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death_n	great_a	life_n	love_n	7,775	5	5.2746	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40055	Foure pious, godly, and learned treatises the first, leads us to the gate of true happinesse : the second, is for instruction, letting us to know what Christ suffer'd for us, that we might enjoy him : the third, is helps and cautions, that we may the better avoid sin : the fourth, brings us to be seekers and suers to God for those things that be above, Collo. 3 / by a late faithfull and godly minister of Jesus Christ ; now since his death recommended to all the people of God, by Mr. John Goodwin.	Late faithfull and godly minister of Jesus Christ.; Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.	1652 (1652)	Wing F1665A; ESTC R40246	109,790	246

said to be a cause in regard of the stipulation and contract that wee make then solemnly by our selves or by those that undertake for us that are our sureties our God-fathers and God-mothers It is a meanes in that regard Let this suffice to be spoken of the meanes whereby Christ as an efficient cause workes this death of sinne and life of grace Before I passe let me tell you as by these causes this death to sinne and life of grace is wrought so there are other causes that serve not to kindle this sacred sparke but to increase it and make it grow to a flame such meanes as doe not serve for the performing of the first act of mortification and vivification but when once there is mortification and quickning in the soule they increase both and those are principally two 1. Faith 2. The Lords Supper Col. 2.12 First Faith so saith the Apostle in Collos 2.12 Yee are buried with Christ in Baptisme wherein you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God I say faith is not the meanes to give us the first assault and impression upon sinne to mortifie and subdue it at the first but when we are morfied Faith helpes and increaseth and perfects that worke of mortification So that the sophisme of our adversaries is easily answered say they if wee bee risen through Christ to a new life of grace and through faith then say they wee have Faith before wee be quickned for say they that which is the cause of the effect must goe before as the cause of that effect Now if Faith bee a meanes to raise us to a new life then before wee have a new life we have Faith for saith the Apostle Yee are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God therefore wee have Faith before wee can rise I answer with Amesius Faith is not the cause of the first mortification but the cause of the increase of mortification it is not that by which at the first wee are quickned but when once wee are quickned it is that by which the worke of vivification is more and more increased Conceive it thus The worke of grace is only the fruit and effect of the Spirit of grace Now when the Spirit of God enlivens and quickens us it begets in us as other graces so the grace of faith Now when this grace of faith is wrought in us by this wee are united more to Christ then before and so partake more of the vertue of Christ and so the worke of Mortification and vivification is more increased Faith then concurres not to the first act of mortification and vivification but it concurres to the increase and augmentation of both The second meanes or cause that concurres not to the first act but to the increase of mortification and vification it is the Lords Supper for that serves as the antient Father calls it as physicke received into the body not only for the checking and curbing and expelling of obnoxious humours but for the restoring of health by consequent so the Lords Supper duly received it serves as a meanes to abate sinfull lusts in us if it bee worthily received I say not by a dead faith hee that receives it worthily it is a meanes to mortifie sinne in him and so by consequent for the quickning of him to a new life the life of grace though not to the first act yet to the increase of that former life that was in him It is called meate Now as the meate that wee receive cannot availe to beget a new life in a man put meat into the mouth of a dead man it doth not quicken him put meate into the mouth of a living man and it increaseth his life So in the Lords Supper worthily received it is not a meanes to worke the first act of Mortificatification and vivification but when once Mortification and vivification are begun when there is a new life in a man this serves as spirituall food to strengthen and increase that life Let this suffice for the answer to the question proposed If Christ bee the cause of death to sinne and of the life of grace how hee is the cause hee is the cause meritorious the exemplary the morall and efficient cause hee is the cause efficient both by his Spirit by his Word and by Baptisme And then he is the cause efficient though not of the first act of mortification and vivification yet of the increase of them that is by Faith