course of profession in the way of life and salvation but they never come to bee opposers and resisters of God and his grace till there comes some to bee wiser and stricter in a Christian course than they and then hee fals away Vse 4 Is it so that the faithfull soule is thus neerly knitted to Christ as the member to the body or the branch to the vine then all you that beleeve in Christ observe from hence a ground of strong consolation against all the contempt of the world and the misery that can betide and against all the temptations that Sathan can lay against you to cause you to fall finally or totally First it is a ground of great comfort and consolation to carry up the soule and lift up the heart against all the contempt and disgrace against all the troubles and miseries and persecutions that can betide or befall you or can be cast upon you in this wandring pilgrimage of yours when a Christian begins to turne his face heaven-ward and goe home to the Lord then all his friends flie away and depart from him David complaines that his honours stood afarre off and hee was a mocking to the enemie and a contempt to those that were before neere unto him so it will bee with you nay it is so with most that live in the bosome of the Church how often can many of you speake of it when the Lord hath given you a heart to walke with him and depend upon him how often are you made the off-scouring of the world your carnall friends detest your persons and scorne your societies why raise up your hearts with the consideration of the former truth yee that doe endure it or may feare it comfort your selves doth man cast you off doth man cast you out Christ will receive you why then are you discouraged what though the servant frowne if the Master welcome what though we be not with the wicked if we be with Christ and Christ with us why are we then discontented it is that which comforts a party that matcheth against her parents minde when her parents frowne this comforts her heart though she hath not their love and society yet she hath the love and company of her husband and that contents her so it is with every beleeving soule you have matched against the minde of your carnall friends they would not have you take that course Oh then they tell you Woe and beggerie will befall you well though you have matched contrarie to the mindes of your carnall friends or master or husband yet comfort thy selfe though thou hast the ill will of an earthly husband yet now God will be a husband in heaven thou maist sing care away and bee for ever comforted and refreshed it was that which God himselfe gave for a cordiall to cheare up Iacob in that long and tedious journey of his when hee was going into a farre countrie Genes 28.14 15. when he was going from his owne countrie and had no friends to succour him the Lord met him and said I will goe with thee and keepe thee in all places whither thou goest and I will bring thee back into this land and I will never leave thee untill I have done that which I spake unto thee of this was that which lifted and bare up the heart of the good man though hee could not but expect hard dealing why yet saith the Lord I will goe with thee and never leave thee thinke of it and consider of it seriously what a ground of consolation may it be when we shall wander up and downe and goe into caves and holes and dens of the earth when wee shall goe into prison or banishment and friends may not nor will not goe with us yet Christ will goe Esay 43.2 When thou passest thorow the waters I will be with thee and thorow the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest thorow the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee a man cannot save his wife sometimes in the water though shee bee ready to be drowned a man cannot goe into the fire to helpe her though she be ready to be burnt but Christ will be with thee in the water and in the fire that is in the heaviest trials and forest troubles what can come to us if Christ be with us if miserie and sorrow and trouble bee with us if Christ our husband be with us what matter he is the husband of his spouse and the Saviour of his people why should wee then bee discouraged or disquieted Secondly as it is a ground of comfort against all opposition and troubles of the world so it is a ground of comfort to stay our soules against the fiercenesse of all temptations whereby Satan labours to plucke us from the Lord Iesus Christ and our hearts sinke within us and we shall wee say one day perish by the hands of Saul by the hand of the enemy attempting and corruptions prevailing cleare your hearts and know though temptations may outbid your weaknesses and corruptions may outbid your abilities and when you would doe good evill is present with you and sinne cleaves and sticks close to you why cheare your hearts with this consideration that you have Christ that sticks closer to you than your sinnes and this should cheere up weake and feeble ones I know what troubles you were I as strong as such a christian had I such parts and such strength of faith and shall such a poore little one as I am beare the brunt of persecution and indure in the time of perplexitie Why consider though thou canst not helpe thy selfe yet Christ can and know this that Christ will not lose the least member he is a perfect Saviour the Lord will not suffer Satan to take thee away from him nor suffer his love to bee taken from thee Rom. 8. the two last verses it was the triumph of the holy Apostle Paul I am perswaded saith he that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which it in Christ Iesus our Lord when health is separated from thy body and light from thy eyes and strength from thy feeble nature yet remember that when thy body is separated from thy soule the Lord will not separated his love from thee neither from thy body in the grave nor from thy 〈…〉 it is departed out of thy body he will love thy body in the grave he loves the dust of his Saints and he will take thy soule up into heaven therefore cheare up thy heart and comfort thy soule in the consideration of Gods goodnesse Vse 5 Lastly are the Saints knit to Christ thus firmly then it shews us our dutie we ought to take notice of the goodnesse of the Lord vouchsafed unto us hath the Lord advanced you thus highly then walke
