vs to grow and preserueth our soules in life Though he be in heauen and we on earth no distance of place can stay this vnion for seeing the members of the body howsoeuer scattered through sundry parts of the world so farre that many of them haue neuer seene others in the face are notwithstanding knit together by the band of one spirit into one holy communion why should it bee denyed but that the head and members of this mysticall body are also one by the same Spirit suppose the head be in heauen and the members on earth or what need is there to enforce for effecting of this vnion such a corporall presence of Christ in the Sacrament as cannot stand with the truth of Gods word Now the comforts that ariseth vnto vs of our communion with Christ are exceeding great for first we haue with him a communion of natures hee hath taken vpon him ours and hath communicated his nature vnto vs. Of the first after a sort all mankinde may glory forasmuch as Christ tooke not on the nature of Angels but the nature of man yet if there bee no more the comfort is small yea the condemnation of man is the greater that the Lord Iesus came vnto man in mans nature and man would not receiue him But as for the godly let them reioyce in this that the Lord Iesus hath not onely assumed our nature but also made vs pertakers of the diuine nature before hee assumed our nature hee sanctified it and now hauing by his owne spirit ioyned vs to himselfe wee may bee out of doubt hee shall not cease till he hath fully sanctified vs. It is a notable comfort that the worke of our perfect sanctification is not left vnto vs to doe the Lord Iesus hath taken it into his owne hand to performe it what then shall hinder it I am perswaded that hee who hath begunne this good worke in you will performe it against the day of Iesus Christ. Hee who at his pleasure turned water into Wine hee who made the bitter vvaters to become sweet hee who makes the wildernesse a fruitfull land and the barren woman to become the mother of many children in a word hee who calles things which are not and causeth them to bee is hee not able to make sinners become Saints or shall hee not perfect that worke of the new creation which hee hath begunne in vs As for man he may begeâ— children but cannot renew their nature he may marrie a Wife but cannot change her conditions no more than Moses qui Aethiopissam duxit sed non potuit aethiopissae mutare colorem who married an Aethiopian woman but could not change her colour But the Lord Iesus hath so loued his Church that hee shall make head and remanent members euidently shewes that this spirituall life is but weake in vs. Last of all by our ingrafting in Christ wee haue this comfort that we are sure of the benefite of perseuerance and that because as the Apostle saith we beare not the root the root beares vs our saluation depends not vpon vs for that were an vnsure foundation it depends vpon him because we are in him we grow and increase yea the older we be in Christ the more we fasten our roote and flourish for they who are planted in the Courts of the Lord flourish in their old age and bring forth fruit and wheras other branches may be pulled away from their stocke eyther by violence of winde or force of the hands of men or at least consumed by length of time it shall not be so with them who are in Christ they keepe not him but are kept by him because I am not changed therefore yee are not consumed O yee sonnes of Iacob but as to those who are not planted in Iesus bee who they will they shall be pulled vp they shall not continue in honour The Princes of the earth their breath shall decay they shall returne to their earth and their thoughts shall perish the Iudges thereof shall bee made as vanitie as though they were not planted nor sowen or as if their stocke tooke no root in the earth The Lord shall blow vpon them and they shall wither the whirle-wind shal take them away like stubble O silly glory of worldlings which dieth to them oftentimes before themselues at least with them their beâ—utie consumes when they go from the house to the graue their pomp doth not descend after them Onely happy sure is the state of that man who is in Christ neyther life nor death things present nor things to come shal seperate him from the loue of God Now the lessons of instruction are chiefely two first is a lesson of humilitie seeing it is so that in Christ we haue life let vs be humble in our selues forasmuch as that which we haue we haue of another so taught the auncient fathers agreeable to holy scripture eleauen hundred yeers before vs which I mark the rather to point out the agreement in one truth between vs and the Fathers of the primitiue Church Ita sunt in vite palmites vt illi nihil conferant sed inde accipiant vnde viuant sic quippe vitis est in palmitibus vt vitale subministret illis non sumat ab ijs ac per hoc manentem in se habere Christum manere in Christo discipulis prodest non Christo the branches are so in the vine that they giue nothing vnto it but receiues from it that sap of grace wherby they liue but the vine is so in the branches that it ministers life vnto them and receiues nothing from them that therefore Christ abideth in vs and we in him is profitable to vs who are his Disciples but not vnto himselfe Thus they learned from our Sauiour who in his speach to his Disciples denyes that man is able to doe any good thing without him as the branch can beare no fruit except it abide in the root no more can ye except ye abide in me for without me ye are able to do nothing And that which is subioyned doth yet more humble vs praeciso palmite potest de viuae radice alius pullulare qui autem praecisus est non potest sine radice viuere though a branch be cut off from the root another may spring out but the branch which is cut off cannot liue without the root it withereth and is meet for nothing but the fire he that falleth away from Christ shall perish like a withered branch but the Lord Iesus shal not want another who shall grow vp in him we stand by faith let vs not be high minded but feare The second is a lesson of thankfulnesse wee who professe that we are in Christ should be fruitfull in good works herein saithâ—our Sauiour is my Father glorified that yee beare much fruit There is such a liuely power in this stock of
which they cannot cut away but if men take so much paines and suffer so strait a dyet of body and bestow so great expenses that they may liue a short vvhile longer vpon earth vvhat should men doe that they may liue for euer in heauen Verse 24. For we are saued by hope but hope that is seene is not hope for how can a man hope for that which he seeth IN this verse and the subsequent the Apostle answeres an obiection seeing hee said before that vve haue receiued the Spirit of adoption how hath he said now that we are still waiting for adoption He doth therefore teach vs that both these are true we are saued now and we looke for a more full saluation hereafter we are adopted now and vve looke for the perfection of our adoption hereafter and that it is so hee proues here by this reason the saluation that novv vve haue is by hope therefore it is not yet come nor perfected The necessitie of this consequence depends vpon the nature of hope vvhich is of things that are not seene nor as yet come to passe This place is abused by the aduersaries to impugne the doctrine of iustification by Faith we are saued say they by hope and therefore not by faith onely That wee may see the weaknesse of their reason we vvill first compare Faith and Hope in that relation which they haue to Christ secondly in that relation vvhich they haue mutually among themselues For we deny not that Faith Hope and Loue each one of them hath a place in the worke of our saluation but the question betweene vs and them is concerning the right placing of them First then it is certaine that both faith and hope looke vnto Christ Iesus Christ and that which he hath conquered vnto vs is the obiect of them both but diuersly for faith enters vs into a present possession of Christ and his benefits he that beleeueth in me saith our Sauiour hath eternall life hee saith not onely hee shall haue it but also that presently hee hath it Hope againe lookes for a future possession of Christ which shall bee much more excellent than that which presently we inioy for the possession of Christ which now I haue by Faith is imperfect and mediate by Faith I know Christ but in part by Faith I apprehend him but in part also and this possession I haue it mediately to wit by the meanes of the Word and Sacraments but my hope directs mee to looke for a mroe excellent possession of Christ within a short while in whom I shall enioy much more than now by the knowledge of my Faith I can see in him or yet by apprehension of my Faith I can comprehend of him And this is that perfect and immediate possession of Christ which by Hope we looke for Now as for their mutuall relation among themselues Faith is of things past present and to come Hope is onely of things to come Faith is more largely extended than Hope wee hope for nothing which wee beleeue not but something wee beleeue for which wee hope not wee beleeue that the paines of hell abide the wicked but we hope them not for hope is an expectation of good to come they may fall vnder feare but come not vnder hope Againe Faith is the mother of Hope for of that imperfect knowledge and apprehension of Christ which I haue by Faith there ariseth in mee an hope and expectation of a better Hope againe is not onely the daughter of Faith but the conseruer and nourisher of Faith the piller that vnderprops it when it faints for in this life we are beset with so manifold tentations the worke of God seeming oftentimes contrary to his word and things appearing to fall out otherwise than the Lord hath promised that our Faith thereby is wonderfully daunted and therefore hath neede to be supported by Hope which teacheth alwayes with patience to depend vpon Gods truth and to looke for a better As for example the Lord saith Call vpon me in the day of thy trouble I will heare thee and deliuer thee and thou shalt glorifie me according to this promise the Christian calling vpon God and yet not finding deliuerance his Faith begins to faint but then Hope comes in and succoureth Faith and her counsell is the vision is for an appointed time at last it shall speake and not lye though it tarry waite for it shall surely come and not stay and this Faith being strengthened by Hope continues her prayers to God vntill she obtaine her promised and desired deliuerance And of this it is euident in what sense it is that the Apostle saith wee are saued by Hope to wit because by it wee are vpholden in trouble for he is not here disputing of the manner of our Iustification which he hath done before but discoursing of those comforts which wee haue to sustaine vs in affliction If ye aske by which of these three Faith Hope and Loue we are iustified that is by which of them we apprehend Christs righteousnes offered to vs in the Gospell the Apostle hath answered already wee are iustified by Faith If yee demand which of these three chiefely sustaines vs in affliction the Apostle here telleth you that when Faith is weake Hope saues vs that wee dispaire not and if yee demaund which of these three declares vs to bee men iustified by Faith in Christ the Apostle telleth you wee must declare our Faith by good workes for Faith worketh by Loue these are the right places which these three excellent graces of the Spirit hath in the worke of our saluation and they goe so ioyntly together that they cannot bee sundred When we say that a man is iustified by Faith onely we doe not therefore make the iustified man to be without Hope and Loue. For albeit in the action of the apprehending and applying of Christs righteousnesse Faith onely workes for which wee say truely wee are iustified by Faith onely yet Hope and Loue haue other actions pertayning to saluation necessarily requisite in the iustified man And this doth cleare vs of that false calumnie wherewith the aduersaries doe charge vs as if we did teach that Faith might be without Hope or Loue because wee affirme that wee are iustified by Faith onely I say most truely when I say that among all the members of the body the eye onely sees but if any man collect of my speach that the eye is onely in the body without eare or hand he concludes wrong For albeit in the facultie of seeing I say the eye onely sees yet doe I not for that seperate it from the communion of the rest of the members of the body In the Sunne heat and light goe inseperably together of these two it is the heat onely that warmes vs doe I therefore say that the heat is without the light Among all the graces of the Spirit when I say that Faith
