and mercy of God that shines forth in the works of God Add to this the consideration of the great provocations wherewith he is provoked every day by them he hath done all these great things for how many oaths lies unclean and covetous cruel and abominable evils of all kindes are committed every day by them and yet the Lord is patient and kind for all that Oh be perswaded to mind his dayly compassions that are so clearly manifested that you may learn to love and trust in him and that you may be drawn to repentance remember that the long suffering bounty and goodness of God is extended for that very end therefore abuse it not Again if you would cast your eyes abroad and take notice of the works of God that he is doing dayly it would much help you in the understanding of his justice wisdom mercy al seeing eye over the world Beloved there be evident demonstrations of the Lords warchfull eye and care over the saints when they have been under oppression and have cried to God he hath seen their affliction and heard their cry and hath marvellously delivered them and hath brought down their oppressors when they have been too mighty for men to deal withal and hath given them such a reward of their tyranny sometimes that whosoever did but observe the judgement might wel know from whence the stroke came and for what cause it is not for want of the Lords manifesting of himself that he is no more known in the world but it is our want of taking notice of his works that makes us ignorant of him Next I pray you consider his word for there he hath more plainly revealed himself make therefore the Scriptures your constant study you have there very many descriptions and characters of God and of the Lord Jesus I pray you labour to understand them you have a very notable discription of God in Exod. 3.15 there he cals himself the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and tels us that this is his name and his memorial unto all generations note it I pray you well that you may know him by it But you will say it may be what is it to us that he is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob how shall we know him ever the better for this name Yes Beloved you may know the Lord much the better for this name if you consider this that Abraham Isaac and Jacob were true Beleevers it is as much as if he should tell you that he will be the God of all those that walk in the steps of these men so that whosoever beleeves and comes to God with uprightness of heart depending upon him for strength to walk in the steps of Abraham he will be the God of such a one and what is it to have God to be our God that you shall fee is a great blessing it is as much as if he should tell us that all the sufficiency that is in himself his power wisdom mercy truth and all his goodness it shall be exercised and put forth for our good Another Name that God ascribes to himself who best knows his own Name we find in Exod. 63. there the Lord tels Israel that although their fathers knew him not by his Name Jehovah yet they should know him by this Name that is as much as to say I am he that have my Being of my self and I give Being to all things else and I give a Being to my Word and that you shall see for I will make my promises good unto you you shall see the sulfilling of them Oh if this Name of God were known and beleeved in how would it advance godliness in the hearts and lives of men if men did beleeve that he would give a Being to his promisses how would they trust in him and likewise if they did beleeve that he would give Being to his threatenings they would learn to fear him and to give up themselves to holiness Likewise I pray you labour to know Christ and to mind the ends of his coming he hath the name of a Saviour labour to understand the meaning thereof whether he came to Save men from Hell only or to save them from sin likewise or whether he came to take away some sin or all sins and to bring every thought into the obedience of his will and whether he is not a Prince as well as a Saviour and wil reign in the consciences and rule and order the conversation of those that he will save I am not now so much a teaching you the knowledg of God as a endeavouring to perswade you to study the word of God and to make it your business to get the knowledge of God and of his Son Jesus Christ I have laid before your eyes in some measure the preciousness of this jewel I pray you labour to get it with all your gettings get knowledge and increase in it dayly for it is a pearl of great worth But it may be that some of you may say that if knowledg were so excellent a thing as I would make it wherefore then doth Solomon that had so much of it and knew it so well speak of it as he doth Eccles 1.18 For in much wisdom is much grief and he that increaseth knowledg increaseth sorrow The answering of this would take up too much time I shall therefore leave it to the after-noon Let us commend what hath been said to the blessing of the Almighty THE THIRD EXERCISE John 17.3 And this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent THese words have been opened already and in part appiled I will not stand to repeate but begin where I left You know I was come to answer an Objection that might seem to be grounded on the words of the Preacher Now I shall shew you how this Doctrine and that text are fairly reconciled together a man that knows God may easily procure to himself sorrow by his knowledg and yet knowledg is not a tittle the lesse worth for all that A person that knows God and walks up to his knowledg wisely and holily shall never want enemies that either with open force or by secret practises will work him sorrow enough as you may see in the case of David in the 1 of Samuel 18.14 15. And David behaved himself wisely in all his wayes and the Lord was with him And what does this procure to David will not Saul love him and honour him now no saith the text When Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely he was afraid of him and what then why then he must have Sauls elder daughter to ingage him to such a service as might cause him to fall by the hand of the Philistines and then he must have at last his younger daughter that she might be a snare unto him and when al this would not do then Saul becomes his open enemy
not unlawful such a reward may be received neither do I speak as if there were no lawfulness in any remove I know it is lawful when a mans work and not his wages is the cause thereof I shall say no more to this because I am not speaking to an Auditory of Preachers but I intreat you al to look to your hearts that you use your knowledg not for the advancing of your selves in the world but for the glory of God the good of your own souls and the good of the souls of others learn by it more to fear and to trust in the Lord dayly learn to delight in him by it and let it be a means of bringing you into a neerer communion with him every day and forget not to communicate your knowledge to others but be distilling of it dayly into their souls it is true ignorant ones should be asking their fathers and their elders and such as can teach them Deut. 32.7 but seeing they are commonly backward to their duty therefore every knowing person should be wisely and humbly forward to draw them to the knowledg of him Another duty you must be intreated to take special notice of is this if you professe to know God remember to live holily you are ingaged to it eminently therefore I yray you above all things let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel and let every one of you that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity 2 Tim 2.19 The Apostle Titus 1.16 speaks of a sort of men that professe to know God but in works they deny him being abominable saith he and well may he say so for it is