blasphemous words and cruell torments upon the crosse even to the pouring out of his very heart blood to purge and cleanse us from the guilt and from the filth of all our sins and that he suffered whatsoever the malice and power of the devill could inflict upon him and also that for the time his Divine nature did refuse to minister comfort to his humanity in these his bitter torments what thankfulnesse then do we ow to our dear Saviour for his wonderfull love to us What can be too dear for him that did account nothing too dear for us what duty what reverence and fear do we ow unto him who hath paid so great a price for our redemption Our best expressions of love and duty are no way answerable to that which Christ hath deserved and which we are Sound to perform unto him yet if they come from a willing minde and from a sincere heart Christ our Saviour will accept them and out of his fulnesse will supply what is wanting in us and God will be well pleased with it for his sake Here is much matter of heavenly comfort for us if our hearts can devoutly Meditate upon it and receive it Our life may be full of misery and our hearts full of sadnesse and perplexity our faith may be so weak that we can have no apprehension of the love and favour of God and our spirits may be so cast down that we cannot raise them up towards heaven we may be pressed with troubles crosses and sorrowes beyond our strength and the light of Gods countenance may be so eclipsed that we can see no token of his grace and favour to sweeten the bitternesse of our sufferings and to support us under the pressure of them but we are ready to faint and to cast off all hope of relief and comfort b Psal 42. 11. but for all this we need not fear our souls need not be disquieted within us for if we wait on God he will be our present help he will be our God and he will not forsake us The brightnesse of his countenance may be darkened for a few hours as it was with the Sun at this very same time c Mal. 4. 2. but the Sun of righteousnesse will again appear to us with healing in his wings then we shal see the salvation of the Lord if we can look up with the eye of faith to our sweet Saviour who was brought to a lower degree of spirituall desertion in the apprehension of his humane nature thn we can be and yet he found a return of the gracious aspect of his Fathers countenance toward him whereby he hath sanctified and sweetned whatsoever can betide us to sink our spirits or to shake our faith and confidence in God If our ear is spiritually bored to hear those dolefull and lamentable words which our Saviour uttered upon the crosse when he was ready to yeild up his Spirit to God his Father and yet apply them to our selves by faith we may then draw vertue and power from them to strengthen our faith and to support our hope in the assurance of his love that he will not bring us to so low a degree of spiritual desertion because our weaknesse will not bear so great a tryall but will make us to hold out to the end by the Almighty power of his eternall Spirit Now learn O my sorrowful soul so to imprint the crucifying of thy dear Saviour in thy heart by faith that thou maist draw grace and vertue from thence to crucifie all thy corruptions and the evill concupiscence of thy flesh that thine affections may not be carried after worldly vanities that thine eyes may not delight to gaze upon obscene spectacles that thine eares may be dull to unsavory speeches but swift to hear words that tend to edification and that thy tongue may have no motion to utter any thing that is dishonourable to God or hurtfull to thy neighbour d Gal. 6. 14. Thus by the power of Christ crucified the world shall be crucified to thee and thou unto the world if thou dost truly believe that he was crucified for thee because it will dull the edge of thine affections to all earthly things it will work in thee an hatred and detestation of all sinfull pleasures and thou wilt dayly labour and e Col. 3. 9. Eph. 4. 22. strive to mortifie the old man of sin that hath had his habitation in thy bosome above these threescore years In thy first creation thou wert a lovely creature beloved of thy God without spot or blemish in soul or in body thou wert beautified and adorned with all graces and holy vertues reverenced and obeyed of all other creatures here upon earth and the celestiall orbs did cast no evill aspects upon thee but now thou art deformed with sin thou art polluted in all the faculties of thy soul and in all the parts of thy body for thou art spiritually blinde naked and void of all goodnesse thou art deaf and dumb to heavenly things thou art lame and impotent and canst not walk in the paths of righteousnesse also thou art so bent and bowed to the earth that thou canst not raise up thy heart toward heaven and so full of spirituall diseases and infirmities that there is no sound part in thee But this is thy comfort O my soul that the blood of thy crucified Redeemer which was spilt upon the crosse will take away all thy deformities of sin and will heal all thy spiritual diseases and his righteousnesse will make thee lovely in the sight of God If this be our condition by nature if we are thus deformed with the guilt of sin that cleaveth to our souls by our fall in Adam and if we have no meanes to regain our first happinesse in Adams first innocency but by Christ and to be cleansed from all our sins but by his blood then our chief care must be how to injoy Christ and how to have this great benefit by his blood If we are ingrafted into him by faith we shall injoy him in his whole nature as he is God and Man we shall partake with him in all his excellencies and graces he will work a new creation in us by his Spirit and a thorough change in all the faculties of our souls and in all the affections of our hearts that no sin shall cleave to our souls for our condemnation for he will also nail the the guilt of all our sins to his crosse upon which he shed his most precious blood to make an attonement for them all He will also take away the stains and filth of our sins by his sanctifying grace and holy Spirit and will put upon us the robe of his own righteousnesse which will cover all our deformities and will make us amiable and lovely in the sight of God By the merit of Christs blood our sins shall never be laid to our charge by the power of his death we are made able
if we have a true sight of our own basenesse that we are but as clay in the hand of the Potter or as an earthen pitcher which is easily broken in pieces we cannot but be afraid to draw near so great and glorious a Majesty to contemplate his greatnesse and power the breath of whose Nostrils is able to consume us But if we consider that our sins have laid us open to the rigour of his justice and have justly moved him to pour down upon us the full vialls of his wrath and indignation to our eternall destruction it must needs then strike terrour into our hearts when we come before him in our heavenly Meditations for he is a sin-revenging God l Heb. 12. 29. and a consuming fire he will suffer no sin to go unpunished This doth make our sins the more hainous and the punishment of them the more grievous because they are committed against an Omnipotent and most glorious God from whom we had our first being and from whose goodnesse we do dayly receive all blessings both spirituall and temporall that are needfull for us Wherefore we cannot Meditate with comfort upon God when the guilt of our sins cleaveth to our souls We cannot chearfully lift up our hearts unto him when our consciences do accuse us of sin that we have offended God our Creator and that we lye under the curse of his Law and are in continuall expectation to have the penalty of it inflicted upon us which we know we have justly deserved Thus it is with us until we can apprehend God to be reconciled unto us by the merit of the death of Christ which we must apply to our own hearts by faith When God doth visite us with afflictions and troubles as he hath done to many of his dear servants that we feel the smart of his rod and his hand heavy upon us it will take away the comfort of our Meditations and make us afraid of his judgements as it was with holy Job David and others because sometimes they are very terrible to us Thus saith Job unto God in his afflictions m Iob. 13. 21. Withdraw thine hand far from me and let not thy dread make me afraid Again he saith thus n Iob 6. 4. The terrours of God do set themselves in array against me If God be so dreadfull to his own servants how then can the wicked and sinners appear before him how can they withstand his judgements or bear the fiercenesse of his wrath and fury he cast the disobedient Angels out of heaven without any hope of redemption he cast Adam out of Paradise and laid a severe curse upon the earth for his sake and upon all his posterity for his sin he drowned the whole world and consumed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire he gave his own people into the hands of their enemies for their transgressions and brought grievous judgements upon many particular offenders Wherefore we cannot deny but that the Meditation of these and the like works of Gods justice must needs be dreadful and uncomfortable to us if we look onely upon the justice of God and not also upon his mercy But above all it is most dreadfull to Meditate upon the day of judgement when we must appear before this great and terrible God to give a strict account unto him of whatsoever we have done here in the flesh whether it be good or evill o Ioel. 2. 