them and said of every thing which hee made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was good very good the first and the last of Genesis This was our Condition in the sad times of humane defection and thus wee stood at a distance I will not say a defiance with the Lord of hosts and the God of spirits But since the partition wall is broken down and there is an entrance made into the holy place wee have obtained mercy and are received into favour The heat is of the fire is quencht wrath is alaid the strife is ended and he that was most wrong'd is most desirous to bee reconciled Whilst the Angels of God are made the Embassadors of peace and do openly proclaime tidings of good will unto men upon earth As James said of Abraham that hee was termed the friend of God so wee may say of all beleivers the Sonns of Abraham the generations of his Children They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of God and beloved of him God is their freind and they are Gods freinds by the new Covenant of eternall righteousnesse in the dispensation of Christ and merit of his obedience For as when two men fall out a third coming between makes them freinds and brings them to an amicable condition so Christ being in the nature of God and man hath united both and made them one as well in love as in person by the sweet interposition of his mediatory function If any shall desire to be further satisfyed concerning the nature of this atonement and shall say to me of this spirituall Manna as the Israelites did of their corporall Manna which fell in the Wildernesse full of pleasure and delectable sweetnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is this or how doe you Conceive it to be understood Wee are ready to pronounce with learned Zanchius that it is renovatio c. a reinvesting of man with pristine holynesse or a reducing of man to that former interest wee had with God in Christ Jesus from the state of wrath to the state of peace from the state of bondage to the state of liberty from the state of fear to the state of assurance from the state of misery to the state of mercy that we may draw neer with boldnesse to that heavenly throne and having received that spirit of adoption cry Abba father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. as Sonnes and heirs heirs of God and coheires with Christ in the sweet fruition of an everlasting Kingdome The dislike and antipathy the variance and the enmitie which transgression wrought being quite abolished and obliterated by the precious blood of that paschall Lambe sprinkled upon the door posts of our hearts and consciences For to speake in the Words of Salvian Crimen nostrum discrimen gravissimum Our greatest danger is from sin That being cleansed wee are preserved nor only so but graced and honoured embraced and dignify'd with signal ornaments of love and kindnesse by ring and by robe as they are distinctly mentioned by St Luke the Evangelist in that comfortable story of the prodigalls Conversion Hence it is the Apostle doth so much boast of a holy Communion which the saints have with the Father and the Son Our fellowship saith he and that with an Emphasis truely Our fellowship is with the Father and the Son in the 1st and 3d of his First Epist That as he is one with the Father so wee may be one with him of one heart of one mind of one desire of one judgment of one building one Temple one body one spirit which indeed is the height of comfort and doth most eminently represent the wonderfull excellency of Christian atonement St Bernard mentions divers unions in a tract of his stiled Varij Sermones naturall carnall virtuall morall personall substantiall and the like Naturall between the Soul and the body they are one man Carnal between the Man and the Woman they are one Flesh Virtuall in the Consent of our affections they are one harmony morall in the Conjunction of brethren they are one Society personall with the divinity and humanity they are one Christ substantiall in the deep mystery of the blessed Trinity They are are our God our Lord of whom and by whom and through whom all things were made As for the union in the Text it is spirituall whereby wee are not only transformed in our selves and transported out of our selves but engrafted in Christ and made one Spirit with him as it is directly avowed by the Doctor of the Gentiles in the 6 Chapt. and 17. verse of the 1 Ep. to the Corinth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that is joyned with the Lord is one Spirit with him acted by one Spirit raised by one Spirit sanctified by one Spirit governed by one Spirit the holy ghost moving as it were upon the whole body of the Church and having a gracious influence from the head of Christ to the hearts of men and the secretest juncture of his dearest members For when Christ was gone he sent down a fire on the Earth a Vestal fire a sacred fire a blessed fire a holy fire I mean the Comforter which is the love of God that hee might keep us to to himselfe and abide with us for ever I could fix upon such a meditation as this and dwell in the contemplation of divine peace that great atonement that blessed atonement the