God that doth purge our consciences from dead works to serve the living God Also Iohn saith g Rev. 1. 7 that the blood of Christ the Son of God clenseth us from all sinne so that no spots no staines no guilt of sinne shall cleave to our souls to our condemnation and as he in himself according to his divine nature was infinite so the price which he paid at his Passion for our redemption was of infinite worth and the benefits that we receive by him are likewise infinite If we are clensed from the guilt of all our sins by the blood of Christ then the sting which sin hath put into all things that we possesse is taken away and we may comfortably use them to the glory of God and Christ by his resurrection and ascension hath sanctified them to us for our good riches shall not make us proud or ambitious nor steal away our hearts from God want and penury shall not make us repine or murmur against the providence of God to make us forsake him but all things shall work together for our good death shall not be terrible but advantage to us and we shall sleep quietly in our graves until the general resurrection because no guilt of sinne will lie down with us in the dust to follow us unto Judgement Though sinne hath wounded our souls i Mal. 4. 2. yet if we fear his Name the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings to cure it for k Luc. 10. 34. Christ like the good Samaritan will pour in wine and oyl to clense and heal it Though sinne doth sometimes over-power us yet Christ by vertue of his death will subdue and kill it in us and by the power of his resurrection he will quicken us up to newness of life and he will make our unruly passions and sinful desires to be tributary and servants to us by the power of his Spirit and of his sanctifying grace l Iosh 9. 23. as Ioshua made the Gibeonites hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God Lastly m 1 Thes 1. 10. Christ hath delivered us by his Passion from the wrath to come and from all the punishments that are due to us for our sins Christ did not begin his Passion until he had fulfilled all righteousness in his life and doctrine that the Law required though his whole life was a life of suffering and of sorrow But when he knew that the time was at hand when he must offer up his body a sacrifice to God for the sinnes of the world n Mat. 26. 21 he told his disciples that one of them should betray him into the hands of his enemies o Joh. 16. 32 that they all should be scattered from him and also what he should suffer in his Passion notwithstanding he did not shrink from it but did willingly undertake it because it was his Fathers will to have it so Wherefore he did arm himself with divine patience and meekness to suffer whatsoever was appointed in Gods decree should be put upon him and he prepared himself by prayer for that great work This is to teach us to submit with all meekness of spirit to the will of God in all our sufferings how to prepare our selves for them and how to demean our selves in them God hath appointed every man some work to do and when one work is finished he hath another ready for him for God requires that we should be diligent and painful in our callings frequent in holy duties and industrious in his vineyard p Mat. 20. 6 The good Housholder in the Gospel rebuked those that did stand all the day idle q Eze. 16. 49 Idlenesse was one of the sins of Sodom which brought down fire and brimstone from heaven upon it This is one of the properties of a good wife r Pro. 31. 27 that she looketh well to the wayes of her houshold and eateth not the bread of idleness God doth not appoint to every one their work alike for Paul had more work appointed him than any of the Apostles Å¿ 2 Cor. 11. 28. for the care of all the Churches came dayly upon him Abraham had harder work to do when he was to offer up his onely Son to God than any of the Patriarchs If God appointeth much work he will give time to doe it if his work be hard strength and ability to go thorough with it Wherefore if God shall call us to any hard service which is not pleasing to our nature or may seem impossible to humane strength we ought not to consult with flesh and blood what to do but to be obedient to the will and pleasure of God though we can expect no outward help nor support in it for if we rest upon God he knoweth how when to make us able to perform what he commandeth and to bear what he layeth upon us If we believe that God will assist us in his own work we shall set upon it with good courage and Christian fortitude That we may the better do any work that God commandeth we must prepare our selves for it by faithful prayer and then rest upon the assisting grace of God with stedfast hope that he will both help us in it and will bless and prosper our indeavours to his glory and to our comfort Thus we should do every day in the works of our calling but chiefly on the Lords day when we should spend our whole time in his worship and service Now let our hearts faithfully meditate upon the Passion of Christ and upon every particular that he suffered for our sakes and then we shall find the bitterness of it for the wrath of God was in every part of his sufferings and followed him from place to place even to mount Calvary until divine justice was fully satisfied for all our sins then we shall imbrace him with hearty affections and our souls will rest comforted in the assurance of our redemption thereby of Christ's Agony in the garden THe hour is now come when Christ must pay the whole debt to God his Father which he did undertake for us now is the time when the justice of God must be satisfied for our sinnes now doth God deliver up his dear Son to the powers of darkness now doth he cloud the bright beams of his glorious countenance from him and leaves him to himself to encounter with the devil because be saw the guilt of all our sins upon him and now doth the devil take a double advantage against our dear Saviour and with all his power and malice he doth fiercely set upon him in a single combate thinking now to prevail because God did seem to discountenance him and also because there was sin and that very great which was laid to his charge for the guilt of all the detestable and abominable sinnes of all the elect of God was imputed to him and the devil knew how odious and
