son of a temporary Prince be free how much more shall the Son of God be free But yet it behoves us to fulfill all righteousness He would be a subject unto Caesar and in recognition of his subjection he would pay Tribute though he fetched it out of the fishes belly Hence the Apostle tells us Rom. 13. For this cause you pay Tribute to testifie your subjection Neither was Christ only a servant to them who were in some Authority but generally among men he was in the state of a servant Mat. 20.28 The son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many Not to be a Master to command and have others to attend him but he came to be a servant see in what esteem he was had We account a servant in the next degree unto a beast for liberty is that whereby a man breâ—â—hs and a man were better be dead then have his liberty took from him and so Christ was not only a bond-man in regard of hâ—s Father but in regard of men In the estimation of men he was vilified for a bond-man and that will appear by the price for which he was sold. It was thirty pieces of silver To consider what the price was is a considerable part of his passion There is a Prophesie cited out of Jeremy in your books but it is Zachary though I have seen some copies which mentioned neither but only according to the words of the Prophet it is Zach. 11.13 Cast it unto the potter a goodly price that I was prized at of them He speaks it with disdain And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. Exod. 21.32 There is a place parallel to it which will expound it clearly If an Ox shall push a man-servant or a maid-servant that he die the Owner of the Ox shall give to the Master of the servant thirty shekels and the Ox shall be stoned It was the very price that was paid for a slave Thirty shekels which is 3 l. 15 s. in our money A base estimation they had of Christ as if he were a bond-man the same price that was given for a slave that was killed by an Ox for this same price was he sold. In the second book of Josephus cap. 12. When Ptolomaeus Philadelphus would redeem all the Jews which were bond-men It s set down what he paid for a slave There is set down a great summ of money and the number of the slaves Here stands the valuation divide the number of Drachms by the number of slaves and you shall find the quotient for every man 120 drachms four Drachms make a shekel thirty shekels was the ordinary rate cryed in the Market for the price of a bond-man Thus Christ took on him the form of a bond-man not only Gods bond-man but in the estimation of men so despicable that they valued him at no higher rate then thirty pieces of silver This is but the beginning and entrance on Christs humiliation to be made in the similitude of sinfull flesh and in the verity of true flesh Christ had all infirmities as weariness hunger thirst which follow a sinfull man which were not sinfull such a nature he took upon him and then he became obedient both by active and passive obedience That which remains of the pains of his life to the passage of his dolefull death we will speak of the next time FINIS PHIL. 2.8 And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto the death even the death of the Cross. IN these words and those that went before you see there is delivered unto us the point of the humiliation of the Son of God It stands in this 1. That he took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man God the Son the second person in the Trinity did assume our dust and ashes unto the Unity of his own sacred person 2. This humane nature being thus assumed he was content to deprive himself a long time of that beatifical vision which he might have still enjoyed in that time was as obedient as the meanest and poorest servant of his Father Nor was he only actively but passively obedient He was obedient unto the death he was content to lay down his life for our Redemption And it was not every death that would serve the turn but it must be the death of the Cross the most accursed shamefull and painfull death that death which was most suitable and best able to answer the wrath of God First He humbled himself by taking our nature upon him He that thought it no robbery to be equal with God took upon him the form of a man If it were an abasement for God to look upon heaven the most glorious of his works how much more to take upon him a clod or peice of this earth and unite it to his own sacred person for ever This was a descending indeed he descended first that he might ascend Eph. 4.9 Now that he ascended what is it but that he descended first into the lower parts of the earth That is he descended into the womb of the Virgin and it was a great abasement indeed for him thus to descend Wherefore the Psalmist speaking of the wonderfull framing of the Babe in the womb saith Psalm 139.15 My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth So that we see God descended into the lowermost parts of the earth and there was he fashioned A great humiliation it was for him to be thus inclosed Thus did he humble himself in taking our nature Had he taken the form of a King upon him it hâ—d been a great humiliation how much more when he took on him the form of a servant He came not in state to be ministred unto but to minister as we shewed the last day Nor was he only his Fathers servant but a servant of servants and therein underwent Canaans curse A servant of servants shalt thou be Our Saviour became such a servant He which was the Author of freedom John 8.26 If the Son make you free then are you free indeed He I say who was the Kings son and so the most free the Author of it to all that enjoy any spiritual freedom became a servant that we which were servants might be made free But besides this it s added here that he humbled himself Having taken on him the form of a servant he humbled himself Where we may observe what made the suffering of our Saviour so meritorious It was because it was active free and voluntary Our Passions are contrary to our Will We are drawn to it as it is said of Peter When thou art old they shall lead thee whether thou wouldst not John 21.18 Peter dyed the same death our
is Heb. 10.5 Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not but a body thou hast prepared me then said I Io I come in the volumn of thy book it is written of me to do thy Will O God As if he should have said Lord I am not able to accomplish thy Will or to be subject to thee in thy nature therefore thou hast made me a man that in the form of a servant I might shew obedience which I could not while I was in nature equal unto thee Now consider how great this person is that hath suffered all for thee Rev. 1.5 Jesus Christ who is the faithfull witness the first begotten of the Dead and the Prince of the Kings of the earth to have a great Prince bound like a thief araigned and executed the consideration of this state of the person would move a stony heart Rev. 17.14 He is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings Amongst men the Father is more honourable then the Son and the Son is but a servant untill he be emancipated but it is not so in the Divinity but the Father and the Son are both alike honourable Among men the Son hath the same specifical nature with the Father but not the same individual but it is not so in the Divinity the Father and the Son there have the self same individual nature I and my Father are one therefore there must be an equality The Pharisees themselves could draw this conclusion that if he were the Son of God he was equal with God John 5.18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because he said God was his Father making himself equal with God A man would think how could that follow He was but Gods Son but Gods Son must be equal to the Father In making himself Gods Son he made himself equal with God and therefore know upon this and by this stands the point of our Redemption If a pure and holy Angel had suffered never so much it would not have availed for our Redemption It is a price no man nor Angel must meddle with all It will require a greater Price It was God himself that suffered in his assumed nature He and no other person for we must understand though Christ took on him the nature of a man yet not the person of a man here stands the point the second person in the Trinity is the Suppositum of all this humiliation and therefore observe when the point of suffering comes there 's a remarkable speech Zach. 13.7 Saith the Son to the Father it was against his heart to smite him the expression is a lively one it went to his heart to smite one that was his equal that did him no wrong Awake O sword against my Shepherd and against the man who is my fellow You know of whom it is spoken by Mâ—thew Mat. 26.31 I will smite the Shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered The Lord is ready to break him Isa. 53. The sword was as it were unwilling to smite The man that is my fellow A blow lighting on Gods fellow equal with God of what value is it Consider the difference betwixt a man and a man The State of a Prince makes great odds between that is done to him and that is done to another man When David would adventure himself into the battel Thou shalt say they go no more with us least they quench the light of Israel 2 Sam. 21.17 and more fully 2 Sam. 18.3 Thou art worth ten thousand of us they would not hazzard the person of the King in the battel Why because thou art worth ten thousand of us The dignity of a Prince is so great that ten thousand will not countervail the loss of him If this be the esteem and worth of David what is the worth of Davids Prince If thus with a King what with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords This is a great ground of the sufficiency of Christs suffering Heb. 9.13 If the blood of Buls and Goates sanctifie to the purifying of the flesh how much more verse 14. shall the blood of Christ who through his eternal Spirit offered himself to purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God It is not the offering of the body only but he did it through his eternal Spirit When the Martyrs and Saints offered themselves a sacrifice they offered it through the flames of their love and therefore embraced the stake and love is described as strong as death but Christ did not offer his sacrifice with the flames of his love though love was in him the greatest that ever was but with the everlasting flames of his God-head and Deity with that fire from heaven which is a consuming fire He did the deed that will purge our Consciences from dead works Act. 20.28 Take heed unto your selves and to the flock over which the holy Ghost hath made you overseeâ—s to feed the Church of Gâ—d which he hath purchased with his precious blood God hath purchased the Church with his own blood Who 's blood Gods blood The blood of God must be shed He who thought it no robbery to be equal with God must shed his own blood As Zippora saith to Moses A bloody husband hast thou been to me Exod. 4.25 So may Christ say to his Church a bloody Spouse hast thou been to me that my blood must be shed for thee 1 Cor. 2.8 Had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory that is they would not have crucified God He that was crucified was the glorious Lord God Acts 3.15 You denyed the holy one and killed the Prince of life Here 's the matter unless the Prince of life had been killed thou couldst not have life This the Apostle sets down as the ground of all before he comes to the particularities of his humiliation and sets down who it was who was thus humbled He whom the Heaven of Heavens could not contain he must descend unto the lower-most parts of the earth that 's a descent indeed His Humiliation appears in this that he who was thus high became a man and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. In this humiliation consider I say these two Points 1. The person who was humbled 2. The point of his humiliation Some things hath regard to the whole course of his life others to the conclusion or period of his life All his life from his incarnation to his passion was a continual thred of humiliation from his Cradle to his Cross from his womb to his Tomb so here is set down the humbled life of our blessed Saviour For I would not have you think his humiliation consisted only in coming to the Cross when they so mercilesly handled him it cost him more then so as sinners have the curse of God on them in their life as well as in their death so Christ must have a
