sin yet it cannot do any hurt at all But saâ— he I thanke God through our Lord Jesus Chriâ—â— who will deliver me from this body of death As much as to say Indeed till a man looke to Christ there is nothing but matter of bitternesse and evill to be seen as the certain fruits of sin and there can be nothing but bitternesse in sin in regard of the evill that is like to follow it But when persons can once looke to Christ the case is altered What doth he thanke God for He thanks God that though naturally a body of death grew up by sin yet there is no prejudice in this kinde can come to him through Christ Now that the Apostle doth plainly mean that he thanks God in that sin could not doe him or others any hurt mark how in his thankfulnesse he expresseth himself in the beginning of the 8. Chapter There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ that walke not after the flâ—sh but after the Spirit There you see the ground of the Apostles thanksgiving namely that now there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ No you will say no condemnation in Hell but yet as there is remainders of sinne in Gods owne people so there will some evill or other fall upon the commission of sin marke what the Apostle speakes of it in the 2. and 4. verâ—â— Would you have the clear minde of the Spirit â—in it There it is held forth The Law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ hath freed mee from the law of sinne and death for what the Law could not doe in that it was weake through the flesh God sent forth his Son in the similitude of sinfull flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ hath freed mee from the Law of sinne and death Here Christ stands for the deliverance of his people from condemnation from eternall wrath say some yea but saith the Apostle wee are delivered from the Law of sin and death what is the Law of sin but what the Law may do to persons for those sins which are committed by them Now what can sin do when it is condemned It is true take a Traytor as he is at liberty hee may do mischief but take him as he is arraigned and condemned and as he is bound and manacled he can doe no hurt Now sinne is condemned to the Believer it can do no hurt at all to him for what hurt can that doe unto a man which is carried into a Land of forgetfulnesse to avoid further prejudice of such persons that are indangered by it When men have been found dangerous unto the State 〈◊〉 hath been a common practice to banish them the Kingdome into a place far remote when they cannot have any opportunity of doing any mischief and when they are banished theâ— are not to returne againe upon paine of death Now beloved our Scape Goat hath carriâ— our sins into a Land of forgetfulnesse Consider further suppose a man be entered into many bonds and they are for great summes It is true while they remaine bonds in force such a man is subject to feare arrests but put the case these bonds are all cancelled that the debt in the Creditors book be blotted out what hurt then can these bonds do unto a man when the seal is torn off and all the writing in the bond is blotted out If a man saw a thousand such bonds in which he were obliged it would affright him no more then if he saw none at all True indeed every sin is a great debt and wee commit sins daily and hourly against the Lord and the torments of Hel is the merit of the least sin in the world for I speake not this to extenuate any sin but to shew the greatnes of Gods Grace and to ease upon good grounds distressed consciences Therefore such as look upon these sins as uncancelled and these debts as true debts it is true so long these sins may work a horror and trembling in persons but for Believers that are the members of Christ they may read fairly all the sins that ever they have committed they may read also the desert of these transgressions which should be executed and inflicted upon them if they were not cancelled and blotted out But marke what the Lord speaks in the 43. of Isaiah I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine owne name sake and will not remember thy sins Now what prejudice can that do that is blotted out I say every debt of a Believer is a cancelled debt so that the Lord himselfe hath nothing at all to lay to a Believers charge For how can that Scorpion do hurt that hath lost his sting and spent his venome in the sides of Christ and left it there It was Christ that was wounded for the transgressions of his people he was bruised for the iniquities of the faithfull the chastisements of their peace was upon him saith the Holy Ghost in the 53. of Isaiah and the 5. verse What hurt can there be to whom there is peace from God and nothing but peace It is true our sins themselves do not speak peace but Christ bearing the sinne and the wrath that these sins doe deserve his chastisement or the wrath hee sustained speaks peace to every Believer whose transgressions be did beare Therefore beloved be not affraid ye that are Believers and members of Christ for fear of wrath breaking down from heaven upon you for such and such sins which you have committed for they can do you no hurt all your sins together can do you no harme all the sting and poyson of your sins were spent upon the backe of Christ Marke that excellent expression of the Apostle in the 1 Cor. 15.56 57. he tels us there indeed that the sting of death is sin and the strength of sinne is the Law so that here seems to be a sting in sin even to death it selfe But mark what follows thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ that hath given us the victory What doth he meane even the victory of overcoming of sinne and death that is his true meaning Though naturally sin hath a sting yet there is a victory over this sting Christ is the death of it as he tooke away the sting of it so that the sins of Believers set up to affright them by Satan or his instruments they are but Scare-crows and Bugbears things to fright ignorant children indeed but men of insight and understanding are able to see that they are counterfeit things It is true before men come to see the light of the Gospel of Christ their sins stare in their faces seeming to spit fire at them but just as you shall have children it may be put one of their company into hideous postures and a fearfull and terrible representation causing every one that knowes it not to run from him so sinne
