the world make their maine prize and they thinke thereby to procure praise unto themselves and great preferment in their owne eyes this way let me speake a little to these you that are guilty of this sinne see the compasse of it take notice of the reach how farre this rebellion goeth I would wish these men that persecute the Saints I would have them underst the compasse of their course how farre their wicked practice extendeth it is not against a despised Christian no let them know it their rage and malice ascends up to Heaven and offers violence to the Lord Iesus Christ and the labour what they can to plucke Christ from the right hand of his Father and they endevour what in them lies to shed his blood and take away his life let all know that have beene professed opposers and dead haters of the Saints of God let them know they are melted of light treason and that in a most hainous manner against the Lord of Heaven and Earth against the Lord Iesus Christ the Redeemer of the world I would that these men would not cozen themselves for God will not bee mocked they professe they love Christ with all their hearts and they will doe any thing for him but those nice fellowes those spruce fellowes it is those that they hate to the death doe you so indeed thou hast said enough then for thou hatest Christ in hating them and thou persecutest Christ in persecuting them Esay 37.23.28 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed saith the text and against whom hast thou exalted thy voyce and lifted up thine eyes on high even against the Holy one of Israel and in the 28. verse I know thy abode and thy going out and thy comming in and thy rage against me so that how ever Senacherib aymed at Hezekia onely and those that professe the truth yet the Lord takes it at done to himselfe he that knew their hearts and their malice hee saith I know thy rage against me it was against the holy One of Israel that they rayled Wicked men persecute the lives of beleevers now Christ lives in them and thou hatest the life of Christ and persecutest the life of Christ Acts 9. Paul had gotten letters from the Synagogue and hee would have haled to prison all the Saints of God that professed the Name of Christ now if a man had come to Paul and asked him Paul why doe you persecute Christ hee would have beene in great indignation what reverenced Paul learned Paul zealous Paul what hee persecute the Lord of life why Christ proclaimes it he doth so and hee puts it to an upshot and ends the controversie and puts the question out of doubt I am Iesus saith he whom thou persecutest as if he had said Poore foole thou knowest not and I perceive thou thinkest it not but I receive the wound the foot is prickt and the head complaines I would have a man make the case his owne and be his owne Judge If any man should pretend friendship to you and professe hee loves you and tells you hee tenders your person but yet hee will torment your body and hee loves your head but yet he will cut off your arme there is no man so weake but he would loath such cursed kinde of dissimulation a man cannot love the head and hate the member love the person and torment the body just so these men deale with the Lord Iesus Christ Gods faithfull beleeving servants are his eyes Zacharie 2.8 He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye they are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone thou that pretendest to love Christ and to tender the head and in the mean time loathest his members and his poore Saints know that thou dost not persecute the Saints so much but thou persecutest Christ much more but haply thou wilt say I am no drunkard nor no whore-monger I tell thee this sinne is worse than drunkennesse or whoredome the text saith Luke 13. that Herod was an incestuous person and married his brother Philips wife but he added this sinne above all the rest hee put Iohn in prison therefore all that heare the Word of God if a man did see an incestuous wretch in the congregation whom humanity and reason and nature doth loath we would abhorre and detest him nay every man knowes that it deserves death Looke upon thy owne soule and lay thy hand upon thy heart thou that persecutest the Saints thy sinne is greater and thy condemnation shall be farre sorer than such a mans hence it is that God threatens such men with the heaviest judgements Psalme 82.5 it is spoken there concerning Doeg we may see the story 1 Samuel 22. When Abimelech gave David shew-bread and Goliahs sword Doeg saw it and told Saul and afterwards slew eighty five persons of the Priests now this Psalmist made this Psalme against this man and he saith Thy tongue deviseth mischiefe lik a sharp razor working deceitfully and God shall likewise destroy thee for ever He shal take thee away and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place and out of the land of the living because he did oppose himselfe against Abimelech therefore the Lord would not let him go without a punishment nay as God threatens the sorest punishment against such person so the Saints of God by their prayers set themselves most against them Psalme 129.5 Let them all he confounded and turned backe that have ill will at Sion neither doe they that goe by say The blessing of the Lord bee upon you the poorest man that lives that is in the meanest place if he walkes in an honest calling the Saints wish a blessing to him but they that oppose the Saints of God the Saints curse them in the name of the Lord it is true I confesse wee must bee wary and wise but being wise and wary it is a thing wee may and should doe David by way of Revelation knew who were implacable and obdurate though wee know not this yet aiming at none in particular but onely in the generall at those who bee incorragible the Saints of God curse them and that bitterly in all their desires that they put up to God nay the greatest indirement at the day of judgement proceeds against sinners because of the persecution of his Saints because in them they persecute Christ himselfe they teare out the very eyes of Christ and rend his heart in peeces Iud. 14. The Lord commeth with thousands of his Angels to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly amongst them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Matthew 25. the latter end Depart from mee ye cursed I know ye not I was in prison and ye visited mee not I was naked and ye cloathed me not why Jesus Christ is gone to Heaven and haply they never saw him bâ—â— faith hee in that you did it not
onely because of mercies bonds and engagements which the beleever hath received but because a man is come so neere to Christ and now to commit sinne and vex him it must needs bee a marvellous provocation to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his good Spirit he that should entertaine a friend into his family or the King into his house or a woman to entertaine a loving husband in matrimony with her all base dealing by any of these a man can hardly brooke it It was one of my own subjects saith the King it was my wife saith the husband and it was my friend as David saith that did eat at my table but now to entertaine a profest enemy or a traytor into the bed-chamber with the King and to lodge them both in one bed this were abominable and so the wife not onely to entertaine a whoremonger into the house but also to lodge him in the same bed this were not to be endured Oh how his blood would rise against it as the King said of Haman Hester 7.8 What will hee force the Queene before my face Now therefore brethren goe home to your owne soules and behaviours in particular dost thou through Gods grace and mercy receive this favour at the hands of God that thou art become one Spirit with the Lord Jesus Christ and wilt thou then receive a company of base lusts and that in the very face and sight of the Lord Iesus Christ and lodge an uncleane spirit with the cleane Spirit of the Lord the holy God cannot endure this nay he will not beare it at the hands of those that belong to the election of grace 1 Sam. 2.17 The sonnes of Ely were great sinners before the Lord saith the text and why because they waited upon the Lord to doe the worke of the Sanctuarie for where the ordinances of the Lord are there is God himselfe therefore Cain in the apprehension hereof said I am cast out from the presence of the Lord that is from the powerfull beautie of the Lord in his ordinances Now because they were the Priests and Leaders and they were greater sinners they would out-brave the Lord with their sinnes and commit them in the sight of God therefore their sin was the greater as in Ezechiel 8.3 The Lord brought the Prophet to behold the abominations of the Elders of Israel he brought him into a secret place and shewed him the image of jealousie which provoked to jealousie they did it in the sight of the Sun to provoke him to anger therefore it is called the image of jealousie as if he had said Let your idols goe to the land of Vrre but will you dare to set up idols in the sight of God to provoke him to jealousie I beseech you apply this to your selves are not wee Priests and the very Spouse of Christ and not onely the outward Sanctuary but the Temple of the Lord it selfe is with us as the Apostle saith Ye are the temples of the living God Now wilt thou set up an idol lust and an idolatrous selfe seeking heart and set it up by the Lord Iesus Christ â— this is a horrible crying sin and it provokes the Lord marvellous fiercely it was the collection which the Apostle made a little before the text in 1 Cor. â— where he saith speaking concerning adultery and fornication he comes with a glrâ— and a gall to the hearts of beleevers saying What shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot God forbid that 's carefull Doe you not know that he which coupleth himselfe to an harlot is one body shall I doe thus no the Lord forbid I am neere to Christ let the members of Satan bee made the members of a harlot if they will but you that are the members of Christ will you doe so Consider it wilt thou take the head of Christ and contrive wickednesse with it and wilt thou take the heart of Christ and make it a cage of uncleane lusts and wilt thou take the tongue of Christ and make it speake wickedly and wilt thou take the foot of Christ and make it run to all wickednesse what a fearfull thing is this shall the uncleane spirit be put to the cleane spirit shall the motions of the Devill be here and the motions of the good Spirit of the Lord too the Lord in mercy keepe you off from this Ephes 4.29 Let no filthy communication come out of your mouth why what if there doe If there were no greater sinnes than these I hope I should doe well enough What saith the Apostle A Christian and a lier a Christian and a swearer a Christian and a base vile wretch Oh grieve not the good Spirit of God why because by it yee are sealed up unto the day of redemption the good Spirit of the Lord hath sealed you up unto redemption and knit you unto him and will you rend your selves from him and grieve him if you were not sealed up and if you had none of the Spirit of Christ it were no great matter but now Oh grieve not the holy Spirit if you doe you have no salvation by it away to hell if you will grieve the good Spirit of the Lord if the Lord doe bestow his Spirit upon thee wilt thou then grieve his good Spirit how canst thou or how darest thou doe thus and dishonour the Name of God looke that place Matthew 12.44 When the uncleane spirit returnes againe to his rest hee findeth it empty swept and garnished then hee taketh to himselfe seven other spirits worse than himselfe and they enter in and dwell there the end of that man is worse than the beginning It is well observed by one that pride and idlenesse sweeps the house for the devill a proud heart which stayes it selfe up upon its owne abilities and so growes idle and lazie and secure if it be a Minister or Magistrate this makes cleane worke for the Devill you cannot doe this but you will grieve the good Spirit of the Lord Now looke to this when a man stayes himselfe upon his parts and gifts he doth little good you sweep the house for the Devill whereas a watchfull painfull heart doth wonderfully please God it is a good and a pure meeke and holy Spirit which God accepts of therefore be thou so too now you that are Christians doe not goe away and thinke that you have warrant to be idle and carelesse take heed of such cursed distempers of heart if thou art a Christian thou darest not doe or say as others dare for the sinne of a Christian is abominable in the eyes of God because he is so neerly united to his blessed Spirit this is the first use of the point Vse 2 Againe in the second place here is a word of examination and triall here a man may see of what spirit the most men of the world are You know not of what Spirit you are saith Christ looke how the soule closeth with
and apprehension of the minde for what ever a man conceives his understanding closeth with it as whatever I apprehend I close with that there is a conveyance of the thing into my minde and I close with it now the union of a beleevers soule with Christ is more than this it is not a bare apprehension a wicked man will goe farre in the apprehension of Christ but this union is somewhat more and I call it a reall union because there is a knitting and a closing not onely of the apprehension with a Saviour but a closing of a soule with a Saviour Secondly I say this is a totall union the whole nature of a Saviour and the whole nature of a beleever are knit together first that it is a reall union all the places of Scripture doe intimate as much what the branch is to the vine the soule is to Christ now they are more than imagination so what the husband is to the wife the soule is to Christ Now they are more than in understanding for a man may conceive of another woman as well as of his wife but this is another union whereby the person of the one is knit unto another the bond of matrimony knits these two together This is the frame and guise of knitting the soule to Christ it is no bare apprehension but wee feed upon Christ and grow upon Christ and are married to Christ Hosea 2.20 I have married thee to my selfe in truth in judgement and in righteousnesse Secondly I say it is totall in so much that Christ is the head and a beleever a member in both these regards they are joyned Christ is the head of the Church not onely according as he is God but as hee is God and man and a beleever is a member not onely according to his body but according to his body and soule now whole Christ being the head and the whole beleever being a member therefore a whole Christ and a whole beleever must be joyned together The third is this this union is inseparable Ieremie 32.40 The Lord promiseth to make an everlasting covenant with the house of Israel and I will never part away from them to doe them good so Psalme 89.33.34 It is spoken there concerning Salomon as I conceive the Psalmist saith If he sinne against mee I will scourge him and I will visit him with stripes neverthelesse my loving kindnesse I will not take away from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile my covenant I will not breake nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth marke that the Lord out of faithfulnesse doth establish thee to him in vocation the Lord hath made a covenant with the soule in vocation the hand of the Lord layes hold upon the soule and brings it home now though the Lord correct the soule sharply yet will be not leave it totally and finally it is inseparably knit to Christ what can it be what shall it be that can separate a poore sinner from Christ if Satan could have hindered him from comming to a Saviour hee would have then hindered him from comming to a Christ when he had his greatest dominion over him if sinne could have let him when a man had nothing else but sin he would not have forsaken that and have beene brought home to Christ If the world could have prevailed Christ should never have pluckt him from it but when Satan had his greatest power over him when a man was nothing else but sinne by nature when the world most prevailed yet then God by his good Spirit pluckt thy heart from sinne and selfe that soule is mine saith Christ Satan must give way and shall not hinder it that soule is mine saith Christ sinne shall not let it from comming to mee that soule is mine saith Christ and the world shall not stop the worke of a Saviour and if Satan in the height of his malice and the world in the top of its force could not prevaile to keepe the soule from Christ then much lesse shall these be able to pluck us from a Saviour the point then is undeniable that the soule is really totally and inseparably knit to the Lord Jesus Christ Vse 1 We may here take notice of the high and happy privilege of poore creatures how ever the poore Saints of God are despised and contemned of the world yet they are received into covenant with the Lord they are made one with Christ and are of the blood royall and this is the greatest privilege that can bee this should beare up the hearts of poore Christians yee are now in the very gate of Heaven nay let mee say as the Apostle speakes and I see no reason why a man may not say that hee is in Heaven in truth though not in that measure and largenesse of glory he shall be afterwards 1 Thess 1.17 The happinesse that a Christian shall have in Heaven is this Hee shall be ever with the Lord Iesus Heaven were not Heaven unlesse a man might bee with Christ there the place doth not make a man happy but the union with a Saviour that makes him happy and to be joyned to Father Sonne and holy Ghost that makes him happy and the beleever is now knit to them and therefore must needs be happy Deut. 33. the last verse as he said of the people of Israel so may I say of all faithfull soules Happy are thou oh Israel saith the text who is like unto thee saved by the Lord the shield of thy helpe and the sword of thy excellency so may I say Happy are ye oh beleeving soules who is like unto you yee are saved by God and are married to the Lord Jesus Christ and are the spouses of the Saviour of the world and he that is the Judge of the world is your Husband your beloved and you are his let nothing therefore dismay your hearts Vse 2 The second use is that of terrour and it is like a thunder-bolt able to breake the hearts of all those that are opposite to them that beleeve in Christ that which I would have all consider on is this that the persecution of the Saints is a sin of a high nature it is a most hainous abominable sinne in the sight of God how ever the world thinkes not so of it yet they shall bee sure one day to finde I know men thinke not then because haply the law of man provides not in this case to punish those that oppose the Lord Iesus Christ and the power of his grace because haply the Magistrate doth not or haply cannot smite those that set themselves against those that feare God and trample upon them therefore wicked men make the Saints of God the marke of their malice and the aime of their rage and all these indignation is bent that way they glory in what they have done and threaten what they will doe they will hang and draw and quarter within themselves this is that which the proud spirits of