miserable life as well as an accursed death Though the heat came at the end of the Tragedy yet his whole life was a continual suffering Consider the degrees of it 1. He made himself of no Reputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he emptied himself It was the second person in the Trinity that thus humbled and emptied himself not in his divine nature but his assumed of all his transcendent endowments Consider the particulars of it he took on him the form of a servant Was not this a great humiliation That the second person in the Trinity should stoop so low as to take on him the nature of one who is not worth the looking on that he should take dust and ashes upon him Psalm 113.5 6. Gods greatness is thus expressed Who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high who humbleth himself to behold the things in heaven and in the earth What Humiliation is that compare these two humiliations together It is but an humiliation to cast but his eye upon the heavens to look upon the most glorious of all his works to look upon the Angels but what is man that thou so regardest him that thou shouldst not only look upon him but take him up make him an inmate under thine own roof this is a greater abasement but here 's a further degree Christ during the time of his pilgrimage was content to deprive himself of his Glory that he now enjoyes by reason of his Hypostatical Union with the God-head he deserves all honor and glory When he brought his first begotten into the world he saith And let all the Angels worship him Heb. 1.6 Every knee bows to him that is thus highly exalted We see Christ crowned with glory and honor all Dominion and Power being made subject unto him yet he for thirty three years and an half was content to be exiled from his Fathers court John 17.5 Glorifie thou me with the glory I had with thee before the world was which is expounded in the Proverbs where the Wisdome of God was shewn before the world was framed Prov. 8.30 Then I was by him as one brought up with him and I was dayly his delight rejoycing always before him this was the work before the foundation of the world which God was doing the Father was glorifying the Son and the Son was glorifying the Father The Father took infinite delight in the Son and the Son took infinite delight in the Father and the Holy Ghost in them both To be deprived of such a sight and such a glory as this and for thy sake to be banisht from that high Court where not to enjoy that fulness of joy was an emptying of himself yet all this he did for thee 2. He minded not his own things if he had he might have presently sat at Gods right hand where is fulness of joy for evermore but his bowels yearned on us and took upon him the form of a servant and was found in shape of a man that is as an ordinary man We know what the nature of servitude is Every man naturally desires liberty but Christ that he might make thee free was content to be bound as an Apprentice and endure a servile estate Christ both in respect of God and man took on him the form of a servant 1. For him to be Gods servant was an Humiliation though for us it be the greatest honour to be Gods servants Saint Paul makes it his prime Epithite Paul a servant of Jesus Christ. And David calls himself the servant of the Lord O Lord I am thy servant truly I am thy servant But it was an Humiliation for Christ to become Gods servant For him who thought it no robbery to be equal with God to become Gods servant and to take a nature on him that he might say My Father is greater then I behold my Father and I were one but now taking on me a humane nature I am made inferior to my Father I am become his servant Behold my servant in whom I am well pleased Isa. 53. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many there is much difference in servants A free servant a bond servant A very bond-man doth Christ make himself being man and accounts it as great honour as may be not only to be his Fathers servant but his bond-man Can I shew that there is any such humiliation as this Look on Heb. 10.5 Sacrifice and burnt offerings thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me these words have relation to that of the Psalmist Psalm 40.6 Sacrifice and burnt offerings thou didst not desire but mine ears hast thou opened it is in the margent mine-ears hast thou digged or hast thou bored The boring of the ear was an expression of everlasting servitude Another servant that had not yet his ear bor'd might be free at the year of Redemption at the seventh year but if not his ear was bored that he might be a servant for ever according to that Exod. 21.4 He that loved his service so well as to have his ear bored is a servant for evermore Mine ear Lord hast thou bored I will be thy servant for ever Christ took on him the form of such a servant nay Christ was more then an ordinary slave he was one bâ—und to an everlasting slavery for he was the Son of an hand-maid Now the Children of an hand-maid wâ—re not to go forth at the year of Jubilee Exod. 21. The wife and her Children shall be her Masters and he shall go out by himself meaning thus he that was the son of an hand-maid must be bound Partus sequiter ventrem Now that Christ was the son of an hand-maid we have Maries own confession Behold thâ— hand-maid of the Lord and he hath looked upon the low estate of his hand-maid Luke 1. Hence David saith Psal. 116.16 O Lord I am thy servant and the son of thine hand-maid I am not only thy servant but thy bond-servant I am he who was born in thy house and out of thy house I will never go Thus is Christ a servant in respect of God But it is not only thus he is not only a servant in regard of God but he took on him the form of a servant in respect of men too Look what relations are between men that have superiority and Subjects Christ who was born a free child yet made himself a servant unto man he had a reputed father but a true and a natural mother from the twelft year of his age till the thirtieth he went with them and was subject unto them Luke 2.51 No Apprentice was more subject to his Master in his Trade then he was to his reputed father he kept him close unto his Trade Look on him out of the family in the Common-wealth He paid Tribute He might stand upon his priviledge Of whom do the Kings of the earth exact Tribute c. they answer Of strangers Then are the Children free If the
some shew of Religion in it He whipt both out not only those that had residence there but those that passed through he would suffer none but those that could justifie what they did by the Law Now as God would not have sin lodge make its abode in the soul so he would not have it made a thorow fare for sin he would not have vain thoughts come up and down in the hearts Now By the Law comes the knowledge of these secret sins Reason is a glasse much to be esteemed for what it can shew but it is not a perfect glasse sometimes it shewes a sin but mâ—ny times diminishes it that we cannot see it in full proportion The Apostle makes this use of the Law that by it sin became exceeding sinful Thou mayst see sin to be sin by natural reason but to see it exceeding sinful this morality comes short of thou must have this from the Law of God 5. There is another false glasse when the Devil transforms himself into an Angel of light when he preacheth Goâ—pel to a man Beware of â—he doctrine when the deceiver preacheth This may be his doctrine He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved From this by Satans cunning delusion the natural man thus concludes A meer heathen shall be shut out of Heaven gates but I believe in the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost therefore I am in a good condition Why then should I trouble my self any further there is no man can accuse me and my own good works will testifie unto me that I do enough Strâ—ctnesse in Religion is troublenesse and it is an unreasonable thing to do more but this is but a meer delusion of Satan for there is nothing more quiet and satisfies a man then Religion there 's nothing in the world more reasonable then the service of God First then know thy disease and then apply those sweet balms It is no easie matter for a man to believe we block out the strait wayes of God if we think it an easie matter to believe of our selves It must be done by the mighty power of God It 's as great a work of God as the Creation of the world to make a man believe It 's the mighty power of God to salvation Such a one must not receive Christ as a Saviour but as a Lord too He must renounce all to have him must take him on his own terms He must deny the world and all looking before hand what it will cost him Now for a man to take Christ as his Lord denying himself the world and all to resolve to pluck out his right eye cut off his right hand rather then to part with him and account nothing so dear to him as Christ is no small matter Thou canst not be Christs Spouse unlesse thou forsake all for him Thou must account all things as dung and drosse in comparison of him and is not this a difficult thing is this an easie task Easily spoken indeed not as easily done it must be here as in the case of mariage a man must forsake all others yea the whole world else Christ will not own him Observe the speech of the Apostle Eph. 1.19 What is the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward that believe c. Mark is to believe so easie a matter think you why unlesse the mighty power of God be engaged for it with that strength as it was engaged in raising Christ from the dead it cannot be When thou art to believe and be united unto Christ the agreement is not that thou shalt take him as thy wife and thou shalt be his husband No he must be thy husband and thou must obey him Now for a man to be brought out of his natural condition and to take Christ on any termes so he may be saved by him in the end is not so easie Canst thou think there is no more required but onely the outward Baptism or that there is no more in Baptism but the outward washing of the flesh No He 's not a Jew that is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is in the flesh but he 's a Jew that is so inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart Thou then entrest into Gods livery Mark this for by it I strive onely to bring thee back to thy self Thou entrest into covenant with him thou bindest thy self to forsake the world the flesh and the Devil and we should make this use of Baptism as now to put it in practice When we promised there were two things in the Indenture one that God will give Christ to us the other that we must forsake all the sinful lusts of the flesh this is that makes Baptism to be Baptism indeed to us The other thing required is that we forsake all Rom. 6.2 It is not confined to the very act but it hath a perpetual effect all the dayes of thy life I add it never hath its full effect till the day of our death till the abolition of the whole body of sin That which we seal is not compleat till then till we have final grace The water of Baptism quenches the fire of Purgatory for it is not accomplished till final grace is received We are now under the Physicians hands then shall we be cured Baptism is not done onely at the Font which is a thing deceives many for it runs through our whole life nor hath it consummation till our dying day till we receive final grace the force and efficacy of Baptism is for the washing away of sin to morrow as well as the day past the death of sin is not till the death of the body and therefore it s said we must be buried with him by Baptism into his death Now after death we receive final grace till when this washing and the vertue thereof hath not its consummation Let no man therefore deceive you with vain words take heed of looking on your selves in these false glasses think it not an easy thing to get Heaven the way is strait and the passage narrow There must be a striving to enter there must be an ascending into Heaven a motion contrary to nature And therefore it 's folly to think we shall drop into Heaven there must be a going upward if ever we will come thither EPH. 2.1 2 3. And you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins where in times past you walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince that ruleth in the Aire the Spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Amongst whom also c. THe last time I declared unto you the duty that was necessarily required of us if we look to be saved that we must not onely take the matter speedily into consideration and not be deluded by our own hearts and the wiles of Satan but that we must not do it superficially or perfunctorily but must bring our selves to the true touchstone and not look
