A SERMON Preached by the Late Eminent Mr. Steph. Charnock ON 2 COR. V. XIX.
LONDON, Printed by Thomas Milbourn, for J. K. and are to be Sold by Langley Curtis, in Goat-Court, on Ludgate-Hill, 1680.
A SERMON Preached on 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ, reconciling the World unto Himself.
The Doctrine from these Words, was this;
‘That God the Father, is the Chief Author of the whole Ʋndertaking and effecting our Reconciliation by Christ.’
TIS fit we should joyn Issue with God, in being Reconciled to him: We should comply with God, in this great Ordinance. The Consideration of this Doctrine, should work Relenting and Believing: Let therefore, the Design of God prevail with us. [Page 6] In this alone we shall find Expiation of our Sins, the Grace of God, Peace of Conscience: In a word, What-ever God (as Reconciled) can Give, or Christ (as Reconciling) can Purchase. 'Tis tender Mercy, Bowels of Mercy, whereby the Day-Spring from on High hath visited us. When we lay wallowing in a Miry Sink, ready to be crush't by God's Righteous Hand, then he pitied us. So that, we shall be the more dis-ingenuous, if we refuse this Amity: The Dignity of the Donor, renders the Gift more valuable, than it may be in it self. The Present of a Prince is more priz'd, than when it is bestow'd by an ordinary Person. The Gift of Christ, the Offer of Peace by him is Incomprehensible in it self; and receives a Value from that God that hath Prepared, and Offered it.
What Pleasure can any Man taste in Earthly Comforts, though he hath a Confluence of all manner of Delight, if he hath no Share in a Reconciled God, by a Reconciling Mediator? While he forces that God that is the Author of this Peace, to stand over him, with a drawn Sword, pointed at his Breast?
Corn, Wine, and Oyl, and whatsoever comes within the Compass of the delightful Things [Page 7] of this World, are little in comparison of this Peace, and the Light of God's Countenance. And,
1. Consider, something must be done on our Parts, something there is Incumbent upon us: If all Men were Reconciled without Conditions, on their Part, the Apostle might have held his Peace, and not added the other Clause; We pray you, be ye Reconciled unto God. Then there would be no need of that Inference. But in the Text, he speaks of a Fundamental Reconciliation; in This, of the Actual. If all Men had been Reconciled to God, it would not have been Sense: For then he would say, Ye are Reconciled; therefore, be Reconciled. It had been an Exhortation to do that, which was already done to their Hands. If all Men are Actually Reconciled, How come any to miss the Fruits of it? Why is it not applyed to All? Because all that are Called, do not comply with that Call; they answer not God's Commands and Intreaties. The Purchase, and the Application of it, are distinct. The Purchase is made by Christ alone, on the Cross, without any Qualification in the Creature: But the Application is not wrought without something in the Creature, concurring with it, though that also [Page 8] be wrought by the Spirit of God. God ordained Peace for us; but yet there is some Work to be wrought in us: The one is Grace in the Spring; the other is Grace in the Vessel: The one is the Act of God in Christ; the other is the Act of God by the Spirit. Though the Fire burns, if we would warm our selves, we must not run from it, but approach to it. Something must be done by us.
2. This Qualification is Faith. As Infinite Grace in God qualified him, (if I may use that Expression) for the effecting it; so Faith in us qualifies us for the Enjoying it. Though Christ be the Purchaser, yet Faith is the Testator in it, Rom. 5.1.
This Inestimable Mercy is not conferr'd, but on Men that affect, value, and consent to it. We must lay our Hands on the Head of this Sacrifice, and own him to be ours. This is the Band that unites us to Christ the Purchaser, by Him to God the Author of this Reconciliation. This gives us a Right to this Peace; and will, at last, give us the Comfort of it.
