censure of the Holy Ghost Luke saith not knowing what he said In Mark chap. 9. 6. He wist not what to say for they were sore afraid They were words of a man in a Rapture or surprized with great astonishment There were two affections dazled with the Majesty of this Glory and transported with joy there was also a great fright usually 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such things as bring a hurt occasion fear and also things of excellent Glory such as surpass our present meanness as here the change of Christs Person and the glorious Appearance of the great Prophets so long since separated from the commerce of mankind Observe before we proceed the inconvenience of great and excessive Passions they make us speak we know not what Peter is an instance in Scripture let us keep to him you see him surprized with a great passion of fear when at Christs command a great draught of Fish came to hand in an unlikely time Luke 5. 8 9. Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord. For he was astonished and all that were with him at the draught of Fishes that they had taken you find him at other times transported with a passion of excessive Reverence or Humility Iohn 13. 8. Lord thou shalt never wash my feet With a passion of Love or Pity to his Master Lord let it be far from thee this shall not be unto thee when his Master had foretold his death Mark 16. 22. in case of contempt of Christ here with a passion of joy or ravishment or transport of soul Lord it is good for us to be here Now all these passions were religiously exercised but it is dangerous when Religion which should bridle and govern our passions is made the matter and fuel of them Passionate joy or passionate fear passionate reverence or passionate zeal and anger may easily transport us to some uncomely action or motion for though in all these there was Religion at top yet sin at the bottom and therefore you see how much it concerneth us to moderate and reduce our selves to a due temper for passion causeth us to do things without and against reason yea to speak and do we know not what and when Religious matters over heat our affections we may erre exceedingly Now having opened this part of the History let us observe something that conduceth to our practical instruction I. Doctrine That the state and condition of the glorified Saints is a most delightful state and condition For when Peter had but a glimpse of it in the transfiguration of Christ it seemed so ravishing and transporting that here would he abide and stay by it so was he affected with joy in the company and presence of Christ and Moses and Elias appearing with him that all his natural comforts and relations were forgotten This would compensate all if once we be gotten into this blessed estate we shall never desire to come out of it and part with it this which the Disciples had was but a little glimpse and tast of the Life to come this must needs be so it is called joy Mat. 25. 21. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord and fulness of joy Psal. 16. 11. In thy presence there is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore no better estate can be expected The Soul is at rest as having obtained its end And it is also proved by the priviledges and benefits the Saints shall enjoy in the world to come 1. A Freedom from all Evil which here are matter of Grief to us And 2. The Fruition of all Good which may any way bring Ioy and Delight and Contentment 1. There is a Freedom from all Evil. There is a twofold evil either of Sin or Punishment In Heaven there is neither Sin nor Misery 1. To begin with sin that is the worst evil because it maketh us hateful to God and grieveth the Saints most Rom. 7. 24. Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this Death If any man had cause to complain of Afflictions Paul much more being often imprisoned whipped stoned but his lusts troubled him more then scourges and his captivity to the Law of sin more then Prisons Gods children are most weary of the World because they are sinning here whilst others are glorifying of God and enjoying God and the company of his blessed Ones Now in Heaven there is no sin Eph. 5. 27. there is neither spot nor blemish nor wrinkle on the face of the glorified Saints their faces were once as black as yours But now they are washed in the Lambs blood and fully cleansed now with much ado we mortifie sin but then it is nullified but if we subdue the power of sin we do not get rid of the being of it but then we are rid of all at once of all sin and temptation to sin There was a Serpent a tempter in Paradise but there is none in Heaven the devil is shut out and the old man is left in the Grave never to rise more 2. There is not the least evil of Affliction Rev. 21. 4. All tears shall be wiped away from their eyes whatsoever is painful and burdensome to nature is a fruit of sin a brand and mark of our Rebellion against God Therefore when sin is done away Affliction which is the fruit of it is done away also In Hell there is Evil and onely Evil in Heaven Happiness and onely Happiness here our wounds are healed but the scars remain something to put us in mind that we have sin yet dwelling in us but there all the effects of it cease there is neither death nor sorrow nor crying nor any more pain 2. They shall enjoy all Good things which shall bring Joy and Comfort to them in blessedness there is a confluence of all Good our joyes are full and eternal 1. There is the immediate sight and presence of God and Jesus Christ who shall be all in all to them 1 Cor. 13. 12. Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now I know in part then shall I know as also I am known And John 17. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovest me before the foundation of the World We are brought into the presence of him who is blessedness it self 2. The society of all the blessed Angels and Saints glorified Mat. 8. 11. Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of Heaven 3. The perfection of all Heavenly gifts both in soul and body 1. In Soul that is the Heaven of Heaven 1 Iohn 3. 2. Now are we the sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but this we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him
