thing that ever was Never did any creature so stoop to another as God stoops to sinners He comes and knocks at their door before ever they knock at his 2 Cor. 5. 12. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself Mark the World was not reconciling it self to God nor God to it self but God reconciling the World to himself God's love is always the first love 'T is the Fountain and the Cause of our love to him 1 John 4. 19. We loved him because he first loved us 'T is true that the Lord is sought unto for mercy by them to whom he intends to shew it but 't is the Lord that stirs up their hearts to do it He sets them a crying and then they cry They come to Christ but 't is the Father that draws them There could be no desires or breathings in us after God if they were not begotten of his Spirit Alas our corrupt nature wont afford one good desire till God give it It will go further from God but it wont come nearer to him of it self And therefore the mercy of God towards poor souls is a very wonderful thing not only in that it is so large but in that it is so early It is up before the soul is up Isa 65. 1. I am sought of them that asked not for me I am found of them that sought me not I said Behold me behold me unto a nation that was not called by my name Oh how much are we beholding to Christ for coming to us first 4. If the Son shall make you free If he shall Observe this next That 't is much to be feared whether some that have the Offers of Grace will ever close with them Here you see they had an Offer of Freedom but Christ puts a doubtful word upon it as to their acceptance If he shall c. As if he should say It may be some of you will hear of this and yet never partake in it but live and die in the bondage that you are in In this very Chapter where Christ is offering this Freedom he tells some of them in ver 21. that they would die in their sins Now beloved oh what a joyful thing would it be if you would all accept of this Freedom and close with this Grace that is offered to you Why truly it would be such a joyful thing if but one amongst you should accept of it that it would be enough to set all Heaven a rejoycing Luke 15. 7. 10. And why should I not hope but that it may be thus with some or other of you yea perhaps with many of you The Lord grant that there may not be one amongst you that shall turn his back upon Christ Whoever that man or woman shall be wo be to them And yet now 't is much to be feared that Christ will be rejected by some to whom he hath been offered The Apostle Paul tells the Corinthians that he was with them in weakness and in fear and in much trembling 1 Cor. 2. 3. Why what made Paul fear and tremble so that while he was a preaching he was as 't were all of a trembling What was it because he was afraid to preach No but he was afraid what his preaching would come to in respect of some of them whether ever it would profit them whether ever it would prevail with them Now give me leave to acquaint you a little what things as to some persons may be grounds of fear whether ever they will close with Christ's gracious offer of Freedom 1. In that there be so few in comparison in all Ages of the World that have done it Beloved Christ's flock will be but little when he hath gathered all his sheep Heaven would hold a thousand times more than ever will come there No doubt but there be some that seem now as if they had closed with Christ and yet will be found at last not to have done it They have mistaken their whole work and their hearts have deceived them from the beginning to the end A right closing with Christ is a very exact thing 'T is not every one can hit on it Mat. 7. 14. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to life and few there be that find it And therefore may it not be feared that this present Generation yea and this present Assembly may have some amongst them that will never close with Gospel Offers 2. The little good news that there is up and down where the Gospel comes of the conversion of souls People flock to Meetings but who believes our report or to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed Sinners abiding in an unconverted condition is a great ground of fear what will become of their souls If you have not yet closed with Christ as unregenerate persons have not we cannot but fear you may lose him If a man be in a very dangerous sickness is there not cause to fear he will die So if a man be still out of Christ why certainly this is something to question whether ever he will be in him Acts 8. 22. Peter puts it as a doubtful case whether ever Simon Magus would be pardoned his sins because he was still in an unrepenting condition 3. When men do set light by Christ and the Offers of Grace There 's great hopes of those souls that tho they have not closed with Christ yet they begin to have good thoughts of him and his mercy and love and salvation is somewhat commended if they acknowledg yea truly this is the rich goodness of God that ever such Offers should be made to me I confess I do look upon Christ and the Freedom that he holds forth to poor sinners as an excellent thing God forbid that I should say to the contrary I know the pardon of sin and the love of God are great Priviledges happy is that soul that hath them and I would I might be one of them Ay why this is something Methinks 't is a kind of Language that would give one some hope concerning such a soul as the young man in the Gospel when he did approve and commend of what Christ said in Mark 12. 32 33. Well master thou hast said the truth c. is answered by Christ v. 34. Thou art not far from the kingdom of God But now when a man shall look upon all that Christ offers to him as nothing and set himself to despise and disgrace his invitations as if Christ had done him no kindness in sending all his messages of love to him and let Christ go where he will and his salvation go where it will for his part he does not care for them This is a great ground of fear that such a person will never close with the Offers of Grace See Mat. 22. 3. Those who in the Parable were called to the Marriage-Supper it 's said first they would not come then ver 4. being invited again ver 5. they fell a slighting of
merry Oh! this sets their hearts a bleeding Now take some Scriptures where you shall see that this Freedom is good for this excellent use and purpose see Psal 119. 158. also ver 136. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy law Obj. But you 'l say this is the Old Testament Ans What tho it be the Freedom was in force then and David was a partaker of it But would you have something out of the New Testament for it see then Phil. 3. 18. Rom. 9. 1 2 c. where you find that Paul who was in this Freedom had tears in his eyes and heart-breaking grief within him for those that went Christless And beloved this Freedom will teach Ministers that have it to pity their Christless Hearers and Parents that have it to pity their Christless Children and Masters that have it to pity their Christless Servants c. And is not this an excellent use now I dare say you can't be in this Freedom any of you but your bowels and compassion will work in some measure insad be moaning the wretched condition of persons in a state of Nature 2. It is good to make us understand the Gospel This Freedom sets up a light to shew us what that is Friends this word Gospel is a Mysterious word and carries such things in at as no natural man can receive or percieve 1 Cor. 2. 14. Now oh what an excellent thing would it be to understand those things which all the wisdom of the men of this World who understand abundance upon other accounts is not able to tell what to make of Why now come into this Freedom and the mind and the Mysteries of God will be unfolded to you you will be brought out of darkness into the marvellous light Christ and the Covenant of Grace will be revealed to you you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free vers 32. of this 8th of John As Luther said when he was brought to the knowledg of Christ and of justification by faith that the whole Scripture seemed to be a new thing to him he saw that in it which he never saw before so 't will be with you What 's the reason that persons are so ignorant of heavenly things as they are of the new Birth of the Life of Faith of Communion with Christ but because they are not brought into this Freedom Certainly this would make the Bible another manner of thing to many of you than ever 't was yet Oh the insight that those get into the Wisdom and Grace of God who are brought into this liberty of that they had before Now they can speak of Salvation by the Son of God and the things which belong to it like knowing men this Freedom hath opened the eyes of their understanding Beloved what Sampson said to the Philistines when he had propounded a riddle to them the meaning of which they were not able to pick out but by the help of his Wife Judg. 14. 18. If saith he ye had not plowed with my heifer ye had not found out my riddle the same I may say of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God you 'l never discern them if you don't make use of Christs Freedom for they are like the Book Rev. 5. which was sealed with seven seals and none was able to open it or to look thereon with any understanding till Christ had opened the Seals thereof In Eph. 1. 7. the Apostle-speaks that they had gotten this Freedom by Christ and then in vers 9. he brings in this Having made known to us the Mystery of his will then they came to know it 3. Another excellent use of this Freedom is this It is good to endear Christ to the Soul Alas what is Christ to those who remain in the Bondage of sin What beauty do they see in him What breathings have they after him You were even as good tell them of a chip as tell them of Christ for any regard they have to him there 's nothing that is of less account or esteem with them than he is He is called there in Isa 49. 