think the Lord pardons your sinnes because you have been lesse sinners then others or if you think the Lord will not pardon your sinnes because you are greater sinners then any else you sin exceedingly against the riches of Gods grace in this point What is the meane by which the Father doth thus justifie T is for the satisfaction or by the price of the redemption of Christ Rom. 3.25 Rom. 5.10 Eph. 1.7 for Mercy would but Justice could not forgive without satisfaction for the wrong done Hence Christ satisfies that Grace and mercy might have their full scope of forgiving So that neither works before conversion which are but glistering sins Rom. 1.18 nor works of grace in us after conversion can be causes of our Justification for Abraham when he was justified and sanctified yet had not whereof to boast but beleeved in him that justified the ungodly Rom. 4.5 And the Apostle Paul saith expresly We that believe have beleeved that we might be justified Gal. 2.16 t is therefore the price of Christs redemption which doth procure our justification But understand this aright for this price is not applyed to each particular man as the common price redeeming all for then every Beleever should be accounted a saviour and redeemer of all but as the price of those soules in particular to whom it is specially intended and particularly applyed Christs righteousnesse is sufficient to justifie all to whom it is imputed but it is no further imputed then to the attaining the end of imputation viz. to justifie and save me in particular not to make me a head of the Church or a common Saviour it argues a man weakly principled that denies the necessity of Christs satisfaction to our Justification because forsooth every Beleever should then be a Redeemer By Satisfaction I understand the whole obedience of Christ unto the very death which is both active and passive by which we are justified Heb. 10.10 Phil. 2.8 that righteousnesse of Christ wrought in his satisfaction is imputed which satisfies the Law and divine Justice Gal. 4.1 2 3 4. which is both active and passive the very reason why the Law requires perfect obedience of us which we cannot possibly bring before God is that wee might seek for it in Christ that fulfilled all righteousnesse and therefore he is called the end of the Law for righteousnesse Rom. 10.3 4. And it is strange that any should deny Justification by Christs active obedience upon this ground viz. because that by the works of the Law which satisfy the Law shall no sinner be justified and yet withall say that we are justified by that which satisfies the Law This righteousnesse of Christ is not that of the God-head for then what need was there for Christ to doe or suffer but that which was wrought in the Man-hood And hence it is finite in it selfe though infinite in value in that it was the righteousnesse of such a person This righteousnesse of God-man may be considered two wayes First absolutely in it selfe Secondly respectively as done for us 1. Christs absolute righteousnesse is not imputed to us viz. as he is Mediatour Head of the Church having the Spirit without measure which is next to infinite c. for though these things are applyed for our good yet they are not imputed as our righteousnesse and therefore the objection vanisheth which saith we cannot be justified by Christs righteousnesse because it is of such infinite perfection 2. The respective or dispensative righteousnesse which some call justitia fidejussoria is that whereby Christ is just for us in fulfilling the Law in bearing Gods Image we once had and have now lost by sin and thus we are truly said to be as righteous as Christ by imputation because hee kept the Law for us and here observe that the question is not whether all that Christ did and had is imputed to us as our righteousnesse but whether all that he did pro nobis for us as a surety in fulfilling the Law be not for substance our righteousnesse and therefore to think that we are not justifyed by Christs righteousnesse because then we are justifyed by his working of miracles preaching of Sermons which women are not regularly capable of is but to cast blocks before the blind so that though Christ doth not bestow his personall wisdome and justice upon another yet what hinders but that that which Christ doth by his wisdome and righteousnesse for another the same should stand good for him for whom it is done for thus it is in sundry cases among men Christs essentiall righteousnesse infinite wisdome fulnesse of spirit without measure c. is not imputed to us yet these have conspired together to doe that for us and suffer that for us by which we come to bee accounted righteous before God hee shall be called the Lord our righteousnesse Ier. 23.6 This righteousnesse therefore imputed to us justifies us Rom. 5.18 we are said to be made the righteousnesse of God in him not the righteousnesse of God whereby he is just but whereby we are just opposed to the righteousnesse of man which is called our owne righteousnesse Rom. 10.3 Rom. 1.17 Not righteousnesse from him as the Papists dreame but righteousnesse in him nor remission by Christ only but righteousnesse in Christ this imputed justifies as sin imputed condemnes Who are the persons the Lord doth justifie They are beleevers we are justifyed by faith Rom. 5. or for Christs righteousnesse apprehended by faith Phil. 3.9 it is by faith not as a work of grace but as by an instrument appointed of God for this end Christ did not dye that our sins should be actually and immediately pardoned but mediately by Faith Iohn 3.16 Iohn 17.20 and the Lord in wisdome hath appointed this as the only means of applying righteousnes because this above all other graces cast down all the righteousnesse of man in point of justification and so all cause of boasting and advanceth grace and mercy only Rom. 3.27 Rom. 4.16 Rom. 4.5 Rom. 9.30 31 32. the faithfull account themselves ungodly in the businesse of justification and thence it is said that Abraham though a godly man in himselfe yet beleeved in him that justifies the ungodly he only is righteous whom God pronounceth and saith is righteous Now Faith above all other graces beleeves the word and a Beleever saith I beleeve I am righteous before God not because I feele it so in my selfe but because God saith I am so in his Son so that you are not justified before you beleeve nor then only when you have performed many holy duties but at the first instant of your closing with Christ you are then to see it and by Faith to admire Gods rich grace for it What is the extent of this sentencâ— The description saith that Christs satisfaction thus applyed the Father doth two things 1. He absolves them from all guilt and condemnation of sin so that in this sense
of it And is not this matter of great consolation to all those who feele themselves utterly unable to beleeve you think the Lord would give peace and pardon life and mercy if I could beleeve oh consider the Lord hath undertaken in the Covenant of Grace to worke in all his the condition of the Covenant as well as to convey the good of it Ier. 31.31 32 33 34. He hath done this for others by an irresistible power Heb. 12.1 2. Look up to Jesus the author and finisher of your faith he came out of his Fathers bosome not onely to give life by his death but to enable his to eat and close with him by Faith that they might never dye Iohn 6.50 so that the Lord may work it in thee it is true also he may not yet it is unspeakable comfort to consider that if the Lord had put it over unto thee to beleeve it is certaine thou shouldst never have beleeved but now the work is put into the hand of Christ that which is impossible to thee is possible nay easie with him hee can comprehend thee when thou canst not apprehend him this is exceeding sweet when thy body is sick and soule is deserted incredible things to be beleeved are propounded an impossible work to thy weaknesse urged upon paine of Gods sorest and most unappeasable wrath to consider it is not in me but in the Lords owne hand and it is his office his glory to work faith and as the Apostle speakes to shew mercy unto them that are shut up not onely under sinne but also unbeleefe Rom. 11.32 But why hath the Lord made thee feele thy inability to beleeve truly the end of our wants is not to make us sin and shift for our selves but to aske and seek for supply and the end of the continuance of those wants is that we should continue to aske and seek And dost thou thinke thou shalt seek to the Lord by his owne hand to create faith and fetch thee in and will not the Lord take his time to work it He that beleeves saith the Apostle Rom. 10.11 shall not bee ashamed why so because the Lord saith he who is over all is rich unto all that call upon him verse 12. If thou hast not a heart shut up from asking of it the Lord who hath power hath not a heart shut up towards thee from working it But withall