so Secondly some againe are maliciously massacred with dishonourable cruelties they are puld the flesh from the bones and burnt to ashes c. None of all these did fall to our Saviour these are personall things they belong not to the nature of man and therefore it was no way requisite that Christ should undergoe those kinds of death marke these two passages to open it a little Acts 2.27 quoted out of Psalme 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my soule in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption Now the Saints of God doe see corruption but this was a dishonourable infirmitie for Christ though he suffered for us yet hee raised up himselfe from the vildnesse of the grave and saw no corruption and therefore it was no dishonour to him Iohn 19.33 36. When the souldiers found our Saviour dead they brake not his legs that the Scripture might be fulfilled which saith not a bone of him shall bee broken Whatsoever dishonour our Saviour Christ did submit himselfe unto he was willing to suffer but what was not by Law required and what was not fit for him to suffer that Christ would not suffer the Jewes to doe unto him for the Law did not require this in the curse that his legs should bee broken and therefore Christ would not undergoe it this is the third conclusion Vse 1 From the former truth that our Saviour Christ did die this naturall death I gather thus much it is a marvellous sweet cordiall to all the Saints of God upon their sicke beds it is a ground of strong consolation as the Apostle saith to beare up the hearts of Gods people in the day of death that they may lift up their heads with comfort and looke grizzeld death in the face with courage and boldnesse for the death of Christ hath taken away the evill of thy death therefore be not thou troubled with it nor dismaid by it there is no bitternesse in that pill nor no venome in that cup to thee for the poyson is gone therefore bee not you troubled with it whensoever God sends it upon you for the sharpest death of a Saint of God is like a humble Bee that hath no sting in it which a childe may play withall and not be hurt and thus Saint Paul plaid with death 1 Cor. 15.55 Oh death where is thy sting as if he should say the wicked feare death because the sting is in it to them but that sting is taken away from mee by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ when Christ went downe into the grave he sugered it and made it sweet and easie as a bed of Downe for beleevers to rest upon There are three privileges which every beleever may challenge upon his deathbed the first is this First every beleever may and should under the authoritie of mercy challenge mercy and in the vertue of the death of Christ he should boldly lay downe his life 1 Thes 4.16 The dead in Christ shall rise first that is the value of the phrase in the vertue of the death of Christ wee die also that as he died by his owne power rose againe so also wee die that wee may rise againe The Saints of God die that they may bee like to Christ and be raised againe and so bee for ever happy with Christ this is the particular good that the death of Christ communicates to the faithfull ones 1 Cor. 15.36 Thou foole that which thou somest it is not quickned unlesse it die it must first be corrupted that it may grow againe into an eare of corne the meaning is a man therefore dies that he may rise againe the body must lie downe in the dust 1 Cor. 15.53 This corruption must put on incorruption and this mortalitie must put on immortalitie Now corruption cannot put on incorruption nor mortalitie cannot put on immortalitie so long as wee are here the body of Adam could not be made immortall of it selfe the frame of it would not affoord so much for Adams body needed meat and had it but immortall bodies need no food but live by the power of Gods Spirit therefore Christ tooke downe the frame of this nature that hee might make it a more excellent frame It is therefore said that a Christian dies rather in the authoritie of mercy than justice that as Christ died and rose again so Christ will have all his servants die that hee may of a corrupt nature and a mortall body make an immortall body he will make it immortall which nature it selfe no not in its perfection could not doe this is the first privilege A second privilege which beleevers receive is this the death of the beleever puts an end to all his sinnes and miseries and sorrowes that when the soule and body shall part in sunder then sin shall depart from both and when they goe out of this life they shall goe from all the miseries of this life we shall never bee more pestered with lusts and corruptions we shall never bee drawne from the Lord