is free from his Master so Job describes the state of the dead Job 3.17 18 19. Thus doth God our heavenly Father make use of this as his Handkerchief to wipe away all tears from the eyes of his Children as we have it Rev. 7. last After death there shall be to them no more death nor crying neither shall there be any more pain as that other Text hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ae chylus Rev. 21.4 Death lets out the Christian as it doth all men from the sense and fear of all temporall Evils 2. Yea it freeth him from what is far worse from Spiritual Evils Spirituall giving a Quietus est as to the Body so to the Soul Freeing him 1. From Sin He that is dead is freed from sin Rom. From sin 6.7 So it is indeed with a mortified soul a regenerate person that is spiritually dead dead to sin which the Apostle there chiefly aymeth at he is freed from it viz. from the guilt and power of it But this is but a partiall freedome which is compleated and perfected in and by naturall death by which the Believer obtaineth a perfect freedome Being hereby so freed from sin as in this life he cannot be Freed from the committing of it From the inbeing of it From the beholding of it From the committing of it 1. From the committing of it which while he is here he is not cannot be However as the Apostle hath it in the verse there foregoing Rom. 6.6 the old man being crucified with Christ the Body of sin is so far destroyed that henceforth the regenerate person doth not serve sin he having thus suffered in the flesh ceaseth from sin as St. Peter hath it 1 Pet. 4.1 Corruption being in measure mortified he doth not now sin as before he did so as to make a custome and practise of it yet through weaknesse he doth commit some acts of sin and that daily There is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Eccl. 7.20 But Death giveth the Believer a perfect discharge so as thenceforth he sinneth no more He that hath entred into his rest saith the Apostle he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his Heb. 4.10 God upon the seventh day kept a Sabbath resting from his works of Creation such as he had wrought upon the six dayes before So doth the Believer in death he entereth into his rest that Eternall Sabbatisme where he ceaseth from his own works such works as he here wrought in the flesh specially from the works of the flesh sinfull works Opera nostra vocantur labores curas vocationis nostrae tùm opera carnis noturae vitiosae peccatae quae vere sunt nestra quia â nobis fiunt nec probantur Dec c. Pareus Com. ad loc which as Pareus there noteth upon it may most properly be called a mans own works inasmuch as he doth them of himself without any approbation or allowance from God From these works the Godly man after death wholly ceaseth Which the wicked man doth not who being in Hell ceaseth not to blaspheme God Like as the followers of the Beast are said to doe upon the powring out of the Vials They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains c. Rev. 16.9 11 21. so doe the damned in hell because of their torments they blaspheme God and commit other sins such as that their state is capable of Which whether they be formally and properly sins in them not lying under a Law as here they did I shall not dispute but Materially I am sure they are being the same sinfull acts which here they committed But from such acts shall the believer now cease so as never more to commit any sin Noe nor yet to be in any possibility of committing it Such a state doth death bring Gods Children to a state in this respect far more happy then that wherein our first Parents were in Paradise There they were free from sin but not from a possibility of sinning which the event shewed But Gods Saints by death are freed from this being hereby put into an impeccable state and so confirmed as that they shall never more have any will or inclination to that which is evill Thus are they freed from the acting the Committing of sin 2. From the inbeing of it And so Secondly from the Inbeing the Indwelling of it So it is that the best of Saints while they are here they have sin dwelling in them It is no more I that do it saith Paul but sin that dwelleth in me Rom. 7.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereby meaning Innolita illa pridem peccandi consuetndo Grot. Annot. ad loc not that Habit and Custome of sin which is in an unregenerate person as Grotius expounds it but that Naturall Corruption which still cleaveth to the Regenerate This he found still dwelling in him And so it will in the most sanctyfied soul upon earth And there dwelling it will also be warring seeming sometimes to Conquer So also that Apostle there out of his own experience complaines v. 23. I find another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members Such a conflict there is and will be in the best of Saints Corruption striving against Grace Yea and sometimes prevailing against it Even as a strong tide carrieth the ship against the stroke of the Rowers Which cannot but create a great deal of trouble to the Soul So it did to that blessed Apostle who upon this account looked upon himself as a miserable man crying out in the next verse verse 24. O wretched man that I am who shal deliver me from the Body of this death That Body of sin as he elswere calleth it Rom. 6.6 which he found living in him was to him a Body of death making his life miserable to him So would it be to a Child-bearing woman to have the Child lye dead within her rotting and putrifying in her womb whereof notwithstanding all indeavours used she cannot be delivered Or to a living man to be tyed to a dead karkesse Even so is it with a regenerate person whilest he is here the living and the dead are tyed together Grace and Gorruption And so tyed together as nothing can part them but death Like as it was with that fretting leprosie of which we read Lev. 14.45 which having eaten into the Wals there was no cure for it but by pulling down the house Even so is it with this Leprosie of sin having seized upon the soul and eaten into all the powers and faculties of Soul and Body there is no way to be freed from it but by death And this will do it The house being pulled down the Leprosie ceased And so doth sin in death The dissolution of the Body is the Absolution of the Soul freeing it from this
denominated from his Divine nature God shed his blood that is that Person who was ruely God as well as Man shed his blood not as God but as Man Deus sed non qua Deus God but not as God Deus sed non Deitas God in the Concrete not the Godhead in the Abstract The Lord of glory was crucifyed the Author of life was killed that Person who was so in respect of his divine nature was crucified killed in his humane nature That which is proper to one nature is attributed to the person So is it with man in whom soul and body are united that which is proper to one of these is attributed to the Person As when the Body is sick wounded buryed we say the man is so So in the sufferings of Christ it was his Manhood which suffered not the Godhead yet it is attributed to the person Which is as I say sometimes denominated from the one nature sometimes from the other It was the humane nature of Christ or the Person of Christ in and according to his humane nature which properly suffered And this he did in his whole man Christ suffering in his whole man In his Body both in his Body and Soul 1. In his Body This it was which was bound scourged spit upon Crowned with thorns which first bare the Crosse and then was born of it which was pierced by the Nayls and the Spear which shed its blood Thus did he bear our sins in his own body on the Tree as St. Peter hath it 1 Pet. 2.4 And we are said to be sanctified that is freed from the guilt of sin and consecrated to the service of God through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ Heb. 10.10 2. But not his Body only but his Soul also In his Soul That also did bear a part in this suffering which it did not only by way of sympathy with the Body but immediately in and by it self So it did in that Agony of his in the Garden where he made that sad complaint to his Disciples My soul is exceeding sorrowfull even unto death Matth. 26.38 And afterwards upon the Crosse where being under a sad Eclipse the light of his Fathers countenance being hid from him by that black Cloud the sins of the World in that conflict he cryeth out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matth. 27.46 Thus did he then suffer in soul His soul being made an offering for sin as well as his Body as the Prophet Isai hath it Isa 53.10 Thus did he suffer in his humane nature in his whole man both Body and soul Q. But it may be said what then did not the Godhead also act a part in this Tragedy Was that only a Spectator a Looker on whilest the Manhood suffered A. The Godhead acting in the suffering of the Manhood Not so the Godhead at this time was not idle though it did not bear yet it acted a part in this Passion Though it did not suffer with the humane nature yet it concurred with it in sufsuffering Which it did in divers particulars Take we notice of Four or Five of them 1. Voluit It willed that suffering Christ as God willed that his suffering as Man Willing that it should suffer So much he intimates unto his Disciples Joh. 10.17 18. where he tells them I lay down my life that I may take it again No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self He layed down his life how why by the same power by which he took it up again by the power of his divine nature according to which he is properly called the Prince or Author of life Act. 3.15 By this power it was that he raised up his body from the death and by this power it was that he gave it up to death It was not the power of his humane nature that could doe this to lay down his life and take it up again at pleasure This was an act of his divine nature as well as his humane 2. Quievit As the Godhead willed that the Manhood should suffer Resting that it 〈…〉 suffer so it rested that it might suffer The divine nature was not withdrawn and severed from the humane in the time of its passion the union betwixt them being indissoluble but it rested not putting forth its power in any way of resistance which if it had done it was not all the Powers of Hell all the Men and Devils in the World that could have brought him to the Crosse The Godhead rested slept as it were even as Sampson did whilest his locks were cut off which it did for those three dayes during which time Christ seemed to be wholly left in the hands under the power of those his bloudy enemies for them to execute their rage and malice upon him Thus the Godhead though as I said not separated from the Manhood which it never was even then when Soul and Body were separated the one from the other the Godhead was severed from neither yet it rested Even as when a man is asleep his soul is not departed from his body yet it seemeth to have left it inasmuch as it doth not exercise those operations which before it did not looking out by the Eye not speaking by the Tongue not working by the Hand c. So was it here The Godhead being still with the Manhood dwelling in it and that as the soul doth in the body Bodily In ipso inâ—â—hitat plenitudo divinitatis corporaliter quià in Templo habitaverat umbâ—aliteâ— Grot. Annâ—t ex August in loc that is Pauls word Col. 2.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non umbraliter as Augustine explains it not in the shadow as it dwelt in the Temple but Corporaliter Bodily that is Personally substantially yet it rested for a time not shewing it self not exercising its wonted operations The Godhead rested that the humane nature might suffer 3. Sustentavit Though the Godhead thus rested that it might suffer Supporting it in suffering yet it secretly supported and bare it up in suffering inabling it to drink this Cup to suffer that which otherwise of it self it could never have been able to have done viz. the wrath of God due unto the sins of the World An insupportable burden Such is the least drop of it Who knoweth the power of thine anger Psal 90.11 What is then such a full Viall of it as was poured out upon Christ in his sufferings This could his humane nature of it self never have borne But it was secretly supported by the divine nature As it is in Man where as the Wise man hath it Prov. 18.14 his spirit sustaineth his infirmities the soul being of a cheerfull temper beareth him up under his bodily ailments So here that Eternall spirit which dwelt in the humane nature of Christ sustained and bore it up under those otherwise unsufferable sufferings 4. And not only bare it up under those sufferings And making
Baptisme to be baptized with so he calls his Passion and how am I straitned till it be accomplished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quomodo constringor how am I pressed viz. in spirit how earnestly do I desire the accomplishment thereof So we finde that word used Act. 18.5 where it is said of Paul that He was pressed in spirit and testified to the Jewes that Jesus was Christ Intus 〈◊〉 apud se astuabat prae â—tli ardore Beza Gr. Annot. in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he had a strong motion upon his spirit which put him upon that service 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Annot. in loc And so is the same word here looked upon by some How am I straitned how am I pressed in spirit unto this work So it is explained by some of the Ancients As by Epiphanius taken notice of by Beza who readeth that Text thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I have a Cup to drink and how doe I hasten to the drinking thereof And I have a baptisme to be baptized with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grot ad loc ex Iren. and how doe I wish that I were even now baptized with it And to the same purpose Irenaeus taken notice of by Grotius who citeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have another Baptisme to be baptized with and I am carryed on with an earnest desire to it And what he there tells them he here maketh it good by not induring that any should hinder or delay his drinking of this Cup. And what an unparallel'd affection was this which the Lord Jesus bare to his Elect people which should thus put him on upon this work this service That for their sakes he should thus endure the Crossâ—e and despise the shame as the Apostle saith of him Heb. 12.2 not so regarding whatever it was that attended his Passion as that he should withdraw himself from it Thus do we here see the truth of what the Spouse saith concerning Love Cant. 8.6 7. Love is strong as death many waters cannot quench Love neither can the floods of waters drown it So it is with true love where it is intense it is inexpugnable and unconquerable Omnia vincit amor No dangers no difficulties can quench or quell it And such was this love which Christ bare to his Church it was not the fear of death though a painfull shamefull and accursed death it was not all the waters of Marah bitter waters nor the Flood-gates of Divine wrath which were now set open ready to be poured out upon him that could quench this love of his Come what will come can come nothing shall take him off from this undertaking which he had designed for the Redemption and salvation of his Elect people He had tasted of the bitter Cup already and now he is resolved how bitter soever he will drink it off for their sakes Which love let all those who have an interest in it for ever admire And admiring it now study how to answere it Vse 2 But how shall that be Why Chriâ—ians to answer this love it is the nature of Love it will be repayed in its own coyn And thus do we answere this love of Jesus Christ with love loving him who hath thus loved us Which whoso doth not the Apostle thundereth out an Anathema against him and that a deserved one If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16.22 Let him be accursed for ever And this expresse we as in other waves Being willing to suffâ—r for Christ so in and by our readinesse to suffer for him Which if he shall call us to do it willingly Willingnesse in performance sets a marvellous glosse and lustre upon all the services of a Christian as upon his Active so upon his Passive Obedience Shall Christ call any of us forth in any kinde to suffer for him do it willingly This is that which Paul professeth in that Text forecited Act. 21.13 I am ready not only to be bound but to dye at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus And let the same minde be in every of us Being ready even to die for him This was Peters resolution and had he not taken it up in his own strength it had been highly commendable and exemplary I will lay down my life for thy sake Joh. 13.37 And the like take we up in the strength of Christ Taking notice that whatever we suffer for him it is no more then what he hath done for us No more say I nay not the thousandth part so much An infinite disparity and disproportion there is betwixt our sufferings for Christ and his sufferings for us Put all the sufferings of all the Martyrs that ever have been together and suppose them all meeting in one and the same person yet were they not worthy to be compared with the sufferings of Christ One drop of the wrath of God poured out upon the soul is more then all the most exquisite torments that cruelty it self can inflict upon the Body But behold here not drops but Vials of wrath poured out upon the Lord Jesus A full Cup measured out unto him by a measure of Justice his sufferings being proportioned to the sins of the World Alas as for those spittings scoffings buffetings scourgings the pâ—ercing of his hands and side with the Nails and Spear his sufferings in his body which we would account eminent sufferings they were the least drops in his Cup. It was his suffering in soul which was the soul of his suffering No compare betwixt his sufferings and ours his for us and ours for him And besides A service honourable and profitable to them Nâ—t so to Christ Christs sufferings no Honor to him there are many inducements which may put us upon suffering for Christ and make us willing therewith This is to us both an honourable and a profitable service But for him to suffer for us was neither What honour could there be in that infinite abasure That he who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equall with God being coessentiall and so co equall wih his Father as God should make himself of no reputation which the Apostle tells us he did Phil. 2.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he evacuated emptyed himself of that Glory and Majesty which he had from all eternity reducing himself as it were to nothing and that he should take upon him the form of a servant as he there goeth on subject himself to such a mean and servile condition as that was wherein he lived upon earth this may well be looked upon as a strange and wonderfull abasure But what was it then for him as the Apostle there goeth on to humble himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse to such a shamefull such an accursed death and to do this for us us poor worms vile worthlesse creatures Nothing lesse then honour in this
