As he consulted his own glory, in the terms on which he offers us our peace with him : so it is his grace which brings up souls to those terms of reconciliation. And surely he hath not suspended the mercy of our reconciliation upon unreasonable or impossible conditions. He hath not said, if you will do as much for me, as yon have done against me, I will be at peace with you ; but the two grand articles of peace with God, are repentance and faith. In the first, we lay down arms against God, and it is meet it should be so, before he re-admits us into a state of peace and favour ; in the
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other, we accept Christ and pardon through him with a thankful heart,' yielding up ourselves to his government, which is equally reasonable.
These are the terms on which we are actually reconciled to God. " Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his " thoughts ; and let him turn to the Lord, and he will have " mercy on him ; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.1"' So Rom. v. 1. " Being justified by faith, we have peace with " God.11 And surely it would not become the holy God to own, as his friend and favourite, a man that goes on perversely and im- penitently in the way of sin ; not so much as acknowledging, or once bewailing the wrong he hath done him, purposing to do so no more ; or to receive into amity one that slights and rejects the Lord Jesus, whose precious blood was shed to procure and pur- chase peace and pardon for sinners.
But if there be any poor soul, that saith in his heart, it repents me for sinning against God, and is sincerely willing to come to Christ, upon gospel-terms, he shall have peace. And that peace,
Fourthly, Is no common peace. The reconciliation which the Lord Jesus died to procure for broken-hearted believers, it is,
First, A firm well-bottomed reconciliation, putting the recon- ciled soul beyond all possibility of coming under God's wrath any more, Isa. liv. 10. " Mountains may depart, and hills be " removed, but the covenant of this peace cannot be removed.11 Christ is a surety, by way of caution, to prevent the new breaches, 2 John i. 2.
Secondly, This reconciliation with God is the fountain out of which all our other comforts flow to us ; this is plainly included in those words of Eliphaz to Job, chap. xxii. 21. " Acquiant now " thyself with him, and be at peace, thereby good shall come " upon thee.11 As trade flourishes, and riches come in when peace is made betwixt states and kingdoms ; so all spiritual and temporal mercies flow into our bosoms, when once we are recon- ciled to God. What the comfort of such a peace will be in a day of straits and dangers, and what it will be valued at in a dying day, who but he that feels it can declare ? And yet such an one cannot fully declare it, for it passes all understanding, Phil. iv. 7. We shall now make some improvements of this, and pass on to the third end of the death of Christ.
Inference 1. If Christ died to reconcile God and man, how horrid an evil then is sin ! And how terrible was that breach made betwixt God and the creature by it, which could no other way be made up but by the death of the Son of God! I remember I have read, that when a great chasm or breach was made in the earth by an earthquake, and the oracle was consulted how it might be closed ; this answer
478 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XXXVIII.
was returned, That breach can never be closed, except something of great worth be thrown into it. Such a breach was that which sin made, it could never be reconciled but by the death of Jesus Christ, the most excellent thing in all the creation.
Inf. 2. How sad is the state of all such as are not comprised in the articles of peace with God ! The impenitent unbeliever is excepted, God is not reconciled to him ; and if God be his enemy, how little avails it, who is his friend ? For, if God be a man's enemy, he hath an Almighty enemy in him, whose very frown is destruction, Deut. xxxii. 40, 41, 42, " I lift up my hand to heaven and say, " I live for ever. If I whet my glittering sword, and my hand " take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to my enemies, " and I will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows " drunk with blood, (and my sword shall devour flesh) and that " with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the beginning " of revenges upon the enemy ."
Yea, he is an unavoidable enemy. Fly to the utmost parts of the earth, there shall his hand reach thee, as it is Psal. cxxxix. 10. The wings of the morning cannot carry thee out of his reach. If God be your enemy, you have an immortal enemy, who lives for ever to avenge himself upon his adversaries. And what wilt thou do when thou art in Saul's case? 1 Sam. xxviii. 15, 16. Alas, whither wilt thou turn? To whom wilt thou complain? But what wilt thou do, when thou shalt stand at the bar, and see that God, who is thine enemy, upon the throne? Sad is their case in- deed, who are not comprehended in the articles of peace with God.
Inf. 3. If Christ died to reconcile us to God, give diligence to clear up to your own souls, your interest in this reconciliation. If Christ thought it worth his blood to purchase it, it is worth your care and pains to clear it. And what can better evidence it, than your conscientious tenderness of sin, lest you make new breaches. Ah, if reconciled, you will say, as Ezra ix. 14. " And now our " God, seeing thou hast given us such a deliverance as this ; should " we again break thy commandments ?" If reconciled to God, his friends will be your friends, and his enemies your enemies. If God be your friend, you will be diligent to please him, John xv. 10, 14. He that makes not peace with God is an enemy to his own soul. And he that is at peace, but takes no pains to clear it, is an enemy to his own comfort. But I must pass from this to the third end of Christ's death.
End 3. You have seen two of those beautiful births of Christ's travail, and lo, a third cometh, namely, The sanctification of his people. Typical blood was shed, as you heard, to purify them that were unclean ; and so was the blood of Christ shed to purge away
SERM. XXXVIII. THE FOUNTAIN' OF LIFE. 479