that they were as willing to be devoured by the Lions as the people were desirous of their destruction by the Lyons Eusebius tells us that when as the Proconsul exhorted Germanicus to relent admonishing him of his tender yeares praying him to pitie his owne case being now in the flower of his youth he without intermission inticed the beast to devoure him Eusebius fourth book of the Eccl. Hist What steeled the spirits of these men and carried them above carnall reason and the weak principles of nature but a strong and powerfull perswasion in their spirits that they should have a glorious and joyfull resurrection at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ This is that that the Apostle proves to us Heb. 11.35 Some were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtaine a better resurrection He informeth us that when deliverance was offered they would not accept of it What was the reason they expected a resurrection Threatnings could not terrifie them from the truth nor promises draw them to errour because they were without wavering perswaded of a resurrection This was that that made Polycarpus the Martyr so willing todie for the Lord Jesus Christ which appeareth by his speech when he was tied at the stake I thanke thee that thou hast graciously vouchsafed this day to allot me a portion among the number of Martyrs among the people of Christ unto the resurrection of the everlasting life both of body and soule c. Euseb This was that likewise that made the Saints to be so merry and chearfull upon their death-beds When Hilarion lay sick and in his flesh did feele a little feare of death he presently reproves himselfe and breaketh forth into these words Egredere egredere anima goe forth goe forth my soule hast thou served Christ so many yeares and now art thou afraid to die What difference could there be between the death of Saints and of wicked prophane unbelieving men if there were no resurrection of the dead at all and therefore as you desire to live comfortably and to die happily in the bosome of Christ rejoycing upon your death-beds live constantly in the assurance of the truth of this Doctrine of the resurrection and while others that have seduced ignorant and poore people into Familisme with a brazen face all their dayes shall tremble upon their death-beds being afraid of death and dreading a judgement day which they have denyed like the Emperour Hadrian Animula vagula blandula Quae nunc abibis in loca Pallidula rigida nudula Poore wandring pale quivering soule whither shalt thou goe Platina in the lives of the Popes You shall call for death and not looke on death as a way to the infernall prison but as a passage to immortality in Heaven ye shall see the Lyon death slaine and find nothing but honey in the carkasse you shall rejoyce in confidence that your bodies shall be raised while they shall tremble for feare of a resurrection For I would have you to take notice that God seldome suffers men that are growne to this height of unbeliefe and ungodlinesse to deny the resurrection and Christs coming in the flesh to die without galled and troubled consciences As it is observed by some of many that were professed Atheists who when they came to their death beds though they in their health and strength swimming in a world of pleasure and contentments asserted that there was no god yet when they came to lie on their death-beds none seemed to be more afraid of a God and to tremble so much at his power as these men so none are more afraid of death Hell and a resurrection then some of these that have denyed that there is any Hell or a resurrection I remember the speech of Zeno the Philosopher if I would perswade any man frō Atheisme said he I would lead him to the death-bed of an Atheist when he is gasping out his last breath So if I had not sufficiently perswaded you that there shall be a resurrectiō of the body by what I have brought out of the word of truth if I knew where any of these did lie sick I would carry you to their death-beds and you might see some of them troubled and galled in their conscience that have blasphemously professed that there is no Christ come in the flesh and that there shal be no resurrection of the body hereafter I shall not need at the present to adde many more words for I hope better things of you and such things which accompanie salvation I hope there are few such spirits as these in this Congregation yet I know the Devill is so subtle that where he thinks people are most spirituall and know God most and are acquainted with Christ he sends his imps his Sadduces to trouble and assault them he doth not set so much upon any people to draw them away as upon those that make profession of the Gospel of Christ The Devill knowes such whom he hath safe within his owne command and many of these are not assaulted by these imps but when men seeme to be heirs and boast of the Lord Jesus and professe themselves to be in the spirit of glory and adoption and to have their names written in Heaven and that none are able to separate them from the love of God the Devill sends his evill Angells to such men as these Therefore knowing that you should meet with such spirits I thought good to speake somewhat before that being forewarned you might be fore-armed praemoniti praemuniti that you may goe on in the power of God and the strength of his might though the Devill may buffet you for a time by these wicked instruments and cast his fiery darts into your hearts and spirits to perswade you that there is no resurrection and may certainly know that if there be any truth in the history of the Gospel this is a truth concerning the resurrection And it is the desire of my soule that ye may live continually and constantly in the confidence and assurance of the resurrection of your bodies which being joyned with a lively Faith in Christs death and resurrection will sweeten your lives and crowne your deaths with happinesse Death which came in upon men as a legall curse shall be turned into a blessing unto you it shall not be your feare but desire with Paul ye shall desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ But this Doctrine being layd aside as of no worth or value Christ will appeare unto you but a shadow fancy and forged Chymera of mans braine As the wicked Pope was perswaded who did thus glory in his riches What great riches have we gotten by this fable of Christ Wherefore as you desire to breath forth your soules with joy into the bosome of the Lord Jesus live in the comforts of the resurrection through Christ That will make you say in the midst of the pangs of death with Simeon Lord let thy servant now depart for mine eyes
Masters then his owne so Christ being the Lord of the resurrection we shall be more his then our owne we shall be raised as those in whom Christ hath a propriety and Interest we shall be looked on as the inheritance of the Lord Jesus he shall be King and Lord over us all and rule over us His Scepter of glory shall be set up in every heart and his Throne shall be exalted in every spirit Thus My dead body they shall rise They shall rise as mine they are my dead men and they shall be my living men Here you see that Christ will owne them for his when they are in the dust There are some that shall speak to Christ at the resurrection as though they were familiarly acquainted with him whom he will not owne saving Depart from me I know you not yee workers of iniquitie But Christ will owne his Saints Mal. 3.17 They shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts when I make up my Jewells or speciall treasure and I will spare them as a man spareth his owne sonne that serveth him As men will not part with their Jewells so Christ will not lose the bodies of his Saints they are part of his speciall treasure The fourth consideration is this the bodies of the Saints that shall be raised may be called the body of the Lord Jesus for this reason because Christ in the Spirit shall be the life soule and forme that shall give life and being to the bodies of the Saints at the resurrection As the body is called the body of the Spirit that dwells in it so Christ Jesus dwelling in the bodies of his Saints by his Spirit their bodies may be said to be his body And as a man may say this is my body it belongs to that humane spirit in me because his humane spirit moves lives in it and doth as a Divine power act in it so our bodies being raised may be said to be the bodies of Christ because he shall act as the Spirit forme and soule in them Christ shall be the soule which shall give life and being to all Saints which shall be raised by him The fifth consideration Death cannot dissolve the union which is between Christ and a believer The love of the Father is the urneinâ— which the ashes of dead Saints are preserved Rom. 8.38 39. I am perswaded saith Paul that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Man doth consist of a naturall body and humane spirit And death cannot make a separation between Gods love and our bodies no more then it can make a separation between his love and our soules Among the things which God hath bestowed upon us in Christ the Apostle doth reckon up death 1 Cor. 3.22 which sheweth that it is not a curse but a blessing to Saints It would be a curse unto us did it bring an irrecoverable ruine and destruction to our bodies Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Deaths disability to cast our bodies out of Gods love and protection is that which doth convert death through Christ into a blessing unto us Paul calleth Saints in respect of their bodily death 1 Thess 4.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those that sleep in Christ As leep doth not bereave men of life so death doth not take away from Saints their life which is in Christ As a Philosopher told a tyrant he might kill him but not hurt him so death may kill but cannot hurt a Saint because the union between God and him is in dissolvible Rom. 14.8 Whether we live or diâ— we are the Lords And therefore it may be truely said My dead body shall they arise Sixt consideration The bodies of Saint are sanctified by Christ and therefore he cannot but owne them Sanctification is the marke or seale of Christ As merchants doâ— set their seales and markes upon their good which they will owne so Christ will for ever owne that upon which he hath set the seaâ— and marke of his sanctifying Spirit The spirit of a Saint and Christ will never cease tâ— own his own house and the place which 〈◊〉 hath chosen for his habitation God doth nâ—â— only honour our bodies by calling them hâ—â— 19. Know yee not that your body is the Temple 〈◊〉 the holy Spirit It is not a paradoxe then in Dâ—vinity that Christ at the resurrection should owne them as his owne Seventh consideration Christ should 〈◊〉 incompleat A man that wanteth a membeâ— is incompleat and imperfect so Christ should be imperfect and incompleat were he defective in any of his members at the resurrection And therefore all the bodies of the Saints must be raised as his body It is an Argument that some of the Schoole-men make use of to prove the necessity of a resurrection of bodies from the incompleatnesse of the soule when it is separated from its proper body which it did informe and with which in union it made one compositum So the bodies of Saints must be raised that Christ may be compleat in his mysticall body as he is in his owne person The Church is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fulnesse of Christ Eph. 1. last because as a body is not full and compleat in his being that wants a member so Christ should not be compleat if any part of him were wanting And therefore the bodies of all Saints must be raised that Christ may appeare in his glory and compleatnesse at the resurrection And thus having opened this Doctrine and illustrated it by these considerations I shall draw some usefull conclusions from it Vse 1. Seeing Christians shall be one body at the resurrection this should teach us to be one here in the bond of love That one member should oppose and fight against another member is against nature And that one Christian should fight against another or take his fellow-member by the throat is against the principles of grace In the 13. of Gen. and the 8. ver Abram doth thus speake unto his brother Lot Let there be no strife I pray thee between mee and thee for we are Brethren Christians should not strive or contend one against another because they are fellow-members It is reported of John that in his old age being unable by weaknesse to speake long unto the Congregation he would stand up and in stead of a long Sermon ingeminate this Precept Diligite filioli diligite Litle Children love love one another There can be no stronger Argument to love then the consideration of our union Col. 3.15 Let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also yee are called in one body Warre among members is unnaturall that love and peace may reigne and rule in the hearts of Christians God doth make them all one body so the Apostle in