more For the guilt of our sinnes brought all this evil upon him our sins brought the eternal Son of God from his glorious palace in heaven to be of the lowest degree and condition among men here upon earth and to be exposed to all the ignominy reproach and cruelty that the devil and wicked men could put upon him otherwise we had been still aliens and strangers unto God we had been still under the curse of the Law and under the dominion and power of sinne and Satan Wherefore we have great cause to admire the riches of his mercy of his goodness and love to us nothing could move him to do this for us but his tender mercy and his free grace for he saw nothing in us to move him to pitty but our misery and wretched condition this was the time of his love then did he cast his skirt over us to hide our shame and then did he undertake this great work of our râ—demption Now let the consideration of what Christ hath suffered for us and of the great benefits which we received thereby bind us in a firm bond of love and thankfulness to him and how to express it by our due respect to all his Commandements The incarnation of Christ without his Passion could profit us nothing the purity of his doctrine could not edifie our hearts if he had not shed his blood to clense us from our sins his prayers to God could not avail us nor procure mercy for us if he had not offered a sacrifice and shed his blood to satisfie the justice of God for all our transgressions also the perfect pattern of his holy life could not bring us to the integrity of conversation if he had not died that sinne might be mortified and killed in us and if he had not also rose again to quicken us up to newness of life It is therefore the Passion of Christ that reconcileth us to God that takes away the guilt of our sinnes that gives us power to mortifie and subdue them that pulleth out the sting of death that bringeth heavenly joy and comfort to our dejected spirits and at length will bring salvation to our souls But an unregenerate man is not sensible of the bitter passion of Christ he can feel no sweetness in it because he hath no spiritual tast he knows not the power of it and he can have no benefit by it so long as he is in that condition because he hath no spiritual relation to Christ He lives in health wealth and pleasure he feels no misery he is not afflicted with crosses troubles and sorrowes like other men his mind is not troubled and his thoughts are not disquieted for his sinnes they come not neer his heart and therefore he regardeth not the afflictions of Ioseph he looks not after the Passion of Christ nor after the salvation of his own soul thereby but he blesseth himself in this his condition though there be no true comfort in it Thus the devil deludes him and leads him on in blindness of understanding in hardness of heart and in gross security to the great danger and hazzard of his soul unless God in much mercy doth annoint his eies with his spiritual eye salve to let him see his own sad condition and to bring him unto Christ by faith Let no man therefore measure his spiritual condition by those outward blessings that he enjoyeth for a poor man may be rich in grace and godliness and a rich man may be empty and void of all piety and goodness God doth commonly give more wealth to the wicked than he doth to his own servants c Eccl. 5 3 and their large portion of earthly blessings may be for their hurt Consider now O vain man who blesseth thy self in thy plenty that thy misery is so much the greater by how much thou art less sensible of thy sinne and the closer thou art joined to the world the farther thou art from Christ and the more thou delightest in earthly pleasures the less comfort canst thou have in the passion of Christ Though thy riches and honours do dayly increase yet thy sinnes will make them bitter to thee for the least of all thy sinnes though conceived but in thought onely and never acted will bring thee under the curse of the Law and will make thee lyable to the eternal wrath of God and it will so pollute and defile thy soul and so poison the whole man that God will abhorre thee for thy filthiness and whatsoever floweth from that corrupted fountain is unclean Thy riches and pleasures will keep thee from mount Calvary where Christ was crucified so long as thou delightest in them more than in the meditation on the Passion of Christ The blessings which thou injoyest are curses unto thee so long as thou art without Christ and him crucified and continuest in thy sinnes without repentance There is a sting in every thing that thou possessest which sting is the evil of sinne and it will wound thy soul to the death if it be not cured by the blood of Christ which he shed in his passion and it must be truly applied to thy heart by faith Do not think that the mercy of God will save thee for if thou hast no interest in Christ crucified and neglectest the means of grace when it is offered the guilt of thy sinnes cleaveth still to thy soul and thou canst lay no claim to the mercies of God but art under the severity of his justice Where is now the civil honest mans comfort that thinks to gain heaven by his outward form of godliness without the blood of Christ What is the condition of the great men and mighty hunters of this world who think they are highly in the favour of God because they abound in all earthly pomp and pleasure if they have no interest in the passion of Christ Surely their condition is no better than that of the Lacdiccans d Rev. 3. 