Sect. 5. Use 2. Exhortation in two branches.

SEcondly, Hence we may also draw whole∣some matter of Exhortation. Hath Christ undergone the Curse? Was he made a Curse in our stead, who lye under the curse of the Law? Oh that all the sons and daughters of Adam would take this into their serious thoughts, that thereby they may be excited to learn, and to practise two very necessary lessons.

• 1 Of wisdome for themselves.
• 2 Of duty to the Lord Jesus.

1 Such poor sinners as have been convin∣ced by the former doctrine, of their accursed condition, should now be wise for themselves even to give free way to him to take the curse from off them, that he may bear it, and not to take it to themselves. Art thou now sensible of thy sinfull condition? Dost thou hear the Law cursing thee aloud in thy con∣science? And dost thou feel the sting and venome of it drinking up thy spirit? Then take to thy self the boldness to send it to Christ, tell it, Jesus Christ hath removed the curse from thee, and laid it on his own shoul∣ders: Say, Indeed I am a great sinner, deep∣ly implunged in transgression, mine own ini∣quities have prevailed against me, and are gone over my head, and therefore the curse doth justly lye upon me, and might presse Page  94 me down into the nethermost hell; but the Lord Jesus (blessed be his name for ever) is become a curse for me, he hath born it in my stead, it lyes not now on me, but on him. If thou hast ought to say against me, go to him, he will answer thee to the full. This might be very seasonable (if well digested) to such convinced humbled sinners, as are of so little faith, that they dare not reckon of any good by Jesus Christ. Oh saith the poor broken soul, Wo is me, I am undone, for I am a vile accursed wretch: I hear indeed, that the Lord Jesus is becomed a curse for sinners, but as for my self, I fear the news are too good to be true, I cannot be perswaded, that he is made a curse for me. What? the Son of God made a curse for me? for such a base, sinful, worthless creature as I am? It is not probable I cannot beleeve it. No, no, I must bear the curse my self, and for ought I see, it will presse me down to hell. But stay a little, and consider, Christ is made a curse for sin∣ners, which are under the curse of the Law, thou art one of this unhappy number, thou seest, and bewaylest thy woful condition, and abhorrest thy self. Wherefore then doest thou not own this, and take it home, and say, Christ is made a curse even for me. If thou wert oppressed,* & overburthened with debt, Creditors coming in on every side, so that thou couldest not tell which way to turne thee, no remedy but to prison; Suppose now a man of very great wealth, should offer himself to be thy Surety, to satisfie all for Page  95 thee, were it not great folly in thee, to re∣fuse him, and to say, I have not deserved such favour, or to distrust him, and to say, I cannot beleeve that he will do it? Or sup∣pose thou wert a Traitor to the supreme Magistrate, convicted, condemned; if his Son should undertake for thee, and yeeld up himself to justice in thy stead, Were it not madness in thee to reject him? especially if thou shouldest understand, that this is done, not onely by the Fathers consent, but also by his appointment and approbation? Poor sinner, this is thy case. Thou art this Debtor, this Traitor, and therefore under the curse? Jesus Christ is made a curse for thee, even by the appointment of his Father, he comes to take it off from thee, and to lay it upon himself. Wilt thou now put him from thee, and say, This cannot be, he will never do this for me; and the rather pause a while, and resolve to give him leave to take it. If thou be wise, thou wilt not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children, Hos. 13.3. Thou art in darkness; here is a glympse of light, thou art in prison; there is a door of hope to escape. The curse is too heavy for thee, Christ is willing to ease thee of it. Do not thou keep it to thy self to be swallow∣ed up by it, but let thine eye be towards him; Look upon him as made sin and curse for thee, and upon this ground dispute for thy soul thus; Hath he indeed become a curse for me? Why then, there is hope I may escape it.

