meditation but for the most part it ought to be so And if souls were accustomed to meditation on God it would become their very nature altera natura pleasant and delightsome However if there be not alwayes an express intention of Gods glory yet there ought to be kept alwayes such a disposition and temper of spirit as it may be construed to proceed from the intention of Gods glory and then it remains in the seed and fruit if not in it self Now when we are speaking of the great end and purpose of our Creation we call to mind our lamentabel and tragicall Fall from that blessed station we were constitute into All men have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3. 23. His being in the world was for that glory and he is come short of that glory O strange short-comming short of all that he was ordained for What is he now meet for For what purpose is that chief of the works of God now The salt if it lose its saltness is meet for nothing for wherewithall shal it be seasoned Mark 9. 50. Even so when man is rendered unfit for his proper end he is meet for nothing but to be cast out and trod upon he is like a withered branch that must be cast into the fire Ioh. 15. 6. Some things if they fail in one use they are good for another but the best things are not so Corruptio optimi pessima As the Lord speaks to the house of Israel shal wood be taken off the vine tree for my work even so the inhabitants of Ierusalem Ezech. 15. 2 3 4 5. If it yeeld not Wine it 's good for nothing so if man do not glorifie God if he fall from that he is meet for nothing but to be cast into the fire of hell and burnt for ever he is for no use in the Creation but to the fuell to the fire of the Lords indignation But behold the goodnesse of the Lord and his kindnesse and love hath appeared towards men not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us through Iesus Christ Tit. 3. 4 5. Our Lord Jesus by whom all thing were created and for whom would not let this excellent workmanship perish so therefore he goes about the work of Redemption a second Creation more laborious and also more glorious than the first that so he might glorifie his Father and our Father Thus the breach is made up thus the unsavory salt is seasoned thus the withered branch is quickned again for that same fruit of praises and glorifying of God This is the end of his second Creation as it was of the first we are his workmanship created to good works in Christ Iesus Eph. 2. 10. This is the work of God to believe in him to set to our seal and to give our testimony to all his Attributes Ioh. 6. 29. and 3. 33. We are bought with a price and therefore we ought to glorifie him with our souls and bodies he made us with a word and that bound us but now he has made us again and paid a price for us and so we are twice bound not to be our own but his 1 Cor. 6. ult And so to glorifie him in our bodies and spirits I beseech you gather your spirits call them home about the businesse We once came short of our end Gods glory and our happinesse but know that it is attainable again we lost both but both are found in Christ Awake then and stir up your spirits else it shal be double condemnation when we have the offer of being restored to our former blessed condition to love our present misery better Once establish this point within your souls and therefore ask why came I hither To what purpose am I come into the world If you do not ask it what will you answer when he asks you at your appearance before his Tribunall I beseech you what will many of you say in that day when the Master returns and takes an account of your dispensation You are sent into the world only for this businesse to serve the Lord Now what will many of you answer If you speak the truth as then you must do it you cannot lie then you must say Lord I spent my time in serving my own lusts I was taken up with other businesses and had no leisure I was occupyed in my calling c. even as if an Embassadour of a King should return him his account of his negotiation I was busie at Cards and Dice I spent my mony and did wear my cloaths Though you think your plowing and borrowing and trafficking and reaping very necessary yet certainly these are but as trifles and toyes to the main businesse O what dreadfull account will souls make they come here for no purpose but to serve their bodies and senses to be slaves to all the creatures which were once put under mans feet Now man is under the feet of all and he has put himself so If you were of these creatures then you might be for them you seek them as if you were created for them and not they for you and you seek your selves as if you were of your selves and had not your descent of God Know my beloved that you were not made for that purpose nor yet redeemed either to serve your selves or other creatures but that other creatures might serve you and ye serve God Luk. 1. 74 75. And this is really the best way to serve our selves and to save our selves to serve God Self-seeking is self-destroying self-denying is soul-saving He that seeketh to save his life shal lose it and he that loseth his life shal find it and he that denies himself and follows me is my disciple Will ye once sit down in good earnest about this businesse It is lamentable to be yet to begin to learn to live when ye must die ye will be out of the world almost ere you bethink your self Why came I into the world Quidam tunc vivere incipiunt cum definendum est imò quidam ante vivere defiêrunt quam inciperent this is of all most lamentable many souls end their life before they begin to live For what is our life but a living death while we do not live to God and while we live not in relation to the great end of our life and being the glory of God It were better saith Christ that such had never been born You who are created again in Jesus Christ it most of all concerns you to ask Why am I made and why am I redeemed And to what purpose It is certainly that you may glorifie your heavenly Father Mat. 5. 16. Psal. 58. 13. And you shal glorifie him if you bring forth much fruit continue in his love Ioh. 15. 8. And this you are chosen and ordained unto ver 16. And therefore abide in him that you may bring forth fruit ver 4. And if you abide in him
but a name they have some outward priviledges of Baptism and hearing the Word and it may be have a form of knowledge and a form of worship but in the mean time they are not baptized in heart they are in all their conversation even conformed to the Heathen world they hate personall reformation and think it too precise and needlesse Now I say such are many of you yet ye would not take it well to have it questioned whether ye shal be partakers of Eternall life you think you are wronged when that is called in question Oh that it were beyond all question indeed But know assuredlie That you are but Christians in the Letter in the Flesh and not in the Spirit Many of you have not so much as a form of knowledge have not so much as the Letter of Religion You have heard some names in the preaching often repeated as Christ and God and Faith and Heaven and Hell you know no more of these but the name you consider not and meditate not on them And those who know the truth of the Word yet the Word abideth not nor dwelleth in you you have it in your mouth you have it in your minde or understanding but it is not received in love it doth not dwell in the heart Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly Col. 3. 16. you have it imprisoned in your minds and shut up into a corner where it is useless can do no more but witnesse against you and scarce that as the Gentils incarcerated and detained the truth of God written by nature within them in unrighteousnesse Rom. 1. 18. So do many of you detain the knowledge of his word in unrighteousness it hath no place in the heart gets no libertie and freedom to walk through the affections and so to order the conversation of men And therefore the most part of men do but fancie to themselves an interest and right to eternall life you think it and do but think it it is but a strong imagination that hath no strength from the grounds of it no stabilitie from any evidence or promise but meerly from it self or it is but a light and vain conjecture that hath no strength in it because there is no question or doubts admitted which many try the strength of it But then I suppose that a man could attain some answerable walking that he had not onlie a form of knowledge but some reality of practice some inward heat of affection zeal for God and godlinesse yet there is one thing that wants and if it be wanting will spoil all And it is this which Christ reproves in the Jews You will not come to me to have life The Scri-Scriptures testifie of me but you receive not their testimonie Suppose a man had as much equitie and justice towards men piety towards God sobriety towards himself as can be found among the best of men let him be a diligent reader of the Scriptures let him love them meditate on them day and night yet if he do not come out of himself and leave all his own righteousnesse as dung behind him that he may be found in Jesus Christ he hath no life he cannot have any right to life eternall You may think this a strange assertion that if a man had the righteousnesse holinesse of an Angel yet he could not be saved without denying all that and fleeing to Christ as an ungodly man And you may think it as strange a supposell that any person that reads the Scriptures and walks righteously and hath a zeal towards God yet are such as will not come to Christ and will not hear him whom the Father hath sent But the first is the very substance of the Gospell There is no other Name by which men may be saved but by Iesus Christ Acts 4. 