and the Lords Supper I come briefly to the use Well if through Christ alone Vse and by vertue derived from him as a head wee die to sinne and live to grace then this serves to stirre us all up to desire and indeavour to bee in Christ that wee may partake of the vertue of Christ whereby sinne may bee killed in us and mortified and whereby wee may be quickned to the life of grace It was the desire of Constantine and the glory of him too hee professed that hee had rather be a member of Christ then the Lord and King of the Empire Now if wee desire to partake of the vertue of Christ our first care must be to labour to be in Christ For looke as it is with a Plant it partakes not of the vertue of the stocke till it be grafted into it and then it doth so it is with us if we be grafted into Christ wee shall partake of the vertue of Christ by which sinne will be mortified in us and we shall be quickned to a new life of grace As it is in the naturall body the members partake not of the vertue of the head unlesse they be united to the head so it is with us except wee be united to Christ through a true and lively faith which is the sinew and ligament by which we are tyed to Christ we doe not partake of the vertue of Christ Indeede many of us desire the favour of great ones to receive benefit from them but there is no man no Monarch on the earth by whom wee can reape that benefit as we may by Christ if we be in him We acknowledge that Kings are Lords of life and death yet they are not Lords of this life and death All the Kings and Monarchs in the world though they may take away the life of their subjects yet they cannot take away the life of one lust or sinne though perhaps they may give life to a man that is not to take it away when they may yet they cannot give a new life to a man they cannot worke this new life the life of grace Therefore it should bee our desire and indeavour to be in Christ that wee may partake of the vertue of Christ since it is onely hee from whom the vertue comes by which sinne is mortified and wee are quickned to a new life Zach. 13.1 Let us labour to bee in him that wee may partake of this vertue In Zach. 13.1 It is

called a fountaine opened for sinne and for trangression Christ is not onely a pond or a poole that is dryed up but a fountaine and perpetuall spring if wee desire to have our soules washed from corruption and sinne let us labour to wash them in this living spring and fountaine And then it is a fountaine opened not a sealed fountaine as wee reade in Scripture And then againe as it is a fountaine opened for the killing of sinne so for the quickning to a new life Looke as it was with that River that Naaman washed himselfe in he was not onely cleansed of his Leprosie but his flesh came againe as the flesh of a childe so every one that is washed in the blood of Christ he is not onely cleansed from the Leprosie and corruption of sinne but his flesh comes as the flesh of a childe the life that he formerly had in Adam comes againe to him by the vertue of Christ That is the first Vse if our death to sinne and life in grace proceede both from Christ this should be a motive to us to labour to be in Christ that we may die to sinne and live with him Vse 2 Secondly if our death to sinne To returne the prayse of grace to Christ and life in grace proceede from Christ then when wee finde in our selves sinne in any sort mortified and that wee are inabled to performe holy duties wee know from whom wee have it let us know to whom we ought to returne the glory of it Let us say as David through thee we have done valiantly It is through Christ and by vertue from him that wee overcome our lusts or else they are too strong for us If wee be enabled to doe holy duties let us lift up our eyes to heaven and say through thee O Christ wee are enabled to doe this As all the vertue whereby wee dye to sinne and live the life of grace is from Christ so it is equall that all the glory should bee returned to Christ It is the greatest sacriledge in the world to attribute any thing to us To mortifie sinne it is a part of Christs kingly power of his kingly office Now hee that chalengeth any vertue and power to mortifie sinne in himselfe or to raise himselfe to a new life of grace hee is guilty of high treason hee usurpes on the Kings prerogative It is Christs prerogative onely to mortifie sinne in us Thirdly if it come of Christ alone our death to sinne and our life of grace then wee see what to judge of them that are out of Christ sinne is neyther mortified in them nor they quickned to a new life of grace If all water proceede from one Fountaine then that that is seperate from that Fountaine must of necessitie be dry If Christ be the Fountaine of all Grace by which our sinnes are mortified and wee quickned to a new life then they that are out of Christ they cannot have eyther death to sinne or the life of grace Whatsoever is in them it is dead if there bee any thing that is good whatsoever it is it