poenal evil and part of the curse so God inflicts it not upon believers but they must dye for other ends viz. to be made perfectly happy in a more full and immediate enjoyment of God than they can have in the body and so death is theirs by way of priviledge 1 Cor. 3.22 They are not deaths by way of punishment The same may be said of all the afflictions with which God for gratious ends now exercises his reconciled ones Thus much may suffice to establish this great truth Inference 1. If the death of Christ was that which satisfied God for all the sins of the Elect then certainly there is an infinite evil in sin since it cannot be expiated but by an infinite satisfaction Fools make a mock of sin and there are but few souls in the world that are duly sensible and affected with its evil but certainly if God should damn thee to all eternity thy eternal sufferings could not satisfie for the evil that is in one vain thought It may be you may think this is harsh and severe that God should hold his creatures under everlasting sufferings for sin and never be satisfied with them any more But when you have well considered that the object against whom you sin is the infinite blessed God which derives an infinite evil to the sin committed against him and when you consider how God dealt with the Angels that fell for one sin and that but of the mind for having no bodily organs they could commit nothing externally against God you will alter your minds about it O the depth of the evil of sin If ever you will see how great and horrid an evil sin is measure it in your thoughts either by the infinite holiness and excellency of God who is wrong'd by it or by the infinite sufferings of Christ who dyed to satisfie for it and then you will have deeper apprehensions of the evil of sin Inference 2. If the death of Christ satisfied God and thereby redeemed the Elect from the curse then the redemption of souls is costly souls are dear things and of great value with God Ye know saith the Apostle that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold from your vain conversation received by tradition but with the pretious blood of the Son of God as of a Lamb without spot 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Only the blood of God is found an equivalant price for the redemption of souls Gold and silver may redeem from Turkish but not from Hellish bondage The whole creation sold to the utmost worth of it is not a value for the redemption of one soul. Souls are dear ware he that paid for them found them so Yet how cheaply do sinners sell their souls as if they were but low priz'd Commodities But you that sell your souls cheap will buy repentance dear Inference 3. If Christs death satisfied God for our sins how unparallel'd is the love of Christ to poor sinners It 's much to pay a pecuniary debt to free another but who will pay his own blood for another We have a famous instance of Zaleucus that famous Locrensian Lawgiver who decreed and Enacted that whoever was convicted of Adultery should have both his eyes put out It so fell out that his own Son was brought before him for that crime hereupon the people interposing made suit for his pardon At length the Father partly overcome by their importunities and not unwilling to shew what lawful favour he might to his Son he first put out one of his own eyes and then one of his Sons and so shewed himself both a merciful Father and a just Law-giver So tempering mercy with justice that both the Law was satisfied and his Son spared This is written by the Historian as an instance of singular love in this Father to pay one half of the penalty for his Son But Christ did not divide and share in the penalty with us but bare it all Zaleucus did it for his Son who was dear to him Christ did it for enemies that were fighting and rebelling against him Rom. 5.8 while we were yet sinners Christ died for us O would to God said an holy one I could cause Paper and Ink to speak the worth and excellency the high and loud praises of our brother-ransomer Oh the ransomer needs not my report but oh if he would take it and make use of it I should be happy if I had an Errand to this world but for some few years to spread proclamations and out-crys and love-letters of the highness the highness for evermore of the ransomer whose cloaths were wet and dyed in blood how be it that after that my soul and body should go back to their mother nothing Inference 4. If Christ by dying hath made full satisfaction then God is no loser in pardoning the greatest of sinners that believe in Iesus and consequently his Iustice can be no bar to their Iustification and Salvation He is just to forgive us our sins 1 Joh. 1.9 What an Argument is here for a poor Believer to plead with God! Lord if thou save me by Jesus Christ thy Justice will be fully satisfied at one round payment but if thou damn me and require satisfaction at my hands thou canst never receive it I shall make but a dribling payment though I lye in Hell to eternity and shall still be infinitely behind with thee Is it not more for thy glory to receive it from Christs hand than to require it at mine One drop of his blood is more worth than all my polluted blood O how satisfying a thing is this to the Conscience of a poor sinner that is objecting the multitude agravations and amazing circumstances of sin against the possibility of their being pardoned Can such a sinner as I be forgiven Yes if thou believest in Jesus thou maist for so God will lose nothing in pardoning the greatest transgressors Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption Psal. 130.7 i. e. a large stock of merit lying by him in the blood of Christ to pay him for all that you have done against him Inference 5. Lastly If Christ hath made such a full satisfaction as you have heard how much is it the concernment of every soul to abandon all thoughts of satisfying God for his own sins and betake himself to the blood of Christ the ransomer by faith that in that blood they may be pardoned It would grieve ones heart to see how many poor creatures are drudging and tugging at a task of repentance and revenge upon themselves and reformation and obedience to satisfie God for what they have done against him and alas it cannot be they do but lose their labour could they swelter their very hearts out weep till they can weep no more cry till their throats be parched alas they can never recompence God for one vain thought For such is
in the hearts of men Secondly How he rules in it and by what acts he exerciseth his Kingly authority Thirdly What are the priviledges of those souls over whom Christ raigns And then apply it First We will open the way and manner in which Christ obtains a Throne in the hearts of men and that is by conquest For though the souls of the Elect are his by donation and right of redemption the Father gave them to him and he died for them yet Satan hath the first possession and so it fares with Christ as it did with Abraham to whom God gave the Land of Canaan by promise and Covenant but the Cananites Perezites and sons of Anak had the actual possession of it and Abrahams posterity must fight for it and win it by inches before they enjoy it The house is conveyed to Christ by him that built it but the strong man armed keeps the possession of it till a stronger than he comes and ejects him Luk. 11.20 21 22. Christ must fight his way into the soul though he have right to enter as into his dearly purchased possession And so he doth for when the time of recovering them is come he sends forth his Armies to subdue them As it is Psal. 110.3 The people shall be willing in the day of thy power The Hebrew may as fitly be rendred and is so by some in the day of thine Armies When the Lord Jesus sent forth his Armies of Prophets Apostles Evangelists Pastors Teachers under the conduct of his Spirit armed with that two edged sword the word of God which is sharp and powerful Heb. 4.12 But that 's not all he causes Armies of convictions and spiritual troubles to begird and straighten them on every side so that they know not what to do These convictions like a shower of Arrows strike point blanck into their Consciences Acts 2.37 When they heard this they were pricked to the heart and said men and brethren what shall we do Christs Arrows are sharp in the hearts of his enemies whereby the people fall under him Psal. 45.5 6. by these convictions he batters down all their loose vain hopes and levels them with the earth Now all their weak pleas and defences from the general mercy of God the examples of others c. prove but as paper-walls to them These shake their hearts even to the foundation And overturn every high thought there that exalts it self against the Lord. This day in which Christ sits down before the soul and summons it by such messengers as these is a day of distress within yea such a day of trouble that none is like it But though it be so yet Satan hath so deeply intrencht himself in the mind and will that the soul yields not at the first summons till its provisions within are spent and all its Towers of Pride and Walls of vain confidence be undermined by the Gospel and shaken down about its ears and then the soul desires a parley with Christ. O now it would be glad of terms any terms If it may but save its life let all go as a prey to the Conqueror Now it sends many such messages as these to Christ who is come now to the very gates of the soul mercy Lord mercy O were I but assured thou wouldst receive spare and pardon me I would open to thee the next moment Thus the soul is shut up to the faith of Christ as it is Gal. 3.23 and reduced now to the greatest straight and loss imaginable and now the merciful King whose only design is to conquer hearts hangs forth the white flag of mercy before the soul giving it hopes it shall be spared pitied and pardoned though so long in rebellion against him If yet it will yield it self to Christ many staggerings hesitations irresolutions doubts fears scruples half-resolves reasonings for and against there are at the Council-table of mans own heart at this time Sometimes there is no hope Christ will slay me if I go forth to him and then it trembles But then whoever found him so that tried him Other souls have yielded and found mercy beyond all their expectation Oh but I have been a desperate enemy against him Admit it yet thou hast the word of a King for it let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon him Isa. 55.7 But the time of mercy is past I have stood out too long Yet if it were so how is it that Christ hath not made short work and cut me off Set fire Hell fire to my soul and withdrawn the siege Still he waiteth that he may be gratious and is exalted that he may have compassion A thousand such debates there are till at last the soul considering if it abide in rebellion it must needs perish if it go forth to Christ it can but perish and being somewhat encouraged by the messages of grace sent into the soul at this time such as that Heb. 7.25 Wherefore he is able to save to the utmost all that come unto God by him And that Joh. 6.37 He that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out And that Matth. 11.28 Come unto me ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest It is at last resolved to open to Christ. And saith stand open ye everlasting gates and be ye opened ye everlasting doors the King of glory shall come in Now the will spontaneously opens to Christ. That fort Royal submits and yields And all the affections open to him The will brings Christ the keys of all the rooms in the soul. Concerning this Triumphant entrance of Christ into the soul we may say as the Psalmist rhetorically speaks concerning the Triumphant entrance of Israel into Canaan Psal. 114.5 6. The Mountains skipped like Rams and the little Hills like Lambs what ailed thee O thou Sea that thou fleddest thou Jordan that thou wast driven back So here in a like rhetorical Triumph we may say the Mountains and Hills skip like Rams the fixed and obstinate Will starts from its own basis and center The Rocky heart rends in twain A poor soul comes to the Word full of ignorance pride self-love desperate hardness and fixed resolutions to go on in its way And by an hours discourse the tide turns Iordan is driven back What aileth thee thou stout Will that thou surrendrest to Christ Thou hard heart that thou relentest and the waters gushed out And thus the soul is won to Christ. He writes down his terms and the soul willingly subscribes them Thus it comes in to Christ by free and hearty submission desiring nothing more than to come under the government of Christ for time to come Secondly Let us see how Christ rules in the souls of such as submit to him And there are six things in which he exerts his Kingly authority
