saies again vers 18. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven As if he should say I foresaw this when I sent you out that it would be so I knew that he would come down as swift as the lightning Beloved this Freedom makes sinners vomit up Devils where it comes what a wonderful thing is this 7. That the dead should be raised would you not Wonder to see a man raised from the dead If so be that any of you should stand in a Church-yard and while you are looking upon a grave and think of the person that lies dead and buried there and how many years ago it is since he died and that now he were rotten and consumed to see him come forth and stand up and live Why now such a marvellous work is done by this Freedom it hath spiritually opened the graves of many thousand Souls and blessed be God we are not without some such that live and walk amongst us at this day and that are with us in this Congregation Beloved do but turn your eyes now and look upon such a man and such a woman that fears God and you have this wonderful sight before you concerning whom it may be said as in Eph. 2. 1. And you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins By this Freedom God shews Wonders to the dead the dead arise and praise him Psal 88. 10 11 12. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead shall the dead arise and praise thee Selah Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction Shall thy wonders be known in the dark and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness Why yes God doth so in this case that I am upon And therefore if you that have any Relations any Children any Friends that are for the condition of their Souls stark dead you cannot perceive the least motion or breathing in them towards God or any thing that is good Why 't is true indeed if you be spiritually alive your selves you can't but do that which persons use to do for their Friends that are dead you cannot but mourn for them and in this sense you may and you must do that which would be a great sin in another sense you may pray for the dead and you may be stirred up to it by the consideration of the wonderful nature of this Freedom that it is a thing that will put life into the dead You may look upon a wicked Child or Relation it may be so far gone in sin that they are even past hope as we use to do upon people when they are dead oh as long as they were alive tho very sick yet while there 's life there is hope as we use to say but when we see they are dead then hope is gone Yea but as to this I am speaking of how know you but Christ may come to the grave of that dead Soul and raise it as he did to Lazarus So beloved we that are Ministers of Christ we preach of this Freedom to you and as to divers of you we are afraid we preach to the dead and one would think Why then what hope is there were it not as good to give over Oh no! Preach we must for all this in hope that you may live we are sure that if God please to give you this Freedom tho you have it not yet when it comes it shall do Wonders in you 't will fetch you out of your graves Our Preaching to sinners 't is like Ezekiels prophecying to the dry bones cap. 37. God brought him and set him down in the midst of a Valley full of them vers 1 2. and when he had been viewing them well and seen what a sad Spectacle there was now Son of man can these bones live saith he dost think 't is possible that ever they should live And he answered O Lord God thou knowest As if he should say O Lord that 's with thee who can resolve that but thy self verse 3. Well in vers 4. Come do thou prophecy upon them saith God and keep on prophecying and see what I will do by it Now vers 7. the Prophet prophesied as he was commanded As if he should say That I did and that was all that I could do but mark what wonderful success here was see vers 7 8 9 10. and you read in vers 10. that they lived c. The Lord bless our preaching as he blessed Ezekiels prophecying here 8. That Death it self should be killed Is not this a strange thing You know what a killing thing Death is you have heard of many and seen many that have been slain by it it is a killing all over the World Whether you consider Death naturally or spiritually what a great destroyer ' t is But now that there should be something that should cause Death it self to dye would not this be a wonder why this Freedom doth it it kills the bodily death by the Resurrection of the body it kills the spiritual Death by their being risen with Christ it kills the eternal Death by giving them eternal Life You have two Verses in Joh. 11. 25 26. that speak to this says our Saviour there I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me tho he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye See also 1 Cor. 15. 54 55 56 57. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 9. That a man should be made able to do all things Would you not Wonder to see a man that is so able It may be you will not believe that there is any such man in the World Nay that if he could do all things he would not be a man and 't is true if you take all things in the largest sense he cannot do all things that God can do but he can do all things through God that he hath to do Phil. 4. 11. A true Christian is in some sense weak and yet strong as Paul saith When I am weak then am I strong 2 Cor. 12. 10. And says our Saviour to the man that brought to him his Son possessed with a Devil beseeching him to help him Mark 9. 23 If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth As if he should say Art thou got into Freedom if so there 's nothing that thou hast to do but thou maist go through with it by faith in me A man that hath this Freedom and improves it as he should do he can be poor he can be rich he can do and he can suffer he can live
his conscience and great zeal for the purity of Gospel-worship kept him from conformity Hereupon with some thousands of his brethren he was slain by that fatal Axe the Act of Bartholomew-day O! when will the living God give them resurrection Lord revive thy work in the midst of our days in the midst of judgment remember mercy These Abels tho dead are yet speaking The Bush burns and is not consumed Certainly God hath some great work for them who tho sentenced unto death are yet alive We hope in the living God who quickneth the dead who hath delivered them from many and great deaths we hope I say that he will yet deliver them from this death also For sometime after his silencing Mr. Ball lived in the same Parish where he had been formerly Minister and when the Oxford Act came forth he removed five Miles farther Where he peaceably behaved himself and won upon many of a different perswasion by his moderation sweetness of deportment and holy and unblameable conversation He bore a singular love to all that lookt heavenward tho of a different perswasion from himself therefore kept up a brotherly and Christian correspondence with that worthy Conformist in whose Parish he lived He judged it his duty to preach and that necessity was laid upon him a wo unto him if he did not preach the Gospel Hereupon be neither could nor would be idle but preached frequently and studied to preach in such times and places as were least offensive to authority It grieved him to hear his spiritual children complain they wanted Bread when he had it for them Very many reaped the fruit and benefit of his labours since he was outed his publick Ministry as Cambridg Epping Bayford and other places to which he was related He spent himself in doing good to Souls for maintenance he relied upon that providence which feeds the fowls and cloathes the Lillies and was of blessed Mr. Hierons mind That God who feeds the Ravens would not starve his young Hierons And indeed his numerous family were maintained to a miracle He sought not the world but his God He did his masters work trusting to his bounty for wages and would often say he never lived better than when he knew not how to live He liv'd by faith upon Gods promises committed his ways unto God and had a firm perswasion that the Lord would provide for him and his which was verified He kept a Diary of Gods providences to himself and family of mercies and afflictions of supports and deliverances This quickned him unto thankfulness these experiences strengthned his faith and made him abound in hope in the Lord his God When his goods were seized on for preaching contrary to Law this holy man took that spoil patiently and joyfully knowing that he had a better and more enduring substance reserved in the Heavens and that those losses sustained for Christ and a good conscience would prove gains at last and work out for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory If he was concerned it was for his enemies whom he pitied from his Soul and for whom he prayed as his Lord and Master that they might be forgiven because they knew not that they did the Devils work His great labours in his Masters Vineyard shortned his days but drew him the nearer and sooner to his rest In his sickness his patience was most exemplary bearing his pains with a Christian fortitude resigning himself for life and death unto his Lords disposal For him to live was to glorifie Christ to die gain So he might be farther useful and serviceable in his Ministry he was well contented with life but to be dissolved and to be at home with Christ being better for him in case of unserviceableness this was earnestly desired by him To such as visited him in his languishing he gave serious counsels of providing in health for sickness in life for death in time for eternity He was much in prayer for the afflicted Church of God bitterly lamenting the case of England mourning for those great sins committed in the midst of us and trembling at the thoughts of those heavy Judgments hanging over our heads He sadly and sorrowfully laid to heart the unnatural breaches among Protestants the divisions of Reuben the quarrels and enmities among Joseph's Brethren especially now the Canaanite was in the Land He was grieved at the heart for the unbecoming lives of many Ministers and of multitudes of professors of so pure a Religion whose lives indeed are a flat contradiction to it and for whose abominations God would certainly visit unless there were speedy sincere and extraordinary humbling and reforming with seven worse plagues than ever But the Lord took him from the evil to come after he had languished for some time in a Consumption and breathed ardently after Heaven and Glory He was called upon as the Witnesses to come up hither He had long waited for his blessed charge and that salvation he had believed prayed and expected the Lord his Master whom he had faithfully served put him into the possession of at last He left this life for a better this vale of tears for a Paradise of joys for rivers of evelasting pleasures the eight day of September and in the year of our Lord 1681. and the 58th year of his age Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours and their works follow them Spiritual Bondage AND FREEDOM John 8. 