mise, nor any witness or feal of the Spirit, t his propriety in Chrift; for he never feals, sanctifies. So that it is beyond all contradicti and none but believers, are partakers of the are in Chrift Jefus. 359 brift, the. Selves xe next. Thin fixed and 358 of a Fourthly, and lastly, There is one inquiry r tisfied; namely, feeing Jesus Christ is confolati how it comes to pass, that so many believers in the world should walk so dejectedly as they do, without any spiritual confolation? First, This need not be wonder'd at, if we consider, that the confolations of Christ are of two forts; feminal and in preparation, or actual in present poffeffion. Every believer in the world hath the root and feed of comfort planted and fown for him, Pfal. xcvii. 11. "Light is sown for the righteous, and " gladness for the upright in heart." They have Chrift and the promises, which are the feeds of confolation, and will bring forth joy at last, though at present they have have no actual confolation; the feed of all joy is fown, and in due time they shall reap the full ripe fruit thereof, Secondly, It must be remembered, that interest and evidence are distinct blessings, every believer hath interest in Christ; but every believer hath not the evidence thereof, Ifa. 1. 10. "Who 66 is among you, that feareth the Lord, and obeyeth the voice " of his servant; that walketh in darkness, and hath no light?" Every child of God is not of fufficient age to know his father, or take comfort in that blessed inheritance whereunto he is begotten again, I Pet. i. 3, 4. Thirdly, Every believer doth not walk with like strictness, and exact holiness: all do not exercise faith in a like degree. Among Chriftiaus some are strong in grace, rich in faith, strict in obedience, tender of fin to an eminent degree; these usually are owners of much confolation: but others are weak in grace, poor in faith, comparatively careless of their hearts and ways, frequently grieving the good spirit of God, and wounding their own confciences (the vessel into which spiritual confolation is poured); and these are usually denied the joy and comfort which others abound withal. Fourthly, The confolations of Christ are arbitrarily dispensed by the Spirit, who is the Comforter, and giveth to every man in such proportions, and at such seasons, as pleaseth him: whence it comes to pass, that he that is rich in comfort to day, may be poor to morrow; and, contrarily, the heart that is quite full of forrow one hour, is filled with peace and joy in believing the First, gs that are necessary to the being of a Chriftian, are, foul to ftable; but things belonging only to the well-being puhristian, come and go, according to the good pleasure and pointment of the Spirit. The use of all follows. Infer. 1. Hence it follows, That the state of unbelivers is the most fad and uncomfortable state in the world, having no interest in Christ, the confolation of Ifrael. It is true, they abound in creature-comforts; they live in pleasure upon earth: joy dif plays its colours in their faces; but for all this, there is not the leaft drop of true consolation in any of their hearts; they have fome comfort in the creature, but none in Christ: that little they gather from the creature now, is all their portion of joy, Luke vi. 24. "Ye have received your confolation:" as this is all they have, so they shall enjoy it but a little while, Job xxi. 13, 17. And while they do enjoy it, it is mixed with many gripes of confcience, Job xiv. 13. "Even in laughter the heart is for rowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness." Whate ver confolation any unbeliever speaks of besides this, is but by rote; for when the day of his distress cometh, and the terrors of confcience thall awake him out of his pleasant dreams, all his fenfual joys will vanith from him, and the doors of true con folation will be shut against him. Let him go to Jefus Christ, knock at that door, and say, Lord Jesus, thy name is confolation: my heart is ready to burst within me; haft thou no confolation for me? O Lord, for one drop of spiritual comfort now; but alas there is none, no not in Christ himself, for any unbeliever. It is childrens bread, the faints privilege; comfort and grace are undivided. Let him return into hiinself, search his own confcience for comfort, and say, O confcience! thou art more than a thousand witnesses, and thousands have been 'comforted by thee; where thou speakest comfort, none can speak trouble; haft thou no confolation for me in my deepelt distress? Alas, no; if God condemn thee, wherewithal shall I comfort thee? I can speak neither more nor less than the scrip tures put into my mouth, and I find not one word in all the book of God, warranting me to be thy comforter. Believe it as an undoubted truth (though the fenfe of the bewitched world o ver-rules it) that the state of unbelievers, even at the best, is a fad and dismal state. lufer. 2. Let all believers fetch all their comfort out of Christ, who is the confolation of his people: "We rejoice (faith the apo"file) in Chrift Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." That is the true temper of a believing foul: take heed you live not partly upon Chrift, and partly upon the creature for your comfort; much rather beware, that you forsake not Christ, the. fountain of living waters, and hew out cifterns for yourselves which can hold no water, Jer. ii. 13. If you make any creaturé the spring and fountain of your comfort, assuredly God will dry up that spring. If your fouls draw their comfort from any creature, you know they must out-live that creature, and what then will you do for comfort ? Besides, as your comforts are, so are you. The food of every creature is suitable to its nature. You see divers creatures feeding upon several parts of the fame herb, the bee upon the flower, the bird upon the feeds, the theep upon the stalk, and the swine upon the root, according to their nature so is their food. Sensual men feed upon fenfual things, spiritual men upon spiritual things; as your food is, fo are you. If carnal comforts can content thy heart, fure thy heart must then be a very carnal heart. Yea, and let Christians themselves take heed, that they fetch not their confolations out of themselves instead of Christ. Your graces and duties are excellent means and instruments, but not the ground-work and foundation of your comfort, they are useful buckets to draw, but not the well itself in which the springs of confolation rife. If you put your duties in the room of Chrift, Christ will pat your comforts out of the reach of your duties. Infer. 