the Grave than to be raised for Damnation their Sentence of Condemnation and their vain Pleas and Pleadings for mercy But O that Men would come in at God's time and cry for mercy as they will do out of time How much better would it be for them God's time is now to day the present time 2 Cor. 6.2 Now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation If Men refuse God's mercy in his time he will deny his mercy when sought in their time and out of his Isa 30.18 He waits to be gracious and willing to be exalted in having mercy Notwithstanding all the mercy with the Lord all the mercy that is offered in the Promise the Lord never promised a Sinner his mercy to morrow If you will beg his mercy to day you may have it and it shall endure for ever But God never gave an Allowance and Liberty to any Man to spend one Day or Hour in consulting whether he should beg God's mercy or not David had indeed a sad choice of Judgments laid before him 2 Sam. 24.13 and is bid by the Prophet Advise now and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me But for a perishing Sinner that hath an Offer of God's mercy in Jesus Christ there is no delay allowed but only he is bid ask it presently 2. Receave God's mercy Receaving is easier than asking Asking requires some pains Receaving is but a consent of the Heart to take what is offered Asking supposeth a great and needful Blessing that he that wants it would fain have and therefore he begs it Receaving implies that this great Blessing is in his Offer fully and freely and therefore he must accept it Here is the State of things betwixt God and Men in the Gospel The Lord brings his mercy near to them offers it to them bids them take and receave it but many will not God offers Quarter to Rebels in Arms against him but they stand upon their Sword and will not take Quarter Ministers Work is to entreat and beseech in Christ's stead 2 Cor. 5.20 God only can perswade and prevail with Men. Mercy comes prepared and ready for Men. It is prepared in the Purchase of Christ it is prepared in the well-ordered Covenant and as prepared and ready it is tendered freely to Sinners All things are ready Come to the Marriage Matth. 22.4 All things are ready God himself is ready to give mercy Christ is ready he is slain for us let us come and keep the Feast 1 Cor. 5.7,8 The Holy Spirit is ready to seal you to the Day of Redemption if you will accept of God's mercy in the Redeemer Heaven is ready the Way is plain and all hinderances of Law and Justice removed Heb. 10.19,20 The City of Refuge is ready and its Gates are open continually to receave and give entrance to all that flee for safety Heb. 6.18 Alas all things are ready but Men are not willing there is not a moments time needed to ripen God's mercy for Men. No perishing Sinner that seeth his need of God's Mercy and is willing to receave it needs stay a moment till mercy be ready for him or he more ready for it Rom. 10.6 The Righteousness which is of Faith speaketh on this wise how very few have Ears to hear such a Speaker and such a Speech Say not in thine heart Who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ dowu from above Or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead Christ is come down already from Heaven and is gone back again to Heaven ver 7. But what saith it The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of Faith which we preach Mercy and Salvation for lost Sinners is prepared by Christ's coming down and going up again and he hath lodg'd the Power and Vertue of his Undertaking in the Gospel suck at that Well with Faith and thy Soul shall be saved There thou wilt find Christ and all his fulness There was never such a Treaty made in the World We can fetch no Similitude fully like this amongst Men. Thus the Lord pleads with Men in the Gospel You are already undone with sin and misery lying on you and you are every hour sinking into greater Let but my mercy in my Son enter in and it will cure all that is past and present and prevent all the misery that is coming on you And will not miserable Sinners receave God's mercy Are you afraid of saving mercy Will it hurt you Why do ye not give it entrance It is one of the greatest demonstrations what Monsters sin hath made Men that they are unwilling to be saved by free mercy in Jesus Christ Open a Door for God's mercy by a free receaving of it or else you will find the Door of his mercy shut against you when you need it most Your giving way to his mercy is your receaving of it Say with the Heart Let God's mercy enter in upon me and save me its own way A yielding and giving and putting of a lost Soul into the hand of Christ is the nature of saving Faith in him Will ye not trust in his mercy Is it not able to save you Your want of a sense of your need of his mercy is a giving the lie to all the Threatenings and Curse of the Law Your doubting of the Ability of his mercy to save you is to give the lie to all the Faithfulness and Truth of God declared and sworn in the Gospel 3. Plead mercy When you beg it use no other Plea for mercy but mercy When you beg mercy you must beg mercy only for Mercy 's sake That that moves God to shew mercy must be our Argument in pleading for mercy Wherefore doth God show mercy because he will show mercy and delights in it Micah 7.18 and therefore should we plead it Mercy in his Heart is the only spring of mercy from his Hand David who knew God's mercy well had tasted of it often and needed it greatly when fallen into a foul Pit Psal 51.1 thus pleads for mercy Have mercy upon me O God according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions Have a care of making any other Plea for mercy from the Lord but that of mercy with him And stick to this Plea and it will prevail If the Lord for trying of your Faith or Satan for shaking it should say How dare such a vile sinner as thou art beg so great a Gift as saving mercy from so holy a God The poor Pleader hath a ready answer I want mercy as much as my Soul is worth in vain do I seek it of any Creature nothing but his mercy can save me I beg mercy only for mercy's sake I bring nothing but a starving Soul and an empty hand I beg his mercy as an Alms which will eternally enrich the Receaver
