Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A50490
|
The pastors valediction, or, A farewell sermon preached at Sepulchres, London / by Mr. Matthew Meade.
|
Mead, Matthew, 1630?-1699.
|
1662
(1662)
|
Wing M1556; ESTC R9094
|
15,072
|
30
|
will give you the Other Spring of peace for they go both together If he gives you the dew of heaven you need not question the fatnesse of the earth If his right hand be full of mercy his left hand shall not be empty Therefore Grace and Peace be with you from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ Grace has a double sense either for the grace of God to us that justifies us or the grace of God in us that sanctifies us Now there is a distant peace flowing from each of these but still its grace and peace First justifying grace has a peace attending that Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God So far as we have confidence in justifying grace there remains no conscience of condemning sin As there can be no bitterer War then between conscience and the cure so there can be no sweeter peace then when mercy and peace meet together and when conscience and peace kisseth each other The former is the tast of Heaven the latter is the perambulation of Heaven both which the Believer shares in upon his Justification by Faith If Christ had peace who was made our sin needs must the Believer have peace who is made the righteousnesse of God in him Secondly Sanctifying grace has a peace attending it and this peace differs from the former as the root from the fruit The peace of Justification is a radical peace the root of peace but the peace of Sanctification is the bud the blossom of the tree the former flowes from the bloud of Christ sprinkled on the Conscience the latter from the conformity that is between the Word and the will between the commands and the Conscience As many as walk according to this rule grace be unto them and peace Gal. 6.16 So that peace is the fruit of Sanctifying grace Now as the bloud of the Pascal Lamb which was a token of peace was not to be struck on the posts of the Egyptians but upon the posts of the Israelites so neither is the bloud of sprinkling which brings perfect peace to be struck on the posts of the carnal sinner but on the post of the true Believer an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile no grace no peace that is Gods Law How can a sinner have pence in a state of sin when God and Conscience when Word and Conscience when Law and Conscience and all the Attributes of God are against the sinner No peace saith my God to the wicked Pray mark that Chapter it begins with the peace and ends in no peace In ver 2. it s said He shall enter into peace that is the righteous In the last verse There is no peace to the wicked It s the state of grace that 's the only hate of peace And thus I passe from the double grace desired grace and peace to the double Fountain discovered God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ But here 's a Question to be answered If Grace and Peace be from God the Father then how is it said to be from Christ and if from Christ how then from God the Father Answer It s a known rule that the transient external works of God are Attributed to all the 3. Persons in the Trinity the same works that are Attributed to the Father are also attributed to the Son and the same works attributed to the Son is ascribed also to the Father so grace and peace are here ascribed both to God the Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ that is they are both from mercy and from merit From mercy on Gods part to us from merits on Christs part for us they are from God the Father because he wills them to us from God the Son because he works them in us they are from God to Christ from Christ to Us they are from God the Father originally and from Christ derivatively and to us actually God the Father is the fountain of all grace and peace Christ as Mediator is the Conduit of all grace and peace Man in Union to Christ is the Cistern into which these streams of grace and peace runs God wills grace and peace to us and Christ works them in us God gives grace and peace to be applied to the Creature this is from the love of the Father but the Application of this peace to the Soul is from the merit of Christ the Redeemer Thus you see there 's a double spring of this double blessing Time will not serve me further the only Observation is That all the grace and peace which believers share in is derived from God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ these three things opened will clear this First that grace and peace are the Believers priviledge Secondly that the fountain of this grace and peace is from God the Father Thirdly that it is not given out from God the Father but through Christ First that grace and peace are the Saints priviledge If grace is then peace is But grace is the priviledge of every Believer and that whether you look upon it as taken from the Love and Favour of God to us This is the Believers priviledge God can as well forget Christ at his right hand as cease his love and favour to the Soul of a Believer The Believers title to all their blessings arises out of this never-failing Love of God Or if you take grace for the fruit of Gods love to the soul still it falls to the Believers priviledge Vocation Justification Adoption prudence of Sin purging from Sins strength against Sin Holynesse Love Faith Obedience Perseverence all these are the priviledges of every Believer nay a man cannot be a Believer without any one of them they are as essentiall to the being of a Christian as reason to the being of a man Secondly as grace so peace is the Believers priviledge There is peace External peace Supernal peace Internal and peace Eternal There is peace External this is peace with men there is peace Supernal that is peace with God there is peace Internal that is peace with Conscience All these three are to be had upon Earth and then there 's peace Eternal and that is only to be had in Heaven The Apostle here doth not exclude the former but chiefly intends the latter peace with man is a good thing to be desired but peace with God and Conscience is much more to be desired Peace with God is the spring of all things both within and without both below and above both in time and eternity so sayes Job If he gives peace who then can make trouble Now this peace is the Saints privilege It is a Legacy left to every Believer by the last Will and Testament of a dying Redeemer Will you see a copy of his Will then look in John 14.27 Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you There is it seems a peace in the worlds power to give and there