is dead whatsoever is alive in them it is but dead it makes them dead to grace here and assures them that except they be revived they shall goe from one death to another from spirituall death to eternall for evermore FINIS THE WOUNDED SAVIOVR ESAY 53.5 But he was wounded for our transgressions IT was not without good reason that among all the Prophets in the Old Testament our Prophet Isay onely should bee stiled by ancient and moderne writers the Evangelicall Prophet He that reades this Chapter whereof my Text is a portion will confesse as much The Chapter conteines a description of Christ of his comming into and his harsh entertainement in the world his sufferings and resurrection so fully and punctually that at the first view a man would think it were rather a History than a Prophesie and rather a relation of some what past then a prediction of any thing to come Wherein for the better distinct understanding of the method and coherence of the words know that Isay the Eagle-eyed Prophet as one calls him having in the second verse of this Chapter shewed how meane and contemptible in the eyes of men Christs incarnation should be In the fourth verse hee shewes what the judgement and censure of the world should bee concerning Christ how basely and indignly they should conceive of him not as hee was indeede the innocent immaculate Lambe of God but as a notorious malefactor one that for his owne sins was stricken of God and humbled But how unjust and impious their opinion was the Prophet shewes in Vers 5. whereof my Text is a part First by remooving the false cause of his suffering which was supposed to be his owne sinne in this particle But We judged him to be stricken and afflicted of God But As if he should say there was no such thing He first remooves the false cause of his suffering which was his owne sinne we judged it to be his owne sinne and deserving But. Secondly by assigning the true cause in these words Hee was wounded for our transsions not for any sinne of his owne but for our transgressions you see the coherence of the words and the context In which observe three parts for they being a discription of Christs sufferings First consider the patient or partie suffering Hee Christ God and man the second person in the Trinitie Hee was wounded Secondly the passion it selfe in these words He was wounded whereby not onely though principally is understood the torments that as * Preached on a good-Friday this day hee suffered on the Crosse but withall all the calamities and miseries that befell him through the whole course of his life For howsoever it be true that the great Captaine of our salvation as the Apostle saith Heb. 2.10 H●b 2.10 did never till the last enter into the maine battell with the spirituall enemies of our salvation yet hee had many skirmishes with them before oft in his life-time he did taste and sippe as it were of the cuppe of Gods wrath but hee did never till then drinke and sucke up the dregges Hee was wounded for our transgressions Thirdly the cause or reason of these sufferings Our transgressions not for any sinnes or demerits of his owne no but hee was wounded for our sinnes and transgressions I shall not presently descend to these particulars I find a But in the entrance of the Text But hee was wounded for our transgressions Gold-smiths weigh their gold to the utmost weight and the priviledges of Scripture are such that there is not a word or tittle but it is as ful of weight as it is certaine of accomplishment This But is like a counterblast of a contrary wind that meetes a Ship in her full sayle and turnes her course another way Thus it runnes Wee judged him stricken of God as deserving it by his owne sins But. It

the death of his Sonne but when wee were enemies S. Aug. psal 113. So saith S. Austin upon Psal 110. God loves us when hee hates us hee loves us as creatures when notwithstanding hee hates us as sinners So I say God doth not then begin to love us when wee are actually reconciled by the death of his Sonne but hee first loved us and because hee loved us therefore hee gave his Sonne Pet. Mart. As Peter Martyr saith excellently as the pledge and pawne and earnest of his love So then that is the second reason that as Christ gave himselfe out of love so God gave Christ because he loved us Thirdly as the love of God was the cause of this so the justice of God required that Christ should die For God had no purpose to redeeme man and man being not able to satisfie Gods justice for his sinne it was needfull that Christ as our suretie should answer that that wee were not able to doe and to take our burden Vse 1 And here when wee consider the infinite wisedome of God devising so to fit a means for the reconciling the mercy and justice of God in our salvation and redemption wee have cause to crie out with the Apostle Oh the deepnesse and riches of the knowledge and wisedome of God how unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out It is true I denie not