of his death might have a farther accession of scorn and reproach he is placed between two Thieves that were crucified with him with an Inscription of derision upon his Cross in all the most universal Languages of the World Hebrew Greek and Latin and the people and Priests standing by with gestures and words of derision Matth. 27.39 43. and even to a letter assuming those very gestures and words which were so many hundreds of years predicted in the Passion-Psalm 22.78 He trusted in God let him deliver him if he will have him and one of those very Thieves that was even dying as a malefactor yet was filled with such a devilish spirit that he upbraids and derides him And now our Saviour is under the torments and shame of this cursed execution but though these his sufferings of his body and outward man were very grievous in so much that it could not but extremely afflict him yet it is strange to see how little he was transported under them in all his contumelies reproaches and accusations scarce a word answered He answered them nothing in all his abusings strokes ridiculous garments crown of thorns tearing of his body with scourging yet not a word but As a sheep before the shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth Isa 53.7 in all his rackings upon the Cross and nailing of his limbs to it and all the anguish that for the space of six hours from the third hour wherein he was crucified Mar. 15.25 until the ninth hour wherein he gave up the ghost Matth. 27.46 not a word of complaint but he refused those very supplies which were usually given to suppress the violence of the pain vinegar and gall Matth. 27.34 But when we come to the Afflictions of his Soul they were of a higher dimension in the Garden when no other storm was upon him but what was within him He falls down upon his face and prayes and again and a third time and is amazed and sorrowful to death and sweats drops of blood and doubtless whiles he was under the reproaches and buffetings and whippings and thorns he was not without a terrible and confused sadness and heaviness within which though they did not mitigate the torments of his body yet they did infinitely exceed them The spirit and the soul is most exquisitely sensible and it is that which feels the pains inflicted upon the body Certainly therefore the wound of the spirit it self the fountain of sense must needs be exceedingly grievous And hence it was that though all the injuries and torments of our Saviour could scarce wring a complaint from him yet the weight of that wrath that lay upon his soul now made an offering for sin did wring from him those bitter and terrible cryes that one would wonder should proceed from him that was One with the Father Matth. 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me From the sixth hour to the ninth darkness was over all the land Matth. 27.45 such a darkness as bred an astonishment even in strangers and other Counties The darkness of the World though a suitable dress for such a time wherein the Son of God must dye and the Sun of Righteousness be eclipsed yet it was nothing in comparison of that dismal shadow that covered our Saviour's soul all this time About the ninth hour our Saviour cryed that bitter cry My God my God why hast thou forsaken me manifesting the depth of his sorrow and the perfect sense he had of it why hast thou forsaken me more could not have been suffered or been said every word carries in it an accent of horror Thou that art the great God from whom and in whom every thing hath its being and comfort surely if in thy presence is fulness of joy in thy withdrawings must be fulness of horror and confusion and yet it is thou that hast forsaken me Forsaken Hadst thou never been with me as I had not known the blessedness of thy fruition so I could not have measured the extremity of my loss the excess of the happiness that I had in thy presence adds to the excess of my misery in the suffering of thy absence Forsaken me not withdrawn thy self to a distance but forsaken me and forsaken me at such a time as this when I stand more in need of thy presence than ever when I am forsaken of my countrey-men of my kindred of my Disciples then to be forsaken of thee when I am under the shame and pains of a cruel and a cursed death under the scorns and derisions of those that hate me under the weight and pressure of all the sins of the world under the struglings with terrors in my soul sent from thy mighty hand under the visible approach of death the king of terrors under a vail of darkness without and the seeming triumph of the power of darkness within then to be forsaken and forsaken of thee whom I had only left to be my support Forsaken Me It is not a stranger that thou forsakest it is thy Son thy only Son in whom thou didst heretofore proclaim thy self well pleased that Son whom though thou now forsakest yet forgets not his duty unto thee nor dependance upon thee but still layes hold on thee and though thou shakest me off yet I must still call upon thee with the humble confidence of My God My God still why hast thou forsaken me To be forsaken and to be forsaken of God of my God of him that is not only my God but my Father and that at such a time and yet not to know why Oh blessed Saviour the Prophets that spake by thy own Spirit did tell thee why and that very Psalm out of which thou takest this bitter cry doth tell thee why and thou thy self within some few days or hours before didst tell us why and dost thou now ask why Didst thou not choose even that which thou now groanest under and wert willing to put thy soul in our souls stead and bear the sin of those which are now thy burden Certainly we may with all humility and reverence conceive that at the time of this bitter cry our Saviour's soul was for the present over-shadowed with so much astonishment and sorrow that it did for the present over-power and cover the actual and distinct sense of the reason of it at least in that measure and degree in which he suffered This cry of our Saviour was about the ninth hour a little before his death and having fulfilled one Prophecy in this terrible cry contained in the very words of Psal 22. he fulfills another he saith I thirst Joh. 19.28 and presently they give him vinegar to drink And between this and his death there intervene these passages 1. His proclaiming to the world that the work of our Redemption was finished Joh. 19.30 When he received the vinegar he said It is finished 2. A second cry with a loud voice Matth. 27.50 the words are not expressed of his second cry
for this could neither consist with the purity of his Nature nor innocence nor dignity of his Person nor the hypostatical union of both Natures in him But he suffered as much as was consistent with these considerations and as considering the dignity of his person was equivalent to the sin and demerits of all Mankind 2. That his righteousness imputed to us doth not exempt us from acquiring a righteousness inherent in us this were to disappoint the end of his suffering which was to redeem us from our vain conversation and make us a peculiar people zealous of good works 3. That this purchase of Salvation by Christ for Believers is not to render them idle or secure or presumptuous where there is such a disposition of Soul it is an evident Indication that it is not yet truly united unto Christ by true Faith and Love his Grace is sufficient to preserve us and alwayes ready to do it if we do not wilfully neglect or reject it THE VICTORY OF FAITH Over the WORLD I. JOH V. 4 For whosoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even your faith THese things are herein considerable 1. The Act which is here declared Victory or Overcoming 2. The Person that exerciseth this act or concerning whom this act is affirmed described by this description a person that is born of God 3. The Thing upon which this act of victory is exercised viz. the world 4. The Instrument or Means by which this act is exercised viz. Faith 5. The Method or Order or Formal Reason whereby faith overcometh this world Some few Observations I shall deliver touching all these in the order proposed I. Victory or Overcoming is a subjugation or bringing under an opposing party to the power and will of another and this victory is of two kinds complete and perfect or incomplete and imperfect 1. The notion of a complete victory is when either the opposing party is totally destroyed or at least when despoiled of any possibility of future resistance Thus the Son of God the Captain of our Salvation overcame the World Joh. 16.33 Be of good cheer I have overcome the world and thus when we are delivered from this body of death we shall overcome the world this complete victory will be the portion of the Church and Christian triumphant Again 2. There is a victory but incomplete such as the victory of the children of Israel was over the Canaanites which though they were subdued as to any possibility of a total reacquiring of a superiority or equality of power yet they were not subdued from a possibility of annoying disquieting and rebelling they remained still thorns to vex and disturb though not to subdue their conquerors there was still an over-ballance of power in the victors though not wholly to extirpate them And this is the condition of the Christian militant in this world he keeps the world in subjection and every day gets ground upon it but he cannot expect to obtain a perfect complete and universal conquest of it till he can truly say with our Blessed Lord Joh. 14.30 The prince of this world hath nothing in me Which cannot be till our change comes for till then we carry about with us lusts and passions and corruptions which though with all vigilancy and severity kept under and daily impaired in their power and malignity will hold a correspondence with the world and the prince thereof and be ready to deceive and betray us though never to regain their empire and sovereignty and the reason is significantly given by the same Apostle 1 Joh. 3.9 For his feed abideth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God Indeed he may and shall have sin as long as he hath flesh about him 1 Joh. 1.8 If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us But although we have sin still abiding in us and like the the byass in a Bowl warping us to the world yet that vital seminal principle of the grace of God in Christ always keeps its ground its life and tendency toward heaven and wears out wasts and gradually subdues the contrary tendency of sin and corruption II. The Person exercising this act of victory and conquest he that is Born of God All men by nature may be said in some sense to be born of God the Apostle tells the Athenians Act. 17.28 We are all his off-spring But in this place this heavenly birth is a second a supervenient birth from God and hence it is called Regeneration the New birth birth of the water and the Spirit birth of the Spirit the formation of Christ in the soul and the creature so new born stiled the New creature the New man a partaker of the divine nature born not of the will of man nor of the will of the flesh but born of the will of God And all these and the like expressions are figurative and seem to carry in them a double analogy first to the first creation of mankind and secondly to the ordinary generation of mankind since their first creation 1. As to the former analogy we know by the Holy Word that the first man was the root of all mankind stamped with the signature of the image of Almighty God principally consisting in Knowledge Righteousness and Holiness and stood or fell as the common representative of all mankind This image of God was in a great measure lost and defaced by the fall of man and more every day spoiled by the actual sins and acquired corruptions of his descendants Christ the second Adam had instamped upon him a new inscription of the glorious God came to be a common head root and parent of as many as are united unto him by faith love and imitation and to instamp anew upon them that lost and decayed image of God who thereby put on the New man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Ephes 4.24 and so becoming a New creature 2 Cor. 5.17 Galat. 