in the effecting of it k 1. John 4 14. The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world And Christ himself doth testifie that the Father sent him for this end and purpose l John 5. 36 37 For the works saith he which the Father hath given me to finish the same works that I do bear witnesse of me that the Father hath sent me And the Father himself which hath sent me hath born witnesse of me For a voice came from heaven when he was baptized saying m Mat. 3. â— This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased The Son also assumed our nature both soul and body n Heb. 2. 17. For he was like unto us in all things o Heb 4. 15 sin onely excepted he was every way fully qualified to be our Mediator and Redeemer he became our surety and he paid the debt that we did â—ow to the justice of God for our sins by his death and by the price of his blood The holy Ghost also rested upon him at his baptisme p Heb. 1. 9. and anointed him with the oyl of gladnesse above his fellowes q Col. 1. 19 that in him should all fulnesse dwell r John 1. 16. and of his fulnesse have all we received and grace for grace God hath made him the head of his Church and the holy Ghost doth convey all saving graces from him to all the Members of that mysticall body VVherefore if we are elected unto salvation and do belong unto Christ by the Election of grace the holy Ghost will at some time or other work sanctifying grace in us and will unite us unto Christ by faith that so we may have a modest and sober assurance of our Redemption by him and of our reconcilement into the love and favour of God Why then do we not seek to be ingrafted into Christ for our Redemption Why do we continue still in a voluntary captivity and bondage whereas we may be set at liberty Why are we still exiles and banished from the presence of God whereas we may be brought again into his favour Why do we not seek hs face and the light of his countenance seing all true felicity and happinesse consisteth therein Å¿ Psa 16. 11 and seeing at his right hand are pleasures for evermore and why are we so backward in seeing the kingdom of heaven Alas we have not a true sense of our own miserable slavery we do not feel the burden of our sins we do not see how the devill doth tyrannize over us how he doth beguil us with a seeming pleasure and profit in sin for he will not let us see the greatnesse of the losse that we sustain by it nor the bitternesse of the torments that will follow after it beside those temporall sorrows that it bringeth upon us in this life Thus the devill bringeth us into security and into a dead sleep of sin and doth so stupifie all the faculties of our souls that we have no sense of our spirituall misery and by this means he leadeth us into a dangerous way that tendeth to no other end but to the perdition and destruction of our souls Also we are so delighted with the vanities of this world that we think of no other happinesse than what we do now injoy or if there be any other heaven than this upon earth we will be directed to it by the guidance of our own corrupted will and not by the Spirit of God for the devill would perswade us that nature can finde out a readier and an easier way to heavenly felicity than by Christ Thus we are hindred and kept back by the delusions of the devill by the alluring vanities of the world and by the deceitfulnesse of our own hearts that we cannot come unto Christ for our Redemption and to make our peace with God through faith in him and to have an holy assurance of it by our sound and true repentance Wherefore it doth now plainly appear that we have no power or ability in our selves to come unto Christ we must be taught of God or else we cannot find the way he must draw us or else we cannot come to Christ For thus saith Christ himself t John 6. 44 No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him God doth sometimes draw us unto Christ u Hos 11. 4 as he drew Ephraim with cords of a man with bands of love he will give us a Spirituall light by his Spirit to finde the way he will kindle an holy zeal in our hearts and affections to walk in it and he will inflame our desires that by grace we may come to Christ our Redeemer Gal. 3. 24 Sometimes God doth bring us unto Christ by the Law as our Schoolmaster with a rod in his hand by terrifying us with the threatenings of the Law if that be not sufficient then he will make us feel the smart of his rod by afflictions crosses and tribulations God doth also send his Ministers x 2 Cor 5. 20 as his Ambassadors that by the Preaching of the Gospel they might win us unto Christ and to be reconciled unto God Christ doth also sweetly draw us unto himself as the head draweth the members of the body and as the bridegroom draweth his spouse Thus saith the Spouse to her beloved y Cant. 1. 3 Draw me we will run after thee Christ doth also lovingly invite us to come unto him and to make us the more willing to come he doth allure us by his gracious promises z Mat. 11. 28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are hâ—avy laden and I will give you rest Thus also he saith by his Prophet a Isa 55. 1 2 3 Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no mony come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatnesse Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live How could Christ expresse his love more freely to a poor sinfull soul than now he doth what will move us to come unto him if this free tender of grace cannot But to the end we may be quite without excuse and that the love of God may abundantly appear unto us the holy Ghost doth likewise draw us unto Christ by giving us a true sight and sense of our sins by shewing us the means how we may be freed from the guilt and from the condemning power of sin by working faith in us to apply to our selves the merits of Christs blood and his righteousnesse for our justification and by working us into newnesse of life by the sanctification of the Spirit It doth now plainly and evidently appear that our sins have set us at a farre distance from God according to this of the
such an High-priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sins and made higher than the heavens When Christ did offer up himself a sacrifice to God his whole humane nature was bound to the altar of his Divinity with the cordes of unseparable union and love e Isa 53. 10 and his soul was made an offering for sinne as well as his body which was crucified and his precious blood which was poured out upon the Cross f Heb. 7. 27. This sacrifice though it were but once offered was sufficient to satisfie the justice of God to appease his wrath to blot all our sins out of his book of remembrance and to perfect for ever them that are sanctified This is also piously to be considered g Rev. 1. 6. that Christ by his eternal Priesthood hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father h 1 Pet. 2. 5 and an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ These sacrifices are our prayers our praises thanksgivings and a broken and a contrite heart for our sins i Phil. 4. 1â— also our deeds of charity to the poor members of Christ are and odour of a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable an well pleasing to God Paul did beseech the Romans k Rom. 12. 