full my Jesus is full though I am robbed he is not robbed though I have little or nothing Jesus Christ he hath all and Christ is all and all his fulness is mine Sense of Interest will raise your hopes and expectations upon Christ Jesus My friends now we look upon Christ and have low thoughts of him we look upon Christ and our expectations are not raised upon Christ We come to an Ordinance where Christ is discovered and displayed in the riches of his Death and in the glories of his Life and our hearts are not raised upon this why but because we have not the sense of our Interest The sense of Interest will raise your expectations and will comfort you against the thoughts of death Now Lord says good old Simeon lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation Luk. 2.29.30 And says the Apostle I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all The sense of Interest will lay you in against all fears of the approaching Judgment instead of being afraid of it it will make you long for it when the Soul comes to see and know and be ascertained that the judge of the Court is his friend and is in relation to him and hath loved him so as to lay down his life for him and hath ever been designing upon him in a way of love and grace this Soul will not be afraid to appear before him but will long for the day when he shall come to see his Jesus clothed with glory So as a clear evidence of interest in Christ obtained maintained and gospelly managed will be of singular advantage unto a Christian in his whole Christian course SERMON V. Habakkuk 3.18 Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation THe Proposition was this Doct. That there is enough in Jesus Christ alone for the Souls full rejoycing and triumph whatsoever his state and condition is in this world Now we proposed First To give you several introductory particulars by way of premise These we have dispatched And shall now proceed to consider what are the grounds of a believers darkness about his interest 2. It may be said in the second place if there be such solid and substantial grounds of joy in Christ Jesus for the believing Soul at all times and in all conditions what is the reason then that believers are so often in a dark dubious uncomfortable shattered state that they are seldom able in any stedfastness of spirit to look up unto Christ Jesus and glory in him Ans 1. I answer The darkness of the believers interest doth oft-times arise from a looking more unto such things in the examination of himself as argue the height of an interest then to such things as do discover the truth of an interest They do fix upon such things as are discoveries of a grown state in Christ when as they should fix upon such things as do discover an in-being in Christ they propose to themselves that corruption must be so and so brought under and mortifying work must be carried on to such a height or else they can have no grounds of their interest in Christ they propose to themselves such a measure of love as must be flaming to Christ at all times or else they think they have no love at all they think they must have such a measure of faith as to believe without staggering or else they have no part in Christ Now hereby they â—o ensnare their own Spirits and encrease their darkness But you should look more at such things as argue the truth of an interest then at those things that do argue the growth and improvement of that interest Secondly Darkness of evidence doth oft-times arise from the believers viewing his wants and overlooking his present receits Jesus Christ hath done a great deal for him and hath given out a great deal to him and hath made a wonderful change in him he cannot deny it if he be put to it but he overlooks all this and considers his present wants his weaknesses his short comings his failings his smallness of strength his staggering before a temptation the uncertainty of his Spirit in his walking with God and he bears the stress of his condition upon his present wants not considering what Jesus Christ hath already done nor considering that the work is gradually carried on Now Christians if you would lay your selves fair for the Spirits Gospel evidence in your souls then you must take in the encouragements of your condition as well as your discouragements you must not only insist upon your discouragements but consider also what Jesus Christ hath done and what a change he hath begun to work and what have been the movings of your souls towards him from divine influences upon your Spirits Thirdly The darkness of evidence or obscurity of interest do oft-times arise from the prevailings of sin in the heart upon which Christ suspends Sin that rallies that gathers head in the Soul that presses forward and the Soul gives way to the temptation and is overcome and upon it darkness does arise this was Davids case David was assured ay but sin prevailing in his heart drove him into the dark that all the joys of the holy Spirit were for a time taken from him 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. And Nathan said unto David thou art the man thus saith the Lord God of Israel I anointed thee King over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul c. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight I have done all this for thee saith the Lord thou hast despised my commandment and done evil in my sight So the Lord Jesus speaks unto the Soul I have thus and thus manifested my self to thee I thought it not too much to take thee into communion with my self I thought it not too much to dandle thee upon my knee and to give thee the assurance of all that I have done for thee But thou hast wickedly departed from me and broken my Commandments and it is just with the Lord now to suspend prevailings of sin will cause a suspense You know that Absolom upon his rebellion was excluded for a while from his Fathers House he must not see his Fathers face just thus it is with a Soul when it hath turned aside into some way of folly after it hath provoked the Lord the Lord he hides himself from him he won't let him see his face he must not come into his presence to see him and to rejoyce in the light of his countenance as formerly he had done The prevailings of sin after Grace do many times cause a suspense Fourthly Darkness of evidence is occasioned from the Souls crediting the reports of Satan that lead him to deny what Jesus Christ hath done for him and in him upon undenyable demonstrations of the power of his Grace in his