5.6 renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him Coloss 1.10 they receive a new stamp and impression from this great exemplar Christ Jesus the true image of the invisible God 2. The second analogy is to the ordinary generation of mankind wherein as a little but powerful vital principle which we call the Soul forms and moulds the foetus according to the specifical nature of man in all his lineaments and proportions and never gives over its operation till it hath completed that bodily mass into its full complement of parts and afterwards gradually augments and perfects it in his organs and faculties So by a vital principle derived from God through Christ into the soul the same is moulded fashioned formed increased and perfected according to this new principle of life which is usually called Grace Whereby it comes to pass that as the soul is the vital and conforming principle of the body so
necessary with ease and quietness yea and without any neglect of what is necessary to be done in order to the common necessities of our Lives and Callings it is not these that disable us and rob us of our time But the Thieves that rob us of our time and our one thing necessary are negligence excess of pleasures immoderate and excessive cares and solicitousness for Wealth and Honour and Grandeur excessive eating and drinking curiosity idleness these are the great consumptives that do not only exhaust that time that would be with infinite advantage spent in our attainment and perfecting and finishing the great work and business of our lives and then when Sickness come and Death come and God Almighty calls upon us to give up the Account of our Stewardship we are all in confusion our business is not half done it may be not begun and yet our Lamp is out our day is spent night hath overtaken us and what we do is with much trouble perplexity and vexation and possibly our Soul takes its flight before we can finish it and all this would have been prevented and remedied by a due consideration of our latter End and that would have put us upon making use of the present time and present opportunity to do our great work while it is called to day because the night cometh when no man can work 3. Most certainly the wise consideration of our latter End and the employing of our selves upon that Account upon that One thing necessary renders the life the most contenting and comfortable life in the World For as a man that is a man afore-hand in the World hath a much more quiet life in order to externals than he that is behind-hand so such a man that takes his opportunity to gain a stock of grace and favour with God that hath made his peace with his Maker through Christ Jesus hath done a great part of the chief business of his Life and is ready upon all occasions for all conditions whereunto the Divine Providence shall assign him whether of life or death or health or sickness or poverty or riches he is as it were aforehand in the business and concern of his everlasting and of his present state also If God lend him longer life in this World he carries on his great business to greater degrees of perfection with ease and without difficulty trouble or perturbation But if Almighty God cut him shorter and calls him to give an account of his Stewardship he is ready and his accounts are fair and his business is not now to be gone about Blessed is that Servant whom his Master when he comes shall find so doing 2. As thus this Consideration makes the Life better so it makes Death easie 1. By frequent consideration of death and dissolution he is taught not to fear it he is as it were acquainted with it aforehand by often preparation for it Thâ— fear of death is more terrible than death iâ— self and by frequent consideration thereof a man hath learned not to fear it Everâ—â—â— Children by being accustomed to what was at first terrible to them learn not to fear 2. By frequent consideration of our latter End death becomes to be no surprize unto us The great terror of death is when it surpriseth a man unawares but anticipation and preparation for it takes away any possibility of surprize upon him that is prepared to receive it Bilney the Martyr was used before his Martyrdom to put his Finger in the Candle that so the flames might be no novelty unto him not surprize him by reason of unacquaintedness with it and he that often considers his latter end seems to experiment death afore it comes whereby he is neither surprised nor affrighted with it when it comes 3. The greatest sting and terror of death are the past and unrepented Sins of the past life the reflection upon these is that which is the strength the elixir the venom of death it self He therefore that wisely considers his latter end takes care to make his peace with God in his life time and They true Faith and Repentance to get his Pardon sealed to enter into Covenant with his God and to keep it to husband his time in the fear of God to observe His Will and keep His Laws to have his Conscience clean and clear And being thus prepared the malignity of death is cured and the bitterness of it healed and the fear of it removed and when a man can entertain it with such an Appeal to Almighty God as once the good King Hezekiah made in that sickness which was of it self mortal Isa 38. 3. Remember now I beseech thee O Lord how I have walked before thee with a perfect heart c. it makes as well the thought as the approach of death no terrible business 4. But that which above all makes death easie to such a considering man is this That by the help of this Consideration and the due improvement of it as is before shewn death to such a man becomes nothing else but a Gate unto a better life not so much a dissolution of his present life as a change of it for a far more glorious happy and immortal life So that though the Body dyes the Man dyes not for the Soul which is indeed the Man makes but a transition from her life in the Body to a life in Heaven no moment intervenes between the putting off the one to the putting on the other And this is the great Priviledge that the Son of God hath given us that by His death hath sanctified it unto us and by His life hath conquered it not only in Himself but for us 1 Cor. 15.57 Thanks be unto God who hath given us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord and our Victory that is thus given us is this 1. That the sting of death is taken away and 2. That this very death it self is rendred to us a Gate and passage to life eternal and upon this account it can neither hurt nor may justly affright us It is reported of the Adder that when she is old she glides through some strait passage and leaves her old skin in the passage and thereby renews her vigour and her life It is true this passage through death is somewhat strait and uneasie to the Body which like the decayed skin of the Adder is left by the way and not without some pain and difficulty to it but the Soul passeth through without any harm and without any expence of time and in the next moment acquires her estate of Immortality and Happiness And this is the Victory over Death that all those have that by true Repentance and Faith are partakers of Christ and the benefits of His Death and Resurrection who hath brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel And now having gone through the benefits of this wise consideration of our latter ends I shall now add some Cautions that are necessary to be
and disappointment of Almighty God in the â—nd and design of his mercy to us which is to make us really better more dutiful more capable of greater and everlasting mercies to make us better Examples to others who may thereby be invited to follow us in piety and goodness A man that hath received great and signal mercies and deliverances becomes a great and efficacious Example and of much good or much evil according as he carries himself after eminent mercies received If he become more pious virtuous just sober than before he becomes a forcible motive and encouragement to others to be like him again if he either remain or degenerate into impiety vanity or vice he discourageth goodness and becomes a great temptation to others to be like him 3. Take beed lest after great deliverance thy Heart be lifted up into presumption upon God pride and vain-glory and a conceit of thy own goodness and worth This is the common temptation that grows upon much mercy received and therefore the wise Law-giver did very frequently caution the people of Israel against this Deut. 9.4 Speak not in thy heart after the Lord thy God hath cast them out saying For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me to possess this land c. Let thy afflictions find thee humble and let thy afflictions-make thee more humble but let thy deliverance yet increase thy humility the more mercy God shews to thee the more humble ever let thy Heart be upon a double account 1. Thy deliverances doth or should make thee know Almighty God the more and the more thou knowest him the more humble it should make thee Job 42.5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the