signifies a natural love that flows freely and sweetly from its own nature O how high a love is that of free grace O how free is this grace and love in all its sweetness and how sweet in all its freedome flowing from the divine nature from the God-head the best of honey is live honey that drops from the Comb without straining the purest myrhe is that which comes from the tree of its self this is love at its greatest height this is the pure honey the grace of God free grace that flows of its own accord without any thing moving from the nature and heart of God himself As a Fountain is a treasury of water which continually sends out living streams as the Sun is a body of light which from the beginning of the world to the end sends out millions of beams every moment yet it remains still full and undeminish'd such is free grace or God the Fountain of free grace our God is a treasury of love a composure of love and sweetness that freely from himself every moment from eternity to eternity sends out millions of millions of streams and of beams of glorious love yet still remains a Fountain a Sun of richest love undeminish'd how pleasant and pure and powerful is free grace how sweet is it to rest in the bosome and lye in the arms of free grace it is to lye in the bosome and arms of God as in an unlimited treasury of the highest love and sweetness where love is springing with millions of springs and communications of its self in all forms of grace comfort strength joy and glory everlastingly without any cessation or diminution I would not be long neither would I miss my application therefore shall leave the other two arguments to set out free grace in that it is the highest loveliness and highest joy as well as the highest love therefore shall spend the rest of the time in the use My first Use is of Admonition take heed of being strangers and being enemies to the grace of God to free grace as a bird wandring from his nest so is a man from his place the Jews say place there is the name of God 't is free grace that is the rest of every Spirit of every Soul here 't is born here 't is hatch'd fledg'd cherish'd and fed here the heavenly Mother the eternal spirit spreads his wings 't is free grace is the place of every soul every thing is at rest in its place and strengthened in its proper place or element here is thy place O man here alone is thy rest here you spring up to spiritual strength and virtue O then take heed of being strangers and enemies to it he that is a stranger to it is as a man wandring from his place a bird wandring from its nest where shall it be cherish'd and fed he that disturbs his Family is like one that beats his own flesh saith Solomon be not enemies to grace this is thy place and nest if you disorder your own place and fillest it with enmity you be as he that consumes his own life and being There be three sorts of persons strangers and enemies to free grace these two fall into one for free grace hath no enemy to it but he that is ignorant of it and 〈◊〉 stranger◠to it for those that know thy name will trust in thee those that have tasted the sweetness of free grace what a heavenly Vine this is that cheers both the heart of God and man these will bow down to it and cry to all their hopes and expectations grace grace The three sorts of persons that are strangers and enemies to free grace are first the Prophane Heathen 2ly the Pious Jew and 3ly the Vain Christian O you that here me when I speak of the Heathen and Jew think not that I talk of Jerusalem or the Indies O that these three strangers were not in the midst of us the first stranger is the Prophane Heathen Jesus Christ said to Pilate John 18.37 For this cause came I into the world to bear witness to the truth he that is of the truth hears my voyce Pilate said What is truth and then went out this is a Pilate spirit a Heathen spirit one that is fit for interest sake to crucifie Christ when Christ spake of so great a glory as the end both of his life and death he asks What is truth and turns his back on Christ but what is this truth that Christ hath such an esteem of That he came from Heaven to Earth and died to declare see it in two or three Scriptures 't is that truth of the Gospel which Saint Paul sets out 2 Cor. 4.6 the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ this is that truth a light of glory shining in the face of Jesus Christ what is this glory see that in another Scripture Eph. 1.6 to the praise of the glory of his grace here 's the glory the grace of God free grace is the glory of God this is the truth this is the truth for which Christ lived and dyed that the light of this glory the most glorious and sweet light of the free grace of God might shine from his face on the heart of his brethren Again what that truth is for which Jesus Christ lived and dyed see in those last words of his Prayer to his Father John 17. ult I have declared to them thy name and will declare it what 's that name and that declaration 't is this free grace that God is love known by his name of love so it appears that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them O unexpressible love How infinitely sweet and free is that love consider three things in it first that the love that the Father hath to Jesus Christ is that very love by which he brings out Jesus Christ as the second person in the Trinity the only begotten of the Father from eternity to eternity 't is that love by which he delights in him and embraces him and hath all joy in him as he lies eternally in the bosome of the Father the eternal generation of the Lord Jesus which is the same from eternity to eternity with which he is the delight and joy and glory of the Father this is the love of the Father with which he loves Jesus Christ and is not this a free love Secondly This love of the Father with which he loves Jesus Christ is the same love of the Father which is in the Saints as their root as that eternal root out of which the Saints spring and out of which Jesus Christ springs in a Saint that eternal root out of which Jesus Christ and a Saint spring both together as two Spirits marryed and become one Spirit how rich and free is this love Thirdly This love of the Father to a Saint is that to which the being of Christ in a Saint