now take notice of it this will be thy miserie because thou shalt see whole treasures of mercie counted out before mercie for Manasses and mercie for Paul and mercie for the bloudy jaylour and mercie for such a rebellious sinner that humbled himselfe before God and no mercie for thee there is plentifull rich abundant redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ but thou shalt never partake thereof when thou shalt see Abraham and Isaak and Iakob and a companie of poore creatures goe into heaven at the day of the resurrection when thou shalt see a companie of poore creatures goe up to Christ and receive mercie and great redemption and thou shalt goe without this will bee gall and worm-wood to thy soule and strike thy soule into everlasting despaire therefore the Lord open thine eyes that thou maist come in and receive mercie at his Majesties hand now you have your share now stand by and let us set the bread before the children that they may take their part also and be cheaâ—ed and comforted then you that are beleevers in the Lord you that are called attend to your share and sit downe and eat and bee refreshed O my well-beloved receive what comes and be happie in receiving it Vse 2 The second use therefore is a ground of comfort and that is the proper inference and collection from the former doctrine is it so that the Lord Jesus Christ conveyeth all grace to all beleevers to all his poore servants from day to day then you that have a share therein and have interest to all the riches of Gods goodnesse let this be a cordiall to cheare your drooping hearts and stay your soules notwithstanding temptations notwithstanding persecution notwithstanding opposition notwithstanding any thing that may befall you for the present or any thing you may feare for the future time cheare up your drooping spirits in the consideration hereof and be for ever comforted for ever contented for ever refreshed you have a faire portion what would you have what can you desire what would quiet you what will content you would the wisedome of a Christ satisfie you would the sanctification of a Christ please you would the redemption of a Christ cheare you you complaine your hearts are hard and your sinnes great and your selves miserable and many are the troubles that lie upon you will the redemption of a Christ now satisfie you if this will doe it it is all yours his wisedome is yours his righteousnesse is yours his sanctification is yours his redemption is yours all that he hath is yours and I thinke this is sufficient if you know when you are well therefore goe away cheared goe away comforted Christ is yours therefore be fully contented I would not have the Children of God drooping and dismaid because haply of the policy of the world their parts are great and they reach deepe and in the meane time your parts are small and your ignorance great and your memories feeble 1 Pet. 11. Be not thou troubled be not thou discontented because of that which they have thou wantest for know thy portion is better than theirs the wisedome of Christ is better than all the policy of the world the sanctification of a Christ is better than all the reformation and all the trickes of all cunning Hypocrites under Heaven the redemption of a Christ is better than all the hope and safetie the world can afford this is thy part and portion therefore be thou satisfied therewith the wisdome saith Iames that is malicious and envious and the like it is earthly carnall sensuall and devillish but the wisedome that is from above it is first pure then meeke then abundant in good workes one drop of this wisdome of a Christ is better than all the wisdome in the world art thou a poore creature and knowest Christ to bee thy Saviour and hast an intimation of the love of God to be thy Father and the Spirit thy Comforter thy knowledge is more worth than all the knowledge of all the great Cardinals and mightie Popes and learned Clearks upon the face of the earth a dram of gold is better than a cart-load of earth it is little but it is precious so it is here a dram of spirituall wisdome it is golden wisdome it is heavenly wisdome it is able to make thee wise unto salvation a dram of that wisdome though it be little is worth a thousand cart-loads of that dung-hill carnall wisdome that all the machivilian Politicians in the world can have or improve therefore quiet thy selfe and content thy soule that it is sufficient that what thou wantest Christ will supply unto thee dost thou want wisdome Christ will be thy wisdome dost thou want memory Christ will be thy remembrance hast thou a dead heart Christ will inlarge thee whatever is awanting on thy part there is nothing awanting on Christs part but he will do whatsoever is fitting for thee therefore let nothing hinder thee from that comfort that may beare up thy heart in the greatest triall but I know what troubles you the poore soule will say Is Christ wisdome to me that is a like matter did I but thinke that were my judgement convinced and my heart perswaded of that I were satisfied What I what such a base creature as I am let not that basenesse that hangs upon thee nor the meanes of thy condition that troubles thee discourage thy heart for that cannot withdraw Gods favour from thee nor abridge thee of that favour and mercie that is tendered unto thee in the Lord Jesus Christ all the basenesse of the place wherein thou art and the meanes of thy condition cannot hinder thee of this favour looke upon the text to whom is this promise made to whom doth the Apostle speake He is made to us to us base ones to us foolish ones thou art ignorant and foolish bee it so thou art base and weake grant that despised in the world and made nothing of confesse that and all nay thou art not in thine owne account nor in the account of the world there is no regard had of thee no value put upon thee in this nature why marke what the text saith God hath chosen the foolish things the weake things the base things the despised things nay the things that are not to whom is Christ made wisdome to you fooles to whom is Christ made strength to you weak ones to whom is Christ made honour to you base to whom is Christ made sanctification and redemption to you that are not in the world thou hast nothing thou canst doe nothing it skils not God the Father hath appointed it unto thee and Christ hath brought it therefore be cheared herein though thou beest a foole Christ is able to informe thee though thou beest base and weak and miserable Christ is able to succour and releeve thee and sanctifie that soule of thine therefore bee fully contented and fully setled with strong consolation for ever but you will confesse it
into England then he is here accounted a good subject and he is so far from being condemned that hee is wonderfully advanced and honoured by the King here is a change in Turkie hee was condemned as a Traitor but in England hee is counted a good subject and is received into favour and honoured here is a morall change but now here is no naturall change here is nothing put into this man If he were ignorant before he is ignorant still if he were wicked before he is wicked still but he hath a good relation as a subject and is pardoned in England he is in another roome and rank this is a morall change But now if a man were ignorant before and since he came into England he were framed and made wise and holy this is a spirituall change before hee was ignorant and now hee is learned before gracelesse but now gracious this is a naturall change or rather a spirituall change Just so it is with a faithfull soule the poore sinner as hee is landed here upon the shore of sinne and corruption take him as he is by nature he is liable to divine justice and a Traitor in Gods account and as he stands liable to the Law hee is a damned man hee is sicke of sinne But now when the Father hath brought him home to the Lord Jesus Christ and landed him upon another Coast hee is now sure to partake of life and of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ and he that before was attached of treason is acquitted of all in the Lord Jesus Christ the respects of treason and condemnation are taken off and other respects and relations are put on this is done in justification and afterward when hee is justified then the Lord will honour and adorne the soule so that though the soule before was ignorant the Lord will now make him wise unto salvation though before hee were polluted yet now hee shall bee sanctified And thus much of the reasons why I call it an act of God the Father upon the beleever Vse 1 The proper fruit of this Doctrine is this Is it so that justification is an act of God the Father upon the beleever then it is a ground of admirable comfort to beare up the heart of a poore sinner above all the accusations and all the power and the policies of our enemies against us or the intendments of the wicked to hurt us remember but this that God the Father justifies and this will bee a cordiall to beare up the heart against whatsoever the world or the devill or the wicked shall lay to the charge of a beleever If thou art justified before Gods tribunall in Heaven why shouldst thou care or feare or bee troubled or disquieted when thou art condemned by the wicked upon the earth this justification on Gods part can wipe away and scatter all the clouds and all the accusations on mans part 1 Cor. 4.2.3 It is required of the dispensers that every man be found faithfull but as for mee I passe very little to be judged by mans judgement the word in the originall is very excellent I passe not to bee judged by mans day men have their dayes of meeting and of judging and their dayes of rioting in the alehouse and in the brothel-house and there they can tosse the names of Gods Servants up and downe and they sit upon their names and lives and liberties and they raise what reports they will these are the drunkards dayes and the malicious mans dayes there they sit and give their doomes what they will doe to such a Christian and to such a Minister but marke what Saint Paul saith I passe not for mans dayes it is no more to mee than the dust of the ballance or the drop of the bucket but hee alludes to another day to the day of judgement when the Lord shall judge all the world when hee that is holy shall bee approved of and acquitted and hee that is vilde and wicked shall bee condemned I looke to that day Were he not worthy to be begged for a foole that should goe away troubled and disquieted because a company of drunkards had condemned him upon the alebench when the Judge had cleared him upon the bench of justice therefore steele your faces against all the malicious accusations of the wicked let them sit and condemne thee upon the alebench if they will so long as thou art acquitted in heaven herein bee for ever cheared through his mercy It was that which made the holy Prophet so marvellously confident in Isaiah 50.8.9 and to throw downe the gantlet saying Hee is neer that justifies mee who will contend with mee see whether you can set your foot to mine vow for vow and word for word who is mine adversary let him come neere behold the Lord God will succour me who will condemne me lo they all shall wax old as a garment the moth shall eat them up they shall vanish and shall not be able to appeare at the day of accounts nay the moth shall eat them up nay the wicked shall say in hell as the wise man saith We fooles thought this mans life madnesse and wee past our judgements upon these precise fellowes that must ever and anon bee in a corner to weepe for their sinnes but we finde now that wee are the fooles that have neglected grace and salvation and happinesse which now they enjoy for ever If a man had a case to bee tried in the Chancerie if the Lord Chancellour were his friend hee need not feare any thing for the Lord Chancellour would suffer nothing to come in against him but would cast them all out and heare none of them so you that are beleevers and have a friend and a Father that sits in the high Court of Chancery in Heaven howsoever there are many which would be medling with you yet your Father is the Judge of the Court and he will dishonour all those that seeke to dishonour you It is the ground of that blessed boldnesse which the Apostle concludes with himselfe not onely that the thing should not bee carried against him as Rom. 8.33 but that all should be for him Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods chosen it is God that justifieth Let the gates of Hell bee set open and Belzebub and all the Devils come roaring out against him and let the wicked come that beare him ill will and let all his sinnes come and his owne conscience too yet hee need not feare any thing the ground is hence because it is God that justifies hee doth not say they shall never prevaile against Gods servants but they shall not plead against them and hee doth not say they shall not condemne them but they shall not accuse them as hee said Acts 19.38 The Law is open and there are Deputies let them accuse 〈◊〉 plead one against another so that here shall not bee so much as pleading against a poore beleever because God the Father hath
them yet they shall never be able to fasten any guilt upon thee to condemne thee Looke as it was with the three children the fire in its owne nature was able to burne them therefore they that put them in were consumed by the flame but the three children had no hurt the Lord stopped the power of the flames that it burnt onely their bonds but not one haire of their head was sienged nor there was no smell of fire upon them it was not because the fire would not or could not but the Lord stopt the acting of the fire So every sinne is able to fasten guilt upon thee and to condemne thee but upon thy repentance the Lord hinders it in the act and therefore though sinne doth send the wicked and impenitent downe to hell to frie in torments yet it shall never send thee downe nor fasten guilt upon thee Thus it was likewise with Daniel Chap. 6.22 23 24. when he was put into the Lions denne the Princes of the king Darius had a spleene against Daniel because he was a holy man and had gotten some interest in the kings favour and they could get no hold against him but in the matter of his God now hee that loved God better than himselfe He opens his window boldly towards Ierusalem professing Gods truth when hee was called to it therefore they went to the king to have him to be cast into the den of Lions according to the decree now he was cast into it and though the Lions were hungrie yet God shut the mouth of the Lions they had power and were able to hurt him if they had not beene restrained but God had shut up their mouthes that they could not hurt him but when the enemies of Daniel were cast into the denne the Lions did teare them all to peeces before they came at the bottome of the denne they rent them in peeces suddenly what 's the reason of it they had as much power before and were as able and as hungry before but the Lord stopt their mouths that they could not devour Daniel Just so it is with the sinnes of the penitent and the sinnes of the impenitent the sinnes of the one though they are of a killing and a Lion-like nature for the wages of every sinne is death and there is condemnation in it yet the Lord stops the mouth of the Lion hee takes off the guilt and condemning power of sinne that though it hath power in it selfe to condemne yet it cannot doe it but now when it meets with an impenitent unbeleever the malice of the malicious shall kill him and the pride of the ambitious shall one day rend his heart but it is not so with the sins of the penitent beleevers their sinnes have teeth indeed and power to make a man worthy of condemnation but they shall never fasten condemnation upon him this is the meaning of that place Romans 8.3 That which was impossible to the Law to doe in as much as it was weake because of the flesh God sending his onely Sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh It is an excellent place and hath much weight in it and howsoever there are many interpretations of the place yet I will follow that interpretation which I now expresse that it was impossible for the Law to acquit a man of sinne because he cannot keepe the Law and therefore he cannot bee justified by it but how comes it to passe then that the Saints of God are delivered The text saith Christ tooke flesh on him and it was sinfull flesh by similitude or imputation not actually by commission the nature of our Saviour had no evill inherent in him nor committed by him but hee was only a sinner by imputation and then he condemned sinne in the flesh what is that it is a law case and Master Calvin hath it excellently he damned sinne as a man will say when he loseth the suit hee fell from his cause and from his plea which he made he lost it utterly so Christ taking upon him our nature by imputation he made sinne lose its claime which it would make to the soule in this case hee that breaketh the Law of God is guiltie and shall be condemned by it but this man hath broken the Law of God and therefore is guiltie of condemnation thereby Now Christ takes off these and saith It is true hee is guiltie of sinne and worthy of condemnation unlesse another be contented to be guilty for him but I have undertaken the guilt for him and have paid the debt for him and therefore this soule is free from sinne thou hast nothing to doe with this soule neither shalt thou condemne him Observe it when all your sinnes shall muster in upon you and come from East to West saying thou art guiltie of pride guiltie of malice c. and shalt be condemned for them make answer and say it is true Lord I am so but Christ hath taken away the guilt and condemnation and I have repented of my sinnes therefore sinne thou hast nothing to doe with this soule of mine Christ hath taken it and redeemed it and therefore I leave it with him This is the first conclusion Vse 2 In the second place wee heare what the Doctrine saith that God the Father charged all our sinnes upon Christ and that they shall never condemne the penitent and faithfull then what will become of the faithlesse and unbeleevers thinke ye This truth is like a thunder-bolt and it is able to shake the hearts of all unbeleevers and to dash them all in peeces Hence it is evident that every obstinate unbeleever is destitute of all hope of succour and pardon of his sinne consider of this all you that are unbeleevers you must pay your owne debts and beare your owne burthens I know your hearts cannot but testifie that the condition of such poore soules is very miserable it is that which sometimes comforts a man that either hee hath good friends that will helpe him or else hee hath means of his owne by which he is able to relieve himselfe but he that hath no reliefe of himselfe nor cannot expect noâ— hope for any this man sinks downe in sorrow because hee knowes there is no way in the world to help him This is thy condition right thou that art an unbeleever what to be cast out of heaven and earth too this is miserable to be for saken of God and man too that no means in heaven nor earth will stand him in steed for his good whilest hee thus continues Consider of this you that make nothing of the sinne of unbeleefe though you have some care of other sinnes whither will you goe for succour in that great day of accounts will you goe to the Saint they dare not will you goe to the Creatures they cannot will you goe to the Lord Jesus Christ he will not succour you If you goe to any of the Saints to see
