course of profession in the way of life and salvation but they never come to bee opposers and resisters of God and his grace till there comes some to bee wiser and stricter in a Christian course than they and then hee fals away Vse 4 Is it so that the faithfull soule is thus neerly knitted to Christ as the member to the body or the branch to the vine then all you that beleeve in Christ observe from hence a ground of strong consolation against all the contempt of the world and the misery that can betide and against all the temptations that Sathan can lay against you to cause you to fall finally or totally First it is a ground of great comfort and consolation to carry up the soule and lift up the heart against all the contempt and disgrace against all the troubles and miseries and persecutions that can betide or befall you or can be cast upon you in this wandring pilgrimage of yours when a Christian begins to turne his face heaven-ward and goe home to the Lord then all his friends flie away and depart from him David complaines that his honours stood afarre off and hee was a mocking to the enemie and a contempt to those that were before neere unto him so it will bee with you nay it is so with most that live in the bosome of the Church how often can many of you speake of it when the Lord hath given you a heart to walke with him and depend upon him how often are you made the off-scouring of the world your carnall friends detest your persons and scorne your societies why raise up your hearts with the consideration of the former truth yee that doe endure it or may feare it comfort your selves doth man cast you off doth man cast you out Christ will receive you why then are you discouraged what though the servant frowne if the Master welcome what though we be not with the wicked if we be with Christ and Christ with us why are we then discontented it is that which comforts a party that matcheth against her parents minde when her parents frowne this comforts her heart though she hath not their love and society yet she hath the love and company of her husband and that contents her so it is with every beleeving soule you have matched against the minde of your carnall friends they would not have you take that course Oh then they tell you Woe and beggerie will befall you well though you have matched contrarie to the mindes of your carnall friends or master or husband yet comfort thy selfe though thou hast the ill will of an earthly husband yet now God will be a husband in heaven thou maist sing care away and bee for ever comforted and refreshed it was that which God himselfe gave for a cordiall to cheare up Iacob in that long and tedious journey of his when hee was going into a farre countrie Genes 28.14 15. when he was going from his owne countrie and had no friends to succour him the Lord met him and said I will goe with thee and keepe thee in all places whither thou goest and I will bring thee back into this land and I will never leave thee untill I have done that which I spake unto thee of this was that which lifted and bare up the heart of the good man though hee could not but expect hard dealing why yet saith the Lord I will goe with thee and never leave thee thinke of it and consider of it seriously what a ground of consolation may it be when we shall wander up and downe and goe into caves and holes and dens of the earth when wee shall goe into prison or banishment and friends may not nor will not goe with us yet Christ will goe Esay 43.2 When thou passest thorow the waters I will be with thee and thorow the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest thorow the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee a man cannot save his wife sometimes in the water though shee bee ready to be drowned a man cannot goe into the fire to helpe her though she be ready to be burnt but Christ will be with thee in the water and in the fire that is in the heaviest trials and forest troubles what can come to us if Christ be with us if miserie and sorrow and trouble bee with us if Christ our husband be with us what matter he is the husband of his spouse and the Saviour of his people why should wee then bee discouraged or disquieted Secondly as it is a ground of comfort against all opposition and troubles of the world so it is a ground of comfort to stay our soules against the fiercenesse of all temptations whereby Satan labours to plucke us from the Lord Iesus Christ and our hearts sinke within us and we shall wee say one day perish by the hands of Saul by the hand of the enemy attempting and corruptions prevailing cleare your hearts and know though temptations may outbid your weaknesses and corruptions may outbid your abilities and when you would doe good evill is present with you and sinne cleaves and sticks close to you why cheare your hearts with this consideration that you have Christ that sticks closer to you than your sinnes and this should cheere up weake and feeble ones I know what troubles you were I as strong as such a christian had I such parts and such strength of faith and shall such a poore little one as I am beare the brunt of persecution and indure in the time of perplexitie Why consider though thou canst not helpe thy selfe yet Christ can and know this that Christ will not lose the least member he is a perfect Saviour the Lord will not suffer Satan to take thee away from him nor suffer his love to bee taken from thee Rom. 8. the two last verses it was the triumph of the holy Apostle Paul I am perswaded saith he that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which it in Christ Iesus our Lord when health is separated from thy body and light from thy eyes and strength from thy feeble nature yet remember that when thy body is separated from thy soule the Lord will not separated his love from thee neither from thy body in the grave nor from thy 〈…〉 it is departed out of thy body he will love thy body in the grave he loves the dust of his Saints and he will take thy soule up into heaven therefore cheare up thy heart and comfort thy soule in the consideration of Gods goodnesse Vse 5 Lastly are the Saints knit to Christ thus firmly then it shews us our dutie we ought to take notice of the goodnesse of the Lord vouchsafed unto us hath the Lord advanced you thus highly then walke