birth to give thee a new heart a believing heart do not as hitherto pour out the precious water of this grace from this fountain on the ground by contempt of it but say now Shall I spill the water of this grace which is the blood of my Jesus the life of my Jesus that not only hazarded but poured out his blood to bring me to this fountain Oh drink then the spirit of grace give thee a new nature a new heart to drink deep to drink abundantly by day and by night of this free grace which reigns through righteousness by Jesus Christ our Lord. EVANGELICAL RULES CONCERNING SUFFERING In a Discourse May 10. 1670. Romans 5.21 the latter part So might Grace reign through Righteousness unto Eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. I Have raised this Doctrine from these words That the Grace of God is the Supream good in the Gospel in the Covenant of Grace there is no good above it there is no good before it all the good of the Gospel comes from it all good depends on it and is dispens'd by it I have shewed that this Grace is sovereignly infinitely free sweet and irresistable I demonstrated this by three Arguments First That the grace of God is the highest love Secondly The grace of God is the highest loveliness and beauty Thirdly It is the highest joy This is the grace of God the love of the Father the loveliness of the Son God in all the three Persons at once shining out in each of them in the light of divine love heavenly beauty and incomprehensible joy and breaking out from God in the spirit of a Saint as a spiritual flame of divine love heavenly beauty and infinite joy inlightning inlivening the soul of a Saint teaching it and transforming it to one spiritual flame of the same love beauty and joy with it self My last Use was an Exhortation to glorifie the grace of God and thereby the God of grace First in our lives by living to this grace Secondly by suffering for this grace by this grace I spake of the first and shall by the assistance of God spend this time on this last part to glorifie the grace of God in your sufferings Here I began by the grace of God to deliver those things to you which I my self have sometimes received from Jesus Christ when I have seen his face and tasted his love by a spirit of faith and so do I hope and desire in the simplicity of my heart to lead you by the same anointing of the spirit of this grace of God shining in the face of Christ with this heavenly love beauty and joy as I hope I my self am led and taught to live upon them There be five Rules I would lay before you in the pursuit of this Exhortation First See that you suffer from the grace of God calling you to suffer Secondly Suffer only for the grace of God Thirdly Suffer with grace in your spirits Fourthly Suffer with grace in your outward behaviour Fifthly Let grace alone this grace of God be all your solace in all your sufferings First Suffer from the grace of God calling you to it Heb. 5.4 the Holy Ghost tells us No man takes this honour to himself as a Priest to God but he that is called of God as Aaron was when you suffer as Saints then you will by Jesus Christ become like him and be both the Priest and the Sacrifice but take heed you take not this honour to your selves to be Priests and Sacrifices to God except he call you to it as he did Aaron St. Paul layes this as the ground of all that spiritual light that flowed from him in his Epistle to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1.1 Paul called to an Apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God then have you a sweetness and strength in your sufferings when you can say of your selves such an one is called to be a Sufferer when the grace of God calls you to be a Sufferer then the title of a Sufferer and the triumph will be great Paul when he stood before the Roman Governour makes this the ground of his confidence and consolation O King Agrippa I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision what a spring of fresh life will this be to say I have not been disobedient to the heavenly vision I have not been disobedient to the heavenly call the grace of God shining without me in his providences of grace and shining before me in his word of grace and shining within me from the spirit of that grace on my spirit O ye the Flock of Jesus Christ O ye little Flock keep your eye on your Shepheard the Lord Jesus especially when he leads you into the Wildernes and into the Storm see him going before you and hear his voyce calling to suffer and know his voyce then shall you go in and out and find pasture then in the valley of death you shall meet with green pastures then in the time of great tempests when the Sea roars you shall feed by the still water-brooks and rivers then in the hot noon of Persecution your Shepheard shall lay you in a shady grove under his own shadow in the tender grass in his own bosome and there and then your Conscience together with the spirit of grace the holy Angels all blessed Spirits shall be as so many Birds singing about you and you shall appear as a continual Spring God shall spring up in the beauty of his appearance in the manifestation of his love while you are obedient to the heavenly vision and follow the heavenly call of his grace in his Providences his Word and Spirit This is the first Rule See that you suffer only from grace calling you to it Second Rule is See that you suffer for the grace of God only but before I fall on the affirmative part of this Rule I have cautions to give to take heed of these things for which you are not to suffer First Suffer not for the favour of man to please any party or perswasion Saint Paul saith Do I perswade men or God or do I seek to please men for if I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ Gal. 1.10 Oh suffer not to approve your selves to men the Scripture saith Judg. 9.13 That Wine cheareth the heart of God and man A learned Interpreter applies this to Christ and his Saints Christ the Vine and Saints the Branches the blood of Christ in his Saints poured out in sufferings makes glad the heart of God and man Oh pour not out this blood to make glad the heart of man alone how foolish be we to seek to please men with a false fleshly spirit Oh let this Wine be poured out to this end to make glad the heart of God and all that partake of the same divine joy with him A great King when he met with a great Philosopher said Oh what a Theatre have I lost by thy not seeing