the soule with his indignation his heart would sinke but that a little leane starved hope supports him and he sees than Gods will is not yet fully revealed but that he may be saved and he saith this conscience may bee quieted and this soule may be saved and these sins may bee pardoned now despaire is the quite contrary when the soule hath no good in expectation and that which cuts the heart strings of a mans consolation and plucke a mans comforts up by the roots as hee hath nothing for the present so all means and wayes of getting any good are cut off and then he casts off hope and never lookes to God more because he never lookes for mercy from God and then hope goes out and saith Oh when will it once be cannot these sinnes bee pardoned c And at last hee sees there is no way of getting any good and therefore hee never lookes for mercy more but expects hell and damnation and cries out I am damned I am damned This is despaire and this is the nature of it Secondly this despaire is not any part or essentiall property appertaining to the pains of the second death whether we looke at the withdrawing of the sweetnesse of Gods love or whether wee looke at the inflicting of the wrath of God upon the soule this is no part of them for besides that which Divines will observe namely that all punishments are passions and they suffer them but despaire is a worke of the creature and it issues from himselfe and the creature doth it and therefore it cannot properly bee a punishment nor any part of the second death but besides all this which they observe this desperation so opened it is so farre from being any part of the second death as that it is not a consequent which nextly followes from the second death but from the weaknesse and sinfulnesse of the creature Desperation is not any effect flowing immediatly from the wrath of God upon the creature but it proceeds and comes directly and immediatly from the weaknesse and sinfulnes of the creature Imagine that yee saw the Lord Iesus Christ comming in the clouds with thousand thousands of his holy Angels and the thrones were set up and all flesh appeared the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left hand and the Lord Iesus Christ passeth the doome and the sentence against them saying Goe yee cursed into everlasting fire Now when a poore damned creature seeth that the sentence is gone and seeth the good wil of God pass'd upon him and the power of his wrath now to bee exprest to the full against him and he apprehends the will of God now fulfild never to be crost more and the decree of God is now exprest never to bee altered more and hee seeth the gates of hell now sealed upon him and that the Lord hath cast upon him the tombstone of his wrath and that he is buried under the power of the second death and now he seeth the time is gone and the justice of God can never bee satisfied more and this power of the Lords wrath can never be removed Oh the time was that I had the word and the power of into quicken me and to informe me and the Spirit of God to strive with me and then there was some hope but now the decree of God is maâ—e unrevokable and this wrath I shall never beare nor never remove There is now to word no praying no hearing no conference no mercy nor salvation to bee hoped for and so the soule lookes no more for any good because the Lord hath so peremptorily set downe his doâ—me thus the soule breaks under the wrath of God and is not able to satisfie and the wrath of God can never bee removed the fire will ever burne and the worme will ever gnaw and now the soule casts off all hope and this is the meaning of those phrases 2 Pet. 3.7 and in the 6. verse of the Epistle of Iude where speaking of the devils the text saith They are reserved in everlasting chains under darknes to the judgement of the great day the devill is hopelesse he hath no hope of good nor shall never receive any good but our Saviour Christ that was able by the power of his God-head to suffer this wrath of God and to satisfie justice and to support himselfe under this wrath and to come out from it he hath a certaine hope to please God the Father and to have everlasting blisse and happinesse with him there is hope with our Saviour because he can beare and satisfie and come from under this wrath Take a bason of water and cast it upon a few coales of fire and it will put them clean out but throw the same boson full upon a great fire and though it may damp it a little at first yet it cannot quench it but rather increaseth the flame and makes it burne the faster what 's the reason of this that it quenched the little fire and not the great fâ—re it was not firstly and nextly because of the coldnesse and crosnesse of the water to the fire for the same water was as cold upon the great fire and as crosseâ— the nature of the great fire but the little fire was rob weake of it selfe to beare the coldnesse of the water and therefore it was quenched but the great fire was able to beare the coldnesse of the water and therefore it was not quenched so it is here the wrath of God is like this water as David saith All thy waves and billowes have passed over me that is the waves of Gods indignation and the ocean sea of Gods wrath â—hen this fals upon a poore weake sinfull creature that cannot beare this but breakes under this wrath and cannot take off the vengeance of the Lord but sinkes under it this creature despaires of all helpe not because of the wrath of the Lord firstly but because of the weaknesse and the sinfulnesse of the creature that could not beare the wrath of the Lord and hence he despaires and the soule saith alas I am weake and a poore sinne creature and this wrath of the Lord is of an infinite vigour I shall never be able to beare it nor to get from under it therefore I despair and cast away all hope of helpe but the Lord Jesus Christ being perfect God and perfect man having a great flame of holy affections kindled in him by the spirit of the Father this did assist him hereby to beare the wrath of God in his soule and not onely was hee able to beare it but to overcome it and although hee were tossed up and downe in the sea of Gods wrath yet he was not drowned and though hee sipped of the poyson yet he was not poysoned therefore he bore the paines of the second death and overcame them and did not despaire he expected to receive good because he knew he should have good thus our Saviour Iohn 19.30 when
the mountaines fall on us and to the hils cover us from the presence of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lambe for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand If any man could beare up himselfe then it were the great ones of the world now take a scantling of your owne strength if any were able to beare the wrath of the Lord it were the kings and the mightie men and the captaines and the rich men of the world but faith the text The day of the Lords wrath is come and who shall bee able to stand It is not the soveraigntie of the king nor the skill and courage of the captaine or the libertie of the freeman or the slavery of the bondman that can deliver them but they all crie to the rocks fall on us and cover us from the presence of the Lord nay that you may yet see the vildnesse and wretchednesse of your hearts and the miserablenesse of your condition when the presence of the Lord appeares see what the text saith Psalme 114.5 7. The sea fled and the earth trembled the hils melted at the presence of the Lord nay the devils themselves tremble as in the 6. and 8. verses of the epistle of Saint Iude The Angels which kept not their first love he hath reserved in everlasting chaines under darknesse to be kept for the judgement of the last day they have their portion for the while but there is a great deale of wrath to come and there are many plagues comming and they know Gods wrath and they shake and tremble in the apprehension of it now when you see this goe home to your owne soules and let every man that would heretofore as his owne conscience can tell him flout God to his face and make a scorn of hell and of judgement and condeÌ„nation go home I say lay this to your owne hearts and say is it so that the mountains shak and the sea shrinks and the devils tremble at the wrath of the Lord good Lord then how shall I be able to beare it that am not able to coÌ„ceive of it nay if any man think that hee is able to undergoe the wrath of God and to bear it off with head and shoulders look but here upon the Lord Jesus Christ that was perfect God and perfect man he that created heaven and earth and bote up the foundation of heaven and earth yet when hee came to beaâ—t the wrath of God it forced teares from his eyes and clodded blood from his body and made him crie out My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Doe but now compare your selves with Christ and say did my Saviour buckle under the wrath of God then certainly it will breake you therefore say thou if hee that was the Creator of heaven and earth could not beare it then how shall I be able to beare it when he comes against me for my siâ— and corruption committed by me therefore heart and feare all you stout hearted of the world rather now tremble while you may be comforted than hereafter when you shall never be eased thinke but with your selves how dreadfull that day will be when all the glorious attributes of God shall take their leaves of you he that before had a great deale of mercy and patience and the Lord hath wooed him saying Oh once at last heare and see the things that belong to thy peace there is not one of you all in this congregation but that you have beene compast about with mercies and the justice of God it would have broken out against you had not mercy stepped in to rescue you how easie were it for the Lord to dash us all into the bottomlesse pit every creature of us therefore thanke mercy and patience and forbearance that still you breathe and say blessed bee God that I have to deale with a gracious mercifull and compassionate God that hath kept mee from judgement that I have not ere now perished in it Now thinke with your selves what a day it wil be when mercy shal weep over you take his leave of you say remeÌ„ber thou poore creature how I met thee in thy walkes and kneeled downe before thee and besought thee to take mercy and to be saved and pardoned but thou wouldst not adem therefore this is the last time of asking I will never see thy face more and with that patience as it were buckles under the burthen and saith I have bond with their thus longe I have borne twenty years with some thirtie years with some fortie years with others and all this which I have borne with thee in thy pride and stubbornesse and loosenesse and uncleannesse but now adew never more patience to beare with you what no more mercy nor no more goodnesse saith the soule and they all say no and stake their hands and say adew thou rebellious heart for ever it will make thy heart shake within thee and thou wilt say I shall sinke downe suddenly there is nothing but wrath to bee expected they are all gone to heaven and you must be forever packing to hell Oh feare and feare all you whom it doth concerne this day if so bee Christ cannot beare it then you cannot suffer it but you will sinke under the same for ever Now I come to the reasons of the point in generall why our Saviour suffered paines both in body and in soule then the reasons of it are three and they are all of speciall use Reason 1 First it is taken from the divine justice of God which required this by way of satisfaction as being onely surable and agreeable to the divine justice of God by reason of sinne whereby Adam had intrenched upon the privilege of God the Father every breach of the Law of God intrencheth neerly upon God himselfe and therefore every sinne is of a provoking nature because it is committed against an infinite majestie therefore that divine justice may not be a loser there must be a punishment not onely corporall but also spirituall for justice abates not any thing of the satisfaction God is just and this is justice to give every one his due honour to whom honour belongs and punishment to whom punishment belongs therefore that justice may bee preserved she must inflict these punishments upon our Saviour being in our roome the Jesuites have devised a cavill against this reason say they it needed not that Christ should suffer these for the dignitie of the person of our Saviour may dispence with some part of the punishment and if he beare death it is sufficient he may bee freed from the other paines in his soule Now that this conceit of theirs is a thing marvellous injurious to the justice of God the Father and to the wisedome of the Lord Jesus Christ and to the death of Christ I prove it thus for by the same right that the dignitie of the person of our
hell and condemnation every beleeving soule of you Do not think that God will passe by poore little ones no he will not lose one of you but he will in his appointed time helpe and deliver you therfore be not troubled not dismaied but resolve of this and say I shall bee delivered therefore let my soule be for ever cheared what would you have and what doe you feare Is it your sinnes doe you think that they beare you an old grudge and they will bee clamouring up to heaven against you and complaining of you at the throne of grace doe you feare them so you may justly because of that secret sliding off from the truth Oh saist thou my errand is done in heaven before this time and my sins knocke at heaven gates and say Justice Lord I have taken them in their sinnes and therefore as thou art a God of justice execute justice upon a rebellious soule Now therefore remember that Jesus Christ hath suffered he hath taken thy sinnes upon him and hath suffered the punishments of them 1 Iohn 2.1 Little children sinne not at all It were to be wished that a man might be alwayes humble and poore in spirit and doe all good against the evill done to him and it were to be wished that a man could walke exactly before God but it is not possible so long as we have this body of death it will shew it selfe but if we doe sinne we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the just he is gone to heaven to tell the Father that all is fully answered and he saith Father save all those poore soules whom thou hast given mee I have paid all and answered all for them and therefore Father I will that all that thou hast given mee may be with me where I am that they may behold my glory thus he plead for he doth not plead as we doe but he saith Father I will now if there be any crie against the soule by reason of sinne Christ stops it sinne pleads and Christ pleads and who will prevaile thinke you therefore be not discouraged we have an Advocate with the Father the sinnes of your dreames this last night they have done your errands in heaven before you did awake but let them plead what they can wee have an Advocate with the Father in Heaven and he pleads our cause in heaven and he will prevail in whatsoever he pleads for he will be heard all the pleas of sin shal be fully answered Heb. 12.22 23 24. ye are not come to the mount that might not be touched nor unto burning fire c. But ye are come unto the mount Zion to the citie of the living God and to the Spirits of just and perfect men and to Iesus Christ the Mediatour of the new Testament and to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel what did the blood of Abel speake see that in Gen. 3.9 10. where is Abel thy brother said the Lord and he answered I cannot tell am I my brothers keeper Oh thou wretch saith the Lord the voyce of thy brothers blood crieth to me from the earth for vengeance against thee thus all our sinnes doe speake but there are some sinnes that crie and say Lord this soule is taken to bee a Christian and a Professer and one that hath some grace but Lord against knowledge and conscience and the directions of the Ministers hee hath sinned thus and this therefore good Lord execute judgement upon him but now here is your comfort you poore Saints I confesse these wretched corruptions of your hearts play the backe friends with you many times but we have the blood of Christ that cries for mercy and pardon and refreshing and forgivenesse sinne pleads and saith Lord doe me justice against such a soule but the blood of Christ saith I am abased and humbled and I have answered all Christ shall be heard and if he plead the cause the day is certainly yours and hee pleads without any fees and his blood speaketh on your behalfe and your sinnes shall never be heard against you but what sticks upon your stomackes Object Oh you have heard that the Lord is a just God hee is so hee is holy and blessed and of pure eyes that cannot endure to behold any polluted or uncleane thing and if God be strict to marke what is done amisse who can abide it Oh then say you you have these sinnes and corruptions and God is pure and you are polluted and you have many secret windings and turnings and devices and you say God knowes all the crevices of my heart and sees all the frame of my soule and if the Lord marke what is done amisse nay hee will marke what is done amisse Who then shall be able to stand How shall I be able to answer it especially considering that Satan saith I have sinned and why should I not be cast out as well as others have beene cast out that have sinned Lord execute justice upon them as they have deserved how shall wee helpe ourselves herein yes admirably for then the blood of Christ comes in and that satisfies all Gal. 5.22.23 The fruits of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentlenesse meeknesse temperance faith against such there is no law so it is here there is no law nor no condemnation to beleevers truly penitent for their sins there is no punishment to them nor no wrath to execute judgement upon them because the debt is paid and the Lord is just and cannot and righteous and will not doe it but saith the Devill thou hast sinned and why shalt thou not bee condemned for it but saith justice hold thy tongue Satan for there is no law against them that repent what troubles you now Answer Why the very truth is the thoughts of Hell astonish my heart me thinkes I see a little peep-hole downe into hell and the devils roaring there being reserved in chaines under darknesse untill the judgement of the great day and me thinkes I see the damned flaming and Iudas and all the wicked of the world and they of Sodome and Gomorah there they lie roaring and damnation takes hold upon them and the wrath of God finks them downe to hell Now I have sinned and therefore why should not I be damned and why should not the wrath of God bee executed against mee I answer the death of Christ acquits thee of all and although the wrath of God be of admirable power and force yet you shall bee acquitted by the death of the Lord Jesus Revelations 20. â—â— Blessed and holy is he that hath a part in the first resurrection for on such the second death shall have no power that is wicked men and the ruffians of the world that scorne all commands and despise all the ordinances of God and the lawes of men and neither of them can take place in their hearts they breake all bonds and cast away all commands and the