3. The Order of Conveyance, is first our Acceptance of Christ, then of God in and through Christ: We must first comply with the Means, [Page 9] before we attain the End. Our Nearness to God, was purchased by the Blood of Christ, and is Actually confer'd by our Union with Christ. Ephes. 2.13. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye that were sometime afar off, are made nigh by the Blood of Christ. They were made nigh by the Blood of Christ; but it was Actually conferred by their being in Christ. Faith hath Recourse first to the Atonement made by the Blood of Christ, and by that Blood unto God. Rom. 3.25. Whom God hath set sorth to be a Propitiation; but how? Through Faith in his Blood. This Blood alone quencheth the Consuming Fire of God's Wrath. By Christ we are Reconciled, by Him alone we receive the Atonement, Rom. 5.11. As God was in Christ Reconciling, so we must be in Christ Accepting this Reconciliation. You are Christ's, and Christ is God's. In the Apostle's Order, we must first be Christ's by our Acceptance of him, as Christ was God's by his Calling and Commissioning him. As God goes out to us by Him, our return must be by Him to God. He paid our Debts, made an end of Sin, and removed the Wrath we Merited. God is our Judge, Christ is our Mediatour: By this Mediatour we must be Conducted to our Judge. We have offended the [Page 10] Law-Maker; we must first go to him, who is the Repairer of the Honour of the Law. We must take the Redemption of Christ along with us, his pacifying Blood, and represent it to God; by whose Authority we were under Wrath. This is that, that upholds us before God. If we are not in Christ, as satisfying, we shall still be as Stubble before the Consuming Fire. Think not of standing sure by Absolute Mercy. Mercy is through Christ only: It breaths in no other Air. We must first take hold of the Strength of God, before we can make Peace with him: We must take hold of Christ, who is the Power, as well as the Wisdom of God. There is a Direction how we must act, By taking hold; and the End, That we may be at Peace; and the Assurance in that Method, And he shall obtain Peace with me, Isa. 27.5.
To use some Motives.
First, There is the highest Encouragement, and Ground for Acceptance: There's no room for any hard Thoughts of God, after so signal a Discovery of himself. He is not a God of unquenchable VVrath, but willing that his Justice should be Appeased. He hath taken all the Courses that were possible for Infinite Wisdom [Page 11] to invent, for Infinite Power to effect, for Infinite Love to propose. What greater Security can we have for our Blessing, than that he hath made his Son a Curse, that we might be Blest by him? How should so much Love make us change any unworthy Opinions of God, that we harbour in our Breasts. If the Father hath Contrived, the Son hath Effected, the Spirit stands ready to Apply it to every Believer: The Refusal of it, puts a Scorn upon all.
As soon as Adam sinned, the same Day God applies the Plaister of a Redeemer: Not a Day did slip, for ought we know, not an Hour, before he made it known to him. His Heart was in Travel, and he long'd to be Delivered of this Gracious Promise of a Mediator. He arm'd him with this Cordial, before he subjected him to those standing Miseries. What Heart he had then, the same he hath still. His Kindness made him desirous to Publish this Promise; and, Can his Truth be less zealous to perform it? The same Kindness that moved him to Assure it, he hath still to Effect it: He is still willing to apply it to every one that seeks it, through his Son. The Wrath that we were under, is over-come by his Love, through [Page 12] the Mediation of his Son; who hath honoured him more, than Sin dishonoured him.
By our Accepting of this, we Glorifie God; and Honour him as much by our Faith, as we have Dishonour'd him by our Sin. Thereby we own that Satisfaction, that was as grateful to him, as Sin is Hateful. As he honoured himself by the Death of his Son, so he doth Christ by giving forth the Fruits of that Death also. He Delighteth in honouring Christ, and seeing us honour him. It contributes to God's Delight, when we approach with Faith in his Blood. If he made this Provision, contrived this Expiatory Offering before the World was made, Will he not also Communicate it? Can there be a greater Motive to overcome the Fears of Rebels, extinguish the Rebellion, hasten our Approach, and quicken our Confidence?
Secondly, The Terms on which it is offered, are Just and Reasonable: Nothing can be objected against the Conditions required. Can any Malefactor expect a Peace with Arms in his Hand? Is it not a fit Condition, that we should Justifie God, since we are guilty Offenders? Can any thing less be required, than to cast away our VVeapons, to bewail our Crime, [Page 13] to receive his Son as our Mediatour, to serve him in Newness of Life? All which are desirable Priviledges. 'Twas in his Power to appoint what Terms he pleased, because he was a free Benefactor; What could he appoint less, than Believing and Receiving this Reconciliation? It is impossible we should receive any Benefit, without it. 'Tis not fit it should be confer'd upon us, except we ask it. There's no reason any should enjoy a Benefit, that doth not think it to be so. All the Self-Love of Men, could not have framed any reasonable Terms: They would have thought of Rivers of Oyl, and a Thousand of Rams, impossible things to Appease God. But he commands us to lie humbly at his Feet, to reach out our Hands to receive the Assurance he gives us.