36. If the Son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed CHAP. I. The Text opened The Doctrine inferred thence The first Branch of it handled FOR the making of our passage clear to this Text we must look back a little upon the foregoing Verses where we shall see that Christ is a preaching to the people and what the success of his preaching was In his preaching amongst other things I would desire you specially to take notice of Two things that he delivers concerning himself which I mention because I would by no means have you to let them pass because they are of great moment to your Souls One is that in ver 12. a very precious place Christ was sent to give light to the World i. e. to bring them out of that darkness which they are in by nature 'T is just as if a man stood in some dismal dark place where he can see nothing knows not where he is nor whither to go and one comes to him with a light and if he does but follow it it brings him into the open view of things So Christ those that follow him he leads them into the light of life into the light of spiritual life that he shall see spiritual things which no man doth or can that does not follow Christ and into the light of Eternal life where at last he shall see and be with God for ever So that all that live without Christ they
live without light they are dark men and women in their Souls Another thing that Christ preaches to them is in ver 24. the Lord open your hearts in the reading of it I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins Dying in ones sins is the saddest death that a man can die that person dies to die As the children of God die to live so these they die to die again When they die the natural death they die the Eternal death they die to be damned to be separated for ever from the Lord as those that he will never have any thing to do with more but in a way of tormenting them for their living and dying in their sins And these of all that die out of the World are the persons whose death is to be most lamented If God takes away any of your Relations or Friends or Neighbours if you have but good hopes that they died in Christ 't is comfortable but this same dying in sin Oh! that 's the terrible that 's the lamentable death as you say of some persons sometimes that died in some horrible way Oh! such an one he came to a sad end so do all that die in their sins A sad end the Lord knows One were better never to have been born than to die such a death But I pray mark here what is it that will bring people to such a death Why says Christ If ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins If ye abide Unbelievers if you don't come to me own me give up your selves to me as sure as can be saith he this will be your case ye shall dye in your sins There be some that die to their sins that 's a good death and all Gods Children dye so There be some that die in their sins that 's a sad death as you have heard and all Reprobate Sinners die so There be some that die for their sins eternally and such are all they that die in them and the way to die in them and for them is to live in them These and such kind of things Christ is here preaching I have but named that which I conceive to be most needful for you Well now what 's the success of Christs preaching to his Hearers Why you may observe it was this That of those that heard him some were complying and some were cavilling The Lord grant that all of you may be of the first sort and none of the second Some were complying Hearers This kind of Doctrine took upon their Souls v. 30. As he spake these words many believed on him Oh that there might be such a presence and power of God in our Assembly here that as we are speaking you might be believing applying taking home the Truths of the Gospel so as to be converted to Christ Now these kind of Hearers Christ encourages and bids them go on as they had begun and they should have a Threefold Priviledg The first of them is in v. 31. They should be Disciples indeed not in name and in shew only but in reality q. d. I 'le own you for sincere ones such as Nathanael was concerning whom Christ said John 1 48. Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile You have some that do offer towards Christ begin as if they would follow his Rules and Doctrine but they don't continue in his Word and so shew that they are not Disciples indeed none of the right kind of Professors The other Two Priviledges which Christ saith these shall have are in v. 32. 1. Ye shall know the Truth i. e. have experimental knowledg of the Truths of God God and Christ would reveal themselves further and further to them in the matters and mysteries of salvation He promises inward and sound illumination to them that they should have another manner of knowledg of spiritual things than they have who have nothing but what swims in the brain 2. That the Truth which they should have an understanding of should make them free not like those that abide in slavery and bondage but they should have a state of Freedom Now amongst these Hearers some as I said were cavilling Hearers And this is the sad success that the Word hath upon some that it sets them but a cavilling at what is delivered And thus the Gospel is the favour of life to some and the savour of death to others Now the carnal and unbelieving Hearers take occasion unjustly to cavil at Christ from those last words which he spake to his complying Hearers in the Text shall make you free As if they should say Why then pray what do you make of us We perceive that you count us Slaves or Bond people Your Disciples and Followers shall be taken out of the company of such as are in thraldom why then be-like we are no Freemen Here they thought they had a great advantage against Christ see v. 33. They answered him We be Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man How sayest thou Ye shall be made free This that they said was not true in the letter and as to the outward bondage that they had never been in bondage to any man for had they not been in bondage in Egypt and in bondage in Babylon And they were at this present under Tribute and subjection to the Romans Note that a cavilling Spirit is a lying Spirit too They that are given to the one sin are given also to the other But Christ did not mean this in the letter or of any outward bondage but of bondage by sin that they were in And so v. 34. he doth explain himself Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin i. e. is in bondage to it and so will find himself to be at last v. 35. when he shall see that he must not abide any longer among the Children and Sons of God but shall be sent away as the Servant or he that is bound to his Master is afterwards sent out of the house while those that are the sons and Free ones are kept in as those that have a Right and a Priviledg to stay as I that am Gods natural Son do and shall abide for ever in my Father's house together with all his adopted Children who believe on me This 36th Verse to which I am now come is Christ's drawing a conclusion from all this applying this that he had been speaking about Bondage and Freedom to their case that they if they had had Grace might have made a saving use of it for their own everlasting good If the Son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed i. e. If I who am the Son of God and therefore am free and can give freedom to others if I make you free ye shall be free indeed Wherein you have 1. The name by which Jesus Christ calls himself the Son of God or as 't is in the Greek that Son that is such a Son as none is
a thing that through Grace may be effected Why Sirs why may you not be converted why may you not be pardoned why may you not yet be washed and justified and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God Why may not as great Sinners be brought in yet as have been brought in already Methinks that Scripture would come in very seasonably here Ezr. 10. 2. We have trespassed against our God and have taken strange wives of the people of the land yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing 1. d. 'T is very true our provocations against God have been very great and particularly in this that we have taken strange wives of the people of the land which was the sin that they were now mourning for yet let us not sit down hopeless now and do nothing and give up all for lost there 's some hope left still and therefore ver 3 Let 's make a covenant to put away all the wives c. So now in your case that are yet under the guilt of so many and so great iniquities yet there is hope and therefore seek out for this Freedom by Christ See Zech. 9. 12. Turn ye to the strong hold ye prisoners of hope Tho thou art a prisoner yet thou art a prisoner of hope and therefore turn to the strong hold turn to Christ So that you see I have made way to go on upon this now to shew you that 't is every ones duty to look out after a share in this Freedom And there are two things among others that make this to be your duty 1. The Command of God He hath commanded you to look out after Christ and your Souls Friends it is the will of him that made you revealed in his blessed Word that you should come to Christ and close with Christ and not refuse the great and good things which he offers to you Matth. 