car but now mine eyes have seen thee wherefore I abhor my self in dust and ashes 2. Thou hast need to double thy guards of humility because upon great deliverance thou must expect that the temptation and assaults of pride and vain glory will be most busie with thee And if in all thy preparations for afflictions thou hast studied humility if under all thy afflictions thou hast improved thy humility yet if now upon thy deliverance thou art lost in pride and vain-glory thou hast lost all the benefit both of thy preparations and of thy afflictions and of thy deliverance also thou art like an unhappy Ship that hath endured the Sea and born the Storm and yet sinks when she is come into the Harbour 4. And upon the same account be vigilant and watchful It is true thou hast weathered a great Storm out of which by the mercy of God thou art delivered but still be upon thy guard thou knowest not how soon thou shalt meet with another take heed it surprize thee not unprovided Though thou hast endured it may be a long and dark storm of affliction and God hath mercifully delivered thee yet thou hast no promise from Almighty God that thou shalt meet with no more These three Consider ations should keep thee watchful and vigilant notwithstanding great deliverance from great afflictions 1. Thou art thereby better fitted and prepared to receive it if it come it shall not surprize thee unaware nor find thee sleeping 2. Most certainly if any thing be a more likely means as to preserve thee under so from affliction it is a prepared watchful vigilant mind for if I may so speak afflictions have no great business with such a man for he is already in that posture and and frame of Heart that affliction is ordinarily sent to give a man 3. There is nothing more likely to procure affliction than security and unpreparedness of mind And that First in respect of the goodness mercy and justice of God who though with most unblameable justice yet with singular mercy is very likely to send affliction to awaken him and amend him and to recall him from that tendency to Apostacy that security is apt to bring upon him Secondly in respect of the malice and vigilancy of the great Enemy of mankind who as he never wants malice so he often gets a permission to worry a man whom he hath under this disadvantage of unpreparedness and security 5. Be careful to keep as great afflictions so also great deliverance in memory Most men upon the fresh receipt of mercy and deliverance have a quick and lively apprehension of it and accordingly their affections of thankfulness and practices and purposes of Obedience are lively and diligent but in process of time and as the man is further distant from his deliverâ—nce so the memory of it doth gradually and possibly suddenly vanish and decay and as the remembrance of the deliverance decays and grows weaker and weaker so do these affections or dispositions of the Soul that are before mentioned The thankfulness grows faint and so doth the obedience and so doth the humility and so doth the watchfulness and as the water that hath been heated being removed from the fire grows by degrees colder and colder till at last it comes to its old coldness that it first had so in a little time the affliction is forgot and the deliverance is forgot and the man is grown into the very same state as if he had never felt either and possibly worse Therefore keep deliverances and afflictions too fresh in thy memory call thy self frequently to account for them use some expedient that may frequently remind thee of them with all their circumstances set them down in writing mention them often recollect them often and recollect what thoughts purposes temper of mind and spirit was then upon thee when thy afflictions were upon thee or thy deliverances freshly given to thee Cast with thy self how if these were now as fresh to thee as they were then with what motions or dispositions of Soul thou shouldest receive them and reason thy self into the same temper and habitude of thankfulness as then thou hadst By this keeping thy memory of these afflictions and these deliverances fresh under all its circumstances thou wilt with them and in the same degree as thy remembrance is of them revive and excite and preserve and keep alive and quick and active the same gratitude the same humility the same obedience the same vigilance that these afflictions or these deliverances wrought in thee when they were freth with thee or upon thee The vigorous perpetuating of the remembrance of them will be an effectual means to perpetuate the due fruit of them in their life vigour and intention JACOB's VOW OR The Modesty and Reasonableness OF JACOB'S Desire GEN. XXVIII 20. And Jacob Vowed a Vow saying If God will be with me and will keep me in the way that I go and will give me bread to eat and rayment to put on so that I come again to my father's house in peace then shall the Lord be my God c. THE only thing that I intend to consider upon this place of Holy Scripture is the Modesty and Reasonableness of Jacob's Desire He doth not desire greatness of
though it may be a particular detriment to you or to me or if we repine against it we must not think thereby to obtain our own wills 3. The texture and frame of the World is such that it is absolutely necessary that if some be rich and powerful or great or honorable others must be poor and subject and ignoble If all were equally powerful there would be no power nor government because all would be equal if all were equally rich it would be but only nominally indeed none would be rich but all would be poor there could be no Artificers no Labourers no Servants Since therefore it is of necessity in the order of the World that some must be poor or less rich or powerful than others why should I be so unreasonable or unjust to desire that lot of poverty or lowness of condition should be another's and not mine Or why should not I be contented to be of the lower fort of men since the order of the World requires that such some must be 4. Let any man observe it whiles he will he shall find that whatsoever of worldly advantages any man doth most plentifully enjoy and most men most greedily desire of necessity he must thereby have more crosses and afflictions A man desires many Children Friends Relations the more he hath of these the more mortal dying comforts he hath the more he hath that must be sick and suffer affliction and dye and every one of these afflictions or losses in a man's Relations are so many renewed afflictions and crosses and troubles to himself A man desires wealth and hath it the more cares and fears he hath and the more he hath the more he hath to lose and of necessity he must have more losses the more he hath as he that hath a thousand Sheep must in probability lose more in a year than he that hath but forty And besides Wealth is the common mark that every man shoots at and every man will be pulling somewhat from him that hath much because every man thinks he hath enough for others as well as himself A man desires honour power grandeur and he hath it but every man envies him and is ready to unhorse him and a small neglect reproach or misfortune sits closer to such a man than to a meaner man and the more of honour or power he hath the more of such breaches he shall be sure to meet with A man desires long life and accordingly enjoyes it but in the tract of long life a man is sure to meet with more sicknesses more crosses more loss of friends and relations and over-lives the greatest part of his external comforts and in Old age becomes his own burthen 5. If a man desire much wealth or power and enjoyes it yet it is certain so much the more thereof he hath so much the less others have for he hath that which might otherwise be divided among many Why therefore should a man desire it or discontent himself if he have it not since what he thus enjoys is with another's detriment and loss who would have a share in it if he had it not alone And why should I covet that or be discontented if I have it not since if I have it I shall procure the like discontent in others 6. It is certain in the course of the World there are and must be a greater number of crosses and troubles and of greater moment than there are of External Comforts nay there is searce any comfort that any man hath but like Jonah's Gourd it hath a Worm growing at the root of it which doth not only wither the comfort it self but most times creates greater trouble and sorrow than the comfort it self hath good if entirely enjoyed A man hath many Children it may be they are all very good and hopeful yet they are mortal and if they dye the death of such a Child is so much the more grievous by how much the more good and towardly he was But if any of them prove vicious foolish or naught by how much a Child is nearer than a stranger by so much the more his vices give trouble sorrow and care to his Parent So that in all worldly things the stock of troubles is greater three to one than that of comforts so true is that of Job A man is born to troubles as the sparks fly upwards Why therefore should a man sink into discontent because the World doth but solitum obtinere and follows its own natural complexion and state 7. We are generally greatly mistaken in the nature of Good and Evil and have not the true measures of it That is truly relatively Good which makes a man the better and that truly Evil in its relative nature which makes a man the worse If prosperity and success make me thankful watchful charitable benificent then is prosperity good to me for it makes me better but if it make me proud haughty insolent domineering vain-glorious it is evil to me If adversity make me clamorous murmuring envious spightful injurious then 't is evil to me but if it makes me humble sober patient then 't is good to me And let any man impartially take the measure of the very same man or divers men in each condition he shall find ten to one receive more mischief by prosperity than by adversity Why should I then not content my self with that condition which is more sase to me and makes me the better man though not the richer or greater 8. Which is but a farther explication of what is said next before It is certain that a good man is like the Elixir it turns Iron into Gold and makes the most sowre condition of life not only tollerable but useful and convenient If I be such I mould and frame my worst condition into a condition of comfort and contentment by my patience and contentation Why should I then be discontented with my condition since by the grace of God I am able to make it what I please If I can content my self with the good temper and disposition of my own Heart and Soul I have no reason to be discontented with my condition for if I find it not good I can make it such by the equality patience and temper of my own mind And that the mind is the principal matter in contentation or discontent we need no other instance than that of Ahab and Haman the one a great King the other a great Favourite of a mighty Monarch full of wealth and honour yet a covetous mind in one and a proud mind in the other made the former sick for a little spot of ground and the latter grow to so high a degree of discontent for want of the knee of a poor Jew that it withered all his enjoyments 1 King 21.5 Hest 5.13 9. Discontent and Impatience galls a thousand times more than the cross or affliction doth We owe more of the evil of crosses troubles and afflictions to the unquiet restless impatient