forgettest thy Maker You have seen the main the ring â—â—aders which are these fearful faithlesse dastardly unbelieving men Now see what the filthy rabble is that followeth after and they are Abominable Murtherers c. Abominable that is unnatural such as pollute themselves with things not fit to be named but to be abhorred whether it be by themselves or with others They are the abominable here meant such as Sodome and Gomorrah who were set forth to such as an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jude v. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such are abominable being given up to unnatural lust Let them carry it never so secretly yet are they herâ— ranked amongst the rest and shall have their portion in the burning lake After these come Sorcerers Idolaters Lyars Though these may be spoken fairly of by men yet cannot that shelter them from the wrath of God they shall likewise have their part in this lake when they come to a reckoning If there be I say a generation of people that worship these say what you will of them when they come to receive their wages they shall receive their portion in that burning lake with hypocrites Those that make so fair a shew before men and yet nourish hypocrisie in their hearts these men though in regard of the outward man they so behave themselves that none can say to them black is their eye though they cannot be charged with those notorious things before mentioned yet if there be nothing but hypocrisie in their hearts let it be spun with never so fair a web never so fine a thred yet they shall have their portion in the lake they shall have their part their portion c. Then it seems these of this black guard have a peculiar interest unto this place And as it is said of Judas Acts 1.25 that he was gone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to his proper place So long as a man that is an enemy to Christ and yeilds him not obedience is out of hell so long is he out of his place Hell is the place assigned to him and prepared for him he hath a share there and his part and portion he must have till he come thither he is but a wanderer The Evangelist tells us that the Scribes and Pharisees went about to gain Profelytes and when they had all done they made them seven times more the children of hell then themselves filios Gehennae So that a Father hath not more right in his son then Hell hath in them He is a vessel of wrath fill'd top full of iniquity and a child of the Devils So that as we say the gallows will claim its right so hell will claim its due But mistake me not all this that I speak concerning Hell is not to terrifie and affright men but by forewarning them to keep them thence For after I have shewn you the danger I shall shew you a way to escape it and how the Lord Jesus was given to us to deliver us from this danger But if you will not hear but will try conclusions with God then you must to your proper place to the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone A Lake 't is a River a flaming River as Tophet is described to be a lake burning with fire and brimstone a Metaphor taken from the judgment of God on Sodome and Gomorrah as in that place of St. Jude before mentioned as also in 2 Pet. 2.6 where 't is said God turned the Cities of Sodom into ashes making them an example to all them that should after live ungodly Mark the judgment of God upon these abominable men the place where they dwelt is destroyed with fire and the situation is turn'd into a lake full of filthy bituminous stuff called Lâ—cus Asphaltites which was made by their burnings And this is made an instance of the vengeance of God and an Embleme of eternal fire therefore said he you shall have your portion with Sodome Nay shall I speak a greater word with Christ and tell you that though they were so abominable that the Lake was denominated from them yet it shall be easier for Sodome and Gomorrah then for you if you repent not while you may but goe on to despise Gods grace But can there be a greater sin then the sin of Sodome I answer yes For make the worst of the sin of Sodome it is but a sin against nature But thy impenitency is a sin against grace and against the Gospel and therefore deserves a hotter hell and an higher measure of judgment in this burning pit But what is this second death 2. Sure it hath reference to some first death or other going before A man would as it is commonly thought think that this second death is opposed to that first death which is the harbinger to the second and separates the soul from the body but it 's far otherwise That alas is but a petty thing and deserves not to be put in the number of deaths The second death in the Text hath relation to the first Resurrection Rev. 20 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath his portion in the first resurrection on such the second death shall have no power The first death is that from whence we are acquitted by the first resurrection and that is the death for that is a kind of death as S. Paul speaking of a wicked and voluptuous widow saith she is dead while she liveth and the time shall come and now is when they that are dead shall hear the voice of the Son of man and they that hear shall live And again Let the dead bury their dead So that the first resurrection is when a man hearing the voice of the Minister is rouzed up from the sleep of sin and carnal security and the first death is the opposite thereunto So that the death of the body is no death at all for if it were then this were the third death For there would be a death of sin a death of the body and a death of body and soul This death of the body is but a flea-biting in comparison of the other two This second death is the separation of the body and soul from God and this death is the wages of sin and God must not will not lie in arrear to sin but will pay its wages to the full All the afflictions a wicked man meeteth withal here are but as Gods press money and part of payment of that greater summe But when he dies the whole summe comes then to be paid Before he did but sip of the cup of Gods wrath but he must then drink up the dregs of it down to the bottome and this is the second death It 's called death Now death is a destruction of the parts compounded a man being compounded of body and soul both are by this death eternally destroyed That death like Sampson pulling down the pillars whereby it was sustained pulled down the house draws down the tabernacles
Saviour did according to the external Passion but they led him whether he would not Our Saviour was an Actor in it Humbled himself A bare suffering God regards not so much but when it is done willingly and in obedience to God And as he was obedient in his death so also in his other passions In the Gospel according to St. John whereas the Text reads he was troubled the marginal note hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he troubled himself he was the Author of his own sufferings John 10.17 He was not humbled as a meer patient but he humbled himself and so it is said in Scripture oft He gave himself for us and in all his passive obedience he had an eye to do the Will of God The merit of his passive obedience ariseth from a mixture with his active This was a great part of his Priest-hood his humbling And how doth he take his Priest-hood upon him it was by his Fathers call He was cal'd unto it as was Aaron Heb. 5.4 No man saith the Apostle taketh this honor upon him but he that is called Now Christ being called to it he did it to follow his call And thus he did it actively it was not a bare suffering as those in hell suffer but according to his Fathers call Observe Heb. 10.9 That place taken out of the Psalm I am come to do thy Will O God c. What was it only in his active obedience No it was thy Will that he should suffer as the words following in the tenth verse import By the which Will we are sanctified and by the body of Jesus Christ once offered so that Christ offered up himself to do his Fathers Will so that his passive obedience was in his active So John 10.17 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again no man taketh it from me but I lay it down Our Saviour when he laid down his life put it off as a man that puts off his cloak and layes it from him They wondred that he was dead so soon it was because himself laid down his life His soul then was not drag'd or forced out of his body It was not only passive but active obedience No man taketh it from me I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up This had I from my Father They are grosly deceived then that say Christs active obedience was not free and voluntary because he was commanded for as well may they say his passive is not voluntary and so not meritorious because it likewise was commanded which none can deny Thus Christs offering was a free-will offering though it was a most bitter one yet this being a part of his Fathers Will he went as voluntarily to the pains of the Cross as thou dost to thy dinner when thou art throughly hungry For his meat and his drink was to do his Fathers Will Jo. 4.34 And this makes it of such worth and efficacy that he did it willingly See it in the type that went before him in Isaac Isaac was grown up he was no Babe he was able to carry wood enough to burn himself when he went to be sacrificed and therefore sure he had strength if Isaac had pleased he might have ran away from the old man his Father yet he suffers himself to be bound and to be laid upon the wood a true type of our Saviour his also was a free-will offering and so a sweet smelling sacrifice unto God It being the highest active obedience it presently pacifieth the wrath of his Father He humbled himself and became obedient This obedience of our Saviour is the matter and ground of our Justification Rom. 5.18 As by the offence of one Judgement came on all unto condemnation so by the righteousness of one the free-gift came on all to Justification of life By the obedience of this blessed Saviour many are made righteous so that now our Saviours obedience followeth next Now this obedience is double Active or Passive 1. Active And this was that whereby he did all the Will of his Father The reason why he came into the world if we look the place before alledged will appear Heb. 10.5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldst not have but a body hast thou prepared me In burnt offerings and Sacrifice for sin thou hast no pleasure then said I Behold I come in the volumâ— of thy book it is written of me that I should do thy Will O God When he cometh into the world saith he Lo I come For what to do thy Will O God The reason why he came into the world was that he might be obedient unto his Father Thus it behoveth us saith he to John to fulfill all Righteousness John wondred that he that was pure and spotless should come to him to be baptized He knew Baptism presupposed some sin or blot some stain or corruption to be washed off and therefore it s said Mark 1.5 That there came unto him all the Land of Judea to be baptized confessing their sins And sure if one should come to John and say he had no sin and yet desired to have been baptized by him he had no right to Baptism yet our Saviour saith Let alone let it be so that we may fulfill all Righteousness I have no need indeed in regard of my self but I have taken upon me the form of a servant and therefore what the lowest of them must do that must I do therefore was I circumcised and therefore am I baptized I came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it And he fulfilled it to the utmost both in his active and passive obedience Now for his active Obedience it had a double 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or consummatum est First For his active Obedience in the whole course of his life I have glorified thy name and finished the work that thou gavest me to do Would you know what it is to glorifie God in this world It is to finish the work which he giveth us to do Art thou a Minister if thou wouldst glorifie God finish the work he gave thee to do then mayst thou say Glorifie thou me with thy Glory c. But now Christs work was not â—ll ended when he said he had finished it the greatest part was behind to wit his Passive obedience All the works of his life were done of which actions there Christ is to be understood but then cometh his Passion and that being finished there is something to do yet after that for he was to rise again to our Justification but for the oblation of the sacrifice it was fully finished If we look upon our blessed Saviour in the whole course of his life For 1. Though he lived in a whole world of sin yet he was free from all manner of sin 2. He was inriched with all manner of good works graces and
vertue Chrst had both of these He was free from any spot of sin though in the midst of a wicked world and there was nothing in him which could expose him to any temptations He was continually assaulted and yet he was spotless The Prince of the world came and yet he found nothing in him Satan could find nothing in him whereon to fasten any temptation Such a Priest it became us to have who was holy and harmless Heb. 7.16 Vndefiled separate from Sinners There is the purity of his nature he is holy and in his carriage harmless he did no man hurt· Undefiled a pure and innocent Lamb a lamb without blemish separate from sinners and could not contract any guilt of sin Though he conversed with Publicans and sinners at the Table yet they could not infect him He knew no sin neither was there guilâ— found in him 1 Pet. 1.19 Therefore we see when it comes to the point that the Devil would tempt him yet he himself must needs say What have I to do with thee thou holy one of God He is forced to acknowledge him to be so And so if we look on the place where he saith I do the Will of my Father alwayes there likwise he shews himself the holy one of God In a word as he was thus obedient unto God so was he subject to men too to his Father in the family and to Caesar in the Common-wealth As he tâ—ught he did subjection towards Governors was his Doctrine rather then he would not pay Tribute he would have it out of the fishes belly To shew a Recognition of his subjection unto higher powers the text tels us He went about doing good This man say they hath done all things well and at the last cast when all the quarrels and Accusations were brought against him they could bring nothing that could hold water that he could boldly challenge them all as it were Which of you can accuse me of sin You that pick so many holes in my coat come forth spare me not accuse me yet at the last he is accounted a just man Judas himself could acknowledge him to be blameless and that he had sinned in betraying his innocent blood Pilates wife could say to her husband Have thou nothing to do with that just man and Pilate himself washed his hands and would be free from the blood of that innocent person The thief crucified with him acquits him his whole life