17. 5. Hear ye him Mark 1. 15. Repent and believe the Gospel Act. 17. 30. God commandeth all men every where to repent Heb. 12. 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh c. And as all the other Commands of God are backed with Promises to them that obey them and with Threatnings to those that do them not So 't is to be observed in a special manner concerning this Command of looking after Christ and believing in him with what precious Promises it is accompanied to those that close with Christ and with what heavy Threatnings to those that reject him The Command it self you may take one place more for which speaketh the fullest of any yet 1 Joh. 3. 23. This is his commandment that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ Now for the Promises they are so many that do belong to this that I cannot name them all See Act. 10. 43. and 13. 39 40. for a taste And for Threatnings Act. 3. 22. Prov. 1. 24. to the end but only that the last verse is a Promise of everlasting safety to them that receive him We should therefore much awe our hearts with the strict Commands that are about looking out for Christ and hearkning to his Calls and know that the not accepting of Christ is the most damning sin Joh. 3. 18 19. This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil The condemnation as if there were none but this And this sin of not believing in Christ is such a great sin that when the Holy Ghost comes to work upon the heart he doth as it were single out this in a principal manner to charge that upon the Conscience and to reprove and to convince for that to be sure Joh. 16. 8 9. And this is a sin which we must and shall be most humbled for if ever God intend mercy to us and whatever other sins we are smitten for till the heart comes to be smitten for this we fall short of those Convictions which the Spirit useth to give in in order to a true Conversion Tho I don't say that this is always the first sin that the Spirit of God sets before the Soul and wounds it for many times a man's inward trouble begins from some other sins yet sooner or later the guilt of this Unbelief is discovered to such a soul and from the sight of that it is brought to the deepest and the truest sorrow Zech. 12. 18. 2. The obligation that lies upon you even by the very light of Nature to look after self-preservation Indeed there is a self that we must not look after the preservation of but do all that we can to bring it to destruction our sinful-self or our Sins and Lusts which are as dear to us by corrupt nature as our selves this we must be sworn enemies to Col. 3. 5. Mortifie your members which are upon the earth c. And the reason is because this is not the right self our sins are the Devils Bratts and therefore they must be dash'd against the walls there must be no sparing of them no pleading for their life for if you give sin its life you 'll lose your own as the Prophet told Ahab from the Lord concerning the King of Syria that great enemy of the children of Israel when the Lord had delivered him into Ahab's hand and he out of favour to him had let him escape when he should have destroyed him 1 Kin. 20. 42. Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction therefore thy life shall go for his life c. So thus it will be to all you that spare your sins and stroak them instead of striking them and because they bring you a little pleasure to the flesh for the present therefore they must be let alone God hath put many opportunities into your hand for the destroying of them every time you come to hear you have as it were an advantage given you again but it may be that you so love this painted strumpet and are so overcome by the flatteries of it that it is as Death to you to part with it Well Soul if thou wilt not have sin to die thou must die if thou wilt not be the death of that that will be the death of thee But there is another self the true self or your selves as you are God's creatures that you are bound to look after the preservation of that is to speak plainly you must take care that you don't go the way to be eternally lost and to have Soul and Body cast into hell And if you are so careful as you know you use to be to preserve your selves from the evils of this World you do all that you can to keep your selves from Pains and Prisons and Poverty why will it not follow that you should be as careful yea and much more because the Soul is more precious to keep your selves from the everlasting
that accursed death upon the Cross for our sins and 't was he and not they that rose again the third day and that afterwards ascended into Heaven and 't is he and not they that is the Mediator betwixt God and man 1 Tim. 2. 5. and divers such things must be appropriated to the Person of Christ 'T was he that was put into the Offices of a Prophet Priest and King and these things are everywhere in the Scripture kept so distinct from the other Persons as that Christ is the Doer and Executor of them So that our Freedom comes by him as I have already shewed upon this Fourth Branch of the Doctrine in a more eminent way than by the Father or the Holy Ghost tho they have all of them as I have said in some respects a very great hand in it And from that I would now desire you to take three Considerations All the three Persons are concerned in the Freedom that comes by Christ why then consider 1. That there was not a word spoken in Heaven against the recovering of poor Sinners out of their lost condition not a word against shewing Mercy to them You know there be many great things upon Earth that come to a Proposition but then they meet with an Opposition and such an Opposition that the thing propounded is dash'd all to pieces But it was not so in Heaven there every one was for it the Father was for it the Son was for it and the Holy Ghost was for it and yet every one might have been against it And Oh how much might have been said to have spoiled all there was enough might have been alledged to have turned all their hearts against us but every one was willing that the business of our Redemption should go forward all went on our side You may therefore be fully assured that tho there was none but the second Person that did visibly appear in the Work of our Redemption yet that they are all well-wishers to it Here 's no place left for doubting whether their hearts be as inclinable towards your Salvation as Christ did express by word of mouth that his heart was in the days of his Flesh for they do all by mutual consent unite together in this Design of doing your Souls good and the voice of one is the voice of all And when Christ did invite and call poor Sinners to come unto him and declared so much readiness to receive and imbrace all that were weary and heavy laden you must know that he did not only do this to show his own kindness and good-will to the Children of Men but also to shew what kindness and good will the other Persons had in their hearts towards them too And if you look into 1 Joh. 5. 7. you shall find them all joined together in this matter of Salvation by Christ compared with ver 11. What an ingagement then is it to us to accept of this Salvation when we have as I may say three such great Suitors seeking to us the Father sending his Son and the Son coming from the Father and now Christ by his Spirit knocking at the door of our Hearts for an entrance Oh that as they are all willing that we should be saved we were all willing to close with this Salvation 2. Since they all have a hand in it then in our labouring to get the benefit of Christ's Redemption we must look to all the three Persons 't is not only Christ in particular that we must have an eye to but also to the Father and to the Holy Ghost And we must look to them all two ways 1. In the way of Prayer 2. In the way of Thanksgiving As for Prayer why we must pray to the Father that he would draw us to his Son as Christ saith Joh. 6. 44. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him We must pray to the Son that he would have mercy upon us and heal us and that he would help our Unbelief as you read they did in the Gospel when he was here in his bodily Presence We must pray to the Holy Ghost to inlighten our Minds in the saving understanding of Christ and the Gospel to sanctifie us and make us obedient to the word of Grace and effectually to apply to us the Redemption that comes by Christ and all the benefits of it But here we must take heed that when we do thus express our selves as sometimes we may in such kind of Petitions as are directed more particularly to one Person we don't think that the other Persons are at that time excluded And then we must look to all the three Persons in a way of Thanksgiving For if every one hath a hand in our Redemption then we are beholding to every one of them and so we may not only make an Acknowledgment of it to the whole Godhead jointly but also to each of the Persons particularly and so you shall see the People of God have sometimes done As for Thanksgiving to the Father see Eph. 1. 3. and for Thanksgiving to the Son Rev. 1. 5 6. And tho we have not as I remember any Scripture in which the Holy Ghost is given thanks to in this particular way of naming of him yet you must know that in those places in which Praise is rendred unto God he is there to be understood Well then as I said we should be admiring and praising every one of them for this Work and saying Oh blessed be the Father that sent his only begotten Son out of his Bosom to be a Saviour to Mankind And Oh blessed be Jesus Christ the Son of God who laid down his Life to be a Ransom for us And Oh blessed be the Holy Ghost which hath given to any of our Souls the application comfort and sealing up of this Redemption Blessed be that one God in three Persons for ever and ever Amen 3. If there be such a Three that join together to further the Saints Salvation then another Three that join together to hinder their Salvation shall not be able to do it There is a Three that would fain keep every Child of God out of Heaven the World the Flesh and the Devil and 't is true they are three great and mighty Enemies howbeit they attain not to the first Three 1 Chron. 11. 21. Oh! you that fear God when you think what Three there are against you and thereupon are ready to be disheartned why think what Three there are for you and then be comforted What are the Three below to the Three above The Saints do too little mind what great Friends and Helps are ingaged on their side It daunted all the Children of Israel to see that great Goliath coming against them because they looked no higher than themselves but little David went forth with Courage and Resolution to meet him because he knew that he had God on his side 1 Sam. 17. 45. Thou comest to me with
