how apt are we to regret at providences as if it had no conducency at all to the glory of God or to our good Exod. 5.22 Yea to limit providence to our way and time thus the Israelites tempted God and limited the Holy One Psal. 78.20 41. How often also do we unbelievingly distrust providence as though it could never accomplish what we profess to expect and believe Ezek. 37.11 Our bones are dry our hope is lost we are cut off for our part So Gen. 18.13 14. Isai. 40.27 There are but few Abrahams among believers who against hope believed in hope giving glory to God Rom. 4.20 And it is but too common for good men to repine and fret at providence when their wills lusts or humours are crossed by it This was the great sin of Ionah Brethren these things ought not to be so Did you but seriously consider either the design of providence which is to bring about the gratious designs and purposes of God upon you which were laid before this world was Eph. 1.11 or that it is a lifting up of thy wisdom against his as if thou couldst better order thine affairs if thou hadst the conduct and management of them Or that you have to do herein with a great and dreadful God in whose hands you are as the clay in the Potters hand that may do what he will with you and all that is yours without giving you an account of any of his matters Iob 33.13 Or whether providence hath cast others as good by nature as your selves tumbled them down from the top of health wealth honours and pleasures to the bottom of Hell Or Lastly Did you but consider how often it hath formerly baffled and befool'd your selves Made you retract with shame your rash headlong censures of it and enforced you by the sight of its births and issues to confess your folly and ignorance as Asaph did Psal. 73.22 I say if such considerations as these could but have place with you in your troubles and temptations they would quickly mould your hearts into a better and more quiet frame O that I could but perswade you to resign all to Christ. He is a cunning workman as he he is called Prov. 8.30 and can effect what he pleaseth It 's a good rule de operibus Dei non est judicandum ante quintum actum Let God work out all that he intends have but patience till he hath put the last hand to his work and then find fault with it if you can You have heard of the patience of Iob and have seen the end of the Lord. Iam. 5.11 Inference 3. If Christ be Lord and King over the providential Kingdom and that for the good of his people let none that are Christs henceforth stand in a slavish fear of creatures It 's a good note that Grotius hath upon my text It 's a marvailous consolation saith he that Christ hath so great an Empire and that he governs it for the good of his people as an head consulting the good of the body Our Head and Husband is Lord General of all the Hosts of Heaven and Earth No creature can move hand or tongue without his leave or order The power they have is given them from above Ioh. 19.11 12. The serious consideration of this truth will make the feeblest spirit cease trembling and fall a singing Psal. 47.7 The Lord is King of all the earth sing ye praises with understanding that is as some well paraphase it every one that hath understanding of this comfortable truth Hath he not given you abundant security in many express promises that all shall issue well for you that fear him Rom. 8.28 All things shall work together for good to them that love God And Eccles. 8.12 Verily it shall be well with them that fear God even with them that fear before him And suppose he had not yet the very understanding of our relation to such a King should in it self be sufficient security For he is the universal supream absolute meek and merciful victorious and immortal King He sits in glory at the Fathers right hand and to make his seat the easier his enemies are a footstool for him His love to his people is unspeakably tender and fervent He that touches them touches the apple of his eye Zech. And it 's hardly imaginable that Jesus Christ will sit still and suffer his enemies to thrust out his eyes Till this be forgotten the wrath of man is not feared Isai. 51.12 13. He that fears a man that shall die forgets the Lord his Maker he loves you too well to sign any order to your prejudice and without his order none can touch you Inference 4. If the Government of the world be in the hands of Christ then our engaging and entitling of Christ to all our affairs and business is the true and ready way to their success and prosperity if all depend upon his pleasure then sure it 's your wisdom to take him along with you to every action and business It 's no lost time that 's spent in prayer wherein we ask his leave and beg his presence with us And take it for a clear truth that which is not prefaced with prayer will be followed with trouble How easily can Jesus Christ dash all your designs when they are at the very birth and article of execution and break off in a moment all the purposes of your hearts It 's a Proverb among the Papists that Mass and Meat hinder no nan The Turks will pray five times a day how urgent soever their business be Blush you that enterprise your affairs without God I reckon that business as good as done to which we have gotten Christs leave and engaged his presence to accompany us to it Inference 5. Lastly Eye Christ in all the events of providence see his hand in all that befals you whether it be evil or good The works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein Psal. 111.2 How much good might we get by observation of the good or evil that befals us throughout our course First In all the evils of trouble and affliction that befal you eye Jesus Christ in it all And set your hearts to the study of these four things in affliction First Study his Soveraignty and Dominion For he creates and forms them They rise not out of the dust nor do they befal you casually But he raises them up and gives them their commission Jer. 18.11 Behold I create evil and devise a device against you He elects the instrument of your trouble He makes the rod as afflictive as he pleaseth He orders the continuance and end of your troubles And they will not cease to be afflictive to you till Christ say leave off it is enough The Centurion wisely considered this when He told him Luk. 7.8 I have souldiers under me and I say to one go and
and it caused his face to shine as it had been the face of an Angel Act. 7.56 this his high advancement was foretold and promised before the work of redemption was taken in hand Psal. 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstool And this promise was punctually performed to Christ after his resurrection and ascension in his supream exaltation far above all created beings in Heaven and earth Ephes. 1.20 21 22. We shall here open two things in the doctrinal part viz. what is meant by Gods right hand and what is implied in Christs sitting there with his enemies for a footstool First What are we to understand here by Gods right hand It 's obvious enough that the expression is not proper but figurative and borrowed God hath no hand right or left but it 's a condescending expression wherein God stoops to the Creatures understanding and by it he would have us to understand honour power and nearness First The right hand is the hand of honour the upper hand where we place those whom we highly esteem and honour So Solomon placed his Mother in a seat at his right hand 1 King 2.19 So in token of honour God sets Christ at his right hand which on that account in the Text is called the right hand of Majesty God hath therein exprest more favour delight and honour to Jesus Christ than ever he did to any creature To which of the Angels said he at any time sit thou on my right hand Heb. 1.13 Secondly The right hand is the hand of power we call it the weapon hand and the working hand And the setting of Christ there imports his exaltation to the highest authority and most supream dominion Not that God the Father hath put himself out of his Authority and advanced Christ above himself no for in that he saith he hath put all things under him it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him 1 Cor. 15.27 But to sit as an enthroned King at Gods right hand imports power Yea the most soveraign and supream power and so Christ himself calls the right hand at which he sits Matth. 26.64 hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power Thirdly And as it signifies honour and power so nearness in place as we use to say at ones elbow and so it is applied to Christ in Psal. 110.5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath that is the Lord who is very near thee present with thee he shall subdue thine enemies This is that then we are to understand by Gods right hand Honour power and nearness Secondly In the next place let us see what is implied in Christ sitting at Gods right hand with his enemies for his footstool And if we attently consider we shall find that it implies and imports divers great and weighty things in it As First It implies the Complement and Perfection of Christs work that he came into the world about After his work was ended then he sat down and rested from those labours Heb. 10.11.12 Every Priest standeth daily ministring and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins but this man when he had once offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sat down on the right hand of God Here he assigns a double difference betwixt Christ and the Levitical Priests they stand which is the posture of Servants he sits which is the posture of a Lord. They stand daily because their sacrifices cannot take away sin he did his work fully by one offering and after that sits or rests for ever in Heaven And this as accurate and judicious Dr. Reynolds observes was excellently figured to us in the Ark. which was a lively Type of Jesus Christ and particularly in this it had rings by which it was carried up and down till at last it rested in Solomons Temple with glorious and Triumphal sollemnity Psal. 132 8 9. 2 Chron. 5.13 So Christ while he was here on earth being anointed with the Holy Ghost and wisdom went about doing good Act. 10.38 and having ceased from his works did at last enter into his rest Heb. 5.10 which is the heavenly Temple Rev. 11.19 Secondly His sitting down at Gods right hand notes the high content and satisfaction of God the Faâ—her in him and in his work The Lord said to my Lord sit thou at my right hand the words are brought in as the words of the Father welcoming Christ to Heaven and as it were congratulating the happy accomplishment of his most difficult work And it is as if he had said O my Son what shall be done for thee this day thou hast finished a great work and in all the parts of it acquitted thy self as an able and faithful servant to me what honours shall I now bestow upon thee the highest glory in Heaven is not too high for thee come sit at my right hand O how well is he pleased with Christ and what he hath done He delighted greatly to behold him here at his work on earth and by a voice from the excellent glory he told him so when he called out of Heaven to him saying Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased 2 Pet. 1.17 and himself tells us Joh. 10.17 therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life c. for it was a work that the heart of God had been upon from eternity He took infinite delight in it Thirdly Christs sitting down at Gods right hand in Heaven notes the advancement of Christs humane nature to the highest honour even to be the object of adoration to Angels and men For it is properly his humane nature that is the subject of all this honour and advancement and being advanced to the right hand of majesty it 's become an object of worship and adoration Not simply as it is flesh and blood but as it is personally united to the second person and enthroned in the supream glory of Heaven O here 's the mysterie that flesh and blood should ever be advanced to the highest throne of Majesty and being there installed in that glory we may now direct our worship to him as God-man and to this end was his humanity so advanced that it might be adored and worshipped by all The Father hath commited all Iudgement to the Son that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father And the Father will accept of no honour divided from his honour Therefore it 's added in the next clause he that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him Joh. 5.22 23. Hence the Apostles in the salutations of their Epistles beg for grace mercy and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ and in their valedictions they desire the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Churches
that any creature was ever yet set upon and inlarged to take in view the most spatious prospect both of sin and misery and difficulties of being saved that ever yet any poor humble soul did cast within it self yea joyn to these all the hindrances and objections that the heart of man can invent against it self and salvation lift up thine eyes and look to the utmost thou canst see and Christ by his intercession is able to save thee beyond the Horizon and utmost compass of thy thoughts even to the utmost Secondly Hence draw abundant encouragement against all heartstraightnings and deadness of spirit in prayer Thou complainest thy heart is dead wandring and contracted in duty O but remember Christs blood speaks when thou canst not it can plead for thee and that powerfully when thou art not able to speak a word for thy self to this sense that Scripture speaks Can. 3.6 Who is this that cometh out of the Wilderness in pillars of smoke perfumed with myrh and frankincense all the powders of the Merchant The duties of Christians go up many times as pillars or clouds of smoke from them more smoke than fire Prayers smoked and sullied with their offensive corruptions but remember Christ perfumes them with myrh c. he by his intercession gives them a sweet perfume Thirdly Christs intercession is a singular relief to all that come unto God by him against all sinful damps and slavish fears from the justice of God Nothing more promotes the fear of reverence Nothing more suppresseth unbelieving despondencies and destroys the spirit of bondage So you find it Heb. 10.19 20 21. Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Iesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh And having an High-Priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in full assurance of faith Or let us come unto God as a Ship comes with full sayl into the Harbour O what a direct and full gale of encouragement doth this intercession of Christ give to the poor soul that lay a ground or was wind-bound before Fourthly The intercession of Christ gives admirable satisfaction and encouragement to all that come to God against the fears of deserting him again by Apostacy This my friends this is your principal security against these matters of fear With this he relieves Peter Luk. 22.31.32 Simon saith Christ Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy fath fail not q. d. Satan will fan thee not to get out thy chaff but boult out thy flower His temptations are levell'd against thy faith but fear not my prayer shall break his designs and secure thy faith from all his attempt upon it Upon this powerful intercession of Christ the Apostle builds his triumph against all that threatens to bring him or any of the Saints again into a state of condemnation And see how he drives on that triumph from the resurrection and session of Christ at the Fathers right hand and especially from the work of intercession which he lives there to perform Rom. 8.34 35. Who is he that condemneth it 's Christ that died yea rather that 's risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ Fifthly It gives sweet relief against the defects and wants that yet are in our sanctification We want a great deal of faith love heavenly mindedness mortification knowledge We are short and wanting in all There are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the remains or things wanting as the Apostle calls them 1 Thes. 3.10 Well if grace be but yet in it's weak beginnings and infancy in thy soul this may incourage that by reason of Christs intercession it shall live grow and expatiate it self in thy heart He is not only the author but the finisher of it Heb. 12.2 He is ever begging new and fresh mercies for you in Heaven and will never be quiet till all your wants be supplied He saves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the uttermost i. e. as I told you before to the last perfective compleating act of salvation So that this is a fountain of relief against all your fears Vse 3. Doth Christ live for ever to make intercession then let those who reap on earth the fruits of that his work in Heaven draw instruction thence about the following duties to which it leads them as by the hand First Do not forget Christ in an exalted state You see though he be in all the glory above at Gods right hand an enthron'd King he doth not forget you He like Ioseph remembers his brethren in all his glory But alas how oft doth advancement make us forget him as the Lord complains in Hosea 13.5 6. I did know thee in the Wilderness in the Land of great drought but when they came into Canaan According to their pastures so were they filled they were filled and their heart was exalted therefore have they forgotten me As if he had said O my people you and I were better acquainted in the Wilderness When you were in a low condition left to my immediate care living by daily faith Oh then you gave me many a sweet visit but now you are filled I hear no more of you Good had it been for some Saints if they had never known prosperity Secondly Let the intercession of Christ in Heaven for you encourage you to constancy in the good ways of God To this duty it sweetly encourages also Heb. 4.14 Seeing then that we have a great High-Priest that is passed into the Heavens Iesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession Here is incouragement to perseverance on a double account One is that Jesus our head is already in Heaven and if the head be above water the body cannot drown The other is from the business he is there imployed about which is his Priesthood he is passed into the Heavens as our great High-Priest to intercede and therefore we cannot miscarry Thirdly Let it incourage you to constancy in prayer O do not neglect that excellent duty seing Christ is there to present all your petitions to God Yea to perfume as well as present them So the Apostle Heb. 4.16 infers from Christs intercession Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need Fourthly Hence be encouraged to plead for Christ on earth who continually pleads for you in Heaven If any accuse you he is there to plead for you And if any dishonour him on earth see that you plead his interest and defend his honour Thus you have heard what his intercession is and what benefits we receive by it Blessed be God for Iesus Christ. The FOURTEENTH
himself into their hands they thought it advisable to provide as well as they could for themselves and some where or other to take refuge from the present storm which had over taken him This was the nature and quality of the fact We enquire Thirdly Into the grounds and reasons of it Which were three First Gods suspending wonted influences and aids of grace from them They were not wont to do so They never did so afterwards They would not have done so now had there been influences of Power Zeal and Love from Heaven upon them But how then should Christ have born the heat and burden of the day How should he tread the Wine Press alone How should his sorrows have been extream unmixed and succourless as it behoved them to be if they had stuck faithfully to him in his troubles No no it must not be Christ must not have the least relief or comfort from any creature and therefore that he might be left alone to grapple hand to hand with the wrath of God and of men the Lord for a time withholds his incouraging strengthening influences from them and then like Sampson when he had lost his locks they were weak as other men Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might saith the Apostle Eph. 6.10 If that be withheld our resolutions and purposes melt away before a temptation as Snow before the Sun Secondly As God permitted it and withheld usual aid from them so the efficacy of that Temptation was great yea much greater than ordinary As they were weaker than they were used to be so the temptation was stronger than any they had yet met withal It 's call'd Luk. 22.53 Their hour and the power of darkness A sisting winnowing hour vers 46. O it was a black and cloudy day Never had the Disciples met with such a whirlewind such a furious storm before The Devil desired but to have the winnowing of them in that day and so would have sifted and winnowed them that their faith had utterly failed had not Christ secured it by his Prayer for them So that it was an extraordinary tryal that was upon them Thirdly And lastly that which concurred to their shameful relapse as a special cause of it was the remaining corruptions that were in their hearts yet unmortified Their knowledge was but little And their faith not much Upon the account of their weakness in grace they were called little ones in the Text. And as their graces were weak so their corruptions were strong Their Unbelief and carnal fears grew powerfully upon them Do not censure them Reader in thy thoughts nor despise them for this their weakness Neither say in thy heart had I been there as they were I would never have done as they did They thought as little of doing what they did as you or any of the Saints do and as much did their souls detest and abhor it but here thou maist see whither a soul that fears God may be carried if his corruptions be irritated by strong temptations and God withholds usual influences Fourthly and Lastly Let us view the issue of this sad apostacy of theirs And you shall find it ended far better than it began Though these Sheep were scattered for a time yet the Lord made good his promise in turning his hand upon these little ones to gather them The morning was overcast but the evening was clear Peter repents of his perfidious denial of Christ and never denied him more All the rest likewise returned to Christ and never forsook him any more He that was afraid at the the voice of a Damsel afterwards feared not the frowns of the mighty And they that durst not own Christ now afterward confessed him openly before Councils and rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer for his sake Act. 5.41 They that were now as timerous at Hares and started at every sound afterwards became as bold as Lyons and feared not any danger but sealed their confession of Christ with their blood For though at this time they forsook him it was not voluntarily but by surprizal Though they forsook him they still loved him though they fled from him there still remained a gratious principle in them the root of the matter still was in them which recovered them again To conclude though they forsook Christ yet Christ never forsook them he loved them still go tell the Disciples and tell Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee Mark 16.7 q. d. let them not think that I so remember their unkindness as to own them no more no I love them still The use of this is contained in the following Inferences Inference 1. Did the Disciples forsake Christ though they had such strong perswasions and resolutions never to do it then we see That self-confidence is a sin too incident to the best of men They little thought their hearts would have proved so base and deceitful as they found them to be when they were tried Though all men forsake thee saith Peter yet will not I. Good man he resolved honestly but he knew not what a feather he should be in the wind of Temptation if God once left him to his own fears Little reason have the best of Saints to depend upon their inherent grace let their stock be as large as it will The Angels left to themselves quickly left their own habitation Iude 6. upon which one well observes that the best of created perfections are of themselves defectible Every excellency without the prop of divine preservation is but a weight which tends to a fall The Angels in their innocency were but frail without Gods sustentation even grace it self is but a creature and therefore purely dependent 'T is not from its being and nature but from the assistance of some thing without it that it 's kept from annihilation What becomes of the stream if the fountain supply it not What continuance hath the reflection in the glass if the man that looks into it turn away his face The constant supplies of the spirit of Jesus Christ are the food and fewel of all our graces The best men will shew themselves but men if God leave them He who hath set them up must also keep them up It 's safer to be humble with one Talent than proud with ten Yea better to be a humble worm than a proud Angel Adam had more advantage to maintain his station than any of you For though he were left to the liberty of his own mutable and self-determining will yet he was created upright and had no inherent corruption to endanger him yet fell And shall we be self-confident after such instances of humane frailty Alas Christian what match art thou for principalites and powers and spiritual wickedness Be not high-minded but fear When you have considered well the example of Noah Lot David and Hezekiah men famous and renowned in their generations who all fell by temptations yea and that when one would
neither was guile found in his mouth who when he was reviled reviled not again when be suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that Iudgeth righteously Here 's your pattern A perfect pattern A lovely and excellent pattern Will you be perswaded to the imitation of Christ herein Methinks I should perswade you to it Yea every thing about you perswades to patience in your sufferings as well as I. Look which way you will upward or downward inward or outward backward or forward to the right hand or to the left You shall find all things perswading and urging the Doctrine of Patience upon you First Look upward when tribulations come upon you Look to that Soveraign Lord that commissionates and sends them upon you You know troubles do not rise out of the dust nor spring out of the ground but are framed in heaven Ier. 18.11 Behold I frame evil and devise a device against you Troubles and afflictions are of the Lords framing and devising to reduce his wandering people to himself Much like that device of Absalom in setting Ioabs field of Corn on fire to bring Ioab to him 2 Sam. 14.30 in the frame of your afflictions you may observe much of divine wisdom in the choice measure and season of your troubles Soveraignty in electing the instruments of your affliction In making them as afflictive as he pleaseth And in making them obedient both to his call in coming and going when he pleaseth Now could you in times of trouble look up to this Soveraign hand in which your souls bodies and all their comforts and mercies are how quiet would your hearts be Psal. 39.9 I was dumb and opened not my mouth because it is thy doing 1 Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good O when we have to do with men and look no higher how do our Spirits swell and rise with revenge and impatiency But if you once come to fee that man as a Rod in your Fathers hand you will be quiet Psal. 46.10 Be still and know that I am God q. d. consider with whom you have to do Not with your fellow but with your God who can puff you to destruction with one blast of his mouth In whose hand you are as the clay in the potters hand It is for want of looking up to God in our troubles that we fret murmur and despond at the rate we do Secondly Look downward and see what is below you as well as up to that which is above you You are afflicted and you cannot bear it Oh! no trouble like your trouble Never man in such a case as you are Well well cast the eye of your mind downward and see who lie much lower than you Can you see none on earth in a more miserable state than your selves Are you at the very bottom and not a man below you Sure there be thousands in a sadder case than you on earth What is your affliction Have you lost a relation Others have lost all Have you lost an Estate and are become poor Well but there be some you read of Iob 30.4 5 6 7. Who cut up Mallows by the bushes and Iuniper roots for their meat They are driven forth from among men they cryed after them as after a Thief They dwell in the cliffs of the Vallies in caves of the earth and in the Rocks Among the bushes they brayed under the Nettles they were gather'd together What difference as to manner of Life do you find between the persons here described and the wild beasts that herd together in desolate places Are you persecuted and afflicted for Christs sake What think you of their sufferings Heb. 11.36 37. Who had trial of cruel mockings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonments they were stoned they were sawn asunder were tempted were slain with the Sword they wandered about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented And are you better than they I know not what you are but I am sure these were such of whom the World was not worthy vers 38. Or are your afflictions more spiritual and inward Say not the Lord never dealt more bitterly with the soul of any than he hath with yours What think you of the case of David Heman Iob Asaph whose doleful crys by reason of the terrors of the Almighty are able to melt the stoniest heart that reads their stories The Almighty was a terror to them The Arrows of God were within them They roared by reason of the disquietness of their hearts Or are your afflictions outward and inward together An afflicted soul in an afflicted body Are you fallen like the Ship in which Paul sailed into a place where two Seas meet Well so it was with Paul Iob and many other of those worthies gone before you Sure you may see many on earth who have been or are in far lower and sadder states than your selves Or if not on earth doubtless you will yield there are many in Hell who would be glad to exchange conditions with you as bad as you think yours to be And were not all these moulded out of the same Lump with you Surely if you can see any creature below you especially any reasonable being you have no reason to return so ungratefully upon your God and accuse your maker of severity or charge God foolishly Look down and you shall see grounds enough to be quiet Thirdly Look inward you discontented Spirits and see if you can find nothing there that may quiet you Cast your eye into your own hearts Consider either the corruptions or the graces that are there Cannot you find weeds enough there that need such winter weather as this to rot them Hath not that proud heart need enough of all this to humble it That carnal heart need of such things as these to mortifie it That backsliding wandering heart need of all this to reduce and recover it to its God If need be ye are in heaviness 1 Pet. 1.6 Oh Christian didst thou not see need of this before thou camest into trouble Or hath not God shewn thee the need of it since thou wast under the Rod It 's much thou shouldst not see it but be assured if thou dost not thy God doth He knows thou wouldst be ruined for ever if he should not take this course with thee Thy corruptions require all this to kill them Thy Lusts will take all this it may be more than this and all little enough And as your corruptions call for it so do your Graces too Wherefore think ye the Lord planted the principles of Faith Humility Patience c. in your Souls What were they put there for nothing Did the Lord intend they should lie sleeping in their drowsy habits Or were they not planted there in order to exercise And how shall they be exercised without tribulations can you tell Doth not tribulation work patience and patience experience and experience hope Rom. 5.3 4. Is not the trial of your Faith
maintenance is their due Even Christ himself took care for his Mother Secondly You have had a brief account of the duties of this Relation next let us consider how Christs Example who was so subject to them in his life Luk. 2.51 and so careful to provide at his death enforces all those duties upon Children especially upon gratious Children And this it doth two ways both as it hath the obliging power of a Law and as he himself will one day sit in Judgement to take an account how we have imitated him in these things First Christs example in this hath the force and power of a Law yea a Law of Love or a Law lovingly constraining you to an imitation of him If Christ himself will be your pattern If God will be pleased to take Relations like yours and go before you in the discharge of relative Duties Oh how much are you obliged to imitate him and tread in all his footsteps This was by him intended as a president or pattern to facilitate and direct your Duties Secondly He will come to take an account how you have answered the pattern of obedience and tender care he set before you in the days of his flesh What will the disobedient plead in that day He that heard the groans of an afflicted Father or Mother will now come to reckon with the disobedient Child for them And the glorious example of Christs own obedience and tenderness for his Relations will in that day condemn and aggravate silence and shame such wretched Children as shall stand guilty before his Bar. Inference 1. Hath Jesus Christ given such a famous pattern of obedience and tenderness to Parents Then there can be nothing of Christ in stubborn rebellious and careless Children that regard not the good or comfort of their Parents The Children of disobedience cannot be the Children of God If providence direct this to the hand of any that are so my hearts desire and Prayer for them is that the Lord would search their souls by it and discover their evils to them whilst they shall read the following Queries First Query Have you not been guilty of slighting your Parents by irreverent words or carriages the old man or woman To such I commend the consideration of that Scripture Prov. 30.17 Which methinks should be to them as the hand writing that appear'd upon the plaister of the Wall to Belteshazar The eye that mocketh at his Father and despiseth to obey his Mother The Ravens of the Valley shall pick it out and the young Eagles shall eat it That is they shall be brought to an untimely end and the Birds of the air shall eat that eye that had never seen but for that Parent that was despised by it It may be you are vigorous and young they decayed and wrinkled with Age. But saith the Holy Ghost despise not thy Mother when she is old Prov. 23.22 Or when she is wrinkled as the Hebrew signifies It may be you are rich they poor owne and honour them in their poverty and despise them not God will requite it with his hand if you do Second Query Have you not been disobedient to the commands of Parents A Son of Belial is a Son of wrath if God give not Repentance to life Is not this the black brand set upon the Heathens Rom. 1.30 Have not many repented this upon a Ladder with an halter about their necks Woe to him that makes a Father or Mother complain as the Tree in the Fable that they are cloven assunder with the wedges that are cut out of their own bodies Third Query Have you not risen up rebelliously against and hated your Parents for chastening your bodies to save your souls from Hell Some Children saith one will not take that from a Parent which Beasts yea and salvage Beasts too Bears and Lions will take from their keepers What is this but to resist an Ordinance of God for your good And in rebelling against them to rebell against the Lord Well if they do not God will take the Rod into his own hand and him you shall not resist Fourth Query Have you not been unjust to your Parents and defrauded them First help to make them poor and then dispise them because they are poor O horrid wickedness What a complicated evil is this Thou art in the Language of Scripture a companion with destroyers Prov. 28.24 This is the worst of theft in Gods account You think you may make bold with them but how bold do you make with conscience and the command of God Fifth Query Are you not or have you not been ungrateful to Parents Leaving them to shift for themselves in those straights that you have helpt to bring them into Oh consider it Children this is an evil which God will surely avenge except ye repent What to be hardned against thine own flesh To be cruel to thine own Parents that with so much tenderness fed thee when else thou hadst perished I remember Luther gives us a story of one and oh that it might be a warning to all that hear it who having made over all he had to his Son reserving only a maintenance for himself at last his Son depised him and grudged him the very meat he eat and one day the Father coming in when the Son and his Wife were at dinner upon a Goose they shuffled the meat under the Table but see the remarkable vengeance of God upon this ungracious unnatural Son the Goose was turned into a monstrous Toad which seiz'd upon this vile wretch and kill'd him If any of you be guilty of these evils to humble you for them and reclaim you from them I desire these six Considerations may be lay'd to heart First That the effects of your obedience or disobedience will stick upon you and yours to many generations If you be obedient Children in the Lord both you and yours may reap the fruits of that your obedience in multitudes of sweet mercies for many generations So runs the Promise Eph. 6.23 Honour thy Father and Mother which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with thee and thou maist live long on the earth You know what an eye of favour God cast upon the Recabites for this Ier. 35.8 from the 14. to the 20. verse and as his blessings are by promise entailed on the obedient so his curse upon the disobedient Prov. 20.20 Whoso curseth his Father or his Mother his Lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness i. e. the Lamp of his life quencht by death yea say others and his soul also by the blackness of darkness in Hell Secondly Though other sins do this sin seldom escapes exemplary punishment even in this world Our English History tells us of a Yeoman of Leicestershire who had made over all he had to his Son to prefer him in marriage reserving only a bare maintenance at his Sons Table Afterward upon some discontent the Son bid his Father get out of his
