called a fountaine opened for sinne and for trangression Christ is not onely a pond or a poole that is dryed up but a fountaine and perpetuall spring if wee desire to have our soules washed from corruption and sinne let us labour to wash them in this living spring and fountaine And then it is a fountaine opened not a sealed fountaine as wee reade in Scripture And then againe as it is a fountaine opened for the killing of sinne so for the quickning to a new life Looke as it was with that River that Naaman washed himselfe in he was not onely cleansed of his Leprosie but his flesh came againe as the flesh of a childe so every one that is washed in the blood of Christ he is not onely cleansed from the Leprosie and corruption of sinne but his flesh comes as the flesh of a childe the life that he formerly had in Adam comes againe to him by the vertue of Christ That is the first Vse if our death to sinne and life in grace proceede both from Christ this should be a motive to us to labour to be in Christ that we may die to sinne and live with him Vse 2 Secondly if our death to sinne To returne the prayse of grace to Christ and life in grace proceede from Christ then when wee finde in our selves sinne in any sort mortified and that wee are inabled to performe holy duties wee know from whom wee have it let us know to whom we ought to returne the glory of it Let us say as David through thee we have done valiantly It is through Christ and by vertue from him that wee overcome our lusts or else they are too strong for us If wee be enabled to doe holy duties let us lift up our eyes to heaven and say through thee O Christ wee are enabled to doe this As all the vertue whereby wee dye to sinne and live the life of grace is from Christ so it is equall that all the glory should bee returned to Christ It is the greatest sacriledge in the world to attribute any thing to us To mortifie sinne it is a part of Christs kingly power of his kingly office Now hee that chalengeth any vertue and power to mortifie sinne in himselfe or to raise himselfe to a new life of grace hee is guilty of high treason hee usurpes on the Kings prerogative It is Christs prerogative onely to mortifie sinne in us Thirdly if it come of Christ alone our death to sinne and our life of grace then wee see what to judge of them that are out of Christ sinne is neyther mortified in them nor they quickned to a new life of grace If all water proceede from one Fountaine then that that is seperate from that Fountaine must of necessitie be dry If Christ be the Fountaine of all Grace by which our sinnes are mortified and wee quickned to a new life then they that are out of Christ they cannot have eyther death to sinne or the life of grace Whatsoever is in them it is dead if there bee any thing that is good whatsoever it is it is dead whatsoever is alive in them it is but dead it makes them dead to grace here and assures them that except they be revived they shall goe from one death to another from spirituall death to eternall for evermore FINIS THE WOUNDED SAVIOVR ESAY 53.5 But he was wounded for our transgressions IT was not without good reason that among all the Prophets in the Old Testament our Prophet Isay onely should bee stiled by ancient and moderne writers the Evangelicall Prophet He that reades this Chapter whereof my Text is a portion will confesse as much The Chapter conteines a description of Christ of his comming into and his harsh entertainement in the world his sufferings and resurrection so fully and punctually that at the first view a man would think it were rather a History than a Prophesie and rather a relation of some what past then a prediction of any thing to come Wherein for the better distinct understanding of the method and coherence of the words know that Isay the Eagle-eyed Prophet as one calls him having in the second verse of this Chapter shewed how meane and contemptible in the eyes of men Christs incarnation should be In the fourth verse hee shewes what the judgement and censure of the world should bee concerning Christ how basely and indignly they should conceive of him not as hee was indeede the innocent immaculate Lambe of God but as a notorious malefactor one that for his owne sins was stricken of God and humbled But how unjust and impious their opinion was the Prophet shewes in Vers 5. whereof my Text is a part First by remooving the false cause of his suffering which was supposed to be his owne sinne in this particle But We judged him to be stricken and afflicted of God But As if he should say there was no such thing He first remooves the false cause of his suffering which was his owne sinne we judged it to be his owne sinne and deserving But. Secondly by assigning the true cause in these words Hee was wounded for our transsions not for any sinne of his owne but for our transgressions you see the coherence of the words and the context In which observe three parts for they being a discription of Christs sufferings First consider the patient or partie suffering Hee Christ God and man the second person in the Trinitie Hee was wounded Secondly the passion it selfe in these words He was wounded whereby not onely though principally is understood the torments that as * Preached on a good-Friday this day hee suffered on the Crosse but withall all the calamities and miseries that befell him through the whole course of his life For howsoever it be true that the great Captaine of our salvation as the Apostle saith Heb. 2.10 Hâ—b 2.10 did never till the last enter into the maine battell with the spirituall enemies of our salvation yet hee had many skirmishes with them before oft in his life-time he did taste and sippe as it were of the cuppe of Gods wrath but hee did never till then drinke and sucke up the dregges Hee was wounded for our transgressions Thirdly the cause or reason of these sufferings Our transgressions not for any sinnes or demerits of his owne no but hee was wounded for our sinnes and transgressions I shall not presently descend to these particulars I find a But in the entrance of the Text But hee was wounded for our transgressions Gold-smiths weigh their gold to the utmost weight and the priviledges of Scripture are such that there is not a word or tittle but it is as ful of weight as it is certaine of accomplishment This But is like a counterblast of a contrary wind that meetes a Ship in her full sayle and turnes her course another way Thus it runnes Wee judged him stricken of God as deserving it by his owne sins But. It
I come to the third thing I propoposed to shew the meanes whereby wee may come to be dead with Christ for if wee cannot come to live with Christ but wee must first die with Christ then it mainely concernes us to labour to die with Christ to sin that so wee may come at the last to live with him The meanes are foure The first cause which is the principall cause is the Spirit of God so saith the Apostle Rom. 8.13 the place before alleadged If yee mortifie the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit yee shall live Rom. 8.13 It is true we are enjoyned mortification but wee cannot doe it till by the Spirit of God our sinnes be mortified Simile It is with sinne as it is with some wilde beasts they cannot bee taken and apprehended till they be shot and wounded So it is with sinne till the Spirit of God give the deaths blow to sinne wee cannot mortifie it of our selves therefore the first and principall cause is the Spirit of God he that is in us is stronger then he that is in the world The Spirit of God is strong and powerfull to subdue sinne Secondly Faith in Christ for by faith we must be ingrafted into Christ and so partake of the Spirit of Christ whereby sinne is dead in us so saith the Apostle Rom. 6 5. Rom. 6.5 For if we be planted into the likenesse of his death wee shall be also into the likenesse of his resurrection First we must be planted and grafted into Christ As a Syens must be planted into the stocke of a tree before it partake of the juice of it So we must be planted into Christ by faith before we be made partakers of the vertue of the death of Christ to kill our sins Col. 2.13 so saith the Apostle Wee are raysed through the faith of the operation of God it is through faith not onely as a perswading mooving cause but as an efficient cause because faith as a pipe of Silver conveyes the juice the water of life the Spirit of God whereby our sinnes are mortified it unites us to Christ and makes us partake of the vertue of his death whereby our sinnes are killed Psal 19.13 The third meanes to worke this death in us it is Prayer so David Psal 19.13 Lord keepe mee from presumptuous sinnes let them not have dominion over me that is mortifie and crucifie them so that they may not have dominion over me or not have a being if it were possible Let them not have dominion over me Fourthly and lastly a speciall meanes to put sinne to death is to submit our selves to the Ministery of the Word such as can manage and brandish the two edged Sword of the Spirit against sinne And so in private by meditation to apply to our selves the curses and judgements that God hath threatned against such sinnes as wee give most way to for if once the principall and vitall sinne as I may call it be destroyed then other sinnes will die of themselves this shall be sufficient for the third part touching the meanes to die with Christ I come now in a few words to the motives to perswade us to die with Christ The first ariseth from the necessitie of dying to sinne eyther wee must die to sinne Rom. 8.13 or die for sinne woe to us if we doe not die to sin If yee live after the flesh yee shall die Rom. 8.13 that is if yee live unmortified yee shall die how eternally not onely the death of the body but of the soule too here is the choyce we must eyther mortifie our lusts or incurre the danger of damnation there is no other way to escape it If yee live after the flesh yee shall die that is eternally therefore there lies a necessitie that should perswade us to die to sinne Secondly from the commoditie of it by dying to sinne we shall not onely free our selves from eternall death but from much trouble and molestation and disquiet also that wee should be sure to have by keeping sinne alive and by yeelding to the lusts of sinne Most true it is that it is with our lusts as with little children humour and observe them Simile and give them that they cry for and you shall never have rest but still they will cry for something more so it is with our corruptions and sinfull lusts yeeld to them upon every desire and we shall never have done when we have satisfied one lust it will call upon us againe and will never have done whereas by mortifying of it we shall bring to our selves much quiet and free our selves from much molestation Thirdly consider the facilitle by mortifying the deeds of the flesh we loose nothing that will make to our happinesse Adam in innocencie in Paradise was happy without these lusts Christ on earth was happy without them the Saints in heaven are happy without them Iam. 1.21 these are but superfluities Iam. 1.21 Lay aside all superfluitie of naughtinesse and malice Wee may have all true contentment whatsoever yet part withour lusts they are things that we may well spare By mortification of them a man looseth no profit nor pleasure nor honour whatsoever but there is recompence with advantage Let a man mortifie his lusts that bring him profit hee shall have profit in durable riches not onely in this life but for his reward hee shall have a whole kingdome to enjoy Let him loose some present pleasures as we have all too much of common Souldiers in us we love present pay hee shall have infinite recompence he shall have pure pleasures peace of conscience God will praise him and say well done good and faithfull servant he shall have peace of conscience that will lift a man above ground an infinite recompence in the losse of other pleasures Secondly for honour what if a man for the crucifying of his lusts be reproached and contemned in the world yet he shall have true honour of God in heaven he shall have honour of Angels of good men honour did I say of good men nay wicked men shall honour him God is able to command honour from the hearts even of wicked men so much as hee is mortified Let a wicked man see one that is a mortified man that as David was he behaves himselfe as a weaned child from the world he cannot but give a good testimony but if he will not now let him be on the racke in sicknesse let death appeare then he will desire to die the death of the righteous and that his last end may be like his It is true while he is in his jollitie and bravery then such men load a mortified man with reproach and contempt but wee must doe as Phisitians doe when they judge by urine of the state of the body they looke not on the urine that is voyded when men are walking up and downe before they goe to bed Simile but that which they make
from the Grave and shall not wee rise from the death of sinne to newnesse of life Doe wee professe our selves to bee members of Christ and not indeavour conformitie with our head Christ Shall wee be like the Image or statue of Nebuchadnezar to have a head of gold and to have feet of mire and clay So Christ is not only the meritorious and exemplary but the moving perswading cause the very thought that Christ died for sin and rose againe it will move us to die to sin and to live the life of grace Fourthly and lastly Christ is the cause efficient as of our death to sinne so of the life of grace It were in vaine that Christ were the meritorious cause that hee had merited the donation of Gods Spirit whereby sinne might be killed and wee be quickened to the life of grace It were in vaine for him to set himselfe as a patterne for us to imitate and that hee is a morall cause to move and perswade us to imitate him unlesse hee were also the cause efficient to worke in us this death to sinne and this life of Grace therefore Christ also is the efficient cause hee workes in us both a death to sinne and the life of grace For the understanding of which know that Christ not only saves us by merit but hee saves us by efficacie too not only by Merite in deserving of life for us but in efficacie in fitting and preparing us to partake of life Hee not only by death hath abolished and removed death for sin but hee abates in us daily the power of sinne so hee is the efficient cause as well as the rest Quest But you will aske how comes Christ to be the efficient cause of death to sinne and of the life of grace by what meanes doth hee worke in us these two Answ I answer in Christs working in us these things there are some things that concurre in the first working of this life of grace and death to sinne and there are others that concurre not to the first worke but to the increasing and augmentation of it Those that concurre to the first worke are three 1. The Spirit of God 2. The Word of God 3. And Baptisme Now those againe that concurre not to the first worke of our death to sinne and kindling of this spirituall life but to the further increase and augmentation of it when it is wrought they are two 1. Faith 2. And the Lords Supper Of every one of these briefly First I say the principall cause of death to sinne and of the life of grace is the Spirit of Christ so saith the Apostle in that place before alledged Rom. 8.12.13 saith he Rom. 8.13 If yee live after the flesh yee shall die but if yee mortifie the deedes of the body through the Spirit yee shall live It is through the Spirit of Christ whereby sinne is mortified in us and through the Spirit of Christ that we are quickned to the life of grace In which respect it is called the quickning Spirit saith Christ Ioh. 8. The spirit quickneth Joh. 8. 