to save those who are to be saved You must take notice that this willingness of Christ to save sinners may be considered two ways 1. There is an absolute willingness in Christ to save some sinners and these sinners are those whom God hath from all eternity chosen to life and who thereupon do come to Christ that they might have life being awakened and stirred up thereunto by the inward and effectual working of Gods Spirit and Grace upon their hearts Now there is in Christ an absolute willingness to save all such he is fully resolved to be wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption to them Joh. 6. 37. 2. There is a conditional willingness in Christ to save other sinners yea all sinners yea even those that shall never be saved by which Christ stands ready to receive and pardon and imbrace them in case they come to him and repent and believe the Gospel which they never doing through the hardness and impenitency of their hearts to which they are justly left they are eternally lost tho Christ could have saved them and would have saved them if the Condition had been performed Luk. 13. 34. Secondly it will appear that this Freedom is in Christ abundantly if we consider how he and his Salvation are magnified and extolled in Scripture You shall find the Word of GOD speaking very honourably of both as indeed he and his Salvation deserve the highest Praise When Christ himself as a Redeemer is spoken of see the great commendation that is given of him I shall need to lead you but to that one Epistle to the Hebrews for it See chap. 4. 15. and chap. 7. 26. and chap. 8. 1 2 6. and chap. 9. 14. And then as he himself who is the Saviour is thus set forth with such magnificent Expressions So the Salvation and Redemption that comes by him likewise Heb. 2. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation He speaks of it as that which cannot be told what manner of thing 't is for the Worth and Value of it he is so taken up with the admiration of it that he wants a fit comparison to set it out by So great salvation as if he should have said I cannot tell you how great 't is 't is so great And in 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot He makes all the Silver and Gold and precious things of the World as nothing to this Redemption which the Blood of Christ hath purchased for us Thirdly there must needs be abundant Freedom in Christ if we consider that this Redemption of his doth more good to them that partake of it than ever the Fall of Adam did them hurt It was indeed an unspeakable deal of misery that was brought in by the Transgression of our first Parents by it came Sin by it came Death and Condemnation Beloved there is no evil either of Sin or of Punishment either in this World or in that to come but it is the woful effect and fruit of that Fall Oh that God would shew us what a miserable condition we are in by the Fall Oh how ignorant is the World of this How unawakened about it Little do the most consider where it is that Adam hath left them what wretched cursed Creatures they are upon that account and Oh how little care do People generally take or how little haste do they make to get out of it How secure do the most continue upon that sinking ground as if there were no danger towards them Well but now this Redemption by Christ hath more good in it for them that are or shall be delivered by it than that had hurt in it This second Adam sets them into a better condition than ever they were before they fell He doth not only make up their loss again but with the greatest advantage Read that excellent place Rom. 5. 15. to the end Fourthly 'T is such abundant Redemthat is in Christ that he can save those that despair of ever being saved not only can he save those who deserve to be damned but even such as despair of being saved Oh how many be there that have lain under most dreadful fears of everlasting condemnation that when they have been brought to see their sins as it were set in order before them and to see the wrath of God as it were flaming against them they have concluded that they should as certainly go to Hell as if they were there already And Oh the bitter cryes that they have had upon this Oh the anguish and sorrow that their Souls have been filled with What shall become of me c. They have roared by reason of the disquietness of their hearts they could not tell how to eat or drink or sleep for the fearful looking-for of Judgment and of Wrath that should devour them and yet after all this have been saved the great Redeemer hath given them rest from their fear and from their sorrow and from the hard bondage wherein they were made to serve Heb. 2. 15. And it may be here may be some or other amongst you that are full of trembling thoughts and very ready to speak about your Salvation as if there were no hope I know that many poor Souls do go under this load they can't tell how to think that they shall ever be saved Oh but consider there is such abundance of Freedom in Christ that he can save those who despair of being saved and therefore be revived in thy hopes thou poor disheartned Soul and because of this say as Jonah did chap. 2. 3 4. For thou hadst cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas and the floods compassed me about all thy billows and thy waves passed over me Then I said I am cast out of thy sight yet I will look again toward thy holy temple 3. This Freedom is in Christ freely the very word doth carry this along with it Christ doth not release Souls as men use to give Freedom to the Bodies of them they have kept in prison if they will have their Liberty they must pay their Fees That which God speaks of Cyrus in Isa 45. 13. is eminently true of Christ He shall let go my captives not for price or reward Christ doth not ask Souls What will you give me if I will do this for you But he is willing to do it for nothing he bids them come and buy but 't is without money and without price he is as glad to free poor sinners as they are to be freed by him And there be three Reasons why Christ doth all freely in the Work of Redemption pray mark them 1. Because he redeems them out of love therefore he aims at no reward What is it that brings Christ to this Work why 't is Love Isa 63. 9. in his love and in his pity he
as much intend them as the other that his people might not precisely know the very time when their deliverance should be that it should be this year or this day to teach them still to depend upon him for deliverance even when they might think that their deliverance was nearest We must trust God for deliverance but the very time when it shall be we must leave that to him He useth to reserve that in his own breast But to go on 3. In that deliverance God honoured his people Deut. 4. 34. Isa 43. 3 4. He gat them a Name and made them high above all Nations They were a People that all the World did talk of that heard what God had done for them how he had redeemed them and how he had chosen them and how he went before them Well now beloved you see this was an honourable deliverance that God gave to them but this Freedom by Christ is the most honourable Freedom of all God never so honoured himself by any deliverance as by this nor did he ever so honour his promises nor did he ever so honour his people For the first see John 12. 28. for the second Luke 1. 68. to 74. for the third Luke 2. 32. They are so honoured by this that they that partake of this Freedom are said to be made Kings to God Property 4. This Freedom is a Heavenly Freedom They who are interested in it are said to be partakers of the heavenly calling Heb. 3. 1. And they are called the heavenly Jerusalem cap. 12. 22. and Jerusalem which is above Gal. 4. 26. 'T is such an Heavenly Freedom that the very Angels desire to look into this salvation which it brings 1 Pet. 1. 10 11 12. Other Deliverances were earthly or at most the best and greatest of them as I said were but types and shadows of better things but this Freedom is all made up of Heavenliness I shall make out this by Four things a little 1. It is the Sons Freedom 2. The Souls Freedom 3. The Saints Freedom 4. The Scripture-Freedom 1. I say 't is the Sons Freedom that which the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God hath procured 'T is the Son that makes free You have had this largely opened to you Now what an heavenly Freedom must this be that God imployed his own Son in and sent him from Heaven on purpose about it When the Lord would redeem his people out of Egypt he sent Moses and Aaron for that work and they were but Men but when he would give this Freedom he sent one that was more than a Man 'T is true he raised up Christ from amongst the Jews according to the flesh and the humane Nature did not come immediately from God but 't was made of the Seed of David Yea but God was manifested in this flesh and upon this account he is said to come down from Heaven John 3. 13. and to come out from God and to come forth from the Father cap. 16. 27 28. So that in this Freedom beloved there came one from the Throne of God yea one that was God to give it to us 2. 