1. 24. All flesh is grass and the glory thereof as the flower of the grass David saith Psal. 119. 86. I have seen an end of all perfection It is good often to intermingle these serious thoughts of the frailty of all sublunary injoyments to keep us modest in what we have or desire to have that we may not be blinded with the delusions of the Flesh and inchanted with an admiration of worldly Felicity 2. As the devil seeketh to open the eye of sense so must we open the eye of Faith 2 Cor. 4. 18. We look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal Things unseen must be every day greatened in our Eyes that all our pursuit after things seen may be subordinated to our desires of and labour after things unseen There we must see the greatest Reality or else we have not the true Christian Faith Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen It is such an evidence of the worth and reality of the unseen Glory as draweth off the heart from things seen which are so pleasing to the flesh Faith sets it before the eye of the soul in the Promises of the Gospel Heb. 6. 18. Who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us Heb. 12. 2. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross c. 2. As he dealeth with us by Promise Every thing we hope to get by sin is a kind of promise or offer of the devil to us As suppose by unconscionable dealing in our Calling Here consider two things 1. The falsity of the Devils Promises 2. The truth and stability of Gods Promises 1. The falsity of Satans Promises Either he giveth not what he promised as he promised our first Parents to be as Gods Gen. 3. 5. Ye shall be as Gods And what ensued Psal. 49. 12. Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish degraded to the Beasts as the brutish and bestial nature prevailed in him when he fell from God Or else if we have them we were better be without them we have them with a Curse with the loss of better things Ier. 17. 13. Oh Lord all that forsake thee shall be ashamed and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth They are condemned to this felicity we have them with stings of Conscience Matth. 27. 4 5. I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood and he cast down the pieces of silver in the Temple and went and hanged himself which are most quick and sensible when we come to dye Ier. 17. 11. He that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his dayes and at his end shall be a fool Now rise up in Indignation against the Temptation shall I fell my birthright Lose my fatness to rule over the trees As the olive Tree in Iotham's Parable Iudges 9. 9. 2. The Sufficiency and Stability of Gods Promises 1. Sufficiency Gen. 17. 1. I am the almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect 1 Tim. 4. 8. Godliness is profitable for all things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come of heaven and of Earth Mat. 6. 33. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added to you It may be you have less than those that indulge themselves in all manner of shifts and wiles but you shall have enough not to be left wholly destitute Heb. 13. 5. He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee And you shall have it with contentment Prov. 15. 6. In the house of the righteous is much treasure but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble And better is a little with righteousness then great revennes with sin Prov. 16. 8. And you have it so as not to lose other things 2. Stability 2 Cor. 1. 20. All the promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen And Heb. 6. 18. That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have strong consolation c. Psal. 119. 111. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever they are the rejoycing of my heart 4. Observe Fall down The Pride of the Devil he sinneth from the beginning 1 Ioh. 3. 8. The sin of Pride was fatal to him at first and the cause of those Chains of darkness in which now he is held yet still he sinneth the same sin he requireth Adoration and would be admitted into a Partnership of Divine Worship He obtained it from Pagans and Idolaters not from Christ. The Angel deprecates and detests it Rev. 19. 10. And I fell at his feet to worship him and he said unto me see thou do it not for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Iesus worship thou God So Rev. 22. 9. I fell down to worship before the face of the angel that shewed me these things and he said to me see thou do it not for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the prophets and of them that keep the sayings of this book worship God Paul when the Priests at Lycaonia were about to sacrifice to him Acts 14. 14 15. When the Apostles heard of it they rent their clothes and run in among the people crying out and saying Sirs why do you these things we also are men of like passions with you and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God But the evil Angels they are apt to invade the right of God SERMON VI. MATTH 4. 10. Then saith Iesus unto him Get thee hence Satan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve THirdly Christ's Answer and Reply which is double I. By way of Rebuke Defiance and bitter Reprehension Get thee hence Satan II. By way of Confutation For it is written c. 1. The Rebuke sheweth Christs Indignation against Idolatry Get thee hence Satan This was not to be endured Twice Christ useth this form of Speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Satan tempting him to Idolatry here and when his servant disswaded him from suffering Mat. 16. 23. Get thee behind me satan for thou art an offence to me for thou savourest not the things that be of God but those that be of men This suggestion intrenched or touched upon the Glory of God the other upon his love to Mankind and Christ could endure neither Satan is commanded out of his Presence with Indignation The same zeal we see in his servants in Moses in case of Idolatry Exod. 32. 19. He brake the Tables So in case of contradiction to the Faith of Christ Paul taketh up Elimas Acts 13. 10.
