Nature spoil the Reputation of the Works of Art Psalm 4.7 Thou hast put gladness in my Heart more than in the Time when their Corn and Wine increased If we had more spiritual Delight in God carnal Fruitions must needs be a less powerful bait 'T is in vain for the Devil to entice that Soul with a few drops of Pleasure that run through broken Cisterns which partakes of satisfying Refreshments from the Fountain of Life these Things are only suited to the Palates of those that never know the Joy of the Lord. Heaven's Favourites cannot fall in Love with Earths 't is natural for a Believer that 's cloathed with the Sun to have the Moon under his Feet Rev. 12.1 2. The Frowns of the World too often scare Men from their Obedience but a due Apprehension of the Love of God is a good Security against this Temptation also The belief of God's reconciled Heart and view of his pleased Countenance is enough to make us Triumph over the fiercest malignity of Men and Devils It Matters not who they be that are against us nor what they can do against us so long as we know that God is for us This will make us Glory in Infirmities Necessities Distresses and Afflictions of all sorts For he that can encourage himself with David 1 Sam. 30.6 In the Lord his God will not be dismayed by any of these Things Bitter Herbs will go down very well when a Man hath such delicious Meats which the World knows not of The Sense of our Father's Love is like Honey at the end of every Rod it turns Stones into bread and Water into Wine and the Valley 〈◊〉 Trouble into a Door of Hope it makes the biggest Evils seem as if they were none or better than none for it makes our Desarts like the Garden of the Lord and when we are upon the Cross for Christ as if we were in Paradice with Christ Who would quit his Duty for the sake of Suffering that hath such relief under it Who would not rather walk in Truth when he hath such a Cordial to support him than by the Conduct of fleshly Wisdom to take any indirect or irregular Methods for his own Deliverance 3. The Love of Life is a very frequent and pernicious Snare which a Sense of God's Love must deliver us from being entangled by What so desirable as Life if a Man have no Place in the Heart of God This is the greatest Temporal Blessing and nothing can out do it but the Favour of the God of our Life And this excels indeed Psalm 63.3 Thy Loving Kindness is better than Life What Comparison is there between the Breath in our Nostrils and the Favour of an Eternal God Any more than there is between an Everlasting Light and a poor vanishing Vapour compare Isa 60.19 with Jam. 4.14 Who would not therefore hate his own Life which hangs in doubt continually before him and of which he can have no Assurance when he knows that the Living God is his certain Portion Who would not freely yield up and part with Ten Thousand such Lives one after another if he had so many rather than the Wrath of God should be kindled but a little 4. The Fear of Death is a very usual and hurtful Snare too which can hardly be broken without a Sense of the Love of God Death which will rend and tear the Soul from the Body is the Lion in the way which discourages and affrights many from hazardous Duties thousands through sinful Cowardize have rather chosen to shipwrack their Faith and prostitute their Conscience then mingle their Blood with their Sacrifices But now they that have the Comforts of God to delight their Souls are more willingly brought to this King of Terrors if God cause his Face to shine what should hinder our chearful descent into the Valley of the shadow of Death Love is strong as Death and a great deal stronger one would dare to Dye for a good Man whose Love and Friendship hath endear'd him to us how much more for a God whose kindness hath been so exceeding This hath made so many Martyrs glorifie God in the midst of the Fires when they have been kill'd for Christ's sake all the day long and counted as Sheep for the slaughter they have been more than Conquerours through him that lov'd them and through the lively Impression of that Love upon them Rom. 8.36 37. 7. The New Nature is ingenuous and therefore will be wrought up to Obedience by the Love of God After we have tasted that the Lord is gracious we readily savour all the Things of God Humaue Nature indeed in our lapsed depraved State may Reward Evil for Good and Hatred for Love as David's Enemies did to him Psalm 109.5 before a saving Change is accomplish'd on the Soul but it neither is nor can be so when God gives Men another Heart as he does at their New-birth Then nothing eies us so fast to our Duty as those bands of Love nothing is so sweetly and yet so strongly attractive Jer. 31.3 With Loving Kindness have I drawn thee they that are only haled and drag'd by legal Terror will be striving to break away again and loose themselves from the Yoke of Christ but Love subdues all Things to it self it constrains to such Acts of Duty as make the mad World think us beside our selves 2 Cor. 5.13 14. The Soul is compell'd to come in to Christ and yet it walks at Liberty 't is so swayed by a Principle of Holy Gratitude as that it is always studying that Point What shall I render For this is a Principle that never fails to operate where the Root of thankfulness is the Fruit of Service cannot be wanting Therefore the Apostle beseeches by the Mercies of God that we present our Bodies c. Rom. 12.1 Love hath a mighty prevalency in the obtaining of all that is desir'd Herod would do any Thing at the Request of his beloved Herodias Esther chose that Time to perfer her Petition when she was expressing her Love to the King in a Banquet so when Christ is feasting a Believer with his Fat Things with his Love which is better than Wine the ravisht Believer can deny or grudge him nothing 8. That Love to God which a due Sense of the Love of God does produce in us is virtually all Obedience This Consideration consists of two Branches which to give it the greater Evidence and Force may be distincty open'd 1. A due Sense of the Love of God to us produces Love in us to God 1 John 4.19 We Love him because he first loved us Sic res accendunt lumina rebus Sanctified Affections are blown up in us by the believing Persuasions of Divine good Will towards us As there is something like an exchange of Souls between Bosom Friends so there are returns and reboundings of Love betwixt God and those whose Hearts are knit to him The Spouse of Christ proclaims their mutural
solemn Call and Dedication blessed Offices deep Abasement and Supereminent Advancement A Treatise of the Soul of Man wherein the Divine Original excellent and immortal Nature of the Soul are opened its Love and Inclination to the Body with the necessity of its Separation from it considered and improved The Existence Operations and States of separated Souls both in Heaven and Hell immediately after Death asserted discussed and variously applied Divers knotty and difficult Questions about departed Souls both Philosophical and Theological stated and determined The Method of Grace in bringing home the Eternal Redemption contrived by the Father and accomplished by the Son through the Effectual Application of the Spirit unto God's Elect being the second Part of Gospel Redemption The Divine Conduct or Mystery of Providence its Being and Efficacy asserted and vindicated all the Methods of Providence in our course of Life opened with Directions how to apply and improve them Navigation spiritualiz'd or a New Compass for Seamen consisting of Thirty Two Points of pleasant Observations profitable Applications serious Reflections all concluded with so many spiritual Poems c. A Saint indeed the great Work of a Christian A Touchstone of Sincerity or Signs of Grace and Symptoms of Hypocrifie being the second Part of the Saint indeed A Token for Mourners or Boundaries for Sorrow for the Death of Friends Husbandry spiritualiz'd or the Heavenly use of Earthly Things All these Ten by Mr. John Flavell A Funeral Sermon on the Death of that Pious Gentlewoman Mrs Judith Hammond late Wife of the Reverend Mr. George Hammond Minister of the Gospel in London Of Thoughtfulness for the Morrow With an Appendix concerning the immoderate Desire of foreknowing Things to come Of Charity in reference to others Mens sins The Redeemers Tears wept over lost Souls in a Treatise on Luke 19.41 42. With an Appendix wherein somewhat is occasionally Discoursed concerning the Sin against the Holy Ghost and how God is said to Will the Salvation of them that Perish A Sermon directing what we are to do after a strict Enquiry whether or no we truly Love God A Funeral Sermon for Mrs Esther Sampson late Wife of Mr. Henry Sampson Doctor of Physick who died Nov. 24. 1689. The Carnality of Religious Contention In two Sermons Preach'd at the Merchants Lecture in Broadstreet A calm and sober Enquiry concerning the Possibility of a Trinity in the Godhead A Letter to a Friend concerning a Postscript to the Defence of Dr. Sherlock's Notion of the Trinity in Unity relating to the calm and sober Enquiry upon the same Subject A View of that Part of the late Considerations Addrest to H. H. about the Trinity Which concerns the sober Enquiry on that Subject A Sermon preach'd on the late Day of Thanksgiving Decemb. 2. 1697. To which is prefix'd Dr. Bates's Congratulatory Speech to the King All these Eleven by Mr. John Howe The Good of Early Obedience or the Advantage of bearing the Yoke of Christ betimes Octavo The Almost Christian or the false Professor Tried and Cast Duodecimo Spiritual Wisdom improved against Temptation Duodecimo The Vision of the Wheels seen by the Prophet Ezechiel Quarto A Sermon of Unity or Two Sticks made one Quarto All Five by Matth. Mead Pastor of a Church of Christ at Stepney Discourses upon the Rich Man and Lazarus Octavo Three last Sermons of Mr. Cruso To which is added a Sermon on Novemb. 5. 1697. Octavo Both by Tim. Cruso M. A. His Funeral Sermon preach'd by Matth. Mead. Quarto The Life and Death of Mr Philip Henry Minister of the Gospel at Whitchurch in Shropshire who died June 24. 1696. Recommended by Dr. Bates David Jones's Sermon in Ember-Week preached before the University of Oxford The Qualifications requisite towards the Receiving a Divine Revelation A Sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul January the 2d 1699. Being the First for this Year of the Lecture Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq By Samuel Bradford M. A. Rector of St. Mary le Bow
Vera Effigies TIMOTHEI CRUSO Aetat 40. 1697. T. Forster delin N. White scuÌ„lp TWENTY-FOUR SERMONS Preached at the MERCHANTS-LECTURE AT Pinners Hall By the late Reverend Mr. TIMOTHY CRVSO LONDON Printed by S. Bridge for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside MDCXCIX TO THE READER THese Sermons are some of the Reliques of one who is gone to receive the Fruit of his Labours who hath left Sowing for the sake of the Harvest wherein he is now reaping Though this is a Posthumous Piece yet it speaks out the living Praise of the dead Author whose it was without any Alteration or Addition being Printed from his own Notes If I may use the Phrase in Fashion he lived too fast not as too many do who shorten their Days by their Debaucheries and sinful Excesses but as a Taper which wastes it self to give Light to others His Bodily Constitution was too weak to undergo the Service his Soul put it to in constant Studies and hard Labour that he might Answer the Restlesness of his Mind which was always aspiring to greater Knowledge and higher Attainments whereby he laid greater load upon his Flesh than its weakness could bear and so sinking under the burden he died in the midst of his Days There is no need of my Epistle to Midwife these Excellent Discourses into the World nor had I had any hand in it had it not been to answer the Desires of some Relations of his to whom my Obligations will not allow me to deny any thing And also to take this occasion to Vindicate what I spake and published in his Funeral Sermon about the Vnion of the Spirit of Christ with the Dead Body of a Saint which hath by some been greatly stumbled at and called in question as a new Doctrine I therefore thought it Charity to such to remove this stumbling Block not by any Arguments further than what I have therein already urged but by calling in the Judgment of others in this matter and I shall look no farther back than to the Learned Men of our own Times Mr. Rutherford speaking of the Covenant of Grace Treatise of the Covenant of Grace p. 216. says It is thus Eternal in that the dead Parties Abraham Isaac and Jacob are still in the Covenant