THREE HEAVENLY TREATISES VPON THE EIGHT Chapter to the Romanes Viz. 1 Heauen opened 2 The right way to eternall Glory 3 The Glorification of a Christian. VVherein the Counsaile of God concerning Mans saluation is so manifested that all men may see the Ancient of dayes the Iudge of the world in his generall Iustice Court absoluing the Christian from sinne and death Which is the first benefit wee haue by our Lord Iesus Christ. Come and see Written by Mr. William Cowper Minister of Gods word LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for William Firebrand and Iohn Budge and are to be sould at his shop at the great Southdoore of Paules 1609. TO THE MOST SAcred Christian truely Catholique and mightie Prince Iames King of great Britaine France and Ireland defender of the faith c. SIR The Apostle S. Paule that chosen vessell of God and his ambassadour sent forth into the world to bring in the house of Iapheth into the tents of Sem hauing in his peregrination vndertaken for preaching from Ierusalem vnto Illyricum seene the most pleasant parts of the world and in an extasie transported from earth into the third heauen seene also the pleasures of Paradise as one who knew both not by naked speculation but experience giues out his iudgement of both that the most excellent things of this world were but dung in respect of the Lord Iesus and that whatsoeuer pleasure on earth may delight the eye or eare they haue vnto others it shal be no small comfort vnto me and my greatest thankefulnesse shal be declared in my dayly prayers vnto the Lord God for your Maiestie that the name of Iacobs God may defend you from all euill and the Lord may send you helpe out of his Sanctuarie in all your need according as hee hath done O King beloued of God hated of none but for Gods sake keepe still your heart in the loue of God and his truth Reioyce in the strength of your God and feare not what flesh can doe vnto you Is it not the Lord who set your Highnesse on the throne to bee a feeder of his people Israel Is it not the Lord who hath deliuered your Maiestie from the contentions of the people and secret snares of your cursed enimies though the Archers grieued you hated you and shot at you were not the hands of your armes strengthened by the hands of the mightie God of Iacob Is it not the almightie who hath blessed your Maiesty with heauenly blessings from aboue with blessings of the depth that lyes beneath with blessings of the breast and wombe Sir let his liberall blessings wherewith the Lord your God hath preuented you be so many obligations binding your Highnesse to honour the Lord who hath honoured you Let his forepast manifold deliuerances be as so many confirmations that if your Maiestie rest in him and not in man he will still be a buckler vnto you Let Abaddon the King of the Locusts that Romish vsurper rage Vnto the Lord belongs the issues of death Can Balaam curse where God hath blessed yea can Sathan hurt the man who is hedged by the Lord Let the Ambassadours of new Babel more shamelesse than Sennacherib his Rabsache raile at good king Ezekiah ruling in Ierusalem the Lord hath yet a hooke for his nosethrils and a bridle for his lips Doe not the eyes of the Lord behold the whole earth to shew himself strong with them that are strong and of a perfect heart toward him Therefore feare not their feare but sanctifie the Lord God of hostes let him be your feare and hee shal be a Sanctuarie vnto your Maiestie Count it a part of your high glorie and no small matter of your Maiesties ioy that with Christ you beare this peece of his crosse that the rebukes of them who rebuke the Lord are fallen vpon you and trust still O King in the Lord and in the mercie of the most High and so your Maiestie shall neuer fall Long may your Highnesse liue and raigne ouer vs as a faithfull seruant to your God and a happie King of many blessings to your people Your Maiesties most humble Subiect and dayly Oratour William Cowper Minister at Perth works of God there is a difference and some of them more cleerely then others declares the glorie of God so it is also among his holy writs they breath all out one truth by a most sweet harmonie diuine enim lectiones ita sibi connectuntur tanqnam vna sit lectio quia omnes ex vno ore procedunt yet ye shall finde that in some of them the Lord commeth neere vnto vs as it were with the face of a man talking familiarly vnto vs in others againe hee mounts high aboue vs as it were with the wings of an Eagle And the Lord hath left it free to delight our selues most in those places of holy Scripture wherein for our estate we haue most edification and to seeke in this Apothecarie shop of that sweet Samaritan the Lord Iesus pharmaca morbo nostro conuenientia such medicines as are meet for our maladie Among all the bookes of the old Testament most frequent testimonies are brought by our blessed Sauiour and his holy Apostles out of the booke of the Psalmes Ierome called it a treasurie of all learning And among all the Epistles of the Apostles no meruaile this to the Romanes haue the first place not that it was first written but because aboue the rest it contayneth a most perfect compend of our Christian faith And this middle Chapter thereof hath in it an Abridgement of all these comforts and instructions one excepted which otherwise are dispersed throughout the whole Epistle and is so to call it a pleasant kâ—ot of the garden and Paradise of God and therefore shall it not be vnprofitable for vs by Gods grace to delight our selues for a while in it As to the connexion of this Chapter with the former wee are to know that it is a conclusion of the foregoing treatise of Iustification Wherein the Apostle summarilie collects the excellent state of a Christian iustified by faith in Christ Iesus declaring it to bee such that there is no condemnation to him that nothing were it neuer so euill is able to hurt him yea by the contrary that all things workes for the best vnto him And because there are onely two euils which grieue vs in this life to wit sinne that remaines in vs and affliction that followes vs in the following of Christ. Against both these the Apostle furnishes the iustified man with strong consolations Comforts against the remanents of sinne wee haue from the 1. verse to the 18. Comforts against our afflictions wee haue from the midst of the 18. verse to the 31. That this is the very purpose and order of the Apostle is euident out of his owne conclusion set downe from
giuen vs such deliuerances shall we returne any more to breake thy Commaundements but much more should it binde vs to doe seruice to our Lord Iesus seeing hee hath made vs free by his bloud shall wee againe make our selues the seruants of sinne The Lord neuer shewed a greater mercie on man then this that hee gaue his sonne Iesus Christ vnto the death for vs and there can be no higher contempt done to God by man then if after so great a loue shewed vs wee shall still refuse to bee his seruants much will be required of him to whom much is giuen those Gentiles to whom the Lord reuealed himselfe in goodnes onely as their Creator because they did not glorifie him the Apostle saith that the wrath of God was reuealed from heauen vpon them and what wrath then maist thou looke for to whom the Lord hath manifested himselfe in mercy also as thy Redeemer in Christ and yet thou wilt not glorifie him thou receiuest not him whom thy Father hath sent vnto thee neyther wilt thou liue vnto him that gaue himselfe to dye for thee but by thy wicked life thou crucifiest againe the Sonne of God and treadest vnder thy feet the bloud of the new couenant certainely Sodome and Gomorrha shall be in an easier estate in the day of iudgement then the wicked of this generation For in this last age the Lord hath spoken to vs by his Son he hath none greater to send after him those labourers of the vineyard that slew the Seruants of the great King were not for that instantly punished but when the Sonne came and they had murthered him also then was their iudgement no longer delayed It was not written for the Iewes onely in whom it was first accomplished but for vs also to whom the Father in this last age hath sent his owne Sonne and by whom hee hath spoken vnto vs from himselfe if we despise him there remaines no more but a violent looking for of iudgement The third dutie is that for Christs sake wee loue vnfainedly those vvhom hee hath recommended vnto vs our goodnesse cannot extend vnto the Lord neither haue vve him vvalking vvith vs vpon earth that vve may minister vnto him may wash his feete and annoynt his blessed bodie vvith precious oyntments therefore should our delight bee vpon these his excellent ones that are vpon earth When Ionathan was dead Dauid for Ionathans sake shewed kindnesse to Mephibosheth our Ionathan is not dead hee liues and raignes in heauen yet can we not declare our kindnesse to himselfe let vs seeke some Mephibosheth some of Christs little weake and impotent children of vvhom he hath said what yee doe to one of these little ones for my sake is done to mee and let vs shew kindnesse vnto them for the great loue which the Lord Iesus hath shewed vnto vs. And that for sinne These wordes containe the end of Christs manifestation in the flesh which is that in our nature hee might beare the punishment of our sinnes satisfie the iustice of God and so abolish sinne Saint Iohn makes this cleare when he saith that hee appeared to destroy the workes of the diuell that is sinne for sinne being remoued there is nothing in man but the workmanship of God By this it is euident how highly they offend God who abuseth the death of Christ to nourish themselues in their sinne being the bolder to commit sinne because Christ dyed for them surely this is to turne the grace of God into wantonnesse The Lord came to abolish sinne not to nourish it Christ once suffered the iust for the vniust not that we should still abide vniust but that hee might bring vs to God Thou therefore who continuest vniust maist say as thou hast heard that there is a Sauiour come into the world but can not say in truth that there is a Sauiour come to thee For where Christ comes hee worketh that worke for which hee came namely hee destroyes the worke of the diuell that is hee enfeebles and abolishes at the last the power of sinne Condemned sinne Sinne by a metaphor is said to be condemned for as they vvho are condemned are depriued of all the liberty power and priuiledges they had before and hath no more any place to appeare in iudgement so hath the Lord Iesus disanulled sinne that it hath now no power to command and condemne vs hee hath spoyled principalities and powers and triumphed ouer them in the Crosse and hath nayled vnto it the obligation of ordinances which was against vs and so sustulit illam quasi authoritatem peccati qua homines detinebat in inferno hath taken away that povver and authoritie of sinne whereby it detayned men vnder damnation This hath hee done most lawfully and in iudgement as vve shall heare bearing our sinnes in his blessed body on the Crosse hee hath suffered that punishment vvhich the law required to bee inflicted on man for sinne and that in the flesh that is in the same nature of man vvhich had offended For this word of Condemnation imports a iust and lawful proceeding of a Iudge in iudgement which that vve may the better vnderstand let vs consider that there are two generall and head iustice Courts vvhich the Lord hath set vnto men the one is holden already the other is to bee holden in the first the sinnes of all the elect are lawfully condemned that themselues may be absolued in the second the persons of all the reprobate shall bee iusty condemned In the first by the ordinance of God the Father our sinnes were laid vpon the back of Iesus Christ and a law imposed to him which was neuer giuen to any other neyther Angell or man to wit the law of a Mediator that hee should make vp peace betweene God and man loue God in such sort that hee should by suffering preserue the glory of his Fathers iustice and yet make manifest the glory of his mercy that hee should loue his brethren in such sort that hee should take the burden of their transgressions vpon him which as by the Father it vvas inioyned vnto him so did hee vvillingly vndertake it And therefore hauing our sinnes imputed vnto him hee presented himselfe for vs vpon the Crosse as vpon a pannell before the Iudge to vnderly the law which craued that our sinnes should be punished to the death The decree according to the law is executed death yea an accursed death as the punishment of sinne is laide vpon Christ wherevpon there followes of equitie an absolution of all those for whom the Lord Iesus suffered as Cautioner their sinne is condemned and made of no force to condemne them hereafter The other generall iustice court will bee holden in the last day wherein all flesh must appeare before the Lord as their superiour and in that supreame and last Court of iustice shall bee condemned the persons of all those whose sinnes were not condemned before in Christ
of man is not able to vnderstand those things which God hath prepared for vs and therefore will rest with Dauid Blessed is the man whom thou chusest and causest to come vnto thee he shall dwell in thy Courts and be satisfied with the pleasures of thine house This being spoken as concerning the excellency of that life in that it is called a life of glory the next thing to bee considered here is the eternitie thereof for there is here a secret opposition betweene our present sufferings of which the Apostle here saith they are but for now and betweene that Glory which 2 Cor. 4. hee cals eternall but herein wee insist not hauing spoken of it before The third thing concerning this Glory here touched is the claritie and perspicuitie thereof it shall be reuealed and not obscured any more as now it is Now our life is hid with Christ in God Now are wee the sonnes of God but it appeares not what wee shall be As our head being the God of glory came into the world in the shape of a seruant so his members yea and to reioyce in our present afflictions vnder hope of that glory to be reuealed in vs. There is no man vve see that will refuse to change for the better he exchanges siluer for gold and giues leade for pretious stones though the better he gets be but in opinion and shall not wee be content like the vvise men of God to forgoe the earth and the pleasures thereof that vve may enioy heauen As for worldlings it is no meruaile to see them take a dunghill of earth in their armes and say vnto it thou art my ioy and my portion for they not being illuminated with the light of the liuing make choyse of that which according to their light they esteeme to be best or if at any time they haue tasted of the powers of the life to come yet are they like those Marchants who hauing tasted wines vvhich pleases them well refuse to buy them being scared with the greatnesse of the price which must be giuen for them euen so haue they their owne ioy at the hearing of the word and hath also their owne desires to be glorified with Christ but when they heare that before they enioy that glory they must suffer with Christ deny themselues for sake their sinfull pleasures and cease from their gainfull trade of wickednesse they giue ouer the bargaine they stumble and fall backe to the former course of their vngodly life But assuredly if we all knew those things which belong to our peace but now are hid from our eyes ten thousand worlds could not keepe vs backe from them and therefore seeing all the cause of our slow running towards that price of our heauenly calling is in the darknesse of our minds let vs pray continually that the Lord would lighten the eyes of our vnderstanding that we may know the riches of his glorious inheritance prepared for the Saints and againe Lord remember vs with the fauour of thy people and visit vs with thy saluation that we may see the felicitie of thy chosen and reioyce with the ioy of thy people and glory with thine inheritance which the Lord graunt vnto vs for Iesus Christs sake Verse 19. For the feruent desire of the creature wayteth when the sonnes of God shall be reueiled WE haue heard hitherto the Apostles first principall argument of comfort against the Crosse taken from the end of our afflictions set downe in the end of the 17. verse If wee suffer with Christ we shall raigne with Christ. This argument hee hath amplyfied in the 