is now offered unto us I have peradventure in the hearing of some present made entrance into these words I have read now unto you I shall give you but a taste of what I have formerly spoken so much as may serve by way of introduction to that in which I mean to spend the remainder of this time The occasion of these words you may see in the former passage of this Chapter At this present instant a great tumult and uproar was raised upon the raising of the righteous Man from the East that is the setting up of Christ Such a noyse there was that God was fain to call for silence vers 1. and for their plea at the latter end of the verse If they have any thing to say against this businesse of setting up of Christ let them bring their strongest reasons saith the Lord. Having thus obtained silence the Lord makes his plea against their tumultuous opposition vers 2. Who is he that hath raised him up and hath given Nations to him and made him to rule over Kings I the Lord did it saith he vers 4. What have you to say to me He shall prosper and he shall prosper with facility and ease he shall go softly he shall never run for fear of being circumvented Hee shall go in a way that his foot hath not trode before he shall go further then he hath gone and what say they to this when God speaks Yet the tumultuous men will not be quiet they lay their heads together as you finde they consult to finde out helpe nay they conspire the Carpenter and the Smith have laid their heads together Now because there is such a combustion when Christ is set up lest the people of the Lord should be possessed with dismayednesse and feare of miscarriage the Lord turnes his speech to these opposed Fear not I am with thee be not dismayed I am thy God Christ when ever he is exalted did doth and will finde great opposition but in spite of all opposition Christs exaltation shall prosper all their opposition shal not hinder nay he wil go softly that the world may see that he is not afraid of all opposition whatsoever First in this Text the Lord is pleased to provide a pillow as for a King for the heads of his people or a staffe for their trembling hand a pillow to support their sinking spirits they are apt to be discouraged it seems the Lord is pleased to take their condition into his hand to speak to the occasion of their trembling and to give out such words that may be a stay that they may stand fast though blustrings grow greater then they are The Textis nothing else but a gracious incouragement or a comfortable support of a sinking spirit The incouragement is in these words Fear not be not dismayed the grounds and arguments by which he would prevaile with them not to fear nor be dismayed are in these words I am with thee I am thy God I will helpe thee I will up hold thee with the right hand of my righteousnesse The point is this That they that have God for their God need never fear nor be dismayed seeing this their God is with them will helpe them strengthen them and uphold them with the right hand of his righteousnesse Concerning this feare and dismayednesse we spake largely the last time we spake upon this occasion 1. What it is not to be afraid 2. What we are not to be afraid of 3. What the inconveniences of such feare are In brief not to feare is no more but a composednesse and setlednesse of spirit against any evill that commeth Excellent is that expression in the 112. Psalme vers 8. They shall not be afraid of evill tidings What is that Their heart is fixed their heart is established they shall not be removed Here is the expression of a fearlesse heart a heart fixed a heart established a heart not moved You have it likewise excellently set out in Daniel 3. in an example the 16. vers in the story of the three children being sentenced to be cast into the fiery furnace they came before the great King Nebuchadnezzar and hee spake big to them and tells them what they must trust unto if they will not fall down and worship his Gods Mark now how their fearlesnesse and dismayednesse is expressed We are not carefull to answer thee in this matter our God whom we serve be will deliver us See what a disposition this fearlesnesse is and then what is the ground of it We are not carefull to answer thee in this matter here is a true fearlesnesse if when ever evill comes men can say it matters not we are ready for it And look into the root of it and you shall finde it in their answer our God is able to deliver us that made them so carelesse in so weighty a thing Our God whom wee serve he will deliver us Secondly what it is we should not fear I answer first we should not fear God himself as to do us any hurt fear him with awfull reverence we must A Believer that is the servant and chosen of God need not fear that God will do him any hurt It is God that justifieth therefore it is not God that will harm thee The heart of God is to his people My bowells are troubled for thee saith God to Ephraim Can he hurt them while he is troubled for them Secondly they must not fear their own sins I do not say they ought not to fear to commit sinne but they ought not to feare what hurt their sinnes can doe them seeing they are blotted out If a man have subscribed unto and sealed a hundred Bonds and all these Bonds be quite cancelled and blotted out he need not fear no hurt these Bonds can do him Paul in the 7. of Rom. complaineth indeed of a body of death and the power of sin but in the closure of the Chapter he shews how little he fears any thing that sin could doe Thanks be unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ What doth he thank the Lord for that though his firts were so great yet they could not do him any hurt nor any of Gods people Look into the beginning of the 8. Chapter it is plaine There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ who walke not after the flesh but after the Spirit For the Law of the Spirit of life that is in Christ hath freed me from the Law of sin and death For what the Law could not do in that it was weake through the flesh God sending his owne Son in the likenesse of sinfull flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh What hurt can this do Now beloved give me leave to tell you if you be Believers and weak in faith I dare bee bold to say nothing cuts the heart so much in respect of fear of evill as the sins you do commit these will be swords to your hearts But if you be
