SHORT MEDITATIONS ON ROM 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

SHORT MEDITATIONS ON ROM 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Of the shedding abroad God's Love on the Heart, by the Holy Ghost.

Experience of the want of this Effusion of God's Love, and some small taste of its Sweetness, make me think the thoughts of this very suitable to one expecting Death.

EXperience of the want of this Effusion of God's Love, and some small tast of its Sweetness, make me think the thoughts of this very suitable to one expecting Death.

The words contain a golden Chain of highest Blessings on all true Christians.

I. They are supposed to have Faith; that is both a general Trust to God's Revelations and Grace, and a special Trust in Jesus Christ, as given by the Father's Love to be the Redeemer, to Justify, Sanctify and Glorify his People: I have oft proved this justifying Faith to be no less then our unfeigned taking Christ for our Saviour, and becoming true Christians, according to the Tenor of the Baptismal Covenant: As to the Acts, it is formally Trust: One in three: The Understandings ⟨p. 359⟩Assenting Trust; the Wills consenting Trust; and the executive Powers Practical, Venturing, Obeying Trust.

I. They are supposed to have Faith; that is both a general Trust to God's Revelations and Grace, and a special Trust in Jesus Christ, as given by the Father's Love to be the Redeemer, to Justifie, Sanctifie and Glorifie his People: I have oft proved this justifying Faith to be no less then our unfeigned taking Christ for our Saviour, and becoming true Christians, according to the Tenor of the Baptismal Covenant: As to the Acts, it is formally Trust: One in three: The Understandings ⟨p. 359⟩Assenting Trust; the Wills consenting Trust; and the executive Powers Practical, Venturing, Obeying Trust.

II. All true Believers are justified: Even all that consent to the Baptismal Covenant, and choose God to be their God, and Christ to be their Saviour, and the Holy Ghost to be their Sanctifier, and give up themselves to him by true resolution, as their only Ruler, Hope and Happiness; though this be done with so great weakness, as endeth not all doubts, nor quieteth the Mind.

To be justified is not to be accounted such as have no sin, but, 1. To be made such by Pardon through Christ's Merits, and by true Faith, as God will take by special love and favour unto life. 2. To be accounted such by God. 3. To be virtually Sentenced such by the Law of Grace and Faith, and to be just in Lawse•ce. 4. At last we shall be judged such by public Sentence. 5. And be used as such.

To be justified is not to be accounted such as have no sin, but, 1. To be made such by Pardon through Christ's Merits, and by true Faith, as God will take by special love and favour unto life. 2. To be accounted such by God. 3. To be virtually Sentenced such by the Law of Grace and Faith, and to be just in Lawse•ce. 4. At last we shall be judged such by publick Sentence. 5. And be used as such.

Not justified by the Law of Innocency or of Moses, but by Christ's Law of Grace.

Not justified perfectly till the time of Perfection: Much punishment on Soul and Body, is yet to be taken off: And more sins daily to be pardoned; and we before the World to be sentenced as just to life everlasting.

III. The justified have Peace with God. They are reconciled, and in a state of love and friendship. It signifieth mutual Peace; but with great inequality: God's Love and favour to us is the stable, constant part: Our consent also and acceptance of his terms of Peace is constant in its truth: But our sense of God's Love, which is the Peace possessed by the Soul, is weak and unconstant, and too oft quite lost or obscured by ignorance, mistake, and f••r: But it must be known that this is a diseased state, ⟨p. 360⟩unnatural to the Believer as such; as it's unnatural for a Woman married to a faithful Husband to lie in terror, thinking that he will kill her, or doth not love her, or for a Child to think the same of a loving Father. Faith of its own nature tendeth to the Souls Peace and Joy, in the sense of God's love. And how is Christ offered to us but as a Saviour to bring us by Grace to Glory? And he that accepteth him as such (whereby he is justified) doth sure believe that he is offered as such: For none can accept what he thinks not to be offered: And this implieth some hope at least, that Christ will be such to us: And did Faith work strongly and kindly, its effect would be a constant joyful state of Soul, as pleasant Health and Mirth is to our Natures. All our distrustful fears, and griefs, and disquietments of Soul, are for want of more Faith, as Sickness, and Pain is for want of the Vital causes of Health.

