he is troubled with such and such a lust and he cannot keep this and that Commandment he cannot out-wrestle such and such strong inclinations to evil O but then go to God and press him with this Lord it is a part of thy Covenant thou hast said thou wilt circumcise my heart thou hast said thou wilt put thy Law in my inward parts thou hast said thou wilt dissolve these lusts Lord I beseech thee do it for thy Covenants sake But here 's another Question How may we know this inward work of Grace this Law in our inward parts the best way to satisfy our doubts in this is to look within open we the door and closet of our hearts and see what lies nearest and closest there that we say is intimate and within a man Mat. 10.37 which lies next to his heart He that loveth Father or Mother more than Me saith Christ is not worthy of Me We know the love of Father and Mother is a most natural thing it comes not by teaching but it is in-bred in us as soon as we are born and yet if we love not Christ more than these if Christ lye not closer to our hearts than Father or Mother we are not worthy of Christ our natural life is a most inward and deep thing in a man Job 2.4 Luke 14.26 Gal. 2.20 it lies near the heart Skin for Skin said the Devil once truly and all that a man hath will he give for his Life but he that hates not Father and Mother yea and his own life also said Christ he cannot be my Disciple Hence the Apostle to express this intimate inward life of grace he saith I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me What an emphatical strange expression is this I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me q. d. I live not the life of sense I breath not bodily breath that is comparatively to the life of faith his very natural life though inward is said not to be lived in respect of his life of grace which is more inward And let this serve for resolution to that question 4. What is it to have the Law written in our hearts This writing contains the former and is something more the Metaphor is expressed in these Particulars 1. It is said to be written that there might be something within answerable to the Law without it was written without and so it was written within This writing is the very same with copying or transcribing The writing within is every way answerable to the writing without Oh what a mercy is this that the same God who writ the Law with his own finger in the Tables of Stone should also write the same Law with the finger of his Spirit in the Tables of our Hearts as you see in a Seal when you have put the Seal on the Wax and you take it off again you find in the Wax the same Impression that was on the Seal So it is in the hearts of the faithful when the Spirit hath once softned them then he writes the Law i.e. he stamps an inward aptness an inward disposition on the heart answering to every particular of the Law this is that which the Apostle calls the Law of the mind I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my mind Rom. 7.23 Now what is this Law in the mind but a disposition within to keep in some measure every Commandment of the Law without and this is the writing of the Law or if you will the copying or transcribing of the Law within us 2. It is said to be written that it might be rooted and rivetted in the heart as when Letters are engraven in Marble so is the manner of Gods writing if God write it can never be obliterated or blotted out Letters in Marble are not easily worn out again no more are the writings of Gods Spirit Some indeed would have them as writings in dust but if Pilate could say What I have written I have written how much more may God Hence are all those promises of perseverance My Covenant shall stand fast with him Psal 89.28 and The root of the righteous shall not be moved Prov. 12.3 and Even to your old Age I am he and even to hoary hairs will I carry you Isa 46.4 I deny not but men of glorious gifts may fall away but surely the poorest Christian that hath but the smallest measure of Grace he shall never fall away if the Law be written in our hearts it still remains there Grace habitual is not removeable sooner will the Sun discard its own beams than Christ will desert or destroy the least measure of true Grace which is a Beam from the Sun of Righteousness 3. It is said to be written that it might be as a thing legible to God to others and to our selves 1. To God he writes it that he may read it and take notice of it he exceedingly delights himself in the graces of his own Spirit and therefore the Spouse after this writing after the planting of his grace in her Cant. 4.6 she desires him to come into his Garden and eat his pleasant Fruits q. d. Come read what thou hast written come and delight thy self in the graces of thy own Spirit the only delight that God has in the world is in his Garden a gracious soul and that he might more delight in it he makes it fruitful and those fruits are precious fruits as growing from plants set by his own Hand relishing of his own Spirit and so fitted for his own taste 2. The Law is written that it might be legible to others So Paul tells the Corinthians 2 Cor. 3.2 3. You are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ How manifestly declared why known and read of all Men. As we are able to read Letters graven in stone so may others read and see the fruits and effects of this Law written in our Hearts And good reason for wheresoever God works the principles of grace within it cannot but shew it self in the outward life and conversation it is Gods promise first I will put my Spirit within them Ezek. 36.27 Mat. 12.34 and then I will cause them to walk in my statutes and it is Gods truth Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh What the mind thinketh the hand worketh 3. The Law is written that it may be legible to our selves a gracious heart is privy to its own grace and sincerity when it is in a right temper if others may read it by its fruits How much more we our selves who both see the fruits and feel that habitual disposition infused into us Nor is this without its blessed use for by this means we come to have a comfortable evidence both of Gods Love to us and of our Love
Barak and Samson and Jephtah and David and Samuel and of all the Prophets who through Faith did marvellous things as it there appears Surely they had the same Doctrine of Grace as we have it is the very same for Substance without any difference 2. Wherein is the Difference then betwixt the Old and New-Testament or betwixt the Old and New Manner of the Dispensation of the Covenant of Grace They are one for Substance but in regard of the manner of Dispensation and revealing in the several Times Ages States and Conditions of the Church there is a difference I shall reduce all to these Particulars They are distinguished 1. In the Object In the Old Administration Christ was promised but in the New-Covenant Christ is exhibited It was meet the Promise should go before the Gospel and be fulfilled in the Gospel that so great a Good might earnestly be desired before it was bestowed 2. In the Federates Under the Old Dispensation they are compared to an Heir under Age needing a Gardian Tutor or School-master little differing from a Servant But in the New-Testament they are compared to an Heir come to ripe Years see Gal. 4.1 2 3 4 5 6 7. 3. In the Manner of their Worship In the Old-Testament they were held under the Ceremonial Law and Oh What an heap of Ceremonies Rites Figures Shadows did they use in their Worship Certainly these declared the Infancy and Non-age of the Jews who being not capable of the high Mysteries of the Gospel they were taught by their Eyes as well as their Ears These Ceremonies were as Rudiments Introductions fitted to the gross and weak Senses of that Church who were to be brought on by little and little through such Shadows and Figures to the true Image and thing signified But in the New-Covenant or Testament our Worship is more spiritual Our Saviour hath told us 〈◊〉 4.23 24. That as God is a Spirit so They that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit Truth The Hour cometh and now is saith Christ when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship Him â—ts 15.10 4. In the Burthen of Ceremonies Peter calls the Ceremonies of old A Yoak which niether our Fathers nor we saith he were able to bear And no wonder if we consider 1. The burthen of their costly Sacrifices if any had but touched an unclean Thing he must come and offer a Sacrifice as sometimes a Bullock and sometimes a Lamb You that think every thing too much for a Minister of Christ if for every Offence you were to offer such Sacrifices now you would count it an heavy Burthen indeed 2. They had long and tedious Journeys to Jerusalem the Land lay more in length than bredth and Jerusalem stood almost at one End of it â—ut 16.16 and thither Thrice a Year all the Males were to go and appear before God 3. They were tyed to the Observation of many Dayes the New Moons and many Ceremonial Sabbaths and they were restrained from many Liberties as in Meats and the like Oh What Burthens were upon them But in the New-Covenant or Testament the Yoak is made more easie We are bound indeed to the Duties of the moral Law as well as they yet a great Yoak is taken off from us and therefore Christ inviting us to the Gospel He gives it out thus Take My Yoak upon you saith He for My Yoak is easie 〈◊〉 11.29 and My Burthen light 5. In the Weakness of the Law of old The Law then was unable to give Life to purge the Conscience 〈◊〉 7.18 to pacifie God's Wrath and therefore saith the Apostle There is verily a dis-annulling of the Commandment going before for the Weakness Vnprofitableness thereof Hence they are called weak and beggarly Rudiments 〈◊〉 4.9 in comparison of the New-Testament there was then a less forcible Influence of the Spirit accompanying that Dispensation of the Covenant 〈◊〉 7.39 The Spirit was not then given in that large Measure as now Because Christ was not then glorified It appears in these Particulars 1. There was less Power of Faith in the Saints before Christ when the Doctrine of Faith was more fully revealed then was Faith it self more fully revealed in the hearts and lives of God's People 〈◊〉 3.23 Before Faith came saith the Apostle we were kept under the Law shut up unto the Faith which should afterwards be revealed Surely this implies there was a Time when there was less Faith in God's People and that was the Time of the Law 2. There was less Power of Love in the Saints before Christ according to the measure of our Faith so is our Love The less they knew the Loving-kindness of God towards them in Christ the less they loved It may be they were more drawn by the Terrours of the Law than by the Promises of Grace and therefore they had less Love in them 3. They had a less Measure of Comfort to carry them on in all their Troubles Christ exibited is called the Consolation of Israel and therefore the more Christ is imparted Luk 2.25 Acts. 9 31 the more means of Comfort Hence the Primitive Saints after Christ are said to walk in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost Certainly the Spirit was poured in less plenty on the faithful in the Old Testament because that benefit was reserved to the times of Christ who was first to receive the Spirit above measure in his humane Nature and thence to derive Grace to his Saints 6. In the darkness of that administration of Old Christ was but shadowed out to the Fathers in Types and Figures and dark Prophesies but now we see him with open Face 2 Co. 5.18 Observe the difference in reference to the person of Christ and to the Offices of Christ and to the benefits that come by Christ 1. Concerning the Person of Christ it was revealed to them that he should be God Isa 9 6. And that he should be man Isa 9.6 Isa 9.6 The same verse speaks of a Child that is born and of a mighty God But how he should be God and man in one person it was very darkly Revealed 2. Concerning the Offices of Christ his Mediatorship was Typed out by Moses his Priesthood was Typed out by Melchizedeck among the Canaanites and Aaron among the Jews his Prophetical Office was typed out by Noah a Preacher of Righteousness his Kingly Office was typed out by David but how dark these things were unto them we may guess by the Apostles who knew not he should Die who dreamed of an earthly Kingdom and till the Holy Ghost came were ignorant of many things pertaining to the Kingdom of God 3. Concerning the Benefits that come by Christ Justification was signified by the sprinkling of Blood and Sanctification by the water of Purification Heaven and glorification by their Land flowing