1 Thess 2. It is called also the Spirit of sanctification 1 Thes 2. Why is it called the Sanctifying spirit because by it we are sanctified Now what are the parts of Sanctification They are two first our death to sinne the subduing of the power of sinne secondly our enlivening and quickning to grace Now the Spirit of God is said to be a sanctifying Spirit in respect of both these for from the Spirit of God it is that sinne is mortified in us and it is from the quickning Spirit that we are enlivened to a new life so the principall cause is the Spirit of God There are two other causes and those are instrumentall First the Word of God that is a powerfull meanes whereby God workes in us this death to sinne and the life of grace it is a powerfull meanes that God useth as the Apostle saith for the battering and demolution of all Satans strong holds Our lusts of themselves are too strong for us to vanquish it is the Spirit only that is mightier that can vanquish them but by what meanes doth the Spirit doe it It is by the Spirit as the principall cause but by the Word as the instrumentall cause or by the Spirit of God concurring with the Word For the Word of it selfe is not of power to mortifie sinne and to quicken us to a new life of grace but as it is a meanes to convey and derive to us the Spirit of God It is with us as it was with Lazarus when he was raised from the grave to a new life hee was raised by the word of Christ it was indeed by the word of Christ but it was not only the word of Christ that raised him but the vertue of Christs Spirit went along with that word and made that effectuall for the raising of him So it is with us it is not the Word only that is available for the mortifying of our sinfull lusts or that quickens us to the performance of the holy duties of a new life but the Word as it is the instrument of the Spirit of God which is the chiefe Agent Secondly another instrumentall cause is Baptisme that also is a meanes whereby the Spirit of God workes in us this death to sin and life of grace Now Baptisme is a cause of both these three wayes First as it is a cause resembling or as a type shadowing and pointing out to us our death to sinne and our life of grace which type and resemblance was farre more expresse in hotter clymates and Countreys in which in Baptisme they used to drench the child to dippe it in the water which dipping of the child in the water was a resemblance and type to them of their death to sinne with Christ and their rising out of the water exprest their rising to newnesse of life so by Baptisme wee are said to bee dead to sinne and alive to God through it as a resemblance expressing to us this death and life Secondly not only as a resemblance but as a speciall meanes whereby the Spirit of God concurres and goes along with the Element of water and makes it effectuall for the cleansing of us as from the guilt of sin so for the subduing the power of sinne and working in us a new life in which respect it is stiled by the Apostle in Titus 3. T it 3. The laver of regeneration that is it is that meanes whereby the Spirit of God workes regeneration this death to sinne and life of grace Thirdly and lastly Baptisme is said to be a cause as of our death to sinne so of the life of grace in regard of the stipulation or covenant because when wee are baptised wee enter into a solemne vow and covenant with God that we will forsake the Divell and all his workes there is mortification and that wee will lead a new life there is vivification So it is
Foure Pious Godly and Learned TREATISES The first Leads us to the Gate of true Happinesse The second Is for Instruction Letting us to know what Christ suffer'd for us that we might enjoy him The third Is Helps and Cautions that we may the better aVoid Sin The fourth Brings us to be seekers and suers to God for those things that be above Collo 3. By a late Faithfull and Godly Minister of Jesus Christ Now since his death recommended to all the people of God by Mr John Goodwin Psal 32.1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven and whose sinne is covered LONDON Printed for Thomas Slater at the Angell in DUCK-LANE 1652. The Epistle to the Reader GOOD READER THe Author of these Sermons having served his time and being fallen asleepe before their time came to looke out and doe service in the world I conceived it might beare the construction of a peece of some light charitie to lead them out in their Orphan-like condition by the hand of a recommendatorie Epistle into the world Men for the most part desire in Bookes to know first what is said of them before they care to know what they say and sometimes an Author worthy of prime inspection for want of an Agent to make his worth his harbenger may lie as long neglected and unread as the poore Cripple at the poole of Bethsaida lay uncured for want of one to cast him into the water The subject indeed here principally discoursed and brought out of darknesse into light Christian mortification seemeth to disdaine all mediation and petitioning for it it being of so great weight and transcendent importance that it commands all hearts and eyes to looke up unto it and threatens with power and authoritie from on high even the greatest on earth that shall turne their backe and not their face upon it There are three things especially among others that will say well to make this rough and hidden way of Mortification smooth and plaine The first is the greatnesse of the Author and founder of that honourable order of Mortification and who was the glorious President of it himselfe Even the Lord Iesus Christ the apprehension and sense of such fellowship with us in our way cannot but devoure and drowne all sense and thought of what otherwise might be difficult and distastfull in it Among the Romans the Generall being slaine in the battell there was scarce any Souldier that regarded his life but rather chose to make an exchange of it for such a death wherein hee might beare his Generall company and if any did returne home alive in such a case there was a brand of ignominie set upon him ever after The truth is were not the consideration of sin and the madnesse of unbeliefe in the world at hand to qualifie the matter and give satisfaction it were the most astonishing wonder that ever the world saw that Iesus Christ being dead the whole world should not presently resolve to die with him The second is the greatnesse of the helpe or mighty arme of assistance that is ready to joyne with us in this great worke of mortification if our hearts bee once set upon it this is the Spirit of God and of Christ If you mortifie the deeds of the body by the spirit you shall live Rom. 8. This Spirit of God residing and dwelling in those that beleeve to whom hee is given is alway at hand ready yea desirous and longing to bee set on worke in their sâ—â—â—e to be imployed in this honourable service against sin and all inordinate affections evill-concupiscence uncleannesse pride covetousness c. And being stirred up and set on to purpose it carries on his worke before him with an high hand making havock and desolation among the fleshly lusts and corruptions of the soule The greatest and most difficultest undertakings and such which the soule of man would otherwise abhorre and turne aside from altogether are yet digested and carried on with a sweetnes and pleasantnesse of hope when a man sees measure for measure strength foâ—â—â—â—â—â—gth as much in his meaâ—â—â—â— in his opposition as many with him as against him Now the Spirit of God within us is of more might then all the hills of the robbers as David speakes in another case hee is stronger than all their strong holds he is above all the high things and imaginations that lift up themselves to the highest within us against the knowledge of God Mortification can bee no other but a solid delight and spirituall recreation to him that duly and deeply considers what oddes and advantage hee hath of his enemie the flesh by the partaking and close standing of that blessed friend of his the Spirit The third and last is the exceeding greatnesse of the reward which the God of recompences as the Scripture termeth him hath sealed and settled by purpose and promise both Yea and Amen upon this worke of Mortification If wee be dead with Christ we beleeve that is wee easily beleeve or have ground sufficient to beleeve that wee shall live with him as the foundation of the ensuing discourse proclaimes aloud to the world where by living with Christ is not meant of an everlasting being in his presence only though his presence alone be a Paradise of joy and blessedness in abundance but an admittance or taking up into an in tâ—e communion with him in all his glory or as himselfe is pleased with the expression Revel 3.21 a sitting downe with him upon his Throne Men for the most part can bee content that any man should chuse or appoint their worke for them if it might bee permitted to themselves to choose their wages and have good securitie for it Who would refuse with Sampson to encounter Lyons if they could be secured to eate honey out of their carkasses Who would not have cast in his lot with those three faithfull servants of GOD and have beene content to have taken part with them in that hotte service of the fierie furnace could they have beene satisfie for their safe comming off with their lives untouched and like advancement afterward in the Kingdome Low wages and slender recompences make even light worke heavie the only way to drowne the sowernesse or unpleasantnesse of any taske is to make it swimme in an Ocean of reward It is a principle in reason Finis dat amabilitatem mediis Good ends make hard wayes or meanes lovely and desireable If Mortification had as bitter and irreconcileable an opposition and repugnancie to nature as the grave it selfe yet the transcendent vastnesse of the reward that same farre more exceeding eternall weight of glory as Saint Paul had much adoe to bring out his notion of it in words without losse and leaving somewhat behinde 2 Corinth 4.17 dearely apprehended and beleeved mightily and effectuously considered is able fully to reconcile the disproportion I am loth to exceed the time and measure of an Epistle The nature necessitie and meanes of this great Master-peece of
Mortification with some other things of Affinitie with them are well laid down in the Sermons following Some straines I beleeve thou wilt meet withall that have beene strangers to thee heretofore and which will doe lively execution and quit themselves like the words of the wise whose propertie is as the wise man informes to be as goades or nailes throughly fastned Holy and learned men amongst whom not to number wer doubtlesse to injure much mine Author are not to bee too deeply charged or too troublesomely expostulated with for some peculiarities of expressions wherein perhaps they give themselves more satisfaction than others And indeed it is a hard thing for any man to write so savourly or warily but that the Reader hath need still to bring a graine of salt with him to make the nourishment wholsome The blessing of the God of heaven bee with this little peece in its going forth into the world that it may goe forth in its might and doe worthily in Israel teaching perswading many to desire with Paul the knowledge of the fellowship of Christs sufferings and how to bee made conformable to his death which is one of the greatest and most hidden misteries of Christianitie and requireth the best and greatest Masters in Israel for its Teachers Thine in the Lord Jesus IOHN GOODWINE The Contents of the ensuing Treatises Treatise 1. To be dead with Christ what Page 5 Propos 1. Wee must die with Christ first if wee will live with him pag. 10 Reason 1. From the contrarietie between sin and grace 12 Reas 2. Else the Spirit dwells not in us 13 Reas 3. Because it is hard to be a Christian ibid. Use 1. Reproofe of men dead in sinne 14 Morall death to sinne distinguished from true death to sinne 16 1. In the Essence of it ibid. 2. In the efficient cause 17 3. In the latitude ibid. 4. In the issue 18 Popish mortification differs from true mortification 1. In the object 19 2. The efficient cause ibid. 3. The formall cause 20 4. The finall cause ibid. Characters of a man dead to sinne 1. When occasions to sinne worke not 21 2. When all sinne is dead in us 22 3. When we doe not the service of sinne 23 4. When we abhorre sinne ibid. 5. When sinnes power is daily abated 24 6. When we can willingly have our sins wounded 25 Meanes to be dead with Christ 1. The Spirit of God 27 2. Faith in Christ ibid. 3. Prayer 28 4. Submission to the ministerie of the Word ibid. Motives to die to sinne 1. The necessitie 29 2. The commoditie ibid. 3. The facilitie 30 4. The equitie 31 5. The treacherie of sinne 32 6. The example of others ibid. The difficultie of being a Christian 33 The method to come to live with Christ 36 Spirituall death what 40 Spirituall life what 41 Propos 2. Those that are dead with Christ shall live with him 42 Reas 1. To whom Christ communicates himselfe he doth it wholly 43 Reas 2. Death with Christ insufficient with out we live with him 44 Reas 3. From the opposition betweene the life of sinne and grace 45 Use Those that are not dead with Christ doe not live with him 46 How to know wee are alive with Christ 1. By the cause of spirituall life 47 2. By the exercises of spirituall life 48 3. By the properties of spirituall life 49 1 Nourishment ibid. 2 Augmentation 50 3 Generation 51 Use 2. To labour for death with Christ 52 1. Because by him wee shall enjoy a spirituall life 53 2. An eternall life ibid. Propos 3. The knowledge of Mortification seales up the assurance of salvation 55 Reason The promises of eternall life are made to the mortified 68 Use 1. For confutation of Bellarmine 72 Use 2. To labour for Mortification 75 Use 3. Those that are not dead with Christ cannot be assured of life with him 77 Propos 4. As our death to sinne so our life to grace both proceed from Christ 80 Reason They are both the worke of grace 81 Christ is the author of the death of sinne and the life of grace 1. As a meritorious cause 83 2. As the exemplarie cause 85 3. The morall cause 86 4. The efficient cause 87 Christ is the efficient cause First in the first working of it three wayes 88 1. By his Spirit ibid. 2. By the Word 89 3. By Baptisme 90 Baptisme is a cause instrumentall 3 wayes 1. As a resembling cause 91 2. As a concurring meanes ibid. 3. By Stipulation ibid. Secondly for the increase of it 2 wayes 1. By Faith 92 2. The Lords Supper 94 Use To indevour to be in Christ 95 Use 2. To returne the praise of grace to Christ 97 Use 3. What to judge of men out of Christ 98 Treatise 2. Observ 1. What Christ suffred was not for his own sin 104 Use 1. To shew how Christ could beare the punishment of sinne 108 Use 2. To discover the malice of the Iewes against Christ 110 Use 3. To condemne those that judge by successe in outward things 114 Use 4. To reade us a Lecture of patience 115 Use 5. Comfort for distressed consciences 116 Obser 2. Christ suffered all for our sinnes 118 Reas 1. The love of Christ ibid. Reas 2. The love of God the Father 119 Use 1. To admire Gods wisedome 120 Use 2. To see the haynousnesse of our sinnes 121 Use 3. To provoke us to sorrow for sinne 123 Use 4. For Consolation 125 Use 5. To set forth Gods love to us 126 Use 6. To returne love againe 127 Treatise 3. Conclus 1. SVrfeiting and Drunkennesse and Covetousnesse to be taken heed of 134 Reas 1. There is danger in these sinnes 137 Reas 2. There is danger of falling into them 139 Use 1. Complaint of neglect of this dutie 141 Use 2. Exhortation to Caution 143 4 Helpes to Caution ibid. Conclus 2. The best men to take heed of these sinnes 149 Reas 1. Because they are but men ibid. Reas 2. Satan envies them most 150 Reas 3. Their falling make others fall ibid. Use 1. To shew the best men are fraile 151 Use 2. Why the best should suffer admonition 152 Use 3. How to demeane our selves 153 Conclus 3. Our care and caution must be continuall 154 Reason Because there is danger of the sinnes judgement 155 Use To discover the abounding of these sinnes 156 Conclus 4. Drunkennesse and Covetousnesse overcharge the heart 161 Reas 1. They presse the soule from heaven to earth 162 Reas 2. They presse it from earth to Hell 166 Use 1. To take heed of these sinnes 167 Use 2. To use Remedies against them 171 Meanes to be disburdened of these sinnes 172 Use 3. To see the false judgement of the world 175 Conclus 5. We should not be overcharged with immoderate eating 177 Danger in conversing with Epicures 178 Reas 1. It unfits us for good Duties 179 Reas 2. It is the nurse of securitie 180 Reas 3. It breeds many lusts 181