more Satan is now busie but when the Saints of God die there is a separation from all sinnes from all sorrowes from all temptations never to be assaulted more this is the meaning of that place 2 Cor. 4.10 Everywhere we beare about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Iesus that the life also of Iesus may be made manifest in our mortall bodies the meaning is this Christ by his death did subdue sinne and now by the sorrowes and troubles he suffered and by the power of his death there is a totall separation made from sin in soule and body therefore when as in the power of Christs death we can lay downe these bodies then are we separated from sinne this is to beare about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus this is quite contrarie in every unbeleever for death naturall in an unbeleever is but the very beginning of all their other plagues they sip of Gods vengeance now but they shall have the full cup then sinne in them now is restrained but then their sinnes shall take full possession of them Satan now doth but tempt them but then â—e shall take possession of them as it is said of the rich foole in the Gospell This night shall they fetch away thy soule and then as they shall bee for ever plagued so they shall be for ever sinfull nothing but sinne shall be in them they shall be altogether proud and for ever proud they shall be altogether malicious and for ever malicious and the devils shall drag the soule of the wicked out of the body downe to hell for evermore and there shall tyranize over it for ever but on the contrary it is not so with the Saints the end of their life is but the beginning of another they goe from a vale of teares to a haven of happinesse Thirdly the death of the beleever is a mean to bring and estate them into the full possession of all
no man can suffer the pains of Hell except he bee in the very place of it against which cavill this truth doth profesly maâ—ch for the time and place are but common circumstances the main substance of it is not in regard of time or place but in regard of the fierce displeasure of God which seizeth upon a creature and the veine of vengeance which is let into his soule if God would be present with a man by his favour though hee were in the place of Hell yet he should bee as it were in Heaven as Esay 30.33 Tophet is prepared of old the burning thereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord as a riâ—â—r of brimstone doth kindle it so that wheresoever the streame of the brimstone of Gods wrath seizeth there is Hell againe the place is no part of debt and therefore it is no part of the payment but the paiment of the mony that makes the satisfaction This is that which is spoken concerning Adam Thou shalt die the death hee doth not say thou shalt goe to Hell the wicked goe to Hell because they cannot pay as the debter goes to prison because he cannot pay the debt all that justice requires is this to have payment hee doth not say thou shalt goe to Hell but because the wicked cannot satisfie the justice of God and answer the Law therefore they are imprisoned and cooped up in hell and it may be more plain thus there are many reprobates in this life that have not onely hell in expectation but they have it so far in fruition when the Lord wounds the spirit and the terrours of the Almightie incampe a man and stab him to the very heart and they are in the very beginnings of hell Now because the wicked cannot beare the wrath of God but they would breake under it therefore they must die that they may â—e made immortall and be able to suffer all the wrath of God forever but our Saviour may as well pay the debt in mount Golgotha as in the prison of hell Secondly some paines of hell were endured and may be endured by our Saviour and yet the union of the manhood with the Godhead might still be untouched and no way in the world bee blemished though there were a separation and a withdrawing of the sense of the sweetnesse of the favour of God yet this was not the separation of the union but onely of the loving countenance of the Lord the humane nature saw not nor felt not those gracious smiles which formerly it did yet hee was ever united to the Godhead and ever supported by the Godhead and hee did ever rest upon God this doth cut in sunder the cavils of Bellarmine as it was with Iob he was able to grapple with a great deale of Gods wrath by faith and therefore he saith Though thou kill me yet will I trust in thee Gods killing anger and Iobs trusting stood both together in this in the measure of it Now if a poore saint of God can doe it and is able to beare the intimations of Gods wrath then much more Christ being God and Man might doe it and yet trust in him and never bee separated from him in regard of the union of the soule of our Saviour for as it is with the death naturall in the body of our Saviour as the body of our Saviour died and in dying suffered death naturall as an effect of Gods wrath God smote him howsoever the body died the death naturall yet the Godhead was still united to the body of our Saviour in the grave and brought soule and body together againe so that the union with the Godhead is still maintained so it is here the soule of our Saviour might be separated from the sense and sweetnesse of Gods favour and mercy and yet the union betweene the Godhead and the Manhood bee still maintained as God might leave the body to the death naturall so he might leave the soule to a kinde of supernaturall death and the soule