THe chief scope of the Psalm is, to foretel the Extent and prevalency of the Kingdome of Christ: admonishing his Enemies to submit to his Government, deriding the vanity of their op­posing projects and fury, and forewarning them of their ruine if they come not in.

I shall draw the scope of the Text into this one Doctrine. No power or priviledge can save that man from the fearful sudden consuming wrath of God, that doth not unfainedly love, depend upon, and subject himself unto the Lord Jesus Christ.

In handling of this point, I shall observe [...] order.

[Page] First I will shew you what this Love, Depen­dency, and Subjection are.

Secondly, what wrath it is that will thus kindle and consume them.

Thirdly, why this Kissing the Son is the only way to escape it.

Fourthly, why no power or priviledge else can procure their escape.

Fifthly, Application.

First, Subjection to Christ is, the acknowledg­ing of his absolute Soveraignty both as he is God, Creatour, and as a Redeemer over all the world, and particularly our selves, and a hearty consent to this his Soveraignty, especially that he be our Lord, and his Laws our Rule, and a delivering our selves to be governed accordingly.

Secondly, this Dependency on Christ is, when we acknowledge the sufficiency of his satisfaction, and his power, and willingness to save all that re­ceive him in his free universal offer in the Gospel, we do heartily accept him for our only Saviour, and accordingly [renouncing all other] do wait upon him beleivingly, for the benefits of his Suf­ferings and Office, and the performance of his [...]hful covenant to us, in restoring us to all the [...]ings which we lost, and advancing us to a far [...]ater everlasting glory.

Thirdly this Affection to Christ is, when in the [Page] knowledge and sence of his love to us both com­mon and especial, and of his own excellency, and the blessedness of enjoying of him and the Father, and life by him; our hearts do chuse him and the Father by him as our only happiness, and accor­dingly love him above all things in the world. These threefold descriptions containeth the summ of the Gospel, so hath it nothing but what is of necessity to sound Christianity.

Secondly, what wrath is it that will thus kindle and consume them; as there are two Covenants, so each hath his proper penalty for its breaking.

1. Then, till men do come in and submit to Christ, they lye under the wrath of God for all their sins, as they are against the Covenant of works, or they are lyable to the curse of that Co­venant. Christ's death hath taken away the curse of the Covenant, not absolutely from any man, but conditionally, which becomes absolute when the condition is performed: the Elect themselves are not by nature under the Covenant of Grace, but remain under the curse of the first Covenant, till they come into Christ.

2. Whosoever rejecteth or neglecteth this Grace, and so finally breaketh the new Covenant, must also bear the curse or the penalty thereof, be­sides all the former, which will be a greater curse, even as the blessings of this Covenant are far grea­ter than those of the first. It was a heavy punish­ment [Page] to be cast out of Paradise from the presence of God, and to be cursed by him and subject to Eternal death, and all creatures below cursed for our sakes, to bear all those curses and Plagues threatned in Duteronomy 27. ch. 26. verse, Cur­sed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this Law to do them: and all the people shall say Amen. See Deut. 29. chap. 20 verse, Heb. 10. Chap. 28. 29. verses, He that despised Moses Law, ayed without mercy, &c. Of how much sorer punish­ment, shall he be thought worthy, who hath troden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the Covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spi­rit of grace.

3. Why this kissing the Son, [that is loving, de­pending on, and submitting to him] is the only way to escape these curses: I answer.

First the proper Reason that can be given is; The will of the great Law giver, who hath absolute power over us, might dispose of us as he pleases, and make us such Laws and conditions as seem best to his wisdome, upon which our justification and sal­vation should depend: he bath resolved that this shall be the only condition and way: And that as no man shall be justified by a meer Christ, or his death abstracted from Faith [that is of Age or Rea­son] so this Faith shall be the condition upon which they shall be justified: or, as a Christ neg­lected [Page] shall save no man, so the accepting or recei­ving of him, shall justify and save them, as the con­dition of the Covenant performed, under which notion it is, that faith justifieth. The Reasons from the former are,

1. From the Equity, it is but equal that he that hath bought us so dearly, and from a stare so des­perate and deplorable, should be acknowledged and accepted for our Saviour and Lord. 1 Cor. 6. cha. 19. 20. verses, And yea are not your own, for ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are Gods. Rom. 14. chapter 9. verse, For to this end Christ both dyed and rose again that he might rule over both quick and dead.