7. one whom man despiseth and whom the nation i. e. of the Jews did abhor What two greater words for undervaluing of Christ can you meet with than to despise him and abhor him But now the having of this Freedom oh 't will make Christ a precious Christ to the Soul 1 Pet. 2. 7. they can't but prize him who have been redeemed by him when they consider what he hath done for them that he came down from Heaven for them and became poor for their sakes and that he was mocked and scourged and spit upon for them and upon the Cross for them and bear the Wrath and Curse of God for them Oh how doth this make them to be highly in love with him and to wish that they had a thousand times more love for him then they have And certainly you that believe in Christ this is one great means to raise up your love to him when you do find or fear that your Affection to him begins to be chilled to set your selves to meditate upon the Freedom that he hath given you and how abundantly he hath shewed his dear Love to you in dying for you and in washing of you in his own Blood ply your hearts a while as hard as you can with deep and serious thought about this I am perswaded 't will prove a love-kindling and a love inflaming consideration to you you will find that you have affections and dear affections for Christ again 4. It is good to make all ones life comfortable As the being without this Freedom is the way to make all ones life miserable so the having of it and the knowing that one hath it laies in matter of daily consolation Let whatever will befall a man this will be always at hand to cheer him there is no cordial to the heart like it when a man can look upon his troubles and say Notwithstanding 't is thus and thus with me yet blessed be God he hath had mercy on me I belong to Christ and what can hurt me You would not much fear living comfortably if you had but two things in your comfort 1. That it were so strong that nothing could overcome it And 2. That it should be so lasting that it would never have an end Why now such comfort this Freedom brings Heb. 6. 18. and 2 Thess 2. 1. in the one place 't is called strong Consolation and in the other everlasting Consolation And therefore away with that vile reproach which some are apt to cast upon the condition of Gods people that 't is a melancholy life as if persons must never look to be merry more in this World after they are once turned Godly the Devil hath always something or other to blind and befool sinners and to make them think that their condition is the merry condition and the Saints condition the mopish
is so useful that the greatest in Grace can't say they have no need of him 1 Cor. 12. 21. and mark what 't is said of Onesinus Phil. vers 10. Whom I have begotten in my bonds that is Christ hath now given him his Freedom by using me as an instrument for his conversion Well what then Why vers 11. Which in time past was to thee unprofitable but now profitable to thee and to me Now he becomes a profitable man 7. It is good again to knit our hearts in love to all the people of God Oh! how dear will the Saints be to us when we see that we are delivered from the power of darkness and that God hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son When we can say to them Now blessed be the Lord I am one of you I am a partaker of your Grace and have obtained like precious Faith with you that Blood which hath washed you hath washed me that righteousness of Christ which covers your unrighteousness covers mine also For if one finds it so one may to the Glory of God tell them so as Paul did to the Galatians chap. 2. 20. That Christ had loved him and given himself for him This now will so joyn our affections to the Saints at least it will be the way to it that our Souls will as it were cleave to their Souls 't will not only joyn hand to hand but Soul to Soul That 's a notable place Acts 4. 32. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul c. When once they were got into this Freedom together which is included in the word believed Oh what a love here was to one another This is an uniting Freedom not only to Christ as you have heard but to all his members 8. It good is to strengthen our Faith in the greatest straits For by this Freedom a Child of God may reason thus Why he that brought me out of that dreadful misery of my sinful condition that did so great a work as that and gave me so great a deliverance as that can bring me out of this I cannot come into such a woful condition again as that was let befall me what will for affliction or trouble 't is not like my spiritual Bondage that I was in while out of Christ and yet through infinite mercy I am freed from it and did God remember me there and shall he not remember me here David when he prays for deliverance out of his present distresses thinks of this that God hath redeemed him so you may fetch a mighty support from your redemption by Christ for your weak Faith when great Tryals are upon you what do you think that God will let you perish in them and he hath redeemed you why which is more to deliver thee out of the hand of the Devil and out of the hand of Gods Justice and from the Wrath to come or to deliver thee out of some light Afflictions in this World 9. It is good to make you rich Oh! how do many desire to be rich Now this is the way to make you 1. Really rich not to seem to be rich and yet be poor as some do but rich indeed So rich that you shall have treasures In the house of the rightousness is much treasure 't is because he hath this Freedom indeed this Freedom is his treasure as 't is said Prov. 13. 8. The ransom of a mans life are his riches 't is true here 2. Inwarldly rich rich towards God in Grace and things of a spiritual nature Obj. But I would fain have something if please God of this World too Ans Why this Freedom is the way to that too Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is 1 Tim. 4. 8. Obj. But they who have this Freedoms are generally the poorer sort 1 Cor. 1. 27. Not many mighty not many noble are called Ans 1. They are not all so then as you see there 2. God doth that for them tho they be poor which is equivalent to great riches even in this World For 1. He supplies them many times by special Providence God stirs up the hearts of others to do them good There were poor Saints at Jerusalem that had not of their own but the Lord provided for them by putting it into the hearts of others that were able to make a Collection for them Rom. 15. 26. So Paul tho he had not of his own yet the Philippians sent once and again to his necessity cap. 4. 16. and that supplied him so in his present wants that he looked upon himself as a rich man vers 18. 2. What is wanting in abundance God makes up in contentment vers 11 12. of that chap. and this is equivalent to a great Estate nay there be many that have great Estates and yet are not contented Now pray who is the rich man he that hath but a little and yet is contented or he that hath a great deal and yet is discontented 3. God gives his blessing with that little they have and the blessing of the Lord maketh rich Prov. 10. 22. 't is not so much what a man hath as what God blesses to him A great Estate without that will prove cankered and wormeaten and with that less by far will do the business 3. This Freedom is good to make you eternally rich there be many that are very rich in this World and yet will be miserably poor in the World to come because they never had this Freedom by Christ Indeed people use to say when a man hath a great Estate that he is made yea but for how long 't is but at most for this life If he be not in Christ there 's that a coming that will unmake him again but he that is so is made for ever Prov. 8. 21. That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance and I will fill their treasures Substance and Treasures there 's their riches yea but then saith he I 'll cause them to inherit it too i. e. I will make them for ever 10. This Freedom is of excellent use to keep Christians humble it greatly becomes the people of God to have low thoughts of themselves of all Christians the humble Christian is the most lovely Christian If I see a man tho I hope and believe he hath grace yet if he be not humble methinks he is not half so beautiful in his walking Whatever good thing one hath in him besides yet to have the heart to be lifted up 't is even like the dropping of a great blot of Ink upon fair writing How fair would the story of good Hezekiahs Life and Reign have been of whom you read so many excellent things all along the 2 Chron. cap. 29. and 30. and 31. and 32. had it not been for that one great blot which you meet with in vers 25. of chap. 32. Beloved the Grace of Humility is the Glory of ones Graces
