Power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his Name HHaving heretofore declared unto you the wofull estate and condition wherein we stand by nature I proceeded to the Remedy that God of his infinite Mercy hath provided for the recovery of miserable sinners from the wrath to come And therein I proposed two things that our Saviour that was to advance us and raise us out of this condition when we had lost our selves in Adam We having eaten sowre grapes he was to have his teeth set on edge we accounted him smitten of God and buffeted but we had sinned and he was beaten That when the Lord in his wrath was ready to smite us he underwent the dint of Gods sword and stood betwixt the blow and us the blow lighted on him that was equal with God and deserved not to be beaten Awake O sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow The sword was unwilling to strike him and thus being smitten he became a propitiation for our sins The chastisement of our peace was on him He offered himself a sacrifice Here are two things considerable 1. How Christ was offered for us 2. How he is offered to us First For us and so he offered up himself a Sacrifice a sweet smelling Sacrifice unto God Mark the point is he is not only the Sacrifice but the Sacrificer He offered up himself saith the Apostle He was the Priest and it was a part of Priest-hood to offer up himself The Sacrifices in the old Law that typified him were only sufferers The poor beasts were only passive but our Saviour he must be an Actor in the business He was active in all that he suffered He did it in obedience to his Fathers Will yet he was an Agent in all his Passion John 11.33 He groaned in Spirit and was troubled the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as it is in the Margent He troubled himself With us in our Passions it is otherwise we are meer sufferers Our Saviour was a Conqueror over all his passions and therefore unless he would trouble himself none else could trouble him unless he vvould lay down his life none could take it from him unless he vvould give his cheek to be smitten the Jews had no power to smite it Isa. 50.6 I gave my back to the Smiters and my cheek to them that pluckt off the hair and hid not my face from shame and spitting In all these we should consider our Saviour not as a Sacrifice only but a sacrificer also an Actor in all this business their wicked hands were not more ready to smite then he was to give his face to be smitten and all to shevv that it was a voluntary Sacrifice He did all himself He humbled himself unto the death And now by all this we see what we have gotten vve have gotten a Remedy and satisfaction for our sins That precious blood of that immaculate Lamb takes avvay the sins of the world because it is the Lamb of God under which else the World vvould have eternally groaned Object But doth this Lamb of God take away all the sins of the world Sol. It doth not actually take avvay all the sins of the vvorld but virtually It hath povver to do it if it be rightly applyed the Sacrifice hath such vertue in it that if all the World vvovld take it and apply it it vvould satisfie for the sins of the vvhole World but it is here as with medicines they do not help being prepared but being applyed Rhubarb purgeth choller yet not unless applyed c. Exod. 39.38 there is mention made of a Golden Altar Christ is this Golden Altar to shew that his blood is most precious We are not redeemed with silver and gold but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. He is that golden Altar mentioned in the Revelation vvhich stands before the Throne He was likevvise to be a brazen Altar for so much vvas to be put upon him that unless he vvere of brass and had infinite strength he vvould have sunk under the burthen Its Jobs Metaphor Job in his passion saith Is my strength the strength of stones or is my flesh brass Job 6.12 If Christs flesh had not been brass if he had not been this brazen Altar he could never have gone through these now he is prepared for us a sacrifice for sin Rom. 8.3 For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin for sin make a stop there condemned sin in the flesh This same for sin hath not reference to condemned To condemn sin for sin is not good sence but the words depend on this God sent his Son that is God sent his Son to be a Sacrifice for sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word is translated Heb. 10.6 a sacrifice for sin It was impossible the Law should save us not because of any transgression or failing in the Law but because our weakness is such as that we could not perform the conditions therefore God was not tyed to Promises by reason then of the weakness of our flesh rather then we should perish God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh in that flesh of his condemned all our sins we need not look that sin should be condemned in us when he bare our sins on the tree then were our sins condemned therefore it s said Isa. 53. When he had made his soul an offering for sin that is in the Original when he had made his soul sin then he saw his seed Isa. 57. We come now to the second thing if Christ be offered for us yet unless he offer himself to us unless any man may have interest in him it s nothing worth Here then stands the Mystery of the Gospel Christ when he comes to offer himself to us he finds not a whit in us that is to be respected nothing And that is the ground of all disturbance to ignorant consciences for there is naturally in men pride and ignorance they think they may not meddle with Christ with Gods Mercy unless they bring something unless they have something of their own to lay down This is to buy Christ to barter betwixt Christ and the soul but salvation is a free gift of God As the Apostle speaks Christ is freely given unto thee when thou hadst nothing of worth in thee Faith when it comes empties thee of all that is in thee To whom be the Gospel preached to the dead Now before Christ quicken thee thou art stark dead rotting in thy sins Here 's the point then when there is no manner of goodness in thee in the world In me saith St. Paul that is in my flesh there is no good thing When I have been the most outragious sinner I may lay hold on Christ. Christ comes and offers himself to thee Now when Christ offers the other
not an instrument at all faith only is the instrument â—aith justifyeth me from sinne hereafter as well as before The case is this faith brings life The righteous shall live by his faith as the Prophet Habakkuk speaks What doth then new sinnes do There are two sorts of sinnes one of ordinary incursion which cannot be avoided these break no friendship betwixt God and us these only weaken our faith and make us worse at ease But there are other sinnes which waste a mans conscience A man that hath committed murder adultery and lives in covetousnesse which in the Apostles is Idolatry as long as a man is in this case he cannot exercise the acts of faith we must know faith justifieth not as an habit but as an act applying Christ to the comfort of the soul. Now a wasting sinne it stops the passage of faith it cannot act till it be opened by repentance Physitians give instances for it Those that have Apoplexies Epilepsies and the Falling sicknesse are thought to be dead for the time as it was with Eutichus yet saith Saint Paul his spirit was in him Every one thought him dead yet his spirit is in him however in regard of the operation of his senses it did appear he was dead So if thou art a carelesse man and lookst not to thy watch and to thy guard but art overtaken in some grosse and grievous sinne thou art taken for dead I say not a man can lose his life that once hath it but yet in the apprehension of others and of himself too he may appear to be so As in Epilepsies the nerves are hindred by obstructions so sinne obstructs the nerves of the soul that there cannot be that life and working till these sinnes be removed Now what is repentance why it clears the passages that as faith could not act before now it gives him dispositions unto it As a man in a swound cannot do the acts of a living man till he be refreshed again so here its repentance which clears the spirits and makes the life of faith passe throughout Now when repentance clears the passages then faith acts and now there is a new act of faith faith justifies me from my new sinnes faith at first and at last is that whereby I am justified from my sins which I commit afterwards But this forgivenesse of sinnes what doth it free us from In sinne we must consider two things the fault and the punishment Now consider sinne as it is in it self and as it respects the sinner as acted by him as respecting the fault of the sinner it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transgression of the Law The punishment is death as it respects the sinner it is guilt The sin is not guilt but the guilt the sinners For instance a man that hath told a lye or sworn an oath the act is past but a thing remains which we call the guilt As if a man commit murder or adultery the act is past but yet if he sleep or walk or wake the guilt follows him If he live an hundred years he is a murderer still and an adulterer still the guilt follows him and nothing can take away the murder or adultery from the soul but the blood of Christ applyed by faith First God takes away the punishment There is now saith the Apostle no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit what nothing in him worthy condemnation God knows we are worthy of a thousand condemnations There are two Judges there is a double guilt when a man is brought to the barre first the Jury judge the fact and then the Judge that sits on the Bench he judgeth the punishment one saith guilty or not guilty the other saith guilty then he judgeth him Now when we are justified we are freed from both these guilts sinne when it is accomplish't it bringeth forth death You know the natural work of sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it labours with death now God will stop the acts of it that it shall not do that which it is apt to do which is as good as if the sinne were taken away when there were wilde guords sliced into the pot 2 Kings 4.31 it 's said the Prophet took that venemous herbe away i. e. though the thing were there yet it is as if it were not there it shall do no manner of hurt Bring now and poure out and there was no evil thing So in respect of us though there be an evil thing in punishment and if we had our due would bring condemnation yet when we are sprinkled with the blood of Christ it can do us no evil no hurt it 's said in the Scripture that the stars fell from heaven why the starres are of that bignesse that they cannot fall from heaven to the earth but they are said to fall when they give not their light and do not that for which they were put there so though I have committed sinne yet when God is pleased for Christs sake to pardon it it is as if it were not there at all This is a great matter but I tell you there is more we are not only freed from the guilt of the punishment but which is higher we are freed from the guilt of the fact I am now no more a murderer no more a lyar when I have received a pardon from the blood of Christ he frees me from that charge the world is changed with me now Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect If the Divel lay any thing to thee thou mayst deny it Such a one I was but I am justified but I am sanctified A man hath committed High Treason against the King and the King gives him a pardon for the Treason if I call him a Traytor he can have no remedy against me for he is one the pardon takes not away the guilt But if his blood be restored unto him by Act of Parliament then if I shall call him Traytor he may have remedy against me because he is restored fully and is not lyable to that disgrace This is our case though our sinnes be as red as scarlet yet the die shall be changed it shall not be so bloody Thou hast the grace of justification and this doth not only clear thee from the punishment but from the fault it self See in Jer. 50.20 the place is worth gold In those dayeâ— and in that time saith the Lord the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sinnes of Judah and they shall not be found for I will pardon them whom I reserve what is the matter what a sinful man and no sinne what when there is search made for sinne in such a man shall it not be found you will say this is meant of the grace of sanctification no I will pardon them that pardoning of sinne makes the sin not to be found What a wonderful comfort is this
false glasses Self-love or self-conceit then a good opinion of men and conferring a mans self with some others He 's better then they therefore his estate is good An absurd conclusion the Devil will mightily insult over such as he can so easily deceive But this man goes farther I not onely compare my self with others but my self too and find good ground to conclude the safeness of my condition I remember a time when I was vain and idle when I ran in a way contrary to God But now I have sowed my wilde oats and whereas before I was loose and dissolute I have care to do my duty to serve God c. I am not so profane as formerly my estate must needs be good This is a very dangerous thing to say that because I am not as bad as I was I am therefore good It is as if a man had a debter a slack paymaster to whom the Creditor calls earnestly to pay the debt the best answer the debtor gives is this I am sure there are many worse paymasters in the world then I am and I my self have been a worse and more flow paymaster heretofore then I am now Well because there are worse paymasters and he himself hath been a worse doth this make him a better now And shall this serve to excuse thee by comparing thy self with others that are worse and with thy self that because thou hast mended thy self in some particulars therefore thou art in the way to Heaven It is a false and foolish Conclusion 4. Now we come to the main thing another false glasse which we call Partial obedience when a man goes further looking upon the letter of the Commandement onely saying I thank God I forbear many sins and do many duties I am not a thief nor a murtherer swearer drunkard or covetous person I doe not take Gods name in vain I have not broken the Sabbath though I doubt whether it be moral or no. I have served God in coming to his house given obedience to my Parents c. and looking on this he concludes doubtlesse all is well with him As when I have a thousand thornes in my feet and have three or four taken out will this help me because I have not the stone or the gout shall I conclude I am well as if I could not be sick without this or that disease Because I do something that God requires shall I think I do as much as I need No we must take heed of that God will not be contented with partial obedience He will have the whole heart or none Obj. But mine is not partial obedience I doe my endeavour as far as I am able to do what God requires Here comes in natural reason and saith I thank God I do what I can and I see no reason why more should be required I conform my self as I am able and I see it needful to the greatest duties of Christianity I lead such a blamelesse life that no man can tax me in any particular what God hath enabled me to do and according to moral Philosophy I know not how more can be required I go as far as Seneca's rules and somewhat farther and sure this is not partial obedience Sol. I speak not against Morality But yet let me tell thee if thou hast no more then Morality it will not bring thee to Heaven Not but that a morall man is an excellent stock whereon to graft grace and virtue it 's a good help to Heaven yet it comes far short of bringing him thither Natural reason was once a full and fair glass till it was broken by the fall but now it is insufficient The Tables in Moses hands were excellent things God made the first Tables with his own hand and perchance they may be therein typical when these were broken Moses makes the second these not so excellent as the former though I should esteem a peece of these more excellâ—â—t then all the reliques of the Papists for there was something of the first in them God writes them with his own singer This glass which then was so perfect is now broken and is not so perfect as it was though there be something yet remaining in it We may see something of its ancient lustre in the Gentiles for these having not a Law are a Law unto themselves There are practical principles yâ—t remaining in the Tables of our hearts so that they that care not for the Law shall be judged by that natural light which is in them We have a conscience to difference between good and evil This is the truth It 's a part of the Image of God implanted in us which we are not to despise lest we be judged with those that hold the truth in unrighteousnesse The truth is the principals of difference betwixt good bad the soul was to have a seat as a Queen to rule all our actions But â—ow this Queen is taken captive all is lost Morality and in ward prncipals are to be much esteemed as things which God at first planted yet do they comeshort of bringing a man to Heaven The young man in the Gospel had a good esteem of himself and was doubtlesse esteemed of others and did many things but yet our Saviour tells him how hard a thing it was to come to Heaven Although he thinks himself well enough though he were rich our Saviour tells him of the commandements all these saith he have I kept from my youth a good moral man indeed that had done so much but this was not enough one thing lacked go and sell all that thou hast c. Yet because there was so much in him we read Mark 10.21 Jesus loved him he sheweth that his cause was heavy that going so far he should not attain his end but this was not to be despised for this Jesus loved him So 1 Kings 13.13 He onely of Jeroboams shall come to the grave because in him are found some good things If there are but some good things in a man they remain of Gods work and God loveth his own work Here 's the point then Morality is good and natural reason is good it remaines in us since the state of our first creation This was a pure and a full glass made by God himself but since the fall is much darkned If we consult with natural reason and Moral Philosophy it will discover many things yet this comes short There are abundance of things that it cannot discover manifold defects The Apostle saith in the Romans I had not known sin but by the Law I had not known lust to have been a sin had not the Law said I shalt not lust We have many sins we cannot know but by the Law yea such secret sins as must be repented of Our Saviour overthrew the tables of the money-changers and would not suffer them to carry burthens through the Temple though for the use of those that sacrificed a thing which had