11. That day is great and terrible who can abide it Then shall all our secret sins be brought to light and laid open to the view of heaven and earth then it wil appear how we have served God what good we have done and what evill we have shunned and then we must answer for every idle word that we have spoken Then shall be great confusion both in heaven and in earth to the astonishment of all Nations for p Luk. 21. 27. they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and glory and with great authority and majesty q 2 Cor. 5. 10. All must then be presented before the judgement seat of Christ r 1 Cor. 4. 5. who will bring to light those things that were hidden in darknesse and will manifest all the thoughts of every mans heart Å¿ Luk. 23. 30. Rev. 6. 16 Then the wicked shall say to the hills fall upon us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the anger of the Lamb because the great day of wrath is come This terrour will be so unspeakable that it will make every mans heart to tremble for the just men and the Angels themselves are said to fear surely then it must needs be dreadfull to think upon it What a fearfull day will it be to carelesse and loose livers who carry the guilt of sin upon their souls with them unto judgement how will it terrifie them when they see such dreadfull feares and miseries to rush in upon them t Math. 24. 29. Then they shall see the Sun to be darkened and the moon not to give her light then the Stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken Thus saith the Prophet u Isa 13. 13 14. The earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the LORD of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger and it shall be as the chased Roe and as the sheep that no man taketh up Then shall they see all sepulchers open and to yield forth their dead bodies of all men high and low rich and poor to stand there naked before the Judge and before his Angels and in the face of all creatures their sins shall be revealed their secret offences shall be laid open and they shall be constrained to give an account of those things whereof they would disdain to have been told in this life Consider now who can Meditate upon the eternall God this great and terrible Judge without much fear and dread if he cannot appear before him with a good conscience and who can think upon that fearfull day of account without much terrour and trouble of spirit if he hath not some good assurance of the pardon of his sins by his true repentance and that he is reconciled to God by faith in Christ Wealth and honours cannot help the Judge will not be partiall neither will he be corrupted an evill conscience will not be silent no intercession of worldly friends can prevail at that day all things wil cry for vengeance upon the wicked and reprobate to yield them cause of fear and terrour but nothing will yield them any hope of comfort Above them shall be their dreadfull Judge who is offended with them for their wickednesse beneath them they shall see hell open and the cruell furnace ready boyling to receive then on their right hand their sins accusing them on the left hand the divels are ready to execute Gods eternall
But in the Redemption of man Christ Jesus the second Person in the sacred Trinity laid aside all his celestiall and heavenly glory which was his due from his first incarnation and from eternity and came down from his Throne of Majesty in heaven and humbled himself to the meanest condition of life here on earth and to the basest and most accursed death even to the death of the crosse that he might Redeâ—m us from the lowest degree of misery and advance us to the highest degree of happinesse even above the blessed Angels in heaven This will be exceeding great joy and comfort to us if we have an holy perswasion of our Redemption by faith in Christ for hereby we have a near relation unto God being made his sons by adoption in Christ and then our souls will so delight in him that nothing will will be hard to us that we shall suffer for his sake and nothing will be too dear for him that he shall require and it will be the desire of our hearts to do his will and the joy of our souls to be joyned nearer and closer unto him also we shall willingly part with our dearest sins rather than our sins shall part us from our God This holy perswasion if it be well grounded will make us fear no adversary power and our spirituall enemies shall not daunt us for we will flee unto Christ as our best refuge in all our troubles and sorrowes we will crave his protection in all our perills and dangers for he is our Redeemer and our Saviour he is the Rock of our salvation in whom we must trust he will give us strength of grace to endure our tryalls to fight his battels and to stand for the truth against all opposition We may safely rest upon Christ and put our confidence in him for comfort and succour when any calamity doth oppresse us for help and deliverance when any spirituall enemy doth assault us for he will be our hiding place in times of danger and our comfort in all our sorrowes and afflictions k Eph. 1. 20 21 22. For God hath set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places farre above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named noâ— onely in this world but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church Wherefore let the consideration of all these benefits which we have by our Redemption stir us up with all care and diligence to perform that duty and obedience which we owe unto Christ and to expresse all filiall fear and reverence all love praise and thankfulnesse to him for our Redemption which Work neither God nor man could effect for us but onely Christ who was both God and Man The time of grace GOd is the sole Disposer of Time and he keeps that precious Jewell in his own Cabinet to give to the sons of men what time he pleaseth and he appointeth every one to improve their time for the gaining of the grace and favour of God and of those things that do conduce to the kingdom of heaven and not to spend it vainly sinfully and licenciously To some he giveth more time and to some lesse and all must imploy it to the glory of God and to the good of his neighbour God doth measure out our life by time and some have a longer measure than others and this measure is dispensed to us by moments for we cannot recall the time that is past and we do not injoy the time that is to come so that we have onely the time that is now present which is but a moment and when one moment of time is gone God doth give us another until the measure of time that God hath allotted us be fulfilled If we look upon an hour-glasse we shall see how swiftly one grain of sand runneth after another and so continueth untill all be run out Thus it is with the moments of our life one moment followeth swiftly after another which God would have us duly to consider that we may not waste our time in vain things but imploy it to that end for which God gave it and that is to the working out of our own salvation that God may be honoured and glorified thereby and therefore about whatsoever we spend our time if it doth not conduce to that end it is but lost and vainly spent God hath given us a time for all our necessary occasions here upon earth that all things may be done in their season For as the Preacher saith To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven â— Eccles 3. 1 2. A time to be born and a time to dye a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted and we do observe the times and seasons of the year when to till the ground and when to sow our seed when to reap our harvest and when to gather in the fruits of the earth The Coelestiall Bodies know their times as the Psalmâ—st saitâ— b Psal 164 19. He appointeth the Moon for seasons the Sun knoweth his going down Also the fowles of heaven and the birds in the air have their times appointed for thus God upbraideth his own people by his Prophet c Jer. 8. 7. The Stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the times of their coming but my people knoweth not the judgement of the Lord. We are wise enough to know our times for earthly things but we have no care to observe the times of grace how and when we may gain the grace and favour of God that he may accept of our persons and of our holy oblations that we offer unto him and also when we may obtain from him the saving and sanctifying graces of his most blessed Spirit The time of our life is the generall and longest time of grace that God hath given us wherein we should seek his gracious acceptance of us in Christ and wherein he doth work grace in the hearts of all his Elect by his Spirit Now if we measure this time of grace by the length of our dayes accoâ—ding to the course of nature or according to the health and strength of our bodies or by our own foolish fancy that measure is very uncertain for who knoweth whether his dayes shall be many or few Are we not dayly subject to casualities and to sudden death if we be strong and have our health to day we may be weak and sick to morrow though we dream of long life yet it is but a dream for we have no assurance of it If we thus measure the time of grace we shall put it off with delayes untill God doth suddenly bereave us of all time But we must measure out our dayes by the Rule of Gods Word and then we