Familisticall spirits are puffed up with a conceit of their knowledge notions and speculations when indeed they are wholy carnall and understand not the deepe things of Gods grace in the face of Jesus Christ But he that truly walks with God faithfully that man walks humbly with his God True Faith as it exalts us and shewes us our priviledges and honour by the grace of God in Christ so it humbles us by the sight of what is in our selves The light of grace will as well discover what wee are in our fleshly part as what wee are by the grace of God in the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ And these that are thus enlightned shall never fall totally and finally from the pure and simple Gospel of Christ the Spirit in them doth assure them that they shall abide in him John 2.27 Therefore beware of pride the bane of Angels and the ruine of men and the mother of Familisme But grow in humility conceit not that you are full when you are empty As long as the Widow had empty vessels the oyle did still run so as long as there is an empty vessel in thy heart the oyle of grace shall flow in unto thee The fourth Direction Take heed that thou dost not embrace the Doctrines of free will and falling away from grace some of the Familists of the City have been great sticklers to uphold these points and to revive Arminian Tenets among Professors before they did arrive to the top and height of Familisme That man will not stand long who hath no strength but his owne legs to uphold him Neither will that man stand long for Christ who stands more by the strength of his owne will then by the power of Gods grace Adam standing in his owne strength lost his happinesse when he was wise and righteous and canst thou maintaine thy selfe in an happy condition by thine owne strength when thou art unrighteous True Saints are kept by the power of God through Faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a keeping of any thing as by a Guard Gods grace is a guard by which he doth keepe all his in the way of salvation so that it is impossible they should fall away from his grace It is no wonder then if they fall way from grace to Familisme who doe maintaine that Saints may fall away from grace The fift Direction Be not loose or licentious in life or neglective of Sanctification under the profession of the Doctrines of Free-grace and Justification Many of the professed Familists which we meet with have been loose Professors of the Doctrine of Grace The Libertine doth live next dore to the Familist and Libertinisme is the broad road and high-way or beaten-path to Familisme Lastly take heed of vaine janglings and disputings in matters of Religion Religion is more in practise then Controversies or speculation Be more conscientious to practise what thou knowest then curious in disputing about things that thou knowest not And let thine eare be rather open to those that will instruct thee then to those that will dispute with thee The Disputes and Controversies of the times have made many Atheists and Familists in these times Origen speaking of these words in the 21. Exod. 22. If men strive and hurt a woman with child so that her fruit depart from her c. doth thus allegorize them The woman with child saith he are weake Christians who are with child and ready to bring forth truth The men that strive are Professors that with bitternesse and violence doe contend for their opinions and while they strive in heat and bitternesse for their opinions the Christian miscarries and doth not bring forth truth How many who did seeme to have Christ almost formed in them have miscarried and fallen to Familisme by the strivings and contentions of Professors that thou mayst therefore learne wisdome by their folly and stand more stedfastly by their fall treasure up the truths which have been delivered and imprint them upon your memories and because reasons precepts exhortations and Rules doe little advantage us to preserve us in the Profession of the Truth without the power of him who is truth looke unto him to preserve in the Faith of your union with himselfe and his Father in the Spirit and to ascertaine you of your resurrections as part of his body and to enable you as his members to glorifie him and his Father in the Spirit for evermore Amen The great Joy of Saints in the great Day of the Resurrection SERMON III. Preach'd on a Thanks-giving DAY ISAIAH 26.19 Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the Earth shall cast forth her dead I Have shewed unto you that these words are a present comfort or cordiall given by God unto his people for the refreshment of their languishing spirits and sad hearts in the midst of their afflictions And have proved that the bodies of the Saints shall arise and that they shall arise as the body of the Lord Jesus He is their head they shall rise as his menbers He dyed to bring his people to a sprituall onenesse with himselfe and his Father They are his possession and inheritance And as a body may properly be called the body of that soule which doth informe it so Christ shall be the spirituall forme and soule to those that shal be raised at the great day of the generall resurrection By these and other spirituall considerations I did evidence this truth that the bodies of the Saints shall he raised as the dead bodie of their blessed Siviour My dead body shall they rise I shall now by the Assistance of Gods grace briefly open unto you the words that follow in the Text and make choyse of one proposition from them which may heighten your spirituall joy this day upon which I shall enlarge my selfe and so shall commend you and what I shall deliver to you to the blessing of the Almighty The next word which doth present it selfe to us in the Text is this Awake which doth afford us this observation that Death is but a sleep It is night for a time with the Saints while they sleep in their graves but they shall awake at the morning of the resurrection The grave is a bed of rest perfumed and made sweet to all Saints by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ who hath taken away whatsoever is bitter and unpleasant in it It is no longer a curse to the Saints but rather a part of their happinesse Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord Rev. 14.4.13 As the Psalmist speakes Psal 17. When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likenesse that is at the great day of the resurrection after I have had a long sleep in the dust when the night is past and the day of the resurrection shall shine I shall awake and then I shall be satisfied with thy likenesse Isa 57.2
firmament is a great glory to our eyes so there shall be a Celestiall Star-like glory upon the bodies of the Saints they shall not be grosse lumpish and heavie bodies as they are now but spirituall bodies as swift as a Seraphim The bodie is now a clog and weight to the soule it is ergastulum animae as the Platonists say it keepeth the spirit under and presseth it down with the weight of it but then the bodie shall be a spirituall body so that in this body the Saints shall ascend into the aire as in a Charriot of triumph and glory to meet the Lord Jesus As Elias was carried up to Heaven so shall the Saints in these bodies of theirs rife in glorie to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the ayre Now they are subject to diseases then they shall be freed from all diseases now they are subject to death then death shall be swallowed up and every Saint in his owne person shall appeare as a Conquerour of death and of the grave every Saint shall have this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this song of triumph in his mouth O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law but thanks he unto God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Our bodies then shall be incorruptible wholly like the body of Christ therefore the Apostle saith that the bodie it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 3. last conformable in likenesse to the glorious bodie of the Lord Jesus Christ himselfe you see what perfection there shall be in the bodies of the Saints though they be vile now they shall be honourable and glorious then though they be now as pieces of earth they shall be then more bright then the Starres of Heaven or the Sunne in the firmament This glorie God will put upon the bodies of the Saints and being thus made happy in their bodies and spirits when they shall see themselvs in this happy condition filled in their bodies and spirits with the glory of God it cannot but cause great joy If a man lye sick a long while and have a weake distempered crazie bodie when he is restored he rejoyceth that he hath health and strength and is freed from the weaknesse that was upon him shall not there be great joy then when the Saints shall rise when they that had weake crazie and vile mortall bodies here shall see themselves in bodies of glory in bodies as glorious as the body of the Lord Jesus Againe there will be great cause of joy to these Saints when they shall be thus united in their bodies and soules and shall meet the Lord Jesus Christ because they shall have great dignitie put upon their persons they shall bee raised as no meane persons As wicked ungodly and unbelieving men shall be raised as slaves and vassals and be brought forth in chaines and fetters before the dreadfull tribunall of the Lord Jesus Christ so the Saints shall all come forth a◠Kings every one of them shall be dignified with the glorie and Majestie of a King This is that that is spoken of in the Revelation where it is said that Christ hath made 〈◊〉 Kings and Priests and wee shall reigne upon earth We shall reigne in our bodies As a◠Ambassadour said of the Senate of Rome that he apprehended that there were as many Kings as Senators in the Senate-house Quo◠Senatores tot Reges So there shall be as many Kings as Saints at the resurrection and every one shall have Kingly glory and Majesty every one together with the Lord Jesus reigning as a King upon the earth Rev. 5.10 Therefore if men rejoyce in the enjoyment of earthly Kingdomes and Crowne◠which are lined with cares that a King professed that if men knew the troubles which attended upon a Crowne no man would stoop to take it up what joy will there be when wee shall reigne as spirituall and heavenly Kings with the Lord Jesus Againe there will be great joy because all things that may occasion any sorrow or sadnesse shall be quite removed away all teares must then be wiped from the eyes of all the Saints Rev. 7.17 there must be no more sighing no more griefe no more sorrow All earthly infirmities and weaknesses which are accompanied with griefe and paine shall be removed for our bodies shall be Celestiall bodies 1 Cor. 15.40 raised up in incorruption 1 Cor. 15.42 And there shall be no more blindnesse or blacknesse upon our spirits Here so long as wee carrie sinne about us though we know it is pardoned though we know it shall be remembred no more Heb. 8.12 though we know in point of Justification that it may be sought for and cannot be found Jer. 50.20 yet so long as wee feele it opposing the Spirit of glory and holinesse in us by the filthy nature of it so long it will occasion sorrow griefe and some trouble to the soule but at the generall resurrection as sinne is now compleatly taken away in our Justification to those that believe in the Lord Jesus such being those blessed ones spoken of in the 32. Psal whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sinnes are covered So then sinne shall be wholly taken away to our owne sense feeling and apprehension by the Spirit of Sanctification There shall be no corner then in the soule spirit or body for any lust or uncleannesse and consequently no place for sorrow Sinne is like the evill spirit that possessed Saul that made him melancholy and sad and afflicted him in his spirit But when the Lord Jesus Christ shall appeare then all sinne shall be done away to our sense and feeling as it is done away now in our Justification Then we shall be as perfectly sanctified throughout both in bodie and spirit as wee are now perfectly justified Now the life that wee live in the flesh is by Faith in the Sonne of God by seeing how compleatly we are justified from sinnes lusts corruptions those enemies to the Lord Jesus Christ that wee carrie in our bosomes but then wee shall be as perfect in respect of the life of sanctification as wee are now perfect and compleat in respect of our Justification So that the cause of sorrow and trouble shall quite be taken away There shall be no place then left for Evangelicall sorrow the sorrow that now is wrought in the Saints is Evangelicall not Legall but the joy and glory which doth remaine for the Saints hereafter shall be so great that there shall be no place then left for Evangelicall griefe for any sinne that we have committed And as sin shall not then bring any sorrow upon us so neither shall the Devill who is the troubler of the Israel of God be able to afflict us Here he is permitted to afflict us as he did Job for the tryall of our Faith and patience and though for the present when we looke on Christ
doctrine 1 Tim. 1.9 10. And am likewise perswaded that he who loveth Christ will keepe his Commandements John 14.15 and Phil. 4.8 will follow things honest pure lovely and of a good report in the Spirit desiring holinesse as well as happinesse by Christ and as much longing to be in Heaven because it is a place of holinesse as because it is a place of glory and happinesse And am also confident that if we speake with the tongues of Angels and have all faith so that we could remove mountaines by the name of Christ and have not that faith which worketh by love it will not advantage us at all for our Justification Salvation before that God who doth justifie us without love To whose grace alone let salvation be ascribed for ever Amen Section 4. MAster Gatakers fourth Article unto which he is brought in as a witnesse by the Subscribers in the 17 th page of their booke is this That God doth not chastise any of his children for sinne nor is it for the sins of Gods people that the Land is punished Some few weekes for want of experimentall knowledge I was a little clouded in my spirit concerning the doctrine of affliction And though God did shine into my soule at that time to give me a wonderfull light concerning the doctrine of free grace yet I had not such a cleer and truely spirituall knowledge of this point as God did afterwards in the houre of tryall temptation and affliction give unto me But though there was some hay and stubble in mee in this particular and some mis-apprehensions concerning a place or two of Scripture which I have publiquely to my shame Gods glory acknowledged though my mistake was never charged upon me by my accusers yet in my darkest and most cloudy discourses I held forth enough to charitable and loving hearers to free me from this charge and more fully to informe them of the difference between legall punishments and fatherly chastisements I then did preach that afflictions were Gods fornace in which he did take away that drosse out of our lives and conversations which he had taken away before by his grace through faith in our Justification And afterward while I yet continued my preaching at Algate before I was ejected from thence by the potency and prevalency of my oppposers in the Citie that I may speake favourably of them To satisfie those whom I did conceive did mis-apprehend me I did speak from those words of our Saviour Rev. 3. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and amend In the handling of which words for the better clearing of my meaning I took liberty to handle two propositions seemingly contradictory First That God doth not chastise his people for sin or from sin 2 dly That God doth chastise his people for sinue and from sin And this was the reason of my action Not long before this I had preached that God doth not punish his justified people for sinne From whence some concluded that I denied fatherly chastisements to be for sin Wherefore that it might appear unto them that they had not drawn good consequences from my premises I proved that these two Propositions seemingly contradictory might stand well together as two blessed truths of the Lord Jesus which thing I can prove by many witnesses and by some who did take the same Sermons verbatim in short-hand And I shall observe the same method in clearing of this thing which is here charged upon me for my reproach And that my meaning may more plainely appear this Article having two branches in it I shal speak of them severally The first branch is That God doth not chastise any of his children for sin The word which I did usually make use of was punish and not chastise But if the word be taken in a large sence as sometimes it is in Scripture in which it signifieth as much as a legall punishment properly so called according to Isaiah's acception of it Isa 53. The chastisement of our peace is upon him I am willing to let it passe and in this sence hold it for a truth That God doth not punish or chastise his people for sin which I shall further briefly prove for the satisfaction of the Reader by these arguments Arg. 1. The chastisements or legall punishments due unto us for our sins cannot be laid upon us which are laid upon Jesus Christ for us But these chastisements or legall punishments due unto us for our sins are laid upon Jesus Christ and therefore they cannot be laid upon us The first proposition is evident because Justice doth not twice require satisfaction for the same fault as the learned Davenant doth well prove it against the Papists in his determinations Upon this position that the sinne being forgiven the punishment is also forgiven Remissâ culpâ remittitur paena where he affirmeth that if God should punish sin after it is pardodoned he should not exercise an act of Justice but severity or his absolute power Is non justitiae sed saevitiae aut saltem absolutae potentiae actum exerceret The second proposition is plainly proved by Isa 53.4.5 Arg. 2. God hath sworn that he will not be wroth with us or rebuke us Isa 54.9 And therefore hee doth not punish us with a legall punishment For a legall punishment or chastisement is an effect of his wrath Arg. 3. When God doth remember sin no more he doth not punish sin with a legall punishment properly so called But God doth not remember our sins any more Jer 31. Heb. 8. And therefore he doth not punish us with any legall punishment properly so called Arg. 4. God doth not punish us for those sins from which we are cleansed and purged by grace But we are purged and cleansed from our sinnes by grace 1 John 1.7 Heb. 1.3 Apoc. 1.5 And therefore we are not punished for our sinnes Arg. 5. Believers when they are without fault blame and reproofe in the sight of God cannot be punished with any legall punishment But Believers are without fault blame and reproofe in the sight of God Col. 1.22 And therefore they cannot be punished with any legall punishment Arg. 6. Beleivers cannot be punished by God in his justice as under the law when nothing can be charged upon them But nothing can be charged upon them Rom. 8.33 Therefore they cannot be punished by the justice of God as under the law Arg. 7. When God is fully appeased and satisfied for the sins of believers by the sacrifice of the death of Christ he cannot then punish them with any legall chastisement properly so called But God is fully appeased and satisfied for the sins of believers by the sacrifice of the death of Christ Rom. 3.25 And therefore they cannot be punished with any legal punishment properly so called Arg. 8. They for whom Christ is made a curse and hath freed from the curse of the law are not lyable to any punishment as a
thee For other foundation can no man lay then that which is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3. Though a spirituall man can make a good use of marks and signes as of love to God and Saints when he seeth them in the light of the Spirit as fruits proceeding from faith as the roote yet by drawing a conclusion from the sight of such things which we apprehend to be in our selves of our happinesse and good estate before God wee shall not so truely comfort as certainly deceive our selves Fourthly This is for the reprehension of blind ignorant Formalists who place Religion rather in conformity to outward formes of Government and submission to externall Ordinances then in the faith of the Gospel which is operative by love Justification doth not lye in our obedience to the Ordinances of Jesus Christ but in Jesus Christ Wee are not made Saints by being made members of any Church or Congregation but by faith in the head of the Church Woe to him that maketh his obedience and submission to any Ordinance the ground of his comfort as too many zealous Formalists do who run from Congregation to Congregation from one Ordinance to another to get solid comfort to their soules apprehending that they are undone creatures and cannot be true Saints unlesse they be under the true practise of all Ordinances whereas it is a plaine truth revealed in the Gospel of truth that neither submitting to an Ordinance can make a true Saint nor the want of Ordinances un-saint any man that is made one with Christ in beleeving He is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh But he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2.28 29. So he is a true Saint who is not a visible member of a Congregation but he whose life of faith is hidden in Jesus Christ He is baptized not whose body is washed with water but whose soule is washed in the bloud of Christ 1 Pet. 3.21 He is a good Communicant and breaks bread who doth not breake bread outwardly but by faith doth inwardly feed upon the bread of life Wee are not justified by works of the Law done before or after justification nor by yeelding obedience to any command concerning outward Ordinances but by our submitting in our Judgements to the truth of Gods Grace in Jesus Christ for justification without these I would not here be mistaken as though I did speake against any Saints or any who are spirituall and faithfull in the observation of any externall Ordinances But against zealous Formalists who doe make Saintship and fellowship to depend upon these things and are not spiritually acquainted with the truth of Gods Grace but are perverters of the Gospel In the next place here lyeth Consolation for all that heare me this day in that which I have delivered if God shall give unto them beleeving hearts Hast thou never done any good worke hast thou hated the wayes of God and his people hast thou never looked after the discipline government and ordinances of Christ Yet here is a ground for thee to come in unto Christ we are justified by grace through believing not through working Therefore let it be supposed that thou art without works yet thou hast good ground to take comfort in that which hath bin delivered believe and thou art in a happy condition though thou hast never done a good worke Thou art not to come to Jesus Christ as a righteous man But thou are to come unto him that thou maist be made a righteous man If thou seest thy selfe a vile sinner cast thy selfe into the armes of the grace of the Father by Jesus Christ and thou shalt be made the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. Promises of Grace are left by God upon record in the Scripture of truth for sinners for ignorant sinners Isa 29.24 They that erred in Spirit shall come to understanding For sinners that murmure against him his wayes truths Prophets as it followeth in the same verse They that murmured shall learne Doctrine For backsliding sinners Hosea 14.4 I will heale their back flidings I will love them freely Him that cometh unto him he will in nowise cast out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here are two Negatives in the Greeke which doe strengthen the Negation Iohn 6.37 By which speech our Saviour doth assure poore sinfull creatures that if in truth they come unto him they shall not be rejected by him or ejected from the armes of his love and mercy Christ's invitation is to all sinners All that will may lay hold of him not only the righteous but the unrighteous If thou canst not love God thou maist looke on the Grace of God and take comfort that God loves thee Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners the cheifest and vilest of sinners to repentance Therefore come as a sinner as the cheifest of sinners come I say and welcome The Lord Jesus keeps open-house for all commers the blinde the lame shall not finde the doores shut upon them They shall be wellcome as sinners that cannot be entertained as Saints It is reported of Romes first Founder that wanting Subjects he sent forth some to make known his will to all people who lived about him that if any malefactors or such who were oppressed in the places where they lived did come in unto him they should live peaceably in his Kingdome and he would protect them against any that should pursue them and by this meanes he became suddenly the King of a numerous people So Christ doth send forth his Proclamations to assure sinners and vile malefactors that if they will come under his Scepter they shall live peaceably under his Government and that hee will safe-guard them from all their enemies which shall pursue them and by this meanes his dominions are enlarged from Sea to Sea and sinners doe rejoyce in the King of Sion This doctrine if it were received would answer all the objections which are raised in the hearts of men against their happinesse by Jesus Christ Is there any sad comfortlesse soule which would not be comforted if this truth were received What canst thou object against thy selfe to bereave thy selfe of peace which would not be removed if this were throughly believed Art thou a sinner Christ offereth himselfe to sinners Art thou an old sinner An old sinner is but a sinner Hast thou bin a Pharisee like Paul persecuting Christ and the doctrine of Grace A persecuting Pharisee is but a sinner And Paul was received to mercy that such might not be without hope of mercy 1 Tim. 1.16 Art thou an Hypocrite An Hypocrite may come as a sinner to Christ Bring what objection thou canst and a perswasion concerning the truth of Gods grace shall answer it and if thou doest believe thou hast as good
this purpose Consider that that man who hath true faith may likewise have much false faith There may bee a great deale of dead faith in him who hath a living faith Where there is true gold there may be much drosse and in that Professor in whom there is the golden faith of the Gospell there may be a great deal of drossie faith which is nothing worth A Christian hath two contrary natures in him Hee hath flesh as well as spirit And as there are perswasions in him flowing from the spirit so there may be perswasions flowing from the flesh Saints sometimes when they are in a luke-warm and back-sliding condition are apt to please and content themselves with the workings and perswasions of their owne spirits And they may finde that much of their joy and comfort doth not proceed from true faith wrought by the operation of God but from the lying cheating counterfeit working and operation of their owne spirits Will you know one principall ground and reason why some true Saints are so unfruitfull dead-hearted formall and luke-warm in the profession of the Gospell it is because the Devil cheats them with the workings and perswasions of their own spirits When God perswades the heart of his love our hearts are inflamed with an holy love to God and are willing to doe or suffer for the glory of God but when wee content our selves with the working of our owne spirits there is idlenesse sloath neglect of Christian duties coldnesse formality and lukewarmness so that there is little difference between us others Again it concerns you all to try your perswasions For if any of you cozen and cheate your selves with the perswasions of your owne spirits the time will come that you who kindle these sparks and walke in the light of your owne fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled This shall ye receive from the hand of the Lord ye shall lye down in sorrow Isa 50.11 When you expect heaven you will be cast downe to hell when you shall be confident that Christ is yours and shall bee ready to plead the goodnesse of your cause in the face of Jesus you shall finde that you were deceived by the false perswasions and workings of your owne humane spirits A faith of your selves by which ye have been perswaded of those things which ye have received by the relation of things to the eare will not save you but that faith which is wrought by the Spirit giving an heavenly revelation of Christ to the heart Therefore try whether your faith be from your owne humane spirits and naturall understandings or whether it proceed from the power and spirit of the most high God mightily working in you for the salvation of your soules But you will say How shall we be resolved in our spirits that our faith hath not proceeded from our owne spirits but that it is a work of God in us 1. When God works faith he gives an evident light by which wee see the truth of our faith and thus the faithfull are in the first place assured of salvation in believing The just doth live by faith Heb. 2.4 and hath his life and righteousnesse by faith If any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 The speciall presence of Christ in the soule doth make a man a new creature and by faith the new creation in us is discovered unto us and therefore Christ is said to bee formed in us by faith Gal. 4.19 So many as receive him by faith are born not of flesh nor of the will of man but of God and have power to be the sons of God 1 John 12 13. By faith wee are the children of God Gal. 3.26 and know that we are the children of God 1 John 5.10 Hee that believeth on the Sonne of God hath the witnesse in himselfe By which words it appeareth how true faith differeth from a wavering opinion unde apparet quantum differat à fide fluxa opinio Marlor It is the office of faith to beare witnesse to the certainty of our salvation and to give in a testimony of our happinesse by Christ Jesus The blood of Christ doth purge the conscience from dead workes Heb. 9.14 By faith we drink this blood of the Sonne of God Iohn 6.53 and look upon him who is invisible to the eye of reason by this eye of faith which is the evidence of things not seene Heb. 11.1 Christ is set forth as a propitiation and object of our justification by the Father Rom. 3.25 And by faith wee looke upon him who is set forth unto us to be looked upon It is life eternall to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent John 17.3 And true faith is nothing else but the true knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ Fides quid aliud est quam vera de deo cognitio Cyr. Hee that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not shall not see life John 3.36 In which words our Saviour doth seeme to put a difference between a believer and an unbeliever The unbelieving man seeth not eternall life but the believing man seeth eternall life and hath eternall life abiding in him by which he knoweth that he is freed from the death of sin and from the temporall and eternall death for sin and shall not come into condemnation For when a man truly believeth heaven is opened unto him and he hath a spirituall discovery of Christ made unto his soule But it is not so with a man who hath a perswasion formed in himselfe by himselfe As John said that what hee had seene hee declared unto them 1 John 1. so every spirituall man may say that he hath seene Jesus Christ With Stephen by faith he seeth God and his Son Jesus standing on his right hand Christ is so perfectly presented to the eye of faith that the believer doth by faith looke upon a crucified Christ as though he were present before him Gal. 3. The Apostle to prove the effectuall calling justification of the Thessalonians doth affirm that the Gospell came unto them in much assurance 2 Thes 1.5 Enquire now in thy owne spirit whether thy faith is such a faith as this which the Scripture doth call the unfeigned faith of the elect and if it be such a faith it is not of thy selfe but it is the gift of God 2ly The Kingdome of God being not in word but in power thou that dost truly believe hast found the word of salvation to come unto thee with a mighty power This was an evidence to Paul of the truth of the conversion of the Thessalonians because the Word came in power unto them 1 Thes 1.5 Thou that hast trusted to a perswasion of the grace and favour of God to thee in Christ wrought in thee by thy own spirit thou hast had no heavenly power in this perswasion But he that hath faith wrought by the spirit of God
