this Congregation but is or was as bad as the holy Ghost here makes him But 2. To come to that which is delivered of him he is one not quickned dead in sins no better then nature made him that corrupt nature which he hath from Adam till he is thus spiritually enlivened Now he 's described 1. By the quality of his person 2. By his company Even as others Thou mayst think thy self better then another man but thou art no better never a barrel the better herring as we say Even as others thou art not so alone but as bad as the worst not a man more evil in his nature then thou art When thou goest to Hell perhaps some difference there may be in your several punishments according to your several acts of Rebellion but yet you shall all come short of the Glory of God And for matter of quickning you are all alike 1. First concerning their quality And this is declared 1. By their general disposiâ—ion they are dead in trespasses and sins Dead and therefore unable and indisposed to the works of a spiritual living man Besides not onely indisposed and unable thereto but dead in trespasses and sins For the separation of the Soul from God is a more dangerous death than the separation of the Soul from the Body and this is the reason why St. John calls damnation the second death Rev. 20.14 reckoning in comparison the naturall death for none Accordingly also speaketh the learned Patriarch of Alexandria St. Cyril Tom. 6. p. 415. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is not properly death which separateth Soul from the body but that which separateth God from the Soul God is the life of the Soul but he that is separated from life is dead being deprived of alacrity and cheerfulness as of life He lies rotting in his own filth like a rotten carkass and stinking carrion in the nostrils of the Almighty so loathsome is he all which is drawn from Original sin Not onely dis-enabled to any good but prone to all sin and iniquity 2. By his particular conversation And that appears in the verse following Where in times past ye walked How Not according to the word and will of God not according to his rule but they walked after three other wicked rules A dead man then hath his walk you see a strange thing in the dead but who directs him in his course These three the World the Flesh and the Devil the worst guides that may be yet if we look to the conversation of a natural man we see these are his Pilots which are here set down 1. The World Wherein times past ye walked after the course of the World He swims along with the stream of the World Nor will he be singular not such a precise one as some few are but do as the World doth run amain whither that carries him See the state of a natural man He 's apt to be brought into the slavery of the World This is his first guide Then follows 2. The Second which is the Devil The Devil leads him as well as the World According to the Prince of the power of the Air the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of disobedience In stead of having the Spirit of God to be led by he 's posted by the Spirit of Satan and the lusts of his Father the Devil he will do He hath not an heart to resist the vilest lusts the Devil shall perswade him to When Satan once fills his heart he hath no heart to any thing else then to follow him 3. There remains the Flesh his guide too and that 's not left out v. 3. Amongst whom we had our conversation in times past in the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind So that you see the three guides of a natural man and he is as bad as these three can make him and till the stronger man comes and pulls him out in this condition he remains and in this natural estate he is a son of disobedience We see then the state of disobedience described to be wretchedness 3. This further appears by that which must follow which is cursedness Rebellion and wretchedness going before cursedness will follow For God will not be abused nor suffer a Rebel to go unpunished Therefore saith the Apostle We are by nature the Children of wrath Being the natural sons of disobedience we may well conclude we are the Children of wrath If we can well learn these two things of our selves how deep we are in sin and how the wrath of God is due to us for our sins then we may see what we are by Nature Thus much concerning the quality of a natural man Next follows 2. His company Even as others By nature we are the Children of wrath even as others That is to say we go in that broad wide way that leads to damnation that way we all naturally rush into though we may think it otherwise and think our selves better yet we are deceived For it is with us even as with others Naturally we are in the same state that the worst men in the World are so that we see the glass of a natural man or of a man that hath made some beginnings till Christ come and quicken him Q. See we then who it is spoken of to be dead men that are rotten and stinking as bad as the World the Flesh and the Devil can make them Who should these be A. I answer it 's you you hath he quickned And ye wherein ye walked c. But who are they The Ephesians perhaps that were in times past Heathens I hope it belongs not to us They were Gentiles and Pagans that knew not Christ v. 12. Aliens to the Commonweal of Israel strangers to the covenant of promise having no hope without God in the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Text renders it Atheists and therefore they might well be so But I hope it 's not thus with me I was never a Pagan or Heathen I was born of Christian Parents and am of the Church But put away these conceits Look on the 3d. v. Amongst whom we also had our conversation and wherein ye your selves c. It 's not onely spoken of you Gentiles but verified of us also As if he had said here as Gal. 2. We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles He paints out not onely you the Gentiles in such ugly colours but we Jews also we of the Common-wealth of Israel We before we were quickned were in the same state that you are described to be in Obj. Oh but the Apostle may do this out of fellowship and to avoid envy as it were making himself a party with them as Ezra did cap. 9. that included himself in the number of the offenders though he had no hand in the offence O our God saith he what shall we say Our evil deeds
not to terrifie and affright men but by forewarning them to keep them thence For after I have shewn you the danger I shall shew a way to escape it and how the Lord Jesus was given to us to deliver us from this danger But if you will not hear but will try conclusions with God then you must to your proper place to the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone A Lake 't is a River a flaming River as Tophet is described to be a lake burning with fire and brimstone a Metaphor taken from the judgment of God on Sodom and Gomorrah as in that place of St. Jude before mentioned as also in 2 Pet. 2.6 where 't is said God turned the Cities of Sodom into ashes making them an example to all them that should after live ungodly Mark the judgement of God upon these abominable men the place where they dwelt is destroyed with fire and the scituation is turn'd into a lake full of filthy bituminous stuff called Lacus Asphaltites which was made by their burnings And this is made an instance of the vengeance of God and an Emblem of eternal fire therefore said he you shall have your portion with Sodom Nay shall I speak a greater word with Christ and tell you that though they were so abominable that the lake was denominated from them yet it shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you if you repent not while you may but go on to despise Gods grace But can there be a greater sin than the sin of Sodom I answer yes For make the worst of the sin of Sodom it is but a sin against nature but thy impenitency is a sin against grace and against the Gospel and therefore deserves a hotter hell and an higher measure of judgment in this burning pit But what is this second death 2. Sure it hath reference to some first death or other going before A man would as it is commonly thought think that this second death is opposed to that first death which is the harbinger to the second and separates the soul from the body but it 's far otherwise That alas is but a petty thing and deserves not to be put in the number of deaths The second death in the Text hath relation to the first Resurrection Rev. 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath his portion in the first Resurrection on such the second death shall have no power The first death is that from whence we are acquitted by the first Resurrection and that is the death for that is a kind of death as St. Paul speaking of a wicked and voluptuous Widow saith she is dead while she liveth and the time shall come and now is when they that are dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live And again Let the dead bury their dead So that the first Resurrection is when a man hearing the voice of the Minister is rouzed up from the sleep of sin and carnal security and the first death is the opposite thereunto So that the death of the body is no death at all for if it were then this were the third death For there would be a death of sin a death of the body and a death of body and soul This death of the body is but a flea-biting in comparison of the other two This second death is the separation of the body and soul from God and this death is the wages of sin and God must not will not lye in arrear to sin but will pay its wages to the full All the afflictions a wicked man meeteth withal here are but as Gods press-money and part of payment of that greater sum But when he dies the whole sum comes to be paid Before he did but sip of the Cup of Gods wrath but he must then drink up the dregs of it down to the bottom and this is the second death it 's called death Now death is a destruction of the parts compounded a man being compounded of body and soul both are by this death eternally destroyed That death like Sampson pulling down the pillars whereby it was sustained pulled down the house draws down the Tabernacles of our bodies pulls Body and Soul in sunder A thing which hath little hurt in it self were it not for the sting of it which makes it fearful To dye is esteemed far worse than to be dead in regard of the pangs that are in dying to which death puts an end This temporal death is in an instant but this other eternal whereby we are ever dying and never dead for by it we are punished with an everlasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Thess. 1.9 and that from the presence of the Lord by the glory of his power Then which piece I have no need to add more for as much as can be said of men and Angels is fully comprehended in it The Apostle terms this a fearful thing indeed Heb. 2.15 whereon if a man but think if he hath his wits about him he would for fear of it be all his life long subject to bondage He would scarce draw any free breath but would still be in bondage and drudgery till he were delivered Thus I have declared the nature of the place and of this second death That I may now go farther know that this Lake and this place is the place that the Lord hath provided for his enemies It is the Lords slaughter-house it s called a place of torments Luke 16. vers 24 28. a place wherein God will shew the accomplishment of his wrath and revenge upon his enemies Those mine enemies that would not have me to reign over them bring them forth and slay them before my face Luke 19.27 Those vessels of wrath those Rebels the King is inraged and his wrath is as the roaring of a Lyon which makes all the beasts of the Forrest to tremble Prov. 19.12 And where there is the wrath of such a King the issue thereof must needs be death Prov. 16.14 The wrath of a King is as a messenger of death How much more fearful is the wrath of the King of Kings God hath sharp arrows and he sets a wicked man as his Butt to shoot at to shew his strength and the fierceness of his wrath See the expression of Job in this case The arrows of the Almighty stick fast in me and the venome thereof hath drunk up my spirits In so few words there could not be an higher expression of the wrath of God First that God should make thee a Butt and that thou shouldst be shot at and that by Gods arrows And then they are not shot by a child but as the man is so is his strength by the Almighty by his bow wherein he draws the arrow to the head And then again these arrows are poyson'd arrows and such poyson as shall drink up all thy soul and spirit Oh what a fearful thing is it to fall into the hands of such a