of Grace and there remains a Covenant Union between Christ and their rotten Flesh sleeping in the Dust Mr. Calamy says Morning Exercise of Giles in Fields Ser. 24. p. 548. The Bodies of the Saints shall be raised by vertue of their Union with Christ for the Body of a Saint even while it is in the Grave is united to Christ and is asleep in Jesus and shall be raised by vertue of this Union And in p. 557. If thou gettest into Christ while thou livest thou shalt die in Christ and sleep in Christ and be raised by Christ into Eternal Happiness Mr. Case speaking of the Vnion between Christ and Believers Case his Mount Pisgah first Part p. 38. says Not only in Death but even after Death this Union holds the Saints are said to sleep in Jesus that part of the Saints which is capable of sleep is not capable of Separation from Christ While their more noble Part is united to Christ in Heaven among the Spirits of Just Men made perfect Christ is united to their inferiour and more ignoble Part in the Grave their very Dust they sleep in Jesus Mr. Stedman says Stedman's Mystical Vnion of Believers with Christ p. 191. Death it self shall not separate Believers from Jesus Christ but still they are entirely in him even when they are dead As it was in the death of Christ himself though it made Separation between his Body and Soul yet it did not separate the Humane Body from the Divine So it is in the death of the Saints though it rend the Spirit from the Flesh yet it can part neither from the Son of God The very Bodies of Believers are united to Jesus when they are dead Dr. Collings on those words of our Lord Pool 's Annotations on John 11.26 He that believeth on me shall never die says Though his Body shall die because of sin yet his Spirit shall live because of Righteousness and God shall in the great Day quicken again his Mortal Body through the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in him and is united to him Dr. Thomas Goodwin Dr. Goodwin 's first Fol. on Ephes 1.14 p. â—â—1 Doth the Spirit dwell in you now When you are laid in the Grave that Spirit dwelleth in you as he did in the Body of Christ I do not say in the same manner The Spirit of God did dwell in the Body of Christ in the Grave and raised it up he never left him Though his Body was a dead Carkass without a Soul yet that Body was Hypostatically united to the Godhead therefore it was called Holy One My Holy One shall not see Corruption Now the Comparison is If we have the Spirit of Christ and if he dwell in us the same Spirit shall never leave our Bodies till he hath raised us up also Nay while thy Body is dead and rotten in the Grave the Holy Ghost dwells in it And hear what a great Man of the Church of England in his Day saith Christ's Deity was united to his dead Body his Resurrection was perform'd by the Power and Spirit of the Father God reached out his hand to him and raised him up Here then is our Comfort the same Spirit of God is communicable to us the same Arm of Power may be reached out to us He will imploy the same power for us as he did for Christ Ephes 1.19 And again in p. 210. His Spirit dwells in you The Inhabitation of God's Spirit that is the Ground of our Resurrection because it is Vinculum unionis the Spirit is the Bond of our Union and Conjunction with Christ By it we are Incorporated into his Body and made Members of it Now then if our Head rise all the Members must rise with it if the Head be in Heaven the Members shall not for ever perish in the Grave This Union by the Spirit is like the touch of a Load-stone it will attract and draw us to him that where he is we shall be also It is spoken of his Hypostatical but it is true also of his Mystical Union Quod semel assumpsit nunquam deposuit Christ will part with none of his Members Bishop Brownrig 2d Vol. p. 204. And again in the same Page Our Bodies by this Inhabitation are Consecrated to be a Possession of the Holy Ghost and the Temple of God must not be destroy'd God's Spirit takes Pleasure not only in these living Temples but owns them when they are dead takes Pleasure in the dead Bones and Favours the Dust of them I could multiply Testimonies of elder Date to prove the Truth of this Doctrine and that it is no new Notion but there needs no Proof from Humane Testimony
divers sorts I shall take Notice only of what may be distributed under these six following Heads 1. There are Promises which concern the Preservation of the World in general as well as others which respect the welfare of those who are chosen out of the World Isa 54.9 This is as the Waters of Noah unto me for as I have sworn that the Waters of Noah should no more go over the Earth so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee c. The Promise which God here refers to is as ancient as the Floud I will not again smite any more every living Thing as I have done Gen. 8.21 So I will set my Bow in the Cloud and it shall be for a token of a Covenant between me and the Earth Chap. 9.13 This Promise of God is as a Fence or Bank to the World against a second Deluge but this hath its Ratification in Christ for it was made upon God's smelling a sweet Savour from Noah's Sacrifice which was Typical of Christ and the Rain-bow it self seems to be a Figure of him also Rev. 4.3 2. There are Promises which relate to the Church of Christ as an Holy Society as well as others that concern particular Believers Mat. 16.18 Vpon this Rock I will build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Whether the Powers of Darkness acted by the Devil or the Gates of Death and the Grave be here meant it amounts to the same Sense the intendment of our Lord being plainly this that he will have a Church in the World to the End of the World it shall never totally perish from the Earth but be confirmed in spite of its greatest Adversaries and survive them all This Promiso as it was utter'd by the Mouth of Christ so it hath its Stability from him for it becomes the Head to protect the Body and to take Care that it be not destroy'd He sitting on the Throne is a safeguard to his People dwelling on the Footstool 3. There are Promises which belong to the Posterities of them that believe as well as others to their Persons for God receives and takes in not only them but their Acts 2.39 The Promise is to you and to your Children This is not to be taken so universally as if all the Children of Believers were the Children of Promise we see the contrary often many spiritual Men are afflicted with a carnal Seed Grace is not tyed to a lineal descent in Religious Families but only flows down where the Vein of Election runs However the Promises are indefinitely laid down and may accordingly be urg'd to God by his faithful ones for those that belong to them Psalm 112.2 The Generation of the Vpright shall be Blessed This hath its Establishment in Christ for as he was sent to Bless so little Children particularly were blest by him 4. There are Promises which have a Reference to Temporal Things as well as others that refer to Spirituals and Eternals This is such a Distribution as the Apostle makes of them 1 Tim. 4.8 Having the Promise of the Life which now is and of that which is to come Some Promises do more immediately concern the Body others bear a Relation to the Soul some respect Time and others Eternity Both sorts have their Confirmation in Christ only Temporal Promises are fulfilled with more Limitations and Restrictions than the Spiritual are because Temporal good Things may not be always good for us but when they are so they shall be given Yea and in spiritual Cases also we must distinguish between what is indispensibly necessary to Salvation and what is not For we may want some Degrees of Grace and of Assurance and yet the Promise may stand fast 5. There are Old Testament Promises and New Testament Promises which do not differ in regard of Matter for they exhibite the same substantial Mercies but only in regard of elder or newer Date There were Promises which nourisht the Faith of Believers before Christ's Time Promises made unto the Father which Christ was sent to confirm Rom. 15.8 Promises which kept the Church alive till Christ appear'd we have all these with the Addition of many more we have Line upon Line Promise upon Promise since the coming of Christ into the World for the Riches of Mercy are now more plentifully made known and the Discoveries of Grace abound under the Gospel Dispensation but all this fresh Edition of Promises as well as the other are founded upon Christ 6. There are Promises which have been perform'd already some perfectly other is Part and there are Promises which yet remain to be performed The promised Deliverance of Israel out of Egypt and Babylon hath been accomplisht the Calling of the Gentiles also accomplisht in some measure and the Detection and begun Consummation of Antichrist but there are still to come many glorious Things which are spoken of the City of God The National Conversion of the Jews a more eminent setting up of the Kingdom of Christ in the Kingdoms of the World the repairing and beautifying of Sion beyond the Patterns of fromer Ages the total and final overthrow of all her Enemies As to every one of these though yet only promised we may apply that Voice from Heaven Rev. 16.17 And say it is done That which is Future is secur'd upon the same bottom as that which is past was Every Word of Promise from God whether fulfill'd or unfulfill'd hath but one Center of Infallibility viz. Jesus Christ III. Why are Divine Promises said to be ratified in Christ Upon what accounts does the Apostle here pronounce them Yea and Amen in him Ans For these seven Reasons 1. Jesus Christ acts the Part and Office of a Witness on the behalf of God who is the Person promising God never left himself without a Witness for the hath authorized and employed many in the several Ages of the World to bear their Testimony to him and his Blessed Truths but he hath eminently and emphatically given Christ to be a Witness Isa 55.4 Who does incomparably and infinitely excel al others for he is stiled the Amen The faithful and true Witness Rev. 3.14 Yea he is the Truth it self John 14.6 He testifies what he hath seen and heard with the Father an Eye-witness and an Ear-witness Chap. 3.32 An Honour which no Man could assume but the Man Christ Jesus who was in the beginning and before the beginning with God who was by him from Everlasting and know all that was in his Heart when there was nothing utter'd by Word or committed to Writing He hath manifested the Fathers Counsels of Peace and Commissioned his Servants to Report them Rev. 22.6 He said unto me these sayings are c. 2. Jesus Christ is the Surety of that Covenant wherein all the Promises are comprehended So he is expresly call'd Surety of a better Testament Heb. 7.22 Or better Covenant which is established upon better Promises Chap. 8.6 He undertakes and
