was not worthy this was that I say which made them endure with chearfulness Heb. 11.26 Hug. Cardin. in loc and persevere with constancie even the respect they had to the recompence of reward Consideratio praemii minuit vim flagelli the consideration of the eternal reward weakened the force of the temporal trouble The Rules of Direction 1. Betake thy self to a sincere repentance in a strict examination of Conscience a solemn humiliation of soul and a true reformation of life 1. A strict examination of Conscience for that the same afflictions may be at once as persecutions for righteousness and trials of grace so also corrections for sin Indeed sin is the cause of all affliction so that Christ he had not suffered had he not took upon him our sin And therefore did Elibu say right Job 36.7 8 9 10. that though God withdraws not his eyes from the righteous yet does he suffer them to be holden in cords of affliction that he may shew them their transgressions and so opening their ear to discipline they may return from their iniquity Requisite then it is that the children of God in their afflictions take up the resolution of the faithful Lam. 3.40 to search and try their ways to find out not only those sins which have procured but which have deserv'd the afflictions of Gods hand And this is no ways done but by str ct examination of Conscience that key which unlocks the Closet of our hearts where all our Books of Accounts lie And when this is done to prevent the subtlety of Satan and the deceitfulness of our own hearts let Davids prayer be a part of our devotion Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts Ps 139 23. and see if there be yet any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting 2. A solemn â—umiliation of soul Sin is the sting as of death so of suffering And therefore the feeling of our suffering is to lead us to the sense of our sin and so our correction is for our humiliation But if desolation be threatned Isa 26 11 Isa 42 25. Mic. 6.9 and we not instructed if Gods hand be l fted up and we not see it yea if the fire burn and we not feel if the rod speak and we not hear but as we have been wanton in mercies we be senslâ—ss too in judgments needs must our ruine be as desperate as our hearts are stupid Whereas he makes an happy advantage to his soul who gains repentance by his trouble for he shall then get salvation by his repentance 3. A true reformation of life The poison taken out of the Viper it becomes an wholsom medicine and the curse taken out of affliction it becomes a divine admonition and is made use of by God upon his children Ps 119 71. not to destroy but to instruct not to plague but to heal Thus saith David It is good for me that I have been afflicted v. 67. and what 's the reason In that before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy word What wise Patient theâ— will not more prise the healthfulness then loath the bitterness of that potion which is prescrib'd him by an able careful Physitian And so what dutiful Child of God will not more value the benefit then fear the sufferings of those afflictions which are laid upon him by so wise and indulgent a Father Needs must this administer much comfort to the afflicted Saints of God Isa 48.10 rightly to consider that God casts into the fornace of affliction non ut frangatur sed ut coquatur as S. Augustine not that the vessel may be destroyed but renewed made what S. Paul was Act. 9.15 2 Tim. 2.21 a vessel of election or as S. Paul speaks a vessel of honor meet for the Masters use Seeing this then is one main end of afflictions the overthrow of sin and the renewing in grace be careful O thou afflicted soul Gen. 35.1 c. in this even the reformation of life Thus it was with good Jacob when he was afflicted with the cruelty of his sons and the fear of the Canaanites he then remembers his vow and fulfils it he then orders his houshold and reforms it then the strange gods are put away and in zeal to Gods worship he goes to build him an Altar at Bethel Doubtless he loseth the benefit of afflâ—ctions that is not better'd by them for that like Jonathan's arrows they are not intended to the godly to wound 1 Sam. 20.20 but to warn not to kill but to admonish Outward afflictions become like the cloudy pillar they have a dark side to the Egyptians that is wrath and vengeance to the obstinate but a light side to the Israelites that is correction and instruction to the penitent The metal and the dross have the same fire but not the same effect the metal is refin'd and the dross is consumed yea the same judgments of God are to the godly corrections and trials which to the wicked are vengeance and punishment The sufferings of the godly though materially the same yet differ much from those of the wicked even as much as chastisements of love differ from judgments of wrath or healing medicines from destructive potions To illustrate this Suppose two men have their hands cut off the one by sentence of the Judge the other by the advice of the Chyrurgion the matter of the suffering is the same not the manner and form for to the one it is a cure to the other a punishment to the one an healing of a sore to the other an executing of justice The afflictions then of Gods children they are not formal punishments for that though they be occasioned by sin yet are they not inflicted by way of revenge which is the true nature of punishment properly so called Indeed God cannot be rightly said to punish those sins which he forgives for that Christ being our Mediator takes away guilt and punishment too Jer. 31.34 And therefore God so forgives iniquity that he remembers it no more But sure remember it he does if after forgiveness he yet punish it Whereas then 2 Sam. 12.14 notwithstanding God had told David by the Prophet that he had put away his sin yet he both threatens and afterwards executes wrath against him by reason of his sin And whereas Numb 14.23 notwithstanding God had told Moses that he had pardoned the people yet he tells him that none of them that murmured should enter Canaan In both these we may not think that there was any punishment by way of satisfaction unto God but chastisement by way of admonition both to themselves and others For where there is remission there is perfect reconciliation and where there is perfect reconciliation there must needs be full satisfaction So that Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus and if
practice and pattern of Gods Saints the grace and mercy which God hath vouchsafed to them in Christ not being only for their own salvation but also for others instruction For this cause saith the Apostle I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting For a pattern 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a compleat Image in whom men might view as most lively drawn forth the exceeding abundant grace of Christ in receiving to mercy so cruel a Persecutor of his Church and so horrid a Blasphemer of his Truth that so humble Penitents being more invited with the riches of Christs mercy and merits then discourag'd with the hainousness of their own pollution and guilt might believe on Christ the Saviour of the World unto everlasting life Indeed we soonest convince by argumen s drawn from our own experience Ps 27 13 14. Ps 34.11 Thus we make it an ordinary Medium and Method of perswasion to one in sickness saving Make use of such a Physitian for when I was taken with the like desperate disease he administred to me safe Physick and by Gods blessing hath wrought upon me an unexpected cure Luk. 22 32. Thus S. Paul converted David repenting Peter restored and others of Gods holy and now blessed Ones they seem to comfort and raise the dejected Sinner and relapsed Saint with arguments drawn from their own experience Why vain man dost thou delay to seek cure for thy wounds healing for thy sickness Take a Physitian upon our recommendation of whose grace and goodness of whose ability and skill we our selves have had so long and so large an experience and let not the distemper of thy disease make thee despair of cure our filthiness hath been as great as thine yet the blood of Christ hath cleansed us our wounds as deep as thine yet his balm hath cured us our souls as fainting as thine yet his grace hath revived us Do thou then exercise faith and repentance according to our example and thou shalt partake of grace and salvation according to our experience 3. Observe the most soveraign and sacred Restorative left us by Christ a worthy partaking the blessed Eucharist What can be a more divine Cordial to the fainting soul what more soveraign remedy to a wounded Conscience then the Covenant of Grace firmly seal'd the merits of Christs death really exhibited and the earnest of the heavenly inheritance visibly convey'd The whole sum of that Tremendum Mysterium that dreadful mysterie as the Antients call it the blessed Eucharist it is this the Communion of the body and blood of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 in which Communion our Lord Jesus Christ powres forth h himself in the abundance of his mercy and riches of his merits He communicates himself as the Treasury of all Goodness the Fulness of all Graces Joh. 1.16 the Fountain of all Blessedness Wherefore then O thou afflicted soul having raised thy faith and renewed thy repentance attend the sacred solemnity of the blessed Eucharist thereby to have thy pardon seal'd thy weakness strengthened thy Corruptions subdued thy Peace of Conscience restored thy Joy of the Spirit enlarged and thine assurance of Gods love confirmed The Objections answered Here several Objections are made by the distrustful and doubting souls 1. Obj. Against the immutability of Gods love and stability Obj. 1 of his Covenant That sure God is not bound to perform the Promise when man neglects to fulfill the Condition and therefore though God do not forsake us yet we leaving him he may justly cast us off and reject us Ans True yet know concerning the faithful whom God hath received into his Covenant of grace Answ as he hath obliged himself never to depart from them so likewise to communicate that grace whereby he is ready to support and sustain them that they shall not totally and finally fall away from him Jer. 32.40 Heb. 8.10.12 And hereby it is that their backslidings though many yet are not perpetual but that fear God puts into their hearts doth restore them and that love he bears unto their persons doth accept them Wherefore as the house and ground stands firm though to distempered brains they seem to totter so the grace and covenant of God stands unmoveable though to distrustful hearts they seem to waver Lippientibus singularis lucerna numerosa est says Tertullian A fit allusion here As to a weak eye the candle which is single seems to have a double light so to a weak faith the Covenant of God which bears a single truth seems to carry a double sense So that notwithstanding all the doubtful Quaere's of a troubled heart and distrustful mind this remains as the surest