27. who thought themselves rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing and knew not that they were spiritually wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked If any cloud of afflictions and crosses doth but shadow their earthly felicity it takes away all their joy and it is ready to break their hearts for they think that to be their greatest misery because they do not see how poor and naked they are of grace nor the evil of their sins how they are holden in subjection to every carnal and base lust and to every evill concupiscence which will bring all misery whatsoever upon their souls But let my heart still ruminate and meditate upon the Passion of my dear Saviour e 1 Cor. 2. 2 and let it be the desire of my soul to know Iesus Christ and him crucified who is my wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption For f Heb. 9. 14. it is onely the blood of Christ who through the eternall Spirit offered himself without spot to
further to what height of impiety the spiteful and malicious Jews are brought u Mat. 27 24. Pilate washed his hands in water before he gave sentence against Christ in token as he thought that he was innocent of the guilt of his blood because he knew him to be a just person but the Jewes drowned themselves in the blood of that immaculate Lamb and said Let his blood be on us and on our children O what a burden is innocent blood to the conscience What fearful judgements did they pull down upon themselves and upon their posterity hereby David found this to be true when he did unjustly shed the innocent blood of Vriah â— 2 Sam. 11. for x Psal 51. this fact of his cost him many a tear before he coul get assurance of pardon for it How severe was the punishment that God laid upon Cain for killing his brother Abâ—l and yet these wretched Jewes did wish that the most precious blood of Christ the eternall Son of God might lye upon them and upon their children to which God in justice did say Amen That blood which was the blood of the New y Heb 9 20 Covenant and sealeth redemption to all that do apply it to themselves by faith is made a most heavy curse to the Jewes for their unbelief and it doth rest upon their posterity even to this day because they did despise it and most maliciously trampled it under their feet for they rejected him and would not believe in him for their salvation but preferred a murtherer before him which made their sin the more odious in Gods eye Wherefore let the thoughts and the Meditations of our hearts be how to moderate and suppresse our rash and raging passions that they break not out to wicked wishes or impious execrations to our own hurt or to the hurt of another but specially concerning blood lest God that heareth in heaven should say Amen to it for then the guilt of that sin will lye heavy upon us and the evill which we have unadvisedly wished will be grievous to them except we do speedily repent that God in mercy may forgive us We should therefore set a continuall watch before our lips that we speak nothing against themselves or to the hurt of another for God in his justice may bring the same evil upon us which we have wished either to our selves or to others but we ought to accustome our selves to blessing and not to cursing to wholesome speeches that may tend to edification and not to mischievous words that tend to destruction and then God in mercy will say Amen to it Now observe and mark what barbarous cruelly the Gentiles did use against our dear Saviour for as soon as he was condemed z Mar. 15. 15. they scourged him without limitation of stripes so that this of the Psalmists was verified in Christ a Psal 129. 3. The plowers plowed upon my back they made long their furrows whereas the Jews were limited by the Law of God to fourty stripes When Christ was thus b Deut. 25 3 cruelly scourged then Pilate delivered him to be crucified c Mat. 27. and then the savage Gentiles did mock and deride him they did spit upon him they crowned him with thornes and smote him on the head with a read and then they led him away to be crucified This was a dolefull spectacle and able to make a deep impression of tender compassion in any Christian heart to see a righteous man thus miserably tortured but much more to see the onely begotten Son of God thus dishonoured and thus shamefully used with as much disgrace and shame as they could devise But such inhumanity did reign in their murthering mindes and such cruell deeds were acted with their bloody hands that nothing could swage their malice and cruelty and nothing could mollifie their stony hearts or melt them into compassionate pitty because they were given up to a reprobate minde But let our hearts be touched with a true sense of our Saviours sufferings and with a godly sorrow and compunction for our sins when we ruminate and ponder in our thoughts how unjustly our blessed Redeemer was condemned and how cruelly he was used for our sakes for Gods controuersie was against us and not against his dear Son But because he of his