savingly Inference 2. Have the believing meditations of Christ and his sufferings such heart melting influences the surely then proper order of raising the affections is to begin at the exercise of faith It grieves me to see how many poor Christians tug at their own dead hearts endeavouring to raise and affect them but cannot They complain and strive strive and complain pump and draw but no love to the Lord comes no brokenness of heart comes They go to this ordinance and that to one duty and another hoping that now the Lord will affect it and fill the sails but come back disappointed and ashamed like the troops of Tema Poor Christian hear me one word possibly it may do thy business and stand thee in more stead than all the methods thou hast yet used If thou wouldst indeed get an heart Evangelically melted for sin and broken with the kindly sense of the grace and love of Christ thy way is not to force thy affections nor to vex thy self and go about complaining of an hard heart but set thy self to believe reallize apply infer and compare by faith as you have been directed and see what this will do They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and mourn This is the true way and proper method to raise the heart and break it Inference 3. Is this the way to get a truly broken heart then let those that have attained brokenness of heart this way bless the Lord whilst they live for so choice a mercy And that upon a double account First For as much as an heart so affected and melted is not attainable by any natural or unrenewed person If they would give all they have in the world it cannot purchase one such tear or groan over Christ. Mark what characters of special grace it bears in the description that 's made of it in that forementioned place Zech. 12.10 Such a frame as this is not born with us or to be acquired by us for it 's there said to be poured out by the Lord upon us I will pour on them c. There 's no hypocrisie or dissimulation in these mournings for they are compared to the mourning of a man for his only Son And sure the hearts of parents are not untouched when they behold such sights Nature is not the principle of it but faith For it 's there said they shall look on me i. e. believe and mourn Self is not the end and center of these sorrows It is not so much for damning our selves as for piercing Christ they shall look on me whom they have pierced and shall mourn so that this is sorrow after God and not a flash of nature as was discoursed from the former point And therefore you have cause to bless the Lord whilst you live for such a special mercy as this is And Secondly As it 's the right so it is the choisest and most pretious gift that can be given you for it 's rancked among the prime mercies of the new Covenant Ezek. 36.26 This shall be the Covenant A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh What wouldst thou have given sometimes for such an heart as now thou hast though it be not yet as thou wouldst have it And however you value and esteem it God himself sets no common value on it for mark what he â—aith of it Psal. 51.17 the sacrifices of God are a broken heart a broken and a contrite spirit O God thou wilt not despise i. e. God is more delighted with such an heart than all the sacrifices in the world One groan one tear flowing from faith and the spirit of Adoption is more to him than the Cattle upon a thousand hills And to the same sense he speaks again Isai. 66.1 2. Thus saith the Lord the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool where is the house that ye build to me and where is the place of my rest but to this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word q. d. all the magnificent Temples and gloririous structures in the world give me no pleasure in comparison of such a broken heart as this Oh then for ever bless the Lord that hath done that for you which none else could do And what he hath done but for few besides you The TWENTY SIXTH SERMON ACT. II. XXIII Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain HAving considered in order the preparative acts for the death of Christ both on his own part and on his enemies part we now come to consider the death of Christ it self which was the principal part of his humiliation and the chief pillar of our consolation Here we shall in order consider First The kind and nature of the death he died Secondly The manner in which he bare it viz. patiently solitary and instructively droping divers holy and instructive lessons upon all that were about him in his seven last words upon the Cross. Thirdly The funeral solemnities at his burial Fourthly and Lastly The weighty ends and great designs of his death In all which particulars as we proceed to discuss and open them you will have an account of the deep abasement and humiliation of the Son of God In this text we have an account of the kind and nature of that death which Christ died as also of the causes of it both principal and instrumental First The kind and nature of the death Christ died which is here described more generally as a violent death Ye have slain him and more particularly as a most ignominious cursed dishonorable death ye have crucified him Secondly The causes of it are here likewise expressed and that both principal and instrumental The principal cause permitting ordering and disposing all things about it was the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God There was not an action or circumstance but came under this most wise and holy counsel and determination of God The Instruments effecting it were their wicked hands This foreknowledge and counsel of God as it did no way necessitate or enforce them to it so neither doth it excuse their fact from the least aggravation of its sinfulness It did no more compel or force their wicked hands to do what they did than the Mariners hoising up his sails to take the wind to serve his design compels the wind And it cannot excuse their action from one circumstance of sin because Gods end and manner of acting was one thing their end and manner of acting another His most pure and holy theirs most malitious and daringly wicked Idem quod duo faciunt non est idem To this purpose a grave Divine will expresses it In respect of God
notice of it So that it could never have been more advantagiously published than it was at this time So that we may say how wonderful are the works of God! His ways are in the Sea his paths in the great deeps his footsteps are not known His providence hath a prospect beyond the understandings of all Creatures Inference 1. Hence it follows that the providence of our God can and often doth over rule the counsels and actions of the worst of men to his own glory It can serve it self by them that oppose it and bring about the glory and honour of Christ by those very men and means which are design'd to lay it in the dust Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee Psal. 76.10 The Jews thought when they Crowned Christ with Thorns bowed the knee and mocked him led him to Golgotha and crucified him that now they had utterly dispoiled him of all his Kingly dignities and yet even there he is proclaimed a King Thus the dispersion of the Jews upon the death of Stephen spread the Gospel far and near For they went every where Preaching the Word Acts 8.4 Thus Pauls bonds for the Gospel fell out to the furtherance of the Gospel Phil. 1.12 O the depth of divine wisdom to propagate and establish the interest of Jesus Christ by those very means that seem to import its destruction that extracts a Medicine out of poison How great a support should this be to the faith of Gods people When all things seem to run cross to their hopes and happiness Let Israel therefore hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous Redemption Psal. 130.7 i. e. He is never at a loss for means to promote and serve his own ends Inference 2. Hence likewise it follows That the greatest services performed to Christ accidentally and undesignedly shall never be accepted nor rewarded of God Pilate did Christ an eminent piece of service He did that for Christ that not one of his own Disciples at that time durst do and yet this service was not accepted of God because he did it not designedly for his glory but from the meer over rulings of providence If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to what a man hath saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 8.12 The eye of God is first and mainly upon the will if that be sincere and right for God small things will be accepted and if not the greatest shall be abhorred So 1 Cor. 9.17 If I do this thing i. e. Preach the Gospel willingly I have a reward but if against my will a dispensation is committed to me q. d. If I upon pure principles of Faith and Love from my heart designing the glory of God and delighting to promote it by my ministry do chearfully and willingly apply my self to the Preaching of the Gospel I shall have acceptance and reward with God but if my work be a burden to me and the service of God esteemed as a bondage why then providence may use me for the dispensing of the Gospel to others but I my self shall lose both reward and comfort As it doth not excuse my sin that God can bring glory to himself out of it so neither doth it justifie an action that God hath praise and honour accidentally by it Paul knew that even the strife and envy in which some Preached Christ should turn to his salvation and yet he was not at all beholding to them for promoting his salvation that way So Pilate here promotes the honour of Jesus Christ to whom he had no Love and whose glory he did not at all design in this thing and therefore hath neither acceptance nor reward with God O therefore what ever you do for Christ do it heartily designedly for his glory Of a ready and willing mind With pure and sincere aims at his glory For this is that the Lord more respects than the greatest services by accident Inference 3. Would not Pilate recede from what he had written on Christs behalf How shameful a thing is it for Christians to retract what they have said or done on Christs behalf When Pilate had asserted him to be King of the Jews he maintains his assertion and all the importunity of Christs enemies shall not move him an hairs bredth from it What I have written I have written q. d. I have said it and I will not revoke it Did Pilate say what I have written I have written And shall not we say what we have believed we have believed And what we have professed we have professed What we have engaged to Christ we have engaged We will stand to what we have done for him we will never recant our former ownings of and appearances for Christ. As Gods Election so your profession must be irrevocable O let him that is holy be holy still That counsel given by a Reverend Divine in this case is both safe and good Be sure saith he you stand on good ground and then resolve to stand your ground against all the world Follow God and fear not men Art thou godly repent not whatsoever thy Religion cost thee Let sinners repent but let not Saints repent Let Saints repent of their faults but not of their Faith Of their iniquities but not of their righteousness Repent not of your righteousness lest you afterward repent of your repentance Repent not of your Zeal or your forwardness or activity in the holy ways of the Lord. Wish not your selves a step farther back or a cubit lower in your stature in the grace of God Wish not any thing undone concerning which God will say well done In Gallens time it was a proverbial expression when any one would shew the impossibility of a thing You may as soon â—urn a Christian from Christ as do it A true heart-choice of Christ is without reserves and what is without reserves will be without repentance There is a stiffness and stoutness of spirit which is our sin But this is our glory in the matters of God said Luther I assume this title cedo nulli I yield to none if ye be hot and cold off and on Profess and retract your profession He that condemned Christ with his lips will condemn you by his example Resolute Pilate shall be your Judge Inference 4. Did Pilate affix such an honourable vindicating Title to the Cross Then the Cross of Christ is a dignified Cross. Then the Cross and sufferings of Christ are attended with glory and honour Remember when your hearts begin to startle at the sufferings and reproaches of Christ that there is an honourable Title upon the Cross of Christ. And as it was upon his so it will be upon your cross also if ye suffer for Christ. Moses saw it which made him esteem the very reproaches of Christ above all the treasures of Aegypt Heb. 11.26 How did the Martyrs glory in their sufferings for Christ calling their chains of Iron chains of Gold