was a perfect obedience to the Law of God Christ is the end of the Law that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us not by us we are not able to fulfill the Law but in us Christ did it for us and the Father is better pleased with the thirty three years hearty obedience of his Son then if Adam and all his posterity had been obedient throughout the whole course of the world So acceptable was this obedience to God And thus much of his active Obedience 2. Now for his passive obedience his suffering If our Saviour will be a sacrifice he must be used like one he must be slain if he will make satisfaction to his Father for us He must for our eating sower grapes have his own teeth set on edge Consider his humiliation both in life and death if we look on the service of Jacob under his Uncle Lakan his service was an hard service twice seâ—en years did he serve the drought consumed him by day and the frost by night and the sleep deparâ—ed from his eyes twenty years hard service foâ—rteen yâ—ars for his two wives and six years for his cattle Gâ—n 31.41 Our Saviour spent thirty three years in â—is hard sâ—rvice and full oft did the sleep depart from his eyes When Israel came to appear before Pâ—aâ—aoâ— My dayes sâ—ith he have been 130 years few and eâ—il have the days of thy servant been The true Israelite might say more Jacobs days were few but as few as they were they were 130 years but if we look upon our Saviours dayes they were scarce a quarter so many And thâ—t is a part of our Saviours humiliation that he was cut off in the midâ—l of his dayes If we look into the Psalm we shall find it a curse on the bloody and deceitfull man that he shall not liâ—e out half his dayes The livelie part of a mans age from Moses his time to this day in that Psalm of Moses Psalm 90. is â—hreescore years and ten half this is thirty five years and our Saviour is taken off before this thirty five is expired He was to take on him all the curses due to sinners to the bloody and deceitfull man he is cut off and cropt off in the midst of his vigour he that is that Melchisedeck â—hat hath neiâ—her beginning nor end of days was cut off as a branch lopt off as a â—wig from the land of the liâ—ing Iâ—a 53. He 's â—ul'd cut so his days were few far fewer thâ—n Jacobs he was not suffered to live out half his days yet if we look upon his days they were evil too evil enough as few as they were full of trouble and full of misery from his first coming into the world to his last going out 1. When he did descend into the lowermost part of the earth He was nine moneths in the womb of his mother and if we take the opinion of the Schoolmen he had his full understanding and Judgement all that time the free use of sense and reason though I do not aver it to be a truth only I say if it be so it makes his humiliation insupportable What an extream burthen would it be to us to be so long in the womb and in ripe understanding therefore there was somewhat in that But now 2. Look at his coming forth into the world though his mother were in her own City yet he was so despicable that there was not room for them in the Inn. Our Saviour that should one would think have been brought into a stately Palace was fain to have his lodging among the beasts and a Cratch for his Cradle The wise men when they came to worship him found him in no better case and what a disgrace was it instead of a Palace the Kings of the East should find our Saviour in a Cratch 3. And now when eight days are over he must have his skin cut off he must be circumcised and give the first payment or earnest of his blood How painfull and irksom a thing Circumcision was appears by that story in Gen. 34 where the sons of Jacob offering the Shechemites the condition of Circumcision and they accepting it it was so troublesome a thing that by reason of their soreness and weakness by it two of the sons of Jacob Simeon and Leâ—i slew a whole City The pain was so great that they could not manage their weapons therefore two men slew thousands of them Our blessed Saviour was thus served when the eight dayes were over he
was thus made sore and this was the first effusion of his blood 4. After the eight days are over then come the forty days and then he must be carried a long journey to be offered up to the Lord and his mother as if she had brought an unclean and impure thing into the world must be cleansed and purified And then she came to offer a sacrifice according to the Law of the Lord. Luke 2.24 A pair of turtle doves or two young Pigeons But was this the Law it were good if the Law were looked into See Levit. 12.8 The Law is this She shall bring a Lamb or if she be not able to bring a Lamb then two Turtles or two young Pigeons If she be not able but the margent hath it If her hand cannot reach to a Lamb if she be so poor that she cannot offer a Lamb. As if the Text should have said Alas poor woman poor Lady all she had was not able to reach to a Lamb so poor was she Doubtless her heart was as large as anothers but she was not able to offer a Lamb and is therefore content with two Turtles 5. Hence we may conceive in what state our Saviour lived till he came into the Ministry questionless in a poor house and he made many a hungry mâ—al when his mother was not worth a Lamb. All that they had must be by hard labor 6. Now our Saviour notwithstanding after he had travelled that weary journey to Jerusalem must return again and be subject to his Parents but how even as a servant in his Trade They had not bread to spare but what was gotten by hard laborious work At his Fathers Trade I say for so it s said of him Is not this the Carpenter It s put in the nominative case The Carpenter Mark 6. And whereas this is cast as a curse on our first parents and their seed Gen. 3.49 That in the sweat of their brows they should eat their bread Our Saviour must undergo this curse too he must work hard for his living with his own hands he must get a living for himself and his poor mother by a laborious Trade No wonder if he went many a morning without his break-fast and made many a hungry meal that lived in so poor a house and by so poor a Trade 7. If we come now to the time he lived after he came from his Father and Mother that same three years when he shewed himself more publickly in the world and you shall find him subject to those dangers diâ—ficulties and distresses which accompany evil dayes He was a Pilgrim and had no abode The Foxes haâ—e holes and the birds of the air nests but the Son of man had not where to lay his head He was a diligent Preacher of the Gospel although he had neither Prebend nor Parsonage he had nothing of his own but was relieved often by the Charity of certain devout and religious women 2. Besides all the reproaches that could be cast on a man were laid on him This man is a Wine-bibber and a Glutton a friend of Publicans and sinners And again Do we not say well thou art a Samaritan that is a Heretick He was a caster out of Devils and therein they denyed not but he did good but see the villany of it he was a good witch as we call them and though he did good yet it was by the help of Belzeâ—ub when he drew near his death see Mark 12. the Text saith They accuse him of many things Few things are expressed yet a great many comprehended in these words those that are expressed are hainous and notorious crimes First Against the first Table they accuse him of Blasphemy and therefore condemn him in the Ecclesiastical Court Do you hear his Blasphemy say they Then against the second Table they post him to the civil Court and there they lay to his charge high Treason against Caesar for he say they That maketh himself a King is an enemy unto Caesar and yet the innocent Lamb for all this opened not his mouth Insomuch that Pilate wondred he spake not a word in his own defence and the reason was because he came to suffer and to have all these slanders and reproaches put upon him not to excuse himself 3. He led a life subject to dangers when he went amongst his own people to preach the acceptable year of the Lord they bring him upon an high hill to the brow thereof with a purpose to cast him down and break his neck Others threaten to kill him too The Devil here follows him with temptations even to Idolatry it self Maâ— 4.6 The Devil himself tempts him forty days and then left him not as if he would return and tempt him no more but as St. Luke renders it The Devil left him for a season Luke 4. not as if he intended to leave him quite but to come and try him again The Scribes and Pharisees they tempt him too and prove him with hard questions which if he could not answer they would proclaim him an insufficient man and all the people would have laugh'd him to scorn Nor was this all his Ministry All his life was as it were paved with temptations every step was as it were a gin and trap to ensnare him 4. Add to all this that he was not like us He knew when and by what death he should die He knew in all the time of his suffering what he should suffer and what should come upon him at his death If any of us should know that he must die a cursed shamefull and painfull death and knew when it should be it would marr all our mirth and put us to our dumps in the midst of our jollity Our Saviour in the midst of all his joy on earth saith I have a Baptism to be baptized with he knew the cruel death which he should suffer on the Cross. And how is he pained till it be accomplished The pains of it run through all his life and might well make his whole life uncomfortable unto him In the twelft of John 23. a little before the Passover saith he The hour is come that the Son of man shall be glorified and then verse 27. Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour When the time was drawing nigh some five or six days before the consideration of it troubled him though he knew he should be glorified yet the fright of it enwrapt him with fear Now is my soul troubled what shall I say Father save me from this hour Such a kind of life did our Saviour lead few but evil were his dayes As evil as few he had no comfort in them Come we now to the point of his death the last thing and those things that did touch him therein are the Curse Shame and pain of it If there were any death more accursed he must die that death If any death more shamefull or more painfull
of the disease that will not suffer the plaster to stick on It counts the blood of the Covenant wherewith we should be sanctified an unholy thing if this sinner would not pluck off the plaster and tread it under foot he should be saved but this is it when God is liberal and Christ is free we have not the heart to take him at his word and come to open this Word this is the point of all this is the free preaching of the Gospel indeed when a man hath nothing desirable in him but is stark naught and stark dead and is not worth the taking up that yet he may challenge Christ and be sure of all Unless thou hast Christ thou hast nothing by Promise not so much as a bit of bread by Promise if thou hast it it is by Providence All the Promises of God are in him that is Christ yea and Amen Ye are the Children of the Promise in Christ but you have nothing till you be in Christ. The Question is What must I do in this case what incouragement shall I have in my rags when I am abominable worth nothing There are certain things that are preparations to a Promise such as are Commands Precepts Intreaties which incourage them to it and then comes a proposition I being a Believer shall have eternal life If Christ be mine I may challenge forgiveness of sins the favour of God and everlasting life But how is Faith wrought believe not that foolish conceipt that is too common in the world that faith is only a strong perswasion that God is my God and my sins are forgiven this is a foolish thing a fancy a dream unless it be grounded on the Word of God It s but a dream else that will lead thee unto a fools Paradise Nothing can uphold faith but the Word of God here 's the point I being as bad as bad can be what ground have I out of the word of God of an Unbeliever to be made a Believer Now we must not take every Text but such only as may be appliable to a dead man one that hath no goodness in him that is yet out of Christ we were all swimming at liberty till this word catched us in we never thought of the business before till we were thus taken Now there are certain degrees to get faith in us 1. The first word is a general proclamation whereby Christ gives any one leave to come and take him Christ is not only a Fountain sealed as in the Canticles but a Fountain open for sin and for uncleanness as in Zachary so that now when he keeps open house he makes proclamation that none shall be shut out He puts none back sins not the greatest that can be can keep thee back this is the first thing and to confirm it we have our Saviours own proclamation Isa. 55.1 Ho! every one that thirsteth come you to the waters and he that hath no money come buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without a price A strange contradiction one would think What! buy and yet without money and without price The reason is because there is a certain thing which fools esteem a price which is none Rev. 3.18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tryed in the fire Why How must this be done Truly thus whensoever a sinner comes to Christ to have his sins pardoned and to