others of such vertue that a touch of him is the only cure of Spiritual diseases Men tell of strange vertues of some stones but it is certain that this precious stone hath not only vertue to heal the Sick but even to raise the dead Dead bodies he raised in the dayes of his abode on earth and dead Souls he still doth raise by the power of his word The Prophet Malachy calls him the sun of righteousness which hath in it the rareness and excellency we speak of he is singular as there is but one Sun in the world so but one Saviour and his lustre such a stone as outshines the Sun in its fullest brightness and then for his usefull vertue he addes that he hath healing under his wings this his worth is unspeakable and remains infinitely beyond all these resemblances 2 There is here the laying of this foundation and it s said to be laid in Sion that is it is laid in the Church of God and first laid in Sion literaly being then the seat of the Church and true Religion he was laid there in his manifestation in the flesh and suffering and dying and rising again and afterwards being preached through the world became the foundation of his Church in all places where his name was receiv'd and so was a stone growing great till it fill'd the whole earth as Daniel hath it He saith I lay by which the Lord expresseth this his own proper work as the Psalmist speaks of the same subject Psa. 118. This is the Lords doing and it is marvelous in our eyes So Isa. 9.7 Speaking of this promis'd Messiah the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this And this is not only said I lay because he had the first thought of this great work the model of it was in his mind from eternity and that the accomplishment of it was by his Almighty power in the morning of his Sons birth and his Life and death and Resurrection but to signify withal the freeness of his grace in giving his Son to be a foundation of happiness to Man without the least motion from Man or motive in Man to draw him to 't and this seem's to be signified by the unexpected inserting of these prophetical promises of the Messiah in the midst of complaints of people's wickedness and theatning them with punishment intimating that there is no connexion betwixt this work and any thing on Mans part fit to procure it although you doe thus provoke me to destroy you yet of my self I have other thoughts there 's another purpose in my head And Isi. 7. 't is observable to this purpose that that clearest promise of the virgin's son is given not only unrequir'd but being refus'd by that profane King This again that the Lord himself is the layer of this corner stone teaches us the firmness of it which is likewise expres'd in the Prophets words very emphatically by redoubling the same word Musad Musad fundamentum fundamentum So Psal. 2.6 I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion who then shall dethrone him I have given him the Heathen for his Inheritance and the ends of the earth for his possession and who will hinder him to take possession on his right if any offer to do so what shall they be but a number of earthen vessels fighting against an Iron Scepter and so certainly breaking themselves in pieces Thus here I lay this foundation stone and if I lay it who shall remove it and what I build upon it who shall be able to cast down For it is the glory of this great Master-builder that the whole Fabrick that is of his building be unruinable and for that end hath he laid an unmovable foundation and for that end are we taught and remembred of its firmness that we may have this confidence concerning the Church of God that is built upon it To the Eye of Nature the Church seems to have no foundation as Iob speaks of the earth that it is hung upon nothing and yet as the Earth remaineth firm being establish'd in its place by the word and power of God the Church is most firmly founded upon the word made flesh Jesus Christ as its chief Corner stone and as all the winds that blow cannot remove the earth out of its place neither can all the attempts of Men no nor of the gates of hell prevail against the Church it may be beat with very boysterous stormes but it cannot fall because founded upon this Rock Thus it is with the whole house and thus with every stone in it as here it followes he that believeth shall not be confounded 3. There is next the building on this foundation This is plainly to be built on Christ to believe in him But in this the most deceive themselves they hear of such priviledges and happiness in Christ and presently imagine 't is all theirs without any more ado as that Mad man of Athens that wrote up all the ships came into the haven for his own We consider not what this is to believe in him and what is the necessity of his believing that we may be partakers of the salvation that he hath wrought 'T is not they that have heard of him or that have some common knowledge of him or are able to discourse of him and speak of His Person and nature aright But they that believe in him Much of our knowledge is as the poor Philosopher or as a Geometer that can measure Land exactly in all its dimensions but possesseth not a foot who defineth riches exactly and discourseth of their nature but possesseth none and truely 't is but a lifeless unsavoury knowledge men have of Christ by all books and study till he Reveal himself and perswade the heart to believe in him Then indeed it sayes of all the reports it heard when it sees him and is made one with him I heard much yet the halfe was not told me There is in lively faith when it is infus'd into the soul a clearer knowledge of Christ and his excellency than before and withall a recumbence of the soul upon him as the foundation of its life and comfort a resolving to rest on him and not to depart from him upon any termes Though I be beset on all hands be accus'd by the law and mine own conscience and by Satan and have nothing to answer for my self yet here I will stay for I am sure in him there is salvation and no where else All other refuges are but lies as it s in the words before these in the Prophet poor base shifts that will do no good and God hath laid this Precious stone in Sion for this very purpose that weary souls may rest upon it and why should not I make use of it according to his intention he hath not forbid any how wretched soever to believe but commands it and himself works it where he will even in the vilest sinners Think it not enough that you
Defended they perish not according to the Prayer of our Saviour poured out for them Ioh. 17.16 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the World but that thou shouldest keep them from the Evil. They have the Prince of the power of the Air and all his Armies all the forces he can make against them Though his power is nothing but Tyranny and Usurpation yet because once they were under his yoak he bestirres himselfe to pursue them when they are led forth from their Captivity as Exod. 14.5.9 Pharaoh with all his Chariots and Horses and Horsemen pursues after the Israelites going out of Egypt The word in the Original here translated Kept is a Military term used for those who are kept as in a Fort or Garrison Town besieged So Satan is still raising Batterries against this Fort using all wayes to take it by Strength or Sratagem unwearied in his Assaults and very skilful to know his Advantages and where we are weakest there to set on And besides all this He hath Intelligence with a Party within us ready to betray us to him so that it were impossible for us to hold out were there not another Watch and Guard then our own and other walls and Bulwarks then any that our skill and Industry can raise for our own Defence In this then is our safety that there is a Power above our own yea and above all our Enemies that guards us Salvation it selfe our Walls and Bulwarks We ought to watch but when we do in Obedience to our Commander the Captain of our Salvation yet it is his own Watching who sleeps not nor so much as slumbers 't is that preserves us and makes ours not to be in vain Psal. 126.1 Isa. 27.3 And therefore those two are joyntly Commanded â—atch and Pray that ye enter not into Temtation Watch there 's the necessity of our Diligence Pray there 's the Insufficiency of it and the necessity of his Watching by whose Power we are effectually preserv'd and that Power is our Fort. Isa. 26.1 Salvation hath God appointed for walls and Bulwarks what more safe then to be wall'd with Salvation it self â—o Prov. 18.10 The Name of the Lord is a strong tower the Righteous fly into it and are safe Now the Causes are two 1. Supream the Power of God 2. Subordinate Faith The Supreme Power of God is that on which depends our Stability and Perseverance When we consider how weak we are in our selves yea the very strongest amongst us and how Assaulted we wonder and Justly we may that any can continue one day in the Estate of Grace but when we look on the strength by which we are guarded the power of God then we see the reason of stability to the end For Omnipotency supports us and the Everlasting Armes are under us Then Faith is the 2d cause of our Preservation because it applies the first Cause the Power of God our Faith layes hold upon this Power and this Power strengthens Faith and so we are preserved It puts us within those walls setâ— the Soul within the Guard of the Power of God which by selfe confidence and vain presuming in its own strength is exposed to all kind of danger Faith is a humble self-denying Grace makes the Christian nothing in himself and all in God The weastest Persons that are within a strong Place Women and Children though they were not able to resist the Enemy if they were alone yet so long as the place wherein they are is of sufficient strength and well man'd and every way accommodate to hold out they are in safety thus the weakest Believer is safe because by believing he is within the strongest of all Defences Faith is the Victory and Christ sets his strength against Satans and when the Christian is hard beset with some Tentation too strong for himselfe then he looks up to him that is the great Conquerour of the powers of darkness and calls to him Now Lord assist thy Servant in this Encounter and put to thy strength that the Glory may be thine Thus faith is such an Engine as draws in the power of God and his Son Jesus into the works and conflicts that it hath in hand This is our victory even our faith 1. Iohn 5.4 'T is the property of a good Christian to magnifie the power of God to have high thoughts of it and therefore 't is his Priviledge to find safety in that power David cannot satifie himselfe with one or two Expressions of it but delights in multiplying them Psa. 18.1 The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my Buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower Faith looks above all both that which the soul hath and that which it wants and answers all Doubts and Fears with this Almighty Power upon which it rests To be revealed in the last time This Salvation is that great work wherein God intended to manifest the Glory of his Grace contriv'd before Time And in the severall Ages of the world brought forward after the decreed manner and the full accomplishment of it reserved for the End of Time The souls of the faithfull do enter possession when they remove from their houses of Clay yet is not their happiness compleat till that great day of the appearing of Jesus Christ they are naturally Imperfect till their bodies be raised and rejoyned to their Souls to partake together of their Bliss And they are mistically Imperfect till all the rest of the members of Jesus Christ be added to them But then shall their joy be absolutely full when both their own bodies and the misticall body of Christ shall be Glorified when all the Children of that glorious Family shall meet and sit down to that great Mariage Supper at their Fathers Table Then shall the Musick of that new song be full when there is not one wanting of those that are appointed to sing it for Eternity In that day shall our Lord Jesus be glorified in his saints and admired in all them that believe 2 Thes. 1.10 You see what it is that the Gospel offers you and you may gather how great both your folly and your guiltiness will be if you neglect and slight so great salvation when 't is brought to you and you are intreated to receive it this is all that the preaching of the word aimes at and yet who hearkens to it How few lay hold on this Eternal life This Inheritance this Crown that is held forth to all that hear of it Oh that you could be perswaded to be saved that you would be willing to embrace salvation You think you would but if it be so then I may say though you would be saved yet your custome of sin your Love to sin and Love to the world will not suffer you And these will still hinder you unless you put on holy Resolutions to break through them and trample them under
word And there is such a necessity of this that the most approv'd teachers of wisdom in a human way have requir'd this of their Scholars that to the end their minds might be capable of it they should be purified from vice and wickedness for this reason the Philosopher judges young Men unfit hearers of morall Philosophy because of the abounding and untamedness of their passions granting that if those were compos'd and order'd that they might be admitted And it was Socrates his custome when any ask'd him a question to be inform'd by him before he would answer them he ask't them concerning their own qualities and course of life Now if Men require a calm and purified disposition of mind to make it capable of their doctrine how much more is it sutable and necessary for learning the doctrine of God and those deep mysteries that his word opens up 't is well express'd in that Apocryphal Book of Wisdome that forward thoughts separate from God and wisdom enters not into a malitious soul no indeed that 's a very unfit dwelling for it and the very Heathen could say the mind that is impure is not capable of God and divine things Seneca Therefore we see the strain of that book of Proverbs that speaks so much of this wisdom it requires in the first chap. That they that would hear it do retire themselves from all ungodly customes and practices And indeed how can the soul apprehend spirituall things that is not in some measure refin'd from the love of sin that abuses and bemires the minds of Men and makes them unable to arise to heavenly thoughts Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God sayes our Saviour not only shall they see him perfectly hereafter but as they can receive him he will impart and make known himself unto them here so Iohn 14.23 This is it that makes the word obscure namely the filthy mists within whereas on the contrary he will in just judgement hide himself and the saving truth of his word from those that entertain and delight in sin The very sins wherein they delight shall obscure and darken the light of the Gospel to them that though it shine clear as the Sun at noon-day they shall be as those that live in a dungeon they shall not discern it And as they receive no benefit by the word that have these evils here mention'd reigning and in full strength in them so they that are indeed born again the more they retain of these the less shall they find the influence and profit of the word for this exhortation concernes them they may possibly some of them have much remainder of these corruptions unmortified therefore exhorted to lay aside intirely those evils all malice all hypocrisie c. And so though they hear the word often yet be in a spirituall Atrophy eat much and grow nothing by it find no increase of grace and spirituall strength Would we know the main cause of our fruitless hearing of the word here it is Men bring not meek and guiless spirits to it not minds emptied and purified to receive it but stuff'd with Malice and Hypocrisie and Pride and other such evils and where should the Word enter when all is so taken up And if it did enter how should it prosper amongst so many enemies Or at all abide amongst them either they will turn it out again or choak and kill the the power of it We think Religion and our own Lusts and secret heart-Idols should agree together because we would have it so but this is not possible either therefore labour to entertain the word of Truth in the â—ove of it and lodge the mystery of Faith in a pure conscience as the Apostle St. Paul speaks joyn those together with David Psal. 119 113. I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love And as here our Apostle Lay aside all malice and hypocrisie and envy and evil speakings and so receive the Word or else look for no benefit by it here nor for salâ—ation by it hereafter but cast out all impurity and give your whole heart to it so desire it that you may grow and then as you desire you shall gâ—ow by it Every real Believer hath receiv'd a life from Heaven far more excelling our natural life than that excels the life of the Beasts And this life hath its own peculiar desires and delights that are the proper actings and the certain characters and evidence of it amongst others this is one and a main one answerable to the like desire in natural life namely a desire of food and because 't is here still imperfect therefore the natural end of this is not only nourishment but growth as 't is here express'd The sincere Milk of the word The Life of grace is the proper life of a reasonable soul and without it the soul is dead as the body is without the soul so that without untruth this may be rendered reasonable milk as some read it but certainly that reasonable milk is the Word of God The milk of the Word It was before call'd the immortal seed and here 't is the milk of those that are born again and thus it is very agreeable nourishment to that spiritual life according to their saying iisdemalimur ex quibus constamus as the milk that Infants draw from the brest is most connatural food to them being of that same substance that nourish'd them in the womb But when they are brought forth that food followes them as it were for their supply in that way that is provided in nature for it by certain veins it ascends into the breasts and is there fitted for them and they by nature directed to find it there Thus as a Christian begins to live by the power of the word he is by the nature of that spiritual life directed to that same word as its nourishment To follow the resemblance further in the qualities of milk after the Monkish way that runs it self out of breath in an Allegory I conceive is neither solid nor profitable and to speak freely the curious searching of the similitude in other qualities of milk seems to wrong the quality here given it by the Apostle in which it is so well resembl'd by milk namely the simple pureness and sincerity of the word besides that the pressing of comparisons of this kind too far proves often so constrain'd ere they have done with it that by too much drawing they bring forth blood in stead of milk Pure and unmix'd as milk drawn immediately from the brest the pure word of God without the mixture not only of errour but of all other composition of vain unprofitable subtilties or affected humane eloquence such as become not the Majesty and gravity of Gods word If any man speak sayes our Apostle let him speak as the Oracles of God light conceits and Flowers of Rhetorick wrong the word more than they can please the hearers the weeds among the Corn make it