troubles as ever befell the nature of man and he did bear all other troubles with admirable patience but when it came to this when the flames of Gods wrath scorched his soul then he crys I thirst Davids heart was for courage as the heart of a Lion but when God exercised him with inward troubles for sin then he roars out under the anguish of it I am feeble and sore broken I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart My heart panteth my strength faileth me as for the light of mine eyes it is also gone from me Psal. 38.8 10. A wounded spirit who can bear Many have professed that all the torments in the world are but toys to it The racking fits of the Gout the grinding tortures of the Stone are nothing to the wrath of God set on upon the conscience What is the worm that never dies but the efficacy of a guilty conscience This worm feeds and nibbles upon the very inwards upon the tender and most sensible part of man and is the principal part of Hells horror In bodily pains a man may be relieved by proper medicines here nothing but the blood of sprinkling relieves outward pains the body may be supported by the resolution and courage of the mind here the mind it self is wounded O let none despise these troubles they are dreadful things Inference 3. How dreadful a place is Hell Where this cry is heard for ever I thirst There the wrath of the great and terrible God flames upon the damned for ever in which they thirst and none relieve them If Christ complain'd I thirst when he had conflicted but a few hours with the wrath of God what is their state then that are to grapple with it for ever When millions of years are past and gone ten thousand millions more are coming on There 's an everlasting thirst in Hell and it admits of no relief There are no full cups in Hell but an eternal unrelieved thirst Think on this ye that now add drunkenness to thirst who tumble in all sensual pleasures and drown nature in an excess of Luxury Remember what Dives said in Luk. 16.24 And he cryed and said Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame No cups of water no bowls of wine in Hell There that throat will be parched with thirst which is now drowned with excess The songs of the Drunkard turned into howlings If thirst in the extremity of it be now so unsufferable what is that thirst which is infinitly beyond this in measure and never shall be relieved Say not it's hard that God should deal thus with his poor creatures You will not think it so if you consider what he exposed his own dear Sou to when sin was but imputed to him And what that man deserves to feel that hath not only merited Hell but by refusing Christ the remedy the hottest place in Hell In this thirst of Christ we have the liveliest emblem of the state of the damned that ever was presâ—nted to men in this world Here you see a person labouring in extremity under the infinite wrath of the great and terrible God lying upon his soul and body at once and causing him to utter this doleful cry I thirst Only Christ endured this but a little while the damned must endure it for ever In that they differ As also in the innocency and ability of the persons suffering And in the end for which they suffer But surely such as this will the cry of those souls be that are cast away for ever O terrible thirst Inference 4. How much do nice and wanton Appetites deserve to be reproved The Son of God wanted a draught of cold water to relieve him and could not have it God hath given us variety of refreshing creatures to relieve us and we despise them We have better things than a cup of water to refresh and delight us when we are thirsty and yet are not pleased O that this complaint of Christ on the Cross I thirst were but believingly considered it would make you bless God for what you now despise And beget contentment in you for the meanest mercies and most common favours in this world Did the Lord of all things cry I thirst and had nothing in his extremity to comfort him and dost thou who hast a thousand times over forfeited all temporal as well as spiritual mercies contemn and slight the good creatures of God! What despise a cup of water who deservest nothing but a cup of wrath from the hand of the Lord O lay it to heart and hence learn contentment with any thing Inference 5. Did Iesus Christ upon the Cross cry I thirst then believers shall never thirst eternally Their thirst shall be certainly satisfied There is a three fold thirst gracious natural and penal The gracious thirst is the vehement desire of a spiritual heart after God Of this David speaks Psal. 42.1 2. As the heart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God And this is indeed a vehement thirst it makes the soul break with the longings it hath after God Psal. 119. It 's a thirst proper to believers who have tasted that the Lord is gratious Natural thirst is as before was noted a desire of refreshment by humid nourishment and it 's common both to believers and unbelievers in this world Gods dear Saints have been driven to such extremities in this life that their tongues have even failed for thirst When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst Isa. 41.17 And of the people of God in their Captivity it 's said Lam. 4.4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst The young children ask bread and no man breaketh it unto them They that feed delicatly are desolate in the streets they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills To this many that fear the Lord have been reduced A penal thirst is Gods just denying of all refreshment or relief to sinners in their extremities and that as a due punishment for their sin This believers shall never feel because when Christ thirsted upon the Cross he made full satisfaction to God in their room These sufferings of Christ as they were ordained for them so the benefits of them are truly imputed to them And for the natural thirst that shall be satisfied For in heaven we shall live without these necessities and dependencies upon the creature We shall be equal with the Angels in the way and manner of living and subsisting Luk. 20.36 And for the gratious thirsting of their souls for God it shall be fully satisfied So it s promised Matth. 5.6 Blessed are they which hunger and
triumphant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 song of deliverance 1 Cor. 15.55 O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Deâ—truction Our Graves would not be so sweet and comfortable to us when we come to lie down in them if Jesus had not layen there before us and for us Death is a Dragon the Grave its Den a place of dread and terror but Christs goes into its Den there grapples with it and for ever overcomes it Disarms it of all its terror and not only makes it cease to be enemical but to become exceeding beneficial to the Saints A bed of rest and a perfumed bed They do but go into Christs bed where he lay before them For these ends he must be buried Secondly Next let us inquire what manner of funeral Christ had And if we intently observe it we shall find many remarkable properties in it First We shall find it to be a very obscure and private funeral Here was no external pomp or gallantry Christ affected it not in his life and it was no way suitable to the ends and manner of his death Humiliation was designed in his death And state is inconsistent with such an end Besides he dyed upon the Tree and persons so dying don 't use to have much ceremony and state at their funerals Three things shew it to be a very humble and obscure funeral as to what concerned outward glory with which the great ones of the earth are usually interred For First The dead body of the Lord was not brought from his own house as other mens commonly are but from the Tree They beg'd it of his Judge As who should say go bring the Corps from Tyburn Had they not obtained this favour from Pilate it must have been buried in Golgotha It had been tumbled into a pit digged under the Cross. Secondly As it was first beg'd then buried so it was attended with a very poor train A few sorrowful women followed the Bier Other men are accompanied to their Graves by their Relations and Friends The Disciples were all scattered from him Affraid to owne him dying and dead Thirdly And these few that were resolved to give him a funeral are forced by reason of the straights of time to do it in shuffling haste Time was short they take the next sepulcher they can get and hurry him away that evening into it For the preparation for the Passover was at hand This was the obscure â—uneral which the body of the Lord had Thus was the Prince of the Kings of the earth who hath the Keys of Death and Hell laid into his Grave Secondly Yet though men could bestow little honour upon it the heavens bestowed several marks of honour upon it Adorn'd it with divers Miracles which wiped off the reproach of his deaâ—h from him These Miracles were antecedent to his interment or concomitants of it First There was that extraordinary and preternatural Eclipse of the Sun Such an Eclipse as was never seen since it first shone in heaven The Sun fainted at the sight of such a ruful spectacle and cloathed the whole heaven in black The sight of this caused a great Philosopher who was then far from the place where this unparallel'd Tragedy was acting to cry out upon the sight of it either the God of nature now suffers or the frame of the world is now dissolved The same Dionysius writing to Apollophanes a Philosopher who would not embrace the Christian Faith thus goes about to convince him What thinkest thou saith he of the Eclipse when Christ was Crucified Were we not both of us then at Heliopolis and standing in the same place did we not see the Moon in a new manner following the Sun and not in the time of conjunction but from the ninth hour until the evening by a reason unknown in nature directly opposite to the Sun Didst thou not then being greatly terrified say unto me O my Dionysius what strange commutations of the heavenly bodies are these Such a preternatural Eclipse is remembred in no other History For it was not in time of conjunction but opposition the Moon being then at full From the sixth to the ninth hour the Sun and Moon were together in the midst of heaven but in the evening she appeared in the East her own place opposite to the Sun And then miraculously returning from East to West did not pass by the Sun and set in the West before it but kept it company for the space of three hours and then returned to the East again And whereas in all other natural Eclipses the Eclipse alwaies begins on the western part of the body of the Sun and that part is also first cleared it was quite contrary in this for though the Moon were opposite to the Sun and distant from it the whole breadth of heaven yet with a miraculous swiftness it overtook the Sun and darkned first the Eastern part of it and soon prevailed over its whole body Which caused darkness over all the the Land that is say some over the whole Earth or as others over the whole Land of Iewry Or as others over the whole Horizon and all places of the same altitude and latitude Which is most probable Secondly And as Christs funeral was adorned with such a miraculous Eclipse which put the heavens and earth into a mourning so the rocks did rend the vail of the Temple rent in twain from top to bottom The graves opened and the dead bodies of many Saints arose and went into the holy City and were seen of many The rending of the Rocks was a sign of Gods fierce indignation Nahum 1.6 And a discovery of the greatness of his power shewing them what they deserved and what he could do to them that had committed this horrid fact though he rather chose at this time to shew the dreadful effects of it upon inanimate Rocks than Rocky hearted sinners But especially it served to convince the world that it was none other but the Son of God that dyed Which was farther manifested by these concomitant Miracles As for the rending in twain of the vail It was a notable Miracle plainly shewing that all ceremonies were now accomplished and abolished No more vails now As also that believers have now most free access into heaven At that very instant when the vail rent the High Priest was officiating in the most holy place and the vail which hid him from the people being rent they might freely see him about his work in the holy of holies A lively Emblem of our High Priest whom now we see by faith in the heavens there performing his intercession work for us The opening of the Graves plainly shew'd the design and end of Christs going into it That it might not have dominion over the bodies of the Saints but being vanquisht and destroyed by Christ le ts go all that are his whom he ransomed from the Grave as a prey out of its paws A Specimen whereof was given in
say to you of this place You are a people that were born under and bred up with the Gospel It hath been your singular priviledge above many Towns and Parishes in England to enjoy more than 60 years together an able and fruitful Gospel Ministry among you The dews of Heaven lay upon you as it did upon Gideons Fleece when the ground was dry in other places about you You have been richly watered with Gospel showers You with Capernaum have been exalted to Heaven in the means of Grace And it must be owned to your praise that you testified more respect to the Gospel than many other places have done and treated Christs Ambassadors with more civility whilst they prophesied in Sackcloth than some other places did These things are praise worthy in you But all this and much more than this amounts not to that which Jesus Christ expects from you and which in his name I would now perswade you to and oh that I the least and unworthiest of all the Messengers of Christ to you might indeed prevail with all that are Christless among you 1. to answer the long continued calls of God to you by a through and sound Conversion that the long suffering of God may be your salvation and you may not receive all this grace of God in vain O that the damned might never be set a wondering to see a people of your advantages for Heaven sinking as much below many of themselves in misery as you now are above them in means and mercy Dear friends my hearts desire and prayer to God for you is that you may be saved Oh that I knew how to engage this whole Town to Jesus Christ and make fast the marriage knot betwixt him and you albeit after that I should presently go to the place of silence and see man no more with the Inhabitants of the World Ah sirs methinks I see the Lord Jesus laying the merciful hand of an holy violence upon you methinks he calls to you as the Angel to Lot saying arise lest ye be consumed and while he lingred the men laid hold upon his hand the Lord being merciful unto him And they brought him without the City and said escape for thy life stay not in all the plain escape to the Mountain lest thou be consumed Gen. 19.15 How often to allude to this hath Jesus Christ in like manner laid hold upon you in the Preaching of the Gospel and will you not fly for refuge to him Will you rather be consumed than endeavour an escape A beast will not be driven into the fire and will not you be kept out The merciful Lord Jesus by his admirable patience and bounty hath convinced you how loath he is to leave or loose you To this day his arms are stretched forth to gather you and will you not be gathered Alas for my poor neighbours Must so many of them perish at last what shall I do for the daughter of my people Lord by what Arguments shall they be perswaded to be happy what will win them effectually to thy Christ they have many of them escaped the pollutions of the World through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour They are a people that love thine Ordinances they take delight in approaching to God thou hast beautified many of them with lovely and obliging tempers and dispositions Thus far they are come there they stick and beyond this no power but thine can move them O thou to whose hand this work is and must be left put forth thy saving power and reveal thine arm for their salvation thou hast glorified thy name in many among them Lord glorifie it again 2. My next request is that you will all be perswaded whether converted or unconverted to set up all the duties of Religion in your families and govern your Children and Servants as men that must give an account to God for them in the great day O that there were not a prayerless Family in this Town How little will your Tables differ from a manger where beasts feed together if God be not owned and acknowledged there in your eating and drinking And how can you expect blessings should dwell in your Tabernacles if God be not called upon there Say not you want time for it or that your necessities will not allow it for had you been more careful of those duties it 's like you had not been exposed to such necessities besides you can find time to be idle you can waste a part of every day vainly Why could not that time be redeemed for God Moreover you will not deny but the success of all your affairs at home and abroad depends upon the blessing of God and if so think you it is not the right way even to temporal prosperity to engage his presence and blessing with you in whose hand your all is Say not your Children and servants are ignorant of God and therefore you cannot comfortably joyn with them in those duties For the neglect of these duties is the cause of their ignorance and it is not like they will be better till you use Gods means to make them so Besides prayer is a part of natural worship and the vilest among men are bound to pray else the neglect of it were none of their sin O let not a duty upon which so many and great blessings hang fall to the ground upon such silly not to say wicked pretences to shift it off Remember death will shortly break up all your families and disband them and who then think you will have most comfort in beholding their dead The day of account also hastens and then who will have the most comfortable appearing before the just and holy God Set up I beseech you the ancient and comfortable duties of reading the Scriptures singing of Psalms and Prayer in all your dwelling places and do all these conscientiously as men that have to do with God and try the Lord herewith if he will not return in a way of mercy to you and restore even your outward prosperity to you again How ever to be sure far greater encouragements than that lye before you to oblige you to your duties 3. More especially I have a few things to say to you that have attended on the Ministry or are under my oversight in a more particular manner and then I have done And First I cannot but with deep resentments observe to you the goodness of our God yea the riches of his goodness Who freely gave Jesus Christ out of his own bosom for us and hath not withheld his spirit Ordinances and Ministers to reveal and apply him to us Here 's love that wants an Epithete to match it Who engaged my heart upon this transcendent subject in the course of my Ministry among you A subject which Angels study and admire as well as we Who so signally protected and overshadowed our Assembly in those dayes of trouble wherein these truths were delivered to you You then sate down under
hands of Justice to be punished Even as condemned persons are by sentence of Law given or delivered into the hands of executioners So Acts 2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate counsell of God ye have taken and with wicked hands have slain And so he is said Rom. 8.32 To deliver him up to death for us all The Lord when the time was come that Christ must Suffer did as it were say O all ye roaring Waves of my incensed Justice now swell as high as heaven and go over his soul and body Sink him to the bottom let him go like Ionah his Type into the belly of Hell unto the roots of the Mountains Come all ye raging storms that I have reserved for this day of wrath beat upon him beat him down that he may not be able to look up Psal. 40.12 Go Justice put him upon the rack torment him in every part till all his bones be out of joynt and his heart within him be melted as wax in the midst of his bowels Psal. 22.14 And ye assembly of the wicked Jews and Gentiles that have so long gaped for his blood now he is delivered into your hands you are now permitted to execute your malice to the full I now loose your chain and into your hand and power is he delivered 4. Gods giving of Christ implys his application of him with all the purchases of his blood and setling all this upon us as an inheritance and portion Ioh. 6.32 33. My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven for the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world God hath given him as bread to poor starving creatures that by faith they might eat and live And so he told the Samaritaness Ioh. 4 10. If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living waters Bread and water are the two necessarys for the support of natural life God hath given Christ you see to be all that and more to the spiritual Life How this gift of Christ was the highest and fullest manifestation of the love of God that ever the world saw And this will be evidenced by the following particulars 1. If you consider how near and dear Jesus Christ was to the Father He was his Son his only Son saith the Text. The Son of his Love The darling of his soul. His other self Yea one with himself The express Image of his person The brightness of his Fathers glory In parting with him he parted with his own heart with his very bowels as I may say Yet to us a Son is given Esa. 9.6 And such a Son as he calls his dear Son Col. 1.13 A late writer tells us that he hath been informed that in the Famine in Germany a poor family being ready to perish with Famine the Husband made a motion to the Wife to sell one of the Children for bread to relieve themselves and the rest The Wife at last consents it should be so but then they began to think which of the four should be sold. And when the eldest was named they both refused to part with that being their first born and the beginning of their strength Well then they came to the second but could not yield that he should be sold being the very picture and lively image of his Father The third was named but that also was a child that best resembled the mother And when the youngest was thought on that was the Benjamin The child of their old age And so were content rather to perish altogether in the Famine than part with a child for relief And you know how tenderly Iacob took it when his Ioseph and Benjamin were rent from him What is a child but a piece of the parent wrapt up in another skin And yet our dearest children are but as strangers to us in comparison of the unspeakable dearness that was betwixt the Father and Christ. Now that he should ever be content to part with a Son and such an only one is such a manifestation of Love as will be admired to all Eternity And then 2. let it be considered to what he gave him even to death and that of the Cross to be made a curse for us To be the scorn and contempt of men To the most unparalell'd sufferings that ever were inflicted or born by any It melts our bowels it breaks our hearts to behold our children striving in the pangs of death But the Lord beheld his Son struggling under agonies that never any felt before him He saw him falling to the ground groveling in the dust sweating blood and amidst those agonies turning himself to his Father and with an heart rending cry beseeching him Father if it be pâ—ssible let this cup pass Luk. 22.42 To wrath to the wrath of an infinite God without mixture to the very torments of hell was Christ delivered and that by the hand of his own Father Sure then that love must needs want a name which made the Father of mercies deliver his own only Son to such miserys for us 3. It is a special consideration to enhance the love of God in giving Christ that in giving him he gave the richest Jewel in his Cabinet A mercy of the greatest worth and most inestimable value Heaven it self is not so valuable and precious as Christ is He is the better half of heaven And so the Saints account him Psal. 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee Ten thousand thousand worlds saith one as many worlds as Angels can number and then as a new world of Angels can multiply would not all be the balk of a ballance to weigh Christs Excellency Love and sweetness O what a fair one What an only one What an excellent lovely ravishing one is Christ. Put the Beauty of ten thousand Paradices like the garden of Eden into one put all Trees all Flowers all Smells all Colours all Tasts all Ioys all Sweetness all Loveliness in one O what a fair and excellent thing would that be And yet it should be less to that fair and dearest well beloved Christ than one drop of rain to the whole Seas Rivers Lakes and Fountains of ten thousand Earths Christ is heavens wonder and earths wonder Now for God to bestow the mercy of mercys the most precious thing in heaven or earth upon poor sinners and as great as lovely as excellent as his Son was yet not to account him too good to bestow upon us what manner of love is this 4. Once more let it be considered on whom the Lord bestowed his Son Upon Angels No but upon men Upon man his friend No but upon his enemies This is Love And on this consideration the Apostle lays a mighty weight in Rom. 5.8 9 10. But God saith he commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for
fits and capacitates him to stand in the midst betwixt God and us This I say is the proper sence of the word Though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Mediator be rendred variously Sometimes an Umpire or Arbitrator Sometimes a Messenger that goes betwixt two Persons Sometimes an Interpreter imparting the mind of one to another Sometimes a Reconciler or Peace-maker And in all these sences Christ is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the middle Person in his mediation of reconciliation o◠intercession that is either in his mediating by suffering to make peace as he did on Earth or to continue and maintain peace as he doth in Heaven by meritorious intercession Both these ways he is the only Mediator and he manageth this his mediation First As an Vmpire or Arbitrator One that layeth his hands upon both Parties as Iob speaks Iob. 9.33 so doth Christ he layeth his hands speaking after the manner of men upon God and saith Father wilt thou be at peace with them and readmit them into thy favour If thou wilt thou shalt be fully satisfied for all that they have done against thee And then he layeth his hand upon man and saith poor sinner be not discouraged thou shalt be justified and saved Secondly As a Messenger or Ambassadour so he came to impart the mind of God to us and so he presents our desires to God And in this sence only Socinus would allow Christ to be Mediator But therein he endeavours to undermine the Foundation and to exclude him from being a Mediator by suretyship Which is the Third way of this mediation So the Apostles speaks Heb. 7. he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the surety or pledge Which as the learned David Pareus well expresseth it is one that engageth to satisfie another or gives caution or security by a Pledge in the hand for it And indeed both these ways Christ is our Mediator by suretyship viz. in a way of satisfaction coming under our obligation to answer the Law this he did on the Cross and in a way of caution A surety for the peace or good behaviour but to be more explicite and clear I shall In the next place enquire what it implys and carries in it for Christ to be a Mediator betwixt God and us And there are mainly these five things in it First At the first sight it carries in it a most dreadful breach and jar betwixt God and Men else no need of a Mediator of Reconciliation There was indeed a sweet League of amity once between them but it was quickly dissolved by sin the wrath of the Lord was kindled against man pursuing him to destruction Psal. 5.5 thou hatest all the works of iniquity And man was fill'd with unnatural enmity against his God Rom. 1.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haters of God This put an end to all friendly commerce and intercourse between him and God Reader say not in thy heart that it 's much one sin and that seemingly so small should make such a breach as this And cause the God of mercy and goodness so to abhor the works of his hands and that assoon as he had made man for it was an hainous and aggravated evil It was upright perfect man created in the Image of of God that thus sinned He sinned when his mind was most bright clear and apprehensive His Conscience pure and active His Will free and able to withstand any temptation His Conscience pure and undefiled Yea he was a Publique as as well as perfect man and well knew that the happiness or misery of his numberless offspring was involved in him The condition he was placed in was exceeding happy No necessity or want could arm and edge a temptation He lived amidst all natural and spiritual pleasures and delights the Lord most delightfully conversing with him Yea he sinned while as yet his Creation-mercy was fresh upon him and in this sin was most horrible ingratitude yea a casting off the yoke of obedience almost assoon as God had put it on God now saw the work of his hands spoiled a race of Rebels now to be propagated who in their successive Generations would be fighting against God He saw it and his just indignation sparkled against man and resolves to pursue him to the bottom of Hell Secondly it implys a necessity of satisfaction and reparation to the Iustice of God For the very design and end of this mediation was to make Peace by giving full satisfaction to the party that was wronged The Photinians and some others have dreamed of a reconciliation with God founded not upon satisfaction but upon the absolute mercy goodness and free-will of God But conceiving that absolute goodness and mercy of God reconciling sinners to himself there is a deep silence throughout the Scriptures And whatever is spoken of it upon that account is as it works to us through Christ Eph 1.3 4 5. Acts 4.12 Ioh. 6.40 and we cannot imagine either how God could exercise mercy to the prejudice of his Justice which must be if we must be reconcil'd without full satisfaction or how such a full satisfaction should be made by any other than Christ. Mercy indeed moved in the Heart of God to poor man but from his heart it found no way to vent it self for us but through the Heart Blood of Jesus Christ. And in him the Justice of God was fully satisfied and the misery of the Creature fully cured And so as Augustine speaks God neither lost the severity of his Justice in the goodness of mercy nor the goodness of his mercy in the exactness of his severity But if it had been possible God could have found out a way to reconcile us without satisfaction yet it 's past doubt now that he hath picht and fixt on this way And for any now to imagine to reconcile themselves to God by any thing but Faith in the Blood of this Mediator is not only most vain in it self and destructive to the Soul but most insolently derogatory to the wisdom and grace of God And to such I would say as Tertullian to Marcion whom he calls the Murtherer of Truth spare the only hope of the whole world O thou who destroyest the most necessary glory of our Faith All that we hope for is but a Phantasm without this Peace of Conscience can be rationally settled on no other Foundation but this For God having made a Law to govern man and this Law violated by man either the penalty must be levyed on the delinquent or satisfaction made by his surety As good no Law as no penalty for disobedience and as good no penalty as no execution He therefore that will be a Mediator of Reconciliation betwixt God and Man must bring God a price in his hand and that adequate to the offence and wrong done him else he will not treat about Peace and so did our Mediator Thirdly Christs being a Mediator of reconciliation and intercession implys the infinite value
