times Father if it be thy will let this Cup pass from me and from these disconsolate Words which his inward Sorrow and Anguish extorted while he hanged upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The Sufferings of Jesus cannot be reckoned up no Man can describe no Tongue can express all the Particulars of his bitter Agony and bloody Passion and cruel Death The Words of the Prophet are applicable to him and as they were spoken prophetically of him so in him only they were fully accomplished Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger From above he hath sent fire into my bones and it prevaileth against them he hath spread a net for my feet he hath turned my back he hath made me desolate and faint all the day Who then that beheld this could Or who that hears and lays it to heart can refrain from weeping Tears indeed are due to the Memory of Christ's Death and Passion But yet our Lamentation and Weeping must not be as that in Rama spoken of by the Prophet Like Rachel weeping for her children who would not be comforted because they are not We may and should weep at the Remembrance of what Christ suffered but our Sorrow should not run to an Excess meerly on his Account Wherefore you see that our Lord turned about and checked the excessive Sorrowfulness of these Women saying Daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me which was the Second thing I promised to speak to This is not a total Prohibition of weeping for Christ the Negative Particle Not is not always to be taken so peremptorily for frequently it imports only Rather or not so much as when it is said I will have mercy and not sacrifice the Meaning is Mercy rather than Sacrifice or not so much Sacrifice as Mercy So here weep not for me but for your selves is only as much as to say weep for your selves rather than for me or not so much for me as for your selves Thus all Weeping is not forbidden And as I have shewn it to be very just proper and suitable so we find it made both a necessary and an acceptable Duty Zach. xii 10. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of Grace and of Supplications and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only Son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first born However we should so bewail his Death as to keep within a certain Measure Not as those good Women in the Text who apprehended that all their Hope and all their Comfort would have perished in his Death The Death of Christ is not to be lamented like the Tragical end of Pompey Caesar and other Heroes of the World whether Ancient or Modern whose Deaths were sad and convincing Instances of the Changeableness of Fortune of the Vanity of the World and of the Uncertainty of humane Affairs When they died their vast Designs and Projects were defeated and the Expectation of their Friends frustrated in that very Day all their Thoughts perished they instantly ceased to be either the Hope of their Friends or the Dread and Terrour of their Enemies and left nothing behind them save a faint Memory and uncertain Conjectures But the Death of Jesus Christ is quite another thing As our Lord still liveth so he reigneth and it was by his Death that he advanced and secured his Kingdom His Death was glorious and the Issue of it was eternal Praise to God and himself and everlasting Advantage to all the World Never any Triumph was so illustrious as the Death of Christ The greatest triumph in the World was only over Beasts and weak Men and set forth with the Spoils of earthly Kingdoms But Jesus at his Death triumphed over Devils he conquered Hell and the Grave made Spoils of Principalities and all the Powers of Darkness By his Death he quenched the Fire of God's Wrath blunted the Edge of the Law weakned the Strength of Sin loosned the Bands of the Grave ransomed Sinners and opened the Kingdom of Heaven to Penitents and Believers His Death gave Life to the World and renewed Nature so that the Face of things is altered ever since Thus as upon one Account there is Reason to lament the Death of Jesus Christ so upon another there is no less Reason to rejoice for by it God is glorified Jesus exalted and Mankind saved But when we leave off to mourn for Christ we should continue to mourn for our selves So you see here that our Lord biddeth the Women moderate their Grief upon his Account but still requireth it for themselves which was the third thing proposed Weep not for me but for your selves And very good Reason alas There is more than sufficient Cause for this Mourning For tho' Jesus Christ has merited Salvation for us yet our natural Wretchedness our Original and Actual Guilt is no less than it was both which are deplorable and neither of them can ever be enough lamented And if we are not sensible of the heinous Nature of these let us look upon the persecuted reviled mocked buffetted scourged and crucified Jesus let us call to mind his bitter Death and Sufferings and these will instruct us For all these things befell him for our sake and upon our Account The Jews who crucified him and put him to so vile and shameful a Death were only the Instruments But otherwise every one of us as well as they were the Cause and Occasion of all that evil which befell him They are to be considered only as the common Executioner who executeth the Law and the Will of the Judge and consequently our Rage and Indignation should not be against them but against the Crimes which caused and required so heavy a Punishment Now they were not his own Crimes for which he suffered for he knew no Sin neither was Guile found in his Mouth he was a Lamb without Spot and Blemish But he was made Sin for us Surely as the Prophet speaks he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him and he received stripes that we might be healed Let us not go about to clear our selves of all Accession to the Death of this good and righteous Person because we are come to the World so long after it fell out and are not of the Race of those who laid wicked and violent hands on him For though Jesus died but once yet he did bear the Sins of all and was charged with the Sins of all that went before or shall come after From the time that he
be stiled after it did import their relation to and interest in that state The word Behold denotes the certainty of what he foretells by saying the days are coming he lets them know that the Calamity approacheth and is not far off as indeed it fell out within Forty Years The greatness and dreadfulness of that Calamity he holds out by telling that it shall be then said Blessed are the barren and the womb that never bare and the paps which never gave suck For these words are not to be taken absolutely but with a respect unto these Evil days In times of Peace in the days of Prosperity it is a great Blessing and Comfort to have Children and especially it was thought so among the People of the Iews But in times of grievous Trouble and sad Calamity when War or Famine or Pestilence rageth they who have Children are more heavily afflicted than those who want them for besides the Evils which they suffer in their own Person they suffer also in the Persons of their Children and are affected with their Misery Moreover Women who are either with Child or who have young Ones sucking at their Breast cannot so easily escape Calamities or provide against them as others Some also do think that this may have a particular reference to what afterwards fell out at the Destruction of Ierusalem viz. That during the strictness of the Siege some were reduced to that strait that to preserve their own Lives they Eat the flesh of their own Children which could not but be very grievous to Parents However it is to be interpreted not with any relation to Peoples Spiritual or Eternal State for in respect of that there is no difference betwixt the having and wanting Children but it is to be understood wholly as to this Life and that too only in relation to Times of great Trouble and sad Calamity As to what follows that then they shall begin to say to the Mountains fall on us and to the Hills cover us This is a further intimation of the dreadful Calamity of these Days for People shall then be in such Consternation and Fear that they shall wish Death rather than Life and any kind of sudden Death rather than to live to see and feel such unspeakable Misery And as all this was foretold here and Matth. 