Bashan were given to Israel that they might have a passage to Canaan their Inheritance Deut. 2.30 Deut. 3.1 So God gives the Earth to his People that they may have a passage through it to their Heavenly Country 8. All the Afflictions of Justified persons 1. Are allayed and mitigated Saints do acknowledge that God punishes them less than their Iniquities do deserve Ezra 9.13 the Wind is not so high the Furnace is not so hot the Burden is not so heavy as their sins do Merit yet God as a Father accounts the Sufferings of his People to be too much Isa 40.1 Thou hast received double at the hand of the Lord for thy sins These Sufferings that are not enough to Rigorous Justice are too many to Fatherly Mercy He stops his Hand sheathes his Sword throws away his Rod when yet our Sins call for more Strokes and Stripes He refines us but not with Silver Isa 48.10 he doth not so long keep us in the Furnace of Affliction till our Dross is quite separated and consumed for then our whole life would be nothing else but a Series of Misery and Sufferings 2. Our Afflictions have a new face they are not the fruits of pure Vindictive Justice or Wounds from an Incensed Implacable Judge but Chastisements from a Father who tho' he Corrects in time yet is pacified and reconciled for Eternity Yea Afflictions spring from God's Care of us and Love to us Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth If you endure chastening God dealeth with you as sons Heb. 12.6 7. Those that are without Chastisement are Bastards and not Sons those that are an Illegitimate spurious seed the Father is ashamed to own and acknowledge them or to take any care about their breeding and education and regards not to correct them when they do amiss but a Lawful Posterity are better bred duely taught and timely corrected and God Chastens them with Judgment not in Anger Jer. 10.24 God may be said to Correct with Judgment when he considers their Relation and the Nearness of his People to him Lam. 2.20 Behold O Lord and consider to whom hast thou done this and when God considers rather how little his People can bear than how much they deserve and God hath gracious ends in Afflicting his People 1. That they may not be Condemned and perish with the wicked World 1 Cor. 11.32 We are judged and chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the World 2. God Afflicts to purge away sin to separate us from our dross of Iniquity and sin of Hypocrisie Isa 1.25 this is the fruit and end of Corrections to take away sin Isa 27.9 to drive away that Spiritual folly that is in our hearts God is a Refining Fire that he may not be a consuming fire as a Physitian takes away Blood to allay a Feaver and cure a Disease 3. God designs by Afflictions to make us partakers of his Holiness Heb. 12.10 11. that we might learn more to live to him and be brought more to live on him that we might less solace our selves in the Creature and more delight in himself that we might be more conformed to him and be better fitted to converse with him Though Afflictions are Punishments to the Old Man to pull it down yet they are Mercies to the New Man to build it up A poor Man would quietly suffer his Lord to pull down an old decaying sinking Cottage if he did believe that he designed to raise and build up a strong and better House all Afflictions tend but to wast and extinguish the life of the First Adam in the Body to make room for and to let in the glorious life of Christ into it at the Resurrection 4. This is a weighty and powerful consideration to lessen and lighten the anguish and bitterness of our Afflictions that Justification gives a Fatal and Mortal Blow at the root of them The time is coming when the Inhabitants of Zion shall not any more say that they are sick for their Iniquities shall be forgiven them Isa 33. last God shall wipe away all tears from the eyes of Saints there shall be no more pain sorrow or crying no more Death Revel 21.4 No more Curse Revel 22.3 The days of Saints mourning shall be at an end Isa 60.20 All Afflictions are but short and momentary and therefore but light 2 Cor. 4.17 9. Death is an Advantage to Justified Persons Death is theirs 1 Cor. 3.22 To die is gain Phil. 1.21 In Death the Wicked Fear the greatest evil but the Righteous hope for the greatest good Prov. 14.32 When the Body falls under the Bondage of Corruption the Souls of Believers are perfectly freed from the Bondage of Sin Though it be a Mournful Seed-time to our Flesh it is sown in corruption 1 Cor. 15.42 yet it is a Joyful Harvest to the Spirit for it reaps Everlasting Life Gal. 6.8 Death that is in it self the most terrible thing hath Colour put into its pale Cheeks and it is changed into a comfortable thing Death in Christ is the purchase of all our happiness and Death to Believers is the way to possess it by Christ's Death they are Heirs in Reversion by their own Death they are Heirs in Possession that which utterly impoverishes others greatly enriches them that which kills the Body perfectly cures the Soul When our baser part shall return to the Dust feed Worms dwell in the darkness of the Grave our better part shall be called up to the Marriage Feast to see the Face of God and dwell in glorious Light and Reign in a Blessed Life Christ hath made Death Mortal and threatens to be a Plague a Deadly disease to it and to be Destruction to the Grave Hos 13 14. 10. Justified Persons shall Rise by the Power of Christ their Head and Second Adam 1 Cor. 15.22 His Spirit will find out the Ruines and Rubbish of its old Temple and build it up again as a Glorious and Everlasting habitation for it self Rom. 8.11 in Saints that shall be found alive at the last day mortality shall be swallowed up of life 2 Cor. 5.4 Dead Saints shall be raised and in them Death shall be swallowed up in victory 1 Cor. 15.54 a Body shall be formed up again so the Grave shall lose its Victory this Body shall be animated and alive so Death shall lose its sting 1 Cor. 15.55 when the Soul bears the Image of Christ in Holiness 2 Cor. 3. last and the being in a Glorious Immortality 1 Cor. 15.49 then we shall be satisfied with his likeness Psal 17. last then Christ will give his Members clear and full Evidences of their Adoption Rom. 9.23 when their Bodies shall be redeemed from the Bondage of Corruption and Soul and Body both shall possess a lot in the Heavenly Canaan Dan. 12. last As Saints die to the Lord Rom. 14.8 sleep in him 1 Thes 4.14 so they shall be made alive in Christ 1
Captain of our Salvation is the mighty God Isa 9.6 no Enemy can stand before him or prevail against him no Disease is so strong or malignant but the great Physitian can cure it no Dross cleaves so close to us but he can separate it from us Christ is a refining Fire to his People and a consuming Fire to their Enemies As the first Adam corrupts and defiles inevitably so the second Adam can renew cleanse sanctify irresistibly And infallibly he can speak so as to cause the Deaf and Dead to hear Isa 29.18 John 5.25 He can woo so as to cause himself to be loved and chosen he can draw so as to make Sinners to run to him at first Isa 55.5 and to run after him ever after Cant. 1.4 The spirit of Christ is mighty in its Operations it acts as a spirit of Power it causeth Men to pass under Christ's Pastoral Rod and brings them under the Bond of the Covenant Ezek 20.37 It causeth Men to approach to God and dwell in his House Psal 65.4 It causeth Men to walk in God's ways and to keep his Statutes Ezek. 36.27 This word Cause is observable and emphatical and signifies the spirit's mighty and effectual way of working It doth not only propose Arguments and sollicite the Souls of the Elect in a moral way but renews the Will changes the Heart effectually inclines men to yield to and follow after God The event is not pendulous and uncertain and suspended on Man's free-will but Christ undertakes that his Sheep shall hear his Voice and he will bring them to his Fold John 10.16 4. Christ's Salvation is a full and comprehensive Salvation Luke 1.71 That we should be saved from the Hand of our Enemies and from all that hate us Sin the World and Death are our Enemies 1. Sin is our Enemy Our Lusts do Satan's work if he should stand still James 1.14 15. A Man is tempted and drawn away by his own Lust This is a Body of Death Rom. 7.24 it deforms our Souls as much as Death deforms our Bodies it makes them corrupt putrify and stink in the Nostrils of God it renders us as unactive for God as a dead Carcase is unserviceable to Man it defiles and enslaves our Souls lets us only do dead works Heb. 9.14 such works as are the fruits of spiritual death and the seeds of eternal death Where it prevails and reigneth it causeth us continually to go a whoring from God and to rise up in Rebellion against him it causeth us to lead a life of Vanity here and prepares us for a life of Misery hereafter 2. The World is an Enemy We need the Armour of Righteousness on the Right Hand to secure us from the danger of Prosperity and the Aamour of Righteousness on our Left Hand to guard us from the evil of Adversity 2 Cor. 6.7 Height of Prosperity and depth of Misery Rom. 8.39 are dangerous snares and may prove mortal Enemies to us if Grace doth not prevent The World's Musick is to draw and its Furnace is to drive us from God Satan takes his Bait and fetches his Weapons from some thing in the World How doth it blow up and inflame our Hearts fire and fuel our Lusts How many are made to forget God and to think they have no want and need of him in their Plenty and Abundance Psal 50.22 Job 1.14.15 Job 22.17 Jer. 3.31 3. Death is an Enemy to God's People 1 Cor. 15.26 it strikes them dumb and deprives them of the use of their Tongues in praising God which is their Glory Saints as well as others when they die go down into silence Psal 115.17 Isa 38.18 Death disables us from working for God in a body of Flesh it gives a Quietus est to one half of us and dischargeth it from the service of God The Temple in which the spirit dwelt is now pulled down and sinks into Dust and Ashes and Death that deprives us of so great and glorious an Inhabitant in our Bodies and takes us off from such noble service with our Tongues and Members must needs be our Enemy But Christ saves from these Enemies Sin shall not Reign Rom. 6.14 and in due time it shall cease to be sin and shall be utterly extirpated out of the People of God As Israel's Freedom was begun in the death of the First-born of the Egyptians and was compleated in the drowning of Pharaob and all his Host in the Red Sea so the liberty of Saints is begun in destroying the reign of beloved sins that are the first-born of the Old Man and shall be compleated by the total extirpation and destruction of all sin We are Baptized into the Death and Burial of Christ Rom. 6.3 and we must be made Partakers of the saving Benefit of both Sin shall not only die but also be buried A Dead Man hath lost his Command in the House yet his Carcase may remain in it but when he is to be buried his Corps is carried out and he ceaseth any longer to be in the House So sin shall not only cease to reign but also to be in the soul we shall be washed and free from every spot and wrinkle Ephes 5.25 26 27. 2. The World is foiled and overcome by Christ Joh. 16. last It could not divert or draw him from doing his Father's work and will and this conquered Enemy shall not have strength to captivate and destroy Believers they overcame by the Blood of the Lamb Rev. 12.1 Our victorious Saviour hath purchased conquering Strength and merited Victory for us in the midst of all snares and temptations We are more than Conquerors through the Lord Jesus that hath loved us Rom. 8.39 3. Christ will save his People from Death after this Enemy hath not only swallowed them up but digested them Christ hath abolished Death already in himself and will abolish it also in all his People Hos 13.14 he threatens Death that holds the Rod over and threatens the whole World he menaceth Death that he will be the plague of Death a mortal Disease to it He threatens the Grave that he will destroy it and in due time Triumphant Saints shall sing this Song O Death where is thy sting O Death what hast thou gotten by killing our Bodies they are alive again O Grave where is thy Victory what hast thou gotten by taking away all the shape of a Body and crumbling it into Dust 3ly This Body is now restor'd our Particles of Dust are gathered together and formed into a Body like the glorious Body of Christ 1 Cor. 15.55.57 Phil. 3.21 Christ will in Living Saints at the last day swallow up Mortality of Life 2 Cor. 5.4 and in dead Saints he will swallow up Death into Victory Isa 25.8 2dly There are those that hate Saints and so wicked Men and Satan do they hate them because they bare the Image and live the Life and uphold the interest of God but the wicked cannot kill the Souls of the Saints
