J Some will tell us, it is the great and learned men of the world that know preaching beft: true, fome learning may make them know how words are ranged together; but he who is the light of the Gentiles, makes all, whom he favingly enlightens, to know his voice in a preaching; "The fpiritual man judgeth all things.". He teaches them to read God's will out of a providence; and to fee more of God in fome providences, than others fee in all his ordinances: he teaches them to make ufe of the enemies weapons against themfelves. Why, fays Satán, will fuch a vile thing, as thou art, come to Christ? Yea, fays the foul, becaufe I am vile, I am the more fit.lle teaches them how to dwell befide the fountain, and how to live near God; and the man that doth this, cannot always live upon two prayers in the day. You that never knew any more about prayer than your morning and evening fet-times of prayer, it feems you was never taught by him that is the light of the Gentiles. O take him, and he will teach you how.to cry, ABBA, FATHER; and to rejoice and work righte oufnels. O when Chrift comes, and difcovers himfelf to the foul, with his robes royal on him, that foul is filled with joy and peace in believing. 2. It is a covenant for fight; "To open blind eyes: A man that is called Jesus, opened mine eyes," fays the blind man. O there are many forts of blind people, that need to go to Chrift for opening their eyes: fome are blind Atheists, who fay in their hearts, "There is no God;" they fee not the majefty of God, they fee not the juftice of God, they fee not the grace of God, etc. O that they were flocking to him who is the opener of blind eyes. Some are blind Civilians; they are very civil in their walk, but as far from grace as the former: they do not difcern the things of God; know nothing about cafes of confcience: there are fome men's prayers and preaching they understand not, if they be fpiritual and evangelical; the man knows not himfelf, but is pure in his own eyes: his neighbours, it may be, will call him. a good man, an honeft man, and he judges himself to be what people call him: and yet he is a rebel and traitor to God: he hath not much ill that men can chal lenge; lenge; but, O there are many things that God can challenge him for. God can fee his vice in the thing that he thinks to be virtue and innocence; he may pray, and is content and conceited to hear himself pray, and he fees no fault in his prayers. O have not fuch need of Christ to open their eyes?-Some are blind in the matters of religion; they think all their fins are fins of infirmity: no doubt we are finners, fay they, and great finners; who wants their faults more than we? O blind fouls! know that Chrift is the opener of blind eyes. There are blind perfons that know their bodily cafe, but not that of their fouls; they obferve bodily providences, but not foul providences: they know not downcaftings nor uprifings of foul. O go to Chrift, and he will let you fee. Some are blind with refpect to any diftin&t knowledge of the gofpel; they fee not the ground of faith; they would build their faith on their little piece of holiness, rather than on God's holy covenant, that only can make them holy; and hence their holiness is always to feck; they fee not how a man is juftified in a moment, by an inward righteoufnefs complete and full; they fee not how juftification can be complete, without fomewhat of their own, to make it look fair in God's fight. O feek into Chrift, that he may open your eyes! -Again, many are blind with refpect to true faith; they cannot give a reafon of their faith; they have loft their text, and cannot give a ground upon which they believe it may be, they will fay, they have believed all their days. O firanger to faith! The Son of God is given to be the opener of blind eyes, he is a'covenanted Eye-falve for all blind people. But then, 3. It is a covenant for liberty; to bring the prifoners cut of the prifon-houfe. The Son of God is the loofer of prifoners, by his covenanted indenture with the Father; 66 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon him; for he hath anointed him:" Why, Chrift knows all the prifon-houses, and all the bands; he was made like unto us in all things, fin only excepted: "Such an High-prieft became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, feparate from finners." Yea, Chrift carries all the keys of the prifon-houfe; "The keys of hell and death are in his hand; he opens, and none fhuts; shuts; and shuts, and none opens." The devil, it may be, hath the poor foul bound hand and foot in the prison; but in comes the King of nations, the ringle of whofe keys makes all the devils tremble, and he orders the jaylor to remove his chains; then," Dumb and deaf fpirit, I charge thee to come out of him," faid Chrift to the poffeft man in the gofpel; fo fays he, when he comes to loofe a prifoner, Thou wicked, unclean fpirit, I charge thee to come out; thou covetous and worldly fpirit, I charge thee to come out; thou atheistical, unbelieving fpirit; thou lying and fwearing, thou drunken and debauched fpirit, etc. I charge thee to come out, let that foul go free; and, "If the Son make you free, then are you free indeed." It may be the law hath the man in chains; for, by the law is the knowledge and conviction of fin. The law comes and feeks his mafter's rent, faying, Pay what thou oweft; and the Spirit of God comes along with the law, and convicts the man, and he every day hears him, felf proclaimed over the cross, as it were, and put to the king's horn, there being many bonds registrate upon him; he is carried