2. As salvation by free grace through Christ, is away most suitable to God's honour, and to our own necessities, as we could not have a more fitter way to the Father, than by Christ; so neither could there be a fitter way to Christ, or means to partake of him, than by Fatih, it is this Faith or accep [...]ation of Christ for our Saviour and King, which is here called kissing the Son, applying and appropriating to our selves the person, righteous­ness and benefits procured and offered, but not the least honour of the work, all we do is but to ac­cept what Christ hath procured, and that must be by the special assistance of his Holy Spirit.

4. Why no priviledge or power in the word can [Page] save them that doth not kiss the Son? it might here suffice, that I have shew'd you God's determi­nation to the contrary; but further consider if any should hope to escape, by their Friends, Strength, or other Endowments or Virtuous qualifications.

1. The must resist the unresistable will of God, they must do that which Heaven or Earth, men or Devils were never able yet to do; they have resist­ed his Laws and love, but they could never resist his Power, where dwelleth that man, or what is his name that did neglect Christ and yet escaped dam­nation? Job. 9 chap. 4 verse, who hath hardned himself against him and hath prospered?

2. He that will save the soul that loveth not, de­pendeth not, and subjecteth not himself to Christ, must first make false the word of God, and make the faithful and true God a lyer, for God hath given it under his hand for a truth, that he that beleiveth not is condemned already; Joh. 3. ch. verse 18. that he shall not see life, but the wrath of God abi­deth on him, John 3 chap. ver. 36. that those that are invited and make light of Christ, shall never tast of his Supper, that is, shall be more easy for So­dom in the day of judgement than for that City which refuseth the offers of the Gospel, Matt. 10. ver. 15. Those that would not have Christ Reign over them shall be brought forth at last and destroyed be­fore him as his Enemies, Luke 19. That they shall all be damned that beleive not the Truth, but have [Page] pleasure in unrightroussness, 2. Thess. 2. chap. 12. ver. Hath the Almighty sayed thus, and who dare say it shall not be: Thus you see his task that will undertake to save one neglector of Christ.

Ʋse 1. You hear by the Text how you are like to speed at the Bar of Christ, who shall dye and who shall live, the great Assize is near at hand, the feet of the Judge is at the dore, go thy way unbeleiving sinner, when thou hast had all the pleasure that sin can afford thee, the rousing voice will awake thee after thou hast lain in dust and flep a while, and thine Eyes shall see that dreadful day, oh blessed, oh doleful day, blessed to the Saints, doleful to the wicked: oh the tri­umphant shoutings of the joyful Saints, the hi­deous roaring cryes of the damned, when each man hath received his doom, there is nothing but Eternal glory, and eternal fire. You must all of you shortly appear, and hear what doom must pass upon you, I hope you beleive it. What would you now give to know for certain how it will then go with you? why here is the book by which you must be judged, and here is the summ of it in my Text, and the grounds upon which the Judge will then proceed: will you but go along with me and answer the questions I shall put to you, you may know your doom

And here you must know, that it is the Kiss of the [Page] Heart and not of Lips which we must here in­quire after: the questions will not be at the great day of Doom, who hath spake Christ fair, or who hath called themselves Christians, or who hath said the Creed or Lord's Prayer oftnest, or cryed Lord, Lord, or come to Church, or hath held this opinion, or who that: It would make a mans heart ake to think how Zealous men honour the shadow of Christ, bow at his name, reverence the Image of the Cross he dyed on, and the Reliques and names of the Saints that dyed for him, yet do utterly neglect the Lord himself, and resist his spirit, and cannot endure to be governed by him, and hate them that really love him, and yet believe them­selves to be real Christians. For God's sake sirs do not delude your immortal Souls, as to think your Baptism and your outward Devotion, and your good meanings as you call them, and your righteous dealing with men will serve the turn to prove you Christians, Alass! this is but with Judas to kiss the mouth of Christ.