to be forsaken that we might not be forsaken and to bee condemned that wee might bee acquitted Oh all you stubborne hearts that heretofore have made nothing of the blood of Christ and his honour but though the judgements of God and the hammer cannot breake your hearts yet let this mercy breake you and reason with thy owne heart in this manner and say Good Lord is this possible Lord this is too much for reason cannot reach it nor nature cannot doe it to give himselfe and his life and to bee forsaken and despised that a rebbell and a traitor should be received to mercy certainly I shall love him as long as I live yes and doe so too and seeke to that Jesus Christ and honour him and say for ought I know I may obtaine a part in Christ therefore I will never wrong him nor grieve his good Spirit more The Lord say Amen to the good desires of your hearts that you may stand and wonder at this compassion of the Lord that is out of measure great Vse 4 Hath the Lord suffered all these punishment for us then what shall wee doe for the Lord Jesus Christ returne an answer to the Lord what course you will take to answer the kindnesse of the Lord. When David had received many kindnesses from the Lord he lookes up to Heaven and saith I will love thee dearly O Lord my strength Love is the loadstone of love therefore have love inlarged in this dutie be not scantie in your love but bestow your hearts fully and liberally upon the Lord Jesus Christ and let all returne love to the Lord Jesus Christ and love him in all things by all means and at all times and know that the death of Christ requires this and will call for it I doe not love that a man should give the Lord Iesus Christ a little scanty desire and a few lazy wishes but love him with all thy soule and with all thy strength and say I will love thee dearly Oh Lord my strength when thou dost rise in the morning love Iesus Christ and bathe thy heart in it and when thou art in the way or at thy labour love Iesus Christ that strengthens thee when thou feedest upon the sweetnesse of thy meat thinke upon the sweetnesse that is in Christ and thanke the blood of Christ for all that thou hast in all the riches thou seest and in all the honours thou hast and in all thy friends and means and whatsoever thy heart loves or esteems in that see Christ and in that love Christ why what doth that concerne Jesus Christ I answer it will make it appeare that all that thou hast is from the blood of Christ and the blood of Christ is better than all the blessings you doe enjoy and they are all nothing without this for it is the death of the Lord Iesus Christ that ads a seasoning vertue to all the good things thou hast so that these are not good to us neither doe they worke good to us but that they are given to us in and by the Lord Jesus Christ for were they not given us in Christ there is such venome and gall in our sinnes and the wrath of God it selfe which slides thorow all the good things here below that it makes all the morsels gravell in the belly In a word the blood of Christ takes away the venome and indignation of Gods curse which otherwise would bring a plague upon what wee have and what we doe enjoy how many rich and honourable are there if the Lord let but in a veine of vengeance into their consciences all their riches and honours are base and worth nothing what 's that to me if I bee rich and a reprobate honoured and damned and the wrath of God to pursue me therefore without the death of Christ all these things are but curses to us the world is a prison and the creatures are our enemies and every one of our actions are our witnesses to condemne us and all our comforts are but gall and wormwood to us nay were it not for the blood of Christ your prosperity would be your ruine your beds your graves and your comforts your confusion and therefore that they are not so and that thou hast any comfort from these goe blesse God for it and say Lord it is through thy blood that I have received any blessing upon these blessings Lord I might have drunke the cup of thy wrath when I drunke this beere I might have eaten my bane when I eat my meat I blesse thy Name blessed Redeemer for thy love it is thy blood that hath purchased these things for me if you have received from any thing here below any good at all looke up to Christ and blesse his Name for it and say if this meat be so sweet then what is the blood of Christ therefore love Christ by all means let all your words be words of love and all your labour be the labour of love and all your thoughts bee thoughts of love and muse of love and speake of the treasures of mercy and let all your affections be full of love and all your workes be love and lift up his Name and say all ye that see my conversation that I walke so comfortably blesse his Name for it the blood of Jesus Christ hath done all this for me I was a wretched creature but the blood of Christ hath overpowred this rebellious heart of mine honour him and lift him up and say my heart was hard and filthy and my soule was destitute of all good and my sinnes many yet now I have some evidence of the love of God blessed bee his Name