doe evill And on the other side they that doe good are first borne of God and receive of his nature and seed and by the reason of that nature and seed are first good before they doe good by the same rule And Christ who is contrary to the Devill came to destroy the works of the Devill in us and to give us a new birth a new nature and to sow new seed in us that we should by reason of that birth sinne no more And he hath a paralell place to this in the same exposition of this Epistle As there is no sin saith he in Christ the stock so can there be none in the quicke members that live and grow in him by faith Calvin in his instruction against the Libertines bringing in this place of John as an argument of theirs to prove that they doe never sin doth answer them by this exposition of the words Johns words doe signifie nothing else but this That a man as farre as he is regenerated of God cannot sin Johannis verba nihil aliud significant quam hominem quatenus regeneratus est a Deo non peccare I might multiply Authors speaking sometimes to this purpose but for my part I doe not approve this way of Preaching or frequent quoting of Authors in Sermons yet sometimes I am necessitated unto it and for the hardnesse of hearts of hearers doe thinke that something may be done in this way for the gaining of them in unto truth As Amesius doth deliver his judgment in his cases of conscience But secondly I must professe ingenuously that most men whom I might bring in to speake to this truth doe seeme to contradict in other places of their writings what they have delivered concerning this truth And therefore I shall only bring Scripture to prove what I doe desire to desend for the truth of God knowing that Scripture is sufficient of it self for the confirmation of truth And that the judgements and opinions of all the learned men that ever were or shall be are nothing at all without it As David said of the sword of Goliah 1 Sam. 21.9 There is none like that So no sword or bow of men is like unto the Scripture by which errour is hewen down and truth exalted Wherfore I shall give you more fully my plaine and naked meaning in this point and then shall shew you what Scripture will come in to beare witnesse to the truth which I have received from the Lord. First We are to take notice that man in Scripture is considered physically as he hath a rationall spirit joyned to an humane body And when we thus speake of man wee doe acknowledge that every man sinneth Lot David Peter Paul and the like according to that of James Jam. 3.2 In many things we offend all Secondly We may looke upon man theologically And if we thus consider him wee shall finde that in a spirituall sense every Christian man hath two men in him a new man and and an olde man and these two of contrary natures and operations And as sometimes we speake of a man as having two physicall beings in him and doe attribute unto him what is proper to his corporall and spirituall part as when we say a man heareth seeth walketh understandeth and the like And then again doe distinguish these two attributing to the body what is proper to the body and to the soule what is proper to the soule So somtimes the Scripture doth speak of man as having two contrary natures and then doth againe attribute that to the new or divine nature which is proper unto that and that unto the sinfull and fleshly nature which is proper unto it In the olde and unregenerated nature there is nothing but sin and the seed and spawn of all filthinesse and uncleannesse And in the regenerated part or new man there is nothing but purity and holinesse In this nature he doth no sin nor cannot sin as he cannot doe good it the other nature So that I apprehend that the man borne of God is not sinfull in his nature or in any of his actings workings or operations Hee is light in his understanding holy in his will pure in his thoughts sanctified in his affections It is well observed by Bullinger That God doth allude to the nature of seede the nature of which is retained by those things which spring out of it Alludit ad seminis naturam quamea referunt quae ex eo nascuntur The seed being holy that which ariseth from it is likewise holy as our Saviour doth informe us John 3.6 That which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit iâ— spirit Not that the new-born man is wholly turned into the eternall spirit and is nothing else but the spirit as some deluded and deluding spirits have affirmed but the abstract is taken for the concrete which manner of speech is very frequent in Scripture That which is borne of the Spirit is said to be spirit because it is made spirituall by the presence of the holy Spirit in it Having acquainted you with my meaning and given you the spirituall interpretation of the words I shall draw the marrow and substance of the particulars which I named into one Conclusion which I shall endeavour to make good by spirituall arguments which I shall draw from Scripture and spirituall reason The conclusion is this The spiritual man or the man born of God in his spirituall and godly nature motions actings towards God in Christ doth not nor cannot sin Arg. 1. His seed is holy in him therefore his fruit is holy this is the argument of the Apostle His seed abideth in him and therefore he cannot sin Christ is the seed in us 1 Pet. 1.23 Every true Christian can say with Paul Gal. 2.20 That Christ liveth in him and Christ in us doth not suffer us to live sinfully but maketh us to live holily he becomming the principle of an holy life and sanctification in us A Christian is powerfully acted by an holy principle and therefore his actings are holy Christ is a pure fountaine of holinesse in us as well to fill our souls with the streames of holinesse by the Spirit as to wash away the uncleaness of our souls in our Justification And this sountaine cannot send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter Jam. 3.11 The streames doe retaine the pure nature of the fountain from whence they flow Reader I must inform thee that since I Preached this Sermon I received objections from my learned friend Mr. R. L. against my arguments which I thought good to print with my Arguments Ob. Against this argument this is objected The argument from the seed to the fruit wil not follow unlesse the soyl be also answerable otherwise sorry fruit may come from good seed Answ As there is good seed so there is a good soile the spirituall heart and therefore the argument will follow This I prove Ezek. 36.26
fearing our rejoycing our praying If so then are we in this working either perfect or imperfect Agents If perfect agents then is there no ignorance in our understandings no depravation in our wills no perversenesse in our affections The contrary whereof all the truly faithfull find by experience and the Scripture abundantly testifieth But if we be imperfect agents then cannot perfection come out of imperfection no effect can be better than its cause Ans 1 The efficiency of the first cause doth not take away the efficiency of the second cause In God we live move yet it is not God that moveth he though he moveth all things cannot be moved himself immobilis movens omnia Aug. So it is not God that repenteth but we repent The ignorance of which truth hath been the cause of the wicked mistery of Familisme which my soule abhorreth And therefore we shall agree in the truth which is implicitely laid down in the first part of your Dilemma 2ly Whereas you say that all the faithfull grant that man is an imperfect agent I answer that if we take perfect here in this point as it is opposed to that which is sinfull so many Saints doe grant and all should and will as more light is beamed into their soules grant it that the sanctified and spiritual man considered as farre forth as he is a spirituall man doth work as a perfect Agent not as an unholy but an holy man And therefore according to your rule his action must be spirituall and holy And this may give an answer to that argument which is brought from Job Who can bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane Job 14.4 3ly Whereas you say that no effect can be better than its cause c. This is not universally true A man imperfect by the want of his armes or legs may beget a childe which is perfect and hath its limbs But this not being much to the purpose I shall not contend about it Arg. 12. If the new man never sin Christ came not to save the new man for he came only to save sinners Answ The new man taken in this spirituall and theologicoll sence is not the object of salvation but an elect person guilty and sinfull in himselfe And the new creation is a blessed consequent of our redemption by Christ but I have sufficiently answered this before Arg. 13. That which is not in its owne nature agreeable to the holy law of God is not perfect and without sin for sin is the transgression or disagreement with the law of God 1 John 3.4 But the best of a regenerate mans actions are not agreeable to the law of God being not done with all the heart with all the soule with all the understanding and with all the strength Mat. 22.37 Deut. 6.5 Ans 1. By this argument you would bring the spirituall man to judge himselfe by the law or old covenant but hee is better taught by the Spirit And as hee doth not put his person under the old covenant so doth he not judge his actions by the old covenant but by the new covenant of grace According to that of the Apostle Gal. 5.18 If ye are led by the Spirit ye are not under the law And thus looking upon what is wrought by the Spirit under the new covenant he seeth it in its own nature agreeable to the law as it is delivered unto him in the hand of the Lord Jesus Not that Christ doth require lesse holinesse than is required in the old covenant but because he giveth us more grace enabling us to keepe his Commandements by the keeping of which we known in the light of the Spirit that we truly know him And the Commandements of Christ are kept by the Saints Evangelically two manner of wayes 1. By believing for justification 2. By holy walking for sanctification not that we can keep them by holy walking but as we walk in the light of our justification And thus he is as well able to keep the commandement of love as the commandement of faith Suppose a King should pardon a Traytor and should give him an assurance of pardon for all future Treason which he might run into and had power to enable him in some things and sometimes to be obedient unto him as a loyall Subject would you not say that this Subject were a loyall Subject all his trayterous acts forgiven and his loyall obedience to the command of his Soveraigne being accepted Thus it is between God and us He forgiveth all the treasons of the flesh and accepteth of the obedience of the spirit God doth account that all the commands of the Law are fulfilled by us when that which is not done is pardoned Omnia tunc facta deputantur cum id quod non fit ignoscitur which is true in a sense in reference to sanctification as well as to justification And a spirituall man thus looking upon himselfe in the glasse of the covenant of grace doth know that he is a keeper of the Commandements of God and can say with the Psalmist Ps 119.10 With my whole heart I have sought thee O let me not wander from thy Commandements All his defects and imperfections with the committing of evil and omitting good in the flesh are done away and that which is good is accounted so by the law of God as it is presented unto him in this Covenant So speake ye and so doe as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty saith James Jam. 2.12 As God doth judge our persons by the law of liberty or the law of the new Covenant so he doth judg our actions and thus they are perfect And the law of the new Covenant is not only faith for justification but love for sanctification And thus this place is expounded by the learned Paraeus Arg. 14. Paul did not think himself to have fully apprehended or to be already perfect but strove forward Phil. 3.12 13. which cannot be said of the olde man but only of the new man for the old man doth not strive forward for the prize of the high calling Answ Though Paul had not attained to that perfection which he looked for at the resurrection Yet hee had attained to a perfection of parts which is opposed to sinfulnesse Which doth appear by what followeth in the 15. vers of the same Chap. where he doth acknowledg the Saints in this sence to be perfect with which verse I shall put a period to my answers to your objections As many as be perfect be thus minded if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveale even this unto you Vse 2. The lessons which God hath taught me from these meditations have beene very powerfull by his grace for the convincing mee of sin in a Gospel-way and for the humbling of my soule under his mighty hand by seeing the huge masse of corruption which is in the flesh that little quantity of pure gold which is in the Spirit It
