THE Penitent Pardoned A TREATISE Wherein is handled the duty of confession of Sin and the priviledge of the pardon of Sin Together with a Discourse Of Christs Ascension into Heaven and of his coming again from Heaven Wherein The opinion of the Chiliasts is considered and solidly confuted Being the sum and substance of several Sermons preached by that faithful servant of Christ Mr Christopher Love late Minister of the Gospel at Lawrence Jury LONDON 1 John 1. 19. If we confesse our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse Heb. 9. 28. Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation Qui dat peccanti poenitentiam dat poenitenti veniam Veniet judicaturus qui venit judicandus London Printed for John Rothwell at the Bear and Fountain in Cheapside and for Nathanael Brooks at the Angel in Cornhil 1657. To the Christian Reader THE extraordinary acceptance which Mr Love's books have found with sober and solid Christians as it hath occasioned the publishing of more treatises of his then was at first intended so it hath imboldned some without our knowledge and consent to thrust forth some imperfect Copies under Mr Love's name concerning which we will only say that the want of our attestation to whose care the publishing of his sermons were intrusted is ground enough to render them as suspected and suppositious to the serious and deliberate Reader Amongst some other Sermons of Mr Love 's which have been printed by imperfect Copies These two Treatises had the unhappinesse to be very hastily and unhandsomely published being never perused by any of us or compared with his own Notes Now that these two very useful tracts may be fit to be joined with the rest of Mr Love's works the Reader is desired to know that they have been diligently compared with the Notes written with Mr Love 's own hand and have been corrected from very many faults with which the former Edition abounded and most of them materiall We will add no more but this that in the Polemicall part of these discourses as we approve the authors judgement to be sound and orthodox so we beleeve that had he lived to publish his own labours this and other books had come forth more answerable to the learning piety and vigorous parts of the Author We commend thee to God and the word of his Grace which is able to build thee up and to give thee an inheritance amongst those that are sanctified London April 27. 1657. Edmund Calamy Simeon Ashe William Tailor William Whitaker The Table AFflicted people fit to confesse sin pag. 9 10 Aggravation of sin 16 Antinomians confuted 24 Aggravation of sin by circumstances 85. 109 Austins confession and aggravation of sin ibid. Godly afflicted for sin 94 95 Antinomians confuted 96 All sins not alike 108 Christ ascended into Heaven 116 117 Time of Christs Ascension 126 What we gain by Christs Ascension 134 B. BEnummed conscience 55 Boldnesse in sin 57 Christs body in Heaven and why 119 120 Hereticks confuted that denied Christs body to be in Heaven 121 Believers went to heaven before the incarnation of Christ 131 132 Bodies of Saints shall go to Heaven 197 Endowments of a glorified body 199 Of sin against the body 208 C. God loves to have his people confesse their sins 7 Confesse our bosome sin to God 12 Small sins must be confessed 14 We must confesse sin to God 19 We must confesse our sins to God 20 35. and our particular sins 22 Of auricular confession 19 24 In what cases we must confesse our sins to men 21 23 Cofession of sin must be affectionate 36 We must confesse all sin 39 Confession must be free 37. and voluntary 38 Confession is not needlesse as to God 41 Conscience checking for sin 53 54 Of a sensless sleeping Conscience 56 Comfort against the fear of death 123 Comfort from the consideration of Christs comming to judgement 137 Manner of Christs second comming 173 of Communion with Christ it Heaven 210 D. DEfects in our confession 33 Greatnesse of Davids sin 65 We must not feare Death 196 E. SOul eased by confession 6 Extenuation of sin 87 F. FEar of the godly to sin 24 47 Christs comming the dread and fear of wicked men 180 G. GOD pardons great sins 61 62 Of grosse and heinous sins 80 Directions to great and heinous sinners 82 Great sins great humiliation 86 How God makes the sinnes of his people turn to their good 92 93 Christ ascended to give the Holy Ghost 123 The glory of Christs second comming 176 177 H. HOpe of pardon 17 Humbled sinner amiable to God 40 Christ in Heaven his Heart on Earth 125 The Godly die and go to Heaven 188 I. IUstified persons must confesse sin 5 Impenitency exempts from pardon 89 Infants and grown people not under the same necessity of repentance 101 Christ will come to judge the world 137 L. LAw of God discovers sin 37. of little sins 73 74 Love of God to penitent sinners 87 88 Limbus Patrum confuted 129 Of Christs comming at the last day and not before 151 M. WE must confess our Master-sin 34 Mortification of sin 46 50 51 52 Infinite mercy in God 70. merit in Christ 71 72 Meditation of Christ 123 Millenaries confuted 150. unto 172 VVhat scriptures those Millenaries urge 160 166 169 O. OLd sins 18 Gods children have fallen into the same sin oftner then once though this is not usuall 102 103 104 Comfort against Oppression 141 P. PUblick sins publick confessions 22 Of good and wicked purposes 32 of pardon of sin 33 Pardoned sinners love God 45. and they forgive aâ—â—thers ibid Pardon and repentance joined ibid VVhat a pardoned sinner shuns 61 62 Peters sin aggravated in denying Christ 67 Aggravation of Pauls sin 68 69 God pardons and yet punisheth 96 Pardon not before faith and repentance 97 98 99 Saints justified must pray for pardon 107 Prophesies of Christs ascension 117 Christ prepares heaven for believers 127 VVe should prepare for heaven 133 Comfort against persecution 140 Paradice a type of Heaven 189 R. AFter reproof for sin we must confess sin 11 Remorse of conscience 20 Of those that are angry at reproof 36 Remembrance of sin 38 Remission of sin and renovation of the heart join'd together 44 Relapses into sin dangerous 105 Of the reproches of ChristiaÌ„s coÌ„fort against theÌ„ 140 Resurrection of the body proved 204 S. Confession works sorrow for sin â— Sorrow for sin T. 17 49 5â— T. TYpes of Christs ascension 11â— Christ triumph over our enemies 10â— Transubstantiation confuted 128 Time of Christs comming unknown 148 W. Witnesses of Christs ascension 11â— SERMON 1. Text PSALM 32. latter part of Vers 5. I said I will confesse my transgressions to the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin THis Psalme treats of the blessednesse of a justified of a pardoned sinner touching which
gave it her and came in unto her and she conceived by him Then you read of Rachab a common harlot in Heb. 11. 31. By faith the Harlot Rachab perished not with them that beleeved not when she had received the spies with peace Matth. 1. 5. And Salmon begat Boaz of Rachab c. A third woman mentioned in the Genealogy is Ruth what was she she was not so infamous as the rest were yet she ran into a grievous scandal Ruth came of Moab whom Lot begat of his own daughter you have the story in the Book of Genesis 19. 36. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their Father vers 37. And the first borne bare a Son and called his name Moab What was she for her person she was a good woman but as all Divines observe of her she did an action that had appearance of evill what did she read the story in the third of Ruth beginning at verse 5. c. the story saith that she came alone at midnight to Boaz there was an action full of infamy which was a shamefull thing that a woman should come to a man lying alone Secondly she came and lay by him in the night season but it is true the Scripture câ—ears her for any thing following vers 14. And she lay at his feet untill morning and she rose up before one could know another there was no vanity no folly and no evill yet it was a grievous scandall for a woman to be with a man and Boaz did fear the scandall of it too yet this woman is reckoned in the Genealogy of Christ The fourth woman is Bathsheba she was unclean with David What is the Mystery of this truely all Interpreters give this There are but four women named in the genealogy al of them blame-worthy some in a higher and some in a lower degree and it is recorded that Christ came from these four to take off the ignominy and infamy of your sins that you have fallen into before conversion suppose God should suffer thee to fall into execrable villanies reall and sound conversion to God takes off the reproach and ignominy therefore Christ to take off the ignominy and reproach from these women would honour them so far as to reckon them in his own Genealogy The point was this That such are the riches of Gods pardoning grace that hee forgives his people the great sins that are cloathed with many hainous and aggravated circumstances Now lest any might abuse this Doctrine and suck poyson from these flowers that are mâ—st sweetly scattered up and down the Scripture I shall labour so to handle the matter as to keep off presumptuous men that they be not emboldned in a wicked course of sin Therefore my use shall be to two sorts of men Use 1 First of all it shall bee directed to morall and civill honest men if God doth forgive men great sinnes cloathed with many hainoâ—s and aggravated circumstances as Davids sinne was as Peters sinne was and Paul sinnes were then I have great hopes of pardon mine are but sinnes of an ordinarie incursion therefore I have hopes my sinnes are pardoned because they have not been crying great sins First of all consider That God hath shewn as much displeasure against small and little sins as against greater and grosser enormities I will give you some instances First of the neglect of Moses to circumcise his son one would think that for forbearing the circumcising of a childe when a man was in a journey and had urgent businesse lying upon him his businesse should have been a plea to excuse him yet for the bare omission of that on the eight day the Lord met him and would have killed him Exod 4. 24. And it came to passe by the way in the Ione that the Lord met him and sought to kill him Another time thâ— Psalmist tels us of Moses sin in the wilderness Moses spake unadvisedly with his lips onely a rash word and what was the issue of that sin the Lord would never suffer Moses to enter into the land of Canaan Another instance of Uxzah one would thinke it but â—mail thing for Vzzah to put his hand to uphold the falling Arke it was out of a good intention that the Arke should not fall yet you know how the hand of God smote Uzzah for it So likewise of David you would thinke it but a small matter for a King to number his people yet you know how many thousands in Israel God did take away by the Plague for that very sin so that beloved suppose thou hast not fallen into hideous and hainous wickednesses yet thou seest little sins displease God as well as great because sin though little yet is against a great God and little sins displease as well as great Secondly That though grosse sins may carry a greater infamy yet little secret sins may carry a greater guilt in them to God Beloved the sin of Angels it was but a small sin a spirituall sin onely one sin and a sin in thought too not of act yet you know that for that sin God did tumble the Angels out of heaven Indeed gross sins carry a greater infamy but little small sins may carry as great a guilt Third Consideration is this That small and little sins may be aggravated and cloathed with such cricumstances as may make them great two instances in Adams sin and Davids sin First Adams sin you would account it a small matter to eat an apple or some other fruit but yet that small fact of eating the forbidden fruit was so cloathed with many circumstances which made it a great and grievous sin for First if you consider the state of Adam he was not as we are but Adam was a perfect and an innocent creature and it is a greater evill for a perfect creature to sin then for us that are imperfect Secondly Consider the place where Adam was it was in Paradise and yet there to sin Thirdly Consider the publicknesse of his person hee did not sin for himself but in his sin we all sinned for a private man to sin is an evill but for a publicke person representing other men his sin is other mens sin Fourthly How many aggravations were in the bowels of Adams sin there are six First There was unbliefe in his sin God did not tell them with an if or an and but told them peremptorily they should dye Secondly There was this aggravation that Adam did believe the Devil before God Thirdly there was pride in this sin for saith the Devill Ye shall be as Gods and that pleased them it was not enough to be man and woman but they must be gods Fourthly There was curiosity in that sin You shall be as gods knowing good and evil now out of meer curiosity to know more then they did know though they knew enough to make them happy and blessed did they plunge themselves into this sin Fifthly They were not contented with their
charge thee therfore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the Quick and the Dead at his appearing and his Kingdome The Scripture telleth you that when Christ appeares to judge the world hee shall have this concomitant of his coming he shal gather all together to judge both the good and the bad Those that pretend that Christ shall come to reigne a thousand yeares upon the Earth they cannot prove that then all shall bee gathered together they onely plead for the Matryrs and none else therefore it cannot be referred to his coming to reigne a thousand yeares Thirdly when Christ comes then the end of the world is a period is put to this world 1 Cor. 15. 24. Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the Kingdome to God even the Father c. When Christ comes then comes the end now those who hold for Christs personall reign they hold that the end of the world shal not be till a thousand yeares after because Christ must Reigne a thousand yeares Fourthly the resurrection both of the just and the unjust is a concomitant of Christs coming 1 Cor. 15. 23. But every man in his owne Order Christ the first fruits afterwards they that are Christs at his coming So that at Christs coming the generall resurrection of the just and unjust is to be Lastly there is to bee the Salvation of the Soules of all the Elect that is a fifth concomitant of Christs coming Heb. 9. 28. Christ was once offered to beare the sinnes of many and unto them that looke for him shall hee appeare the second time without sinne unto Salvation This cannot be referred to Christs Personal coming upon the earth to reign a thousand years because he doth not come then to save the soules of all the Elect that is the first reason why Christ cannot come to reigne upon the Earth because when the Scripture speaks of Christs coming out of heaven it doth annex five concomitants with it which belong not to any coming of Christ upon the Earth but to come to judge the world A second reason is this that Christ cannot come to reigne upon the Earth because if it should bee so it would bee worse for Christ and it would bee worse for us then now it is it would be worse for Christ for to leave Heaven and come to the Earth for Christ to leave Saints and Angels and Heaven for to live upon the Earth among the wicked and the good for they themselves confesse that wicked men shall live upon the Earth then Then besides they fancy Earthly delights that the fruit of the Vineyard shall not fade as now it doth yet they would lessen Christs Glory because hee sits this day at his Fathers right Hand againe for to fancy this that Christ must come to reigne upon the Earth it would bee a great losse to all the Elect for wee have the benefit of Christs everlasting Intercession and were Christ upon the Earth wee should lose that benefit Heb. 8. 4. For if hee were on the Earth hee should not bee a Priest seeing that there are Priests that offer gifts according to the Law So that if hee were upon the Earth wee should lose the benefit of his Priest-hood therefore it would it bee a great wrong to us to have Christ here on the Earth because the benefit of his Priestly Office would not bee so availeable to us as it is in Heaven Thus I have laid down scripture and given you reasons why Christ cannot come before his last coming Now there be eight Incongruities and Absurdities that would follow in case you should grant that Christ should come to Reigne a thousand yeares upon the Earth First by those mens Principles this inconvenience will follow that people may exactly know the punctuall time of Christs last coming to judge the world for those who hold Christs personall Reigne they doe as well hold the time as the thing they doe as well maintaine when this Reigne shall begin Therefore some have maintained that Christ should come to Reigne on the Earth in the year 1650. One saith if it shall not be in the yeare 1650 it shall bee in the yeare 1694. They that go furthest guess at that time if so bee they hold the thing and maintaine the time also when it shall begin then of necessity wee must know exactly when the day shal be that Christ shall come to judge the world for they grant it shall be immediately after the thousand yeares Now beloved that Opinion that carries this absurdity to know the day of Christs coming to judge the world which Christ saith none in the world can tell of that houre and day knoweth no man Mark 13. 32. But of that day and houre knoweth no man no not the Angells which are in heaven neither the Son but the Father is a false Opinion Secondly this incongruity will also follow that it will bee a great disadvantage to Christ in coming to reigne a thousand yeares on the Earth to leave his Father and Heaven and come and onely possesse Earth Now Christ hath more happinesse in the immediate enjoyment of his Father in Heaven then hee can have here upon the Earth Then it will bee a losse to us that wee should lose the benefit of his Priestly Office but Christ the Sonne of righteousnesse being in Heaven is more available to Beleevers then if he were upon the Earth Thirdly observe this that if Christ should come on the Earth for a thousand yeares then Christ would leave the Church after that thousand yeares for a while in a worse condition then hee found it and I draw it from that Text which they pretend to bee the strength of their Argument Revel 20. 5 7 8. But the rest of the Dead lived not again untill the thousand years were finished This is the first resurrection and when the thousand yeares are expired Satan shall bee loosed out of his Prison And shall go out to deceive the Nations which are in the four quarters of the Earth Gâ—g and Magog to gather them together to Battell the number of whom is as the Sand of the sea So that after the thousand yeares the Devill shall bee let loose again and there shall bee an innumerable company of enemies and they shall destroy multitudes of the godly Therefore Christ would leave his Church in a worse condition then hee found them if this were true that Christ should reigne a thousand yeares upon the Earth Fourthly if Christ should come to reigne a thousand yeares upon the Earth then this incongruity will follow that there must bee three personall comings of Jesus Christ for his first coming was his Incarnation Second coming to these thousand yeares And his third coming must bee to judge the world that is the last coming but the Scripture makes but two comings of Christ First his coming from heaven when hee was borne his second coming when he comes to judge the world again
Fifthly if Christ comes personally out of Heaven to reigne a thousand yeares this incongruity will follow that either the Saints and Angels must come or not come with Christ if they must come with Christ then it is a losse to them for them to leave the immediate presence of God and come upon the Earth where wicked men shall bee amongst them or if they must not come with Jesus Christ yet it is a loss to them to remaine there they shall lose for a thousand yeares the bodily presence of Christ if Christ bee on the Earth â—ee cannot bee in Heaven the same time Therefore it would be a losse to the Saints and Angels for them to bee a thousand yeares in Heaven without the company of Jesus Christ not to have the person of Jesus Christ with them A Sixth Incongruity will follow that if Christ shall come to reigne upon the Earth then Christs Kingdome must bee a worldly and terrene Kingdome then it will bee against the word of God hee must be a visible King to the Jewes and a visible King to all the world besides this would follow then that Christs Kingdom must not be aspirituall Kingdome but a Terrene a worldly pompous Kingdome John 18. 36. Jesus answered My Kingdome is not of this world if my Kingdome were of this world then would my Servants fight that I should not bee delivered to the Jews but now is my Kingdome not from hence Luke 17. 20. And when hee was demanded of the Pharisees when the Kingdome of God should come hee answered them and said the Kingdome of God cometh not with Observation Would not all the world observe this for Christ to come bodily from Heaven and in the Majesty of a Monarch Now Christs Kingdome doth not come with Observation When the Disciples looked after an Earthly Kingdome No saith Christ my Kingdome is for to Rule and Reigne in your hearts you shall never see me for to be an outward Pompous King in the world for Christs Kingdome it is a spiritual Kingdome Seventhly that if Jesus Christ shall come to take a Kingdome on the Earth for a thousand yeares then this would intimate as if Jesus Christ had not a Kingdome and were not a King on Earth all this while hee is in Heaven they deny that place in Daniel and all those phrases in the new Testament that the Kingdome of the world is become the Kingdome of the Lord they deny that Christ is a King in Heaven When hee was in the Cratch and borne in the Stable he was a King at that very hour Psalme 2. The Apostle referres it to Christs Birth and Christs Resurrection Christ when hee arose from the Dead hee was a King then and the Gospell under Christs time is called a Kingdome It is remarkable in John 18. 37. Pilate therefore said unto him Art thou a King then Jesus answered thou sayest that I am a King Christ was a King though hee would not bee an Earthly King to destroy Earthly Governments therefore when the people in a tumult would have made him a King yet hee would not Zech. 9. 9. Rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Zion shout O Daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee hee is just and having Salvation lowly and riding upon an Asse and upon a Colt the fole of an Asse Hee was King when hee was on that slow contemptible creature so that now to say Christ shall come to reigne as King it is to intimate to the world as if Christ were not a King at this day and whereas he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords in Heaven therefore he cannot come a thousand years to reigne upon the Earth Now I will deale fairely to shew you the strongest Scripture that hath most shew of reason for the maintaining of this Opinion and shall labour to take them off and cleare it to you There are multitudes of quotations that varieties of mens thoughts fasten upon to prove this poynt yet those they most stand to I shall fasten upon their chiefe Pillar is in Revel 20. 2 3 5 6. And hee laid hold on the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Devill and Satan and bound him a thousand yeares And I saw thrones and they sate upon them and judgement was given uuto them and I saw the Soules of them that were beheaded for the witnesse of Jesus and for the word God and which had not worshipped the Beast neither his Image neither had received his marke upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand yeares But the rest of the Dead lived not again untill the thousand yeares were finished This is the first Resurrection blessed and holy is hee that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power but they shall bee Priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand yeares Now from this Text which is the chiefest in the Scripture they seeme to build these two things upon First That Jesus Christ shall live upon the Earth and the Saints reigne with him for a thousand yeares Secondly Those that were Martyrs by Antichrist shall rise from the Dead and come upon the Earth these thousand yeares to continue with Jesus Christ This they build much upon That Christ shall come to reign a thousand yeares upon the Earth But I shall shew you this cannot bee the sense of it and I shall give you Six Answers First that though the Scripture doth say that the Saints that were beheaded should live with Christ a thousand yeares yet the Text doth not say that Christ shall come to reigne with them a thousand yeares Secondly though the Text saith that they should live and reigne with Christ a thousand years yet the Text doth not say that they shall reigne with him here upon the Earth Thirdly that though it bee said that the Saints shall live and reigne with Christ a thousand yeares yet living and reigning with Christ doth not necessarily imply to bee in the same place where Jesus Christ is for then you would pervert many Scriptures For loe saith Christ I am with you to the end of the World it doth not therfore follow from that time hee will bee upon the Earth to the end of the world but Christ being with us or wee with him it is by his spirit Romans 8. 17. And if Children then Heires of God and joynt Heires with Christ if so bee that wee suffer with him that wee may bee also glorified together The Text it doth not denote the sameness of place and the oneness of scituation I give this to take off that which is made of this Text. Fourthly it is evident that this Scripture cannot bee a Foundation to build on that Christ shall come to reign a thousand yeares upon the Earth because then it will not onely follow that men shall live so long but shall reigne with Christ so long on the Earth Methuselah