the print and footsteppes of the wayes of God in the Creation the Heathens themselves discovered by the darke and dimme light of reason The Heathen could discerne it in the Creation but for the print of his footsteps in Redemption men and Angels could not conceive how infinite justice and infinite mercy should come together how sinners should die eternally and bee saved eternally and live for ever How God should be just and yet man that had sinned not die these wayes are past finding out But now in the death of Christ all these seeming contradictions are easily reconciled For now as in the cōposing of Davids Ditty Mercy and Iustice are met together truth and mercie kisse each other For first that God should punish sinne at all it was an act of Gods justice but that God should punish sinne not in our selves but in Christ it was an act of mercy That God should exact the payment of the debt to the utmost far thing it was an act of severe justice but that hee did not exact it at our hands our selves but at the hands of our Suretie this was mercy infinite mercy So that wee have great cause to say and so wee may well with David wee may say on this occasion of Redemption as hee on the Creation Psal 104. Psal 104. How admirable are thy workes In wondrous wisedome thou hast made them all That for the first use Secondly as it serves to set up the wondrous greatnesse of Gods wisedome so likewise it serves to set forth the grievousnesse and haynousnesse of our sinnes It is a true saying No glasse can represent so fully the grievousnesse of our sinnes not the torments of the damned in Hell as the torments of Christ on the Crosse for sin Surely those sinnes must needes bee great that could not bee expiated but at so deare a rate as the shedding of the bloud of Christ I come not to dispute here as the Schooles nicely and curiously and unprofitably whether God could have devised another means to worke the redemption of man kind besides the death of his Sonne I know it is not for man to confine the wisdome of God and to say this God can doe as he saith to the Sea Hither shalt thou goe and here thou shalt stay thy proud waves shall goe no further It is not for man to say so to Gods wisedome and power this God can doe and hee can doe no more But let me tell you thus much that the Sonne of God was more precious and deare in the eyes of his Father then to suffer him to die a cursed death if the worke of redemption could bee so well and so conveniently accomplished otherwise I cannot thinke but that the Sonne of God was more precious in the eyes of his Father then to suffer him to undergo such a cursed Ignominious death if redemption could have beene effected by other meanes Nay I speake more boldly for I may doe it upon good ground the satisfaction for mans sinne it was such a worke as could not have beene performed but by the finger of God Men nor Angels could not doe it they might have given some satisfaction but they could not give a valuable satisfaction 1 Tim. 1.6 As it is 1 Tim. 1.6 Christ gave himselfe a ransome for all that is not all he gave himselfe not only a ransome but a full valuable sufficient ransome I say all men and Angels could not have given to God a sufficient ransome First not men because no man can pay his owne score therefore hee cannot satisfie for others Secondly not Angels being finite created natures they could not undergoe the punishment of our sinnes which was infinite there was an infinite punishment due to our sinnes because we had offended infinite justice and there is no creature can undergoe an infinite punishment Nay I say more all the Angels and Arch-angells in Heaven if they had united their forces to sustaine and indure one moment those exceeding unexpressible agonies that Christ indured on the Crosse when hee said My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee they would have broken them and have crushed them downe irrecoverably to Hell Then farr bee it from us to set light by those sinnes the weight and burden whereof none but Christ could undergoe and when hee did undergoe them it made him bow and buckle and by his owne confession it made his soule heavy to death Thirdly as it serves to discover the greatnesse of our sinnes so it serves to provoke us to sorrow and humiliation for our sinnes for what did Christ shed droppes of bloud for our sinnes and shall not wee shed teares for them Thus it was with the converts Act. 2 37. Act. 2.37 when Peter told them your wicked hands have crucified Christ saith the Text they were pricked in their hearts Nay that is not all they were pricked through in their hearts or violently as it were all the floud-gates of sorrow were opened they were pricked thorow with sorrow And mistake mee not Brethren thinke not that it was the souldiers and the Iewes only that crucified Christ no it was every one of us our hands are as deeply imbrewed in the bloud of Christ as theirs Our wicked thoughts are as thornes that goared his precious head Our wicked actions are as nayles that fastned his hands and feete to the tree Our oathes and blasphemies are as swords and speares that pierced his sacred side Oh then can wee choose but bee pricked in our hearts when wee have crucified Christ If Peter went out and wept bitterly when