taste and relish of the joy of the world to come and yet are carried all this while in a fool's Paradise and think there is no fear of their safety never knowing that they are cast-aways till they come to the gates of hell and find themselves by woful experience shut out of Heaven And their case is woful that are thus deceived Know then that it is not every faith that justifies a man a man may have faith and yet not be justified The Faith that justifies is the Faith of Gods Elect. Tit. 1.1 There is a faith that may belong to them that are not Gods elect but that faith does not justifie In the Epistle of Timothy that faith which justifies must be a faith unfegn'd 1 Tim. 1.5 2 Tim. 1.5 Now here 's the skill of a Christian to try what that faith is which justifies him Now this justifying faith is not every work of Gods Spirit in a mans heart For there are supernatural operations of the Spirit in a mans heart that are but temporary that carry him not thorow and therefore are ineffectual but the end of this faith is the salvation of our souls 1 Pet. 1.9 We read in the Scripture of Apostacy and falling back Now they cannot be Apostates that were never in the way of truth This being an accident we must have a subject for it Now there is a certain kind of people that have supernatural workings some that are drawn up and down with every wind of Doctrine these are they that have this cold and temporary faith temporary because in the end it discovers it self to be a thing not constant and permanent We read in John 11.26 That they that are born of God that is that live and believe in Christ never see death shall never perish eternally but yet we must know withal that there may be conceptions that will never come to the birth to a right and perfect delivery And thus it may be in the soul of a man there may be conceptions that will never come to a ripe birth but let a man be born of God and come to perfection of birth and the case is clear he shall never see death He that liveth and believeth in me shall not see death And this is made a point of faith Believest thou this There is another thing called conception and that is certain dispositions to a birth that come not to full perfection True a child that is born and liveth is a perfectly alive as he that liveth an hundred years yet I say there are conceptions that come not to a birth Now the faith that justifies is a living faith there is a certain kind of dead faith this is a feigned that an unfegned faith The life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God Dost thou think a dead faith can make a living soul It s against reason A man cannot live by a dead thing not by a dead faith Now a dead faith there is A faith that doth not work is a dead faith Jam. 2.22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works and by his works was faith made perfect for verse 26. As the body without the spirit is dead or without breath is dead so faith without works is dead also See how the Apostle compares it as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also The Apostle makes not works the form of faith as the soul is the form of the man But as the body without the spirit is dead so that faith that worketh not that hath no tokens of life is dead but then doth not the other word strike home Faith wrought with his works It seems here is as the Papists say fides informis and works make it up as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it But compare this with the other places of the Scripture and the difficulty will be cleared for instance weigh that place 2 Cor. 12.9 Where the Apostle pray'd to God that the messenger of Satan might be removed from him and he said unto him My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness What Does our weakness make Gods strength more perfect to which nothing can be added No it is My strength and the perfection of it is made known in the weakness of the means that I made use of for the delivery of mans soul from death So here the excellency and perfection of our faith is made known by works when I see that it is not an idle but a working faith then I say it is made perfect by the work When it is a dead faith that puts not a man on work never believe that will make a liâ—ing soul. In St. Judes Epistle ver 20. it hath another Epithete viz. The most holy faith not holy only but most holy That faith which must bring a man to God the holy of holies must be most holy It 's said that God dwells in our hearts by faith Ephes. 3.17 Now God and faith dwelling in a heart together that heart must needs be pure and clean Faith makes the heart pure It were a most dishonourable thing to entertain God in a sty a filthy and unclean heart but if faith dwell there it makes a fit house for the habitation of the King of Saints therefore it purifieth the heart Well then dost thou think thy sins are forgiven thee and that thou hast a strong faith and yet art as prophane and as filthy as ever How can it be It is a most holy faith that justifieth it is not a faith that will suffer a man to lie on a dunghil or in the gutter with the hog There may be a faith which is somewhat like this but it is but temporary and cometh short of it But now there is another thing which distinguishes it it is the peculiar work of faith In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but the new creature Gal. 6.15 and again Gal. 5.6 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but faith which worketh by love It 's twice set down Now what is a new creature Why he that hath such a faith as works by love not a dead faith but a faith that works but how does it work it not only abstains from evil and does some good acts which a temporary may do but it s such a faith as works by love The love of God constrains him 2 Cor. 5.14 and he so loveth God as that he hates evil for Gods sake the other does it not out of love to God all the love he hath is self-love he serves his own turn on God rather than hath any true love to serve him Now that we may the better distinguish between these two I shall endeavour to shew you how far one may go farther than the other I know not a more difficult point then this nor a case more to be cut by a thread then this it being a
that very spirit which is in Christ being in us thereby we are united unto him grow in him live in him and he in us rejoyce in him and so are kept and preserved to be glorified with him He is the second Adam from whom we receive the influence of all good things showring down and distilling the graces of his spirit upon the least of all his members That look as it was said of Aaron who was a type of the second Adam and of that holy Oyl representing the graces of his spirit Which did not only run down his head and beard but the skirts of his garment also and all his rich attire about Psal. 133.2 So when I see the Oyl of Christ's graces and spirit not only rest upon the head but also descend and run down upon the lowest of his members making me now as one of them in some sort another man than I was or my natural state could make me by the same spirit I know I am united unto Christ. To this purpose is that which Christ to stands upon in Joh. 6. unto the Jews where speaking of the eating of his flesh and that bread of life which came down from heaven lest they should be mistaken he adds It is the spirit that quickneth the flâ—sh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life So that we see it is the spirit that gives a being to a thing And therefore the Apostle proceeds to shew As many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God Rom. 8.13 That look as Christ is the â—â—ue natural Son of God so we as truly by conveyance of the same spirit into us are his Sons by Adoption and so heirs with God yea and joynt heirs with Christ this he begins to shew vers 13. So that being in this excellent estate they were not only servants and friends a most high Prerogative but they were now the Sons of God having the spirit of Adoption whereby they might boldly call God Father In which Verse the Apostle opposeth the spirit of bondage which doth make a man fear again unto the spirit of Adoption which frees a man from fear Now two things may be observed hence 1. The order the spirit of God keeps e'er it comforts it shakes and makes us fear This the Apostle speaks to Heb. 2.14 where he shews that the end of Christ's coming was That because the children were partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject unto bondage The first work then of the comforter is to put a man in fear 2. Here is shewed that until the spirit doth work this fear the heart will not stoop The Obstinacy is great yea so great that if hell gates were open ready to swallow up a man he would not yield until the spirit set in to convince the heart Therefore St. John tells us Joh. 16. That when the spirit it come he will reprove the world of sin that is he will convince and shew a man that he is but a bond-man and so from this sight he makes us to fear No man must think this strange that God deals with men at first after this harsh manner to kill them as it were before he make them alive nor be discouraged as if God had now cast them off as none of his For this bondage and spirit of fear is a work of God's spirit and a preparative to the rest yet it is but a common work of the spirit and such a one that unless more follow it can afford us no comfort But why then doth God suffer his children to be first terrified with this fear I answer That in two respects this is the best and wisest course to deal with us or else many would put off the matter and never attain a sense of mercy First in respect of God's glory Secondly in regard of our good First in respect of God's glory and that first because as in the work of Creation so in the work of Redemption God will have the praise of all his attributes for as in the work of Creation there appeared the infinite wisdom goodness power justice mercy of God and the like so will he in the work of our Redemption have all these appear in their strength and brightness and when we see and acknowledge these things to be in Gâ—d in the highest perfection hereby we honour him as on the contrary when we will not see and acknowledge the excellency of God's infinite attributes we dishonour him yea and I may safely add that the work of Redemption was a greater work than the work of Creation for therein appeared all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge in the conveying of it unto the Church Herein appeared first infinite Wisdom in ordering the matter so as to find out such a way for the Redemption of Mankind as no created understanding could possibly imagine or think of And secondly for the Mercy of God there could be none comparable to this in not sparing his own Son the Son of his Love that so he might spare us who had so grievously provoked him And thirdly there could not be so much Justice seen in any thing as in sparing us not to spare his Son in laying his Son's head as it were upon the block and chopping it off indeed the death unto which he gave his Son was not only more vile than the loss of his head but far more painful and terrible to nature the death on the Cross in renting and tearing that blessed body of his even as the Veil of the temple was rent which was a type of him so was he rent and tore and broke for us when he made his soul an offering for sin This was the perfection of Justice And thus was he just as the Apostle speaks and the Justifyer of him him that believeth in Jesus God would have Justice and Mercy meet and kiss each other and that for two reasons for the magnifying of his Justice and for the magnifying of his Mercy First For the magnifying of his Justice The spirit must first become a spirit of bondage and fear for the magnifying of God's Justice Thus the Prophet David having sinned was driven to this practice Psal. 51.4 Against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest Thus he a holy man was brought to confess his sin to give God the glory of his Justice And so to this end that a man might pass through or by as it were the gates of hell unto heaven the Lord will have his Justice extended to the full for which cause lessening or altogether for a time abstracting all sight of mercy he turns the
2. But there are another sort as greatly befool'd as these yea more if more may be and those are they who put it off till the Hour of their Death till the last gasp as if they desired to give God as little of their service as possibly they might who think if they can but cry Peccavi and Lord have mercy on me when their breath departs their bodies they shew a good Disposition and perform such Acceptable service as that God cannot chuse but grant them a pardon But think not all will be surely well because thou hastest to shake hanâ—s with God at thy Journeys end when thou hast not walked with him aâ—l the way Obj. But did not the Thief repent at the last on the Cross and why not I on my Death bed Sol. This is no good Warrant for thy delay for Christ might work This miraculously for the Glory of his Passion Dost thou think when in thy Health and Strength thou hast for several Years despised the Riches of Gods goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering that leads thee to Repentance that assoon as thou art cast on thy Death-bed and ready to breath out thy Soul the Rocks shall be Rent again and the Graves opened to quicken thy Repentance and beget in thee a Saving Faith Trust not therefore on this nor content thy self with good Intentions but set about the business in good earnest and presently Our Death-beds will bring so many disadvantages as will make that time very Vnseasonable Whether we respect 1. External hinderances such as are pangs and pains in thy body which must be undergone and thou shalt find it will be as much as thou well canst do to support thy self under them Every noise will then offend thee yea thou will not be able to endure the speech of thy best friends When Moses came to the Children of Israel and told them God had sent him to deliver them what acceptation found this comfortable message The Text saith Exod. 9.6 They hearkned not through anguish of their spirits See here the effects of Anguish and Grief Moses spake comfortably but by reason of their pains they hearkned not unto him they were indisposed to give attendance So shall it be with us on our death-beds through the Anguish of our Spirits we shall be unfit to meddle with ought else especially when the the Pains of Death are upon us the Dread whereof is terrible How will it make us tremble when death shall come with that Errand to divide our Souls from our Bodies and put them into possession of Hell unless we repent the sooner Now thou art in thy best strength consider what a Terror it will be what a sad Message it will bring when it comes not to cut off an Arm or Leg but Soul from Body Now then make thy Peace with God but that these men are Fools they would through fear of death be all their life-time in bondage It 's the Apostles expression Heb. 2.15 The consideration hereof should never let us be at rest till we had made our Peace with God it should make us break our Recreations and Sports The considerations of what will become of us should put us in an Extasie Nor are these all our Troubles for besides these outward Troubles will then even overwhelm us when a man is to dispose of his Wife and Children House and Lands he must needs be very unfit at this time for the Work of Repentance These things will cast so great a damp on his heart as that he shall be even cold in his seeking after Peace with God 2. But suppose these outward hinderances are removed that neither Pain of Body nor Fear of Death seize on thee neither Care of Wife nor Children Houses nor Lands distract thee but