Mercy Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the Grave or thy faithfulness in destruction Shall I have a shower upon my dying Soul Shall I be brought to have Communion with God Thus when the Lord seems to stand at a distance from the Soul he comes down in a shower by his Spirit that he finds very familiar Communion with God Therefore the Apostle when he prays for the Corinthians he prays That the Grace of the Lord Jesus the love of God the Father may be communicated unto them by the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. 13 14. The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen The Grace of Christ your Life the Love of God in Christ communicated to you through the Holy Ghost So when the Love of God is come down on the Soul then the Soul comes to have sweet Communion with God before the Soul was afraid to come to God but now it can say Lord thou knowest me and I know thee Lord thou knowest what is in me and what thou hast wrought in me Thus the Soul goes on knowing and being known So the Soul is carried on in this sweet Frame with that familiar sweet Communion with God that the Soul wishes it might always be employed in God's Service Again When Christ is revealed by the Spirit to the Soul the Soul comes to know its Adoption that it can and doth know God to be his Father the Spirit of the Lord poured out crying Abba Father Gal 4.4 5 6. But when the fulness of the time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons Christ comes to redeem us the Holy Spirit comes to reveal to the Soul that you are no more Servants but Sons that we might receive the Adoption of Sons Sons of God redeemed by Christ's Blood but the Soul seems to be doubting whether it be so or no Well saith the Apostle because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father O what would many a poor doubting Soul give to call God Father Though many a Wretch calls God Father But a poor Believer if all the World were given him to be his Portion he would trample on all to call God Father in deed and in truth to go to God as a Father to have God for my Father that glorious God that made Heaven and Earth that glorious God that turns Men to Destruction and saith Come again ye Children of Men who feeds the Saints above with eternal Pleasure This God I can call my God my Father my Portion my Portion living my Portion dying a Portion beyond all the World This God by the Spirit the Soul comes to know to be his Father and the Soul is never well but when he is speaking to his Father there is such a Converse between the Father and the Child Again The Spirit when it comes with its revealing Evidence comforts the drooping Soul that Jesus Christ is everlasting Life to him They that live on Christ shall have everlasting Life from Christ The Believer hath many sweet and comfortable showers many precious drops flowing into his Soul that he can witness the Prophesie is come to pass The Prophet Joel saith Joel 3.18 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Mountains shall drop down new Wine and the Hills shall flow with Milk and all the Rivers of Judah shall flow with waters and a Fountain shall come forth from the House of the Lord. The Prophet alludes to those Waters that were conveyed from some Spring through Conduit Pipes towards the Altar Ezek. 47.1 2 3. for the use of the Temple in which Water the Priests washed what was to be washed This no doubt is a shadow of the purifying Blood of Christ and his sanctifying Spirit and Word and in that it is said to come from the Lord it intimateth that these glad Tidings this saving Grace shall be first Preach'd from Jerusalem and by the Church which is the House of God shall be published to others The Valley of Shittim that this Fountain shall water the meaning is it shall refresh purge and make fruitful all holy Works It was on the Plain of Moab on the Borders of Israel toward the South-East Numb 33.49 Josh 3.1 not far from the Dead Sea These Waters shall flow down to the dry and thirsty Mr. Pool's Annotations the barren and fruitless Gentiles and make them fruitful And it shall come to pass in that day in the day of the Gospel in that day that a Soul believes in Christ what shall come to pass In that day the Mountains shall drop down new Wine the new Wine of the Gospel not the old Lees of the Law but Wine upon the Lees. The Law may fret and grind your Spirits to Powder Mr. Strong 's Treatise of the two Covenants but what can melt them but the Covenant of Grace Isa 25. new Wine new Comforts new Peace and Joy that the Law could never bring Christ brings and the Hills shall flow with Milk the glorious Promises of the Gospel that shall be as Milk to the poor Soul Milk to poor Babes in Christ But then a poor Soul may object Truly I have desired Christ if I know my own Heart I would fain live upon Christ but yet I find my Heart very barren I do not find my Soul flourishing nor increasing nor growing but I find Comforts are absent from my Soul that I may say still the Comforter that should relieve my Soul is far