Precept for such Anger as is required of us by way of duty the Sun may safely go down upon nor is it a pardon for anger whē we fal into it to take of the inordinatenes of it but it is a speech by way of concession or unavoidable supposition It cannot bee but that the Saints themselves upon severall occasions and provocations will be overtaken with anger but yet though their infirmity break forth into the passiō let not pride self love harden that passion into a habit let them be wary that the flame grow not upon them to set them on fire Give no place to the Divell The longer a man continues in anger the more roome the Divel hath to get in upon him enrage him Anger is the kernell and seed of malice if it be let lie long in the heart that is so fertile a soile and Satan so diligent a waterer of his owne plants that it will quickly grow up into a knottie and stubburne hatred Wee read of hatreds which have runne in the bloud and have been entaild Hereditarie malice as the Historian cals it Hatreds which have surviv'd the parties and discover'd themselves in their very funerals Hatreds which men have bound upon their posterity by oaths as Hasdrubal took a solemne oath of Hanibal that he should be an irreconcileable enemie to Rome And what doe all such expressions import but that there is a boundlesse frenzy in the flesh of men a fiercenesse which no lawes can tame and that there is enough of it in the best men to breake out into implacable affections if grace and prayer and watchfulnesse doe not prevent it Fourthly in Afflictions paines of body temptations of spirit abridgement of estate trials in reputation and favour or the like looke by all meanes unto thy heart take heede of these seedes of rage and madnesse which are in thee Never more time to looke to thy mounds to repaire thy bulwarks then when a tempest is upon thy sea Have you seene a beast breake his teeth upon the chaine that bindes him or a Dog poure out his revenge upon the stone that did hurt him then have you seene some darke shadowes of that fiercenesse and furie that is apt to rise out of the hearts of men when Gods hand lies close upon them When thou hearest of the strange impatiencie of Ionah at the beating of the Sun upon his head unto whom yet it was a mercy beyond wonder that he did now see the sunne when thou hearest of those deepe expostulations of David with God Hath he forgotten to be gracious forgotten his promises forgotten his truth forgotten his power and mercy and shut up all his kindenesse in displeasure When thou hearest of the impatiencies of Iob a man yet renowned for his patience expostulating and charging God Is it good for the◅ that thou should'st oppresse When thou hearest of those deepe curses of ◅eremie against the day of his birth of those froward expostulations and debates of the people of Israel with Moses of Moses with God Why hast thou evill entreated this people why hast thou sent me O then reflect upon thy selfe and be afraid of thine owne evill heart which is farre more likely to breake out against God then any of those were And for a remedie or prevention hereof keepe in thy sight the historie of thy sinnes make them as hainous to thine owne view as they are in their own nature The way not to rage against afflictions is to know our selves aright that will make us confesse unto God with Ezra let our calamities be what they will That the Lord hath punish'd us lesse then our iniquities have deserved The way to beare the hand of God with patience and with acceptance is to confesse our sinnes and to be humbled for them If their uncircumcised hearts bee humbled and then they accept of the punishment of their iniquities saith the Lord noting thus much that the sight of our sin and humiliation for it makes a man willing to submit to Gods chastisements Wherefore doth a living man complaine a man for the punishment of his sins there are three strong reasons together why we ought not to murmur in our afflictions First Wee are men and what an impudence is it for the clay to swell against the potter that form'd it and complaine why hast thou made me thus Secondly wee are sinners all the punishments wee suffer are our owne the wages of our iniquities and what a madnesse is it to complaine against the justice of our Iudge Thirdly wee are living men and therefore God hath punished us lesse then our sinnes deserve for the wages of sinne is death and what ingratitude is it to repine at mercifull and moderated punishments but yet such is the frowardnesse of our nature that wee are very apt thus to murmur what is the cure and remedy of this evill affection Let vs search and try our waies saith the Church and turne to the Lord our God the more wee grow acquainted with our sinnefull estate and marveilous provocations with the patience and promises of God the more we shall justifie God and waite upon him the more wee shall judge our selves lesse then the least of Gods mercies and forbearances I will beare the indignation of the Lord saith the Church againe in the same case I will not repine nor murmure at his dealing with me I will acknowledge that righteousnesse belongeth unto him and confusion unto me and the ground of this resolution is the sense of sinne Because I have sinned against him I have pressed and wearied and grieved and vexed him with my sinnes without any zeale or tendernesse of his glory but he hath visited me in judgement and not in fury in wrath he hath remembred mercy and not quite consumed me as he might have done he hath not dealt with me after my sinnes nor rewarded me according to mine iniquities he hath spared me as a sonne when I dealt with him as a traytor and hee will pleade my cause and bring me forth to the light and revenge my quarrell against those which helped forward my affliction Thus we see the way not to rage against Afflictions is to understand and be sensible of the foulenesse of our sinnes Otherwise pride and madnesse will undoubtedly shew themselves in our Afflictions What desperate and horrible rage did the heart of Pharaoh swell into when in the middest of those fearefull Iudgements hee hardned his heart and exalted himselfe against the people of God and trampled upon them and did not set his heart unto the iudgement but threatned and drave out M◅ses and Aaron from his presence and pursued them with finall and obdurate malice through the midst of that wonderfull deliverance The like example we see in that impatient and fretfull reply of Iehoram king of Israel in the great famine This euill is of the Lord what should I