study upon his knees Those truths that are got by Prayer leave an unusual sweetness upon the heart If Christ be our Teacher it becomes all his Saints to be at his Feet Inference 4. If Christ be the great Prophet and Teacher of the Church We may thence discern and Iudge of Doctrines and it may serve us as a test to try them by For such as Christ is such are the Doctrines that flow from him Every errour pretends to derive it self from him but as Christ was holy humble heavenly meek peaceful plain and simple and in all things alien yea contrary to the wisdom of the world the gratifications of the flesh such are the truths which he teacheth They have his Character and Image ingraven on them Would you know then whether this or that Doctrine be from the Spirit of Christ or no Examine the Doctrine it self by this rule And whatsoever Doctrine you find to incourage and countenance sin to exalt self to be accommodated to earthly designs and interests to wrap and bend to the humours and Lusts of men in a word what Doctrine soever directly and as a proper cause makes them that profess it carnal turbulent proud sensual c. You may safely reject it and conclude this never came from Jesus Christ. The Doctrine of Christ is after godliness His truth sanctifies There is a gustus Spiritualis judicii a Spiritual taste by which those that have their sences exercised can distinguish things that differ The Spiritual man Iudgeth all things 1 Cor. 2.15 His ear tryes words as his mouth tasteth meats Job 34.3 Swallow nothing let it come never so speciously that hath not some relish of Christ and holyness in it Be sure Christ never reveal'd any thing to men that derogates from his own glory or prejudices and obstructs the ends of his own Death Inference 5. And as it will serve us for a test of Doctrines so it serves for a test of Ministers and hence you may Judge who are authorized and sent by Christ the great Prophet to declare his will to men Surely those whom he sends have his Spirit in their Hearts as well as his words in their Mouths And according to measures of grace received they faithfully endeavour to fullfil their Ministry for Christ as Christ did for his Father as my Father hath sent me saith Christ so send I you Joh. 20.21 They take Christ for their pattern in the whole course of their Ministration and are such as sincerely endeavour to imitate the great Shepherd in these six particulars following First Jesus Christ was a faithful Minister the faithful and true witness Rev. 1.5 He declared the whole mind of God to men Of him it was Prophetically said Psal. 40.10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart I have declared thy faithfulness and thy Salvation I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation To the same sence and almost in the same words the Apostle Paul professed in Acts 20.20 I have kept back nothing that was profitable unto you and vers 35. I have shewed you all things Not that every faithful Minister doth in the course of his Ministry anatomize the whole body of truth and fully expound and apply each particular to the People no that is not the meaning but of those Doctrines which they have opportunity of opening they do not out of fear or to accommodate and secure base low ends withhold the mind of God or so corrupt and abuse his words as to subject truth to their own or other mens Lusts. They Preach not as pleasing men but God 1 Thes. 2.4 For if we yet please men we cannot be the servants of Christ Gal. 1.10 Truth must be spoken though the greatest on earth be offended Secondly Jesus Christ was a tender hearted Minister Full of compassion to souls He was sent to bind up the broken in heart Isa. 61.1 He was full of bowels to poor sinners He grieved at the hardness of mens hearts Mark 3.5 He mourned over Ierusalem and said O Ierusalem Ierusalem how oft would I have gathered thy Children as a Hen gathers her brood under her wings Matth. 23.37 His bowels yearned when he saw the multitude as Sheep having no Shepherd Matth. 9.36 These bowels of Christ must be in all the under Shepherds God is my witness saith one of them how greatly I long after you all in or after the pattern of the bowels of Christ Iesus Phil. 1.8 He that shews a hard heart unaffected with the dangers and miseries of souls can never shew a commission from Christ to authorize him for ministerial work Thirdly Jesus Christ was a laborious painful Minister he put a necessity on himself to finish his work in his day A work infinitely great in a very little time Ioh. 9.4 I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work O how much work did Christ do in a little time on earth He went about doing good Acts 10.38 He was never idle When he sits down at Iacobs Well to rest himself being weary presently he falls into his work Preaching the Gospel to the Samaritaness In this must his Ministers resemble him Striving according to his working that worketh in them mightily Col. 1.28 29. An idle Minister seems to be a contradiction in adjecto as who should say a dark light Fourthly Iesus Christ delighted in nothing more than the success of his Ministry To see the work of the Lord prosper in his hand this was meat and drink to him When the seventy returned and reported the success of their first Embassie Lord even the Devils are subject to us through thy name Why saith Christ I behold Satan fall as lightning from heaven As if he had said you tell me no news I saw it when I sent you out at first I know the Gospel would make work where it came And in that hour Iesus rejoyced in Spirit Luk. 10.17 18 21. And is it not so with those sent by him Do'nt they value the success of their Ministry at an high rate it is not saith one the expence but the recoyling of our labours back again upon us that kills us Ministers would not die so fast nor be gray-headed so soon could they but see the travel of their Souls My littlle Children saith Paul of whom I travel again in birth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till Christ be formed in you Gal. 4.19 As for those that have the name of Shepherds only who visit the flock only once a year about shearing time who have the instruments of a foolish Shepherd â—fâ—rcipes mulctra the shears and pail Zech. 11.15 Woful will be their condition at the appearing of this great Shepherd Fifthly Iesus Christ was a Minister that lived up to his Doctrine His Life and Doctrine harmonized in all things He pressed to holiness in his Doctrine and was the great Pattern of
13 14. or more briefly The Priesthood of Christ is that whereby he expiated the sins of men and obtained the favour of God for them Col. 1.20 22. Rom. 5.10 But because I shall insist more largely upon the several parts and fruits of this office it shall here suffice to speak thus much as to its general nature which was the first thing proposed for explication The necessity of Christs Priesthood comes next to be opened Touching which I affirm according to the Scriptures It was necessary in order to our salvation that such a Priest should by such a Sacrifice appear before God for us The truth of this assertion will be cleared by these two principles which are evident in the Scripture viz. That God stood upon full satisfaction and would not remit one sin without it And that fallen man is totally uncapable of tendring him any such satisfaction Therefore Christ who only can must do it or we perish First God stood upon full satisfaction and would not remit one sin without it This will be cleared from the nature of sin And from the veracity and wisdom of God First From the nature of sin which deserves that the sinner should suffer for it Penal evil in a course of Justice follows moral evil Sin and sorrow ought to go together Betwixt these is a necessary connexion Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death Secondly The veracity of God requires it The word was gone out of his mouth Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye From that time he was instantly and certainly obnoxious and lyable to the death of soul and body The Law pronounces him cursed that continues not in all things that are written therein to do them Gal. 3.9 Now though mans threatnings are often vain and insignificant things yet Gods shall surely take place Not one tittle of the Law shall fail till all be fulfilled Matth. 5.18 God will be true in his threatnings though thousands and millions perish Thirdly The wisdom of God by which he governs the rational world admits not of a dispensation or relaxation of the threatnings without satisfaction For as good no King as no Laws for government As good no Law as no penalty And as good no penalty as no execution To this purpose one well observes It 's altogether undecent especially to the wisdom and and righteousness of God that that which provoketh the execution should procure the abrogation of his Law That that should supplant and undermine the Law for the alone preventing whereof the Law was before established How could it be expected that â—en should fear and tremble before God when they should find themselves more feared than hurt by his threats against sin So then God stood upon satisfaction and would admit no treaty of peace on any other ground Let none here object that reconciliation upon this only score of satisfaction is derogatory to the riches of grace or that we allow not God what we do men viz. to forgive an injury freely without satisfaction Free forgiveness to us and full satisfaction made to God by Jesus Christ for us are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things inconsistent with each other as in its proper place shall be fully cleared to you And for denying that to God which we allow to men you must know that man and man stands on even ground Man is not capable of being wronged and injured by man as God is by man There is no compare betwixt the nature of the offences To conclude man only can freely forgive man in a private capacity so far as the wrong concerns himself but ought not to do so in a publick capacity as he is a Judge and bound to execute justice impartially God is our Law-giver and Judge He will not dispense with violations of the Law but strictly stands on compleat satisfaction Secondly Man can tender to God no satisfaction of his own for the wrong done by his sin He finds no way to compensate and make God amends either by doing or by suffering his will First Not by doing This way is shut up to all the world None can satisfie God or reconcile himself to him this way For its evident our best works are sinful All our righteousness as filthy rags Isa. 64.6 And it 's strange any should imagine that one sin should make satisfaction for another if it be said not what is sinful in our duties but what is spiritual pure and good may ingratiate us with God It is at hand to reply that what is good in any of our duties is a debt we owe to God yea we owe him perfect obedience and it is not imaginable how we should pay one debt by another Quit a Farmer by contracting a new engagement if we do any thing that is good we are beholding to grace for it Ioh. 15.5 2 Cor. 3.5 1 Cor. 15.10 In a word those that have had as much to plead on that score as any now living have quitted and utterly given up all hopes of appeasing and satisfying the justice of God that way It 's like holy Iob feared God and eschued evil as much as any of you yet he saith Job 9.20 21. If I justifie my self mine own mouth shall condemn me if I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse Though I were perfect yet would I not know my soul I would despise my life It may be David was a man as much after the heart of God as you yet he said Psal. 143.2 Enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified It 's like Paul lived as holy heavenly and fruitful a life as the best of you and far far beyond you yet he saith 1 Cor. 4.4 I know or am conscious to my self of nothing yet am I not thereby justified His sincerity might comfort him could not justifie him And what need I say more the Lord hath shut up this way to all the world And the Scriptures speak it roundly and plâ—â—â—ly Rom. 3.20 Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight Compare Gal. 3.21 Rom. 8.3 Secondly And as man can never reconcile himself to God by doing so neither by suffering That is equally impossible For no sufferings can satisfie God but such as are proportionable to the offence we suffer for And if so an infinite suffering must be born I say infinite for so sin is an infinite evil objectively considered as it wrongs an infinite God Now sufferings may be said to be infinite either in respect of their weight exceeding all bounds and limits The letting out the wrath and fury of an infinite God Or in respect of duration being endless and everlasting In the first sense no Creature can bear an infinite wrath It would swallow us up In the second it may be born as the damned do but then ever to be suffering is never to have satisfied
So that no man can be his own Priest to reconcile himself to God by what he can do or suffer And therefore one that is able by doing and suffering to reconcile him must undertake it or we perish Thus you see plainly and briefly the general nature and necessity of Christs Priesthood From both these several useful Corollarys or practical deductions offer themselves Corollary 1. This shews in the first place the incomparable excellency of the reformed Christian Religion above all other Religions known to or professed in the world What other Religions seek the Christian Religion only finds even a solid foundation for true peace and settlement of conscience While the Iews seek it in vain in the Law the Mahumetan in his external and ridiculous observances the Papist in his own merits the Believer only finds it in the blood of this great sacrifice this and nothing less than this can pacifie a disâ—â—â—â—sed conscience labouring under the weight of its own guilt Conscience demands no less to satisfie it than God demands to satisfie him The grand inquest of conscience is Is God satisfied If he be satisfied I am satisfied Woful is the state of that man that feels the worm of conscience nibling on the most tender part of the soul and hath no relief against it That feels the intollerable scalding wrath of God burning within and hath nothing to cool it Hear me you that slight troubles of conscience that call them fancies and melancholly whimsies if you ever had had but one sick night for sin if you had ever felt that shame fear horror and despair which are the dismal effects of an accusing and condemning conscience you would account it an unspeakable mercy to hear of a way for the discharge of a poor sinner from that guilt You would kiss the feet of that messenger that could bring you tydings of peace You would call him blessed that should direct you to an effectual remedy Now whoever thou art that pinest away in thine iniquities that droopest from day to day under the present wounds and dismal presages of conscience know that thy soul and peace can never meet till thou art perswaded to come to this blood of sprinkling The blood of this sacrifice speaks better things than the blood of Abel The blood of this sacrifice is the blood of God Act. 20.28 invaluably pretious blood 1 Pet. 1.18 one drop of it infinitely excels the blood of all other creatures Heb. 10.4 5 6. Such is the blood that must do thee good Lord I must have such blood saith conscience as is capable of giving thee full satisfaction or it can give me no peace The blood of all the Cattle upon a thousand Hills cannot do this What is the blood of beasts to God The blood of all the men in the world can do nothing in this case What is our polluted blood worth No no it 's the blood of God that must satisfie both thee and me Yea Christs blood is not only the blood of God but it 's blood shed in thy stead and in thy place and room Gal. 3.13 He was made a curse for us And so it becomes sin pardoning blood Heb. 9.22 Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 Rom. 3.26 And consequently conscience pacifying and soul quieting blood Col. 1.20 Eph. 2.13 14. Rom. 3.26 O bless God that ever the news of this blood came to thine ears With hands and eyes lifted up to Heaven admire that grace that cast thy lot in a place where this joyful sound rings in the ears of poor sinners What had thy case been if thy mother had brought thee forth in the desarts of Arabia or in the wastes of America or what if thou hadst been nursed up by a Popish father who could have told thee no other remedy when in distress for sin but to go such a pilgrimage to whip and lash thy self to satisfie an angry God! Surely the pure light of the Gospel shining upon this generation is a mercy never to be duly valued never to be enough prized Corollary 2. Hence also be informed of the necessity of faith in order to a state and sense of peace with God For to what purpose is the blood of Christ our sacrifice shed unless it be actually and personally applyed and appropriated by faith You know when the sacrifices under the Law were brought to be slain he that brought it was to put his hand upon the head of his sacrifice and so it was accepted from him to make an attonement Lev. 1.4 Not only to signifie that now it was no more his but Gods the propriety being transferred by a kind of manumission nor yet that he voluntarily gave it to the Lord as his own free act but principally it noted the putting off his sins and the penalty due to him for them upon the head of the sacrifice and so it implyed in it an execration as if he had said upon thy head be the evil So the Learned observe the Ancient Aegyptians were wont expresly to imprecate when they sacrificed If any evil be coming upon us or upon Aegypt let it turn and rest upon this head laying their hand at these words on the sacrifices head And upon that ground saith the Historian none of them would eat of the head of any living creature You must also lay the hand of faith upon Christ your sacrifice not to imprecate but apply and appropriate him to your own souls he having been made a curse for you To this the whole Gospel tends even to perswade sinners to apply Christ and his blood to their own souls To this he invited us Matth. 11.28 Come unto me ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest For this end our sacrifice was lifted up upon the Altar Joh. 3.14 15. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness so must the son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life The Effects of the Law not only upon the conscience filling it with torments but upon the whole person bringing death upon it are here shadowed out by the stingings of fiery Serpents and Christ by the brazen Serpent which Moses exalted for the Israelites that were stunâ— to look unto And as by looking to it they were healed so by believing or looking to Christ in faith our souls are healed Those that looked not to the Brazen Serpent died infallibly so must all that look not to Jesus our sacrifice by faith It 's true the death of Christ is the meritorious cause of remission but faith is the instrumental applying cause and as Christs blood is necessary in its place so is our faith in its place also For to the actual remission of sin and peace of conscience there must be a co-operation of all the causes of remission and peace As there is the grace and love of God for an efficient and impulsive cause and the death of Christ our
the High-Priests entring with the blood of the Sacrifice and sweet incense into the holy place Levit. 16.12 13 14. And he shall take the censer full of burning coals of fire from off the Altar before the Lord and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small and bring it within the vail and he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the Testimony that he die not And he shall take the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat Eastward c. Christs offering himself on earth answered to the killing of the Sacrifice without and his entring into Heaven there to intercede was that which answered to the Priest going with blood and his hands full of incense within the vail So that this is a part yea a special part of Christs Priesthood and so necessary to it that if he had not done this all his work on earth had signified nothing nor had he been a Priest that is a compleat and perfect Priest if he had remained on earth Heb. 8.4 Because the very design and end of sheding his blood on earth had been frustrated which was to carry it before the Lord into Heaven So that this is the principal perfective part of the Priesthood He acted the first part on earth in a state of deep abasement in the form of a servant but he Acts this in glory whereinto he is taken up that he may follow on his design in dying and give the work of our Salvation its last compleating Act. So much is imported in this Scripture which tells us by reason hereof he is able to save to the uttermost c. The words contain an incouragement to believers to come to God in the way of faith drawn from the intercession of Christ in Heaven for them In which you may take notice of these three principal parts First The quality of the persons here incouraged who are described by a direct act of faith as poor recumbents that are going out of themselves to God by faith but conscious of great unworthiness in themselves and thence apt to be discouraged Secondly The incouragement propounded to such believers drawn from the ability of Jesus Christ in whose name they go to the Father to save them to the uttermost i. e. fully perfectly compleatly For so this Emphatical word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies The saving us wholly throughly compleatly and altogether giving our Salvation its last act and complement Thirdly The ground or reason of this his saving ability Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession i. e. he hath not only offered up his blood to God upon the tree as a full price to purchase pardon and grace for believers but lives in Heaven and that for ever to apply unto us in the way of intercession all the fruits blessings and benefits that that pretious blood of his deserves and hath procured as a price for them The words thus opened that point I shall single out from among many that lie in them as most suitable to my design and purpose is this DOCT. That Iesus our High-Priest lives for ever in the capacity of a potent intercessor in Heaven for believers Here we will enquire First what it is for Christ to be an intercessor Secondly By what acts he performs that work in Heaven Thirdly Whence the potency and prevalency of his intercession is Fourthly and Lastly How he lives for ever to make intercession for us First What it is for Christ to be an intercessor for us To intercede in general is to go betwixt two parties to intreat argue and plead with one for the other And of this there are two sorts First ex charitate ut fratres That whereby one Christian prays and pleads with God for another 1 Tim. 2.1 Secondly Ex officio mediatorio that whereby Christ as an act of office presents himself before God to request for us Betwixt these two is this difference that the former is performed not in our own but anothers name we can tender no request to God immediately or for our own sake either for our selves or for others Joh. 16.23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you But the latter which is proper to Christ is an Intercession with God for us in his own name and upon the account of his proper merit The one is a private act of Charity the other a publick act of Office And so he is our Advocate or Court-friend as Satan our accuser or Court-adversary Satan is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that charges us before God 1 Pet. 5.8 And continually endeavours to make breaches between us and God Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Attorney Advocate or Lidger that pleads for us and continues peace and friendship between us and God 1 Joh. 2.2 If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous And thus to make intercercession is the peculiar and incommunicable prerogative of Jesus Christ. None but he can go in his own name to God And in that sense we are to understand that place Ezech. 44.2 3. Then said the Lord unto me this gate shall be shut it shall not be opened and no man shall enter in by it because the Lord the God of Israel hath entred in by it therefore it shall be shut It is for the Prince the Prince he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord c. The great broad gate called here the Princes gate signifies that abundant and direct entrance that Christ had into Heaven by his own merits and in his own name this faith the Lord shall be shut no man shall enter in by it all other men must come thither as it were by collateral or side doors which looked all towards the Altar viz. by vertue of the Mediator and through the benefit of his death imputed to them And yet though God hath for ever shut up and bar'd this way to all the children of men telling us that no man shall ever have access to him in his own name as Christ the Prince had How do some notwithstanding strive to force open the Princes gate So do they that found the intercession of Saints upon their own works and merits thereby robbing Christ of his peculiar glory but all that so approach God approach a devouring fire Christ only in the vertue of his blood thus comes before him to make intercession for us Secondly We will inquire wherein the Intercession of Christ in Heaven consists or by what acts he performs this Glorious Office there And the Scriptures place it in three things First In his presenting himself before the Lord in our names and upon our accounts So we read in Heb. 9.24 Christ is entred into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us The Apostle manifestly alludes to
the severity of the Law that when it is once offended it will never be made amends again by all that we can do It will not discharge the sinner for all the sorrow in the world Indeed if a man be in Christ sorrow for sin is something and renewed obedience is something God looks upon them favourably and accepts them gratiously in Christ but out of him they signifie no more than the intreaties and cries of a condemned malefactor to reverse the legal sentence of the Judge You may toyl all the day of your life and at night go to bed without a candle To that sense that Scripture sounds Isa. 50. ult Behold all ye that kindle a fire that compass your selves about with sparks walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that you have kindled this shall ye have of mine hand ye shall lie down in sorrow By fire and the light of it some understand the sparkling pleasures of this life and the sensitive joys of the creatures but generally it 's taken for our own natural righteousness and all acts of duties in order to our own justification by them before God And so it stands opposed to that faith of recumbency spoken of in the verse before By their compassing themselves about with these sparks understand their dependence on these their duties and glorying in them But see the fatal issue ye shall lie down in sorrow That shall be your recompence from the hand of the Lord. That 's all the thanks and reward you must expect from him for slighting Christs and prefering your own righteousness before his Reader be convinced that one act of faith in the Lord Jesus pleases God more than all the obedience repentance and strivings to obey the Law through thy whole life can do And thus you have the first special fruit of Christs Priesthood in the full satisfaction of God for all the sins of Believers The FIFTEENTH SERMON GAL. IV. IV V. But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons THis Scripture gives us an account of a double fruit of Christs death viz. the payment of our debt and the purchase of our inheritance First The payment of our debt expressed by our redemption or buying us out from the obligation and curse of the Law which hath been discoursed in the last exercise Secondly the purchase of an inheritance for those redeemed ones expressed here by their receiving the Adoption of Sons Which is to be our present subject Adoption is either civil or divine Of the first the Civil Law gives this difinition that it is A Lawful Act in imitation of nature invented for the comfort of them that have no children of their own Divine Adoption is that special benefit whereby God for Christs sake accepteth us as Sons and makes us heirs of eternal life with him Betwixt this Civil and Sacred Adoption there is a twofold agreement and disagreement They agree in this that both flow from the pleasure and good will of the Adoptant And in this that both confer aright to priviledges which we have not by nature but in this they differ One is an Act imitating nature the other transcends nature The one was found out for the comfort of them that had no children the other for the comfort of them that had no Father This Divine Adoption is in Scripture either taken properly for that act or sentence of God by which we are made Sons or for the priviledges with which the Adopted are invested And so it 's taken Rom. 8.23 and in this Scripture now before us We lost our inheritance by the fall of Adam we receive it as the Text speaks by the death of Christ which restores it again to us by a new and better title The Doctrine hence is DOCT. That the death of Iesus Christ hath not only satisfied for our debts but over and above purchased a rich inheritance for the children of God For this end or cause he is the Mediator of the New-Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Heb. 9.15 We will here first see what Christ paid Secondly what he purchased Thirdly for whom First What Christ paid Our Divines comprize the vertue and fruits of the Priesthood of Christ in these two things viz. solutio debiti acquisitio haereditatis payment and purchase answerably the obedience of Christ hath a double relation ratio legalis justiciae the relation of a legal righteousness an adequate and exactly proportionated price And it hath also in it ratio super legalis meriti the relation of a merit over and beyond the Law To object as some do the satisfaction of Christ was more than sufficient according to our Doctrine and therefore could not be intended for the payment of our debt is a senseless cavil For surely if Christ paid more than was owing he must needs pay all that was owing to divine Justice And truly it is but a bad requital of the Love of Jesus Christ who beside the payment of what we owed would manifest his bounty by the redundancy of his merit which he paid to God to purchase a blessed inheritance for us This overplus of satisfaction which was the price of that inheritance I am now to open is not obscurely hinted but plainly expressed twice in Rom. 5.15 But not as the offence so also is the free gift for if through the offence of one many be dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Iesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath abounded or flowed abundantly unto many So vers 17. For if by one mans offence death raigned by one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much more they which receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the overflowings or abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall raign in life by one Iesus Christ. In both which places Christ and Adam are compared as the two roots or common heads of mankind both agreeing in this property of communicating their conditions to those that are theirs yet there is a great deal of difference betwixt them for in Christ the power is all divine and therefore infinitely more active and effectual He communicates abundantly more to his than they lost in Adam So that this blood is not only sufficient to redeem all those that are actually redeemed by it but even the whole world also And were there so many worlds of men as there are men in the world it would be sufficient for them also and yet still there would be an overplus of value For all those worlds of men would rise but to a finite bulk but this blood is infinite
the world as if Heaven were in it What will ye do when at death you shall look back over your shoulder and see what you have spent your time and strength for shrinking and vanishing away from you When you shall look forward and see vast eternity opening its mouth to swallow you up O then what would you give for a well grounded assurance of an eternal inheritance O therefore if you have any concernment for your poor souls If it be not indifferent to you what becomes of them whether they be saved or whether they be damned give all diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2.12 Remember it is Salvation you work for and that 's no trifle Remember it 's your own Salvation and not anothers It is for thy own poor soul that thou art striving and what hast thou more Remember now God offers you his helping hand now the Spirit waits upon you in the means but of the continuance thereof you have no assurance for it is of his own good pleasure and not at yours To your work souls to your work Ah strive as men that know what an Inheritance in Heaven is worth And that as for you that have sollid evidence that it is yours Oh that with hands and eyes lifted up to Heaven you would adore that free grace that hath entitled a child of wrath to a heavenly inheritance Walk as becomes heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Be often looking Heaven-ward when wants pinch here Oh look to that fair estate you have reserved in Heaven for you and say I am hastning home and when I come thither all my wants shall be supplied Consider what it cost Christ to purchase it for thee and with a deep sense of what he hath laid out for thee let thy soul say Blessed be God for Iesus Christ. The SIXTEENTH SERMON II COR. X.V. Casting down imaginations and every thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. WE now come to the Regal Office by which our glorious Mediator executes and dischargeth the undertaken design of our Redemption Had he not as our Prophet opened the way of Life and Salvation to the children of men they could never have known it and should they have clearly known it except as their Priest he had offered up himself to impetrate and obtain Redemption for them they could not have been Redeemed virtually by his blood and if they had been so Redeemed yet had he not lived in the capacity of a King to apply this purchase of his blood to them they could have had no actual personal benefit by his death For what he revealed as a Prophet he purchased as a Priest and what he so revealed and purchased as Prophet and Priest he applies as King First Subduing the souls of his elect to his spiritual government then ruling them as his subjects and ordering all things in the Kingdom of providence for their good So that Christ hath a twofold Kingdom the one spiritual and internal by which he subdues and rules the hearts of his people The other providential and external whereby he guides rules and orders all things in the world in a blessed subordination to their eternal Salvation I am to speak from this text of his Spiritual and internal Kingdom These words are considerable two ways either relatively or absolutely Considered relatively they are a vindication of the Apostle from the unjust censures of the Corinthians who very unworthily interpreted his gentleness condescention and winning affability to be no better than a fawning upon them for self ends and the authority he excercised no better than pride and imperiousness But hereby he lets them know that as Christ needs not so he never used such carnal Artifices The weapons of our warfare saith he are not carnal but mighty through God c. Absolutely considered they hold forth the efficacy of the Gospel in the plainness and simplicity of it for the subduing of rebellious sinners to Christ and in them we have these three things to consider First The oppositions made by sinners against the assaults of the Gospel viz. imaginations or reasonings as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be fitly rendred He means the subtilties slights excuses subterfuges and arguings of fleshly minded men in which they fortifie and entrench themselves against the convictions of the word Yea and there are not only such carnal reasonings but many proud high conceits with which poor creatures swel and scorn to submit to the abasing humble self-denying way of the Gospel These are the fortifications erected against Christ by the carnal mind Secondly We have here the conquest which the Gospel obtains over sinners thus fortified against it It casts down and overthrows and takes in those strong holds Thus Christ spoils Satan of his armour in which he trusted by shewing the sinner that all this can be no defence to his soul against the wrath of God But that 's not all in the next place Thirdly You have here the improvement of the victory Christ doth not only lead away these enemies spoiled but brings them into obedience to himself i. e. makes them after conversion Subjects of his own Kingdom obedient useful and serviceable to himself and so is more than a Conqueror They do not only lay down their arms and fight no more against Christ with them but repair to his Camp and fight for Christ with those reasons of theirs that were before imployed against him as it 's said of Ierome Origen and Tertullian that they came into Canaan laden with Aegyptian gold That is they come into the Church full of excellent learning and abilities with which they eminently served Jesus Christ. O blessed victory where the Conqueror and conquered both Triumph together And thus enemies and rebels are subdued and made subjects of the spiritual Kingdom of Christ. Hence the Doctrinal note is DOCT. That Iesus Christ exercises a Kingly power over the souls of all whom the Gospel subdues to his obedience No sooner were the Collossians delivered out of the power of darkness but they were immediately translated into the Kingdom of Christ the dear Son 1 Col. 13. This Kingdom of Christ which is our present subject is the internal spiritual Kingdom which is said to be within the Saints Luk. 17.20 21. The Kingdom of God is within you Christ sits as an enthroned King in the Hearts Consciences and affections of his willing people Psal. 110.3 And his Kingdom consists in Rightâ—ousness Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 And is properly Monarchical as appears in the Margent In the prosecution of this point I will speak Doctrinally to these three heads First How Christ obtains this throne