1 to present their bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is their reasonable service so that whatsoever we offer unto God it must be offered with a sanctified heart which is washed and purified in the blood of Christ by faith and indued with sanctifying grace from above and then our sacrifice will be clean and accepted of God Though our prayers and praises be imperfect and come farre short of that which they ought to be yet if they proceed from a sincere heart and are offered up by Iesus Christ our High-Priest then he will perfect them with his own righteousness and present them to God his Father for us and we may rest assured that God will be pleased to accept them graciously Wherefore seeing Christ hath made us Priests unto God because we belong unto him we must offer up our prayers and oblations to God and not to Saints or Angels for he is the author and the giver of every blessing and mercy that we receive he provideth for us food and raiment and whatsoever is needful both for this present life and for that which is to come he doth protect us from dangers he doth support us in our tribulations and delivereth us out of our distresses when we cry unto him with a faithful heart We have therefore great cause to ascribe all honour and glory unto him and thankfully to acknowledge that God is the sole author of all our good to whom we must return all praise and thanks for it Also if our prayers and oblations have no relation unto Christ by faith they cannot be accepted neither can we confidently hope to receive a gracious return of them with a blessing except we believe that Christ our Advocate will present them to God his Father If we did duly consider how much we stand in need of Gods helping hand and of his assisting grace to carry us on through all the troubles and dangers that we shall meet with in this life also how God doth continually follow us with his tender mercies and loving kindness we would not be so slack in our prayers and praises unto him and if we did consider that our prayers must mount up even to the throne of Gods Majesty they would not be so cold so dull and so much clog'd with worldly cares and sinful thoughts as commonly they are which doth hinder their swift ascent up to heaven but we would labour to be more heavenly minded and to put more holy zeal and fervency into them and to send our faith along with them which will soon bring them unto Christ and then he will present them unto God for us So likewise if we consider how careless we are in the worship and service of God how ready we are to fall from him how imperfectly our best duties are performed what sins we dayly commit and what wrath and fury we do justly deserve for them we should then be more humble more affected with godly sorrow and more carefull to renew our repentance every day our sighs and groans for our sinnes would proceed from our hearty contrition and from true compunction of spirit and then our faith in Christ will give us a firm assurance of the pardon and forgivness of them all for thus saith the Lord l Isa 66. 2. To this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word Also m Isa 57. 15 Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones Wherefore now if we think to have our wants and necessities supplied by our industry in our callings without prayer if we think to be supported in our troubles or to be delivered out of our miseries with prayer to be nourished at our tables or refreshed in our beds without prayer and to be eased of our paines or recovered of our diseases without prayer we shall either miss our desires or else we shall have them without a blessing We cannot conceive how prevailing faithful prayer is with God if it be presented to him by Christ Thus saith James n Jam. 5. 15 16 17 18 The prayer of faith shall save the sick and if he commit sins they shall be forgiven him And again The effectual servent prayer of a righteous man availeth much Elias prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six moneths and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit o Gen. 20. 17 At the prayer of Abraham God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maid servants and they bare children p 1 Sam. 1. By prayer Hannah obtained a sonne q Exod. 32. 11. Moses by prayer did stop the flud gates of Gods fury that were ready to be poured out upon his own people for their idolatry in worshipping the golden calf By prayer we may obtain any blessings from God and escape any judgement that he hath threatned Likewise our interest that we have in Christ by faith will make our praises and thanksgivings to God for blessings received to be accepted and will also make them not to return empty again into our bosomes If our repentance for our sinnes be without faith in Christ it will give us no good assurance of pardon though we do express all the outward signes of true humiliation and though we break our hearts with grief yet we can
be overthrown it may be shaken with his boistrous and violent temptation but it shall never be cast down because our faith is built upon a sure rock which is Christ Iesus our King and head If sorrows and crosses breaks in upon us which we could not prevent nor avoid we need not fear for we shall see the salvation of Christ either in our strength and patience to bear them meekly or in our deliverance out of them or else he will sanctifie them to our good We need not cark and care for the things of this life but when we have done our best indeavour in an honest and lawful calling we must leave the event and success to God which peculiarly belongeth unto him and then he will have a care of us Å¿ Deut. 8. 3. for man liveth not by bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord. t Luc. 12. 24 God feedeth the young ravens when they cry unto him then much more will he feed us for it is part of his Kingly office to provide all things that are needful for those that belong unto him Shall not the head provide for the members of the same body and shall not Christ provide for us who have neerer relation to him by faith Now try and examine thy self search into thine own soul to see if Christ hath set up his scepter of righteousness in thy heart to bear rule in thine affections to regulate thy crooked and perverse will and to bring unto his subjection whatsoever resisteth or rebelleth against the Spirit of grace If thou dost find the fruits of sanctifying grace in thee then make a further scrutiny to see unto what measure of grace thou hast attained What corruption hath it mortified in thee what strong holds of sinful lusts hath it beaten down how is the body of sinne dismembred and weakned how strong is thy faith to rest and depend upon Christ in all difficulties and dangers canst thou joyfully bear the scandal of the Cross canst thou meekly bear the loss of thy friends of thy liberty or estate for his sake hast thou faith and patience to suffer afflictions persecution sword or famine for him and canst thou resist unto blood if Christ thy King shall call thee to it then it is an evident sign that his Kingdome of grace is well established in thy heart and hereafter thou shalt have a large inheritance in his Kingdome of glory Pet. 1. 10 Wherefore give all diligence to make thy calling and election sure that thou mayest be invested into his Kingdome of grace here which will bring thee hereafter to eternal blessedness in the Kingdome of heaven Now set thy mind and the meditations of thy heart upon Christ as he is thy King and resolve with an holy resolution to submit thy self to his rule and government to be directed by him in all thy wayes and to expres thy thankfulnes to him for his great care of thee who by his divine providence disposeth all things for thy good If troubles and calamities follow thee like the billowes of the Sea Christ will calm them if they are ready to overwhelm thee then even then will Christ take thee by the hand u Mat. 14. 31 as he did Peter upon the sea and will keep thee from sinking If God looks angerly upon thee for thy sinnes Christ will appease his wrath and make intercession for thee If death looks upon thee with a grim countenance and is ready to bereave thee of thy soul and to expose thy body to the worms yet know with holy Iob x Iob 19. 25 that thy Redeemer liveth also y Luc 6. 