arising from the words of the Text Of all which briefly First then of false deaths that seeme to be true in shew but are counterfeit deaths There is a threefold death to sinne A Morall Popish Christian death to sinne The morall death to sinne is distinguished from the true death to sinne especially in foure things First the maine difference is in the Essence of it the truth is a morall death is indeede no death hee that is morally dead to sinne is not indeede dead to sinne for such a mortification takes away not the life of sinne but the harshnesse and rudenesse of sinne it takes it and restraines it it makes sin more tractable and smooth and subtill but it takes not away the life of sinne that is the first Secondly it differs in the efficient cause the efficient cause of a Christians mortification is the Spirit of God Rom. 8.13 Rom. 8.13 If yee mortifie the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit but the cause efficient of morall mortification it is from the temper of the body or good education or the like Consider therefore if it proceede from the Spirit from the generall common operation of the Spirit or from the speciall saving and sanctifying vertue of Gods Spirit Thridly morall mortification differs from that which is true in respect of the Latitude he that is morally mortified he is mortified onely in respect of outward grosse sinnes in respect of such things as are more notorious such as run in the eyes of men such as cause disgrace and dishonour and obloquie but secret spirituall sinnes are unmortified nay it is the observation of Saint Austin that a morall man though he seeme to the eye to be never so much mortified as indeede if a man looke on their formal austerity to looke on Cato or such a one a man would judge them mortified yet commonly they feede one lust and for the sake of that they curbe the rest So Saint Austin upon the Romans observes the lust of covetousnesse of injustice of intemperance c. they curbe them being over borne with the lust of ambition saith he they keepe down all other lusts that they may give more scope to this one lust in his fift booke de Civit. dei Chap. 12. But a true Christians mortification is universall hee doth not kill some sinnes as Saul killed the small Cattell and left Agag and the great ones but he mortifies and crucifies all sinne true mortification will not suffer a man to allow himselfe in the practice of any one sinne Fourthly morall mortification differs from Christian in respect of the issue hee that is truly mortified in such a one sinne hath received its deaths wound in him it never comes fully to be healed and recovered it selfe againe Indeede if hee be negligent in the exercise of mortification it may get strength upon us as the Canaanites being neglected of the Israelites grew stronger but they never obtayned that absolute command and dominion in Canaan as before but for a morrall man because sin is not truly mortified in him therefore when those restraints and retentives are taken away that kept in sinne it rages and dominiers as much as it did before in him or as it doth in another man Let this suffice to be spoken of the difference of morall mortification from that of a true Christian Secondly Popish mortification differs from true mortification in all the degrees and causes It differs from Christian mortification In the efficient materiall formall finall cause First Popish mortification differs from Christian in respect of the object matter the principall object in Popish mortification is not so much perhaps sinne in the members but the members themselves they lash and teare them with scourges and whips their ayme is not so much against sinne as the members whereas true mortification is a revenge on the members as they are instruments of sinne a mans principall grudge is against sinne in his members and not against the members that sinne dwells in Secondly they differ in the efficient cause the cause efficient of true mortification is the Spirit of God Rom. 8.13 Rom. 8.13 If yee through the Spirit doe mortifie the deeds of the body but the cause efficient in Popish mortification is among too many themselves they offer violence to themselves selfe considerations is the summe of their mortification Thirdly the formall cause of Popish mortification is humbling the body abstinence and rending the humane body by whippes and scourges this they make the true bearing of the dying of Christ in their members Getzer 2. booke discipline chap. 8. So saith Getzer in his second booke of discipline Chap. 8. They beare the dying of Christ in their body that shed their blood with whipping and lashing themselves willingly for Christ such a man