whom God imparts the largest measure of a spirit of mourning and supplication Where God intends to build highest he will lay the foundation lowest The greatest spiritual mouâ—ners are appointed for the more abundant consolations They are the humble and contrite whom God delights to dwell with and to revive Isa 57. 15. Christs anointing had a special regard for such as these and therefore his applications will be eminently made to them Isa 61. begin The Lord hath anointed me c. to bind â—â— the broken hearted to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto them beauty for ashes the oyl of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness c. Doth God then bring you into Godly Sorrow Doth he make Sin bitter to you Doth he fill you with grief at and cause you deeply to bewail your Sins before him be not discouraged but take iâ— as a good Omen and wait for the Consolations of his Spirit remember what he hath said Psal 126. 5. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy It is also certain that when God excites in us an heart to pray to him and fills us with ardent desires and groans unutterable after him for his grace for his pardoning for his cleansing of us and we cannot let him alone it is a sign that he hath great mercies to bestow on us which in this way he will communicate to us God who hath promised that his shall pray unto him and it is he who giveth prayer to his own hath assured us of a gracious audience and a good return to our prayers Jer. 29. 12 13 14. Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you and ye shall seek me and find me c. Be not then discouraged and though you may not at present experience those sensible apprehensions of the efficacy of the Fountain for the taking away of your Sin yet doubt not that God will in the best way do it for you and give you the experience of it to your abundant Consolation God will exalt his Grace on you in this way and make it to appear how great is his kindness to you in taking off your Guilt and washing away your pollution And when you are suitably prepared so to glorifie him he will fill you with the discoveries of his love for which you shall admire him for ever USE II. For Examination Let us hereby prove whether ever this Fountain were savingly Opened to us and it concerns all to put themselves upon this Trial. For Motive then Consider 1. You are all by Nature under the guilt and defilement of Sin Sin and Uncleanness are hereditary to all Adams Children and they derive to them in the Channel of Natural Generation for this we are told Eph. 2. 3. We â—e Children of wrath even as others and he demands and resolves Job 144 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one This then is the condition in which every one is born Adams First Transgression was ours by a legal Imputation and his corrupt Image which he contracted instead of Gods Image which he lost is ours by Propagation and thus we come into the world guilty and filthy Creatures Psal 51. 5. Behold I was shapen in â—â—iquity and in Sin did my Mother conceive me And this Guilt and Defilement are encreased by all the actual sins that we have committed since we came into the World 2. Except this be done away it will be your ruine All Sin in its own nature and operation is deadly Sin and Death are closely connected each with the other Rom. 5. 12. By one man sin came into the world and death by sin The guilt that ahderes to sin binds the man under the Curse and that is Death Ezek. 18. 4. The Soul that sinneth it shall dy The Law â—â—ath already past the Sentence upon the man and unless it be removed it will without fail take place on him and the defilement of sin is it self the very spiritual death of the Soul it hath deprived the man of the life of Sanctification and he can no more perform a gracious action than a dead man can a life action hence that expression Eph. 2 1. Ye were dead in trespasses and sins So that as long as it abides on him he cannot at all answer the end of his Creation 3. Nothing else can do it for you but this Fountain There is a sufficiency of vertue in it for this end God provided it for this very purpose and he doth nothing in vain it therefore never failed of producing this effect where it was savingly applied But except you repair hither all your other attempts will prove lost labour this Salvation is no where else to be had Acts 4. 12. There is nothing else that can expiate the Guilt of sin or make atonement to the Justice of God for the remission of it but this one Sacrifice of Christ thousands of rams will not procure it God therefore blows upon them with contempt Mic. 6. 6 7 8. Nor will all the waters of Abana and Pharpar cleanse this Leprosy it is only the Blood of Christ is cleansing and that Blood doth cleanse from all sin 1 Joh 1. 7. 4. Except it be applied to you it will not have this saving efficacy Christ doth not profit all although his vertue be sufficient yet all are not pardoned and healed by him there are multitudes that perish in their sins notwithstanding and that not only of those to whom he was never revealed in the Gospel but of such also who have been told of and invited to come to him and whence is this but because application hath not been made of him to them for this end Sinners that are outwardly called perish as well as others and the reason â— because they do not answer the Call and come to the waters the threatning is therefore declared against such Prov. 1. 24. c. Because I have called and ye refused c. I will also laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear 〈◊〉 c. 5. Till then you know that he hath been thus applied to you your condition must needs be dubious It is from the work of Application that we â—â—e to fetch our evidence of our safe estate It is not enough that there is a Christ and that he is a Fountain of Salvation but is he â—â—rs for this reason Professors are put upon it to prove and try themselves and the enquiry is not whether there be such a Fountain and there be a fulness in it but whether Christ be in us 2 Cor. 13. 5. Know ye not your own selves how that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates And hence we have such an expression Col. 1. 27. Christ in you the hope of Glory And though if the thing be so your state is out of danger yet till you know that it is so you cannot enjoy inward