this place dehorteth us Having in the former Chapter set forth the doctrine of Iustification with those many comfortable fruites and effects that flow from it he here passeth over to another head of Christian Doctrine namely Sanctification and Conformitie to the holinesse of Christ the ground wherof he maketh to be our Fellowship with him in his death and Resurrection for Christ carried our sinnes upon the Tree with him and therefore we ought with him to die daily unto sin and to live unto God This is the whole argument of the precedent parts of the Chapter and frequently elsewhere used by the Apostle and others 2. Cor. 5. 14 15. Gal. 2. 20. 3. 27. 5. 24. Ephes. 2. 6. Phil. 3. 10. Col. 2. 12. 13. 26. 3. 1. 4. Heb. 9. 14 1. Pet. 4. 1. 2. Now the words of the Text are as I conceive a Prolepsis or answer to a tacite objection which might be made A weake Christian might thus alledge If our fellowship in the death of Christ doe bring along with it a death of sinne in us then surely I have little to doe with his death For alas sinne is still alive in me and daily bringeth forth the workes of life To this the Apostle answeres Though sinne dwell in you yet let it not raigne in you nor have its wonted hold and power over you Impossible it is while you carry about these tabernacles of flesh these mortall bodies that sinne should not lodge within you yet your care must be to give the kingdome unto Christ to let him have the honour in you which his father hath given him in the Church to Rule in the midst of his enemies those fleshly lusts which fight against him By Mortall bodie we here understand the whole man in this present estate wherein he is obnoxious to death which is an usuall figure to take the part for the whole especially since the body is a weapon and instrument to reduce into act and to execute the will of sinne Before I speake of the power of sinne here are Two points offer themselves from the connexion of the words to those preceding which I will but only name First Sinne will abide for the time of this mortall life in the most regenerate who can say I have made my heart cleane I am free from my sinne David had his secret sinnes which made him pray and Paul his thorne in his flesh which made him cry out against it To the reasons of this point before produc'd wee may adde that God suffers our sinnes to dwell in us first to magnifie the glory of his mercy that notwithstanding he be provoked every day yet he doth still spare us It is said in one place that when God saw that every Imagination of the thoughts of mans heart was continually evill he said I will destroy man whom I have created from off the face of the earth yet afterwards God said I will not againe curse the ground any more for mans sake for the imagination of mans heart is evill from his youth The places seeme at first view to be contradictory to one another But we are thus to reconcile them After there had been a propitiatory offering made by Noah unto God upon an Altar which was the type of Christ it is said that God smelt a sweete savour and resolved I will no more curse the earth not Because but Although the imagination of mans heart be evill from his youth that is though men are so wicked that if I would Iure meo uti take advantage to powre out againe my displeasure upon them I might doe it every day yet I will spare them notwithstanding their lusts continue in them For we are not to understand the place as if it tended to the extenuation of originall sinne as some doe I will take pitty upon them Because of their naturall infirmities but onely as tending to the magnifying of Gods mercy and patience I will take pitty upon them though I might destroy them For so the originall word is elsewhere taken Thou shalt drive out the Cananites Though they have iron chariots c. Secondly to magnifie the Glory of his powerfull patience that being daily provoked yet he hath power to be patient still In ordinary esteeme when an enemie is daily irritated and yet comes not to revenge his quarrell we accompt it impotency and unprovision but in God his patience is his power When the people of Israel murmured upon the report of giants in the land and would have made a Captaine to returne into Egypt and have stoned Ioshua and Caleb so that Gods wrath was ready to breake out upon them and to disinherite them this was the argument that Moses used to mediate for them Let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken The Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy Thou hast shewed the Power of thy mercy from Egypt untill now even so pardon them still If we could conceive God to have his owne justice joyned with the impotency and impatiency of man wee could not conceive how the world should all this while have subsisted in the midst of such mighty provocations This is the only reason why he doth not execute the fiercenesse of his wrath and consume men because he is God and not man not subject to the same passions changes impotencies as men are If a house be very weake and ruinous clogg'd with a sore waight of heavy materials which presse it downe too there must be strength in the props that doe hold it up even so that patience of God which upholds these ruinous tabernacles of ours that are pressed downe with such a waight of sinne a waight that lies heavie even upon Gods mercy it selfe must needs have much strength and power in it The second point from the Connexion is That our Death with Christ unto sinne is a strong argument against the raigne and power of sinne in us Else wee make the death of Christ in vaine for in his death hee came with water and bloud not onely with bloud to justifie our persons but with water to wash away our sinnes The Reasons hereof are first Deadnesse argues disability to any such workes as did pertaine to that life unto which a man is dead Such then as is the measure of our death to sinne such is our disability to fulfill the lusts of it Now though sinne be not quite expir'd yet it is with Christ nail'd upon a crosse They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts so that in a regenerate man it is no more able to doe all its owne will then a crucified man is to walke up and downe and to do those businesses which he was wont to delight in He that is borne of God sinneth not neither can sinne because he is borne of God and his seede abideth in him Secondly Deadnesse argues disaffection A condemned man