thee it is thy Son that Son in whom thou didst proclaim thy self well pleased that Son whom thou hearest always it is he that begs of thee and begs of thee a dispensation from that which he most declines because he most loves thee the terrible unsupportable hiding thy face from me And this was not one single request but thrice repeated reiterated and that with more earnestness Mark 14.39 And again he went away and prayed and spake the same words Luke 22.44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly Certainly that impression upon his soul that caused him to deprecate that for which he was born to deprecate it so often so earnestly must needs be a sorrow and apprehension of a very terrible and exceeding extremity 4. Such was the weight of his sotrow and confusion of soul that it even exceeding the strength of his humane nature to bear it it was ready to dissolve the Union between his Body and Soul insomuch that to add farther strength unto him and capacity to undergo the measure of it an Angel from Heaven is sent not meerly to comfort but to strengthen him to add a farther degree of strength to his humane nature to bear the weight of that wrath which had in good earnest made his Soul sorrowful unto death had it not been strengthned by the ministration of an Angel Luk. 22.43 and this assistance of the Angel as it did not allay the sorrow of his Soul so neither did it intermit his importunity to be delivered from the thing he felt and feared but did only support and strengthen him to bear a greater burden of it And as the measure of his strength was increased so was the burden which he must undergo increased for aster this he prayed again more earnestly the third time Luk. 22.43 the supply of his strength was succeeded with an addition of sorrow and the increase of his sorrow was followed with the greater importunity He prayed more carnestly Heb. 5.7 With strong crying and tears Luk. 22. 44. And being in an agony be prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground This was his third address to his Father Matth. 26.44 and here was the highest pitch of our Saviour's passion in the Garden His Soul was in an agony in the greatest concussion consusion and extremity of sorrow fear anguish and astonishment that was possible to be inslicted by the mighty hand of God on the soul of Christ that could be consistent with the purity of the nature of our Saviour and the inseparable union that it had with the Divine nature Insomuch that the confusion and distraction of his soul under it and the strugling and grapling of his soul with it did make such an impression upon his body that the like was never before or since The season of the year was cold for so it appears Joh. 18.18 the Servants and Officers had made a fire of coals for it was cold and the season of the time was cold it was as near as we may guess about midnight when the Sun was at his greatest distance and obstructed in his influence by the interposition of the Earth for it appears they came with Lanthorns and Torches when they apprehended him Joh. 18.3 and he was brought to the high Priest's Hall a little before Cock-crowing after some time had been spent in his Examination Math. 26.69 And yet for all this such is the agony and perturbation of our Saviour's soul that in this cold season it puts his body in a sweat a sweat of blood great drops of blood drops of blood falling down to the ground and certainly it was no light conflict within that caused such a strange and un-heard of symptom without Certainly the storm in the soul of Christ must needs be very terrible that his blood the seat of his vital spirits could no longer abide the sense of it but started out in a sweat of blood and such a sweat that was more than consistent with the ordinary constitution of humane nature And during this time even from the eating of the Passover until this third address to his Father was over the suffering of our Saviour lay principally if not only in his soul Almighty God was wounding of his spirit and making his soul an offering for sin And though the distinct and clear manner of this bruising of our Saviour's soul cannot be apprehended by us yet surely thus much we may conclude concerning it 1. He was made sin for us that knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 he stood under the imputation of all our sins and though he were personally innocent yet judicially and by way of interpretation he was the greatest offender that ever was for the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all Isa 53.6.2 And consequently he was under the imputation of all the guilt of all those sins and stands in relation unto God the righteous Judge under the very same obligation to whatsoever punishment the very persons of the offenders were unto the uttermost of that consistency that it had with the unseparable union unto the Father and this obligation unto the punishment could not choose but work the same effects in our Saviour as it must do in the sinner desperation and sin excepted to wit a sad apprehension of the wrath of God against him The purity and justice of God which hath nothing that it hates but sin must pursue sin wherever it find it and as when it finds sin personally in a man the wrath of God will abide there so long as sin abides there so when it finds the same sin assumed by our Lord and bound as it were to him as the wood was to Isaac when he was laid upon the Altar the wrath of God could not chuse but be apprehended as incumbent upon him till that sin that by imputation lay upon him were discharged For as our Lord was pleased to be our Representative in bearing our sins and to stand in our stead so all these affections and motions of his soul did bear the same conformity as if acted by us As he put on the person of the sinner so he puts on the same sorrow the same shame the same fear the same trembling under the apprehension of the wrath of his Father that we must have done And so as an imputed sin drew with it the obligation unto punishment so it did by necessary consequence raise all those confusions and storms in the soul of Christ as it would have done in the person of the sinner sin only excepted 3. In this Garden as he stands under the sin and guilt of our nature so he stands under the curse of our nature to wit a necessity of death and of undergoing the wrath of God for that sin whose punishment he hath undertaken for us the former the dissolution of his body and soul by a most accursed death and the latter the suffering of his soul and
this latter he is now under God is pleased to inflict upon him all the manifestations of his wrath and to fling into his soul the sharpest and severest representations of his displeasure that might possibly befall him under that bare imputed guilt considering the dignity of his Person And surely this was more terrible to our Saviour than all his corporal sufferings were under all those not one word no perturbation at all but as a Sheep before his shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth but the sense of the displeasure of his Father and the impressions that he makes upon his soul those he cannot bear without sorrow even unto death without most importunate addresses to be delivered from them and a most strange concussion and agony upon his soul and body under the sense of them And the actual manifestation of the wrath of God upon his Son consisted in these two things principally 1. Filling his soul with strange and violent fears and terrors insomuch that he was in an amazement and consternation of spirit the Passion-Psalm renders it Psal 22.14 My heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels the God of the spirits of all flesh that knows how to grind and bruise the spirit did bruise and melt his soul within him with terrors fears and sad pre-apprehensions of worse to follow 2. A sensible withdrawing by hasty and swift degrees the light of the presence and favour of God He is sorrowful and troubled and he goes to his Father to desire it may pass from him but no answer he goes again but yet no answer and yet under the pressure and extremity he goes again the third time with more earnestness agony a sweat of blood yet no it cannot be and this was a terrible condition that the light of the countenance of the Father is removed from his Son his only Son in whom he was well pleased his Son whom he heard always And when he comes to the Father under the greatest obligation that can be with the greatest reverence with the greatest importunity once and again and a third time and that filled within with fears and covered without with blood and yet no answer but all light and access and favour intercepted with nothing but blackness and silence Certainly this was a terrible Cup yet thus it was with our Saviour Christ The light of the favour of God like the Sun in an Eclipse from the very institution of the Sacrament began to be covered one degree after another and in the third address to the Father in the Garden it was even quite gone But at that great hour when our Saviour cryed My God my God why hast thou forsaken me then both lights that greater light of the favour of God to his only Son together with the light of the Sun seemed to be under a total recess or Eclipse and this was that which bruised the soul of our Saviour and made it an Offering for Sin and this was that which wrung drops of blood from our Saviour's body before the Thorns or the Whips or the Nails or the Spear had torn his veins And now after this third application for a deliverance from this terrible Cup of the wrath of God and yet no dispensation obtained he returns to his miserable comforters the three Disciples and he finds them the third time asleep These very three Disciples were once the witnesses of a glorious Transfiguration of our Saviour in the Mount and in an extasie of joy and fear they fell on their faces Matth. 