all his Glory How was Christ's immensity his omnipotency his eternity his omnisciency vailed by taking a Nature so weak confined to a Place and that did exist but lately and was to grow in Wisdom Luke 2.52 Christ became a Surety a Servant a Sacrifice was made Sin and a Curse to appease God's Wrath and redeem us from Destruction The Son of God was arrested as a Debtor to Divine Justice was arrained as a Criminal sentenced and executed as a Malefactor he hung on an infamous Tree among heinous Sinners he became the Captive of Death and lay in a dark and cold Grave All this Jesus Christ yielded and submitted to for to procure Salvation And shall we despise or neglect a Salvation that was purchased by such an amazing Condescention and such grievous sufferings of the Son of God Shall we undervalue and contemn the Travel of his Soul and the purchase of his Blood If the Ocean had been lessened to a Drop it had not been so much as for the Son of God to be made Man If a Prince should execute Ten Thousand of his Subjects for a Crime it had not been so much as to adjudge his own Son to a cruel death for an Offence so for God's Sword to awake against his only begotten Son was a more strange act of Justice than if he had executed all Mankind And will you not set a Price on that Salvation that is the product of the sorrows and sufferings of the Son of God 2. This Salvation is great considering the greatness of the Evils that we are saved and freed from 1st It is a Salvation from the second Death Rev. 2.11 He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second Death This is the hurting and killing Death the first Death only separates Soul and Body but this Death separates God and the Soul for ever The first Death deprives the Body of any sense or feeling of Pain but this second Death is attended with the most acute sense and feeling of Misery and Torments This Death kills all that is sweet and pleasant and leaves only a Carcase of being a bare Stock for God to graft Sufferings and Torments on It is sad for Men to be only to be miserable For to be a Footstool for God to tread on and a Mark for him to shoot at As Grapes when trod in the Wine-press all that is grateful and delightful is squeez'd out of them only a dry and harsh Husk remains and is left Even so shall it be when Sinners shall be trod in the Wine-Press of the Wrath of God Rev. 19.5 2dly Believers are preserved from a dark and dismal Prison Peter speaks of the Spirits in Prison 1 Pet. 3.19 All light of Joy and Comfort is shut out of this Prison all wo evil and misery is shut up in it This Prison is not only a Place of Confinement but also of Execution here is the Furnace of unquenchable Fire Matth. 3.12 Matth. 13.42 Sinners fall now into the Hands of God immediately Heb. 10.31 The Sovereign Judge executes his own Sentence 3dly Christ saves from a bottomless Pit Hell is so called Rev. 20.3 Sinners shall fall lower and lower and sink deeper and deeper into Misery and never know when they are at the bottom of their Misery they shall never say that now they know the utmost that God can inflict or the worst that they can suffer As in Heaven there will still be new Visions of Glory so in Hell there will be new Scenes of Misery for ever 4thly Christ saves and keeps from a Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone for ever Rev. 20.10.14 This Expression a Lake of Fire and Brimstone alludes to Sodom's Punishment God destroy'd it with Fire and Brimstone from Heaven and turn'd the Place on which Sodom and the other Cities stood into a dead-Sea or standing stinking Lake It is dreadful for Sinners to be drowned in this Lake of Fire and yet never to die Lusts are said to drown Men in Destruction and Perdition 1 Tim. 6.9 and yet they exist and continue to feel this tormenting Fire and Brimstone this Lake of Fire will never ebb away or dry up 5thly All Sorrows Pains Crying Death and any Evil whatsoever shall pass away be remembred no more but be forgotten for ever Rev. 21.4 All the Reproaches of God's People shall cease and their Tears shall be wiped away for ever Isa 25.8 3. This Salvation may well be called great Heb. 2.3 if we consider that Believers not only are freed from the greatest Evils but also enjoy the highest and best Good The Apostle Paul joins everlasting Glory with God's Salvation 2 Tim. 2.10 that the Elect may obtain the Salvation that is in Christ together with Everlasting Glory As Danicl's Three Companions were not only call'd out of and saved from the Fiery Furnace but also promoted and advanced to Honour Dan. 3. last so Saints shall not only be delivered from shame and sufferings but shall wear the Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 sit in the Throne of Christ Rev. 3.21 Reign in Life Rom. 5.17 and shine for ever in the Kingdom of their Father Matth. 13.43 They shall have an Eternal Day made by the Light of God's Countenance an everlasting Feast by the manifestation and displaying of his Love as a Banner over them Believers are Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1.14 and Heirs of the Kingdom James 2.5 Motive 2. We do exceedingly need this Salvation 1. We are Children of Wrath by nature Ephes 2.3 and so Hell is our Inheritance The Wrath of God might descend and be poured out on us as soon as we draw our first Breath in the World the Vessels of Wrath are then fitted for Destruction Rom. 9.22 and it is wonderful Patience that God forbears Sinners so long God had ground for a Controversy just cause for Enmity against us as soon as we were born God then saw the Plague of and the evil Treasure in our Hearts such Tares might have been rooted up such Weeds have been rooted out such corrupt Trees have been cut down long ago Do Men suffer Weeds to grow up and seed 2. We are Children of Disobedience by Practice Ephes 2.2 and so Hell is our Purchase We went astray as soon as we were born Psal 58.3 Our Whorish Hearts have continually departed from the Lord our whole unregenerate estate hath been nothing else but Barrenness and Enmity Idleness and Rebellion Jer. 32.23.30 The Children of Israel are said to have done nothing of all that God commanded them but had only done e-evil and provoked God to Anger The Carnal Mind is Enmity to God is not subject to him nor indeed can be They that are in the Flesh cannot please God Rom. 8.7.8 Sinners only sow the Seeds of their own wo being Fuel to the Fire of God's Anger and fit themselves for Destruction As a Fountain casteth out its Water so they cast forth their wickedness An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart
about their Eternal State Hope is an Anchor cast within the Vale as soon as they set out and begin their Voyage they may cast their Anchor into their Port and Haven and so have their Hearts established Heb. 6.19 2. Those that have hope of this Salvation are supported under Afflictions and Persecutions 2 Tim. 18.9 Partake thou of the Afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God who both saved us and called us As if Paul should say Murmure not at faint not under the Afflictions of the Gospel for God hath saved you from the greatest Enemies and from the worst Evils and all your Afflictions shall turn to your Salvation Phil. 1.19 They shall further advance promote it they shall refine Saints from their Dross wean them from their strange Land and cause them to long more after their Father's House and Heavenly Country Have they any Reason to be discontented whom God loves 1 John 4.59 and that are Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1.14 and of the Kingdom James 2.5 3. These may die with comfort they have hope in Death Prov. 14.32 That which doth shipwrack others shall land them safe on the calm Shores of a Blessed Eternity that which impoverishes others shall enrich them Though Death doth pluck off the Rags of Mortality yet God shall cloath them with Robes of Glory When their Bodies drop down into the Pit their Souls shall be taken up into the Palace when their Flesh feeds Worms their Spirits shall feast with Saints and Angels though God doth kill them yet they may trust he will be their Salvation Joh 13.15 16. When the Eye of Sense shall be shut so that Saints shall no more see Worldly Objects yet then God will shew them his Salvation Psal 91. last They shall see God's Salvation from Sins Temptations Troubles Afflictions they shall see a freedom from Spiritual and Temporal Evils and also be translated into an Eternal Kingdom Christ will receive their departing Souls and be their Guardian and Trustee till the Resurrection O it is sweet when God adds to the Mercies of Sixty Seventy Eighty Years the enjoyment of a blessed Eternity It is Salvation that must crown Old Age with Glory Death is the critical time the Soul must then see Life or Death a Heaven must shine from God's pleasing Countenance or Hell be rained from his angry Face O how sweet is it then to see the truth of God's Promises in the enjoyment of an Eternal Salvation 4. Those interested in this Salvation shall be saved in the Day of the Lord 1 Cor. 5.6 when Sins will find out others and Vengeance will take hold of them then Believers shall be saved O what unexpressible comfort will it be to point out Jesus Christ at the Great Day and to say This is our God we have waited for him and he will save us and we will be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation Isa 25.9 This is a Salvation that will for ever set Souls beyond Gun-shot out of the reach of all Dangers Evils Enemies They shall then fully receive the end of their Faith even an Eternal Salvation 1 Pet. 1.9 Christ will appear unto Salvation to those that look for him Heb. 9. last Then Saints shall be Heirs in full possession of Salvation Heb. 1.14 They shall be redeemed from all Evils or possessed of all goodness be exalted to the Kingdoms and be placed in the Throne I shall lastly give you some Directions how you may be saved 1. You must be enlightned and convinced of your Danger you must see the Evils you are under and the Danger and Destruction you are exposed to Few do think themselves to be condemned to Death and to be sick unto Death That they are Children of Satan and Enemies to God They will not believe that they are captivated by the Devil enslaved by Sin and chained to the World The Scripture teaches us that Men are held Rom. 7.6 and that they are led 1 Cor. 12.2 they are held in the Snares of Sin and led by Satan Their Lusts are Bonds their depraved Wills and corrupt Affections are the Chains that the Devil leads them by Men discourse see or discern what are the true Evils that they should be saved from they are not sensible of the blindness and vanity of their Minds the deceit and desperate wickedness of their Hearts That their Wills are perverse and rebellious and the greatest Enemies to God and their own Souls They will account that Troubles Afflictions Reproaches Wants and Death are Evils but they do not perceive that their greatest Evils and worst Enemies are within themselves A Root of Bitterness an evil Treasure a Body of Death a Fountain of Iniquity that is in their Souls But Sinners must know what first cleaves to them abide in them do defile and deform their Souls and testify against them before God Isa 59.12 Our Transgressions are with us and as for our Iniquities we know them Yea Men have no liking of that which is the true Salvation Saints are said to love God's Salvation Psal 70.4 but a Carnal Creature doth not love but loath God's Salvation to be delivered from his false Notions his vain Thoughts his corrupt Opinions his inordinate love of himself and of the Creatures to be taken off from his sensual Pleasures carnal Delights to be brought to give his Heart to God set his Love on Christ to delight in Spiritual Future Invisible things this is a Salvation he dreads and hates and if he could go to Heaven with this vain Mind and carnal Heart it would be a place of Exile and of Punishment to him You must see your Danger that you are as Isaac bound laid on the Altar and ready to be sacrificed as a whole Burnt-Offering in the Flames of Wrath. You must hear the just dreadful Sentence Matth. 18.25 The Lord commanded the Debtor to be sold and Payment to be made It is dreadful to be sold into the Prison into a Place of Eternal Bondage Your Heart must be broken your Spirit wounded your Soul burdened under the sense of the guilt and filth of Sin else you will not have a due value of the Doctrine and Promise of Salvation 1 Tim. 1.15 We must account it worthy of all acceptation more valuable than all the Riches Pleasures Honours of the World If a Man were sinking and drowning he would not regard a Bag of Gold or a Box of Diamonds but prefer a Cord cast out to save him a Boat to take him in more than all the things of the World Believe that your Condition is exceeding bad and dangerous Lot's Wife looked back as one that doubted whether Sodom would be destroyed and Lots Sons in Law could not believe that the danger of Sodom was so great and its Destruction so near Gen. 19.14 So Sinners believe not that to be Carnally minded is Death that they that live after the Flesh shall die that they that are far off from God shall perish Psal 73.27