was the speech of one of the Ancients that grace in some Saints is like a spark in the Ocean And thus I have apprehended it in my selfe Yet I see that as it is wrought by grace so it is accepted by grace being not under the law as delivered in the first covenant and yet not without the law to God but under the law to Christ 1 Cor. 9.21 And this hath been a strong motive unto mee to hunger and thirst after the righteousnesse of sanctification commanded and promised in the new Covenant which doth comfort mee with an assurance and confidence that that which is perfected here in part inchoatively shall be perfected in degrees consummatively I can say with David Psal 138.8 The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me he will not forsake the works of his owne hand And seeing the strength and power of the flesh in mee I am carried up in spirit to admire and wonder at Gods omnipotent grace by which through faith which worketh by love I am preserved together with all Saints unto the day of salvation in Christ Jesus who is over all Rom. 9.5 God blessed for ever Amen FINIS SERMON I. ESAY 26.19 Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing yee that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast forth her dead THE beliefe of the resurrection is a present comfort in the midst of misery Resurrectio mortuorum fiducia Christianorun Tertul. The resurrection of the dead is the joy confidence and boasting of Christians And therefore when the people of God had made a sad complaint of their low condition in the words preceding my Text our Evangelicall Prophet for their comfort and consolation doth from the mouth of God present them with this sweet and precious promise of a glorious resurrection of their bodies Let poore Saints bee full of complaints let the billowes of misery and trouble be ready to overwhelme their soules and let God but breake in upon their spirits and give them assurance of a blessed resurrection by his grace and all their trouble all their discomforts all their miseries by the light of this Sunne will presently vanish away You may read the complaint in the precedent verse where the Church complaines that she had been like a woman with child in great paine verse 17. Like as a woman with Child that draweth neere the time of her delivery is in paine and crieth out in her pangs so have we been in thy sight O Lord We know the paines of a woman in travell are the greatest paines and the Church to set forth her trouble compares it to the paines and pangs of a woman in travell But that which doth heighten the trouble and misery of the Church is this that though she were thus like a woman in travell and paine and expected to bring forth some great thing and to doe something in the world which might be left as a lasting monument to the praise of God and be a refreshment to her selfe after her throwes and languishment She finds that all was a false conception therefore she saith in the next verse vers 18. We have been with child we have been in paine we have as it were brought forth the wind She swelled big with expectation and thought she should have brought forth some glorious birth into the world but alas all that she hath brought forth hath been but as it were wind we see nothing but a false conception We have not wrought any deliverance in the Earth neither have the Inhabitants of the world fallen ver 18. Here wee see the sad complaint of the Church And in the words I have read to you you may likewise read the Prophet laying downe that which might comfort and cheare the sad and drouping spirits of the people of God in this sad and lamentable complaint of theirs And that is drawne from a sweet promise that God makes to them of a resurrection as if the Prophet had said let it never trouble you though you be the poorest vilest and miserablest creatures here upon the Earth looke beyond the Earth looke for the accomplishment of Gods promise beyond this present life and then you shall see as much cause to rejoyce as you apprehended cause of mourning before What though you doe no great thing for the present on Earth what though your Enemies prevaile over you what though their cursed devices Counsells and Machinations doe take effect against you what though you fall by their hands and can doe no great things to set up Trophees of glory below remember this Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise c. Thus you see what coherence these words have with the context In the words be pleased to take notice of these parts First here is a promise made to the people of God of a blessed resurrection Thy dead men shall live Secondly the confirmation of this that is as some interpret it from the resurrection of the Lord Jesus My dead body shall rise therefore they shall not lye long in the dust together with my dead body shall they arise or else thus if wee leave out together and with which are not in the Originall then this is the meaning Thy dead men shall live my dead body shall they arise at the resurrection they shall rise as my very dead body I have consulted with the Hebrew text and I find no more but that I see no reason wee should put in together with seeing it is not found in the first copy Thirdly the nature of the resurrection is expressed to us Awake The Saints doe as it were awake out of their sleep Death is nothing but sleep to the people of God The Prophet here to take away the sharpnesse and bitternesse of death compares it to a bed wherein a man sweetly reposeth himselfe and after he is refreshed riseth out againe so after the Saints have layne a while in their beds in their graves they awake as the Psalmist saith As for mee I will behold thy face in righteousnesse I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likenesse Psal 17. ult that is at the resurrection when I awake then I shall be satisfied with thy likenesse I doe not enjoy so much of thee here as I desire to doe but then when I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likenesse Fourthly here is the great joy set forth that shall be when the Saints doe arise and that is expressed in that they are bid to Awake and sing When the Saints are raised they are to have a song in their mouthes of joy and the glory of God in their hearts awake and sing But it is otherwise with wicked and ungodly ones they must awake and houle they must awake when they had rather sleepe an everlasting sleep and wish it might be a continuall and an ever induring midnight to their poore soules but
men shall live that is all those Saints that shall die shall live againe by the power of Christ who shall be their life Thirdly Thy dead men shall live The Prophet doth not speak here of a resurrection of soules but when he saith Thy dead men he meanes onely the bodies of the Saints As our age hath been fertile to bring forth all monstrous tenents and opinions that other ages have exploded so it hath brought forth this abominable errour which many Heathens by the dimme light of nature have opposed that the soule is mortall They that are acquainted with people here in this City will meet with some that will affirme that the soule as well as the body is mortall and this is one of the places that they make use of Thy dead men Now they say man is a compositum of soule and body therefore seeing dead men must live it followes that the soule or humane spirit as well as the body must die But consider this is against other places of Scripture doth not the wise man tell us of the body returning to the dust and the spirit returning to God that gave it Eccles 12.7 Doth not Paul desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1 23. It is evident therefore that he had a perswasion that as soon as his spirit did take leave of his body his Spirit should be happy in the enjoyment of the Lord Jesus Doth not our Saviour tell us that as soone as Lazarus died the Angels carried him into Abrahams bosome he came presently to the enjoyment of some happinesse in the enjoyment of God Therefore we are to know here in this place that God speaketh unto us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of men God speaking to men speaketh unto them in the language of men And as we ordinarily call the carkasse of the dead a dead man so God when he saith thy dead men shall live his meaning is not that there shall be a resurrection of spirits as though the soule of man were mortall like the soule of a beast and did die with the body but the meaning is that the dead bodies of the Saints shall arise Thy dead men shall live For the proofe of this I will present you with places taken out of the Scripture of truth Hosea 13.14 there the Spirit by the Prophet speakes most plainly of the resurrection I will ransome them from the power of the grave I will redeeme them from death O death I will be thy plagues O grave I will be thy destruction c. which the Apostle 2 Cor. 15. cites and proves that this Promise shall be fully accomplished to the people of God at the generall resurrrection So likewise God teacheth his holy servant Ezekiel this lesson in a holy vision Ezek. 37. The hand of the Lord was upon mee and carryed me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me downe in the middest of the valley which was full of bones and caused me to passe by them round about and behold there were very many in the open valley and loe they were very dry And he said unto me Son of man can these bones live And I answered O Lord God thou knowest Againe he said unto me Prophecie upon these bones and say unto them O yee drie bones heare the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones Behold I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live And I will lay sinewes upon you and bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and ye shall live and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Ezek. 37.1 Here the Prophet doth speak of the resurrection and shewes that a Spirit of life and power shall come upon the drie bones and dust of the Saints and that they shall live againe in the presence of God What was Jobs Faith and confidence in the middest of his sufferings but in the resurrection Job 19.25 26. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth and though after my skin wormes shall destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God Here is a plaine place in which the Doctrine of the resurrection is held forth to us He professeth that he believed the resurrection of the dead and speaking by the Spirit of Christ who is eternall life the wisdome of the Father made flesh he saith I shall see him with what eyes with these eyes and no other with these very eyes I urged this place to two men and I had two severall Answers from them One that denyed the resurrection gave this Answer I might tremble to speake it Job spake as a crazie old man he knew not what and therefore this was no solid place to prove the resurrection The second said he did not speak of the resurrection because he saith in my flesh I shall see God now God is not seene with fleshly eyes But the Answer to this is easie he speaks of Christ as God-man so we are said to see God when we see God in Jesus Christ as it is Rev. 1.7 Behold he commeth with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him And all kindreds of the earth shall waile because of him With bodily eyes we may see the Lord Jesus Christ in his body and with that spirituall eye and in that spirituall body which we shal have given unto us at the resurrection with that spirituall eye and in that spiritual body we shall be able to see that spirituall body that the Lord Jesus Christ hath so seeing Christ we see God because Christ is God manifested in the flesh as the Apostle calls him 1 Tim. 3.16 The places are infinite almost in the New-Testament nothing being so much preached by the Apostles as the Doctrine of the resurrection Paul comes to Athens among the Epicures and Stoicks great Schollers that were fooles and ignorant in Religion he preacheth the resurrection that God would judge the world by the man Christ Jesus so they were to be witnesses of the resurrection and to preach Christ risen from the dead to give evidence and assurance to men that they should rise likewise as well as the Lord Jesus In the 1 Cor. 15. there were men crept into that Congregation that denyed the resurrection therefore what strong Arguments doth Paul lay downe to prove the resurrection He shewes that Christ dyed in vaine and that all Religion is in vaine that the Apostles were impostors and liers who preached that Christ was risen and that the Saints by the power of Christ should rise if there were no resurrection So in 1 Thess 4.17 The Apostle speaks of the same subject and shewes the manner of the resurrection and how Christ shall come from Heaven The Lord himselfe shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voyce of the Arch-angel and the Trump of God and the dead in Christ shall
