that God is and that he ought to be worshipped It appeareth by our Saviours reasoning Iohn 4. 24. God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in Truth He giveth directions about the manner of worship but supposeth it that he will be worshipped When God had proclaimed his name and manifested himself to Moses Exod. 34. 8. Moses made hast and bowed himself and worshipped It is the crime charged upon the Gentiles that when they knew God they glorified him not as God Rom. 1. 21. They knew a divine power but did not give him a worship at lest competent to his nature God pleadeth his right Mal. 1. 6. If I be a Father where is mine honour If I be a master where is my fear And God who is the common Parent and absolute Master of all must have both a Worship and Honour in which Reverence and Fear is mixed with Love and Joy So that if God be worship is certainly due to him They that have no worship are as if they had no God The Psalmist proveth Atheism by that Psal. 14. 1. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God and ver 4. They call not upon God The acknowledgement of a King doth imply subjection to his Laws so doth the acknowledgment of his God imply a necessity of worshipping him III. That both Worship and Service is due to God him shalt thou worship and him shalt thou serve The worship of God is both Internal and External The Internal consisteth in that Love and Reverence which we owe to him the External in those offices and duties by which our honour and respect to God is signified and expressed Both are necessary both believing with the heart and confession with the Mouth Rom. 10. 9 10. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation The soul and life of our Worship and Godliness lyeth in our Faith Love Reverence and Delight in God above all other things the visible expression of it is in Invocation Thanksgiving Prayers and Sacraments and other Acts of outward Worship Now it is not enough that we own God with the Heart but we must own him with the Body also In the Heart serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Psal. 2. 11. Such as will become the Greatness and Goodness of God with outward and bodily worship you must now own him in all those prescribed duties in which these Affections are acted The spirit must be in it and the body also There are two extreams some confine all their respect to God to bodily worship and external Forms Mat. 16. 8. This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their hearts are far from me They use the external Rites of worship but their Affections are no way suited to the God whom they Worship It is the Heart must be the principal and chief Agent in the business without which it is but the carcass of a duty without the life and the soul. The other Extream is that we are not called to an external bodily worship under the Gospel why did he then appoint the Ordinances of Preaching Prayer Singing of Psalmes Baptisme and the Lords Supper God that made the whole man body and soul must be worshipped of the whole man Therefore besides the inward Affections there must be external Actions whereby we express our Respect and Reverence to God IV. That both these Religious Worship and Service are due to God alone I prove it by these Arguments 1. Those things which are due to God as God are due to him alone and no Creature without Sacriledge can claim any part and fellowship in that Worship and Adoration neither can it be given to any Creature without Idolatry but now Religious worship and service is due to God as God he is thy Lord and worship thou him Psal. 45. 11. Our worship and service is due to him not onely for his supereminent Excellency but because of our Creation Preservation and Redemption Therefore we must worship and serve him and him onely Isa. 42. 8. I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another nor my praise to graven Images God challengeth it as Jehovah the great self-being from whom we have received Life and Breath and all things This Glory God will not suffer to be given to another And therefore the Apostle sheweth the wretched estate of the Galatians Chap. 4. 8. When ye knew not God ye did service to them that by nature are no Gods that is they worshipped for Gods those things which really were no Gods There is no kind of Religious worship or service under any name whatsoever to be given to any Creature but to God only for what is due to the Creator as Creator cannot be given to the Creature 2. The nature of Religious worship is such that it cannot be terminated on any Object but God for it is a profession of our Dependance and Subjection Now whatever invisible Power this worship is tendered unto must be Omniscient Omnipresent Omnipotent Omniscient who knowes the Thoughts Cogitations secret purposes of our heart which God alone doth 1 King 8. 39. Give unto every one according to his ways whose heart thou knowest for thou even thou onely knowest the hearts of all the children of Men. It is Gods Prerogative to know the inward motions and thoughts of the heart whether they be sincere or no in their professions of dependance and subjection So Omnipresent that he may be ready at hand to help us and relieve us Ier. 23. 23 24. Am I a God at hand and not a God afar of can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord do not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord. The Palace of Heaven doth not so confine him and inclose him but that he is present every where by his essential presence and powerful and efficacious Providence Besides Omnipotent Psal. 57. 2. I will cry unto God most high unto God who performeth all things for me Alass what a cold formality were prayer if we should speak to those that know us not and who are not near to help us or have no sufficiency of power to help us Therefore these professions of dependance and subjection must be made to God alone 3. To give Religious Worship to the Creatures it is without command without promise and without Examples and therefore without any Faith in the Worshipper or acceptance of God Where is there any command or direction or approved example of this in Scripture God will accept onely what he commanded and without a promise it will be unprofitable to us and it is a superstitious Innovation of our own to devise any
the three fundamental Graces Faith Hope and Love so the spiritual Armour is represented 1 Thess. 5. 8. But let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breast-plate of Faith and Love and for an helmet the hope of Salvation 1. A strong Faith 1 Pet. 5. 9. Whom resist stedfast in the Faith This is in the general a sound belief of Eternity or a deep sense of the World to come When we believe the Gospel with an assent so strong as constantly to adhere to the duties prescribed and to venture all upon the hopes offered therein 2. A fervent love arising out of the sense of our obligations to God that we do with all readiness of mind set our selves to do his will levelling and directing our actions to his glory Love is strong as death and many waters cannot quench love neither can the flouds drown it Cant. 8. 6 7. This love will neither be bribed nor frightned from Christ. 3. A lively Hope that doth so long and wait for glory to come that present things do not greatly move us either delights 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory or the terrors of sense Rom. 8. 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in us III. Doctrine That those that come out of eminent conflicts are usually delivered by God in a glorious manner Christ was a pattern of this The devil leaveth him and behold Angels came and ministred unto him When God delivered his people after a long captivity he delivered them with glory and some kind of triumph when he turned the Egyptian Captivity they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians so that they lent unto them such things as they required and they spoiled the Egyptians Exod 12. 35 36. So in the Babylonian Captivity Cyrus chargeth his subjects in the place where the Jews remain to furnish them with all things necessary for their journey Ezek. 1. 4. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts besides the free-will-offering for the house of God that is in Ierusalem So in a private instance Iob 42. 10 11. And the Lord turned the captivity of Iob when he prayed for his Friends also the Lord gave Iob twice as much as he had before Then came there unto him all his brethren and all his sisters and all they that had been of his acquaintance before and did eat bread with him in his house and they bemoaned him and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him every man also gave him a piece of mony and every one an ear-ring of gold It is said the Lord turned the captivity of Iob because he had been delivered to Satans power till the Lord set him at Liberty again and then all his Friends had compassion on him even those that had despised him before releived him So Isaiah 61. 7. For your shame you shall have double and for confusion they shall rejoyce in their portion therefore in their Land they shall possess the double Everlasting joy shall be unto them They should have large and eminent Honour double honour for their shame such a reparation would God make them for all the troubles and dammages they had sustained So in an ordinary Providence God raiseth up comforters to his servants after all the injuries done them by satan's instruments And so also in spirituals the grief and trouble that cometh by Temptation is recompensed with more abundant consolation after the conquest and victory and God delighteth to put special marks of favour upon his people that have been faithful in an hour of Tryal Now God doth this 1. To shew the World the advantage of Godliness and close adhering to him in an hour of temptation Psalm 119. 56. This I had because I kept thy precepts And Psalm 58. 11. So that a man shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous verily he is a God that judgeth in the Earth 2. To check our diffidence and murmurings under trouble Within a while and Gods Children will see they have no cause to quarrel with God or repent that they were in trouble For sometimes God giveth not only a comfortable but a glorious issue There is nothing lost by waiting on Providence though we abide the blows of Satan for a while yet abide them God is it may be preparing the greater mercy for you Isaiah 25. 9. And it shall be said in that day lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us this is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation Afflictions are sharp in their season but the end is glorious USE Do not always reckon upon temporal felicity refer that to God but do as Jesus who in his sharp tryals Heb. 12 2 3. For the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God There is a sure Crown of Life Iames 1. 12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tryed he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him That is enough to content a Christian the eternal reward is sure In this World he shall receive with persecution an hundred fold but in the World to come Eternal Life Mark 10. 29 30. There is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time Houses and Brethren and Sisters and Mothers and Children and Lands with Persecutions and in the World to come Eternal Life IV. Doctrine That God maketh use of the Ministery of Angels in supporting and comforting his afflicted servants He did so to Christ he doth so to the people of Christ. Partly for the defence and comfort of the Godly Ps. 34. 7. The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them Heb. 1. 14. Are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be the heirs of Salvation Their Ministry is now invisible but yet certain And partly also for the terror of their Enemies When David had said The Lord hath chosen the hill of Sion to dwell in Psalm 68. 16. he adds verse 17. The Chariots of God are twenty thousand even thousands of Angels implying that no Kingdom in the World hath such defence and such potent and numerous Armies as the Church hath and the Kingdom of Christ God hath
