special Instructions to guide and direct us in the whole course of our life Thus far I have declared my Faith concerning the Passion of Christ under Pontius Pilate and now I will shew you what I believe concerning his Death I do believe that he died I believe his death was not a fiction or imaginary death but a true death indeed according to the Prophesies which were before delivered concerning him Isa 53. He was cut off from the Land of the living Dan. 9. The Messiah shall be cut off The Types and Sacrifices of Lambs daily in the Temple did fore-shew and preach the death of the Lamb of God The accomplishment and truth of the Types and Prophesies are recorded faithfully Joh. 1.29 ch 19. Mat. 26 27 Chapters Mark 15. Luk. 23.26 First He died to satisfie the Justice of God for the Elect that he might free them from death and from the fear of death as it is written Heb. 2.14 Forasmuch as the Children were partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part with them that he might destroy through death him that had Power over death that is the Devil and that he might deliver all them which for fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Secondly He died to fulfil all the Promises of God from the beginning Gen. 3.15 Thirdly I say his death was voluntary and an accursed death First voluntary for so he speaketh Joh. 10.18 No man taketh my life from me but I lay it down of my self Secondly It was an accursed death for so it is written Gal. 3.13 Christ was made a curse for us and how He sheweth it in the words following Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree As if he should avouch in effect that Christ's death was accursed that is that it contained in it the first death that is the separation of Body and Soul for that for a time he did apprehend and undergo the wrath of God due to Man for sin yet was he never out of God's favour for in the midst of his loud cryes he calls God his God Matth. 27.46 He was never so oppressed of death as the damned are For as he suffered the bodily death without any corruption of body so be suffered the extream pangs of the Soul but not as forsaken of God more than in his own apprehension and feeling Fourthly The Comfort and Use we have of this Faith or the Blessings we reap by the death of Christ are many and very precious never to be forgotten of true-hearted Believers 1. This voluntary and true obedience of Christ unto death even this accursed death is our Righteousness before God as it is written Rom. 5.19 As by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners so by the obedience of one Righteous many are made Righteous In this Righteousness of Christ's Death lyeth the chief matter of all our felicity and rejoycing as the Apostle speaketh Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should rejoyce in any thing but in the Cross of Christ There is no one thing more recommended in so many and so evident Prophesies than this So by the Death of Christ I am freed from the second Death 2. By this Faith in Christ crucified and dead for us I behold to my exceeding comfort a divine proportion between the infinite debt of God's Elect and the satisfaction done by the death of Christ unto God's Justice for the same as infinite as the debt 3. I see the unspeakable love of God to his Elect continually preached unto me and manifested as before mine eyes Joh. 3.16 4. I see that God's Divine Justice is satisfied by Christ's Death in the same Nature which offended him Gen. 3.15 Heb. 2.14 to mine exceeding great consolation 5. My trembling Conscience by this Faith is quiet and pacified for I feel hereby that the pollution of my Conscience is done away because my heart is sprinkled with the blood of Christ Heb. 9.14 and the scorching heat of it is abated by this Water of Life which streams unto my heart from the side and heart of Jesus Christ Zach. 12.10 11. 13.1 6. The first Death by Christ is turned into a blessing and made unto me a gate of Life So that now I may truly say That the day of Death is better unto me I being in Christ than the day wherein I was born 7. The Death of Christ doth ratifie his last Will and Testament unto me Thus it pleased the Father to make authentical and to seal unto me the Covenant of Grace Heb. 9.16 8. By his Death he hath not only taken away the condemnation of sin Rom. 8.1 for us but also hath broken the power and infection of it in us The act of Christ's Death is past but the vertue and powet thereof endures forever When we have Grace to deny our selves and to put our trust in Christ and by Faith hold him fast in our hearts then as Christ himself by the Power of his Godhead overcame Death Hell and Damnation in himself for us so shall we by the same Power of his Godhead and Grace dwelling in us Eph. 3.20 Gal. 2.21 2 Cor. 13.5 crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof Gal. 5.25 26. 