VVhat can be more easie than this? If Faith be difficult, 'tis not in regard of it self; but from our Natural Enmity against God, and the Pride of our own Wills. Faith is hard only, as the Law is weak through the Flesh. But nothing could be more reasonable, nothing more easie in it self.
Ingenuous Amazement at this unexpected Kindness, should make us run more swiftly to Embrace God, than ever we ran from him. [Page 14] We should subscribe to the Articles, as God strives and presses us in the Method he hath enjoyned.
Thirdly, There is an absolute Necessity of this Complyance for our Happiness. If you have not a Peace of God's Ordaining, never look for One of your own Inventing. There can be no Fellowship with God, without it: And therefore, we can't be Happy, because we can't Enjoy him, wherein all our Felicity doth consist.
Guilt and Purity cannot Converse together: What Society can Stubble have with Fire, but to its own Destruction. We can't see God's Face without it; and if a Sight of God's Face be wanting, Felicity is at a distance. The greatest part of Evil remains, though there be no positive Evil. How can Two walk together, except they be agreed? What Intercourse can there be between a Guilty Rebel, and a Frowning Judge? a Sinful Creature, and a Provoked God? When he hides his Face, who can behold him? Job 34.29. But when an Agreement is made, there are Mutual Endearments. We are Enemies to God by Birth; He is an Enemy to us by his Law: The Enmity will remain on God's Part, if it remain on ours.
Strike up therefore a Treaty with God, since there is a Necessity for it, and you can't be Happy without it. Shall not God's Love melt us, and our own Necessities move us?
Fourthly, Wrath is unavoidable, without our Complyance with God. If we will not enter into these Terms of Reconciliation, the Heart of God, which before was incensed by Sin, cannot but rise higher in Indignation. If we are resolv'd to resist it, abused Love will be kindled into the hottest Wrath.
When Man, after his Creation, grew Perfidious unto God, then there rose a War between them, which can be ended only by Him that hath put an end to Sin. We must all have endured, what Christ suffered, had he not stood in our stead: And those that refuse the Grace proffer'd them, by the Great God must endure the same for ever. If we do not receive him as a Friend, we cannot avoid him as an Enemy. His Eye will behold us, his Hand will pass through the thickest Covering of Darkness. VVhere he is not received as the Author of Reconciliation in his own way, he will be the Author of Judgment in his own way. If the Satisfaction to his Justice that he hath provided, be slighted, then his Justice will be [Page 16] satisfied on our own Persons. If we deny him the Honour of the Sufferings of Christ, he will vindicate it by the Sufferings of our selves. His Law is in full Force against us, and God is obliged to inflict Death upon the Sinners: The Law is on Record. The Gospel also will be the Author of Damnation, to every one that believes not. There's no Discovery out of Christ, but of Wrath prepared against the Day of Wrath, Rom. 2.5. The Day wherein God is unreconciled to his Enemies, is called not only the Day of Wrath; but, Wrath against the Day of Wrath. His Feet will be as Pillars of Fire, to consume those that refuse his Peace, Revel. 10.1.
Consider, then, that we are sunk under Infinite Guilt, and can't rise up without an Almighty Hand. We are drowned in an Universal Filth, and cannot be cleans'd without an Infinite Purity. Sin is strong in its Accusations; our Righteousness is imperfect to effect a Compensation for the VVrongs we have done; our Duties are bespotted, and not fitted for a pure Eye. VVhat VVrath is due to all? There is but one way of Escaping, but one City of Refuge, to escape the Edge of the Avenging Sword: Divine Justice will seize [Page 17] on all that are without this Shelter. It will touch none that are under Christ's Wing; but will be like a Consuming Fire to every thing else. One Spark of his Wrath, is enough to consume Stubble: Hasten therefore to Accept of what God Proposes, lest Death put a Period to any further Treaty.
Fifthly, All other wayes of Reconciliation are Insufficient: To pretend to any other way, is an Injury to the Divine Wisdom; as though his Contrivance were not sufficient for his Creatures Restauration. Divine Mercy will not wrong any of his Attributes, nor dishonour Christ. But if we do not receive this, we deny Christ, the Efficacy of his Priesthood. Men are naturally studious of making God a Compensation for their VVrongs, and a Satisfaction of their own coining: They are unwilling to acquiesce in the Will and Wisdom of God.