for it the blood of Christ hath done this for me muse of him speake for him worke for him and doe all for him in all miseries and troubles sorrowes and vexations temptations without and terrours within love Jesus Christ therein though these befall thee yet the venome and poyson of them is gone and they are sweetned unto thee thy prison is libertie thy contempt is advancement in all the things thou hast love Jesus Christ that hath procured these and now if you will not love Jesus Christ let mee aske you whom will you love nay whom else can you love answer mee will you love your friends that are deare unto you or your Parents that doe provide for you or your wife that is loving and mercifull to you you will love these as there is good cause you should but love Christ more than all these If you will love a friend or a father then much more Christ that is the Author of all and the continuer and preserver of all a friend would be an enemy but that the blood of Christ frames his heart A wife would rather bee a trouble than a helpe but that the blood of Christ orders her therefore I say with Paul 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Iesus Christ let him bee Anathema Maranatha aske your neighbours if they love not the Lord Jesus Christ Let that soule bee accursed untill the comming of Christ to judgement Curse him all yee Angels in Heaven and all yee Devils in Hell Curse him all yee creatures and let this curse remaine upon him untill the comming of Christ unto judgement and let these curses bee sealed downe upon him for ever and when you are come to the end of all this will bee the plague and the curse of all that you had Christ and mercy rendered to you once and you would not receive it therefore since Christ hath thought nothing too good for us even his life and blood and was content to part with the sense and feeling of the sweetnesse of the love of God the Father thinke nothing too good for Christ but love him in all things and by all means the Lord grant wee may FINIS
men did not desire it but this is the meaning they were willing to have suffered the want of the sense and feeling of Gods love and favour for the present though they would have loved and closed with God still yet they would have beene content to want the sense of Gods love that Gods glory might have beene advanced and the salvation of the Jewes furthered so it was here with our Saviour Christ for howsoever according to his humane nature hee did feare the death naturall and the wrath which hee saw comming upon his nature and therefore he said if it be possible let this cup passe from me he might doe it and God by reason required it that a man be sensible of misery yet according to the holinesse of the will of the Father hee did not pray against these but prayed for these and for the beaâ—ing of the punishment for he was sent for this end and it was a part of the Mediatourship this is the meaning of that place Iohn 12.27 What shall I say Father save me from this houre no but therefore came I unto this houre that is the houre of death He came into the world for this end and therefore he submits himselfe Thus much for the opening of the first part of this conclusion that whatsoever wrath should have come forth from the Father upon the faithfull Christ did beare it all Now the second part is this Christ so bears it that his owne sinne never deserved this wrath of God nor hee never sinned in bearing it neither was he overwhelmed in bearing it but he wrestled against it and overcame it it implies two things and it prevents another cavill First the paine of the soule comes either from a cause without or a cause within or from both If a man were to goe to hell it came either from his owne sinne deserving it or from Gods wrath inflicting it or from both now Christ did suffer punishments in his soule but not so farreâ— they came for his owne sinne the cause from within is sinfull and detestable but the cause from without is holy and righteous therefore all that which came from Gods wrath inflicting punishment all that Christ did suffer was so but the wicked have a cause of sinne within them and that Christ having not hee needed not to suffer and because he had no sinne in him he did not suffer all pains of hell hee suffered the displeasure of Gods wrath but yet so much of the punishment as came from sin committed that our Saviour did not suffer Secondly a poore creature bearing Gods anger he hath not onely Gods anger seâ—ing upon him but also it overwhelms him because hee is not able to beare it the plague prevails against him not onely the wrath of God lies upon a sinner in hell but it crusheth him there that he can never goe from it and this Divines call the absolute damnation such a damnation as overturnâ— a sinner in hell and crusheth him there for evermore The reason why a sinnes never comes out of hell is this because his sufferings are not infinitely satisfiable according as his sinnes have beene infinite to provoke God for as Adams sin was infinite and provoking because it was against his Godhead so the sufferings must bee infinite now the sufferings of Christ were of infinite value but Adams sufferings were not of an infinite nature Christ bore the wrath of God and wrestled with it and overcame it and came out from under the 〈◊〉 displeasure of God and why because theâ— were able to satisfie an infinite God who was thus infinitely wronged by the sinne of man therefore the sufferings must be of an infinite satisfying nature as you shall conceive thus a finite sinne of Adam committed against God was infinitely provoking but the sufferings of Christ were infinitely satisfying and so answerable in proportion to what divine justice required this was