9. The Death of Christ ought to be to all impenitent Sinners the greatest Motive to move them and turn them unto Christ and to humble them because they have pierced him by their sins This I say ought to cause them to mourn for him as the Prophet Zechary speaketh Ch. 2.10 whom even they themselves and not the Jews only have wounded Isa 53. wherefore if this move them not their case is dangerous 10. Be ready if thou beest a Believer to lay down thy life for Christ if need so require as he hath done for thee and to die rather than to do any thing which thou knowest manifestly to be contrary to his Will Of this mind were all the Martyrs and Faithful People of God in all Ages 11. To give some special Instructions if it be doubted what the Altar was whereon Christ offered his Sacrifice because the Papists avouch it to be the Cross I believe rather that Christ himself was the Priest the Sacrifice and the Altar as I said before the Sacrifice as he is Man the Priest as he is both God and Man the Altar as he is God For the property of an Altar is to sanctifie the Sacrifice as Christ saith Matth. 25.9 Now Christ as he was God sanctifieth himself as he was Man Joh. 17.19 For their sakes sanctifie I my self And this he did First By setting apart his Manhood to be a Sacrifice unto his Father for our sins Secondly By giving unto his Sacrifice merit and efficacy to be a meritorious Sacrifice wherefore the Wooden-Cross was not his Altar as Papists have imagined 12. The Prophet Haggai saith that the second Temple built by Zerubbabel was nothing in beauty unto the first which was built by Solomon For it wanted
broken and thereby the Will of Man depraved though God hath provided by the new Covenant of his Grace and Mercy to save through his Son Jesus Christ all those that do believe in him yet Satan and his instruments have not ceased in all Ages since the first discovery thereof to make opposition against it When God was pleased to take his People by the hand to bring them out of Egypt and by his Servant Moses to direct them in the way of his Covenant there wanted not a Balaam to cast a stumbling-block before the Children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to Idols and to commit fornication See Rev. 2.14 Numb 25.1 2. When Elijah the Prophet of the Lord taught Israel the knowledge of the true God the Prophets of Baal sought to teach them the Idolatry of Baal 1 King 18. When Jeremiah the Prophet of the Lord taught the People obedience according to the Word of the Lord then Hananiah spake in opposition to it in the presence of all the People Jer. 28.11 It would be too long to recite every particular mentioned in the holy Scriptures wherein the opposition is recorded which false Prophets have made against the Truth of God and against those that God hath been pleased to send to declare it If we consider the work that false Prophets and false Teachers do and the way they take to effect it we shall find it is a most desperate design they are engaged in it is no less than bringing in of damnable Heresies such as being retained do overthrow the Faith and even make shipwrack of a good Conscience See 2 Tim. 2.18 1 Tim. 1.19 What can be worse than to set up for a God that which is not God and for Divine Worship that which the true God never commanded See Jer. 10. Matth. 15.9 And if also we take notice of the way that false Teachers take to effect their purpose viz. to bring in Heresies into the Church it will be found to be carried on with much subtilty the Text tells us they do it privily We must not think that false Teachers do teach no truth at all but rather together with the Truth which in part they deliver they mix with it certain Errors of so destructive a nature to it that the Truth is overthrown by the Error The false Teachers mentiomed Acts 15.1 would not say that the Disciples ought not to believe in Christ for Salvation yet what they taught amounted to the same which was That except ye be circumcised after the maner of Moses ye cannot be saved See Gal. 5.1 2 3 4. All the false Teachers are not said to deny the Resurrection but some denyed it others said it is past already See 1 Cor. 15.12 2 Tim. 2.18 Therefore Secondly When we do consider seriously to what danger Heresie doth expose us we had need to pray to God that he will keep us that we be not led away with the Error of the Wicked and so fall from our steadfastness but rather that we may grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ See 2 Pet. 3.17 18. For there be many Errors which are not so dangerous as Heresie there may be error in Knowledge and also in Practice which yet are far short of Heresie Alas we know but in part 1 Cor. 13.9 Luk. 17.10 And for Practice when we have done all we are unprofitable Servants we have done but what was our duty to do But Heresie is a work of the flesh Gal. 5.19 20. 