abominable indeed to know God and to carry ones self as if they had never heard or known that there is a God I beseech you take heed that none of you be found among that abominable nūber but let your works manifest that you are such as doe indeed know the Lord it concerns every one of you to shine as lights in this present evil world you have no other way to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men at lest no way without this although you speak never so knowingly and holily that will not serve the turn actions speak lowder then words therefore I pray you let us study holiness without it we cannot see the Lord hereafter nor please him here without it we shall do no good in the world nor draw any ignorant ones to the knowledg of God or love of his truth but contrarily you will be a means to drive men from Christ and to cause them to abhor his truth without holiness you neither will nor can be of any better use in the world then to be stumbling blocks for blind men to tumble over into hell therefore let us cast away every work of darkness and put on the whole armor of light studying to be holy in all manner of conversation and bring forth those fruits of humility patience justice mercifulness love self-denial and the rest of the fruits of the spirit that the world may see that God is in you of a truth and that they may be able to say these men do indeed direct us into the path that leads to eternal life but if you walk contrary to holiness you will do no good but hurt with all your knowledg the better you talk the more mischief you will do the world will be apt to think there is no beleeving you whatever you say but the better you speak of God the more they will question whether there be a God or no for say they if these men did beleeve as they speak would they live as they do therefore if you would not be instruments to bring the world into stark Atheisme live holily if this follow not namely there turning Atheists yet that wil follow which is bad enough the world wil certainly conclude that you are hypocrites and that you have your bad ends in all your good words and so they will be brought to have an evil opinion of all your undertakings and so you will be in no capacity to do them any good therefore I pray you consider and beware of all those sins that will procure so much mischief especially beware of those sins the World is so apt to charge upon you it is a charge the World hath had against professors this thirty years and more in my knowledg that they are a proud people and none so covetous as they and that they be uncharitable and do no good in the World Now I pray you Brethren consider whether this be true or no if this be a slander then you may bear it the better but if your proud carriage covetous words or actions close-fistedness and the like have procured this report then I beseech you repent and let your attire be below your Rank rather than above it let your words and actions be free from Covetousness give not the World occasion any more to speak or to think so hardly of you abound more in doing good according unto your ability and let no more such complaints be heard by your means it were better a great deal that you were out of the World than that you should live in it to bring forth such fruit as will cause the Gospel to have an evill savour in the World There is one duty more that I would intreat you to mind if the knowledg of God and of Christ be of so great use then let us not forget to be thankful that he is pleased to afford us such a gracious means of knowledg as the Word of Truth is Oh consider of the greatness of his Mercy that the Lord should be pleased to write so many plain and gracious characters of his great and glorious Name and send it to us and that we should at least see so much of his back parts as may incourage and inable us to beleeve and that he should so preserve the Scriptures as he hath done although they have gone through so many foul hands and he hath very plainly manifested the ends of our Lord Jesus Christs coming into the World and thereby opened a door of Salvation unto us poor unworthy sinners this should cause us to exalt his Name and tell forth his praises and wonderful works with rejoycing that we may affect the hearts of others and cause them to love the Lord and to trust in him for ever Vse 5. I have but one Use more to make of this Point and that is a word to Men that know not God I must let you know that it is your duty to be thankful also and although you do not know the Father nor the Son yet that you might have known them and may yet possibly come to know them it is a great mercy and although you care not to know him yet it is his mercy nevertheless in affording you so gracious a means of knowledg I say although you neither do nor will know him yet is he merciful
Redemption as well as undertook it I say if Christ should have left the work in the midst as his poor Disciples through their ignorance would have had him there could never have been so great a mercy extended neither to them not to any others as the coming of the Holy Spirit and therefore our Lord tells them he must go or else the Comforter will not come now the reason wherefore the Spirit is said to be sent to do so many good Offices for the Saints is not to make us think that he is an inferior Messenger but to let us know that all that joy and comfort peace and sanctification and in a word all that Grace that is extended through the Divine operation of the Holy Spirit it all comes unto us through the blood-shedding of our Lord Jesus Christ and truly my Brethren if you do but consider the work of the Spirit in the hearts of Men me thinks it is enough to convince you or any knowing men in the world that he that doth it must needs be God If a man be but an experienced man and doth but mind the great blindness that is in the mind and the hardness that is in the heart and doth but consider how the soul is in slaved under the power of sin and Sathan living in the love and service of Wickedness being alienated from the life of God being far from the fear and love of him having no delight in his Commandements but being ungodly and graceless dead in trespasses and sins and then on the other hand considers what an Estate the soul must be brought unto before it can be fit for eternal communion with God If a person do but thus mind the greatness of the work the Spirit is to do in taking away the filth and pollution of the heart and cleansing the whole man from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and the renuing of the soul in knowledg and holiness and making it meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the Saints in light Now I say what man that hath Prayed and fasted and watched and used all the means he can and yet finds in what a frame his heart continueth how far from that purity and God-like-ness that one day he hopeth to enjoy but now which way could a man expect it if he that had undertaken the work were not infinite in Power Wisdom and Goodness for my part I look upon this work as the greatest of all those wonderful works that God hath done or hath promised to do and therefore it is not likely that the greatest of all works should be laid upon the shoulders of him that is less than God Again if you look Psalm 139. there you shall find that the Prophet ascribes both Omni-presence and the searching of the heart unto the Holy Spirit which plainly speaks out his being God and Rom. 9 1. you find Paul calling the Holy Ghost to bear witness of the truth of his heart sorrow for his Brethren the Israelites which plainly proves that he is God See two Texts for this 1 King 8.39 For thou even thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men the same words you have in 2 Chron. 