Service blessed be his Name but should you not do him more You bring forth some fruit but should you not bring forth more 'T is not enough for you to be gracious but you should be zealous Christ as I may so speak hoped you would when he gave you this Freedom see Tit. 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works 3. That so many are gone to Hell for refusing this excellent Freedom Oh what a sad thing 't is to think how many Souls have perished for want of closing with Christ 'T is true they had other sins but whatever other sins they had they would have been forgiven if they had not neglected this great Salvation that made them that they could not escape As the receiving of this Freedom by Faith hath been the Salvation of many so the refusing of it by unbelief hath been the Damnation of more tho poor wretches they are not here to be told of it because they are now gone to their own place Oh! the price that they had once in their hands but now they have lost it for ever and it may be some of these might be your Friends and Relations the Wives of your own bosoms and the Children of your own bodies Well if they were they are perished without hope there 's no fetching them back again you may perhaps mourn to think what is become of them but now they are past recovery your prayers can do them no good and your tears can do them no good and now you must labour to rest satisfied with this that the Will of the Lord is done and that he is glorified tho it be in their eternal destruction 4. That so many sinners tho they are yet on Earth will shortly be in Hell too for the same sin For alas how many be there of those who are yet alive that are making light of Christ and of this excellent Freedom and many of them will go on to do so to their dying day and so come to the same pass to which the unrepenting sinners before them have brought themselves The generations of Christ refusers is not all gone they that were in the ages that are past are swept and snatch away but there are others that stand up in their room there 's a succession of these ungodly hard-hearted sinners that tho we offer Christ and Salvation to them and beseech them as for our lives to be reconciled to God yet they go on and 't is to be feared will go on in the broad way that leadeth to Destruction 'T was a sad word that Christ spake to them in Joh. 5. 40. Ye will not come to me that ye might have life Mark he doth not say you do not come but he delivers it in a kind of hopeless expression you will not come As if he should say I see some of you are of that temper that as you are you will be you are in your sins and you will be in your sins let them that hear me mark it concerning you if you do not dye out of me I pray God it be not so with some of you that are here Really Sirs 't is matter of mourning to see how some of you trifle in the things of your Souls would it not grieve ones heart to think that some of you that have attended upon all this that hath been preached upon this Text should yet look after a Christ no more than you do I am this day to finish this work and I am afraid of divers of you that this Text will leave you as dead as it found you Well the Lord be witness between you and me whether I have not set Life and Death before you and whether if you perish it be for want of being sufficiently told of the misery of your Bondage of sin or of the excellency of the Freedom by Christ Beloved 't will be a sad thing when such a Text as this is done to leave any of you undone Vse 4. Of Examination You have heard much of this excellent Freedom put this question home to your selves every one of you Am I got out of prison yet How shall I know that you 'l say Ans Take it in three things 1. If a man be got out of Prison he hath made his peace with those that cast him in suppose it be for debt that one hath been laid up and you see him afterwards out of prison and you ask him why you were a prisoner how got you out Why saies he I have compounded with my Creditors I have made my peace or I have got an able surety to be bound for me So Sirs have you made your peace with God for your great debt of sin Have you got Jesus Christ to stand bound for you Why then you are no longer Prisoners but if you have not peace with God through Christ you are in Prison still for the condition of your Souls see Zech. 9. 11. As for thee also by the blood of thy covenant I have set forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water God sends forth none out of Prison but by the Blood of that Conant which Christ hath made with God on the behalf of the Prisoner that he will pay the debt for him 2. Another sign that a man is got out of Prison is That he bears a great love to him that freed him If one comes and sees him lye there in a sad condition and hath compassion upon him Well saith he I 'll procure your Freedom for you I 'll undertake it he will have a great respect for that person to be sure when he hath done it Oh! saith he if it had not been for this Friend I had perished I have reason to make much of him Sirs if you don't prize Christ you are in Prison still you have not his Freedom if he hath not your best Love Col. 1. 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son Mark how those words his dear Son are brought in with the mention of this Freedom and I look upon them as to be understood not only in reference to his Father but also those who are freed by him As if he should say Dear to his Father and dear to us too 3. If a man be got out of Prison or Bondage he is afraid to go thither again he thinks what a sad condition he had when he was there and he desires he may not come there again so do you fear and watch lest any sin bring you into Bondage again Is there no lust that you would be any longer a servant to Do you dread the thoughts of holding secret correspodence with any false way Why then you are made free You may say as 't is in Psal 124. 7. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler the
it or as in the Greek they set it all at nought and ver 6. they dealt with his Servants as if he that had sent them had been their Enemy Why see ver 7. what becomes of these persons they were destroyed and their City burnt and compare with it Luke 14. 24. for 't is all to the same purpose they were not to taste of the supper 4. Another ground of fear that some will never close with Christ is when they turn back again from that forwardness to good things which they began to put forth They seemed to have a love and a zeal and a desire towards Christ But it may be they are now grown dead and cold and careless They had fine and hopeful buds a while ago One might see how they were convinced and stirred Oh what hope was there that such a one would prove a Convert and a Saint But it may be all is gone and worn off Their goodness was but like a morning cloud and as the early dew it passed away Hosea 6. 4. 'T is thus beloved with many that make a Profession They promise fair at the first and for a while but then there comes something and turns off such a one and then there comes another thing and turns off such a one and Christ and they are parted for ever And therefore I beseech you as you love your soâ—â— take heed of growing loose and vain 〈◊〉 lukewarm after you have begun to have set out for God Oh! consider what a serious thing Religion is and if you begin to own it why stand to it charge your hearts against back-sliding 'T is a great sin to fall off from good beginnings and exceeding dangerous to the soul see 2 Pet. 2. 20 21. If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledg of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousnes than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them 5. Another ground of fear of this is when persons are grown old and are ready to go out of the World and yet have not closed with Christ that they have let it alone all their life hitherto and now their life is even spent by course of nature I would discourage none tho they be stricken in years from looking out for Christ I know God is not bound to any time He saves whom he will and calls when he will But oh you that have put off closing with Christ till old age why why did you not minde it sooner I ask you Is this the fittest time for such a work or the likeliest time for such a work Do you think there is not some reason to fear lest you should die Christless as you have lived thus far without him I dare not say that your condition is hopeless but I will say that the condition of young ones is more hopeful Christ hath said They that seek me early shall find me Prov. 8. 17. I am certain 't is the great design of the devil to do what he can to hinder persons from being good while they are young because he hopes that then they won't be good when they are old 5. If the Son shall make you free Shall make you observe one thing more from this kind of Expression viz. That upon whomsoever Christ bestows this Freedom he takes in the consent and will of that person in the doing of it Tho at the first there is an unwillingness in the Soul and Christ hath a cross piece to deal with and there 's somewhat to do to get its consent as there is sometimes in a person to whom a man goes with a desire to take her for his wife she is hard to be won yet at last the free and the full consent comes So that when Christ hath put the question Soul shall I make thee free and hath pressed it home with plentiful and powerful Arguments as he knows how to do it the Soul is brought to make this answer Thou shalt make me free much like to that Gen. 24. 57 58. where Rebekah being askt Whether she would go with Abrahams servant answers I will go The match between Christ and the Soul 't is not a forced business altogether not but that he puts forth an holy violence in the work else he would never obtain his suit he compells them to come in but it is such a compulsion that carries such love with it as that the Soul neither can nor will finally stand out against him but it casts it self at last into his arms and bosom and 't is glad 't is there Cant. 2. 3. And unless Christ should take in the will of the Soul the Soul and Christ could never live comfortably together and that 's the great design of Christ that the Soul should live comfortably with him that it should have a husband that she can rejoice in Yea the soul is made so willing that it would have Christ upon any terms If Christ should to try the truth and the constancy of her love make as if he would not have her and seem to cast her off oh the thoughts of this would wound her and grieve her so as that she cannot but faint under it nothing will satisfie her but his person and presence Cant. 1. 2 3 4. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for thy love is better than wine Draw me we will run after thee We will be glad and rejoice in thee we will remember thy love more than wine You see how sweetly the Soul comes off to him she resolves to run after him and resolves to love him and resolves to rejoice in him Hence then you may know when there is like to be a match betwixt Christ and your Souls How do your wills come off to the business Are your affections turning towards him and prizing of him That 's a sign that Christ hath laid some good hold upon you if he holds you by the heart God hath undertaken that Christ shall have the free consent of those whom he is to make his own Psal 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Isa 55. 5. Nations that knew thee not shall run unto thee It is therefore this willingness that we pray that God would work in you and when that is once wrought let all the devils in hell keep you from Christ if they can The second thing proposed to be inquired into upon this second Branch of the Point is Where Christ offers this freedom And I answer Where ever the Gospel comes You that live under the Gospel and the preaching of the Gospel you live under a Dispensation where Soul-freedom is to be gotten You shall find that when the preaching of the Gospel is spoken of it is set forth as a