might want the sense of the sweetnesse of the favour of God and yet the union not be broken off for why could not our Saviour beare this curse as well as any other part of it and not be blemished this brought punishment upon our Saviour but it puld not away any grace which hee was possest withall observe these three particulars herein First the Godhead in the death of our Saviour was fastned and united inseparably to the manhood and did sustaine and support the manhood Secondly the Godhead did preserve the manhood from corruption and did sustaine and support the Manhood Thirdly the sense and sweetnesse and the feeling operation of Gods mercy and favour unto the soule was restrained from both and the wrath of God seized upon both Thirdly our Saviour suffered paine in his soule as he was our Mediatour in our roome and in our stead and as he had our sinnes imputed to him The Manhood bore the sufferings and the Godhead supported him in the sufferings this conclusion I thought good to adde to meet with a strange dream of Bellarmine and that is this saith he if the Lord Jesus Christ did suffer the wrath of God the Father then the guiltlesse should have beene condemned and the innocent punished and how can God doe this or how can our Saviour suffer this Is not God the Father unjust to punish the just and Christ unwise to suffer as unjust being just I answer it is a silly weake cavill therefore take but these two respects with you and you shall see it will bee plaine for as Christ was in himselfe considered he was guiltlesse and therefore approved of and beloved of the Father but as hee tooke our sinnes and our guilt upon him hee was accounted as a sinner though he was not a sinner and he tooke our sins on him by imputation and therefore no reason but he should suffer them and the punishment of them not in regard of any sinne that hee had or did but because it was imputed to him therefore God the Father condemned him as guiltie so runs the phrase of Scripture Hee suffered for our sinnes and the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we were healed he suffered not for any sinnes that he had committed but for the condition of all sinfull nature imputed to him and these divers respects wee doe practise for ordinarily we are bound to love a creature as God made him and then to hate him as hee makes himselfe sinfull the Judge goes to the triall of a Nisi prius and his sonne comes before him in the person of the debter now though the Judge love him as a sonne yet he will condemne him as a suretie the Judge loves and pitties him in one regard but yet hee passeth sentence against him in another regard So it is here with the Lord Jesus Christ when God the Father stands upon the tribunall of justice and was pleased to follow
Alas I doe it not it was the Lord that wrought this heart in mee I have seene the day when I could have beene as well content to heare the Minister preach plainly as to have a knife run to my heart but the Lord wrought my heart to it therefore the Spirit puts that magnet stone of the mercie and grace of Christ upon my heart hee puts this temper upon my heart and makes it able to close with it selfe in the promise in 2 Corin. 5.5 when Paul there had disputed of his desire to lay downe his life for the Gospell and to put his body upon suffering for the Gospels sake he was even weary of the world and would faine have beene gone how gat he this temper why the text saith Now he that hath wrought us for the same thing if God who also hath given us the earnest of his Spirit it is a great while before wee can bee brought to this temper when all the Ministers tongues are even worne to the stumps and the wicked will bee wicked still yet the Lord doth worke it so then you see that the Spirit of God by the promise works upon the soule and leaves a dint upon the heart and so brings the soule by the Spirit to close with it selfe in the promise and hence you may collect two things for your information in this kinde Colect 1 First that the beleever being moved by the stroke of the Spirit of the Father is made able to close with the Father and the Sonne because the Spirit of the Lord doth fasten fit and frame the heart hereunto in this manner and hence it is that the soule can close with the Father and the Sonne too why because the Spirit which proceeds and comes from the Father and the Sonne is able to frame the soule to close with both for the Spirit hath something of the Father and something of the Sonne and therefore is able to make the soule to close with both 1 Iohn 1.3 These things have I written unto you that you may have fellowship with us holy Iohn was a spirituall father unto them and hee writes to them that thereby they might have fellowship with the Saints and he saith Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Sonne Iesus Christ why doth he not say our fellowship is with the Father as well as to say our fellowship is with the Father and the Sonne because it is presumed before hand that a man must have fellowship with the Spirit before hee can have fellowship with the Father and the Sonne because it is the Spirit that hath fitted the heart and framed it to close with both Colect 2 Secondly hence it comes to passe that the person of the beleever may bee knit to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ the foot is knit to the head by the continuance of the order of the body and the members thereof as the foot is knit to the leg and the leg to the thigh and the thigh to