17.6 and now they are to be witnesses of a sad Transfiguration of their Lord under an agony and sweat of blood and now under an extasie of sorrow they are not able to watch with their Lord one hour Our Saviour calls them but whiles they were scarce awakened they are rouzed by a louder alarm Matth. 26.47 whiles he yet spake Judas one of the twelve came and with him a great multitude with swords and staves from the high Priests Joh. 18.3 with lanthorns and torches And though this was little in comparison of the storm that was in our Saviour's soul yet such an appearance at such a time of the night and to a person under such a sad condition could not but be terrible to flesh and blood especially if we consider the circumstances that attended it 1. An Apostle one of the twelve he it is that conducts this black Guard Matth. 25.47 Whomsoever I shall kiss that same is he hold him fast one that had been witness of all his Miracles heard all his divine Sermons acquainted with all his retirements he whose feet his Master with love tenderness had washed who within a few hours before had supped with him at that Supper of of solemnity and love the Passover this is he that is in the head of this crew certainly this had in it an aggravation of sorrow to our Blessed Saviour to be betrayed by a Disciple 2. The manner of it he betrays him by a kiss an emblem of homage and love is made use of to be the signal of scorn and contempt as well as treachery and villany 3. Again the carriage of his Disciples full of rashness and yet of cowardize they strike a Servant of the high Priest and cut off his Ear Matth. 26.57 which had not the meekness and mercy of our Saviour prevented by a miraculous cure might have added a blemish to the sweetness and innocence of his suffering He rebukes the Rashness of his Disciple and cures the wound of his Enemy again of Cowardize Matth. 26.56 Then all the disciples forsook him and sled and Peter himself that but now had professed the resolution of his love to his Master follows but a far off Matth. 26.58 in the posture and profession of a stranger and a spectator So soon was the love and honour of a Master deserved by so much love and purity and miracles lost in the Souls of the very Disciples After this he is brought to the high Priests the solemn assembly of the then visible Church of the Jews in the persons of the greatest reverence and esteem among them the high Priests Scribes and Elders and before them accused and convicted of those crimes that might render him odious to the Jews Romans and all good men Blasphemy and by them pronounced worthy of death Matth. 26.66 and after this exposed to the basest usage of the basest of their retinue the Servants spit on him buffet him expose him to scorn saying Prophesie unto us thou Christ who is he that smote thee Matth. 26.67 injuries less tollerable than death to an ingenuous nature and to add to all the rest Peter instead of reproving the insolence of the abjects and bearing a part with his Master in his injuries thrice denying his Master and that with an oath and cursing So far was he from owning his Master in his adversity that he denied he knew him and this in the very presence of
only both Evangelists Matthew and Luke testifie it was a cry with a loud voice to evidence to the world that in the very article of his giving up of the ghost the strength of nature was not wholly spent for he cryed with a loud voice 3. The comfortable resignation of his soul unto the hands of his Father Luk. 23. 46. Father into thy hands I commend my spirit And although but even now the black storm was upon his soul that made him cry out with that loud and bitter cry yet the cloud is over and with comfort he delivers up his soul into the hands of that God whom he thought but even now had forsaken him It is more than probable that that bitter cry was uttered at the very Zenith of all his pains and when he had taken the vinegar and proclaimed that it is finished though they were all wrapt up in a very small time about the end of the ninth hour yet now there remained no more but for him to give up his spirit which he instantly thereupon did Joh. 19.30 He said It is finished he bowed the head and gave up the ghost Now the things wonderfully observable in the death of our Saviour are many 1. That it was a voluntary delivering up of his spirit this is that which he said Matth. 10.18 No man taketh it from me but I lay it down I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again this commandment have I received of my Father And truly this voluntary delivering up of his soul was well near as great an evidence of his Divinity as his resuming it again so that this very delivering up of his soul converted the Centurion Mar. 15.39 When he saw that he so cryed and gave up the ghost he said Truly this man was the Son of God Now that he thus voluntarily gave up his spirit is evident 1. By the strength of nature that was yet upon him in the very article of his death he cryed with a loud voice 2. That the Thieves who were crucified at the same time dyed not till there was a farther violence used by breaking their legs Joh. 19.32 but he expired to prevent the violence of the Souldiers and to fulfill the type and prophecy Not a bone of him shall be broken Joh. 19.36.3 That the suddenness of his death caused admiration in those that well knew the lingring course of such a death in the Centurion Mar. 15.39 in Pilate Mar. 15.44 which might probably be the cause that the insolent Souldier to secure the assurance of his death pierced his side with a spear Job 19.34 and thereby fulfilled that other Scripture which he never thought of Job 15.37 Now the wonderful occurrences that accompanied our Saviour's death were very many and considerable 1. A strange and particular Fulfilling of the Prophecies and Types that were concerning our Saviour's death and the very individual circumstances that attended it and all to consirm our Faith that this was indeed the Messias and that he was thus delivered over to death by the most certain and pre-determinate Counsel of God The Time of his Death so exactly predicted by Daniel ch 9.v.25 26. the parallel circumstances with the Paschal Lamb in the nature of him a Lamb without spot Exod. 12.5 in the time of his delivery over to death at the Feast of the Passover and the very evening wherein the Passover was to be eaten In the Manner of his Oblation not a bone to be broken Exod. 12.46 again the Manner of his Death by piercing his hands and his feet Psal 22.16 the very Words used by him Psal 22.1 Matth. 27. 46. the Words used of him Psal 22.8 Matth. 27.43 the crucifying of him between Malefactors Isa 53.12 the Whippings Isa 53.5 the Dividing of his Garments and casting Lotts upon his Vesture Psa 22.18 the Thirst of our Saviour upon the Cross and the giving him Vinegar and Gall Psal 69.21 2. A strange and miraculous Concussion of nature giving testimony to the wonderful and unheard of dissolution of our Saviour's body and soul Darkness from the sixth hour until the ninth hour And it is observable in the night wherein he was born by a miraculous light the night became as day Luk. 2.9 but at his death a miraculous darkness turned the day into night for three hours Matth. 27.45 at his birth a new Star was created to be the lamp and guide unto the place of his birth Matth. 2.9 but at his death the Sun in the firmament was masked with darkness and yielded not his light while the Lord of life was passing into the vail of death Again another prodigy that accompanied the death of Christ was an Earthquake that rent the rocks and opened the graves and strake amazement and conviction into the Centurion that was watching him Math. 27.52 53 54. When our Saviour was entring into the earth by death the earth trembled and so it did when he was coming out of it by his Resurrection Matth. 28.2 3. Again the Graves were opened and the dead bodies of the Saints arose As the touch of the bones of Elisha caused a kind of resurrection 2 Kings 13.21 so our Saviour's body new saln to the earth did give a kind of particular resurrection to the Saints bodies to testifie that by his death he had healed the deadliness of the Grave and that the satisfaction for Sin was accomplished when Death the wages of Sin was thus Conquered 4. Again the Vail of the Temple was Rent in twain from the top to the bottom Matth. 27.57 the Vail was that which divided the most holy place from the rest of the Tabernacle Exod. 26.33 and in that most Holy place were contained the mysterious Types the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy-Seat and within this Vail only the high Priest entred once a year when he made an atonement for the People and for the Tabernacle Levit. 16.33 Heb. 9.7 and now at our Saviour's death this vail was rent from the top to the bottom and it imported divers very great Mysteries 1. That now our great High Priest was entring into the most holy with his own blood having thereby made the atonement for us Heb. 9.12 By his own blood he entred once into the most holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us 2. That the Means whereby he entred into the most holy place was by the Rending of his Humanity his soul from his body typified by the rending of that vail and therefore his flesh that is his whole humane nature was the vail Heb. 10.20 Consecrated through the vail that is his flesh 3. That now by the death of Christ all those dark Mysteries vailed up formerly in the most holy the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy-Seat are now rendred open and their Mysteries unfolded Christ the Mediator of the Covenant and the Seat of Mercy and Acceptation unto all believers founded and seated upon him and thereby that Life and