he never will have the Honour of our perfected Sanctification except he enables us to hold on in the way that we have enter'd 4. 'T is necessary that Christ should secure us in our Way to Glory because 't is his Business to receive us into the Possession of that Glory at the close of all John 14.3 If I go and prepare a Place for you I will come again and receive you to my self c. The Reception of departing Souls to Heaven at Death is the Act of Christ and so is the Sentencing of them to an Eternal Abode in Heaven at the general Judgment 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that Day c. But who shall there be to wear this Crown if Christ do not keep them in the way of Righteousness till that Day comes Mat. 25.34 Then shall the King say unto them on the Right Hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom c. But where will any such Persons be found if abandon'd by Christ while they are here in this World This is to be the Portion of Christ's Sheep indeed but the Wolf will have scatter'd them all if he do not defend them before that Time There will be no Heirs to this Inheritance unless he that bought it for them take Care that they may not alienate it from themselves 5. The Wisdom of God is hereby seen in a most shameful baffling of the Devil Though all the Posterity of the first Man are utterly weaken'd and disabled by Sin yet the Man Christ Jesus is become a Fountain of spiritual Strength to his own Seed The Devil Triumpht over the Old Adam as having cast down many wounded in the foiling of that one but here is a second Adam assuming the very same Nature that Triumphs over him and helps us to Triumph also Flesh and Blood was conquer'd by him in Paradice but here is a Partaker of Flesh and Blood that puts him to flight Though Man alone could not grapple with him but fell by his first assault yet God-man hath bruis'd him under our Feet and given us a firmer standing The Devil must now pull down the Banners which he had set up because his Head is broken by the Woman's Seed One that once dwelt among us in such an House of Clay as we do hath deliver'd us from him and fortified us against him Though he gave us a Mortal blow in our first Parents here 's the Son of Man hath quicken'd us again and is the Strength of our Life 6. Believers could not have a better Security than that whereof there hath been a visible Experiment in the Person of Christ himself His Strength is a tryed Strength if it had not been enough for us it had failed him but if it sustained him in so difficult a Work against so much Resistance both from Earth and Hell we cannot fear its falling short Christ had a Work upon his Hands that all the Angels in Heaven could not have done and yet he went through it Christ was tempted in all Points like as we are and a great deal more than we are yet the Tempter could fasten nothing upon him He never flinch't from what he undertook but pursued his first Engagement till all Things foretold concerning him had an End Isa 50.5 The Lord God hath opened my Ear and I was not Rebellious neither turned away back He went on though there was a Lion in his Way the Roaring Lion yea though God himself came forth with his drawn Sword of Justice as an Adversary against him for our sakes This may give us the more Encouragement to believe that he can and will keep us also from going back V. Vse Several Things are to be learnt as Truths and urg'd as Duties from this Doct. Some Things for the informing of Judgment and others for the directing of the Practice I. Information 1. What a wretched Case must they be in that are out of Christ The Apostle calls them unstable Souls that are easily beguil'd and how can they be otherwise 2 Pet. 2.14 The Devil does with them as he will carries them whither he pleases for there can be nothing to hinder him where the Power of Christ does not rest upon their Persons Such as partake not of the Root that do not derive a Vertue from thence are like dead Branches or wither'd Leaves which may hang on for a Time but will certainly be blown off by some Wind or other Hypocrites that are in Christ by outward Profession only are like Meteors which glitter and blaze a while but they are soon spent and tumble to the ground but the Stars in Christs Right Hand Rev. 1.16 cannot do so They that belong to Christ have their Preservation from him but 't is no wonder to hear that all others miscarry Those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost but the Son of Perdition John 17.12 And this Son of Perdition was none of them not given in order to Salvation but Apostleship That goodness which Christ does not establish must needs be as a Morning Cloud no Creature can escape a fall that stands upon its own Bottom All counterfeit Graces plausible Duties fair Shews and false Joys will vanish and come to nothing because the Persons whose they are are separated from Christ and have no Strength or Support by him 2. This discovers the Reason of the Difference which there is oftentimes between one Believer and another Their Strength is not in themselves but in Christ and from him it is variously communicated and dispens'd according as he sees good Hence it is that they who have obtain'd like precious Faith are not equally strong in Faith and they that are risen up to greater Attainments come short sometimes as to spiritual Acts. Some that have been best furnisht with the Habits of Grace have at particular Season been most defective in the very Exercise of Grace and betray more than others of their own Corruption Weaker Christians have done better in resisting of some Temptations than such as have been a great deal stronger The Women that followed Christ though the weaker Vessels denied not Christ as Peter did though a more eminent Disciple for though Christ pray'd that his Faith might not fail he did not Pray that he might not faulter It was said to the Church of Philadelphia Thou hast a little Strength and hast kept my Word and hast not denied my Name Rev. 3.8 The weakest Christians will stand with Christ help and the strongest cannot stand without it 3. This shews how there comes to be such a Difference and inequality in the same Believer at several Times Sometimes he withstands a greater Temptation and at other Times is foil'd by a lesser because no Man not the best of Men prevails by his own Strength but according as Strength is given out from Christ to succour and assist him
is manifest because immediately after this he enter'd upon his publick Ministry here was a Pledge first given of the Authority which he was invested with that he might be accordingly acknowledg'd and regarded in the Exercise of his Office which till now he had not begun 2. The extraordinary Works that were done by Christ these were the Seals of his Commission and prov'd him to come from Heaven for the Doctrine of an Impostor would never have been so signally asserted But now all these Works were done in the Power of the Holy Ghost whom he is said to be anointed with and partly for that End Acts 10.38 Particularly he cast out Devils by the Spirit of God Mat. 12.28 And for that Reason he charges the Jews with Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost the unpardonable Sin who ascrib'd this mighty Act of his to Beelzebub the Prince of Devils ver 31 32. If Christ himself only had been concern'd in this Work this could have been Blasphemy against him only but seeing the Spirit of God concurr'd with him in it they were guilty of Blaspheming that Spirit also 3. The Resurrection of Christ which was a considerable Testimony to his Eternal Deity is ascrib'd to the Spirit likewise This Work is indeed in Scripture ascrib'd to all the Three Persons to the Father Rom. 6.4 To Christ himself John 10.17 18. And the Holy Ghost is interested in it too Rom. 8.11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he that rais'd up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit c. The Connexion of the Words and the Relation which one Thing in them bears to another shews this to be the meaning that God will revive and raise the Dead Bodies of Believers by the same Spirit by whom he rais'd his Son that Spirit who reunited the Humane Soul and Body of Jesus Christ will reunite ours also So 1 Pet. 3.16 Quicken'd in the Spirit the same Spirit by which he Preach'd to the Disobedient in the Days of Noah ver 19 20. with Gen. 6.3 3. How did the Spirit witness to Christ after his Departure into Heaven I mean in the Times of the Apostles and in those first Ages of the Gospel Answ I. By the Revelation of the Mysteries of the Gospel to the Apostles which they were to Preach to others This we have an Account of from Christ himself John 16.12 13 14 15. I have yet many Things to say unto you but you cannot bear-them now howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth c. He shall Glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shew it unto you which is repeated in the next Words The Disciples then were weak in the Faith prepossest with carnal Notions about the Kingdom of Christ and at that Time also overwhelm'd with Sorrow upon the Notice of his intended Departure and by this means they were uncapable at the present of Learning all that they needed to be taught now Jesus Christ who consider'd their weakness and dealt with them according to it refers them to be more fully instructed by the promised Spirit who though he did not discover any new Truths which they never heard yet he brought old Truths to their Remembrance with new Illumination he help'd their remaining Ignorance and Infrimity in giving them a clearer Understanding of all the Things of Chirist of all those Doctrines concerning Christ which were hid and veil'd from them before 2. By endowing them with a miraculous Power of doing those Things which were above the utmost activity of Nature for the Confirmation of the Christian Doctrine Thus he is said to give Testimony to the Word of his Grace in granting Signs and Wonders to be done by their Hands Acts 14.3 God bearing them Witness with Signs and Wonders and divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost Heb. 2.4 A great many of those supernatural Effects were produced by his means in the Course of their Ministry and some of them such as even exceeded what were wrought by our Lord himself So he had told them that it should be John 14.12 He that believeth on me the Works which I do shall he do also and greater Works than these shall he do because I go to my Faither I would not go about to restrain this Text to the Apostles because Christ puts it in larger Terms He that believeth c. but undoubtedly it was verified in them They were enabled to Work the same Miracles which he did and in some Respects such as out-did them Chap. 9. The Healing of those that were laid upon Beds and Couches in the Streets with the Shadow of Peter passing by ver 15. of this Chapter and Chap. 19.11 12. We read of special Miracles wrought by the Hands of Paul so that from his Body were brought unto the Sick Handkerchiefs or Aprons and the Diseases departed from them c. The Reason of these greater Works done by the Apostles was Christ's going to the Father which made Way for an eminent pouring forth of the Spirit and this tended not so much to the Reputation of their particular Persons for they could not Work them when they would as to the Glory of Christ whose Interest was hereby advanced in the World 3. By the remarkable and numerous Conversions of great Multitudes to Christ among whom they preach'd As soon as ever the Holy Ghost was come upon them there were Three Thousand Souls added to them That gladly receiv'd their Word and were Baptized Chap. 2.41 Soon after these were made up Five Thousand Chap. 4.4 All this was done in the compass of very few Days and the first Harvest was the Fruit of one Sermon At Samaria when Philip went and Preach'd Christ to them 't is said that the People with one accord gave heed to the Things which he spake Chap. 8.5 6. Which is the more extraordinary because they had all given heed to Simon the Sorcerer before from the least to the greatest ver 10. What a strang and marvellous turn was here in an whole City upon the Preaching of the Gospel In many other Places the Word of God grew mightily and prevail'd Chap. 19.20 It got ground against all the Opposition both of Jews and Gentiles The Preachers of it were made to Triumph in Christ and baffies all contrary attempts from open Enemies and false Brethren and overcame the Devil by the Word of their Testimony And the way of doing all this is explain'd to us 1 Cor. 2.4 My Speech and my Preaching was in Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power The Spirit of God accompanied their Word and made it thus successful 4. By the supernatural Gifts which were bestowed upon other Believers also as well as the Apostles The Truth of this might be made out by several Instances if it were needful Acts 10.44 While Peter spake the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word viz. Cornelius