be thankfull exceedingly all you whose hearts the Lord hath drawne and overcome he came to his owne people the Jewes and would oft have gathered them but they would not and therefore he forsook them and left their habitations desolate oh how oft would the Lord have gathered you and you would not yet the Lord hath not forsaken you but called you in whether you would or no the Lord hath taken many a man at his first word and left him at the first repulse shaken off the dust of his feet against him presently Mat. 10.14 without any more intreaties to accept of him yet though thou hast not only refused but even crucified the Sonne of God yet hee hath not been driven from thee but his bowels have been oft kindled together when he hath been ready to give thee up when thou hast been under the hedges and in the high-wayes that lead to death didst never think of him nor didst desire him yet hee hath compelled thee to come in hee hath made thee feel suâ—h an extream need of him and made himselfe so exceeding sweet that thou hast not been able to resist his love but to cry out Lord thou hast overcome me with mercy I am not able to resist any more nay which is more wonderfull when thou hast been gathered and gone from him and lost thy selfe and him also againe and it may be hast bin offended at him yet he hath gone before thee into Galilee and gathered thee up when thou hast been as water spilt upon the ground what should be the cause of this but only this the work of faith lies upon him both to begin and finish he must gather in all his lost sheep and therefore hee hath put forth an irresistible power of his Spirit upon thy heart which must carry thee captive after him I am afraid my faith hath been rather presumption a work of my owne power then faith wrought by the Spirits power how may I discerne that If you are wrapt up in Gods Covenant if any promise be actually yours it is no presumption to take possession by faith of what is your owne dost thou seriously will Christ and resolve never to give the Lord rest untill he give thee rest in him then see Rev. 22.17 Whosoever will let him take of the water of life Dost thou thirst after Christ then read Esay 55.1 〈…〉 Iohn 7.37 If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink When Christ saw their faith Mat. 9.1 2. what said he Sonne be of good cheere thy sinnes be forgiven the word signifies be confident It is no presumption to beleeve pardon of sinnes now thou art come unto me not onely for the healing of thy body but especially for pardon of sinne It is the great sin of many Saints when they doe thirst and beleeve and come to Christ and so are under the promise of grace yet they think it presumption now to believe and take possession of all those treasures that be in Christ but look that the Lord should first make them feele and then they will beleeve whereas faith should now receive and drinke in abundantly of the fulnesse of Christ shall it be accounted presumption for any man to eat his owne bread and drink his owne drink and put on his owne cloathes the promise makes Christ and all his benefits your owne therefore it is no presumption to apply them Suppose you cannot find your selfe within any promise and you see no reason to beleeve onely you have the Lords call and command to beleeve doe you now in conscience and obedience to this command or to Gods invitation and intreaty in the Gospell beleeve because thou â—â—rest not dishonour God by refusing his 〈◊〉 thou dost therefore accept oâ— it this is no presumption unlesse obedience be presumption nay the most acceptable obedience which is the obedience of Faith Iohn 6.38 For what was the ground on which those 3000 beleeved Acts 2.38 39. c. Peter said Repent that you may receive remission of sinnes now what followes they that gladly received the word were baptized Oh that word repent i. e. as Beza expounds it return to God and come in was a most sweet word to them and therefore they received it this was no presumption either for Peter to exhort them to repent or for them to take the Lord as that godly man said at his first word I know there is a subjection to the Gospell arising only from slavish fear and carnall hopes Psal. 66.3 Psal. 18.44 this may bee in presumptuous reprobates but
with them in the same way as they doe Suppose some Reprobates doe see sin yet the Lord puts a secret vertue in that work of conviction upon thee which makes thee cry to heaven for a Spirit of brokennesse for sin which without this sight of sinne thou wouldst never so much as have desired and this they have not However conviction is a work of the Spirit though it should be but common and wilt not be thankfull for common mercy suppose it be but outward how much more for this that is spirituall though it should be common especially considering that it is the first fundamentall work of the Spirit and is seminally all Sense of sin begins here and ariseth hence as ignorance of sin is seminally all sin Remember that the discovery of Faux in the Vault was the preservation of England we use to remember the day and houre of the beginning of some great and notable deliverance oh remember this time wherein the love of Christ first brake out in convincing thee of thy sin who els hadst certainly perished in it And thus much of this first work of Conviction now the second followes Compunction SECT III. The second Act of Christs power in working Compunction or sense of sin COmpunction pricking at the heart or sense and feeling of sin is different from conviction of sin the latter is the work of the understanding and seated in that principally the other is in the affections and will and seated therein principally a man may have sight of sin without sorrow and sense of it Dan 5.22 with 20.21 Iames 1.24 Rom. 2.20 21. Yet that conviction which the Spirit workes in the Elect is ever accompanied with compunction first or last For the better unfolding of this point let me open these foure things to you 1. That compunction or sense of sin immediately follows conviction of sin in the day of Christs power 2. The necessity of this work to succeed the other 3. Wherein it consists 4. The measure of it in all the Elect. That compunction followes conviction is evident from Scripture and Reason Acts 2.37 When they heard this that is when they saw and were convinced of their sinne in crucifying the Lord of life which they did not imagine to be a sinne before what followes next it is said They were pricked at the heart Loe here is compunction Ephraim also in turning unto God Ier. 31.19 hath these words After that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh as men in great calamity befallen 〈◊〉 use to doe I was ashamed even confounded because I did beare the reproach of my youth The men of Nineveh hearing by the Prophet they were all to dye within forty daies it is said they beleeved God in the work of conviction and then fell to sack-cloth and ashes in the work of compunction which did immediately follow Iosiah 2 Chron. 34.27 in his renewed returne unto God after hee heard the words of the law his heart melted and he wept before the Lord. For what is the end of conviction is it not compunction for if the Lord should let a man see his sin and death for sinne and yet suffer the heart to remaine hard and unaffected the Lord did but leave him without excuse nay the Lord should but leave him under greater misery under a more fearfull judgement viz. for a man to see and know his sin and yet unaffected with it and hardned under it hardnesse of heart is one of the greatest judgements to see sinne and not to be affected with it argues greater hardnesse For it is no wonder if they that see not and know not sin remain senselesse of sin alas they know not what they doe but for a man to be enlightned and see his sinne and yet unaffected Lord how great is this hardnesse and how unexcusable will such a man be left before God when the Lord shall reckon with him for his hardnesse of heart â— What is the end of that light the Lord lets into the understanding in other things is it not that thereby the heart might be affected throughly with it Why doth the Lord let in the light of the knowledge of Christ and of his will Is it that this knowledge should like froth float in the understanding and be imprisoned there No verily but that the heart might be throughly and deeply affected therewith And doe you think the Lord will in the light of conviction imprison it up in the mind is there not a farther end that by this light the heart might be deeply affected with sinne if any say that the end of conviction is to drive the soule to Christ I grant that is the remote and last end of it but the next end is compunction For if the understanding be convinced of misery and the heart remain hard the mind may see indeed that righteousnesse and life only is to be had in Christ yet the heart remaining hard the wil and affections will