is called Gods servant they fulfil his will whilst they are prosecuting their own lusts The earth shall help the woman Rev. 12.16 But good men delight to serve providence they and the Angels are fellow-servants in one house and to one master Rev. 19.10 Yea there is not a creature in Heaven or Earth or Hell but Jesus Christ can Providentially use it and serve his ends and promote his designs by it But whatever the Instrument be Christ uses of this we may be certain that his Providential working is Holy Judicious Soveraign Profound Irresistible Harmonious and to the Saints peculiar First It 's holy Though he permits limits orders and overrules many unholy persons and actions yet he still works like himself most holily and purely throughout The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works Psal. 145.17 It 's easier to separate light from a Sun-beam than holiness from the works of God The best of men cannot escape sin in their most holy actions They cannot touch but are defiled But no sin cleaves to God whatever he hath to do about it Secondly Christs providential working is not only most pure and holy but also most wise and Judicious Ezek. 1.20 The wheels are full of eyes they are not moved by a blind impetus but in deep counsel and wisdom And indeed the wisdom of providence manifests it self principally in the choice of such states for the people of God as shall most effectually promote their eternal happiness And herein it goes quite beyond our understandings and comprehensions It makes that medicinal and salutiferous which we judge as destructive to our comfort and good as poyson I remember it is a note of Suarez speaking of the felicity of the other world then saith he the blessed shall see in God all things and circumstances pertaining to them excellently accommodated and attempered Then they shall see that the crossing of their desires was the saving of their souls And that they had if they had not perished The most wise Providence looks beyond us It eyes the end and suits all things thereto and not to our fond desires Thirdly The Providence of Christ is most supream and soveraign Whatsoever he pleaseth that he doth in Heaven and Earth and in all places Psal. 135.6 He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings Rev. 19.16 The greatest Monarchs on Earth are but as little bits of clay As the worms of the earth to him They all depend on him Prov. 8.15 16. By me Kings raign and Princes decree Iustice by me Princes rule Nobles even all the Iudges of the Earth Fourthly Providence is profound and inscrutable The Judgements of Christ are as the great deeps and his footsteps are not known Psal. 36 6. There are hard texts in the works as well as in the words of Christ The wisest heads have been at a loss in interpreting some providences Ier. 12.1 2. Iob. 21.7 The Angels had the hands of a man under their wings Ezek. 1.8 i. e. They wrought secretly and mysteriously Fifthly Providence is irresistible in its designs and motions for all providences are but the fulfillings and accomplishments of Gods immutable decrees Eph. 1.11 He works all things according to the counsel of his own will Hence Zech. 6.1 The Instruments by which God executed his wrath are called Chariots coming from betwixt two mountains of brass i. e. the firm and immutable decrees of God When the Iews put Christ to death they did but do that the hand and counsel of God had before determined to be done Acts 4.28 So that none can oppose or resist Providence I will work and who shall lett Isa. 43.13 Sixthly The Providences of Christ are Harmonious There are secret chains and invisible connexions betwixt the works of Christ. We know not how to reconcile promises and providences together nor yet providences one with another but certainly they all work together Rom. 8.28 as adjuvant causes or con-causes standing under and working by the influence of the first cause He doth not do and undo Destroy by one providence what he built by another But look as all seasons of the year the nipping frosts as well as halcion days of summer do all conspire and conduce to the harvest so it is in providence Seventhly Lastly The providences of Christ work in a special and peculiar way for the good of the Saints His providential is subordinated to his Spiritual Kingdom He is the Saviour of all men especially of them that believe 1 Tim. 4.10 These only have the blessing of providence Things are so laid and ordered as that their eternal good shall be promoted and secured by all that Christ doth Inference 1. If so See then in the first place to whom you are beholding for your lives liberties comforts and all that you enjoy in this world Is it not Christ that takes order for you He is indeed in Heaven out of your sight but though you see him not he sees you and takes care for all your concerns When one told Silentiarius of a plot laid to take away his life he answered Si Deus mei curam non habet quid vivo if God take not care of me how do I live how have I escaped hitherto In all thy waies acknowledge him Prov. 3.6 It 's he that hath espied out that state thou art in as most proper for thee It 's Christ that doth all for you that is done He looks down from Heaven upon all that fear him he sees when you are in danger by Temptation and casts in a providence you know not how to hinder it He sees when you are sad and orders reviving providences to refresh you He sees when corruptions prevail and orders humbling providences to purge them Whatever mercies you have received all along the way you have gone hitherto are the orderings of Christ for you And you shall carefully observe how the promises and providences have kept equal pace with one another and both gone step by step with you until now Inference 2. Hath God left the government of the whole world in the hands of Christ and trusted him over all then do ye also leave all your particular concerns in the hands of Christ too and know that the infinite wisdom and love which rules the world manages every thing that relates to you It is in a good hand and infinitely better than if it were in your own I remember when Melanchthon was under some despondencies of spirit about the estate of Gods people in Germany Luther chides him thus for it desinat Philippus esse rector mundi let Philip cease to rule the world It 's none of our work to steer the course of providence or direct its motions but to submit quietly to him that doth There is an Itch in men yea in the best of men to be disputing with God Let me talk with thee of thy Iudgements saith Jeremy Jer. 32.1 2. Yea
he goeth to another come and he cometh meaning that as his souldiers were at his beck and command so diseases were at Christs beck to come and go as he ordered them Secondly Study the wisdom of Christ in the contrivance of your troubles And his wisdom shines out many waies in them It 's evident in choosing such kinds of troubles for you This and not that because this is more apt to work upon and purge out the corruption that most predominates in you In the decrees of your troubles Suffering them to work to such an height else not reach their end but no higher least they overwhelm you Thirdly Study the tenderness and compassions of Christ over his afflicted O think if the Devil had but the mixing of my cup how much more bitter would he make it There would not be one drop of mercy no not of sparing mercy in it which is the lowest of all sorts of mercy But here is much mercy mixed with my troubles There is mercy in this that it is no worse Am I afflicted it 's the Lords mercy I am not consumed Lam. 3.22 it might have been Hell as well as this There is mercy in his supports under it Others have and I might have been left to sink and perish under my burdens Mercy in deliverance out of it This might have been everlasting darkness that should never have had a morning O the tenderness of Christ over his afflicted Fourthly Study the love of Christ to thy soul in affliction Did he not love thee he would not sanctifie a rod to humble or reduce thee but let thee alone to rot and perish in thy sin Rev. 3.19 whom I love I rebuke and chasten This is the device of love to recover thee to thy God and prevent thy ruine O what an advantage would it be thus to study Christ in all your evils that befal you Secondly Eye and study Christ in all the good you receive from the hand of providence Turn both sides of your mercies and view them in all their lovely circumstances First Eye them in their suitableness How conveniently Providence hath ordered all things for thee Thou hast a narrow heart and a small estate suitable to it Hadst thou more of the world it would be like a large sail to a little boat which would quickly pull thee under water Thou hast that which is most suitable to thee of all conditions Secondly Eye the seasonableness of thy mercies how they are timed to an hour Providence brings forth all its fruits in due season Thirdly Eye the peculiar nature of thy mercies Others have common thou special ones Others have but a single thou a double sweetness in thy enjoyments one natural from the matter of it another spiritual from the way in which and end for which it comes Fourthly Observe the order in which providence sends you your mercies See how one is linked strangely to another and is a door to let in many Sometimes one mercy is introductive to a thousand Fifthly and Laslty Observe the constancy of them they are new every morning Lam. 3.23 How assiduously doth God visit thy soul and body Think with thy self if there were but a suspension of the care of Christ for one hour that hour would be thy ruine Thousands of evils stand round about thee watching when Christ will but remove his eye from thee that they may rush in and devour thee Could we thus study the providence of Christ in all the good and evil that befalls us in the world then in every state we should be content Phil. 4.11 Then we should never be stopt but furthered in our way by all that falls out Then would our experiences swell to great volumes which we might carry to Heaven with us And then should we answer all Christs ends in every state he brings us into Do this and say Thanks be to God for Iesus Christ. The EIGHTEENTH SERMON PHIL. II. VIII And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross. YOU have heard how Christ was invested with the Offices of Prophet Priest and King for the carrying on the blessed design of our Redemption the excution of these Offices necessarily required that he should be both deeply abased and highly exalted He cannot as our Priest offer up himself a Sacrifice to God for us except he be humbled and humbled to death He cannot as a King powerfully apply the vertue of that his Sacrifice except he be exalted yea highly exalted Had he not stooped to the low estate of a man he had not as a Priest had a Sacrifice of his own to offer as a Prophet he had not been fit to teach us the will of God so as that we should be able to bear it as a King he had not been a suitable head to the Church And had he not been highly exalted that Sacrifice had not been carried within the vail before the Lord. Those discoveries of God could not have been universal effectual and abiding The Government of Christ could not have secured protected and defended the Subjects of his Kingdom The infinite wisdom prospecting all this ordered that Christ should first be deeply humbled then highly exalted both which states of Christ are presented to us by the Apostle in this context He that intends to build high lays the foundation deep and low Christ must have a distinct glory in Heaven transcending that of Angels and men For the Saints will know him from all others by his glory as the Sun is known from the lesser Stars And as he must be exalted infinitely above them so he must first in order thereunto be humbled and abased as much below them His form was mar'd more than any mans and his visage more than the Sons of men The ground colours are a deep sable which afterward are laid on with all the splendor and glory of Heaven Method requires that we first speak to this state of Humiliation And to that purpose I have read this Scripture to you which pesents you the Sun under an almost total eclipse He that was beautiful and glorious Isai. 4.2 Yea glorious as the only begotten of the Father Ioh. 1.14 yea the glory Iames 2.1 Yea the splendor and brightness of the Fathers glory Heb. 1.3 was so vail'd clouded and debased that he looked not like himself a God no nor scarce as a man for with reference to this humbled state it 's said Psal. 22.6 I am a worm and no man q. d. rather write me worm than man I am become an abject among men as that word Isai. 53.3 signifies This humiliation of Christ we have here expressed in the nature degrees and duration or continuance of it First The nature of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he humbled himself The word imports both are all and voluntary abasement Real he did not personate a humbled man nor act the part of one in
few particulars of Christs humiliation in his incarnation Next we shall infer somethings from it that are practical Inference 1. Hence we gather the fulness and compleatness of Christs satisfaction as the sweet first fruits of incarnation Did man offend and violate the Law of God Behold God himself is become a man to repair that breach and satisfie for the wrong done The highest honour that ever the law of God received was to have such a person as the man Christ Jesus is to stand before its Bar and make reparation to it This is more than if it had poured out all our blood and built up its honour upon the ruines of the whole creation It is not so much to see all the Stars in Heaven overcast as to see one Sun eclipsed The greater Christ was the greater was his humiliation and the greater his humiliation was the more full and compleat was his satisfaction and the more compleatness there is in Christs satisfaction the more perfect and steady is the Believers consolation If he had not stoopt so low our joy and comfort could not be exalted so high The depth of the foundation is the strength of the superstructure Inference 2. Did Christ for our sakes stoop from the Majesty glory and dignity he was possessed of in Heaven to the mean and contemptible state of a man what a pattern of self-denial is here presented to Christians What objection against or excuses to shift off this duty can remain after such an example as is here propounded Brethren let me tell you the Pagan world was never acquainted with such an Argument as this to press them to self-denial Did Christ stoop and cannot you stoop Did Christ stoop so much and cannot you stoop in the least Was he content to become any thing a worm a reproach a curse and cannot you digest any abasements Do the least slights and neglects rancle your hearts and poyson them with discontent malice and revenge O how unlike Christ are you Hear and blush in hearing what your Lord saith in Joh. 13.14 If I then your Lord and Master wash your feet ye also ought to wash one anothers feet This example obliges not as a learned man well observes to the same individual act but it obliges us to follow the reason of the example That is after Christs example we must be ready to perform the lowest and meanest Offices of love and service to one another And indeed to this it obliges most forcibly for it is as if a Master seeing a proud sturdy Servant that grudges at the work he is imployed about as if it were too mean and base should come and take it out of his hand and when he hath done it should say doth not your Lord and Master think it beneath him to do it and is it beneath you I remember it is an excellent saying that Bernard hath upon the nativity of Christ. Saith he what more detestable what more unworthy or what deserves severer punishment than for a poor man to magnifie himself after he hath seen the great and high God so humbled as to become a little Child it is intollerable impudence for a worm to swell with pride after it hath seen majesty emptying it self To see one so infinitely above us to stoop so far beneath us Oh how convincing and shaming should it be Ah how opposite should pride and stoutness be to the spirit of a Christian I am sure nothing is more so to the Spirit of Christ. Your Saviour was lowly meek self-denying and of a most condescending Spirit He looked not at his own things but yours Phil. 2.4 And doth it become you to be proud selfish and stout I remember Ierom in his Epistle to Pamachius a godly young noble-man adviseth him to be eyes to the blind feet to the lame yea saith he if need be I would not have you refuse to cut wood and draw water for the Saints and what saith he is this to buffeting and spetting to crowning with thorns scourging and dying Christ did undergo all this and that for the ungodly Inference 3. Did Christ stoop so low as to become a man to save us Then those that perish under the Gospel must needs perish without apology What would you have Christ do more to save you Loe he hath laid aside the robes of Majesty and glory put on your own garments of flesh come down from his Throne and brought Salvation home to your own doors Surely the lower Christ stooped to save us the lower shall we sink under wrath that neglect so great Salvation The Lord Jesus is brought low but the unbeliever will lay him yet lower even under his feet he will tread the Son of God under foot Heb. 10.28 for such as the Apostle there speaks is reserved something worse than dying without mercy What pleas and excuses others will make at the Judgement Seat I know not but once it 's evident you will be speechless And as one well observes the vilest sinners among the Gentiles nay the Devils themselves will have more to say for themselves than you I must be plain with you I beseech you consider how Iews Pagans and Devils will rise up in Judgement against you The Iew may say I had a legal yoak upon me which neither I nor my fathers were able to bear Christ invited me only into the garden of nuts where I might sooner break my teeth with the hard shells of Ceremonies than get the kernel of Gospel-promises In the best of our Sacrifices the smoak filled our Temple smoak only to provoke us to weep for a clearer manifestation We had but the old edition of the Covenant of grace in a character very darkly intelligible you have the last edition with a Commentary of our rejection and the worlds reception and the spirits effusion You had all that heart could wish I perish eternally may the poor Pagan say without all possibility of reconciliation and have only sinned against the Covenant of works having never heard of a Gospel Covenant nor of reconciliation by a Mediator O had I heard but one Sermon had Christ but once broke in upon my soul to convince me of my undone condition and to have shewn a righteousness to me but wo is me I never had so much as one offer of Christ. But so have I must you say that refuse the Gospel I have or might have heard thousands of Sermons I could scarce escape hearing one or other shewing me the danger of my sin and my necessity of Christ but notwithstanding all I heard I wilfully resolved I would have nothing to do with him I could not endure to hear strictness prest upon me It was all the hell I had upon earth that I could not sin in quiet Nay may the Devil himself say it 's true I was ever since my fall malitiously set against God but alas as soon as I had sinned God kickt me out of Heaven and told me
foresaw a great trial then at hand yea and all the after trials of his people as well as that He knew how much they would be sifted and put to it in that hour and power of darkness that was coming He knew their faith would be shaken and greatly staggered by the approaching difficulties when they should see their Shepherd smitten and themselves scattered The Son of man delivered into the hands of Sinners and the Lord of Life hang dead upon the tree yea sealed up in the grave He foresaw what straights his poor people would fall into betwixt a busie Devil and a bad heart therefore he prays and pleads with such importunity and ardency for them that they might not miscarry Secondly He was now entring upon his intercession-work in Heaven and he was desirous in this prayer to give us a Specimen or sample of that part of his work before he left us that by this we might understand what he would do for us when he should be out of our sight For this being his last on earth it shews us what affections and dispositions he carried hence with him and satisfies us that he who was so earnest with God on our behalf such a mighty pleader here will not forget us or neglect our concerns in the other world Yet Reader I would have the alwaies to remember that the intercession of Christ in Heaven is carried at a much higher rate than this It 's performed in a way more suitable to that state of honour to which he is now exalted Here he used prostrations of Body cries and tears in his prayers There it 's carried in a more majestick and with more state becoming an exalted Jesus But yet in this he hath left us a special assistance to discover much of the frame temper and working of his heart now in Heaven towards us Thirdly and Lastly He would leave this as a standing monument of his Father-like care and love to his people to the end of the world And for this it is conceived Christ delivered this prayer so publickly not withdrawing from the Disciples to be private with God as he did in the Garden but he delivers it in their presence these things I speak in the world this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the â—ircumstance of place in the world doth plainly speak it to be a publick prayer And not only was it publickly delivered but it was also by a singular providence recorded at large by Iohn though omitted by the other Evangelists that so it might stand to all generations for a testimony of Christs tender care and Love to his people Fourthly If you ask how this gives evidence of Christs tender care and Love to his people which is the last enquiry I answer in few words For the thing is plain and obvious It appears in these two particulars First His Love and care manifest in the choice of mercies for them He doth not pray for health honour long life riches c. but for their preservation from sin spiritual joy in God sanctification and eternal glory No mercies but the very best in Gods treasure will content him He was resolved to get all the best mercies for his people the rest he is content should be dispensed promiscuously by providence But these he will settle as an heritage upon his children O see the Love of Christ Look over all your spiritual inheritance in Christ compare it with the richest fairest sweetest inheritance on earth and see what poor things these are to yours O the care of a dear Father O the love of a Saviour Secondly Besides what an evidence of his tenderness to you and great care for you was this that he should so intently and so affectionately mind and plead your concerns with God at such a time as this was even when a world of sorrow was heming him in on every side A cup of wrath mixed and ready to be delivered into his hand At that very time when the clouds of wrath grew black a storm coming and such as he never felt before when one would have thought all his care thoughts and diligence should have been imployed on his own account to mind his own sufferings no he doth as it were forget his own sorrows to mind our peace and comfort O Love unspeakable Corollary 1. If this be so that Christ so eminently discovered his care and love for his people in this parting hour Then hence we conclude the perseverance of the Saints is unquestionable Do you hear how he pleads how he begs how he fills his mouth with arguments how he chooseth his words and sets them in order how he winds up his Spirit to the very highest pin of zeal and fervency and can you doubt of success can such a Father deny the importunity and strong reasonings and pleadings of such a Son O it can never be He cannot deny him Christ hath the art and skill of prevailing with God He hath as in this appears the tongue of the Learned If the heart or hand of God were hard to be opened yet this would open them but when the Father himself loveth us and is inclined to do us good who can doubt of Christs success that which is in motion is the more easily moved The cause Christ manageth in Heaven for us is Just and Righteous The manner in which he pleads is powerful and therefore the success of his suit is unquestionable The Apostle professeth 2 Cor. 1.3 we can do nothing against the truth He means it in regard of the bent of his heart he could not move against truth and Righteousness And if a holy man cannot much less will a holy God If Christ undertake to plead the cause of his people with the Father and use his oratory with him there is no doubt but he carries it Every word in this prayer is a chosen shaft drawn to the head by a strong and skilful hand you need not question but it goes home to the white and hits the mark aimed at Doth he pray Father keep through thine own name those thou hast given me Sure they shall be kept if all the power in Heaven can keep them O think on this when dangers surround your souls or bodies When fears and doubts are multiplied within When thou art ready to say in thy hast all men are liers I shall one day perish by the hand of sin or Satan Think on that incouragement Christ gave to Peter Luke 22.31 I have prayed for thee Corollary 2. Again hence we learn that Argumentative prayers are excellent prayers The strength of every thing is in its joints There lies much of the strength of prayer also How strongly jointed how nervous and argumentative was this prayer of Christ Some there are indeed that think we need not argue and plead in prayer with God but only present the matter of our prayers to him and let Christ alone whose office it is to plead with the
Father As if Christ did not present our pleas and arguments as well as simple desires to God As if the choisest part of our prayers must be kept back because Christ presents our prayers to God No no Christs pleading is one thing ours another His and ours are not opposed but subordinated His pleading doth not destroy but makes ours successful God calls us to plead with him Isai. 1.18 come now let us reason together God as one observes reasoneth with us by his word and providences outwardly and by the motions of his Spirit inwardly but we reason with him by framing through the help of his Spirit certain holy arguments grounded upon allowed principles drawn from his nature name word or works And it is condemned as a very sinful defect in Professors that they did not plead the Churches cause with God Jer. 30.13 There is none to plead thy cause that thou maist be bound up What was Iacobs wrestling with the Angel but his holy pleading and importunity with God And how well it pleased God let the event speak As a Prince he prevailed and had power with God On which instance a Worthy thus glosseth Let God frown smite or wound Iacob is at a point a blessing he came for and a blessing he will have I will not let thee go saith he unless thou bless me His limbs his life might go but there is no going for Christ without a pawn without a blessing This is the man now what is his speed the Lord admires him and honours him to all generations What is thy name saith he q. d. I never met with such a man titles of honour are not worthy of thee Thou shalt be called not Iacob a shepherd with men but Iacob a Prince with God Nazianzen said of his sister Gorgonia that she was modestly impudent with God There was no putting her off with a denial The Lord on this account hath honoured his Saints with the title of his Recorders men fit to plead with him as that word mazkir signifies Isai. 62.6 Ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence give him no rest it notes the office of him that recorded all the memorable matters of the King and used to suggest seasonable Items and Memorandums of things to be done By these holy pleadings the King is held in his Galleries as it is Cant. 7.5 I know we are not heard either for our much speaking or our excellent speaking 't is Christs pleading in Heaven that makes our pleading on earth available but yet surely when the spirit of the Lord shall suggest proper arguments in prayer and help the humble suppliant to press them home believingly and affectionately when he helps us to weep and plead to groan and plead God is greatly delighted in such prayers Thou saidst I will surely do the good Said Iacob Gen. 32.12 It 's thine own free promise I did not go on mine own head but thou bidst me go and encouragest me with this promise O this is taking with God When by the spirit of Adoption we can come to God crying Abba Father Father hear forgive pity and help me am I not thy Child thy Son or Daughter to whom may a Child be bold to go with whom may a Child have hope to speed if not with his Father Father hear me The Fathers of our flesh are full of bowels and pity their children and know how to give good things to them when they ask them when they ask bread or cloaths will they deny them And is not the Father of Spirits more full of bowels more full of pity Father hear me This is that kind of prayer which is melody in the ears of God Corollary 3. What an excellent pattern is here for all that have the charge and government of others committed to them whether Magistrates Ministers or Parents to teach them how to acquit themselves towards their relations when they come to die Look upon dying Jesus see how his care and love to his people flamed out when the time of his departure was at hand Surely as we are bound to remember our Relations every day and to lay up a stock of prayers for them in the time of our health so it becomes us to imitate Christ in our earnestness with God for them when we die Though we die our prayers die not with us They out-live us and those we leave behind us in the world may reap the benefit of them when we are turned to dust For my own part I must profess before the world that I have a high value for this mercy And do from the bottom of my heart bless the Lord who gave me a Religious and tender Father who often poured out his soul to God for me He was one that was inwardly acquainted with God and being full of bowels to his children often carried them before the Lord prayed and pleaded with God for them wept and made supplication for them This stock of prayers and blessings left by him before the Lord I cannot but esteem above the fairest inheritance on earth O it is no small mercy to have thousands of fervent prayers lying before the Lord filed up in Heaven for us And oh that we would all be faithful to this duty Surely our love especially to the souls of our Relations should not grow cold when our breath doth O that we would remember this duty in our lives and if God give opportunity and ability fully discharge it when we die considering as Christ did we shall be no more but they are in this world In the midst of a defiled tempting troublesom world It 's the last office of Love that ever we shall do for them After a little while we shall be no longer sensible how it is with them for as the Church speaks Isai. 63.16 Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel acknowledgeth us not what Temptations and troubles may befal them we do not know O imitate Christ your pattern Corollary 4. To Conclude Hence ye may see what an high esteem and pretious value Christ hath of Believers this was the treasure which he could not be quiet he could not die till he had secured it in a safe hand I come unto thee holy Father keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me Surely Believers are dear to Jesus Christ. And good reason for he hath paid dear for them Let his dying language this last farewel speak for him how he prized them The Lords portion is his people Jacob is the Lott of his inheritance Deut. 32.9 They are a peculiar treasure to him above all the people of the earth Exod. 19.5 What is much upon our hearts when we die is dear to us indeed O how pretious how dear should Jesus Christ be to us were we first and last upon his heart did he mind us did he pray for us did he so wrestle with God about us when the sorrows