that thou mightst then set about it withal thy might though thou wert in the most penitent condition that might be to mans seeming yet where 's the Change or new nature should follow thy Contrition unless we see this in Truth we can have but little Comfort Shall I see a sinner run on in his ill courses till the day of Death and then set on this work I could not conclude therefore the safety of his soul because it 's the Change of the Affections not of the Actions that God looks after for the Fear of Death may Extort this Repentance where the Nature is not Changed Take an example of a Covetous Man which dotes on his Wealth more then any thing else in the World suppose him in a ship with all his riâ—hes about him a tempest comes and puts him in danger of losing all both Life and Goods in this strait he sticks not to cast out all his Wealth so he may preserve his Life and shall we therefore say he is not covetous No we will account him nevertheless Covetous for all this nor that he loved his Goods the less but his Life the more It 's so in this case when an impenitent person is brought upon his Death-bed he 's apt to cry out in the Bitterness of his Soul If God will but grant me Life and spare me now I le never be a Drunkard Swearer or Covetous Person more Whence comes this Not from any change of his Nature and loathing of what he formerly loved but because he cannot keep these and Life together Fear alters his disposition the Terrors of the Almighty lying upon him I have my self seen many at such a time as this that have been so exceeding full of Sorrow and penitent Expressions that the standers by have even wished their Souls to have been in the other Souls cases and yet when God hath restored them they have fallen into their former Courses again And why is this But because when Repentance comes this way it alters only the outward actions for the Present not the sinful dispositions things that are extracted from a man alter the outward appearance not the Nature Therefore saith the Lord I le go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face In their affliction they will seek me early Hos. 5. last Mark when Gods hand is on them they will seek him And as in the 6. Chap. 1. v. say one to another Come let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up How penitent were they when Gods hand was on them but let it once be removed and hear how God presently complains of them O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee O Judah what shall I'do unto thee For your goodness is as a Morning Cloud and as the early dew it goeth away Mark thy goodness is as a Morning Cloud such a Goodness as is Extorted that is as Temporary as Earthly Dew Another considerable place we have in the Psal. 78.34 When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God Was not this a great
the Gospel had a good esteem of himself and was doubtless well esteemed of others and did many things but yet our Saviour tells him how hard a thing it was for one no better qualified than at that time he was or rather impossible for he preferred his wealth before the blessed society of Christ to come to Heaven Although he thinks himself well enough though he were rich not onely in great outward possessions but in his moral Vertues too so that when our Saviour tells him of the Commandments he replies all these have I kept from my youth which evidenced him to have bin a good moral man indeed in that he had done so much yet this was not enough one thing lacked go and sell all that thou hast c. However because there was so much in him we read Mark 10.21 Jesus loved him he sheweth that his cause was heavy that going so far he should not attain his end But this was not to be despised for this Jesus loved him So 1 Kings 14.13 He onely of Jeroboam shall come to the grave because in him there is found some good things towards the Lord. If there are but some good things in a man the remains of Gods work God loveth his own work Here 's the point then though Morality be good and natural reason be good And what through the providence of God remains in us since the state of our first creation For this state was a pure and a full glass made by God himself but since the fall is much darkned If we consult with natural reason and Moral Philosophy they will discover many things yet this comes short There are abundance of things that it cannot discover manifold defects which it cannot discern The Apostle saith in the Romans c. 7. v. 7. I had not known sin but by the Law I had not known lust to have been a sin had not the Law said thou shalt not lust We have many sins we cannot know but by the Law yea such secret sins as must be repented of Our Saviour overthrew the Tables of the Money Changers and would not suffer them to carry Burthens through the Temple though for the use of those that sacrificed a thing which had some shew of Religion in it He whipt both out not only those that had residence there but those that passed through He would suffer none but those that could justifiâ— what they did by the Law Now as God would not have sin lodge and make its abode in the Soul so he would not have it made a thorow fare for sin he would not have vain thoughts come up and down in the hearts Now By the Law comes the knowledge of these secret sins Reason is a glass much to be esteemed for what it can shew but it is not a perfect glass sometimes it shews a sin but many times diminishes it that we cannot see it in full proportion The Apostle makes this use of the Law that by it sin becomes exceeding sinful Thou mayst see sin to be sin by natural reason but to see it exceeding sinful this morality comes short of thou must have this from the Law of God 5. There is another false glass when the Devil transforms himself into an Angel of light when he preacheth Gospel to a man Beware of the Doctrine when the deceiver preacheth This may be his Doctrine He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved From this by Satans cunning delusion the natural man thus concludes A meer Heathen shall be shut out of Heaven gates but I believe in the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost therefore I am in a good condition Why then should I trouble my self any further There is no man can accuse me and my own good works will testifie unto me that I do enough Strictness in Religion is troubleness and it is an unreasonable thing to do more But this is but a meer delusion of Satan for there is nothing more quiets and satisfies a man then Religion there 's nothing in the World more reasonable then the service of God First then know thy disease and then apply those sweet and soveraign Cures It is no easie matter for a man to believe We block up the strait wayes of God if we think it an easie matter to believe of our selves It must be done by the mighty power of God It 's as great a work of God as the Creation of the World to make a man believe It 's the mighty power of God to salvation Such a one must not receive Christ as a Saviour but as a Lord too He must renounce all to have him he must take him on his own terms He must deny the World and all looking before hand what it will cost him Now for a man to take Christ as his Lord denying himself the World and all to resolve to pluck out his right eye cut off his right hand rather then to part with him and account nothing so dear to him as Christ is no small matter Thou canst not be Christs Spouse unless thou forsake all for him Thou must account all things as Dung and Dross in comparison of him And is not this a diffiâ—uâ—t thing Is this an easie task Easily spoken indeed not as easily done it must be here as in the case of mariage a man must forsake all others yea the whole World else Christ will not own him Observe the speech of the Apostle Eph. 1.19 What is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward that believe c. Mark is to believe so easie a matter think you Why unless the mighty Power of God be engaged for it with that strength as it was engaged in raising Christ from the dead it cannot be When thou art to believe and united unto Christ the agreement is not that thou shalt take him as thy Wife and thou shalt be his Husband No he must be thy Husband and thou his Wife and according to the Obligation of that relation thou must be in subjection to him and must obey him Now for a man to be brought out of his natural condition and to take Christ on any terms so he may be saved by him in the end is not so easie Canst thou think there is no more required but onely the outward Baptism or that there is no more in Baptism but the outward washing of the flesh No He 's not a Jew that is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is in the flesh but he 's a Jew that is so inwardly and cireumcision is that of the heart Rom. 2.29 Thou then entrest into Gods livery Mark this for by it I strive onely to bring thee back to thy self Thou entrest into covenant with him thou bindest thy self to forsake the World the Flesh and the Devil and we should make this use of Baptism aâ—â—ow to put it in practice When we promised there were two things in the Indenture one that God will give Christ to us the other
settest thy self against God and dost many things which others that have not received the same grace would not have done know then that thou receivest this grace in vain and thy case is lamentable 4. Consider God's great goodness which ought to restrain thee from sin upon a double account 1. First his goodness in himself should keep thee from offending him There 's nothing but goodness infinite goodness in him and canst thou find in thy heart to sin against so good a God To offend and wrong a good disposition'd person one of a sweet nature and affection it aggravates the fault 't is pity to wrong or hurt such a one as injures no body Now such a one is God a good God infinite in goodness rich in mercy very goodness it self and therefore it must needs aggravate the foulness of sin to sin against him But now he is not only thus in himself but 2. Secondly He 's good to thee Rom. 2. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance c. What hast thou that thou hast not received from his bountiful hand Consider of this and let this be a means to draw thee off from thy sinfulness When David had greatly sinned against God and when God brings his murther home to him he pleads thus with him When thou wert nothing in thine own eyes I brought thee saith God to the Kingdom I took thee from the sheep-fold and exalted thee and brought the to a plentiful house Vid. 2 Sam. 12.7 8. And may not God say the like to us and do you thus requite the Lord O you foolish people and unwise Deut. 32.6 that the more his mercy and goodness is to you the higher your sins should be against him 5. Besides consider more than all this we have the examples of good men before our eyes God commands us not what we cannot do If God had not set some before our eyes that walk in his ways and do his will then we might say that these are precepts that none can perform But we have patterns of whom we may say such a man I never knew to lye such a one never to swear and this should be a means to preserve us from sinning Heb. 11.7 Noah was a good man and being moved with fear set not at nought the threatning of God but built the Ark and thereby condemned the world His example condemned the world in that they followed it not although it were so good but continued in their great sins So art thou a wicked deboist person there is no good man but shall condemn thee by his example It 's a great crime in the land of uprightness to do wickedly Isa. 26.10 to be profane when the righteous by their blameless lives may teach thee otherwise 6. And lastly add to all the consideration of the multitude and weight of thy sins Hadst thou but sinned once or twice or in this or that it were somewhat tolerable But thy sins are great and many They are heavy and thou continually encreasest their weight and addest to their number Jer. 5.6 A lyon out of the forrest shall slay them and a wolf of the evening shall spoil them a leopard shall watch over their Cities and every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces Why Because their transgressions are many and their back-slidings are encreased If thou hadst committed but two or three or four sins thou mightest have hope of pardon but when thou shalt never have done with thy God but wilt be still encreasing still multiplying thy sins then mayst thou expect to hear from Gods mouth that dreadful expostulation in the Prophet Jer. 5.7 How can I pardon thee Thus David sets out his own sins in their weight and number Psal. 38.4 Mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me The continual multiplying of them adds to their heap both in number and weight Thus I have shew'd you what the Law does in respect of sin the benefit of being under the Law that it makes sin appear in its own colours and sets it forth to be as indeed it is exceeding sinful But the Law does not yet leave sin nor let it scape thus But as the Law discovers our sinfulness and accursedness by sin its wretchedness and mans misery by it till his blessedness comes from the hand of his Jesus so it lays down the miserable estate which befals him for it If he will not spare God with his sins God will not spare him with his plagues Let us consider of this accursedness sin brings on us God will not let us go so but as long as we are under the Law we are under the Curse and till we are in Christ we can expect nothing but that which should come from the hand of a provoked God Assure thy self thou that pleasest thy self in thy abomonations that God will not take this at thine hands that by so base a creature as thou art so vile a thing as sin is should be committed against him But of the woful effects of sin which is Gods wrath we will speak the next time LAM 5.16 Woe unto us that we have sinned I Declared unto you heretofore what we are to consider in the state of a natural man a man that is not new fashioned new moulded a man that is not cut off from his own stock a man that is not ingrafted into Christ he is the son of sin he is the son of death First I shewed you his sinfulness and now Secondly I shall shew you his accursedness that which follows necessarily upon sin unrepented of I declared before what the nature of sin is And now I come to shew what the dreadful effects of sin are I mean the enevitable consequence that follows upon sin and that is woe and misery Woe unto us that we have sinned A woe is a short word but there lieth much in it Doct. Woe and anguish must follow him that continueth sinning against God And when we hear this from the Ministers of God it is as if we heard that Angel Rev. 8.13 flying through the midst of Heaven denouncing Woe woe woe to the Inhabitants of the earth The Ministers of God are his Angels and the same that I now deliver to you if an Angel should now come from Heaven he would deliver no other thing Therefore consider that it is a voice from Heaven that this woe woe woe shall rest upon the heads upon the bodies and souls of all them that will not yield unto God that will not stoop to him that will be their own masters and stand it out against him woe woe woe unto them all Woe unto us It 's the voice of the Church in general not of one man but but woe unto us that we have sinned That I may now declare unto you what these woes are note by the way that I speak not to any particular man but to every man in general It is not