6.30 in both which places you see it is the peculiar prerogative of the only true God to know the hearts of the sons of men and I think no man is or at least should be so weak as to think the Apostle would call him to bear witness of the truth of the heart that doth not understand and know the heart I shall name you but one Text more for this and that is Luke 1.35 And the Angel answered and said unto her the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Here you see that the Holy Spirit is called the highest and I think a title beyond this is not given any where nor cannot be given to the only true God but besides the Angel tells Mary that the Holy Ghost shall come upon her and by the power of him she should conceive and therefore this Son of hers should be called the Son of God Now therefore me thinks this should put the business beyond all dispute for if the Holy Spirit be the Father of our Lord Jesus sure he cannot be less than the only true God But it may be you will say unto me How shall all this that I have said be reconciled Can the Father be God and the Son be God and the Holy Spirit be God and yet there be but one only true God Beloved I pray you do not cast away an Opinion because it is old neither do I perswade you to receive it therefore but measure all Opinions both old and new by the measuring line of Truth the Word of God unto which I shall leave you for the tryal of this great mystery of godliness and shall commend two Texts more unto you for the reconciling of what hath been said the one is in 1 Tim. 3.16 Great is the mysterie of godliness God was manifest in the flesh Here me thinks the Apostle shews you how all this is reconcileable God was manifest in the flesh saith he not the Godhead of Christ without the Father and without the Spirit but God saith He was manifested in the flesh that is the God-head as it is written Iohn 10.30 I and my Father are one not only in communion as some may think but also in union and One-ness as it is plain Iohn 14 9 10 11. another Text you have in Col. 2.3 9. In whom speaking of Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg Mark it I pray you if all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg be hid in Christ then are you like to find none of them out of him but all the wisdom of the Father and of the Spirit it will be all found in Christ as it followeth here in verse 9. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the God head bodily I know not how you can have more express and plain words all the fulness of the Father and of the Spirit if that be the fulness of the God-head you see dwells in Christ that is it hath such a real union an One-ness with the humane nature of the Lord Jesus that in Act. 20.28 his Blood is there called the Blood of God I shall leave these Texts of Scriptures to your serious consideration and proceed no further at this time but leave the Application till the Afternoon THE FIFTH EXERCISE John 17.3 This is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent I Have in the morning from these words as you know opened the Doctrine of the God-head unto you a work which I have not been forward in nor should I have medled with it being a work of an high nature and requireth the
best abilities that these times do afford but only for these reasons I have now done it First I find some such motions flying abroad both in discourse and in print about this subject which in my judgement savours not well Secondly I do not find able men men of knowledg such as I would be glad to provoke to this work so forward to bring forth light as others to bring forth darkness and if they have it is more than I know Thirdly the matter I have spoken to fell in my way and I thought I might do well and it was my duty to bring forth my Mite in such a time as this wherein I find so many casting vails over the Name of Christ and of the Holy Spirit now therefore I do beseech you seriously to consider of that which hath been said unto you take heed of looking upon our Lord Jesus as a meer Creature lest your Faith fail you in the day of Temptation if the work of Redemption be but considered how great it is what a price must be laid down before this work could be done and that Law which in that condition in which man once stood would have been his life now he cannot expect nothing from it as the case standeth but only death but all the life and pardoning Grace that now cometh to poor man comes only through the Blood of the Lord Jesus now except a man know the worth and all-sufficiency of Christ that he is perfectly able to remove all the Curses which his sins have deserved and also able to procure him all the blessings his soul stands in need of it will be very hard if not altogether impossible to rest upon him in the day of tryal and so likewise when a man shall come to see what a great work it is to change the heart of man to subdue sin and to sanctifie the soul and when he shall see the barrenness of his heart in the graces and fruits of the Spirit of Christ also and withall considers what a degree of perfection all those are brought unto that inherit Eternal life and then minds that the Spirit of God is he that hath undertaken to carry on this hard and to man this impossible work If now he be not established in the knowledg and firm belief of this that the Holy Spirit that carries on this work is the only true God I say except a man beleeve and know this he can have little ground to hope or beleeve that ever it will come to perfection but wherefore should any men be so hardly brought to beleeve this me thinks it is for want of consideration the scriptures you know speaks of the Spirit of God in some places and in other places of the Spirit of Christ should we therefore be so weak as to think that the Father hath one Spirit Christ another but now if we must needs understand that the Spirit of God the Spirit of Christ is but one Spirit wherefore should we not as well believe that God the Spirit of God are all one likewise then Beloved if the Spirit of Christ and the Father be one and God and the Spirit of God one then wherefore should we think that the Godhead of Christ and of the Father are more than one but I shall press this no further but come now to make some Use of it Vse 1. And if it be so that there is one and but one only true God who is the fountain and perfection of all Power Wisdom Truth and goodness who alone made Heaven and Earth the seas and all the Hosts of Creatures that are contained in them and on whose meet grace and love depends the happiness and well-being of all things whatsoever whos 's all seeing eye beholds all the secrets of all hearts and whose Eternal invisible unchangeable Almighty and Omni-present Being fills the whole Creation but is not contained in it who is worthy of all honour service praise and worship from all Creatures for evermore I say if this be so then let this God be our God let us have no other but him alone to be our God I shall not trouble you nor my self with that foolish Generation of men that use to picture him up and to set him forth by such vain Images as their hands can make I hope you are past this absurd and foolish practice but I pray you beware that you set up no. Idols of him in your minds Oh do not suffer any thought or imagination of him to come or to rest within your hearts that is low or carnall take heed that you do not liken him to any thing that ever your eyes have seen but let your thoughts be of him acording unto that glorious discription that his own boly records give of him let high reverence and honour love and holy fear accompany every thought that comes into your minds of his most excellent and glorious Name be sure you chuse him for your chiefest good let him be your only Diadem and the Crown which your hearts have chosen for your chiefest treasure be sure that