preserved blameless and kept to Salvation and never pluck'd out of the Hand of Christ when we find our selves many times loose and wavering and incident to numberless Miscarriages Is it very easie to believe that our Justification is perfect when our Sanctification is so defective That we are compleat in Christ when we are so 〈◊〉 so meanly furnish'd in our selves that upon a review we might say with Paul In us there dwells no good thing Is it easie to look upon God as our Saviour and wait for him when he hides himself Is it easie to stick close to him when he seemingly forsakes us and to believe his Love when we feel his Anger and to trust his naked Word when we see no appearances or likelihoods of Performances but the contrary They are insensible in Spiritual Affairs that will not acknowledge a Difficulty in these things 3. Dying in Faith This last Act of a Believer is as requisite as all the rest 'T is said of the Antient Patriarchs Heb. 11.13 That they all died in Faith For to cast away our Considence then is to cast away our Souls And yet to maintain and keep up lively hopes in the Agonies of Death to depart like old Simeon in the joyful sight of God's Salvation to cleave firmly to Christ when Flesh and Heart fail to close our own Eyes and commit our selves boldly to Divine Guidance through the Valley of the Shadow of Death when we are stepping out of the World is certainly hard work to such as we are That Faith must not be weak nor little which makes a Man content to be strip'd of the Body as Aaron of his Garments on the Mount Num. 20.28 to quit such a well-built commodious Tabernacle and lie down in the Dust This seems unnatural after we have dwelt in this House so many Years and therefore scarcely to be perform'd without some more than ordinary violence The love of Life will probably hold out as long as Life it self and the fear of Death in some measure till we have tasted Death and a World that we never saw cannot be very alluring except the Eye of Faith be very clear and strong If believing under such Disadvantages when we come to die be not difficult nothing is so 2. There is the difficulty of getting the Victory over Sin Such a Victory must be gotten by every one that is saved for where Sin is in Dominion there can be no Reigning in Life thro' Christ 'T is plain That the Motions of Sins do work in our Members to bring forth Fruit unto Death Rom. 7.5 These Motions therefore tho' they cannot be prevented must be repelled Now an Enemy that is got within us hath mighty Advantage against us and it requires a great deal of strength to be delivered from him we cannot dispossess him and yet we must overcome him we cannot drive him out and yet we must keep him under Sin will have a being in us and be giving continual disturbance to us and yet it must be so far destroyed as not to have command over us This is a very difficult Atchievement and every one engaged in the holy Warfare sinds it so but particularly 1. The entire abandoning of customary Sins is hard work Sins that have been made familiar to us by long practice and frequent repetition insomuch that perhaps we fall into them before we are aware and scarcely know when we have committed them are difficult to be forsaken The Holy Ghost expresses this by a direct impossibility Jer. 13.23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye do good that are c. q. d. one is as casie as the other The cure of inveterate Distempers that have rooted themselves in our Bodies and prevailed along time together is no slight business Remedies of small force will avail nothing in such cases 2. The absolute renouncing of Constitution Sins is still harder That there are some sins peculiarly suited to our several Tempers is undeniable and to reliquish these is a work of special difficulty A Man cannot guess at the subduing of his own Iniquity by his mastery of some other less pleasing Lusts 'T is easier to conquer all the rest than this one A Man that 's almost perswaded to give up all stops when it comes to his darling Sin This Image of Jealousie must be spared though his other Idols be thrown down and broken in pieces This above all is the sin that easily besets us Hebr. 12.1 and the sin which is hardly to be resisted and vanquish'd by us 3. The weaning of the Heart from the Love of every sin We are not true Conquerors till this be done So long as any sin hath any room or interest in our Affections 't is really predominant and we are properly its Servants though we may be restrain'd from outwardly and openly obeying it Now this is a case that too often happens sin retires out of the visible Conversation into its strong Hold the Bosom of the Sinner and there it remains invincible Many times there are are few of its Acts to be discovered in the Life and yet there are secret strong desires and inclinations to it in the Soul Balaam did not curse Israel but his mind was set that way to the very last Josh 24.10 'T is a thousand times harder to hate one sin than to leave many 3. There is difficulty of standing against the wiles of the Devil Ephes 6.11 The strength of this Adversary is not contemptible but his cunning is more formidable we need to be very vigilant against him as a roaring Lion but much more as he is a winding Serpent we are in greater danger of his stealing us to Hell by Subtilty than of his haling us thither by meer armed Fury We that are so prone to be carried about by the Craftiness of Men who lie in wait to deceive have much greater cause to be afraid of the Arts and Impostures of Satan but particularly in many things 't is difficult to discern him and when we do to avoid him 1. 'T is difficult many times to discern the wiles of the Devil as 't is said of the ways of the strange Woman they are moveable that thou canst not know them Prov. 5.6 So may we say of the Paths of the Destroyer they are intricate and disguised that we cannot find them out He does not dig many open Pits but Graves which appear not which while we think to walk over we fall into The Holy Ghost says indeed We are not ignorant of Satan's devices 2 Cor. 2.11 but I conceive that must be comparatively understood the Saints of God are much more acquainted with them than other Men though they know them less in respect of concernment in them Rev. 2.24 they know them better so as to beware of them We are not universally ignorant though we know but in part neither our Knowledge nor Ignorance is total some of his Devices are known to us
the utmost Revenge This is that Love of Christ which passeth Knowledge Eph. 3.19 A Love which is and will be the Matter of endless Admiration which the saints in Heaven are always magnifying but can never fully comprehend 'T is sometimes called the Grace of our Lord Yesus 2 Cor. 8.9 1 Tim. 1.14 Which is not meant of the Grace communicated to us but that Grace in him which is the Fountain and Spring of all such Communications We are not only to consider the Love and Good-will of the Father in sending but the exceeding Kindness of the Son in coming which his Desire of and Zeal for our Salvation promoted him to 6. Jesus Christ was willing not only to purchase a new Title for us to our forfeited Blessings but to purchase a new Title to us for himself This is expresly said to be one Part of his Intention and Design Rom. 14 9. To this end he both dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the Dead and Living He was Lord of all upon the old Account of Creation for he could not lose his Propriety and Dominion when Ahaz Reign'd so wickedly and committed all manner of Abominations and for that Reason was delivered into the Hand of the King of Syria the Lord his God is said to do it 2 Chron. 28.5 The Lord was his God by right still though he sinfully renounc't and disown'd him But now Jesus Christ was resolv'd to be our Lord upon a new Account of Redemption that he might lay claim to us not only as the Lord that made us but as the Lord that bought us We are now the ransomed of the Lord Isa 35.10 His purchased Possession Eph. 1.14 By the Payment of the same inestimable Price he hath regain'd all that Sin and Satan had snatcht and torn from us and likewise acquir'd a further Interest and Right in us such as will be acknowledg'd by all his saved ones to his Eternal Praise 7. The Powers of Darkness would have been Triumphant if Christ had not baffled and defeated them by this glorious Persormance It was a great Satisfaction to their Malice and Rage after they were banisht out of Heaven and cast down to Hell to involve all Mankind by one successful Temptation in the same Ruine with themselves and so prevent God from rejoycing in any of his Works on Earth When Judgment was executed upon them never to be revers't they thought it made some amends that they had drawn the whole Posterity of Adam at once into the fatal Snare The Devil gloried over poor miserable Man as his Conquer'd Vassal and lawful Captive having subdued this undone World to himself as a kind of Tributary Province where he might Drink his fill of the Blood of Souls But this Performance of Christ hath disappointed him of the Fruits of that Victory For he hath divided the spoil with the Strong Isa 53.12 And destroyed him that had the Power of Death Heb. 2.14 Jesus Christ hath pluckt his Sheep out of the Teeth of the Devourer and pull'd down the Banners which he had set up and made him give up his Slaves as the Fish that had swallowed Jonah vomited him alive upon dry Land 8. Christ knew that his blessed Performance would not only be a Benefit to Man but turn to the Advantage of Elect Angels also At the same Time that he came about restoring Work for us he might also do confirming Work for them And this their Case requir'd Angels wanted an Head of stability as well as Men a Mediator of recovery they stood in need of his Support as well as we of his Salvation his Blood was necessary for us as actually fallen his Strength necessary to them because naturally mutable All Things in Heaven and Earth were to be gather'd together in one even in Christ Eph. 1.10 They could not safely meet in any other Center but so as to be in danger of being shaken off again We that had left our first Estate were to be reduc'd and brought back to it they that had kept their first Estate were to be fixt and establisht in it Here was a double Work to be done by the same Hand and the same Hand hath done both Christ hath interpos'd for our Restauration and for their Security for the remedying of our Apostacy and the Prevention of theirs The Heart of our dear Lord is set upon the multiplying of Acts of Grace from the Throne to the Footstool that high and low may be taken in V. Vse I. Information Many Things to be learnt from hence As 1. If it were Christs Work to restore what he took not away we may see a vast difference between him and the best of those that were Types of him Some of the greatest Types of Christ were in some Things contrary to him as well as in all Things Inferiour There was not a more eminent Type of Christ in the Old Testament than David the Person speaking in the Text insomuch that Christ is frequently set forth under his Name Isa 55.3 and in many other Places Now this David was so far from doing as Christ did i. e Restoring what he took not away that he confesses the contrary of himself in the Case of his numbring the People for which seventy Thousand of them dyed by the Pestilence 2 Sam. 24.17 He spake unto the Lord when he saw the Angel that smote the People and said Lo I have sinned and done wickedly but these Sheep what have they done Let thy Hand I pray thee be against me c. Our Lord Jesus might have inverted these Words these Sheep have gone Astray indeed and turned every one to his own Way but what have I done Let not thy Sword be awaken'd against me but them They have deserv'd to suffer but wherein have I offended David's Sin punisht upon the People and the Sins of the People upon Christ 2. The unspotted Holiness of our Lord Jesus is not in the least blemisht by the Imputation of our Sins to him He is not at all the less guiltless in himself because our Iniquities are laid upon him We may with sufficient tenderness preserve the Honour of our great Redeemer as one undesiled and separate from Sinners without departing from this important Truth of his being made Sin for us for the Holy Ghost affirms both this and that he knew no Sin in the same Breath 2 Cor. 5. ult He was far from being personally conscious of Sin yet so far charg'd with it as to be accountable in our stead for it When the Scape-goat which had all the Iniquities of the People put upon his Head was sent away by the Hand of a sit Man into the Wilderness He that let him go was to wash his Cloaths and bath his Flesh in Water and afterwards to return into the Camp Lov. 16.26 And so the Priest was to do after the sprinkling of the Blood of the Heifer Numb 19.7 And the man that burnt her ver 8. To