his favour reconciled unto us nor reunited by his Blessing unto the Creature but onely in and through Christ. So then the minde of a man is fully and onely satisfied with the Creature when it findes God and Christ together in it God making the Creature suteable to our inferior desires and Christ making both God and the Creature Ours God giving Proportion and Christ giving Propriety These things thus explained let us now consider the Insufficiencie of the Creature to conferre and the Vnsatisfiablenesse of the flesh to receive any solid or reall satisfaction from any of the workes which are done under the Sunne Man is naturally a proud Creature of high projects of unbounded desires ever framing to himselfe I know not what imaginarie and phantasticall felicities which have no more proportion unto reall and true contentment then a king on a stage to a king on a throne then the houses which children make of cards unto a princes palace Ever since the fall of Adam he hath an itch in him to be a god within himselfe the fountaine of his owne goodnesse the contriver of his owne sufficiencie loth hee is to goe beyond himselfe or what hee thinkes properly his owne for that in which hee resolveth to place his rest But alas after hee hath toil'd out his heart and wasted his spirits in the most exact inuentions that the Creature could minister unto him Salomon here the most experienc'd for enquirie the most wise for contrivance the most wealthy for compassing such earthly delights hath after many yeeres sitting out the finest flowre and torturing nature to extract the most exquisite spirits and purest quintessence which the varieties of the Creatures could afford at last pronounced of them all That they are Vanitie and vexation of spirit Like Thornes in their gathering they pricke that is their Uexation and in their burning they suddenly blaze and waste away that is their Uanitie Vanitie in their duration fraile and perishable things and Vexation in their enjoyment they nothing but molest and disquiet the heart The eye saith Salomon is not satisfied with seeing nor the eare with hearing Notwithstanding they be the widest of all the senses can take in more abundance with lesse satiety and serue more immediately for the supplies of the reasonable Soule yet a mans eye-strings may even cracke with vehemencie of poring his eares may be filled with all the varietie of the most exquisite sounds and harmonies and lectures in the world and yet still his Soule within him be as greedy to see and heare more as it was at first Who would have thought that the favour of a prince the adoration of the people the most conspicuous honours of the court the liberty of utterly destroying his most bitter adversaries the sway of the sterne and universall negotiations of state the concurrency of all the happinesse that wealth or honour or intimatenesse with the prince or Deity with the people or extremitie of luxurie could afford would possibly have left any roome or nooke in the heart of Haman for discontent and yet doe but observe how the want of one Iewes knee who dares not give divine worship to any but his Lord blasts all his other glories brings a damp upon all his other delights makes his head hang downe and his mirth wither so little leaven was able to sowre all the Queenes banquet and the Kings favour Ahab was a king in whom therefore wee may justly expect a confluence of all the happinesse which his dominions could afford a man that built whole cities and dwelt in Ivorie palaces and yet the want of one poore Vineyard of Naboth brings such a heavinesse of heart such a deadnesse of countenance on so great a person as seemed in the judgement of Iezabel farre unbeseeming the honour and distance of a prince Nay Salomon a man every way more a king both in the minde and in the state of a king then Ahab a man that did not use the Creature with a sensuall but with a criticall fruition To finde out that good which God had given men under the sunne and that in such abundance of all things learning honour pleasure peace plenty magnificence fortaine supplies roiall visits noble confederacies as that in him was the patterne of a compleat prince beyond all the plat-formes and Ideas of Plato and Zenophon and yet even he was never able to repose his heart upon any or all these things together till he brings in the feare of the Lord for the close of all Lastly looke on the people of Israel God had delivered them from a bitter thraldome had divided the sea before them and destroied their enemies behind them had given them bread from heaven and fed them with angels foode had commanded the rocke to satisfie their thirst and made the Cananites to melt before them his mercies were magnified with the power of his miracles and his miracles crowned with the sweetenesse of his mercies besides the assurance of great promises to bee performed in the holy land and yet in the midst of all this wee finde nothing but murmuring and repining God had given them meat for their faith but they must have meate for their lust too it was not enough that God shewed them mercies unlesse his mercies were dressed up and fitted to their palate They tempted God and limited the holy one of Israel saith the Prophet So infinitely unsatisfiable is the fleshly heart of man either with mercies or miracles that bring nothing but the Creatures to it The ground whereof is the Vast disproportion which is betweene the Creature and the soule of man whereby it comes to passe that it is absolutely impossible for one to fill up the other The soule of man is a substance of unbounded desires and that will easily appeare if wee consider him in any estate either Created or Corrupted In his Created estate he was made with a Soule capable of more glory then the whole earth or all the frame of nature though changed into one Paradise could haue afforded him for he was fitted unto so much honour as an infinite and everlasting Communion with God could bring along with it And now God never in the Creation gave unto any Creature a propercapacitie of a thing unto which hee did not withall implant such motions and desires in that Creature as should be some what suteable to that capacitie and which might if they had beene preserved intire haue brought man to the fruition of that Good which he desired For notwithstanding it be true That the glory of God cannot be attain'd unto by the vertue of any action which man either can or ever could haue performed yet God was pleased out of Mercie for the magnifying of his name for the Communicating of his glory for the advancement of his Creature to enter into Covenant with man and for his naturall obedience to promise him a supernaturall reward And this I say was even then out of Mercie in