you do not esteem love nor honour any relation or thing whatsoever as you do this most High and only true God for if you do you commit Idolatry against him who is a jealous God and will not give his glory to another and therefore beware for whatsoever any man doth set up and in heart esteeme love or honour above God or equall with him sets up another God and shall be reckoned amongst Idolaters and such as have committed spiritual whoredom against him when Christ shall come to judg every man according to his works But I shall more particularly come to shew you something of the honour that is due to this only true God in setting some of those duties before you which in especial you owe to him First then give him this honour to yeeld up your hearts unto him to love him above all things whatsoever this use Moses makes of this point Deut. 6.45 hear O Israel saith he the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might Here you see what is due to God even love in the very height of it the whole heart soul might is all little enough for God no creature must come between the heart and God neither wife nor child nor pleasure nor profit for if there be any thing in the world that a man loves better than God or as well as he this is no less a sin than the setting up of another God therefore look to your hearts in these two special cases when the glory of God comes in competition either with a mans beloved relations or his beloved sins if he cannot cast them both away for the honour of his God he is unworthy of him see I pray you what our Lord Jesus saith to this point Luke 14.26 If any man come
these things neither do you follow the imaginations of your own hearts in these things but labour to get a distinct understanding in your own souls of whatsoever is to be beleeved for Doctrine or for whatsoever is to be practised in matters of worship for if you walk in darkness you will walk uncomfortably but if you walk in the light and knowledg of his will your walking wil both please him and bring much comfort and peace to your own Soul Vse 2. But I shall now speak one word to provoke those wretched man thet live without God in the world to consider of their condition and so conclude I beseech you my dear friends do not live still so estranged from the life of God neither do you go on to abuse his mercy and loving-kindness from day to day as you have done but let the goodness and long-suffering of the Lord lead you to Repentance you have heard what a God of Holiness power wisdom goodness and faithfulness he is yea what an eternal unchangeable invisible infinite Being he is you have heard something both of his Name and of his Works and much more is to be known and may be known of him in the Word of Truth and will you continue so unthankful and ungodly abusing this grace and love of God who hath manifested himself in his holy Word that you might come to the knowledg of him and so to salvation and do not you think it a most grievous sin to live as many of you do as void of the knowledg of him as those that never heard of his written Word it is a most unthankful abuse of his goodness O where would such men be glad to hide themselves at the great Day even under a Rock if they did know how to get under it and as for many of those that cannot chuse but know something of God how unanswerable to that little knowledg that they have do they walk neither loving nor fearing his great Name having no respect at all to his worship nor to any of his Commandements nor trusting in him at all no more than if he had never made them any promises Beloved how evident be these things notwithstanding all that God hath made known of himself unto men yet how little love have they for him and how little zeal for his glory loving pleasure profit yea sin it self better than God fearing the frowns of men more than the displeasure of him and trusting in the promises of their honest Neighbours yea in a little durty wealth or any vanity in the world rather than in the power and truth of God casting his worship and Commandements behind their backs as if they owed him no service now I pray you bethink your selves how you shall appear before the Lord at the great Day and how he will take it at your hands that you should live so prophane a life being alienated from the life of God and rooted and hardened in all wickedness as if you had never known nor heard of the Name of God Oh Repent in time and thankfully imbrace that means of grace which God in the riches of his mercy doth yet afford unto you and so much I shall commend to your consideration and to the blessing of the Almighty THE SIXTH EXERCISE John 17.3 And this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent I Shall now come to speak to this third and last general Head in this Text namely the Lords sending of Jesus Christ and for this end and purpose that I may proceed both with brevity and plainness I shall proceed in this order First I shall shew you the excellency of the person of Christ even as he is the Son Secondly I shall clear it unto you by the Scriptures how that Jesus Christ had a Being with the Father in glory before the world was and from thence was sent into the world to take upon him our Nature Thirdly I shall endeavour to set before you the ends of his coming into the world And now for the first of these I pray you take notice that the Scriptures in many places do exalt the Lord Jesus above all other Creatures whatsoever I shall name you some few of them look Hebrews 1. the whole Chapter but especially note two or three passages in the beginning he is there said to be appointed heir of all things and to be the brightness of his Fathers glory and to be made much better then the Angels which word made better must needs have respect to his Creature-nature also he is there said to be him by whom God did make all things and doth uphold them And in the Revelations 3.14 he is called the beginning of the Creation of God and in Col. 1.15 16 17. he is called the first-born of every Creature all things are said to be created by him and for him and he to be before them that by him they all consist So that from these and other like Texts I gather that God did first create the Spirit of Christ filled him with his own glory and then by him brought forth the whole creation I say that Spirit of Christ which afterward took flesh of the Virgin Mary and so became true man was the first and the choicest piece of all the workman-ship of God for you must know that Christ had a created Spirit that was set up and brought forth and brought up with the Lord and was by him before any of his other works had a Being Prov. 8.22 to the 30. and this is he that the Lord possessed in the beginning of his way and is the same that talked with Abraham and that Abraham made intercession to for Sodom Gen. 18. and that brought the children of Israel through the wilderness and is the same that God commandeth them to obey Exod. 23.20 21 22 23. But this I shall say no more to now but come to the second particular and that is to shew you that the Lord Christ was sent from the bosom of the Father into the world for us you will see this plain in many places I wil name you some of them John 3 13. No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man The words are very plain the son of man you see came down from heaven and in the 31. ver He that cometh down from heaven is above all he that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth he that cometh from heaven is above all I pray you mark it Christ is here opposed to all other men in this that they are from the earth but he is from heaven yea as he is the son of man he is from heaven but if he had received his first beginning in the womb of the Virgin as well in respect of his spirit as in respect of his body he could no more have been said to have been sent