whole Epistle Here he is representing to them the great fruit of that Love that happy and high Estate to which they are called in Christ that the chusing of Christ and Believers is as one act and they as one entire Object of it one glorious Temple He the Foundation and head corner Stone and they the Edifice one honourable Fraternity He the King of Kings and great high Priest and they likewise through him made Kings and Priests unto God the Father a Royal Priesthood c. He the Light of the World and they through him Children of Light Now that this their Dignity which shines so bright in its own innate worth may yet appear the more he sets it off by a double opposition 1. Of the misery under which others are 2 dly That Misery under which they themselves were before their calling And this being set on both sides is as a dark shadowing round about their happiness here describ'd setting off the lustre of it Their former misery express'd in the former Verse by Darkness is here more fully and plainly set before their view in these words They are borrowed from the Prophet Hosea 2.23 Where as is usual with the Prophets he is raised up by the Spirit of God from the temporal troubles and deliverances of the Israelites to consider and foretel that great restorement wrought by Jesus Christ purchasing a New People to himself made up both of Jews and Gentiles that believe and therefore the Prophecy is fit and applicable to both so that the debate is altogether needless whether it concerns the Jews or Gentiles For in its Spiritual sense as relating to the Kingdom of Christ it foretels the making up to the Gentiles that were not before the People of God and of the Jews likewise that by their Apostacies and the Captivities and Dispersions come upon them as just punishments of those Apostacies were degraded from the outward Dignities they had as the People of God and withal were Spiritually miserable and Captives by Nature and so in both respects laid equal with the Gentiles and stood in need of this Restiâ—ution as they St. Paul â—iseth it concerning the calling of the Gentiles Rom. 9. And â—ere St. Peter Writing as is most Probable particularly to the Dispersâ—d Jews applies it to them as being in the very reference it bears to the Jews truly fulfill'd in those alone that were Believers Faith making them a part of the true Israel of God to which the Promises do peculiarly belong as the Apostle St. Paul argue at large Rom. 9. Their former Misery and so their present Happiness we have here under a double expression they were not a People destitute of mercy not the People of God sayes the Prophet Not a People sayes our Apostle being not Gods People so base and miserable as not worthy the Name of a People at all as 't is taken Deut. 32.21 There is a kind of being a life that the Soul hath by a peculiar union with God and therefore in that sense the Soul without God is dead as the Body is without the Soul Eph. 2.1 Yea as the Body seperated from the Soul is not only a liveless lump but putrifies and becomes noysome and abominable thus the Soul seperated from God is subject to a more loathsome and vile putrefaction Psal. 14.3 So that Men that are yet Unbelievers are Not as the Hebrewes express'd death multitudes of them are not a People but a heap of filthy Carcases Again take our Natural Misery in the notion of a Captivity which was the judgement threatned against the Jews to make them not a People therefore their Captivity is often spoke of as a Death by the Prophets and their reduction as their resurrection Ezek. 37. And as a Captive People is civilly dead as they speak so are Souls captive to Sin and the and the Prince of darknes Spiritually dead wanting happiness and well being which if it never attain it had better for it self not be at all Nothing but disorder and confusion in the Soul without God the affections hurrying it tumultuously Thus Captive sinners are not are dead they both want that happy being that flowes from God to the Souls that are united to himself and consequently must want that Society and union one with another which results from the former from the same union that Believers have with God and the same being in Him which makes them truly worthy to be called a People and particularly the People of God His People are the only People in the World worthy to be call'd a People the rest are but refuse and dross although in the Worlds esteem that judges by its own rules and favour of it self the People of God be as no body no People a company of silly creatures yea we are made sayes the great Apostle as the filth of the World and the offscouring of all things yet in his account who hath chosen them who alone knowes the true value of things His People are the only People and all the rest of the World as nothing in his eyes He Dignifies and beautifies them and loves in them that Beauty which He hath given them But under that term is not only compriz'd that new being of Believers in each one of them apart but that tie and union that is amongst them as one People being incorporated together and living under the same Government and Laws without which a People are but as the Beasts of the Field or the Fishes of the Sea and the Creeping things that have no ruler over them as the Prophet Habak speaks That regular living in Society and Union in Laws and Polity makes many Men to be One People but the civil Union of Men in States and Kingdoms is nothing comparable to the Mysterious Union of the People of God with him and one with another That Commonwealth hath a firmer Union then all others Believers are knit together in Christ as their Head not merely a Civil or Political Head ruling them but as a Natural Head enlivening them giving them all one Life Men in other Societies though well ordered yet are but as a Multitude of trees regularly planted indeed but each upon his own Root But the Faithful are all Branches of one Root their Vnion is so Mysterious that it is resembled to the very union of Christ with his Father as indeed the product of it Ioh. 17. People of God I will say to them thou art my People and they shall say thou art my God Hos. 2.23 That Mutual Interest and possession is the very foundation of all our Comfort He is the first Chuser He first sayes My People calls them so and makes them to be so and then they say My God therefore a Relation that shall hold and shall not break because it is founded upon His choyce who changes not The tenor of an external Covenant with a People as the Jewes particularly found is such as may be broken by Mans unfaithfulness
still cleave to sin and love sin better than him that suffered for it But you whose hearts the Lord hath deeply humbled in the sense of sin come to this depth of consolation and try it that you may have experience of the sweetness and â—iches of it study this point throughly and you will find it answer all and quiet your consciences Apply this bearing of sin by the Lord Jesus for you for it is publish'd and made known to you for this purpose this is the genuine and true use of it as of the Brazen Serpent not â—emptily to gaze on the Fabrick of it but to cure those that look'd on it when all that can be said is said against you ' its true may you say but it is satisfied for he on whom I rest made it his and did bear it for me The person of Christ of more worth than all Men yea than all the creatures and therefore his life a full ransome for the greatest offender And for outward troubles and sufferings which were the occasion of this Doctrine in this place they are all made exceeding light by the removal of this great pressure Let the Lord lay on me what he will seeing he hath taken off my sin and laid that on his own Son in my stead I may suffer many things but he hath bâ—rn that for me which alone was able to make me miserable And you that have this perswasion how will your hearts be taken up with his love Who thus lov'd you as to give himself for you and by interposing himself to bear off from you the stroke of everlasting death and that encountered all the wrath due to us and went through with that great work by reason of his unspeakable love Let him never go forth from my heart who for my sake refus'd to go down from the cross That we being dead to sin should live unto Righteousnesse The Lord doth nothing in vain hath not made the least of his work to no purpose in wisdom hath he made them all sayes the Psalmist and that is not only in regard of their excellent frame and Order but of their end which is a chief Point of Wisdom so then to the right knowledge of this great work put into the hands of Jesus Christ it is of special concern to understand what is this end This is the thing thâ—t his wisdom and love aim'd at in that great undertaking and therefore will be our truest wisdom and the truest evidence of our reflex Love to intend the same thing that in this the same mind may be in us that was in Christ Iesus in his suffering for us and for this very end is it express'd In this there are 3. Things 1st What this death and life is 2. The intendment of it in the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. 3. The effecting of it by them Whatsoever this is sure 't is no small change that bears the Name of the great and last natural change that we are subject to a death and then another kind of life succeeding to it and in this the greatest part are mistaken that they take any light alteration in themselves for true conversion There be a World deluded with superficial Moral changes in their Life some rectifying of their outward actions and course of Life and somewhat too in the temper and habitude of their mind far from reaching the bottom of Natures wickedness and laying the axe to the root of the Tree 't is such a work as Men can make a shift withal by themselves but the Renovation that the Spirit of God worketh is like himself so deep and through a work that it is justly called by the Name of the most substantial works and productions a new birth and more than that a new Creation and here a Death and a kind of life following it This death to sin supposes a former living in it and to it and while a Man is so he is said indeed to be dead in sin and yet withal this is true that he lives in sin as the Apostle joynes the expressions speaking of Widowes she that lives in pleasures is dead while she liveth So Eph. 2. dead in trespasses and sins and he addes wherein ye walked which imports a life such an one as it is and more expresly Verse 3. We had our conversation in the lusts of our flesh Now thus to live in sin is call'd to be dead in it because in that condition Man is indeed dead in respect of that Divine Life of the Soul that happy being which it should have in Union with God for which it was made and without which it had better not be at all For that Life as it is different from its natural being and a kind of Life above it so it is contrary to that corrupt being and life it hath in sin and therefore to live in sin is to be dead in it being a deprivement of that Divine being that Life of the Soul in God in comparison whereof not only the base life it hath in sin but the very natural life it hath in the Body and the Body by it is not worthy the Name of Life You see the Body when the threed of its union with the Soul is cut becomes not only straightway a motionless lump but within a little time a putrified noysome Carcase and thus the Soul by sin is cut off from God who is its life as is the Soul of the Body it hath not only no moving faculty in good but fills full of rotteness and vileness as the word is Psal. 14. they are gone aside and become filthy The Soul by turning away from God turns filthy yet as a Man thus Spiritually dead lives naturally so because he acts and spends that Natural life in the wayes of sin he is said to live in sin yea there is somewhat more in that expression than the mere passing of his life in that way for in stead of that happy life his Soul should have in God he pleases himself in the miserable life of sin that which is his death as if it were the proper life of his Soul that natural propension he hath to sin and the continual delight he takes in it as in his Element and living to it as if that were the very end of his being In that estate his Body nor his mind stirreth not without sin setting aside his manifest breaches of the Law those actions that are evidently and totally sinful his natural actions his eating and drinking his religious actions his Praying and hearing and Preaching are sin at the bottom and generally his heart is no other but a forge of sin every imagination every fiction of things framed there is only evil continually or every day and all the day long 't is his very trade and Life Now in opposition to this life of Sin living in it and to it a Christian is said to dy to sin to be cut off or separated from it In
hath no other purpose in his being and living but only to honour his Lord that 's to live to righteousness he doth not make a by-work of it a study for his spare houres no 't is his main busines his all In this law doth he meditate day and night This life as the other is in the heart and from thence diffuses to the whole Man he loves righteousness and receiveth the truth as the Apostle speaks in the love of it A natural Man may do many things that for their shell and outside are righteous But he lives not to righteousness because his heart is not possess'd and rul'd with the love of it but this life makes the godly Man delight to walk uprightly and to speak of righteousness his Language and wayes carry the resemblance of his heart Psa. 37. Ver. 30.31 I know 't is easiest to act that part of Religion that is in the Tongue but the Christian ought not for that to be Spiritually dumb Because some Birds are taught to speak Men do not for that give it over and leave off to speak the mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his Tongue talketh of judgement and his feet strive to keep pace with his Tongue which gives evidence of its unfainedness None of his steps shall slide or he shall not stagger in his steps but that which is betwixt these is the common Spring the Law of God is in his heart of both and from thence as Salomon sayes are the issues of his life that Law in his heart is the principle of this living to righteousness 2 The Second thing here is the design or Intendment of this death and life in the sufferings and death of Christ he bare sin and died for it that we might dye to it Out of some conviction of the consequence of Sin many have a confus'd desire to be justified to have sin pardon'd and look no further think not on the importance and necessity of sanctification the nature whereof is express'd by this dying to sin and living to righteousness But here we see that sanctification is necessary as inseparably connexed with justification not only as its companion but as its end which in some kind raises it above the other that it was the thing which God ey'd and intended in taking away the guiltiness of sin that we might be renew'd and sanctified If we compare them in point of time either backward holiness was alwayes necessary unto happiness But satisfying for sin and the pardon of it was made necessary by sin or if we look forward the estate we are appointed to and for which we are delivered from wrath is an estate of perfect holiness When we reflect upon that great work of Redemption we see it aim'd at there Redeem'd to be holy Eph. 5.25 26. Tit. 2.14 And go yet higher to the very Spring the decree of Election And then it s said Chosen before that we should be Holy and in end it shall Suit the designe Nothing shall enter into the new Ierusalem that is defiled or unholy Nothing but all purity there not a spot of sinfull pollution not a wrinkle of the Old Man for this end was that great work undertaken by the Son of God that he might frame out of polluted Mankind a new holy generation to his Father that might compasse his throne in the Life of glory and give him pure praises and behold his face in