18. verse We shall be glorified with such a glory as for weight and eternitie shall farre exceed our present sufferings Now he insists still in the same amplification and he proues that glory must be both a great and a certaine glory First because the creature by that instinct of nature which God hath put into it waites for the reuelation of that glory Secondly because the sonnes of God who haue receiued the first fruits of the spirit by instinct of grace waite also for it Now it can neither be a small thing nor yet vncertaine which God hath taught his creatures both by instinct of Nature and of Grace to long for but it must be some excellent and most certaine good wherevpon God hath set the instinct and desire of his creature This being the Apostles purpose the order of his proceeding is shortly this verse 19. he sets downe a proposition of the creatures feruent desire to see that glory reueiled thereafter he assignes two reasons why they are so desirous of it The first is verse 20. taken from the present hard estate of the creature The next is verse 21. taken from their future better estate vnto the which they shall be restored when the sons of God shall be reuealed and then he concludes this argument verse 22. And this purpose he handles at the greater length because in all the booke of God this subiect is not handled saue in this place onely For the feruent Here as I haue said he sets downe a proposition of that feruent desire whereby the creature waites for the reuelation of the sonnes of God and this earnest that day of our redemption notwithstanding that exhortation belongs vnto vs that wee should looke for that day and hast vnto it As the creatures were not made for themselues but for vs so they shall not be restored for themselues but for vs for the greater augmentation of our Glory and if they who shall haue but the second roome long for that day how should we long for it for whom that glory chiefly is prepared When the sonnes of God shall be reueiled The sonnes of God are now said not to be reueiled in two respects first because their persons are not reueiled secondly because their glory dignitie is not yet reueiled As for the persons of elect men it is true the Lord knoweth who are his and makes themselues also after their effectuall calling to know that they are his his Spirit bearing testimonie vnto their spirits that they are the sonnes of God he giues vnto them that new Name which none knowes but they who haue it but now they are not so reueiled that they are knowne of the world For this cause the world knowes you not because it knowes not him The good wheate of the Lord is now so couered with chaffe and his excellent pearles are locked vp in earthen vessels the vessell is seene and contemned for the basenesse thereof the pearle is not seene and therefore not esteemed according to the excellencie thereof beside this there are many of the sonnes of God not yet come into the world and many already gone out of it whom wee know not but in that genâ—rall assemblie all the Saints of God shall be gathered together into one at the right hand of the
brought vpon them To make this yet more cleare wee are to know that there are three obiects of Sathans malice The first is God and his glory the second is man and his saluation the third is the creature made for Gods glory and mans good The principall obiect of Sathans malice is God and his glory he hates the Lord vvith a deadly and irreconcilable hatred so that if it lay in his power he would vndoe that most high and holy maiestie but because rage as he will he cannot impaire his sacred Maiestie he turnes him to the secondarie obiect which is man and troubles him by all meanes not so much for mans owne cause as for the Lords whose glory he seekes to deface that shines in man And if here also he cannot preuaile by reason that the Lord hath made a hedge round about man he turnes him to the third obiect of his malice which is the creature against which he is so insatiable that if he can be licensed to doe no more yet doth he esteeme it some pleasure to him to get leaue to enter into Swine that he may destroy them and this hee doth not that hee accounts a beast his pray for all the beasts of the earth cannot satisfie this roaring Lyon but that destroying the creature he may driue man to impatience and prouoke him to blaspheme the Lord as by these same meanes he made the Gadarens murmure against Iesus Christ and put him out of their land and this hath beene the course of Sathan euer since the beginning But blessed be the Lord our God who ouer-shootes Sathan and all his intentions that same man whom Sathan wounded hath the Lord restored and shall set his image more glorious in him than it was before and those creatures which Sathan defaced for the hatred he carryeth to Gods glory and mans good the Lord shall restore againe the glory of God encreaseth as it is impugned euery new declaration of Sathans malice shall end in a new declaration of Gods glory neyther is that enimie able to giue a wound to any of Gods children but the Lord shall make it whole and shall at the length confound Sathan by his owne meanes And here because it is commonly demaunded vnto what vse can these creatures serue in that day seeing wee shall haue no neede of the Sunne nor of other naturall meanes whereby now our life is preserued To this I answere that if the Lord will haue these workes of his hands to continue and stand as euerlasting monuments of his goodnesse and witnesses in their kinde of his glory who is it that can contradict it It is enough for vs that wee know they shall be deliuered and transchanged into a more glorious estate but for what vse wee shall best know in that day when we shall see it in the meane time reuerencing the Lords dispensation let vs rather endeauour to be pertakers of that glory than curiously to moue thorny and vnprofitable questions concerning it Now as for the manner of their deliuerance Seeing the Apostle saith that the heauens shall passe away with a noise and the elements shall melt with heate and the earth with the workes therein shall be burnt vp with fire and seeing the Psalmist saith that they shall perish how is it that here the Apostle saith they shall be deliuered This doubt shall easily be loosed if Scripture be made interpreter of Scripture The Psalmist in that same place expones the word of perishing by the word of changing what this changing shall be the Apostle here makes it manifest while he cals it the deliuering of them from one estate into another so that wee are not to thinke that they shall perish as concerning their substance but as concerning those qualities of vanitie seruitude and impotencie whereunto they haue beene subiected by the fall of man As siluer and gold is changed by the fire the drosse perisheth but the substance remayneth so shall these creatures be changed in that day for which cause also they are called new heauens and new earth And out of this wee may perceiue the necessitie of that exhortation giuen vnto vs by the holy Apostle Seeing therfore that all these things must be dissolued what manner of persons ought we to be in holy conuersation and godlinesse seeing the simplest seruant who shall haue any place in that kingdome must be changed and receiue a new liuerie how much more ought wee our selues to be changed who are the sonnes and heyres of that kingdome let vs not deceiue our selues no vncleane thing can enter into that heauenly Ierusalem without sanctification wee cannot see the Lord vnlesse wee be purged from our drosse and puâ—ified and fined by the spirit of the Lord wee shall not dwell in those new heauens wherein dwels righteousnesse Verse 22. For wee know that euery creature groneth with vs also and trauaileth in paine together vnto thâ—s present THe Apostle in this Verse concludes this purpurpose with some amplification thereof for hee ascribes to the creature a groning with vs and a trauailing together in paine whereby he doth yet more expresse the vehemencie of their desire for as he that goeth vnder an heauie burthen grones and longs to be eased thereof or as the woman which trauailes with childe hath a most earnest desire to be deliuered thereof so the creature wearie of this seruitude longs to bee eased This groning of the creature is not to be neglected seeing in holy Scripture wee finde that sometime God complaines to his creatures vpon the sinne of man and somtime the creatures complaines to God miserable is man if hee doe not complaine vpon himselfe In the first of Esay there the Lord complaines to his creatures vpon man Heare O Heauens hearken O Earth I haue nourished and brought vp Children but they haue rebelled against me c. and here againe the creature is brought in groning and complaining to God vpon man The first bloud that euer the earth receiued into her bosome sent vp vnto God a crying voyce for vengeance and the Lord heard it and now the earth meruailes in her kinde that hauing receiued so much bloud of the Saints of God into her bosome the Lord should delay to require it shee wonders againe that the hand of the Lord stablisheth her and makes her beare vp such a number of wicked men as are a burthen to her considering that once he caused her to open and swallow vp Corah Dathan and Abiram and hath many a time since shaken her foundations and destroyed by earth-quake notable cities making the houses of the inhabitants therof their buriall place the burden of sinne being now wonderfully encreased shee meruailes that the Lord causeth her to beare it and for this cause she cryes and grones vnto the Lord and this complaining of the creature wee are not to neglect it as I said for seeing they sigh and grone for the vanitie vnder
his body and leauing them whole and sound hath stricken the heart with such terrours that most valiant men hauing eyes could not see hauing a tongue could not speak hauing hands could not strike to defend themselues and hauing feete could not doe so much as runne away their heart being taken from them by God they are left in a strait and comfortlesse estate But farre more miserable are they when the Lord turnes their owne hearts against themselues and makes them a terrour to themselues A fearefull example whereof wee haue in Belshazzar who seeing nothing without him but the figure of a hand which stirred him not was so stricken and pursued with his owne heart within him that his flesh trembled his countenance waxed pale his knees smote one against another If man considered this he would be loath to prouoke the Lord vnto anger seeing hee can neyther sustaine the wrath of God nor eschew it Moreouer wee are taught here seeing our Prayer is a conference with him who searcheth the heart that we should alway pray with our heart for otherwise if wee draw neere him with our lips our heart being farre from him hee will curse vs as deceiuers that hauing a male in our flock doe sacrifice a lame thing vnto the Lord that is in stead of the seruice of our hearts doe offer vnto him the seruice of our lips The Lord hath no delight in the sacrifice of fooles who are rash with their mouth to vtter a thing before him not considering that hee is in heauen and they are vpon earth the mouth may reach to men who are beside vs the heart onely may reach to God who is aboue It was a very godly protestation that Dauid made Try me O Lord and prooue my thoughts in the night and see if at any time I haue spoken that to thee with my mouth which I haue not thought with my heart and albeit wee haue not as yet atteyned vnto it yet is it that holy sinceritie whereat wee should ayme in all our prayers so to speake vnto God that our conscience may beare vs record that we lye not and that we haue spoken nothing with our mouth which we haue not thought vvith our heart We are therefore for the right ordering of our prayers to take heede to these three things First preparation before prayer Secondly attention in prayer Thirdly reuerent thanksgiuing after prayer As for the first as Moses and Iosua put off their shooes before they came neere the Lord so are we to remoue out of our hearts vncleane cogitations and affections whereby we haue trode in the filth of sinne before we pray for those are neuer lawfull but most vnlawfull in the time of prayer As for worldly cogitations they are sometimes lawfull but neuer in the time of prayer As Abraham vsed his Asses to serue him for the iourney but when he came to mount Moriah the place of the worship he left them at the foot of the hill so the thoughts of the world are sometime tollerable if wee vse them as seruants to carry vs through in our iourney from the earth to heauen but we must not take them with vs into the holy place wherein the Lord is to be worshipped To help vs to the preparation before prayer let vs consider first that he to whom we speake is the Father of light and we are by nature but the children of darknes call therefore vpon him in the sinceritie and vprightnesse of thine heart for he loues truth in the inward affections Secondly he is the Father of glory come therefore before him with feare and reuerence for thou art but dust and ashes Thirdly he is the Father of mercy repent thee therefore of thy sinnes and then draw neere with a true heart in assurance of Faith The second thing requisit is attention in Prayer the Lord to whom we speake is the searcher of the heart and therefore we should beware that we speake nothing to him with our mouth which our heart hath not conceiued For it is a great mockerie to the Lord to desire him to consider those petitions which we haue not considred our selues we scarcely heare what we say our selues and how then shall we craue the Lord may heare vs We finde by experience that it is not an easie thing to gather together in one and keepe vnited the powers of our soule in prayer vnto God Sathan knowes that the gathering of our forces is the weakening of his kingdome and that then we are strongest when we are most feruent in prayer and therefore doth hee labour all that hee can to slacke the earnestnesse of our affection and so to make vs more remisse in prayer by stealing into our hearts if not a prophane at least an impertinent cogitation so that vnlesse we fight without ceasing against the incursion of our enimie like Abraham dâ—iuing away the rauening birds from his Sacrifice vnlesse we expell them speedely as oft as they come vpon vs it is not possible that wee can intertaine conference with God by prayer And thirdly after thy prayer thou shouldst come away with reuerent thanksgiuing It is the fault of many carelesse worshippers they goe vnto God as men goe to a Well to refresh them when they are thirstie they goe to it and their face toward it but being refreshed they returne with their backe vpon it euen so doe they sit downe to their prayers without preparation powre them out without attention and deuotion and when they haue done goes away without reuerent thanksgiuing whereas indeede euery accesse to God by prayer should kindle in our harts a new affâ—ction toward him if we consider that when we pray and gets any accesse so oft we are confiâ—mâ—d in this that he who hath the keyes of the house of Dauid and opens and no man shuts hath opened to vs an entrance to the throne of grace which shall neuer be closed againe vpon vs whereof their should arise in our hearts a daily encrease of ioy which should make vs to abound in thanksgiuing Makes request for the Saints We haue further to learne that none are pertakers of the grace of Prayer but men sanctified in Christ Iesus the Spirit requests for Saints not for prophane and impenitent men howsoeuer sometime they babble for themselues yet are their prayers turned into sinne The curse of Moab is vpon them they pray and preuailes not As without sanctification we cannot see God so without sanctification wee cannot pray to God euery one that calles on the name of the Lord should depart from iniquitie Doe we not feele it by experience that the further we goe from our sinnes the neerer accesse we get vnto the Lord and on the contrary doth not the Lord protest against his people the Iewes albeit yee make many prayers yet I will not heare yoâ— for your hands are full of blood Will you steale murther and commit adultrie and come