while are not perceiv'd to be do not therefore cease to be we may be taken into the number of the Sons of God and yet want the Manifestation of our being such Rom. 8.19 I speak not this to discourage any in the least from looking after the clearing up of these Matters as much as can be to their own Souls but to prevent those from being too much discouraged who are yet kept in the dark by God that they may not conclude positively against themselves but rather take Courage with the Church under the hidings of God's Face But thou art our Father Isa 64.7 8. IV. How is this Priviledge of a Believer's Sonship improve'd by the Spirit 's help The Text seems to have a special Reference to Prayer and to our Challenging and Pleading of this filial Relation in that Duty I shall endeavour the opening of this Point in these eight Things 1. That the Spirit of Christ is particularly promis'd and given as a Spirit of Supplication Zech. 12.10 His Influence is eminently needful in this Service We should never sind in our Hearts to Pray one acceptable Prayer to God throughout our Lives if the Spirit did not put it into our Hearts first We cannot speak to God in any Language which he will hear upon any occasion whatsoever without the Spirits Direction They are all vain Words which are not of his Teaching the froth and scum of Man's Invention which however esteemed among Creatures here below bears no Price at all in Heaven Every Petition which the Father receives is dictated and drawn up by the Holy Ghost God never inclines his own Ear but when he thus prepares our Hearts Except this Advocate be at Work in us there is no finding of Audience with him And therefore they that prophanely renounce all Supplication in and by the Spirit as some have done may as well go a little further and lay aside all Supplication in general for whatever Prayer they pour out is as Water spilt on the Ground 2. Effectual Prayer such as the Spirit teaches and helps us in is put up to God as a Father Jesus Christ is a Pattern to us and if we examine the style of his Prayers we shall find that they are all grounded upon this Relation Mat. 11.25 I thank thee oh Father c. which Title is repeated ver 26. Even so Father c. John 12.27 Father save me from this Hour Father glorifie thy Name And no less than six Times over Chap 17. Again in the Garden Mat. 26.39 O my Father if it be possible c. Yea some of his last Words upon the Cross were in the same strain when he came to give up the Ghost Luke 23.46 Father into thy Hands c. And that we might not think this was proper and suitable to him only the Directory which he gave to his Disciples is so likewise After this manner Pray ye Our Father c. Mat. 6.9 When the Scripture speaks of making Supplication to our Judge Job 9.15 We must understand it of Praying that he would not deal with us as a Judge Psalm 143.2 Enter not into Judgment c. 3. The Praying Dispositions of Children are first infus'd into them by the Spirit Every Babe in Christ is furnish'd with them and as he increases in spiritual Strength and Stature they grow up with him Children naturally apply themselves to their Parents for what they want rather than to other Persons and this also is natural to all the Children of God 'T is a part of their new Nature which is the Work and Product of the Spirit He that hath not a Divine Principle in him which leads him to call on the Father deserves not to be call'd a Christian Assoon as the Soul is born again it crys and its cry is immediately to him whom it is born of This cry is renewed every Day several times in a Day for there is an Habit of this kind emplanted in the Soul which puts forth it self in frequent Acts. The Spirit 's quickening is always accompanied with inward groaning so that where no such groans are we may be sure that Death hath Dominion still and the Man hath not begun to Live 4. The Spirit fills the Mouth with Arguments in the very Act of Prayer such as are fit to be us'd and urg'd to a Father Holy and humble Argumentations with God are truly the very sinews of Prayer wherein its great Strength lies It does not so much consist in the bare proposing of our Requests to God as in the alledging of proper Pleas for God's answering and fulfilling of them Such as that of the Church Isa 63.15 Where is the sounding of thy Bowels and of thy Mercies towards me are they restrained This is Connected with their Claim of God as a Father in the next Words twice ver 16. A fatherly Relation speaks Tenderness and Compassion Psalm 103.13 Like as a Fasther pitieth his Children c. Whoever are void of Pity Fathers are wont to put on Bowels or if the Fathers of our Flesh should be unnatural the Father of our Spirits cannot be so and therefore this was a very apt and agreeable Plea which the Spirit of God hath Register'd for us Whatever you need to have done intreat of God to do as becomes a Father 5. The Spirit enables us to go to God as a Father with Confidence for whom can Children repair so freely to as to their own Parent Whom can they with so much certainty expect Relief from as from him that begat them Therefore as we have Access by one Spirit unto the Father Eph. 2.18 So we are said to have boldness and access or access with boldness Chap. 3.12 The Command of God is to ask in Faith to trust him and depend upon him for the seasonable Accomplishment of all our regular Desires and this dependance is as much our Duty as Subjection is and it is every whit as difficult yea as impossible to be perform'd without the help of the Spirit 'T is far easier to utter many thousands of Petitions before God than to lift up one to him believingly But when the Soul is strengthen'd with all might by the Spirit in this Duty all the workings of unbelief are instantly subdued Doubts and Fears of our Acceptance and Success are made to vanish like Shadows that fly away upon the Appearance of the Sun 6. The Spirit instructs us how to Address our selves to God as a Father with becoming Reverence There must be a mixture of this with our Considence or else we abuse our Priviledge instead of improving it The same Spirit is a Spirit of the fear of the Lord as well as of Faith Isa 11.2 We are not to make so bold with God as not to stand in awe of him The Freedom which God allows us in his Presence is not a rude Familiarity this is not Child-like for a Father ought to be respected by those that descend from him He must be consider'd as a
Tit. 2.11 12. This is the prevailing Antidote against practical Atheism and all manner of licentiousness and sensuality Hereby we serve God acceptably Heb. 12.28 And hereby we have our Conversation in the World towards other Men so as to gain the rejoycing Testimony of a good Conscience 2 Cor. 1.12 Such Fruits of Righteousness does the Root of the Righteous always yield II. Wherein does this Grace appear to he given Ans Two ways 1. If we consider the Matter in general it must needs be given because the Creature is in no Capacity to claim it as a debt For 1. The Man that hath no Grace can do nothing to deserve it Nothing that 's done by the strength of Nature can Merit the infusing of a supernatural Power Nature and Grace differ in kind and Grace is of a kind more Superiour to Nature than Heaven is to Earth There is no Affinity or Comparison between Flesh and Spirit and consequently none between that which is born of the Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit John 3.6 What we bring forth in a State of Sin is all after our own likeness and can this qualifie us for being Created again after the likeness of God All antecedent Dispositions and Preparations rise no higher than the carnal Standard they are still but dead Works which fall infinitely short of a Divine quickening If Glory is not to be procur'd by the most vigorous Exercises of Grace much less Grace by the utmost endeavours of Nature 2. We are so far from deserving Grace that naturally we do not desire it Wheresoever Grace is sincerely desir'd the good Work is begun To will is not present with us till God hath wrought it Whoever covets to partake of God's Holiness does in some Degree partake of it already There is an Enmity and Opposition in corrupt Nature to the Work of saving Grace instead of asking and seeking after it we refuse and reject the offers of it and rise up in Arms against it before God hath subdued us to himself How can we suppose that the Old Man should ever crave to be crucifi'd and reigning Sin affect to be depos'd We may as well think that the Devil should wish the Subversion of his own Kingdom as that unrenewed Nature and sinful Flesh should desire the Destruction of it self 3. We are so far from naturally desiring Grace that we are not deeply sensible of our want of it till God hath made us so By a deep Sense I mean a feeling Apprehension both of our being destitute of Grace and being undone without it Now this is imprest by the Spirit of God where-ever it is Graceless Persons either do not know their Condition to be so sinful or not so miserable as it is they think themselves to have what they have not or else they are Content to want it as if there were no need of having it How then can he deserve a Cure who fancies himself so whole that he hath no occasion for a Physician Or who thinks himself bound to bestow an Alms upon one that is too Proud to beg and will not own his Necessity but says he is Rich enough This is our Case with Respect to God 2. If we examine the Matter more particularly there are several express Instances in Scripture which make it out to us As 1. The Spirit of God who is the immediate Operator of all Grace in us and therefore call'd the Spirit of Grace Zech. 12.10 Is said to be given us Rom. 5.5 1 John 3.24 Or else 't is impossible that ever we should receive him Receiving implies a giving A Man can receive nothing unless it be given him from Heaven John 3.27 And therefore the World cannot receive the Spirit because he was never promised nor is he given to the World Chap. 14.17 Jesus Christ is not more the Gift of God to poor Sinners than the Spirit is they are both equally glorious Persons and unspeakable inestimable Gifts The Communication of the Holy Ghost is as great an Act of Bounty in God as the Exhibition of his Son 2. The New Nature which is inclusive of all Grace is represented in Scripture as a Gift Ezek. 36.26 A new Heart will I give you c. I will give you an Heart of Flesh This new Heart and Heart of Flesh does vertually comprehend in it every Grace for all the habits of Grace are infus'd at once not successively one after another they are all really inherent when we are first made new Creatures though not all on a sudden eminently visible Now this new Heart which constitutes a new Creature is absolutely given so the Covenant runs God does not say I will give it you upon such and such Terms if you do thus and thus but I will give you c. If it were a suspended conditional Promise it might never be performed 3. Saving Knowledge which is coupled with Grace 2 Pet. 3.18 And is indeed it self a Grace is given So God says I will give them an Heart to know me Jer. 24.7 And Christ tells his Disciples Vnto you ic is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom c. Mat. 13.11 'T is rich Love and Mercy which makes the difference in this Case between some and others between those who remain blind as they are Born and those whose Eyes are open'd and that have the Veil upon their Hearts taken away They to whom this Knowledge is given and they to whom it is not given are alike unworthy of it and alike uncapable of attaining it themselves He that gives us natural Light for the guidance of our Bodies does as truly give spiritual Light for the Conduct of our Souls 4. Faith is the Gift of God Eph. 2.8 As 't is stiled his Work to intimate that his Power is the Cause so 't is call'd his Gift to intimate that his goodness is the Motive Vnto you it is given to believe Phil. 1.29 The Grace of Faith is communicated to us with the same freeness as the Object of it is and if it were not so we should live and dye in our Infidelity Our Lord positively says John 6.65 No Man can come to me except it be given to him of my Father We may as well undertake a perfect fulfilling of the whole Covenant of Works as pretend to an Ability of receiving Christ as tender'd in the Gospel He is set up as the brazen Serpent in the Wilderness and God gives us an Eye to look to him or else we should be nothing the better 5. Repentance is God's Gift also There is no Repentance to Salvation but what is wrought by the God of Salvation We may as well imagine that Light should of it self Spring out of Darkness and sweet Waters issue from a bitter Fountain as that any such Grace should be the natural Product of our Impenitent Hearts There is no hope of an Heart desperately Wicked as the Heart of every Man by Nature is Jer. 17.9 unless God is