that eternity Now for this end it was needfull according to the all-wise purpose of the Father that the guiltiness of sin and sentence of Death should be once removed and thus the burden of that lay upon Christs shoulders on the Crosse and that done it is further necessary that Souls so deliver'd be likewise purg'd and renew'd for they are design'd to perfection of holiness in end and it must begin here Yet is it not possible to perswade Men of this that Christ had this in his eye and purpose when he was lift up upon the crosse and look'd upon the whole company of those his Father had given him to save that he would redeem them to be a number of holy Persons We would be redeem'd who is there would not but he would have his redeemed ones holy and they that are not true to this his end but crosse and oppose him in it may hear of redemption long and often But litle to their comfort Are you resolv'd still to abuse and delude your selves Well whither you will believe it or no this is once more told you there is unspeakable comfort in the death of Chirst but it belongs only to those that are dead to sin and alive to righteousness This Circle shuâ—s out the impenitent world there it closes and cannot be broke through but all that are penitent are by their effectual caling lifted in to it translated from that accurs'd condition wherein they were So then if you will live in your sins you may but then resolve withal to bear them your selves for Christ in his bearing of sin meant of none but such as in due time are thus dead and thus alive with him 3. But then in the Third place Christs Sufferings and death effects all this 1. As the exemplary cause the lively contemplation of Christ crucified is the most powerful of all thoughts to separate the heart and sin But 2. besides this working as a Moral cause as that example Christ is the effective natural cause of this death and life For he is one with the Believer and there is a real influence of his death and life into their Souls This Mysterious Union of Christ and the believer is that whereon both their Justification and Sanctification and the whole frame of their Salvation and Happiness depends and in this particular the Apostle still insists on it speaking of Christ and Believers as one in his Death and Resurrection crucified with him dead with him buried with him and risen with him Rom. 6. Being arisen he applies his death to those he dyed for and by it kills the life of sin in them and so is aveng'd on it for its being the cause of his death according to that of the Psalm raise me up that I may requite them He infuses and then actuates and stirres up that faith and love in them by which they are united to him and these work powerfuly in this 3. Faith look's so stedfastly on its suffering Saviour that as they say intellectus fit illud quod intelligit it makes the Soul like him assimilates and conformes it to his Death as the Apostle speaks That which some fable of some of their Saints of receiving the impression of the wounds of Christ in their body is true in a Spiritual sense of the Soul of every one that is indeed a Saint and a believer it takes the very print of his Death by beholding him and dyes to sin and then takes that of his rising again and lives to righteousness as it applies it to justify so
us from it Filthiness needs sprinkling Guiltiness such as deserves death needs sprinkling of Blood and the death it deserves being Everlasting death The Blood must be the Blood of Christ. The Eternal Lord of life dying to free us from the sentence of death The Soul as the body hath its life its health its purity and the contrary of these its Death Diseases Deformities and Impurity which belong to it as to their first Subiect and to the body by participation The Soul and Body of all mankind is stained by the Pollution of sin The impure Leprosie of the Soul is not a spot outwardly but wholly inward hence as the corporal Leprosie was purified by the sprinkling of blood so is this Then by reflecting we see how all this that the Apostle St. Peter expresseth is necessary to Justification 1. Christ the Mediator betwixt God and man is God and man 2. A Mediator not only interceeding but also satisfying Eph. 2.16 3. This satisfaction doth not reconcile us unless it be applyed Therefore there is not only mention of blood but the sprinkling of it the spirit by faith sprinkleth the soul as with hysop wherewith the sprinkling was made this is it of which the Prophet speaks Isai. 52.15 So shall he sprinkle many Nations And which the Apostle to the Hebrewes prefers above all Legal sprinklings Chap. 9.12 13 14. both as to its duration and as to the excellency of its effects Men are not easily convinced and perswaded of the deep stain of sin and that no other Laâ—er can fetch it out but the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ. Some that have moral Resolutions of amendment dislike at least gross sins and purpose to avoid them and 't is to them cleanness enough to reform in those things but they consider not what becomes of the guiltiness they have contracted already and how that shall be purged how their natural pollution shall be taken away be not deceived in this 't is not an evaâ—ishing sigh or a light word or a wish of God forgive me no nor the highest current of Repentance nor that which is the truest evidence of Repentance Amendment 'T is none of these that purifies in the sight of God and expiats wrath they are all imperfect and stained themselves cannot stand and answer for themselves much less be of value to counterpoise their former guilt of sin the very tears of the purest Repentance unless they be sprinkled with this Blood are impure all our washings without this are but washings of the Blackmore it is labour in vain Ier. 2.22 Iob. 9.30 31. There is none truly purged by the Blood of Christ that do not endeavour purity of heart and Conversation but yet it is the Blood of Christ by which they are all fair and there is no spot in them here 't is said Elect to obedience but because that obedience is not perfect there must be sprinkling of the Blood too There is nothing in Religion further out of natures reach and out of its likeing and believing then the doctrine of Redemption by a Saviour and a Crucified Saviour by Christ and by his blood first shed on the Cross in his suffering and then sprinkled on the soul by his Spirit 'T is easier to make men sensible of the necessity of Repentance and amendment of life though that is very difficult then of this purging by the sprinkling of this precious Blood Did we see how needful Christ is to us we would esteem and love him more 'T is not by the hearing of Christ and of his blood in the Doctrine of the Gospel 't is not by the sprinkling of water even that water that is the sign of this blood without the blood it self and the sprinkling of it Many are present where it is sprinkled and yet have no portion in it Look to this that this blood be sprinkled on your souls that the destroying Angel may pass by you There is a Generation not some few but a generation deceived in this they are their own Deceivers pure in their own eyes Prov. 30.12 How earnestly doth David pray wash me Purge me with hysop Though bathed in tears Psa. 6.6 that satisfied not wash thou me This is the honourable condition of the Saints That they are purified and consecrated unto God by this sprinkling yea have on loâ—g while Robes washt in the Blood of the Lamb There is mention indeed of great Tribulation but there is a double comfort Joyned with it 1. They come out of it that tribulation hath an end And 2 They pass from that to glory for they have on the Robe of Candidates long white Robes washt in the blood of the Lamb washt white in blood as for this blood 't is nothing but purity and spotlesness being stained with no sin and besides hath that vertue to take away the stain of sin where 't is sprinkled My Wellbeloved is white and ruddy saith the Spouse thus in his death ruddy by bloodshed white by Innocence and purity of that blood Shall they then that are purged by this blood return to live among the Swine and tumble with them in the pudle what gross injury is this to themselves and to that Blood by which they were cleansed They that are chosen to this sprinkling are likewise chosen to Obedience this blood purifieth the heart yea This blood purgeth our Consciences from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9.14 Vnto Obedience 'T is easily understood to whom when obedience to God is expressed by the simple absolute name of Obedience it teacheth us that to him alone belongs Absolute and Unlimited Obedience all obedience by all creatures And 't is the shame and misery of man that he hath departed from this Obedience that we are become Sons of disobedience But Grace renewing the hearts of believers changeth their natures and so their names and makes them Children of obedience As afterwards in this Chapter This Obedience consists as in the receiving Christ as our Redeemer so also at the same time as our Lord or King an intire rendring up of the whole man to his obedience This Obedience then of the only begotten Jesus Christ may well be understood not as his Actively as Beza but Objectivly as 2 Cor. 10.5 I think here 't is contain'd yea chiefly understood To signifie that Obedience which the Aposte to the Romans calls the Obedience of faith by which the Doctrine of Christ is received and so Christ himself which uniteth the believing soul to Christ he sprinkles it with his blood to the remission of sin and is the root and spring of all future obedience in the Christian life By Obedience Sanctification is here intimated it signifies then both habitual and active obedience Renovation of heart and conformity to the Divine will the mind is illuminated by the Holy Ghost to know and believe the divine will yea this Faith is the great and chief part of Obedience Rom. 1.8 the truth of the Doctrine
spero 'T is a fearful thing when a Man and all his hopes dye together Thus saith Solomon of the Wicked when He dyeth many of them before but at the utmost then all of them then dye his Hopes Prov. 11.7 but the Righteous hath hope in his Death Prov. 14.32 Death that cutts the sinews of all other Hopes and turns men out of all other Inheritances it alone fulfils this Hope and ends it in Fruition As a Messenger sent to bring the Children of God home to the possession of their Inheritance By the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead This referrs to both Begotten again by his Resurrection and having this living Hope by his Resurrection and well suits both it being the proper cause of both in this order First then of the Birth then of the Hope The Image of God is renewed in us by our Union with him who is the express Image of his Fathers person Gal. 4 19. Therefore this new birth in the Conception is exprest by the forming of Christ in the Soul and Resurrection particularly is assign'd as the cause of our New Life this New Birth is called our Resurrection and that in conformity to Christ yea by vertue and Influence of His. His Resurrection is called a Birth he the first begotten from the dead Rev. 1.5 and that Prophesie Psal. 2.7 Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee is applyed to his Resurrection as fulfilled in it Act. 13.33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their Children in that he hath raised up Iesus again as it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Not only is it the Exemplary but the Efficient cause of our new birth Thus Rom. 6. at large and often elsewhere and thus likewise it is the cause of our Living hope that which indeed inspires and maintains life in it because he hath Conquered Death and is risen again and that implyed which followeth is set down at the right hand of God hath entered Possession of that Inheritance This gives us a Living Hope that according to his own Request where he is there we shall be also Thus this Hope is strongly underset on the one side by the Resurrection of Christ on the other by the abundant mercy of God the Father Our hope depends not on our own Strength or Wisdom nor on any thing in us for then if it did it would be short-liv'd would die and dye quickly but on his Resurrection that can dye no more for in that he died he died unto sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God Rom. 6.10 This makes this Hope not to imply in the notion of it Uncertainty as worldly hopes but 't is a firm stable inviolable hope an Anchor pitch'd within the vail According to his abundant mercy Mercy is the Spring of all this yea great Mercy and manifold Mercy for as St. Bernard saith Great sins and Great Miseries need Great Mercy and many sins and Miseries need many Mercies and is not this great Mercy to make of Satans slaves Sons of the most high Well may the Apostle say Behold what manner of Love and how great Love the Father hath shewed us that we should be called the Sons of God The World knows us not because it knew not him they that have not seen the Father of a Child cannot know its Resembling him for the World knowes not God and therefore discerns not his Image in his Children to esteem them for it But whatever be their Opinion this we must say our selves Behold what Love to take fire-brands of Hell and to appoint them to be one day brighter then the Sun in the firmament To raise the poor out of the dunghil and set them with Princes Psal. 11.38 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ Lastly we see it stirs up the Apostle to praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ This is the stile of the Gospel as formerly under the Law the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob and the God that brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt c. This now is the Order of the Government of Grace that it holds first with Christ our Head and in Him with us so he sayes I go to my Father and your Father and my God and your God Which as St. Cyril of Hierosol in his Catechism observes shows us not only our Communion with him that might have been exprest thus I go to my God and Father but the Order of the Covenant First my Father and my God and then yours Thus ought we in Consideration of the mercies of God still take in Christ for in him they are conveyed to us Thus Eph. 1.3 With all spiritual Blessings in Christ Iesus Blessed He blesseth us really benefaciendo benedicit We bless Him by acknowledging His goodness And this we ought to do at all times Psal. 34.1 I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth All this is far below Him and His mercies What are our lame praises in comparison of his Love Nothing and less then nothing but Love will stammer rather then be dumb They that are amongst his Children begotten again they have in the Resurrection of Christ a lively hope of glory as 't is Col. 1.27 which is Christ in you the hope of Glory This leads them to observe and admire that rich mercy whence it flowes and this consideration awakes them and strains them to break forth into praises To an Inheritance incorruptible As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather and as Vinegar upon nitre so is he that singeth Songs to a heavy heart Prov. 25.20 Worldly Mirth is so far from curing Spiritual Grief that even worldly Grief where 't is great and takes deep root is not allayed but increased by it a man that is full of inward heaviness the more he is compassed about with mirth it exasperates and enrages his Grief the more like ineffectual weak Physick that removes not the humour but stirs it and makes it more unquiet but spiritual Joy is seasonable for all Estates In prosperity 't is pertinent to crown and sanctifie all other Enjoyments with this that so far suspasses them and in distress 't is the only Nepenthe the cordial of fainting Spirits So Psal. 4. He hath put joy into my heart this mirth makes way for it selfe which other mirth cannot do these Songs are sweetest in the Night of distress Therefore the Apostle writing to his scattered afflicted Brethren begins his Epistle with this Song of Praise Blessed be the God and Father c. The matter of it is the Joyful Remembrance of the Happiness laid up for them under the name of Inheritance Now this Inheritance is described by the singular Qualities of it They Contain 1. The Excellency of its Nature 2. The certainty of its attainment the former in these three Incorruptible Vndefiled and that fadeth