Those Two great Things, that God advances by his Grace, Men oppose; his Wisdom, by their Pride and Reason; his Authority, by the Perversness of their Wills. But, Do we need Reconciliation, or do we not? If we need it not, How came we to be Friends to God, who were born Enemies? If we need, [Page 18] is it not safest to enter into those Terms, that God hath proposed, where-with he is satisfied? rather than stand to failing, and at the best, but uncertain Methods; but are indeed absolutely false and insufficient. The safest way only, is the Choice of wise Men. If other wayes would do, 'tis the greatest VVisdom to take that Course that God hath provided; whose Wisdom sees further into its Strength and Sufficiency, than any Creatures can.
Let us not then be such Fools, to refuse the Gospel-Method, except we can meet with any thing that can be a sufficient Plea. Had all the Angels in Heaven, and all the Men on Earth contrived another Way, it would have been ineffectual. God never was in them, reconciling the VVorld to himself. This one Mediatour that he hath appointed, hath done that, which neither Men on Earth, nor Saints and Angels in Heaven, could do by their joint Intercessions. We can have no Confidence in our Humiliations, Moral Righteousness, Services, and Duties: God never was in them, as Reconciling. All that we can do by those, will be but Enmity to God; what-ever false Colours they are dawb'd withal, we cannot please God without Faith. VVhere Righteousness [Page 19] is at the highest Elevation, 'tis but a Creature; therefore, 'tis not a fit Object of Trust.
Though Adam might have ventured his Natural Righteousness as a Plea; yet because it might have failed, it was not a fit Object of Trust. But since the Fall of Adam, all Pleas of Corrupt Righteousness are insufficient in the Court of Heaven.
Absolute Mercy, without Faith in Christ, offered by a God as a Reconciler, cannot save us. As God could not (after the Sanction of his Law, in regard of his Truth) pardon the Violation of it, without Satisfaction: So since he hath setled this way of Reconciliation by Faith, in the Blood of Christ, he cannot (on the same score of his Truth) save any in a way of Absolute Mercy; especially, those that refuse the Method that his Mercy hath appointed. And as it is against his Truth and Justice; so it is against the Honour of his Son: For if he be at Peace with one by Absolute Mercy, Why could he not as well with others, in the same manner? And then, VVhat need is there of the Sufferings of his only Son, to make up the Breach? If any thing else be chosen by any besides this, God [Page 20] may say to such at the Day of Judgment, Go to your Reconcilers, that you have chosen, and see whether they will make Peace for you, or no; as he did to the Israelites, Judg. 10.14. Go, and cry to the Gods that ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the Time of your Tribulation. A Dreadful, but a Just Speech of the Eternal God!
Sixthly, God seeks it at our Hands, and is willing to receive us. God was not only in Christ, reconciling the World; but he is in his Ambassadors, intreating us; as though God did beseech you by Us.
This is all the Tenor of his Proclamation, Be ye Reconciled. If he had not desired it, he would not have spent his Thoughts about it, nor been at any Expence to effect it. He was not bound to it: He might have left us to sink into the Depth of Misery, that we had merited; without exposing his Son to Death, which we had not deserved. We had Contracted a Necessity of Death; our Surety was no more bound to seek us out, nor God to make to Adam a Promise of Redemption, than he was to make any of his Creatures. He might have raised a new VVorld, and filled it with new Inhabitants. It must needs be a [Page 21] thing of vast Concernment, for which God seeks to us, and speaks to us in his Gospel; who is infinitely more Glorious, than we are Vile. God did us not the least VVrong, though he hath born many of our Affronts. It is as easie for him to breath us into Hell, as to breath out one kind Invitation. He hath no more need of our Friendship, than he fears our Enmity. He is no more benefited by us, than the Sun by darting its Beams on a Grain of Sand.
That Soul surely is not sensible of the Misery that the VVar with God hath sunk him into, that refuses to receive Peace that he so tenderly and importunately offers: Nor can he, without unconceivable Shame, look God in the Face, after so notorious a Rejecting of it. He seeks it to Day; but, perhaps, he will not to Morrow: For there is a Day, when he will pour out his VVrath on the unbelieving VVorld.
Now, that he is a great way off, his Thunder is at a distance, he sends us as Ambassadors of Peace: He shuts out none, that shut not out themselves. Besides, he is willing to receive us into favour; more willing to embrace us, than we to receive him.
