condition of thy meaneft fervant. But neither doth the happy fruit of our Lord's fuffering rest here.

3. To restore unto us that near and blessed relation of being fons of God, Gal. iv. 5. "That we might receive "the adoption of fons," 1 John iii. 2. "Behold now

we are the fons of God, and it doth not yet appear "what we shall be." This was that dear expreffion of our Lord, after his refurrection, John xx. 17. "Go to

my brethren, and tell them I afcend unto my Father "and your Father, to my God and your God:" he seems to intereft them in this blessed relation in a kind of equality with himfelf; my brethren, my father, and your father; and the sweet and comfortable confequents of this are incomparable. Is he my father? then I know he can pity me, as a father pitieth his children, Pfal. ciii. 13. He can pardon and spare me as a father spareth his fon that serves him, Mal. iii. 17. Is he my father? then whither fhould I go but to him for protection in all my dangers? for direction in all my difficulties? for fatisfaction in all my doubts? for fupply in all my wants? this I can, with confidence, expect from a poor earthly father, according to the compaís of his abilities: "If ye then be"ing evil, know how to give good things unto your "children, how much more fhall your Father, who is in "heaven, give good things to them that ask him?” Matth. vii. 11. Mercy, and compaffion, and love, is a virtue in a man, in an earthly father, a piece of that image of God which at first he imprinted in man; and yet paffion and human infirmity as it hath much weakned the habit thereof in us, fo it may fufpend the exercise thereof to a near relation: but in almighty God these virtues are in their perfection, and nothing at all in him that can remit it. Mercy and tenderness are attributes which he delights in; mercy pleaseth him; it was the great attribute he proclaimed his name by, Exod. xxxiv. 6. and fo diffufive is his mercy, that it extends to all, "He is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all "his works," Pfalm cxlv. 9. And not only to the just and good, but even to the unkind; caufing his fun to fhine upon the evil and the good: and furely he that hath mercy and goodness for an enemy, cannot deny it unto a child, "Can a mother forget her fucking child? &c. VOL. I.

"Yea,

"Yea, fhe may forget; yet will I not forget thee, "faith the Lord," Ifa. xlix. 15.

4. To restore to us a most fure, everlasting and blessed inheritance in heaven, Gal. iv. 7." If a ion, then an "heir of God through Chrift." And here is the complement of all; not only to be abfolved from the guilt of fin, reconciled to God, put into the relation of a child of God; but after all this, to be everlastingly and unchangeably stated in a bleffed condition unto all eternity; and all this from the condition of a moft vile, finful, loft creature, and by such a price as the blood of Christ. More need not, cannot be faid.

VIII. And by what hath been faid, it is easy to fee what the fruits and effects of all this are. God will not be disappointed in the end of fo great a work, and therefore we cannot be disappointed in the fruit of it; and those are either fuch as are enjoyed in this life, or principally appropriated to that which is to come. 1. Thofe benefits that naturally arife from Chrift crucified, and are enjoyed in this life, are these.

1. Juftification and acceptation in the fight of God; he looks upon us as thofe that have fatisfied his juftice, when his Son fuffered; and as thofe that performed his will, when his Son performed it: fo that as our Lord imputed our fins to our Redeemer, so he imputes his righteousness unto us; and as he was well pleased with him, fo he was well pleased in him, with as many as are received into this covenant.

2. Peace with God. of the former, Rom. v.

This is the natural confequence 1. Being juftified by faith, we "have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The only caufe of breach between God and his creature is removed, and peace and love restored between them.

3. Free accefs unto God: for we are restored unto peace with him, and confequently accefs unto him; and indeed it is a part of that duty which he expects from us: our access to him is not only our privilege, as the accefs of a fubject to his prince, or a child to his father; but it is our duty, as a thing enjoyned unto us in teftimony of our dependance and love unto him.

4. Confequently, peace with ourselves and our own confcience, and that upon a double ground. 1. Becaufe

our

2. Be

our confcience is fprinkled by the blood of Christ, which defaceth and obliterateth all thofe black items, that otherwife would be continually calling upon us. cause conscience ever fideth with God, whofe vicegerent fhe is in the foul, and hath the very fame afpect, for the most part, that heaven hath; and therefore if it be clear above, it is ordinarily quiet within; and if God fpeaks peace, the confcience, unless diftempered, doth not speak trouble.

5. An affurance of a continual fupply of fufficient grace, to lead us through this vale of trouble, without a final apoftacy or falling from him. Were our falvation in our own hands, or managed by our own ftrength, we should utterly lose it every moment; but the power, and truth, and the love of God is engaged in a covenant of the higheft folemnity that ever was, fealed in the blood of the Son of God, for our preservation; and it shall be as impoffible for us to fall from that condition, as for the almighty God to be difappointed: no, his counsel and truth, the conftant fupply of the bleffed Spirit of Chrift, fhall keep alive that feed of life that he has thrown into his foul, 1 John iii. 9. "For his feed remaineth in him, and he "cannot fin, because he is born of God."