the safe possession of perfect happiness when the soul shall be out of the reach of all Adversaries and adverse Accidents no more subjected to those Evils that are its own properly namely the Conscience of Sin and fear of Wrath and sad Defections nor yet subject to those other Evils it endur'd by Society with the body outward distresses and Affliction Persecutions Poverty diseases c. 'T is call'd Salvation of the soul not excluding the body from the society of that Glory when it shall be rais'd and reunited to the Soul but because the soul is of it self an Immortall substance and both the more Noble part of Man and the prime subject both of Grace and glory and because it arrives first at that blessedness and for a time leaves the body in the dust to do homage to its Originall therefore it is only named here but Jesus is the Saviour of the body too and he shall at his coming change our vile bodies and make them like his glorious body The End End or Reward for it is both It s the End either at which Faith aimes or wherein it Ceaseth it s the Reward not of their Works nor of Faith as a work deserving it but as the Condition of the New Covenant which God according to the tenour of that Covenant first works in his own and then Rewards as if it were their work And this Salvation or Fruition of Christ is the proper Reward of faith which Believes in him unseen and so obtains that happy sight 't is the proper work of faith to believe what thou seest not and the Reward of faith to see what thou hast believed This is the Certainty of their Hope that 't is as if they had already receiv'd it if the promise of God and the merit of Christ hold good then they that believe in him and Love him are made sure to salvation The promises of God in Christ are not yea and nay but they are in him yea and in him Amen sooner may the Rivers run back-ward and the course of the Heavens change and the frame of nature be dissolv'd then any one soul that is united to Jesus Christ by Faith and Love can be sever'd from him And so fall short of salvation hoped for in him and this is the matter of their rejoycing Ye Rejoyce with Ioy unspeakable The naturall Man sayes the Apostle receiveth not things of God for they are foolishness unto him and he adds the Reason why he cannot know them for they are spiritually discern'd he hath none of that faculty by which they are discern'd there is a vast disproportion betwixt those things and Natures highest Capacity it cannot work beyond its Sphere Speak to the Naturall Man of the matter of Spirituall grief the sense of Guiltiness and the Apprehension of Gods displeasure or the hiding of his favour and the Light of his countenance from the soul these things stirre not him he knows not what they mean Speak to him again of the Peace of Conscience and sense of Gods Love and the Joy that arises hence He is no less stranger to that As our Saviour speaks mourn to him and he laments not pipe to him and he dances not Mat. 11. but as it there follows there is a wisdom in those things though they seem Folly and Non-sense to the foolish world and this wisdom is justified of her own Children Having said somewhat allready of the Causes of this spirituall Joy the Apostle speaks of here It remains now that we consider those two things 1. How Joy ariseth from those Causes 2. the Excellency of this Joy as 't is here express'd There is here a sollid sufficient Good and the heart made sure of it being partly put in present possession of it and in a most certain Hope of all the rest And what can be more required to make it joyfull Jesus Christ the treasure of all blessings received and united to the soul by Faith and Love and Hope Is not Christ the Light and Joy of the Nations such a light as Abraham at the distance of many ages of more then two thousand years yet saw by faith and seeing Rejoyced Besides this brightness that makes light a joyfull object Light is often in Scripture put for Joy Christ this Light brings Salvation with him He is the Sun of Righteousness and there is healing under his wings I bring you said the Angel good tydings of great Ioy that shall be to all people And their Song hath in it the matter of that Joy Glory to God in the Highest peace on Earth and good will toward Men. But to the end we may Rejoyce in Christ we must find him ours otherwise the more Excellent he is the more Cause hath the heart to be sad while it hath no portion in him my spirit hath Rejoyced saith the Blessed Virgin in God my Saviour Thus 1. Ioh. 1.3 Having spoken of our Communion with Christ he adds these things I write that your Ioy may be full Faith worketh this Joy by uniteing the Soul to Christ and applying his merites and from that application arises the pardon of sin and so that load of misery which was the great Cause of Sorrow is removed and so soon as the Soul finds it selfe lightned and unloaded of that burden that was sinking it to Hell it cannot chuse but leap for Joy in the Ease and Refreshment it finds Therefore that Psalm that David begins with the doctrine of the Pardon of Sin he Ends it with an Exhortation to Rejoyceing Blessed is the Man whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Psal. 32.1 Thus he begins but he ends vers 11. Be glad in the Lord and Rejoyce ye Righteous and shout for joy all ye that are â—pright in heart S. Peter speaks to his hearers of the Remission of sins Act. 2.38 and verse 41. 't is added they received his words Gladly and our Saviour joynes these two together be of good Comfort thy sins are forgiven thee Thus Isaiah 61.1 Good tidings of Liberty to Captives is proclaimed and a notable change there is of their Estate Who mourn in Zion Giving them beauty for ashes the Oyle of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the Spirit of Heaviness Think with what Joy the long imprison'd debter drown'd in debt recâ—â—ves a full Discharge and his Liberty or a condemned Malefactor the news of his Pardon and this will somewhat resemble it but yet fall far short of the joy that Faith brings by bringing Christ to the Soul and so forgiveness of sins in him But this is not all This Believing Soul is not only a debter acquitted and set free but Enrich'd besides with a new and great Estate not onely a pardon'd Malefactor but withall highly preferr'd and advanc'd to honour having a Right by the promises to the unsearchable Riches of Christ as the Apostle speaks and is receiv'd into favour with God and unto the Dignity of Sonship taken from the dunghill
this hope as may be seeing in it self it is so perfect and firm so assur'd an Hope that they aspire to all the assurance and perfection of it they can attain This Hope as I conceive is not only to have the habit of it strong in the Soul but to act it often to be often turning that way to view that approaching day of Liberty Lift up your heads for the day of your Redemption draweth nigh Where this hope is often acted it will grow strong as all habits doe and where 't is strong it will work much and delight to act often and will control both the doubtings and the other many impertinent thoughts of the mind and force them to yeild the place to it Certainly they that affect that coming of Christ much will look often out to it we are usually hoping after other things that doe but offer themselves to draw us after them and to scorn us What are the breasts of most of us but so many nests of foolish hopes and fears intermixed that entertain us day and night and steal away our precious hours from us that might be laid out so gainfully upon the wise and sweet thoughts of Eternity and upon the blessed and assured hope of the coming of our beloved Saviour The other words of Exhortasion hereuâ—ed are subservient to this end that this hope may be the more perfect and firm and is much after the same manner joyned by our Saviour Luke 12.35 with the expectance and waiting for his coming and in this posture the Israelites eating the passover were expecting their deliverance so we our full and final freedom If you would have much of this call off your affections from other things that they may be capable of much of it The same eye cannot both look up to Heaven and down to earth at the same time the more your affections are truss'd up and disentangled from the world the more expedite and active will they be in this hope the more sober they are the less will they fill themselves with the course delights of earth the more room will there be in them and the more they shall be filled with this hope It is great folly in our spiritual warfare to charge our selves superfluously All fulness of one thing hinders the receiving and admittance of any other especially of things so opposite as these fulnesses are opposed Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be ye filled with the Holy Ghost saith the Apostle that is a brutish fulness makes a Man no Man this Divine makes him more than a Man 't were happy to be filled thus as that it might be call'd a kind of drunkenness as it is was with the Apostles Act. 2. Be sober Or Watch the same word signifies both and with good reason for you know the unsober cannot watch Now though one main part of sobriety is that which more properly and particularly bears this name temperance in meat and drink and against this not only the purity and spirtualness of Religion but even moral vertue inveighs as its special Enemy yea nature it self and they that only naturally consider the body and its interest of Life and health find reason enough to cry down this base intemperance which is so hateful by its own deformity and withal carries its punishment along with it But this sobriety is indeed most necessary for the preservation of grace and spiritual temper of the soul and is here intended yet I conceive 't is not all that is here meant the word is more general for the moderate and sober use of all things worldly as he sayes Gird up the loynes of your mind so 't is to be understood let your minds be sober all your affections inwardly attempered to your spiritual condition not glutting your selves with fleshly and perishing delights of any kind for the more you take in of these the less you shall have of spiritual comfort and of this perfect hope They that pour out themselves upon present delights look not like strangers and hopeful expectants of another Life and better pleasures And certainly the Captain of our Salvation will not own them for his followers that lye down to drink of these waters but only such as in passant take of them with their hand As excessive eating or drinking makes the body sickly and lazy fit for nothing but sleep and besots the mind cloyes up the way with filthy crudities through which the spirits should pass bemires them and makes them move heavily as a coach in a deep way thus doth all immoderate use of the world and its delights wrong the soul in its spiritual condition makes it sickly and feeble full of spiritual distempers and inactivity benummes the graces of the spirit and fills the soul with sleepy vapours makes it grow secure and heavy in spiritual exercises and obstructs the way and motion of the spirit of God in the soul therefore if you would be spiritual healthful and vigorous and enjoy much of the consolation of heaven be sparing and sober in those of the earth and what you abate of the one shall be certainly made up in the other Health and a good constitution of body is a more constant remaining pleasure then that of excess and momentany pleasing of the palate thus the comfort of this hope is a more refined and more abiding contentment than any is in the passing enjoyments of this world and 't is a foolish bargain to exchange a drachme of the one for many pounds of the other Consider how pressingly the Apostle St. Paul reasons 1 Cor. 9.25 And take withall our Saviours exhortation Be sober and watch for ye know not at what hour your Lord will come The double minded man sayes S. Iames is unstable in all his wayes although the word signifies usually deceitfulness and dissimulation of mind answering to the Hebrew phrase of a heart and a heart Yet here I conceive it hath another sense agreeable to the Apostles present discourse and scope 't is doubtfulness and unsetled wavering of mind 'T is impossible that the course of Life can be any other but uneven and incompos'd if the spring of it the heart whence are the issues of Life be so a Man that is not agreed within not of one mind with himself although there were nothing to trouble nor alter him from without that inward commotion is a sufficient principle and cause of inconstancy How much more then must he waver when he is assaulted and beat upon by outward oppositions he is like the waves of the Sea of himself ever fluctuating to and fro according to the Natural Instability of that Element and then being expos'd to the tossings of all the waves that arise 'T is therefore in Religion a main thing to have the heart establish'd and fixed in the belief and hope of the great things we look for this will beget strength of resolution and constancy in action and in suffering too And this is
vain conversation What fruit had ye sayes the Apostle in those things whereof ye are now asham'd Either count that shame that at the best growes out of them their fruit or confess they have none therefore they are called the unfruitful works of darkness Let the Voluptuous Person say it out upon his death-bed what pleasure or profit doth then abide with him of all his former sinful delights Let him tell if there remain any thing of them all but that that he would gladly not have to remain the sting of an accusing Conscience which is as lasting as the delight of sin was short and evanishing Let the covetous and ambitious declare freely even those of them that have prospered most in their pursuit of Riches and Honour what ease all their Possessions or titles do then help them to whether their pains are the less because their Chests are full or their Houses stately or multitude of friends and servants waiting on them with Hat and Knee and if all these things cannot ease the body how much less can they quiet the mind And therefore is it not true that all pains in these things and the uneven wayes into which they sometimes stept aside to serve those ends and generally that all the wayes of sin wherein they have wearied themselves were vain Rollings and tossings up and down not tending to acertain Haven of peace and happiness 't is a lamentable thing to be deluded all a Life time with a false dream Isa. 2.8 You that are going on in the common Road of sin although many and possibly your own Parents have trod it before you and the greatest part of these you now know are in it with you and keep you Company in it yet be perswaded to stop a little and ask your selves what it is you seek or expect in the end of it would it not grieve any labouring Man to work hard all the day and have no wages to look for at night 't is a greater loss to wear out our wholâ— life and in the evening of our dayes find nothing but anguish and vexation Let us then think this that so much of our life as is spent in the wayes of sin is all lost fruitless and vain Conversation And in so far as the Apostle saye here You are redeemed from this Conversation this Imports it a â—ervile slavish Condition as the other word expresses it to live fruitless And this is the Madness of a sinner that he fancies Liberty in that which is the basest thraldome as those poor frentique Persons that are lying ragged and bound in Chaines yet Imagine that they are Kings that their Irons are Chaines of gold their rags Robes and their filthy Lodge a Pallace As 't is misery to be liable to the sentence of death so 't is slavery to be subject to the dominion of sin and he that is delivered from the one is likewise set free from the other There is one Redemption from both He that is redeem'd from destruction by the blood of Christ is likewise redeem'd from that vain and unholy Conversation that leadâ— to it So Tit. 2.14 Our Redeemer was anointed for this purpose not to free the Captives from the sentence of death and yet leave them still in Prison but to proclaim liberty to them and the opening of the Prison to those that are bound Isa. 61.1 You easily perswade your selves that Christ hath died for you and Redeem'd you from Hell but you Consider not that if it be so he hath likewise Redeem'd you from your vain Conversation and both set you free from the service of sinâ— Certainly while you find not that you can have no assurance of the other if the Chaines of sin continue still upon you for any thing you can know these Chaines do bind you over to the other Chaines of darkness the Apostle speaks of Let us not delude our selves if we find the love of sin and of the World work stronger in our hearts than the love of Christ we are not as yet partakers of his Redemption But if we have indeed laid hold upon him as our Redeemer then are we Redeem'd from the service of sin not only from the grossest Profaness but even from all kind of fruitless and vain Conversation And therefore ought to stand fast in that Liberty and not entangle our selves again to any of our former vanities Not redeemed with Corruptible things From the high price of our Redemption the Apostle doth mainly inforce our Esteem of it and the preservation of that liberty so dearly bought and the avoiding all that unholiness and vain conversation from which we are freed by that Redemption 1. He expresseth it negatively not with corruptible things Oh foolish we that hunt them as if they were Incorruptible and Everlasting treasures no not the best of them these that are in highest account with Men not with Silver and Gold these are not of any value at all towards the Ransom of Souls they cannot buy off the death of the Body nor cannot purchase the continuance of temperal life much less can they reach to the worth of Spiritual and Eternal life The precious soul could not be redeem'd but by blood and by no blood but that of this spotless Lamb Jesus Christ who is God equal with the Father And therefore his Blood is called the blood of God Act. 20. So that the Apostle may well call it here precious exceeding the whole World and all things in it in value Therefore frustrate not the sufferings of Christ if he shed his blood to Redeem you from sin be not false to his End As of a Lamb without blemish He is that great and everlasting Sacrifice that gave value and vertue to all the Sacrifices under the Law their blood was of no worth to the purging away of sin but by Relation to his blood and the Laws concerning the choyce of the Pascall Lamb or other Lambs for Sacrifice were but obscure and imperfect shadowes of his purity and perfections who is the undefiled Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World A Lamb in meekness and silence he opened not his mouth Isa. 53.7 And in purity here without spot or blemish My well beloved sayes the Spouse is white and ruddy white in spotless Innocency and red in suffering a bloody death For as much as ye know 'T is that must make all this effectual the right Knowledge and due Consideration of it Ye do know it already but I would have you know it better more deeply and practically turn it often over be more in the study and meditation of it there is work enough in it still for the discerningest mind itâ— a mystery so deep that you shall never reach the bottom of it and withall so useful that you shall find alwayes new profit by it Our folly is we gape after new things and yet are in effect Ignorant of the things we think we know best that learned Apostle that knew