atonement with an Emphasis the atonement with an excellence that cleares the minde and cheares the spirit with unimaginable comfort dulcor ejus absorbet conscientiam saith that elegant father the sweetenesse thereof swallowes up my thoughts and puts me into a frame of jubilar excesse O that it were no lesse with men than with God and that wee might see a perfect reconcilement in every condition like that of the disciples who mett together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Text hath it with one mind in one place in the 2. and 1. of the Acts of Apost But this is more to be prayed for than can easily be expected in Massa and in Meribba at the Waters of strife amidst the divisions of many brethren And yet it is a shame that Christ should dye to make our peace and we should live to make debate amongst our selves striving and strugling like Iacob and Esau in the wombe and bowels of Church and Country not as true Israelites but as vaine Ishmaelites or generations of the Patriarch Dan who was said to be Coluber in viâ a Snake in the path and a Serpent in the way Gen. 49. The Lord grant that at length we may be able to say in a generall sense a sense morall a sense politicall a sense naturall a sense ecclesiasticall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee have received the atonoment for the honour of God the peace of Sion and the great Security of this Land and Nation But I hasten to my Second observation from the grace to the meanes from the benefit to the Conveyance and
for you and by the Spirit which he sent to you that he might lead you into all truth and make you partakers of a pretious inheritance amongst the Saints in glory Custodite animas nulli credite raso keep your soules with all diligence and let nothing draw you from the love of Christ Jesus cleave to the Lord with all perseverance and what God hath joyned let no man sever In vaine do we renew the league of divine friendship if we do not hold it inviolably without provocation of great offence The fathers would have Caudam hostiae as well as Caput hostiae both head and rump to be offered no lesse in spirituall sacrifices then heretofore in the just performance of legall observances The pretious robe of Christian holinesse ought to be like the embroydered Coat of the Patriarch Joseph which is said to be talaris downe to the feet and below the ancles that we may adhere constantly to the Lord and finish our Course in the perfection of holinesse It is a great interest we have in God by meanes of this present union labour to improve it and do not grieve the Holy Spirit whereby yee are not only joyn'd and coupled but Sealed and confirmed unto the time of your redemption Christ saies yee are made whole sinne no more lest a worse thing come unto you I say yee are made friends sinne no more lest a worse thing come unto you when the house of your Soule and tabernacle of your Conscience being swept and garnisht may draw many uncleane spirits in and the end prove worse then your beginning Are yee not washt are yee not cleansed are yee not reconciled are yee not justified are yee not cured are yee not healed are yee not renewed are yee not sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Christ hath obtained for you the remission of your sinnes and Christ hath put on you the garment of his righteousnesse that yee may find grace in the sight of God and be adopted into the family of his dearest children with all the Company of his elect Angels Beware then of relapsing into sinne and take heed there be not found among you a heart of unbeliefe to depart from the living God O let not the poyson of sinne abide in you because the love of God hath abounded towards you but hate it as a Serpent and embrace him that hath taken away the sting Avoyd it as a Syren and hold what you have that no man take away your Crowne the Crowne of your life the Crowne of your rejoycing whereby we are enabled to cry with the Apostle and to sing triumphantly with joy in God through our Lord Jesus by whom we have now received the atonement And so I come to my last observation The result or extraction of delight and glory exultation and jucundity Which indeed is pleasing and may serve for application of all that hath been spoken In Deogloriamur we joy in God Saul had a Jonathan David an Absalon and Paul himselfe a beloved Timothy and a deare Philemon wherein they took much pleasure and delight But God alone is the joy of our hearts and the Solace of our Spirits that hath called us to his eternall glory through Christ Jesus And doubtlesse we may very well joy in God that enjoy so much from God in temporall mercies spirituall graces outward benedictions and inward refections that fill our soules with marrow and fatnesse For to speak in the words of Salomon The winter is past the showers are gone the singing of Birds is come and the flowers appeare in our land Choyce flowers of grace and peace truth and righteousnesse whereof we may compose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St Chrysostome speaks a thousand garlands of divine celebrities and tripudiant gratulations He that turned water into wine before his death