24. so whoever is pleased to read Iosephus his History will find That all was actually accomplished upon Flavius Vespasian and Titus his Son their Invading Iudaea Besieging and Sacking of Ierusalem For if they do these things in a green tree what shall be done in a dry As it is a Proverbial Speech so it is here used by our Lord both for a Proof of the Prediction and also as a Reason why such Evils are inflicted Green Wood is neither proper nor profitable fewel but sure if they be forced to cut it down and make use of it they will not pass by what is dry and withered and good for nothing so seeing God has suffered his own Son to be thus treated who never displeased him they might assure themselves that such gross and notorious Sinners would not escape As St. Peter says If the Righteous scarcely are saved where shall the Wicked and Ungodly appear Our Lord by comparing himself here to a green flourishing and fruitful Tree doth point out the greatness of their Sin who thus treated him and persecuted him to Death with such Malice and Cruelty And he also clearly intimates to them that for this Cause all these Evils would come upon them A little before this time he laid it more plainly home to them by the Parable of the wicked Husband-men who when they saw the Son said This is the Heir come let us kill him and seize on the Inheritance And accordingly they caught him and cast him out of the Vineyard and slew him The Doom of these Husband-men the Iews pronounced with their own Mouth for when our Lord asked when the Lord of the Vineyard cometh what will he do unto these Husband-men They replied He will miserably destroy these wicked men and will let out his Vineyard to other Husbandmen which shall render him the fruits in their season Upon which he instantly added Did ye never read in the Scriptures the stone which the Builders refused the same is become the head of the corner This is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes Therefore I say unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder The Application was so plain and the meaning so obvious that it is said that the Chief-Priests and Pharisees perceived that he spoke of them Matth. xxi 38 39. These Predictions and the Event which in all things answered them declare what a heinous Crime it is to be guilty of shedding the Blood of Jesus and what a Provocation it was to the great God to see his Son crucified by Men. But some may perhaps say what is all this to us This was the Sin of the Iews long since committed and which can never be acted over again seeing Jesus the Son of God has his abode in Heaven and so is out of the reach of Men and therefore it is impertinent to insist now upon it They who say or think so must give me leave to say that they are mistaken and do deceive themselves for Christ may yet be Crucified and with as great Provocation to God nay with greater than was before Doth not St. Paul tell us Heb. vi 6. of some who crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame and both by that Chapter and the 10th we are made to understand who they are that do it viz. They who Sin wilfully after they have received the Knowledge of the Truth They that undervalue the Death of Jesus and are not so affected with it as to hate and forsake Sin which was the cause of it but on the contrary cherish indulge and love it for they who do so by an after Act consent to his Death and are guilty of his Blood Not to speak what Jesus suffers in his Servants and Members by the Persecutions which they meet with for his Sake and for their Observance of his Laws Jesus still suffers immediately in himself when his Doctrine is despised his Authority affronted and his Power resisted They who question the veracity of his Doctrine confirmed by Miracles and Prophecies laugh at the Truth and Mysteries which he hath revealed and quarrel at his Ordinances and Institutions these Persons do violence to his Prophetical Office They who lessen the Merits of his Death and the worth and price of that Sacrifice which he offered they who advance their own Righteousness and put little or no Confidence in his Mediation and make the Mediation of others as necessary they
making Man's Life so much shorter now than what it was at first in the Patriarchs timse is so far from being a Matter of Complaint that it is indeed a great Blessing He who must run will not complain of the shortness of the Race especially if the way be not good but rough and uneven The shortest Life is long enough if it be well employed If we can be so wise as to live well it is our Happiness to die soon for then Death is but the ending of our Misery and a wafting us over to eternal Bliss And this is it which St. Iohn here calls Life it is that glorious and happy State in the other World which God hath prepared for all true Believers That it is this which is here meant we need no further Proof than to look to the Verse before and after our Text for there he names it expressly Eternal Life This is indeed the End of our Faith the Completion of the Promises the great and last Design of Christianity All other are subordinate to this Whatever else is given is either to further the Attainment of this or to cherish the Hopes of it For this end Christ was born for this end he died and rose again for this end the Gospel was preached and thither tend all the Dispensations of the Divine Providence even to bring Men to Eternal Life which also is called by other glorious Names in Scripture as Heaven the Kingdom of God the Kingdom of Glory If you ask why the Apostle should call this State Life simply when Men do live who are not in this State The Answer is he calls it Life by way of Eminence and Excellency no State being comparable to it It is deservedly called Life if we either consider the Felicity or Duration of it First it deserveth the Name of Life upon the Account of the Felicity and Happiness it affords for Life and Happiness are often used as Reciprocal Terms as Words of one Importance according to that Saying non est vivere sed valere vita to live merely to have a being and no more is not worth the Name of Life A Man would chuse to be dead rather than miserable Wherefore it is also that St. Paul calleth this Life a dying daily He only is said to live truly who liveth happily And there is no true Happiness but in this Life which the Apostle here speaks of What and how great this Happiness is is not yet known Some late Enthusiasts and Visionaries have taken upon them to describe this future State as particularly as if they had already lived some time in it But St. Iohn saith It doth not yet appear what we shall be and we have Reason to believe that there was as much revealed to him as to them What he says is certain what they add ought to be rejected as presumptuous Dreams and Delusions God has revealed clearly that there is another Life and has assured us that it is more than a sufficient Recompence for all our Labours and Services and that it will afford perfect Contentment and Satisfaction But the particular Circumstances of that Life are yet kept secret partly because we could not conceive or comprehend them We are not capable of a full Discovery of that Life for it exceeds our highest Thoughts and best Apprehensions Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him The Scripture speaks to us of Rivers of Pleasure Kingdoms Scepters and uncorruptible Crowns But we are to understand this no otherwise than as Similitudes representing something of exceeding great Worth and Value As our greatest Thoughts of God fall short of what he is so also all our Apprehensions of Heaven for the Happiness of Heaven is infinite like the Nature of God Kings and Princes study to have their Courts answerable to their Magnificence and Dignity How Glorious and Magnificent then must Heaven be the Court of the great King Whose Power is Almighty whose Wisdom is Infinite and all whose Perfections are past finding out either by Men or Angels Surely God shall there display himself and his Attributes most clearly and most fully to all Beholders St. Iohn who had a clearer Prospect of Heaven than ever any mortal Man tells us That there is no manner of Imperfection there The city saith he had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof And there is no night there and they need no candle neither light of the Sun for the Lord God giveth them light There is also he tells us a Freedom and absolute Exemption from all Misery Pain and Trouble they who are there shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them neither any heat for the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and lead them to living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their Eyes There we shall not be clogged and fettered to a weak infirm sickly Body as now for then this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal immortality and Christ Iesus shall change this vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself And if our Bodies shall suffer such glorious Changes what think you shall be done to our Souls those precious and better parts of us It is not to be doubted but they also shall be highly exalted and perfected we shall not be liable to Ignorance and Error but shall be enlightned with the Knowledge of all Truth for as St. Paul saith Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now we know in part but then shall we know even as we are known There shall be excellent choice and most desirable Company not only all Saints and the Spirits of just Men made perfect but Angels and Arch-Angels Cherubims and Seraphims And we shall not only have the Pleasure of their Company but shall be equal unto them as our Saviour tells us Nay which is yet more there we shall enjoy Christ and God and not only enjoy them but be transformed into their Likeness Beloved saith St. Iohn now we are the Sons of God and it doth not appear what we shall be but this we know that when he doth appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Seeing this doth appear what needs more there is no climbing higher God is the Height of Perfection and the Fountain of all Happiness And it is impossible to conceive greater Felicity than what this Enjoyment of God and Likeness to him amount to The highest Creatures are not capable of more The aspiring to be as Gods was the Sin of our first Parents and did tempt them