that Christ the Son of the living God 4. For this End the Scriptures were written These things are written that ye might believe that Iesus is the Christ the son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name Ioh. 20. 31. By obedience to his Laws dependance on his Promises 5. This is the ground of Submission to Christ in all his Offices why we should hear him as a Prophet in this place which I shall more fully make manifest in the next Sermon why we should depend on him as a Priest for the vertue of his Oblation and Intercession if God spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32. 1 Ioh. 4. 10. Herein is love not that we loved God but he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins 1 Ioh. 2. 1. If any man sin we have an advocate with the father Iesus Christ the righteous The blood of Christ is of high Esteem and infinite Value both as to Merit and satisfaction to purchase all manner of blessings for us and to satisfie Gods provoked Justice for our sins And if the Father be so well-pleased with him what can he not obtain at his hands which is an encouragement in our Prayers and Supplications So for our Improvement of his Kingly Office which respects Duties and Priviledges our duty with respect to the Kingly Office is Subjection Psal. 2. 12. Kiss the Son left he be angry and you perish in the mid-way Because Christ Jesus is the Son of God he should be submitted unto and embraced with the heartiest Love and Subjection for to Kiss is a sign of Religious Adoration Hos. 13. 2. as they kissed the Calves and offer Homage and hearty subjection as Samuel kissed Saul because God had anointed him to be King over his People 1 Sam. 10. 1. So for Priviledges he is God co-equal co eternal with his Father able to protect all those that apply themselves to him till he bring them to Eternal Glory and Happiness and therefore it is said 1 Ioh. 5. 5. Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Iesus is the Son of God That is the fortifying Truth this both cautioneth us against all the delights and snares and supports us against all the terrors and fears of the World If we have the Son of God for our Prophet Priest and King we ought to carry our selves with greater Reverence Trust and Subjection USES 1. Believe it lay up this Truth in your Hearts by a firm and sound Belief There are in Faith three things Assent Acceptance Dependance The Matter in hand calleth for all these 1. A firm Assent For here we have the Testimony of God concerning his Son the Apostle tells us that he that believeth not hath made God a liar because he believeth not the Testimony of God concerning his Son 1 Ioh. 5. 10. The great Testimony is this that we have in hand that Jesus is his beloved Son with whom he is well pleased that he will give Pardon and Life to all that hearken to him embrace his Person receive his Doctrine believe his Promises fear his Threats obey his Precepts the strictest of them Oh labour to work it into your Hearts that indeed it is so In matters of Fact we receive the Testimony of men two or three credible men why not in matters of Faith the Testimony of God evidenced to us by this solemn action an account of which we have from Ear-witnesses and Eye-witnesses who were men that hazarded their all for the delivery of this Truth and yet referred us to the surer word of Prophesie 1 Pet. 1. 19. He was owned as a Son Psal. 2. 7. Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee As a beloved Son in whom God is well-pleased Isa. 42. 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold my elect in whom my soul delighteth If you be not wanting to your selves you may have this witness in your hearts 1 Ioh. 5. 10. He that believeth on the son of God hath the witness in himself Oh let us not give the flat lye to God Rouze up this languid Faith is this true or is it a cunning devised Fable 2. Faith is an Acceptance of Christ or an entring into a Covenant with God by him You must have the Son 1 Ioh. 5. 12. He that hath the Son hath life Ioh. 1. 12. As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them which believe on his name Receiving respects Gods offer God gives Christ and we receive what God giveth to what End why he giveth him as King Priest and Prophet to dwell in our hearts by Faith to rule us and guide us by his Word and Spirit and maintain Gods Interest in us against the Devil the World and the Flesh till we come to everlasting Glory 3. Dependance He is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him therefore on him alone should we depend for all things necessary to Salvation Two things perswade this dependance 1. That nothing can be done without Christ Acts 4. 12. Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Nothing can be done without Christ that may be effectual to our recovery either for the paying of our Ransom or for the changing of our Hearts Alas what could we do to please God or profit our own Souls The work would cease for ever if it should lye upon our hands 2. That he can do what he pleaseth for the good of his redeemed ones Ioh. 17. 2. As thou hast given power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him All that Christ did for our salvation did highly content and please the Father he is satisfied with him he can make us lovely in his sight Eph. 1. 6. To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved And will now joy in his People Isa. 65. 19. and rest in his Love Zeph. 3. 17. Well then let us believe Faith is a ratifying Gods Testimony concerning his Son we believe what God hath said that Christ is his Son we receive him as he is freely offered and subscribe to this declaration The Father saith from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him so penitent Believers must answer back again This is our beloved Redeemer in whom we are well-pleased let the Father hear him He hath somewhat to say to the Father as well as to us his Doctrine concerneth us but his Intercession is made to God II. Entertain it with Thankfulness that such a Remedy should be provided for us argueth the unspeakable Love of God 1 Ioh. 4. 9. In this was manifested the love of God to us
destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil Therefore the son of God who interposed on our behalf and undertook the rescue of sinners did assume the nature of man that he might conquer Satan in the nature that was conquered and also offer himself as a sacrifice in the same nature for the demonstration of the justice of God First Christ must overcome by Obedience tryed to the uttermost by temptations and then he must also overcome by suffering by overcoming temptations he doth overcome Satan as a tempter and by death he overcame his as a tormentor or as the Prince of death who had the power of executing Gods sentence So that you see before he overcame him by merit he overcame him by example and was an instance of a tempted man before he was an instance of a persecuted man or one that came to make satisfaction to Gods Justice 3. With respect to the Saints who are in their passage to Heaven to be exposed to great difficulties and tryals Now that they might have comfort and hope in their Redeemer and come to him boldly as one touched with a feeling of their infirmities he himself submitted to be tempted This reason is recorded by the Apostle in two places Heb. 2. 18. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted able to succour that is fit powerful inclined effectually moved to succour them None so merciful as those who have been once miserable and they who have not only known misery but felt it do more readily relieve and succour others God biddeth Israel to pity strangers Exod. 22. 21. Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him for ye were strangers in the Land of Egypt They knew what it was to be exposed to the envy and hatred of the neighbours in the Land where they sojourned Exod. 23. 9. For ye know the heart of a stranger seeing ye were strangers in the Land of Egypt We read that when King Richard the first had been on the Sea near Sicily like to be drowned he recalled that antient and barbarous custom whereby the goods of shipwrackt men were escheated to the Crown making provision that those goods should be preserved for the right owners Christ being tossed in the tempest of temptations knows what belongs to the trouble thereof The other place is Heb. 4. 15. We have not an high priest which cannot be toucht with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin Christ hath experienced how strong the Assailant is how feeble our nature is how hard a matter it is to withstand when we are so sorely assaulted His own experience of sufferings and temptations in himself doth intender his heart and make him fit for sympathy with us and begets a tender compassion towards the miseries and frailties of his members 4. With respect to Christ himself that he might be an exact pattern of Obedience to God The obedience is little worth which is carryed on in an even tenor when we have no temptation to the contrary but is cast off as soon as we are tempted to disobey Iames 1. 12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tryed he shall receive the crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him And Heb. 11. 17. By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son Now Christ was to be more eminent than all the holy ones of God and therefore that he might give an evidence of his Piety Constancy and Trust in God it was thought fit some tryal should be made of him that he might by example teach us what reason we have to hold to God against the strongest temptations III. The good of this to us It teacheth us divers things four I shall instance in 1. To shew us who is our grand enemy the Devil who sought the misery and destruction of mankind as Christ did our Salvation And therefore he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Enemy Matth. 13. 39. The Enemy that sowed them is the Devil And he is called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked one Matth. 13. 19. as the first and deepest in evil And because this malitious cruel spirit ruined mankind at first he is called a lyar and murderer from the beginning Iohn 8. 44. A Lyar because of his deceit a murderer to show us what he hath done and would do It was he that set upon Christ and doth upon us as at first to destroy our health so still to keep us from our medicine and recovery out of the lapsed estate by the Gospel of Christ. 2. That all men none excepted are subject to temptations If any might plead for exemption our Lord Jesus the eternal Son of God might but he was assaulted and tempted and if the Devil tempted our Saviour he will be much more bold with us The godly are yet in the way not at the end of the Journey in the Field not with the Crown on their heads and it is Gods will that the enemy should have leave to assault them None go to Heaven without a tryal all these things are accomplished in your brethren that are in the flesh 1 Pet. 5. 9. To look for an exempt priviledge or immunity from temptation is to list our selves as Christs Souldiers and never expect Battle or Conflict 3. It sheweth us the manner of Conflict both of Satans Fight and our Saviours Defence 1. Of Satans Fight it is some advantage not to be ignorant of his enterprizes 2 Cor. 2. 11. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices Then we may the better stand upon our guard He assaulted Christ by the same kind of temptations by which usually he assaults us The kinds of temptations are reckoned up 1 Ioh. 2. 16. The lusts of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life And Iam. 3. 15. This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish With these temptations he assaulted our first Parents Gen. 3. 8. When the woman saw that the Tree was good for fruit and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat And with the same temptations he assaulted Christ tempting him to turn stones into bread to satisfie the longings of the flesh to fall down and worship him as to the sight of a bewitching object to his eyes to fly in the Air in pride and to get Glory among men Here are our snares which we must carefully avoid 2. The manner of Christs Defence and so it instructeth us how to overcome and carry our selves in temptations And here are two things whereby we overcome 1. By Scripture the Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit Eph. 6. 17.
service performed for God Iosiah after he had prepared the Temple fell into that rash attempt against Pharaoh Necho which cost him his Life 2 Chro. 35. 20. After all this when Iosiah had prepared the temple Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates and Iosiah went out against him And Peter after he had made a glorious Confession giveth his Master carnal counsel Mat. 16. 18. Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my church c. and yet Ver. 23. Get thee behind me Satan Many after they have been much lifted up in consolation do readily miscarry first he made a glorious confession a sign of great Faith then carnal wisdom vents its self in some counsel concerning the ease of the flesh Oh what need have we to stand upon our guard till God tread Satan under our feet As one of the Roman Generals whether conquering or conquered semper instaurat pugnam so doth Satan 2. Observe God may give Satan some power over the body of one whom he loveth dearly For Satan is permitted to transport Christs body from the wilderness to the Holy City and to set it on a Pinacle of the Temple As it is very consistent with Gods Love to his People to suffer them to be tempted in their souls by the fiery darts of Satan so he may permit Satan to afflict their bodies either by himself or by Witches who are his Instruments Thus he permitted Satan to afflict Iob chap. 2. 6 7. And the Lord said unto Satan Behold he is in thy hand but save his life So went satan forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Iob with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown The devil may have a threefold power over the bodies of men 1. By Transportations or carrying them from one place to another which usually is not found but in those that give up themselves to his Diabolical Inchantments Or 2. In Possessions which were frequent and rife in Christs time My daughter is sorely vexed with a devil Mat. 15. 22. Or 3. In Diseases which is more common Thus he afflicted Iobs body with Ulcers and what we read Psal. 41. 8. An evil disease cleaveth fast unto him It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing of Belial as if it a were a pestilential disease from the devil So some understand that Psal. 91. 3. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome Pestilence As if those sudden darts of Venom by which we are stricken in the Plague came from Satan Certainly evil Angels may have a great hand in our diseases Psal. 78. 49. He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger wrath and indignation and trouble by sending evil angels among them But I press it not much Only 1. A word of Patience that we would submit to God though our trials be never so sharp We must yield to that measure of Humiliation which it shall please God to prescribe If he should give leave to Satan to inflame our blood and trouble the humours of our body we must not repine the Son of God permitted his sacred body to be transported by the devil in the Air. 2. A word of Comfort Whatever power God permitteth Satan to have over our bodies or bodily interests yet it is limited he cannot hurt or molest any further than God pleaseth He had power to set Christ on a Pinacle of the Temple but not to cast him down He had a power to touch Iob's skin but a charge not to endanger his Life Iob 2. 