is a consequent how full is this love which is anteceedent to the Union of Jesus Christ and a Soul out of which all good springs to a Soul is not this free grace that glory of God for which Jesus Christ lived and dyed that this truth might shine in the face of all his Saints this is that love in which the joy of all holy Angels and men is plac'd who art thou now when Jesus Christ lived and dyed to publish this joyful sound of free grace when the Ministers of Christ when Saints Baptised into the Spirit of Christ continually shout and cry concerning all good within them or round about them grace grace free grace love from eternity and to eternity who art thou that as Pilate negligently cryes what is this grace I understand it not and so goest away turning thy back on this grace on Jesus Christ on the glorious Ministry of this grace on the everlasting Father the Fountain of this grace this is the Prophane Heathen The second stranger and enemy to free grace is the pious Jew when Jesus Christ by his doctrine discovered his glory and the people believed on him the most religious Jews cryed out we know that God spake to Moses but whence this man came we know not Oh how many such Jewish devout spirits be among Christians when Jesus Christ in the Ministry of his Gospel shines out with the beams of free grace breaking out in their simplicity purity and unmix'd freedome see it not and know it not when Jesus Christ in his glorified face scatters those beams of grace into the bosome of many men they cry out this we know that Moses that the latter of the Scripture every where calls upon us to be doing to abound in good works to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling but what this doctrine of free grace is we know not nor whence it comes although there be no right doing or abounding in good works or working out Salvation but by the operation of this free grace for it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do how ignorant are many of the Religious Jews among us of the glory of this King of the power of his reign who reigns by a Scepter of righteousness to eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh let no more thine own reason the free will or power of the creature or all works arising from these in opposition to the free grace of God 〈◊〉 contend with it for the preheminence or copartnership to take the Scepter of righteousness out of his hand no free grace hath a most glorious Minister by which he will reign to bring out eternal life through righteousness and that is Jesus Christ in the place of free will right reason so called and all created excellencies he sets up Jesus Christ free grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life by Jesus Christ. The third enemy and stranger to the grace of God is the Vain Christian and this is of two kinds first he that playes the wanton with the grace of God Oh that there were not too much of this when God rained to the Jews the bread of Angels in the wilderness they loathed it and said What is this manna how insipid is this we find no strength in it Oh that this were not the temper of many How is that rellish of free grace that savour and esteem of free grace that eager feeding of the soul on free grace as the delicacy of Heaven and Eternity which was among the Saints of old now almost quite lost how do we play the wanton with this grace of God that reigns so freely we find no rellish in it to satisfie our understanding or to feed and feast our will and affections tak heed I beseech you of thus playing the wanton with free grace whosoever he be that subordinates the free grace of God to any thing besides its self or bounds it in any thing besides it self he that gives it confinement to or dependance on any thing of the creature or subjects the free grace of God to mans reason or which is the other wantoness turns this grace of God into a liberty to sin and makes this high free love a pretence or cloak to licentiousness he is a stranger and enemy to the grace of God as 't is of God he that sees not God to be all in all sees nothing at all of God rightly so he that sets not up the grace of God in the infiniteness unlimitedness independency of its own freedome and sweetness transcendent over antecedent to all good in the creature he makes the grace of God nothing grace is no grace unless it be all grace abate any thing of the freedome of divine grace and 't is no more grace at all I conclude this Use with the last of the Revelations 18. For I testifie to every man that heareth the words of the Prophecy of this book If any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the Plagues that are written in this book and if any man shall take away from the words of this book God shall take away his part out of the book of life See the danger of adding to or taking from the word of God now to bring this to my purpose you may see that this word of God is no other than the word of his grace no word comes from God to his people but the word of his grace it hath its beginning strength and end in this grace as appears 20 Acts 32. Now Brethren I commend you to God and the word of his grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance amongst all them that are sanctified he takes from adds to the word of God that takes from and adds to the grace of God O my beloved let us all then as the glory of God is dear to us as the peace of our souls and bodies is dear to us le ts take heed of taking from or adding to the grace of God if we take from the grace of God any thing of its own freedome of its antecedence to all good in all creatures God certainly will take from us proportionably of the purity of the peace of the power of his spirit in our spirits of the comfort and prosperity of our lives of consolation and joy in death of our blessedness and glory after death If we add to the grace of God any power in the creature any free will in the creature any excellency in the creature God certainly will so withdraw from us that by it we shall find we add to our corruptions we add to our care fear grief doubt despair and anguish while we live and add to the blackness of darkness in death and add to everlasting torments after death if this free grace it self do not interpose and prevent it by its own freedome My next Use is to perswade all Heathens Jews and Christians to seek after this