12. Life eternall is all within him All the treasures of grace and wisdom and knowledge are seated in him Col. 1. 19. and 2 3. All the light of life and salvation is imbodied in this Sun of Righteousnesse since the Eclipse of mans felicitie in the Garden Adam was a living soul but he lost his own life and killed his Posterity Christ Jesus the second common man in the world is a quickning Spirit he hath not only life in himself but he gives it more abundantly and therefore you have it so often repeated in Iohn who was the Disciple most acquainted with Christ In him was life and the life was the light of men 1. 4. And he is the bread of life that gives life to the World Joh. 6. 33. and 35. He is the resurrection and the life 11. 25. and The way the truth and life 14. 6. The Scriptures do not contain eternall life but in as far as they lead to him who is life and whom to know and imbrace is eternall life And therefore saith he These are they which testifie of me Men lived immediatlie in God when he was in innocencie he had life in himself from God but then he began to live in himself without dependance on God the fountain of life and this himself being interposed between God and his life it evanished even as a Beam by the interveening of any grosse body between it and the Sun Now mans light and life being thus eclipsed and cut off the Lord is pleased to let all fulnesse dwell in his Son Jesus Christ and The fulnesse of the God-head dwels in him bodily Col. 2. 9. that since there was no accesse immediatly to God for life a flamming fire and sword of Divine Justice compassing and guarding the tree of Life left man should touch it there might be accesse to God in a Mediator like unto us that we might come to him and might have life from God by the intervention of Jesus Christ. Look then what is in the holy Scriptures and you shal find it but a letter of death and ministration of condemnation while it is separated from him Christ is the very life and spirit of the Scriptures by whose vertue they quicken our souls if you consider the perfect Rule of Righteousnesse in the Law you cannot find life there because you cannot be conformed unto it the holiest man offends in every thing and that holy Law being violated in any thing will send thee to hell with a curse Cursed is he that abideth not in every thing If you look upon the promise of life Do this and live What comfort can you find in it except you could find doing in your selves And can any man living find such exact obedience as the Law requires There is a mistake among many They conceive that the Lord cannot be well pleased with them if they do what they can but be not deceived the law of God requires perfect doing it will not compound with thee and came down in its tearms not one jot of the rigour of it will be remitted If you cannot do all that is commanded all you do
will not satisfie that promise therefore thou must be turned over from the promise of life to the curse and there thou shalt find thy name written Therefore it is absolutely necessary that Jesus Christ be made under the Law and give obedience in all things even to the death of the Crosse and so be made a curse for us and sin for us even he who knew no sin and thus in him you find the law fulfilled Justice satisfied and God pleased in him you find the promise of life indeed established in a better surer way than was first propounded you find life by his death you find life in his dying for you And again consider the Ceremonial Law What were all those Sacrifices and Ceremonies Did God delight in them Could he savour their incense and sweet smels and eat the fat of Lambs and be pacified No he detastes and abhorres such imaginations because that people did stay in the Letter and went no further then the Ceremony he declares that it was as great abomination to him as the offering up of a Dog while they were separated from Jesus Christ in whom his soul rested and was pacified they were not expiatious but provocatious they were not propitiations for sin but abominations in themselves But take these as the shadows of such a living substance take them as remembrances of him who was to come and behold Jesus Christ lying in these swadling cloaths of Ceremonies untill the fulnesse of time should come that he might be manifested in the flesh and so you shal find eternall life in those dead beasts in those dumb Ceremonies If you consider this Lamb of God slain in all these Sacrifices from the beginning of the world then you present a sweet smelling savour to God then you offer the true propitiation for the sins of the world then he will delight more in that sacrifice than all other personall obedience But what if I should say that the Gospel it self is a killing Letter ministration of death being severed from Christ I should say nothing amisse but what Paul speaketh that his Gospel was a savour of death to many take the most powerfull Preaching the most sweet discourse the most plain Writings of the free grace salvation in the Gospel take all the preachings of Jesus Christ himself and his Apostles you shal not find life in them unlesse ye be led by the Spirit of Christ unto himself who is the resurrection and the life It will no more save you than the Covenant of works unlesse that word abide and dwell in your hearts to make you believe in him and imbrace him with your souls whom God hath sent suppose you heard all and heard it gladly and learned it and could discourse well upon it and teach others yet if you be not driven out of your selves out of your own righteousnesse as well as sin and persued to this City of refuge Jesus Christ you have not eternal life Your knowledge of the truth of the Gospel and your obedience to Gods Law will certainly kill you and as certainly as your ignorance and disobedience unlesse you have imbraced in your soul that good thing Jesus Christ contained in these truths who is the Diamond of that Golden Ring of the Scriptures and unlesse your souls imbrace these promises as soul-saving as containing the chief good and worthy of all acceptation as well as your mind receive these as true and faithfull sayings 1 Tim. 1. 15. Thus ye see Christ Jesus is either the subject of all in the Scriptures or the end of it all he is the very proper subject of the Gospel Paul knew nothing but Christ crucified in his preaching and he is the very proper end and scope of the law for righteousness Rom. 10. 3. All the preaching of a covenant of works all the curses and threatnings of the Bible all the rigidexactions of obedience all come to this one great design not that we may set about such a walking to please God or do something to pacifie him but that we being concluded under sin and wrath on the one hand and an impossibility to save our selves on the other hand Gal. 3. 22. Rom 5. 20 21. may be pursued into Jesus Christ for righteousness life who is both able to save us and ready to welcome us Therefore the Gospel opens the door of salvation in Christ the Law is behind us with fire and sword and destruction pursuing us and all for this end that sinners may come to him and have life Thus the Law is made a Pedagogue of the soul to lead to Christ Christ is behind us cursing condemning threatning us and he is before us with stretched-out arms ready to receive us blesse us and save us inviting promising exhorting to come and have life Christ is on mount Sinai delivering the Law with thunders Act. 7. 38. and he is on mount Sion in the calm voice he is both upon the mountain of cursings and blessings and on both doing the part of a Mediator Gal. 3. 19 20. It is love that is in his heart which made him first cover his Countenance with frowns and threats and it is love that again displayes it self in his smilling countenance Thus souls are inclosed with love pursuing and love receiving And thus the Law which seems most contrary to the Gospel testifies of Christ it gives him this testimony that except salvation be in him it is no where else The Law sayes it is not in me seek it not in obedience I can do nothing but destroy you if you abide under my jurisdiction The Ceremonies and Sacrifices say if you can behold the end of this Ministery if a Vail be not on your hearts as it was on Moses face 2 Cor. 3 13 14 you may see where it is it s not in your obedience but in the death sufferings of the Son of God whom we represent Then the Gospel takes all these Coverings and Vails away and gives a plain and open testimony of him There is no Name under heaven to be saved but by Christ's The Old Testament speak by figures and signs as dumb men do but the New speaks in plain words and with open face Now I say for all this that there is no salvation but in him yet many souls not only those who live in their grosse sins and have no form of godlinesse but even the better sort of people that have some knowledge and civility and a kind of zeal for God yet they do not come to him that they may have life Rom. 10. 1 2 3. they do not submit to the righteousness of God Here is the march that divides the wayes of Heaven and Hell coming to Jesus Christ and forsaking our selves the confidence of these souls is chiefly or only in that little knowledge or zeal or profession they have they do not as really abhore themselves for their own righteousnesse as for their unrighteousnesse they make that the covering of