of this Mercy of God We do not reckon a man miserable only on the account of what he feels but also on that of his just Fears And generally the smart of misery is raised from fear rather and more than from feeling If any thing renders a man's present State miserable the apprehension of the duration or increase of what he feels adds greatly to his misery Many things would be little complained of as great Evils were a man sure that in a moment they shall be removed But in a Sinner's Case for as bad as it is at present it will surely be worse with him shortly if mercy prevent not There is certainty of its coming and an eternal duration of it when it comes It is called the Wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 Nothing like it ever came on them Present Wrath though dreadful is but a trifle to that that is to come It is Wrath to come for it will surely come As surely as God lives as surely as God is true in his word of Threatning this Wrath will come on the World of the Ungodly No putting of this evil Day far away but in vain Thoughts no diverting or keeping it back a moment All the united Force of the rebellious part of the Creation will not be able to stem or stop this fearful Tide of Wrath. It is Wrath to come for it is still coming and approaching As many Days and Years as an ungodly sinner counts in his life as many Days and Years Journeys hath God's Wrath made towards him Think on this Old Sinners God's Wrath and you are near to meet except mercy interpose You think you run from it but it runs after you it will come upon you and pursue you and overtake you as Deut. 28.45 It 's Wrath to come because it is always a coming and never past The Tide of God's Wrath on the Damned is an eternal Flood there will never be an ebbing Look down to Hell and see how they fare there Alas Men will not believe and fear and fly and therefore must feel How many daily hear of this Wrath to come and yet never have any fear of it till they be irrecoverably plunged into it Who never awaken out of the sleep of security till awakened by the Flashes of Hell fire Who will never believe God's Wrath till they feel it No true Believer goes to Hell all Unbelievers are sent thither but as soon they come there they become woful Believers because eternal feelers of this Wrath to come Mens danger of this dreadful State should make them cry mightily for God's Mercy as it renders them unspeakably needy of it But your own serious Thoughts about it would do you more good than many Words can The second thing proposed is What is the obtaining of mercy A frequent manner of Speech in Scripture 1 Tim. 1.13 Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious But I obtained mercy 1 Pet. 2.10 Which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy This Phrase of obtaining mercy speaks forth 1. That the mercy is God's Gift Our obtaining is the fruit of his giving I obtained mercy saith Paul and may every Believer say How so he gave it he showed he demonstrated it as 1 Tim. 1.16 It is the Lord 's shewing it tendering and giving of it that is the only spring of our obtaining it We do not buy it we do not work it out we are no way meet for it but by misery God's mercy springs not out of the Earth but comes down from Heaven It is the Gift of God And as such must all seek it that would obtain it and as such will all eternally own it that do obtain it 2. This Phrase speaks forth a particular application of mercy to the Receaver by the Giver of it I obtained mercy saith Paul general mercy would not do my business another man's mercy would not save me I must have it of my own for my self and so I got it Mercy came to me made me a Visit and applyed it self to me in particular So must it be with you You will never be saved you shall never see God's Face in Glory unless his mercy deal with you and apply it self as particularly to you as if there were no other Person in the World to be saved by Mercy besides thy self There is indeed a blessed multitude of the Vessels of Mercy and the Captain of our Salvation brings many Sons to Glory Heb. 2.10 But yet there is a personal particular Application of saving mercy to every saved sinner And for this Application of mercy we should come to the Throne of Grace Though there be infinite mercy at this Throne and though many receave of this Mercy yet you must have of this Mercy for your selves or you cannot be saved Your Soul is your own and no man's else your danger sin and misery is your own and no man's else and the mercy that saves you must be as much your own and not another body's mercy That deep Discourse of of the Apostle looks this way Rom. 11.30,31,32 For as ye in times past have not believed God yet now have obtained mercy through their unbelief Even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy they may also obtain mercy For God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all It is a great mystery of Judgment and Mercy the Apostle is speaking of the rejecting of the Jews and calling in of the Gentiles Mercy took occasion from the just casting off of the Jews to visit the Gentiles and will in due time bestow it self again upon the Jews But both of them must have mercy of their own Mercy to the Jews will not save the Gentiles mercy to the Gentiles will not save the Jews both must have their own mercy The Fountain is the same the Streams are the same but the Vessels are not the same and every Vessel of mercy must have its own measure of its own particular mercy So must it be with you if you be saved by mercy it must be your own and no man's else 3. Obtaining of mercy speaks forth the Receavers possessing of it Obtained mercy is not only bestowed and applyed mercy but it is possessed mercy Such things as cannot be possessed and kept are worth little pains in seeking But God's mercy is well worth the seeking because it may be both had by seeking and kept when obtained and is unspeakably beneficial when enjoyed Psal 103.17 The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him As if the Psalmist said Man is but a Flower his Life is a Wind and Vapour that quickly and surely passeth away but it is not so with God's mercy it eternally abides on all it falls upon O that Men would think on this As God lives and is true in his Word God's
Person and Righteousness and Priesthood have more room in the Religion of the Gentiles Christianity is not like to leaven the Jews This Doctrine of Christ's Priesthood and of the Sacrifice of himself he offered in that Office the Apostle doth often intermix with suitable Exhortations from it as in the context ver 14. Seeing then we have a great highpriest all the Old Testament Highpriests were but types and shadows of Him and were but little highpriests that is passed into the heavens no highpriest but Christ went further than the Holy of Holies for the peoples advantage Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession The dignity of Christ in his advanced State as well as his Grace in his humbled State lays Christians under a strong engagement to cleave to him with steadfast confidence Yet for as great as this person is and for all that he is in Heaven and in unspeakable Dignity and Glory there you must not think that he in Heaven and we on Earth can have no communion ver 15. for we have not an highpriest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities though now he hath none of his own yet can he feel these of his people and his feeling engageth speedy relief The reason the Apostle gives for this sympathy of Christ with his people is from Christ's experience when on earth But was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin The Apostle delivers the mind of the Holy Ghost about Christ's sympathy negatively we have not an high-priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities in which manner of exhortation he reflects on the meanness of the Levitical Priests to whom it was impossible to know and feel all the infirmities of the people for whom yet they appeard before God and he implys the affirmative strongly we have an high priest which can be and is touched with the feeling of our infirmities How a sinless man as Christ ever was can be touched with the feeling of the infirmities of sinners and many of these infirmities sinful ones How a glorified man as Christ now is exalted to and possessed of the highest Glory and Bliss can be and is touched with the feeling of all the infirmities of all his people is what the word plainly reveals to be believed but it s not to be fully known till we come to Heaven But he is the Head and all his people are his Body his members of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 a marvellous word Can the flesh be torn and the bones be broken and the head not feel it Though he be glorified above what we can conceave he is a living sensible and compassionate Head and as nearly and closely united to all his Members now as when they saw with their eyes and heard with their ears and with their hands handled the word of life 1 John 1.1 There is nothing ails a poor Believer in Christ there is no groan riseth from his distressed Heart but it is immediately felt at the tender Heart of the Lord Jesus at the Fathers right hand We would groan and sing with the same breath if we believed this firmly In my Text there is a most blessed exhortation from this same ground of Christ's sympathy in Heaven unto a bold approaching to the Throne of Grace The nativeness and strength of the Inference is obvious to the most ordinary attention The exhortation is unto the improving of the greatest priviledge an erected and revealed Throne of Grace and that in the practice of the greatest Duty believing approaching unto this Throne or unto God sitting on this Throne of Grace What I would take up in and handle in speaking to these words shall be the resolution of four weighty Questions which should be in the hearts of all worshippers of God 1. The first great Question is Where may I find God This was Job's question and wish Job 23.3 O that I knew where I might find him that I might come even to his seat and that this seat was a Throne of Grace to Job is evident from ver 6. This Text tells you God is on a Throne of Grace A fit place for God to be sought in and where only he can be found graciously by a sinner 2. Question is How should we come to God on this Throne Let us come boldly saith the Apostle The original word signifieth coming freely with free open bold speaking pouring out all our hearts and minds to him Let us come without making use of Saint or Angel to introduce us to this Throne Any poor sinner may come himself alone to this Court and that boldy without fear of being repulsed The 3 Question is the hardest what ground hath a sinner for this boldness The ground the Apostle gives for it is hinted in the word therefore which relates to ver 14 15. Because of Jesus the Son of God our great high-priest in heaven If we had not such a high-priest ministring in glory at the high Altar above no sinner could come boldly to the Throne of Grace on earth So he argues chap. 10.19,20,21,22 4. The last question is What shall we get and for what may we come to this Throne of Grace The Apostle speaks fully to this in the Text let us come that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need These precious things Mercy and Grace are scattered round this Throne any poor needy creature should come for a saving Alms from this Throne and may have it for the coming The first of these I would begin with Where is God to be found The Apostle tells us on a Throne of Grace This word is only here no where else in the Scriptures is the word to be found but what is signified by it is frequently in the Old and New Testament as we shall hear But though the phrase the Throne of Grace be only once named in this Heb. 4.16 yet the thing signified is so precious and the expression of it is so savory significant and suitable that this form of speaking the Throne of Grace is become famous known and used amongst Christians and will doubtless be till the end of Time As long as God hath a mind to give Mercy and Grace as long as any of the Children of men are sensibly needy of Grace and Mercy and askers and receivers thereof from the Lord and that will be till the Heavens be no more this Throne of Grace will be plyed and praised I would first consider the proper meaning of this word a Throne of Grace It 's obvious that the Apostle in this Epistle doth every where if I may use a much abused word Christen the Old Testament Types and gives them New Testament names and applys them to the Doctrine of Christ he is teaching the Christian Jews he writes to The Old Testament Church knew what a high-priest was what his Institution Office and performance were in the Tabernacle in
the power of the air working powerfully in them as children of disobedence they were fulfilling the desires and lusts of the flesh and of the mind they were by nature the children of wrath even as others Who can be lower vifer and baser except they that are in Hell it self Yet in this Case and Condition Grace made its first visit to them All that this saving Grace falls on are lost and undone sinners men at the very brink of Hell An Elect child of God is worst and most sinful the moment preceeding his Conversion Paul was at his worst Acts 9. when Grace fell up him If there be nothing but the power of Grace that can subdue the corruption of Nature if this corruption grow in its strength till that subduing power of Grace be applyed and if there be no middle State betwixt Death and Life and these have been reckoned Gosper Truths how plain is it that a sinner is at his worst when saving Grace first comes upon him 2. Whither did this Grace bring Paul and the Ephesians and so all Christians Out of the Grave of sin unto a new Life and up to heavenly places in Christ Jesus ver 4 5 6. O what a mighty Arm hath the Grace of God It s nothing for Grace to pull a man out of Hell and set him down in Heaven When shall this Arm of Jehovah be revealed When will perishing sinners long for a saving pull of the Grace of God 