quoad Regnum in regard of the dominion and government of it in regard of the vigorous operation which is in it First sinne is condemn'd Rom. 8. 3. and therein destinated and design'd to death It shall fully bee rooted out Secondly in the meane time it is disabled from a plenarie Rule over the conscience though the Christian be molested and pester'd with it yet he doth not henceforth serve it nor become its instrument to bee subject in every motion thereof as the weapon is to the hand that holds it but Christ and his love beare the sway and hold the Sterne in the heart Rom. 6 6. 〈◊〉 Cor. 5. 14 15. 1. Pet. 4. 1 2. Thirdly the sentence of the Law against sin is already in execution But we are to note that sinne though condemnd to die yet such is the severity of God against it it is adjudg'd to a lingring death a death upon the Crosse and in the faithfull sin is already upon a Crosse fainting struggling dying daily yet so as that it retaines some life still so long as we are here sinne will be as fast to our natures as a nailed man is to the Crosse that beares him Our Thorne will still bee in our flesh our Canaanite in our side our Twinns in our wombe our counterlustings and counterwillings though we be like unto Christ per primitias spiritus yet we are unlike him per Reliquias vetustatis by the remainders of our flesh not to sinne is here onely our Law but in heaven it shal be our Reward All our perfection here is imperfect Sinne hath its deaths blow given it but yet like fierce and implacable beasts it never le ts goe its hold till the last breath Animamque in vulnere ponit never ceaseth to infest us till it cease to bee in us Who can say I have made my heart cleane Cleanse thou be saith holy David from my secret sinnes Though I know nothing by my selfe yet am I not thereby iustified saith the Apostle and the reason is added He that iudgethme is the Lord which Saint Iohn further unfolds God is greater then our hearts and knoweth all things Which places though most dangerously perverted by some late Innovators which teach That a man may bee without secret sinnes that he may make his heart cleane from sinne and that Saint Paul was so doe yet in the experience of the holiest men that are or have been evince this truth that the lusts of the flesh will be and worke in us so long as we carry our mortall bodies about us And this God is pleased to suffer for these and like purposes First to convince and humble us in the experience of our owne vilenesse that wee may be the more to the prayse of the glory of his great grace As once Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria dealt with the Egyptian Idols after the embracement of Christianitie most he destroyed onely one of their Apes and Images he kept entire not as a monument of Idolatry but as a spectacle of sinne and misery that in the sight thereof the people might after learne to abhorre themselves that had liv'd in such abominable Idolatries Secondly to drive us still unto him to cast us alwayes upon the hold and use of our Faith that our prayers may still finde something to aske which hee may give and our repentance something to confesse which he may forgive Thirdly to proportion his mercy to his justice for as the wicked are not presently fully destroyed have not sentence speedily executed against them but are reserv'd unto their Day that they may be destroi'd together as the Psalmist speakes even so the righteous are not here fully saved but are reserv'd unto the great day of Redemption when they also shall be saved together as the Apostle intimates 1. Thess. 4. 17. Fourthly to worke in us a greater hatred of sinne and longing after glory therefore we have yet but the first fruites of the spirit that we should grone and waite for the Adoption and Redemption therfore are we burdened in our earthly tabernacle that we should the more earnestly groane to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven Fiftly to magnifie the power of his Grace in the weakest of his members which notwithstanding that inhabiting Traytor which is ready to let in and entertaine every temptation shall yet make a poore sinfull man stronger in some respect then Adam was himselfe even able to overcome at last the powers of darkenesse and to be sufficient against all Satans buffets Lastly to commend the greatnesse of his mercy and salvation when we shall come to the full fruition of it by comparing it with the review of that sinfull estate in which here we lived when we were at the best without possibility of a totall deliverance Thirdly consider the great Contagion and pestilentiall humour which is in this sinne which doth not onely cleave unseparably to our nature but derives venome upon every action that comes from us For though we doe not say That the good works of the Regenerate are sinnes and so hatefull to God as our adversaries belie and misreport us for that were to reproach the spirit and the grace of Christ by which they are wrought yet this we affirme constantly unto the best worke that is done by the concurrence and contribution of our owne faculties such a vitiousnesse doth adhere such stubble of ours is superinduc'd as that God may justly charge us for defiling the grace he gave and for the evill which we mixe with them may turne away his eyes from his owne gifts in us Sinne in the facultie is poison in the fountaine that sheds infection into every thing that proceeds from it Ignorance and difficultie are two evill properties which from the fountaine doe in some measure diffuse themselves upon all our workes Whensoever thou art going about any good this evill will be present with thee to derive a deadnesse a dampe a dulnesse an indisposednesse upon all thy services an iniquitie upon thy holiest things which thou standest in neede of a priest to beare for thee Exod. 28. 38. and to remove from thee In the Law whatsoever an uncleane person touched was uncleane though it were holy flesh to note the evill quality of sinful nature to staine and blemish every good worke which commeth from it This is that which in thy prayers deads thy zeale fervencie humiliation selfe-abhorrencie thy importunitie faith and close attention this like an evill sauour mingleth with thy sacrifice casteth in impertinent thoughts wrong ends makes thee rest in the worke done and never enquire after the truth of thine owne heart or Gods blessing and successe to thy services This is it that in reading and hearing the Word throwes in so much prejudice blindnesse inadvertency security infidelity misapplication misconstruction wresting and shaping the word to our selves This is that which in thy meditations makes thee roving and unsetled