is the gold of this Spiritual house and 't is inwardly enrich'd with that The glory of the Church of God is not in stately buildings of Temples and rich furniture and Pompous ceremonies these agree not with its Spiritual nature It s true and genuine beauty is to grow in spiritualness and so to be liker it self and have more of the presence of God and his Glory filling it as a cloud and it hath been observed that the more the Church grew in outward riches and state the less she grew but abated sensibly in Spiritual excellencies But the Spiritualness of this building will better appear in considering particularly the materials of it as here express'd Now 2. The whole building is Christ mysticall Christ together with the entire body of the Elect he as the foundation and they as the stones built upon him He the living stone and they likewise by union with him livings stones He having life in himself as he speaks Iohn 6. And they deriving it from him he primitively living and they by participation For therefore is he called here a living stone not only because of his immortality and glorious resurrection being a lamb that was slain and is alive again for ever But because he is the principle of spiritual and eternal life unto us a living foundation that transfuses this life into the whole building and every stone of it in whom sayes the Apostle Eph. 2. all the building is fitly framed together 'T is the spirit that flows from him which enliven's it and knitts it together as a living body for the same word is us'd chap. 4. For the Church under the similitude of a body Now that ' it s there said Chap. 2 Ver. 20. to be built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles is no other but their doctrine concerning Christ and therefore it is added that he as being the subject of their doctrine is the chief corner stone The foundation then of the Church lyes not in Rome but in Heaven and therefore is out of the reach of all Enemies and above the power of the gates of hell Fear not then when you see the stormes arise and the winds blow against this spiritual building for it shall stand it is built upon an invisible immovable Rock and it great Babylon Rome it self that under the false title and pretence of supporting this building is working to overthrow it shall be utterly overthrown and laid equal with the ground and never be rebuilt again But this foundation stone as 't is commended by its quality that 't is a living and enlivening stone having life and giving life to those that are built on it 'T is further described by Gods chusing it and its own worth both oppos'd to Mens disesteem and therefore said here To be chosen of God God did indeed from Eternity contrive this building and chuse this same foundation and accordingly in the fulness of time did perform his purpose so the thing being one we may take it either for his purpose or performance or both yet it seems most sutable to the strain of the words and the place after alledged for laying him in Sion and opposing the rejection of Men that we take it for Gods actuall employing of Jesus Christ in the work of our Redemption he only fit for that work impossible utterly that any other should bear the weight of that service and so of this building but he who was Almighty Therefore the spouse calls him the select or choyce of ten thousand yet rejected of Men. There is that antipathy so to speak betwixt the mind of God and corrupt nature the things that are highly esteem'd with men are abomination to God and thus we see here that which is highly esteem'd with God is cast and disallowed by Men. But sure there is no comparison the chusing and esteem of God stands and by that judge Men of Christ as they will he is the foundation of this building And he is in true value answerable to this esteem pretious which seems to signifie a kind of inward worth hidden from the eyes of Men blind unbelieving Men but well known to God and to those to whom he reveals him And this is the very cause of his rejection by the most the ignorance of his worth and excellency As a precious stone that the skilful Lapidary esteems much worth an ignorant beholder makes litle or no account of These things hold likewise in the other stones of this building chosen before time all that should be of this building foreordain'd in Gods purpose all written in that book before hand and then in due time they are chosen by actual calling according to that purpose hewed out and sever'd by Gods own hand out of the quarry of corrupt nature Dead stones in themselves as the rest but made living by his bringing them to Christ and so made truely precious and accounted precious by him that hath made them so All the stones in this building are called Gods jewels Mal. 3. Though they be vilified and scoffed and despised by Men. Though they pass for fools and the refuse of the world yet they may easily digest all that in the comfort of this if chosen of God and precious in his eyes this is the very Lot of Christ and therefore by that the more wellcome that it conformes them to him suites these stones to their foundation And if we look right on 't what a poor despiseable thing is the esteem of Men how soon is it past it is a small thing for me sayes the Apostle to be judg'd of men Now that God often chuses for this building such stones as men cast away as good for nothing see 1. Cor. 1. And where he sayes Isa. 51. That he dwells in the high and holy place What is his other dwelling his habitation in earth is it in great palaces and Courts No. But with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit Now these are the basest in Mens account yet he chuses them and preferr's them to all other palaces and temples Isa. 66.1.2 you cannot gratifie me with any dwelling for I my self have made all and a surer house than any you can make me the heaven is my throne and the earth my footstool but I that am so high am pleasâ—d to regard the lowly 3. To whom comeing First Coming then built up They that come unto Christ come not only from the world that lyeth in wickedness but out of themselves Of a great many that seem to come to Christ it may be said that they are not come to him because they have not left themselves This is believing on him which is the very resigning the soul to Christ and living by him Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life sayes Christ. Io. 5.40 He complains of it as a wrong done to him But the loss is ours it is his glory to give us life that were dead But it is our happiness
death not only that those cermonies and sacrifices were to cease as being all fulfill'd in him But that the people of God that were before by that vail held out in the outer Court were to be admitted into the holy place as being all of them Priests and fitted to offer sacrifices The Priesthood of the Law was holy and its holiness was signified by many outward things sutable to their manner by anointings and washings and vestments but in this spiritual Priesthood of the Gospel holiness it self is in stead of all those as being the substance of all the Children of God are all anointâ—d and purified and cloath'd with holiness But then 2 There is here the service of this office namely to offer There is no Priesthood without sacrifice for these are relative and this was the chief employment of the legal Priests now because the Priesthood here spoke of is altogether Spiritual therefore the sacrifices must be so too as the Apostle here expresses it We are sav'd the paines and cost of bringing bullocks and rams and other such sacrifices and these are in their stead as the Apostle speaks Heb. 7. of the high Priesthood of Christ that the Priestood being changed there followed of necessity a change of the Law so in this Priesthood of Christians there is a change of the kind of sacrifice from the other All sacrifice is not taken away but it is chang'd from the offering of those things formerly in use to Spiritual sacrifices Now these are every way preferable they are easier and cheaper to us and yet more precious and acceptable to God As here followes in the text even in the time when the other sacrifices were in request yet those Spiritual offerings had ever the precedence in Gods account and without them he hated and despis'd all burnt offerings and the largest sacrifices though they were then conforme to his own appointment how much more should we abound in Spiritual Sacrifice that are eas'd of the other How much more holds that answer now that was given even in those times Mic. 6.6 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord c. you need not all that trouble and expense it is at hand that God requires most of all Namely to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God So Psal. 50.23 That which is peculiarly spoke of Christ holds in Christians by conformity with him But though the Spiritual sacrificing is easier in its own nature yet to the corrupt nature of Man 't is by far the harder He would rather chuse still all the toyl and cost of the former way if it were in his option this was the sin of the Jews in those times that they lean'd the soul upon the bodies service too much and would have done enough of that to be dispenst from this Spiritual service Hence are the Lords frequent reproofs and complaints in this Psal. 50. Isai. 1 c. Hence the willingness in Popery for outward work for Penances and satisfactions of Bodies and Purses any thing of that kind if it might serve rather than the inward work of Repentance and Mortification the Spiritual Service and sacrifices of the Soul but the answer of all those from God is that of the Prophet who required these things at your hands Indeed the works of Charity they press if they be done with a right hand and the left hand not so much as acquainted with the business as our Saviour speaks Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth They must be done with a right and singular intention and from a right Principle moving to them without any vain opinon of Meriting by them with God or any vain desire of gaining applause with Men but merely out of Love to God and to Man for his sake thus they are one of these Spiritual Sacrifices And therefore ought by no means to be neglected by Christian Priests that is by any that are Christians Another Spiritual Sacrifice is The Prayers of the Saints Revel 5.8 Psal. 141.2 Let my Prayer be set forth before thee as Incense and the lifting up of my hands as an Evening Sacrifice 'T is not the composure of Prayer or the eloquence of expression that is the sweetness of it in Gods account and makes it a Sacrifice of a pleasing smell or sweet odour to him But the breathing forth the desire of the heart that 's it that makes it a Spiritual Sacrifice otherwise 't is as carnal and dead and worthless in Gods account as the carcases of Beasts Incense can neither smell nor ascend without fire no more doth Prayer unless it arise from a bent of Spiritual affection 't is that both makes it smell and sends it Heavenwards makes it never leave moving upwards till it come before God and smell sweet in His Nostrils which few too few of our Prayers do Praise also is a Sacrifice to make respectful and honourable mention of the Name of God and of his goodness to bless him humbly and heartily Heb. 13.15 Psal. 50.14.23 Offer unto God thanksgiving Whoso offereth praise glorifyeth me And this is that Sacrifice that shall never end but continues in Heaven to Eternity Then a holy course of life is called the Sacrifice of Righteousness Psal. 4.6 Phil. 4.18 Heb. 13.16 Where he shews what Sacrifices succeed to those that thus he hath taught so much are abolish'd Christ Sacrific'd for us and that only powerful to take away sin but our gratulatory Sacrifices Praise and Almes are as Incense burnt to God of which as the standers by find the sweet smell so the holy life of a Christian smell sweet to those with whom they live but the wicked as putrified Carcasses are of a noysom smell to God and Man Psal. 14.4 They are Corrupt they have done abominable works In a word that our Sacrifice that includes all these and without which none of these can be rightly offered is Our selves our whole selves our Bodies a living sacrifice Rom. 12.1 and they are not that without our Souls 't is our heart given that gives all the rest for that commands all My Son give me thy heart and then the other will follow Thine eyes will delight in my wayes this makes the Eyes and Ears and Tongue and Hands and all to be holy as Gods peculiar being once given and consecrate to him and therefore sacriledge to turn them to any unholy use This makes a Man delight to hear and speak of things that concern God and to think on him frequently to be holy in his secret thoughts and all his wayes in every thing we bring him every Thanksgiving and Prayer we offer his eye is upon the heart he lookes if it be in together with our offering and if he miss it cares not for all the rest but throwes it back again The heart must be offered withal and the whole heart all of it entirely given to him se totum obtulit Christus pro nobis In another
are no benefit to the Soul but they are its pernicious enemies They war against it and their war against it is all made up of Stratagem and slight for they cannot hurt the Soul but by it self they promise it some contentment and so gain its consent to serve them and undo it self they embrace the Soul that they may strangle it The Soul is too much diverted from its own proper business by the inevitable and uncessant necessities of the body And therefore 't is exceeding injustice and cruelty to make it likewise serve the extravagant and sinfull desires of the flesh so much time for sleep and so much for eating and drinking and dressing and undressing and to many the greatest part of the time that remaines from these spent in labouring and providing for those Look on the employments of most Men all the labour of the Husband-men in the Countrey and Tradesmen in the City the multitude of shops and callings what are they all But the interest and service of the body and in all these the immortal Soul is drawn down to drudge for the mortal body the house of clay wherein it dwells And in the sense of this those Souls that truely know and consider themselves in this condition do often groan under the burden and desire the day of their deliverance But the service of the flesh in the inordinare lusts of it is a point of far baser slavery and indignity to the Soul and doth not only divert it from spiritual things for the time But habitualy indisposes it to every Spiritual work and makes it earthly and sensual and so unfits it for heavenly things Where these lusts or any one of them have dominion the Soul cannot at all perform any good neither pray nor hear nor read the word aright And in as far as any of them prevail upon the Soul of a Child of God they do disjoynt and disable it for holy things Although they be not of the grossest kind of Lusts but such things as are scarce taken notice of in a Man either by others or by his own conscience some irregular desires or entanglments of the heart Yet these litle Foxes will destroy the vines they will prey upon the graces of a Christian and keep them very low Therefore it concernes us much to study our hearts and be exact in calling to account the several affections that are in them otherwise even such as are called of God and have obtain'd mercy for such the Apostle speaks to may have such lusts within them as will much abate the flourishing of their graces and the Spiritual beauty of the Soul The Godly know it well in their sad experience that their own hearts do often deceive them harbouring and hiding such things as prejudge them much of that liveliness of grace and comforts of the Holy Ghost that otherwise they would be very likely to attain unto This warring against the Soul meaning the mischief and hurtfullness of them hath this under it that these lusts as breaches of Gods Law do subject the Soul to his wrath So that by this the Apostle might well urge his point Besides that these lusts are unworthy of you the truth is if you Christians serve your lusts you kill your Souls So Rom. 8.13 Consider when Men are on their death-beds and near their entering eternity what then they think of all their Moyling in the earth and serving of their own hearts and lusts in any kind when they see that of all these wayes nothing remaines to them but the guiltiness of their sin and accusations of conscience and the wrath of God Oh! that you would be persuaded to esteem your precious Souls and not wound them as you do but war for them against all those lusts that war against the Soul The Soul of a Christian is doubly precious being besides its natural excellency ennobled by grace and so twice descended of heaven and therefore deserves better usage than to be turn'd into a Scullion to serve the flesh The service of Jesus Christ is that which only fits it only honourable for the Soul to serve so high a Lord and only due to serve Him that bought it at so high a rate Verse 12. Having your Conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as Evil doers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation THese two things that a Natural Man makes least account of are of all things in highest regard with a Christian his own Soul and Gods glory So that there be no stronger persuasives to him in any thing than the interest of these two and by these the Apostle urgeth his present Exhortation to holiness and blamelesness of life for the substance of his advice or request in this and the former Verse is the same a truely honest conversation is only that which is Spiritual not defil'd with the carnal lusts and polutions of the world The abstaining from those lusts doth indeed Comprehend not only the rule of outward carriage but the inward temper of the mind whereas this honest conversation doth more expressely concerne our external deportment amongst Men as 't is added honest among the Gentiles And so tending to the glory of God So that these two are inseparably to be regarded the inward disposition of our hearts and the outward conversation and course of our lives I shall speak to the former first as the spring of the latter Keep thine heart with all diligence For all depends upon that for from thence are the issues of Life Prov. 4.23 And if so then the regulating of the tongue and eyes and feet and all will follow As there it followes Ver. 24. That the impure streams may cease from running the corrupt spring must be dried up Men may convey them closely to run under ground as it were as they do vaults and ditches Sentinas cloacas but till the heart be renewed and purg'd from base lusts it will still be sending forth some way or other the streams of iniquity as a fountain Swelleth out or casteth forth her waters uncessantly so she casteth out her wickedness sayes the Prophet of that very People and City that was called holy by reason of the ordinances of God and profession of the true Religion that was amongst them And therefore t is the same prophet's advice from the Lord. Wash thine heart O Ierusalem how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee Ier. 4.14 This is the true Method according to our Saviours Doctrine Make the tree good and than the fruits will be good not till then for Who can gather grapes of thornes or figs of Thistles Some good outward actions avail nothing the Soul being unrenewed As you may stick some figs or hang some clusters of grapes upon a thorne bush but they cannot grow upon it In this Men deceive themselves even such as have some thoughts of amendment when they fall into sin and