that God As his authority should imprint reverence so his goodnesse thus manifested should engrave confidence And thus the life of man vvas not only a life of obedience but a life of pleasure and delight not only a holy but a happy life yea happy in holinesse Now as it was Pauls great businesse in preaching to ride marches between the covenant of grace and the covenant of works to take men off that old broken ship to this sure plank of grace that is offered by Jesus Christ to drowning souls So it would be our great work to shew unto you the nature of this Covenant and the terms thereof that you may henceforth find and know that salvation to be now impossible by the Law which so many seek in it We have no errand to speak of the first Adam but the better to lead you to the second Our life was once in the first but he lost himself and us both but the second by losing himself saves both We have nothing to do to speak of the first Covenant but that we may lead you or pursue you rather to the second established upon better tearms and better promises The tearms of this covenant are Do this and live perfect obedience without one jot of failing or falling an intire and universall accomplishment of the whole will of God that is the duty required of Man there is no latitude left in the bargain to admit endeavours in stead of performance or desire in stead of duty there is no place for Repentance here if a Man fall in one point he falls from the whole promise by the tenour of this bargain there is no hope of recovery If you would have the duty in a word It s a love of God with all our heart and soul our Neighbour as our self that testified verified in all duties offices of obedience to God love to men without the least mixture of sin infirmity Now the promise on Gods part is indeed larger then that Duty not only because undeserved but even in the matter of it it 's so abundant Life eternal life continuance in a happy estate There is a threatning added In what day thou eatest thou shalt die that is thou shalt become a mortall and miserable creature subject to misery here and hereafter which is more pressingly set down in that Word Cursed is he that abides not in all things written in the law to do them It is very peremptory that men dream not of escaping wrath when they break but in one suppose they did abide in all the rest Cursed is every man from the highest to the lowest the Lord Almighty is engaged against him his countenance his Power is against him to destroy him make him miserable whoever doth fail but in one jot of the commands he shall not only fall from that blessed condition freely promised but lose all that he already possessed fall from that image of God dominion over the creatures and incur in stead of that possessed and expected happinesse misery here on soul body in pains sicknesses troubles griefs c. And Eternal misery on both without measure hereafter Eternall destruction from the presence of the Lord the glory of his power Now This Law is not of Faith saith the Apostle This opens up the nature of the bargain and the opposition between the present Covenant that which is made with lost sinners in a Mediator This Covenant is called of Works Do this and live To him that worketh is the promise made though freely too It is grace that once a reward should be promised to obedience but having once resolved to give it herein justice appears in an equall and uniform distribution of the reward according to Works So that where there is an equality of works there shall be an equality of reward and no difference put between persons equall Which is the very freedome of the Covenant of grace that it passes overall such considerations and deals equally in mercy with unequall sinners unequally it may be with them that are equall in nature You may ask was not Adam to believe in God did not the Law require faith I answer Christ distinguishes a twofold faith You believe in God believe also in me No question he was called to believe in God the Creator of the VVorld and that in a three-fold consideration First to depend on God the self-beeing and fountain-good his own goodnesse was but a fluxe and emanation from that Sun of righteousnesse so was to be perpetuated by constant abiding in his sight the interposition of mans self between him and God did soon bring on this eternal night of darknesse Nature might have taught him to live in him in whom he had life beeing and motion and to forget look over his own perfections as evanishing shadows But this quickly extinguished his life when he began to to live in himself Next he was obliged to believe in Gods word both threatning and promise to have these constantly in his view And certainly if he had kept in his serious consideration the inestimable blessing of life promised and the fearful curse of death threatned if he had not been induced first to doubt and then to deny the truth and reality of these he had not attempted such a desperate rebellion against the Lord. Then thirdly he was to believe and perswade himself of the Lords fatherly love and that the Lord was well pleased with his obedience and this faith would certainly beget much peace quietnesse in his mind and also constrain him to love him and live to him who loved him and gave him life and happinesse out of love yet this holds true that the Apostle saith the law is not of faith to wit in a Mediator and Redeemer it was a bond of immediate friendship there needed none to mediate between God and man there needed no reconciler where there was no ods nor distance But the Gospell is of Faith in a Mediator it s the souls plighting its hope upon Jesus Christ in its desperate necessity so supposes man sinfull and miserable in himself and in his own sense too and so putting over his weight burden upon one whom God hath made mighty to save The Law is not of Faith but of perfect works a watch-word brought in of purpose to bring men off their hankering after a broken and desperate Covenant It admits no repentance it speaks of no pardon it declares no Cautioner or Redeemer there is nothing to be expected according to the tenor of that Covenant but wrath from Heaven either personall obedience in all or personall punishment for ever that is the very tearms of it it knows no other thing Either bring compleat righteousnesse and holinesse to the promise of life or expect nothing but death This may be a sad meditation to us to stand and look back to our former estate compare it with that into which we
THE COMMON PRINCIPILES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION Clearly proved and singularly improved Or a Practical CATECHISM wherein some of the most concerning-foundations of our Faith are solidely laid down And that Doctrine which is according to Godliness sweetly yet pungently pressed home and most satisfyingly handled By that worthy and faithfull Servant of Iesus Christ Mr. Hew Binning late Minister of the Gospel at Goven The 5. Impression carefully corrected amended 1 Tim. 4. 6. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good Minister of Jesus Christ nourished up in the Word of faith and of good Doctrine whereunto thou hast attained Heb. 5. 12. For when for the time ye ought to be Teachers ye have need that one teach you again which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God 1 Pet. 2. 2. As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby Joh. 17. 3. And this is life eternall that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Printed by R. S. Printer to the Town of Glasgow 1666. TO THE READER Christian Reader THe holie and learned Author of this little Book having out-run his years hastned to a maturity before the ordinary season in so much that ripe Summer Fruit was found with him by the first of the Spring for before he had lived twenty five years compleat he had got to be Philologus Philosophus Theologus eximius whereof he gave sutable proofs by his labors having first professed in Philosophy three years with high approbation in the Universitie of Glasgow and thence was translated to the Ministrie of the Gospel in a Congregation adjacent where he laboured in he work of the Gospel near four years leaving an epistle of commendation upon the hearts of his Hearers But as few burning and shining lights have been of long continuance here so he after he had served his own generation by the wil of God and many had rejoiced in his light for a season was quicklie transported to the land of Promise in the 26th year of his age He lived deservedly esteemed beloved and died much lamented by all descerning Christians who knew him And indeed the loss which the Churches of Christ in these parts sustained in his death wâ—…â—…he greater upon a double account First that he was a person fitted with dexteritie to vindicate School divinitie and Practical Theology from the superfluity of vain and fruitless perplexing questions wherewith latter times have corrupted both and 〈◊〉 it upon his spirit in all his way to reduce that native Gospel-simplicitis which in most parts of the world where literature is in esteem and where the Gospel is preached is almost exiled from the School and from the Pulpit a specimen whereof the judicious Reader may find in this little Treatis Besides â—…e was a person of eminent moderation and sobrietie of spirit a rare grace in this generation whose heart was much drawn forth in the study of healing wayes and condeseensions of love among Brethren one who longed for the recovering of the Humanity of Christianity which hath been well near lost in the bitter divisions of these times and the animosities which have followed therupon That which gave the rise to the publishing of this part of his manuscripts was partly the longing of many who knew him after some fruit of his labours for the use of the Church and partly the exceeding great usefulness of the Treatise wherein I am bold to say that some fundamentals of the Christian Religion great Mysteries of Faith are handled with the greatest Gospel-simplicity most dexterious plainness are brought down to the meanest capacitie and vulgar understanding with abundant evidence of a great height and reach of usefull knowledge in the Author Who had he lived to have perfected the explication of the grounds of Religion in this manner as he intended in his opening the Catechisme unto his particular Congregation he had been upon this single account famous in the Churches of Christ But now by this imperfect opus post humum thou are left to judge ex ungue leonem The Authors Method was his peculiar gift who being no stranger to the Rules of Art knew well how to make his method subserve the matter which he handled for though he tell not alwayes that his discourse hath so many parts thou mayst not think it wants method it being maximum artis celare artem that the same spirit which enabled him to conceive communicate to others these sweet mysteries of Salvation may help thee with profite to read and peruse them is the desire of him who is Thine in the service of the Gospel PATRICK GILLESPIE THE CONTENTS SERMON I. Rom. 11. 