from me To this I answer Soul you that desire Christ nothing in the World is like Christ to you you shall not miss of growth in Grace you shall not miss of this blessed Life though the Lord may not give it to you according to your Measures but according to his own good Will Grace and Wisdom for God hath very glorious Ends that you have not your Vessels full at once The First Reason is That you may depend upon Jesus Christ for daily incomes and supplies Alas while you are in this Life your Vessels are always filling and you are always to live in a way of dependence on Christ not only for that Grace you have received but for daily manifestation of Grace to your Souls for the grace of Faith and for the love of God to your Souls You are to wait daily on the Lord for strength Not I live saith Paul I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God 2 Gal. 19 20 21. I depend on Christ for all I live by the Faith of the Son of God and one that lives by Faith does not live by Sight There is something absent that a Man waits for for what we enjoy what
need we hope for and what need we act Faith for what we possess We are to depend on the Lord Jesus Christ so as to act Faith in him for new supplies of Grace We are to set our selves under those golden Pipes that do convey the golden Oyl you are to be looking to the everlasting Hills from whence your help comes as the Psalmist saith Psal 123.22 Behold as the eyes of Servants look unto the hand of their Masters and as the eyes of a Maiden unto the hand of her Mistress so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have mercy upon us Psal 121.1 I will list up my eyes unto the Hills from whence cometh my help The Hills where the Temple was built Sion and Moriah there will I look from whence cometh my help Now we must look unto God in Christ for supplies of Grace and Peace and Comfort we are to expect our Comfort from those Mountains that drop down new Wine and the Hills that drop down Milk the Skies that pour down Righteousness and the Heavens that rain down Grace Were your Comforts always flourishing and green were you always filled with Joy would there be such a dependence on Christ where you are daily supplied and renewed When persons are waiting for Rain they set their Vessels forth day and night and when they are full they take them in again but persons that turn the Cock to let it run into their Cisterns it fills them presently they wait no longer Alass many run to their own Cisterns their own Duties walk by the sparks of their own kindling to what they can perform which the Lord complains of Jer. 2.1 My people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living water and hewed to themselves Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no water Alas their Cisterns will not hold there is brackish Water in all their Springs broken Cisterns that hold no Water their Vessels will quickly be empty again but the Soul that waits on Christ will be like the Husbandman that waits for Rain is glad when he seeth the Clouds are gathering the Husbandman is glad he looks on his withered Grass and Corn but saith he the Clouds begin to gather and I wait for Rain and that will revive them again So saith a poor Soul I do expect yea I do wait for the Lord to come with new Light and new Love and new Peace and new Comfort and new assurance of his Love and that I may read my Pardon in his Blood and my Comfort in his Love Saith the Lord I will be a dew to Israel Hos 14.5 In the mystical and spiritual sense it signifies Christ who doth by his Holy Word and Heavenly Grace drop down and distil upon the Souls of Believers by his Princely Favours and loving Countenance which is as a Cloud of the latter Rain That which Dew is to Fields Gardens Vineyards Flowers Fruits of the Earth after an hot and scorching day that the Favour Word Grace loving Countenance and Holy Spirit will be to the drooping and afflicted Conscience of his People Dr. Reynolds A Believer hath his dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ who is appearing before God for him pleading the Sinners Cause presenting his own Wounds before the Father till he pours down his Grace into the Soul and drops down showers of Grace into the Heart But a Soul that feeds himself with his own Gifts and Parts he does his Duty and is gone therefore he does not wait for nor depend on Christ But saith a Believer I would be in a Believing Frame though I do not find Christ coming I will look up Psal 5.1 2 3. Give ear to my words O Lord consider my meditation Hearken unto the voice of my cry my King and my God for unto thee will I pray My voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my Prayer unto thee and will look up There are many go to their own Cisterns in the Morning performing Duty exercising what Gifts and Parts they have or what they remember they do Duty but it may be think not on Christ one Moment more all the day These are poor empty Cisterns that can hold no Water But saith the Psalmist I will pray and look up tho I am come off from my