22. that he will give his Angels charge to carry thy soul up into Abrahams bosom and at length he will raise up thy body out of the dust and will make it a glorious and incorruptible body fit to live and raign with him for ever Thus and much more will Christ do for all those that have any relation to him by faith or that belong to his spiritual Kingdom for the honour of his great Name and for the eternal good of his Church Of the Passion of Christ. VVHen Christ had finished his Prophetical office in his Ministry and had wrought so many miracles as seemed good to his divine wisdome the time was then come that he must offer up a sacrifice to God for our redemption which was his whole humane nature soul and body for our sins then a Rom. 4. 25. God delivered him up to the power of the devil and into the hands of his enemies for our offences because the guilt of all our siâ—nes was charged upon him For before this very time neither the devil nor his deadly enemies had any power against him this was the time which God had decreed in his secret counsel that Christ should submit himself to their malice and power that the work which God had sent him to do might be finished and when that work was perfectly wrought then God delivered him out of their power by his resurrection and ascension Wherefore we ought to prepare our hearts for holy and devout meditations upon the Passion of Christ which was most bitter to his humane nature because the wrath of God was poured out upon him for our sins and the powers of darkness were let loose against him like so many wolves to worry this immaculate Lamb of God or like so many fierce mastifes against the Lion of the Tribe of Iuda but the innocency of Christ did carry him through his whole Passion and by his own power he overcame the sury of all his enemies though they were permitted to torment and torture him at their pleasure even to the death Christ suffered nothing for himself but it was for all those that were of the election of grace the guilt of whose sins he did take upon himself and to pay their debt to satisfie the penalty of the Law for them by his death and the justice of God by the merit of his blood also it was to cloth them with his own righteousness that they might be justified in the sight of God Therefore let no circumstance of his Passion pass without due consideration b Lam. 1. 12 Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto his sorrow which was done unto him wherewith the Lord hath afflicted him in the day of his fierce anger How was the perfection of beauty stained How was the Sun of righteousnesse clouded How was the bright morning starre darkned How was the Lord of glory contemned blasphemed scorned and spightfully used How was perfect holiness and innocency accused rejected condemned cruelly tormented and most shamefully killed And how was Truth it self despised and troden under foot Can we think upon his Passion without tears and mourning if we belong unto him Can we ruminate upon it and not accuse and condemn our selves who were the cause why he suffered these things and much
though the guilt of all our sins was imputed unto Christ yet he was not defiled therewith and though he suffered for sin yet it was not for his own but for the sins of all the Elect of God which he took upon himself for the perfection of his purity and of his righteousnesse did still remain unspotted and undefiled that we might be cloathed therewith by faith to hide our nakednesse and the shame of our sins when we come into the presence of God to perform any holy service unto him but specially when we shall appear before his dreadfull Tribunal at the last day From hence also we may draw much consolation when we are falsely accused spitefully used or cruelly persecuted for the Profession of the truth and for a good conscience for our dear Saviour hath suffered the like in our Nature and for our sakes that these and the like sufferings might be sanctified to us and that we should follow Christs example of patience and meekness when we are under them We need not therefore be dismaid when we are thus unjustly dealt with for Christ hath taken away the evill of these sufferings and hath taught us how to demean our selves under them and if we wait patiently upon God he will in due time make our innocency break forth like the Sun out of a cloud to his own glory and to our great comfort Consider now and admire to see how the malice and cruelty of the chief Priests and Scribes did increase against Christ for when they perceived that Pilate had cleered his innocency and was willing to release him their rage and fury was the more inflamed k Mat. 27. 20. insomuch as they moved the people to desire that Barrabas might be released to them who raised sedition in the City and was also a Murtherer and that JESUS might be crucified which kinde of death was most ignominious most shamefull and accursed Though they knew by their own Law what a crying sin in the eares of God the shedding of innocent blood was yet no blood could satisfie them but innocent blood Pilate offered them the blood of Barrabas but that would not content them for they thirsted after the purest blood that ever was spilt even the most precious blood of the eternall Son of God because he laid open their corrupt doctrines and discovered their hypocrisie to all the people The cruell Jews did shed the blood of the Prophets that were sent to them and now they do eagerly hunt after the blood of Christ whom they could no way convince of any sin Thus doth their divelish envy and malice carry on to the highest degree of rebellion against God and against his Anointed Now let us meditate with an holy zeal and pious devotion upon the price of our Redemption l 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. for we were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from our vain conversation but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot who was both God and Man so that the Jews crucified him that was m 1 Cor. 2. 8. the Lord of glory and the blood which they spilt was the blood of that Person who was God as well as Man according to this of Paul n Act. 20. 28 That God hath purchased to himself a Church with his own blood Wherefore o 1 Cor. 6. 20 seeing we are bought with such a price we ought to glorifie God in our bodies and in our spirits which are Gods p Heb. 6. 5 6. and not to fall away when we have tasted of the good Word of God and of the powers of the world to come seeing thereby we crucifie to our selves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame by our new committed sins after repentance Also we must ruminate upon the transcendent worth of the blood of our crucified Redeemer with pure affections for it was an infinite price to satisfie the justice of an infinite God We cannot conceive much lesse expresse the incomprehensible goodnesse of Christ who of his meer love hath given up himself and his whole nature both Divine and Humane to purchase our redemption with his own blood His Deity of it self could not suffer either hunger or thirst pain or torment for these and all other his sufferings did properly belong to his humane nature but by the personall union of his humanity with his Deity the Divine nature of Christ did suffer together with his humanity by a nearer simpathy than is between the members of the naturall body and the head or between the members of the mysticall body of Christ and himself who is their Head for these members both naturall and spirituall are but knit and united to the head by firm ligaments but the humanity of Christ was taken up into his Deity and so made one Christ Saul persecuted Christ when he did persecute his Church for thus saith Christ unto him q Act. 9. 4 5 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me And he said Who art thou Lord And the Lord said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest for he persecuted him in his members he being their Head How much more then did the Deity of Christ suffer throughout his whole passion by simpathizing with his humane nature not onely as r Cor. 11. 