as he himself required with which his Justice is fully satisfied and his Wrath appeased And this was that Oblation of himself of his own most precious Body and Blood when he poured out his soul unto death to be an offering for sin upon the Altar of the Cross Christ being come an High-Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us Hebr. 9.11 12. And without looking any further that one Epistle to the Hebrews may satisfie us in this Point the main Design of it being to convince the Jews that Jesus Christ was such an High-Priest as we are speaking of Who was once offered to bear the sins of many and who shall appear unto them that look for him the second time without sin unto salvation Secondly as our blessed Saviour hath offered this holy spotless and most acceptable Sacrifice of himself unto God for us so doth he likewise continually intercede for us at his right hand pleading the merits of his most precious Death and Passion in our behalf that we thereby may be delivered from the Curse of the Law and receive the adoption of Sons Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us Hebr. 9.24 and Hebr. 7.25 He tells us That he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them So Rom. 8.34 Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us And if any man sin saith S. John we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous 1 Joh. 2.1 Thus then it is evident that our blessed Saviour is by the holy Evangelists and Apostles that have given us a true and faithful account of him represented to be as great an High-Priest as it was possible that the Messias could be for who can be higher than he that is set down at the right hand of God And this naturally brings me to the Consideration of his last and highest Office which is that of a King For surely he that is exalted unto the right hand of God can be no less than a King in the highest Degree a King of Saints and Angels a King of Kings and Lord of Lords Let the Jews perswade themselves what they please concerning the greatness of the Kingdom of their imaginary Messias whom they fondly dream is yet to come into the world though they cannot deny that the time prefixed for his coming by the Prophets is long since past yet a greater King they cannot imagine him to be than we know and are fully assured by the unanimous Testimony of most faithful and unexceptionable Witnesses that our blessed Saviour already is who is and ever shall be a King upon Gods holy hill of Sion whom he hath exalted and set at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come and put all things under his feet and given him to be the head over all things to the Church Eph. 1.20 21 22. That our blessed Saviour was to be such a King as this the Angel Gabriel expresly foretold to the Virgin Mary at his Conception Luk. 1.31 Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be no end Which words plainly imply that he was not to be a temporal King a King of this World whose Kings and Kingdoms shall all perish and come to an end but a spiritual King of a Kingdom which is everlasting Such a King as this our Lord owned himself to be I appoint unto you a Kingdom saith he to his Disciples as my father hath appointed unto me that ye may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel Luk. 22.29 30. A King even Pilate himself seemed positively to declare him by the Superscription upon his Cross Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews which he would by no means alter at the request of the chief Priests Such a King he most powerfully demonstrated himself to be by his triumphant Resurrection from the Dead Such a King he yet more fully proved himself to be by his most glorious Ascension into Heaven Having first told his Disciples that all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth he shews them the truth of it by ocular Demonstration visibly in their sight ascending up into Heaven to take Possession of his eternal Kingdom sending moreover two Angels to comfort them and assure them that he the same Jesus which was taken up from them into heaven shall so come in like manner as they had seen him go into heaven Act. 1.11 And after all this according to his Promise as a King that was ascended on high that had led captivity captive and received gifts for men he bestows upon them a gift fit for the King of Heaven to bestow upon his choicest Favourites even that of the Holy Ghost upon the Day of Pentecost thereby to the astonishment of all that beheld them impowering them to work Miracles and to speak with Tongues in order to the accomplishing that great work about which he employed them which was to proclaim him over all the World to be such a King such a Saviour and to gather him a Church out of all the Nations of the Earth declaring that unto all those that will believe and obey him and receive him for their Soveraign Lord and King he will most assuredly be the authour of eternal salvation having redeemed them from the Curse of the Law and purchased for them the adoption of sons and that when at the last day he shall come again in the Glory of his Father to judge the world in righteousness he shall then as an omnipotent King whose Power nothing can resist execute Vengeance upon all his Enemies and reward all his faithful and obedient Subjects with everlasting Felicity receiving them into his heavenly Kingdom there to Reign together with him in Glory as Kings and Priests unto God for ever thus I have proved to you I hope beyond all Contradiction except such as proceeds from wilful and obstinate Malice or notorious Ignorance or Prejudice which must
