at once the Law and Christ but he must be dead to or divorced from the one e're ho can be married to the other Observe ye are dead to the Law What is it to be dead to the Law or divorced from the Law To be dead to the Law is to have no hope no expectation of Life and Righteousness by the Law 't is to be sensible that the Law cannot save us yea there is more in it than so To be dead to the Law is to see our selves dead by the Law 't is to see our selves lost and condemned by the Law for sin as the transgression thereof and thus we must all be dead to the Law or divorced from the Law or we cannot be married to Christ Now this the Spirit of God effects by a work of the Law upon the Conscience He divorces the Soul from the Law by the Law i. e. by bringing home the Law to the Conscience This the Apostle felt in his own Soul I through the Law sayes he that is the Spirit of God bringing home the Law to my Conscience am dead to the Law Gal. 2.19 So again Rom. 7.9 I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came sin revived and I dyed I was alive without the Law once that is I thought my self to be alive I apprehended my state to be good and happy but this was without the Law i. e. before the Spirit of God by the ministry of the Law convinced me of my sin and misery therefore it follows when the Commandment came sin revived and I dyed i. e. when the Law came in its convincing power through the Spirit upon my Soul then I saw my sinful dead and miserable state thus was he himself divorced from the Law that he might be married to Christ the sum is this the Spirit of God comes and shews the Soul the strictness and holiness the purity and spirituality of the Law and makes him sensible how large the Duty is that it requires how impossible it is for him to keep it and how many wayes he has broken it he withal lets him see the dreadfulness of that curse and condemnation it has justly laid him under for the breach thereof and thus he is divorced from it and this is all one with the Spirits convincing us of sin and our lost and miserable condition by reason thereof which is you know his first work in order to Faith and so to our espousing to Christ John 16.8 Thus by the Spirit of God the Soul is divorced from the Law he is taken off from all expectations of life and happiness by that and is made to see his own sinfulness and so his infinite need of Christ whereby he is fitted for this other and better Husband II. The Soul being thus divorced from the Law and so fitted and prepared for Christ then the Spirit of God reveals and offers the Lord Jesus Christ in the promise of the Gospel as a better Husband to him Now the blessed Spirit comes and does as Abrahants Servant did who was sent to take a Wife for Isaac he told Rebecca of his Masters Greatness of his Flocks and his Herds his Silver and his Gold his men servants and his maid-servants and withal that he had given all to Isaac Gen. 24.35 36. So the Spirit of God now sets before the Soul the riches and the greatness the beauty and the excellency of the Lord Jesus Christ he tells him what a full what a sweet what a rich what an amiable one he is and withal tenders him to his embraces he reveals and offers him to him as one full of Grace and Truth as one that has all fulness dwelling in him all fulness of Life and Peace or Righteousness and Salvation as one every way able to save him to the very utmost which is that which Christ calls his convincing the World of Righteousness John 16.9 he reveals and offers him to him in the transcendent Beauty Excellency and Amiableness of his Person on the one hand as also in the glorious fulness largeness sufficiency of his Grace and Righteousness on the other hand Thus I say he reveals and offers Christ unto the Soul and withal opens his Glory and causes it to shine forth before him so that now the Soul sees that in Christ that fulness that beauty that love that amiableness that sweetness which he never saw before Christ is now another thing in the Souls eye than ever before he was Now the Soul as those John 1.14 Beholds his glory as the glory of the onely begotten Son full of grace and truth Yea not only does he thus reveal Christ unto the Soul but withal fixes the Souls eye upon him He makes him to pore and gaze upon Christ as the most excellent and amiable Object and as one infinitely needful for him and this is called a seeing of the Son and that in order to believing whosoever seeth the Son and believeth on him shall have everlasting life Joh. 6.40 The blessed Spirit deals by the Soul herein as God by the Angels did with Hagar Gen. 21.19 where 't is said He opened her eyes and she saw a Well of Water for her relief She was in a very distressed condition as you may see vers 15 16. full of bitterness she and her Child both in a perishing condition being in the Wilderness and her Water in the Bottle being spent Now God shews her a Well of Wate whence she fetches a full supply So here the poor Soul having been under the convincing power of the Law sees himself in a woful miserable distessed condition whereupon he is full of bitterness crying out with Hagar How shall I see the Child die How can I bear it to perish eternally But now the Spirit of God comes and opens his eyes and shews him Christ and Christ as infinitely sutable to him Look sayes the Spirit to the Soul being now desolate and undone look here is a Saviour for thee a Husband for thee another and a better Husband than the Law could ever have been even the Lord Jesus Christ who is infinitely able to pay all thy Debts to supply all thy Wants to heal all thy Wounds to relive all thy Distresses to pardon all thy Sins to satisfie all thy Desires to answer all thy Love and to give thee perfect happiness and satisfaction in and with himself for ever Look here he is here he is in the Promise here he is in the Covenant here he is in the Tender Invitation of the Gospel here he is at the very door of thy heart knocking and calling for admission thereunto Rev. 3.20 Here he is with his Arms wide open to receive and embrace thee and that notwithstanding all thy vileness finfulness and unworthiness Look therefore to him and be saved III. With this Tender and Revelation of Christ unto the Soul the Spirit of God comes and works a secret love and longing in the Soul after Christ he