some shew of Religion in it He whipt both out not only those that had residence there but those that passed through he would suffer none but those that could justifie what they did by the Law Now as God would not have sin lodge make its abode in the soul so he would not have it made a thorow fare for sin he would not have vain thoughts come up and down in the hearts Now By the Law comes the knowledge of these secret sins Reason is a glasse much to be esteemed for what it can shew but it is not a perfect glasse sometimes it shewes a sin but mâ—ny times diminishes it that we cannot see it in full proportion The Apostle makes this use of the Law that by it sin became exceeding sinful Thou mayst see sin to be sin by natural reason but to see it exceeding sinful this morality comes short of thou must have this from the Law of God 5. There is another false glasse when the Devil transforms himself into an Angel of light when he preacheth Goâ—pel to a man Beware of â—he doctrine when the deceiver preacheth This may be his doctrine He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved From this by Satans cunning delusion the natural man thus concludes A meer heathen shall be shut out of Heaven gates but I believe in the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost therefore I am in a good condition Why then should I trouble my self any further there is no man can accuse me and my own good works will testifie unto me that I do enough Strâ—ctnesse in Religion is troublenesse and it is an unreasonable thing to do more but this is but a meer delusion of Satan for there is nothing more quiet and satisfies a man then Religion there 's nothing in the world more reasonable then the service of God First then know thy disease and then apply those sweet balms It is no easie matter for a man to believe we block out the strait wayes of God if we think it an easie matter to believe of our selves It must be done by the mighty power of God It 's as great a work of God as the Creation of the world to make a man believe It 's the mighty power of God to salvation Such a one must not receive Christ as a Saviour but as a Lord too He must renounce all to have him must take him on his own terms He must deny the world and all looking before hand what it will cost him Now for a man to take Christ as his Lord denying himself the world and all to resolve to pluck out his right eye cut off his right hand rather then to part with him and account nothing so dear to him as Christ is no small matter Thou canst not be Christs Spouse unlesse thou forsake all for him Thou must account all things as dung and drosse in comparison of him and is not this a difficult thing is this an easie task Easily spoken indeed not as easily done it must be here as in the case of mariage a man must forsake all others yea the whole world else Christ will not own him Observe the speech of the Apostle Eph. 1.19 What is the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward that believe c. Mark is to believe so easie a matter think you why unlesse the mighty power of God be engaged for it with that strength as it was engaged in raising Christ from the dead it cannot be When thou art to believe and be united unto Christ the agreement is not that thou shalt take him as thy wife and thou shalt be his husband No he must be thy husband and thou must obey him Now for a man to be brought out of his natural condition and to take Christ on any termes so he may be saved by him in the end is not so easie Canst thou think there is no more required but onely the outward Baptism or that there is no more in Baptism but the outward washing of the flesh No He 's not a Jew that is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is in the flesh but he 's a Jew that is so inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart Thou then entrest into Gods livery Mark this for by it I strive onely to bring thee back to thy self Thou entrest into covenant with him thou bindest thy self to forsake the world the flesh and the Devil and we should make this use of Baptism as now to put it in practice When we promised there were two things in the Indenture one that God will give Christ to us the other that we must forsake all the sinful lusts of the flesh this is that makes Baptism to be Baptism indeed to us The other thing required is that we forsake all Rom. 6.2 It is not confined to the very act but it hath a perpetual effect all the dayes of thy life I add it never hath its full effect till the day of our death till the abolition of the whole body of sin That which we seal is not compleat till then till we have final grace The water of Baptism quenches the fire of Purgatory for it is not accomplished till final grace is received We are now under the Physicians hands then shall we be cured Baptism is not done onely at the Font which is a thing deceives many for it runs through our whole life nor hath it consummation till our dying day till we receive final grace the force and efficacy of Baptism is for the washing away of sin to morrow as well as the day past the death of sin is not till the death of the body and therefore it s said we must be buried with him by Baptism into his death Now after death we receive final grace till when this washing and the vertue thereof hath not its consummation Let no man therefore deceive you with vain words take heed of looking on your selves in these false glasses think it not an easy thing to get Heaven the way is strait and the passage narrow There must be a striving to enter there must be an ascending into Heaven a motion contrary to nature And therefore it 's folly to think we shall drop into Heaven there must be a going upward if ever we will come thither EPH. 2.1 2 3. And you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins where in times past you walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince that ruleth in the Aire the Spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Amongst whom also c. THe last time I declared unto you the duty that was necessarily required of us if we look to be saved that we must not onely take the matter speedily into consideration and not be deluded by our own hearts and the wiles of Satan but that we must not do it superficially or perfunctorily but must bring our selves to the true touchstone and not look
our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith Before the time then thou hast faith which is the day salvation comes to thine house thou art kept under the Law Thou art not assured of salvation nor canst thou expect till then that God should shew thee mercy We may have a conceit that though we are never transplanted nor cut off from our own stock yet God will shew us mercy But we shall beguile our selves to hell therein for we are kept under the Law till faith comes that so we may know our selves We are kept c. Kept It 's a Metaphor drawn from Military affairs when men are kept by a Garrison and kept in order Now the Law is Gods Garrison which keeps men in good awe and order The Law doth this not to terrifie you too much or to break your minds with despair but to fit you for the faith It 's a shutting up till that faith which should afterward be revealed He 's a miserable Preacher which ends with preaching of the Law the Law is for another end it 's to fit us for faith It 's our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. We thunder not the Law to make men run away from God but to bring them home unto him The Schoolmaster by the smart of his rod makes the child weary of his bondage and desire earnestly to be past his non-age and this is his end not that he delights to hear him cry Thus are we beaten by the law not that God delights or loves to hear us sigh or sob but that we may grow weary of our misery and cruel bondage may desire to be justified by faith The Law then is so a Schoolmaster as that by making us smart it might bring us home We see then the course method of the Scripture it hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ may be made to them that believe Now because men like not this kinde of Doctrine to begin with Preaching of the Law and therefore think there may be a shorter and nearer way to preach Christ first I will therefore make known unto you this method of the Scripture and I will justifie it unto you There must be this Preparative else the Gospel will come unseasonably If before we are sowred by the leaven of the Law Christ be preached he will be but unsavoury unpleasant to us 2. Does God at the first Preaching of the Gospel begin with Adam by Preaching Christ before he saw his sin and wickednesse No he said not to him presently assoon as he had sinned Well Adam thou hast sinned and broken my covenant yet there is another covenant thou shalt be saved by one that comes out of thy loynes But God first summons him to appear he brings him out of his shelters and hiding places tells him of his sin and saith Hast thou eaten of the tree which I forbad thee to eat of But the man shifts it off and the woman also to the serpent The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat Yet all this will not excuse him Gods judgments are declared his sin is made apparent he sees it Then being thus humbled comes in the promise of the Gospel The seed of the woman shall break the serpents head Be ye open then ye everlasting doors and the King of glory shall come in 2. John the Baptist who was the Harbinger to prepare the way for Christ Preaching to the Scribes and Pharisees warned them O generation of vipers He came to throw down every high hill and to beat down every mountain calls them serpents This was his office to lay the Axe at the root of the Tree 3. And Christ himself coming into the world and Preaching to Nicodemus begins Vnlesse a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdome of God John 3. A man in his natural condition can never enter into Heaven for he is wholly carnal That that is born of the flesh is flesh and that that is born of the Spirit is Spirit It 's carnal and must be born again A little patching will not serve the turn Thou must be new born new moulded a little mending is not sufficient A man must be a new creature and new made So that this is the substance of this doctrine of Christ that if thou be no better then moral vertue or civil education can make thee if thou hast any thing lesse then Regeneration believe me thou canst never see heaven There 's no hope of heaven till then till thou art born again till then our Saviour excludes all false fancies that way 5. The Apostles began to gather the first Church after Christs resurrection Act. 2.23 They doe not begin to preach Christ first his vertue and efficacie but first they tell them of their great sin in crucifying the Lord of life viz. Whom with wicked hands you have taken and crucified But what was the end of their doing thus It 's set down v 37. They were pricked to the heart and then they cried out Men and brethren what shall we do to be saved See this was the end of all the humbling of them that by declaring what they had done they might be pricked at the heart so that now they see if it be no better with them then for the present it 's like to go ill with them This makes them cry out What shall we doe Then saith Peter repent and be Baptized and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost After he had told them their own and had brought them to their search which is their first work then comes the promise of Christ. Observe the Apostles method in the Epistle to the Romans which book is a perfect Catechism of the Church which containes these three parts of Divinity Humiliation Justâ—fication and Sanctification See how the Apostle orders his method From the first Cap to part of the third he treats all of the Law and convinces both Jew and Gentile and all of sinne Then 3 Cap. 19. mark his Conclusion that every mouth may be stopped When he had stopped every mouth cast down every strong hold which listed it self up against God when he had laid all at Gods feet and left them bleeding as it were under the knife of God then comes he to Christ Rom. 3.21 The righteousnesse of God without the Law is manifested He had done his first businesse in humbling them in shewing them their sins by the Law and assoon as that was done when every mouth was stopped then comes he to the promise by faith in Jesus Christ to all them that believe You see then the method of the Scripture is first to conclude all under sin and so to fit men for the promise of Jesus Christ. Know therefore that the law is the high-way to the Gospel the path that leads to it that way which must be trodden in we are still out of our way till
shew forth our thankfulnesse and express that we are so in heart by our obedience to our utmost power Here 's all the strictnesse of the Gospel If there be a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to what a man hath not 2 Cor. 8.12 God takes well the desires of our mind This is then our blessed condition under the Gospel it requires not perfect obedience but thankfulness for mercies received and a willing mind Suppose we cannot do what we would that 's no matter God looks to our affections and the willingnesse of our minds if it be according to the strength that thou hast it is received with acceptance Here then arises the second point of difference and that is 2. The Law considers not what thou now hast but what thou once hadst If thou say I have done my best and what would you have a man doe more then he can doe The Law heeds not that it considers not what thou doest but what thou oughtst to do It requires that thou shouldst perform obedience according to thy first strength and that perfection once God gave thee that all thou doest should have love for it's ground that thou shouldst love the Lord thy God with all thy soul mind heart and strength Here the Law is very imperious like those Task-masters in Egypt that laid burthens on the Israelites too heavy for them to bear They had at first materials and then they delivered in the full tale of bricks But when the straw was taken from them they complain of the heavinesse of their burthen But what 's the answer You are idle you are idle you shall deliver the same tale of bricks as before So stands the case here It 's not enough to plead Alas if I had strength I would doe it but I have not strength I cannot doe it But the Law is peremptory you must doe it you are compell'd by force you shall do it The impossibility of our fulfilling it does not exempt us as appeares by comparing Rom. 8.3 with Rom. 7.6 although it be impossible as the case stands for the Law to be by us fulfilled yet we are held under it as appears plainly thus If I deliver a man a stock of money whereby he may gain his own living and be advantagious to me and he spend it and when I require mine own with increase he tells me True Sir I received such a summe of money of you for this purpose but I have spent it and am disinabled to pay Will this serve the turn will it satisfie the Creditor or discharge the debt No no the Law will have its own of him If thou payest not thy due thou must be shut up under it It 's otherwise under the Gospel that accepts a man according to what he hath not according to what he hath not And here comes in the third point 3. Under the Gospel although I am fallen yet if I repent the greatest sin that is cannot condemn me By repentance I am safe Let our sins be never so great yet if we return by repentance God accepts us Faith and Repentance remove all The Law knows no such thing Look into the lawes of the Realm If a man be indicted and convinced of Treason Murther or Felony though this man plead True I have committed such an offence but I beseech you Sir pardon it for I am heartily sorry for it I never did the like before nor never will again Though he thus repent shall he escape No the rigour of the law will execute justice on him there is no benefit had by repentance the law will seize