inheritance by the Right of Christs purchase and by Covenant in him Not onely things present but things to come are theirs they have the Truth of God pawn'd for their preservation and supplyes so long as they continue in his way A way of Piety industrie and honestie And they have them for themselves and their seede The promises were to Abraham and his seede I never saw the righteous forsaken nor his seede begging their bread The wicked have earthly things onely as dâ—…ensations and employments nay as vexations and toyles of life as idols snares and thornes things that eâ—…tangle their hearts and take them of from God As a cloud exhal'd by the Sunne hides the light of the Sunne which drew it up as a Worme eates out the wood and rust consumes the Iron which breeds it as water in a vessell raised by the fire puts out the fire which raised it so the great estates and temporall blessings of God unto evill men serve but to intercept the thoughts and to blot out the notions and remembrance of him that gave them I spake unto thee in thy prosperitie but thou sata'st I will not heare And this hath beene thy manner from thy youth saith the Lord Ier. 22. 21. But the faithfull have earthly things as rewards of their righteousnesse as an accession advantage and overplus unto the Kingdome of God as testimonies of Gods Love and care of them as exercises of their thankefulnesse charitie mercie c. But it may be obiected why then have not the faithfull more aboundance of these things then worldly men I answere first A little that the righteous hath is better then greate possâ—…ssions of the ungodly For first they have the maine substance of these things as well as the other they live and eate and are cloathed as well as they and secondly they have the comforts more lesse anguish of heart vexation and contention of minde then the others have And to them it is all one whether they goe into heauen through the gate or through the wicket As a Bird with a little eye and the advantage of a wing to soare up withall may see farre wider then an Oxe with a greater so the righteous with a little estate ioyned with faith tranquillity and devotion may have more pleasure feele more comfort see more of Gods bounty and mercie then a man of vast possessions whose heart cannot lift it selfe aboue the earth Secondly As nature when shee intendeth a farther and more noble perfection is lesse curious and elaborate in inferior faculties As man is exceeded by the Eagle for sight and the Hound for sent and the hare for swiftnesse because nature intending in him a more spirituall and divine Soule chose to be lesse delicate and exact in the senses so God intending to bestow upon the faithfull a farre more exceeding and aboundant weight of heavenly glory doth not alway so fully enlarge his hand towards them in these earthly things as to those who have no other portion but in this life We see then how much it concernes us to looke unto the ground of our Tenure to observe in what service wee hold our estate whether as appurtenances to Gods kingdome or as meerely the pastures of a beast which doe only fatten against the day of slaughter Seventhly and lastly Gods Promises to us must be the grounds of our prayers to him When ever God makes a promise wee must make a prayer And there are two things in this Rule to be observed First that wee can make no prayer in boldnesse faith or comfort but for things promised For if we will have God heare us wee must pray according to his will we must aske in faith we must see the things we aske made Ours in some promise and engagement before we must presume to aske them This as we have before observed encouraged David Iehoshaphat and Daniel to pray unto God because hee had made promises of the things they desired and therefore they were certaine that they prayed according to his will This was Nehemiahs ground in his prayer for the reparation of Ierusalem Remember I beseech thee the word which thou commandedst thy servant Moses saying if ye trangresse I will scatter you abroad But 〈◊〉 you turne unto me and keepe my commandements and do them though there were of you câ—…st out unto the uttermost part of the heaven yet will I gather them from thence c. Now these are thy servants and thy people whom thou hâ—…st redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong band O Lord I beseech thee let now thine â—…are be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to feare thy name c. Secondly that God will not performe promises till by prayer they be sought for from him till in our humble desires we declare that we accompt his promises exceeding great and preâ—…ous things The Lord had promised deliverance unto Israel yet saith the Lord For this I will be enquired of by the house of Israel to doe it for them Thus saith the Lord After seventie yeeres be accomplishâ—…d at Babylon I will visit you and performe my good word towards you in causing you to returne to thâ—…â—…lace For I know the thoughts that I thinke towards you thoughts of peace and not of evill to give you an expected end But how shall this excellent promise of God be effected It followes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon me and ye shall goe and pray unto mâ—… â—…nd I will hearken unto you c. So againe The Lord maketh a promise of forgivenesse of sinnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blotteth out thy transgression for mine owne 〈◊〉 and will not remember thâ—… sinnes But for the execution of this promise God will be sought unto Put mem remembrance saith he and let us plead together for when we pray unto God to fulfill his promises we testifie first that they are promises of Mercie and not of dutie or debt because God is not bound to tender them unto us but we to beg them of him Secondly we declare our need and by consequence estimation of them and dependance upon them And lastly we subscribe to the truth and acknowledge the wisedome power fidelity and wayes that God hath to make good all his owne words unto us We have no reason therefore to esteeme any thing a blessing or fruit of Gods Promise which we doe not receive from him upon our knees and by the hand of prayer As promises are the Rule of what wee may pray for in faith so prayer is the ground of what wee may expect with comfort Thâ—…s we see what use we are to make of the promises to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fâ—…om all filthinesse of flesh and spirit and the 〈◊〉 we may make of them likewise to perfect our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the â—…eare of God For as the exceeding great â—…d pretious promises of God doe cleanse our natures and make us â—…scape the corruptionâ—…