'T is the Souls Freedom the Freedom of the Soul Now you know they must be all heavenly things that can reach that to do it any good In other Deliverances they were the Bodies of men that were set free but in this Christ brings Souls out of Prison and Bondage And indeed herein lies the very main of all the excellency of this Freedom that it is a Freedom for Souls If I should have said nothing else about it but only this That the precious Souls of Men and Women are redeemed by it you must needs have said 't is an excellent Freedom Yea beloved all that I have said or have yet to say or can say runs into this Oh blessed joyful heavenly Freedom by Christ What a thing is this What to bring salvation to Souls to set the Heart Mind Will Understanding Affections Conscience at liberty that when all was bound within with spiritual Chains and Fetters that were Ten thousand times stronger than those that are made of Brass and Iron that when the Soul sat in darkness and in the shadow of death there should be redemption for that that Christ should pity lost and undone souls Oh heavenly heavenly heavenly Freedom Well may I use those words to you here which the Angel used to the Shepherds Luke 2. 10 11. Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savioue which is Christ the Lord. Here 's a Saviour for your Souls Where are your Souls Sirs by Nature What a condition are they in Oh! they are kept the closest Prisoners that ever were in the deepest darkest Dungeon that ever was and this Prison they are cast into for Debt for Theft for Murder for Treason and no Debt like this Debt for 't is the Debt of Sins and Iniquities and no Theft like this Theft for 't is for robbing God of his Glory and no Murder like this Mruder for 't is for destroying your own Souls and no Treason like this Treason for t is against the Crown of Heaven And yet if you will repent and believe the Gospel here 's a Freedom for your Souls out of all this Methinks it should be even with us in the hearing of this as 't is said in Luke 19. 37 38. that we should rejoyce and praise God with a loud voice And if we should not be affected with this Freedom one might think as ver 40. that if we should hold our peace the stones would immediately cry out 3. It is the Saints Freedom Indeed 't is to make sinners free but it is not the Freedom of sinners That is as long as persons are out of Christ they cannot truly call it theirs 'T is the portion and priviledg of the children of God A wicked man may have it but a true Believer hath it The one is under a possibility of it but the other is in possession of it Rom. 5. 2. They have their standing in this Grace They stand upon Gospel-ground Now what a Heavenly Freedom is this that none but Saints enjoy The men of the World may enjoy other Freedoms but one must be in Christ to enjoy this It belongs to the holy Company Eph. 2. 19. Ye are Fellow-Citizens with the Saints Indeed this Freedom doth not find us Saints but it makes us so And therefore hereby you may know whether you have any thing of it Do you think that you are made free by Christ and abide ungodly To be sure you deceive your selves The Lord Christ never redeemed any Soul to leave it where he found it he puts it into a contrary state to that which it had before he found it in darkness but he puts it into Light he found it in Death but he puts it into Life he found it in Wickedness but he puts
are none of his and therefore sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and let him be your fear and let him be your dread 'T is meet that you should stand in awe of him with a holy filial fear But as for the Devil you are no longer his Priviledg 2. This Freedom brings the pardon of sin which is such a Priviledg that David could not tell how to think of it or mention it without wondring at the blessedness of the man that hath it Psal 32. 12. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile or as 't is in the Hebrew Oh the blessedness of the man c. You would count it a great Priviledg to have a man to forgive you a great debt when you can say I owed such a person such a great sum of mony 't was as due a debt as ever any was in the World and tho I was not able to pay him yet he might have had the Law against me he might have cast me into Prison and there have kept me all the days of my life but out of his meer goodness he forgave me all and he hath not only told me that he will never trouble me for it but hath given me in the Bond too Why then what a great Priviledg must it be to have God to forgive us the great debt of our sins for him to say Well I know and you know too in some measure what a grievous man or woman you have been what abundance of dishonour and provocation I have had with you Oh the wicked Nature that you have Oh the wicked Life that you have led Oh the wicked thoughts that you have thought c. Now how might I make the fire of mine indignation burn against you What a wretch would you be if I should deal with you according to your deserts But here I do in my infinite mercy pass all by Instead of giving you punishment I give you a pardon Why this is the Priviledg of this Freedom by Christ Eph. 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace And from hence it follows that now being pardoned God doth not upbraid his people with their sins buthe forgets them in that sense tho he cannot but remember them by way of knowledg so as to understand that they have been committed yet he forgets them as to laying them to their charge In that respect he will hear nothing against them not what the Devil says by his Accusations not what the Law saith in regard of its Threatnings and Condemnation The whole course of the Laws proceeding this way is utterly and eternally stopt Rom. 8. 1. Gal. 3. 13. And being pardoned they are justiffed in the sight of God Rom. 3. 24. tho they will it may be condemn themselves an hundred and a thousand times after this and confess and bewail their sins and loathe themselves in their own eyes and acknowledg that the Lord might justly cast them into the deepest torments as 't is fit they should yet in and through Christ God doth not look upon them so as they look upon themselves And again being pardoned God is reconciled to them his heart is towards them But yet there must be something more still than the pardon of sin to make a child of God count himself a happy man Yea you 'l say that 's strange I should think my self happy enough if my sins were but forgiven me I no question of it But tho a child of God count this an unspeakable mercy Psal 51. 1. yet if there were not something else joyned with it a great part of his happiness would be wanting and that is the subduing of sin Which therefore is the next Priviledg 3. This Freedom brings down the Dominion of sin Rom. 6. 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you You that are in your sins I know unless God come and work upon you you would look upon it as no Priviledg at all to have your Lusts curbed No you would look upon your selves as undone if you should not have your swinge in them they are so dear to you This is a sign the Redeemer hath not been with you But 't is otherwise in those that are Christs As he hath broken the Yoke of their Souls so he makes a Yoke for their Corruption Matth. 11. 29. Sin must reign no more Before Pride reigned and Passion reigned or Uncleanness or Worldliness and such like Now the Crown must be taken off from them they must sit no longer upon the Throne of the Heart giving out their Commands and the poor creature fulfilling of them tho it be to his own destruction But every Lust must be mortified and every vile Affection discountenanced and nothing pleaded for or yeilded to that proceeds from the Law of Sin and of Death And this now the people of God count a Priviledg indeed Oh! that they are brought into a state wherein their sins shall not nor can have their head Oh how they bless God for this Freedom upon this account that it is an inlet to mortification for so you read it is in Tit. 2. 11 12. So that no child of God is under the Dominion of any sin Gal. 5. 24. He that is so is in Bondage still Rom. 6. 16. 2 Pet. 2. 19. And yet still there is something more about sin than all this to make him look upon his Priviledges so far as they do concern that to be compleat he cannot count himself a happy man indeed neither with the pardon of his sins or that sin doth not reign in him tho he is glad of this at his very heart but this same loathsome thing sin is in him still what shall he do for that Rom. 7. 24. Therefore this is another Priviledge that this Freedom will produce Priviledg 4. The very being of sin in them shall ere long be done quite away Col. 1. 22. Eph. 5. 26 27. 'T is not thus yet tho the Saints have put on the new man yet they have not perfectly put off the old there are excellent things in them but 't is with a blemish they have something to blemish them as well as something to beautifie them As you know 't is with a Traveller as long as he is in his journey especially if he be to go against wind and weather he is apt to dash his Cloaths if he were but at home there he would beneat and clean and you should not see one spot upon him from head to foot but while he is a travelling he gets these spots and he cannot tell how to help it So here tho while the people of God are in their passage 't is not all so well in them and with them as God would have it nor as themselves would have it but shortly when they come home their