the meaning of that place iâ— Acts 2.24 Whom God raised up and loosed the sorrowes of death because it was not possible that hee should bee holden downe of death and it is the meaning of that place 1 Cor. â—5 54 Death is swallowed up in victorie Christ endures 〈◊〉 and overcomes it and Iohn 1â— 20 Christ will convince the world of sinne and of righteousnesse why of righteousnesse for I goe unto the Father and why doth hee goe to the Father because hee hath paid the debt to the uttermost hee did satisfie justice to the full for had he not satisfied justice he had beene kept in the graâ—e till this day and wee had beene condemned but now hee hath borne and satisfied all therefore hee must come forth to immortalitie and glory Remember these conclusions and think thus hath my Saviour done all this for me well I will remember it and thinke upon it and I will lay it by mee for ever The fift conclusion followes and that is this The desperation of a damned soule in hell and the eternitie of torments they are no essentials of the second death and therefore they could not nor ought not to be suffered by our Saviour this I say to stop the mouths of all Popish Jesuites and especially of Bellarmine who thinke to east a great scandall upon Calvin and others in this kinde let me open both he parts of it first the damned in hell despaire therefore saith Bellarmine if Christ suffered the pains of the second death he did despaire and did suffer the paines of hell for â—vermore Oh foolish creature who will be so wicked as to say thus Therefore that you may see this cursed opinion consider two particulars in this desperation First the nature of desperation what it is Secondly I will shew that this desperation is no part of the second death First of all for the nature of it what it is desperation as the word carries iâ— is to cast away all hope and expectation of any good this is properly to despaire For if there be any good things with us then we are said to have them in possession and fruition but if good things are absent from us then we are said to expect them and to hope and wait for them and hope saith it may be otherwise this is that which beares up the soules in the most heavie brunt But for hope the heart would breake saith the Proverb and it is true indeed in the greatest miseries that can befall â—â— and when we feele nothing nor finde nothing nor have nothing in sense yeâ— hope saith it may be otherwise and though now I am sinfull and miserable yet I may bee pardoned and though now in the gall of bitternesse yet I may be purged and sanctified and though now I am a damned creature yet I may bee succoured and delivered This is that which sometimes bears up the heart and it is that also which beares up the hearts of the wicked many times here upon the earth when the Lord lets in the horrour of heart and fils
the soule with his indignation his heart would sinke but that a little leane starved hope supports him and he sees than Gods will is not yet fully revealed but that he may be saved and he saith this conscience may bee quieted and this soule may be saved and these sins may bee pardoned now despaire is the quite contrary when the soule hath no good in expectation and that which cuts the heart strings of a mans consolation and plucke a mans comforts up by the roots as hee hath nothing for the present so all means and wayes of getting any good are cut off and then he casts off hope and never lookes to God more because he never lookes for mercy from God and then hope goes out and saith Oh when will it once be cannot these sinnes bee pardoned c And at last hee sees there is no way of getting any good and therefore hee never lookes for mercy more but expects hell and damnation and cries out I am damned I am damned This is despaire and this is the nature of it Secondly this despaire is not any part or essentiall property appertaining to the pains of the second death whether we looke at the withdrawing of the sweetnesse of Gods love or whether wee looke at the inflicting of the wrath of God upon the soule this is no part of them for besides that which Divines will observe namely that all punishments are passions and they suffer them but despaire is a worke of the creature and it issues from himselfe and the creature doth it and therefore it cannot properly bee a punishment nor any part of the second death but besides all this which they observe this desperation so opened it is so farre from being any part of the second death as that it is not a consequent which nextly followes from the second death but from the weaknesse and sinfulnesse of the creature Desperation is not any effect flowing immediatly from the wrath of God upon the creature but it proceeds and comes directly and immediatly from the weaknesse and sinfulnes of the creature Imagine that yee saw the Lord Iesus Christ comming in the clouds with thousand thousands of his holy Angels and the thrones were set up and all flesh appeared the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left hand and the Lord Iesus Christ passeth the doome and the sentence against them saying Goe yee cursed into everlasting fire Now when a poore damned creature seeth that the sentence is gone and seeth the good wil of God pass'd upon him and the power of his wrath now to bee exprest to the full against him and he apprehends the will of God now fulfild never to be crost more and the decree of God is now exprest never to bee altered more and hee seeth the gates of hell now sealed upon him and that the Lord hath cast upon him the tombstone of his wrath and that he is buried under the power of the second death and now he seeth the time is gone and the justice of God can never bee satisfied more