A77360:943
Christ and the covenant the work and way of meditation
Christ and the covenant the work and way of meditation. : Gods return to the soul, or nation; together with his preventing mercy. : Delivered in ten sermons, (viz.) 1. Christs personal excellencies, the object of our love. 2. Christ crucified, the object of our faith. 3. The new covenant of grace opened. 4. Christ the mediator of the new covenant. 5. The way and spirit of the new covenant, or New Testament. 6. The blood of sprinkling. 7. The sweetness and profitableness of divine meditation. 8. The work and way of this meditation. 9. Gods return to the soul and nation. 10. Preventing mercy. / By W.B.
London: printed for N. Ranew, 1667
Sermons › Sermon 9: Gods Return to the Soul or Nation. SERM. IX.
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.
2. Secondly, The Saints and People of God, are very sensible of his displeasure: How long Lord? They are most sensible of this, they look upon it as a very tedious thing, and m•st afflictive, to lie under Gods departure: How long Lord?
Words of Expostulation, note Affection, especially ⟨p. 468⟩if they come with an Ingemination: And so you have it in the 13 Psalm, How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, for ever; how long wilt thou hide thy face from me, how long shall I take counsel in my soul. Four how longs: How long, how long, how long, how long. 'Tis a very tedious thing, and most afflictive to the people of God, to lie under Gods departures.
It was so with Christ: ye may measure the hearts of the Saints, by the heart of Christ. The First in every kind, is the Rule of the rest. Christ was the first of Saints. Now though our Saviour Christ met with many afflictions and troubles in his death, you shall find, he is most sensible of Gods departure: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He doth not say, O my Disciples, why have you left me, and why have you forsaken me; but, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That is not the greatest affliction, that weak men account the greatest: That is not the greatest burden, that a weak man accounts the greatest, but that which a strong man accounts the greatest burden, is the greatest burden. Why now, that the Rock of Ages, Christ himself should complain under this of Gods forsaking; what doth this argue? When Paul cries out, Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death: Will you not conclude thereby, that the body of Death was a great burden, that the sin of our Nature was a great burden? So, when Christ himself shall cry out, and complain of Gods forsaking, and departing, will you not conclude then, surely this is a burden indeed! This is that the Saints and People of God, are the most sensible of.