aside filthy nasty or excrementitious sin The word was used in the Ceremonies of the Jews and thereby we may see what was taught concerning sin Deut. 23.12 13. Thou shalt have a place without the camp whither thou shall goe c. Though the comparison be homely yet it shews the filthiness of the sin that it is a very excrement Thou shalt have a paddle and it shall be that when thou wilt ease thy self thou shalt dig therewith c. And thou shalt cover that which cometh from thee But what did God care for these things No it was to teach them a higher matter As the reason following implies For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of the Camp God would thereby shew them that those things at which every man stoppeth his nose are not so filthy to man as a sin is unto God So that you see how the case stands with a sinful man Sin defiles him it pollutes him 2. And then in the next place It makes Gods soul to hate and abhor him It 's true some sins there are that every man imagineth to be shameful and filthy but we see all sin is so to God 't is filthiness of Flesh and Spirit A man may hate carnality fleshly filthiness peradventure also he may hate covetousness but pride and prodigality that he may get as he thinks credit by that he cannot maintain the reputation of a Gentleman without them A miserable thing that a man should account that a garnish of the soul which doth defile and pollute it If a man should take the excrements of a beast to adorn himself would not we think him an Ass Well when we thus defile our selves by sin God cannot endure us he is forced to turn from us he abhors us And that 's the next woe 2. When thou hast made thy self such a Black Soul such a Dunghil such a Sty then God must be gone he cannot endure to dwell there It stands not with his honour and with the purity of his nature to dwell in such a polluted heart there must now be a divorce Holiness becomes his House for ever His delight is in the Saints Psal. 93.5 Psal. 16.3 Rev. 15.3 He is King of the Saints he will not be in a Sty When thou hast thus polluted and defiled thy soul God and thou must presently part God puts thee off and thou puttest God off too We read in that place before alledged Eph. 2.12 that before they knew Christ they were without God in the world c. Atheists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in cap. 4. v. 18. Having their understanding darkned and being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them The presence of God is the life of our souls and we having through sin and ignorance banisht God we become strangers until the time of our ingrafting into Christ we are aliens from the life of God whereupon comes a mutual kind of abhorring one another God abhors us and we vile and filthy wretches abhor God again There is enmity betwixt God and us and between all that belongs to God and all that belongs to us There 's an enmity betwixt God and us and observe the expression of it Levit. 26.15 If you shall despise my statutes or if your souls shall abhor my judgments so that you will not do my commandments c. See here how we begin to abhor God and then for judgment on such persons v. 30. My soul shall abhor you We are not behind hand with God in this abhorring Zach. 11.8 My soul loathed them and their soul abhorred me When we begin to abhor God Gods soul also abhors us When a man hath such a polluted soul he becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a hater of God and hated of him When thou hast such a stinking soul God must needs loath it as a most loathsome thing and so thou art not behind God neither Thy filthiness makes God abhor thee and thou abhorrest him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haters of God is one of the titles of natural men drenched in sin Rom. 1.30 And this is thy case by hating thou art hated of God Nor is this all the enmity There is enmity also betwixt all that belongs to God and all that belongs to us Gods children and the wicked have ever an enmity betwixt them such an enmity as will never be reconciled It 's set down in Prov. 29.27 An unjust man is an abomination to the just and he that is upright in his way is an abomination to the wicked Just as it is between God and the seed of the Serpent so it is between both the seeds A wicked man is an abomination to the just and an upright man is an abomination to the wicked There is a pale of abomination set between them so that this is the second woe We come now to the third 3. And the third woe is that which immediately follows Gods leaving of us When we have polluted our selves with sin and God by reason thereof abhors us and turns from us then are there others ready presently to take up the room so soon as God departs the Devil steps in and becomes thy God He was thy God by Creation this by usurpation He was thy Father that would have given thee every good thing but now thou art Fatherless or rather worse thou hast the Devil for thy Father and better is it to be without one When the Devil is thy Father his works thou must do When the Spirit of God departed from Saul presently the evil Spirit entred into him 1 Sam. 16.14 If the good Spirit be gone out the evil Spirit soon comes in he comes and takes possession and is therefore called The God of this world And while we are in that state we walk after the course of him that worketh in the children of disobedience Eph. 2.2 We would account it a terrible thing for our selves or any of our children to be possessed of a Devil but what it is to be possessed of this Devil thou knowest not It 's not half so bad to have a Legion possess thy Body as to have but one to possess thy Soul He becomes thy God and thou must do his work he will tyrannize over thee What a fearful thing therefore is this that as soon as God departs from us and forsakes us and we him that the Devil should presently come in his room and take up the heart Mark that place in Eph. 2.2 Where in times past ye walked according to the course of the world according c. Assoon as God leaves a man what a fearful company assail him They all concur together the World the Flesh and the Devil These take Gods place The world is like the tide when a man hath the tide with him he hath great advantage of him that rows against the tide But here is the Devil too The world is as a swift current and besides this comes the Devil and fills the
mans soul There is blood shed and by it pardon of sin and life convey'd unto thee on Christs part Now if there be faith and repentance on thy part and thou accept of Christ as he is offered then thou mayst say I have the Son and as certainly as I have the bread in my hand I shall have life by him This I speak but by the way that the Sun might not set in a cloud that I might not end only in death but that I might shew that there is a way to recover out of that death into which we have all naturally praecipitated our selves by our apostacy from God ROM 6.23 The wages of Sin is death THe last day I entred on the Declaration of the cursed effects and consequents of sin and in general shewed that it is the wrath of God that where sin is there wrath must follow As the Apostle in the Epistle to the Galathians As many as are under the works of the Law are under the curse Now all that may be expected from a God highly offended is comprehended in Scripture by this term Death Wheresoever sin enters death must follow Rom. 5.12 Death passed over all men forasmuch as all had sinned If we are children of sin we must be children of wrath Eph. 1.3 We are then children of wrath even as others Now concerning death in general I shewed you the last time that the state of an unconverted man is a dead and desperate estate He is a slave it would affright him if he did but know his own slavery and what it is that hangs over his head that there 's but a Span betwixt him and death he could never breath any free air he could never be at any rest he could never be free from fear Heb. 2.15 the Apostle saith that Christ came to deliver them that through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage This bondage is a deadly bondage that when we have done all that we can do what 's the payment of the service Death And the fear of this deadly bondage if we were once sensible if God did open our eyes and shew us as he did Belshazar our doom written did we but see it it would make our joynts loose and our knees knock one against another Every day thou livest thou approachest nearer to this death to the accomplishment and consummation of it Death without and Death within Death in this World and in the World to come Not only death thus in gross and in general but in particular also Now to unfold the particulars of death and to shew you the ingredients of this bitter Cup that we may be weary of our estates that we may be drawn out of this death and be made to fly to the Son that we may be free indeed observe that Death is not here to be understood of a separation of the Soul from the Body only but a greater death than that the death of the Soul and Body We have mention made of a first Resurrection Rev. 20.6 Blessed and happy is he that hath his part in the first Resurrection for on such the second death hath no power What is the first resurrection It is a rising from sin And what is the second death It is everlasting damnation The first Death is a Death in sin and the first Resurrection is a rising from sin And so again for all things the judgments or troubles that appertain to this death all a man suffers before It is not as fools think the last blow that fells the Tree but every blow helps forward 'T is not the last blow that kills the man but every blow that goes before makes way unto it Every trouble of mind every anguish every sickness all these are as so many strokes that shorten our life and hasten our end and are as it were so many deaths Therefore however it is said by the Apostle It is appointed for all men once to dye yet we see the Apostle to the Corinthians of the great conflicts that he had in 2 Cor. 11.23 saith that he was in labours abundant in stripes above measure in prisons frequent in deaths oft In deaths often what 's that That is however he could dâ—e but once yet these harbingers of death these stripes bonds imprisonments sicknesses c. all of them were as so many deaths all these were comprehended under this curse and are parts of death in as much as he underwent that which was a furtherance to death he is said to die So we read Exod. 10.17 Pharaoh could say Pray unto your God that he would forgive my sins this once and intreat the Lord that he will take away from me but this death only Not that the Locusts were death but are said to be so because they prepared and made way for a natural death Therefore the great judgments of God are usually in Scripture comprised under this name Death All things that may be expressions of a wrath of an highly provoked God are comprehended under this name All the judgments of God that come upon us in this life or that to come whether they be spiritual and ghostly or temporal are under the Name of Death Now to come to particulars look particularly on Death and you shall see death begun in this world and seconded by a death following the separation of body and soul from God in the world to come 1. First in this life he is always a dying man Man that is born of a woman what is he He is ever spending upon the stock he is ever wasting like a Candle burning still and spending it self as soon as lighted till it come to its utter consumption So he is born to be a dying man death seizeth upon him as soon as ever it findeth sin in him Gen. 2.1 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye saith God to Adam though he lived many years after How then could this threatning hold true Yes it did in regard that presently he fell into a languishing estate subject and obnoxious to miseries and calamities the hastners of it If a man be condemn'd to dye suppose he be reprieved and kept prisoner three or four years after yet we account him but a dead man And if this mans mind shall be taken up with worldly matters earthly contentments purchases or the like would we not account him a Fool or a stupid man seeing he lightly esteems his condemnation because the same hour he is not executed Such is our case we are while in our natural condition in this life dead men ever tending toward the Grave towards corruption as the gourd of Jonah so soon as ever it begins to sprout forth there is a worm within that bites it and causes it to wither The day that we are born there is within us the seed of corruption and that wasts us away with a secret and incurable consumption that certainly brings death in the end So that in our very