now 3. It is not given to all in her same remarkable Circumstances The Kingdom of God comes with more Observation into some Souls than into others Some are more gently others more sharply dealt with the Travel of the Soul at the New-birth is not with the same sensible Difficulty and Anguish in all Persons Some pass from Death to Life with greater Convulsions Like that noise and shaking when the dry Bones came together Ezek. 37.7 Others are call'd with a more still Voice and drawn to Christ in a more soft and silent way Grace is sometimes introduc'd by deep Humiliations great brokenness extraordinary disquiet at others Times it insinuates it self into the Soul with less of those Preparatives and therefore less discernably 4. It is not given to all in the same Measure To some more Grace to others less Justifying Righteousness is bestow'd alike upon every one no one is made more righteous by the Obedience of Christ than another but as to the Gift of sanctifying Righteousness there are vastly different Degrees Some in God's Israel like Saul higher from the Shoulders and upwards others like Zacchens little of Stature Some Weak others Strong in Faith some eminent for spiritual Understanding But there is not in every one that Knowledge 1 Cor. 8.7 Some are even consum'd by their Zeal for God but all are not such lively Stones Song 1.17 The Beams of our House are Caedar and our Rafters of Firr As Beams in God's building bear greatest weight so Caedar is of greatest worth SERMON XX. June 1. 1697. EPHES IV. vii But unto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ 2. POsitively 1. There is some Grace given to every one which shall never be lost even to the least Babe in Christ the poorest and meanest Believer whatsoever Also upon the Servants and the Handmaids in those Days will I pour out my Spirit Joel 2.29 Every Member of Christ even such as we think to be least honourable hath this Honour bestowed upon it to be made a partaker of the Holy Ghost and partaker of him so as never to fall away For this is a Gift which is without Repentance Rom. 11.29 As to those that are God's workmanship in Christ it never Repents him that he hath new made them Whom he once effectually draws he never suffers absolutely to draw back ' The Devil may steal the Word out of Men's Hearts before 't is engraffed there by the Spirit but afterwards he cannot 2. There is Grace given to every one which is of the same kind in every one All God's Children the little ones as well as those that are more advanc't to greater ripeness and maturity have the same Divine Nature infus'd into them 2 Pet. 1.4 They are all Created again after the Image of God which as to the Substance of it is the same in all though there be some difference in lesser Features They all obtain like precious Faith 2 Pet. 1.1 The Faith of God's Elect is all alike in regard of its main and principal Fruits In every one it purifies the Heart overcomes the present World realizes unseen Things though it does not work and act in every one with equal Vigour 3. There are supplies of Grace given to every one for as all Creatures do necessarily depend upon God for their natural Beings so God's new Creatures especially for the continuance and increase of their spiritual Life From the Day that they first know the Grace of God in Truth there are further Communications every Day of more Grace both in order to Establishment and Growth How much soever God hath already vouchsaf'd it would be of fatal Consequence if he should stop his Hand God is always giving that we may retain and improve what we have receiv'd before Hos 6.3 He shall come unto us as the Rain as the latter and former Rain unto the Earth As the former Rain which opens the Womb of the Earth to take in the Seed and as the latter which serves to plump and swell the Fruit. 4. There is Grace given to every one suitable to their Condition 1 Cor 7.7 Every Man hath his proper Gift of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Gift peculiar to himself one after this manner and another after that As Christ speaks of a saying Which all Men cannot receive save they to whom 't is given Mat. 19.11 Some Men have less mastery over their Affections and God by his wise Providence casts their Lot accordingly Some are exercis'd with more Temptations and such God furnishes with more Strength to resist and stand against them Some are call'd to more eminent Services and then God enlarges their Capacity of performing them It is still so manag'd by him who knows our Necessity that they whose Condition requires most Grace have most V. What Proportion and Similitude does the Grace given to us bear to the Grace which was in Christ Here Premise a few Things to prevent misunderstanding and then State the Truth it self 1. To Premise a few Things to prevent misunderstanding As 1. That Grace in Christ to which the Grace in Believers bears any Proportion is to be understood of his Grace as Man the Grace which was communicated to his Humane Nature Psalm 45.2 Thou art fairer than the Children of Men Grace is poured into thy Lips His gracious Words which often struck the Hearers with wonder and amazement flowed from this Spring and therefore in that Character which the Spouse gives of him His Lips are describ'd like Lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh Song 5.13 Jesus Christ as God was the God of all Grace the Original Fountain of it in himself and Author of it to us as Man he was a Vessel that receiv'd it by Derivation it was truly given to him as it was given to the first Man Adam When God created him And this is that Grace of Christ which our Grace does especially resemble 2. The Grace which is given by Christ to every one of his Members is not the same individual Grace which was given to him by the Father We are not endowed with that very same particular inherent Holiness which he was for then we must suppose him to be divested of it at the same Time Those gracious Qualities which were lodg'd in Christ cannot be transferr'd to us for Qualities cannot pass from one Subject to another or belong to more than one at once The same Righteousness which Christ fulfill'd is imputed and reckon'd to us for our Justification as the same Money which the Surety lays down is judicially and legally accounted to be paid by the Debtor but the same righteous Habits cannot be infus'd into Christ and Believers not the same in number though the same in Kind The Case is plain because the Person of Christ and the Persons of Believers are really distinct they are united indeed but not by a personal Union for then there would be as many Christs as there are Believers
be given Glory cannot be denied for though Glory is not merited by Grace yet always entailed upon it because the same Mercy is the constant never failing Spring of both The Lord will give Grace and Glory Psalm 84.11 These Things are continually coupled like the Creatures which enter'd into Noah's Ark two by two of every Kind Gen. 7.15 as God never gives Glory where he with-holds his Grace so on the other side where Grace is dispensed Glory is never kept back Indeed Glory is but the perfecting of the Gift of Grace the Difference betwixt them is only gradual Grace is Glory in the Bud and Glory is Grace full blown Therefore the Names of Grace and Glory are promiscuously given to one another sometimes Grace is stiled Glory 2 Cor. 3. ult And sometimes Glory called Grace 1 Pet. 1.13 3. If Grace be given to every one that is in Christ then every such one is worthy of our Affection and Esteem Wheresoever the Truth of Grace is it calls for more of our Love and inward Respect than all the Wealth and Power and Greatness in the World The smallest grain of saving Faith is more precious than thousands of Gold and Silver and 't is so precious in all that have it that one should not be set up in Competition with another Every gracious Person is really amiable and valuable and therefore a partial Regard to such or such only is sinful and groundless No one is to be preferr'd so as that another should be undervalued one is not to be had in Admiration and another in Contempt but all are to be lookt upon as Heirs together of the Grace of Life He that sincerely Loves any one for the sake of Holiness without little by Respects will love all Saints on the same account 4. If Grace be given to every one according to a particular measure it must needs be dangerous to attempt more than this measure will extend to 'T is unwarrantable Presumption to undertake what is above our Reach and beyond our Strength Therefore David says That he did not exercise himself in great Matters nor in Things too high for him Psalm 131.1 He that desires the Office of a Gospel-Bishop desires a good work and yet Novices are forbidden it 1 Tim. 3.1 with 6. Our sanctified Abilities are only in Part and design'd of God to fit us for that Place and Calling in which we are Over-bold adventuring where we are uncall'd may expose us to Temptations unassisted Peter's rash Zeal in the Garden was a means of betraying him to sinful Cowardise in the Palace of the High-Priest The Evangelist therefore takes notice of his being question'd by a Kinsman of Malchus whose Ear he had cut off John 18.26 5. If Grace be given from Christ to every one 't is the great concern of every one to know him and the main Work of those whom be sends to make him known If he be all and in all Col. 3.11 If he be the common Publick Treasury out of which every Soul is spiritually enricht and we have nothing but what comes through his Hands first we have nothing if we are ignorant of him And they do little Service to the Churches who only bow at his Name and make no mention of his Righteousness or Grace they that pretend to come from him and are silent concerning him seem like to Messengers that have forgot their Errand and tell a formal Story which hath no Relation to it and signifies nothing to them that hear it Such as expect any share of his saving Benefits should seek to be led into Acquaintance with his Person 6. If there be such a Likeness and Affinity between the Grace which was in Christ and which is in those that belong to him they are no Christians that do not Resemble Christ and that are not Imitators of him This is that which makes all real Christians truly glorious and the Glory of Christ as the Woman is said to be the Glory of the Man 1 Cor. 11.7 She reflects the excellencies of the Man so do they the Excellencies of Jesus Christ As Face answers to Face in the Glass so do they to him They are planted in the similitude of his Death and Resurrection i. e. made conformable to both Rom. 6.5 Phil. 3.10 As they are Created in Christ so they are Created after his Model They are his Brethren and he the first-born among them and as the first in every Kind uses to be a standard and president to the rest so is he Consequently they do not abide in Christ nor are they related to him that do not imitate his walk and follow his steps We shall never have Bodies like unto his glorious Body except we have Souls like his if we do not bear his heavenly Image now we shall not at the last We deceive our selves with vain Hopes and others with a vain Profession 2. For Practise To those that are yet graceless and to them that are truly gracious 1. What should they do that are yet gracless For some of that sort may without breach of Charity be suppos'd in every Assembly we never read but of one so pure as to be without such a mixture and that was when Christ Preacht his Farewel Sermon to his Disciples John 14.15 16. Chapters after Judas was gone out Chap. 13.30 31 c. 1. Labour to be sensible of your wretchedness while entirely under the Power of Sin and the Servants of Coruption If so great and good a Man as Paul cried out of himself as wretched because deliver'd only in part from the Body of Death Rom. 7.24 How much more miserable must you be that are not at all deliver'd from it When the second Temple was building which was greatly Inferiour to the former God puts it to the People Who is left among you that saw this House in her first Glory And how do you see it now Is it not in your Eyes in Comparison thereof as nothing Hag. 2.3 So if any of us had ever seen the Humane Nature cloathed with Original Righteousness before the entrance of Sin which was our House in its Primitive Glory what a woful ruinous heap should we discern it now to be 2. Improve this Conviction to the deepest Humiliation The most prostrate Frame of Soul is always the Foundation which God laies and builds upon He giveth Grace to the lowly and humble Prov. 3.34 James 4.6 1 Pet. 5.5 The Spirit of God which descends like a Dove does usually light upon the Ground not upon high and lofty Trees The first step of Paul's Conversion who had been an haughty Supercilious Pharisce before lifting up himself as the rest of that Sect did was his falling to the Earth Acts 9.4 Fountains are not wont to break out in the Tops of Hills but it is the Method of God in Nature to send the Springs into the Valleys Psalm 104.10 And all Waters run into the lowest Places so do the Influences of Grace fall upon