a heap worth nothing yet he knoweth by the Art of the refyner to bring a choyse and precious vessell out of that dust So though the bodies of the Saints have laine as a heape of dust and wee see no glory in it yet God the refyner of Heaven by the power of his Arme is able to extract the filings and dust of his Saints out of the earth and to restore their dust to an immortall spirituall and glorious body Looke to the power of God nothing will be impossible Therefore when the Sadduces cavilled against the Doctrine of the resurrection our Saviour strikes at the root of their errour which was this because they questioned the power of God concerning this Ye erre saith he not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God Mat. 22. Qui potest facere potest reficere c. saith Tertullian he that was able to make the bodie out of nothing is able to remake it he that was able to give a being out of no being is able to give a being out of that that hath a being It is easier to make a thing out of that that hath a being then out of that that hath no being God hath done the first why should we distrust him concerning the second Therefore you shall find the Apostle when he preached this Doctrine that we shall be raised and in our bodies made like the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ and knowing that there would be carnall objections arise in the spirits of men against this Doctrine he presently fits and shapes an answer for it from the power of God Phil. 3. ult we looke for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shal change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue even all things to himselfe Here that the mouth of unbeliefe and carnall reason may be stopped he tells us that he will make our bodies like unto his glorious bodie and question not but he will doe it for he will doe it by his mighty power by which he is able to subdue all things to himselfe thus farre in answer to the first sort of Adversaries The objections of the spirituall Enemies or rather diabolicall Enemies though they pretend to spirituality are drawn from Scripture And this is no wonder for their Father the Devill doth quote Scripture sometimes too The first place which they alleadge is in the 1 Cor. 15.50 Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God neither doth corruption inherit incorruption from whence they conclude that our corruptible and fleshly body shal not be raised And therefore that there is no such resurrection to be expected which we waite for But that the Apostle in this Chapter and all other places speaking of the resurrection doth treat of it spiritually allegorically And that he never did hold forth such a carnall and grosse resurrection as we in our muddie braines doe grossely apprehend he did In answer to which objection we shall grant that the Apostle in sundry places doth speake of a resurrection figuratively As in the 3. Col. 1. If ye be risen with Christ seelie those things which are above where he speaketh of a resurrection to a new life in the spirit by faith And in this sense we grant that Saints are already risen There being no happinesse for such at the second resurrection hereafter who are not first raised here and made partakers of the first resurrection Yet this doth not weaken our assertion nor overthrow our Faith And therefore give me leave to put in an answer to their objection First It is true flesh and blood shall not inherit the Kingdome of God What doth he meane he meanes sinfull flesh and bloud shall not inherit whatsoever is sinne and flesh in this respect shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Secondly flesh and blood may be taken for the weaknesses and infirmities that cleave to our bodies for the present and flesh and blood our bodies of flesh and blood if wee looke on them in their frailties infirmities and weaknesses so they shall not inherit the Kingdome of God But otherwise it is certaine these bodies which are flesh and blood shall inherit the Kingdome of God For as our Lord Christ is now in glory in the same body though it be a spirituall glorious body in Heaven in which he suffered on the Crosse so we who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be raised goe to Heaven and enjoy God in happinesse in these very bodies that we carrie about us we shall see God with these eyes and no other we shall have the same feet hands and members c. And though there shall be no sinne frailty weaknesse or infirmitie no imperfection lamenesse deafnesse or blindnesse yet the same numericall body shall be raised againe And if God would but open their eyes to read and understand what is spoken they shall have an answer from the pen of him whom they through their blindnesse doe misunderstand in the 53. verse of the same chapter This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortality The same mortall body by him who is immortall must be made immortall and incorruptible This was the confession of the African Churches Credimus resurrectionem carnis hujus we believe the resurrection of this flesh which is consonant to the truth delivered by Paul 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appeare before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad The same persons must appeare we that consist of a materiall body and spirituall soule must appeare in the same body and soule or else it is not we that shall appeare but some body else which shall appeare which is contrary to the mind of God and his Apostle in this place The second objection which they bring is this that we that professe Christ and a resurrection by him in this way are carnall and know Christ after the flesh whereas the Apostle saith in the 2 Cor. 5.16 That he is to be knowne so no more To which I answer that this is one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the things hard to be understood in Paul which Peter speaketh of 2 Pet. 3.16 which they being unstable wrest as they doe other Scriptures unto their owne destruction Paul hath no such meaning which they carnally draw from the letter of the word which will appeare if we consider the Christ which he preached who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh Rom. 1.3 crucified in the flesh for our sinnes 2. Cor. 13.4 risen from the dead for our Justification Rom. 4.25 1 Cor. 15.20 ascended in our humane nature in which he suffered and descended into the lower parts of the earth 4. Eph. and in that humane nature doth make Intercession for us at his Fathers right hand
cadaver meum resurgent They shall arise as my carkasse or dead body which I shall enlarge by some considerations First consideration Christ and his members are one therefore the Saints shall be raised as the body of the Lord Jesus Christ The members of the body are the members of the head Christ Jesus he is the head of the body therefore the bodies of the Saints being raised they are raised as the body of the Lord Christ Ephes 5.30 We are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones The body of a Saint is the body of the Lord Jesus the flesh of a Saint is the flesh of the Lord Jesus and the spirit of a Saint is one with the spirit of Jesus Paul persecuted the Saints and cast their bodies into prison Christ calls to him from heaven Why persecutest thou me When the body of a Saint is imprisoned Christ is then shut up in prison so when the bodies of the Saints are raised the body of the Lord Jesus Christ is raised As the Animall spirits lie in the head by which motion is conveyed to the members so the spirit of power lies in the Lord Jesus Christ by which we are moved by which we are raised in which spirit we both in body and spirit are made one with the Lord Christ This Doctrine of our union with Christ is likewise set forth by Paul 1. Cor. 6.15 Know you not saith the Apostle that your bodies are the members of Christ shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of a harlot As the hand or foot of a man may be said to be part of the man so the bodies of the Saints may be said to be part of the Lord Jesus For as the head and all the members of the body make one naturall body in that one spirit that is in them all and acts in them all so Christ and all believers make one in flesh and spirit by that one spirit which dwells in the flesh of Christ and in the flesh and spirit of every true believer 1. Cor. 12.12 As the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ Here you see that the Apostle calls the members of Christ Christ mysticall so also is Christ saith he he gives the Church the name of Christ by reason of this neare union which is between Christ Jesus and all his members Againe the Saints they are married to the Lord Jesus as the body of the wise may be said to be the husbands so the bodies of the Saints as wel as their souls belong to the Lord Jesus and are one with him And as Adam when Eve was brought to him said This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh so Christ when the dead bodies of the Saints shall be raised raises his owne body and will say This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh then shall be the great marriage of the Lamb then it shall be solemnized in a most glorious manner and then Christ shall owne all those who were given to him by the Father and there in a solemne manner shall he marrie them to himselfe he shall owne them all for his own wife and they all shall be looked on as one in him Likewise the bodies of the Saints that are raised are the body of Christ as the sprigs of a tree or the branches of a vine may be said to be part of the tree or part of the vine Our Saviour sets forth this similie to us Joh. 15. where he compares himself to a vine and all believers to branches in this vine Christ shall be as the great vine in the resurrection and all believers shall be branches and sprigs sprouting out of this vine from that life power and spirit that God shall put forth through the body of the Lord Jesus This union is not by the confusion of things which are united as the ignorant Familists doe fondly conceive but by the union of things which are different in their personall beings and individuall natures which will appeare by the similitudes which God doth make use of for the illustrating of this truth unto us As of body and members though all the members doe make but one body yet every member doth retaine its proper place office and being in the body so that the hand is not the foot nor the foot the arme or head so it is between Christ and his people Christ still remaineth in his owne person as head and they as severall members belonging to that head The spirit and body make one man yet the spirit is not the body nor the body the spirit The vine and branches are one yet the vine is not the branch nor the branch the vine The Husband and wife are one yet the Husband is not the wife nor the wife the Husband The second consideration for the amplifying of this point may be this because that whatsoever he did or suffered was that he might bring all believers to an onenesse with himselfe and the Father and this is that he prayes for Joh. 17. The glory that thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one as we are one Christ did therefore beare our sinnes Christ did therefore put himselfe under all the curses due to us for our enormities he did therefore manifest himselfe as a conquerour over all the Enemies that opposed us that all things that might bee any hindrance to our union or hinder our spirituall communion with God being removed in him Eph. 12.14 we might be brought to an onenesse and see our selves as one body and one spirit with him Our happinesse lyeth in our onenesse with Father Word and Spirit which are but one Man made himselfe miserable by disuniting himselfe from God who is but one Mar. 12.29 and Christ doth make him happy by bringing him back again to that onenesse which he had with God It was the office and employment of Christ to bring all things from disunion to union and onenesse with himselfe and the Father which he hath effected for us and therefore they shall be raised as the body of the Lord Jesus Christ My dead body shall they rise The third consideration is this they shall rise as his dead body because they shall rise as the proper goods possession and inheritance of the Lord Jesus Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession they shall be raised as the body of Christ because Christ shall have a right propriety and Interest in them Ye are not your owne yee are bought with a price your bodies as well as your spirits are Gods c. 1 Cor. 6.20 the Apostle gives this reason why Christ died and revived and rose againe that he might be Lord of the quick and dead Rom. 14.9 that as a servant is more his
Scripture though it be written in a plaine style and though there be not that humane Eloquence and Rhetorick in it which you shall find in the preaching of some men who preach themselves rather then the Lord Jesus and the simplicity of the Gospel That man is a good proficient in the Schoole of Christ that every day growes more and more in love with the blessed and holy Scripture I remember what an Orator speaking in the commendation of Cicero faith he is a good proficient in Oratorie that delights to read the Orations of Cicero so he is a good proficient in Christianity that in believing delights in the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament Therefore you shall find that men that fall off to these opinions presently they slight the Scripture and either wholly deny the word of God or else they overthrow the truth of it by allegorizing those things that have a plain simple historicall meaning in them That is the first Rule Search the Scriptures and there you shall see no such fancies and fond notions as these men have The second direction is this take heed of those that preach not the Gospel in a plaine familiar way you may know some Familists by their bombastick language they speake not in the language of Canaan in their Sermons but they have an affected language of their owne that few understand but those that have applyed themselves much to the studie of their writings and are well acquainted with their opinions And by their chymical darke expressions and fond notions they delude poore soules that thinke they are spirituall men and that great things are revealed to them which are not discovered to other Saints when there is nothing but horrid Antichristianisme or Atheisme lies at the bottome of their hearts which shall be evident when according to the truth of God 2 Tim. 3.9 Their folly shall be manifest unt all men Paul saith when he came to preach at Corinth 1 Cor. 2.4 That it was not in the excellency of speech nor in the enticing words of mans wisdome but in plainnesse of speech in demonstration of the Spirit and power And it is the command of God that if any man speake he should speake as the Oracles of God 1 Pet. 4.11 The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or As doth relate to the manner of speaking as well as to the matter which is to be delivered Men are to speake as the Oracles of God speaking nothing but truth and as the Oracles of God for plainnesse of speech St. Paul speaking of true Gospel-Preachers saith we use great plainnesse of speech The Scripture is in a plaine familiar style the Sermons of our Saviour are plaine familiar Sermons adorned with plaine similies And the Apostles were not ashamed to imitate their Master so should our discourses be with all plainnes of speech demonstration of the spirit power that the glory may be given not to the Eloquence of our tongues but to the power of Christ in converting of soules Therefore take heed of those that lead you from the plainnesse of preaching hiding their cursed errours in a thicket and cloud of darke workes and unscripture-like expressions not holding fast the forme of sound words according to Gods precept 2 Tim. 1.13 2 Cor. 3.12 Looke on the Scripture and see how Paul speakes of Justification of remission of sinnes of the resurrection and so let us preach the Lord Jesus Christ and the truth of Christ But those that have language not like the language of Scripture suspect them they make a faire shew there is great glory and outward pompe in their words but latet anguis there is a snake that lies under these fine greene herbes take heed