of death compassed him about how much are we engaged not only to love him and esteem him whilst we live but to be in pangs of love for him when we feel the pangs of death upon us To be eyeing him when our eye-strings break To have hot affections for Christ when our hands and feet grow cold The very last whisper of our departing soul should be this Blessed be God for Iesus Christ. The TWENTY FIRST SERMON I COR. XI XXIII XXIV XXV The Lord Iesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me After the same manner also he took the Cup when he had supped saying this Cup is the New-Testament in my blood this do as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me CHrist had no sooner recommended his dear charge to the Father but the time of his death hasting on he institutes his last Supper to be the lasting memorial of his death in all the Churches until the second coming therein graciously providing for the comfort of his people when he should be removed out of their sight And this was the second preparative act of Christ in order to his death he will set his house in order and then die This his second Act manifests no less love than the former It 's like the plucking off the ring from his finger when ready to lay his neck upon the block and delivering it to his dearest friends to keep that as a memorial of him Take this c. in remembrance of me In the words read are four things noted by the Apostle about this Last and Lovely Act of Christ. viz. the Author time institution and end of this holy and solemn ordinance First The Author of it The Lord Iesus it 's an effect of his Lordly power and royal authority Matth. 28.18 And Iesus came and spake unto them saying all power is given unto me in Heaven and earth go ye therefore The government is upon his shoulder Isai. 9.6 He shall bear the glory Zech. 6.13 Who but he that came out of the bosom of the Father and is acquainted with all the counsels that are there knows what will be acceptable to God And who but he can give creatures by his blessing their Sacramental efficacy and vertue Bread and Wine are naturally fit to refresh and nourish our bodies but what fitness have they to nourish souls Surely none but what they receive from the blessing of Christ that institutes them Secondly The time when the Lord Jesus appointed this ordinance In the same night in which he was betrayed It could not be sooner because the passover must first be celebrated nor later for that night he was apprehended It is therefore emphatically expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that same night that night for ever to be remembred He gives that night a cordial draught to his Disciples before the conflict He settles that night an Ordinance in the Church for the confirmation and consolation of his people in all generations to the end of the world By instituting in that night he gives abundant evidence of his care for his people in spending so much of that little very little time he had left on their account Thirdly The Institution it self in which we have the memorative significative instructive signs and they are Bread and Wine And the glorious mysteries represented and shadowed forth by them viz. Jesus Christ crucified the proper New-Testament nourishment of Believers Bread and Wine are choice creatures and do excellently shadow forth the flesh and blood of crucified Jesus And that both in their natural usefulness and manner of preparation Their usefulness is very great Bread is a creature necessary to uphold and maintain our natural life Therefore it 's called the staff of bread Isai. 3.1 Because as as a feeble man depends and leans upon his staff so doth our feeble spirits upon bread Wine was made to chear the heart of man Iudg. 9.13 They are both useful and excellent creatures Their preparations to become so useful to us is also remarkable The Corn must be ground in the Mill the Grapes torn and squeesed to pieces in the Wine-prefs before we can either have Bread or Wine And when all this is done they must be received into the body or they nourish not So that these were very fit creatures to be set apart for this use and end If any object it 's true they are good creatures but not pretious enough to be the signs of such profound and glorious Mysteries It was worth the creating of a new creature to be the sign of the new Covenant Let him that thus objects ask himself whether nothing be pretious without pomp The pretiousness of these Elements is not so much from their own natures as their use and end and that makes them pretious indeed A Loadstone at Sea is much more excellent than a Diamond because more useful A peniworth of wax applyed to the Label of a Deed and sealed may in a minute have its value raised to thousands of pounds These creatures receive their value and estimation on alike account Nor should it at all remain a wonder to thee why Christ should represent himself by such mean and common things when thou hast well considered that the excellency of the picture is in its similitude and conformity to the original and that Christ was in a low sad and very abased state when this picture of him was drawn he was then a man of sorrows These then as lively signs shadow forth a crucified Jesus Represent him to us in his red garments This pretious Ordinance may much more than Paul say to us I alwaies bear about in my body the dying of the Lord Iesus That 's the thing it signifies Fourthly Lastly Take notice of the use design and end of this institution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in remembrance or for a memorial of me O there 's much in this Christ knew how apt our base hearts would be to lose him amidst such a throng of sensible objects as we here converse with And how much that forgetfulness of him and of his sufferings would turn to our prejudice and loss And therefore doth he appoint a sign to be remembred by as oft as ye do this ye shew forth the Lords death till he come Hence we shall observe suitable to the design of this discourse DOCT. That the Sacramental memorial Christ left with his people is a special mark of his care and love for them What! to order his picture as it were to be drawn when he was dying to be left with his Spouse to rend his own flesh and set abroch his own blood to be meat and drink for our souls O what manner of love was this 'T is true his Picture in the Sacrament is full of scars and wounds but
No ear but his Fathers shall hear what he had now to say For the vehemency and importunity of it these were those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 5.7 strong cries that he poured out to God in the daies of his flesh And for the humility expressed in it he fell upon the ground he rolled himself as it were in the dust at his Fathers feet And in divers other respects it was a very remarkable prayer as you will hear anon Secondly This Scripture gives you also an account of the Agony of Christ as well as of his prayer and that a most strange one such as in all respects never was known before in nature It was a sweat as it had been blood which as is neither an hyperbole as some would make it Nor yet a meer similitude of blood as others fancy but a real bloody sweat For so as is sometimes taken for the very thing it self As Ioh. 1 1â— And as a worthy Divine of our own well notes that if the Holy-Ghost had only intended it for a similitude or resemblance he would rather have expressed it as it were drops of water than as it were drops of blood for sweat more resembles water than blood Thirdly You have here his relief in this his Agony and that by an Angel dispatcht post from Heaven to comfort him The Lord of Angels now needed the comfort of an Angel It was time to have a little refreshment when his face and body too stood as full of drops of blood as the drops of dew are upon the grass Hence we note DOCT. That our Lord Iesus Christ was praying to his Father in an extraordinary Agony when they came to apprehend him in the Garden To open and prepare this last act of preparation on Christs part for our use I shall at this time speak to these particulars First The place where he prayed Secondly The time when he prayed Thirdly The matter of his prayer And Lastly The manner how he prayed First For the circumstance of place where was this last and remarkable prayer poured out to God It was in the Garden St. Matthew tells us it was called Gethsemane which signifies as Pareus on the place observes the Valley of fatness viz. of Olives which grew in that Valley or Garden most plentifully This Garden lay very near to the City of Ierusalem The City had twelve gates five of which were on the east side of it among which the most remarkable were the fountain-gate so called of the fountain Siloe Through this gate Christ rode into the City in triumph when he came from Bethany The other was the sheep-gate so called from the multitude of sheep driven in at it for the Sacrifice for it stood close by the Temple and close by this gate was this Garden called Gethsemane where they apprehendded Christ and led him through this gate as a sheep to the slaughter Betwixt this Garden and the City ran the brook Cedron which rose from an hill upon the south and ran upon the east part of the City between Ierusalem and the mount of Olives and over this brook Christ passed into the Garden Ioh. 18.1 to which the Psalmist alludes in Psal. 110.7 He shall drink of the brook in the way therefore shall he lift up the head For this brook running through the Valley of Iehosaphat that fertile soil together with the filth of the City which it washt away gave the waters a black tincture and so fitly resembled those grievous sufferings of Christ in which he tasted both the wrath of God and men Now Christ went not into this garden to hide or shelter himself from his enemies No that was not his end for if so it had been the most improper place he could have chosen it being the accustomed place where he was wont to pray and a place well known to Iudas who was now coming to seek him as you may see Joh. 18.2 And Judas which betrayed him knew the place for Iesus oft-times resorted thither with his Disciples So that he repairs thither not to shun but to meet the enemy To offer himself as a prey to the Wolves which there found him and laid hold upon him He also resorted thither for an hour or two of privacy before they came that he might there freely pour out his soul to God So much for the circumstance of place where he prayed Secondly We shall consider the time when he entred into this Garden to pray And it was in the shutting in of the evening For it was after the Passoever and the Supper were ended Then as Matthew hath it Matth. 26.36 Jesus went over the Brook into the Garden betwixt the hours of nine and ten in the evening as it is conjectured and so he had betwixt two and three hours time to pour out his soul to God For it was about midnight that Iudas and the Souldiers came and apprehended him there So that it being immediately before his apprehension it shews us in what frame and posture Christ desired to be found and by it he left us an excellent pattern what we ought to do when eminent dangers are near us even at the door It becomes a Souldier to die fighting and a Minister to die preaching and a Christian to die praying If they come they find Christ upon his knees wrestling mightily with God by prayer He never spent one moment of the time of his life idely but these were the last moments he had to live in this world and here you may see how they were filled up and imployed Thirdly Next let us consider the matter of his prayer or the things about which he poured out his soul to God in the Garden that evening And vers 42. informs us what that was He prayed saying Father if thou be willing remove this cup from me nevertheless not my will but thine be done These words are involved in many difficulties as Christ himself was when he uttered them By the Cup understand that portion of sorrows then to be distributed to him by his Father Great afflictions and bitter tryals are frequently expressed in Scripture under the metaphor of a â—up So that dreadful storm of wrath upon the wicked in Psal. 11.6 Vpon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of thâ—ir cup. i. e. the punishment allotted to them by God for their wickedness And an exceeding great misery By a large or deep cup. So Ezek. 23.32 33. Thou shalt drink of thy Sisters cup deep and large thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision it containeth much Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow with the cup of astonishment and desolation with the cup of thy Sister Samaria And when an affliction is compounded of many bitter ingredients stinging and agravating considerations and circumstances then it 's said to be mixed In the hand of the Lord there is a cup
and the wine is red noting a bloody trial It is full of mixture and he poureth out the same but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them i. e. they shall have the worst part of the Judgement for their share Thus afflictions and calamities are exprest by the metaphor of a cup great calamities by a deep and large cup. Afflictions compounded of many agravating circumstances by a mixed cup. And from the effect it hath on them that must drink it it 's called a cup of trembling Isai. 57.17 Thou hast drunken at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury the dregs of the cup of trembling Such a cup now was Christs cup. A cup of wrath a large and deep cup that contained more wrath than ever was drunk by any creature even the wrath of an infinite God A mixed cup. Mixed with Gods wrath and mans in the extremity And all the bitter agravating circumstances that ever could be imagined Great consternation and amazement this was the portion of his cup. By the passing of the cup from him understand his exemption from suffering that dreadful and horrid wrath of God which he foresaw to be now at hand For as the coming of the cup to a man doth in Scripture phrase note his bearing and suffering of evil as you find it Lam. 4.21 Rejoice and be glad O daughter of Edom that dwellest in the Land of Uz the cup also shall pass through unto thee thou shalt be drunken and make thy self naked Which is an ironical reproof of the Idumeans the Jews deadly enemies who wickedly insulted over them when the cup was at their mouths as if the Lord had said you have laughed and jear'd at my people when my hand was on them you rejoyced to see their calamities Well make your selves merry still if you can the cup shall pass through unto thee Thy turn is coming then laugh it thou canst So on the contrary the passing away of the cup notes freedom from or our escaping of those miseries And so Christs meaning in this conditional request is Father if it be thy will excuse me from this dreadful wrath my soul is amazed at it Is there no way to shun it Cannot I be excused O if it be possible spare me This is the meaning of it But then here 's the difficulty how Christ who knew God had from everlasting determined he should drink it who had compacted and agreeed with him in the covenant of redemption so to do who came as himself acknowledges for that end into the world Ioh. 18.37 Who foresaw this hour all along and professed when he spake of this bloody baptism with which he was to be baptised that he was straightned till it was accomplished Luk. 12.50 How I say to reconcile all this with such a petition that now when the cup was delivered to him it might pass or he be excused from suffering this is the knot this is the difficulty What! Did he now repent of the bargain Was all he said before but a flourish before he saw the enemy Doth he now begin to wish his bargain dry and that he had never undertaken such a work is that the meaning of it Nothing less No no Christ never repented of his engagement to the Father Never was willing to let the burden lie on us rather than on himself There was not such a thought in his holy and faithful heart but the resolution of this doubt depends upon a double distinction Which will clear his meaning in it First You must distinguish of prayers Some are absolute and peremptory and so to have prayed that the cup might pass would have been chargeable with such absurdities as were but now mentioned others are conditional and submissive prayers if it may be if the Lord please And such was this if thou be willing if not I 'le drink it But you will say Christ knew what was the mind of God in that case He knew what transactions had of old been betwixt his Father and him and therefore though he did not pray absolutely yet it 's strange he would pray conditionally it might pass Therefore in the Second place you must diftinguish of the natures according to which Christ acted He acted sometimes as God and sometimes as man Here he acted according to his humane nature Simply expressing and manifesting in this request the reluctancy it had at such sufferings Wherein he shewed himself a true man in shunning that which is destructive to his nature As Christ had two distinct natures so two dictinct wills And as one well observes in the life of Christ there was an intermixture of power and weakness of the divine glory and humane frailty At his birth a star shone but he was laid in a manger The Devil tempted him in the wilderness but there Angels ministred to him As man he was deceived in the figtree but as God he blasted it He was caught by the Souldiers in the Garden but first made them fall back So here as man he feared and shunned death but as God-man he willingly submitted to it It was as Deodati well expresses it A purely natural desire meer man by which for a short moment he apprehended and shunned death and torments but quickly recalled himself to obedience by a deliberate will to submit himself to God And besides that this desire was but conditional under the will of God accepted by Christ but from the comtemplation of which he was a while diverted by the extremity of horrors therefore there was no sin in it but only a short conflict of nature pesently overcome by reason and a firm will Or a small suspension quickly overcome by a most strong resolution Finally this sacred deliberation in Jesus was not made simply or in an instant but with a short time and with a counterpoise which is the natural property of the soul in its motions and voluntary actions In a word as there was nothing of sin in it it being a pure and sinless affection of nature so there was much good in it and that both as it was a part of his satisfaction for our sin to suffer inwardly such fears tremblings and consternations And as it was a clear evidence that he was in all things made like unto his brethren except sin And Lastly as it serves notably to express the grievousness and extremity of the sufferings of Christ whose very prospect and appearance at some distance was â—o dreadful to him If the Learned Reader desire to see what is farther said on this point let him read what the judicious and learned Parker in his excellent book de descensu hath collected upon that case Fourthly Let us consider the manner how he prayed and that was First Solitarily He doth not here pray in the audience of his Disciples as he had done before but went at a distance from them He had now private business to transact with God He
Christ as many of his other enemies did of whom it 's said 1 Cor. 2.8 That had they known him they would not have crucified the Lord of glory But he did it for mony to make his market of Christ. He sold Christ as a man would sell an Ox or a Sheep to the Butcher for profit He was fully of the mind of the Pope whose motto was the smell or savor of gain is sweet let it rise out of what it will If he can get any thing by Christs blood it shall be a vendible commodity with him What will ye give me saith he and I will betray him Matth. 26.15 Fourthly He sells him and he sells him at a low rate too which shewed how vile an esteem he had of Christ. He is content to part with him for thirty pieces of silver If these pieces or sheckles were the sheckles of the sanctuary they amounted but to three pounds fifteen shillings But it 's supposed they were the common sheckles which were mostly used in buying and selling and then his price that he put upon the Saviour of the world was but one pound seaventeen shillings and six pence A goodly price as the Prophet calls it that he was valued at Zech. 11.12 13. I confess it 's a wonder he asked no more knowing how much they longed for his blood and â—hat they offered no more for him but how then should the Scriptures have been fulfilled O what a sale was this to sell that blood which all the Gold and Silver in the world is not worth one drop of for a trifle Still the wickedness of this fact rises higher and higher Fifthly He left Christ in most Heavenly and excellent imployment when he went to make this soul undoing bargain For if he went away from the Table as some think then he left Christ instituting and administring those Heavenly Signs of his body and blood There he saw or might have seen the bloody work he was going about acted as in a figure before him If he sate out that Ordinance as others suppose he did Then he left Christ singing an Heavenly hymn and preparing to go where Iudas was preparing to meet him When the Lord Jesus was in the most serious and heavenly exercise the wretch slinked away from him into the City or else went under pretence to buy some necessaries But his design was not to buy but to sell whatever his pretences were Nay Sixthly What he did was not done by the perswasions of any The High-Priest sent not for him and without doubt was surprised when he he came to him on such an errand For it could never enter into any of their hearts that any of his own Disciples could ever be drawn into a confederacy against him No he went as a Voluntier offering himself to this work which still heightens the sin and makes it out of measure sinful Seaventhly The manner in which he executes his treasonable design adds further malignity to the fact He comes to Christ with fawning words and carriages Hail Master and kist him Here 's hony in the tongue and poyson in the heart Here 's hatred hid under lying lips This was the man and this was his fact Let us enquire Thirdly The cause and motives of this wickedness how he came to attempt and perpetrate such a villany Maldonate the Iesuit criminates the Protestant Divines for affirming that God had an hand in ordering and overruling this fact But we say that Satan and his own Lust was the impulsive cause of it That God as it was a wicked treason permitted it And as it was a delivering Christ to death was not only the permitter but the wise and holy director or orderer of it and by the wisdom of his providence overruled it to the great good and advantage of the Church in respect of which happy issue Iudas his treason is called faelix scelus a happy wickedness Satan inspired the motion Luk. 22.3 4. Then entred Satan into Judas sirnamed Iscariot and he went his way c. his own Lusts like dry tinder kindled presently his heart was covetous there was predisposed matter enough for the Devil to work on so that it was but touch and take Vers. 25. They covenanted to give him mony and he promised c. The holy God disposed and ordered all this to the singular benefit and good of his people Acts 4.28 they did whatsoever his hand and counsel had before determined to be done And by this determinate counsel of God was he taken and slain Acts 2.23 Yet this no way excuses the wickedness of the Instruments For what they did was done from the power of their own lusts most wickedly what he did was done in the unsearchable depth of his own wisdom most holy God knows how to serve his own ends by the very sins of men and yet have no communion at all in the sin he so overrules If a man let go a Dog out of his hand in pursuit of a Hare the Dog hunts meerly for a prey but he that let him go uses the sagacity and nimbleness of the Dog to serve his own ends by it Iudas minded nothing but his own advantage to get mony God permitted that Lust to work but overruled the issue to his own eternal glory and the salvation of our souls Fourthly Lastly but what was the end and issue of this fact As to Christ it was his death for the hour being come he doth not meditate an escape nor put forth the power of his Godhead to deliver himself out of their hands Indeed he shewed what he could do when he made them go back and stagger with a word He could obtain more than twelve legions of Angels to have been his life-guard one of whom had been sufficient to have coped with all the Roman legions but how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled or our Salvation accomplished No he resists not but Iudas delivering him into their hands at that time was his death And what got he as a reward of his wickedness It ended in the ruine both of his soul and body For immediately a death-pang of despair seized his Conscience which was so intollerable that he ran to the halter for a remedy And so falling headlong he burst assunder and all his bowels gushed out Acts 1.18 And now he that had no bowels for Christ hath none for himself As for his soul it went to its own place vers 25. Even the place appointed for the son of perdition as Christ calls him Iohn 17.12 His name retains an odious stench to this day and shall to all generations It 's a by-word A Proverb of reproach This was his end We will next improve it Corollary 1. Hence in the first place we learn that the greatest professors had need be jealous of their own hearts and look well to the grounds and principles of their professions One of the Antients would have had this Epitaph engraven upon
suited it with a temptation which fully hit his humour and it carries him immediately This is the dangerous Crisis of the soul. Now you shall see what it is and what it will do Put mony before Iudas and presently you shall see what the man is Corollary 5. Hence in like manner we are instructed That no man knows where he shall stop when he first engages himself in a way of sin Wickedness as well as holiness is not born in its full strength but grows up to it by insensible degrees So did the wickedness of Iudas I believe he himself never thought he should have done what he did and if any should have told him in the first beginning of his profession thou shalt sell thee blood of Christ for mony Thou shalt deliver him most perfidiously into their hands that seek his life he would have answered as Hasael did to Elisha But what is thy servant a Dog that he should do this great thing 2 Kings 8.13 His wickedness first discovered it self in murmuring and discontent taking a pipue at some small matters against Christ as you may find by comparing Iohn 6. from the 60. to the 70. verse with Iohn 12. from the 3. to the 9. verse but see to what it grows at last That Lust or Temptation that at first is but a little cloud as big as a mans hand may quickly overspread the whole heaven It is in our engaging in sin as in the motion of a stone down the hill Vires acquirit eundo it strengthens it self by going and the longer it runs the more violent Beware of the smallest beginnings of temptations No wise man will neglect or slight the smallest spark of fire especially if he see it among many barrels of gunpouder You carry gunpouder about you O take heed of sparks Corollary 6. Did Iudas sell Christ for mony What a potent conqueror is the love of this world How many hath it cast down wounded What great Professors have been dragged at its Chariot wheels as its captives Hymeneus and Philetus Ananias and Saphira Demas and Iudas with thousands and ten thousands since their daies led away in triumph It drowns men in perdition 1 Tim. 6.9 in that pit of perdition this Son of perdition fell and never rose more O you that so court and prosecute it that so love and admire it make a stand here Pause a little upon this example Consider to what it brought this poor wretch whom I have presented to you dead eternally dead by the mortal wound that the love of this world gave him it destroyed both soul and body Pliny tells us that the Mermaids delight to be in green meadows into which they draw men by their inchanting voices but saith he there alwaies lie heaps of dead mens bones by them A lively emblem of a bewitching world Good had it been for many Professors of Religion if they had never known what the riches and honours and pleasures of this world meant Corollary 7. Did Iudas fansie so much happiness in a little mony that he would sell Christ to get it Learn then That which men promise themselves much pleasure and contentment in in the way of sin may prove the greatest curse and misery to them that ever befel them in the world Iudas thought it was a brave thing to get mony he fancied much happiness in it but how sick was his Conscience assoon as he had swallowed it O take it again saith he it griped him to the heart He knows not what to do to rid himself of that mony Give me children said Rachel or I die she hath children and they prove her death O mortifie your fancies to the world Put no necessity upon riches They that will be rich fall into temptations and many hurtful Lusts which drown men in perdition 1 Tim. 6.9 You may have your desires with a curse He that brings home a pack of fine cloaths infected with the plague hath no such great bargain of it how cheap soever he bought them Corollary 8. Was there one and but one of the twelve that proved a Iudas a Traytor to Christ Learn thence That it is a most unreasonable thing to be prejudiced at Religion and the sincere professors of it because some that profess it prove naught and vile Should the Eleven suffer for one Iudas Alas they abhor'd both the Traytor and his treason As well might the High-Priest and his Servants have condemned Peter Iohn and all the rest whose souls abhorred the wickedness If Iudas proved a vile wretch yet there was Eleven to one that remained upright if Iudas proved naught it was not his profession made him so but his hypocrisie He never learnt it from Christ. If Religion must be charged with all the miscariages of its Professors then there is no pure Religion in the world Name that Religion among the Professors whereof there is not one Iudas Take heed Reader of prejudices against godliness on this account The design of the Devil without doubt is to undo thee eternally by them Wo to the world because of offences Matth. 18.7 And what if God do permit these things to fall out that thou maist be hardened in iniquity confirmed in sin by such occasions and so thy destruction brought about this way Blessed is he that is not offended at Christ. Corollary 9. Did Iudas one of the twelve do so Learn thence That a drop of grace is better than a sea of gifts Gifts have some excellency in them but the way of grace is the more excellent way 1 Cor. 12.31 Gifts as one saith are dead graces but graces are living gifts There 's many a learned head in Hell These are not the things that accompany Salvation Gifts are the gold that beautifies the Temple but grace is as the Temple which sanctified the gold One tear one groan one breathing of an upright heart is more than the tongues of Angels Poor Christian thou art troubled that thou canst not speak and pray so neatly so handsomly as some others can but canst thou go into a corner and there pour out thy soul affectionately though not rhetorically to thy Father trouble not thy self It 's better for thee to feel one divine impression from God upon thine heart than to have ten thousand fine notions floating in thy head Iudas was a man of parts but what good did they do him Corollary 10. Did the Devil win the consent of Iudas to such a design as this Could he get no other hand but the hand of an Apostle to assist him Learn hence That the policy of Satan lies much in the choice of his instruments he works by No bird saith one like a living bird to tempt others into the net Pelagius Socinus c. were fit persons for that work the Devil put them upon Austin told an ingenious young Scholar the Devil coveted him for an ornament He knows he hath a foul cause to manage and
therefore will get the fairest hand he can to manage it with the less suspicion Corollary 11. Did Iudas one of the twelve do this Then certainly Christians may approve and join with such men on earth whose faces they shall never see in Heaven The Apostles held communion a long time with this man and did not suspect him O please not your selves therefore that you have communion with the Saints here and that they think and speak charitably of you All the Churches shall know saith the Lord that I am he that searcheth the heart and reins and will give to every man as his work shall be Rev. 2.23 In Heaven we shall meet many that we never thought to meet there and miss many we were confident we should see there Corollary 12. Lastly Did Iudas one of the twelve a man so obliged raised and honoured by Christ do this Cease then from man be not too confident but beware of men Trust ye not in a friend put no confidence in a guide keep the door of thy lips from her that lieth in thy bosom Mica 7.5 Not that there is no sincerity in any man but because there is so much hypocrisie in many men and so much corruption in the best of men that we may not be too confident nor lay too great a stress upon any man Peters modest expression of Sylvanus is a pattern for us Sylvanus a faithful brother unto you as I suppose 1 Pet. 5.12 The time shall come saith Christ that brother shall betray brother to death Matth. 10.11 Your Charity for others may be your duty but your too great confidence may be your snare Fear what others may do but fear thy self more The TWENTY FOURTH SERMON LUK. XXIII XXIII XXIV And they were instant with loud voices requiring that he might be crucificed and the voices of them and of the Chief-Priests prevailed And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required JVdas hath made good his promise to the High-Priest and delivered Jesus a prisoner into their hands These Wolves of the evening no soonner seize the Lamb of God but they thirst and long to be sucking his pretious inuocent blood Their revenge and malice admits no delay as fearing a rescue by the people When Herod had taken Peter he committed him to prison intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people Acts 12.4 but these men cannot sleep till they have his blood and therefore the preparation of the Passover being come they resolve in all haste to destroy him yet lest it should look like a downright murder it shall be formalized with a trial This his trial and condemnation are the two last acts by which they prepared for his death and are both contained in this context in which we may observe First The Enditement Secondly The Sentence to which the judge proceeded First The Enditement drawn up against Christ wherein they accuse him of many things but can prove nothing They charge him with sedition and blasphemy but faulter shamefully in the proof However what is wanting in evidence shall be supplied with clamour and importunity For saith the Text they were instant with loud voices requiring that he might be crucified and their voices prevailed when they can neither prove the sedition or blasphemy they charged him with then crucifie him crucifie him must serve the turn instead of all witnesses and proofs Secondly The Sentence pronounced upon him Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required i. e. he sentenced Christ to be nailed to the Cross and there to hang till he was dead From both these we observe these two doctrinal conclusions Doct. 1. First That the trial of Christ for his life was managed most malitiously and illegally against him by his unrighteous Iudges Doct. 2. Secondly Though nothing could be proved against our Lord Iesus Christ worthy of death or of bonds yet was he condemned to be nailed to the Cross and there to hang till he died I shall handle these two points distinctly in their order beginning with the first namely DOCT. 1. That the trial of Christ for his life was managed most malitiously and illegally against him by his unrighteous Iudges Reader here thou maist see the Judge of all the world standing himself to be judged He that shall judge the world in righteousness judged most unrighteously He that shall one day come to the throne of judgement attended with thousands and ten thousands of Angels and Saints standing as a prisoner at mans bar and there denied the common right which a thief or murderer might claim and is commonly given them To manifest the illegallity of Christs trial let the following particulars be heedfully weighed First That he was inhumanely abused both in words and actions before the Court met or any examination had been taken of the fact For as soon as they had taken him they forthwith bound him and led him away to the High-priests house Luk. 22.54 and there they that held him mocked him and smote him blindfolded him stroke him on the face and bid him prophesie who smote him and many other things blasphemously spake they against him vers 63 64 65. how illegal and barbarous a thing was this When they were but binding Paul with thongs he thought himself abused contrary to law and asked the Centurion that stood by is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned q. d. is this legal What punish a man first and judge him afterwards But Christ was not only bound but horribly abused by them all that night dealing with him as the Lords of the Philistines did with Sampson to whom it was a sport to abuse him No rest had Jesus that night no more sleep for him now in this world O it was a sad night to him And this under Caiphas's own roof Secondly As he was inhumanely abused before he was tried so he was examined and judged by a Court that had no Authority to try him Luk. 22.66 as soon as it was day the elders of the people and the Chief-Priests and the Scribes came together and led him into their Concil This was the Ecclesiastical Court The great Sanhedrim which according to its first constitution should consist of seventy grave honourable and learned men to whom were to be referred all doubtful matters too hard for inferiour Courts to decide And these were to Judge impartially and uprightly for God as men in whom was the Spirit of God According to Gods counsel to Moses Numb 11.16 c. In this Court the Righteous and innocent might expect relief and protection And that is conceived to be the meaning of Christs words Luk. 13.33 It cannot be that a Prophet perish out of Jerusalem that is their Righteousness and Innocency may expect protection But now contrary to the first constitution it consisted of a pack fo malitious Scribes and Pharisees men full of revenge malice and all