on him he should have looked to it before If thou committest Murther or Burglary it 's not enough to put one good deed for another to say I have done thus and thus for the King I kept such a Fort or I won such a Town this will not serve thy turn it will not save thy neck the law takes no knowledge of any good thing done or of any repentance This is thy estate Consider then what a case they are in that are shut up under the Law until a man hath faith it admits no excuse requires things far above thy power to perform it will accept no repentance And therefore we may well make this Conclusion in the Galathians As many as are under the law are under the curse as it is written cursed is every one that continues not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them But now where are we thus shut up It 's under sin as the Apostle tells us For the Law discovers sin to be sin indeed that sin by the commandement may become exceeding sinful Rom. 7.13 The Law makes us see more of it then we did or possible could come to have seen Rom. 3.20 By the Law cometh the knowledge of sin I had not known sin but by the law Yes peradventure I might have known Murther Adultery c. to have been sins but to have known them to have been exceeding sinful I could not but by the law To know what a kind of plague sin is in it self so as not to make a game of it or a small matter as many usually make it to see the uglinesse of it I cannot without the law But that we may know what sin is and that we may see it to be exceeding sinful I here bring you a few Considerations which I would have you ponder on and enlarge them to your selves when you come home 1. Consider the basenesse of him that offends and the excellency of him that is offended You shall never know what sin is without this twofold Consideration lay them together and it will make sin out of measure sinful See in David The drunkards made songs and ballads of him He aggravates the indignity offered him in that he was their King yet that those wretched and filthy beasts the drunkards made songs of him See it likewise in Job Cap. 29. when he had declared unto them in what glory he once was that he was a King and Prince in the Countrey Then see Cap. 20. They that are younger then me have me in derision whose fathers I would have disdain'd to have set with the dogs of my flock He aggravates the offence First from the dignity of the person wronged a King and a Prince Then from the baseness and vileness of those who derided him They were such as were younger then he such as whose fathers he would have disdain'd to have set with the dogs of his flocks A great indignity and mightily aggravated by these circumstances that a King should be abased by such vile persons Now some proportion there might be between David and the drunkards Job and these men but between thee and God what proportion can there be Who art thou therefore that darest set thy self in opposition and rebellion against God What a base worm that crawleth on the earth dust
jealousie shall smoke against that man c. We are but now entred into the point but it would make your hearts ake throb within you if you should hear the particulars of it All that I have done is to perswade you to make a right choise to take heed of Satans delusions Why will ye die Ezek. 33. Therefore cast away your sins and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die Where the golden candlestick stands there Christ walks there he saith I am with you Where the word and Sacraments are there Christ is and when the woâ—d shakes thy heart take that time now choose life Why will you die Consider of the matter Moses put before the people life and death blessing and cursing We put life and death before you in a better manner He was a Minister of the letter we of the spirit Now choose life But if you will not hearken but will needs try conclusions with God therefore because you will choose your own confusions and will not hearken unto God because you will needs try conclusions with him will not obey him when he calls therefore he will turn his deaf ear unto you and when you call and cry he will not answer Prov. 1. I presse this the more to move you to make a right choise But now to turn to the other side as there is nothing but death the wages of sin and as I have shew'd you where death is so give me leave to direct you to the fountain of life There is life in our blessed Saviour if we have but an hand of faith to â—ouch him we shall draw vertue from him to raise us up from the death of sin to the liâ—e of righteousnesse 1 John 5.12 He that hath the Son hath life he that hath not the Son hath not life You have heard of a death that comes by the first Adam and sin and to that stock of original sin we had from him we have added a great heap of our own actual sins and so have treasured up unto our selves wrath against the day of wrath Now here is a great treasure of happiness on the other side in Christ have the Son and have life The question is now whether you will choose Christ and life or sin and death Consider now the Minister stands in Gods stead and beseeches you in his name he speaks not of himself but from Christ. When he draws near to thee with Christs broken body and his blood shed and thou receive Christ then as thy life and strength is preserved and encreased by these Elements so hast thou also life by Christ. If a man be kept from nourishment a while we know what death he must die If we receive not Christ we cannot have life we know that there is life to be had from Christ and he that shall by a true and lively faith receive Christ shall have life by him There is as it were a pair of Indentures drawn up between God and a mans soul there is blood shed and by it pardon of sin and life convey'd unto thee on Christs part Now if there be faith and repentance on thy part and thou accept of Christ as he is offered then thou mayst say I have the Son and as certainly as I have the bread in my hand I shall have life by him This I speak but by the way that the Sun might not set in a cloud that I might not end only in death but that I might shew that there is a way to recover out of that death to which we have all naturally praecipitated our selves ROM 6.23 The wages of sin is death THe last day I entred on the Declaration of the cursed effects and consequents of sin and in general shew'd that it is the wrath of God that where sin is there wrath must follow As the Apostle in the Epistle to the Galathians As many as are under the works of the Law are under the curse Now all that may be expected from a God highly offended is comprehended in Scripture by this term Death Wheresoever sin enters death must follow Rom. 5.2 Death passed over all men forasmuch as all had sinned If we are children of sin we must be children of wrath Eph. 1.3 We are then children of wrath even as others Now concerning death in general I shew'd you the last time that the state of an unconverted man is a dead and desperate estate He is a slave It would affright him if he did but know his own slavery and what it is that hangs over his head that there 's but a span betwixt him and death he could never breath any free aire he could never be at any rest he could never be free from fear Heb. 2.15 the Apostle saith that Christ came to deliver them that through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage This bondage is a deadly bondage that when we have done all that we can doe what 's the payment of the service Death And the fear of this deadly bondage if we were once sensible if God did open our eyes and shew us as he did Belshazzar our doom written did we but see it it would make our joynts loose and our knees knock one against another Every day thou livest thou approachest nearer to this death to the accomplishment and consummation of it death without and death within death in this world and in the world to come Not onely death thus in gross and in general but in particular also Now to unfold the particulars of death and to shew you the ingredients of this bitter cup that we may be weary of our estates that we may be drawn out of this death and be made to fly to the Son that we may be free indeed Observe that Death is not here to be understood of a separation of the soul from the body only but a greater death then that the death of the soul and body We have mention made of a first resurrection Rev. 20.6 Blessed and happy is he that hath his part in the first resurrection for on such the second death hath no power What is the first resurrection It is a rising from sin And what is the second death It is everlasting damnation The first death is a death unto sin and the first resurrection is a rising from sin And so again for all things the judgments or troubles that appertain to this death all a man suffers before It is not as fools think the last blow that fells the tree but every blow helps forward 'T is not the last blow that kills the man but every blow that goes before makes way unto it Every trouble of mind every anguish every sicknesse all these are as so many strokes that shorten our life and hasten our end and are as it were so many deaths Therefore however it is said by the Apostle It is appointed for all men once to die yet we see the Apostle to
the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity it 's the most blessed condition as can be it is set down by way of Exclamation O the blessednesse of the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity For justification see what it is the Scripture in St. Pauls Epistles speaks of justification by faith and in St. James of justification by works Now it will be useful for us in this point to know whence justification comes it comes from justice Tsedeck as the Original hath it and to justifie so that justification and righteousnesse depend one upon the other for what is justification but the manifestation of the righteousnesse that is in a man and therefore in Gal. 3.21 they are put for one and the same thing For if there had been a Law given which could have given life verily righteousnesse had been by the Law that is justification had been by the Law Again If righteousnesse be by the Law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2. that is also if justification had been by the Law c. justification is a manifestation of righteousnesse and as many wayes as righteousnesse is taken so many wayes is justification which is a declaration of righteousnesse so that if there be a double righteousnesse there must be also a double justification Beloved I bring you no new doctrine be not afraid of that but I shew you how to reconcile places of Scripture against the Church of Rome and those things which the Papists bring against us in this point It stands by reason seeing justification is a declaration of righteousnesse that there must be so many sorts of justification as there be of righteousnesse Now there is a double sort of righteousness Rom. 8.4 That the righteousnesse of the Law may be fulfilled in us see then there is a double righteousnesse there is a righteousnesse fulfilled in us and a righteousnesse fulfilled by us that 's walking in the Spirit The righteousness fulfilled in us is fulfilled by another and is made ours by imputation so we have a righteousnesse without us and a righteousnesse inhaerent in us the righteousnesse without us is forgivenesse of sinnes and pardon of them which is a gracious act of God letting fall all actions against me and accounting of me as if I had never sinned against him all my life time then there is a righteousnesse within me an inherent righteousnesse And if a righteousnesse then justification for that is but a declaration of righteousnesse And so that which the Fathers call justification is taken generally for sanctification that which we call justification they call forgivenesse of sinnes that which we call sanctification they call justification so that the difference is only in the termes Justification we must know is not taken only as opposed to condemnation which is the first kinde of righteousnesse Rom. 6.7 He that is dead is freed from sinne if you look to the Greek or to the Margent it is he that is dead is justified from sinne this is not took in the first sense as opposed to condemnation but in the other sense as it hath relation to final grace The perfection of sanctification is wrought in me for where there is final grace there is a supersedeas from all sinne so Rev. 22.11 Let him that is righteous be righteous still the Greek is let him that is righteous be justified still See then the difference between Saint Paul and Saint James Saint Paul speaks of that which consists in remission of sinnes as in comparing the Apostle with David will appear Blessed is the man whose sinnes are forgiven Saint James speaks of justification in the second acception You need not flie to that distinction of justification before God and justification before men think not that Saint James speaks onely of justification before men Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac on the Altar What justified by killing his son this was a proper work indeed to justifie him before man to be a parricide to kill his sonne though it were not so before God So Psal. 106. we read how God accounted the act of Phine as for righteousness thus you see how works are accounted righteousnesse in the second kinde of righteousnesse In the former righteousnesse we are justified by faith for in righteousnesse inherent there is a goodly chaine of vertues Adde to your faith vertue c. adde one grace to another Adde to vertue knowledge faith is but one part of the Crown Now this justification in the first sense whereby my sinnes are forgiven is called the righteousnesse of God because of Christ which is God because it s wrought by Christ Dan. 9. he is called an everlasting righteousnesse which continueth for ever world without end for do not think the Saints in heaven have onely the second kinde of righteousnesse for they have the same covering by justification by Christ in heaven that they had before God covers their sins not here onely but there also justification follows them for ever Quest. But now what parts hath justification in it we are wont to say that there are two parts one imputation of righteousness the other forgivenesse of sinnes Sol. I answer for my own part I think Justification is one simple act of God and that it is improperly distinguished as parts but rather as terminus a quo is distinct from terminus ad quem And this I shall shew unto you both by reason and authority that faith is but one act Let none say that I take away the imputation of the righteousnesse of Christ No the bringing in of light and the expulsion of darknesse is not two acts but one but there is terminus á quo and terminus ad quem We are accounted righteous and that is we have our sinnes forgiven And the reason is this if sinne were a positive thing and had a being in it self then the forgivenesse of sin must be a thing distinct from the imputation of righteousnesse Scholars know the difference between adversa and privantia white and black are both existent but darknesse and light are not but only a privation one of another Darknesse is nothing of it self but the absence of light The bringing in of light is the suppression of it you must understand sinne hath no being no entity it 's only an absence of righteousnesse the want of that light which should be in the subject which want is either in our nature and then it 's call'd original or in our person and actions and then it s call'd actual transgression Sinne is an absence of that positive being which is as I said either in our nature or works Then thus I will resolve you in another point viz. If sin were a positive thing all the world cannot avoid it but God must be the Author of it for there is nothing can have a being but it must derive its being from the first being God Now how can we avoid Gods being the