tender love and compassion stept in between Gods fierce wrath and us which he knew was too heavy for us to bear and took upon himself the guilt of our sins and because the desire of his soul was to reconcile us to God his Father he was willing that so much of Gods severe wrath as in justice was due to us for our transgressions should light upon himself which he did meekly undergo to free us from it If we are thus affected when we do seriously think upon the passion of our Saviour Christ it will make us hate our sins with a perfect hatred it will pull down our proud and haughty spirits it will make us thankfully to acknowledge our unworthinesse of so great love from him and it will bind us in a firm bond of love and obedience to him then Christ will commiserate and pitty us in our sorrowes and will comfort us in our sad condition But alas we take no pleasure in such dolefull Meditations we are not feelingly affected with our Saviours tedious and bitter passion and therefore we cannot bring it home to our selves by faith neither can we raise up the affections of our hearts hereunto because we are not perswaded that he suffered more than his humane nature could have born if it had not been supported by his Deity neither do we faithfully believe that what he suffered was for our redemption as it was for all the elect of God and therefore we can draw no spirituall comfort from thence to our souls These sad contemplations are not sweet to our taste they are not delightfull to our corrupted nature nor pleasing to our carnall desires for we had rather go to the house of feasting than to the house of mourning our love to Christ is not so firm and our faith in him is not so strong as to make our mindes constant in these heavenly Meditations which are most profitable for the good of our souls If we find such obduracy in our hearts so little grace in our affections and that our unregenerate part is so prevailing in us that we can take no pleasure to Meditate on the bitter passion of Christ as if he were not to be pitied we may justly condemn our selves of too much ingratitude for his great love to us and we cannot then expect any compassion from him in our afflictions and miseries If we look upon a Kings onely Son and see him suffer all kind of rebuke and shame by rebells and traitors and all kinde of torturings and tormentings for no offence given shall we not pity his miserable condition And shall we not think upon his miseries with sad
other so likewise there were two thieves crucified with e Luk. 1â— 34. Christ and he had compassion on the one but he rejected the other for he bestowes his grace upon whom he will and when he pleaseth There is no person so vile no condition so base and no time so late as to hinder Christ from shewing mercy to a poor sinner that is truly sensible of his misery and feels the burden of his sinâ— and doth humbly acknowledge his miserable condition and his unworthinesse to him and doth earnestly sue for his grace and favour with a broken and a contrite heart as this Malefactor did Also Christ will not refuse those that renounce themselves and their own merits and rest onely upon his righteousnesse by faith for their justification also upon the merite of his death for the pardon of their sins and for the salvation of their souls for his promises of grace and mercy are made to such as sigh and mourn for their transgressions Now examine thy condition with a faithfull heart art thou a malefactour and a grievous sinner against God Doth the guilt of thy sins presse heavy upon thee Dost desire from thy heart to be eased of that burden Is the remembrance of them bitter unto thee though it be when thou art weak and faint and ready to give up the ghost Then look up to Christ with the eye of Faith confesse thy sins unto him with a penitent heart and if thine ear be spiritually opened thou wilt then hear a gracious and mercifull answer from him to thy Petitions and if thou wilt diligently search the Scriptures thou wilt find some promises of grace which will sute with thy condition that Christ hath made to such as thou art which thou must apply to thy fainting soul by true faith and stedfast hope that it belongeth unto thee then rest upon it with a firm confidence to comfort thee in the assurance of thy reconciliation unto God which will take away the evill of all thy sorrowes and the terrour of death it self which to a naturall man is most uncomfortable and death is most fearfull and terrible to such as see the hand-writing of God against them for as they have lived in sin without repentance so they dye with the guilt of sin upon their souls without forgivenesse This Act of Christ in the conversion of this poor sinner was extraordinary and it was a speciall work of mercy to manifest his power and goodnesse to him even at the last hour when he had no hope and no meanes of his salvation and when he was upon the Crosse expecting death every moment and also it was to shew that he is no respecter of persons and that he is not limited to time or meanes when or how to work repentance in the heart of a dejected sinner or to save any that come unto him with an upright heart and sincere affections though it be immediatly before they go hence and shall be seen no more For it doth not appear that this man had ever any knowledge of Christ or any opportunity to come unto him or any means of grace before this time or that he did wittingly and wilfully defer the time of his salvation or neglect the means of grace to the last hour or desperately reserve the hope of his Redemption to the time of his death But though it were late before this Malefactor was converted or had any true saving grace wrought in him or before he did believe in Christ yet his faith was true f Luk. 23. 