ruddy Cant. 5.10 the chiefest of ten thousands As in the fairest beauty there is a mixture of these two colours white and ruddy so in Christ there is a gracious mixture and compound of all the graces of the Spirit there is in him a sweet temper of gentleness purity righteousness meekness humility and what not In him are hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge Col. 2.3 and I may add of all other gifts and graces not a grace but it was in Christ and that in an higher way than in any Saint in the World and therefore he is called fairer than all the children of men Observe There was more habitual grace in Christ than ever was or is or shall be in all the Elect whether Angels or Men. He received the Spirit out of measure there was in him as much as possibly could be in a creature and more than in all other creatures whatsoever As the Sun is the Prince of Stars as the Husband is the head of the Wife as a Lion is the King of the Beasts so is this Sun of Righteousness this Head of the Church this Lion of the Tribe of Judah the chiefest of ten thousands if we look at any thing in Heaven or Earth that we observe as eminently fair by that is the Lord Jesus in respect of his inward beauty set forth in Scriptures he is the Sun of Righteousness the bright Morning-Star the Light of the World the Tree of Life the Lilly and the Rose fairer than all the Flowers of the Field than all the precious Stones of the Earth than all the Lights in the Firmament than all the Saints and Angels in Heaven You will say What 's all this to us Certainly much every way the Apostle tells you That the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Jesus Christ Rom. 8.2 hath freed me from the Law of sin of Death let us enquire into these words the law of the Spirit of life the Spirit of life is here put for life as else where After three dayes an half Rev. 11.11 the Spirit of life coming from God shall enter into them Now life is that whereby a thing acteth and moveth it self and it is the cause and beginning of action and motion and this Spirit of life or life it self being here applied to Christ it is that in Christ which is the beginning and cause of all his holy actions and what was that but his Original holiness or the holiness of his humane Nature But why is the holiness of Christs nature called the Spirit of life I answer 1. Because it was infused into his manhood by the Spirit of God The holy Ghost shall come upon thee therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee Luke 1.35 shall be called the Son of God 2. Because it is a most exact and absolute and perfect holiness the Scripture-phrase setting out things in perfection or fulness usually adds the word Spirit unto them as the spirit of pride the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error so then the meaning of the Spirit of life is all one with the most absolute and most perfect purity and holiness of the nature of Christ It is briefly as if the Apostle had said the law of the Spirit of life or the power of the most absolute and perfect holiness of the nature of Christ hath freed me from the law of sin and death hath acquitted me from the power of my sinful nature and from the power of death due to me in respect of my sinful and corrupt nature We might draw from hence this conclusion that The benefit of Christ's habitual righteousness infused at his first conception is imputed to believers to their justification As the obedience of his life and the merit of his death so the Holyness infused at his very conception hath its influence into our justification it is by the obedience of his life that we are accounted actually holy and by the purity of his conception or habitual grace that we are accounted personally holy But I must not stay here Thus much of the Holiness of Christ's Nature SECT IV. Of the Holiness of Christ's Life Rom. 5.19 2. FOr the holiness of Christs life the Apostle tells us that by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous here 's the obedience of Christ and its influence on us 1. The obedience of Christ is that whereby he continued in all things written in the book of the Law to do them Matth. 5.17 John 8.29 Acts 3.14 Observe Christ's life was a visible commentary on Gods Law For proof Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets saith Christ but to fulfil them And the Father hath not left me alone saith Christ for I do alwayes those things that please him Hence Christ in Scripture is called Holy and Just and the Holy One Acts 2.27 The most Holy Dan. 9.24 by his actual holiness Christ fulfilled in act every branch of the Law of God he walked in all the Commandments of God he performed perfectly both in thought word and deed whatsoever the Law of the Lord required I do not cannot limit this obedience of Christ to this last year of his Ministry for his whole life was a perpetual course of obedience he was obedient unto death Phil. 2.8 saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even until his death and yet because we read most of his holy actings this year and that this was the year wherein both his active and passive obedience did most eminently shine and break forth the year wherein he drew up all the dispersions of his precepts and cast them into actions as into sums total therefore now I handle it and I shall make it out by the passages following only in this one year As 1. Now he discovered his charity in feeding the hungry as at once five thousand men with five Loaves and two Fishes John 6.9 10 11. John 6.9 10 11. and at another time four thousand men with seven Loaves and a few small Fishes Matth. 15.32 Matth. 15.32 2. Now he discovered his self-denial and contempt of the World in flying the offers of a Kingdom when the people were convinc'd that he was the Messiah from that miracle of feeding five thousand men with five Loaves presently they would needs make him a King but he that left his Fathers Kingdom for us he fled from the offers of a Crown and Kingdom from them John 6.15 as from an enemy When Jesus perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a King he departed again into a Mountain himself alone 3. Now he discovered his mercy in healing the Womans Daughter that had an unclean spirit Mar. 7.26 27. the Woman was a Greek a Syrophenician by Nation and in that respect Christ called her a Dog and yet Christ gave her the desire of her soul O the
the forehead of such favours I have a merciful and compassionate Mediator in heaven O I am much tempted sayes another that I cannot pray had I now the key of prayer I could then unlock the cabinet where all God's treasures lye and take out what I pleased but alas my prayers are dull and weak and dry and without spirit and life I cannot pray If so be humbled for it and yet know this that when thou canst not pray Christ then prayes for thee and he prayes that thou mayst pray And tell me hast thou no experience of this truth hath not sometimes thy spirit been enlarged in prayer hast thou not sometimes felt thy heart warmed or savingly affected hast thou not sometimes in prayer been lifted up above thy self and above the world conclude then My Intercessor above hath sent me this gift and Spirit it is not I but Christ's Intercession that by an admirable and secret operation hath given me the Spirit to help my infirmity these are the intercessions of the Spirit of Christ and they are the very Eccho of the intercessions of Christ in his own person O but I labour under such and such corruptions sayes another and the Devil is busie exceeding busie and he exceedingly prevails how am I overcome with these corruptions and with these and these sins It may be so and yet do not altogether despond for Jesus Christ is at God's right hand and there he sits till all his enemies be made his foot-stool and what are not thy sins his enemies O be of good comfort for Christ will prevail it is one piece of his prayer that he puts up for thee John 17.15 To keep thee from evil and surely he will either keep thee from it or keep thee in it that in the issue thou shalt have the victory Ver. 12. Isa 55 3. Those that thou gavest me I have kept saith Christ and none of them is lost if he undertake for thee thou art safe and sure His Covenant is everlasting even the sure mercies of David and therefore if yet thou dost not certainly thou shalt feel the vertue of Christ's intercession sin must be subdued hell-gates shall not prevail against thee he will not quench thy sparks until he bring forth judgment unto victory Oh but I am in a suffering condition sayes another and there is none that regards or takes pity on me all my friends have dealt treacherously with me among all my Lovers there is none to comfort me they have heard that I sigh and there is none to refresh me I stand for Christ but there is none stands by me I own him but there is none owns me Bleeding Christian bear up is not Christ's intercession a sufficient answer to this case alas thou wouldst be pitied for all thy weaknesses why know that compassion is natural to Jesus Christ he is a merciful high Priest and can be no other to thee God ordained him to officiate in such a Tabernacle as wherein thou dwellest he was in all things like unto thee sin only excepted it may be thou art in want and so was Christ he had no house thou art persecuted and so was Christ sin loads thee and so it did Christ A Christians condition needs compassion and Christ knows how much and it is his work continually to lay it open above O my Father thus and thus it is with the Militant Church not a Member in it but he is under sin and affliction see here the tears hearken to the sighs and groans and chatterings and mournings of my Doves below I present here their persons and performances and oh that they may find acceptance through my merit Some speak of Heavens Musick some tell us of Saints and Angels singing and warbling in lively notes the praises of Christ in Heaven and if any such thing be certainly it is ear-tickling heart-ravishing musick O the melody O the joy of Saints to hear such heavenly ayres with heavenly ears but be it as it will be of this I am confident that Heaven it self yields no such musick as is the intercession of Jesus Christ this if any thing in Heaven do it makes melody in the ears of God and of all celestial Spirits Saints or Angels And O my soul suppose thy self within the compass if now thou couldst but hear what thy Jesus is saying in thy behalf Is not this a brand newly pluck'd out of the fire was not this poor soul but the other day in a state of nature defiled with sin within a step of hell and did not I send my Spirit to recall him was not this precious blood shed for the redemption of him and what though sin stick and cleave to him to this day yet have I not given thee charge to take away his filthy garments from him and to cloath him with changes of rayment even with the shining robes of mine own righteousness O my Father let this soul live in thy sight O cast him not away for whom I have suffered and done all this I cannot rest satisfied without his society I am not right till he is with me in glory he is my darling my purchase my portion my delight and therefore let him be saved Is not this enough to cause thy very heart to leap in thy bosom Bonaventure fondly reports that Francis hearing an Angel a little while playing on an Harp he was so moved with extraordinary delight that he thought himself in another world O but suppose thou shouldst hear the voice of Jesus thy Intercessor thus pleading for thee wouldst thou not be cast into an extasie would not this fill thee with joyes unspeakable and full of glory Come realize this meditation certainly if thou art Christ's he is thus or in some other manner interceding for thee as sure as Christ is in Heaven he is pleading with his Father in Heaven on thy behalf O the joyes the joyes the joyes that I should now feel Tell me is it not a comfort for a poor beggar to be relieved at a rich man's door we are all beggars in regard of Heaven and Jesus Christ doth not only come forth and serve us but he takes us poor beggars by the hand and leads us in to his heavenly Father Oh what comfort is here SECT VIII Of praying to and praising of Jesus in that respect 8. LEt us pray and praise our Jesus in this respect 1. Let us pray or sue our interest in this intercession it is a question amongst the Schools whether we may conveniently pray to Jesus to pray to his Father in our behalf And thus far is granted that we may pray to Christ to make us partakers of his intercessions and to mingle our prayers with his prayers that they may find acceptance with God his Father 1 Cor. 11.6 But that we may use such a form as ora pro nobis O Christ pray for us it is looked upon as inconvenient in this respect 1. Because cause we have no
even to them neither can a Sparrow fall to the ground nor an hair from thy head nor a leaf from the tree without the providence of our heavenly Father 3. Thou sayest I dare not believe I am astonished at Mat. 10.29 30. confounded in these thoughts of Gods eternal love it is too high for me I cannot believe it I answer herein thou sayst something I know it is an hard thing to believe these great things in reference to thy self But see now how God and Christ stoop and condescend to make thee believe God stands much upon this that the hearts of Saints should confide in him he accounts not himself honoured except they believe and therefore mark O my Soul how Christ suits himself to thy weakness what is it that may beget this Faith this confidence in thy Son what is it saith God that you poor creatures do one to another when you would make things sure between your selves why thus 1. We engage our selves by promise one to another And so will I saith God poor soul thou hast my promise my faithful promise I have made a promise both to Jews and Gentiles and thou art the one of these two sorts the promise is to you and to your children Acts 2 39. and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call Be only satisfied in that ground of thy hope that thou art called of God and then every promise of Eternal life is thine even thine Thou mayest find a thousand promises scattered here and there in the book of God and all these promises are a draught of that promise which was made from all Eternity and therefore it is so much the more sure it is as if Christ should say wilt thou have engagement by promise this is past long agoe my Father hath engaged himself to me before the World began yea and I have made many and many a promise since the World began Read in the Volume and thou wilt find here and there a Promise here and there a draught of the first Copy of that great Promise which my Father made unto me from all Eternity 2. When we would make things sure to one another we write it down And so will I saith God thou hast the Scripture the Holy Writ those Sacred Volumes of Truth and Life and therein thou hast the golden Lines of many gracious Promises are they not as the Stars in the Firmament of the Scripture thou hast my Bible and in the Bible thou hast many blessed glorious Truths but of all the Bible methinks thou shouldst not part with one of those promises no not for a World Luther observing the many promises writ down in Scripture expresseth thus the whole Scripture doth especially aim at this that we should not doubt but hope confide believe that God is Merciful Kind Patient and hath a purpose and a delight to save our souls 3. When we would make things sure to one another we set to our Seals And so will I saith God thou hast my Seal the Broad-Seal of Heaven my Sacraments the Seals of my Covenant and thou hast my privy Seal also the Seal of my Spirit Grieve not the Holy Spirit Ephes 4.30 whereby ye are Sealed unto the day of Redemption 4. When we would make things sure to one another we take Witnesses And so will I