our life In our inclination In our declination In our death In our grave and sepulchre In all things wee are like our first parent Adam which is the father of our nature as Christ is the father of our state in grace Therefore as at the first wee are made by the hand of God as Adam was wee are made out of a base matter as he was the Lord made him out of the red earth Psal 119.73 so saith David thy hands have made me and fashioned me out of such a kind of substance are we made We are like him in our beginning Adam was left to a kind of free-will to goe this way of that way Which free-will hee had entire and might have kept it if he would In our infancie wee are partly left that way but custome and corruption lead us another way for wee are forestalled by inbred corruption by sinne and we are mis-led by the corrupt customes in the world so that children are corrupted before they be sensible Otherwise children have that in them above men that they may say This course I will take and this course I will not take For when a man takes a course to be vicious and to fall into sinne he cannot be so free as he that hath a pure mind which is like unto a white paper wherein there is nothing written For they that fall into evill they set such blots upon them that cannot be gotten out without the bloud of Christ And indeed in the fairest paper in the minds of children there is that corruption that the bloud of Christ must wash it out even that originall sinne though they be free from actuall Therefore in this wee are like unto Adam mutable and changeable Nay our condition is worse than his for he had a power not to sin and we have no power but to sinne as long as wee live in this flesh Thirdly in the inclination of our mind As Adam grew hee had an inclination to eate and to drink a necessity of increasing in the world of steep and work and the like so in these things wee grow and many men are so set upon these worldly things that they commonly faile God and their soules in other things And for our declining age we are like unto him Although hee lived in strength a long time yet at last hee failed of his strength and of his wit and at length came to be turned to dust to nothing So it is with us as is the earthly so are they that are earthly we must follow his condition wee cannot avoid it we must be like unto him Lastly as Adam died and went to his grave from which he was taken earth to earth dust to dust and rotted in the earth and there he lyeth now and hath lyen for the space of almost 5000. years in the dust so the Lord will bring our bodies by the common sentence which hee hath pronounced against our sins and the sin of Adam he will bring them to the same state For as is the earthly so are they that are earthly In their birth in their life in their inclination in their death in their grave and in all the parts and passages of this mortall race they are all alike each to other But the Lord who is to give a new life of grace which begins here and shall be completed in the life of glory which shall be manifested hereafter he shall conforme his members unto him more then Adam doth his For if we be miserable because of the first Adam much more shall we be glorious because of Christ the second Adam And if a weak cause be able to conforme his members unto him a stronger cause shall be much more able Therefore as the misery of man is derived from Adam to his posterity so the glory and majesty of God shall be derived and exhibited and set forth and fulfilled from Christ as from a root and fountaine to all those that follow For from his fulnesse we have all received even grace for grace Iohn 1 16. Therefore he saith those that are spirituall shall be such as he that is spirituall as Christ is now in his glorious body For this must be taken of the glorified body of Christ and not of his mortall body For he had a mortall body in which he died but when it was raised againe it was a glorified body And as it was in the Resurrection of Christ so in the common Resurrection we shall be like unto him by the power of Christ that worketh all in all And if Adam could convey unto us an inheritance of misery and weaknesse and declining much more shall the Lord convey a stronger inheritance of glory and beauty and of all that wee can desire and that can fill the heart of man all which the word of God hath made a promise and tender of Therefore as the Apostle saith comfort your selves in these words 1 Thes 4.18 even in observing the order that God would have and be content that your naturalls may passe away that your spirituals may succeed For we must of necessity be borne before we can be borne anew of water and of the holy Ghost We must be borne first of the will of flesh and bloud wee must be borne after againe by the sacred laver of regeneration not of the will of flesh and bloud Iohn 1.13 but of the spirit by the word of God and by faith in Christ Iesus And as St. Austin saith we could not die Aug. except wee had been the members of Adam nor wee could not rise againe except wee were the members of Christ But these things be so ordained by God that wee cannot looke for the one except we be content to taste of the other The Lord made not the Angels and us in one condition they were made in their full perfection at the first therefore some of them fell from that to be devils some of them continuing by the grace of God and are confirmed for ever But man was not so made but as a scholler to come by divers degrees to grow forward from rudiments and principles unto further perfection that the glory of God might be seen in his successe and course in his bringing on and production that he appointed for man Vse Therefore wee ought to be contented with the ordinance of God to rejoyce in it and to be willing to suffer the cup which God hath put into our hands even the cup of death when the Lord shall call for us And wee ought also to arme our selves with this exceeding comfort that this is the onely passage and way which God hath made for that glorious state hereafter For if there be naturall there shall be spirituall and if there be no nature there shall be no spirit Therefore this misery and weaknesse is as it were a doore and a way unto greatnesse and strength and ability This is that which the blessed Apostle saith 2 Cor. 11.
