enriching us it doth exceedingly enhance our worth honour we therefore are highly obliged to contend for his honour we rightly judge the son bound to plead the honour of his dying Father and we do as rightly judge the Christian much more bound to plead the honour of his dying Lord whose Testament hath made him a Son and gave him a share both in the honour and wealth of the family 2. In the last Will of our Dying Lord we read his Zeal and strength of affection for our peace our comfort our safety and our happiness all which falleth to the ground and vanisheth if the Legacies of our Lord fail us we had need therefore with Zeal contend for his honour not as though our plea would in any thing ratify or confirm for as we cannot give so neither needs he to derive ought of his authority from us he hath received all power from his Father But yet after the manner of men be it spoken we are bound to assert and defend the glory of his authority and power of disposing and bequeathing to us and to others whatsoever he hath by Will and Testamentary disposition left to us and to them If he had given what was not his to give we must either soon have parted with it or for ever have missed of it but herein lieth our advantage and comfort that the large Legacies of our Lord to us are as the fruit of so much Zealous love for us so they are the Acts of Soveraign power delegated to Christ by the Father as our Lord himself intimateth to us Luk. 22.29 As the Father hath appointed unto me so I appoint a Kingdom unto you Our Zeal then for the honour of Christ doth as well maintain our hope comfort and interess as it doth maintain his authority and what man would suffer the power to be nulled which gave him a rich and inestimable Legacy 3. The least degree of good bequeathed to us by the Will of our Testator in his will remembred by us in the Lords supper doth greatly surpass all the Zeal we can bear to his glory and honour read over his will and see there is justification in his blood shed for remission of sin assurance of peace with God secured by the frequent remembrance of the blood of sprinkling Sanctification consolation and future glory all these promised by him who being Mediator of the Covenant hath reduced the whole to the form of a Testamentary disposition and confirmed it by his death Now when thou art going to a Sacrament consider and judge with thy self should I not be very Zealous for his honour who hath given many inestimable gifts to me am I not less than the least of grace bequeathed is not remission of my sin greater love than my love can requite is not Hope of glory greater than mine obedience can ever equall shall I then ever think I have affection enough or have done enough for his honour by whom I have received what I have already by whom I shall receive what I hereafter expect No! No! I must be ever blowing my love into a greater flame of Zeal for his honour and yet his love and Zeal for me will outshine and overpower all mine for him 4. View the Will of thy Testator be perswaded to remember that he is now living in glory and beholdeth all that Love and Zeal which thou carriest in thy breast which thou expressest in thy life toward him he is not like other men who dying know no more of the deportment and behaviour of befriended survivours thou canst not bury the knowledge for dust hath not blinded the eye of the Lord he lives for ever and he knows how thou receivest improvest and resentest his Love and Zeal for thy good and with what face wilt thou appear before him one day if thou hast not been hired shall I say or bought with so great price into the love of and into a Zeal for thy beneficent liberal and incomparable Friend and Lord I observe Jacob dying recommended the care of his burial to Joseph above all his sons it was likely because cause Joseph more than any of his sons was debtor to the love and care of his Father for a double portion bestowed on him of all men we who have a double portion by Christ a portion of blessings on earth and in Heaven should zealously perform his will we must account it sacredly inviolable and shew it in shewing forth his praises 1 Pet. 2.9 CAP. V. Sect. 6. Joy Improved on Christ Dying a Testator A Sixth grace well suiting the Lord's supper 6th Sacramental grace Improvable Joy and Improveable on account of the Lord 's Dying a Testator is joy and gladness in the Lord and in his goodness It is confessed by all that it well suiteth with feasts of love that the guests should joy together and rejoice in their Friend who is equally Friend unto them all The soul which cometh burthened with sins and sorrows confesseth he should rejoice in the Lord and is well pleased that others do it whilst he cannot it is a spiritual joy which well becometh this spiriritual feast I do not say the heart is unfit for it who doth not rejoice I know the spiritual hunger and thirst of the soul speaketh the soul fit and such may such indeed ought to come yet when hunger and thirst after the Lord are accompanied with joy in the Lord the soul is better is more throughly prepared for this feast this commemoration of their Dying Lord. Now the Christian's joy beside the general motives of joy arising from the general nature of the object of delight and joy as goodness in the thing enjoyd propriety whereby it becomes ours and possession or presence of it with us according to our present capacity and exigency whether refreshing repairing or filling us or in what other manner of operation it affecteth in which the Christian joy and the delight of other men do agree The spiritual joy of the Christian hath great advantages from the last Will and Testament of his Lord As 1. First the transcendency of them If there were any blessings better than others in the possession and at the disposal of their Lord surely these should be given among the beloved Friends Servants attenders complemental visiters and such like common Friends possibly may be put off with common gifts but the best shall be distributed unto the best Friends A Kingdom in glory the spirit of Adoption remision of sins increase of all grace and consolations through faith c. are the choice blessings bequeathed to believers in Christ's Will and represented ensured and in praelibations or foretast conveyed to believers in the right reception of the Lord's Supper let it be therefore throughly considered and when either of those forecited mercies appear contained in his Will ask your selves whether the least of these do not deserve the highest pitch of your joy are they not better worth your delight than
continuing of me in my free noble and honourable condition If I depart from Christ through unbelief I shall go from honour to dishonour from excellency to baseness from the noble state of a Son to the ignoblestate of a servant of a slave And I know the considerate soul will not easily return to the baseness and ignominy of such a state No! no! Faith in my dying Lord did set me free from such baseness and advanced me to the dignity I now enjoy and my persevering confirmed faith will and must preserve and confirm me in that dignity This prerogative my Dying Lord purchased for me whenever I would believe this prerogative he gave me so soon as ever I did believe and there is none can take it from me so long as I do believe oh let me believe for ever that I may have it for ever I would never lose this honour I will never leave my Lord. Whilst thou art able to make the best of this Death of thy Lord commemorated in the Sacrament and presented to thy faith which is done on purpose that thou mayest make the best of it thou canst resolve or conclude nothing less than that thou wilt adhere now faster than ever In this manner may the Humiliation the Desires the Purposes of the Soul be wrought drawn forth and confirmed upon the consideration of Christ dying a Curse for us The sight of our cursed state will lay us low and convince us the sight of a deliverance by Christ will make us desire that deliverance may be ours and then knowledge of its being ours upon first believing and that it shall be ours so long as we believe will perswade us to look that our faith continue lest unbelief should reduce us into the misery of a Curse whence we almost escaped And let it be next observed 4. That Love to God and unto Christ 4th Sacramental grace Love to God and Christ is another Sacramental grace which I am sure will be well improved by a due consideration of Christ dying a Curse for us I do verily suppose it needless to attempt the proving of this every one knows that Love to Christ is a necessary and suitable grace for a Communicant God requires that every one of his servants should love him and serve him with all the heart in every duty much more in this which is a more solemn and more than ordinary one If thou wilt come to the Table of the Lord thou must come with love to the Lord of the Table thou must not come with enmity in thy heart nor with a sword in thy hand They are friends who are invited to eat and drink with Christ at his Table and it is a monstrous incongruity to sit down as though you would friendly feast Cant. 5.1 and yet watch a season to muther the guests or him that invites you God will not have an Absolon ' s feast in which one of the guests was murthered nor will he have a feast like the unhappy Phocus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose guests slew him It is the express will of our Lord that we come to his Table in love and charity with our Brethren and in love and with sincere affections to our Lord. We must here feast without the sowre leven of malice against our Brethren and without the swelling leven of hypocrisie toward God Now let me a little point out what inducements are in this Death of Christ to draw forth our love to our Lord and so let it be considered 1. Did my Lord die an accursed Death for me do I now celebrate the memorial hereof Would he have done this if he had not loved me as his own life It was a love that is ever to be blessed by me which made my Lord take on him a Curse for me Greater love than this could not be shewn to me and less than love to him for it cannot not be tendred by me Is Love the loadstone of Love and doth not thy heart stir toward Christ when he draws it with this attractive When he calls Look upon my Living Love in my cursed Death and give me what you judge a reasonable acknowledgment for my Love and when the considerate soul looks on this it is ready with David to say What shall I render to the Lord for all his goodness What shall I render to God the Father who laid my Guilt Punishment and Curse on my Blessed Redeemer What shall I render to the Lord Jesus Christ unto God the Son who took this heavy load upon him What shall I render to God the Holy Ghost who supported the humane nature of my Blessed Redeemer that he should not fail nor be discouraged in this great work under this weighty burthen Oh Blessed Love of the Glorious Trinity worthy of an infinite Love though a finite creature is not able to give it Lord my Love shall be endless though it cannot be boundless though it is narrow it shall not be short I will make up its defect of intenseness with an addition of endless date let thy Love to me which caused thee to die once for me an accursed Death be a spring and source of Love in my soul to thee of such a Love as shall never die Lord thou deservest more than I can give but I would not be unwilling to give as much as thou deservest It was matchless Love that the Prince of Life would die for condemned subjects But 't is methinks more that the Lord of glory over all God Blessed for evermore should take upon him Death with a Curse 2. Do I celebrate the Death of my Lord dying a Curse for me why then oh my soul thou dost this day in this duty call to mind Christ's taking on him all faults and bearing all thy blame being content that thy faults should be accounted to him and that if there be as certainly there wlil be anger for it he will bear it Oh what endeared Love do servants in a family bear to that Son who is willing to excuse the servants fauls and to bear their blame to make up their peace and to continue them in or restore them to their offices again Reader whoever thou art that readest these lines it is thy case Thou oâ—est unto Christ the Eternal Son of God all thy innocence all thy safety all thy peace all thy continuance in the family of God unto Christ I say thou owest it for thou hadst sinned and provoked God thy Master and Lord he had cursed thee and would have damned thee he had declared thine office in his house void and would have turned thee out and then thou must have said with the unjust Steward what shall I do when God thus deals with me how shall I live Dig I cannot beg I am ashamed I shall be accursed on Earth and accursed iâ— Hell for ever oh thus had it been with me if my Lord Jesus had not stept in and took my faults upon him Blessed
to excite our languishing graces and to strengthen our infirm graces which ought to be more especially found in us and acted by us in our approaches to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as shall particularly be be shewed in these that follow Sect. 1. Repentance is unquestionably a Sacramental Grace None is fit to commemorate the Death of Christ who repenteth not of the sin which occasioned his Dying The weeping eye and mourning heart are exceeding lovely to the Lord at his Table A Repenting soul is a welcome guest there Now let me trace Repentance through these paths and see as we go how it may be suitably fitted with improveing arguments from Christ our Sacrifice 1. Repentance beginneth ordinarily in a conviction of sin not in general only but particularly in the convictions of our owne sin The righteous need no repentance Mat. 9.13 it is the Sinner which is called to repent so long as a proud Pharisaical opinion of our own Righteousness is maintained by us we shall never embrace the practice of Repentance 2. Apprehension of danger either attends or flows from this conviction of the sinner and this forwardeth his repentance the shameful cursed death sin deserveth and the sinner feareth in the midst of his sorrows hath strong influence upon the soul to grieve for self-undoing sin Although a secure unconvinced sinner blesseth himself and feareth no danger the awakened convinced Penitent apprehends greatest danger from his sin 3. Consternation of mind or Amazement at the sight of sin and danger unavoidable for ought the man can do of himself for his own help this I might call if none will be offended at it a seasonable and profitable despair of our selves while we consider our selves and observe what we have done what we deserve what God hath threatned and what millions do and must for ever suffer for sin 4. A mixture of Hope that there may be and of Desires that there should be and of enquiry whether there be not some effectutal help remedy to be obtained The awakned soul doth as it were look about to see what or whence it's help may come Enquireth what shall I do to be saved How shall I escape c. Now when it descryeth mercy to be had upon it's Humbling of it self before God upon condition of sorrow for what is past and of hatred of sin for time to come the Penitent soul set's it self to exert all these and in a vigorous constant uniform exerting these consisteth the whole life and Practice of Repentance And I hope I shall cleare it Christ considered Dying our Sacrifice will be an awakening consideration preparatory to and promoting of this Repentance in its farther Exercise and Growth Sect. 2. Christ Dying a Sacrifice well considered will conduce much to the Convincing us of a state of sin and that we were in particular involved in it we were sinners and the righteous Law of God imputed the sin to us and the righteous Judge whose it was to execute the Law accounted thee and me and every one of the children of Adam as we are transgressours of the Law if thou seest not this look to the Lord Christ a Sacrifice for sin and ruminate what answer thou canst make to these few Questions 1. What need had there been of a Sacrifice for sin if there had been no sin to expiate by Sacrifice There is certainly sin committed where 't is necessary to take away wrath by a Sacrifice There is sin of the soul wheresoever an offering for sin is appointed Tell me then seeing Christ was made an offering for sin what was thy state and