not strike thee with a thunderbolt Sure he gives thee this space not to spend it idly but to another end not to follow our lusts neglecting Gods call but that thou mayst remember thy self and return with all thy heart Remember those words of the Prophet My times are in thy hands Psal. 35. He said not my times are in mine own hands for he knew it was grand presumption Why then should any challenge that to himself that belongs to God as if he were the lord of his own life supposing Gods call unseasonable and that he may think on it better hereafter May not a young man die soon now an old man cannot live long Many strong and lusty mâ—n are brought to the grâ—ve as well as the weak and feeble And why should we suffer Satan to abuse us thus Thy space then is preserved in Gods hand and therefore thou mayst not be Lord and Master of it But admit God grant thee space yet thou mayst not have the grace to do it What was Jezabels case Rev. 3. Though God gave her space yet she repented not What canst thou tell what may then become of thee perchance thou mayst live long yet mayst thou never find as much as thy thoughts on repentance much less the grace to do it thou mayst not have a desire that way much lesse perform it Repentance is not a thing at our own command In meeknesse saith the Apostle instruct them that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth 2 Tim. 2.25 If God will give it them It 's a thing then it should seem in Gods hand it 's his proper gift Mark the Apostle would have Gods Ministers to be humble and meek but how many are of other spirits If anothers opinion be contrary to theirs they are in a heat presently as if a man were master of himself and of his own heart to believe what he would No no Repentance is a grace out of our reach it 's not in a mans own power Be meek therefore in instructing What needs passion that helps not the matter The opening of the eies of the blind is in Gods hands thank him for what thou seest and know that 't is his gift Acts 5.31 The Apostle speaking of our Saviour Christ saith Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins The grace of repentance then is no herb growing in our own garden it 's a gift of Gods bestowing And to this purpose is Acts 11.18 When they heard these things they held their peace and glorified God saying then hath God also to the Gentils granted repentance unto life As God grants life so repentance unto life I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus saith the Lord Thou hast chastised me and I am chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke turn thou me and I shall be turned Jer. 31.18 And to the same purpose Lam. 5.21 Turn thou us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned As if Zion should have said we are no more able to turn our selves then a dead man After that saith Ephraim I was turned I repented and after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded See then what an high presumption it is for a man to presume he hath this grace of God at command But as it is high presumption so 2. It 's the highest contempt and despising of the grace of God Rom. 2.4 Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering Thus is it here God gives thee space thou hast it but imployest it not in what God gave it thee for Thou deferrest the main businesse and the Apostle accounts it no better then despising the proffers of Gods grace and goodnesse Dost thou think God will take this at thy hands wilt thou despise him and think he 'l not despise thee With the froward he will shew himself froward God will come on a suddain if thou makest not use of thine opportunity and take all away from thee The threatning is plainly laid down Rev. 3.3 If thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come on thee It 's spoken to us all and therefore concernes us all Whoever hath an ear to hear let him hear They are Gods words I have spoken to you this day and you shall be accountable for them let not the Devil steal this from you hold it fast this is your day If thou shalt not watch I le come on thee suddenly as a thief It 's the heaviest judgment can come on unconverted persons irregenerate soules not to awake till God comes on them never to bestir themselves till hell rouze them up Thus will it be with us unlesse we awake by repentance God will come stealing on us as a thief by suddain death and speedily cut us off To pray against suddain death and not to fit thy self for it is to add contempt to thy presumption and rebellion The wise man tells us That man knoweth not his time as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them Eccles. 9.12 Mark when it falls suddenly at unawares here 's thy wisdom then to provide that thou mayst not be taken suddenly If the good man of the house knew at what time the thief would come he would have watched and not have suffered his house to have been broken up And therefore Christ counsels us to watch since we know not the day nor hour when the Son of man cometh Here 's the difference then between wisedom and folly Hereby may we know whether we are wise men or fools if we foresee this day and provide for it it 's an argument of wisedome if we watch so as that when it falls it may not fall on a sudden on us If we are negligent of this day and suffer our hearts to be dead as Nabals like a stone 1 Sam. 25. He had a great time of repentance ten daies yet repented not for his heart was dead and like a stone and this may be thy case if thou despisest the day of thy salvation Gods day and thine own day too thou mayst be a Nabal no more moved then a pillar in the Church as I have found by experience But you may reply I suppose God will not take me at an advantage I trust I shall have life and space and not Nabals condition I hope I shall have my wits about me to be able to cry Lord have mercy upon me But suppose God give thee a tender heart and thou are sensible of thy danger that so thou call and cry earnestly to God for mercy yet this is a miserable condition Thou shalt find it will not be
more he often provides and is the more covetous Consider that the wisest of men gave thee this counsel Remember thy Creator in the day of thy youth before the evil dayes come wherein thou shalt say thou hast no pleasure in them Here we find it 's a youthful thing and should be a young mans practice not according to that devilish saying A young Saint and an old Devil but Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth The more sin thou committest the more unapt thou art to repent Custome in sinning makes thee a Lot the elder thou growest the more loth to go out of Sodom Besides 2. Consider what sin is in its nature It is a weight Heb. 12.1 Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us Sin is then a weight and so an heavy thing but add sin to sin a weight to a weight and it becomes heavier and heavier A man that is in the state of impenitencie hath this weight laid on him and is subject to the Devil in a state of rebellion against God A man now in this estate is weigh'd down what will he be six seven or ten years hence going on in his impenitency How will he then shake that off which now he cannot free himself of He must hereafter buckle against it with a great deal of disadvantage and wrestle with more difficulty One sayes well that if we consider of sin aright it 's like the rising of water over which a man being to passe and finding it higher then it was wont to be he stayes a while and then tryes again and finds it higher then before he stayes yet longer till it become unpassable so that he may not adventure without great disadvantage Thus it is with sin now peradventure the waters of iniquity are passable if thou wilt thou mayst go over but if thou delayest the adventure the streams of sin will run together into one channel and be more difficultly passed Take another Metaphor from the Scripture The Scripture compares sin to cords which are instruments of binding and therefore the mystery of the Gospel is expressed by binding and loosing Whose soever sins you shall bind on earth they are bound in heaven but whose sins ye remit they are remitted Every sin thou committest is a bond and binds thee hand and foot against the judgment of the great day Therefore it 's said His own iniquity shall take the wicked and he shall be bound and holden with the cords of his sins Now consider what folly it is when a man shall say though my sins are so many cords difficult to be broken yet I le not trouble my self about it in my younger days but I le stay till my old age and then I hope I shall be the better able to break these bonds and cast all these cords from me when as every iniquity I commit is as a new cord which binds me faster and faster Is not this madnesse it self to think so that in our younger yeares being scarce able to break one of them in our dotage we shall be able to break ten thousand together And certainly this is the disposition and nature of sin 3. But add hereto the Argument in the Text To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your heart but repent while it is called to day Shewing that if we passe this day we shall be harder and harder Wherefore saith the Apostle Exhort every one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sin Heb. 3.13 As if he had said if thy heart be hard to day it will be harder to morrow Custome in sin hardens the heart and takes away the sense of it Wherefore saith the Apostle I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmitie of your flesh For as ye have yeilded your members servants to uncleannesse and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yeild your members servants to righteousnesse unto holinesse Rom. 6.19 So that we see if a man once give himself up unto sin he will not be satisfied therewith but will give himself up to iniquitie unto iniquitie What 's the meaning of that It 's as if he had said if we give our selves up to iniquity we will not rest there but we 'l add iniquity unto iniquity sin unto sin we will be brought to such a custom in evil as that it will be easier for a black-moor to change his skin and a leopard his spots then for those that have been accustomed to do evil to learn to do well Jer. 13. It will be to as much purpose to wash an Aethiopian as to go to put off that ill custome and shake off that second nature Sin is a hammer and sin is a nail too Every sin strikes the former sin home to the head that whereas before it might easily have been drawn out it roots it in so fast as that it can very hardly be plucked out Mark how the Apostlâ— describes this cursed nature of sin Having eies full of Adultery and that cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable soules a heart they have exercised with covetous practises 2 Pet. 2.14 What makes a man prompt in any thing but exercise When a man is exercised in sin see the event of it it brings him to that vicious habit as that at length he cannot cease from sin If a man deal with a young twigg it will bend and break at his pleasure but when it comes to full growth it 's past his strength So fares it with sin if thou dealest with it whilst thou art young and it in thee before it hath taken â—oot thou maist easily wield it at least with more facility then otherwise thou couldst but if thou let it run on to confirmed habits it becomes immoveable Wherefore saith the Apostle Heb. 12.1 Let us lay aside the sin which doth so easily beset us The reason is evident because else we shall be so hardned as that we shall not be able A man that hath a green wound if he 'l seek for his cure betimes it may be quickly and easily remedied but through delay it begins to fester and must be lanced to the quick not without great pain and anguish to the Patient Sin is such a wound if it be let â—lone it corrupts and proud flesh the more grows up the longer the cure is delayed This â—herefore should be a chief thing we should take heed of how we put from us Gods time and the proffers of mercy till another day 2. But there are another sort as greatly beâ—â—ol'd as these yea more if more may be and â—â—ose are they who put it off till the hour of 〈◊〉 death till the last gasp as if they desired tâ—â—ive God as little of their service as possibly thâ—y might who think if they can but cry Peccavi and Lord have mercy on me when their breath departs their bodies they shew
upon our selves with false glasses because there is naturally in every one self-love and in these last and worst times men are apt to think better of themselves then they deserve If there be any beginning of goodnesse in them they think all is well when there is no danger in the world then being but half Christians He thinks that if he hath escaped the outward pollutions of the world through lust and be not so bad as formerly he hath been and not so bad as many men in the world are therefore he is well enough whereas his end proves worse then his beginning This superficial repentance is but like the washing of a hog the outside is onely wash't the swinish nature is not taken a way There may be in this man some outward abstaining from the common grosse sins of the world or those which he himself was subject unto but his disposition to sin is the same his nature is nothing changed there is no renovation no casting in a new mould which must be in us For it is not a little reforming will serve the turn no nor all the morality in the world nor all the common graces of Gods Spirit nor the outward change of the life they will not do unlesse we are quickned and have a new life wrought in us unlesse there be a supernatural working of Gods Spirit we can never enter into Heaven Therefore in this case it behooves every man to prove his own work Gal. 6. A thing men are hardly drawn unto to be exact examiners of themselves Coelo descendit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Heathen himself could say to know a mans self is a heavenly saying and it 's an heavenly thing indeed if we have an heavenly Master to teach us The Devil taught Socrates a lesson that brought him from the study of natural to moral Philosophy whereby he knew himself yet the Devil knew morality could never teach him the lesson indeed All the morality in the world cannot teach a man to escape Hell we must have a better instructer herein then the Devil or our selves the Lord of Heaven must do it if ever we will be brought to know our selves aright St. Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel one of the learnedst Doctors of the Pharisees and yet he could not teach him this When he studied the law he thought himself unblameable but coming to an higher and better Master he knows that in him that is in his flesh dwells no good thing Rom. 7. By self examination a man may finde mâ—ny faults in himself but to find that which the Apostle afterwards found in himself to see the flesh a rottenness the sink of iniquity that is within him and to find himself so bad as indeed he is unlesse it please the Lord to open his eyes and to teach him he can never attain it Now we come to this place of the Apostle wherein we see the true glasse of our selves the Spirit knows what we are better then our selves and the Spirit shews us that every man of us either was or is such as we are here set down to be We are first natural before we can be spiritual there is not a man but hath been or is yet a natural man and tâ—â—â—efore see we the large description of a natural man before he is quickned before God which is rich in mercy enlivens him being dead in sins and saves him by grace in Christ. Thus is it with us all and thus must it be and we shall never be fit for grace till we know our selves thus far till we know our selves as far out of frame as the Spirit of truth declares us to be In this place of Scripture consider we 1. Who this carnal man is what they are which the Apostle speaks of to be dead in sins and that walk after the course of the world led by the Devil and have their conversation after the flesh children of wrath These are big words and heavy things Consider therefore first the subject of whom this is spoken Then follows the Pâ—aedicate or 2. What thâ— till newes is which he delivers of them We begin with the first 1. Who they are of whom this is spoken and that is you You hath he quickned who were dead and ye in the words following that in times past walked after the course of the world and in the third verse more particularly Among whom we had our conversation also in times past He speaks now in the first person as before in the second so that the subject is we and ye all Not a man in this Congregation but is or was as bad as the Holy Ghost here makes him But 2. To come to that which is delivered of him he is one not quickned dead in sins no better then nature made him that corrupt nature which he hath from Adam till he is thus spiritually enlivened Now he 's described 1. By the quality of his person 2. By his company Even as others Thou mayst think thy self better then another man but thou art no better never a barrel the better herring as we say Even as others thou art not so alone but as bad as the worst not a man more evil in his nature then thou art When thou goest to hell perhaps some difference there may be in your several punishments according to your several acts of rebellion but yet you shall all come short of the glory of God And for matter of quickning you are all alike 1. First then concerning their quality And this is declared 1. By their general disposition they are dead in trespasses and sins Dead and therefore unable and indisposed to the works of a spiritual living man Besides not onely indisposed and unable thereto but dead in trespasses and sins He lies rotting in his own filth like a rotten carkasse and stinkking carrion in the nostrils of the Almighty so loathsome is he all which is drawn from original sin Not onely dis-enabled to any good but prone to all sin and iniquity 2. By his particular conversation And that appeares in the verse following Where in times past ye walked How Not according to the word and will of God not according to his rule but they walked after three other wicked rules A dead man then hath his walk you see a strange thing in the dead but who directs him in his course these three the world the flesh and the Devil the worst guides that may be yet if we look to the conversation of a natural man we see these are his Pilots which are here set down 1. The World Where in times past ye walked after the course of the world He swims along with the stream of the world Nor will he be singular not such a precise one as some few are but do as the world doth run amain whither that carries him See the state of a natural man He 's apt to be brought into the slavery of the world This