him and his truth when we are required lawfully so to do i. e. when we are before a lawful Magistrate and the questions are not curious or captious when we cannot hold our peace but our silence will be interpretatively a denying of the truth finally when the glory of God honour of his truth and edification of others is more attainable by our open confession than it can be by our silence then must we with Christ give direct plain and sincere answers It was the old Priscilian error to allow men to deny or dissemble their profession when an open confession would infer danger But you know what Christ hath said Matth. 10.33 Whosoever shall deny me before men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven Christ will repay him in his own coin It was a noble saying of couragious Zuinglius what deaths would I not choose What punishment would I not undergo Yea into what vault of Hell would I not rather choose to be thrown than to witness against my Conscience Truth can never be bought dear nor sold cheap The Lord Jesus you see owns truth with the eminent and instant hazard of his life The whole cloud of witnesses have followed him therein Revel 14.1 we our selves once openly owned the waies of sin And shall we not do as much for Christ as we then did for the Devil Did we then glory in our shame and shall we now be ashamed of our glory Do not we hope Christ will own us at the great day Why if we confess him he also will confess us O possess your thoughts with the reasonableness of this duty Inference 3. Once more hence it follows That to bear the revilings contradictions and abuses of men with a meek composed and even spirit is excellent and Christ like He stood before them as a Lamb he rendred not railing for railing he endured the contradictions of sinners against himself Imitate Christ in his meekness He calls you so to do Matth. 11.28 This will be convincing to your enemies comfortable for your selves and honourable for Religion And as for your innocency God will clear it up as Christs was You have heard the illegal trial of Christ how insolently it was managed against him well right or wrong innocent or guilty his blood is resolved upon 'T is bought and sold before hand And if nothing else will do it menaces and clamours shall constrain Pilate to condemn him Whence our second note was DOCT. 2. That though nothing could be proved against our Lord Iesus Christ worthy of death or of bonds yet was he condemned to be nailed to the Cross and there to hang till he died For the explication of this I shall open the following particulars First Who gave the Sentence Secondly Upon whom he gave it Thirdly What Sentence was it that was given Fourthly In what manner Christ received it First Who and what was he that durst attempt such a thing as this Why this was Pilate who succeeded Valerius Gratus in the Presidentship of Iudea as Iosephus tells us in which trust he continued about ten years This cruel cursed act of his against Christ was in the eighth year of his government Two years after he was removed from his place and Office by Vitelius President of Syria for his inhumane murdering of the innocent Samaritans This necessitated him to go to Rome to clear himself before Caesar. But before he came to Rome Tyberius was dead and Cajus in his room Under him saith Eusebius Pilate killed himself He was a man not very friendly or benevolent to the Jewish nation but still suspicious of their rebellions and insurrections this jealous humour the Priests and Scribes observed and wrought upon it to compass their design against Christ. Therefore they tell him so often of Christs sedition and stirring up the people and that if he let him go he is none of Caesars friend which were the very considerations that prevailed with him to do what he did But how durst he attempt such a wickedness as this however he had stood in the opinion of Caesar What I give Judgement against the Son of God for 't is evident by many circumstances in this trial that he had many inward fears and convictions upon him that he was the Son of God By these he was scared and sought to release him Ioh. 19.8 12. the fear of a Deity fell upon him his mind was greatly perplext and dubious about this prisoner whether he was a God or a man And yet the fear of Caesar prevailed more than the fear of a Deity he proceeds to give sentence O Pilate wast thou not afraid to Judge and Sentence an Innocent a known Innocent and one whom thou thy self suspectedst at least to be more than man But see in this predominancy of self-interest what men will not attempt and perpetrate to secure and accommodate self Secondly against whom doth Pilate give Sentence against a Malefactor No his own mouth once and again acknowledged him innocent Against a common prisoner No but one whose same no doubt had often reached Pilates ears even the wonderful things wrought by him which none but God could do One that stood before him as the picture or rather as the body of innocency and meekness Ye have condemned and killed the Just and he resisteth you not Iames 5.6 now was that word made good Psal. 94.21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the Righteous and condemn the innocent blood Thirdly But what was the sentence that Pilate gave We have it not in the form in which it was delivered But the sum of it was that it should be as they required Now what did they requires why crucifie him crucifie him So that in what formalities soever it was delivered this was the substance and effect of it I adjudge Iesus of Nazareth to be nailed to the Cross and there to hang til he be dead Which sentence against Christ was First A most unjust and unrighteous sentence the greatest perversion of Judgement and Equity that was ever known to the civilized world since seats of Judicature were first set up What! to condemn him before one accusation was proved against him And if what they accused him of that he said he was the Son of God had been proved it had been no crime for he really was so and therefore no blasphemy in him to say he was Pilate should rather have come down from his seat of Judgement and adore him that sit there to judge him Oh it was the highest piece of injustice that ever our ears heard of Secondly As it was an unrighteous sentence so it was a cruel sentence delivering up Christ to their wills This was that misery which David so earnestly deprecated Psal. 27.12 O deliver me not over to the will of mine enemies But Pilate delivers Christ over to the will of his enemies men full of enmity rage and malice whose greatest pleasure it was to glut
will deliver it you again in that day whiter than the snow in Salmon Inference 7. Did Pilate give this Title to cast the reproach of his death upon the Jews and clear himself of it How natural is it to men to transfer the fault of their own actions from themselves to others For when he writes this is the King of the Jews he wholly charges them with the crime of crucifying their King and it is as if he had said hereafter let the blame and fault of this action lye wholly upon your own heads who have brought the guilt of his blood upon your selves and children I am clear you have extorted it from me O where shall we find a spirit so ingenious to take home to it self the shame of its own actions and charge it self freely with its own guilt Indeed it 's the property of renewed gratious hearts to remember confess and freely bewail their own evils to the glory of God and that 's a gratious heart indeed which in this case judgeth that the glory which by confession goeth to the name of his God is not so much glory lost to his own name but it 's the power of grace moulding our proud natures into another thing that must bring them to this The TWENTY EIGHTH SERMON ZECH. XIII VII Awake O sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow saith the Lord of Hosts smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones IN the former Sermons we have opened the nature and kind of the death Christ died even the cursed death of the Cross. Wherein nevertheless his innocency was vindicated by that honourable Title providentially affixed to his Cross. Method now requires that we take into consideration the manner in which he endured the Cross and that was solitarily meekly and instructively His solitude in suffering is plainly expressed in this Scripture now before us It cannot be doubted but the Prophet in this place speaks of Christ if you consider Matth. 26.31 Where you shall find these words applyed to Christ by his own accommodation of them Then said Iesus unto them all ye shall be offended because of me this might for it is written I will smite the Shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered Besides the Title here given Gods Fellow is too big for any creature in Heaven or Earth beside Christ. In these words we have four things particularly to consider First the Commission given to the Sword by the Lord of Hosts Secondly the person against whom it is Commissionated Thirdly the dismal effect of that stroke Fourthly and lastly the gracious mitigation of it First The Commission given to the Sword by the Lord of Hosts Awake O Sword and smite saith the Lord of Hosts The Lord of Hosts at whose beck and command all the Creatures are Who with a word of his mouth can open all the Armories in the World and command what weapons and instruments of death he pleaseth Calls here for the Sword Not the Rod gently to chasten But the Sword to destroy The Rod breaks no bones but the Sword opens the door to death and destruction The Strokes and thrusts of the Sword are mortal And he bids it awake It signifies both to rouze up as one that awakes out of sleep and to rouze or awake with triumph and rejoycing So the same word is rendred Iob. 31.29 Yea he commands it to awake and smite And it is as if the Lord had said come forth of thy Scabbard oh Sword of Justice thou hast been hid there a long time thou hast as it were been asleep in thy Scabbard now awake and glitter thou shalt Drink Royal Blood such as thou never shedst before Secondly The person against whom it is commissionated My Shepherd and the man that is my fellow This Shepherd can be no other than Christ who is often in Scripture stiled a Shepherd yea the chief Shepherd the Prince of Pastors Who redeemed feeds guides and preserves the flock of Gods Elect 1 Pet. 5.4 Ioh. 10.11 This is he whom he also stiles the man his fellow Or his neighbour as some render it And so Christ is in respect of his equality and unity with the Father both in essence and will His next neighbour His other self You have the sence of it in Phil. 2.6 He was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God Against Christ his fellow his next neighbour the delight of his Soul the sword here receives its Commission Thirdly You have here the dismal consequent of this deadly stroke upon the Shepherd And that is the scattering of the Sheep By the Sheep understand here that little flock the Disciples which followed this Shepherd till he was smitten i. e. apprehended by his enemies and then they were scattered i. e. dispersed they all forsook him and fled And so Christ was left alone amidst his enemies Not one durst make a stand for him or owne him in that hour of his danger Fourthly And lastly here is a gracious mitigation of this sad dispersion I will turn my hand upon the little ones By little ones he means the same that before he called Sheep but the expression is designedly varied to shew their feebleness and weakness which appeared in their relapse from Christ. And by turning his hand upon them understand Gods gracious reduction and gathering of them again after their sad dispersion so that they shall not be lost though scattered for the present For after the Lord was risen he went before them into Galilee as he promised Matth. 26.31 And gather'd them again by a gracious hand so that not one of them was lost but the Son of perdition The words thus opened I shall observe suitably to the Method I have proposed DOCT. That Christs dearest friends forsook and left him alone in the time of his greatest distress and danger This Doctrine containing only matter of fact and that also so plainly deliver'd by the pens of the several faithful Evangelists I need spend no longer time in the proof of it than to refer you to the several Testimonies they have given to it But I shall rather chuse to fit and prepare it for Use by explaining these four Questions First Who were the Sheep that were scattered from their Shepherd and left him alone Secondly What evil was there in this their scattering Thirdly What were the grounds and causes of it Fourthly And lastly what was the Issue and event of it First Who were these Sheep that were dispersed and scattered from their Shepherd when he was smitten It 's evident they were those pretious Elect Souls that he had gathered to himself who had long followed him and dearly Loved him and were dearly beloved of him They were persons that had left all and followed him and till that time faithfully continued with him in his Temptations
think they had never been better provided to cope with them Lot fell after yea presently after the Lord had thrust him out of Sodom and his eyes had seen the direful punishment of sin Hell as it were rained upon them out of Heaven Noah in like manner immediately after Gods wonderful and astonishing preservation of him in the Ark when he saw a world of men and women perishing in the floods for their sins David after the Lord had setled the Kingdom on him which for sin he rent from Saul and given him rest in his house Hezekiah was but just up from a great sickness wherein the Lord wrought a wonderful salvation for him Did such men and at such times when one would think no temptations should have prevailed fall and that so fouly Then let him that thinks he standeth take heed lest he fall O be not high-minded but fear Inference 2. Did Christ stand his ground and go through with his suffering-work when all that had followed him forsook him Then a resolved adherence to God and duty though left alone without company or encouragement is Christ-like and truly excellent You shall not want better company than that which hath forsaken you in the way of God Elijah complains 1 Kings 19.10 They have forsaken thy Covenant thrown down thine Altars and slain thy Prophets with the sword and I even I only am left and they seek my life to take it away And yet all this did not damp or discourage him in following the Lord for still he was very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts Paul complains 2 Tim. 4.16 At my first answer no man stood by me all men forsook me nevertheless the Lord stood with me And as the Lord stood by him so he stood by his God alone without any aids or support from men How great an Argument of integrity is this He that professes Christ for company will also leave him for company But to be faithful to God when forsaken of men to be a Lot in Sodom a Noah in a corrupted generation oh how excellent is it 'T is sweet to travel over this Earth to Heaven in the company of the Saints that are bound thither with us if we can but if we can meet no company we must not be discouraged to go on It 's not unlike but before you have gone many steps farther you may have cause to say as one did once never less alone than when alone Inference 3. Did the Disciples thus forsake Christ and yet were all recovered at last Then though believers are not priviledged from back-slidings yet they are secured from final apostacy and ruine The new creature may be sick it cannot die Saints may fall but they shall rise again Mica 7.8 The highest flood of natural zeal and resolution may ebb and be wholly dried up but saving grace is a well of water still springing up into everlasting life Ioh. 4.14 Gods unchangeable Election the frame and constitution of the New Covenant the meritorious and prevalent intercession of Jesus Christ does give the believer abundant security against the danger of a total final apostacy My Father which gave them me saith Christ is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand Joh. 10.29 And again the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2.19 Every person committed to Christ by the Father shall be brought by him to the Father and not one wanting God hath also so framed and ordered the New Covenant that none of those souls who are within the blessed clasp and bond of it can possibly be lost It 's setled upon immutable things and we know all things are as their foundations be Heb. 6.18 19. Among the many glorious promises contained in that bundle of promises this is one I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me And as the fear of God in our hearts pleads in us against sin so our potent Intercessor in the heavens pleads for us with the Father and by reason thereof we cannot finally miscarry Rom. 8.34 35. Upon these grounds we may as the Apostle in the place last cited doth triumph in that full security which God hath given us and say what shall separate us from the love of God Understand it either of Gods to us as Calvin Beza and Martyr do or of our Love to God Ambrose and Augustine do it 's true in both senses and a most comfortable truth Inference 4. Did the Sheep flie when the Shepherd was smitten such men and so many forsake Christ in the trial Then learn how sad a thing it is for the best of men to be left to their own carnal fears in a day of temptation This was it that made those good men shrink away so shamefully from Christ in that Trial the fear of man brings a snare Prov. 29.25 in that snare these good souls were taken and for a time held fast Oh what work will this unruly passion make if the fear of God do not overrule it Is it not a shame to a Christian a man of faith to see himself out done by an Heathen Shall natural Conscience and courage make them stand and keep their places in times of danger when we shamefully turn our backs upon duty because we see duty and danger together When the Emperour Vespasian had commanded Fluidius Priscus not to come to the Senate or if he did to speak nothing but what he would have him The Senator returned this brave and noble answer that as he was a Senator it was fit he should be at the Senate and if being there he were required to give his advice he would speak freely that which his Conscience commanded him The Emperour threatning that then he should die he returned thus did I ever tell you that I was immortal Do you what you will and I will do what I ought It is in your power to put me to death unjustly and in me to die constantly O think what mischiefs your fear may do your selves and the discovery of them to others O learn to trust God with your lives liberties and comforts in the way of your duty and at what time you are afraid trust in him and do not magnifie poor dust and ashes as to be scared by their threats from your God and duty The politick design of Satan herein is to affright you out of your Coverts where you are safe into the net I will enlarge this no farther I have else where laid down fourteen Rules for the cure of this in what of mine is publick Inference 5. Learn hence how much a man may differ from himself according as the Lord is with him or withdrawn from him Christians do not only alwaies differ from other men but sometimes
absolutely and properly forgive sin but God only Mark 2.7 the primary and principal wrong is done to him Psalm 51.4 Against thee thee only i. e. thee mainly or especially I have sinned Hence sins are metonymically called debts debts to God Matth. 6.12 not that we owe them to God or ought to sin against him but as a pecuniary debt obliges him that owes it to the penalty if he satisfie not for it so do our sins And who can discharge the Debtor but the Creditor It 's a gratious act or discharge 1 even I am he that blotteth out thy transgression for mine own name sake Isai. 43.25 And yet sin is not so forgiven as that God expects no satisfaction at all but as expecting none from us because God hath provided a surety for us from whom he is satisfied Eph. 1.7 In whom we have Redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace It 's a gratious discharge from the guilt of sin Guilt is that which pardon properly deals with Guilt is an obligation to punishment Pardon is the dissolving of that obligation Guilt is a chain with which sinners are bound and fettered by the Law pardon is that aqua-fortis that eats it asunder and makes the prisoner a free-man The pardoned soul is a discharged soul. Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods Elect It 's God that justifieth who shall condemn It 's Christ that died It 's Gods discharge of a believing penitent sinner Infidelity and impenitency are not only sins in themselves but such sins as bind fast all other sins upon the soul. By him all that believe are justified from all things Act. 10.43 So Act. 3.19 Repent therefore that your sins may be blotted out This is the method in which God dispenseth pardon to sinners Lastly It is for Christs sake we are discharged he is the meritorious cause of our remission As God for Christs sake hath forgiven you Eph. 4.32 It 's his blood alone that meritoriously procures our discharge This is a brief and true account of the nature of forgiveness Secondly Now to evince the possibility of forgiveness for such as ignorantly oppose Christ. Let these things be weighed First Why should any poor soul that is now humbled for its enmity to Christ in the daies of ignorance question the possibility of forgiveness when this effect doth not exceed the power of the cause nay when there is more efficacy in the blood of Christ the meritorious cause than is in the effect of it There 's power enough in that blood not only to pardon thy sins but the sins of the whole world were it actually applied 1 Iohn 2.2 There is not only a sufficiency but also a redundancy of merit in that pretious blood Surely then thy enmity to Christ especially before thou knewest him may not look like an unpardonable iniquity in thine eyes Secondly And as this sin exceeds not the power of the meritorious cause of forgiveness so neither is it any where excluded from pardon by any word of God Nay such is the extensiveness of the promise to believing penitents that this case is manifestly included and forgiveness tendered to thee in the promises Isai. 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Many such extensive promises there are in the Scriptures And there is not one parenthesis in all those blessed pages in which this case is excepted Thirdly And it is yet more satisfactory that God hath already actually forgiven such sinners and that which he hath done he may again do Yea therefore he hath done it to some and those eminent for their enmity to Christ that others may be incouraged to hope for the same mercy when they also shall be in the same manner humbled for it Take one famous instance of many it 's that of Paul in 1 Tim. 1.13 16. Who was before a blasphemer a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Iesus Christ might shew forth all long suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to everlasting life It 's no small incouragement to a sick man to hear of some that have been recovered out of the same disease and that prevailing in an higher degree than in himself Fourthly Moreover It is encouraging to consider that when God hath cut off others in the way of their sin he hath hitherto spared thee What speaks this but a purpose of mercy to thy soul Thou shouldst account the long suffering of God thy Salvation 2 Pet. 3.15 Had he smitten thee in the way of thy sin and enmity to Christ what hope had remained But in that he hath not only spared thee but also given thee a heart ingenuously ashamed and humbled for thy evils doth not this speak mercy for thee Surely it looks like a gratious design of love to thy soul. Inference 1. And is there forgivenss with God for such as have been enemies to Christ his truths and people Then certainly there is pardon and mercy for the friends of God who involuntarily fall into sin by the surprisals of temptation and are broken for it as ingenious children for offending a good Father Can any doubt if God have pardon for enemies he hath none for children If he have forgiveness for such as shed the blood of Christ with wicked hands he hath not much more mercy and forgiveness for such as love Christ and are more afflicted for their sin against him than all the other troubles they have in the world Doubt it not but he that receives enemies into his bosom will much more receive and embrace children though offending ones How pensive do the dear children of God sometimes sit after their lapses into sin Will God ever pardon this Will he be reconciled again May I hope his face shall be to me as in former times Pensive soul if thou didst but know the largeness tenderness freeness of that grace which yearns over enemies and hath given forth thousands and ten thousands of pardons to the worst of sinners thou wouldst not sink at that rate Inference 2. Is there pardon with God for enemies how inexcusable then are all they that persist and perish in their enmity to Christ Sure their destruction is of themselves Mercy is offered to them if they will receive it Proclamation is made in the Gospel That if there be any among the enemies of Christ who repent of what they have been and done against him and are now unfeignedly willing to be reconciled upon the word of a King he shall find mercy But God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goâ—th on still in his trespasses Psal. 68.21 If
Her beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone but was she content to part with him so No such thing By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not I will arise now and go about the City c. Thirdly Though God forsook Christ yet he returned to him again It was but for a time not for ever In this also doth his desertion parallel yours God may for several wise and holy reasons hide his face from you but not so as it 's hid from the damned who shall never see it again This cloud will pass away This night shall have a bright morning For saith thy God I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth for the spirit should fail before me and the souls which I have made As if he should say I may contend with him for a time to humble him but not for ever left instead of a sad child I should have a dead child Oh the tenderness even of a displeased Father Fourthly Though God forsook Christ yet at that time he could justifie God So you read Psal. 22.2 3. O my God saith he I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent but thou art holy Is not thy spirit according to thy measure framed like Christs in this Canst thou not say even when he writes bitter things against thee he is a holy faithful and good God for all this I am deserted but not wronged There is not one drop of injustice in all the Sea of my sorrows Though he condemn me I must and will Justifie him This also is Christ-like Fifthly Though God took from Christ all visible and sensible comforts inward as well as outward yet Christ subsisted by faith in the absence of them all His desertion put him upon the acting of his faith My God my God are words of faith The words of one that rolls upon his God And is it not so with you too Sence of love is gone sweet sights of God shut up in a dark cloud well what then Must thy hands presently hang down and thy soul give up all its hopes What! is there no faith to relieve in this case Yes yes and blessed be God for faith Who is among you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servants that walketh in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay himself upon his God Isai. 50.10 To conclude Sixthly Christ was deserted a little before the glorious morning of light and joy dawned upon him It was a little a very little while after this sad cry before he triumphed gloriously And so it may be with you Heaviness may endure for a night but joy and gladness will come in the morning You know how Mr. Glover was trasported with joy and cryed out as a man in a Rapture O Austin he is come he is come he is come meaning the Comforter who for some time had been absent from his soul. But I fear I am absolutely and finally forsaken Why so Do you find the characters of such a desertion upon your soul Be righteous Judges and tell me whether you find an heart willing to forsake God Is it indifferent now to you whether God ever return again or no Are there no mournings meltings hankerings after the Lord Indeed if you forsake him he will cast you off for ever But can you do so Oh no let him do what he will I am resolved to wait for him cleave to him mourn after him though I have no present comfort from him no assurance of my interest in him yet will I not exchange my poor weak hopes for all the good in this world Again You say God hath forsaken you but hath he let loose the bridle before you To allude to Iob. 30.11 Hath he taken away from your souls all conscientious tenderness of sin so that now you can sin freely and without any regret If so it 's a sad token indeed Tell me soul if thou judgest indeed God will never return in loving kindness to thee any more why dost thou not then give thy self over to the pleasures of sin and fetch thy comforts that way from the creatures since thou canst have no comfort from thy God Oh no I cannot do so If I die in darkness and sorrow I will never do so My soul is as full of fear and hatred of sin as ever though empty of joy and comfort Surely there are no tokens of a soul finally abandoned by its God Inference 4. Did God forsake his own Son upon the Cross then the dearest of Gods people may for a time be forsaken of their God Think it not strange when you that are the children of light meet with darkness yea and walk it â— Neither charge God foolishly Say not he deals hardly with you You see what befel Jesus Christ whom his soul delighted in It 's doubtless your concernment to expect and prepare for days of darkness You have heard the doleful cry of Christ my God my God why hast thou forsaken me You know how it was with Job David Hâ—man Asaph and many others the dear servants of God What heart-melting lamentations they have made upon this account And are you better than they Oh prepare for spiritual troubles I am sure you do enough every day to involve you in darkness Now if at any time this trial befall you mind these two seasonable Admonitions and lay them up for such a time Admonition 1. First Exercise the faith of adherence when you have lost the faith of evidence When God takes away that he leaves this That is necessary to the comfort this to the life of his people It 's sweet to live in views of your interest but if they be gone believe and roll on God for an interest Stay your selves on your God when you hâ—ve no light Isai. 50.10 Drop this anchor in the dark and do not reckon all gone when evidence is gone Never reckon your selves undone whilst you can adhere to your God Direct acts are noble acts of faith as well as reflexive ones Yea and in some respects to be preferred to them For First As your comfort depends on the evidencing acts of faith so your salvation upon the adhering act of faith Evidence comforts but affiance saves you And sure salvation is more than comfort Secondly Your faith of evidence hath more sensible sweetness but your faith of adherence is of more constancy and continuance The former is as a flower in its mouth the latter sticks by you all the year Thirdly Faith of evidence brings more joy to you but faith of adherence brings more glory to God For thereby you trust him when you cannot see him Yea you beleive not only without but against sence and feeling And doubtless that which brings glory to God is better than that which brings comfort to you
That Iesus Christ hath perfected and compleatly finished the great work of Redemption committed to him by God the Father To this great truth the Apostle gives a full testimony Heb. 10.14 By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified And to the same purpose speaks Joh. 17.4 I have glorified thee on earth I have finished the work thou gavest me to do Concerning this work and the finishing thereof by Jesus Christ upon the Cross we shall enquire what this work was how Christ finished it and what evidence can be produced for the finishing of it First What was the work which Christ finished by his death It was the fulfilling the whole Law of God in our room and for our Redemption as a Sponsor or surety for us The Law is a glorious thing The holiness of God that fiery attribute is engraven or stampt upon every part of it Deut. 33.2 From his right hand went a fiery Law The jealousie of the Lord watched over every point and tittle of it for his dreadful and glorious name was upon it It cursed every one that continued not in all things contained therein Gal. 3.10 Two things therefore were necessarily required in him that should perfectly fulfil it and both found in our surety and in him only viz. a subjective and effective perfection First A subjective perfection He that wanted this could never say it is finished Perfect working always follows a perfect being That he might therefore finiâ—h this great work of obedience and therein the glorious design of our Redemption loe in what shining and perfect holiness was he produced Luk. 1.35 That holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God and indeed such an High-Priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 So that the Law could have no exception against his person Nay it was never so honoured since its first promulgation as it was by having such a perfect and excellent person as Christ to stand at its Bar and give it due reparation Secondly There must be also an effective perfection or a perfection of working and obeying before it could be said it is finished This Christ had for he continued in all things written in the Law to do them He fulfilled all righteousness as it behoved him to do Matth. 3.15 He did all that was required to be done And suffered all that was requisite to be sufferâ—d He did and suffered all that was commanded or threatned in such perfection of obedience both active and passive that the pure eye of divine Justice could not find a flaw in it And so finished the work his Father gave him to do And this work finished by our Lord Jesus Christ was both a necessary difficult and pretious work First It was a necessary work which Christ finished upon the Cross. Necessary upon a threefold account It was necessary on the Fathers account I do not mean that God was under any necessity from his nature of redeeming us this or any other way For our Redemption is opus liberi consilii an effect of the free counsel of God but when God had once decreed and determined to redeem and save poor sinners by Jesus Christ then it became necessary that the counsel of God should be fulfilled Act. 4.28 To do whatsoever thy hand and counsel had before determined to be done Secondly It was necessary with respect to Christ. Upon the account of that previous compact that was betwixt the Father and him about it Therefore it 's said by Christ himself Luk. 22.22 Truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined i. e. as it was fore-agreed and covenanted under the necessity of fulfilling his engagement to the Father he came into the world and being come he still minds his engagement Joh. 9.3 I must work the works of him that sent me Thirdly Yea and it was no less necessary upon our account that this work should be finished For had not Christ finished this work sin had quickly finished all our lives comforts and hopes Without the finishing this work not a Son or Daughter of Adam could ever have seen the face of God Therefore it 's said Joh. 3.14 15. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life On all these accounts the finishing of this work was necessary Secondly As it was necessary this work should be finished so the finishing of it was exceeding difficult It cost many a cry many a groan many a tear many a hard tug before Christ could say it is finished All the Angels in Heaven were not able by their united strength to lift that burden one inch from the ground which Christ bare upon his shoulders yea and bare it away But how heavy a burden this was may in part appear by his propassion in the Garden and the bitter out-crys he made upon the Cross which in their proper places have been opened Thirdly and Lastly It was a most pretious work which Christ finished by his death That work was dispatched and finished in few hours which will be the matter of everlasting songs and triumphs to the Angels and Saints to all eternity O it was a pretious work The mercies that now flow out of this fountain viz. Justification Sanctification Adoption c. are not to be valued Besides the endless happiness and glory of the coming-world which cannot enter into the heart of man to conceive If the Angels sang when the foundation stone was laid what shouts what triumphs should there be among the Saints when this voice is heard It is finished Secondly Let us next inform our selves how and in what manner Jesus Christ finished this glorious work And if you search the Scriptures upon that account you will find that he finished it obedientially freely diligently and fully First This blessed work was finished by Jesus Christ most obediently Phil. 2.8 He became obedient to death even the death of the Cross. His obedience was the obedience of a servant though not servile obedience So it was foretold of him before he touched this work Isai. 50.5 The Lord God hath opened mine ear and I was not rebellious neither turned away back i. e. my Father told me the very worst of it He told me what hard and heavy things I must undergo if ever I finished this design of redemption and I was not rebellious i. e. I heartily submitted to and accepted all those difficulties For there is a Meiosis in the words I was content to stoop to the hardest and most ignominious part of it rather than not finish it Secondly As Christ finished it obediently so he finished it freely Freedom and obedience in acting are not at all opposite to or exclusive of each other Moses his Mother nursed him in obedience to the command of Pharaohs daughter yet most