is sayd to mortifie himselfe It is a strange thing as if wee should goe about to please the divinitie by inhumanitie Fourthly they differ in respect of the end and ayme of both Popish mortification ends not in the destruction of sinne and infeebling the power of it so much as the satisfying of God for sinne Heare what Getzer saith in the same place in his second booke of discipline Chap. 8. saith he such as whip themselves till the blood come for their sinnes by such whipping of themselves they satisfie Gods justice for their sinnes What Christian heart can heare such Doctrine and his heart not ake his ears not glow and his joynts tremble Blessed Saviour that they that stile themselves by thy name should derogate from thee by their blasphemies Wee say the blood of Christ expiates sinne they say their owne blood wilfully shed satisfies God for their sinnes whereas the end of Christian an mortification is not to satisfie God for sinne but to infeeble the power of sinne to breake downe the command and dominion of sinne This shall suffice to bee spoken concerning the first point proposed the false deaths to sinne and those are two Morall and Popish Now I come to shew the Characters of a man that is truly dead to sinne with Christ The first signe of a man that is dead to sinne is this that when occasions are offered and invite him to sinne hee doth not yeeld this is an argument that that man is dead to sinne It is true I confesse there is great power in occasions that except wee keepe a jealous guard they are able to transport a holy sanctifyed man and so they have done the best but I say such a man as when no sooner an occasion is presented but hee is ready to give way to satisfie his lust such a man let him pretend what he will hee is not dead to sinne He is like a tree wee know in winter there is no visible apparent difference betweene a dead tree and that that is alive Simile neither of them have eyther fruite or leaves they differ not in outward view but when the spring comes againe and

after their first sleepe when they are come to themselves So take not a wicked man now in the fulfilling of his lusts but looke on that man when hee hath slept and you will judge otherwise of him he cannot chuse but give a good testimony of a mortified man Fourthly consider the Equitie of it Christ died for sinne that wee might die to sinne 1 Pet. 2.24 1 Pet. 2.24 who his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his owne body on the tree that we being dead to sinne should live unto righteousnesse What did Christ lay downe his life for our lusts and shall not wee lay downe our lusts for Christ did Christ die for our sinnes and shall not we for Christ die to our sinnes Fiftly consider our sins are Traytors and rebels against heaven Tertul. Apol. cap. 2. Well saith Tertullian in his Apologie for the Christians in his second Chapter against Traytors and such as are common enemies every man must be a common Souldier Now our sinnes are Traytors against heaven we cannot better expresse our loyaltie and alleagance to our great Master God then to kill and put to death these rebels it is a most acceptable sacrifice to God Sixtly and lastly consider the example of other men we see what care men take and what paine they will undergoe not for the avoyding but for the putting off a naturall a temporall death for a while Men for the preserving of this temporall life they are content not onely to take harsh Physick but to indure launcing and searing and cutting off the parts a leg or an arme c. so to preserve naturall life if they doe so for preserving of this naturall life Oh what should wee doe for the gaining of eternall life It is true Christ compares lusts to eyes and hands and feete it is true they are eyes but such as when they are pulled out wee may see well enough They are hands but such hands as when they are cut off wee may still doe what wee have to doe without them Now shall a man for the preserving of his temporall life indure a member to be cut off shall not we cut off our superfluous lusts for the gaining of eternal life shal they not for the avoyding but for the respiting of death indure this pain S. Aug. Epist 45. and shal not we for the avoyding of eternall death S. Austin presseth this excellent well in his Epist 45. They doe this not as if there were any hope to put off death quite but only to adjourne and put it off for the present if they do this for the respite of death what should we do for the avoiding of eternal death saith he They undergoe many certaine torments perhaps that they may have hope but of a few uncertaine dayes what do they thus for a temporal life shal not we much more for the procuring of an eternal life Do they so much for the adjourning of a temporall death and shall not wee for the avoyding a perpetuall and eternall death If these arguments perswade us not none can so much for the fourth point the Motives to this death to sin Fiftly if we must die with Christ before