never stir toward Christ its impossible a hard heart remaining such wholly unaffeâ—ted with sin or misery should be truly affected with Jesus Christ but of this more hereafter What necessity is there of this compunction to succeed conviction I speak now of necessity in way of ordinary dispensation not of Gods unusuall and extraordinary way of working where hee useth neither Law nor Gospell as ordinaâ—rily he doth to work by Many have been nibling lately at this doctrine and demand What need is there of sorrow and compunction of heart A man may be converted only by the Gospell and God may let in sweetnesse and joy without any sense of sinne or misery and in my experience I have found it so others godly and gracious also feele it so why therefore doe any presse such a necessity of comming in by this back-doore unto Christ This point I conceive is very weighty and much danger in denying the truth of it yet withall there needs much tendernesse in handling of it lest any stumble and therefore before I lay downe the reasons to shew the necessity of it give me leave to propound these rules both for the clearing of the point and answering sundry objections usually made about this point In this work of compunction doe not think that the Lord hath not wrought any true sense of sinne because you find it not in such a measure as you imagine you should desire to have and that others feele sense of sin admits degrees I doubt not but Iosephs brethren were humbled yet Ioseph must be more he must be cast into the ditch and into the prison and the iron must enter not onely into his legs but into his soule Psal. 105.18 He must be more afflicted in spirit because he was to doe greater work for God and was to be raised up higher then the rest and therefore did need the more ballast some are educated more civilly then others and thereby have contracted lesse guilt and stoutnesse of heart
will say May not the sweetnesse of Christ in the Gospell and sense of mercy separate from sinne without any compunction I answer 1. Sense of mercy and Christs sweetnesse I conceive serve principally to draw the soule unto Christ. Ier. 31.3 With loving kindnesse have I drawn thee But compunction or sense of â—inne principally serves in the hand of Christ to turn the soule from sin Aversion from sin is distinct from and in order goes before our conversion unto God 2. Sense of the sweetnesse of Gods grace in Christ keeps out sin but it doth not thrust out sin at first 3. Christ cannot be effectually sweet unlesse sinne be first made bitter there may be some generall notice of Christs excellency and some thirty pieces given for him some esteeme of his grace and hope of his mercy which may occasion sorrow but I dare not say that this is any sound or thorow work till after sorrow Esay 50.4 Christ hath the tongue of the learned given him to speak a word in season Unto whom It is added unto the weary They are the men that will prize mercy and they onely to purpose they that have felt the bitternesse of sinne and wrath find it exceeding hard to prize Christ and to taste his sweetnesse how shall they doe it indeed that find none at all Sweetnesse before sense of sinne is like Cordials before purging of a foule stomach which usually strengthen the humour but recover not the man Because without this no man will either care for Christ or feele a need of Christ a man may see a want of Christ by the power of conviction but he will never feele a need of Christ but by the spirit of compunction The whole need not the Physitian but they that are sick A whole man may see his want of a Physitian but a sick man onely feels his need of him will prize him send for him By the whole you are not to understand such as have no need indeed of Christ for what sinner but hath need of him but such as feel no need of him as by sick cannot be meant such as are sinfull and miserable for then Christ should come actually to save all men but those that did feele themselves so as a sick man that feeles his sicknesse these onely are the men that feele a need and necessity of Christ these onely will come to Christ and be glad of Christ and be truly thankfull for their recovery of Christ. And hence ariseth the great sin of the world in despising the Gospel not at all affected with the glad tidings of it because they are not affected with their sinne and misery or if they be affected but in part with the Gospel it is because they are not throughly affected with their misery before And hence it is that when the Lord called his people to him yet they would not come to him because they were Lords and well enough without him Why did not they come to the Supper being invited it was because they had farms and oxen and wives to attend unto they felt no need of comming as the poore lame blind and halt did The Prodigall cares not for father nor fathers house untill hee come to see Here I dye It is true the grace of the Gospel drawes men unto Christ but it is very observable that the Gospel reveales no grace but with respect and in reference unto sinners and men in extreame misery the Gospel saith not that Christ is come to save but to save sinners and to save his people from their sins It reveales not this that God justifies men but he justifies the ungodly it reveales not this that Christ dyed for us but that he dyed for them that were weak for sinners for enemies And if so can any man imagine that this newes will be sweet unlesse men see and feele the infinite misery of sin and the fruits of it will not men say or think What great matter is there in that Suppose we be sinners and enemies yet we are well enough before Christ come a mans life lies in his sinne Now suppose any should proclaime to a company of men the great favour of their Prince toward them that he is such a gracious Prince as will take away all their lives will this be glad tidings Gospel Grace cannot be set out much lesse felt but in reference to sin and misery which must be first felt before it can be sweet Because Christ will never come but onely unto such as feele their misery for you will say A man may come to Christ without it I say againe if he doth as hee hath many followers yet Christ will not come to him nor commit himselfe to him I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance in which place note that as by the righteous is not meant such as are sincerely so but such as think and find themselves so so by sinners is not meant all manner of impenitent and hard hearted sinners but such as think and feele themselves such and lament under it now God the Father sent him only unto such he is sent not to heale the hard hearted but the broken hearted indeed he is sent to make men broken hearted who have hard hearts but he is not sent to heale them untill then the Lord leaves the ninety nine that need no repentance to wilder for ever the one lost sheep who feeles it selfe so and â—eeles a need of a Saviour to come and find it out who cannot come and find out him the Lord Jesus will come unto and unto him only leaving all the ninety nine This may lastly appeare by considering the end of mans fall into sin and the publishing of the Law to reveale sin and of the Gospell also in reference unto sin and misery why did the Lord suffer the fall of man what was his great plot in it it is apparent this that thereby way might be made for the greater manifestation of Gods grace in Christ. The Serpent poysons all mankind that the seed of the woman might have the glory of recovering some This was Gods last end The perdition of some of themselves being but subordinate unto this Rom. 9.22 23. Surely Adam might have glorified grace if he had stood and God had revealed his grace in preserving him made mutable from falling But the Lord saw grace should not be sufficiently advanced to its highest dignity by this and therefore suffers him actually to fall and that into an extreame depth of misery Now consider mans fall in it selfe cannot be a meane of glorifying grace but rather obscures all the glory of God how shall the Lord attaine his end then hereby truly if the Lord let men see and feele their fall and misery by it now grace offered will â—e accepted and glorified And therefore the Lord sends the law to reveale sin and make it exceeding sinfull