such good things for you and now to have none of them Why hath he not deserved better at your hands then this Was there no love nor no mercy to your souls in what Christ hath done for poor sinners Nay did you ever hear of the like love or the like mercy Is it not beyond all comparison and beyond all expression Did you ever hear of a Saviour that delivered from so great danger Did you ever hear of a Surety that undertook to pay such great Debts Did you ever hear of a Physician that healed such great Diseases What and shall this be all the thanks he shall have now to be rejected If God will take it ill at your hands to pass by those mercies that are but for the comfort of your bodies without thankfulness how much more will he be displeased with you for passing by the offers of those mercies that are for the salvation of your Souls Why Sirs you that refuse Christ where is your sense of God's goodness where is that acknowledgement that he should have from you Hath he done you no courtesie in sending his Son Is the very hopes and possibility of being recovered out of your lost condition a thing not to be at all affected with If a man doth but offer you his help in your need you 'll thank him and you 'll shew that you are taken with his kindness by accepting of it and you 'll tell him how much you are beholding to him and that you shall own him for your Friend as long as you live Why where is your thankfulness to Christ then why don't you own him for your Friend Obj. Why you 'll say perhaps We are thankful to Christ for his kindness to poor sinners Ans What and not close with him how can that be 't is the closing with him that is the thankfulness to him If you do not this you may say you are thankful but who will believe it shew it by your acceptance Col. 1. 1 2. Giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light They give thanks but see vers 14. they had closed with it We have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins 3. You are guilty of Willfulness It may be you 'll put it upon your weakness that you don't close with Christ and I grant indeed that you are without strength and that you must have a power beyond your own to inable you Joh. 6. 44. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and if ever you come to him it must be by grace from above But yet I pray consider that it is such a weakness as is joined with wilfulness Joh. 5. 40. Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life The great thing that hinders your closing with Christ is your will is against it I am certain that if you were but willing you would do it only you must know what a willingness I mean Such a willingness as is spoken of in Psal 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Oh if the power of Christ were but once come upon your wills to turn them and bring them in you would run to him with strong and swift desires If sinners were not willful in refusing of Christ do you think that God would ever charge them with willfulness How oft would I have gathered you c. and ye would not saith our Saviour of the Jews Matth. 23. 37. A wicked man carries it so to Christ as that 't is plain he is unwilling to have him He laies it upon his weakness and he thinks thereby to come off the better I cannot repent saith he and 't is true God saith so too and I cannot please God and God saith so too Rom. 8. 8. and yet this shall not excuse him for there is a will not with his cannot If he were only weak and desirous to come and did not oppose and resist the motions and strivings of the Spirit and the calls of Grace 't were something if he were faithfull in the use of that natural Power that he hath though indeed he wants a spiritual Power 't were something But alas he doth not like Christs terms and Christs yoke his will is against them 4. You are guilty of the love of sin not only of sinning but of loving of sin By your not closing with Christ you declare that you have some beloved Lust or other which you cannot indure to part with and that takes up those affections and that delight which should be set upon Christ Sirs tho I cannot see nor search your hearts yet thus much I know of that which is within you that you who stand out against Christ have something in the Throne that should not be there There is as sure as can be some darling-reigning sin if there were not Christ and you would quickly make up a Match Obj. But how can you tell this since you don't know our hearts Answ Why we know it because God hath told us so in his Word that 't is by reason of some unmortified sin that people don't close with Christ they have bosom'd up some dear corruption or other I ground it upon that Scripture in Gal. 5. 24. They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Mark if this be a sign that persons are come to Christ That the flesh with the affections and lusts are crucified in them then the reason why they don't come to Christ is because there are uncrucified affections and lusts in them they have some Idol in their hearts to which they bow down and worship And therefore let me allude to that Scripture Act. 3. 14. where Peter is dealing with the Jews about their standing out against Christ But ye denied the holy One and the Just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you Beloved every unmortified reigning lust is a murderer a murderer of your souls and now what 's the reason that you don't own and close with this holy and just One the Lord Jesus Christ Why 't is because you desire that this murderer should be granted unto you As the People there in Matth. 8. 32. with 34. that they might keep their Swine they besought Christ that he would depart out of their coasts So you would keep your swinish Lusts 5. You will be guilty of Pride Oh in what pride of heart do you walk that reject the Grace of GOD You have high thoughts of your selves certainly you take your selves to be what you are not as Christ saith to them of Laodicea Rev. 3. 17. Thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Pray give me leave to be free with you Why Sirs you that stand out against those Calls of Grace why are you so proud
Soul what art thou that thou lookest so coy upon Jesus Christ I would fain have thee understand thy self a little Why I pray thee consider what Portion is Jesus Christ like to have with thee if he should have thee What canst bring to him Canst thou bring any thing to him but a broken ruin'd undone condition 'T is true thou hast a deal of thine own but what is it A deal of sin a deal of misery a deal of deformity a deal of poverty If these things will make thee rich thou hast enough of them but as for any thing else thou hast it not nothing at all to render thee desirable or lovely in Christs eyes and yet doth he offer love to thee and woo thee as heartily as if thou wert some great and excellent person and hadst riches and beauty and worthiness tho alas if ever he have thee he must clothe thee from top to toe And yet wilt thou refuse him why I marvel at thy Pride You know 't is counted an odious thing by the common Proverb that goes among us to be Poor and Proud so sinner what art so Proud and yet art so Poor The Lord in mercy shew thee what thou art 6. You will be guilty of Cruelty to your selves I might stand upon that of Cruelty to us the Ministers of Christ who take all this pains with you as though God did beseech you by us to pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled unto God Beloved if we should spend our strength and spirits as we do in earnest intreaties of you to close with Christ and you should not be perswaded would you not shew in this a great deal of hardness of heart against Christ's Embassadors in suffering them to weary and wear out themselves in pleading with you to repent and believe the Gospel and all in vain I tell you the account of this will lie heavy upon you another day that you should let our Strength and Spirit and Labours run to waste You must needs think that the pains that the Ministers of Christ take with you in this kind of work are very spending to their outward man their Strength is not the strength of Stones nor their Flesh of Brass therefore there should be some pity towards them and you should not by your delays and backwardness to imbrace their Message put a kind of necessity upon them even to lay out themselves beyond their strength But now to come nearer to you What Cruelty do you shew to your selves by not closing with Christ Saith Wisdom that is Christ himself Prov. 8. 