discerne the cause and the person by the cause and not the cause by the person Otherwise it will not follow that because Saint Paul suffered these plagues for the Resurrection that therefore there shall be a Resurrection but God forbid that any man should conclude such a peremptory sentence against Gods children as to account them furious or mad men And the reason is plaine because God protesteth to avenge his Saints Let the bloud of thy Saints which the heathens have shed in thy sight Psal 79.11 be avenged and he protesteth for his people in Egypt I have seene I have seene the afflictions of my people in Egypt And he that gathers the teares of his children the teares of his Saints into his bottle as if to make a speciall drinke and receipt of them much more doth he gather the drops of bloud of his Saints Psal 56.8 that they spend for his sake and the Gospells And if he that gives a cup of cold water Math. 10.42 in the name of a Prophet it shall be rewarded much more shall hee be abundantly recompenced that gives not a cup of cold water but a chalice of his owne warme bloud of his dearest bloud for the maintenance of the truth that he hath received and that is inspired into him by the holy Ghost he that doth it not onely in the name of a Prophet but in the name of the Prince of the Prophets Christ Iesus who is able to give that abundant recompence he hath promised Let us alway take it to heart and hold it as a strong argument even the Churches sufferings Because the Church in former times hath liv'd in this holy faith because the Church hath bin content to dye for it because the Churches in former times have mortified theÌ„selves to the world and lived as men of another world to keep themselves pure undefiled in this world Let the presidents of these men bee undoubted rules for us to guide our feete and steps by as infallible and unerrant rules let us follow with unrepealable affections in that blessed truth Application which hath beene revealed to us from time to time The last thing I noted to you was the Application As it was in Saint Pauls time so it hath beene in the time of all Christians we have alway beasts in rhe world These kinde of beasts the true Christians and professors of the Gospell must be exposed to them A man may finde Ephesus every where and as much in this Citie as in any place in the world where our beasts be of divers natures Some are horned beasts Some are beasts that devoure with their teeth Some are beasts that kicke with the heele Some are beasts that hisse and snarle and with a secret kinde of poyson destroy men For the one sort David saith they set their hornes on high I said to the fooles deale not so madly Psal 75.4.5 and to the ungodly set not your hornes on high Proud creatures are compared in the Scriptures Psalm 22.12 Amos 4 1â— to Buls of Bashan There be also Kyne of Bashan for there bee horned creatures of both sexes Saint Paul was much plagued with women in three or foure places in the Acts the women still raised persecution When men had more modesty and more grace then comes Iezebel and Herodias and raiseth persecution and although it be not now in that kinde as it was then yet they doe it â—n a semblable way now adayes they will disgrace one Preacher and set up another comparing one man with another perswading men to withdraw the naturall allowance and maintenance due to the Ministers and so they bring Saint Paul to that extreme necessity that if any man should judge the case he would say he were conversant with beasts rather then men There are another kinde of beasts that bite with their teeth David tels us of them too that as there are buls of Bashan and Kine of Bashan and Vnicornes so there are Lyons and Tygers and Beares and Wolves and Dogges with such kinde of beasts this Forrest is full too which have most virulent and poysonous teeth and lay on their fangs where it pleaseth them without all respect either of place or person or any kinde of humane reference And they bite even to death and destruction they will bite a man out of his fortunes out of his fame out of his contentment bite him out of his neighbours out of his servants out of his children there is no place where this dogges tooth is not gressant and playing masteries As for the other that be altogether for the heele to kick Psal 32.9 and spurne the Prophet David saith Psal 32. Be not like the horse and Mule whose mouth must be held with bit and bridle lest they fall upon thee These Cammels these Horses and Mules are as frequent as the rest of the beasts of the desert be and they will insult and turne upon every body There is no man can escape them but they will now and then give him a dash with the heele before hee be aware of them And for those other that are in lurking holes and murmure and grumble and like Serpents doe but only hisse our world is also replenished with them like fiery Serpents in the wildernesse that would creepe upon a mans legs before hee knew where he was and on a sudden sting him Such kinde of beasts all the Ministers of God must resolve to fight withall and al Christian men 2 Tim. 3.12 Al that wil live godly in Christ Iesus saith the Apostle must suffer persecution and they must be persecuted from such kinde of beasts as these but he that is the God of men and Angels hee shall one day either turne these beasts into men or else destroy them as beasts In the meane time our prayer must be with David Psal 3.7 Psal 3.7 Lord breake the hornes of the ungodly strike the iaw bones of thine enemies breake their teeth asunder breake the teeth of the ungodly and send them downe their throat that they may be able to doe no more mischiefe These and the like prayers the Prophet hath in the high spirit of revelation whereby it was assured him that they would not be better But we must pray unto God to amend them that it would please God to turne their faces againe and to make him that is beastly to remember humanity and to come home againe to himselfe and know the doctrine of the Gospell of Christ and so settle himselfe in Christian Charity and love as Saint Paul teacheth and labour to bee a member of that body and to keepe within the compasse of the Church and no more to be extravagant from the Common-wealth of Israell That hee may have the promise of God here and the performance of them in the life to come Which the Lord grant unto us Amen FINIS 1 COR. 15.32.33 Let us eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye Be