his garments lest he walke naked and they see his shame Fifthly and this Divines stand much upon it is said wee according to his promise looke for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwels righteousnesse That the dwelling of a righteousnesse here doth not imply that such a thing shall bee on the new Earth but the dwelling of righteousnesse referres to righteous men not to heaven or earth the Greeke word cleares it plainely it is a word in the Plurall Number Therefore it is referred to the Earth which is in the Singular Number Therefore Divines say from the Originall 2 Peter 3. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—e in whom â—wels righteousnesse look for a new Heaven and a new Earth So that the dwelling of righteousnesse it is not to be interpreted as referring to the Earth but that righteousnesse should dwell in men wee read of none being on the Earth wherein dwells righteousnesse Thus much for that other Scripture Wee looke for new Heavens and a new Earth A third Scripture and that they deeme to have some strength in too In Daniel 2. 44. And in the daies of these Kings shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdome which shall never bee destroyed and the Kingdome shall not bee left to other People but it shall breake in pieces and consume all these Kingdoms and it shall stand for ever Now beloved to give you the scope of the Text take these answers First It is true that a Kingdome is given by God to Jesus Christ and that Kingdome was given by God to Christ while hee was here upon the Earth in the forme of a servant and this Luke tells you Chap. 1. vers 32 33. Hee shall bee great and shall bee called the Son of the highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the Throne of his Father David and hee shall reigne over the house of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdome there shall be no end So that Jesus Christ had a Kingdom and he is now King of Kings and Lord of Lords in heaven Secondly it is said here that this Kingdome it was begun in the daies of those Kings Now whose daies doth this Text speake of It speakes of those that divided Alexanders Kingdome who overcame the Medes and Persians it was divided betweene Ptolomy Lagides King of Egypt Zeleuchus King of Assyria In that time Jesus Christ did set up a Kingdome for he was born King of the Jewes Thirdly it is apparent that this cannot bee referred to Christs Kingdom in this world for a thousand yeares Because it cannot bee said that it should bee a Kingdome for ever and ever for a Kingdome for a thousand yeares cannot bee said to bee a Kingdome for ever and ever but it is said in Daniel It shall bee for ever and ever A fourth Scripture is in Eph. 5. 5. For this yee know that no Whoremonger nor Uncleane person nor Covetous Man who is an Idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdome of Christ and of God And this Text Gerrard quotes and doth well resolve it they say there is not only a Kingdome of God that is Heaven but the Scripture doth make mention of a Kingdome of Christ as a Kingdome of God Therefore they build on this Christs reigne and of having a Kingdome here upon earth First I answer it is true Christ hath a Kingdome but hee saith expresly that his Kingdome is not of this world John 18. 36. Jesus answered my Kingdom is not of this world c. Secondly though it be said here that there is a Kingdome of Christ yet it is not expressed to be upon the Earth for a 1000 yeares Thirdly this Kingdome of Christ Interpreters refer it to the same with the Kingdome of God and to bee meant exegetically A fifth Text they have is in Mat. 26. 29. But I say unto you I will not drinke henceforth of this fruit of the Vine untill that day when I drinke it new with you in my Fathers Kingdome Alsted quotes from thence they gather it cannot bee meant of Heaven why because there is no eating and drinking there here is a promise by Jesus Christ to come to them no more till he would drinke with them Wine in his Fathers Kingdome and it cannot bee unlesse Christ doth come in person amongst his people and have a Kingdome to eat and drinke with his people in this World This they stand much upon Take these clear answers to these Quotations First this cannot be meant of a Kingdome in this world for a thousand yeares my reason is this because the Kingdome which is Christs personall reigne should bee called Christs Kingdome and not his Fathers Kingdom it should have been called my Kingdome and not my Fathers Kingdome that is one Answer that Divines give Secondly observe this that this may referre to that time between Christs Resurrection and Ascension for after Christ did rise from the dead you know hee did continue forty daies upon the Earth and the Scripture telleth you in Luke 24. 42. And they gave him a piece of broyled Fish and of a hony-combe and hee tooke it and did eat before them So he may as well drinke and eate but that to me is somewhat uncertaine Thirdly which is the true scope of this place I will not drinke henceforth of this fruit of the Vine untill that day when I drinke it with you in my Fathers Kâ—ngdome he was taking the Lords Supper and was drinking the cup of Wine saith hee I am going away and will drinke no more till wee meet in Heaven not that there should bee Eating and Drinking in Heaven but when you and I meete wee shall have sweet fellowship and communion together as is in Eating and drinking together As Feasting is a badge of communion and of Love so there shall be endeared love and endeared communion with Christ in Heaven you shall drinke it new not new Wine nor eat new Bread but after a new manner of Love and communion they should expresse Love each to other and have everlasting communion one with another They say likewise that there shall bee no sinne in the world and that the Earth shall bee restored to its primitive fruitfulnesse as it were before the fall but I shall not middle with these And thus according unto my poore measure I have laboured to lay down the grounds from Scripture why Christ cannot come to reigne personally upon the Earth a thousand yeares and have vindicated those Scriptures that seeme to patronize that Opinion Use Is it so that the Scripture doth not determine of any coming of Christ out of Heaven till his last and great coming to judge the world O then labour to make it your worke to have Jesus Christ as King to reign in your hearts by mortification to rule in thy Heart by his Spirit to mortifie thy head-strong lusts that are in thee Secondly Seeing there is no coming of Christ as King in this world then labour to have Christ
things and then if he might die he did not care I wish saith hee First that I might see Rome in its beauty and to see Paul in the Pulpit and to see Christ in the flesh every Beleever shall see the Lord Jesus in the flesh Iob tells you of his confidence long before Christ was borne I know my Redeemer liveth and with these eyes I shall see my Redeemer here is thy happinesse that being where Jesus Christ is thou hast a society with Christ in his humane Nature 1 John 3. 2. Beloved now wee are the Sonnes of God and it doth not yet appeare what wee shall bee but wee know that when hee shall appeare wee shall bee like him for wee shall see him as hee is Wee do not know what Christ is wee shall know him then we shall see him as he is glorified in Heaven A third thing that makes much for the blessednesse of the Elect that in thy being present with Jesus Christ God gives thee more honour then ever thou couldest bee capable of in former time God gives thee Glory by vertue of thy being with Jesus Christ a notable Text Joh. 1. 26 verse If any man serve mee let him follow mee and where I am there shall also my servant bee If any man serve mee him will my Father honour That is where I shall bee in Heaven Beloved the time is now of giving honour to God and giving Glory to God but thy being where Christ is God then gives thee Glory and gives thee Honour Fourthly thy happinesse in being present with Christ where hee is is that thou shalt stand in no need of Ordinances beloved here the highest growne Christian and the strongest Beleever in the World doth stand in more need of Ordinances then a lame man doth of Crutches to goe by but when thou comest to have this accomplishment that thou shalt bee where Christ is thou then standest in no need of Ordinances then what needs the Candlestick of Sermons what needs the Candlestick of Preaching and the Candlestick of Praying when thou art present with Christ the Sun of righteousnesse there is no need of conduit pipes when thou art by the Fountain head thou needst no Ordinances the conduit pipes are the Ordinances there is no need of Ordinances any longer then thou art absent from the Fountaine which is Jesus Christ the ceremoniall Law is all Gospell it is a darke Gospell the Evangelists are the explained Gospel the ceremoniall Law is a darke Gospell Exodus 25. Meaning the holy place There was to be golden Candlesticks which Typified the Preaching of the Word In the Holy place there was the Incense Dishes to wit Christs Intercession this was only in the holy place but in the holy of holiest there was no Candlestick no Incense Dishes there to shew that whilest you are on this side Heaven in the Church of God you need the Candlestick you need Preaching and praying but in the holy of holiest there was none of this to shew that it was a Type of Heaven and when Christ beings thee there then thou art above Ordinances and never till then this is a Fourth particular A Fifth Priviledg of thy being where Christ is is this that thou shalt have a full communion and fellowship with Jesus Christ in Person Beloved here wee have our communion with Christ but it is a communion far different from that which we shall have in Heaven First it shall bee different in regard of the manner of its enjoyment in this world thou enjoyest Christ mediately by Ordinances thou doest but see him as in the Apostles phrase in a glasse darkely but in Heaven thou shalt enjoy Christ personally and have communion immediately with Christ in Heaven Secondly in regard of the measure of your enjoyment here you enjoy but a parcell of Christ you here enjoy Christs spirit by drops you shall then enjoy the fullness of the Ocean Thirdly it differs in regard of its time and duration Here you doe enjoy Christ it is true but it is by fits and starts you injoy him now in an Ordinance but you have interrupted fellowship and communion with Christ but when thou art with him in Heaven there is no interruption in thy communion with Christ Fourthly it is different in regard of its expectation herein Heaven thou enjoyest Christ by way of of possession Fifthly in regard of place here there is a great distance of place betweene Christ and us here wee enjoy Christ hee in Heaven and wee on Earth but then we shall enjoy Christ in one place hee in Heaven and wee in Heaven here thou mayest thinke much of Christ but if thou wert nearer Christ thou shouldest see and know more of his glory Sixtly there shall bee a difference in regard of thy companions and those that are in fellowship with thee in Heaven they are saints and Angels but on Earth though thou doest enjoy Christ yet thou art inforc'd to discourse and commerce with wicked men A sixth particular is this thy being present with Jesus Christ there is this to attend thee there shall bee gladnesse and rejoycing among all the Angels in Heaven If the Angels in Heaven shall rejoyce at a sinners conversion they shall much rejoyce at a sinners inauguration in Heaven they and we shall make but one fold to glorifie the great Shepherd of our soules the Lord Jesus what great joy shall there bee among Angels Archangels Thrones c. Singing Hallelujah to God making you partners of their glory Seventhly our being with Christ shall put us into a state of exemption from sin from the causes of sin and from the punishments of sin First from sinne here thy beautifull soule is bespoted with the spots of Leprosie I mean with foule and deformed lusts but when thou art with Jesus Christ thou art exempted from sin no more sin Secondly thou shalt be exempted from the causes of sin the Divel shall deceive no more there but here thou lyest exposed to all temptations Thirdly there shall bee no more punishments for sin here thou art punished in thy body by Diseases and the like here punishments by trouble of Soul but in Heaven thou art freed from internal punishments and externall punishments this was prefigured under the Law 1 Kings 33. The Palme-tree is an Embleme of victory Therfore the victorious are said to wear Palmes in their hands triumphing Revelation 7. to shew that you can never bee compleat Conquerours to wear signals of triumph and signals of conquest in your hands till you come to enter into the holy of holiest Then you have conquered over sin and over Temptation to sinne and conquered over all punishments for sinne The Morall Philosophers say that Raine Haile Storme and Tempests are engendred in the middle Region but above the middle Region there is no Winde no storme or Tempest whilest thou art here below there are stormes Winde and blustring Temptations but when God takes thee above this middle Region there is
he hath confest but yet he retains a fear and awe upon his heart that it shall not prevail over him in his practice Wicked men confess sin they have committed yet they are bold and adventurous to commit the same sin again which they have confest And thus the Harlot did Prov. 7. 14. I have peace-offerings with me this day I have payed my vows Paying the vow is a confession that I am in debt to God for my sin and I owe God homage and service yet she made the confession of sin to be a means to provoke her to be more bold and adventurous in her wickednesse To confesse drunkennesse and afterwards to be drunk to confesse profaneness and afterwards to be profane this is the bold adventurousness of wicked men Thus Pharaoh in Exod. 9. confest his sin and afterwards when the plagues were over runs into the same sin he did confesse and this is the badge and portraiture of a wicked man And thus I have done with this fourth particular I now come to the use Vse First by way of reproof there are three sorts of persons in whose breasts the arrow and dart of reproof must justly stick If so be justified persons are bound to make confession of sin unto God then it reproves Sort 1 First The Antinomists who account it a legal and a servile work for believers to be bemoaning themselves unto God and confessing sin unto God And therefore in their prayers when you may be cast to hear them in publick all their expressions in prayer are either extolling the Majesty of God the excellency of Christ the glory of Heaven the riches of Grace but not a word of laying low the creature in prayer but raptures in prayer and the extolling of divine Majesty these are all the dials of expressions which they use in prayer Now to overthrow this vain conceit of the Antinomians consider First Confession of sin to God hath been practised by all the godly under the Old Testament and therefore why should it not be used under the New Dan. 9. He made a praher to God and it consisted of 16. verses and 14. of them verses were spent in confessing of sin And thus the godly in Nehemiah ' s daies made a prayer to God and the whole prayer consisted of 32. verses and 31. of them verses were spent in confession of sin Nehem 16. Let thine ear be attentive and thine eyes open that thou mayst hear the prayer of thy servant which I pray before thee day and night for the Children of Israel thy servants and confesse the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinued against thee both I and my Fathers house have sinned Thus David 2 Sam. 24. 10. And Davids heart smote him after that he had numbred the people and David said unto the Lord I have sinned greatly in that I have done and now I beseech thee O Lord take away the iniquity of thy servant for I have done very foolishly That is one thing to confute this practise Secondly Not onely Believers under the Old Testament but also Converts under the New Testament did make conscience of confessing of sins unto God John 3 6. And they were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins Acts 19. 18. And many that believed came and confessed and shewed their deeds Luke 15. 17. And when he said How many hired servants of my Father have bread euough and to spare and I perish with hunger Verse 18. I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee It is an Embleme of a Convert if so be it be a Parable In the instance of the Publican that Christ declares was uniustified rather then the Pharisee And the Publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven but smote upon his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner Verse 14. I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather then the other c. Now beloved when you have instances in the Old Testament and many examples in the New why then should we blot out so useful a part of Gods worship as this of confession to God in secret Thirdly God doth command confession of sin unto him Jer. 3. 12 13. Goe and proclame these words towards the North and say Return thou back-sliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep anger for ever Onely acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God c. Fourthly God both in the Old Testament and in the New hath annexed many gracious promises to a sincere confession of sin unto him in the Old Testament Lev. 26. 40. If they shall confesse their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers with their trespasse which they trespassed against me and that also they have walked contrary unto me Vers 41. And that I also have walked contrary unto them and have brought them into the land of their enemies if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity Then will I remember my Covenant with Jacob c. If they confesse their iniquity I will remember them And there are gracious promises made to such as confess their sins and it is certain that a man cannot have a promise to any thing which is a duty Prov. 22. 13. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Iob 33. 27. He looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not c. And in the New Testament in 1 Iohn 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all uurighteousness Now beloved put all these four together the godly have practised this under the Old Testament and converts under the New God hath commanded it and he hath recompenced it therefore those that account confession of sin to be but a legal and servile work deserve reproof A second reproof is to those of the Popish Religion who in stead of secret confession of sin to God in prayer doe presse vehemently Auricular confession in the ear of the Priest Touching this Auricular confession they spend many volumes to make good the divine right of it the Councel of Trent do lay an Anathema on any that shall not count Auricular confession to be necessary to salvation There are these several mistakes and errours in the Popish Doctrine of Auricular confession First They urge the necessity of it that you must not expect salvation without it Secondly Confession against whom and when you did it all the circumstances of your sins you must acknowledge to the Priest Thirdly That the Priest upon your confession hath power from Christ to give you pardon
behind the back signifies to forget and disregard it so wicked men cast Gods Covenant behind their backs that is they doe not mind it they will not obey it so when God is said to cast sinne behinde his back he will take no notice of it so as to punish it A second expression that illustrates pardon of sinne is this it is called a casting of sinne into the bottom of the Sea Micah 7. 29. He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and will cast all our sins into the depths of the Sea It is an allusion unto Gods great Judgement on Pharaoh and the Egyptian Host when they pursued the Israelites they came to the Red Sea and thinking to goe through as the Israelites did the Sea fell in upon them and they were drowned in the bottom of the sea so saith God I wil deal with sinne as I dealt with Pharaoh you shall never be troubled more with them not unto condemnation you need not fear the rising of sin again against you sin is not like unto light weeds in the Sea that will swim of themselves but Lead that is cast into the Sea the allusion holds here Exod. 15. 10. Thou didst blow with the wind the Sea covered them they sank as lead in the mighty waters God when he pardons sins and casts them into the bottom of the Sea sin lies like lead it can never rise of it selfe in a way of condemnation to a justified man to a pardoned sinner Thirdly pardon of sin is expressed in Scripture by blotting out Act. 3. 19. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out c. Isa 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake This is a metaphor taken from men when a man is not able to pay his debt the Creditor doth cancel the Bond blots out the writing and breaks the Seal that nothing shall prevail in Law against this poor man So the Lord doth cancell the bond and blots out the writing that neither sin nor the Devill shall have any processe against him in a way of condemnation Fourthly Pardon of sin is expressed in Scripture by acquitting of a man from his iniquity Job 10. 14. If I sin thou markest me and thou wilt not or aquit me then not set mee free from mine iniquity Acquitting is a term of Law giving you a discharge and dismission of the Court the Lord in pardoning of sin gives a man a Legall discharge that no proceedings of Heaven shall goe against him Fifthly Pardon of sin is called in Scripture a covering of sin Psal 32. 1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered Beloved if pardon of sin had consisted in the removing of sin we had been undone pardon of sin doth not consist in the removall of all sin out of a man but in the covering of sin God will hide sin that the fiercenesse of his wrath and the Eye of his indignation shal not look on it to condemnation It is the same word that refers to garments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If a man hath a Mole or Wenne on his body which his garment covers these infirmities are not seen by men Beloved God covers sin as with a garment to wit with the long robe of Christs Righteousnesse sin is covered in thee by the Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ Sixtly Pardon of sin is expressed in Scripture by washing and purging away of sin Psalm 51. 2. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin he means there in reference to justification That pardon of sin presents a man to God without spot or wrinkle or blemish or any such thing that though you have many spots in regard of your sanctification yet you have no spot in regard of your justification Seventhly pardon of sin is expressed in Scripture by not remembring of sin Jer. 31. 34. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more It is an allusion to the Scape-goat which was to bear the sins of the people on his head to carry them into the land of forgetfulnesse Thus the Lord that remembers all things that God is said graciously not to remember the sins of his people not to remember them so as to damn them for them he will forget your iniquities and remember them no more Lastly Pardon of sinne is expressed in Scripture by not imputing of sin Rom. 4. 8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin It is a word drawn from Merchants when they have a friend that owes them money that they care not whether they receive or no they do not put it down in their Book God will not impute sin he will not set sin on the score he will not put sin to thine account though sin be in thee yet it is not imputed to thee Thus these names or expressions do something Illustrate the nature of forgivenesse In the next place to enquire how many wayes a sinne may be said to be forgiven First in regard of Gods decree and so sin is forgiven before all Worlds because God intended to deliver the Elect that such a remnant and number of men should have sin pardoned Thus Christ is the Lamb slaine from the beginning of the World Secondly Sin is said to be forgiven when the Lord doth manifest forgivenesse of sin Thirdly and chiefly Sin is said to be forgiven when the eternall guilt and condemnation due for that sin is taken away when God doth expiate or take off the guilt of sin in that properly lies the nature of forgivenesse In the third place what is considered in sin when God is said to forgive it this is worth your understanding Three things are to be considered in sin First the blot and pollution of sin and this cannot be taken away by pardon the sin is a sin though it be pardoned the pollution of sin is not taken away by pardon the blot remaines Secondly There is considered the desert of sin it deserves damnation and the wrath of God though it be pardoned this is not taken away A Third thing considered is this the Ordination or appointment of a sinner to eternall punishment and this is fully taken away by pardon when God doth give remission of sin he doth take away all obligation to wrath death hell and damnation and this is properly the nature of forgivenesse of sin it is a gracious and a free act of God whereby he acquits a sinner from eternall guilt and eternall punishment that is due to all his sin in an eternall punishment God doth not acquit a pardoned man from externall punishments God may pardon thy sin yet he may punish thee externally for thy sinnes but not eternally and thus much for the first particular Part. 2 The second particular is What kind of confession of sin is it that hath such a necessary