36. He that sinneth against me sinneth against his own soul The great hurt of all is that which you do your selves by refusing of Christ you are with your own hands making weapons of Death to destroy your selves If you would study which way in all the World to do your selves the greatest mischief 't is in this to neglect this great Salvation I tell you In this you take the shortest cutt that can be to manifest that you have no greater enemy than your selves And this is the reason why the Lord will condemn at the last day every Christ-refusing sinner for self destruction Oh Sirs you are not in a right sense self-lovers till you are Christ-receivers 'T is true you have a carnal self love but that 's but a love to sin 't is not a love to the soul and therefore 't is not the right self-love which teacheth one to look after ones own everlasting Salvation next to the Glory of GOD. 7. You 'll be guilty of undervaluing the highest mercies Consider you are offered as precious things as God himself can give to his Creatures what can he give more than Himself and his Son and Spirit his everlasting Love and everlasting Life his Pardon his Promises Why you 'll be found despisers of all these if you don't come to Christ And what is it nothing in your account to be a Child of God to have all your sins blotted out to be justified and sanctified and saved Is it nothing to be delivered from the curse of God and the wrath to come Methinks you should be dealing with your own thoughts a little thus Why what shall I let these great things go a great God and a great Saviour and a great Reward Certainly Friends if you undervalue these things 't is because you overvalue other things you overvalue your sins and you overvalue the world and you overvalue your own righteousness If you could but count these loss you would count Christ to be gain Phil. 3. 7. 8. You 'll be guilty of Hypocrisie What! do you come hither and seem to be a people that would close with Christs offers of Grace and yet when all comes to all you will not do it What Hypocrisie what double dealing is this You put us in hope by your attendance upon the Means that you will give up your selves to Christ and upon this account we are glad to see every one of you here hoping that you will be willing to list your selves into the number of Christ's true Disciples and now what won't you be sincere Shall your faces be towards him and your hearts against him Will you not be as you seem Pray be down-right with us give in your Souls to what you are about This is no place to dissemble with God and with his Ordinances and therefore as in 1 Pet. 2. 1 2. Laying aside all guile and hypocrisies As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby 9. You 'll be guilty of Vnbelief You that close not with Christ you believe him not We tell you he came into the world to save sinners we tell you that there is mercy and pardon and life for you if you come unto him but you believe not our report if you close not with him you believe not the Scripture you believe not the Gospel See 1 Joh. 5. 9. This is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son Shall God testifie these things concerning Christ which we preach to you and shall he not be believed Will you make God a liar vers 10. 10. You 'll be guilty of Foolishness What not to accept of an offer that is so much for your good Is there any wisdom in this Do you use to do thus about the things of the World Come eat of my bread Forsake the foolish Prov. 9. 5 6. Observe here we shall be among the fools till we close with Christ 11. You 'll be guilty of Presumption You talk of your hope to be saved what and not close with Christ Why 't is high presumption in you a tempting a daring of God 12. You 'll be guilty of Vnprofitableness Why till you close with Christ what good do you do This is that which must enter you into a holy fruitful life without this you have not laid the foundation of any spiritual walking Glorifying of God begins here hence it
hath friends must shew himself friendly Quest Oh! How shall I do that to Christ Ans I will but only name three things 〈◊〉 you know peâ—â—onâ— use to do towards their greatest and best Friends I would commend them to you in reference to that great Friend of yours Jesus Christ 1. Shew your selves friendly to him thus Commend him to others This is an ordinary thing amongst us to speak of one that we are much beholding to by way of singular commendation so as if we can to bring every one that we speak to in love with him So now commend this Friend of yours wherever you come Tho Christ doth not need your Commendation yet you don't know what a great deal of use he may make of it for the bringing in of such as are strangers to him The Spouse is much at this work in the Book of Canticles 2. If you have a special Friend you 'll do all that you can to please him I dare not displease such a one he is my great Friend you 'll say So carry your selves pleasingly to Christ now do what he would have you and you 'll please him Let not Christ be for any thing and you be against it nor he be against any thing and you be for it It would be a sad thing if Christ should be displeased by Enemies and Friends too his Enemies they carry themselves untowardly and crossly to him but oh don't you that are his Friends do so too this best Friend hath deserved your best carriage towards him Joh. 15. 13 14. 3. If you have a great and special Friend you won't leave him you 'll think you shall never have such another as indeed true Friends are very scarce Thus let it be with you in respect of Christ Oh don't leave him be not like those Disciples who went back and walked no more with him Joh. 6. 66. I may apply that in Prov. 27. 10. Thy own friend and thy fathers friend forsake not Why Christ is a Friend to thee and he was a Friend to thy father forsake him not If thou turnest a backslider from Christ there will be two great Evils in it among others 1. To be sure thou wilt never meet with such a Friend again 2. Thou goest the way to make this great Friend thy great Enemy Vse 3. Doth Freedom come by Christ Then they and they only who are in Christ are safe 'T is the having of this Freedom and that is by being in him that puts Souls out of danger and all that are without it are in harms-way they stand where the Storm will fall There is an excellent place to illustrate this Exod. 9. 18. Behold to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now You see what a Storm was a coming here Well now read verse 19. and that will tell you who would be saved from it and who would be destroyed by it Send therefore now and gather thy cattel and all that thou hast in the field for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field and shall not be brought home the hail shall come down upon them and they shall die And accordingly it came to pass ver 20 21-23 24 25. That which I allude to here is this That whoever shall not be brought home when this grievous hail and thunder and fire of Gods wrath comes he dies for it And now when is a Soul brought home Why when it is brought to Christ Be brought to what you will you are not brought home till you are in him And if you shall be found in him at the last day this will be your Priviledge you shall see others drowned but you will be in the Ark. See it at large in Psal 91. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. CHAP. V. Wherein the Fifth Branch of the Doctrine is handled namely That this Freedom which Christ offers is an excellent Freedom and in particular concerning its excellent Names THe last but not the least Branch of the Point which I now come to is That this Freedom which Christ offers to Sinners and gives to Believers is an excellent Freedom according to Christ's words here in the Text If the Son shall make you free ye shall be free INDEED As if he should have said If I make you free it shall be a Freedom to purpose a Freedom with a Witness you your selves if you have it shall say 't is so shall find it so Beloved there 's not a Soul made free by Christ but is ready as it were to set its Hand and Seal to this That 't is an excellent Freedom that the Lord Jesus bestows upon such as believe in him and to say to Christ upon this account as Laban did to Jacob in another case I have found by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake Gen. 30. 27. I will presently proceed to the opening of the Excellency of it only I would tell you two things by way of Preface to it 1. There is more in this Freedom than I am able to make known to you I shall endeavour to do something towards it and the Lord help me in it but you must not expect that I should set it forth as it is I confess mine own inability to handle this Subject as it deserves If you had some others to speak to you about it they would lead you further into it than I can but whoever should speak to you about it no Tongue of Man is able to unfold it in such a manner as to say Now I have told you all and there is no more in this Freedom than you have heard of it Beloved this Freedom by Christ is one of the deep things of God we cannot fathom it 't is so deep we cannot reach it 't is so high we cannot measure it 't is so broad and so large If we could but see it as it is it would be with us as it was with the Queen of Sheba of whom you read that when she came and saw the Glory of Solomon she was so ravished with it that there was no more spirit in her 1 Kings 10. 4 5. And tho she confessed that the report that she had heard of it before was true yet she saw that in it when she beheld it that the half was not told her ver 6 7. And therefore if it were no more but this that I should say about this Freedom by Christ That it is such a kind of thing that all the Ministers of the Gospel in the World are not sufficient to set it forth Why you might conclude even from thence Then certainly 't is a very excellent Freedom For Oh what abundance doth the Lord help his Ministers to declare about Christ and heavenly things And yet that not one not any not all of them with all their Gifts with all their Graces with all their Study