John 5.7 8. saith God thou shalt have witnesses as many as thou wilt witnesses of all sorts witnesses in heaven and witnesses on earth for there are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one And there are three that bear witness in earth the spirit and the water and the blood and these three agree in one 5. When we would make things sure to one another we take an oath And so will I saith God He. 6.17 God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath q. d. there is no such need of an oath but I will be abundant to thee because I would have thee trust me and confide in me throughly and as I swear saith God so will I swear the greatest Oath that ever was I swear by my self God swears by God he could swear by no greater and therefore he swear by himself and why thus but for their sakes who are the heirs of promise Heb. 6.13 he knows our frame and members that we are but dust and therefore to succour our weakness the Lord is pleased to swear and to confirm all by his Oath 6. When we would make things sure to one another we take a pawn And I will give thee a pawn saith God and such a pawn as if thou never hadst any thing more thou shouldest be happy it is the pawn of my Spirit Who also hath sealed us 2 Cor. 1.22 and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts q. d. I will send my Spirit into your hearts and this Spirit shall be a pawn an earnest in your hearts of all the good that I intend to do for you for ever 7. When we would make things sure to one another something it may be is presently done as an ingagement of all that which is to come And thus will I deal with thee saith God who livest in these last of times why thou seest the greatest part of thy Salvation already done I made a promise from all Eternity of sending my Son into the World to be made a curse for sin yea and if thou believest for thy sin and this is the greatest work of all that is to be done to all Eternity Surely if I would have failed thee in any thing it should have been in this it is not so much for me now to bring thee to Heaven to save thy Soul as it was to send my Son into the World to be made a curse for sin but when I have done so great a work have been already faithful in that Promise how shouldst thou but believe my faithfulness in making good all other promises If a man should owe thee a thousand pound and pay thee nine hundred ninety and nine thou wouldst think surely he would never break for the rest why God hath paid his nine hundred ninety and nine and all the Glory of Heaven is but as one in comparison of what he hath done we may therefore well believe that he who hath done so much for us will not leave the little undone Come then rouse up O my Soul and believe thy interest in those eternal transactions betwixt God and Christ is not here ground enough for thy Faith if thou art but called the promise of God is thine or if thou darest not rely on this promise which God forbid thou hast his Indenture his Seal and Witnesses of all sorts both in Heaven and Earth or yet if thou believest not thou hast an Oath a Pawn and the
deserved but which is the comfort of us miserable sinners she looks at what he suffers and in how woful and wretched a case he is Her Plea was thus What Lord hast thou made all Men in vain wilt thou now destroy him for whom thou madest the World shall the housholder be cast out and thrown into prison and there remain till he hath paid the utmost Farthing shall all the Men and Women in the World from first to last be damned for ever and ever alas What profit is in their Blood What will it avail to crowd Men and Devils together in Hell-flames Will not those Devils the grand Enemies of God rejoyce at this And what then will become of thy great Name on Earth Is not this thy Name The Lord the Lord Merciful and Gracious Long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgressions and Sins What will the Lord undo his Name Will the Lord cast off for ever And will he be favourable no more Is his Mercy clean gone for ever Will he be no more entreated hath God forgotten to be gracious Hath he in Anger shut up his tender Bowels With these and such like holy whisperings or mutterings did Mercy enter into Gods bowels and make them yern and melt again into compassions But 2. Truth must be heard as well as Mercy and she layes in matter of exception and her Plea was thus What is God but his Word Now this was thy word to Adam In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death and this was thy word to all the Sons of Adam 〈◊〉 17. 〈◊〉 8.10 the soul that sinneth that soul shall die And God may not falsifie his word his word is truth falsifie truth That may not be all men are liars but God is true even truth it self This Plea of Truth is seconded by Righteousness and thus she bespeaks God shall not the Judge of all the world do right Thou hast declared thy self over and over to be just and righteous 〈◊〉 15. 〈◊〉 19.13 〈◊〉 6.5 7. 〈◊〉 â—5 17 O Lord God of Israel thou art righteous Righteous art thou O Lord and upright are thy Judgments Thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and shall be Even so Lord God Almighty true and righteous are thy Judgments Yea the Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works and wherein consists this righteousness but in rendring to every one according to his due And what is the sinners due 〈◊〉 â— 23 but Death The wages of sin is Death What shall not those sinners die the Death That were as before to make Truth false so here to do Right Wrong These were the Controversies at that time so that Peace could not tell how to speak a prevailing word amongst them nay the controversie grew so high that they made it their own cases what shall become of me said Mercy if God spare not sinners and what shall become of me said Justice if God do spare sinners what shall become of me said Mercy If God will shew no mercy And what shall become of me said Justice if God will do no Justice why alas perish said Mercy if thou wilt not pity if man die I die also and I perish said Justice if thou wilt have mercy surely I die if man die not To this it came and in these terms brake up the Assembly and away they went one from another Truth went to Heaven and was a Stranger upon Earth Righteousness went with her and would not so much as look down from Heaven Mercy she staid below still for where should Mercy be if not with the miserable As for Peace she went between both to see if she could make them meet again in better terms in the mean while our Salvation lies a bleeding the Plea hangs and we stand as Prisoners at the Bar and know not what shall become of us for though two be for us yet two are against us as strong and more stiff than they so that much depends upon this meeting for either they must be at peace between themselves or they cannot be at peace with us nor can we be at peace with God Many means were made before Christs time for a blessed meeting but it would not be Sacrifice and Burnt-Offering thou wouldst not have Heb. 10.5 these means were not prevalent enough to cause a meeting Where stuck it you will say Surely it was not long of Mercy she was easie to be intreated she looked up to Heaven but Righteousness would not look down and indeed here was the business Righteousness must and will have satisfaction or else Righteousness should not be Righteous either some satisfaction for sin must be given to God or she will never meet more better all men in the World were damned than that the Righteousness of God should be Unrighteous And this now puts on the great transaction of our Saviours Birth Well then our Saviour is born and this birth occasions a gracious meeting of the Attributes such an attractive is this Birth this Bud of Christ that all meet there indeed they cannot otherwise but meet in him in whom all blessed Attributes of God do meet It is Christ is Mercy and Christ is Truth and Christ is Righteousness and Christ is Peace 1. Christ is Mercy thus Zacharias prophesied Luke 1.78 That through the tender Mercy of our God the day-spring or Branch from on high hath visited us And God the Father of Christ is called the Father of mercies as if Mercy were his Son who had no other Son but his dearly boloved Son in whom he is well pleased 2 Cor. 1.3 John 14.6 2. Christ is Truth I am the Way and the Truth and the Life That Truth in whom is accomplished whatsoever was prefigured of the Messiah God shall send forth his Mercy and his Truth Psal 57.3 Psal 64.7 Exod. 34.6 Deut. 32.4 Psal 86.15 John 1.14 17. Jer. 23.6 Mal. 4.2 1 Car. 1.30 Heb. 7.2 Isa 9.6 Eph. 2.14 2 Thes 3.16 And O prepare Mercy and Truth And this is his Name the Lord the Lord abundant in Goodness and Truth He is a God of Truth saith Moses plenteous in Mercy and Truth saith David full of Grace and Truth saith John for the Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ He is Truth by Name and Truth by Nature and Truth by Office 3. Christ is Righteousness This is his Name whereby he shall be called the Lord our Righteousness And unto you that fear my Name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing under his Wings And Christ of God is made unto us Wisdom Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption And according to his Type Melchisedech this was his Style King of Righteousness 4. Christ is Peace This is his Name wherewith he is called wonderful Councellor the Mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace And Christ
there 's no room for faith in this case these are the hinderances 2. The helps of faith in this sad condition are these 1. A consideration that God is pleased to pass by and to overlook the unworthiness of his poor creatures this we see plain in the very act of his incarnation himself disdains not to be as his poor creatures to wear their own flesh to take upon him humane nature and in all things to become like unto man sin only excepted 2. A consideration that God satisfies Justice by setting up Christ who is Justice it self now was it that mercy and truth met together and righteousness and peace kissed each other now was it that free grace and merit that fulness and nothingness were made one now was it that all things became nothing and nothing all things our nature which lay in rags was enriched with the unsearchable treasures of glory now was it that God was made flesh and so that flesh which was so weak as not able to save its own life was now enabled to save millions of souls and to bring forth the greatest designs of God now was it that truth ran to mercy and embraced her and righteousness to peace and kissed her in Christ they meet yea in him was the infinite exactness of God's Justice satisfied 3. A consideration that God hath set up Christ as a Mediator that he was incarnate in order to reconciliation and salvation of souls but for the accomplishment of this design Christ had never been incarnate the very end of his uniting flesh unto him was in order to the reconciliation of us poor souls alas we had sinned and by sin deserved everlasting damnation but to save us and to satisfie himself God takes our nature and joyns it to his Son and calls that Christ a Saviour This is the Gospel-notion of Christ for what is Christ but God himself in our nature transacting our peace In this Christ is that fulness and righteousness and love and bowels to receive the first acts of our faith and to have immediate union and communion with us indeed we pitch not our faith first or immediately on God himself yet at last we come to him and our faith lives in God as one saith sweetly before it is aware through the sweet intervention of that person which is God himself only called by another name the Lord Jesus Christ and these are the helps of faith in reference to our unworthiness Gods justice and the want of a Mediator betwixt God and us 3. The manner how to act our faith on Christ incarnate is this 1. Faith must directly go to Christ we find indeed in the Bible some particular promises of this and that grace and in proper speaking the way to live by faith it is to live upon the promises in the want of the thing or to apprehend the thing it self contained in the promise but the promises are not given to the elect immediately without Christ no no first Christ and then all other things Encline your ears and come unto me 1. Come unto Christ and then I will make an everlasting Covenant which contains all the promises even the sure Mercies of David As in marriage the woman first consents to have the man and then all the benefits that necessarily follow so the soul by faith first pitcheth upon Christ himself and then on the priviledges that flow from Christ Say Soul dost thou want any temporal Blessing suppose it be the payment of Debts thy dayly Bread Health c. Why look now through the Scripture for promises of these things and let thy faith act thus If God hath given me Christ the greatest blessing then certainly he will give me all these things so far as they may be for my good in the twenty thirst Psalm we find a bundle of promises but he begins thus The Lord is my Shepherd saith David and what then Therefore I shall not want the believing Patriarchs through faith subdued Kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained promises stoped the mouths of Lyons did wonders in the world but what did they chiefly look to in this their Faith Surely to the promise to come and to that better thing Christ himself and therefore the Apostle concludes having such a cloud of witnesses that thus lived and died by faith let us look unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our Faith 2. Faith must directly go to Christ as God in our flesh some think it a carnal apprehension of Jesus Christ to know him as in flesh I confess to know him only so and absolutely so to consider Jesus no other way but as having flesh and going up and down in weakness it is no better than a carnal apprehension but to consider Christ as God in flesh and to consider that flesh as acted by God and filled with God it is not a carnal but a true and spiritual apprehension of Jesus Christ and hither is faith to be directed immediately and in the first place suppose a case of danger by some enemies and I find a promise of protection from my enemies I look on that but in the first place thus I argue if the Lord hath given me Christ God in the flesh to save me from Hell then much more will he save me from these fleshly enemies Thus Juda had a promise that Syria should not prevail against Judah they doubted of this Isa 7.14 but how doth the Lord seek to assure them why thus a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and his name shall be Immanuel this seems a strong reason to flesh and blood I knew one turn Infidel and to deny Jesus Christ upon this very argument Ah thought he what a grand imposture is this that Christ's conception and Christ's birth many years after should be a present sign of ruin of Rezin King of Aram and of the preservation of Ahaz King of Judah alas poor soul he was not acquainted with this art of living by faith he might have seen the very same reason elsewhere the yoke of their burthen Isa 9.4 6. and the stuff of their shoulder and the rod of their oppressor shall be broken for unto us a child is born and unto us a Son is given if their faith had not first respected Christ incarnate they could never have expected any temporal deliverance by that promise of deliverance first laid down But in this way they might and so may we You will say what 's this to us they looked for Christ to come in the flesh but now he is come and that time and design is gone and past many a year since I answer no the time is gone but the design is not Christ remains God in the flesh to this very day he came not as once to manifest himself in flesh to satisfie Gods justice in the flesh for sin and so to lay it down again that flesh remains and shall remain nor is it without use for all the spirit and life which the