contrition and humiliation Answ 4 Lastly This connexion between confessing sin and Gods forgiving sin is not as if our confession did bear any proportion in a way of satisfaction to Gods forgiving of sin though God doth forgive sin upon confession yet it is not for confession there is more evill in thy sin that is an offence to God then there can be good in thy confession And thus much for the third particular that there is a connexion between Gods act of forgiving sin and our confessing sin I now come to answer the Objections Object 1 The first Objection is this Why but you will say what need all this pressing of confession of sin urging that there is a necessary connexion between mans confession of sin and Gods forgiving sin what needs confession doth not Gods eyes run to and fro the earth doth not God behold the evill and the good and fully knoweth all the evils under the Sun what we tel God when hee knoweth all things This Objection the Anabaptists make against confession of sin For answer Answ First Negatively we doe not confesse sin because only of Gods Soveraignty because God will have us to confesse sin Gods Soverainty may command us and say You shal come with ropes about your Necks and I will make you lie in the dust Secondly Wee doe not confesse sin to inform God of our sins for God knoweth all things Thirdly wee do not confesse sin by way of satisfaction as if your confession could satisfie Gods justice for the wrong we have done him But Positively though God doth know our sins yet we are bound to confesse our sins for many solid reasons As First Though God doth see our sins yet wee are bound to confesse our sins that wee may see them our selves that we may put memory conscience and heart a work in the review in the remembrance of our evils we do not confesse sin to inform God but our selves that wee might see sin more distinctly and so set conscience a work Secondly We do confesse sin to stir up more sorrow for sin Psalm 38. verse 18. Thirdly We confesse sin on this ground that by confessing sin to God we might see sin to become exceeding sinfull Confession of sin saith Bernard is enjoined by God for this reason that thou mightest magnifie the greatnesse of grace and see the greatnesse of sin if a man should never see his sin he could never magnifie Gods grace and pardoning mercy Fourthly That you might more prize the merits of Christ Should a man never confesse sin to God he would never see of what value Christs bloud is of A Chirurgions skill is not seen in healing a slight green wound but in the healing a man of a deadly disease Beloved an ordinary plaister can cure a green wound if you look on your sins as green wounds you will never prize Christ nor put an estimate on his merits and bloud when a man can confesse his sin withall its hainous circumstances this doth greaten the merits of Christ Fifthly You are to confesse sin because the confession of sin doth give glory to the attributes of God it gives glory to his Omnisciency you doe by your confessions acknowledge that God seeth your sins it gives glory to his Patience that he would spare you in the act of sin that he would not throw you to hell in the very act of sin it gives glory to his Justice Psalm 51. 4. Against thee thee onely have I sinned and done this evill in thy sâ—ght that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest be clear when thou judgest it confesseth Gods Mercy and this Paul doth 1 Tim. 1. 13. Who was before a Blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy c. He confest his sin that so he might the abundance of Gods grace and Love Again Of confession of sin there is great use because it doth ease the minde it gives vent to a troubled minde concealed guilt breeds horrour and hell in the conscience it is an ingenuous clearnesse when a man can open himself to God in free confession which doth allay the anguish and trouble of minde Job 32. 18. For I am full of matter the spirit within me constraineth me vers 19. Behold my Belly is as Wine which hath no vent it is ready to burst like new bottles vers 20. I will speake that I may be refreshed I will open my lips and answer A godly man is full of matter of confession to God and like a vessel ready to burst til he can vent himself by confession in Gods presence this is the answer to the first Objection Object 2 A second Objection is this but you will say what need such pressing of confessing of sin as having a connection with pardon for as God is never the better by my grace so God is never the worse by my sin as my grace addes nothing to Gods holiness so my sin can detract nothing from Gods glory for God is nevertheless Glorious though I be never so much sinfull One might urge as Elihu did in Job 5. 37. If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth hee of thine hand vers 8. Thy wickednesse may hurt a man as thou art and thy righteousnesse may profit the son of man Therefore if God receives no injury by my sin what need I confesse sin to God This is an objection that the Antinomians make For answer Ans 1 First It is true God is not the worse and hath not the lesse glory though thou hast the more sin yet this is no thanks to a sinner for a sinner doth what in him lies to take all glory from God to pull God out of Heaven it is no thanks to thee that God is never the worse for thy sin Secondly In a sense God doth receive injury by a mans sin as first if you consider the eternall attributes of God in themselves his Justice his Goodnesse his Wisedom so God is unchangeably and immutably blessed and as our graces can give no additions to his Holinesse so our sin can give no diminution to his glory but secondly sin is an injury to God because God hath lesse externall glory God by the sin of man is not wronged in his essentiall Glory but he is injured in his manifestative Glory Thirdly Though our sins can doe no injury to God to make God unholy or to make God unhappy yet sin doth great injury to your selves if thou beest sinfull what wilt thou doe against God why thou canst not bring God out of Heaven though thou maist cast thy selfe into hell God receives no diminution of his Holinesse of his Wisedom of his Glory by thy sinfulnesse yet thou shalt not have Glory Holinesse Happinesse Heaven nor eternall life thou shalt receive miseries by thine own sins And thus I have done with the Doctrinall part of this point to wit that there is a necessary connection between mens confessing sin and Gods act
things of faith though there be more evill in one sin then in a thousand afflictions And thus much for the relief of a troubled sinner in answer to the first Objection Object 2 The second Objection is this Methinks I hear another man say how can I be perswaded that God hath pardoned and forgiven me my sin when I see that I cannot mortifie my sin surely an unmortified sin must needs be an unpardoned sin surely the guilt of sin must remain where the power of sin remains I cannot finde that my sin is fully mortified therefore I question whether my sin be pardoned I shall answer this in four particulars to take off the trouble of a perplexed mind Answ 1 First Know and consider that mortifying grace is a consequent of pardon of sin and therefore doth not go before it Micah â— 18. He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities c. the promises followes I will subdue thine iniquitie saith God be not troubled I have pardoned thee Answ 2 Secondly Thou that makest this Objection against thy self it may be thou mistakest the nature of mortification and takest mortification to be that which it is not as first it may be a godly Christian doth extend mortification beyond its bounds as thus it may be thou doest extend mortification not to a gracious suppression of sin but to a totall extirpation of sin and thinkest that because sin is not removed it is not subdued Now this is a mistake mortification doth not extend so farre but it extends to an abolition of the dominion of sin not of the being of sin before we dye we shall never be absolutely rid of the being of sin sin will be in the heart As the tree in Dan. 4. 14. He cryed aloud and said thus Hew down the tree and cut off his branches shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit let the beasts get away from under it and the fowls from his branches neverthelesse leave the stump of his roots in the earth So sin in the heart the branches are cut off by mortification the luxuriant buddings and blossomings and breakings forth of sin they are cut off but the stump the root of originall sin from which all sin flowes and growes that remaines Dan. 7. 12. As concerning the rest of the beasts they had their dominion taken away yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time Though thou beest a mortified man yet mortification doth only take away the dominion of sin and not the life of it for it is prolonged for a season Answ 2 Again thou dost mistake the nature of mortification when thou dost account that because of the irritations of sin therefore thou hast not the mortifications of sin Beloved lusts may be irritated and stirred up in a mortified heart Nay sin may most strive while it is mortifying Answ 3 Thirdly You that plead that sin is not pardoned because it is not mortified consider for your comfort that a sin may be fully pardoned when it is not fully mortified there is this reason to be given for this because mortification is not so compleat and perfect as remission of sin is remission of sin is a perfect act and all men though their graces be inequall yet their forgivenesse and pardon is equall and alike because God doth not pardon one sin and not another but in the work of mortification it is partly done partly not done it is a work begun therefore a sin may be fully pardoned when it is not fully subdued because sanctification and mortification cannot hold equipage and proportion with remission of sin Answ 4 Fourthly You that plead that you are not pardoned the guilt of sin flies in your faces because it is not subdued I answer That it is an evident token that Christ hath dispossest the soul of the power of sin or taken away the power of sin seeing the Devill doth labour to possesse you so often with the guilt of sin in a way of temptation Observe if a man did lye under the power of sin the Devill would not suggest to that man the guilt of sin because then it would awaken a mans conscience and make a poor sinner look after Jesus Christ and after heaven and pardon Pharah doth not trouble Israel till he be gone forth of Egypt Therefore a sinner under the power and dominion of sin shall not be troubled under the Devill about the guilt of sin The Devill had rather play at small game then not to game if he cannot damn a man by keeping him under the power of sin he will terrifie him by troubling him with the guilt of sin Answ 5 Lastly Consider this that the coâ—fessing contesting with corruptions is in the account of God lookt upon as the mortification Deut. 22. 23. If a Damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto a husband a man finde her in the City lye with her Vers 24. Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of the City and yee shal stone them with stones that they dye the Damsell because she cryed not being in the City and the man because he hath humbled his neighbours wife so shalt thou put a way evill from among you Vers 25. But if a man finde a betrothed damosel in the field a man force her lye with her then the man only that lay with her shall dye All the prevalency of sin over thee which is unwilling God will charge that on the Devill and account thee guiltlesse when it hath not thy consent when thou labourest to suppresse vicious corruptions of the heart God doth hold thee guiltlesse though the Devill may labour to commit a spiritual rape upon thee It is a text that I have often made use of in the 11. chapter of Leviticus Divines make great use of it for the comforting of troubled consciences in the 33. vers And every earthen vessell whereinto any of them falleth whatsoever is in it shall be unclean and yee shall break it Vers 36. Neverthelesse a fountain or pit wherein there is plenty of water shal be clean but that which toucheth their carkasse shall be unclean The significancy of this Law was this that if filth do fall upon a pit of water into a standing pool because it hath no motion it cannot purge it self from the filth cast into it that is unclean but if an unclean thing be cast into a fountain of water that cannot be unclean for it hath a principle in it to purge and free it self from these unclean things that are cast into it to shew if sin be in your heart as an unclean thing in a fountain of water that by reason of your continuall motion unto God your running unto God you have a principle in you to empty your selves and to purge your selves and clear your selves from those things which the Devill doth defile you with now your are not unclean this should
greatly comfort you Object 3 A third Objection is this Surely I have misgiving thoughts that God hath not forgiven me my sin because after I have committed sin I do not discern that my conscience checks me for my sin therefore I may fear if there be no remorse after the commission of sin I may fear that there is no remission This is the strongest Objection to make a man â—â—ar his pardon As I would say nothing to make a deluded wretch to presume so I would keep back nothing that might any way establish a troubled minde thou sayest thou dost fall into sin yet thou hast no check remorse of conscience for sin therefore thou fearest if sin hath no remorse on thy part it hath no remission on Gods part For answer First in the generall know your case is dangerous but yet it is not desperate Answ 1 First it is possible the conscience of a good man may be so disordered through the impetuousnesse of passion and lust that he may think he doth well when he doth ill therefore his conscience never smites him As it was with Paul Act. 26. 9. I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth Paul sinned he had his doubts before conversion even as after conversion yet this sin troubled him not he thought he was bound to do many things c. so may thy conscience be so far disordered as to think that thou doest well when thou doest ill Jonah 4. 9. And God said to Jonah doest thou well to be angry for the gourd he said I do well to be angry even unto the death Could Jonahs conscience smite him for his anger when he said he did wel Lord how far wil a godly man go to the very suburbs of hell if God shall let him alone I doe well saith Jonah to be angry even unto death Answ 2 Secondly Thou that makest this Objection take this for thy comfort consider that many pardoned sinners through heedlesnes and in-observancy have not their judgements inlightned to discern sin and if the judgement hath not an eye to see sin the conscience wil never have an hand to smite for sin it is a Proverb What the eye sees not the heart rues not nothing that is unknown can be the object of desire neither can any thing that is unknown be the object of sorrow unknown miseries we weep not for but miseries we know those we mourn for if a mans judgement be not inlightned to see sin he can never mourn for it he may live and dye in a sin that his judgement is not convinced of to be a sin thus the godly in the Old Testament lived in the sin of Polygamie marrying of many wives they knew not it was a sin but they took liberty to take as many wives as they would A godly man that holds an error conscience may never smite him for it because his judgment is mistaken his judgment thinks he holds the truth and therefore conscience cannot smite him for holding an error Answ 3 Thirdly take this by way of answer that the conscience of a pardoned sinner may be so farre benummed that a man may continue under the guilt of known sins and conscience never check him for it for a long time this is a further gradation that when he knoweth he sins against God yet I say conscience may be so far benummed that for a season not be tortured and smitten in conscience for his sin David could not be so ignorant of Gods Law that lying with another mans wife was a sin yet David did continue nine moneths at least without remorse for it when Nathan came and reproved him then said he I have sinned I have sinned O beloved if God doth but let a sinners conscience alone though he be a good man yet he may continue for a long time under a known sin and conscience not work remorse or trouble in him And the like instance we have in the sons of Jacob who were not sensible of their sin in selling Joseph untill 20. yeares after they fell into trouble for it in Egypt Answ 4 Fourthly take this for comfort that there is nogodly mans conscience in the world that is alwayes alike in office but sometimes it may be in office sometimes out of office sometimes a roaring gawling awakening conscience and sometimes a stupified a benummed and a â—eared conscience no mans conscience is alwaies alike in office it is sensible at one time and â—eared up another time Pregnant instances David at one time his heart smote him for but the appearance of an evill viz. Cutting off Sauls lap yet at another time his conscience did not smite him for murdering Vriah Again at another time Davids conscience smote him but for vainglory in numbring the people it was onely vainglory that he would please himself in a mustered Army yet at another time Davids conscience did not smite him for adultery O beloved how wil a mans conscience lye asleep not trouble him for an evill if God lets him alone Answ 5 Fifthly a step further It is possible that the conscience of a pardoned sinner may be in so deep a sleep and so much out of office for a while that he may rather put his wits a work to hide his sin then his conscience on work to check him for sin to give you an instance for this plain in the case of David David committed adultery with Bathsheba but he did not put his conscience on work to check him for his sin but he did put his wits on work to hide the sin Four projects David had to hide the sin First He sent for Vriah Bathsheba's husband that so Vriah might come and lye with his wife that so he might hide Davids uncleannesse 2. Sam. 11. Secondly He made Vriah drunk and so thought that surely when he was drunk that drunkennesse would provoke him with a desire to go to his own house Thirdly He did plot Vriah's death that so there might be no clamour on his part for the defilement of his wife Lastly David would have fathered his plot on providence for David himself had plotted the death of Vriah mark Davids project a good man did put his wits on work and made shifts to hide his sin yet all this while did not put conscience on work to check him for his sin O how near the suburbs of hell may a godly man go and yet go to heaven Sixthly This is the furthest step of all take this for thy comfort it is possible that the conscience of a pardoned sinner may not smite him for those very sins that a Heathen man by the light of a naturall conscience may be ashamed of and this is clear in the case of Abraham Gen. 20. 9. Then Abimelech called Abraham and said unto him What hast thou done unto us and what have Loffended thee that thou hast brought on me on my kingdom a great
sin thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done For this falshood Ahrahams conscience never smote him yet a Heathen by the light of a naturall conscience rebuked Abraham for it Abimelech a Heathen did tell Abraham Thou hast done deeds that ought not to be done And thus I have gone very farre in answering this Objection I have done it for to stay the troubles of a perplexed conscience not to make any man presumptuous these six steps neer going down to the Chambers of death yet it is possible that a pardoned sinner may have his conscience thus deluded and out of office Me thinks I hear many a presumptuous heart alledge if this be true that you say a pardoned sinner may go thus near hell and yet come to heaven if good men may sin a sin and yet conscience never trouble them then I hope that I may have my sin pardoned as well as the best Now lest this Objection might lurk in the heart of any man that hears mee I will turn the 〈◊〉 And that no man might be presumptuous and entertain false perswasions touching pardon I shall shew you that though a godly man may have his conscience out of office to smite him for sin yet in that case there is great difference between a pardoned sinner and an unpardoned there are these five particular differences First Though a pardoned man may have sometimes conscience asleep yet that pardoned man dares not be so bold and adventurous to sin against conscience as wicked men do you have this fully laid down in Scripture though but darkly Lev. 13. 10. And the Priest shall see him and behold if the rising be white in the skin and it have turned the hair white and there be quick â—â—w flesh in the rising c. Here were two symptomes of the Plague of Leprosie the growing of white hair in the soâ—e then raw flesh in the rising the Hebrew Rabbins do understand two things by this Law First The turning of the hair white in the sore they note to be continuance in sin living from youth to old age in sin till the hair be white and gray Secondly There was to be quick and raw flesh in the rising they understand it to be adventurousnesse in a sinner to commit sin against a raw and a gawled and a rebuked conscience Another man might have scabs all over his flesh yet he was not to be unclean Vers 13. Then the Priest shall consider and behold it the leprosie have covered all his flesh he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague it is all turned white he is clean Yet if a man had rawnesse in the sore he was to be unclean to note that a man may have many sins yet not be unclean in Gods sight but if he sin against the very dictates of conscience and be bold and adventurous against the gawlings of a perplexed conscience he shall be unclean Secondly Take this for a difference though the conscience of a pardoned man may not for a time smite him for sin committed yet he doth not take that course to stifle the checâ—s and to still the voice of conscience as reprobates doe wicked men take sensuall delights to still the checks and voice of conscience so Saul did 1 Sam. 16. 14. But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evill spirit from the Lord troubled him Vers 17. And Saul said unto his servants Provide now a man that can play well and bring him to me When an evill spirit troubled him that was his conscience Saul called for musick to still the voice of conscience Thirdly Good men care not for â—ocond company Mar. 16. 18. For John had said unto Herod It is not lawfull for thee to have thy â—rothers wife Vers 21. And when a convenient day was come that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords high Captains chiefest States of Galilee c. Good men dare not avoid a reproving a searching ministry as Felix did Act. 24. 25. And as he reasoned of righteousnesse temperance and judgement to come Felix trembled and answered Goe thy way for this time when I have covenient season I will call for thee He could not endure to lye under a conscience gawling Ministry godly men do not thus if a man be pardoned though he hath sin yet he is glad when the Ministry doth rowse and awaken his conscience Fhurthly A pardoned sinner dares not content himself under a dawbing and flattering Ministry that will sew pillars under his elbowes and say peace when there is none Jer. 23. 13. And I have seen folly in the Prophets of Samaria they prophesied in Baal and caused my people Israel to erre Vers 14. I have seen also in the Prophets of Jerusalem and horrible thing they commit adultery and walk in lies they strengthen also the hands of evil doers that none doth return from his wickednesse they are all of them unto me as Sodom and the inhabitants of them as Gomorrah Chap. 8. 11. For they have healed the hurt of the Daughter of my people slightly saying Peace peace when there is no peace Fifthly They dare not run into the croud of imployments that so they might forget the gawlings of conscience as Cain did Gen. 4. Cain to put off the troubles of his conscience would fall to buying building and drowning himself in the world that so he might hear no more A pardoned sinner doth not thus but if conscience suggests guilt he prayes to God that conscience might speak throughly and to the heart Sixthly A godly man doth not wallow and continue in a custome of sin that so custome in his sin might take away conscience of his sin Ephes 4. 19. Who being past feeling have given themselves over to laciviousnesse to work all uncleannesse with greedinesse Wicked men give themselves over to a custome in sin that so they might not have conscience to smite them for sin They are like a Smiths dog a strange dog that comes to a Smiths forge cannot abide to have the sparkles of fire flie about him but that dog that hath alwayes been accustomed to the shop can sleep still on and it never troubles him wicked men are like Smiths dogs used to the shop though flashes of hell fire are cast about them yet they sleep still and are not awakened but godly men do not make use of custome in sin to lull them asleep in their sweet lusts A 7. difference That though the conscience of apardoned sinner doth not smite him for sin yet is it sooner and easier awakened and raised out of a dead sleep then the conscience of a wicked man a look from Jesus eye and the Cock crowing made Peter weep hee went out and wept bitterly a rebuke to David from the Prophet made him cry out Lord I have sinned A reprobate conscience is not so easily put into office it doth not reprove him there must be much adoe and