must needs be a great and crying sin more particularly 1. The neglect and refusal of Christ and his love is a sin against a clear and express command of God a command wherein the authority of God does peculiarly and eminently shine forth So much is held forth in the place mentioned before 1 Joh. 3.28 this is his commandment says he speaking of the commandment of Faith his express Commandment a Commandment wherein his authority is evidently and peculiarly seen the authority of God shines forth in all his commands but especially in this above the rest Therefore this you see has an emphasie put upon it This is his commandment Now the more clearly and eminently the authority of God shines forth in any command the greater our sin and guilt is in transgressing that command 2. The neglect and refusal of Christ and his love is a sin against a command wherein the heart of God and Christ does much lye and is therefore a great sin This is a true Rule That the more the mind or heart of the Law-Giver is in any law or command the greater is our sin and guilt in the breach and transgression of that law or command Now God's command to us to receive Christ by believing is a command wherein his own heart as well as the heart of Christ does much lye indeed there is nothing in all the World that the heart of God and Christ is more set upon or desirous of then this that Souls should embrace Christ by believing and become one with him in a Marriage-Covenant Witness the freeness of their offers the frequency of their calls the importunateness of their pleas the patientness of their waitings the affectionateness of their entreaties the friendliness of their upbraidings the patheticalness of their lamentings the sweetness of their wooings the unweariedness of their drawings and the graciousness of their dealings in reference hereunto But you have already seen how much the heart of Christ and in him the heart of the Father is in this business now to transgress such a command a command wherein the heart of God and Christ does so much lye and to run counter to that which they so much desire O what a sin must this needs be The neglect and refusal of Christ is a sin against a command which has vertually all the commands of God in it and so in the breach and transgression thereof we break and transgress all and O how great a sin then must this be to believe on Christ is comprehensive of all that God commands and requires of us this is so his Commandment as that in obeying this we obey all And in violating this we violate all and so he esteems and accounts it This is evident from Joh. 6.28 29. What shall we do say they that we may work the works of God This is the work of God sayes Christ to believe on him whom he hath sent Pray mark they speak of works in the plural Number They would know what all those works were which God requir'd Loquuti erant de operibus Christus ad unum opus eos revocat hoc est ad sidem quo significat quicquid extra fidem homines moliuntur inutile ac vanum esse solam vero fidem sufficere Calv. in Loc. and what the extent of the command was And Christ in his Answer reduces all to one and that is Faith by which he shews that as all is vain without Faith so Faith is vertually all that God requires This is the Work of God says he as if he should say here 's all in one to believe on and receive me is comprehensive of all and accordingly my beloved to reject Christ and his love is to break all at once and to violate all at once 'T is to rebel against and poure contempt upon the whole mind and will of God at once Appellat Christus infidelitatem simpliciter peccatum quia peccatum infidelitatis omne peccatum complectitur Cher. and in effect to renounce all duty and allegiance to him Suitable whereunto is the observations of a learned Man upon that place Joh. 16.8 9. Christ here says he calls unbelief Sin Simply and absolutly because that sin comprehends all sin in it O how great a sin then must this be 4. The neglect and refusal of Christ is a sin against a command of much love All Gods commands have love in them They are design'd by him for our good as the Scripture tells us but especially this command of his that we should receive and embrace his Son For what is this command but a command to us to be saved a command to us to be happy What is this but a commanding of us to Live for ever more to be eternally blessed in and with himself And O how great a sin must the transgression of such a command be Did God command us any hard or severe thing something that tended to our prejudice and not our happiness that were somewhat but when he commands us nothing but to be happy and to be happy in the best way O how great a sin must it be to transgress such a command 2. Consider the neglect and refusal of Christ is a sin which in a peculiar manner derogates from him and poures great contempt upon him and therefore a great sin The more contempt any sin poures upon Christ and the more it derogates from him the greater that sin is Now what sin derogates more from Christ or poures greater contempt upon him then the neglect and refusal of him offering himself to us does This is a sin which takes the Crown off from Christ's head and throwes it in the Dust It every way and in all resects poures great contempt upon him First this sin vilifies and poures contempt upon the Person of Christ Christ's Person is infinitely excellent and infinitely amiable and accordingly to vilifie and contemn his Person must be a great sin and contract great guilt and this the refusal of him does Hence call'd a treading under foot of the Son of God which Argues the highest contempt imaginable Heb. 10.29 Every refusal of Christ carries that Language concerning him in it Isa 53.2 When we see him there is no Beauty in him for which we should desire him He has neither form nor comliness in him He is a person of no worth no desireableness O what contempt is this to be cast upon Christ and how much does it derogate from him 2. This sin vilifies and poures contempt upon the work office and undertaking of Christ as Mediator upon all that he has done and suffer'd withall the riches of his Grace and Love manifested therein Hence 't is call'd as a treading of the Son of God under foot so an accounting his Blood a common and an unholy thing a thing of no worth no use no value no excellency Heb. 10.29 Great my Beloved Valde indignum est sanguinem Christi qui sanctificationis nostrae materia est
Marriage-relation between Christ and Believers flows from the Riches of Divine Grace as its onely Spring and Fountain that any of the Sons of Men are Married or Espoused to Christ is not from any thing of worth or deservings in them but purely and entirely from free Grace and Love dwelling and working in the heart of God and Christ towards them and this account the Scripture gives us of it Jer. 31.3 I have loved thee with in everlasting love therefore with loving kindness have I deawn thee as if he should say I have drawn thee out of thy sins out of thy unbelief out of all thy carnal rests and refuges and I have drawn thee to my self into union and communion with my self into a Marriage-covenant and Relation with my self and all this from mine own free love that love that kindness that has been in my heart towards thee from everlasting So again Hos 2.19 I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercies Mark It is mercy and loving kindness which espouses Souls to Christ * Despensat nos Deus Christo nallis nostris meritis addis biss sed ex sua tantum bonitate misericordia Zanch. God sayes one upon this place espouses us to Christ indu ed thereunto by no merits of ours but by his own goodness and mercy And indeed my Beloved what have we or what have any of the sons of men that should speak the one or the other worthy of a conjugal-relation to Christ or that should invite and induce him to take us into such a relation to himself Have we Birth or Parentage to induce him No alas as to our state we are all of the brood of Hell and thence as sinners