and this power of the Lords wrath can never be removed Oh the time was that I had the word and the power of into quicken me and to informe me and the Spirit of God to strive with me and then there was some hope but now the decree of God is maâ—e unrevokable and this wrath I shall never beare nor never remove There is now to word no praying no hearing no conference no mercy nor salvation to bee hoped for and so the soule lookes no more for any good because the Lord hath so peremptorily set downe his doâ—me thus the soule breaks under the wrath of God and is not able to satisfie and the wrath of God can never bee removed the fire will ever burne and the worme will ever gnaw and now the soule casts off all hope and this is the meaning of those phrases 2 Pet. 3.7 and in the 6. verse of the Epistle of Iude where speaking of the devils the text saith They are reserved in everlasting chains under darknes to the judgement of the great day the devill is hopelesse he hath no hope of good nor shall never receive any good but our Saviour Christ that was able by the power of his God-head to suffer this wrath of God and to satisfie justice and to support himselfe under this wrath and to come out from it he hath a certaine hope to please God the Father and to have everlasting blisse and happinesse with him there is hope with our Saviour because he can beare and satisfie and come from under this wrath Take a bason of water and cast it upon a few coales of fire and it will put them clean out but throw the same boson full upon a great fire and though it may damp it a little at first yet it cannot quench it but rather increaseth the flame and makes it burne the faster what 's the reason of this that it quenched the little fire and not the great fâ—re it was not firstly and nextly because of the coldnesse and crosnesse of the water to the fire for the same water was as cold upon the great fire and as crosseâ— the nature of the great fire but the little fire was rob weake of it selfe to beare the coldnesse of the water and therefore it was quenched but the great fire was able to beare the coldnesse of the water and therefore it was not quenched so it is here the wrath of God is like this water as David saith All thy waves and billowes have passed over me that is the waves of Gods indignation and the ocean sea of Gods wrath â—hen this fals upon a poore weake sinfull creature that cannot beare this but breakes under this wrath and cannot take off the vengeance of the Lord but sinkes under it this creature despaires of all helpe not because of the wrath of the Lord firstly but because of the weaknesse and the sinfulnesse of the creature that could not beare the wrath of the Lord and hence he despaires and the soule saith alas I am weake and a poore sinne creature and this wrath of the Lord is of an infinite vigour I shall never be able to beare it nor to get from under it therefore I despair and cast away all hope of helpe but the Lord Jesus Christ being perfect God and perfect man having a great flame of holy affections kindled in him by the spirit of the Father this did assist him hereby to beare the wrath of God in his soule and not onely was hee able to beare it but to overcome it and although hee were tossed up and downe in the sea of Gods wrath yet he was not drowned and though hee sipped of the poyson yet he was not poysoned therefore he bore the paines of the second death and overcame them and did not despaire he expected to receive good because he knew he should have good thus our Saviour Iohn 19.30 when
whole heavens as I may say and did darken all the Sunne-shine of Gods favour as it is with the Sun in the firmament when a little cloud growes greater and greater untill it cover the whole heaven then we thinke it is almost night so all the sinnes of all the faithfull did overspread all the whole heavens that even the star-light of Gods compassion and the lightning of Gods love and favour appeared not Now I come to the reasons of our Saviours grievous sufferings in his soule and the reasons are these First from the cause Secondly from the place to which our Saviour was called Thirdly from the love of the Lord Jesus Christ which makes it most plaine of all Reason 1 First from the cause it cannot bee that it was the Jewes and Herod and Pilate that made him crie out in this manner but the justice of God the Father came against him and the devill entred the combate with the Lord Jesus Christ upon the crosse Luke 22.53 This is your houre and the power of darknesse hell gates were set open and the devils were all let loose upon our Saviour and therefore as Divines doe wisely and judiciously observe in Coloss 2.15 Hee led captivity captive and spoyled principalities and powers and tooke the hand writing of ordinances that was against us and fastned them to his crosse hee was now in the maine combat with all the powers of sinne hell and death These were they that did make the combat with the Lord of life Reason 2 The second reason is taken from the place which he underwent he was to be a Priest and he was to offer up himselfe for a sacrifice not his body alone but also his soule as Hebrewes 9.20.24 Christ offered up himselfe for a sacrifice Reason 3 Thirdly the love of the Lord Jesus was such that of necessitie it must bee so and those that thinke that the Lord Jesus suffered nothing else but onely the death of the body they wonderfully wrong the love of the Lord Jesus Christ the like love was never seene for had he suffered only the death naturall then some of Gods people had shewed greater love than ever Christ did as Paul Romans 9.3 I could bee content to want the sense of the love of Christ for the people of the Iewes c. Now if our