fulfilled his Law and conversed many yeares among men and that therein while he did so he gave us many blessed experiments of his love and mercy to poore sinners in healing the sick in giving sight to the blinde in raising the dead And while he conversed among men he taught and discovered in a great measure the mysteryes of his Fathers counsells to us that else we could never have known and gave us a holy patterne and example of life in humility and patience and delligence and prayer and thankfulnesse All these things are good newes and glad tidings to poore sinners every part of them Then the Gospel tells us that this Lord Jesus Christ after he had walked among men for many yeares together that then as a Publicke person and second Adam and our Surety he did lay downe his life and die for our sins But you will say Where is the good newes from that Hence it is that poore sinners are reconciled to God they are made friends with God Hence it is that poore sinners are redeemed from all their enemies sin and death and wrath and curse and hell all these by the death of the Lord Jesus are removed Then the Gospel tells you that Jesus Christ as hee died for our sins so he rose againe for our justification he rose againe from the dead the third day whereby poor sinners are assured that they are justified and freed from all their sins and whereby they shall rise to grace here and their soules and bodies shall rise to glory hereafter with Christ and whereby they shall rise out of all afflictions also in due time For the resurrection of Christ is the ground of our resurrection out of afflictions in this world and every tittle of this is glad tidings and good newes to poore sinners Then the Gospel tells you that after his resurrection he conversed with his Disciples and not with the world and that he met with his Disciples from one mountaine to another from one Towne to another for a few dayes after and there he made many precious Prayers to his Father for them and for all that should believe in him and there he gave them instructions and directions how they should order the Churches of God and Preach the Gospel to the end of the world And then you know the Gospel tells us that he went up into heaven and from heaven as soone as he came there he sent his holy Spirit to us to unite us to Christ to be our Intelligencer to make known the heart of Christ to us to lead us into all truth to comfort us in all distresses and to make intercession in us till we come to heaven where he is And the Gospel tells us this good newes that when he went to heaven he made way for poore sinners to come there and that there he intercedes for us and there succours us and pities us when we are in the flesh as he was once Then the Gospel tells us that in due time he will come againe from heaven as he went and bring a Crowne with him and actually subdue all his peoples enemies and give them the same glory that he hath and they shall be one with God for ever as he is he will come and take poore sinners to himselfe that they shall be where he is and as he is world without end The Gospel tells you moreover that all this love and grace and mercy and salvation by Jesus Christ here and in Heaven it is all made sure to us by an everlasting Covenant sure perfect in every point as David saith And this Covenant is sealed with the blood of the Testator the Lord Jesus that it might be sure and he hath also sent Pastors and Teachers to make known this Gospel and he hath given the seale of the Lords Supper and Baptisme to confirme this Gospel Put all together and from the first to the last you shall not finde in the Ministery of the Gospel if it be truely and soundly opened any sillable but what is wholesome and comfortable and sweet and glad tidings to the worst sinners Only to cleare it more fully to you there are some objections that you may make for Beloved it were a happy thing if we did fully understand this Lesson and fully believe it therefore that it may sink into your hearts I will tell you all that I know can be said against it One objection is you will say the Ministery of the Gospel is not so very good because we poore sinners doe not heare any thing in it for the body we doe not heare any thing in it of honour and wealth we see people as poor after they receive Christ as ever they were and it may be poorer and if God did mingle in the Gospel earthly things with heavenly than it were good newes worth the hearing Beloved concerning that I answer but in two words All the happinesse of this world consists either in honour or wealth As for honour if you believe in God if you receive Jesus Christ the Gospel brings you tidings that whereas now you are poore people that no body cares for you shall be Kings and Queens as Christ is a King so you shall be Kings and his daughters shall be Queenes Nay you shall be Princes in all Lands You know earthly Kings are but Princes in their severall Kingdomes as the King of Spaine and the King of England c. But the Saints for honour are Princes in all Lands They shall binde Kings in Chaines and Nobles in fetters of Iron such honour have all his Saints You must look on it beloved with a spirituall eye And if there be any reallitie in that that they call honour this is not a notion but there is more reallitie in spirituall honour than in Carnall Take carnall men that call you honourable and worshipfull and the like you know all these are but words and a puffe of winde when they are present but they are hatefull and hate one another when they are gone as the Apostle saith But if a man receive Christ in the Ministery of the Gospel there is true honour that is such a man will be respected in the hearts of others not only in the eyes of God and godly men but in the hearts of the wicked for in their hearts they will say such a man is an honourable man such a woman is an honourable woman they will not do any thing against their consciences and disobey Christ they had rather die Beloved there is more realitie in this honour you shall be Princes and Kings and Queenes And then you shall have innumerable companies of Angels you shall be in as glorious a condition as they and somewhat better you shall have them to waite on you You consider not this because you settle not your selves to search spirituall priviledges you shall have an innumerable company of Angels to waite on