indeed of the world never stirs nor moves God because he know well enough how he can blast every attempt yet because he knowes that his people have some flesh remaining still in them the appearance of a tumult and the opposition of the Gospell may peradventure put them into an affright The Lord therefore endeavours to hearten his own people against the frights that they might take in regard of the outward appearance of opposition and this he doth in the words of the Text Feare thou not for I am with thee bee not dismayed for I am thy God Now lest there should be a mistake to whom the Lord directs this speech for the intent of the Lord may be mistaken in the extent of the people to whom hee speakes and therefore in the 8. and 9. verses the Lord shews to whom he speaks such incouragements But thou Israel art my servant and Jacob whom I have chosen the seed of Abraham my friend Object Why some will say It seemes then that in this Text Gods speaking of comfort and encouragement is confined onely unto the people of the Jews that are the children of Jacob and the seede of Abraham and therefore what ever comfort there is in the Text there is little comfort belongs unto us Answ Consider the ninth verse and then it will appear that though God speakes of Jacob Israel and the seed of Abraham yet he doth not speak of the seed according to the flesh but according to the Spirit for in the ninth verse you read the words thus Thou whom I have chosen and taken from the ends of the earth That Jacob then and Israel to whom the Lord speakes these comfortable words is the Jacob and Israel that is called from the ends of the earth Now if you would know what is meant by the ends of the earth the Prophet will tell you in chap. 43. of Isaiah and the 5,6,7 verses Feare not for I am with thee I will bring thy seed from the East and gather thee from the West I will say to the North Give up and to the South Keepe not back bring my Sonnes from farre and my Daughters from the ends of the earth even every one that is called by my name As much as to say this Israel and Jacob to whom the Lord speaks not to feare is a people gathered from the East and from the North and from the South and from the West now the seed of Jacob naturally considered is not of that extent as to over-spread the World every way however the last clause that it is even every one that is called by his name puts it out of doubt that it extends also to us Gentiles This I note beloved that so we may not only have a guesse that the comfortable language frequently mentioned by the Prophet belongeth unto us as wel as the Jews but that we may see that it is the mind of the Lord that he hath revealed it himself that it doth indeed extend it self unto us for by the way solid comfort wil not be raised upon meer guesses or presumptions taking things for granted without the sense of a good foundation to bear up such comforts All the comfort people have when they runne upon guesses is onely abiding with them so long as there is not administred an occasion of discomfort But all the comforts in the world will vanish that have not some firme foundation when they are struck at and when some tempest beats against them to cast them downe And therefore it is good to bee established in every truth wherein comfort may be received Now from this passage as it hath reference to the coherence I may observe unto you that When ever the Lord Jesus Christ is set up in freshnesse and glory and beauty he doth alwayes meet with strong opposition I say the Lord Christ that righteous Man was never raised up but a storme was raised with him there is an everlasting fighting against the glorious light of Christs Gospel when ever it breakes out You may see the truth of this beloved especially since Christs personall coming at all times no sooner did the Apostles begin to preach Christ as raised from the dead but a madnesse and a fury grew upon those that thought themselves in authority as the Scribes and Pharisees their swords were presently drawn their prisons set open to clap up those that preached Christ Herod killed one imprisoned another intending to kill him too Beloved I need say little of this your owne experience may now be a sufficient witnesse of that which perhaps you feared long before Now is come the time of reformation and purging of the Church the time is come of setting up the Ark and bringing Dagon down you see the fruit of this you see what combustions this hath raised in the world let Christ himself be never so peaceable yet when he comes men will picke a quarrell with him therefore by the way as it is a truth in generall so is it in particular cases too When ever we the Ministers of the Gospel devote our selves only to set up Christ and labour might and maine upon this worke we must expect to have the world about our cares And for you beloved if you dreame of peace and rest in the world if you dreame of finding of friendship and amity and applause with men while you endeavour to set up the Lord Christ you mistake your selves exceedingly You must looke for uproars and tumults and clamours from the world and there will be these continually attending you In the second place from the coherence you may observe As mad and desperate as the world is and the enemies of Christ are in fighting and making opposition against Christ yet no weapons formed in this kinde shall prosper The Lord hath raised him up saith the Text and he shall rule over the Heathen and they shall bee as dust before his sword and as driven stubble before his bow I say this shall come to passe and therefore it is no great matter how majestically the world lookes and how mighty it makes it selfe for beloved if all the World should combine against one person that stands for the cause of Christ rather than Christ should sinke this person should bee able to withstand even the whole World But however let thaâ— person bee borne downe to the ground or over-borne with the World Christ shall never be over-borne Christ shall reign in glory and triumph not onely in Heaven but also in his Church too When all comes to all let them fight never so desperately Christ shall bee the conqueror he shall puriue nay he shall passe onâ— softly hee shall not neede to take any great pains nor toile to maintaine himself thus set up and destroy his enemies hee shall doe iâ— with ease But this is not that I meane neither I come therefore to the Text it selfe The Text is a word of incouragement or a word of heartening held forth to those spirits