are heavy laden with the burthen of their Sins are invited to come unto Christ and that is that he may give them rest Ye have already heard that there is no burden so intolerable as that of Sin and the rest which Christ here promises to give to them that come unto him in that manner which I have shewed you is a freedom from this burden and from all the dreadfull consequents and effects of it a freedom from the anguish of an afflicted conscience from the insupportable troubles of a wounded Spirit that is smitten with the arrows of the Almighty from the wrath of God and from the Torments of Hell from the guilt of Sin and from its punishment And this Christ doth by taking the burden of their Sins upon himself and making a full satisfaction for them unto the Divine Justice For the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all Isa 53.6 And God made him to be sin for us saith S. Paul who knew no Sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 And he that by a true faith applies these Merits of Christ's Death and passion to himself he hath already obtained this rest which Christ here promises he is delivered from the burden of his Sins and from that vengeance which is due unto them This rest therefore is in a word our justification in the sight of God by which purely for the sake of the Merits of Jesus Christ we are acquitted and absolved of all our Sins and are reconciled to God Being justified by faith saith the Apostle we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5.1 This is that peace which passes all understanding a peace which nothing can disturb or interrupt but it will always continue firm and unshaken among all the changes and chances of this mortal life and when we shall have most need of it it will stand us in greatest stead When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death it will not leave us but will bear us company even before the Tribunal of Christ and will enable us to lift up our Heads with joy in that great day when the whole World shall tremble and will at the last conduct us into those glorious regions of rest and happiness which the Prince of peace hath purchased for us Thus ye see who they be that are here invited unto whom they are invited and for what end Sad and disconsolate Sinners that are oppressed with the weight of their Sins are invited by Christ to come and cast that insupportable burden upon him who alone is able to bear it and instead thereof to receive from him the most blessed rest and peace imaginable What remains then but that with most ardent prayers we continually besiege the Throne of Grace and beg of God that he would open our eyes by the Grace of his H. Spirit without whom we can do nothing that is good that so we may discern both the Misery of Sin with which by nature we are laden and the blessedness of that peace which by the grace of Christ we may obtain And when we once do discern these things let us immediately without any delay run unto Christ for help Let us not seek for this peace from any one else but from him who alone hath promised it to us and who alone is able to give it us Let us not seek it in the vain Pomps and Pleasures of this present World for all that this world can do for us without this peace will do us no good and with it all that it can do against us will do us no harm Let us not as the Papists do seek for it from any merit or rightteousness in our selves for all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags neither let us as they do likewise seek for it to Saints or Angels or Archangels for the Angels refuse our Worship and own themselves to be but our Fellow-servants as is evident by two plain instances in the Revelation Chap. 19.10 and 22.9 And as for the Saints Abraham though he be the father of the faithfull yet he is ignorant of us and Israel knows us not Nay the blessed Virgin her self though the Papists blasphemously call her the Queen of Heaven and pray to her not only to intreat but to command her Son in their behalf doubtless could she hear such Prayers as these and had leave to answer them she would presently send such Persons as these to Christ and give them no other answer from Heaven than what she gave to the Servants at the Marriage-Feast in Cana of Galilee while she was upon earth John 2.5 Whatsoever he saith unto you do it Let us therefore acquiess in this answer of hers as if it were an Oracle from Heaven and instead of seeking either to her or any other Person for salvation let us come unto the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the World even to Christ himself who hath invited us and whatsoever he saith unto us in his Gospel let us do it Thus if we come unto him we shall be sure to find him ready to receive us and to perform unto us this gracious promise which he hath here made in my Text he will give us in this World peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost and in the World to come everlasting joy and rest in his Heavenly Kingdom SERMON VIII COL II. 18 19. Let no Man beguile you of your Reward in a voluntary Humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly Mind And not holding the Head from which all the Body by Joints and Bands having Nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the Increase of God THESE words are such a plain and direct Prohibition of Angel-worship and consequently of Saint-worship too that it is one of the greatest wonders in the World that there should be found in it a Christian Church that stiles her self Catholick and that in so arrogant a manner as to appropriate that Title to her self exclusively to all Christian Churches in the World besides and yet in open and hostile Opposition of this Text of Scripture should not only allow of the Worship of Angels and Saints as lawful but proceed so far as to impose it upon all Men as a necessary Article of Faith anathematizing all that will not join with her in it But these things must be that the Scriptures may be fulfilled For certainly whosoever laying aside all Prejudice and Partiality and Hypocrisie devoutly and seriously consults the Holy Oracles of God will find in the Writings of the New Testament as plain and punctual a Prediction and Description of Antichrist both as to the time and manner of his Coming and his Behaviour and Reception in the World as in the Old Testament there is of the Messias and seeing both exactly foretold will not think it a greater wonder that by one