is his first guide then follows 2. The Second which is the Devil The Devil leads him as well as the World According to the Prince of the power of the Aire the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience In stead of having the Spirit of God to be led by he 's posted by the Spirit of Saâ—an and the works of his Father the Devil he will doe He hath not an heart to resist the viâ—est lusts the Devil shall perswade him to When Satan once fills his heart he hath no heart to any thing else then to follow him 3. There remains the Flesh his guide too and that 's not left out v. 3. Amongst whom we had our conversation in times past in the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind So that you see the three guides of a natural man and he is as bad as these three can make him and till the stronger man comes and pulls him out in this condition he remains and in this natural estate he is a son of disobedience We see then the state of disobedience described to be wretchednesse 3. This further appeares by that which must follow which is cursednesse Rebellion and wretchednesse going before cursednesse will follow For God will not be abused nor suffer a Rebel to go unpunished Therefore saith the Apostle We are by nature the children of wrath Being the natural sons of disobedience we may well conclude we are the children of wrath If we can well learn these two things of our selves how deep we are in sin and how the wrath of God is due to us for our sins then we may see what we are by Nature Thus much concerning the quality of a natural man Next follows 2. His company Even as others By nature we are the children of wrath even as others That is to say we go in that broad wide way that leads to damnation that way we all naturally rush into though we may think it otherwise and think our selves better yet we are deceived For it is with us even as with others Naturally we are in the same state that the worst men in the world are so that we see the glasse of a natural man or of a man that hath made some beginnings till Christ come and quicken him Q. See we then who it is spoken of to be dead men that are rotten and stinking as bad as the world the flesh and the Devil can make them Who should these be A. I answer it 's you you hath he quickned And ye wherein ye walked c. But who are they The Ephesians perhaps that were in times past heathens I hope it belongs not to us They were Gentiles and Pagans that knew not Christ v. 12. Aliens to the Commonweal of Israel strangers to the covenant of promise having no hope without God in the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Text renders it Atheists and therefore they might well be so But I hope it 's not thus with me I was never a Pagan or Heathen I was born of Christian Parents and am of the Church But put away these conceits Look on the 3d. v. Amongst whom we also had our conversation and wherein ye your selves c. It 's not onely spoken of you Gentiles but verified of us also As if he had sâ—id here as Gal. 2. We who are Jewes by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles He paints out noâ— onely you the Gentiles in such ugly colours but we Jewes also we of the Commonwealth of Iâ—rael We before we were quickned were in the same state that you are described to be in Obj. Oh but the Apostle may do this out of fellowship and to avoid envy as it were making himself a paâ—ty with them as Ezra did cap. 9. that included himself in the number of the offenders though he had no hand in the offence O our God saith he what shall we say Our evil deeds c. and how shall we stand before thee because of this making a particular confession whereas he was not accessory to the fault but to sweeten it to them Sol. But here the Apostle doth not so he was not thus minded but it 's we all he puts universality to it So that it 's clear that before conversion and quickning by grace from Christ we all all of us are in as foul and filthy a condition as this which is here described and set down So that this is the point that it is not spoken of some desperate sinners but that it is the common state and condition of all the sons of Adam Doct. All men every man and woman in this place either is or hath been in the state that here the Apostle describeth him to be Therefore we have all need to examine our selves whether we yet remain in that condition or not The Apostle brings this description to testifie the truth of the point Gal. 3.22 The Scripture hath concludedâ— all under sin The whole current and course of the Scripture shewes the universality of it that it 's true of all See the Apostle speaking of himself and the rest Tit. 3.3 saith We our selves also not onely you of the Gentiles but we our selves also were foolish disobedient c. but after the kindnesse of God towards man appeared c. that is before the day-star of grace did arise in our hearts there 's not the best of us all but have been thus and thus Rom. 3.3 There the Apostle insists on the point expresly that every mouth might be stopped to shew the state of all men naturally having laid down a large beadrole of the iniquities of the Heathen cometh afterward to convince the Jews What are we better then they no we have proved that all are under sin there is none good no not one Obj. But though you bring many places to prove that all are sinners yet I hope the Virgin Mary was not Sol. An inch breaks no squares but All are sinners There is none righteous no not one The drift of the Apostle in this is to shew that these things are not spoken of some hainous sinners onely but there 's not one to be exempted and therefore in his Conclusion v. 19. he saith That every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God and that by the deeds of the Law no flesh can be justified from sin So that now having proved this so clearly to you consider with your selves how needful it is to apply this to our own souls Many men when they read such things as these in the Scripture read them but as stories from strange Countries What are we dead in sins not able to stir one foot in Gods wayes bad we are indeed but dead rotten and stinking in sins and trespasses what as bad as the world the devil and flesh can make us what children of wrath firebrands of hell few can perswade themselves that it
subject to the will of God neither indeed can it be Our Saviour Mat. 15.8 doth anatomize the heart of such a man Those things that come out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile the man for out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts murthers adulteries c. these are they which defile the man because they come from his heart from within If a man go by a house and see great flakes of fire come out of the â—himney though he see not the fire within yet he cannot but know there is fire within because he seeth the flakes without I am not able to see the heart of any man and to declare to you what I have seen with mine eyes but yet if I see such flakes to come forth as murther thefts blasphemies lying and the like I may say there is hel-fire in the heart thy heart is a little hell within thee these manifestations from without make it appear to be so The words of this man are rotten words and stinking words and his heart is much more So this is the point we are utterly indispos'd aliens to all good and bent to all evil I am carnal saith the Apostle we are sold under sin slaves unto it sin is our Lord and we its slaves We have generally forfeited our happy estate and are servants to Satan whom we obey Therefore this is a thing not easily to be passed over this is our condition of which if we were once truly perswaded we would never give our selves any rest till we were got out of it If the party that goes to the Physician could but know his disease and cause the Physician to know it and the causes of it whether it came from a hot cause or a cold it were easily cured it were as good as halfe done That is the chief reason why so many miscarry because their disease is not perfectly known That is the reason we are no better because our disease is not perfectly known That is the reason that we are no better because we know not how bad we are If we did once know our disease and knew our selves to be heart sick and not like the Laodiceans which thought themselves rich and wanted nothing when they were poor blind and naked then we would seek out and were in the way to be cured So much for this time but we will have another Lecture on this point GAL. 3.22 But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe YOu see in this excellent portion of Scripture the two Covenants of Almighty God to wit the Covenant of Nature and the Covenant of grace The first of Nature which was written by God in mans heart and this is the holy Law of God by vertue whereof a man was to continue in that integrity holinesse and uprightnesse in which God had first created him and to serve God according to that strength he first enabled him with that so he might live thereby But now when man had broken this Covenant and enter'd into a state of Rebellion against God he 's shut up in misery but not in misery for ever as the Angels that fell were being reserved in chaines till the judgment of the great day No the Lord hath shut him up in prison only for a while that so he may the better make a way for their escape and deliverance and for their entrance into the second Covenant of grace that so making him see his own misery wherein by nature he is and cutting him off from his own stock he may be ingrafted into Christ draw sap and sweetnesse from him and bring forth fruits to everlasting life And this is the method the Scripture useth It concludes all under sin that so the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe It 's no new Doctrine devised by us but it 's the course and method of the Scripture for it begins in this great work with imprisoning and shutting up The Law is as a Justice of Peace that by his Mittimus commands us to prison It 's a Serjeant that arrests a man and carries him to the Gaole But why does the Scripture do thus It 's not to destroy you with famine the Law sends you not hither to starve you or to kill you with the stench of the prison but thereby to save and preserve you alive and that you may hunger and thirst after deliverance So that we find the reason added in the Text The Scripture concludes all under sin why It 's that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe You are shut up as prisoners and rebels that having found the smart of it seen your misery and learn'd what it is to be at enmity with God and the folly to make your selves wiser and stronger then God you may submit your selves casting down your plumes and desire after Christ with an hungry and thirsty appetite for not only a Priest to sacrifice himself for you and a Prophet to teach and instruct you but a King to be swayd by him earnestly craving from thy soule to be his subject and to be admitted into the priviledge of his subjects in the Commonwealth of Israel and esteem it our greatest shame that we have been aliens so long so long excluded The Scripture then concludes you under sin and shut up by it not to bring you to despair but to bring you to salvation As a Physician which gives his Patient bitter pills not to make him sick but that so he may restore him to health or as a Chirurgion that layes sharp drawing plaisters and cuts the flesh not with an intent to hurt but to cure the wound This is the Scriptutes method it concludes all under sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath shut up all The Text saith not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not all men in the masculine gender but all things in the neuter And it is all one as if the Apostle had said The Scripture arrests not onely thy person but thine actions The Scripture layes hold not onely of the man but of every thing in him This word all is a forcible word and empties us clean of every thing that we may truiy confesse with the Apostle In me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing Rom. 7.18 It 's impossible a man should by nature think thus of himself that there is no good in him or that he should by asking others finde himself half so bad as the Law makes him to be by shutting up a man under sin and all things in a man yea all good whatsoever is in thee And this it doth that thou mayst come to Christ as it is enlarged in the 2. verses following Before faith came saith the Apostle we were kept up under the Law shut up unto the faith which should afterward be revealed wherefore the Law was
so foul a sight that it would make us out of our wits as it were to behold it A man that is but natural cannot imagine what a black Devil there is within him But though he seeth it not yet he that hath eyes like a flame of fire Rev. 1.14 seeth our stains and spots Our Saviour shewes the filthinesse of the heart by that which proceeds out of the mouth Mat. 15.18 Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart And v. 19. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts c. Observe Of all evils we account evil thoughts the least This we think strange what thoughts defile a man what so light a matter as a thought Can they make any impression Yes and defile a man too leaving such a spot behind them which nothing but the hot blood of Christ can wash away So many evil thoughts so many blasphemies so many filthy things come from the heart every one being a new defilement and pollution that a man is made so nasty by it and filthy that he cannot believe that it is so bad with him as indeed it is The Apostle having shewn the Corinthians their former life and exhorted them against it 1 Cor. 6. goes on cap. 7. v. 1. Let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit Mark then there is a double filthinesse a filthinesse of the flesh and a filthinesse of the spirit The filthinesse of the flesh that every one acknowledgeth to be filthy carnality Fornication and Adultery c. These bestial lusts every one knowes to be unclean But then there is a filth of the Spirit too and such are evil thoughts They are the filth of the Spirit Corruptio optimi est pessima The corruption which cleaves to the best thing is worst The soul is the Best thing the most noble thing the filthinesse which cleaves to it therefore must needs be the greatest Fleshly filthiness as Adultery is filthy but contemplative Adultery to dwell thereon is worse however such a man may be pure from the filth of the flesh yet if he delight himself in filthy thoughts his spirit is abominable in the sight of God there is a stain by every one of thy impure thoughts left behind However an actual sin be far greater then the sin of a thought yet if that be but once committed and these are frequently in thee if thou alway lie tumbling in the suds of thy filthy thoughts thy continuing therein makes thy sin more abominable then Davids outward act which he but once committed So that we see there is a filthinesse of the spirit as well as the flesh In James 1.21 we have a word sets out the filthinesse of it which is Superfluity Lay apart saith he all filthinesse and superfluity of naughtinesse First it 's expressed by the name of filthinesse â—hewing there 's nothing so defiles a man as sin Then 't is call'd superfluity of naughtinesse But what is there any naughtinesse to be born with and what exceeds that is it superfluity No that 's not the meaning of the place By superfluity is meant the excrements of sin Excrements are the refuse of meat when the good nourishment is taken away from it And 't is as if the Apostle had said Lay aside filthy nasty or excrementitious sin The word was used in the Ceremonies of the Jewes and thereby we may see what was taught concerning sin Deut. 23.12 13. Thou shalt have a place without the camp whither thou shalt goe c. Though the comparison be homely yet it shews the filthinesse of the sin that it is as a very excrement Thou shalt have a paddle and it shall be that when thou wilt ease thy self thou shalt dig therewith c. and thou shalâ— cover that which cometh from thee But what did God care for these things No it was to teach them a higher matter As the reason following implies For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of the Camp God would thereby shew them that those things at which every man stoppeth his nose are not so filthy to man as sin is unto God So that you see how the case stands with a sinful man sin defiles him it pollutes him 2. And then in the next place It makes Gods soul to hate and abhor him It 's true some sins there are that every man imagineth to be shameful and filthy but we see all sin is so to God 't is filâ—hinesse of flesh and spirit A man may hate carnality fleshly filthinesse peradventure also he may hate covetousnesse but pride and prodigality that he may get as he thinks credit by that he cannot maintain the reputation of a Gentleman without them A miserable thing that a man should account that a garnish of the soule which doth defile and pollute it If a man should take the excrements of a beast to adorn himself would not we think him an ass Well when we thus defile our selves by sin God cannot endure us he is forced to turn from us he abhors us And that 's the next woe 2. When thou hast made thy self such a black soul such a dunghill such a sty then God must be gone he cannot endure to dwell there It stands not with his honour and with the purity of his nature to dwell in such a polluted heart there must now be a divorce Holinesse becomes his house for ever His delight is in the Saints He is King of the Saints he will not be in a sty When thou hast thus polluted and defiled thy soul God and thee must presently part God puts thee off and thou puttest God off too We read in that place before alledged Eph. 2 12· that before they knew Christ they were without God in the world c. Atheists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in cap. 4. v. 18. Having your understanding darkned and being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them The presence of God is the life of our soules and we having through sin and ignorance banish't God we become strangers until the time of our ingrafting into Christ we are aliens to the life of God whereupon comes a mutual kind of abhorring one another God abhors us and we vile and filthy wretches abhor God again There is enmity betwixt God and us and between all that belongs to God and all that belongs to us There 's an enmity betwixt God and us and observe the expression of it Levit. 26.15 If you shall despise my statutes or if your soules shall abhor my judgments so that you will not doe my commandements c. See here how we begin to abhor God and then for judgment on such persons v. 30. My soul shall abhor you We are not behind hand with God in this abhorring Zach. 11.8 My soul loathed them and their soul abhorred me When we begin to abhor God Gods soul also abhors us When a man hath such a polluted soul he becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