absolutely and properly forgive sin but God only Mark 2.7 the primary and principal wrong is done to him Psalm 51.4 Against thee thee only i. e. thee mainly or especially I have sinned Hence sins are metonymically called debts debts to God Matth. 6.12 not that we owe them to God or ought to sin against him but as a pecuniary debt obliges him that owes it to the penalty if he satisfie not for it so do our sins And who can discharge the Debtor but the Creditor It 's a gratious act or discharge 1 even I am he that blotteth out thy transgression for mine own name sake Isai. 43.25 And yet sin is not so forgiven as that God expects no satisfaction at all but as expecting none from us because God hath provided a surety for us from whom he is satisfied Eph. 1.7 In whom we have Redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace It 's a gratious discharge from the guilt of sin Guilt is that which pardon properly deals with Guilt is an obligation to punishment Pardon is the dissolving of that obligation Guilt is a chain with which sinners are bound and fettered by the Law pardon is that aqua-fortis that eats it asunder and makes the prisoner a free-man The pardoned soul is a discharged soul. Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods Elect It 's God that justifieth who shall condemn It 's Christ that died It 's Gods discharge of a believing penitent sinner Infidelity and impenitency are not only sins in themselves but such sins as bind fast all other sins upon the soul. By him all that believe are justified from all things Act. 10.43 So Act. 3.19 Repent therefore that your sins may be blotted out This is the method in which God dispenseth pardon to sinners Lastly It is for Christs sake we are discharged he is the meritorious cause of our remission As God for Christs sake hath forgiven you Eph. 4.32 It 's his blood alone that meritoriously procures our discharge This is a brief and true account of the nature of forgiveness Secondly Now to evince the possibility of forgiveness for such as ignorantly oppose Christ. Let these things be weighed First Why should any poor soul that is now humbled for its enmity to Christ in the daies of ignorance question the possibility of forgiveness when this effect doth not exceed the power of the cause nay when there is more efficacy in the blood of Christ the meritorious cause than is in the effect of it There 's power enough in that blood not only to pardon thy sins but the sins of the whole world were it actually applied 1 Iohn 2.2 There is not only a sufficiency but also a redundancy of merit in that pretious blood Surely then thy enmity to Christ especially before thou knewest him may not look like an unpardonable iniquity in thine eyes Secondly And as this sin exceeds not the power of the meritorious cause of forgiveness so neither is it any where excluded from pardon by any word of God Nay such is the extensiveness of the promise to believing penitents that this case is manifestly included and forgiveness tendered to thee in the promises Isai. 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Many such extensive promises there are in the Scriptures And there is not one parenthesis in all those blessed pages in which this case is excepted Thirdly And it is yet more satisfactory that God hath already actually forgiven such sinners and that which he hath done he may again do Yea therefore he hath done it to some and those eminent for their enmity to Christ that others may be incouraged to hope for the same mercy when they also shall be in the same manner humbled for it Take one famous instance of many it 's that of Paul in 1 Tim. 1.13 16. Who was before a blasphemer a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Iesus Christ might shew forth all long suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to everlasting life It 's no small incouragement to a sick man to hear of some that have been recovered out of the same disease and that prevailing in an higher degree than in himself Fourthly Moreover It is encouraging to consider that when God hath cut off others in the way of their sin he hath hitherto spared thee What speaks this but a purpose of mercy to thy soul Thou shouldst account the long suffering of God thy Salvation 2 Pet. 3.15 Had he smitten thee in the way of thy sin and enmity to Christ what hope had remained But in that he hath not only spared thee but also given thee a heart ingenuously ashamed and humbled for thy evils doth not this speak mercy for thee Surely it looks like a gratious design of love to thy soul. Inference 1. And is there forgivenss with God for such as have been enemies to Christ his truths and people Then certainly there is pardon and mercy for the friends of God who involuntarily fall into sin by the surprisals of temptation and are broken for it as ingenious children for offending a good Father Can any doubt if God have pardon for enemies he hath none for children If he have forgiveness for such as shed the blood of Christ with wicked hands he hath not much more mercy and forgiveness for such as love Christ and are more afflicted for their sin against him than all the other troubles they have in the world Doubt it not but he that receives enemies into his bosom will much more receive and embrace children though offending ones How pensive do the dear children of God sometimes sit after their lapses into sin Will God ever pardon this Will he be reconciled again May I hope his face shall be to me as in former times Pensive soul if thou didst but know the largeness tenderness freeness of that grace which yearns over enemies and hath given forth thousands and ten thousands of pardons to the worst of sinners thou wouldst not sink at that rate Inference 2. Is there pardon with God for enemies how inexcusable then are all they that persist and perish in their enmity to Christ Sure their destruction is of themselves Mercy is offered to them if they will receive it Proclamation is made in the Gospel That if there be any among the enemies of Christ who repent of what they have been and done against him and are now unfeignedly willing to be reconciled upon the word of a King he shall find mercy But God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goâ—th on still in his trespasses Psal. 68.21 If
us through faith and so we are actually reconciled And by the virtual continuation of the sacrifice of Christ in heaven by his potent and eternal intercession and so our state of reconciliation is confirmed and all future breaches prevented But all depends as you see upon the death of Christ. For had not Christ died his death could never be applied to us nor pleaded in heaven for us How the death of Christ meritoriously procures our reconciliation is evident from that forecited Scripture Rom. 5.10 When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son i. e. Christs death did meritoriously or virtually reconcile us to God who as to our state were enemies long after that reconciliation was made That the application of Chriâ—t to us by faith makes that virtual reconciliation to become actual is plain enough from Eph. 2.16.17 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the Cross having slain the enmity thereby And came and Preached peace to you that were afar off and to them that were nigh Now therefore as it is added vers 19. Ye are no more strangers and foraigners but fellow Citizens with the Saints c. And that this state of friendship is still continued by Christs intercession within the vail so that there can be no breaches made upon the state of our peace notwithstanding all the daily provocations we give God by our sins is the comfortable truth which the Apostle plainly asserts after he had given a necessary caution to prevent the abuse of it in 1 Ioh. 2.1 2. My little children these things write I unto you that ye sin not and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation c. Thus Christ reconciles us to God by his death Secondly And if you enquire why this reconciliation was made by the death of Christ rather than any other way Satisfaction is at hand in these two answers First That we can imagine no other way by which it could be compassed And Secondly If God could have Reconciled us as much by another way yet he could not have Obliged us so much by doing it in another way as he hath by doing it this way Surely none but he that was God manifest in our flesh could offer a sacrifice of sufficient value to make God amends for the wrong done him by one sin much less for all the sins of the Elect. And how God should especially after a peremptory threatening of death for sin re-admit us into favour without full satisfaction cannot be imagined He is indeed inclin'd to acts of mercy but none must suppose him to exercise one attribute in prejudice to another That his Iustice must be Eclipsed whilst his mercy shines But allow the infinite wisdom could have found out another means of reconciling us as much can you imagine that in any other way he could oblige us as much as he hath done by reconciling us to himself by the death of his own Son It cannot be thought possible This therefore was the most effectual just honourable and obliging way to make up the peace betwixt him and us Thirdly This reconciliation purchased by the blood of Christ is offered unto men by the Gospel upon certain Articles and conditions upon the performance whereof it actually becomes theirs and without which notwithstanding all that Christ hath done and suffered the breach still continues betwixt them and God And let no man think this a derogation from the freeness and riches of Grace for these things serve singularly to illustrate and commend the grace of God to sinners As he consulted his own glory in the terms on which he offers us our peace with him so 't is his grace which brings up souls to those terms of reconciliation And surely he hath not suspended the mercy of our reconciliation upon unreasonable or impossible conditions He hath not said if you will do as much for me as you have done against me I will be at peace with you But the two grand Articles of peace with God are Repentance and faith In the first we lay down arms against God and it 's meet it should be so before he re-admit us into a state of peace and favour in the other we accept Christ and pardon through him with a thankful heart yielding up our selves to his government Which is equally reasonable These are the terms on which we are actually reconciled to God Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon So Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God And surely it would not become the holy God to own as his friend and favorite a man that goes on perversely and impenitently in the way of sin not so much as acknowledging or once bewailing the wrong he hath done him purposeing to do so no more or to receive into amity one that slights and rejects the Lord Jesus whose pretious blood was shed to procure and purchase peace and pardon for sinners But if there be any poor soul that saith in his heart it repents me for sinning against God and is sincerely willing to come to Christ upon Gospel terms he shall have peace And that peace Fourthly Is no common peace The reconciliation which the Lord Jesus died to procure for broken hearted believers it is First A firm well bottom'd reconciliation putting the reconciled soul beyond all possibility of coming under Gods wrath any more Isai. 54.10 Mountains may depart and hills be removed but the Covenant of this peace cannot be removed Christ is a surety by way of caution to prevent new breaches 2 Iohn 1.2 Secondly This reconciliation with God is the fountain out of which all our other comforts flow to us this is plainly carried in those words of Eliphaz to Iob. Chap. 22.21 Acquaint now thy self with him and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee As trade flowrishes and riches come in when peace is made betwixt States and Kingdoms so all spiritual and temporal mercies flow into our bosoms when once we are reconciled to God What the comfort of such a peace will be in a day of straights and dangers and what it will be valued at in a dying day who but he that feels it can declare And yet such a one cannot fully declare it for it passes all understanding Phil. 4.7 We shall now make some improvement of this and pass on to the third end of the death of Christ. Inference 1. If Christ died to reconcile God and man How horrid an evil then is sin And how terrible was that breach made betwixt God and the creature by it which could no other way be made up but by the death of the Son of God! I remember I have read that when a great chasm or breach was made
his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to your taste His banner over you was love your bread was then sure and your waters failed not Yea such was his peculiar indulgence and special tenderness to you that he suffered no man to do you harm And it can hardly be imagined any could attempt it that had but known this and no worse than this to be your only design and business Who made these Meditations of Christ a strong support and sweet relief to mine now with Christ and no less to me under the greatest exercises and tryals that ever befell me in this world Preserving me yet though a broken vessel for some farther use and service to your souls Who in the years that are past left not himself without witness among us blessing my labours to the conversion and edification of many some of which yet remain with us but some are fallen asleep Who hath made many of you that yet remain a willing and obedient people who have in some measure supported the reputation of Religion by your stabillity and integrity in dayes of abounding iniquity my joy and my Crown so stand ye fast in the Lord. Who after all the dayes of fears and troubles through which we have past hath at last given us and his Churches rest that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in righteousness and holiness which doing this mercy may be extended to us all the dayes of our life In testimony of a thankful heart for these invaluable mercies I humbly and cheerfully rear up this pillar of remembrance inscribing it with EBEN EZER and IEHOVAH IIEREH As I could not but observe these things to you so I have a few things to request of you in neither of which I can bear a denyal so deeply doth Christs your own and my interest lye in them Look to it my dear friends that none of you be found Christless at your appearance before him Those that continue Christless now will be left speechless then God forbid that you that have heard so much of Christ and you that have professed so much of Christ should at last fall into a worse condition than those that never heard the name of Christ. See that you daily grow more Christ-like by conversing with him as you do in his precious Ordinances Let it be with your souls as it is with a piece of cloth which receives a deeper dye every time it is dipt into the Fat If not you may not expect the continuance of your mercies much longer to you Get these great truths well digested both in your heads and hearts and let the power of them be displayed in your lives Else the pen of the Scribe and tongue of the Preacher are both in vain These things that so often warm'd your hearts from the Pulpit return now to make a second Impression upon them from the Press Hereby you will recover and fix those truths which it's like are in great part already vanisht from you This is the fruit I promise my self from you and what ever entertainment it meet with from others in this Christ despising age yet two things relieve me one is that future times may produce more humble and hungry Christians than this glutted age enjoyes to whom it will be welcome The other is that duty is discharged and endeavours used to bring men to Christ and build them up in him wherein he doth and will rejoyce who is a well wisher to the souls of men Iohn Flavell A Table of the Scriptures which are largely or occasionally opened or vindicated in this Treatise Genesis GEN. 18.19 p. 607 48.15 p. 252 Leviticus Lev. 1.4 p. 135 16.12 13 14. p. 153 16.21 p. 73 Deuteronomy Deut. 8.16 p. 485 21.23 p. 345 34.10 p. 97 Chronicles 2 Chron. 