not Christ come down sinners could not have gone up into Heaven and therefore that they might ascend he descends 2. I come down from Heaven not to do mine own will Heb. 3.1 2. but the will of him that sent me his Father had sent him on purpose to receive and to save sinners and to this purpose he is called the Apostle of our profession who was faithful to him that appointed him as also Moses was faithful in all his house His Father could not send him on any errand but he was sure to do it his Fathers mission was a strong demonstration that Christ was willing to receive those sinners that would but come to him Again Jesus stood and cryed saying if any man thirst John 7.37 let him come unto me and drink the very pith heart and marrow of the Gospel is contained in these words the occasion of them was thus on that last day of the Feast of Tabernacles the Jews were wont with great solemnity to draw water out of the fountain of Siloam at the foot of Mount Sion and to bring it to the Altar singing out of Isaiah Isa 12.3 With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of Salvation now Christ takes them at this Custom and recalls them from earthly to heavenly waters alluding to that of Isaiah Isa 55.1 3. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters Incline your ears and come unto me and your souls shall live The Father saith come the Son saith come the Spirit saith come yea Rev. 22.17 the Spirit and the Bride say come and let him that heareth say come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him drink of the water of life freely All the time of Christs Ministry we see him tyring himself in going about from place to place upon no other errand than this to cry at the markets Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters if any sinners love life if any will go to heaven let them come to me and I will shew them the way to my Fathers bosom and endear them to my Fathers heart Again hither tend all those Arguments of God and Christ to draw souls to themselves Thus God draws 1. From his equity Hear now O house of Israel Ezek. 18.25 is not my way equal or are not your wayes unequal q. d. I appeal to your very consciences is this equal that sinners should go on in sin and Trespass against him that is so willing to receive and save poor sinners 2. From our ruine in case we go on in sin Ezek. 18.31 Cast away from you all your Transgressions whereby ye have Transgressed and make you a new heart and a new Spirit for why will ye dye O house of Israel 3. From his own dislike and displeasure at our ruine I have no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth Ver. 32. saith the Lord God wherefore turn your souls and live ye 4. From his mercy and readiness to pardon sinners Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Hos 14.4 John 3.16 5. From the freeness of his love I will love them freely and God so loved the world so fully so fatherly so freely that he gave his only begotten Son c. and I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely 6. From the sweetness of his Name Rev. 21.6 Exod. 34.6 7. Isa 48.18 19. The Lord the Lord merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity Transgression and sin 7. From the benefits that would follow O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments then had thy peace been as a River and thy righteousness as the waves of the Sea thy seed also had been as the Sand and the off-spring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof 8. From his Oath As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live O happy creatures saith Tertullian for whom God swears O unbelieving wretches if we will not trust God swearing Ezek. 33.61 Ezek. 33.11 Mich. 6.3 Isa 5.4 Isa 5.3 9. From his expostulations Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes for why will ye dye O house of Israel O my people what have I done to thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against me what could I have done more for my vineyard than I have done wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes brought it forth wild grapes Mich. 6.2 10. From his appeals Judge now O ye inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem and hear O ye mountains the Lords controversie and ye strong foundations of the earth Deut. 5.29 for the Lord hath a controversie with his people and he will plead with Israel 11. From his groans Oh that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep my commandments alwayes Deut. 32.29 that it might be well with them and their children for ever And oh that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end 12. Hos 11.8 From his loathness to give men up How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee O Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Zeboim my heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together O the goodness of God! And as God the Father so God the Son draws Arguments to win souls to himself 1. From his coming it was the very purpose and design of his coming down from Heaven to receive sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying sayes Paul and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners 2. From his fair demeanour and behaviour towards sinners this was so open and notorious that it was turned to his disgrace and opprobry Mat. 11.19 Behold a friend of Publicans and sinners And the Scribes and Pharisees murmured at him Luke 5.30 and his Disciples saying Why do ye eat and drink with Publicans and Sinners 3. From his owning of sinners and answering for them in this respect Luke 5.31 32. And Jesus answering said unto them they that are whole need not a Physitian but they that are sick I came not to call the righteous but Sinners to repentance 4. From his rejoycing at sinners conversion indeed we never read of Christs Laughter and we seldom read of Christs joy but when it is at any time recorded it is at the Conversion of a poor soul he had little else to comfort himself in being a man of sorrows but in this he rejoyced exceedingly Luke 10.21 In that hour Jesus rejoyced in Spirit
revelling and dishonouring of God hath made them so pensive Why sinners your carriage grieves the very Spirit of God Gen. 6.6 You grieve God at the heart as it is expressed Gen. 6.6 and therefore no wonder if the godly cannot rejoyce in your sinful society you are the cause of their sadness but admit them once into the company and fellowship of the Saints and they know how to be joyful 4. If it be so that usually they are pensive and sad it is not because of Religion but because they are not more Religious because they find so much want of godliness in their own hearts Rom. 7.24 this was the cause of Pauls heaviness O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death And yet know that all these sadnesses are true preparatives to joy and therefore in the very next words the Apostle breakes out into that sweet Doxology I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Never was true sorrow for sin but it ended in rejoycings and praises and thanksgiving to God Why then be convinced Ah deceived souls say not that God is an hard Master reaping where he sowed not and gathering where he strawed not say not that his wayes are tedious and irksome and uncomfortable wayes but rather taste and see and try how good the Lord is experience the truth of these words My Yoak is easie and my Burthen is light What is lighter than that Burthen which instead of burthening Chears up the party on which it is laid Just like those burthens of Cinnamon that refresh those that carry them through the deep sands of Arabia An holy Divine once endeavouring to convince men of the sweetness and pleasantness of Gods wayes by his own experiences I call Hâ—aven and Earth to Record saith he that these things are truths of God they are not notions or conceits but certain realities Another flyes somewhat higher If men would in earnest sayes he abandon the Devils service and give up their names to Christ in truth and try I dare assure them in the Word of Life and Truth they would not exchange the saddest hour of all their life afterward with the prime and flower of all their former sensual pleasures Prov. 3.17 might they have ten thousand worlds to boot her wayes are wayes of pleasure saith Solomon Vse 2. Psal 1.1 2. Psal 119.1 Psal 40.8 2. You that are so convinc'd I beseech you carry on the work of God sweetly comfortably and with delight the Psalmist sayes Blessed is the man that delights in the Law of the Lord. And Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk chearfully in the Law of the Lord. And blessed is the man that delighteth greatly in his Law And it is written upon the heart of Christ I delight to do thy will O my God yea they Law is within my heart as God loves a cheerful giver so a chearful server Come take my Yoak upon you saith Christ for my Yoak is easie it is not an Iron Yoak of Bondage but a Chain of heavenly Pearls to adorn your souls Quest 1 Oh but how should we carry on the Work the Yoak the Duty the Practise of Piety and of Religion pleasantly I answer Answ 1. Be sure to keep the heart right and upright within let all we do be in sincerity and let all we are in respect of the inner man be at peace within sence and reason can tell us that according to the tempter within so there is the relishing of things without he that acts in sincerity and hath peace within can easily go through the duties that are required without with joy and comfort 2. Exercise saith in the work and office of the Holy Ghost I mean that work and office to which the Holy Ghost is designed by the Father and the Son both to help his people and to be the Comforter of his people 1. The holy Ghost is designed to help his people Likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities the word in the Original †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 14.26 and 15.26 doth properly imply such an help Rom. 8.26 as when another man of strength and ability steppeth in to sustain the burthen that lyeth upon weak shoulders why this makes Christs Burthen light we do not bear all the weight for the holy Ghost puts under his shoulder 2. The Holy Ghost is designed to comfort his People Christ calls him the Spirit the Comforter because he brings in a kind of spiritual joy and spiritual comfort Mark it is not a natural but a spiritual joy Oh what a vast difference is there betwixt the comforts of a carnal heart and the comforts of the godly The one comes from a little meat or drink or creature vanity but the other comes from the exercise of Faith about the office of the Holy Ghost who is designed to this work surely here is the way to carry on duty sweetly and comfortably and with delight i.e. to be in the exercise of faith on the work and office of the Holy Ghost as he is our Helper and Comforter 1 Pet. 2.9 1 Pet. 2.9 3. Understand what is in Christian Religion and in the practise of it to cause delight As. 1. In every duty and gracious acting of it there is more of the Glory of God than in the whole frame of Heaven and Earth besides Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much Fruit John 15.8 Oh if we but thus looked at the profession and practice of Christian Religion we could not but take pleasure in it 2. In every duty and gracious acting of it there is the seed of glory and eternal life sometimes there breaks out in the very exercise of duty a joy in the Holy Ghost a foretast of Glory but howsoever there is the seed of Glory and though the seed of Glory be not seen but lye as it were under ground dead and unseen yet in time it will spring up unto eternal life why thus look at the practice of Religion and it will be sweeter to us than Honey and the Honey-Comb it will be more precious than Gold yea than much fine Gold But how should we know the difference betwixt the natural pleasantness and this Quest 2 spiritual pleasantness in Religion I know Christians may put a lustre upon the wayes of God by their natural pleasantness and chearfulness of spirit but because we speak of a spiritual joy and comfort and not of a natural wherein lies the difference I answer 1. If it be a spiritual pleasantness it will be serious I have said of laughter it is mad Answ Eccles 2.2 and of mirth what doth it There is much lightness and vanity in such breakings out of natural pleasantness but in spiritual pleasantness all is grave and sober and exceeding serious 2. If it be a spiritual pleasantness it can stand with repentance and humiliation and the fear of God rejoyce with trembling saith the Psalmist