6. Behold he is in thine hand but save his life God sets bounds and limits to the malice of Satan that he is not able to compass all his designs Iob was to be exercised but God would not have him dye in a cloud his life was to be secured till better times 3. A word of Caution Let not the Devil make an advantage of those troubles which he bringeth upon our Bodies or the interests of the bodily Life yet let him not thereby draw you to sin Here the devil may set Christ upon a precipice but he can do him no further hurt he may perswade us to cast down our selves but he cannot cast us down unless we cast down our selves Nemo laeditur nisi a seipso His main spight is at your souls to involve you in sin God may give him and his Instruments a power over your bodily lives but he doth not give him a power over the Graces of the Saints The devil aimeth at the destruction of souls he can let men enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season that he may deprive you of delight in God and celestial pleasures he can be content that you shall have Dignities and Honours if they prove a snare to you If the devil seek to bring you to Poverty Trouble and Nakedness it is to draw you from God He careth not for the Body but as it may be an occasion to ruine the Soul 3. Observe If Satan lead us up it is to throw us down He taketh up Christ to the Pinacle of the Temple and saith unto him Cast thy self down He bringeth up many by little and little to some high place that by their aspiring they may at length break their necks Thus he did Haman and so he doth many others whose climbing maketh way for their greater fall The devil himself was an aspirer and fell from Heaven like Lightning Luk. 10. 18. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven And tho in shew he may seem to befriend many that hearken to his Temptations yet in the end he cryeth down with them down with them even to the ground Gods manner is quite contrary when he meaneth to exalt a man he will first humble him and make him low Matth. 23. 12. Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted But the devils way is to lift them up to the Clouds that he may bring them down to the lowest Pit of Destruction Adam in conceit must be like God that indeed he may be like the beasts that perish Psal. 49. 20. Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish 4. Observe If thou be the son of God cast thy self down The temptation is quite contrary to what it was before Then it was to preserve life by unlawful means now to endanger life by the neglect of means lawful there to distrust Gods care of our preservation when he hath set us about any task and work here to presume on his care without warrant The devil tempts us sometimes to pamper the flesh sometimes to neglect it in such a way as is destructive to our service Thus the devil hurrieth us from one extream to another as the possessed man fell oft-times into the fire and oft into the water Matth. 17. 15. Those that are guided by Satan reel from one extremity to another
either men slight sin and make light of it or sinners are apt to sorrow above measure as the incestuous Corinthian 2 Cor. 2. 17. Lest perhaps such an one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow And the Apostle sheweth there that these were the enterprizes of Satan Some men are careless of Gods interest in the World or else heated into the activity of a bitter Zeal Some are of a scrupulous Spirit that they make Conscience of all things and the devil hurrieth them into a large Atheistical Spirit that they make conscience of nothing How often have we known a fond scrupulosity to end in a prophane Licentiousness when they have been wearyed out of that kind of frame of Spirit Some are dead and heartless like Gallio care for none of these things fight Christ fight Antichrist 't is all one to them and usually they are such as formerly have been heated with a blind and bold madness As Peter at first refused to have his feet washed by Christ and then would have head hands feet and all washed Ioh. 13. 8 9. being out in both What sad work is there made in the Church of God by Solifidians and Nullifidians heretofore 't was all Faith and Free-Grace misapplied and misunderstood and now it is all Morality and Vertue while Christ is neglected and the mystery of the Gospel little set by or valued It is ever the devils policy to work upon the humour of people If they will reform the Church it shall be to a degree of separation and condemning all Churches and Christians that are not of their mode if they be for uniting Christs unquestionable interests must be trodden under foot and all care of Truth and Reformation must be laid aside If he can destroy Religion and Godliness no otherway he will be religious and godly himself but it is either as to private Christians to set them upon overdoing that he may make them weary of the service of Christ or as to the publick by crying up some unnecessary things which Christ never commanded If men be troubled with sin and see a necessity of the Gospel and prize the comforts of it the Gospel must be overgospelled or else it will not serve their turns and that over-gospel must be carried to such a length as to destroy the very Gospel and Free Grace it self The devil first tempted the World to despise the poor Fishermen that preached the Gospel but the World being convinced by the power of the Holy Ghost and gained to the Faith then he sought by Riches and Grandeur to debase the Gospel so that he hath got as much or more by the worldly glory he puts upon Christs Messengers as by Persecution Then when that is discovered the devil will turn Reformer and what Reformation is that the very necessary support and maintainance of Ministers must be taken away All over-doing in Gods work is undoing If Christ will trust the devil will perswade him to trust even to the degree of tempting God 5. Observe That the Devil himself may pretend Scripture to put a varnish upon his evil designs For here he seeketh to foil Christ with his own weapons Which serveth to prevent a double extream 1. One is not to be frighted with the mere noise and sound of Scriptures which men bring to countenance their errors See whether they be not wrested and misapplyed for the devil may quote Scripture but he perverts the meaning of it And usually it is so by his Instruments as that Pope who would prove a double power to be in himself Temporal and Spiritual by that Scripture Ecce duo gladii Behold here are two Swords Luk. 22. 38. It is easie to rehearse the words of Scripture and therefore not the bare words but the meaning must be regarded 2. The other extream is this Let none vilifie the Scriptures because pleaded by Satan for so he might as well vilifie Human Reason which is pleaded for all the Errors in the World or Law because it is urged sometimes to justifie a bad Cause For it is not Scripture that is not a Nose of Wax as Papists say It is a great proof of the Authority and honour of Scriptures that Satan and his greatest Instruments do place their greatest hopes of prevailing by perverting and misapplying of it 6. Observe That God hath given his Angels a special charge about his people to keep them from harm Here I shall show 1. That it is so 2. Why it is so First That it is so is evident by the Scripture which every where shews us that Angels are the first Instruments of his Providence which he maketh use of in guarding his faithful servants Heb. 1. 14. The Apostle saith Are they not all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them that shall be the heirs of salvation Their work and employment is to attend us at Gods direction not to be worshipped and served by us by any devotion They are ministring spirits not ours but Christs he that serveth hath a Master whom he serveth and by whom he is sent forth their work and employment is to attend us indeed but at the command and direction of their own Master they are not at our beck to go and come at our pleasure neither do they go and come at their inclination but at the Commission of God Their work is appointed by him they serve us as their Masters Children at his Command and Will and whom do they serve the heirs of salvation They are described Titus 3. 7. That being justified by grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal Life They are not Ministers of conversion and sanctification to this Ministry Christ hath called Men not Angels but in preserving the converted the Angels have an hand Therefore it is notable they are sometimes called Gods Angels Psal. 103. 21. Bless the Lord all ye his hosts ye ministers of his that do his pleasure sometimes their Angels Matth. 18. 10. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do alwayes behold the face of my father which is in heaven But whether every one hath an Angel-Guardian is a curious Question Sometimes one Angel serveth many Persons Psal. 34. 7. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them And sometimes many Angels are about one person 2 King 6. 17. And behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots round about Elisha And here in the Text quoted by satan He shall give his angels charge concerning thee There is not mention made of one but many Angels and the Angels in general are said to be ministring spirits When souldiers are said to watch for a City it is not meant that every Citizen hath a Souldier to watch for him The onely place which seemeth to countenance that Opinion is Acts 12. 15. Then said they it is his Angel But if Peter
is Trust This is another Foundation of worship Psal. 62. 8. Trust in the Lord at all times pour out your hearts before him Well then inward Worship lyeth in these two things delightful Adhaesion to God and an intire dependance upon him Without this Worship of God we cannot keep up our service to him Not without delight witness these Scriptures Iob 27. 10. Will he delight himself in the almighty will he alwayes call upon God Isa. 43. 22. But thou hast not called upon me O Iacob but thou hast been weary of me O Israel They that love God and delight in him cannot be long out of his Company they will seek all occasions to meet with God as Ionathan and David whose souls were knit to each other So for dependance and Trust it keepeth up service for they that will not trust God cannot be long true to him Heb. 3. 12. Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God They that distrust Gods Promises will not long hold out in Gods way for dependance begets observance when we look for all from him we will often come to him and take all out of his hands and be careful how we offend him and displease him What maketh the Christian to be so sedulous and diligent in duties of worship so awful and observant of God his All cometh from God both in life natural and spiritual In life natural Psal. 145. 15 16 17 18. The eyes of all things wait on thee and thou givest them their food in due season Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing c. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him he will hear their cry and will save them The Lord preserveth all them that love him Implying That because their eyes are to him the Author of all their blessings therefore they call upon him and cry to him 2. Serve him That implyeth external Reverence and Worship Now we are said to serve him either with respect unto the duties which are more directly to be performed unto God or with respect to our whole Conversation 1. With respect unto the duties which are more directly to be performed unto God such as the Word Prayer Praise Thanksgiving Sacraments Surely these must be attended upon because they are Acts of love to God and Trust in God and these holy Duties are the ways of God wherein he hath promised to meet with his people and hath appointed us to expect his Grace and therefore they must not be neglected by us Therefore serve him in these things for Mar. 4. 24. With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you It is a rule of commerce between us and God 2. In your whole Conversation Luk. 1. 74 75. That we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life A Christians conversation is a continual Act of Worship he ever behaveth himself as before God doing all things whether they be directed to God or Men out of love to God and fear of God and so turneth second Table duties into first Table duties Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world Iam. 1. 27. Eph. 5. 21. 22. Submitting your selves one to another in the fear of God And next verse Wives submit your selves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. So Alms are a Sacrifice Heb. 13. 16. But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased 3. Worship and serve God so as it may look like Worship and service performed to God and due to God onely because of his Nature and Attributes His Nature Iohn 4. 24. God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth When Hearts wander and Affections do not answer Expressions is this like worship and service done to an All seeing Spirit His Attributes Greatness Goodness Holiness 1. His Greatness and glorious Majesty Heb. 12. 28. Let us serve him acceptably with Reverence and godly Fear Then is there a stamp of Gods Majesty on the duty 2. His Goodness and Fatherly Love Psal. 100. 2. Serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with singing 3. His Holiness 2 Tim. 1. 3. I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience 2 Tim. 2. 22. With them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart SERMON VII MATTH 4. 11. Then the Devil leaveth him and behold angels came and ministred unto him IN these words you have the Issue and close of Christ's Temptations The Issue is double I. In respect of the Adversary II. In respect of Christ himself I. In respect of the Adversary then the devil leaveth him II. In respect of Christ himself Behold angels came and ministred unto him I shall consider in both the History and the Observations First The History of it as it properly belongeth to Christ And there 1. Of the first Branch the Recess of Satan then the devil leaveth him 1. It was necessary to be known that Christ had power to chase away the devil at his pleasure that as he was an instance of Temptations so he might be to us a pattern of Victory and Conquest If Satan had continued Tempting this would have been obscured which would have been an infringement of Comfort to us The devil being overcome by Christ he may be also overcome by us Christians 1 Ioh. 5. 18. He that is begotten of God keepeth himself and the wicked one toucheth him not That is he useth all care and diligence to keep himself pure that the devil draw him not into the sin unto death and those deliberate scandalous sins which lead to it Christ having overcome Satan in our name and nature sheweth us the way how to fight against him and overcome him 2. Christ had a work to do in the Valley and therefore was not alwayes to be detained by Temptations in the Wilderness The Spirit that led him thither to be tempted led him back again into Galilee to preach the Gospel Luk. 4. 14. Iesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee All things are timed and ordered by God and he limiteth Satan how far and how long he shall tempt 3. In Luke it is said chap. 4. 13. He departed from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a season He never tempted him again in this solemn way hand to hand but either abusing the simplicity of his own Disciple Mat. 16. 22 23. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying Be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee But he turned and said unto Peter Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me Or else
