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
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
my actions It was more to him to be applauded by this one man before all the world than all the benefit of his victories besides Beware of this to make any man any sort of men the Theatre of your Sufferings to be applauded by men let God alone be the Theatre of your Sufferings 't is a light thing with me saith the Apostle to be Judged in mans day let this be the beginning and end of all your suffering to be applauded by God approved of God and accepted by him Suffer not out of any humour or passion the Apostle exhorts 1 Cor. 5.8 Let us keep the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth this relates to the Passeover 7th verse For Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us there is to be a conformity between the sufferings of Christ and a Saint do you come to suffer with Christ let it be like Christ let it be a Passeover let it be a Sacrifice of a Lamb lay thy self down as a Lamb gentle innocent and meek and let this be a feast and cast out the old leaven all sour sullen cross perverse spirits keep this feast with the unleavened bread the sincerity truth simplicity of an innocent gentle meek spirit Suffer not for any earthly interest worldly power or earthly kingdom Saint Paul tells us 2 Cor. 3.17 18. that that which kept him from fainting in affliction we look not at the things that are seen but at the things that are not seen for the things that are seen are temporal now while the outward man perishes the inward man is renewed day by day if we suffer with our eyes on visible powers and interests we shall faint in our suffering when instead of having our expectations of great rewards answered we shall find our outward man and the interests thereof decay at what a loss shall we be Saint Paul joyns these two together minding earthly things and being enemies to the Cross of Christ Phil. 3.18 19. be not deceived it will be found an unhappy delusion while we think we are in conformity to the Cross of Christ for us to keep our eye mind and heart fix'd on earthly things we shall be found in truth enemies to the Cross of Christ. My fourth caution is this in my second Rule of suffering for grace suffer not for a wrathful spirit for a Ministry of wrath and of the Law this is the servile spirit the son of Hagar the bondwoman which is of Mount Sinai this spirit shall not inherit the promise or the kingdome of God that is reserved for the spirit of the freewoman for Isaak the seed of love of divine mirth and joy when Nadab and Abihis offer'd strange fire before the Lord the strange fire returns upon them and consumes them God calls his own works of wrath a strange work 't is a strange fire to God who is love If you come to suffer with the strange fire of a wrathfull spirit this fire will burn upon you till this wrathfull spirit hath consumed you Moses himself the meekest man on earth yet being a Minister of the law and of wrath for one wrathfull expression hear now ye Rebels he was not suffered to enter into the good land of Canaan David a man after Gods heart though he had fought the battels of the Lord for his wrath in murdering Vriah was not permitted to build the house of God the Temple When Christ was to suffer he bids Peter put up his sword for he that uses the sword shall perish by the sword If we suffer for a Ministry of wrath with a spirit of wrath we shall find the wrathfull sword turn it self against us 't is the spirit of grace alone 't is the spirit of love of faith and joy which brings to the good land of rest which builds up the heavenly Temple Now I come to my Rule it self which is Suffer alone for the grace of God I shall divide this Rule into four parts Suffer first for the Ministry of the grace of God For attendance to this Ministry of the grace of God For obedience to this grace For the kingdome of this grace First Suffer only for a Ministry of grace hast thou seen the beauty of Christ hast thou tasted the love of Christ hast thou known how sweet the Lord Jesus is to the poor soul of man to poor lost sinners and canst thou forbear to declare or hear those things which you have tasted and seen when they appertain to the glory of the King of grace when they appertain to all mankind when they are the joy of the whole earth and of heaven when they are the hope of all Nations and of every creature in its capacity I will publish the name of God sings Moses in Deut. 32.3 you to whom that name hath proclaimed it self in the Gospel publish that God is light in whom is no darkness a light of pure glory that God is love it self free absolute unmix'd that he is God Emmanuel this light this love with us for us in us in our stead springing up in us Oh pour out this name of God wherever you come as an oyntment that may fill all spirits round about you with a sweet smell to draw all souls by the sweet smell of Christs loveliness in thee to Jesus Christ and make them in love with him and now see what Saint Paul saith Phil. 2.17 Yea and if I be offered on the sacrifice and service of your faith I joy and rejoyce with you all for the same cause also do ye joy and rejoyce with me Doth the most high God in thy spirit shine out with the light of his blessed beauty and love doth he by thy spirit shed abroad his dearest love to many souls doth he by thee wooe souls and bring them into the bosome of his most heavenly love where they also become Children of light and love shining in the same beauty springing in the same sweetness If thou be offered up in any degree of suffering and made a sacrifice for this service of the faith of any for thus espousing Jesus Christ and the souls of Saints one to another in this golden band of incorruptible beauty and love Oh rejoyce and call all holy Angels and blessed Spirits to rejoyce with thee and be thereby helpers forward of your joy Thus suffer for the Ministry of grace Secondly Suffer for thine attendance on the Ministry of grace faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God Oh cursed saith that good and noble Italian Marquess be he that thinks all the treasures in the world to be worth one moments communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. David a great King saith One day in the house of the Lord to behold his glory is better than a thousand elsewhere Doth God by any Ministry through the outward word of his grace bring forth himself to thee as a heavenly Bridegroom comming out