manner of conversation Then is Christ's life mine when my actions refer to him as my Copy when I transcribe the Original of Christ's life as it were to the life Alas what am I better to observe in the life of Christ his Charity to his Enemies his Reprehensions of the Scribes and Pharisees his subordination to his heavenly Father his ingenuity towards all men his effusions of love towards all the Saints if there be no likeness of all this in my own actions The Life of Jesus is not described to be like a Picture in a chamber of Pleasure only for beauty and entertainment of the eye but like the Egyptain Hieroglyphicks whose very feature is a precept whose Images converse with men by sense and signification of excellent discourses to this purpose 2 Cor. 3.18 saith Paul we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed in the same Image from Glory to Glory Christ is the Image of his Father and we are the Images of Christ Christ is Gods Masterpeice and the most excellent device and work and frame of heaven that ever was or ever shall be now Christ being the top-excellency of all he is most fit to be the the pattern of all excellencies whatsoever and therefore he is the Image the Idea the Pattern the Platform of all our sanctification Come then O my soul look unto Jesus and look into thy self yea and look and look till thou art more transformed into his likeness Is it so that thou art changed into the same image with Christ took into his disposition as it is set forth in the Gospel look into his carriage look into his conversation at home and abroad and then reflecting on thy self look there and tell me canst thou find in thy self a disposition suitable to his disposition a carriage sutable to his carriage a conversation sutable to his conversation art thou every way like him in thy measure in Gospel allowance in some sweet resemblance why then here 's another ground of hope O rejoyce in it and bless God for it 3. If Christs life be mine then shall I admire adore believe and obey this Christ All these were the effects of those several passages in Christ's life respectively 1. They admire at his Doctrine and Miracles Luke 4.22 Matth. 15.31 For his Doctrine all bear him witness and wondered at those gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth and for his Miracles they wondred and they glorified the God the God of Israel yea sometimes their admiration was so great that they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure and wondred Mark 6.51 Luke 9.43 They were amazed at the mighty Power of God and they wondred every one at all things which Jesus did 2. And as they admired so they adored there came a Leaper and worshipped him Matth. 8.2 Matth. 9.18 Matth. 14.33 saying if thou wilt thou canst make me clean and there came a Ruler and worshipped him saying My Daughter is even now dead come lay thy hand on her and she shall live and they that were in the Ship came and worshipped saying of a truth thou art the Son of God The very worshipping of Christ confesseth thus much that he is the Son of God 3. And as they adored so they believed If thou canst believe said Christ to the Father of the possessed Child all things are possible to him that believeth Mark 9.23 24. and straight way he cried out and said with tears Lord I believe help thou my unbelief And when many of his Disciples fell away then said Jesus to the twelve will ye also go away Peter answers for the rest to whom shall we go Why Lord we believe John 6.66 69. and are sure that thou art the Christ the Son of the living God not only worshipping of Christ but believing in Christ is a right acknowledgment that Christ is God Rom. 6.17 Mat. 4.19 20 22. 4. And as they believed so they obeyed ye have obeyed from the heart said Paul to the Romans that form of Doctrine which was delivered to you no sooner Peter and Andrew heard the voice of Christ follow me but they left all and followed him and no sooner James and John heard the same voice of Christ follow me but they left all and followed him Matth. 9.9 John 8.31 and no sooner Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom heard that voice of Christ follow me but he rose and followed him Why then are ye my Disciples indeed said Christ to the believing Jews if ye continue in my word Come then put thy self O my soul to the test thou hast seen and heard the wonderfull passages of Christ's Life the Baptism of Christ the Fasting of Christ the Temptations of Christ the Manifestations of Christ the Doctrine of Christ the Miracles of Christ the Holiness of Christ and is this the issue of all Dost thou now begin to admire and adore and believe and to obey this Christ is thy heart warmed thy affections kindled Forbs tells us that the word of God hath three degrees of opperation in the hearts of his chosen first it falleth to mens ears as the sound of many waters a mighty great and confused sound and which commonly brings neither terrour nor joy but yet a wandering and acknowledgment of a strange force and more than humane power this is that effect which many felt hearing Christ when they were astonished at his Doctrine as teaching with authority Mat. 1.22 27. Luke 4.32 John 7.46 what manner of Doctrine is this never man spake like this man the next effect is the voice of thunder which bringeth not only wonder but fear also not only filleth the ears with sound and the heart with astonishment but moreover shaketh and terrifieth the conscience the third effect is the sound of harping while the Word not only ravisheth with admiration and striketh the Conscience with terror but also lastly filleth it with sweet peace and joy In the present case give me leave to ask O my soul art thou struck into a maze at the mighty Miracles and divine Doctrine of Jesus Christ dost thou fall down and worship him as the Lord and thy God dost thou believe in him and relie on him for Life and Salvation dost thou obey him and follow the Lamb which way soever he goes dost thou act from Principles of Grace in newness of life and holiness of conversation dost thou walk answerably to the commands of Jesus Christ or at least is there in thee an earnest endeavour so to walk and is it the sorrow of thy soul when thou observest thy failings and dost thou rejoyce in spirit when thou art led by the Spirit why then here 's another ground hope that virtue is gone of Christ's life into thy soul 4. If Christ's life be mine then I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Gal. 2.20 Paul speaks out this evidence I am crucified
the injury we have done unto God as our Judge and the other is a performance of a service which we owe unto God as our Maker O then how large and full and comprehensive is this life of Christ 2. Consider the excellency the glory of this Object Christ's life is glorious and hence it is that the righteousness of Christ is the most glorious garment that ever the Saints of God did wear It is Marlorat's saying Marlorat Rev. 12.1 that the Church which puts on Christ and his righteousness is more illustrious than the Ayr is by the Sun John thus sets her out in his Vision And there appeared a great wonder in heaven a woman cloathed with the Sun and the Moon under her feet I take this to be a lofty Poetical description of Christ's imputed righteousness imagine a garment were cut out of the Sun and put upon us how glorious should we be O but the righteousness of Christ is much more glorious No wonder if the Church cloathed with the Sun tread the Moon under her feet i.e. if she trample on all sublunary things which are uncertain and changeable as the Moon I count all things but dung saith Paul that I may win Christ Phil. 3.8 9. and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith When Paul compares Christ's righteousness with the glory of the world then is the world but dung O the glory O the excellency of the righteousness of Christ 3. Consider the suitableness of this object Christ's life and the virtue of it is most suitable to our condition Thus I might apply Christ to every condition if thou art sick he is a Physitian if thou fearest death he is the way the truth and the life if thou art hungry he is the bread of Life if thou art thirsty he is the water of Life But not to insist on these words It is the daily complaint of the best of Saints O my sins I had thought these sins had been wholly subdued but now I feel they return upon me again now I feel the springs in the bottom fill up my soul again Oh I am weary of my self and weary of my life Oh what will become of me In this case now Christ's life is most sutable his righteousness is a continual righteousness it is not a Cistern Zech. 13.1 but Fountain open for thee to wash in as sin abounds so grace in this gift of righteousness abounds much more Christ's life in this respect is compared to changes of Garments Thou criest O what shall become of me Oh I feel new sins and old sins committed afresh why but these changes of garments will hide all thy sins Zech. 3.4 if thou art but cloathed with the robes of Christ's righteousness there shall never enter into the Lords heart one hard thought towards thee of casting thee off or of taking revenge upon any new occasion or fall into sin Why here is the blessedness of all those that believe Oh then believe Say not would Christ be incarnate for me would he lead such a life on earth for my soul Why yes for thy soul never speak of thy sins as if they should be any hinderance of thy Faith If the wicked that apply this righteousness presumptiously can say Let us sin that grace may abound and so they make no other use of Grace but to run in debt and to sin with a licence how much rather mayest thou say on good ground Oh let me believe Oh let me own my portion in this righteousness of Christ that as my sins have abounded so my love may abound that as my sins have been exceeding great so the Lord may be exceeding sweet that as my sins continue and encrease so my thankfulness to Christ and glory in God and triumph over sin death and the grave may also encrease Why thus be encouraged to believe thy part in the Lord Jesus Christ SECT VI. Of Loving Jesus in that respect 6. LEt us love Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salvation for us during his Life Now what is Love but a motion of the Appetite by which the Soul unites it self to what seems fair unto it And if so O what a lovely Object is the Life of Christ who can read over his Life who can think over his worthiness both in his person relations actions and several administrations and not love him with a singular love That which set the Daughters of Jerusalem in a posture of seeking after Christ was that Description of Christ which the Spouse made of him My Beloved is white and ruddy Cant. 5.10 11.12 13 14 15. the chiefest of ten thousands his head is as the most fine Gold his Locks are bushy and black as a Raven his eyes are as the eyes of Dovâ—s by the Rivers of water washed with milk and finely set his cheeks are as a bed of Spices and sweet flowers his lips like Lillies dropping sweet smelling myrrhe c. By these are intimated unto us the government of Christ the unsearchable counsels of Christ the pure nature of Christ without any impurity or uncleanness the gracious promises of Christ the soul saving instructions of Christ the holy actions and just administrations of Christ the tender affections and amiable smilings of Christ the gracious inward and wonderful workings of Christ so that he is altogether lovely or he is composed of loves from top to toe there is nothing in Christ but 't is most fair and beautiful lovely and desirable Now as this Description enflamed the Daughters of Jerusalem so to act our loves towards the Lord Jesus Christ take we a copy of the Record of the Spirit in Scriptures see what they say of Christ John 5.39 this was his own advice Search the Scriptures for they are they which testifie of me O my soul much hath been said to perswade thee to Faith and if now thou believest thy part in those several actings of Christ why let thy Faith take thee by the hand and lead thee from one step to another from his Baptism to his Temptations from his Temptations to his Manifestations and so on Is not here fewel enough for Love to feed upon Canst thou read the history of Love for such is the history of Christ's Life and not be all on a flame Come read again there is nothing in Christ but 't is lovely winning and drawing as 1. When he saw thee full of filth he goes down into the waters of Baptism that he might prepare a way for the cleansing of thy defiled and polluted soul 2. When he saw the Devil ready to swallow thee up or by his baits to draw and drag thy soul down to hell he himself enters into the List with the Devil and he overcomes him that thou mightest overcome and triumph with Christ in his Glory 3. When he