we all have our descent and original John 8.44 Have we beauty and arniableness No for we are all black and deformed in our selves we have the spirit of the Devil in us and the image of the Devil upon us we are blind and deaf and dumb and lame and crooked so the Scripture speaks of us in our natural state we are all in our blood and gore cast out into the open field to the loathing of our persons Ezek. 16.5 6. And as their case is represented Isa 1.6 such is ours spiritually Even from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there is no soundness in us nothing but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores In a word we are all sin and have nothing but sin Know O Spouse of Christ Scito sponsa Christi te a teipso nthil habere nisi peccata Bona vero omnia gratiae sponsitui sunt gratulare ergo i. e. gratias age et Bern. de pass Dom. sayes one of the Ancients that thou hast nothing of thy self but sins as for all thy good things they are the Grace of thy Bridegroom to thee to whom therefore give the glory of it I say we have nothing but sins and is there any beauty any comeliness in that to attract an Holy Jesus Surely no. Have we Riches and Treasures No for indeed we are poor and miserable and blind and naked Rev. 3.17 Treasures it is true we have but they are black ones treasures of sin and wickedness treasures of guilt and wrath which surely cannot render us worthy but most unworthy of such a Relation Have we wisdom and parts to invite him No we are altogether bruitish and foolish Jer. 10.8 Wise we are but it is to do evil to do good we have no knowledge Jer. 4.22 Have we love and kindness in us towards him good-nature No for naturally we love him not yea we hate him and are enemies to him Luk. 19.14 We hate both him and the Father as he charged the Jews of old Yea we are enmity it self to him Rom. 8.7 We are enemies to his Person to his Kingdom to his Grace to his Righteousness to his Wayes and to all acquaintance and communion with him Thus we have nothing to induce him to take us into such a Relation at the best we are but poor worms whose Foundation is in the dust And what can it be but free and rich Grace in Christ to marry and espouse such unto himself II. This Espousal or Marriage-relation between Christ and Believers is wrought and effected by the Power of Divine Grace as its principle and efficient When Souls are married and espoused to Christ 't is not done by any power or ability of their own nor yet by the power and efficacy of means and instruments but 't is purely from the power and efficacy of Divine Grace Indeed God makes use of Means and Instruments he makes use of the Gospel and Gospel-Ministers for the espousing of sinners to his Son and these are the onely ordinary way and means whereby he doth it therefore sayes the Apostle in my Text I have espoused you to one Husband that is I by my Ministry I by preaching the everlasting Gospel have been an Instrument in God's hand for your espousing to Christ but though God thus makes use of means and instruments in this Work yet still the Work it self is from pure Grace and to Grace doth Christ attribute it excluding all other power but this as sufficient hereunto John 6.44 No man can come to me or believe on me close with me in a Marriage-Covenant except the Father which hath sent me draw him that is except the power of Divine Grace be put forth upon him in order hereunto the drawing here Christ speaks of is comprehensive of the whole business it 's the enabling of us to come to Christ to believe on him and close with him as our Head and Husband Non violenta coactio sad voluntatis a Deo aversae benevola flexio tractione ea innuitur Glas Rhet. Sac. It notes as one observes not any violent coaction or constraint but a sweet bowing of the Will which in it self was averse from and opposite to God and Christ and withal a carrying of the Soul to Christ and an enabling of him to close with him in this Relation and this Christ ascribes wholly to the power of Divine Grace the truth is in and of our selves we have no power or ability for such a work we are without strength Rom. 6.5 Yea when we are brought into Christ by the power of Divine Grace yet then in and of our selves we can do nothing So Christ tells us Joh. 15.5 Without me ye can do nothing Yea when we are brought into Christ and have had some communion with him yet we can't follow after him nor draw one tittle nearer to him unless a fresh influence of Divine Grace be put forth upon us enabling us thereunto so much the Spouse was sensible of and therefore prayes thus Draw me and we will run after thee Cant. 1.4 As if she should say Lord in my self I can't stir one foot towards thee but do thou
thou seest thy self inwardly Black and deformed thou lyest in thy Blood and gore wallowing in thy sin and Filth neither is there any worth any Beauty in thee for which Christ should desire thee and therefore sayest thou surely Christ will have nothing to do with me nor so much as cast an eye or look of love upon me but soul this shall not stand between Christ and thee neither but if thou hast a mind to him he will Marry thee to himself notwithstanding For indeed Christ Marries not any for their Beauty but those whom he Marries he Marries to make them Beautiful He Marries them not for any worth of theirs but to put a worth upon them indeed there are none that he Espouses to himself but he finds them Black and deformed in their Blood and Gore as well as thee and so they are till he puts his Beauty upon them how sweet is that word Ezek 16.6 7 8. When I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thy Blood i. e. in thy sin and filth I said unto thee live I said unto thee when thou wast in thy Blood live yea when thou wast in thy Blood live Mark three times he mentions it in thy Blood in thy Blood in thy Blood To note the depth of that defilement we are all under well and what then will Christ have any thing to do with such yes he makes love to them Behold thy time was the time of love he Marries them to himself in an Everlasting Covenant I spread my Skirt over thee sayes he and covered thy makedness yea I swear unto thee and entred into Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine Yea not only so but he puts a Beauty yea his own Beauty and comliness upon them hou art come to Excellent Ornaments and art comely through my comliness which I have put upon thee as Verse 14. O soul be not discouraged Christ will turn thy blackness into Beauty and not cast thee off because of it 3. Is it the greatness and Hainousness of thy sin and guilt O my sins my sins sayes the poor foul they are exceeding many and exceeding great they are many and great in themselves and they are cloathed with many and great aggravations Few in the World ever sinned at that rate that I have done therefore I fear that Christ will never own me so as to take me into such a Relation with himself Well be it so yet know that this shall not stand between Christ and thee if thou art willing to be Espoused to him He has promised to pardon great sins and to accept notwithstanding great sins in case the soul be but willing 〈◊〉 non says he And let us