thing no other then what others of their Brethren had felt of So it is Brethren in the flesh Brethren in the spirit all Brethren in affliction companions in tribulation Not the greatest not the best exempted from drinking of this Cup. And shall we then faint at the drinking of it We see or hear how those of the weaker Sex undergoe their pangs and throwes in Childe-bearing Though one of the bitterest Cups upon earth yet how contentedly do they pledge their great Grandmother Eve in it to whom it was first given to drink which they do upon the account of that Law which hath made it common to all of that Sex In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children Gen. 3.16 And so may we look upon all other Cups which God giveth us to drink they are no other but common Cups though not common to all individuals all particular persons as that is yet to all sorts all ranks and conditions of persons good and bad high and low rich and poor Prince and Peasant Which may serve somewhat to alleviate our burdens and mitigate our sorrowes Were it so that our case were singular that we could truely say what the Church in her Captivity maketh a Question of Lam. 1.12 that there were no sorrow like our sorrow no Cup like our Cup that we had no partners in our sufferings which was the case of our blessed Saviour here his Cup was as he here calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cup such a Cup as was never given to any other of the sons of men his sufferings peculiar to himself being more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a humane tentation wherein he had none to bear him company He trod the Wine-presse alone and of the people there was none with him saith the Prophet Isa 63. v. 3. which however intended may be as by many most of Expositors it is applyed to the Passion of Christ which was singular and peculiar to him then might we have the more colour for our despondency But loe here is Company Yea and good Company too Good company in suffering a comfort It is not all Company that will ease or comfort a man in his sufferings It is no ease to the damned in Hell that they have so many partners in their sufferings as they have Nor was it any abatement of our Saviours sufferings that he should be crucified as he was betwixt two thieves Such company rather aggravates then abates the sorrow of sufferings But good Company is a comfort And such company have all Gods Saints in their sufferings the same Afflictions are accomplished in their Brethren And therefore let none faint at the drinking of this Cup which is a common one Christ himself began it and all his Saints have or must pledge him in it being conformed to his Image as in other things so in his sufferings In the Fifth and last place look at the Issue Consid 5 The issue and fruiâ—s of sanctified Afflictions the fruit of Afflictions This it is that beareth up the spirit of the Childe-bearing woman in her travell even the fruit of the Womb the Issue which she expecteth and looketh for which when she is delivered of as our Saviour tells his Disciples she no more remembreth the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world Joh. 16.21 And this it was which made our blessed Saviour here so willing to drink this Cup to have his soul made an offering for sin even the assurance which he had of seeing his sâ—ed of seeing the travail of his soul as the Prophet Isai sets it forth Isa 53.10 11. the blessed fruit and issue of those his sufferings And like use let all the Lords people make of the same consideration for the bearing up of their spirits in their sufferings Being sanctified to them they shall see a blessed Issue of them they shall reap precious fruit from them receive great benefit by them Upon this account it is that a sick person continues his course of Physick taking Cup after Cup Potion after Potion he expects and hopes to receive some good and benefit by them Afflictions may be bitter but being sanctified they are profitable Though they have a rough stalk like the Rose-tree yet they bring forth pleasant fruit To go about to shew you all these fruits would be a long if not an endless work Single out some of the princâ—pall Reduced to two heads Which we may reduce to two heads They are either in this life Or in the life to come In this life Afflictions bring forth the fruit of righteousnesse In this life the frut of Righteousnesse So saith the Apostle in that Text before made use of Heb. 12.11 No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous neverthelesse afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse unto them which are exercised thereby This doth Chastisement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such Corrections as wherewith God as a Father is pleased to exercise his Children for their good their amendment which that word properly signifieth being sanctified influenced by the spirit of Grace now it brings forth this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This peaceable fruit of righteousnesse even that Righteousnesse which bringeth peace to the soul A blessed Fruit the fruit of righteousnesse Did ever Tree bring forth better fruit then this It was the highest commendation that the Divell could invent to give of that Tree of Knowledge that the fruit of it would make those that eat it like unto God himself they should be as Gods viz. in Knowledge knowing good and evill Gen. 3.5 What he spake falsly of that Tree is true of this of sanctifyed Afflictions they will make men like unto God bringing forth this fruit of righteousnesse and Holynesse which is a part yea a chief part of the Image of God as the Apostle tells us Eph. 4.24 Q. How Affliction bringeth forth this fruit But how doth Affliction bring forth this fruit A. Why this it doth by purging out Corruption and strengthning of Grace Even as it is with Physick it first evacuates and purgeth out those peccant humours which annoy the Body and then by the removall of them it strengthneth the naturall operations of it Even thus doth sanctified Affliction work upon the soul 1. By purging out corruption Purging out Corruption sinfull lusts whatever is contrary to Righteousnesse Hence it is that we finde it compared to Fire and to the Fining-pot Zach. 13. last I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined c. saith the Lord of the remnant of his people The fire the Fining-pot refine the Metall taking away the Drosse from the Silver and Gold Such are Afflictions to Gods people they lose nothing by them but their drosse their corruption By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin saith the Prophet Isai speaking of Gods
who preferred Barrabas before him Not this man but Barrabas now Barrabas saith the Text was a Robber Joh 18.41 Thus was he despised and rejected of men as the Prophet Isai foretold it Isai 53.3 Made a scorn and laughing stock having a scarlet or Purple Robe put upon him a Rod put into his hand instead of a Scepter a Crown of Thornes set upon his head instead of a Crown of Gold as the story sets it forth Mat. 27. v. 28.29 all to make him a scorn to the people who in defiance spit upon him as it there followeth Thus did he suffer in his Name And so in his Body being buffeâ—ed and caned as we find it Matth. 26 67. and 27.30 as also scourged v. 26. Now all these were ingredients in this Cup parts of his suffering But the two principals which made this his Cup so exceedingly bitter were these his suffering in Soule and his suffering of death Yet doth he thus submit to both these And the like are Christians to doe if ever God shall call them to the like tryals Christians to imitate him in suffering of both The latter of which they are all sure to meet with what man liveth and shall not see death Psal 89.48 And for the former none are sure of being exempted from it Now as to these two particulars being of so great importance and having so just an occasion offered from the Text give me leave to speak to them severally Begin with the former Suffering in Soul Thus did our blessed Saviour suffer Suffering in Soul not only in the outward man but also in the inward not only in his Body but in his Soul When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin Isai 53.10 that is the whole person of Christ not bis body only but his soul also which suffered in this his passion And that not only by way of Sympathie and fellow feeling with the Body as Socinions would have it but immediately As man afflicted the one so did God the other It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief saith the Prophet in the text last named Afflicting him as in his Body so in his Soul Which he did by inflicting on him a double Punishment such as the damned in Hell lye under a Punishment of Losse and a Punishment of Sense Of Losse hiding and withdrawing himself from him as to his sense and feeling Which he did fully upon the Crosse where being left under a cloud of spirituall desertion he cryeth out in the anguish of his soul My God My God why hast thou forsaken me Of sense pouring a viall of wrath into his soul such as was due unto those sins which he had undertaken So as now even The sorrows of Hell compassed him about as David in another sense speaks of himself Psal 18.8 This Cup did he drink upon the Crosse a Cup of divine wrath Which he had before tasted of even here in the Garden Where we find him in a strange and unparrallelled agonie sweating as it were drops of bloud falling to the ground as before we heard And what could it be that should thus affect his Body but the anguish of his soul then conflicting with the apprehension of that wrath which he was now to feele the wrath of God due unto sinners in whose room he was now to stand as a surety and Redeemer Thus were these waters even come into his soul as David in a different sense speaks it of himself Psal 69.1 And that as I said in an Immediate way Hence is it that he complaines unto his Disciples that his soul was exceeding sorrowfull Matth. 26.38 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beset and surrounded with grief and anguish And St Mark reporting the same story tels us that he began to be sore amaz'd and very heavy Mark 14.33 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Expavescere gravissime angâ— to be in great horrour and anguish Now what could it be that should thus affect him surely not barely the apprehension of those Corporall punishments which he was to suffer This were a thing very dishonourable to imagine that whereas many of the Martyrs have gone triumphing to the stake or gibbet going singing to the induring of far greater torments more cruell deaths then this was that he who was their Leader the Captain of their salvation should fall so far below them in resolution and courage as thus to tremble at the thought of his Crosse Surely there was somewhat more in this Cup which made it so bitter to him And what should that be But his suffering in soul And yet see how having recollected his spirits he here submitteth to the drinking of this Cup the suffering whatever his Father should please to inflict upon him The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it And thus are Gods Children to submit to the will of their heavenly Father if he shall call them to the tasting of this Cup. The tasting of it I say As for the drinking it off that they never shall Christ having drunk off this Cup hath freed those who are his from drinking in the like way that he did They being justified by his bloud shall be saved from wrath through him Rom. 5.9 This Cup is reserved for wicked and ungodly men who being Children of disobedience are also Children of wrath as the Apostle calls them Ephes 2.23 having wrath for their Portion The wrath of God commeth upon the Children of disobedience Eph. 5.6 This shall be the portion of their Cup which they shall drink and drink it off even wringing out the dregs thereof But so shall not those that are Christs They being Gods Children and Children by Grace the Grace of Adoption they are freed and delivered from wrath Yet not so but that they also may taste of this Cup which sometimes some of them doe Even the best of Saints being subject to spirituall desertions soul sufferings wherein God hiding his face with-holding from them the sweet sense and feeling of his love and favour writes bitter things against them setting their sins in order before them and letting some drops of his wrath as it were fall upon their souls filling them with inward horrour and terrour A bitter Cup of all Cups the bitterest of all tryals the sharpest There being two things principally which make it so 1. Because it seizeth immediately upon the soul Suffering in soul the greatest suffering upon the spirit Those wounds in the body which come nearest the heart are looked upon as most deadly Reas 1 And so is it with those sufferings which come nearest the soul It seizeth upon the spirit The Sword reacheth unto the Soul saith Jeremy Jer. 4.10 It is bitter because it reacheth unto thine heart saith the 18. v. there explaining the former And so doth this Tryall it seizeth upon the soul and that immediately As Hectick Feavers and some other diseases in the body which seize more immediately upon
impetuous inmate which otherwise will not out whatever warnings are given it The death of nature is the death of sin making that true Filia devoravit matrem The daughter devours the Mother Sin which at the first brought forth death is destroyed by it And were there no other Argument Noe perfect freedome from sin but by death how should this work upon the soul of a Christian to make him not averse to the drinking of this Cup it being the only Remedy for the perfect cure of this Malady We see how it is in bodily diseases having been long and painful and all meanes having been tryed for cure but proving ineffectuall this continuall conflict maketh the sick man weary of his life so long for death and to be glad when he can find the grave as Job describeth his condition Job 3.21 22. And such is sin to the Soul an inveterate an uncurable malady being an hereditary disease which man brought into the world with him and use what meanes he may yet he cannot be freed from it a continuall Affliction And so it will be so long as life it self continueth How willing then should this make a Christian to imbrace death So did this Consideration work upon the Apostle who upon this account cryeth out as even now you heard O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me As if he had said O that I were out of this miserable mortall life during which doe what I can sin will still dwell in me and from the molestation whereof I cannot be freed but by death So long as a Christian carrieth this mortall Body about with him he shall never be freed from this Body of sin O how willing should this make us to lay down the one that we might be rid of the other Which the believe shall be by death Hereby he shall be freed as from the acting so from the indwelling of sin 3. From the beâ—â—lding of it Yea in the third place from the Beholding of it As he shall henceforth have no more experimenatll knowledge of it in himself so he shall be no longer a be holder of it in others Which is no small eye sore to a sanctyfied soul So it was to righteous Lot of whom St. Peter tels us 2 Pet. 2.7 That being a just person he was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked viz. Of those wicked Sodomites among whom he lived So the next verse explaines it For that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his Soul from day to day with their unlawfull deeds To see God so highly dishoured his Lawes so shamefully violated as by all kinds of abhominations they were this was a continuall corrasive and heart-breaking unto him And so was it to David who was in like manner affected with the sins of the times wherein he lived as he sets it forth Psal 119. v. 136. Rivers of waters run down mine eys because they keep not thy Law And again verse 158. I beheld the transgressours and was grieved because they kept not thy word And it cannot be otherwise with a gratious spirit to see the Abhominations of the times and places wherein he liveth to hear the name of his God blasphemed to see his Ordinances profaned his worship sleighted his messengers scorned his truths affronted his waies evil spoken of c. this cannot but affect it This it was that made David crye out in his Banishment as he doth Psal 120.5 Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesheck that I dwell in the tents of Kedar that is amongst a savage and barbarous people who had no knowledge nor fear of God whose lives and conversations were wicked and abominable And truly such is this world in a great measure wherein a Christian shall meet with two many of this rank The consideration whereof should make him the more willing to leave it to embrace Death when it cometh which is Gods Fan whereby he severeth his Wheat from the Worlds Chaffe the precious from the vile his own people from others so as they shall no longer be in danger of being seduced by evill doers or yet be infested by them The Goats being separated from the Sheep they shall be no longer an annoyance to them as here by the stinch of their unclean and filthy conversation they were In that New Jerusalem into which Death letteth all true Believers there shall in no wise enter any thing that defileth neither whatever worketh abomination Rev. 21. last Thus doth Death free them from this worst of Evils sin both from the committing and inbeing and beholding of it To which may be added that it freeth them also from the Temptations and molestations of Satan Death freeth the Believer from Satanicall temptations Which in this life the best of Saints are subject to Paul complains of the buffetings of Satan which himself felt 2 Cor. 12.7 And who but hath experience of his assaults some way or other He being an unwearied Adversary making it his work to goe to and fro in the earth and to walk up and down in it as himself giveth account of it to God Job 1.7 As a roaring Lyon walking about seeking whom he may devour as St. Peter hath it 1 Pet. 5.8 So as none can be secure from his attempts He that spared not to set upon our Saviour as he did in the Wildernesse plying him with Temptations one after another will not spare to do the like to his Disciples Simon Simon saith our Saviour to Peter behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as Wheat Luk. 22.31 to shake him and the rest by tempting or troubling them seeking by all possible wayes and means to subvert and destroy them in their bodies or souls And the like he doth to the best of Saints having a speciall evill eye upon them being ambitious to cast them down whom he seeth standing He maketh it his work either to draw them into evill or to draw evill upon them either to turn them out of the wayes of God or to make them as rough and troublesome to them as he may But Death sets the Believer out of his reach The God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly saith Paul to his Romans Rom. 16.20 This God doth partly in this life sometimes giving unto his people great victories over this their enemy but he will do it fully in Death By which they shall be carryed in their Souls where Satan cometh not This Old Serpent being once cast out of heaven shall never enter there again Thirdly as it freeth them from Satanicall Also from divine tentations so also from divine temptations such as God is pleased sometimes to exercise his people with those Soul-conflicts of which I spake before where God hiding his face from his people and letting in some apprehensions of wrath into their souls maketh their condition for the present very sad and uncomfortable Now from all these shall