spots will be all out Thou Child of God shall have no more of this deadness no more of this hardness and unbelief of heart here thou canst not pray one quarter of an hour without vain thoughts there thou shalt praise and glorifie him to all eternity without the least distraction Oh! what a Priviledge will this be when sin and you shall be quite parted Now you hear of it in every duty but there you may be good as long and as much as you will and no evil to hinder you Paul's complaint is now at an end as to himself because he is at home Rom. 7. 21. Priviledge 5. They who are made free by Christ are made nigh to God Eph. 2. 13. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the Blood of Christ As the people of Israel whom he redeemed out of Egypt are called a people near to God Psal 147. 14. You know 't is counted a Priviledg to stand near to an earthly King in some cases The Queen of Sheba pronounced the Servants of Solomon happy upon this account 1 Kings 10. 8. But as Christ said once of himself a greater than Solomon is here here 's the King of Heaven and Earth that is the most high God and these are near to him whatsoever is dear to us is near to us Now the Saints are very dear to God How dear is a Friend to you And how dear are your Children to you And how dear is the Apple of your eye to you Why by these names the Lord calls his people in the Scripture Yea beloved the Lord is very near to them when they think he is far off from them Psal 73. 23. don 't make account that God is at such a distance from you you that belong to him as many times you do you think he is gone away so that he will never return and all that while he is hard by you if you could but see him remember what he saith in Isa 41. 10. Fear thou not for I am with thee c. Priviledg 6. This Freedom brings Union with Christ Eph. 5. 30. it joyns those to him who are redeemed by an inseparable bond Christ is in them and they are in him therefore Paul saith Gal. 2. 20. that Christ liveth in him and 't is said of the Saints that Christ dwells in their hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. and Christ and they are not to be considered as two but as one he owns them as his Members and you know they are one with the head as his Wife and she is one with the Husband Now what an unspeakable Priviledg is it to be united to Jesus Christ and what greater honour can a Soul desire or enjoy than this is If you have such a deal of comfort from those earthly Relations in which you stand one to another as some of you have tho this is a Union of a low degree in comparison of this yet you find there is much sweetness in being joyned to a loving Wife or a loving Husband Oh what is it to be joyned to the Lord Jesus Christ Obj. But you 'l say What 's a bare Vnion if there be no Communications from him if Christ doth not give out that which he is and that which he hath to us there 's many a one that is joyned to another in an uniting Relation that is little the better for it Ans Yea but to be sure they who are one with Christ shall be the better for it for in the next place Priviledg 7. From this Union flows Communion with Christ and a communication from Christ of abundance of good things to them I will instance in some 1. They partake of his likeness and image to this you read that they were of old predestinated Rom. 8. 29. Hence they are said to have put on Christ as soon as ever he brought them into this Freedom he began presently as I may say to draw his Picture upon them and they grow more and more like him every day by resembling of him in his Graces and walking The Saints desire to live no other life but that which is suitable to the life that Christ led and they would fain imitate and follow him in his holy conversation they 〈◊〉 mightily taken with it all their trouble is that they can reach it no more 2. They partake of his fulness Joh. 1. 16. 'T is their Priviledg being made free by him to be fetching from him what they need for tho he hath it in himself yet he doth not keep it to himself no he means to be liberal of what he hath to all his Members He is not like the Rich covetous men of the World that tho they have abundance yet they hoard it up they have no readiness in them to distribute but Christ is all for distributing and that which his redeemed ones have had and shall have from him is an unknown deal 3. They partake of his Death and Resurrection Rom. 6. 5. They dye to sin by the vertue of Christs Death and they live to God by the vertue of Christs rising again For beloved Christ did not do those things barely that they should end in himself that none should have a fellowship with him in them But his design was that his Death should bring forth another Death and his Resurrection another Resurrection in the Souls of his people that they should feel in themselves that he died by their being crucified to sin and crucified to the World and that they should feel in themselves that he rose by their newness of life and by their setting their affections upon things above Now this is a great Priviledg to have the experience of these things within us people talk how Christ died and rose again but where is our conformity to this Oh! how little doth the power and the virtue of this come to us 4. They partake of his Righteousness I mean 't is imputed to them as their own that perfect unspotted obedience of his 't is to cover all the unrighteousness that is in them 2 Cor. 5 ult Oh beloved what a thing is this that a righteousness that is just as the Scripture would have it without the least defect wherein all the holy rules and commands of the word are fulfilled to a tittle that this should be made over to one with as great and sure an interest in it as if one had done all this in ones person why thus 't is with those whom Christ hath made free 5. They partake of his Intercession the Lord Jesus is at the right hand of the Father on their behalf Heb. 9. 24. he is speaking good words to God for them continually and his intercession is powerful Oh with what great Arguments can Christ back all the requests that he makes to his Father for them even from what himself hath done and suffered and satisfied 6. They shall partake with Christ in his Glory many of them are
be in mercy to them let it come never so soon and they are so fit for Heaven as that to be sure they shall not miss of it Col 1. 12 13 14. And so now you see what excellent Uses may be made of this Freedom and thereupon what an excellent Freedom this must needs be Now you that are in it I beseech you put your Freedom to these good Uses which I have set before you let it teach you to pitty poor sinners to get more understanding in the Gospel let it endear Christ to you let it comfort your hearts let it make the ways of God sweet to you and you useful Prize the Saints let it strengthen your faith be enriched by it in all goodness let it make you very humble and engage you to Christ in the strictest obedience and to be ready against your Lord shall come CHAP. XI Concerning the many wonders that may be observed in this Freedom THE Seventh and Last thing to set out the excellency of this Freedom is to speak something of the many Wonders that may be observed in it Beloved if ever there were any thing to be wondered at since the beginning of the World this Freedom is to be wondered at there 's enough in it to amaze and astonish every beholder You know people are mightily taken with seeing of rare sights and the hearing of strange news but never did any thing present you with such rare sights nor bring such strange news to your ears as this Freedom doth The whole story of it is wonderful from first to last it begins in Wonders and goes on in Wonders and is finished in Wonders The Freedom that God gave his people from other Bondages for their worldly condition were attended and accompanied with great Wonders so 't was when he brought them out of Egypt God was a Wonder-working God at that time I will smite Egypt saith he with all my wonders When he came to deliver Israel every one of the ten Plagues were Wonders the drying up of the Red-Sea the causing of his people to pass through the midst of it the drowning of all their Enemies by the returning of the Waters upon them they were great and marvellous works and so 't was when he brought them out of the captivity in Babylon he did such strange and great things then that his people were like to them that dreamed Psal 126. 1. they were great things in the eyes of their very Enemies as well as in their own eyes vers 2 3. But now this same spiritual Freedom is the Wonder of Wonders I might observe to you how that in many places of the Scripture where this Freedom is spoken of 't is brought in with this word behold that 's put before it as who should say do you mind what a Wonder here is Can you pass it by without admiration see it in Isa 7. 14. chap. 28. 16. chap. 42. 1. Jer. 23. 5 6. Zech. 9. 9. Luk. 2. 10. Joh. 1. 29. 1 Joh. 3. 1. and in Isa 9. 6. When Christ is prophecied of that he should come into the World for the giving of this Freedom amongst all his other names this is one and the first that is mentioned that he should be wonderful But now to come to Particulars If I should insist upon all the Wonders belonging to this Freedom I should be too large and indeed the Subject that I am upon doth not require any more than that I should speak so far of the Wonders in it as may serve to set out the excellency of this Freedom And therfore I do willingly omit the Wonders that may be observed in the Incarnation Conception Birth Life Death Resurection and Assention of Christ and shall only lay before you such Wonders as by which you may see as I said that this is an excellent Freedom I will mention ten of them 1. What a Wonder is this That the greatest loss should be turned into the greatest gain 't is so by this Freedom it brings Saints the best estate that ever they were in out of the worst estate that ever they were in 'T was never so low with them as it 't was by the Fall of man 't was never so high with them as it is by this Freedom by Christ by which they are recovered from that Paul saith Phil. 3. 7. That the things that were gain to him became loss for Christ and they who are the Children of God may also say that the things that were loss to them are become gain by Christ Oh how have they gained by the fall And yet beloved we must not rejoyce in the fall while we look barely upon that No 't is matter of heart-breaking sorrow to think that ever Adam and the World in him sinned away their innocency as they did and 't will be matter of everlasting mourning to many millions in Hell that Adam did not abide in that honour which God gave him at the first but we may and we must rejoyce in Christ who turns even this great evil to the great good of all that believe in him to them it is according to Sampsons riddle Out of the eater came forth meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness If ever there were a blessed loss this was it considering how God took occasion from it to magnifie the riches of his Grace in his Son This Wonder you have set forth in Rom. 5. 