be a subject of Christs Kingdom thou must not then be as thou wast but thou must be changed Thou must not live as thou didst before in the state of rebellion Now to leave sin is not worth a rush it s not a sufficient price but yet wee see a fool will esteem his own bables I must lay down my lusts I must lay down my covetousness intemperance c. and a man thinks it a great matter thus to do and to leave the freedom he had before though it be a matter of nothing When a rebel receives his pardon is the Kings pardon abridged because he must live like a subject hereafter Why should he else seek for the benefit of a subject This is said in respect of the foolish conceit of man who thinks it a great price to forsake his corruptions Again John 7.37 with the same loud voice Christ cryed when he offered himself a Sacrifice for sin he cryed at the time of the great feast that all should come In the last day the great day of the feast Jesus stood and cryed saying if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink In ult Rev. there is a quicunque vult that is it I pressed It s a place worth gold And these are the places which being applyed make you of strangers draw near but now these are not appliable to a man before he hath grace every one cannot apply them Never forget that place while you live it s the close of Gods H. Book and the sealing up of his Holy Book What 's that It s in Rev. 22.17 And the Spirit and the Bride say come and let him that is a thirsty come and drink of the water of life freely Whosoever will let him come what wouldst thou have more Hast thou no Will to Christ No Will to salvation then its pity thou shouldst be saved No man can be saved against his Will nor blessed against his Will If thou wilt not have Christ if thou wilt try conclusions with God then go further and fare worse but whosoever will let him come Oh! But I have a Will Why then thou hast a warrant take Christ Object But O Sir you are a great Patron of free-will What doth it all lie in a mans Will Will you make the matter of taking Christ lie there Sol. I say if thou seest thou hast a Will then thou hast a warrant I say not that this Will comes from thy self It s not a blind faith will do thee good the Word of God works faith in thee thou hast not a Will to it born in thee It is not a flower that grows in thine own Garden but is planted by God John 6.44 No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him What Will Christ offer violence to the Will and draw a man against his Will No there 's no such meaning It s expounded in the 65. verse No man can come unto me except it were given him of my Father By this Christ sheweth what he meant If thou hast a Will to come thank the Father for it for of Him as in the Philippians we have both the Will and the deed Take for example that general proclamation in the book of Ezra VVhatever Jew would might be free Ezra 1.3 So said the King that had power to make them free Who is there among you of all his people his God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the house of the God of Israel Then we read verse 5. Then rose
up the chief of the Fathers of Judah and Benjamin and the Priest and the Levites and all them whom the Spirit of God had raised up to go up Observe here though the proclamation were general yet the raising up of the Will was from the Spirit of the Lord. We must not by any means take our will for a ground the Will cometh from God but if thou hast a Will thou hast a warrant Who ever will let him take the water of life freely without covenanting say if thou had but a measure of faith and such a measure of humiliation for that were to compound with Christ away with that Whosoever will let him come Christ keeps open house Whosoever will let him come whosoever comes to him he will not shut out John 6. If thou hast a heart to come to him he hath a willing heart to receive thee as it was with the Prodigal son the Father stayes not till he comes to him but runs to meet him he is swift to shew Mercy and to meet us though we come slowly on towards him But this is not all there is a second gracious Word that is preacht to a man not yet in the state of Grace A man that keeps open house he seldom invites any particularly but if he come he shall be welcome Christ he keeps open house but some are so fearfull and so modest that unless they have a special invitation they are ashamed to come to Christ they reason thus if my case were an ordinary mans I should come but I am so vile and wretched that I am ashamed to come my sins have been so many and so heavy that I am not able to bear so great a weight they are more in number then the hairs of my head and yet alas they are crying ones too But hearken here a second word Dost thou think thy case more heavy because thou art out of measure sinfull Lo it pleaseth God to send thee a special invitation who findest thy self discouraged with the great bulk and burthen of thy sins It pleaseth God I say to send thee a special invitation See Mat. 11.28 Though all apply it not to this use Come unto me all you that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest You of all others are they that Christ looks for Those that can walk bolt upright in their sins that desire to live and die in them they will not look upon me and I will not look upon them they scorn me and I scorn them but you that are heavy laden and feel the burthen of your sins are invited by Christ. Let not Satan then couzen you of the comfort of this word that which Christ makes the latch to open the door to let himself in we do usually by our foolishness make the bolt to shut him out Let thy wound be never so great thou hast a warrant to come and be cured be of good comfort then as it was said to blind Bartemeus so is it to thee Loe he calleth thee When Christ bids thee come and gives thee his Word that he will heal thee Come let not the Devil or thy corruptions hinder thee or make thee stay back hast thee to this City of Refuge he hath engag'd his Word for thee and he will ease thee But now after all this there is a Third Word that though Christ keeps open house so that who will may freely come and though he sends special invitations to them that are most bashfull because their case is extraordinary What do you think now that Christ will come with his souldiers and destroy those that do not come in He might do it when he is so free and invites thee and thou turnest it back again into his hand but yet here 's another Word of comfort Christ doth not only send a Messenger to invite thee who hast no goodness in thee but he falls to beseeching and intreating thee and that 's a third word whereby faith is wrought in an Unbeliever 2 Cor. 5.10 Now then we are Embassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us observe the place We pray you in Christs stead be reconciled unto God This is the most admirable word that ever could be spoken unto a sinner Alas thou mayst say I am afraid that God will not be friends with me why he would have thee to be friends with him do not then with the Papists make such an austere God as though he might not be spoken unto as though thou mightst not presume thy self but must make friends unto him We have not an high Priest that is not touched with our infirmities Will the Papists tell me I am bold if I go to God or lay hands on Chrst I am not more bold then welcome Let us go with boldness to the Throne of grace We are commanded to do it do not think but that he had bowels to weep over Jerusalam and he carried the same with him into heaven when thou liest groaning before him he will not spurn thee We pray you and beseech you to be friends therefore in this case make no doubt its Gods good pleasure to entreat thee and therefore thou hast warrant enough Christ wept over Jerusalem and he is as ready to embrace thee You have now three words to make a man of an Unbeliever a Believer Is there or can there be more then these Open house-keeping special invitations Entreaties and Beseechings yet there is more then all this which if thou hast not a heart of stone it will make thee believe or make thee rue it And that is 4. When God seeth all these things will not work with us but we are slow of heart to believe then he quickens us and there comes a word of Command God chargeth and commands thee to come and then if thou breakest his Command be it to thy peril It is the greatest sin that can be committed Thou wilt not draw near to God because thou art a sinner thou now committest a greater sin then before thou returnest back Christ unto God thou bidst him take his commodity into his hand again thou wilt not believe and this is an hainous crime John 16.8 9. And when the Spirit shall come it shall reprove the world of sin of righteousness and of judgement of sin because they believe not in me this is that great sin he shall convince the world of because they believe not in him Of all sins this was the most notorious this makes us keep all other sins in possession It is not only one particular sin but it fastens all other sins upon us be they never so many When faith comes it will out them but till then they remain in thee where there is no Commandment there is no sin How could it be a sin in not believing if I were not commanded so to do but you shall here more then so When the Apostle speaks of excluding Rejoycing under the Law Rom. 3.37 Where is boasting
then saith he it is excluded By what Law by the Law of works No but by the Law of faith there is a Law of works and a Law of faith God doth not only give thee leave to come and take him and draw near unto him but he commands thee there 's a Law by the breach of that Law of faith thou art made guilty of a high sin There 's a full testimony of this 1 John 3.23 And this is the Commandment that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. If a man should ask may I love my Neighbour would you not think him a fool because he must do it he is commanded So should a poor soul come and say to me may I believe thou fool thou must believe God hath laid a Command upon thee it is not left to thy choice The same Commandment that bids thee love thy brother bids thee to believe on Christ. To entreaty is added Gods Command and therefore if thou shalt argue what warrant have I to believe Why God injoyns it thee and commands it As the impotent man said so mayst thou He that healed me said unto me take up thy bed and walk This is the very Key of the Gospel and this is the way to turn it right When being thus clean nâ—ked we have as it were a Cable put into our hands to draw our selves out of this flesh and blood 5. The last thing is if keeping open house special Invitations Entreaties and Commands will not serve the turn then Christ waxeth angry What to be scorn'd when he profer'd Mercy and as it were invite all sorts and compel them to come in by his Preachers and by a peremptory Command Then he falls a threatning We are not of those which draw back unto perdition if thou wilt not come upon this Command thou shalt be damned Mar. 16.16 He that believed not shall be damned Christ commands them to go into the world and preach the Gospel to every Creature unto every soul this Gospel which I speak If you will not hear and believe if you will not take God at his Word you shall be damned John 3. He that believeth not shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Here 's an Iron scourge to drive thee thou that art so flow of heart to believe In Psalm 78. where is set down Gods Mercy unto the Isâ—aelites afterwards comes one plague upon another verse 22. it is said They hardened their hearts as in the day of provocation This is applyed in Heb. 3.12 to Unbelievers The Lord heard this and was wrath a fire was kindled against Jacob and against Israel Why was this because they believed not in him because they trusted not in his salvation Nothing will more provoke God to anger then when he is liberal and gracious and we are straitned in our selves hearden our hearts and not trust him never forget this Sermon while you live this is the net which Christ hath to draw you out of the world I shal hereafter tell you what faith is which is to receive Christ and to believe in his name but that will require a more particular explication and on that I shall enter the next time FINIS EPHE 1.13 In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the Word of truth the Gospel of your salvation In whom also after you believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise THE last time I entred on the declaration of that main point and part of Religion which is the foundation of all our hopes and comfort namely the offering of Christ unto us that as he did offer himself a Sacrifice to his Father for us upon the Cross so that which is the basis ground and foundation of our comfort he offereth himself unto us And here comes in that gracious gift of the Father which closes in with God That as God saith To us a child is born to us a Son is given c. so there is grace given us to receive him And as the greatest gift doth not enrich a man unless he accept it and receive it so this is our case God offers his Son unto us as an earnest of his love if we will not receive him we cannot be the better for him If we refuse him and turn Gods Commodity which he offers us back upon his hand then Gods storms and his wrath abides on us for evermore That it is his good pleasure that we should receive Christ it is no doubt we have his word for it all the point is how we may receive him and that is by Faith And in this Text is declared how Faith is wrought and that is by the Word of truth In whom also you trusted after you had heard the Word of Truth Now after this Faith there cometh a sealing by the Spirit of God In whom also after you believed you were sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise Now lest a man should through ignorance and indiscretion be misled and deceived there is faith and there is feeling Where this is not I say not that there is no faith No for feeling is an after thing and comes after Faith If we have Faith we live by it But after you believed you were sealed You see then Faith is that whereby we receive Jesus Christ and to as many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God to as many as believe on his name The blood of Christ is that which cureth our souls but as I told you it is by application A Medicine heals not by being prepared but being applied so the blood of Christ shed for us unless applied to us doth us no good In Heb. 12. It s called the blood of sprinkling and that in the 51. Psalm hath relation to it where he saith Purge me with hysop In the Passover there was blood to be shed not to be spilt but to be shed and then to be gathered up again and put into a Basin and when they had so done they were to take a bunch of Hysope and dip and sprinkle c. Faith is this bunch of Hysope that dips it self as it were into the Basin of Christs blood and our souls are purged by being sprinkled with it In Levit. 