III. The justified have Peace with God. They are reconciled, and in a state of love and friendship. It signifieth mutual Peace; but with great inequality: God's Love and favour to us is the stable, constant part: Our consent also and acceptance of his terms of Peace is constant in its truth: But our sense of God's Love, which is the Peace possessed by the Soul, is weak and unconstant, and too oft quite lost or obscured by ignorance, mistake, and f••r: But it must be known that this is a discased state, ⟨p. 360⟩unnatural to the Believer as such; as it's unnatural for a Woman married to a faithful Husband to lie in terrour, thinking that he will kill her, or doth not love her, or for a Child to think the same of a loving Father. Faith of its own nature tendeth to the Souls Peace and Joy, in the sense of God's love. And how is Christ offered to us but as a Saviour to bring us by Grace to Glory? And he that accepteth him as such (whereby he is justified) doth sure believe that he is offered as such: For none can accept what he thinks not to be offered: And this implieth some hope at least, that Christ will be such to us: And did Faith work strongly and kindly, its effect would be a constant joyful state of Soul, as pleasant Health and Mirth is to our Natures. All our distrustful fears, and griefs, and disquietments of Soul, are for want of more Faith, as Sickness, and Pain is for want of the Vital causes of Health.

IV. This Peace with God is only [through our Lord Jesus Christ.] Though it be a vain dream to think by justifying Faith, is meant Christ only, and not Faith: Yet it is no other Faith, but the foresaid Believing Trust on Christ: Therefore as Faith is our part, so it supposeth Christ and all the works of his Office (and Righteousness) on his part as its Object. Christ is the purchasing cause: But our Trust and Acceptance is that which is pleasing to God, and chosen by him to be our part, without Innocency, or keeping the Jewish Law.

Since Man once sinned, God's Justice and Man's Conscience tell us that we are unfit for God's acceptance or communion immediately, but must have a suitable Mediator. O blessed be God for this suitable Mediator. Without him I dare not pray, I cannot hope, I dare not die; God would else frown me away to misery. All the hope of Pardon and Salvation that I have; all the ⟨p. 361⟩access to God, and the Mercies and Deliverances that I have received, have been by this Author and Finisher of our Faith: Into his conducting hands I give my Soul, and into his preserving hands both Soul and Body, and into his receiving hands I commend my departing Soul.

Since Man once sinned, God's Justice and Man's Conscience tell us that we are unfit for God's acceptance or communion immediately, but must have a suitable Mediator. O blessed be God for this suitable Mediator. Without him I dare not pray, I cannot hope, I dare not die; God would else frown me away to misery. All the hope of Pardon and Salva•ion that I have; all the ⟨p. 361⟩access to God, and the Mercies and Deliverances that I have received, have been by this Author and Finisher of our Faith: Into his conducting hands I give my Soul, and into his preserving hands both Soul and Body, and into his receiving hands I commend my departing Soul.

V. v. 2. [By whom we have access by Faith unto this Grace wherein we stand;] That is, into this state of blessed Christianity, Peace with God, and the following Blessings. As it is by Marriage that a Woman hath right to her Husbands Estate and Honours; and by Inheritance that a Child comes to his Father's maintenance and Land: This is no diminution to God's Love. To say, It is all by Christ is not to take it as ever the less from God the Father; it is more to give us Christ and Life in him, than to have given us life without a Christ. Joh. 3. 16. 1 Joh. 5. 10, 11, 12. As God is never the less the Giver of light to the Earth, forgiving it them by the Sun. Second causes diminish not the Honour of the first.

VI. [And rejoice in hope of the Glory of God.] Here is, 1. The beatifical Object: The Glory of God. 2. The beatifical Act, [Rejoice,] 3. The mediate causing Act, [Hope:] all presupposing Faith and Justification.

2. The Glory of God, is that glorious appearance of God to Man (and Angels) which maketh happy. 1. The mind by beholding it. 2. The will by loving it, and receiving the communications of Love. 3. The executive powers by joyful praise, &c.

2. Though some foretasts are here, it is yet said to be hoped for; and we hope for that which is not seen. When Faith is said to be that which we are justified or saved by, it includeth hope, though more precisely taken they are distinct. We are saved by hope. The same word is oft translated [Trust] and [Hope.] And Faith is [Trust:] to Trust Christ for Salvation, includeth ⟨p. 362⟩hoping that he will save us. But Hope is denominated from the Good hoped for, and Faith from the Cause by which we hope to obtain it.

