A59035:484
The bowels of tender mercy sealed in the everlasting covenant wherein is set forth…
The bowels of tender mercy sealed in the everlasting covenant wherein is set forth the nature, conditions and excellencies of it, and how a sinner should do to enter into it, and the danger of refusing this covenant-relation : also the treasures of grace, blessings, comforts, promises and privileges that are comprised in the covenant of Gods free and rich mercy made in Jesus Christ with believers / by that faithful and reverend divine, Mr Obadiah Sedgwick ... ; perfected and intended for the press, therefore corrected and lately revised by himself, and published by his own manuscript ...The bowels of tender mercy sealed in the everlasting covenant wherein is set forth the nature, conditions and excellencies of it, and how a sinner should do to enter into it, and the danger of refusing this covenant-relation : also the treasures of grace, blessings, comforts, promises and priviledges that are comprized in the covenant of Gods free and rich mercy made in Jesus Christ with believers / by that faithful and reverend divine, Mr Obadiah Sedgwick ... ; perfected and intended for the press, therefore corrected and lately revised by himself, and published by his own manuscript ...
London: printed by Edward Mottershed for Adoniram Byfield, 1661
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
1. It is more to enjoy Jesus Christ himself, than to enjoy any or all other things without himself: Could you enjoy every good, and every comfort which every creature in the whole world doth contain, as all these are nothing in comparison of Christ, (what is the Candle to the Sun? what is the glory of the grass to the glory of the only begotten of the Father? what is the chaff unto the wheat? the soul of man is above all these, much more is Christ; so they are nothing in a separation from Christ; unless the figure stands before, all that follows are but empty ciphers, which signify nothing, so unless you have Christ, your greatness is but a cipher, your riches are but a cipher; they are neither a blessedness unto you, nor yet a blessing, nor yet a way to the one or to the other; Christ alone hath more ⟨p. 55⟩worth in him, more wealth in him, more delight in him, more greatness in him, than can be possibly found in all the creatures, although dividedly or conjunctively considered; and therefore Moses preferred even the reproaches of Christ, before a•l th• treasures in Egypt, Heb. 11. Take me the greatest man on earth; if he be a Christless man, he is but a cursed man, and all that he hath, is but a curse unto him; and take me the meanest man on earth, if Christ be his, he is a blessed man; and all that he hath, is a blessing unto him.
1. It is more to enjoy Jesus Christ himself, than to enjoy any or all other things without himself: Could you enjoy every good, and every comfort which every creature in the whole world doth contain, as all these are nothing in comparison of Christ, (what is the Candle to the Sunne? what is the glory of the grasse to the glory of the only begotten of the Father? what is the chaffe unto the wheat? the soul of man is above all these, much more is Christ; so they are nothing in a separation from Christ; unlesse the figure stands before, all that follows are but empty ciphres, which signifie nothing, so unlesse you have Christ, your greatnesse is but a cipher, your riches are but a cipher; they are neither a blessednesse unto you, nor yet a blessing, nor yet a way to the one or to the other; Christ alone hath more ⟨p. 55⟩