Lord in the world to come As this is the comfort of Gods chosen so doth it point vnto vs the contrary miserable estate of the reprobate for there is nothing in heauen and earth which shall not stand vp against them to accuse them the Lord himselfe shall come neere them as a swift witnesse against them O miserable are they to whom the Lord is a Partie a Iudge and a Witnesse as our Sauiour said to the Iewes Moses and all the seruants of God shall be witnesses against them yea the dust of the feete of those who brought the glad tidings of peace shall witnesse against them the stones of the field said Ioshua the heauens and earth said Moses their moth-eaten garments said S. Iames yea they themselues said our Sauiour shall witnesse against themselues woe be vnto them they must be presented to iudgement but shall haue none eyther in heauen or earth to speake for them nothing without them nothing within them which shall not be a witnesse against them when they are iudged they shall be condemned and their owne conscience shall say righteous is the Lord and iust are his iudgements It is God that Iustifies Of this ye may see cleerely that Iustification as the Apostle vseth it here is a iudicial terme for he oppones it to accusation and condemnation but leauing that because wee marked it before in the poynt of Iustification we will adde this more that the Apostle brings not the reason of his comfort from his owne innocencie but from Gods mercy he saith not there is nothing in me worthy to be accused or to be condemned but his comfort is that whateuer it be God hath pardoned it This is it that breedes vnquietnesse and perturbation in many weake consciences they seeke within themselues that which should commend them to God as if they could not be saued vnlesse they were perfect this commeth of Sathans singular subtiltie who labours to creep in betweene vs and our warrant as if our owne innocencie were the warrant of our saluation and not Gods mercy nor Christs merit It is true it becomes vs for our greater comfort to nourish within our selues the tokens of Grace but to conclude that because they are weake therefore wee cannot be saued it is Sathans sophistrie with which wee should not suffer our soules to be abused Verse 34. Who shall condemne it is Christ which is dead yea or rather which is risen againe who is also at the right hand of God and maketh request also for vs. THe Apostle insists in his perticular triumph against sinne and hee demaunds now who shall condemne it may be as wee heard there be some bold to accuse but is there any saith the Apostle that hath power to condemne none at all and that hee proues from the death resurrection exaltation and intercession of Christ for as all these were done for vs so doe euery one of them render vnto vs the sweete fruit of consolation Of the comfort arising from Christs death we haue spoken before The next is his resurrection we haue comfort saith the Apostle in his death but much more comfort in his resurrection therefore saith the Apostle It is Christ who is dead or rather who is risen againe for if wee looke to Iesus dying albeit in death hee shewed himselfe a powerfull Sauiour yet in his death his glory was greatly obscured vnder the couering of mortalitie which againe in his resurrection was more clearely manifested for hee was declared mightily to be the sonne of God by his resurrection and hath made vs sure of the remission of our sinnes for hee had not come out of the prison of the graue if hee had not payed the vttermost farthing of our debt If Christ saith the Apostle be not yet risen then are we yet in our sinnes thanks be to God we may turne it to our comfort Iesus is already risen therefore wee are not in our sinnes As for his exaltation the Apostle saith hee sits at the right hand of God to speake properly the Lord who is a Spirit hath neyther right hand nor left but by these borrowed speaches the Lord who dwelleth in light inaccessible to whom wee cannot ascend by our selues that wee should know him descends vnto vs and speakes of his vnspeakeable Maiestie vnto vs in such manner as wee are best able to conceiue it so that when eyes and eares and hands are ascribed to the Lord wee are to thinke these hee hath per effectum non per naturam And this may rebuke that bolde blasphemie of the Papists who presume to paint the incomprehensible Maiestie of God vnder the similitude of an aged and worne creature expresly contrary to Gods commaundement In that day saith the Lord that I spake vnto thee out of the mountaine thou heardest a voyce but saw no Image beware therefore thou make none and in many places is the same presumption condemned by the Prophets Where if they excuse themselues that they paint the Lord in such a similitude as hee appeared vnto Daniell and no otherway I answere first this is false for sometime which is horrible to speake they paint him in the shape of an humane body hauing three heads but albeit it were true which they say yet doth it not excuse them for the Lords extraordinary facts are not to bee vsed as warrants to breake his ordinary and eternall Commaundements neyther doth it any more excuse them than that deed of the Lord whereby he caused the Israelits to take from the Egiptians their siluer gold and Iewels which they neuer rendred can excuse them that doe borrow steale and robbe from others but neuer restore But howeuer they excuse themselues as long as the word of the Apostle stands true they shall not rubbe off them the blot of idolatry they turne the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of a corruptible man The Maiestie of God is eternall the heauens waxe olde but he remaines the same why then doe they paint him vnder the similitude of a worne creature weakned by the length of dayes The Iesuites of Rhemes conuinced of darknesse are ashamed of the light that shines in this place of Scripture and passe by it without an answer they excuse the making of the Image of Christ and of his Saints but speak not one word to defend that grosse Idolatry whereby they turne the glory of the inuisible God into the image of a corruptible man It had ben good for them they had beene as dumbe in the defence of the rest of their abhominations as they are in this This speach therefore to sit at the right hand of God is a borrowed speach the Metaphor being taken from Kings who vse to set on their right hand those whom they honour most as Salomon did his mother Bathsheba and so the phrase will import that high honour and dignitie whereunto Christ
Iesus as man is exalted being crowned with glory both aboue Angels and men This right hand of God wherat Christ sits is expounded by other places of Scripture to bee the high and heauenly places which serueth to improue that paralogisme of the Vbiquitaries who will haue Christs naturall body to be in euery place because the right hand of God is in euery place It is true indeed Christ sits at the right hand of God but so that hee sits in the high and heauenly places The right hand of God that is the power and glory of God stretches throughout the whole world but wee are plainly taught that the place of the residence of Christ Iesus the man is in the heauenly places and not in earthly places in the high places to which hee is ascended and not in the low places in which we soiourne for the heauens must contayne him vntill the day of refreshment come And makes request also for vs. Christ our Lord hath entred into heauen not to enioy for himselfe a blessed life onely but to appeare in the presence of God for vs. As the high Priest when he entred into the most holy place had grauen in stones vpon his breast the names of the twelue tribes of Israell so the Lord Iesus presents to his father the names of all his elect that by the merit of his death hee may procure mercy vnto them Here againe wee are taught that Iesus Christ is descrybed to vs in holy Scripture as our mediatour of intercession and that there is no other beside him recommended vnto vs. In all the old testament no prayer is made to Henoch Moses nor Eliah who ended their dayes not after the common course of men no prayer to Abraham albeit he was the Father of the faithfull yea no prayer to Cherubin nor Seraphin though now the Apostate Church of Rome haue made as many aduocates for vs in heauen as there are Saints departed and hath framed perticular prayers vnto them and which is more ridiculous hath parted among them the patrocinie of sundry sorts of sicknesse and diseases It is true indeed that the Saints which are departed haue not as yet all their desires fulfilled and shall not be perfected without vs wherefore also it is that they long for the full gathering together of the Saints and for the restitution of their bodyes and for the last day of iudgement but that they know the perticular troubles of Gods children our greatest troubles being inward tentations and wrestlings of conscience neither knowne to man nor Angell but onely to God who is the searcher of the heart or that we can in faith vse them as mediators vnto God for vs wee iustly deny it Where if they take them vnto their common refuge that ther is but one mediator of redemption but many mediators of intercession to this wee answere that in the same place wherin the Apostle saith there is one mediator betweene God and man the subiect whereof hee entreats is Prayer so that euen in prayer he will haue vs to acknowledge no mediator of intercession but Iesus Christ. And beside this Augustine doth so define a mediator of intercession that it can be competent to none but to Iesus Christ. It is commanded sayth he that euery Christian pray to God for another Pro quo autem nullus interpellat sed ipse pro omnibus hic vnus verusque mediator est but he who requests for all and for whom none requests is the onely one true Mediator And where againe they alledge that the Saints of God in heauen are not ignorant of things done vpon earth we are to know that things are knowne three manner of wayes first by hearing and seeing Secondly by reflex as by looking in a glasse those things are made knowne to vs which are behind our backes and thirdly by report This second and third way say they there is no doubt but Saints that are in heauen know those things which are done vpon earth but both of these are false for if they say they know our estate by report of Angels or such as are departed this life how can that be seeing wee know that when Hanna prayed in the presence of Eli yet hee knew not her trouble yea those who liue in one familie are not priuie to the tentations of others that which they knew not in their life how shalt thou make them to know it when they are dead If againe they say that they haue it by reuelation from God then I pray you consider how that one errour of Papistrie dashes against an other for sometime in the same controuersie they say that as in earthly courts we must first communicate our petitions to those who must be our mediators to the King now if it be so that they haue no intelligence of our estate but such as they receiue from God wherefore shall wee pray to them to commend our cause vnto God who knowes it better than they pities it more than they as Augustine prettily obserues out of that Parable proponed by our Sauiour wherein he who knocked at midnight to seeke bread from his neighbour found the whole familie a sleepe onely the Master of the house answered opened and gaue him that which he craued Nullus de ianitoribus respondit quia omnes tenuerat sommus non Angeli non Archangeli non Prophetae non Ministri None of the Porters answered because they were all asleepe neither Angels nor Archangels nor Prophets not Seruants made any answere but O Lord albeit so it be answere thou me for at thee I knocke thou art the doore licet puâ—ri tui dormiant tu non dormis qui custodis Israel albeit thy children sleepe yet thou that keepes Israell sleepes not But leauing them let vs pray to the Lord in whom wee beleeue let vs vse the mediation of Christ whom S. Iohn recommends to vs an aduocate with the Father whom Saint Paul calles in this place our intercessor and in that to Timothie our onely one Mediator For knowledge his eyes are like flaming fire and his seauen eyes goe through the earth for compassion hee came into the earth to seeke vs when wee knew him not and hee gaue his life for vs that wee might liue he speaks perpetually to his Father for vs by the merit of his death and cryes to vs by himselfe in his word Come to me all you that are weary and laden and I will refresh you Let the Papist say what he will to any other than Christ or any other before Christ will I neuer goe so long he as cryes Come vnto me Verse 35. Who shall seperate vs from the loue of Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or sword WEe haue heard the Apostles perticular triumph against sinne now followes his perticular triumph against the Crosse he glories not