mine and what was the state of all men for whom he became a Sacrifice 2. Couldest thou escape the imputation of sin when Christ a Sacrifice for sin could not escape it Could he not be a sacrifice for sin by a voluntary susception of our cause but he must bear our guilt and shall we judge it likely reasonable or indeed morally possible that our wilful transgressings of the Law should be passed over not imputed If thy sins were imputed to thy sacrifice doubtless they had been imputed unto thy self if thou hadst not had a sacrifice Stand then a while and view this No need of Sacrifice to expiate where no sin is but alas I needed such a Sacrifice No need of Sacrifice where no guilt is imputed but I see my sin I see 't is imputed I must not delay or trifle in this matter my sin is evident its imputation is certain it will be laid on my own head or on my Sacrifice and oh how impossible is it I should escape the imputation of it if I carelesly neglect this great Sacrifice For 3. Whose is the guilt is it his or is it mine who deepest in the guilt he who did no guile or I who am full of guile who nearest the crime he who never did it or I who very wickedly committed it Did God impute it to him and can an unhumbled sinner think God will not impute it unto the committer of the sin 4. With whom was God angry who was it against whom offended justice was most incensed was it against him that was the Sacrifice or against him that needed the Sacrifice and brought it undoubtedly the Sacrifice can bear no other displeasure than what it bears for him whose Sacrifice it is and for whom it is offered And canst thou hope guilty offenders may escape when guiltless victims are charged with another's guilt and suffer another's punishment 5. Who hath greater share in the Love of God had Christ thy Sacrifice for sin or hadst thou for whom he became a Sacrifice I know thou wilt not pretend a comparison with Christ the only begotten of the Father thou darest not think but his share was greater in his Fathers love as his love obedience and likeness to his Father was greater infinitely more excellent than thine was or could be Tell me then if God imputed sin to the Son of his Love when his Son had undertaken to bear the fault and punishment of offenders will he thinkest thou spare those who hate him and might justly be hated of him 6. Would God admit his Son his eternal Delight to be thy Saviour on no other terms than that he should as a Sacrifice take upon him and bear the sins of his people imputed to him that they might not be imputed unto them and dost thou not believe canst thou perswade thy self to imagine that thou mayest though a sinner yet not be charged with thy sin Dost thou not clearly discern that God will charge sin either on the sinner or on his Sacrifice In a word or two whoever knows that Christ was made a Sacrifice for sin knows also that they were under a state of sin for whom he was made a Sacrifice and if thou art a Christian and professest that Christ was thy Sacrifice thou dost thereby confess that thou wert under a state of sin that unless mercy toward
vast estate of which he had the absolute disposal He was Lord of Heaven and Earth and could give what ever he pleased of the one or other unto his peculiar people It is true he acquired a new title and right by his death but it is as true that he had an unquestionable title and right to all both the Glory of Heaven with the grace that prepares and fits for it and to the goods of the Earth with power to give to best pleased him He did veil his glory and in the daies of his flesh forewent the exercise of that glorious royalty which was his due equally with his Father but he never did disseize or dispossess himself of that inheritance which by the right of eternal generation from the Father and which by the right of creation jointly with the Father he was and will be still seized and possessed of thus the Heavens were his the Earth also Heb. 1.2 He was heir of all things Now could it be likely or indeed imaginable that so great an heir seized of such an estate should die and not dipose of it had it not been wisedom to dispose of it to some or other if he had had no dependances that needed it the worth of the estate would have advised this if the indigency and want of the kindred had not perswaded to it But Indeed Sect. 2. 2. This great heir had a very great kindred and alliance Psal 2.8 who were even poor enough for the greatness of his kindred they were scattered over all the earth Rom. 15.11 Psal 110.3 Rev. 7.9 Heb. 11.12 he hath some of all Nations they were as the dew from the womb of the morning an innumerable company which no man could number as the sand on the sea shore so was his kindred to be And as they were many Rev. 3.17 so likewise were they exceeding poor they wanted much for they had by prodigality spent all they had wasted their goods God gave them a good portion did set them up bravely furnished but all was gone unless a little which the mercy of their Creditor spared to them to live upon There was a Judgment taken out only mercy forbore the Execution Now could such a mulof poor needy kindred be forgotten and neglected think you by such a Dying Friend and how should he have shewed himself of the kindred but by giving them legacies at his death If their unworthy deportment was such as would disengage any other yet it could not disengage him who would do what best became his affection not what best suited with their deserts Take therefore this farther into consideration Sect. 3. 3. That this great Heir had a most hearty and unparallel'd affection of pity and love for all his poor kindred He loved them with a love greater than the love of women he did bear the love of a friend a father of a husband his love to his was so great none could have greater for it was that caused him to die for them Now having thus loved his own he loved them to the end and love hath a good memory it will not easily forget I am sure Christ did neither abate of his love nor forget them he loved which perswadeth me to conclude that this great Heir so dearly loving his poor kindred would certainly provide for them and leave a Will or Testament behind him which they should all be the better for which I the rather incline to believe he would do because Sect. 4. 4. His poor kindred needed some such due lawful and valid Act or Deed to convey his estate unto them For Christ knew and he hath given us to know that we were not his Heirs at Law nor could we have claimed or recovered any part of it by the Law we had lost all our right made forfeiture of all we once were possessed of and God the great Governour and Lord of all had as we know Kings sometimes do given all the estate of the condemned Traitors to his Son and by especial gift had estated him in it Ask of me Psal 2. and I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession And we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in him Our sin was our death and cut off all our claim and title to every desirable good Peccatum abolevit Naturalem eam communionem quae Creaturam cum Creatore consociabat Thes Salm. de trib Foeder sect 33. Sin abolished that Natural Communion which joined the Creature in friendship with the Creatour as the Learned Professors of Saumur observe And God hath set forth this emblematically in the dispossessing and ejecting Adam out of Paradise Whatever God bestow's now he bestow's it in and through Christ with him he giveth all things also This being the case of Christ's poor friends what more likely way of befriending them than by Will what surer way than by ordaining his last Will and Testament since they had no title by Law preceding his gift nor could they have any title any other way He gave it therefore by Will that it might be sure to come to them Sect. 5. 5. This great Heir died in perfect memory and with wisedom that excelled the measures of the wisest men who set and keep their houses in order he died not as some men do of a disease that should disable him to ordain his last Testament but was his own man unto the last he manifested this in his care of his mother his charity towards the sinful murtherers for whom he prayed c. I would add more proofs but that it would wrong your Christianity and call that into question He is not worthy the name of a Christian that is so much a stranger to the Death of Christ In a word he as well knew his friends needed he should give to them as he knew his enemies needed he should forgive them as he did in pity pray for the one so he did in love and care provide for the other And dying friends usually do provide in their last Will or Testament especially if they have what Christ had Sect. 6. 6. Time enough to dispose of his estate Some wise men leave their friends whom they dearly loved ill provided because the surprize and suddenness of death preventeth them But our Lord this great Heir of all things could not be surprized he knew when his hour was how it approached he knew all that concerned others he knew what was in Man and therefore could not but know all that concerned himself and his Death Out of all which circumstances I do adventure to conclude That Christ did before his Death ordain his last Will and Testament and in it provide for his poor kindred out of that vast estate which he was seized of which he possessed and inherited in the right of his infinitely Excellent Nature his Primogeniture his Powerful Creation and the Donation of his Father when Man
Christ unto the soul there the soul seeth the real Testimonys of his Saviour's love Last Wills or Testaments are those in which we profess all our affection Quibus affectum omnem fatemur Brisson de Form After this men can do no more at this time therefore they will do what they can for their beloved Friends This love is an immortal love attempting to fill the cistern to leave it full when the spring head dryes up it is a love surviving Death when the lover cannot a peice of Friendship rescued from the hand and power which kills thy Friend When Jacob could live no longer to love his Joseph his love could not die but fleeteth from his feeble dying heart and reposeth it self in the sacred and unviolate treasury of Jacobs last Will where it doth and shall still survive both the Lover and the Beloved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 48.22 1 King 1. in this you discover Joseph had a double share in Jacobs love When David was to make his last will you may see which of all his Sons had most of David's heart so true is it that last Wills are open windows of the heart through which we may see the living affection of our Dying Friend This is undeniably true of the last Will of Christ who looks into it shall see the dearest love the tenderest affection the faithfullest friendship the seasonablest care and the fullest provision and who seeth this can do no less than wish he had a more dear affection to return for that which is so incomparably grater than all other Sect. 6. 6. That improves Grace which shakes off security and awakeneth out of sloth security is the lethargy of the soul and it must be cured or the soul Dyeth sloth is that scorbutick disease of the soul which weakens all its graces and takes off the edge of them and this must be removed by a vigorous exercise of that strength and life which yet remaineth in Grace or Grace will decay wither and dye rid the soul of these two and Grace will suddenly recover it self and grow Now it is unquestionable that the last Will of Christ carrieth in it sufficient considerations to awaken the soul out of pernicious security and to quicken it unto vigorous diligence For all the legacies of Christ are conditional requiring either precedent conditions or enjoining subsequent conditions of love and obedience and this love with obedience will be found such as will take up all thy time and strength set to it so soon as thou wilt here will be work enough for thy Christian care Thou wilt find life short love long work weighty strength weak The Philosopher rowsed himself with this Vita brevis ars longa life is short Art is long Christian look over Christ's expectation expressed in his Will and Testament and write this presently as thy monitory Vita brevis Fides longa The time of Life is short the work of Faith is long and rowse up thy self both from security and sloth make haste to do thy Lord's will that thou mayest have large share in the last Will of thy Lord. When a very rich gist is given by Will upon conditions and reservations and all revoked from every claimer who performeth not those conditions and disposed to others who will do and have done and performed the conditions how great care and diligence doth this awaken how speedy is the considering Legatee what haste doth he make to perform lest non-performance of his duty should disappoint his hope and cut off his claim Christian thou hast the Inheritance given by Will and that Will prescribes thee thy duty and if ever thou intendest to put in claim for it look thou put thy hand speedily to the doing of what is there enjoyned thee For I tell thee thy Lord who made the Will who prescribed the terms who enjoyned thy performance and before whom thou must make thy claim is not now dead but liveth is not far off but near to thee seeth and observeth all thy sloth and laziness and will reject thy suit and dash thy pretences and confound thy hopes unless sight of his Will quicken thee to do his will CAP. IV. Graces enumerated Improvable by the last Will of Christ I Have performed 〈…〉 at potui â—amen if not as I would yet as Bernard said as I could the three first parts of my Promise I shall now endeavour the performance of the fourth viz. in a particular enumeration of those graces which I apprehend may be much improved by the consideration of Christ's last Will or Testament renewedly remembred at the Communion of the Lord's body And Sect. 1. 1. First Faith is one Grace which is improvable by due managing our thoughts of Christ's ordaining his last Will ere he died and dying to ratifie and make his last Will firm and irrevocable This gives us greatest assurance of the truth of the Promises and so addeth to the evidence of things that are not seen Man verily believeth and boldly pleadeth his title and right to the Legacy which his dying friend bequeathed to him Sect. 2. Secondly Hope and Expectation of enjoying the good things promised is another grace improvable by the application of Christ's Death dying a Testator and ordaining his last Will. The certainty of future enjoying and the goodness of the thing to be enjoyed is the life of hope the root and strength of it Now the goodness of that we expect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the certainty of our future enjoyment are jointly contained and declared in the last Will of our Lord to which in more particular manner we hope to speak Sect. 3. 3. Longing desires of surer interess in the Covenant or Testament of Christ and desire of nearer union unto Christ is improvable upon the reflections of our serious thoughts on the Death of Christ dying and making his VVill. Every one who needeth would wish himself of the kindred and affinity of that rich bountiful and kind friend who enricheth all his kindred by his large Legacies at his Death and he will desire to be so related unto Christ who duly considers what may be obtained by Christ Sect. 4. 4. Love to the Lord and a high prizing of his person and concernments is an other Grace of the believer improveable by this meditation of Christs Death as the Death of a Testator Every one honoureth the remembrance and speaketh well of him who doth liberally and wisely provide for his indigent and needy relations strangers do value such an one and much more doth his ingenuous and considerate Friend Sect. 5. 5. Zeal to his glory and honour a spiritual fervency of heart in all that such a Friend is any whit concerned in is another qualification of a believer and this also is improved by the due manage of our knowledge of Christs last Will and Testament Were there but little cordial Friendship in the heart of a believer toward