3. What is all this great Work of Grace for ver 7. That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his Grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus As if the Apostle had said You and I cannot sufficiently in our time and age admire this kindness Grace and Riches of Grace through Christ Jesus that we have receaved but as long as this world lasts and as long as there are receivers of this same Grace in future ages and that will be as long as the world lasts for the world lasts for the sake of the Throne of Grace and for what God hath to do on it and to give from it there will be praisers of this Grace for every Generation of Receivers of this Grace owe praises for all the Grace bestowed on all that have been before them And when this world is at an end there is a better world that shall succeed it wherein better and higher praises will be given forever there is no other musick but the praises of free Grace in Heaven and none shall sing its praises there but the happy Receavers of it here 2. Consider the Infinite Wisdom of this contrivance of a Throne of Grace for sinners The Lord wisely consulted poor mans case his Sinfulness his Misery and his Infirmity No where else can God and Sinners meet in Peace but at this Throne of Grace Here is the manifold wisdom of God Eph. 3.10 Grace abounds in all wisdom and prudence Eph. 1.8 Yet not according to the sorry Rules of the wisdom of this world nor of the Princes or great leading men of this world that come to nought But the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom hid to them that are lost 2 Cor. 4.3 which God ordained before the world unto our glory which none of the Princes of this world knew for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory God and Holy Angels may meet in peace whenever he is pleased to manifest his Glory to them though they be sensible of their meanness as Creatures and deeply humble before his Majesty But where God and Angels meet comfortably God and sinners cannot meet comfortably That Light and Manifestation of divine Glory that makes a holy Angel happy would confound and destroy a sinful man Isaiah 6.1,5 The Seraphims adore humbly and praise Isaiah a sinner sinks he is terrified with the Sight and with the Song And yet this was a sight of Christ John 12.41 but his divine Majesty and Holiness as God was then represented to him which terrified the Prophet But when sin is forgiven by an act of Grace ver 6 7. then upon the Lords saying whom shall I send and who will go for us Isaiah answered here am I send me Now I have tasted the Grace of my Lord I will run his errands let him send me where and on what he pleaseth 3. Consider how costly the erecting of this Throne of Grace was It was a dear Building The Throne of Gods essential glory is in his own super-excellent Being and falls under no acts of the divine Will When he had a mind to rear up a Throne of Glory to his name in creating a world there was no more needful but his word of Power his Almighty Fiat Let it be and all things sprung up out of nothing in marvelous order and Beauty and Goodness But when a Throne of Grace is to be erected for sinners there is more to be done here God's own Son must be made man in that nature must be charged with their sins and must discharge that debt by bearing the Wrath of God and curse of the Law even unto death Rom. 3.25 the Apostle gives us a description of the Throne of Grace God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation a Mercy Seat a Throne of Grace But his Blood went for it Law and Justice exacted it and Christ paid it On this comes forth the blessed Proclamation of Grace whoever he be of lost mankind that will come to this Throne of Grace by Faith and will receive his Justification in and by this Blood and will trust to it only shall never come into condemnation This Paul preached Acts 13.38,39 What is this grace revealed for ver 26. To declare at this time Gods righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus We all know that God is just and the condemner of transgressors of his Holy Law But how the Gospel is framed so as that God's justice may appear in justifying of a believing sinner is far deeper and more hardly known and believed But take in but these three things and it will appear 1. God was just and the punisher of the sins of the Elect laid on Jesus Christ. God's sending of his Son and laying of the sins of his people on him was an act of amazing grace and mercy But the exacting the debt of sin of him when the Father laid it on and the Son took it on him was of Justice and strict glorious Justice Never did Justice shine so in its glory and purity as in bruising the Son of God for the sins that were laid on him The sending of millions to Hell for their own sins and all must go thither that have them to answer for and all such have them all to answer for who offer to pay their debt with their own coyn and have no interest in Christs undertaking is a display of Divine Justice that
On a Throne of Grace Seek him no where else for no where else is he to be graciously found 2. How should we come to this Throne Boldly with confidence 3. What is the ground of this boldness It had need be a great and solid ground on which a sinner may build Boldness in his approaching to God This ground is hinted by the Apostle in the word therefore wherefore Because of our great High-priest the Son of God in Heaven ver 14 15. Though there be nothing more commonly said and owned then that all men are sinners and that all the acceptance of a sinner with God is through Jesus Christ yet I can assure you that when a person seeth and knows what it is to be a sinner and knows what God is it is a wonderful difficulty to believe that it is possible that such a sinner and such a God should ever meet in Peace Peoples dry Notions and Opinions of Jesus Christ if there be no more will soon be blown away with a deen sight of the sinfulness of sin and of the Majesty of God provoked thereby 4. The last Question is What shall we get by coming and what should we come for The greatest blessings Mercy and Grace These blessings are comprehensive of all things needful to make a sinner happy To the first of these I began to speak last day That God hath erected a Throne of Grace in the Gospel to which men are invited to come What this Throne of Grace is is spoke to and that this Throne of Grace is to be distinguished from all other Thrones of God spoke of in the word The Throne of his essential glory is unapproachable by all Creatures The Throne of his Justiâ—… dreadful to all sinners we should pray against our coming before this Throne Psal 143.2 He must be a proud ignorant fool that would offer to come and plead at its Bar for here all Acts and Sentences pass according