Spirit of grace therefore it is sayd to bee dead civilly Secondly it is sayd to bee dead naturally too the reason is this because howsoever there bee some life left in it yet it hath its deaths wound that wil cause it to die at the last In the meane while it is in the wane and languisheth away so that as a man that hath received a mortall wound he is a dead man the reason is because that wound will bring death at the last So we may say though sinne have some life in it yet it is dead naturally too the reason is this because by the death of Christ it hath received its deaths blow that it will never recover and so at the last it will altogether die As sinne is thus sayd to bee dead in us so we are sayd to be dead to sinne in a three sold respect You know death is nothing but the separation of the soule from the body the separation of that that is the principle of life Now looke what the soule is to the body the same is sinne in a sort in a naturall unregenerate man hee lives not so much by his soule as by his sinne his sinne is the life of his life it is that that enacts and enlivens and animates him therefore it is called the body of sinne why because sinne is in an unregenerate mans body as the soule is in the body it gives life to it A naturall man esteemes sinne as his soule and life so the members of his body are called the members of sinne the reason is because looke as in nature the members exercise their functions by the influence and vertue of the soule so an unregenerate man in the corrupt estate of depraved nature such a man his members worke as they are inabled and commanded by sinne that dwells in him Secondly we are sayd to be dead to sinne in respect of those antecedent convulsions and pangs that goe before death Ordinarily there is no death without pangs and convulsions Now as it is in naturall death so it is in this there is no part of crucifying and mortifying of sinne without paine and dolour therefore it is justly called death the mortifying of sinne wee are said to be dead to sinne when we mortifie sinne because it is with so much paine with convulsions and anguish So saith Peter Martyr The parting of a naturall man the foregoing of his sin it is not without much torment and anguish so in that respect it is said to be a death in regard of those convulsions and pangs that usually are the forerunners and harbingers of death Thirdly wee are dead to sinne in another respect for as a dead servant is no longer at the command of his Master let him command what hee will hee heares him not hee doth nothing So it is with a man that is dead to sin let sin command what it will he heares not hee listens not to the suggestions he practiseth not the commands of sinne he is as a dead man to sinne As a dead man performes not the offices of the living a dead servant doth not obey the commands of his master so it is with a man that is dead to sinne Let this be sufficient to be spoken for the meaning of that phrase If we be dead to sinne that is as Christ dyed for sinne Secondly saith the Apostle If wee be dead with Christ we beleeve that we shall also live with him There is a twofold life Naturall Spirituall The naturall life is not here meant but the spirituall life that is principally the life of grace and consequently the life of glory The reason is this because the life of grace glory be not two lives but one and the selfe same life they differ onely in degrees Looke as the life of the child in the wombe is the same life that the child enjoyes when it comes to bee borne and brought to light in the world so the life of a Christian in this world it is in a manner the same that he lives in heaven onely I say it differs in degrees For looke as grace is nothing but glory begun so glory is nothing but grace consummate But if he meane the life of grace Quest why doth the Apostle say shall live If we be borne with Christ we shall live with him I answer briefly for two reasons First Answ to denote the time when wee shall enjoy this life perfectly that shall be hereafter When this naturall life shall have an end then wee shall enjoy that spirituall life perfectly therefore the Apostle reflects on that life respectively to that time and saith wee shall live the life of grace because then wee shall enjoy this life perfectly whereas here we have it but in some measure and degree with interruption Secondly it is sayd in the future we shall live to affirme the perpetuity of this life this life is not like the life of nature a fading and perishing life of its owne nature It is the observation of Tolet the Iesuite upon the place saith hee though the Apostle meane the life of grace as we see by the 11. Verse yet hee useth the future tense to shew that this life is a perpetuall life and such a life as hath no date nor period I say it is in the future tense to signifie that the life of grace once begunne it never hath date Well the words being cleared I come to speake of the first thing proposed the order and method of the Apostle in these words If we be dead with Christ wee beleeve that wee shall also live with him Wee must first die with Christ if wee Propos 1 will live with him We must first die with Christ if we will live with him For looke as it was with Christ so it shall bee with every member of Christ Christ first dyed before hee was raised to life hee was first brought low and humbled before he was exalted before he had his glory As it was with Christ so it must bee with every member of Christ hee must first die before he can live he must first have his Good Friday before hee have his Easter day hee must first die to sinne before he can live to God It is otherwise in the life of nature then it is in the life of grace there a man must live before he die but here hee must die before he can live So saith S. Paul Ephes 4.22.24 Ephe. 4.22.24 Put off concerning your conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceive able lusts look in Ver. 24. then saith he put on the new man which after God is created in holinesse and righteousnesse Then the Apostle here compares the life of grace to a new garment before wee can put on the white and pure Stole of Christs righteousnssse we must first put off the filthy ragges of our owne corruption put off concerning your conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the
deceivable lusts So in Ephes 5 Eph. 5.8 8. The life of grace is compared o light the life of sinne is compared to darkenesse you know before the Medium be enlightned the darknesse must be dispelled First the darkenesse must be dispelled before it can be lightned So this new life it is sayd to be a new Image it is a new Image indeede but it is such an Image as we are not capable of till first wee be made pure Tables the former Image of Sathan and the Characters of sinne be defaced till then wee are not capable of the Image of God and the faire impressions of Grace It is called an ingrafting or inocculating now wee cannot bee grafted into Christ till we be cut off from the old stocke I say generally as wee must die to nature before we can live to glory so wee must die to sinne before wee can live to God Looke what the Angell commanded Ioshua Iosh 5.8 to put off his shooes before he came to converse with God If you please to take the allusion of Philo which is this and it is pertinent to our purpose put off thy shooes before thou come to God that is put off dead workes because shooes are made of the skins of dead beasts I say before wee can live with Christ wee must die with Christ we must die to sinne before wee can live the life of grace The reason is plaine Reas 1 First because of the contrarietie and opposition betweene the life of grace From the contrarietie betweene sin and grace and a life in sinne A man may live many lives if one bee subordinate to another as a mâ—n lives a vegetative a sensative and a reasonable life because these are subordinate one to another but to live in sinne and to God a man cannot because these lives are contrary they come from contrary principles they cannot consist in the same subject It is an ordinary saying The Bed and and the Throne admit not of partners It is true as Christ saith No man can serve two masters It is true when they command contrary things Now sinne and grace command contrary things therefore no man can serve them both eyther he will cleave to the one and deny the other or forsake the one and cleave to the other No man can serve sinne and Christ because they are contrary masters No man can serve two masters when they command contrary things that is the first reason Wee must first die to sinne before wee can live the life of grace because they are opposites that will not admit of one another in the same subject Secondly till we be dead to sinne we cannot Reas 2 live the life of grace Else the spirit dwells not in us because we cannot till then admit of the principles of the life of grace where sinne raignes and dominiers the Spirit of grace dwells not and where that is not there is no life of grace Therefore wee must first die to sinne before wee can live the life of grace because before wee be dead to sinne the Spirit of grace that quickens and revives us doth not dwell in us Thirdly if it were not needefull first to die Reas 3 to sinne before wee live the life of grace Because it is hard to be a Christian wherein consisted the hard taske of a Christian How easie were it for a man to bee a Christian if a man might bee a Christian and live after the lusts of his owne heart if he might take libertie to doe what his corruptions prompt and suggest if a man that were ignorant might bee ignorant still and yet be a Christian if hee that is a swearer might sweare still and hee that is proud bee proud still and he that is prophane might be so still what great matter were it to bee a Christian how easie were it to perswade Agrippa not to be almost but to be altogether a Christian Therefore wee must first die to sinne before we can live to grace before we can be true Christians the reason is because the taske of a Christian is a hard taske such a taske as a man cannot performe without denying of himselfe without crucifying and mortifying of his lusts This shall suffice to have spoken for the confirmation of that point by occasion of the method of the Apostle If we be dead with Christ we shall also live with him That wee must first be dead As Christ died for sinne so wee must die to sinne before wee can live the life of grace Now I come to make use and application of it Vse 1 Reproofes of men dead in sinne Which if it be so how justly doth the censure of Christ Revel 3.1 fall upon many Christians that of the Angell of the Church Reas 3 of Sardis that they have a name to lâ—ve but are dead why dead dead because they are not dead dead to grace because they are not dead to sinne many men though they seeme to be lively and active are no better then walking breathing Carkasses The reason is this because till a man be dead to sinne hee cannot live the life of grace wee must first die to sinne with Christ before wee can live the life of grace with Christ Gal. 5. In Gallat 5. Those that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Why then on the contrary such as have not crucified the lusts and affections of the flesh they are not Christs Wheresoever any sinne reignes in whom soever any lust dominiers what lust soever it be that man is a dead man there is no true life of grace in him The reason the Apostle gives in these words because wee must bee first dead to sinne before wee can live the life of grace first our lusts must bee mortified and crucified in us before wee can live with Christ the life of grace wee must first passe this red Sea that is to die with Christ before we can enter into the Land of Canaan to this life with Christ But that I may make it more usefull to you let me shew you these foure things First let mee discover to you some false deaths for as there is a false and counterfeit life of grace so there are false and counterfeit deaths to sinne Secondly let mee shew you some characters whereby a man may know a true death to sinne whereby hee may judge and examine himselfe and know whether hee be dead to sinne or no. In the third place I will shew you the meanes whereby if a man bee not dead a man may get this death whereby hee may come to mortifie and crucifie the lusts and affections of the flesh and if hee bee dead whereby hee may proceede on in the worke of mortification because mortification is not one individuall act but hath a latitude and admits of degrees Fourthly I will shew you arguments to perswade you to this death to sinne with Christ especially such as are immergent