be with us If the Lord should give us those things that we think good we should soon bring an old house over our heads as they say Object But some will be ready to say There are some things that are good for me and I have them not Answ Let them be what you can imagine let others judge so as well as you yet I shall stand to this as I said before and make it good that there is nothing in the world that is truly good for the faithfull that God with-holds from them to whom he hath given himself let it be never so speciall a gift it is not good at that time for that person from whom it is with-held For instance some will be ready to say the thing that I want is this I have a stony and hard heart and fain would I have a heart of flesh I â—â—de I have a dead and wandering spirit in Gods service and fain would I have a setled spirit fain would I have a cheerfull heart and free spirit are not these good for me will you say And yet I seek God for these many times and having Gid they are mine owne it seems because they are in God and he himself is mine How can God be said to be my God and all he is and hath to be mine and I cannot come at these good things which are in him and are so needfull for me I answer First that God in giving himself unto persons gives himself to be communicated unto them at sundry seasons and in divers kindes and measures and yet so that he will be Judge of the fitnesse of the time The question then will be this Is it softnesse or more softnesse of heart you seek for Is it a largenesse or more largenesse of heart you seek I mean this that which you seek and inquire after from God as your God is it something you have nothing of or is it for more of something you have already If you say it is something I have nothing at all of I have a stony heart and I have no softnesse at all in it That is false there can be no seeking of God where there is no softnesse and all hardnesse for the Lord must first soften the heart to seek him But you conceive there is no softnesse at all because the apprehension of that which is wanting swallows up that which is injoyed and the want of that which you have not swallows up that you have Is it more that you would have in respect of measure But you will say Is it not good for me though I have a little softnesse to have more and when I have a little spirituality to have more enlargednesse of spirit then I have Is not this good for me I answer You must distinguish of time God doth not see it better at this instant that thou shouldest have more softnesse of heart then thou hast and this I am bold to affirm if the Lord did himselfe judge it were better thou shouldest be more spirituall at this instant beloved I speake of a person to whom God gives himself he would not detaine nor with-hold it at all from thee Mark it well you shall find that all the spirituality belonging to a Christian is the meer gift of God to him and onely at the disposing of God upon him and without the leave of the creature hee may make whom he will partaker of it and in what measure he thinks meet so that the creature can enjoy no more of spirituality then God will give him so runs the Covenant that you may not think that your spirituality depends upon your selves and the putting forth of your selves for it A new spirit will I put within thee and a new heart will I give thee and I will take away thy stony heart and give thee a heart of flesh and I will write my Law in thy inward parts and I will put my feare into thy heart and I will be their God and they shall be my people and I will remember their sinnes no more here is the conclusion now how shall men come by it must it not be of his own good pleasure and is it not as he hath freely passed the donation of it he gives it and he gives it freely he doth not in this Covenant condition with men in any one particle as a condition to get any thing to our selves Marke the Covenant well where ever it is whether in the 33. of Jeremiah and the 31. verse or in the 36. of Ezekiel or in the 8. to the Hebrews where the Covenant is again and again recited marke it there is not one clause of the Covenant that God will have men doe this and that good God doth not put them upon the bringing of any one thing in all the world to make up the Covenant but all that is required of the person covenanted withall the Lord is bound to make good all those things to that person Now if so be the Lord did see more of these spirituall enlargements requisite for thy use he that hath made such a solemne engagement of himselfe for the performance of all that is to be wrought in thee in the Covenant would not with-hold that at this instant from thee thou knowest not what a corrupt use thou at such a time mightest make of them for some through more abundance of spirituality and spirituall enlargements have abused them to grow more proud and scornfull Paul met with such to whom being puffed up with pride saith he What hast thou that thou hast not received wherefore then boastest thou Beloved your owne experience may witnesse Look into the world you shall finde some persons more eminent in spiritualnesse there is more abundance of pride in those persons As for example you shall finde some more excellent in prayer some more excellent in other gifts what follows The corruption in the heart of man gathers such corrupt in ferences from hence that pride riseth in the heart from such parts that another Saint because he hath a stammering tongue though equally sound hearted with himself yet is not fit for such a ones company God is a wise God he knowes the measure and proportion that is fit for every member of Jesus Christ and that proportion hee doth not with-hold I speake not this with any intent but that people should still rise to as much as can be attained but that people still presse hard to the marke of the price of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ Beloved when we seeke God in his owne way for increase of any good for soul or body let us stand to Gods good pleasure and beloved for incouragement let mee tell you if ever the Lord would have with-held any thing for the sinfulnesse of his creatures he would have with-held the gift of his owne Son but while we were enemies Christ dyed for us would not God spare his owne Son but deliver him up for us all while wee were