't is reckoned up with Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness with Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Wrath Strife Sedition with Envyings Murders Drunkenness and such-like Can this be good that is martialled in the midst of these For when the holy Spirit by the Word of God sets forth the nature of Heresie he compareth it to Leaven 1 Cor. 5.6 7. Gal. 5.9 Because Leaven is of such a nature that it makes all the lump to savour of it So Heresie if it be not truly removed it gives all that imbrace it participation of its sowr relish Likewise it is compared to a Gangreen 2 Tim. 2.17 which is a Venom of such an eating nature that except a member be cut off the whole will be destroyed unless it be speedily stopped before it hath taken too much root in the part infected with it So it is with Heresie if it be not speedily stopped it will grow to such a head that the Heretick though he be condemned of himself yet he will not be turned but must be cut off see Tit. 3.10 11. For Thirdly The nature of Heresie is such that it opposeth the Doctrine of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ See that famous place in the Epistle of Jude vers 3. Beloved saith the Apostle when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common Salvation it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints vers 4. For there are certain men crept in unawares which were before of old ordained to this concondemnation ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ Here we see the damnable nature of Heresie it denyes God and our Lord Jesus Christ and so takes away the object of saving Faith for saving Faith hath for its object God and Christ yet so as we first believe in Jesus Christ God-Man a Saviour unto all them that do believe in him and by Christ we believe in God see 1 Pet. 1.21 the Father Son and holy Ghost a God and Father unto all them that believe Now because things are best seen by their contraries I will lay down four Propositions which every true Christian owns or ought to own and every Heretick denyes in part or in whole whereby you may clearly discern the destructive nature of Heresie to all true Religion and Piety Prop. 1. God the Father Son and holy Ghost is the object of saving Faith No man was ever saved without this Faith no man ever called upon God but by the help of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 As no man can say that Jesus is the Christ so neither can any man say that God is God but by the holy Ghost neither did God ever hear any man that called upon him for Salvation but for his Sons sake Prop. 2. Jesus Christ God-Man is the object of Faith and therefore he is to be believed in Ye believe in God believe also in me Joh. 14.1 So likewise his Apostles taught Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thine house Acts 16.31 testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ yea we are commanded of God to believe in Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 3.23 And this is his Commandment That we should believe on his Son Jesus Christ and love
12.3 4. 21. Isa 7.14 and therefore much more ought we seeing we have in the Gospel the Complement of all those Prophesies Luk. 2.7 Matth. 1.25 to believe in Jesus Christ born of the Virgin but also in time and according to the course of Nature born of the said Virgin and brought forth into the World by her First a Duty following this Faith is this Thanksgiving for the Incarnation of the Son of God as we see by the Examples of the Angels praising God for this benefit Luk. 2.14 The Virgin praising God for this benefit Luk. 1.46 And the holy Priest Zachary praising God for this benefit Luk. 1.68 Secondly A Consolation following this Faith is Preached unto us by the Angels Luk. 2.10 when he saith Behold I bring you tydings of great joy that shall be to all People Hence comes First Peace with God Secondly Peace with our own Conscience Thirdly with the Holy Angels Fourthly with all the Creatures of God in the frame of Heaven and Earth The proper Name of Christ's Mother was Mary this is testified often in the New Testament Luk. 2.5 c. This Name is added for a more certain and special description of his Mother that my Faith may be the better certified of the truth of all Divine Oracles and Prophesies concerning him for this holy Woman being as Matthew and Luke testifie of the noble Race of the Kings of Judah it is clear that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ came of the Seed of David and so of Abraham according to the Promise Gen. 12. 