Death their imagination of things to come and the day of death trouble their thoughts and cause fear of heart said the Son of Sirach Eccl. xl 2. And the Apostle tells us that through fear of death they were all their life-time subject to bondage Heb. ii 15. They saw it was appointed for all men to die they understood that the Sentence of Death was passed upon all Men and none knew how soon or after what manner this Sentence was to be executed upon himself so that they stood in jeopardy every Hour Neither Youth nor Health nor Strength nor Vigour nor any natural or acquired Vertue and Endowment could secure Men from Death and what was to come after it they knew not their hopes of another better Life were faint for it was not yet revealed Therefore as they were daily liable to Death and had cause continually to apprehend it so the fear of it and the uncertain consequence of it as every one's Experience witnesseth damped their Joys and filled them with Melancholy and embittered their Life The terrours of the Mind are more burdensom and grievous than outward weights and pressures upon the Body Now nothing is so terrible to Men as Death it is called the King of terrours Iob xviii 14. And again it is said Chap. xxiv 17. they are in the terrours of the shadow of Death My heart said David is sore pained within me and the terrours of death are fallen upon me Psal. lv 4. Aristotle and other Heathens have declared that it is of all things most terrible and certainlv it is and shall be and must be so to all who believe not in Jesus who are Strangers to him his Doctrine and Promises until Men come to him take his Yoke upon them and learn of him the fear and terrour of Death must make them to labour and be heavy laden Fourthly The great Evil which Men labour under and which is the Cause of all other Evils is Sin As this lyeth upon all Men for there is no Man who hath not sinned except the Man Christ Jesus so this indeed is a heavy burden and most grievous whether we consider it in it self or in its Consequences The load of Sin which is upon us is great enough to press us down to Hell and to crush us in pieces It is Sin which maketh us to travel all our days with pain the guilt of this is uneasie to the Mind and disturbeth its rest and also maketh us liable to the Wrath of Almighty God which is a weighty burden too heavy for the strongest Shoulders This burden of Sin tho' it be of all others the heaviest yet few are sensible of it many do not feel it tho' it be ready to sink them because the weight of it has benummed their Senses and stupified their Spirits But they who are sensible of it complain most heavily O wretched man that I am saith St. Paul who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. vii 28. And David upon this account uttereth this grievous Lamentation Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore there is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin for mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long Fools make a mock of sin but who have a due sence of it find it is not to be sported with or set light by for certainly it is the greatest and saddest of Evils No Misfortune which befalls us is so great as that of Sin He that is not sensible of this let him take a view of our Saviour in the Garden and repair to a dying Person and consider what inward Agony and Torment such suffer for Sin And if this do not affect him he must be very insensible The guilt of Sin is unsupportable no Man has sufficient strength to bear it Therefore saith Solomon the spirit of a man may sustain his infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can bear Thus you see that all Mankind is liable to a fourfold Misery Four several Burdens are lying upon every Man that cometh into the World viz. The Burden of Affliction the want of true Satisfaction in things relating to this Life the fear of Death and the guilt of Sin each of which is enough to bear down the Spirit of Man and to crush or break it O then how heavily are they laden when they have the weight of all these upon them how weary may they be how much stand they in need of Rest and Ease how desirous should they be of it And how thankful to him who offers it unto them And thus I come to consider the gracious Promise which our Lord here makes to miserable Men whom he invites to himself come to me and I will give you rest Rest is very desirable but no rest so desirable as this An ease of those Burdens which were presently set before you would exceedingly lighten the Mind and quicken and cheer up the Spirit But none can give this Ease but Jesus who here promiseth it Some Philosophers have proposed some Antidote against Afflictions but for the most part they talked impertinently when they spoke of the other Three But as the greatest and truest Comfort under Afflictions cometh from Jesus Christ so it is he only who can satisfie the large Cravings of the Soul who can take away the Fear of Death and the Guilt of Sin And as he can so he will for he hath promised it here Come and I will give you rest This rest must certainly imply a full and perfect Ease of all Misery which lieth upon Men For if all were not taken away if any part of it did remain the Soul could not be at rest Now because the very News of Rest is Matter of Comfort and it is yet more comfortable to be assured of it I will confirm this gracious and comfortable Promise by other Places of Scripture and also shew the Reasons why we may expect and look for Rest from Jesus with a Respect to that Fourfold Misery which is upon us I will invert the Order which was used in enumerating those Burdens we groan under and will take the last first because it is the greatest and that the Removal of it prepares the way for taking the rest away That the Burden of our Sins shall be taken away by Jesus is evident from his Name and the Reason why he got that Name for he was called Jesus because he was to save his people from their sins therefore also he is called the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the world when one sick of the Palsie was brought unto him he said to him Son be of good chear thy Sins be forgiven thee And he said so that they might know the Son of Man had power to