thing The word intimates that Christ so Covers Sin that it is never more to be seen It is so Blotted out by his Blood that it is never more to be Read so Drowned that it is never more to appear Christ by his once Offering hath perfected for ever them that are Sanctified and put an end to all Sacrifices for Sin Heb. 10.14 17 18. Fifthly That Christ so suffered for Sin that in a short time he removed the Guilt of it Zech. 3.9 God saith he would remove the Iniquity of that Land in one day O! How wonderful is this that Guilt which had been contracting Sins that had been committing many Hundreds yea some Thousands of years that these should be satisfied for in one day and should be so soon purged away Heb. 1.3 That what Sinners had been Writing Hundreds of years that Christ should blot it out in one day When Sins had long cried loud and clamoured in the Ears of God that all these should be stilled and silenced in one day Sixthly For Christ by Tasting death but part of three days to abolish it for ever 2 Tim. 1.10 by a short course of Obedience to bring in everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9.24 and by Temporary Sufferings to obtain an Eternal Redemption Heb. 9.12 this none could do but Jehovah Incarnate In the Sacrifices of the Law there was a Remembrance again of Sins every year Heb. 10.3 though there were Sacrifices offered daily to make Atonement for Sin and a Multitude of these were slain in a Year yet on the Day of Atonement that came the Tenth Day of the Seventh Moneth every Year there was a Solemn Confession and Remembrance of Sins again Levit. 16.21 27 29. which evidences the weakness and imperfection of all the Legal Sacrifices that they could never take away Sin or make the comers to those Sacrifices perfect Heb. 10.11 but Christ by one Offering perfects us for ever Heb. 10.14 Christ's one Sacrifice was the Truth and Substance of all the Sacrifices of the Law of the Burnt-offering 1 John 29. of the Sin-offering 2 Cor. 5.21 of the Trespass-offering Isa 53.10 Christ made his Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Trespass-offering Therefore on the account of this one perfect Sacrifice God saith he will remember Sins and Iniquities no more Heb. 10.17 Hence it is very rightly inferred very justly concluded where Remission of Sins is there is no more Offering for Sin 3. The Benefits that we receive by Christ's doing and suffering the will of God do Evidence that Christ is our Righteousness and our only Righteousness 1. It was Jesus Christ that gave his Life a Ransome for many Matth. 20.28 we did not contribute towards it or make up any part of it We cannot give to God a Ransom for our Bodies to prevent Temporal Death Psal 49.78.9 How then could we provide a Ransome for our Souls to prevent Eternal Death we could not satisfie Justice that our Bonds might be loosed our Prison door opened as God the Father found out the way of Redemption Job 33.24 I have found a Ransome So God the Son paid the Ransome and found Eternal Redemption Heb. 9.12 He gave his Flesh for the Life of the World John 6.51 he was slain and Redeemed us to God by his Blood Revel 5.9 As the Ram was the Ransom of Isaac Gen. 22.12 13. Abraham's hand was staid the Life of Isaac was spared and the Ram was offered up in stead of him So we were bound with Chains of Guilt the Justice of God was ready to give us the Fatal Stroke the Mortal Wound we were under the Sentence of death and knew not how we should be preserved but then Jesus Christ was substituted in our Room and this Lamb of God was offered as a Ransome for us therefore our Righteousness is wholly of him 2. We do not feed on or live by Food of our own providing but Christ is Living Bread and Bread of Life to us John 6.48.50 51. He came down from Heaven that we might eat and not die Christ speaks of a double giving John 6.51 First He gave his Flesh upwards in Sacrifice to God his Father so he gave his flesh for the Life of the World Secondly he gives it downwards as Food and Sustenance to us There is neither Sacrifice for God or Bread for us to be found in this lower World but both must come down from Heaven By our Fall and Apostacy from God we have brought our selves into a Barren Spiritual Wilderness as the Israelites when they came out of Egypt into the Wilderness they could not subsist there but by an extraordinary and Miraculous Provision that God made for them God Rained down Manna from the Clouds and fed the Israelites with the Corn of Heaven Psal 78.24 But Christ may more truly and properly be called the Corn of Heaven This very Bread did first spring up in the Mind and grow in the Heart of God he laid the great Design of a Spiritual Feast for fainting and famishing Souls He Predestinated Jesus Christ to be a Sacrifice to himself and Food to us This is a great and wonderful Mystery of Grace that Bread should come down from Heaven to Nourish us Bread should naturally Grow out of the Earth for our Souls as well as for our Bodies Our Righteousness should spring and grow out of our selves and be wrought by our selves but none of us have any thing of our own to relieve our selves with to subsist upon or to keep our selves alive by Psal 22.29 none could keep alive his own Soul we were ready to perish with Famine as the Prodigal Luke 15.17 Now what astonishing Kindness is this that Jesus Christ should be a Sacrifice that Sinners might have a Feast on him 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Believers are made Spiritual Priests Revel 1.6 and this is their Priviledge Honour and Happiness that they have an Altar to eat off Heb. 13.10 In the Times of the Law none might eat of a Sacrifice that was offered for their Sins if the Priest offered Sacrifice for his own Sins he might not eat of any part of it Levit. 8.10 11. those Sacrifices offered for Sin did not yield any Food or Sustenance to the Worshippers that brought them This did evidence and argue their weakness and imperfection that they could not feed or nourish those that brought them Levit. 6.30 it is ordained that no Offering whereof any of the blood is brought into the Tabernacle of the Congregation to reconcile withall in the Holy Place shall be eaten it shall be burnt in the fire But this is the Excellency of Christ's Sacrifice that though he was made Sin and a Trespass-offering yet we are called to Feed on and Eat his Body that was broken and Sacrificed for us Matth. 26.26 1 Cor. 11.24 25. There is still Food on Christ our Altar it is never empty The Altar was called God's Table Mal. 1.12 Ezek. 41.22 and the Sacrifice is called his Meat God did as it were Feed at
Criminals are sowed up and sealed up in a bag to be produced at the Trial of an Offender so are the Sins of Men Job 14.17 So many Sins as Men have committed and are unpardoned so many witnesses have they provided against the day of their Trial. Jer. 14.7 O Lord our Iniquities testifie against us Read Isa 59.12 Our Sins are not only as dead records but as living witnesses not only as matter of accusation but as accusers they cry to Heaven to kindle wrath against us and pluck down vengeance on us Gen. 18.20 21. Sodom's Sins did cry to Heaven against it Little do Sinners think that they are daily filling Gods Book with complaints and accusations and filling his Treasury with Wrath and piling up Fuel to burn and Torment themselves It is nothing else but the speaking Blood of Christ that can stop the mouths of these witnesses and silence the clamours of their Sins 7. Every Sin deserves Eternal death Rom. 6. last Death is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wages of Sin The word signifies Soldiers wages Luke 3.14 They that cleave to Satan as their General that stay in his Tents Fight on his side against God shall have Eternal death as wages paid to them Tribulation is due to the Body Anguish to the Soul and Conscience of every Transgressor Rom. 2.9 God will repay fury Isa 59.18 he will render anger to his adversaries Isa 66.15 8. Consider there is Judgement to come Heb. 6.2 God seeth all Mens Provocations Hos 5.3 Prov. 15.3 Jer. 13. last And he will be a swift witness against them Mal. 3.5 God hath not in vain Registred the Sins of Men the Book of God and the Eye of the Soul shall be opened no Sin shall be forgotten Amos 8.7 all shall be brought to light Eccles 11.9 1 Cor. 4.5 and be brought into Judgment Eccles 12.14 There will not only be a Resurection of Bodies but a Reviving and Remembrance of Sins If your Sins are not pardoned but remain before God's Face Psal 90.8 They will shortly be reviewed by God and set in order before your face Psal 50.21 If you inherit the Sins of your whole life Job 13.26 you will be Heires of Shame Misery and Eternal Torments 2. Motive Consider what great advantages we have in these times of the Gospel as to a participation of this Righteousness of God 1. It is now wrought out and perfected Jesus Christ hath been a Faithful High-Priest Heb. 2.17 And a Righteous servant Isa 53.11 God devolved the greatest trust on Christ and he undertook took the hardest and most noble work even to make Restitution to God for the wrong we had done him and to make Reconciliation for us to appease the Wrath we had provoked and to divert form us the Punishment we had deserved The Jews thought of old that their High-Priest was trusted with their greatest concerns and for fear he should be a Sadducee or out of heedlessness neglect any part of his Office on the day of Atonement they used Solemnly to swear him to a full and faithful discharge of his Office in the great Work of that day But our Lord Jesus Christ was by fervent love to his Father and his People Heartily and throughly engaged in this great Work he undertook and hath fully discharged it He glorified God on Earth he finished the Work he gave him to do John 17.4 He would not dye till he could say all was finished John 19.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How honourable a word is this to Christ And how Comfortable a word is this to us Jesus Christ as the slain Goat did bear our Sins and as the Scape-Goat he did bear them away As God did lay Sins on Christ Isa 53.6 so he purged them Heb. 1.3 and put them away He hath been a most Righteous servant to God his very Sufferings that in a Moral sence were Punishments yet in a Legal sence were Righteousness Jesus Christ is perfected himself Heb. 5.9 And he hath by one Offering for ever perfected us Heb. 10.14 There is signal evidence and demonstration that Jesus Christ hath finished his Work for he could not else have confidently commended and committed his Soul to his Father Luke 23.46 He would not else have been welcome to him and Received by him John 16.10 The World was to be convinced of Christ's Righteousness by this argument that he did go to the Father and they did see him no more on Earth How could he have ventured into the glorious Presence of God if he had not Righteously performed what he undertook Would not the Father have sent him back again into the World if he had omitted or left any thing undone But Christ saith he should be seen on Earth no more in the form of a Servant to do any Work in a state of Humiliation 2. The Father Raised him up from the Dead 1. Pet. 1.21 He Released our Surety out of the Prison of the Grave which he would not have done if the debt had not been fully paid Therefore an Angel came down from Heaven to roll away the Stone from Christ's Grave Matth. 28.2 This was an Officer from the great Judge of Heaven and Earth to free our surety and to evidence that God was satisfied and did allow Christ's Resurrection 3. The Father exalted Jesus Christ by his own right Hand Acts 5.31 And gave him Glory that we might be encouraged and emboldened from thence to act our Faith and hope in God 1 Pet. 1.21 4. Jesus Christ is sat down at the Right Hand of God in the Heavenly Sanctuary Heb. 1.3 Heb. 12.2 What an honour was this to our High-Priest to sit down in the true Holy of Holies When the High-Priest under the Law might not sit down in the Typical Holy of Holies And Christ's siting down did shew he had done his Work and might now take his rest This the Apostle makes the great difference between Christ and the Priests of the Law If they stood dayly Ministring and Offering Sacrifices that could never take away Sin But Christ When he had Offered one Sacrifice for ever be sat down on the Right Hand of God Heb. 10.11 12. The Priests of the Law did go on in their Ministry they stood Offering Sacrifices their Work was never at an end they could never sit down But Christ hath Finished his Work and therefore is sat down and expects that all his Enemies shall be made his Footstool Heb. 10.13 5. Jesus Christ as he is released so he Preaches the opening of the Prison to us Isa 61.1 God's Prison is not Forced or Broken but opened in a Righteous way our Ransom being paid Matth. 20.28 Christ therefore now comes to the Prison-door and saith to the Prisoners Come forth you that were hid in Prisondarkness now shew your selves and appear with boldness and confidence in the Heavenly Sanctuary Isa 49.9 2. The Righteousness of Christ is now brought Dan. 9.24 To bring Everlasting Righteousness Eternal Redemption is now