but you must work to obey the commands of Christ into whose right ye are come by Redemption You must work to testifie your thankfulness to Christ for the work he finished for you You must work to glorifie God by your obedience Let your light so shine before men For these and divers other such ends and reasons your life must be a working life God preserve all his people from the gross and vile opinions of Antinomian Libertines who cry up grace and decry obedience Who under specious pretences of exalting a naked Christ upon the throne do indeed strip him naked of a great part of his glory and vilely dethrone him My pen shall not english what mine eyes have read Tell it not in Gath. But for thee Reader be thou a follower of Christ imitate thy pattern Yea let me perswade thee as ever thou hopest to clear up thine interest in him imitate him in such particulars as these that follow First Christ began early to work for God He took the mornning of his life the very top of the morning to work for God How is it said he to his Parents when he was but a child of about twelve years that ye sought me Wist ye not that I must be about my Fathers business Reader if the morning of thy life be not gone oh devote it to the work of God as Christ did If it be ply thy work the closer in the afternoon of thy life If a man have any great and necessary business to do it 's good doing in the morning afterwards a hurry of business and diversion comes on Secondly As Christ began betime so he followed his work close He was early up and he wrought hard so hard that he forgat to eat bread Joh. 31 32. So zealous was he in his Fathers work that his friends thought he had been besides himself Mark 3.21 So zealous that the zeal of Gods house eat him up He flew like a Seraphim in a flame of zeal about the work of God O be not ye like Snales What Augustus said of the young Roman well becomes the true Christian whatsoever he doth he doth it to purpose Thirdly Christ often thâ—ught upon the shortness of his time and wrought hard because he knew his working time would be but little So you find it Joh. 9.4 I most work the works of him that sent me whilst it is day the night cometh when no man can work O in this be like Christ. Rouze your hearts to diligence with this consideration If a man have much to write and be almost come to the end of his paper he will write close and pack much matter in a little room Fourthly He did much work for God and made little noise He wrought hard but did not spoil his work when he had wrought it by vain ostentation When he had exprest his Charity in acts of mercy and bounty to men he would humbly seal up the glory of it with this charge see ye tell no man of it Matth. 8.4 he affected not popular air All the Angels in Heaven could not do what Christ did and yet he called himself a worm for all that Psal. 22.6 O imitate your pattern Work hard for God and let not pride blow upon it when you have done It 's hard for a man to do much and not value himself for it too much Fifthly Christ carried on his work for God resolvedly No discouragements would beat him off though never any work met with more from first to last How did Scribes and Pharisees Jews Gentiles yea Devils set upon him by persecutions and reproaches violent oppositions and subtil temptations but yet on he goes with his Fathers work for all that He is deaf to all discouragements So it was foretold of him Isai. 42.4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged O that more of this spirit of Christ were in his people O that in the strength of love to Christ and zeal for the glory of God you would pour out your hearts in service and like a River sweep down all discouragements before you Sixthly He continued working whilst he continued living His life and labour ended together He fainted not in his work Nay the greatest work he did in this world was his last work O be like Christ in this be not weary of well doing Give not over the work of God while you can move hand or tongue to promote it And see that your last works be more than your first O let the motions of your soul after God be as all natural motions are swiftest when nearest the center Say not it is enough whilst there is any capacity of doing more for God In these things Christians be like your Saviour Inference 6. Did Christ finish his work Look to it Christians that ye also finish your work which God hath given you to do That you may with comfort say when death approaches as Christ said Joh. 17.4 I have glorified thee on earth I have finished the work thou gavest me to do and now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self Christ had a work committed to him and he finished it you have a work also committed to you O see that you be able to say it 's finished when your time is so O work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling and that I may perswade you to it I beseech you lay these considerations close to heart First If your work be not done before you die it can never be done when you are dead There 's no work nor knowledge nor device in the grave whither thou goest Eccles. 9.5 10. They that go down to the pit cannot celebrate the name of God Isai. 38.18 Death binds up the hand from working any more strikes dumb the tongue that it can speak no more for then the composition is dissolved The body which is the souls tool to work by is broken and thrown aside The soul it self presented immediately before the Lord to give an account of all its works O therefore seeing the night cometh when no man can work as Christ speaks Ioh. 9.4 make haste and finish your work Secondly If you finish not your work as the season of working so the season of mercy will be over at death Do not think you that have neglected Christ all your lives you that could never be perswaded to a laborious holy life that ever your cries and entreaties shall prevail with God for mercy when your season is past No no it 's too late Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him Job 27.9 The season of mercy is then over as the tree falls so it lies Then he that is holy shall be holy still and he that is filthy shall be filthy still Alas poor souls you come too late The Master of the house is risen up and the doors are shut Luk. 19.42 the season is over Happy had it been if ye had known the day of your
visitation Lastly If your work be not finished when you come to die you can never finish your lives with comfort He that hath not finished his work with care can never finish his course with joy Oh what a dismal case is that soul in that finds it self surprized by death in an unready posture To lie shivering upon the brink of the grave saying Lord what will become of me O I cannot I dare not die For the poor soul to shrink back into the body and cry Oh it were better for me to do any thing than die Why what 's the matter Oh I am in a Christless state and dare not go before that awful Judgement-seat If I had in season made Christ sure I could then die with peace Lord what shall I do How dost thou like this Reader Will this be a comfortable close When one asked a Christian that constantly spent six hours every day in prayer why he did so He answered O I must die I must die Well then look it that ye finish your work as Christ also did his The THIRTY SIXTH SERMON LUK. XXIII XLVI And when Iesus had cried with a loud voice he said Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus he gave up the ghost THese are the last of the last words of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross with which he breatheth out his soul. They were Davids words before him Psal. 31.5 and for substance Stephens after him Act. 7.57 They are words full both of faith and comfort Fit to be the last breathings of every gratious soul in this world They are resolvable into these five particulars The Person depositing or committing The Lord Iesus Christ who in this as well as in other things acted as a common person as the head of the Church This must be remarked carefully for therein lies no small part of a believers consolation When Christ commends his soul to God he doth as it were bind up all the souls of the Elect in one bundle with it and solemnly present them all with his to his Fathers acceptance To this purpose one aptly sences it This commendation made by Christ turns to the singular profit and advantage of our souls in as much as Christ by this very prayer hath delivered them into his Fathers hand as a pretious treasure when ever the time comes that they are to he loosed from the bodies which they now inhabit Jesus Christ neither lived nor dyed for himself but for believers What he did in this very act refers to them as well as to his own Soul You must look therefore upon Christ in this last and solemn act of his life as gathering all the souls of the Elect together and making a solemn tender of them all with his own soul to God Secondly The depository or person to whom he commits this pretious treasure and that was his own Father Father into thy hands I commit Father is a sweet encouraging assuring Title Well may a Son commit any concernment how dear soever into the hand of a Father Especially such a Son into the hands of such a Father By the hands of the Father into which he commits his soul we are not to understand the naked or meer power but the Fatherly acceptation and protection of God Thirdly The depositum or thing committed into this hand my Spirit i. e. my soul now instantly departing upon the very point of separation from my body The soul is the most pretious of all treasures it 's call'd the darling Psal. 35.17 Or the only one i. e. that which is most excellent and therefore most dear and pretious A whole world is but a trifle if weighed for the price of one soul Matth. 16.26 This inestimable treasure he now commits into his Fathers hands Fourthly The Act by which he puts it into that faithful hand of the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I commend We rightly render it in the present tense though the word be future For with these words he breathed out his Soul This word is of the same import with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I present or tender it unto thy hands It was in Christ an act of Faith A most special and excellent act intended as a president for all his people Fifthly And Lastly the last thing observable is the manner in which he uttered these words And that was with a loud voice He spake it that all might hear it and that his enemies who judged him now destitute and forsaken of God might be convinced that he was not so But that he was dear to his Father still and could put his soul confidently into his hands Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Taking then these words not only as spoken by Christ the Head of all believers and so commending their souls to God with his own but also as a pattern teaching them what they ought to do themselves when they come to die We observe DOCT. That dying believers are both warranted and encouraged by Christs example believingly to commend their pretious Souls into the hands of God Thus the Apostle directs the Faith of Christians to commit their souls to Gods tuition and Fatherly protection when they are either going into prisons or to the stake for Christ 1 Pet. 4.19 Let them saith he that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator This Proposition we will consider in these two main branches of it sc. what is implied and carryed in the souls commending it self to God by Faith when the time of separation is come And what warrant or encouragement gratious souls have for their so doing First What is implyed in this Act of a believer his commending or committing his soul into the hands of God at Death And if it be throughly weighed you will find these six things at least carried in it First It implies this evidently in it that the soul out-lives the body and fails not as to its being when its body fails It feels the house in which it dwelt dropping into ruins and looks out for a new habitation with God Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit The soul understands it self a more noble being than that corruptible body to which it was united and is now to leave in the dust It understands its relation to the Father of spirits and from him it expects protection and provision in its unbodied state and therefore into his hands it puts it self If it vanished or breathed into air and did not survive the body if it were annihilated at death it were but a mocking of God to say when we die Father into thy hand I commend my Spirit Secondly It implies the souls true rest to be in God See which way its motions and tendencies are not only in life but in death also It bends to its God It rolls it even puts
it self upon its God and Father Father into thy hands God is the center of all gratious Spirits While they tabernacle here they have no rest but in the bosom of their God When they go hence their expectation and earnest desires are to be with him It had been working after God by gratious desires before it had cast many a longing look heaven-ward before but when the gratious soul comes near its God as it doth in a Dying hour then it even throws it self into his arms As a River that after many turnings and windings at last is arrived to the Ocean it pours it self with a central force into the bosom of the Ocean and there finishes its weary course Nothing but God can please it in this world and nothing but God can give it content when it goes hence It is not the amoenity of the place whither the gratious soul is going but the bosom of the blessed God who dwells there that it so vehemently pants after Not the Fathers house but the Fathers arms and bosom Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Whom have I in heaven but thee And oâ— earth there is none that I desire in comparison of thee Psal. 73.24 25. Thirdly It also implies the great value believers have for their souls That 's the pretious treasure And their main solicitude and chief care is to see it secured in a saâ—e hand Father into thy hands I commit my Spirit they are words speaking the believers care for his soul. That it may be safe what ever becomes of the vile body A believer when he comes nigh to death spends but few thoughts about his body where it shall be laid or how it shall be disposed of he trusts that in the hands of friends but as his great care all along was for his soul so he expresses it in these his very last breathings in which he commends it into the hands of God It is not Lord Jesus receive my body take care of my dust but receive my spirit Lord secure the Jewel when the Casket is broken Fourthly These words implie the deep sense that dying believers have of the great change that is coming upon them by death when all visible and sensible things are shrinking away from them and failing They feel the world and the best comforts in it failing Every creature and creature comfort failing For at death we are said to fail Luk. 16.9 Hereupon the soul clasps the closer about its God clings more close than ever to him Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Not that a meer necessity puts the soul upon God Or that it cleaves to God because it hath then nothing else to take hold on No no it chose God for its portion when it was in the midst of all its outword enjoyments and had as good security as other men have for the long enjoyment of them but my meaning is that although gratious souls have chosen God for their portion and do truly prefer him to the best of their comforts yet in this compounded state it lives not wholly upon its God but partly by faith and partly by sense Partly upon things seen and partly upon things not seen The creatures had some interest in their hearts alas too much but now all these are vanishing and it sees they are so I shall see man no more with the inhabitants of the world said sick Hezeckiah hereupon it turns it self from them all and casts it self upon God for all its subsistance Expecting now to live upon its God intirely as the blessed Angels do And so in faith they throw themselves into his arms Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Fifthly It implies the attonement of God and his full reconciliation to believer by the blood of the great sacrifice Else they durst never commit their souls into his hands For it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 12.29 i. e. of an absolute God a God unattoned by the offering up of Christ. The soul dare no more cast it self into the hands of God without such an attoning sacrifice than it dares approach to a devouring fire And indeed the reconciliation of God by Jesus Christ as it is the ground of all our acceptance with God for we are made accepted in the beloved So it 's plainly carried in the order or manner of the reconciled souls committing it self to him for it first casts it self into the hands of Christ then into the hands of God by him So Stephen when dying Lord Iesus receive my Spirit And by that hand it would be put into the Fathershand Sixthly And lastly It implies both the efficacy and excellency of Faith in supporting and relieving the soul at a time when nothing else is able to do it Faith is its conduct when it is at the greatest loss and distress that ever it met with It secures the soul when it is turned out of the body When heart and flesh fail this leads it to the rock that fails not It sticks by that soul till it see it safe through all the territories of Satan and safe Landed upon the shore of Glory and then is swallowed up in vision Many a favour it hath shewn the soul while it dwelt in its body The great service it did for the soul was in the time of its espousals to Christ. This is the marriage knot The blessed bond of union betwixt the soul and Christ. Many a relieving sight secret and sweet support it hath received from its faith since that but surely its first and last works are its most glorious works By faith it first ventured it self upon Christ. Threw it self upon him in the deepest sense of its own vileness and utter unworthiness when sense reason and multitudes of temptations stood by contradicting and discouraging the soul. By faith it now casts it self into his arms when it 's lanching out into vast eternity They are both noble acts of Faith but the first no doubt is the greatest and most difficult For when once the soul is interessed in Christ it 's no such difficulty to commit it self into his hands as when it had no interest at all in him It 's easier for a child to cast himself into the arms of its own Father in distress than for one that hath been both a stranger and enemy to Christ to cast it self upon him that he may be a Father and a friend to it And this brings us upon the second enquiry I promised to satisfie sc. What warrant or incouragement have gratious souls to commit themselves at death into the hands of God I answer much every way all things encourage and warrant its so doing For First This God upon whom the believer rolls himself at death is its Creator The Father of its being He created and inspired it and so it hath relation of a creature to a Creator yea of a creature now in distress to a faithful Creator
1 Pet. 4.19 Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing as to a faithful Creator It 's very true this single relation in it self gives little ground of encouragement unless the creature had conserved that integrity in which it was originally created And they that have no more to plead with God for acceptance but their relation to him as creatures to a Creator will doubtless find that word made good to their little comfort Isa. 27.11 It is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour But now grace brings that relation into repute Holiness ingratiates us again and revives the remembrance of this relation So that believers only can plead this Secondly As the gratious soul is his creature so it is his redeemed creature One that he hath bought and that with a great price Even with the pretious blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 This greatly encourages the departing soul to commit it self into the hands of God so you find Psal. 31.5 Into thy hands I commend my Spirit thou hast redeemed it O Lord God of truth Surely this is mighty encouragement to put it self upon God in a dying hour Lord I am not only thy creature but thy redeemed creature One that thou hast bought with a great price O I have cost thee dear For my sake Christ came from thy bosom and is it imaginable that after thou hast in such a costly way even by the expence of the pretious blood of Christ redeemed me thou shouldst at last exclude me Shall the ends both of Creation and Redemption of this soul be lost together Will God form such an excellent creature as my soul is in which are so many wonders of the wisdom and power of its Creator Will he be content when sin had marr'd the frame and defaced the glory of it to recover it to himself again by the death of his own dear Son and after all this cast it away as if there were nothing in all this Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit I know thou wilt have a respect to the work of thy hands Especially to a redeemed creature upon which thou hast been out so great sums of Love which thou hast bought at so dear a rate Thirdly Nay that 's not all the gratious soul may confidently and securely commit it self into the hands of God when it parts with its body at death not only because it is his creature his redeemed creature but because it is his renewed creature also And this lays a firm ground â—or the believers confidence of acceptecâ—a not that it is the proper cause or reason of its acceptance but as it is the souls best evidence that it is accepted with God and shall not be refused by him when it comes to him at death For in such a soul there is a double workmanship of God both glorious pieces though the last exceeds in glory A natural workmanship in the excellent frame of that noble creature the soul. And a gratious workmanship upon that again A new creation upon the old Glory upon Glory We are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus Eph. 2.10 The Holy Ghost came down from heaven on purpose to create this new workmanship To frame this new creature And indeed it is the Top and glory of all Gods works of wonder in this world And must needs give the believer encouragement to commit it self to God whether at such a time it shall reflect either upon the end of the work or upon the end of the workman both which meet in the salvation of the soul so wrought upon the end of the work in our glory By this we are made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1.12 It is also the design and end of him that wrought it 2 Cor. 55. Now he that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God Had he not designed thy soul for glory the spirit should never have come upon such a sanctifying design as this Surely it shall not sail of a reception into glory when it 's cast out this Tabernacle Such a work was not wrought in vain neither can it ever perish When once sanctification comes upon a soul it so roots it self in the soul that where the soul goes it goes Gifts indeed they die All natural excellency and beauty that goes away at death Iob 4. ult But grace ascends with the soul. It is a sanctified when a separate soul. And can God shut the door of Glory upon such a soul that by grace is made meet for the inheritance O it cannot be Fourthly As the gracious soul is a renewed soul so it is also a Sealed Soul God hath sealed it in this world for that glory into which it is now to enter at death All gracious souls are sealed objectively i. e. they have those works of grace wrought on their souls which do as but now is said ascertain and evidence their Title to glory And many are sealed formally That is the spirit helps them clearly to discern their interest in Christ and all the promises This both secures heaven to the soul in it self and becomes also an earnest or pledge of the glory in the unspeakable joys and comforts that it breeds in the soul. So you find 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts Gods sealing us gives high security His objective seal makes it sure in it self his formal seal makes it so to us But if over and above all this he will please as a fruit of that his sealing to give us those heavenly unexpressible joys and comforts which are the fruit of his formal sealing work to be an earnest a foretast and hansel of that glory how can the soul that hath found all this doubt in the least of a rejection by its God when at death it comes to him surely if God have sealed he will not refuse you If he have given you his earnest he will not shut you out Gods earnest is not given in Jest. Fifthly Moreover every gratious soul may confidently cast it self into the arms of its God when it goes hence with Father into thy hands I commit my Spirit For as much as every gratious soul is a soul in Covenant with God and God stands obliged by his Covenant and Promise to such not to cast them out when they come unto him As soon as ever thy soul became his by regeneration that Promise became its own Heb. 13.5 I will never leave you nor forsake you And will he leave the soul now at a pinch when it never had more need of a God to stand by it than it hath then every gratious soul is entitled to that Promise Ioh. 14.3 I will come again and receive you to my self And will he fail
that is believe they shall be made good to you so far as God sees them good for you Do you but labour to come up to those conditions required in you and thereby God will have more glory and you more comfort If your prayers for these things proceed from pure ends the glory of God not the satisfaction and gratification of your lusts If your desires after them be moderate as to the measure content with that proportion the infinite wisdom sees fittest for you If you take Gods way to obtain them and dare not strain Conscience or commit a sin though you should perish for want If you can patiently wait Gods time for enlargements from your straits and not make any sinful haste You shall be surely supplied And he that remembers your souls will not forget your bodies But we live by sense and not by faith Present things strike our affections more powerfully than the invisible things that are to come The Lord humble his people for this Diduction 4. Is this the priveledge of believers that they can commit their souls to God in a dying hour then how pretious how useful a grace is faith to the pleople of God both living and dying All the graces have done excellently but faith excels them all Faith is the Phoenix grace the Queen of graces Deservedly is it stiled pretious faith 2 Pet. 1.1 The benefits and priviledges of it in this life are unspeakable and as there is no comfortable living so no comfortable dying without it First While we live and converse here in the world all our comfort and safety is from it for all our union with Christ the fountain of mercies and blessings is by faith Eph. 3.17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith No faith no Christ. All our communion with Christ is by it He that cometh to God must believe Heb. 11.6 The souls life is wrapt up in this communion with God and that communion in faith All communications from Christ depend upon faith for look as all communion is founded in union so from our union and communion are all our communications All communications of quicknings comforts joy strength and whatsoever serves to the well-being of the life of grace are all through that faith which first knit us to Christ and still maintains our communion with Christ believing we rejoyce 1 Pet. 1.8 The inner man is renewed whilst we look to the things that are not seen 2 Cor. 4.18 Secondly And as our life and all the supports and comforts of it here are dependent on faith so you see our death as to the safety and comfort of our souls then depends upon our faith He that hath no faith cannot commit his soul to God but rather shrinks from God Faith can do many sweet offices for your souls upon a death bed when the light of this world is gone and all joy ceases on earth It can give us sights of things invisible in the other world and those sights will breathe life into your souls amidst the very pangs of death Reader do but think what a comfortable foresight of God and the joys of salvation will be to thee when thine eye-strings are breaking Faith cannot only see that beyond the grave which will comfort but it can cling about its God and clasp Christ in a promise when it feels the ground of all sensible comforts trembling and sinking under thy feet My heart and my flesh faileth but God is the strength or rock of my heart and my portion for ever Reeds fail but the rock is firm footing Yea and when the soul can no longer tabernacle here it can carry the soul to God cast it upon him with Father into thy hands I commend my spirit O pretious faith Diduction 5. Do the souls of dying believers commend themselves into the hands of God Then let not the surviving relations of such sorrow as men that have not hope A Husband a Wife a Child is rent by death out of your arms well but consider into what arms into what bosom they are commended Is it not better for them to be in the bosom of God than in yours Could they be spared so long from Heaven as to come back again to you but one hour how would they be displeased to see your tears and hear your cries and sighs for them They would say to you as Christ said to the daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and your children I am in a safe hand I am out of the reach of all storms and troubles O did you but know what their state is who are with God you would be more than satisfied about them Diduction 6. Lastly I will close all with a word of counsel Is this the priviledge of dying believers to commend their souls into the hands of God Then as ever you hope for comfort or peace in your last hour see that your souls be such as may be then fit to be commended into the hands of an holy and just God See that they be holy souls God will never accept them if they be not holy Without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12.24 He that hath this hope viz. to see God purifieth himself even as he is pure 1 Joh. 3.3 Indeavours after holiness are inseparably connected with all rational expectations of blessedness Will you put an unclean filthy defiled thing into the pure hand of the most holy God O see they be holy and already accepted in the beloved or wo to them when they take their leaves of those tabernacles they now dwell in The gratious soul may confidently say then Lord Iesus into thy hands I commend my spirit O let all that can say so then now say Thanks be to God for Iesus Christ. The THIRTY SEVENTH SERMON JOH XIX XL XLI XLII Then took they the body of Iesus and wound it in linen cloaths with the spices as the manner of the Iews is to bury Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden and in the garden a new Sepulchre wherein was never man yet laid There laid they Iesus therefore because of the Iews preparation day for the Sepulchre was nigh at hand YOU have heard the last words of dying Jesus commending his spirit into his Fathers hands and now the life of the world hangs dead upon a Tree The light of the world for a time muffled up in a dismal cloud The Son of Righteousness set in the region and shadow of Death The Lord is dead and he that wears the keys of the grave at his girdle is now himself to be lockt up in the grave All you that are the friends and Lovers of Jesus are this day invited to his â—â—neral Such a funeral as never was since Graves were first digged Come see the place where the Lord lay There are six remarkable particulars about this funeral in these three verses The preparations that were made for it and