destroyed But that the greatnesse of this benefite which we haue by Iesus Christ may the better appeare let vs see what a condemnation this is from which we are deliuered In the Scriptures there is ascribed to man a iudging by which he absolueth or condemneth there is also ascribed to God a iudging by which he absolueth or condemneth As to mans condemnation we are not exempted from it Daniel condemned for a Rebell Ioseph condemned for an Adulterer Iob condemned of his friends for an Hypocrit our Sauiour condemned for an Enimie to Caesar his Disciples condemned and iudged worthy of stripes stand as so many examples to confirme vs that vve faint not when vve are condemned of men yea vvith the Apostle vve must learne to passe little from mans iudgement and striue in a good conscience to be approued of God for sure the Lord vvill not peruert iudgement it is farre from the Iudge of all the world to doe vnrighteously hee vvill at the last plead the cause of his Seruants and bring their righteousnesse to light This condemnation then from which vvee are deliuered is the sentence of God the righteous Iudge by which finding man guiltie of sinne for sinne hee adâ—â—dgeth him vnto eternall damnation from this all they who are in Christ are deliuered Hee that beleeueth in him who sent mee hath euerlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life In this condemnation the Lord proceedes at three sundry dyats against the wicked First hee condemneth them in the Court of Conscience Next in the day of their particular iudgement Thirdly in the day of generall Iudgement First I say the Lord holdeth a Iustice Court against the vvicked in his owne Conscience For the Lord iudgeth the righteous and him that contemneth God euery day After sinne committed by him there ariseth in his Conscience accusing thoughtes and there is a sentence vvithin him giuen out against him The Apostle speakes it of Heretikes one sort of vvicked men and it is true in them all they sinne being damned of their owne selues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by themselues Iudgement is giuen out against themselues which sentence albeit euery vvicked man doe not marke the voyce of their disordered affections sometime being so loud that they heare not the condemnatoâ—ie voyce of their Conscience so clearely as it is pronounced yet doe they heare as much as makes them inexcusable and breedes in them a certaine feare and terrour which is but a fore-runner of a more fearefull iudgement to come vvhich howsoeuer in time of their securitie they labour to smoother and quench by externall delights yet at the length affection shall bee silenced and Conscience shall pronounce sentence against them vvith so shâ—ill a voyce that their deafest eare shall heare it This I haue marked that vve may learne not to esteeme lightly the Iudgement of our Conscience but that so oft as vvee are condemned by it vvee may make our refuge to the throne of Grace to seeke mercy For if Conscience condemne vs God is greater then the Conscience and will much more condemne vs Ascendat itaque homo tribunal mentis suae si 〈◊〉 illud meminerit quod oportet eum ante tribunal Christi exhiberi Let therefore a man saith Augustine goe vp to the tribunall of his owne mind in time if he feare it let him remember that he must be presented before a greater tribunall The second dyat of iudgement which the Lord keepes against the wicked is in the houre of death wherein the Lord doth not onely repeat their former sentence of condemnation and that in a more fearefull and iudiciall manner but proceeds also to execution adiudging their bodies vntill the day of last iudgement to the prison of the graue to vnderly that curse pronounced on man for his Apostasie and condemning their spirits to be banished from the presence of God and cast into vtter darknesse Let not therefore the wicked man nourish himselfe in sinne with a vaine conceit of the delay of iudgement wherefore wilt thou put farre from thee the euill day what suppose the day of generall iudgement were not to come for many yeeres is not the day of thy perticular iudgement at hand vnto which thou shalt be drawne sodainely and perforce in the midst of thy deceiuing imaginations thou shalt bee taken away in an houre wherein thou thought not to dye more miserable than that rich glutton who hauing stored his head with false conclusions dreaming of many dayes to come when he had not one was that same day taken away to iudgement And this shall moue vs the more if we doe remember that such as we are in the day of death such shall we bee found in the day of iudgement In quo enim quemque invenerit suns nouissimus dies in hoc eum comprehendet mundi nouissimus dies quia qualis in die ifto quisque moritur talis in die illo iudicabitur and euery man in the last day shall be iudged to bee such as hee is when hee dyeth It would waken vs all more carefully to thinke vpon our end that so we might prepare our selues for this second dyat of iudgement But the third day of iudgement shall be most fearefull when all the wicked being gathered together in one shall bee condemned in that high and supreame court of iustice which the Lord shall hold vpon all that euer tooke life then shall the full measure of the wrath of God bee powred vppon all those who are not in Christ Iesus both in soule and body they shall bee punished with euerlasting perdition This iudgement shall bee most equitable for when that Ancient of dayes shal sit downe vpon his white throne before whose face heauen and earth shall flee away and when the Sea and the Earth hath rendred vp their dead then the bookes shall bee opened according to which hee shall proceed vnto iudgement And the bookes are two the booke of the law which sheweth to a man what the should doe and the booke of Conscience which sheweth him what hee hath done by those shall the wicked man bee iudged and hee shall not bee able to make exception against any of them against the booke of the law hee shall bee able to speake nothing for the Commandements of the Lord are pure and righteous altogether And as to the booke of conscience thou canst not denye it the Lord shall not iudge thee by an other mans conscience but by thine owne that booke thou hast had it alway in thine owne keeping who then could falsifie it neither is any thing written in it of things thou hast done but that which thine owne hand hath written how then canst thou make any exception against it Thus the bookes being opened the iudgement shall proceed in this manner The Law shall pleade for transgression of her precepts requiring that the
spirit are not sure of mercy ye blaspheme as of before speakes yet manifestly against the Apostle who sayes that the witnessing of this spirit vnto our spirit makes vs to cry Abba father But wee will speake more of this hereafter But now to conclude this verse seeing hee who hath not the spirit of Christ is none of his whose then shall hee be certainely he is the vassall of Sathan the Lord shall deny him the Lord shall disclaime him as not belonging to him depart from mee yee workers of iniquitie I know not whence you are O the bitter fruit of sinne which causes the Lord to deny that creature to be his which once he made to his owne image Let vs therefore hate our sinne vnto death let vs in time make hast to depart from iniquitie which shall at the last draw on that sentence vpon the wicked depart from me The Lord deliuer vs from it through Iesus Christ. Verse 10. And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sinne but the Spirit is life for righteousnesse sake HItherto hath the Apostle comforted the Christian against the remanents of sinne now hee comforts him against the fruites and effects of sinne which he findeth in himselfe The godly might haue obiected ye haue said before the fâ—uite of carnall wisedome is death are wee not subiect vnto death and so of the fruites and effects of sinne what can wee iudge but that wee are carnall To this hee answeres first by a confession it is true that the body is dead because of sinne but if Christ be in you the spirit through his righteousnesse is endued with life yee are not therefore to conclude that yee are carnall because death through sinne is entred into your bodies as to confirme your selues in this that life through the righteousnesse of Christ is communicated to your soule and so the summe of his comfort will bee this the death whereunto you are subiect is neyther totall nor perpetuall that it is not totall he declares in this verse for it strikes not vpon the whole man but vpon the weakest part of man which is his body as for his most excellent part which is his soule it is pertaker of a life that is not subiect vnto death That it is not perpetuall he declares in the next verse our bodyes shall not bide for euer vnder the bands of death the spirit of Christ that now dwels in them shall at the last raise them vp from death and cloth them with immortalitie and incorruptibiliâ—ie If Christ be in you Before the Apostle bring in his comfort hee premits a conâ—â—tion to teach vs that the comforts of God belong not indifferently vnto all men hee who is a stranger from Christ hath nothing to doe with these comforts When our Sauiour commaunded his Disciples to proclaime peace vnto euery house they came to hee foretold them it should abide onely with the sonnes of peace he foâ—bad them in like manner to giue those things which were holy vnto dogs or to cast pearles before Swine This stands a perpetuall Law to all Preachers that they presume not to proclaime peace to the impenitent and vnbeleeuing but as Iehâ— spake to Iehorams horseman What hast thou to doe with peace so are wee to tell the wicked who walke still on in their sinnes that they haue nothing to doe with that peace preached by the Gospell Secondly if wee compare the former verse with this we shall see that the manner of Christs dwelling in his children is by his Spirit To make vp our vnion with Christ it is not needfull that his humane nature should bee drawne down from heauen or that his body should be euery where as the Vbiquitaries affiâ—me or that in the Sacrament the bread shold be transubstantiate into his body as the Papists imagine his dwelling in vs is by his spirit and our vnion with him is spirituall neyther yet by so saying doe wee diuide his two natures for they are inseperably vnited in one personall vnion which vnion doth not for all that import that his humane nature is extended ouer all as his diuine nature is The heauens must containe him till hee come againe Noli dubitare ibi esse hominem Christum vnde venturus est Put it out of doubt that the man Christ Iesus is in that place from which hee shall come Keepe faithfully that Christian confession He is risen from the death ascended vnto Heauen and sits at the right hand of his Father and that hee shall come from no other place but from Heauen to iudge the quicke and the dead and hee addeth that which the Angell said to his Disciples this Iesus who is taken vp from you into heauen shall so come as ye haue seene him goe into heauen that is saith Augustine in eadem carnis forma atque substantia cui profecto immortalitatem dedit naturam non abstulit that is in that same forme and substance of flesh to the which hee hath giuen immortalitie but hath not taken away the nature thereof Secundum hanc non est pâ—tandem quod vbique est diffusus vbique per id quod Deus in coâ—lo autem per â—d quod homâ— according to this nature wee are not to thinke that he is in euery place it is true that as God he is euery where but as man he is in the heauens and this for the condition Now to the comfort wee haue by Iesus Christ a threefold comfort against death whereof two onely here are touched The first that the death whereunto we are subiect is not totall The second that the nature and qualitie of our bodilie death is changed The third that it is not perpetuall the body shall not for euer lie vnder death The Ethnicks had also their owne silly comforts but nothing comparable to ours Nazianzen records that Cleopatra Queene of Aegypt demaunding of certaine learned men what kinde of death was without the bitter sense of paine receiued this answere there is no death without dolour but that death was most gentle which was brought on by the Serpent Aspis and namely that kinde thereof which is called Aypnale because they whose flesh is enuenomed with the poyson therof doe incontinently sleepe vnto death for which cause also shee made choyse of it And Seneâ—a being by Nero to bee executed to death got it left to his owne pleasure as great fauour shewed vnto him to make choyse of any death hee pleased he chose to bleede to death in hote water others among them that offered themselues to most fearefull deaths such as Curtius Regulus and others had no comfort to sustaine them but a silly hope of immortall fame of their affection to their country It was saith Augustine the silly comfort of the Gentiles against the want of buriall Coelo tegitur qui non habet vrnam and as comfortlesse is the comfort of many