How much are Men dismayed and terrified at the Thoughts of Death Therefore they are very unwilling to step beyond Death in their thoughts or to Travel into Eternity in their Meditations They Fear to meet with a terrible Host of Sins an Ocean of Wrath a Lake of Fire and Brimstone They bode no good to themselves at their departure out of this World God the great Creditor Records their debts and Conscience his Officer doth sometimes charge them and arrest their Souls They have no Spiritual Balsom then to heal their wounds No arm to lean on to support their Souls None to roll away the Burden of their Guilt to pacify or quiet their accusing and condemning Conscience To Bail them when they are arrested for a debt of Ten thousand Talents they cannot look inward but they see an Evil Treasure and a Conscience loaded with Dead Works They cannot look upward but they see God's frowning Face and Fiery Throne They cannot look forward but they see a deep pit a dark Prison and Revenging Justice armed for their destruction The Covenant of Works is a continual Root of doubts and feares Legalists are still questioning and asking Who shall descend into the Deep to satisfy them That the Gates of Hell are shut that they shall not enter by and pass through them into the Regions of Darkness and Misery Or they inquire Who shall ascend up to Heaven to assure them that the Doer of Heaven is open to let them into Glory Rom. 10.6 7. They have still perplexed minds and anxious thoughts they cannot see themselves secured from a Miserable or assured of a Blessed Eternity They fear they shall make a ruining and undoing change be totally Shipwrackt and cast away Body and Soul for ever They cannot totally suppress the thoughts of Eternity or Comfortably entertain them They can neither stupify nor pacifie Conscience How often are Sinners terribly awakened and alarm'd when Death looks them in the Face O! what a bitter cry of Destruction do they then lift up Isa 15.5 All their Sins as the adversaries of Zion once did Lam. 1.31 do overtake them between the Straits when they walk through the narrow Valley of the shadow of death as Jesus Christ himself was in an Agony near his end Luke 22.44 When he saw what an Host of Infernal Enemies he must Fight through what an Ocean of Wrath he must Swim through this put him into a Bloody sweat When he beheld the Frowning Face of God the Fiery Throne and the Flaming Sword of Justice this drew strong Cryes and Teares from Christ Heb. 5.7 So if Sinners be not stupified if they see themselves going to an Eternal execution that they will be ever Suffering and never die That there will still be Food for an Everlasting Worm and Fuel for an Eternal Fire This will fill them with Consternation and Horrour Condemned Transgressors must bear their Iniquities yet cannot stand or bear up under this load They cannot stay yet dare not to depart they cannot hide yet are not fit to appear they must stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ Rom. 14.10 yet cannot stand in the Judgement Psal 1.5 They must appear before that Tribunal Cor. 5.10 where yet they cannot Confidently or Comfortably appear 1 Pet. 4.18 They dread the next step they shall take when out of the Body where their Lot will fall and what their Treatment will be to Eternity Beleivers indeed do confidently commit and commend their Soules into the Hands of their Redeemer Psal 31.5 But wicked Men full sorely against their wills must fall into the Hands of an angry Creditor and of an inexorable Judge Heb. 10.31 They must answer for their own Sins there is no other to pay their Debts Satisfie for their Offences Plead for their Reconciliation All their Iniquities will overtake them in another World and meet them at the Tribunal of God None of them are blotted out or passed over God hath Sworn by himself he will never forget any of them Amos 8.7 God will open the Treasury of his Wrath and shut up the Bowels of his Mercy he will remember Iniquity and therefore forget to be Gracious God will enter into Judgement with Sinners and stand up to plead against them Isa 3.13 14. Delinquents must appear Criminals must be brought unto Judgement Eccles 11.9 and all their thoughts words and actions must appear and be brought into Judgement Eccles 12. last God will pass a Just Condemning Sentence and terribly Execute it on them As the Sun was Eclypsed and darkness covered the Earth when Christ Died so the Gracious Countenance of God will be Eternally Eclypsed towards Sinners Christ met with Affronts Indignities Blowes before the Tribunal of Men And what must Sinners look for at the Tribunal of God Jesus Christ was denied any refreshment when he thirsted So Sinners shall not obtain a drop to cool their scorched tongues Luke 16.22 23 24 25. As the Waters did persue all that were out of the Ark till they were drowned So Sin shall hunt persue find out and overtake Sinners for their Eternal Destruction Psal 140.11 Ezek. 35.63 Numb 2.23 All that is grateful and sweet in the being of Sinners shall be consumed yet they themselves shall still exist to suffer more Punishment and Torment God's Controversie with Sinners will never be at an end His Sword will never be sheathed The dreadful storm of Vengeance will never cease God's Eternity will be dreadful for he ever lives to punish and the Soul 's own Immortality will be terrible to it For it shall ever exist to be punished So that Sinners would rather sleep in the dust for ever than to have a Resurection to Condemnation John 5.28 and had rather be annihilated than suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire If departing Souls did see whither they were going and know what they must suffer Would not their Chambers sound with these dreadful words We must dwell with Everlasting Fire we must inhabit with Eternal Burnings 8. It is bad not to have Christ to be our Righteousness if we consider how many foolish devices sinners seek out to quiet and ease their Consciences and yet by all these they do but delude and cheat their Souls Some Fast often eat course Food wear Hair-cloth Whip themselves severely lie on the Ground Those that have not rest in Christ they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are still walking about in devices and inventions of their own Heb. 13.9 to pacifie God the Judge and to bribe Conscience his Officer How woful is the Case of some ignorant Protestants of the blind Papists of the deluded Jews the deceived Mahumetans and Heathens Papists think by severity and cruelty to their Bodies to expiate the sins of their Souls Some go in Pilgrimage to the Images of Saints some build Churches and Chappels and appoint Priests to Pray for their Souls while they live in Sensual Pleasures and serve their Lusts Some endow Religious Houses with Lands that
no hurt but good for their Bonds were broken or consumed Dan. 3.23.25 And is it not as great a Miracle of Grace that Believers walk with God that is a consuming Fire Heb. 12. last and yet have no hurt but good God is for them Rom. 8.31 How low did Jesus Christ stoop that he might be the Lord our Righteousness He thus represents his own Sufferings Psal 22.14 I am poured out like water this seems to point at his Bloody Sweat on the ground All my bones are out of Joint This did intimate that Christ's Body was so stretched out and extended on the Cross that all his bones were put out of Joint He further complains that his Heart was melted as wax within him and this was by the sence he had of the Heat and Fire of Gods Wrath. The Manna which came down from Heaven was ground in a Mill or beaten in a Mortar and then baked in a pan to be Food for the Israelites Numb 11.8 So Jesus Christ was Bruised Isa 53.10 as Manna in the Mill or Mortar yea this Lamb of God was rosted in the Fire of his Father's Wrath Exod. 12.8 9. The Sacrifices of the Law were not only killed but burnt afterwards which was a kind of second death to them Levit. 1.13 yea there were whole burnt Offerings Psal 51.19 and this whole Burnt-Offering did signifie not only that Christ's Body was wounded but his Soul did suffer and was made an Offering for Sin Isa 53.10 The sense that Jesus had of his Fathers displeasure and forsaking of him was a kind of second death to Christ As Adam was a Criminal cast out of paradice so Christ was as a prisoner led out of the Garden to suffer Death He became a Servant that he might Justifie us Isa 53.11 O how would this affect our Souls that where we deserved all the Creatures should be withdrawn and should serve us no more as God threatens Hos 2.8 9 10. That when the Lord of Glory should take on him the form of a servant 2 Phil. 6.7 8. we deserved that the Flower and the Wine-press would feed us no more Hos 8.2 yet that then the Son of God should come down from Heaven to feed us with his Flesh and chear us with his Blood John 6.53 54 55.57 Flesh is weak and because of this Christ is said to be Crucified through weakness 2 Cor. 13.4 yet this Flesh of Christ is set forth by bread that strengthens Man's Heart Psal 104.15 Christ's Blood is figured by Wine in his last Supper Though the Blood of Christ was shed with unexpressible Anguish and Pain yet this is set forth by Wine that chears Man's Heart Psal 104.15 Our strength comes out of the weakness our comfort comes out of the Sorrow of Christ Christ was the true Rock smitten by the Rod of Moses the Curse of the Law As that Rock being smitten did cleave so Christ being smitten with the Curse his Soul and Body did part that water of Life might flow forth to us and that we might enter in and dwell safely in him Cant. 2.14 O my Dove that art in the clefts of the Rock We had vastly run in debt with God and that God should pay himself out of the Sufferings and Blood of his Son We had proudly exalted our selves against God and that Christ should debase himself so low to satisfie for our pride and that his Self-denial should make a Recompence to God for our Self-seeking We dishonoured God Reproached Blasphemed him as a poor portion as a hard Master as a Righteous Law-giver And how wonderful is that the Reproaches wherewith we Reproached God should fall on Christ Rom. 15.3 4. Though we are Justified so Freely yet so Righteously The Mercy-seat that covers the Curse of the Law is sprinkled with Christ's Blood Levit. 16.13 14. We are Justified through the Redemption that is in Christ Rom. 3.24 The prison is opened to them that were bound because the Life of Christ is given as a Ransom Matth. 20.28 Christ died as a Testator that we might not be executed as Criminals and Malefactors When Christ became a Testator he stript himself as it were of all good Peace Liberty and exposed himself to all Evil to Sufferings Pain Reproaches and Death it self and all this was to enrich us 2 Cor. 8.9 and that all good things might come to us in a Righteous way that all Blessings might Swim to us in the Blood of our Testator Christ would have had nothing to give to us if he had not bought off our Transgressions from us and purchased all good for us As Moses lifted up his Rod over it and the Red Sea was divided Exod. 14.16.21 So we may by Faith lift up the Cross of Christ over the deep Sea of the Wrath of God and it will divide and give us passage to the Heavenly Canaan Grace shall Reign through Christ's Righteousness to Eternal Life Rom. 5. last 5. What Praise doth this call for that God and Christ do so often call us and so earnestly invite us to come into this Righteousness of the Son of God Come to me all ye that Labour and are heavy Laden and I will give you rest Matth. 11.28 Look unto me all the ends of the Earth and be saved Isa 45.22 Christ tells us that This is the Work of God that you Believe on him whom he hath sent John 6.29 This is the great Work that God requires and is best pleased with It is a pleasure to Christ to see his Seed and to behold the Travel of his Soul Isa 35.11 This satisfies Christ when he seeth Souls Feed on the Bread that he gives to wash in the Fountain he hath opened and to use Remedies he hath provided and to put on the garment of Righteousness he hath prepared He hungers after the Justification and Salvation of Men and he is satisfied when Sinners trust on him for Justification and look to him for Salvation That Christ doth thrust forth Labourers into his Harvest to reap perishing Sinners though they are under many fears difficulties dangers discouragments yet Christ thrusts them out into his Harvest Matth. 9. last And then doth charge his servants by their earnest importunity to compel guests to come in Luke 14.23 God's pleasure hath been fulfilled in Bruising of Christ and now it is God's pleasure that Men should listen to and obey his call and run to Christ O that it should be the pleasure of God to Bruise Christ and to Heal us to Condemn Christ and to Justifie us O that it should be the pleasure of the Lord to exercise Severity on Christ and extend Mercy to us Christ charges his Servants by their earnest importunity to compel Guests to come into his Feast Luke 14.23 Famishing Sinners do not feel their wants and they do not press into Christ's House but the Servants are commanded by urgent and continual Solicitations to compel them Christ would have his House filled with Guests and his Provisions