tumultuous complaints the deepest sorrowes run with least noyse If a man can have teares for outward losses and none for sins t is very suspitious whether he was ever truly sorrowfull for sinne Otherwise as the greatest joyes are not alway exprest in laughter so the greatest sorrowes are not alway exprest in shedding of teares what the measure of this great sorrow is we shall heare hereafter Thirdly it is a constant mourning for so it is here called a spirit of heavinesse as that woman that had a spirit of infirmity and was bowed downe many yeares Hannah constantly troubled is called a woman of a sorrowfull spirit 1 Sam. 1.12.15 As the spirit of pride and whoredome Hos. 4.12 â—is a constant frame where though the acts be sometime suspended yet the spirit remains so a spirit of mourning is such sorrow as though the acts of mourning be sometime hindred yet the spirit and spring remaines Hypocrites wil mourn under sin and misery but what is it it is the hanging down the head like a bull-rush in bad weather for a day Oh how many have pangs and gripes of sorrow and can quickly ease themselves again these mourners come to nothing in the conclusion I grant the sorrow and sadnesse of spirit may be interrupted but it returnes againe and never leaves the soule untill the Lord looke downe from heaven Lam. 3.48 49 50. The cause continues guilt and strength of sinne and therefore this effect continues Fourthly it is such a sorrow as makes way for gladnesse for so it is here said the Lord gives beauty for these ashes and hence it is no desperate hellish sorrow but usually mixt with sense of some mercy at least common and some hope not that which apprehends the object of hope particulary which is done in vocation but that the Lord may find out some way of saving it Ionah 3.9 Acts 2.37 which hope with sense of mercy waiting so long preserving from hell and death so oft c. doth not harden the heart as in reprobates but serve to break the more and to load it with greater sorrow thus the Lord works this sorrow in all his elect I know it is in a greater measure and from some other grounds after the soule is in Christ but this sorrow there is for substance mentioned for the reasons given if Christ hate you you shall mourne but never till it be too late if he love you you must mourne now how great and many are many of your sinnes how neare is your doome the Lord only knows how fearful your condemnation will be you have oft heard but yet how few of your hearts are sad and very heavie for these things sin is your pleasure not your sorrow you fly from sorrow as from a temptation of Satan who comes to trouble you and to lead you to despaire Davids eyes ran down with rivers of waters because others brake Gods law and Ieremy wisht he had a cottage in the wildernesse to mourne in and yet you doe not you cannot powre out one drop nor yet wish you had hearts to lament your owne sinnes but oh know it that when the Lord Christ comes hee will sad thy soule when hee comes to search thy old sores by the spirit of conviction he will make them smart and bleed abundantly by the spirit of compunction 3. Separation from sin is the third thing wherein compunction consists such a feare and sorrow for sin under a sinfull estate as separates the soule from sin is true compunction without which the Lord Christ cannot be had the soule is cut and wounded with sin by feare and sorrow but it is cut off by this stroake of the Spirit not from the being but from the growing power of sin from the wil to sin not from al sin in the wil which is mortified by a Spirit of holines after the soule is implanted into Christ for compunction contrition brokennesse of heart for sin call it what you will is opposite to hardnesse of heart which is in every sinner whiles Christ leaves him now in hardnesse as in a stone there is First insensiblenesse Secondly a close cleaving of all the parts together whereby it comes to passe that hard things make resistance of what is cast against them So in compunction there is nor only sensiblenesse of the evill of sin and death by feare and sorrow but such as makes a separation of that close union between sin and the soule and hence it is that the Lord abhorres all fastings humiliations prayers teares unlesse they be of this stamp and are accompanied with this effect The Lord flings the dung of their fastings and sorrowes in their faces because they did not breake the bonds of wickednesse to mourno for sin and misery and yet to be in thy sinne is the work of justice on the damned in hell and all the Devills at this day that are pincht with their black chains not loosened from them and not the work of the grace of Christ in the day of his power Hee that confesseth his sins shall have mercy that is true but remember the meaning of that confession in the next words and forsaketh he shall find mercy What is the end of the mother in laying worme-wood and gall upon her brest but that the child by tasting the bitternesse of it might be weaned and have his stomack and will turned from it what is the end of fear sorrow but by this to turn away the soule from sin This point is weighty and full of difficulty of great use and worthy of deep meditation For as the first wound and stroake of the Spirit is so it is in all other after-works of it both of faith and holinesse in the soule if this be right faith is right holinesse is right if this be imperfect or naught all is according to it afterward the greatest difficulty lies hâ—re to know what measure of separation from sin the Spirit makes here for after wee are in Christ then sinne is mortified how then is there any separation of the heart from it before it doth fully beleeve or what measure is there necessary here therefore I shall answer to the fourth and last particular viz. Fourthly what is that measure of compunction the Lord workes in all the elect So much compunction or sense of sinne is necessary as attaines the end of it now what is the end of it no other but that the soule being humbled might goe to Christ by faith to take away his sin the finis proximus or next end of compunction is humiliation that the soul may be so severed from sin as to renounce it selfe for it the finis remotus or last end is that being thus humbled it might goe unto Christ to take away sinne for beloved the condemnation of the world lies not so much in being sinfull under guilt and power of sin as in being unwilling the Lord Jesus should take it away this I say
it to them yet it sinkes againe because its foot is not stablisht upon the rock Christ but upon the weaknesse of the waters of its owne abilities and indeavours what therefore should the soule doe in this case to come to God it knowes not it cannot â—ly from him it dare not it shall not the spirit therefore by revealing how equall and just it is for the Lord never to regard or look after it more because it hath sinned and is still so sinfull makes it hereby to fall down prostrate in the dust before the Lord as worthy of nothing but shame and confusion and so kisseth the rod and turnes the other cheek unto the Lord even smiting of him acknowledging if the Lord shew mercy it will bee wonderfull if not yet the Lord is righteous and therefore hath no cause to quarrell against him for denying speciall mercy to him to whom hee doth not owe a bit of bread And now the soule is indeed humbled because it submits to be disposed of as God pleaseth thus the Church in her humiliation Lam. 3.22 having in the former part of the Chapter drunke the wormewood and the gall at last lies down and professeth it is the Lords mercy it is not consumed and verse 29. he puts his mouth to the dust if there may be any hope and verse 39. why should a living man complaine for the punishment of his sinne You think the Lord doth you wrong and neglects your good and his own glory too if he doth not give you peace and pardon grace and mercy even to the utmost of your asking and then thinke you have hence good cause to â—ret and sinke and be discouraged No no the Lord will pull down those mountaines those high thoughts and make you lye low at his feet and acknowledge that it is infinite mercy you are alive and not consumed and that there is any hope or possibility of mercy and that you are out of the nethermost pit and that if he should never pity you yet he doth you no wrong but that which is equall and just and that it is fit your sinfull froward wills should stoop to his holy righteous and good will rather then that it should stoop and be crooked according unto yours Beleeve it brethren he that judgeth not himselfe thus shall be judged of the Lord how can you have mercy that will set your selves up in Gods Soveraigne Throne to dispose of it and will not lye downe humbly under it that it may dispose of you for are you worthy of it hath the Lord any need of you have you not provoked him exceedingly was there ever any that dealt worse with him then you Oh beloved lye low here and learne of the Church Micah 7.9 I will beare the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him It was a most blessed frame of spirit in Aaron when he saw Gods hand against him in cutting off his children and Aaron held his peace so if the Lord should cast thee off or cut thee off never take pleasure in such a polluted broken vessell unfit for any use for him hold thou thy peace quarrell not be silent before him and say as they did 2 Chron. 