49. Luk. 2. Again she is called A Virgin both to let us see the accomplishment of the Prophesie Isa 7.14 21. and to assure us of that as aforesaid that is That he is the only begotten Son of God conceived by the Holy Ghost and not by the ordinary course of Nature And this blessed Mother of Christ a holy Prophetess Luk. 1.48 We do willingly honour her three wayes First by thanksgiving to God for her Secondly by a reverent estimation of her Thirdly by imitation of her excellent Vertues And thus having seen by clear evidence from the Word of the Lord that our blessed Lord and Saviour as touching his Natures is very God and very Man it resteth only that we learn also by Divine demonstration that these two Natures are united in one Person Vse 2. First here then we must be advertised that there be two kinds of Unions Union in Nature and Union in Person Union in Nature is when two or more things are joyned or united into one Nature as the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost being and remaining three distinct Persons are one and the same in Nature or Godhead Union in Person is when two things are in that manner united that they make but one Person or Substance as the Body and Soul of Man meeting together make one Man Secondly This Union of Natures then here is this The second Person in the Trinity or the Son of God doth assume to it a Manhood in such order that the same being void of all Personal being in it self doth wholly and only subsist in the second Person in the Trinity or depends wholly on the Person of the Son So that now it is a Nature only and not a Person because it doth not subsist alone as in other men Thirdly This then I understand and believe here that the everlasting Son of God without any putting off of his Divine Nature without any commixtion or conversion was made that which before his Incarnation he was not to wit very Man By taking flesh by the Power of the Holy Ghost from the Virgin and an Humane Soul created of nothing both which Natures being united together in a most admirable Personal union make one most blessed Person even the most sacred Person of our only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Fourthly And our Lord Jesus Christ hath in his Humanity so assumed all the Properties of Man's Nature that he became in all things like unto us Heb. 2.17 sin only excepted for he hath so Personally united unto himself our Nature that we cannot say properly of his Passion that only the bare Humanity suffered which yet is only passible but this we are to say that the Person which is very God hath suffered in our Nature Fifthly and lastly We must not believe that the Lord Christ assumed our Nature as he did sometimes under the Law before his Incarnation take to him the form of Man and Angel for a time but retains still and for ever the very body and Soul of Man howbeit now glorified For the Apostle saith Our Mediator hot only was but also is the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 living for ever to make intercession for us Heb. 7.25 Rom. 8.34 Consolations following this Faith concerning Christ's pure Conception Incarnation and this unspeakable union of Natures in this one sacred Person are these First I understand and conceive he is a most fit Advocate to his Father being very God and a most comfortable Mediator for me being very Man well-acquainted with all my grievances and one I may boldly draw near unto Heb. 2.16 17 18. 4.16 Secondly I conceive also that he hath been so acquainted in our flesh with our temptations that he hath a special experience of our infirmities in his own sacred Person not that the Son of God hath need of our Afflictions and Temptations to make him Merciful unto us but for that we can best perswade our selves of his Mercy when we learn that he hath been acquainted with our Passions And now I will tell you briefly what I mean by the Properties of the Humane and Divine Nature And by the Communication or Conjunction of Properties as I said before When I say and believe that Christ did assume all the Essential Properties of Man's Nature I mean he took not only the Soul and Body of Man but also every quality and adjunct thereunto appertaining excepting sin for he had the Understanding the Reason the Will and all the Affections of Man without sin being made like his brethren in all things Heb. 2.17 Again when I believe and say That Christ did retain in his Personal Union of both Natures all the Properties of his Divine Nature I mean these and the like that he was this very Person now God and Man Eternal Almighty Incomprehensible Immutable most Perfect for these and the like be the Properties of the Divine Nature Thirdly The Communication of these Properties as the learned speak for the better understanding of some Scriptures uttered concerning this sacred Person is this when we ascribe that which is proper unto one Nature unto the other because of the aforesaid Personal Union of both Natures as when the Apostle saith God hath purchased the Church with his own blood Acts. 20.28 This manner of speaking is with respect to this Union and herein that which is proper to the Humane Nature is ascribed unto the Divine for