14.6 There was a bird to escape alive but see the preparation for it You shall take it and the scarlet and the Cedar wood and the Hysop and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed c. and then you shall sprinkle on him that had the leprosie seven times and shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird loose into the open field We are thus let loose cleansed and freed but how unless we are dipt as the living bird was in the blood of the dead bird there is no escaping unless we are dipt in the blood of Christ Jesus this dead bird and sprinkled with this Hysop we cannot be freed
precious faith that of the poorest Believer and the greatest Saint Now that we may come unto the point without any more going backwards In the words read there is the point of faith and a thing God confirms it withal a seal In whom also after that you believed you were sealed Faith is of it self a thing unsealed the sealing with the holy Spirit of Promise is a point beyond faith it s a point of feeling and not only of believing of Gods Word but a sensible feeling of the Spirit a believing in my soul accompanied with joy unspeakable and full of glory of which sealing we shall speak more hereafter Observe for the first 1. The Object of it In whom you trusted We speak of Faith now as it justifies as it apprehends Christ for its Object for otherwise Faith hath as large an Extent as all Gods Word Faith hath a hand to receive whatsoever God hath a mouth to speak What is the Object He in whom you trusted It is a wonder to see how many are deceived who make the forgiveness of sins to be the proper Object of faith A man may call as long as he lives for forgiveness of sins yet unless there be the first Act to lay hold on Christ in vain doth he expect forgiveness of sins Untill thou dost accept Christ for thy King and Saviour thou hast no promise We are never Children of the Promise till we are found in him The proper and immediate Object of Faith is first Christ and then God the Father by him for Faith must have Christ for its Object I must believe in none else but God in and through Christ. Now that this is so we may see in that famous place 1 Pet. 1.21 When he had spoken of the precious blood of Christ the Lamb without blemish he goes on and shews that he was manifested in those last times for you who by him do believe in God that raised up Christ from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God There is no true believing in God the Father but by the Son The proper Object of Hope and Faith is God and he that doth believe or hope or trust in any thing else there is Idolatry in it we believe in God by him so that the primary Object of Faith is Christ. Gal. 3.26 Ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Jesus Christ. What 's my Faith then If thou wilt be the Child of God receive hold Christ Jesus accept him for thy Saviour and for thy Lord He is the proper Object of thy Faith Again you must have Christ Jesus and him crucified that should be the highest knowledge in our account To know Christ and him crucified and by it to accept him Hereupon the Apostle to the Romans when he speaks of faith makes the Object of it Christ and Christ crucified Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Whatsoever then thou findest in Christ is an Object of thy Faith John 6. The point is He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood that is he who receiveth me and makes me as his meat and drink shall be partaker of me Compare this Rom. 3.25 with Rom. 5.9 for its worth comparing We are said to be justified by his blood Rom. 5.9 By faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 Now both these come to one and they resolve the point and clear the Question whether Faith in it self as a Vertue doth justifie or in respect of its Object surely it s in respect of the Object You that have skill in Phylosophy know that heat if considered as a quality its effects are not so great but considered as an instrument it transcends the sphere of its own activity it doth wonders for its the principle of generation and many other strange effects So here take faith as a Vertue and it s far short of love but consider it as an instrument whereby Christ is applyed and it transcends it works wonders beyond its proper sphere for the meanest thing it layes hold on is the Son of God He that hath the Son hath life c. Some would think this an hard kind of speech when we are justified by faith we are justified by Christ apprehended by faith and yet that place is cleer to be justified by his blood and faith in his blood becomes one faith As if a man should say I was cured by going to the Bath so faith comes unto me faith is the legs A man is not said properly to be cured by going to the Bath nor justified by coming to Christ by the legs of faith but the applying of the Bath the coming to Christ and applying his vertue to make him the Object of my faith this is the way to be justified As it is not the makeing and preparing of a plaister that cures but the applying it so that this concludes this point that the true Object of faith is Christ crucified and God the Father in and by him Here then is the point thou must not look for any comfort in faith till thou hast Christ and to think thou shalt ever have any benefit by God till thou hast Christ thou deceivest thy self It is impossible for a man to receive nourishment by his bread and drink till he partake of it in the substance so thou must partake of Christ before thou canst receive any nourishment by him Christ saith not thou must have forgiveness of sins or thou must have my Fathers favour but take my body and blood take me crucified Buy the field and the treasure is thine but thou hast nothing to do with the treasure till thou gettest the field This is preferment enough to have the Lords Promise to Abraham I am thy exceeding great reward I am my wel-beloveds and my wel-beloved is mine There is a spiritual match betwixt Christ and thee there are many who are matcht with Christ and yet know not how rich they are when a man reckons of what he shall get by Christ only when all his thoughts are on that he marrieth the portion and not the man thou must set thy love on Christs person and then having him all that he hath is thine how rich Christ is so rich art thou he must first be thine He that hath the Son hath life but the Son must first be had Is there any now in this congregation who is so hard-hearted as to refuse such a gift as this When God shall give thee his Son if thou wilt take him is there any so prophane as with Esau to sell his birth c. to pursue the poor pedling things of this life and refuse salvation so high a gift A gift which is not given to Angels they think it an honour to wait at the Lords Table they have not this precious food given to them they never
ignorance thou hast no feeling yet if thou consent thou art justified it s the consent makes the match If thou consent to the Father and take Christ the Son know it or know it not thou hast him though thou knowest not whether thy sins are forgiven yet as long as thou keepest thy hold all the Devils temptations shall never drive thee from him thou art justified and in a safe case though ignorance and other things in thee cause thee not to feel it if thou layest hold on him for his sake thou art apprehended Object Now then this is an easie matter you will say Sol. Not so easie a matter as you guess it to be It were easie indeed were there nothing but saying the word to make man and wife there are terms and conditions to be agreed upon God casts not his Son away he looks there shall be conditions on thy side he must be thy King and Head if thou wilt have him to be thy husband But what shall I get by him then saith the wife Get there is no end of thy getting All is thine Paul Apollos Cephas Life c. Thou art Christs and Christ is Gods Every man will take Christ thus for the better but there 's somewhat else in the match If thou wilt have him thou must take him for better for worse for richer for poorer Indeed there are precious things provided for you It s your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom you shall be Heirs with Christ but for the present while you are in the Church Militant you must take up your Cross you must not look for great things in this world In this world you must have tribulation you must deny your selves and your own Wills What would you have Christ the wife and you the husband No If you think so you mistake the match Christ must be the Husband and the Head and as the wife promises to obey her husband to stick to her husband in sickness and in health and to forsake all others so Christ asketh wilt thou have me if thou wilt thou must take me on these terms thou must take my Cross with me thou must deny thine own Will yea it may be thine own life also Let a Christian consider all these things these are the words and these are the benefits and then compare them together then if he can say I will have Christ howâ—ver for I shall be a saver by him I 'le take him withâ—ll faults I know I shall make a good bargain therefore I will have him on any terms come what will when a man can have his will so perpendicularly bent on Christ that he will have him though he leave his skin behind him there 's a true acceptation of him We must not here distinguish with the Schools about Velleities a general wishing and woulding and true desires after Christ Wishers and Woulders never thrive but there must be a resolution to follow Christ through thick and thin never to part with him a direct Will is here required And therefore Christ bids us consider before hand what it will cost us If any man come to me and hate not Father and mother wife and children and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple Do not think that our Saviour here would discourage men from love Doth the God of love teach us hatred The phrase in the Hebrew is loving less as it is said Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated that is loved less If a man hath two wives one beloved and the other hated and they have born Children both the beloved and the hated By hated is not meant that the man hated one wife but less loved her then the other so if any man come to me and hate not father and mother and that is if he love not all less then me and that it is so we may see it expounded by our Saviour Mat. 10.37 He that loveth father or mother more then me is not worthy of me There Christ expounds it He that will follow Christ in calm weather and not in a storm is not worthy of him Luke 14.28 Which of you intending to build a Tower sitteâ—â— not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it What is that to the purpose See verse 33. So likewise wâ—osoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my Disciple It s a small matter to begin to be a Christian unless you consider what it will cost you Do you tâ—â—â—k it a small matter to be the Kings son think not on so great a business without consideration what it will cost you It will be the denying of your own wills You must be content to follow naked Christ nakedly follow him in his persecution and tribulation in his death and suffering if thou wilt be conformable to him in glory When this case comes it makes many draw back as the rich man in the Gospel when he must forsake all he drew back When troubles arise many are offended so when it comes to a point of parting they go back Now we come to speak one word of the sealing in the Text. After that ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise This sealing which is a point of feeling is a distinct thing of it self from faith no part of faith If I have faith I am sure of life though I never have the other these are two seals VVe put to our seals to the counter-part that is drawn betwixt God and us The first seal is our faith I have nothing but Gods VVord and indeed I have no feeling yet I venture my salvation and trust God upon his bare VVord I will pawn all upon it He that believeth saith John hath set to his seal that God is true If men doubt and trust God no further then they see him it is not faith But when God gives me a good word though I am in as much distress as ever yet I trust though it be contrary to all sense or outward seeming yet I put to my seal and trust him still Then comes Gods counter-part God being thus honoured that I believe his Word though contrary to all sense and feeling even his bare Word then God sets to his seal and now the Word comes to particularizing Before it was in general now it comes and singles out a man Say thou unto my soul that I am thy salvation Psalm 35.3 that is as I did apply the generality of Gods Word unto mine own case to bear me up against sense and feeling then comes the Spirit of God and not only delivers generalities but saith unto my soul I am thy salvation This is called in Scripture a manifestation when God manifests himself unto us as in Isa. 60.16 Thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles and shalt suck the brest of Kings and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer c. that