17 18 19. where he speaks how we were ruined in the first Adam and raised in the second 2. That every sin that a man hath committed should be damnable and yet that all the sins that he hath committed shall not damn him Certainly there must be some wonderful way found out to bring this to pass why now this Freedom by Christ doth it 'T is the nature of every sin to deserve Hell not only the evils and miseries of this present life but also everlasting wrath in the World to come and who ever is not made free by Christ shall find that every sin is a deadly sin and that 't is not a Purgatory shall serve their turn to cleanse them from the least transgression Oh what a cursed practise is this of the Papists to harden sinners hearts thus as if some sins were of such a small guilt and of such a venial nature as if Hell were a place of too great torment for them but we say as Paul in another case Nay O man who art thou that repliest against God Doth not this word say that death is the wages of sin Rom. 6. ult of sin as 't is sin and by death there is meant that which is in opposition to eternal life But now this Freedom makes innumerable damnable sins not to damn would you not count it a wonderful thing if there should be such a thing as were able to quench unquenchable fire Why this Freedom does it for those that have it it puts cut the Fire of Hell to them Beloved if you would imagine
mankind to perish and if he would have saved any he might have bid his Son go take the nature of Angels and redeem the Devils but that it would not consist with his everlasting purpose and have left Adam and all his posterity under the curse but that he should pitch upon us to be the subjects that should be capable of this Freedom how is free Grace to be admired that God should overlook those that stood nearer to him by their creation then we did to look upon us The spirits of darkness are left in dispair while we are under hope they and we were all miserable creatures by the fall first of one and then of the other but their misery was irrecoverable ours is a recoverable misery 2 Tim. 2. 26. God hath an Election amongst us but he hath none among the Devils and therefore the door of mercy is shut against them never to be opened 2 Pet. 2. 4. Jude vers 6. Oh how are we beholding to God that he would reserve Mercy for us when he reserves Wrath for the fallen Angels there he made quick work they fell into Condemnation and God sealed up their Condemnation there is not so much as a possibility that God will ever be reconciled to them but with us he was willing to renew a better Covenant than that was which we brake there is pity and pardon and peace for us in Christ Now have not we cause to admire this and to say as Heb. 2. 6. What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him 2. That not only men but some of the worst of men should have the benefit of this Freedom I mean not only a temporal benefit for so all have but the saving everlasting benefit of it You read in the Scripture of some of the very worst of men that have been made free by Christ When this Freedom came to them at first it found some of them amongst the Thieves and others amongst the Drunkards and others amongst the Whoremongers and others amongst the Idolaters as it did the Corinthians and others amongst the Persecutors and the Blasphemers as it did Paul and others amongst the Crucifiers of Christ as it did the Jews and have you not heard sometimes of some notorious sinner or other that became a new man and through grace was afterwards as much for God as before he was the for Devil that to ones thinking was come even to the height of wickedness and yet brought home Beloved God will have this Freedom by Christ and the exceeding riches of it glorified even in this World and therefore he gives it sometimes to the very dregs of sinners And who indeed is there of those that have obtained a fellowship in this great Salvation but hath cause to admire that ever it should be given to him And to say Oh! God had mercy upon a grievous sinner when he had mercy upon me It is certain that the loving-kindness of God in Jesus Christ will be admired by every Soul upon whom it lights and such a one is ready to think That never was there any sinner that did more need mercy or less deserve it and the Reason of this is because where this Freedom comes it works such a sense of ones vileness upon the heart that tho indeed there may in some respects be greater sinners than ones self yet one cannot but look upon ones self as one of the greatest Wonders of Mercy that ever was as Paul did 1 Tim. 1. 15 16. And when God shall have gathered all his Children to glory Oh beloved what a wonderful company there will be I don't mean so much for multitude tho that will be innumerable as to think what sinners these were and especially some of them Oh! the stories that might be told of them in Heaven to raise matter of everlasting Admiration that one who had been formerly such a grievous sinner on Earth should prove notwithstanding a glorious Saint in Heaven Oh wonderful Vse 3. Is this Freedom by Christ such an excellent Freedom then here is something for Lamentation and Mourning Beloved we have often through Gods Mercy met together Oh! that we could now mourn together And you that cannot weep with your eyes oh that you would mourn in your hearts Why but you may say What is there here to mouth for This excellent Freedom is cause of rejoycing Yea indeed so 't is â—is glad tidings of great joy if all things about it were well with us but alas the Lord knows they are not I pray therefore consider four things for the piercing of your hearts in this Use of Lamentation 1. That ever we should be the cause of putting the Lord Jesus Christ who purchased this Freedom for us to so much pain and grief as he underwent in the doing of it Oh! what bitter mourning should we make for our sins that laid such a load upon Christ that we could never have had this excellent Freedom if he had not suffered beyond expression We may say those of us that are made free by Christ he hath put us into a good condition but oh into what a bad condition did our sins put him he hath brought us joy but we brought him sorrow he hath brought us rest but we brought him travel of Soul he hath brought us life but we brought him death he hath brought us blessing but we brought him a curse he helped us to a great deal of Mercy but we helped him to a great deal of misery in respect of his sufferings he was the miserablest man that ever lived Now friends this was your sins and my sins that brought him to this that made Jesus Christ to have a very Hell upon Earth and shall we not mourn for this Oh! that the Lord would perform that promise to us this day Zech. 12. 10. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and of supplications and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first born 2. That God hath no more Glory from us for all this grace that he hath bestowed upon us This Freedom is actually given to some of us and those Scriptures through the tender Mercy of God may be applied I doubt not to some of you Col. 1. 21. Gal. 4. 13. Eph. 2. 13 19. But will you not say your selves I know you will that you do fall exceeding short of such a walking as this excellent Freedom engages you to Beloved I am glad to see any of you that are in Christ so good but truly the best of us have cause to mourn that we are no better Oh what a people should we be for whom the Lord Jesus Christ laid down his precious Life and shed his precious Blood You do God some
Service blessed be his Name but should you not do him more You bring forth some fruit but should you not bring forth more 'T is not enough for you to be gracious but you should be zealous Christ as I may so speak hoped you would when he gave you this Freedom see Tit. 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works 3. That so many are gone to Hell for refusing this excellent Freedom Oh what a sad thing 't is to think how many Souls have perished for want of closing with Christ 'T is true they had other sins but whatever other sins they had they would have been forgiven if they had not neglected this great Salvation that made them that they could not escape As the receiving of this Freedom by Faith hath been the Salvation of many so the refusing of it by unbelief hath been the Damnation of more tho poor wretches they are not here to be told of it because they are now gone to their own place Oh! the price that they had once in their hands but now they have lost it for ever and it may be some of these might be your Friends and Relations the Wives of your own bosoms and the Children of your own bodies Well if they were they are perished without hope there 's no fetching them back again you may perhaps mourn to think what is become of them but now they are past recovery your prayers can do them no good and your tears can do them no good and now you must labour to rest satisfied with this that the Will of the Lord is done and that he is glorified tho it be in their eternal destruction 4. That so many sinners tho they are yet on Earth will shortly be in Hell too for the same sin For alas how many be there of those who are yet alive that are making light of Christ and of this excellent Freedom and many of them will go on to do so to their dying day and so come to the same pass to which the unrepenting sinners before them have brought themselves The generations of Christ refusers is not all gone they that were in the ages that are past are swept and snatch away but there are others that stand up in their room there 's a succession of these ungodly hard-hearted sinners that tho we offer Christ and Salvation to them and beseech them as for our lives to be reconciled to God yet they go on and 't is to be feared will go on in the broad way that leadeth to Destruction 'T was a sad word that Christ spake to them in Joh. 5. 