36. Of him and through him c. 1 Cor. 10 31. Of the chief End of Man THe Fundamentals of Religion necessary to be pondered and imprinted into the soul. Page 1. Our chief end first to be considered p. 2 God is independent and self-sufficient but the most perfect of the Creatures are from another as their first cause and for another as their last end p. 3 Self-seeking in Creatures monsterous p. 4 What self-seeking in God is ibid. Man is in a peculiar way for God p. 5 Sin hath exautorated Man ibid. What it is to glorifie God and how Gods glorifying of us and our glorifying of him differs p. 6 7 How proper it is for man to praise God p. 8 Whether we can alwayes have an express particular thought of God and his glory in every action p. 9 Man is come short of all he was created for ibid. Glorifying of God the end of Mans second Creation p. 10 We are to consider for what purpose we were made p. 11 Believing the most compendious way of glorifying God ib. p. 12. SERMON II. Psal. 73. 24 25. c. 1 Joh. 1. 3. Joh. 17. 21 22. Union and Communion with God the principall end and great design of the Gospel GODS glory and mans happiness inseparably linked together p. 13 Mans dignity above the rest of the creatures p. 14 A twofold Union betwixt God and Adam whence communion with him flowed p. 14 15 The Fall hath broken off Communion with him by dissolving the Union p. 16 Christ the repairer of the breach betwixt God and man p. 17 18. There is neither full seeing of God nor full enjoying of him here p. 19 The Union of a believing soul with God is a great depth p. 20 Love an uniting and transforming thing ibid. Christ's Union with the Father is the foundation of our Union with God and among ourselves not simply that Union of Essence between the Father and the Son but the Union of God with Christ as Mediator p. 21 How should an Union and Communion with God draw forth our souls in desires after such a blessedness p. 22 The enjoyment of God the scope and design which few drive ibid. He who ingages
a little time the advantage of all the Books of the world shal be gone The statutes and Laws of Kings and Parliaments can reach no further then some temporall reward or punishment their highest pain is the killing of this body their highest reward is some evanishing and sading honour or perishing richest But he sheweth his word and judgements to us and hath not dealt so with every nation Psal. 147. 19. 20. And no nation under the whole heaven hath such Laws and Ordinances eternall life and eternall death is wrapt up in them these are rewards and punishments suitable to the Majesty and Magnificence of the eternall Law-giver Consider I beseech you what is folded up here the Scriptures shew the path of life life is of all beings most excellent and comes nearest the blessed being of God When we say life we understand a blessed life that only deserves the name Now this we have lost in Adam death is past upon all men but that death is not the worst it s but a consequence of a soul death the immortall soul whose life consisteth in Communion with God peace with him is seperated from him by sin and so killed when it s cut off from the fountain of life what life can it have any more than a beam that is cut off by the intervention of a dark body from the sun Now then what a blessed Doctrine must it be that brings to light life and immortality especially when we have so much miserably lost it and involved our souls into an eternall death Life is precious in it self but much more precious to one condemned to die to be caught out of the paws of the Lyon to be brought back from the Gibbet O how will that commend the favour of a little more time in the World But then if we knew what an eternall misery we are involved into and stand under a sentence binding us over to such an inconceivable and insupportable punishment as is the curse wrath of God O how precious an esteem would souls have of the Scriptures how would they be sweet unto their soul because they shew unto us a way of escaping that pit of misery and a way of attaining eternall blessednesse as satisfying and glorious as the misery would have been vexing and tormenting O that ye would once lay these in the ballance together this present life and eternall life Know ye not that your souls are created for eternity that they will eternally survive all these present things Now how do ye imagine they shal live after this life your thoughts and projects and designs are confined within the poor narrow bounds of your time when you die in that day your thoughts shal perish all your imaginations and purposes providences shal have an end then they reach no further then that time if you should wholly perish too it were not so much matter but for all your purposes and projects to come to an end when you are but beginning to live and enter eternity that is lamentable indeed Therefore I say consider what ye are doing weigh these in a ballance eternal life the present life if there were no more difference but the continuence of the one shortnesse of the other that this worlds standing is but as one day one moment to eternity that ought to preponderate in your souls do we not here flee away as a shadow upon the mountains are we not as a vapour that ascends and for a litle time appears a solid body and then presently vanisheth Do we not come all into the stage of the world as for an hour to act our part and be gone now then what is this to endless eternity When you have contained as long as since the World began you are no nearer the end of it ought not that estate then to be most in your eyes how to lay up a foundation for the time to come But then compare the misery and vexation of this life with the glory and felicity of this eternall life what are our dayes but few and full of trouble Or if you will take the most blessed estate you have seen or heard of in this world of Kings and rich men and help all the defects of it by your imaginations Suppose unto your selves the highth and pith of Glory and abundance and power that is attainable on earth and when your fancy hath busked up such a felicitie compare it with eternall life O how will that vanish out of your imaginations if so be you know any thing of the life to come you wil even think that an odious comparison you will think all that earthly felicitie but light as vanity every man at his best estate is altogether vanity Eernall life will weigh down eternally 2 Cor. 4. 17. 18. O but it hath an exceeding weight in it self one moment of it one hours possession and taste of it but then what shal the endlesse endurance of it add to its weight Now there are many that presume they have a right to eternall life as the Jews did you think saith he that you have it you think well that you think its only to be found in the Scriptures but you vainlie think that you have found it in them And there is this reason of it because you will not come to me that you may have life vers 40. If you did understand the true meaning of the Scriptures and did not rest on the outward Letter and Ordinances you would receive the testimonie that the Scriptures give of me But now you hear not me the Fathers substantiall Word therefore you have not his Word abiding in you vers 38. There was nothing more generall among that people than a vain carnall confidence and presumption of being Gods people having interest in the promise of life eternall as it is this day in the visible Church There is a multitude that are Christians onlie in the Letter not in the Spirit that would never admit any question concerning this great matter of having eternall life and so by not questioning it they come to think they have it and by degrees their conjectures and thoughts about this ariseth to the stabilitie of some faigned strong perswasion of it In the Old Testament the Lord strikes at the roots of their perswasions by discovering unto them how vain a thing it was and how abominable before him to have an externall profession of being his people and to glory in external Ordinances and Priviledges yet to neglect altogether the purging of their hearts consciences from lusts and Idollisâ—…s to make no conscience of walking righteously towards men Their profession was contradicted by their practice Will ye steal murther and commit adultery and yet come and stand in my house Jer. 7. 8. 9. doth not that say as much as if I had given you liberty to do all these abominations Even so it is this day the most part have no more of Christianitie