to one of these yee did it not to mee Now Divines reason thus that all the doome that shall passe upon the wicked at the day of judgement shall goe in this tenure because ye have not done this and that and if those shall bee condemned that did not visit the Saints when they were in prison if those shall be damned that did not cover the naked what shall become of those that 〈…〉 hearts and rend the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 the Lord hath not onely torments for them here but he hath devils in hel to torment them for evermore Therefore let me speake a word of advice to those that are guilty of this great sinne of persecuting the Lord of life goe aside and reason with your soules and parley with your hearts and think with your selves Oh poore foole that I was it was not any poore Christian any poore Saint that I hated but it was the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of life and of glory that I persecuted that I would have pluckt out of his Throne I would have tore his flesh off his body and rent his members asunder and alas I never knew it it was not the Saints I opposed but the Lord Jesus Christ I speake not this to countenance faction my aime is at those that persecute religion and sanctity of life Vse 3 For examination and triall we may hence see who are those that cleave unto Christ as also those that are false and dissemble with Christ which pretend great love and professe great kindnesse unto our Saviour and how much they respect him and how neere Christ is to them From the former Doctrine you may discover whether this be true or false hee that is a true beleever and knit so to Christ as never more to bee separated and parted he takes up the whole strength of his soule and bottoms it upon a Saviour hee is sanctified with the freenesse of his grace and is resolved for ever to cleave unto him and bestow himselfe upon him he that truly beleeves is thus knit thus joyned to the Lord Iesus Christ looke as it is sometimes with a mightie branch of a tree â—r with the arme of a mans body however the bough of the tree may be rent sometimes and haled aside by the violence of the tempest or by the pulling of a mans hand yet it will hold by the body and when the hand is gone it will goe up againe so it is with a faithfull soule he so cleaves to Christ that he will never be parted from him he will never be separated what ever provocation or opposition comes to the contrarie the beleeving soule is sometimes rent and strained by the weight of persecution and temptation and with the violence of corruptions but as soone as the temptation and the weight is gone it clings to Christ againe and as the bough take away the hand and it will rise up againe so whatsoever temptations come or corruptions come or oppositions betide yet it will not be pluckt off from the Lord and though it may be swayed aside yet it growes to the Lord therefore the first of Samuel 10.26 it is said The hearts that God touched did cleave unto Saul so it is with a beleever those that are famous in the eyes of the world and have professed great kindnesse to him in the time of persecution they will flye off but those whose hearts God hath fully touched they will follow Christ notwithstanding all opposition as it is with the needle of a diall it may be stirred and moved but it will never râ—â— till it come to the right place againe so it is with the soule that is â—uit to Christ by faith though he may be 〈◊〉 â—ering and doubting yet he will never bee 〈…〉 till he come to be fastned the right way to Christ but others there are that cleave fainedly to Christ and herein it will appeare either they will off when occasion serves or else wither in the very worke of the profession of the Gospell though they continue therein some there be that fall away wholly from their profession of this sort are thousands of your common protestants that are only knit unto Christ by peace and prosperity there are millions if the day of trouble should come and fire and sword should come and make them make profession of their faith they would flie off from their profession and they would leave the Lord and the Gospell and all in the lurch because they are not knit unto Christ by saving faith In the second place there are others who though they doe not fall away totally yet notwithstanding they wither and die and come to nothing and these are your cunning and close hearted hypocrites those that are knit to Christ and grow to him by some helpe and succour and assistance which they have from him by which they flourish grow greene in the profession of the Lord there is a generation of cunning dissemblers and close false dealers with the Gospell that grow to Christ by some helpe they receive from him and that makes them make a glorious shew in the profession of the Gospel but yet if God take away his assistance they wither and die and fade and vanish looke as it is with the haires of a mans head or with the leaves of a tree the leaves grow to the tree and the haires to the head but they grow not so much upon the substance of the body nor the leaves upon the substance of the tree as the arme and the branch doth but they grow onely by the moisture that comes from the body and the moisture that comes from the root or looke as it is with a wen in a mans body it is no part of the body but it growes out of the superabundant humors of the body and that feeds the wen and increaseth it but if the body grow weake and feeble and that humour be taken away it withers and comes to a drie skin just so it is with these cursed close hearted hypocrites as the haires and leaves grow so they grow to the Lord Jesus namely the Lord vouchsafeth some sap and moisture and some assistance to the performance of some services but they never grow to the substance of a Saviour they never grew to the holinesse of Christ they never had the Spirit of Christ powerfully prevailing with them as it is with the wen so it is with these glorious hypocrites that can vent themselves very gloriously they are wens in the profession of the Gospell they looke full bigly and stare every man in the face and to the appearance of the world are men of great account but if once the Lord take away his assistance from heaven they are like leaves upon the tree if they fall not yet they wither away I have oserved sometimes you shall have drie leaves stay upon an oake tree till new ones come againe so these haughtie hearted hypocrites they will take up a kinde of a dying
course of profession in the way of life and salvation but they never come to bee opposers and resisters of God and his grace till there comes some to bee wiser and stricter in a Christian course than they and then hee fals away Vse 4 Is it so that the faithfull soule is thus neerly knitted to Christ as the member to the body or the branch to the vine then all you that beleeve in Christ observe from hence a ground of strong consolation against all the contempt of the world and the misery that can betide and against all the temptations that Sathan can lay against you to cause you to fall finally or totally First it is a ground of great comfort and consolation to carry up the soule and lift up the heart against all the contempt and disgrace against all the troubles and miseries and persecutions that can betide or befall you or can be cast upon you in this wandring pilgrimage of yours when a Christian begins to turne his face heaven-ward and goe home to the Lord then all his friends flie away and depart from him David complaines that his honours stood afarre off and hee was a mocking to the enemie and a contempt to those that were before neere unto him so it will bee with you nay it is so with most that live in the bosome of the Church how often can many of you speake of it when the Lord hath given you a heart to walke with him and depend upon him how often are you made the off-scouring of the world your carnall friends detest your persons and scorne your societies why raise up your hearts with the consideration of the former truth yee that doe endure it or may feare it comfort your selves doth man cast you off doth man cast you out Christ will receive you why then are you discouraged what though the servant frowne if the Master welcome what though we be not with the wicked if we be with Christ and Christ with us why are we then discontented it is that which comforts a party that matcheth against her parents minde when her parents frowne this comforts her heart though she hath not their love and society yet she hath the love and company of her husband and that contents her so it is with every beleeving soule you have matched against the minde of your carnall friends they would not have you take that course Oh then they tell you Woe and beggerie will befall you well though you have matched contrarie to the mindes of your carnall friends or master or husband yet comfort thy selfe though thou hast the ill will of an earthly husband yet now God will be a husband in heaven thou maist sing care away and bee for ever comforted and refreshed it was that which God himselfe gave for a cordiall to cheare up Iacob in that long and tedious journey of his when hee was going into a farre countrie Genes 28.14 15. when he was going from his owne countrie and had no friends to succour him the Lord met him and said I will goe with thee and keepe thee in all places whither thou goest and I will bring thee back into this land and I will never leave thee untill I have done that which I spake unto thee of this was that which lifted and bare up the heart of the good man though hee could not but expect hard dealing why yet saith the Lord I will goe with thee and never leave thee thinke of it and consider of it seriously what a ground of consolation may it be when we shall wander up and downe and goe into caves and holes and dens of the earth when wee shall goe into prison or banishment and friends may not nor will not goe with us yet Christ will goe Esay 43.2 When thou passest thorow the waters I will be with thee and thorow the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest thorow the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee a man cannot save his wife sometimes in the water though shee bee ready to be drowned a man cannot goe into the fire to helpe her though she be ready to be burnt but Christ will be with thee in the water and in the fire that is in the heaviest trials and forest troubles what can come to us if Christ be with us if miserie and sorrow and trouble bee with us if Christ our husband be with us what matter he is the husband of his spouse and the Saviour of his people why should wee then bee discouraged or disquieted Secondly as it is a ground of comfort against all opposition and troubles of the world so it is a ground of comfort to stay our soules against the fiercenesse of all temptations whereby Satan labours to plucke us from the Lord Iesus Christ and our hearts sinke within us and we shall wee say one day perish by the hands of Saul by the hand of the enemy attempting and corruptions prevailing cleare your hearts and know though temptations may outbid your weaknesses and corruptions may outbid your abilities and when you would doe good evill is present with you and sinne cleaves and sticks close to you why cheare your hearts with this consideration that you have Christ that sticks closer to you than your sinnes and this should cheere up weake and feeble ones I know what troubles you were I as strong as such a christian had I such parts and such strength of faith and shall such a poore little one as I am beare the brunt of persecution and indure in the time of perplexitie Why consider though thou canst not helpe thy selfe yet Christ can and know this that Christ will not lose the least member he is a perfect Saviour the Lord will not suffer Satan to take thee away from him nor suffer his love to bee taken from thee Rom. 8. the two last verses it was the triumph of the holy Apostle Paul I am perswaded saith he that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which it in Christ Iesus our Lord when health is separated from thy body and light from thy eyes and strength from thy feeble nature yet remember that when thy body is separated from thy soule the Lord will not separated his love from thee neither from thy body in the grave nor from thy 〈…〉 it is departed out of thy body he will love thy body in the grave he loves the dust of his Saints and he will take thy soule up into heaven therefore cheare up thy heart and comfort thy soule in the consideration of Gods goodnesse Vse 5 Lastly are the Saints knit to Christ thus firmly then it shews us our dutie we ought to take notice of the goodnesse of the Lord vouchsafed unto us hath the Lord advanced you thus highly then walke
Alas I doe it not it was the Lord that wrought this heart in mee I have seene the day when I could have beene as well content to heare the Minister preach plainly as to have a knife run to my heart but the Lord wrought my heart to it therefore the Spirit puts that magnet stone of the mercie and grace of Christ upon my heart hee puts this temper upon my heart and makes it able to close with it selfe in the promise in 2 Corin. 5.5 when Paul there had disputed of his desire to lay downe his life for the Gospell and to put his body upon suffering for the Gospels sake he was even weary of the world and would faine have beene gone how gat he this temper why the text saith Now he that hath wrought us for the same thing if God who also hath given us the earnest of his Spirit it is a great while before wee can bee brought to this temper when all the Ministers tongues are even worne to the stumps and the wicked will bee wicked still yet the Lord doth worke it so then you see that the Spirit of God by the promise works upon the soule and leaves a dint upon the heart and so brings the soule by the Spirit to close with it selfe in the promise and hence you may collect two things for your information in this kinde Colect 1 First that the beleever being moved by the stroke of the Spirit of the Father is made able to close with the Father and the Sonne because the Spirit of the Lord doth fasten fit and frame the heart hereunto in this manner and hence it is that the soule can close with the Father and the Sonne too why because the Spirit which proceeds and comes from the Father and the Sonne is able to frame the soule to close with both for the Spirit hath something of the Father and something of the Sonne and therefore is able to make the soule to close with both 1 Iohn 1.3 These things have I written unto you that you may have fellowship with us holy Iohn was a spirituall father unto them and hee writes to them that thereby they might have fellowship with the Saints and he saith Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Sonne Iesus Christ why doth he not say our fellowship is with the Father as well as to say our fellowship is with the Father and the Sonne because it is presumed before hand that a man must have fellowship with the Spirit before hee can have fellowship with the Father and the Sonne because it is the Spirit that hath fitted the heart and framed it to close with both Colect 2 Secondly hence it comes to passe that the person of the beleever may bee knit to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ the foot is knit to the head by the continuance of the order of the body and the members thereof as the foot is knit to the leg and the leg to the thigh and the thigh to the body and so to the head this is the meaning of that phrase Iohn 6.56 our Saviour presseth this hard upon the Disciples and saith My flesh is meat indeed and my bloud is drinke indeed hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and in him then they begun to wonder at it and to say How can this be and yet Christ saith what if you see the the Sonne of man carrying the body of his flesh into heaven you will thinke it more hard to eat my flesh then yet you must eat my flesh then too how it is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak they are Spirit and life as if he had said my good Spirit is in the word and promise close you with my Spirit and then you draw my Spirit my flesh and my blood downe into your whole natures the words that I speake they are Spirit and Life that is my Spirit is in the Word of the promise though my body be gone up into heaven therefore close you with my Spirit in the promise and then you close with my flesh spiritually Thus much for the manner of the union Now for the order of this union how this is done and there the question will be this Whether the beleever is knit first to the humane nature of Christ or to the Divine nature Quest. 