in against him at last that after-reckonings may undo all No saies God when I forgive sin I do it with this resolve of grace never to remember it more and therefore Psal 103.12 As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us east and west can never meet together so the sins of a believer that are forgiven by God shall never return again never return again to his Condemnation The sense of them may return again and again for his humiliation but the sins themselves shall never return again unto Condemnation for God having once blotted them out will never more write them down therefore Rom. 11.29 The gifts and callings of God are without repentance God doth all in wisdom in righteousness and in judgment he knows what he doth he sees all before and he sees after at once and therefore there can never be any repentance in God for him to recede from his own act of grace but having once absolved the poor sinner he shall remain so to eternity Micah 7.19 Thou wilt cast their iniquities into the depth of the Sea That which is thrown in at the Havens mouth may be washt up again but now take a milstone and carry it into the vast Ocean and cast it into the depth of the Sea and it will never be seen more and thus the Lord to illustrate his own grace doth make use of such comparisons to speak to our understanding This act of his grace is done in Judgment and God will never repent of it it is an irrevocable act Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus VVE made entrance upon these words and gave you this Proposition from them Doct. That all those that are in Christ are acquitted absolved and discharged by God We have given you the properties of this discharge that God gives out unto the believer in Christ And shall now proceed Object But you will say if that believers be thus fully and irrevocably discharged by God how comes it to pass that they are the persons that God doth so much afflict in the world that they are seldom free but followed with adversity upon adversity trial upon trial and yet all their sins done away Ans I answer Though Gods People are the People of affliction and adversity ordinarily in the world yet their afflictions are not from wrath but from love and consistent with his pardoning grace you must distinguish between punishments that are satisfactory and punishments that are monitory You must distinguish between wrathful proceeds from justice and fatherly corrections and chastisements God doth afflict his people upon two accounts in the world sometimes for sin and sometimes for the trial of grace God I grant doth sometimes Chastise his people for sin that Scripture clears it to me Psal 89.30 31 32 33. If his Children forsake my law and walk not in my Judgements if they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments then will I visit their transgressions with rods and their iniquity with stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail c. Here you see God doth chastise for sin he hath reserved to himself a power so to do that if his Children break his law if they transgress and walk contrary to it they shall hear of it they shall feel the smart of his rod ay but it is such a chastisement and visitation as is consistent with the stability of his Covenant for that is not shaken thereby it is such a chastisement as is consistent with unchangeable love and grace and by these afflictions God carries on his work in them the more to humble them and to recover the Soul and to bring it to a due consideration of its self and waies in order unto a closer walking with God and sometimes again afflictions are for the exercise the trial and the improvement of grace and all that God might be the more glorified 1 Pet. 1.6 7. Now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations that the tryal of your faith being much more precious than that of Gold that perisheth may be found unto praise and honour c. Afflictions stir up patience and patience that encreaseth experience and experience hope so as under the trial grace is made to abound and much glory is brought forth to God Obj. Ay but you will say further The believer is taken near to God and forgiven but he sins again don't his renewed transgressions break his pardon Ans Renewed and repeated transgressions they are found in those whom God pardons and they may break their peace and take away the comfort of their pardon but they don't null the pardon of God Their pardon that is continued that is renewed as their transgressions are renewed so as the obligation to punishment obligation to Hell and the wrath of God that returns no more upon their head really before God it returns no more for the pardon that is given forth of God takes it off but the sense of the pardon and all the comforts of the pardon may be lost for a considerable while This seems clear to me from that of the Prophet 2 Sam. 12.13 David said unto Nathan I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David The Lord also hath put away thy sin thou shalt not die God had blotted out the sin of David and yet if you look into the 51 Psalm you will find there that the comfort of his pardon was gone he was not able to read it nor to make Faith nor to take any joy from it O says he Verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness That seems to be a strange voice in his ears the voice of joy and gladness that he had so often heard from the Lord he was a stranger to O! says he that I could hear that voice again Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit V. 12. The joy of his pardon was out of sight and till God returned again to him with fresh consolations and till the Comforter came again to visit him he was not able to apply a Promise nor to take in the comfort of his pardon although the Prophet had told him that God had pardoned him But the obligation to condemnation that doth not return For says the Apostle 1 Joh. 2.1 If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous Christ lieth there in Heaven to secure the state of a Believer and he keeps up the torrent and stream of God's love to the Soul though the manifestations of that love are under a soveraign over-rule and dispose But 3. We proposed to give you the ground upon which God doth proceed in the giving out of this discharge unto those that are in Christ And that is the merits and the satisfaction the propitiation and atonement