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were those that were inspired and possessed by a Spirit therefore it must be a prayer that not only hath Understanding and Will in it but Spirit and Life in it However we are to put forth our utmost endeavour and raise the natural Spirit as far as we can 2. The second Agent is the new Nature which inclineth us to God as our chief Good and last end This also must be taken in for the Holy Ghost doth not blow as to a dead Coal the New Nature is made up of Faith Hope and Love and all these must be acted in Prayer Faith or the firm belief of Gods Being and Providence and Covenant for how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed Rom. 10. 14. Then Love to God or desire of the fruition of him in Heavenly Glory praying in the Holy Ghost keep your selves in the love of God Iude 20 21. If I do not love God and desire to enjoy him and delight in as much of God as I can get here certainly there will be no life in Prayer or no Ravishment and Transport of Soul no spirit of Desire animating our Requests and no spiritual Solace and Delight in our converse with God Hope is also necessary to fervent praying for a man coldly asketh for what he doth not hope for Hope respecteth both Means and End supplies of Grace by the way and our final Fruition of God in Glory this is called Trust in Scripture and is the great ground and encouragement of Prayer Psal. 62. 8. Trust in the Lord at all times pour out your souls before him Prayer is the act of a Trusting soul. Now these Graces quicken our Natural Faculties as they elevate and raise our Hearts and Minds to God and Heaven 3. The third Agent in Prayer is the Holy Spirit He is sometimes said to pray in us Rom. 8. 26. sometimes we are said to pray in him Iude 20. The Divine spirit exciteth those Graces in us which incline us to God he raiseth our Minds in the Vision and sight of God in thy Light shall we see Light Psal. 36. 9. and he raiseth our Hearts to a Desire after and Delight in God for all that spiritual solace and Joy is called Ioy in the Holy Ghost for both unutterable Groans and unspeakable Joyes are of his working Rom 8. 26. The Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered compared with 1 Pet. 1. 8. In whom though we see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory Well then these work a kind of an Extasie if you would pray so as to be transported transformed in Prayer something you must do as Reasonable Creatures somthing as New Creatures and the Spirit influenceth all and causeth the Soul to follow hard after God we must put forth our utmost endeavour stir up the Gift of God in us and though we cannot command the influences of the Spirit yet he is never wanting to a serious soul as to necessary Help Pray thus and you will find as the Help of the Spirit in Prayer so the Comforts of the Spirit as the Success of Prayer 5. As there is daily and constant Prayer in which we must ever bewray a seriousness and sincerity for these daily supplies of Grace so there are extraordinary occasions because of some great Business Conflict or Temptation in those the Heart and Mind must be more then ordinarily raised and stirred In every Prayer of Christ there was not a Transfiguration and we read of our Lord Jesus that in his Agonies he prayed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more earnestly then at other times Luk. 22. 44. and upon eminent occasions as the necessities of the Saints are greater so their Acts of Prayer are more earnest On these weighty occasions many Christians are wholly swallowed up with the thoughts of God and carried beyond themselves by their High Love to God and earnest Desires of the Spiritual Blessings they stand in need of so that they seem to be rapt into Heaven in their Admiration of God and Delight in him Application Use To Reprove our feeble remiss and benummed Requests There is no Life in our Prayers no working up of the Heart to God and Heaven no flames of Love no Transports of Soul by the Vision and sight of Faith no holy and ardent desires after God or spiritual Solace and Delight in him Reasons 1. We pray Cursorily and go about Prayer as a Customary Task for Fashions sake we come with a few cold Devotions Morning and Evening and so God is near in our Mouthes and far from our Reins Ier. 12. 2. Oh take heed of this nothing breeds slightness and hardness of Heart so much as Perfunctory Praying The Rule is continue instant in Prayer Rom. 12. 12. and it is said of the Saints that they served God instantly day and night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 26. 7. that they might come to the Blessed Hope with the united Service of all their Powers and Faculties 2. Our Prayers are Doctrinal and Instructive rather than Affectionate and Warming We get Light by other Duties but we should get Life by Prayer this Duty is not to inform the Judgment but to raise the Affections that they may be all Flame other duties are feeding duties but this is a spending duty an egression of the Soul after God Psal. 63. 8. My soul followeth hard after thee A Man may better spend two hours in Hearing than half an hour in Praying if the Heart be employed in it as it ought to be in the fight of God and an earnest desire after him The Prayers in scripture are all supplications or doxologies there is no excursion into Doctrines and Instructions 3. Else we are lamenting sin and spend the time in confessing sin which also hath its use in the seasons thereof but are seldom in Praises or Adorations of the Excellencies of God and the wonderful Mysteries of his Love in our Redemption by Jesus Christ yet it is said Psal. 22. 3. Oh Lord that inhabitest the praises of Israel These are the things that do most ravish the heart and raise it in the Contemplation of that glorious God to whom we speak and fill us with the Extasies of Love that we may be more like him Holy Wise and Good as he is Holy Wise and Good 4. We think a dry Narrative to be enough that is the fruit of a humane spirit or a meer product of Memory and Invention is a sufficient Prayer without acting Faith Hope or Love in it or those spiritual and heavenly desires which are the Life of Prayer Psal. 10. 17. Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble thou wilt prepare their heart thou wilt cause thine ear to hear The Ardency of Humble Addresses is Gods own Gift and he will never reject and despise those requests that by his own spirit and appointment are direct and brought to him But what
to open a way to Heaven and Happiness this accomplisheth all that is necessary by way of Merit and Satisfaction Now what shall we learn from hence for surely such solemn actions of Christ were not in vain I. A notable Argument to confirm the Christian Faith namely the consent between the Law and the Prophets and Christ for Moses and Elias are all Christs Ministers and Servants agreeing in one with him and therefore appear at his Transfiguration where he is proclaimed to be the beloved Son of God and the great Doctor of the Church whom all are bound to hear under pain of Damnation I will prove two things First The Necessity of this Appearance both to the Iews and us Gentiles 1. To the Iews in that Age for there were three Opinions concerning Christ some had a blasphemous Opinion of him as if he were an Impostor and called him Samaritane and Devil so the chief Priests and Pharisees Matth. 27. 63. We remember that that Deceiver said while he was yet alive after three dayes I will rise again And Matth. 12. 24. This fellow doth not cast out devils but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils Generally they looked upon him as an Enemy to Moses Ioh. 9. 29. We know that God spake to Moses as for this fellow we know not whence he is Others had a more moderate Opinion who were alarum'd by his Miracles and convinced by his Holiness Mar. 6. 14 15 16. Some said it is Elias others said it is a Prophet Ieremias or one of the prophets but Herod said it is Iohn whom I beheaded who is risen from the dead and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him Herods Conscience could not digest Iohns Murder therefore he twice saith it is Iohn it must needs be Iohn The third Opinion was that of the Disciples Thou art the Christ the son of the living God Ioh. 6. 69. Now to set all at rights to confute the blasphemous Iews to rectifie the moderate Iews to confirm the Disciples here come Moses and Elias to justifie him they would not have owned him if a Blasphemer and Impostor nor have come from Heaven to honour him and do him homage if he had been an ordinary Prophet therefore they appear in Glory and talk with him of his Death 2. With respect to the Modern Iews and us Gentiles this Apparition was necessary to confirm us in the Faith both of Christs Person and Office that he was the great Teacher sent from Heaven to make known the way of Salvation to lapsed Mankind and Moses and Elias must be hereafter silent now the great Prophet and Doctor of the Church is brought forth and no other Revelation or Dispensation is to be expected or regarded now he is brought forth There is need that this should be sufficiently evidenced partly because Christ had the Law of Moses to repeal which was well known to the Iews to be Gods own Law or else they and every true Subject of God might refuse to obey him partly because he had a new Law to promulgate even the Law of Faith and Gospel Ordinances and so must manifest his Authority before they can be received and submitted unto with that firm Assent and Consent which is necessary partly because he himself was to be received and entertained as the Redeemer of the World who had Expiated our sins by his Decease at Ierusalem which was a new work yet Mans Salvation lay upon it And his Death there was Clouded with many Prejudices for they put him to death as a false Prophet guilty of Blasphemy and Sedition Therefore it needed to be made manifest that such a Man of Sorrows reckoned among Transgressors was the Saviour and Redeemer of the World Secondly The Sufficiency of this Evidence For if Moses and Elias appear in Glory to Countenance this Dispensation and declare their hearty Concurrence and Consent there is no Reason Iew or Gentile should scruple it if Moses the Lawgiver and Elias so zealous for the Law consent why should the Iew refuse the Gospel so agreeable to their Dispensation or the Gentiles question a Doctrine so long agoe manifested to the Church by God long before Christ and his Apostles were in being Those that lived in so many different Ages could not lay their Heads together to cheat the World with an untruth There is a double Argument may be drawn hence 1. The Matter of Fact Moses and Elias did appear to Witness their Consent Now this dependeth upon the Testimony of the Apostles present whose Testimony was by other means ratified and made valuable 2 Pet. 1. 16 17 18. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the coming of our Lord Iesus Christ but were eye-witnesses of his majesty For he received from God the father honour and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased And this voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount 2. Their Consent in Doctrine which is obvious in all their Writings the Apostles related nothing concerning Christ but what Moses and the Prophets had foretold and what was History in the New Testament was Prophesie in the Old either as to the Person of Christ or as to his Kingdom the Duties and Priviledges thereof Ioh. 5. 39. Search the scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal Life and they are them that testifie of me So Ver. 45 46 47. Do not think that I will accuse you to the father there is one that accuseth you even Moses in whom ye trust For had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me But if ye believe not his writings how will ye believe my words The Old Testament beareth witness of Christs Person Natures Offices Birth Life Sufferings and the Glory that should ensue 2 Pet. 1. 19 20 21. We have also a more sure word of prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as to a light that shineth in a dark place till the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts Knowing this first that no prophesie of the Scripture is of any private Interpretation For the prophesie came not in old time by the will of men but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost The Apostles taught the same things the Prophets had written only applyed them to Jesus of Nazareth whom they had Crucified that they might know that he was Lord and Christ. The Heathens take notice that at that time when Christ appeared there was Vetus constans Fama Sueton. Ex antiquis sacerdotum libris Tacitus That their King Messiah should come USES 1. For Confutation of the Iews and to shew their obstinacy in not receiving Christ as the Messiah God had told Moses Deut. 18. 18. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and