And indeed to fetch your death from those blessed lips from whence the Saints did fetch their life, I will shew you some surer signs than these.

1. Let me a little inquire into your subjection to Christ: do you remember the time when you were the servants of Sin and Satan, and led cap­tive at his will, and all within you was in carnal peace, do you remember when the spirit in the word [Page] came powerfully upon your hearts, and bound Satan and cast him out, and answered all your car­nal wisdome, and brought you out of darkness in­to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, Acts 26. chap. 18 vers. Hath Christ the only Soveraignty in your Souls, is his word thy Law which thou darst not pass, doth it bind thy thoughts unto thy tongue, and command all thou hast, hast thou laid down all at the feet of Christ, and resigned all to his will, and devoted allto his dispose and service, dost thou dayly and spiritually worship him in private, and in thy Family, and teach thy children and servants to fear the Lord; I intreat you Sirs, deal truly and faithfully in answering these questions, for never man was saved by the bare title of a Christian, if you are not subject to Christ you are not Chri­stians, no more then a picture or a carkass is a man, and your Salvation will be such as your Christianity is, Subjection is an undoubted part of thy faith, and Obedience is its fruit. In short then, dost thou make him thy fear, and tremble at his word, and be willing to do or suffer any thing for his sake, as the Sword, Fire, Naked­ness, Displeasure of friends, Credit or Life, art thou willing to submit to all that he revealeth, dost thou say, speak Lord for thy servant heareth? Lord what wouldst thou have me to do? I am ready to do thy will O God, Beloved this is the [Page] frame of every servant of Christ, and this is the acknowledging and accepting of him for your Lord.

Dost thou take him for thy only Saviour, and truly beleive this history of his Life and Pas­sion the truth of his Divine and humane nature, his Resurrection, his Office, and his approach­ing Judgement; dost thou see that all thy sup­posed Righteousness is but Vanity and sin, and that thou art not able to make the least satisfacti­on to the Law by thy works or sufferings, and if his blood did not wash thee, and his Righteous­ness justify thee, thou must certainly be damned yet and perish for ever; do thou therefore cast thy self into his Arms and venter thy everlasting state upon him, and trust him with thy Soul, and fetch all thy help and healing from him, dost thou so build upon his promise of an happiness hereaf­ter, that thou canst let all go here, and drink of His cap, and be Baptised with his Baptism, and lose thy life upon his promise that thou shalt save it, why this is kissing the hand of Christ. Belo­ved I profess to you all in the name of the Lord, that it is not your bold and confident affirming that you love Christ which will serve your turn, when Christ shall judge, he will search deep and judge according to truth in the inward parts. How many thousand will perish then as his utter Enemies, that verily thought themselves his [Page] friends. How easily might they now find their mistake would they now examine themselves, Oh try, try Sirs before God try you, judge your selves before Christ jugeth you, it would grieve a mans heart that knows what it is to love Christ, to beleive and be subject to him, to see how rare these are in the world.

Ʋse the 2d. It is time to turn my speech to Exhortation, and oh that you would encourage me with a Resolution to obey: my business is as a Herauld to proclaim the Lord Jesus your King and Saviour, and to know whether you will ac­knowledge and take him to be so or not, and to perswade you to kiss the Son least his wrath be kindled against you: you will say this is a com­mon Errand, I know the name of Christ is com­mon, the Swearer doth swear by it, the Begger begs by it, the Charmer puts it into his Charms, and the Jester in his Jests, and many Papists and ignorant Protestants do mutter it oft-times over their Prayers, but who trembleth at, or trium­pheth in it, who maketh it his fear and joy, and give up their souls to be governed by Christ? I do hear solemnly proclaim to you that the Lord Jesus will not be put off with complements, he cares not for your meer name of Christianity, your Cap or Knee, if your Heart be not set upon him thou art none of his, you must depend on him alone for Soul and Body, or never look for [Page] mercy at his hands, He is the Author of Eternal salvation to them (only) that obey him, Hebrews 5 chap. 9 ver.