36.12 p. 65. 1 Samuel 1 Sam. 2.25 p. 91 24.16 p. 410 Iob. Job 9.33 p. 85 14.14 p. 553 22.21 p. 533 30.4 5. p. 395 32.9 p. 316 Psalm Psal. 2.7 p. 80 4.8 p. 57 19.7 p. 106 22.1 p. 454 22.2 p. 458 31.5 p. 497 32.1 p. 147 Psal. 37.5 6. p. 336 39.11 p. 469 47.5 p. 565 51.6 p. 612 68.17 p. 566 78.25 p. 272 110.13 p. 195 103.11 p. 147 119.56 p. 605 Proverbs Prov. 4.18 p. 118 23.22 p. 424 28.24 p. 422 29.25 p. 380 Ecclesiastes Eccles. 3.16 p. 323 3.21 p. 435 7.9 p. 391 Canticles Cant. 3.6 p. 162 6.5 p. 535 Isaiah Isai. 11.6 p. 405 30.20 21. p. 621 41.17 p. 464 42.5 6 7. p. 29 49.2 3 4 5. p. 26 50.5 p. 31 481 50.10 p. 460 50. ult p. 177 53.3 p. 16 53.7 p. 385 53.11 p. 609 53.12 p. 24 25 53.21 p. 521 61.1 p. 71 62.6 p. 262 63.7 8. p. 607 64.6 p. 132 Ieremiah Jer. 8.1 p. 517 518 18.11 p. 394 31.34 p. 517 518 Lamentation Lam. 4.21 p. 284 Daniel Dan. 2.17 p. 107 7.13 14. p. 566 11.33 34. p. 623 Hosea Hos. 2.6 p. 622 3.3 p. 76 11.4 p. 200 13.5 6. p. 164 Micah Mic. 6.6 p. 61 Zechariah Zech. 11.15 p. 110 12.10 p. 335 150 13.7 p. 360 Matthew Mat. 2.13 p. 236 5.16 p. 80. 6.12 p. 407 8.4 p. 489 11.27 p. 6. 115 13.3 4. p. 102 17.5 p. 71 22.31 p. 518 26.40 p. 287 27.46 p. 447 27.52 p. 548 28.2 3. p. 547 28.6 p. 544 Luke Luk. 1.34 35. p. 547 1.35 p. 55 4.12 34. p. 240 Luk. 10.17 18. p. 109 13.33 p. 314 16.24 p. 472 22.22 p. 480 22.41 p. 280 22.66 p. 313 23.23 p. 311 23.27 p. 326 23.34 p. 400 23.38 p. 356 23.43 p. 430 23.46 p. 491 24.45 p. 111 Iohn Joh. 1.14 p. 50. 228 1.29 p. 147 5.31 p. 63 5.43 p. 64 6.28 p. 65 6.29 p. 487 8.36 p. 201 8.42 p. 57 8.58 p. 143 9.4 p. 69 10.30 p. 17 12.27 p. 289 13.14 p. 230 14.3 p. 437 16.8 p. 118 16.10 p. 483 16.32 p. 374 17.11 p. 250 17.19 p. 69 18.19 p. 273 19.27 p. 417 19.28 p. 463 19.30 p. 477 19.40 41. p. 505 20.17 p. 561 Acts. Acts 2.23 p. 40 341 2.24 p. 344 3.22 p. 96 4.12 p. 89 4.28 p. 301 10.42 p. 588 19.9 p. 117 Romans Rom. 1.4 p. 549 1.21 p. 7 2.15 p. 434 3.25 26. p. 171 5.8 9 10. p. 43 5.10 p. 529 5.15 17 p. 181 6.5 p. 558 8.3 p. 56 227 8.4 p. 484 8.10 11. p. 551 8.28 p. 215 8.32 p. 41 45 8.34 p. 379 9.13 p. 38. 12.1 p. 76 1 Corinthians 1 Cor. 2.2 p. 1 2.14 p. 100 2.14 15. p. 115 4.11 p. 245 6.20 p. 628 8.5 p. 89 11.29 p. 78 11.30 p. 198 12.28 p. 105 12.31 p. 308 15.17 p. 546 15.20 p. 549 15.43 44. p. 552 2 Corinthians 2 Cor. 3.12 p. 103 4.3 4. p. 119 5.5 p. 498 5.6 8. p. 438 5.14 p. 128 5.18 19. p. 529 5.21 p. 166 10.5 p. 192 Gallatians Gal. 3.13 p. 165 2.4.4 p. 170 179 4.29 p. 244 5.3 p. 237 5.16 p. 199 5.25 p. 602
hands of Justice to be punished Even as condemned persons are by sentence of Law given or delivered into the hands of executioners So Acts 2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate counsell of God ye have taken and with wicked hands have slain And so he is said Rom. 8.32 To deliver him up to death for us all The Lord when the time was come that Christ must Suffer did as it were say O all ye roaring Waves of my incensed Justice now swell as high as heaven and go over his soul and body Sink him to the bottom let him go like Ionah his Type into the belly of Hell unto the roots of the Mountains Come all ye raging storms that I have reserved for this day of wrath beat upon him beat him down that he may not be able to look up Psal. 40.12 Go Justice put him upon the rack torment him in every part till all his bones be out of joynt and his heart within him be melted as wax in the midst of his bowels Psal. 22.14 And ye assembly of the wicked Jews and Gentiles that have so long gaped for his blood now he is delivered into your hands you are now permitted to execute your malice to the full I now loose your chain and into your hand and power is he delivered 4. Gods giving of Christ implys his application of him with all the purchases of his blood and setling all this upon us as an inheritance and portion Ioh. 6.32 33. My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven for the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world God hath given him as bread to poor starving creatures that by faith they might eat and live And so he told the Samaritaness Ioh. 4 10. If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living waters Bread and water are the two necessarys for the support of natural life God hath given Christ you see to be all that and more to the spiritual Life How this gift of Christ was the highest and fullest manifestation of the love of God that ever the world saw And this will be evidenced by the following particulars 1. If you consider how near and dear Jesus Christ was to the Father He was his Son his only Son saith the Text. The Son of his Love The darling of his soul. His other self Yea one with himself The express Image of his person The brightness of his Fathers glory In parting with him he parted with his own heart with his very bowels as I may say Yet to us a Son is given Esa. 9.6 And such a Son as he calls his dear Son Col. 1.13 A late writer tells us that he hath been informed that in the Famine in Germany a poor family being ready to perish with Famine the Husband made a motion to the Wife to sell one of the Children for bread to relieve themselves and the rest The Wife at last consents it should be so but then they began to think which of the four should be sold. And when the eldest was named they both refused to part with that being their first born and the beginning of their strength Well then they came to the second but could not yield that he should be sold being the very picture and lively image of his Father The third was named but that also was a child that best resembled the mother And when the youngest was thought on that was the Benjamin The child of their old age And so were content rather to perish altogether in the Famine than part with a child for relief And you know how tenderly Iacob took it when his Ioseph and Benjamin were rent from him What is a child but a piece of the parent wrapt up in another skin And yet our dearest children are but as strangers to us in comparison of the unspeakable dearness that was betwixt the Father and Christ. Now that he should ever be content to part with a Son and such an only one is such a manifestation of Love as will be admired to all Eternity And then 2. let it be considered to what he gave him even to death and that of the Cross to be made a curse for us To be the scorn and contempt of men To the most unparalell'd sufferings that ever were inflicted or born by any It melts our bowels it breaks our hearts to behold our children striving in the pangs of death But the Lord beheld his Son struggling under agonies that never any felt before him He saw him falling to the ground groveling in the dust sweating blood and amidst those agonies turning himself to his Father and with an heart rending cry beseeching him Father if it be pâ—ssible let this cup pass Luk. 22.42 To wrath to the wrath of an infinite God without mixture to the very torments of hell was Christ delivered and that by the hand of his own Father Sure then that love must needs want a name which made the Father of mercies deliver his own only Son to such miserys for us 3. It is a special consideration to enhance the love of God in giving Christ that in giving him he gave the richest Jewel in his Cabinet A mercy of the greatest worth and most inestimable value Heaven it self is not so valuable and precious as Christ is He is the better half of heaven And so the Saints account him Psal. 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee Ten thousand thousand worlds saith one as many worlds as Angels can number and then as a new world of Angels can multiply would not all be the balk of a ballance to weigh Christs Excellency Love and sweetness O what a fair one What an only one What an excellent lovely ravishing one is Christ. Put the Beauty of ten thousand Paradices like the garden of Eden into one put all Trees all Flowers all Smells all Colours all Tasts all Ioys all Sweetness all Loveliness in one O what a fair and excellent thing would that be And yet it should be less to that fair and dearest well beloved Christ than one drop of rain to the whole Seas Rivers Lakes and Fountains of ten thousand Earths Christ is heavens wonder and earths wonder Now for God to bestow the mercy of mercys the most precious thing in heaven or earth upon poor sinners and as great as lovely as excellent as his Son was yet not to account him too good to bestow upon us what manner of love is this 4. Once more let it be considered on whom the Lord bestowed his Son Upon Angels No but upon men Upon man his friend No but upon his enemies This is Love And on this consideration the Apostle lays a mighty weight in Rom. 5.8 9 10. But God saith he commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for
us When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Who would part with a Son for the sake of his dearest friends but God gave him to and delivered him for enemies O Love unspeakable 5. Lastly let us consider how freely this gift came from him It was not wrested out of his hand by our importunity for we as little desired as deserved it It was surprizing preventing eternal love that delivered him to us Not that we loved him but he first loved us 1 Ioh. 4.19 Thus as when you weigh a thing you cast in weight after weight till the scales break so doth God one consideration upon another to overcome our hearts and make us admiringly to cry what manner of Love is this And thus I have shewed you what Gods giving of Christ is And what matchless love is manifested in that incomparable gift Next we shall apply this in some practical Corolaries Corolary 1. Learn hence the exceeding preciousness of Souls and at what an high rate God values them that he will give his Son his only Son out of his bosom as a ransom for them Surely this speaks their preciousness God would not have parted with such a Son for small matters All the world could not redeem them Gold and Silver could not be their ransom 1 Pet. 1.18 So speaks the Apostle You were not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious blood of Christ. Such an esteem God had of them that rather than they should perish Jesus Christ shall be made a man yea a curse for them O then learn to put a due value upon your own souls Don't sell that cheap which God hath paid so dear for Remember what a treasure you carry about you The glory that you see in this world is not equivolent in worth to it Matth. 16.26 What shall a man give in exchange for his Soul Corolary 2. If God have given his own Son for the world then it follows that those for whom God gave his own Son may warrantably expect any other Temporal mercies from him This is the Apostles Inference Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up to death for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things And so 1 Cor. 3.21 22. All is yours for ye are Christs i. e. They hold all other things in Christ who is the Capital and most comprehensive mercy To make out the grounds of this comfortable deduction let these four things be pondered and duly weighed in your thoughts 1. No other mercy you need or desire is or can be so dear to God as Jesus Christ is He never layed any other thing in his bosom as he did his Son As for the world and the comforts of it it is the dust of his feet he values it not As you see by his providential disposals of it having given it to the worst of men All the Turkish Empire said Luther as great and glorious as it is is but a crum which the Master of the family throws to the Dogs Think upon any other outward enjoyment that 's valuable in your eyes and there is not so much compare betwixt it and Christ in the esteem of God as is betwixt your dear Children and the Lumber of your houses in your esteem If then God have parted so freely from that which was infinitly dearer to him than these how shall he deny these when they may promote his glory and your good 2. As Jesus Christ was nearer the heart of God than all these so Christ is in himself much greater and more excellent than them all Ten thousand worlds and the glory of them all is but the dust of the ballance if weighed with Christ. These things are but poor creatures but he is over all God blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 They are the common gifts but he is the gift of God Joh. 4.10 They are ordinary mercys but he is the mercy Luk. 1.72 As one Pearl or precious stone is greater in value than ten thousand common pebbles Now if God have so freely given the greater how can you suppose he should deny the lesser mercys Will a man give to another a large inheritance and stand with him for a trifle How can it be 3. There is no other mercy you stand in want of but you are entitled to it by the gift of Christ. It is as to right conveyed to you with Christ. So in the forecited 1 Cor. 3.21 22 23. The world is yours yea all is yours for ye are Christs So 2 Cor. 1.20 For all the promises of God in Christ in him they are yea and in him Amen With him he hath given you all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 6.17 Richly to enjoy The word signifies rem aliquam cum laetitia percipere To have the sweet relish and comfort of an enjoyment So have we in all our mercys upon the account of our title to them in Christ. 