great labour taken before his dead conscience will hear the rebukes of the Word there is more adoe with a wicked man to have his conscience in office then with a godly man Eightly There is this difference though the conscience of a good man be asleep for a time and doth not smite him for sin yet some time before he dyes his conscience shall smite him for sin there is no godly man in the world but under known sins if his conscience hath not smitten him his conscience shall smite him before he dyes but wicked men live dye in sin never have the controll or rebuke of conscience Ahaz was troubled by affliction from God yet conscience never troubled him for he did yet more wickedly against God Ninthly Though the conscience of a pardoned sinner may be asleep for a time and may not reprove him for sin committed yet a good mans conscience when it doth reprove him it doth check him more out of a sense of sin and the dishonour done to God then out of fear of hell or any outward judgements but wicked men are asleep in their consciences and if conscience doth ever awake it is not because sin is sin and because God is dishonoured but because there is hell for sin because there are outward grievous judgements when God breaks men by his judgements then they will put conscience on work but never doe it out of sense of sin Take this comparison of Ducks in a pond of water cast but a little peble stone into the water and it will make them dive but let it rattle and thundeâ—â—n the heavens the Ducks fear not a Divine makes this a fit embleme of a wicked mans conscience cast but a little pebble stone some present affliction neer a wicked man and that will make him dive that will trouble conscience and perplex the man but let God thunder from heaven let the Lord declare all the threatnings of his spirituall judgements against sin how evill sin is how God is dishonoured by sin and how the soule is indangered all these thundrings from heaven cannot make him startle And thus I have run hastily over the answering of this third Objection I have done it meerly for the relief of a perplexed Conscience thus I have done with this doctrine I confest thou forgavest Thou forgavest to forgive saith Musculus is a word of favour or grace not merit Thou forgavest It notes pardon of sin is not vouchsafed to men by way of debt but of gift I confessed and thou forgavest thou forgavest what Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin the sin of my sin Interpreters have various apprehensions touching the meaning of these words what it is for God to forgive the iniquity of my sin I will bring it to a two fold channell Some there are that by iniquity understand the punishment of sin I acknowledged my sin and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin That is thou forgavest the punishment of my sin the reason of that interpretation is because in the Hebrew language the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies iniquity signifies punishment and therefore they understand the iniquity of sin the punishment of sin but Interpreters generally go against this interpretation for usually the word is taken for sin it self Again the whole scope of the Psalm is not in seeking the outward punishment to be forgiven but the forgivenesse of sin is referred to eternall guilt Thirdly Here is in the Text a 〈◊〉 which is a note of admiration annexed to his expression Thou hast forgiven c. surely that would be no wonder to God to passe by an externall punishment for that he might do to men whose sins were never pardoned What is it for God to forgive the iniquity of sin I answer the iniquity of sin is meant that God out of his free grace doth not onely simply forgive a sin committed but he forgives the iniquity of that sin all the malignity of that sin all the hainous aggravated circumstances that may any wayes make it great A Learned Author having a whole Tract upon this Psalme hath these words the Psalmist useth this kind of speech To forgive the iniquity of sinne that he might touch us that it was no light fault that was pardoned it was sin and it was the iniquity of sinne sin upon sin and sin greatned by many hainous circumstances Yet Behold the great mercy of God Thou forgavest the Iniquity of my sin thus much for the explaining of the words Doct. The Observation is this That such are the riches of Gods pardoning grace that he forgives his people not onely sin in the general but their great sins such as are cloathed with many aggravated and hainous crying circumstances Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin In the handling of this point I shall proceed in this method First To prove the point to you by an Induction of particular instances then the application of it by several uses It is a pointfull of comfort and indeed I know not such a Text in all the Bible that speaks of Gods grace in pardoning aggravated sinnes more clearly then this Text doth First of all I shall give you an induction of instances that God doth not onely forgive his people a bare sin committed but God doth out of the riches of his Grace forgive his people those sins that you may call the iniquity of sin sins cloathed with many hainous aggravated circumstances to prove this take the instance of David that speaks the words an instance of Peter another of Paul many men that have sinned against light love sinned against checks of conscience and against mercies are these sins forgiven Yes that is my work to prove that Gods grace doth forgive sins that are cloathed with many hainous and aggravated circumstances to make them great First I begin with David because it is the instance in hand will you consider Davids sin the sin of Adultery and ransack the bowels of it you shall finde Davids sin cloathed with great hainous and aggravated circumstances to make it great and grievous and yet for all this that sin forgiven him First Circumstance to aggravate Davids sin if you consider the quality of it the kind of it What sin was it it was the sin of Adultery now of all sins the sin of Adultery is an aggravated sin there are five circumstances 1. He that commits adultery he sins against his own body 2. He sins against the body of the woman he is unclean with 3. It is a wrong to his own Wife 4. It is a wrong to the Adulteresses Husband 5. It is a wrong to the child that is illegitimately begotten in adultery that an ignominy should be on him when he is borne and therefore that David should fall to that sin it was one great sin to aggravate Davids sin Secondly If you consider the dignity and quality of Davids person that did commit this sin He was King Now
was at Jerusalem it was where Paul should have learnt to know better things for there the Apostles were and taught the Doctrine of Christ and of Christianity Sixthly If you consider the extent of Pauls malice saith he When they were put to death I gave my voice against them Pauls vote was against the Christians to put them to death Seventhly Pauls rage did goe against their soules as well as their bodies for saith he I did compell them to blaspheme Christ he laboured to damn their souls as well as destroy their bodies Eighthly saith he I was exceeding mad against them he was even mad with rage and exceeding mad with rage Ninthly He drove them from house to house I drove them into strange Cities And then Tenthly which was worst of all he did through their sides strike at the honour of Jesus Christ for why did Paul doe this to the Saints saith he I thought with myself to doe many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth there was the person he aymed at yet Paul a man forgiven for all this for he saith when he aggravates his sin in 1 Tim. 1. 11 12 13. According to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithfull putting me into the Ministery who was before a blasphemer and a persecuter and injurious But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly its unbelief Thus I have done with the Doctrinal part of my Text laying down to you an induction of instances I am the larger in this because I know perplexed consciences in trouble of mind are apt but to greaten their own sins but can you aggravate it worse then David Paul or Peter could do yet behold those sinnes and those aggravated sinnes were forgiven by Jesus Christ I have four words to say in this Sermon by way of Application there may be in such an Assembly as this is whom God might suffer either before conversion or after conversion to be unclean with David to deny Christ with Peter it may be to swear to a lye to swear to a falshood nay it may be to engage to a lye to a falshood O take heed of false Oathes it may be to persecute the Saints of Christ with Paul Four Consolations First O know it for thy comfort O thou disconsolate heart let thy sin be never so great yet the mercies of God are greater A learned Interpreter gives to my hand which is his instance Lord my fault is great but thy mercies are greater Beloved I may say to you though thy sin be great yet the mercy of God is greater then thy sin and thou canst not have so many circumstances to greaten thy sin as can be produced in God to greaten his own mercy you shall read what he saith himselfe in Isa 44. 22. I have blotted ouâ— as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins return unto me for I have redeemed thee Suppose thy sin be not onely a little cloud but suppose it be a great cloud a thick cloud saith God I doe not only blot sins out like a little cloud but I will blot ouâ— transgressions that are like a thick cloud great sins as well as small doth the mercies of God cover The Sea can as well cover great rocks as little peble stones high mountaines as well as mole-hills Gods mercy is an Ocean that can cover great enormities as well as lesser infirmities The glorious body of the Sun in the Heavens can scatter the greatest mist as well as the thinnest vapours great sins as well as small are pardoned by infinite mercy It is worthy your notice what Moses speaks of the Mercy-seat It covered the whole Ark wherein the Law was kept To note saith a Divine though thou art a man or a woman guilty of all the Lawes breach not onely of one command but of all the commands yet the Mercy-Seat covered all the commands to teach you this that the mercy of God can pardon the greatest violation of the Law therefore that wherein the Law was kept was all covered by the Mercy-Seat 2. Take this for thy comfort O thou perplexed Conscience it may be when thou art in a corner none but God and thine own soule together thou dost aggravate thy sin and thinkest no mans sin so grievous as thine then take this for thy comfort let thy sin be never so great yet the satisfaction and sufferings of Christ are far greater The blood of Christ saith the Apostle cleanseth us from all sin the Red Sea did with as much ease drown Pharaoh and all his hoast as it could doe a single man the red Sea of Christs blood can drown a whole hoast and a huge multitude of sins as well as a small lust Though thou hast need to shed more teares for sin in a way of contriâ—ion yet Christ need not shed more blood for sin in a way of redemption for he hath saved them to the utmost that come unto God by him the Apostle triumphing in the 5. of the Romans he meanes there that there is not so much evil in sin to damn us as there is good in the gift in Christ for to save because thy sin is he guilt of a creature and Christs satisfaction is the satisfaction of a God thy sin the sin of a finite creature and his sufferings the sufferings of an infinite Mediator Third Consolation is this to you that are perplexed in conscience that you have committed hainous and aggravated sinfulnesse yet that Jesus Christ doth wipe away the infamy and the ignominy of thy most horrid and scandalous sins committed before conversion Suppose thou hast been a notorious infamous creature yet Christ takes off the ignominy and the infamy of thy sin when he justifies thy person and doth sanctifie thy nature It is observable of Mary Magdalen as is conceived she was a notorious whore every one that saw her knew she was a common harlot there was a woman that was a sinner the meaning was she was an infamous notorious harlot What is done when Christ converted this woman Luk. 7. 47. Wherefore I say unto thee her sins which are many are forgâ—ven for she loved much Christ did delight to wipe away the ignominy of her harlotry in her after-life It is worthy observation that four women are reckoned in the Genealogy of Christ what women were they they were women that were infamous the best of them did fill into much scandal and gave much offence there you find mention of Thamar Rachab Ruth and Bathsheba no more in the Genealogy but these what were all these women Begin with Thamar she committed uncleannesse with her Father in Law an infamous woman as you have the story in Gen. 38. 18. And he said What pledge shall I give thee and she said thy Signet and the Bracelets and thy Staffe that is in thine hand and be
scandalous sins what was the conclusion saith Christ that he that justified himself was not justified but the Publican was justâ—fied rather then the Pharisee the Publican that had fallen into extortion by his office he was tempted unto much extortion he was a wicked liver and yet went away justified O! a civill honest Pharisee a Pharisee that never brake out into scandall yet was not justified a Pulican that was a known and infamous sinner went away justified 2 The progidal sonne that ran away from his father spent all his substance and went to live among hogs and swine in this world that is wicked men yet this man a pardoned man The young man who told Christ that he kept al Gods commands from his youth was an unjustified man yet the prodigal that was riotous from his youth confessed his sin became a justified man I am perswaded the very intent of these Scriptures is for this end that civil moral men should not presume on pardon meerly on their civil morality Fifthly consider That what your sins do want in regard of others mens in bulk and magnitude you may make up in number Suppose thou hast not been a drunkard an adulterer an oppressor yet thou hast many small sins thou hast many secret and small failings now remember many small sins may sooner damn thee then a few greater sins I may make use of that pertinent Scripture in Jer. 5. 6. Wherefore a Lion out of the forrest shall slay them and a Wolfe of the evenings shall spoil them a Leopard shall watch over their cities every one that goâ—th out hence shal be torn in pieces because their transgressions are many and their back-slidings are increased Vers 7. How shall I pardon thee for this c. Because their transgressions were many therefore God comes with a question How shall I pardon Beloved Suppose thy sins be not great yet if they be many small sins God may put this question to you How shall I pardon you Let me tell a paradox that small sins are as hardly yea more hardly pardoned then greater sins are And the reason is because a man is not so apt to repent for small sins as he will be for great because they are not so visible and therefore conscience not so apt to do its office to put a man upon repentance that is the reason of Christs speech Verily I say unto you that Publicans and harlots shall goe to heaven before them why because the Pharisees did depend upon their righteousnesse and did not see their little small sins a Publican a harlot that could not but by the light of nature see their extortion their wickednesse and harlotry they should go to heaven before them Christ told them of their sins and they repented of them Therefore though your sins be but small yet they may be many and that will greaten your sins a many small sins may run thee into deeper arrearages unto God then a few grosser evils As in Arithmetick many smal sigurs put together amount to agreater sum then a few great ones So it is in respect of little sins O then let me perswade you that none of you would presume on pardon because you have not fallen into greater and grosser evils Thus much for first branch of the Use Use 2 The second follows and that is this To those that can say of their sins as David did Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin sins cloathed with many hideous and hainous circumstances First something by way of admonishment First consider though your grosse sins cannot bring your persons into a state of damnation yet they will bring you into a state of sequestration though they cannot keep thee from heaven yet will they keep thee from comfort God will suspend and withdraw the manifestations of his grace he will turn his smiles into frownes upon thee Beloved this is sad a grosse sin will keep thee from the comforts and joyes of heaven though it cannot keep thee from the possession of heaven A child of God that sins though hee bee not under ejection but of his heritage yet he is under an interdiction thou mayest have a right to heaven a right to salvation yet God hath shut thee up that thou mayest not have the manifestations of a reconciled God towards thee this is astonishment to thee Secondly to admonish thee though thou beest pardoned yet such wofull commotions such dismall fears will arise in thy conscience that will make thee verily think thou art not pardoned Beloved if you fal into grosse sins and repel the sanctifying work of the Spirit God will withdraw the comforting Work of the Spirit The spirit of God is compared to a Dove the Dove loves to bee in clean places but if the house be nasty the Dove goeth away and will not stay there Gods Spirit is like a Dove it loves to have the house of thy soule kept clean but if thy soul be filled with noysome and nasty lusts the Spirit of God will not descend on thee the greater thy sins are the greater thy sorrowes anguish and tortures of thy conscience will bee Philosophers say the more vapours are drawn from the earth the more the light and lustre of the Sun is eclipsed the more sin doth arise from thy heart to thy life the more thou darkenest the rising of the Sun of righteousnesse that glorious beams shall not reflect on thee thy falling into grosse sins may cause wofull commotions dismal horrors in thy conscience Consider is not this grievous thou pardoned sinner to think though this grosse sin may not damn my soule yet before I dye it will torture my conscience If I do speak to a troubled conscience there is none in the world wil say that the sweetnesse and pleasure of sin can compensate the anguish and torture of conscience which smarteth for sin Thirdly Consider thou that fallest into a grosse sin though a justifyed person yet it will be a harder work and a longer time for thee to attain assurance of pardon then for other men the deeper a wound is and the longer it is festering and rankling the harder and longer it will be before it be healed again David did pour out a river of tears before God did pour in a drop of the oyle of joy and gladnesse into his heart David brake Gods Law God broke his bones therefore he prayed Lord restore to me the joy of thy salvation that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce It is worthy observation of what you read of Mary Magdalen a notorious sinner there was a woman which was a sinner that is as some expound it a knwn harlot a known strumpet saith Christ her sinnes which are many are forgiven her but did Christ tell these words to Mary no Christ spake these words to Simon in whose house Christ was at supper mark the method Divines make much use of this Mary fell into a grosse sin but Mary must not first know
of pardon they may sympathize with and carry more tenderness of compassion towards them that are troubled in minde it was one end of Christs sufferings his soule was in an agony and under a desertion crying My God my God why hast thou forsaken me what was the end of it it was for this that Christ might carry more compassion and more bowels of tendernesse towards persons that are under deep desertions Let a scholar that studies many things read in a Booke of the storms and distresses that sea-men are subject unto yet by all he reads he cannot pity men in a storm if he have never been in a storm himselfe let one read what the scripture mentions of the pangs of a woman in travell she cannot so compassionate a woman in travell unlesse shee hath had the pangs her selfe so in Divine things it is experience that makes men have compassion Secondly It is for this reason to raise up in mens hearts a higher esteem of pardoning grace things hardly come by are highly set by what is the reason that birds do chirp and sing more sweetly in the spring then in any other part of the year it is for this because after the vanishing away of a long and tedious winter the refreshing Spring comes in Beloved The Lord makes his people chirp and sing in the sense of pardoning grace rejoycing in that the more the longer the winter of desertion hath been when God lets them have long desertion then they doe the more rejoyce and sing when pardons are attained Men do then prize the shore when they have been tossed by a tempest on the sea Those that have been tossed on the waves of spirituall trouble that have had a storm and tempest in their conscience they will prize pardoning grace most Thirdly God doth sometimes pardon a mans sin yet not tell him of it and it is for rebuke to him because he hath not lived in the exercise of grace thou keepest back obedience from God and God keeps back comfort from thee this is a main reason why sometimes God pardons a sinner and yet doth not tell him of it in his own conscience It is done in heaven the pardon is written there but it is not done in the conscience it is not written here It is to give thee a rebuke a check in thine own heart surely I have not exercised grace therefore surely God will not give me the comforting work of his Spirit when thou art not much in grace then thou shalt be but little in peace it is just with God so to doe Fourthly the Lord pardons a sin when he doth not tell that it is pardoned it is to make the repentance of men more visible and satisfactory to the world that hath been offended by their sin The Lord will make the world see that if men will sinne notoriously they shall smart bitterly to make the world see that repentance is no slight worke and to make peace with God is not easie Fifthly to make men to taste the evils and bitternesse of sin should a man that is notoriously wicked presently attain the sense of pardon it may be he would not tast the bitternesse of sin 6. Another reason is this to teach doubting Christians that assurance is not essentiall to pardon it is separable from pardon it is separable from faith therefore from pardon A man may beleeve yet know not that he doth beleeve The Lord doth it for that end to teach doubting Christians that though they have not assurance yet they may have faith though they want the sense of pardon they may be pardoned there cannot be fruit but there must be a tree yet there may be a tree when there is no fruit there may be grace in the heart when there is no peace in the conscience to have peace is additionall to grace now the Lord for these holy ends doth sometimes pardon a sin in heaven when the pardon is not sealed to the conscience Thus much for the first case A second Case of conscience is this if God pardons a sin whether or no doth he afflict and punish men for it after it is forgiven this is an usefull question and the reason is because there are errors and mistakes about it mistakes on the right hand and on the left The Antinomians say that a pardoned sinner is never afflicted for sin and say they to say that a man whose sin is forgiven is afflicted for sin doth derogate from the satisfaction and sufferings of Christ Then the Papists say that men are afflicted and punished for sin and that these punishments are for satisfaction to divine Justice and they are meritorious and on this ground they bottome Purgatory that after a man is dead he must for some years lye in Purgatory to satisfie for some notorious grosse sin done in his life Now Beloved to keep you from swerving either way I shall lay down the true genuine state of this Question and resolve it to you First consider this That God doth not afflict any man but where sin is that is my first position God doth not cruciate an innocent creature indeed the Schoolemen have a question whether God by his soveraignty may torment an innocent creature but that is but a nicety but this is most certain that God in the dispensation of his Judgements doth punish no man but where sin is sin entred into the world and death by sin Secondly though God afflicts none sinlesse yet sometimes it may be for triall and not for any particular sin so was Jobs affliction it was not for sin but for triall to try Iobs grace Thirdly and chiefly it is apparant from the Scriptures that pardoned sinners may be punished for their sins Would not this be partiall for a father to beat the servant for a fault yet not beat the child for a worse fault Now the Lord will not leave such a plea as this in any wicked mans heart In all the Kingdomes of the world where sword where pestilence where famin and where plagues have been the good have fallen with the bad the righteous have fallen by the sword as well as the wicked the reason is that the world should not say that he is a partiall God Now to satisfie and to establish your thoughts in this point I shall give you two expresse testimonies in the Scripture that God doth punish his people for sin though their sins be pardoned The one is of David 2 Sam. 12. 14. Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the childe also that is born unto thee shall surely dye I will punish thee in thy child I will pardon thy sin yet I will punish thy sin so likewise in 2 Sam. 7. 14. 15. I will be his father and he shall be my son If hee commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men but my mercy shal