6. Sufficient grace to preserve us from, or support us in, or deliver us out of temptations. We stand more in need of grace, than we do of our bread, because the confequence of the want of the former, is of more danger than the latter, by fo much as the foul is more valuable than the body. If our Father is pleased to furnish us with our daily bread, how fhall he then deny us our daily and hourly fupplies of his grace? Rom. vii. 13. Especially fince our interest therein is founded upon the covenant made in the blood of Chrift, 2 Cor. xii. 9." My grace is fufficient for thee."

7. A favourable acceptation of our duties, fince they are the performances of children; and therefore not meafured according to their own worth, but according to the relation and affection from whence they proceed.

8. A gentle and merciful pardoning of our failings, even as a father pitieth and pardoneth the infirmities of a child; and tho' he does not difpenfe with prefumptuous offences, yet he either obferves not, or forgives their many

infirmities. And it is a privilege of high concernment to us, that as in our first converfion the blood of Christ washeth away a whole life of fins at once; fo after our converfion, the fame fountain ftands open; whereunto we may, and must resort, to cleanse our daily failings. Chrift received by faith in the heart, is a continual facrifice which I may prefent unto the Father, for my fins committed after my converfion.

9. A comfortable reftitution of a just interest in the creatures. When man forfook the allegiance he owed to his Maker, the interest he had in the creature, did, as it were, efcheat to the Lord: and tho' his goodness after permitted him the use of them; yet it was ftill, as it were, upon account: and as the fons of men have a great account to give unto God for their fins, fo they have for his creatures. Chrift hath restored unto us a better propriety in that, which civil right hath made ours, than what we had before.

10. A comfortable and fanctified ufe of all conditions: in profperity, moderation; in adverfity, contentedness ; in all, fobriety. For as our Lord hath purchased for us grace, to ufe all things aright; fo he hath obtained for us an inheritance, that renders the beft the world can give us unworthy to be valued, and the worft it can give us unworthy to be feared, in respect of the bleffedness which he hath fettled upon us.

11. Confequently contempt of the world, because higher matters are in my eyes, fuch as the best the world can yield cannot equal; nor the worst it can inflict, cannot take away. All this upon

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12. A lively hope: a hope that maketh not ashamed; even of that glory which my Saviour came down from heaven to purchase by his blood; and the affurance whereof he hath fealed with his blood, John xiv. 3. “I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you "unto myfelf, that where I am, ye may be also." hope of a blessed refurrection after death; a hope of that bleifed appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Christ; a hope of that glorious fentence in the prefence of men an' angels, "Čome ye bleffed;" and an hope of an everlating eftate of bleffedness and glory in the prefence of

A

the

the great God, and glorified faints and angels, unto all eternity. And the efficacy of this hope dipt in the blood of Chrift, brings us the victory.

1. Victory over fin: "Sin fhall not have dominion o ver you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace," Rom. vi. 14. “He that hath this hope, 'pu"rifieth himself, even as he is pure, John iii. 3.

:

2. Victory over the world, in the best it can afford us; its flatteries and favours: these are too fmall and inconfiderable when compared with this hope; they fhine like a candle in the fun; and are ineffectual to win over a foul that is fixed upon this hope and victory over the worst the world can conflict: our Lord hath conquered the world in this respect for us: "Be not afraid, I have overcome the world," John xvi. 33. and conquered it in us; "This is the victory that overcometh the world, "even your faith," 1 John v. 4.

3. Victory over death, which now, by means of this bleffed hope, is ftript, as well of his terror as his power: "Thus thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jefus Chrift," 1 Cor. xv. 37.

And now though the nature of this argument hath carried my meditations to a great height, yet to avoid mistakes, fome things I must fubjoin.

1. That though I thus aggravate the fufferings of our Lord, under the imputed guilt of the fins of mankind; yet we must not think that his fufferings were the fame with the damned, either in duration, or in kind, or in degree; for this could neither confift with the purity of his nature, nor innocence, nor dignity of his perfon, nar the hypoftatical union of both natures in him; but he fuffered as much as was confiftent with these confiderations; and, as confidering the dignity of his perfon, was equivalent to the fin, and demerits of all mankind.

2. That his righteoufnefs imputed to us, doth not exempt us from acquiring a righteousness inherent in us: this were to difappoint the end of his fuffering, which was to redeem us from our vain converfation, and make us a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

3. That this purchase of falvation by Chrift for believers, is not to render them idle, or fecure, or prefumptuous; where there is fuch a difpofition of foul,