Reason together though your sins are as Scarâ—e◠〈◊〉 shall he white as Snow though they are red like Crimson they shall he as Hool Isa 1.18 Pecata vâ—stra sicut nix albescont c. Uoc est vos a peccatis 〈◊〉 iâ—â—mibas mundati 〈◊〉 niâ—is puâ—i eritis â—lais Gâ—ar Sâ—c Though your Sins are as Scarlet and as Crimsâ—â— i. e. Though they are great foul enormous Sins Sins of a hainous and crying nature and cloathed with the greatest aggravations yet they shall be White as Snow and Wool i. e. They shall be fully done away and pardon'd so fully done away and pardon'd as if they had never been So again Isa 43.24 25. in the 24 v. He speaks to some who had made him to serve with their Sins and wearied him with their iniquities These surely were great Sinners and their sins of a hainous crying nature and yet at the 25 v. what a full promise of pardon does he make to them I even 1 am he that blotteth out thy Transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy Sins Poor Soul what shall I say Hast thou abundantly sinned Hast thou multiplied sins He has promised abandantly to pardon and to nothing pâ—â—dons Isa 55.7 Art thou guilty of all manner of sins and to thy other sins hast thou added Blasphemy He has promised that all manner of sin and Blâ—â—phemy shall be for given except that against the holy Ghost which thy complaining of the greatness of thy sins argues thou art not guilty of Mat. 12.31 O Soul be not discouraged because of the greatness of thy sins Christ marries souls not because they are not sinners great sinners but he Marries them to take away their sins and to discharge them from them for even And the greater thy sins are the greater will be the Glory of Christ's grace which is what he Aims at in receiving of thee into so near and Glorious a Relation with himself as this is Besides what wilt thou do with thy great sins unless thou goest with them to Christ Great sins argue a great need of Christ and call for great hastening unto Christ 4. Is it any former neglects or refusals of thine Possibly not onely are thy sins many and great but there is this added to all the rest long and frequent refusals of Christ and his love He has often called but thou hast given gim no answer he has long woo'd thee but thou hast not complied with him O the many sweet calls Gracious offers loving tenders which he has made to thee and thou hast Despised And this makes thee fear that he will now have nothing to do with thee And truly soul this is sad very sad hereby Christ has lost much Glory which thou mightest have brought him hereby thou hast lost much sweet communion which thou might est have enjoyed hereby Christ's heart has been much grieved which might have been prevented and hereby the work is made much more difficult then at first it was thy heart being grown more hard and Corruptions more strong Thus 't is every way very sad that thou hast thus neglected and refused Christ but yet neither shall this stand between him and thee in case thou art willing to be Espoused to him For this see Prov. 1.20 21 22 23. Wisdom Cryeth without she uttereth her voice in the Streets she cryeth in the chief place of concourse in the openings of the gates in the City she uttereth her words saying How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity And the Sconners delight in their Scorning and Fools hate Knowledge Turn you at my reproof Behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you I will make known my words unto you Pray observe Christ had offered himself and his love to them but they had refused him and it yea they had refused long and refused with much contempt How long ye Simple ones will ye love Simplicity c. They scorn'd the offers of Christ and his Love and yet here he renewes those offers to them wherein he tells them that none of all their refusals should prejudice their acceptance with him in case they are willing to be his Turn ye at my reproof behold I will pour out my Spirit c. And soul do not the most
begin to bleed and relent over it 2. Labour to be deeply sensible of your exceeding great misery by reason of this estrangment As we are all naturally with out Christ so our misery herein is exceeding great So much the Apostle holds forth in the place before quoted Ephe. 2.12 Where he speakes of our being without Christ as our misery yea as the spring and Foundation of all our misery and therefore that is first mentioned the Ephesians were and we are as he there tells us without the Covenant without hope and without God in the World misery enough for any Soul to lye under and the inlet and Foundation of all is their and our being without Christ As to have Christ says a learned Interpreter upon this place is the Foundation of all good so to be without Christ is the beginning and foundation of all evil an inlet into all woe and misery and what leaves us in a most deplored state for ever Take a taste and but a taste of this your misery and then work the sense of it upon your own Souls 1. Being without Christ you are destitute of all good you are without Life without Grace without Peace without Pardon without Comfort without Righteousness without Heaven without Salvation without Hope and without God as you have it in the same place Eph. 2.2 without the Favour of God without the Presence of God without the Life of God without the Image of God without the Spirit of God and being thus without God you are without all true good and true happiness According to the old and true Maxim â—ine Summo bono nihil honum Without the chief good there is nothing good 2. Being without Christ you are in Bondage to sin and Satan which is the worst Bondage in the World Naturally all are the Slaves and Vassalls of these cruell Lords Hence we are said to fulfill the Devils lusts Je. 8 44. and as the lusts of the Devil so the wills and lusts of the slesh Epe 2.2 to be the servants of sin to serve divers lusts and pleasures and the like And as naturally all are thus in Bondage to sin and the Devil so there is no redemption from this Bondage but by Christ and that in a way of Union with him If the Son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed saith he himself to the Jews Je. 8.36 They were Glorying in their privilidge that they were Obrahams seed and never were in Bondage to any man True sayes Christ but ye are in a worse Bondage then a Bondage to man in Bondage to sin in Bondage to your lusts For he that committeth sin is the servant of sin and this Bondage none but the Son can free you from and therefore untill freed by him you remain under it O how sore a Bondage is this To be under the command of sin to be at the beck of every base unclean lust and to be carried Captive by the Devil at his will This is such a Bondage as that the Bondage of Israel under their task-makers in Egypt and the bondage of Turkish slaves who are kept at the Oar and Galley is freedom to it as to serve Christ is the greatest liberty so to serve sin is the cruellest Bondage 3. Being without Christ and Union with Christ you are rejected of God Know ye not sayes the Apostle that except Christ be in you ye are Reprohates 2 Cor. 13.5 Know ye not As if he should say 't is a most clear