Jehovah our Righteousness OR THE JUSTIFICATION OF Believers BY THE Righteousness of Christ only Asserted and Applyed IN SEVERAL SERMONS By Samuel Comlyns A. M. A Minister of the Gospel in Marleborough LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Sign of the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside near Mercer's Chappel To the Most Illustrious WILLIAM Duke of Bedford Grace Mercy and Peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ May it please Your Grace I Cannot forget your Grace's Kindness and Bounty to me in a Troublesome time of Persecution from Man and a Dark-day of Visitation from God when by a Disease I was brought near the brink of the Grave In Gratitude I offer your Grace a Discourse of that Everlasting Righteousness which we have in Christ and of that Eternal Salvation we enjoy by him Some may be wrapt up in the Skirt of Providence as the Hair in the Skirt of Ezekiel's Garment Ezek. 5.3 4. for a few years yet at last be brought forth and be cast into the Eternal Fire of God's Wrath 2 Thes 8 9. It will be sad to have a Reprieve for time and then to feel a dreadful Execution for Eternity but through the Righteousness of Christ God may not only as a Patient Creditor forbear us for years but as a Righteous Judge justify and discharge us for ever Diogenes Laertius in vita Socratis tells us That Apollodorus brought Socrates a Rich Garment to put on and Die in I here Present to your Grace the Glorious Garment of Christ's Righteousness both to Live on and to Die in Our blind Ancestours at a dear rate purchased a Monk's Habit to be Buryed in but I here tender to your Grace the Beautiful Habit of our Great High-Priest to Adorn and Secure your Soul for Time and Eternity The builders of Spiritual Babel are strangely confounded in their Language they deny the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness yet promise their Benefactors that they will Communicate to them the Merits of their Order Sir Edwyn Sands in his Religion of the West Relates That he heard a Capuchin Preach and that in his Sermon as a high act of Charity he said That he would divest himself of all his Merits and put them on the Congregation that heard him but he himself would stand before God as the greatest Sinner of them all But what a high strain of Pride is this to deny the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness and yet allow the Imputation of their own Merits to others as if Sackcloth could Adorn but not the Son of Righteousness Tucquet in his Spanish History informs us That Philip the Second King of Spain was when Sick directed to take a Crucifix in one hand and a Candle Consecrated to the Virgin Mary that is worshipped at Monserat in the other hand and in this posture to meet Death the King of Terrors But is it not infinitely better that the Lively Picture of Christ Crucified as drawn in the Gospel should be before the eyes of our Minds and the Son of Righteousness be grasped and held fast in the Hand of Faith that Death may be disarmed of its Sting and divested of its Terror The Doctrine of Justification asserted in this Treatise is opposed by many Socinians deny the Death of Christ to be the Price of our Redemption Others seem to over-look the Active Obedience of Christ as it were not the matter of our Righteousness The Apostle saith That Christ was made under the Law to Redeem us Gal. 4.4 5. This expression made under the Law is not to be Restrained to Christ's being made under the Curse of the Law the Phrase is otherwise taken in the same Chapter Gal. 4.21 You that desire to be under the Law Surely the Jews did not desire to be under the Curse of the Law but under the Commands of the Law as a Covenant We are poor and weak as well as guilty Creatures we need not only that Christ by enduring the Curse on the Cross should reverse the Sentence of Death but also that he should obey the Law and so take it off from us as a Covenant of Life If the Sentence of death should be abrogated for the time past and the Law stand in force as a Covenant of Life for the time to come our State would be hopeless and desperate Some account Faith to be too small and mean a thing for us to be Justified by as Naaman thought Washing in the Waters of Jordan to be too slight a Meanes to cure him of his Leprosy 2 Kings 5.11 12. and therefore by Faith they understand all Obedience to the Gospel that flowes from it as when the Jews lost the Spiritual meaning of the Sacrifices as they did Typifie Christ Isa 53.10 they thought the Offering of a Beast to be a cheap Sacrifice therefore they would arise higher and Offer the First-Fruit of their Body for the Sin of their Soul Micah 6.7 So when some consider not or over-look the Office of Faith as it is an Instrument to receive Christ and his Righteousness for Justification they debase Faith as a mean thing and Introduce all New Obedience as the condition of Justification This is to make a Gospel Justification like a Legal Justification wherein Men's own obedience was the Matter of their Righteousness and the condition of their Justification The Wrath of God is Revealed from Heaven against us for our Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness Rom. 1.18 And how might our hearts sink if the Righteousness of God were not Revealed in the Gospel for our Comfort and Support * Cartwright Some distinguish between the Righteousness of the Law and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.4 Phil. 3.9 The Righteousness of the Law is in some Measure fulfilled in Saints as they have Graces and do Actions in some measure conformable to the Law but yet the Scripture denies and disavows Christians having the Righteousness that is of the Law that is such a perfect and compleat Righteousness as the Law requires for Justification But it is the Righteousness of God that we must fly to and take hold of for Justification It is this Righteousness that gives us ground to conclude that God will turn again and have compassion on us Micah 7.19 and that he will not return to destroy us Hos 11.9 God will not execute the Fierceness of his Anger but express the Heat and Height of his Love in adopting us into his Family setting us at the Table to Feast and placing us in the Throne to Reign with Christ Luke 22.29 30. Rev. 3.21 We cannot break through an Host of sins and get to the Fountain of Life or venture into the Presence of God that is a Consuming Fire if we are not Armed with this Righteousness That your Grace may continually come into this Righteousness as your Fortress and Castle Live on it as your most precious Food and generous Cordial and at last be found in it as your Glorious Garment is the
us that he who hath imposed righteous Commands on us and hath denounced for our disobedience righteous Threatnings against us should to secure and preserve us or be made Righteousness to us This is admirable and wonderful that Jehovah should provide a Laver to wash us and work out a Righteousness to cloath and adorn us This is such a rare and stupendious thing that the Son of God by this gracious Condescention to us by this merciful Provision for us hath acquired a new honourable and everlasting Name The Words afford us two Points of Doctrine 1. That in Christ's Days Judah and Israel Jew and Gentile shall be most eminently and signally saved 2. That Jesus Christ is and shall be called the Lord our Righteousness Doct. 1. That in Christ's Days Judah and Israel Jew and Gentile shall be most eminently saved For the prosecuting of this Doctrine 1. I shall shew you what Days are meant and intended by the Days of Christ 2. What this Salvation is that shall be given forth in his Days 3. Why Salvation is by way of Excellency said to be bestowed in his days and then more eminently communicate 1. What days are meant by the Days of Christ Ans The Days that begin from the incarnation of the Son of God and continue and run on to his second coming these in Scripture are called his Days Psal 72.7 In his Days shall the Righteous flourish and these days are Long days for it followeth and an abundance of Peace there shall be as long as the Moon endureth So that the days of the Messiah do run parralel with the Moon as to their duration God had promised to him that he should prolong his Days and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his Hand Isa 53.10 It is a wonderful Condescention that he whose goings forth were from everlasting and was ancienter than days should take an Humane Nature and live a life in it that should be measured by days The Time since Jesus Christ was exhibited and manifested to the World is called his days 2. What is this Salvation that Jesus Christ bestoweth I shall shew you 1. The Nature 2ly The Properties and Adjuncts of this Salvation I shall first explain the Nature of it This Salvation hath two parts 1. A Privative 2. A Positive part 1. A Privative part It is Salvation from the most dreadful Evils 1. It is Salvation from Sin Matth. 1.21 thou shalt call his Name Jesus for he shall save his People from their Sins 2 Tit. 14. he gave himself to redeem us from all Iniquity His Blood is the precious Red Ink to blot out our Transgressions and the most wonderful Red Seas to drown the Spiritual Egyptians the Host of our Iniquities in Christ was but baptized in the deep Waters of sorrow and sufferings but he drowned for ever all our sins God made war with Christ to make peace with us Zech. 13.7 God saves by Remission of Sins Luke 77. and by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.4 5. God made him an instance of Severity that we might be eternal Monuments of Mercy 2. Christ saves from wrath Jesus delivers from the wrath to come 1 Thes 1. last Being justified by his Blood we shall be saved from wrath through him Rom. 5.9 The Apostle doth not mention whose wrath but means the wrath of God This wrath is so formidable and terrible that all other wrath is as nothing doth not deserve the Name of wrath it is but a false or painted Fire a Bubble an empty Name and sound God can array all the Creatures as his Hosts in Heaven and Earth to fight against Sinners He can awaken and stir up Conscience to accuse and condemn the Sinner and so make him both a Burden and a Terrour to himself God can remember and set all our Trangressions before our Sight and fix our Eyes on this dreadful and dismaying Object that they shall never divert or look off from it God can pursue Sinners with punishment in this world and meet them with more dreadful vengeance in another World he can strike and support the Criminal at once he can blow up the Fire of his Anger and preserve the Souls and Bodies of Sinners to be eternal Fuel to it he can make extremity and eternity of Misery to meet in the same Person It is amazing wrath to make a bundle of Tares to subsist and continue in the Furnace for ever to be immortal Fuel to an eternal Fire It is from this dreadful wrath that Jesus Christ saves his People 2. There is a positive part of this Salvation 1. Jesus Christ saves and quickens us The Dead hear the Voice of the Son of God and they that hear it shall live John 5.25 As God breathed the Breath of Life into Adam's formed Body and he became a living Soul Gen. 2.7 so Christ breathed on his Apostles and said Receive you the Holy Ghost John 20.22 the Life of Saints is a Beam of and a stream from the Life of Christ Eccl. 2.20 How noble is their Life They live by Christ's living in them through the Spirit they are ingrafted into Christ are Branches of the true Tree of Life they are in him who is the true God and Eternal Life 1 John 5.20 2ly Christ saves them and builds them Zech. 6.12 13. The Branches should grow up out of his Place and he should build the Temple of the Lord we fell and were ruined in and by Adam and we lay in Ruines and Rubbish till Christ doth lift up his Feet to our Desolations doth with Pity behold and in Mercy raise up our Ruins Satan dwells in and rejoices over these Ruins Those that are pulled down with respect to God may be said to be built up with respect to Satan as Ruins of a House are of no use to us so ruined Creatures are altogether unprofitable to God Rom. 12. O this is great Mercy for Satan to be dispossed and ejected and for Souls to be framed as a holy House and to be built up as a Spiritual Temple for God to inhabit and be worshipped in Those that are God's Temples are animated by his Spirit and are filled with his Glory at once they are framed to be a Habitation for God and fitted to be Inhabitants with him in the Heavenly Jerusalem 3. Christ saves waters and improves our dry Ground our Barren Land Isa 44.3 God saith he will pour water on him that is thirsty and Floods on the dry Ground And God thus explains the meaning of this Metaphor I will pour my Spirit on thy Seed and my Blessing on thy Off-spring We are by Nature a wretched dry and barren piece of Ground we did ly upon improvement to none but to the Heavenly Husbandman it was the second Adam only that could enrich such a hungry and dry Ground he that can give the Spirit as Rivers of Living Water John 7.37 38 39. He invites Sinners to come and drink