it in the graue longest from rottennesse and corruption and how when themselues are gone to preserue their names in immortall remembrance with the posteritie thus by the very instinct of nature are men carried away with a desire of eternitie but herein are they foolish that they seek it the wrong way they lay out their siluer but not for bread they spend their labour and are not satisfied immortalitie and life is to bee sought there where the word of the Lord directs vs let the Spirit of Christ dwell in thee and thou shalt liue otherwise though thou wert the greatest Monarch in the world though all thy meate were soueraigne medicines though thy body were laid in graue with as great externall pompe as worldly glory can afford to any creature and thy flesh were embalmed with the costliest oyntments these are but miserable comforts perishing preseruatiues thou shalt lye downe in dishonour and shalt be raised in greater dishonor to euerlasting shame and endlesse confusion Now as wee haue these three degrees of eternall life by the Spirit dwelling in vs so are wee to marke the order by vvhich hee proceedes in communicating them vnto vs first hee restores life to the soule and secondly he shall restore life vnto the body saith the Apostle where the one is done bee assured the other shall bee done the one is the proper end of his first comming therefore his Heraulds cryed before him Behold the Lambe of God who taketh away the sins of the world In his second comming shall bee the redemption of our bodyes when hee shall appeare hee shall change our vile bodies and make them like to his owne glorious bodie Let this reforme the preposterous care of men art thou desirous that thy body should liue be first carefull that life be communicated to the soule for surely the redemption of thy body shall not follow vnlesse the restitution of thy soule goe before Oportet cor nostrum conformari humilitati cordis Christi priusquam corpus conformetur glorioso corpori eius our heart must first bee conformed to the humilitie of Christs heart before that our body be configurated to his glorious body this is the first resurrection blessed are they that are pertakers of it for vpon such the second death shall haue no power But it is out of doubt qui non resurgit in anima resurget in corpore ad poenam hee that riseth not now in his soule from his sinnes shall rise hereafter in his body to iudgement But now leauing the condition to come to the comfort he that raysed vp Christ from the dead saith the Apostle shall also quicken your mortall bodies What necessitie is there here that he who raysed Christ shall raise vs yes indeed the necessitie is great the head and the members of the misticall body cannot be sundred seeing the head is raysed from the dead no member can be left vnder death the Lord workes in euery member according to that same mightie power by which hee wrought in the head his resurrection necessarily imports ours seeing hee arose not as a priuate man but as the head of all his members full of power to draw the body after him and to communicate that same life to euery member which he hath declared in himselfe Christ in risen from the dead and is made the first fruits of them that sleepe the first fruit is â—isen the after fruit shall in like manner follow Vexit in coelum carnem nostram tanquam arhabonem pignus totius summae illuc quandoque redigendae the Lord Iesus hath carryed our flesh into heauen as an earnest and pledge of the whole summe which afterward is to be brought thether hee hath not thought it inough to giue his spirit vnto vs here on earth as the earnest of our inheritance but to put vs out of all doubt hee hath carryed vp our flesh into heauen and possest it in the kingdome in the name of all his members Who raysed vp Iesus from the dead Then we see that our Lord was once among the dead but now is risen from them let vs not then be afraid when God shall call vs to lye down among the dead also shal the seruant be ashamed of his Masters condition or will the patient refuse to drink that potion which the phisition hath tasted before him No we must follow our Lord through the miseries of this life through the dolours of death through the horrours of the graue if wee looke to follow him in his resurrection in his ascension to be amongst those hundred fortie and foure thousand in mount Sion who hauing his fathers name written in their foreheads follow the Lambe wheresoeuer hee goeth singing that new song which none can sing but they whom hee hath bought from the earth When those women came to seeke the Lord Iesus in the Sepulchre all the feare they had conceiued concerning Christs death the Angels remoues it by sending them to meditate on the resurrection Why seeke yee him that liueth among the dead hee is not here but hee is risen Wee are not yet laid downe among the dead but or euer we goe to the graue we haue this comfort that the Lord by his power shall raise vs out of it where the head growes through the members will follow Per angustum passionis foramen transiuit Christus vt latum praeberet ingressum sequentibus membris Our Lord is gone through the narrow passage of death that he might make it the wider and easier to all his members who are to follow him We see by experience the body of a man drownes not though it be vnder the water as long as the head is borne aboue many of the members of Christ are here in this valley of death tost too and fro in this sea of tribulation with continuall tentations yet our comfort is we cannot perish for our head is aboue and a great part of the body liuing and raigning with him in glory there is life in him to draw forth out of these miseries all his members and hee shall doe it by that same power by which he raised himselfe from the dead For we are taught here that our resurrection is a worke not to be done by man nor the power of nature but by the power of God we are not therefore to hearken to the deceitfull motions of our infidelitie which calles in doubt this article of our Faith wee must not consider the imbecillitie and weaknesse of nature neither measure heauenly and supernaturall things with the narrow span of naturall reason but as it is Abrahams praise the father of the faithfull that when God promised him a sonne in his old age he was not weake in the faith hee considered not his owne body which was dead neither the deadnesse of Sarahs wombe but was strengthned in the faith and gaue glory to God being fully assured that he who
Adoption we pray vnto God without that Spirit men may speake of God but without him they cannot speake vnto God Prayer is a proper action of the sons of God The Apostle describing them who are Saints by calling saith they are sanctified by Christ and call vpon the name of the Lord Iesus hee ioynes these two together to tell vs that they who are not called by God and sanctified in Christ cannot call vpon him as for prophane men it is certain they cannot pray though they repeat that prayer Our Father which art in heauen what else doe they but multiply lyes as they multiply words Onely the spirit of Adoption teacheth the Children of God to pray Prayer is vnto them like that fire Chariot in the which Eliah was carried from earth to heauen by it they are transported to haue their conuersation with God and speake to him in so familiar a manner that they know not those things which are beside them neyther see they those things which are before them being in the body they are carried out of the body they present to the Lord sighs which cannot be expressed and vtters to the Lord such words as they themselues are not able to repeat againe and that all this proceeds from the operation of the Spirit who bends vp their affections and teacheth them to pray is euident by this that when this holy Spirit intermits or relents his working in them they become senselesse and heauy hearted more ready to sleepe with Peter Iames and Iohn than to watch and pray with Iesus yea suppose it were in the very houre of tentation Wee cry c. The Apostle you see reckons himselfe among others who cryes by this spirit of Adoption though the children of God be many yet seeing they all are led by one spirit they should all cry for one thing vnto God the assemblies of the Church militant on earth should resemble as neere as they can the glorious assemblies of the Church triumphant in heauen many are they who followes the Lambe their voyce is like vnto the voyce of many waters yet they all sing but one song so should there be among vs that are Christians but one voyce specially when we meet in the publike assemblies of the Church though wee were neuer so many yet our affections and desires should concur in one and all of vs send vp one voyce to the Lord. Wee see that in nature coniunction of things which are of one kinde makes them much stronger many flames of fire vnited in one are not easily quenched many springs of water if they meet together in one make the stronger riuer but being deuided are the more easily ouercome Saint Iames saith the prayer of one righteous man auailes much if it be powred out in faith what then shall we thinke of the prayers of many Oh what a blessing might we looke for if wee could ioyne in one to call vpon God but now alas where one with a contrite hart cryes to God for mercy how many by continuance in sinne cryes to him for iudgement what meruaile then the arme of the Lord be shortned toward vs and hee doe not help vs As they who resolue to lift any heauie burthen ioyne their hands together vnder it and so by mutuall strength makes that easie to many which were impossible to one so when we are assembled together to lift from off our heads by vnfayned repentance that burthen of the wrath of God which our sinnes hath brought vpon vs if there be among vs no deceiuers but that euery man in the sinceritie of his hart ioyne his earnest supplication with the prayers of his brethren what a blessing may wee looke for Take heede therefore how you behaue your selues in the holy assemblies though they should neuer bee brought forth by speach of the mouth and this for their comfort who through extremitie of sicknesse or otherwise are not able to vse their tongues in prayer to God Father wee learne here that the Parent which begets Prayer is the Spirit of adoption the mother that conceiues it is the humble and contrite heart for no proud vncleane and hard heart can pray vnto God the vvinges whereby it ascends are feruencie and an heauenly disposition feruency is noted in the word of Crying for as in crying there is an earnestnesse of the powers of the body to send out the voice so in prayer should there bee an earnestnesse of the powers of our soule to send vp our desires As incense without fire makes no smell and therefore the Lord commaunded it to bee sacrificed with fire in the Law so prayer without feruencie sends vp no sweet smell vnto the Lord. Our heauenly disposition required in prayer is collected out of this that hee to whom wee speake is our Father in Heauen if our mindes bee earthly wee can haue no communing with him that is in heauen vvee must therefore ascend in our affection enter within the vaile if vvee would speake familiarly vvith our Father Prayer this manner of way sent vp and presented to our aduocate and intercessor the Lord Iesus out of the hand of Faith cannot but returne a fauourable answere if not at the first as in the very time of Prayer Daniell receiued his answer yea at the beginning of his supplication as the Angell Gabriell informed him the commandement came forth to answere him yet shall not the Lord faile in his owne good time to fulfill the desires of them vvho feare him Manifold examples of holy Scripture lets vs see that Prayer this vvay powred out vnto God is most effectuall At fiue sundry petitions did not Abraham bring the Lord from fitie to ten euery petition returnes to Abraham some vantage faine vvould Abraham had Sodome preserued for Lots cause at his first request hee got this answere that the Lord would spare it for fiftie righteous mens sake if they might be found in it but at the last from fiftie hee brings him to ten as long as Abraham prayed the Lord answered and for euery petition hee yeelded something to Abraham and most comfortable is it that the Lord ceases not from answering till Abraham ceased from asking any more When Peter prayed vpon the house top he fel into a trance and saw a heauenly vision when Iesus prayed vpon Mount Tabor he was transfigured and if at any time the children of God bee transformed from an earthly disposition to a heauenly they finde in their owne experience that it is in the time of prayer Sathan for this cause is a most troublesome enimie to the exercises of the word and of prayer because the one is the mother the other is the nurse of all the graces of God in vs either hee makes men lightly to esteeme the exercise of prayer or then doth what he can to interrupt them in it as that Pithonisse interrupted Paul while hee was going to pray
reuealed he tels vs 2. Cor. 12. so that his words wee are to consider this way let other men count and reckon as they will this is my reckoning who haue proued them both there is no comparison betweene them What knowledge hee had of the weight of our present sufferings he tels you by a three-fold vniuersalitie first that hee had suffered all kinde of crosses hunger thirst cold nakednesse rods stonings imprisonnings secondly that he suffered in all places in the sea in the land in the citie in the wildernesse where euer he came to preach the Gospell there was he persecuted by some one sort of trouble or other thirdly that hee suffered of all sorts of persons both of the Gentiles and of his owne nation both of open enimies and of false brethren Againe as for his experience of the glory to be reuealed hee tels you how hee was taken vp into Paradise and there heard such words as cannot be reuealed This conclusion therefore is the more to be esteemed of vs because he who giues out this iudgement of the excellency of the one aboue the other is such a one as had experience of them both hee made a iourney on earth from Ierusalem to Illiricum all which way preaching the Gospell he suffered many afflictions he made another iourney from earth to heauen whether in the body or out of the body hee could not tell and there he saw that inutterable glory and comparing with himselfe these two together hee giues out this for a finall sentence that all our present afflictions are but light in respect of that infinite weight of glory to bee reuealed As for worldlings wee are not to stand vpon their testimonie for as hee cannot giue ouâ— right sentence between two parties that heares not both their causes so cannot the worldling who knows somthing both of the pleasures and sorrows of this life but nothing of the ioyes which are to come consider how farre the life to come is to be preferred before this and therfore albeit in the conclusions of his heart hee giue out sentence in fauours of the life present we are not to regard it because he hath not heard nor considered that which tends to the commendation of the other Wee see then here how that our strength in trouble is greatly encreased by the sight at least by the certaintie of that glory which will be the ende of our trouble this sight made the Apostle count light of his present sufferings let Stephen haue his eyes in prayer to see the Heauens opened and Iesus standing at the right hand of God and hee shall not bee moued with the stones which the Iewes violently throw at him let Moses see him who is inuisible and hee shall not feare Pharaoh let him see that recompense of reward and he shall be better contented to suffer rebuke with the people of God than to enioy the treasures of Egypt this is that which made the Martyres stand exulting and reioycing euen then when Infidels tormented their bodyes If they had beene in the body they had felt the paine and it had disquieted them nunc vero non mirum si exules a corpore dolores non sentiant corporis but now no meruaile that being out of the body they felt not the dolors of the body and where thinke yee was then the soule of the Martyr certainely in a sure place euen in Petra in the rocke of