to strict Law and Justice and the Law is an everlasting condemner of all sinners There is also the Throne of the Judge at the last day But this Throne is not yet set though it will surely be and we know not how soon and should prepare for our appearing before it 2 Cor. 5.9,10 But this Throne of Grace is the Gracious manifestation of God in Christ reconciling the World to himself This is the light of the Glory of Gods Grace shining in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 ch 5.18,19 And to coming to this Throne of Grace and to God in Christ dispensing his grace from it we are here exhorted and encouraged In pursuing of this exhortation I would 1. Prove that all should come 2. Show whâ— will come 3. and who shall be specially welcomâ— 1. That all ought to come to the Thronâ— of Grace All sinners that hear of it shoulâ— improve this great priviledge and seek thâ— enjoyment of Gods Grace and Mercy in Jâ—sus Christ 1. Because God is not otherwise approachâ—… by men in accepted worship No man comâ—… to the Father but by me saith Christ Joâ—… 14.6 The light of Nature teacheth all 〈◊〉 in some measure that there is a God 〈◊〉 somewhat of his eternal power and God 〈◊〉 Rom. 1.20 And that this God should be wâ—…shiped Therefore 〈◊〉 some sort of worshâ—… is performed by all sorts of Heathens 〈◊〉 are yet without God and that because withâ—… Christ and therefore without hope in the world Eph. 2.12 Never was there nor will there be nor can there be any gracious approach unto God nor any address recieved favourably by God but at this Throne of Grace Therefore whatever may be said of the zealous devotion and of the Moral Principles and Practices of the Heathens yet never any of them did nor could offer up an acceptable prayer unto God nor obtain a gracious answer from him not only because they worshiped an unknown God Acts 17.23 Gal. 4.8 but mainly because they worshiped not at this Throne of Grace for there can be no Communion with God there can be nothing graciously given by God to Men nothing done by Men that can be accepted of God but at this Throne of Grace 2. All should come to this Throne because all men have need of the blessings dispensed at this Throne of Grace Where there is an universal urgent necessity and only one place of supply discovered Men are called to betake themselves thither The blessings dispenced at the Throne of Grace are equally needed by all Every Man every Woman young or old rich or poor are equally needy because all are unpeakably needy of the Mercy and Grace of God Some indeed have a greater sight and sense of their wants than others and that is Mercy but the real necessity is common to all every unpardoned man needs a pardon at this Throne of Grace but few if any value a pardon till they get it or value the Grace of God till they feel it Do you feel your need of what is given and got at this Throne Come then The Law thunders and roars against you that you may see your need of coming hither for what the Law cannot give nor hinder you from receiving nor rob you of when recieved Do you think in your heart that you are the most needy person in all the World that you need all the Grace and Mercy or more than ever any sinner recieved Then come the rather come the sooner The neediest soul the hungriest sinner the person most greedy of the Grace of God should come first to Christ's door and beg lowdest Is there any not needy Alas many think so but none is so Will you come for hunger and want A sensible hunger a sense and sight of need an appetite after Grace and Mercy is an Alms that Christ can give and many Professors want it sadly 3. The Command is Vniversal to all that hear it As the Apostle saith Rom. 3.19 These things saith the Law to them that are under the Law So I may say This saith the Gospel to all under the sound of it come to the Throne of Grace It is no indifferent thing God commands all men to come Believing that is coming is commanded 1 John 3.23 Are you afraid to come have not I commanded you Joshua 1.9 as God spake to the Captain of Israel Will Men own Gods authority in the Law and deny it in the Gospel Is he not the same God in both He that commands you to have no other Gods besides him doth command you to believe on his Son Jesus who is the true God and eternal Life 1 John 5.20 If coming to the Throne of Grace were not commanded not coming to it were no sin and who dare say so Not believing on Jesus Christ is the great Gopel sin because believing on him is the great Gospel-Duty and work John 6.29 Object But I am afraid he commands not me others he may command but not such a vile dead Creature as I am Answ
not turn away from me A most blessed Answer to a dreadful Question ver 4. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me my Father thou art the guide of my youth An Interest in God by Christ is offered and promised to all in the Gospel plead it by Faith and it is yours 3. We find Instances in the Word and the like the Lord can make again of great Confidence in some at their first coming to the Throne of Grace As the blind man Mark 10.46 end He only heard of Christ's passing by He staid not for Christ's calling him but began to cry out Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on me When many charged him to hold his Peace he cried the more a great deal Thou Son of David have mercy on me Christ was never in my way before and he shall not pass now without shewing mercy on me if crying may prevail And that his crying was in Faith Christ witnesseth ver 52. In all appearance the Woman of Candan was never at the Throne of Grace before Matth. 15.22,28 at least never at Christ's Feet before yet she managed her first Address with that confidence that she not only got her desire but that high Commendation with it O woman great is thy Faith So the Centurion Matth. 8.5,10 But above all Instances is that of the believing Thief on the Cross Luke 23.40,43 Never had the Throne of Grace so little to encourage an Address to it as when the King of Grace was dying on the Cross Never had a Sinner less encouragement to come to the Throne of Grace than when the Saviour was nailed to one Tree and the Sinner to another Marvellous Faith a dying Sinner dying for his Sins imploys a dying Saviour for Salvation Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom How little did Christ nailed to and dying on the Cross look like a King How strong was the Man's Faith to believe that Christ through death was going to his Kingdom And that Christ's gracious thought of him would save him And Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise As if our Lord had said this is thy first and thy last Address to me verily it shall be heard Believers do not think how pleasing to the Lord large and high thoughts of the Sufficiency Fulness and Freedom of the Grace that is in Jesus Christ be Believers should devise liberal things and by liberal things they shall stand Isa 32.8 Let a Believer ask and think on the Warrant of the Promise as much as he can the Lord is able to do exceeeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all Ages world without end Amen Eph. 3.20,21 SERMON V. HEB. IV. 