arising from the words of the Text Of all which briefly First then of false deaths that seeme to be true in shew but are counterfeit deaths There is a threefold death to sinne A Morall Popish Christian death to sinne The morall death to sinne is distinguished from the true death to sinne especially in foure things First the maine difference is in the Essence of it the truth is a morall death is indeede no death hee that is morally dead to sinne is not indeede dead to sinne for such a mortification takes away not the life of sinne but the harshnesse and rudenesse of sinne it takes it and restraines it it makes sin more tractable and smooth and subtill but it takes not away the life of sinne that is the first Secondly it differs in the efficient cause the efficient cause of a Christians mortification is the Spirit of God Rom. 8.13 Rom. 8.13 If yee mortifie the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit but the cause efficient of morall mortification it is from the temper of the body or good education or the like Consider therefore if it proceede from the Spirit from the generall common operation of the Spirit or from the speciall saving and sanctifying vertue of Gods Spirit Thridly morall mortification differs from that which is true in respect of the Latitude he that is morally mortified he is mortified onely in respect of outward grosse sinnes in respect of such things as are more notorious such as run in the eyes of men such as cause disgrace and dishonour and obloquie but secret spirituall sinnes are unmortified nay it is the observation of Saint Austin that a morall man though he seeme to the eye to be never so much mortified as indeede if a man looke on their formal austerity to looke on Cato or such a one a man would judge them mortified yet commonly they feede one lust and for the sake of that they curbe the rest So Saint Austin upon the Romans observes the lust of covetousnesse of injustice of intemperance c. they curbe them being over borne with the lust of ambition saith he they keepe down all other lusts that they may give more scope to this one lust in his fift booke de Civit. dei Chap. 12. But a true Christians mortification is universall hee doth not kill some sinnes as Saul killed the small Cattell and left Agag and the great ones but he mortifies and crucifies all sinne true mortification will not suffer a man to allow himselfe in the practice of any one sinne Fourthly morall mortification differs from Christian in respect of the issue hee that is truly mortified in such a one sinne hath received its deaths wound in him it never comes fully to be healed and recovered it selfe againe Indeede if hee be negligent in the exercise of mortification it may get strength upon us as the Canaanites being neglected of the Israelites grew stronger but they never obtayned that absolute command and dominion in Canaan as before but for a morrall man because sin is not truly mortified in him therefore when those restraints and retentives are taken away that kept in sinne it rages and dominiers as much as it did before in him or as it doth in another man Let this suffice to be spoken of the difference of morall mortification from that of a true Christian Secondly Popish mortification differs from true mortification in all the degrees and causes It differs from Christian mortification In the efficient materiall formall finall cause First Popish mortification differs from Christian in respect of the object matter the principall object in Popish mortification is not so much perhaps sinne in the members but the members themselves they lash and teare them with scourges and whips their ayme is not so much against sinne as the members whereas true mortification is a revenge on the members as they are instruments of sinne a mans principall grudge is against sinne in his members and not against the members that sinne dwells in Secondly they differ in the efficient cause the cause efficient of true mortification is the Spirit of God Rom. 8.13 Rom. 8.13 If yee through the Spirit doe mortifie the deeds of the body but the cause efficient in Popish mortification is among too many themselves they offer violence to themselves selfe considerations is the summe of their mortification Thirdly the formall cause of Popish mortification is humbling the body abstinence and rending the humane body by whippes and scourges this they make the true bearing of the dying of Christ in their members Getzer 2. booke discipline chap. 8. So saith Getzer in his second booke of discipline Chap. 8. They beare the dying of Christ in their body that shed their blood with whipping and lashing themselves willingly for Christ such a man is sayd to mortifie himselfe It is a strange thing as if wee should goe about to please the divinitie by inhumanitie Fourthly they differ in respect of the end and ayme of both Popish mortification ends not in the destruction of sinne and infeebling the power of it so much as the satisfying of God for sinne Heare what Getzer saith in the same place in his second booke of discipline Chap. 8. saith he such as whip themselves till the blood come for their sinnes by such whipping of themselves they satisfie Gods justice for their sinnes What Christian heart can heare such Doctrine and his heart not ake his ears not glow and his joynts tremble Blessed Saviour that they that stile themselves by thy name should derogate from thee by their blasphemies Wee say the blood of Christ expiates sinne they say their owne blood wilfully shed satisfies God for their sinnes whereas the end of Christian an mortification is not to satisfie God for sinne but to infeeble the power of sinne to breake downe the command and dominion of sinne This shall suffice to bee spoken concerning the first point proposed the false deaths to sinne and those are two Morall and Popish Now I come to shew the Characters of a man that is truly dead to sinne with Christ The first signe of a man that is dead to sinne is this that when occasions are offered and invite him to sinne hee doth not yeeld this is an argument that that man is dead to sinne It is true I confesse there is great power in occasions that except wee keepe a jealous guard they are able to transport a holy sanctifyed man and so they have done the best but I say such a man as when no sooner an occasion is presented but hee is ready to give way to satisfie his lust such a man let him pretend what he will hee is not dead to sinne He is like a tree wee know in winter there is no visible apparent difference betweene a dead tree and that that is alive Simile neither of them have eyther fruite or leaves they differ not in outward view but when the spring comes againe and
the Sunne approacheth then there is a difference then the juice in the roote shootes up and diffuseth it selfe into the rest of the parts you may know a tree whether it be dead or alive when the Spring comes when the Sun approacheth if it doth not shoote forth and flourish then we say it is a dead tree I apply it thus looke what the Sunne is to the tree so is occasion to lusts he that doth not sin when occasions are offered and present themselves when a man hath occasion to satisfie his lusts if he doe it not this man is truly dead to sin Whereas such a man as eyther through age or want of opportunity and occasion is disabled from fulfilling his lusts but in the meane while he pleaseth himselfe to revolve them in his mind and to discourse of them with his tongue such a man is not dead to sinne if he had the same strength and occasion presented as before such a man would discover that sinne were alive in him as much as ever it was Secondly wee may know we are dead to sinne if all sinne be dead in us it is not sufficient that one lust seeme to be mortified and crucified in us unlesse all be mortified Wee know there is life in an Apple tree or a Peare tree if it produce but one Apple or Peare So we may know that sinne is alive in us if there be but one reigning domineiring sinne It is true I confesse in the best men sinne is so much alive in them that ever and anon it will be shooting forth some of these cursed fruits but yet as wee shall see in the third place the power of it is more infeebled I say where one sinne or lust rules and dominiers in a man that man is not dead to sinne as if an Apple tree bring forth but one apple wee conclude it is not dead Thirdly a dead man cannot performe the workes of a living man when wee performe not the workes and service of sinne then we are dead to sinne Every thing hath power to bring forth fruite according to its owne nature Ioh. 8.39 Ioh. 8.39 If you were the children of Abraham you would bring forth the fruits of Abraham Now if a man bring forth ordinarily the fruits of sinne let him say what hee will sinne is alive in that man I grant that as I sayd before sinne will ever and anon bee sending forth bitter and cursed fruits but he that is ordinarily and commonly transported to the service of his owne lusts that man is not dead to sinne Shall a man say hee is a dead man that lives in pride that hee is a dead man that lives in swearing or uncleannesse c I say he that is ordinarily and habitually transported with pride with swearing and blasphemy with uncleannesse c. he that is ordinarily transported to the committing of any sinne that man is not dead to sinne Fourthly it is not sufficient to forbeare the practice of sinne but to abhorre and detest sin we know when we come by aputrified dead Corse we stop our noses to shew that we abhor the noysome smell and detest it If we doe not onely forbeare sin but loath and abhorre it it is a signe that sinne is dead it is a Carkasse we begin to abhorre it Fiftly by this Character wee shall know that sinne is dead if daily more and more wee see the power of sinne abated and infeebled in us we know dying men the nearer they draw to the grave the more weake are all the actions and functions of the soule So I say sinne shall never in this life be utterly dead but it hath its deadly blow and languisheth away Now then we may know we are dead to sinne if sinne more and more decay and the power of it bee more and more feeble if every day the inclinations and provocations to sinne are more weake Yet mistake not a man may deceive himselfe by this Character for oft times it comes to passe that sinne when it hath its mortall and deaths wound it rageth more then it did before Simile It fares with sinne as with a wild beast that hath received his deaths wound he rageth more then he did before So sinne and Sathan then labour to provoke and stirre up corruption in a man to rage more notwithstanding stay a while and you shall see the power of it more infeebled So I say a man must not judge himselfe by the present fit or rage of sinne to have no sparke of regeneration for that may bee occasioned by the deaths blow of sinne but looke if sinne bee enfeebled and the inclinations and lusts to sinne grow every day weaker then other and that is an argument that sinne is dead Sixtly we may know that wee are dead to sinne by this argument then a man is dead to sinne when he can willingly and patiently indure the Axe of the Gospel to be laid to the roote of his sinne when he can patiently submit himselfe to have his sinne wounded and to have it executed by the sword of the Spirit I say patiently to indure the reproofe of his sinne especially when the reproofe is layd against the sinne that most prevailes against him the sinne that a man loves dearest patiently to indure the reproofe of that sinne is an argument that that man is mortified and dead to sinne Let a man say what he will hee that stormes and grudges and grumbles and chafes when his sinne is met with in the Ministery of the word that man is unmortified at the least so farre as he chafes and frets so farre hee is unmortified Hee that is mortified to sinne hee that is growne to a loathing and detestation of his sinne he rejoyceth when the Ministery meets with his sinne Oh saith such a one that my sinne might bee met with to day I stand in termes of hostilitie with it I would have it put to death Oh! that it might have one blow to day by the Sword of the Spirit such a man as will not indure the reproofe of his sinne hee is unmortified at least so farre as he is impatient of reproofe Yet mistake not a man may bee more impatient for some sinnes than for others for though in a gracious man all sinne bee mortified yet some sinnes be more rooted and radicated As wee say in Philosophie there are some parts that live first and die last as the heart As it is in the body ' so it is in the state of nature in the body of sinne there are some sinnes in which life is more radicated and one sinne may have more life when others are mortified one may have more strength then others and life in it and yet the mortification be true yet generally such men as are impatient at the reproofe of their lusts especially that lust that dominiers that man is unmortified he that is a mortified man that sinne is dead in he will suffer reproofe patiently Now
after their first sleepe when they are come to themselves So take not a wicked man now in the fulfilling of his lusts but looke on that man when hee hath slept and you will judge otherwise of him he cannot chuse but give a good testimony of a mortified man Fourthly consider the Equitie of it Christ died for sinne that wee might die to sinne 1 Pet. 2.24 1 Pet. 2.24 who his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his owne body on the tree that we being dead to sinne should live unto righteousnesse What did Christ lay downe his life for our lusts and shall not wee lay downe our lusts for Christ did Christ die for our sinnes and shall not we for Christ die to our sinnes Fiftly consider our sins are Traytors and rebels against heaven Tertul. Apol. cap. 2. Well saith Tertullian in his Apologie for the Christians in his second Chapter against Traytors and such as are common enemies every man must be a common Souldier Now our sinnes are Traytors against heaven we cannot better expresse our loyaltie and alleagance to our great Master God then to kill and put to death these rebels it is a most acceptable sacrifice to God Sixtly and lastly consider the example of other men we see what care men take and what paine they will undergoe not for the avoyding but for the putting off a naturall a temporall death for a while Men for the preserving of this temporall life they are content not onely to take harsh Physick but to indure launcing and searing and cutting off the parts a leg or an arme c. so to preserve naturall life if they doe so for preserving of this naturall life Oh what should wee doe for the gaining of eternall life It is true Christ compares lusts to eyes and hands and feete it is true they are eyes but such as when they are pulled out wee may see well enough They are hands but such hands as when they are cut off wee may still doe what wee have to doe without them Now shall a man for the preserving of his temporall life indure a member to be cut off shall not we cut off our superfluous lusts for the gaining of eternal life shal they not for the avoyding but for the respiting of death indure this pain S. Aug. Epist 45. and shal not we for the avoyding of eternall death S. Austin presseth this excellent well in his Epist 45. They doe this not as if there were any hope to put off death quite but only to adjourne and put it off for the present if they do this for the respite of death what should we do for the avoiding of eternal death saith he They undergoe many certaine torments perhaps that they may have hope but of a few uncertaine dayes what do they thus for a temporal life shal not we much more for the procuring of an eternal life Do they so much for the adjourning of a temporall death and shall not wee for the avoyding a perpetuall and eternall death If these arguments perswade us not none can so much for the fourth point the Motives to this death to sin Fiftly if we must die with Christ before we can live with him S. Ierome then as Saint Ierome somewhere hath it It is not so easie a thing as some happily conceive it to bee a Christian It was Iulians scoffe of Constantine Iulian. and in him of all Christians To be a Christian there is no more required but to wash themselves with a little water that is to bee baptised and how great soever their sinnes were before this cleanseth them saith Iulian or if it chance that a man fall into the same sinnes againe saith Iulian It is no more for these Christians but to beat their breasts and to smite their heads and all is well againe in the conclusion of his Caesars But the best is it matters not greatly what Iulian saith it concerned him to speake evill of that saith he was fallen away from if he had spoken well of it hee had spoken against himselfe But he that knew better then Iulian saith Mat. 7.14 straite if the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life Math. 7.14 The way to heaven is straite he that will enter in this way must strippe and divest himselfe of his old lusts The way of Christianitie is a narrow way nay that is not all