3 God is the Head of Christ but chiefly because his humane nature was personally united to his Deity this is the cause why the blood of Christ his sufferings and his death is of so great merit and of such an infinite price If it be so that Christ did give himself in his whole nature for us that his blood should be spilt his body mangled and tortured his soul tormented his Glory clouded with ignominy and shame and that his Deity should be blasphemed and spitefully dishonoured for our redemption and if we were bought with so great a price we have then as great cause as ever David had Å¿ Psal 103 1 2 3 4. to blesse the Lord and to stirre up all that is within us to praise his holy Name for all the benefits of our redemption for he forgiveth all our iniquities he healeth all our diseases he redeemeth our lives from destruction and he crowneth us with loving kindnesse and tender mercies For if we can apply to our selves by a true faith Jesus Christ and him crucified for us t Gal. 2. 20 as Paul did he will fasten the guilt of our sins to his own crosse that it shall not cleave to our souls and he will remit the punishment that is due to us for them also he will heal and cure all the spirituall diseases of our souls by powring clean water upon us and by sanctifying us with his grace and holy Spirit unto newnesse of life which is a sure evidence of the pardon of our sins and then he will imbrace us with the armes of his love and will crown us with everlasting peace Consider yet
Prophesies were then fulfilled that were spoken of him in his life e Luk. 23. 46. Then he commended his Spirit into the hands of his Father and gave up the Ghost As this Lamb of God lived in perfect innocency so he dyed in perfect meeknesse Then presently after f Joh. 19. 34 one of the souldiers pierced his side with a spear to his very heart and forthwith câ—me thereout bloud and water that the Scripture might be fulfilled g Zech. 12 10. They shal look on him whom they pierced This was also done that we might faithfully believe the truth of his death This is a speciall Article of our Faith which we must stedfastly believe if we will have comfort in the assurance of our redemption for if Christ had not truly dyed the justice of God had not been fully satisfied for our sins we could have had no power to dye unto sin or to mortifie our corruptions and sinfull lusts and death would be most bitter fearfull and terrible to us If Christ had not dyed and rose again how could death have been destroyed How could the sting of death be taken out Who should have sanctified death unto us And how could we be willing to imbrace it Wherefore if we do truly believe the death of Christ and that he dyed for us it will minister much matter of exceeding great consolation to our souls at the hour of our dissolution From the former considerations we may draw much comfortable matter for our hearts to meditate upon First it doth evidently appear that our Saviour Christ did assume to his Deity our whole nature soul and body which did still retain all the properties of humane nature unconfounded with his Deity h Heb. 2. 17 He was like unto us in all things i Heb 4. 25. sin onely excepted His soul was sensible of grief and sorrow his body did feel the smart of pain he was subject to all our naturall passions and infirmities which may be without sin he was sensible of hunger thirst wearinesse and the like he was also subject to mortality though not to corruption for k Psal 16. 10 God would not suffer his holy One to see corruption because he had no spot or stain of sin in him and there was a true dissolution of his soul from his body when he dyed If Christ had not assumed our whole nature he could not have perfectly saved and redeemed us soul and body and then the work which God sent him to do had not been finished but we had still remained in our sins Heb. 10. 10 But the whole work of our Redemption was fully wrought by that which he suffered both in his soul and in his body to give us an holy assurance that we are freed from the guilt of sin here and saved from the condemning power of sin hereafter Secondly we may learn from thence this instruction so to regulate our thirsty desires that they may be for the glory of God and not for own sinfull ends If we thirst after the things of this world for any other end than for the honour of God our thirst is sinful and it will be satisfied with vinegar or gal and if we thirst after blood rapine or revenge the end of these and the like thirsty desires will be the death of our souls But if our thirst be holy and heavenly we shall then have thirsty desires and holy endeavours m Isal 613. how to injoy God and to do his will how to preserve our neighbours safety and how to keep our selves undefiled and if we can say as David did n Psal 143. 6. My soul thirsteth after thee O Lord as a thirsty land then our thirst shall be quenched and our souls shall be refreshed with the sweet comforts of God Also if we thirst after Christ Jesus who is the chief honour of a Christian and after grace and godlinesse which are the true riches of the soul then Christ will be a fountain of living water to us which onely can quench our spirituall o Joh. 4. 10. thirst and refresh our panting souls and it shall spring up in us to everlasting life Christ calleth every one to drink of this water p John 7. 37 Is any man thirst let him come unto me and drink Thus saith the Prophet q Isa 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and ye that have no silver come buy and eat come I say buy wine and milk without silver and without money Here Christ offereth himself and his graces freely But to whom It is onely to such as have a spiritual thirst after him Wherefore if this be the thirst of our souls to injoy Christ and him crucified we shall see such a Fountain of water of life flow out of his blessed fide as will purifie our hearts from all sin and cleanse our consciences from all iniquity whereby our thirsty souls will be more comforted and refreshed than our bodies can be by any Fountain of Water in our naturall thirst r Psal 42. This holy thirst made Davids soul pant more after God than the Hart panteth after the water-brooks Thirdly from this consideration that Christ had vinegar given him in a spunge we may learn this profitable Doctrine that there is no content nor stability in any earthly thing for though we should injoy all the contentment that the world can give us yet it will not satisfie our desires something will be wanting and we shall still thirst after more and we shall finde soureness and bitternesse in the best of earthly things Also that which we do possesse we have it but in a spunge a sudden casualty by fire or water a word spoken against King or State will wring it out a little pain or sickness a little trouble or sorrow will soon blaste the comfort of of it and make it like vinegar to our taste If we should meet with nothing to imbitter or blast our earthly joyes yet in their own nature they are transitory and unstable Å¿ Eccl. 12. 1. and when old age cometh we shall take no pleasure in them and death will quite bereave us of them all Now then if we put our trust in these vain things they will deceive and will give us no solide comfort except we do injoy them in Christ for without him the best of all earthly blessings are but vanity and vexation of Spirit Wherefore let this be our greatest care our chiefest joy and the desire of our souls to injoy Christ to be joyned unto him with the bond of faith and love and then whatsoever our estate or condition be we shall finde comfort in it we shall injoy it with a good conscience we shall glorifie God with it and if we do casually lose it we shall lose nothing by it for we shall still injoy Christ who will abundantly recompense our earthly losses with spirituall comforts here and with an eternall