it O my soul how art thou out of frame in creature-communion I usually feel the warm and vigorous active and very strong but now thy heart is enditing of a good matter thou art speaking of the things which thou hast made concerning the King thy words do almost freeze between thy lips how chill and cold art thou in thy converses with Jesus Christ Oh this puts me in mind of my deserts surely had Christ's love been but like this faint and feeble love of mine I had been a damned wretch without all hope O Christ I am ashamed that I love thee so little I perceive thy loves are great by all those actings in thy life come blow upon my Garden perswade me by thy Spirit that I may love thee much many sins are forgiven me O that I may love thee much SECT VII Of Joying in Jesus in that respect 7. LEt us joy in Jesus as carrying on the great work of our Salvation for us during his Life But what is there in Christ's life or in all the passages of his Life to stir up Joy I answer all his life and all the passages of his life if rightly applied are excellent matter for the stirring up of this Affection indeed the main of the work is in the application of Christ's life if ever we rejoyce spiritually in Christ we must bring together the object and the faculty and this Union of the object and the faculty is usually wrought by contemplation or by confidence or by fruition I shall but a while insist on these that we may come up at last to rejoyce in Christ yea if it were possible to rejoyce and again rejoyce 1. Let us contemplate on this life of Christ let us think of it in our minds there is a kind of delight in knowing some things speculatively which we would abhor to know experimentally and therefore the Devil's first temptation was drawn from the knowledge of evil as well as good he knew that the mind of man would receive content in the understanding of that which in its own nature had no perfection at all now if there be a delight in the contemplation of evil how much more in the contemplation of that which is good And is not the life of Christ the Graces the Virtues the holy Actions the dear Affections of Jesus Christ to us-ward good and very good Come then stir up our memories let us be setled men let us spend our frequent thoughts upon this blessed Object the reason we miss of our joyes is because we are so little in comtemplations of our Christ It is said that he pities us in our sorrows but he delights in us when we delight in him Certainly he would have us to delight in him and to that purpose he way-layes our thoughts that wheresoever we look we shall still think on him O my soul cast thine eyes which way thou wilt and thou shalt hardly look on any thing but Christ Jesus hath taken the name of that very thing upon himself What is it day and dost thou behold the Sun He is called the Sun of righteousness Mal. 4.2 Num. 24.17 19. Or is it night and dost thou behold the Stars He is called a Star There shall come a Star out of Jacob out of Jacob shall he come that shall have dominion Or is it Morning and dost thou behold the morning-star He is called the bright morning-star Rev. 22.16 Or is it Noon and dost thou behold clear light all the world over in thy Hemisphere He is called the Light and that Light and that Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world John 1.7 8 9. Or to come a little nearer if thou lookest on the earth and takest a view of the Creatures about thee seest thou the silly sheep He is called a sheep Isa 53.7 as a sheep before her shearer is dumb so he openeth not his mouth or seest thou a Lamb bleating after the harmless sheep John 1.29 He is called a Lamb Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world Seest thou a Shepherd watching over his flock by day or night He is called a Shepherd I am the good Shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine John 10.14 Or seest thou a Fountain Rivers Waters He is called a Fountain In that day there shall be a Fountain opened to the House of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem Zach. 13.1 for sin and for uncleanness Or seest thou a Tree good for Food Prov. 3.18 Cant. 2.3 or pleasant to the eye He is called the Tree of Life and as the Apple-tree among the Trees of the Wood so is my Beloved among the Sons Seest thou a Rose a Lilly any fair Flower in a Garden Cant. 2.1 He is called a Rose a Lilly I am the Rose of Sharon and the Lilly of the Valleys or to come a little nearer yet art thou within doors I am the door by me if any man enter in he shall be saved John 10.9 and shall go in and out and shall find pasture Art thou adorning thy self and takest a view of thy Garments He is called a Garment Rom. 13.14 Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ Art thou eating meat and takest a view on what is on thy Table He is called Bread The bread of God true bread from Heaven the bread of life John 6.32 35 51. the living bread which came down from heaven Why thus Christ way-layes our thoughts that wheresoever we look we should ever think of Christ Now these thoughts or contemplations of Christ are they that bring together the object and the faculty of joy I cannot think of Christ or the life of Christ of Christ preaching or of Christ preached but I must rejoyce in Christ as sometimes the Apostle said Christ is preached whether in pretence or truth I matter not but that he is preached I therein do rejoyce Phil. 1.18 yea and will rejoyce 2. Let us consider in Christ let us upon good grounds hope our share and interest in the Life of Christ O this would strengthen our joy yea fill us with joy unspeakable and glorious where true joy is there is first a thinking of the good in our mind and secondly an expecting of it in our heart hence it is that whatsoever doth encourage our hope the same doth enlarge our delight the Apostle joines both these together Rejoyce in hope Hope and Joy go both together if I have but assured hope that Christ's life is mine I cannot but rejoyce therein on the contrary Rom. 12.12 if my hope fluctuate if I am but uncertain if I look on the influence and benefits of Christ's life as only possibly mine and no further then is my comfort but unstable and weak sometimes we find Christ compared to a rich Store-house In him saith the Apostle are hid all the treasures of wâ—sdom and knowledge but alas what am I
the Day of his espousals And this we shall do the next hour SECT V. Of Christ brought forth and sentenced ABout ten Christ was brought forth and sentenced 1. For his bringing forth I shall therein observe these particulars As 1. We find Pilate bringing forth Jesus out of the common Hall and shewing this sad spectacle to all the People John 19.5 Then came Jesus forth wearing the Crown of Thorns and the purple Robe and Pilate saith unto them behold the Man he thought the very sight of Christ would have moved them to compassion they had lash'd him almost unto death they had most cruelly divided those azure channels of his guiltless Blood they had cloathed him with Purple crowned him with Thorns and now they bring him out by the hair of the head say some and expose him to the Publick view of the scornful company Pilate crying unto them Behold the man q. d. Behold a poor silly miserable distressed man behold I say not your King to provoke you against him nor yet the Son of God which you say he makes himself to be but behold the man a mean man a worm and no man behold how he stands disfigured with wounds behold him weltring and panting in a crimson river of his own gore blood and let this sufficient yea more than sufficient punishment suffice to satisfie your rage what would you have more if it be for malice that you are so violent against him behold how miserable he is if for fear behold how contemptible he is As for any fault whereby he should deserve his death I find no fault in him he is a Lamb without spot a Dove without gall O come and behold this man I can find no fault in him Some Doctors affirm that while Pilate cryed out behold the man his servants lifted up the purple robe that so all might see his torn and bloody and macerated body he supposed his words could not so move their hearts as Christ's wounds and therefore said he Behold the man as if he had said again Look on him and view him well is he not well paid for calling himself King of the Jews now see him stript and whipt and crowned with thorns and scepter'd with a reed anoynted with spittle and cloathed with purple what would you more 2. We find the Jews more inraged against Jesus John 19.6 When the chief Priests and Officers saw him they cryed out saying crucifie him crucifie him The more Pilate endeavours to appease them the more were the people enraged against him and therefore they cry away with him away with him crucifie him crucifie him Ver. 15. Jer. 12.8 Now was fulfilled that prophesie of Jeremy My heritage is unto me as a Lion in the forrest it cryeth out against me The Naturalists report of the Lion that when he is near to his prey he gives out a mighty roar whereby the poor hunted beast is so amazed and terrified that almost dead with fear he falls flat on the ground and so becomes the Lions prey indeed And thus the Jews who were the heritage of the Lord were unto Christ as a Lion in the forrest they hunted and pursued him to his death and being near it they give out a mighty shout that the earth rung again Away with him away with him crucifie him crucifie him O ye Jews children of Israel seed of Abraham Isaac and Jacob is not this he concerning whom your fathers cryed O that thou wouldst rent the heavens Isa 64.1 that thou wouldst come down that the mountains might flow down at thy presence How is it that you should despise him present whom they desired absent How is it that your cry and theirs should be so contrary The Panther say they is of so sweet a savour that if he be but within the compass of scent all the beasts of the field run towards him but when they see his ugly visage they fly from him and run away so the Jews afar off feeling the sweet savours of Christ's Oyntments they cryed Draw me Cant. 1.2 we will run after thee come Lord Jesus come quickly but now in his passion looking on his form they change their note He hath no form or comeliness there is no beauty Isa 53.2 that we should desire him away with him away with him 3. We find Pilate and the Jews yet debating the business Pilate is loath to pronounce the sentence and the chiefest of the Jews provoke him to it with a threefold argument As 1. They had a law and by their law he ought to dye John 19.7 Ejus absolvere cujus est condere legem because he made himself the Son of God thus the Doctors of the Law do accuse the Author and Publisher of the Law but they consider not the rule concerning Laws He may lawfully abolish who hath power to establish nor did they consider that this Law concerned not himself who is indeed and in truth the Son of God the Text tells us that Pilate hearing this argument was the more afraid Pilate saith Cyril was an heathen idolater and so worshipping many Gods he could not tell but that Christ might be one of them and therefore in condemning Christ he might justly provoke all the Gods to be revenged of him This was the meaning of Pilate's question Whence art thou what is thy Off-spring of what Progenitors art thou sprung And from thence forth Pilate sought to release him 2. The Jews come with another Argument they threaten Pilate John 19.12 If thou let this man go thou art not Cesar's friend a forcible reason as the case then stood it was no small matter to be accused by so many audacious impudent men of high treason against Cesar and therefore under this obligation Pilate seems to bend and bow whom the fear of Christ's Divinity had restrained him the fear of Cesar's frown provoked to go on to sentence and condemnation Oh he was more afraid of man whose breath is in his nostrils than of God himself who made the heavens and framed the world Matth. 27 24. And yet before he gives sentence he takes water and washeth his hands before the multitude saying I am innocent of the blood of this just person see ye to it 3. In reference to this they engage themselves for him which was their last argument Matth. 27.25 His blood be upon us and our children q. d. act thou as Judge let him be condemned to dye and if thou fearest any thing we will undergo for thee let the vengeance of his blood be on us and on our children for ever Thus far of the first general John 19.13 2. For the sentence it self When Pilate heard that he sate down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement because erected of stones but in the Hebrew Gabbatha This word signifies an high place and raised above it was so on purpose that the Judges might be seen of men when
life neither in thought word or deed that being endowed with the Power of Miracles he lovingly employed it in curing the lame and blind and deaf and dumb in casting out devils in healing the sick in restoring the dead to life that as he lived so he dyed for being unjustly condemned mocked stripped whipped crucified he took all patiently praying for his persecutors and leaving to them when he had no temporal thing to give them a legacy of love of life of mercy of pardon of Salvation When the Sermon is done and the Burial is finished let every Mourner go home and begin a new life in imitation of Jesus Christ O my soul that thou wouldst thus meditate and thus imitate that so thy meditation might be fruitful and thy imitation real I mean that thy life and death might be conformable to the life and death of Jesus Christ But of that hereafter SECT III. Of desiring Jesus in that Respect 3. LEt us desire after Jesus carrying on the work of our salvation in his death Jesus Christ to a fallen sinner is the chief object of desire but Jesus Christ as crucified is the chief piece of that object Humbled souls look after the remedy and they find chiefly in Christ crucified and hence are so many cryes after bathings in Christ's blood and hiding in Christ's righteousness active and passive Indeed nothing doth so cool and refresh a parched dry and thirsty soul as the blood of Jesus which made the poor woman cry out so earnestly I have an husband and Children and many other comforts but I would give them all and all the good that ever I shall see in this world or in the world to come to have my poor thirsty soul refreshed with that precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ But what is there in Christ's blood or death that is so desirable I answer 1. There is in it the person of Christ he that is God-man man-God Heb. 1.3 The brightness of his father's Glory and the express Image of his Person it is he that dyed every drop of his blood was not only the blood of an innocent man but of one that was God as well as man God with his own blood purchased the Church Acts 20.28 now surely every thing of God is most desirable 2. There is in it a worth or price Christ considered under the notion of a sacrifice is of infinite worth now this sacrifice saith the Apostle he offered up Heb. 9.28 Heb. 9.28 He offered up not in Heaven as the Socinians would have it in presenting himself before God his Father but upon earth viz. in his Passion upon the Cross No wealth in heaven or earth besides this could redeem one soul and therefore the Apostle sets this against all corruptible things as silver and gold the things so much set by amongst the men of this world Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver 1 Pet. 1.18 and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot 3. There is in it a merit and satisfaction the Scripture indeed doth not expresly use these words but it hath the sense and meaning of them As in that text Ephes 6.7 He hath made us accepted in the beloved to whom we have redemption through his blood I know there is a different notion in these words for merit doth properly respect the good that is to be procured but satisfaction the evil that is repelled but in Christ we stand not on these distinctions because in his merit was satisfaction and in his satisfaction was merit A great controversie is of late risen up Whether Christ's death be a satisfaction to Divine justice But the very words redeeming and buying do plainly demonstrate that a satisfaction was given to God by the death of Jesus Tit. 2 14. 