we owe Honour to all is nothing but a conformity to this inward temper of mind for he that inwardly despiseth none but esteemeth the good that is in the Lowest at least that they are men and loves them as such will accordingly use no outward sign of disdain of any will not have a scornful Eye nor a reproachful tongue to move at any not the meanest of his servants nor the worst of his Enemies but on the contrary will acknowledge the good of every Man and give unto all that outward respect that is convenient for them and that they are capable of and be ready to do them good as he hath opportunity and ability But in stead of walking by this rule of honouring all Men. What is there almost to be found amongst Men but a perverse proneness to dishonour one another and every Man ready to dishonour all Men that he may honour himself reckoning that what he gives to others abates of himself and taking what he detracts from others as good booty to make up himselfe Set Mens own interest aside and that common Civility that for their own Credit they use one with another and truly there will be found very little of this real respect to others out of their obedience to God and love to Men tendring their esteem and good Name and their wellfare as our own For so the rule is but mutual disesteem and Defaming filling almost all Societies And the bitter root of this Iniquity is that wicked accursed self love that dwells in us every Man is naturally his own grand Idol would be esteem'd and honoured by any means and to magnifie that Idol selfe kills the good Name and esteem of others in sacrifice to it Hence is the narrow observing Eye and broad speaking tongue upon any thing that tends to the dishonour of others and where other things fail the disdainful upbraiding of their Birth or Calling or any thing that comes next to hand that serves for a reproach And hence arises a great part of the jarrs and strifes amongst Men the most being drunk with an over weening opinion of themselves and the Worthlessest most A fool sayes Solomon is wiser in his own conceit then ten Men that can render a reason and not finding others of their mind this frets and troubles them they take the ready course to deceive themselves for they look with both Eyes on the failings and defects of others and scarce give their good half an Eye on the contrary in themselves they study to the full their own advantages and their weaknesses and defects as he sayes they skip over as Children do the hard words in their lesson that are troublesome to read and making this uneven parallel what wonder the result be a gross mistake of themselves Men miscount themselves at home they reckoning that they ought to be regarded and their mind should carry it and when they come abroad and are cross'd in this this puts them all out of frame But the humble man as he is more conform to this Divine Rule so he hath more Peace by it for he sets so low a rate upon himself in his own thoughts that 't is scarce possible for any to go lower in judging of him and therefore as he payes due respect to others to the full and so gives no ground of quarrel that way so he challenges no such debt to himself and thus avoids the usual contests that arise in this Only by Pride comes contention sayes Solomon a Man that will walk abroad in a crowded Street cannot chuse but be often justled but he that contracts himself passes through more easily Study therefore this excellent Grace of Humility not the Personated acting of it in appearance which may be a chief agent for Pride but true lowliness of mind to be nothing in your own Eyes and content to be so in the Eyes of others Then will you obey this Word you will esteem as is meet of all Men and not to be troubled though all Men disesteem you As this Humility is a precious Grace it is the preserver of all other graces and without it if they could be with out it they were but as a Box of precious Powder carried in the wind without a cover in danger to be scatter'd and blown away If you would have Honour there 's an ambition both allow'd you and worthy of you whosoever you are Rom. 2.7 2 Cor. 4. other honour though it have the Hebrew Name from weight is all too Light and weighs onely with cares and troubles Love the Brotherhood There is a love as we said due to all included under that word of honouring all but a peculiar love to our Christian Brethen which the Apostle Paul calls by a like word the Houshold of Faith Christian Brethren are united by a threefold cord two of them common to other Men but the third the strongest and theirs peculiarly their Bodies descended of the same Man and their souls of the same God but their new life by which they are most entirely Brethren is deriv'd from the same God-Man Jesus Christ yea in him they are all one body receiving life from him their glorious head who is called the first born among many Brethren and as his unspeakable love was the source of this New being and Fraternity so out of question it cannot but produce indissolluble love amongst them that are partakers of it The Spirit of Love and concord is that Precious Oyntment that runs down from the Head our great High Priest to the skirts of his Garment The life of Christ and this Law of Love is combin'd and cannot be sever'd Can there be enmity betwixt those hearts that meet in him Why do you pretend your selves Christians and yet remain not only Strangers to this Love but most contrary to it Biters and Devourers one of another and will not be convinced of the great guiltiness and uncomliness of Strifes and Envyings amongst you is this the badge that Christ hath left his Brethren to wrangle and maligne one another Doe you not know on the contrary that they are to be known by mutual Love By this shall all Men know that you are my Disciples if you love one another How often doth that Beloved Disciple press this he drank deep of that wellspring of Love that was in the Breast on which he leaned and if they relate right he died exhorting this Love one another Oh that there were more of this Love of Christ in our hearts arising from the sense of his Love to us and that would teach this Mutual Love more effectually which the Preaching of it may set before us but without that the other cannot work it within us Why do we still hear these things in vain Do we believe what the Love of Christ did to us and suffer'd for us And will we do nothing for him not forgive a shadow a fancy of Injurie much less a real one for his sake And love him that
reward of sin this I say is not incongruous with the estate of the Sons of God yea 't is their duty and their property even thus to fear 1. This is the very end for which God hath publish'd these intimations of his justice and hath threatned to punish Men if they transgress to the end they may fear and not transgress So that not to look upon them thus and to be affected with them answerably to their intendment were a very grievous sin a slight and disregard put upon the words of the great God 2. Of all others the Children of God have the rightest and clearest knowledge of God and the deepest belief of his word and therefore they cannot chuse but be affraid and more afraid then all others to fall under the stroak of his hand They know more of the greatness and truth and justice of God then others and therefore they fear when he threatens My flesh trembleth for fear of thee sayes David and I am affraid of thy judgements yea they tremble when they hear the Sentence against others or sees the execution on them it minds them when they see publick executions and knowing the terrour of the Lord we persuade Men sayes S. Paul they cry out with Moses Psa. 90. Who knowes the power of thine anger even according to thy fear so is thy wrath 'T is not an imagination nor invention that makes Men fear more then they need his wrath is as terrible as any that fears it most can apprehend and beyond So that this doth not only consist with the estate of the Saints but is their very character to tremble at the word of their Lord the rest neglect what he sayes till death and judgement sieze on them But the Godly know and believe that it is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God And though they have firme promises and a Kingdome that cannot be shaken yet they have still this grace by which they serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear even in this consideration that our God even he that is ours by peculiar covenant is a confirming fire Heb. 12.28 29. But indeed together with this yea more then with these they are perswaded to fear the Lord by the sense of his great love to them and the power of that love that works in them towards him and is wrought in them by his They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter dayes Hos. 3.5 In those dayes his goodness shall manifest it self more then before the beams of his love shall break forth more abundantly in the dayes of the Gospel and shall bear more direct and hotter on the hearts of Men and then they shall fear him more because they shall love him more This fear agrees well both with faith and love yea they work it compare Psa. 31.23 with Psa. 34.9 and that same Psa. 34. Ver. 8. with 9. and Psa. 112. Ver. 1. with 7. The heart touch'd with the load-stone of divine love trembles still with this godly fear and yet looks fixedly by faith to that star of Iacob Jesus Christ who guids it to the Haven of happiness The looking upon God in the face of Jesus Christ takes off that terrour of his countenance that drives Men from him and in the smiles of his love that appear through Christ there is such a power as unites their hearts to him but unites them so as to fear his name as the Psalmist's prayer is He puts such a fear in their hearts as will not cause them depart from yea causes that they shall not depart from him And this is the purest and highest kind of godly fear that springs from love and though it excludes not the consideration of wrath as terrible in it self and some fear of it yet it may surmount it and doubtless where much of that love possesses the heart it will sometimes drown the other consideration that it shall scarcely be sensible at all and will constantly set it aside and persuade a Man purely for the goodness and loveliness of God to fear to offend him though there were no interest at all in it of a Man 's own personal misery or happiness But do we thus fear the Lord our God What mean then our oaths and excesses and uncleanness our covetousness and generally our unholy and unchristian conversation This fear would make Men tremble so as to shake them out of their profane customes and to shake their beloved sins out of their bosomes the knowledge of the holy one causes fear of him Prov. 9.18 But alas We know him not and therefore we fear him not knew we but a little of the great Majesty of God how holy he is and how powerful a punisher of unholiness we would not dare to provoke him thus he that can kill both body and soul and cast them into hell as our Saviour tells us and he will do so with both if we will not fear him because he can do so and 't is told us that we may fear and so not feel this heavy wrath A little lively spiritual knowledge would go far and work much that a great deal such as ours is doth not Some such word as that of Ioseph would do much being engraven on the heart shall I do this evil and sin against God it would make a man be at no more liberty to sin in secret then in publick no not to dispense with the sin of his thoughts more then of openest words or actions If some grave wiseman did see our secret behaviour and our thoughts would we not look more narrowly to them And not suffer such rovings and follies in our selves sure therefore we forget Gods eye which we could not if we thought right on 't but respect more then if all men did see within us Nor is this only the main point to be press'd upon the ungodly but the Children of God themselves have much need to be put in mind of it and to increase in it how often do they abuse the indulgence of so loving a father and have not their thoughts so constantly full of him are not in his fear as Solomon advises all the day long but many times slip out of his directing hand and wander from him and do not so deeply fear his displeasure and so watch over all their wayes as becomes them and keep close by him and wait on his voyce and obey it constantly and are not so humbled and afflicted in their repentings for sin as this fear requires but slight and superficial They offer much lip labour which is but dead service to the living God These are things My beloved that concernes us much and that we ought seriously to lay to heart for even they that are freed from condemnation yet if they will walk fearlesly and carelesly at any time he hath ways enough to make them smart for 't and if there were no more should it not wound them deeply to think