God should fetch any argument or any motive to make himselfe our God from what wee do And if wee could do any such thing yet there cannot be any moving power in such performances to obtaine God for our God for in the very best of our performances there is unrighteousnesse there is filthinesse any the Prophet saith that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags sweet motives to prevail with God for such a gift as to communicate himself No beloved it is not what we do but what he in his own thoughts hath freely determined to do for us Object But you will say Christ makes God to be our God Ans I answer beloved in some sense that is true but as I said before originally Christ doth not make God to be our God Give me leave to open this clearly unto you for I must tell you that Christ himself is marvellous chary and wary not to assume or take to himself that which belongs unto his Father nor should wee give to Christ himself that which belongs unto God peculiarly as giving Christ himself unto us Christ saith Give to Cesar the things that are Cesars and to God the things that are Gods and this holds as true between God and Christ as Mediator Give unto God the things that are his and to Christ the things that are his For our Saviour in John 17. at the beginning of the Chapter saith speaking to the Father in prayer I have finished the worke that thou hast given me to doe What worke was that towards the latter end of the Chapter you shall finde As thou Father art one in mee and I in thee so also they may bee one in us as much as to say that thou mightest communicate thy selfe to them observe it Christ doth professe that it is the work that his Father hath given him to do that he did not put himselfe upon it originally but the Father did put him upon it The truth is the meer good pleasure of God contriving determining and ordaining this communicating of himselfe was the first originall and ground that Christ was sent into the world that hee was conceived in the womb of a Virgin c. And the Lord by the obedience and righteousnesse of Christ hath actually brought all the benefits of the Gospel upon us to which end Christ hath done this work But the first conception of it and the foundation of it was the thing by which he was Christ and Mediator and therefore Christ could not be the originall of that eternall decree and purpose of God to communicate himself to us for the execution whereof Christ was sent into the world The Schooles have a rule that the end of a thing is first intended though it be last in execution so this that God would communicate himself to the sons of men being the end for which Christ was sent though till Christ had by vertue of his death made way there was no actuall communion yet still it was the end of Christs coming into the world it was in the mind of God before the means was in being Therefore if you will have God to be your God you must not thinke that such and such things will make God to be yours Nothing will get God to be yours but his owne free motion from himselfe by his Son Secondly there is a way by which God is found to be the God of such peopleâ— now these things being confounded together put people into a labyrinth thinking the way to find God and to get God is all one now although it is the meer good pleasure of God himself that doth bestow himselfe upon us yet he is pleased to chalk out a way whereby he may be found to be our God and that we may find him to be so we must meet God in those wayes he useth to be met in But you will say How doth God usually manifest himselfe and how is he found of his people to be theirs I answer there is an efficient of our finding out of God or a passive instrument of finding him out the way of finding out of God efficiently to be our God is the Spirit of the Lord acquainting the spirits of men with the minde of the Lord. I say he is the efficient All the world is not able to work any impression upon the spirit of a man that the Lord is his God but only the Spirit of the Lord must perswade the spirit of man that he may receive this principle It is true indeed the Spirit of the Lord doth it according to the word of Grace and speaks no more to the spirit of a man but what is in the word of Grace but the word of Grace it selfe doth not of it selfe work this impression that God is my God or thy God but the impression is wrought by the Spirit of the Lord. Object What serve all the Ordinances for will you say is not here a crying down of Ordinances There will bee still this scandall cast upon us But let me tell you there is a most comfortable use of Ordinances though they â—erve not to such high purposes as these are I say though they are not efficient to beget and finde out and reveale to the spirits of men the things that concerne God yet besides the efficient revelation of God to be our God from the Spirit alone there is a passive inâ—â—rument by which the Lord doth make himself â—nowne to be the God of his people but that way is meerly passive and not active First passively God makes himself knowne to be the God of his people by the word of his Grace and Faith laying hold upon the word of Grace revealed and more subordinately in Prayer Fasting receiving of the Lords Supper and such Ordinances so far as they are mixed with faith Now give me leave in a few words to communicate unto you the full use and utmost extent of Gods thoughts concerning the Ordinances that he hath propounded how far forth he would have the creature look upon the Ordinances and as much as may be put upon the use of them so farre forth as they are usefull Know therefore as I said before that all these Ordinances are but passive wayes of conveying this great Gift the knowledge of God to bee our God I mean more plainly thus These Ordinances are only of and in themselves empty dry chanels or pipes through which the Spirit of the Lord brings from God himselfe the Spring these riches and conveyes the same into the spirit of a man Look as a chanell digged in a dry ground is the way through which the Spring conveyes his water into a Cisterne the chanell it selfe communicates none of its own only it is a passage through which the Spring conveys his water so are all the Ordinances even Faith it self Prayer and all other services they are but chanels through which the Spirit of the Lord passeth and bringeth from the Lord himselfe the Spring and Fountain the revelation