41. and he made a good confession of his sins and did justifie the innocency of Christ in that instant of time when none of his friends durst speak in his cause and his Apostles either doubted or seemed to stagger in their faith of his Divinity Also this mans conversion was at such a time as that he could neither be baptized nor have further time for the amendment of his sinfull life Here is much matter of Spirituall comfort if we duly consider how powerfull true faith is to prevail with Christ in all our troubles sorrowes and necessities for if we rest and depend upon him and if our hope and confidence be onely in him let our condition of life be what it will he will not deceive us in our hope nor leave us without support and comfort also if he findeth faith and truth in our hearts he will deny us no good thing that we crave of him be it never so great or begged never so late for this poor sinner begged heavenly happinesse at the very last hour of his life when he had no time to expresse any thankfulness for so great a blessing and yet he had his request granted But this particular Act of Christs mercy makes no generall rule for remission of sins to those that do wilfully defer their repentance and turning to God to the last and worst part of their lives not that Christ is not alwayes ready to receive the truly humbled and repenting sinner but because late repentance is seldome sound God will not bestow this heavenly grace at their pleasure who do willingly neglect the meanes of grace and lose the opportunity that God hath given them for it and do rather choose to continue still in their sins than to leave and forsake them and to turn to the Lord with all their heart and with all their soul We cannot but dayly see what meanes the Lord useth to bring us unto Christ and to make us get an holy assurance of the pardon of our sins through him by true repentance his Law doth shew us the deformity of our sins and what we have justly deserved thereby which is a forcible means to drive us unto Christ by him to have Redemption from the curse of the Law the sense of our sins and the anguish of our Spirits for them are strong motives to make us seek to our crucified Redeemer that they may be washt away in his blood which he shed upon the crosse Also the smart of his rod in our troubles sorrowes and afflictions are speciall means which God is pleased to use to bring us to repentance but specially if we finde by the manner of his visitation that it is for some particular sins which we have committed we ought then speedily to repent of them and to seek after the blood of Christ to apply it to our selves by faith that the guilt of such sins may not cleave to our souls and consciences but that those spiritual wounds which they have made in us may be quickly healed before they come to putrid sores and ulcers and we may have a true assurance hereof by our repentance If repentance be truly wrought in us there will be such an holy change in all the faculties of our souls in all the affections of our hearts and in all the parts of our bodies that the corruptions of our Nature and the sinfull lusts of our flesh will be mortified and
our souls when they are thirsty and dry heaven will then smile upon us though the world frownes the inward man will feel comfort and consolation though the outward man be miserably tortured and tormented with the vexations and miseries that are incident to this life Wherefore every pain and grief that we feel and every crosse and affliction that we suffer should make us have a greater desire to some of this water p 2 Sam. 23. 15. than David had to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate Also if we will draw comfort to our selves from this heavenly Fountain we must then comfort the comfortlesse q Mat. 25. 35. we must feed the hungry visit the sick cloath the naked and relieve the oppressed then Christ will comfort us in our distresses and he will provide for us in our necessities r Psal 34. 10 The young lyons may lack and suffer hunger but we shall not want any good thing Christ was Å¿ Zech 13. 1 this Fountain which God promised should be opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleannesse and it was opened when this blessed Virgin saw the blood and water gush out of his side which was pierced with the Spear to take away the guilt of sin that doth wound our souls and to wash away the filth of sin that doth pollute and defile our consciences No darts of Satan can be so fiery against a poor sinner but this blood can quench them no wound can be so deadly or so deep in the soul but this blood can search it and cure it if it be rightly applyed by Faith whereof we may have an holy assurance by our repentance and newnesse of life Wherefore here is much comfort for a poor languishing soul that is doubtful of the pardon of his sins if his Faith can perswade him that Christ Jesus was crucified for him and that this Fountain was opened for his cure for without this holy perswasion nothing can truly comfort us in our spirituall afflictions Faith will give us this holy assurance if by the vertue and power thereof we can say with holy Paul t Gal. 6. 