with it which as rust eats it out and cankers it if he beget a child he is accursed there 's a curse against his person and his goods and all that belongs unto him there 's still a curse over his head The creditor in this World by the Laws of the Realm may choose whether he will have his debtors person seized on or his goods and chattels But not so here this writ is executed against his person and goods and all that belongs unto him So that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God If this be the condition of a wicked man that his very blessings be curses what a woful case is it There 's nothing till he be reconciled to Christ but hath a curse at the end of it Consider that one place in the Prophesie of Malachy where the very blessings are accursed not onely when God sends on him the itch or botch or scab or sword but in blessings cap. 2.2 he 's accursed If you will not hear and if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name saith the Lord I will even send a curse upon you But how See how this curse is threatned I will curse your very blessings yea I have cursed them already because you do not lay it to heart Mark is it not a great blessing that God yet affords the Word that we yet enjoy it but if we come to hear but formally to hear it onely and lay it not to heart God curseth this blessing yea I have cursed it already saith the Lord. When thou prayest in hypocrisie thy prayer is a curse to thee If thou receive the Sacrament unworthily the cup of blessing is a cup of poison a cup of cursing to thee Stay not therefore one hour longer quietly in this cursed condition but fly unto Christ for life and blessing run to this City of refuge for otherwise there is a curse at the end of every outward thing that thou enjoyest I have cursed these blessings already It is as sure as if already pass't on thee What a woeful thing then is it think you to be liable to the curse of God! 2. But what 's become of the soul now Why if thou didst but see the cursed soul that thou carriest in thy body it would amaze thee These outward curses are but flea-bitings to the blow that is given to the soul of an unregenerate man that deadness of spirit that is within didst thou but see the curse of God that rests upon the soul of this man even while he is above ground it would even astonish thee 1. Consider there are two kinds of blows that God gives unto the soul of an unregenerate man The one is a terrible blow The other which is the worst of the two is an insensible blow The sensible blow is when God lets the conscience out and makes it fly into the face of a man when the conscience shall come and terribly accuse a man for what he hath done This blow is not so usual as the insensible blow but this insensible is far more heavy But as it falls out that as in this World sometimes before the glory in Heaeen the Saints of God have here a glimpse of Heaven and certain communion with God and Christ certain love tokens a white stone a new name ingraven which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it And this is the testimony of a good conscience which is hidden joyes Privy intercourse is between Christ and them secret kisses And as Gods Children do as it were meet with a Heaven upon Earth sometimes and are as we read of Paul caught up into the third Heaven which to them is more then all the things in the World besides So the wicked have sometimes flashes of Hell in their consciences If you had but seen men in the case that I have seen them in you would say they had an Hell within them they would desire rather and they have expressed it to be torn in pieces by wild horses so they might be freed from the horrours in their consciences When the conscience recoyls and beats back upon it self as a musket or'e charged it turns a man over and over And this is a terrible thing This sometimes God gives men in this World And mark where the word is most powerfully preacht there is this froth most rais'd which is the cause many desire not to come where the word is taught because it galls their consciences and desire the Mass rather because they say the Mass bites not They desire a dead Minister that would not rub up their consciences they would not be tormented before the time They would so but it shall not be at their choice God will make them feel here the fire of Hell which they must endure for ever hereafter This is the sensible Blow when God le ts loose the conscience of a wicked man and he needs no other fire no other worm to torment nothing else to plague him he hath a weapon within him his own conscience which if God lets loose it will be Hell enough But now besides this blow which is not so frequent there is another more common and more insensible blow God saith he is a dead man and a flave to sin and Satan and he thinks himself the freest man in the World God curses and strikes and he feels it not This is an insensible blow and like unto a dead palsie Thou art dead and yet walkest about and art merry though every one that hath his eyes open seeth death in thy face O this deadness this senselesness of heart is the heaviest thing that can befal a sinner in this life It is the cause the Apostle speaks of in the Rom when God delivers up a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a reprobate mind And so in the Epistle to the Ephes. 4.19 declares such a man to be past feeling Who being past feeling have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness even with greediness Although every sin as I told you before is as it were the running a mans self on the point of Gods sword yet these men being past feeling run on on on to commit sin with greediness till they come to the very pit of destruction they run amain to their confusion When this insensibleness is come upon them it is not Gods goodness that can work upon them Who art thou that despisest the riches of Gods goodness not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee unto repentance Rom. 2.4 It is not Gods judgments that will move them they leave no impression as Rev. 9.20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Devils c. brass nor stone and wood which neither can see nor hear nor walk They repented not though they were spared but worshipped Gods which cannot see nor hear nor
speak so brutish were they to be led away by stocks and stones I think the Papist Gods cannot do it unless it be by couzenage yet such is their senselesness that though Gods fury be revealed from Heaven against Papists such as worship false Gods yet are they so brutish that they will worship things which can neither hear nor see nor walk They that made them are like unto them and so are all they that worship them as brutish as the stocks themselves They have no heart to God but will follow after their puppets and their Idols and such are they also that follow after their drunkenness covetousness c Who live in lasciviousness lusts excess of riot 1 Pet. 4.2 that run into all kind of excess and marvel that you do not so too They marvel that ye that fear God can live as ye do and speak evil of you that be good call such Hypocrites Dissemblers and I know not what nick-names This I say is a most woful condition it 's that dead blow When men are not sensible of Mercies of Judgments but run into all excess of sin with greediness And this is a death begun in this life even while they are above ground But then comes another death God doth not intend sin shall grow to an infinite weight His Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man but at length God comes and crops him off and now cometh the consummation of the death begun in this life Now cometh an accursed death 3. After thou hast lived an accursed life then cometh an accomplishment of curses First a cursed separation between body and soul and then of both from God for ever and this is the last payment This is that great death which the Apostle speaks of Who delivered us from that great death 2 Cor. 1.10 So terrible is that death This death is but the severing of the body from the Soul This is but the Lords Harbinger the Lords Serjeant to lay his Mace on thee to bring thee out of this World into a place of everlasting misery from whence thou shalt never come till all be satisfied and this is never First Consider the nature of this death which though every man knoweth yet few lay to heart This death what doth it First it takes the things which thou spentst thy whole life in getting It robs thee of all the things thou ever hadst Thou hast taken pains to heap and treasure up goods for many yeors presently when this blow is given all is gone For honour and preferment it takes thee from that pleasure in idle company-keeping it bars thee of that Mark this is the first thing that death doth it takes not onely away a part of that thou hast but all it leaves thee quite naked as naked as when thou camest into the World Thou thoughtst it was thy happiness to get this and that Death now begins to unbewitch thee thou wast bewitched before when thou didst run after all wordly things Thou wast deceived before and now it undeceives thee it makes thee see what a notorious fool thou wast it unbefools thee Thou hadst many plots and many projects but when thy breath is gone then without any delay in that very day saith the Psalmist all thy thoughts perish Psal. 146.4 all thy plottings and projections go away with thy breath A strange thing to see a man with Job the richest man in the East and yet in the evening we say as poor as Job He hath nothing left him now Now though death takes not all things from thee yet it takes thee from them all and so in effect them also from thee though they remain in thy house and grounds yet they are as far removed from thee is ahou from them All thy goods all thy books all thy wealth all thy friends thou mayst now bid farewel now adieu for ever never to see them again And that is the first thing 2. Now death rests not there but cometh to seize upon thy body It hath bereaved thee of all that thou possessedst of all thy outward things they are taken away Now it comes to touch the wicked mans person and see what then It toucheth him it rents his soul from his body those two loving companions that have so long dwelt together are now separated It takes thy soul from thy body This man doth not deliver up his spirit as we read of our Saviour Father into thy hands I commit my spirit or deliver their spirits as Stephen did But here it 's taken from them it 's much against his mind it 's a pulling of himself from himself This it doth 3. But then again when thou art thus pulled asunder what becomes of the parts separated 1. First The body as soon as the soul is taken from it hastens to corruption that must see corruption yea it becomes so full of corruption that thy dearest friend cannot then endure to come near unto thee When the soul is taken from the body it 's observed that of all carkasses that are mans is the most loathsome none so odious as that Abraham loved Sarah well but when he comes to buy a monument for her see his expression Gen. 23.8 He communes with the men and saith if it be your mind to sell me the field that I might bury my dead out of my sight Though he loved her very well before yet now she must be buried out of his sight It is sown in dishonour and it 's the basest thing that can be Therefore when our Saviour was going near to the place where Lazarus lay his Sister saith Lord by this time he stinketh Joh. 11.39 I have said to corruption thou art my Father saith Job and to the worm thou art my Mother and my Sister Job 17.14 As in the verse before The grave is my house I have made my bed in the darkness Here then he hath a new kindred and though before he had affinity with the greatest yet here he gets new affinity He saith to corruption thou art my Father and to the worm thou art my Mother and my Sister The worm is our best kindred here the worm then is our best bed yea worms thy best covering as Esay 14.11 Thus is it thy Father thy Mother and thy Bed nay it is thy consumption and destroyer also Job 26. Thus is it with thy body it passeth to corruption that thy best or dearest friend cannot behold it or endure it 2. But alas what becomes of thy soul then Thy soul appears naked there 's no garment to defend it no Proctor appears to plead for it It is brought singly to the bar and there it must answer It is appointed for all men once to dye but what then And after that to come to judgmâ—nt Heb. 9.27 Eccles. 12.7 The body returns unto the earth from whence it was taken but the Spirit to God who gave it All mens spirits assoon as their bodies and souls are parted go to God to be disposed