The Action which is The Giving of this Cup The Cup which my Father hath given me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So it was Doct. it was God the Father which gave this Cup to his Son Christ God the Father gave this Cup to his Sonne gave his Son to dye Mark it Here is the chief and principal Doctrine that this former part of the Text affords us God the Father gave this Cup to his Son Christ Which in effect and for substance speaketh one and the same thing with that of the Apostle Rom. 8.32 God spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all So was it in the Type Abraham offered up his Son By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac and he that received the Promises offered up his only begotten Son so the Apostle to the Hebrewes hath it Heb. 11.17 And St. James the like Was not Abraham our Father justified by works when be had offered up Isaac his Son upon the Altar Jam. 2.21 This did he intentionally in affection and resolution binding his Son and laying him upon the Altar stretching forth his hand with the sacrificing Knife to slay him as the story sets it forth Gen. 22.9 10. Which in Gods acceptation was all one as if he had done what he purposed and intended to doe And so was it in the truth of that Type God the Father offers up his Son his only begotten Son Jesus Christ offers him up upon the Altar of the Crosse Where as the Prophet Isai describeth his Passion Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin c. Thus did God the Father give this bitter Cup to his Son giving him to suffer and die that painfull shamefull accursed death of the Crosse Obj. Obj. But was this the Fathers act How is Christ said to give himself here to remove a stone which lyeth in my way to meet with an obvious Objection Did God the Father give this Cup to his Son give him to the death how then is Christ said to give and offer up himself So we finde it frequently elsewhere expressed He gave himself for us that he might redeem us Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for our sins that he might redeem us from this present evil world Gal. 1.4 Who through the eternal Spirit offered up himself Heb. 7.27 He poured out his soul unto death Isa 53.12 So runs the phrase of Scripture ordinarily speaking of the Death and Passion of Christ as his own voluntary act I lay down my life for my Sheep Joh. 10.15 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life vers 17. And again as it followeth No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down c. vers 18. How then is this here attributed to the Father that he should give this Cup to him A. Answ 1 To this the Answer is obvious 1. Christ as God co-working with his Father If we look at Christ as God the Son of God here that trite but true Maxim will be of use Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa All the external works and actions of the Trinity such acts as they do out of themselves for or upon the Creature they are common to all the three Persons so as they may be indifferently referred and attributed to all or any of them Such was the work of Creation the joynt work of all the three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost and so attributed sometimes to one sometimes to another And such was this work of â—edâ—mption however undertaken by one yet it was designed by all the three Persons being done by the mutual consent and agreement of all Father Son and Holy Ghost all concurring in the design though not in the execution of it What Christ as Mediator suffered he did it by the joynt consent of all the three Persons And therefore is it sometimes attributed to one sometimes to another Sometimes to the Father and sometimes to the Son who as they are one God so they have one will and one work The Son can do nothing of himself saith our Saviour but what he seeth the Father doe For what things soever the Father doth these also doth the Son likewise Joh. 5.19 Thus did Christ the Son not only imitate his Father doing works like unto his but Cooperate with him doing the same works And hence is it that the same Action is attributed sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other Thus we here finde the giving of Christ to the Death which yet was his own act attributed by him to God his Father he being the first worker in respect of Order and manner of working The Gup which my Father hath given me But secondly look upon Christ as Man A. 2 or rather as Mediator as God and Man As Mediator subservient to him so we shall finde him subservient to his Father readily doing his will Lo I come to do thy will O God Heb. 10.7 9. And as doing so suffering it Which he did in obedience unto him He humbled himself and became obedient to the death Phil. 2.8 And thus as his Father gave the Cup so he drank it so giving himself to the Death Even as it is not without ground conceived concerning the Type forementioned Abrahams offering of his Son Isaac This was Abrahams act and yet so as his Son concurred in it and that more then as a meer Patient being obedient to his Father at his command carrying of the Wood yielding himself to be bound and layd upon the Altar all which he did willingly So was it with our blessed Saviour Being acquainted with his Fathers will he yields himself to be bound which he was first in the Garden as we have it in the verse after the Text. and then by Caiaphas as we finde it Mar. 15.1 bears his Crosse submits unto the Death Thus the Father gave his Son and yet the Son gave himself But not to insist upon this Q. Explic. What God the Father did in and about the passion of his Son The way being thus cleared now come we by way of Explication to make enquiry what God the Father did in and about the Passion of his Son that he is here said to give the Cup to him The resolving of this Question will clear up this great and usetull truth A. This concurrence consisting in divers particulars The Action and concurrence of God the Father in and about the Death and Passion of his Son it consisteth in divers particulars Take we notice of five or six of them 1. He was privy to it he foresaw it he foreknew it He foresaw it This he did from Eternity So he doth all his Works Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the World Act. 15.18 Whatsoever God bringeth to passe in time it is
revealing this mystery to us and in us Now give we to each what is their due As to Christ the glory of his suffering his drinking of this Cup of which I shall God willing speak hereafter so unto God his Father the glory of this act of grace in him his thus giving his Son giving him this Cup to drink for us And thus have I done with this Second Particular in the former part of the Text. By whom it was that this Cup was thus presented viz. by God the Father The Cup which my Father hath given The third is yet behinde to which I now come To whom this Cup is here said to be given Partic. 3 To Whom To Me. God the Father gave this bitter Cup to his Sonne Christ This Bitter Cup given to Christ He was the Subject of this Passion Jesus Christ the Son of God So Scripture every where asserts it God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son Joh. 3.16 He spared not his own Son but delivered him up Rom. 8.32 To him was this bitter Cup given But how to him Explic. And wherefore to him The resolving of these two Questions will be sufficient for Explication and Illustration For the former Q. 1 How is this Cup said to be given to Christ Whether to Christ as God or as Man or both How was he the subject of this Passion whether as God or as Man or both To this take the Answer briefly This Cup was given to the Person of Christ A. Whole Christ was the subject of this Passion Whole Christ the subject of this Passion It was that Person who was both God and Man which suffered dyed It was not the humane nature alone as abstracted and separated from the Divine which thus suffered but whole Christ Christus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ God and Man It is a true Rule that all the Actions and Passions of Christ whatever he did or suffered as Mediator betwixt God and Man they are all to be attributed unto his whole Person as God and Man And such was this work which he did upon the Crosse the satisfaction which he there made it was Opus Personale a Personal work wherein both the Natures were interested Not the Manhood alone or the Godhead alone but both together in one Person The Cup which my Father hath given me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word is Personall It was not given to him as God or as Man but as both God and Man in one Person Q. Yet suffering only in his Humane nature August de Haeres c. 70. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deipassiarii Superiore etiam saeculo in Germania nostra quidam ausi sunt asserere Christum secundum utramque naturam passum esse Polan Syntag. l. 6. c. 18. The Divine nature impassible But what then did both Natures drink of this Cup Did Christ suffer in and according to both natures A. So indeed some Hereticks of old asserted it that Christ suffered not only in his humane nature as Man but also in his Divine nature as God From whence they were called by the name of Theopassians who have not wanted some to follow them in after-ages and some of late times But this is justly condemned as an Error a gross one asserting a plain impossibility True it is all things are possible with God viz. to doe them but himself not passible in any thing so as to suffer from his Creature Christ as God he could not suffer he could not dye the divine nature being impassible as well as immortall A Truth fitly illustrated by a familiar similitude Whilest the Axe heweth a piece of Timber upon which the Sun shineth the Wood is cut but the Sun-beams not touched they still remain impassible Even so was it in the Passion of Christ the humane nature suffered but not so the Divine Though united unto the humane whilest it suffered yet it remained impassible As it is with the soul and body in man though both be united together whilest the man suffereth some corporal punishment yet the Body properly feeleth the smart of it the soul not suffering save only by way of sympathie So was it here in the sufferings of Christ the Godhead and Manhood were both united in the Person suffering but the Godhead suffered not So as we must then conclude it that the whole Person of Christ suffered but properly in or according to his humane nature So Scripture explains it self Christ suffered for sins c. being put to death in the Flesh saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 3.18 And again in the Chapter following vers 1. Christ suffered for us in the Flesh It was Christ that suffered The Person of Christ he who was both God and Man but how What in his divine nature Not so but in his humane in the flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is according to his humane nature This is that which St. Paul meaneth 2 Cor. 13.4 where he saith that Christ was crucifyed through weaknesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is through the weaknesse of his Flesh his humane nature which was subject to all humane infirmities sin only excepted In this nature it was that Christ suffered in his humane nature and only in that As for his Godhead it suffered not Q. No How God is said to have suffered and dyed you may say what then means that of the same Apostle Act. 20.28 where he tells the Elders at Miletum that God purchased the Church with his own blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that other Text 1 Cor. 2.8 where he saith of the Jewes that they crucified the Lord of Glory And so St. Peter Ye have killed the Prince of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Author of it Act. 3.15 Texts made use of by those Hereticks of old for the maintaining of the suffering of the divine nature in Christ A. To this the answer is obvious and easie In Christ there are two natures which are so united as that they make but one Person And from this union floweth a communication of properties Passio Christi Divinae naturae tribuitur Dialecticâ tantum verbali ut aiunt praedicatione non autem Physicâ reali per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Danaeus de Haeresib c. 73. Vid. Engl. N. Annot. in Act. 20.28 as they call it whereby that which is proper to one nature is sometimes attributed to the other or rather as some of our Divines doe more warily and soundly explain it that which is proper to one nature is attributed to the Person denominated from the other nature In hoc utroque loco quod proprium est humanae naturae tribuitur Personae à divina natura denominata per communicationem Idiomatum Polan Syntag. ubi suprà And so look we upon it in those Texts To shed his blood to be crucifyed killed it was proper to the humane nature of Christ but it is there attributed to the whole Person being
of his affection towards him Now I know saith he that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son from me Gen. 22.12 And from hence may all true Believers conclude the intirenesse of Gods affection towards them saying in like manner unto him Now Lord we know that thou lovest us seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son from us but hast given him up to the death for our sakes giving this bitter Cup to him which otherwise we must have drunk laying the burden of our sins upon him which otherwise we must have lyen under unto all eternity Wonderfull unparallel'd love to be for ever admired and adored by all those who can evidence their interest in it But this I have touched upon before This by way of Information 2. By way of Terror Vse 2 Did the Lord thus deal by his Son his dear Son Terror to Gods Enemies to give such a bitter Cup to him what then may his Enemies expect and look for This is the Application which our Saviour himself maketh hereof Luk. 23.31 If they do these things in a green tree what shall be done in a drye Christ himself was as a green tree which having sap and moisture in it is not so combustible so apt to take fire the Jewes were as a drye tree fit Fuel for the fire Now if this green tree were thus used Christ himself who was a just and a righteous person having no guilt no just matter of condemnation in him save only as he stood in the place of sinners if he were thus left to suffer such things as he did from them what then had they cause to expect who in regard of their manifold impieties were fit fuel for the fire of Gods wrath to feed upon And let it in like manner be applyed to all wicked and ungodly persons who being no better then drye trees having no sap of grace in them voyd and destitute of all goodnesse and so no other but Vessels of wrath fitted for destruction as the Apostle calleth them Rom. 9.22 if it was thus done to this green tree this so just and righteous a person what do they think will become of them This use St. Peter makes of the sufferings of Gods Saints wherewith God is pleased sometimes to exercise them 1 Pet. 4.17 If Judgement first begin at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospell of God If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinners appear If the righteous such as being true Believers are justified by faith and endeavour to prove themselves righteous to God and Man if they scarcely be saved passe through so many difficulties meet with so many sufferings in their journey to Heaven where shall the wicked and ungodly appear Unbelievers such as live in a state of sin being wholly given up to it and as it were drowned in it what shall become of them when Christ shall come to judge the world in rightecusnesse and to give to every man according to his works And such use make we of this dealing of God with his own Son after this manner Did God his Father give such a Cup to him notwithstanding that he was in all things his obedient Son as the Apostle tells us Phil. 2.8 Oh what then may the children of Disobedience expect and look for Certainly there is a black Cloud which hangeth over their heads even the wrath of God which without repentance shall be poured out upon them Because of these things saith the Apostle speaking of wicked and ungodly courses and practises cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Eph. 5.6 And this let all such make account of taking notice that God hath a Cup for them and that a dreadfull one In the hand of the Lord there is a Cup saith the Psalmist and the wine is red it is full of mixture and he poureth out of the same but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them Psal 75.8 So it is God the Supreme Moderator and wise disposer of all things he hath appointed and measured out afflictions and sufferings to all the Sons of men so as his own people have their share in them they are made to drink of this Cup to taste of it I but the wicked and ungodly shall drink of it after another manner they shall wring out the dregs thereof and drink them God hath terrible Judgements in store for them such as shall end in endlesse despair and utter destruction Vpon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstome and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their Cup so the Psalmist sets it forth Psal 11.6 And O that this were but seriously thought of by all of this number that all profane and ungodly persons would but consider this that amidst their Oath Cups those Cups of abomination wherewith they are intoxicated they would but take notice of this Cup in the hand of the Lord this Cup of red wine his fierce wrath which is reserved for them to drink Certainly the very thought hereof being let into their souls it could not but fill them with horror and terror So did the apprehension of this Cup which our blessed Saviour saw coming towards him work upon him it put him into a strange and unheard of Agony as the story sets it forth And certainly such operation would the like apprehension have upon the most obdurate and obstinate sinner did he but seriously think of the fierceness of that wrath which one day without repentance he shall be sure to feel it could not but work horror and terror in his soul Now then suffer I beseech you this Meditation to take place with you What wicked men must expect you who lye in a state and go on in a course of sin daring to give allowance to your selves in any known evil what did God so severely punish those sins which were only imputed to his Son Christ and so were not properly his save only as he was a Surety for others how can you ever think that he should passe by those sins which you dare with so high a hand commit against him It is that which the Prophet Jeremie saith unto Edom the Edomites the Posterity of Esau Jer. 49.12 Behold they whose judgement was not to drink of the Cup have assuredly drunken and art thou he that shalt goe altogether unpunished Thou shalt not goe unpunished but thou shalt surely drink of it Seeing God had not spared his own people his people Israel who in regard of the Covenant which was betwixt him and them might have expected more favour then others much lesse had those accursed Edomites who had no such Relation any reason to hope that they should be spared And so say I here concerning the sufferings of Jesus Christ Did he whose judgement was not to drink of this Cup drink it Did the