censure of the Holy Ghost Luke saith not knowing what he said In Mark chap. 9. 6. He wist not what to say for they were sore afraid They were words of a man in a Rapture or surprized with great astonishment There were two affections dazled with the Majesty of this Glory and transported with joy there was also a great fright usually 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such things as bring a hurt occasion fear and also things of excellent Glory such as surpass our present meanness as here the change of Christs Person and the glorious Appearance of the great Prophets so long since separated from the commerce of mankind Observe before we proceed the inconvenience of great and excessive Passions they make us speak we know not what Peter is an instance in Scripture let us keep to him you see him surprized with a great passion of fear when at Christs command a great draught of Fish came to hand in an unlikely time Luke 5. 8 9. Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord. For he was astonished and all that were with him at the draught of Fishes that they had taken you find him at other times transported with a passion of excessive Reverence or Humility Iohn 13. 8. Lord thou shalt never wash my feet With a passion of Love or Pity to his Master Lord let it be far from thee this shall not be unto thee when his Master had foretold his death Mark 16. 22. in case of contempt of Christ here with a passion of joy or ravishment or transport of soul Lord it is good for us to be here Now all these passions were religiously exercised but it is dangerous when Religion which should bridle and govern our passions is made the matter and fuel of them Passionate joy or passionate fear passionate reverence or passionate zeal and anger may easily transport us to some uncomely action or motion for though in all these there was Religion at top yet sin at the bottom and therefore you see how much it concerneth us to moderate and reduce our selves to a due temper for passion causeth us to do things without and against reason yea to speak and do we know not what and when Religious matters over heat our affections we may erre exceedingly Now having opened this part of the History let us observe something that conduceth to our practical instruction I. Doctrine That the state and condition of the glorified Saints is a most delightful state and condition For when Peter had but a glimpse of it in the transfiguration of Christ it seemed so ravishing and transporting that here would he abide and stay by it so was he affected with joy in the company and presence of Christ and Moses and Elias appearing with him that all his natural comforts and relations were forgotten This would compensate all if once we be gotten into this blessed estate we shall never desire to come out of it and part with it this which the Disciples had was but a little glimpse and tast of the Life to come this must needs be so it is called joy Mat. 25. 21. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord and fulness of joy Psal. 16. 11. In thy presence there is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore no better estate can be expected The Soul is at rest as having obtained its end And it is also proved by the priviledges and benefits the Saints shall enjoy in the world to come 1. A Freedom from all Evil which here are matter of Grief to us And 2. The Fruition of all Good which may any way bring Ioy and Delight and Contentment 1. There is a Freedom from all Evil. There is a twofold evil either of Sin or Punishment In Heaven there is neither Sin nor Misery 1. To begin with sin that is the worst evil because it maketh us hateful to God and grieveth the Saints most Rom. 7. 24. Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this Death If any man had cause to complain of Afflictions Paul much more being often imprisoned whipped stoned but his lusts troubled him more then scourges and his captivity to the Law of sin more then Prisons Gods children are most weary of the World because they are sinning here whilst others are glorifying of God and enjoying God and the company of his blessed Ones Now in Heaven there is no sin Eph. 5. 27. there is neither spot nor blemish nor wrinkle on the face of the glorified Saints their faces were once as black as yours But now they are washed in the Lambs blood and fully cleansed now with much ado we mortifie sin but then it is nullified but if we subdue the power of sin we do not get rid of the being of it but then we are rid of all at once of all sin and temptation to sin There was a Serpent a tempter in Paradise but there is none in Heaven the devil is shut out and the old man is left in the Grave never to rise more 2. There is not the least evil of Affliction Rev. 21. 4. All tears shall be wiped away from their eyes whatsoever is painful and burdensome to nature is a fruit of sin a brand and mark of our Rebellion against God Therefore when sin is done away Affliction which is the fruit of it is done away also In Hell there is Evil and onely Evil in Heaven Happiness and onely Happiness here our wounds are healed but the scars remain something to put us in mind that we have sin yet dwelling in us but there all the effects of it cease there is neither death nor sorrow nor crying nor any more pain 2. They shall enjoy all Good things which shall bring Joy and Comfort to them in blessedness there is a confluence of all Good our joyes are full and eternal 1. There is the immediate sight and presence of God and Jesus Christ who shall be all in all to them 1 Cor. 13. 12. Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now I know in part then shall I know as also I am known And John 17. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovest me before the foundation of the World We are brought into the presence of him who is blessedness it self 2. The society of all the blessed Angels and Saints glorified Mat. 8. 11. Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of Heaven 3. The perfection of all Heavenly gifts both in soul and body 1. In Soul that is the Heaven of Heaven 1 Iohn 3. 2. Now are we the sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but this we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him
as he is Psalm 17. 15. When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy Image and likeness by knowing we come to Love and by loving God we know him there is Vision Assimilation Satisfaction the object is efficacious the intimation vigorous and clear the subject prepared for the impression 2. In Body Phil. 3. 21. Who shall change our vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body the body shall be endued with all glorious qualities as brightness strength agility it is a body wholly impassible and incorruptible fit for the operations of a glorified soul and with it shall for ever remain a glorious Temple of the Holy Ghost therefore it is good to be here USES 1. Let this draw forth our Love to such a blessed estate which is so full of delight and contentment and wean us from these things which are most pleasing in the World 1. The best estate in the World is but vanity altogether vanity Psalm 39. 5. mingled with some grievances Wealth hath its incident cares and Honour its tortures and all pleasures here are but bitter sweets there is a Worm that feedeth on our gourd and will in time wither it At last death commeth and then the lust of the World is gone 1 Iohn 2. 17. The World passeth away and the lust thereof The Godly themselves have but a mixed estate because of remaining infirmities they live here in a Vale of tears and snares and sin doth not gasp its last till death removeth us from this sinful flesh and puts us into the sight of God himself Wherefore the Saints are groaning and longing for the parting day when putting off the flesh we shall put off sin and come and dwell with God for ever 2. None are translated unto Heaven but such whose hearts are there first 2 Cor. 5. 2. In this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven Phil. 1. 23. I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Rom. 8. 23. We that have the first Fruits of the spirit groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption the Redemption of our bodies A Christian waiteth and longeth for a purer state of bliss and immortality the first Fruits shew what the Harvest will be and a tast what the Feast will prove though they are thankful for this refreshing by the way yet they are longing to be at home cannot be contented without it 3. The excellency of this estate requireth it if it be not worth your desires and best Affections it is little worth Christ procured it for us by a life of Labours and Sorrows and the pangs of a bitter cursed death and when all this is done shall not we desire it and look after it that is foul ingratitude Oh then let your Hearts be upon it desire must go before delight 2. To move us to labour for it and seek it in the first place and to get it assured that we have a part in this blessed and joyful condition Mat. 6. 33. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof Luke 13. 24. Strive to enter in at the strait gate So 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure What profit is it to know that there is such a blessed and joyful estate if we have no interest in it Heaven is worth our pains and will bear all the cost we can lay out upon it so the children of God thought Acts 26. 7. Unto which promise our twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come if we do not desire it we do not believe it if we do not labour for it we do not desire it 3. Let us comfort our selves with the hopes of this blessed and joyful condition 1. Against all the miseries and afflictions of this present Life these are necessary we would sleep too quietly in the World if we did not sometimes meet with thorns in our beds we should be so pleased with our entertainment in the way as we should forget home but God awakeneth us out of our drowsie fits by sharp afflictions as if he said arise depart hence this is not your rest Micah 2. 10. while we wallow in sensual comforts our hearts say it is good being here 2. When there is a joyful and blessed condition beyond them it is some comfort in this shipwrack of mans felicity that we can see banks and shoars a landing place where we may be safe and enjoy our repose To you that are troubled rest with us when the Lord Iesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels 2 Thess. 1. 7. Here our days are sorrow and our travail grief but there is our repose 3. That our joy and contentment is so infinitely above our sorrow and trouble 2 Cor. 4. 7. so that in all the troubles and sorrows of this Life we may look beyond them and through them to the joy and comfort of the Life to come This joy is set before us in the promises of the Gospel Heb. 12. 2. Christ for the joy that was set before him endured the cross c. and Heb. 6. 18. Who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us we see it by Faith though not by sense II. Doctrine That one of the diseases of mankind is that we catch at felicity without considering the way that leadeth to it Peter seeing and apprehending this estate to be an estate of Happiness and Glory doth not consider what he must first do and first suffer before he could come to converse with Christ and the glorified Saints Our Saviour had lately told him that he must deny himself and take up his Cross and follow him but Peter overlooketh all this and saith it is good to be here he would be glorified before he was abased and had suffered all the afflictions foretold and would have his wages before he had done his work Every one would enjoy Christs Glory and Happiness but we do not like his yoke are loath to submit to his Cross. If we would enjoy happiness with Christ and the glorified Saints we must be humbled with them and suffer with them first But we would triumph before we had fought any battle and receive the Crown before we have run our Race and reap in joy before we have sowed in tears or performed that necessary work that God requires at our hands Now the Reasons of it are these 1. Because by nature we love our own ease and contentment Gen. 49. 15. He saw that rest vvas good We are loath to undergo the Cross and desirous to enjoy Happiness and Glory before and without Afflictions but this is an untimely and preposterous desire proceeding from self-love God hath appointed another order that the Cross should go before the Crown Rom. 8. 17. If so be that we suffer with him that we may be glorified together 2. From the Libertinism and yokelessness of our natures and
blessed Mediator working greater miracles than ever did Moses so he is called our Rabbi or Master Mar. 23. 8. One is your master even Christ and ye are brethren The supream Authority the original hight is in Christ We are not Leaders and Teachers but Fellow Disciples so Heb. 3. 1. Consider the Apostle and high priest of our profession Iesus Christ. Again he is called the Angel or Messenger of the Covenant Mal. 3. 1. Christ with a great condescension took upon him the office of his Fathers Ambassador to the Church to promote the Covenant of Reconciliation between God and Man and make offers of it in preaching the Gospel and he it is that doth by this Spirit perswade the Elect and doth make his Covenant sure to them Once more he is called Amen the faithful and true witness Rev. 3. 14. there can be no prejudice against his Testimony he can never deceive nor be deceived it is so it will be so as he hath said Amen is his Name 2. By the Properties of his Office he hath 3 things to qualifie him for this high Office 1. Absolute supream Authority and therefore we must hear him and hearken to him This is usually made the ground and reason of the Gospel invitation to invite sinners to submit themselves to seek after God in this way As Matth. 11. 27 28. All things are delivered unto me of my father and no man knoweth the son but the father neither knoweth any man the father save the son and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden c. There is no true knowing of God but by Christ and the Gospel Revelation which he hath established therefore here must we seek rest for our souls So Ioh. 3. 35 36. The father loveth the son and hath put all things into his hands He that believeth on the son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the son hath not seen life but the wrath of God abideth on him First his Mediatorial Authority is acknowledged and then Faith and Obedience to the Gospel is called for for to the sentence of the Son of God we must stand or fall So when Christ instituted and sent abroad his Messengers to invite the World to the Obedience of the Gospel Matth. 28. 18 19 20. All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you He hath absolute and supream Authority to gather his Church to appoint Ministers and Ordinances to bestow the Spirit to open and close Heaven and Hell as he pleaseth to dispose of all affairs in the World for the furtherance of the Gospel and to enjoyn the whole World obedience to his Commands and to embrace this Doctrine 2. All manner of sufficiency and power of God to execute this Office Ioh. 3. 34. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God for God giveth not the spirit by measure to him The former Prophets had the Spirit in a limited measure bestowed on them by God for such particular purposes as best pleased him Therefore all their prophesies begin Thus saith the Lord as having for every particular Message and Errand new Revelation but on Christ the Spirit descended once for all and commanded the belief of all and obedience to all that he should say Therefore it is said Col. 2. 3. In him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge He is Ignorant of none of those things which are to be known and practised in order to our eternal salvation they are deposited with him to be dispensed to us 3. There is in him a powerful efficacy As he hath absolute Authority to teach in his own name and fulness of sufficiency to make known the Mind of God to us so he hath power to make his Doctrine Effectual As when he dealt with his Disciples after he had opened the Scriptures he opened their Understandings Luk. 24. 25. so he opened the heart of Lydia Acts 16. 14. He can teach so as to draw Ioh. 6. 44 45. He can excite the drowsie Mind change and turn the Rebellious Will cure the distempered Affections make us to be what he perswadeth us to be There is no such Teacher as Christ who doth not only give us our Lesson but an heart to Learn therefore to him we must submit hear nothing against him but all from him II. About Hearing him that must be explained also First What it is to Hear It being our great duty and the respect bespoken for him In the hearing of words there are 3 things considerable the sound that cometh to the Ear the understanding of the Sense and Meaning and the assent or consent of the Mind Of the first the Beasts are capable for they have Ears to hear the sound of words uttered The second is common to all Men for they can sense such intelligible words as they hear The third belongeth to Disciples who are swayed by their Masters Authority So that Hear him is not to hear as Beasts nor barely to hear as Men but to hear as Disciples to believe him to obey him to believe his Doctrines and Promises and to obey his Precepts For his Authority is absolute and what he doth say doth warrant our Faith and command our practice and obedience I gather this partly from the word Hear which not only signifies Attention and Belief but Obedience as 1 Sam. 15. 22. To obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken then the fat of rams Where to obey and hearken are put as words of the same import and signification Partly from the Matter of Christs Revelation he hath revealed not onely Doctrines to inform the Mind but Precepts to reform the Heart and Practice If we assent to the doctrine but do not obey the precepts we do not hear him Therefore to hear him is to yield obedience to what he shall teach you and when Christ cometh to take an account of the entertainment of the Gospel he shall come in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ. Partly too from the intimate connexion there is between his Prophetical and Regal Office Christ is so a Prophet that he is also a Soveraign and doth not onely give us Counsel and Direction but a Law which we are to observe under the highest penalties If the Gospel were an arbitrary direction which we might observe or not observe without any great danger to our selves surely it were folly to despise good Counsel but it hath the force of a new Law from the great King and Law-giver of the World therefore it must not onely be believed but obeyed Heb. 5. 8. He that is the chief prophet of the church is also the king of saints
Partly also from the near connexion that is between Faith and Obedience The Matter which we believe is of a practical concernment and doth not require onely a simple Faith or bare belief which were enough in points merely speculative but a ready Obedience It is said Rom. 16. 26. The mysteries of the gospel are made manifest to all nations for the obedience of faith They are not matters of speculation and talk but practice and Blessedness is pronounced on such as hear them and keep them Luk. 11. 28. Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Many hear and talk hear and stuff their Minds with Notions but they do not frame themselves to the practice of what they hear Many question not Christs Authority but yet they do not regard his Doctrine Now Faith doth not onely silence our doubts but quicken our Affections and enliven our Practice Secondly How can we now hear Christ since he is removed into the Heaven of Heavens and doth not speak to us in Person Answ. Surely it doth not onely concern the Believers of that Age who conversed with Christ in the dayes of his Flesh but it is the general duty of all Christians to hear Christ for during the whole Gospel dispensation God speaketh to us by his Son Heb. 1. 2. The Revelation is settled and not delivered by parcels as it was to the ordinary prophets Now we hear Christ in the Scriptures Heb. 2. 3 4. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Which was first spoken by the Lord and afterwards confirmed to us by them that heard him He began to speak and to declare the Gospel both before and after his Resurrection and they that heard him were especially the Apostles who being indued by the Holy Ghost declared it first to the Iewes and then to the Gentiles to whom it was continued by divers signs and wonders as to the Apostles and to extraordinary Messengers Christ saith Luk. 10. 16. He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me The despising of the Messenger is the despising him that sendeth the Message A mans Apostle is himself is a Iewish Proverb As to ordinary Ministers he saith lo I am with you to the end of the world Mar. 28. 20. they are taken into part of the Apostolical Commission and Blessings they preach in Christs Name and we as in his stead pray you to be reconciled 2 Cor. 5. 20. so that it is his Voice and his Message he affordeth his Presence and Assistance unto the Worlds end If you receive it with Faith and Obedience you are in a Course and way which will bring you to Everlasting Blessedness but if you stand out obstinately against his Message you are in the way to Everlasting Misery for refusing Gods methods for your Redemption Thirdly The Properties of this Hearing or Submission to our Great Prophet 1. There must be a resolute Consent or Resignation of our selves to his Teaching and Instruction All particular duties are included in the general First we own Christ in his Offices before we perform the duties which each of those offices calleth for at our hands and from us before we depend on him as a Priest or obey him as a King As we receive him with thankfulness and love as our dearest Saviour and with Reverence and a consent of subjection as a soveraign Lord so also with a consent of Resolution to follow his directions as our Prophet and Teacher being convinced that he is sent from God to shew us the way of Life and Happiness Ioh. 6. 63. Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of Eternal Life His Doctrine sheweth that there is such a thing how it was purchased which way it may be had by Gods offer and the terms prescribed Before we take any particular direction from Christ about this or that duty we must first consent in the general that he shall be our Teacher and Prophet A particular consent to Christ in this Relation is as necessary as to any of the rest 2. This Resignation of our Souls to Christ as a Teacher as it must be resolute so it must be unbounded and without reserves We must submit absolutely to all that he propoundeth though some Mysteries be above our Reason some Precepts against the Interest and Inclination of the Flesh some Promises seem to be against Hope or contrary to natural probabilities There are some Misteries in the Christian Religion though not against Reason yet above Natural Reason Now we must believe them upon Christs word Captivantes omnem intellectum in obsequium Christi 2 Cor. 10. 5. Bringing into Captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ. All our disputings and reasonings against the Christian Doctrine must be captivated by a submission to the Authority of our Teacher and Prophet A Disciple is to be a Learner not a Caviller and some Principles are not to be chewed but swallowed as Pills on the credit of the Physitian when it appeareth on other Grounds that Christ is the great Teacher sent from God And as there are Mysteries above our Reason so there be duties against the Interest and Inclination of the Flesh. Many of Christs Precepts are displeasing to Corrupt Nature to deny our selves to take up the Cross to mortifie our Appetites and Passions to cut off right hands and to pluck out right Eyes that none shall be saved that are not Regenerate and Holy that non-condemnation is the priviledge of those that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that if we live after the Flesh we shall dye that we must not seek great things for our selves that we must hate Father and Mother and our own life if we will be Christs Disciples Flesh and Blood can hardly down with these things that there shall be such an exact day of account such eternal torments in the other World yet if this be revealed by our great Prophet as reason must not be heard against Christ so the flesh must not be heard against Christ nor the World heard against Christ so if some of our Hopes exceed the probability of natural causes Rom. 4. 18. he against hope believed in hope as the Resurrection of the Body we must believe and obey him in what he offereth and commandeth notwithstanding the contradiction of our carnal minds and hearts in what is hard to be believed and practised as well as in what is easie 3. It must be speedy as to the great solemn acts of submission do not delay to hear him Heb. 3. 7. To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts Christ must not be put off with dilatory shifts if we refuse to hear to day Christ may refuse to speak to morrow The Father hath his time of waiting the Son of his Gospel-offers the Spirit of his earnest motions it is dangerous to slip our day therefore if you will
hear him hear him now hear him betimes the season falleth under the precept as well as the duty now while it is called to day 4. Your consent to hear him must be real practical and obediential verifyed in the whole tenour and course of your lives and actions for Christ will not be flattered with empty Titles why call ye me Lord and Master and do not the things which I say Luke 6. 46. if you pretend to hear his word you must do it also for you do not hear to please your minds with knowing but that you may make it your serious care and business to serve love and please God Many study Christianity to form their opinions rather then reform their Hearts and Practice The great use of Knowledge and Faith is to behold the love of God in the face of Jesus Christ that our own love may be quickned and encreased to him again If it serve onely to regulate opinions it is but dead speculation not a living Faith A naked belief is but the sight of a Feast it is the gracious soul doth eat and digest it when our Faith is turned into Love and Obedience that is the true Faith III. The reasons why this Prophet must be heard 1. Consider whose voice it is who speaketh the only beloved Son of God or God himself and surely when he speaketh he must be heard Heb. 12. 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh from Heaven for if they escaped not who refuse him that spake from Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven It is Christ doth speak and God by him commanding us to repent and believe the Gospel now to refuse him is a high contempt God when he gave the Law he spake on Earth but when he spake by Christ he spake from Heaven for Christ came from Heaven to acquaint us with the mind of God and having done it is returned to Heaven again from whence he sent down his Spirit on the Apostles who revealed his Gospel to the World This was a Mystery hidden in the bosom of God and brought to us thence by his only begotten Son surely with all humble submission we should attend unto and obey his Word Psal. 103. 20. Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excel in strength that do his Commandements hearkning to the voice of his Word 2. The matter which he speaketh and we hear the Doctrine of the Gospel it is the most sweet excellent and comfortable Doctrine that can be heard or understood by the heart of man Prov. 8. 6. Hear saith Wisdom for I will speak of excellent things and the opening of my lips shall be of right things This is the brightest light that ever shone from Heaven The profoundest Wisdom the greatest Love and Mercy that ever was or can be shown to sinful wretches of the highest concernment to man because his Everlasting state lyeth upon it a state of Everlasting wo or weal. Three things I shall take notice of 1. The way of Reconciliation with God manifested and discovered out of his intimate Love to us Man had fallen from the Love of God to the creature and was conscious to himself of having displeased his Maker and so lay under the fears of his vindictive Justice Now God by Christ declareth his Love to the offender in the fullest and most astonishing way Reconciling himself to him and sheweth his readiness to forgive and save him 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Iesus Christ came into the World to save sinners of whom I am chief and 2 Cor. 5. 