A Goodly Heritage

Our fellowship with God He is the resurrection not only of peace, but of fellowship and communion between God and man. When man sinned, you know he was banished by God. He was turned out of paradise, and the cherubims were set to guard the way to “the tree of life.” There was no access for man to God, and God would have no correspondence with him—what correspondence can there be between heaven and hell, guiltiness and righteousness? Well, Christ recovers this, for He Himself is the way to it: for He tells us: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me” (Joh 14:6). And, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (Joh 10:9); that is to say, they shall have free access to God, and his soul shall be filled with the fatness of God’s house of mercy. Reader, there are a good many of you designing for a communion-table; see that you go in by the right door. It is easy to get man’s door, to get a ...

He that believeth not, is condemned already.—John 3:18 Faith is a shield that beats back the fiery darts of Satan; so unbelief is a shield that beats back all the good motions of the Spirit of God. Faith is the victory by which we overcome the world; unbelief is the victory by which the world overcomes us. 1 . See hence a very relevant reason, why ministers of the gospel harp so much upon the subject of faith or believing. Why, it is for unbelief that sinners are condemned already; and there is no way to free them from this sentence, but by bringing them to believe in the Son of God. Unbelief is the main pillar of the devil’s kingdom; and therefore the main batteries of the gospel must be raised against it. It is but at best a foolish ignorant cavil 30  of some against ministers, Why so much insisting upon faith? Are not other things as necessary to be preached? I answer, Other things are necessary in their own place, but faith or believing in the first place: and till we bri...

1. Be persuaded of your own utter inability to keep your garments clean by your own power, or the strength of created grace: for "the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps." 2. Take care that you be united to Christ, the fountain of holiness; for you do but wash the Ethiopian, while you attempt to make yourselves clean and holy, while you grow on the root of the old Adam. You may indeed "wash the outside of the cup and platter," but you will remain "filthy still" in the sight of God, till you be created in Christ, the true root of sanctification: "Can a man gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" The tree must be good before the fruit be good. 3. Being united to Christ, you must make daily use of him by faith. Do not think, that, when you have first believed in Christ, your work is done; no, your life must be a life of faith. By faith we live, by faith we stand, by faith we work, by fait...

 It plainly supposes, that all Adam’s race are dead men and woman. Reader, no sooner did we take the draught of deadly poison in paradise, but that moment the contagion ran through our first parents’ souls, and has run through all of us, their posterity, ever since. We are legally dead; “The soul that sinneth, shall die”; we are spiritually dead, under the power and dominion of sin, separated from God, who is the very fountain of life; and liable every moment both to temporal and eternal death. Reader, death has reigned over all Adam’s family; and what a clean sweep has death made of all the generations before us? It has just hurled one generation after another to the grave, and hurled the souls of innumerable multitudes into hell; and that same sweep of death, that swept away the generation before us, will surely sweep us away in a short time. Reader, where will you and I be in a little time? Alas! the great reason why people do not consider this, is because they are sle...

 The innumerable defections and backslidings  of our day are a great burden to the Lord's people, and make their hearts to groan within them. The charge which the Lord advances against the church of Ephesus, may too justly be laid to our door, that we have fallen from our first love. There is but little love to God or his people, little zeal for his way and work, to be found among us; the power of godliness, and life of religion, are dwindled away into an empty form with most. I might here take occasion to tell you of many public defections and backslidings that we stand guilty of before the Lord; particularly, of the breach of our solemn national engagements. It was once the glory of our land to be "married unto the Lord," by solemn covenant, in a national capacity; but, to our eternal infamy and reproach, it has been both broken and burnt by public authority in this very city. Perhaps, indeed, some may ridicule me for making mention of the breach of our solemn enga...