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need IT is God's great and wonderful Mercy that ever there was a Throne of Grace erected and revealed and that he makes such a Proclamation as this in his Word Let all Men come boldly to it I have spoke unto two things in the Text. 1. Of the Throne of Grace to which we are invited to come 2. Of the Boldness allowed in coming to it The third thing follows to be spoke to the Ground of this Boldness implyed in this Therefore And we must look back to ver 14.15 for the finding the force of this Therefore The Words are Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly The Doctrine I am to handle from this Inference of the Apostle is this That the main ground of all the boldness allowed in coming to the Throne of Grace is in our Lord Jesus Christ The Interest and Room and Place that Christ hath in this Throne of Grace is the ground of all allowed boldness in coming to it When people are secure nothing is more commonly practised by them than fearless rushing into God's Presence Any carnal careless Sinner can when he will bow the Knee and make that he calls a Prayer to God But when Conscience is awakened and Light darts in to make them know somewhat of God and of themselves it is then found a matter of wonderful Mystery and difficulty to perceave any thing that can justly and sufficiently support the confidence of a self-condemned Sinner in his Approaches to God for Mercy Hence it is so often seen that this is the common way of all the ungodly and of such as are ignorant of God in Christ while they are secure and blind and hardened they feel nothing and fear nothing But when Death and Judgment approach and stare them near in the Face and when they begin to think in earnest that they must stand before God and receave their eternal Doom being ignorant of a Mediator and quite estranged from any believing imploying of him they sink in discouragement and Despair And alas How many miserable Sinners are there that are never awakened out of the sleep of security until they are plunged in the very Pit of Despair The Resolution therefore of this Question How a Sinner may draw near to the Throne of Grace with confidence so as he may be welcomed by him that sitteth on it and may receive good things thence is only in this that this Boldness is all in and by Jesus Christ My Work therefore at this time and it is indeed the main Work of Ministers at all times is to declare and shew you how our Lord Jesus Christ is the Ground and Foundation of true confidence in coming to God And herein I would lead you to such things that concern the Lord Jesus as are commonly known usually talked of but rarely duly pondered and improv'd 1. Let us consider the Person of this Mediator by whom we may have access with boldness Eph. 3.12 A wonderful Person The Son of God made Man a marvellous Man by whom all Men may be accepted with God when there is not a Man in the World that can be accepted of God in his own Name Yet all that come in Christ's Name are accepted Our Lord Jesus Christ is God's own Son the Son of God tabernacling in the Flesh God manifest in the Flesh The brightness of the Father's Glory and the express image of his Person Heb. 1.3 There is one God and one Mediator betwixt God and Men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time 1 Tim. 2.6,7 In due time it will be seen what this Ransom was paid for and for whom for every one of the Ransomed shall get
sense of his own great misery at least at sometimes 2 To come for mercy in Faith is to believe the Fitness and Sutableness of God's mercy to our misery Here many stumble wofully Their Question is Am I fit for mercy when it should rather be Is his mercy fit for me And this Question every sensible Soul can answer the other none in Heaven or Earth can answer If any man think himself fit for mercy of all men that man is most unfit for it and farthest from receaving of it But every sensible Soul will say Though I be unfit for and unworthy of mercy yet mercy is very fit for me Is there pardoning mercy with God who is it so fit for as a guilty vile sinner Is there saving mercy with him Who is it so fit for as for a lost man as I am Come to the Throne of Grace for mercy in Faith of this mercy is fit for me exactly though I be utterly unworthy of it They that think they are fit for mercy will never get it nor indeed can ask it But they that think they are needy of it and that it is fit for them will both ask it and get it 3. To come to the Throne of Grace in Faith for mercy is to believe that there is all good will in him that sits on this Throne to give and shew mercy It is implyed in the Text Let us come to obtain mercy But what if when we come he will not shew mercy That is an ungodly Supposition mischievous to our selves and reflecting upon God He hath mercy in abundance to give he delights in giving he never refused mercy to any that came for it he hath promised he never will and why should men harbour such a suspicion that we may come and not obtain Benhadad could adventure on a report that the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings and yet Ahab was one of the worst of them 1 Kings 20.31 And shall not sinners come upon a more sure Report of the mercifulness of the King on this Throne of Grace It is on this Truth of the Lord 's good will to shew mercy that our Faith so readily halts Many think they ought not to believe this good will to shew mercy I would have you consider some instances of Christ's dealing with Sinners John 4.10 Jesus answered and said unto her If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee Give me to drink thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Where we are to regard 1. To whom these Words were spoke by our Lord to a Samaritan a vile Creature as to the former course of her life a blind ignorant sottish Sinner that was guilty of refusing Christ a Cup of Water the greatest Sin she ever committed in her Life 2. What our Lord saith to her If thou knewest me thou wouldest have asked if thou hadst asked I would have given thee living Water And before he had done he made her know him made her ask and gave her of his living Water But that I mainly observe from the Word of Christ is a Truth which few will believe when they hear it even few Believers themselves will believe it as they ought That Christ is more ready to give begging Sinners eternal Life than they can