and safest comfort of Gods children that He who is their Father is unchangeable in his love and constant in his promise 2. Obj. Against the merit of Christs passion and the benefit of his Obj. 2 intercession Some languishing and dejected soul may be so far from making the former testimonies of Gods love to be an encouragement for his rising that the thoughts thereof the more deject and cast him down and the merits of Christs passion with the vertue of his intercession are so far from administring him comfort that through despair they increase his sorrow and horror of soul Objecting that of the Apostle when he says Heb. 10.26 If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin and if so what will avail us Christs passion and intercession Answ To explain the true meaning of this Scripture is to repel the force of this objection Wherefore know Ans that if we examine the circumstances of this Text it will plainly appear that by sin here the Apostle doth mean the sin of Apostacie forsaking Christ and falling away to Judaisme a sin frequently committed in those times and sharply reproved in this Epistle And that this is meant of the sin of Apostacie the very Greek word does hint it somewhat to us which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word which denotes a defect on and falling away and that being as the Apostle expresseth it after the receiving the truth it can be rightly interpreted of none other sin but that of Apostacie And indeed the Apostle here speaks after the manner of the Hebrews with whom Apostacie was called sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As a fall ng away to Idolatry then with the Hebrews so falling away to Judaism with the Apostle is peculiarly called sin as indeed the sin most hateful and abominable And to them that thus sin by Apostacie v. 29. there remains no more sacrifice for their attonement for that they have counted the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing and have done despight to the Spirit of grace Yet more plaâ—n They who denied their Christian profession and fell off to Judaism could
quicken our zeal of hungring desires and oft-times suffers the assaults of some sensual lust to pull down or prevent the haughtiness of spiritual pride So that our growth in grace is then real when it is not apparent it is always true though not always equal there being no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the members of Christs body Eph. 4 16. Col. 2.19 but still an effectual working of his Spirit and grace in each part of the New man 2. When God and Christ have the greatest measure the highest degree of thy will love and desire though thine heart is not so enlarg'd thy spirit not so chearful thy duties not so pleasant yet are thy graces saving and sincere Saving and sincere making God in Christ thine end on whom thou dost fix thine intentions aims and affections for the attainment and enjoyment of him And this is a sure sign God is thine end that thou art so disquieted in his seeming absence from thy soul For what we most highly prize Ps 7â— 25.25 Ps 2â— 1 Ps 143 7. we are most careful to keep most joyous to possess most grieved to lose and most troubled to want 3. There is less danger and more hope of a languishing afflicted and mournful then of a rais'd ravish'd and transported Soul Humility and holy fear shall preserve the former whilst pride and presumption destroys the latter For whilst proud conceits fanatick dreams and false joys fill the sails how many how very many do run themselves upon the rocks even the rocks of presumption and spiritual pride Rev. 3 17. â—am 4.6 whereas God giveth grace unto the humble 4. When the soul by mortification struggles with the motions by prayer contests with the suggestions and by vows contends with the sollicitations of sin then the corruptions of heart do not so much argue a decay as the oppositions of soul do prove an increase of grace which increase if it be not in that growth which is upward in the sprouting of the branches yet is it in that which is downward in the spreading of the root Col. 2.7 Mat. 11.29 Mat. 5.3 Rom. 5.1 2. and by how much grace is the more firmly rooted in humility and poverty of spirit by so much shall it the more abundantly flourish in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost The Rules of Direction 1. Go not about to judge of thy Spiritual estate in an unseasonable time or by uncertain signs 1. Not in an unseasonable time as is that of temptation when the Mind is clouded the Conscience afflicted and the Spirit wounded Ps â—7 10 what were this but to take a Prospect in a Mist or to view a Country in a Storm 2. Not by uncertain signs Many signs beget much perplexities Confident I am the formality of multiplying marks and signs hath more puzled then pacified more entangled then resolved doubting and troubled Consciences For among ten or twelve or more Signs of Grace which some give as if they would make up with number what is wanting in weight the soul that questions but one often shall be more dejected and afflicted with that one then rais'd and comforted with all the other nine True it is Formae nos latent the essential forms are hid from us is true in natural much more in spiritual things and therefore in Divinity our Demonstrations are still a posteriori discovering the cause by the effect Wherefore we must observe that the effects we set up as signs be such as are most proper and immediate to the cause and then I am sure they cannot be