4. Lastly if God have given you this nearer greater and all comprehending mercy when you were enemies to him and alienated from him it is not imaginable he should now deny you any inferiour mercy when you are come into a state of reconciliation and amity with him So the Apostle reasons Rom. 5.8 9 10. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life And thus you have the second Inference with its grounds Corolary 3. If the greatest love hath been manifested in giving Christ to the world then it follows that the greatest evil and wickedness is manifested in despising slighting and rejecting Christ. 'T is sad to abuse the love of God manifested in the lowest gift of providence but to sleight the richest discoveries of it even in that peerless gift wherein God commends his love in the most taking and astonishing manner this is sin with a witness Blush O heavens and be astonished O earth yea be ye horribly afraid No guilt like this The most flagitious wretches among the barbarous Nations are innocent in comparison of these But are there any such in the world Dare any slight this gift of God indeed if mens words might be taken there are few or none that dare do so but if their lives and practices may be believed this this is the sin of the far greater part of the Christianized world Witness the lamentable stupidity and supiness witness the contempt of the Gospel witness the hatred and persecution of his Image Laws and People What is the language of all these but a vile esteem of Jesus Christ. And now let me a little expostulate with these ungrateful souls that trample underfoot the Son of God That value not this love that gave him forth What is that mercy which you so contemn and undervalue Is it so vile and cheap a thing as your entertainment speaks it to
sinners such a fair Foundation to rest their trembling Consciences upon While poor distressed Souls look to themselves they are perpetually puzled That 's the cry of distressed natural conscience Mica 6.6 Where with shall I come before the Lord the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how shall I prevent or anticipate the Lord and so Montanus renders it in quo preoccupabo Dominum conscience sees God arming himself with wrath to avenge himself for sin crys out O how shall I prevent him If he would accept the fruit of my body those dear pledges of nature for the sin of my Soul he should have them But now we see God coming down in flesh and so intimately uniting our flesh to himself that it hath no proper subsistance of its own but is united with the Divine person hence it 's easie to imagine what worth and value must be in that blood and how eternal love springing forth triumphantly from it flourishes into Pardon Grace and Peace Here is a way in which the sinner may see Justice and Mercy kissing each other and the latter exercised freely without prejudice to the former All others Consciences through the world lie either in a deep sleep in the Devils arms or else are rouling Sea sick upon the waves of their own fears and dismal presages O happy are they that have dropt Anchor on this ground and not only know they have peace but why they have it Vse 5. Oh how great concernment is it that Christ should have Vnion with our particular persons as well as with our common nature For by this Union with our nature alone never any man was or can be Saved Yea let me add that this Union with your natures is utterly in vain to you and will do you no good except he have union with your persons by faith also It is indeed infinite mercy that God is come so near you as to dwell in your flesh and that he hath fitted such an excellent Method to save poor sinners in And hath he done all this Is he indeed come home even to your own doors to seek Peace Doth he vail his unsupportable glory under flesh that he might treat thee more familiarly And yet do you refuse him and shut your hearts against him Then hear one word and let thine ears tingle at the sound of it thy sin is hereby aggravated beyond the sin of Devils who never sin'd against a Mediator in their own nature who never despised or refused because indeed they were never offered terms of Mercy as you are And I doubt not but the Devils themselves who now tempt you to reject will to all Eternity upbraid your folly for rejecting this great Salvation which in this excellent way is brought down even to your own doors Vse 6. If Jesus Christ have assumed our nature Then he is sensibly toucht with the infirmities that attend it and so hath pity and compassion for us under all our burdens And indeed this was one end of his assuming it that he might be able to have compassion on us as you read Heb. 2.17.18 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them hat are tempted O what a comfort is this to us that he who is our High-Priest in Heaven hath our nature on him to enable him to take compassion on us Vse 7. Seventhly Hence we see To what an height God intends to build up the happiness of man in that he hath layed the Foundation thereof so deep in the incarnating of his own Son They that intend to build high use to lay the Foundation low The happiness and glory of our Bodies as well as Souls is founded in Christs taking our flesh upon him For therein as in a Model or Pattern God intended to shew what in time he resolves to make of our Bodies For he will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transform our vile Bodies and make them one day conformable to the glorious Body of Jesus Christ Phil. 3.21 This flesh was therefore assumed by Christ that in it might be shewn as in a Pattern how God intends to honour and exalt it And indeed a greater honour cannot be done to the nature of man than what is already done it by this grace of union Nor are our persons capable of an higher glory than what consists in their conformity to this glorious head Indeed the flesh of Christ will ever have a distinct glory from ours in Heaven by reason of this Union For being the the Body which the word assumed it is two ways advanced singularly above the Flesh and Blood of all other men viz. Subjectively and Objectively Subjectively it is the Flesh and Blood of God Acts 20.28 And so hath a distinct and incommunicable glory of its own And Objectively it is the Flesh and Blood which all the Angels and Saints adore But though in these things it be supereminently exalted yet it is both the Medium and Pattern of all that glory which God designs to raise us to Vse 8. Lastly How wonderful a comfort is it that he who dwells in our Flesh is God! What Joy may not a poor believer make out of this What comfort one made out of it I will give you in his own words I see it a work of God saith he that experiences are all lost when Summons of improbation to prove our Charters of Christ to be counterfeit are raised against poor Souls in their heavy Tryals But let me be a sinner and worse than the chief of Sinners yea a guilty Devil I am sure my well beloved is God And my Christ is God And when I say my Christ is God I have said all things I can say no more I would I could build as much on this My Christ is God as it would bear I might lay all the world upon it God and Man in one Person Oh thrice happy conjunction As Man he is full of experimental sence of our Infirmities Wants and Burdens and as God he can support and and supply them all The aspect of Faith upon this wonderful Person how relieving how reviving how abundantly satisfying is it God will never divorce the believing Soul and its comfort after he hath marryed our nature to his own Son by the Hypostatical and our persons also by the blessed Mystical Union The SIXTH SERMON JOH VI. XXVII For him hath God the Father Sealed YOU have heard Christs compact or agreement with the Father in the Covenant of Redemption As also what the Father did in pursuance of the ends thereof in giving his Son out of his bosom c. Also what the Son hath done towards it in assuming Flesh. But though the glorious work be thus far advanced yet all he
Horse whose eyes are out furiously carrying his rider among rocks pits and dangerous precipices I remember Chrysostom speaking of the loss of a soul saith that a loss of a member of the body is nothing to it for saith he if a man lose an eye Ear Hand or Foot there is another to supply its want Omnia Deus dedit duplicia God hath given us those members double animam verò unam but he hath not given us two souls that if one be lost yet the other may be saved Surely it were better for thee Reader to have every member of thy body made the seat and subject of the most exquâ—site racking torments than for spiritual blindness to befall thy soul. Moreover Thirdly Consider the indiscernableness of this Iudgement to the soul on whom it lies They know it not no more than a man knows that he is asleep Indeed it 's the spirit of a deep sleep poured out upon them from the Lord. Isa. 29.10 Like that which befel Adam when God opened his side and took out a Rib. This renders their misery the more remediless Because ye say you see therefore your sin remaineth Joh. 9.41 Once more Fourthly Consider the tendency and effects of it What doth this tend to but eternal ruine For hereby we are cut off from the only remedy The soul that 's so blinded can neither see sin nor a Saviour but like the Aegyptians during the palpable darkness sits still and moves not after its own recovery And as ruine is that to which it tends so in order thereto it renders all the ordinances and duties under which that soul comes altogether useless and ineffectual to its salvation He comes to the word and sees others melted by it but to him it signifies nothing O what a heavy stroke of God is this most wretched is their case to whom Jesus Christ will not apply this eye salve that they may see Did you but understand the misery of such a state if Christ should say to you as he did to the blind man Matth. 20.33 What wilt thou that I shall do for thee you would return as he did Lord that my eyes may be opened Inference 2. If Jesus Christ be the great Prophet of the Church then surely he will take special care both of the Church and the under shepherds appointed by him to feed them Else both the objects and instruments upon and by which he executes his office must fail and consequently this glorious office be in vain Hence he is said to walk among the golden Candlesticks Revel 1.13 and Rev. 2.1 to hold the Stars in his right hand Jesus Christ instrumentally opens the understandings of men by the preaching of the Gospel and whilst there is an elect soul to be converted or a convert to be farther illuminated means shall not fail to accomplish it by Inference 3. Hence you that are yet in darkness may be directed to whom to apply your selves for saving knowledge It 's Christ that hath the soveraign eye salve that can cure your blindness He only hath the key of the house of David he openeth and no man shutteth O that I might perswade you to set your selves in his way under the ordinances and cry to him Lord that my eyes may be opened Three things are marvelously incouraging to you so to do First God the Father hath put him into this Office for the cure of such as you be Isa. 49.6 I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou maist be my salvation to the ends of the earth This may furnish you with an argument to plead for a cure Why do you not go to God and say Lord didst thou give Jesus Christ a Commission to open the blind eyes Behold me Lord such a one am I a poor dark ignorant soul. Didst thou give him to be thy salvation to the ends of the earth No place nor people excluded from the benefit of this light and shall I still remain in the shadow of death O that unto me he might be a saving light also The best and most excellent work that ever thou wroughtest brings thee no glory till it come into the light O let me see and admire it Secondly It 's incouraging to think that Iesus Christ hath actually opened the eyes of them that were as dark and ignorant as you now are He hath revealed those things to babes that have been hid from the wise and prudent Matth. 11.25 The Law of the Lord is perfect making wise the simple Psal. 19.7 And if you look among those whom Christ hath enlightned you will not find many wise after the flesh many mighty or Noble but the foolish weak base and despised These are they on whom he hath glorified the riches of his grace 1 Cor. 26.27 Thirdly And is it not yet further incouraging to you that hitherto he hath mercifully continued you under the means of light Why is not the light of the Gospel put out Why are times and seasons of grace continued to you if God have no further design of good to your souls Be not therefore discouraged but wait on the Lord in the use of means that you may yet be healed If you ask what can we do to put our selves into the way of the spirit in order to such a cure I say that though you cannot do any thing that can make the Gospel effectual yet the spirit of God can make those means you are capable of using effectual if he please to concur with them And it is a certain truth that your inability to do what is above your power doth no way excuse you from doing what is within the compass of your power to do I know no act that is saving can be done without the concurrence of special grace yea and no act that hath a remote order and tendency thereunto without a more general concourse of Gods assistance but herein he is not behind hand with you Let me therefore advise First That you dilligently attend upon an able faithful and searching ministry Neglect no opportunity God affords you for how know you but that may be the time of mercy to your souls If he that lay so many years at the Pool of Bethesda had been wanting but that hour when the Angel came down and troubled the waters he had not been healed Secondly Satisfie not your selves with hearing but consider what you hear Allow time to reflect upon what God hath spoken to you What power is there in man more excellent or more appropriate to the reasonable nature than its reflexive and self considering power There is little hope of any good to be done upon your souls untill you begin to go alone and become thinking men and women Here all conversion begins I know a severer task can hardly be imposed upon a carnal heart It 's a hard thing to bring a man and himself together upon this acccount But this must be if ever the Lord