work and let this make you fixedly to resolve that you will go no whither else but that you will wait upon him till he shall give you the experience of his love to you in this regard USE IV For Exhortation to the Children of God who are already made partakers of an Interest in this fountain in two particulars 1. Acknowledge the rich Grace of God to you in that he hath not only opened this fountain before you but in you The former indeed is a great favour and so to be confessed by all that partake in it those that have it are highly advantaged had they but an heart to make a right improvement of it and if they do not so they will bring great Guilt upon themselves by their contempt How great a kindness then is this that you share in and do you endeavour to entertain it with suitable resentments and there are among others these two considerations which will greatly help you in your gratitude 1. Had not God thus done for you you had perished in your Sins You were under the efficacy of sin and uncleanness in your natural Estate and that held you under Guilt and Defilement and these would have wrought out your certain destruction if they had not been remedied There must be a fountain for this else it could never have been taken away â— fountain of blood for the removal of your Guilâ— and a fountain of grace for the purging away of yoâ—r pollution None else but Christ could possibly be such a fountain to you there is an infinite value and vertue requisite to be found in that which can do this for you which no meerly created being could ever attain unto If this Fountain had not been revealed to you you could not have partaken in the saving vertue of it because it is applied by faith they that live out of the reach of the Gospel Dispensation die without knowledge and if it had not been opened in you yoâ— had still died in your sins there are multitudes that do so who have heard of it with the hearing of the ear because they have not cordially embraced it if he had not savingly applied it to you you had refused it as well as others for you had as great a natural malignity in you against it as any in the world 2. What are you better than others who are not thus favoured The difference that is put between you and them is very great but who hath made it When he brought this grace of his unto you you were dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2. 1. When he offered it to you you regarded it not but bad him to depart from you you sought it not of him but he â—ought you up that he might bestow it upon you you gave him all the resistance that an heart full of enmity could do It was Almighty power that brought you unto it yea possibly you more dishonoured God by peculiar wickedness and scandalous provocations before such time as he thus appeared to you than a great many have done whom he yet hath not so favoured Can you then sufficiciently celebrate his praise 2. Be sure to make continual use of it You will always stand in need of it and it ever stands open for you to repair unto and there is a double usefulness which it serves unto 1. Repair constantly to it for renewed pardon It was not sufficient that you did so apply to it in your first Conversion for though it was then applied to you for the Justification of your persons yet 1. You Sin daily Though lust be mortified as to the Dominion of it yet it is not abolished in you but hath its dayly breakings out there is a contrary part in you that is ever and anon bringing you into captivity We are told in Eccles 7. 20. There is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not and the reason of it is because there is a Flesh in us that is always lusting against the Spirit Gal. 5. 17. 2. Every Sin offers matter of provoâ—atinn to God It is a Transgression of his holy Law it is an abominable thing to him Jer. 44. 4. It is that which he cannot endure Hab. 1. 13. And though he knows our frame and will not be always contending with us or break out in his severity for every frailty of ours yet there is occasion offered him for his anger and we must confess with him Psalm 130. 3. If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities Oh Lord who should stand 3. Hence it calls on you to seek of him Forgiveness And this is at least one main reason why we are daily and on all occasions to renew that petition Mat. 6. 12. Forgive us oâ— debts And hence how often have we David asking pardon of God though he was in a state of Justification 4. Here only can you obtain it You must come to the fountain for it Whensoever Gods ancient people fell into any sin there was a Sacrifice presently to be offered for Atonement in order to its being forgiven and if we sin we must go to this Advocate and make use of him as our Propitiation 1 John 2. 1 2. 2. Address him continually for the washing of Sanctification They that are Sanctified must be Sanctified again they were so for whom the Apostle prays 1 Thes 5. 23. The very God of peace Sanctifie you wholly c. There is yet a body of death in you a fountain of uncleanness and there are the eruptions of it in your actions which deâ—ile you and you want washing Hence 1. Come hither by the Repentance of faith upon every notable defilement Are you overtaken with any Temptation which draws you into the mire let this drive you to the fountain for cleansing and this must be by the renewal of Repentance thus did David Psal 51. 7. And this is the only way to purifie your selves which is the care of every believer 1 Joh 3. 3. He that hath this hope in him puriâ—ieth himself as he is pure 2. Wash in it dayly for your daily pollution There is a defilement that cleaves to every thing we do when we are never so careful to our selves Sin in us will pollute our best Services Paul complains Rom. 7. 21. I find a lâ—w that when I would do good evil is present with me This therefore should bring you to Christ continually for cleansing 3. Be evermore fetching from hence all the Grace you need to perfect you in Holiness Let the sense of remaining corruption put you upon the exercise of renewed and progressive Sanctification for which you must repair to this fountain of Grace and apply the promises by which you partake in it to this end according to 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God And never cease from the pursuit of this work till sin be no more in you and grace be