be to give Christ himself a Cup of cold Water Our Lord saith it but men will not believe it Another of Christ's Words is in Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Christ makes the comparison favourably ver 11 12. Of a Child's asking Necessaries will a Parent refuse that desire and give what is hurtful But consider our Lord's design in this saying It is plainly to encourage to seeking and the Argument he useth is from the greater Love and readiness in God to give the best things than earthly Parents have to give their Children the Necessaries of this life The preference is not here given to God's greater Riches and fulness than that of parents who may have their Children beg of them what they have not to give as in Lam. 4.4 But it is a preference given to God's greater willingness to give Now who believes this and makes the just Application to their own Case and say confidently The Lord is much more willing to give me saving mercy if I ask it than I am to give a bit of bread to maintain the life of the nearest and dearest Relation I have in the World Appl. I shall only add a few Words of Application 1. There is no principle of natural Religion engraven more deeply on the Hearts of men than that there is misery in men and mercy in God and that God's mercy only can relieve men under this misery This runs through the whole World in all Ages and will continue as long as sense of misery is in men and any Notions of God are preserved in the minds of men And these Sentiments are not to be defaced Attempts of Atheists are damnable to themselves but vain Efforts against the Rock of Ages 2. Notwithstanding of this God's true mercy in Jesus Christ is the greatest Riddle Offence and Stumbling-block to all natural men God's mercy they like well enough and would have applied to their own relief under misery But God's only and true mercy in Christ they cannot away with That there is no mercy with God for Sinners but what flows through the Blood of Jesus Christ That God's Love should appear in sending his own Son under the charge of mens Sin and under the smart and feeling of their miseries That as God shews mercy only this way so men that would have it must only seek it this way the World never did never can never will understand nor relish it nor betake themselves to it They would have mercy to come to them another way and so seek it and look for it in vain and perish by the miss of it 3. There is no Address made to God more honourable to God more acceptable to him and more becoming a miserable Sinner than an Address to God for his mercy It is his Glory to be the Sovereign Lord of mercy it is his Honour to be attended with the Addresses of miserable men it is his delight to dispense mercy to the Addressors What is more becoming God than to shew mercy and what can be more fit than that a miserable Sinner should beg his mercy 4. There is no Provocation more common than sinful ways of begging God's mercy I shall briefly instance in a few Many profane careless Creatures have this Word frequently in their mouths God be merciful to me who yet have no more sense either of God or of themselves of his mercy or of their misery than the Ground they go on This is a gross taking of God's Name in vain Undue Addresses to God
9.1.5 What prays he for them Roin 10.1 My hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved All right Prayer should be the Hearts desire Salvation is the best thing we can pray for to our selves or to them we love And no Man can heartily pray for Salvation to others who hath not got it himself 2. I would now direct some Words to them that have obtained mercy and know it Blessed be the Lord that there are not a few in the World not a few in this City and I hope not a few in this Meeting that have obtained mercy of the Lord and know it also Who can remember when their misery was great and when the mercy of the Lord made a visit to them and what great things it brought to them and wrought in them 1. Let such be very thankful for special saving mercy Praise is a great Debt as well as a great Blessing Let none take this as an ordinary Duty but let all Christians know that the main point of the Life and Practice of Christianity lies in the performance of it 1 Pet. 2.9 Praise should rise according to the worth of what we praise for Greatest Favours call for highest Praises and special mercy from the Lord is the highest favour It is a good Custom and a Duty also that people when they receave their daily bread from God do give him thanks for it as well as beg his Blessing on it Pray then how do you think the Lord will take unthankfulness for his special mercy How many hath the Lord to give in this Charge against I never gave thee a nights rest but thou gave me thanks for it in the morning but I have by my mercy raised thee up to newness of Life and I was never thanked for it I never fed thy Body but thou blessed me for my Bounty but I have given thee my Son for the bread of thy Soul but no praise for this Gift When thou wast near death I did in mercy restore thee and was praised for it but special mercy hath delivered thy Soul from eternal destruction but when didst thou praise for that Have a care this Charge be not given against you Live to his Praise and let Praise be the main Work of your Life 2. Walk tenderly under God's special mercy The more special the mercy be the more carefully it should be improved God's saving mercy is a Load a Burthen not indeed hard to be born but it is hard to bear it aright A Burden that will not break the Back but will weigh heavy on the Shoulders of the Bearers and such as are under it are in no small danger of stumbling Isa 38.15 What shall I say he hath both spoken unto me and himself hath done it I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my Soul And that there was special mercy in his Eye see ver 17. Thou hast in love to my Soul delivered it from the pit of corruption for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back Here is a right sense of mercy and a good Resolution about the guiding of it I will walk softly all the Years fifteen of them that God hath added to my Life But what performance was there 2 Chron. 