resurrection whereof the earthly Paradise was but a shadow i Psal 16. 1. 1. This blessed place is in the presence of God where we shall have fullnesse of joy and it is at Gods right hand where there are pleasures for evermore k Exod. 34. 6. Thus is Christ abundant in goodnesse and in truth if we have but little comfort in this short time of our life yet when we come to the end of our dayes we shall have fulnesse of joy in the Paradise of God together with Christ our Saviour for evermore Wherefore though this life be full of vexations and troubles the meditation and hope of heavenly happinesse which we shall hereafter injoy to all eternity will sweeten the bitternesse of all our momentany afflictions and tribulations Now comfort thy self O penitent sinner if thou art so cast down in the apprehension of thy sins that thou darest not come into the presence of God in regard of Divine justice l Luk. 18. 13. or lift up thine eyes unto heaven with the poor Publicane to crave what thou wantest or desirest because thou hast justly incurred his high displeasure by thy manifold transgressions yet be not disheartned faint not but come cheerfully to Christ with true faith and firm confidence to be received for he will open a Fountain to thee from whence all Divine mercy floweth and thou wilt find him alwayes ready and willing to accept of thee make thy condition therefore truly known unto him put up thy prayers and supplications to him and though thou desirest but a drop of comfort yet he will give thee abundant consolation in what thou sufferest and much more than thou desirest By the example of this Malefactor we may draw holy Meditations upon the Divine Nature of true faith for our instruction and comfort for it looketh beyond the eye of reason and above the reach of nature it maketh us evidently to apprehend that which our reason or naturall capacity cannot shew us and it will make us believe in hope even against hope that which is impossible to nature and incredible to humane reason This miserable sinner had no reason to believe in Christ and to confide in him for his salvation for we do not read that ever he heard his preaching or saw any of his miracles but he saw him now ready to dye an ignominious and cursed death upon the crosse and he heard him thus reviled m Mat. 27. 39. If thou be the Son of God come down from the crosse Also he heard him mocked in this manner by the chief Priests and Elders He saved others himself he cannot save if he be the King of Israel let him come down from the crosse and we will believe in him He trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him for he said I am the Son of God Though these and the like blasphemous words were spoken in derision against him which were sufficient in all reason to keep back this Malefactor from trusting in him yet the holy Ghost did so work upon his heart that he did faithfully believe that Christ was the Son of God that he was the King of Israel that he had saved others and therefore he could save him also which made him to apply himself to Christ for comfort and for his salvation and in his addresses to him he came with all modesty and humble submission he gave him all due honour and reverence as much as he was then able to expresse and then he made this humble suite and supplication to him and no sooner was his request made but it was granted because Christ did see truth and sincerity in his heart and integriry in his expressions We may observe from hence for our instruction and consolation that the holy Ghost can work the conversion of a sinner either without meanes or by contrary meanes he doth sometimes work very strangely upon the will and upon the affections of the heart for Christ was now preached by his deadly foes out of scorn and mockery n Phil. 1 15 as there were some in Pauls time that did preach Christ even of envy and strife others of love and good will yet the Spirit of God did so enlighten the understanding of this sinfull man and did so work upon his will and so seasoned his heart with saving grace that he received holy instruction thereby and what the enemies of Christ did speak in his disgrace he did apply it to himself to confirm him in the truth of his Divinity which made him stick close to him by faith when he was in the lowest degree of his humiliation his faith made him rest upon Christ and upon his promise above the strength of nature and contrary to all humane reason If he had seen the glory of Christ in his transfiguration upon Mount Tabor and if he had seen some of his great miracles or had heard his Divine Doctrine and powerful Preaching his faith had not seemed so great but now he did see him onely upon Mount Calvary nailed to his crosse as the worst of Malefactors are and rejected of his own nation so that to the outward eye he appeared nothing else but a pitiful spectacle of woful misery and yet this penitent sinner did expresse an admirable faith in the pangs of a cruell and violent death though his faults had been intolerable in his dissolute life for nothing but faith could move him to honour and reverence Christ now he was in this sad condition and to sue unto him to be remembred in his Kingdome By the eye of his faith he did see in Christ more than humane meeknesse and patience in his sufferings undaunted courage above the strength of nature to go thorough with all constancy those torturings and torments which with all cruelty and malice were inflicted upon him and he did see some glympse of Divine mercy in him when he heard him pray so graciously for his persecutors and tormentors and for those that put him to death In the last place ponder well in thy heart upon the mercifull answer of Christ to this penitent Malefactor Verily I say unto thee To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise whereby he did shew his power to forgive sins upon earth Thus he said to the sick of the palsie o Mar. 2. 5â— 10. Son thy sins are forgiven thee and hereby also he did shew that he had power to dispose of heaven at his own pleasure p Mat. 28. 18. for all power was given to him both in heaven and in earth therefore he did assure this Petitioner that though his body did now suffer the torments of a cruell death yet his soul should live and presently injoy a most happy and blessed condition in the Paradise of God and in the mansions of heaven to all eternity which place q John 14. 2. Christ hath prepared for his servants We shall meet with labour and toil troubles and crosses in this
now broken down which was between the Jew and the Gentile and that Christ was as freely given to the one as the other and the merit of his blood was as effectuall for the salvation of the Gentile as it was for the Jew if he were truly received by faith The vail being now rent the Gentile hath free accesse to the Mercy-seat which did typifie the Throne of grace by Christ Long before this God did choose some to be the first fruits of the Gentiles as namely Eliezâ—r of Damascus in Abrahams family Rahab of Jericho Ruth the Moabitesse and Naaman the Syrian with many more Secondly God did hereby shew that now there was an end put to the sacrifices of the Ceremoniall Law because the true Paschall Lambe was slain of whom these sacrifices were but types and shadows and that the Ceremoniall Law was now abrogated c Joh. 4. 22 23. and the true worship and service of God was not confined to Jerusalem or to the Temple but now God might be worshipped in any other place so that it be in spirit and in truth Thirdly we may see the free mercy and goodnesse of God to the Jew and also to the Gentile d Acts 15. 10. for by the death of his Son he hath cased the Jew of the great burden of Ceremonies which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear by putting an end to the Ceremoniall Law and he hath brought the Gentile within the Covenant of grace and hath admitted him into the most holy place for the vail of the Temple which before kept him out is now rent asunder God hath also sanctified every place where he is truly worshipped and served with a pure and upright heart and hath given us as great Priviledges in Christ as he gave to his ancient people the Jews Fourthly by these miraculous signes and wonders God did convince his people of the hardnesse of their hearts and of their wilfull blindnesse who would not see the fulfilling of their ancient Prophesies in Christ nor believe that he was that Messiah which was promised though they could object nothing against it Wherefore their hearts did not relent for their great impiety but the earth and the stony rocks were more sensible than they If we are thus hardned in our sins and thus blinded in our understandings it is a fearfull sign that we are given up to a reprobate minde Fifthly we may hereby see how God made the senselesse creatures to honour his Son at his death though both Jew and Gentile did most spitefully dishonour him in his life Christ honoured his Father while he was living and his Father honoureth him now he is dead by these great wonders and by the Testimony of the Centurion and others who seeing what came to passe said e Mat. 27. 