turned blood into wine at his death the blood of his Crosse into the wine of gladnesse the blood of his passion into the wine of consolation A sweet wine a pleasant wine the mulsum of grace and the mustum of his Spirit for so I promise you St Bernard termes it reserved for the marriage of the lambe and kept as t were in the wine cellars of the King that we may be cheared and wholy forget the vanities of the world the pleasures of sinne the lusts of the flesh and the lures of Satan For indeed he is the right object of humane Comfort most absolute and compleat most adequate and perfect that can satisfy the heart of man and fill every corner of that winding Labyrinth with delicious Content We joy in him and we joy of him in him for the grace of present adoption of him for the hope of future exaltation to our selves and to our brethren In him simply as he is God in himselfe of infinite power and incomprehensible majesty in him respectively as he is God to us of infinite goodnesse and unspeakable mercy In him as a God in him as a Father in him as a Lord in him as a Saviour that we are his and that he is ours by the gracious stipulations of Evangelicall promises Our God and our Father our Lord and our Saviour the Author of peace and everlasting tranquillity the donor of life and immortall glory which makes the spouse rejoyce with melody and sing with jubilee my beloved is mine and I am his He feedeth among the lilies the white Soules and pure Consciences of men Sanctified with the Spirit of holinesse Aeneas Sylvius used to say as t is recorded in his life by Platina nullum gaudium sine virtute solidum there Could be no sollid joy without the exercise of virture Had it been said without the love of God in Jesus Christ it had been spoken most divinely Some joy in their strength but that is Carnall some joy in their wisdome but that is imperfect some joy in their treasure but that is deceitfull some joy in their greatnesse and honour but that is inconstant and sometimes mutable and therefore we joy in God that are endeared to him and have received the benefit of divine atonement Our heart doth rejoyce and our flesh doth rejoyce in God the living God that makes us a rejoycing and Creates us a very joy through Christ his Sonne and the powerfull working of his Continuall intercession The originall word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is most emphaticall and impleyes a kind of joy more then ordinary even gestient gladnesse and triumphant glory I know not whether I should call it an exultation or an insultation because it makes us insult over the adversary and triumph over the enemy laughing at his destruction and exposing him openly as the Graecian did of whom the verse goes Ter circum Iliacos raptaverat Hectoramuros for by this we do not only joy in God but we joy over that which may anoy our soules and trample on it with derision and contempt Not unlike our blessed Saviour when he
bruised the head of the Serpent and brake the head of the Leviathan in the midst of the waters sporting with him that sported therein with the staffe of his Crosse and the rod of his power his eternall power and God-head Rom. 1. Who then shall lay any thing to our charg It is God that justifieth who shall condemne It is Christ that died yea rather which is risen againe and sits at the right hand of God and makes intercession for us as we have it in that brave challenge graciously set downe and couragiously sent forth by that Champion of God and trumpet of the Gospel the Doctor of the Gentiles and vessell of election in plaine scorne and open defence of spirituall wickednesse in highest places We joy in God we joy over death we joy in God we joy over sinne we joy in God we joy over the grave we joy in God we joy and crow as it were over hell and Satan with all the powers of that infernall kingdome and may safely tread upon Serpents and Scorpions as the Apostles did without hurt and danger in the name of Christ and strength of our redeemer that hath set up his crosse as a glorious Trophy in the midst of the Nation to the everlasting reproach and eternall confusion of the Dragon and his angels Of this we have both an embleme and example an Embleme in the woman that was cloathed with the Sun and had the Moon under her feet an example in the Apostle when he brake forth into that triumphant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the law but thanks be to God who hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ And therefore saith God by the mouth of his Servant Qui gloriatur in me glorietur let him that glorieth glory in me that he understandeth me and that he knoweth me who sheweth mercy and judgment and righteousnesse upon the earth Jer. 9. Give me leave then to put you in mind of those everlasting joyes which shall never be taken from you not of meat and of drinke not of harp and viol in the luxury of the greatest feasts but of God and of Christ the Word and his Spirit Quo nihil speciosius quo nihil pretiosius in the sweet language of that incomparable Father then which nothing is more amiable and specious for grace and beauty nothing more admirable and pretious for substance and value lest it be said of you as it was of the Pharisees Luk. 7. 