The Eternal Motions in his Heart, gave Birth to this gracious Designe; and they have the same force still: He will never forget them. They are the Bublings of his own Heart; and will be alike forcible for the Reception of us, as they were to give a Commission to Christ for us.
Oh, that every one of us were as willing to be at Peace with God, as God is to be at Peace with us! He seeks to us; 'tis an Imitation of God, to seek to him.
That's the First Branch of the EXHORTATION.
II. EXHORTATION.
BE at Enmity with Sin. God was in Christ reconciling Sinners, not Sin: He sent his Son to reconcile Enemies, not their Enmity. Fire and Water can sooner agree, than God and Sin; Peace with God, and Peace with Iniquity. A Traitour may be reconciled [Page 23] to his Prince; but the Treason is still as hateful as before.
Indeed, this Enmity with Sin, is the best Signe of our Actual Reconciliation; when we hate that which made the first Separation between God, and the Soul. Christ Expiated Sin, but did not Encourage it: He Dyed not only to make Peace; but he Dyed also to make us Holy, and purifie a People to himself.
The Designe of God, in the Manifestation of Christ in the Flesh, was to destroy the VVorks of the Devil: The chief VVork of the Devil; was to enter Man into a League with himself, in his Rebellion against God his Maker. God aimed at the Death of Sin, when he aimed at the Life of our Souls. The Ends of Christ's Death, are not separated: He is no Atoner, where he is not a Refiner.
'Tis as certain, as any VVord the Mouth of God hath spoken, That there is no Peace to the Wicked.
An unspotted Conscience, and a pure Will, are the Benefits of this Reconciliation: For this Reconciliation must be Mutual.
As God lays down his VVrath against us, so we must throw down our Arms against him. As there is a double Enmity; the one [Page 24] rooted in our Nature, the other in our wicked VVorks; so there must be an Alteration of our State, and of our Actions.
The End of Christ's Reconciling us to God, was, to bring us back to him. We cannot be link't in Peace to him, except we be transform'd into the Image of his Son.
How can we expect to be received into the Bosom of God, if we every Day dawb our Souls? Can there be any Familiarity with God, when we daily lay Bars in the way.
God was in Christ, Reconciling the World; because he was a Holy, as well as a Gracious God: because he had a Detestation of Sin, as well as because he had a Love for the Creature. He is of purer Eyes, than to behold the least Iniquity.
As before, God was sanctifyed in Christ, when he Reconciled the World; so he will be in those that entertain it. There must be an Enmity with that, for which the Son of God was made a Sacrifice: Else we shall act but Judas's Part with God's Grace, betray it to serve our Lusts.
Be afraid therefore of offending God; not only because he hath Power to hurt, but because of his Love, whereby he hath obliged [Page 25] you. The Peace that was broken by the Disobedience of Adam, was restored by the Obedience of Christ: But our Obedience is necessary for the Joyful Fruits of it. Psal. 119. Great Peace have they, that love thy Law.
III. EXHORTATION.
BE Industrious and Affectionate in your Services to God. Hath God done so much for us, and shall we put off God with a little Service, with the scantlings of Duty? God hath done his utmost to engage our Affection, and encourage our choicest Service. There was not an higher way to Procure it, nor a dearer way to Conferr it.
View the Creatures, and God's Goodness in them to Man, and it will raise a Natural Love: But, What an Height of Love should we ascend to, that have an higher Step to mount? The least Love, is more than is due to us; How much more that Immensity of Love he hath shewn us? And, Shall we return but Drops for an Ocean, when he hath stopt the Torrent [Page 26] of Legal Penalties, that were deserved by us? How should we combine all our Thoughts and Affections together, to serve that God, who hath made all his Thoughts conspire, to reduce us Honourably and Successfully?
I am the Lord thy God, that brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt, &c. is the Preface to the Decalogue, and an Incitement to the Israelites, to obey all his Precepts.
God hath been in Christ, Reconciling us to himself, is the Tenour of the Gospel; and should be an Incitement to greater Service, by how much our Spiritual Deliverance (the Antitype of it) is greater. We should serve God as Friends: And as he hath given us an higher State, so we should give him the greater Honour.