54. Truly this was the Son of God Thus will God honour those that honour him by a vertuous and godly life or by their sufferings in his cause for he will make their innocency to appear and will manifest the truth of their Profession to the honour of his own Name and he will give them immortall glory in the life to come Wherefore if thou art in place of authority honour God by executing judgement and justice without exception of persons if thou art rich honour him in the right use of them and with works of mercy to the poor and needy if thou art poor be content with thy condition If thou hast children honour God in their good education teach them the fear of the Lord and let thy verteous life and good conversation be an example of piety to them Also if thou hast a family command thy children and servants to keep the way of the Lord to walk in his Statutes and to do righteously that the Lord may bring a blessing upon thee and upon thy house If thou art under the crosse honour God with thy patience hope and confidence in him whatsoever thy condition be honour him with thy thankfulnesse Sixthly God doth give us to understand by the trembling of the earth and by the renting of the rocks how powerfully the holy Ghost doth sometimes work upon our hearts at our first conversion to bring us to repentance f Acts 9. as he did at the conversion of Paul g Acts 16. and at the conversion of the Jailor and of diverse others for though our hearts be naturally as stupid and dull to any thing that is spirituall and heavenly as a lump of earth yet when the holy Ghost works upon them with his Almighty power he will make them quake and tremble and he will put a new Principle of grace into them whereby they shall be changed into a gracious condition and their natural dull and stupid properties shall be made active and ready for every holy duty And though our hearts are by nature as hard as any stone and no way capable of any gracious and heavenly impression yet the Spitit of God will break them in pieces and will mollifie and soften every piece to make it tender and flexible to the will and pleasure of God Wherefore if thou dost find this dulnesse in thine understanding this earthly mindednesse and this stupidity in thine affections that thou hast no will to serve thy God also if there be such obduracy in thy heart that thou canst not lament and mourn for thy sins and thy heart cannot melt into sighing and tears for thy transgressions and if there be such unbelief in thee that thou canst not apply any promise of mercy to thy self and canst have no hope nor assurance of the pardon and forgivenesse of thy sins upon thy repentance and turning unto God then make thy condition known to thy Saviour Christ in all meeknesse of spirit and he will put an holy light into thy understanding by his Spirit he will sanctifie thine affections and season them with grace he will take away thy hard heart of unbelief and will make it more sensible of thy miserable condition and will fit and prepare it for a deeper impression of grace Lastly God doth shew by the opening of the graves that there shall be a generall resurrection of every mans body at the last day when they must appear before the judgement seat of God to give an account of whatsoever they have done in the flesh Though our bodies are lockt up in the grave for thousands of years and though their dust and ashes are scattered abroad with the winde to the utmost parts of the earth yet at the last every grave shall be opened and shall deliver up her dead and every grain of dust shall be gathered together that every man may have his own body to deliver up his account before the great and dreadfull Judge of heaven and earth to receive the just reward of their works the wicked to be thrust down with the devils into everlasting burnings for their evill deeds and for their unbelief but such as belong unto
do we hope for no greater felicity than what we now injoy We hâ—ve no abiding place here but we are subject to changes every moment and upon every small occasion o 1 Chro. 29 15. We are strangers and sojourners here our dayes on earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding our mansion house where we must dwell for ever is in heaven which Christ our Saviour hath prepared for us to draw our mindes from all earthly delights which are fading and transitory and alwayes mixed and imbittered with some sorrowes and vexations that our hearts and affections may be inflamed to injoy that celestial happinesse where we shall be stablished and confirmed in perfect holinesse for ever and where we shall injoy the perfection of all blessedness for evermore Wherefore p Heb. 12. 2. look unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the crosse despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God q 2 Tim. 2. i2 If we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him if we dye with him we shall also live with him if we are buried with him we shall rise with him and if we partake with him in his humiliation we shall also partake with him in his exaltation for the members must be made conformable to the Head Of the Resurrection of CHRIST VVE come now to the Exaltation of our blessed Redeemer for though he suffered his enemies to tyrannize over him at their pleasure and to put him to a most cruell and shamefull death upon the crosse because it was his heavenly Fathers will it should be so yet he rose again the third day by the Almighty Power of his Deity and cloathed himself with the glorious robes of immortality triumphing over all his enemies both spirituall and temporall The truth of his Resurrection a Luk. 24. did first appear by the testimony of two Angels to the Woman that came the third day to his Sepulchre to imbalm his body b John 20. then he appeard to Mary and to his Disciples at several times also to five hundred brethren at once and he conversed with his Disciples fourty dayes upon earth before he ascended up into heaven Many Saints that slept were raised out of their graves with him who also appeared to many in the holy City and probably ascended up with him into heaven so that we may safely build our faith upon the truth of his Resurrection which is an Article of faith that we must believe for the well grounding of our hope that our bodies shal also rise again from the dead with songs of rejoicing and triumph Here is matter of exceeding great comfort to our souls for our hearts to Meditate upon if we do stedfastly believe that Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour is risen from the dead First we may be truly perswaded hereby that he hath fully satisfied the justice of God for all our sins and that the guilt of sin is taken away from our souls and nailed to his Crosse so that if God looks upon our sins there he will also see the precious blood of his dear Son that was spilt for them Secondly we may firmly believe that Christ by his Resurrection hath gotten the victory and conquest over sin death hell and the Devill c John 10. 18 for as he had power to lay down his life so he had power to take it up again Christ hath likewise taken away the strength of sin and hath pulled out the sting of death in that he hath fulfilled all righteousnesse and fully satisfied the penalty of the Law d 1 Cor. 15. 56. for the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law Wherefore we may now draw vertue and grace from Christ to overpower all the corruptions of our nature e Eph. 2. 1. and though we are dead in trespasses and sins yet by the power of his Resurrection he will quicken us and raise us up out of the grave of sin and will give us a spirituall life to live the life of grace to him here that we may live the life of glory with him hereafter for ever Why then should we fear death that hath no sting to wound us Why should we not smile upon it seing Christ hath sanctified it to us Why should we fear the Devill with a servile fear seing Christ hath redeemed us out of his bondage His malice may molest and trouble us if we be not well armed with faith but Christ hath weakened his power below our strength When our bodieslye in the dust our souls will be out of the devils reach for Christ will take them up to himself into the Paradise of God where the devil cannot come for he is cast down into utter darknesse he may be permitted to tempt or afflict us while we are in the flesh but Christ whom we serve will not suffer him to prevail against us Thirdly seeing Christ our head is risen from the dead we also that are his members must rise again at the last day for the Head will draw all the members of the body with it Christ hath redeemed our bodies from the grave as well as our souls from death if therefore we be not raised again out of the grave our redemption is not perfectly wrought Also if there shall be no resurrection of our bodies and if death hath power to keep them still in the grave then our union with Christ is not firm and our faith is not able to keep us close unto him and our hope is not stedfast but death hath not this power the graves will open and deliver up their dead and our bodies shall rise again to injoy that unconceivable happinesse with our souls of the beatificall vision of God and to be for ever with Christ our Redeemer because Christ our Head is risen Lastly our chief comfort dependeth upon our resurrection to glory for in this life we finde nothing but labour and travell sorrow and trouble vexation and anguish of spirit our hope of future rest and peace of joy and comfort happinesse and glory doth sweeten all our afflictions here and makes us bear them contentedly and chearfully for as David saith f Psal 58. 11. Verily there is a reward for the righteous and this reward is in heaven Now if there be no resurrection from the dead our hope is vain our comfort will deceive us and our life is most miserable of all men according to this of Paul g 1 Cor. 15. 15. If in this life onely we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable for we shall never injoy this reward which God hath promised but our faith is grounded upon the sure promises of God which cannot deceive us concerning the resurrection of our bodies unto glory which will yield us unspeakable consolation when we seriously Meditate upon it Wherefore now raise