Immortality which was wrapt up in the mysteries of the Old covenant and yet those mysteries vailed and inclosed up within the vail is now brought to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 and the vail rent in twain that as well the meaning of those mysteries and types under the Law is discovered 4. That now the use of the Ceremonial Law is at an end the greatest and most sacred mystery of the Tabernacle and indeed of the whole ceremonial Law was this that was within the vail the most holy place wherein were the most holy and revered mysteries the Ark and the Mercy-Seat But now the vail is rent the use abolished the covenant of the people is given the Body of Christ typified by the Temple separated and so the use of the other Temple Tabernacle and the holy Places Vessels Instruments thereof ceased 5. That now the Kingdom of Heaven the most Holy Place is open unto all believers Christ our High Priest is entred in with his own blood and hath not closed the vail after him but rent it in sunder and made and left a passage for all believers to follow him with our prayers and access to the glorious God and hereafter in our persons Heb. 10.19 20. Having therefore bloldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he bath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh let us draw near with a true heart And now we have gone thus far with our Lord unto his death we shall follow him to his Grave Joseph of Arimathea having an honorable mention by all four Evangelists Matth. 27.57 a rich man and Jesus disciple Mar. 15.43 an honorable Counsellor who waited for the Kingdom of God Luk. 23.50 a Counsellor a good man and a just who had not consented to the counsel or deed of the Jews and waited for the Kingdom of God Joh. 19.38 a disciple of Christ but secretly for fear of the Jews this man manifested his faith and love to his Master when he was in his lowest condition goes to Pilate boldly and begs his Saviour's body he wraps it in a clean linnen cloth laid it in a Tomb provided for himself and hewed out of the rock and rolled a great stone upon the door of the Sepulchre And as by his death with the malefactors so by his burial in this rich man's Sepulchre he fulfilled both parts of the Prophecy Isa 53.9 He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death The high Priests continued their malice and their jealousie even against the dead body of our Saviour and to secure themselves against the suspition of his Resurrection the third day take order for making the Sepulchre sure till the third day was past Matth. 27.60 they seal the stone and set a watch And it is very Observable how the almighty Counsel of God made use of the very malice and jealousie of these people for the confirming of his own truth Christ's Resurrection and our Faith Their malicious and curious industry to prevent the possibility of a fictitious Resurrection abundantly and uncontrollably convincing the reality of our Saviour's death and true Resurrection He is laid in the grave the evening of the day wherein he suffered a Stone rolled upon the mouth of the grave such as required a considerable strength to remove it insomuch that the women that came the first day of the week to embalm the body were in a great difficulty how it should be removed Mar. 16.3 for it was a Great stone Matth. 27.60 and this stone Sealed and as if all this were too little and the bonds of death and the grave were too weak they add a Watch of Souldiers to secure the body Matth 27.66 And here we leave for a while our Saviour's body interred with Spices Joh. 19.39 in a new Sepulchre wherein never before any lay Joh. 19.41 hewen out of a rock in the garden Joh. 19.42 that as in the garden death at first laid hold of the first Adam so in the garden the second Adam undergoes the state of death and gains the victory over the grave his agony in a garden and his interrment in a garden his body rests in the grave and his soul translated into Paradise for so he witnessed of himself This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Luk. 23. 43. For at the instant of his dissolution our Satisfaction was made and the work of our Redemption so far as it depended upon his suffering finished So that had it not been for a witness of the reality and truth of his death and of the power and reality of his Resurrection and the fulfilling of the decree of God manifested in the Scriptures he might have reassumed life in the next instant after his death For the debt to the Justice of God was fully satisfied and his continuance in the grave until the third day was not by the power of death which he vanquished in the instant of his dissolution but a voluntary subjecting of himself unto that state for the strengthening of our faith and the fulfilling of the Scriptures And now we come to the Consideration of the Resurrection of our Lord by which he was declared to be the Son of God with power and by which the fulness and compleatness of our Redemption by him is abundantly manifested He chose that Time to dye when the Passover was slain that time wherein Adam was created the sixth day of the week at even He chose that time for his body to rest in the grave and for his soul to rest in Paradise wherein his Father rested from all the great work of the Creation the seventh day of the week and he chose that day to rise again which his Father chose to begin the Creation the first day of the week that the same day might bear the inscription of the Creation and of the Resurrection of the World and that as in that day the Lord God brought light out of darkness so this light the light that enlightneth every man that comes into the world should arise from the land of darkness the grave This is the day that the Lord hath made let us be glad and rejoyce therein The Time of the Day wherein our Lord arose was very early in the morning of the first day of the week as it began to dawn Matth 21.1 while it was yet dark or scarcely full light Joh 17.1 And the Manner of it was full of wonder and astonishment An Angel from heaven comes down to draw the curtain of our Saviour's grave and with an Earthquake rolls away the stone that covered it the Keepers who had watchfully observed the command of their Commanders were stricken with astonishment and became as dead Matth. 28.2 3 4. Our Lord who had power to lay down his life and power to take it up again Joh. 10.17 reassumes his body which though it had tasted death yet had not seen
this grace is the very life and vital and conforming principle of the soul And hence this formative principle is called the life of the soul the quickning spirit and the conformation of the soul unto the will of God thereby is called the forming of Christ in them the life of Christ the indwelling of Christ in the heart by faith And this new principle exerciseth in the soul all the acts analogical to that natural vital principle in the body giving to it as it were the image lineaments proportion increase conformable to the image of God in Christ as true Wisdom Righteousness Justice Holiness Integrity Love of God Submission to his will Dependance upon him and translates them into all the communicable relations that Christ himself had and invests them in his communicable priviledges If he be a Son of God by nature so are they by interpretation is he an heir of heaven so are they coheirs with him is he accepted of God so are they is he an heir of glory so are they And as this conformation of the body by this vital principle is performed by a seminal principle at least as the instrument of its activity derived from the parent so the analogy holds here we find a double seminal principle in this conformation and both derived from Christ our head viz. one External another Internal 1. The External seminal principle is the word and message of the Divine doctrine exemplary and holy life singular love of Christ and of God through him to mankind whereby we understand what he would have us do the danger if we do otherwise the blessed reward of obedience the great engagements of the love of God in sending his Son to dye for us the plain familiar easie way of attaining of happiness and because we often learn better by example than by precept the same word exhibits to us a lively picture of his holy conversation his humility meekness obedience love patience goodness And this external means is in it self a great moral means to conform our wills and lives thereunto and therefore it is called the incorruptible seed of the word of God whereby we are born again 1 Pet. 1.23.2 The Internal seed is that Spirit of grace sent out from Christ which doth derive a quickning lively power to the word and to the soul whereby it makes it effectual to its end and therefore called a Spirit of Life and Power a Quickning Spirit and this not by transfusing a new substance or substantial nature which before it had not but by its lively yet secret operations changing and moulding it suitable to the image of him whose Spirit it is and adding energy and efficacy to that other seed of the word as the Sun doth to the seminal principles of vegetables and animals III. Touching the Thing upon which this victory is obtained and conquest made it is the world which comprehends in its latitude a double world the world within us and the world without us The world within us which may therefore be so called principally in this respect that a great part of its relation and tendency is toward the world which is for the most part the object upon which it fixeth the subject after which it reacheth and the business upon which it fasteneth and exerciseth and hence it is that the Apostle S t John divides the world without us with relation to the world within us viz. The lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life 1 Joh. 2.16 The world that is within us taketh in the two great faculties or powers viz. 1. the Passions of the soul and 2. the Sensual Appetite both these are in their own nature good placed in us by the wise God of Nature for most excellent ends and uses Our business is therefore to keep in order and subjection not to extirpate and root them out for they are radicated in our nature by the God of Nature But of this more particularly 1. Our Passions such as are Love Hatred Anger Hope Fear Joy Sorrow these and the like passions of the humane Soul are not simply in themselves evil nay being rightly placed and duly ordered and regulated they become serviceable to excellent ends and uses and therefore simply in themselves they are not the subject of a Christian's victory But then they become such when they become the world in the Text and that is principally in these Cases 1. When they are misplaced as when we love the things we should hate hope for the things we should fear rejoyce in that we should grieve c. or è converso 2. When they are immoderate or excessive about their proper objects which comes to pass when in those things about which we may exercise our passions lawfully we exceed that measure or proportion that is due to them For instance I may lawfully love a competency of worldly subsistence but I exceed in this that I love it too much and beyond the worth that is truly in it I may lawfully be angry with him that injures me but I exceed in the measure or degree or time or duration and become implacable 3. When my affections or passions are not acted to that height they ought to be All finite objects of our passions