1 Cor. 6.20 Rev. 5.9 He gave himself for us that he might redeem us ye are bought with a price and what price was that why his own blood Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood i.e. by thy death and Passion Mat. 20.28 1 Tit. 2.6 This was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ransome which Christ gave for his Elect The Son of man came to give his life a ransome for many or as the Apostle He gave himself a ransome for all the word is here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies an adequate price or a counterprice as when one doth or undergoeth something in the room of another as when one yields himself a Captive for the redeeming of another out of Captivity or gives up his own life for the saving of another man's life so Christ gave himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ransome or counterprice submitting himself to the like punishment that his redeemed ones should have undergone The Socinians tell us that Christ's sufferings and death were not for satisfaction to God but in reference to us that we might believe the truth of his Doctrine confirmed and sealed as they say by his death and that we might yield obedience to God according to the pattern that he hath set before us and that so believing and obeying we might obtain the remission of Sins and eternal Life But the Scripture goes higher in that mutual compact and agreement betwixt God and Christ we find God the Father imposing and Christ submitting to this satisfaction Isa 53.6 1. The Father imposeth it by charging the sins of his Elect upon Jesus Christ The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all not the sins themselves not the evill in them or fault of them but the guilt and penalty belonging to them this God laid upon his Son and charged it upon him he charged it as a Creditor chargeth the debt upon the Surety requiring satisfaction 2. Christ undertook it He was oppressed Ver. 7. and he was afflicted or as some translate It was exacted and he answered i.e. God the Father required satisfaction for sin and Jesus Christ was our Surety answered in our behalf Ver. 12. He bear the Sins of many he bear them as a porter that bears the burthen for another which himself is not able to stand under he bear them by undergoing the punishment which was due for them he bear them as our Surety submitting himself unto the penalty which we had deserved and by that means he made satisfaction to the justice of God Surely Christs death was not only for confirmation of his Doctrine but for satisfaction to God 4. There is in it not only a true but a copious and full satisfaction Christ's death and blood is superabundant to our sins The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant 1. Tim. 1.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was over-full redundant more than enough Many an humble soul is apt enough to complain Oh if I had not been so great a sinner if I had not committed such and such transgressions there might have been
law of the spirit of life in Jesus Christ or the law of this quickening Spirit communicated from Christ unto thy soul 3. If Christ's resurrection be mine then am I planted together in the likness of Christ's resurrection then do I resemble and am made conformable to Christ in his resurrection now if we would know wherein that resemblance is the Apostle tells us that like as Christ was rised up from the dead by the glory of the Father Rom. 6.5 even so we also should walk in newness of life Our mortification is a resemblance of Christ's death and our vivification is a resemblance of Christs resurrection In this ground of our hope concerning our interest in the resurrection of Christ I shall propound these questions Rom. 6.4 1. Whether indeed and in truth our souls are vivified 2. Whether we increase and grow in our vivification For the first the truth and certainty of our vivification will appear by these rules 1. True vivification is general both in respect of us and in respect of Grace 1. In respect of us it is diffused throughout the whole man the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly saith the Apostle and I pray God that your whole spirit 1 Thes 5.23 soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ And. 2. In respect of Grace it is in every Grace I know it is a question whether all Graces are so connexed and chained together that possible they cannot be severed but I suppose it is truly answered that in respect of habit they cannot be severed though in respect of the act or exercise they may be severed some Graces are more radical than others as faith and love and therefore they first appear but as a man lives first the life of a plant then of sense then of reason though all were radically there at first so it is in graces experience tells us that some Christians are eminent in some graces and some in other graces some have more love and some more knowledg and some more patience and some more self-denial but all that are true Christians have each of these graces in some measure or other or at least they have them in habit though not in the act if vivication be true there is a whole work of grace both in heart and life as the light in the ayre runs through the whole hemisphere so the whole work of grace runs through and is diffused through the whole man soul body and spirit O my soul this may put thee to thy study because of the several constitutions or tempers of graces thou mayest find this or that grace this or that image of Christ clearly stampt on thy heart but thou canst not find such and such graces in this case fear not for if in truth and sincerity thou hast but one grace thou hast the whole chaine of graces But to speak to some graces in particular Gal. 2.20 2. True vivification is a new life acting upon a new principle of Faith The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God They are the words of a man pursued by the law unto Christ Paul seeing he was dead by the law he speaks for a better husband the law finds him dead and leaves him dead Nevertheless I live saith Paul what means he a natural life why so he lived before now no no it is a better life than a natural life such a life is no contentment to a soul pursued by the law very heathens and infidels have such a life and in that respect are as happy as the best of Saints Paul's life is a spiritual life and the Spring of his life is the Son of God Jesus Christ is esscentially radically fundamentally life it self and by his incarnation passion resurrection he is life for his Saints they live by him and in him and for him and through him he is the heart and liver of their Spiritual life But as from the heart and liver there must be arteryes and vains for maintenance of life and conveyance of blood throughout all the body so from Christ there must be some conveyance to bring this to life unto us and this is by faith I live by the faith of the Son of God O my soul dost thou live this life of faith on the Son of God canst thou make use of Christ in every state and in every condition As for instance in thy particular calling dost thou look to Christ for wisdome success blessing ability dost thou say if I have ill success I will yet go to Christ it is he that set me here and it is he will enable me in case of provision dost thou run to Christ and dost thou hang upon him for all things needful dost thou say If I want means God will create means he commands all means and he can suddenly do whatsoever he will In case of protection dost thou look unto Jesus to be thy shield and protector dost thou mind the word of God to Abraham Fear not Abraham for I am God all-sufficient Gen. 15.1 thy buckler and thy exceeding great reward In case of thy Children goest thou to Christ saying Are not my Children thy Children and wilt thou not provide for thy own it is true thou must do what thou canst but for the rest despair not cast thy burthen upon him who hath commanded thee in nothing to be careful Phil. 4.6 Phil. 27.10 but in all things to make thy suits known with prayer and supplication when my Father and Mother forsake me God will take me up saith David He is a Father to the Fatherless he provided for them in the womb he provided brests for them ere they saw the Sun and therefore how should he but have care and compassion over thy Children in case of prosperity dost thou see Christ's love in that state dost thou set him in the first place receiving all and joyning in all as coming from him is this it that makes thy prosperity sweet because thou knowest and believest that thy sins are pardoned otherwise what is thy silver and gold so long as thy pardon is not sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ if a prisoner condemned to dye should abound in all outward plenty what comfort could he have so long as his pardon were not sealed it is the life of faith that sweetens prosperity who are better Christians than they who know they enjoy these things with God's favour and blessing faith sees Gods love in all and so is abundantly thankful faith makes a man to eat and drink and sleep and to do all in Christ as it cost Christ dear to purchase our liberty to the creatures so faith ever sets Christ in the first place it receives all as coming from him it returns all as to the glory of him in case of disgrace dost thou commit thy credit to Jesus Christ dost thou look up to Jesus and
say was a saving work of God some one that sate with me in the same seat found much stirings of God Oh what meltings chearings warmings of the spirit had such a one and such a one the Word was to them as hony and as the hony comb but to me iâ— was as dry bread I found no sweet I got no good at all Or you have been often tossing the Bible and you have observed this or that promise but O what in-come hath appeared Surely nothing at all I wonder at Saints that tell of so much sweetness and comfort and ravishing of heart that with joy they should draw water out of these Wells of salvation Whereas I find therein no joy no refreshing at all Ah poor soul thou art in a sad case thou art not yet vivified thou hast not the life of God in thee After vivification thou wilt in the use of Ordinances at least sometimes if not frequently feel the saving in-comes of God In prayer thou wilt feel the spirit breathing in and carrying up thy soul above it self plainly declaring there is another power than thy own which makes thee not only to exceed others but thy self also in hearing of the Word thou wilt see the Windows of heaven set wide open and all manner of spiritual comforts showred down upon thee thou wilt hear the rich treasury of everlasting glory and imortality unlocked and opened so that thou mayst tumble thy self amidst the mountains of heavenly pearls and golden pleasures joyes that no heart can comprehend but that which is weaned from all worldly pleasures As it is written Rom. 10.15 how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things In meditation of the promises or of Divine love thou wilt find meltings quickenings encouragings filling thy heart with gladness and glorying and thy mouth with praises and songs of rejoycings O What fountains of life are the promises to a living man to a soul that is vivified what food what strength what life is a thought of Christ of Heaven and of God's love to a spiritual man whereas all these glorious things of the Gospel are to the natural man but as a withered flower a sealed book a dry and empty cistern he hath no use of them 6. It is a life of another kind or manner Before vivification our life was but death because we our selves were but dead in sin even whilest alive 1 Tim. 5.6 Col 2.13 She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth and you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh But after vivification we live how live a spiritual life Gal. 2.20 Phil. 3.20 I live by the faith of the Son of God an heavenly life for our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ an immortal life Rom. 6.9 11. Christ being raised from the dead dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him likewise reckon your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. John 11.26 You know the meaning of Christ Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye he shall never dye a spiritual death never come under the dominion of sin never totally fall away from grace Rom. 8.10 that incorruptible seed by which he is regenerate shall abide in him for ever If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness the body indeed is subject to corporal death through the remainders of sin but the Spirit it life even that little spark of grace through the most perfect righteousness of Christ imputed is life here and shall be life hereafter even for ever And herein is our vivification answerable to Christ's resurrection like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father Rom. 6.4 raised up to a new life even so we also should walk in the newness of life For the second question how is this conformity or vivification wrought I shall answer only to the state and so our vivification is usually wrought in us in this manner As first in the understanding Secondly in the will First the understanding lets in the verity and truth of what the Gospel hath recorded John 1.4 John 6.35 John 11.25 In him was life and the life was the light of men I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live I am the way John 14.6 1 John 5.11 12. the truth and the life And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 2. This light let in the understanding thence inferreth as to a man 's own self that by the assistance of the Spirit of holiness who raised up Jesus from the dead it 's possible for him to attain this life Eph. 2.1 2 3 4 5 6 7. others have attained it and why not he You hath he quickened who were dead in traspasses and sins here 's a president for a sin-sick soul In time past ye walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of disobedience this was the state of the Ephesians But were they all no no ye and we also among whom also we had all our conversation in times past But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ that in ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus Mat. 8.2 9 21. Ezek. 37.4 5. Christ's dealings with some are as flags and patterns of mâ—rcy hung forth to tell and to bring others in whence the understanding infers it 's possible for a dead soul yea for my dead soul to live others have lived and why may not I I discover in those Scriptures even in these presidents a door of hope to my self why Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean yea if I may but touch thy garment I shall be whole if thou wouldst but say O ye dry bones hear the word of the Lord then breath would enter into me and I should live surely if Christ be risen again from the dead there 's no impossibility but I may rise if others have been raised by the vertue of Christ's resurrection why may not I However this may seem to be little or nothing yet considering the soul in a mourning dark disconsolate frame under deep apprehensions of sin guilt and wrath full of