Company doth not cure it only seemeth to give ease so when it is gone when the Night comes that the Sick is left alone then the Person grows weary because he feels his Trouble and is sensible of his Pain and gets nothing to divert it Just so if Men would retire from outward Diversions if they would seriously look into themselves and consider their Condition they should find themselves very loathsome they should see in themselves great Cause of Grief and Sorrow this would make their Souls restless and weary then would they turn from side to side and cry out of their wretchedness then the words of Rest and Ease to the Soul would be acceptable and heard with delight then our Text would be received as a Sovereign Cordial and indeed it is prepared only for such It speaks of rest shews where it is but none are invited but such as are sensible of their Misery the weary they who labour and are heavy laden And if such please to listen if such will receive these words and obey them their Minds shall presently be disburdened they shall be eased of all their Grief For the Words of Jesus cannot fail his Advice cannot chuse but be Proper and Effectual and he hath said Come unto me take my Yoke upon you learn of me for I am meek and lowly and ye shall find rest to your Souls In the former Discourse on this Text I shewed what was meant by labouring and being heavy laden and upon what account this Appellation may be given to all Mankind I shewed that all are under the Burthen of a four-fold Misery viz. Affliction Vanity and Dissatisfaction the Fear of Death and the Guilt of Sin As also that a due sense of this Misery was required as a Disposition to the Cure and a necessary Preparation to the obtaining true Rest and Ease to our Souls I intend at this time to consider the other Conditions required which you see are Three viz. 1. Coming to Christ. 2. Taking his Yoke 3. Learning of him The Conditions are not many and they are very reasonable I will begin with the First which is Coming to Christ. None can be so ignorant as to understand this of the Approach of our Bodies towards Christ for they to whom he spake could not come nearer unto him And we now cannot approach him with our Bodies The Rest to which we are called is a Rest of Soul and therefore to obtain this the Motion of the Soul and not of the Body is requisite and proper By this First is meant the giving our selves up entirely to his Counsel and Management The Sick are bidden go to the Physician and they who are injured and oppressed to the Lawyer The meaning of which is not that they should gaze upon their Persons look them in the Face and hear them talk for what Ease or Relief can that be either to the one or the other But thereby is understood the receiving their Instruction and following it And it is Folly to make Application if one be not resolved to take Advice What good can the Physician do if the Patient be willful if he will only receive the Potions which relish with his vitiated Palate and not what the Physician judges best and most proper If one desire to be cured throughly and speedily he ought to yield himself absolutely to the Physician 's Skill Even so if we would have our Souls cured if we would have them eased of all the Trouble with which they labour we ought to apply our selves to Jesus Christ who is the true and only Physician who only can restore Health and give Peace But then our Application ought to be an entire Resignation to his Conduct and should be attended with a full Resolution to be guided by him in every thing We ought not to carry towards him as some peevish and humoursome Patients to their Physician who judge his Prescriptions approve and condemn them as if they had studied the Art and did understand all the Rules of Medicine as well as he Alas Many are of the same unreasonable Temper and do behave themselves thus toward Jesus the great Physician of Souls They come to him but they bring their Humours with them which they will not part with And if his Advice and Prescriptions agree not with their Humours they reject and condemn them And hence it is that they are not the better by coming to Christ. Indeed when we have to do with Men there is no Reason that we should altogether lay aside our own Judgment and follow them in every thing for the most knowing is fallible But Jesus is Infallible he cannot be mistaken Can he err in whom are all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge And can any doubt of his Concernment for our Health Will not he love us who hath done so much for us Will not he seek our good who spared not his own Life for our sakes He has all the Skill and Knowledge and Affection and Concernment which can be desired Therefore we ought to come to him and to come without Reserve we ought to lay aside all Prejudice and should yield our selves wholly to his Conduct and Management that we may the sooner be sensible of his Skill and feel to our Comfort that he is a Physician of great Value But Secondly By coming to Christ is meant believing in him for so we find it expounded in Scripture as appears by these Places Heb. ii 6. He that cometh to God must believe that he is I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth in me shall never thirst And as by this and other places it appears That coming to Christ is to be understood of believing in him So the absolute Necessity of Faith in Christ in order to the Participation of his Benefits may be made evident many ways First From express Texts of Scripture I shall instance but in a few of some Hundreds which might be produced Thus Iohn iij. 14. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life ver 16. For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting live ver 18. he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God 1 John v. 12. he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life To whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest but to them that believed not so we see that they could not enter in because of Unbelief Heb. iij. 18 19. There is not a Chapter in all the New Testament in which the Necessity of Faith and the Danger of Infidelity is not held
of other Mens For he was no less than others subject to Hunger and Thirst Cold and Heat Fainting and Weariedness and all the other things which Nature or Providence has made us liable to As he espoused our Nature so he espoused it with all its Weakness and Infirmities and with all the Trouble which ordinarily attends it Nay which is more he not only submitted to all the unavoidable Infirmities of our Nature but also to all the Misery which attends the meanest Condition of Men which the Apostle points at by the Form of a Servant The form of a servant implies somewhat more than the Nature of Man simply for every Man is not a Servant Jesus Christ has carried his humane Nature to Heaven but he is not there in the Form of a Servant for he is exalted above all When therefore St. Paul saith he took upon him the Form of a Servant he remembers us of the low and contemptible Condition in which he appeared For he came not to the World in Pomp and Splendour in the Form of a King or some great Person Nor did he aspire after a State of Grandeur Power and Command over others but chose to be born of mean and poor Parents who were totally divested of the Glory which by their descent they might have pretended to He was lodged with a Carpenter brought up in his House learned his Trade and wrought with his own hands for his Bread And though it be lawful for Men to endeavour to better their Condition if they take honest means yet he never made a Fortune to himself the foxes had holes and the fowls of the air nests but the Son of Man had no place or possession of his own where to lay his head When he entered upon the Exercise of his Ministery his Retinue was a dozen of poor Fishermen instead of splendid Walls and Schools he taught in Desarts on the Tops of Mountains and from the sides of small Ships and Boats He was born under the Law and subject to it he wore the heavy Yoke of Moses and religiously observed all his Laws He was also subject to the Romans and obliged to pay them Tribute though he owed them none In a word while he was in the World his outward Condition was base ignoble and contemptible and in that Condition he was treated like a Slave forced to endure more Hardship and Misery than ever any Slave was put to He was mocked beaten and cruelly and unmercifully used he was loaded with Contempt Injuries Reproach and all the Evils which Men or Devils could invent And yet like a good and faithful Servant he never declined his Duty nor shifted the Commands which were laid upon him but humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross This is the last Point of the Text. But I cannot enter upon it now I must pass it till another time The two Points I have handled are sufficient for the present to add more would perhaps be too great a burthen to our weak Minds I have laid before you a Mystery which was hid from the Foundation of the World but is now revealed by the Gospel a Mystery which the longest and most profound Meditation can never exhaust A Mystery which may give to all Eternity matter of Admiration both to Angels and Men A Mystery which as our Apostle saith to all that are Perfect sheweth both the Wisdom and Power of God These Divine Attributes were never so admirably manifested The Power of God is clearly seen and evidently set forth in the Creation of the World the erecting such a vast Fabrick out of Nothing the conconjoining its Parts so that they neither interfere nor breed Confusion and the adorning those various Parts with an infinite Variety of Creatures to Inhabit them is a great instance of Divine and Almighty Power So is the Production of Man the Contrivance of his Body the Faculties of his Soul and the Union of two so different Species as Matter and Spirit into one Composition But yet it is more astonishing and more incomprehensible to see the Creature Deified the God-head Embodied and the Humane and Divine Nature