many and those that are Isa 57.18 19. they will be full convincing the Judgment and comforting the tender Conscience Thus we discover the fire by its heat the sun by its light whereas to discover the sun by its heat or the fire by its light may prove erroneous though we know light is in the fire and heat is in the sun yet not so immediately but that there may be light where there is no heat and there may be heat where there is no light Thus to discover sanctifying and saving grace by this sign of joy and delight in holy duties is by an effect more remote from the cause and the cause may really be without this effect For how many gracious hearts and sanctified souls even such as we are now conversing with do languish in trouble and are opprest with grief So that if joy and delight in holy duties must be the evidence of their saving graces Psal â—7 and Psal 88. there is no remedy but they must lie down in sorrow and it is not any present ministration shall afford them comfort till Gods mercy make good the sign which mans imprudence hath prescribed Know then one proper sign rightly apprehended and truly applied is a Rule of trial which concludes in it all that can be given And amongst other signs of saving grace Poverty of spirit with an hungring and thirsting after righteousness is as immediate and infallible as any can be nam'd Wherefore 2. Lay hold on the Promise in its sweetness of divine truth so suitable to the condition of thine afflicted estate Hear thy Saviours words Blessed are the poor in spirit Matth. 5 3. vers 4. vers 6. for theirs is the kingdom of heaven And again Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Yea Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Lay up these Promises in thine heart as thy sure delight prize them as thy treasure feed on them as thy Manna given of God to refresh thy soul in the Wilderness of this afflicting world Build thou thy peace upon this pillar suck the sweet comforts of the Spirit from these breasts of consolation Isa 66.12 Apply these healing medicines to thy wounded Conscience by a discursive meditation awaken thy heart and incite thy will to close with God and with Christ in the mercy and truth of the promise saying in Davids self-expostulation Why art thou cast down O my soul Psal 42.11 and why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God Or as the devout Psalmist again Return unto thy rest O my soul Psal 116 7. for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Thus as chasing the benumb'd limbs with hot oils will recover their former warmth and life so plying the sadded heart with quickening thoughts will restore its former peace and comfort And when thou feelest a secret heat of divine grace keep the fire burning ply it with zealous affections those zealous affections rais'd in devout meditations those devout meditations fixt upon the promises those promises founded upon Christ as Mediator and upon God in him as Fountain of all grace and love 3. Keep an open passage betwixt God and thy soul hold fast an humble converse and heavenly communion with him Eph. 1.3 as in
Catastrophe How being set in slippery places v. 18 19. God casts them down to destruction and they are brought to desolation as in a moment Tolluntur in altum c. they are lifted up to the greater height that they may be crusht in their greater fall and by how much their precipice is the more steep by so much is their ruine the more desperate Yea which is most dreadful be the wicked ne'r so lofty and high yet is there but a trap-door betwixt them and hell which when death throws open they drop into the infernal lake where nothing remains of their glorious pomp their vast wealth their large dominion their high dignity nothing remains but the worm and the fire Mar. 9.44 the guilt and the punishment It may be for the present presumption and pride have made them secure in their sin and they see no danger they feel no misery but when they come to be awakened from their security oh the weight of that milstone that mountain that lies upon their backs oh the piercings of that sharp sword that poison'd arrow which sticks in their hearts oh what are the stings the flames the furies of a guilty Conscience how do their knees tremble their lips quiver their tongues falter their throats roar their hearts languish and their whole man become fill'd with horror and amazement Who art thou then that find'st thy self gtiev'd at the prosperity of the wicked Let this still thy murmurings and quell thine impatience that entring the Sanctuary of the Lord thou understandest their latter end 2. Mortifie sin by a sincere repentance This this shall weaken the force quell the pride and blast the prosperity of the Churches enemies for that as S. Hierom of old Nostris vitiis Barbari facti sunt fortes c. The sins of the Christians did strengthen the Barbarians And even now without all doubt the sins of the Orthodox do give strength and success to the present Heresies and Schisms The best purging then of the waters is with the Prophet Elisha 2 King 2 21. at the spring-head the best curing a wound is with the skilful Chyrurgion at its festered root The best healiâ—g of a Nations miseries is by removing the cause in mortifying the sin and so seeking reconciliation with God by repentance Thus Moses when he stands in the gap to divert Gods wrath and recover his love Num. 14.19 he does it by confessing the sin and bewailing its guâ—lt And so when David seeks to stay the violence of the plague 2 Sam. 24. he