manifest and evident truth that unless you have Union with Christ you are Reprobates i. e. you are unapproved of God you are out of his Favour both your persons and services are rejected by him To the same purpose is that Gal. 4.22 Where we read of 2 Mothers and 2 Sons The two Mothers were types of the 2 Covenants the Covenant of works and the Covenant of Grace as appears by v. 24. The 2 Sons are types of 2 sorts of persons living in the Church one born after the flesh the other by promise one belonging to the first the other to the second Covenant Well what 's the condition of these Why the one is in a state of rejection and the other of acceptation They that belong to the second Covenant are owned and embraced in the arms of Love the other are cast out as you may see in the sequel of the Chap Besides all our acceptation with God is in Christ and through Christ Eph. 1.6 Out of him therefore we are in a state of rejection O how sad does this speak your condition to be for men yea for good men to reject and disown us is what may be born especially when God ownes and smiles But for God to disown and reject us this is terrible indeed though all the World should own us and smile upon us How terrible is that word Reprobate silver shall men call them for the Lord hath rejected them Jer. 6.30 If God ownes and smiles 't is no matter who frowns but if he frowns and rejects who can own or smile to the relief of the Soul 4. Being without Christ you are under the Law and so under the curse and how sad is this as there are but 2 Covenants the old and the new and but 2 heads of those Covenants the first or the second Adam so all men do belong to and are found in the one or the other of these Whilst therefore you are strangers to Christ you are under the Law and being under the Law you are under the curse For sayes the Apostle As many as are under the Law are under the curse For it is Written cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are Written in the Book of the Law to do them Gal. 3 10. The Law has no pitty no sparing for offenders But for every breach thereof lays the Soul under the curse Now we have all broken the Law we all broke it in Adam being in him as in an head and we have all broken it 10. Thousand times over in our own persons and by both are fallen under the curse thereof And Soul dost thou know what the curse of the Law means It carries in it Death and condemnation for ever Being under the Law we are cursed in our persons and cursed in our comforts The wrath of God lies upon our souls and the curse of God is in all our enjoyments our very Blessings are accur'st to us Mal. 2.2 We read in Scripture of the people of God's curse and thou art one of them Soul who ever thou art that art out of Christ O how woeful how deplorable a condition is this 5. Being without Christ and estranged from Christ you lie under the guilt of innumerable sins which you alone must bear for ever 't is in and by Christ alone that Souls are Discharg'd from the guilt of sin And who are they whom he discharges from guilt but such as are found in him are under a Marriage-Covenant
profanare Calv. in Loc. was the work and undertaking of Christ as our Mediator and great were the things which he both did and suffer'd in the discharge of that work and undertaking great also was his Grace and Love towards us in all and accordingly great must our sin and guilt be in pouring contempt thereon which we do by our refusing of him Hereby we pour contempt upon all his acts and all his offices as Mediator upon all his Merits and all his Purchases upon all his Grace and Love in bleeding and Dying for us We do hereby in effect say that neither Christ nor any thing which he has purchas'd is worth accepting and embracing That we had rather that he had never 〈◊〉 never become a days-man between God and us that he might have keept his Blood to himself and we will not thank him for shedding of it that we need neither him nor any thing that is his Hereby we do in effect say that the whole Gospel is a Cheat a lie a meer Delusion That Christ is an hard Master and rules with Rigour that Salvation is little worth and the like O what horred contempt of Christ is this 3. This sin plainly preferrs a poor Base Vile lust before Christ and all the Glorious Riches and Treasures of Christ and O what contempt of him is this Why do men refuse Christ and the offers of his Love Surely 't is for the sake and from the Love of some lust or other either the lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eye or the pride of Life and if so then by refusing of him they do really prefer this Lust before him and all the Treasures of his Grace and Love And thus indeed you find it to be Mat. 22. Reginning as also Luke 14.18 19 20. Where Christ offers himself withall his Treasures to poor Sinners who yet slight and refuse both him and them And why so The one hath a farm the other a Merchandize and all have some carnal concern to mind the Sum is they have a lust to be satisfied and therefore Christ and all the Treasures of his Love must be rejected By refusing of Christ we do in effect say that there is more good more sweetness more happiness in a lust in a little carnall worldly pleasure and advantage then there is in Christ and all that is his Hereby we do in effect say that men are deceiv'd in Christ that the Word of God makes a false report of him that he is not such a Saviour nor is his Salvation so great as the one and the other is represented to be O what contempt is this to be cast upon Christ Esau yow know is said to despise his Birth right and how By preferring a mess of pottage or a morsel of Meat before it Gen. 25.34 But O how much more do we contemn Christ and his Love by preferring a base vile lust before him and it Surely greater contempt of Christ than this can't well be found And how great then must the sin of the refusal of Christ be and how much should we tremble at it 3. Consider that the neglect and refusal of Christ is a sin which in an eminent manner darkens and opposes the Glory of God and reflects the highest Dishonour upon him of all others and therefore a great sin The more any sin darkens and opposes the Glory of God the greater the guilt of that sin is For first the more any sin opposes the Glory of God and reflects Dishonour upon him the more contrary it is to the highest good and the more contrary any sin is to the highest good the greater the guilt of it must needs be And Secondly the more any sin opposes the Glory of God and reflects Dishonour upon him the more it thwarts and contradicts the highest end of Man and the more any sin thwarts and contradicts the highest end of Man the greater the guilt of that sin is Now the neglect and refusal of Christ is what eminently opposes the Glory of God and reflects Dishonour upon him The reception and entertainment of Christ puts an honour upon the Father Indeed every act of Faith honours God Rom. 4.20 And especially this great and Fundamental act of Faith in embracing Christ So on the other hand the neglect and refusal of Christ is what reflects Dishonour upon God it throws his Glory in the dust and hence 't is that this sin is