of God shall we tell Believers if they sinne they shall come under Gods wrath and except they do such and such good works God will be angry with them and that after he hath so sworn and ingaged himself that he will not be wroth with his people any more Is not this to make God a lier Againe wee doe not only so much as lies in us make God a lier but we offer an insufferable affront unto Jesus Christ and strike at the very heart of the whole office of Christs Mediatorship If wee say that God is wroth with Beleevers for whom Christ died for what end did Christ suffer death I say if this principle bee a truth that God will bee wroth with his people and angry with them then Christ died in vaine For God could have been but wroth hee could have been but angry with his people if Christ had never died And to bring the people of God under wrath and vengeance againe for their sins is to take away all the vertue of the death of Christ and to make it of none effect And how will this principle stand with that in the 53. of Isaiah where it is said that he beheld the travell of his soul and was satisfied Was God satisfied with sufrerings of Christ having the sinnes of men laid upon him and yet is God wroth and angry with Beleevers for those very sins again which before hee acknowledged satisfaction for If so be a man be indebted unto another and the creditor be willing to take a surety for the debt and this surety comes in and payes this debt for the man hee was bound for and hee thereupon gives a generall discharge under hand and seal shal he yet by by after take the debter by the throat and clap him up in Gaol when the surety hath answered for the debt before and after hee hath delivered under hand and seal that he was satisfied and that his book was crost Who but must say it is injustice in the highest degree What justice what equity is in this Beloved Christ became our surety God accepted of him for our debt he clapt up Christ in Gaol as I may so say for the debt God tooke every farthing of Christ that hee could demand of us he is now reconciled unto us he will not now impute our sins to us he hath acknowledged satisfaction it is upon record And now shall he come upon them again with fresh wrath for whom Christ hath done all this Shall hee charge the debt upon them againe He hath forgotten the death of Christ it seems if this be true Therefore know thus much that it is against the death of Christ it is a making of it of none effect it makes the coming of Christ to be in vaine to say that the wrath of God will breake out upon Beleevers if they commit such and such sinnes And for this that I have said If any man can produce one Scripture against it if any man can shew in all the Booke of God that it is any otherwise then I have delivered for my part I shall be of another minde and willingly recant my opinion But I see the Scripture runs wholly in this strain and is so full in nothing as in this that God hath generally discharged the sins of Beleevers Oh then take heed of falling into that error of the Papists that say that God hath taken away the sinne but not the wrath of God due to sinne that he hath forgiven our sins but not the punishment of sin But I beseech you consider that as our sinnes were then upon Christ he was so bruised for our iniquity that by his stripes we are healed and the chastisement of our peace was so upon him that he being chastifed for our sins there is nothing else but peace belongs to us And the chastisement of our peace was so upon him that he beheld the travell of his soule and was satisfied Christ was so chastised as I have often said with the rod of Gods wrath that it was quite worne out and wholly spent it selfe upon him This is apparent in the very tenor of the new Covenant it self It runs altogether upon free Gift and Grace God takes upon himself to do all that shall be in Believers asking and requiring nothing at all of us It is true he saith there shall be the new heart and a new spirit and that there shall bee a new Law written in the inward parts But hee requires it not of the Believer but hee himselfe hath undertaken to doe all and bestow upon the Beleever A new heart will I give thee and a new spirit will I put into thee and I will take away thy stony heart and I will give thee a heart of flesh Hee doth not say you must get you new hearts and new spirits and you must get your stony hearts taken away and you must get you hearts of flesh But I will take the worke in hand and I will see all done my self All runs freely upon Gods undertaking for his people Seeing therefore God doth all things freely of his own accord in us then beloved see how the Grace of God is abused by those that would make men beleeve that the Grace of God depends upon mens doings and performances upon actions in the creature and tell men if they doe it not the wrath of God will follow thereupon This likewise batters down to the ground that way of urging men to holinesse which some men hold forth that if men doe not these and these good workes and leave these and these sins then they must come under the wrath of God and that the wrath of God is but hidden all this while they doe these and these good works but if they faile in any of these then the wrath of God will breake out upon them whereas they ought rather after the example of the Apostle to excite them to these good workes because they are already freed from wrath Certainly this that I have delivered proves this sufficiently that the appearing of the Grace of God doth teach men to doe the will of God effectually the love of God constrains the faithfull and not the feare of wrath But to conclude do not mistake me in the mean while I have no thoughts as if wrath and vengeance were not to be preached and made known even to Believers yea beloved wrath and vengeance is to be made known to them and that as the deserts of sin and as the means to keep men from sin Obj. But now some may say this seems to be against all that you have said before this seems to overthrow all that you have delivered Answ Observe me well do not mistake me You must know that wrath and vengeance must be revealed to Believers and it must bee known to the end to restraine them from sin but not in that way men doe ordinarily think I mean thus Wrath and vengeance is not to be revealed as if