an unpleasant way indeed if you look no further but a Kingdom at the end of it and the Kingdom of God will transfuse pleasure into the painfullest step in it all so Psal. 34.19 It seems a sad condition that falls to the share of Godly men in the World to be eminent in sorrowes and troubles Many are the afflictions of the Righteous but that which followes weighs it abundantly down in consolation that the Lord himselfe is engaged in their afflictions both for their deliverance out of them in due time and in the mean time their support and preservation under them The Lord delivers them out of them all And till he does that he keepeth all their bones c. Which was literally verified in the Natural body of Christ as St. Iohn observes and holds Spiritually true in his mystical body The Lord supports the Spirits of Believers in their troubles with such solid consolations as are the Pillars and strength of their Souls as the bones are of their Body as the Hebrew word for them imports so he keepeth all his bones and the desperate condition of wicked men is oppos'd to illustrate this Verse 21. But evil shall slay the Wicked Thus Ioh. 16.33 In the closure they are forewarned what to expect at the Worlds hands as they were divers times before in that same Sermon but it is a sweet Testament take it alltogether Ye shall have tribulation in the World but Peace in me and seeing he hath joyntly bequeathed these two to his followers were it not great folly to cast such a bargain And to let go that Peace for fear of this trouble the trouble is but in the World but the Peace is in him who weighs down thousands of Worlds So then they do exceedingly mistake and misreckon themselves that would agree Christ and the World that would have the Church of Christ or at least themselves for their own shares enjoy both kinds of peace together would willingly have Peace in Christ but are very loath to part with the Worlds Peace they would be Christians but they are very ill satisfied when they hear of any other but ease and Prosperity in that estate and willingly forget the tenor of the Gospel in this and so when times of trouble and sufferings come their minds are as new and uncouth to it as if they had not been told on 't before hand They like better of St. Peters carnal advice to Christ to avoid suffering Mat. 16. than of of his Apostles Doctrine to Christians teaching them that as he suffered so they likewise are called to suffering Men readily think as he did there that Christ should favour himself more in his own body his Church than to expose it to so much suffering and most would be of Rome's mind in this at least in affection that the badge of the Church should be Pomp and Prosperity and not the Cross the true cross of Afflictions and sufferings is too heavy and painful But Gods thoughts are not ours those he calls to a Kingdome he calls to sufferings as the way to it He will have the heirs of Heaven know they are not at home on earth and that this is not their rest he will not have them with the abus'd World fancy a happiness here and seek life as St. Augustin sayes beatam vitam quaerere in regione mortis The reproaches and wrongs that encounter them shall elevate their minds often to that Land of Peace and rest where righteousness dwells The hard Task-masters shall make them weary of Egypt which otherwise possibly they would comply too well with and dispose them for deliverance and make it welcome which it may be they might but coldly desire if they were better us'd He knowes what he does that secretly serves his good ends of Mens evil and by the Plowers that make long furrowes on the back of his Church makes it a fruitful Field to himself Therefore 't is great folly and unadvisedness to take up prejudice against his way and think it might be better as we would model it and to complain of the order of things whereas we should complain of disordered minds but we had rather have all alter'd and chang'd for us the very course of Providence than seek the change of our own perverse hearts but the right temper of a Christian is to run alwayes cross to the corrupt stream of the World and humane iniquity and to be willingly carried along with the stream of divine Providence and not at all to stir a hand no nor a thought to row against that mighty current and not only is he carryed with it upon necessity because there is no steering against it but chearfully and voluntarily not because he must but because he would And this is the other thing to which they are joyntly called as to suffering so to calmness of mind and patience in suffering although their suffering be most unjust yea this is truly a part of that Duty they are called to to that integrity and innofensiveness of Life that may maâ—e their sufferings at Mens hands alwayes unjust to the entire Duty here is Innocency and Patience doing willingly no wrong and yet cheerfully suffering it done to them if either of the two be wanting their suffering doth not credit their Profession but dishonours it if they be patient under deserved suffering their guiltiness darkens their Patience and if their suffering be undeserv'd yea and the cause of them honourable yet impatience under them staines both their sufferings and their cause and seems in part to justify the very injustice that is us'd against them But where innocency and Patience meet together in suffering there sufferings are in their perfect lustre These are they that honour Religion and shame the enemies of it It was the concurrence of these two that was the very triumph of the Martyrs in times of Persecution that tormented their Tormentors and made them more then Conquerors even in sufferings Now that we are called both to suffering and to this manner of suffering the Apostle puts out of question by the Supream example of our Lord Jesus Christ for the Sum of our Calling is to follow him Now in both these in suffering and in suffering Innocently and Patiently the whole History of the Gospel testifies how compleat a Pattern he is And the Apostle gives us here a Summary yet a very clear account of it The Words have in them these two things 1. The perfection of this Example 2. Our obligation to follow it I. The example he sets off to the full 1. In regard of the greatness of his sufferings 2. Of his spotlesness and Patience in suffering The first we have in that word he suffered and after Verse 24. We have his crucifying and his stripes expresly specified Now this is reason enough and carries it beyond all other reason why Christians are call'd to a suffering Life seeing the Lord and Author of that Calling suffer'd himself so much The
good to them in that but the great evil of deeper condemnation if they hear of him and believe not but he was made Man to be like yea to be one with the Elect and he is not ashamed to call them Brethren as the Apostle there sayes 2. Then in the actual intention of the Son so made Man he presenting himself to the Father in all he did and suffer'd as for them having them and thâ—m only in his eye and thoughts in all For their sakes do I sanctify my selfe Io. 17.1.9.3 The union is applyed and perform'd in them when they are converted and ingrafted into Jesus Christ by faith and this doth actually discharge them of their own sins and Entitle them to his Righteousness and so justifies them in the sight of God 4. The consummation of this union is in glory which is the result and fruit of all the former as it began in Heaven 't is compleated there but betwixt these Two in Heaven the intervention of those other two degrees of it on earth were necessary being intended in the first as tending to the attainment of the last these steps we have distinctly in his own prayer Ioh. 17. First Ver. 2. Gods purpose that the Son should give eternal life to those he hath given him 2. Ver. 4. I have finish'd the work 3. Ver. 6 8. And often after their faith their believing and keeping the word and then the last Ver. 24. I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am There meets the first donation and the last Now to obtain this life for them he dyed in their stead appeared as the high Priest being perfectly and truely what the name was on their plate of gold holiness to the Lord. Exod. 28 36. And so bearing their iniquity as it is added there of the Priest Ver. 38. But because he was not the Redeemer but a perfect figure of him he did not himself suffer for the peoples sin but turn'd it over upon the beasts that â—he sacrificâ—d signifying that translation of sin by laying his hand upon the head of the Beast But Jesus Christ is both the great High Priest and the great Sacrifice in one and this seem's to be here imply'd in these words himself c. On his own body he bare c. Which the Legal Priests did not so Heb. 9.12 He made his soul an offering for sin Isa. 53. and Heb. 9. He offered up himself his whole self and in the History of the Gospel his soul was heavy and chiefly suffered but the bearing on his body and offering it that is oftenest mention'd as the visible part of the Sacrifice and in his way of offering it not excluding the other Thus Rom. 12.1 We are exhorted to give our bodies in opposition to the bodies of beasts and called a living Sacrifice which they are not without the Soul so his bearing on his body imports the bearing it on his Soul too 3. His bearing that hintes that he was active and willing in his suffering for us not a constrain'd Offering He layed down his Life as he tells us and this here He bare is he took willingly off lifted from us that burden to bear it himself It was counted an ill sign amongst the Heathens when the Beasts went unwillingly to be Sacrific'd and drew back and gooâ— when they went willingly But never Sacrifice so willing as our great Sacrifice was and we may be assured he hath appeased his Fathers wrath and wrought Atonement for Us. Isaac in this his Type we heare of no Reluctance but quietly bound when he was to be Offered up There be two words in Esay the one bearing the other tâ—kiâ—g away this is also that takeing away the Sins of the World in St. Iohn 1.29 Which Answers to both and so he to both the Goats Levit. 16 He did bear our Sins on his Crosse and from thenâ—â— to his Grave and there they are Buried and they whose Sins he did so bear and take away and Bury they shall hear no more of them as theirs to bear Is he not then worthy to behold in that notion that Iohn took him and design'd him by Behold the Lamb of God that beareth and takes away the sins of the World You then that are Gazing on vanity be perswaded to turne your Eyes this way and behold this lasting wonder this Lord of Life dying but the most alas Want a due Eye for this Object 't is the eye of Faith alone that looks aright on him and is daily discovering new worlds of excellency and delight in this crucified Saviour that can view him daily as hanging on the Crosse without the Childish gaudy help of a Crucifix and grow in the knowledge of that Love that passeth knowledge and rejoyce it self in frequent thinking and speaking of him in stead of these idle and vain thoughts at the best and empty discourses wherein the most delight and wear out the day What is all knowledge but painted folly in comparison of this though thou hadst Solomon's faculty to discourse of all plants and have not the right knowledge of this root of Iâ—sse If thou wert singular in the knowledge of the Stars and course of the Heavens and could'st walk through the Spheres with a Iacob's Staff but ignorant of this Star of Iacob If thou knewest the Historyeâ— of all Time and the Life and Death of all the famousest Princes and could rehearse them all but dost not Spiritually know and apply to thy self the death of Iesus as thy Life thou art still a wretched Fool for them and all thy knowledge with thee shall quickly perish On the other side if thy capacity or breeding hath denyed thee the knowledge of all these things wherein Men glory so much Yet do but learn Christ Crucified and what wouldest thou have more That shall make thee happy for ever for this is life eternal to know thee c. Here St. Paul sets up his rest I determined to know nothing but Iesus Christ and him Crucified Whatsoever I knew besides I resolv'd to be as if I knew nothing besides this the only knowledge wherein I will rejoyce my self and which I will labour to impart to others I have try'd and compar'd the rest and find them all unworthy of their Room beside this and my whole Soul too little for this and have past this judgement and sentence on all I have adjudg'd my self to deny all other knowledge and confin'd my self within this Circle and I am not straitn'd so there 's room enough in 't 't is larger than Heaven and Earth and him crucified the most despis'd and ignominious part yet the sweetest and most comfortable part of all the Root whence all our hopes of life and Spiritual joyes do spring But the most part hear this Subject as a Story some a little mov'd with the present found of it but draw it not home into their hearts to make it theirs and find salvation in it but
our miserable natural estate there is as close an union betwixt us and sin as betwixt our Souls and Bodies it lives in us and we in it and the longer we live in that condition the more the union growes and the harder it is to dissolve it and it is as old as the union of Soul and Body begun with it so that nothing but that death here spoke of can part them And this death in this relative sense is mutual in the work of conversion sin dyes and the soul dyes to sin and these two are really one and the same the spirit of God kills both at one blow Sin in the Soul and the soul to sin as the Apostle sayes of the World both are kill'd the one to the other And there are in it chiefly these two things that make the difference 1. The Solidness And 2. The universallity of this change under this notion of Death Many things may ly in a Man's way betwixt him and the acting of divers sins which possibly he affects most some restraints outward or inward may be upon him the authority of others or the fear of shame or punishment or the check of an enlightned conscience and though by reason of these he commit not the sin he would yet he lives in it because he loves it because he would commit it as we say the soul lives not so much where it animats as where it Loves And generally that kind of Metaphorical life by which a Man is said to live in any thing hath its principal Seat in the affection that 's the immediate link of the union in such a life and the untying and death consists chiefly in the disengagement of the heart breaking off the affection from it Ye that love the Lord hate evil An unrenewed mind may have some temporary dislikes even of its beloved sins in cold blood but it returnes to like them within a while A Man may not only have times of cessation from his wonted way of sinning but by reason of the Society wherein he is and withdrawing of occasions to sin and divers other causes his very desire after it may seem to him to be abated and yet he not dead to sin but only asleep to it and therefore when a temptation back'd with opportunity and other inducing circumstances comes and joggs him he awakes and arises and followes it A Man may for a while distaste some meat that he loves possibly upon a surfet but he regains quickly his likeing of it Every quarrel with sin and fit of dislike of it is not this hatred Upon the lively representing the deformity of his sin to his mind Certainly a Natural Man may fall out with it but these are but as the litle jarres of Husband and Wife that are far from dissolving the Marriage 't is not a fixed hatred such as amongst the Jews inferr'd a divorce if thou hate her put her away and that is to die to it as by a Legal Divorce the Husband and Wife are civilly dead one to another in regard of the ty and use of Marriage Again some Mens Education and Custome and morall principles may free them from the grossest kind of Sins yea a Man's temper may be averse from them but they are alive to their own kind of sins such as possibly are not so deform'd in the common account Coveteousness or Pride or hardness of heart and either a hatred or disdain of the wayes of Holiness that are too strict for them and exceed their size Beside for the good of humane Society and for the Interest of his own Church and People God restrains many Natural Men from the height of wickedness and gives them moral Vertues There be very many and very common sins that more refined Natures it may be are scarce tempted to but as in their Diet and Apparel and other things in their Natural Life they have the same kind of being with other Persons though more neat and pleasant so in this living to sin They live the same life with other ungodly Men though in a litle more deicate way They consider not that the Devils are not in themselves subject to nor capable of many of those sins that are accounted grossest amonst Men and yet are greater Rebels and Enemies to God than Men are But to be dead to sin goes deeper and extends further than all these Namely a most inward alienation of heart from sin and most universal from all sin an antipathy to the most beloved sin Not only he must forbear sin but hate it I hate vain thoughts and not only hate some but all I hate every false way A stroke at the heart does it which is the certainest and quickest Death of any wound For in this dying to sin all the whole Man of necessity dyes to it the mind dyes to the Device and study of Sin that vein and invention becomes dead the hand dies to the acting of it the ear to the delightful hearing of things profane and sinful the Tongue to the Worlds dialect of Oaths and rotten-speaking and calumny and evil speaking this is the commonest piece of the Tongues life in sin the very natural heat of sin that acts and vents most that way the Eye dead to that intemperate look that Solomon speaks of eyeing the Wine when it is red and well colour'd in the cup. Prov. 23. That is is taken with looking on the glittering skin of that Serpent till it bite and sting as there he addes Dead to that unchaste look that sets fire in the heart to which Iob blind folded and deaded his eyes by an express compact and agreement with them I have made a Covenant with mine eyes The Eye of a Godly Man is not on the false sparkling of the Worlds Pomp and Honour and Wealth 't is dead to them quite dazled with a greater beauty the grass look's fine in the morning when 't is set with those liquid Pearles the drops of dew that shine upon it but if you can look but a little while on the body of the Sun and then look down again the Eye is as it were dead sees not that faint shining on the earth that it thought so gay before and as the Eye is blinded and dies to it so within a few hours it quite evanishes and dyes it self Men think it strange that the Godly are not of their Dyet that their Appetite is not stirr'd with the delights of dainties they know not that such as be Christians indeed are dead to those things and the best dishes that are set before a dead Man give him not a stomach The Godly Mans throat is cut to those meats as Solomon advises in another subject But why may not you be a litle more sociable to follow the fashion of the World and and take a share with your Neighbours may some say without so precise and narrow examining every thing 'T is true sayes the Christian that the time was I advis'd as litle with