from heaven but must have been as truly of the earth as he is man as all other men be but it is very plain that the man-hood of Christ is from heaven as you may see also 1 Cor. 15.47 The second man is the Lord from heaven the owrds be so plain that I need not urge them look also John 6.38 For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me Note it I pray you as he is God he doth his own will but he came down from heaven and yet not to do his own will therefore he speaks here as man it is clear and so in the 62 verses What and if ye shall see the son of man ascend up where he was before How evident is this that the son of man was in heaven before and was sent from thence into the world and Iohn 16.28 Christ saith I came forth from the Father and am come into the world again I leave the world and go to the Father and in this same Iohn 17.5 how earnestly doth our Lord pray the Father to let him enjoy that same glory that he had with him before the world was Now it is very clear this he did not now enjoy at this time that glory that he had enjoyed before the world was and this is now earnestly expected and prayed for as you see a case incedent to the man-hood of Christ but it is that which can never befall the God-head for there is nothing more obsurd and senseless than for a man to think that the God-head can ever be deprived of the full enjoyment of it self now that he took upon him our nature is plain Heb. 2.16 and many other places might be aledged to prove this if need were But I shall now come to the third particular to shew you the ends of our Lords coming into the world and the first end of his coming is to teach us the will of his Father and to manifest his great love to the sons of men according to that promise Deut. 18.15 18 19. and Acts 3.22 and 7.37 Iohn 3.16 17. and 12 16. to the end Secondly he came to be the true High-Priest of which all the other were types and to offer up himself for sinners and to bear all there infirmities according as that whole epistle to the Hebrews witnesseth and many other places also might be aledged to prove it if it were needful Thirdly Christ came to reign over all men yea to reign in the consciences of men and hath power of judging and condemning all those that be found disobedient unto him Psalm 2.8 to the end Luke 19 14 27. Romans 14.9 and 15.12 Iohn 5.22 23 27 29 30. But I shall take a little time more particularly to open some of these things unto you and to shew you what a sweet advantage we have by the coming of the Lord Jesus First he came to redeem us from the curse of the Law and hath born the curse for us and by this means will deliver all the sons of Adam from the misery that the first sin brought upon them yea and from the curses of the Law in general even from the paws of death it self and from all the miseries that procure it so that the ungodliest of men shall rise again from the dead and thus farr he is the Saviour of all men what ever he doth more for them and if they perish eternally it is for sinning against the Gospel either for neglecting their own salvation or for turning the grace of God into wantonness or for some such-like evills as these be Now I beseech you consider by what means Christ is thus a Saviour to you Beloved it is by bearing the Curse for you and undergoing those miseries that are due to you for your offences by his poverty you are rich by his stripes we are healed by his sorrows we have joy and by his death we have life He was made sin for us though in himself he knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him although in our selves we are unrighteous also Jesus Christ hath by his Blood and sufferings for the sons of men purchased a just authority and dominion over them all so that if they refuse to come unto him and when light comes chuse darkness rather and when he calls them to Repent and beleeve the Gospel and sayes look to me and be ye saved all ye the ends of the earth if then I say they shall refuse to come unto him for life yet shall they never be able to refuse to come before his Judgement-seat to receive the just reward of that disobedience but on the other hand the Lord Jesus came to be a Saviour to all those that come unto him yea that when he calls refuse not to hear but are willing to suffer the reproofs of wisdom to enter into their souls yea he will save all these with an everlasting salvation Beloved he came to bring salvation to such in all the parts of it First he justifieth such from all that from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses yea he hath power to forgive sins and he will justifie them freely through the work of Redemption But further I pray you observe the Lord Jesus will give Repentance to and graciously melt and soften the hearts of poor sinners if they do but hearken to his voice it is the very end of his coming to give Repentance as well as Remission of sins and he will work your hearts to Repentance if you do not oppose the work of his grace and continue to do it yea although you have hearts never so hard he will soften them himself by his own Spirit if you do not harden your own beares but wait at wisdoms gate then shall you see how graciously he will manifest himself at last indeed if so be that a soul were to work Repentance in his own heart or must see that it is wrought there before he might either go for mercy or had a ground to expect it that were enough to break the heart indeed and to discourage a man for ever hoping after mercy but the case is far otherwise for Christ came to work Repentance and to seek and save that which was lost and therefore although a person be never so hard-hearted and unbelieving and although he be never so dead if he have never a spark of life in him if he will but hearken to the voice of Christ Christ will give him life again another work that Christ came to do is to subdue sin and although it be never so strong he will subdue it it can never be too strong for him when a poor soul looks about him and sees a multitude of strong corruptions within him and then looks again and sees another multitude of strong temptations and snares without him round about and withall discerns the weakness of his own heart and sees how
easily he is tempted finding his own heart alwayes ready to betray him into the Tempters hands this is indeed enough to work amazing thoughts and to drive a person to utter despair if it were not for that ground of hope we have in Jesus Christ but here is a strong ground of considence in this that Christ hath undertaken to save men from sin and to subdue it and that he hath provided weapons to pull down Sathans strongest holds and to bring under every lust though never so strong and high so that there shall not be an imagination or a thought but Christ can and will conquer and bring into subjection by the power of his Spirit yea his business into the world was to purge the Conscience from dead works and to cleanse and purifie the soul from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and to purge us from our very Idols Now therefore consider how great the goodness of God is to put this work into the hands of Christ alass if it had been left in our hands it would never have been done but he hath undertaken it himself and therefore it will prosper Again another end of our Lord Jesus his coming into the world is to comunicate the graces of his Spirit to all that come to him for them John 1.16 and Luke 11.13 How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him saith the Text here you see upon what terms you may obtain the Holy Spirit it is but going to Christ to ask it he hath promised it and he cannot deny it for he is truth it self and cannot deny himself it is impossible Again Jesus Christ came to bring life and