does it by an attonement on the Altar God indeed still directs his arrows of wrath against the mark of sin and therefore if sin be in us no wonder if wrath be upon us For where indeed should the arrow stick but where the mark is fastened If then we will divert the arrow we must remove the mark if we will turn away wrath we must take away sin Sin it is which corrupts our best of duties and taints our best of blessings Corrupts our best of duties like leaven it turns a solemn Passover into a very pollution it makes our very prayers unprofitable God covering himself as with a thick cloud Lam. 3. â—4 through which they cannot pass to the Throne of grace Yea our sin it is that taints our best of blessings blessings temporal turning our sweetness of earthly comforts into the bitterest of earthly curses even honor wealth wit learning plenty peace which should make us more serviceable unto God how does sin make them even tributary unto Satan in the advancement of his kingdom Wherefore in the calamities of our Church and Nation be we no longer like the silly Hart to mourn and bleed and faint and yet take no care for what would happily be our cure the plucking out the fatal dart that sticks in our side the removing the sinful guilt that cleaves unto our souls which gu lt is none other way to be removed but by a sincere repentance Which repentance is sincere when free and full 1. When free not so much extorted by the rack or compell'd by horror as being the willing purpose of a relenting heart Oh how is it with some They are won with the Gospels sweetness and Mercy 's allurements Others they are driven with the Laws curse and Judgments terrors The former is like water from a Spring it flows with freeness the latter like water from a Still which is forc'd with fire And when men repent as Pharaoh in Egypt Exod 9.27 34 35. Ps 78.34 35 36 c or as Israel in the Wilderness only on the rack of judgment and wrath it is much to be suspected when once the scourge is taken off the judgment respited they then will return to their former pride and impenitence What metal is it that will not melt in the furnace and what heart so hard which in the furnace of divine wrath will not melt in mournful penitence But hereby is their insincerity and hypocrisie discovered that when taken out of the fire they return to their former obduracie Thus formal and hypocritical persons they melt in the heat and harden in the cold Clem. Alex. Strom. l 2. they thaw in the sun and freeze in the shade These repentings Clemens of Alexandria aptly calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when men ring Changes as it were they sin and are punish'd being punish'd they repent And as upon the duty of repentance their punishment is removed so upon the removal of their punishment their sin is renewed If our Repentance then be sincere it is free the willing and resolved purpose of a relenting heart 2. Full as extended to all sin whatsoever Even the smallest sin in its degree is deadly in its nature Of Vipers the least is poisonous and to coin pence is a treasonable act as well as to coin pounds Every degree of sin as every degree of treason is a violation of the Soveraign Majesty and therefore Capital Yea as one leak in the Keel one breach in the bank unrepair'd is enough to sink the ship and drown the Country so one sin allowed of is enough to destroy the man and one sin generally unrepented of is enough to ruine a Kingdom Indeed who can think to obtain his Princes favour whilst he harbours a Rebel against him in his house Who can think to partake of the merit of Christs blood whilst he hugs the murderer of him in his bosom Who can think to avoid Gods wrath whilst he cherisheth the sin that provokes him Had Christ been our Saviour as most men are his servants had he dyed for sin as most men die to sin that is to the halfs or in part our whole salvation had only been a less damnation But if we expect Christ should save us to the utmost of a gracious deliverance we must serve him to the utmost of a faithful repentance crucifying sin as he was crucified for sin not in some members
Many there are then who bear the name of Christians ay and of Catholicks too who yet are in Christ John 15.2 6 but as withered branches in the Vine yea they are in the Church as Wens in the Body not in a vital and internal communion but in a formal and external profession Thus speaking of the Authors of Heresie and Heads of Faction which separated themselves from the communion of the Church They went out from us says the Apostle but they were not of us 1 John 2.19 for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us They went out from us as to the external and accidental form of the Church as it is the visible company of Professors but they were not of us as to the internal and essential form of the Church as it is the invisible Body of Christ Very fitly then is the visible Church compared in Scripture unto a field in which there grows up together Wheat and Tares Matth. 13.29 30. Matth 3.12 Matth. 