forsaken the fountain of life art liable to everlasting death And for this see some places of Scripture Rom. 6.2 3. The wages of sin is death Consider then first what this wages is Wages is a thing which must be paid If you have an hireling and your hireling receive not his wages you are sure to hear of it and God will hear of it too James 5.4 He which keeps back the wages of the labourer or of the hireling their cry will come into the eares of the Lord of Sabbath As long as hirelings wages are unpaid Gods eares are filled with their cries Pay me my wages pay me my wages So sin cries and it is a dead voice Pay me my wages pay me my wages the wages of sin is death And sin never leaves crying never lets God alone never gives him rest till this wages be paid When Cain had slain Abel he thought he should never have heard any more on 't but sin hath a voice The voice of thy brothers blood cries unto me from the ground So Gen. 18.20 the Lord saith concerning Sodom Because the cry of Sodom is great and their sin very grievous therefore I will goe down and see whether they have done according to the cry that is come up into mine eares As if the Lord had said It 's a loud cry I can have no rest for it therefore I will goe down and see c. If a man had his eares open he would continually hear sin crying unto God Pay me my wages pay me my â—ages kill this sinful soul And though we do not hear it yet so it is The dead and doleful sound thereof fillâ— Heaven it makes God say I will goe down and see c. Till sin receive its wages God hath no rest Again see Rom. 7.11 Sin taking occasion by the commandement deceived me and by it slew me I thought sin not to have been so great a matter as it is We think on a matter of profit or pleasure and thereupon are enticed to sin but here 's the mischieâ— sin dâ—ceives us Iâ— is a weight it presses down it deceâ—â—es men it 's more then they deemed it to be The committing of sin is as it were running thy self upon the point of Gods blade Sin at first may flâ—â—ter thee but it will deceive thee It 's like Joabs kisse to Amasa Amasa was not aware of the spear that was behind till he smote it into his ribs that he died When sin entices thâ—e on by profits and pleasures thou art not aware that it will slay thee But thou shalt find it will be bitternesse in the end A sinner that acts a tragedy in sin shall have a bloody Catastrophe Rom. 6. What fruit had you then in those things whereof you are now ashamed Blood and death is the end of the Tragedy The end of those things is death The sting of death is sin 1 Cor. 15. What is sin It 's the sting of death Death would not be death unlesse sin were in it Sin is more deadly then death it self It 's sin enableth death to sting enableth it to hurt and wound us So that we may look on sin as the Barbarians looked on the viper on Pauls hand they expected continually when he would have swollen and burst Sin bites like a snake which is called a fiery serpent not that the serpent is fiery but because it puts a man into such a flaming heat by their poyson And such is the sting of sin which carries poyson in it that had we but eyes to see our uglinesse by it and how it inflames us we should continually every day look when we should burst with it The Apostle James 1.15 useth another metaphor Sin when it is accomplished bringeth forth death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Original sin goeth as it were with child with death The word is proper to women in labour who are in torment till they are delivered Now as if sin were this woman he useth it in the faeminine gender 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So is it with sin sin is in pain cries out hath no rest till it be delivered of this dead birth till it have brought forth death That is sin growes great with child with death and then it not only deserves death but it produceth and actually brings forth This is generally so Now consider with your selves death is a fearful thing When we come to talk of death how doth it amaze us The Priests of Nob are brought before Saul for relieving David and he saith Thou shalt surely die Ahimelech And this is your case you shall surely die death is terrible even to a good man As appeares in Hezekiah who though he were a good man yet with how sad a heart doth he entertain the message of death the newes of it affrighted him it went to his heart it made him turn to the wall and weep How cometh it to pass that we are so careless of death that we are so full of infidelity that when the word of God saith Thou shalt die Ahimelech we are not at all moved by it What can we think these are fables Do we think God is not in earnest with us And by this means we fall into the temptation of Eve a questioning whether Gods threats are true or not That which was the deceit of our first Parents is ours Satan disputes not whether sin be lawful or not whether eating the fruit were unlawful whether drunkennesse c. be lawful he 'l not deny but it is unlawful But when God saith If thou dost eat c. thou shalt die he denies it and saith ye shall not die He would hide our eyes from the punishment of sin Thus we lost our selves at the first and the floods of sin came on in this manner when we believed not God when he said If thou dost eat thou shalt surely die And shall we renew that capital sin of our Parents and think if we do sin we shall not die If any thing in the world will move God to shew us no mercy it 's this when we slight his judgments or not believe them This adds to the heigth of all our sins that when God saith if thou dost live in sin thou shalt die and yet we will not believe him that when he shall come and threaten us as he doth Deut. 29. when he shall curse and we shall bless our selves in our hearts and say we shall have peace though we goe on c. The Lord will not spare that man but the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against him It is no small sin when we will not believe God This is as being thirsty before we now adde drunkennesse to our thirst That is when God shall thus pronounce curses he shall yet blesse himself and say I hope I shall doe well enough for all that There are two words to that bargain Then see what follows The anger of the Lord and his
precious faith that of the poorest Believer and the greatest Saint Now that we may come unto the point without any more going backwards In the words read there is the point of faith and a thing God confirms it withal a seal In whom also after that you believed you were sealed Faith is of it self a thing unsealed the sealing with the holy Spirit of Promise is a point beyond faith it s a point of feeling and not only of believing of Gods Word but a sensible feeling of the Spirit a believing in my soul accompanied with joy unspeakable and full of glory of which sealing we shall speak more hereafter Observe for the first 1. The Object of it In whom you trusted We speak of Faith now as it justifies as it apprehends Christ for its Object for otherwise Faith hath as large an Extent as all Gods Word Faith hath a hand to receive whatsoever God hath a mouth to speak What is the Object He in whom you trusted It is a wonder to see how many are deceived who make the forgiveness of sins to be the proper Object of faith A man may call as long as he lives for forgiveness of sins yet unless there be the first Act to lay hold on Christ in vain doth he expect forgiveness of sins Untill thou dost accept Christ for thy King and Saviour thou hast no promise We are never Children of the Promise till we are found in him The proper and immediate Object of Faith is first Christ and then God the Father by him for Faith must have Christ for its Object I must believe in none else but God in and through Christ. Now that this is so we may see in that famous place 1 Pet. 1.21 When he had spoken of the precious blood of Christ the Lamb without blemish he goes on and shews that he was manifested in those last times for you who by him do believe in God that raised up Christ from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God There is no true believing in God the Father but by the Son The proper Object of Hope and Faith is God and he that doth believe or hope or trust in any thing else there is Idolatry in it we believe in God by him so that the primary Object of Faith is Christ. Gal. 3.26 Ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Jesus Christ. What 's my Faith then If thou wilt be the Child of God receive hold Christ Jesus accept him for thy Saviour and for thy Lord He is the proper Object of thy Faith Again you must have Christ Jesus and him crucified that should be the highest knowledge in our account To know Christ and him crucified and by it to accept him Hereupon the Apostle to the Romans when he speaks of faith makes the Object of it Christ and Christ crucified Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Whatsoever then thou findest in Christ is an Object of thy Faith John 6. The point is He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood that is he who receiveth me and makes me as his meat and drink shall be partaker of me Compare this Rom. 3.25 with Rom. 5.9 for its worth comparing We are said to be justified by his blood Rom. 5.9 By faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 Now both these come to one and they resolve the point and clear the Question whether Faith in it self as a Vertue doth justifie or in respect of its Object surely it s in respect of the Object You that have skill in Phylosophy know that heat if considered as a quality its effects are not so great but considered as an instrument it transcends the sphere of its own activity it doth wonders for its the principle of generation and many other strange effects So here take faith as a Vertue and it s far short of love but consider it as an instrument whereby Christ is applyed and it transcends it works wonders beyond its proper sphere for the meanest thing it layes hold on is the Son of God He that hath the Son hath life c. Some would think this an hard kind of speech when we are justified by faith we are justified by Christ apprehended by faith and yet that place is cleer to be justified by his blood and faith in his blood becomes one faith As if a man should say I was cured by going to the Bath so faith comes unto me faith is the legs A man is not said properly to be cured by going to the Bath nor justified by coming to Christ by the legs of faith but the applying of the Bath the coming to Christ and applying his vertue to make him the Object of my faith this is the way to be justified As it is not the makeing and preparing of a plaister that cures but the applying it so that this concludes this point that the true Object of faith is Christ crucified and God the Father in and by him Here then is the point thou must not look for any comfort in faith till thou hast Christ and to think thou shalt ever have any benefit by God till thou hast Christ thou deceivest thy self It is impossible for a man to receive nourishment by his bread and drink till he partake of it in the substance so thou must partake of Christ before thou canst receive any nourishment by him Christ saith not thou must have forgiveness of sins or thou must have my Fathers favour but take my body and blood take me crucified Buy the field and the treasure is thine but thou hast nothing to do with the treasure till thou gettest the field This is preferment enough to have the Lords Promise to Abraham I am thy exceeding great reward I am my wel-beloveds and my wel-beloved is mine There is a spiritual match betwixt Christ and thee there are many who are matcht with Christ and yet know not how rich they are when a man reckons of what he shall get by Christ only when all his thoughts are on that he marrieth the portion and not the man thou must set thy love on Christs person and then having him all that he hath is thine how rich Christ is so rich art thou he must first be thine He that hath the Son hath life but the Son must first be had Is there any now in this congregation who is so hard-hearted as to refuse such a gift as this When God shall give thee his Son if thou wilt take him is there any so prophane as with Esau to sell his birth c. to pursue the poor pedling things of this life and refuse salvation so high a gift A gift which is not given to Angels they think it an honour to wait at the Lords Table they have not this precious food given to them they never
ask to have thy sinnes pardoned that God would be friends with thee and that Christ would make thee love him and that God would be thy God that God delights in it This is the point then Suppose God answer not presently yet knock still seek still that is perseverance the thing whereby it is distinguished from temporary asking The hypocrite will pray in a time of need and adversity but his prayer is not constant Job 27.10 Will the hypocrite alwayes call upon God If they come and seek God and he will not answer as Saul did they will try the Divel God would not answer Saul and he presently goes to the Divel It 's not so with Gods children they pray and pray and wait still they pray with the Spirit and with perseverance God deals not alwayes alike with his children but differently sometimes he answers presently sometimes he makes them wait his leisure Psal. 32.5 I said I would confess my sinne sayes David and my transgressions and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sinne so Dan. 9.21 When he set himself to seek God even while he was speaking and praying the man Gabriel appeared unto him and touch't him about the time of the evening Oblation Before the word was out of his mouth God was at his heart and presently sends him a dispatch The like we see in Esay 65.24 Mark what a promise there is It shall come to passe that before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear This is a great encouragement but it may be God will not alwayes do this and what 's the reason Why he hath a wonderful great delight to be wrestled withall and to hear the words of his own Spirit nothing is more delightful to him than this when the Spirit is earnest and will not give over I will not let thee go unlesse thou blesse me It 's said in the Canticles honey is under the lips of the Church why so it's because there is no honey sweeter to the palate than spiritual prayer to God And therefore God delayes to answer thee because he would have more of it If the Musitians come and play at our doors or windows if we delight not in their Musick we throw them out money presently that they may be gone but if the Musick please us we forbear to give them money because we would keep them longer for we like the Musick So the Lord loves and delights in the sweet words of his children and therefore puts them off and answers them not presently Now Gods children let him deny them never so long yet they will never leave knocking and begging they will pray and they will wait still till they receive an answer Many will pray to God as prayer is a duty but few use it as a means to attain a blessing Those who come to God in the use of it as a means to attain what they would have they will pray and not give over they will expect an Answer and never give over petitioning till they receive it ROM 5.1 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ c. HAving declared unto you heretofore the nature of faith and that point which concernes the practice of it in our near approach unto God I am now come to shew unto you the fruits and benefits Christians receive from this Mother-grace and that the Apostle sets down in these words He sets down 1. The Mother-Grace Justification that whereas we were afarre off we are made near and of enemies made friends of God Then 2. There are the daughters or hand-maids of this grace For when we are justified by Faith then 1. We have peace with God that peace of conscience which passeth all understanding then 2. We have free accesse by faith unto the Throne of grace so that we need not look for any other