12.5 The Lord is righteous but I am vile let him doe with me what seems good in his own eyes and thus the Lord Jesus by the law doth dead the soule to the law untill it be made to submit like wax or like clay to the hand of the potter to frame it a vessell to what use he pleaseth and as the Apostle most excellently Rom. 7. diverceth it from its first husband i. e. Sin and the Law that it may be marryed unto Iesus Christ. In a word when the Lord Christ hath made the soule feele not onely its inability to help it selfe and so saith as Paul Gal. 2.20 It is not I but also it s owne unworthinesse that the Lord should help it and so cryes out with Iob Behold I am vile now at this instant t is vas capax a vessell capable though unworthy of any grace Iam. 4.6 The last Question remaines What measure of Humiliation is here necessary Look as so much conviction is necessary which begets compunction so much compunction as breeds humiliation so so much humiliation is necessary as introduceth faith or as drives the soule out of it selfe unto Christ for as the next end of conviction is compunction and that of compunction is humiliation so the next end of humiliation is faith or comming to Christ which wee shall next speak unto And hence it is that the Lord calls unto the weary and heavy laden to come unto him Mat. 11.27 So much as makes you come for rest in Christ so much is necessary and no more If any can come without being thus laden and weary in some measure let them come and drink of the water of life freely but a proud heart that will make it selfe its owne Saviour will not come to the Lord Jesus to be his Saviour he that will be his owne Physitian so long cannot send out for another Nay let me fall one degree lower if the soule cannot come to Christ as who feel not themselves unable when the Lord comes to draw and find not the Lord Jesus comming unto them to draw them and compell them in yet if the soule be so far humbled as not to resist the Lord by quarrelling with him and at him for not comming to him as unworthy of the least smile as worthy of all frownes verily the Lord will come to it and no more is requisite then this and thus much certainly is For thus the whole Scripture runs He gives grace to the humble James 4.6 I dwell with the contrite and humble Esay 57.16 The poore afflicted shall not alway be forgotten Psal. 9.12 18. When their uncircumcised hearts are humbled so as to accept of the punishment of their iniquity the Lord then remembers his Covenant Lev. 26.41 42. Conceive it thus There can be no union to Christ while there is a power of resistance and opposition against Christ. The Lord Christ must therefore in order of nature for I now speak not of order of time first removere prohibens remove this resistance before he can and that he may unite I doe not meane resistance of the frame of grace but as was said of the Lord of grace when he comes to work it Now there is a double resistance or two parts of this resistance like a knife with two edges 1. A resistance of the Lord by a secret unwillingnesse that the Lord should worke grace Now this the Lord removes in compunction and no more brokennesse for sinne or from sinne is necessary there then that 2. A resistance of the Lord by sinking discouragements and a secret quarrelling with him in case the soule imagines he will not come to work grace or manifest grace Now this the Lord takes away in humiliation and no more is
necessary here then the removall of the power of this which makes the soule in the sense of its owne infinite vilenesse and unworthinesse not to quarrel at the Lord and devil-like grow fierce impatient before and against the Lord in case he should never help it never pitty it never succour it the Lord will not forsake for ever if the soule thus lies down and puts its mouth in the dust Lam. 3.30 31. Which consideration is of unspeakable use and consolation to every poore empty nothing that feels it selfe unable to beleeve and the Lord forsaking it from helping it to beleeve And I have seen it constantly that many a chosen vessell never hath been comforted till now and ever comforted when now they never knew what hurt them till they saw this and they have immediately felt their hurt healed when this hath been removed In comforting Christians under deep distresse tell them of Gods grace and mercy and the riches of both you doe but torment them the more that there should be so much and they have no part nor share in it and think they never shall because this is not the immediate way of cure tell them rather when they are full of these complaints that they are as they speak vile and sinfull and therefore worthy never to be accepted of God and that they have cause to wonder that they have their lives and are on this side hell and so turne all that they say to humiliation and selfe-loathing verily you shall then see if the Lord intends good he wil by this doe them good and the weakest Christian that cannot come to Christ you shall see first or last shall see cause to lye downe and be silent and not quarrell though the Lord should never come to him And that this is necessary may appeare thus Otherwise 1. The Lord should not advance the riches of his grace the advancement of grace cannot possibly be without the humiliation and abasement of the creature the Lord not onely saves but calls things that are not that no flesh might glory 1 Cor. 1.28 29. 2. Otherwise the Lord should not be Lord and disposer of his owne grace but a sinfull creature who quarrells against God if it be not disposed of not as the Lord will but as the creature will If a stranger comes to our house and will have what he wants and if he hath not he quarrells and contends with the master of the house what would he say Away proud begger dost think to be lord of what I have dost draw thy knife to stab me if I doe not please thee and give thee thy asking no thou shalt know that I wil doe with my owne as I see good thou shalt lye downe on the dust of my threshold before I give thee any thing So t is with the Lord. It is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy It is his principall name I will be mercifull to whom I will be mercifull and therefore if you will not beleeve me yet beleeve the Lords oath Esay 45.23 Vnto me shall every knee bow and doe you come to lord it over him and quarrell and fret and sink and grow sullen and vex if the Lord stoop not unto your desires No no you must and shall lye upon his threshold nay he wil make thee lay thy neck upon the block as worthy of nothing but cutting off and then when this valley is filled all flesh shall see the glory of the Lord Esay 40.5 Thus humiliation is necessary in this measure mentioned Not that I deny any subsequent humiliation after a Christian is in Christ arising from the sense of Gods favour in Christ then which nothing makes a Christian of an evangelicall spirit more ashamed of himselfe yet I dare not exclude this which is antecedent arising from the spirit of power immediately subduing the soule to Christ that it may be exalted by Christ 1 Pet. 5.6 It is true all things that pertaine to life and godlinesse are received by faith 2 Pet. 1.3 yet faith it self is a saving work which is not received by another precedent faith Faith therefore is to be excepted not onely as begotten in us but as it is in the begeâ—ting of it in the conviction and humiliation of every sinner Hence see what is the great hindrance betweene the mercy of God and the soule of many a man if it be not some sinne hardnesse of heart under it whereby he cares not for Christ to deliver him then t is some pride of spirit arising from some good he hath whereby he feeles no need of Christ hoping his owne duties shall save him or else is above Christ and not under him willing to be disposed of by him And hence the Lord makes this the high way to mercy Levit. 26.40 if first they shall confesse their sinne secondly humble themselves both which I know the Lord must worke then he will remember his Covenant Look as it is with a vessell before it can be fit for use it must first passe through fire and the earth and drosse severed from it then it must be made hollow and empty which makes it vas capax a vessell capable of receiving that which shall be powred out into it if O Brethren the Lord hath some vessells of glory which he prepares before-hand and makes capable of glory Rom. 9.21 22. if the Lord doth doth not sever you from sinne in compunction and empty you of your selves in humiliation you cannot receive Christ nor mercy you cannot hold them and if ever you misse of Christ by faith your wound lies here How many be there at this day that were once profane and wicked but now by some terrours and outward restraints upon them they leave their sinnes and say they loathe them and purpose never to run riot as they have done and hence because they thinke themselves very good or to have some good they fall short of Christ and are still in the gall of bitternes in the midst of all evill It were the happines of some men if they did not think themselves to have some good because this is their Christ. Oh you that live under precious meanes and have many feares you may perish and be deceived at the last But why doe you feare I know you will answer Oh some secret unknown sin may be my ruine It is true and you do well to have a godly jealousie thereof But remember this also not onely some sinne but some good thou thinkest thou hast and restest in without Christ and lifting thee up above Christ may as easily prove thy ruine because a mans owne righteousnesse rested in doth not onely hide mens sinnes but strengthens them in some sinne by which men perish Trusting to ones owne righteousnesse and committing iniquity are couples Ezek. 33.13 Nor doe I hereby run into the trenches of that wretched generation of the Familists denying all inherent graces