Do all things therefore unto God, as Reconciled, without base Ends, and sordid Designs. God had no other End, in being the Author of Peace, but his own Glory, and Man's Good. We should have no other Design, but God's Glory, and our own Welfare. Serve him then with Delight; a dull and sluggish Temper doth not become us, when we approach so hearty a Friend, that was so industrious to be at Peace with us.
Next to that Delight God hath in his Reconciling Son, is that he hath in his Reconciled Children.
IV. EXHORTATION.
LEt all your Approaches to God, be begun, and ended with a Sense of this, in any Duty; especially, in Prayer. God in all his Communications to his People, acts as a Reconciling God; we should eye him so, in all our Addresses to him.
As there is not one Mercy, not one Act of Grace God shews to us, but the Spring is from this restored Affection; so there is not a Duty we offer to God, but should do it in the Sense of this. What is not by and through Christ, will not be accepted as a Duty. This Consideration should animate us in all our Addresses. This is necessary to be acted by us, to make us humble; and to consider what we were, before we were freely reduced; to make us believe, and come with holy Boldness. And, What Ground can there be for [Page 28] Despondency, when we have so many Tokens of his Heartiness in it?
This will make us more earnest, to fetch Fire from Heaven to enflame our Souls: This will raise our Hope. For, What can be a greater Foundation for it, than this?
We should think, before we perform our Duties, of the Love that God bears to Chr st; and this will be Ground of Confidence: for this Love was with a respect to those that Believe.
Think much of the Vertue of Christ's Death, when he sprinkled the Mercy-seat with his Blood. Turn God's Mercy-seat into a Throne of Grace.
Every Act about Christ, is a fit Argument in Prayer. God will never deny his own Acts, nor the Ends of them, which made way for him to Communicate himself.
Christ, and God in Christ, is Entertaining, as well as Reconciling us. Let us not therefore lift up our Eyes to Heaven; but then carry this Atonement by Faith in his Blood, in the Hand of every Prayer to him.
V. EXHORTATION.
LOok for Grace and Strength from God in Christ. The Conduit of Grace and Mercy, was unstopt in Christ; and by him, it flows freely down to Man. This is the Foundation of all Regeneration.
In the 16, 17, & 18. Verses of this Chapter, having spoken of the New-Creature, Verse 16. he shews the Ground of it: It was all from this Reconciler. Seek for Grace only on this Bottom; for Strength, and increase in it only on this Ground.
'Tis not the Consideration of God's Precepts, but of his Promises, and the Application of this Reconciling Love by Faith, that is attended with a Vigorous Benediction on the Soul, for the pulling up the Foundation of Enmity. The Spirit is received by the Mediation of the Gospel, not by the Precepts of the Law.
Men begin at the wrong End, when they would rise from Obedience to Faith: They deal with God, as if he were gratified and appeased [Page 30] by them. But begin with Faith, whereby we cast our selves on God in Christ, and receive Vigour for all Spiritual Actions. Faith is the Principle, whereby we Obey; not the Effect of our Obedience.
God is a God of Peace; then a God of Grace. We must look on God, as a God of Peace, and then implore him as a God of Grace, and for all our habitual growth in Grace. As he is a God of Peace, he works in us that which is well pleasing in his Sight.
VI. EXHORTATION.
WHen there are any Risings of Enmity in thy Soul, go to God in Christ. As God was in Christ, Reconciling the World; so he is in Christ, Reconciling the Soul. Not that I think, that the whole Mass of Guilt returns on a Believer, on his Fall; but the Particular Guilt of that Sin; for which we must fetch fresh Applications of Reconciling Grace: We must go to God in Christ, for it.
As the First Application was from God in Christ, so must the Second and Third. Christ is an Officer in Heaven, for this Purpose.
The Apostle writes to the Corinthians, some whereof were reconciled; yet he beseeches them to be reconciled: That is, to renew their Reconciliation on every New Breach; to regain the Favour they had forfeited by their Sins, for which he had reproved them in the former Epistle.
This should be sued out every Day. What was the Foundation of our first Peace, must [Page 32] be the Foundation of our Renewal of the same: The Course we took for the First, will be successful for the Second. God was not out of Christ in the first, he will not be out of Christ, when we need it again.
If God was willing and desirous to make Reconciliation by the Blood of Christ, for all our Sins, when they lay before him in their Crimson Aggravations, much more will he renew it on a particular Fall. But he may hide his Face, with-draw the Comfort of this Peace for a long while, even for as long as we live.