but their sins that though our words bring fire and fury with them yet they are still in the hand of a Mediator that the Law is not to breake them unto desperation but vnto humiliation not to drive them unto furie but unto Faith to shew them Hell indeede but withall to keepe them from it if we doe not by these meaneâ—… save their Soules yet we shall stop their mouths that they shall be ashamed to blaspheme the commission by which we speake Secondly The people likewise should learne to rejoyce when the Law is preached as it was published that is when the Conscience is thereby affrighted and made to tremble at the presence of God and to cry unto the Mediator as the people did unto Moses Lâ—…t not God speake any more to us lâ—…st we die Speake thou with us and we will heare For when sinne is onely by the Law discovered and death laid open to cry out against such preaching is a shrewd argument of a minde not willing to bee disquieted in sinne or to be tormented before the time of a soule which would have Christ and yet not leave her former husband which would haue him no other king then the stump of wood was to the frogges in the fable or the moulten Calfe unto Israel in the Wildernesse a quiet idol whom every lust might securely provoke and dance about As the Law may be preached too much when it is preached without the principall which is the Gospell so the Gospell and the mercie therein may bee preached too much or rather indeede too little because it is with lesse successe If wee may call it preaching and not rather perverting of the Gospell when it is preached without the appendant which is the Law This therefore should in the next place teach all of us to studie and delight in the Law of God as that which setteth forth and maketh more glorious and conspicuous the mercy of Christ. Acquaintance with our selves in the Law wâ—…ll First keepe us more loâ—…ly and vile in our owne eyes make us feele our owne pollution and poverty and that will againe make us the more delight in the Law which is so faithfull to render the face of the Conscience and so make a man the more willing and earnest to be cleansed Their heart saith David is as fat as grease but I delight in thy Law The more the Law doth discover our owne leannesse scraggednesse and penurie the more doth the Soule of a Holy man delight in it because Gods mercie is magnified the more who filleth the hungrie and refrâ—…sheth the weary and with whom the fatherlâ—…sse findeth mercie Secondly It will make us more carefull to live by Faith more bold to approach the throne of Grace for mercie to cover and for Grace to cure our sores and nakednesse In matters of life and death impudence and boldnesse is not unseasonable A man will never die for modesty when the Soule is convinc'd by the Law that it is accursed and eternally lost if it doe not speedily pleade Christs satisfaction at the Throne of Grace it is emboldned to runne unto him when it findes an issue of uncleanenesse upon it it will set a price upon the meanest thing about Christ and be glad to touch the hemme of his garment When a Childe hath any strength beautie or lovelynesse in himselfe he will haply depend upon his owne parts and expectations to raise a fortune and preferment for himselfe but when a Childe is full of indigence impotencie crookednesse and deformity if he were not then supported with this hope I have a father aâ—d Parents doe not cast out their Children for their deformities he could not live with comfort or assurance so the sense of our owne pollutions and uncleanenesse taking off all conceits of any lovelynesse in our selves or of any goodnesse in us to attract the affections of God makes us râ—ly onely on his fatherly compassion When our Saviour cald the poore woman of Syrophenicia Dogge a beastly and uncleane Creature yet shee takes not this for a deny all but turnes it into argument The lesse I have by right the more I hope for by mercy even men afford their Dogges enough to keepe them alive and I aske no more When the Angell put the hollow of Iacobs thigh out of joynt yet hee would not let him go the more lame hee was the more reason hee had to hold The Prodigall was not kept away or driven of from his resolution by the feare shame or misery of his present estate for he had one word which was able to make way for him through all this the name of Father He considered I can but be rejected at the last and I am already as low as a rejection can cast me so I shall loose nothing by returning for I therefore returne because I have nothing and though I have done enough to bee for ever shut out of dores yet it may bee the word Father may have rhetoricke enough in it to beg a reconcilement and to procure an admittance amongst my fathers servants Thirdly It will make us give God the Glory of his mercy the more when wee have the deeper acquaintance with our owne miserie And God most of all delighteth in that worke of Faith which when the Soule walketh in darknesse and hath no light yet trusteth in his Name and stayeth upon him Fourthly It will make our comforts and refreshments the sweeter when they come The greater the humiliation the deeper the tranquillitie As fire is hottest in the coldest weather so comfort is sweetest in the greatest extremities shaking settles the peace of the heart the more The spirit is a Comforter as well when he convinceth of sinne as of righteousnesse and judgement because he doth it to make righteousnesse the more acceptable and Iudgement the more beautifull Lastly acquaintance with our owne foulnesse and diseases by the Law will make us more carefull to keepe in Christs company and to walke according unto his Will because he is a Physitian to cure a refiner to purge a Father and a Husband to compassionate our estate The lesse beautie or worth there is in us the more carefully should we studie to please him who loved us for himselfe and married us out of pittie to our deformities not out of delight in our beautie Humilitie keepes the heart tractable and pliant As melted waxe is easily fashioned so an humble spirit is easily fashioned unto Christs Image whereas a stone a bard and stubborne heart must bee hewed and hammered before it will take any shape Pride selfe-confidence and conceitednesse are the pâ—…nciples of disobedience men will hold their wonted courses till they be humbled by the Law They are not humbled saith the Lord unto this day and the consequent hereof is neither have they feared nor walked in my Law If you will not heare that is if you will still disobey the Lords messages my Soule shall weepe in