it is a way full of paine and pressures to the flesh as Camerarius interprets that place Narrow is the way and full of paine to the flesh He that walkes this way must resolve to meet with difficulties hee must take out lessons that are harsh to flesh and bloud to mortifie nay to crucifie the flesh Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Every death is not sufficient to expresse the paine hee must undergoe but crucifying only the death that Christ died that was both a lingring and painfull death Thus every man that will live with Christ must first crucifie his sinfull lusts and affections Which notwithstanding I speake not to deterre or discourage any from entring into the way of Christianitie or having entred for going on in the same way No God-forbid that I should like the ten spies that Moses sent to spie out the land of Canaan bring an ill report upon the wayes of godlinesse but to informe us and arme us Hee that is to travaile into a farre Countrey on which his life and livelihood depends and should meet with a friend that should tell him the way were deepe and troublesome and that there were such difficulties did stand in the way hee would easily perceive that hee did tell him this not to discourage and dishearten him because hee is his friend nor to stay his journey because hee knowes it is upon his life his life lies on it but to arme and prepare him before hand that when he should meet with the difficulties hee might the better encounter them and goe over them I apply it thus Heaven is our countrey we all pretend wee are Pilgrims travelling to heaven the way that leads to heaven is this narrow way our death with Christ the necessitie of walking this way appeares in Math. 7.14 This way Mat. 7.114 and only this leades to life it is the straite gate and the narrow way that leads to life Now when wee tell you of Lyons and Beares in the way the difficulties and incombrances that you shall meet with it is not to discourage you but to arme and provide you It is not to dishearten you you must needs goe your life lies upon it but to arme and prepare you that when you meet with these difficulties you may be the better provided to encounter them It is good saith the Proverbe to know the worst of things before hand lest otherwise after wee have walked in the way we meet with incombrances and dreaming of nothing but delicacies
when a man dies Simile the soule of a man and the body of a man continue still but there is no life because the soule is not united to the body so I say there may be a spirituall death though there bee the Spirit of God and the Soule if the spirit be not united to the soule that is the first thing Secondly where the Spirit of God is as a consequent of the other there followes the faculties and acts of life the habituall presence of all the graces of the Spirit band the actuall exercise of them In these two consists the nature of this life These things premised I come to shew the necessary conjunction of this spirituall life that I have explained in the kind and nature of it with spirituall death If wee be dead with Christ wee beleeve that wee shall also live with him Which Hupotheticall proposition or supposition affords us this Catagoricall Position that Those that are dead with Christ shall live with him For when the Apostle saith If wee be dead with Christ we beleeve that wee shall also live with him This is supposed as much as if he had said in effect They that are dead with Christ shall live with him Or They that are dead to sinne shall live the life of grace Looke as it was with Christ so it is with the members of Christ as hee being dead rose againe and could not choose but rise againe Act. 2. As it is said Act. 2. the chaines of death the cords of death could not hold him So it is with every member of Christ hee that is dead with Christ must needes live with Christ Death cannot hold him not death in sinne The Apostle affirmes as much in this Chapter verse 5. For as wee are planted into the likenesse of his death so wee shall be also into the likenesse of his resurrection If wee be planted with Christ into his death there is our death with Christ we shall be also in his Resurrection there is the conjunction and connexion of our life with Christ where the Apostle not only averres the truth of the former proposition but withall insinuates the reason of it those that are planted with Christ into the similitude of his death shall also into the similitude of his Resurrection Why because they are planted with Christ As a Plant that is grafted into a stocke it partakes of the whole vertue of the stocke so every member of Christ hee that by faith is grafted into Christ and made partaker of the vertue of Christs death to the mortification of sinne that man also is made partaker of the vertue of his Resurrection to the reviving and quickening of him to a new life of grace The ground of it is this First to whomsoever Christ communicates himselfe hee communicates himselfe wholly to whomsoever hee imparts the vertue of his death for the killing of sinne to him hee imparts the vertue of his Resurrection to revive and quicken him to a new life of grace If wee be planted with Christ into the similitude of his death wee shall be also into the similitude of his Resurrection because wee are planted with him Every plant partakes of the whole vertue of the roote and by consequent wee partake as well of the quickening vertue of Christ to raise us to the life of grace as of his crucifying vertue to kill sinne The second reason is from the insufficiencie of the one without the other If wee be dead with Christ we beleeve that wee shall also live with him Why because death with Christ is insufficient unlesse wee live with Christ Philosophie saith that nature doth nothing in vaine much lesse doth Christ the God of Nature Now as in Christ it was in vaine for him to die for us unlesse hee had risen againe so it is in vaine and ineffectuall for the members of Christ to die to sin if they be not quickened to the life of grace The reason is this that death to sinne indeed defaceth the Image of sinne but it doth not renew in us the Image of God Now it is the Image of God that makes us fit and capable of eternall life It is true the righteousnesse of Christ gives us title to eternall life but our owne inherent righteousnesse qualifies us and disposeth and makes us fit and capable of it for without holinesse no man shall see God Flesh and bloud shall not enter into the kingdome of God By mortifying of sinne wee cease to be sinners by mortifying of sinne wee have the Image of Satan defaced but the Image of God is not renewed in us therefore besides our death with Christ there is required our life with Christ that so besides the defacing of Satans Image wee may have the Image of God renewed that wee may be capable of eternall life and be qualified and disposed and made fit to partake of the inheritance with the Saints in light The third Argument is drawne from the opposition betweene the life of sinne and the life of grace Philosophy tells us that in those opposites that are immediatly opposite that is such opposites where one must of necessitie be in the subject if one be removed the other of necessitie followes the subject Health and sicknesse are immediate objects a man must either bee sicke or well Now that which removes sicknesse restores health that that expells darknesse out of the Ayre it brings light Now the life of sinne and grace are thus opposite that that takes away the life of sinne then it must of necessitie bring with it the life of grace If Christ mortifie sinne in us and take away the life and vigour of sinne Christ of necessitie must bring into the same subject the life of grace because these are immediate objects hee that takes away the one must bring in the other as that that takes away sicknesse brings in health This shall suffice for the proofe of the point I come to make use of it Vse If wee be dead with Christ wee shall also live with him Those that are dead with Christ to sinne as Christ died for sinne those shall live the life of grace If it bee so if there be such a necessary connexion betweene these two then it followes backe againe that those that doe not live with Christ those are not dead with Christ For looke as it is betweene Faith and good Workes if good workes be necessarily joyned with Faith then where there are no good workes there is no faith So thus it followes if spirituall life the life of grace bee necessarily joyned with death to sinne then where there is no life of grace there is no death to sinne According to that of Saint Chrysostome S. Chrysost saith hee it is true indeed faith without workes is dead so it is true on the other side workes without faith is dead No man can performe good workes though hee may for substance yet not formaliter without Faith hee that hath not
Faith hath not Workes If good Workes be necessarily joyned with Faith then where there are no good Workes there is no Faith so if our life with Christ bee necessarily joyned with death to sin then where there is no life with Christ there is no death to sinne You will say how shall wee know that we are alive with Christ and dead to sin I answer you shall know it by three Characters First that which is the cause of spirituall life as that which is the cause of naturall life is union with that which is the principle and fountaine of life Now the fountaine of life is Christ so saith the Apostle in 1 Ioh. 5.12 1 Joh. 5.12 He that hath the Sonne hath life hee that hath not the Sonne hath not life Now what is it that unites us to Christ Gal. 2.20 It is faith that knits us to Christ so saith the Apostle Gal. 2.20 The life that I live is by faith in the Son of God Looke as the cause of the naturall life is the union to the principle of naturall life so the cause of spirituall life is union to that which is the principle of spirituall life Now the cause and fountaine of spirituall life is Christ so saith the Apostle in this chapter verse 11. Rom 6.11 Likewise reckon yee your selves dead to sinne but alive to God through Iesus Christ our Lord. It is through Christ that wee are alive to God Now I say that that knits and unites us to the fountaine of spirituall life it is Faith Hee then that hath Faith that man is alive to God but hee that hath no faith that man is dead in sinne that is the first character by which wee may know whether we be alive with Christ or no if we have this spirituall life Secondly we may know it if wee have the exercises of this spirituall life Every thing delights to operate and exercise answerable to its life where there is a naturall life there is a delight in actions that are naturall where there is a sinfull life there is a delight in actions that are sinfull Take a man that sinne lives and reignes in it is life to such a man to serve sinne to performe and satisfie his sinfull lusts so where there is delight in performing spirituall duties it is an undoubted argument that that man hath spirituall life in him Take a man that delights in prayer in hearing the Word in contemplating and meditating of Gods goodnesse towards him and in other spirituall duties this is an argument that that man hath spirituall life because he delights in spirituall actions The ground of it is this all delight proceeds from similitude and conformity wee delight in things that are like us Now when a man is spirituall there is some likenesse betweene him and spirituall actions and so hee delights in them Take a carnall naturall man he delights not in spirituall duties it is death to him to doe that which is good when he comes to betake himselfe to prayer to performe religious duties to sanctifie the Lords day to keepe a watch over himselfe to checke his sinfull lusts it is death to a naturall man Why hee hath no delight in spirituall actions because hee hath nothing in him that is spirituall all delight proceeds from likenesse and similitude that is the second Character that wee have this spirituall life if we delight in spirituall actions Thirdly and lastly another Argument of spirituall life is if we have the properties of life and they are three as Philosophers say The first is nourishment The second is augmentation The third is generation or production of the like So answerable wheresoever there is spirituall life in some proportion there is all these three First there is nourishment As new borne babes desire the sincere milke of the Word 2 Pet. 1.2 2 Pet. 1.2 Where there is a new life there is a desire of the sincere milke of the Word Take a man that is a dead man hee desires no meate Why there is no life in him Now looke as a man that lives a naturall life hee desires naturall food so hee that is spirituall hee that lives a spirituall life hee hungers and thirsts after the word As where there is the life of sinne in a man that man desires after all things that may fill and increase and preserve that life in him so in spirituall life there is a desire after the spirituall food of the Word to preserve this life The ground of it is this God never gives any grace to a man but hee gives a man a care and indeavour to preserve that grace God never gives a man spirituall life but he gives withall a desire to preserve that life Now how can a man preserve it How should a man preserve life but by food by diligent repayring to the places where the spirituall food of his soule is provided It is with this spirituall life as it was with the fire on the Altar Simile The fire on the Altar though it came from heaven yet when it was kindled they were bound to preserve it by ordinary meanes to put fuell to it so when God hath kindled that spirituall life wee must not turne off all the care on God let God take care for the life hee hath wrought in us but God will give a desire to a man to keepe that fire to put continuall fuell to it to preserve and nourish it That is the first propertie of life to looke for nourishment God never gives a man grace but he workes in that man a desire and indeavour to preserve it The second propertie is Augmentation and growth and proceeding from one degree of grace to another when wee find our selves more strong to performe the duties that are spirituall when wee find sinne more weakened This spirituall growth in grace is a propertie of this spirituall life If divers Plants bee planted if wee see some of them grow and others doe not wee conclude this is dead why it growes not As it is in nature so it is in this spirituall life where there is no growth there is no life Every thing that lives hath the property of life it hath the facultie of growing Which I would notwithstanding have to be understood not but that this life may admit of a Winter there may bee an increase and decrease but yet there is a continuall strayning after perfection Though sometimes the streame may be so strong that it may carry them downe yet they bend their strength against the streame they labour to grow up more and more That is the second propertie of life augmentation where there is spirituall life there is growth The third is Generation where there is life there is a facultie and power to beget As in a coale a live coale will kindle a dead one a dead coale cannot kindle another there is no heat in it So it is in this spirituall life where it is