the body and so to the head this is the meaning of that phrase Iohn 6.56 our Saviour presseth this hard upon the Disciples and saith My flesh is meat indeed and my bloud is drinke indeed hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and in him then they begun to wonder at it and to say How can this be and yet Christ saith what if you see the the Sonne of man carrying the body of his flesh into heaven you will thinke it more hard to eat my flesh then yet you must eat my flesh then too how it is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak they are Spirit and life as if he had said my good Spirit is in the word and promise close you with my Spirit and then you draw my Spirit my flesh and my blood downe into your whole natures the words that I speake they are Spirit and Life that is my Spirit is in the Word of the promise though my body be gone up into heaven therefore close you with my Spirit in the promise and then you close with my flesh spiritually Thus much for the manner of the union Now for the order of this union how this is done and there the question will be this Whether the beleever is knit first to the humane nature of Christ or to the Divine nature Quest. 2 I am not greatly willing to meddle with this point in this popular congregation because there are many wise and orthodox Divines and godly too which are of contrary opinion they confesse both but they differ about the order but that I may bring no prejudice to the judgement of any I will shortly shew you the summe of those arguments Answ which either side hold and will shew to which I doe incline and so leave the point to the judgement of those that heare it to incline to which side they thinke best and thus I shall wrong none at all First some Divines wise holy and orthodox and many too doe goe that way all of them have it from that root they that hold that the soule is knit to the humane nature of Christ first have two reasons for it First say they as the Scripture reveales Christ to us so also our hearts embrace him and close with him but the Scripture reveales the Lord Christ more often and frequently in regard of his Manhood than in regard of his Godhead as in that place The seed of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head and such like therefore the understanding first closeth with this and the heart first receives it the second reason why they hold this is thus much If say they all the great works of our redemption both sanctification and justification and redemption were wrought in the humane nature of Christ and as by a channell conveyed to us by his humane nature then it is reason that the soule should first close with the humane nature but it is so that all the great workes of justification sanctification c. were all accomplished in the humane nature of Christ for as the text saith He died for our sins and triumphed over sin and hell and death therefore say they it is fit that the soule should first close with the humane nature of Christ and this is the life and pith of all their arguments Againe other Divines and they are wise and orthodox they hold this and though all hold the maine substantiall truths of eternall life yet they differ in this they say the beleever is first knit to the Deity and they have also two arguments and the first is this That which is the maine and the proper object of faith to that the soule first lookes and to that the soule is first united for all union comes by operation in this kinde but the Godhead is the first object of faith in beleeving the Godhead and the third person of Trinity they are the first objects of
the Lord humbled him mightily so when the Lord comes to meet with an old loose adulterer and an old base drunkard and a sturdy persecutor as Paul was an ordinary stroke will not doe the worke therefore as he had a great deale of mercy for Paul so hee had a great deale to doe before hee could humble Paul hee flung him off his horse as he was posting to Damascus and might have broken his neck againe men sometimes are driven to great trials and straights as when God cals men to great trials and sufferings now God doth apply to every man according to his estate and condition he that God hath set as a commander in his Church as a Minister to teach and a Magistrate to rule and a master of a family Gods fits graces unto them according to their estates the Lord takes measure of a mans estate as it were and suits him proportionably with all graces necessary for his condition againe they that are meaner and poorer they shall have wisdome and sanctification and redemption but answerable to their conditions that is observable Ephes 4.16 Paul there calling our Saviour Christ the head of the Church and his faithfull servants the members of this head hee saith By whom all the members being knit together according to their effectuall working in their measure they receive increase as for example in the body so much life and spirit as belongs to the finger is in the finger but there is more in the arme than in the finger and more in the bulk of the body than in the arme that which suits with such a part it hath it and that which suits with such a part nature bestowes it there is not so much in the finger as in the hand nor so much in the hand as in the arme nor so much in the arme as in the body because it is not sutable and proportionable nature will not doe it God will not suffer it so some Christians are armes in the body of the Church some fingers some legs some are strong