vexation will this be to the damned when they shall see others in heaven and themselves shut out of door This will cause weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth It will go to their very heart when they shall see Moses and Aaron and the Prophets and holy Saints in joy and glory and shall consider and remember that if they had made use of those means and opportunities of grace they might have lived in heaven too whereas now they must be everlastingly tormented in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone and that without any hope of recovery 2 Thess. 1.9 Punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power You know that by the Law of Moses whensoever an offender was to receive his strokes Deut. 25.2 3. The Judge was to cause him to lye down and to be beaten before his face and he himself was to see it done So when God comes to give the damned their stroaks in hell for hell is the place of execution wherein he that knows his masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes he himself will see them beaten in the presence of all his holy Angels and if so how shameful will their punishment be when there shall be so many thousand witnesses of it when they shall be made as we say the worlds wonder These are they that shall rise to everlasting contempt Dan. 12.2 So in Esay ult Cap. v. ult it 's said of the damned their worm shall not dye nor their fire be quenched but they shall be an abhorring to all flesh and the holy Angels and Saints shall go forth and look upon them those proud ones that scorned Gods people here shall then be abhorred and scorned of them 4. Add to all this that he 's not only banished from thâ— presence of God for a while but from all hope of ever seeing God again with comfort Thy estate is endless and remediless Whilst thou art here in this life of a Saul thou mayst become a Paul and though thou art not yet a beloved Son yet thou mayst come in favour Whilst thou livest under the means of grace there is yet hope of recovery left thee it may be this Sermon may be the means of thy conversion But then amongst all thy punishments this will be one of the greatest that thou shalt be deprived of all means of recovery and this shall be another hell to thee in the midst of hell to think with thy self I have heard so many Sermons and yet have neglected them I had so many opportunities of grace and yet have slighted them this will make the sinner rage and bite his tongue and tear himself to think how that now all means are past And this is the first penalty the penalty of loss That of the sense succeeds By the former we are deprived of all the joys and comforts of heaven and earth of Mount Sion shut out of the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem deprived of an innumerable company of Saints of the general Assembly and Church of the first-born of God himself the judge of all and the souls of the Saints made perfect This shall make a sinner curse himself Now follows the penalty of torments and sense When Adam was banished out of Paradise he had the widâ— world to walk in still but it is not so here Thou art not only cast out of heaven but cast into hell and art deprived of thy liberty for ever 1 Pet. 3.19 It 's said Christ preached to the Spirits in prison them that in the days of Noah were disobedient and for this cause are now in prison Hell is compared to a prison and a prison indeed it is and that an odious one For 1. Look on thy companions If a man were to be kept close prisoner it were a great punishment but go ye cursed saith God into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels To be among such compâ—nions is most infinitely miserable there is nothing but Devils and damned howling Ghosts woful companions If there be an house possâ—ssed wiâ—h an evil Spirit a man will scarce be hired to live in it but here the dâ—mned spirits the filthy and cursed host must be thy yoke-fellows Suppose there were no torment to suffer yet to be banished from Heaven and to be tied and yoked to wicked spirits were a torment sufficient to make the stoutest that ever was tremble and quake and be soon weary of it 2. But it 's a place of torment too a prison where there is a rack to which thou must be put and on which thou must be tormented I am tormented in this flame saith Dives Luk. 16.24 To speak of the torments there will be matter enough for another hour but I delight not to dwell on so sad a subject only this is that which prepares the way to the glad tidings of salvation therefore I shall a little longer insist upon it The body and soul the whole man shall be there tormented not the soul only but even the body too after judgment Do you think the members of the body which have been the instruments shall escape be rais'd and cast into Hell to no purpose Why should God quicken it at the last day but to break it on the anvil of his wrath and to make it accompany the soul as well in torments as in sinning 'T is true the soul is the fountain of all sense and the body without it hath no sense at all Take away the soul and you may burn the body and it will not feel it Now the soul being the fountain of sense and the body being united to it when God shall lay his ax at this root at this fountain how dreadful shall it be How shall the body choose but suffer too Should any of us be cast into a fire what a terrible torment would we account of it Fire and water we say have no mercy but alas this fire is nothing to the fire of Hell 't is but as painted fire to that which burns for ever and ever The furnace wherein Nebuchadnezzar commanded those to be thrown that fell not down to the graven-Image which he had set up was doubtless at every time a terrible place Hell is compared to such a furnace but what shall we think of it when the King in his wrath shall command the furnace to be heated seven times hotter then usual Nay what shall we think of Hell when the King of Heaven shall command it to be heated seventy times seven times hotter then before When there shall be a fire and a fire prepar'd for so is this fire of Tophet it 's a pile of much wood Isai. 30.33 When the King of Heaven shall as it were set to work his wisedome to fit it in the sharpest manner in procuring such ingredients as may make it rage most and be most violent It is a fire prepared for the Devil and
his Angels the strongest of creatures for the punishment of principalities and powers And if it can master Angels think not but that God hath a fire to rost thy soul. It is the soul that is in Hell onely till the day of judgment though the body be not there A man would think that the soul did not suffer but Philosophy tells us that the soul suffers mediante corpore in and by the body Therefore 't is a rule in Divinity that whatsoever God doth by means he can do without means Though the body be not there but the soul only yet God is able nay doth make the soul as well feel grief without the body as he doth by means of the body 3. But now besides thy fellow prisonerâ— in that cursed Gaol consider who are thy tormentors thou that dost continue in impenitency Now thy tormentors are these three 1. The Devil 2. Thy self 3. God Almighty 1. The Devil who is thy deadly enemy a bloody-minded adversary a murthering and merciless-minded Spirit a murtherer from the beginning a merciless tormentor who being in plagues and torments and thereby even at his wits end would fain ease himself in tormenting thee When the Devil as we read was dispossessed of a child wherein he was he rends and tears leaves him foaming that there was little hope of life in him Mar. 9.20 But now when a man shall be delivered into the hands of this merciless Spirit when God shall say to the Devil take him do what thou wilt with him do thy worst to him When thou shalt be thus put into the hands of one that hates thee and delights in thy ruine how will he tear thee into pieces How will he torment thee In how desperate and wretched a case will thy soul and body be But the tormentor within thee is far more heavy painful and grievous Mar. 9.44 46 48. That never dying worm within the sting of a guilty and wounded conscience this like a sharp dagger is still stabbing thee at the very heart This by a reflecting act upon it self will cause thee to revenge Gods quarrel on thy self and as a musket over-charged beats back on the shooter so will it most furiously return upon thee This is that that smote David when 't is said Davids heart smote him Sam. 24.10 A man needs no other fire nor other worm to torment him then that within him Which as the worms on the carkass gnaws on a wretched soul. But there is a greater tormentor then both these behind and that is 3. God himself he is highly offended and inraged at thee and therefore comes and takes the matter into his own hand and will himself be executioner of his fury There is a passage in the Thess. To this purpose which methinks is more then can be spoken by men or Angels Epist. 2. cap. 1. v. 9. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Mark that God whom thou hast so highly provoked to wrath hath a strong hand and glorious power He shewed the glory of his power in the making the world and all things in it and all that infinite power which he hath manifested in the creation of heaven and earth shall be engaged in the tormenting of a sinner Were there a man that should lay a target of brass or a target of steel on a block and should then cleave all in sunder at a blow this would sufficiently manifest his strength So doth God make manifest his power in crushing thee to pieces There are still new charges and discharges against sinners to make his power therein manifest What if God willing to make his power known saith the Apostle Rom. 9.22 suffered a while the vessels prepared to destruction God will manifest his power by the strength of his stroke on those that rebel against him Hence proceedeth weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth which is a Metaphor taken from one either that hath a great coldness on him or from the symptoms of a Fever Add to all that hath been said these two things 1. The torment shall be everlasting you shall desire to die Rev. 9.6 that your torments may have end And here you may expect that I should say something of the eternity of the torments of the damned but I am not able nor any one else sufficiently to express it It shall continue ten thousand thousand years after that an hundred thousand times ten thousand and yet be no nearer end then at the first beginning Thou must think of it seriously thy self and pray to God to reveal it to thy soul for none else sufficiently can 2. But besides as it is everlasting so is it unabateable If a man were cast into a fire the fire coming about him would in short time blunt his senses and take away his feeling and besides the materials of the fire would soon spend and wast But it is not so here here is not the least abatement of the horror nor the least inch of torment taken away throughout all eternity It was a poor request of Dives one would think that Lazarus would dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue Luk. 16.14 A cold comfort but one drop of water for the present which would soon be dried and yet that is denied him he must have no abatement of his torment Nor is there any abatement of thy feeling but thou art kept in full strength and as long as God is God shall Tophet burn and thou feel it Obj. But may some say this is preaching indeed this would affright a man and make him go hang himself sooner then be converted Sol. True should God let loose the cord of our conscience it were the way such would be the terrours of it to make a man find another cord did not God restrain him I desire not by this to hurt you but to save you I am a messenger not sent from Abraham Luk. 16.27 as Dives entreated but from the God of Abraham to forewarn you that you come not to that place of torment But now Beloved there is a way to escape this misery and that is by Jesus Christ Mat. 1.21 He was for this end called Jesus because he saves his people from their sins Mat. 1.21 And consequently from wrath Which how it is done I shall shew in a word and that is 1. By Christ Jesus offered for us And 2. By Christ Jesus offered to us By Christ offered for us he must die for us and if there be any death more cursed then other that death must he die if any more painful that must he suffer Thus he undertakes thy cause and suffers what for sin was due to thee And then being offered for us he is offered to us as we may see in the Sacrament where there are two acts of the Minister the one the breaking the bread the other the offering it to the people Thou hast as good
it he that was to be crucified was stripped naked as naked as ever he came out of his mothers Womb However the Painters may lye in it And was not this a shame thus to be stripped before thousands Wherefore it was a custome among the Romans that the greatest King if he were baptized was to be stripped naked which they did as a memorial of the shame of our Saviour So shameful a thing it was that they thought him unworthy to suffer within the walls Christ that he might sanctifie the people suffered without the walls Hebr. 13.13 Let us go with him out of the Camp bearing his reproach He was a man unfit to suffer within the walls Pilatâ— thought he would meet with them when they were so violent to have him crucified and therefore he joyns Barabbas with him the vilest Thief in the Countrey and a Murtherer So that Peter cast this in their teeth That they preferred a Murtherer before him He was reckoned with the Transgressors as it was prophesied of him before Isa. 53.12 They crucifie him between two Thieves as if he had been the Captain of them Pilate thought by naming of Barabbas to have saved Christ but so enraged was their blind malice that they preferred the release of Barabbas before the exemption of Christ. Wherefore as St. Luke saith Pilate released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison whom they had desired but he delivered Jesus to their will Luk. 23.25 Thirdly Consider the Pain of the Cross whom God raised up having loosed the sorrows of death Act. 2.24 Not meaning there were sorrows that Christ endured after his death but it s meant of the sorrows that accompanied his death It was the most dolorous death that ever could be endured We scarce know what Crucifying is The Christian Emperors in honor of our Saviour banished that kind of suffering that none after him might suffer it But yet it is fit we should know what it was since it was so terrible a thing And here as the Apostle said to the Galathians Suppose you see Christ crucified before your face at present The manner of it was thus First there was a long beam on which the party was to be stretched and there was a cross-beam on which the hands were to be stretched they pull'd them up upon the Cross before they fastned them they pull'd him to his utmost length And this is that the Psalmist speaks of Psal. 22.17 You might tell all my bones His ribs were so stretched as that they even pierced the flesh Conceive him now thus stretched with his hands and feet nailed to the wood the stretching of Christ on the Cross was such a thing as the working of the rack Imagine him before your eyes thus represented Your sins crucicified him being thus stretched upon the Cross to his full length the hands and the feet were fastned and nailed to the wood It 's no small torment to have the hands bored especially if we behold the place it was through the lower part of the hand where the veins and sinnews all met together It 's a place that is full of sense consider withal the bigness of the nails Psal. 22.16 They have digged my hands to shew the bigness of the spikes for the original bears it They digg'd him Believe not the painters Our Saviour had four nails Not one through both feet as they describe it but two through his hands and two through his feet And that you may the better comprehend it you must know that toward the lower part of the cross there