them for our good whether spirituall or temporall they may not be neglected They who upon this ground neglect means for their Bodies may upon the same ground also as well neglect them for their Souls neglect all Ordinances inasmuch as God hath determined what shall become of the one as of the other To neglect means is a tempting of God which our blessed Saviour would by no means incur the guilt of And therefore when the Devill would have tempted him to cast himself down from the pinacle of the Temple upon the assurance of a Divine protection which he had the promise of he repells his temptation with that Scripture Text It is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Mat. 4.7 He would wait upon God in the use of means for his coming down from thence And the like are Christians to doe They not only may but must use means for the diverting of evils A threefold Proviâ—o Only take it with these few Provisoes and Cautions 1. Provided that the will of God be not revealed to them to the contrary his absolute will That Gods will be not revealed to the contrary so as they may take notice of it Upon this ground it was that our Saviour here would not admit of any resistance to be made to those who came to apprehend him because he was acquainted with his Fathers will And upon this ground was Peter here justly reproveable for making this resistance inasmuch as his Master had before acquainted him herewith shewing to him and the rest of his Apostles that he must goe up to Jerusalem and there suffer and dye Mat. 16.21 and withall had given him a sharp reproof for his advising him to the contrary vers 23. And but even now he had been again put in minde hereof in and by that Sacrament whereof he had been a partaker the Sacrament of the Lords Supper wherein the breaking of the Bread represented the breaking of the Body of Christ and the powring forth of the wine represented the shedding of his blood as Christ himself had expounded to him and the rest of his Apostles the mystery and meaning thereof So as Peter could not be ignorant what was the will of God and his Masters will herein And therefore for him to doe what he did in a way of resistance to that will it was in him justly blameable 2. Provided again that these means be not vnlawfull means That also was Peters case here That they be lawfull means Privato homini non licuit contrà eoâ—insurgere qui publicâ outhoritate iâ—structi erons Calvâ— Com. in Tex The means which he used for the rescuing of his Master was unlawfull Inasmuch as he being but a private person ought not in such a way to have resisted publick Authority by drawing his Sword upon their Officers In this he acted out of the sphere of his Calling which Christ would not give allowance to 3. And thirdly being lawfull means they must be used lawfully Used lawfully As Paul saith of the Law 1 Tim. 1.8 The Law is good if it be used lawfully that is as a rule of Obedience not so as to seek Justification by it and so to rest upon it So may I say of many means which are usefull unto men for self-preservation and safety they are lawfull if used lawfully if used in obedience to God with submission to his will so as not to trust in them but in God who is able either to blesse or blaste With these cautious means of preservation from and deliverance out of temporall evils both may and ought to be used But not so as to make any resistance to the will of God Which whoso doth whether advisedly or rashly deserves a just Reprehension And so I have done with the first of these Particulars upon the account whereof Christ here giveth this Check unto Peter his making resistance against the will of God his Father Passe we on to the Second His going about to take Christ off from his duty Obs 2 and obedience to his Father Taking off others from their Duty For this again instead of thanks Christ giveth him a Check And such entertainment are Christians to give unto those Counsels or attempts Non est tolerandus qui à divinorum observantiâ mandatarum abducit etiamsi in verbis praeferat pietatem led iâ— câ—epandus c. Ferus Annot. in Text. which do any wayes tend to the taking them off from their duty and obedience to God their heavenly Father by whomsoever they are offered and out of whatever intention yet hearken not to them but reject them Peter here an Apostle a faithfull servant to his Lord and Master Christ out of that intire affection which he bare to him ingageth for him and that not without hazard of his own life and this he did out of a pious intention Yet inasmuch as this service of his tended to the interrupting and hindring of Christ in the course of his obedience see what entertainment it findeth with him His heart riseth against it he rejects it and that not without a holy anger and indignation giving a check to the undertaker of it The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it What will you go about to hinder me in this last act of my Obedience So far was he from accepting this well-meant service this service of love for so it was of carnal love in him that he giveth him a secret rebuke for it And what he doth here more closely we finde him elsewhere upon a like occasion doing in plainer terms Mat. 16.21 A Text even now made use of Where Peter hearing his Master declare unto his Disciples what sufferings waited for him how he must goe up to Jerusalem and there suffer many things from the Elders and chief Priests and Scribes and be killed hereupon he taketh him aside and as the next vers hath it he began to rebuke him saying It be far from thee Lord or spare thy self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this shall not be unto thee This did Peter out of a tender affection to his Master as tendring his life And if we look upon the Counsell it self at the first hearing it may seem such as might deserve a kinde reception But what saith our Saviour to it and him That we have in the next words vers 23. But he turned and said unto Peter Get thee behinde me Satan c. Never did any hear tarter language come out of that mouth He who was afterward led as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a Sheep that is dumb before the Shearer so opened he not his mouth Isa 53. Who when he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not 1 Pet. 2.23 Whatever wrongs and injuries his enemies did unto him he bare all patiently not giving an ill word to any of them yet see here how he taketh up Peter for this his friendly advice Not only rejecting the
off from it For this a threefold Reason may be assigned Answ This he did upon a threefold ground 1. Reas 1 The first and principal whereof is that which we meet with in the Text. His obedience to his Father His Father had given this Cup to him to drink and therefore he will drink it The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it God his Father had decreed willed that he should suffer and dye and this his will he had made known unto him And therefore in obedience to his command he thus willingly yieldeth hereunto I lay down my life of my self saith he but wherefore Why This Commandement I have received from my Father so himself there giveth the Reason of it Joh. 10.18 Even as Isaac herein a type of him in obedience to his Father yields himself to be bound and layed upon the Wood to be sacrificed Gen. 22. which he did willingly without the least reluctancy or resistance that we read of So did the Lord Jesus in obedience to his Father he willingly yielded up himself to the death He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Phil. 2.8 Such an absolute and universal complyance there was betwixt Christ and his Father What his Father willed that he willed So himself declares it Joh. 5.30 I seek not mine own will but the will of him that sent me And again in the Chapter following v. 38. I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me Thus did he as God perfectly comply with the will of his Father Being one God with him there was but one will betwixt them What the Father willed the Son willed And as Man he was in every thing subordinate to him Not doing his own will I seek not myne own will As Man if it had been consistent with the will of God his Father he could have wished that this Cup might have passed from him which he doth Matth. 26.39 Father if it be possible let this Cup passe from me There was the will of his humane iâ—firmity Nature being desirous to preserve it self which it might doe without sin But this will he submits and resolves into the will of his Father Neverthelesse not as I will but as thou wilt so he there limits his desire And again vers 42. O my Father if this Cup may not passe from me except I drink it thy will be done Thus was there a perfect conformity of his will as God and subordination as Man to the will of his Father And from hence flowed this willing submission of his in drinking of this Cup. This he did in obedience to his Father Which I shall God willing make some Application of hereafter for the present passing it by 2. Reas 2 As herein he had an eye to his Father willing this so also to his Elect people needing it His good wil to his Elect people Their redemption their salvation depended upon it As for what he had already done in his Active Obedience in fulfilling the Law this alone could have been no wayes available unto them The Justice of God required further satisfaction even the suffering of death This was that which the Law had threatned In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye saith the Lord to Adam Gen. 2.17 thou shalt die the death be subject and bound over unto death not only temporall but eternall And under this sentence do all the Sons of Adam by nature lye being bound over unto death not only in their Bodies but in their Souls bound over unto eternall death Now this Law must be satisfied before the Elect of God could be redeemed And how should this be without shedding of blood Without shedding of blood there is no Remission Heb. 9.22 And upon this account again it was that our blessed Saviour was so willing to drink this Cup to subject himself to this accursed death not only to a naturall but to that which was equivalent to an eternall death to suffer the wrath of God due unto the sins of the World that so he might free his Elect people from that Curse Which he did out of an unspeakable love to them This it was that induced God the Father to give this Gup to his Son God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. Joh. 3.16 And this it was which also induced him so willingly to drink it in this way to give himself for them Who loved me and gave himself for me saith Paul Gal. 2.20 Christ hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God Eph. 5.2 Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it v. 25. This it was which next to the will of God his Father put him forward upon this service with such resolution and willingnesse even that ardent affection which he bare to his Elect people This will love doe The power of intense Love It beareth all things as the Apostle saith of it 1 Cor. 13.7 Where it is intense it will make a heavy burden light Jacob loving Rachel he served a Seven-years Apprentiship for her And saith the Text they seemed to him but a few dayes for the love he had to her Gen. 29.20 And thus would men serve their God did they but love him as they ought though it were for many years their service would not be tedious unto them So was it here with our blessed Saviour Loving his Elect people with such an intense affection as he did he thinks nothing too much that either he could doe or suffer for them Applic. Where before we passe any further Applic. This Love of Christ to be admited make we a stand a little suffering our thoughts to be taken up with an holy Contemplation and high admiration of this matchlesse love which our blessed Saviour doth herein expresse in shewing himself so willing to drink this Cup. A Bitter Cup So he had found it already Yet behold he not only submits to the drinking of it but will not indure that it should be taken from his mouth till he had drunk it off The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it As if he had thirsted after it no lesse then a thirsty man doth after a Cup of drink to quench his thirst withall Thus was he carryed on to this his Passion with an earnest desire Even as he was to the drinking of that mystical Cup concerning which he tells his Disciples Luk. 22.15 With desire I have desired that is Earnestly desired to eat this Passeover with you before I suffer meaning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper so was he to the drinking of this metaphoricall Cup whereof that was a forerunner and a sign his Death and Passion this was a thing which he was carryed to with the like earnest desire This is that which he tells his Disciples Luk. 12.50 I have a
accounted the meanest Members the feet of that Body be willing to part with so much as our Nayls for it Such are our goods our Estates to us they are but as the Nayls to the Body which though there be some use of yet the Body may subsist without them Such are our Estates at least our superfluities matters of conveniency not of necessity Doth God call for them in the behalf of hâ—s Church with-hold them not Such was the zeal of the Primitive Christians that as the story tells us Act. 4.34.37 for the relief of the Churches necessities many of them sold their Lands and Houses and brought the price thereof and laid it down at the Apostles feet Being willing not only to part with the Rent but with the Fee-simple of their Estates And shall not they who professe to walk in their steps be willing to part with something out of their superfluitie for the Churches sake and for the relief of their necessitous brethren And being ready to do and suffer for their Bodies Specially for their souls much more for their Souls Here if God call not only for our Estates but for our Liberties nay for our lives even these should not in this case be dear to us This is no more then Paul was willing to do for his Corinthians whom he telleth 2 Cor. 12.15 I will very gladly spend and be spent for you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Originall for your souls as our Mâ—rgin readeth it And the like he tells his Philippians cap. 2. v. 7. If I be offered up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if I be pouâ—ed forth as a drink Offering upon the sacrifice and service of your Faith I joy and rejoyce with you all Thus should Christians prefer their brethrens souls before their own bodies Such a minde we see there was in the Lord Jesus And as the Apostle exhorts lâ—t the same minde be in us that was in him Phil. 2.5 Learning this our duty from him So St. John presseth it 1 Joh. 3.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God because he layed down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the Brethren viz if God call us to it Thus have I shewed you two of those reasons and grounds whereupon our blessed Saviour did thus freely and willingly subject himself to the drinking of this Cup. This he did in obedience to his Father And this he did out of that love which he bare to his Elect. There is yet one other behinde which I shall insist more largely upon Thus did the Lord Jesus for our example Reas 3 This was one Christ thus suffered for an example to his people Pertinet adâ—eaeemplum quià eadem â nobis omnibus tolerantia exigitur Calv. Com. in loc though not the only end of Christs sufferings as St. Peter tells us 1 Pet. 2.21 Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps Such were the Actions of Christ though not all yet most of them were exemplary As he tells his Disciples concerning that act of his in washing their Feet Joh. 13.15 I have given you an example that ye should doe as I have done unto you And such also were his Passions his sufferings being intended by him for an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is St. Peters word there a Copy for others to write after so that word properly signifieth a pattern for us to imitate and follow Which we are to doe Christ to be imitated in the manner of his suffering not so much in the matter as in the manner of his suffering The Cup which he drank we are not able to drink it after him so he there tells the sons of Zebedee Math. 20.22 That wherein we are to imitate him to follow his steps is the modus the manner of his sufferâ—ng He suffered not only patiently but willingly Thus did he subject himself to the appointment of his Father Not as a Malefactor who subjecteth his neck to the stroke of the Axe becâ—use cannot avoid it But he doth it willâ—ng the â—rully resolvedly Thus doth he here professe to drink this Cup. And so are the Lords people to receive all such Cups from the hand of their heavenly Father as he shall please to reach forth unto them to subject themselves to all such afflictions tryals sufferings as he shall by his Providence lay out for any of them not only patiently and contentedly but willingly chearfully A point A point of generall and special concernment as of generall so of speciall use to all and every of the Lords people in this vale of tears Some other Truths may be more necessary as to their future salvation none more needfull as to their present condition then this There are none of us but either at the present have or for the future must expect to have some of these Cups bitter Cups presented unto us to drink Ye shall indeed drink of my Cup saith our Saviour there to them which accordingly as you have heard they did None of us but must make account in this way to be made conformable to our Head to Christ in suffering with him Though not all alike Some there are who drink deep draughts of this Cup others only sip of it but all must taste it God is pleased to vouchsafe to some of his people great freedome this way in comparison of others yet no exemption for any We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdome of God Act. 14.22 There are none of us here present I suppose who have not had our tryals in some kinde or other already Some of us happily have sad pressures lying upon us at the present but what bonds may wait for us what sufferings God hath laid out for any of us for the future that we know not It is that which our Saviour tells Peter Joh. 21.18 Verily verily I say unto thee When thou wast young thou girdedst thy self and walkedst whither thou wouldest but when thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch forth thine hands and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not which he spake as the next vers explains it signifying by what death he should glorifie God viz. by suffering upon the Crosse which as Histories tell us he accordingly did And thus fareth it with many In their younger times they enjoy many comfortable dayes a prosperous condition yet before they go off the stage they have another part given them to act seeing much affliction and sorrow Now quod cuivis cuilibet that which doth happen to one may happen to another No tryall or affliction which hath befallen any of the people of God or yet any of the Sons of men for in these things as the Preacher tells us All things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous as to the wicked Eccl. 9.2 but may for ought we know be our portion thy portion my portion What befalleth others