is in Christ may bee assured that hee shall be saved but hee that knowes that hee is mortified and dead with Christ hee may be assured that hee is actually in Christ therefore he may be assured that hee shall be saved I aske whence comes this death with Christ Whence comes it that sinne is mortified in a man Is it not because hee is in Christ and is united to Christ and thence it is because hee is united to Christ that hee partakes of the vertue and Spirit of Christ whereby sinne is mortified Let this bee sufficient to bee spoken for the proofe of the point Vse 1 In the first place it serves for confutation for if they that are dead with Christ may be assured by this that they shall also live with Christ Then surely a man may attaine a greater assurance of salvation then Bellarmine and the rest of that faction perswade men he may They say a man cannot attaine it by the contemplating and viewing of the grace of God in him hee can but attaine a kind of hope of salvation a kind of doubting conjecturall morall assurance but for this assurance that we speake of our Countrey-men at Rhemes sticke not to say that it is a damnable false thing upon Rom. 9. Rhem. on Rom. 9. such an assurance as is impossible to bee attained in this life except it be by revelation and by extraordinary meanes And then they say moreover if it bee â—ttained it is perillous and dangerous to attaine because it opens to men a gappe to all licentiousnesse for say they if a man may be assured of his salvation let him doe what he will hee shall be saved I cannot now enter into the lists with these Rhemists at this time but give me leave to their objection to returne two things First say they it is impossible for a man by mortification to come to be assured of his salvation I desire them to unriddle me this They say a man by mortifying by macerating himselfe by fasting and sack-cloth and by whipping himselfe hee may merit salvation and heaven May hee merit heaven and not bee assured hee shall come to heaven What is it because God is ignorant and knowes not their good deeds or because hee is unjust and will not reward them If they say either it is blasphemie if they give way to either of them then they give way to this doctrine that wee speake of If a man by macerating himselfe in sack-cloth and ashes by whipping and bearing himselfe may merit heaven as the Papists joyntly affirme or most of them And Getzer in his second booke of Discipline Chap. 8. then certainly a man by mortification may come to have assurance of heaven for if a man bee not assured but doubts that doubt must come that either God knowes not that wee deserve heaven by our mortification and then God is not omniscient Or if hee doe know it hee will not reward us according to our merits and then hee is unjust either of which to affirme is blasphemy So their owne tenent overthrowes themselves See the difference betweene truth and errour one truth and vertue contraries not another but one vice and errour contradict each other as Covetousnesse opposeth Prodigalitie c. Secondly say they as it is impossible to attaine so it is dangerous to attaine this opens a gappe to licentiousnesse I wonder what feare there is of this since wee affirme that this assurance is to bee had by holinesse by mortifying of our sinfull lusts It is true indeed if we had assurance if we did maintaine that it might bee gotten notwithstanding that we went on in the practice of our sinfull lusts then it were another matter but wee affirme that this assurance is had only by the practice of mortification by mortifying and subduing our sinfull lusts And as it is gained by this so it is to be preserved by this I wonder then what feare here can be of opening a gappe to licentiousnesse and wickednesse by maintaining assurance of salvation when we maintaine here with that assurance is had by mortification and is to be kept and preserved only by it The rule of Philosophy here is true the same cause that produceth the same cause preserveth a thing but to let them passe and to returne to our selves If those that are dead with Christ may Vse 2 come to be assured that they shall also live with him how should this stirre up all of us to labour for mortification To indeavour to subdue and mortifie our sinfull lusts that we may come to bee assured that after wee shall live with God! It is that that the Apostle commands 2 Pet. 1.10 saith he 2 Pet. 1.10 Give diligence to make your calling and election sure Give diligence it is not a thing so easily attained as some dreame it is a thing that requires cost and paines a man hath it not but after long practise and indeavour of mortification Now I say it is that that the Apostle perswades us unto to give diligence to make our Calling and election sure It is sure enough in Gods counsell we should labour to make it sure in our owne conscience Wee may complaine men give diligence to make their houses sure to make their lands and preferments and offices and friends sure but how few give diligence to make their Calling and election sure Yet I know not when there was ever more need that wee of this place should labour to make our calling and election sure then now wee perceive already that wrath is gone out from God and the Angell of the Lord hath strucken some among us and they have fallen on the right hand and on the left hand before us and behind us and wee our selves know not when our turne may come Now the lesse assurance we have of being here on earth the more wee should labour for assurance of our well being hereafter in heaven And if wee have once this assurance this will bestead us and minister comfort in all calamities What though we bee poore if wee have this assurance wee know wee shall come there where there is durable unperishing riches What if we be in disgrace this will make us possesse our soules with patience and tell us that we shall come shortly to a place where wee are assured all teares shall be wiped from our eyes and all that blemisheth our name What though we bee sicke wee are assured that wee shall come to a place where we shall have no sicknesse but constant health What though death come It will make us chearfully to welcome it and it will make us call it as Saint Ciprian doth S. Cyprian the Midwife of immortalitie that shall translate and remove us from a fading perishing life to the everlasting life Then let us that God hath bin so gracious unto that he hath spared us and visited others labour to improve the time to practise mortification that in case worse come wee may yet be
provided If wee adresse our selves to this who knowes if God will not graciously spare us and not afflict us or if it come wee shall have infinite comfort then when our dores shall bee shut up and we have no other comfort yet then our conscience will witnesse comfortably that notwithstanding wee die yet wee shall come where wee shall live for ever Oh then as the Apostle saith let us give all diligence to make our calling and election sure It is a matter of paines it is not easily gotten but it will abundantly recompence the paines If wee looke and finde our sinfull lusts mortified in part let not that satisfie us let us not rest there but goe further and proceed in the worke of mortification for looke as our mortification is so is our assurance the weaker our mortification is the weaker our assurance of salvation the stronger our mortification the better assurance wee have of salvation Thirdly if they that are dead with Vse 3 Christ may rest assured that they shall live with him then by the rule of contraries they that are not dead with Christ cannot assure themselves that they shall live with him If only he can be assured of salvation in whō sinfull lusts are mortified then hee in whom they are not mortified that man cannot bee assured of salvation Indeed hee may have a kinde of a wilde hope a presumptuous confidence but it is such as will faile him in the time of need Like to your Winter brookes or land-floods In the time of Winter when a man hath no use of water they flow abundantly but in Summer in the time of drought when men have need they are gone they are not to bee had So that assurance that a man hath as long as hee goes on in the practice of his sinfull lusts it is a wild deceitfull presumption such an assurance as will doe him no good when hee comes to need it I have read it was the manner of tryall that was used when there was a controversie of land whether it belonged to Ireland or to England they did take Snakes and Toades and poysonous Serpents and put there and if they lived there they concluded it belonged to England if they died they judged it belonged to Ireland the reason was because no venemous thing will live there I apply it thus sinfull lusts are like Snakes and Toades and venemous creatures looke what soule they live in if they live in a mans soule it is an argument that hee belongs not to heaven and wee know what place he belongs to then onely to hell if it dye in us we may assure our selves that wee belong to heaven Hee in whom sinne lives and his lusts continue unmortified that man cannot assure himselfe of salvation The reason is because all assurance comes from the promise of God God hath made no promise to men that continue and goe on in the service and obedience of their sinfull lusts hee threatens nothing but death and destruction to such If yee live after the flesh yee shall dye Rom. 8.13 Rom. 8.13 This shall suffice to have spoken of the third point the certainty of this connexion If we be dead with Christ we beleeve that we shall also live with him Mortification seales up to a mans soule and conscience the assurance of salvation for they that are dead with Christ may rest assured and perswaded that they shall live with him I come to the fourth and last point The cause and ground of this death to sinne and this life to grace which is Christ If wee be dead with Christ we beleeve that we shall also live with him If we be dead with Christ that is if we be dead by the vertue and power of Christ then wee beleeve that wee shall also live by vertue and power of the same Christ The conclusion is this that As our death to sinne so our life to grace they both proceede from Christ If we be dead with Christ saith the Apostle that is if wee be dead by the vertue and power of Christ if sinne be dead in us then wee beleeve that wee shall also live with Christ the life of grace here and of glory hereafter by the power and vertue of the same Christ I say the point on which I shall insist is this that as our death to sinne so the life of Grace they both proceede from Christ Christ is the author and the producer of both So saith Saint Paul in Gal. 2.20 Gal. 2.20 saith the Apostle I am crucified with Christ yet notwithstanding I live yet not I but Christ liveth in mee and the life that I live in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himselfe for me Looke what the Apostle Paul speakes of himselfe the same may every Christian in whom sinne is dead and mortified and the life of grace wrought speake of himselfe saith the Apostle I am crucified with Christ that is sin is crucified in me sinfull lusts are crucified and mortified in me by the vertue of Christ so saith he I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me I live by the faith of the Son of God As I am crucified to sinne by Christ so I live by the vertue of Christ Phil. 3.8 9 10 So in Phillip 3.8 9 10. He desires so earnestly to be found in Christ that he contemned and undervalued all things but this that he might be found in Christ saith he I account all losse for the excellent knowledge of Christ for whom I suffer the losse of all things nay I account them not onely losse but dung that I may winne Christ and be found in him we see in verse 10. the reason that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffeings being made conformable to his death The reason why the Apostle desired to be found in Christ and why in comparison of this he accounted all things as drosse it was because he might bee made partaker of Christs death What is the fellowship of Christs death but to bee partaker of the Spirit of Christ that raised him from the dead that by the same Spirit of Christ hee might bee raysed from the death of sinne to the life of grace The reason of it is this because as our death to sinne so our life to grace are both the worke of grace from whom can wee expect the worke of grace but from him in whom is the fulnesse of grace so saith Saint Iohn Ioh 1.14 The Word was made flesh Ioh. 1.14 that is Christ and dwelt among us and wee saw his glory as the glory of the onely begotten Sonne of God full of grace and truth Our death to sin and our life to Christ are both the effects of Gods grace Now from whom can we have the effects of Gods grace but from him in whom alone is the fulnesse of grace The word was made manifest among us
in whom is the fulnesse of truth and grace Look as it is in the naturall body so it is in the misticall body as in the naturall body all the naturall motion proceeds from the head and from the vertue that is derived from the head to the members so in the mysticall body all the spirituall motion it proceeds from the influence of the head Christ is the head and from him as from the head is derived all the vertue to the members of Christ by which the death to sinne and the life of grace is wrought in us likewise Looke as it was in the oyle of Aaron the oyle that was powred on the head of Aaron it stayd not on his head but descended to the skirts of his cloathing So the Spirit of Christ it rests not on Christ onely but from Christ as the head it descends upon all the members of Christ The reason thereof why as our death to sinne so the life of grace proceeds from Christ is because both are the workes of grace according to that of the Evangelist in him dwells all the fulnesse of grace and in Collos 2. the Apostle saith In him dwells the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily For the better and fuller opening of the point give me leave to propose and resolve one question and that is this Quest If our death to sinne and our life of grace both proceede from Christ that Christ is the author of them actions then how is Christ the author of them what kinde of cause is Christ sayd to be both of our death to sinne and of the life of grace I answer briefly Answ Christ may be sayd to be the cause both of our death to sin and of the life of grace in a fourefold respect or hee is a fourefold kind of cause Christ is the 1 meritorious 2 exemplary 3 morall 4 efficient Cause as of our death to sin so likewise of our life to grace First Christ is the meritorious cause for Christ did by his death and obedience not onely purchase for us a release and freedome from hell and consequently title to heaven but Christ merited for us the donation of the Spirit of God whereby we are made fit for and capable of that inheritance Christ not onely purchased a right to heaven but grace holines whereby we might come at last to jus in re For as I sayd before by the righteousnes of Christ onely we come to have right to heaven but it is our owne righteousnesse whereby we come to be made capable of that right to heaven for saith the Apostle flesh and blood shal not enter into the kingdome of heaven Flesh and blood that is nature uncorrected unsanctified and uncontrolled it shall not inherit the kingdome of God therefore Christ hath purchased not onely redemption from hell and title to heaven but the donation of the Spirit of God whereby we are made fit and capable of heaven whereby wee are made meete as the Apostle saith to be partakers of the inheritance with the Saints in light Ioh. 17.19 So saith the Evangelist Ioh. 17.19 For their sakes saith our Saviour I sanctifie my selfe that they also may be sanctified through the truth