Let none therefore presume on this: for the making up of our Enmity on a particular Breach, belongs not to those that live in a Course of known Sin. This is Inconsistent with a Reconciled State; which is to make up the great Breach, the Breach of Nature.
VII. EXHORTATION.
HOw contented should those be in every Condition, that are Reconciled. This Peace of God should bear Rule in their Hearts, and compose them under all Emergencies, Phil. 4.6, 7. We may despise the Promises of the World that allure us, and the Threatnings of the World that scare us. If this Peace guard our Souls, it will render us Happy, when the World thinks us Miserable. If you have not the Honour of the World, it will content us without it: Bear the Scorns and Reproaches of the World, with it.
The whole World can't secure you, if you have War with God: Nothing can defend you from the Arrows of his Wrath.
But if you have this Peace of God, you are mounted above the Enmity of the World. Let your Spirits be guarded by it, against tumultuous Passions. You may well endure the Strokes of a Father, since you are not like to feel his Sword, as a Judge.
VIII. EXHORTATION.
LEt us be reconcileable to others; not only where we offer, but to those from whom we receive an Injury. God's Reconciliation should be our Rule of dealing with others.
Hard Hearts, and uncharitable Dispositions, are unlike to God, that had a Heart full of Tenderness. Such will not part with a Grain of their Right, though God parted with his Son to work our Peace: And had he not been more forward in it than we, we had perisht for ever, Luk. 6.36. God sets his own Actions, as a Pattern for ours. If we are Irreconcileable to our Brother, we do not imitate God; but reject this Blessed Pattern, and discover no sense of the Kindness of God to us.
Since God hath made Christ a Propitiation for our Sins; if God so loved us, ought not we also to love one another? 1 Joh. 4.10, 11.
The Son of his Bosom vailed his Glory, that he might be at Peace with us, Entertain us, and Accept us into Favour: And shall we on every [Page 35] occasion, be at Swords-point with our Brother?
Such a Disposition, such a Woolfish and Bruitish Nature, is against the Tenour of the Gospel.
Christ came to slay the Enmity between God and Us: 'Tis a crossing his Designe, to preserve it between Christian and Christian.
This is a keeping up the Partition-Wall; a frustrating of Christ's Death, which was to demolish it.
IX. & Last EXHORTATION.
GLorifie God for this! Since God hath sent his own Son out of his Bosom, let us send our lowd Praises up to him. When Heaven smiles upon the Earth, the Earth blesses Heaven.
'Tis to the Glory of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that though all we have comes immediately from Christ; yet Christ, and All comes from the Father. He is the Propitiation for our Sins; but he was appointed by the Father: He came to Redeem us; but he was sent by God. He paid our Debts, as our Surety; but he was Accepted by God. He was our Mediatour, to bring us to God; but he was Commissioned by Him to this purpose.
What Love had he for the Creature, though he abominated the Sin? In the mid'st of his Indignation against his Iniquities, he had Bowels of Mercy for his Person.
God had fore-cast the Prisoner into the Pit, where was no Water; and the Captive was under a mighty Sea of Trouble. The Law of God was against him. The Truth of God took part with his Law: His Bowels and VVisdom took a Way to satisfie the Curse of the Law, that we might enjoy the Blessings of the Gospel.
We could plead nothing of our own Deserts; unless Perversity, Peevishness, Disloyalty, Weakness, and Wilfulness, could pass for Desert: Then, indeed, we had been unconceivable Meritors.
But seeing we could not merit it, nor contract Peace of our selves: How great therefore, is the Depth of that VVisdom? And, How is that Goodness to be adored, that found out a Refuge, when Heaven and Earth were at War?
There is no Sinner, but is born the Object of the Curses of the Law, and the Scorn of the Malicious Devil. Jesus Christ was sent to pacifie the Law, and slay Satan our Enemy.
The Angels glorifie God for this Peace; and, Shall we be out-stript by those Beings, that are less concerned? God was Appeased through Christ; and through Him we should offer up [Page 38] our Sacrifices of Thanksgiving to God.
If all the Sparks that have leapt out of the Fire since the Creation, and all the Drops of Rain that have been distilled on the World, were turned into the Tongues of Angels, they would come short of the Praises due to God, for this Excess of Love!
O that our Praises of God for this, might be the Business not of a Day, or an Hour, but of our whole Lives; since Eternity it self, is too little, to set forth God's Magnificent Love!