require a proportionate degree of our passions but where the object is infinite my affections may erre in being too remiss but not in the excess I cannot love God too much for I am to love him with all my might but I may love him too little and then my affection errs I cannot hate sin too much because I cannot love God too much but I may hate it too little 4. When my affections or passions are acted unseasonably either in respect of the time or in respect of the competition between objects of several values I may nay I must love my Father but if I love my Father more than my Saviour my Saviour hath pronounced me unworthy of him 5. When my passions degenerate into vices and corruptions and so become not so much powers or faculties as diseases and sicknesses of the soul as when anger degenerates into malice revenge when self-love degenerate into envy when desire of or delight in the profits or honours of the world degenerates into covetousness or ambition and the like 6. When my passions are not under the management guidance or conduct of my superior faculties my reason and judgment but either go before they are sent or go beyond what they are sent or return not and subside when recalled and then they breed infinite perturbation in the soul invert the order of nature and become furies and tempests and imprison and captivate the mind and understanding and become a worse part of the world than that which is without us Under these conditions our passions and affections are part of that world which is the object of a Christian's warfare and victory 2. The other part of this world within us are the
all places knows our thoughts our wants our sins our desires and is ready to supply us with all things that are good and fit for us beyond all we can ask or think hath incomprehensible Wisdom and irresistible Power to effect what he pleaseth that leaves not any of his works especially mankind without his special care and superintendence over them without whose will or designed permission nothing befalls us 2. That this most Wise and Just and Powerful God hath appointed a law or rule according to which his will is that the children of men should conform themselves and according to the upright endeavours of the children of men to conform thereunto he will most certainly give rewards and according to the wilful transgressions thereof he will inflict punishments and that he is a most strict and infallible observer of all the wayes of the children of men whether of obedience or disobedience thereunto 3. That this law and will of his he hath communicated and revealed unto the children of men in his Holy Word especially by the mission of his Son Jesus Christ who brought into the world a full and complete collection of those holy Laws of God whereunto he would have us conform 4. That he hath given unto mankind in and through Christ Jesus a full manifestation of a future life after this of rewards and punishments and according to that law of his thus manifested by his Son he will by the same Jesus Christ dispense and execute the sentences of rewards and punishments and judge every man according to his works 5. And that the reward of faith and obedience in that other life to come shall be an eternal blessed happy estate of soul and body in the glorious Heavens and in the presence and fruition of the ever Glorious and Eternal God 6. And that the punishment of the rebellious and disobedient unto this will and law of God thus manifested by his Son shall be an eternal separation of soul and body from the presence of God and the conclusion of them under chains of darkness and everlasting torments in hell fire 7. And that the Son of God hath given us the greatest assurance imaginable of the truth of this will of God of this happiness and misery by taking upon him our nature by his miracles by his death and resurrection and ascention into glory and by his mission of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation into his Apostles and Disciples both to instruct the world in his trust and to evidence the truth of their mission from him 8. That Almighty God though full of justice and severity against obstinate and rebellious yet is full of tenderness love and compassion towards all those that sincerely desire to obey his will and to accept of terms of peace and reconciliation with him and is ready upon repentance and amendment to pardon whatsoever is amiss and hath accordingly promised it And that he hath the care and love and tenderness of a father towards us that in our sincere endeavour of obedience to him we shall be sure of his love favour and protection that in all our afflictions and troubles he stands by us and will not leave us that he will most certainly make good every promise that by Christ he hath sent unto us for the life that is present and that which is to come that the Law he hath sent us by Christ to submit unto is an easie and good Law such as will perfect our nature and fit it to be partaker of his glory and that all his thoughts towards us in our faithful endeavour to obey him are thoughts of love favour peace bounty and goodness And of this he hath given the greatest assurance that is possible for mankind to expect or desire even the sending of his Eternal Son into the world to take upon him our nature to acquaint us with his Father's will and love to live a life of want and misery and to dye a death full of shame and horror to rise again to dispatch Messengers into all the world to publish the good will of God to mankind to ascend up into glory and there to make intercession for us poor worms at the right hand of God giving us also hereby assurance of our resurrection and of his coming again to judge the world and to receive his obedient servants into eternal glory These be some of those principal Objects of that Faith that overcometh the World being soundly received believed and digested 2. As touching the act it self it is no other than a sound real and firm belief of those Sacred Truths And therefore it seems that they that perplex the notion of Faith with other intricate and abstruse definitions or descriptions either render it very difficult and scarce intelligible or else take into the definition or description those things that are but the consequents and effects of it He that hath this firm perswasion will most certainly repent of his sins past will most certainly endeavour obedience to the will of God which is thus believed by him to be holy just and good and upon the obedience or disobedience whereof depends his eternal happiness or misery will most certainly depend upon the promises of God for this life and that to come for those are as natural effects of such a firm perswasion as it is for the belief of a danger to put a man upon means to avoid it or for the belief of a benefit to put a man upon means to attain it Some things are of such a nature that the belief or knowledge of them goes no further but it rests in it self as the belief or knowledge of bare speculative truths But some things are of such a nature as being once truly and firmly believed or known carry a man out to action and such are especially the knowledge or belief of such things as are the objects of our fears or of our hopes the belief of such objects do naturally and with a kind of moral necessity carry a man out to action to the avoiding of such fears and the attaining of such hopes And therefore faith and belief in reference thereunto comes often in the Scripture under the names of hope and fear as being the proper effects of it Instances we have of both 2 Cor. 5.10 11. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men 1 Joh. 3.2 3. But we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and every man that bath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure Therefore we need not be so sollicitous touching the nature of faith what kind of faith it is that must save us certainly if it be a true and real assent of the mind to these great truths of
hast set up And therefore our Blessed Lord redoubles the injunction of our fear toward him that can destroy both body and soul in hell but forbids any fear of such persecutors who can only destroy the body and then can do no more And certainly that man that hath full assurance of favour and esteem with the great God of heaven and earth of an incorruptible weight and crown of glory the next moment after death must needs have a low esteem of the reproaches and scorns and persecutions of men for righteoufness sake and so much the rather because that very favour with God and that very crown of happiness that he expects is enhanced by those very scorns and those very afflictions For Our light afflictions which are here for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 3. Concerning the third kind of world namely the Providential world consisting in external dispensations of adversity or prosperity And first concerning the dark part of this world namely Adversity as casualties losses of wealth or friends sicknesses the common effects whereof are impatience distrust murmuring and unquietness Faith conquers this part of the world and prevents those evil consequences which either temptations from without or corruptions from within are apt to raise 1. Faith presents the soul with this assurance that all external occurrences come from the wise dispensation or permission of the most glorious God they come not by chance 2. That the glorious God may even upon the account of his own Sovereignty and pro imperio inflict what he pleaseth upon any of his creatures in this life 3. That yet whatsoever he doth in this kind is not only an effect of his power and sovereignty but of his wisdom yea and of his goodness and bounty No affliction can befall any man but it may be useful for his instruction or prevention 4. That the best of men deserve far worse at the hands of God than the worst afflictions that ever did or ever can befall any man in this life 5. That there have been examples of greater affliction that have befallen better men in this life witness Job and that excellent pattern of all patience and goodness even as a man our Lord Christ Jesus 6. That these afflictions are sent for the good even of good men and it is their fault and weakness if they have not that effect 7. That in the midst of the severest afflictions the favour of God to the soul discovering it self like the Sun shining through a cloud gives light and comfort to the Soul 8. That Almighty God is ready to support them that believe in him and to bear them up under all their afflictions that they shall not sink under them 9. That whatsoever or how great soever