of the Comforts of it assign'd by God and when that Portion is exhausted we are truly full of Days whether we have lived long in the World or a little while No Man can die till then and after that 't is impossible to live It is certain that to this point we shall come and as certain that we shall not go beyond it 4. The place of our Death is limited by the purpose and pleasure of God as well as the of our Habitation while we live He prescribes not only when but where our Spirits shall reutrn to him He calls as it were to every Man out of Heaven though not so audibly as to Moses saying Die thou there upon that spot of Ground thy Carkass shall fall as God said concerning Ahab with reference to Naboth's Field which he had gotten by Murder I wil requite thee in this plat 2 Kings 9.26 One perhaps is struck in a Religious Assembly another in his Closet one in the City another in the Field one at Home another Abroad but all exactly in that place which was allotted by God's eternal Decree Our Lord could not be hurt in Herod's Jurisdiction because his last Stage was to be Jerusalem Luke 13.33 5. The means of our Death are disposed and managed by God whether natural or violent or casual means Whatsoever it be which brings us to the Grave 't is a Messenger of his sending When the Manslayer kills another undesignedly God is said to deliver the other into his hand Exod. 21.13 so when bloody Men seek after our Lives 't is as true that God delivers us into their hands also if we fall into them Him being deliver'd by the council and foreknowledge of God you have taken c. Acts 2.23 There is no Distemper which proves mortal to us amongst the many that we are incident to but what therein executes the Orders of God He who hath appointed such an Event does likewise appoint those things whereby it is brought about Diseases in the Body as well as Storms in the Air fulfil his Word 6. The manner of dying as to Slowness or Suddennes Ease or Pain is directed by the Will of God Some are snatch'd out of the World as Israel went out of Egypt in haste and cut off by a quick surprizing stroke like Sodom's overthrow in a moment Others have a lingring Departure and the Pins of their Tabernacle are loosned and pulled out by degrees God is the Supream Orderer of both for he takes away as he sees good Ezek. 16.50 Some slide out of the World like Rivers of Oil which run smooth and soft without any Bands in their Death and others die with Agony and Torture as if the Soul were rent and torn out of the Body like the casting of the dumb Spirit out of the Child Mark 9.26 And who knoweth not in all these that the Hand of the Lord hath wrought this II. What sort of Obedience we are to yield to the Will of God in this Case Here shew what is consistent with it and what are the proper and due Qualifications of it First What is Consistent with this Obedience which may seem opposite and repugnant to it Answ 1. The use of natural Remedies for the preservation of Life consists very well with our Obedience to God in dying it is the manifest Will of God that we should use them when his secret will is not to prosper them When we know not how he will do with us we know not what he hath requir'd us to do for our selves A diligent Application of Recovering means may be accompanied with our dutiful submitting of the issue to him 'T is no Rebellion against the Laws of God to follow the Rules of the Physician even in our last Sickness before we know whether it will be our last or not The Distemper'd Body ought not to be neglected though the departing Spirit is to be resign'd The Body is such an Hand-maid to the Soul that it must not like that Egyptian Servant be carelesly left when it falls sick 1 Sam. 30.31 2. Conditional Requests to God for sparing Mercy are not inconsistent with this Obedience Absolute Requests indeed are not allowable to ask Life in a peremptory Manner whether it be the Will of God to grant it to no is as sinful as 't is vain but to ask it with a becomeing Subjection to his unknown good Pleasure is what he approves though he denies to answer Our Lord himsself intreated the passing of the Cup from him if it were possible or if his Father were willing Luke 22.42 So long as there is hope there is Room for Prayer yea many Times against Hope Prayer hath prevailed While we are under God's Hand we cannot tell but that he may hear when we find that the unalterable Decree is gone forth we are to cease like those Disciples when Paul would not be persuaded saying The Will of the Lord be done Acts 21.14 3. A zealous pursuit of Holy Designs for the Service and Interest of Christ to the very last is consistent with our Obedience to the Will of God in dying It behoves us to be carrying on Religious Projects as long as we live though we should yield to dye before we have accomplisht them Though David was told that he should not have the Honour of building an House for God yet he continued his vast Preparations for it till the Time that he fell asleep While we have any being we should be aiming at further usefulnes continuing and drawing the Schemes of more good Works whether God will give us Opportunity for the performance or not It will be our Glory to dye with such Work upon our Hands for no Man ever yet but Jesus Christ was able to do all that was in his Heart to do for God Mr. N. Mather 4. The strugglings of Humane Flesh against the bitterness of Death though never altogether Innocent in us as in Christ will consist with our Obedience in dying Nature cannot receive such a Sentence in it self without some Aversion though Grace overcomes and subdues it Nature will look upon Death as an Enemy still though Grace looks upon it as Conquer'd The Mind so far as it is renewed is entirely given up to God but the Sanctification of the Spirit Soul and Body being still imperfect there will be some remaining Reluctancies These tho' not excusable from Sin are nevertheless reconcileable with Sincerity The dying Acts of Believers are not free from guilty weakness and yet are unquestionably done in greatest Uprightness There is something which pulls back but a stronger Principle which draws them forward 2. What are the due and proper Qualifications of this Obedience Ans 1. It includes a quiet expecting and waiting for God's Call Obedience to God in dying must not spring from an impatient Discontent of Living for then it is no Obedience but real unruliness of the Spirit seeking Deliverance before the Time from some burdensome Evils wherewith we are opprest
Persons under long and great Afflictions are very apt to say It is enough now oh Lord take away my Life as Elias 1 Kings 19.4 But whatever our Exercises be it is not enough till God thinks meet This is a venting of irregular Passion not an act of Duty Rebeckab cries I am weary of my Life because of the Daughters of Heath Gen. 27. ult But nothing will justifie such weariness till our Time to dye is fully come A discharge should be acceptable when God is pleas'd to give it but not be rashly sought out of the appointed Season 2. An humble bearing of God's fatherly displeasure if there should be any Tokens of it upon us in our Death We have an hint of this from the very Case of Moses here Chap. 32.51 Because you trespassed against me among the Children of Israel at the Waters of Meribah-kadesh c. Because you sanctified me not in the midst of them This one Sin and Miscarriage of Moses in the Conduct of the People is call'd to remembrance by God when he is going out of the World and therefore as the Lord on whose Hand the King of Israel leaned was to see the Plenty in Samaria with his Eyes but not to Eat thereof 2 Kings 7.2 So Moses now was to behold but not enjoy the good Things of this pleasant Land God had threaten'd to kill him a great many Years before for neglect of Circumcision to his Child Exod. 4.24 And now actually summons him to dye as a Rebuke for his unbelief for indeed this was the Sin that lay at the bottom Numb 20.12 Because you believed me not c. Zacharias was struck Dumb above nine Months for not believing the Angels Message Luke 1.20 But Moses must lose his Life God had once pass'd by great unbelief in him Numb 11.21 22. But this was not to escape without Corection and yet 't is born as from a Father without Complaint 3. A final Farewel to this World and to those Things particularly which are apt to render a stay in it most desirable When God calls us forth we must take our leave as Persons that are never to return as long as the present Frame of this World endures The Places which we now possess are to know us no more and we are to know them no more Every one at such a Time may say as our Lord did Now I am no more in the World John 17.11 I must reckon my self as one that shall have nothing more to do with it as one that is going to be everlastingly remov'd at the greatest distance from it and to be no further concern'd in any thing which hath the least Reference or Relation to it Such Thoughts are to govern and influence our Minds in the Performance of this dying Act of Obedience to God 4. A quitting and abandoning of this mortal Flesh as that which is not to be reassum'd till it puts on Immortality at the Dissolution of all Things 'T is indeed a great Tryal of Obedience to part with such an old and intimate Companion which hath been joyn'd and knit by the closest vital Bands it may be for Twenty Thirty Forty or Fifty c. Years together but 't is a trial which our Obedience must be approv'd in This Body of Flesh as it now is is to be given up as a Sacrifice to the Devourer that which so much Pains and Cost is bestow'd upon which so many Creatures are destroy'd to support and maintain is to be Meat for Worms corrupted and dispers'd we cannot tell where Under the Apprehensions of Death's feeding upon it after it 5. A willing Surrender of our Souls into God's hands from whence they originally came Death is exprest by God's requiring the Soul Luke 12.20 now in compliance with this great Demand of God the Soul is to be yielded up God commits this Treasure to us while we live and he expects a Resignation of it when we die But this must be with free and full Consent or else 't is no Resignation and consequently no Obedience for that which is forc'd and constrain'd is as none in God's Esteem He sees into the secret Springs and Motives of every Act and that which we do meerly because we cannot avoid it will be to him as it were not done for God's taking away of the Soul is his Act only the delivering of it up can be ours To die because we must needs die because we cannot keep alive our own Souls and have no power to retain our Spirit is consistent with the highest Disobedience and Rebellion against God But when our Wills fall in with the Appointment of God and we chuse to die when God orders that we should this is truly to die at the Commandment of the Lord as Aaron did Numb 33.38 Here is Freedom and Necessity going hand in hand as 2 Pet. 1.14 Putting off notes Freedom and must notes Necessity 6. An awful and serious Preparationto give an account of our selves to God This is as necessary as dying Rom. 14.12 Every one of us shall give Account c. And we cannot die according to the Will of God without some suitable Preparedness for it There is no true obeying of providential Calls to any Service here in this World without some previous Dispositions in our own Minds wrought by the Grace of God for its performance As when Paul was put upon remembring the Poor he tells us it was that which he was beforehand forward to do Gal. 2.10 So it is here as to departing out of the World we cannot obey God as we ought in it except we are competently fitted for it If we die in the Lord it supposes that we are ready to die and we are not ready unless our Accounts be so 7. A thankful Entertainment of our dying Lot as a real Privilege If we are in every thing to give Thanks we are to do it in this Case as well as any other Yea there is more cause for doing it at Death than at any season or time of Life going before it there is no Act of Obedience which deserves to be more chearfully performed than this nor so chearfully as this It becomes as christian to be glad when he can find the Grave to go down into it not as a Condemned Prisoner but as one who is a Triumphant Conqueror If there be matter of Joy when we fall into divers Temptations how much more when we are going to be freed from all If we are to Rejoice in the hope of Glory when farthest off how much more when upon the Borders of Fruition 8. A vigorous Exercise of Faith with respect to an unseen State when God is leading us forth to it All Obedience must be the Obedience of Faith flowing from it and impregnated with it Faith is to run through every Duty of our whole Lives or else no Duty would be accepted but especially we are to die in Faith And there is great need of our doing so for