Adam and how rebelliously we have sinned against God in the whole course of our lives If this be our condition which is most true as we are in the Staâ—â— of nature what comfort can we then take in all worldly pomp and dignities what contentment is there in all earthly pleasures and delight they are all nothing else but vanity and vexation of spirit We may injoy more of this world than our hearts can desire and yet our soules may starve for want of spiritual food and comfort d Gen. 4. 12 Cain was heir apparent to the whole world and yet he was driven out from the presence of God and became a vagabond upon earth So we may injoy whatsoever the world can afford us and yet God will not look upon us with a gracious aspect and then our condition will be no better than that of Cain We may injoy health wealth peace liberty and all manner of prosperity and yet our souls may be sick they may languish with sadnesse of heart they may be much perplexed and shut up as it were in a dungeon because they are so restrained by the corruptions of our nature that they have no freedome to mount upwards towards heaven It is nothing so uncomfortable to live in perpetuall darknesse and never to see the light of the Sun as it is to have our understandings spiritually darkened and to live without the light of the e Mal. 4. 2 Sun of righteousnesse to have no appearance from him to open the eyes of our understandings to be a guide to our reason to season our hearts with grace and to shew us the way that will bring us to heavenly happinesse This is our condition by nature we are out of the favour of God our life is void of all true comfort and consolation we walk in darknesse f Isa 53. 6 we go astray like silly sheep and follow our own inventions and we have no ability in our selves to return again into the right way Wherefore let our hearts be throughly affected with this our sad condition let our Meditations hereupon draw us to a godly sorrow for our sins which may bring us to true repentance and newnesse of life let this be our chief care and the desire of our soules to regain the grace and favour of God and to be reconciled unto him Let our souls bewail our sins with hearty contrition and true compunction let our teares manifest the grief of our hearts and the truth of our repentance for our transgressions and let us cast our selves down at Gods footstool and humbly acknowledge our offences to him suing earnestly to God by prayer for the pardon and forgivenesse of them through Faith in Christ Also we ought to be humble petitioners to God for a supply of such graces as we want to strengthen â—s against the corruptions of our nature and against all the enemies of our salvation This should be our constant practise every night before we sleep to make our peace with God for the sins of the day past wherein we have failed of our duty and wherein we have dishonoured God that our souls may rest in peace as well as our bodies do rest in quiet So likewise every morning we should acknowledge our thankfulnesse to God for the comforts of the night past and to crave his blessing upon our labours the day following If we continually practise this duty it will keep us from grosse sins and great offences and it will make us take all occasions to renew our Repentance with God for our sins Every fit of pain or of sicknesse that we feel and every crosse or affliction that we suffer calls loud for repentance because it is a fruit of our sins also every blessing and every good thing that God is pleased to bestow upon us cryeth loud for our thankfulnesse because it is bestowed of his own free bounty and goodnesse and not for any merit or desert of ours Though we are miserable vile and wretched in our selves yet God is gracious and mercifull and doth dayly give us occasions to glorifie him and he doth use all means to bring us home again unto himself for he doth not delight in the death of a sinner but rather that he should repent and turn unto him neither doth he deal with us according to our sins nor reward us according to our deservings but hath paid a great prize for our redemption out of this miserable condition Concerning the Redemption of Man VVHen God saw man in this sad condition a lamentable spectacle of wofull misery then he took pity upon him a Ezek. 16. 8 and this time of his wretched estate was the time of Gods love to him for soon after his fall God made a gracious promise of Redemption to him b Gen. 3. 15 that the seed of the woman should break the serpents head This promise God did afterwards renew to the Patriarks which was concerning Christ the Lord that should come in his appointed time whom God did plainly reveal to some of the Prophets c Gal. 4 4 5 VVhen the fulnesse of the time was come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that are under the Law that we might receive the adoption of sons d 1 John 4 9 10 In this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent his onely begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the Propitiation for our sins e John â— 18 The onely begotten son of God who is in the bosome of his Father came down from heaven and assumed our nature and took upon himself the guilt of our sins to Redeem us from the curse of the Law from the dominion of sin and Satan and from the power of death f 1 Cor. 7. 23 Christ hath also paid an infinite price for our Redemption even his own most precious blood and the full vialls of Gods wrath were poured out upon him because he did undertake to satisfie the justice of God for our sins for thus saith the Prophet g Isa 53. 6. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all h Acts 12. 7 8 Now let us gird up our loines with Peter and binde on our sandals i Eph. 6. 15 and let our feet be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace to be fitted and prepared for our deliverance out of prison for the chains of our sins are taken off and the prison doores are opened to set us at liberty and to redeem our souls from destruction This Work of our Redemption is so great a mystery that the blessed Angels do adore it with much admiration but they cannot comprehend it it was decreed in heaven before the world was and all the three Persons in the holy Trinity had their severall operations
in the effecting of it k 1. John 4 14. The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world And Christ himself doth testifie that the Father sent him for this end and purpose l John 5. 36 37 For the works saith he which the Father hath given me to finish the same works that I do bear witnesse of me that the Father hath sent me And the Father himself which hath sent me hath born witnesse of me For a voice came from heaven when he was baptized saying m Mat. 3. â— This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased The Son also assumed our nature both soul and body n Heb. 2. 17. For he was like unto us in all things o Heb 4. 15 sin onely excepted he was every way fully qualified to be our Mediator and Redeemer he became our surety and he paid the debt that we did â—ow to the justice of God for our sins by his death and by the price of his blood The holy Ghost also rested upon him at his baptisme p Heb. 1. 9. and anointed him with the oyl of gladnesse above his fellowes q Col. 1. 19 that in him should all fulnesse dwell r John 1. 16. and of his fulnesse have all we received and grace for grace God hath made him the head of his Church and the holy Ghost doth convey all saving graces from him to all the Members of that mysticall body VVherefore if we are elected unto salvation and do belong unto Christ by the Election of grace the holy Ghost will at some time or other work sanctifying grace in us and will unite us unto Christ by faith that so we may have a modest and sober assurance of our Redemption by him and of our reconcilement into the love and favour of God Why then do we not seek to be ingrafted into Christ for our Redemption Why do we continue still in a voluntary captivity and bondage whereas we may be set at liberty Why are we still exiles and banished from the presence of God whereas we may be brought again into his favour Why do we not seek hs face and the light of his countenance seing all true felicity and happinesse consisteth therein Å¿ Psa 16. 11 and seeing at his right hand are pleasures for evermore and why are we so backward in seeing the kingdom of heaven Alas we have not a true sense of our own miserable slavery we do not feel the burden of our sins we do not see how the devill doth tyrannize over us how he doth beguil us with a seeming pleasure and profit in sin for he will not let us see the greatnesse of the losse that we sustain by it nor the bitternesse of the torments that will follow after it beside those temporall sorrows that it bringeth upon us in this life Thus the devill bringeth us into security and into a dead sleep of sin and doth so stupifie all the faculties of our souls that we have no sense of our spirituall misery and by this means he leadeth us into a dangerous way that tendeth to no other end but to the perdition and destruction of our souls Also we are so delighted with the vanities of this world that we think of no other happinesse than what we do now injoy or if there be any other heaven than this upon earth we will be directed to it by the guidance of our own corrupted will and not by the Spirit of God for the devill would perswade us that nature can finde out a readier and an easier way to heavenly felicity than by Christ Thus we are hindred and kept back by the delusions of the devill by the alluring vanities of the world and by the deceitfulnesse of our own hearts that we cannot come unto Christ for our Redemption and to make our peace with God through faith in him and to have an holy assurance of it by our sound and true repentance Wherefore it doth now plainly appear that we have no power or ability in our selves to come unto Christ we must be taught of God or else we cannot find the way he must draw us or else we cannot come to Christ For thus saith Christ himself t John 6. 