immortality to light through the Gospel 1 Tim. 1.10 Mark it I pray you his coming hath brought life and immortality that is as much as to say he hath brought an immortal crown of life and glory yea may some poor soul say it is a good portion indeed if a man knew which way to come to inherit it but alass I do not know which way I can come by this blessed inheritance that is answered in the next words he hath brought it to light through the Gospel that is as much as if he should say he came also to bring a Gospel that should bring light with it unto the understandings and souls of men Beloved it is not promised to men whether they attend to the Gospel or no therefore deceive not your own hearts but if you do attend on the Gospel and take its direction it will bring that light into thy soul that will bring thee to see how to come to enjoy this blessed inheritance there be many precious promises of the like nature in the Scriptures look Prov. 2.6 first verses and do but consider them there is a plain promise that if you use the same diligence in praying and seeking for this spiritual riches as men use to do for temporal Riches you shall be sure to find it and the ground of this is because that out of the mouth of the Lord cometh knowledg and understanding it is not therefore because a man makes diligent search and so deserveth it no nor yet because it lyeth either in his diligence or the Ordinances unavoidably but because the grace and love of God is such that he sent Jesus Christ for that very end that whosoever would be but perswaded to wait upon him in the use of the means appointed by him for that end and purpose should not miss of that grace and sweet advantage to his poor soul another end of his coming is to tread down Sathan under our feet so that although he be full of subtilty and craft and strength and makes use of all the means and instruments he can yet shall he never be too hard for that soul that comes to Christ for Refuge no although the poor soul be laden with ignorance lust hardness of heart and unbelief too and never so many sinful and soul-destroying diseases if he do but come to Christ in good earnest and desire him to deliver him he wil certainly do it nay if when Christ knocks at the door of a sinners heart to bid him stand up from the dead and he will deliver him out of the paw of the Devil if then I say you shut not Christ out of door and bid him depart from thee and tell him thou desirest not the knowledg of his wayes I say again if thou deal not thus with him it is the proper work for which Christ came to seek out lost sinners and to save them and therefore he will not be wanting to do it again he came to be a fellow-feeler of our infirmities that he might know what it is to suffer adversity and to be tempted to the end he might be a merciful High Priest and might minister that help comfort and strength which would be needful upon all occasion therefore you may be sure that whatever your souls distress is whether it be sin sorrow temptation or of what kind soever there is help for you in Christ if you do not neglect it or refuse it but you must know also that Christ came to command sinners to Repent and Beleeve and obey him and if you shall for the love of pleasure or profit wilfully refuse the offers of his Grace you must know he came with Authority to execute judgement in all such cases and thus much for this present THE SEVENTH EXERCISE John 17.3 This is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent YOu know that in the morning I came to speak to this third general head of Doctrine in the Text namely the sending of Jesus Christ and I have shewed you who sent him and from whence he came and what he was sent to do all that I shall now add to that I have said already is only this that as the Father hath sent him to take upon him these three great Offices King Priest and Prophet so he hath furnished him with power and ability to do all the work that doth belong unto these Offices therefore you need not fear to cast your burthen upon the Lord for God hath laid help upon one that is mighty Psalm 89.19 Isai 63.1 one strong enough to break down the power of all your enemies sin lust snare temptation or whatever else lies in the way of your peace he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him Heb. 7 25. Now the reason of this wherefore it was necessary for Christ to be sent of the Father for the doing of this great work is this such is the helplesness of poor fallen man he is so dead in Trespasses and sins and in so miserable and lost a condition that nothing but the free Grace of God in Christ can possibly help him for he in himself is so utterly unworthy of any mercy that there is no other way to
bring him into acceptation with God but only through the worthiness of the Lord Jesus Again there is that weakness in poor man that he is no way able to help himself he can neither repent beleeve nor obey no nor get any Grace into his own heart nor mortifie any Corruption nor of himself find out the way by which any of all these great works should be done but for ought that he can do for himself he is in a necessity of perishing for ever there is no help for him but only in Jesus Christ and if the Lord had not in the riches of his free Grace provided such a Mediator as was able to save to the uttermost sinful man had never been recovered and therefore the Father sent him that was fully able both to justifie and to sanctifie to open the blind eyes and to purge the Conscience and in a word to lay the first and the last stone in the building of Salvation and if God would any way shew his love to poor lost fallen man then must he take this course for there was no other way to do it let us now come to make some use of this Point And in the first place let it serve to provoke the very worst and wickedest of sinners to come to Christ for help and deliverance Beloved you have heard what a Saviour he is therefore I beseech you do not stand to dispute your own badness but how bad soever you be cast your selves upon him for help and to that end that this work may be done throughly and as it ought to be done labour in the first place to know the worst of your own hearts there is many a poor Soul that is afraid to think the worst of himself for fear he should see so much badness as should take off his hopes and discourage him for going to Christ for mercy But I pray you learn to be wiser than so search your hearts to the very bottom and how bad soever that thou findest it yet be sure that thou dost not fail to go to Christ for a cure although thou hast been never so bad worse than Manasseh or any wretch that ever thou readest of or ever heardest of if thou findest thy self upon due search to be the veriest Hypocrite or the veriest enemy to God and godliness that is in the whole world yet let it not keep thee from going to Christ but make so much the more hast by how much thou findest thy self the more wicked and although thy sins be never so great and never so many there is no sin but he can pardon yea and he will pardon it if thou come unto him I say again there is no sin nor sinners if they come to Christ but he will surely be gracious unto them He that comes to me will I in no wise cast out saith the Lord John 6.37 therefore go unto him and be assured he will receive you whatever your Souls diseases be sear not to go unto him with them for he cures all that come unto him see what woful diseases Christ was sent to cure Luke 4.18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised Now I pray you let us a little consider of this text he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel and what is the Gospel why the Gospel is free mercy through the blood of Christ pardon regeneration and salvation yea all the happness that comes to a soul by