we can live with him S. Ierome then as Saint Ierome somewhere hath it It is not so easie a thing as some happily conceive it to bee a Christian It was Iulians scoffe of Constantine Iulian. and in him of all Christians To be a Christian there is no more required but to wash themselves with a little water that is to bee baptised and how great soever their sinnes were before this cleanseth them saith Iulian or if it chance that a man fall into the same sinnes againe saith Iulian It is no more for these Christians but to beat their breasts and to smite their heads and all is well againe in the conclusion of his Caesars But the best is it matters not greatly what Iulian saith it concerned him to speake evill of that saith he was fallen away from if he had spoken well of it hee had spoken against himselfe But he that knew better then Iulian saith Mat. 7.14 straite if the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life Math. 7.14 The way to heaven is straite he that will enter in this way must strippe and divest himselfe of his old lusts The way of Christianitie is a narrow way nay that is not all it is a way full of paine and pressures to the flesh as Camerarius interprets that place Narrow is the way and full of paine to the flesh He that walkes this way must resolve to meet with difficulties hee must take out lessons that are harsh to flesh and bloud to mortifie nay to crucifie the flesh Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Every death is not sufficient to expresse the paine hee must undergoe but crucifying only the death that Christ died that was both a lingring and painfull death Thus every man that will live with Christ must first crucifie his sinfull lusts and affections Which notwithstanding I speake not to deterre or discourage any from entring into the way of Christianitie or having entred for going on in the same way No God-forbid that I should like the ten spies that Moses sent to spie out the land of Canaan bring an ill report upon the wayes of godlinesse but to informe us and arme us Hee that is to travaile into a farre Countrey on which his life and livelihood depends and should meet with a friend that should tell him the way were deepe and troublesome and that there were such difficulties did stand in the way hee would easily perceive that hee did tell him this not to discourage and dishearten him because hee is his friend nor to stay his journey because hee knowes it is upon his life his life lies on it but to arme and prepare him before hand that when he should meet with the difficulties hee might the better encounter them and goe over them I apply it thus Heaven is our countrey we all pretend wee are Pilgrims travelling to heaven the way that leads to heaven is this narrow way our death with Christ the necessitie of walking this way appeares in Math. 7.14 This way Mat. 7.114 and only this leades to life it is the straite gate and the narrow way that leads to life Now when wee tell you of Lyons and Beares in the way the difficulties and incombrances that you shall meet with it is not to discourage you but to arme and provide you It is not to dishearten you you must needs goe your life lies upon it but to arme and prepare you that when you meet with these difficulties you may be the better provided to encounter them It is good saith the Proverbe to know the worst of things before hand lest otherwise after wee have walked in the way we meet with incombrances and dreaming of nothing but delicacies

hee had denied Christ what cause have wee to weepe teares not of brine but of bloud when wee looke upon Christ whom we have so cruelly crucified How can that choose but bee sorrow and compunction to us that occasioned so much anguish and torment to Christ Oh that our heads were rivers and our eyes fountaines of teares that wee might weepe day and night for our sinnes and transgressions Fourthly as it serves to humble us so it serves for comfort and consolation as I told you for what saith the Apostle Christ died who shall condemne Christ died then hee hath appeased his Fathers wrath then hee hath satisfied his Fathers justice then hee hath redeemed us from Hell hee hath made Heaven smile on us hee hath purchased a crowne of glory hee hath tryumphed over and trampled under our spirituall enemies Let mee sing with Isay Isay 44.23 Isay 44.23 Sing oh heavens and shout yee lower parts of the earth Why The Lord hath redeemed Iacob and glorified himselfe in Israell And surely brethren whatsoever wee thinke now in our strength and bravery and jollitie there is nothing in the world will minister comfort but this in time of distresse when wee shall come either upon the racke of conscience or come to the sight and kenne of death or to appeare before that Tribunall there is nothing but the death of Christ will stead us What else in the world will revive and cheare a drouping soule affrighted with horrour groaning and bowed under the burden of sinne What will bee able to