44 No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him God doth sometimes draw us unto Christ u Hos 11. 4 as he drew Ephraim with cords of a man with bands of love he will give us a Spirituall light by his Spirit to finde the way he will kindle an holy zeal in our hearts and affections to walk in it and he will inflame our desires that by grace we may come to Christ our Redeemer Gal. 3. 24 Sometimes God doth bring us unto Christ by the Law as our Schoolmaster with a rod in his hand by terrifying us with the threatenings of the Law if that be not sufficient then he will make us feel the smart of his rod by afflictions crosses and tribulations God doth also send his Ministers x 2 Cor 5. 20 as his Ambassadors that by the Preaching of the Gospel they might win us unto Christ and to be reconciled unto God Christ doth also sweetly draw us unto himself as the head draweth the members of the body and as the bridegroom draweth his spouse Thus saith the Spouse to her beloved y Cant. 1. 3 Draw me we will run after thee Christ doth also lovingly invite us to come unto him and to make us the more willing to come he doth allure us by his gracious promises z Mat. 11. 28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are hâ—avy laden and I will give you rest Thus also he saith by his Prophet a Isa 55. 1 2 3 Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no mony come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatnesse Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live How could Christ expresse his love more freely to a poor sinfull soul than now he doth what will move us to come unto him if this free tender of grace cannot But to the end we may be quite without excuse and that the love of God may abundantly appear unto us the holy Ghost doth likewise draw us unto Christ by giving us a true sight and sense of our sins by shewing us the means how we may be freed from the guilt and from the condemning power of sin by working faith in us to apply to our selves the merits of Christs blood and his righteousnesse for our justification and by working us into newnesse of life by the sanctification of the Spirit It doth now plainly and evidently appear that our sins have set us at a farre distance from God according to this of the
up thy spirit thou fainting soul for Christ hath redeemed thy body from the grave and thy soul from death by his Resurrection he hath conquered all the enemies of thy salvation sin hath no condemning power over thee death is advantage to thee hell is lockt up from thee and the Devill himself cannot go beyond his commission for thy hurt Though the world doth frown upon thee h Joh. 16. 33 and thou findest tribulation here yet be of good chear and lift up thy head for Christ hath overcome the world and he will sanctifie all thy tribulations to thee Thou livest here subject to shame and reproach to diseases of body and sorrow of spirit and to all miseries and calamities but death will put an end to all thy labour and travell the grave will refine thy body from all imperfections and diseases and thy resurrection will bring thee to thy reward which is laid up for thee in heaven If the powers of darknesse set themselves in array against thee if the terrours of death assault thee fear not but keep close to the Resurrection of thy Saviour by faith he hath overcome them all and will also subdue them unto thee i Eph â— 30. If thou art a member of his body of his flesh and of his bones thou must be made conformable to him as to thy head as well in his glory as in his shame as well in his resurrection as in his death and buriall If the crosse must try thy strength he will not tire thee with a greater burden than thou art well able to bear If pain or sicknesse brings thee near unto death the faithfull hope of a joyful resurrection will greatly refresh and comfort thy soul for though thy soul must be parted from thy body yet neither thy soul nor thy body shall be parted fuom Christ but thou shalt rise again out of the dust with a spirituall and immortal body to be joyned unto Christ thy head for ever Now think on these things with holy affections and they will minister heavenly comfort to thy soul when thou art in any perplexity of minde or body Consider now to whom Christ appeared after his Resurrection it was first to holy Women who in their pious devotion and love to him came to imbalm his body with spices and sweet odours then he appeared to his Disciples at sundry times and also to many Brethren that they all might be well confirmed in the truth of his Resurrection and of his Deity to comfort them in their sorrowes to uphold them in their sufferings to strenthen their faith against all persecutions and bloody tryals and to be able to strengthen others in the Doctrine of the Resurrection Thus did the holy Apostles testfiie that they had seen the Lord Jesus after he was risen to confirm their Doctrine of his Resurrection But Christ did not appear to any wicked or ungodly men for they could neither believe it nor understand it nor receive any comfort or benefit by it because they have no spirituall eye to discern his glorified body but chiefly because they have no relation to him as their Saviour Christ doth appear to us at this day by his Spirit when he doth manifest to us the truth of his Resurrection by his Word and doth give us grace to apply it to our selves for the confirmation of our faith in the Resurrection of our bodies at the last day But chiefly Christ doth appear to us when by faith we draw vertue and power from his Resurrection to rise from the death of sin to the life of grace when we can raise up the affections of our hearts from earthly and worldly cares to heavenly contemplations and when we can with the wings of faith mount up above the sinfull delights and pleasures of this life and above all the calamities and tribulations that we shall meet with here upon earth to have our conversation in heaven and can draw comfort to our selves in all our sorrowes and miseries from the hope of our resurrection There will also be a day of resurrection to the wicked which will be most sad wofull and miserable to them for they shall not rise with purified and glorified bodies but with filthy ugly and unclean bodies all besmeared with the guilt of sin which will make them odious to look upon and they have no covering to hide their sins but onely the Divels liverey which is a guilty conscience that they may be known to whom they belong For there is no place and no inheritance in heaven for such unclean monsters but they shall be thrust down into the lowest hell to partake with the devil and his angels in their everlasting torments which is the reward of all wicked men for their evill works Of CHRISTS Ascension up into Heaven VVHen Christ had fully instructed his Apostles after his Resurrection in those things which concerned the Kingdom of Heaven and had taught them how to plant his Church here upon earth he was taken up in the sight and view of them all and ascended up into heaven where he sitteth at the right hand of God in fulnesse of Majesty and glory until he shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead whereby Christ is now become our eternall Advocate with the Father to make intercession for us and he is also our eternall high Priest to present our Prayers and oblations to God At his Ascension he carried up our humane nature with him into heaven and hath advanced it above the Angels and above all Principalities and powers also Christ hath taken possession of that heavenly Inheritance which we shall hereafter injoy for he keeps it for us Wherefore now let the thoughts of our hearts be raised up in our holy Meditations to contemplate the transcendent glory of Christ now he is at the right hand of the Father that we may firmly confide in him and have a longing desire to be with him to injoy that place of true blessednesse a John 14. 2 which he hath prepared for us in his Fathers house Also let all our Prayers and sacrifices proceed from an upright and a believing heart that they may be such as Christ will present to his Father for us and then we may confidently believe that God will graciously receive them Here is also great comfort for us that though we sin dayly through humane frailty or through the corruption of our nature b 1 John 2. 1 2. that we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins who will intercede for us and will present the merit of his blood unto him in full satisfaction for all our sins whereof we may have an holy assurance by faith and true repentance If we do faithfully believe that we have such an high Priest and such an Advocate in heaven why do we give our selves liberty in sin to displease him Why do we cherish any darling sin