40. Ye will not come to me that ye might have life Mark he doth not say you do not come but he delivers it in a kind of hopeless expression you will not come As if he should say I see some of you are of that temper that as you are you will be you are in your sins and you will be in your sins let them that hear me mark it concerning you if you do not dye out of me I pray God it be not so with some of you that are here Really Sirs 't is matter of mourning to see how some of you trifle in the things of your Souls would it not grieve ones heart to think that some of you that have attended upon all this that hath been preached upon this Text should yet look after a Christ no more than you do I am this day to finish this work and I am afraid of divers of you that this Text will leave you as dead as it found you Well the Lord be witness between you and me whether I have not set Life and Death before you and whether if you perish it be for want of being sufficiently told of the misery of your Bondage of sin or of the excellency of the Freedom by Christ Beloved 't will be a sad thing when such a Text as this is done to leave any of you undone Vse 4. Of Examination You have heard much of this excellent Freedom put this question home to your selves every one of you Am I got out of prison yet How shall I know that you 'l say Ans Take it in three things 1. If a man be got out of Prison he hath made his peace with those that cast him in suppose it be for debt that one hath been laid up and you see him afterwards out of prison and you ask him why you were a prisoner how got you out Why saies he I have compounded with my Creditors I have made my peace or I have got an able surety to be bound for me So Sirs have you made your peace with God for your great debt of sin Have you got Jesus Christ to stand bound for you Why then you are no longer Prisoners but if you have not peace with God through Christ you are in Prison still for the condition of your Souls see Zech. 9. 11. As for thee also by the blood of thy covenant I have set forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water God sends forth none out of Prison but by the Blood of that Conant which Christ hath made with God on the behalf of the Prisoner that he will pay the debt for him 2. Another sign that a man is got out of Prison is That he bears a great love to him that freed him If one comes and sees him lye there in a sad condition and hath compassion upon him Well saith he I 'll procure your Freedom for you I 'll undertake it he will have a great respect for that person to be sure when he hath done it Oh! saith he if it had not been for this Friend I had perished I have reason to make much of him Sirs if you don't prize Christ you are in Prison still you have not his Freedom if he hath not your best Love Col. 1. 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son Mark how those words his dear Son are brought in with the mention of this Freedom and I look upon them as to be understood not only in reference to his Father but also those who are freed by him As if he should say Dear to his Father and dear to us too 3. If a man be got out of Prison or Bondage he is afraid to go thither again he thinks what a sad condition he had when he was there and he desires he may not come there again so do you fear and watch lest any sin bring you into Bondage again Is there no lust that you would be any longer a servant to Do you dread the thoughts of holding secret correspodence with any false way Why then you are made free You may say as 't is in Psal 124. 7. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler the
it into Righteousness he changes the person whom he frees 2 Cor. 5. 17. and continuance in sin is a certain sign that this Redeemer hath not yet been there 4. It is the Scripture-Freedom Beloved tho you read as I said of other Freedoms in the Scripture yet this is the Scripture Freedom Joh. 5. 39. Search the Scriptures and they are they which testifie of me You know what heavenly things are contained in the Scriptures Why now beloved this Freedom by Christ is the great thing that the Scripture treat of all other things that are there spoken of are but in order to this all its Precepts all its Promises all its Threatnings look this way It is as I may call it the substance of the Scripture that would not speak of sin so as is doth if it were not for this Freedom it would not speak of Christ so as it doth if it were not for this Freedom it would not speak of Death and Judgment and Heaven and Hell so as it doth if it were not for this Freedom Yea beloved 't is a question whether we should have had any written word at all if it had not been for this Freedom this is the great thing that the Scripture commands and the great thing that the Scripture commends it blesses all them that have it and it curses all them that have it not And which is an unspeakable comfort to think of when a poor Soul hath this Freedom by Christ 't is then Freed by Scripture it is in a good condition by Scripture there be many that think themselves in a good condition but they have no Scripture-grounds for it ask them how they prove their hopes they have not one word to shew for it in the whole Book of God but now the Scripture will come and joyn with one that is freed by Christ it will help him to read his Freedom there and he is one that however he may be fearing and questioning his condition for a time yet at last he will come to this to be able to say why Lord I am freed by thine own word certainly this is a heavenly Freedom then which the Holy Scriptures are so much taken up with You see now by all that hath said upon this fourth Property What great Reason there is for that Text of Scripture Eph. 2. 6. And hath raised us up together and made us sit togegether in heavenly places in Christ Jesus This is done by this heavenly Freedom 5th Property This Freedom is a perfect Freedom it is so already in Christ and by that time he hath done what he intends to do in and for his people it shall be so to them You know the Apostle tells the Colossians cap. 2. 11. that they were compleat in him It hath not only the perfection of parts as a Child hath that hath all the members tho they be not grown but it hath the perfection of degrees as a man hath that is at his full stature Christ's Freedom as it is in himself is full grown and therefore 't is able to do great things for us as you know if you speak to a Child to help you he can do but little but speak to a man that is grown and in his strength he can powerfully assist you And oh what a vast difference there is between the Freedom that man can give and the Freedom that Christ can give men may be instrumental to deliver us one way but then they cannot another way the Creatures arm is too short to reach us and his hand too weak to help us in every strait But this Freedom by Christ is such a perfect thing that in whatsoever we have need of it 't is as able to help us in one as in t'other Beloved there was never such a Saviour as Christ is of all the Saviours that ever God raised up to do his people good he is able to save to the uttermost When God made use of them to be Saviours and Deliverers to his Church yet still his Church needed another Saviour and they did not save them from their greatest dangers but now in Jesus Christ the Church hath got such a Saviour that they need none other I mean as to spiritual Deliverance 6th Property And so I shall end this fourth thing This Freedom is an eternal Freedom Amongst men tho persons may be set free at one time yet they may come into Bondage at another time a man may be twice a Slave and twice a Prisoner yea many times but 't is not so here Where Christ gives this Freedom he settles it for ever Heb. 9. 12. Having obtained eternal Redemption for us It is very true there will be great and strong endeavours put forth by the Enemies of those whom he hath redeemed to recoverthem again as it was in Israel's case but they 'l be overthrown in their undertaking as Pharaoh and his Host was Satans furious attempts to keep those Souls still in Bondage whom Christ will have to be delivered and to brings back those Souls into Bondage whom Christ hath made free will cost him the fall of his Kingdom and it will be such a fall as he and all the forces of Hell that he can raise will never be able to get it up again Well now beloved having heard the Properties of this Freedom give me leave to ask you How do you like it as when a man brings a thing to you and bids you make trial of it and see the Conditions and properties of it when he comes to you again he will say Well how do you like it So pray now how do you like this Freedom What are you pleased or displeased with it Will you have it or will you not what fault can you find in it Why surely Sirs 't is not to be misliked is not an incomparable unconceivable most honourable heavenly Freedom to be liked What is there any of you here so disdainful as wont like the Freedom of the Son the Freedom of the Soul the Freedom of the Saints the Freedom of the Scripture Can't you find in your hearts to like Christ's perfect eternal Freedom Why then what can you like Truly I may even say of such as cannot like this as Job doth cap. 33. of very diseased persons whose soul abhorreth dainty meat in vers 20. Your Soul without infinite mercy draweth nigh to the grave and your life to the destroyers vers 22. CHAP. IX Concerning the excellent Priviledges which this Freedom brings with it FIfthly This is an excellent Freedom in respect of the excellent Priviledges which it brings with it I have formerly told you that this is a purchased Freedom and now I am to tell you that it is a priviledged Freedom it is full of good things They who are redeemed by Christ are an heavenly Corporation the City of the living God Now Corporations and Cities have their Priviledges and some have greater than others but none so great as these that Scripture may