that any creature was ever yet set upon and inlarged to take in view the most spatious prospect both of sin and misery and difficulties of being saved that ever yet any poor humble soul did cast within it self yea joyn to these all the hindrances and objections that the heart of man can invent against it self and salvation lift up thine eyes and look to the utmost thou canst see and Christ by his intercession is able to save thee beyond the Horizon and utmost compass of thy thoughts even to the utmost Secondly Hence draw abundant encouragement against all heartstraightnings and deadness of spirit in prayer Thou complainest thy heart is dead wandring and contracted in duty O but remember Christs blood speaks when thou canst not it can plead for thee and that powerfully when thou art not able to speak a word for thy self to this sense that Scripture speaks Can. 3.6 Who is this that cometh out of the Wilderness in pillars of smoke perfumed with myrh and frankincense all the powders of the Merchant The duties of Christians go up many times as pillars or clouds of smoke from them more smoke than fire Prayers smoked and sullied with their offensive corruptions but remember Christ perfumes them with myrh c. he by his intercession gives them a sweet perfume Thirdly Christs intercession is a singular relief to all that come unto God by him against all sinful damps and slavish fears from the justice of God Nothing more promotes the fear of reverence Nothing more suppresseth unbelieving despondencies and destroys the spirit of bondage So you find it Heb. 10.19 20 21. Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Iesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh And having an High-Priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in full assurance of faith Or let us come unto God as a Ship comes with full sayl into the Harbour O what a direct and full gale of encouragement doth this intercession of Christ give to the poor soul that lay a ground or was wind-bound before Fourthly The intercession of Christ gives admirable satisfaction and encouragement to all that come to God against the fears of deserting him again by Apostacy This my friends this is your principal security against these matters of fear With this he relieves Peter Luk. 22.31.32 Simon saith Christ Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy fath fail not q. d. Satan will fan thee not to get out thy chaff but boult out thy flower His temptations are levell'd against thy faith but fear not my prayer shall break his designs and secure thy faith from all his attempt upon it Upon this powerful intercession of Christ the Apostle builds his triumph against all that threatens to bring him or any of the Saints again into a state of condemnation And see how he drives on that triumph from the resurrection and session of Christ at the Fathers right hand and especially from the work of intercession which he lives there to perform Rom. 8.34 35. Who is he that condemneth it 's Christ that died yea rather that 's risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ Fifthly It gives sweet relief against the defects and wants that yet are in our sanctification We want a great deal of faith love heavenly mindedness mortification knowledge We are short and wanting in all There are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the remains or things wanting as the Apostle calls them 1 Thes. 3.10 Well if grace be but yet in it's weak beginnings and infancy in thy soul this may incourage that by reason of Christs intercession it shall live grow and expatiate it self in thy heart He is not only the author but the finisher of it Heb. 12.2 He is ever begging new and fresh mercies for you in Heaven and will never be quiet till all your wants be supplied He saves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the uttermost i. e. as I told you before to the last perfective compleating act of salvation So that this is a fountain of relief against all your fears Vse 3. Doth Christ live for ever to make intercession then let those who reap on earth the fruits of that his work in Heaven draw instruction thence about the following duties to which it leads them as by the hand First Do not forget Christ in an exalted state You see though he be in all the glory above at Gods right hand an enthron'd King he doth not forget you He like Ioseph remembers his brethren in all his glory But alas how oft doth advancement make us forget him as the Lord complains in Hosea 13.5 6. I did know thee in the Wilderness in the Land of great drought but when they came into Canaan According to their pastures so were they filled they were filled and their heart was exalted therefore have they forgotten me As if he had said O my people you and I were better acquainted in the Wilderness When you were in a low condition left to my immediate care living by daily faith Oh then you gave me many a sweet visit but now you are filled I hear no more of you Good had it been for some Saints if they had never known prosperity Secondly Let the intercession of Christ in Heaven for you encourage you to constancy in the good ways of God To this duty it sweetly encourages also Heb. 4.14 Seeing then that we have a great High-Priest that is passed into the Heavens Iesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession Here is incouragement to perseverance on a double account One is that Jesus our head is already in Heaven and if the head be above water the body cannot drown The other is from the business he is there imployed about which is his Priesthood he is passed into the Heavens as our great High-Priest to intercede and therefore we cannot miscarry Thirdly Let it incourage you to constancy in prayer O do not neglect that excellent duty seing Christ is there to present all your petitions to God Yea to perfume as well as present them So the Apostle Heb. 4.16 infers from Christs intercession Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need Fourthly Hence be encouraged to plead for Christ on earth who continually pleads for you in Heaven If any accuse you he is there to plead for you And if any dishonour him on earth see that you plead his interest and defend his honour Thus you have heard what his intercession is and what benefits we receive by it Blessed be God for Iesus Christ. The FOURTEENTH
he goeth to another come and he cometh meaning that as his souldiers were at his beck and command so diseases were at Christs beck to come and go as he ordered them Secondly Study the wisdom of Christ in the contrivance of your troubles And his wisdom shines out many waies in them It 's evident in choosing such kinds of troubles for you This and not that because this is more apt to work upon and purge out the corruption that most predominates in you In the decrees of your troubles Suffering them to work to such an height else not reach their end but no higher least they overwhelm you Thirdly Study the tenderness and compassions of Christ over his afflicted O think if the Devil had but the mixing of my cup how much more bitter would he make it There would not be one drop of mercy no not of sparing mercy in it which is the lowest of all sorts of mercy But here is much mercy mixed with my troubles There is mercy in this that it is no worse Am I afflicted it 's the Lords mercy I am not consumed Lam. 3.22 it might have been Hell as well as this There is mercy in his supports under it Others have and I might have been left to sink and perish under my burdens Mercy in deliverance out of it This might have been everlasting darkness that should never have had a morning O the tenderness of Christ over his afflicted Fourthly Study the love of Christ to thy soul in affliction Did he not love thee he would not sanctifie a rod to humble or reduce thee but let thee alone to rot and perish in thy sin Rev. 3.19 whom I love I rebuke and chasten This is the device of love to recover thee to thy God and prevent thy ruine O what an advantage would it be thus to study Christ in all your evils that befal you Secondly Eye and study Christ in all the good you receive from the hand of providence Turn both sides of your mercies and view them in all their lovely circumstances First Eye them in their suitableness How conveniently Providence hath ordered all things for thee Thou hast a narrow heart and a small estate suitable to it Hadst thou more of the world it would be like a large sail to a little boat which would quickly pull thee under water Thou hast that which is most suitable to thee of all conditions Secondly Eye the seasonableness of thy mercies how they are timed to an hour Providence brings forth all its fruits in due season Thirdly Eye the peculiar nature of thy mercies Others have common thou special ones Others have but a single thou a double sweetness in thy enjoyments one natural from the matter of it another spiritual from the way in which and end for which it comes Fourthly Observe the order in which providence sends you your mercies See how one is linked strangely to another and is a door to let in many Sometimes one mercy is introductive to a thousand Fifthly and Laslty Observe the constancy of them they are new every morning Lam. 3.23 How assiduously doth God visit thy soul and body Think with thy self if there were but a suspension of the care of Christ for one hour that hour would be thy ruine Thousands of evils stand round about thee watching when Christ will but remove his eye from thee that they may rush in and devour thee Could we thus study the providence of Christ in all the good and evil that befalls us in the world then in every state we should be content Phil. 4.11 Then we should never be stopt but furthered in our way by all that falls out Then would our experiences swell to great volumes which we might carry to Heaven with us And then should we answer all Christs ends in every state he brings us into Do this and say Thanks be to God for Iesus Christ. The EIGHTEENTH SERMON PHIL. II. VIII And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross. YOU have heard how Christ was invested with the Offices of Prophet Priest and King for the carrying on the blessed design of our Redemption the excution of these Offices necessarily required that he should be both deeply abased and highly exalted He cannot as our Priest offer up himself a Sacrifice to God for us except he be humbled and humbled to death He cannot as a King powerfully apply the vertue of that his Sacrifice except he be exalted yea highly exalted Had he not stooped to the low estate of a man he had not as a Priest had a Sacrifice of his own to offer as a Prophet he had not been fit to teach us the will of God so as that we should be able to bear it as a King he had not been a suitable head to the Church And had he not been highly exalted that Sacrifice had not been carried within the vail before the Lord. Those discoveries of God could not have been universal effectual and abiding The Government of Christ could not have secured protected and defended the Subjects of his Kingdom The infinite wisdom prospecting all this ordered that Christ should first be deeply humbled then highly exalted both which states of Christ are presented to us by the Apostle in this context He that intends to build high lays the foundation deep and low Christ must have a distinct glory in Heaven transcending that of Angels and men For the Saints will know him from all others by his glory as the Sun is known from the lesser Stars And as he must be exalted infinitely above them so he must first in order thereunto be humbled and abased as much below them His form was mar'd more than any mans and his visage more than the Sons of men The ground colours are a deep sable which afterward are laid on with all the splendor and glory of Heaven Method requires that we first speak to this state of Humiliation And to that purpose I have read this Scripture to you which pesents you the Sun under an almost total eclipse He that was beautiful and glorious Isai. 4.2 Yea glorious as the only begotten of the Father Ioh. 1.14 yea the glory Iames 2.1 Yea the splendor and brightness of the Fathers glory Heb. 1.3 was so vail'd clouded and debased that he looked not like himself a God no nor scarce as a man for with reference to this humbled state it 's said Psal. 22.6 I am a worm and no man q. d. rather write me worm than man I am become an abject among men as that word Isai. 53.3 signifies This humiliation of Christ we have here expressed in the nature degrees and duration or continuance of it First The nature of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he humbled himself The word imports both are all and voluntary abasement Real he did not personate a humbled man nor act the part of one in