to day may befall us to morrow And therefore pardon me if I shall here take a little more then usuall liberty to dilate and inlarge my meditations upon so usefull and needfull a subject as this the Passive Obedience of a Christian it being that which was chiefly in my eye when I first took this Text in hand The Cup which my Father hath given me Obs An exemplary Resolution to be taken up by every Christian willing to suffer what God will have him shall I not drink it Behold here an exemplary resolution fit to be taken up by every Christian concerning whatever Cups God at the present doth or hereafter may present unto him whatever tryals afflictions sufferings he is or shall be pleased to exercise him with be it in body in soul in Relations in Estate in good Name in Liberty in life whatever they be still in the purpose and resolution of his heart to say of all and every of them in like manner The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it So submitting unto his will and pleasure and that not only patiently but willingly A duty held forth by Pattern For this we have a Pattern here in him whose practise for the most part is a Rule And it is no other then what we finde in some other of the Saints of God This is that which Saint James saith of the Prophets Jam. 5.10 whom he there propounds fot an ensample of suffering affliction In particular the holy man Job whom he there in the next verse instanceth in how patiently how willingly did he drink this Cup submit to the will of God in his many and great afflictions When his Wife gave him that pernicious counsell to make a speedy riddance of his trouble one way or other What saith he shall we receive good at the hands of God and not evill Job 2.10 A resolution not unlike unto this of our Saviours in the Text. Jobs Cup which he had tasted and drunk of already was a bitter Cup his sufferings many and those sharp In his Estate in his Children in his Body Behold him bleeding as I may say in every vein already And what greater tryals might be yet behinde he knew not Yet whatever for the present they were or for the future might be this is his resolution he will receive evil at Gods hand as well as good He had received blessings from him joyfully thankfully and he will with the same hand take Crosses from him not only patiently but willingly Thus should a Christian be ad utrumque paratus ready to take a bitter Cup from Gods hand as well as a sweet one Adversity as well as Prosperity Crosses as Blessings As he receiveth the one joyfully so the other willingly both thankfully By Precept And what we have thus held forth by Pattern we shall finde also seconded by Precept and that by our Saviour himself in that obvious Text Math. 16.24 where having given Peter that tart check for the counsell which he gave him to decline his sufferings he presently subjoyns as a Lesson for him and all other his Disciples to take notice of If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Crosse and follow me If any man will come after me that is take upon him to be a Disciple of mine a Professor of the Gospell or follow me to Heaven whither I am going Let him deny himself lay aside all carnall Interests all worldly respects as to any inordinate affection towards them And let him take up his Crosse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The phrase is emphaticall Attollat crucem suam i. e. Onere quantumvis duro gravi in humeros alacriter sublato c. Bez. Gr. Annot. ad loc not only bear the Crosse when it is layed upon him but take it up Not only suffer what he cannot shift as the beast beareth the burden which is layed upon it and it cannot shake off But willingly and chearfully submitting to Gods dispensations in suffering what he by his Providence shall call him to Thus we see the Duty held forth both by Pattern and Precept Christians must subject themselves to their heavenly Father in drinking whatever Cups he presents to them and that willingly chearfully Obj. Why but it may be said Obs Christ seemingly unwilling to drink this up did our Saviour so do we not finde him deprecating this Cup praying against it and that earnestly wishing that it might passe from him how then did he drink it willingly And do we not finde him telling Peter in that Text even now cited Joh. 21.18 that when he should goe to his Martyrdome another should carry him whither he would not And is it not so with the best of Gods Saints doe not they suffer without or against their wills A. A. For answer to this briefly There is a two-fold will A twofold will Natural and Spiritual A naturall and a spirituall will or two motions of the same will the one from Nature the other from Grace Now it is true the former of these is averse to suffering flyeth from death and all other like evils which are destructive to it self But the other in a regenerate person it over-rules this carrying the soul contrary to the inclinations of nature to yield obedience to the will of God and that willingly So it was with our blessed Saviour in whom we finde these two wills or two motions A natural motion inclining him to wish that this Cup might passe from him as there we have it But then a spiritual motion over-ruling that naturall will of his bringing it off to a willing obedience to the will of his heavenly Father Neverthelesse not as I will but as thou wilt And so it is with other of the Saints However the stream of nature runneth one way yet the winde of the Spirit carryeth them another Nature seeking the preservation of it self declines sufferings but Grace submits to them Reas 1 and that willingly This stone being thus removed To suffer is part of a Christians obedience to God which must be willing I might now go on and shew you why Christians are thus to suffer Great reason for it This is part of their Obedience unto God their suffering work which must be performed willingly without which it deserves not the name of Obedience If ye be willing and obedient saith the Lord to his people Isa 1.19 And it is part of their Conformity to Christ Reason 2 whom they are to imitate as in his Active Part of his conformity to Christ so in his Passive Obedience suffering as he suffered But it is not my purpose to insist upon the Doctrinall part That which I aim at is the working of this Duty upon the heart by way of Application That I shall direct only two wayes Applic. By way of Reprehension And Exhortation 1. By way of Reprehension Vse 1 Reprehension of 3 sorts under
wrath of God wherewith he is wont to proceed against his enemies When that should break forth upon them as it should then they should see what they would not see they should feel the Judgements of God to their cost and smart But I pass on 3. Others of this rank there are Such as will not let it down are not affected with sufferings who notwithstanding God giveth this Cup into their hand and even as I may say putteth it to their mouths yet they will not drink it they will not let it down Whatever afflictions or sufferings God is pleased to inflict upon them they take them not to heart they are not affected with them as they ought to be Which ordinarily ariseth from one of these three heads An evil arising from 1. Sometimes from a kinde of naturall stupidity that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naturall stupâ—dity as Philosophers call it a stupid senselesnesse When men are like cold Iron not sensible of the strokes of Gods hammer Afflictions make no impressions upon their spirits So is it with some God strikes them as it were in every Vein yet they bleed not he followeth them with sundry kindes of afflictions and crosses visits them in their Estates in their Relations in their Bodies yet none of these reach unto the Soul they are not moved thereby 2. Sometimes from Atheisticall profanenesse a profane contempt of God A heisticall profanenesse and of his dealings Thus do some harden their hearts and so bear up head against God himself against his threatnings and against his Judgements as if they were not worth the taking notice of No come what will come they are resolved it shall never come near their hearts And out of this Principle they will not let down those bitter Cups which are given them to drink 3. Or thirdly from a false and erroneous Principle Eâ—oneous Principles So is it with some who conceive it is not for a Christian to be affected or moved with temporall losses or crosses Such was the conceit of the Stoicks of old who held that it was not for a wise man to be subject to such Passions And such a Stoicall Apathy hath in the croud of other errors at this day crept in among some Christians and that under the name of Religion To be affected with the losse of Estate of Friends of nearest and dearest Relations Husband Wife Children they look upon it as a thing below them as unworthy of and dishonourable to their profession An error a grosse and groundless one Religion doth not stop the course of affections or Passions only it moderateth and rectifieth them We finde our blessed Saviour weeping over Lazarus's Sepulchre Joh. 11.35 To make so light of the hand of God as not to be affected with it it is a kinde of sleighting and despising his Chastisements which whoso stand guilty of upon what pretense soever deserve a just Reprehension There are yet a fourth sort who come within the compasse of this Reprehension Such as cast in up again such as drink this Cup but they do not keep it Like a queazy stomack which having taken in a distastefull potion presently casts it up again not retaining it till it have had the effect for which it was intended So they when afflictions fall upon them are for the present affected with them but they suffer them not to rest upon the heart untill the work be done for which they are sent A usual case when God strikes men in any kinde presently they deal as men who conceive themselves struck with the Plague or some such other malignant disease take something to drive it from the heart which they do either by letting in Diabolical suggestions into the Soul such as Satan is ready to dart into the hearts of men for the hindering of the kindely working of Afflictions of which kinde are those common ones Seeing it is no better it is well 't is no worse in vain to grieve for what they cannot help hereby they may hurt but no way benefit themselves c. Or else by seeking other wayes and means of diverting and taking off their thoughts perhaps vain Company unseasonable Recreations sports and pastimes As Saul when the Evil Spiri was upon him calls for David that by playing upon his Harp he might drive it away 1 Sam. 16. v. last At the best by immerging and plunging themselves into the affairs and businesses of the world As Cain did when flying from the presence of the Lord he betook himself to the building of a City Gen. 4.17 Now this is also a kinde of despising the Chastisement of the Lord when men only tast of the Cup which God giveth them and having sipped of it cast it away A thing which many times provokes God against his own people causing him to double his strokes upon them to renew and increase their sorrowes and sufferings Here is then the first rank of those who come within the compasse of this Reprehension such as despise the Judgements or Chastisements of the Lord either putting this Cup far from them or when it cometh nigh them shutting their eyes against it or when it is put to their mouth not drinking it or having drunk it cast it up again Passe we now to the Second A second sort there are who do drink this Cup Sort 2 but it is with a great deal of loathing Repâ—ners and Murmurers they suffer Affliction but it is with a great deal of impatience and discontent repining and murmuring at it Such entertainment do Afflictions ordinarily finde when they meet with an evil and unsanctified heart especially if they be in any measure sharp and grievous Presently what murmurings what grudgings what repinings what secret discontents arise in the soul A usual thing I say with wicked and ungodly persons If the hand of God lye heavy upon them presently their hearts begin to boyl and swell within them as if some hard measure were offered them And many times this inward distemper breaketh forth in outward expressions in gestures words actions whereby either directly or indirectly they do blaspheme God himself Thus we read when the Angels were pouring out their Vials men blasphemed the Name of God So we finde it thrice repeated in that one Chapter Rev. 16 v. 9.11.21 looking at him as having power over those plagues as the 9 verse hath it instead of repenting and giving glory to him which they should have done as it there followeth they speak evil of him and his dealings with them Yea a spice of this distemper may sometimes too often be found even in Gods own people An infirmity to which Gods own people are subject Not only secret murmurings arising in their hearts but even sometimes breaking forth at their lips Passion venting it self in undutifull and unbecoming expressions So it was with the people of Israel when they came to the waters of Marah they presently fell to murmure against Moses
sufferings Great Afflictions call for great humblings Great afflictions call for great humblings Thus it is said of Manasseh When he was in affliction he humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers 2 Chron. 33.12 Not to humble the soul at all under the hand of God or no wayes proportionably to the measure of Afflictions is a despising of them and of God in them Which I say let us beware of Doth God knock at the dore of our hearts by any Rod of his open unto it suffer it to enter lay it to heart And there let it lye Gods Messengers not to be sent away without their errand till it have had the work for which it was sent Do not send any of these Messengers away without what they came for Take heed of whatever it is that might hinder the kindely working of these medicinable Cups Take heed of those and the like Diabolicall suggestions which I spake of which tend to the choaking and stifling of godly sorrow in the soul Which though some of them may be truths in themselves and are capable of some good use that may be made of them yet being now unseasonable and tending to such an end they are hurtfull and pernicious Take heed also of such avocations as may unseasonably call the soul aside from the work it hath in hand as of idle Company vain Sports and Pastimes and other unnecessary employments All which are but as the Devils Whistle to call men aside from more savoury courses It is a dangerous thing when men have taken a Purge to walk abroad And no less dangerous is it to the soul when it is in a course of Physick under the hand of God to suffer it to wander abroad in such avocations as may hinder the kindely working of afflictions take it off from the work of Humiliation And therefore as we suffer the Affliction to enter when God will have it so suffer it to rest upon the soul untill it be kindely and throughly humbled and broken in the sense of sin A dangerous thing it is unseasonably to stop the course of godly sorrow in the soul occasioned by any afflictions to hinder the working of Chastisements upon the heart By this means we may think to ease our souls but alas all the ease that will be in this way gotten will be but like cold water in a burning Feaver which cools for the present but inflames the more afterward The unseasonable casting away of the sense of an affliction will but make way for more and greater This being Gods design in sending afflictions to humble his people he will not be crossed in it Here have you the first of these Caveats concerning the drinking of this Cup Take heed of despising it whether by loathing or sleighting it Passe we to the second Take heed of Murmuring Caveat 2 A Caveat which the Apostle giveth to his Corinthians Take heed of mâ—rmuring 1 Cor. 10.10 Neither murmure ye as some of them also murmured viz. the Israelites in the Wildernesse and were destroyed of the Destroyer Murmuring speeches or thoughts how ill do they become the mouth of a Christian Especially to murmure against God To seek revenge upon Instruments is too much a thing which David would not hearken to as you heard when Abishai offered his service to him in that way But to strive to wrestle with God what a Rebellion Great need have Christians to watch over themselves in this particular to watch over their hearts and to set a watch before thee door of their lips that so they may not do what we find Job acquitted of Job 1. Last Charge God foolishly That rebellious thoughts may not arise in their hearts or if they do yet they may not break forth at their lips To which end to prevent the rising of them or however Murmurings how to be prevented to stifle them in the birth make we use of two or three Meditations Look we upon God look we upon our selves look we upon others 1. Look upwards look upon God Dir. 1 See God in every affliction beholding his hand in every affliction This once apprehended and believed will stop the mouth and quiet the heart This it was that silenced Aaron when Moses told him that what had befallen his sonnes was the Lords doing This is that which the Lord hath said Then saith the Text Aaron held his peace Lev. 10.3 And so was it with David Who so long as he looked at secondary causes in his sufferings he had no rest in himself His heart was hot within him and he spake with his tongue as he tels us Psal 39.3 But coming to take notice of God as having the chief hand in ordering of his afflictions Now saith he I was dumb and opened not my mouth because thou Lord didst it v. 9. Thus when the soul cometh to see that it hath to deal with God that it is he that reacheth forth the Cup to it that hath an over-ruling hand in whatever befals it this quiets all And well it may if we consider in him In whom consider the Absolutenesse of his Soveraigntie the unchangeablenesse of his Purpose the Irresistablenesse of his power 1. The Absoluteness of his Soveraignty He is the Potter His absolute-soveraingty we are the Clay So the Prophet tels the people of Israel Jer. 18.6 O house of Israel cannot I doe with you as this potter saith the Lord As the clay in the Potters hand so are ye in my hand O house of Israel And who are we then that we shall dare to contest with him to quarrel his dispensations It is the Apostles argument which he maketh use of to stop the mouths of all those who out of their profane curiosity shall inquire into the reason and question the equity of Gods eternall decrees of Election and Reprobation why he chooseth some to be Vessels of Honour electing them to Grace and Glory whilst he passeth by others appointing them to just condemnation for sin Nay but O man saith he Who art thou that replyest against God or disputest with him about what he hath done or shall do Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus Hath not the Potter power over the Clay Rom 9.20.21 Such is Man in the hands of God Who having an absolute Soveraigntie and Authority over him may dispose of him in respect of his eternall condition according to his own good pleasure without giving any other reason for it but his will He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he bardneth Rom. 9.18 Much more then may he do the like as to his temporall estate However God is or shall be pleased to deal with thee or me is it any otherwise then he may do Is it not lawfull for me to do what I will with mine own Mat. 20.15 May not he dispose of our condition from whom we have our being 2.