hath appeared c. The Greek word signifies a keeping safe oh what an excellent thing is that to be kept safe that come what can or will come never such dreadful storms never such blackness and darkness and tempest yet to be safe Safety is so highly accounted of that every body looks after it for the outward man to be safe from poverty and safe from infection and safe from falling and safe from fire and water c. They take a World of care to be safe if they are afraid of Thieves oh how they will watch and if they do but suspect that any danger is near them how circumspect they 'l be to prevent it and all because they desire to be safe and if that people would but look about them thus and be careful in the matters of their Souls oh how well would it be but here generally people fear no dangers no tho we cry Fire Fire to sinners and tell them there is a deep Pit of Damnation before them and they 'l certainly fall into it if they don't take heed yet here they are insensible only here where there is the greatest danger they fear the least and tho they will thank any body from their hearts that will forewarn them of outward dangers and count them their great friends and tell them Well if had not been for you at such a time I might have been drowned or have broke my neck and have been killed outright I might have been lost if I had had a hundred lives yet they don't care to hear of their inward and eternal dangers and the more they are told of them the more some dislike those that warn them the ready way to get some mens hatred is to shew the greatest love to them what greater love can there be expressed to a sinner by any man than to give him a friendly warning that he do not lose his Soul by living in sin and yet for this some will become enemies Joh. 7. 7. Again Another excellent name by which this Freedom is called is Rest Mat. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you Rest that is I will set you Free Now what a precious thing is Rest this is such a precious thing that Heaven it self is compared to it Heb. 4. 9. To have no Rest you know what a sad condition this is Rev. 14. 11. Oh what would a man give for Rest that cannot sleep or that is quite tired how refreshing and comfortable is it if he can get but a little of it how thankfully will some speak when they have been without it a great while oh they will say Blessed be God they have got some Rest what a Mercy is this yea so 't is indeed you that can go to your Beds at Night and find Rest there don't forget to be thankful when you awake 't is a great mercy Yea but then what a great mercy is this Freedom by Christ what an excellent thing is that which is Rest indeed Oh! take heed don't forget this Resting place Jer. 50. 6. I remember 't was the Speech of Naomi to Ruth when she was propounding a good match to her Ruth 3. 1. My daughter should I not seek Rest for thee that it may be well with thee And then she directs her how to order her matters that she might get Boaz her Kinsman to be her Husband v. 2. She was a poor Woman and brought to great wants and so was fain to go a gleaning which was next to going a beging but her Mother in Law made no doubt that if she could but get such a rich and good Husband as Boaz was that would be a condition of Rest for her and then she would do well So that when she propounded such a one as Boaz to Match with there were many arguments included in it to stir her up to look out to get him One was that her was a good man he would be a gracious Husband for her she would not cast her self away by being Married to him but she would be well bestowed For this Boaz was a man that feared God his whole carriage in the business after wards declares it Another Argument was this That he was rich too for so he was he had a great Estate as you may see in this story he was so rich that besides a great deal he had already he was able to purchase more cap. 4. 9. so that if she had him she would have a purchasing Husband he was so rich And then a third Argument that she uses was this That he was one that was near of kin to her for in the case that Ruth was now in the next Kinsman had right to Marry her And then add this to all that she tells her that she was now in a restless condition 't was so with her that she had great need of such an Husband as this was and if she could but get him oh there would be Rest then she would be well she need take no further care for her I have briefly opened this story thus because it is of such excellent use to the thing which I have in hand Oh poor sinners I may apply all this to you concerning your matching with Christ If you would have a good Husband for your Souls one that is holy and full of grace why this is he If you would have one that hath a great Estate why this is he If you marry with Christ you 'l have a purchasing Husband of him Never was there such a purchaser as this is this is one that hath purchased Heaven it self for believers And then he is your near Kinsman he is become a kin to us by taking our nature unto him he hath a Body now in Heaven that is of kin to mankind And then for your parts you are in a restless condition so full of Misery so full of Poverty so full of Iniquity that there is no true Rest to be gotten where you are but if you do but match with this Husband Christ you will have Rest it will be well with you his Freedom is Rest that same excellent thing Rest Yea 't is a glorious Rest as 't is called Isa 11. 10. Oh! call upon your Souls now and say My Soul should I not seek Rest for thee that it may be well with thee Oh that you could be restless till you have got this Rest you are so in the truth of your condition but oh that you could be so in your spirits and in your desires and in your endeavours and take encouragement to be so from what you find here recorded concerning Ruth You see when she set upon the work of getting this Boaz for her Husband how she prospered she went and lay at his feet vers 7 8. of cap. 3. and then vers 9. she prayed him to pread his Skirt over her i. e. to become an Husband to her and see how this wrought and how the
excellent in his Names and excellent in his Natures and excellent in his Offices his Life his Death his Satisfaction Righteousness Intercession are excellent Beauty Grace are in him to perfection he is so excellent that God and all Saints do set their best love upon him that all the Riches Hope and Happiness of believers are laid up in him So excellent that he is the chiefest among ten thousand the Pearl of great price in comparison of whom all things are counted but loss and dung But my purpose is not here to treat of the excellency of Christ at large for that would fill up a Volume of it self there being no Subject of Divinity of a vaster extent than this is But I shall confine my thoughts to the considering of the excellency of his person a little as it relates to this Freedom which we have in hand He must needs be an excellent person in that he performed this Freedom according to these twelve following things 1. In that he did it with so much power Psal 93. 1. The Lord is cloathed with strength wherewith he hath girded himself The Lord Jesus Christ bewrayed no weakness in his work from the beginning of it to the end Our help was laid as God saith in the Scripture upon one that is mighty he had such an heavy burthen upon him as was enough to have broken the back of a thousand Worlds but he stood under it he could as it were swim in the whole Sea of his Fathers Wrath one drop of which no meer man could bear without sinking What an excellent person must this needs be that could grapple with the Divine Indignation with red hot Justice with all the Curse of the Law with the Powers of darkness and not be daunted Never was there a work so full of difficulty as this was and yet Christ had enough to carry him through it he met with many Enemies but he overcame every one of them Oh the strength that he put forth in the work of our redemption all the Devils in Hell were resolved and combined if it had been possible to have worsted him and to have spoiled the whole design of our Salvation that it should never have come to any thing and there was not any thing wanting that they could do to hinder it but this Lion of the Tribe of Judah was too strong for the roaring Lion and all his confederates he wrought out our Freedom notwithstanding opposition on all hands And from this consideration let me mind you That good things must be set about and carried on with courage for so you see Christ did what he had to do difficulty did not discourage him And as this did speak the excellency of Christ in his work so it speaks the excellency of a Christian in his work that 's a brave Christian that won't be discouraged that whatever he meets with in the way of Service aad Duty his heart holds up still You are like to Christ when 't is thus with you I know that you that are the people of God meet with difficulties you have this and that which is hard to go through but remember the Captain of your Salvation would not be daunted take example from him Obj. But thou wilt say it may be But I am not so strong as he was he could come with that Power to his work that I have not Answ As thou hast not Christs strength so neither hast thou his work 'T is true thou hast thy work too but it is not such work as Christ in some respects had to do thou never wert nor ever shalt be called to such great things as he was but then mark that Power of Christ by which he did his work is also in him for the enabling of thee which believest to do thy work So was it promised to the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 12. 9. And he said unto me My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness And because of this you see Paul would be so far from being discouraged at difficulties that he would rather glory and take pleasure in them Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in mine infirmities that the Power of Christ may rest upon me 2. In that he did it with so much Faith What an excellent person must this needs be that could go through such a work so believingly as Christ did and hold forth his Hope and Confidence in God his Father notwithstanding all the hard things he met with in procuring our Freedom How apt are we when we are in distress and under desertion tho all our afflictions and sufferings are but a Fleabiting in comparison of what he underwent to let go our hold of the Promises as you may see it even in those who were very eminent for Grace and had had great experience of the former goodness of God to them Psal 77. 7 8 9. 1 Sam. 27. 