the afflictions of this life are if the name be blasted with reproaches the estate wasted and consumed by fire from heaven if friends are lost if hopes and expectations disappointed if the body be macerated with pains and diseases yet Faith presents to the believer something that can bear up the Soul under these and many more pressures namely that after a few years or days are spent an eternal state of unchangeable and perfect happiness shall succed that death the worst of temporal evils will cure all those maladies and deliver up the soul into a state of endless comfort and blessedness and therefore he bears all this with patience and quietness and contentedness and cheerfulness and disappoints the world in that expectation wherein its strength in relation to this condition lyes namely it conquers all impatience murmuring unquietness of mind 2. As to the second part of this Providential world namely Prosperity which in truth is the more dangerous condition of the two without the intervention of the divine grace the foils that the world puts upon men by this condition are commonly pride insolence carnal security contempt or neglect of duty and religion luxury and the like The method whereby Faith overcometh this part of the world and those evil consequences that arise upon it are these 1. Faith gives a man a true and equal estimate of this condition and keeps a man from overvaluing it or himself for it lets him know it is very uncertain very casual very dangerous and cannot out-last this life death will come and sweep down all these cobwebs 2. Faith assures him that Almighty God observes his whole deportment in it that he hath given him a law of humility sobriety temperance fidelity and a caution not to trust in uncertain riches that he must give an account of his stewardship also to the great Master of the Family of Heaven and Earth that he will duly examine all his Items whether done according to his Lord's commission and command and it lets him know that the more he hath the greater ought his care to be because his account will be the greater 3. Faith lets him know that the abundance of wealth honour power friends applause successes as they last no longer than this short transitory life and therefore cannot make up his happiness no nor give a man an ease or rescue from a fit of the Stone or Colick so there is an everlasting state of happiness or misery that must attend every man after death And on the one hand all the glory and splendor and happiness that this inferior world can afford is nothing in comparison of that glory that shall be revealed to and enjoyed by them that believe and obey 1. Nothing in respect of its duration if a man should live a thousand years yet that must have an end and the very pre-apprehension of an end is enough to dash and blast and wither any happiness even while it is enjoyed but that happiness that succeeds after death is an everlasting happiness 2. Nothing in respect of its degree there is no sincere complete perfect happiness in this world it is mingled with evils with fears with vicissitudes of sorrow and trouble but the happiness of the next life is perfect sincere and unmixed with any thing that may allay it And upon these accounts faith which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen and therefore by a kind of anticipation gives a presence to the Soul of those future joys renders the best happiness this world below can yield but languid and poor like the light of a Candle in the presence of the Sun On the other side the misery that after death attends the mispent present life over-ballanceth all the good that this life can yield both in its degree and duration and therefore with the pre-apprehension of it it sowres and allays all the good that is in the greatest happiness of this life 4. Faith doth assute every believing Soul that as sure as he now liveth and enjoyeth that worldly felicity it hath so surely if he in belief and obedience to the will of God revealed in and through Christ
Vain-glory are not sins the Law of God and the Law of Nature tells us they are sins But an Humble man sensible of his own sins and failings will not presently be over-censorious of persons or pronounce them reprobates or men wholly destitute of the hope of salvation but will pity their failings and backslidings but yet not exterminate them from heaven And herein there must be duly considered the difference between a private person and a publick person whether Minister or Magistrate the former namely a private person humility must teach him compassion charitableness gentleness but the latter being intrusted in a publick ministration or office doth alternis vicibus agere his personal humility as a private person must teach him to be charitable but yet not to be remiss or unfaithful in the exercise of his office The farther consideration of the principles and companions of humility will appear in the consideration of the Fruits and Advantages and Benefits of true Humility And these I shall reduce to these three Relations I. in relation to Almighty God 3. in relation to the humble person himself 3. in relation to others It is true that all Virtues if they be true and real have a connexion one with another they are never single for the same principle that begetteth one begetteth all the rest and habituates and influenceth the soul in all its motions but especially this Virtue of Humility when it is genuine and true is ever accompanied with all those excellent Habits and Graces that perfect the soul as the Fear and Love of God Obedience to him Dependence on him Benificence and Charity to mankind and the like But yet in pursuit of the fruits and advantages of Humility I shall apply my self to such as do most naturally and with a kind of special reason and appropriation belong to or flow from this virtue as such and as do belong to its nature in a kind of abstract consideration First therefore in relation to Almighty God the Humble Man hath in a special manner these two great Advantages 1. He receives Grace or Favour or Honour from God 2. He receives Direction Guidance and Counsel from God Both which are singularly promised and by a kind of suitableness and congruity conferred by Almighty God upon his humble soul First Favour Honour and Grace from God is a special portion of the Humble Man The Wise man tells us here He gives Grace to the Humble And although Grace is a comprehensive word and includes in it self not only Favour and Acceptance with God but also those other accessions of the gifts of his Bounty and Goodness which come from this Great Giver of every perfect gift as Wisdom Peace Righteousness Purity of heart and the like which are all also the portion of a truly humble man yet I think the former is that which is specially intended here namely Favour Honour and Acceptance with God so often expressed in the Old and New Testament by the phrase of finding Grace in the sight of God Gen. 19. 18. Behold now I have found grace in thy sight Luk. 14. 9 10 11. He that bid thee shall say unto thee Friend come thou up hither then thou shalt have worship or grace in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee for he that exalteth himself shall be abased and be that abaseth himself shall be exalted So that by Grace is intended principally Favour Acceptance Honour and Esteem with the Great and Glorious God of Heaven and Earth And certainly were there no other reward of Humility than Acceptance and Favour with the Great Sovereign of the World it were reward enough We see daily what pains and charge and expence and servitude men undergo to attain the favour of a Prince or great man though he be but a poor mortal worm and how men please themselves when they have attained some little unprofitable respect from a great man But what is that in comparison of being in Grace and Favour with the King of kings the Lord of Heaven Especially when we consider that the Favour or Acceptance of the Glorious God is not a bare unprofitable Esteem or Grace such as many times the great Favourites of Princes obtain from them But the favour and acceptance of God is always accompanied with Bounty and Benificence As he is the Sovereign Ocean of all good so we may be sure he will be communicative and liberal of it to such as he favours He whose benignity is hourly extended to the meanest of his Creatures nay to the very worst of men cannot be parsimonious or strait-handed to those whom he accepts and esteems and honours So that the humble man finds Grace in the sight of the Glorious God and as an Effect of that grace the bountiful communication of all necessaries good from the Munificence Bounty and Liberality of him that thus favours him and this is reward enough for the most profound Humility The Reason why Almighty God accepts thus an Humble person is the very same that makes him resist the Proud which is this The Great God made all things in the world for two Ends viz. 1. Thereby to communicate his own diffusive Goodness and Benificence and principally for the Glory of his own Greatness Wisdom Power and Majesty and although he receives no addition of Happiness by the return of Glory from his Creatures yet it is a thing he values his Glory he will not give to another and it is unbecoming the Excellency of his Majesty to be disappointed in his End Glory is out of its place when it is not returned to the God of Glory or in order to him It is the natural as well as the reasonable Tribute of all his Creatures and a kind of proper Refiection of the Bounty and Splendor of all his works unto the God that made them Now the Proud man usurps that Glory which is due to his Maker and takes it to himself intercepts that due and natural return and reflection due unto the Creator of all things takes that tribute that is due to God and applies it to himself puts glory out of its place and natural course which it should hold towards the glorious God as the Rivers do to the Sea And this usurpation as it is a kind of rebellion against God so it inverts and disorders the true and just natural course of things and therefore as the proud man herein walks contrary to God so God walks contrary to him They that honour me I will honour they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2.30 And as this is a most reasonable act of Divine Justice so they seem two things that even upon an account of natural congruity must needs make the condition of a Proud man uneasie and unhappy in relation to Almighty God 1. Every thing is beautiful and useful and convenient in its proper place but when it is out of its place it becomes troublesom and disorderly like a Bone out of