so exceeding provoking to him as in the Scripture it is represented to be Particularly take here two things 1. This sin of refusing Christ is what slights and contemns all the Glorious excellencies and perfections of God at once and so can't but cast very great Dishonour upon him and be very opposite to his Glory In Christ my Beloved all the Glorious excellencies and perfections of God are eminently manifested and displayed In him do all the Glorious counsels of his Grace and Love meet and in refusing him we despise and poure contempt upon all In him does his love eminently shine forth and the fulness of it rest 1 Jol. 4.9 10. Tota aeterni pâ—â— is complacontia in solo silio incamato acquitscit resideâ— qâ—asi deposiâ—a est Chemn In him is his Justice Righteousness and Holiness eminently manifested and displayed Rom. 3.25 26. In him does his wisdom yea his manifold wisdom appear and reveal its self In a word whole God is manifested and revealed in him and withall tender'd to the embraces of our Faith and Love In every offer of Christ made to us in the Gospel God does in effect say to us what ever I am or can do as God that I l'e be to and do for you to make you happy for ever accordingly to refuse Christ must needs poure contempt upon all It slights and poures contempt upon the Grace of God the wisdom of God the power of God the justice of God the Holiness of God the Fulness and All-sufficiency of God and all the Ancient Glorious counsels of his Love concerning Souls to refuse Christ is in effect to say that the Grace of God is no Grace at least not worthy of our acceptance That his justice and holiness are not to be regarded and that we value them not That his wisdom is folly and his power weakness that his fulness has little in it and is no way able to satisfie us and make us happy that a broken Cistern is as good as that Fountain of living waters And hereby we down-right deny his Faithfulness and put the lie upon him 1 Joh. 5.10 We do in effect say that the God of truth is a liar that his witness and testimony is not to be credited that his word of promise is a meer delusion and for no other use then to beguile Souls O what contempt what Dishonour must all this cast upon the blessed God and what horrible wickedness must it be to make God a liar sayes a Learned Man is an horrible and execrable impiety
Deum sacere mendacem horribilis est execranda impietas quia tanc quod illi maxime proprium eripitur Calv. in Lec thereby we take that from him which is most dear and proper to him O tremble Soul tremble at the Blackness and hellishness of this sin 2. This sin of refusing Christ is what is directly opposite to the highest design of God for his own Glory and Robs him of that Glory which is most dear to him what my Beloved was the highest design that ever God laid and carried on for his own Glory Verily 't was Christ and the Salvation of sinners by Christ He design'd himself a revenue of Glory in making the World and he does design himself a revenue of Glory in all he does in governing the World But that wherein he has design'd the highest revenue of Glory to himself is the mistery of Christ and Salvation by Christ So much is evident from Epe 1.11 12 14. In whom sayes he speaking of Christ We have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will that we should be to the praise of his Glory And again v. 14. unto the praise of his Glory The sum is this that God's Glory was his great end in the dispensation of Christ and our Salvation by him and also that in and by that dispensation he did design the highest revenue of Glory to himself For pray observe first he calls it the praise of his Glory the splendor and highest emanation of his Glory Secondly he repeats this design of God to the praise of his Glory and again to the praise of his Glory which notes this to be his grand design for his Glory Again what is that Glory that is most dear to God Verily 't is the Glory of his Grace Grace is his darling attribute and the Glory of his Grace is most dear to him Hence this has been peculiarly his design in the whole of the mistery of Christ So the same Apostle tells us Eph. 1.6 Who having before spoken of the great misteries of predestination and redemption by Christ here in the 6. v. tells you what was God's great design in all viz The praise of the Glory of his Grace 'T is the crowning of Grace and the enthroning of Grace which God in a peculiar manner delights in Now if the highest design of God for his own Glory be by the mistery of Christ and our Salvation by Christ and the Glory of his Grace be most dear to him then 't is clear that our refusing of Christ is most opposite to the highest design that God ever carried on for his own Glory and Robs him of that Glory which is most dear to him For alas This is in effect to say that God has laid out no Grace upon sinners in the dispensation of Christ and that he deserves no Glory upon the account of that dispensation This is in effect to tell him that neither his Christ nor his Grace in him is worth minding worth receiving and that we are no wayes beholding to him for the one or the other And O what Dishonour must this reflect upon God and how darkening to his Glory And accordingly Soul let thee and I tremble at it and at the Blackness and horridness of that sin that has such a dreadful effect 4. Consider that the neglect and refusal of Christ is a sin which directly and immediatly murders the soul and damns it eternally and therefore must needs be a great sin That sin that does most directly and immediatly murder the Soul and destroy it eternally that must needs be a great sin and should be greatly dreaded by us And what sin is it that does this but our neglect and refusal of Christ And Soul that thou may'st be the more deeply convinced of this seriously weigh these following propositions First that the neglect and refusal of Christ is a sin which rejects the onely remedy of sinful souls Poor Sinners are in themselves dead lost undone and perishing for ever They are sick and sick to death they are sinful and sinful to damnation and there is one and but one remedy for them and that 's Christ Christ and his Blood Christ and his Grace Christ and his fulness Besides this there is no Balm in Gilead no Physitian there for them neither is there Salvation in any other Acts. 4.14 Therefore by refusing and rejecting him they refuse and reject the onely remedy He indeed is a Compleat as well as an onely remedy He is able and as willing as he is able to save to the very uttermost as the Scripture tells us But they by rejecting of him exclude themselves from his saving efficacy and so thereby do directly murder their own souls 2. That the neglect and refusal of Christ is a sin which bindes all a mans other sins fast to him 'T is a great and weighty saying which a worthy Divine has Unbelief sayes he which is properly the neglect and refusal of Christ bindes all a mans sins fast to his Soul and Damnation fast to his sins 'T is indeed the Bond of all our guilt and all our misery that which makes the curse cleave close to us for ever And while a man remains in this sin 't is impossible that he should be acquitted