for their meanes and where this discord happens there ever is a great deal less in performance than in purpose farre less in execution than in design and intention But where a great heart possesseth an estate carryeth an interess and enjoyeth opportunities large as its self there are ever great designs rich promises vast expectations and these give being to a hope that maketh not ashamed The favorites of Kings enlarge their hopes to the greatness of those gifts their Princes use to give It were a dishonour to a Prince if his Friend and favourite should hope for a mean and poor gift such as every ordinary man bestows upon his Friend 1 Sam. 22.7 Saul spake more like a King bestowing gifts when he talked of olive-yards and vine-yards and making them Captains over thousands And the ambitious mother measured her hope and request for her sons by the greatness of their masters state when she begged that they might sit the one on the right hand the other on the left hand of their Lord in his Kingdom So let our hopes eye the riches and treasures of our Dying Lord and grow great as his mind and good will as his means and ability to enrich us to satisfy us with most excellent Legacies with Royall gifts 3. As his mind and means were great so was his love and affections toward us Jonathan's love to David was a love that exceeded the love of women but fell short of the love of Christ to believers It is hard to find a love that may shadow out the love of Christ but it is impossible to find out a love that can equal it or set it forth to us in its gaeatness It is greater than the love of a Friend a Brother a Father a wife greater than all these could we compound them all into one Now where so great love to us in so great estate in the hands of so great mind there out hopes cannot but exceed the hopes of a man who hath the largest hopes from his Friend his Brother or Father He knows not the heart of Christ nor the riches of Christ nor the love of Christ who contents himself with small hopes or doth not enlarge his heart towards a hope great as the love of Christ See then what thou mayest expect should be thy legacy think what it likely should be that Christ Dying would bestow upon thee would he not give the greatest he could should you not hope the greatest you are capable of do not men close handed narrow hearted and loath to leave what they have do they not give the most they can to those they love most at their death have not they largest gifts by will who were greatest sharers in their good will is not this the standard by which waiting hoping Heirs measure their hopes and expectations from a Dying Friend let it be thine also and at a Sacrament remember thy hope is justifiable when exceeding great for so much as it is raised upon so great love of so great a mind in so great estate and meanes that none can equall or justify it self in a comparison with it none I say though it were the grandeur of a King of the greatest King ever the Sun did shine upon for if more crowns than one are at his disposal yet can he not bequeath a crown to every loyal subject to every faithful councellour to every dear Friend to every dutiful child Christ thy King thy Friend oh believing soul could alone do this and indeed hath done it by will Luk. 22.29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this thou shouldest remember and consider at the Sacrament The renewed memorial of Christ thy Friend Dying a Testator and renewed thoughts of thy Friends greatness who is thy hope will be a renewing of thy hope and an addition to its greatness Sect. 2. 2. As the greatness of our expectations so in the next place the goodness and real loveliness of what we expect either doth add or might justly add to the growth and increase of our Hopes Their Hope may well be a growing Hope which is animated and quickened by such growing goodness Among many cross occurrences which may this often doth lessen our Hopes their greatness may possibly want commensurate goodness the quality and rellish of it may not be sweet enough though the fruit may be larger then we expected The massy bulk may be too great whilst the usefulness and profit of it may be to little David speaks of some who had more than heart could wish but this overgrown increase adds to their pride and atheism and proves a snare to them Psal 73.4 5 6. With the 8. 9. verses Their vices increase as do their riches This a poysonous quality of all worldly greatness and this venom frequently embâ—tters the considerate man's Hopes and this ialwayes empoysoneth the inconsiderate man's enjoyments But on the other side the believers Hope through the death and Testament of Christ hath in it goodness as well as greatness goodness to sweeten our Hope and to sanctify our enjoyment the unbelievers Hope and acquisition makes the estate greater and the person viler but this of the believer makes his estate more great and his person more gracious it makes him happier in his possessions and holier in his affections and so betters both the man and his condition In this the believers Hope excelleth all other which will I hope clearly appear if at a Sacrament we meditate on 1. First the Moral goodness and excellency of those things which Christ hath willed to us they are full of purity and therefore full of loveliness If Moral vertue were so desirable in the eye of the Philosopher that he could say every one would fall in love with it if it were or could be set forth in its native beauty to the eye what then will the Holiness of Christ's Legacies be to a gracious soul what will Moral vertue whereof Christ's Legacies are full enhaunced and dignified with the addition of grace which Christ doth adde to his Legacies Joh. 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever ver 16. The spirit of truth Behold here a Legacy which bequeaths all Moral vertues and all sanctifying graces at once in this one gift you have greater and choicer gifts than all the world can give Here is greatness and riches here is goodness and righteousness In one word the great gifts of dying friends have corrupted many a fair and well tempered nature but lo here 's a Legacy greater then all those and which hath rectifyed and beautifyed many a crooked and vitiated nature I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them fom the evill Joh. 17.15 Now as he praies it may be so with them he powerfully worketh upon them and it is so with them they are kept from the evil For he imparteth those internal operative
man this the Saint hath from Christ by whose Testament he is heir to a Crown yet the excellentest Saint is less than the least of the Legacies of his Lord. In our present state there is nothing to commend us which doth not more commend our Lord who bestowed it By the grace of God we are what we are whether children heirs or Legatees And if we know as St. Paul did know we shall account all things as he did loss and dung Phil. 3.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Penuria defectus who hath all without Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Poor 'T is loss when he computeth the product of all his hopes that are short of Christ and the things which Christ freely gives and instead of ought gained he must writ much lost Such then is the excellency of Christ that without him nothing can be gain with him nothing shall be loss And 3. When thou hast viewed the great Legacies of thy Lord look on thy self what thou wilt most certainly be so long as thou art on earth and this will commend the noble excellent temper of thy Lord. He knew that thou wouldest repine be unthankful live much below his Royal gifts and in many things dishonour the free giver Yet all this never could discourage or change the resolutions and purpose of thy most bountiful loving and tender Friend and Lord. Behold here is love as the Apostle hath it 1 Joh. 4.10 Not that we loved God but he loved us c. here love is Triumphant indeed In a word or two either we must conclude the Christian a most disingenuous person or else conclude that the survey of the great Legacies his Lord hath given him will raise the Christians esteem of Christ it will enlarge his affections toward Christ Thus the love of Christ discovered in his last Will and Testament will draw out love to him again and love will find whereever the excellency of what is loved doth lye rather than want an excellency to justify the passion we see men will phancy and make an excellency and then value it Spiritual love needs no such help to esteem Christ it may find an infinite worth in him and indeed doth judge him the chief of ten thousand None but he would dye none but he dying would make such provision for us 4. This great Testator was brought to his end as we say by the faults and through the folly of us whom he did so highly befriend We sinned and he died our wickedness brought him to the Cross Isa 53. Now whilst we like sheep went astray and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of as all the precious life of the shepheard ransomed the life of his wandring sheep what would have been the manner of men in this case would it not have been I 'le cross them out of my will I intended a bounteous Legacy but be it now as far from my mind as I was from theirs this would have been the resolution of man But this was not the mind of Christ more excellent than man No no but this his Noble disposition I will do the most my Friends need from me though they have done the most they could against me I 'le conquer their unkindness and they captives to my love shall set an eternal Crown of triumphant glory and praise on my head I know whither to bring them and where they shall be of another temper and disposition towards me for my love I will bequeath them a Crown of glory though they have pierced me with a Crown of thorns I know when they shall look on me and mourn when they shall heartily resent their unkindnesses and in requital of my love shall prize me higher than their own life So let my soul ever say thy love oh Lord surviving death and conquering my ingratitude deserveth a higher esteem and larger affections than a narrow heart and low apprehensions can offer thee CAP. V. Sect. 5. Zeal for Christ Improved on Christ's Dying a Testator A Fifth grace suiting to the Sacrament 5th Sacramental Grace improvable and improveable by considering Christ a Testator making his will when he Died is Zeal to his glory and honour I think it not needful to prove the suitableness of this grace to the Sacrament The heighth of love to Christ the indignation against former sins fervent setled resolutions to oppose suppress and overthrow all lusts and the stirrings of lusts which as formerly they have risen up so now would afresh rise up against Christ all which as they are in every prepared communicant and which are the constitutives of Zeal so they would clearly prove this but I take it none will deny or doubt that Zeal to the glory and honour of Christ doth well suit with the constant ordinary course of the Christians conversation how much more doth it beseem him in his nearer accesses to Christ The people which are his peculiar must be Zealous of Good works Tit. 2.14 Rom. 12.11 fervent in spirit serving the Lord. Now beside what arguments arise from the common professed Friendship of the Christian to Christ As 1. The candour and humanity which we shew to every man who is dead of whom either nothing ought be said or nothing but good an ingenuous person is moved with Zeal for the name and credit of the dead when they are traduced especially 2. When the innocency of the person was in his whole life well known to all who in any degree of acquaintance knew him we should not take up the buried miscarriages of of the dead nor may we disguise the good workes of those that are not by to plead for themselves 3. When our Friends were useful to all that needed and would make use of them we endure not they should be traduced by surviving rancor and envy 4. When all this Friendship innocency usefulness and generous beneficence of our Friend met with nothing almost but causeless vexations and troubles and of these one succeeding the other without Rest we think it hard as indeed it is very exceeding hard measure that it neither meet with rest in life nor death that it should be defamed where all men have a priviledg securing them from piercing censures and envious reproaches these and such like motives of Zeal for the honour of our dear Friend who Dying from us left his love to live with us are equally applicable to any such Friend if any such may be found among the sons of men But over and above all these in centives there are some special incentives to Zeal for the honour of our Lord on this very account that he dyed a Testator making his Testament and last Will. 1. Hereby we are embodied into the family whereof Christ is the head and cheif so that our zeal for his honour is a zeal for the honour of our whole family That we are of his family is a very high ennobling us a very great
the Death of Christ the Testatour so that thou and I are beholding to Christ a Testator for all the riches of grace consolation and glory Well worthy of thine and my praise thanks and hearty acknowledgments is Christ therefore for that he by his Death hath procured and by will hath entitled us unto such great and glorious advantages and benefits 2. Christ a Testator hath deserved thy most grateful resentments of his love for that he hath by this means removed all thy fears and prevented all thy doubts least at any time thou shouldst by reason of thy weak faith and defective love fall short of the goodness and blessings thou expectest for this as other Testaments is of force now that the Testator is dead and since he is dead none may either null it or alter it but it must continue for ever in strength And on this consideration of certainty and validity doth the Apostle Gal. 3.15 advance the excellency of the promises made to Abraham and to Abraham's seed Now what ever doth advance the excellency of the promises made to us doth likewise advance our debt of thankfulness for the promises 3. Christ a Testator is worthy of our highest Gratitude for so much as he hath by his last Will and Testament disposed of his rich inheritance amongst us so as we may duly expect and constantly fetch in as much as we will of grace for our present help and comfort reserving the fullness of all unto the final consummation of the elect redeemed Many a man loseth all or else much of his thankes by an unseasonable caution in his will that the Legatees shall have nothing of the gift until such a time to which it is uncertain whether he live but Christ deserveth our admiration as well as our thanks for the present benefit use and advantages we have from his Testament He hath so given that wee may now enjoy we so enjoy now that hereafter we shall receive present enjoyments were not to be compared with future the present improvement is sufficient to keep us handsomely the future is far above mine and your thoughts 4. Christ a Testator worthy of thy thanks for so much as he was thus mindful of thee at the last when enemies insulted and vaunted against him when sorrows and pains did seise him when his Friends stood aloof off and some of them denied him when many were content not to be known of his acquaintance when he foresaw what Friends we in our several generations would be to him for what these persons were under Christ's Eye was both an index or discovery of them and also a symptome or prognostick what we after them would prove And yet for all this his love continued firm to us and made them and us Heirs both of his own and of his Father's love also 5. And lastly consider this Christ a Testator is Christ Voluntarily Dying that he might make all sure to us He was not by nature under an unchangeable law of Death as we are if he had not loved us so much he needed not to have Died here then is his plea and Title unto our Gratitude he did Voluntarily and of choice put himself into a condition that he might dye to procure and confirm the promises to us And yet the kind and manner of Dying and pains he did foresee in his Death are the circumstances which as they set off and advance his love to us so do they increase and augment our debt of a loving hearty resentment of his kindness Sirs Christ must dye a curse under the vindictive justice of God ere he could convey by will the Heavenly blessed and everlasting Legacies which we now expect from him as a Testator Whoso shall cast an Eye upon these particulars if others more quickning do not occur yet these will either perswade to thankfulness or render unthankfulness inexcusable