14 By the crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ the world is crucified to me and I unto the world Hereby we have power to mortifie our evill concupiscence and all our sinful lusts that they may have no dominion over us to lead us captive unto destruction Lastly we may learn by the Example of our blessed Saviour that it is a pious duty which God requireth for children to provide for their needy or aged parents according to their ability both in their life and at their death and this is part of that thankfulnesse which they ow to their parents and which God hath commanded them to perform for next under God we ow our selves and whatsoever we have unto them we had our being our breeding and our education from them can any expression of thankfulnesse then be too much for them If God hath blessed us with plenty and with increase it was for our parents sakes to relieve and succour them in their age and in their necessity or else it was because they were faithfull to God in his worship and service and therefore God hath poured down his blessings upon us their children as it hath been his usuall custome so to do Wherefore if God hath dealt bountifully with us and but sparingly with our parents we are both bound by the Law of God and by the law of nature to supply their wants according to our power As God hath communicated some part of his own honour to our Parents by giving them the Title of Father to preserve the preheminence which he hath given them over their children so he hath bound the children by a strict command to honour their Parents and to expresse it by their reverence obedience and thankfulnesse to them for what they have received from them which they cannot perform as they ought if they do withdraw any thing from their due honour and dignity or their helping hand from them in their necessity Children are not bound thus to honour their Parents onely in their minority or so long as they are under their tuition and government for the Commandement of God doth not limit it to these times but it gives the Father the Mother this honor so long as they have any child living and there is a promise of a great blessing annexed to this Commandement Children may come to be greater in worldly honours and preferments then their Parents and yet they have no priviledge against this Command of God Thus saith Paul u Eph. 6. 1. Children obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right and then he citeth Gods Commandement which bindes them to this obedience u Luk. 2. 51. Christ himself was subject to his Parents untill his heavenly Fathers businesse called him away and now at his death he takes order for his Mothers maintainance Wherefore if children do thus expresse their thankfulnesse to their Parents and do thus honour and obey them according to the Example of Christ then God will provide for them and their children and will perform his promise of long life and of blessings both temporall and eternall on the contrary God will curse the children that dishonour their Parents and are in this kind unthankfull to them both in this life and in the life to come The darkning of the Sun NOw behold how God did shew a miraculous sign of his high indsgnation against the cruelty of the bloody Jews and barbarous Gentiles to his onely Son and how much he did hate and abhor their abominable sin a Mar. 27. 45 For the Sun was then totally darkned at mid-day and so continued for the space of three houres which was a far greater darknesse than could be by any eclipse as if it had disdained to look upon and mourned to see such an horrible fact as was then committed in crucifying the Lord of glory Hereby also was signified how the glory b Mal. 4. 2. of the Sun of righteousnesse was then darkned c Isa 53. 2. There was no beauty in him and no comelinesse that we should desire him Christ was then in the extremity of his passion for the flood-gates of Gods wrath were set open upon him and the bright beams of his heavenly Fathers countenance were clouded from him which he could not regain untill he had fully satisfied his justice for the guilt of our sins which he had taken upon himself and which did most obscure his transcendent beauty which was naturally in him All this Christ hath suffered for us that God might look favourably upon us and that the guilt of our sins might be done away by faith in his blood also that the spots and pollutions of them might be washt away in the Laver of Regeneration and newnesse of life This miraculous
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
iniquity of our sinnes unto Christ our Saviour and of his free grace to account us just by the imputation of his righteousnesse to us through faith So likewise hereby we have the adoption of sonnes and all the priviledges that do belong unto sonnes These are such benefits and such comforts as none can conceive but such as doe injoy them and none can injoy them but by Christ and there is no way to have them by Christ but onely by a true and a lively faith in him Secondly by faith we are invested into the Covenant of grace and all the gracious promises that are contained in it doe belong unto us also by faith we have great comfort and hope in all other the promises of God whether they concern this life or the life to come for we believe the truth of his word and his ready will to perform what he hath promised and though his promises are sometimes impossible to nature and above humane reason yet faith gives us ability to rest upon them because we believe that he is faithful that hath promised and able to perform his word Thus saith Solomon Blessed â— 1 Kings â— 50. be the Lord that hath given rest unto his people Israel according to all that he hath promised there hath not failed one word of all his good promises which he promised by the hand of Moses his Servant The promises of God are limited to the condition of faith and obedience and though they are above our capacity yet we may confide in them for he will perform them in his due time b Rom. 4 18 19 20. God made a promise to Abraham that his seed should be as numerous as the starres in the firmament when he was about an hundred yeares old and yet betâ—g not weak in faith he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but against hope he believed in hope that he might become the father of many Nations and he was fully perswaded that what God had promised he was able also to perform c Heb. 11. 