united together in one Person And as the Power of God is hereby seen so his Wisdom in contriving this Way to confound Satan to destroy Sin to save Mankind to declare his own Justice and to keep up the Authority of his righteous Laws Lord what Admiration may this breed How ought the Contemplation of this to transport us But Admiration ought not to be the only Effect of this Contemplation it should also engender Love and indeed if our Hearts be not hard as an Adamant and as insensible as a Stone it will enflame them with ardent love to God who hath so highly regarded us as to dignifie us beyond the Angels and any Creature in Heaven or Earth He is infinitely above us and standeth not in need of us and yet he hath had a particular Concernment for us and hath honoured us beyond Expression And that too when we were Rebels and Apostates and guilty of a Thousand Indignities done to the Deity If he had cast some Pity upon us or shewed some Commiseration after we had crouched and humbled our selves and bewailed our Sins with weeping and sorrowful Hearts it had not a little shewed his Goodness even in this Case his Mercy would have been abundantly declared But what superabundant Mercy was it to seek us first nay to court and wooe us when we hated him and were running away from him and that too by no meaner Person than his own Son God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past to the Fathers hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds Lord how little did Man deserve this And what Obligations doth this lay on Man to love fear and serve God! Again how should our Hearts cleave to Jesus Christ What a strong and passionate Affection should we have for him Who for us and for our sakes made himself of no Reputation Who to serve us and procure our good laid aside the Glory which he had before the Foundation of the World and being in the Form of God and in a State in which he thought it not Robbery to be equal to God did yet take upon him the Form of a Servant All this was his own proper deed and the meer effect of his free Love You see all is ascribed to himself and indeed there was no Force to constrain him wherefore so great and so free Love in him requires the greatest Measure of Love from us Do you think what he has done nothing Seems it little to you to exchange the Form of God for the Form of a Servant The Glory of Heaven for the Miseries of Earth Is it nothing think you for Omnipotency to be confined to the Weakness of a Child For
Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the father And for this Cause let us not with some rebellious Spirits quarrel at this Divine Oeconomy let us not dispute the Reasonableness of his eternal Purposes nor abdicate him to whom God has given sovereign Power let us not speak against his Person Merits or the Acts of his supreme Authority But as Interest and Duty oblige us let us be subject unto him let us love fear worship and obey him This is the way to work out your Salvation and if you follow this Method God will work in you to will and to do of his good Pleasure Now our Lord Iesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting Consolation and good Hope through Grace comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good Word and Work Amen SERMON V. Preach'd at EDINBURGH ON GOOD-FRIDAY March 25. 1692. LUKE XXIII 27 28 29 30 31. And there followed him a great company of people and of women which also bewailed and lamented him But Iesus turning unto them said Daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your children For behold the days are coming in the which they shall say Blessed are the barren and the wombs which never bare and the paps which never gave suck Then shall they begin to say to the mountains fall on us and to the hills cover us For if they do these things in a green tree what shall be done in the dry THERE is in many too great an Inclination after such Shews and Sights and such kind of Conversation as may divert them with Mirth and Laughter Whereas the Contemplation of that which doth affect the Heart with Grief and Sadness is more profitable For saith the Wise Man it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting Sorrow is better than laughter for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better And from hence he observes That the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth The Spirit of Fools is Light and Frothy and only fond of Airy things whence it is that they are in love with the House of Feasting where ordinarily there is more Noise than good Sence more of foolish Jesting and ridiculous Mirth than of solid Instruction But the Wise preferr the House of Mourning because it adds to their Wisdom rendring them serious and giving them a right sense both of themselves and other things Now to make us thus Wise the Reasonable Custom of the Ancient Church appointed this Season to be a time of Mourning and Sorrowing and the Practice of the Catholick Church at present proposeth to our Consideration this Day that which may and will if any thing can affect our Hearts and move the Passions of Sorrow and Grief for that Soul must certainly be stupid and senseless and incapable of Grief who doth not shew it upon the representation of the Cross of Christ his sad Death and Sufferings of which this Day is the Anniversary It is indeed long since this was done but yet it is never to be forgotten The Death and Sufferings of Jesus should carefully be kept in Memory for tho' these things happen'd many Ages ago yet we shall find that we our selves were Accessory to them and therefore if not upon Jesus's account yet at least upon our own we ought to lament and bewail his Death and Passion that the shedding of innocent Blood may be remitted and not charged upon us Some can look upon the Calamities and Disasters of others and never be concern'd they are only mov'd when Trouble and Misery draw near themselves Now even Persons of this temper may see it their Interest to mourn on this occasion for sad and heavy Judgments are ready to fall down upon those who are guilty of the Blood of Jesus and who do not repent of it So that if there be any who have such hard Hearts that they cannot be affected with the Cross and Sufferings of Jesus Christ if his Shame and Sorrow and Pangs will not pierce them yet sure they must not only be hard but lifeless without all sense and feeling if they be Proof against their own Doom and unmov'd at the sight of their own Calamities who will not commiserate the Sufferings of the Holy and Innocent Jesus may yet take Compassion on themselves if we will not shed Tears for his Sake Let us do it for our own as he advis'd the Women who follow'd him to the place of his Crucifixion Daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your Children The Cross of Christ has too large Dimensions to be commensurated all at once his Sufferings were so many and so great that we cannot take them up at one view nor is it possible to Discourse in one Hour the History of our Lord's Passion wherefore I have fix'd on one particular Passage for our present Meditation which hath this Advantage that it contains Instructions how to moderate our Grief and Passions on this occasion For the more profitable handling of this Passage and to make it work the better upon our Affections these particulars are to be observ'd First The Womens Behaviour and the Reason or occasion of it Secondly Our Lord's Check to their Grief upon his Account And Thirdly His requiring it and making it necessary for themselves and for their Children As to the First It is said of the Women that they bewailed and lamented him And it doth not appear that any other did so or if any besides them were affected with Grief they either conceal'd it or made no such Publick and Remarkable Expressions of it The City was full of People at this time because of the approaching Feast and as is usual on such occasions a very great Multitude followed our Saviour to the place of Execution some out of Curiosity merely to see what was done others to glutt and satisfie their Malice and Revenge But only these Women went out of Compassion His Disciples had forsaken him Nicodemus and other Persons of Quality who believed in Jesus absconded themselves at this time they dissembled their Sentiments and would not appear for him being over-aw'd by the fear of the Priests and Scribes and the giddy furious Multitude who were now gathered into Tumultuary Mobbs demanding him to be Crucified and who in this their Rage were ready to fall upon any that seemed to oppose it as Enemies to the Publick Good of the Nation None offer'd to Plead for him nor did there remain any to commiserate him save these Women in the Text who by their Weeping and Lamentation did Remonstrate against the Madness of the People and the Injustice of the Scribes Pharisees and Priests None of the Circumstances of either our Lord's Birth or Death are accidental but were ordained before-hand by the Infinite Wisdom