We do usually pick out such circumstances as these to commend the worthiness of our Friends love towards us at his Death he remembred me in what I most needed provided for me as much as I need or can receive he I thank him setled it by will that I might be sure of it And herein I am greatliest beholden to him that as I was unfit to be trusted with all at once and unable to subsist without any of it for present he did in wise kindness to me provide that the main part should be reserved for me and that the lesser be now given unto me So Christ that I might live and rejoice in the present grace of my Lord to me that I might be rich and happy in the possession of the whole when I was fit for and capable of it did wisely bequeath me a portion of peace in him grace from him comfort through him all which I needed but hath reserved fulness of Glory the immarcescible Crown the unchangeable Kingdom the inconceivable and unspeakable blessedness until I should be prepared to enjoy them all herein the love of Christ excelleth insomuch as he did all this for us when sorrows and troubles greater than can be equalled were besetting him nay he put himself into a state subject to all those sorrows and troubles from which by nature he was free that he might be liable to dye and make all this mercy sure to thee and me and such like us by Testament and thou and I must thank him that he did it for us who by our folly and wickedness were the causes of all this sorrow and trouble to him Here is love to be owned with highest rensentments and most enlarged affections Christ is the greatest conquerour of hearts and therefore to be crowned with a triumphant wreath of enflamed hearts oh live and dye in the grateful acknowledgments of his love If as some men will have it his Table where thou suppest with him be an Altar let not this Altar ever want a flaming Sacrifice Let thine heart be offered to him he deserveth more thou canst not tender less it were too little if thou had'st ought more it will be sufficient if thou dost not think it too much Oh my soul thy present income is worth thy thanks thy future full possession is fittest for an estimate and thanks in the highest Heavens CAP. V. Sect. 8. Humility Improved on Christ's Dying a Testator 8. THE eight Sacramental grace I did mention was Humility The proud and lofty heart bearing it self high upon its own deceived opinion is not fit for the Lords Table and Supper the Lord stands not as an endeared Friend to entertain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 4.6 Psal 22.26 but as an armed man to oppose the proud 'T is the meek shall eat and be satisfied as the Psalmist in anocase said who come to the Lords Table richly provided with their self-confidences are sent empty away Luk. 1.53 1 Pet. 5.5 whilst he filleth the hungry with good things In this clothing must we appear for however plain it may seem to be
Joseph advanced to be Ruler over all the Land of Aegypt must be saluted with a Bowing Knee Gen. 41.43 Which was the outward and visible expression of that double apprehension Gen. 27.29 Isa 49.23 Esth 3.2 5. 1. of his worth and honour 2. of the meanness and lowness of the rest who bowed It is a very general and ancient signe of the respect we bear to the dignity and worth of any one we bow before The insolent souldiers in their carriage toward Christ when they bowed the knee Math. 27.29 Shewed us what humility becometh subjects and what honour is due to Soveraigns Look then on that absolute dominion and power which appeareth in Christ's last Will and Testament be then Judge in the case and say What beseemeth thee in Receiving gifts from Soveraigne power from an absolute Lord will it not beseem thy low abject and poor state to attend the presence and receive the gifts of such a Lord as Christ is with a bended knee and a humble heart What might be farther said in this particular I shall leave to each one 's larger meditations because I will hasten to an end of the Chapter and subject CAP. V. Sect. 9. Patience in Sufferings Improved on Christ's Dying a Testator A Ninth Grace well suiting with the Lords Supper and Improvable on consideration of Christ Dying a Testator is strong and settled resolution with patience to undergo for him all hardships and sufferings which the Lord shall permit to come upon us A praemeditated survey of all the sufferings for the Lord Christ and his Gospel with advised purposes not to shrink from them is required of every Christian and doth very well fit the thoughts of a Sacrament in which the Christian communicateth with a Lord who was in his whole life a Man of sorrows and accquainted with griefs for our sake We celebrate the memorial of his sufferings we should confirm our resolutions not to shrink away from Christ for fear of sufferings The antient Christians under persecutions were wont to fortify their purposes and resolutions of adhering to their Crucified Lord in midst of all persecutions in order hereunto they were wont to Celebrate the Lord's Supper often thereby as often renewing their courage and resolution to dye if need be for him And the ordinary name of this ordinance viz. Sacrament implieth so much For it was the old Latine word expressing the Romane Souldiers obligation to obey his Generall Sacramentum Patres Latini à militari jurejurando uti opinamur ad eam partem nostrae Religionis significandam c. Thes Salmur de Sacrament in gen disp sect 2. Now common sense telleth us that who comes and listeth himself a Souldier under a Captain or Generall either knoweth not what he doth or else bringeth Resolutions to undergo all the hardships of the war he entreth on I tell thee Christian thou knowest not fully what thou art doing at a Sacrament if thou doest not there add strength to thy resolutions of Enduring hardship as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ If thou dost only confirm thy Hope of and thy waiting for the coming of thy Lord and shewest this by shewing forth his Death untill he cometh yet I must tell thee since thou professest hope of and waitest for the coming of thy Lord it well becometh this hope this faith to have attendant the Resolution of Enduring all for Christ's sake There are these Motives in it 1. First in thy Dear Friends Will thou seest his Love to thee and it is but endebted ingenuity to be ready for and patient in sufferings for one who sincerely Loved us As the Love of our Friend to us increaseth so should our readiness to suffer for our Friend Christ did thus commend his Love above the love of all other friends That he died for us Rom. 5.8 And this Love constraineth us 2 Cor. 5.14 It doth by a sweet and invincible power draw us into this conclusion That we should live no longer to our selves but to him who died for us ver 15. We ought not only to bear some but all not little only but great not common but extraordinary dangers distresses and afflictions for his sake He is by a sacred right Lord of our life and when he biddeth us venture it in hazards or lay it down in unavoidable death for him we must do it His love ought thus to constrain us The sacred story tells us that Jacob served seven years for Rachel Gen. 29.18 During which service he underwent Losses Gen. 31.39 was consumed with drought in the day and with frost in the Night thus he served him fourteen years for his daughters to the younger of which he had such love that seven years of hardship seemed to him but a few dayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the love he had to her Gen. 29.29 Either thy own Reason condemneth thy want of love to Christ who deserveth it insomuch as he hath given thee rich Legacies by his Will or thy Love will command thee resolvedly and patiently to suffer for him Either thou must not pretend any interess in Christ's Gifts or thou must intend to Love him for them and resolve to suffer for him thou Lovest In thy going to the Sacrament view the kindness of thy Saviour in his Last Will and Testament and judge with thy self what sufferings for him thou couldst reasonably refuse He Loved not himself or life too well when it concerned thy life and Soul He died for thee and canst thou do less than venture life or estate for him whilest thou readest his love in his Legacies raise thy resolutions to face stand out and bear dangers losses reproaches or Death for him His love to thee deserveth it for no man hath Joh. 15.13 or can have greater than that Christ had for thee and the rest of his friends 2. Thy Testator hath provided by his last Will and Testament that all thy sufferings should be recompenced to thee with a reward that surpasses all thy sufferings If thou and I weigh the Sufferings for Christ and our Gain by Christ this will exceedingly outweigh those The least degree of reward weighed with the heaviest burthen of sufferings will praeponderate and outweigh them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for heaviest burthens of afflictions are but light 2 Cor. 4.17 But the glory they work for us is an exceeding and eternal weight of Glory And besides all that which shall hereafter be the recompence of sufferers for Christ they are 1. First honoured by God in that they are called to suffer for his Son God puts an honour on such who are called to suffer reproach for Christ Acts. 5.41 1 Pet. 4.14.2 It is a gift which God doth not bestow on every one however men judge of it the Apostle tells us it is Given Phil. 1.29 And well might the Apostle so account it for 3. It fitteth us for the Kingdom of Heaven our sufferings do not fit us with a fitness of worth
Prov. 14.20 Both these Motives to love the Believer seeth in every Believer Grace doth very much sweeten Nature and Grace doth very much enrich the person These Motives of love may be found in every Legatee who hath share in the choice Legacies of Christ he giveth an excellency of spirit which sweetneth their disposition they are meek lowly faithful and without guile He also giveth an Inheritance a heavenly a glorious Inheritance these win with the considerate Christian and either thou knowest not what Christ hath bestowed on Believers or thou must confess they are well worthy of thy love and brotherly affection 2. Another Inducement to Brotherly Love contained in this consideration of Christ Dying a Testator may be this Every Believer having interess in this Will was near to Christ's heart as art thou or I or any other who pretendeth title and interess in Christ's Last Testament Now should it not move us to love with hearty love every Christian for so much as every one of them was equally near to the hearty love of Christ Let our hearts be toward them Joh. 15.12 as Christ's was toward us and them It is a maxim in Love and Friendship that it extend it self to all our friends friends Hence the advice of Solomon that thy Father's friend be not forsaken Prov. 27.10 carries sound reason in it for he that is the Father's friend and heartily loved him that begot will be a friend to the Son and love him that was begotten too as the Apostle argueth in a like case 1 John 5.1 The Apostle urgeth this Love of Christ to us as argument to perswade us to love one another Rom. 15.5 with vers 7. to be of the same mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide 2 Cor. 13.11 Idem velle idem nolle ea demum est firma amicitia that so ye may live in Peace and Love which is the fruit of that Union the Apostle perswades us to 2 Cor. 13.11 and Phil. 2.2 where he explaineth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The being of one mind by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having the same Love The Love we should have for the Brethren of right should be so strong as death because that Love which Christ had for them equally and indifferently was even unto death This is the Apostle's Argument 1 John 3.16 And there is strength in it whether we apprehend it or no. In the last Will of Christ thou mayest discern a Love equally embracing all that believe that seek their portion in Christ There we may find Christ a friend to the poor as to the rich Believer to the unlearned as to the learned Believer to the despised as to the honourable Believer As the Apostle speaketh of Righteousness I may speak and you must understand of all the blessings of the Covenant and Testament The whole is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference Rom. 3.22 Now where Christ hath made no difference in his Love darest thou make so great a difference in thine as to withhold thy love from some Wilt thou not love those who are dear friends to thy dearest Lord thy best friend I do not press an equality of love to all Believers I know our brethren by nature our kindred by alliances our acquaintance and intimate friends have a right to our love and affections both Natural and Civil and where such a Right is doubled by our Relation to each other in Christ our affections may be allowed to double themselves also Whilst Grace and common Hopes do increase our love to each other they do allow for the respects which Nature calleth for of us We must love all with an unfeigned love though we may love some with a more fervent love whom Christ hath equally loved we must unfeignedly love and what reneweth the remembrance of such love to us should renew our love to others 3. In the last Will of Christ is to be seen That it is the express desire of our Dying Lord we should love one another heartily and unfeignedly He hath therefore put them all into one Will and into the same capacity every one by his Will made an heir The Saints do inherit the Riches of Glory Ephes 1.18 Their title is a joint-tenancy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are coheirs Heb. 11.9 And this title is by gift of Christ in his last Testament Joh. 17.24 Who desired they should all be where he was that they might behold his glory And read we John 15.12 This is my Commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you This is that Commandment that is so mine as if all others were to yield place to this This is the New Commandment Joh. 13.34 and 35. When Christ attended with Angels gave the Law to Israel the First Great Commandment was Love the Lord c. The Second was Love thy Neighbour c. When he was to die he renewed the Commandment of loving our Brethren Yea so resolvedly doth our Lord require this Brotherly Love that whosoever he is pretends to Christ must make good his pretensions to Christ by his affections to all that are Brethren in Christ Joh. 13.35 Hereby shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love for one another Add hereto 1 John 4.20 He loves not God who loveth not the Children of God For how shall he love God whom he hath not seen who loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen In a word read the last words of Christ's Intercession John 17.26 which do breathe out the earnest desire of Christ that such love may be among the Brethren one to another as was in the Father and in the Son to them all Now after all this vehemency of desire in Christ that we who are heirs by his Will should love one another Shall any of us dare to hate undervalue reject or despise the other Will you read the last Testament of Love with a heart of enmity Dare you come to the Ordinance which renews the remembrance of Christ's Love to us of his desire we should love each other and not labour to renew your love to them Renewed meditations on Christ's love to us will certainly renew our love to him and to all his renewed thoughts of his last desire of his earnest commending mutual love will renew mutuall love in us if any degree of ingenuity remain in us 4. In the Testament and Last Will of our Dying Lord we have this inducement to renew our love to the Brethren He hath by will designed one onely place in which with most perfect love to enjoy as all the blessed Legacies of our Lord so to enjoy all our fellow Legatees Whether I shall perswade now I know not whether my arguings be powerful enough to suppress envyings and jealousies to remove animosities and quarrels from amongst saints I cannot tell But this I know and this I will tell you when you who