32. Cantavimus non Saltastis we have Piped unto you but ye have not Danced we have Sung unto you but yee have not rejoyced you may peradventure have joyed in the pleasant noise of musicall instruments yee have not rejoyced at the Word of God and sound of his Gospell in sober dances of Spirituall rejoycings with this he is pleased with that he is grieved in this he is glorified in that he is dishonoured and sometimes mightily blasphemed I will not deny but that we may rejoyce in the outward comforts of humane life and take pleasure in the very creature joy in health joy in beauty joy in wealth joy in safety joy in Arts and Sciences Tongues and Languages friends and favours priviledges and preferments the gifts of nature and the graces of the Spirit whereby we are enabled to promote the honour of God and benefit of his Servants In these we may rejoyce in these we may triumph as they are blessings of our heavenly Father and pledges of his love so it be with a twofold Caution and respect the one of thankfulnesse in the right acknowledgment of divine bounty from whence they come the other of subordination in the reall intendment of divine glory whereunto they runne For that is finis debitus as Aquinas speaks and ought to be the maine aime of our best faculties and most eminent perfections In this sense we interpret the words of St Paul and are to understand that deprecation of the Apostle God forbid I should rejoyce in any thing but the Crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ not primarily and wholy but conditionally and moderately in order to Christ and the advancement of his glory And therefore as Aristotle said when they brought him two sorts of wine the one from Rhodes the other from Lesbos with allusion to his Scholars Menedemus and Theophrastus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That of Rhodes is good but this of Lesbos is the sweeter So do I professe of earthly joy and heavenly joy corporall joy and spirituall joy the joy of the Creature and the joy of the Creator that may be good this is better that may be pleasant this is sweeter that may be usefull this is needfull and such as ought most to be desired Faine would I draw you to it that your hearts may rejoyce and your joy may be full when that which is perfect shall come and that which is imperfect shall be done away For in his presence there is fulnesse of joy and at his right hand there are pleasures for ever more But where I faile let Augustine go on and make supply with his gaudete in one of his Sermons de Verbis Domini Gaudete in Domino non in saeculo Gaudete in veritate non in falsitate Gaudete in spe aeternitatis non in store vanitatis rejoyce in the Lord not in the world rejoyce in the truth not in falshood rejoyce in the hope of life and glory not in the flower and flourish of Pride and of vanity All this is strongly enforced by the Word of God which indeed is mighty in operation and sharper then a two edged sword to divide betwixt the Soule and the Spirit the joynts and the marrow the world and your heart the earth and your affections I might send you to the Prophet David for ample direction who writes many Psalmes of this argument with a jubilate in Deo O be joyfull in the Lord all yee Lands serve the Lord with gladnesse and come before his presence with a song And with a Venite exultemus in Domino O Come let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoyce in the strength of our Salvation let us come before his presence with thanks-giving and shew our selves glad in him with Psalmes But I shall leave you to a shorter compendium out of the Apostle Philip. 4. 4. where he gives you a double charge and bids you rejoyce in the Lord with an Iterum dico Againe I say rejoyce that he may awake you from the dreames of secular fancies and bring you to the joyes of Spirituall extasies I scarce remember a place in the Volume of this Book of greater emphasis that doth more insinuate into the heart of men with a sweeter Eccho of forcible ingemination and patheticall instruction then what I last spake unto rejoyce in the Lord and againe I say rejoyce Therefore I wish it may have a deep impression with you and be as nailes fastned by the masters of assemblies never to be removed and forgotten that yet may affect it and that it may lift you up from wordly desires and earthly Cogitations as the Spirit did Ezekiel when it took him by a lock of the haire and brought him to Jerusalem lift you up and bring you on to Jerusalem the vision of peace the fruition of blisse the new Jerusalem the celestiall Jerusalem Jerusalem which is above the Mother of us all Where amongst other songs and doxologies of praise and thanks-giving we may remember this and sing aloud upon our beds with Patriarches and Prophets with Apostles and Evangelists with Martyrs and Confessors with Saints and Angells We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement Which the Lord Grant for Christ his sake to whom with the Father and the holy Spirit three persons and one God be ascribed all Power Majesty and Dominion now and for ever AMEN FINIS