of such men and looke more for the inward power and Spirit of God in the speaking of men then for fine words phrases notions and similies that men may make use of to winne you to the approbation of their errours The third direction which I shall present unto you is this take heed of spirituall pride for one reason why so many fall off from the truth to these horrid opinions is from a principle of spirituall pride some of these thought that they had a great deale of knowledge wisdome and understanding and that they understood as much of the Doctrine of Christ and mysteries of the Gospel as was necessary that they had heard as much of the Doctrine of Justification as any could preach of it and of the resurrection as any could speake they knew as they supposed what this man spake and what the other preached what this mans judgement was what Authors did write and they knew perfectly as they imagined whatsoever lies in the Scripture to be embraced for truth And by their pride did surfeit of their knowledge supposing that they knew all points of the Gospel when in deed and in truth they knew nothing of the Gospel savingly spiritually or practically so that as the people of Israel came to loath Manna and lusted after other food so these being puffed up with spirituall pride begin to loath the Heavenly Manna of the Gospel and disesteeme it for the plainnesse and simplicity that is in it And nothing now will please them but new fancies therefore they must have Sermons dressed in another fashion new cooked new notions and new conceits and any thing that is new pleaseth them better then the old and ancient truths of the Lord Jesus But when God teacheth a man to understand the Gospel aright the more he knowes the Gospel the more he sees his ignorance of the Gospel â— that man sees he never learned the Doctrinâ— of Justification fully that man sees that hâ—â— hath not sufficiently learned the Doctrine oâ— Sanctification this man lookes not on his knowledge meerely as it is speculative but as it is practicall when he sees any unbeliefe in his heart he saith within himselfe I have not sufficiently learned the Doctrine of Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ when he sees any hatred in his spirit to that which is good and any inclination to that which is evill he wisely concludeth I have not sufficiently learned the Doctrine of Sanctification when he finds sadnesse in his spirit O saith he there is more in the Gospel concerning the spirit of joy and consolation then I have attained to when he reads sundry enigmaticall and difficult places of the Prophets and in the Revelation and hath not attained to the spirituall meaning of them O saith he I am not sufficiently acquainted with the truths which lie hidden in the word though I may have knowledge enough to carrie me to Heaven yet I am very ignorant of many truths of Christ Thus a man that truely lives the life of Faith he is not puffed up as these are that fall to these hideous and blasphemous notions and opinions Hab. 2. He that is lifted up his heart is not upright but the just shall live by his Faith You shall find that
on the Crosse was raised from thâ— dead and enemies to the Doctrine of the resurrection which is to be wrought by his power and that you may see how little I regard the speeches of these enemies of Christ and the glorious resurrection of Saints I would not seeme for their sakes to desert my discourse therefore I did resolve to goe on with it this day Then thirdly I apprehend it may much further the worke of the day for if we have remembred God aright in our prayses having made mention of his goodnesse to the Land and Nation we have done it spiritually and have more rejoyced in spirituall then temporall mercies And if our joy should end in rejoycing only for teporal mercies we should rejoyce rather carnally then spiritually Therefore having in the beginning of the day rejoyced for the mercies that God hath shewed to the Land I thinke I shall doe well if I raise you in your spirits by what I shall speake from these words and from the sight of Nationall mercies and temporall deliverances take occasion to draw your eyes to behold by Faith how you and all Saints shall rejoyce when you are delivered from all enemies at the resurrection that so I may sublimate your joy by carrying you higher in â—he spirit to rejoice in the spirituall things spoken of in the text Awake and sing Ye know we expresse our joy by singing as we may gather from that place Psal 126.1 when the Lord turned againe the captivitie â—â— Sion we were like them that dreame then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing Singing in Scripture is an expression of great joy If any be merrie let him sing saith James So my Evangelicall Prophet to shew what great joy there shall bâ— at the resurrection when the bodies of thâ— Saints shal be raised he bids us awake and sing So that this is the point there will be great joy at the resurrection For the amplifying oâ— which point I shall shew you what cause oâ— rejoycing there will be at the resurrection The spirits and the bodies of the Saints will then be reunited together again which were disunited for many yeares And as the Spirit doth with some regret griefe and unwillingnesse leave the bodie having a natural desire and appetite being planted into it by the hand of the Creator after union with the bodie so the spirit cannot but rejoyce when it is united againe to the bodie Therefore you shall find the spirits of Saints under the Altar in the Revelation 6.10 crying How long holy and true intimating their desire to be reunited to their bodies And iâ— 2 Cor. 5.4 The Apostle there shewes us that though the Saints be willing to live with thâ— Lord Jesus Christ yet there is an unwilling nesse in them to leave their bodies therefore they had rather have â—â— mortalitie swallowed up of life then to lay downe their bodies in the grave if it were the will of God We that are in this Tabernacle saith he groane being burthened not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life There seemes in these words to be held forth an unwillingnes in the Saints to be uncloathed of their bodies to put off the cloathing of the flesh We observe in Philosophie that there is a naturall appetite in the soule or forme to be united to that bodie that it once informed and as it leaves the bodie with some unwillingnesse so there is a desire of reunion when they are parted so that re-union will be a cause of joy For as there is joy at the meeting of friends so the body and soule that were long together in this world shall rejoyce when they shall meet together againe This is one ground of joy from their meeting the bodie and the spirit shall meet together there shall be a reunion after there hath been a disunion between them But in the next place there will be a cause of great joy because there will be an absolute perfection both in the body and in the soule God shall be perfection in the Spirit in every facultie of it and God in his glory shall dwell likewise in the body The soule shall be full of God here we have but an imperfect knowledge of God there the soule shall be free from all ignorance having the full vision of God Here we see as in a glasse darkly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enigmatically as the Apostle speaks there we shall see face to face Here we do but as it were see the back parts of God with Moses As the Kings of Persia in State used to keep themselves from the sight of the people God doth as it were hide his face here in comparison of the full discovery which hee will make of himselfe hereafter We doe but sip of the cup of spirituall joy here but there wee shall be filled with the rivers of the pleasures of God Here we have as Austin saith guttulas but little drops of joy but there we shall be filled with joy Here we have a sight of God which doth not fully satisfie but still we desire to know more of God and more of the Lord Jesus Christ but there wee shall be satisfied with the likenesse of God as the Apostle saith Col. 3. v. 4. When Christ which is our life shall appeare then we also shall appeare with him iâ— glorie The Apostle saith 1 Joh. 3.2 Yet it doth not appeare what we shall be it is not evident to us what glorie there shall be in oâ—â— understandings how our affections shall be ravished and enamoured with the love of God and the Lord Jesus Christ it doth not appear what shal be in our spirits but we know that when he shall appeare wee shall be like him for wee shall see him as he is O what tongue of Rhetorick can expresse this what it is to be like the Lord Jesus Christ to see him as he is there is more in it then the Eloquence of Angels can set forth unto you As they shall have such unspeakable glory in their spirits so likewise there shall be a glory on their bodies Alas our bodies now are but vile bodies weake bodies but what saith the Apostle Phil. 3. ult God shall change our vile bodies and make them like his glorious body or to his body of glory for so it is in the originall As the body of the Lord Jesus Christ at his transfiguration was changed and his face did shine and his whole body did shine with heavenly brightnesse and Celestiall glory so the bodies of the Saints shall be bodies of glory there shall be a heavenly brightnesse on them Therefore Daniel speaking of the Saints at the resurrection hee saith Dan. 12.3 that they that are wise shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament and they that turne many to righteousnesse as the Stars of Heaven As the Starres are glorious creatures and the brightnesse of the
the words untill I came and mine eyes had seene it and behold the halfe was not told me thy wisdome and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard Fame commonly exceeds the thing which is reported but Solomons glory exceeded the fame of it So we heare of great and glorious things which shall be at the resurrection the joy and glorie that the Saints shall have and we take paines to illustrate it by earthly joyes and spirituall comfort which is the best thing to shadow it But all that can be said is far short of setting forth to the full the glorie and joy of it And therefore seeing that the thing farre exceeds the discourse and apprehension of any man seeing words cannot set forth what glorie and joy this is I will not lay downe any more considerations to shadow forth to you this joy which I professe I want language fully to expresse Wherefore give me leave to make a little use and I shall put a period for the present of speaking of this joy which is unspeakable In the first place seeing there will be great joy at the resurrection therefore wee should rejoice in it before-hand God will not faile in giving you of any thing that he hath promised you will find the joy a hundred thousand times greater then any man on earth is able to expresse it to you As God when he promised the people of Israel the Land of Canaan that flowed with milk and honey he did not faile of any thing he had promised to them all came to passe as you have the storie Joh. 21.45 So God hath promised a heavenly Canaan of glorie an everlasting Kingdome a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11.10 Palaces that shall stand fast and firme upon their basis and foundation to the dayes of Eternitie He hath promised to put Scepters into our hands Crowns of glory upon our heads And he that hath promised these things to his people will not faile it performance he is just and faithfull he iâ— not like man he cannot lie he cannot repent of the good he intends to doe for his people Therefore you that are his people rejyocein your portion and inheritance A the young Ward in his non-age or minority when little iâ— allowed him for the present doth rejoyce in foreseeing what large possessions he shall be master of for the future when the time of his Wardship shall be expired So let us who are the Heires of Heaven happinesse and glorie here though wee shall not have the fruition of it untill hereafter rejoyce here as though wee were in the full enjoyment and possession of it Suffer not any wicked unbelieving spirits to bereave you of your joy and comfort by leading you into errour concerning the resurrection O what enemies are these people to the spirituall joy of Gods people that goe about to sow this seed of false Doctrine among them by perswading them that there shall be no resurrection of the bodie but onely a spirituall resurrection here How doe these with specious shewes of truth bereave people of that spirituall joy comfort and contentment that they might take in believing the Doctrine of the resurrection Beloved you meet with many Arguments against the resurrection that baffle carnall reason I professe that if I should follow carnall reason I know there are such strong Arguments against the resurrection that I should easily yeild the bucklers and contend no more for the point but conclude that there would be no resurrection of the bodie but when I looke upon the power of him that hath promised when I consider that God hath said it it answers all objections of carnall reason Therefore shew your selves children of faithfull Abraham stagger not at this promise he believed above hope and against hope It is above hope and against the hope of naturall reason that this bodie should be raised yet give God the glory of his power God hath said that this bodie shall rise and rise as the body of his Sonne that we shall awake and sing and the Earth shall cast forth her dead Consider a authorem tolle dubitationem Ter. Consider the power of the agent and all doubting will be removed He that hath promised it is power love and faithfulnesse he will doe what he hath promised for his people what they expect and beyond their thoughts desires and expectations therefore 1 Thess 4. ult Comfort your selves with these words There is no Doctrine that brings so much spirituall consolation to the soule as this it is the spring of spirituall joy in the hearts of the Saints Take away the Doctrine of the resurrection of bodies and take away all spirituall joy and comfort And then look no longer upon the Saints as glorious and happie creatures but as the most miserable abjects that you behold upon the face of the earth If there be no resurrection of the dead saith the Apostle We are of al men most miserable Saints professe themselvs the most happie and joyfull people in the world and rejoyce in their portion and blesse themselves in their happinesse and inheritance But take this Doctrine away let it be granted that there shall be no resurrection let it bee granted that Christ is not risen in his humane bodie and that the Saints shall not rise in their humane bodies as Christ did and be happie in their humane bodies it will damp all the joy of the Saints presently it will quench the Spirit of joy in the people of God For there can be no cause of rejoycing to the Saints but in this assurance that their sinnes are pardoned that they are in Covenant with God that God having loved them from eternitie will love them to eternitie and preserve them in happinesse with himselfe Therefore you that truly believe this Doctrine rejoyce in it and suffer not the scoffing enemies of this Doctrine to draw you from it and so from the comfort that will flow into your hearts while you believe it Take heed lest there be in any of you a heart of unbeliefe to depart from the living God And iâ— there be any poore weak Christians here that have been misled by these miscreants and ungodly men let them looke up to God beholding his power and faithfulnesse in their Redeemer that they may see all those objections of carnall reason by which they have been deluded and misled easily answered that so their former joy and consolation may returne to them by believing the Doctrine and joy of the resurrection And let me adde this also that as this is a Doctrine of great joy so it is a Doctrine that obligeth us to great holinesse The Doctrine of Christ in every part and branch of it leads to holinesse If thou meet with any tenent or opinion that furthereth not holinesse looke on that opinion as an errour for whatsoever is the truth of the Lord it is a truth that leads us to holinesse of life and conversation