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE REVIVAL OF GRACE IN THE Vigour and Fragrancy of it By a due Application of the Blood of Christ to the Root thereof OR Sacramental Reflections on the Death of Christ a Sacrifice a Testator and bearing a Curse for us particularly applying each for the exciting and increasing the Graces of the Believing Communicant By Henry Hurst M. A. formerly Fellow of Merton Colledge Oxon Now Domestick Chaplain to the Right Honourable Arthur Earl of Anglesey Lord Privy Seal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 2.20 Domine cum te in ara crucis suspensum video quodcunque oculis meis spectandum objicitur me in amerem tui inducat Signum Figura Mysterium vulneraque tui corporis prae caeteris intimus ille affectus clamat ut ad Amorem tui properem nec tui obliviscar Did. Stella meditat LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns the lower End of Cheapside and the Bible under the Gate at Lond. Bridge 1678 Imprimatur Guil. Jane Jan 9. 1677. TO THE Right Honourable ARTHUR Earl of Anglesey Lord Privy Seal c. May it please your Lordship THese Papers which humbly offer themselves to your favourable acceptance and Patronage were conceived and formed but laid aside some years before you did me that great honour to command my attendance on you and your Family since which time by unusual accident they have fallen into a hand kinder than my own who judging them worth the publishing and perswading me to it they claim a Right to this Honour of appearing in the world under your Lordship's Patronage if I had refus'd to let them be made publick perhaps I should have been culpable since they are thus publisht I am sure without omitting a part of my duty I could not but tender them to Your Lordship which I do with a sense of their meanness and disproportion which they bear to your Lordships Great Abilities Learning and Judgment Yet herein this will be somewhat of an Apology for me though some have owned their obligations and duty to Your Lordship in Pieces less disproportion'd none have done it or are likely to do it in a Piece equal to Your Lordship's Learning and measures of Judgment The small summs of chief Rents are too poor to be made a Present to any whose abundance would refuse such an Offer but when tender'd as their Right they give a kind acceptance and acquittance for few shillings or pence In this humble offer I wave all pretence but this That Your Lordship hath the best Right to any Publick Acknowledgment I can make of my obligations to You of which I pray Your Lordship 's favourable resentment From Your Lordship's most Obedient Servant and Domestick Chaplain H. Hurst To the Reader Reader THOU art presented here with a Subject of which very many have treated and of which perhaps it may be thought more need not have been spoken and of which what I have written must now run the hazard of thy judgment or censure if it profit and please thee the thanks is due to me but in Partnership with a Learned and Judicious Divine who by an unthought of accident came to the knowledge of the two latter parts of what is here publisht somewhat also will be due to the Book-seller who adventured the uncertainty of the Gain or Loss which will be more or less as the Subject and Manner of handling it appears to the Peruser The good success of thy Reading I commend to the Divine Benediction which can make it contribute to the increase of thy Grace and Comfort The Defects in Composing I submit to thy Christian Candour and Ingenuity which will cover them and excuse the Author Those mistakes of the Printer which are most material may be charged on him and I with him will joyntly desire they may be mended with a little labour bestow'd on the places where the Errata's are marked Finally I pray no labour of mine in Writing no labour of thine in Reading may prove waste of time to either of us in the day wherein we both must account for our selves unto the Lord to whose Guidance and Blessing thou shalt be commended By From Anglesey House in Drury Lane April 10. 1678. The meanest Servant of the Best and Greatest Lord our Lord Jesus Redeemer of Thee and of thy Soul's Friend H. Hurst Advertisement There is in the Press one Hundred Sermons on several select Texts of Scripture Preached by Tho. Horton D. D. left perfected under his own hand THE REVIVAL OF GRACE LUKE 22.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do this in remembrance of me The Introduction Reader I will for once suppose thou art able on thy own view of these words and their context to discern what Christ is treating of how he instituteth and ordaineth the holy Sacrament of his Supper and for what end he ordaineth it I suppose thou wouldst not look over these lines if thou didst not already understand that Christ would have us use and celebrate this Sacrament to the end we might renew the remembrance of his Dying for us in which the matter of fact viz. that he did die for us is professed yet so as the manner how he did die is I think more principally to be attended and considered as being the chief primary thing in effecting our salvation and as affording the greatest and sweetest comforts and finally as binding us most strongly to Gospel Obedience I shall therefore recommend unto thy thoughts what is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 modus ratio moriendi particular manner of thy Saviour's Dying And am bold to say the words of the text Do this in remembrance of me do the like Let my Death be the subject of your thoughts at a Sacrament Let the manner of my Death be the mould into which your thoughts are cast At a Sacrament shew forth the truth and certainty of your Redeemer's Death shew forth the singular and peculiar manner of it also Renew the thoughts of this what kind of Death it was which could have such a mighty salvisick vertue in it to deliver us and save us Set before you at the the Lord's Table Plutarchus in Conviv Sept. Sapiertum not such a Death's-head as Plutarch reports Ptolomaeus was wont to set before his guests to admonish them but such a Death as none but Christ would or could undergo for us Our Lord will have his own Death set forth to the eye of his friends and guests at his Table and he commands them to remember it The Lord's Supper is a commemoration of the Lord's Death there we may view him on the Altar dying a Sacrifice for us to atone the divine displeasure there we may view him in the unparalleld address of himself for Death disposing his vast treasures of Grace Peace Comfort and Glory unto his indigent friends for whom his love brought him to die and the same love and care makes him die a Testator
for future and doth for present sufficiently influence our Faith to quiet revive quicken and support the soul under fears languishings dulnesses and sufferings Go then aside and take a view of the particulars and meditate on them in the certainty which Christ suffering and dying our Sacrifice hath given to us concerning them and when thou hast so done observe well whether thou art not perswaded to believe in hope against hope and whether thou art not enabled to believe the Promises without staggering and to say thou faintest not because thy afflictions are light and yet do work out for thee a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while thou art able to look to and see both him that is and the things that are invisible such a Faith will be our victory by it we shall more than conquer Having discoursed somewhat on the Improvement of our Divine sorrow and our Faith in the Commemoration of Christ Dying our Sacrifice I have made way for the Improvement of our Peace and Quiet of soul likewise 3d. Grace improved viz. Peace of Soul for this is a sweet fruit of our sound Repentance and sincere faith and carry's a proportioned dimension with the increase of those Graces But I purpose to attempt a more particular discovery of the influence Christ's Death our Sacrifice hath upon the Tranquillity and Peace of the soul of a Communicant who discerneth this Death as it was a Sacrifice and under that notion improveth his Redeemer's love to him Now if I can shew my Reader that there is in this Sacrifice somwhat sufficient to remove all that disquieteth the soul I need take no further care to perswade an opinion that Peace will follow Let the storm cease and a calm will follow if the Earthquake end the old Foundations will stand firm and well setled Let that be removed which alarmed the soul and all will be in Peace Amongst other lesser which I pass over there are four grand disquietudes of the soul 1. Danger of divine displeasure and wrath in condemnation for our sin The drawn sword of Divine vengeance hanging over the head is enough to affright all peace out of the heart and to fill it with amazing horrour and overwhelming terrours How did Adam's fears seize him when his sin had laid him open to that threat Thou shalt die the death Gen. 2.17 then his guilty conscience did chase Ea conscientia est quae filgat terret accusat damnat Parentes nostros Certissimum testimonium Deum tandem ultorem futurum omnis mali Fagius in cap. 3. Gen. 8. affright accuse condem him forebode a severer Judge and Avenger whom he could not escape or shun whom he could not stand before whom he feareth and flieth The Apostle elegantly expresseth the disquietude of a self-condemning heart by the trouble of bondage Heb. 2.15 The fear of death kept them in bondage all their life the expectation of death was death to them or ere they died and they scarce lived because they continually tortured themselves with the preapprehensions of a hastening death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot which to secure nature is the greatest of terrours though ignorance of what is consequent to death did hide the most dreadful part of death from the eyes of nature Psal 55.4 Psal 116.3 yet in David's phrase terrours of death will make the heart sigh under pain and fill it with trouble and sorrow too unless the heart be assured of the the removal of guilt the freedom from condemnation Joh. 8.21 24. Rev. 2.11 that the man dieth not in his sins nor shall be hurt of the second death No man's heart was strong under the apprehensions of the wrath of an Almighty and Eternal God nor can the greatest cheats of the world I mean hypocrites who can counterfeit almost every thing put on the counterfeit of boldness Isa 33.15 when they see the everlasting burnings and the devouring fire they are then surprized with fearfulness 2. Loss of the wonted sweetness of Divine favour and the refreshing expresses which God by his spirit did formerly give to the soul When once the soul hath been favoured with an acquaintance and knowledg of a Heaven upon earth it cannot without disquietude live on earth without it's Heaven Darkness cannot but greatly afflict the soul which enlightned once did rejoice in the light of God's Countenance shining on it What is said of the great darkness which fell on Abraham in his sleep Gen. 15.12 may be verified of all the desertions which fall upon the children of Abraham they are attended with horrour and trouble When God hid his face from David he was troubled Psal 30.5 and his soul refused to be comforted Psal 77.2 his spirit was overwhelmed ver 3. so troubled he could not speak ver 4. All which proceeded from the spiritual desertion he then lay under God hath cast off and he feared it was for ever ver 7. that he would be favourable no more c. verse 8 and 9. So that when David had lost the sense of God's love he could find peace or joy in nothing about him An Idolater once expostulated with a great deal of trouble you have taken away my Gods and do you ask what aileth me But whilst we deride or pity his blindness we should resent the real troubles of the soul which hath lost the sense of the Love of his God and Father and indulge him in a more than usual trouble for the suspence or intermission of his desired rest and peace wherein he found though imperfect yet a growing happiness and in David's words expressed his felicity He heard the joyful sound and walked in the light of God's countenance Psal 89.15 but now feareth his misery will recall his former happiness only to prove him as much sunk in woes as he was exalted in joys above other men Miserrimum est fuisse felicem this disquieteth the soul that it hath been what now it is not blessed 3. Sense of sinful weakness and suspition of worse insincerity and want of uprightness in its duties and the exercises of its Devotion towards God are a trouble to the soul in its reflections on its services and examination of it self it seeth sin adhere to every one of its best workes and it seeth imperfection still dwelling in its perfectest graces so that when he findeth to will yet how to perform he findeth not as Rom. 7.18 On which observation of his defects he judgeth himself in a miserable perplexity and under apprehensions hereof crieth out wretched man that I am who shall deliver me c. ver 24. This worthlesness of persons and performances is the subject of the Church's complaints Isa 64.6 We are all as an unclean thing And our iniquities as the wind have taken us away iniquities saith David in his complaint prevail against me Psal 65.3 And elsewhere prayeth God would search him and try him and see whether there be any
had forfeited all and all estreated unto God the King and Soveraign of Man In sum Christ had time enough wherein to do this he had good will enough to move him to it he had estate enough to furnish and enrich them and his poor kindred had need enough And what then think we could hinder him from making his Will or what should disswade us from believing it from his humiliation unto death He humbled himself and became obedient unto death c. Wherefore God hath given him a name c. that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Christ who died and because he died hath this title given him He is Lord and this title is given to him of God himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God hath exalted him and given to him a glorious Title Now this is not a swelling Title without power or riches to befriend and help his people such vain Titles are sometimes given by man to man but never unto any by God himself for he ever invests power with the Title he conferreth and such a power or Authority as became both the greatness of the giver and the greatness of the receiver could not be less then a full uncontrolled and lawfull power of making a Will or Testament giving out legacies to his indigent kindred and friends suitable to all this is that of John 10.17 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life c. Note well how Christ's laying down his life i. e. Dying for his sheep is is set down as one cause why the Father did so love him Now because the Father loved him he hath given or put all things into his hand John 3.35 Left them all to his disposal These two places of St. John do in effect speak this very language That the voluntary Death of Christ should procure his Father's love to him and this love of his Father should bestow a power and right on Christ to dispose of all things All which was exactly and punctually performed to Christ after his Death as well as largely promised and contracted for upon condition that he should die the promise was made on condition he would die and the right to all contained in the promise was conferred upon him because he died and this right is expressed by St. John thus he hath put all things into his hand because he loved him and he loved him because he laid down his life Thus Christ acquired a right over all by his Death and at his Death disposed of it for the good and benefit of his people whom he made his Heir by Will or Testament which is yet farther confirmed by these two places viz. Luk. 22.29 I appoint unto you a Kingdom I appoint so we read it at large but the Greek doth point out an appointing by Will or Testament on which passage the Learned Beza hath this Note beside what is cited in the Margent These words being the words of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vulg dispono alii Lego Ex illa formula d◠Lego in Testamentis usitatâ Nomen enim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peculiariter de Testamento dicitur Beza in loc Haec Christi ad mortem proporantis verba speciem habent Testamentariae cujusdam dispositionis quo allusit Apostolus Heb. 9.17 approaching now to his Death do carry the form and shew of a certain Testamentary Disposition to which the Apostle alludeth Heb. 9.17 More might be added to clucidate and clear the word in this its most proper and native signification but I forbear that now Vox Testamenti Latina Graecam vocem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 restringit ad Foederis gratiae oecononiam Testamentariam c. Joh. Cloppenb de V.T. Disput 1. sect 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notat declarationem voluntatis ultimae c. Joh. Cocceius de Foeb c. 13. sect 470. Let it suffice that Christ useth a word in this place which naturally imports the making of a Will and so leadeth us to consider him as a Testator as one before his each appointing and ordaining his ast-Testament The second place is that of St. Paul Latinis auribus nota erat Vox Testamentum significare in rebus oivilibus extremam voluntatem de rebus quas post mortem quis fieri velit c. Bened. Aretius in prologum ad Nov. Test Heb. 9.16 17. For where there is a Testament there must of necessiity be the Death of the Testator For a Testament is of force after men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all whilst the Testator liveth In which words the Apostle doth argue the certainty and perfection of the Covenant or Promises in Christ and proveth it by this known Argument They are the Testament or last Will of Christ which Christ the Testator hath by his death confirmed beyond possibility of a change Est Oeconomia Testamentaria cui confirmandae mors intercedit Testatoris Heb. 9.16 17. Joh. Cloppenb de Test Vet. disp 1. sect 2. That look how sure and firm the last Will is when he who made it is dead so sure and firm are the Promises to us Voluit Foedas suum babere rationem Testamenti propriè dicti Jacob. Cappellus in soc for they are the Testament of our Lord confirmed to us by his Death For Christ would have his Covenant cast into the mould of a Testament or last Will properly so called On these places I conclude this first point Christ did not die intestate but did ordain his last Will ere he died and so his Death may be considered by us as the Death of a Testator who being our friend made his last Will for our good and benefit for by Will he hath bequeathed very great things to us CAP. II Christ a Testator proper Object to mediditate on at the Sacrament HAving in the Former Chap. Proved what I undertook or at least done so much that we may without errour in our meditation consider Christ Dying a Testator I am in this Chapter to shew that the meditations of Christ's Death as it was the Death of a Testator do very well suit with the Sacrament Sect. 1. 