1. But now here is one that had such a Faith that tho he were in the Red-Sea of his Fathers Wrath and the deep Waters of his afflictions and sufferings did not do to him as the Red Sea that the Children of Israel came to did to them the waters of that were divided and became a wall to them on their right hand and on their left so that they were in the very midst of them as upon dry ground but the waters of Christs afflictions were overflowing overwhelming Waters such as plunged and drencht him into the deeps his Soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto Death his very sweat was like blood yet even then he could believe that God was his Father and that he had an unspeakeble Love to him And this Faith of his had no mixture of unbelief or of sinful doubting as ours hath but 't was a firm and full Faith whereby he resolved for ever to trust perfectly in God let him do what he would with him and to him Take two Scriptures for this among others Isa 50. 7. The Lord will help me therefore shall I not be confounded therefore have I set my face like a flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed Mark what Faith he had he does not say now he is looking upon his sufferings for so you are to conceive of him in this place Oh! what shall I do I shall never go through these Tribulations I shall never be able to drink off this bitter Cup that is prepared for me but he believes he shall and that his Father would help him he did not doubt of it I know it saies he and in the confidence of this he doth as it were harden himself against all the sufferings of one kind and another that he was to be called to which is the meaning of that expression I have set my face like a flint Another Scripture for the acting of his Faith even in the sight and under the Sense of the pains of Death and Hell-torments in his Soul you have in Psal 16. 8 9
10 11. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Therefore my heart is glad c. Herein Christ is an Example to us above all the Examples of other believers No afflictions were like to Christs afflictions and yet no Faith like to his Faith the Tryals of other believers were very great some of them as the Tryals of Abraham and David and their Faith was of a more than ordinary stature but without disparagement be it spoken even the Faith of Abraham himself was but a poor little weak Faith in comparison of this Faith that Christ had All those Worthies which you read of there in Heb. 11. who through Faith obtained a good report they were Giants in respect of us but they were Babes in respect of Christ Now I say what an unparalel'd Example is Christ to us then of trusting in God in the worst condition It may be you think I hope I should trust God if it were not so exceeding sad with me as 't is alas you cannot think how sad 't is with me nor can I tell how to express my misery Well I am sure 't is not so sad with thee as 't was with Christ and yet he trusted in God the very enemies of Christ could take notice that he did Psal 22. tho they wickedly reproached him for it And in deed this is the only sinking thing in affliction let it be never so great that we cannot trust God and to what end hath God made the Promises but that they should be believed Usually when you doubt of a Friends helping of you in your straits 't is because you had not a Promise from him it may be he put you in some hopes that he would help you but for all that you doubt whether he will or no but if you have a Promise from him and he be a Friend indeed and one that useth to keep his word then you conclude upon it Now I am sure he will help me he hath promised me faithfully to do it Thus 't is now with God towards you that are his Children you have got a Promise from him that he will help you in your distresses nay not only one but many Nay you have got his Covenant and his Oath for it Oh! rely upon him then however 't is or shall be with you 3. In that he did it with so much Wisdom as one that fully knew and understood what he went about in this great undertaking You shall find in Scripture that his Wisdom is much taken notice of in reference to the work of our Redemption He is called the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. and in Col. 2. 3. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg Mark not only knowledg but Wisdom and Knowledg and that in such abundance that he hath a treasure of them yea Treasures yea and all the Treasures of them And you shall see in the Old Testament when it was prophesied of him that he should come upon this work of giving Freedom and Salvation to us how his discreet and wise carrying on of all things about it is foretold see Isa 11. 2 3. chap. 52. 13. He dealt with such Wisdom that he could tell how to deal with God for men and with men for God and to discharge the three great Offices of a Prophet Priest and King with admirable understanding and how to undermine and infatuate all the Policies of the Devil and the World and to render their deepest designs against his Kingdom and Gospel void and of none effect see 1 Cor. 2. 19 20. and how to carry himself so wisely even amongst his worst Enemies that they could have no just occasion to speak evil of him tho they watched all that possibly could be to get advantages against him both for his Actions and Speeches and Doctrine and therefore what an excellent person must this needs be And in this Wisdom Christ doth all things still that are yet to be done he governs the World in Wisdom and as the great and good Shepherd he feeds his Flock with Knowledg and Understanding as a Pastor that is after Gods own heart and one great thing amongst the rest that he is made of God to his people is Wisdom 1 Cor. 1. 30. to instruct them and teach them by his Spirit how to behave themselves as the children of God and to make them to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven and to be to them a Counsellor according to that name which is given him Isa 9. 6. And if his Disciples are called at any time to bear a Testimony for him before the great ones of the World he hath promised to give them a mouth and wisdom which all their adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or resist Luke 21. 15. And therefore Gods people should learn to carry themselves wisely in all their ways and walking and take heed of doing things rashly and indiscreetly as those that have Wisdom for their pattern see Eph. 5. 15 17. See that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is And the Wisdom that you must do all things with is not a carnal politick craftiness but the Wisdom which is from above it must be the Scripture-wisdom and spiritual Understanding 4. In that he did it with so much Love Rev. 1. 5. He loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood Gal. 2. 20. He loved me and gave himself for me and in Tit. 3. 4. when the Apostle would briefly sum up the whole work of Christ in giving this Freedom to us he expresses it in these words The kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared While he suffered he was in love with those for whom he suffered when he died he was in love with those for whom he died he did not barely do the work it self but he did it with such affection to poor sinners as who should say he would have them see and know that they could not have a greater Friend then he was he bare them upon his heart while he bare their sins upon the Cross If he had not been an excellent person the dreadful pains and sufferings that our iniquities had put him to would have made him for ever to loath us and not to have endured the sight of any man more but his Love to us was neither removed nor abated for any thing that he endured for our sakes neither was his Love to his Father in the least diminished by all the grief which he put him to tho he bruised him and took as the Scripture saith a kind of pleasure and delight in the doing of it Isa 53. 10. Justice as it were requiring at this time that he should afflict him willingly which he doth not use to do to the Children of Men yet under all this Christ kept up in
perfect Love to God And this you may observe from his manner of speaking to God when he was just stepping into his great suffering when his Soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto Death Matth. 26. 28. Yet mark v. 39. and 42. in what a loving way he speaks to him Father and oh my Father let this Cup pass away from me And oh what an Example is Christ in this to believers to love the Lord and not to question but that the Lord loves them what ever he lays upon them The Lord sees a great proneness in us to think it is not thus when his hand is heavy upon us in that he hath left such kind of sayings as these upon record in Scripture As many as I love I rebuke and chasten and whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth We are too ready to measure Gods affection to us by prosperity and smiles and when things go as we would have them but if we would be like to Christ we must make account that God can be our Father tho he beats us and hides his Face from us 5. In that he did it with so much Patience 'T is not to be thought what Christ suffered in obtaining this Freeeom for us from God from Men from Devils by their Temptations yet under all his Spirit was in a composed still frame he had not an hard thought of God for the low condition which he had cast him into he had not an unbecoming repining discontented word dropping from his mouth Isa 53. 7. He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth God might do what he would to him and put as much Gall and Wormwood and Wrath into his Cup as he pleased and he would take it off You may remember 't was one of his patient Speeches The Cup which my Father giveth me to drink shall I not drink it And men they might say and do what they would against him they might mock and revile and scourge and crucifie him and he could take all with an inward peaceableness he could meet that Traitor Judas when he was come to betray him and even then he could call him Friend Matth. 26. 