Life and we must not add to it nor diminish from it but acquiesce in it and make it the sole Rule and Measure of our Faith imposing nothing upon our own or other men's Consciences but what is manifestly consentaneous and agreeable to the Doctrine contained therein Thus ye see that our Righteousness must be thoroughly purged and cleansed from all those Defects with which the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was defiled But still all this is not sufficient if our Righteousness doth not exceed theirs infinitely more than thus it will be nothing worth we shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven That Righteousness which must bring us thither must be absolutely compleat and perfect without Spot or Blemish such as the All seeing Eye of God can discern no Defect in and that it is impossible for us ever to find such a Righteousness as this in our selves I have already shewed you and yet such a Righteousness we must all of us have or else never expect Salvation for without Holiness ay and perfect Holiness too no man shall see the Lord. Since therefore we our selves are not able to perform such a Righteousness as this and yet such an one is absolutely necessary to bring us unto Heaven we must seek it from some other person and to whom should we have recourse for it but to Christ our Saviour who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption Let us therefore if we desire to be saved not trust in our own Merits as the Pharisees did for by the Works of the Law shall no flesh be justified but with the Hand of a true and lively Faith let us put on the Robe of Christs Righteousness which will be sure to hide our faults and to present us holy blameless and undefiled in the Presence of God But let us not deceive our selves neither and pretend to have this Faith and consequently that we have an interest in the Righteousness of Christ when there is no such Matter but let us try and examine our Faith whether it be a true and lively Faith or no. If it be not a Faith that Works by love if it be not fruitful and productive of good Works it is dead and insignificant it will stand us in no stead at all but if we pretend so to lay hold on Christ we shall only grasp a shadow No though we must not relie upon our own performances yet we must work ay and work as heartily as if our Works were Meritorious too but when we have done all we must utterly disclaim our own Righteousness trusting only in the Merits of Christ and desiring with S. Paul that we may be found in him not having our own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith This is such a Righteousness as will never fail us but whereas the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and of all other Hypocrites and Dissemblers with God shall sink them into the bottomless Pit this Righteousness of Faith will refresh our Souls and chear our Hearts with the sweet Hopes and comfortable Expectation here and bless them hereafter eternally with the joyfull Fruition of that Glory which God hath prepared for all them that love him SERMON X. 1 PET. IV. 18. And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Ungodly and the Sinner appear THAT there shall be another Life after this in which all Mankind shall reap the Fruit of their Actions done in the Flesh and be adjudged to an unalterable State either of Happiness or Misery to all Eternity is not only an Article of Faith amongst Christians but a Truth of which the wiser sort of the Heathens were generally convinced This I say is a Truth which all Christians profess firmly to believe but yet alas how small is the Number of those that demonstrate the Truth and Sincerity of their Faith by their Holy Lives and Conversations We all of us know and are assured that there is a just God who will render to every man according to his deeds Rom. 2.6 and will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34.7 We believe that there is an Heaven prepared for Saints and an Hell for Sinners and yet notwithstanding this belief how many thousands that are called by the Name of Christ run on head-long boldly and impudently in Wickedness and pursue with all imaginable Eagerness and Delight those fatal Paths that lead to Destruction as if the Joys of Heaven were a Trifle not worth our Acceptance or the Torments of Hell the object rather of our Desires than Fears But notwithstanding all this Obstinacy and Hardness of our Hearts the Lord God who is ever merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth leaves us not to our selves but is continually calling and inviting us to Repentance by the preaching of his Word and by the secret and powerful Operations of his Holy Spirit Sometimes Heaven is pleased to smile upon us and as it were kindly to desire and intreat us to come and be its Inhabitants to accept of the glorious Liberty of the Children of God to be made Citizens of Sion and free Denizens of the New Jerusalem and at other times it frowns and awakens us with Thunder out of our sinful Lethargy God tries all ways imaginable to reclaim us and deliver us from the Jaws of Death Sometimes he pours down his Judgments upon our Heads that in our Affliction we may seek him early and sometimes he stretches forth the Arms of his Mercy to embrace us and draws us to him with the Cords of a Man with the Bands of Love Hos 11.4 Sometimes he holds forth the golden Scepter to us and graciously invites us to come and kiss the Son lest he be angry and sometimes he shakes his Rod of Iron over our Backs and threatens to dash us in pieces if we will not hear the Rod and who hath appointed it Hence are those many and gracious Invitations to Repentance which God hath made to us in his Word and those terrible Threatnings which he hath therein denounced to affright us from Sin amongst all which there is scarce one to be found that is more emphatical and piercing than this of my Text which must needs fill the Hearts of all obstinate and impenitent Sinners with Horrour yea and it strikes a Terrour even into the Godly themselves and makes them work out their Salvation with fear and trembling It thunders Hell certain and inevitable Damnation to the Wicked and hardly admits the Righteous into Heaven And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Vngodly and the Sinner appear The words are propounded by way of interrogation a thing very frequent in Scripture and generally used for the more powerful enforcing of some weighty and material Argument What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it