2 I am not greatly willing to meddle with this point in this popular congregation because there are many wise and orthodox Divines and godly too which are of contrary opinion they confesse both but they differ about the order but that I may bring no prejudice to the judgement of any I will shortly shew you the summe of those arguments Answ which either side hold and will shew to which I doe incline and so leave the point to the judgement of those that heare it to incline to which side they thinke best and thus I shall wrong none at all First some Divines wise holy and orthodox and many too doe goe that way all of them have it from that root they that hold that the soule is knit to the humane nature of Christ first have two reasons for it First say they as the Scripture reveales Christ to us so also our hearts embrace him and close with him but the Scripture reveales the Lord Christ more often and frequently in regard of his Manhood than in regard of his Godhead as in that place The seed of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head and such like therefore the understanding first closeth with this and the heart first receives it the second reason why they hold this is thus much If say they all the great works of our redemption both sanctification and justification and redemption were wrought in the humane nature of Christ and as by a channell conveyed to us by his humane nature then it is reason that the soule should first close with the humane nature but it is so that all the great workes of justification sanctification c. were all accomplished in the humane nature of Christ for as the text saith He died for our sins and triumphed over sin and hell and death therefore say they it is fit that the soule should first close with the humane nature of Christ and this is the life and pith of all their arguments Againe other Divines and they are wise and orthodox they hold this and though all hold the maine substantiall truths of eternall life yet they differ in this they say the beleever is first knit to the Deity and they have also two arguments and the first is this That which is the maine and the proper object of faith to that the soule first lookes and to that the soule is first united for all union comes by operation in this kinde but the Godhead is the first object of faith in beleeving the Godhead and the third person of Trinity they are the first objects of
faith therefore say they in the whole course of Scripture faith is cast upon the Godhead as Esay 50.10 Who so is wise amongst you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voyce of his servant he that walketh in darknesse and hath no light let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay himselfe upon his God all the phrase of Scripture runs thus Trust and hope and rely upon the Lord. So Iohn 14.1 2. vers Let not your hearts be troubled yee beleeve in God beleeve also in mee marke this Now did a man beleeve upon the Father as Father onely then hee did not beleeve upon the Sonne or did he beleeve onely upon the Sonne as Sonne then he did not beleeve upon the Father but in that hee beleeves upon the Father and the Sonne It is therefore plaine that he fals first upon the Godhead and seeing it is so that wee must beleeve upon the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost therefore we are not to beleeve upon one of them only but upon the whole Deity and the divine nature and all the three Persons in the divine nature for as the Schoolemen say that which doth appertaine to this as this belongs to this and to none other Now we beleeve in all the whole Trinitie and therefore wee close with all three the Father Sonne and holy Ghost and hence it is that these Divines observe that when we are said to beleeve in the Scriptures and in the promise not that any doe it properly but so farre as the promise that God in Christ revealing and promising and communicating himselfe so farre we beleeve in the promise that is in his faithfulnesse truth and mercy revealed in the promise The second reason which they alleage is this say they that which in reason must stay satisfie the soule of a beleever it is that in reason to which the soule must first betake it selfe and upon which it most first stay it selfe for faith goes out for succour and for good therefore that which only can satisfie faith to that onely it must first goe the beleever is dead in sinnes because of the commission of them but there is life in God therefore to an infinite God the soule comes to worke an infinite satisfaction for him which all creatures cannot doe in this case the Godhead prepares the humane nature and workes by the humane nature and gives power to the humane nature and makes it able to suffer and to satisfie faith sees that he hath offended an infinite God and deserved punishment of an infinite value therefore hee must repaire to him that can onely repaire in mercy to his soule therefore saith the Prophet David Psalme 130.7 verse Hope in the Lord for ever for with the Lord is plenteous redemption and in Esay 26.4 Trust in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Iehovah is everlasting strength wee have everlasting miseries and troubles and distempers but with the Lord Iehovah is everlasting strength therefore trust in him for ever nay hence it is that our Saviour saith Iohn 17.3 This is life eternall that they know thee to bee the very God and whom thou hast sent even Iesou Christ Now if you aske me which of these judgements I follow I answer because I love not to bee as a man that is here and there and no where in truth but I love to bee as a man that dwels at home for I am not ignorant that many Divines wise and learned whose parts and gifts I reverence they follow the former opinions and for my part I leave a judicious hearer to take which side he will but in truth the two last arguments have prevailed with me that the heart of a poor sinner beleeves and stayes it selfe firstly upon the Godhead and Deity and afterwards upon the Humanitie and mee thinkes the two former arguments seeme not to compell any mans understanding for bee it granted that the former Scriptures doe reveale the Lord Jesus Christ and mention him often as man yet it is as true they reveale him to bee God and mention his Godhead not mentioning at all his humanitie but whensoever they doe mention his humanitie firstly it is for good reason partly by way of prophecie to foretell of Christ what hee should be and partly by way of story and relation to relate of Christ what he was yet this reason inferres not that faith must therefore firstly lay hold upon the humanitie before the deitie but when the Lord is pleased to reveale Jesus Christ to the soule in the way of conversion then wee must apprehend Christ as God and Man in the point of conversion and then let the question be this whither the soule shall goe for that which it wants Now I see no reason why the soule should firstly goe to the humanity for what it wants and seekes hence it is that when the Scripture comes to speake in the way of conversion the Godhead is set first as in the 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe as God in Christ reconciles the world unto himselfe so God reveales himselfe to his faithfull Ministers and so they reveale him to the people it was the Godhead that was offended and must first of all be pleased and unto that God we must first goe for what we want so Ieremy 33.16 In those dayes Iudah shall be saved and Israel shall bee saved and this is the Name whereby they shall call him the Lord our righteousnesse so said the Angell they shall call his Name Emanuel which is by interpretation God with us this is to the first reason now to the second argument I answer thus If it bee good in reason that wee must first goe to the humane nature for these reasons propounded and if this be sufficient to call my faith that way because all the great workes are wrought that way then much more seeing the humane nature was inabled to the worke by the divine nature therefore my faith must first looke that way because the weight of the worke lies upon the Deitie the humane nature cannot assume to take to it selfe this glory not bee any way available to satisfie divine justice but that the Deitie enabled it and therefore faith must first of all looke unto that Thus it is confessed that the soule of a beleever is advanced to a marvellous high privilege now the use of it is referred to these three heads Vse 1 First are the soules of the faithfull come thus neere to Christ not onely to beleeve in him and to embrace him but to bee one Spirit with him then this may bee a use of instruction and it shewes to us that the sinnes of the faithfull are marvellous hainous in Gods account and exceeding grievous to his blessed Spirit that hath come so neere to us and brought us so neere unto himselfe every sinne is as a mountaine or as a wall of separation but the sinnes of the faithfull are no lesse than rebellion not
and receives those that are most exact in a Christian course if thy heart be estranged from such as doe walke exactly before God either because he hath given them parts and gifts or because he hath made them humble and faithfull if the Spirit of the Lord be in the Saints then the Spirit of malice and of the Devill is in thee Gods Spirit closeth with all the faithfull ones but thy Spirit cannot close with them when they are made one Spirit with Christ wilt thou be of two Spirits with them then either Christ is to bee blamed or else thou art to be condemned for this basenesse of thine either Christ knowes not how to chuse a good Spirit or else thou art a base vilde spirit this is the great sinne of this last age of the world men are lovers of themselves and not lovers of God nor his grace nor Spirit it is admirable to see how every one that is wicked findes favours in the world but only those that are holy and gracious and one spirit with Christ a drunkard is no mans enemie but his owne and with adulterers you can make matches and if they were murtherers or theeves wee have a kinde of lamentation for them but when it comes to a sincere soule their hearts rise up against him with a desperate spleene and they say these are the holy brethren why what are they Oh saith the Father he is quite spoild I had a sonne which I had some hopes of but now he is gone downe the winde and he will never be good for any thing and then saith the drunkard hee was as good a companion as ever lived and had â—s brave jests to make us merrie withall but now he is quite spoild then thy meaning is that when hee had an uncleane spirit thou didst love him but now because he is come to have a neere union with the Lord Jesus Christ therefore thou art estranged from him then cursed be thy wrath for it is fierce and thy rage for it is cruell if the Spirit of God be holy and good to which hee is united then thou art a vilde unholy wretch I hope now you may know what will become of such and such in the townes and places where you live such I meane as are holy and gracious and yet are hated and despised even those poore creatures are glued to the Lord Christ nay they are holy spirited men which the Spirit of God delights in therefore thy spirit is of Sathan that thou doest thus malice him I confesse a godly heart will have his sits and excursions now and then like an unruly colt and may run wildly into sinne this may befall a godly gracious heart but all this while this is poison and the soule of a godly man sees this and is wearie of it and is marvellously burthened with it and saith Oh vilde wretch that I am what would I have and what is he that I cannot love him is it because the good Spirit of the Lord is there â— shall I resist the good Spirit of the Lord and so commit the sinne against the holy Ghost away thou vilde wretched heart I will love him thus the soule labours and strives for that exactnesse and would faine have that goodnesse which hee sees in other it is in this thing as it is in a mans meat he that hath an unwholesome stomack and seeth that the meat is good and knowne not but that he may eat it he will not blame the meat if hee be ill after it but his stomack but there are some that love to bee cating lome wals and such trash as is naught for them for the stomack is vilde within and would have as bad as himselfe so out of the pride of nature and self-confidence these distempers will bee rising in us but a gracious soule is even sick at the heart and weary of his life and he is never well untill he hath gotten a purge but he that hath the disease and is sick of hatred and malice looke how his heart is so is his tongue and as his heart is so is his carriage Oh poore wretched creature what God may doe for him I know not but for the present he hath the spirit of the Devill in him he is no man but a toad that can live of poison and make a meale of it and yet his heart never be affected with it Vse 3 In the third place is man a sociable creature and must he have some to keepe company with him then in the next place be exhorted to close with such as Christ himselfe doth close withall chuse such companions as the good Spirit of the Lord doth meet withall doest thou see a gracious sincere hearted Christian that is one spirit with the Lord love him and let thy heart be one Spirit with him too and not only the rich but the poore too it is that which we have in nature every man desires to have one that is of a faire nature and a loving disposition he is a â—â— man to make a friend of and these things are not discommendable it is strange to see when God hath cut the 〈◊〉 of these wolves how taâ—â— and quiet they are but would you have a man of a good nature indeed for as one saith hee that hath no more than restraining grace is no more than a tame Devill but would you have a friend of a good nature indeed for this is the maine of all then chuse such as are one with Christ and remember that place in 2 Peter 1.4 Wee are partakers of the divine nature he that is one Spirit with Christ he is partaker of the divine nature even the nature of God himselfe the Spirit of God and the Spirit of meeknesse and self-deniall is in him therefore let thy heart be inlarged towards him and joyne thou side with him which is joyned so neerely to the Lord it was the old practice of those in Zach. 8.22 when God shall honour the Jewes and make them glorious in sanctification and holinesse and they shall goe to market and buy and doe all things holily then shall ten men take hold of the skirt of him that is a Iew and shall say We will goe with you for wee have heard that God is with you would you not goe with the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ Yes Oh then get you to the Saints of God and get them to your houses and lay hold upon gracious Christians and say I will live and converse with you for the Spirit of Christ is with you THE SOVLES BENEFIT FROM VNION WITH CHRIST By T. H. LONDON Printed by Iohn Haviland for Andrew Crooke and are to be sold at the Black Beare in S. Pauls Church-yard 1638. THE SOVLES BENEFIT from Vnion with CHRIST 1 CORIN 1.30 But of him are yee in Christ Jesus who is made unto us wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption HOw the soule of a sinner should be prepared for our Saviour and