11 Sarah through faith received strength to conceive seed though she were barren and past age and she was delivered of a child because she judged him faithful who had promised If we do thus rest upon the promises God in all conditions of life and in all the chances and changes that can happen to us it will fit and prepare us to receive them contentedly at Gods hands But the special servants of God may be so over-pressed with the extremity of afflictions that they are ready to distrust the truth of Gods Word and to waver in their assiance and confidence in him if he delayeth to perform his promise and to help them This was Asaphs case who thus complained d Psal 74. 8 10. Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise fail for evermore But he doth presently check himself and acknowledge that it was his infirmity thus to distrust the goodnesse of God Thus saith Peter e 2 Pet. 3. 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise for he will remember to perform it when his time is come that it will make most for his glory and for our good Wherefore f Heb. 6. 12. we must wait patiently upon God and then we shall inherit the promises g Eph. 1. 13. for by faith we are sealed with that holy Spirit of promise that we may confidently rest upon God and upon the truth of his Word Wherefore if we are well acquainted with the Scriptures we shall find many promises of grace to strengthen our faith when we are under any temptation to comfort our soules when we are in any anguish of spirit or under the pressure of any crosse or calamity And when we have found a promise that will suit with our present condition then to make use of our faith to lay hold upon it to apply it to our selves and to rest firmly upon it though it be above hope for God can and will assuredly perform it to our great consolation If God doth deferre the performance of it longer than we expect yet we must patiently wait upon him for when he hath wrought his own work in us for his own glory and our good he will not then delay to perform it a moment longer Thirdly by faith we shall receive much profit and comfort by Gods holy Ordinances without which our services to God cannot be performed according to his will The preparation of the heart to the profitable â—earing of the sacred Word of God is by faith h Act. 15. 9. because hereby our hearts are purified and cleansed from all sin in the bloud of Christ that no guilt of sin may cleave to our soules and consciences to stop the current of grace to our hearts and to hinder the free working of the Spirit of God upon our affections by the ministry of his word that it cannot take root in us for our edification and instruction to convince us of our errours to reprove us for our sinnes and to comfort us in all sorrows and sadnesse of heart It is faith that makes our hearts good ground fit to receive the seed of Gods Word that it may take deep root in us to fructifie and bring forth much fruit to the glory of God What comfort can we have by the Word of God if we doe not hear it with hearts purified from our corruptions by faith how can it profit us if there be not an holy preparation to receive it that the holy Ghost may imprint it in our hearts to be a word of power in us unto salvation and to be the Savour of life unto eternal life and how can it be fruitful in us to the reformation of our lives if our hearts are not seasoned with faith i Rom. 10. 17. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God and then it is a special meanes which the spirit of God useth to convey spiritual knowledge to the understanding holy desires to the will to study and endeavour to a godly life and also true consolation to the soul So likewise our hearts are prepared by faith to the worthy receiving of the Lords Supper for as we doe refresh our bodies with the Bread and Wine so our soules are refreshed and comforted by our spiritual feeding on the body and blood of Christ by faith Also faith will put an holy zeal into our prayers to make them fervent and effectual to prevail with God to send us a gracious answer in his good time Thus saith our Saviour Christ k Mar. 11. 24. What things soever yee desire when yee pray believe that ye receive them and yee shall have them O what comfort might we find in our prayers when we are in want sorrow or in any necessity if we did pray with zealous affections and did faithfully believe that our petitions are granted before we receive them then we would wait upon God until he is