THE PASTORS VALEDICTION OR A Farewell Sermon PREACHED AT SEPULCHRES LONDON By Mr. MATTHEW MEADE LONDON Printed in the Year 1662. To the READER Christian Reader I Shall not need to use any Epistolary Commendations of the Author if ever any Preacher had both Urim and Thummim the one in his Word the other in his Example unreprovable in his Doctrine and unblamable in his Life then this Excellent Divine Mr. Matth. Meade is the man whose ensuing Notes being this Preachers last Valediction to his Congregation a little before his Civil though Voluntary Death are here presented to thy view But it may be God withdraws his excellent Servants from his People to admit them nearer to himself that they may have none in Heaven but himself and none in Earth beside him The ensuing Sermon was taken by the carefull hand of a ready Writer a very good Friend of the Reverend Authors to prevent Abuse by Imperfect Copies which we hear are comming forth and made Publick We shall not mention the vast Difference betwixt Hearing and Reading or the Power lost in Printing which words had in Delivering neither how neatly they might have been Clothed by the Author All that we shall say is thou hast them in such a dresse as they were clad with in their first delivery and be they Read with as good Affection as they were Preached Heard and through the Spirits Assistance will not prove a dead Letter Farewell N. D. The Pastors Valediction BEING The Farewell Sermon of Mr. Matthew Meade late of Sepulchers LONDON 1 COR. 1.3 Grace be unto you and Peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ YOu will wonder possibly that I should pitch on the Apostles Salutation for my Valediction and make that the Conclusion of my Preaching which he made the Beginning of his Writing and therefore I have made a double Plea for it I find that this was a form of Blessing peculiar to this Apostle both in the beginning and end of this Epistle for as there is scarcely one Epistle but begins with it so many end with it like wise as in Eph. 6. ver ult The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit So in the 2d of the Thessalonians the last verse of the last Chapter The grace of our Lord Christ be with you all So that I finding the Apostle to use it frequently at the beginning and ending of his Writing I thought as I made it the matter of my prayer for you in the beginning so I might make it my farewell to you in the ending and therefore Grace be unto you and Peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ Besides this as Jacob said to his Benjamin concerning his venison when his Father asked him How he found it so quickly he Answered because the Lord thy God brought it to me The same I may say of this Scripture for Considering of what subject I should speak in my last Labours here among you this Scipture came to my thoughts and opening the Booke came immediately to my sight and therefore I may say God brought it to me Which I no sooner looked upon but methinks I saw the Apostle on Mount Gerisim and his mouth filled with blessing for what greater blessing can a man wish then that which comprehends all blessings and that is Grace and Peace Being therefore now to part I thought to go to the top of the Mount and leave with you Grace and Peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ In which words there are two generalls 1. A double Blessing desired 2. A double Spring discovered 1. A double Blessing desired and that is Grace and Peace Grace is of all Blessings the richest Peace is of all Comforts the sweetest both these the Apostle beggs for the Corinthians and so do I for You. Beloved Grace be unto you and Peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ 2. Here is a double fountain discovered and that is the Father and the Son God and Christ The Father is called the God of Grace the Son is called the Prince of Peace not that Grace is from the Father without Peace nor Peace from the Son without Grace but both Grace and Peace are from God the Father through the Lord Christ The Order of the words is worth noting Grace be to you and Peace First Grace then Peace for there can be no Peace without Grace nor Grace but there will be Peace but there can be no true Peace but from God nor from God but as he is a Father not from God as a Father but as our Father and he cannot be said to be our Father but through our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore he saith Grace be unto you and Peace from God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ both are manifest as a Golden Chain linked together not Grace without Peace nor Peace without Grace but both conjoyned together to cram the Believers Soul with Grace and Peace Now from the Order of the words we might raise severall Observations 1. That Peace is the fruit of Grace 2. That Grace and Peace are both from God 3. That Love which is the spring of Grace and Peace is from God as a Father 4. That we share not in this Love but only as he is our Father All is from propriety First Our Father then Grace and Peace from God our Father 5. That God is our Father only through Christ But before we draw any thing from the Text by way of Observation we will speak to the termes by way of Explication Grace be to you What is here meant by Grace This is a sweet word it perfumes the Breath it cherishes the Conscience it warms the Heart it ravishes the Soul as the Spouse was ravished with the rayes of Christs glory so Christ revives the Soul with one of his gracious rayes discovered to the Heart Grace is the life of the Soul thou art dead till Grace quickens thee thou art lost till Grace finds thee undone till Grace saves thee Grace is the Manna of Angels the spiritual Bread which those that are holy in being are nourished with and subsist by Angels live on Grace and stand by Grace Man that shares in the Grace of God is made fellow Communiors with Angels eats Angels food and share in Angels blessings Grace is the substance of the Scripture the end of the Law the fulnesse of the Gospel Gregory calls it the Heart and Soul of God I am sure Grace is the Heart and Soul of the Word it s a little word but if comprehends all good here is more then Homers Iliads in a Nut-shell it s the Epitome of all the good in Heaven and Earth name any word that signifies good to the Soul here or hereafter but if it is found in the Index in this little word Grace Grace comprehends Gods love to us and our love to God and as Gods love to us is the