Chastisements upon his people the Jewes Isa 27.9 When he hath tried me saith Job I shall come forth as Gold Strengthning Grace Job 23.10 2. Corruption being thus in measure purged out now Grace cometh to be strengthned So Paul found it in his own experience In his sufferings as he tells us he fainted not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man saith he is renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4.16 Thus did he gather strength in and from his sufferings However the outward man his Body or the naturall man was thereby weakned and impayred yet his inward man his soul or the spiritual man was thereby confirmed and strengthned And so fareth it with Gods Saints Like Palm-trees to which we finde them compared Psal 92.12 The righteous shall flourish like the Palm-tree the more they are pressed down the more they spread and the higher they grow That which the Poets fained concerning their Antaeus that in his wrestling with Hercules he gained new strength by every fall is true in them Nothing contributes more to their spiritual strength then their temporall weaknesses Hereby God doth to use Pauls word 2 Tim. 1.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stir up that heavenly fire of grace in the hearts of his people making use of their Afflictions as his Bellowes to blow up those sparks which otherwise were subject to die Graces strengthned by exercise in Affliction And very usefull they are in this way for the stirring up and thereby for the strengthning of every grace in the soul by setting them awork exercising them Thus do they strengthen Faith and confidence in God Paul telleth us Faith that he received the sentence of death in himself to this end that he might not trust in himself but in God who raiseth the dead 2 Cor. 1.9 And St. Peter tells the Saints to whom he writeth 1 Pet. 1.6 7. Now for a season saith he ye are in heavinesse through manifold temptations that the tryall of your Faith being much more precious then Gold that perisheth though it be tryed with fire might be found unto praise honour and glery at the appearing of Jesus Christ Gold is not more advanced by fire then faith by sufferings These are but as shakings to the Plant which make it root the better the deeper and surer Thus the Christian being shaken by Afflictions he taketh the firmer hold of Christ and is rooted more and more in him And as Faith so Patience Patiene The trying of your Faith worketh patience saith St. James Jam. 1.3 Upon which account in the Verse foregoing he willeth Christians to be so far from fainting under afflictions that they should rather account them matter of joy of great joy My Brethren account it all joy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great joy when ye fall into divers temptations viz. in regard of the blessed fruits of them among which this is one Patience And as Patience Experience so Experience and Hope which the Apostle joyneth to the former Rom. 5.3 where he declares how Christians have matter of rejoycing and glorying as in their Crown so in their Crosse We rejoyce saith he in the hope of the glory of God And not only so but we glory in Tribulations also But wherefore in them Why in regard of the blessed Fruit which being sanctified they bring forth Knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience and Patience Experience and Experience Hope The first an immediate the latter mediate Fruits of such sufferings Such is experience of which a man gets more many times by one days adversity then by many years of Prosperity more experience of God and himself Such was the fruit of Jobs afflictions who when God had delivered him out of them makes this acknowledgment unto him I have heard of thee by the hearing of the eare but now mine eye seeth thee Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Job 42.5.6 Thus that knowledge of his both of God and himself which before was Notionall was now made experimental And such is Hope Hope which is much confirmed and strengthened by this experience This I recall to minde therefore have I hope saith the Church speaking of her Afflictions Lam. 3.21 And the like we may say of Humility Humility Nothing more proper and effectuall for the producing and increasing of it then Affliction Remembring mine affliction and my misery the Wormwood and the Gall my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me saith the Church there in the Verses foregoing Lam. 3.19 20. This it was that brought the Prodigall upon his knees to his Father his being reduced to extremities Luk. 15.21 Pauls thorn in the flesh was to him a preservative against inordinate elevation keeping him that he should not be exalted above measure 2 Cor. 12.7 And as Afflictions humble the heart The heart inlarged by Afflictions so they also inlarge it As they humble it before God so also they inlarge it towards-him in seeking of him In their Affliction they will seek me early diligently Hos 5. last When nothing would bring Joab into Absaloms presence the setting of his Corn on fire doth it 2 Sam. 14.31 When the heart begins to be estranged from God Afflictions bring it home again And again Obedience learnt in this School nothing more usefull for the teaching Christians that great Lesson Obedience unto God their heavenly Father This Lesson did Christ himself learn in this School So the Apostle tells us Heb. 5.8 Alludit ad Proverbium Graecum Gro◠Annot. in loc He learned Obedience by the things which he suffered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Proverb hath it to which the Apostle may there seem to allude By this means he came to know by experience what Passive Obedience meant Yea and by his lesser sufferings he was prepared for that last and greatest act of obedience his Obedience to death And the same lesson do Christians sooner learn in this School then any other Before I was afflicted I went actray but now have I kept thy word saith David there Psal 119.67 These and many other fruits there are of afflictions in this life all which come under this generall head the fruit of Righteousnesse In the life to come take we notice of a double fruit In the life to come preventting the greatest evil procuring the greatest good The former the preventing of the greatest evill Eternall condemnation When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World 1 Cor. 11.32 The other the procuring of the greatest good even that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostle speaketh of in that forecited Text 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory Such shall the recompense be which Gods Saints shall meet withall in Heaven for all
persons and passages in all places upon earth But he hath a speciall Cognizance of his own people the eys of the Lord are upon the righteous Psa 34.15 Vpon them that fear him Ps 33.18 he taketh special notice of them as of their persons so of their concernments The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous Psa 1.6 Knoweth how it is with him what his condition is His eye is upon him as in prosperity so in adversity I know thy works and tribulation saith he to the Church of Smyrna Rev. 69. God taketh speciall notice of the sufferings of his people He seeth their tears putting them into his Bottle registring them in his Book as David saith Psal 56.8 And he heareth their sighing and groaning All our desires are before him and our groaning is not hid from him Ps 38.9 Be our griefs never so secret as to others they are not so to him The world it may be knoweth not where our shooe pincheth us but our God doth Thou hast known my soul in adversities saith David Psal 31.7 His presence with us Others may take notice of the ailements of our Bodies but God of our souls 2. His presence with us God doth not stand afar off from his people in their sufferings as Davids friends did to him My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore and my kinsmen stand afar off Psal 38.11 They would not own him in his distress But God as he taketh notice of the afflictions of his people so he is nigh unto them The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart Psal 34.18 The Lord is nigh unto them that call upon him Psal 145.18 Present with them God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble Psal 46.1 And what an incouragement is this So it was to David who upon this ground resolves not to fear whatever evils should encounter him Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear none evill How so For thou Lord art with me Psal 23.4 Such a true friend is God to his people False friends are like Swallows which are with us in the summer but in winter they are gone Paul complaines when he was to answer for his life No man stood with him but all men for sooke him 2. Tim. 4.16 I but then saith he the Lord stood with me v. 15. Thus doth God stand by his people in all their distresses When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee Isai 43.2 Q. How God said to stand afar off from his people But doth not God sometimes stand afar off from his people in their troubles A. Yes in their sense and apprehension he may not shewing himself to them hiding himself from them Of this David complains Psal 10.1 Why standest thou afar off O Lord why hidest thou thy self in times of trouble God doth not alwaies wayes shew himself unto his people yet he is still present with them Behold he standeth behinde our Wall saith the Church of her well-beloved Cant. 2.9 Thus where sense doth not apprehend Gods presence yet Faith may In truth God is never far off from his people Though they see him not yet is he with them The Lord is with you whilest you are with him and if ye seek him he will be found of you 2 Chron. 15.2 3. His compassion towards us Afflictions doe not abate Gods affection towards his people His Affection towards us but rather increase it The sicknesse of the Childe stirs up bowels of compassion in the naturall Parent God is never more affectionate towards his people then when they are in a suffering condition Now he pitieth them Like as a Father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him Psal 103.13 Now his soul is grieved for them His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel Judg. 10.16 He even sympathizeth with them In all their Afflictions he was afflicted Isa 63.9 My Bowels are troubled for Ephraim Jer. 31.20 Mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together Hos 11.8 All Anthropopathies expressions of humane affection setting forth the truth and greatnesse of Gods affection to his people in their distresses which be they what they will yet as the Apostle assures us they shall not they cannot separate the true Believer from the love of God in Christ Rom. 8.35.39 4. His Providence over us As God is truely affectionate towards his people in their afflictions His Providence over us so he expresseth that affection by exercising of a gracious Providence towards and upon them God is not present with his people in their afflictions as Jobs Friends are said at their first coming to have been with him who however they were much affected with his condition at their first sight of him they lifted up their voice and wept and they rent every one his Mantle and sprinkled dust upon their heads towards heaven as we have it Job 2.12 Yet as it there followeth in the next Verse They sate down with him upon the ground seven dayes and seven nights and none spake a word unto him not ministring any comfort unto him So is it not with God God active in the sufferings of his people he is not a bare spectator in the sufferings of his people but active in them ready to speak to them and doe for them and that for their comfort 1. To speak to them if they will lend an ear to him to speak comfortable words Ready to speak to them to speak peace to them I will hear what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace unto his people and to his Saints saith David Psal 85.8 Outward peace when they are fit for it giving out the word for their deliverance however inward peace quieting their Consciences with the apprehensions of his love and favour in Christ 2. And thus speaking to them he doteth for them exercising his providence Acting for them his gracious providence towards them which he doth in divers acts of it As 1. Ordering their afflictions which he doth as for the kind so for the measure Giving to his children no Cups but what he seeth fit and proper for them And dispensing them as you have heard by measure Proportioning the Affliction to their strength God will not lay more upon man then is meet saith Elihu that he should enter into judgement with God have any just cause to complain of him Job 34.23 God is faithfull saith the Apostle who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able 1 Cor. 10.13 Thus he proportions affliction to the strength of his people 2. Supporting them under them And secondly he comforteth them in their sufferings Blessed be God who comforteth us in all our Tribulation 2 Cor. 1.4 Supplying strength to the inward man When Paul was brought before Nero and all men forsook him then as he tells us the Lord stood by him and
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which imports properly such a recumbency a resting of the soul upon Christ Which where it is though there be not Assurance for the present yet it is a true and a saving Faith As for Assurance pertinet ad bene esse non ad esse It belongeth to the well being to the perfection of faith And upon that account it is earnestly to be sought after and much set by but not to the being Sense and feeling may fail and yet faith hold out I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not saith Christ to Peter Luke 22.32 Not that thy Assurance might not fail which in the best of Gods Saints it is subject to but thy faith which where once it is truly begun it shall never utterly fail In the paroxisme of his passion Christs assurance his sense and feeling were gone Why hast thou forsaken me Yet his Faith held My God my God Consid 3 To these add in the third place the unchangeableness of Gods Affection towards his people The unchangeablenesse o◠Gods affection and of his Covenant with them His Covenant being the Covenant of grace it is a Covenant of salt an Everlasting Covenant Once their God and ever their God Once their Father and ever their Father In the midst of this spirituall desertion yet Christ calleth God his Father The Cup which my Father hath given me Though God did for a time hide his face from him yet did not this dissolve that Relation which was betwixt his Father and him noe nor yet make any alteration or change in his Affection towards him Even then when his wrath brake forth most hotly upon him yet his heart was towards him as much as ever And the like may all that are Christians be assured of Having once taken God for their Father this is an everlasting Relation which shall never be dissolved However God may represent himself unto them yet he is still a Father towards them Doubtlesse thou art our Father Isai 63.16 And such is his affection to them I have loved thee with an everlasting love Jer. 31.3 Thus is God unchangeable we may change as to our apprehensions of him but he changeth not I am the Lord I change not Mat. 3.6 Even as it is with the Sun in an Ecclipse the moon interposing it self maketh a change of the face of it but the Sun it self is not changed which it soone sheweth by shining again as formerly Even so is it in these spirituall Ecclipses The light of Gods countenance through some dark cloud of temptation intervening is for a time intercepted so as we see it not as it may be at sometimes we have done but God is still the same And waiting upon him we shall by comfortable experience find him so Here are a few of those Meditations which among many other being applyed to the heart will be of great use for the bearing it up even under this greatest of tryals In the second place by way of Practise take only the like number of directions Help◠by way of practise because I am not willing to load your memories beyond their bearing 1. In this case make use of the judgments of others Make use of the Judgment of others A man is not looked upon as a competent judg in his own case And so is it here In soul conflicts men usually take part with sin and Satan against themselves And being parties they are no competent Judges And therefore submit rather to the Judgments of others Such as have had acquaintance with our Persons and conditions Specially herein lend an ear to the Ministers of Christ whose office it is under Christ to bind up the broken hearted Isai 61.1 To speak comfort to the afflicted Isai 40.1 To speak a word in season to him that is weary Isai 50 3. As Gods interpreters to shew unto man his uprightnesse Job 33.23 To acquaint him with the truth of his condition as also with his duty to shew him what state he is in and what course he is to take Thus are they Gods mouth to his people as the Lord telleth Jeremie Jer 15.19 And therefore as at other times so now specially to be hearkened to Thus the Lord sends Saul to Ananias that by him he might be restored to his sight and instructed what he should do Act. 9.6.12 And in the Chapter following he willeth Cornelius to send for Peter that he might tell him what he ought to doe Act. 10.6 Thus in matters of temporall Concernment men being in a straight they will not rely upon their own Judgment but will apply themselves to their Counsellours whose profession and practise gives them to be skilfull in the Law And the like let Christians do in their spirituall conflicts intrusting themselves hearken to the Ministers of Christ such as they judge to be able and faithfull and submit to their Judgment 2. In this case live upon former experience as upon the experience of others Live upon former experience so of our own Look back upon former times and remember what our condition hath been how it hath been with us as to our spirituall estate what we have seen and felt of God heretofore This was Davids practise if that Psalme be his which it is supposed to be Psal 77. Being in a most disconsolate condition so as his soul refused to be comforted as he saith v. 2. then saith he I considered the dayes of old the years of ancient time I call to remembrance my Songs in the night v. 5.6 I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high I will remember the works of the Lord Surely I will remember thy wonders of old v. 12 11. Now he cals to mind what God had done for himself and others and herewith he stayeth and comforteth himself being assured that God was still the same God And the like do we in the like case 3. But above all in the third place live upon the promises Live upon the Promises casting our selves upon them as a shipwrackt man doth upon the rast that is cast out to him Though for the present we find no comfort in them or from them yet lay hold upon them casting our souls upon them living by faith in them So did Abraham the Father of the faithfull Against hope he believed in or under hope Rom. 4.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When naturall causes had left him hopeless as to any issue of his body yet grounding his faith upon the promise of God he still hoped And the like let all his Children doe When sense faileth live by Faith resolving come what will come not to let that hold goe That was Jobs resolution Though he slay me yet will I trust in him Job 13.15 A truly heroical Resolution which let al the Lords people take up However the Lord shall deal with them yet let them not let go their confidence Cast not away your Confidence Heb. 10.35 If this be gone