to Christ onely thus their whole soules doe not come 4. If the whole soule by unbeliefe departs from God then the whole soule must return and come again unto God 5. If the want of this be the great cause why men are rejected of God then the whole soule must returne to him but this is the cause why all men under the meanes are rejected of God Israel would none of me i. e. would not be content alone with me would not take quiet contentment in me as the Hebrew word signifies the Lord was not good enough for them but their hearts went out from him to other things therefore the Lord gave them up to their own hearts lust and they walked in their owne counsels The woman that forsakes the guide of her youth and sets her heart as much upon other men as her husband is an Adulteresse for which onely shee shall have a bill of divorce 6. Because as the Gospel first reveales Christ to the mind and then offers him to the will so Faith which runs parallel with the Gospel first sees Christ there the mind one part of the soule goes out then receives Christ gladly there the other part the will goes out and so the whole soule comes to Christ. The Gospel comes to all the elect first in great clearnesse and evidence of the truth of it 1 Thes. 1.5 to which the understanding assents and is perswaded of secondly in great grace and goodnesse surpassing beauty and sweetnesse Lam. 3.24 with which the will is drawn and so the whole soule comes unto Christ for the Gospell is not onely true but glad tidings to all the elect especiall when humbled at Gods feet 1 Tim. 1.15 in whom saith the Apostle Eph. 1.12 13. you beleeved after that yee heard the word of truth there is the object of the understanding the Gospel of your salvation there is the goodnesse of it the object of the will so that the whole soule is drawne to Christ in the work of faith Hee that understands how liberum arbitrium may be in two faculties must not wonder if one grace be seated in both faculties of understanding and will no grace can bee compleatly seated in divers faculties but gradually and imperfectly it may the work of faith is not compleat when the understanding is opened onely to see and wonder at the mysterie of mercy in the Gospel but when the will adheres and claspes about that infinite and surpassing good it sees then it is perfected and not before Iohn 6.40 And this is the reason why saving Faith as it is called doth not look only to a bare testimony and assent unto it as humane faith doth because in the Gospell not only divine truth is propounded to the mind to assent unto but an infinite and eternall good is offered to the heart and will of man to embrace and thence it is that it is not sufficient for a christian to beleeve God or to beleeve Christ but he must also believe in him or else he cannot be saved the object of believing of him being verum or truth the object of the second bonum or good take heed therefore a poore lost sinner undone in its owne eyes for ever not knowing what to doe unlesse it be to lye downe and lye still at Gods feet as worthy of nothing but hell what doth the Lord now doe the Lord Christ by his Gospell first lets in a new light and it sees the Lord Jesus there bleeding before its eyes and held forth as a propitiation to all that believe to all that come to him the mind sees this mystery this exceeding rich grace and free mercy and thinks happy are they that share in this mercy but will the Lord look upon such a nothing as I can such infinite treasures be my portion the Lord therefore calls and bids him come away and enter into the possession of it Thy sins indeed are great saith the Lord yet remember blood-thirsty Manasseh persecuting Paul was pardoned nay remember my grace is free for whose sake I invite thee I beseech thee to come in thy wants indeed are many yet remember that thou hast therefore the more need and more cause to come and that it is I that have made thee empty and poore on purpose that thou mightest come it is true I have an eternall purpose to exclude many thousands from mercy yet my purpose is unchangeable never to cast off any that doe come for it I never did it yet I will not doe it unto thee if thou dost come it is true many may presume yet it is no presumption but duty to obey my great command and it is the greatest sin that ever thou didst or canst commit now to reject it and refuse this grace come therefore poore weary lost undone creature Hereupon the heart and will come and rest and roll themselves upon these bowels and there rest thus the whole soule comes and this I say againe is Faith Iust as it is with the loadstone drawing the iron who would think that iron should be drawn by it but there is a secret vertue comming from the stone which drawes it and so it comes and is united to it so who would think that ever such an iron heavy earthy heart should be drawne unto Christ yet the Lord lets out a secret vertue of truth and sweetnesse from himselfe which drawes the soule to Christ and so it comes May not the consideration of this be of great consolation to those that want assurance and therefore thinke they have no faith oh remember that if thou commest unto Christ as that poor woman of Canaan she had no assurance she should be helped of Christ nay Christ tells her to her teeth that he would not cast childrens bread to such dogs yet she came to him and looked up to free mercy and claspt about him and would not away you will say Was this faith yes our Saviour himselfe professeth it before men and Angels Oh woman great is thy faith Mat. 15.28 So I say unto all you poor creatures whom the Lord hath humbled and made vile in our own eyes unworthy of childrens bread as dogs yet you look up unto and rest upon mercy wiâ—h your whole heart this is precious faith in the account of Christ. But how shall I know when the whole soule comes to Christ When the eye of the soule so sees Christ and the heart so embraceth and resteth upon Christ as that it resteth in Christ as in its portion and all sufficient good many rest upon Christ that doe not rest in him that is that are not abundantly satisfied with him and hence their soules goe out of Christ to other things to perfect their rest and so their hearts are divided between Christ and other things oh feare this saith the Apostle lest there being a promise left us of entring into his rest any of you fall short of it for saith he we that have
soone as he was made but wee need Vocation unto Christ before we can be sanctified by Christ we need this call to make us come to Christ to put us into Christ and therefore much more before we can receive any holinesse from Christ the ground of our coming by faith is Gods call 2 Thes. 2.13 14. chosen to salvation through sanctification the remote end of Vocation and beleefe of the truth the next end of it whereunto he hath called you there is the ground of it The explication of this call is a point full of many spirituall difficulties but of singular use and comfort to them that are faithfull and called I shall omit many things and explicate only those things which serve our purpose here in these three particulars 1. I shall shew you what this call is or the nature of it 2. The necessity of it 3. How it is a ground of coming and what kind of ground for Faith 1. The nature of this Call I shall open for your more distinct understanding in severall Propositions or Theses Our Vocation or Calling is ever by some word or voyce either outward or inward or both either ordinary or extraordinary by the ministery of men or by immediate visions and inspirations of God I speak not now of extraordinary call by dreames and visions and immediate inspirations as in Abraham and others before the Scriptures were penned and published nor of extraordinary call by the immediate voyce of Christ as in Paul and some other of the Apostles for these are ceased now Heb. 1.1 unlesse it be among people that want ordinary meanes and elect infants c. whose call must be more then by ordinary meanes because they want such means we speak now of ordinary call by the ministery of men 2. This voyce in ordinary calling