1. First such thoughts are suggested to us by Christ himself in those expressions which he used in the first appointing and administring of this Ordinance when he chose to speak of it at a Testament Among many names wch might have been used and which are gotten into use since none so much pleased our Lord as this Mat. 26.28 Mark 14.24 Luk. 22.20 It is the blood of the New Testament and it is The New Testament in my Blood Now a Testament leadeth our thoughts to the Testator and indeed primarily or in the first place though secondarily it signify a Covenant And though now the frequent use of it in the notion of a Covenant makes us the labour to prove this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Testament to signify a Testamentary Disposition or Will yet we can
Sacrament until he take us to the Glory of the Father or come again to us in the Glory of the Father Every Sacrament is a taking out a Certificat that Christ died and was buried but that he is risen from the Dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa 53. Every time the Bread is broken in a Sacrament we tell the world that our Lord was cut off out of the Land of the Living The pouring out of the Wine speaketh his powring out his blood unto death and for proof hereof we produce his Testament and last Will the last Will of our great Commander who made it In Procinctu when he was girt and in his Armour just ready to enter the conflict wherein he laid down his life for us The excellent Moralist and Historian Plutarch tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. it was the custome with the Roman Souldiers to make their Wills when they stood in Battel-aray Facientibus Testamenta in procinctu veluti ad Certam mortem eundum foret Velleius Paterculus lib. 2. I am sure when they went on a hard and dangerous design the more considerate amongst them made their last VVill as the Roman Historian reports of their Souldiers assaulting Trebonia in Spain Our great and Glorious Captain knowing that his hour was come and that he must dye for us disposed thus his estate by VVill or Testament which proveth the truth of his Death as fully as any VVill duly proved by course of Law proveth that the Testator is dead Now certainly good evidence to the truth of Christ's death must needs be very suitable to our publick declaration and Profession of his death and so must suit with this first End of the Sacrament which is to shew forth his Death until he come The valid and irreversible Testament proveth the Death of the Testator Now such a Testament we have exhibited in the Sacrament and who employs his thoughts on this meditation employs them so as they agree with the End of the Sacrament 2. Secondly Christ intended the renewal of our lively affections toward him Dying for us as another end of the Sacrament of his body and blood He did therefore appoint this Ordinance to continue after his Death that it might keep the affectionate remembrance of his love alive in our hearts He would not have his Death forgotten neither would he have it kept in memory without the vigour and strength of our love His friends were dead in sin and misery at that time he remembred these dead friends with life of affections and now his living friends must not remember him with dead affection A lifeless affection is next neighbour to no affection and to remember with such affection is very little more than quite to forget Now none of us should so forget our Dying Lord we could not see him dying as they did Luk. 23. v. 27. who followed him to Mount Calvary and saw him with their bodily eyes yet in every Sacrament of his Supper he is evidently set forth dying among us and so every one of us must remember him every place in the Church may put us in mind of our Lord but the Table and the Cross do more particularly and lively set our remembrance on work Sic oculos Sic ille manus c. Let me ask the question did you ever lose a dear friend who made you a Legatee in his Will or appointed you Executor of it how did your affections stir move yea melt your heart when you read over the Will when you came to demand your Legacy did you receive it with dry eyes Let us bestow our affections in reading over Christ's Will as we would bestow them in reading over the Will of a tender careful Friend and then I am sure we shall frame our hearts to this second end of the Lord's supper and demean our selves as Christ expects we should at his table We shall remember him with love for his loving remembrance of us we shall remember him with desires of his return and coming in glory to make good all that he hath bequeathed to us to put us in possession of all that which the Sacrament representeth and sealeth to us we shall say make hast come quickly oh Lord. 3. Thirdly A solemn publick and constant return of Thanks and Praise to the Lord is a third end of this Sacrament Christus voluit sacram suam coenam esse mortis passionis suae nostraeque per eam à peccato morte diabolo liberationis perpetuum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nostrae ea propter gratitudinis observantiae publicum Testimonium Ludoy Cappel Thes Salm. de Liturg. Ling. Ignot part 1. th 5. Christ would have his holy Supper be a perpetual remembrance as of his Death and Passion and as of our deliverance from sin death and the Devil so of our gratitude and observance would he have it be a publick Testimony as that Learned Professor hath expressed his sense and apprehension of this matter We can scarce meet with any one person amongst the lowest and meanest Professours of Christian Religion so little instructed in the nature and end of this Ordinance as not full well to know and openly profess it is an Ordinance appointed for continuing a thankful Remembrance of our Dying Lord. We cannot read any Writer Popish or other but in their writings of the Sacrament every page is full of it the most usual name of it is Eucharist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Syriack Version hath borrowed this Greek word to express it self in Act. 2.42 20.7 where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which soundeth out Gratitude and Thankfulness so some render and translate Bread in Acts 2.42 10.7 broken in the Sacrament and call it the Breaking of the Eucharist but I will spare my time pains and paper and appeal to thy pretences and professions who goest to the Lord's Table I know thou canst not acquit thy self to thy Brethren with whom thou communicatest nor to thy own Profession unless thou declarest thy desire to remember thankfully the Death of thy Lord. Now the Love of Christ remembring thee by Will in his Testamentary disposition hath in it very many strong and prevailing perswasives to thankfulness and will certainly awaken the sober considerate soul unto gratitude and so will excellently well suit with the season and the duty of feasting with our Lord. Of which more shall be said in our following discourse if the Lord give leave Mean while the greatness of our legacy the freeness of love in the legator the unworthiness of the legatees the certainty of our future receiving it the present enjoying more if so be we would set our selves with more diligence and search to enquire into the deed of gift our Lord hath made to us These I say will certainly perswade us to constant acknowledging our debt of thankfulness to our dying Lord. Our life should be
adoptionis illius vim senserunt in Spiritu Sanctificante PP Salmur de Sp. Adop Sect. 12. so they who are sealed with the spirit of Adoption have still found the power of that Adoption by the spirit of Sanctification Now I say Christ Dying a Testator and leaving us his last Will or Testament to meditate upon hath left us a good answer to our doubts and the due meditations of the soul on the last Will of Christ will much dispel our fears and quiet the soul For whereas there are two sorts of fears which afflict a gracious soul 1. A fear it shall miss of Glory And 2. A fear it doth want truth of grace Christ by his last Will hath secured the believing soul against both these fears against the first by giving a Kingdom and Glory to such by Will he appointed them unto a Kingdom to a Glorious Crown Against the second by bequeathing the spirit of Truth and Grace unto them to lead them in holiness unto the end and this Will of our best Friend who Died to confirm it is a very sure Title on the sacred reverence authority of last Wills and Testaments Legum servanda fides suprema voluntas Quod mandat fierique subet parere necesse est Aug. Imper. de vol. Virg. which must be sacred and inviolate when the man is dead Command of Laws must duly be fulfill'd And so must that our dying friend last will'd how much more when he who died once hath for ever conquered death and lives for ever to see his own Legacies both bestowed and enjoyed which peculiar to Christ our dying friend gives greatest encouragement against such doubts and might very well ease us of all such fears and so be an excellent defence and prop to weak grace whence will soon follow a considerable growth in grace Sect. 3. 3. That which confirms the truth certainty and immutability of the promises improveth Grace I need not give long Proofs of so known a Truth Praecipuum maximè proprium objectum Fidei situm est in promissionibus PP Salm. de Fide sect 7. the promisies are the objects of our faith the good things contained in the promises are the object of our hope the grace and mercy making the promises is the Load-stone of our love In one word we are made partakers of the Divine Nature we do purify our selves and perfect holiness through these promises Grace is as the vine the promises are the frame which beareth up and carrieth the vine which thriveth best when it resteth on the surest and stedfastest frame Grace is a spiritual building which needeth a sure Foundation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such is the promise which as the word of God is in it self sure and stedfast for it is impossible that God should lie Tit. 1.2 Heb. 6.18 Yet to this the Lord hath superadded the confirmation and certainty of a Testamentary disposition or last Will making all the promises in Christ and making them all sure and unchangeable by the death of Christ whereby they become to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 that we might have such assurance as should render it next to a moral impossibility for us soberly and deliberately to doubt them Now all this is excellently effected by resolving and moulding the promises into a last Will or Testamentary disposition which is of such a nature that it becomes unalterable on the Death of the Testator Heb. 9.17 for a Testament is of force after men are dead and so the law maxim ensureth us In publicis Lex in privatis Testamentum firmissimum habetur that what the law is in publick concerns that a last Will in private concerns is for ensurance and firmness In brief therefore the last Will of Christ Dying confirms the Promises to us what confirms the promises confirms our faith and hope with other graces faith and hope confirmed do greatly tend to purifying and sanctifying our hearts and making our life fruitful in these things lieth the growth and improvement of grace so that due reflections and right manage of our thoughts on Christ dying a Testator do as is said improve the communicants Graces Sect. 4. 4. That improves grace which doth soften the heart and as it were ripen it unto a mellow temper as the showers which soak into the earth in the spring time which soften the earth do both prepare the way that tender roots of trees and plants may spread abroad and root deeper and also do afford nourishing moisture and sap whence the verdure blossom and the fruit it self so it is here a hard and rocky heart is as unkind a soil for grace as stony ground is for Corn neither can take root to any good purpose Trees of righteousness are planted by the rivers of waters which is a tender soil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the water courses divide themselves and run out into many branches gently and kindly softening the ground And though some vines of the Lord are planted in high Mountaines naturally hard and barren in proud and hard hearts yet these hearts are like plowed ground laid a fallowing and mellowing and so prepared for the seed time every high Mountain is laid low before Christ In one word the pleasant Lillies do grow in the Valleys low and softned grounds so grace thrives best in the humble and tender soul Now there are in the last Will of Christ many both common and ordinary as also Singular and extraordinary motives and inducements to tenderest affections towards Christ Whatsoever cause any true friend any kind Brother any dutiful Child can see in the care love and bounty of his Dying Friend Brother or Father expressed and contained in the porvision made by such one for him that all that and more may the meditating and considerate soul see in the last Will of Christ to melt him into affections for Christ in whose Death he may see love living and growing strong when life fainted and grew weak And as his veines and heart grew empty of blood both grew full of love to you and me So he loved his own to the end What in particular these common and speciall motives are I shall not now specify but reserve them to another more fit place thus you have the sum of this fourth argument before you in the next place Sect. 5. 5. That improves our graces which endeareth the Lord Jesus to us what increaseth our love to Christ doth increase our holiness and addeth to our graces love will long for a more close union love will study the most intire complyance it will ambitiously strive to advance and honour it will without ceasing endeavour to please That soul is most endeared to holiness and most studious of holiness which is most endeared to Christ and most in love with him such a soul keeps his Commandments Now the view and consideration of Christ s last Will and Testament will surely endear
