Lesson had Saint Paul learned Phil. 3. v. 7 8. What things were gaine to me I counted losse for Christ yea doubtlesse and I count all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and doe count them but dung that I may win Christ c. ver 10. That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death Looke upon nothing in an equall ballance with him 1 Cor. 2.2 I determined not to know any thing amongst you save Jesus Christ and him crucified Secondly hath Christ entred into a Covenant and given his word to his Father and kept his word with his Father for you O then learne of him Vow your selves to him and keep the vowes of your lips Say with David Psal 116. ver 16. Ah Lord truly we are thy servants we are thy servants and the sons of thy handmaids for thou hast loosed our bonds Say with David Psal 40. Mine eares hast thou opened and bored them Say Ah Lord we come to doe thy will Christ kept his word with his Father for you Ah keep your word with him pay him the vowes which you have made Thirdly Hath Christ to raise you taken upon him your flesh O then Take ye upon your selves his spirit He hath become for you the childe of man doe you become for him the children of God Be made partakers of the divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 Your Nature was full of imperfection and weaknesse the divine Nature is full of perfection and glory He hath raised you be raised put off your filthy rags and put on change of Raiment Fourthly Hath Christ died that he might raise you from the death of Sinne and from the power of the Second death O then dye to sinne Col. 3.5 Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleannesse inordinate affection evill concupiscence and covetousnesse which is idolatry for which things c. The Apostle Saint Paul presseth the great duty of mortification from this very principle Likewise reckon yee also your selves to be dead to sinne but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.11 and so on ver 12 13. Let not sinne therefore reigne in your mortall bodies c. Ah throw away the nailes that pierced your Christ Fifthly Did Christ rise from the dead that he might raise you from the death of sinne O then rise to newnesse of life The Apostle Saint Paul presseth this worke of Vivification also from Christs Resurrection Rom. 6. ver 4. We are buried with him by Baptisme into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father euen so we also should walke in newnesse of life and so all along that Chapter Sixthly Hath he ascended that he might raise us O then let us likewise ascend after him setting our affections upon things which are above not upon things which are below Christ who is our treasure is ascended Let our hearts also be where our treasure is Col. 3. ver 1. If then ye be risen with Christ secke those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God 7. Lastly Will he yet once againe come and raise you by glorification O then Let Christ in you be the hopes of glory Looke for him he is making ready his chariot He is bowing the Heavens and comming downe He hath prepared a place for his redeemed ones and he is comming Loe he is comming to take them up into the chambers of glory that where he is there they may be also But to summe up all let me only adde 5. A fifth and last use of Consolation To all the Saints and servants of God both touching themselves