which he chiefly aims at Shal we not then conceive that the Lord who instructs every man to this discretion teaches him Isa. 28. 26. Is himself wise in his Counsel and hath some grand project before him in all this Fabrick of the World and the upholding of it since it was made Certainly he hath and if you ask what it is the wise man will teach you in the general He made all things for himself even the wicked for the evil day Pro. 16. 4. Here then is his great design and purpose to glorifie himself to manifest his own Name to men Angels Now his Name comprehends Wisdome Goodnesse Power Mercy and justice the first three he declares in all the works of his hands all are well done wisely done the excellency of the work shews the wonderfull Counsellour the wise Contriver the goodnesse of any creature in its kind declares the inexhausted spring of a selfe-being from whom it proceeds the bringing all these out of nothing and upholding them is a glorious declaration of his power But yet in all the works of his hands there is nothing found to manifest his glorious mercy and justice upon which are the flower and garland of his Attributes and unto which wisedom and power seems to be subservient Therefore his Majesty in that one entire purpose of his own glory resolves to manifest his wrath and his mercy upon men and Angels subjects capable of it which two Attributes are as the Poles about which all the Wheels of Election and Reprobation turns as you see in that place Rom. 9. 22. 23. Let this then be established as the end of all his works as it is designed in his Counsell and nothing else It is not the Creature nor any thing in the Creature which is first in his mind but himself and therefore of him and for him are all things Here they have their rise thither they return even to the Ocean of Gods eternall glory from whence all did spring The right establishing of this will help us to conceive aright of his Counsell of Predestination It is a common cavil of carnall reason How can the Lord reject so many persons foreordain them to destruction It seems most contrary to his goodnesse and wisedom to have such an end of eternall Predestination before him in the creating so many thousands to make men for nothing but to damn them Here carnall reason which enmity to God triumphs But consider I say that this is not the Lord's end and chief design to destroy men even as it is not his Majesties first look or furthest reach to give unto others eternal life so it is not his prime intent to sink them in eternal death as if that were his pleasure delight no indeed neither is the creatures happinesse nor its misery that which first moves him or is most desired of him but himself only and he cannot move out of himself to any businesse but he must return it unto himself therefore the wise Preacher expresses it well He made all for himself even the wicked for the day of evil It was not his great end of creating wicked men to damn them or creating righteous men to save them but both are for a further and higher end for himself and his own Glory All seem to agree about this That the great end of all the Lords Counsels and decrees is his own glory to be manifested on Men Angels and that this must be first in his mind not that there is first or last with him but to speak after the manner of men if he had many thoughts as we have this would be his first thought and in this one purpose this end is chiefly aimed at and all other things are by the Lords counsel subordinate to this as means to compasse that But as concerning the order of these means and consequently of his Majesties purpose about them men by examining his Majesty according to the creatures Rules or according to sense bring him down far below his own infinite greatnesse Some conceive that that was first as it were in his mind which is first done looking upon the execution of his purpose in the works of his power they imagine that as he first created man righteous so this was his first thought concerning man to creat man for the glory of his goodnesse power without any particular determination as yet of his end and I conceive this is the thoght of the multitude of people they think God was disapointed in his work when they hear he created such a glorious creature that is now become so miserable they cannot believe that his Majesty had all this sin and misery determinated with him when he purposed to create him but look upon the emergement of mans Fall into sin and misery as a surprisal of his Majesty as if he had meant another thing in creating him so was upon this occasion of man's sinne driven to a new consultation about the helping of the businesse making the best out of it that might be Thus through wisdome the world knows not God They think God altogether like themselves and so liken him to the builder of an house who let nothing before him in doing so but to build it after that manner for his own ends but thē being surprised with the fall and ruine of it takes a new advisement and builds it up again upon another surer foundation but because they cannot say that God takes any new advisements in time but must confesse that all his Counsels are everlasting concerning all the works of his hands therefore they bring in fore-knowledge to smooth their irreligious conceit of God as if the Lord upon his purpose of creating man had foreseen what should befall him and so purposed to permit it to be so that out of it he might erect some glorious Fabrick of mercy and justice upon the ruines of man And that little or nothing may be left to the absolute Soveraign will of God to which the Scripture ascribes all things they must again imagine that upō his purpose of sending Christ to save sinners he is yet undetermined about the particular end of particular men but watches on the tower of fore-knowledge to espie what they will do whether men will believe in his Son or not whether they will persevere in faith or not and according to his observation of their doings so he applies his own will to carve out their reward or portion of life or death These are even the thoughts which are imbred in your breasts by nature that which the learned call Arminianism is nothing else but the carnal reason of mens hearts which is enmity to God it is that very Disputation which Paul in this Chapter exclaims against Who art thou O man that disputes But certainly all this contrivance is nothing beseeming the wisdome of Soveraignity of God but reflects upon both upon his wisdome that he should have
he doth first and so some do rank his decrees that he had first a thought of glorifying men and to attain this end he purposed to give him grace and for this purpose to suffer him to fall for all to create him But we must not look thus upon it either it were a foolish rediculous counsell unbeseeming the poor wisdom of man to purpose the glorifying of man whom he had not yet determined to create therefore we should alwayes have in our mind that the great end and project of all is the glory of his mercy and justice upon men and this we may conceive is first in order neither mens life nor death but Gods glory to be manifested upon men Now to attain this glorious end with one inclination or determination of his will not to be distinguished or severed he condescends upon all that is done in time as one compleat and intire mean of glorifying himself so that one of them is not before another in his mind but all together for attaining this he purposes to create man he ordains the fall of all men into a state of sin and misery some of these upon whom he had resolved to shew his mercy he gives them to Christ to be redeemed restored by grace Others he fore-ordains them to destructions all this at once without any such order as we imagine Now though he intend all this at once and together yet it doth not hence follow that all these must be executed together as when a man intends to build a house for his own accommodation there are many things in the house upon which he hath not severall purposes But yet they must be severally and in some order done First the foundation laid then the Walls raised then the roof put on yet he did not intend the foundation to be for the walls or the walls for the roof but altogether for himself Even so the Lord purposes to glorifie his mercy and justice upon a certain number of persons and for this end to give them a being to govern their falling into misery to raise some out of it by a Mediator and to live some into it to destruction all this as one intire mean to illustrate his glorious mercy and justice but these things themselves must be done not all at once but one before another either as their own nature require or as he pleaseth the very nature of the thing requires that man be created before he sin that he sin and fall before a Mediator suffer for his sin and that he have a being before he have a glorious being and that he have a sinfull and miserable being before he have this glorious and gracious being which may manifest the grace and mercy of God But it is the pleasure of the Lord that determines in what time and order Christ shal suffer either before or after the conversion of sinners or whether sinners shal presently be instated in glory and perfectly delivered from all sin at their first conversion or only in part during this life Seeing then this was his Majesties purpose to make so many vessels of honour upon whom he might glorifie the riches of his grace end mercy And so many vessels of wrath upon whom he might shew the power of his anger You may think what needed all this businesse of mans redemption might not God have either preserved so many as he had appointed to glory from falling into sin and misery or at least have freely pardoned their sin without any satisfaction and out of the exceeding riches of his mercy and power have as well not imputed sin to them at all as imputed their sins to Christ who was not guilty What needed his giving so many to the Son and the Sons receiving them What needed these mysteries of Incarnation