to the soul For they are desires fixed upon a good which is in some degree already enjoyed Christ and his benefits are ever enjoyed whilest sincerely desired These messengers of the soul seeking for Christ are sent by Christ himself who is with the soul much as he was incognito with the Disciples before he made himself known in breaking of bread The soul desireth Christ absent but these desires are raised in the soul by Christ present And as a Friend in a disguise sometime visits and feasteth with his Friend cheering and comforting him and minding him of his absent Friend and raising wishes and desires after him as absent who indeed is present with him and entertaineth him so doth our blessed Lord satisfy the desires of them that love him and that long for him He is enriched by Christ who truly desireth the riches of Christ These the advantages of the Christians desires oh then let out thy desires fear not to set thy soul in a longing fit for Christ whilst thou longest thou shalt enjoy and ere long thou shalt see how much thou hadst of him all that time wherein thou thoughtest thou hadst no more of him than an empty desire or hungring wish for him thy desires are like the Mariners approaches to the spicy Islands the sweet and delicate odours assure them they are not far off and delight them untill they set foot upon the shore so Christ assures and delights the desirous soul so Christ sends abroad the sweet perfumes of grace and glory These refresh the soul untill its arrival where it shall live upon full satisfactions which is a 3. Third excellency in which the believers desires after these Legacies of Christ do exceed all the best desires of other men who must ever write over them lesse in hand than in Hope Minuit praesentia famam the believer on the contrary must write this as the motto of his possessed desires great in Hope greater far in hand or as the Queen of Sheba said in another case 1 King 10.8 It was a true report which I heard in my own land but the one half of their glory was not told me These things which draw out the desires of other men are like the Apples of Sodom beautiful and please the eâ—e at distance but they moulder into ashes when the hand gathers them and they who feed on them feed on ashes Such are honours such are pleasures such are the riches of this world and of men of this world fully uncertain when we purpose to seek them fully vexatious whilst we are seeking them fullest of torment and disappointment when they are grasped and possessed yet our desires after them are passionate and earnest our contrivances to obtain them are solicitous and secret our pursuit vigorous and unwearied But Christian here is honour a crown bequeathed here is joy an eternal feast on the fruit of the true vine in the Kingdom of thy heavenly Father here are treasures bequeath'd an inheritance a Kingdom and all proposed to thy desires with transcendent advantages they are certain that thou mayest pursue them with Hope they do refresh whilest thou art pursuing that thou mayest not languish and faint they satisfy fully and eternally that thou mayest never repent thy labour Look on these and let them have but as much of thy desire as there is of desireableness in them above all other things and then I am sure thou wilt desire them above all and rest in them after all Awake Awake oh my soul and before thou make thy approach to the Lord's table look over the last Will and Testament of Christ thy Lord see there is pardoning mercy to take away death which is the desert of sin there is purifying mercy to take away the filth of sin to dry up the poisonous fountain of sin there is pacifying mercy to take away inward distracting troubles there is interceding mercy to procure acceptance of all the good thou dost there is preserving mercy to keep thee from falling away and perishing there is crowning mercy to encourage thy expectations and satisfy thy best and largest desires In a word here is Christ's Spirit his Righteousness his Kingdom with eternal life given by Will and last Testament and all these tendered to thee as Christ's Minister tenders the body and blood of Christ to thee all these things are delivered to thee in the copy of Christ's will sealed unto thee at the Sacrament and thy desires are now expected Good things and possible yea certain and ensured to thee if thou wilt but heartily desire them Awake therefore a sincere wish a strong longing after them that they might statisfy thee All these are thine if thou wilt be Christ's oh then desire he would unite thee to himself that thou may'st be one among them that are one with Christ these shall be heirs to these great things these must be of Christ's kindred and alliance this alliance is not by natural consanguinity it is by a foederal covenant Union and this Union is effected by us for our part by willingness and desire say then art thou willing to lose and miss these great things or dost thou think them unworthy of thy desire or rather dost thou not wish thou couldest desire them dost thou not feel thy heart kindly bubling forth such affectionate desires as these after Christ oh that I were of that happy family which are so blessed with Christ oh that my name were written in the will oh that there were a blank where I might secretly or openly write mine own name there then I would as Jacob yet without offence steal a blessing oh that there were some would shew me how I might imbody my self with this houshold and kindred why now if such desires stir behold here is a short but a sure method Longings and desires after nearer Vnion and closer conjunction with Christ heary desires of communion with Christ will do this great work and ensure this exceeding rich blessing to thee Blessed are they who thus hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfyed Thus renewed meditations on the common in centives of desires and renewed meditations on the peculiar and extraordinary incentives of our desires in likely-hood can do no less than increase our desires after this most desireable Union to Christ CAP. V. Sect. 4. Love and esteem of Christ Improved by his Dying a Testator A Fourth Grace improveable by the meditation of Christ's Death as such a loving and bountiful Legator Love and Esteem of Christ 4th Sacramental Grace improved is love and high esteem of his person and concernment There are some graces which may be better spared in part or in whole others that are more needful for a communicant at the Lord's table joy in believing may be little perhaps none yet the soul not unfit for the Sacrament But the grace of love to Christ with an high esteem of the person and concernments of Christ is so needful
't is really a clothing of very great price in the account of God 1 Pet. 3.4 to speak of the excellency of this grace is aliene to this place and the seasonableness and suitableness of it to the Sacrament I think so apparent that it needeth not any proof I rather address my self to point out the incentives which from Christ Dying our Testator do offer themselves to set forward and improve this grace of humility It will teach us to judge of our selves as becometh us and it will ever keep us lowly 1. The Apostles motive to humility 1 Cor. 4.7 offereth it self to us in the very entrance on this meditation what hast thou which thou hast not received look on either the beauty of thy renewed soul or the comeliness of thy holy conversation or the excellency of thy justified state or the honour of thy Adoption or look on the lustre of thy spiritual joyes thy heavenly Hopes And of all these in general or of any of the particulars comprised in them can'st thou say this or that is not received I know thou can'st not deny the receiving and if thou hast received why dost thou boast this Question like a needle opens the swoln bladder of pride and letteth out the wind of vain opinion which would either corrupt or break us Thou hadst had as little to pride thy self in as one who hath only his shame to glory in if thou hadst not received what is now thy glory it was the bounty of thy Rich and Loving Friend at his Death to enrich thee thou hast no reason either 1. To boast before God who hath chosen and called thee as others like thee weak foolish and base Free and Rich mercy hath raised made wise and excellent and now neither thou I or any flesh may boast before God 1 Cor. 1.26 27 28 29. For what we are we are in Christ as v. 30. And the glory is due to God alone as v. 31. 2. Nor to boast over thy brother who was every whit as Good as thou before Grace made the difference and may ere long be as Rich in Grace as any and more humble than thou art yet He who hath adorned and blessed thee might with the same freeness have adorned him whom thou despisest Since then all that Good which is in thee was given to thee by thy Dying Lord it is absurd and exceeding unseemly for thee to lift up thy self above thy brother or to Glory in thy self before thy God When thou intendest to approach the Sacrament and when thou art there attending on the Lord remember thou hadst been poor and destitute of all those blessings therein represented if thy Lord Dying had not by Will bequeathed all to thee 2. The Second perswasive to Humility drawn from the Death of Christ as a Testator leaving us such Legacies may be our incapacity to serve him in any real service of advantage to him We Never yet were we never shall hereafter be in any capacity either of deserving what we have received or of requiting the love which gave it to us He that gave it gave by Will and Dyed to confirm his Will and our goodness could not extend to our Friend in the other world Our Lord needeth it not wee are when our best is done unprofitable servants These are two things which have kept better men in a humble lowly thought of themselves David's prayer Psal 16.1 was from a humble heart and in an humbled state and he maintained his Humility on the observation of his uselesness and unprofitableness to his Lord his preserver ver 2 3. My Goodness extendeth not unto thee c. It is Elihu his argument Job 35. ver 5. with 7. 8. To perswade to humility And Eliphaz Job 22.2 lay's down man's unprofitableness first and leaves us to conclude that unprofitable man must be a humble man thou mayest not be proud before one who needs thee not thou must not boast in thy Best seeing thy best is not good to him before whom thou boastest Should a man boast himself in his smoaky cottage before his Soveraign in his magnificent pallace or should a lame and decrepit fool boast of his wisdom and strength and commend it to his Soveraign for the wars In a word or two 1. Were thy Lord but a man yet his present state of Majesty and certainest coming in Glory confirmed represented to thee in his Last Testament mindeth thee that he needeth not thy help Thou canst not say He can be but not so well without me 2. The largeness of that state he was possessed of before he gave thee interess in it and which he hath still in his possession since he gave thee a right to any part of it doth clearly demonstrate that thou hast nothing to pride thy self in before thy Testator amongst other causes of humility we shall find that the wealth and Riches of those we appear before is one which perswadeth us to a demiss and lowly deportment and behaviour there is an appearance of Glory in Riches Psal 49.16 For with increase of Riches there is in common esteem an increase of Glory Now in the gifts and Legacies of thy Dying Lord thou mayst clearely see those true precious and lasting Treasures of grace comfort and glory which he was and is still owner of with him are Riches and honour Prov. 8.18 To him therefore reverent carriage and humble thoughts affections and esteem of our selves in his presence is most suitable And who is not affected with humility and lowliness toward Christ is so much the more injurious to him by how much more excellent and precious Christ's riches and wealth excel the Riches of men which are so highly esteemed that they are judged sufficient ground of honour to the owner and sufficient cause of commanding humble carriage in the poorer 3. In Christ Dying a Testator thou mayest discern a dignity of dominion and Lordship over the things which are disposed of by will A dominion which cometh near to an absolute and uncontrouled dominion what a man may give by will to whomsoever he pleaseth is more under the dominion of that man than the things which need a farther and more large conveyance As the estate which may be devised by Will and so convey'd to a Child Friend or stranger is more under the dominion of the present owner than is that estate which some law entaileth on the owners heirs or Children Now this being the case Christ's dominion and absolute soveraignty over the good things he hath given by Will doth require and deserve a humble and lowly spirit in those who partake of these gifts Dominion is as a Ground of honour in those who are invested with it so a Ground of humility in those who are inferiour to it What would be esteemed Friendly familiarity in me towards my equal and a commendable deportment would be accounted insolent pride in me towards my Lord or Soveraigne and a carriage not to be endured
for us I know there are many other motives to Repentance which may be seasonably thought on at the Sacrament there are also in this sufficient inducements to that Godly sorrow which becometh the memorials of our Dying Lord and loving Friend 1. First the Christian as he is a man as he is principled and swayed with the affections of Humane Nature cannot but reflect with greif upon his carriages and deportment towards a Friend who loved him intirely who was recompenced with the disingenuous returnes of scorn neglect and hatred When we have unadvisedly or unwittingly sleighted any Friend we dearly loved or should have loved we cannot remember it without shame sorrow confessing praying pardon and excuse with promise to be more heedful more respectful for future There is no love so tender and apt to distil into tears as that which is won by a worthy excellent person conquering ungrounded prejudices unreasonable neglects and unjustifiable contempts such affronted love when it prevails at last doth kindle the strongest fires and heapeth up the coals which melt the hardest and most stubborn metal Many a hard heart hath by such flame been melted down to tenderness Saul grew warm by it 1 Sam. 24.17 18 19. And in the 1 Sam. 26.21 It breaketh out into a flame of affection toward David and against himself for his unreasonable usages toward David Saul accuseth himself but acquitteth David he confesseth his sin his folly and great errour in designing evil against one who did so well deserve his love Though Saul were disingenuous more than enough against his Son David yet the reflection of his thoughts on David's kindness drew him into tears 1 Sam. 24.16 Wilt thou be more disingenuous to thy Lord than Saul to David how long didst thou directly oppose bitterly hate scornfully reproach and unreasonably reason against Christ's Law ordinances waies and followers what kind of life didst thou in the days of unregeneracy live if thou wast not a violent persecutor yet thou didst long think hardly of Christ and the Gospel yet then Christ did not cut thee off nor leave thee to perish in thy contempt of salvation wilt thou not say thou hast erred greatly done foolishly and sinned canst thou do less than weep over the thoughts hereof In the Sacrament thou commemoratest the most unparalleld love and beneficence triumphing over unkindness and unthankfulness a Testator bequeathing grace comfort glory and salvation to thee and others like thee who undervalued opposed hated and persecuted him Canst thou remember this and not grieve canst thou review it and not be displeased with thy self and condemn thy folly 2. The Christian Sorrow is most highly Ingenuous and excellently tempered and therefore the Remembrance of such unkindness to such a Friend will work a deep impression of Sorrow and grief upon the heart of the Remembrancer The Scripture tells us the People of God are a willing People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a People of Ingenuities indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 51.12 Grace reneweth nature to some degrees of created and primitive generousness Hence it is Cant. 6.12 the Church is stiled Aminadib God calls them my willing People and Isaiah doth very particularly describe this frame of mind and how it is wrought Isa 32.1 2 3 4. 