Thirsty Souls may here drink in the very Fountain of Grace the Spirit and so be enabled to send forth Spiritual Rivers to stretch and solace others Christ can cultivate and manure the Wilderness cause it to be well watered Isa 35.6 7. and so to become a pleasant Eden a delightful and fruitful Paradise to God as God had a River in the Clouds to improve and enrich Canaan Psal 65.6 Thou visitest the Earth and waterest it thou greatly enrichest it with the River of God which is full of Water So Christ hath a better River with him in Heaven and this River he sends down and lets it in and turns it over our dry and barren Land When Hannah was delivered from Barrenness she calls this God's Salvation and rejoyceth in it 1 Sam. 2.1 4. Christ saves and anoints and and perfumes his Redeemed People Ezek. 16.9 I throughly washed away this Blood from thee and I anointed thee with Oyl Here is plain allusion to those precious and sweet-smelling-Oyls that great Persons were anointed and perfumed with Ester 2.12 Psal 23.5 Christ doth not only wash away the guilt of Sin with his Blood but also anoints his People with his Spirit and its sweet smelling Graces Believers are called Christians because they partake of the Ointment of his Spirit 2 Cor. 1.21 And the Church is said to ascend as Pillars of Smoke perfumed with Myrrh and Frankincense and all the powders of the Merchant Cant. 3.6 Christ doth not only take the stink of our Sins from the Nostrils of God by his sweet smelling Sacrifice Eph. 5.2 but also perfumes us with the sweet Odours and Powders of his Graces The Ointments the Garments of Saints cast out a sweet smell Cant. 4.10 5. He saves and cloaths us Rev. 3.18 he puts white Raiment on us that the shame of our Nakedness may not appear He takes from Sinners their sordid Garments and cloaths them with change of Raiment Zech. 3.3 4. We could not provide any Wedding Cloaths for our selves if Jesus did not give them to us and bestow them on us To her was granted to be cloathed in fine Linen white and clean which is the Righteousness of Saints Rev. 19.8 Jesus Christ doth not only cover us with the Robe of his Righteousness but also adorns and beautifies us with his new Nature we are made Partakers of Christ Heb. 3.14 We have a Spiritual Understanding we have the Mind of Christ 1 John 5.20 and the Bowels or Affections of Christ Phil. 1.5 We are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 13.14 his Mind must be put upon our Mind his Will on our Will his Affections on our Affections nothing of our own should be seen or appear but all the Faculties of our Souls should be covered with the Livery of Jesus Christ This Apparel wears fresher and will last to Eternity 6. Christ saves and adopts John 4.12 To as many as received him gave he power to become the Sons of God He was so far from envying us or grudging of us this Priviledge of Adoption that he vailed his own Sonship under the form of a Servant he was made under the Law and died that we might receive the Adoption of Children Gal. 4.4 He doth not only save Criminals from Execution but also makes them Heirs of a Kingdom and an eternal Inheritance James 2.15 Heb. 9.5 2dly I shall now shew you the Properties and Adjuncts of this Salvation 1. It is for the present mostly a Spiritual Salvation our Soul 's live Isa 55.3 our Souls find rest Matth. 1.28 our Souls are saved 1 Pet. 1.9 our Souls do delight themselves in Fatness Isa 55.2 But the Bodies of Saints are often in this World exposed to Poverty Hardships Imprisonments grievous Sufferings and cruel Deaths and these Evils do cloud the Saints Adoption and vail their State of Spiritual Salvation This caused the Heathens as Lactantius tells us to say De Justitia that Virtue was an empty thing If Men had not Riches Honours exemption from Sufferings freedom from outward Evils and Victory over Enemies but Christ hath not made the Earth and Plenty of Worldly Enjoyments as a Jointure to his Spouse the Church but tells his Disciples that in the World they shall have Tribulations John 16. last that those that will live Godly must suffer Persecution 2 Tim. 3.12 there is an irrevocable Sentence passed on the Old Man on the natural Body that it shall return to the Dust and this Sentence must be executed Gen. 3.19 2. This is a Righteous Salvation this is intimated in the last part of the Verse Judah shall be saved and that by him who is the Lord our Righteousness God is just in punishing sin on Christ that he may be just in pardoning it to us Rom. 3.25 26 27. God will not tare Believers in pieces according to his Threatning Psal 50.22 Because the Vail of Christ's Humane Nature his Soul and Body was divided and rent in twain Heb. 10.19 God may in a righteous way build up Sinners out of their Ruins because the Temple of Christ's Body hath been destroyed and pull'd down to the Dust Jesus Christ though a Tree of Righteousness was cut down that many Branches of Righteousness might spring out of this precious Root he was sowed in the Dust that he might be multiplied and many might from this holy Grain spring up to Everlasting Life John 12.24 God cloathed himself with the Garments of Vengeance and loaded Christ with sorrows that he might cloath us with the Garments of Salvation c. Isa 1.10 As the living Sparrow was dipt in the Blood of the slain Sparrow and so let fly Lev. 14.5 6 7. so we have liberty in a righteous way by being dyed in Christ's Blood Jesus Christ can marry us because his Soul and Body were divorced to reconcile us to God And he can repair and restore the beautiful image of God to us because his Visage was marred more than any Man's and his Form more than the Sons of Men Isa 52.14 This is the excellency and glory of the Christian Religion above all the pretended Religions in the World that it sheweth how God may pardon sin in a condecent manner in a way becoming of himself and not reflect on his Holiness reproach his Justice or wrong his Law Heb. 2.10 It became him of whom and for whom are all things in bringing many Sons to Glory to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings Such an High-Priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled and separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 God is more honoured and his Law exalted by the sufferings of Christ than if we had fell under the Curse and lain in Hell for ever 3. This is a powerful Salvation God laid the help of Sinners on one that is mighty Psal 89.19 God hath raised up for us an Horn of Salvation Luke 1.69 one that is able to pierce through and to push down all the Enemies of our Salvation The
of Sin and the Spirit that was signified by the Water that flowed out of Christ's side is a sovereign Remedy against the Filth and Reigning power of Sin And Jesus Christ the Tree of Life beares Leaves for the Healing of the Nations Revel 22.2 No other Tree hath Healing Leaves but only Jesus Christ his Word Doctrine Promises are Healing Leaves We do not Work to Cure our selves tho' we are Patients yet we cannot be our own Physitians but we are Justified by Christ's Condemnation and live by his Death 4. We are not Washed in any Water of our own providing or in any Bath of our own making but God the Father hath opened a Fountain for sin and uncleanness Zech. 13.1 and this Fountain is opened where we could never have thought of or imagined any such thing even in the pierced side and wounded heart of the Son of God His Head was Crowned with Thornes his Hands and Feet were nailed to the Cross his Side was pierced and Blood did flow from thence to Purifie our Souls This is noble and precious Blood indeed that affects Conscience and reaches so far as to purifie it The Blood of Sacrifices the Ashes of an Heifer and Clean Water availed only to the Purification of the Flesh to take off Ceremonial Uncleanness but Christ poured out his own Blood and thereby made a Precious Laver a Costly Bath This Blood purgeth Conscience from sins that are dead Works as they are the Fruits of Spiritual Death and the Seeds of Eternal Death Though Conscience be stupid and doth not feel the weight of these dead Works yet if they remain unpurged they will revive and sting the Soul to death they will return upon it and sink it to Hell There is no other means to purifie and pacifie Conscience but this Blood and we exceedingly need it There is a Fountain of Iniquity in us that continually flows to defile us Jer. 6.7 As a Fountain casts out its Waters so Jerusalem casts out her Wickedness It is well for us that there is a Fountain without us in Christ to take off that Guilt that is contracted by the Flowings of that Filthy Fountain that is within us Christ's Blood though it is little in quantity yet it is mighty in Virtue There is a deep Sea of Merit in it Micah 7.18 19. Thoug it was poured out of his Body but a few hours yet it is a Fountain that Flowes in all Ages and Generations to take away Sin And is not this most sweet and comfortable that Jesus Christ did not only shed his Blood but sprinkles it also Ezek. 36.25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness Clean Water to wash the Body is common but clean Water to purifie the Soul is rare and no where to be found but in Christ This is wonderful Grace that Christ would not only shed his Blood but undertakes also to sprinkle it He shed it with unexpressible Pain and Anguish but he Sprinkles it with much Pleasure and Delight As he pitied Souls and shed his Blood for them so he Loves Soules and Sprinkles it on them and Washes them in this Fountain from their Uncleanness Revel 1.56 We are not clothed by our own Works or Righteousness Our Webs cannot become Garments Isa 59.6 Our best Performances cannot clothe us Our Righteousnesses are as filthy Rags they cannot hide our Shame cover our Nakedness they are too narrow and short to do it Isa 64.6 Shall we be proud of or trust upon filthy Rags Our own Righteousness is but a Garment full of Patches So Piscator renders the Hebrew words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vestimentum frustrorum panni veteris attriti A Garment of Pieces of old and worn-out Cloth How long have we been serving in the Oldness of the Letter Rom. 7.6 and so our Garment may be called Old Cloth Sometimes we do good Works and then are apt to turn aside and to commit evil Works There are interruptions in our obedience Sin doth too often intervene so that these patches of the Old Man do much blemish and disfigure the Garment of our Righteousness There are Breaches in our Walls and Spots in our Garments As we need clean Water to Purisie us Ezek. 36.25 so we also want clean Linnen to Clothe and Adorn us Revel 19.8 Jesus Christ invites us to come to him to buy White Rayment that the shame of our Nakedness may not appear Revel 3.18 Christ was the Angel that commanded the Filthy Garments to be taken from Joshuah the High-Priest he caused his Iniquities to pass away and Clothed him with change of Rayment Zech. 3.4 The Garments of our Bodies do put us in mind of our Sins and bring to Remembrance our Transgression therefore they are called in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bidge from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bagad that signifies to Rebel Because if Man had not Apostatized from and Rebelled against God he had not needed Clothing or Garments But the Righteousness of Christ may well be called the Garment of Praise Isa 61.3 It is a Garment for Beauty and Glory and so to be exceedingly praised when God puts it on us then we begin heartily to praise God Christ is stiled the Sun of Righteousness Mal. 4.2 he hath healing Beames for wounded Consciencies The Church is said to be Clothed with the Sun Revel 12.1 And is not this a Glorious Garment Doth it not deserve praise in it self and call for the highest Praises from us God provided Coats of Skins and Clothed our First Parents with them Gen. 3.21 The matter of those Coats was the Skins of Beasts that probably were slain and offered in Sacrifice to God This might instruct and teach them that the Spiritual Cloathing of their Souls was to be borrowed from the Obedience and Righteousness of the Great Atoning Sacrifice As many as are Baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 Our First Parents did sow Fig-leaves together to make Aprons to hide their shame Gen. 3.7 but when God provided Coats of Skin for them then they threw away their Aprons of Fig-leaves as useless So every Man Naturally seeks some Aprons of Works and righteousness of his own to cover his Nakedness when Conscience accuses them for sin and the Law of God Condemns them for Iniquity The Whore in Prov. 7.14 pleads That she had Peace-offerings with her and that day she had paid her Vowes and with this Apron she thought to hide the Filthiness of her Adultery But when Men come acquainted with Jesus Christ and have that Glorious Clothing revealed to them which he hath proved for Souls then they cast away their Aprons of Works and their own Imaginary Righteousness Paul saith That those things that he reputed his Gains that he thought would gain him the Favour of God Acceptance with God a Title to Everlasting Life these he counted loss for Christ Phil. 3.7 8 9. that is he cast them away not only as unprofitable