inuincible in the bowels of Christ non sua sentit dum Christi vulnera intuetur hee feeleth not his owne wounds while as stedfastly hee fixeth his eyes vpon the wounds of Christ neyther will hee be afraid for the losse of this life who hath laid hold vpon eternall life and is made sure of a better Let vs therefore pray vnto God diligently that our eyes may be opened to see the riches of that glorious inheritance that as wee speake and heare of it so in like manner wee may see and feele it for the sight thereof makes all trouble easie yea causeth the bitternesse of death to passe away if the world threaten vs with her terrours let vs remember they are not comparable to Gods terrours let vs not feare them who killeth the body and are able to do no more faint vnder trouble Can ye not suffer with me one houre It was the comfort that Athanasius gaue to the Church in his time that Iulian should be but Nubeculo cito transitura a stormy little cloud that vvould quickly passe by and it is certainely true both of our troubles and of all the instruments thereof let vs waite a while on our God with patience and vve shall see them no more This shortnesse of our afflictions depends vpon the breuitie and vanitie of our life which in the estimation of Gods spirit is so short and vaine a thing that he vouchsafes not the name of life vpon it without some restriction Indeed it bewitcheth vs so that in our false imagination wee conceit there is more soliditie and continuance in one yeere that is before vs then in tenne that are past by vs the time which is past is gone away like a thought and that which is to come we thinke it longer then indeede by experience wee shall finde it But the spirit of God who best knowes it giues vnto it the name of life as I said with a restriction hee calles it a momentanie life it is but a moment wherein we liue if we iudge aright we haue no more for as for the moments which are past they are dead to thee and thou to them and as for the moments which are to come they are vncertain and thou canst not be said to liue in them so that no more is left to thee wherin thou canst truely say I liue but a moment and this also must shortly goe away and giue place to another that so by succession of moments one vnto another thy silly life may be prorogued for a while But this shall yet better appeare if wee consider those similitudes by which the spirit of God describes the vanitie of this our mortall life Patient Iob compares the life of man vnto the weauers shuttle which scarce is in at the one end of the webbe when it is out at the other and hee that lookes vnto it can hardly perceiue it He compares it also to the winde that quickly flyeth by vs and to the cloud which speedely vanishes to a Post that runnes diligently and rests not till he come to his end to an hungry Eagle in the aire who seeing her pray a farre off flyeth speedely vpon it to a flower that flourishes at once but withers incontinent and last of all to a ship sayling in the sea before the winde which for the present is seene but within short space appeares no more yea doth not leaue behinde her any footstep or token that any such thing was there and as it is with them
onely iustifies I doe but point out the proper action of Faith but doe not therefore seperate it from Hope and Loue. So farre iniurious are the aduersaryes of the truth vnto vs when they accuse vs for maintayning a Faith which is without Hope and doth not worke by Loue which we neuer affirmed Of this now it is euident that the Hope of a Christian must be very strong seeing it sustaines him in trouble it is a pillar that sustaynes the whole building and a most sure anchor which being fastened vpon the rocke Christ Iesus holds vs so fast that we who are weake vessels tost too and fro with restles tribulations cannot be ouercome it leanes vpon most certaine warrants whereof now we vvill onely consider a few The first warrant of our hope is the word of God whereof novv onely vve vvill touch these two comfort able places The Apostle saith there is reserued for vs in heauen an immortall inheritance vnto the which wee also are kept by But hope that is seene is not hope The Apostle to confirme his reason subioynes a short description of the nature of hope that it is of things which are to come and not yet seene for that which is present and a man seeth he cannot bee said to hope for it yea then shall hope cease when we shall enioy that which we hope for Spes tunc non erit quando erit res In the first of these words Hope is put for the thing Hope in the second for the vertue of Hope it selfe and thus much of Hope Verse 25. But if wee hope for that which we see not wee doe with patience abide for it THe Apostle here concludes not onely this his last purpose wherein hee hath taught vs that the very nature of hope leades vs to looke for some better thing which is to come but also he concludes his first principall argument of comfort making this to bee the end of all that it becomes vs with patience to abide our promised deliuerance And albeit for memories sake wee haue reduced all that hee hath spoken into one principall argument yet may wee see how vnder this one many particular reasons are heaped vp together tending all to this one conclusion that we should abide it with petience First wee haue heard that the nature of our sufferings are so changed that they are now made sufferings with Christ. Secondly that the end of them is to be glorified with Christ. Thirdly that the glory to come doth farre exceede in waight and eternitie our present sufferings Fourthly that the creatures haue a feruent desire of the reuelation of that glory Fiftly that they also who haue receiued the first fruites of the Spirit are wearie of their present misery and waite for ther edemption to come And last that in all our troubles wee are saued and sustained with the hope of that which is to come and not with a present possession of that which wee would haue In all these respects it becomes vs not onely to be of good comfort for the present but also patiently to looke for a better The Apostle brings in his conclusion vpon his last argument but we are to consider that it hath an eye vnto all that goes before and that euery one of those reasons aforesaide serueth to strengthen this conclusion that if wee hope for that which is to come then will we with patience abide for it We haue first to marke a difference betweene the Christian and the Worldling the Worldling hath his affection on things which are seene hee cannot mount aboue them hee hath receiued his consolation on earth his portion is here and he possesseth his best things in this present life It is farre otherwise with the Christian for in his affection he transcends euery thing which is subiect to sense hee is not now a possessor but an expectant by hope of his best things hee hath them not in re but in spe therefore may he say to the Worldling as our Sauiour saide to his Kinsmen your times is alway but my time is not yet come The Christian is that good husbandman who hath more comfort in that seed which he hath sowen and couered with earth that he seeth it not than he hath in that which he sees lying before his eyes in the barne for hee knowes that the one at the last shall render him manifold greater encrease than the other It is not an vnpleasant Allegorie which Augustine makes vpon these words of our blessed Sauiour If a Some aske bread of any of you that is a Father will he giue him a stone or if hee aske a fish will he giue him a Serpent or if hee aske an egge will he giue him a Scorpion The Lord Iesus being the highest Doctor that euer taught doth teach in the lowest applying himselfe to our capacitie by homely similitudes of earthly things hee labours to bring vs in all his doctrine to the knowledge of things heauenly I know that the end of these parables is to confirme vs in this assurance that if we seeke good things from the Lord we shall obtaine them day of death vvhich vvill be to thee a day of darknesse and dolefull displeasure which shall swallovv vp with one gape not onely the sense but also the remembrance of all thy former delights Where then are your pleasures O worldlings vvherein yee reioyce present pleasures yee haue not those vvhich are past are vaine and comforts you not and those which are to come are vncertaine in the smallest things how oft are ye deceiued yee looke for a faire day and a foule comes vpon you ye looke for continuance of health and sicknes vnawares seases vpon you yee comfort your selues vvith the hope of a good successe of your affaires and an euill successe ouerturnes incontinent all the counsels of your hart thus the good for which yee looke to come in your owne experience you finde it deceiues you Call not therefore any more vpon vs to follow you and to drinke with you of your perishing pleasures wee haue had a proofe of yours and found them to bee vanitie but if yee will come and take a proofe of ours will you taste of those delicates vvhereunto God hath called vs will you eate of the fruit that growes vpon the tree of life discouered by the Gospell vnder the shadow whereof vve delight to sit righteousnes shall breed you peace and peace shall breed you ioy in the holy Ghost and these shall in such sort delight you that in regard of them your soule shall loath all your former vaine pleasures vvherein you delighted before Of this we may see further that as Faith procreates hope so hope procreates Patience so that the want of Patience in trouble bewrayes the want of Hope What made Saul who in his first beginning draue Witches out of the land in his latter end to make his refuge to them surely
our heauenly Father may be glorified though workes can be no merits yet are they your witnesses and what haue yee done to remaine when yee are dead as witnesses of your loue toward the Lord Though your goodnesse extend not to the Lord yet where is your delight that should be on his Saints and excellent ones vpon earth where is your compassion and loue toward the brethren are not the men of this age like vnto that fig-tree which had faire leaues but not so much as one figge to giue vnto Iesus in his hunger hauing the shew of godlinesse but haue denyed the power therof yeelding words inough but no fruits to adorne the glorious Gospell of our Lord Iesus Of these and many moe if wee might insist in them it is manifest that all haue not the loue of God in their hearts who this day pretend it The last tryall of Loue which novv we bring is readinesse to suffer affliction for the cause of God The Apostles being beaten for preaching in the name of Iesus instead of mourning departed reioycing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christs sake and all because they loued him For the loue of Rahel seauen yeeres of hard seruitude seemed vnto Iacob but a short space For the loue of Dinah Sichem willingly sustayned the circumcision and cutting of his flesh much more to him in whose heart abounds the loue of the Lord vvill bitter things become sweet and hard things easie This Loue hath made the holy Martyres step out of their owne element into the fire with greater ioy and willingnesse then worldlings haue when they fit downe to their banquetting tables to refresh them or lyes downe in their beds to rest them The Apostle who suffered all sorts of affliction for the Gospell giues this for a reason that the loue of Iesus constrayned him Thus much concerning the effects of holy loue by which we are to make sure our calling and consequently our election for our euerlasting comfort Euenâ—toâ—them that are called according to his purpose Hitherto the Apostle hath summarily set downe his third principall argument of comfort and now in the end of this verse he shortly breakes vp the confirmation thereof which is this they who loue God are called according to his purpose therefore all things must work for the best vnto them The necessitie of this reason shall appeare if we consider that the Lord cannot be frustrated of his end Those whom the Lord in his immutable purpose hath ordayned to glory and whom according to that purpose he hath called in time how can it be but all things must worke vnto their good for the working prouidence of God which is the executer of his purpose doth so ouer-rule all incidents which fall out in the world and doth so gouerne all secondary and inferiour causes that of necessitie they are directed to that end whereunto the supreame cause of all to wit the purpose and will of God hath ordayned them This is shortly set downe in these words and more largely explaned in the two verses following It is the last reason of comfort and the highest for now the Apostle leades vs out of our selues and sets vs vpon that rocke which is higher than wee hee carries vs by the hand as it were out of the earth vp into heauen and lets vs see how our saluation is so grounded in Gods eternall purpose that no accident in the world can change it We haue here then three things euery one of them depening vpon another the loue of God flowing from the calling of God and the calling of God comming from the purpose of God vnto which the Apostle here drawes vs that vve casting our anchor within the vaile and resting in the Lords immutable purpose may haue comfort in all our present tentations It is most expedient for the godly to marke this that our manifold changes doe not interrupt our peace let vs consider that the Lord hath in such sort dispensed our saluation that the ground thereof is laid in his owne immutable purpose but the markes and tokens thereof are placed in vs after our calling the markes and tokens are changeable like a wee our selues in whom they are are changeable but the ground holds fast being laid in that vnchangeable God in whom falles no shadow of alteration I am God and am not changed My sheepe none can take out of my hand The counsell of the Lord shall stand and his foundation remaines sure It is true that the tokens of election cannot be fully taken away from any that is effectually called nay not in the greatest desertion yet haue they in vs their owne intention and remission And this should comfort vs against our daily vicissitudes and changes when wee feele that our Faith doth faint our life languishes our hope houers and we are like to sincke in the tentation with Peter and our feeble hands fall downe with Moses yet let vs not dispaire no change in vs can alter Gods vnchangeable purpose he who hath begunne the worke in vs will also perfect it Because I am not changed saith the Lord therefore is it that yee O sonnes of Iacob are not consumed This purpose of God is called otherwise the will of God and the good pleasure of his Will In that the Apostle saith our calling is according to his purpose it teacheth vs to ascribe the whole praise of our saluation to the good pleasure of his will and not to our owne foreseene merits That poyson of pride which Sathan poured into our first parents and by which they aspyred to be equall with God doth yet breake forth in their posteritie the corrupt heart of man euer ayming at this to seeke vnto himselfe either in part or in whole the power and praise of his own saluation This is to start vp into the roome of God and to vsurpe that glory which belongs to the Lord and he will not giue to any other than the which no greater sacriledge can be committed against the Lord. O man content thee with that which the Lord offers thee and let that alone which hee reserues vnto himselfe My peace saith the Lord I giue to you my glory I will not giue to any other The first Preachers of the Gospell were Angels they proclaymed glory and peace but glory they gaue to God which is on high and peace they cryed to the children of his good will which are vpon earth It is inough that peace and saluation is giuen to be thine but as for the glory of saluation let it remain to the Lord. Hee is for this called the father of mercy because mercy bred in his owne bosome Hee hath found many causes without himselfe mouing him to execute iustice but a cause mouing him to shew mercie hee neuer found but the good pleasure of his will therefore the Apostle saith the Lord hath called vs with an holy calling not according to