the good fight finished his course kept the Faith overcome all his Spiritual Enemies resisted the temptations of Satan subdued and mortified his own Lusts and Corruptions despised the Derision of those Fools that sit in the seat of the scornful trampled upon all the vain pomps and flattering Glories of this present World and after all this perhaps at the last is called to suffer an ignominious and painful Death for the testimony of a good conscience and to endure the cruellest torments that the wit and malice of wicked Men can inflict upon him then he takes up his Cross with joy goes like a Lamb to the Slaughter acknowledging that he hath done nothing that he is but an unprofitable Servant that he is less than the least of all God's Mercies and that his Life is a Sacrifice unworthy of his acceptance and therefore he desires to appear before God's Tribunal not having his own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith This is such a Righteous Man as is here meant in my Text This is that Blessed Man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity and in whose Spirit there is no guile And this is that Man who as it is plain from my Text shall Scarcely be saved How that comes to pass I shall hereafter endeavour to shew you For though he shall be Scarcely saved yet saved he shall be infallibly for to him that is faithful unto Death Christ will give a Crown of Life SERMON XI 1 PET. IV. 18. And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Ungodly and the Sinner appear IN the handling of these words I have already shewed you who the Righteous Man is and how he is distinguished from the rest of the World He is a Man of a Temper and Conversation exceedingly different from the generality of Mankind and lives amongst them like a Stranger and a Sojourner in a foreign Countrey where he hath few or no Acquaintance like a single Stalk of good Corn in a large Field of Tares Few Men mind him few regard him few keep him company few delight in his Conversation and fewer imitate it He is a Proverb and a By-word among the Ungodly who account his Life madness and his End to be without Honour For Christ's sake he bears Reproach They that sit in the Gate speak against him and he is the Song of the Drunkards The World and he are irreconcilable Enemies as contrary one to the other as Light and Darkness as Heaven and Hell as Christ and Belial while the Wicked and Ungodly rejoice he mourns while they laugh he weeps while they triumph in the very Gall of Bitterness and Bonds of Iniquity he is a Prisoner of Jesus Christ while they are in great Power and spread themselves like a green Bay tree lie upon Beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches and eat the Lambs out of the Flock and the Calves out of the midst of the Stall live in Idleness and Luxury and Pleasure nourishing their Hearts as in a day of slaughter and pampering up those Lusts which of themselves are too apt to rebel he keeps under his Body and brings it into subjection crucifies the old Man that the Body of Sin may be destroyed subdues and mortifies his Corruptions by Prayer and Fasting and walks mournfully before the Lord of Hosts He meets with scarce any thing in this sinful World which can delight his Soul but almost every Spectacle that he beholds is to him an occasion of sorrow He grieves for his own Sins and he grieves for those of other Men whom he sees with so much Eagerness and Jollity posting towards the Gates of Death He grieves for the Afflictions of Joseph and laments to see the Church of God in Adversity Nothing contents him nothing pleases him in this Valley of Tears but that he is pleased at nothing here below but his Affections are set on those things which are above and the earnest Desire of his Heart is to depart and to be with Christ Which happy End he shall at the last most certainly attain to though it shall not be without great Pains and Difficulty and as my Text expresses it scarcely And so I proceed to make good my second Undertaking which was To shew you why St. Peter here supposes the Righteous to be scarcely saved Which word implies not an Impossibility that they should be saved for certainly then of all Men they would be most miserable nor a Possibility that any one of them should not be saved For every one of them is as sure to obtain Salvation as he is sure to obtain it scarcely Those that thou gavest me saith our Saviour I have kept and none of them is lost but the Son of Perdition who never was one of the Number of the Righteous But this word scarcely denotes only the many and great Difficulties and Troubles and Dangers through which the Righteous are to pass in their way to Heaven They must be tempted afflicted scorned derided persecuted They must labour they must sweat they must die that they may be saved and pass by the very Gates of Hell in their way to Paradise There are large Mansions and a Glorious and Everlasting Kingdom prepared for them but they have many potent and malicious Enemies all which they must overcome before they can take possession of it There is a Crown of Glory laid up for them but they must run for it if they will obtain it They must wage War with Devils and wrestle against Principalities and Powers before they can be accounted worthy to be Companions for Angels And now if David that reposed so great a Confidence in his God and was sufficiently assured that he was ordained to be King over Israel did nevertheless begin to despond and was sore afraid that he should one Day perish by the Hand of Saul much more may the Righteous fear and tremble who have far greater and mightier Enemies than Saul to oppose them able to dismay the stoutest Souldier in the Camp of Christ had he not a Shield of Faith to defend him from their Weapons and an Eye of Faith to discover that those that are for him are more than those that are against him When a mighty Host of the Syrians besieged Elisha God placed Horses and Chariots of Fire round about him for his Defence So though the Righteous Man hath Devils for his Enemies yet he hath Angels for his Guardians and Jesus Christ the Captain of his Salvation He may march on then with Confidence and Assurance of the Victory but he must fight if he will obtain it Heaven is his Inheritance the Kingdom prepared for him from the Foundation of the World but he is a Stranger and a Pilgrim here in a far Countrey and his Journey to it is long and troublesome He hath a narrow and rugged way to walk in tedious and irksome to Flesh