32.25 But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done to him for his heart was lifted up 3. Obtainers of mercy should ask grace to guide mercy and ask it the more earnestly and confidently because they have obtained mercy Be not discouraged in asking more mercy because you have made so poor improvements of what you have received Every mercy lays us under an Obligation for more service and Grace to enable for that Service must be given and therefore should be asked We need mercy God gives it when we get it we should guide it well and in order to that we must beg more New mercy to enable us to guide the old No mercy from the Lord but it may be ill guided but the last eternal Life Jude 21. A Christian is not out of all danger of abusing any mercy of the Lord till he receave perfecting mercy in Heaven To them that have not obtained mercy or at least do not know that they have only four things I would say to such Ask mercy Receave mercy Plead mercy Hope in his mercy 1. Ask mercy The Lord hath two designs in offering and dispensing his mercy to Men To be honoured by the Prayers of them that want it and to be glorified by the Praises of them that get it This Duty of asking mercy is frequently commanded by the Lord commonly practis'd by his people and never in vain 1. Ask mercy like it self Ask some way according to your Need and its Worth If our begging bore any tolerable proportion to the great Blessing of God's saving mercy what mighty praying would there be Let not mercy be sought as a small thing it 's the one thing needful and it 's the one thing we should seek of the Lord. God's mercy Saving mercy Free mercy Mercy great vastly above all our misery O how would it be asked if asked like it self 2. Ask mercy at the right Door There is not a Crumb of saving mercy that comes to any perishing Sinner but by Jesus Christ. There is no Corn in Egypt but what comes through this Joseph's Hand He is a mad Beggar of mercy that forgets Christ 3. Ask mercy in God's time He that commands us to ask and tells us at what Door to beg and promiseth to give tells us also when we should ask Men have their times as in great distress when dying and at Judgment Beware of putting off asking till God's time of giving be past It is an awful Word of Christ Luke 13.25 When once the master of the house is risen up and hath shut to the door and ye begin to stand without and to knock at the door saying c. There are two sad beginnings here Beginning to stand without when the door is shut such will eternally stand without Beginning to knock at the door Such as begin to knock at God's shut Door will never get in There is no good answer to be given by God to such for eternity Is not that a very unhappy beginning So our Lord tells us in the Parable of the Ten Virgins Matth. 25.10 The foolish came when the Door was shut They were foolish that they came no sooner and miserable that they came too late I believe the Damned will see more of the Blessedness of the Saved than the Saved will see of the Misery of the Damned Christ expresly aggravates the misery of the Damned by what they shall see of the Bliss of the Saved Luke 13.28 But all we see in the Word that the Saved shall see or hear of the misery of the Damned is their Resurrection to Damnation John 5.29 which is a most miserable one better were it for them to have their Bodies lye eternally in
as David resolved Psal 116.2 And when he comes to die and hath prayed his last Prayer with Stephen Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receave my Spirit and gets it answered Praying Believing and the Throne of Grace it self as to him is at an end and everlasting Praises before the Throne of Glory of God and of the Lamb begin never to have an end Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly Finish thy Work fulfil all thy Promises answer fully all the Prayers of all thy People Put an end to Sin and Time and Trouble and Temptation And hasten the Marriage Day that thy people may be glad and rejoyce and give honour to thee Rev. 19.7 Let the Bride be made ready and let the Bridegoom appear in his Wedding Garments of Glory O how blessed will the Meeting and the Marriage be He married his Bride when on Earth in Garments dyed in his own precious Blood and the Bride receaves him as Glorious even in 〈◊〉 bloody Raiment This most precious Blood was shed in love to his Bride and for her Salvation and therefore he is amiable to her in that Dress Believers in Christ are contracted to a slain Husband but shall be married to him in a far other Manifestation of himself How great is the difference betwixt our dearest Lord Jesus under his Cross and under his Crown And yet under his Cross he is infinitely amiable to a Believer's Heart and Eye If it were not that the Light of that glorious day of his Appearance will prevent all Mistakes the Nations of them which are saved as they are called for their Multitude out of all Nations Rev. 21.24 might doubt but doubt they cannot but wonder they will both at him and at themselves 2 Thess 1.10 and say Is this that blessed Saviour I believed on so feebly whom I trusted with my Soul and its Salvation with so much fainting and with so many Fears is this he whom I loved so little and so coldly Is this he whom all the time I liv'd on Earth after he had revealed himself to me I depended and lived on by Faith and that with so many Staggerings through Unbelief because I knew not so well as now I do whom I then believed And until this blessed Day come and come it will for it is promised and sworn by him who cannot lie it is not far off for it is above 1600 years since he testified Surely I come quickly Rev. 22.20 It is his last Promise to his Bride Let his most excellent Name be poured out as Oyntment and let the Savour of his Knowledge be made manifest in every place Let his Saving blessed Death be remembered gloryed in and fed upon by all Believers the greatest Token of his Love to us the only Price of our Redemption 1 Pet. 1.19 and the only Food of our Souls Let his justifying Righteousness be only mentioned before God on Earth by believing Sinners as it will be only mentioned by glorified praising Saints in Heaven Let the Throne of Grace reared up by the Father in his Son and consecrated by the Blood of this Son God manifest in the Flesh be revealed to the darkened World and set up amongst the blinded Nations And let Grace from thence be dispensed to many thousands of perishing Sinners Let the glory of God's free most free every way free Grace in Jesus Christ shine so in the Nations as it may and when that Glory shines it will darken confound and put to shame all the Antichristian Darkness and Dreams of false Christs of men's making and of Works Hire and Merit under all their Names and Pretences and make it all hateful in Sinners Eyes as it is hurtful to their Souls and as it is hateful in God's sight Let the Praises of my Lord and my God as recovered Thomas calls him John 20.28 fill Heaven and Earth and fill the Hearts and fill the Mouths and shine in the Lives of all Believers on his Name and let his Praise fill all the Gospel Worship in all the Churches till the Day of the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2.13 And unto these Wishes let every Believer on and sincere Lover of Jesus Christ say and every one that is such will say Amen So let it be so will it be FINIS