Mediators Christ hath made way for us to God so that we may go boldly to the Throne of grace and find help at any time of need 3. There follows a joyful hope that a Christian hath by it a taste of Heaven before he come to enjoy it We rejoyce in hope saith the Apostle hope being as firme a thing as faith faith makes things absent as present hope hath patience with it and would have us wait We shall be sure of it but yet we must wait patiently 4. Not only rejoycing in hope but even that which spoils a natural mans joy as crosses troubles afflictions and these are made the matter of this mans joy not delectable objects only Not in time to come after afflictions but in afflictions so as that which spoils the joy of a natural man is fuel to kindle this mans joy Now concerning justification by faith though it be an ordinary point yet there is nothing more needs Explication than to know how a man shall be justified by Faith It 's easily spoken hardly explicated Therefore in this mother-Grace I shall shew you 1. What faith is that doth justifie And 2. What this justification is For it is not so easie a mattâ—â— neither 1. Concerning the nature of faith I have spoken sufficiently already wherein it consists but yet notwithstanding there is a certain thing as like this faith as may be and yet comes short of it Many there are who are like the foolish Virgins that thought they were well enough and thought they should come time enough So many think verily they have faith yea and perchance go with such a perswasion to their very graves and think they have grace and that they labour after Christ and lay hold on him and are free from worldly pollutions so as that they have a taste and relish of the joy of the world to come and yet are carried all this while in a fooles Paradise and think there is no feare of their safety never knowing that they are cast-awayes till they come to the gates of hell and find themselves by woful experience shut out of heaven And their case is woful that are thus deceived Know then that it is not every faith that justifies a man a man may have faith and yet not be justified The Faith that justifies is the Faith of Gods Elect Tit. 1.1 there is a faith that may belong to them that are not Gods elect but that faith does not justifie In the Epistle to Timothy that faith which justifies must be a Faith unfeign'd 1 Tim. 1.5 2 Tim. 1.5 Now here 's the skill of a Christian to try what that faith is which justifies him Now this justifying faith is not every work of Gods Spirit in a mans heart for there are supernatural operations of the Spirit in a mans heart that are but temporary that carry him not thorow and therefore are ineffectual but the end of this faith is the salvation of our soules We read in Scripture of Apostacy and falling back Now they cannot be Apostates that were never in the way of truth
Author of sin Why thus it is nothing But what is sinne nothing Will God damne a man and send him to hell for nothing I answer it s not such a nothing as you make it a man is not damned for nothing It 's a nothing privative an absence of that that should be and that a man ought to have As when a Scholar is whip't for not saying his lesson is he whip't think you for nothing indeed he hath nothing he can't say a word of his lesson and therefore it is he is whip't it is for a thing he ought to have and hath not Well if you will say there are two parts of justification do if you please but this I take to be the more proper and genuine explanation Besides it appears by testimony of the Apostle Rom. 4.6 As David describeth the blessednesse of the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousnesse without works c. Saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sinnes are covered The Apostle cites the Prophet David Psal. 42. Mark the Apostles conclusion and how he proves it His conclusion is That man is blessed unto whom the Lord imputeth righteousnesse without works His argument then must needs be thus framed He whom God forgives is blessed But He to whom God imputeth righteousnesse without works hath his sinnes forgiven him Therefore he is blessed Now how could this assumption hold if imputation of righteousnesse and remission of sinnes were two distinct acts for not imputing righteousnesse is not to bring in light which keeps out darknesse but observe the Apostle to the Colossians and Ephesians makes this forgivenesse of sins the whole work way foundation of our redemption But here remember I deny not the imputation of righteousnesse for that is the foundation of the other here 's the point How is Christs righteousnesse imputed to me that positive thing which expels the other Not so as if Christs righteousnesse were in me subjectively for it was wrought by his passion as well as his action The Apostle calls it faith in his blood by faith in Christ Christs passive obedience is imputed to me What do you think the meaning is that God doth esteem me as if I had hang'd on the Crosse and as if I had had my sides pierced No that would not stead me or do me any good that which was meritorious and singular in him did reach to us so that the meaning is this as it is in the Articles of the Church of England That for the merits of Jesus Christ God is well pleased with the obedience of his Son both active and passive as that he takes us to be in that state for his sake as if we had fulfilled all his Laws and never broken them at any time and as if we ow'd him not a farthing this is imputative righteousnesse however the Papists may scoffe at it And this kinde of justification must of necessity be by imputation why because when a man hath committed a sinne it cannot be undone again God by his absolute power cannot make a thing done undone for it implies a contradiction The act past cannot be revoked nor the nature thereof changed murther will be murther still c. How then can I be justified the sinne being past and the nature of it still remaining I say how can I be justified in the first sense any other way than by imputation its said in 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself c. This kinde of justification which consists in remission of sinnes cannot be but imputative sin cannot be changed nor the thing done undone But now cometh a greater question If by justification our sinnes be forgiven us what sinnes are forgiven I pray sinnes past or sinnes to come we are taught that in the instant of justification all our sinnes past and to come are remitted which is in my mind an unsound doctrine for if we look narrowly into it we shall finde that in propriety of speech remission of sinnes hath relation to that which is past it s said therefore Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sinnes that are past through the forbearance of God And remission of sinnes hath relation to those that are past as appears by inevitable reason for what is remission of sinnes but sinne covered Now can a thing be covered before it be blot out mine iniquities c. saith David can a thing be blotted out before it 's written this is the thing makes the Pope so ridiculous that he will forgive sins for the time before they are committed but what do we get nothing for the time to come yes yes when the sinne is past by faith we have a new accesse unto God and having risen by repentance we get a new act not of universal justification but of a particular justification from this and that particular sinne But if there be forgivenesse of sinnes past already and I know that I am justified and my sinnes remitted may I now pray for forgivenesse of sinnes past The Papists say it is active infidelity and as absurd as to pray to God to create the world anew or incarnate his Son again But there is no conversion where there is no praying and there is need of praying for the remission of sinnes past and against sinne for the time to come as I shall shew next time as also consider whether there be any interruption of the act of justification by falling into great sins There 's no man hath a mind more against quierks and quillets than I yet for the opening of these things and staying and setling the mind and clearing the understanding give me leave the next time to clear these things unto you ROM 5.1 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. IN this Chapter especially in the beginning thereof I shew'd unto you that the Apostle sets down unto us those special comforts that a man receives after God hath wrought that supernatural grace of faith in his heart so that here is set down The Mother-Grace Justification by faith and then the blessed issues or daughters thereof and those are a free access to God a joyful hope of the glory to come and not only a patient but a joyful suffering of all afflictions that shall befall us in this life Concerning justification by faith I laboured to open it unto you the last day three things may well be considered therein 1. What that faith is whereby we are justified 2. What that justification is we have by faith 3. What relation the one of these hath to the other Concerning the first of these I told you that it was not every faith that justifieth not every kinde of faith that a man can live by There is a dead faith and a man cannot live by a dead thing And there is a living faith and
Again Gods childe not only useth all the means in himself to try himself but he prayeth for the aide of God also he knoweth that his own heart is deceitful and may cozen him but that God is greater than his heart and knoweth all things And therefore he cryeth unto God to try him as Psal. 139. Try me O God and know my heart prove me and know my thoughts look well whether there be any way of wickedness in me and lead me in the way everlasting there is an everlasting righteousnesse and an everlasting way that leads unto it about which these are not content to try themselves only but they desire God to try them also and to make them know the uprightnesse of their own hearts and not to suffer them to be deceived thereby Now that I have done with Consider now what that justification is that is obtained by this true lively faith I shew'd unto you that justification is ordinarily taken for an acquittance from a debt It is derived from justice or righteousnesse therefore I shew'd that justification and righteousnesse are taken for one and the self same thing for if there had been a Law given which could c. that is justification had been by the Law Now as there is a double righteousnesse so there is also a double justification Not that I hold there is any other justification as it comprehends remission of sinnes but only one but otherwayes as many righteousnesses as there are so many justifications there are Now there is a double kinde of righteousnesse the one imputed and the other inherent the one is the righteousnesse of Christ an act transient from another which cannot be made mine but by imputation Besides this there is another which is inherent a righteousnesse in us St. James speaks of the one and Saint John of the other One is opposed to condemnation and the other to hypocrisie The soundnesse of the heart is respected of God for righteousnesse in respect of the graces inherent in us Now to give you a touch of the difference between the one and the other and therein to declare the difference between us and Rome Know then that the question between us and Rome is not Whether justification be by faith or no but Whether there be any such thing as justification or no The doctrine of the Church of Rome is that there is no such grace as this But concerning the first of these that justification which is by the imputation of Christs righteousnesse I shew'd unto you that imputation in this case is as when a man comes to hold up his hand at Gods Barre as it were and it 's demanded of him what he hath to say for himself why he should not dye and then this justification by Christs righteousnesse is opposed to condemnation Then justification by faith is that when I come to stand before God though conscience say I am guilty of a thousand sinnes yet I may go boldly and plead my pardon which will acquit me as if I had never sinned at any time God was thus in Christ reconciling us the world unto himself not imputing their sinnes unto them Now sinne is a thing past which being done cannot be made undone the sin remains still murder is murder still and adultery is adultery still it cannot be undone again Now how shall this man that is guilty of murder and adultery be made just it cannot possibly be but by not imputing his sinne unto him so that God should account it to him as if it had not been done at all by him he puts it upon Christs account Account The word is used in the Epist. to Philemon where St. Paul saith If he hath wronged thee or oweth thee ought put that on mine account A mans sins being thus put upon Christs account he is accepted of God as freely as if he had never owed him any thing or as if he had never offended him Now this is done by transferring the debt from one person to another so that we see this imputation of sinne to Christ and of Christs righteousnesse to us is most necessary It must be so And if there were no testimony for it in Scripture yet reason sheweth that there can be no righteousnesse but by Gods acceptation of us in Christ as if we had never sinned there is the difference then To him that worketh not but believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is accounted to him for righteousnesse But doth God justifie the ungodly that 's a hard speech we read in the Proverbs He that justifieth the wicked and condemneth the just even they both are abomination to the Lord. But here we must understand this as we do some other Scriptures we read in John that the blinde see the lame walk the dumb speak It 's impossible for a man to be blinde and see to be dumb and speak all at once yet take the chief of sinners suppose Paul and he was so in his own account but the act of justification alters him God justifies the ungodly that is him that was even now so but by the imputation of Christs righteousnesse he is made righteous that is righteous in Gods account But in proceeding in this point I did reflect a little back God findes a man with a number of sinnes full of sinne and forgives these sinnes now I demanded this how farre doth this justification and forgivenesse extend to sins past alone or to sinnes past and to come And I answered that we must consider this matter two wayes First to justifie a mans person simply and then to justifie a man from this or that particular act The phrase is used in Scripture Acts 13.39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the Law of Moses There is justification from this or that thing There is first Justification of a mans person he that was an enemy is now made a friend he is now no longer a stranger at home but is in the list or Gods houshold Now this we say no sooner doth a man receive it but the self-same houre that he receiveth it the bond is cancel'd the evidence is torn and fastened to the Crosse of Christ and hangs up among the Records whereas before it was an evidence against us and would have layen heavy on us at the bar but now it is fastened to the Crosse as a cancel'd Record the bond is become void Secondly but now when we consider justification from this or that particular act I declared that so a man is onely justified from sins past for it is contrary to reason and Scripture that a man should be justified from sinnes to come For Scripture the Apostle hath it Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through saith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sinnes that are past through the forbearance of God and it is clear also from the nature
