true end for which we were created Now we may take a view of our own condition and we may see in what state we stand with our God For if if we do principally attend to the true end of our Creation that our studies endeavours and all our actions are chiefly bent for the glory of God and that we can truly say with good Hezekiah e 2 Kin. 20. 3 I have walked before the Lord in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in his sight or as holy David said f Psal 26. 3 Judge me O Lord for I have walked in mine integrity I have walked in thy truth Also if we can truly say g Phil. 2. 12 That our whole course of life hath tended to the working out of our salvation with carefulnesse fear and trembling then we are most happy we steer our course to the right end and we shall at length attain to that Kingdom of eternall glory which we desire and hope for But if upon a diligent search we finde our selves to be in a contrary course to sit with vain and prophane persons to have fellowship with hypocrites and dissemblers to love the society of evil doers and to delight in earthly vanities all which will easily corrupt us by their evill example and sinfull wayes then the course of our life is not tending to the glory of God but it is dishonourable to him and destructive to our own souls Thus we are brought into a perillous and dangerous way that leadeth directly into perdition if God in mercy doth not bring us into the right way Wherefore it doth greatly concern us to raise up our thoughts to God our Creator to fix the Meditations of our hearts upon him h Isa 51. 7 to look unto the rock whence we are hewen and to the hole of the pit whence we are digged to look unto Adam our first parent as he was in the state of innocency before his fall that we may labour for his purity that we may follow after his righteousnesse and seek the Lord with pure affections and study how to serve and please him in all things as Adam was then able to do Also it behoveth us to consider how dangerous it is to conform our selves to the common errour of the world that man was born to be for himself and for his ownn ends which errour we must carefully avoid and then we shall labour to sâ—eer our course the right way and we shall bestow our time to the right end i Mat. 6. 33 First to seek the Kingdome of heaven and the righteousnesse thereof and then those things that shall be needfull for this present life shall be added unto us Concerning the fall of man MAn had power and ability given him to stand and continue in that perfect and blessed condition wherein he was created but he did soon fall from God by transgressing his command in eating the forbidden fruit whereby he brought himself and all his posterity that were then in his loyns and came out from him by naturall propagation under the severe curse that God laid upon him for his sin and this was the Originall of sin to all his posterity By this meanes Adam defâ—ced the bright image of God that was stamped upon his soul for he lost the perfection of his understanding the liberty of his will and the integrity of his heart Also the earth was cursed for his sake and the creatures became rebellious to him he is now a slave to the devill and to his own sinfull lusts and he hath no power to redeem himself out of that captivity and bondage onely he hath a possibility by Christ to be restored again to his former happinesse whereas the Angels that kept not their first Station but sinned against God and were thrust out of heaven have no possibility to be again restored Adam also hath made himself and all his posterity lyable to all outward crosses and sorrowes of body goods and good name to all inward troubles of minde and anguish of spirit to all temporall plagues and punishments and to all eternall pains and torments This was our condition in him we did also fall from God with him and our losse hereby is as great as his was our misery as much as his he did eat of the forbidden fruit and our teeth are set on edge so that now we have great cause a Isa 38. 1 2 3. to turn our faces toward the wall with good Hezekiah and to weep with great weeping to be ashamed of our selves and to be confounded in our selves for the sentence of eternall death is pronounced against us and we are now under the curse of the Law and under the fierce wrath and fury of an omnipotent Judge because we have sinned against God our Maker b Psal 137 2 3. we may now hang up our harps on the willowes for we can sing no more the joyfull songs of Zion we are cast out of paradise and out of the favour of God and we are now captives in a strange land under the tyranny of the devill We have not now that sweet familiarity with God which we had in the loynes of Adam before his fall we cannot now injoy the light of his countenance nor look upon him with comfort for all the beauty of our first holinesse is stained and polluted with sin and uncleannesse the pure image of God is defaced in us we have no knowledge in heavenly things no holy zeal in our hearts no purity in our affections and no readinesse of will to obey God We have lost all those precious Ornaments of grace of righteousness and true holiness of heavenly wisdom understanding and fear of God which made us lovely in his sight and now we are wholely naked c Ezek. 16 like a wretched infant that cannot help it self and we are void of all goodness and of all help and comfort in our selves If we look further into our condition we shall see how we are plunged into the depth of all misery for we are now slaves to every vanity and to every base sinfull lust and our servitude and bondage under them is very miserable because they tyrannize over our souls and yet we do willingly submit unto it which make us not able to break those chains of sin wherewith we are bound We have lost our right to the creatures and our dominion and soveraignity over them the earth will yeeld us no increase without excessive labour and toyl we ly open continually to all our spirituall enemies to all kinde of perills and dangers to all sorrows aad miseries in this life and to eternall burnings in the life to come Whatsoever we want in spirituall or temporall blessings and whatsoever we suffer by outward afflictions or inward troubles of minde is the fruit of sin and should make us call to minde and with much grief and sadnesse of heart to think upon our fall in