all is gone Hope the Christians sheat-anchor This is the sheate anchor which Christ is to ride by in whatever stormes or stresses come down upon him It is the Apostles own similitude in that known text Heb 6.19 Which Hope we have as an Anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast If the Anchor be let slip or come home the Ship is exposed to the hazard of Rocks and Shelves from which before she was safe And so is the Soul of a Christian if once his Hope his Faith and confidence in God through Jesus Christ faile now it is in eminent danger which before it was not And therefore having once cast this Auchor within the vaile fixed our faith in heaven now whatever stormes come down upon the outward or inward man upon Body or soul still ride by it holding fast this our confidence and hope unto the end as the Apostle minds us once and again Heb. 3.6.14 Thus however the Lord pleaseth to deal with us let us only turn unto him and then hope in him Even as the Ship in a stress turns to the Anchor and rides by it So do we in these soul-stresses Turn to the Lord and trust in him That is the advise which the Prophet Hosea giveth to the people of the Jewes when God had a Controversie with them and was turned enemy to them Hos 12.6 Turn thou to thy God saith he Keep Mercy and Judgment and wait on thy God continually Fide deo tuo wait on him by faith trusting in him And so let it be said to the distressed soul that labours under this saddest of tryals Only turn thou to thy God indeavouring to walk closesly with him and then wait upon him trust in him That is Davids counsell which out of his own experience he giveth to others Psal 27.13.14 I had fainted saith he unless I had believed to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the Land of the living Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thy heart wait I say on the Lord Many and sweet are the promises which God hath made to those who thus wait They that wait upon the Lord saith the Prophet Isai Shall renew their strength through a secret supply of the spirit of grace the inward man shall be strengthened they shall mount up with wings as Eagles their souls being carried up aloft above all difficulties and discouragements they shall run and not be wearied they shall walk and not faint Noe such way to keep the soul from fainting as this to wait upon God in all Estates Which who so do the same Prophet speaks them blessed Blessed are they that wait for him Isai 30.18 Whilest they wait for their God he waiteth that he may be gratious unto them as the former part of that verse hath it only expecting a seasonable time to shew himself unto them in a way of mercy And therefore to close up this Direction however the Lord please to deal with us though he seeme to withdraw himself from us yet with patience wait for him by faith resting upon the word of promise staying our souls upon him That is the advice which the same Prophet holdeth forth in that obvious but excellent Text Isai 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darknesse and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay himself upon his God And this let the Lords people doe such as unfeignedly fear God yeilding obedience to his word as in all other distresses so in this let them trust in the name of the Lord and stay themselves upon their God by faith resting upon him that so their souls may be kept from fainting Thus much for the former of these tryals Soul-suffering Passe we to the second The suffering of death This is the other Ingredient which we find in the bottome of this Cup The Suffering of death the last Act in this Tragedie the last thing that Christ was to suffer his pouring forth his soul unto death A bitter potion The bitterness of death is past saith Agag 1 Sam. 15.32 The fear of death which of all other things he looked upon as most bitter More bitter then death saith the Preacher of the wherish woman Eccles 7.26 Intimating death of all things which can befall the outward man to be the bitterest And yet see with what Patience with what Resolution our blessed Saviour here submits hereunto This was the Gup which his Father had given him He had appointed him to dye to dye that painfull shamefull accursed death upon the Crosse And this our Saviour was privy to having before acquainted his Disciples with it Mat. 20.18.19 Yet see how he submitteth to the will of his Father herein as Obediently he was obedient to the death Phil. 2.8 So willingly The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it And herein again let all his Disciples follow his steps Which Christians are to do Patiently and willingly shewing themselves in like manner Obedient to and in death submitting to the will of their heavenly Father in drinking this Cup. when he shall give it them and that not only Patiently but Willingly A great and a difficult work my brethren A work above the strength of nature A work passing the strength of Nature which of it self is not able to look this enemy in the face noe more then the Isralites were Goliah who when he shewed himself and made that challenge of a single combate to whomsoever should dare to incounter him it is said that when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine they were dismayed and greatly afraid 1 Sam. 17.11 And again v. 24. And all the men of Israel when they saw the man fled from him and were sore afraid Such an enemy is death being as Bildad calleth it The King of terrours Job 18.14 So it is to flesh and bloud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher saith of it of all terribles the most terrible And great Reason for it being so unconquerable an enemy that never was there any that encountred with it but have beene overcome by it save only this our David the Lord Jesus And how shall nature ever work the heart to such a resolution to embrace that which is so destructive to it self Nature cannot do it Noe Yeâ— above an ordinary measure of gâ—race nor yet an ordinary measure of grace How have some of the stourest cedars in Lebanon been shaken with this gust Some of the most eminent Saints of God how have their hearts even fainted when they have seen this Cup comming towards them David a man after Gods own heart then whom none more daring in battell yet in his cold bloud he tels us of the sorrows and terrours of death which took hold upon him The sorrows of death compassed me about Psa 18.4 The sorrows of Hell of the
must needs reflect upon their profession What doth the Christian profess which he doth to look upon this World as a troublesome and tempestuous Sea and upon Heaven as his harbour which he is continually bending his course to and shall he yet be unwilling to leave the one and put in for the other when providence cals him to it Such practise doth not answer the Christians Profession 2. A disparagement to Gods Religion Neither is it a small disparagement to Gods Religion What shall Pagans and Heathens who have nothing but false principles to ground their resolution upon viz. that there is no life after death or some airye fances as that by dying in an honourable cause for their Country or the like they shall merit eternall honour to themselves so living when they are dead or some vain dreames such as those Poeticall fictions of the Elysian fields or of Mahomets Paradise an imaginary happiness after death shall these I say upon such grounds be able to incounter this Enemy to look death in the face nay to make a mock and a scorn of it as some of them have done And shall Christians tremble at the thoughts of it What a dishonour is this to Gods Religion As also unto Jesus Christ the Captain of their salvation whose Souldiers they professe themselves to be Which taking notice of let all those who professe themselves the Disciples of Christ labour to work their hearts to such a well grounded Resolution that they may be not unwilling to lay down their body and yeild up their Soules when God shall call for them Q I but you will say how shall a Christian attain hereunto Q. How shall a Christian attain hereunto It is a thing indeed to be much desired that the heart might be thus setled and stablished against the fear of death I but how shall it be brought to this frame this temper thus to look this last enemy in the face with such an unapalled countenance thus to drink this bitter Cup as our blessed Saviour here did with such Resolution such Willingnesse A. A point of great importance A. being of a general an universal concernment Helps prescribâ—d well worthy of my paines in speaking and your attention in hearing Were it so that the heart of a Christian were once brought to such a frame that he might stand upon such tearms with death as not to be afraid of it how happy should he be both in life and in death Life would be sweet to him and death would not be bitter To help you therefore and my self therein give me leave to present unto you some brief directions which may be usefull in this way Of these we may meet with many there being no one there more copious then this I shall only gleane as Ruth is said to have done among the sheaves which others have gathered taking up some of those handfuls which they have let fall selecting some which are obvious and usefull These for the help of your memories I shall as in the former point reduce to those two heads of Contemplation By way of contemplation and Practise and Practise Begin with the former 1. Contemplation Where we shall find many useful truths Contemplations which being wrought upon the heart Seriously pondered and considered may serve as so many Antidotes for the preventing or expelling of that slavish and inordinate fear which hinders this resolution Of these some are Morall others Divine 1. Morall Morall or Naturall Considerations such as Sense and Reason hold forth Of this kind are those two obvious ones touching the Commonness of death and the Inevitablenesse of it 1. The Commonnesse of it This is a Common Cup which all our Fore-Fathers have drunk of Death a common Cup. A suffering which daily experience tels us that all sorts and conditions of persons are alike subject unto Be they young or old rich or poore Prince or Peasant Wise or simple How dieth the Wiseman Even as the fool Eccle. 2.16 In this no difference Do not all go to one place Eccles 6.6 And shal we see such crouds going before us and yet be afraid to follow after them Have those who have been before us gone off from the stage of this world to make room for us And shall we be unwilling to do the like for those that are to come after us 2. The Inevitablenesse unavoidablenesse of it Al must drink of it As this is a common Cup so all must drink it As all sorts so all individuals every particular person What man is he that liveth and shall not see death and shall he deliver his Soul from the hand of the grave Psa 89.48 I know that thou wilt bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living Job 30.23 Now as the Moralist reasoneth Stultum est timere quod vitari non potest A vain and foolish thing it is to fear what we cannot shun Whereunto may be added two other of the like kind viz. The Vanity and Misery of Life 3. The Vanity of this life there being nothing upon earth that can give any true contentment to the Soul Vanity of Vanities saith the Preacher The Vanity of life Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity that is the Tekel which the wisest of men out of his own experience sets upon the world and all things in it Eccl. 1.2 He had tryed all things as he there telleth us what ever might promise any contentment but he could never find what he sought for But the contrary So he informs us verse 14. I have seen all the works that are done under the Sun and behold all is vanity and vexation of Spirit Not only not giving any true contentment but creating a great deal of trouble and disquietment to the Soul which is inordinately addicted to them or afflicted with them So as there is nothing which this life affords which being weighed in a right ballance should make a man so in love with it as not to be willing to part with it 4. Nay there is enough in it to wean the soul from it The misery of it viz. the misery of it This Job renders as a Reason why he himself was not desirous to live but rather to dye I am made saith he to possesse months of Vanity and wearisome nights are appointed to me Job 7.3 He found not only no delight and contentment in his condition but a great deal of trouble and misery which made him even weary of his life And the like troubles in some kind or other are all men here subject to Man is born to trouble as the sparks flye upward saith Eliphaz Job 5.7 Man that is born of a woman is of few dayes and full of trouble saith Job Job 14.1 Few and evill have the dayes of the years of my life been saith the Patriarch Jacob Gen. 47.9 Few in comparison with many of his fore-fathers and evill in regard of the manifold
Curse which in it own nature it is being the issue and wages of sin and the very Gate of Hell But look we upon it in the glasse of the Gospell that we shall find representing it unto the believer under another shape as being much changed and alterd by Christ Newe names put upon Death Whereupon it puts new names upon it Calling it sometimes a sleep Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Joh. 11.11 Them which sleep in Jesus 1 Thes 4.14 Such is the grave to the true believer Not a Prison but a Bed sor the Body to rest in for a time They shall rest in their beds Isai 57.2 Elsewhere we find it called a Departure Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace saith old Simeon Luke Vid-Leigh Critica Saâ—ra 2.29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dimittiâ— thou loosest dismissâ—st me lettest me out of Prison So the Syriack there renders the word Now thou openest the Prison And so we find it properly used Act 5.40 Where it is said that the Councell let the Apostles goe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. out of prison Such is this life to the believer noe better then a Prison death is his dismission A like word is that which we find used by the Apostle Phil. 1.23 Where expressing his willingnesse to dye I desire saith he to be dissolved or to depart as the new translation hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to return home So the same word is used in his proper sense Luk 12.36 Where servants are said to wait for their Lord till he return to his home 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such is this World to gods people a strange Country where they live as strangers and pilgrims being from home Ad remigrationem Beza Now death is to them a Remigratio as Beza there renders the word a removing a returning to their own Country their home The Soul leaving the Body where it lodged for a time returns to God that gave it Eccles 12.7 Elsewhere the same Apostle calls it the dissolving of a Tabernacle If our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved 2 Cor. 5.1 Not destroyed So is a house when it is pulled down the materials of it being so broken as they can never be put together again But not so a Tabernacle or Tent where the parts are only taken asunder for a time but afterwards put together and set up in another place Such is death only a dissolution of the parts whereof man is composed a severing of the soul and Body for a time which shall afterwards be reunited And so St Peter making use of the same Allusion he calleth it a putting off or laying down of a Tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 depositio tabernaculi mei as the vulgar Latine renders it properly The laying down of my Tabernacle is at hand Such is the Body to the Soul like a Tent to him that carrieth it about with him a burden which being layed down he is eased And so is the Soul by the deposition the laying down of the Body in death Which in the next verse that Apostle there sets forth under another name calling it his Exodus after my decease v. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Exodus A word with the sound whereof you have been well acquainted it being the Title given to the second book of Moses which is so called from the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt which is there fully described Such an Exodus is death to the believer a Translation of him from an Egypt an house of bondage into the Celestial Canaan the glorious liberty of the Sons of God Thus hath death now new names put upon it The Gospell representing it after another manner with another face then the Law holdeth it forth And well may it have new names The nature of death changed by Christ when as the Nature of it is so changed and altered as by Christ it is Who hath taken away the maliguity of it that which was hurtfull in it Having pulled the sting out of this Serpent O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory so the Apostle triumpheth over this conquered Enemy 1 Cor. 15.55 Bot the sting and strength of it are now gone The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ so the Apostle there goeth on This hath Christ done for all that are in him having made satisfaction for sin and fulfilled the Law So as now though death may threaten as the Serpent having lost the sting may hiss yet it cannot hurt And why then should we fear a conquered enemy Which is not only disarmed but lyeth as it were dead before us lâ—ke that Philistine when his head was off In Christi morte mors obiit In Christs death Death died Being thereby abolished as the Apostle hath it 2 Tim. 1.10 Who hath abolished death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made it of none effect So is naturall death the fear and sting of it being taken away it is now as a shadow without a substance Thus is Death now qualified by Christ as to all true Believers Which being seriously considered will be of speciall use to free them from the inordinate fear of it and make them not unwilling to submit to God in the suffering of it To passe on In the Fourth place thus looking upon death Look beyond Death look beyond it Even as the timorous Passenger in ferrying over a River where the water is rough by fixing his eye on the bank of the other side settles his brain which otherwise might be troubled thus let the timorous Christian whose nature inclines him to fear death look beyond it look to the issues the fruits and consequents of it Here taking notice of two things The Evils which it freeth the Believer from and the Good which it bringeth him to Considering 1 1. The Evils which it freeth him from Which are of two sorts The Evils which it freeth the Believer from Temporall and Spirituall 1. Temporall which I have touched upon already Such are bodily Infirmities sicknesses Temporall some of them very dolorous and painfull and such are losses and Crosses in Estate with Reproaches and Ignominies and many Vexations and Disquietments with wearisome labours and Imployments All these is the life of a Christian here infested with this world being to him as I said a troublesome Sea But Death is the Havens mouth which letteth him into a quiet Harbour where he is at rest from all these Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord c. that they may rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest There the Prisoneâ—s rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor The small and great are there and there the servant
Death free the Believer This gust shall blow away all those dark and gloomy Clouds which here intercepted the light of Gods countenance so as from thenceforth he shall never know what doubtings or fears mean but shall enjoy a constant Sunshine of Gods grace and favour to all Eternity Thus you see what evils Death freeth the Believer from Generally Universally from the sense and fear of all Evils both Temporall and Spirituall And thus freeing them from Evils Consid 2 it bringeth great Good to them The great good which Death brings the Believer to letting him into Paradise or them to it Letting them into Paradise This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise saith our dying Saviour to that penitent Thief Luk. 23.43 meaning the Celestial Paradise Heaven whereof the earthly Paradise was a Type and shadow so called from those transcendent pleasures delights and contentments which are there to be found Paul being caught up into this Paradise he heard as he tells his Corinthians unspeakable words such as himself could not utter 2 Cor. 12.4 And so shall the soul ascending thither see and enjoy unspeakable things such as the tongue of man cannot expresse Eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 What things are layed up in heaven for them And these shall Death let the regenerate soul into the possession of letting it into life Mors Janua Vitae Temporall death is the dore which letteth into everlasting life Of this Tree shall he eat who hath overcome this his last Enemy To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Rev. 2.7 to partake of eternall life of those everlasting Joyes to which Death is the Entry Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord saith the Master having reckoned with his good and faithfull servant Matth. 25.23 Thus doth Christ reckon with all his servants at the day of death then giving to them according to their works This is the Evening wherein those who have laboured in his vineyard shall every one receive their Penny Matth. 20.9 The reward of all the service which here they have done unto him a superabundant recompense infinitely exceeding whatever they have deserved Even that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that eternall weight of glory as the Apostle calleth it 2 Cor. 4.17 Then shall the Crown be set upon the heads of all Gods Saints I have finished my course saith St Paul henceforth is layed up for me the Crown of righteousnesse 2 Tim. 4.8 All true believers they are Kings while here upon earth made so by Christ who hath obtained that honour and dignity for them He hath made us Kings unto God and his Father Rev. 1.6 Spiritual Kings But they are as yet but Kings Elect heirs apparent to the Crown having a right to it but Crowned they cannot be til death Now what Prince would be unwilling to hear of his Coronation daies And such is the day of death to the true believer his Coronation day At which time being divested of his rags he shall have a Robe put upon him A white Robe He that overcommeth shall be cloathed in white rayment Rev. 3.4 Thus was Christ himself cloathed in his transfiguration on the Mount His rayment was white as the light Matth. 17.2 And so shall his Saints be cloathed after their departure hence having white rayment a garment of glory put upon them Then shall they be cloathed upon with that their house which is from Heaven when once they have laid down this earthly Tabernacle The consideration whereof made the blessed Apostle to groan so earnestly as he said he did 2 Cor. 5.1 2. desiring his dissolution upon that account Then shall they enter into their Glory So did our blessed Saviour by suffering of death he entred into his Glory Luk. 24.26 And so shall all they who follow his steps imitate his obedience death shall be to them Porta Gloriae The gate of glory letting in the soul to the beholding and injoying of that glory and happinesse which now cannot enter into it Letting it into the presence of God where it shall see him Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Matth. 5.8 And see him as he is as Saint John tels us 1 Joh. 3.2 Have a full sight of him see him after another manner then here it doth Now we see through a glasse darkly saith the Apostle but then face to face 1 Cor. 13.12 Now we see God only in the glass of his word and works which do but darkly represent him But after death believers shall have a clear and full view of him The beholding of God a beatifical vision Then shall their Faith be turned into Vision Which shall be to them as the Schools call it a truely Beatificall vision making the beholders happy Happy in as much as hereby they shall be transformed into the Image of God made like him we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is saith St John there 1 Joh. 3.2 This Believers in part are here upon earth Whilest they behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord they are changed into the same Image from glory to glory As the Apostle hath it 2 Cor. 3.18 Beholding God in the glass of his word thereby they come by degrees to be transformed into his Image to be made like him in holinesse But when they shall come to see him face to face then shall they be made perfectly like unto him Death brings the Soul to perfection so far as their finite natures are capable of partaking of his infinite perfections Then shal they be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect Perfect with a perfection both of Grace and Glory 1. Of Grace Which is here imperfect Such is Knowledge and Love Of Grace and all other graces in the most sanctyfied soul But upon the dissolution of the Body the soul comming into the presence of God it shal attain a full perfection A perfection of Knowledge Now I know in part saith the Apostle but then I shall know even as I am known 1 Cor. 13.12 Of knowledg Many things there are which the most knowing men upon earth are ignorant of Many mysteries in Nature which by all their search they cannot find out the reason of Much more Celestiall Mysteries concerning God and Jesus Christ As the Trinity of Persons in the unity of Essence The Hypostaticall union of the two Natures The Godhead and Manhood in the person of Christ Mysteries too sublime for any of this side heaven to pry into so as to comprehend or yet apprehend them otherwise then by faith But these with whatever else may any waies conduce to the happinesse of the soul to know it shal have a clear knowledg of after death Seeing God as he is it shall