sins The Stoicks say all sins are alike and there is no difference It is true in regard of the object all sins are against God yet when you come to beg pardon for sin according as your sins are greatned you are accordingly to behave your selves in seeking for pardon God can pardon great sins as well as small in regard of God there is no difference nor in regard of the merits of Christ but yet in your behaviour in seeking for pardon of sinne you are to make a great difference between the greatnesse and the smallnesse of your evils For consider the scripture makes a difference between sins therefore we must doe so The Scripture compares some sin to Camels and some to Gnats The Scripture compares some sin to beams and some to motes some sins as talents and others but as pence and in Amos there is mention made of mighty sins Amos 5. in John of greater sins Joh. 19. 11. Jesus answered Thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin It is true every sin deserves hell yet there is more of the punishment of hell inflicted on some sinners then others the reason why I speak of this case is to let you know that as God hath suffered any of you to fall into aggravated and hainous evils so he requires more of you then of other men Consider That God requires of you more humiliation then he requires of other men In the Law you read that if a man toucht the unclean thing he was unclean till evening but if a man bare an unclean thing he was to wash his cloths to shew that the touch of sin requires humiliation but the bearing of a sin in thy bosome thy continuing in sin requires more work then meerly the touch of sin Peter wept bitterly for his deniall he did more for that sin then for an ordinary sin So that you are to consider that though in regard of Christ there is no difference between a great sinne and a small as the red Sea could drown Pharaoh and his host as well as a single man so Christs blood can drown a huge host of sins but yet you must encrease your humiliation on the aggravation of your guilt thus much for the sixth case of Conscience Case 7 The seventh is this What are those great and hainous circumstances that doe greaten sin that so I may see whether I have aggravated my sin or not here are these circumstances which do aggravate and greaten sin Ans 1 First Sinning against the frequent manifestation of Gods love to thy soule this greatly aggravates sin this did aggravate Solomons sin 1 King 11. Solomon was the beloved of the Lord yet he provoked him to anger after he had appeared to him twice Secondly To sinne against the rebukes and checks of thine own Conscience doth greaten sin Jam. 4. 17. Therfore to him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin It is sin to another man that doth not know it but to him that knoweth it it is a greater sin this Christ refers to and speaks of Judas that would betray him and yet knew that he was the Son of God What my Disciples to betray me his sin was the greater Conscience is Gods Officer in man it is a greater fault to strike a Constable then an ordinary man out of Office for thee to sin against the rebukes and checks of Conscience aggravates sinne Thirdly To sin against Gods judgements upon other men is an aggravated evill for thee to sin when God hath given thee warning of sin from other mens blood this did aggravate Belshazzars sin Dan. 5. 22. 23. And thou his son O Belshazzar hast not humbled thine heart though thou knewest all this But hast lifted up thy selfe against the Lord of heaven c. Thou that knowest how a man is plagued for his uncleannesse thou that knowest how a man is plagued for riotous living yet thou wilt live riotous and thou wilt live adulterous that thy sin is the greater thou sinnest against the monument of the eie as well as against the warning of the eare Fourthly Sin against Gods judgements upon our selves doth weighten sin this did aggravate Abaz sin 2 Chron. 28. 22. And in the time of his distresse he did trespasse yet more against the Lord. Fifthly To sinne against mercies is an aggravation of sin 2 Sam. 12. I delivered thee out of Sauls hand I gave thee thy Masters house I gave thee the house of Israel and if all this had been too little for thee I would have moreover given thee such and such things Wherefore hast thou despised c. What thou sinne David and hast been loaden with a heap of mercies this greatens thy sin Sixthly It greatens sin when the sinne is immediately against God 1 Sam. 2. 25. If one man sin against another the Judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him If a man sinnes against God O who shall plead for him Seventhly To sin against the motions of Gods spirit aggravates sin when the spirit of God shall in thy Conscience perswade thee that thou wouldst not follow such wicked waies as thou art walking in when the Spirit of God shall come and wooe thee to be reconciled to alter thy course and to walk in better paths when not only the voice of conscience but the motions of Gods Spirit shall be stifled this aggravates sin Hence it is that Scripture in setting out the wronging and withstanding the spirits motion whether to good or from evill doth ascend by gradations sometimes it is called quenching the spirit Quench not the Spirit a higher degree there is a grieving the Spirit when there are frequent acts to withstand divine motions that is a grieving the Spirit And then there is an higher aggravation then this that is resisting the Spirit Act. 7. 51. Ye stiffe necked and uncircumcised in heart and eares yee doe alwaies resist the Holy Ghost as your Fathers did so do ye This is caused by pertinaciousnesse in withstanding the spirits motion And then the scripture speaks of vexing the spirit Isa 63. 10. But they rebelled and vexed his holy spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and fought against them This is not only by one single act but when continually throughout thy course thou hast a wilfull and a gainsaying heart against all the motions of Gods spirit within thee Must not this be a great evill in thee when thou dost quench grieve resist and vex the spirit all these circumstances must needs aggravate and greaten thy sin Eightly Sin is aggravated when thou dost frequently fall into the same sin Ninthly Sin is aggravated when it is done in a way of complacencie that it is not onely acted by thee but loved by thee the acting of a sin is not so much as a loving
go away Fourthly the Doctrine of Christs going up to heaven is confirmed by the Testimony of the Apostles who were eie-witnesses of Christs Ascension Gerrard notes saying Jesus Christ did rise invisible none saw him Rise the Scripture telleth you that the Souldiers that watched were asleep yet Christ gathereth all his eleven Apostles that they might be eie-witnesses of his ascension that they saw him ascend to Heaven Acts 1. 9 10. And when he had spoken these things while they beheld he was taken up and a Cloud received him out of their sight And while they looked stedfastly towards heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white apparell and so the Apostle Peter in 1 Pet. 3. 22. Who is gone into Heaven and is on the right hand of God Angels and Authorities and Powers being subject unto him So Paul tels you in Ephesians 4. 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all Heavens that he might fill all things So in Hebrewes 9. the Author of that book tels you that Jesus Christ is not gone into the holy place but is gone into Heaven it selfe In verse 24. For Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into Heaven it selfe now to appeare in the presence of God for us 1 Tim. 3. 16. And without controversy great is the mystery of Godlinesse God was manifest in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into glory And in Mark 16. 19. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into Heaven and sate on the right hand of God I take the more pains to prove this because of what ancient Heresies there have been to overthrow this great comfortable doctrin of Christs going bodily into heaven having our flesh in heaven this very day Fifthly it may be proved by the concurrent Testimonies of the Angels who were witnesses of this truth Acts 1. 10. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white apparell These two men were Angels the Angels did give in their concurrent Testimonies that Jesus Christ did goe into Heaven and the same Jesus Christ that did go shall come againe Beloved I know not any one point in all the Bible that is so proved and strengthened as Christs personall and bodily going up to Heaven and thus much for the strengthning of you in the proof of the point I lay that for the foundation because if the proof of it be not well grounded then the fruit of it will not be well regarded Secondly what is the reason that Christ must have his body and soul go up to heaven First Christ in his bodilie presence must goe to Heaven lest his Disciples should be taken too much with his bodily presence and never look after the Communication of his Spirit Therefore they ask Christ Lord when wilt thou restore the Kingdome to Israel They expected that Christ would take away the Roman Emperour which was a heathen and expected that he would be King himselfe Acts 1. 6. When they therefore were come together they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore againe the Kingdome to Israel It is for this reason say Interpreters because the Disciples should not dote on Jesus Christ as to look on him as a temporall King and look on him for a temporall Kingdome but that they might look after the Kingdome where he is therefore Paul hath a passage in 2 Cor. 5. 16. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more As if he should say it may bee those that lived in Christs time that knew him according to the flesh as a lovelie person but saith Paul we know him in a spirituall way to look after heaven by Christ to look after salvation by Christ Secondly Christ must be taken up into Heaven in his body to make a compensation and a recompence to himselfe for his sufferings in his body Phil. 2. 8 9. And being found in fashion as a Man he humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name Therefore God did exalt Christ and raise him from the dead and bring him to Heaven because he obeied to the death of the Crosse and took on him the form of a servant Psal 110. last verse He shall drink of the brook in the way thersfore shall he lift up the Head Because thou diedst and sufferedst therefore thou shalt lift up thy head therefore thou shalt ascend up to Heaven Heb. 2. 9. But we see Jesus who was made a little lower then the Angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should tast death for every man For suffering of death hee was crowned with Glory and Honour and translated bodily into Heaven that is a second Argument Thirdly Christ was taken up bodily to heaven it was manifest to the world that Christ was God as well as man to manifest the God-head of Jesus Christ therefore taken up bodily to heaven Eph. 4. 9 10. Now that he ascended what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all Heavens that he might fill all things There the Apostle proves that Christ going up to Heaven it was an Argument that Christ came down from heaven So in John 6. 62. What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before That shews that Christ was in Heaven before therefore must he be God Coequall and Coeternall with God the Father and thus you have the second point dispatched to you shewing the reasons why Jesus Christ must go bodily into Heaven The third point is I but what benefit and comfort is that to us that Jesus Christ is now bodily in Heaven what comfort was this to the Disciples that Jesus Christ should leave them that he must go from them unto his Fathers house There are seven particulars that it is great ground of comfort to all the people of God that Jesus Christ is gone bodily to heaven The first ground of comfort is this Christs going to heaven bodily it assures you of Christs full Triumph and compleat conquest over all your spirituall Enemies This the Apostle lays down as a ground of comfort upon Christ Ascension Eph. 4. 8. Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men That is the Devill and sin that carried you captive Christ by his going up to heaven hath led them captive that is hath led your spirituall enemies that carried
you captive Christ alluded to the custome among the Romans when the Roman Conquerour rode to the Capitol of Rome to rejoyce in his victory over his enemies the Conquerour did use to tie his Captives to the Chariots wheels So Christ did carry his captives by his wheeles as it were he led captivity captive Colos 2. 15. And having spoyled Principalities and powers he made a shew of them openly Triumphing over them in it So that beloved here is one great comfort that Christ by going up to heaven doth manifest and declare to all the world that he hath overcome the Grave Death Devill and Sinne. Secondly Christs going bodily to heaven It is a pledge to you that Christ will one day bring your bodys to heaven I go to heaven that I may receive you to my self that you may be bodily in heaven where Christ is In Joh. 14. 19. Yet a little while the world seeth me no more but ye see me because I live ye shall live also As if he should say wel I must leave you and I must goe to Heaven before you but because I live in heaven and live there bodily you shal also live with me in heaven with your bodies Tertullian doth make this use of it to comfort the Christians in his dayes saith hee Jesus Christ did carry our flesh into heaven with him and he is of our flesh and of our bone Now saith Tertullian Jesus Christ hath carried flesh into heaven and this is a good pledge unto us that our flesh shall be in heaven where Christ is also Therefore O flesh and bloud doe thou rejoyce that hast possest heaven in Christ already And Christ would be imperfect in heaven should not the bodies of beleevers come there also because he lives in heaven you shall live there also Thirdly Christs going bodily to heaven it is a ground of comfort to you in this because Christ is gone bodily into heaven to performe and accomplish his Sacerdotall Office that is as a high Preist hee is now in heaven to performe the Office of a high Priest to make intercession to God his Father in your behalfe that your sinnes might be pardoned that your soules might bee saved that your bodies might he raised and received into heaven with him in Glory Heb. 9. 24. For Christ is not entred into the Holy places made with hands which are the Figures of the true but into heaven it selfe now to appeare in the presence of God for us Christ is entred into the very heavens that he might appeare before God for us so in Heb. 7. 26. For such an high Priest became us who is holy harmelesse undefiled separate from sinners and made higher then the heavens It became us to have a high Priest in Heaven Therefore observe though it was a great benefit to the Disciples to have Christs bodily presence yet Jesus Christ could never have fulfiled the office of the Priest-hood to make intercession for all the Elect if Christ had not gone bodily into heaven Will you observe one Text in Heb. 8 4. For if he were on earth hee should not be a priest seeing there are Priests that offer gifts according to the Law Christ must goe to heaven and there hee is a Priest now if hee were upon the earth hee could not be a Priest for us therefore we have great advantage by CHRISTS going into heaven O beloved then looke on this as a great comfort that our Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven in his body flesh and bloud appearing before God making Intercession for all his people this was typified out under the Law Exod. 28. 9 10 11 and 12. verses And thou shalt take two Onix stones grave them on the names of the children of Israel Six of their Names on one stone and the other six Names of the rest on the other stone according to their Birth With the work of an ingraver in stone like the ingravings of a signet shalt thou ingrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel thou shalt make them to be set in Ouches of Gold And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the Ephod for stones of memoriall unto the children of Israel And Aaron shall beare their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memoriall This is a type of Jesus Christ our high Priest who is gone into that which is so in it selfe the Holy of Holiest and there he hath not onely the names of al the elect of God throughout the world on his breast but hath them in his heart and there he makes intercession for them to his father This is a third ground of comfort that they have of Christs going bodily into heaven A Fourth ground of comfort you have by Christs going into Heaven is this That Jesus Christ is gone into heaven to convey to you a fuller communication of the gifts and graces of his spirit which was bestowed on his people whilest he was upon the Earth Ephes 4 ver 8. Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave giftes unto men It is an allusion to the Roman custome that when the conquerour rode in Triumph towards the Capitoll he did not onely lead the Prisoners by the Charet wheeles but likewise scattered mony to the Spectators that saw him ride along in triumph so the Lord Jesus Christ having by his Ascension spoiled death and the Devil thus Jesus Christ doth cast his gifts unto men dispenseth his graces in a greater measure into the hearts of his people not that we are to run into the Sociâ—ian errour because of this text they gather that before Christs Ascension into heaven there was no saving gift of the spirit and they ground it on that text Ioh. 7. ver 38 39. He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water But this spake he of the spirit which they that beleeve on him should receive For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified The Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus Christ was not yet glorified but this Text is not to be taken simply then it will follow that Abraham Isaac and Jacob had not the spirit and then they could not bee in Heaven but the meaning is that the gifts of the Holy Ghost in that abundant measure was not given because Christ was not yet ascended Christ did reserve the full giving of the Holy Ghost to the time of his Ascension and untill he was glorified therefore the Apostles soon after his ascension received the Holy Ghost in a greater measure then was given to the people of old and beloved not onely gifts to bring you to Heaven but also Ministeriall gifts to qualifie men fit for the Ministery you are to looke on this also as the fruit of Ascension Ephesians 4. 10 11 12. vers He that descended is the
is why should wee bee as children to looke on death as a Bugheare but looke upon death as being a passage unto thy fathers house as being a Trap-doore to let thee in where Jesus Christ is Gen. 45. 25 27. And they went up out of Egypt and came into the Land of Canaan unto Jacob their father and they told him all the words of Joseph which hee had said unto them and when hee saw the waggons which Joseph had sent to carry him the spirit of Jacob their father revived Did Jacob rejoyce to see a waggon or a chariot that would carry him into Aegypt to see his Son Ioseph and wilt not thou rejoyce to think that death is a chariot to carry thee to Jesus Christ to carry thee to heaven O therefore let not thy heart bee troubled to dye because death is but a chariot to carry thee to heaven Is Christ gone into heaven Then secondly labour thou whilest thou livest on the earth to ascend to Christ in divine and holy Ejaculations and Meditations Is Christ in heaven then why should not thy heart be where thy head is why shouldest thou bee grovelling on the earth seeing thy Christ is now in heaven It is a speech of Christ Canticles 3. 6. Who is this that cometh out of the wildernesse like Pillars of smoke perfumed with Myrrhe and Frankincense with all powders of the Merchant Thou shouldest ascend up to Christ though thou beest in trouble in the Wildernesse of this world O ascend up to Christ in Holy Meditations this use the Apostle makes of it Colos 3. 1. If yee then bee risen with Christ seeke those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right Hand of God The argument is where Christ sits at the right Hand of God set your affections there and so in Phil. 3. 20. For our conversation is in heaven from whence also wee look for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ Christ is in heaven thereâ—ore our conversation must bee where our head is It is a notable Text Mat. 24. 28. For wheresoever the Carkase is there will the Eagles be gathered together That Christ is in heaven it should make you ascend in your hearts heavenward It is true there are some that wrest these words and give this sense of them that they make the carkase to be the Jewes and the Eagles to be the Romans because the Romans did use the Eagle in their Banner and Ensigne of War therefore they say where the Jewes were the Romans should come though this was a truth yet not the scope of the Text it is generally overthrown by most Interpreters but Gerrard doth chiefly referre these words to the day of judgement where the carkase is thither will the Eagles resort that is where Jesus Christ is in heaven as the Eagles doe follow after the carkase to feed upon that so the people of God shall be gathered about Jesus Christ and this I doe confesse is the chiefe scope of the place and doe beleeve it is the chiefe intendment of the holy Ghost but Gerrard hee makes another use of it too and referres it to the power and efficacy of the Gospell in this life Christ is now in heaven saith Gerrard and the Gospel shal be so powerful on men in the world that it shal make men as eager to come after Christ into heaven as the Eagle is after the prey Thirdly I inferre hence that before you presume to apply the benefits and the comforts of Christs ascension into heaven labour to feele in your own hearts the efficacy of Christs Death and ascension every man applies the benefit of Christs Death and Resurrection and Christs ascension before they find the efficacy of his Death the efficacy of his resurrection It is the Apostles word saith he I labor to find the power of his resurrction so do you labor to find the power of his Death and the power of his ascension before you find the comfort of it It is to make thee lesse Earthly-minded more passionately eager and importunatly earnest after the Lord Iesus Christ dost thou feele the power of the ascension to make thee more heavenly minded and lesse earthly minded O labour to feele the efficacy and power of it else I might say to you as Iacob said to his mother in Genesis 28. 12. My father peradveuture will feele mee and I shall seeme to him as a deceiver and I shall bring a curse and not a blessing Nay without peradventure God will feele and try whether you are the men or no that have right to the blessing that shall have any reall advantage and benefit by Christs Death by Christs ascension God will try whether you doe not seek to deceive your Souls and deceive God himselfe if so you will rather have a curse then a blessing if you seeke to apply the comfort of Christs ascension before you feele the efficacy of it on your own hearts Ques How did Christ ascend Answ 1 First Christ went to heaven visibly in Act. 1. It was no transient glance of the Eye but they stedfastly beheld Jesus Christ they saw him when he went away Again Secondly Christ went to heaven bodily therefore those doe erre that hold that onely his soule did go to heaven and his body perished as other do Thirdly hee went to heaven locally hee ascended locally there are some men that hold that every place is heaven where God is that is a truth but heaven is a distinct place from the Earth and Hell Christ had a mutation of place from the Earth to the third Heaven therefore saith hee the earth shall hold me no more Fourthly hee did ascend into heaven powerfully Indeed other men went to heaven bodily not by their own strength but it was by a borrowed strength Elias had a fiery chariot to carry him to heaven but Christ had none for he went to heaven by his own strength Lastly Christ went to heaven eminently and singly There are three bodies in heaven there is the bodie of Enoch the body of Elias and the body of Christ all else in heaven are onely Saints and Angels Enoch went to heaven bodily as a type of Christs ascension before the Law and Elias unde the Law and Christ under the Gospell Divines say that this shewes there was salvation by Christ before the Law and salvation by Christ under the Law and salvation by Christ in the time of the Gospell but there is difference between their going to heaven First Enoch and Elias went to heaven but they did not die and rise from the dead and then ascend into heaven but first Christ dyed and then Christ was raised out of the Grave and then within forty daies hee did ascend into heaven there was one difference Again they did not ascend to heaven by their own strength but by the power of God they did ascend into heaven but we have got no good by their ascension no benefit nor merit accrues unto us by