inheritance hereafter Fourthly when death comes near to us we have most need of the best comforts both for soul and body that we may the more strongly encounter with this terrible enemy in the dissolution of our souls from our bodies but Christ at this time had soure vinegar given him which could no way comfort him but rather aggravate his pains and sorrowes when he was every way in great extremity This doth fitly resemble the case of many of Gods dear servants for they are often troubled and perplexed with many fears doubtings temptations and evil sugestions of the devil when they are to enter into a single combate with death it self for then he will lay their sins before them with all the aggravations that may be and he will labour to hide the mercies of God in Christ from them that they might have no hope or comfort to support them in this great conflict which doth put them into trouble of minde grief of heart and anguish of spirit and it is more uncomfortable and unpleasing to their spirituall taste than any vinegar can be to the palate Then is the time when the Divell is most maliciously bent against them then doth he bestirre himself to trouble the Peace of their consciences to disquiet the tranquillity of their mindes and to keep them from the assurance of the love and favour of God to them in Christ that they should not comfortably resign up their souls unto God he will affright them with the fear of death with the greatnesse of their sins with the hypocrisie of their hearts with their infidelity and unbelief he will labour to keep the gracious promises of God from them or else to perswade them that they belong not unto them that so they should have no comfortable assurance of the pardon of their sins Also he will terrifie them with the fear of Gods justice and with the terrour of the dreadfull day of judgement if it were possible to drive them into despair But here is comfort for a poor sinner that it is thus assaulted by the Divel when he is near his departure out of this life or at any other time that Christ hath sanctified all these sorrowes and conflicts to him and he will confirm his faith and stablish his hope upon his true humiliation for his sins and then those fears and doubtings will vanish away for he knoweth that we are not able to resist such temptations and the weaknesse of our spirits and of body is such that we cannot withstand such strong assaults and therefore Christ will give most strength to our inward man when the outward man is most weak and he will most weaken the power of the Divell when his malice is strongest to do us hurt And though we may be dangerously foyled in these spirituall combates yet Christ will uphold our faith he will give us spirituall consolation and will speak peace to our souls and consciences when through weaknesse of body we cannot expresse the joy and comfort of it Fifthly before we can willingly leave this world we must be well perswaded that we shall injoy a better habitation in the world to come which holy perswasion that we may have we must seriously consider how we have done the works which God hath appointed us how we have improved the talent that he hath lent us how we have glorified God in our calling and what good we have done to our neighbour according to the means and ability that God hath given us for we must give an account of all these things before the Tribunall Seat of God and we shall be judged according to our works Wherefore if we can truly say that we have done Gods works to the best of our power with an upright heart and that we have well improved our time and our talent to the glory of God then we may say with Christ It is finished and with Paul t 2 Tim. 7. 8 I have finished my course and have kept the faith henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me onely but unto all them also that love his appearing And though our work hath been very imperfectly done by us yet Christ our Saviour will make it perfect by that which he hath done for us in our nature and God will accept it for his sake then we shall cheerfully resign up our souls to God at the hour of our dissolution Sixthly Christ doth here teach us to commend our souls into the hands of God we received them immediatly from God and therefore we ought to resign them up again unto him he breathed into us the breath of life which is our chiefest and most precious Jewell and therefore we ought to keep it holy and undefiled for him that when he is pleased to call for it we may be sure to deliver it up to himself for the Divell will be ready watching for it as soon as it is separated from the body and none can keep it from him but onely God Wherefore we must keep our souls so pure and clean that God may accept them and take them into his charge for if we present unto him a filthy soul polluted with the guilt of sin we have no ground to believe that God will take care of it and keep it unto the general resurrection Wherefore we should study and labour to keep our souls clean from sin by washing them dayly in the blood of Christ by faith if they be stained with the sins of the day we should thus cleanse them at night before we sleep and if they are defiled with the pollutions of the night â— we must not forget to wash them with the teares sighes and groanes that flow from a sorrowfull and contrite heart in the morning before we set about our necessary occasions in our calling that we may comfortably believe that God will blesse and prosper our handy work If this be our dayly and constant practise the blessing of God will go along with us in all our actions sin cannot then cleave to our souls to make death fearfull to us death cannot then come suddenly upon us neither will the remembrance of it be terrible but we shall cheerfully commend our souls to God because we may confidently believe that he will keep them in his heavenly mansions untill they shall be again united to our bodies with an unseparable union and made glorious bodies fit to live and reign with Christ for ever But naturall men know not the worth of their souls nor the great price wherewith they are redeemed if they belong unto Christ they suppose that the soul cometh from a Principle of nature as the body doth whereas it is an immortall spirit which proceedeth not from any mortall principle but is breathed into us by the holy Ghost as soon as the body is framed in the wombe and made capable to receive this breath of
But in the Redemption of man Christ Jesus the second Person in the sacred Trinity laid aside all his celestiall and heavenly glory which was his due from his first incarnation and from eternity and came down from his Throne of Majesty in heaven and humbled himself to the meanest condition of life here on earth and to the basest and most accursed death even to the death of the crosse that he might Redeâ—m us from the lowest degree of misery and advance us to the highest degree of happinesse even above the blessed Angels in heaven This will be exceeding great joy and comfort to us if we have an holy perswasion of our Redemption by faith in Christ for hereby we have a near relation unto God being made his sons by adoption in Christ and then our souls will so delight in him that nothing will will be hard to us that we shall suffer for his sake and nothing will be too dear for him that he shall require and it will be the desire of our hearts to do his will and the joy of our souls to be joyned nearer and closer unto him also we shall willingly part with our dearest sins rather than our sins shall part us from our God This holy perswasion if it be well grounded will make us fear no adversary power and our spirituall enemies shall not daunt us for we will flee unto Christ as our best refuge in all our troubles and sorrowes we will crave his protection in all our perills and dangers for he is our Redeemer and our Saviour he is the Rock of our salvation in whom we must trust he will give us strength of grace to endure our tryalls to fight his battels and to stand for the truth against all opposition We may safely rest upon Christ and put our confidence in him for comfort and succour when any calamity doth oppresse us for help and deliverance when any spirituall enemy doth assault us for he will be our hiding place in times of danger and our comfort in all our sorrowes and afflictions k Eph. 1. 