Knees I have not done looking up expecting or believing for I wait for the Lord's Answer I look for a Return of Prayer I look for supplies of Grace for supports of Faith for comforts to my Soul Many pray but do you look up do you believe do you make Christ your Life depending on him for the showers of his Grace to come into your Souls That may comfort you and quicken you and may be matter of praise not only that you may quiet Conscience but that you may enjoy God When the Earth is dry if a drop does but fall our Hearts begin to be glad we hope to have showers from Heaven So when a Soul finds but a drop of Comfort a drop of Love a little taste Saith the Soul Christ is coming now he is revealing himself I will depend upon him as long as I live as Job saith Though thou kill me yet will I trust in thee so saith the Soul I will depend on thee And as Luther said Though Christ come against me with a drawn Sword yet will I run into his Arms. Secondly The second Reason is That as you should depend on Christ so you should be waiting in the way of Duty waiting in Ordinances What Confusions have come into the Minds of Persons throwing off Ordinances pretending they had the Light within them and were come to perfection and had no need of Teaching pretending they knew more than could be taught them But speak with a Believer he will tell you another thing he will tell you he wants Comfort he wants Grace he wants teaching and that he wants new reviving Isa 26.8 Yea in the way of thy Judgments O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our Soul is to thy Name and to the remembrance of thee With my Soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my Spirit within me will I seek thee early yea in the way of thy Judgments have we waited for thee Though thy Hand hath been as it were against us though thou hast afflicted us though thou hast seemed to frown upon us yet we have waited for thee though it be dark with us whether it be the Night of Affliction or the Night of Desertion as well as in the Night of Trouble and Adversity though our Souls are in an afflicted state or a discomforted state we will wait till thou return we will wait for that God that hides himself from the House of Jacob Not like some that are seeking purer Churches through the deceivings of Satan and their own Hearts Many there are that think they have Knowledge enough and Peace enough but these are the
he did walk frowardly before me gave me not my ends in smiting him yet I will heal him and wherein doth this healing consist Alas in restoring Joy and Comfort to him The poor Soul was overwhelmed with Sorrow his Heart was ready to sink and fail within him and lest it should do so he will heal him Here is a healing indeed the healing of broken Bones and broken Hearts the Lord Jesus was anoynted by the Father for this very purpose with the Oyl of Joy and Gladness above his Fellows that he might speak in due season that he might bind up the broken Spirits The Lord Jesus delighteth to do this Will and Work of his Father O he loveth to be doing with broken Hearts And O that we had Work for the Lord Jesus This day he is among us now to see if there be any Heart in this condition that he may heal us it is his delight to do it O how doth many a poor Soul come under an Ordinance with an heartless Mind cold and dead and his Heart doth burn within him while the Lord by his Spirit hath Communion with him in those Ordinances What refreshing doth arise to a poor weary Soul when the Lord that createth the Fruits of the Lips speaketh Peace to such troubled and weary Souls He reviveth the Spirits which languish and are ready to go out As the poor Birds that in the Winter are hard put to it some lie you hardly know where as if they were dead or dying when the Sun returneth how doth it revive their little Spirits that were dead before The Night brings a heaviness and burden along with it to the Body but in the morning when the Sun ariseth how doth it enliven and enlighten Oh so it is in this case many poor Souls can say by experience when darkness hath been long on them they have no light no comfort no refreshment no breathing of the Spirit to their Apprehensions in Ordinances on their Heart O how have their Hands hanged down and their Knees feeble and knock one against another for feebleness And that which was within them in their own Apprehension ready to die But no sooner hath the Lord Jesus the Sun of Righteousness looked on them Mr. Murcer but they have had their Ankle-bones stretched The Joy of the Lord is their strength Neh. 8.10 The Saint indeed sometimes may have some Graces that may not be in exercise but there are other Graces set on work so that a Soul still lives a fruitful Life While you are ignorant of Christ there is no going forward whatever whatever Duties we do it is all but an heap of Ignorance Legal Repentance is such Sorrow as is in Hell but they that know Christ go forth of themselves to Christ for all First The Soul goes forth from his own Righteousness all becomes as filthy Rags he goes