not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing The meaning is this that the way to Heaven it was not manifest to the Jewes whilest their Tabernacle stood that is whilest their Leviticall Ceremonies were in use the way to heaven was not manifest the godly went to heaven before Christs time but it was not manifested for the common sort of the Jews did not understand that by Jesus Christs Passion and Ascension they must come to heaven therefore the Apostle saith the way to the holiest of all was not yet manifested whilest their first Tabernacle stood So my Text is true that heaven was prepared for believers by the Lord Jesus Christ his ascension The third Quere is this but you will say if Christ by his ascension into heaven did prepare heaven for believers then what became of all the people of God and holy men of God under the old Testament whither went they The Jesuites raise the difficulty from the Text. They say that before Christ ascended none did goe to heaven therfore they make Abraham Isaac and Iacob with all the Patriarkes and all the holy men of God to be in the place called Limbus Patrum which was for the good men till Christs ascension Then there is Limbus Infantum a place of receipt of Infants Then there is Purgatory for men guilty of grosse sins heaven and hell they concurre in to be a truth Limbus Patrum say they was the place to receive all the good men till Christs ascension and then Christ tooke them all into heaven Protestant Divines do take a deale of paines to vindicate this Text. If you will aske me what is become of the Patriarkes and all good men of old before Christs going into heaven how can they come to heaven if heaven be prepared by Christs ascension First I may say that of Christs ascension as Gerrard doth of Christs Passion the Death of Christ it was availeable before it was in being so I may say of Christs Ascension that it was availeable before it was in being Gerrard hee hath another passage that the benefits wee have by Christ they are not onely to bee restrained to ages that are to come after Christ but to looke backward to all ages before Christ Revel 5. 9. And they sung a new Song saying Thou art worthy to take the Booke and to open the Seales thereof for thou wast slaine and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation Not onely the Lambe slain decretively in Gods decree nor onely is the Lambe slaine Typically in the ceremoniall Sacrifices but also vertually that there was vertue in Jesus Christ that all the Godly Jewes had vertue by CHRISTS death there is my first Answer Secondly observe this that the Scripture doth not say that Christ by going up to heaven did open heaven for us he being our Mediator sitting at Gods right hand in heaven heaven was opened before but not so fully adorned as it was by Christs ascension Heb. 9. 8. The holy Ghosts this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest whilest the Tabernacle was yet standing The Grecians doe observe that Christ doth not use a word that signifies to open a thing that is shut but to open clear and manifest a thing that is obscure it was open before Thirdly against the Jesuits conceit of Limbus Patrum there are cleare passages in the Scripture and undenyable reasons drawn from the Scripture that doth prove beleevers under the old Testament went to heaven before CHRISTS ascension As in Luke 16. 22. And it came to passe that the begger dyed and was carried by the Angels into Abrahams Bosome the Rich man also dyed and was buried Hee lived two thousand years and more before Christ was borne heaven is called Abrahams Bosome and the elect that dyed are said to goe into Abrahams Bosome and Eliah and Enoch are in heaven Heb. 11. 5. By Faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him in the 16 verse but now they desired a better Countrey that is heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for hee hath prepared for them a City Hee is ashamed to bee their God therefore they have a City prepared for them by God that likewise Lazarus was said to be carried by Angels into Abrahams Bosome this was before Christ dyed then frequent Scriptures there are touching Christs transfiguration that when Christ was taken up that hee saw Moses and Elias from thence Divines gather that they must bee in Heaven There are foure undeniable Reasons wil prove that the godly before Christs Ascension they went to Heaven First it appears by this because it is said that those that were carried to heaven they were carried to Heaven by the Angels the Angels carried Lazarus into Abrahams Bosome now certainly Angels are not in Limbus Partum Luk. 16. 22. Againe if the Beleevers of old should not goe into Heaven the Death and Merits of Christ would bee extenuated Heb. 13. 8. Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever Hee was the same yesterday that is before he was borne hee was of use then as well as to after time Againe if the Soules of wicked men bee in Hell before Christs time then the Soules of Godly men must bee in Heaven before Christs time that must clearly follow by the Rule of contraries now that wicked men went to Hell is cleare Jude 7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to Fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an examples suffering the vengeance of eternall Fire They went to Hell before Christs time therefore it must follow clearly that the elect must go to Heaven before Christs time Fourthly there is the very same reason why Believers should goe to Heaven before Christs Ascension as there is why they should goe to heaven after Christs Ascension because Beleevers under the old Testament they had the same Gospell preached to them as now wee have and they had the same Spirit the same Faith and under the same Covenant and therefore why must not they go to the same place I shall clearly prove this unto you First they had the same Spirit and the same Faith that we have and this is laid down by the Apostle in 2 Cor. 4. 13. We having the same Spirit of Faith according as it is written I beleeved and therefore have I spoken wee also beleeve and therefore speak and they with us had the same justifying Faith Their circumcision was a signe of righteousnesse by Faith And then againe they had the same Gospel that we have Heb. 4. 2. For unto us was the same Gospell Preached as well as unto them but the word Preached did not profit them not being mixt with Faith in them that heard it The same
coming to judge the world Titus 1. 13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Peter 3. 12. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall bee dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat 2 Tim 4. 8. Henceforth there is laid up for mee a Crown of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to mee onely but unto them all that love his appearing A crowne is laid up for mee and not for mee onely but for all them that love his appearing This shews that surely it must bee a Doctrine of great comfort to the elect of God because they so long and look for and love the coming of Jesus Christ Secondly it is a Doctrine of great comfort because Jesus Christ hath reserved the full glorification of the Elect for that time though Christ brings soules to heaven before his coming yet hee doth not compleatly glorifie any of his servants till his coming againe to Judge the world 1 Iohn 3. 2. Beloved now are wee the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what wee shall bee but Wee know that when hee shall appeare wee shall bee like him for we shall see him as hee is and in Colos 3. 4. When Christ who is our Life shall appeare then shall yee also appeare with him in glory God hath reserved the full glorification of the Elect against the time of his coming 1 Peter 5. 4. And when the chiefe Shepherd shall appear yee shall receive a Crown of Glory that fades not away Frequent Texts of Scripture there are to prove that the reserve that Christ hath of the full glorifying of the Elect it is at the time of his coming to judge the world The third particular is but wherein is the Doctrine of Christs coming again so comfortable to Beleevers there are these foure particulars more especially wherein the Doctrine of Christs coming againe to judge the world is a Doctrine full of comfort to Beleevers First in case of any scandalous aspersion or any unjust imputation which is laid upon them it may serve for great comfort to thee in this case The Apostle gives it you 1 Cor. 4. 3 4 But with with mee it is a very small thing that I should bee judged of you or of mans judgements yea I judge not my owne selfe For I know nothing by my selfe yet am I not hereby justified but hee that judgeth mee is the Lord. Censure me what you will and judge of mee what you please for hee that judgeth mee shall be the Lord therefore it is a small matter that I am judged of you Suppose thou art judged thou art scandalized and thou art aspersed in the world appeale to Jesus Christ in Heaven for hee that judgeth thee is the Lord and this wee finde Christ did 1 Peter 2. 23. who when hee was reviled reviled not againe when hee suffered he threatned not but committed himselfe to him that judgeth righteously When thou art reviled and aspersed and censured doe not revile again doe not censure again but doe as Christ did commit thy cause to Christ that judgeth all things righteously Christ will come to over-judge all things that have been judged amisse Jude 5. To execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly amongst them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Men have hard speeches against many who are upright in the Land it is a comfort then that of Christs coming again one end is to convince men of all their hard speeches and scandalous aspersions Secondly Christs coming again is a Doctrine of comfort in case of all persecution thou undergoest from men for Christ for the Gospell 1 Thess 1. 6 7. Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you And to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Iesus shall bee revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels As if hee should have said you are troubled and persecuted about the Gospel for Christs sake why bee not troubled for Christ is coming from Heaven 1 Peter 4. 13. But rejoyce in asmuch as yee are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his Glory shall bee revealed yee may bee glad also with exceeding joy when Christ comes to be revealed and to judge the world you shall be glad also with exceeding joy that is a second case wherein this Doctrine may bee of comfort Thirdly this Doctrine may serve for comfort in case of any inward accusation of conscience from the apprehension of thine own guiltinesse it may bee thou judgest thy self that thou art a damned undone Creature remember that there is a Judgement to passe on thee besides thy own mistake and misapprehension Christs coming to Judgement should bee a comfort to thee against thine own inward accusation because hee that is thy Jesus is thy Judge hee is thy Advocate to plead thy cause and thy Judge to judge thy cause Suppose thy conscience doth accuse thee and thou judgest thy selfe to Hell yet comfort thy self with this that thy Jesus will afterwards come to judge thee Fourthly Christs coming againe to judge the would it is a Doctrine of comfort in case of oppression in Courts of Judicature What though Might overcometh Right and the usurping hand useth waies of oppression and violence towards you it matters not For Christs coming to judgement shall bee of great comfort to you Ierome saith that Christ shall come to judge things that are not judged in the world and Christ shall come to judge things that are judged amisse in the world Christ shall judge all oppressions and violence which is done by an usurping hand here is matter of comfort that Christ cometh to judge them all over againe an excellent passage which Solomon hath Eccle. 3. 16 17. And moreover I saw under the Sun the place of judgement that wickednesse was there and the place of righteousnesse that iniquity was there I said in my heart God shall judge the righteous and the wicked for there is a time there for every purpose for every work That is I saw into Courts of Judicature and I saw wickednesse was there and I looked into the place of righteousnesse and behold iniquity was there then I said in my heart surely God shall judge both the righteous and the wicked if there were no argument in all the Scripture to prove Christs coming again this argument it will evince that Christ shall come to judge the world there must bee a judging over againe there shal bee a generall Judgement because there is so much perverting of judgement here below and thus you have wherein or in what cases the Doctrine of Christs coming may serve for comfort Fourthly To whom will Christs coming bee a comfort
peremptory conclusions about this dark and obscure Doctrin of Christs coming to judge the world There are many loose and lavish frolick wits that have bold and adventurous attempts touching the coming of the Lord in determining that which the Scripture determineth not it is not my intent to trouble you with niâ—â—ties but onely to check the frollick and bold attempts of some who goe about to determine that which the Scripture doth no way reveale to which end take heed of these things First take heed of determining the place from whence Christ should come The Papists they are bold thiâ— way they hold you in hand that Christ shall come from the East Therefore our Churches all of them were built East and West and upon that ground that Christ would come from the East the Scripture saith that Christ shall come as lightning from the East but that doth not shew the place from whence hee comes but as Christ shall come as Lightning it notes the visibility of Christs coming and the celerity of Christs coming Lightning it is visible and so shall Christs coming bee all shall see him as yee see Lightning Now this bold attempt hath been the foundation to many Superstitions Opinions it is the reason of bowing and câ—inging towards the East All rose meerely from that ground of Christs coming from the East the Scripture onely saith that hee shall come downe from Heaven and the Lord shall come from Heaven but from what part of the heaven the scripture speaketh not Againe passe not bold conjectures in determining the place where Christ shall come to judge the world many men where the Scripture is silent doe run into many strong conceits to determine that which the Scripture doth not many Books doe determine the place where Christ shall come to judge the world and that is in the Valley of Iehoshaphat and there is one Text which seemes to carry it that way which is in Ioel 3. 12. Let the Heathen bee awaked and come up to the Valley of Iehoshaphat for there will I sit to judge all the Heathen round about Here they doe conjecture that Christ shall come to the Valley of Iehoshaphat and there hee shall judge all the world and I shall to shew the vanity and wickednesse of these give these five demonstrations First it is not spoken of God the Sonne but of God the father to bee thy judge therefore it cannot have a reference to the last Judgement for Christ judgeth then Secondly their Judgement here onely referres to the Judging of the Heathen round about Now the generall judgement is for the judging of the righteous and the unrighteous Thirdly that it is impossible that the Valley of Iehoshaphat should containe all the men that ever were that are and that shall bee in the world to bee judged therefore it is not profitable that this hath reference to the last Judgement Fourthly the time that this judgement here is spoken of it is limited by the prophet himselfe for compare this verse with the second verse I will also gather all Nations and will bring them downe into the Valley of Jehoshaphat and will plead with them there for my People and for my heritage Israel whom they have scattered among the Nations and parted my Land The time is spoken of when God shall turne againe the captivity of Iudah and Ierusalem then God should judge the Babylonians and those heathen Nations that assisted them for to undo the people of God therfore it refers to some time after the captivity not to the general and last coming of the Sonne of God and thus much for taking off that Text from yeelding patronage to that fond conceit of Christs coming to judge the world in the Valley of Iehoshaphat and the Scripture is farre from giving you the place where Christ shall come to judgement either in the Valley of Iehoshaphat or Mount Olivet out only in the ayre 1 Thess 4. 7. Then wee which are alive and remaine shall bee caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the Aire and so shall we ever be with the Lord. The Scripture doth make no mention of Christs coming upon the Earth at all Take heed of bold attempts and conjectures about the place of Christs judgement Thirdly take heed of bold attempts about the time of Christs judgement there have been them which have shewne abundance of wickednesse in this Gerrard doth confute the folly of such men that do guesse at the time when Christ shall come to judge the world Austin doth make mention of some in his time that held that Christ should come to judge the world a thousand years after his Death but wee have seen their folly and shame for there is more time expired then that Another saith that some held in his time that Christ should come to judge the world 365. yeares after his Death that is a folly likewise for there is more time past then that Luther saith that there were Anabapists which held that in the yeare 1530 Christ should come to judge the world but wee have seen their folly likewise for there is more time past then then that Napier though a learned Nobleman in Scotland hee was too frolick in this way for he doth boldly say that Christ shall come to judge the world in the yeare 1688. But beloved Christs coming to judge the world cannot be determined for Christ would not gratifie his own Apostles to tell them the time when his coming should bee Mat. 24. Hee would not tell them when the end of the word should bee it shews then it is great pride of heart to passe peremptory conjectures upon the period of time Christ did not thinke it meet for to tell his Apostles of the time of his coming 1 Thess 5. 1. But of the times and seasons Brethren yee have no need that I write unto you nay Angels in heaven and Christ himselfe as hee was meere Man could not tell the time Marke 13. 32. But of that day and that houre knoweth no man no not the Angels which are in heaven neither the Sonne but the Father Mat. 24. 36. But of that day and houre knoweth no man no not the Angels of Heaven but my father onely I onely mention it for this to shew the vanity of our age of those who will undertake to shew the very day when Christ should come Likewise to condemne the former Ages who run to things not revealed I remember what a learned Man saith one that commenteth upon my Text saith hee there is nothing that doth expose the Christian Religion to more contempt then that the Preachers and the hearers of it will run into nice questions and bee peremptory in their resolves of that the Scripture speakes not of And Jews and Gentiles may suspect the whole Gospell because they see Men peremptory about things which are not revealed in the Gospell and shall see their false-hood appearing to all bee not peremptory in
resurrection Secondly it was the time that God did solemnly declare pardon of sinne for all the elect Repent yee therefore and be converted that your Sinnes may bee blotted out Thirdly it is said of which all the Prophets doe beare witnesse those that doe plead for Christs personall Reigne a thousand yeares upon the Earth they cannot say that all the Prophets did speake this for Moses Daniel and others nay none of the Prophets speake of Christs Reigne a thousand yeares upon the Earth therefore this cannot have a reference to Christs Reigne for a thousand yeares upon the Earth A second Scripture is in Psal 110. 1. The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right Hand untill I make thine Enemies thy Foot-stoole That Scripture tells you that Jesus Christ who is ascended into Heaven and sits at Gods right Hand there shall so sit till hee hath made all his Enemies his Foote-stoole That the Apostles tells you that all Christs Enemies are to be made his Foot-stoole cannot bee till Christ coming at the last time will you marke that Scripture where the Apostle telleth you directly 1 Cor. 15. 23 24 25 26. But every man in his owne Order Christ the first Fruits afterwards they that are Christs at his coming Then cometh the end when hee shall have delivered up the Kingdome to God even the Father when hee shall put down all rule and all authority and all power For hee must reigne till he hath put all his enemies under his Feet The last enemie that shall bee destroyed is Death Here is the coming of Christ that hath reference to all the Just and Unjust Marke now Christ therefore must reigne in Heaven till all enemies bee under his Feet now these thousand years all enemies are not under his Feet why because death will bee then death is not to be destroyed then when the end comes hee must give up his Kingdome to his Father what is more clear then this that the Heavens must keep Christ till all things be restored and that cannot be till the day of Judgement Againe Christ must reigne so long till the end of the world The third Scripture is in the 1 Cor. 15. 23 24. But every Man in his own Order Christ the first fruits afterwards they that are Christs at his coming Then cometh the end when hee shall have delivered up the Kingdome to God even the Father when hee shall have put down all rule and all authority and all power This Scripture telleth you that when Christ cometh out of Heaven upon Christs coming three things must bee done First every man must rise vers 23. Now that cannot bee at the thousand yeares because they themselves hold this that there shall onely be a Resurrection of the Martyrs and here the Scripture saith that every man shall rise which cannot bee till the day of Judgement Secondly when Christ comes then comes the end the Apostle tells us of his coming and the end of the world to note that Christs coming and the end of the world shall be together Thirdly hee delivers his Kingdome up to his Father whereas if Christ should reigne a thousand years here it could not bee said to bee the giving up of a Kingdome but the taking of a Kingdome into possession hee must resigne all to God the Father When the Scripture is so expresse it is a wonder that men can receive such fantasticall thoughts that Christ must come as an Earthly Monarch to reign here a thousand yeares A fourth Scripture is in Heb. 9. 28. So Christ was once offered to beare the sâ—nt of many and unto them that looke for him shall be appeare the second time without sin unto Salvation From that Scripture I will argue against Christs coming to reign upon the Earth for a thousand yeares First it is expresly in the Scripture that Christs coming there spoken of referres to the day of Judgement in v. 27. And as it is appointed unto all men once to dye but after this the judgement There Christs second coming it doth referâ—e unto the day of Judgement Now if the Scripture doth 〈◊〉 that the second coming which is his coming to judgement Then Christ cannot come before that time to reigne upon the Earth for if hee should come to reigne upon the Earth then the Apostle must call that his third coming there hath been but one coming which was from Heaven to the wombe of the Virgin and there is no other coming to follow but a second coming that is to judgement Secondly it is said Christ shall come the second time to our Salvation it cannot bee said to our Salvation if his coming were to reigne a thousand yeares upon the Earth that were onely some temporall good but Christs coming must referre to the last and great coming wherein the world shall bee judged and the soules of the Elect shall bee saved Beloved these Scriptures are very clear unto mee The reasons are two that Christ shall not come personally out of Heaven to reigne upon the Earth for a thousand yeares First because the Scripture doth manifest that when Christ comes personally out of Heaven there are such Concomitants of his coming that can bee referred to no other time then his last coming to judge the world First when Christ is said to come out of Heaven the Scripture telleth you this concomitant that the Saints shall come along with him Jude 14. And Enoch also the seventh from Adam Prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints So that when Christ comes from Heaven he must come with his Saints with him nay he must come with his Angels 2 Thess 1. 7. And to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus Christ shall bee revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels Put these two Scriptures together Christ must come with his Saints and Angels But those that fancy Christs coming a thousand yeares they cannot prove that Christ shall come with his Saints and Angels for the scripture that seemes to carry it that way doth not speak of Angels Saints coming Secondly it is said when Christs comes from Heaven that good and bad shall bee gathered together and all shall bee judged by Jesus Christ now this cannot bee of Christs personall reigne on the Earth this you have in 2 Thess 2. 9. Now wee beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him So that the coming of our Lord and our gathering together to bee judged by Christ they are both coupled together because when the Lords coming is then is our gathering time Mat. 25. 31. 32. When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy Angels with him then shall hee sit upon the Throne of his glory And before him shall bee gathered all Nations and hee shall separate them one from another as a Shepheard divideth his sheepe from the Goats And in 2 Tim. 4. 1. I