What say you sirs in answer to my message, what do you resolve upon, shall Christ be your love, and your Lord or not, will you kiss the Son, or will you slight him still, methinks you should easily be resolved, and say, Away with Credit, Plcasure, Profits, away with these be­witching Delights and vanities, Christ has bought my heart and he shall have it, he is my Lord and I will be ruled by him. I perswade you not to O­pinions or Factions, but to be with all your heart for Christ, as ever you look Christ should be for you: to love him as he that hath bought you from everlasting wrath, and dyed to save you from Eternal Burnings, to lay hold of him with most earnest affectionate Apprehension, as a man that is ready to be drowned would do up­on a bough, or the hand of his friend that would pull him to the shore, to do nothing till thou hast asked counsel at his word, these are the things I exhort you to, these are things that Christ ex­pects from you: Think of what I say, and weigh it, if I speak not Truth and Reason reject it and spare not, but if it be, and thy Conscience tell thee so, take heed then how thou dost neglect it or re­ject it, least thou be found a fighter against the Spirit of God.

[Page] I will draw these considerations only from the Text.

1. Thou art else a Rebel against thy Sove­raign Lord, this I gather from the command in my Text, and the whole Psalm, God hath given thee into the hands of his Son, and made him Lord and King of all, and commanded all to submit to him and accept of him; who can shew such right to rule thee as Christ can do? he is thy maker, and so is not Satan, he dearly bought thee, so did not the world, 1 Pet. 1 ch. v. 18. Thou wast not Redeemed with Silver and Gold and corruptible things from your vain conversations. I make this challenge in the behalf of Christ, let any thing in the world step forth and shew a better Title to thee, to thy heart and to thy life than Christ can shew, then let them take thy heart, but I know thou canst not but confess it, yet will thou not yield him thy Love and chiefest Obedience, out of thy own mouth then art thou condemned as a wilful Rebel.

2. To deny thy Love and Subjection to Christ is a most barbarous unkindness a sinner can be guilty of, did he pitty thee in thy lost E­state, and take thee up when thou wast woun­ded in the way and make thee a Plaister of the blood of his heart, and is this thy requital did he come down from Heaven to Earth, to seek [Page] thee when thou wast lost, and take upon him all thy Debt, and put himself into the Prison of the world and flesh, and paid for thy folly, born the wrath of God which thou must have suffe­red for ever, and doth he not deserve to be en­tertained with most affectionate respect,, but with a few cold thoughts instead of hearty love, and a few formal words instead of Worship, Oh let the Heavens blush at such ingratitude.

Me thinks you should rather wonder with your selves that ever Christ should give you leave to love him; and say, Will the Lord eudure such a wretch to kiss him; will he suffer himself to be embraced by those arms which hath been so often defiled by the imbracements of sin, will he honour me so highly as to be his Subject and Servant to be guided by such a blessed and perfect Law, and doth require no harder conditions then these for my Salvation: Take then my Heart O Lord, it is only thine, and oh that it were better, take it and make it better, the Spear hath made a passage to thy heart, O let thy spirit upon me make a pas­sage to mine. I dare challenge Earth and Hell and all the Enemies of Christ in both, to shew the least hurt that ever he caused to the Soul of a beleiver, or wrong to the soul of any, and must he have such a stir to do thee good, must he beseech thee to be happy, and follow thee [Page] with intreaties, and yet art thou like a stock that neither hears nor feels; nay dost not thou murmur against him as if he would do thee a mischief; Ah foolish Sinner it is sin would hurt thee, and not thy Saviour, why dost not thou strive against that, it is the Divel that would destroy thee, yet dost not grudge thy obedience to him, be judge thy self whether this be equal dealing. Sinner I beseech thee in behalf of thy poor Soul not to renounce thy Saviour, till thou hast found a better Master, say as Peter, whither shall we go? Lord thou hast the words of Eternal Life.