is when we have made particular application by Faith God will put to his seal that I shall know that God is my strength and my salvation I shall know it John 14.21 He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will manifest my self unto him Christ comes and drawes the Curtains and looks on with the gracioâ—s aspect of his blessed countenance When this comes it cheers the heart and then there are secret love-tokens pass betwixt Christ and his beloved Rev. 2.17 To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knows save he that receives it that is there is a particular intimation that I shall know of my self more then any other more then all the world besides It s such a joy as the stranger is not made Partaker of such joy as is glorious and unspeakable such peace as passeth all understanding One minute of such joy overcomes all the joy in the world besides Now consider sure there is such a thing as this joy or else do you think the Scripture would talk of it and of the Comforter the Holy Ghost by whom we know the things that are given us of God There is a generation in the world that hath this joy though you that know it not do not nor cannot believe it there is a righteous generation that have it and why dost thou not try to get it do as they do and thou mayst obtain it likewise The secrets of the Lord are revealed to them that fear him These are hidden comforts do you think God will give this joy to those that care not for him No The way is to seek God and to labour to fear him The secrets of the Lord are revealed to such and such only as fear him do as they do and follow their example and thou mayst have it likewise Object Many have serv'd Christ long and have not found it Sol. It s long of themselves you are straightned in your own bowels or else Open your mouths wide and God will fill them No wonder that we are so barren of these comforts when we be straitned in our selves There is a thing wondrously wanting amongst us and that is Meditation If we could give our selves to it and go up with Moses to the Mount to confer with God and seriously think of the price of Christs death and of the joyes of heaven and the Priviledges of a Christian if we could frequently meditate on these we should have these sealing days every day at lest oftner This hath need to be much pressed upon us the neglect of this makes lean souls He that is frequent in that hath these sealing days often Couldst thou have a parle with God in private and have thy heart rejoyce with the comforts of another day even whilst thou art thinking of these things Christ would be in the midst of thee Many of the Saints of God have but little of this because they spend but few hours in Meditation And thus as this hour would give leave have we proceeded in this point FINIS 1 COR. 11.29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh Damnation to himself not discerning the Lords body I Have heretofore declared unto you the ground of our salvation and have represented unto you first Christ offered for us and secondly Christ offered to us Now it hath pleased Almighty God not only to teach us this by his Word but because we are slow of heart to believe and conceive the things we heare it pleases his glorious Wisdom to add to his Word his Sacraments that so what we have heard with our ears we may see with our eyes being represented by signs There is a visible voice whereby God speaks to the eyes and therefore we find in Exod. 4.8 God bids Moses that he should use signs saying It shall come to pass if they will not believe thee neither hearken to the voice of the first sign that they will believe the voice of the latter sign Signs you know are the Object of the eye and yet see they have it as it were a visible voice which speaks to the eye Now God is pleased to give us these signs for the helping 1. Of our Understanding The eye and the ear are the two learned senses as we call them through which all knowledge is conveyed into the soul and therefore that we may have a more particular knowledge of Christ God hath not only by his Ministry given us audible voices but visible also in his Sacraments by which as by certain glasses he represents to us the Mystery of Christ Jesus offered for us and offered to us And hence is it that Paul calls the eyes to witness as well as the ears Gal. 3.1 O ye foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth before whose eyes Christ hath been evidently fet forth crucified amongst you that is before whose eyes Christ hath been crucified not by hear-say only but evidently before your eyes not in any foolish Crucifix with the Papists but in the blessed Sacrament wherein he is so represented as if his soul were before our eyes poured out to death so that by these Sacraments heavenly things are as it were clothed in earthly Garments and this is the first reason viz. to help our Understandings but besides this he doth it 2. To help our Memory we art apt to forget those wonderfull things Christ hath wrought for us And therefore verse 24. and 25. Of this Chapter we are bid To eat his body and drink his blood in remembrance of him To take the signs as tokens of him the Sacrament is as it were a monument and pillar raised up to the end that when ever we see it we should remember the Lords death untill he come It s said 2 Sam. 8.18 That Absolon in his life time had taken and reared up for himself a Pillar which is in the Kings dale for he said I have no son to keep my name in remembrance He would fain be remembred but he had no Child whereby he might live after he was dead therefore he raises it and calls it after his own name Absolons place as it is this day that so as often as any came that way they might remember him Christ doth thus by his Sacrament and erects it as a Monument for the remembrance of his death and as it were calls it by his own name saying This is my body and this is my blood that when ever we see them we may call to mind Christ offered for us and to us But that I may apply this my Doctrine to the ears also know that 3. These signs are for the strengthning of our faith and therefore it is considered as a seal Rom. 4.11 Abraham received the sign of Circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised
hath the promise And therefore the Scripture compares it to conjunction with Christ. And as in the Sacrament we spiritually eat his flesh and drink his blood the conjunction is between Christ and his Church And therefore the Scripture compares our conjunction by faith to the mystery of wedlock What makes a marriage its consent Wilt thou have this man to be thy husband she answers I will that expression makes the marriage The knot is knit by this mutual pledging of troth all other things are but subsequents of it So God saith Wilt thou have my Sonne Thou shalt have with him all his wealth though for a time thou must go bare and fare hard yet thou shalt have a Kingdome When a man considers deliberately here is the losse I must deny my self and obey him but I shall have a Kingdome Gods blessing and peace of conscience All things considered casting the best with the worst then the resolution is this is a true saying worthy of all acceptation c. I 'le take him on any termes be they never so hard for I shall be a saver in the end when we can take Christ as it were with all his faults this is the will which God requires There is another comparison in Scripture John 6.35 it s compared to hunger and thirst Believing was exprest by coming Believing is exprest by hungring and thirsting So when I see such a will and desire after Christ that I hunger and thirst after him that a hungry man longeth not more for bread nor the Hart thirsteth more for the water-brooks than my soul doth for Christ why then there is a promise made unto us and a promise is never made unto us till we be in Christ. Matth. 5. Rev. 22. Esay 55. We finde promises in them all in Mat. 5.6 Blâ—ssed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for theirs is the Kingdome of heaven they shall be filled Consider here what the nature of hunger and thirst is they shall be filled which implies they were empty before but now they shall be filled Suppose now I am not fill'd with Christ What am I without him No I want him yet there 's a blessing to the hungry and thirsty and there 's no blessing without faith If we be not heires of the faith we cannot be heires of the blessing Dost thou finde in thy self an hungring and thirsting after Christ Thou art blessed this faith will save thee Now faith will say I am wonderfully pained faint and even starved that I cannot be filled with Christ yet be content man thou shalt be filled with him in the mean while thou hast him and hast blessednesse and shalt be blessed It 's said 1 John 5.13 These things have I written unto you that believe in the Name of the Sonne of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the Name of the Sonne of God Mark how the Apostle distinguishes these two things thou believest on the Name of Christ yet sayst thou though I believe I am not sure of my salvation I do not know it Why let not that much trouble thee that 's a consequent of it and that assurance will follow after therefore you should not confound it with believing These things have I written unto you that ye might know c. then there is a conclusion to be deduced from the premisses so that a man may have full hold of Christ and yet not be fully assured of his salvation So then here is the will which is the first thing But the Lord works the deed also And whereas it is said that God takes the will for the deed the place had need be well understood when we say God takes the will for the deed it is not alwayes true unlesse it be thus understood When a man hath done to the utmost of his power what he is able hath endeavoured by all means then God will take the will for the deed but if there be ability in me and I do not as much as I am able I do not my utmost endeavour then God will not take it but now God works the will and the deed when a man comes to the Throne of grace and sets forward in his journey towards God the first thing he doth is to come to the Throne of grace with Christ in his armes and then having fast hold on Christ he hastens and delayes not having hold as Joab on the horns of the Altar He hastens he sees its no time to delay he sees its now a time of need and Need as the old proverb is makes the old wife trot Is it not need to make haste when the pursuer of blood follows to the City of Refuge who would make delays and demurs and not run as fast as his legs would carry him Asson as I apprehend my need and see the golden Scepter stretched out then I come with might and main with Christ in my armes and present him to the Father and this is the approaching and drawing near in the Text to the Throne of grace But now when I am come thither what do I say there What shall I come and say nothing The prodigal soon resolved to go to his Father and say I will up and go there 's the will and say there 's his speech The believer is not like to the sonne that said to his father I will go but went not but when his father bids him come he will come he will not onely say so but will draw near and then he hath a promise He that cometh to me I will in no wise cast off But when we come thither what must we do why we must take unto our selves words according to the Prophets expression Hos. 14.2 Take unto you words and go unto the Lord and say Take away all our iniquities and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips When he comes to the Throne of grace the thing that he doth is he presents unto the Father Christ bleeding gasping dying buried and conquering death and when he presents Christ to him he opens his case and confesses his sin to the full and sayes Lord this is my case As a beggar when he comes to ask an almes of you he will make a preface and tell you his extremity Sir I am in great want I have not tasted a bit of bread in so many dayes and unless you help me by your charity I am utterly undone Now when these two concur that there is true need in the beggar and liberality in him of whom he begs it encourages the beggar to be importunate and he prevails you may know when the beggar hath need by his tone accent or language The needy beggars tone and accent is different from the sturdy beggars that hath no need but yet though the beggar be in great misery if he see a churlish Nabal go by him he hath no heart to beg and follows him