blessed Saviour to us that he hath not onely given us the shield of faith for our defence against these spiritual enemies y Eph. 6. but hath also furnished us with the whole armour of God which we must put on and buckle close to us with the girdle of verity apprehended by faith that we may be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and be able to stand against the wiles of the devill For we wrestle not against flesh and bloud but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the darknesse of this world and against spiritual wickedness in high places Also Christ hath given us the wisdom of his Spirit so to use every piece of this spiritual armour that neither by force nor by fraud the devill shall be able to hurt us or to hinder the salvation of our soules For Christ knew how violently we should be assaulted and the weaknesse of our own strength to resist and how cunningly our enemies would plot to undermine us and therefore we should need this spiritual armour to defend our selves and to offend our adversaries and likewise his Spirit of wisdome and his almighty power to use that armour as we ought Fifthly Faith doth much support and comfort us in all the sorrows and troubles of this life for so long as we live in the flesh we are subject to many tribulations and extremities which we cannot patiently bear without the help of faith Princes have their cares the great men of the world are not free from troubles there is no condition of life that can challenge a priviledge from worldly incumbrances and miseries against all which faith doth comfort the servants of God in his promises to uphold them from sinking under their afflictions by that vertue and power which they draw thereby from the sufferings of Christ Wherefore if we doe confide in the promises of God and rest upom them by faith as made unto us so that we can wait without murmuring Gods own time for the performance of them they will then sweeten our sorrows ease us in our troubles comfort us in the afflictions of our soules and give us an assured hope of deliverance out of our distresses The good Kings of Juda and the valient men of Israel obtained many great victories beyond humane expectation because they believed and rested upon the word of promise which they had from the Lord. z Josh 11. 6 8. When Joshua saw divers Kings come against him he was afraid but God did strengthen him with the promise of victory which he rested upon and God made his word good unto him a Judg. 4. 7. Baruch had the like promise against Sisera which the Lord did faithfully perform b 1 King 20 Ahab had two great victories over the Syrians though he were a wicked King because he rested upon the promise of God c 1 Chron. 14. 10. David overcame the Philistims because he believed the word of God d 1 Sam. 30. 8. Also he recovered all the spoil that the Amalekites had taken out of Ziglag because he trusted to the word of promise which he had from God David did find by manifold experience how faithful God was in the performance of his promises which made him so much delight in the Word of God and so often to meditate on his promises which did exceedingly strengthen him in all his afflictions and troubles e Psa 34. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all f Psa 50. 15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me g Psa 42. 11 Why art thou cast down O my soul 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 Thus may a poor soul cheer up his drouping spirits when his mind is perplexed or when troubles and sorrows compasse him about on every side if he hath a word of promise from God to rest upon When God doth visit us with afflictions he hath then some work to doe in us for his own glory and for our good and we must then make use of our faith which will help us much to joyn with him in his own work because he intendeth our good thereby and then he will the sooner remove his rod of correction from us We may understand what Gods purpose is when his rod is upon us if we mark and observe in what manner he doth visit us and also if we doe truly examine our steps how we walk before God from day to day for then we shall discover what good we have omitted and what evill we have committed and we shall find some sweet motions of his Sprit to direct us what we ought to doe for the more speedy effecting of his work in us If our conscience doth tell us of some particular sinnes that have provoked God against us then he will punish us according to the nature of those sins If we are too much addicted to the world he will visit us with crosses losses and troubles in our estate if we are in danger of spiritual pride he will pull us down with a thorn in the flesh or send a Messenger of Satan to buffet us h 2 Cor. 1â— 7. as he did Paul If we are too fond and indulgent to our children he will either take them away or visit us with sorrowes and grief of heart in them as it was with David If we have any darling sin as Sampson had his Dalilah God will make that very sin to be bitternesse to us in the end if by faith in Christ we have not a sweeter taste of the love and goodnesse of God to us If God seeth us secure or presuming upon our own strength he will withdraw his assisting grace and suffer us to fall into many temptations and into grosse sins as he did Peter to make us more watchful over our wayes and to depend more upon him Thus we may find what God intendeth when we are under his visitation for then God calls for true humiliation and repentance for that very sin which he hath discovered to us and a true turning from it unto God with a faithful indeavour to better obedience and then he will forgive our sin and heal our disease by faith in the bloud of Christ But if our conscience doth clear us and yet Gods visitation is upon us it is then to exercise us under the crosse to be made conformable unto Christ our head in his sufferings or to try our faith our patience our hope and affiance in God and what constancy we have to continue faithful to the end though God should delay to remove the crosse from us all which do tend to the glory of God and to our own good i John 9. 3 The man in the Gospel was blind from his birth and yet neither he