of blessing but he knew the effect the real blessing it self depended upon God And though he blessed authoritatively yet not potestatively i. e. he could as the mouth of God pronounce blessings but could not confer them Thus he blessed his Children as his Father Isaack has also blessed him before he died Gen. 28.3 and all these blessings were delivered prayerwise Now when Jesus Christ comes to die he will bless his Children also And therein will discover how much dear and tender love he had for them having loved his own which were in the world he loved them to the end Joh. 13.1 the last Act of Christ in this world was an act of blessing Luk. 24.50 51. To prepare this point for use I will here open First The mercies which Christ requested of the Father for them Secondly The Arguments used by him to obtain these mercies Thirdly Why he thus pleaded for them when he was to die Fourthly and Lastly How all this gives full evidence of Christs tender care and love to his people First We will enquire what those mercies and special favours were which Christ beg'd for his people when he was to die And we find among others these five special mercies desired for them in this context First The mercy of preservation both from sin and danger so in the text Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me which is explained vers 15. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil We in ours and the Saints that are gone in their respective generations have reaped the fruit of this prayer How else comes it to pass that our souls are persecuted amidst such a world of Temptations and these assisted and advantaged by our own corruptions How is it else that our persons are not ruined and destroyed amidst such multitudes of potent and malitious enemies that are set on fire of Hell Surely the preservation of the burning bush of the three children amidst the flames of Daniel in the den of Lyons are not greater wonders than these our eyes do daily behold As the fire would have certainly consumed and the Lyons without doubt have rended and devoured had not God by the interposition of his own hand stopt and hindered the effect so would the sin that is in us and the malice that is in others quickly ruine our souls and bodies were it not that the same hand gardâ— and keeps us every moment To that hand into which this prayer of Christ delivered your souls and bodies do you owe all your mercies and Salvations both Temporal and Spiritual Secondly Another mercy he prays for is the blessing of union among themselves This he joins immediately with the first mercy of preservation and prays for it in the same breath vers 11. that they may be one as we are And well might he joyn them together in one breath for this union is not only a choise mercy in it self but a special means of that preservation he had prayed for before Their union one with another is a special means to preserve them all Thirdly A third desirable mercy that Christ earnestly prayed for was that his joy might be fulfilled in them vers 13. He would provide for their joy even when the hour of his greatest sorrow was at hand Yea he would not only obtain joy for them but a full joy that my joy may be fulfilled in them It is as if he had said O my Father I am to leave these dear ones in a world of troubles and perplexities I know their hearts will be subject to frequent despondencies O let me obtain the cordials of divine joy for them before I go I would not only have them live but live joyfully Provide for their fainting hours reviving cordials Fourthly And as a continued spring to maintain all the forementioned mercies He prays they all may be sanctified through the word of truth vers 17. i. e. more abundantly sanctified than yet they were by a deeper radication of gratious habits and principles in their hearts This is a singular mercy in it self to have holiness spreading it self over and through their sâ—uls as the light of the morning Nothing is for it self more desirable And it 's also a singular help to their perseverance union and spiritual joy which he had prayed for before and are all advanced by their increasing Sanctification Fifthly Lastly As the complement and perfection of all desireable mercies he prays that they may be with him where he is to behold his glory vers 24. This is their best and ultimate priviledge they are capable of The end of his coming down from Heaven and returning thither again All runs into this to bring many Sons and daughters unto glory You see Christ asks no trifles no small things for his people No mercies but the best that both worlds afford will suffice him on their behalf Secondly Let us see how he follows his requests and with what arguments he pleads with the Father for these things And among others I shall single out six choice ones which are urged in this Text or the immediate context First Argument is drawn from the joint interest that both himself and Father have in the persons for whom he prays All mine are thine and thine are mine vers 10. As if he should say Father behold and consider the persons I pray for they are not aliens but children yea they are thy children as well as mine The very same on whom thou hast set thy eternal love and in that love hast given them unto me So that they are both thine and mine Great is our interest in them and interest draws care and tenderness Every one cares for his own provides for and secures his own Propriety even amongst creatures is fundamental to our labour care and watchfulness They would not so much prize life health estates or children if they were not their own Lord these are thine own by many ties and titles O therefore keep comfort sanctifie and save them for they are thine What a mighty plea is this Surely Christians your Intercessor is skilful in his work your Advocate wants no eloquence or ability to plead for you The Second Argument and that a powerful one treads as I may say upon the very heel of the former in the next words And I am glorified in them q. d. My glory and honour is infinitely dear to thee I know thy heart is set intently upon the exalting and glorifying of thy Son now what glory have I in the world but what comes from my people Others neither can nor will glorifie me Nay I am daily blasphemed and dishonoured by them These are they from whom my active glory and praise in the world must rise 'T is true both thou and I have glory from other creatures objectively the works that we have made and imprest our power wisdom and goodness upon do so glorifies us And honour
grace which he had not and therefore we cannot expect such extraordinary and unusual conversions as he had This poor creature never heard in all likelihood one Sermon preached by Christ or any of the Apostles He lived the life of a Highway man and concerned not himself about Religion but we have Christ preached freely and constantly in our Assemblies We have line upon line and precept upon precept And when God affords the ordinary preaching of the Gospel he doth not use to work wonders When Israel was in the Wilderness then God baked their bread in Heaven and clave the Rocks to give them drink but when they came to Canaan where they had the ordinary means of subsistance the manna ceased Reason 2. Secondly Such a conversion as this may not be ordinarily expected by any man because such a time as that will never come again It 's possible if Christ were to die again and thou to be crucified with him thou mightest receive thy conversion in such a miraculous and extraordinary way but Christ dies no more Such a day as that will never come again Mr. Fenner in his excellent discourse upon this point tells us that as this was an extraordinary time Christ being now to be installed in his Kingdom and Crowned with glory and honour so extraordinary things were now done as when Kings are Crowned the Streets are richly hanged the Conduits run with wine great Malefactors are then pardoned for then they shew their munificence and bounty it is the day of the gladness of their hearts But let a man come at another time to the Conduits he shall find no wine but ordinary water there Let a man be in the Goal at another time and he may be hanged yea and hath no reason but to expect and prepare for it What Christ did now for this man was at an extraordinary time Reason 3. Thirdly Such a conversion as this may not ordinarily be expected for as such a time will never come again so there will never be the like reason for such a conversion any more Christ converted him upon the Cross to give an instance of his divine power at that time when it was almost wholy clouded Look as in that day the divinity of Christ brake forth in several miracles as the preternatural eclipse of the Sun The great earthquake the rending of the Rocks and vail of the Temple So in the conversion of this man in such an extraordinary way and all to give evidence of the divinity of Christ and prove him to be the Son of God whom they crucified But that is now sufficiently confirmed and there will be no more occasion for miracles to evidence it Reason 4. Fourthly None hath reason to expect the like conversion that enjoys the ordinary means because though in this convert we have a pattern of what free grace can do yet as Divines pertinently observe it 's a pattern without a promise God hath not added any promise to it that ever he will do so for any other And where we have not a promise to encourage our hope our hope can signifie but little to us Inference 1. Let those that have found mercy in the evening of their life admire the extraordinary grace that therein hath appeared to them O that ever God accept the Bran when Satan hath had the Flour of thy days The forementioned reverend Author tells us of one Marcus Cajus Victorius a very aged man in the primitive times who was converted from Heathenism to Christianity in his old age This man came to Simplicianus a Minister and told him he heartily owned and embraced the Christian faith But neither he nor the Church would trust him for a long time And the reason was the unusualness and strangeness of a conversion at such an age But after he had given them good evidence of the reallity thereof there were acclamations and singing of Psalms the people every where crying Marcus Caâ—us Victorius is become a Christian. This was written for a wonder Oh if God have wrought such wondrous salvations for any of you what cause have you to do more for him than others What to pluck you out of Hell when one foot was in To appear to you at last when so hardned by long custom in sin that one might say can the Ethiopian change his hue or the Leopard his spots O what riches of mercy have appeared to you Inference 2. Let this convince and startle such as even to their gray hairs remain in an unconverted state who are where they were when they first came into the world yea rather farther off by much Bethink your selves ye that are full of days and full of sin whose time is almost done and your great work not yet begun Who have but a few sands more in the upper part of the glass to run down and then your conversion will be impossible Your sun is setting your night is coming the shadows of the evening are stretched out upon you you have one foot in the grave and the other in Hell O think if all sense and tenderness be not withered up as well as natural verdure think with your selves how sad a case you are in God may do wonders but they are not seen every day then they would cease to be wondred at O strive strive while you have a little time and a few helps and means more Strive to get that work accomplished now that was never done yet Defer it no longer you have done so too much already It may be to use Seneca's expression you have been these sixty seventy or eighty years beginning to live about to change your practice but hitherto you still continue the same Do not you see how Satan hath gulled and cheated you with vain purposes till he hath brought you to the very brinks of the grave and Hell O 't is time now to make a stand and pause a little where you are and to what he hath brought you The Lord at last give you an eye to see and an heart to consider Inference 3. Lastly Let this be a call and caution to all young ones to begin with God betime and take heed of delays till the last as so many thousands have done before them to their eternal ruine Now is your time if you desire to be in Christ if you have any sense of the weight and worth of eternal things upon your hearts I know your age is voluptuous and delights not in the serious thoughts of death and eternity You are more inclined to mind your pleasures and leave these grave and serious matters to old age But let me perswade you against that by these considerations First Oh set to the business of Religion now because this is the moulding age Now your hearts are tender and your affections flowing Now is the time when you are most likely to be wrought upon Secondly Now because this is the freest part of your time It is in the morning