Christians that beare up a great weight in profession stout and strong and resolute and the like now the Lord communicates all grace and mercy sutable for every mans place and condition thou that art a finger shalt have so much grace as befits a finger and thou that art an hand thou shalt have so much grace as shall save thee and is fit for thy place but another is an arme and hee shall have more but all shall have that which is fitting therefore the text saith Christ is made unto us wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption that looke as a man that makes a garment hee takes measure of the man for whom he makes it and fits every part according to the part of the body the arme of the doublet is sutable to the arme of the body and so Christ is made righteousnesse and sanctification to all poore beleeving creatures thou art an arme in the body of Christ hee is made so much wisdome and sanctification to thee as will serve thy turne thou hast had a great many sinnes and hast beene a rioter and a roister before God opened thine eyes and brought thee home to himselfe why there is great mercy in Christ sutable to thy sinnes there is mercy in Christ to justifie thee if thou hast never so few sinnes and there is mercy enough in Christ to justifie the greatest sinner if hee can but beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ and this is the second passage in this article of agreement in the tenure of the conveyance of grace from Christ to the soule the Lord hath enough for all and he doth communicate what is fit and proportionable to every mans estate and condition The third thing is this as the Lord doth communicate what is fit so he doth preserve what hee doth bestow and communicate and give to the beleeving soule hee doth not give grace to the beleeving soule and there leave him and let him manage his estate but when hee hath wrought grace in the soule he preserves it and nourisheth his owne worke Psal 16.5 there the Prophet David saith The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and he maintaineth my lot he doth not only give him his lot but he maintaines his lot it is a comparison taken from the children of Israel when they came into the land of Canaan it was divided to every tribe by lot now God did not onely bring them into the land and give them their lot but he maintained that lot he defended them and releeved them from the fury and rage of their adversaries that went about to take away that which God had bestowed upon them now the Psalmist saith The Lord is my portion and hee maintaineth my lot every beleeving soule hath a lot and portion in Christ so much grace and holinesse and so much assurance now the Lord doth not onely give this but when you are weake and feeble the Lord keeps your grace and preserves your grace which hee hath bestowed upon you therefore Christ is said to be the preserver of his Church Iude 1. To you that are called and sanctified preserved by Iesus Christ Christ is not only the giver of grace but he is the preserver of his Church and that is the meaning of that phrase when our Saviour had implanted grace in the heart of Peter he did not only plant it by his Spirit but he watered it by his prayers that it might not wither away I have prayed that thy faith faile not hee did not only give him faith that was not enough but he watered his faith by his prayers that it might not wither and dye and decay 1 Pet. 1.4 hence it is said that hee preserves us by the power of God through faith unto salvation and faith keeps the soule and Christ keeps faith faith is the hand that layes hold upon Christ and Christ layes hold upon faith and wee have a kingdome preserved for us and he preserveth us for it and this is the pith of that phrase Psal 1. the text saith The righteous man is like the tree planted by the rivers side that brings forth fruit in due season whose leafe shall not fade he doth not say his sap shall not wither but his leafe shall not wither not onely that gracious disposition of heart which is wrought shall never decay in the Saints of God but a zealous profession shall never decay in conclusion how ever a tree be nipt with the cold and frost yet in conclusion it will bud forth againe so the sap of grace that Christ workes in us and conveyeth to us being planted by the fountaine of the Lord Jesus in the midst of persecution and fiery triall they shall grow humble and meeke and holy in despight of what can befall them for a Christian is not conquered when hee loseth his life but when he loseth his grace as take a man that is led into captivitie into Turkie into Algeir
is this Doctrine Our Saviour Christ never yeelded the least improvement of heart to sinne neither did hee ever commit the least sinne in his life and conversation our Saviour Christ knew no sinne at all by experience this is that which all the types and sacrifices of the old Law did signifie which were all as so many severall testimonies of the holinesse and puritie of the Lord Jesus Christ therefore he was called the Lambe without blemish and it was prophesied of him in Esay 53.9 That he had done no wickednesse neither was deceit found in his mouth and his enemy Pilate said I finde no fault in him at all and our Saviour himselfe saith the Prince of this world commeth and hath nought in mee that is no sinne Iohn 14.30 The arguments are briefly these Reason Looke into the Nature of our Saviour and the Office of our Saviour looke into his Manhood as he was perfect Man for the seed