Hope doth not necessarily imply either certainty or uncertainty: It may stand with both in various degrees.

3. Rejoicing is made by God the very naturally desired state of the Soul: It is when natural the pleasant efflorence of the Spirits, or their state of Health.

It is Pleasure that is the Spring or Poise of all motion sensitive in the World: Trahit sua quemque volisptas. Appetite or Will is the Active Principle, and congrucus Good, or delectable, is the Object. The World is undone by the seduction of false deceitful Pleasure, and men are blessed only in true and durable pleasure. And though we that made not our selves, are not so made for our selves, as that our Pleasure or Felicity in God, should be so high in our desire, as God himself, who is the ultimate Object of our Love; yet seeing such an Object he is, and the Love of him (and received from him) is our Felicity, these are never to be separated.

What have I to rejoice in, if this hoped Glory, be not my joy? All things else are dying to me. And God himself is not my Felicity, as he afflicts me, nor as he giveth me the transitory gifts of Nature, but as he is to be seen in Glory. If this be not my joy, it's all but vanity. What then should all my thoughts and labour aim at more (as to my self) than to hope for, and foretaste this Glory. No sin lieth heavier on me, than that my hopes of Glory raise me to no higher joy, and that the great weakness of my Faith, appeareth by such dull thoughts of Glory, or by withdrawing fears. Sure there is enough in the Glory of God, soundly believed and hoped for, to make a Man rejoice in pain and weakness, and to make him long to ⟨p. 363⟩be with Christ. I live not according to the Nature of Christianity, if I live not as in peace with God, and in the joyful hopes of promised Glory.

What have I to rejoice in, if this hoped Glory, be not my joy? All things else are dying to me. And God himself is not my Felicity, as he afflicts me, nor as he giveth me the transitory gifts of Nature, but as he is to be seen in Glory. If this be not my joy, it's all but vanity. What then should all my thoughts and labour aim at more (as to my self) than to hope for, and foretast this Glory. No sin lieth heavier on me, than that my hopes of Glory raise me to no higher joy, and that the great weakness of my Faith, appeareth by such dull thoughts of Glory, or by withdrawing fears. Sure there is enough in the Glory of God, soundly believed and hoped for, to make a Man rejoice in pain and weakness, and to make him long to ⟨p. 363⟩be with Christ. I live not according to the Nature of Christianity, if I live not as in peace with God, and in the joyful hopes of promised Glory.

VII. [Not only so, but we glory in Tribulation.] Glory is so Transcendent, and Tribulation so small and short, that an expectant of Glory may well rejoice in bodily sufferings. It is Tribulation for Christ and Righteousness sake, that we are said to Glory in: The rest for our sins, it's well if we can improve and patiently bear. Yet in them we may rejoice, in hope of Glory, though we glory not of them. O if all the painful languid Days, and Nights, and Years that I have had, as the fruit of my sin, had been sufferings for that which I am now hated and hunted for, even for preaching Christ when men forbid me, how joyfully might I undergo it: But yet even here, approaching Glory should be my joy. Alas, my groans and moans are too great, and my joy too little.

VII. [Not only so, but we glory in Tribulation.] Glory is so Transcendent, and Tribulation so small and short, that an expectant of Glory may well rejoice in bodily sufferings. It is Tribulation for Christ and Righteousness sake, that we are said to Glory in: The rest for our sins, it's well if we can improve and patiently bear. Yet in them we may rejoice, in hope of Glory, though we glory not of them. O if all the painful languid Daies, and Nights, and Years that I have had, as the fruit of my sin, had been sufferings for that which I am now hated and hunted for, even for preaching Christ when men forbid me, how joyfully might I undergo it: But yet even here, approaching Glory should be my joy. Alas, my groans and moans are too great, and my joy too little.

VIII. [Knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience.] That which worketh Patience is matter of Joy: For Patience doth us more good than Tribulation can do hurt; Why then do I groan so much under suffering, and so little study and exercise Patience, and no more rejoice in the exercise thereof?