Christ sanctified himselfe not onely to redeeme us from hell and to procure title to heaven but he sanctified himselfe that his members might bee sanctified that by the merit and vertue of Christs sanctification we might be sanctified So saith the Apostle to Titus he hath bestowed on us the spirit through Christ Tit. 3.5 Tit. 3.5 not by the workes of righteousnesse that wee had done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour It is through Christ onely as through the meritorious cause by whom wee obtaine the Spirit of God by which Spirit our sinfull lusts are mortified in us and by which we are quickned and revived to the life of grace so Christ is the meritorious cause hee deserved the donation of the Spirit from his Father Secondly Christ as hee is the meritorious so he is the exemplary cause as of death to sinne so of our life to grace Christ in dying to sinne he set himselfe as a patterne to us to teach us also that wee should dye to sinne Christ in rising from the grave hee set himselfe a patterne to us to teach us to rise from sinne so he is the exemplary cause For Christ is a patterne for our immitation in his morall actions and wee must resemble after a sort some of his Mediatorious actions also not onely in the good duties that are commanded in the Law but in those that he performed for our redemption It is true in a different manner Christ is a patterne to us in actions morall that is in the good things that he performed that are commanded in the Law he is our patterne to be imitated in the same kinde As Christ was gracious to the poore so should wee to them that are poore and in distresse in the same kind as he was temperate so may wee imitate him in the same kinde though not in the same degree But for his actions Mediatorious we are to resemble some of them too though not in the same kinde yet in some way of use As hee died for sinne so wee should dye to sinne as he rose from the grave so wee should rise from sinne to newnesse of life so still Christ is our patterne As Saint Austin saith Christ came not onely to helpe us and to performe the things that wee ought to have done but he came to teach us by his example what we ought to do And he teacheth us he is our Schoolemaster not only in his actions morall but in his actions mediatorious in the former we may imitate him in the same kind though we cannot in the same degree in the latter wee cannot imitate him in the same kinde yet in some sort wee may We should be as the Heletropium that opens and shuts with the Sunne so wee may follow the lambe wheresoever he goeth as hee dyed for sinne so we must dye to sinne as hee rose from the grave so we must rise from the death of sinne to newnesse of life so Christ is the exemplary cause of our death to sinne and the life of grace Thirdly Christ is the morall moving perswading cause of both That the Apostle wills Timothy to remember 2 Tim. 2.8 Remember saith hee that Iesus Christ of the seede of David was raised from the dead according to my Gospel he bids him remember it why remember it because the very thought and remembrance that Christ dyed and rose againe it cannot chuse but be a powerful motive to holinesse for it makes men conclude argue with themselves what did Christ lay downe his life for us and shall not wee lay downe our lusts for him Did Christ arise againe the third day
said to be a cause in regard of the stipulation and contract that wee make then solemnly by our selves or by those that undertake for us that are our sureties our God-fathers and God-mothers It is a meanes in that regard Let this suffice to be spoken of the meanes whereby Christ as an efficient cause workes this death of sinne and life of grace Before I passe let me tell you as by these causes this death to sinne and life of grace is wrought so there are other causes that serve not to kindle this sacred sparke but to increase it and make it grow to a flame such meanes as doe not serve for the performing of the first act of mortification and vivification but when once there is mortification and quickning in the soule they increase both and those are principally two 1. Faith 2. The Lords Supper Col. 2.12 First Faith so saith the Apostle in Collos 2.12 Yee are buried with Christ in Baptisme wherein you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God I say faith is not the meanes to give us the first assault and impression upon sinne to mortifie and subdue it at the first but when we are morfied Faith helpes and increaseth and perfects that worke of mortification So that the sophisme of our adversaries is easily answered say they if wee bee risen through Christ to a new life of grace and through faith then say they wee have Faith before wee be quickned for say they that which is the cause of the effect must goe before as the cause of that effect Now if Faith bee a meanes to raise us to a new life then before wee have a new life we have Faith for saith the Apostle Yee are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God therefore wee have Faith before wee can rise I answer with Amesius Faith is not the cause of the first mortification but the cause of the increase of mortification it is not that by which at the first wee are quickned but when once wee are quickned it is that by which the worke of vivification is more and more increased Conceive it thus The worke of grace is only the fruit and effect of the Spirit of grace Now when the Spirit of God enlivens and quickens us it begets in us as other graces so the grace of faith Now when this grace of faith is wrought in us by this wee are united more to Christ then before and so partake more of the vertue of Christ and so the worke of Mortification and vivification is more increased Faith then concurres not to the first act of mortification and vivification but it concurres to the increase and augmentation of both The second meanes or cause that concurres not to the first act but to the increase of mortification and vification it is the Lords Supper for that serves as the antient Father calls it as physicke received into the body not only for the checking and curbing and expelling of obnoxious humours but for the restoring of health by consequent so the Lords Supper duly received it serves as a meanes to abate sinfull lusts in us if it bee worthily received I say not by a dead faith hee that receives it worthily it is a meanes to mortifie sinne in him and so by consequent for the quickning of him to a new life the life of grace though not to the first act yet to the increase of that former life that was in him It is called meate Now as the meate that wee receive cannot availe to beget a new life in a man put meat into the mouth of a dead man it doth not quicken him put meate into the mouth of a living man and it increaseth his life So in the Lords Supper worthily received it is not a meanes to worke the first act of Mortificatification and vivification but when once Mortification and vivification are begun when there is a new life in a man this serves as spirituall food to strengthen and increase that life Let this suffice for the answer to the question proposed If Christ bee the cause of death to sinne and of the life of grace how hee is the cause hee is the cause meritorious the exemplary the morall and efficient cause hee is the cause efficient both by his Spirit by his Word and by Baptisme And then he is the cause efficient though not of the first act of mortification and vivification yet of the increase of them that is by Faith and the Lords Supper I come briefly to the use Well if through Christ alone Vse and by vertue derived from him as a head wee die to sinne and live to grace then this serves to stirre us all up to desire and indeavour to bee in Christ that wee may partake of the vertue of Christ whereby sinne may bee killed in us and mortified and whereby wee may be quickned to the life of grace It was the desire of Constantine and the glory of him too hee professed that hee had rather be a member of Christ then the Lord and King of the Empire Now if wee desire to partake of the vertue of Christ our first care must be to labour to be in Christ For looke as it is with a Plant it partakes not of the vertue of the stocke till it be grafted into it and then it doth so it is with us if we be grafted into Christ wee shall partake of the vertue of Christ by which sinne will be mortified in us and we shall be quickned to a new life of grace As it is in the naturall body the members partake not of the vertue of the head unlesse they be united to the head so it is with us except wee be united to Christ through a true and lively faith which is the sinew and ligament by which we are tyed to Christ we doe not partake of the vertue of Christ Indeede many of us desire the favour of great ones to receive benefit from them but there is no man no Monarch on the earth by whom wee can reape that benefit as we may by Christ if we be in him We acknowledge that Kings are Lords of life and death yet they are not Lords of this life and death All the Kings and Monarchs in the world though they may take away the life of their subjects yet they cannot take away the life of one lust or sinne though perhaps they may give life to a man that is not to take it away when they may yet they cannot give a new life to a man they cannot worke this new life the life of grace Therefore it should bee our desire and indeavour to be in Christ that wee may partake of the vertue of Christ since it is onely hee from whom the vertue comes by which sinne is mortified and wee are quickned to a new life Zach. 13.1 Let us labour to bee in him that wee may partake of this vertue In Zach. 13.1 It is
checks and controlls the hard conceit that the world entertained of Christ who looked on him in the false glasse of envie and tooke him or mistooke him to bee a Wine bibber a Glutton a Blasphemer and what you will saving what they should and so that hee suffered death for his owne sinnes and transgressions This But checks and controlls the conceit that the world had of Christ Which being so The deduction hence in a word is that What Christ suffered on earth either torments of body or anguish of soule it was not for any sinne or fault of his owne that hee was guiltie of personally Wee looking to outward appearance wee judged him smitten of God and afflicted but this But hath the force of a negation there was no such thing I say whatsoever Christ suffered on earth whether torment of body or anguish of soule it was not for any sinne of his owne This the Apostle Saint Peter witnesseth 1 Pet. 3.18 Christ suffered once for sinne 1 Pet. 3.18 saith the Apostle The just for the unjust that hee might bring us to God Where the Apostle Saint Peter having said that Christ suffered for sinne lest some should misconceive that Christ suffered for his owne sinne hee prevents this cavill and removes the ground of suspition The just for the unjust If Christ had suffered for his owne sinnes hee had not suffered as just but as unjust as a malefactour hee had suffered the punishment due to his owne transgressions so saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 2.20 21 22. 1 Pet. 2.20 21 22. Exhorting those to whom hee wrote to patient suffering and induring of injuries though undeserved hee sets before them the patterne of Christ who though hee had committed no evil and there was no guile found in his mouth yet when he was reviled reviled not againe when hee suffered yet notwithstanding hee reproached not but committed himselfe to God that judgeth righteously Marke though hee had committed no evill nor there was no guile found in his mouth there was no sinne or demerite of his owne that he should deserve such punishments And this is one difference that the Apostle observes Heb. 7.26 betweene the high Priests under the Law and our high Priest Christ they offered first for their owne sinnes and then for the sinnes of the people but Christ had no need to offer sacrifice for his owne sinnes for he had none but we have such a high Priest and such a one it became us to have as is holy and undefiled separate from sinners And this is the reason likewise why the Prophet Isay in this Chapter assigning the true reason of Christs suffering hee repeats and inculcates these and the like phrases Hee bore our infirmities and carried our sorrowes hee was broken for our iniquities and wounded for our transgressions and with his stripes wee are healed Still hee layes all the fault and blame upon our selves but hee doth not so much as mention any fault in himselfe whereby hee did deserve to die And indeed how could hee suffer for his owne sinne that was free from all sinne So saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.21 2 Cor. 5.21 Hee was made sinne for us that knew no sinne Hee knew no sinne that is hee did practise none he committed none for in spirituall things wee are said to know no more good then wee practise so Christ is said to know no evill that is hee practised it not Hee made him sinne for us that knew no sinne Hee was free from originall sinne in his birth and conception And hee was free from actuall sinnes in his life and conversation First hee was free from Originall sinne in his birth and conception For whereas there are two parts of originall sinne First the imputation of the guilt of that actuall sinne of Adam in eating the forbidden fruit Secondly the corruption or perversnesse derived and propagated to us from our first Parents Christ was free from both First Hee was free from the guilt of Adams sinne though hee had his nature of Adam hee was a child of Adam but hee was not begotten by Adam not by a sonne of man the latter whereof is that that entitleth us to our first Parents transgression and makes it ours By one man sinne entred into the world c. Secondly for that corruption and perversnesse that followed on that transgression of the command of God Christ was free from this not by vertue of the Wombe that bare him as if the blessed Virgin Mary had beene free from sinne as Scotus affirmes upon the Third sentence distinct 26. Article 4. but hee was free from sinne by the supernaturall worke of the holy Ghost sanctifying and purging that substance of the Virgin whereof his body was framed from the common infection of our nature so that he is styled by the Angell Luke 1.75 Luk. 1.75 That holy thing by way of excellencie Secondly as Christ was free from originall so from actuall sinne as hee was free from Originall sinne in his birth and conception so he was free from actuall sinne in his life and conversation so in the ninth verse of this chapter Hee had done no violence there was no deceit in his mouth hee committed no evill as Saint Peter speakes On this ground Christ challengeth the Iewes Which of you can accuse mee of evill It is true they accused him and laid many crimes to his charge as what innocent was ever so happy as to be exempted and priviledged from unjust imputations but how flight they were you may judge by this in that the Iudge before whom he stood as prisoner at the barre accounted him acquitted though hee used no oratory but silence I find no sinne in this man If Christ had had any sinne of his owne hee could not have satisfied God for us hee might have quit scores with God for himselfe but for our hand-writing it had stood still Let this suffice to shew that what Christ suffred on earth in body or soule it was not for any sinne of his owne but for us not that hee stood personally guiltie But how then could it stand with the justice of God to suffer him to die Obiect if hee did not deserve death Ezek. 18.20 for so wee find in Ezek. 18.20 so runnes the menace if Christ did not sinne how could God suffer him to indure the punishment due to sinne I answer briefly Christ is to bee considered in a double respect Answ either as a private person or as a publike person standing in our roome and stead If Christ bee considered as a private person so it is true it could not stand with the justice of God to suffer him to die because hee was not guiltie of inherent personall sinne and shall not the Iudge of all the world doe right But consider Christ as a publike person standing in our roome and stead taking on him the guilt and burden of our transgressions so the justice of God required that hee should