Jesus Christ this is the Gospel and this Christ was anointed to preach and therefore doing it by the spirit it must needs be truth that he preacheth other men may preach lies but so doth not the fountain of truth you may be sure But who is all this mercy to be preached to saith Christ it is to be preached to the poor and who is poor a man is not accounted poor if he have either land or goods or mony and so it is in spiritual things also one altogether destitude of whatsoever might commend him to God one that hath no purity neither in heart nor life no faith no love no knowledg no mortification nor renewing of mind no delight in God nor his word nor having the light of his countenance shining upon the soul now one that hath none of all this spiritual riches he is poor but he that is inriched with any of these spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ is not poor now I hope you see who Christ was anointed with the spirit to teach the Gospel to but see what follows in the next words to heal the broken hearted saith he and who is that why one that hides his head for debt and owes more then he is worth this man we account a broken man So likewise when a man is through the sight of his undone condition afraid of Arrests and executions from God dayly and knows not where to hide his head being in fear and anguish of spirit Christ was sent you see to heal this spiritually broken estate In the next place he came to preach deliverance to the captives and this is a worse degree of evil when a man is the divils prisoner taken and kept in his snare this is a very sad condition indeed when a man can do nothing but as the devil his keeper will give him leave how can his condition be worse except he were in hell and yet if such a man will but hearken to the word of Christ he shall be sure to be delivered yea but my case is worse then all this may some poor soul say for I am not only the divels prisoner but I have given my self up so to his will and suffered him so to blind mine understanding that now if Christ should come and throw open the prison doors yet shall I never find my way out Yea saith Christ in the next words but I came to open the blind eyes also and although the divell have put them quite out yet suffer me to put but some spitle and clay upon them and I will recover them again take but my direction turn at my reproof at left do not despise it and set it at nought and then be sure I will poure out my spirit and that will fully cure thee Yea but the soul may further object and say I have waited on the Ordinances and endeavoured to get out of the snare of the divel and he hath fetcht me back and beaten me sore when I have but asseyed to get from him so that I see the more I strive the worse I am bruised and therefore there is no hope for me yes saith Christ I came to set at liberty such bruised ones and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord as it follows in the next words and although thou hast waited
say receive us graciously for the Lord is full of compassion and will hear the cry of misery in an Ishmael Gen. 21.17 and if he will hear it for cold water he would hear it as well and as willingly for better things if he did but cry as earnestly for them In the fourth place attend on the ordinances of Christ for there his walk is and there he will come to seek for lost ones as well as to visit his people and there thou wilt have an opportunity one time or other to lay hold on the skirt of his garment therefore wait on him and know for thy comfort that never any did so and perished no no they shall never be ashamed that wait far him And in the fifth place whensoever thou meetest with any motion from the spirit of God make much of it and close with all the advices it shall whisper into thine ears take heed of slighting or neglecting any of the sweet breathings of it but give it entertainment and what word soever comes home to thine heart consider of it seriously yea although it may be a reproving or a wounding word let it not be neglected for Christ comes both to wound and to heal and therefore what word or motion soever comes from his spirit home to thy conscience entertain it thankfully and walk according to the direction it gives thee humbly And in the last place be sure to be alwayes watching over thy heart and especially against those lusts that are most apt to carry thee away from God and be sure to be found fighting alwayes against them and although thou be not strong enough to overcome them yet do not give over fighting against them but watch and pray hear and read and apply the promises and the threatnings of the word to thy own soul dayly as thou findest there is need either to comfort or to rebuke thy conscience and be assured that although thou be too weak for sin and Sathan yet Christ is strong enough and he will take thy part against them and will come in at last with sanctifying grace and purge thy conscience from dead works to serve the living God Vse 2. A second use that is to be made of this point is this if so be that Christ came to be such a Saviour as to save from the guilt of sin and from the Power of sin to sanctify the soul and to deliver from Sathan and to bear up a soul under troubles and to deliver out of them also then let all beleevers learn to live upon Christ for all these things at all times Beloved in the use of other means forget not to exercise faith in the blood of Christ when you go to read hear or pray look to Christ by faith who hath appointed these as means to make you partakers of his own image and what ever your souls stand in need of whether purdoning or purging mercy or what grace counsel comfort help or deliverance soever you see a ground to aske in prayer labour also to live upon the free grace of God in Christ for and be assured that Christ came for that very end that thou mightest obtain through him a rich supply of all thy wants and if you sin as who lives and sins not make it your first and greatest work to basten to the blood of sprinkling and rest by faith upon the Lord Jesus for a pardon and besure to let a renewed act af faith lead thee to repentance I do not say but it is a duty to repent and to get godly sorrow and shame and holy resolutions to wait on Christ for strength to walk better but if you would do these duties in sincerity and with acceptation let faith be the first of them and if the divel should so far prevail with any of you at any time as to draw you into the snare of fin so far as that you should question your sincerity or if you should see just cause so to do yet be sure you do not cast away your confidence but if the divel or your own consciences do lay more to your charge this way then you do well know how to answer yet be sure at least that as ungodly lost sinners you cast your selves upon the free grace of God in the blood of Jesus Christ Vse 3. Thirdly and lastly here is a word for such as have heard the glad tidings of salvation sounding in your eares but unto this very day have not submitted unto the Lord Jesus and are as farr from having made your calling and election sure as if the Gospel had never sounded in your eares nay I fear you know as little of God and of Christ and of the ends of his coming as those that have had no such means to know him at all but if you do know him yet if you have not given up your selves unto him neither yet are washed nor sanctified but do still remain in your naturall filth and as farr from regeneration as ever your condition is far worse then those that never heard of the name of God except you repent and amend in time Now therefore I beseech you once more before it be too late do not post off your return to God nor refuse to lay hold upon those sweet offers of grace that have been made unto you so often Oh consider when you come to