was some good in them and yet they had Spots and Stains to be washed out This is the difference between an Unregenerate and a Regenerate Man that an Unregenerate Man needs to be dipt wholy into the Red-Sea of the Blood of Christ All is corrupt and defiled he needs a general Pardon for his whole Life for all his Thoughts Words and Actions But as Christ saith to Peter A Believer that is washed needeth not to save to wash his Feet but is clean every whit as one that hath been in a Bath and there washed his whole Body yet as he comes out and walks to his Lodging he may defile his Feet and need to wash them Believers need not Pardons for their whole State as the Unregenerate have but for their particular Failings and Defects in their Actions 2. All your Sins are Recorded till you are Justified They are Written in God's Book Behold it is written before me Isa 65.6 The Great King Writes the Chronicle of all his Subjects and of all their Thoughts Words and Actions throughout the World and all Ages That must needs be an Infinite Mind that can Know and Remember so many things Mens Iniquity is said to be Written so to be marked before God Jer. 2.22 and there is a Counter-part of this Record kept in the Sinner's own Conscience Jer. 17.1 The sin of Judah is graven with a Pen of Iron and the point of a Diamond But where It is answered In the Table of their heart From hence the sin did flow and hither did the guilt of it return When a sin is committed and when a Debt is contracted Conscience keeps the Bond and in due time will bring it forth and joyn with the Judge in his Charge and Accusation Conscience is now loaded with dead Works yet stupid Sinners do not feel it a Mountain of Guilt is upon them yet they are not sensible of it Sinners cannot cross God's Book or Cancel their own Bond but the time is at hand when the Guilt of Sin will revive when Men shall taste the bitterness and feel the burthen of their Iniquities 3. Till Christ becomes your Righteousness your Souls are shamefully naked Revel 3.17 As Men are poor they are void of an Inherent Righteousness and as they are naked they are destitute of an imputed Righteousness they have nothing to Cloath the Soul or hide its Sins God's eye is a pure eye Habb 1.13 and a glorious eye Isa 3.8 But how do Mens sins offend this pure and affront this glorious eye of God What a Loathsome Hateful and Abominable Creature is a Soul deprived of the Image of God and depraved after the Image of Satan Thy bodily nakedness would be abhorred by Men And will not thy Soul-nakedness be more detested by God How naked is the Mind without the Knowledge of God And how naked is the Will without the Love of God the Image of God is the Glorious Cloathing of the Soul the want of this Image is the shameful nakedness of the Soul Till the Righteousness of Christ is spread over the Soul the Glorious Image of God is not put on it 4. Till we are Justified there is a Breach between God and us and this Breach stands open and we need a Mediator to stand in this Breach Psal 106.23 When the Wall of our Innocency is broken we are exposed to the Inrodes and Invasions of Revenging Justice Sin makes a large and wide breach between God and us God as an Enemy may enter at this Breach to destroy us a deluge of Wrath and Misery may pour in at it to overwhelm us None can stand in this Breach but Jesus Christ as a living Advocate and nothing can stop this Breach but the Dead Body of the Son of God If the Sea makes a Breach in the Banks of Holland the Law of the Countrey encourages them to throw Beds or any other of their valuable Goods into the Breach to stop it and they shall be recompensed for them Sin hath made a Breach and nothing but the Precious Life of the Son of God could stop this Breach The awakened Sinner considers how he shall appear before God he inquires whether he must not bring and offer the Fruit of his Body for the Sin of his Soul Mic. 6.6 7. this is indeed chargeable to offer to stop the Breach with the Sacrifice of a Child But this is but vain For it is not our First-born but God's only Begotten Son that must stop and fill up this Breach John 3.17 18. 5. There is a dreadful storm that in the Cloud of the Threatning hangs over the heads of Sinners Psal 11 6. God will Rain Snares Fire Brimstone and a horrible Tempest on the wicked this shall be the portion of their Cup. This Cup shall come to their lips this storm shall fall on their Souls If God Rains the storm must needs be Terrible Gen. 7.4 I will Rain so it is in the Hebrew This intimates this Rain should be extraordinary it should fall with great voilence it should not be as an ordinary Rain that is as a gentle sweat through the pores of the Clouds but now the Windows of Heaven should be opened Gen. 7.11 The Sinners of the old World did not believe that God had such vast Treasures of Waters in the Clouds so secure Transgressours do not now Credit that there are such Treasures of Wrath laid up to punish them and as the Fountains of the great deep were then broken up Gen. 7.11 So these depths of Guilt and Terrour that are in Conscience will one day be broken up If God Rains the storm is inevitable He Rains Snares that as Sinners cannot hinder this storm form above so they cannot fly from it below If God Rains Fire and Brimston the storm will be Eternal the Cloud of God's anger will never be wearied or wasted If Christ be not Mens Passover 1 Cor. 5.7 They or their Sins connot be passed by or passed over Micah 7.18.19 If their Sins did not fall on Christ they must come down on their own heads Psal 68.21 Though by reason of unbelief God's Judgements are now far above out of the sight of Sinners Psal 10.5 yet their Eyes shall see their destruction and they shall drink of the Wrath of the Almighty Job 21.20 The long and large Roll of the Curse will in due time fly to them Ezek 52.2 3 4 and then will stay and lie upon them for ever Deut. 29.20 All the Curses in this Book shall lye upon him 6. All the Sins of Men are as so many Evidences and Witnesses against Transgressors these Evidences are preserved and kept safe their Sins are hid that they may not be lost Hos 13.12 The Iniquity of Ephraim is bound up his Sin is hid Their Iniquity is bound up that in due time it may be bound on them their Sin is so hid that it shall be found brought forth and charged on them As the Depositions of Witnesses and the Confessions of
Barren Wilderness In our flesh dwells no good Rom. 7.18 and therefore the Law promises us no good And may not this state be fitly compared to a Wilderness in which we are destitute of all good 8. Though the Law be Ancient yet it is not Abrogated but still stands in full Force against those that are out of Christ Though Moses was old yet his Eye-sight did not decay neither did his Natural Force and Vigour abate Deut. 34.9 This seems to point at the Perpetual Strength and standing Obligation of the Law Mens Laws grow absolete and out of date by age they are silently Abrogated and Repealed but it is not so with God's Law As God required Moses's his Life when he was in full strength and then Buried him Deut. 34.5 6. So Christ puts an end to the Law as a Covenant of Works and Buries its Curse when it was in its full strength As many as are of the Works of the Law are under the Curse Gal. 3.10 though they are not grosly wicked but seemingly obedient to the Letter of it yet they cannot decline or avoid the Curse it will take hold of them and be executed on them It is dreadful to be under the Law tho' some inconsiderately desire to be under it Gal. 4.21 Dr. Addison in his Book of the Customs of the Jews in Barbary cap. 2. tells us of a proud Jew that said He would stand upon his own Legs he would not be beholding to any to Fulfil the Law for him or to satisfie for his sins but he would do it for himself and go to Heaven on his own Feet How many are there of the same mind with this Insolent and Ignorant Rabbi But those that stick to the Covenant of Works do put on themselves a Yoke Acts 15.10 that they are never able to bear they bind on themselves a Weighty Burden that will make their Backs to bow down alway Rom. 11.10 and cause their Loyns to shake Psal 69.23 Can you pay your Debt of Obedience or endure when God shall inflict upon you that Debt of Punishment that he owes you Can you stand when he doth mark your Iniquities Psal 130.3 Can your hands be strong Can your hearts endure in the day that God shall have to do with you Ezek. 22.14 and contend with you Job 9.3 Tho' you are now secure Will not your Peace then end in War Your Calm issue in a Storm your present silence terminate in the Loud Thunder of Wrath and Vengeance 3. If you are not Interested in this Righteousness and so not Pardoned God can take no Good out of his Treasury to give you in Mercy Hos 14.2 These two things are joyned together to take away Iniquity and make Good that which our Translators have rendred Receive us graciously it is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and take Good that is take it out of thy Treasury to bestow it on us Good cannot be taken and given to us till Iniquity be taken from us Guilt is that mighty Damm that stops the Current of God's Goodness It is a Lock on God's Treasury it is a Seal on the Fountain of Life it separates between God and us and hinders Good things from us Isa 59.2 Jer. 5.25 Do any find a Drought of Mercy a Famin of Blessings let them thank their Iniquities for it these are the great Impediment the grand obstruction of Good things 4. God accepts no Service or Worship with Good Will from Persons Unjustified God's eye must first be opened on the Person as accepting him before his Ear is opened to his Prayer as regarding and approving it It may seem a strange expression that God's eye should be open to a Supplication yet this phrase is used 1 Kings 8.52 It intimates that God's eye must first be opened on the Person before his ear is opened and enclined to hear his Prayer God first had respect to Abel and then to his Offering Gen. 4.4 but God had no respect to Cain or to his Offering Gen. 4.5 it is very probable at least that God's rejecting Cain and his Offering was plainly to be discerned by some outward visible Sign or Token When God of old accepted a Sacrifice he did send Fire from Heaven to consume it Levit. 9. last 1 King 18.38 but it seems God did send no Fire from Heaven to consume Cain's Offering and so to Testifie that he was well-pleased with it and did accept of it Cain might take it away again and imploy it to a common use God did not value or regard it The main Ingredient that is requisite to season acts of Worship and to render them savoury to God was wanting Faith in the Promised Seed was necessary to endear the Person and commend the Offering to God but where this is not found God saith to Worshippers I have no pleasure in you neither will I accept an Offering at your band Mal. 1.10 5. All their Blessings are Cursed to them Mal. 2.2 Their prosperity doth destroy them Prov. 1.32 Honour heightens their Pride Riches Fetter and Chain their Minds and Hearts The Cares of the World are as an Over-burden or Lading to a Ship that hinders them from Sailing towards the Port of Heaven and sinks their Souls into Perdition Cares and Lusts are as Thorns that choak the good Seed of the Word and hinder it from bringing any Fruit to perfection Matth. 13.22 The Pleasures of the World do fuel their Lusts increase their Sensuality and exceedingly Carnalize their Minds and Affections 6. Every Attribute of God is terrible to them God's Holiness loathes them as unclean God's Justice hates them as Rebels and Enemies that press all the Creatures to take up Arms against their Maker but they themselves are Volunteers in this wicked Warfare Infinite Wisedom doth devise devices against them Jer. 18.11 doth invent meanes to punish and destroy them for God is wise in Heart and mighty in strength Joh 9.4 Infinite Power executes what Infinite Wisedom hath contrived God lives to Eternity to pour out the Vials of his Wrath on them and to measure out the Revenges of his Justice to them A Contending time will come Job 9.3 God's angry Face will be unvailed and his punishing Arm be made bare his Fury will come up in his Face Ezek. 38.18 and will be terribly Executed by his Hand Psal 21.8 His eares will be stopt against their cries His Bowels be shut his Heart be hardened against their misery They shall never see the Light Psal 49.19 They shall never see Life John 3. last They shall never tast of Christ's Supper Luke 14.24 Worms that die shall prey on their Bodies the worm that never dies shall feed on their Souls 7. Consider how bad it will be with those in a dying hour that have no Interest in Christ's Righteousness If Men are not Judicially blinded and hardened they cannot but be somewhat concerned about their Future state when they walk on the Borders and stand on the Brink of Eternity
