Secondly, As the gracious soul is his creature, so it is his redeemed creature ; one that he hath bought, and that with a great price, even with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, 1 Pet. i. IS. This greatly encourages the departing soul, to commit itself into the hands of God ; so you find, Psal. xxxi. 5. " Into thy hands do I commend " my spirit, thou hast redeemed it, O LordGod of truth." Surely this is mighty encouragement, to put itself upon God in a dying hour. Lord, I am not only thy creature, but thv redeemed crea-
* Haustus ex diuinci origine. i. e. Descended of a divine original.
448 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XXXVI,
ture ; one that thou hast bought with a great price : O, I have cost thee dear ! for my sake Christ came from thy bosom, and is it ima- ginable, that after that thou hast in such a costly way, even by the expence of the precious blood of Christ, redeemed me, thou shouldst at last exclude me ? Shall the ends both of creation and redemp- tion of this soul be lost together ? will God form such an excellent creature as my soul is, in which are so many wonders of the wis- dom and power of its Creator ? will he be content, when sin has marred the frame, and defaced the glory of it, to recover it to him- self again, by the death of his own dear Son, and after all this, cast it away, as if there were nothing in all this ? " Father, into thy " hands I commend my spirit :" I know thou wilt have a respect to the work of thy hands ; especially to a redeemed creature, upon which thou hast expended so great sums of love, which thou hast bought at so dear a rate.
Thirdly, Nay, that is not all ; the gracious soul may confidently and securely commit itself into the hands of God, when it parts with its body at death ; not only because it is his creature, his re- deemed creature, but because it is his renewed creature also : and this lays a firm ground for the believer's confidence and acceptance ; not that it is the proper cause, or reason of its acceptance, but as it is the soul's best evidence, that it is accepted with God, and shall not be refused by him, when it comes to him at death : for, in such a soul, there is a double workmanship of God, both glorious pieces, though the last exceeds in glory. A natural workmanship, in the excellent frame of that noble creature, the soul ; and a gracious workmanship upon that again ; a new creation upon the old ; glory upon glory. " We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus," Eph. ii. 10. The Holy Ghost came down from heaven on purpose to create this new workmanship ; to frame this new creature ; and indeed, it is the top and glory of all God's works of wonder in this world ; and must needs give the believer encouragement to commit itself to God, whether at such a time, it shall reflect either upon the end of the work, or upon the end of the workman ; both which meet in the salvation of the soul so wrought upon, the end of the work is our glory. By this " we are made meet to be partakers of " the inheritance of the saints in light,'1 Col. i. 12. It is also the design and end of him that wrought it, 2 Cor. v. 5. " Now he that " hath wrought us for the self same thing, is God." Had he not designed thy soul for glory, the Spirit should never have come upon such a sanctifying design as this : surely it shall not fail of a reception into glory, when it is cast out of this tabernacle : such a work was not wrought in vain, neither can it ever perish : when once sanctification comes upon a soul, it so roots itself in the soul, that where the soul goes, it goes ; gifts indeed, they die : all na-
SERM. XXXVI. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 449
tural excellency and beauty, that goes away at death, Job iv. ult. but grace ascends with the soul ; it is a sanctified, when a separate soul. And can God shut the door of glory upon such a soul, that by grace is made meet for the inheritance ? O, it cannot be !
Fourthly, As the gracious soul is a renewed soul, so it is also a sealed soul ; God hath sealed it in this world for that glory, into which it is now to enter at death. All gracious souls are sealed objectively, i. e. they have those works of grace wrought on their souls, which do, (as but now was said,) ascertain and evidence their title to glory ; and in many are sealed formally ; that is, the Spirit helps them clearly to discern their interest in Christ, and all the promises. This both secures heaven to the soul in itself, and be- comes also an earnest or pledge of that glory in the unspeakable joys and comforts that it produces in the soul : So you find, 2 Cor. i. 22. " Who hath sealed us, and given us the earnest of the " Spirit in our hearts." God's sealing us gives high security ; his objective seal makes it sure in itself, his formal seal makes it so to us ; but, if over and above all this, he will please, as a fruit of that his sealing, to give us those heavenly inexpressible joys and comforts which are the fruit of his formal sealing-work, to be an earnest, a foretaste and hansel of that glory, how can the soul that hath found all this, fear in the least of a rejection by its God, when at death it comes to him ? Surely, if God have sealed, he will not refuse you; if he have given his earnest, he will not shut you out ; God's earnest is not given in jest.
Fifthly, Moreover, every gracious soul may confidently cast itself into the arms of its God, when it goes hence, with " Father, into " thy hands I commit my spirit." Forasmuch as every gracious soul, is a soul in covenant with God ; and God stands obliged by his covenant and promise to such, not to cast them out, when they come unto him. As soon as ever thou became his, by regenera- tion, that promise became thine, Heb. xiii. 5. " I will never leave " you, nor forsake you.1' And will he leave the soul at a time when it never had more need of a God to stand by it, than it hath then ? Every gracious soul is entitled to that promise, John xiv. 3. " I will come again, and receive you to myself.1' And will he fail to make it good when the time of the promise is come, as at death it is ? It cannot be. Multitudes of promises ; the whole co- venant of promises, give security to the soul against the fears of rejection, or neglect by God. And the soul's dependence upon God and his promise ; its very casting itself upon him, from the encouragement the word gives it, add to the engagement upon God. When he sees a poor soul that he hath made, redeemed, sanctified, sealed, and by solemn promise engaged himself to re-
450 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XXXV T.