13 47. to a floor on which there lies together Corn and Chaff to a draw not in which are contained good Fish and bad for that in the Church as it is visible there are Hypocrites mixt with true Believers the wicked with the godly And therefore the Apostle compares the visible Church to a great house 2 Tim. 2.20 where there are not onely Vessels of Gold and of Silver but also of Wood and of Earth yea Some to honor and some to dishonor Thus in the visible Church there are not onely strong Believers but also weak Christians not onely those who are more eminent in the gifts and graces of the Spirit but also those who are weaklings and of less spiritual abilities then others Yea further as there are some to honor that is some who through the Election of Grace shall at last inherit eternal glory so some to dishonor Rom. 2.5 that is some who through their impenitence and hardness of heart treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and shall be plunged in eternal misery And thus ye have seen in its several particulars What the Church is of which Christ is said to be the Head 3. How the Church of which Christ is the Head is said to be a Body viz. Especially from the communion of the faithful as Members Eph. 4.4 a communion so near that they are all said to have but one Spirit Acts 4.32 yea one heart and one soul and all this from the efficacy of love Col. 3.14 that bond of perfectness and knot of unity A Sacramental representation of this Mystical Communion 1 Cor 10.17 is given us in the holy Eucharist according to that of the Apostle We being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread That Bread which exhibites to us the flesh of Christ our quickning and enlivening Food Food not which we convert by any carnal digestion into the nature of our body but which converts us by a spiritual operation into the nature of Christs Body making us to be heavenly and spiritual as he is spiritual and heavenly We change not it but it changeth us for so is the powerful operation of spiritual Food to convert into the nature of its self action still following the stronger force and spirituals are more powerful then corporals grace more active then nature By vertue of this communion of the Faithful the Church is said to be Corpus compactum connexum Eph. 4.16 a Body fitly joyned together and compacted no rents of Schism but every member hath its proper place Vers 13. and its peculiar connexion in the whole and this Till we all meet in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Unto a perfect man this does intimate the near and full communion of Christs Church all the Faithful being as one political person in Christ Gal. 3.28 according to that There is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female but all are one in Christ Jesus and it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not one Body but one Person Now to grow up to a perfect man according to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ is the increase of the Church till consummate in its communion of Members and fulness of perfection which shall be at the last day when the whole number of the Elect is gathered and so Christ in the Church and the Church in Christ have mutually their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their compleat growth like that of the Head in the Body and the Body in the Head and all in one political person and perfect man To close then such is the communion of the Faithful one with another as Members and all in Christ as their Head that he who by Schism separates from the Church though never so seeming a Saint he cuts himself off from Christ and in the prosecution of this separation though he should zealously give up his life unto death his goods unto the spoil his body unto the fire 1 Cor. 13.2 3. yet all this would not be fidei corona Cypr. de Unit Eccles n. 12. but paena perfidia as St. Cyprian speaks not a crown of Faith but a punishment of unfaithfulness the suffering not of a Martyr but of a Malefactor For let the cause be what it will to die in Schism without the Pale of the Church is to perish in sin without the Gate of Heaven Indeed as the Branch withers which is broken off from the Root the River dries up which is cut off from the Fountain so the Soul shall perish which is divided from Christ And that Soul is certainly divided from Christ the Head which separates from the Church which is his Body His Body in a communion of the faithful as Members Here it will be a seasonable service to resolve you these four Questions 1. Whether the Church of Christ on Earth may totally fall away 2. What is meant by that common saying That out of the Church there is no Salvation 3. What have we to answer those who say We have no Church 4. Seeing we are to hold communion with the Church how may we know which is a true Church with which we may hold communion First Whether the Church of Christ on Earth may totally fall Quest 1 away We see in the World such a general defection from truth and holiness that some may haply propose this Question as well worthy our present resolution Indeed Polutheism a worshipping many gods hath ever been an argument for Atheism a not worshipping any God And in these our days whilst men see so many