will still reign in us though we cannot actually commit sin So likewise if we do spiritually feed upon the body and blood of Christ at the Lords Table we do then seal this Covenant of grace to our souls and we shall finde the comfort of all those promises that are contained in it This spiritual food was the fruit that the Spouse did feed upon h Cant. 2. 3. which was so sweet to her taste and we shall also finde the same sweetnesse in that blessed fruit But if we come to that holy Supper with mindes full of worldly cares or sinfull lusts and with hearts full of hypocrisie and unbelief we do eat and drink damnation to our selves We need not now envy at the prosperity of ungodly men their wealth is their snare to bring them into the paths of perdition their gain is their losse their pleasure will be their pain and their sweetnesse will be bitterness to them in the end so that what gain soever they make of this world if they do not also gain Christ with it they will finde no Advantage nor true comfort by it It is a shame for rich men and a dishonour for such as are in eminent places of authority if they are not truly vertuous and religious This heavenly gain is peculiar onely to the Children of God which they have onely by Christ and they seek it no where but of him Our Advantage and Gain by CHRIST in Death AS Christ is our spirituall gain in this life so he is no lesse our advantage and Gain in our death for he hath so conquered death that it shall neither sting us nor hurt us though we must at Gods appointed time yield and submit unto it Death of it self is a terrible enemy and destructive to our whole nature and it is the greatest part of the curse for the breach of the Law but Christ hath made it our friend and hath taken the curse from it so that if we live an holy and pious life in Christ we shall also dye a comfortable and a Christian death in him a Rom. 5. 12 By the fall of Adam sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned b Heb. 9. 2â— Therefore it is appointed unto all men once to dye and after this is the judgement Thus saith the Psalmist c Psal 89. 48 What man is be that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Paul saith d 2 Cor. 4. 7 that our bodies are but earthen vessels which are soon broken or e 2 Cor. 5. 1. earthly houses which are soon dissolved The wise man hath no priviledge from death more than the fool one event happeneth to them both f Eccl. 2. 14 16 How dyeth the wise man As the fool saith the Preacher g Eccl. 3. 20 All go unto one place both high and low rich and poor all are of the dust and all turn to dust again For we must be conformed to Christ in his death if we desire to be conformed to him in his resurrection This is the way that every man must go before he can h Rom. 3. 23. come to eternall life for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God i Rom 6. 23 and the wages of sin is death If it be so that none can escape the stroke of death but that it will seize upon all flesh with an unresistible power we ought then to be alwayes well prepared that death may not come suddenly upon us to take us away in our sins before we have made our peace with God by faith in Christ and before we have got a modest and sober assurance of the pardon of our sins by true repentance that we may willingly part with this world and comfortably resign up our souls to God in full hope that we shall injoy a better life hereafters for evermore and this preparation for Death is onely by Christ Consider now that Christ will fit and prepare us for Death and will also fit a Death for us which shall make most for the glory of God and be most advantagious to us and he will so sanctifie it to us that our gain thereby shall be far greater than our loss If we dye in the Lord or for the Lord death may part our souls from our bodies but it cannot part our souls from Christ the soul may be parted for a time from a crazy diseased and corruptible body which is but an earthly Tabernacle but we shall receive the same bodies again in full strength in perfect beauty and incorruptible free from aches or diseases from decay or corruption Death may take our souls out of a world of miseries and calamities of sorrowes troubles and vexations but it will presently convey them into an haven of rest and into an heaven of happinesse where there is no labour nor toil no troubles nor sorrow but perfect peace and fulnesse of joy for ever and our bodies shall be raised up to injoy the same blessednesse with our souls k 2 Cor. 5. 1. Death may dissolve the earthly house of our tabernacle but we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternall in the heavens What if we lose our lands and possessions wherunto we are but tenants at will l â— Pet. 1. 3 4 We have a lively hope by Christ to injoy an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us Death may take us from our earthly friends but it will bring us into the society of the glorious Angels and blessed Saints in heaven and to be wedded to Christ our Beloved for ever to whom in this life we are but espoused Consider in the next place for our further comfort that we have this Advantage by Christ above other men when we are to dye m 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. that death hath nothing to hurt us sin hath no power to condemn us and therefore death cannot binde us over unto judgement Thus saith the Lord by his Prophet n Isa 42 â—5 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins How can death then be any way hurtful to us As Christ hath taken away the guilt of our sins so he will also fasten all our good works and pious duties to our souls which will go with us to the grave o Rev. 14. 13 and will follow us to the day of judgement to be had in remembrance then before God This is a blessed Advantage that we have by Christ in death above other men that have no interest in Christ For their evil works cleave so close to their souls that they will follow them unto judgement to increase their torments in their condemnation Thus saith Paul p 1 Tim. 5. 24. Some mens sins are open before hand
them z Psal 68. 5 A father of the fatherlesse and a judge of the widowes is God in his holy habitation Also God will blesse the children if their fathers have lived in the true fear of God and he will provide for them if death takes away their parents and they are left destitute of food and rayment But this may be an advantage even to such children because then they are immediatly commended to the care and providence of God who best knoweth how to make provision for them and he will neither be wanting in the trust that is committed to him neither wil he frustrate the hope of those that rest and depend upon him for succour in time of need Consider in the last place what the Son of Sirach saith a Eccl. 41. 1 2. That as the remembrance of death is bitter to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions unto the man that hath nothing to vex him and that hath prosperity in all things yea unto him that is yet able to receive meat so the sentence of death is acceptable unto the needy and unto him whose strength faileth that is now in the last age and is vexed with all things and to him that despaireth and hath lost patience But none can be truly willing to dye but onely a true Christian that is ingrafted into Christ and hath an holy assurance that he dyeth in the love and favour of God and doth faithfully hope for that Crown of righteousness and that heavenly Inheritance which the righteous Judge hath reserved for him If we have this assurance by our union with Christ and also a stedfast hope of salvation well grounded upon the promises of God we shall not be afraid to look death in the face nor unwilling to resign up our souls unto God before death doth violently or suddenly take them from us For Christ hath taken away the evill that is in death and hath so weakened the power of it that it cannot bereave our souls of that spiritual comfort and gain which we have by him though sometimes we cannot feel it in a sudden or violent death neither can it binde us over unto judgement For nothing can dissolve the union that is between Christ and our souls by faith Though God should take us away when we are young or in our middle age as he did that good King Josiah yet it shall be for our great Advantage that we should not see the evill that is to come and the sooner to injoy our eternall rest and happinesse with Christ Our Advantage and gain by CHRIST after death BUt the chiefest gain that a true Believer hath by Christ is after death for whatsoever he gained by him in life or in death was to fit him for the injoyment of this great gain and to give him some assurance of it and some taste how great and how comfortable it is We have this heavenly advantage by Christ in this life but in hope and we cannot come to the full fruition of it until after death and then we shall find it to be so great that no tongue can expresse it and no heart can conceive it but if we duly consider from what evils and miseries we shall be then freed and what glory and blessedness we shall then injoy we may conceive something of this unspeakable gain First we shall be freed from all the temptations and suggestions of the devil a Rev. 12. 