the Lord humbled him mightily so when the Lord comes to meet with an old loose adulterer and an old base drunkard and a sturdy persecutor as Paul was an ordinary stroke will not doe the worke therefore as he had a great deale of mercy for Paul so hee had a great deale to doe before hee could humble Paul hee flung him off his horse as he was posting to Damascus and might have broken his neck againe men sometimes are driven to great trials and straights as when God cals men to great trials and sufferings now God doth apply to every man according to his estate and condition he that God hath set as a commander in his Church as a Minister to teach and a Magistrate to rule and a master of a family Gods fits graces unto them according to their estates the Lord takes measure of a mans estate as it were and suits him proportionably with all graces necessary for his condition againe they that are meaner and poorer they shall have wisdome and sanctification and redemption but answerable to their conditions that is observable Ephes 4.16 Paul there calling our Saviour Christ the head of the Church and his faithfull servants the members of this head hee saith By whom all the members being knit together according to their effectuall working in their measure they receive increase as for example in the body so much life and spirit as belongs to the finger is in the finger but there is more in the arme than in the finger and more in the bulk of the body than in the arme that which suits with such a part it hath it and that which suits with such a part nature bestowes it there is not so much in the finger as in the hand nor so much in the hand as in the arme nor so much in the arme as in the body because it is not sutable and proportionable nature will not doe it God will not suffer it so some Christians are armes in the body of the Church some fingers some legs some are strong Christians that beare up a great weight in profession stout and strong and resolute and the like now the Lord communicates all grace and mercy sutable for every mans place and condition thou that art a finger shalt have so much grace as befits a finger and thou that art an hand thou shalt have so much grace as shall save thee and is fit for thy place but another is an arme and hee shall have more but all shall have that which is fitting therefore the text saith Christ is made unto us wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption that looke as a man that makes a garment hee takes measure of the man for whom he makes it and fits every part according to the part of the body the arme of the doublet is sutable to the arme of the body and so Christ is made righteousnesse and sanctification to all poore beleeving creatures thou art an arme in the body of Christ hee is made so much wisdome and sanctification to thee as will serve thy turne thou hast had a great many sinnes and hast beene a rioter and a roister before God opened thine eyes and brought thee home to himselfe why there is great mercy in Christ sutable to thy sinnes there is mercy in Christ to justifie thee if thou hast never so few sinnes and there is mercy enough in Christ to justifie the greatest sinner if hee can but beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ and this is the second passage in this article of agreement in the tenure of the conveyance of grace from Christ to the soule the Lord hath enough for all and he doth communicate what is fit and proportionable to every mans estate and condition The third thing is this as the Lord doth communicate what is fit so he doth preserve what hee doth bestow and communicate and give to the beleeving soule hee doth not give grace to the beleeving soule and there leave him and let him manage his estate but when hee hath wrought grace in the soule he preserves it and nourisheth his owne worke Psal 16.5 there the Prophet David saith The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and he maintaineth my lot he doth not only give him his lot but he maintaines his lot it is a comparison taken from the children of Israel when they came into the land of Canaan it was divided to every tribe by lot now God did not onely bring them into the land and give them their lot but he maintained that lot he defended them and releeved them from the fury and rage of their adversaries that went about to take away that which God had bestowed upon them now the Psalmist saith The Lord is my portion and hee maintaineth my lot every beleeving soule hath a lot and portion in Christ so much grace and holinesse and so much assurance now the Lord doth not onely give this but when you are weake and feeble the Lord keeps your grace and preserves your grace which hee hath bestowed upon you therefore Christ is said to be the preserver of his Church Iude 1. To you that are called and sanctified preserved by Iesus Christ Christ is not only the giver of grace but he is the preserver of his Church and that is the meaning of that phrase when our Saviour had implanted grace in the heart of Peter he did not only plant it by his Spirit but he watered it by his prayers that it might not wither away I have prayed that thy faith faile not hee did not only give him faith that was not enough but he watered his faith by his prayers that it might not wither and dye and decay 1 Pet. 1.4 hence it is said that hee preserves us by the power of God through faith unto salvation and faith keeps the soule and Christ keeps faith faith is the hand that layes hold upon Christ and Christ layes hold upon faith and wee have a kingdome preserved for us and he preserveth us for it and this is the pith of that phrase Psal 1. the text saith The righteous man is like the tree planted by the rivers side that brings forth fruit in due season whose leafe shall not fade he doth not say his sap shall not wither but his leafe shall not wither not onely that gracious disposition of heart which is wrought shall never decay in the Saints of God but a zealous profession shall never decay in conclusion how ever a tree be nipt with the cold and frost yet in conclusion it will bud forth againe so the sap of grace that Christ workes in us and conveyeth to us being planted by the fountaine of the Lord Jesus in the midst of persecution and fiery triall they shall grow humble and meeke and holy in despight of what can befall them for a Christian is not conquered when hee loseth his life but when he loseth his grace as take a man that is led into captivitie into Turkie into Algeir
thy Spirit is a good Spirit thy Spirit is a blessed Spirit by the vertue of that Spirit Lord teach me the way to thee and let it lead me into the land of uprightnesse We know a child that hath his hand to write if he will not be ruled by him that teacheth him but will take the pen into his owne hand and write after his owne scauching fashion he will never write well nor make a letter handsomly as he should do but let his hand write by the mans hand and that will guide him and that will teach him quickly to write well in a short time so wouldst thou have thy heart framed aright why then keep thy soule under the hand of the Spirit and thou shalt bee guided by the vertue of that Spirit of God and moved and inabled to accomplish the good pleasure of the Lord and receive what ever grace thou standest in need of I have observed it sometimes upon the Sea looke as it is with the mariner that is going downe the streame if the winde bee faire will any man pull downe his saile and set it up againe why no for he doth but trouble himselfe and turmoyle and wearieth himselfe and troubleth the boat too with keeping such a pudder and misseth the gale of winde and all therefore a wise mariner he will set up his saile and hold out his sail that it may take the gale of winde fully and so goe on speedily all that he hath to doe is to keep his sail spred and to catch the winde your only course is to set up the saile and attend the gale of the Spirit to comfort you attend the gale of the Spirit to assist you hold thy heart and spread to the Spirit that it may catch the gale of grace that it may blow upon thy soule and by the vertue and power thereof thou shalt bee transported comfortably and carried on cheerfully to walke in that way which God chalks out before thee as for examples sake Imagine thy heart begins to be pestered with vaine thoughts or with a proud haughtie spirit or some base lusts and privy haunts of heart how would you bee rid of these why you must not set up and pull downe and set up and pull downe quarrell and contend and bee discouraged no but eye the promise and hold fast thereupon and say Lord thou hast promised all grace unto thy servants why therefore take this heart and take this minde and take these affections and let thy Spirit frame them aright according to thine owne good will by that Spirit of wisedome Lord informe mee by that Spirit of sanctification Lord cleanse mee from all my corruptions by that Spirit of grace Lord quicken and enable me to the discharge of every holy service thus carry thy selfe and convey thy soule by the power of the Spirit of the Lord and thou shalt finde thy heart strengthned and succoured by the vertue thereof upon all occasions Rom. 8.26 the Text saith The Law of the Spirit of life hath freed mee from the law of sinne and death the meaning is this you must know that sinne is a tyrant now a tyrant when he wins a citie hee swears all to his lawes so sinne will swear thy soule to his lawes pride saith I will have thee proud I will have thy heart unchaste saith uncleannesse I will have thee intemperate saith drunkennesse now by the Law of the Spirit of life God will free us from the law of sinne the Spirit of Christ in the promise it takes away the power of the law of sinne the Law of the Spirit of meeknesse takes away the law of the spirit of pride the Law of the Spirit of puritie takes away the law of the spirit of uncleannesse the Law of the Spirit of holinesse takes away the law of the spirit of prophanenesse and so in all other distempers of this nature this onely shewes us how to run over all Gather up now and so conclude this passage Eye the promise daily yeeld thy soule to the Spirit of the Lord in the promise let that have his full sway resist not those good motions the holy Spirit puts into thee and that is the way to have all grace and help and assistance communicated unto thee and thus much may suffice to have beene spoken in the generall touching this conveiance of grace into the heart we come now to the scanning of the particulars This conveyance it is of two kindes both in the Text Christ conveyes his grace two wayes partly by imputing partly by imparting they are the termes of Divines and I know not how to expresse my selfe better but thus if you will partly by imputation partly by communication This is that I would have you to take notice of in the generall they are both reall but one is habituall both these both imputation and communication expresse a reall worke of God upon the soule but the last onely leaves a frame and a spirituall abilitie and qualitie in the soule the conveyance by imputation doth not it leaves a thing morall as we use to terme it These two imputation communication are both in the Text Christ is made righteousnesse or justice that is hee doth justifie a sinner by imputation and hee doth sanctifie and redeeme a sinner by communication hee conveyes and workes some Spirituall abilitie and leaves a Physicall change when the Apostle saith Christ is made Iustice that is hee doth justifie a sinner by imputation when hee saith Christ is made Sanctification and Redemption that is by way of communication hee delivers the soule from the pollution of sinne that is sanctification hee delivers the soule from the power and dominion of sinne that is redemption This communication it is a Spirituall habit or a spirituall power or a spirituall qualitie or abilitie take which you will left upon the soule We will begin with the former touching the imputation of Christs righteousnesse to a soule whereby the sinner comes to bee justified this is a point then which I take it none more necessary and yet none lesse understood none lesse studied none more mistaken than these two great workes of justification and sanctification I speake it by experience Christians aged and experienced yet here they faile in the very catecheticall points and it drives many of our best Divines to a stand we will open it a little this justification wee terme a conveyance of the merits of Christ by way of imputation but what is the meaning of this word by way of imputation Thus you must conceive it this is the main thing I would have you looke unto Imputation is this when that which another hath that which another doth is accounted mine is set upon my score as though I had it as though I had done it this is Imputation I have it not I doe it not another hath it another doth it and it is accounted mine and reckoned mine in course of justice Now in the point of communication
and the Son have wrought Hence it is that actions are given especially to the Father though not excluding the Sonne nor the holy Ghost but yet howsoever they are all equall in their working in regard of time yet the Father is first in regard of order A malefactor is now arraigned and condemned and the pardon is to be begged and none but the Kings sonne the young Prince can have a pardon his abilities are onely able to carry him through the worke the Prince begs it the Favorite brings it but the King onely grants it so it is here the Lord Iesus Christ is the Sonne of the everlasting Father and the Prince of peace and hee it is that begs the pardon of his Father hee sends it to us by the hands of the holy Ghost but only the Father grants the pardon When the soule hath long beene humbled and selfe denying and said Lord forgive the trespasses of thy servant and yeelds and layes downe the weapons of deflance and falls at the footstoole of the Lord Iesus Christ and rowles it selfe upon his merits then the Spirit comes and saith thy sinnes are pardoned thy person is accepted I bring thee this newes from God the Father God is now reconciled to thee in and by the Lord Iesus Christ now the Father is the King that grants this pardon the Sonne is he that begs it and the Spirit is the messenger that brings it Now you see how it is an act of God the Father Quest. 2 Secondly I come to shew why it is an act of God the Father upon the beleever Answer The reasons of the question are these we must understand that the actions of God are of two sorts First there are some actions which doe remain in God which are confined within the compasse of his owne Councell and goe no further and they are immanent actions they stay in God and goe no further A man may conceive in his mind what heresolves to doe in his heart whether hee will doe such a thing or no and no man can tell what he intends to doe but himselfe but if a man will practise answerably according to his purpose then he doth expresse the worke outwardly which he intended inwardly and now hee workes upon the creature and makes it to receive some impression of that good which hee kept secretly in himselfe There are some actions which remaine in God as the decrees and purposes of God before the foundation of the world and they are confined within the high Councell table of Heaven Father Sonne and holy Ghost and these never appeared to the eye of the world Secondly there are actions also which passe from God upon the creature and doe worke a change and an alteration upon the creature and these wee call transient actions or actions that passe which are not onely in God but passe from God and doe frame and order and dispose of the creature as God sees fit and of this sort are all the actions that belong to a Christian except predestination for the Lord doth not reveale those secrets unto any by the worke of vocation which is wrought upon the creature for there the Lord quickens desire and stirres up hope and kindles love and joy and the Lord turnes the face of the soule God-ward and in adoption regeneration and all the workes of grace and salvation and of this kinde is justification and this is the reason why I call it a transient action because it passeth upon the creature but that must be warily understood with a graine of salt as the Proverbe is now what change is this I answer the Lord workes a change upon the creature two wayes First the Lord is said to passe a worke or an action upon the creature when he puts some kind of abilitie upon the creature either spirituall or naturall as when the Lord makes a wicked man a good man an adulterous man a chaste man and of an envious proud malicious man a patient meeke and holy man and this we call a naturall change because there is a gracious frame put into the heart and soule which overpowers the creature and all things are become new new affections new desires but this is not all for here is the difficultie Secondly the Lord is said to make a change upon the creature when he takes off some relations and respects which the creature had and puts upon it some other respects hee doth not put them into the soule but puts the soule into another roome and they are not naturally qualities but onely relations which are imprinted upon the soule of man and these are called morall and of this kinde is justification as thus Take a Prentice that is bound by covenant and Indenture for so many yeeres and he is now fallen into an ague or a burning fever hee hath two relations First he is an apprentice Secondly hee hath a weake sickly distempered body now there may bee a double change wrought in this man according to this double disposition first the master burnes the Indentures and gives him his time and sets him free from his service and hee that was an apprentice before is now a freeman this is a morall change for all this while he is as sicke as he was before but the former relation is quite gone and the master cannot now command him to his service now the fellow servants cannot dominere over him because he is not now a servant but now the wise Physitian he comes and he by good means helps the man of his disease and brings him to a faire sweet and wholsome temper of body and now there is a change in the very nature of this servant before he was distempered but now he is well ordered before hot but now finely coole here is something wrought in the nature of this man Just so it is in this change of the soule there is a morall change in justification a man is bound to the Law and liable to the penaltie of it and guiltie of the breach of it now God the Father in Jesus Christ acquits a man of this guilt and delivers him from this revenging power of the Law and that 's not all but withall hee puts holinesse into the heart and wisedome into the minde and puritie into the affections this is called a naturall change because there are new spiritual abilities put into the heart not because of the nature of it but because of the thing which it works as to take the example of Scripture 1 Iohn 3.14 Wee are translated from death to life As it is with a man taken prisoner in Turkie or some other place haply a Christian of England he is accounted a Traitor there and is condemned as a Traitor the man being weake of himselfe and not able to deliver himselfe he must bee dealt by as a Traitor but now if this man bee rescued and finde some way of escape and bee set upon some other shore whereby he may be conveyed
