pleads for all the Elect, not only to procure Remiffion to the Penitent, but Repentance to the Impenitent. There is one notable Effect of the Advocation and Interceffion of Chrift, which indeed is common to the World, but particularly intended for the Elect, that is, the prefent Sufpenfion of the Execution of the Curfe of the Law, by Virtue whereof there is Liberty to offer the Gofpel, and call Sinners to Repentance. No Queftion, the Sparing of the World, the Forbearance and Long-fuffering of God toward Sinners, is the Refult and Fruit of our Lord's Interceffion and Advocation in Heaven, and fo even the Elect have the Benefit of it before they believe; but it is fo provided, that they fhall never fenfibly know this, nor have any fpecial Comfort from it, till they believe, and fo. Chrift doth not plead for Pardon to their Sins till they repent. He pleads even before we repent, but we cannot know it, yet he pleads not that Pardon be bestowed before they repent, and fo the faving Efficacy of his Advocation is peculiar and proper in the Application to believing Souls. Now, confider (I fay) whether or not thou be one that finds the Power of that Perfuafion, My little Children, I write to you that ye fin not, &c. Can thou unfeignedly fay, that 'tis the Defire and Endeavour of thy Soul not to fin, and that thou art perfuaded to this, not only from the Fear and Terror of God, but especially from his Mercy and Goodness in the Gofpel; this is one Part of the Character of fuch as Chrift's Advocation is actually extend ed to. Moreover, being furprized with Sin, and overcome belide thy Purpose, and against thy Defire, doft thou apprehend Sin as thy greateft Mifery, and arraign thyself before the Tribunal of God, or art thou attached in thy own Confcience, and the Law pleaded against thee, before the Bar of thy own Conscience; then, I fay, according to this Scripture, thou art the Soul unto whom this Comfort belongs, thou art called of God to decide the Controverfy in thy own Conscience, by flying up, and appealing to that higher Tribunal, where Chrift is Advocate, thou may fafely give over, and truft thy Caufe to him. But on the other Hand, O, how deplo rable and irremedilefs is the Condition of thefe Souls who have no Cause of this Kind ftated within their own Confcience, who are not pursued by Satan and Sin, but rather at Peace with them, amicably agreeing with them, acting their Lufts and Will. You who have no Bonds upon you, to restrain you from Sin, neither the Terror of the Lord per fuadeth you, nor the Love of Chrift conftrains you; you can be kept from no beloved Sin, nor preffed to any ferious and fpiritual Labour in God's Service, and then, when you fin, you have no Accufer within, or fuch an one as you fupprefs, and fuffers not to plead it out against you, or cite you before God's Tribunal. I fay unto you, and alas! many of you are fuch, you do not, you cannot know, that you have an Interest in this Advocate. You can have no Benefit nor faving Advantage from Chrift's Pleading, while you remain thus in your Sins. Alas! poor Souls, what will ye do? Can you manage your own Cause alone? Though you defraud and deceive your own Confciences now, tho' ye offer Violence to them, do ye think fo to carry is above? Nay, perfuade yourselves, you must one Day appear, and none to fpeak for you; God your Judge, your Confcience your Accufer, and Satan your 0002 Tor Tormentor ftanding by; and then, Woe to him that is alone, when the Advocate becomes Judge; in that Day bleft are all thofe that have trufted in him, and used | him formerly as an Advocate against Sia and Satan: But Woe to them for ever, who would never suffer this Cause to be pleaded, while there was an Advocate. SERMON XXVII. I. LIERE is the Strength of Chrift's then drop it into your Hearts, and make it defcend into your Consciences. In thefe Words, you may consider more diftinctly, who this is, and then, for whom he is made a Sacrifice, and Plea, and Ground of his Advocation, that be is the Propitiation. The Advocate is the Prieft, and the Prieft is the Sacrifice; and fuch Efficacy this Sacrifice hath, that the Propitiatory-facri-withal, the Efficacy of this Sacrifice, and fice may be called the very Propitiation, and Pacification for Sin. Here is the Marrow of the Gofpel, and thefe are the Breafts of Confolation, which any poor Sinner might draw by Faith, and bring out Soul-refreshment: But truly, it comes not out, but by drawing, and there is nothing fit for that but the Heart, that alone can fuck out of these Breafts the Milk of Confolation. The Well of Salvation in the Word is deep, and many of you have nothing to draw with, you want the Bucket that should be let down, that is, the affectionate Meditation and Confideration of the Heart; and therefore, you go away empty. You come full of other Cares, and Defires, and Delights, no empty Room in your Hearts for this, no Soul-longings, and Thirstings after the Righteoufnefs of God; and therefore, you return as you came, empty of all folid and true Refreshment. Oh, that we could draw it forth to you, and the Sufficiency. Who is this, is pointed out as with the Finger, (He is) that is, Jefus Chrift the Righteous. The Apostle demonstrates him as a remarkable Perfon, as in his Evangel, the Baptift doth. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the World. And the Church, Ifa. Ixiii. 