forth from himself you will never thrive while under the old Adam no believing in Christ no living on Christ until the Soul goes out of himself before ever you can see Christ glorious you must go out of your selves Cant. 3.11 Go forth O ye Daughters of Zion and behold King Solomon with the Crown wherewith his Mother crowned him in the day of his Espousals and in the day of the gladness of his Heart It is a glorious crowning when we are crowned with Christ's Crown but a withered Crown when we are crowned with our own Doings and Duties The Pharisees never thrived under any thing they did because they did not come forth of themselves Go forth from your sins from your selves out of your selves to Christ for your Life A poor Man hath nothing at home and he goes forth every day for something to live on So a poor Believer cries Lord I have nothing in my self I will live upon Christ for all it is not enough that I have made a Profession or can hear a Sermon or have got good Books but saith the Soul that knows Christ I will live every day on Christ for new experience for new supplies every day for the manifestation of his Grace of his Love of his Peace The Natural Man is bound up in himself and is fond of his Prison As the Prodigal he was resolved as long as he could get Husks he would live on them rather than go to his Fathers House for Bread Many poor Creatures while they can but speak to God in Duty though they have many fears they will live on that rather than go to Christ to be their Life The Woman of Canaan was highly to be commended for when Christ told her she was a Dog she desired a Crumb Why Woman sure you may fare better than to live on Crumbs What have you nothing at home No she must live upon Christ for she had not a Crumb of her own that would feed her Soul Mat. 15.25 26 27. She came and worshiped him saying Lord help me But he answered and said It is not meet to take the Childrens Bread and to cast it to Dogs And she said Truth Lord yet the Dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their Master's Table I shall never thrive till I am under Christ's Table A Crumb from Christ will satisfie me more than all my own Loaves I am sure not a word drops from him but it is Life not any Look from him but it is Life not any Communication from him but it is Life So a Soul that lives on Christ he goes forth of himself O pray how do you that have been so long without the knowledge of Christ that live upon your own Duties A Believer will tell you he lives better and fares better now he is Christ's Beggar and lies under his Table for a Crumb than he did when he lived on his own stock There is Liberty in this Life If the Son make you free ye are free indeed You are but Bond-slaves by Nature a Slave to the Devil a Slave to the World a Slave to your selves in Bondage to the Law and I believe many Professors in this day understand not these words If the Son make you free then are you free indeed Many will be ready to say Make me free I will pray my way to Heaven I will hear my way to Heaven Ay but do what you will while you are out of Christ you are in Bonds it is only Christ can make you free John 8.36 If the Son make you free ye shall be free indeed The Servant abideth not in the house for ever but the Son abideth ever the Servant shall be cast forth When you have done all you shall be shut out of Heaven if you are not a Son The Servant abideth not in the House for ever but the Son abideth for ever If you bring the best of your Performances at the Great Day before the Lord and hope to be accepted for your so doing if you should say Lord receive me into thy Kingdom of Glory for I have prayed and fasted and gave
Promises they shall hear the Voice of the Son of God and live It is called a Vivification We are by Nature dead in Trespasses and Sins in our deliverance from them we are said to be quickened Eph. 5.5 Though dead we hear the voice of the Son of God and live being made alive unto God through Jesus Christ Rom. 6.11 Now no such Works can he wrought in us but by an effectual Communication of a Principle of Spiritual Life and nothing will deliver us Some think to evade the power of this Argument by saying that all these Expressions are metaphorical and arguing from them are but fulsom Metaphors and it is well if the whole Gospel be not a Metaphor to them But if there be not an Impotency in us by Nature unto all Acts of Spiritual Life like that which is in a dead Man unto the Act of Life natural if there be not a like power of God required unto our Deliverance from their condition and they work in us a Principle of Spiritual Obedience as it is required unto the raising of him that is dead They may as well say that the Scripture speaks not truly as that it speaks metaphorically and that the almighty Power the exceeding Greatness of God's Power that is put forth are exercised herein Eph. 1.18 Col. 2.12 13. 