secret for your pride to note that pride is the principle of disobedience They and our fathers saith â—…ehemiah in his confession dealâ—… proudly and hardned their neckes and hearkered not unto thy Commandements and refused to obey And therefore Ez kiah used this perswasion to the ten tribes to come up to Ierusalem unto the Lords Passeover Be ye not stiffenecked as your fathers but yeeld your selves unto the Lord. To note that humiliation is the way unto obedience when once the heart is humbled it will bee glad to walke with God Humble thyselfe saith the Prophet to walke with thy God Receivâ—… the ingraffed Word with meeknesse saith the Apostle When the Heart is first made meeke and lowly it will then bee ready to receive the Word and the Word ready to incorporate in it as seede in torne and harrowed ground When Paul was disâ—…ounted and cast downe upon the Earth terrified and astonished at the Heavenly vision immediately hee is qualyfied for obedience Lord what wilt thou have mee to doe When the Soule is convinc'd by the Law that of it selfe it comes short of the Glory oâ—… God walkes in darkenesse and can go no way but to Hell It will then with ioy and thankfulnesse foâ—…ow the Lambe wheresoever hee goes as being well assured that though the way of the Lambe be a way of blood yet the End is a Throne of Glory and a Crowne of Life FINIS THE LIFE OF CHRIST OR THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE SAINTS WITH HIM IN HIS LIFE Sufferings and Resurrection By EDWARD REYNOLDS Preacher to the Honourable Societie of Lincolns Inne PAX OPVLENTIAM SAPIENTIA PACEM FK LONDON Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Robert Bostocke 1631. THE LIFE OF CHRIST 1. IOHN 5. 12. He that hath the Sonne hath Life HAving shewed the Insufficiencie of the Creature to make man happie as being full of vanitie and the Insufficiencie of Man to make himselfe Happie as being full of sinne we now proceede in the last place to discover first the Fountaine of Life and Happinesse Christ and secondly the Channell by which it is from him unto us conveyed the Instrument whereby wee draw it from him namely the knowledge of him and fellowship with him in his resurrection and sufferings These words we see containe a Doctrine of the greatest consequence to the Soule of Man in the whole Scriptures and that which is indeede the summe of them all They containe the summe of mans desires Life and the summe of Gods mercies Christ and the summe of mans dutie Faith Christ the Fountaine Life the Derivation and Faith the Conveyance Whatsoever things are excellent and desireable are in the Scripture comprised under the name of Life as the lesser under the greater for Life is better then meate and the body then ray ment And whatsoever Excellencies can bee named wee have them all from Christ. In Him saith the Apostle are bid the treasures of wisdome and knowledge Hâ—…d not to the purpose that they may not be found but to the purpose that they may bee sought And we may note from the expression that Christ is a Treasurer of his Fathers Wisedome He hath Wisedome as the Kings treasurer hath wealth as an Officer a Depositarie a Dispenser of it to the friends and servants of his father He is made unto vs Wisedome The Apostle saith that in him there are unsearchable riches an inexhausted treasurie of Grace and Wisedome And there had neede bee a treasure of riches in him for there is a treasure of sinne in us so our Saviour cals it the treasure of an evill heart He was full of Grace and Truth Not as a vessell but as a Fountaine and as a Sunne to note that Hee was not onely full of Grace but that the fulnesse of Grace was in Him It pleased the Father that in him should all fâ—…lnesse dwell God gave not the Spirit in measure unto Him And as there is a fulnesse in Him so there is a Communion in us Of his fulnesse wee receive Grace for Grace that is as a Childe in generation receiveth from his Parents member for member or the paper from the Presse letter for letter or the glasse from the face image for image so in regeneration Christ is fully formed 〈◊〉 a man and he receiveth in some measure and proportion Grace for Grace there is no Grace in Christ appertaining to generall sanctification which is not in some weake degree fashioned iâ—… Him Thus there is to Christ a fulnesse of Grace answerable to a fulnesse oâ—… sinne which is in us The Prophet cals him a Prince of Peace not as Moses onely was a man of peace but a Prince of peace If Moses had beene a Prince of peace how easily might he have instill'd peaceable and calme affections into the mutinous and murmuring people But though hee had it in himselfe yet hee had it not to distribute But Christ hath Peace as a King hath Honours to dispense and dispose of it to whom hee will Peace I leaue with you my Peace I giue unto you If I should runne over all the particulars of Grace or Mercy we should finde them all proceede from him He is our Passeover saith the Apostle As in Egypt wheresoever there was the blood of the Passeover there was life and where it was not there was death so where this our Passeover is there is life and where hee is not there is death To me to live is Christ saith the Apostle and againe now I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life that I live I live by the Faith of the Sonne of God who loved me and gvae himselfe for me To consider more particular this Life which we have from Christ. First It is a Life of Righteousnesse for Life and Righteousnes are in the Scripture taken for the same because sin doth immediatly make a man dead in law He that beleeveth not is condemned already and in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death And this Life being a Resurrection from a preceeding death hath two things belonging unto it First there is a Libertie and Deliverance wrought for us from that under which we were before held Secondly there is an Inheritance purchased for us the Priviledge and Honour of being called the Sonnes of God conferr'd upon us There are three Offices or Parts of the Mediation of Christ. First his Satisfaction as hee is our Suretie whereby hee paid our debt underwent the curse of our sinnes bare them all in his body upon the Tree became subject to the Law for us in our nature and representatively in our stead fulfill all righteousnesse in the Law required both Active and Passive for us For we must note that there are two things in the Law intended One principall obedience and another secondary malediction upon supposition of disobedience