2ly. These following considerations are drawn from the aggravation of the punish­ment, and all from the words of my Text.

1. God will be angry if you kiss not his Son, his wrath is as a fire, and this neglect of Christ is the way to kindle it, if thou art not a beleiver thou art condemned already, but this will bring upon thee a double condemna­tion: oh what will the Father say to such un­worthy wretches; must I send my Son from my bosome to suffer for thee, must he groan and bleed, when thou shouldst bleed, and dye when thou shouldst dye, and canst thou not be perswaded to imbrace and obey him, must he have the naked title of thy Lord and Savi­our, while the fleshly pleasures and profits [Page] have thy heart; what wrath can be too great, and Hell too hot for such ungrateful wretches, go seize upon him Justice, let my wrath con­sume, and hell devour thee, seeing thou hast chosen death, take it; and as thou hast re­jected Heaven, thou shalt never see it, but my wrath shall abide on thee for ever, John 3. Chap. 36 ver. Woe to thee sinner if this be once thy sentence, thou hadst better have Heaven and Earth fall upon thee than one degree of God's displeasure.

O what a pittyful sight tis to see a man un­der the wrath of God, and are these little sparks so intollerably hot what then do you think are the everlasting flames, beloved hea­rers, if God had not spoke this, I durst not have spoke it: the desire of my soul is that you may-not feell it, I hope the foreknowing may help to prevent it. Let me tell you from God, as sure as Heaven is over your heads, and the Earth under your feet, except the Son of God be nearer thy heart and dearer to thy heart than Friends, or goods; or Pleasures or Life, or any thing in the world, this burning wrath will never be prevented when this wrath of God is throughly kindled, then blessed are they that trust in him, Luke 14. Matt. 10. 37.

And now what is your resolution, perhaps [Page] you have been Enemie to Christ under the name of Christians, will you be so still? have you not loathed this busie, diligent serving of him, and hated them that carefully seek him, more than the vilest Drunkard or Blasphe­mer, have not his word Service and Sabboth been a burden to you, crying away with these precise Preachers, they shall not controle us, this precise Scripture shall be no Law to us, and consequently this Christ shall not rule o­ver us, you may go on as far as Pharo if you will, but if you be not losers in the latter end God hath not spoken by me 1 Kings

Sirs I am loath to leave you till the bargain be made, what say you, are you willing that Christ shall be your Soveraign? his word your Law, his worship your Recreations, his me­rits your Refuge, his glory your end, and himself the delight of your souls, the Lord Jesus waiteth for your answer, thou wilt ve­ry shortly wait on him for thy doom; as ever thou wouldst have him speak life to thy soul, do thou resolve upon the way of Life, remem­ber that thou art almost at Death and Judge­ment, if thou didst but see what others suffer for neglecting of him that now offereth thee his grace, what wouldst thou do, when it comes to that, then thou wilt cry, away with the world, away Pleasures, nothing can com­fort [Page] me but Christ, why then will not you be of the same mind now.

Oh that it might stand with the Will of God that this Sermon might take effect upon your hearts, and fasten upon your souls, and pierce into your consciences as an Arrow drawn out of the Quiver of God, it should follow thee home, and bring thee down on thy Knees in secret, and there lament they case, and make thee cry out in the bitterness of thy spirit, Lord I am a sinner that hath neglected thee, and have tasted more sweetness in the world than in thy blood, and taken more delight in my earthly labours and pleasures than in pray­ing and meditating on thee, and here it should make thee lye in tears and Prayers, and follow Christ with cryes and complaints till he take thee up from the dust, and assure thee of his pardon, and change thy heart, and close it with his own.

To conclude all with the words of my Text Oh kiss the Son least he be angry and you pe­rish, blessed are all they that trust in him.