Saviour had onely suffered the death naturall then Paul could have beene content to doe more than Christ did Thus you see the nature of this forsaking of Christ Secondly there was also a curse which befell our Saviour which here is intimated but is fully exprest Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law why because he was made a curse for us how doth he prove that because it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree He proves the truth by the Type the curse lay in this that Christ did suffer whatsoever was due unto us So the Apostle reasons that whatsoever curse was due unto us that our Saviour did suffer the curse was this the Father did not only withdraw the sense and sweetnesse of his love and favour from the Lord Jesus Christ but hee also let in his heavie indignation and wrath into his soule and that seized upon and fild the soule of our Saviour brim full and this was the curses The Scripture doth expresse it in two particulars or there are two degrees of it First the justice of God had a single combat with our Saviour in the garden and there it had three bouts with him the Lord dealt very roughly with him and the blowes were very heavie that hee laid upon our Saviour there for they went to the heart of him and yet that was but a little skirmish Esay 53.4 5. God smote him and bruised him insomuch that there was clodded blood seene to come dropping from him these heavie bouts that hee had wounded him and went to the very heart of him but now patience and forbearance and longsuffering and mercy and compassion they all come into rescue our Saviour and they afford him a little breathing and refreshing so that though the blowes were heavie and the thrusts were sore yet he did breathe and live and it was not the maine stroke of all and the reason was because patience mercy and goodnesse and bountie came in to rescue him but then the second part was this Not only Gods anger had a single combat with him but at last the justice of God gathered up all the powers of it and the wrath of God drew up all the forces together and they marched in furiously against Christ and whereas before the Father smote at him and did thrust at him now hee slew him When our Saviour came to the crosse and the heat of the battle lay upon him then all the sense and sweetnesse of Gods countenance and favour they all left our Saviour in the open field for in the garden hee had some refreshings and some breathing times and mercy and goodnesse did step in and say slay him not but let him have some refreshings but now the sense and the feeling of all these was gone Vse The use of this last branch it is a word of terrour and it is able to shake the hearts of the proudest wretches under heaven they that let themselves against God and Heaven and make nothing of the sinnes they have committed nor of the wrath of God threatned and when the Minister saith Oh the end of those sins will be bitternesse this contempt of God and grace and holy services and these oaths will be bitter in the latter end How can you beare the wrath of God and you cannot possibly avoid it tusâ— say they come let us talke of other matters and not busie our selves with these matters well saith the Minister but the word is true and the word saith it well then saith the soule and I will beare it as well as I can If I sinne I will beare it and if I come into hell I shall beare it as well as another and I shall make a shift for one Oh poore sinfull creature wilt thou beare it and make thy part good as well as another dost thou know what thou saist ler all those stouthearted men that sit in the feat of the scornfull and make nothing of God nor his wrath nor of hell nor of the sinnes that they have committed let them know that they shall never bee able to beare the indignation of the Lord see here and behold a little all you that make nothing of the withdrawing of Gods favour Psalme 97.4 5. and Revelation â— 14 15 16 17. The heavens departed away as a scrowle when it is rowled and every mountaine and Isle were removed out of their places and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chiefe captaines and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and rocks and in the mountaines and said to
beds and all kinde of dalliance and hee knowes nothing but goes as an Oxe to the slaughter untill a dart strike through his liver and he knowes not that it is for his life hee goes and his life goes Her house is the way to the grave which goeth downe to the chambers of death the like is in Iudas hee desired to betray Christ and for what onely to get a little poore pittance of thirtie pence his covetousnesse was now asleep and he had a murthering heart towards the Lord Jesus Christ and a covetous heart for himselfe all this while sinne was asleepe but when Christ was attached and condemned then Iudas began to be worried with his corruptions hee comes in horrour of heart and throwes downe the thirtie pence and comes into the high Priests hall and saith I have sinned in betraying innocent blood Now tell mee Iudas is it good to bee covetous now when his conscience was awake and thus wrath of God began to seize upon it and that Lion began to rore upon him then his heart begun to shake within him and hee departed and went away and hanged himselfe his sinne made way for it and thus it will be with every wicked man in the world Howsoever now you have delâ—ons to cozen others and you have your unjust measures and you can carry it away bravely your corruptions are now asleep but that covetousnesse out of thy shop and that adultery out of thy chamber it will one day rore upon thee looke upon the hands of Christ and they will say there hands were pierced by sinnes and it was