Gospel quite contrary the proper object of all the good that the Gospel brings it is to a man quatinus as a sinner not as a regenerate man and a righteous man and a humble man but as a sinner And here is the excellency of the Gospel the more sinfull any man is the more sutable this Gospel is to him the more sin abounds grace abounds much more therefore you shall read Rom. 4. they that had the benefit of the Gospel they are called ungodly he that justifieth the ungodly They are called aliens Ephes. 2. they are called strangers and enemies and men without strength Rom. 5. they are called the chiefe of sinners 1 Tim. 1. 9. So to enemies aliens strangers lost people unrighteous ungodly and the like the Gospel brings perfect good newes and glad tidings of life and grace and salvation by Jesus Christ Now this in some measure you know but this that I tell you I feare you doe not know that the Ministery of the Gospel it is only good newes there is not one word of bad newes not one line not one sillable or tittle but only glad tidings sweet and good newes to the heart of the worst of sinners Therefore to shew you this truth a little more fully Before our Lord Christ went to Heaven there was some Gospel but there was much Law and as our Lord Christ was a Minister of the Gospel so he was of the circumcision as the Apostle calls him I mean before his resurrection yet it is said in Luk. 4. he took the booke of Isaiah and some think this was the first Sermon that ever he made and he read this place and opened it to the people The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because hee hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poore he hath sent me to heale the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the Captives to recover sight to the blinde to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable yeare of the Lord c. Beloved there is nothing in all this but only good newes glad tidings as that the poore should have salvation by Christ that the broken hearted should be healed that the Captives should be delivered that the blinde should receive their sight and that them that are bruised should be set at liberty and them that are slaves should have the yeare of Jubilee the acceptable yeare of the Lord there is not a tittle in all this but only good newes and glad tidings Take another place and that is Heb. 12. 18. there you shall have the difference between the old Testament and the new or between the Law and the Gospel if I may so speak the Law that is the administration of the Gospel in the time of the Law where there was a little good newes but mingled with a world of bad and terrible newes Yee are not come unto the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire nor unto blacknesse and darknesse and tempest and the sound of a Trumpet and the voyce of words which they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more For they could not endure that which was commanded And if so much as a beast touch the mountaine it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart Here is nothing but what is terrible and sad newes as a mountaine that was so terrible that it might not be touched when God did give his Law upon mount Horeb or mount Sinai and that mountaine all burning with fire If we see a house burning with fire it is terrible but to see a mountaine all over burning with fire and with blacknesse and darknesse and tempest too A fire though it be terrible yet there is somewhat comfortable because there is light but that fire was full of blackness and darknesse and darknesse is a sad thing And there was tempest and lightning and thunder and a voyce of words a voyce of terrible words that bid them doe such and such things that they had no power to doe and yet they must doe them or be damned It was terrible in so much that Moses himself that used to see God face to face said I quake exceedingly and if a beast touch the hill he must be stoned to death or thrust through with a dart Here was nothing but terrible objects in the administration of the old Testament in the giving of the Law upon mount Sinai But come to the new Testament of the Gospel as it is set up since Christ went to the holy of holies after his resurrection You are come now to mount Sion and that was a pleasant place if you take it according to the letter it was the pleasantest place about Jerusalem And you are come to the City of the living God to the heavenly Jerusalem And what a beautifull thing that is you may read in Revel. 20. and 21. a City with 12 gates and every gate a whole pearle And to innumerable companies of Angels Whether that be meant that now in the times of the Gospel God sends out Angels to minister to the Saints more frequently or diligently than formerly or as most men understand it Ye are now come to a myrd of Angels or to an innumerable company of Angels that is ye are come to an estate by Christ in the Gospel wherein you are at least equall with Angels And you are come to the generall assembly and Church of the first borne as if he should say you are come to a Church where all are Patriarches for the Patriarches were the first borne heretofore Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and they were honourable men Every Saint in the time of the Gospel is in as honourable and glorious a condition as any Patriarch you are not come to a Church of ordinary Saints but to the Church of the first borne whose names are written in heaven And you are come to the judge of all You will say that is a terrible thing No it is a blessed thing to see God in the light of the Gospel to be a judge Therefore in 2 Thes. 1. and divers other places he comforts the Saints in their persecutions and sufferings with this that God will come to judgement God is the Judge of all it is a comfortable thing And then you are come to the spirits of just men made perfect to such an assembly of Saints and Church of the first borne where the spirits of men are made perfect that is beyond my expression and conception there is a perfection of the Saints in their love and in their graces incomparably to that it was before And yee are come to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling You are come to such an estate and to such a Testament where Christ is the Intercessor and his blood speaks not as the blood of Abel it doth not cry for vengance but alway for grace and mercy from his father to
