Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

fheep, and invites them with a Come ye bleffed of my Father, that through patient continuance in well-doing, have long waited for immortality: you have been the true companions of my tribulation, and cross, and with unwearied faithfulness, in obedience to my holy will, valiantly endured to the end, looking to me, the Author of your precious faith, for the recompence of reward, that I have promised to them that love me, and faint not: O enter ye into the joy of your Lord, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!

d

§. X. O Christendom! my foul most fervently prays, that after all thy lofty profeffion of Chrift, and his meek and holy religion, thy unfuitable and un-Chrift-like life may not caft thee at that great affize of the world, and lofe thee fo great falvation at laft. Hear me, once I beseech thee: can Chrift be thy Lord, and thou not obey him? or, canft thou be his fervant, and never ferve him? Be not deceived, fuch as thou foweft, fhalt thou reap. He is none of thy Saviour whilft thou rejecteft his grace in thy heart, by which he fhould fave thee. Come, what has he faved thee from? Has he faved thee from thy finful lufts; thy worldly affections, and vain converfations? If not, then he is none of thy Saviour. For though he be offered a Saviour to all, yet he is actually a Saviour to thofe only, that are faved by him; and none are faved by him, that live in thofe evils, by which they are loft Matt. xxv. 34. a Gal, vi. 7.

[graphic]

from God, and which he came to fave them from.

It is fin that Chrift is come to fave man from, and death and wrath, as the wages of it but those that are not faved, that is, delivered, by the power of Chrift in their fouls, from the power that fin has had over them, can never be faved from the death and wrath, that are the affured wages of the fin they live in.

So that look how far people obtain victory over thofe evil difpofitions and fleshly lufts, they have been addicted to, fo far they are truly faved, and are witneffes of the redemption that comes by Jefus Chrift. His name fhews his work and thou shalt call his name JESUS, for he fhall fave his people from their fins. And lo, faid John of Christ, The Lamb of God, that takes away the fin of the world. That is, behold him, whom God hath given to enlighten people, and for falvation to as many as receive him, and his light and grace in their hearts, and take up their daily cross, and follow him: fuch as rather deny themselves the pleasure of fulfilling their lufts, than fin against the knowledge he has given them of his will; or do that they knew they ought not to do.

[blocks in formation]

CHAP. II.

41. By this, Christendem may fee her lapfe, how foul it is; and next, the worse for her pretence to Chriftianity. f. 2. But there is mercy with God upon repentance, and propitiation in the blood of Jefus. f. 3. He is the light of the world, that reproves the darkness, that is, the evil of the world; and he is to be known within.. 4. Christendom, like the inn of old, is full of other guests: fhe is advised to believe in, receive, and apply to Chrift. §. 5. Of the nature of true faith; it brings power to overcome every appearance of evil: this leads to confider the Cross of Chrift, which has been So much wanted. §. 6. The apoftolic ministry, and end of it; its bleffed effect; the character of apoftolic times. S. 7. The glory of the cross, and its triumph over the heathen world. A meafure to Chriftendom, what she is not, and fhould be. §. 8. Her declenfion, and cause of it. §. 9. The miferable effects that followed.

10. From the cofideration of the cause, the cure may be more easily known, viz. Not faithfully taking up the daily cross; then faithfully taking it daily up, must be the remedy.

. I. BY all which has been faid, O Chriftendom! and by that better help, if thou wouldest ufe it, the lamp the Lord has lighted in thee, not utterly extinct, it may evidently appear,

1

firft, how great and foul thy backsliding has been, who, from the temple of the Lord, art become a cage of unclean birds; and of an house of prayer, a den of thieves, a fynagogue of fatan, and the receptacle of every defiled fpirit. Next, that under all this manifeft defection, thou haft nevertheless valued thy corrupt felf upon thy profeffion of Chriftianity, and fearfully deluded thyfelf with the hopes of falvation. The first makes thy difeafe dangerous, but the laft almoft incurable.

a

§. II. Yet because there is mercy with the God of bowels, that he may be feared, and that he takes no delight in the eternal death of poor finners, no, though backfliders themfelves, but is willing all fhould come to the knowledge and obedience of the Truth, and be faved. He hath fet forth his Son a propitiation, and given him a Saviour to take away the fins of the whole world, that those that believe and follow him, may feel the righteoufnefs of God in the remiffion of their fins, and blotting out their tranfgreffions for ever." Now, behold the remedy! an infallible cure, one of God's appointing; a precious elixir indeed, that never failed; and that univerfal medicine which no malady could ever escape.

[ocr errors]

§. III. But thou wilt fay, What is Chrift? and where is he to be found? and how received and applied in order to this mighty cure? I tell thee then, firft, he is the great fpiritual light of the world, that enlightens every one

a Ezek. xviii. 20, 23, 24.

Matt. i. 21. Luke i. 77.
Rom. iii. 25. Heb. ix. 24 to 28. 1 John ii. 1. 2.

that comes into the world; by which he manifefts to them their deeds of darkness and wickedness, and reproves them for committing them. Secondly, he is not far away from thee, as the apostle Paul faid of God to the Athenians. Behold, fays Chrift himself, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and fup with him, and he with me. What door can this be, but that of the heart of man?

d

§. IV. Thou, like the inn of old, haft been full of other guests: thy affections have entertained other lovers: there has been no room for thy Saviour in thy foul. Wherefore falvation is not yet come into thy house, though it is come to thy door, and thou haft been often proffered it, and haft profeffed it long. But if he calls, if he knocks ftill, that is, if his light yet fhines, if it reproves thee ftill, there is hope thy day is not over, and that repentance is not yet hid from thine eyes: but his love is after thee ftill, and his holy invitation continues to fave thee.

Wherefore, O Christendom! believe, receive, and apply him rightly; this is of abfolute neceffity, that thy foul may live for ever with him. He told the Jews, If you believe not that I am he, ye fhall die in your fins; and whither I go ye cannot come.* And because they believed him not, they did not receive him, nor any benefit by him. But they that believed him, received him: and as many as received him, his own beloved disciple tells us,

с

As xvii. 27. d Rev. iii. 20. John viii. 21, 24.

« AnteriorContinuar »