of Redemption seeing he might have done all this simply without so much pains and expence why did he choose this way Indeed that is the wonder and if there were no more end for it but to confound mortality that dare ask him what he doth it is enough Should he be call◅ down to the Bar of Humane Reason to give an account of his matters Who hath known the mind of the Lord or being his counsellour hath taught him That is in the depths of his unsearchable understāding that he chose to go this round to compasse his end by such a strange circuit of means when he might have done it simply and directly without so much pain yet it is not so hidden but he hath revealed as much as may satisfie or silence all flesh For we must consider that his great project is not simply to manifest the glory of his goodnesse but of his gracious and mercifull goodnesse the most tender and excellent of all therefore man must be miserable sinfull and vile that the riches of his grace may appear in choosing and saving such persons But that it may appear also how excellent he could make man and how vain all created perfections are being left to themselves therefore he first made man righteous and being fallen into sinne and misery he might straight way have restored him without more ado but his purpose was to give an exact demonstration of mercy tempered and mixed with justice and therefore he finds out the satisfaction in his eternall Counsell I have found a ransome and so he chooses Jesus Christ to be the head of these chosen souls in whom they might be again restored unto eternal life and these souls he in his everlasting purpose gives over to the Son to be redeemed and these the Son receives And thus the glory of mercy and justice shines most brightly yea more brightly than he had at first pardoned O how doth his love and mercy appear that he will transfer our sins upon his Holy Son and accept that Redemption for us and his Justice that a Redemption price he must have even from his Son when once he comes in the stead of sinners and in this point do the Songs of Eternity concenter Rom. 9. 22. and Eph. 1. 11. WE are now upon a high subject high indeed for an eminent Apostle much more above our reach the very consideration of Gods infinite wisdome might alone suffice to restrain our unlimited thoughts and serve to sober our minds with the challenge of our own ignorance and darknesse yet the vain and wicked mind of man will needs quarrell with God enter the lists of disputation with him about his righteousnesse and wisdome in the Counsel of Election and Reprobation But who art thou O man that replyest against God or desputes ver 20. This is a thing not to be disputed but believed and if ye will believe no more than ye can comprehend by sense or reason then ye give his Majesty no more credit than to weak mortall man Whatever secret thoughts do rise up in thy heart when thou hearest of Gods fore-ordaining men to Eternall life
without previous fore-sight or consideration of their doings preparing men to eternall wrath for the praises of his Justice without previous consideration of their deservings passing a definitive sentence upon the end of all men before they do either good or evil When ever any secret â—…urmises rise in thy heart against this learn to answer this enter not the lists of disputation with corrupt reason but put in this bridle of the fear of Gods greatnesse and the conscience of thy own basenesse labour to restrain thy undaunted wild mind by it Ponder that well who thou art who disputes who God is against whom thou disputes if thou have spoken once thou wilt speak no more what thou art who is as clay formed out of nothing what he is who is the former and hath not the Potter power over the clay Consider but how great wickednes it is so much as to question him or ask an account of his matters after you have found his will to be the cause of all things then to enquire further into a cause of his wil which is alone the self-rule of righteousnesse it is to seek something above his will and to reduce his Majesty into the order of Creatures it is almost abominable usurpation and sacriledge for both it robes him of his royall prerogative and instates the base foot-stoole in his Throne But know that certainly God will overcome when he is judged Psa. 51. 6. If thou judge him he will condemn thee if thou opugâ—… his absolute and holy Decrees he will hold thee fast bound by them to thy condemnation he needeth no other defence but to call out thy own conscience against thee bind thee over to destruction therefore as on saith well Let the rashnesse of men be restrained from seeking that which is not lest peradventure they find that which is Seek not a reason of his purposes lest peradventure thou find thy own death and damnation infolded in them Paul mentions two Objections of carnal fleshly wisdome against this Doctrine of Election and reprobation which indeed contain the sum of all that is vented and invented even to this day to defile the spotlesse truth of God all the whisperings of men tend to one of these two either to justifie themselves or to accuse God of unrighteousnesse And shal any do it and be guiltlesse I confesse some oppose this Doctrine not so much out of an intention of accusing God as out of a preposterous ignorant zeal for God even as Iobs friends did speak much for God nay but it was not wel spoken they did but speak wickedly for him some speeak much to the defence of his righteousnesse and holynesse and under pretence of that plea make it inconsistent with these to fore-ordain to life or death without the fore-sight of their carriage But shall they speak wickedly for God or will he accept their person He who looks into the secrets of their heart knows the rise and bottome of such defences and appologies for his Holinesse to be partly self-love partly narrow and limited thoughts of him drawing him down to the determination of his own greatest enemy carnall reason Since men will ascribe him no righteousnesse but such a one of their own shaping conformed to their own modell do they not indeed rob Him of His Holinesse and Righteousnesse I find two or three Objections which it may be reduced to this Head First it seems unrighteousnesse with God to predestinate men to eternal death with out their own evil deserving or any fore-thought of it that before any man had a being God should have been in his Counsel fitting so many to destruction Is it not a strange mocking of the creatures to punish them for that sin and corruption unto which by his eternal Counsel they were fore-ordained This is even that which Paul objects to himself is there unrighteousnesse with God Is it not unrighteousness to hate Esau before he deserves it Is he not unrighteous to adjudge him to death before he do evill vers 14. Let Paul answer for us God forbid VVhy there needs no more answer but all thoughs or words which may in the least reflect upon his holinesse are abomination though we could not tell how it is righteous and holy with him to do it yet this wee must hold that it is It is his own property to comprehend the reason of his Counsels it is our duty to believe what he reveals of them without further enquiry he tells us that this it is clearly in this Chapter this far then we must believe he tells us not how it is then further we should not desire to learn God in keeping silence of that may put us to silence make us conceive that there is a depth to be admired not sounded Yet he goeth a little further and indeed as high as can be to Gods will he hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth now further he cannot go for there is nothing above this we may descend from this but we cannot ascend or rise above it But is this any answer to the Argument A Sophister could presse it further and take advantage from that very ground What is not this to establish a meer tyranny in the Lord that he doth all things of meer will and pleasure distributes rewards punishments without previous consideration of mens carriage But here we must stand and go no further than the Scriptures walks with us what ever reasons or causes may be assigned yet certainly we must at length come up thither All things are because he so willed and why he willed we should not ask a reason because his will is supream reason and the very self-rule of all Righteousness Therefore if once we know his will we should presently conclude that it is most righteous and holy If that evasion of the fore-knowledge of mens sins and impenitency had been found â—…id certainly Paul would have answered so not â—…ve had his refuge to the absolute will and pleasure â—…f God which seems to perplex it more but he knew well that there could nothing of that kind whether good or evill either actually be without his wil or be to come without the determination of the same will and so could not be foreseen without the Counsel of his will upon it and therefore it had been but a poor shiâ—… to have refuge to that starting hole of fore-knowledge out of which he must presently flee to the will pleasure of God so he betakes him straight way to that he must hold at and opposes that will to mans doings It is not of him that willeth c. If he had meant only that Iacob and Esau had actuallie done neither good nor evill he needed not return to the sanctuary of Gods will for still it might be said it is of him â—…hat runs and wills and not of Gods will as the first Original because their good and evill