that happinesse and glory which heretofore hath beene expected and Christ hath promised now it shall be attained the time now comes when the Saints of God shall have no more tears in their eyes nor sin in their soules not sorrow in their hearts when they die then their sins and sorrowes die too you shal never be dead harted more then you shal have holineâ— in ful possession which so long time you have longed for it is now only in expectation and you hope and looke for it when the Lord will put wisedome into your blinde mindes and holinesse into your corrupted hearts but when death comes it will bring you to the fruition of all that holinesse and happinesse and this is done by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Iohn 3.2 Wee are now the sonnes of God but it doth not appeare what we shall bee and we know that when he shall be made manifest we shall bee made like him that is like to him in all holinesse and happinesse as hee is altogether holy and altogether happy now you are children but onely in nonage now you are onely wives betrothed and you goe up and downe in your rags of sinne but when the solemnization of the marriage shall be in the great day of accounts then we shall be like him and hee will make us altogether holy and hee will fill our blinde mindes with knowledge and possesse our corrupt hearts withall puritie holinesse and grace so far as thy soule shall be capable of it and shall bee needfull for thee what are you unwilling to goe to your husband the wife sometimes receives letters from her espoused husband shee welcomes the messenger and accepts the tokens kindly and reads the letter gladly and will not part with his tokens above any thing but oh how she longs to injoy himselfe in his owne person this is her chiefest desire to be possessed of him and to have his company alwayes so the Lord Jesus Christ is your husband he died that ye might live he is ascended up into heaven and hath made passage for you you have many intimations of his mercy and many sweet smiles from heaven saying well goe thy way thy sins are pardoned and thy soule shall be saved these are his tokens and I hope you will lay them up by you make much of them but when will the time come that I may injoy my Saviour Now I have a little mercy and a little holinesse and a little pardon of sinne but oh that I might injoy my Saviour fully Now it is quite contrary with the wicked the death of the wicked is a means to shut them out of all the hope they had of receiving mercy for when death parts soule and body then there is no more cards and dice no more lusts the adulterer shall no more satisfie himselfe with his unclean lusts the drunkard shall not then bee drunke the blasphemer shall not then blaspheme so as hee was wont to doe for nothing but he shall be and blaspheme God for something and his soule shall bee full of Gods vengeance this is the death of the wicked the death of the Saints is like a ferriman to convey them over to eternall happinesse but the death of the wicked is as a hangman to bereave them of life and salvation too death to the saints is as a guide to convey them to happinesse but to the wicked death is as a Jailor to carry them away to the place of execution And thus much briefly of the former part of the answer namely that our Saviour suffered the death natural Now our Saviour did not onely suffer in his body but he suffered in his soule also you may conceive of it in two particulars First there is a reall withdrawing of the sense and feeling of the mercy and compassion of God a stoppage as I may say and a taking off the sweet operation of Gods love and favour from the soule when that sensible refreshing and conveyance of the mercy and kindnesse of Gods countenance is turned away from the soule this is a part of the second death and this is the paine of losse that is the poore sinner loseth that sweet influence of that abundant mercy and compassion and that sweetnesse that is in all those glorious attributes which should fill the soule with satisfactory sweetnesse and content as thus sometimes it pleases God to discover those pain of hell unto his servants here on earth and hee brings them by the suburbs of hell that they may know what it is to bee in heaven and also what it is to commit sinne so against a gracious God Psalme 31.22 I said in mine haste I am cast out of sight As if hee had said God hath taken away the sweet smiles of his countenance from the heart of David and 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 a part of the second death yet thou â—he art â—est the voyce of thy praier David was now in some distresse by reason of the withdrawing of the favour of God from his soule this is the first part of the second death Secondly when the fierce indignation of the Lord semeth upon the soule of a poore creature when the Lord sets open the floodgates of his anger and wrath and fils the soule unsupportably with his vengeance Psal 43. â— Why hast thou cast mee off and Psalme 51.11 Cast me not away out of thy presence c. The Lord seemed to cast him away and to send him packing and hee seemed to bee cast away in his owne apprehension both these you shall see concluded on in Iob 13.24 Thou râ—est bitter things against mee and hidest thy face away from me and takest mee for thy enemy The Lord not onely went away and hid him but he made Iob a But that so his arrowes might come against him pell mell and he let all his displeasure fall upon him with might and maine so then there is first a reall withdrawing of the sweetnesse of the mercy of God from the soule and secondly a reall inflicting of the indignation of the Lord and that fils the soule of a poore creature Quest. 2 Now the second question is this how far our Saviour suffered these paines To this I answer that so I may carry the cause with as much plainnesse and nakednesse as may be that each poore creature may get something give mee leave to answer the question in these conclusions one will make way for another onely here let mee tell you thus much that I mean onely to make declaration of the truth of the point and the argument shall be afterwards First it is possible that some paines of Hell may be suffered in this life and therefore the living and being of our Saviour in this life is no hindrance but that he might undergoe them This I say to prevent a weak plea of some that desire to tie and intail all the pains of Hell to another life and the place to be Hell and they thinke that
he had so deeply drunke of the cup of affliction he said now it is finished that is now the fierce indignation of the Lord is over Take a little childe or infant new borne and lay it in a little streame if no man come to succour it there can be no hope that it will live not properly because of the water but because the childe is weake and not able to keepe it selfe from being overpowred by the water and therefore there is no hope to have reliefe for it but let a strong man come and he will not be drowned by the streame for hee is of height and strength either to wade thorow it or else to save himselfe by swimming so there is the streame of the indignation of the Lord Now God will not help a poore sinfull creature and he cannot help himselfe therefore the streame will destroy him and there is no hope for he is never able to free himselfe because God will not and he himselfe cannot but the Lord Jesus Christ that hath skill and power because he is God as well as man therefore though he beare the wrath of God yet because hee is able to wade thorow it and to beare it therefore it is that he will deliver himselfe and all us with him Thus ye see that desperation is a consequent that followes from the sinfulnesse and weaknes of the creature and that it is no part of the second death The second part of this conclusion followes and I desire it may bee attended to by all you that are weake ones for this objection doth put many Divines themselves to a stand and yet the case is very cleere so farre as my light and line serves me Secondly the eternitie of the punishments say they for if Christ suffered the pains of the second death then hee must be in hell for ever It is a weake and a sinfull plea I say our Saviour might and did suffer the second death and yet not the eternitie of it I beseech you to take notice of two things herein First you must take notice of the difference betweene the death threatned and the death denounced and betweene the torments of hell also betweene the eternitie of time and the circumstances of time that may bee altered and changed as the debt or punishment is fully suffered or not suffered As for example the time of a mans lying in prison is no part of the payment but he doth lie in prison because hee cannot pay the debt as thus A man is in prison for a thousand pound he must lie in prison ten years because he can pay but a hundreth pound a year but now let a rich man come that can discharge the payment within ten moneths or ten dayes or ten houres it is as well if he doe it in ten houres as if he did it in ten years nay it is better done Just so it is here the debt is this In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death the punishment is death and every poore creature must die the first and second death Now because a poore creature cannot satisfie Gods justice 〈◊〉 this life for if God should but let in the power of his wrath in this life into the soule and fill the soule with his fierce indignation it would kill a man even in this life therefore the Lord by death takes away a poore creature and drags him downe to hell he doth arrest him by conscience here and saith Thou hast sinned and deserved wrath and thou canst not beare my wrath here therefore thou shalt die and be made immortall that thou maist beare it for evermore because a man cannot pay it now therefore he is paying of it to all eternitie for hee is never able to pay and satisfie for the whole summe but now the Lord Jesus Christ hath cash ready at hand and is able to lay downe the payment for all the faithfull to the full hee layes downe the life naturall and hee also suffers the paines of the second death therefore hee is able to deliver himselfe and all those that are his First of all Vse 1. hath our Saviour thus suffered and hath he stepped in betweene the wrath of God the Father and the faithfull Justice saith that foule hath sinned and must be damned and anger saith I must breake out against that poore soule then the Lord Jesus Christ steps in and saith I will beare all and undertake the satisfiing of all I will beare all those punishments due unto them you that are beleevers and have a share in Christ unto you I speake labour thou from hence to see the hainousnesse of sinne and to hate it because it hath brought all this evill upon thy Saviour and would have brought the same upon thee had not the Lord Jesus Christ stepped in betweene thee and the wrath of the Father Oh looke what thy sin hath done unto the Lord Jesus Christ and see if you can love it take contentment in the cōmission of it Let me teach you how to do it send your thoughts afar off and see our Saviour in the garden crying out and saying My soule is exceeding heavie unto the death my soule is even beset with sorrowes oh watch and pray And also when he was in that bitter agonie in the garden And he prayed yet more earnestly and hee stretched out his prayers that it broke his heart almost behold the teares in his eyes and the clodded blood that came from him and his soule was almost broken within him under the fierce indignation of the Lord and he fell upon the ground and yet all this would not doe the deed follow him to the crosse and seeing him attended with the souldiers and pierced thorow with a speare see then if thou canst love thy sinnes that have done all this and further when you have seene him thus nailed to the crosse and pierced thorow with a speare then if you have any hearts of men I doe not say of Christians listen a while and here those hideous cries My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Oh brethren it went very heavy with our Saviour Now imagine that you heard those heart breaking sighes which broke the heavens and let them breake thy heart too Oh goe your wayes home I charge you in the Name of Jesus Christ and answer your owne hearts or rather answer the petitions of our Saviour and say Lord why hast thou forsaken Oh Lord it was for my pride and my contempt of thy word and my despising of holy duties and for the rest of my sinnes I should have beene forsaken and thou wast contented to bee forsaken for me Oh can you consider of this and love your sinnes still which have brought all this misery upon a Saviour if you can love your sins now doe and if you can harbour that pride and stubbornnesse in your hearts which would have pluckt the heart out of Christs body and his soule from
what will ye spit in my face what you what and to a Saviour too and will ye pierce my soule by the corruptions of your hearts and by the actions of your hands thus the Lord Jesus Christ perswades you to see sin and to abhorre and 〈◊〉 it upon all occasions and therefore let us answâ—â— the requests of our Saviour and not shew our selves desperately wicked to pierce him againe and to renew his sufferings Vse 2 In the second place did our Saviour suffer these paines then see here the strictnesse of Gods justice Oh that exact precise severitie of Gods proceedings without exception of any mans person God puts no difference although hee were his Sonne but hee layes punishment upon him This is the reason of that exact dealing of God in Rom. 2.9 Tribulation and anguish shall bee upon the soule of every one that sinned and why 〈◊〉 God is no respecter of persons as verse 11. that the ground of it and it is not onely exprest but it 〈◊〉 also proved undeniable Rom. 11.22 Behold therefore the bountie and severitie of God towards them which have fallen severitie but towards that bountifulnesse remember Gods just proceeding against the Jewes and therefore it is that the Apostle citeth all the proceedings of Gods judgements not onely against the heathens that never knew him or his enemies that alwayes opposed him but even to his friends such as he had shewed much favour and mercy to if they sinne they shall be destroyed for their sinne But oh the just exactnesse of the justice of the Lord how severely just he is for this exactnesse is not onely upon the wicked and open profane but upon his owne deare children and they that have had his ordinances as in Amos the Prophet shewes what favours they had received in regard of the means but yet feel how severely the Lord punisheth them but he hold the miracle of justice in the Lord Jesus Christ his onely Sonne in whom his soule delighted our Saviour that had but the shadoâ—s of sinne had all punishments laid upon him in thick 〈◊〉 Now answer me whether God the Father bee not a strict God or no and a just and righteous God that would thus deale with his onely Sonne A man would have thought if any thing in the world could have stopped the hand of Divine justice that it should not proceed from God the Father then Christ he might have done it for her had all that ever any one in the world could have If the excellency of the person of our Saviour could have done it or the holinesse of the soule of our Saviour then he might have beene exempted from punishment yet all these were not able to doe it because hee was a suretie but yet a man would have thought that those teares of blood might in some measure moderate the matter could not those servent petitions of him have had so much as some abatement of the punishment when he cried out saying Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me and then againe the second time Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from mee nay the third time Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from me The Son of God was now upon the racke with it if it be possible let this cup passe from mee let mee onely have a sip and away and so let it passe from mee Surely if any thing could have stopped the hand of divine justice then Christ might have done it but God would not nor did not abate our Saviour one drop of his indignation but God inflicts it all and Christ suffers â— all behold therefore if thus bee not a just God heare and feare all you that heare the good word of the Lord this day you that thinke that Christ is made all of mercy it is a God of your owne imagination and your owne devising it is not that God which is the Lord of heaven and earth it is not the God of hoâ—sts the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ Oh say poore ignorant people he is a very mercifull God and full of compassion it is true hee is mercifull indeed but know this also to thy terrour that God is strict and precisely righteous you thinke to put off God with a few good words and lazy wishes and with a Lord have mercy upon us and if you can have but an houres time before your death to cry God mercy oh their you thinke all shall be well and God will goe away with anything and because you suffer a little punishments and afflictions in this life therefore you thinke to bee freed from them altogether hereafter no no know thou shalt not carry it away so indeed thou hast troubles and afflictions here but thou shalt have eternitie of torments for ever in the life to come if thou still continuest to bee a sinfull wretch and an unbeleeve there is no way with thee but to beare thy owne plagues and miseries hereafter when thou seest the Sonne of God himselfe corrected dost thou thinke to goe free if God would not bare oils Saviour any thing of it dost thou thinke he will abate thee any thing againe our Saviour had our sins onely imputed to him but thy sins thou hast committed them thy selfe and canst thou thinke to escape that are proud and stubborne and malicious and liest and livest be thy sins and dost wallow in them and allow of thy selfe in the commission of them no surely God will not spare any blasphemer nor unclean wretch nor profane person under heaven if he did not spare his owne Son he will not spare thee but hee will inflict upon thee the sharpest punishments that can bee imagined therefore now if God bee so severe against sinne then let your affections be answerable thereunto doe you pitie none that are sinfull not onely slaves but in a childe a son a husband let us labour to get a hearefull of hatred against sin in any of these nay though shee were the wife of thy bosome or thy childe or thy deere friend if thou seest sin in them bee sure to punish it especially you that are in places of authoritie into whose hands God hath committed the sword of the Magistracie for the execution of justice You that are Gods vice-gerents upon earth doe you as God himselfe hath done and walke in his way and so bee blessed in whatsoever you doe I said ye are Gods saith David every Magistrate every Justice in the countrie and every Master of a family ye are Gods that is ye have the Image of God put into you and therefore say thou with thy selfe in this manner would God suffer a swearer or a blasphemer or a prophane person or a drunkard or an adulterer to goe unpunished and would God suffer a prophaner of his Sabbath and would not reforme him then whatsoever is amisse in thy owne soule or in thy wife or childe or servant if it be in thy place punish if