by the Law By the Law is the Knowledge of our Sin not of our Righteousness Rom. 3.20 It discovers nothing but Sin in us shuts up all of ours under Sin Gal. 3.22 all the inward Operations of our Souls and all the Outward Acts of our Bodies it Condemns we are as it were put in Prison and shut up under Condemnation by the Law and all this is to cause us to find our need of and to make us Sigh and seek for a Redeemer to open our Prison-door and give Liberty to our Souls Isa 42.7 Isa 49.9 Isa 61.1 The Law if rightly understood drives us from it self I through the Law saith Paul am dead to the Law Gal. 2.19 As the Glorious Light that did shine in Moses his Face did Terrisie the Israelites and drive them from him discourage or deter them from coming near to him Exod. 34.30 32 33. So that Glorious Purity and Holiness that Impartial and Severe Justice that shines in the Face of the Law should drive us from Resting in or trusting on the Law for Righteousness and despair of ever being pronounced Righteous by it Shall the Law that was intended but for a School-Master to direct us unto Christ Gal. 3.24 be made a Father to give us an Inheritance of Righteousness But how many have grosly erred and grievously mistaken about this they have Enervated and Dispirited the Law of God they have pared off a great deal of its Purity cut off much of its Spirituality and made it to look like the Civil Law of Man as if it were given to check words and restrain outward acts but was not prescribed to the heart but the Law is like the Law-giver as he seeth the Motions of the Mind and Will so his Law forbids all evil Thoughts and Vile Affections and on this account it is called Spiritual Rom. 7.14 But the Jews especially the Pharisees did think the Law of God did not reach to Regulate or Condemn those Evils that were the meer Creatures of the Heart How else could the Elder Brother signifying the Pharisee say to God his Father Lo these many years have I served thee neither at any time have I transgressed thy word Luke 15.28 Paul when a Pharisee thought himself as touching the Righteousness of the Law to be blameless Phil. 3.6 These accounted themselves to be such Just Men that they needed no Repentance Luke 15.7 To these the Gospel is Foolishness 1 Cor. 2.14 Is it not folly to speak of Reconciliation Healing Liberty to those that never thought themselves to be Enemies to God to be Sick Prisoners or Captives How doth the Papists at this day pervert and corrupt the Law of God they call the most Spiritual part of it not a Command but a Counsel to Love God sincerely some of them will allow to be a Command but to Love him with all the Mind Soul Heart and Strength this they assert to be but a Counsel and not a Command And without this Wicked Opinion they cannot Maintain their other Errors that Men may be perfect in this Life and truly fulfil the whole Law of God Thus Men do at this day by their Corrupt Glosses False Distinctions Perverse Interpretations of the Law of God Undermine its Purity Spirituality and Perfection and so clap a Vail on Moses his Face that the Law may not be Terrible to them but that they may draw near to it and trust on it for their Justification Thus Men go about to establish their own Righteousness by derogating and detracting from the Extent and Obligation of the Law they Lower the Law that they may Heighten and Exalt their own Righteousness 3. Come to and descend into your selves that you may find out that evil Treasure that Root of Bitterness that Fountain of Iniquity that is in your selves Abraham as touching the Flesh did not find a Righteousness in himself to boast of and Glory in And can we find that in our selves that Abraham could not find in himself Rom. 4.1 2. If we cannot find Righteousness in our selves do we not need to be found in Christ Phil. 3.9 To stay and trust on that Righteousness which is of God by the Faith of Christ we must desire God as Luther saith not only to turn away his Eyes from our Sins but also from our Services not only to forgive our wrong steps out of the way but also our slow steps in it when we are bought with so great a price and encouraged to run with so Glorious a Prize set before us We may see enough in our selves to Condemn us We are Children of Wrath by nature and Children of Disobedience by practice Every faculty is diseased and perverted every Work of ours is corrupted and defiled God threatens the Jews to spread the dung of their Solemn Feasts on their faces Mal. 2.3 The Beasts that were brought into the Courts of the Temple on the Feast-days did dung in them God seems to compare the faults and failings in the Jews Spiritual Sacrifices to the dung of those Beasts that were Offered up in Sacrifice Perhaps Paul may allude to this expression when he accounts his own Righteousness and priviledges to be but Dung there is some of the Dung of the Old Man that is vented in and mixed with our best performances that doth stain defile and in part at least render them unsavoury before God Sin dwells in us is present with us We can never shake it off shut it out or totally leave it behind us when we draw near to God We cannot put God in mind of one perfect duty but he can put us in mind of Thousands of defective Services performed by us If we dwell at home and trust in our selves Revenging Justice will break in upon us and destroy us If we stay abroad do not fly to and House our selves in Christ a storm of Fire and Brimstone will be Rained on us Psal 11.6 We needed Christ's Death on Earth and we want his Intercession in Heaven that the Iniquity of our Holy things may not be charged on us for our Condemnation and destruction 4. We must beware of unbelief as to God's threat'nings and take heed of Carnal security Sinners are too apt to take the shield of unbelief and to quench all the Fiery Darts of God's threat'nings which he casts at them How prone are presumptuous Sinners to give God the lie He saith There is no peace to the Wicked Isa 48. last yet Sinners do promise themselves peace though they walk in the Imaginations of their own evil Hearts Deut. 29.19 God saith of an ungodly Man That his eyes shall see his Destruction and he shall drink of the Wrath of the Almighty Job 21.20 yet he flattereth himself with vain hopes as those Jer. 5.12 Evil shall not come on us neither shall we see Sword or Famin. How dreadful is it when a Spiritual Lethargy is added to other diseases and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit of slumber falls on Men Rom. 11.8
Grace or Good till we trust on the Righteousness of Christ by which we procured and receive all good things 2d Branch of the Vse of Exhortation Is Jehovah become our Righteousness O! admire Grace in it and bless God and Christ for it that you have such a Foundation to Build on such a Sacrifice to Feed on such a Pretious Remedy to be Healed by such an Excellent Fountain to Wash in the Clefts of such a Rock to dwell in Our Justification seemed impracticable yea impossible we could not raise up our low Valley or fill up the wide Breach that our Iniquities had made we had not wrought that Righteousness or performed that obedience that the Law requires We could neither make a Present to God's Holiness or pay a Ransom to his Justice yet God compares the Rejection of his People to that which is to us impossible Jer. 31.37 Thus saith the Lord If Heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the Earth be searched out beneath I will also cast off the Seed of Israel for all that they have done saith the Lord. O! how wonderful is this that when the Reception of Sinners might have been compared to things impossible their Rejection is compared with things impossible to us Hath God covered us with the Robe of Righteousness Isa 61.10 This should be a garment of Praise when we put it on we should break out into the sweetest Songs and highest Praises of God and Christ Meditate seriously on these following particulars 1. We live in the last days of the World and in the best days of the Gospel And this is the very season and time when this Scripture should be most eminently fulfilled that Jehovah should be called our Righteousness The excellency of Christ's Obedience and the efficacy of his Sacrifice is now signally manifested This Name of the Messiah is now most eminently known his Glorious Titles and style Blazon'd we are plainly told that Christ hath condemned Sin Rom. 8.3 and that God Justifies the ungodly because Christ Died for them Rom. 4.5 Rom. 5.6 Not only Sins are blotted out Isa 43.5 but Names are written in Heaven Luke 10.20 Things were more dark in the times of the Law though God promised remission of Sins yet there was a daily remembrance of Sin in the Sacrifices Offered up Heb. 10.3 The day of the Law was God's forbearing time Rom. 3.25 but the day of the Gospel was Christ ' bearing time 1 Pet. 2.24 Who himsel bare our Sins in his own Body on the Tree And Christ did so bear them that he did bear them away He died for our Sins and he Rose again for our Justification Rom. 4. last he purged and put away Sin Heb. 13. Heb 9.26 Though God promised of Old to be the God of his people Gen. 17.7 yet the Vail stood up in the times of the Law as if Men should be shut out from Heaven from God and his Glorious presence but the Vail is now Rent and the way laid open to the Heavenly Sanctuary therefore we have more matter of and motives to Praise than the Church of God had of Old 2. That we are Justified freely by God's Grace Rom. 3 24. O! what a wonder is this that we that were called Transgressors from the Womb Isa 48.8 should call Jehovah our Righteousness to Eternity That we that have not wrought Righteousness yet should be made the Righteousness of God in Christ 2 Cor. 5.21 That we should be Justified without the Law Rom. 3.21 That our Sins that are our own should not be imputed but that the Righteousness that is not our own should be imputed We have peace with God not because we have committed no Trespasses but because they are not imputed 2 Cor. 5.19 There is much in our Hearts and Lives that is Odious and Abominable before God only it is hid and covered Psal 32.1 2. We have contracted a vast debt but it is remitted Psal 103. c. 1. v. 2 We have committed Heinous Crimes but they are not charged on us There is that dwelling in us and done by us that exceedingly displeases God's eye and provokes his anger but this is not remembred against us or put to our account The Law imputes nothing to us but what is our own is inherent in us or done by us but here is the Righteousness of another given and therefore imputed to us it doth not grow in us or spring out of us but is rained on us As God commended his Goodness to Israel that he brought them into Canaan to possess Houses they never built Vineyards they never planted Wells they never digged Dout. 6.11.12 So God commends his Grace to us that he gives us a Righteousness that we never wrought our selves The Gentiles that did not follow after Righteousness yet attained to Righteousness by Faith Rom. 9.30 O what astonishing Grace is this That we that have not run the race of Obedience should yet win and attain the prize of Righteousness Though Abraham was an Idolater Josh 24.2 yet he is styled Righteousness in the abstract by reason of his Justification who hath called Righteousness so it is in the Hebrew from the East Isa 41.2 3. That yet it should cost Christ so dear to be The Lord our Righteousness How greately did the Soul of Christ Travel Isa 53.11 that our pardon and peace might be born As he was God he suffered much in our commission of Sin he was greived wearied vexed pressed under our Iniquities as a Cart is pressed under the sheaves Amos 2.13 and that after this he should suffer so much more for the Expiation of them He was wounded pierced bruised Isa 53.10 O how wonderful is this that Christ so freely and without our sollicitation did so readily undertake to be a Surety Psal 40.6 7 8. Lo I come I delight to do thy will O my God! yet this was the will of God that the Body Heb. 10.10 yea the Soul of Christ should be Offered up Isa 53.10 God himself seems to speak of this undertaking of Jesus Christ with Admiration Jer. 30.21 Who is this that ingageth his Heart to approach to me It was no small matter to approach to God as Priest and to be a Sacrifice to draw near to God that was a Jealous God and Furious as it is expressed Nahum 1.2 To approach to God sitting on a Fiery Throne holding of a Flaming Sword Cloathed with the Garments of Vengeance If Christ's Love had not been Fervent and his purposes fixed he would never have engaged his Heart to draw near to a God so terrible and to undertake so hard a service to make Reconciliation with an angry and to make restitution to a wronged God O how amazing is this Fruit of Christ's undertaking that we may draw nigh to God that is a consuming Fire and yet not to be hurt but be refined by him This was a great Miracle that Daniel's three Companions walked in the midst of the Fiery Furnace and yet had