there may be union before such coming But now to come to the proofes to the texts of Scripture that are brought in for the confirmation of it You will not come to me that you might have life The strength of the Argument it seems lies in this there is no life till there be coming and coming is for life it self there fore there is no union till there be coming by way of believing For answer to this and so to cleer up the meaning of the Holy Ghost In this text of Scripture we are first to consider what our Saviour means by coming in this place You will not come to me And secondly we shall consider what this life is that Christ speaks of which they should have in coming to him And to begin with the first what that coming is our Saviour speaks of in in this place You will not come to me that you might have life I will not insist upon this that Christ did speak to the opposers men that did contest with him and so that he doth speak to persons with reference and relation unto others For I verily believe though our Saviour speaks this to the Pharisces who certainly never should come to 〈◊〉 Christ nor have life by Christ yet his intent was to speak to them to whom the life of Christ did belong and who should come to him Let us therefore I say consider what he means by coming in this place In Iohn 6. vers 44. there you shall have our saviour plainly expounding unto you what he doth mean by coming unto him No man saith he there cometh unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him Mark the expression well and therein you shall perceive what Christ means by first coming unto him For in that place You will not come to me that you might have life Christ speaks of first coming and not of after coming No wan cometh unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him In which words you may perceive the act of first coming to Christ is rather by and from the Father then by any activity in the person that comes For coming there is plainly attributed unto a drawing act of the Father So that the first coming to Christ is just like the coming of a froward childe to meet the mother the childe hath taken a stomach and is sullen and dogged the childe will not stir if the childe be carried it strives and strugles wherefore the Father of this childe is fain to take up this childe and by a kinde of force to carry it with an overmastering strength where meat is The childe comes to his meat but how not by any act of the childe as if he did come of himself but by the power and over-mastering of him that brings the childe A coach we say comes to town when it is but drawn to town and yet it is said to come The Coach is wholly passive the childe is passive in coming to meat and so every elect person at his first coming to Christ the coming of this elect person to Christ is a passive coming And the coming of this person is nothing else but the Fathers over-mastering and drawing of this person elected unto Christ In the 31. of Ieremiah the Lord speaking there of the conversion of Ephraim Thou hast chastised me saith Ephraim I was chastised as a bullock unacquainted to the yoak convert thou me and I shall be converted Ephraim here appropriates the act of his conversion not to any coming of his own but only to the Lord himself acknowledging that the work of bringing unto Christ is the work of Gods own drawing nay he sheweth that he himself was so far from coming that he did confesse that when God took him first in hand to bring him to Christ he was as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoak It is true in a common speech the bullock is said to come unto the yoak even a bullock unaccustomed but how by meer force he is brought to it and not that he is brought willingly to it Beloved you must either establish the rotten Principle of Free-will that is a pervious principle of a mans own spirit to come to Christ or you must confesse that persons at their first coming unto Christ are meerly passive It is a known principle we are first acted or actuated before we do or can act there is not only a weaknesse simply before calling but there is a deadnesse and therefore there cannot be coming and if there be it is meerly passive and the whole businesse must be the Fathers own drawing In the 110. Psalme and about the 3. verse the Lord speaks to Christ thus Thy people shall be a willing people in the day of thy power There is no willingnesse till the over-ruling and overcoming power of Christ comes in to make and frame a willingnesse even contrary to the naturall will The summe then briefly is this and so to apply it to the Text objected You will not come to me that you might have life that is it hath not pleased the Father to draw you unto me that you might have life I cannot conceive how there can be any other sense given to the Text but that it is the Fathers sole and only power and the overcoming act of his to bring to Christ that there may be life Now what will be the sense of the words it will be only his there is no principle of life from Christ â—ill the Father by his over-ruling and overâ—nastering power do bring unruly and crosse spirits unto Christ Object But it may be some will say though this coming to Christ be the act of the Fathers drawing yet there is an act of believing when the Father doth draw Answ I answer it is not possible there â—hould be an act of our believing while the Father is first drawing mark what believing is in summe and substance it is but a yeelding to â—he minde of the Lord revealed I say the yeelding of mans spirits to the minde or God while persons are contradicting persons they are not believing persons in respect of those things that they do contradict To believe and to contradict the same thing is a contradiction For to believe is to sit down satisfied with the thing that is related and reported as long therefore as persons are contradicting persons as long as their spirits are crosse spirits as long as they do kick against that which God doth propose unto them so long do they not believe Now while the Father is drawing that very drawing is an argument of resisting and a kinde of kicking against that which the Father doth aim at For if there were yeelding if there were a submitting if there were a willing coming on to the truth reveald what need there any drawing men do not draw those things that do come of themselves And therefore I say during the Fathers first act of drawing the Father laying violent hold as it were upon