Conscience as others but sought my selfe and pleasd my self as they do and look't no further but that was when I was alive to those wayes but now truly I am dead to them and can you look for activity and conversation from a dead Man the pleasures of sin wherein I liv'd is still the same but I am not the same Are you such a Snake and a Fool sayes the Natural Man as to bear affronts and swallow them and say nothing Can you suffer to be abus'd so by such and such a wrong Indeed sayes the Christian again I could once have resented an injury as you or another and had somewhat of that you call high-heartedness when I was alive after your fashion but now that humour is not only something cool'd but 't is kill'd in me 't is cold dead as ye say and a greater Spirit I think than my own hath taught me another Lesson hath made me both deaf and dumb that way and hath given me a new vent and another language and another Party to speak to in such occasions see for this Psal. 38.12 13 14 15. They that seek my hurt speak mischievous things and imagine deceits all the day long What doth he in this cafe But I as a deaf man heard not and I was as a dumb Man that openeth not his mouth And why for in thee O Lord do I hope And for this deadness that you despise I have seen him that dyed for me who when he was reviled reviled not again This is the true Character of a Christian dead to sin but alas Where is this Christian to be found and yet thus is every one that truly partakes of Christ he is dead to sin really Hypocrites have a Historical kind of Death like this as Players in Tragedies Those Players have loose bags of Blood that receive the wound so the Hypocrite in some externals and it may be in that which is as near him as any outward thing his Purse he may suffer some Bloodshed of that for Christ but this death to sin is not a sounding fit that one may recover out of again the Apostle Rom. 6. addes that he is buried But this is an unpleasant Subject to talk thus of Death and Burial the very Name of Death in the softest sense it can have makes a sowr melancholly discourse It is so indeed if you take it alone if there were not for the life that 's lost a far better immediately following but so 't is here Living unto righteousness succeeds dying to sin That which makes natural death so affrightful the King of terrours as Iob calls it is mainly this faint belief and assurance of the Resurrection and glory to come And without this all mens moral resolves and discourses are too weak Cordialls against this fear they may set a good face on 't and speak big and so cover the fear they cannot cure but certainly they are a litle ridiculous that would perswade Men to be content to dy by reasoning from the necessity and unavoydableness of it which taken alone rather may beget a desperate discontent than a quiet compliance the very weakness of that Argument is that it is too strong Durum telum That of Company is phantastick it may please the imagination but satisfies not the judgement Nor are the miseries of life though somewhat Properer a full perswasive for Death the oldest decrepitest most diseased persons yet naturally fall not out with life but could have a mind to it still and the very truth is this the worst cottage any dwells in they are loath to go out till they know of a better And the reason why that which is so hideous to others was so sweet to Martyrs Heb. 11.35 And other godly Men that have heartily embrac'd death and welcom'd it though in very Terrible shapes was because they had firm assurance of Immortality beyond it the ugly Deaths head when the light of glory shines through the holes of it is comely and lovely To look upon death as Eternitie's birth day is that which makes it not only tolerable but aimiable Hic dies postremus aeterni natolis est Is the word I admire most of any Heathen Thus here the strongest inducement to this Death is the true notice and contemplation of this Life unto which it sets us over 't is most necessary to represent this for a natural Man hath as great an aversion every whit from this figurative Death this dying to sin as from natural Death and there is the more necessity of perswading him to this because his consent is necessary to 't no Man dies this Death to sin unwillingly although no Man is naturally wiling to it much of this death consists in a Man's consenting thus to dye And this is not only a lawful but a laudible yea a necessary self murder Mortify therefore your members which are upon the Earth Sayes the Apostle Col. 3.5 Now no sinner will be content to dy to sin if that were all but if it be passing to a more excellent Life then he gaineth and it were a folly not to seek this Death It was a strange power of Plato's discourse of the Souls Immortality that moved a young Man upon reading it to throw himself into the Sea that he might leap through it to that Immortality But truely were this Life of God this Life to righteousness and the excellency and delight of it known it would gain many minds to this death that steps into 't 1 There is a necessity of a new being to be the principle of new acting and motion as the Apostle sayes while ye served sin ye were free from righteousness so 't is while ye were alive to sin ye were dead to righteousness But there is a new breath of life from Heaven breathed on the Soul Then lives the Soul indeed when it is one with God and sees Light in his Light hath a Spiritual knowledge of him and therefore Soveraignely loves him and delights in his will and that is indeed to live unto righeousness which in a comprehensive sense takes in all the frame of a Christian life and all the duties of it towards God and towards Men. By this new Nature the very Natural motion of the soul so taken is obedience to God and walking in the paths of righteousness it can no more live in the habitude and wayes of sin than a Man can live under water Sin is not the Christians Element 't is too gross for his renew'd Soul as the water is for his body He may fall into 't but he cannot breath in it cannot take delight and continue to live in it but his delight is in the Law of the Lord that 's the walk that his Soul refreshes it self in he loves it entirely and loves it most where it most crosses the remainders of corruption that are in him he bends the strength of his Soul to please God aimes all at that it takes up his thoughts early and late
to Mortify drawes vertue from it Thus sayd one Christ aim'd at this in all those Sufferings that with so much love he went through and shall I disappoint him and not serve his end 4. That other powerfull grace of Love is joynt in this work with faith for Love desires nothing more than likeness and conformity though it be a painfull resemblance so much the better and fitter to testify love therefore 't will have the Soul dye with him that dy'd for it and the very same kind of death I am crucified with Christ sayes the great Apostle The Love of Christ in the Soul takes the very Nails that fastned him to the Crosse and crucifies the Soul to the World and to Sin Love is strong as Death particularly in this the strongest and liveliest Body when Death siezes it must yield and so becomes motionless that was so vigorous before And the Soul that is most active and unwearied in Sin when this Love siezes it it is kill'd to Sin and as Death seperates a Man from his dearest Friends and Society this Love breaks all the tyes and friendship with Sin Generally as Plato hath it Love takes away ones living in them selves and transfers into the party loved but the divine Love of Christ doth it in the truest and highest manner By whose stripes ye were healed The misery of fallen Man and the mercy of his deliverance are both of them such a deep as no one expression yea no variety added one to another can reach their bottom Here we have divers very significative ones 1. The guiltiness of sin as an intollerable burden pressing the Soul and sinking it and that transfer'd and layed on a stronger Back He bare Then 2. The same wretchedness under the same notion of a strange disease by all other means incurable healed by his stripe's And 3. again represented by the forlorn condition of a Sheep wandring and our Salvation to be found only in the love and wisdom of our great Shepherd And all these are borrow'd from that sweet and clear prophecy Isa. 53. The polluted nature of Man is no other but a bundle of desperate diseases he is spiritually dead as the Scriptures often teach Now this contradicts not nor at all Lessen's the matter But only because this misery justly called death is in a Subject animated with a natural life therefore so it may bear the Name and sense of sickness or wound and therefore 't is gross misprision they are as much out in their Argument as in their conclusion that would extract out of these expressions any evidence of remains of Spiritual life or good in our corrupted Nature But they are not worthy the contest tho vain heads think to argue themselves into life and are seeking that life by Logick in Miserable Nature that they should seek by faith in Jesus Christ Namely in these his stripes by which we are healed It were a large task to name our Spiritual Maladies how much more severally to unfold their Natures such a multitude of corrupt false Principles in the mind that as Gangrens do spread themselves through the Soul and defile the whole Man and total gross blindness and unbelief in Spiritual things and that stone of the heart hardness and impenitency Lethargies of senslesness and security and then for there be such complications of Spiritual diseases in us as in Naturals are altogether impossible such burning fevers of inordinate affections desires of lust and Malice and envy such racking and tormenting cares of Covetousness and feeding on Earth and Ashes as the Prophet speaks in another case according to the deprav'd appetite that accompanies some Diseases Such tumours of Pride and self-conceit that break forth as filthy botches in Mens words and carriage one with another And in a word what a wonderful disorder must needs be in the Natural Soul by the frequent interchanges and fight of contrary passions within it and to these from without how many deadly wounds we receive from the tentations of Satan and the World We receive them and by the weapons they furnish us we willingly wound our selves as the Apostle sayes of them who will be rich they fall into divers snares and noysome lusts and pierce them selves through with many sorrowes Did we see it no Infirmery nor Hospital ever so full of loathsome and miserable Spectacles as Spiritually our wretched Nature is in any one of us apart How much more when multitudes of us are met together But our evils are hid from us and we perish miserably in a Dream of happiness That makes up and compleats our wretchedness that we feel it not with our other diseases And this makes it worse still This was the Churches disease Rev. 3. Thou sayest I am rich and knowest not that thou art Poor c. We are usually full of complaints of triffling griefs that are of small moment and think not on nor feel not our Dangerous Maladies as he who shewed a Physician his fore finger but the Physician told him he had more need to think on the cure of a dangerous Impostume within him which he perceiv'd by looking to him though himself did not feel it In dangerous Maladies or wounds there be these evils a tendency to death and with that the apprehension of the terrour and fear of it and the present distemper of the Body by them and this is in sin 1. There is the guiltiness of sin binding over the Soul to death the most frightful eternal Death 2. The terrour of conscience in the apprehension of that death or wrath that is the consequent and end of sin 3. The raging and prevailing power of sin which is the ill habitude and distemper of the soul But these stripes and that blood that issued from them are a sound cure applied unto the soul they take away the guiltiness of sin and death deserved and free us from our engagement to those everlasting scourgings and lashes of the wrath of God and likewise they are the only cure of those present terrours and pangs of Conscience arising from the sense of that wrath and sentence of death upon the Soul Our Iniquities that met on his back laid open to the rod which in it self was free those hands that never wrought iniquity and those feet that never declined from the way of righteousness yet for our workes and wandrings were pierced and that Tongue dropping with Vinegar and Gall on the Cross that never spoke a guileful nor sinful word The Blood of those stripes are that Balm issuing from that tree of Life so pierced that can only give ease to the Conscience and heal the wounds of it and they deliver from the power of sin working by their influence and loathing of sin that was the cause of them they cleanse out the vitious humours of our corrupt nature by opening up that issue of Repentance they shall look on him and mourn over him whom they have pierced Now to the end it may
him and follow his Rules and example in their inspection of the flock it were the happiness of Kingdomes if Magistrates and Kings would set him his love and meekness and equity before their eyes in their government And all those that are properly his Bishops are especially oblig'd to study this pattern to warm their affections to the flock and tender care of their salvation by looking on this Arch-bishop and Arch-shepherd as our Apostle calls him and in their measure to follow his foot-steps spending their life and strength in seeking the good of his sheep considering that they are subordinately Shepherds of Souls that is in Spiriâ—ual things so communicable The Lord Jesus is supremely and singularly such they under him Shepherds of Souls Because their diligence concernes the Soul which excludes not the body in Spiritual respects as it is capable of things Spiritual and Eternal by its Union with the Soul But Christ is Soveraign Shepherd of Souls above all and singular in that he not only teaches them the Doctrine of Salvation but purchas'd Salvation for them and reaches the Soul powerfully which Ministers by their own power cannot do he layes hold on it and reduces and leads it and causes it to walk in his wayes In this sense it agrees to him alone as Supreme in the incommunicable sense And from his Conduct and Power and Love flowes all the comfort of his flock considering their own folly and weakness This alone gives them confidence that his hand guides them and they believe his strength far surpassing that of the roaring Lyon Ioh. 10 28 29 30. His wisdom in knowing their particular estate and their weakness and his tender love pitying them and applying himself to it Other Shepherds even faithfull ones may mistake them and not know the way of leading them in some particulars and may be sometimes wanting in that tender affection that they ow and if they have that yet are not able to bear them up and support them powerfully But this Shepherd is perfect in all these Isa. 40.11 The young and weak Christian or the Elder at weak times when they are big and heavy with some inward exercise of mind which shall bring forth advantage and peace afterwards to them Them he leads gently and uses them with Tenderness that their weakness requires And generally he provides for his Flock and heals them when they are any way hurt and washes and makes them fruitful So that they are as that Flock used in the comparison Cant. 4.2 They are comely but their shepherd much more Formosi pecoris Custos formosior They are given him in the Fathers purpose and choice and so they that return even while they wander are Sheep in some other sense than the rest that perish They are in the secret love of election of Christs Sheep fold tho' not actually yet brought into it but when his time comes wheresoever they wander and how farr off soever even those that have strayed most yet he reduces them and rejoyces Heaven with their return and leads them till he bring them to partake of the joy that is there That 's the end of their way wherein he guides them Ioh. 10.27 28. They hear my voice and follow me and it shall not repent them to do so to follow him is to follow life he is the life And he is in that Glory which we desire And where would we be if not there where he is Who at his parting from the world said where I am there they shall be also To this happy Meeting and Heavenly abode God of his Infinite mercy bring us Through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS Errata Page 3 line ult Apostl read Apostle p. 10 l. 6. vainglory r. vain glory p. 16 l. 12 oded r. obedience p. 19 l. 8 eternal r. external p. 20 l. 17 commaud r. command p. 34 l. 23 blessiings r. blessings l. 24 valluable r. valuable p. 35 l. 25 ou r. ouâ— p. 38 l. 4. natucal r. natural p. â—â— l. abliâ— r. ability p. 41 l. last Thefore r. Therefore p. 42 l. 29 they have r. they livy p. 43 l. 26 slâ—gard r sluggard p. 44 l. 15 assurence r. assurance l. 23 woldley r. worldly p. 114 l. 13 intelligeable r. intelligible p. 116 l. 7 waiing r. waiting l. 8 darkei r. darkness 121 l. 10 soretold r. foretold p. 114 l. 4 underdand r. understand p. 132 l. 11 no stop after them p. 135 l. 4 wtih r. with p. 145 l. 2 porsperity r. prosperity p. 147 l. 11. Christain r. Christian p. 149 l. 17 impossiable r. impossible p. 150 l. 16 doctine r. doctrine p. 152 l. 27. perfane r. profane l. antependt paculiar r. peculiar p. 174 l. 25 temperal r. temporal p. 185 l. 11. his r. all p. 181 l. 10 appearnce r. appearance l. last tiemes r. times p. 191 l. 24 aud r. and 192 ult made delend p. 194 antepenult cecevied r. received p. 196 l. 6 brethen r. brethren p. 198 l. 18 Evangelist r. Evangelists p. 209 l. 10 is r. it p. 239 l. last Covenants r. Covenant p. 246. l. 30 Ehp. r. Eph. p. â—46 l. 14 way r. may p. 258 l. 1 this esteem precious r. this esteem Precious p. 261 actrive r. active p. 264 l. 19 Priestood r. Priesthood accept to God as here fei r. text r. acc to God as h. f. â— t. text p. 276 l. 22 speak of r. speak of p. 280 l. 29 speaks of hard c. r. speaks of hard c. p. 282 l. 25 shalln or r. shall not l. 31 caulling r. calling p. 303 l. last ceremoany r. ceremony p. 307 l. 14 poriton r. portion p. 315 l. 39 is r. it p 336 l. 12 their r. there p. 372 l. 13 partacular r. particular p. 377 l. 23 thlng r. thing p. 432 l. ult wha the r. what he p. 481 l. 27 es r. us Quam suave est istis suavitatibus carere Aug. Pauperis est numerare pecus Res severae est verum gaudium Sen. â—audaemel â—is dulcedinem quantum potes qui non gustaverit non Intelligeâ— Aug.