Page  962. And if we can take down this truth, so as to make account that he is made a curse for us in particular, then we may look on our selves as engaged upon this score, to the practice of a necessary duty. If the Lord Je∣sus did not stick to be made a curse for us, then should not we be unwilling to be made a curse for him. The onely begotten Son of God, blessed for ever, did abase himself, he became a worm for us, the reproach of men, and contempt of the people, Psal. 22.6, 7. he was despised, reviled, abused; yea, scorned, spitted on, and trodden under foot for us; and shall we thinke it too much to suffer those things for him? he was content to undergo the displeasure, the wrath; yea, the curse of the most high God for our sakes; and shall we, the sorry sons and daughters of the earth, the right heirs of the curse, refuse or shrink to undergo the displeasure, the wrath, the curse of man for his sake? Oh no, let us lie down at his feet, let us lay our bodies as the ground,* and as the street to them that go o∣ver; let us submit to become any thing for Christ; let us not be evil doers, but if we be so accounted, and be put to suffer as evil do∣ers, let us bear it patiently: we should be ready to meet in the mid-way, and cheerful∣ly to imbrace the greatest injuries, the foul∣lest indignities, which the devil or man can possibly heap upon us, either for Christ and his testimony, or with Christ in the prosecuti∣on and maintenance of any good cause, wherein the Lord calleth us to appear. Let Page  97 not all the black-mouthed curses that hell it self can invent, knock us off from well-do∣ing, or discourage us in the work of the Lord Jesus. Whatsoever the work is, let it suffice us, if he accept us, and be glorified. Take, my brethren, the Apostles and Saints of God in times past, for your examples here∣in, 1 Cor. 4.9-13. I think (saith S. Paul, spea∣king of himself and his fellows) that God hath set forth us, as it were men appointed to death; we are fools, weak, despised for Christs sake—we are made as the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things; For thy sake I have born reproach, saith Da∣vid, Psal. 69.7. yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long, saith the Church, Psal. 44.22. which the Apostle applies to himself, Rom. 8.36. Mind well that serious exhortation,* and the ground from whence it is inferred, Hebr. 13.11, 12, 13. As the bodies of those beasts whose blood was offered for the expiation of sin, were burnt without the camp,* Lev. 4.11, 12, 21. so Jesus also, that he might sancti∣fie the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Thus the Lord Jesus sub∣mitted to the curse for us; what must we do now for him? Why, even go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. He went out of the city, and bare his own cross to Golgotha, Jo. 19.17. We must with Simon the Cyrenean, bear it after him, Luk. 23.26. We must deny our selves, take up our cross and follow him, Mat. 16.24. If we hate not all, even our own lives for him, he disclaims Page  98 us from being his Disciples, Luk. 14.26, 27. yea our spirits should be all on a flame within us, in affectionate desires of the glory of Christ; so that we should be content even to be ac∣cursed from Christ,* at least in the loss and forgoing of our share in eternal blessedness, for the further enlargement of his kingdom, in the salvation of many. This was the mind of holy Paul, Rom. 9.3. and it should be our mind also. Those nice and delicate Christi∣ans which look for every mans blessing and good word, which cannot endure a frowning brow, an harsh word, or an ill turn for Christ: but they are ready to faint in their minds, and to cast off all, do requite the Lord Jesus very badly, who endured such contradiction of sinners, yea the cross it self for them, Heb. 12.2, 3.* If running with footmen weary you, how will you keep pace with horses? If some sprinklings and dashings of rain water in a fair day of prosperity do so disquiet you, that you are ready to sit down, and desert your Saviour, then how will you do in the swelling of Jordan; when not onely the rain falls, but the floods come, and the windes blow, and the storms of persecution assaile you on every side, threatening your utter overthrow? Oh then, what will you say to bonds and fetters, to the dungeon and lit∣tle-ease, to racks and strappadoes, to gib∣bets and gallows, to fire and faggot, to boy∣ling oil and scalding lead, boring out your eyes, plucking off your skins, pulling the members of your bodies asunder by piece-meale, Page  99 and many the like barbarous usages, devised by brutish men, skilfull to destroy, which Christians have been put to suffer in ages past? and who can secure you from them in times to come? Poor soule, if thou canst not with patience bear the curse of a man, whose breath is in his nostrils, bethink thy selfe how thou wilt bear that grievous curse, which will surely overtake thee if thou be ashamed of Jesus Christ.