die how little pleasure you will have in remembring all the vain pleasures for which you neglected your own salvation or what profit you will have at that day in all those profits that have stollen your hearts from Jesus Christ Oh consider how it will wound your hearts to think that you were often told what a Saviour Christ would be unto you if so be that you would but come unto him and how often you were invited and intreated in his name to come unto him the sweet promises that are made in the Gospel laid before you but you unkindly and unthankfully refused them and chose rather the vain pleasures and profits of the world and of sin then the justifying and sanctifying grace of Christ Oh when a soul shall remember what promises of pardon and grace of help against sin and deliverance out of the snares of the devil he might and should have had if he had come to Christ and he lovingly intreated to accept of those offers but hath neglected and refused them till it is too late how must this needs wound his soul Oh that this that I now say would prevail with any of you yet to come to Christ that you may have life but if it will not remember at the great day that you had a sufficient warning and this much I shall leave to your consideration and to the blessing of God THE EIGHTH EXERCISE John 17.3 And this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God I shall now come to speak a word to that which I had thought wholly to have omitted by reason I spake to
eternal life and hinder you from walking in the path that leades unto it and so deprive you of it as unavoidably as sin it self can do it and as you are to avoid these evils on the one hand so on the other it will be meet to wait on the Lord Jesus for the sweet tastes of his love the which when you have once experience of you wil by that earnest penny know something of the riches worth of eternal life now for that end I beseech you wait attentively for the Lord in the use of al his Ordinances for there he wil be found in them in the assemblies of his people you may expect to find him because it is his walk but take notice I pray you that a negligent formal overtly use of them I do not call for but be sure you make it your business to look for him and to injoy communion with him and to tast and see as David saith Psalm 348. how good the Lord is if you look for him with that intention and desire as the Church did Cant. 5.8 you will be sure to find him he will not long hide himself from such a soul but among all other duties I could wish that you would watch to meet with him alone and there open your hearts to him freely and tell him the very worst you know by your selves and that with an intent and an indeavour to shame and humble your selves before him and be you assured that he will exalt you in due time let him know what you would have and be sure to follow him dayly consider what counsel he gives you himself Mat. 7 7 8 9 10 11. Luke 11. from the 5. to 14. the 18. the 8 first verses and if you follow this counsel you may be sure that the Lord will graciously open his heart unto you at last and give you such a taste of the water of life that will set your souls a longing for your fill thereof and that wil make you both do and suffer for Christ with much chearfulness and willingness Vse 2. The second use is this if it be so that there is so rich a portion attainable as eternal life then be sure to take a speedy course for the getting a clear assurance of your own interest in that happy injoyment do not trifle your time away any longer but set upon the work without delay and to that end that you may make sure work observe the counsel of the Apostle Peter in his second Epistle 1.5 to the 12 you shall find two things minded by Peter in this text in order to the getting of a full assurance The first of these is to lay the foundation of Christianity in true beleeving that is clear in these words Add to your faith vertue implying that faith must needs be there for it is impossible to ad vertue to it else Now therefore in the first place although you be never so impenitent and wicked yet rest upon the grace of God in Christ yea if you think also that you have attained some vertue patience or love or other fruits of the Spirit yet do not as Saints but as sinnets rest upon the blood of Christ remember I pray you that neither works done nor grace received is to be rested on for Justification but we are justified in and through beleeving and resting upon the blood of Christ who freely justifieth men as they are sinners ungodly ones and therefore note it well neither their repentance nor love but faith is imputed for righteousness look Rom. 4. And by faith are we become the sons of God Galat. 3.26 I do not say but there are some promises made to the saints as they are saints such as are in Psal 34.10.17 19 many other like there be and with these the godly may comfort themselves and none but those that are saints can claim an interest in them yet notwithstanding that translating act as I may so call it in and through which a man is made of a child of wrath a child of light I say again that thing or means that maketh him a Son of God that was none before is this act of beleeving and resting on the blood of Christ as a man considereth himself a sinner and ungodly without the least degree of worth in himself and as a beleever resteth on the blood of Christ for justification so likewise he expecteth from the free grace of God in and through the same blood sanctification glory outward things and in a word all things appertaining to life and godlyness for true faith desireth and resteth upon the Lord for the accomplishment of all the promises that he hath made as well as for any of them The second means that Peter directs us to use for the getting assurance of eternal life is to add to our faith vertue knowledg temperance patience godliness brotherly kindness and charity under which heads are concluded all the graces and fruits of the Spirit of Christ these saith he you must add to your faith these you must abound in and as it is in the 3 chap. and last verse grow in and then if you grow in grace and persevere in well-doing and abound therein more and more you shall saith he never fall but have an abundant enterance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour ver 10 11. As if he should say by this means you shall be able to keep and injoy a clear and constant assurance of eternall life and this is to be done by giving dilligence ver 10. I pray you observe it my brethren dilligence must be used it is not a lazy formal profession and an overly careless performance of duties that will either give or keep assurance of salvation a man must be ready to open to the spirit when he knocketh and to hearken to his motions and take heed of rebelling against him and labour to avoid all those unworthy courses that tend to grieve and to quench the spirit and if you thus do you may be assured the spirit will not fail to do his office but he will give unto and maintain in the soul assurance of eternal life and that will be a most sweet injoyment the man that hath it may want friends riches health and outward contentments but he cannot want comfort joy and peace his soul shall be full of consolation however the world goes with him or against him and he shall be able in the worst of times to say that both life and death shall be to him advantage Vse 3. And in the last place this may serve to reprove the folly of all those that spend all their time and strength in the pursuit of the things of this present life with the neglect of the life that is eternal and therefore well might Solomon term wicked men fools for indeed their courses are madness and folly and indeed there is no folly to be compared to this of running after the trifles and empty