Lord face to face and spake with him as a man doth with his Friend and Elias 1 Kings 19. Both had fasted fourty days as Christ also did therefore conveniently were these chosen 3. With respect to our Profit and Instruction Christ would not choose two Angels for this service but two Men. Here the business was not to see glorified Spirits but glorified Bodies therefore the Angels having no Bodies of their own and must appear in assumed Bodies if in any are not fit therefore two Men that had Bodies wherein they might appear But you will say if two men must appear in glorified Bodies why not Enoch rather then Moses who was translated into Heaven and remaineth there with a glorified Body as well as Elias Answ. Enoch had no publick charge Enoch lived before the legal dispensation these both belonged to it and were chief in it of great Authority among the Jews Enoch hath an honourable Testimony in the Word of God but had no publick office and charge in the Church which the other two had and managed with great Fidelity By the appearance of Moses the whole legal Oeconomy is supposed to appear in his Person and by the appearance of Elias the Prophetical Ministry which was a kind of Chancery to the Law is supposed to appear also Both do as it were deliver over to Christ their whole dispensation and lay it down at his feet as the Magistrates that are to go out of office solemnly resign the ensigns of their Authority to him that succeedeth and also they come both to reverence the majesty of their supream Lord. In short it is for our comfort that one that died and one alive in glory should come to shew that Christ is Lord of quick and dead Rom. 14. 9. Moses was dead Elias translated these two come the one to give a pledge of the glory of the World to come the other of the Resurrection of the dead which is the way and introduction to it and both these persons come to attend and adore our Saviour and do homage to him Secondly They appeared in glory that is in a corporeal shape shining with brightness glory as Christs body did bating only for the degree proportion that ther might be a difference between the Lord and his Servants Now whether they appeared in Bodies formed and assumed for the present purpose and to be laid down again as we do our Garments or in their own proper Bodies is often disputed by Interpreters upon this occasion That they appeared in bodies is certain for bodily acts and properties are ascribed to them as their talking with Christ their being seen by the Apostles for a spirit cannot be seen If in bodies why not their own It is as easie to the Lord to cause them to appear in their own bodies as in a body assumed for this special purpose and service and they were known by the Disciples to be Moses and Elias not by the external Lineaments for they never saw them in person before but either were made known to them by some internal Revelation or by Christs words or by some words of Moses and Elias themselves but which way soever they knew them certain it is they knew them and took them to be Moses and Elias therefore Moses and Elias they were both as to Soul and Body The Apostles that were admitted to this Transfiguration were not to be deceived by a false appearance for they were admitted to be confirmed in the Truth of Christs Person and Office that by what they saw they might confirm others How would it weaken the Testimony if what they saw appearing before them in glory were not the bodies of Moses and Elias but only other bodies assumed Concerning Elias the matter is without difficulty for since he saw not death but was translated both body and soul into Heaven why should he lay down his own body and take another to come and serve Christ upon this occasion cause sufficient there was why he should come from the blessedness of Heaven to Mount Tabor no cause why he should lay aside his own proper body It is no loss nor trouble but advantage to blessed and heavenly Creatures to be serviceable to their Redeemers Glory though it be to come out of the other into this World But concerning Moses the matter is more doubtful we read that he died in Mount Nebo and his body was buried by God in the Plains of Moab so that his Grave was known to no man unto this day Deut. 34. 5 6. Some think it was preserved from putrefaction by the extraordinary power of God that he might resume it at this time The Jews say that God sucked out Moses soul from his body with a kiss and afterwards restored it again and so he liveth in immortality but he that looketh for Divinity among the Jewish Rabbins will much sooner find a ridiculous Fable then any sound Doctrine suffice it to us that he was really dead and buryed and his body mouldred into dust as our bodies are and now on this special occasion raised out of the dust but after this whether it were laid down in dust again or carryed into Heaven it is not for us to determine it may be either according to the Analogy of the Christian Faith if his body returned to corruption again surely it is a great honour that it was raised up for this special use I say it was a great joy to these Prophets to see all their predictions fulfilled in Christ. If we say it entered into Glory what inconvenience was there If God would indulge him this peculiar Prerogative to be raised from the dead and enjoy blessedness both in soul and body before the last day He granted it to Enoch and Elias and those who came out of their Graves after Christs death Matth. 27. 53. the great Harvest is at the last day but some first-fruits before Secondly Their Conference with our Saviour they talked with him saith Matthew they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Ierusalem saith Luke they talked with Christ not with the Apostles here is an Apparition to them but no parley and intercourse between them and the glorified Saints The Saints that are glorified are out of the sphere of commerce of the living nay it is a question whether they heard at all what was said to Christ but of that in the next verse Here observe three things 1. What they spake of Christs death 2. The notion by which his death is set forth it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. The necessity of undergoing it in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he should accomplish at Jerusalem 1. What they spake of none could divine unless it had been told us and the Evangelist Luke telleth us that it was of his death This Argument was chosen 1. Because it was at hand the next solemn Mediatory Action after this was his Death and Bloody sufferings after he was Transfigured in