when I shâ—ll come at tâ—e day of judgment and have the benefit of my sanctification the last absolution such sinnes shall not be charged on me my sinnes and iniquities shall not be remembred I will remember their sinnes no more saith God it is a wonderâ—ul thing and a strange mistake in many men eâ—pecially the Papists Did they ever write comfortably of the day of judgment never they make that a terrible day Alas poor souls they knew not that justâ—fication is that that makes sinnâ—s that they shall never be remembred Mark it is said Thou shalt hear of all thy good deeds for thy honour and thy praise but for thy sinnes there shall search be made and they shall not be found when God forgives sinnes he doth it fully it shall never be cast in thy teeth again but thou shalt hear of all thy good deeds not of thy bad Then lift up your heads for your redemption draweth near here is the blessed grace of justâ—fication that we being justified by faith have not only no condemnation but no guilt whereas all the sinnes of the wicked man shall be set before his face and he shall stand quaking and trembling by reason thereof not one good thing that he hath done shall be remembred but in the iniquity that he hath committed in that shall he dye and so I have said somewhat of that point You may remember that I said a word perhaps that some think much of that the question betwixt us and Rome is not Whether we be justified by faith or no but Whether we be justified at all I will make it good Theâ—e are two graces righteouâ—nesse imputed which implies forgivenesse of sinnes and righteousnesse inherent which is that grace of sanctification begun They utterly â—eny that there is any righteousnesse but righteousnesse inherent They say forgivenesse of sinnes is nothing but sanctification A new doctrine never heard of in the Church of God till these last dayes till the spawn of the Jesuites devised it Forgivenesse of sinne is this that God will never charge me with it again They say that forgivenesse of sinne is an abolishing of sinne in the subject where is true remission as much as to say There is no justification distinct from sanctification whereas the Apostle distinguisheth them when as he saith The Sonne of God is made unto us wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption He is made unto us of God By the way let me expound it unto you Christ hath three offices A Prophetical Regal and Sacerdotical office He exerciseth his Prophetical office to illuminate our understanding He exerciseth his Kingly office to work on our will and affections there are two branches of it the Kingdome of grace and the Kingdome of glory How am I made partaker of Christs Prophetical office He is made unto me wisdome before I was a fool but now by it I am made wise First he enlightens me and so he is made unto me wisdome well he is my Priest how so he is made an expiation for my sinne he is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Saint John A propitiation for our sinnes and not for ours only but for the sinnes of the whole world There is a difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a bare pardon but this is such a propitiation as the party offended is well-pleased with Christs being made a ransome he is made unto us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the oblation offered unto his Father He is righteousnesse imputed to us And as a King he rules me in the Kingdome of grace and in the Kingdome of glory in the Kingdome of grace he is made unto me sanctification and in the Kingdome of glory he is made unto me redemption it is called by the Apostle the redemption of our bodies these two are thus clearly distâ—nguished The work of Christs Priestly office is to be a propitiation for our sinnes sanctification proceeds from the Scepter of his Kingdome The one is without me the other within me The one receives degrees the other not As a man that is holy may be more holy but imputed righteousnesse doth not more forgive one man than another Imputation is without augmentation or diminution Those things which have divers contraries cannot be one and the same thing Justification and Sanctification have divers contraries The contrary to justification is condemnation but the contrary to sanctification is wickednesse and false-dealing c. Aristotle distinguisheth homonymous words and bids you consider their contraries thus you see the difference between these two I should now come and descend unto the dependence one hath on the other i. e. in what respect doth faith justifie Is faith an instrument to work justification or to receive it only The answer is clear it justifieth in regard of the object If you remember the two places I bid you compare Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood is that all compare this place with chap. 5.9 Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him we are justified by his blood and by faith in his blood here are two acts which signifie the same thing It is no more then to say I was cured by the Bath or by going to the Bath so that faith is the legs of the soul that bring a man to Christ. And so my faith is an instrument not to procure my justification but to receive it so then seeing faith is an instrument to receive justification and not to procure it then the weakest faith carrieth away as much forgivenesse as the strongest A strong faith rids a great deal of work because it is an active instrument The stronger faith worketh the greater work but in the point of justification it is an instrument whereby my justification is wrought an instrument whereby Christ is received And the weakest hand may receive a piece of gold as well as the strongest we must know that in the point of receiving we live on Gods almes All our justification is his free gift and faith is that Palsie hand which receives all our comfort It is not then a faith that justifieth but faith it is called by Peter a like precious faith Simon Peter a servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousnesse of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the meanest Christian that hath a trembling hand to pitch on that and draw vertue from him it is a like precious faith in them as in the most great Apostle Peter and all the rest ROM 5.1 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I Havâ— heretofore declared unto you that in theâ—e words and the words following thâ—re are set down these great graces and grâ—at blessings which you have in Christ in
is this peace with God it is not peradventure so with thy self Thou mayst have a turbulent conscience insomuch that thou wouldst give all the world to have it quiet to be assured that there is peace between God and thee that 's not the point The thing thou gettest by faith is peace with God When thou art troubled with thy self and hast but a weak act of faith yet if thou believest thou art more afraid than hurt thou art Cock-sure and shalt be calme and quiet Object But why should Christians be so foolish so troubled what 's the reason the children of God do so disquiet themselves Sol. Because they are fools they stand in their own light are strainted in their own bowels God is liberal and free but there is some hope of worthinesse in us and we do things we should not do We are alwayes poring on our selves and do not bring a naked hand and this is the reason we are so full of distractions Again it is the nature of many peevish people amongst us that they will not be comforted when news was brought to Jacob that Joseph was slain and lost it is said All his sonnes and daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning Gen. 37.35 They have a kinde of pettishnesse and peevishnesse and wilfulnesse they will not be comforted and it may be there is some kinde of pride in it too they would perhaps be thought to be the only mourners of Israel of the Kingdome As Rachel mourned for her children and would not be comforted they shut up their eyes against all comforts God commands them to be comforted and they will not it is no marvaile then that they eat the fruit of their own hands it is a part of our office to bring comfort we have an injunction to it Comfort ye Comfort ye my people saith the Lord we bring the tydings of peace and our feet should be beautiful Rom. 10. we bring good news all is wâ—ll as Noahs Dove coming with an Olive branch in her mouth Comfort ye comfort ye cry aloud spare not If you stop your ears who can help it the Lord is gracious and chargeth us to comfort you and can there be any better news than to say All is peace all your sins are done away I have blotted as a thick cloud thy transgressions as who should say it is the tydings of such good things as all within thee is too little to praise the Lord and therefore it is not a thing to be slighted over blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven Psal. 32. which is no Noun Adjective nor of the singular number neither it signifieth blessedness as it were an heap of blessings They commonly call it the eight beatitudes it is but varied upon divers subjects were there eighty-eight that were all one To have thy sinnes forgiven thee is the comprizing of all happinesse Again when a man sets his eyes too much upon his sinnes more upon his sinnes than upon the mercies of God freely offered in Christ this is a wonderful hindrance of the peace Thou lookest on the wrong object looking too much on thy sinnes when thou shouldst look on Christ that brazen Serpent offer'd unto thee then 't is no wonder that thou seest not Christ though he be near thee Mary Magdalen complains and weeps to the Gardener that they had taken away her Lord and she knew not where they had laid him when as he stood at her elbowe her eyes were so full of tears that she could not behold her Saviour Now therefore stand not in thine own light but look upon Christ as well as upon thy sinnes observe though there be a peace and a calme yet presently all turmoyles will not cease after humiliation When there is a great storme at Sea which lasts perhaps twenty foure houres and then ceaseth what are the waves presently quiet assoon as the storme is over no there will be tossing and rolling many houres afterwards because there must be a time of setling and so though there be peace between God and thee and the storme over yet there must be a time of setling I should now shew you the difference between the peace that wicked men have and this other peace theirs is not peace there is no peace to the wicked It is a truce onely and we must make a great difference between a truce and a peace A truce when it is expired commonly ends in more bitter Warre With them there is a cessation of trouble their consciences do not accuse them but when the time limited is over and conscience again breaks loose it will be more unquiet and unsetled than ever before it will be at open Warre against them ROM 5.1 2. Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ By whom also we have accesse by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God HAving out of these words declared unto you the Mother-grace justification by faith I proceeded to the consideration of her Daughters those fruits or graces which spring from a true justifying faith So that here we have the great Charter and Priviledge that a justified man is indowed withall First He hath peace with God Secondly Free accesse unto him Thirdly Unspeakable joy and that joy not only in respect of that delectable object the hope of the glory of God in heaven hereafter but here also that which spoiles the joy of a natural man afflictions c. are made the matter of this mans joy Now concerning peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ the first of these I considered three parts in it 1. What that peace was which the justified man enjoyeth 2. The parties between whom this peace was made 3. Who was the peace maker Concerning the peace I declared unto you what it was that it was an unconceivable thing The peace of God that passeth all understanding a thing which our shallow understandings cannot reach unto we cannot apprehend the excellency of this grace Consider its excellency by the contrary there is no misery in the world like that as when a man stands at enmity with God Do we provoke the Lord are we stronger than he If a man sinne against a man saith Eli the Judge shall judge him another man may take up the quarrel but if a man sinne against God if the controversie be between God and us who shall intercede for us were it not for this our peace-maker Christ Jesus we should be in a woful condition unlesse he put to his hand and took up the matter Now it 's a great matter to come to the fruit of peace the fruit of peace is to them that make peace we have this fruit of peace we do not sow fruit but seed the fruit comes afterwards It is not so with a Christian he is as sure
peace who hath made both one and hath broken down that partition wall between us we have not only peace with God through Christ but Christ is the very peace not only the peace-maker but the peace There was a middle wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles and between God and us Christ breaks it down sinne shall no longer be a wall of partition Having abolished in his flesh the enmity even the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances for to make himself of twain one new man so making peace and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the Crosse. There was hatred between God and us Christ hath crucified that hatred with the nails wherewith he was fastened to the Cross he hath kill'd it by his crucifixion and now enmity being slain peace must needs be alive there is peace and reconciliation made You are come saith the Apostle to the blood of sprinkling whereas the blood of Abel cryed for vengeance against Cain the murtherer This blood cries for peace it out-cries all our sinnes sin hath a voice it s said The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah went up into the ears of the Lord Every sinne thou committest hath a voice to cry but the blood of Christ hath a shriller voice and out-cryes the cry of thy sins it is so preheminent it speaks for peace and doth out cry the voice of our sinnes the high Priest was a a type of Christ Numb 16. He must have on his frontlet Holinesse to the Lord as one which bears the holy one of the Lord standing in the person of Christ Moses saith when there was wrath gone out from the Lord unto Aaron ver 46. Take a censer and put fire therein from off the Altar and put on incense and go quickly unto the Congregation and make an atonement for them for there is wrath gone out the plague is begun So when the wrath is gone out the High Priest comes and offers up himself a sweet incense acceptable unto God And Aaron took as Moses commanded and came into the midst of the Congregation and behold the plague was begun among the people and he put incense and made an atonement for the people When wrath is come out from the Almighty and his Army is sent out for to destroy the Rebels now our High Priest stands between the living and the dead and offers up himself an oblation to Almighty God to make peace Look to the case of Balaam when the people had committed fornication Phineas executed judgment wherefore the Lord saith Numb 25.12 Phineas hath turned away my wrath from the people and if that one act of Phineas his zeal for the Lord in killing the Fornicators before the Congregation if this I say appeased Gods wrath for the whole Congregation how much more doth our Phineas who hath fulfilled all righteousnesse whom the zeal of Gods house had eaten up he is nothing but zeal it self and all that he doth unto his father is for our good How much more shall Christ pacifie Gods wrath who hath received the gash of Gods Sword upon his own body and would not have himself spared that he might do it As Jonah was three dayes and three nights in the whales belly so shall the Sonne of man be in the heart of the earth There is a mighty storme and Jonah is cast out into the Sea presently the storme ceaseth so Christ having suffered for us there is peace the storme is over Now follows in the next place in the Text By whom we have accesse by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God These are the two priviledges that a justified man hath he hath a gracious accesse unto God Suppose he be in a fault as who is not if any man sinne we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous These things have I written saith the Apostle that you sinne not but if any man sinne we have an Advocate with the Father c. This is the state of a justified man though he do by his â—elapses provoke God yet he is in the state of a subject though he be a disobedient subject yet a subject not a forreiner as before but now ye that were not a people are become the people of the Lord. A childe of God in the midst of rebellion is sub misericordia as soon as he is in the state of grace he is under Gods protection he is no stranger though he hath his blood about his ears and is in his rags yet he may come to God by Jesus Christ he may come boldly to the Throne of grace that he may finde help in time of need The Apostle in Ephes. 2.18 sets down twice the great priviledges Christians have for thorough him we both have an accesse by one Spirit unto the Father it s Christ which makes the way To have a friend at the Court is a great matter especially when a man hath need of him Christ is gone before us and he lives for ever to make intercession for us and we need no other Mediator thus he bespeaks his Father Father this is one of mine that I shed my blood for one of those that thou gavest me I beseech thee have pity upon him and I beseech thee give him audience Ephes. 3.12 By him i. e. through Christ we have accesse by one Spirit unto the Father in whom we have boldnesse by the faith of him and access with confidence I go not now doubting unto God I prefer my suit with boldnesse Mark the Apostle St. James If any man want wisdome or any other thing let him ask it of God that gives to all men liberally and upbraideth not it is otherwise with men when one hath done a great man wrong and comes to desire a favour at his hands Oh Sir saith he Do you not remember how you used me at such a time or in such a place That he is presently upbraided with ' its cast in his dish but it is not so with God he gives liberally and upbraids no man so there is a free and a bold accesse with faith and confidence by whom we have boldnesse and accesse let him not doubt or waver that is a notable place here is bold accesse by faith unto God and by that we may be assured of whatever we ask if it be forgivenesse of sinnes we may be sure they are forgiven if we ask in faith we may be assured By the way take notice of the folly of the Papists who think that a man can have no confidence or assurance that his sinnes are forgiven This is our confidence that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us Now is it not according to his will to ask forgivenesse of our sins Doth not he injoine us to do it Therefore what infidelity is it not to be assured of it And what impudency is it in them to go about to cut off