1. taketh a special Notice of this Perfon. Who is this that cometh from Edem? And that which maketh him fo remarkable, is his ftrange Habit, after the treading the Wine-prefs of Wrath alone, that he was made a bloody Sacrifice to pacify God; and to fhew you how notable a Perfon he is, he is fignally and eminently pointed out by the Father, Ifa. xlii. 1. Bebold my Servant, &c. as if he would have the Eyes of all Men fixed upon him, with Wonder and Admiration; and for this End, he fingled him out from the Multitude, by a Voice from Heaven, which teftified unto him par ticularly ticularly, This is my well beloved Son, bear bim. Therefore the Apostle had Reason to say, 2 Cor. v. 14. That he is One for all, fo notable an One, that he may ferve for all. He ftands in more Value in the Count of God, than all Mankind. All Creatures are Cyphers, which being never so much multiplied come to nothing, amount not beyond nothing, but fet him before them, put Chrift on the Head of them, and he Lignifies more than they all do, and gives them all fome Estimation in the Count. And fo they ftand in Paul's Calculation, Phil. iii. which he makes with very great Affurance and Confidence, Yea, doubt lefs I count all Dung, but the Superexcellent Knowledge of Chrift. Chrift is only the Figure that hath Signification, and gives Signification to other Things. But in this Bufinefs, the Confideration of the Perfons intereffed, (be and us) maketh us behold a great Emphasis in the Gofpel; He a Propitiation, and that for our Sins, is a ftrange ComIf it had been bination of Wonders. fome other Perfon less distant from us, that were thus given for us, and standing in our Room, then we should have better understood the Exchange. Things of like Worth, to be thus fhufled together, and ftand in one anothers Place, is not fo ftrange: But between the Per fons mentioned, bim and us, there is fuch an infinite Distance, that it is wonderful, how the one defcends to the Room of the other, to become a Sacrifice for us. O, that we could exprefs this to our own Hearts, with all the Emphalis that it hath; He the Lord, and we the Servants; be the King, and we the poor Beggars; be the Brightness of bis Father's-Glory, and we the Shame and Ignominy of the whole Creation; be counting it no Robbery to be equal with God, and being in the Form of God, and we not equal to the worst of Creatures because of Sin, and being in the Form of Devils. Had it been a holy and righteous Man for Sinners, it had been a ftrange enough Exchange; but be is not only holy and barmless. but bigber than the Heavens. O, what a vaft Defcent was this, from Heaven to Earth, from a Lord to a Servant, from an eternal Spirit to mortal Flesh, from God to Creatures;. and to defcend thus far for fuch Perfons, not only un-worthy in themselves, fuch as could not conciliate any Liking, but fuch as might procure Loathing, as is described, Ezek. xvi. and Rom. v. 6. and 1 Pet. iii. 18. While we were Enemies, and might have expected a Commiffioner from Heaven, with Vengeance against us. Behold, how the myftcrious Design of Love breaks up, and opens itself to the World, in fending his own Son for us; and this is exceedingly aggravated from the abfolute Freedom of it, that there was nothing to pre-ingage him to it, but infinite Impediments in the. Way to dif fuade him; many Impediments of his Affection, and many Difficulties to his Power, and then, no Gain nor Advan tage to be expected from fuch Creatures, notwithstanding of fuch an Undertaking for them. Now, herein is the ftrongeft Support of Faith, and the greatest Incentive to Love, and the mightiest Perfwafive to Obedience that can be. I fay, the strongest Support of Faith; for, a Soul apprehending the Greatnefs and Hainoufnels of Sins, and the Inviolableness of God's Righteousness, with the Purity of his Holinefs, can hardly be perfwaded, that any established in thy Heart, that such an One, fo beloved of God, and fo equal to God, is the Propitiation for our Sins, that God bath fent his only begotten Son, for this very Bufinefs, unrequired and unknown of us; then, there is the clearest Demonftration of thefe two Things, that can be, of the Love of God, and of the Worth of the Ranfom. What Difficulty can be fuppofed in it, actually to pardon thy hainous Sins, when his Love hath overcome infinite greater Difficulties, to Send One, his own Son to procure Par don, John iii. Certainly, it cannot but be the very Delight of his Heart to for give Sins, fince be spared not bis Son to purchase it; fince he hath had fuch an everlasting Design of Love, which broke any Thing can compenfe that infinite Wrong that is done to his Majefty, tho ordinarily the fmall and fuperficial Apprehenfion of Sin, makes a kind of Facility in this, or an empty Credulity of the Gofpel. The Reason why most Men do not queftion and doubt of the Gospel, and of their Acceptance before God, is not because they are established in the Faith, but rather because they do not so seriously and deeply believe, and ponder their own Sins, and God's Holinefs; which if many did, they would find it a greater Difficulty to attain to a folid and quieting Perfwafion of the Grounds of the Gofpel: They would find much ado to fettle that Point of the Readinefs of God, to pardon and accept Sinners. But now, I fay, all this Dif-out in Chrift's coming; and then, fuch a ficulty, and thefe Clouds of