19. God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself Oh what should be more welcom to the creature than this news of this pardoning Covenant founded in the Blood of Christ. 2. Our duty exactly stated with convenient motives to enforce it Not only the comfort of man is provided for but also our subjection to God and that upon the freest and most comfortable terms that we should serve him in love and glorifie and please him that we may be happy in his love to us for the sum of Religion is to love him and keep his Commandements Iohn 14. 21 23 He that keepeth my Commandements he it is that loveth me and if any man love me he will keep my Words to love him is our work and to be beloved of him is our Happiness and verse 24. He that loveth me not keepeth not my saying and the word which you hear is not mine but the Fathers which sent me The Gospel is the very Word of God both the Fathers and the Sons it is an act of loving serving and pleasing God for this is the Word Christ preached that we love God and Christ loveth us again 3. A prospect of eternal Happiness 2 Tim. 1. 10. He hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel this is news but darkly revealed before and without this man knew not how to satisfie all his capacities and desires but was like Leviathan in a little Pool Nay we have not only a prospect of it but the offer of it as a reward appointed if we will be sincere in our Faith Love and Obedience 1 Iohn 2. 25. This is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal Life Everlasting Joy and Blessedness is propounded to us Oh then hear him if this be that he speaketh of 3. The Danger of not hearing this Prophet 1. For the present to continue to slight and contemn the Gosple is the mark that you are in a carnal perishing condition 2 Cor. 4. 3. If our Gosple is hid it is hid to them that are lost Iohn 10. 3. My Sheep hear my voice and verse 16. Other Sheep are there which are not of this fold and they shall hear my voice Christs Sheep whether Jew or Gentile they have all the same character they all hear his voice and verse 27. My Sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me They distinguish his voice own his voice obey his voice so Iohn 8. 47. Whosoever is of God heareth Gods Words ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God so that you lose all this comfort if ye do not hear the voice of Christ and his faithful Servants 2. For the Future Deut. 18. 19. Whosoever will not hearken to the words which that Prophet shall speak in my name I will require it of him that is he must look to answer it another day Peter rendreth it Acts 3. 23. Whosoever will not hearken to that Prophet shall be destroyed among the people It is not a bodily punishment but eternal torment Iohn 3. 36. The wrath of God abideth on him Mark 16. 16. He that believeth not shall be damned Thus you see how dangerous it is to refuse this Prophet USES 1. Of Conviction to the carnal Christian for not submitting to Christs Authority All Christians do it in pretence but
few that do it in reality Doth his Word come to you not only in Word but in Power 1. Do you seriously come to him that you may have pardon and life When Christ had proved that he was the Son of God the great Prophet of the Church by the testimony of Iohn the testimony of his works the testimony of his Father and the testimony of the Scriptures Iohn 5. 40. And ye will not come unto me that ye may have Life though Iohn his Works the Father the Scriptures will prove him to be what he was the Messias the Saviour and Redeemer of the World yet they would not come to him nor believe but wilfully rejected him and their own blessedness What the Jews did wilfully carnal Christians do lazily they prize his Name and slight his Office do not come to him to be taught sanctified and drawn to God 2. Do you respect the Word of the Gospel entertain it with Reverence and Delight as the Voice of the great Prophet Do you meditate on it digest it as the seed of the new Life as the rule of your actions as the Charter of your Hopes A good man is described to be one that delighteth in the Law of the Lord and meditateth therein day and night Psal. 1. 2. and again Psal. 119. 97. Oh how I love thy Law it is my Meditation all the day long But alas few are of this temper Hos. 8. 12. I have written to them the great things of thy Law but they were counted as a strange thing they contemned the Word of God as if its directions were of little importance or did not concern them Most men live like strangers to the Word of God little conversant in it as if there were no great hazard in breaking it 3. Do you mingle it with Faith in the hearing that it may profit you Heb. 4. 2. and feel the power of it for your good but rather you shun it run from it Iohn 3. 20. They that do evil hate the light and will not come to the light least their deeds should be reproved The Word is a torment rather then a comfort to you you are afraid it will be found too true 4. Do you receive it as the Word of God 1 Thess. 2. 13. It may be you do not contradict the divine Authority in the Scriptures but do you soundly believe them and know the certainty of those things wherein you are instructed Luke 1. 4. Have you done any thing to prove the supream Truth that Jesus is a Teacher sent from God Most mens Faith is so weak and slight because it is taken hand over head there is no deepness of Earth Mark 13. 6. You have some light sense of Religion but slight impressions are soon defaced and truths easily taken up are as soon quitted the more we search into the grounds of things the more we believe Acts 17. 11. The Bereans searched the Scriptures whether those things were so or no. 5. Doth it come to you as the Mediators Word not in Word only but in Power 1 Thess. 1. 5. There is a convincing power in the Word Acts 2. 37. When they heard these things they were pricked in the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do Many have not felt this power but they fear it Iohn 3. 20. Every one that doth evil hateth the light neither commeth he to the light least his deeds should be reproved A converting power when it becometh the seed of a new Life 1 Pet. 1. 23. Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever A comforting power giving the heirs of promise strong consolation Heb. 6. 18. Do you find any thing of this in your hearts is it ingrafted in your soules Iames 1. 21. Receive with meekness the ingrafted Word which is able to save your Souls 6. Do you hear him universally it is said of the great Prophet Acts 3. 22. him shall ye hear in all things that he shall say unto you Many will hear him in the offers of pardon but not in the precepts of duty you must take his whole Covenant the Promises for your Happiness the duty for your work 7. Do you hear him so as to prefer God and Christ and the Life to come above all the sensual Pleasures and vain delights and worldly Happiness which you enjoy here Religion is obstructed not soundly received if your hearts be not taken off from these things Luke 8. 14. That which fell among Thornes are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection He is not a Scholar of Christ who is not more devoted to the Love and Obedience of God then any sensual satisfaction here below unless you can renounce the Devil the World and Flesh and give up your selves to Christ to be taught sanctified and saved and brought home to God to enjoy him in Everlasting Glory and taught how to deny Ungodliness and Worldly lusts Titus 2. 12. USE II. Advice to weak Christians 1. To excite themselves to obedience by this hear him when dead and lifeless Many times the heart is dull and needeth quickning Conscience groweth sleepy and needeth awakening you are too bold in sinning cold and careless in spiritual and heavenly things Now the first means to quicken us is Christs divine Authority 2 Pet. 1. 16. For we have not followed cunningly devised Fables when we made known unto you the power and comming of our Lord Iesus Christ but were eye-witnesses of his Majesty when there came such a voice to him from the excellent Glory this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased When you are customary in Prayer and Hearing it is Christs will I must do it as I will answer it to him another day 2. When you do renounce some beloved lust or pleasing sin urge your hearts with Christs Authority Remember who telleth you of cutting off your right hand and plucking out your right eye How can I look the Mediator in the face if I should wilfully break any of his Laws prefer the satisfaction of a base lust before the mercies and hopes offered me by Jesus Christ. 3. In deep distresses when you are apt to question the comfort of the Promises it is hard to keep the rejoycing of Hope without regarding whose Word and Promise it is Heb. 3. 6. Whose house are ye if ye hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of hope firm unto the end SERMON VII MATTH 17. 6 7 8. And when the Disciples heard it they fell on their faces and were sore afraid And Iesus came and touched them and said arise be not afraid And when they had lift up their eyes they saw no man save Iesus onely IN this part of the History are Three Things 1. The Disciples Fear and Astonishment verse 6. 2.
Father So Colossians 3. 3 4. Now our Life is hidden with Christ but when he who is our Life shall appear we shall appear with him in Glory 1 Iohn 3. 2. When he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 2 Thessalonians 1. 10. Christ shall be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe all these places shew we shall be partakers of this Glory 3. The manner Glorification taketh not away the substance and natural properties of the body for there is a glorious Transfiguration but no abolition of the substance of Christs body it was the same body of Christ before and after Transfiguration Glory freeth us from natural infirmities but it doth not strip us of natural properties Christ hath shewed in his own body what he can or will perform in ours these same bodies but otherwise adorned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and with these eyes shall I see God Iob 19. 26 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality 1 Cor. 15. 53. USES 1. Be Transformed that you may be Transfigured be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds Rom. 12. 2. the change must begin in the Soul 2 Cor. 3. 18. and thence it is conveyed to the Body the lustre of Grace maketh way for the splendor of Glory Prov. 4. 18. The path of the just is as the shining light which shineth more and more to the perfect day The way of the wicked is an encreasing darkness Ignorance Sin outer Darkness 2. Be contented to be like Christ in reproaches disgraces and neglect in the World that you may be like him in Glory bear the reproach of Christ Heb. 13. 13. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the Camp bearing his reproach Heb. 11. 26. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the Treasures of Egypt prefer it before all earthly honour Acts 5. 41. And they departed from the Councel rejoycing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name and 2 Sam. 6. 22. I will yet be more vile and base in my own sight Your Lord is a glorious Lord and he can put Glory upon you 3. To wean our hearts from all humane and earthly glory what is a glorious House to the Palace of Heaven glorious Garments to the Robes of Immortality The glory of Christ should put out the glory of these petty stars that shine in the World as the Sun puts out the fire We have higher things to mind it is not for Eagles to catch Flyes or Princes to embrace the dunghill 4. Since this glory is for the Body do not debase the Body to make it an instrument of sin 1 Thess. 4. 4. Possess your vessels in Sanctification and Honour do not offend God to gratifie the Body as they do Rom. 14. 13. who make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Do not spare the body to do God service Acts 26. 7. Unto which promise our twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night hope for to come for which hopes sake King Agrippa I am accused of the Iews 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God SERMON III. MATTH 17. 3. And behold there appeared to unto him Moses and Elias talking with him With LUKE 9. 30 31. And behold there talked with him two men Moses and Elias who appeared in glory and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Ierusalem HAving spoken of Christs Transfiguration we come now to speak of those special Accidents and Adjuncts which happened at the time of his Transfiguration Here are two mentioned 1. The extraordinary Apparition of Moses and Elias 2. Their conference with our Saviour In the First 1. The persons who appeared Moses and Elias 2. The manner of their appearing Luke saith they appeared in Glory Since the Scripture affixeth a behold or note of Attention wherever this History is mentioned it will not be unprofitable for us to consider it a little First Who appeared Moses and Elias these were there in person as well as Christ was there in Person for it is not a Vision but a thing really done and transacted Christ would have but two being to give us a glimpse only not the full lustre and splendor of his Glory and Majesty as he will at the last day when he shall come in the Glory of the Father and all his holy Angels with him But why these two 1. With respect to the Gospel or new Law which he was to set up It is for the confirmation thereof that Moses and Elias appear talking with him shewing the harmony and agreement between them and the subordination of their dispensation to Christ and Salvation by him Moses was the person by whom the Law was given and Elias was a principal Prophet The Law is represented by Moses and the Prophets by Elias Both did frequently foretell and prefigure the Death and Resurrection of Christ and all the Scripture which was then written was usually called by this term Law and Prophets Acts 24. 14. Believing all things that are written in the Law and the Prophets and Mat. 11. 13. for all the Law and the Prophets prophesied until Iohn Luke 16. 24. They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them so Acts 26. 22. I witness no other things then those which Moses and the Prophets say should come to pass So Mark 7. 11. Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do you the same to them for this is the Law and the Prophets Well then the Books of the Old Testament are frequently and solemnly thus called Law and Prophets the Messiah was spoken of and foretold in both and the godly before his comming waited for him as such One place I had almost forgotten Rom. 3. 21. The Righteousness of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets Which sheweth that not only the person of Christ was set forth but also his institution and Gospel dispensation Well to manifest this consent here is Law and Prophets Moses and Elias friendly conferring with Christ or rather attending upon him as servants upon their Lord. Christ and Moses Christ and the Prophets are not at variance as the Jews suppose but here is a fair agreement betwixt them 2. With respect to the Persons themselves there are many special Reasons these had been the most faithful and laborious servants of the Lord and publick eminent instruments of his Glory Moses a giver of the Law and Elias a restorer of the Law Moses faithful in all the House of God and Elias zealous for the glory of God Both had ventured their lives Moses by encountring Pharaoh and Elias Ahab Both had seen the glory of God in Mount Horeb and spake with God also Moses Exod. 33. 11. He saw the