you You see in the administration of the New Testament or of the Gospel there is not one sillable or tittle but what is amiable and sweet and comfortable even to the worst of sinners And therefore the Spouse in the Canticles speaking of Christ as I suppose she commends Jesus Christ from the crowne of the head to the sole of the foot as all beautifull and amiable and then she summes up all Thou art all faire my love there is no spot in thee Jesus Christ in the new Testament or Ministery of the Gospel is all faire altogether amiable even to the worst of sinners there is no spot in him So you have the Lesson breifly Now that which with the help of God I will further doe is to give you a weiw of the summe of the whole Gospel in particular that so you may look upon every peice of it and you shall see that there is not a jot from the beginning to the end but it brings glad tidings to the worst of sinners First of all you may take notice that the Gospel doth hold forth to sinners their lost wretched condition they are in In the Gospel poore sinners come to learne what a damnable wretched condition they are in whereas men without it think they are well they doe no body hurt they give to the poore and lend and the like and yet they are going the broad way to destruction Now we see not only by Scripture but by experience the Gospel tells them they are dead in sin that they are children of wrath that they are under the curse of God going the broad way to hell But you will say is that good newes for a man to heare the Preacher say he is in a damned condition and a child of wrath c. Beloved it is sweet and good newes if the Preacher should make thee a damned creature or dead in sin it were bad newes but when the Gospel brings thee a light to see that thou art so whereas otherwise thou in thy blindnesse wouldest goe downe to hell in it it is blessed and good newes it is better to see it here than for ever in hell where there is no remidie And there is no man or woman in this place that belongs to God but they can blesse God and his Son Jesus Christ that by the Gospel the Lord hath discovered to them their wretched condition that they were naturally in That is one thing A second instance is this that the Gospel holds forth to sinners all the wrong wayes that they goe and all the wrong meanes that they use to save their soules this is by the light of the Gospel Man naturally is either dead in sin or asleep or if he be a little awaked he takes a thousand wayes to goe to heaven and none of them Gods way none of them the right way Every carnall man sometime or other hath some designe in his head to save his soule one man thinks to doe it by his equity and justice in his dealing and trading another by his hospitality and charity to the poore another by hearing of Sermons and performing of duties as in the time of Poperie how many yeares did they spend spent their strength and time and their money and when all came to all all was lost all their ways were the wrong way to Heaven Now the light of the Gospel discovers all these false wayes and shewes that you will come short of the glory of God and the salvation of your soules and will convince you that There is no Name under heaven by which you can be saved but only the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ Consider is not this good newes that God should come first by the Ministery of the Gospel and shew thee thy wretched condition and then when thou hast spent thy time and strength in false wayes to be reconciled to God and to save thy soule the Gospel comes and discovers all these that thou maiest go seek the true way Thridly the Gospel holds forth to poore sinners that there is a love an eternall love an infinite love in Gods breast to poore sinners before ever the world was made You know in reason a man would think that God should hate such a one as I am God foresaw what a creature I would be when I was borne and how I have lived and reason would think that love should proceed from something amiable in the object that should produce love some beautie or bountie as wee say but God sees me to be wicked and sinfull and therefore reason would think God must damne me world without end Now the Gospel comes to such a sinner and tells him the case is otherwise it is not so poore sinfull man or woman and though God hate sin above all things in heaven or hell yet God loved thee knowing what thou wouldest be God knows the reason of it we doe not it is as it is said in Deutrenomie I loved thee because I loved thee God hath an infinite speciall love to thy poore soule yet hates thy fin from before the world was made and the Mountaines were brought forth So God loved the world that he gave his Son c. There was a love in God out of which he gave his Son Jesus Christ to die for us This the Gospel and the Spirit of God init reveales to the poore soule that when I was an enemie to God hee was my friend when I hated him he loved me nay before I was God had thoughts of an infinite eternall love to me Then fourthly the Gospel holds forth to a sinner that as God had an infinite love towards him so it was not a cold love that ended in nothing but out of this love God would send his Son Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners This is one maine principle of the Gospel that the Father out of his love sent his own Son that was the Image of his person the Son of his love and delight into this world to lay downe his life and to die for sinners Were it not for the Ministery of the Gospel we could never know this how could we know but by the Gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ did come to die to save sinners So God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that hee that believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Fiftly breifly for I doe but give you a few touches of instances it holds out to us that as the Father out of his love sent his Son so that Jesus Christ actually and really is come into the world and took our nature upon him soule and body and the infirmities of both and sanctified our nature that he took and in that nature became our Surety a Publick person for us our Advocate a second Adam That he was conceived and born of the Virgen and that he lived here and so did the will of God and