stablish a mans heart and conscience that fears the approach of death but this What else will make him stand upright and unapaled before Gods Tribunall at that terrible day In all these sad exigents in these times the bloud of Christ it serves as Rahabs scarlet threed it is a token to us that God will deale mercifully with us Only it must bee our care as it was the Spies condition with Rahab to tie it in the Window wee must looke to tye it to our selves by faith and applie it to our selves and then you shall never miscarry Againe as it serves for comfort and consolation so it serves as a rich Mirrour to set forth the love of God to us If the Iewes could conclude from our Saviours shedding of a few teares over Lazarus Ioh. 11.36 they see him shed a few teares over dead Lazarus Joh. 11.36 see how hee loved him say they With how much more force may wee conclude since Christ hath shed his bloud see how he loved us Greater love then this saith Christ hath no man then to lay downe his life for his friend It is true blessed Saviour greater love hath no man but thou art more then Man and thou hast done more then this for thou hast laid downe thy life for thine enemies It was the honour of that Trajan when a Souldier was wounded he suffered his owne clothes to be rent and made clouts to bind up his wounds but what is this to the love of Christ that not only did forgoe his cloathes but was content that his owne flesh should be torne for us to cover our wounds this he did Observe this love was shewed to us not to Angels creatures more noble Heb. 2.14 Heb. 2.14 By no meanes tooke hee the nature of Angels As hee did not take their nature so hee did not suffer their punishment due to their transgression and Apostacie when those sonnes of the morning fell from their prime estate they fell as the Elephant they could not raise themselves and they are still reserved in chaines of darknesse and shall to the last day but when man sinned God sent his Sonne to suffer death on the Crosse for us wee have reason to say as David Psal 8. Psal 8. Lord what is man that thou art so mindfull of him Lastly if such and so great hath beene the love of Christ to us then what can wee doe lesse then to returne like love backe againe to him Wee know a Diamond is best fashioned by a Diamond love is the best procurer and solicitour of love how can we but love God that hath sent his Sonne to die for us How can wee esteeme any thing too deare for him that esteemed nothing too deare for us And if Christ did give his life for us shall wee grudge to give a penney to part with somewhat for his members How shall wee esteeme any thing too deare for him shall we not part with our lusts for him Surely if there be any argument in the world will prevaile it is this argument from Christs love that will perswade men to obedience so saith the Apostle Saint Paul that apprehended it 2 Cor. 5. 2 Cor. 5. The love of Christ constraineth us it constraineth us to doe that that God requires Let us take heed that wee doe not trample under foot the precious bloud of Christ by committing those sinnes it was shed for Exod. 12.6 In Exod. 12.6 we shall find that the bloud of the Passeover was sprinkled on the two side-posts and the upper doore post but not upon the threshold under-foot implying and intimating in what high reverence and esteeme wee should have the bloud of Christ we should not trample on it The bloud of the Passeover was sprinkled on the two side-posts and the upper post of the house but not on the threshold underfoot If such reverence were due to that that was but the type how much is due to that that is the substance Then let us take heed wee trample not under-foot the bloud of Christ by wilfull committing those sinnes for which it was shed Let it suffice nay let it bee too much that wee have once crucified Christ let us doe so no more if wee doe so wee are worse then the Iewes Every wilfull sinne we commit we crucifie Christ and hee that crucifieth Christ now is worse then the Iewes the Iewes crucified him in the time of his humiliation and abasement but now if wee doe it it is in his exaltation when hee sits at the right hand of God Let us all take up that speech Ezra 9.14 Lord Ezra 9.14 since thou hast stayed us from being beneath for our iniquities should wee breake thy Commandements wouldest not thou returne and confound us Gods blessings are as strong physicke if it worke not health it makes more sicke Every blessing especially such as this makes us either better or worse certainly that heart is steele or brasse which the sence of the love of God cannot move to leave evill and vile courses * ⁎ * FINIS THE EPICURES CAVTION LVK. 21.34 And take heede to your selves least at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkennesse and the cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares IN the Verses going before from the 25. Coherence to the 34. of this Chapter our blessed Saviour had discoursed in the hearing of his Disciples