Doubts will evanish at the bright Appearance of this Sun of Righteousness, that is, at the folid Confideration of the glorious Excellency of him that was given a Ranfom for us: Herein the Soul may be satisfied, that God is fatisfied, when he confiders what a Perfon hath undertaken it, even Jefus the Righteous, the only Son of God, in whom bis Soul delighteth, whofe glorious divine Majefty puts the Stamp of infinite Worth upon all his Sufferings, and raifeth up the Dignity of the Sacrifice, beyond the Sufferings of all Creatures: For there are two Things needful, for the full Satisfaction of a troubled Soul, that apprehends the Hainoufnefs of Sim, and Height of Wrath; nothing can calm and fettle this Storm, but the Ap pearance of two Things; First, of God's Willingness and Readinefs to pardon Sin, and fave Sinners; Next, of the Anfwerableness of a Ranfom to his Juftice, that fo there may be no Impediment, in his Way to forgive. Now, let this once be Perfon he is, that the Merit of his Sufferings, cannot but be a valuable and fufficient Compenfation to Justice, for our perfonal Exemption, because he is One above all, of infinite Highness; and therefore his Lownefs hath an infinite Worth in it, of infinite Fulness, and therefore his Emptiness is of infinitę Price, of infinite Glory, and fo his Shame is equivalant to the Shame and Malediction of all Mankind: So then, whatfoever thou apprehend of thy own Sins, or God's Holinefs, that feemeth to render thy Pardon difficult; lay but in the Ballance with that, firft, the free and rich Expreffion of the infinite Love of God, in fending fuch an One for a Ranfom; and fure, that speaks as much to his Readi nefs and Willingness, as if a Voice fpake it juft now from Heaven: And then, to take away all Scruple, lay the infinite Worth of his Perfon, who is the Propitiation, with thy Sins, and it will cer tainly out-weigh them; fo that thou may be fully quieted, and fatisfied in that Point, that that it is as eafy for him to pardon, as for thee to confefs Sin, and ask Pardon; nay, that he is more ready to give it thee, than thou to ask it. The Efficacy of this is holden out in the Word, Propitiation for our Sins; the Virtue of Christ's Sacrifice is to pacify Juftice, and make God propitious, that is, favourable and merciful to Sin ners; In which there are three confiderable Things imported; one is, that Sin is the Caufe of Enmity between God, and Man, and fets us at an infinite Distance, that Sin is a hainous Provocation of his But in the next Place, I defire you to look upon this, as the greatest Incentive of Affection: O, how should it inflame your Hearts to confider, that fuch an One became a Sacrifice for our Sins; to think that Angels hath not fuch a Word to comfort themselves withal; thefe in-Wrath; another is expreffed, that Chrift numerable Companies of Angels, who left their Station, and were once in Dignity above us, hath not fuch glad Tid ings to report one to another in their Societies, as we have; they cannot fay; be is the Propitiation for our Sins. This is the wonderful Mystery, that bleed Angels defire to look into, they gaze upon it, and fix the Eyes of their Admiration upon God manifefted in the Flesh, wondering at the Choice of mortal Man, before immortal Spirits, that he is a Ranfom for them, and not for their own Brethren who left their Station; how should this endear him to our Souls, and his Will to our Hearts, Who bath fo loved us, and given himself for us; hath he given himself for us, and should we deny ourselves to him, especially when we confider what an infinite Difparity is between the Worth, and Difference in the Advantage of it: He gave his bleffed felf a Sacrifice, he offered himself to Death for us, not to purchafe any Thing to himself, but Life to us, and what is it he requires? but your bafe and unworthy felf, to offer up your Lufts and Sins in a Sacrifice by Mortification, and your Hearts and Affections in a Thanks giving-offering, wherein your own greateft Gain lyes too; for this is truly to And and fave yourselves, thus to quit yourselves to him. is the Propitiation, in Oppofition to that Provocation, he pacifies Wrath, and then conciliates Favour, by the Sacrifice of himself: All the Expreffions of the Gofpel import the damnable and deplor. able Eftate that Sin puts Man into, Reconciliation imports the ftanding Enmity and Feud between God and Man; Propitiation imports the Provocation of the holy and juft Indignation of God againft Man, the Fewel whereof is our Sins: Juftification implies the loft and condemned Eftate of a Sinner, under the Sentence and Curfe of the Law; all that is in the Gospel minds us of our Original, of the forlorn Eftate he found us into, none pitying us, nor able to help us. Í would defire that this might first take Impreffion on your Hearts, that Sin fets God and Man at infinite Diftance; and not only Diftance, but Difaffection and Enmity: It hath fown the Seeds of that woful Difcord, and kindled that Contention, which if it be not quenched by` the Blood of Cbrift, will burn to everlafting, fo that none can dwell with it, and yet Sinners muft dwell in it; there is a provoking Quality in it, fit to alienate the holy Heart of God, and to incense his Indignation, which when once it is kindled, who can stand before it? Do but confider what you conceive of Wrongs done to you, how they tir your Paf Gons |