the meanes of men and not according to the determinate purpose of God it is no meruaile if still they returne to their old sinnes and remaine disobedient to the heauenly vocation And further out of the ground laid already that the calling of God is according to his purpose we are taught that the least intermission of Gods calling should be vnto vs a great matter of our humiliation seeing the Lord calleth men to be Preachers and hath them in his hand as starres holding them out sometime to one part of the world and sometime to another that hee may communicate light to them who are sitting in darknesse the remouing of them from a people is a fearefull token of the Lords departure and translating of his kingdome The Husbandman calles not his Labourers out of the field in the middest of the day vnlesse the haruest be done and if the Lord remoue his Seruants from a people it is because his purpose is finished for the ground is sure that his calling is according to his purpose but the Lord forbid that the tearme of the ending of this calling should euer come in our dayes And to the ende that wee haste it not vpon our selues wee are to know that as the Gospell comes not to a Land by mans procurement so no power of man is able to remoue it The Lord who set the Sunne in the Firmament and gouernes it in such sort that it giues light to one part of the world when another is in darknesse and no malice of the euill doer is able to obscure it howeuer hee hates it hath also set his Gospell in the firmament of his Church to giue light to Goshen while as Egypt is in darknesse and all the courses of politikes though they were filled vvith Achitophels wisedome are not able to stay it onely our owne vnthankfulnesse and abuse of the time of Grace is to be feared if therefore wee loue the light let vs cast away the vvorkes of darkenesse and walke in the light while as yet wee haue it let vs welcome those messengers of peace that come to vs in the name of the Lord endeuouring by all holy meanes to transferre this Kingdome of God to our Children after vs that they also may see the beautie of the Lord which vvee haue seene to their euerlasting saluation Verse 29. For those whom hee knew before hee also predestinated to be made like vnto the image of his Sonne that he might be the first borne among many brethren THe whole Booke of God is full of heauenly consolation euery parcell thereof hath in it the words of eternall life but this place of Scripture wherein now wee are trauailing may be called aboue the rest a treasure of comfort for here the Apostle leadeth vp the Christian to the register of God and lets him see his owne name written in the booke of life his saluation established in Gods immutable decree exhibited now by Gods effectuall calling to be performed and perfected to him by his endlesse glorification So that in all the booke of God there is not so cleare and certaine a sight of saluation giuen to the Christian as in this place It comforted Stephen when he was in the vally of death that he saw the heauens opened and the Lord Iesus standing at the right hand of his Father and it should no lesse comfort vs in all our tribulations that the Apostle here lets vs see the third heauens opened vnto vs to make knowne vnto vs the will of God concerning our saluation This comfort the Apostle brake vp shortly as we heard in the end of the last verse and now more largely explanes it in these two verses in the which hee sets downe in order the causes of our saluation and lets vs see how our present effectuall calling is so inseperably knit with our election glorification by the hand of God that no power in earth nor in hell is able to sunder them whereof the certaintie of his former comfort appeares cleerely that of necessitie all things must worke together for the best vnto them that loue God euen to them that are called according to his purpose Which shall yet be more manifested if wee consider how that this golden Chaine of our saluation reaches so to speake it from eternitie to eternitie the beginning of it albeit without beginning is our Election the end of it albeit without end is our Glorification And these two ends of the chaine the Lord keepes them sure and secret in his owne hand but the two middle linckes thereof to wit our Calling and Iustification the Lord lets them downe from heauen to the earth that wee for our comfort might gripe and apprehend them and being sure of the two middle linekes we might also be sure of the two ends because the Lord hath knit them inseperably together Thou then who wouldst be comforted with the assurance of thy saluation make it first knowne to thy owne conscience by breaking off the former course of thy sinnes and by well doing for the time to come that God hath called thee and iustified thee Gripe sure as it were with the one hand the lincke of Calling and with the other the linck of Iustification fasten both thy hands vpon the middle linckes of this Chaine that by them thou mayst be pulled out of this dungeon and raised vp to heauen to see that thou art one of them who was elected before time after time shall be glorified To make this yet more plaine we are to know that this mortall life of ours is a short interiected point of time betweene two eternities so to call it in the which some in feare and trembling working out their saluation passes from Gods eternall election to endlesse glorification others againe in wantonnes and carelesse securitie drincke in iniquitie with greedinesse and so steps from the decree of reprobation that most iustly they procure their owne condemnation So that euery man hath to consider of his euerlasting weale or woe by his present disposition in this life Oh that we had sanctified memories alwayes to remember this so long as we are here if of weakenesse wee fall wee may rise againe and if in one day we haue not learned well to repent we haue leaue of the Lords patience to learne it better another day but he who in the day of his transmigration steps the wrong step will neuer get leaue to amend it where the tree fals it shall lye there the wicked who die in their sinnes step downeward to the deepe pit and gulfe out of the which there is no redemption Let vs therefore be well aduised before we leape let vs fasten the one foote vpon the border of that Canaan before we go out of the body let vs make sure that wee shall be receiued into those euerlasting habitations This shall be done if we make our whole life a proceeding from election to
and the world were formed euen from euerlasting to euerlasting the Lord is our God What creature then is able to disanull that which God hath willed before that euer a creature was onely let vs labour that as our election is sure in it selfe so we may make it sure vnto vs by walking in a good conscience before the Lord and then we shall not care what man or Angell say to the contrary against it they are but posterior creatures and what intrest can they haue to gaine say that which God hath done before that they were Happy are they who are rooted grounded and builded vpon this rocke no stormy waue of the sea shall ouerturne them no rage of tentation nor power of the gates of hell shall preuaile against them Lastly we are taught here by the holy Apostle that all men are not foreknowne all are not predestinated to life otherwise there were not an election there is onely a certaine and definit number which belong to the election of Grace a fulnesse both of Iewes and Gentiles a number not knowne to vs but knowne to the Lord not one more nor one lesse shall be pertakers of saluation Many saith out Sauiour shall come from the East and from the West and shall sit with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of God he saith not all the children of the East shall come but many shall come This should waken in vs a holy care so long as the calling of God continues among vs to take heed to our selues striuing to thrust in at the doore of the kingdome of heauen for it suffers violence and the violent take it the fewer there be to be receiued into that kingdome the more we should about to be of that number We see that in nature things that are common were they neuer so excellent are not esteemed the Sunne because common to all is regarded of few though it be a very excellent and profitable creature but parcels of the earth possessed by men in propertie are much more remembred and regarded by those to whom they belong riches and honour are in greater account among men because few attaine vnto them and if we were as wise in spirituall things that grace of Christ which brings saluation would be more pretious and deere vnto vs because it is communicated to few The Lord giue vs grace to consider rightly of it in time To be made like to the image of his Sonne The Apostle insists not in the rest of the linckes of the Chaine hauing touched them he leaues them onely he insists in this lincke of Predestination teaching vs that he vseth not here the word of Predestination generally but restraines it to Predestination vnto life as also that we cannot step from election to glory but by a conformitie with Christ which is most necessary for vs to marke for albeit there be great comfort in the consideration of Gods immutable purpose ordayning man to life as also in the consideration of that glory whereunto we are ordayned yet neither of them can comfort vs vnlesse we be sure that our life is a proceeding from election to glorification by the right meanes The first and neerest end of election in regard of man is his sanctification for the Lord hath chosen vs that wee should be holy the second and furthest end is mans glorification The same Lord Iesus who said I am the life said in like manner I am the way and the veritie if thou wouldst be at life lye not still in thy sinnes but rise and walke in the way and if thou knowest not the way learne it from him who is veritie Let not presumption which slayes the wicked ouertake thee they passe ouer the matter of their saluation with a wanton word their hearts are prophane yet they boast with their tongues that they are sure to be saued but this is a vaine reioycing for he that walkes not in the way how is it possible that he can come to the end assuredly he shall neuer come where Christ is to liue with him that walkes not after Christ in newnesse of life This conformitie with the Lord Iesus whereunto wee are predestinated is partly in this life partly in the life to come Our conformitie in the life to come shall stand in liuing and raigning with Christ which is our glorification whereof he speakes hereafter Our conformitie in this life stands in liuing and suffering with Christ and of this hee speakes here to liue godly after the rule of Christ to suffer patiently after the similitude of Christ are the two parts of our present conformitie with him The Lord Iesus is giuen vs of the Father both to be a Sauiour and an example vnlesse we make him an example to follow him in our doing and suffering he shall not be vnto vs a Sauiour Here we are to marke that the workes done by Christ in our nature are threefold first his personall workes of Redemption as that he was borne of the Virgin that he suffered the cursed death of the Crosse for the expiation of our sinnes that hee rose the third day for our iustification that hee ascended triumphantly into Heauen leading captiuitie captiue Secondly his workes of miracles as that hee fasted forty dayes gaue sight to the blinde life to the dead and such like Thirdly his workes of godlinesse and sanctification as that he was subiect to his parents louing to his brethren painefull in his calling perseuering in prayer To practise to follow him in his personall workes of Redemption is blasphemie or in his workes of Miracles is impossibilitie but to follow him in the workes of a godly life is true pietie In the first Papists are blasphemous that on good Fryday makes a play to the people by counterfaiting the sufferings of Christ. In the second Papists are ridiculous that practise to counterfaite him in his fortie dayes fasting as if that might ordinarily be done of men which once Iesus did for a Miracle In the third let all those who are truely religious striue to follow him as Children looking to their coppy learne to mend their letters so let vs by looking daily to our example learne to amend our liues Imitation in the first two Iesus did neuer require onely hee craues that wee should follow him in the third there is his voyce Learne of me that I am lowly and meeke he did not bid thee saith Augustine learne at him how to make the world or how to raise the dead but how to be lowly and meeke for this cause did our blessed Sauiour wash his Disciples feete that hee might giue vs an example how one of vs should serue another as I haue loued you saide Iesus so loue yee one another yea in that vpon the Crosse hee prayed for his enimies hee hath also taught vs how to practise that precept Pray for them who persecute you In patience likewise hee is proposed