Church may appear to you if you will consider First what is spoken before there is the commendation of the breasts Now commendation of breasts hath reference to the Spouse but most plainly it appeares in the words that follow the Text in the 8. verse Come with me from Lebanon my Spouse saith Christ either they must be the words of Christ to the Church or they must be the words of the Church to Christ but they cannot be the words of the Church to Christ for the Church doth not call Christ the Spouse for the word Spouse is spoken in reference to the woman and not to the man You shall have it further cleered in the contents of the chapter which shew the drift of the whole chapter the Author of the contents holds forth according to the Hebrew where the Genders are more distinct then in our English that these very words are the expressions of Christ unto his Church Whereby you see that this is no new doctrine neither is it set forth by any obscure person being delivered by Solomon or rather by Christ personated by Solomon that the Church should be all fair and without spot The Proposition is briefly this That the Love of Christ is all fair and without spot You may remember beloved that I have hitherto at large indeavoured to set forth the Gospel of our blessed Saviour to you in the first great part thereof the Gospel consisting principally in two things the negative and the affirmative priviledges of the members of Christ their great priviledge and invaluable benefit being first exemption from evill and secondly a participating of all good things All the discourse I have had with you hitherto hath had reference principally to the former branch of the Gospel setting forth to you the gracious discharge of the members of Christ from all miquity and so consequently from all the fruits of iniquity in these words And the Lord bath laid on him the iniquity of us all and I have further shewed you how the people of God and members of Christ do partake of such discharge as this is which is the way of God by which the sons of men Believers can have their portion and their possession of this immunity and that out of the Text of Iohn If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins It was in my thoughts beloved to have made present progresse into the Text that I have 〈◊〉 unto you but yet in some respect a necessary lies upon me to give you a brief touch of some things I have formerly delivered by way of acquitting my self from injurious slanders It is and hath heen my portion and I know not unknown to many of you that while I have laboured freely and by the assistance of the Spirit of the Lord indeavoured to make known the minde of the Lord to the comfort and rest of the weary and heavy laden I my self have not wanted my burthen yet were it not for the Gospels sake lest that should receive prejudice I should never open my mouth to vindicate a truth as it doth concern my self in so publick a way But as there hath been most false imputations laid upon me in respect of the Gospel so for the Gospels sake only I shall acquit my self publikely before you of such things as are most injuriously charge upon me It hath been affirmed and that by persons who have gone for persons of credit and consequently the wound must strike the deeper and the report must take the greater impression it hath been given forth I say that in my discourse among you I should deliver to you that the active and passive obedience of Christ considered as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Christ considered both as 〈◊〉 and man that the active and passive obedience of Christ in reserence to both his natures hath not a sufficiency in it to make up a compleat righteousnesse for us and further that the ground of it should be this Namely that Christ did not perform the severall duties of the severall relations wherein many persons stand as the office of a Magistrate and the relation of a Husband c. For the vindicating of my self herein I shall repeat the matter I delivered before and you shall also know the truth of what my judgement is in this thing and then leave it to the Church of God whether it be a slander or no. This I then said that the active and passive obedience of Christ properly are the actions and passions of the humane nature for the divine nature is not subject to obedience because there is not any superiour to whom the divine nature should obey neither is it subject to passion God cannot suffer and therefore doing the commands and suffering the punishments are more proper to the actions of the humane nature And this humane nature is but a meer creature and therefore the actions of it as a creature cannot extend to a proportion answerable to the injurie done by sin to God For this cause I say as I said before there must be an addition of vertue from the divine nature of Christ to make the active and passive obedience of the humane nature a compleat righteousnesse So that all I said is this That the actions and passions of the humane nature are not sufficient to make up our righteousnesse a compleat righteousnesse but there must be something of the divine nature superadded to raise up a righteousnesse proportionable to the transgressions we commit And that expression concerning the not performing of duties of these several relations I spake it only to this purpose to shew wherein the humane nature of Christ in obedience did not fulfill every thing in particular which is the duty of a man and that therefore the divine nature of Christ by the eminent dignity thereof is as I said before to make up that righteousnesse a compleat righteousnesse Concerning this whether it be truth or no let the Church judge according to the word As for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ as God and man it is well known I used not the word neither had I the thing in my minde nor in my tongue to the purpose they alledge it against me In a word this I say that Christ as God and man hath in himself an absolute compleatnesse of righteousnesse for all the elect persons There need not be a going forth from Christ to any thing in the world besides for a perfect righteousnesse Secondly there is another charge deep indeed and I appeal to you that have frequently heard me whether ever you have heard any such thing from me Namely that by way of inference I should deny Christ How true this is let the whole course of my Ministery witnesse which altogether aimed and endeavoured the exalting of Christ above all the creatures in the world and except my being so busie with this truth be become an