5. By the power of Christ in the Gospel Now where such a sweet generous temper of mind is there will be reflections of dislike grief and Sorrow or repentance for any unseemly carriage towards one that deserved better The spouse Cant. 5.2 3. In drousy and careless fit neglected her beloved but when she was throughly awakned she discovereth a most deep sense of her neglect she fell into a deep sick fit of love ver 8. her heart failed her when she remembred what she had done such like workings of this Christian spiritual and renewed ingenuity you may observe 2 Cor. 7.11 in that sevenfold operation which conviction and remembrance of their fault wrought in them Carefulness or readiness to amend the errour clearing themselves or duly apologizing for themselves indignation against the offence and offender fear least the like should be committed or this not sufficiently taken away vehement desire of firm reconciliation Zeal for the injured and revenge such as becometh a Gospel repentance against the offence and against themselves for it Either thou art not well acquainted with what Christ hath done for thee in his last Will and Testament or thou hast not yet observed how little love service and honour thou hast returned him for his love or if thou knowest and observest both these they work in thee a readiness of mind to correct thine errours a defence for Christ and blame of thy self with indignation against thy former folly fear of being so foolish any more earnest desire to be one with Christ and Zeal for his glory with revenge on thy sins which eclipsed it Wheresoever Christian ingenuity springs from a renewed heart renewed Sorrow for unkindnesses will put forth it self and spring from that ingenuity Say then whatever the common ingenuity of a man whatever the enhanced generousness of a Christian should work in the reflections on its own unhansome carriages towards a sleighted friend all that should the renewed memory of my Lord Dying a Testator and by his Testament enriching me produce in me viz. all common and ordinary effects of hearty sorrow yea all especial and extraordinary effects of Christian repentance Of which I need say no more of which I dare not longer treat because I must not exceed bounds to much CAP. V. Sect. 11. Better'd obedience the Fruit of Christ's Dying a Testator 11. THE next grace suiting to the Lord's Supper and improveable on the consideration of Christ's Death as he died a Testator is Resolution and endeavour of New and better Obedience for future There 's no man that accounteth the ordinance a mercy that looketh on it as a Sealing ordinance a renewing our Covenant with God or a memorial of the Death of Christ Dying for us that we might live to him but confesseth New Obedience should be the effect and resolutions for new Obedience should be the preparatory for this Sacrament It is not therefore needful to prove it particularly and at large I speak to none but such as judge it their duty after they have been at the Lord's Supper to endeavour a renewing of their Obedience to the commands of Christ 1. The gain and reward bequeathed is worthy very well deserveth our Obedience We have had frequent occasion to tell you that the promises both of the life that now is and of that which is to come are the Legacies of Christ which promises are rich and precious they contain all necessary noble and high encouragements to Obedience when the labourers were hired and sent into the vineyard the husbandman perswadeth them to obey and work for saith he I will give you what is meet Matth. 20.4 What the Apostle saith
be that Love which hath so loved me Let him carry away all my affection who thus hath carried all my transgressions He shall have my love whilst I live by whose love it is that I live Oh let my love at the Sacrament revive where there is the revived memory of my Lord his love to me None but those foolish and mad creatures who are in love with their faults and with their misery will withhold their love from Christ who delivered us from both 3. Did Christ die such a death in thy stead let this then awaken thee to consider how thou wouldst resent another mans suffering for thee and speak what interess thy friend should purchase in thy affections by his undergoing afflictions for thee Wouldst thou love thy rich friend that took thy debts on him wouldst thou do less than dearly love thy skilful friend that cured thee of thy disease thy powerful friend at Court who rescued thee from a prison thy watchful friend who kept strict and careful watch lest thou shouldst be surprised and ruin'd whilst thou wert sleeping secure in greatest danger and in greatest ignorance and security But what wouldst thou say if thy friend should deliver thee from thine by making it his own disease or should go into a prison that thou mightest go out of it or expose himself to ruine that thou mightest be indemnified Just so did Christ for thee he did bear thy disease and took thy sickness upon him he became a prisoner first to unjust hands seizing on him and then to the grave which could not hold him yet a while he was a prisoner there for thy sake in thy stead and what acknowledgment wilt thou make of all this How wilt thou certifie the Christian world that thou dost well resent what Christ hath done if thou wilt not love him for doing it Thou lovest those that speak well of thee that bless thee that wish well to thee and endeavour to do thee good and what law reason or equity wilt thou pretend why thou dost not love Christ who speaks best of thee to his Father and who wished best to thee and hath done most for thee and all this by his dying a Curse for thee Let thy own heart ponder this and draw to a conclusion what ought to be done in this case say Had any man whom I know done this for me which Christ hath done I could not but love him and why do I not love Christ if I did see my friend loaded with curses and reproaches and bearing them patiently for me that I might not be reproached that I might not be cursed it would endear such a friend to me why now in the Sacrament the visible memorial of Christ's dying a Curse for me I do see such a friend so loaded for my sake that I might not be loaded with my deserved Curse I may not I will not be less to him than I would be to another I will love him more than any else for he hath done more for me than all could and I see it in the Sacrament the blessed memorial of his cursed Death Fourthly and lastly Is the Sacrament of the bloody Death of Christ a memorial of his dying an accursed death for me oh then I see the evidence of a love to me which surpasseth the love of best friends which indeed exceeds the thoughts and belief of most considerate men For who will believe beside a Christian who is taught by the revealed word of the God of truth that Christ would become a Curse for us Some men will hardly believe that the Apostle spake his very thoughts when he wished that he himself were accursed from Christ for his brethren his kinsmen after the flesh Some judge it so inconsistent with reason that they think the Apostle could not soberly sedately and rationally desire it but that he did use the liberty and freedom of an Orator to commend his greatest affection to his kindred by a greater expression But behold Reader Paul's wish for his kindred is Christ's own act for his what Paul wisht but could not do for his brethren Christ hath undertook and undergone for his brethren What some do think was too great for a rational and sober desire in the one hath been found not too great for the choice and performance of the other Now let Christ have but a serious view of this he hath done for thee and answer thy self this or such like questions Is that too little to engage my love which was too great for any to undertake but Christ Do I see Christ doing that which few men will believe a man could wish he mght do and do I still withhold my heart my affection from Christ Do I know that his love was stronger than death he was content to be accursed for the sake good life and salvation of Believers I see him for a while separated from God that he might bring me to God and now he shall have that love which is too great for any one since he hath done what is so great for me In the fifth place 5. Joy in believing a Sacramental grace The Believer's Joy is or at least might be considerably improved in the commemoration of Christ dying as a Curse for us It is not to be questioned whether joy and rejoycing through faith in the Lord be seasonable in our feasting with the Lord. Joy is the souls rest with delight in the Lord and such a disposition of mind doth the Lord require and accept at this seast Now let us observe how that his dying a Curse for us may increase our joy and this may appear 1. From the Nature of Joy which is the triumph of the mind in its freedom and deliverance from its fears or in its attaining and possessing of its hopes It is a rational security of our best hopes and a due removal of our worst fears singing a rest and happiness to the soul Joy is the rapture of our soul hearing and observing desired events sweetly keeping tune with our desires and hopes It is the Tripudium Animae the soul's dance to the Musick which the God of Heaven makes for it If there be any exstasies of joy it can be from no other harmony than which is heard not from Pythagoras his melodious spheres but from the Cross of our Blessed Lord seting Heaven and Earth in a blessed concent by his accursed Death The Philosopher will tell us Dilatatio cordis ob bonum praesens that Joy is the dilatation of the soul the enlarging of the heart to entertain a present desired good Good wished for is the Sun the heart is the Heliotrope the flower of the Sun Joy is the opening and turning of this flower towards the Sun This or somewhat like this is Joy Now in what can the soul triumph if not in its freedom from a dreadful Curse What may possibly be imagined will secure the rational hopes and wishes of a Christian better than Christ's
see then it is self-deceiving flattery to hope for the love and favour of God whilst I love my sin and continue in it if I will have his love and escape his hatred I must leave off sin for he hateth all the workers of iniquity Psal 5.6 He hateth the evil way Prov. 8.3 I must either leave the evil way or perish in his hatred For none ever escaped perishing who by continuing to sin provoked his displeasure and wrath against them Resolve therefore as becomes a man O my soul fly and hasten thy flight from wrath to come prevent the misery of being hated and accursed of thy God cast off thy sin cease to do evil and then God will cease to be angry There cannot be any thing in sin to compensate thee to reward thee for the loss of the favour of God Sin can never heal the wounds which the hatred of God will make in thy soul Poor creature thou wert better have all the men on Earth and all the finite invisible powers of light and darkness to hate thee thou mightest bear this than have one God to hate thee thou canst never bear this In fine therefore saith the believing serious and considerate soul I will not hazard I will not run the venture and danger of divine displeasure of the hatred of an Almighty God for I see in the Curse which my Lord lay under what I must lie under for ever if I will by continuing longer in sin own my former sins pull the punishment of them upon my self and love that which my God so perfectly hateth I will every day labour to hate that with perfect hatred which my God hateth I will seek his love by a present separation and divorce from sin I will this day renew my purpose and attempts to leave my cursed sins for God hath renewed my thoughts of his hatred against sin by the renewed remembrance of Christ dying a Curse for my sin Fourthly In the renewed thoughts of this kind of death The Believer hath the renewed sight and evidence of a death hanging over the head of every sinner which of all deaths is the most dreadful which is fullest of horrours and soul-tormenting fears Death is the King of terrours though represented and cloathed in the lest dreadful manner it can be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotel No kind of death but is terrible enough but of all this is the most terrible and only to be feared it is this at the heels of the other that makes it dreadful It is a most undoubted truth that every one continuing to sin and so dying shall die under a Curse for his own sin though the sinner should live to an hundred nay to many hundred years yet if he live and die a servant to his sin he shall die accursed and this we may be sufficiently assured of by the accursed Death of our Lord for he died so for as much as the sins of God's Elect and chosen ones were laid to him he was loaded with them and all the guilt of them was charged on him and therefore was he punished therefore he died in such a manner He was made a Curse because the guilt of our sins was laid on him and punishment due to that guilt inflicted on him Nothing more certain He was wounded for our transgressions Isa 53.5 He bare the sin of many ver 12. He his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree 1 Pet. 2.24 And all this evidently set forth before our eyes so that the serious and considering soul soon comes to this conclusion that whoever doth bear the guilt of sin he must die a Curse for it and he needs no other proof of it but this Christ did bear guilt and this brought him to a cursed Death Now then he begins to argue the case with himself Can I continue in sin and not bear the guilt of sin Can I yield my self a servant to sin and yet not be accounted a servant of sin Can I do the works of iniquity and not be thought by judicious and wise men a worker of iniquity How much more will the just and righteous God occount me so When I do any fact for which the Law of man will call me to account can I do the fact and the Law not impute it to me It is most sottish folly to continue in the service of sin and to flatter my self that I shall not be accounted a servant of sin or to hope I shall not be loaded with the guilt of my sin And it is no less folly to think that we may lye under the guilt of sin and yet not sink under the importable burthen of a Curse No no either I must leave my sinning or I must die that Death which of all is the most terrible I must be a Curse under the wrath of God Now therefore resolve what thou and I shalt do God proposeth a Christ dying a Curse for thee to encourage thee to leave sin or to shew thee what thou must trust to if thou live in sin He preacheth to thee this Doctrine Life through Grace if thou wilt obey if thou wilt renounce thy evil way for then thy Saviour shall be thy Peace bear thy Guilt and endure thy Curse or else Death if thou wilt still refuse to convert and leave thy sin And let me tell thee it is Death with a Curse and consider thou whether thou canst endure it and let me ask thee these few questions 1. Dost thou not believe that there is somewhat more in Death when it is sharpened with this sharp and piercing sting Dost thou not think that the Curse doth add unto the dread and fear of Death When God proclaimeth any one blessed in death dost thou not perswade thy self that God taketh away much of the terrour of death if so then certainly when God addeth a Curse with death he addeth terrour to it and thou must confess it also if thou wilt consider it Now then say Canst thou contentedly think of dying for thy sin Canst thou think of doing more than dying for thy sins Vntil that time be come wherein thou canst say thou wouldest be willing to suffer more than death for sin thou should'st not be willing to serve sin any more in thy life I know when we come to die we shall judge sin unworthy of such a pledge of love or service as one pang or one fear or one sigh for its sake oh then we shall say He loved sin too much who for sin's sake added the lest pang to death Whatever thou dost therefore leave to sin lest tlou add the misery of a Curse to thy death 2. Let me ask thee Is there no manner of dying which is a terrour to thee more than ordinary If thou wert now to die and mightest chuse thy death wouldst thou chuse any that were full of pains or loathsomness or both these continuing long Are there not some kinds of death from which