ascended you shall ascend to him personally hereafter oh that you would ascend to him Spiritually in acts of Faith Love and desires daily Sursum Corda up with your hearts was the form used by the Ancient Church at the Sacrament How good were it if we could say with the Apostle Phil. 3.21 Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for a Saviour An heart ascendant is the best evidence of your interest in Christs ascension Inference 2. Did Christ go to Heaven as a fore-runner What haste should we make to follow him He ran to Heaven he ran thither before us Did he run to glory and shall we linger Did he flee as an Eagle towards Heaven and we creep like snails Come Christians lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset you and run with patience the Race set before you looking unto Iesus Heb. 12.1 2. The Captain of our Salvation is entred within the gates of the new Ierusalem and calls to us out of Heaven to hasten to him proposing the greatest incouragements to them that are following after him saying he that overcomes shall sit with me in my Throne as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne Rev. 3.21 How tedious should it seem to us to live so long at a distance from our Lord Jesus our Life Inference 3. Did Christ ascend so triumphantly leading Captivity Captive How little reason then have believers to fear their conquered enemies Sin Satan and every enemy was in that day led away in triumph dragged at Christs Chariot wheels Brought after him as it were in Chains 'T is a lovely sight to see the necks of those Tyrants under the foot of our Ioshuah He made at that day an open shew of them Col. 2.15 Their strength is broken for ever In this he shewed himself more than a conqueror for he conquered and triumphed too Satan was then trod under his feet And he hath promised to tread him under our feet also and that shortly Rom. 16.20 Some power our enemies yet retain the Serpent may bruise our heel but Christ hath crusht his head Inference 4. Did Christ ascend so munificently shedding forth so many mercies upon his people Mercies of inestimable value reserved on purpose to adorn that day O then see that you abuse not those most pretious ascension gifts of Christ but value and improve them as the choicest mercies Now the Ascension gifts as I told you are either the Ordinances and Officers of the Church for he then gave them Pastors and Teachers or the Spirit that furnisht the Church with all its gift Beware you abuse not either of these First Abuse not the Ordinances and Officers of Christ. This is a sin that no Nation is plunged deeper into the guilt of it thâ—n this Nation And no Age more than this Surely God hath written to us the great things of his Law and we have accounted them small things We have been loose wanton sceptical professors for the most part that have had nice and coy stomachs that could not relish plain wholesom truths except so and so modified to our humors For this the Lord hath a Controversie with the Nation and by a sore Judgement he hath begun to rebuke this sin already And I doubt before he make an end plain truths will down with us and we shall bless God for them Secondly But in the next place see that you abuse not the Spirit whom Christ hath sent from Heaven at his ascension to supply his bodily absence among us and is the great pledge of his care for and tender love to his people Now take heed that you dont vex him by your disobedience Nor greive him by your unkindnesses Nor quench him by your sinful neglects of duty or abuse of light O deal kindly with the Spirit and obey his voice Comply with his designs and yield up your selves to his guidance and conduct Methinks to be intreated by the Love of the Spirit Rom. 15.30 Should be as great an Argument as to be intreated for Christs sake Now to perswade all the Saints to be tender of grieving the Spirit by sin let me urge a few Considerations proper to the point under hand And Consid. 1. First He was the first and principal mercy that Christ received for you at his first entrance into Heaven It was the first thing he asked of God when he came to Heaven So he speaks Ioh. 14.16 17. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you No sooner had he set foot upon the place but the first thing the great thing that was upon his heart to ask the Father for us was that the Spirit might be forthwith dispatcht and sent down to his people So that the spirit is the first-born of mercies And deserves the first place in our hearts and esteems Consid. 2. Secondly The Spirit comes not in his own name to us though if so he deserves a dear welcome for his own sake and for the benefits we receive by him which are inestimable but he comes to us in the name and in the loves both of the Father and Son As one authorized and delegated by them Bringing his Credentials under both their hands and seals Ioh. 15.26 But when the Comforter is come whom I will send to you from the Father Mark I will send him from the Father and in Ioh. 14.26 The Father is said to send him in Christs name So that he is the messenger that comes from both these great and holy persons And if you have any Love for the God that made you any kindness for Christ that died for you shew it by your obedience to the Spirit that comes from them both and in both their names to us and who will be both offended and grieved if you grieve him O therefore give him an enterâ—ainment worthy of one that comes to you in the name of the Lord. In the Fathers name and in the Sons name Consid. 3. Thirdly But that is not the only consideration that should cause you to beware of grieving the Spirit because he is sent in the name of such great and dear persons to you but he deserves better entertainment than any of the Saints give him for his own sake and upon his own account and that upon a double score viz. Of his Nature and Office First On the account of his Nature for he is God Co-equal with the Father and Son in Nature and digniâ—y 2 Sam. 23.23 The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue the God of Israel said the Rock of Israel spake to me So that you see he is God The rock of Israel God omnipotent for he created all things Gen. 1.2 God omnipresent filling all things Psal. 139.7 God omniscient who knows your hearts Rom. 9.1 Beware of him therefore and grieve him not for in so doing you grieve God Secondly Upon
Rock they refuse to return Will not your very Relations be your accusers To whom you have failed in all your relational duties Yea and every one whom you have tempted to sin abused defrauded over-reacht all these will be your accusers So that it is without dispute you will have accusers enough to appear against you Thirdly Being accused before Jesus Christ what will you plead for your selves Will you confess or will you deny the charge If you confess what need more Out of thine own mouth will I Iudge thee saith Christ Luk. 19.22 If you deny and plead not guilty thy Judge is the searcher of hearts and knows all things So that it will not at all help thee to make a lye thy last refuge This will add to the guilt but not cover it Fourthly If no defence or plea be left thee then what canst thou imagine should retard the Sentence Why should not Christ go on to that dreadful work Must not the Iudge of all the Earth do right Gen. 18.25 Must he not render to every man according to his deeds 2 Cor. 5.10 Yes no question but he will proceed to that Sentence how terrible so ever it be to you to think on it now or hear it then Fifthly To conclude if Sentence be once given by Christ against thy Soul what in all the world canst thou imagine should hinder the Execution Will he alter the thing that is gone out of his mouth No Psal. 89.34 Dost thou hope he is more merciful and pitiful than so Thou mistakest if thou expectest mercy out of that way in which he dispenses it There will be thousands and ten thousands that will rejoyce in and magnifie his mercy then but they are such as obeyed his call repented believed and obtained union with his person here but for unbelievers it 's against the settled Law of Christ and constitution of the Gospel to shew mercy to the despisers of it But it may be you think your tears your cryes your pleadings with him may move him these indeed might have done somewhat in time but they come out of season now Alas too late What the success of such pleas and cries will be you may see if you will but consult two Scriptures Iob 27.8 9. What is the hope of the Hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his Soul Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him No no and Matth. 7.22 Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not Prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out Devils and in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity And must it come to this Dismal Issue with you indeed God forbid it should Oh then Inference 3. If Christ be appointed of God to be the Judge of all How are all concerned to secure their interest in him and therein an eternity of happiness to their own souls by the work of regeneration Of all the business that men and women have in this world there is none so solemn so necessary and important as this O my Brethren this is a work able to drink up your Spirits whiâ—◠〈◊〉 do but think of the consequences of it Summon in then thy self-reflecting and considering powers get alone Reader and forgetting all other things ponder with thy self this deep dear and eternal concernment of thine Examine the state of thine own soul. Look into the Scriptures then into thine own heart and then to Heaven saying Lord let me not be deceived in so great a concernment to me as this O let not the trifles of time wipe off the impressions of Death Judgement and Eternity from thy heart O that long word Eternity that it might be night and day with thee That the awe of it may be still upon thy Spirit A Gentlewoman of this Nation having spent the whole Afternoon and a great part of the Evening at Cards in much mirth and jollity came home late at night and finding her waiting Gentlewoman reading she lookt over her shoulder upon the Book and said poor melancholy soul why dost thou sit here poring so long upon thy Book That night she could not sleep but lay sighing and weeping her servant asked her once and again what ailed her at last she burst out into tears and said O it was one word that I cast my eye upon in thy Book that troubles me there I saw that word Eternity How happy were I if I were provided for Eternity Sure it concerns us seeing we look for such things to be diligent that we may be found of him in Peace O let not that day come by surprizal upon you Remember that as Death leaves so Judgement will find you Inference 4. Is Jesus Christ appointed Judge of quick and dead then look to it all you that hope to be found of him in peace that you avoid those sins and live in the daily practice of those duties which the consideration of that day powerfully perswades you to avoid or practise For it not only presses us to holiness in actu primo in the being of it but in actu secundo in the daily exercise and practice of it Do you indeed expect such a day O then First See you be meek and patient under all injuries and abuses for Christs sake Avenge not your selves but leave it to the Lord who will do it Don't anticipate the work of God Be patient my Brethren to the coming of the Lord Jam 5.7 8 9. Secondly Be Communicative publick hearted Christians studying and devising liberal things for Christs distressed members And you shall have both an honourable remembrance of it and a full reward of it in that day Matth. 25.34 35. Thirdly Be watchful and sober keep the Golden bridle of moderation upon all your affections And see that ye be not over charged with the cares and love of this present life Luk. 21.34 35. Will you that your Lord come and find you in such a posture O let your moderation be known to all the Lord is at hand Phil. 4.5 Fourthly Improve all your Masters Talents diligently and faithfully Take heed of the Napkin Matth. 25.14 18. Then must you make up your account for them all Fifthly But above all be sincere in your profession Let your hearts be found in Gods Statutes that you may never be ashamed for this day will be the day of manifestation of all hidden things And nothing is so secret but that day will reveal it Luk. 12.1 2 3. Beware of Hypocrisie for there is nothing covered which shall not be revealed neither hid that shall not be made known Thus I have finished through Divine aids the whole Doctrine of the Impetration of Redemption by Jesus Christ we shall winde up the whole in a General Exhortation and I have done The General USE AND now to close up all let me perswade all those for whom