Gospel Reconciliation, Chapter 7
CHAP. 7.
ƲSE. 2.
Secondly, O! the bleſſed eſtate of a Beleever, of one that hath imbraced the Goſpel, he is Reconciled to God, he is at peace with God, and that hath a great deal in it as you have have heard. The Jews were wont to expreſſe all kind of proſperity, and happpineſſe by this word [Peace] Peace be to you; and in ſaying ſo, they did wiſh all manner of good; for indeed the word is a comprehenſive word; and therefore God accounteth it his glory, to be called the God of Peace; and the very God of Peace, &c. And the Son of God, it is his glory to be the Prince of Peace. And the ſpirit of God, it is his glory to have the fruits of the ſpirit to be Joy, and Peace. And it is the honor of the Goſpel, to be the Goſpel of Peace. And it is the glory of the Kingdom of God to conſiſt in righteouſneſſe, and Peace. And it is the Evangelical benediction; Grace, & peace, It is the glory of the Covenant of Life, to be a Covenant of Peace. Peace, it is a moſt amiable thing; But Peace with God, how lovely, and amiable, and glorious is it? Ask a wounded Conſcience that apprehends, and is ſenſible of that enmity that ſin hath put between God, and it, what it would give for peace with God? Ask, Ask a dying man that apprehends what God is, one who hath no peace with God, what he would give for Peace with God? If you could poſſibly ask thoſe damned ſpirits that are now in Hell, what they think of peace with God? O! what a Commendation would they ſet on this peace! Well may we be willing to endure ſome trouble in ſeeking after this peace with God: well may we be contented to lie under the ſtroak of the Law as long as God pleaſeth, for this peace wil at laſt make up all. Thoſe that have endured the greateſt terrors of the Law, when the Lord hath come in with manifeſtations of this peace, and Reconciliation to them in Jeſus Chriſt, they have thought all well recompenced; and if it had been to endure a thouſand times more than they have done, they would have thought all to have been made up in this bleſſed peace. This is a bleſſing indeed in theſe troubleſom times wherein we hear of nothing but of wars and of rumors of wars, and we are taught by what we now hear, and feel, and know, to prize outward peace. But if we think outward peace be ſo great a mercy, what is this Reconciliation, and peace with God, the Soul bleſſings.
Yea, yo… wil ſay, there is a great deal of Bleſſing indeed in this Reconciliation with God which we have read of, and happy is the ſoul that is at peace with him. But how ſhal we know that we are thoſe that are Reconciled to God, that ſo we may injoy thoſe bleſſed fruits of Reconciliacion, that is here treated of? I confeſſe, this is worth the knowing, and worth the ſearching after, and it is a good ſign if your hearts be ſeriouſly inquiſitive to know how tearms ſtand between God and your ſouls: and this is a thing that doth not uſually take up the thoughts of men, and perhaps there are many that ſcarce in all the daies of their lives had their thoughts ſeriuoſly taken up with this, to conſider, how do the tearms ſtand between God and my ſoul? I here go up and down in the world, and buſie my ſelf about this, and the other thing, But O! my ſoul, how doth things ſtand between God, and you? are all things wel there? are all things quiet there? hath not God ſomthing againſt you? hath not God dreadful things to charge upon you? Yea, you wil ſay, God hath enough to charg upon us all. No, but if thou be at peace with God in Chriſt, God hath nothing to charge thee withal. And it is poſſible for one to be in ſuch a Condition, as to know that God hath nothing to charge him with, and ſo he may be able to ſtand before the Lord, as freed from any thing that God hath to lay to his charge. This might be manifeſted further as the excellency of our peace with God. It is true, none can be in ſuch a condition but that they have ſin enough in themſelves to be charged upon them if God look upon them in themſelves; and thoſe ſolus that charge themſelves moſt, thoſe uſually God hath leaſt to charge upon. In themſelves I affirm, God hath enough againſt them; but God looking upon them in Jeſus Chriſt, he hath nothing to charge them withal, ſo as that they ſhould ſtand guilty in his preſence, or be anſwerable to his Law which they have broken. You wil ſay, How then can God afflict for ſin? Yes, there is no ſuch conſequence, that becauſe men have nothing to anſwer unto the Law, therefore they are not to be afflicted, for afflictions to thoſe that are Reconciled to God, are not fruits of the Law, but they are diſpenſations of God in his waies of wiſdom to his people; becauſe he thinks that afflictions are a fit way to manifeſt unto themſelves, and to the world that he is a holy God, and that he is diſpleaſed with ſin, and God wor…s upon them in ſuch a way, but not as in a way of giving ſatisfaction to divine Juſtice, that is not Gods end in afflicting of them. There is a great deal of difference between a fatherly diſpleaſure, and a revenging diſpleaſure; God hath ſwallowed up in this Reconciliation, all the diſpleaſure of a Judge, all his revenging diſpleaſure; and he hath everlaſtingly ſwallowed it up, but yet there may remain the other, he hath not ſwallowed up his fatherly diſpleaſure, but retains it, and that without any derogation to himſelf, all tending to the good of thoſe that the Lord manifeſteth ſuch diſpleaſure againſt.