sinne that hath fild this soule with astonishment Oh all you that see and heare the good word of the Lord this day see what sin hath done with our Saviour and expect the like effects from sinne if you still continue in it Now we come to the second part that is his sufferings upon the crosse where wee shall have much to doe with the Jesuites You see what he suffered in the garden now follow him to the crosse for when he was in the garden he only tasted of the cup but when he was upon the crosse he drunke the cup quite off in the garden he only sipped the top 〈◊〉 it but now hee drunke the dregs of it and the bottome and all For the opening of this looke Mat. 27.46 about the ninth houre that is about three of the clocke in the afternoone when he was crucified he cried out saying Eli Eli lamusabactani Now Divines say and Interpreter conclude and 〈◊〉 professe it and I beseech you attend to it that in this crie coÌ„plaint of our Saviour was discovered the dregs of the cup of the fierce indignation of the Lord now before I come to the 〈◊〉 and proper sense of the words consider thus much there are two interpretations of it First there is one of the Jesuites which we must confute and remove Secondly there is another interpretation of sound Divines which we must receive and yeeld unto For the first Bellarmine and others make the meaning of the words to be this that our Saviour Christ here complaines that he was left to the hands of the Jewes and that God the Father would not deliver him from that temporal death which they would put him to therefore said they our Saviour in the sense of the death natural cries out that God had left him in the hands of those ungodly men therefore they say the words run thus My God my God why hast thou thus forsaken me and lost me thus in the hands of Pilate and Herod and the Jewes to crucifie mee it is a sinew lesse and a weake imagination that I may speake no worse of it for I can hardly beare it with patience and that this sense is false there are a reasons to beare against it First this meaning is taken from a false ground and therefore the ground and bottome being brittle and weake the building must needs fall It is a weake thing for a man to say that sometimes the miseries and deaths of the Saints of God argue a forsaking of God for I say that though the Saints of God are sometimes delivered up to death by the wise providence of God yet they are not said to bee forsaken of God 2 Cor. 4.9 Wee are persecuted but not forsaken cast downe but wee perish not You know what the ordinarie promises are in this kinde I will be with thee in six troubles 〈◊〉 the seventh I will deliver thee marke this the heaviest afflictions of the Saints of God nay death it selfe is so farre from being an argument of Gods forsaking them that it is an argument of their glorying in God as in 2 Cor. 12.10 Therefore I take pleasure in my infirmities and reproaches necessities and persecutions and in anguish for Christs sake the Apostle rejoyceth in persecutions and in the midst of all extremities A second reason why it is false is this God is said to leave his servants two wayes and there are no other wayes in Scripture that I know of First when God takes away his assistance in the time of trouble and hee lends not that strength and that assistance whereby with patience they may beâ—e and with courage goe through those afflictions but now and then hee lets them not bee soiled by their owne infirmities and to fall by their weaknesses that they may learne to see their owne weaknesses and learne not to trust in themselves but in the Lord their God Now this forsaking cannot nor did not befall our Saviour in common sense because hee prayed for assistance and whatsoever hee prayed for hee had as Hebrewes 5.7 Hee was heard in that which he feared and so consequently assisted nay he was confident of the issue of it Luke 23.42.43 when the good theefe upon the crosse said Lord remember mee when thou commest into thy Kingdome the Lord answered him this way shall thou be with 〈◊〉 in Paradise nay David did prophesie this of Christ and Christ himselfe performes it Psalme 16.8 I have set the Lord alwayes before mine eyes for hee is at my right hand therefore I shall 〈◊〉 be moved therefore God the Father did not leave our Saviour but he did assist him that hee was above all sorrowes and all miseries Secondly the other kinde of leaving which the Scripture speakes of is this when the Lord takes away the sense and feeling of the sweetnesse of his love and 〈◊〉 from the soule in Psalme 27.9 David saith Hide not thy face away from me neither cast away thy servants in displeasure put not a servant 〈◊〉 of doores Here I demand of any man but especially of the Jesuites whether of these two they will grant God did not forsake the Lord Jesus Christ the first way therefore he must doe it this way or none at all and if any man grant this then he grants the cause for then there was not onely the death naturall but the displeasure of the Lord