was set apart to be the Sacrifice for Sin he bears the Iniquity of Men and that is from the beginning wherefore he is called the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World that is appointed to be slain And therefore our sins come in among the rest and consequently we have all Reason to deplore his Death and to bewail our own Wretchedness and Sin which was in part the Cause of it O ye Children of Men ye of the sinful Race of Adam come and behold the wretched and deplorable State of your Nature look upon the Cross and let thine Eyes see Jesus bleeding and dying on it and then consider that Blood was shed to wash away thy natural Filthiness and his Life taken to redeem thee from Death O how unreasonable How insolent a thing is Pride in Man Art thou Proud who hast an evil Disease cleaving to thee and inherent to all thy race which cannot be cleansed but by the precious Blood of the Eternal Son of God Art thou vain who art born such a slave that nothing could have ransomed thee except the Death and Sufferings of the Lord of Life and Glory Pride Arrogance and Boasting are no wise suitable to Persons of our Condition but Mourning and Weeping are very proper especially considering the guilt we have contracted since our coming to the World the heinousness of which the Cross of Christ will also shew us for that heavy Cross was laid on him to take away the guilt of those Sins which we daily commit The Son of God was humbled and Crowned with Thorns to make atonement for our Pride and Ambition he was stript naked because of our Covetousness he was unmercifully treated that he might bear the Punishment of our Revenge and Cruelty towards our Brethren The inward agony of his Soul was occasioned by our wanton Mirth and Lasciviousness and that he might be a Propitiation for our Excess and Riot there was nothing left him but Vinegar and Gall to drink His Bowels his Hands and Feet were pierced upon the account of our Oaths and Blasphemies In a word he was mocked had no pity shewed him was Scourged and put to Death contrary to Law Justice and Equity because we are false and treacherous and have no respect to the Commands of God Ye Fools who make a mock of Sin and who think it but a Sport to commit Iniquity come hither be instructed and learn to be Wise. Is the Shame and the Pain Is the Agony and Grief Is the Death and are the unspeakable Sufferings of Jesus the Son of God only a Sport Are these things only matter of Laughter Has any the Impudence either to say it or to think it No sure But then if these be bitter Sport what shall we think of our Sins which produce it for the Sufferings of our Lord are only the Effects of our Sins Doth it not trouble every honest and thinking Man when he is so unfortunate as to be the occasion of any Evil and Mischief to another Casual Murther or Manslaughter by an accidental Rencounter the throwing of a Stone the shooting of a Bow or Gun or the like do not infer guilt the Actors are innocent when they have no design of that Nature in their head and yet no Man who hath not lost Humanity but will be affected when any such Misfortune falls in his hands and his Grief will be so much the greater as the Person whose Death is occasioned is worthy and deserving What cause of Grief then have we who not accidentally but wittingly and willingly by our deliberate Sins and Transgressions have drawn Death on the Innocent and Righteous Jesus and that too the worst of Deaths the most shameful the most painful and the most bitter Death of the Cross Have we not reason to weep for our selves Can we ever bewail enough either our misfortune or wretchedness by Nature or our guilt through our actual Transgressions Certainly we should lament our condition on all occasions should set apart times for it and especially at occasions of this Nature when our guilt and the sad Effects of it is represented to us we should mourn and weep This is the only way to clear our selves to lessen our guilt and to keep innocent Blood from being charged upon us Blessed are they that thus mourn for they shall be comforted They who sow in tears shall reap in joy Jesus shall bear the Iniquities of those who regret his Death and their own guilt which caused it and made it necessary his Blood shall wash away their guilt and his Death shall prevent their Eternal Death for he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God through him 2 Cor. v. But as the Death and Sufferings of Jesus Christ procureth Mercy to the humble and Penitent so his Blood calleth for vengeance upon the hardned and impenitent Which leadeth me to the last thing in the Text for upon this account he added and weep for your Children for behold the days are coming c. by this intimating that the Imprecations of the People were ready to light upon them for as they cried out and wished his blood be upon us and our Children so to revenge it sore and heavy Calamities were impending over the City and the whole Nation Jesus spoke not these words from any Spirit of desire of Revenge nor out of any complacency at those sad Evils which were to befall them for the Injuries done to himself It is a fault which too many are guilty of when they think themselves wronged and cannot at present either revenge or remedy it they delight and please themselves with the thoughts of God's revenging their quarrel But Jesus was far from this temper for we find in the 19th of this Gospel That when he beheld the City he wept over it out of Compassion of those Evils which he saw would come upon it And they who have the same Mind in them which was in him will neither desire the destruction of their Enemies nor rejoice at it but will both pray against it and fear and tremble when they see it unavoidable But our Lord uttered these words to testifie his Divinity and Godhead and his Love and good Will even to those sinful Men his Divinity in that he knew what was to come for none knoweth future things but God alone his Love and good Will in that he forewarned them of their Danger that being forewarned they might if possible either prevent it or obtain a delay and suspension of it When he bids them weep for their Children he doth not mean the Children of these Women only or particularly but the whole Generation of the Iews for he speaks to those Women in the Name of the whole Inhabitants of Ierusalem or rather of all the People of Iudaea therefore they are called Daughters of Ierusalem which is as much as to say Israelites for Ierusalem was the Chief or Mother-city and to
God and acquiring those Qualifications necessary to Eternal Life But abstract from this what a dull thing is Life and how tedious and irksome must it be to every wise and good Man if it were not in order to another Life this would not be desireable and the shortest Life would be preferable to the longest to be condemned to Methusalem's Life would be no small Affliction to be obliged to live for Nine Hundred Years in a Bedlam and to dwell always among Fools and Knaves for the World generally is no better where there is daily repeated the same Scene of Impertinence and Villainy This I say would be very grievous to wise and thinking Men. Wherefore it clearly appears that if there were no hope beyond this Life the best and wisest men would of all others be the most miserable and that in this case Knowledge and Vertue would not at all be desireable because they would serve only to beget in Men a disgust of this Life The most brutish would then be the most happy because as they aim no farther than the present Life so they want the sense to perceive the Meanness of it Now the Truth of St. Paul's Assertion in the Text being thus cleared I proceed next to shew the Forcibleness thereof for evincing another Life That Men should be more miserable than other Creatures and the best Men the most miserable Men is a gross Absurdity And who asserteth it fixeth an Imputation upon God which cannot be mentioned without the horridest Blasphemy Wisdom and Goodness are essential Attributes of the Deity But neither of them would appear if Men were less happy than Beasts and the best of Men more miserable than the rest What a vain thing were Man if he were altogether mortal And how unlike the product of an infinite Wisdom Where were infinite Wisdom if a Creature capable of Immortality made only some short Appearance upon a Stage of Vanity and Misery and then removed and turn'd into nothing If the Faculties of an Angelical Life and the Capacities for the highest Perfection were given to one who could never