2 Thess 1.11 2 Pet. 1.3 And what do these Men intend by this quickning this raising from the Dead by the power of God A perswasion of our minds by rational motives taken from the Word and the things contained in it But was there ever heard of such a monstrous Expression If there be nothing else in it what could the Holy Writers intend by calling such a Work as this a quickning of them who were dead in trespasses and sins through the mighty power of God unless it were by a noise and insignificant Words to draw us off from a right understanding of what is intended Dr. Owen on the Spirit p. 279. Sect. 49. and it is well if some are not of that mind Do you hear the Voice of Christ continually in the Word preached but you must hear another Voice or you are undone for ever If the Voice of the Ministration of the Word without the Power of the Spirit would awaken Men there would be fewer in Hell and more in Heaven than there are This is the external means but yet there must be the pouring out of the Spirit or else this will do no good And here I shall shew how the Spirit of God works on the Heart First The Spirit of God works effectually that is the Voice of the Son of God How long may we preach the Resurrection of the Dead to a dead Man before he rises but that Resurrection that is preached when Christ comes with the Sound of the Trumpet and saith Ye dead arise presently the Dead arise We may come and sound the Trumpet in the Ears of Sinners but they will not hearken till Christ come by the effectual working of his Holy Spirit then it works indeed Acts 16.14 speaking of Lydia whose Heart the Lord opened and then she attended to the things of the Kingdom of God And a certain Woman named Lydia a Seller of Purple of the City Thyatira which worshipped God heard us whose Heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things that were spoken of Paul She attended as one whose Heart was opened and was sick for Christ and rejoyced to hear Christ preached Secondly The Spirit of God comes and perswades the Heart to close with Christ Saith a sick person I am perswaded if I could but have such a Physician I should be cured healed of my sickness So poor Souls lie complaining but not in Despair they are sick unto Death but yet shall not die they see themselves lost without Christ yet shall not die for want of Christ The Spirit perswades them to embrace Christ John 6.45 It is written they shall be taught of God every man therefore that hath heard and learn'd of the Father cometh unto me It is written in the Prophet they shall be all taught of God Is this to leave off all teaching No they shall be all taught of God How Why God shall teach them by the Power of his Spirit in the Word And how then Every Man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh to me God teacheth them by the World and the Spirit perswades them there is Life in Christ The Soul is perswaded to close with Christ for the Soul that is sick for Christ shall never die Saith Christ He that believeth on me shall never die But the sick Sinner is perswaded that Christ can heal him and will heal him he groans but not in Despair he sighs but not as a Person that is out of hopes but does believe that Jesus Christ will be his Salvation and is his Life he shall hear the Voice of the Son of God The preaching of the Word is the means but it must be the Spirit of God that must work and make it effectual and then the Soul makes no delay no consideration of this or that but closes with Jesus Christ as a dying person closes with a Medicine that may cure him Thirdly The Voice of Christ is a Voice that engrafts it self with power in the Heart The Apostle saith Jam. 1.21 Receive with meekness the engraffed word which is able to save your Souls They are peswaded that Jesus Christ is their Life the Promises of Christ are become theirs though they are sick of Love to Christ they shall not die for want of Christ Ask Believers what it is they want they will tell you they want more strength from Christ more knowledge of Christ more Communion with Christ Now they that have not had these Symptoms of Life lie yet in the Grave of sin and the Worm of Conscience feeds on them and they feel it not Millions feel not the Worm of Conscience till they come to Hell Saith Christ I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance The whole need no Physician but they that are sick The Second Character of such that never made Christ their Lise are those that never see themselves poor and undone without Christ Thou sayest thou art high and increased in Goods and hast need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Rev. 3.17 What without Christ and not cry out thou art poor miserable and undone They that never see themselves poor miserable and undone are yet without Christ What without Christ and well enough What hath enrich'd you Need of nothing What are you well enough without Christ Thou sayest I am encreased What can you patch up with any Duties with any Hopes with any thing below Christ But saith Christ thou art poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked 3ly They never made Christ their Life that never prized that glorious Gospel that brings them Tidings