to do with the Covenants of Promise What hath the prophane person or Hypocrite to do with the Body of Christ which is none other then The general assembly Heb. 12.23 and Church of the first-born whose names are written in Heaven If we are Members of Christs Body where is our conformity to him in holiness where are the vital operations of his Spirit where the quickning power of his Grace Wherefore know amongst the many symptoms of life there are none more sure then those of Sense So that hereby we testifie our selves to be living Members of Christs Body by a sense of our own sin with hatred and detestation and by a fellow-feeling of our Brethrens sufferings with tenderness and compassion indeed he who hath no fellow-feeling can be no fellow-member no lively part of Christs Body Now if by these symptoms of Spiritual life from Christ as the Head we can evidence to our selves that we are living Members of the Church as his Body Then be we further exhorted to live as such who profess a communion with that Body whereof Christ Jesus is the Head But how this why it is by observing St. Pauls direction Eph 4.15 even In growing up into him in all things who is the Head even Christ This is that the Apostle calls aright an increasing with the increase of God Col. 2.19 with the increase of God that is with all divine and spiritual growth in true Faith fervent Love firm Hope and sincere Holiness even in all saving Graces which is therefore called the increase of God because he is the efficient cause in his Blessing and he is the final cause in his Glory 3. From the so near union of the Members with the Head of the Faithful with Christ doth flow forth most divine comfort to the languishing Soul in the midst of inward temptations and outward afflictions First In the midst of inward temptations When we rightly apprehend the wisdom and goodness of our God the love and mercy of our Jesus in this Mystery of the Head being made conformable to the Members Christ in all things like unto his Brethren that Heb. 2.17 18. he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining unto God and so Was himself tempted that he might be able to succor them that are tempted Doth Satan then pursue the Soul with continued suggestions renewed temptations which neither a watchful care can avoid nor yet fervent Prayer doth remove If so This is our comfort that such an High Priest such an Head such a Saviour we have Heb. 4.15 As is touched with a feeling of our infirmities Touched not onely per apprehensionem but also per experientiam not onely by his divine knowledge as God but also by his humane experience as man for that as it follows He was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin Now from Christs being touched with the feeling of our infirmities it is the Apostles inference Vers 16. That we therefore come boldly even in an humble confidence unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and finde grace to help in the time of need for that thus doing Christ shall speak to the Soul what he once spake to St. Paul in his spiritual conflict My grace is sufficient for thee 2 Cor. 12.9 and thereby My strength shall be made perfect in thy weakness Secondly In the midst of outward afflictions By vertue of that near union betwixt the Head and the Members Christ and his Church the afflictions of the godly reach even unto Christ Thus says our Saviour I was an hungred and ye gave me meat Matth. 25.35 36. I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me Oh the inconceiveable love of Christ And Oh the divine comfort of the Soul in this communion between Christ and the Faithful As the Faithful communicate with Christ in his benefits so Christ he communicates with the Faithful in their sufferings As wisdom righteousness peace joy life glory are such wherein the Faithful communicate with Christ so hunger thirst nakedness sickness imprisonment are such wherein Christ communicates with the Faithful And what is the ground and reason of all this but the union of Christ and the Church like that of the Head and the Body So that though the Faithful man be in himself never so poor yet in Christ he is abundantly rich though in him self never so despicable yet in Christ he is highly exalted though in himself never so miserable yet in Christ he is eternally happy And so again vice versá Our Lord Jesus Christ though in himself never so rich yet in the Faithful he still suffers poverty though in himself never so glorious yet in his Saints he still suffers ignominy though in himself never so highly exalted yet in his Members he still suffers contempt Now who rightly apprehends and considers that Christ himself not onely hath suffered for him as his surety but also still suffers in him as his Head who is it that rightly considers this but will as the Apostle exhorts Heb. 12.1 Run with patience the race that is set before him looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of his Faith For that if we suffer with Christ Rom. 8.17 we shall also be glorified together with him With him Who is the Head of the Body the Church the beginning the first-born from the dead that in all things he might have the pre-eminence For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Halleluiah THE FIRST SERMON UPON PSAL. 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple NOthing is more dismal then darkness so that Introduct midnight dangers are the most dreadful Oh the sad distress then of Gods children and chosen when so clouded in their sufferings that they see no succor But then even then how does their piercing eye look through storms and tempests and behold the Sun behind the Cloud behold Gods face through the Worlds frowns and in his favor find light and life when the outward man discerns nothing but darkness and death Thus David he quells his fears and triumphs by faith saying The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my life v. 1. of whom shall I be afraid But where hath David this courage from whence this confidence Why see he takes Sanctuary he flies to the horns of the Altar he seeks shelter under the Cherubims wings Gods presence is his protection Gods house his fort and tower yea his comfort and delight by way of excellency it is his Unum his one thing One