So doth this Doctrine of the resurrection for if wee consider seriously that the bodie shall be raised and we shall be happie at the resurrection in enjoying of God will not this raise up the spirit of a man to thankfulnesse and where there is true thankfulnesse will not that thankfulnesse be legible in obedience Therefore seeing God intends to glorifie thee with himselfe in bodie and in spirit since thou shalt be ever happie with him shouldest thou not glorifie this God while thou art here in thy life and conversation As the Apostle saith 2 Pet. 3.13 14. We according to his promise looke for new Heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse What is the use of this Wherefore beloved seeing ye looke for such things be diligent that â—e may be found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse A true assurance of salvation given by the Spirit of grace doth not make us negligent in the performance of good duties it doth not make us loose and licentious in our lives but that assurance that is a right assurance which is wrought in us by the Spirit of grace will as well teach us to be holy as assure our hearts that we shall be happy Lucian speaking scoffingly of the zeale of Christians and their readinesse to help one another doth give this as the reason of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These miserable men saith he believe that in bodie and soule they shall be immortall The scoffing Atheist did speake truth in this and found out the true â—ause of the zeale which was in primitive Christians There can be no holinesse without a perswasion of happinesse for men after this life If there be no resurrection saith Paul Let us eat and drinke 1 Cor. 15. But when a man is perswaded of this He wil purifie himselfe as Christ is pure 1 Joh. 3.3 Againe this shewes the different condition between a Saint and a sinner Looke upon Saints and sinners eye them onely with carnall eye in respect of the present condition and it may be you shall apprehend a sinner in a better condition then a Saint Gâ—â— oft-times gives temporall blessings to them which he denies to his owne people they aâ— the worlds happie creatures But looke oâ— Saints in this condition and then you shaâ— see a vast difference between the condition of a believer and of a man that is an enemâ— to Christ the one shall awake and sing 〈◊〉 shall awake at the resurrection to be fillâ— with joy to be crowned as a King with in mortall glorie The other shall awake an houle As Agag when he thought and wâ— perswaded that the bitternesse of death wâ— past was hewen in pieces so Epicures anâ— prophane men that sing away sorrow feaâ— of Hell and damnation spending their dayes mirth in a moment they goe downe to the gravâ— Job 21.13 and are raised from thence 〈◊〉 suffer torments to eternitie But the Sainâ— sleeping for a while in the grave are raised felicitie This is elegantly set forth in the book of Wisdome 5. Chap. We fooles thought their lives madnesse and their end without honour and behold they are become the children of God speaking of the Saints vers 6. And in the 8. v. speaking of themselves they doe thus complaine What hath our pride profited us what hath our pomp and riches brought unto us The time will come that wicked men shall wish that they had never been else that some mountaine would be so propitious as to fall on them that they might never come into the presence of God and his Sonne Jesus Christ that shall sit upon the Throne O what a dolefull noyse will it make in the eares of wicked and ungodly men when they shall be called forth to the resurrection of Damnation while the Saints shall be bid to awake to the resurrection of life Who would bee envious at wicked men that grow rich and prosper and flourish in the world that get great estates and leave their estates and houses to their heires if they did but consider that at the resurrection they shall be enforced to take hell as part of their purchase and shall be drawne and dragged as slaves to eternall torments I remember what the Heathen said It is a miserable thing for a man to have been happie Fuisse faelicem miserrimum est Boeth It grieves a man when he comes to povertie to remember that he was once rich when a man is in a disgracefull condition to thinke with himselfe I was honourable this is double misery Remember saith Abraham to the rich man that thou in thy life time didst enjoy riches and poore Lazarus lying at thy gate was denied the crummes falling from thy Table This was the aggravation of the rich mans misery to be put in minde that he had been happy and rich upon the earth Consider this and you shall plainly see that rich and great men without Christ though they live happily to the eye of the world yet they are in a miserable condition and the meanest Sainâ— is in a farre better condition then they Thâ—â— wicked rich men shall awake to howling and screeching to misery and torment eternall the poore Saint to joy rejoycing and happâ—nesse for evermore Wicked men are like the Persians slave whâ— for a day was feasted and had all things provided to delight him that they used to provide for the Emperour and at night he wâ— put to death So wicked men God feaâ— them as slaves here they have furnished tablâ— and servants children and musicke bâ— poore wretches night comes upon them aâ— death takes off their heads and they are miserable to eternitie Therefore James saith They are nourished as against the day of slaughter God doth but fat them as men use to fat beasts for sacrifice or slaughter so God suffers them to swim in pleasures to live in vanities to get riches to grow fat in the earth but it is to destroy them they are fatted for the day of damnation In this glasse or mirrour see the difference between Saints and sinners Then in the next place seeing it is thus that the people of God shall be made partakers of such happinesse at the resurrection let me exhort you to waite in expectation and desire of it A Ward that knows that when he shall live beyond the dayes of his wardship he shall have his Lands and possessions in his own hands he desires that the time may be expired that he may have all in his own hands that now is in the hands of his Guardian who it may be keepes him to a short allowance though he be an heire to great possessions Wee are Wards as yee heard even now and wee are under a guardian though wee are rich in reversion happinesse and heaven and all things being â—urs yet God keepes us low here Let us desire that the time of our wardship may be exâ—ired that wee may come to that happinesse which he hath promised that wee may
awake and sing and be happie in a more full enjoyment of God and this is the desire of those that are truly faithfull When Christ saith He will come and appeare What doe the Saints answer Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly Rev. 22.2 If a naturall carnall man should speake forth that which lies at the bottome of his heart when Christ saith He will come he would say O Lord never come I am not conformed to thine Image I am not made a new creature by hearing of thy Gospel O let me never see the face of Christ But the man that knows the love of God and truly understands the everlasting Gospel when he heares Christ say I come presently there is this eccho by which he answereth the Lord Christ in his owne Spirit Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly When the Judges are in their circuits malefactors tremble and quake but an innocent man that hath a good cause expects and desires to have it heard and is glad that they are come so wicked and ungodly men who are theeves robbers murtherers and malefactors guiltie of all sinnes and lie in imprisoned shackled in their own consciences when they heare that the Lord Jesus shall rid his circuit and appeare as a Judge unless◠they have seared consciences they cannot but tremble and quake But the other when Christ shall be as a Judge to the wicked he shall be as a Saviour to them therefore they cannot but desire the coming and appearing of the Lord. Wherefore let us desire the appearing of the Lord Jesus let us not live as the men of the world that are afraid and tremble quake when they heare of a Judgement day Christ coming to judge every man according to his workes but let us continue in the assurance of Gods grace beleeving that our sinnes are pardoned Let not the coming of Christ be our feare but our desire let us desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to wait as one doth upon one that he would speake with for the Sonne who shall deliver us from the wrath to come and shall put a Crowne of glory on our heads which he hath promised to all those that love him Againe that I may draw to a conclusion let this sweeten all miseries troubles and afflictions that we shall meet with here below If wee meet with persecution with imprisonment with hatred in the world with reproaches from men let this be sufficient to sweeten all Consider the day is coming it is at hand Christ is at the dore Jam. 5.10 and you shall awake and sing while these that now rejoyce shall howle and lament Beloved Thinke it not strange concerning the fiery triall which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you But rejoyce in as much as yee are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed yee may be glad also with exceeding joy 1 Pet. 4.13 14. God leads his people to happinesse by straits Heaven is a Palace of glory a spacious place but the way to it is narrow the gate is straite by which wee must enter in unto it Let the joyes provided for us at the end of our journey sweeten unto us the troubles and difficulties of the way God intended to make Job a great man but before God brings him to his full height of greatnesse God first brings him to the dunghill So God will bring us first to the dunghill he will lay us in the dust and then make us such glorious creatures as you have heard the Saints shall be at the resurrection Joseph was to be ruler in Aegypt but first he must be laid in prison so God layes his first in prison he brings them to a low condition to be nothing in the world and afterward layes them in the prison of the grave and then hee raiseth them to be Kings Priests Rulers and Judges with the Lord Jesus Christ Wherefore let this meditation of the resurrection sweeten trouble and persume the grave unto us And let it likewise sweeten all the comforts that wee enjoy here by looking upon them as pledges of the joy which wee shall have at the resurrection Let it sweeten the mercies of this day which will have little relish in them without this Alas what is it to looke on Nationall deliverances mercies victories and conquests over our enemies unlesse you see your happinesse in the Lord Jesus What is it if the Land have peace if thou hast not peace of conscience by beleeving What is it if the enemies of thy body of the State and Kingdome be wholly routed and put under the feete of those that desire to stand for the liberties of the Subject if in the meane while thou be a vassall and a slave to the Prince of darknesse What is it for thee to be free from corporall enemies and yet to be under the power and led captive by the enemy of thy soule What is it if thou be a freeman in thy body and a slave in thy soule to all lusts filthinesse and ungodlinesse What is it to keepe such a day as this and to rejoyce in a carnall way for outward mercies when thou doest not spiritually rejoyce in the first place that God hath freed thee from the enemies of thy eternall salvation Rejoyce not onely as a Heathen may for nationall blessings but rejoyce as a Christian seeing God reconciled to thee in the Sonne of his love let the joy of the resurrection both sweeten thy troubles and adde spirituall fewell to the flame of thy joy for temporall mercies Truly wee then rejoyce in temporall things and in creature-comforts and mercies aright when we rejoyce in them in a spirituall way when wee see all sweetened to us in the Lord Jesus Therefore improve to the full this doctrine for the heightening of your joyes this day Let there not be an evill heart of unbeliefe in any to keepe him from rejoycing Though there were great plentie of Corne in Samaria yet the Lord that would not beleeve what the Prophet said though he saw it he did not taste of it 2 Kings 7.19 I tell you of great plentie and happinesse I have set it before your eyes as God hath enabled me but unlesse you beleeve you shall never taste of this heavenly Manna you shall never drinke of these rivers of pleasure Here is a cup of salvation you that have the lips of faith drinke and your soules shall be refreshed and comforted in the enjoyment of it but if you lie in unbeliefe you may want the joy and comfort that you might have of it here and you may want the enjoyment of it to all eternitie Therefore beleeve what hath been spoken what God hath promised and rejoyce in it here being confident that thou shalt enjoy what God hath promised And what thou hast in spe in hope here thou shalt hereafter have in re in full fruition serving God chearfully joyfully and comfortably in the assurance of