IX. [And Patience, Experience.] It is manifold and profitable Experience, which patient suffering brings. It giveth us experience, as of Natures weakness, and the great need of Faith: So of the Truth of God's Promises, the love and tenderness of Christ, the acceptance of our Prayers; and the power of the Spirits aid and grace. O what abundance of experiences of God and our selves, and the vanity of Creatures had we wanted, if we had not waited in a suffering state: Alas, how many Experiences have I forgotten!

X. [And Experience, Hope.] A bare Promise should ⟨p. 364⟩give us Hope: But we are still distrustful of our selves and of all the clearest Evidences, till experience help us, and set all Home. O what an advantage hath a Christian of great and long experience for his hope and joy! And yet when notable experiences of God's Providence are past and gone, an unbelieving Heart is ready to question whether the things came not by mere natural course; and like the Israelites in the Wilderness, dangers and fears bear down even long and great experiences: This is my sin.

X. [And Experience, Hope.] A bare Promise should ⟨p. 364⟩give us Hope: But we are still distrustful of our selves and of all the clearest Evidences, till experience help us, and set all Home. O what an advantage hath a Christian of great and long experience for his hope and joy! And yet when notable experiences of God's Providence are past and gone, an unbelieving Heart is ready to question whether the things came not by meer natural course; and like the Israelites in the Wilderness, dangers and fears bear down even long and great experiences: This is my sin.

XI. [And Hope maketh not ashamed.] That is, true Hope of what God hath promised shall never be disappointed. They that trust on deceitful Creatures are deceived, and ashamed of their Hope: For all men are Liars, that is, untrusty; but God is true, and ever faithful: O what a comfort is it that God commandeth me to trust him? Sure such a command is a virtual Promise, from him that cannot fail that trust, which he commandeth. Lord help me to trust thee in greatest dangers, and there to rest.

XI. [And Hope maketh not ashamed.] That is, true Hope of what God hath promised shall never be disappointed. They that trust on deceitful Creatures are deceived, and ashamed of their Hope: For all men are Lyars, that is, untrusty; but God is true, and ever faithful: O what a comfort is it that God commandeth me to trust him? Sure such a command is a virtual Promise, from him that cannot fail that trust, which he commandeth. Lord help me to trust thee in greatest dangers, and there to rest.

XII. [Because the Love of God is shed abroad upon our Hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given to us.]

It is the Love of God shed abroad on our Hearts by the Holy Ghost, which must make us rejoice in hope of the Glory of God, even in Tribulation.

Here I must consider, I. What is meant by the Love of God. II. Why, and how it is shed abroad on the Heart by the Holy Ghost.

I. By the Love of God is meant the Effects of his Love; 1. His special Grace: 2. The pleasant gust or sense of it.

II. God's Love thus shed on the Heart, pre-supposeth it expressed in the Gospel, and Providence, and contains all these particulars.

II. God's Love thus shed on the Heart, pre-supposeth it exprest in the Gospel, and Providence, and contains all these particulars.

1. The sanctifying of the Soul by renewing Grace. This is the giving of the Spirit, as he is given all true Christians.

2. Herein the Holy Ghost makes us perceive the exceeding desirableness of the Love of God, and maketh us most desire it.

3. He giveth the Soul some easing Hope of the Love of God.

4. He quieteth the doubts, and fears, and troubles of the Soul.

5. He raiseth our Hopes by degrees to confident assurance.

6. Then the thoughts of God's love are pleasant to the Soul, and give it such delight as we feel in the love and fruition of our most valued and beloved friends.

7. The Soul in this state is as unapt to be jealous of God or to question his Love, as a good Child or Wife to question the Love of a Parent or Husband, or to hear any that speak evil of them.

8. This then becomes the habitual state of the Soul, in all changes to live in the delightful sense of the love of God, as we do live in pleasure with our dearest Friends.

O blessed state, and first fruits of Heaven! and happy are they that do attain it! And though lower degrees have their degree of happiness, yet how far short are such, in goodness, amiableness and comfort, of those that are thus rich in grace.

This presupposeth; 1. Knowledge of God and the Gospel. 2. True belief and hope. 3. A sincere and fruitful life. 4. Mortification as to Idol, worldly vanities. 5. A conviction of our sincerity in all this. 6. A conclusion that God doth love us.