20 21 22. For God hath set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places farre above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named noâ— onely in this world but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church Wherefore let the consideration of all these benefits which we have by our Redemption stir us up with all care and diligence to perform that duty and obedience which we owe unto Christ and to expresse all filiall fear and reverence all love praise and thankfulnesse to him for our Redemption which Work neither God nor man could effect for us but onely Christ who was both God and Man The time of grace GOd is the sole Disposer of Time and he keeps that precious Jewell in his own Cabinet to give to the sons of men what time he pleaseth and he appointeth every one to improve their time for the gaining of the grace and favour of God and of those things that do conduce to the kingdom of heaven and not to spend it vainly sinfully and licenciously To some he giveth more time and to some lesse and all must imploy it to the glory of God and to the good of his neighbour God doth measure out our life by time and some have a longer measure than others and this measure is dispensed to us by moments for we cannot recall the time that is past and we do not injoy the time that is to come so that we have onely the time that is now present which is but a moment and when one moment of time is gone God doth give us another until the measure of time that God hath allotted us be fulfilled If we look upon an hour-glasse we shall see how swiftly one grain of sand runneth after another and so continueth untill all be run out Thus it is with the moments of our life one moment followeth swiftly after another which God would have us duly to consider that we may not waste our time in vain things but imploy it to that end for which God gave it and that is to the working out of our own salvation that God may be honoured and glorified thereby and therefore about whatsoever we spend our time if it doth not conduce to that end it is but lost and vainly spent God hath given us a time for all our necessary occasions here upon earth that all things may be done in their season For as the Preacher saith To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven â— Eccles 3. 1 2. A time to be born and a time to dye a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted and we do observe the times and seasons of the year when to till the ground and when to sow our seed when to reap our harvest and when to gather in the fruits of the earth The Coelestiall Bodies know their times as the Psalmâ—st saitâ— b Psal 164 19. He appointeth the Moon for seasons the Sun knoweth his going down Also the fowles of heaven and the birds in the air have their times appointed for thus God upbraideth his own people by his Prophet c Jer. 8. 7. The Stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the times of their coming but my people knoweth not the judgement of the Lord. We are wise enough to know our times for earthly things but we have no care to observe the times of grace how and when we may gain the grace and favour of God that he may accept of our persons and of our holy oblations that we offer unto him and also when we may obtain from him the saving and sanctifying graces of his most blessed Spirit The time of our life is the generall and longest time of grace that God hath given us wherein we should seek his gracious acceptance of us in Christ and wherein he doth work grace in the hearts of all his Elect by his Spirit Now if we measure this time of grace by the length of our dayes accoâ—ding to the course of nature or according to the health and strength of our bodies or by our own foolish fancy that measure is very uncertain for who knoweth whether his dayes shall be many or few Are we not dayly subject to casualities and to sudden death if we be strong and have our health to day we may be weak and sick to morrow though we dream of long life yet it is but a dream for we have no assurance of it If we thus measure the time of grace we shall put it off with delayes untill God doth suddenly bereave us of all time But we must measure out our dayes by the Rule of Gods Word and then we
our lives will be much the harder Time is not gained but lost which we spend without some fruits of grace and godliness which indeed is the true gain of time and therefore we should seek unto God while he may be found c Isa 55. 6. we should call upon him while he is neer otherwise though we seek him he will not be found and though we call upon him he will not answer nor be intreated Thus saith the Apostle d 2 Cor. 6. 2 now is the time acceptable now is the day of salvation But we have just cause to bewail our condition for the corruption of our nature doth so weaken us and the power of our spiritual enemies doth so prevail against us that we cannot break through such strong opposition as they make to hinder this holy work of grace in us I he devil doth cunningly disswade us from it the world doth strongly allure us to follow still the vanities of it and our own flesh doth dayly intice us to carnal pleasures and delights so that we can finde no time to make our peace with God or to improve the means of grace to his glory and to our own comfort Though we do sometimes strive against our sins yet we cannot overcome them or if one sinne be subdued another is ready to rise up against us also though we cannot actually commit a sin yet we may commit it in our sinful desires to it in a sinful remembrance of it in consenting to it or in suffering it to be done when by our place and authority we might hinder it We have also just cause to bemoan our selves for though we do labour for grace and do use all means for it to the best of our power and yet we cannot attain unto it Though it be thus with us yet we must still continue our best endeavours to oppose all the enemies of our salvation and we must still use the means of grace and wait upon God until he shall please to work grace in us by his Spirit also we must pray unto him with a faithful heart that by the omnipotent power of his grace e and by the rod of his strength which is the Word and Sprit he would make us able to overcome our corruptions by seasoning our hearts with grace to subdue the power of our sins by repentance to improve our time to the glory of God and also to break through the snares of the devil the world and the flesh Then God will so bless us in our pious indeavours that we shall prevail against all opposition and adversary power not by our own strength but by the might and power of Jesus Christ our gracious Redeemer f 2 Cor. 12. 