home of the elect to Christ is not by the voyce of the Law for the proper end of that is to reveale sinne and death and to cast down a sinner but by the voyce of the Gospell bringing glad tidings written by the Apostles and preached to the world He hath called you by our Gospell These things are written that you might beleeve By the foolishnesse of preaching the Lord saves them that beleeve I meane preaching at the first or second rebound by lively voyce or printed Sermons at the time of hearing or in the time of deep meditation concerning things heard the Spirit indeed inwardly accompanies the voyce of the Gospell but no mans call is by the immediate voyce of the Spirit without the Gospell or the immediate testimony of the Spirit breathed out of free grace without the word Eph. 1.12 13. And therefore that a Christian should be immediately called without the Scripture and the Scripture only given to confirme Gods immediate promise as a Prince gives his letter to confirme his promise made to a man before as Valdesso would have it is both a false and dangerous assertion This voyce of the Gospell is the voyce of God in Christ or the voyce of Jesus Christ although dispensed by men who are but weak instruments for this mighty work sent set in Christs stead but the call the voice is Christs it s the Lords call Rom. 1.6 it is certaine some of the messengers of Christ called the Romans by the Gospell yet Paul saith they were called of Christ Iesus the dead heare his voyce and arise and live and when the time of calling comes they listen to it as his call and hence it is styled Heb. 3.1 because the Lord Christ from heaven speakes takes the written word into his owne lips as it were Cant. 1.1 2. and thereby piâ—rcâ—th through the eares to the heart through all the noyse of feares sorrowes objections against beleeving and makes it to be heard as his voyce the bowels of Christ now yerne toward an humbled lost sinner bleeding at his feet therefore can contain no longer but speaks and calls and makes the soule understand his voyce so that this call is not a mean businesse because the Lord Jesus himselfe now speaks whose voyce is glorious The substance of this call or the thing the Lord calls unto is to come unto him for there is a more common calling or as some tearme it a particular calling of men as some to be Masters or Servants 1 Cor. 7.24.20 21. or to office in Church or Common-wealth as Aaron Heb 5.4 and the voyce there is to attend unto their work to which they are called There is also a remote end of vocation which is to holinesse 1 Thes. 4.7 and unto glory also 2 Thess. 2.14 Phil. 3.14 but we now speak of more speciall calling the next end of which is to come unto Christ the soule hath lived many yeares without him the Lord Jesus will now have the lost prodigall to come home to come to him the soule is weary and heavy laden and the Lord Jesus could easily ease it without its comming to him but this is his will he must come to him for it Mat. 11.27 Ier. 3.7.22 I said after shee had done these things turne unto me come unto me ye backsliding children I le heale your back-slidings Jer. 4.1 If thou returnest returne unto me This voice Come unto me is one of the sweetest words that Christ can speak or man can heare full of Majesty mercy grace and peace a poor sinner thinks Will the Lord ever put up such wrongs I have offered him heale such a nature take such a viper into his bosome doe any thing for me if there be but one in the world to be forsaken is it not I the Lord therefore comes and calls Come unto mee and I will pardon all thy sins I will heale all thy back-slidings I will be angry no more Jer. 3.12.13 Though thou hast committed whoredome with many lovers yet returne unto me saith the Lord. Ier. 3.1 Though thou hast resisted my Spirit refused my grace wearied me with thine iniquities yet come unto me and this will make me amends I require nothing of thee else but to come for Gods call is out of free grace Gal. 1.6 and therefore calls for no more but only to come up and possesse the Lords fulnesse Luke 14.17 1 Cor. 1.9 This call to come is for substance all one with the offer of Christ which consists in three things 1. Commandement to receive Christ as present and ready to be given to it as when we offer any thing to another it is by commanding them to take it 1 Iohn 4.23 and this binds conscience to beleeve as you will answer for the contempt of this rich grace at the great day of account 2. Perswasion and intreaty to come and receive what we offer for in such an offer wherein the person is unwilling to receive and we are exceedingly desirous to give we then perswade so doth Christ with us 3. Promise to offer a thing without a promise of having it if we receive it is but a
eternall righteousnesse that never can be lost if the Lord should make thee as perfectly righteous as once Adam was or Angells in heaven are and put on thy royall apparell againe thou wast in danger of losing this and of being stript naked againe but now the Lord hath put your righteousnesse into a safer hand which never shall be lost Heb. 9.12 Dan. 9.24 By this you please God and are more amiable before him then if you had it in your selfe doe not say this is a poore righteousnesse which is thus out of my selfe in another why doe you think righteousnesse in your selfe would be best is it not because hereby you think you shall please God Suppose thou hadst it yet thy righteousnesse should be at the best but mans righteousnes but this is called the righteousnesse of God which cannot but be more pleasing to him then that in thy selfe 2 Cor. 5.20 what is Angelicall righteousnesse to the righteous-of God t is but a glow-worm before the Sunne the smell of Esaus garments the robes of this righteousnesse of the Sonne of God are of sweeter odour then thine can be or ever shall be Eph. 5.1 2. tis said By faith Abel Enoch c. pleased God their persons were sinfull their owne duties were weak yet by faith in this they pleased God thou thinkest when thou goest to Prayer if I had no sinne but perfect holinesse in me surely God would heare me I tell you when you bring this offering of Christs righteousnesse the Lord had rather have that then all you can doe you bring that which pleaseth him more then if you brought your owne For aske thy owne conscience if it be possible for the righteousnesse which is done by thy self to be more pleasing to God then the righteousnesse of the Sonne of God the Lord of Glory himselfe done and perfected for thee 7. By this you glorifie God exceedingly as Abraham beleeved Rom. 4. and gave glory unto God In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory Esay 45.25 For 1. By this you glorifie him perfectly in an instant for you continue to doe all that the Law requires that instant you beleeve The Apostle propounds the Question Rom. 3.21 whether a Christian by faith doth make void the Law No saith the Apostle but we establish the Law How is that Paraeus shews three wayes One is this because that perfect righteousnesse which the Law requires of us we performe it in Christ by faith So that in one instant thou continuest to doe all that the Law requires and hence ariseth the impossibility of a true Beleevers apostacie as from one principall cause They that deny satisfaction by Christs doing of the Law because by our own works and doings we cannot be justified before God may as well deny satisfaction by Christs sufferings because by our owne sufferings we cannot be justified our obedience to the Law in way of suffering is as truly the works of the Law as our obedience in way of doing 2. By this you glorifie Gods justice what ever Justice requires to be done or suffered you give it unto God by faith in Christ. 3. By this you glorifie grace and mercy Ephes. 