to prifon, and there he lies, fearing the wrath of God, and the execution of the curfe and threatening of the holy law. But behold, the Son of God comes, faying, "Open to me the gates of righteoufnefs:" his name is, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. The law is exceeding broad, but there is a righteoufness as broad as it can be. Many are long in this prifon, because they take a threatening, and dwell upon that; but believe the gofpel-promife, and take hold of the gofpel-righteoufnels, and you fhall be loofed. Others dwell long in this prifon, because, if they take a promife, they take a conditional promife, and make no right ufe of it; fuch as that, "To you that fe r my name, fhall the Sun of righteoufnefs arife." There is a sweet promife, the Sun of righteoufnefs his arifing; but then the condition of fearing his name, that cuts off their fingers, and hinders them from applying it, because they think they want the condition: therefore, man, either takę an abfolute promife, that hath no condi ion in it at all, promifing the condition too; or elfe, if you apply the conditional promife, take Chrift for the condition to, make make up all to you, and then you will find a loofing of prifon-bands. If you will not be content every day and every hour of the day, to be in God's common, in free graces common, you will ly and rot in your prifon, Many abide long in this prifon, because they would willingly live to two hufbands, both Chrift and the law. We cannot live to Chrift, unlefs we be dead to the law, Gal. ii. 19.; but the man would embrace Chrift for a hufband, and yet ftand feeking to anfwer the demands of the law: but whenever the law demands any thing of you, you must fend the law to Chrift, that he may anfwer it; and then you will be loofed. Some abide long in prifon, becaufe they build the faith of God's love on the work of God, and not on the truth of God; and hence it is, that when God's work within them languifhes, their faith languishes alfo; but, faith will never be firm and ftable, till it build more upon the truth of the covenant. The ftable Chriftian lives by bills of exchange; but the weak, unstable foul counts all by what he hath in his pocket; by what he hath in hand, and not upon what he hath upon bond. But how does. Chrift, the covenant of the people, open the prisondoors? Why, he even teaches the foul to say, Let Satan, fin, juftice, and the law come along with me to Christ; and what I cannot answer, he can; what I want, he hath enough to fupply. Come, and lay all my fins on my back, that I may away to Chrift with them, and get more mercy and grace; for Chrift is the ALL IN ALL of this new covenant and in this way the prifoner is loofed, 'to. the devil's fhame, and to Chrift's honour. Stand to your liberty, poor foul, and let your fins and wants haften, and bring you forward to venture upon Chrift, that he may loofe you. O that the day of the Son of man were come, when Zion will get a thousand atheifts at a draught, when Chrift will get a multitude of prisoners liberate! 4. It is a glorious covenant, contrived wholly for glorifying God, and debafing felf; therefore it follows, "I an the Lord, that is my name; my glory will I not give to another, nor my praife to graven images." God accounts it the flanding of his glory, to perform all that is in this 66 covenant, and not to give any creature a fhare of it: he will not break his credit, having once engaged himfelf in covenant; and he will not fuffer any to gather up the rent and revenue of it but himfelf; My glory will I not give to another." It ftands on his glory, his word of honour, his word royal; he himfelf will do all, and no inftrument fhall have the glory of it. If you give inftruments any of the glory, it is the way to biaft the in-. ftruments; and blafted may they be, rather than that Chrift fhould want any of the glory due unto his name. Therefore, for the Lord's fake, if ye get any thing this day, do not give the glory to any inftrument; for, fays God, "I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another." And, for his glory's fake, do not think of doing any part of the work yourselves; there fhall none get any of his glory but himfelf. Means belong to you; and, in God's name, I charge you to make ufe of them; and the obligations to duties lies upon you; but, if you have any regard for the glory of God, let God have the glory of the whole performance not I, but grace; either the Lord will bring you to this, or he will bring you to nothing. Let it be your maxim in religion, to make always much room for the free grace of God in Chrift. What fhall I make of this you have been telling me! Why, have your hearts gone into the covenant of free grace? Then I call you to a duty, fuch as you have, ver. 19. Sing unto the Lord a new fong, and his praises from the ends of the earth." Whence you may notice, that when God is giving a full and free covenant, then it is a fit time to injoin a duty; for then the man is at this, O! what fhall I render to the Lord? Nothing advances holine's fo much as the getting a full and free covenant; and he is the covenant, and the whole of the covenant: why? because Chrift walks in the midft of the covenant; and when the covenant comes, he comes; and his very prefence warms the heart, and that warmnefs enlarges it, and then the man is at that with it, "I will run the way of thy conrmandments, because thou enlargest my heart." Yea, when the free covenant comes to a man, and gets the throne, then holinefs will run of courfe. The narrowness of your thoughts of free grace hinders all your |