them in the clouds to meete the Lord in the Aire and so shall wee ever bee with the Lord vers 16. For the Lord himselfe shall descend with a shout from Heaven c. If it had been Christ in his spirit then it would have been said the Lord by his spirit shall descend But the Lord himselfe shall descend from Heaven with a shout it notes his personall coming out of Heaven that whereas Jesus Christ had a personall translation and as Christ had a visible Elevation he was in the eyes of his Disciples lifted up so Christ shall bodily descend and come out from Heaven the Lord himselfe c. Therefore it cannot bee the Lord by his spirit Acts 1. 11. Which also said yee men of Galilee why stand yee gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as yee have seen him goe into Heaven The same Jesus that you saw Ascend shall descend so that it cannot bee Christ in his spirit but in his person I onely mention this to confute those that follow the conceit of Origen meerly to make Christs coming to be but a spiritual coming a coming in the hearts of Saints Thirdly his coming it shall be visibly Acts 1. 11. This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven That as Christs going up to Heaven bodily was visible so Christs coming out of Heaven shall be visible Mat. 26. 64. Hereafter shall yee see the Sonne of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds Indeed Christ did rise invisibly for no man saw Christ rise from the dead but Christ shall descend visibly you shall see the Sonne of man c. Mat. 24. 30. And then shall appeare the signe of the Sonne of man in Heaven and then shall all the Tribes of the Earth mourne and they shall see the Sonne of man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory All men shall see the glory of Jesus Christ the wicked shall see him to their Amazement and consternation and the godly shall see him to their joy and consolation Fourthly Christs coming shall bee gloriously and there shall bee many things that shall make the coming of Christ to bee a glorious coming hee shall come in the clouds these glorious bodies shall bee the triumphant and swift Chariots of the sonne of God wherein hee will come to judge the world and his Atendance shall make him glorious Daniel 7. 10. A fiery streame issued and came forth from before him thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him the judgement was set and the bookes where opened Jude 14. and Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints And in 2 Thess 1. 7. And to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall bee revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels O then behold the clouds to be the Triumphant Chariots of Christ the Innumerable company of Saints and Angels to bee attendants on the person of Christ to come to judge the world and that is the reason that hee is called so glorious Mat. 24. 30. And they shall see the Sonne of man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory Mat. 16. 27. For the Sonne of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his Angels Luk. 9. 26. For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words of him shall the Sonne of man bee ashamed when hee shall come in his own glory in his Fathers and of the Holy Angels And that is the reason of that Epithet given to Christs coming Titus 2. 13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Now beloved Christs coming to have this property or this manner the reason must bee to distinguish his second coming from his first coming to take off the contempt and reproach that was on Jesus Christ in his first coming and he shall come in glory in the second coming First wee read in Scripture that Christs first coming it was in the forme of a servant Phil. 2. 7. But made himselfe of no reputation and tooke upon him the forme of a servant and was made in the likenesse of men Now in the second coming hee comes with that glory and Majesty of a King In the first coming hee had no reasonable creature to attend him at the second coming hee shall have all the Saints and Angels in Heaven to attend him At his first coming hee was swadled with swadling bands but at this second coming he shall be as it were cloathed with the Clouds of Heaven Againe his first coming it was in dishonour and contempt every Traveller had more honour then Jesus Christ for the Inne was for every Traveller but there was no roome for Christ there hee was borne in an out-house but his second coming shall bee in great glory Againe in his first coming Christ representing the persons of the Elect came with sin imputed to him and was the greatest Beggar in the world as Luther saith and the greatest sinner in the world not by way of inherence but by way of imputation therefore Luther calleth him Peccator maximus the greatest sinner Christ incoming into the the world had all the sinnes of the Elect of God imputed to him so hee came as a sinner as an evill person though hee was not so yet hee was looked upon as so But the second time hee shall come without sinne hee shall not have our sinnes by imputation cast on him because when hee comes againe hee shall make a totall Abolition of sinne Therefore there needs no impution of our sinnes upon Jesus Christ Thus you have a fourth way of his coming he shall come Gloriously A fifth way of Christs coming againe is this he shall come terribly In Isaiah 13. 9. Behold the day of the Lord cometh cruell both with wrath and fierce Anger to lay the Land desolate and hee shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it Revel 6. 17. For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall bee able to stand the coming of Jesus Christ it is a terrible coming that is a fifth way of his coming Sixthly and lastly Christ shall come unexpectedly though it is true there shall be immediate warnings of his coming as the powers of Heaven shall be shaken the Sun Moon and Starrs shall bee darkned but that shall bee but a little before his coming but beloved the coming of Christ shall bee when men are not aware of it as in the dayes of Noah men were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage when the flood come and destoyed them so shall the Sonne of man come Christs coming shall then bee to burne all with fire
when men shall bee eating and drinking possessing and adding muck to muck when men are secure and never thinke of Christs coming to burn all with fire then the powers of Heaven shall be shaken and the world be set on fire Hence it is that you read in Scripture in five or six places Christs coming it shall be as a Thiefe in the night a Thiefe will come in the dead time of the Night as Christ said to his Disciples in Luke 21. 34. The coming of Christ it is an unexpected coming thus you have six Particulars of Christs coming Use Now a word of Application Having shewed you how this Doctrine of Christs coming it is a Doctrine of comfort I shall finish this point in shewing you how this Doctrine of Christs coming is a Doctrine of terrour and of dread and to whom It is observeable that the word is not compared onely to Milke and Honey but the word is compared also to Salt which also hath an efficacy to make smart Beloved you have heard the Hony of this Doctrine what great comfort it will afford to Godly men but remember the word is Salt also and it is of a smart efficacy to terrifie and fret the conscience Now the Doctrine of Christs coming it is a terrible Doctrine in these four things To all wicked men Christs coming again it is a terrible Doctrine because first al the secretst sins that ever a wicked man hath committed in this world they shal be made manifest to all I confesse it is a contest among learned men whether the sinnes of good men as well as bad shall not be known and there are strong arguments that all shall be made known but the Scripture is full in this that at the day of Judgement the sinnes that a wicked man hath done in this world shall bee published to all the Saints and Angels in Heaven and all the men that were on Earth It may bee thou goest for an honest man amongst thy Neighbours yet thou lovest thy Neighbours wife and goest in unto her if thou hast been so or thou hast deceived in thy Trade why for all thy secresie here yet then all the world shall know thy deceit and uncleannes it is built upon that Text Luk. 8. 17. For nothing is secret that shall not bee made manifest neither any thing hid that shall not be knowne and come abroad Here a thousand things are hid that men do not know here thou carriest it fairly and squarely in the world that men cannot say black is thine Eye but then they may say shame to thy Face this is dreadfull Secondly Christs coming it shall bee dreadfull in regard of thy Separation from all the Elect of God In Mat. 25. 32. 33. And before him shal be gathered all Nations and hee shall separate them one from another as a Shepherd divideth his sheepe from the Goates And hee shall set the sheep on his right hand but the Goates on the left Here thou art mingled it may bee thou livest in the same house with a godly man and lyest in the same bed with a godly man but remember a parting time is coming that as the Shepherd parteth the Sheepe from the Goats so doth Christ part the wicked from the godly Thirdly Christs coming againe it is dreadfull to wicked men in regard it shall be the time of the promulgation of thy Sentence A Thiefe in Newgate is a miserable creature a Thiefe at Bar is in a sad condition but a Thiefe when the Sentence of death is past upon him then hee is in a hopelesse condition O thou wicked man at thy dying day thou art a Malefactor but at thy Sentence giving thou art an undone man thou art in a hopelesse condition Fourthly Christs coming it is the time of the reuniting of thy body and soule together and of thy taking possession of Hell when thy body and soule that have been so many hundred yeares parted shall come to meet together and your meeting to bee but a going into Infernall torments this makes the coming of Christ to be a dreadfull coming I but you will say it is true indeed A Felix may tremble when Paul shall Preach to him of Judgement to come but have wee Christians cause of feare Yes you that are Christians in case you bee found under these particulars that I am now naming to you the day of Judgement will be dreadfull to you Christs coming againe to judge the world is not onely a dreadfull Doctrine to a Felix but may make thee a Christian to tremble in these cases First The Doctrine of Christs coming may make men tremble who are guilty of Acts of Oppression and Violence in Courts of Judicature Eccle. 3. 16 17. And moreover I saw under the Sun the place of Judgement that wickednesse was there and the place of righteousness that iniquity was there I said in my heart God shall judge the righteous and the wicked for there is a time for every purpose and every worke That is to judge every purpose and every worke When God shall come to places of Judgement and places of Judicature and shall say wickednesse is there and shall say bribery is there and the deferring of the cause of the poor is there woe bee to all Oppressions of the poore and grinding their Faces in Courts of Judicature many whereof are Seats of violence and not Courts of Judicature Christ shall come to judge things that men will not judge men will not judge Adulterers but whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Men will not judge men for Heresie but God will judge them Christs coming is dreadfull to all men that live by Oppression and Violence in Courts of judicature Secondly Christs coming to judgement is dreadfull to all them who to save their worldly advantage are ashamed to professe the Gospell of Christ O! Christs coming is a dreadfull time to these In Mark 8. 38. Whosoever therefore shall bee ashamed of mee and of my words in this Adulterous and sinfull Generation of him also shall the Son of man bee ashamed when hee cometh in the glory of his Father with the Holy Angels I pray you marke here are two answers to an Objection in these words First men might say why blessed Jesus who would bee ashamed of thee if Christ were on the Earth wee would never bee ashamed of Christ Therefore Christ addes whosoever is ashamed of mee and of my words though you might not bee ashamed of Christs person yet you might bee ashamed of his words Then men may Object and say why truly if it were a peaceable time a safe time to professe Christ but what when wee live in a wicked place and among a wicked people will not Christ bear with us to hold down our heads a little and to sleep in a whole Skin no saith Christ whosoever shall be ashamed of mee and of my words in this Adulterous and sinfull Generation of him also shall the Sonne of man c.
day to the time that Christ spake and not the time that the thiefe should bee in Heaven for saith Gerrard marke the thiefs prayer in ver 42. And hee said unto Jesus Lord remember mee when thou comest into thy Kingdome Marke there is the thiefs when that when Christ should come to Heaven Christ should remember him Christs Hodie must answer to his Quando or else hee did not answer his prayer Christs to day must answer the thiefs when that when Christ came to Heaven then to remember the thiefe And Jesus said unto him verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Thirdly it is needlesse for Christ to say to day to tell him the time when hee spake hee knew Christ spake to him then but to speak of the time when the thiefe should bee in Heaven it was needfull I say to thee this day thou shalt be with me in Heaven The second Evasion is this It is true Christ promised thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise but Christ doth not say thou shalt be with me in Heaven There are three answers to confute this Evasion First that those that will not by Paradise understand Heaven by this Text they then fall in with the Papists either for Purgatory or a Limbus Patrum Secondly take this answer that in other Scriptures when Paradise is mentioned it is to be understood Heaven and so the Apostle doth expound it 2 Cor. 12. 2 4 I knew a man in Christ above fourteene yeares agoe whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth such an one caught up to the third Heaven How that hee was caught up into Paradise and beard unspeakable words which it is not lawfull for a man to utter So that the Apostle by Paradise doth meane Heaven Revel 2. 7. Hee that hath an eare let him heare what the Spirit saith unto the Churches To him that overcometh will I give to eate of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God That is he shall enjoy Jesus Christ Christ in Heaven is the Tree of Life in the Paradise of God Thirdly it cannot be any Earthly Paradise as the Paradise Adam was in before his fall for the Earthly Paradise was destroyed by the Flood therfore of necessity when Christ tells the thiefe To day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise it must referre to the thiefes going to Heaven at that day with Jesus Christ A second instance it is in Luke 16. 22. And it came to passe that the Begger dyed and was carried by the Angels into Ahrahams bosom the rich man also dyed and was buried This is another instance that the souls of the elect after death they goe to Heaven There are two Evasions made upon this Text. First they say that this Text it is a parable and not an Historicall Narration To this I answer though some men doe say it is a Parable yet many say it is a History Jerome and many following him doth give many arguments to prove that it was a History and not a parable And Tertullian is confident that this is an exact History of what was really done And Peter Martyr doth quote Tertullian saith hee Tertullian is so confident that this is a History that hee undertakes to tell you who were the men saith hee the Rich man was Herod and the Beggar was John the Baptist But Suppose it be a parable and not a History yet parables doe carry the resemblance of truth parables take their Foundations from truth that there are some men in Hell some men in Heaven that in Hell there is torment and in heaven there is joy that as the beggar went to Heaven after death so shall the godly and as the rich man went to Hell so shall all the wicked The other Evasion is this that this beggar is said to be carried into Abrahams bosome I answer First it is more then probable that Abrahams bosome is Heaven now Abraham being in heaven all his children are in Heaven that are in his bosome that is the answer that Gerrard gives Againe it is said that they are carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome therefore Abrahams bosom must be in Heaven certainly the good Angels carry a good soule into Heaven and the wicked Angels carry a damned soule into Hell and thus you have two instances that immediately after death the soules of the Elect go to Heaven A third instance is in Mat. 22. 31 32. But as touching the Resurrection of the dead have you not read that which was spoken unto you by God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living I argue from that instance that therfore Abraham Isaac and Jacob were living at that time though not in their bodies if you marke the reason of that Text it was not to prove a Resurrection of the body only which the Sadduces deny but also to prove the immortality of the soule The Sadduces deny Spirits and Angels too Acts 23. 8. For the Sadduces say that there is no Resurrection neither Angell nor Spirit but the Pharisees confesse both Christ doth prove that there shall bee a Resurrection of the body and hee likewises proves that the soule doth not dye when the body dyeth Indeed there is a quotation that I have read of a learned man that doth make use of this instance Gen. 25. 8. Then Abraham gave up the ghost and dyed in a good old age an old man and full of yeares and was gathered to his people Abraham was not gathered to his Fathers nor to be gathered in the grave where his fore-fathers were how then can this be true that the Scripture saith Abraham was gathered unto his Fathers Divines say it must be in his soule that Abraham went to heaven as his godly fore-fathers went that is the meaning of that phrase his soule was to be bound up in the bundle of Life to go to Heaven as their fore-fathers did And thus much for particular instances The second way to prove that the soules of the Elect men goe to Heaven immediately after death It is by generall expressions in Scripture Two generall passages one is in Heb. 12. 23. To the generall Assembly and Church of the first borne which are writen in Heaven and to God the judge of all and to the Spirits of just men made perfect thence I argue that Apostle makes mention and proves that there were the Spirits of just men made perfect Now if their Soules did perish with their bodies then the Apostle should say that their Spirits are annihilated with the body but it is the spirits of just men made perfect The Scripture takes notice in generall expressions that just men have their Soules made perfect And then in Eccle. 12. 7. Then shall the dust returne to the Earth as it was and the Spirit
shall return to God who gave it Marke here are two things Here is the end of Godly men the body shall goe to the dust and the soule to God Then the time when it shal be is when that man goeth to his long home when the keepers of the house shall tremble that is the hands and armes and the strong men shall bow themselves that is the feet and the thighs and the grinders shall cease that is the teeth and they that looke out at the windowes shall bee darkened that is the eyes when nature decayes and the body perisheth by Diseases and dyes then shall the body go to the dust and the Spirit to God that gave it Thirdly I shall prove it to you from expresse passages in the Scripture that doe confirme this that the soules of the Elect after death before Christs coming are received into heaven for this I will give foure or five expresse Scriptures The first is in Iohn 6. 40. And this is the will of him that sent mee that every one that seeth the Sonne and beleeveth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day Here are two distinct promises First a promise of everlasting life Secondly a promise of raising up at the last day First a promise of everlasting life is made distinct from the other Divines say that before the raising up at the last day there is an everlasting life that his soule shall live before the last day and his body shall be raised up at the last day Another Text is in Luke 16. 9. And I say unto you make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousnesse that when yee faile they may receive you into everlasting habitations Chemnitius makes great use of this Text to prove what I am now arguing for that immediately after death the soule of an Elect man is received into Heaven Marke make you friends of the Mammon of unrighteousnesse that is of your wealth called so either because it is unrighteously gotten or unrighteously kept use your wealth well that when you die you may bee received into everlasting habitations It is questionable whether it bee referred to Angels or to the poor which shall pray for us that wee bee received into Heaven but saith Chemnitius use your wealth well that you may bee received into everlasting habitations upon your failing upon dying the Lord receives the Elect into everlasting habitations This Chemnitius doth build on that the soule doth goe to Heaven immediately after Death A third Scripture is in Phil. 3. 23. For I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to bee with Christ which is far better The Apostle doth Conjoyne these two conclusions a departing out of the world out of this life and a desire to be with Jesus Christ he mentions no middle place for a good soul to goe to he mentions no Purgatory nor Limbus Patrum And so likewise a fourth Text you have in 2 Cor. 6. 8 9. Therefore wee are alwaies confident knowing that whilst wee are at home in the body wee are absent from the Lord. Wee are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to bee present with the Lord wherefore wee labour that whether present or absent wee may be accepted of him Marke the Apostle desires to be absent from the body and to bee present with the Lord so that the soule is present with the Lord whilest absent from the body Then againe that Prayer of Stephen proves it likewise in Acts 7. 59. And they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit It had been uncomfortable for him to have thought that he should have been stoned for Jesus Christ and it must have been above 1600 yeares before Christ should have received his soule but hee prayed Lord Jesus Christ receive my soule which hee would not have done if hee had not beleeved that his soul would have been received by Jesus Christ immediately after death And thus I leave those Scriptures to confirme you in this that the soule doth not sleep in the body but at the departure from the body it doth immediately go to Heaven Fourthly I prove it to you by shewing those grosse absurdities and inconveniencies that will arise in case it should bee denyed that God doth not receive the soule of any Elect man till he doth come to judge the world First it will follow that the godly will bee in a worse condition after they are dead then they were in when they were alive for when they were alive to live is Christ Christ dwelt in their hearts by Faith Now if the soule doth sleep with the body and perish with the body then Christ doth not live in them Christ doth not dwell there by Faith so that this would be uncomfortable that a beleever after death should bee in a worse condition then during this life for here hee lives in Christ by Faith Secondly then it wil follow that God the Father would be more cruell to his people then he would have other men be to their servants which have done their worke Marke that Text Levit. 19. 13. Thou shalt not defraud thy Neighbour neither rob him the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night untill the morning That the Master was not to keep the hire of the Labourer long from him that the Master should not keep the servants wages long from him Now will the great God keep from you who are his servants that have served him here in this world and have done him faithfull service any reward till his last coming No but when you have ended your life and done your worke you receive your wages when your worke is done you have your reward Thirdly observe this if this should bee true that the soules of the Elect men doe not goe to Heaven after death then it will follow that the soules of wicked men doe not goe to Hell after death and how repugnant this is to the Scripture you well know when the Scripture saith in the Epistle of Jude That the men of Sodome and Gomorâ—ha suffered the vengeance of eternall fire And of Judas Acts 25. That hee may take part of this ministery and Apostle-ship from which Judas by transgression fell that hee might goe to his owne place I could give you a multitude of instances where it is shewn the wicked are in Hell 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. By which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison Which sometimes were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waiting in the daies of Noah while the Arke was a preparing wherein few that is eight soules were saved by water To say that a godly man doth not goe to Heaven immediately after death it will follow that a wicked man doth not goe to Hell immediately after death Fourthly it would follow that there should be onely Angels in Heaven and no saints