9. whose grace and favour is sufficient for us and whose strength is made perfect in our weaknesse under whose banner we fight these spiritual battels for the honour of his great name Of Christ our Redeemer IF it be so that Christ is our Redeemer and hath wrought our redemption with his own blood and hath purchased for us a new Covenant and an everlasting inheritance in heaven as formerly in part hath been shewed also if we have all our strength and power from him against our spiritual enemies without whom we cannot stand against them nor break through the bands of death to injoy that heavenly inheritance which he hath prepared for us we must then know who Christ is what is the nature of his Person what is his power and strength and how he was qualified for this great work that we may have a sure ground to confide in him and to rest upon him as our Redeemer and onely Saviour Also we must know how he hath satisfied the justice of God for our sinnes how he hath conquered death hell and the devil and what price he hath paid for our ransom for without this heavenly knowledge and faith to apply it to our selves vve can dravv no comfort to our souls from Christ neither can vve have any good assurance that vve are freed from the curse of the Lavv that the justice of God is satisfied for our sins that sin hath no condemning power over us that the sting of death is taken away and that we are reconciled again unto the favour of God God hath revealed these deep mysteries to us in his holy Word that the meditations of our hearts may be enlarged upon them for our instruction and edification and for the comfort of our souls as God shall give light to our understandings by his blessed Spirit But as the Prophet saith a Is 53. 8. Who can declare his generation which was from eternity for Christ our Redeemer is the onely begotten Son of God b Joh. 1. 18. who is in the bosom of the Father and was promised and expected since the beginning of the world And when the fulnesse of time was come that God had appointed for his incarnation c John 1. 14 the Word was made flesh for d Heb. 2. 16 he took on him the seed of Abraham and personally united to his Divine nature a true humane body e Luc. 1. 31 32. of the seed of the Virgin Mary f Mat. 26. 38 which was indued with a reasonable soul and the holy Ghost did so sanctifie her wombe that he was born without sin either original or actual And though the humane nature of Christ was taken into his Deity whereby this union was never to be dissolved yet either nature had their whole properties and operations remaining still unconfounded and therefore he was true God and true man g Heb. 2. 17 like unto us in all things h Heb. 4. 15. sin onely excepted and those two natures made but one person in Christ i Mat. 28. 18 to whom God the Father hath given all power in heaven and in earth so that he commandeth and over-ruleth al created power whatsoever God did also give him three honourable offices that he might be every way fit to be our eternal Mediatour between God and us for God ordained him to be a Prophet to teach and instruct us to be a Priest to make intercession for us and to offer such a sacrifice to God for our sins as he would accept and to be a King to rule and govern his Church and also to rule in our hearts by his Spirit Christ being thus qualified hath fulfilled for us and in our nature whatsoever the Law did require of us and his righteousness is imputed to us by faith for our justification that no guilt of sinne might cleave to us in the sight of God When Christ did execute that part of his priestly office which was the offering up of his body a sacrifice for us no heart can conceive and no tongue can express the bitter torments which he suffered both in his soul and in his body to satisfie the justice of God for our sinnes and to purchase our freedome and redemptition out of the captivity
life Though the soul be thus highly to be prized and far excelleth the body in worth and dignity yet naturall men will pamper and garnish out the body which is every day subject to corruption and change but they suffer their souls to starve for want of spirituall food and to go naked for want of spirituall cloathing whereby they are exposed to the venomous darts of the Divell and to the scorching heat of their sinfull lusts Their souls have no spirituall light to foresee dangers and to shun them they have no heavenly grace to resist the temptations and allurements of the world the flesh and the Divell but what the eye or the eare lets in is willingly received Thus their souls are polluted and unclean and death doth snatch them away because they cannot willingly deliver them up for they have no faith to believe and no assurance to perswade them that God will receive their souls when they are parted from their bodies This is the condition of our souls by nature and so long as they are in this condition God will not receive them and then they must needs be a prey to the Divell u Psal 103 4. But Christ hath redeemed our souls from destruction u 1 Cor. 6. 20. he hath bought us with a great price he hath shed his most precious blood upon the crosse to take away the guilt and filth of our sins Wherefore God may justly claim our whole man both soul and body as his due by a treble right by the right of creation of donation and of purchase x Act. 17. 28 for in him we live and move and have our being y 1 Cor. 4. 7 What have we that we did not receive from God What shall we bequeath unto him in thankfulnesse for all his benefits to us We can do no lesse than devote our selves souls and bodies to him and to his service while we live here and when this life shall be ended to bequeath our precious souls unto him purified and cleansed from all sin in the blood of Christ by faith for nothing can be too pure that is presented to him and nothing can be too dear and precious for him If we bequeath this precious legacy to God in our life-time then he will require it as of right belonging unto him and he will receive it from us at our death This will sweeten the bitternesse of death to us which will put an end to all our sorrowes and this will make us willing to leave this world and desire with Paul to be dissolved because we do stedfastly believe that we shall be with Christ But if we give our selves to worldly vanities to lewd and licencious living and not to the true worship and service of God we shall then be unwilling to part with this life or to look upon death when it comes because we know not to whom it will deliver our poor souls for we cannot comfortably commend them to God when we dye with any hope or good assurance that he will receive them seing they did God no service while we lived What thankfulnesse is it then to commend our souls unto God when we can keep them no longer for the world or for our sinfull delights And what comfort can we have at our death if we have no faith to believe that we shall injoy all happinesse with Christ but rather just cause to fear that the sinfulnesse of our life will bring us to everlasting torments after death It may sometimes fall out that we shall neither have time nor ability to dispose of our souls when we dye as we desire and as we ought for if death comes suddenly upon us by any casualty or otherwise we have then no time to commit our souls unto Gods protection or if we are taken away by some violent or malignant disease which doth distemper our senses and weaken our understanding and reason that we are unfit for this great work we have then no ability to resign up our spirits unto God in an holy way What shall we do then Where is our comfort in death This need not trouble our thoughts if we have formerly in our life had any holy assurance of our union with Christ of our justification by his righteousnesse of our redemption by the merit of his blood and of his death and of his sanctification by the holy Ghost and that we have lived vertuously and piously in the fear of God and have served the Lord our God with a perfect and upright heart in the time of our life for then death cannot come suddenly upon us and no extremity of sicknesse or pain can separate us from Christ nor take away our comfort from our souls at our death because God will receive them up into his holy habitation to abide and dwell with Christ for ever though we have neither time nor ability to commend them unto him Lastly let us zealously meditate for our great comfort upon the bloud and water that gushed out from our Saviours heart after he was dead when his side was pierced with the spear There was bloud to take away the guilt of sin for our justification and there was water to wash away the stains of sin for our sanctification For as our sins were imputed to him as our surety so by faith his righteousnesse is imputed to us and God doth account us just and righteous in his sight for the sake of Christ so likewise by grace we are renewed dayly and sanctified in our lives and conversations Wherefore we should raise up our thoughts and the affections of our hearts to this sanctifying water when we think upon our Baptisme or see that Sacrament celebrated that our hearts may be sprinkled with it by faith to purifie our souls from the leprosie and spots of our sins Also we must set the cogitations of our hearts upon this sacred blood when we feed at the Lords Table that by faith we may be perswaded that Christ did shed his blood and was crucified for us Consider also that though the body of our blessed Redeemer was miserably rent and torn by the cruelty of his enemies yet God would not suffer them to break a bone of him according to this of David z Psal 34. 