he had from God hee cast all men into the prison of death and he keepeth them there and will keep them there by the common calamity of sinne he keeps all mens bodies there to the time of the resurrection which the Lord shall cause in the fulnesse of time but therefore the Lord following the way of justice and not the way of power for God was able to take us from death otherwise by other meanes then by the death of Christ but then hee could not be just Now God would teach us that it is better to follow the way of justice then the way of power for every man can be powerfull the devils themselves have power but they have no justice therefore God then in justice would have the death of his Sonne satisfie the wrath of God and would have him to die for them that should have died that his death might be the life of many thousands that his death might be the destruction of the power of death which had a commission given for the time that at the last might have an end To conclude because I see the time past let us also learne to frame our selves to this high spirit of the Apostle to insult over death and then if wee can insult over death much more may wee insult over all the calamities of this life for what is so great a calamity as that why should poverty oppresse us why should infamy vexe us if sicknesse diseases and death it selfe cannot oppresse why should trouble of conscience for sinne oppresse us when the grand enemy himselfe is conquered and when we have a part of the conquest wee are souldiers to that great Captaine and hee communicates his victory unto us all Iohn 16. ult Aug. Be of good comfort saith Christ for I have overcome the world Saith St. Austin What dost thou meane by this Be of good comfort I have overcome the world What have we to doe to be of good comfort it belongs not to us be thou of good comfort it pertaines to thee what are we the better because thou hast overcome the world Yes saith hee oh death thou which hast been the devourer now thou art devoured thy self thou that hast swallowed up men now thou art swallowed up thy selfe by a more potent cause oh death he was wounded for me that made me and he that through his death hath swallowed up thee hee hath conquered thee for me therefore I rejoyce in him which is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone his victory is my victory therefore he saith Be of good comfort I have overcome the world And this the Lord hath taught us in many passages of his holy Booke that hee might prepare us once to this courage to this great valour For in this a man is seen more than in any thing else in the patient abiding of trouble and misery in the patient enduring of death in this present life All worldly passions are seperated as chaffe by the wind from the godly the wind blowes away the chaffe but so it cannot the good corn that falls still on the floore the chaffe is blowne away with every wind of temptation and persecution Let us therefore take notice of that singular comfort which God hath given us out of the Scripture which all resolves at last into this one point Oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy victory In Iosuah 10. Ioshuah 10.24 wee reade that Iosuah there the Prince and Captaine he brought out the five Kings that were closed in a Cave and a stone rolled to the mouth of it till hee should come back hee brings them forth and bade the Captaines tread upon the necks of the Kings and not feare for saith hee The Lord your God shall fight for you This was a figure of this glorious victory of the Sonne of God over death All the potentates of Hell are like to the five Kings of Canaan which oppresse all they meet as Adonibezek they thumb them hee cut off the thumbs and toes of men and set them under his Table as dogges The Lord signified this victory of Christ by the victory of Iosuah over those five Kings and Adonibezek that hee would give a spirituall conquest over death hell sinne and all the adversaries that could oppose him and he would tread upon the necks of all his opposers What is so base a part what is so base a thing as the foot of a man and what is so lofty a thing as the necke and yet the very foot of Gods children the basest part shall tread upon the necks of their enemies upon the necks of Kings themselves which are compassed and surrounded with jewels and ornaments yet they shall bee subjected to the basest parts even to the heeles of godly men so great is the comfort of Gods children And as it was done then in Iosuahs time so also the comfort remaines now So wee see again the Lord bids the people look back whē they were past the Red-sea look back upō the Egyptians and the People Miriam had a song Exod. 15.1 when they looked back saw the Egyptians floating above the water A strange thing but God would have it so because he would have his people to have Arms to have the Arms of the Egyptians to fight against Amalek It is said the people looked back and saw them those proud spirited people those braggadocioes which thought to have swallowed them up quick and followed them with their chariots and Army those which before could not bee resisted now the Lord brings them to a calme he so cooled the Nation that the least boy might insult over them Israel looked and saw them and tooke off their armour took off their rings and jewels and their costly apparrell and furnished themselves with it when they went into the wildernesse So shall the conquest of Gods children be over death although it have beene full of threatning full of terrour and blood before yet the Lord will bring it into the floud into the Red sea he will overwhelme it in the water of his Omnipotency and his children shall look back and shall see him and spoyle him that was the spoyler and destroy him that was the destroyer and they shall take his weapons from him and make use of them to their owne purposes and they shall say as the people might have said to the Egyptians Where is thy bragging that thou usedst before thou art inclosed now in thine owne net Where is thy sting oh death Oh hell where is thy victory The Lord shall turne the termes the Lord shall make the field to goe on his owne side and take away the conquest from the adverse party It hath beene an ancient Proverb That to pluck the beard of a dead Lion even for children themselves it is an easie matter a poore child that cannot indure the noise or the sight of a living Lion Chrysost as St. Chrysostome saith the boyes