confusions distractions despondences staggering and sinking terrors Mat. 11.28 it will find it something yea it will look on it as a glorious work to discover but the morning Star through so much darkness any thing of life in such a valley and shadow of death 3. The understanding hath yet some brighter believing beams it confidently closeth with this truth that it is the will of the Lord that he should come and live and believe and lay hold on Christ it apprehends the particular designs of mercy to him and doth really principle the soul with this that God doth particularly call invite and bid him come to Christ the Fountain of life for life Now the understanding takes in general Gospel-calls in particular to himself It is my poor languishing soul which the Lord speaks to when he sayes come to me all yea that are weary and I will give you rest Ephes 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Surely this is a great work when set home by the Lord that the soul acts in its addresses to Christ in the strength of a particular call from God 2. And now the answer to this call is wrought up in the renewed will as thus 1. The will summons all its confidences and calls them off from every other bottom to bestow them wholly upon Christ and this consists in our voluntary renouncing of all other helps excepting Jesus Christ alone now the soul sayes to Idols Get ye hence Hos 14.3 Ashur shall not save us we will not ride upon horses neither will we say any more to the works of our hands ye are our Gods Ashur shall not save us Not only cannot but shall not save us now as the soul is dissatisfied in Judgment as to the resting on any thing but Christ alone so the heart and will is disaffected to all other helps but Christ alone now it renounceth its own righteousness and worthyness not only because of their inability to save but mainly because their glory is swallowed up in that unmatchable excellency which appears in the way of life and salvation by Jesus Christ It calls home dependance from every other object 2. Hereupon there is a willing and chearfull receiving of Christ and resignation of our selves to his actual dispose to quicken us and save us in his own way A great part of the answer of Faith to the call of Christ lyes in this for as Faith sees life and salvation in the hands of Christ so it considers it to be given forth in the methods of Christ and so believing lyes not only in assent but consent of heart John 1 1â— that Christ shall save us in his own way this is called A receiving of Christ As many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God Many a soul would be saved by Christ that sticks and boggles at his methods they will not pass to happiness by holiness nor set him up as a King and Lord whom they could consent to set up as a Saviour Oh but now Christ that stood at the door and knocked Rev. 3.10 is received in consent hath made up the match and the door is opened that never shall be shut again 3. Upon this follows the souls resting and relying the souls confidence and dependance upon Jesus Christ for life and for salvation this closeth up the whole business of believing unto righteousness those various expressions used in Scripture of committing our way and selves to God of casting our care upon God of rolling our selves on him of trusting in him of hoping in his mercy c. wrapt up faith in this affiance dependance not without some mixture of confidence and resolved resting upon Jesus Christ a clear beholding of God in Christ and of Christ in the promises doth present such variety and fulness of Arguments to bear up hope and affiance that the heart is resolved and so resolved that we commit our selves and give our souls in charge to Christ I know whom I have believed 1 Pet. 4.19 2 Tim. 1.12 and I am perswaded he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day 4. The upshot of all is this that the same close which the soul makes in believing with Jesus Christ as to justification and righteousness is not fruitless to this effect of conveying life and vertue from Jesus Christ as to grace and holiness for that union which then and thereby comes to be enjoyned with Christ is such an union as is fruitful in begetting a quickening power and principle in the heart and this is that which we ordinarily intend by saying saving faith to be operative James 2.16 that faith which brings forth nothing of holiness what is it but a dead faith As the body without the Spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also Justification and sanctification are twins of a birth and hence it is that vivification which is one part of sanctification is wrought in the soul after the self-same manner As first the understanding is illighttened 2. The will is changed 3. All the Affections are renewed 4. The internals being quickened there ensueth the renewing of the body with the outward actions life and conversation And now is fulfilled that saying of Christ in a spiritual sense John 5.25 The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Now is the soul vivified now it begins to live the life of God now it feels the power of Christ's resurrection and is made conformable to it And immediately upon this joy is made in heaven by the Angels Luke 15.24 God himself applauding it For this my Son was dead and is alive he was lost and is found Thus is the state of vivification wrought I know it is not in all men after one manner for every circumstance the methods of God are exceeding various and we cannot limit the holy one of Israel I have sometimes concerning this desired the communication of other thoughts whom I looked upon as such who had more than ordinary communication with Christ's Spirit and from one of such I received this answer I must profess to you I have in all my speculations in divinity found dissatisfaction in the writings of men in nothing more than is the work of clear and distinct conceptions concerning regeneration which yet is of such a Cardinal importance is that the great doors of heaven move upon the hinges of it the Lord enlighten us more for we see but in part and prophesie but in part For the third question what are the means of this conformity or vivification which we must use on our parts I shall answer herein both to the state and growth of our vivification As 1. Wait and Attend upon God in the ministry of the word this is a means whereby Christ ordinarily effecteth
swallowed up all my natural affections that I cannot but laugh at thy calamity and joy in thy damnation I gave thee a body and God himself gave thee a Soul but now let the Devils have both and torment them in Hell be gone I shall never see thee again Or if the Child be the Saint and the Parent the Reprobate then shall the Child say O unworthy Parent unworthy of everlasting life I had my natural being from thee but my Spiritual being was from the Lord if I had followed thy steps I had been everlastingly damned did I not know thy ignorance thy unbelief thy worldliness thy covetousness thy pride thy malice thy lust thy lukewarmness thy impatiency thy discontentment thy vain-glory thy self-love didst not thou often check me for my forwardness and zeal and holiness in Religion didst not thou ask me what art thou wiser than the rest of the neighbour-hood are there not many gray hairs amongst us whose wisdom and experience thou hast not yet attained and canst not thou walk on soberly towards heaven and either do as the most or keep pace with the wisest what have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Christ oh I shall ever remember to the praise and glory of Christ what discouragements I had and yet how the Lord pluckt me as a fire-brand out of the fire and now hath the Lord set me on the Throne to judge thee according to thy demerits and therefore I joyn with him who is the Father of Spirits against the Father of my flesh depart go to the Gods whom thou hast served and see if they will help thee in the day of thy calamity 3. Betwixt Husband and Wife now if the Husband be the Saint and the Wife the Reprobate then shall the Husband say Thou art she whom I knew in the flesh whom I dearly affected with my heart and soul whom I nourished and cherished as my own body thou art she that was the Wife of my bosom as near and dear to me as my heart in my bosom thou wast my companion my yoke-fellow and my very delight but oh I could never rule thee lead thee guide thee in the way of life in the path that is called holy many a time have I wooed sued and sought to gain thy soul to that blessed Bridegroom the Lord Jesus Christ many a time have I prayed with thee and for thee many a time have I stirred thee up to hear the Word to waite upon God in the use of all means publick and private and instead of imbraces or yieldings to these blessed motions Prov. 19.13.27.15 I have met with contentions and jars as a continual dropping in a very rainy day but death hath dissolved that knot so that now I am no more thy Husband this is the day of separation and I shall no more consort with thee at the Resurrection there is no use of Marriage but now I am to live as an Angel in Heaven and because thou wouldst not draw with me in Christ's yoke now therefore adue for ever and ever we shall never more lye in one bed Mark 12.29 or sit at one board or walk in one Field or grind at one mill thou hast lost me and thou hast lost Jesus Christ two husbands in one day go now and take thy choice in Hell thou art free from us but thou shalt be bound there with indissoluble bonds to the Devill and his Angels Or if the Wife be the Saint and the Husband the Reprobate then shall the Wife say Thou art he who I looked upon as my second-self my head my governour my helper my husband for whom I was willing to forsake my native home Fathers house dear Relations of Father Mother Brother Sister and many comforts in that kind and I expected to have found new matter and a continued influence of comfort and delight in a marriage-state but oh the vexations of Spirit hadst thou not almost drawn me away from Jesus Christ was I not forced through many provocations sometimes to break out and say Surely a bloody husband art thou to me many a time I cryed out Exod. 4.25 O my Husband when wilt thou set up the rich and royal trade of grace in thy Family when wilt thou exercise prayer reading catechizing conference days of humiliation and other houshold holy duties oh for doing something to assure our souls of meeting together hereafter in heaven But alas it would not be and now see the effect here I stand like a Queen deck't and adorn'd with cloth of Gold with rayment of needle-work with the white robe of Christ's righteousness so that the King of Heaven greatly desires my beauty and my soul is this day marryed to Christ I acknowledge him and no other Husband in the world and for thee who refused to joyn with me in the worship of God now God hath refused thee fare well or fare ill for ever 4. Betwixt Minister and some of his people at least if the people be as so many Saints and the Minister the Reprobate then shall the people say O thou art the man that undertookest that high and mighty calling of feeding souls with the Word of life but now are thy sins written in thy fore-head for either thou run'st before thou wast sent or being sent thou hast been exceeding negligent in the gift that was in thee Didst not thou prophesie in Baal and cause God's people to erre didst thou not studiously and mainly seek for the Fleece not regarding respectively the Flock didst not thou strengthen the hands of evil-doers in Preaching peace peace to wicked men wa st thou not prophane and wicked and loose in thy life and by that means ledst many thousands to hell O thou bloody Butcher of Souls hadst thou been faithful in thy Ministry well might those damned Companions about thee have escaped the flames but they are doomed to death and now thou mayest hear their cries and grievous groans and complaints against thee this was the man set over us to give us the bread of Life but oh Christ did he not fail us did he not feed us with unprofitable matter fables conceits airy sentences rather than any thing tending to godly edifying which is in faith did not our tongues and the tongues of our Children stick to the roof of our mouths in calling and crying for bread for the bread of life and he would not pity us we gave him the tenths which thou appointed but he gave not us thy truth which thou didst command him why Lord Christ thou Judge of all the world didst not thou bid him feed feed feed didst thou not bid him feed the flock committed to his charge didst not bid him preach the word be instant in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and notwithstanding all thy commands did he not miserably starve us instead of feeding us unto salvation hath he not starved many thousands of us to our