9. for he is cast out into the earth and all his wicked Angels are cast out with him They never had any place in heaven since their fall though they flie in the air or mount up to the first or second region of heaven yet they cannot come into the heaven of happinesse where the Saints and Angels of God have their habitation for heaven is not a place for such unclean spirits Also in heaven we shall be freed from all worldly temptations from all carnal delights and earthly vanities that may intice us to sin b Rev. 21. 27 For there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth nor whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie for as the place is most pure so they that come there must be pure and holy Secondly in heaven we shall be freed from the issues of temptation and that is sin for thus saith the Prophet c Jer. 3. 17. When the Nations shall be gathered unto the Throne of the Lord they shall walk no more after the imaginations of their evill heart In this life the soul is purged and purified from the guilt of sin by the bloud of Christ and all the spots and staines of sin are taken away by the laver of regeneration the body also is purified and refined in the grave by the vertue of Christs death and burial and therefore d 1 Cor. 15. 41. though it be sown in corruption in dishonour and in weaknesse yet it is raised in incorruption in glory and in power it is sowen a naturall body but it is raised a spirituall body which is subject to no sin corruption or infirmity which are the fruits of sin and it is endowed with perfect abilities to glorifie God together with the Saints and Angels in heaven So long as we live in the flesh we cannot but sin against God but when this mortal shall put on immortality there will be then no more place for sin but our whole nature shall be made spiritural and heavenly This consideration should make us desire with Paul e Phil. 1. 23. To be dissolved and to be with Christ that we might no more sin against our God nor offend him with our pollutions but alwayes to sing praises and Hallelujahs unto him as the Saints and Angels do in heaven Thirdly we shall then be freed from all troubles and sorrowes from all pain and diseases of body from all anguish of spirit and grief of hears f Rev. 25. 4. For God will wipe away all tears from our eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away Thus are the servants of God freed from all temptations unto sin from all sin and from all misery and sorrow after death by the merit of Christs death and passion but carnal and unregenerate men carry their sins with them to the grave and death opens the gate to their eternal torments in hell for it bindeth them over to the great and terrible day of judgement when the fiercenesse of Gods wrath shall be poured out upon them to their utter confusion We come now to consider what great honour and what joy and comfort the servants of God shall have by Christ after death for though their life here be full of sorrowes yet after death they shall be freed from them all and they shall also have the fulnesse of all true comfort and consolation First we shall injoy God himself g 2
upon his Throne of mercy ready to receive us If our faith doth reach no further than to the knowledge of Christ what he is in his divine nature and what he is by incarnation or to his glorious excellencies and dignities as he is the Mediatour of the new Covenant or to the work of mans redemption as he is the Redeemer of the world it is but the bare notion of faith which is not effectual enough to bring us to eternal happinesse Unregenerate men may know and believe thus much of Christ by the letter of the Gospel and yet never be brought into the state of grace by Christ because they have not the grace of faith in their hearts to apply these things to themselves The devils did know who Christ was they knew the purity of his nature and what power he had over them and yet they continued devils still Wherefore we must not rest in the bare notion of faith but if we will believe unto salvation we must then f John 13. 8 9. As Paul and Silas said to the Jaylor Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we must rest upon him and put our whole confidence in him for our salvation also we must apply him and all his excellent dignities to our selves that we may be well perswaded of our redemption by him and that we are invested into the Covenant of grace by our union with him and that we shall hereafter injoy the perfection of true happinesse If our Faith can reach thus high and lay such hold upon Christ by their particular application of him then let our condition be what it will we shall be happy while we live more happy when we dye and most happy after death for no afflictions or sorrowes of life and no violence or extremity of sicknesse in death shall be able to take this happinesse from us and after death we shall be out of the reach of all our enemies for Christ by whom we have this happinesse will not suffer us to loose it but by the grace and power of faith we shall still draw all spiritual comfort from Christ to our souls to make us truly happy in this life and everlastingly happy in the life to come This is the grace and power of true faith to apply particularly to our selves whole Christ God and Man and as he is our Prophet our high Priest our King our Mediator and Redeemer and then how mean soever our condition be he will make us happy in it and will crown us with everlasting happinesse hereafter for where this Faith is wrought there the holy Ghost will abide for ever and that soul must needs be happy that intertaineth him g Eph. 1. 13. For after that we have believed in Christ we are sealed with that holy Spirit of Primise unto the day of Redemption this Spirit of promise is the earnest of our inheritance which Christ hast purchased for us Consider further that by this means we are neerly joyned unto Christ h Eph. 3. 17. For Christ dwelleth in our hearts by Faith This spirituall union with Christ is more firm and close than the union of the members of the natural body is with the head or the union of the branches is with the vine for nothing can separate us from Christ but he will keep us by his Almighty power unto salvation If we be in this blessed condition nothing can hurt the well-being of our souls but all things shall work together for our good What comfort and what happinesse can we want if we injoy Christ His grace will carry us on cheerfully through all the discomforts that we shall meet with in this life his blessings will be upon all that we injoy and he will give us the fulnesse of happinesse in the life to come Though we be in Christ yet we shall meet with many sorrowes troubles and vexations in this life which will cloud the sense of this our fâ—licity for we have here but the beginnings of that blessed and happy condition which in the life to come shall be perfected and confirmed to us for ever in Christ Wherefore we ought seriously to meditate and study how to injoy Christ who is the true happinesse of our souls and though we have but a taste of this heavenly consolation yet it will sweeten the bitternesse of all misery and as we dayly grow in grace so we shall dayly finde more comfort by our assurance of the fruition of our future felicity in heaven Also the more we grow in grace the more we shall grow out of love with this world because we shall the better see the vanities of it and the more we shall grow in love with vertue and true piety which will bring us to this happinesse and to injoy it to all eternity Concerning our Iustification THe true knowledge of this high Principle of Religion what it is to be justified in the sight of God and how it is wrought in us by the holy Ghost is of great concernment to every true Christian and it doth minister exceeding much comfort to him in the assurance of the pardon of his sins and in the hope of his salvation Now we are justified not for any inherent righteousnesse that is in us nor for any foreseen works we are able to do nor for any grace that is wrought in us but as God doth elect us of his own free grace and love so he doth also freely justifie us First a 2 Cor. 5. 19. by not imputing our sins and iniquities to us Secondly by not inflicting the condemnation of sin upon us Thirdly by imputing the righteousnesse of Christ to us by faith Fourthly by pronouncing and declaring us to be just in the Court of heaven and by witnessing the same to our consciences by his holy Spirit and lastly by his gracious acceptation of us This is our Justification and thus we may be perswaded of it for God hath set up his seat of Judgement in every mans conscience so that when we remember our sins if our conscience doth absolve us by our faith in the righteousnesse of Christ and in the merit of his blood it is a sure evidence of our justification in the sight of God but if it doth condemn us then it will binde us over to answer for our selves at the last and general judgement when it will bring bitter accusations against us and witnesse terrible things against our poor souls for conscience is the highest witnesse next under God The ground of our justification is Gods free grace to us by Faith in Christ who hath taken upon himself the guilt of our sins whereby they are imputed to him and his righteousnesse is imputed to us so that now God doth account us just and righteous because we have no guilt of sin and are cloathed with the righteousnesse of Christ and therefore he will absolve us from all our sins and from the punishment that is due to us for them and he will