of the woman was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost and was purged and sanctified and the course of originall sinne was stayed and when the body was framed the Godhead dwelt bodily in Christ and all the fulnesse of grace was in him then the point must needs bee cleere that there was no evill in him no mutabilitie to incline to any evil nor no power could prevaile with him to draw him to any evill Againe looke into the Office of our Saviour for he that came to be a sacrifice for sinne must needs want sinne or else he could not be a sacrifice for sinne so the point is cleere we come now to the application Vse 1 The first use is a word of exhortation and it ought to provoke all you that are faithfull and are beleevers to conforme your hearts and conversations answerable to the heart and life of Christ did not Christ give the least improvement of heart to any sinne nor practise the least sinne in any measure then goe thou and doe likewise be thou like thy Saviour that thou mayest have some evidence that thou hast a title unto him It is that which the Apostle makes as a speciall collection Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darknesse but bee you followers of God as deare children Ephes 5.1 Christ had no sinne nor fellowship with sinne let his course and practice bee thy copie But some will say what would you have us to bee Saints here on earth â— how can it be that we should know no sin when we have such a body of death hanging upon us yes we may know no sinne though it doe hang about us the Apostle doth not say equall God in holinesse but imitate him and he doth not say follow him fully but even as deare children Now though the childe cannot goe so fast as the father yet he will follow as fast as he can and when hee hath done what he can then he cries to his father to help him and carrie him to the journeyes end and so ought we to doe nay so we will doe if we are true children and not bastards the Father is infinitely full of holinesse Follow God as deare children doe what you can and then â—rie to him to inable you to doe what you cannot doe It was the practice of the Prophet David Psalme 63.1 My soule thirsteth for thee and my heart longeth after thee therefore in the 119. Psalme 4 5. Thou hast commanded to keepe thy Commandements diligently oh that my heart meâ— so directed thaâ— I might doe it as if hee had said I know the Law requireth it and it is my dutie to doe it helpe Lord and take Lord and carry Lord thy poore servant and lead mee into the land of righteousnesse it is an evidence of one that is borne of God 1 Iohn 5.18 Whosoever is borne of God sinneth not and the evill one toucheth him not so if you are such as have Christ Jesus formed in you you will labour to keepe your selves that the wicked one touch you not hee doth not say hee will not entertaine it but he will not keep company with it A man must doe by sinne as wee would do by a man whose coÌ„pany we shun if we would not have acquaintance with him then we carry our selves strangely to him if he call we will not answer if he knocke we will not open we keep our selves close that wee may not change a word with him so it will bee with every one of you that are borne of God you will have nothing to doe with your old pettish lusts and base humours and haunts of spirits and whomsoever it be that hath had dalliance with you heretofore you will avoid the place and presence of them and say I know not those distempers nor the place not occasions of them I will meddle with them no more I will not owne them I have done it too too much already if they come I will not yeeld and if they follow I will flee I have read an old story of a man that was carried away much by a harlot at last the Lord meets him and opened his eyes and humbled his soule and brought him out of his sinfull condition many a day after the harlot met him againe and the man would not looke on her and shee began to seft kindnesse upon him and said I am she you know wee have had much sweet dalliance together Oh but saith he blessed be God I am not I that is I am not the man that I was before so should we though wee are nothing but sinne by nature and know nothing but corruption yet if the old sluggishnesse and stubbornnes of heart and haughtinesse that we have too too much received if they come and say we are the darlings that have had much sweet fellowship and communion with you make them answer and say I am not the man I will have no more to doe with you Let every heart be here incouraged not to regard the base respects of sinne or of the world they will say it is not good to bee too holy and too precise make answer and say I cannot bee too holy Jesus Christ knew no sinne the heart and life of Jesus Christ is that which wee ought to respect and imitate Now I come to the main proposition and that is this that the debt of the sinner is charged upon our Saviour so saith the description and so say the words of the Text conceive here thus much that our Saviour had the debt of a sinner charged upon him partly by imputation and partly by personall performance he did performe the payment personally the debt was by imputation but the payment was by reall and personall performance and as our sinnes and debts were made his by imputation so the payment was his really laid downe and suffered for us Two things I must lay downe before I can open the point First what is meant by sinne Secondly why Christ is said to be made sin First what is meant by sinne Answer