step beyond the Meanness of an Animal and Sensual Life And where were Divine Justice and Goodness if there were no difference betwixt good and bad If it fared alike with the worst and with the best if they who feared loved and served God should not partake more of his Favour than they who had no regard to him nor to his Laws If then it be inconsistent with the Wisdom and Goodness of God to make Men less happy than Beasts and to suffer the best of Men to be more miserable than the worst and that it would be certainly so if there were no other Life then certainly there must be another better Life to make the vast Difference that should be betwixt Man and other Creatures and good and bad Men. Therefore the Miseries of Mankind in this World but especially of good Men are an evident Proof that there is another Life to come Quod erat demonstrandum Having thus laid before you the solid ground of a Christian's Hope and the strong reasons why we should look for a better Life to come I will next proceed to draw some necessary Inferences from this great important Truth And first we may learn hence the true Rules of measuring our own and other Mens Happiness which is to regard not always things present but that which is to come It is no great matter to discern who hath the greatest Wealth the highest Honour and largest Possessions But from these we cannot conclude who is the happiest for Man's Happiness Consists not in the abundance of these outward things which he possesseth but in the sure and well grounded Hopes of that better life to come The outward things of this World can neither secure the present Life nor make it comfortable to a truly wise considering Man It is only the hope of Heaven and Eternal Life which yieldeth true Contentment and Satisfaction to the Soul Who wanteth this Hope is miserable how splendid soever his outward State be And though one possess nothing of this World but live in the want of all outward Comforts Yet if he be nourished with this inward Consolation if he be filled with a lively hope of that Life which is above and demean himself so as that he certainly shall come to it There can be none more happy his happiness is beyond Expression 2dly This sheweth that the wicked and ungodly are truly miserable and the good and upright always happy for the last have what the other cannot have a hope beyond this Life As St. Paul saith here that he and such as himself would be of all others the most miserable if their hope were only in this Life so they must be of all others the most happy because their hope is not confined to this Life but reacheth far beyond it Wherefore look not altogether upon Mens outside neither let your selves be deceived with the present Prosperity and Success of the wicked nor scared with the Crosses and Afflictions of the Godly let not these things tempt you to say That it is vain to serve God and what profit is it to have kept his ordinances and to have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts Call not the proud happy neither magnifie them that work Wickedness nor despise the Good as Fools and mean spirited Persons suspend your Judgment until you have seen and considered the end of both For what Solon said to Croesus is most true no Man can be counted happy before Death Then shall ye return and discern betwixt the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not for they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my Iewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him But behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all the proud yea and all that do wickedly shall be stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of Hosts that it shall leave them neither root nor branch But the good and upright have not only the Advantage of the wicked in the other World they have it also in this for the Prospect of Eternal Life and the sure Hopes they have of it give them greater Joy and Satisfaction than the wicked can receive from their Pleasures and Enjoyments What results from the one is dull and insipid in Comparison of the other And as the wicked have less Joy and Satisfaction even here so they are disquieted with many vexing Cares and tormenting Fears wherewith the Souls of the righteous are never affected For not to speak of the Terrours of Hell which sometimes seize them they place all their Happiness in these outward things which are daily liable to a Thousand Hazards and therefore it is that they are never at rest but miserably tossed with Cares and
say we will not consider this as any true Motive to the receiving of Christ Because it is neither sufficient nor reasonable and he who embraceth Christ upon no other grounds than this his Religion is little to be valued or regarded Neither is it matter of wonder that such an one yield to the prevailing Tentations of Sin and refuse compliance with the Precepts of a strict and holy Living especially when he perceives them fallen into desuetude and that Vice and Ungodliness are more commonly practised for he that in these things hath no other Reason or Motive than the Custom and Fashion of the place he lives in will no doubt be still carried away with the Tide But what a shameful and unworthy a thing is it to be guided and directed in Matters of so great moment only by the Practice of others and the Custom of the place we live in The Apostle St. Peter commands us to be always ready to give an answer to every man who asketh a reason of the hope that is in us And truly it is a very slender and poor one when we have no other but that we were so Educated and that this Faith and Religion were professed and in fashion where we were Born and Bred. Indeed it is no small Happiness to be Born within the Church and under the light of the Gospel and among those who may educate us in the Christian Faith because hereby we have an early occasion of acquainting our selves with those great and important things which concern our Eternal Salvation And therefore we have always good reason to bless God for these excellent Advantages of our Birth and Education without which it 's like we should have never come to the true Knowledge of Christ. But yet this doth not excuse us from a reasonable Enquiry and Search into the Truth and Grounds of the Christian Faith when we come to Age and the Years of Discretion we should be ashamed to pin our Faith upon our Grand-mother's Sleeve we ought to fix it on a better bottom than mere Education we should search into the Grounds and Reasons why we should rather be of the Christian Religion than of any other and should labour to understand what Obligations are upon us to chuse Christ and none other to be our Lord and Master For unless we do this we do not act like Men our Faith is neither reasonable nor divine but unworthy both of Men and Christians and which will never endure the Shock of any Temptation That which should chiefly perswade us to profess Christ and to become his Disciples is the Consideration of his being sent from God and a serious Reflection on those undoubted Truths and irrefragable Testimonies we have received thereof Jesus Christ was foretold by the Prophets and when he was in the World God bare Witness unto him by the Appearance of Angels and several Voices from Heaven and divers other astonishing Signs he wrought many Miracles and did many things not only beyond humane reach but beyond the reach of Nature it self and he gave others Power to do the like his Death was accompanied with many amazing Wonders especially that of his Resurrection so that the World was astonished at it For Death had no Power over him for he rose from the dead and appeared unto many and last of all was seen to ascend up into Heaven When he was gone what he foretold his Disciples came to pass and as they preached the Gospel which he had taught them so God gave Testimony unto them by Signs and Wonders and divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost which followed them So that the whole World was constrained to receive and believe their Doctrine We have as great Evidence and Certainty for these things as is possible to be had and is sufficient to reason any Man into the Belief of them And by these things it doth appear that Christ is no Impostour nor the Gospel a cunningly devised Fable but a certain Divine Truth which teacheth us that God hath highly exalted Jesus Christ and given him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth and that every tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father If we believe in Christ if we own him to be our Lord it should be for these Reasons and upon these grounds otherwise our Faith is not valid This is the first and true Inducement to the receiving Christ and if we embrace him and make