and discharged from the guilt of any one of all his sins 'T is I remember Austin's observation upon that place Joh. 16.8 9. Ponit hoc peccatum infidelitatis specialiter quia hos manente caetera manent hoc decedente caetera remittuntur Aug. Where Christ tells us That his Spirit shall convince the World of Sin because they believe not in him Christ sayes he instances in the sin of infidelity in a special manner because that sin remaining all our other sins remain But that being taken away all others are forgiven Faith as one of the Ancients expresses it delet omnia peccata blots out all sins but unbelief that bindes all fast upon us Hence that word of Christ If ye betieve not ye shall dye in your sins i. e. your sins shall cleave close to you to the very death Jo. 8.24 This will be further evident in the next proposition Therefore 3. That though all sin be killing and damning yet no sin shall ever damn or destroy us unless we add thereunto the sin of the neglect and refusal of Christ 'T is true every sin is damning sin within sin without The wages of sin is death Rom. 6. last And the Apostle tells us there is a just recompence of reward due to every transgression and disobedience Heb. 1.2 But though every sin be damning yet what ever a mans sins are though never so many never so great they shall they can never damn him in case he receives and embraces Christ Nor indeed can any of all a mans sins be said to be the immediate cause of his damnation but his refusing of Christ Indeed
under the Law the immediate cause of mens perishing was sin in general But under the Gospel the onely immediate cause of mens perishing is the rejection of Christ and his Grace through unbelief So much Christ himself tells us in that known place Joh. 3.18 He that believeth on the Son is not condemned Meritum damnationis juxta Evangelium non est peccatum sed preseverantia finalis in peccato infidelitatis Twis vind gra but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed on the name of the onely begotten Son of God He that believeth on Christ is not condemned And why so Is it because he has no sins to condemn him No but because believing on Christ all his sins are done away But he that believeth not on him is condemn'd already And why Is it because he is a sinner in general or because his sins are many and great sins No but because he hath not believed on the name of the onely begotten Son of God The sum of all is this The immediate cause of mens condemnation is not this sin or that sin but their refusing of Christ by unbelief Hence you have it so frequently up and down the Gospel He that believeth shall be saved He that believeth not shall be damned and the like Well then if our vefusing of Christ be the rejecting of the onely remedy of sinful Souls if it be what bindes all a mans sins fast upon him and if none of all a mans other sins though many and great should or could ever damn him were not this sin of refusing Christ added to them then certainly this is that sin which does most directly and immediatly murder the Soul O how great a sin then does this speak it to be Murder is a great sin an iniquity to be punished by the judge nor do we look upon a murderee fit to live But no murder like to Soul-murder nor should we suffer this Soul-murderer to live one moment 4. Consider that the neglect and refusal of Christ is a sin which argues you to be really in Love with your sins which truly and indeed chooses Death rather then Life loves Darkness more then Light and which leaves you without the least colour of excuse or room of appeal for ever And O what a black and horrid sin must this then be A little of each 1. This sin of neglecting and refusing Christ is what really argues you to be in Love with your sins and to have slight thoughts of them For men to act sin is bad but to have slight thoughts of sin and to be in Love with it is much worse sin being against an infinite good even infinitly contrary to the blessed God has in a sort an infinite evil in it and to be in love with that which has an infinite evil in it O how dreadful a thing is this Yet this your refusal of Christ carries in it For pray mark had you not slight thoughts of sin you would not refuse the pardon of sin when offer'd you but would account it worthy of all acceptation and were you not in Love with your sins yea greatly in Love with them you would not choose and desire to continue in your sins much less would you refuse and reject so great a good as Christ is for the sake of your sins Should a condemn'd Malefactor refuse the Kings free pardon would not this argue him to have slight thoughts of Death yea to be in Love with it and to prefer it before life As clearly does your refusing of Christ argue you to have slight thoughts of sin and to be in Love with it O were you not in Love with your sins you would be glad of a discharge and deliverance from them and would withall readiness and joyfulness embrace it when freely offer'd to you as in Christ it is 2. This sin of refusing Christ is what truly and indeed speaks you to love darkness more then light and to chose death rather then life 'T is what prefers sin and death before Christ and life and Grace O what a black sin then must it be This Christ himself asserts concerning it and that as an high aggravation of it and what makes it doubly damning Joh. 3.19 This is the condemnation that light is come into the World and men love darkness rather then light Christ and the good things of Christ are here call'd light on the other hand sin and death sin and the miseries that attend it are call'd darkness Now sayes Christ men by unbelief and refusing of me do declare that they love this darkness before this Light Men by refusing of me do in effect love choose prefer sin and death and darkness before me and my Grace me and that eternal life which I would give them O what a sin is this Christ may truly say to Sinners as Moses to them of old Deut. 30.19 I call Heaven and Earth to record this day that I have set before you Life and Death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that ye may live Now for them to choose death and reject life to choose the curse and reject the blessing This is a dreadful sin indeed and the more dreadful On the one hand because the light is so lovely and amiable and on the other hand the darkness is so odious terrible as also because the obligations which lie upon us to love choose and prefer the light before darkness are so weighty and forcible For Christ earnestly desires it he graciously counsells it he strictly commands it and no less then a whole eternity of Glorious and unspeakable happiness depends upon it O think of these things 3. This sin of refusing Christ is a sin which leaves you without the least colour of excuse or room of appeal for ever which must argue it to be a great sin indeed First it leaves you without the least colour of excuse without the least coulour of excuse for sin and without the least colour of excuse why you should not die for sin This Christ himself is express in Joh. 15.22 If I had not come and spoken to them they had not had sin but now they have no Cloak for their sin If I had not come and spoken to them viz. in the Gospel revealing my Father's will and offering my self and my Grace to them They had not had sin i. e. Not so great sin But now they have no Cloak no excuse for their sin Now they have no pretence to make nothing wherewith to colour or extenuate their sin The neglect and refusal of Christ leaves men altogether inexcusable and it will do so to be sure in the last day O when God in the day of his righteous judgment shall demand of men that have liv'd under the Gospel why they sin'd and having sin'd why they are found in their sins and being found in their sins why they should not die for ever what will they have to say by way