the Mount he went down to suffer at Ierusalem 2. This was an offence to the Apostles that their Master should dye Matth. 16. 22 23. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee 3. This was the Jews stumbling block 1 Cor. 1. 23. We Preach Christ Crucified to the Iews a stumbling block 4. This was prefigured in the Rites of the Law foretold in the Writings of the Prophets In the figures of the Law it was represented Heb. 9. 22. and almost all things are by the Law purged with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no Remission especially the Apostle urgeth the entring of the High Priest with Blood to the Mercy-seat verse 23 24. All the legal Sacrifices were slain their blood brought before the Lord. So the predictions of the Prophets Isa. 53. 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make thy soul an offering for sin c. And Dan. 9. 26. The Messias shall be cut off but not for himself In short that Christ should dye for the sins of the World was the great thing represented in the Law and Prophets Rabbi Simeon and Rabbi Hadersim out of Daniel that after Messias had Preached half seven years he shall be slain 5. It was necessary that by death he should come to his Glory of which now some glympse and foretast was given to him Luke 24. 46. Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and rise from the dead the third day that is with respect to the predictions verse 44. All those things which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Book of Psalms concerning me may be fulfilled and again Luke 24. 21 26. Oh fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to have entered into his Glory 6. The Redemption of the Church by Christ is the talk and discourse we shall have in Heaven the Angels and Glorified Spirits are blessing and praising him for this Rev. 5. 9. Thou art worthy for thou wert slain and hast Redeemed us to God by thy Blood The Angels verse 12. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and streneth and glory and honour and blessing The Redeemed Church and glorified Saints and Angels have all one song and one praise the honour of the Lamb that was slain 7. It is an instructive pattern to us that Christ in the midst of his Transfiguration and the Glory which was then put upon him forgat not his Death In the greatest advancements we should think of our desolution if Christ in all his Glory discoursed of his death surely it more becommeth us as necessary for us to prevent the surfeit of Worldly pleasures we should think of the change that is comming For surely every man at his best estate is vanity Psalm 39. 5. In some places they were wont to present a deaths head at their solemn Feasts merry dayes will not alwayes last death will soon put an end to the vain pleasures we enjoy here and the most shining glory will be burnt out to a snuff 2. The notion by which his Death is expressed his decease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the going out of this Life into another which is to be noted 1. In respect unto Christ his death was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he went out of this mortal Life into Glory and so it implyeth both his suffering Death and also his Resurrection Act. 2. 24. God hath raised him up having loosed the pains of Death because it was impossible he should be holden of it The Grave was like a Woman ready to be delivered it suffered Throws till this blessed burden was egested 2. With respect to us Peter calls his death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1. 15. I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease the death of the Godly is a going out but from sin and sorrow to glory and immortality as Israels going out of Egypt whence the second Book of Moses is called Exodus was no destruction and cessation of their being but a going out of the House of Bondage into Liberty Paul saith I desire to be dissolved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 1. 23. a setting sail for the other World In Scripture language the body is the House the soul is the Inhabitant 2 Cor. 5. 1. We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were disslolved we have a building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens The soul dwelleth in the body as a Man in a House and death is but a departure out of one House into another not an extinction but a going from House to House 3. The necessity of undergoing it in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this word accomplish noteth three things 1. His Mediatorial duty with a respect to Gods Ordination and Decree declared in the Prophesies of the old Testament which when they are fulfilled are said to be accomplished Whatsoever Christ did in the work of Redemption was with respect to Gods Will and Eternal Decree Acts 4. 28. To do whatsoever thy hand and counsel determined before to be done Now this was the more binding being it was a declared counsel in the Prophesies and Figures of the Old Testament therefore Christ cryed out at his death Iohn 19. 30. It is finished or accomplished Meaning principally that the Prophesies and Figures and Types which prefigured his death were all now accomplished 2. His voluntary submission which he should accomplish noteth his Active and voluntary concurrence it is an active word not passive not to be fulfilled upon him but by him for though his death in regard of his Enemies was violent and enforced yet he voluntarily underwent it for our sakes no man could have taken his Life from him unless he had laid it down Iohn 10. 18. it was not forced upon him but he yielded to it by a voluntary dispensation as to men it was an act of violence but as to his Father it was an act of obedience as to us an act of Love on Christs part his Enemies could not have touched him against his Will as indeed they cannot also one hair of our heads but as God permitteth 3. That it was the eminent Act of his Humiliation for this cause he assumed humane Nature his Humiliation begun at his Birth continued in his Life and was accomplished in dying all was nothing without this for less could not serve the turn then the death of the Son of God then all sufferings were undergone which were necessary to take away sin therefore there is a consummation or perfection attributed to the death of Christ Heb. 10. 14. By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are Sanctified there is done enough to expiate sin