that are partakers of the outward benâ—fits of it when he comes to Convert any Sinners among them to Christ and make theâ— to accept of him as a Saviour he lays theâ— under the terrors of the Law Moral by shewing them what is therein required of theâ— and what they are to expect at the hands â— a Righteous God if those demands be nâ— fully answered and by this he convinceâ— them of their misery and self impotency â— deliver themselves from it thereby making way for their hearkning after and giving the greatest welcome to a Redeemer On this account is the Law called our School-master â—nto Christ Gal. 3. 24. Because by it we are acquainted with our need of him and excited to seek after him There is then no doubt to be made but that the same perfection is required of them notwithstanding their being in the visible Kingdom of Christ Whereas true Converts or such as have believed in Christ are delivered from this Severity i. e. they are no longer under the Law as a Covenant pronouncing of them dead men if they fail of their Obedience in the least â—unctilio and the reason is because they are â—rought under the Covenant of Grace by which they are freed from the former according to Rom. 6. 14. Sin shall not have dominiâ— over you for ye are not under the Law but â—nder Grace 2. The question is not with respect to our Justiâ—ation before God The Justification of fallen â—an hath not the least regard to any persoâ—al Obedience of theirs as having an influâ—nce Causall into it and consequently it can â—ave no respect to any kind of perfection of â— Gospel Justification cometh altogether by â—e Imputation of the Righteousness of another â— us viz. that of Christ which was for that â—nd provided by God for us and is called his Righteousness Phil. 3 9. The Righteousness that is of God by faith and so it is not ours Personal or Inherent but by acceptation for us It is calâ—ed the Justification of a Sinner or of the Ungodly Rom. 4. 5. And therefore must needs have a respect to that Law in relation whereto the man is a Sinner which is the Moral Law under obligation whereto all men do stand as they derive from the first Adam to whom it was given for himself and his posterity and hence it must have a Righteousness to answer it every way as perfect as that Law required which no fallen man is able in himself to pay nor can any offer it for him but Christ only They wholly mistake the very nature of Gospel Justification who allow any Righteousness short of that to have any concernment in it and since by the fall man is become Guilâ—y and so subjected to the Curse of the Law if he had a personal Righteousness as broad as that which the Law required of mâ—n in integrity yet that would not satisfie for the removal of his Guilt without which he cannot be Justified So that whether it be perfect or imperfect it signifies nothing here 3. Nor is the question about what Obedience of ours will find acceptance with God through Christ It is certaâ—n that no Obedience of ours will be at all accepted of us out of him and it is also beyond doubt that the imperfection which attends the sincere Services of Gods Children will not procure that these Services of theirs should be rejected by him for if so it were impossible thaâ—â—ny of us in this imperfect state that abides us should ever please God in any thing that we do which must needs be an invincible discouragement to us in doing any duties that are required of us but then it is through Christ that they find acceptance with him In this respect it is that the sincerity which Godâ— Children do express in their Obedience is so often called perfection in the Scriptures Joh is said to be a perfect man and upright Joh 1. 1. by Reason that being â—ffered to God with Christs incense it finds favour with him and he smelleâ—h a sweet savour in it notwithstanding that according to the Law it would have been utterly rejected by reason of the concomitant defects So that the true Believer who serves God in integrity is not to be discouraged because he finds his best to come so far behind of that perfection which the Law prescribes to men but is to look to the gracious encouragement which is giâ—en to them who love God in sincerity 4. But it is with regard to the obligation to New Obedience that lies upon Justâ—fied Believers It presupposeth them to be in a state of Justification and looks upon them as under the Government of Christ and owing â— Service to him There are indeed those who deny that any such obligation lieth upon the Children of God and that the Law Moral no longer binds them under duty of conformity unto it but that upon their believing in Christ they are freed from any such engagement this is purely Antinomian and bespeaks all the precept given to the Children of God under the Gospel to be wholly in vain or only to concern such as are as yet unregenerate for the awakening them to betake themselves to Christ and seek an interest in him by faith and not at all to belong to those that are already partakers in the grace of God but why then have the Children of God that title of Obedient put upon them and are called upon to express it by this conformity 1 Pet. 1. 14. As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts c. Supposing then such an Obedience as this to be our duty which prerequires a principle to be put into us impowring us to a compliance with it in order to our actual performance of it our enquiry is about the extensiveness of it or how far it is our duty to endeavour after perfection in it and for the clearing of this Case we may take the following Conclusions into Consideration 1. That the design of the New Covenant in which the Grace of it is to appear is to bring fallen man back to a state of blessedness It was because mankind were become wofully miserable by the Apostasy of Adam in which they all fell and there was no room left for any remedy to be afforded to them by the Covenant of Works inasmuch as the Law could no longer give life Gal. 3. 21. And God had a pity for some of that unhappy race would save them that he opened a New Covenant in which he makes the displays of his rich Grace to them Now as it was the glory of his Grace that God had a regard to ultimately in this Contrivance so the way in which he would exalt this Attribute and make it illustrious and for ever admirable was in their Salvation So that the Salvation of lost Sinners is inseparably connected with and nextly subordinated to this last end of God because in and by it he will accomplish it In