50. Job you know is worthily counted an excellent person for his Patience under Afflictions and so he is pointed out to us in Jam. 5. Ye have heard of the Patience of Job and yet in Christ there are two things to be considered which are far beyond what was in Job 1. Christs Afflictions did out of measure exceed what Job was exercised with take all the Sufferings of the Saints in their Bodies and Souls too and put them into one Scale and put the Sufferings of Christ into the other these will outweigh them as much as a Mountain will outweigh a Mole-hill the greatest Suffering-Saints in the Scriptures such as David c. were but Types of Christ in his Sufferings and so they had but the shadow of sorrow in respect of him whose sorrows were so great and of such a nature that he is said to be a man of sorrows which is as much as to say he was made up as it were of nothing else 2. Jobs great Patience was mixed with great Impatience tho he held out in his Tryals to Admiration for a great while yet afterwards he had his fits of distempered passion and he that before had blessed God tho he had stript him naked at last opened his mouth and cursed his day But Christ held on in Patience and held out in Patience he did not at all stain or blemish the state of his Humiliation with a spot of discontent in him indeed that was done which the Apostle James exhorts us to Patience had its perfect work when his Sufferings were at the full his Patience was at the full too and therefore what an excellent Person is Christ and what an excellent Pattern for us In 1 Pet. 2. 21. the Apostle there tell us that Christ suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps Have we then afflictions upon us in any kind and doth it seem good to the Lord to exercise us with troubles without or within or both Oh but let us pray that we may be Patient however that we may not resist the Holy Will of God by unwillingness to suffer And I pray consider this That tho in some respects Christ had that to quiet and compose his Spirits to Patience in his Sufferings which we have not yet in other respects we have something to be thought upon for the quieting of our Spirits in our Sufferings which Christ had not There are two things which Christ had to quiet him that we have not as 1. That no suffering of any kind came upon him but what he foresaw this is a great means to keep persons patient to foresee such or such an Affliction if they be surprized with some great Calamity on a sudden and had no inkling of it before but it breaks in upon them like the Sea unexpectedly then many times there is much impatience mingled with that condition tho it should not be so but now Jesus Christ knew of his troubles particularly before they came which we do not we cannot tell what will befall us between this and Death what Affliction will meet us such a time in such a place as Paul Acts 20. 22. Not knowing the things that shall befall me he had a general notion about it as vers 23. but particularly he knew not what would befall him but it was not so with Christ See a place where he speaks of his going up to Hierusalem as Paul doth here and you shall find that Christ knew what would befall him Matth. 20. 17 18 19. Behold we go up to Jerusalem and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the Scribes and they shall condemn him to death And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucifie him and the third day he shall rise again Mark how particularly Christ foresaw things and no doubt but this was one help to Christs Patience he knew it would be thus 2. That he had not so much as a principle of Impatience within him there was no tendency in his spirit that way for that 's true in this case which he said of himself Joh. 14. 30. The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me But now the Lord knows 't is not so with us we have corrupt natures that are breeding of discontent and impatience and very apt upon all occasions to be breaking out and we have much to do the best of us nay 't is more than the best of us can do without the Grace of God assisting us to bear any Affliction patiently we have such seeds of sin within us But as I said in some
Well but then what is good to make us and keep us humble Oh nothing like this Freedom by Christ If we do but make use of it as we might it would lay us as low as the ground yea as low as Hell in our own thoughts for thus a Child of God may reason with himself By this Freedom I have great Priviledges and I may say of Gods kindness to my Soul in his Son as David did concerning Gods making a Covenant with him 1 Cor. 17. 17. Thou hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree O Lord God And now in comparison of these heavenly riches and hopes which I have bestowed upon me I contemn all the World and count all things as Paul said but loss and dung I but 't is all by Grace not for any desert of mine was I worthy that God should do this for me Is not this the richest alms that ever was to the poorest beggar that ever was I am arrayed in a costy Robe for the righteousness of Christ is so but where had I this good cloathing I am freed from Condemnation but who discharged me I see but who opened mine eyes I am a King to God but who gave me my spiritual Crown Is it not of free Grace And if God should take away his free Grace what should I have left Well therefore how humble must I be as well as how thankful And if I may say as David did in the words before mentioned in vers 17. Have I not cause also to say as David did by way of self-abasement vers 6. Who am I O Lord God and what is mine house that thou hast brought me hitherto Oh this Freedom by Christ is a good weapon to run into the very heart of spiritual Pride to shut it out of doors In Rom. 3. 24 25 26. where the Apostle is speaking of it that it comes freely and brings with it remission of sins and justication through faith in the righteousness of Christ you shall see he adds this in vers 27. Where is boasting then it is excluded By what law of works Nay but by the law of faith As if he should say Oh what Doctrine is this Doctrine of redemption by Christ to lay us all low 11. This Freedom is of excellent use to engage us to Christ in the strictest obedience As it was the cord of Love to draw us to him at first So it is the Bond of Love to keep us with him And this is the great design of Paul throughout his Epistles to the Churches to shew how the Grace of the Gospel doth oblige them to a holy Conversation in all things and to bring forth fruit unto God One would think beloved that the consideration of this Freedom if we have a part in it should keep us from eversitting loose from Christ more but that we have such naughty hearts that almost nothing is strong enough to hold us in Surely there is much in it to stir up a Christian to all that is good Oh! if one did but feel the Power of this Freedom upon ones heart what a life should one lead What a frame should one be in How would it water our Grace and cause our sins to wither See for this that Scripture 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judg that if one died for all then were all dead And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again Mark that word constraineth As if he should say we must needs be holy when we think of this Freedom it so shuts up in the narrow way which leadeth to Life that we cannot get out Tho our carnal part would fain have its liberty yet this liberty by Christ will not permit it Indeed holiness and close walking with God is the great Lesson which this Freedom teacheth 2 Tim. 11 12. and without this we don't use but abuse our Freedom And therefore what the Apostle said to them in Gal. 5. 13. is very fit to be minded here For brethren ye have been called unto liberty only use not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh Beloved if ye be not very watchful the flesh will take an occasion from the good condition which Christ hath brought you into to insinuate it self and draw you into remisness in good things As if since there is such abundance of grace revealed there need not be altogether such circumspection in every thing you do but what he saith there to them in vers 8. I say to you This perswasion cometh not of him that calleth you This Freedom will not allow you any sin for Christ gave himself for you that he might redeem you from all iniquity and 't is the Law of your Freedom That you must live to him that freed you 1 Cor. 6. 20. and if you be freed by him so you will Rom. 6. 18. Being then made free from sin ye became the servants righteousness Vers 22. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life And remember this that if a person can hear never so much or think never so much or professes never so much or know never so much of this Redemption by Christ and it be not a purifying thing to him he is not a partaker of it 12. Lastly This Freedom is of excellent use to fit us for Death Beloved we must all dye and therefore we should all labour to be fit to dye 'T is a blessed thing to be fit for death for if we be fit to dye we are fit to live nay if we be fit for Death we are fit for Judgment and fit for Heaven Now the question is How one should be fit to dye Why certainly you can take no way to be fit for it but by getting into this Freedom by Christ I confess a man is not presently fit for death by the having of it therefore there is ordinarily something that must be between Conversion and Salvation therefore there must be a growing up and a ripening by further degrees of Sanctification but yet upon the very entrance into this Freedom there 's the foundation of a fitness for death laid and if such a person should dye presently he would be happy for ever But you that are out of Christ you are not in the least forwardness for death there 's nothing at all done towards it and therefore if God should but stop your breath as you don't know how soon he may you 'l be found altogether unprepared and everlasting misery will be your portion But now the people of God tho they have not all as yet that is requisite to make them fully ready to be gone out of the World Yet by their very being in the state of this Freedom they are so fit for Death as that their Death shall