went along a ledge or threshold whereto his feet were nail'd otherwise the flesh would have rent by reason of the nails if he had hung by the hands alone Then comes the lifting up as the serpent was lift up so must Christ be lift As when a man is stretched to the full length and should be with a girk put up it 's like a strapado as it were the unjoynting of a man and this is that the Psalmist speaks of All my bones are out of joynt Consider withal the time how long it was St. Mark saith cap. 15.25 It was the third hour and they crucified him In St. John it is the sixth hour but the ancient and best Copies have the third hour and so hath Nonnus The ninth hour he gave up the Ghost so that it was six long hours by the clock that our Saviour did hang upon the Cross. And it was not with him as with other men in whom extremity of pains disannul sense and blunt pains because they have not a perfect apprehension but Christ was in his perfect sense all the while All that the Jews could do could not take away his life from him till he would himself and therefore it is said in Mark 15.37 That immediately before he gave up the Ghost he cryed with a loud voice whereas others are wont at that time to be so weak that they can scarce be heard to groan but never was Christ stronger nor never cryed louder than when he gave up the Ghost Mark 15.39 this of it self made the Centurion assoon as he heard it conclude certainly this man was the Son of God How doth he gather this from his crying thus For a man to be in his full strength and cry out so strongly and immediately to give up the Ghost this is a great Miracle Truly this man was the Son of God This adds unto the greatness of his torment that he had his full and perfect sense that he was six full hours thus on the Rack and the extremity of pain took not away his sense He was as strong at the last as at the first These things seriously weighed Oh! how do they aggravate the depth of his Humiliation Seriously weigh them they are miserable and lamentable matters yet in these lie our comfort Through these words is there a passage open for us into the Kingdom of Heaven When he had overcome the terrors of death he opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers these were now but the out-side of his sufferings which did belong to man for his sins He suffered not only bodily sufferings but sufferings in soul and and that he did in a most unknown and incomprehensible manner But now may some say Object Did Christ suffer the pains and torments of Hell Sol. No he suffered those things that such an innocent Lamb might suffer but he could not suffer the pains of Hell The reason is because one thing which makes Hell to be Hell is the gnawing worm of an accusing conscience Now Christ had no such worm He had so clear a conscience as that he could not be stung with any such evil Another great torment in Hell is Desperation arising from the apprehension of the perpetuity of their torments which makes them curse and blaspheme God and carry an inexpressible hatred against him but Christ could not do so he could not hate God God forbid that
Christ should be lyable to these Passions But it is certain God the Father made an immediate impression of pains upon his soul his soul did immediately suffer Look on him in the Garden he was not yet touched nor troubled by men and yet he fell in a sweat Consider the season of the year this was then when they that were within doors were glad to keep close by the fire he thus did sweat in the Garden when others freez'd within this was much but to sweat blood thick blood clotted congealed blood for so the word will bear it not like that in his veins and yet it came through his garments and fell to the ground this is a thing not to be comprehended Our blessâ—d Saviours encountring with his Father he falls a trembling and is overwhelmed as it were with the wrath beseeching God intensively saying Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me Mat. â—7 39 thou mayst give free pardon which affections in Christ are such a thing as pusâ—els us all we must not say Christ did forget for what he came but he did not remember these words proceeded from the seat of passion which while it is disturbed reason suspends its Acts. Christ had Passions though no impurity in them As take a clear Vial full of water from the fountain and shake it it may be frothy yet it will be clean water still Christ did not forget only he had the suspension of his faculties for a time As a man in a sleep thinks not what he is to do in the morning and yet he is said properly to forget He cryed My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matth. 27.40 He was contented to be forsaken for a time that thou mighst not be forsaken everlastingly and this was no faint prayer if you will read the place in the Psalm He cryed out unto God And Heb. 5.7 It 's said Who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong cries and tears He cryed to the Almighty he made Gods own heart to pity He would break Isa. 53. yet his heart is repenting and rolled together so that he sent an Angel to support and comfort him Psal. 27. those strong cries are expressed with a more forcible word My God my God why hast thou forsaken me why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring Consider how it was with Christ before any earthly hand had touched him when he beseeched God for his life this shews the wonderful suffering of Christ and for that point Why hast thou forsaken me Consider it was not with Christ as with the Fathers they suffered a great deal of punishment and taches and would not be delivered yet Christ was more couragious than they all He had a spirit of fortitude he was anointed abve his fellows and yet he quivers Our Fathers cryed unto thee they trusted in thee and were not consumed they were delivered but I am a worm and no man I can find no shadow of comfort Lord Why art thou so angry with me this speech came not from the upper part of the soul the seat of reason but from the lower part the seat of Passion My God my God these were not words of desperation He held fast to God Why hast thou forsaken me these are words of sense thus you see the price is paid and what a bitter thing sin is God will not suffer his Justice to be swallowed up by Mercy It must be satisfied and our Saviour if he will be a Mediator must make payment to the uttermost farthing Consider what a time this was when our Saviour suffered The Sun with-draws his beams the earth shakes and trembles What aileth thee O thou Sun to be darkned and thou earth to tremble was it not to shew his mourning for the death of its Maker The soul of Christ was dark within and it 's fit that all the world should be hung in black for the death of the King of Kings But mark when he comes to deliver up his life and to give up the Ghost the vail of the Temple rent in twain and that was the ninth hour which in the Acts is called the hour of prayer it was at three a Clock in the afternoon Hence it is said Let the lifting up of my hands be as the evening sacrifice The Priest was killing the Lamb at that time there was a vail that severed the Holy of Holies it was between the place of oblations and the Holy of holies which signifies the Kingdom of Heaven Assoon as Christ died the vail rent and Heaven was open the Priest saw that which was before hidden Our Saviour saith the Apostle entred through the vail of his flesh unto his Father and fit it was that the vail should give place when Christ comes to enter but what becomes of Christ's soul now his soul and body were pull'd asunder and through the vail of his flesh as it were with blood about his ears he entred the Holy of Holies unto God saying Lord here am I in my blood and here is blood that speaks better things than the blood of Abel that cries for vengeance this for blessing and expiation of our sins JOHN 1.12 But to as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his Name HAving heretofore declared unto you the woful estate and condion wherein we stand by nature I proceeded to the Remedy that God of his infinite Mercy hath provided for the recovery of miserable sinners from the wrath to come And therein I proposed two things that our Saviour that was to advance us and raise us out of this condition when we had lost our selves in Adam did both deliver us from the punishment which we had deserved and also translate it upon his own person He did his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree 1 Pet. 2.24 We having eaten sour grapes he was to have his teeth set on edge we accounted him smitten of God and buffeted but we had sinned and he was beaten That when the Lord in his wrath was ready to smite us he underwent the dint of God's sword and stood betwixt the blow and us the blow lighted on him that was equal with God and deserved not to be beaten Awake O sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow The sword was unwilling to strike him and thus being smitten he became a propitiation for our sins The chastisement of our peace was on him He offered himself a sacrifice Here are two things considerable 1. How Christ was offered for us 2. How he is offered to us First For us and so he offered up himself a Sacrifice a sweet smelling Sacrifice unto God Eph. 5.2 Mark the point is he is not only the Sacrifice but the Sacrificer He offered up himself saith the Apostle He was the Priest and
of the hidden Manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knows save he that receives it that is there is a particular intimation that I shall know of my self more than any other more than all the world besides It is such a joy as the stranger is not made partaker of Prov. 14.10 such joy as is glorious and unspeakable 1 Pet. 1.8 Such peace as passâ—th all understanding Philip. 4 7. One minute of such joy surpasseth all the joy in the world besides Now consider sure there is such a thing as this joy or else do you think the Scripture would talk of it and of the Comforter the Holy Ghost by whom we know the things that are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 There is a generation in the world that hath this joy though you that know it not do not nor cannot believe it there is a righteous generation that have it and why dost thou not try to get it do as they do and thou mayest obtain it likewise The secrets of the Lord are revealed to them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Psal. 25.14 These are hidden comforts do you think God will give this joy to those that care not for him No the way is to seek God and to labour to fear him The secrets of the Lord are revealed to such and such only as fear him do as they do and follow their example and thou mayest have it likewise Object Many have served Christ long and have not sound it Sol. It is long of themselves you are straitned in your own bowels or else Open your mouths wide and God will fill them No wonder that we are so barren of these comforts when we be straitned in our selves There is a thing wondrously wanting amongst us and that is Meditation If we could give our selves to it and go up with Moses to the Mount to confer with God and seriously think of the price of Christ's death and of the joys of heaven and the Privileges of a Christian if we could frequently meditate on these we should have these sealing comforts every day at least oftner This hath need to be much pressed upon us the neglect of this makes lean souls He that is frequent in that hath these sealing days often Couldst thou have a parley with God in private and have thy heart rejoyce with the comforts of another day even whilst thou art thinking of these things Christ would be in the midst of thee Many of the Saints of God have but little of this because they spend but few hours in Meditation And thus as this hour would give leave have we proceeded in this point 1 COR. 11.29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh Damnation to himself not discerning the Lords body I Have heretofore declared unto you the ground of our salvation and have represented unto you first Christ offered for us and secondly Christ offered to us Now it hath pleased Almighty God not only to teach us this by his Word but because we are slow of heart to believe and conceive the things we hear it pleases his glorious Wisdom to add to his Word his Sacraments that so what we have heard with our ears we may see with our eyes being represented by signs There is a visible voice whereby God speaks to the eyes and therefore we find in Exod. 4.8 God bids Moses that he should use signs saying It shall come to pass if they will not believe thee neither hearken to the voice of the first sign that they will believe the voice of the latter sign Signs you know are the Object of the eye and yet see they have as it were a visible voice which speaks to the eye Now God is pleased to give us these signs for the helping 1. Of our Vnderstanding The eye and the ear are the two learned senses as we call them through which all knowledge is conveyed into the soul and therefore that we may have a more particular knowledge of Christ God hath not only by his Ministery given us audible voices but visible also in his Sacramenss by which as by certain glasses he represents to us the Mystery of Christ Jesus offered for us and offered to us And hence is it that Paul calls the eyes to witness as well as the ears Gal. 3.1 O ye foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified amongst you That is before whose eyes Christ hath been crucified not by hear-say only but evidently before your eyes not in any foolish Crucifix with the Papists but in the blessed Sacrament wherein he is so represented as if his soul were before our eyes poured out to death so that by these Sacraments heavenly things are as it were clothed in earthly Garments and this is the first reason viz. to help our Vnderstanding But besides he doth it 2. To help our Memory we are apt to forget those wonderful things Christ hath wrought for us And therefore verse 24. and 25. Of this Chapter we are bid To eat his body and drink his blood in remembrance of him To take the signs as tokens of him the Sacrament is as it were a monument and pillar raised up to the end that when ever we see it we should remember the Lords death until be come It s said 2 Sam. 18.18 That Absolom in his life time had taken and reared up for himself a Pillar which is in the Kings dale for he said I have no son to keep my name in remembrance He would fain be remembred bu he had no Child whereby he might live after he was dead therefore he raises it and calls it after his own name Absoloms place as it is this day That so as often as any came that way they might remember him Christ doth thus by his Sacrament and erects it as a Monument for the remembrance of his death and as it were calls it by his own name saying This is my body and this is my blood That when ever we see them we may call to mind Christ offâ—red for us and to us But that I may apply this my Doctrine to the ears also know that 3. These signs are for the strengthning of our faith and therefore it is considered as a seal Rom. 4.11 Abraham received the sign of Circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised It helps our understanding by being a sign and is a confirmation a seal by vertue whereof Chrlst is passed and made over to us so that we have as true an interest and right to him as to our meat and drink yea he becomes as effectually ours for every purpose in our spiritual life as our meat and drink doth for our corporal To which end these Elements are changed spiritually in their natures not in substance