are fallen that Image we spoke of is defaced and blotted out which was the glory of the Creation and now there is nothing so monstrous so deformed in the world as man the corruption of the best thing is alwayes worst the ruines of the most noble creature are most ruinous the spot of the soul most abominable we are nothing but a masse of darknesse ignorance errour inordinate lust nothing but confusion disorder and distempers in the soul and in the conversation of men in sum that blessed bond of friendship with God broken discord enmity entered upon our side separated us from God and so we can expect nothing from that first Covenant but the curse and wrath threatned By one mans disobedience sin entered upon all death by sin because in that agreement Adam was a common person representing us and thus are all men once subject to Gods judgement come short of the glory of God fallen from life into a state of death for any thing could be expected irrevocably But it hath pleased the Lord in his infinite mercy to make a better Covenant in Christ his Son that vvhat vvas impossible to the Law by reason of our vveakness and vvickedness his Son sent in the flesh condemned for sin might accomplish Rom. 8. 3. There is some comfort yet after this that Covenanâ—… vvas not last and that sentence vvas not irrevocable He maketh a new transaction layes the iniquity of his elect upon Christ and puts the curse upon his shoulders vvhich vvas due to them Justice cannot admit the abrogation of the Law but mercy pleads for a temperament of it and thus the Lord dispenses vvith personal satisfaction vvhich in rigour he might have craved and finds out a ransom admits another satisfaction in their name And in the Name of that Cautioner and Redeemer is salvation preached upon better terms Believe and thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. Thou lost and undone sinner vvhoever thou art that findest thy self guilty before God and that thou canst not stand in judgement by the former Covenant thou vvho hast no personal righteousness and trusts in none come here embrace the righteousness of thy Cautioner receive him and â—…est on him and thou shalt be saved Eccles. 7. 29. God made man upright but he sought out many inventions THe one half of true Religion consists in the knowledge of ourselves and the other half in the knowledge of God and vvhatever besides this men study to know and apply their hearts unto it 's vain and impertinent and like medling in other menâ—… matters neglecting our own if vve do not give our minds to the search of these All of us must needs grant this in the general that it is an idle and improfitable wandering abroad to be carried forth to the knowledge and use of other things and in the mean time to be strangers to our selves vvith vvhom vâ—… should be most acquainted If any man vvas diligenâ—… and earnest in the enquiry and use of the things of the vvorld Solomon vvas he applyed his heart to seek out vvisdom and vvhat satisfaction vvas in the knowledge of all things natural and in this he attained a great degree beyond all other men yet he pronounces of it all after experience and tryal that this also was vanity and vexation of spirit not only empty and unprofitable and not conducing to that true blessedness he sought after but hurtful and destructive nothing but grief and sorrow in it After he had proved all vvith a resolution to be vvise yet it vvas far from him I said I will be wise but it was far from me verse 23. And therefore after long vvandering abroad he returns at length home to himself to know the estate of mankind Lo this only have I sound c. ver 29. When I have searched all other things found many things by search yet saith he vvhat doth it all concern me vvhen I am ignorant of my self There is one thing concerns me more then all to know the original of Man vvhat he once vvas made and to know how far he is departed from his Original This only I have found profitable to men and as the entry and preparation to that blessedness I enquire for To have the true discovery of our misery There are two things then concerning man that you have to search to know that not in a triâ—…ing or curious manner as if you had no other end in it but to know it as men do in other things but in a serious earnest way as 〈◊〉 a matter of so much concernment to our eternal well-being In things that relate particularly to our selves vve labor to know them for ome advantage besides the knowing of them even though they be but â—…mal and lower things how much more should vve propose this unto our selves in the search and examination of our own estate not meeâ—…ly to â—…now such a thing but to know it that vve may be 〈◊〉 up and provoked in the sense of it to look after the remedy that God holds forth There are two things that you have to know What man once vvas made and how he is now unmade how happy once and how miserable now And answerable to these two are the branches of the Text God made manâ—…upright that he was once and they have fought out many inventions not being contented vvith that blessedness they vvere created into by catching at a higher estate of vvisdom have fallen down into a gulf of misery as the man that gazed on the stars above him and did not take notice of the pit under his feet till he fell into it and thus man is now So you have a short account of the two estates of men of the estate of grace and righteousness vvithout sin and the estate of sin and misery 〈◊〉 grace You havâ—… thâ—… 〈◊〉 story of man from the creation unto his present condition But all the matter is to have the lively sensâ—… of this upon our hearts I had rather that vve vvent home bewailing our loss and lamenting our misery and longing for the recovery of that 〈◊〉 then that vve vvent out vvith the exact memory of all 〈◊〉 is spoken and could repeat it again God made man upright At hiâ—…â—…st moulding the Lord shewed excellent Art and Wisdom and Goodness too Man did come forth from under his hand in the first edition very glorious to show vvhat he could do Upright that is all right very exactly conformed to the noble and high pattern endowed vvith divine vvisdom such 〈◊〉 might direct him to true happiness and furnished vvith a divine vvillingness to follow that direction The command was not above his head as a rod but within his heart as a natural instinct all that vvas vvithin him vvas comely beautiful for that glorious light that shined upon him having life and love vvith it produced a sweet harmony in the soul he knew his duty and loved it and vâ—…as
that so many do abide in themselves and trusting to their own good purposes resolutions endeavoâ—…s do think to pacifie God and help themselves out of their misery But O look again and look in upon your selves in the glass of the Word and there is no doubt but you vvill straightway be filled vvith confusion of face and be altogether spoiled of good confidence and hope as you call it you vvill find your self plunged in a pit of misery and all strength gone and none on the right hand or the left to help you and then and not till then vvill the second Adams hand stretched out for our help be seasonable That vvhich next follows is that vvhich is the companion of sin inseparably Death hath past upon all and that by sin Adams one disobedience opened a port for all sin to enter upon mankind and sin cannot enter vvithout this companion Death Sin goes before and Death follows on the back of it and these suite one another as the vvork and the vvages as the tree and the fruit they have a sibness one to another sowing to corruption reaps an answerable harvest to vvit corruption Sowing to the vvind and reaping the vvhirlewind how suitable are they That men may know how evil and bitter a thing sin is he makes this the fruit of it In his first Law and sanction given out to men he joyns them inseparably sin and death sin and vvrath sin and a curse By Death is not only meant bodily death which is the separation of the soul from the body but first the spiritual death of the soul consisting in a separation of the soul from Gods blessed enlightning enlivening and comforting countenance Mans true life wherein he differs from beasts consists in the right aspect of God upon his soul in his walking with God and keeping communion with him all things besides this are but common and base and this was cut off his comfort his joy and peace in God extinct God became terrible to his conscience and therefore man did flee and was araid when he heard his voice in the garden Sin being interposed between God and the soul cut off all the influence of heaven Hence arises darkness oâ—… mind hardness of heart delusions vile affections horror of conscience Look what difference is between a living creature and a dead carcase so much is between Adams soul upright living in God and Adams soul separated from God by sin Then upon the outward man the curse redounds the body becoms mortal which had been incorruptible it 's now like a besiedged City now some outward sorts are gained by diseases now by pains and torments the outward wals of the body are at length overcome and when life hath fled into a Castle within the City the heart that is at last all besiedged so straitly and stormed so violently that it must render unto death upon any terms The body of man is even a seminary of a world of diseases and grievances that if men could look upon it aright they might see the sentence of death every day performed Then how many evils in estate in friends and relations in imployments which being considered by Heathens hath made them praise the dead more then the living but him not yet born most of all because the present life is nothing else but a valley of misery and tears a sea of troubles where one wave continually prevents another and comes on like Iobs messengers before he speak out his woâ—…ul tydings another comes with such like or worse But that which is the sum and accomplishment of Gods curse and mans misery is that death to come eternal