is in any of us to be delivered from Death no Soul can be excused from that Work which is consequent upon it we could not be so happy in Heaven if we were not so employed as to be kept out of Heaven by an Immortality here and be most miserable IV. To Apply this By way of Information and Exhortation First Information 1. It is a great Act of Indulgence in God to spare us as he many times doth from Death since that dying is so great and necessary an Act of our Obedience If God had let loose his hand and cut us off many years ago it would have been our Duty to acquiesce in it but by his Favour as David said of his Mountain our clay Cottages do yet stand How many Mercies National and Personal have we liv'd to partake of which we might have been sent to our Grave without and as we could not have resisted the Will of God if it had been so so we ought not to have repin'd against it In how many lesser things hath God very often gratified his Servants by prolonging their Days wherein he could have denied them without doing them any wrong As the Life of old Jacob was lengthened out above Twenty years as some compute after he had given up his Son Joseph for dead to see him living and Governor of Egypt Gen. 46.30 So David saw his Son Solomon peaceably seated on his Throne before he fell asseep 1 Kings 1.48 2. If it be our duty to be Obedient to death it self how much more should we submit to all those Evils which are previous to death We are to Suffer according to the Will of God in every thing 1 Pet. 4 19. Or else how do we like David fulfil all his will Acts 13.22 and if in that which is great surely we must not stick at that which is less I do not only mean Sickness and Weakness c. which are the usual Harbingers of Death but all those other Troubles and Afflictions which we are born to and which we may naturally expect some share of while we are in this World He who cannot patiently part with any Comfort of Life when God takes it away from him is very ill-disposed to yield up Life it self at the Call of God Are we to obey God in dying and do we not think our selves oblig'd to bear these Calamities which Providence sends upon us while we live Are we to drink of such a Cup at last and can we think that we do well to be angry and discontented at any thing which befals us in the way These Things are inconsistent 3. How irregular are the workings of our Affections with respect to those that are fallen asleep in Christ God seldom or never removes any of our Friends especially if publickly useful Persons but that we are ready secretly at least to wish that they had not died when they did We know not how to restrain our selves from such desires and yet in desiring it we are like Peter when he talkt of making Tabernacles on the Mount who knew not what he said Luke 9.33 We do not only wish their Infelicity whom we pretend to love and value but we make our selves Rebels in Heart against God we wish in plain terms that our Wills might have stood in opposition to his and that our blind mistaken Judgments might have been allow'd to overturn or alter his Wise and Righteous unerring Counsels 4. How blessed should their Memories be above all others who are most eminently Exemplary in the performance of this Duty Going out of the World as Moses did is like the burning of rich and fragrant Spices which leave a sweet Perfume behind them 'T is observable that God did that to Moses who died according to his Word which he never did for any one before or since verse 6. And he buried him in a Valley in the Land of Moab c. Though there was none to accompany his Body to the Grave yet God's peculiar Undertaking for his Interment by the Ministry of Angels as may be reasonably supposed was ten thousand times more Honour to him than the pompous Funeral of the Patriarch Jacob when he was carried with so vast a Train of Mourners out of Egypt into Canaan Gen. 50.9 Secondly Exhortation Labour to learn this Lesson well of Obedience to the Divine Will in the Point of Death and that you may do so take these Directions 1. Make death familiar to you by frequent fore-thoughts of it Those things which surprize us most we are usually least submissive to God in but what we expect and look for we are gradually reconciled to If we propose a long Life to our selves and put away the remembrance of Death we shall certainly make our dying work so much the harder 'T is necessary not only to think that our Change must come unavoidably at last but that it may come quickly in a very little time If we live longer than we think we shall live the better but if we die sooner than we think we shall die the worse If God hath made our days generally as an hand breadth Psalm 39.5 we should measure them out successively by an hairs breadth that when we are at our utmost bounds we may quietly drop away 2. Look beyond death while you are looking for it Let not that terminate your Sight which in it self indeed is a doleful Melancholy Object Consider the Excellency of the Life to come which takes place immediately upon the conclusion of this We shall not die for ever as those words should be rendred which we read shall never die John 11.26 though we die once and there is nothing here so amiable and perfect as in that World we are going to If a view of that Canaan sufficed Moses which he was never to possess how much more satisfactory will the prospect of that Heaven be where we are to dwell eternally the seeing of our absent glorified Redeemer there will help us in our following of him thither and does distinguish us from the common Men of the Earth John 14.19 3. Look upon all the Enjoyments of this present Life with such an holy Contempt and Scorn as they deserve If we be not dead to these things before hand we shall not know how to part with them at Death If we lay up our Treasure here it must needs be troublesom and grievous to renounce and quit it He that would obey God chearfully in his going hence must not think that any of the things that are here beneath can make him happy and therefore the Heart should not be set upon them It made Rachel and Leah willing to go to Canaan that they had no Expectation left in Padan-aram Gen. 31.14 4. Make hast with your living work which God gives you to do with reference to the saving of your own Souls and the serving of your Generation A Man must be strangely stupified and harden'd in a false peace that can be content to leave
the World before he hath answer'd the End and dispatch'd the Business for which he was born into it A comfortable Death does not suit with a slothful and careless an useless and unprofitable Life He that hath neglected his Duty to himself or to others in his place may very well b backward and unwilling to die Job begs that it would please God to destroy him and crys Let him not spare for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One chap. 6.9 10. 5. Clear and State your Accounts every day set them in Order for their Confusion will cause your Distraction when you come to die Seriously examine and reflect upon your daily Walk and Course and do not leave those Miscarriages to be budled up in a general Repentance when they are forgotten which when they are fresh you may and ought to be particularly humbled for The more diligent and exact we are in this case the less Advantage will Satan have against us A Man can but scarcely die well as the Apostle speaks of being scarcely saved 1 Pet. 4.18 who hath any thing else to do when his hour comes 6. Beware of grieving the Spirit and clouding your own Comforts Though full Assurance be not absolutely necessary to the yielding of this Obedience in Death yet our Obedience must needs be very defective where some degrees of Assurance or good hope through Grace are not gotten and maintain'd 'T is very hard to resign without some Evidence that God will receive us very hard to let go our Temporal Life when we can lay no hold upon Eternal therefore the Advice is needful Jude 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God do nothing that may tend to prejudice or weaken your sense of it 7. Live upon the Death of Christ as the only Foundation of your warrantable Trust Though you do walk before God in Truth you will find the need of something else to depend on for your Title to Glory Some think that there is a Gospel Mystery in Moses's dying short of Canaan and Joshua's leading the People into it viz. to intimate to us That the Works of the Law will bring none to Heaven but Christ by his Blood hath open'd our way to it He that builds his Hope of Salvation upon any thing which he hath done must either perish or pull down all again 8. Look up to Heaven for Divine Instruction in this great Point It was Moses's Prayer to God so teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts c. Psalm 90.12 The numbering of our Days aright is no Vulgar Arithmetick nor can we learn it without a more than ordinary Tutor No Man ever died like Moses here according to the Word of the Lord but what was taught of God to do it He that gives out the Command must guide our Spirits to obey it If we can do nothing for God of our selves least of all can we die to him without him SERMON XXIII October 1. 1697. HEBREWS VII xxv Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them THE Glorious Office of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ is the Subject of great part of this Epistle and the Apostle's main Scope and Design is to shew the superlative Excellency thereof beyond the Legal Priesthood which he does at large in various respects In the two immediate foregoing Verses he compares Christ with the Priests under the Law in reference to their Mortality Verse 23. They truly were many Priests many one after another because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death they were dying Men and how well soever they discharged the Duty of their Places yet in a few Years they left it to those that survived them and knew it no more themselves the Ministers of the Old Testament had their appointed time when their Breath went forth and returned not again as you find that the Ministers of the New Testament have now in their Generation But ver 24. this man or this Christ the Anointed of the Lord whom the Apostle here speaks of for the word Man is not in the Original but supplied by our Translators because he continueth ever hath an unchangable Priesthood his Office does not pass from him to another he hath no Successors in it whom the Exercise of it is committed to but he still manages it in his own Person and will perpetually do it Hereupon that comfortable and encouraging Inference and Conclusion is drawn up in the words of the Text Wherefore he is able c. Whcih words if they were to be cast into our usual Forms of Argument would run thus He who ever lives to make Intercession is able to save to the uttermost But Jesus Christ ever lives c. Therefore he is able c. There are many important Truths lying in this Text but all may be brought within the compass of this one Observ Christ's eternal Life and Intercession in Heaven in an infallible Proof of his Infinite saving Power Here I. I shall enquire into the Thing which the Apostle undertakes to prove The infinite-saving-Power of Jesus Christ II. Into the Evidence which he proves it by The Eternal Life and Intercession of Christ in Heaven With the distinct Uses which may be made of both these I. As to the thing which the Apostle here sets himself to prove viz. The infinite-saving Power of our Lord Jesus The Text it self will lead us to the opening of two Things under this Head The nature of this Power and the extent of it How he is able to save and how far even to the uttermost First With reference to the nature of this Power How is Christ able to save This may may be stated in the following Propositions 1. There is a Power which belongs to Christ as he is God In this as in all other Divine Perfections the Second Person is equal with the First Rev. 1.8 I am the Almighty The very same unlimited boundless Power appertains both to the Father and the Son Therefore when Christ had asserted That none should pluck his sheep out of his hand John 10.28 he confirms it by this That his Father is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of the Father's hand ver 29. Now if any should go about to deny the Consequence the next words will clear it I and my Father are one ver 30. If my Father is greater than all so am I if he be able to secure and preserve the Sheep so am I for he and I are one we are one in Essence and Nature and so all the same glorious Perfections which are inherent in him are in me likewise But this though it be a great Article of Faith and a great support to Believers does not seem to be that which the Apostle hath so much an Eye to in this place for he is now speaking of his Ability to save