whereas the scripture saith expresly that Christ shall come from Heaven with his Saints and wee read in Scripture that there are the Spirits of just men made perfect as well as the innumerable company of Angels Fifthly this would follow that it would bee a great discomfort to a godly man on his death-bed to think he should bee so many hundred yeares soule and body in the grave before Christ would bring him to Heaven it would bee a very uncomfortable Doctrine for a man to thinke on that I shall die like a beast that my soule after death shall not bee taken up into Heaven And thus I have proved that immediately after the godly die their soules are received into heaven I have proved it by pregnant instances in the Scripture by generall expressions in the Scripture and by those expresse passages in Scripture and have given you those absurdities that will arise in case it should be denyed A word now from what hath been spoken If it bee that Christ doth receive thee O thou beleever to himselfe before the totall and compleat reception I would then give you this use for to comfort you Use First fear not a dying time let not death bee dreadfull and terrible to thee Beloved were this true indeed that when thou diest thy soule should perish with thy body then a Life is not worth the having but when thou shalt thinke on thy death-bed here now is a disease consuming thy body and sending of thee to thy grave and now there is but a little time betweene thee and Heaven that when I am a dying I am in the very Suburbs of Heaven a little breath between mee and Heaven O how should this comfort a dying man when that hee hath good evidences for Heaven O this should greatly comfort thee against thou comest to die to thinke that thy dead-bed is the very Suburbs of heaven I have read what John said that wrote the Revelarions when hee was ready to die I doe beleeve saith hee that in this very day my soule shall be presented before the Lord Jesus Christ O thinke now thou art leaving thy friends it will not bee a day before Christ and I shall meet in heaven As in the Booke of Martyrs wee read that in Queene Maries time two friends were put to death together One of them was fearfull to thinke that the flames should scorch his flesh O saith the other bee of good comfort for halfe an houre hence thou shalt bee in Heaven O thinke though thou art weake and sick even unto death yet that thou shalt shortly bee with Jesus Christ doubt not of the truth of this For I could even pawn my soul of the truth of it that the soules of the Elect are taken up into heaven immediately after death O then let not death trouble you Doct. 4 The fourth Doctrine here mentioned is the benefit of Christs coming and that is to raise your bodies from the dead and receive them to himselfe This is the particular that I am now to insist upon and receive you to my selfe Obser The Observation is this that the maine end of Christs coming againe is for to raise the bodies of the Elect and to receive them to himselfe not onely to save the Soule immediately after death but to raise the body also There are two Queries in the Doctrinall part of this point touching the end of Christs coming which is to raise the bodies of the Elect and to receive them to himselfe First Why Jesus Christ must raise the bodies of the Elect and receive them to himselfe as well as the soules Secondly when Christ doth receive the body to himself then what endowments doth the body receive as now it hath not First why must Christ receive the body to himselfe as well as the soule There are four reasons First because of the Resurrection of his own body Christs own body is raised from the dead and received up into heaven and therefore the bodies of the Elect must be there also where Christ is there must his members be Christ the head is raised from the dead and received up into glory The Apostle doth give this reason 1 Cor. 15. 12. Now if Christ bee preached that hee rose from the dead c. As if he should have said Christ being risen from the dead doth argue that our bodies must rise from the Grave though they be dead there In 1 Cor. 6. 14. And God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power 1 Thess 4. 14. For if wee beleeve that Jesus dyed and rose againe even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him So that because Jesus Christs body is raised from the dead and received up into Heaven therfore our bodies must bee raised up and received into glory with him Secondly the bodies of the Elect must be raised because of the inhabitation of the Spirit the Spirit doth sanctifie the bodies of the Elect as well as the soules the very God of peace sanctifie you throughout and I pray God that your soule Spirit and Body bee kept blamelesse unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 6. 18 19 20. Flee Fornication every sinne that a man doth is without the body but he that committeth Fornication sinneth against his own body What know yee not that your body is the Temple of the holy Ghost which is in you which yee have of God and yee are not your owne for yee are bought with a price Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods Now the spirit of God having a gracious worke in the body as well as the soule Therefore the body must be raised up from the dead as well as the soule and this the Scripture makes an Argument of the resurrection in Rom. 8. 11. But if the spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you hee that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you So that spirit that raised up Christ from the dead if that dwelleth in you and the graces of the spirit that spirit shall quicken your mortall bodies therefore the bodies of the Elect shall be raised from the dead and received into glory with the soule Thirdly because the body hath a conjunction and co-operation with the soule in all gracious working the body shall bee partner with the Soule being received unto Jesus Christ because the body doth co-operate with the Soule Rom. 8. 13. For if yee live after the flesh yee shall die but if yee through the spirit doe mortifie the deeds of the flesh yee shall live Now being that the godly doe mortifie the deeds of the body and do expose their bodies to tortures and torments for Jesus Christ now because the bodies of the Elect doe co-operate with the soule in good therefore the body shall be co-partner with the soule in good
also Fourthly it proceeds from that neer Union which is betweene a Beleever and Jesus Christ Christ is the head and Beleevers are the members now the members must bee raised and received up to Jesus Christ to make his body a perfect body Thus much for the Reasons why that Jesus Christ at the second coming shall raise and receive the bodies of the Elect to himself as well as the soules The second query is this but what benefit is it to the body what endowments shall the body receive by this when Christ comes First in generall I shall say this to you that the body shall receive more glorious endowments then ever it could bee capable to receive and enjoy here in this world it may bee thy body is endowed with a comely feature yet when Christ comes to receive thy body it shall bee endowed better then now it is Chrysostome saith take Wooll and let this Wooll be dyed into a Scarlet or purple colour dyed in graine yet the Wooll is the same Wooll as it was before when it was white but yet there is a more goodly lustre put upon it Thy body shall bee the same body but thy body shall have more illustrious endowments then now it hath And thus much onely in the generall now to come to particulars I shall resolve this question in these six Particulars There are six glorious endowments that the body shall receive from Jesus Christ at his second coming when he receives the body to himselfe First from being a naturall body as it is now it shall bee made by Christ a spirituall body that is the first endowment thou shalt cast off thy old Apparell of corruptible flesh and blood and shalt bee cloathed with robes of glory it is no contradiction to say a spirituall body because the Apostle useth the expression 1 Cor. 15. 44. It is sowne a naturall body it is raised a spirituall body There is a naturall body and there is a spirituall body The meaning is the body as it lives here is a naturall body needing naturall refreshments but saith the Apostle is shall be raised a spirituall body it shall have no more need of naturall refreshments which the naturall body requireth when it is a spirituall body it stands in no more need of meat no more need of drinke nor sleep and other naturall refreshments it shall bee raised a spirituall body Mat 22. 30. For in the resurrection they neither Marry nor are given in Marriage but are as the Angels of God in Heaven The Angels have no need of food and stand in no need of outward helps Rev. 7. 15 16. Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and hee that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sunne light on them nor any heate Therefore O beleeving soule behold thy happiness of soule and body in glory they shall bee no more standing in need of naturall refreshments then spirits doe when the Scripture saith that your bodies should be received by Christ The Platonick Philosophers understand the body shall bee turned into a spirit into a ghost or into winde or aire but that is not the reason of it it shall bee of the same substance as it is upon the Earth but it shall be refined Secondly the bodies of the Elect when Christ receiveth them to himselfe of vile bodies they shall bee made beautifull it may bee thou hast some deformity but Christ shall refine that body and new varnish and make it beautifull Phil. 3. 21. Who shall change our vile body that it may bee fashioned like his glorious body according to the working whereby hee is able even to subdue all things unto himselfe The body of Christ is a beautifull body neither spot nor wrinckle nor any such thing in it thy body shall bee like Christs glorious Body 1 Cor. 15. 43. It is sowne in dishonour it is raised in glory it is sown in weaknesse it is raised in power Here thy body it is a vile body Elâ—phaz cals the body a house of clay and Job cals it a house of Earth It is the Opinion of Gerrard and he gives strong reasons for it that if there bee any defects upon the body in this world if any of the members of the body be wanting it shall be restored to thee at the resurrection and there are these reasons to be given for it First because our bodies are promised to bee like Christs Body now Christs Body hath no redundant and defective member defect is but the product of sinne and the result of sinne therefore our bodies being said to to bee like Christs Body there shall bee no defect in it Secondly some members are necessarily required to make up the happiness of the Elect in Heaven suppose an Elect man should bee borne blind or lost his eies by casualty if this man should not have his eyes he could never see Christ in Heaven we shall see with these very eyes the Body of Christ The third reason is this because the bodies of the Elect shall bee as Adams body was in innocency Adams body was created perfect by God when Christ raiseth thy body it shall never want a member nor abound in a member thy vile body shall bee beautifull what though others bee 〈◊〉 then thee and clearer skin'd then thee what though others mens Earth bee painted better then thine yet when Christ receives thy body it shall be a beautifull a glorious body therefore you have that phrase Mat. 13. 43. Thâ—â— shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdome of their Father Thirdly from being a mortall body it shall bee by him an immortall body the body as it is here it is a mortall body dying and rotting in the grave but it shall bee made by Christ immortall 1 Cor. 15. 52 53. In a Moment in the Twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the Trumpet shall sound and the dead shall bee raised incorruptible and we shall be changed For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortality Those mortall bodies that must die must bee made immortall and those incorruptible bodies made incorruptible and never die this is the great happiness of the elect that their bodies shall bee made immortall bodies Fourthly the bodies of the elect from being lyable to sorrows and sufferings in the world shall bee made impassive bodies the body here is exposed to Diseases Aches Consumptions and what not the body it is an Hospitall of Diseases a Magazine of all Infirmities but the Lord shall make this body impassive lyable to no sufferings God shall then wipe a way all teares from our eies no sorrows no crying nor no paine there is the great happinesse of the body it shall be made impassive not lyable to hunger thirst paine Diseases and the like Fifthly thy body from being a
heavy and lumpish body as now it is shall bee made an agile and swift body the Eagle shall not flee so strongly as the bodies of the Elect shall flee from place to place and it is grounded from that Scripture 1 Thess 4. 14. for if wee beleeve that Jesus Christ dyed and rose againe even them also which sleep in Iesus will God bring with him Which the body could not doe if the body did not lose its lumpishnesse and heavinesse which it hath here Zanchy doth illustrate it by this comparison â— saith he the body is like the Chick in the agge the Bird in the egge strives not but when it is flusht then it can flie so when thou arâ— raised thou canst goe from one part of the world to another in a moment so was Christs body when it was raised Christ was taken immediately up into heaven which is as Astronomers say if wee may beleeve their guesâ—es above 40 Millions of Miles now the soule hath a lumpish body that it cannot follow the soule therefore the body shall bee made conformable to the Soule the body is now a tyred Jade to the Soule but then it shall not be so Sixthly from being a weak body it shal be made a strong body 1 Cor. 15. 44. It is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory it is sown in weaknesse it is raised in power The body of man is a weake fleshly thing Anselâ—e is of this Opinion on this Text 1 Cor. 15. saith hee mans body shall bee so strong that hee shall bee able to tosse a mountaine as a child would tosse a tennis ball this is the great glory that God puts on the body that being a natural Bodie it shall bee made by Christ a spirituall Body of being a vile Body it shall made by Christ a beautifull Body from being a mortall Body it shall be made an immortall Body from being lyable to sorrowes and sufferings in this world it shall bee made impassive being a heavy lumpish Body it shall bee made an agile Body and from being a weak Body it shall be made a strong Body Now before I come to the Application there are two Objections which lye in the way As in the primitive times there were the Sadduces that held there was no resurrection and after Christs time there was Hymeneus and Philetus which said that the Resurrection was past already and the Church of Corinth was tainted with this Error if Christ be risen from the dead how say some amongst you that there is no Resurrection of the dead Now in the Primitive and Christs time there was this Opinion that there was no Resurrection of the Body and so made this meerely but a poeticall fiction and to be no reall and undoubted truth The Scripture which they urge is this you talke of the Body being raised by Christ how can this bee when the Apostle saith expresly the Body is made of flesh and blood 1 Cor. 15. 50. Now this I say Brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God neither doth corruption inherit incorruption Therefore if flesh and blood cannot come to Gods Kingdom how then can the Body come there First I answer it cannot bee the Apostles intent to impugne the bodies rising for the drift of the whole Chapter is to prove that the Body shall be raised therefore it is not imaginable that in one breath the Apostle should deny and affirme the same thing Secondly the Apostle doth understand by flesh and blood the bodies of men as they have sinfull infirmities cleaving to them in this world the body as it is now a sinfull body an infirme body a weak mortall body as it is now shal never come to Heaven the generality of Interpreters run this way by flesh and blood is understood the bodies of men as lyable to sinne as in this world they shall not be raised up they shall not come to Heaven but we shall bee changed we shall not all sleep but bee changed the Apostle proves this 1 Cor. 15. 50 51. Now this I say Brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God neither doth corruption inherit incorruption Behold I shew you a mystery wee shall not all sleep but wee shall all bee changed Our corruptible Bodies shall not come to Heaven as they are corruptible but come to Heaven by being incorruptible but we shall all be changed that is our Bodies shall be changed from being mortall corruptible and being weake and sinfull to bee holy and Immortall so that flesh and blood as now it is sinfull corruptible till changed and made glorious and pure shall not come to Heaven Second Text which they urge against the Body being glorified and say it is but a fancy Job 14. 7 8. 9. For there is hope of a Tree if it bee cut downe that it shall sprouâ— againe and that the tender branch thereof will not cease Though the root thereof wax old in the Earth and the stock thereof die in the ground yet through the sent of water it will bud and bring forth Bought like a plant But man dieth and wasteth away yea man giveth up the ghost and where is heeâ—â— A Tree faith Iob if that dies it may live again but if man dies hee vanisheth away and where is man on this they build that man shall never live againe To this take this cleare Answer That when Iob speakes Though a tree dies it lives againe but if man dies hee lives not Iob understands it by living againe in this World so there is more hope of a Tree then of a Man But you will aske me how do you prove this for to be Iobs intent I prove it to you from Iobs words in the 12. vers So man lieth down and riseth not till the heavens bee no more they shall not awake nor bee raised out of their sleep So that here Iob speakes of a rising when the Heavens shall bee no more when the world shall be burnt with fire then man shall bee awakned and in the 14. vers If a man die shall bee live againe All the daies of my appointed time will I waite till my change come Iob speaks in this Chapter of the change of the Body and of the raising of the Body Tertullian and Austine say well that there is no Doctrine of Religion is more repugnant to sense and reason There is this reason that may seeme to be against the raising of the Body How is it possible that the Bodies of men can be raised when that they are so confounded together as they are in the Earth Suppose a Man bee killed and devoured by a Wolfe a Lyon eates that Wolfe suppose that the Lyon dyes and the Fowles of the aire eate that Lyon and men eate those Fowles how can the bodies of Men be raised being thus confounded Suppose a Man bee drowned in the Sea and the Fishes in the Sea eat that man how can his substance be gathered
no storm nor tempest to disturb thee but thou shalt be quiet there Eightly in being present with Jesus Christ those who have â—uffered most and doe most for Jesus Christ shall have most glory with Jesus Christ all shall have glory enough he that hath least in Heaven shall have enough every vessell of glory shall bee full yet some shall containe more then others as thou hast had more grace in this world thou shalt have more glory There are degrees of glory in Heaven and there are degrees of torments in Hell there are degrees and orders among the Angels in Heaven not onely Angels but Archangels not onely Cherubins and Seraphins but distinct orders among Angels there surely is an order and degree among glorified Saints that those that have done most for Christ and suffered most for Christ they shall have most glory from Jesus Christ It is the saying of one that as God doth communicate his Graces in an unequall manner in this Life so hee shall crowne them in an unequall manner in the Life to come as thou hast gone beyond some men in graces so thou shalt be beyond some men in glory in enjoying the bodily presence of Jesus Christ thou shalt know all the bodies of all thy well-beloved friends that thou knowest here in the world this most Divines doe concurre in Bolton is very strong for it all our Moderne Authors are for it and some of the Ancients too I onely give it as a probable advantage and comfort then a man shall say Here is the Child that I sought God for and may the Minister say Here is the People that I have Preached to and the people say Here is the Minister now in Heaven that I have heard take these probable grounds for it First that the wicked knew the godly in Heaven Dives in Hell knew Lazarus in Heaven Then wee read likewise in Luke 13. 28. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Iacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdome of God and you your selves thrust out Now if the damned in Hell see Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdome of God why shall not the Godly know one another there Then againe Peter James and Iohn knew Moses in the transfiguration Mat. 13. Then againe the godly they knew the damned in Hell Therefore certainly they may know one another in Heaven It is said in Mat. 8. 11. And I say unto you that many shall come from the East and West and shall sit downe with Abraham and Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdome of Heaven I doe not give you this for certaine I am loath in things controversall tossed to and fro by learned Men rashly to determine but there are strong Hints to build hopes on that in thy knowing of Christ in Person and when the bodies of the Elect shall be raised thou shalt know the bodies of thy Elected Friends Bolton here thinks it should detract much from the happinesse of every Saint in Heaven if every Saint should not know one another which knew one another here upon Earth this addes much to this happinesse in that they shall have a sociable Communion in being with Christ in Person where he is And thus much for the Adjuncts of this Condition that where Christ is there ye may be also 〈◊〉 Use The use then If it be so that where Jesus Christ is that place where he is gone to Heaven there ye shall bee also then I inferre take it well at Christs hand whatsoever thou hast here below suppose thou livest in a smoky Cottage Suppose thou hast not a place to put thy head in O thinke what a place Christ is gone to prepare for thee he is gone to prepare no worse a place for thee then Heaven Nay bee content with a Prison be content with a Dungeon The place in Heaven shall make a recompence for all the obscure places in the World Suppose thou beest as Christ was in the World that the Foxes have holes and the Birds of the Ayre have nests but the Sonne of Man hath not whereon for to lay his Head but he hath a house in Heaven a House not made with hands a building of God he hath his Fathers House in Heaven there you may goe you must be patient though the places you dwell in are not so comfortable as you may desire you shall be where Jesus Christ is Secondly if it be so that it is the great benefit of Christs coming againe to take us to himselfe to be in the same place where he is Then take heed that thou beest not foolish to lose a place in Heaven for worldly profits and preferments for Earth to lose Heaven it is the great baite of these times to have places and preferments and Advantages take heed they doe not make you to lose the place in heaven where Christ is Historians that write of Tâ—iberius stigmatize him for a very foole that would for a drop of drink â—ell his Kingdome and so was called of Tiberius Biberius O there are many such Biberius's in the world â—hat for a draught of drink will venture the danger of drinking down shovels full of fire to their own damnation many in the world that will rather then lofe their places and possessions here upon Earth venture to lose that place where Jesus Christ is Thus I have in ten Sermons finished Five maine Points of Religion And if I goe and prepare a place for you I will come againe and receive you unto my selfe that where I am there ye may bee also FINIS Febr. 24. 1649. Psalm 85. 2. Psalm 14. 1. Psalm 30. 6. Psalm 119. 57. 1 Kings 5. 5. Psalm 39. 1. Multi confitentur iniquitatem suam sed non adversus se sed adversus Deum qui dicunt non hoc feci aut hoc Deus voluit fatum mihi hoc fecit stellae c. Aygnanus in loc Exod. 34. 7. Mic. 7. 18. Levit. 16. 21. Job 13. 13. Et raatum c. poeaam Psalm 32. 3. Spiritualis vomitus Psalm 119. 25. Jer. 31. 18 Cant. 2. 14. Psalm 119. 26. 1 Kings 20. 31 Psalm 32. 6. Dan 9. 20. Psalm 38. 18. Josh 7. 19. Oculos quos culpa claudit poena apeâ—it Greg. Gen. 41. 21. Psal 38. 5. 2 Sam. 12. 13. Multi amane veritatem lucentem not redanguentâ—â— 2 Sam. 12. 13. 1. Sam. 15. 26. S Iam 12. 19. 1 Chron. 21. 17. Psalm 90. 8. Psalm 19. 12. Gen. 4. 13. Act. 26. 10 11. Dan. 9. 5. Dan. 9. 9. Ezra 10. 2. Luke 18. 18. Psal 38. 18. Psal 51. 3. Zach. 12. 12. Exod. 9. 27. 1 Sam. 15. 24. 30. Job 7. 20. Acts 2. 37. Hos 12. 4. Job 32. 18 19 20. Exod. 9. 1. Matth. 27. 3. 2 Sam. 18. 29. Dan. 2. Judg. 10. 10. Luke 18. 13. Dr. Vsher Compare Josh 7. 19. with Josh 22. 20. 10 Defects Hildersham on Psal 51. Psal 51. 5. Rom. 7. 24. Lam. 8. 40. Jer. 8. 6. Thus did Paul 2 Tim. 1. 14. 15. Psal 50. 17. Mehem 9. 17. Revel 18. 21. Job 7. 21. Gen. 3. 21. Revel 3. 18. Esta spiritualis vomitns Bern. Causa sine quâ non Ovid Metamorph lib. 15. Mos erat antiquus inveis atrisque labellis His damnare nos illis absolvere culpa Luke 4. 19. Luke 24. 45. 46. 47. Act. 8. 22. Act. 2. 38. Micah 7. 19. Psalm 38. 18. compared with Psalm 39. 1. Job 10. 14. Psalm 32. 1. 2. Levit. 11. 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simile Omne animi vitium tantò conspectius in se Crimen habet quantò major qui peccat habetur Rom. 5. 15 16 17. Five considerations concerning lesser sins Peccâ—ta minor is infaminae possunt esse major is culpae reatus Rom. 5. 12. Considerations concerning grosse sins Direction to great sinners Aug. in his confession Use 3. Consolations against great sins Cases of Conscience This cavill is brought by the Papists against justification by faith Rom. 10. 15. Mat. 10. 16. Jud. 15. 6. Heb. 11. 32. Luk. 17. 4. 1 Kin. 11. 9. 1 Thes 5. 19. Eph. 4. 30. Mat. 11. 31. Beneficia Christi valent non solum antrorsum sed retrorsum Ger. loc com Aut precantem aut predicantem