see all in him see all things after another manner then here it doth When that which is perfect is come then that which is imperfect shall be done away 1 Cor. 13.10 And as perfect knowledge so perfect Love Love Seeing God as he is it cannot be but the soul must be inflamed with Love to him And so perfect Holinesse This Christians are here called upon to endeavour after Holinesse Having therefore these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting holynesse in the fear of God so the Apostle exhorts 2 Cor. 7.1 But this while we are here we shall never attain unto But comming to see God now shall we be like him holy as he is holy being perfectly restored to that Image of God wherein man at the first was created consisting in Knowledge Holinesse and Righteousnesse Such is the perfection of Grace which the soul attaines by this beatificall vision 2. And as Grace so of Glory Like as silver or gold being set against the Sun Of glory by the beames thereof cast upon it it becommeth radiant and shining So shall it be with the soul by beholding the glory of God it shall it self be made glorious Such a glory had Moses put upon his face when he beheld the glory of the Lord having so near a communion with him upon Mount Sina the skin of his face did shine saith the story so as Aaron and the rest of the Children of Israel were not able to behold him Exod. 34.29.30 Such shall be the glory of the glorified soul having communion with God in Heaven and there beholding his glory it shall be made glorious This office doth death perform unto the believer it letteth in his soul into the presence of God whereby it becommeth perfect with perfection of Grace and Glory 2. The believer by death brought into the presence of Jesus Christ to have a full communion with him To this add It brings him also into the presence of Jesus Christ from whom while he is here he is absent While we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. 2 Cor. 5.6 But now death brings the soul into his presence to have a sweet communion with him A consideration which made the Apostle not only averse to death but desirous of it I desire to depart and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 This it was that made him so confident and resolute as he was not to regard life or fear death as he there telleth his Corinthians 2 Cor. 5 6.8 Therefore we are alwaies confident knowing that whilest we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord Which elswhere he concludes to be far better for him then to live here Phil 1.23 To see Christ to be with him to injoy him to have a full communion with him what happinesse shall this be to the soul And this doth death bring the believer to 3. As also to Communion and Fellowship with blessed Saints and Angels Also to Communion with Saints and Angels With them the believer hath Vnion whilest here upon earth Ye are come unto mount Sion saith the Apostle to his believing Hebâ—ews and unto the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the generall Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.22 23. Being true believers they were now made members of the Mystical body the Church whereof the one part is upon earth the other in heaven they had union with Saints and Angels being united to them by faith and Love which all Believers are But now by death they come to have a full Communion with them to see them to injoy them to have converse and society with them joyning with that heavenly Quire in singing Halelujahs to him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb for Ever and Ever Here is now the good which death bringeth the believer to and putteth him in possession of The thought whereof being seriously set on upon the soul it cannot but work it to a willing receiving and imbracing of such a messenger as bringeth tidings of so great good unto it Anticonsiderations or Objections answered I but it may be said though it be thus with the Soul yet in the mean time what becomes of the poor Body Obj. 1 Though the soul gain by death yet the body looseth Though the soul he a gainer by death yet the Body is a looser by it Though that return to God that gave it yet this goeth to the grave where it is subject to Corruption Which maketh our Saviours case and ours far different As for him he knew that though his Body being severed from his Soul for a time should lye under the power of death yet it should not see corruption So David had foretold it Psal 16.10 Where personating of Christ as Peter expounds it Act. 2.31 He foretelleth what manner of death his should be Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thine Holy one to see corruption And this our Saviour himself well knew who foretold his Disciples how though he were killed yet he should rise again the third day Mat. 16.21 And upon this account he might be more willing to dye But it is otherwise with other of the sons of men That which Paul saith of David that he saw Corruption Act. 13.36 is noe less true of others Be their Bodies never so richly embalmed yet will not that preserve them from putrefaction So much the Psalmist willeth the great men of the world to take notice of Psal 49.6 7. They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches None of them saith he can by any meanes redeeme his brother and so not themselves that he should still live for ever and not see corruption Such is the common fate None but must expect to have their bodies lye rotting in the grave in that land of forgetfulnesse as the Psalmist calleth it Psal 88.12 Where as they forget all that was done upon earth so they are forgotten by those they leave behind them Being laid up in the earth there the worm feedeth sweetly on them and they shall be no more remembred as Job faith of the cruell Oppressours Job 24.20 Now this is a thing which flesh and bloud cannot but look upon with great reluctancy the thought whereof may well make it loath to lay down the body upon such tearms To return an answer to this and some other Anticonsiderations or Objections of like nature which men are ready to take up and make use of in this way as discouragements hindring them that they cannot so willingly drink this Cup submit to the stroake of death as
our Saviour here did 1. Suppose this to be the condition of the body The Soul the kernell the Body but the shell that it suffereth after this manner in and by death yet what of that so long as it reacheth not unto the Soul So long as the kernell is safe what matters it what becomes of the Shell So long as the soul the better part is a gainer by death so great a gainer as you have heard what matters it what becometh of the Body being so vile as it is That is the Epithite which St. Paul giveth it Phil. 3.21 Our vile Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Body of vilenesse Corpus humilitatis nostrae saith the vulgar Latin he Body of our humbling And it is noe other then it deserveth The Body being no other but a Lump of clay which is little worth and carrying that in it or about with it which may serve to humble the owner of it and make him not to dote upon it as the greatest part do Now being so vile as it is why should men be so affected with what befalleth it 2. But Secondly the Body shall not ever continue in this estate The bodies of Gods Saints shal be changed Whilest it lyeth in the grave it is but a grain of Corn sowen in the earth as our Saviour maketh the comparison Joh. 12.24 As also the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.36 Which though it lye rotting there for a time yet after a few months it springs forth And so shall the Body in due time it shal arise and then it shal come forth after another manner then when it was laid down It is sown in corruption it is raysed in incorruption it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory c. so the Apostle describeth the resurrection of the Bodies of Gods Saints at the Last day 1 Cor. 15.42 c Thus shall the Body also be a gainer by death as well as the Soul 3. In the mean time consider that inseparable union that is between Christ and the Believer The union betwixt Christ and the Bodies of his Saints Death may separate his Soul and Body the one from the other but separate either from Christ that it cannot As it was with Christ himself when his Body lay in the grave it was separated from his Soul but stil the God-head was united to both Such is the union betwixt Christ and the believer an indissoluble union death doth not dissolve it That Body which was a member of Christ whilest living which the Bodies of all Gods Saints are Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 6 15 it still retaineth the same relation when dead And being thus united unto Christ it shal by his power be preserved and by his vertue raised up again at the last day Even as the branches of a tree which seem to be dead in the winter yet having union with the root by a vertue springing from it they revive in the spring time So shal it be with the bodies of Gods Saints Though they be uncloathed by death as the tree is of his leaves by the winters cold yet shall they be cloathed upon having a vest a Robe of eternall glory also put upon them being changed by Christ and made like unto his glorious body as the Apostle tels us Col. 3.21 Thus is that first Objection readily answered And so may most of the rest which are made use of to this purpose Of which let me take notice of those which are most considerable As for those carnall ones which sway much with the men of this World viz their parting with their Riches Carnal allegations not worth the answering their Pleasures their Honours and such other contentments as this world affords which maketh them so loath to leave it I look upon them as not worth the answering all these being but shadows the substance whereof is to be found in that other world to which death bringeth the soul that is weaned from this The Considerations which I shall take notice of shall be only such as may lay hold upon a sanctyfied soul all which we shall find the text in hand meeting with Such is that of parting with near and dear Relations Wife Children Friends Obj. 2 Parting with near and dear Relations and leaving them in an unsetled condition Loath I am may one say to leave them behind me specially to leave them in such a condition as I am like to do not well knowing how they shal subsist when I am gone But was it not so with our blessed Saviour here When he was to leave the world So did our blessed Saviour his Disciples and mother did he not leave his beloved Disciples and dear Mother and left them in a low and unsetled estate therein not unlike himself scarse having a house of their own to hide their heads in As for his dear Mother the story tels us how when he was hanging upon the Crosse he committed her to the care and custody of his beloved Disciple Saint John Joh. 19.27 not having of his own any subsistance to leave her And for his Apostles he well knew in what condition he was to leave them even as Sheep among Wolves as he told them when he sent them forth Matth. 10.16 in a wretched World where they should meet with Tribulation enough of which he had forewarned them Joh. 16. Last Yet doth not the thought hereof take him off from this act of obedience to his Father in being willing to dye when he will have him Repl Repl. I but may some say his case was herein different from ours But he did not leave them Comfortlesse Though he did thus leave his Relations yet he did not leave them comfortlesse That is his promise to his Disciples when he had told them of his leaving them I will not leave you comfortlesse Joh. 14.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greek I will not leave you Orphanes Noe he promiseth that himself would have a care of them and that after a time he would come to them so it there followeth I will come to you Which he made good after his Resurrection And though himself were gone yet he sent his Proxie the Comforter to them according as he promised them Joh. 16.7 If I depart I will send him unto you viz. the Comforter the Holy Ghost who as he assures them should abide with them for ever Joh. 14.16 performing all needful offices unto them as the 26 verse there hath it But so cannot we do may some say to our Relations if we be gone all is gone with them What all gone Is your God gone too A. Surely not so Being your God he will be theirs God a Comforter to the Widow and Fatherless I will be thy God and the God of thy seed Gen. 17.7 And being so a God in Covenant with them he both can and will take care of them Many are
the spirits and in that regard are more deadly So doth this Tryall seize immediately upon the soul and in that respect is the more grievous and insupportable It is the soul the spirit of a man that beareth up his head in all his sufferings so as if that be wounded and broken what shall support it The spirit of a man will sustein his Infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear saith that Text forecited Prov. 18.14 2. Reason 2 And again in this Tryall God himself seemeth to turn Enemy to a man In this tryall God appears an enemy Whereas in other Affliions he standeth by his people comforting and strengthning them taking part with them or else standing Neuter in this he takes up Arms against them fighteth against them and that in a more immediate way then in other conflicts And upon this account this Cup must needs be more bitter then any other Cup. Yet if God shall please to hold forth this Cup unto his people Yet to be submitted to it is their duty even herein to submit unto his will and pleasure Which they are to doe as not despising it which they doe who looking upon this Affliction of spirit only as some Melancholick Passion sleight it so not murmuring at it nor yet fainting under it Q. How this may be done without fainting I but how shall a Christian be able to do this to bear up under such a tryall without fainting A. A great and a difficult work to doe I confess yet through grace possible To help you herein if ever God shall call any of you to it let me briefly propound unto you somewhat to be considered and somewhat to be practised 1. By way of Consideration seriously meditate upon these three particulars Considerations usefull to this end 1. Look upon others who have had experience of the like conflicts This is not such a Cup but others have tasted of it before us Consid 1 Even this affliction hath been accomplished in many of our brethren Look upon others wh◠have had experience of the like in some of the dearest Saints and servants of God Yea few there be but at some time or other do tast of this Cup and some drink deep of it So did Job and David both which among other their sufferings had experience of this this Soul tryall of a spirituall desertion God hiding himself from them seeming to have forsaken them and to be turned against them So we may hear Job complaining Cap. 6. v. 4. The Arrowes of the Almighty are within me the poyson whereof drinketh up my spirit the terrours of God do set themselves in array against me And again Cap. 13. v. 24. Wherefore hidest thou thy face and holdest me for thine Enemy And v. 26. Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquitys of my youth And the like sad complaints we may hear from David My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Psal 22.1 Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled Psal 30.7 Mine Iniquities have gone over my head as an heavy burthen they are too heavy for me Psal 38.4 Mine Iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to looke up they are more then the haires of my head therefore mine heart faileth me Psal 40.12 And we shall find that holy man Homan the Ezrite joyning in consort with them Psa 88. Lord why casteth thou off my soul why hidest thou thy face from me v. 14. While I suffer thy terrours I am distracted v. 15. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me thy terrours have cut me off v. 16. Thus were they exercised not only in the outward man but also in the inward having sore conflicts in their soules with apprehensions of divine wrath Now if God shall bring us into a like condition look we upon them and upon the end of the Lord as St James speaks Jam. 5.11 the issue of these their temptations which was very comfortable the Sun in due time breaking out from under those clouds God lifting up the light of his countenance upon them as formerly But above all look we up as the Apostle directs us unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith Specially look upon Christ who suffered the like nay infinitely more of this kind in the Garden and upon the Cross as you have heard Now where a Patient seeth his Physitian but taste of his Cup it is some incouragement to him to drink it And this hath Christ done for us nay he hath not only tasted of this Cup but drunk it off So then if God will have us to pledge him to taste of the like Cup be not dishartened and discouraged by it Taking notice 1. That this is a part of our conformity to Christ And 2. That Christ having been thus tempted himself which he was how else saith the Apostle that he was in all points tempted like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we are Heb 4 15. having had experience of this soul-conflict he knoweth both how to pity and how to succour those who are thus tempted as the same Apostle tels us Heb. 2.18 Obj. Obs I But Christ had no sins of his own set before him Christ had no sins of his own which we have So as his condition was different from ours A. A. Though he had no sins of his own yet he had the sins of others Our sins were made his our sins charged upon him as being our surety which by this meanes were made his own He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin saith the Apostle 2. Cor. 5.21 However he knew no sin experimentally as being guilty of it in himself yet he was made sin viz. by way of imputation having the sins of all his elect people put upon his account in whose room he then stood He his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree or to the tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the tree of the Crosse Consid 2 1 Pet. 2.24 Now this was all one as if these sins had been his own What is it that a Christian liveth by not Assurance but Faith as to the guilt of them But to pass on Let a second Consideration be What it is that a Christian liveth by what it is that his salvation depends upon Not Assurance but Faith The just shall live by his faith Hab. 2.4 Now Assurance and Faith are two different things Assurance not being of the Essence of Faith as by some it hath been mistaken Faith being properly a Recumbencie a Reliance and resting of the soul upon Christ This is Faith true justyfying and saving faith A believing in Christ or on him God so loved the World that be gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish Joh. 3.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In eum on him Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Act. 16.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