the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity it 's the most blessed condition as can be it is set down by way of Exclamation O the blessednesse of the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity For justification see what it is the Scripture in St. Pauls Epistles speaks of justification by faith and in St. James of justification by works Now it will be useful for us in this point to know whence justification comes it comes from justice Tsedeck as the Original hath it and to justifie so that justification and righteousnesse depend one upon the other for what is justification but the manifestation of the righteousnesse that is in a man and therefore in Gal. 3.21 they are put for one and the same thing For if there had been a Law given which could have given life verily righteousnesse had been by the Law that is justification had been by the Law Again If righteousnesse be by the Law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2. that is also if justification had been by the Law c. justification is a manifestation of righteousnesse and as many wayes as righteousnesse is taken so many wayes is justification which is a declaration of righteousnesse so that if there be a double righteousnesse there must be also a double justification Beloved I bring you no new doctrine be not afraid of that but I shew you how to reconcile places of Scripture against the Church of Rome and those things which the Papists bring against us in this point It stands by reason seeing justification is a declaration of righteousnesse that there must be so many sorts of justification as there be of righteousnesse Now there is a double sort of righteousness Rom. 8.4 That the righteousnesse of the Law may be fulfilled in us see then there is a double righteousnesse there is a righteousnesse fulfilled in us and a righteousnesse fulfilled by us that 's walking in the Spirit The righteousness fulfilled in us is fulfilled by another and is made ours by imputation so we have a righteousnesse without us and a righteousnesse inhaerent in us the righteousnesse without us is forgivenesse of sinnes and pardon of them which is a gracious act of God letting fall all actions against me and accounting of me as if I had never sinned against him all my life time then there is a righteousnesse within me an inherent righteousnesse And if a righteousnesse then justification for that is but a declaration of righteousnesse And so that which the Fathers call justification is taken generally for sanctification that which we call justification they call forgivenesse of sinnes that which we call sanctification they call justification so that the difference is only in the termes Justification we must know is not taken only as opposed to condemnation which is the first kinde of righteousnesse Rom. 6.7 He that is dead is freed from sinne if you look to the Greek or to the Margent it is he that is dead is justified from sinne this is not took in the first sense as opposed to condemnation but in the other sense as it hath relation to final grace The perfection of sanctification is wrought in me for where there is final grace there is a supersedeas from all sinne so Rev. 22.11 Let him that is righteous be righteous still the Greek is let him that is righteous be justified still See then the difference between Saint Paul and Saint James Saint Paul speaks of that which consists in remission of sinnes as in comparing the Apostle with David will appear Blessed is the man whose sinnes are forgiven Saint James speaks of justification in the second acception You need not flie to that distinction of justification before God and justification before men think not that Saint James speaks onely of justification before men Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac on the Altar What justified by killing his son this was a proper work indeed to justifie him before man to be a parricide to kill his sonne though it were not so before God So Psal. 106. we read how God accounted the act of Phine as for righteousness thus you see how works are accounted righteousnesse in the second kinde of righteousnesse In the former righteousnesse we are justified by faith for in righteousnesse inherent there is a goodly chaine of vertues Adde to your faith vertue c. adde one grace to another Adde to vertue knowledge faith is but one part of the Crown Now this justification in the first sense whereby my sinnes are forgiven is called the righteousnesse of God because of Christ which is God because it s wrought by Christ Dan. 9. he is called an everlasting righteousnesse which continueth for ever world without end for do not think the Saints in heaven have onely the second kinde of righteousnesse for they have the same covering by justification by Christ in heaven that they had before God covers their sins not here onely but there also justification follows them for ever Quest. But now what parts hath justification in it we are wont to say that there are two parts one imputation of righteousness the other forgivenesse of sinnes Sol. I answer for my own part I think Justification is one simple act of God and that it is improperly distinguished as parts but rather as terminus a quo is distinct from terminus ad quem And this I shall shew unto you both by reason and authority that faith is but one act Let none say that I take away the imputation of the righteousnesse of Christ No the bringing in of light and the expulsion of darknesse is not two acts but one but there is terminus á quo and terminus ad quem We are accounted righteous and that is we have our sinnes forgiven And the reason is this if sinne were a positive thing and had a being in it self then the forgivenesse of sin must be a thing distinct from the imputation of righteousnesse Scholars know the difference between adversa and privantia white and black are both existent but darknesse and light are not but only a privation one of another Darknesse is nothing of it self but the absence of light The bringing in of light is the suppression of it you must understand sinne hath no being no entity it 's only an absence of righteousnesse the want of that light which should be in the subject which want is either in our nature and then it 's call'd original or in our person and actions and then it s call'd actual transgression Sinne is an absence of that positive being which is as I said either in our nature or works Then thus I will resolve you in another point viz. If sin were a positive thing all the world cannot avoid it but God must be the Author of it for there is nothing can have a being but it must derive its being from the first being God Now how can we avoid Gods being the
peace who hath made both one and hath broken down that partition wall between us we have not only peace with God through Christ but Christ is the very peace not only the peace-maker but the peace There was a middle wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles and between God and us Christ breaks it down sinne shall no longer be a wall of partition Having abolished in his flesh the enmity even the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances for to make himself of twain one new man so making peace and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the Crosse. There was hatred between God and us Christ hath crucified that hatred with the nails wherewith he was fastened to the Cross he hath kill'd it by his crucifixion and now enmity being slain peace must needs be alive there is peace and reconciliation made You are come saith the Apostle to the blood of sprinkling whereas the blood of Abel cryed for vengeance against Cain the murtherer This blood cries for peace it out-cries all our sinnes sin hath a voice it s said The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah went up into the ears of the Lord Every sinne thou committest hath a voice to cry but the blood of Christ hath a shriller voice and out-cryes the cry of thy sins it is so preheminent it speaks for peace and doth out cry the voice of our sinnes the high Priest was a a type of Christ Numb 16. He must have on his frontlet Holinesse to the Lord as one which bears the holy one of the Lord standing in the person of Christ Moses saith when there was wrath gone out from the Lord unto Aaron ver 46. Take a censer and put fire therein from off the Altar and put on incense and go quickly unto the Congregation and make an atonement for them for there is wrath gone out the plague is begun So when the wrath is gone out the High Priest comes and offers up himself a sweet incense acceptable unto God And Aaron took as Moses commanded and came into the midst of the Congregation and behold the plague was begun among the people and he put incense and made an atonement for the people When wrath is come out from the Almighty and his Army is sent out for to destroy the Rebels now our High Priest stands between the living and the dead and offers up himself an oblation to Almighty God to make peace Look to the case of Balaam when the people had committed fornication Phineas executed judgment wherefore the Lord saith Numb 25.12 Phineas hath turned away my wrath from the people and if that one act of Phineas his zeal for the Lord in killing the Fornicators before the Congregation if this I say appeased Gods wrath for the whole Congregation how much more doth our Phineas who hath fulfilled all righteousnesse whom the zeal of Gods house had eaten up he is nothing but zeal it self and all that he doth unto his father is for our good How much more shall Christ pacifie Gods wrath who hath received the gash of Gods Sword upon his own body and would not have himself spared that he might do it As Jonah was three dayes and three nights in the whales belly so shall the Sonne of man be in the heart of the earth There is a mighty storme and Jonah is cast out into the Sea presently the storme ceaseth so Christ having suffered for us there is peace the storme is over Now follows in the next place in the Text By whom we have accesse by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God These are the two priviledges that a justified man hath he hath a gracious accesse unto God Suppose he be in a fault as who is not if any man sinne we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous These things have I written saith the Apostle that you sinne not but if any man sinne we have an Advocate with the Father c. This is the state of a justified man though he do by his â—elapses provoke God yet he is in the state of a subject though he be a disobedient subject yet a subject not a forreiner as before but now ye that were not a people are become the people of the Lord. A childe of God in the midst of rebellion is sub misericordia as soon as he is in the state of grace he is under Gods protection he is no stranger though he hath his blood about his ears and is in his rags yet he may come to God by Jesus Christ he may come boldly to the Throne of grace that he may finde help in time of need The Apostle in Ephes. 2.18 sets down twice the great priviledges Christians have for thorough him we both have an accesse by one Spirit unto the Father it s Christ which makes the way To have a friend at the Court is a great matter especially when a man hath need of him Christ is gone before us and he lives for ever to make intercession for us and we need no other Mediator thus he bespeaks his Father Father this is one of mine that I shed my blood for one of those that thou gavest me I beseech thee have pity upon him and I beseech thee give him audience Ephes. 3.12 By him i. e. through Christ we have accesse by one Spirit unto the Father in whom we have boldnesse by the faith of him and access with confidence I go not now doubting unto God I prefer my suit with boldnesse Mark the Apostle St. James If any man want wisdome or any other thing let him ask it of God that gives to all men liberally and upbraideth not it is otherwise with men when one hath done a great man wrong and comes to desire a favour at his hands Oh Sir saith he Do you not remember how you used me at such a time or in such a place That he is presently upbraided with ' its cast in his dish but it is not so with God he gives liberally and upbraids no man so there is a free and a bold accesse with faith and confidence by whom we have boldnesse and accesse let him not doubt or waver that is a notable place here is bold accesse by faith unto God and by that we may be assured of whatever we ask if it be forgivenesse of sinnes we may be sure they are forgiven if we ask in faith we may be assured By the way take notice of the folly of the Papists who think that a man can have no confidence or assurance that his sinnes are forgiven This is our confidence that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us Now is it not according to his will to ask forgivenesse of our sins Doth not he injoine us to do it Therefore what infidelity is it not to be assured of it And what impudency is it in them to go about to cut off