of excuse or apology for themselves Verily nothing but will be Speechless as he is said to be Mat. 22.12 They can't say they were not warned of the evil of sin They can't say that pardon and Salvation were not offer'd them They can't say that the offer was not full and free and clear They can't say they had to do with an hard Master nor can they say that sin is not worthy of death They will have nothing to say Secondly it leaves you without the least room or place of appeal for ever I may say here as 't is said in anorher case 1 Sam. 2.25 If one man sin against another the judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him So if a man sin against the Law by transgressing of it he may appeal to the Gospel and the grace of Christ there But if a man sin against Christ and his Grace offer'd in the Gospel where then shall he appeal Verily there is no appeal to be made no relief to be found for him If a man be condemn'd at the seat of justice as having sinn'd against the Law he may appeal unto the mercy-seat the throne of Grace and sind sweet relief but if he sin against the mercy-seat and the throne of Grace then he has nothing to appaal to that may administer relief to him Now by refusing of Christ we sin against the Throne of Grace we pull down what in us lies the mercy-seat and where then shall we appeal O consider these things and learn by them to dread this sin of refusing Christ I might say much more to convince you of the hainous evil of it but let this suffice Sure I am 't is enough to and had we the due sense of it upon our Spirits it would make us tremble at it for ever 3. Wouldest thou indeed be Espoused to Christ Then give not way to the discouragements of sense but bear up thy Soul upon the encouragements of Faith upon such Gospel-principles considerations as do tend to draw sinners to Faith in Christ Possibly upon reading and considering the woeful misery of thy condition without Christ and the dreadful hainousness of thy sin and guilt in thy long and frequent refusing of him discouragements not a few may arise within and indeed no sooner usually does a poor Soul look towards Christ or think of closing with him in a Marriage-Covenant but presently multitudes of discouragements arise to deter him there from O says he what a monstrous sinner am I How have I despised Christ and his grace How long have I stood it out against him I have serv'd my lusts all my dayes and rejected his calls To what purpose do I now talk of closing with him These and multitudes such like discouragements do arise in the Soul which being given way to do effectually keep him from Christ But if ever Soul thou wouldest attain to Union and communion with him thou must shut thine eyes and heart too against all discouragements of this nature and though they press in upon thee again and again yet thrust them out fixing thine eye and heart upon the encouragements of Faith dwell much in the thoughts of them and bear up thy soul upon such Gospel principles and considerations as do tend to weaken unbelief beget Faith in the soul and for thy help herein I shal mention some of these encouragements of Faith or Gospel-principles which I would have thee to be serious and frequent in the contemplation of 1. The first Gospel-principle or encouragement of Faith which thou shouldst bear up thy Soul upon and be frequent in the contemplation of is this that there is a rich a glorious and an overflowing fulness of all good treasured up in Christ for poor Sinners and that his Grace does abundantly exceed both our wants and sins 'T is the work and nature of unbelief to little and limit the fulness of Christ in the eye of the soul It shews the soul the multitude of his sins and wants but it conceals and Locks up Christs treasures and fulness And whatever we pretend the ground of our not closing with Christ at least one principal one is this that we doubt of his fulness we do not see enough in Christ to supply our wants and relieve our distresses Unbelief perswading us that Christ is not the Christ the Scripture represents him to be But Soul away with all such apprehensions and dwell thou in the contemplation of Christ's infinite fulness Look to him as one infinitly able to supply thy wants to pardon thy sins to healthy maladies to subdue thy lusts to sanctifie thy heart and to save thy Soul eternally Look upon him as the Scripture represents him The Scripture tells thee That it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Col. 1.19 All fulness of Grace and life all fulness of peace and pardon all fulness of Righteousness and Salvation There is in Christ not onely a fulness of abundance but of redundance an over-flowing fulness a fulness infinitly superabounding our sins and wants The Scripture tells us That he is able to save unto the very uttermost all that come unto God by him Heb. 7.25 Save able to save able to save to the uttermost and that not one or two but all that come unto God by him The Scripture speaks of Christs unsearchable riches Eph. 3.8 The Ocean of his Grace is not to be sounded by the longest line of the largest created understanding Paul experienced the superabounding fulness of his Grace and has left it upon record for our encouragement 1 Tim. 1.14 The Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant it was more then enough I found more Grace in Christ as one expresses it then I knew what to do withall and yet what was this Paul Himself tells you in the very v. before and after he was a Blasphemer a Persecutor and the chief of Sinners a man every way of as many sins and wants as thou art Accordingly view him and bear up thy Soul in the face of all discouragements Reason thus with thy self True my condition is sad my wants are exceeding many and my sins exceeding great But what then Is there no Balm in Gilead Is there no Physitian there Is not Christ able to save me and that to the utmost notwithstanding all Look O my soul yonder is sweet Jesus upon the Throne at the Fathers Right Hand full of Grace and truth look upon him and consider What are all thy wants to his Riches and fulness What are all thy miseries and distresses to his Bowels of Mercy What are all thy sins to the merit of his Blood thy provocations to his fatisfaction Were thy wants more and greater then they are his fulness could supply them all were thy sins greater and more hainous then they are his Blood could cleanse thee from all The Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin 1 Jo. 1.7 There is infinitly