death not death simply but an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power An infinite loss because the loss of such a glorious life in the enjoyment of Gods presence and an infinite hurt and torment beside and both eternal Now this is that we would lay before you you are under such an heavy sentence from the womb a 〈◊〉 of the Almighty adjudging you for Adams guilt and your own to all the misery in this world and the next to all the treasures of wrath that are heaped up against the day of wrath and strange it is how vve can live in peace and not be troubled in mind vvho have so great and formidable a party Be perswaded O be perswaded that there shal not one â—…ot of this be removed it must be fulfilled in you or your Cautioneâ—… and vvhy then is a Savior offered a City of refuge opened and secure sinners vvill not flee into it But as for as many as have the inward dreadful apprehension of this vvrath to come and knows not vvhat to do know that to you is Jesus Christ preached the second Adam a quickning Spirit and in that consideration better then the first not only a living soul himself but a Spirit to quicken you vvho are dead in sins one that hath undertaken for you and vvill hold you fast Adam vvho should have kept us lost himself Christ in a manner lost himself to save us And as by Adams disobedience all this sin misery hath abounded on man know that the second Adam his obedience and righteousness is of greater vertue and efficacy to save and in stead of sin to restore righteousness and in stead of death to give life therefore you may come to him and you shal be more surely kept then beâ—…ore 1. Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Iesus Christ came in the world to save sinners OF all Doctrines that ever vvere published to men this contained here is the choisest as you see the very preface prefixed to it import And truly as it is the most excellent in it self it could not but be sweet unto us if we had received into the heart the belief of our own wretchedness misery I do not know a more soveraign cordial for a fainting soul then this faithful saying That Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners And therfore we are most willing to dwel on this â—…ubject and to inculcate it often upon you That without him ye are undone and lost and in him you may be saved I profess all other subjects howsoever they might be more pleasing to some hearers are unpleasant and unsavory to me This is that we would once learn and ever be learning to know him that came to save us and come to him We labored to show unto you the state of sin and misery that Adams first transgression hath subjected all mankind unto which if it were really and truly apprehended I do not think but it would make this saying welcome to our souls Man being plunged into such a deep pit of misery sin and death having over-flowed the whole world and this being seen and acknowledged by a sinner certainly the next question in order of nature is this Hath God left all to perish in this
estate Is there any remedy provided for sin and misery And this will be indeed the query of a self-condemned sinner Now there is a plank afâ—…er this broken ship there is an answer sweet and satisfactory to this question Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners We shal not expatiate into many notions about this or multiply many branches of this The matter is plain and simple and we desire to hold it out plainly and simply that this is the remedy of sin and misery When none could be â—…ound on the right hand or left hand here a Savior from heaven comes down from above whence no good could be expected because a good God was provoked Can any good come out of Nazareth that was a proverb concerning him But I think in some sense it might be said can any good thing come down from heaven from his holy â—…abitation to this accursed earth Could any thing â—…e expected from heaven but wrath and vengeance And if no good could be expected that way what way could it come Sure if not from heaven then from no â—…rt yet from heaven ouâ—… help is come from vvhence it could not be looked for even from him vvho vvas offended and his justice engaged against man that he might both satisfie justice and save man that he might not vvrong himself nor destroy man utterly he sends his only begotten Son equal vvith himself in majesty and glory into the vvorld in the state of a servant to accomplish mans salvation and perform him satisfaction Therefore Christ came into the world to save sinners There vvere two grand impediments in the way of mans salvation which made it impossible to man one is Gods justice another is mans sin these two behoved to be satisfied or removed ere there can be access to save a sinner The sentence of divine Justice is pronounced against all mankind Death past on all A sentence of death and condemnation Now vvhen the righteousness and faithfulness of God is engaged into this how strong a party do you think that must be What power can break that prison of a divine curse and take out a sinner from under Justice hand Certainly there is no coming out till the uttermost farthing be paid that was owing till compleat satisfaction be given to all vvrongs Now truly the redemption of the soul had ceased for ever it 's so precious that no creature can give any thing in exchange for it except Jesus Christ had come into the vvorld one that might be able to tread that winepress of wrath alone give his life a ransomer in value far above the soul and pay the debt of sin that vve vvere owing to Goâ—… And indeed he vvas furnished for this purpose a peâ—… son suted and fitted for such a vvork A man to undertake it in our name and God to perform it in hiâ—… own strength A Man that he might be made undeâ—… the Law and be humbled even to the death of 〈◊〉 cross that so he might obey the commandment aâ—… suffer the punishment due to us and all this was elevated beyond the vvorth of created actions or sufferings by that divine nature This perfumed all hiâ—… Humanity and all done by it or in it this put the stamp of Divinity upon all and imposed an infinite value upon the coyn of finite obedience and sufferings And so in his own person by coming into the vvorld and acting and suffering in the place of sinners he hath taken the first great impediment out of the vvay taken down the high vvall of divine Justice vvich had enclosed round about the sinner and satisfied all its demands by paying the price so that there is nothing upon Gods part to accuse or condemn to hinder or obstruct salvation But then there is an inner vval or dark dungeon of sin into vvhich the sinner is shut up and reserved in chains of his own lusts until the time of everlasting darkness and vvhen Heaven is opened by Christs death yet this keeps a sinner from entring iâ—… Therefore Jesus Christ vvho came himself into thâ—… vvorld to satisfie Justice and remove its plea thâ—… there might be no obstruction from that airth 〈◊〉 sends out his powerful Spirit vvith the Word to deliver poor captive sinners to break down the vval of ignorance and blindness to cast down the high tower of vvickedness and enmity against God to take captive and chain our lusts that kept us in bondage And as he made Heaven accessible by his own personal obedience and sufferings so he makes sinners ready â—…nd free to enter into salvation by his Spirits vvorking in their persons In the one he had God as it vvere his party and him he hath satisfied so far that â—…here vvas a voice came from heaven to testifie it â—…is is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased â—…nd therefore in testimony of it God raised him from the dead In the other he hath Satan and mans vvicked nature as his party and these he must conquer and subdue these he must overcome ere vve can be saved A strange business indeed and a great vvork to bring such two opposite and distant parties togetheâ—… a holy and just God and a sinful and rebellious creature and to take them both as parties that he might reconcile both Now vvhat do ye think of this my beloved that â—…uch a glorious person is come down from Heaven â—…or such a glorious vvork as the salvation of sinners 〈◊〉 put no doubt it vvould be most acceptable unto you 〈◊〉 ye knew your misery and knowing your misery you could not but accept it if you believed that it vvere true and faithful I find one of these two the great obstruction in the vvay of souls receiving advanâ—…age by such glad tydings either the absolute necessiâ—…y and excellency of the Gospel is not considered or â—…he truth and reality of it is not believed Men eiâ—…er do not behold the beauty of goodness in it or 〈◊〉 not see the light of truth in it either there is noâ—…ing discovered to engage their affections or nothing â—…en to perswade their understandings Therefore â—…he Apostle sounds a Trumpet as it vvere in the entry before the publication of these glad news and commends this unto all men as a true and faithful â—…aying and as vvorthy of all acceptation There is â—…ere the highest truth and certainty to satisfie the mind It 's a faithful saying and there is here also thâ—… chiefest good to satiate the heart It 's worthy of alâ—… acceptation Now if you do really apprehend your lost and miserable estate you cannot but behold that ravishing goodness in it and behold that you cannot til you see the other first Whence is it I pray you that so many souls are never stirred vvith the propâ—…sition of such things in the Gospel that the riches aâ—… beauty of salvation in JESUS CHRIST doth not once move them Is it not because therâ—… is no lively apprehension of their misery vvithoâ—… him FINIS GLASGOW Printed by ROBERT SANDERS and are to be sold at his Shop M. DC LXVII