when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life Surely it cannot be supposed but he is able to save to the uttermost all them that come to God by him Seeing he ever lives to make intercession Heb. 7.25 Think how safe the people of God in this world are whose head is in Heaven It was a comfortable expression of one of the Fathers incouraging himself and others with this truth in a dark day Come said he why do we tremble thus do we not see our head above water If he live believers cannot die Ioh. 14.19 Because I live ye shall live also And let no mans heart suggest a suspicious thought to him that this wonderful advancement of Christ may cause him to forget his poor people groaning here below under sin and misery For the temper and disposition of his faithful and tender heart is not changed with his condition He bears the same respect to us as when he dwelt among us For indeed he there lives and acts upon our account Heb. 7.25 1 Ioh. 2.1 2. And how seasonable and comfortable will the meditations of Christs Exaltation be to the believer when sickness hath wasted thy Body wither'd its beauty and God is bringâ—ng theâ— to the dust of Death Ah think then that that vile Body shall be conformed to the glorious Body of Christ Pâ—al 3.21 As God hath glorified and highly exalted 〈◊〉 Son whose form was mar'd more than any mans so will he exalt thee also I do not say to a parity or equality in glory with Christ for in heaven he will be discerned and distinguished by his peculiar glory from all the Angels and Saints as the Sun is known by its excelling glory from the lesser Star But we shall be conform'd to this glorious head according to the proportion of members O whither will Love mount the believer in that day Having spoken this much of Christs exalted state to cast some general light upon it and engage your attentions to it I shall now according to the degrees of this his wonderful exaltation briefly open it under the forementioned heads viz. His Resurrection Ascension Session at the Fathers right hand and his return to Judge the World The THIRTY NINHTH SERMON MATTH XXVIII VI He is not here for he is risen as he said come see the place where the Lord lay WE have finished the Doctrine of Christs humiliation wherein the Sun of righteousness appeared to you as a setting Sun gone out of sight but as the Sun when it 's gone down to us begins a new day in another part of the world so Christ having finisht his course and work in this world rises again and that in order to the acting another glorious part of his work in the world above In his death he was upon the matter totally Eclipsed but in his Resurrection he begins to recover his light and glory again God never intended that the darling of his soul should be lost in an obscure Sepulchre An Angel descends from heaven to roll away the stone and with it the reproach of his death And to be the heavenly Herald to proclaim his Resurrection to the two Mary's whose love to Christ had at this time drawn them to visit the Sepulchre where they lately left him At this time the Lord being newly risen the keepers were trembling and become as dead men So great was the terrible Majesty and awful solemnity attending Christs Resurrection but to encourage these good souls the Angel prevents them with these good tidings He is not here for he is risen as he said come see the place where the Lord lay q. d. Be not troubled though you have not the end you came for one sight more of your dear though dead Iesus yet you have not lost your labour for to your eternal comfort I tell you he is risen as he said And to put it out of doubt come hither and satisfie your selves see the place where the Lord lay In which word we have both a Declaration and Confirmation of the Resurrection of Christ from the dead First A Declaration of it by the Angel both Negatively and Affirmatively Negatively he is not here Here indeed you laid him here you left him and here you thought to find him as you left him but you are happily mistaken he is not here However this giving them no satisfaction for he might continue dead still though removed to another place as indeed they suspected he was Ioh. 20.13 Therefore his resurrection is declared Positively and Affirmatively he is risen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word imports the active power or self quickening principle by which Christ raised himself from the state of the dead Which Luke takes notice of also Acts 1.3 Where he saith he shewed or presented himself alive after his Passion It was the divine nature or God-head of Christ which reviv'd and rais'd the man-hood Secondly Here is also a plain confirmation of Christs Resurrection and that first from Christs own Prediction he is risen as he said He â—oretold that which I declare to be now fulfill'd Let it not therefore seem incredible to you Secondly by their own sight come see the place where the Lord lay The Grave hath lost its guest it 's now empty death hath lost its prey It receiv'd but could not retain him Come see the place where the Lord lay Thus the Resurrection of Christ is declar'd and confirm'd Hence our Observation is DOCT. That our Lord Iesus Christ by the Almighty power of his own God-head revived and rose from the Dead to the terror and consternation of his enemies and the unspeakable consolation of Believers That our Lord Jesus Christ though laid was not lost in the Grave but the third day revived and rose again is a truth confirmed to us by many infallible proofs as Luke witnesseth Act. 1.3 We have Testimonies of it both from heaven and earth and both infallible From Heaven we have the Testimony of Angels and to the Testimony of an Angel all credit is due for Angels are holy Creatures and cannot deceive us The Angel tells the two Mary's in the Text he is risen We have Testimonies of it from men holy men who were eye witnesses of this truth to whom he shew'd himself alive by the space of forty days after his Resurrection by no less than nine solemn Apparitions to them Sometime five hundred Brethren saw him at once 1 Cor. 15.6 These were holy persons who durst not deceive and who confirmed their Testimony with their blood So that no point of Religion is of more confessed truth and infallible certainty than this before us And blessed be God it is so For if it were not then were the Gospel in vain 1 Cor. 15.14 Seeing it hangs the whole weight of our Faith hope and salvation upon Christ as risen from the dead If this were
the account of his Office and the benefits we receive by him We are obliged even on the score of gratitude and ingenuity to obey him For he is sent in the quality of an Advocate to help us to pray To indite our requests for us To teach us what and how to ask of God Rom. 8.26 He comes to us as a Comforter Ioh. 14.16 And none like him His work is to take of Christs and shew it to us i. e. to take of his death Resurrection Ascension yea of his very present Intercession in Heaven and shew it to us He can be with us in a moment he can as one well observes tell you what were the very last thoughts Christ was thinking in Heaven about you It was he that formed the body of Christ in the womb and so prepared him to be a sacrifice for us He filled that humanity with his unexampled fullness So fitting and anointing him for the discharge of his Office 'T is he thaâ— puâ—s efficacy into the Ordinances and without him they would be but a dead letter 'T was he that blessed them to your conviction and câ—nversion For if Angels had been the Preachers no conversion had followed without the Spirit 'T is he that is the vinculum unionis bond of union betwixt Christ and your souls without which you could never have had interest in Christ or Communion with Christ. 'T was he that so often hath helped your infirmities when you knew not what to say Comforted your hearts when they were overwhelmed wiâ—hin you and you knew not what to do Preserved you many thousand times from sin and ruine when you have been upon the slippery brâ—nk of it in temptations 'T is he in his sanctifying work that is the best evidence your souls have for Heaven It were endless to enumerate the mercies you have by him And now Reader dost thou not blush to think how unworthily thou hast treated such a friend For which oâ— all these his Offices or benefits dost thou grieve and quench him O grieve not the holy Spirit whom Christ sent assoon as ever he came to Heaven in his Fathers name and in his own name to perform all these Offices for you Inference 5. Is Christ ascended to the Father as our fore-runner then the door of Salvation stands open to all believers and by vertue of Christs ascension they also shall ascend after him far above all visible Heavens O my friends what place hath Christ prepared and taken up for you What a splendid habitation hath he provided for you God is not ashamed to be called your God for he hath prepared for you a City Heb. 11.16 In that City Christ hath provided mansions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 resting places for your everlasting abode Ioh. 14.2 and keeps them for you till your coming O how August and glorious a dwelling is that where Sun Moon and Stars shall shine as much below your feet as they are now above your heads Yea such is the love Christ hath to the believer that as one saith if thou only hadst been the chosen of God Christ would have built that house for himself and thee Now it is for himself for thee and for many more who shall inherit with thee God send us a joyful meeting within the vail with our fore-runner and sweeten our passage into it with many a fore-sight and fore-tast thereof And mean time let the Love of a Saviour inflâ—me our hearts so that when ever we cast a look towards that place where our fore-runner is for us entred our souls may say with melting affections Thanks be to God for Iesus Christ and again Blessed be God for his unspeakable Gift The FORTY FIRST SERMON HEB. I.III. part of the Verse When he had by himself purged our sins sate down at the right hand of the Majesty on high CHrist being returned again to his Father having finished his whole work on earth is there bid by the Father to sit down in the seat of honour and rest A seat prepared for him at Gods right hand that makes it honourable and all his enemies as a footstool under his feet that makes it easie How much is the state and condition of Jesus Christ changed in a few days Here he groaned wept laboured suffered sweat yea sweat blood and found no rest in this world but when he comes to Heaven there he enters into rest Sits down for ever in the highest and easiest throne prepared by the Father for him when he had done his work When he had by himself purged our sins he sate down c. The scope of this Epistle is to demonstrate Christ to be the fulness of all Legal Types and Ceremonies and that whatever light glimered to the world through them yet it was but as the light of the day Star to the light of this Sun In this Chapter Christ the subject of the Epistle is described and particularly in this third verse he is described three ways First By his Essential and primaeval glory and dignity he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the brightness of his Fathers glory the very splendor of glory the very refulgency of that Son of glory The primary reason of that appellation is with respect to his eternal and ineffable generation light of light as the Nicene Creed expresses it As a beam of light proceeding from the Sun And the secondary reason of it is with respect to men for look as the Sun communicates its light and influence to us by its beams which it projects so doth God communicate his goodness and manifest himself to us by Christ. Yea he is the express Image or Character of his person Not as the impressed Image of the Seal upon the Wax but as the engraving in the Seal it self Thus he is described by his essential glory Secondly He is described by the work he wrought here on earth in his humbled state and it was a glorious work and that wrought out by his own single hand when he had by himself purged our sins A work that all the Angels in Heaven could not do but Christ did it Thirdly and Lastly He is described by his glory the which as a reward of that work he now enjoys in Heaven When he had by himself purged our sins he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high i e. the Lord cloathed him with the greatest power and highest honour that Heaven it self could afford for so much this phrase of sitting down on the right hand of Majesty imports as will appear in the explication of this point which is the result of this clause viz. DOCT. That when our Lord Iesus Christ had finished his work on earth he was placed in the seat of the highest honour and authority at the right hand of God in Heaven This truth is transformingly glorious Stephen had but a glimpse of Christ at his Fathers right hand
Fourthly It imports the soveraignty and supremacy of Christ over all The investiture of Christ with authority over the Empire of both worlds For this belongs to him that sits down upon this throne When the Father said to him sit at my right hand he did therein deliver to him the dispensation and oeconomy of the Kingdom Put the awful scepter of government into his hand and so the Apostle interprets and understands it 1 Cor. 15.25 He must raign till he have put all his enemies under his feet And to thâ—s purpose the same Apostle accommodates if not expounds the words of the Psalmist thou madest him a little lower than the Angels i. e. in respect of his humbled state on earth thou Crownnedst him with glory and honour and didst set him over the work of thy hands thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet Heb. 2.7 8. He is over the spiritual Kingdom the Church absolute Lord there Matth. 28.18 19 20. He also is Lord over the providential Kingdom the whole world Psal. 110.2 and this providential Kingdom being subordinate to his spiritual Kingdom he orders and rules this for the advantage and benefit of that Ephes. 1.22 Fifthly To sit at Gods right hand with his enemies for a footstool implies Christ to be a Conqueror over all his enemies To have ones enemies under his feet notes perfect conquest and compleat victory As when Iosuah set his foot upon the necks of the Kings So Tamberline made proud Bajazet his footstool They trampled his name and his Saints under their feet and Christ will tread them under his feet 'T is true indeed this victory is yet incompleat and inconsummate for now we see not yet all things put under him saith the Apostle but we see Iesus Crowned with glory and honour and that 's enough Enough to shew the power of his enemies is now broken and though they make some opposition still yet it is to no purpose at all for he is so infinitely above them that they must fall before him It is not with Christ as it was with Abiâ—ah against whom Ieroboam prevailed because he was young and tenderhearted and could not withstand them His incapacity and weakness gave the watchful enemy an advantage over him I say 't is not so with Christ he is at Gods right hand And all the power of God stands ready bent to strike through his enemies as it is Psal. 110.5 Sixthly Christs sitting in Heaven notes to us the great and wonderful change that is made upon the state and condition of Christ since his ascention into Heaven Ah 't is far otherwise with him now than it was in the days of his humiliation here on earth quantum mutatus ab illo Oh what a wonderful change hath Heaven made upon him It were good as a Worthy of ours speaks to compare in our thoughts the Abasement of Christ and his Exaltation together as it were in Columes one over against the other he was born in a Stable but now he raigns in his Royal Palace Then he had a Manger for his Cradle but now he sits on a Chair of State Then Oxen and Asses were his companions now thousands of Saints and ten thousand of Angels minister round about his throne Then in contempt they called him the Carpenters Son now he obtains by inheritance a more excellent name than Angels Then he was led away into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil now it is proclaimed before him let all the Angels of God worship him Then he had not a place to lay his head on now he is exalted to be heir of all things In his state of Humiliation he endured the contradiction of sinners in his state of Exaltation he is adored and admired of Saints and Angels Then he had no form nor comliness and when we saw him there was no beauty why we should desire him now the beauty of his countenance shall send forth such glorious beams that shall dazel the eyes of all the Coelestial inhabitants round about him c. O what a change is here Here he sweat but there he sits Here he groaned but there he triumphs Here he lay upon the ground there he sits in the throne of glory When he came to Heaven his Father did as it were thus bespeak him My dear Son what an hard travail hast thou had of it What a world of wo hast thou past through in the strength of thy love to me and mine Elect Thou hasâ— been hungry thirsty and weary scourged crucified and reproached ah what bad usage has thou had in the ungrateful world Not a days rest and comfort since thou wentest out from me but now thy suffering days are accomplisht now thy rest is come rest for evermore Henceforth sit at my right hand Henceforth thou shalt groan weep or bleed no more Sit thou at my right hand Seventhly Christs sitting at Gods right hand implies the advancement of believers to the highest honour For this session of Christs respects them and there he sits as our representative in which regard we are made to sit with him in heavenly places as the Apostle speaks Ephes. 2.6 How secure may we be saith Tertullian who do now already possess the Kingdom meaning in our head Christ. This saith another is all my hope and all my confidence namely that we have a portion in that flesh and blood of Christ which is so exalted and therefore where he reigns we shall reign where our flesh is glorified we shall be glorified Surely it 's matter of exceeding joy to believe that Christ our head our flesh and blood is in all this glory at his Fathers right hand Thus we have opened the sence and importance of Christs siâ—ting at his Fathers right hand Hence we Infer Inference 1. Is this so great an honour to Christ to sit enthroned at Gods right hand What honour then is reserved in Heaven for those that are faithful to Christ now on the earth Christ prayed and his prayer was heard Joh. 17.24 That we may be with him to behold the glory that God hath given him and what heart can conceive the felicity of such a sight it made Stephens face shine as the face of an Angel when he had but a glimpse of Christ at his Fathers right hand Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty Isai. 33.17 which respected Hezekiah in the Type Christ in the truth But this is not all though this be much to be spectators of Christ in his Throne of glory we shall not only see him in his Throne but also sit with him inthroned in glory To behold him is much but to sit with him is more I remember it was the saying of a heavenly Christian now with Christ I would far rather look but through the hole of Christs door to see but the one half of his fairest and most comly face for he looks like Heaven suppose I should never win in to
Mr. Coverdale well translates filii non negantes such as will keep touch with me and will answer their Covenant engagements And again surely thou wilt fear me thou wilt receive instruction And shall not all this engage you to God What! neither the antient and bountiful love of God in contriving your Redemption from eternity nor the bounty of God in rewarding all and every piece of service you have done for him Nor yet the pleasure he takes in your obedience and upright walking Nor the incouraging promises he hath made thereto nor yet his confident expectations of such a life from you whom he hath so many waies obliged and endeared to himself will you forget your antient friend Contemn his rewards take no delight or care to please him Slight his promises and deceive and fail his expectations Be astonished O ye Heavens at this And be horribly afraid Consider how God the Father hath fastned this five fold cord upon your Souls and shew your selves Christians yea to use the Prophets words Esa. 46.8 Remember this and shew your selves men Secondly You are yet farther engaged to this precise and holy life by what the Son hath done for you is not this pure and holy life the very aim and next end of his death Did he not shed his blood to redeem you from your vain conversations 1 Pet. 1.18 Was not this the design of all his sufferings that being delivered out of the hands of your enemies you might serve him in righteousness and holiness all the daies of your life Luk. 1.74 75. And is not the Apostles inference 2 Cor. 5.14 15. highly reasonable if one dyed for all then were all dead and that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but to him that dyed for them Did Christ only buy your Persons and not your services also No no who ever hath thy time thy strength or any part of either I can assure thee Christian that Christ hath paid for it and thou givest away what is none of thine own to give Every moment of thy time is his Every Talent whether of grace or nature is his And dost thou defraud him of his own Oh how liberal are you of your pretious words and hours as if Christ had never made a purchase of them Oh think of this when thy life runs muddy and â—oul When the fountain of corruption flows out at thy tongue in idle frothy discourses or at thy hand in sinful unwarrantable actions doth this become the redeemed of the Lord Did Christ come from the bosom of his Father for this Did he groan sweat bleed endure the Cross and lay down his life for this Was he so well pleased with all his sorrows and sufferings his pangs and agonies upon the account of that satisfaction he should have in seeing the travail of his Soul Isa. 53.11 as if he had said Welcome Death welcome Agonies welcome the bitter cup and heavy burthen I chearfully submit to all this These are travailing pangs indeed but I shall see a beautiful birth at last These throws and Agonies shall bring forth many lively Children to God I shall have joy in them and glory from them to all Eternity This blood of mine these sufferings of mine shall purchase to me the Persons Duties Services and obedience of many thousands that will Love me and Honour me Serve me and Obey me with their Souls and Bodies which are mine And doth not this engage you to look to your lives and keep them pure Is not every one of Christs wounds a mouth open to plead for more holiness more service and more fruit from you Oh what will engage you if this will not But Thirdly This is not all as a man when he weigheth a thing casteth in weight after weight till the scales are counterpoised so doth God cast in engagement after engagement and argument upon argument till thy heart Christian be weighed up and won to this heavenly life And therefore as Elihu said to Iob cap. 36.22 Suffer me a little and I will shew thee what I have yet to speak on Gods behalf Some Arguments have already been urged on the behalf of the Father and Son for purity and cleanness of life and next I have something to plead on the behalf of the Spirit I plead now on his behalf who hath so many times helped you to plead for your selves with God He that hath so often refreshed quickened and comforted you he will be quenched grieved and displeased by an impure loose and careless conversation and what will you do then Who shall comfort you when the Comforter is departed from you When he that should releive your souls is far off Oh grieve not the holy Spirit of God by which you are sealed to the day of Redemption Eph. 4.30 There is nothing grieves him more than impure practices For he is a holy Spirit And look as water damps and quenches the fire so doth sin quench the Spirit 1 Thes. 5.19 Will you quench the warm affections and burning desires which he hath kindled in your bosoms if you do it is a question whether ever you may recover them again to your dying day the Spirit hath a delicate Sence It is the most tender thing in the whole world He feels the least touch of sin and is grieved when thy corruptions within are stirred by temptations and break out to the defiling of thy life then is the holy Spirit of God as it were made sad and heavy within thee As that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes. 4.30 may be rendred For thereby thou both resistest his motions whereby in the way of a loving constraint he would lead and guide thee in the way of thy Duty yea thou not only resistest his motions but crossest his grand design which is to purge and sanctifie thee wholly and build thee up more and more to the perfection of holiness And when thou thus forsakest his conduct and crossest his design in thy soul then doth he usually with-draw as a man that is grieved by the unkindness of his friend He draws in the beams of his evidencing and quickning grace Packs up all his divine Cordials and saith as it were to this unkind and disingenious Soul Hast thou thus requited me for all the favours and kindnesses thou hast received from me Have I quickened thee when thou wast dead in transgressions did I descend upon thee in the Preaching of the Gospel and communicate life even the life of God to thee leaving others in the state of the Dead Have I shed forth such rich influences of grace and comfort upon thee Comforting thee in all thy troubles helping thee in all thy duties satisfying thee in all thy doubts and perplexities of soul saving thee and pulling thee back from so many destructive temptations and dangers What had been thy condition if I had not come unto thee Could the Word have converted thee without me
the Redeemer Nortons Orthodox Evangelist pag 41. The call of the Lord Jesus unto office includes election on the Fathers part and acceptation on the Mediators part and is set down after the manner of mutual transaction between God and Christ whereby he was designed thereunto as it were by way of Covenant If his soul shall set it self an offering for sin for so according to the original do good Authors read the Text he shall see his seed prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand ver 10. Doct. Vide Goodwins Triumph of faith Vide Roberts medulla â—ib p. 1577. et lyf Test. p. 83 84. Causa externae satisfactionis à patre decretae à filio susceptae est miseria nostra id est peccata quidem aeternam panam promerentiae exigentia in quam miseratio dei ferebatur ob quam poenas omnes nobis debitas subiit filius dei ut per cum pristinae faelicitati restituerentur Synop. puâ—â—or Theol. p. 350. Ego cujus immensa ac infinita est potentia sic tibi favebo ita te fulciam ut nihil adversus te posuit omnes adversarii tui Marlor in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antequam ab omnibus retro seculis tempora fluere inciperent decrevit Deus hanc nobis salutis gratiam per Christum conferre Calv. in loc 1 Vse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Innitar in eo mont 3 Vse Vse 4. Vse 5. Vse 6. Father Son Father Son Vse 7. Ob. Sol. Serm. 4. Opens the admirable love of God in giving his own Son for us Hic igitur unigeniti nomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est ad commendandam iâ— nos amoris divini vâ—heâ—entiam Buling in loc Doct. Omnia diliâ—it deus quae fecet inter ea magis creaturas rationales de illis ea amplius quae sunt membra unigeniti multo magis ipsum unigenitum Aug. T. 9 in Johan God might have redeemed us in another way for I suppose 't is opus liberi consilii a free dispensation but God so loved the world i. e he took this way that we might love Christ as well as believe in him He might have redeemed us so much in another way but he could not oblige us so much in another way Manton in Iude. p 108. Mr. Wall in his none but Christ. Dolor Christi major suit omnibus doloribus Aquinas Christus coelum non patiuntur hyperbolem Corol. 1. Corol. 2. Totum Iurcicum imperiam quantum quantum est mica tantum est quam Pater familias projicit cambus Luther Corol. 3. Fye fye saith one upon this condemned and foolish world that will give so little for Christ and salvation Oh! if there were but a free market proclaimed of Christ and salvation in that day when the Trumpet of God shall awaken the dead how many buyers would be there God sâ—nd me no more happinesâ— but that which the blind world to their eteâ—nal wo leteth slip through their fingers Serm. 5. Treats of Christs wonderful Person The incarnation is the miracle of miracles a testimony against unbelievers Isa. 7.14 and a document to believers None can declare his generation Isa. 53.8 Neither can any declare his incarnation his name is secret Iudg. 13.18 Wonderful Isa. 9.6 A name that no man knoweth viz. perfectly but himself The Trinity is the greatest the incarnation is the next mysterie Nortons Ortho. Evang. p. 38. (a) Verbum Substantiale non prolatium Fulgentius lib. 1. (b) Voluit Evangelista uti potius carnis quà m hominis nominâ— ut magis appareret quo se divinum verbum abjecerit cùm caro factum est Nam vilitas major in carne apparet oppositio major cum spiritu Maccoâ—â— loc Com. * Non mutando quod erat sed assumendo quod non erat Aug. Incarnatio est opus deâ— quo filius dei secundum oeconomiam divini consilii patris sui spiritus sancti sâ—se humilians veram integram perfectam sanctamque caraâ—m ex virgine Mariae spiritus saâ—cti operatione efficacia in unitate personae sibi assumpfit ita ut caro illa nullam propriam subsistentiam extraâ—dei filium habeat sed ab illo in â—o verè sustentetur gestetur duabus perfectis naturis inter se 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unitis unde constituitur persona Christi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Synopsis purioris Theologiae p. 295. * Reason saith one can never shew it self more reasonable than in ceasing to reason about things which are above reason Quae sunt occulta non sunt fâ—rutanda Quae manifesta non negligenda Prosper Nomina concreta non multiplicantur nisi multiplicentur supposita Uâ—um autem cum tantum sit in christo suppositum Unâ—s tâ—atum sit christus necesse est Trelcat page 67. The nature of the Hypostaticall union opened 1 Neg. Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pos. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non quidem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliud ex aliis sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 duae ipsae naturae in personam unitae Damasc. Hamaâ—a natura non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per se sâ—bsistens neque prius hâ—mana natura fuit postea assumpta fuit sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 atque in persona 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subsistit Et sic una est Christi persona in qua quidem est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliud atque aliud sed non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alius atque alius Ut Greg. Naz apud Theodoret. Dialog 2. Aug. de civitate dei lâ—b 10. cap. 27. p. 586. Fugen ad Tra. lib. 1. p. 251. Damasc. lib. 3. cap. 20. Nec ulla peccati coatagio naturam illam humanam Christi inficere potuit cujus substantiam in se alioqui corruptam originariè ineffabilis spiritus sancti operatio ab omni prorsus macula sanctificavit purgavit plenissime ita fieri debait utpotâ— in qua purgatio peccatorum nostrorum facienda erat Trelcat Jnstit p. 58. Neque tamen humanitas hac ratione exaltata aut in deitatem mutata aut cum eâdem est confusa quasi ulliâ—sâ—uae deitâ—ti peculi aris existet sive qualitatis sive proprietatis particeps facta sed ab eâdem distiacta mansit usque manetâ— constans nempè fraito corpore consimilique quoad substantiam facultates essentiales hominum aliorum omnium anima Bradshaw de justific p. 79. Doubt Resolution Tolletus rem sic â—leganter illâ—strat Quemadmodum homo habens ensem in vagina qâ—ando vult exeâ—it â—â—sâ—m tamen unâ— manu vaginam tenet altera â—â—ser sic divina peâ—sona per mortem animam à corpore veluti ensem à vagina sâ—peravit utramque tamen partem sibi habuit unitam per resurrectionem autem aâ—imam corpori copulavit quasi ensem
we have from our very enemies accidentally Their very wrath shall praise us but for active and voluntary praise whence comes this but from the people that were formed for that very purpose Should these then miscarry and perish where shall my manifestive and active glory be And from whom shall I expect it So that here his propriety and glory are pleaded with the Father to prevail for those mercies and they are both great and valuable things with God What dearer what nearer to the heart of God A Third Argument And yet to make all fast and sure he adds in the beginning of this vers 11. a third Argument in these words And now I am no more in the world Where we must consider the sense of it as a proposition and the force of it is an argument This proposition I am no more in the world is not to be taken simply and universally as if in no sense Christ should be any more in this world but only respectively as to his corporal presence this was in a little time to be removed from his people which had been a sweet spring of comfort to them in all their troubles But now it might have been said to the pensive disciples as the sons of the Prophets said to Elisha a little before Eliahs translation know ye not that your Master shall be taken from your heads to day This comfortable enjoyment must be taken from them this is the sense And here lies the Argument Father consider the sadness and trouble I shall leave my poor Children under Whilst I was with them it was a sweet relief to their souls whatever troubles they met with In all doubts fears and dangers they could repair to me In all their straights and wants I still supplied them They had my counsels to direct them my reproofs to reduce them my comfort to support them yea the very sight of me was an unspeakable joy and refreshment to their souls but now the hour is come and I must be gone All the comfort and benefit they had from my presence among them is now cut off And except thou do make up all this to them another way what will become of these children when their Father is gone What will be the case of the poor Sheep and tender Lambs when the Shepherd is smitten Therefore O my Father look thou after them See to them for they are thine as well as mine I am glorified in them and now leaving them and removing out of this world from them A Fourth Argument And yet to move and engage the Fathers care and love for them he subjoins another great consideration in the very next words drawn from the danger he leaves them in But these are in the world The world is a sinful infecting and unquiet place it lies in wickedness and a hard thing it will be for such poor weak imperfect creatures to escape the pollutions of it Or if they do yet the troubles persecutions and strong oppositions of it they cannot escape Seeing therefore I must leave thine own dear children as well as mine and those from whom my glory is to rise in the midst of a sinful troublesom dangerous world where they can neither move backward nor forward without danger of sin or ruine O since the case stands so look after them provide for them and take special care for them all Consider who they are and where I leave them They are thy children to be left in a strange Country Thy Souldiers in the Enemies quarters Thy Sheep in the midst of Wolves Thy pretious Treasure among Thieves A Fifth Argument And yet he hath not done for he resolves to tug for the mercies he had asked and will not come off with a denial and therefore adds another Argument in the next words And I come to thee As his leaving them was an Argument so his coming to the Father is a mighty Argument also There is much in these words I come to thee I thy beloved Son in whom thy soul delighteth I to whom thou never deniedst any any thing 'T is not a stranger but a Son not an adopted but the only begotten Son 'T is I that come I am now coming to thee apace my Father I come to thee swiming through a bloody Ocean I come treading every step of my way to thee in blood and unspeakable sufferings and all this for the sake of those dear ones I now pray for Yea the design and end of my coming to thee is for them I am coming to Heaven in the capacity of an Advocate to plead with thee for them And I come to thee my Father and their Father my God and their God Now then since I that am so dear come through such bitter pangs to thee so dear so tender hearted a Father and all this on their score and account Since I do but now as it were begin or give them a little tast of that intercession-work which I shall live for ever to perform for them in Heaven Father hear Father grant what I request O give a comfortable handsel of those good things which I am coming to thee for and which I know thou wilt not deny me The Sixth Argument And to close up all he tells the Father how careful he had been to observe and perform that trust which was committed to him Whilst I was with them in the world I kept them in thy name those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost but the son of perdition ver 12. And thus lies the Argument Thou committest to me a certain number of elect souls to be redeemed by me I undertook the trust and said if any of these be lost at my hand let them be required I will answer them every one to thee In pursuance of which trust I am now here on the earth in a body of flesh I have been faithful to a point I have redeemed them for he speaks of that as finished and done which was now ready to be done I have kept also and confirmed them hitherto and now Father I commit them to thy care Lo here they are not one is lost but the son of perdition who was never given With how great care have I been careful for them O let them not fail now Let not one of them perish Thus you see what a nervous argumentative pleading prayer Christ poured out to the Father for them at parting The next enquiry is why he thus prayed and pleaded with God for them when he was to die And certainly it was not because the Father was unwilling to grant the mercies he desired for them No they came not off with difficulty nor were they wrested by meer importunity out of the hand of an unwilling and backward person For he tells us in Joh. 16.27 the Father himself loveth you i. e. he is propense enough of his own accord to do you good But the reasons of this exceeding importunity are First He