grace of God to be acquainted with it and that their acquaintance may encrease seek acquaintance with the free grace of God with all your heart let all the desires of your heart be wrapt up in the search of free grace Psalm 27.8 My heart saith seek my face thy face will I seek free grace eternal love this is the naked face of God Oh seek let your heart with all within you say to you continually by day and by night seek the face of God the grace of God and let your heart answer again in the truth of your practice thy grace O God we will seek all good things of time and eternity are wrapt up in the grace of God wisdome is a tree of life to those that take hold of it 't is the Gospel is the Tree of life 't is grace is the Gospel the glad tydings from Heaven take hold of this grace of God by faith 't is a tree of life God is the root of this tree in thy spirit when you take hold of the grace of God you shall have the Father the Fountain of this grace the Son the Channel full of this grace the holy Spirit as the living Streams living Water and Floud of this grace pouring out it self into thee you shall have the new nature the spiritual man the budds of this tree springing out of this root and every spiritual grace as the branches of it and all joy and glory of the spirit as the fruit of free grace on which your soul shall feed as on the fruit of his own tree O then follow free grace wait for it seek acquaintance with it with all your understanding might and power My next Use is to warn all that profess the name of God to take heed of living under the law of abiding in a legal spirit you shall see how I come to this admonition from this doctrine if you consider that Text which loudly alarums us to hast from Sinai to Sion 6 Rom. 14. For Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law but under grace O behold and tremble to see that the law and grace are inconsistent in their reign if you be under the law you cannot be under grace if you be under grace you are no more under the law if you be under the law sin domineers over you grace is no King to you O then be fearful to build Tabernacles on Mount Sinai in clouds and earth-quakes under the administration of the law but you will say how shall we know if we be under the law or no I shall at this time give you one character to know it by art thou still in thy natural estate of unregeneracy of unbelief then you are under the law and not under grace the Lord Jesus tells John 3.3 Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdome of God and again Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God art then acquainted but with a natural birth art thou a stranger to the new birth the second birth that from above where grace is a King whose Kingdome is righteousness peace and joy in the holy Ghost art not thou born of water and of the spirit of that spirit the spirit of grace of that water which is above the Firmament the grace of this spirit which flows for ever then you cannot see or enter into the Kingdome of grace there is a Cherub with a flaming sword the Ministry of the law that keeps the entrance that you cannot tast the sweetness joy and glory of this grace the law hath dominion over thee and sin death the devil and eternal wrath have dominion over thee according to thy present state Oh that you would lament this with tears of blood that your hearts would break with longings till grace according to its freedome translate from this Kingdome of the law to its own Kingdome and Dominion a Kingdome of Heaven upon Earth Alas while under the law in vain do you strive to break the chains of corruption and lust guilt and fear sin reigns powerfully and will reign to death to a first death a dark and melancholly state to the second death a long and endless night without any glimps of light or the least refreshment where you lye in torments unexpressible beyond that of the highest fear in unquenchable burnings where evil spirits and devils in this Kingdome of the law and wrath pour continually oyl to the fire and cry out where be the pleasures of sin the riches of the world where is your pomp happiness and joy now in all the things that were seen and be now vanished and be as fuel to heighten your flame O come to the Lord Jesus and be councelled by him we read when an Army of the Philistines lay between David and Bethlehem he cryed out Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the Well of Bethlehem which is by the gate and three mighty men brake through the Host and brought water to David but he poured it out unto the Lord and said far be it from me is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives Hear all you that are under the law the bosome of the Father is the true Bethlehem the house of bread Jesus Christ the bread of God is there in the gate of this Bethlehem is a fountain of grace O long day and night cry and say in the ear of the Lord Jesus who will give to drink of that Fountain in the gate of Bethlehem in the fountain of grace then I shall not be parch'd with the burning heat of lust of guilt of grief of pain then shall I thirst no more after the poysons of this world the least drop of that water would be an eternal solace to my soul Oh hear and see thou that thus longest and faintest to drink but cryest alass there be Armies between thee and this fountain Armies of corruptions of guilt of sin and wrath Armies of devils Oh who now shall give me to drink of this fountain Be not cast down look up behold and see and rejoyce to see Jesus Christ the mighty Worthy of God hath broke through all these Armies and in despight of all he brings of the living water of grace from the fountain of grace for thee to drink nay he brings thee to the fountain in the bosome of the Father Oh now in this moment thou that hast hitherto been in thy natural estate under the dominion of the law hear his voyce that by the Ministry brings thee to the fountain of grace that calls thee to come freely without money and without price to drink deep of this fountain this shall spring up to all righteousness holiness and joy in thee this shall spring up as streams to make thee flourish like the garden of God Oh that the Lord Jesus would be present with thee now to a new