seized upon his soule and unlesse they doe grant this then this absurditie must needs follow upon it that Christ was not at all forsaken of God for he that was constantly assisted and refreshed by the sense of the love and favour of God he was no way forsaken Ioseph was in prison but God was with him and Daniel was in the Lions den but God was with him and in 2 Chron. 15.2 God is with you while yee are with him now if Christ had assistance from God the Father to strengthen him and the sense of the sweetnesse of Gods love to refresh him then hee was no way forsaken which is profesly contrary to this truth and it is to give the good Spirit of God the lie therefore away with those imaginations so that the answer is cleare that God the Father did take away the sense and feeling of the sweetnesse of his love from our Saviour and this made him to crie out My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee thus much to wipe away the cavils of the Jesuits Now I come to shew the right sense and interpretation of the words which wee ought to receive and here you may see the great worke of Christ and the love of Christ and the comfort of a Christian the text includes two things which containes the very dregs of the cup First that God tooke away the sense and feeling of his love and favour Secondly God the Father laid a curse upon him There is a dereliction and a malediction in the words forsaking and the curse therefore adde to this place but Gal. 3.13 and you shall have the full sufferings of Christ Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us because it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree so that when hee was crucified and hanged on the crosse then hee was made a curse for us and then he was forsaken Let mee a little open both the passages to you First for the forsaking of our Saviour Why hast thou forsaken mee when he cried thus and rored for the very disquietnesse of his soule there was more in it than ordinarie I will discover the substance of this forsaking of Christ how farre it went and that in three particulars that you may know how far to steere your judgements in conceiving the sense of the Spirit of God in this place this forsaking of Christ may be conceived of in three conclusions First it was not a totall forsaking of our Saviour but onely in part and it was not a perpetuall forsaking but for a while and it was not a taking away the Godhead from the manhood of our Saviour but the Godhead was ever united to the manhood and did evermore support it Secondly this forsaking was on the Fathers part and not on our Saviours part the Father forsakes Christ but Christ went after him God tooke away the sense of his love but the Lord Jesus Christ cried after him and laid hold upon him and saith My God my God why hast thou forsaken me the Father went away but the Lord Jesus Christ went after the Father and would not let him goe God the Father might justly forsake our Saviour being made sinne for us by account and imputation being our suretie God the Father might justly take away and withdraw the sense of the sweetnesse of his love and favour from the Lord Jesus Christ without any sinne but now the Lord Jesus Christ could not have forsaken and gone away from the Father without sinning so that this forsaking was on the Fathers part but our Saviour held fast and would not be carried away My God my God c. As Iob saith Though hee kill mee yet will I trust in him so that Iobs trusting and Gods killing anger might stand together and when the Lord wrestled with Iacob and said Let me goe for the day breaketh Iacob said I will not let thee goe untill thou blesse me God may goe away from Iacob but Iacob may not goe away from God for want of confidence and affiance so that this forsaking is to be apprehended wholly on the Fathers part for our Saviour did not goe away from God by diffidence and distrust Thirdly and here lies the main pith and heart blood of the point that wee may speake tremblingly and wisely in this great and difficult point The conclusion is this the soule of our Saviour that is the whole man was for the while deprived of the sense of Gods favour and the feeling operation of his love and mercy that might comfort him I say it was for the while and this seemes to be the reason of those strong cries and heart-breaking complaints of his You know when a man cries then there is misery and trouble upon him and when he cries loud and puts forth all his powers it implies a marvellous weight nay it gives us to conceive of a kinde of admiration and a kinde of wondering with himselfe what the cause of it should bee It seemes here that this was the cause of the sad complaint because in his agonie there were some inklings of Gods mercy and now and then a starre-light and a little flash of lightning to cheere him but now all the sense and feeling of Gods love was gone and not so much as any little star-light to cheere him up and that drives him to a wonderment saying My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Is it possible that thou canst thus forsake thy Sonne what 's the reason of it what and an onely begotten Sonne not that the spirit of consolation was ever taken away from our Saviour nor that the Godhead was taken away from the manhood and so left comfortlesse and supportlesse no no but howsoever the spirit of comfort and consolation was there yet the sweetnesse of that consolation wherein he had refreshed and solaced himselfe that was quite taken await Object Oh but say the Jesuites this seemes strange for if this bee so that all the sense and sweetnesse of Gods love was taken away from him then how can he say my God my God Answer It is a conceit for a Jesuite and not for a Christian for faith and the want of feeling may goe together Christ longed after mercy though hee saw nothing and hee cried my God my God though hee had no sense of Gods love the strongest faith may stand where no sense is Esay 50.10 Hee that walketh in darknesse and hath no light that is he that is altogether in misery and sorrow and anguish and seeth no light of comfort and consolation what must hee doe must hee cast away all hope no let him stay himselfe by the power of faith upon his God So then Christ may have and had confidence to say my God my God and yet hee was deprived of the sense of Gods love and the feeling operation of his mercy and favour and God the Father might take away the sense and sweetnesse of it without