pain or trouble But wilt thou give so much way to thy passions as to dishonour God thereby is thy minde so much set upon vain pleasures as if no sorrow could come upon thee Did Christ bear his crosse and dost thou think to go free Dost thou not know O fainting soul how to measure thy strength â—f thou dost measure it by the common measure of mature thou wilt find it too weak to bear thee up against those crosses afflictions or temptations which thou shalt meet with in this life but if thou dost measure it by the measure of the sanctuary and by the grace of Christ that is in thee thou wilt then perceive what strength thou hast to bear the crosse for thy strength lyeth not in the wealth or in the arm of flesh but in thy faith in Christ and in the graces of his Spirit If thou hast but a little faith and a small measure of grace thou hast then but little strength and courage to encounter with the assaults of the devill with the troubles and vexations of this world and with the discomforts of sicknesse but art easily surprised with every temptation and sinfull lust and as easily overwhelmed when the waves ef affliction come upon thee Wherefore when thou art upon thy bed of sicknesse or in any distresse and misery complain not of thy strength of body if that be weak and faileth but look to the strength of grace that is in thee o 2 Pet. 3. 18. for grace may grow and increase though the strength of thy body doth decay or is spent and grace will uphold thee from sinking even in the bitter pangs of death and it will make thee to hold on constant to the end in all thy sufferings Consider in the next place that Christ hath appointed his crosse to be the badge of every true Christian which he must wear for the honour of his Lord and Master Thus saith Christ p Mat. 16 24. If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his crosse and follow me Also Paul saith q Acts 14. 22. That through much tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom of God Christ giveth this badge to some for the tryal and the manifestation of his graces in them that he may be glorified thereby to others for their humiliation and to bring them to repentance for their sinnes he doth exercise others under the crosse to conform them unto himself in his sufferings and to make them bear it contentedly Also he gives this badge to some to keep them from security and to prevent their backslidings from God for by these tryals and afflictions he doth alwayes intend the good of his servants and not their hurt Where this mark is truly imprinted there will grace appear and the fruits of it will break forth in their conformity to the will of God in their faith and patience under afflictions and in their rejoycing in the crosse of Christ This was the Apostles joy r Acts 5. 41 that they were counted worthy to suffer shame and rebuke for the Name of Christ And this was Pauls glory Å¿ Gal. 6. 1 for saith he God forbid that I should glory save in the crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world For such is the tender and indulgent care of Christ toward those that wear his livery that though they are put into the fining pot of affliction there to have their drosse and corruptions purged and refined yet he will not suffer them to receive any detriment thereby but he will bring them forth purer gold than they were before Wherefore learn to carry the crosse of Christ in thy heart expect it daily and resolve to bear it willingly when God shall be pleased to lay it upon thee and then thou wilt not feel it so heavie as it is in its own nature also imprint the remembrance of his passion in thy minde thereby to mortifie all thy worldly lusts and sinfull desires This cognizance will tell thee what inheritance thou hast in Christ if thou dost duly examine thy heart when thou art under the crosse how thou hast glorified God by thy faith and patience how much thou art refined from thy corruptions how much nearer thou art brought unto Christ in thine affections to love him to confide in him to delight in the sweet fruition of him and to meditate on his goodnesse and love to thee If thou canst finde such fruits of thy crosse and that in the midst of thy sorrowes thou canst say with holy Job t Job 13. 1â— Though he slay me yet will I trust in him then be confident that Christ hath set his own stamp upon thy heart he will know thee for his own he will hide thee under the shadow of his wings he will provide for thee in all thy necessities and upon all occasions and all the powers of darknesse shall not be able to raise his stamp or the impression of it out of thy heart or to separate thee from Christ Mark further and consider it well that there were some that followed Christ all that dolorous way to Mount Calvary who could not refrain from teares and u Luk. 23. 27 28. sorrowfull sobs but bewailed him and lamented when they saw his dolefull and sad condition and they were chiefly women to whom Jesus turning said Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your children Whereby he did graciously instruct them how to fix their mourning upon the right object that their teares may proceed from a principle of grace not to mourn for him because he did suffer no more than what was appointed by his heavenly Father and he did bear it in obedience to his will also he did undertake no more than he was well able to undergoe and no more could be laid upon him than was decreed in his Fathers counsell for the redemption of man But Christ would have them weep and mourn for their sins which brought the wrath of God upon themselves and upon their children for there were grievous judgements which would shortly come upon them Also Christ did intimate to them that their sins and the sins of their children were a great part of the cause why he suffered such contumelies and so much cruelty both by the Jews and by the Gentiles that they might be freed from the guilt and from the punishment of them Consider now that Christ doth give them two speciall reasons why they should weep and mourn for themselves and for their children First because of the great desolation and finall destruction that was shortly after to come upon that famous and renowned City and upon the whole nation of the Jews wherein they and their children should suffer very great calamities therefore Christ did tell them u Lu. 23. 29 That the dayes were coming in which they should say blessed are the barren
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