3. If Christ be the confolation of believers, what a comfortable life should all believers live in the world? Certainly, if the fault be not your own, you might live the happiest and comfortablest lives of all men in the world. If you would not be a difcomfort to Christ, he would be a comfort to you every day, and in every condition, to the end of your lives. Your condition abounds with all the helps and advantages of confolation. You have the command of Christ to warrant your comforts, Phil. iv. 4. You have the Spirit of Chrift for a fpring of comfort; you have the scriptures of Christ for the rules of comfort; you have the duties of religion for the means of comfort: Why is it then that you go comfortless? If your afflictions be many in the world, yet your encouragements be more in Chrift. Your troubles in the world may be turned into joy, but your comforts in Chrift can never be turned into trouble. Why should troubles obstruct your comfort, when the blessing of Christ upon your troubles makes them subservient to promote your happiness? Rom. viii. 28. Shake off the despondency then, and live up to the principles of religion. Your dejected life is uncomfortable to yourselves, and of very ill use to others.. Infer. 4. If Christ be the confolation of believers, then let all that defire comfort in this world, or in that to come, embrace Jefus Christ, and get real union with him. The fame hour you shall be in Christ, you shall alfo be at the fountain-head of all confolations: thy foul shall be then a pardoned soul, and a pardoned foul hath all reason in the world to be a joyful foul: in that day the conscience shall be sprinkled with the blood of Christ; and a sprinkled confcience hath all the reason in the world to be a comforting confcience: in that day you become the children of your Father in heaven, and he that hath a Father in heaven, hath all reason to be the joyfullest man upon earth; in that day you are delivered from the sting and hurt of death; and he that is delivered from the sting of death, hath the best reason to take in the comfort of life. O come to Christ! come to Chrift! till you come to Chrift, no true comfort can come to you. * ** SERMON XVI. Enforcing the general Exhortation, by a seventh Motive drawn from the first Benefit purchased by CHRIST. EPH. i. 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of fins, according to the riches of his grace. S IX great motives have been presented already from the ti tles of Christ, to draw the hearts of finners to him; more are now to be offered from the benefits redounding to believers by Christ; essaying, by all means, to win the hearts of men to Chrift. To this end I shall, in the first place, open that glorious privilege of gospel-remission, freely and fully conferred upon all that come to Chrift by faith, "in whom we have redemption by " faith," &c. In which words we have, first, a singular benefit, or choice mercy bestowed, viz. redemption, interpreted by way of appofition, the remiffion of. fins: this is a privilege of the first rank, a mercy by itself; none sweeter, none more defirable among all the benefits that come by Christ. And therefore, Secondly, You have the price of this mercy, an account what it cost, even the blood of Christ, in whom we have redemption [through his blood: precious things are of great price; the blood of Christ is the meritorious cause of remission. Thirdly, You have here also the impulfive cause, moving God to grant pardons at this rate to finners, and that is said to be the riches of his grace: where, by the way, you see, that the freeness of the grace of God, and the fulness of the fatisfaction of Christ, meet together without the least jar in the remission of fin, contrary to the vain cavil of the Socinian adversaries: "In " whom we have redemption, even the remission of fins, ac"cording to the riches of his grace." Fourthly, You have the qualified fubjects of this blessed privi- lege, viz. Believers, in whose name he here speaks, [we] have remiffion, (i. e.) We the faints and faithful in Chrift-Jefus, ver. 1. We whom he hath chofen in Christ before the foun dation of the world, and predestinated unto the adoption of children, ver. 4, 5. We that are made accepted in the beloved, ver. 6. It is we, and we only, who have redemption through his blood. Hence observe, to. Doct. That all believers, and none but believers, receive the remission of their fins, through the riches of grace, by the blood of Jesus Chrift. In the explication of this point, three things must be spoken 1. That all that are in Christ, are in a pardoned state. - where I will first shew you what pardon or remission of sin is. Secondly, That this is the privilege of none but believers. First, Now remifssion of fin is the gracious act of God, in and through Christ, discharging a believing finner from all the guilt and punishment of his fin, both temporal and eternal. It is the act of God; he is the author of remission; none can forgive fins but God only, Mark ii. 7. Against him only, (i. e.) principally and especially, the offence is committed, Pfal. li. 4. To his judgment guilt binds over the foul; and who can remit the debt, but the creditor? Mat. vi. 12. It is an act of God, discharging the sinner; it is God's loofing of one that stood bound, the cancelling of his bond or obligation, called therefore remission, or releasing in the text; the blotting out of our iniquities, or the removing of our fins from us, as it is called in other scriptures; see Pfal. ciii. 11. Micah vii. 18, 19. It is a gracious act of God, the effect of pure grace, done for his own name's fake, Isa. xliii. 25. difcharging us without any fatisfaction at all by us: there is much grace in that; and proVOL. II. Aaa |