20 He keepeth all his bones not one of them is broken and though they brake the bones of the two malefactors that were crucified with him yet they brake not a bone of him that the Scripture might be fulfilled a Num. 9. 12. that not a bone of him should be broken God so restrained his bloody enemies that they could do no more than what was decreed and what Christ was willing to suffer for he did not yield to their malice and cruelty but onely in obedience to his Fathers will for a word of his mouth had been sufficient to confound all his tormentours but how then should our redemption be wrought How should the will of God be fulfilled And how
Christ shall be received up to eternall glory The Saints that then arose out of their graves were forerunners of this generall resurrection This was a dreadfull sign to the cruell Jews who had imbrewed their hands in the blood of Christ for the same Jesus whom they crucified shall be the Supream Judge at that day before whom they must appear to answer for this their bloody fact It may also be a terrible warning to all wicked men that are defiled with innocent blood and that live in profanenesse and sensuality fulfilling their sinfull lusts without any remorse of conscience or holy desire to be reclaimed from their wicked wayes and without any care to make their peace with God by faith in Christ and by true repentance for a time will come when they must answer the rigour of Gods justice for all their crying sins and hainous abominations Wherefore enter into a serious consideration with thy self how thou art prepared and fitted for thy grave If thou hast lived to the world to the flesh to the devill or to thy self thou art in a sad and lamentable condition for the grave cannot keep thee from judgement but must open her mouth h Jona 2 10 like Jonahs Whale at the sound of the last Trumpet and it will deliver thee up even as it sound thee If thy grave receive thee an hypocrite a blasphemer a swearer an unclean person or the like it will deliver thee up to judgement all polluted with the guilt and filth of the same sins i Job 20. 11 If thy bones are full of the sins of thy youth they will lye down with thee in the dust and they will cleave fast to thee when thou shalt rise again How canst thou then stand before the Tribunall seat of God and before all his glorious Angels and blessed Saints if thou art in this sinfull condition And how canst thou endure the rigour of his justice and the severity of his judgement If this consideration were well imprinted in thy heart it would make thee afraid to go on in a way of sin without repentance But such as have lived to the Lord shall dye in the Lord and shall sleep quietly in their graves as in their beds k Mal. 3. 17. for they are the Lords Jewels and he keeps them in these cabinets untill the day that he shall make up his Jewels Wherefore if we have any interest in Christ by faith his blood will cleanse us from all our sins his righteousnesse will make us accepted in the sight of God and he will account us as his jewels and then Christ will sanctifie the grave to us l Isa 57. â— We shall enter into Peace we shall rest in our beds walking in his righteousness Thus comfortably shall we enter into the grave if we have an holy assurance by the witnesse of his Spirit to our spirits that we dye in the Lord and then our resurrection will be with unspeakable joy and comfort to us Of the Buriall of Christ THough Christ dyed a most shamefull and ignominious death yet he had honourable buriall according to the manner of the Jews a John 19. 40 41. For Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus two honourable men among the Jews begged leave of Pilate and took down his body from the Crosse and wrapped it in linnen cloathes with spices and laid it in a new sepulchre which was hewen out in a rock wherein was never man yet laid and they rolled a great stone to the doore of the sepulchre But the chief Priests and Pharisees thought him not safe enough and therefore to prevent his resurrection as they thought b Mat. 27. 64 65. they got leave of Pilate to make the Sepulchre sure Then they sealed the stone and set a watch about the Sepulchre yet notwithstanding at Gods appointed time he did rise again from the dead by the power of his Deity which was not separated from his humane nature though he were now dead c Psal 16. 10. for God would not suffer his holy One to see corruption d 1 Cor. 15. 44. and his naturall body was raised up a spirituall and glorified body But what comfort can we draw from Christ now he is dead Can we have any benefit by him as he is now buried It is true which Christ said e John 6. 63 It is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing Though we can draw no comfort from the body of Christ as it is now in the grave yet by his eternall Spirit which ever liveth we may receive great benefit and much spiritual consolation by the death burial of our Saviour Christ For by faith we may draw vertue and power from thence to kill that body of sin which by nature is in us and to bury it with Christ that the new man of holinesse and righteousnesse may be quickned and raised up in us for it is not enough to mortâ—fie and kill this body of sin but we must also bury it and every member of it with Christ that no sin though it be never so profitable or pleasing to our nature may gather strength to over-power us or to bring us again into subjection that â—very base lust should reign over us to make us slaves unto sin It is true that sin will still dwell in us but the Spirit of Christ will make us able by the vertue of his death so to kill the power of it that it shall not have dominion over us Grace worketh our sanctification by degrees and we cannot expect perfection of holinesse untill we come into the Kingdome of Heaven Now if we will bury our sins in the Sepulchre of our blessed Saviour we must not onely forbear the actuall committing of sin but we must quite loose the delightful remembrance of it for if we do still retain with approbation a sinfull remembrance of our former sins we do then keep them above ground and unburied and they will be odious in the sight of God though the act of sin be mortified in us f Rom. 6. 3 4 5. If we are baptized into Jesus Christ we are baptized into his death and therefore we are buried with him by Baptisme into death that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin but should walk in newnesse of life If we be thus buried with Christ then the sweet perfume and precious odours of his merits will take away the stench and noisomnesse of our sins from the Lord our God Wherefore by faith we shall draw a new principle of grace from Christ to be crucified with him to live and dye in him to be buried with him both in the act and in the delight of sin g Col. 3. 1. and to rise again with him in an holy and sanctified life and we shall be continually with him to have our communion and fellowship with him for every member of his mysticall body will be where he is in