not then hate it to the uttermost If God doth hate sin even in his owne deare Son though assumed onely then let thy heart bee also carried with a hatred for evermore against it Thus much of the first question what the kindes of punishment were which our Saviour suffered and how far he suffered them Quest. 2 Secondly when did our Saviour begin these sufferings and when did be end them To this I answer thus Answer Our Saviour Christ begun the pains of the naturall death from his cradle to his grave I am not ignorant of the diversitie of the judgements of Divines in this point but that which I conceive to be most seasonable is this hee begun to die as soone as hee begun to live and that upon this ground looke to the curse that God hath threatned Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death so that Adam began to be a debter and must bee a sufferer from the very beginning of his sin and so all the sons of Adam they have no sooner an entrance into life but they are dying The meaning is this as thou eatest thereof thou shalt die that 's the meaning of the text as it is in the originall die die die even from the beginning of thy life Now when our Saviour becameâ— debter hee must also become a paymaster and he must keepe the 〈◊〉 of the payment justice requires this and they 〈◊〉 are faithfull doe and will keepe this now 〈◊〉 Saviour was a good paymaster therefore the day of his humiliation was the day of his dissolution hee had sorrowes and miseries even untill his departure out of this life nay not onely the curse required it but also daily experience makes it good looke upon our Saviour as soone as ever he wâ—â— borne there was no roome to bee had for him 〈◊〉 â—nne but bee was laid in a manger in the stable â—d not in a cradle neither but in a cratch and Herod he fought his life too and in his riper years he suffered hunger and cold and backbitings and all these were but as harbengers to make way for all that desolation and wrath which came upon him There is never a childe of Adam but so soone as hee is borne into the world hee falls to crying and so he continueth in sorrowes all the dayes of his life and all these are but dyings when the tyles begin to fall and the thatch to moulder from off the house wee use to say the house will fall shortly so all the sorrowes and the disgraces that were cast upon our Saviour so soone as he was persecuted they were all preparations to his death Againe looke to the end why our Saviour came into the world as in 1 Iohn 3.8 Christ came to destroy the workes of the devill that as Satan brought sinne into the world by Adam and so death and condemnation by sinne so Christ through his sufferings brought in life and sanctification so that the plaister should be applied to the place from whence the 〈◊〉 the disâ—e came As Satan brought sin into the world 〈◊〉 punishments by sin so the plaister must bee laid there that all may be fully cured Againe when did our Saviour suffer paines in his soule To this I answer our Saviour did suffer these paines partly in the garden and partly upon the crosse this will be plaine if you compare Matthew 26.37 with Iohn 19.30 in Saint Matthew he saith that Christ tooke with him Peter and the two sonnes of Zabedeus and hee began it 〈◊〉 sorrowfull and to be grievously troubled hee began to be sorrowfull this sorrow and heavinesse was the paines of his soule here he did begin it and in Iohn 19.30 when Iesus had received of the vinegar he said now it is finished what is that there are many interpretations upon it but I will follow that which I conceive to bee most seasonable as thus it is finished that is the cup is â—ver the heavie indignation of the Lord that did pursue wee and lie upon mee is now over and remember this bloâ—d finished doth argue that it had a beginning There was a time when our Saviour begun to crapple with this wrath of God and now it is finished this is the meaning of it for it could not bee meant of all the Prophesies that were of Christ all which were not fulfilled and though some were fulfilled yet some were not and therefore it could not be meant of them as namely of this Prophesie as Ionah was three dayes and three nights in the whales belly so shall the Sonne of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth therefore the text saith that he began to bee in an againe in the garden and when he cried now it is finished theâ—â— was ended that is now the fit is over and the indignation of the Lord is past this shall bee made good in the third question wherein it shall appeare that hee did suffer grievous paines in his soule But before I come to the third question give me leave to promise some cautions that so you may see how the way lies and the cautions are three First that whatsoever the Scripture doth speak concerning the sufferings of Christ it means them really they were not shewes nor semblances but in substance This I speake the rather to avoid a cavill of some which thinke that Christ did onely say so and did not suffer them really this is a meere doring delusion and for ever to be abhorred for unlesse we yeeld it that Christ did suffer these really wee shake off the truth of the whole story and so we can have no true foot-hold for our comfort Secondly I say that whatsoever is exprest in the Scripture wee must conceive of it without the least suspition of sinne in our Saviour therefore evermore maintaine a holy reverence and a holy regard of the actions and the nature of our Saviour Christ that you may not charge him with the least inclination to any distemper Thirdly our Saviour was not compeld properly to suffer either out of the necessitie of nature being weake and sinfull for indeed sorrowes doe come properly out of our corruptions and flow out from thence and as heat and fire goe together so sin and misery goe together but there was no such matter in the Lord Jesus Christ nay there was no outward cause in our Saviour that could compell him to suffer miseries whether he would or no but hee did most willingly submit himselfe to divine justice her tooke our place and became our suretie and promised the payment of the debt freely yet aside he had done thus it was necessary upon condition promised and hee did also willingly make it necessary that before he did suffer these punishments he should undertake them and then having thus undertaken and upon certaine conditions promised it was very fit and necessary that he should make good what he had promised and performe what hee
beds and all kinde of dalliance and hee knowes nothing but goes as an Oxe to the slaughter untill a dart strike through his liver and he knowes not that it is for his life hee goes and his life goes Her house is the way to the grave which goeth downe to the chambers of death the like is in Iudas hee desired to betray Christ and for what onely to get a little poore pittance of thirtie pence his covetousnesse was now asleep and he had a murthering heart towards the Lord Jesus Christ and a covetous heart for himselfe all this while sinne was asleepe but when Christ was attached and condemned then Iudas began to be worried with his corruptions hee comes in horrour of heart and throwes downe the thirtie pence and comes into the high Priests hall and saith I have sinned in betraying innocent blood Now tell mee Iudas is it good to bee covetous now when his conscience was awake and thus wrath of God began to seize upon it and that Lion began to rore upon him then his heart begun to shake within him and hee departed and went away and hanged himselfe his sinne made way for it and thus it will be with every wicked man in the world Howsoever now you have delâ—ons to cozen others and you have your unjust measures and you can carry it away bravely your corruptions are now asleep but that covetousnesse out of thy shop and that adultery out of thy chamber it will one day rore upon thee looke upon the hands of Christ and they will say there hands were pierced by sinnes and it was sinne that hath fild this soule with astonishment Oh all you that see and heare the good word of the Lord this day see what sin hath done with our Saviour and expect the like effects from sinne if you still continue in it Now we come to the second part that is his sufferings upon the crosse where wee shall have much to doe with the Jesuites You see what he suffered in the garden now follow him to the crosse for when he was in the garden he only tasted of the cup but when he was upon the crosse he drunke the cup quite off in the garden he only sipped the top 〈◊〉 it but now hee drunke the dregs of it and the bottome and all For the opening of this looke Mat. 27.46 about the ninth houre that is about three of the clocke in the afternoone when he was crucified he cried out saying Eli Eli lamusabactani Now Divines say and Interpreter conclude and 〈◊〉 professe it and I beseech you attend to it that in this crie coÌ„plaint of our Saviour was discovered the dregs of the cup of the fierce indignation of the Lord now before I come to the 〈◊〉 and proper sense of the words consider thus much there are two interpretations of it First there is one of the Jesuites which we must confute and remove Secondly there is another interpretation of sound Divines which we must receive and yeeld unto For the first Bellarmine and others make the meaning of the words to be this that our Saviour Christ here complaines that he was left to the hands of the Jewes and that God the Father would not deliver him from that temporal death which they would put him to therefore said they our Saviour in the sense of the death natural cries out that God had left him in the hands of those ungodly men therefore they say the words run thus My God my God why hast thou thus forsaken me and lost me thus in the hands of Pilate and Herod and the Jewes to crucifie mee it is a sinew lesse and a weake imagination that I may speake no worse of it for I can hardly beare it with patience and that this sense is false there are a reasons to beare against it First this meaning is taken from a false ground and therefore the ground and bottome being brittle and weake the building must needs fall It is a weake thing for a man to say that sometimes the miseries and deaths of the Saints of God argue a forsaking of God for I say that though the Saints of God are sometimes delivered up to death by the wise providence of God yet they are not said to bee forsaken of God 2 Cor. 4.9 Wee are persecuted but not forsaken cast downe but wee perish not You know what the ordinarie promises are in this kinde I will be with thee in six troubles 〈◊〉 the seventh I will deliver thee marke this the heaviest afflictions of the Saints of God nay death it selfe is so farre from being an argument of Gods forsaking them that it is an argument of their glorying in God as in 2 Cor. 12.10 Therefore I take pleasure in my infirmities and reproaches necessities and persecutions and in anguish for Christs sake the Apostle rejoyceth in persecutions and in the midst of all extremities A second reason why it is false is this God is said to leave his servants two wayes and there are no other wayes in Scripture that I know of First when God takes away his assistance in the time of trouble and hee lends not that strength and that assistance whereby with patience they may beâ—e and with courage goe through those afflictions but now and then hee lets them not bee soiled by their owne infirmities and to fall by their weaknesses that they may learne to see their owne weaknesses and learne not to trust in themselves but in the Lord their God Now this forsaking cannot nor did not befall our Saviour in common sense because hee prayed for assistance and whatsoever hee prayed for hee had as Hebrewes 5.7 Hee was heard in that which he feared and so consequently assisted nay he was confident of the issue of it Luke 23.42.43 when the good theefe upon the crosse said Lord remember mee when thou commest into thy Kingdome the Lord answered him this way shall thou be with 〈◊〉 in Paradise nay David did prophesie this of Christ and Christ himselfe performes it Psalme 16.8 I have set the Lord alwayes before mine eyes for hee is at my right hand therefore I shall 〈◊〉 be moved therefore God the Father did not leave our Saviour but he did assist him that hee was above all sorrowes and all miseries Secondly the other kinde of leaving which the Scripture speakes of is this when the Lord takes away the sense and feeling of the sweetnesse of his love and 〈◊〉 from the soule in Psalme 27.9 David saith Hide not thy face away from me neither cast away thy servants in displeasure put not a servant 〈◊〉 of doores Here I demand of any man but especially of the Jesuites whether of these two they will grant God did not forsake the Lord Jesus Christ the first way therefore he must doe it this way or none at all and if any man grant this then he grants the cause for then there was not onely the death naturall but the displeasure of the Lord
any weaknesse on our Saviours part because this withdrawing of the sweetnesse of Gods love brings onely a punishment upon the soule and takes to grace nor holinesse from the soule of our Saviour Now wee are come to the bottome now our Saviour foresaw all the mercy goodnesse and compassion of God the Father going away from him and hee panted after it saying my God my God mercy is gone and compassion is gone in regard of the sense of it Now that you may see the weight of the sufferings of our Saviour consider thus â—â—ich that the 〈◊〉 away the selfe of Gods love discovers it selfe in Scripture after this manner The Lord in this worke of his and in this heavie withdrawing himselfe he turnes away his face and lookes another way deprives him of the injoying of the sweetnesse of his fellowship which formerly hee had Ionah 2.4 Ionah was a good and a gratious man though he was a strange man as one observes yet when the Lord had dealt something strangely with him and cast him into the sea a whale receives him and when hee was swallowed up of the whale he was then swallowed up of a greater griefe for God had taken away the sweetnesse of his love from him therefore saith he I am cast out of thy sight hee would play the runne away with God and would goe to Tarsus therefore God casts him out of his sight to his owne apprehension therefore saith hee I am cast out of thy presence this was onely in regard of the sense and sweetnesse of Gods love and favour this you may see in the example of David Psalme 31.22 I said in my haste I am cast out of thy sight as no question but Ionah prayed in the whales belly and said Lord pardon my sinne and forgive my transgressions no saith the Lord get you downe to Tarsus so David prayed and cried earnestly saying not smile of thy favour Lord no saith the Lord and hee looked another way yet thou heardest the voyce of my prayer and so Ionah yet will I looke towards thy holy Temple hee looked to mercy whiles his eyes and his heart and all faild so that faith may well stand even there where there is no sense at all Thus it was here in the case of our Saviour and thus the Scripture speakes admirable pithily Psalme 77.9 Hath God forgotten to bee gracious and hath he shut up his tender mercies as if he had said though I may not have mercy yet let me see mercy hath God in anger shut up his mercy the face of mercy is sweet and the presence of mercy is comely but hath God in anger shut up his tender mercies hee hath not onely sent him going out of doores as hee did Ionah but hee shuts himselfe up that the poore sinner cannot come within fight of him Oh saith the sonne I would my father would but looke out at the window that I might see him but when hee will not suffer his sonne to looke upon him this is heavie so the Lord saith to his servants no no you have slighted my kindnesse therefore I will locke it up that you shall see him no more In the second Booke of Samuel the fourteenth chapter the twentie eighth verse When Absolom had dwelt two yeares in Ierusalem and saw not the Kings face at length hee sends for Ioab to send him to the King and said either let me see the Kings face or else wherefore doe I live It was a great favour that hee might but see the Kings face though hee might not injoy fellowship with him this is a great trouble when the Lord shuts up his mercy in anger mercy hath come home to your hearts and it hath besought you to take it but you have dealt basely with the Lord and walked rebelliously against him well the Lord will shut you out of his presence and will shut up his mercy and then you shall say that you had mercy offered to you once and you would not accept it Thirdly and this is the highest degree of all the Lord doth not onely shut up his mercy that he cannot be seene but hee goes away that a man cannot tell where to seeke him Oh saith the sonne that I might but see my Father but hee is gone and then his heart is even swalloweed up nay God doth not only take away the sense and feeling of his favour beyond sight but hee goes away from a man that hee cannot tell where to seeke him that if he would write letters as I may say yet he knowes not where to send them and if he call his father he cannot heare him Thus the Scripture speakes and thus the saints of God have found it from time to time Psalme 77.7 8 9. Will the Lord absent himselfe for ever and will he shew no more favour this translation is reasonable well but the originall runs thus will hee adde no more to bee favourable as if hee had said what will he not only not entertaine me but is hee gone that I cannot tell where to finde him and in the â— verse Is his mercy cleane gone for ever This is the last of all and that which contains the pith of all that our Saviour speakes expresly of himselfe that God goes not onely out of his presence but out of his calling too the place is excellent Psal 22.1 from whence these words were taken My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee why art thou so farre from helping mee and from the words of my complaint God is gone beyond call Now that you may see the weight of the sorrowes that lay upon our Saviour consider thus much our Saviour was not onely cast out of Gods favour and God did not onely take away the sense of his love and the feeling operation of his favour that so he received not the sweetnesse that he had done but Christ tooke the place of sinners and therefore God the Father shut him out amongst sinners and drew his mercy out of sight and out of hearing and therefore he cried out My God my God c. Nay further why art thou so farre from my helpe Hee cried out that hee â—ore his bowels againe and stretched out his throat and cries my God my God and hee followes the mercy of God the Father in this kinde not that his faith did not prevaile but he had not the sense and sweetnesse of Gods love and so David in all that he spake saying Will he be favourable no more hath hee in anger shut up his tender mercies All this while God was present with him by supportation though he held that vision of mercy off from his soule now at this time it seemes to me and the text will beare it that though Christ before had but three bouts in the garden yet now all the sins of all his elect children and the cloud of sins of all the faithfull did arise to a mighty great fog and the cloud did overspread all the