of his Chamber richly adorned as the Sun in a Summer morning fresh and sweet with beauty of his grace to take thee out of thy state of sin and sorrow out of the tumults of the flesh to his Bridall Chamber to his Marriage Chariot to Ryde with him as his Queen canst thou now think there are any joyes any treasures to be compared with this State have you thus in the Ministry of his grace seen the Lord Jesus and received him in his love into your souls and is not one hour spent thus better than thousands in all the glory of the world is not one grain of this glory better of more worth than all this world at present with respect to the present sweetness what will it then be as it grows up in full ripe Fruits to Eternity Thus suffer for attending to the Ministry of grace Thirdly Suffer for your obedience only to the grace of God the Wise men followed the Starr though it went into a Stable because there they met with the King of glory Behold a more beautifull guide than a Starre I will guide thee by my eye the face of God to his people is the day spring from on high Follow this day spring this eye this face of God whethersoever it leads thee though to a Manger though to a Prison though to the Cross and to the Grave to Poverty and Desolation Oh follow it for where-ever it leads you you shall find your Jesus there the Prince of glory turning the Stable the Prison to a Palace of glory and turning the Cross to a flourishing Tree of life budding as Aarons Rod. Fourthly Suffer only for the kingdome of grace there be two Scriptures which I shall present to you to make good this part of my Exhortation Heb. 11.13 They confessed that they were strangers and Pilgrims on the earth then 14th They that say such things declare they sought a Countrey a Kingdome but what Kingdom 15. vers not that from whence they came and 16. but now they desire a better Countrey that is an heavenly therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City they seek a Countrey 't is their heavenly native Countrey the word is Patrida 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suffer as Pilgrims here not to be Princes care not for it have you been cast out of your Possessions Estates and Glories here and desire not to return whatever opportunities present themselves let not this be in your eye in suffering profess here you have no abiding place no enduring substance profess your selves Pilgrims give your selves to suffer as such let your eye be upon your native Countrey on the heavenly Jerusalem now you please God to the heart and God delights to be called your God when together with him you will be sojourners here and seek no kingdome but that in which he Reigns now God will prepare now God hath prepared for you a City nay a Kingdome The second Scripture is 2 Cor. 4.18 with the 5th and 1st what carryed Paul through suffering saith he We look not at the things that are seen but things not seen which are Eternal and now we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God Eternal in the Heavens and this we groan for to be cloathed with our house which is from Heaven not to be uncloathed but clothed that mortality may be swallowed up of life here 's a Kingdome for which alone all the Saints are to suffer not of this world nor in this world not of the flesh or in the flesh but of the spirit and in the spirit but for an invisible kingdome which the eye of no natural understanding can reach a kingdome seated and established in God a kingdome eternal in the Heavens where the invisible light and glory swallows up all that is visible temporal and mortal into it self for this kingdome of grace endure sufferings so you will be like Christ for it is said he endured for the joy set before him what was that joy set before him see that John 17.5 And now O Father glorifie me with thy self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was see here the joy and kingdome which was in the eye of Christ that kingdome of God above which is righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost which is not in this world which was before the world was a kingdome in Eternity God himself that kingdome the invisible eternal glory of the God-head which was when the world was not and shall be when the world is no more which while the world continues is the same but not in the world nor in appearance to sence or reason but in the invisibility of the eternal spirit in a glory farr surmounting sence or reason this kingdome was in Christs eye when he suffered now the joy of this kingdome made him despise the shame Oh be ye like Christ and suffer for this kingdome to reign with God in his invisible and eternal glory So much for this second Rule To suffer only for the grace of God Thirdly Let us suffer with the grace of God in our spirits when the Disciples desired Jesus Christ to call for fire from Heaven to destroy those Samaritans that would not suffer him to go through their City Jesus Christ saith unto them Ye know not what spirits you are of these words are capable of a two-fold sence first you know not not O my Lambs what is your proper spirit and how that you ask is your proper spirit this is unproper to my spirit and do you desire to know what spirit this is the Holy Ghost tells in the Epistle of Saint James Jam. 3.14 If you have any bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not and lye not against the truth this is a bitter Zeal in the Original call not this Zeal Religion and Grace and the Spirit of the Gospel you lye against the truth if you do so this wisdome is not from above but is earthly sensual and devillish O see what spirit we are of if we call for fire from Heaven to consume those that reject us and resist us to destroy the soul or life of any man this is a bitter Zeal and brings in 16 vers Confusion and every evil work A second sence is you know not what spirit you are of that is you do not understand what the spirit of grace of the Gospel in you is and what the spirit of a Saint under the Gospel is For the Son of Man came not to destroy souls but to save them would you know the proper spirit of a Saint see that in the 17th vers But the wisdome that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of mercy and the fruits of righteousness are sown in peace without partiality the word is without wrangling See the spirit which is your spirit the spirit of Saintship