1.7 for by this meanes mercy may over-abound toward you and you may triumph in it as sure and certaine to you What a blessed mysterie is this Doth it not grieve you that you cannot glorifie God in your times and places Behold the way if thou canst not doe it by obedience thou maist by faith and thereby make restitution of all Gods glory lost and stolne from him by thy disobedience to him By this you have peace in your consciences by this Christs blood is sprinkled upon them and that cooles the burning torments of them Rom. 5.1 The commers unto the Leviticall sacrifices and washings types of this offering of Christ could not thereby be perfected and bee without the guilty conscience of sinne none of your duties can pacifie conscience but as they carry you hither to this righteousnesse but the commers to this have no more terrours of conscience for sinne I meane they have no just cause to have any this Rain-bow appearing over your heads is a certaine signe of fair weather and that there shall be no more deluge of wrath to overwhelme thee By this all miseries are removed when thy sinnes are pardoned there is something like death and shame and sicknesse but they are not it 's said Isay 33. ult There shall be none sicke among them why so because they shall be forgiven their iniquities T is no sicknessse in a manner no sorrow no affliction if the venome sting and curse be taken away by pardon of sinne thy sicknesse sorrow losses death it selfe is better now then health joy abundance life you may here see death hell grave swallowed up in victory and now tread upon the necks of them 1 Cor. 15. You may see life in death heaven in the deepest hell glory in shame when thou seest all thy sinnes done away in the blood of Christ Jesus This is the blessednesse of all you poore beleevers and commers to the Lord Jesus what should you doe but beleeve it and rejoyce in it If the wicked that apply this righteousnesse presumptuously say Let us sinne that grace may abound and make no other use of forgivenesse but to run in debt and sinne with a license Why should not you say on the other side Let me beleeve and owne my portion in this righteousnesse that as my sinnes have abounded so my love may abound as my sinnes have been exceeding great so the Lord may be exceeding sweet as my sinnes continue and increase so my thankfulnesse glory in God triumph over death grave sinne through Christ may also increase as you see righteousnesse in Christ for ever yours so you may from thence expect from him such a righteousnesse as may make you righteous also as hee is righteous Tremble thou hard-hearted impenitent wretch that didst never yet come to Christ nor feele thy need of him or prize his blood this is none of thy portion all thy sinnes are yet upon thee and shall one day meet thee in the day of the Lords fierce wrath when he shall appeare as an everlasting burning before thine eyes and thou stand guilty before him as chaffe and stubble SECT 2. Secondly Reconciliation This is the second benefit which in order of nature followes our Justification although sometime in a large sense it is taken for the whole work of Justification strictly taken it followes it Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God i. e. not onely peace from God in our consciences but peace with God in our reconcilement to him and his favour toward us Being justified we shall be saved from wrath i. e. not onely the outward fruits of wrath but wrath from whence those come Christ is first King of Righteousnesse then King of Peace Heb. 7.2 for is not finne the cause of
in glory not having our loynes girt and lamps burning nor readinesse to meet the Lord in glory Mat. 25.1 2 3 4 5. c. oh that I were able therefore to give you a blush and a dark view of this glory that might raise up our hearts to this work Consider the glory of the place the Jewes did and doe dreame still of an earthly Kingdome at the comming of their Messiah the Lord dasheth those dreames and tells them His Kingdome is not of this world and that he went away to prepare a place for them that where he is they might bee John 14.2 3. and be with him to see his glory John 17.23 24. the place shall be the third heaven called our Fathers house built by his owne hand with most exquisite wisdome fit for so great a God to appeare in his glory Iohn 14.2 3. to all his deare children called also a Kingdome Mat. 25.31 Come ye blessed inherit the Kingdom prepared for you which is the top of all the worldly excellencie called also an inheritance 1 Pet. 1.4 which the holy Apostle infinitely blesseth God for as being our owne and freely given to us being our Fathers inheritance divided among his sonnes which is a greater priviledge then to bee borne an heire to all the richest inheritances on this earth or to bee Lord of all this visible world for this inheritance hee tells us is 1. incorruptible whereas all this world waxeth old as a garment 2. T is undefiled never yet polluted with any sinne no not by the Angels that fell for they fell in paradâ—â—â— when Guardians to man whereas this whole creation groaneth under the burden and bondage of corruption Rom. 8. 3. This never fadeth away t is not like flowers whose glory and beauty soone witheâ—s but this shall be most pleasant sweet and ever delightsome after we have been ten thousand yeers in it as it was the first day we entred into it for this is the meaning of the word and so it differs from incorruptible whereas in this world suppose a man should ever enjoy it yet there growes a secret satiety and fulnesse upon our hearts and it growes common and blessings of greatest price are not so sweet as the first time wee enjoy them they clog the stomach and glut the soule but here our eyes ears minds hearts shall be ever ravished with that admirable glory which shines brighter then ten thousand suns the very fabrick of it being Gods needle-work if I may so say quilted with variety of all flowers in divers colours by the exactest art of God himselfe as the Apostle intimates Heb. 11.10 Secondly consider of the glory of the bodies of the Saints in this place the Lord shall change our vile bodies which are but as dirt upon our wings and clogs at our feet as the Apostle expressâ—th it Phil. 3. ult Paul was in the third heaven and saw the glory doubtlesse of some there see what he saith of them 1 Cor. 15.42 43 44. 1. It shall be an incorruptible body it shall never dye nor â—ot againe no not in the least degree tending that way it shall never grow weary as now t is by hard labour and some time by holy duties nor faint nor grow wrinkled and withered Adams body in innocencie potuit non mori we say truly but this non potest mori it cannot dye and hence it is that there shall be no more sicknesse paines griefes fainting fits c. when it comes there 2. It shall be a glorious body it shall rise in honour saith Paul and what glory shall it have verily it shall be like unto Christs glorious body Phil. 3. ult which when Paul saw Acts 9. did shine brighter then the sun and therefore here shall be no imperfection of limbes scars or maimes naturall or accidentall deformities but as the third heaven it selfe is most lightsome Gen. 1.1 2. so their bodies that inhabit that place shall exceed the light and glory thereof these being more compacted and thence shining out in greater lustre that the eyes of all beholders shall be infinitely ravished to see such clods of earth as now we are advanced to such incomparable beauty and amiablenesse of heavenly glory 3. It shall be a powerfull strong body It is sowne in weaknesse saith Paul it shall rise in power it shall be able to help forward the divine operations of the soule which are now clogg'd by a feeble body it shall be able to beare the weight of glory the joy unspeakable and full of glory which our weake bodies cannot long endure here but we begin to burst and breake in pieces like vessels full of strong spirits with the weight and working of them and therefore the Lord in mercy keeps us short now of what else we should feele it shall be able to sing Hallelu-jahs and give honour glory power to the Lambe that fits upon the Throne for evermore without the least weariness 4. It shall be a spirituall body our bodies now are acted by animall spirits and being earthy and naturall growes feeds eates drinkes sleepes and hath naturall affections and desires after these things and â—is troubled if it wants them but then these same bodies shall live by the indwelling of the Spirit of God powred out abundantly in us and upon us and so acting our bodies and swallowing up all such natural affections and motions as those be here as Moses being with God in the Mount forty dayes and nights did not need any meat or drinke the Lord and his glory being all unto him how much more shall it bee thus then I doe not say we shall be spirits like the Angels but our bodies shall be spirituall having no naturall desires after any earthly blessing food rayment c. nor troubled with the want of them and hence also the body shall be able as well to ascend up as now it is to descend down as Austin shewes by a similitude of lead which some artists can beat so small as to make it swim we are now earthly and made to live on this earth and hence fall downe to the center but we are made then to bee above for ever with the Lord the Lord proceeding from imperfection to perfection as the Apostle here shewes not first spirituall and then naturall but first that which is naturall in this life and then that which is spirituall 3. Consider the glory of the soule now we know but in part and see but in part now we have joy at some times and then eclipses befall us on a sudden but then the Lord shall be our everlasting light Isa. 60.19 then we shall see God face to face 1 Ioh. 3.1 2. we shall then know and see those things that have been hid not onely from the wicked but from the deepest thoughts of the Saints themselves in this world 2 Cor. 12.4 Paul saw some things not fit to be uttered or that he could not utter we shall be swallowed up in