him our Lord for this reason because he is sent of God and hath received all Power in Heaven and in Earth then we cannot but conceive an indispensible Necessity of yielding all Obedience and Service For God hath not made him a titular Lord he hath not given Him a Name of Dominion and Power only but he hath constituted him such a Lord as must be served and obeyed and the Power and Dominion which he hath received is not nominal but real actual and effective And consequently the Subjection which is required to be given him must be something else than Words and Complements it must be more than a barren and empty Profession it must be real Deeds faithful Services and an impartial and universal Obedience to his Laws and Commands or else whatever we profess or say he will never own or acknowledge us to be his true Subjects and Servants A son honoureth his father and a servant his master if I then be a father where is my honour And if I be a master where is my fear saith the Lord by the Prophet Malachy If we do really acknowledge another to be Lord and Master we must also acknowledge our selves to be his Servants And Servants owe Obedience therefore we reproach our selves so often as we call Christ our Lord and yet refuse to obey him Our Ingenuity in calling him Lord can never appear so long as we do not heartily and readily obey him For as God speaketh in the fore-cited place Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person Try I pray you and see if any Man will be put off as thou thinkest to put off Christ when thou hast no mind to obey him Will any Prince look upon those as good Subjects who pay him no Homage and refuse him the Acts and Testimonies of their Allegiance Will any Master count him his Servant who never minds his Will but doth his own And how unreasonable then art thou not to serve and obey him whom thou callest and believest to be thy Sovereign Lord and Master If we be perswaded that it is necessary to receive him whom God hath sent lest we be esteemed Rebels for resisting the Ordinance of Heaven We ought also to believe and be perswaded that it is absolutely necessary to obey him for it is all one not to
and do justice on those who had been the Instruments of their Misery he would set them at Liberty and restore them to their Prosperity and Glory which is meant by bringing them to the Light And then to their great comfort and joy they should behold and understand his righteousness that is That he is just and righteous in all his ways true and faithful in his promises and wonderful in all he doth as David said I know O Lord that all thy judgments are right and that out of faithfulness thou hast afflicted me Psal. cxix 75. Thus I have explained and cleared the Text and shewn you the Occasion Sense and Scope thereof I proceed next to draw such Observations and Instructions as the words afford and as are useful and proper for our consideration And First To rejoice at the Calamities and Afflictions of others and to insult over them who are in Misery is a sign of a Prophane and Ungodly Spirit They who rejoiced at the Calamities of the Israelites were the Idumeans Chaldeans and Babylonians who were no greater Enemies to them than they were to God and the true Religion And Psal. lxix 26. among other Characters of the Wicked this is one That they persecute him whom thou hast smitten and talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded When Iob declareth his Integrity he giveth this as one proof thereof That he rejoiced not at the destruction of him that hated him nor lift up his soul when evil found him Neither saith he have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. To make God's Judgments on others tho' Enemies a matter of Laughter doth very much bewray a want of the Spirit of God and is inconsistent both with the true Fear of God and that Love and Concernedness for others which Religion requires and inspireth They who truly fear God will tremble to see him Angry tho' it be not against themselves but others When the Destruction of the Wicked is foretold it is said That the righteous shall see and fear And accordingly the Prophet Habakkuk foreseeing the Evils and Calamities that were to light upon the Tents of Cusham and the Land of Midian was so far from rejoicing and insulting thereat that he tells us when I heard my belly trembled my lips quivered at the voice rottenness entred into my bones and I trembled in my flesh Indeed it is added in the forecited place That the righteous shall also laugh And Psal. lviii 10. it is said the righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance But hereby is meant that as the righteous is careful to remark all the Acts of the Divine Providence and in particular his exemplary Punishments on notoriously wicked Persons so he will Applaud the Justice and Equity of them and he will be glad to see such evident and convincing proofs of a Deity and Providence for silencing the Atheist and restraining the wickedness of men though still his joy is mixed with a secret regret at the occasion and such an aweful apprehension of the Power and Justice of God as forbids him to mock at the Effects and Expressions of his Displeasure Even as a wise and good Citizen rejoiceth at the good Government of his City and finds a satisfaction in the procedure and execution of Justice which are too grave and important to be mocked at Again the rejoicing at the Calamities of others is inconsistent with the Spirit of Religion which is a Spirit of Love and Humility and which requireth the greatest Love and Sympathy that can be among Men its Precepts are love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that persecute you and despitefully use you Rejoice with them that rejoice and weep with them that weep If thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink Now how little do they observe these Precepts and how little have they of that Spirit which enjoins them who can contrive and work Mischief to their Brethren and when it falls on them behold it with Pleasure We may say to such what our Saviour said to his Disciples who would have been calling for Fire from Heaven on those who would not receive them you know not what manner of Spirit you are of The Miseries and Distresses of others call for Pity and Compassion and one must have put off very much of the Man who draweth Pleasure from the Miseries and Afflictions of other Men tho' they be Enemies Our Saviour knew the Wickedness of Ierusalem and that he was to be crucified therein yet as he drew nigh to it he wept over it by Reason of those sad Calamities which were coming upon it It was David's Interest that Saul was dead yet he did not rejoice at his Death but because the manner thereof was deplorable he mourned for him As it makes Herodias infamous that she rejoiced to see the Head of Iohn Baptist in a Charger so it is recorded to the Commendation of Alexander and Iulius Coesar that neither of them insulted over the Defeat and Distress of their Enemies the first was touched with Compassion when Darius his Mother Wife and Children were taken Prisoners and brought to him and afterwards when Darius himself was killed And the other wept when Pompey's Head was brought to him I know some charge these Tears of Coesar with Hypocrisie seeing he was the Man who pursued Pompey to Death but who knows but the Bowels of Nature at that time overcame his Ambition and other Passions Thirdly They who insult and rejoice in this wise are ignorant of themselves and also of the End of these Divine Judgments they cannot know they are Sinners and that others are so and so punished in their sight to fill them with Fear and to lead them to Repentance otherwise they would make other Uses thereof and would behave themselves otherwise When a Father chastises a Child is it to give Mirth to the rest Or is it not that they may stand in Awe of him and forbear those things which may bring the Rod on their own Back When any Criminal is laid hold on and brought to publick Punishment should they who are equally guilty stand by and laugh either at the Misfortune of their Fellow or the Execution of Justice What Stupidity were this Should they not take Warning and Fear and forsake those Ways which are attended with such Shame and Pain When some told our Saviour of those Galileans whose Blood Pilate mingled with there Sacrifices he answered them Suppose ye these Galileans were Sinners above all others because they suffered such things I tell you nay but except ye Repent ye shall all likewise perish And in Truth they who set light of the Afflictions of others and entertain the Rods on other Mens Backs with Scorn and Derision shall hardly escape themselves Laugh no Man to scorn in the bitterness of his Soul for there is one