Mat. 18.23 c. The Lord there gives us a Parable of a Servant The Lord had compassion on him and forgave him the debt and the same servant went out to his fellow-servant that owed him an hundred pence and he took him by the throat saying pay me that thou owest me c. Here is set forth the spirit of the children of men they would have forgiveness from others but they will not forgive themselves Well but when Peter came to Christ and said Lord how often shall my Brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times Jesus saith unto him I say not unto thee until seven times but until 70 times 7. As often as he doth offend so often thou shalt forgive Use 6. Again This Doctrine calls for an abhorrence of all Papal Masses as propitiatory Sacrifices for sin You that have heard any thing of the grace of God in the forgiveness of the New Covenant do you detest and defie the Idolatry and the abominations of the Church of Rome who would pretend to forgive sins What is this but to wrong the grace of God What is this but to trample upon the blood of the Covenant as an insufficient thing No pardon of sin doth not come in at so cheap a rate as to be bought with money but it comes in at the door of free Grace through the blood of Jesus Thousands of Rams ten thousand of Rivers of Oil the first-born of the body for the sin of the Soul will not satisfie for they and their money will perish together that would buy pardon of sin with such a price Bless God that you know better and let it raise up in you an abhorrence of that Religion that would thus corrupt you Quest Ay But some poor Soul will be saying Ah! But how shall I come to get God's discharge sealed upon my Soul O! had I but the evidence and witness of this all would be well Ans 1. In the first place Come before God with confessions in thy mouth Bewail and spread thy transgressions before him Psal 32.5 Says David I acknowledged my sin unto thee and my iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin I confest says he and I said I would confess He came and judged himself before God he came and lamented his sinful condition and his sin-guiltiness before God he lamented and bewailed he poured out his confessions before God and the Lord he came and visited his Soul with pardon with the sense of forgiveness 2. Plead with God for his pardon and urge his promise for forgiveness This is that which the servants of the Lord have done when they have wanted the sense of pardon Psal 51.1 Have mercy upon me O God! according to thy loving-kindness according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions When sin lay against Israel God began to threaten Moses steps up and pleads with God for pardon that God would pardon their sin So the Servants of the Lord have all along pleaded with God for pardon in the want of it Do you do thus and urge God with his promise of forgiveness 3. Have your Eye upon Jesus Christ Pardon comes through his blood it is merited it is purchased by Jesus Christ look unto him and put forth renewed acts of faith upon him and in the renewing of thy close with him and in the resignation of thy self by faith to him thou mayest come to have thy pardon sealed 4. Wait upon God in sealing Ordinances It may be thou hast wronged thy Soul to this day that thou hast walked at so great a distance from God in his sealing Ordinances if thou hadst gone thither and attended upon God it may be thou hadst had some hint of his pardoning love to thee that would have more satisfied thy Soul I remember what God said to Gideon I only allude to it Judg. 7.10 11. Go and listen says he and thou shalt hear something that will strengthen thee So I say wait upon God in those Ordinances where God gives out strengthening grace and where God seals up his love to his People and there thou mayest have something that may be a feast to thy Soul there mayest thou meet with something that may confirm this love of God to thy Soul and put all out of doubt more to thee than ever And you that have the sense of God's discharging love in your hearts I have two or three words to leave with you 1. Improve it improve the sense of it unto an influence to all duties and to all obedience to God Let the sense of his kindness to you be so improved and wrought upon your hearts as it may constrain you to devote and dedicate your selves to God in your whole course to lay out your selves in all duties of obedience to God more than ever And know that you can never serve this God enough you can never do for this God enough that hath done so much for you labour to do more for him than ever and to serve him with a better heart and with a better spirit to pray more in your prayers to pray with more fervency and to confess with more sincerity and to walk with God in more exactness lay out your selves to the utmost in this work 2. Extend your pity and compassion unto those that are yet in a condemned state Your Souls should mourn over those that are yet in their sins You know what it is to be under sin and you know what it is to be under grace and therefore your hearts should be full of compassion to those that are yet in that state that by grace you are delivered from Ebedmelech's compassion and tenderness to the Prophet is recorded Jer. 38.11 That he took men with him and went into the house of the King under the Treasury and took with him old cast clouts and old rotten raggs and let them down with Cords into the Dungeon to Jeremiah O Sirs your bowels should work towards those that are yet in their sins I remember what David promiseth to God Psal 51.12 13. Restore to me the Joy of thy Salvateon and uphold me with thy free Spirit then shall I teach transgressors thy waies and sinners shall be converted unto thee He would then make it his business to turn sinners to God he would make it his business to convince and awaken and draw others out of their sinful state that is to labour with them if by any means the Spirit of God may work upon them be you full of compassion to others in a state of condemnation And 3. And lastly Keep up a humble sense of your great transgressions that God hath forgiven you I say keep up and walk under a humble sense of those transgressions that God hath forgiven you Sirs though God hath forgiven your sins yet you should remember them you should remember them so as to walk humbly and softly before God all your daies that you did ever provoke so gracious a God by such heinous provocations and inormities FINIS A Catalogue of Books Printed for and are to be sold by Edward Giles Bookseller in Norwich near the Market place A Discourse of Divine Providence A Word in Season Defensive Armour A Discourse of the Ordinary Matter of Prayer Sermons upon the whole first and second Chapters of the Canticles Allen's Way of the Spirit in bringing Souls to Christ The Glories of Christ set forth with the Necessity of Faith in several Sermons By Thomas Allen late of Norwich Several Sermons of Timothy Armitage late of Norwich Lougher's Precious Promises the Portion of Overcommers The Saint's Ebenezer By Francis English late of Norwich Directions for the Learned to Spell English right The History of the Protestant Reformation as it was begun by Luther The Dead Saints Speaking A Sermon Preached upon the Death of Mr. Newcomb The English Presbyterian