loved the World that He gave His Son Herein is Love not that we loved Him but that Hee loved us and sent His Son The love must needs go before the gift because the gift is an effect a token a testimonie of the Love Christ first loved the Church before He gave Himselfe for it Now then if the first Love of God to man was not procured merited or excited by Christ Himselfe as Mediator but was altogether absolute much lesse doth the Love of God ground it selfe upon any thing in us The whole series of our Salvation is made up without respect to any thing of ours or from us He Loved us without cause or ground in our selves For we Love Him because He first loved us He elected us of meere grace without cause or ground from our selves There is a remnant saith the Apostle according to the Election of grace and if of grace then is it no more of workes otherwise grace is no more grace Hee called us without Intuition of any thing in our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle not according to our owne workes but according to His purpose and grace He called us with an Holy calling He Iustified us without any ground in or from our selves frely by his grace when we were enemies and ungodly persons He saveth us without any ground in and from our selv's By grace ye are sav'd through faith that not of your selvs ' There is nothing in us of which wee may boast in the matter of Salvation and therefore there is nothing in us which should make us despaire or flie from God for all the gradations and progresses of our Salvation are alone from His Grace Secondly because there is an All-sufficiencie in the righteousnesse and merits of Christ To cleanse all sin To consummate all our saluation to subdue all our enemies To answere all our objections to silence all challenges and charges that are laid against us Thirdly because of the manifold experiences which many other grievous sinners have found of the same love and All-sufficiencie When Faith lookes upon a converted Manasse upon a thiefe translated into paradise upon a persecutor turned into an Apostle and when it considers that God hath a residue of spirit still that the blood of Christ is an inexhausted fountaine and that these spectacles of Gods compassion are in the Scriptures exhibited that wee through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope and that God in them did shew forth all long suffering for a patterne to those who should after beleeue in Him It then makes a man reflect inward upon himselfe and resolve to trie that gate at which they have entered before Fourthly because there is a generalitie and unlimitednesse in the Invitation unto Christ. Come unto mee all that are wearie Let every one that will come There is in Christ erected an Office of Salvation a Heavenly Chancerie of equitie and mercie not onely to moderate the rigor but to reverse and revoke the very acts of the Law Christ is set foorth or proposed openly as a Sanctuarie and ensigne for the natious to flie unto and He hath sent His Ambassadors abroad to warne and to invite every man As a Fountaine is open for any man to drinke and a schoole for any man to learne and the Gate of a Citie for any man to enter and a Court of Equitie for any man to relieve himselfe so Christ is publikely and universally set forth as a generall refuge from the wrath to come upon no other condition then such a will as is nor onely desirous to enjoy His mercie but to submit to His Kingdome and glorifie the power of His Spirit and Grace in new obedience Fifthly because God Himselfe workes the worke and the will in us For in the new Covenant God workes first In the first Covenant man was able by his created and naturall strength to worke his owne condition and so to expect Gods performance But in the New as there is difference in the things covenanted then only righteousnesse and Salvation now remission of sinnes and adoption in the meanes or intermediate causes which are now Christ and His righteousnesse and Spirit in the stability that a perishable this an eternall and finall Covenant that can never be changed in the conditions there legall obedience heere only faith and the certaine consequent thereof repentance So likewise is there difference in the manner of performing these conditions for now God Himselfe beginnes first to worke upon us and in us before we move or stirre towards Him Hee doth not onely commaund us and leave us to our created strength to obey the Command but He furnisheth us with His owne Grace and Spirit to fulfill the Commaund and when He bids us come unto Him He doth likewise draw us unto Him In this Covenant the first Treatie is betweene God and Christ. For though the Covenant be betweene God and us yet the negotiation and transaction of it is betweene God and Christ who was a suretie of the Covenant for us For first God in His decree of Love bestowed us upon Christ. Thine they were and thou gavest them unto me we were chosen in Him wee to be members in Him and He to be a Head and Fountaine unto us of all grace and glorie For God had committed unto Him an Office of power to redeeme His Church and He received a Commandement from His Father to finish the worke of mediation Secondly being thus made Christs partly by the gift of Gods eternall Love partly by Christs owne voluntarie susception of that Office whereby He was to be a Head and Captaine of Salvation to His Members God in due time reveales Himselfe His Name Power and Covenant unto us I have manifested thy Name unto the men which thou gavest mee and this is the tender of the Covenant and beginning of a Treaty with us And here God beginnes to worke in us for though the Covenant be proposed under a condition yet God gives us as well the condition as the Covenant Our Faith is the operation of God and the work of his Power that which he requires of us He doth bestow upon us and here the first worke of God is spiritual and heavenly teaching The second is the terminus or product of that teaching our learning which I call Gods worke not as if we did nothing when we are said to learne and to come unto Christ but because all that we doe is by the strength and grace which from Him we receive wee come unto Christ as a childe may be said to come unto his mother or nurse who holds him at a distance from her selfe and drawes him neerer and neerer when she cals him Thus as we were made Christs by donation Thou gavest them me so after likewise by incorporation