Lord face to face and spake with him as a man doth with his Friend and Elias 1 Kings 19. Both had fasted fourty days as Christ also did therefore conveniently were these chosen 3. With respect to our Profit and Instruction Christ would not choose two Angels for this service but two Men. Here the business was not to see glorified Spirits but glorified Bodies therefore the Angels having no Bodies of their own and must appear in assumed Bodies if in any are not fit therefore two Men that had Bodies wherein they might appear But you will say if two men must appear in glorified Bodies why not Enoch rather then Moses who was translated into Heaven and remaineth there with a glorified Body as well as Elias Answ. Enoch had no publick charge Enoch lived before the legal dispensation these both belonged to it and were chief in it of great Authority among the Jews Enoch hath an honourable Testimony in the Word of God but had no publick office and charge in the Church which the other two had and managed with great Fidelity By the appearance of Moses the whole legal Oeconomy is supposed to appear in his Person and by the appearance of Elias the Prophetical Ministry which was a kind of Chancery to the Law is supposed to appear also Both do as it were deliver over to Christ their whole dispensation and lay it down at his feet as the Magistrates that are to go out of office solemnly resign the ensigns of their Authority to him that succeedeth and also they come both to reverence the majesty of their supream Lord. In short it is for our comfort that one that died and one alive in glory should come to shew that Christ is Lord of quick and dead Rom. 14. 9. Moses was dead Elias translated these two come the one to give a pledge of the glory of the World to come the other of the Resurrection of the dead which is the way and introduction to it and both these persons come to attend and adore our Saviour and do homage to him Secondly They appeared in glory that is in a corporeal shape shining with brightness glory as Christs body did bating only for the degree proportion that ther might be a difference between the Lord and his Servants Now whether they appeared in Bodies formed and assumed for the present purpose and to be laid down again as we do our Garments or in their own proper Bodies is often disputed by Interpreters upon this occasion That they appeared in bodies is certain for bodily acts and properties are ascribed to them as their talking with Christ their being seen by the Apostles for a spirit cannot be seen If in bodies why not their own It is as easie to the Lord to cause them to appear in their own bodies as in a body assumed for this special purpose and service and they were known by the Disciples to be Moses and Elias not by the external Lineaments for they never saw them in person before but either were made known to them by some internal Revelation or by Christs words or by some words of Moses and Elias themselves but which way soever they knew them certain it is they knew them and took them to be Moses and Elias therefore Moses and Elias they were both as to Soul and Body The Apostles that were admitted to this Transfiguration were not to be deceived by a false appearance for they were admitted to be confirmed in the Truth of Christs Person and Office that by what they saw they might confirm others How would it weaken the Testimony if what they saw appearing before them in glory were not the bodies of Moses and Elias but only other bodies assumed Concerning Elias the matter is without difficulty for since he saw not death but was translated both body and soul into Heaven why should he lay down his own body and take another to come and serve Christ upon this occasion cause sufficient there was why he should come from the blessedness of Heaven to Mount Tabor no cause why he should lay aside his own proper body It is no loss nor trouble but advantage to blessed and heavenly Creatures to be serviceable to their Redeemers Glory though it be to come out of the other into this World But concerning Moses the matter is more doubtful we read that he died in Mount Nebo and his body was buried by God in the Plains of Moab so that his Grave was known to no man unto this day Deut. 34. 5 6. Some think it was preserved from putrefaction by the extraordinary power of God that he might resume it at this time The Jews say that God sucked out Moses soul from his body with a kiss and afterwards restored it again and so he liveth in immortality but he that looketh for Divinity among the Jewish Rabbins will much sooner find a ridiculous Fable then any sound Doctrine suffice it to us that he was really dead and buryed and his body mouldred into dust as our bodies are and now on this special occasion raised out of the dust but after this whether it were laid down in dust again or carryed into Heaven it is not for us to determine it may be either according to the Analogy of the Christian Faith if his body returned to corruption again surely it is a great honour that it was raised up for this special use I say it was a great joy to these Prophets to see all their predictions fulfilled in Christ. If we say it entered into Glory what inconvenience was there If God would indulge him this peculiar Prerogative to be raised from the dead and enjoy blessedness both in soul and body before the last day He granted it to Enoch and Elias and those who came out of their Graves after Christs death Matth. 27. 53. the great Harvest is at the last day but some first-fruits before Secondly Their Conference with our Saviour they talked with him saith Matthew they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Ierusalem saith Luke they talked with Christ not with the Apostles here is an Apparition to them but no parley and intercourse between them and the glorified Saints The Saints that are glorified are out of the sphere of commerce of the living nay it is a question whether they heard at all what was said to Christ but of that in the next verse Here observe three things 1. What they spake of Christs death 2. The notion by which his death is set forth it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. The necessity of undergoing it in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he should accomplish at Jerusalem 1. What they spake of none could divine unless it had been told us and the Evangelist Luke telleth us that it was of his death This Argument was chosen 1. Because it was at hand the next solemn Mediatory Action after this was his Death and Bloody sufferings after he was Transfigured in
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past 2. No farther price for what they need 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. Ye are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without spot and blemish The repentance of a sinner is pleasing to him there is Joy in Heaven Luke 15. 7. Ioy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that is converted A Feast was made at the return of the Prodigal As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner Our Conversion is more pleasing to God than our Destruction 3. He is pleased with the Execution and Management of it by Christ he carried himself in the office of the Mediator according to what was injoyned him Ioh. 8. 29. I do alwayes the things that please him Ioh. 5. 30. I can of my self do nothing as I hear I judge and my Iudgment is just because I seek not my will but the will of the father which sent me And did finish all that was necessary for the Redemption of the Elect before he died Ioh. 19. 30. When Iesus had received the vinegar he said It is finished and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost Evidences of this are his Resurrection from the dead Act. 5. 30 31. The God of our fathers raised up Iesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins Heb. 13. 20. The God of peace brought again the Lord Iesus from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant As pacified in Christ received into glory 1 Tim. 3. 16. Certainly God is well pleased since he hath given not onely a Discharge but a Reward The gift of the Spirit for renewing the heart of man which is the great pledge of Gods being satisfied Ioh. 7. 39. This he spake of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Iesus was not yet glorified a sure evidence that our ransom is paid Acts 5. 32. And we are his witnesses of these things and so is the holy Ghost which he hath given to them that obey him A Sacrifice of infinite value and esteem 2. That he is well-pleased with us who have an Interest in him In our natural Estate we are all displeasing unto God whatever we are in the purpose of his decree we must look upon our selves as we are in the Sentence of his Law so children of wrath Eph. 2. 3. Enemies by our minds in evil works Col. 1. 21. Estranged from the womb Psal. 58. 3. so that all of us were cut off from the Favour of God obnoxious to his wrath this is our miserable Condition by Nature that we were no way pleasing to him for without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. 6. A sinner as a sinner can do nothing acceptable indeed God having found a Ransom is placabilis but not placatus not actually reconciled to us till we are in Christ and he is placandus antequam placendus to be appeased before he can be pleased he is not actually reconciled till we are in Christ. 2. Awakened sinners are not easily satisfied so as to look upon themselves as pleasing unto God for the Conscience of Sin is not easily laid aside nor is the stain soon got out And though the grant be passed in Heaven yet we have not the sense of it in our own hearts for it is the Blood of Christ can onely do it Heb. 9. 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God The Carnal offer thousands of Rams and Rivers of Oyl and the fruit of the body for the sin of their soul Mic. 6. 6 7. They would give any thing for a sufficient sin-offering yea the renewed and pardoned have not so firm a peace as to be able always to look upon themselves in a state of well-pleasing therefore often beg that God would dissipate the Cloudes and cause the Light of his Countenance to break forth upon them Psal. 80. 19. Turn us Oh Lord God of Hosts cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved So that when there is a grant of Pardon and Peace and Access to God we have not alwayes the sense 3. Yet the Ground is laid assoon as we have an Interest in Christ God is well pleased with us if you consent to his Mediation and take him in his three Offices as a Prophet Priest and King As a Prophet hear him the business is put out of all Question that God will love you because he loved Christ. When you depend on him as a Priest you have Reconciliation and Access to God Rom. 5. 1 2. Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ by whom also we have access by faith into the grace wherein we stand When you subject your selves to him as a King Col. 1. 13. He hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son Christ is dear to God and to him all the Subjects of his Kingdom are dear also So that if you will be more explicite in your Duty you may be more explicite in your Comforts if you will receive his Doctrine so as it may have Authority over your Hearts if in the Anguish of your Souls you will depend on the Merit of his Sacrifice and give up your selves to live in a constant Obedience to his Laws You will find him to be a dear Son indeed one very acceptable with God for you also will be accepted with him for his sake II. Concerning the weight and importance of this Truth 1. It is propounded as the Foundation upon which God will build his Church Mat. 16. 16 17 18. And Simon Peter answered and said thou art Christ the Son of the living God And Iesus answered and said unto him Blessed art thou Simon Barjona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my father which is in heaven And I say unto thee That thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it 2. It is the question put to those that would enter upon Christianity Acts 8. 37. If thou believest with all thy heart thou maist and he answered and said I believe that Iesus is the son of God When they were serious in the Profession that was enough 1 Ioh. 5. 1. Whosoever believeth that Iesus is the Christ is born of God 3. This engaged the hearts of the Disciples to tarry with him when others murmured at his Doctrine He that cleaveth to this Profession carrieth himself accordingly whatever Temptations he hath to the contrary we believe and are sure that thou art