The next action is The pouring out of the wine This is my blood saith Christ Drink you all of this Dost thou see the wine poured out at that very instant consider how much blood Christ spilt how much he poured forth and that not only in the very time of his passion when he hung upon the Cross when the spears pierced his sides when the nails bored and digged his hands and feet But that which he shed in the garden in the cold Winter time when he shed great drops great clots of blood thickest blood that pierc'd his garment and ran down upon the ground Consider how much blood he lost when he was whipped and lashed When the spear came to the very Pericardium thus let us weigh his torments and it will be a means to make us much affected with his sufferings for us But this is not all there is another thing yet in the blood This was but the outward part of his sufferings Yet some there are who are against Christ sufferings in his soul If it were so say they then something either in the sacrifices of the old-Testament or in the new Testament should signifie it What ever such persons object against it I am sure there was as much in the sacrifices of the old Testament as could possibly be in a Type to signifie it Now that I may make this to appear know that in every sacrifice there were two parts or two things considerable and those were the Body and the Blood The whole was to be made a sacrifice viz. both Body and blood the body was to be burned the blood to be poured forth Now nothing in a beast can signifie the sufferings of Christ in soul better then the pouring out of the blood Lev. 17.11 The blood was the life and this is that which had a relation to the soul and was therefore as in the same place appears poured out as an attonement for the soul. And to this in our common prayers there is an allusion viz. Grant us gracious Lord so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ and to drink his blood that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed through his most precious blood And in Isa. 53.12 The Metaphor holds He poured out his soul unto death for us So that whatever some have fondly thought its evident and manifest that Christ suffered both in soul and body Both soul and body were made an offering for sin in the fashion of sin who knew no sin I should have gone further but the time cuts me off HEB. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need IN handling heretofore the Doctrine of the conversion of a sinner I declared and shewed you what man's misery was and what that great hope of mercy is that the Lord proposeth to the greatest sinner in the world I shewed unto you â—he means whereby we may be made partakers of Christ and thâ—t waâ— by the grace of faith which doth let fall all other things in a man's self and comes with an open and empty hand to lay hold on Christ and fill it self with him I shewed you also the acts of Faith as it justâ—fies And now because it is a point of high moment wherein all our comfort stands and in which it lies I thought good to resume it all again so far as may concern our practice that we may see what the work of God's Spirit is from the first to the last and the conversion of a sinner from the corruptions and pollutions of the flesh in which he wallowed and to this purpose have I chosen this place of Scripture wherein we are encouraged by God's blessed Word that whatever we are though accursed and the greatest sinners in the world and that whatever we want we should come to God's throne of grace And we are to think that whatever sins are or have been committed and though our sins are never so great yet that they are not so great as the infiniteness of God's mercy especially having such not only an Intercessor but Advocate to plead the right of our cause so that Christ comes and he pleads payment and that however our debts are great and we run far in score yet he is our ransome and therefore now God's justice being satisfied why should not his mercy have place and free course This is the great comfort that a Christian hath that he may come freely and boldly to God because he comes but as for an acquittance of what is already paid As a debtor will appear boldly before his creditor when he knows his debt is discharged he will not then be afraid to look him in the face Now we may come and say Blessed Father the debt is paid I pray give me pardon of my sins give me my acquittance And this is that boldness and access spoken of Rom. 5.2 In whom we have access by faith Now that I may not spend too much time needlesly come we to the ground and matter in the words Wherein there is 1. A preparative for grace 2. The act it self whereby we are made partakers of the grace of God First the preparatives are two The Law and the Gospel and wrought by them The first preparative 1. Wrought by the Law The Law works in a time of great need or rather by the operative power of the Law convincing us of sin we are made sensible of our need and deep poverty This is the first preparative for a man to be brought to see he stands in great need of God's mercy and Christ's blood so that the sinner cries out Lord I stand in great want of mercy His eyes being thus opened he is no longer a stranger at home but he sees the case is wondrous hard with him so that he concludes unless God be merciful unto me in Christ I am lost and undone for ever This is the first preparative and till we come to it we can never approach the throne of grace The second is 2. Wrought by the Gospel I see I stand in great need but by this second preparative we see a Throne of grace set up and that adds comfort unto me If God had only a throne and seat of Justice I were utterly undone I see my debt is extremely great but the Gospel reveals unto me that God of his infinite mercy hath erected a Throne of grace a City of refuge that finding my self in need my soul may fly unto And now to fit us for this God's blessed Spirit works by his Word to open unto us the rigour and strictness of the Law and our wants to enlighten our understandings that we stand in great need to win our affection and open the Gospel and its comforts Therefore first for the time of need The Law reveals unto us our woful condition to be born in sin as the Pharisee said and yet not
entire soul that hath no blot that one that hath no spot should be purged after final grace hath made him clear and whole this is against reason and common sense They might have learned better of their own Thomas all the fire in the world will never put away sin without the infusion of grace This by the way concerning them I shewed besides that these two being both righteousnesses the Church of Rome confounds them both together Saint James his justification with Saint Pauls They confound inherent righteousness which is begun and shall be perfected in final grace with the other so that the point is not between us and Rome Whether faith justifieth by works or no but Whether it justifieth at all In truth that is the state of it The question is this whether there be such a grace as justification that is distinguished from sanctification or whether there be another grace of sanctification Do not think that we are such block-heads as to deny faith and sanctification yet faith is but a piece or part of that train of vertues There justification is taken for sanctification we acknowledge a man is justified by faith and works but the question is between us and them whether there be any justification besides sanctification i. e. whether there be any justification at all or no we say sanctification is wrought by the Kingly office of Christ he is a King that rules in our hearts subdues our corruptions governs us by the Sceptre of his Word and Spirit but it is the fruit of his Priestly office which the Church of Rome strikes at i. e. whether Christ hath reserved another righteousness for us besides that which as a King he works in our hearts whether he hath wrought forgiveness of sins for us we say he hath and so saith all the Church till the new Spawn of Jesuits arose They distinguish not remission of sins from sanctification Bellarmine saith remission of sins is the extinguishing of sin in the soul as water though it be cold yet the bringing in of heat extinguishes the cold and so remission of sins is the bringing in of inherent righteousness which extinguisheth all sin which was before A strange thing and were it not that the Scripture does speak of a cup in the hand of the Harlot of Rome whereby she makes drunk the Inhabitants of the earth with the wine of her fornication Rev. 17.4 18.3 except the men of her communion were drunk it were impossible that a learned men should thus shake out an Article of our and their Creed which hath ever been believed by all the Churches When the Scripture speaks of forgiveness of sins see how it expresseth it Ephes. 4.32 Be ye kind one to another Brethren tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Observe in the Lord's Prayer we pray that the Lord would forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us Let him that hath common understanding judge Do we forgive our Neighbours by extinguishing sin in the subject I forgive you i. e. I take away the ill office you did me Doth he forgive thus Alas no! forgiveness is without a man I have an action against you perhaps an action at Law I will let fall my suit my charges I will forgive this is forgiveness God justifieth who shall condemn Though God has just cause to proceed against me as a Rebel yet he is content to let fall his action to fasten it upon the Cross of his Son there to fix the Chirographum the hand-writing against us Colos. 2.14 He will let fall that which was the ground of a suit against us all that he could say against us That you may understand the thing the better there are two things two kinds of righteousness the one of justification the other of sanctification The Holy Ghost distinguisheth them by several terms 1 Cor. 1.30 Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who is made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption You see here are two distinct graces righteousness and sanctification they make them but one sanctification and remission of sins Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Rom. 8.30 Here justification and glorification are nothing else but justification and sanctification St Paul speaks of a thing past not of the glory to come them he glorified not shall glorifie he means sanctification which is inchoate glory For what is the glory we shall have in heaven but the enlargement of those inherent graces God begins in this world Here is the seed there is the crop here thou hast a little knowledge but there it shall be enlarged now thou hast a little joy there thou shalt enter into thy Master's joy here some knowledge but there thou shalt have a full knowledge and a full measure Here glory dwelleth in our Land but there we shall with open faoe behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord and be changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 i. e. we are more and more conformed to the image of Almighty God by obedience and holy qualities infused into us that we grow from one degree of sanctification unto another And so you see how these are distinguished by their terms Justification and glorification justification and sanctification There is another place in St. John an hard place but yet as I take it these two righteousnesses that have the same name for justification and sanctification are righteousnesses both of them to be distinct in their terms in that place it is said Joh. 16.8 That when the Spirit shall come he shall reprove or as we should translate it and as you read it in the margin he shall convince the world concerning sin righteousness and judgment Thus I say it should be translated for it is of no sense to say that God should reprove the world of righteousness on what occasion this was spoken we must not stand to speak but righteousness and judgment is justification and sanctification And the drift of the place is this when the Spirit shall come how not upon me or thee but the Spirit here spoken of is that Spirit that should come upon the Apostles it shall begin at the day of Pentecost and these 1. should set forth like twelve Champions to conquer the world and to bring them unto the Sceptre of Christ. He shall convince the world i e. when the Spirit shall come on you and your tongues be tipped with that spiritual fire which shall be active it shall convince the world of three particulars of sin righteousness and judgment Of the point of humiliation for sins the point of justification by righteousness imputative and the glory of sanctification in judgment and righteousness inherent This method St. Paul useth in the Romans to stop every man's