die because though hee were not guiltie of any personall sinne yet hee was so guiltie as our sinnes were translated and imputed to him and so it was requisite hee should die Looke as it is among men it is no injustice that a man should require a debt of him that hath undertaken to pay it for another especially if hee bee able and willing to pay So God was just to exact the debt of obedience and suffering hee having undertaken it and being both able and willing to pay Joh. 10.18 Hee was willing Ioh. 10.18 I lay downe my life there is no man that takes it from mee Hee layed it downe unforced Secondly Christ was able to pay the debt hee was able by dying to satisfie the justice of God to the utmost to drinke the cuppe of Gods wrath to the dregges for us and to free us by death Heb. 2.26 Hee is able to save them that come to him to the very utmost Nay he not only freed us but himselfe too from being held captive under the power and dominion of death Let this suffice for the first Use for instruction that if Christ had no sinne of his owne how it could stand with the justice of God that he should beare the punishment due to sinne Secondly it serves to discover the extreame malice of the Iewes against Christ especially the Scribes and Pharisees whose heads as they were busiest in plotting so their hands were deepest imbrued in the executing of Christs death notwithstanding such was his innocencie avouched to their faces by him that betrayed him Iudas I have betrayed the innocent bloud and by him that condemned him Pilate I find no fault in this man Yet such was their malice they laid the greatest things against him that the wit of man could devise or impudencie object and yet they were not satisfied with this till as Wolves of the evening they had torne the Lambe of God without sorrow or compassion The blood of a meane man unjustly spilt is a crying sinne a skarlet sinne of a deepe crimson dye every wound is a mouth and every drop a tongue to cry as the blood of Abel for vengeance on the murtherer but the death of Christ the crucifying of Christ it was a sinne of so high a straine that for this sinne God hath spent his plagues hee hath emptied the quiver of his judgements on that nation and made them ever since a reproach to the world a hissing and gasing stocke and an astonishment to men and Angels If any enquire the way how it must be that the crucifying of Christ should bee so grievous a sinne in the Iewes Quest when that which they did was no other then that which God in his determinate counsell had fore-ordained Act. 2.23 Him have yee with wicked hands taken and crucified Act. 2.23 being delivered by the determinate counsell and foreknowledge of God How then could it be so hainous a sinne in the Iewes to crucifie Christ seeing what they did was according to the determinate counsell of God I answer briefly thus Answ It is true indeede they did no other then God had ordained to be done but yet it was little thankes to them who least intended it they did performe Gods purpose but all this while they had little thought and purpose in them to performe it Isay 10.5.6 See the like Isay 10.5.6 Oh Assirian saith God the rod of mine anger and the staffe in their hand is mine indignation I will send him against an hipocriticall nation and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoyle and the prey and to tread them downe like the mire in the streets Howbeit hee meaneth not so neyther doth his heart thinke so What then doth he thinke Surely I will cut off and destroy nations not a few See what the Lord saith in Vers 12. Wherefore saith the Lord by the mouth of the Prophet when I have performed my whole worke upon Mount Sion and Ierusalem I will punish the fruite of the proud heart of the King of Assiria Observe the King of Assiria was Gods instrument his officer and executioner to inflict that punishment that the Iewes had deserved and it was Gods will and decree notwithstanding because though hee did that that God had purposed to bee done yet hee had not a purpose to doe it because that that he did was not out of obedience to Gods will it was not for the glory of God but out of a proud humour therefore when God had scourged them God would punish him and when his people of Israel had felt the rod hee would cast the rod into the fire of his indignation So then to apply it looke as it stood with the King of Assiria in punishing the Iewes so it was with the Iewes in their crucifying of Christ It is true what Caiphas unawares prophesied that it was expedient that one man should die and give his life for the people yet the Iewes intended it not when they put him to death but did it out of malice Matth. 27.28 Matth. 27.28 and that with God that eyes not so much the worke and action of the hand as the intent and affection of the doer I say with God they were esteemed no better than cruell murderers and butchers of Christ So Saint Peter stickes not to tell them to their face Act. 2.23 Act. 2.23 Your wicked hands have crucified him that God in his determinate counsell delivered still he calls them wicked hands though they did that which was Gods determinate counsell It is not sufficient to make an action good and warrantable that it bee conformable to Gods secret will in the thing willed except there be a conformitie in the manner of our willing For a man while the will of God is hid may doe that that God wills not without sin our rule being the revealed will as the Glosse hath it As a man that hath a Father or a Friend sicke his friend knowes not whether hee shall recover though God have determined that the man shall dye yet hee may pray for his recovery he wills a diverse thing from that of God and yet it is warantable A man may doe that which is Gods secret will and yet be faultie if hee doe not doe it in that manner that God wills Let this suffice to bee spoken of the second Use Thirdly as it serves for the just condemnation of the Iewes and such as unjustly condemned Christ so in the next place it seemes to remoove the grosse carnall conceit in the vaine hearts of men in our dayes men that make the square and rule of their judgement successe in outward things and pronounce of men of their innocencie or guilt of their favour or disfavour with God according to their prosperitie or adversitie according to the successe of things below A thing that falls foule upon the Papists that make outward prosperitie an inseparable note of the Church Thus
it was with the friends of Iob miserable comforters as himselfe justly stiles them they saw him afflicted in his goods in his children in his person and from these premises they concluded presently that he was an hypocrite Thus it was with the barbarous people Act. 23. Act. 23. when they saw a Viper fastned upon Saint Pauls hand presently the Viper strongly indited him a murtherer Nay Christs Disciples did so Joh. 9.29 Ioh. 9.29 no sooner did they see a man that was borne blind but they they questioned with our Saviour Who sinned this man or his parents that he was borne blind implying that it must needs bee that this man must sinne himselfe blinde So it was with the Iewes in this Chapter Vers 3. they saw Christ despised and rejected of men and presently they inferre that he was rejected of God smitten of God and humbled for his owne sinnes but such men must thinke that even Christ himselfe who like Absalom from the crowne of his head to the sole of his foote had no stayne or blemish of sinne in him yet hee tasted as deepe of the cup of Gods wrath and more than any mortal man besides he that stood highest in his Fathers favour was most low and despicable in the eyes of the world he that was the favourite of his Father in whom his Father was well pleased yet hee was not exempt from that scourge wherewith God chasteneth every Sonne that he receiveth Fourthly if Christ suffered not for his owne sinnes This reades us a Lecture of patience to put up injuries though they bee not deserved in the world It is the plea of some men when they are injured it would not trouble me if I deserved it thinke what Christ deserved at the hands of the Iewes what hee had done that hee was so used In 2 Pet. 4 21. Christ dyed 2 Pet. 4.21 and hath left us an example to follow his steps What example but an example of patience that we should follow him when wee suffer undeserving Seneca gives that advise in his 69. Epistle as if hee had beene a Disciple of Christ 2. Pet. 3.21 We should labour to imitate Christ in this in putting up and digesting injuries though on our part they be cause lesse and undeserved In 2. Pet. 3.21 What glory is it if when yee be buffeted for your faults yee take it patiently what great matter is it but if when you doe well and suffer for it then you beare it patiently this is acceptable to God It is true it is acceptable to God that wee suffer punishment patiently when wee have deserved it but when wee are patient and have not deserved it it is highly acceptable as the word imparts Fiftly and lastly Christ dyed not for his owne sinnes then here is Balme in Gilead comfort for wounded and distressed consciences that faint under the weight and burden of their sinnes It is true indeede if Christ had dyed for his owne sinnes then our estate had beene woefull and lamentable then hee had quit scores only with God for himselfe but we should still have remayned as deepely ingaged as ever and have beene cast into utter darkenesse and have beene reserved in chaynes till we had payd the utmost farthing but now Christ hath suffered for us Then as the Apostle inferres Rom. 8.34 Rom. 8.34 Who shall condemne Let Sathan the accuser of the brethren bring what objections hee will this one plea will answer all Christ dyed if he dyed then he hath appeased the wrath of God to us and payd the debt of the Law and the punishment of the Law and fulfilled obedience and given satisfaction to God Christ had no sinne of his owne therefore what hee suffered it was for our sinnes and transgressions This shall suffice to bee spoken of the negative part from this particular But that carries the force of a negation That Christ was affirmed to suffer for his owne sinne We judged him smitten of God and humbled But. The affirmative part followes to be handled But He was wounded for our transgressions Where I shall not neede to tell you that by being wounded in this place wee are not to understand onely nor principally as some Popish writers doe the bodily torments and tortures of Christ that hee as this day indured on the Crosse but withall and especially those secret agonies and conflicts of soule that he felt that were caused out of a deeper apprehension of the greatnesse of our sinnes that hee suffered for and the sense of the greatnesse of Gods wrath that hee then sustained which being so the conclusion from this affirmitive part is this that Christ Iesus suffered extreame torments in his body and sad and amazing agonies in his soule for our sinnes and trangressions He was wounded for our transgressions c. For the proofe of it I neede not range far from the Text. In the fourth verse of this Chapter surely saith the Prophet hee hath borne our griefes and sorrowes In the fifth vers hee was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was on him by his stripes wee are healed In the sixth vers The Lord hath layd upon him the iniquitie of us all In the eighth vers For the transgression of my people was he stricken In vers 10. He made his soule an offering for sinne In the 12. vers he poured out his soule to death Wee see he was broken for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was on him and this not onely in body but in soule too he poured out his soule to death he made his soule an offering for sinne If you aske the reason why I answer first It is a rule of the Schooles where the gift is free and undeserved without merit or desert on our part there the best if not the onely reason that can bee assigned of that gift is the free grace and love of the doner So this gift is freely from Christs love to us so saith the Apostle Eph. 5.2 Eph. 5.2 Let us love one another as Christ hath loved us and given himselfe a ransome for us where hee shewes not only the manner how wee should love one another As Christ hath loved us but the motive how he loved us hee suffered for us he loved us and gave himselfe a ransome for us Secondly as it was the love of Christ to give himselfe so it was the love of God that gave Christ as Christ saith it of himselfe so hee speakes it likewise of his Father Joh. 3.16 Ioh. 3.16 God so loved the world that hee gave his only begotten Sonne c. Wee must not thinke that God then begins to love us when God is actually reconciled to us in his Sonne so some conceive but amisse if I be not deceived and mistaken for saith the Apostle Rom. 5.18 Rom. 5.18 Hee loved us when wee were enemies God loves us not only when wee are friends when wee are actually reconciled by
the death of his Sonne but when wee were enemies S. Aug. psal 113. So saith S. Austin upon Psal 110. God loves us when hee hates us hee loves us as creatures when notwithstanding hee hates us as sinners So I say God doth not then begin to love us when wee are actually reconciled by the death of his Sonne but hee first loved us and because hee loved us therefore hee gave his Sonne Pet. Mart. As Peter Martyr saith excellently as the pledge and pawne and earnest of his love So then that is the second reason that as Christ gave himselfe out of love so God gave Christ because he loved us Thirdly as the love of God was the cause of this so the justice of God required that Christ should die For God had no purpose to redeeme man and man being not able to satisfie Gods justice for his sinne it was needfull that Christ as our suretie should answer that that wee were not able to doe and to take our burden Vse 1 And here when wee consider the infinite wisedome of God devising so to fit a means for the reconciling the mercy and justice of God in our salvation and redemption wee have cause to crie out with the Apostle Oh the deepnesse and riches of the knowledge and wisedome of God how unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out It is true I denie not the print and footsteppes of the wayes of God in the Creation the Heathens themselves discovered by the darke and dimme light of reason The Heathen could discerne it in the Creation but for the print of his footsteps in Redemption men and Angels could not conceive how infinite justice and infinite mercy should come together how sinners should die eternally and bee saved eternally and live for ever How God should be just and yet man that had sinned not die these wayes are past finding out But now in the death of Christ all these seeming contradictions are easily reconciled For now as in the cōposing of Davids Ditty Mercy and Iustice are met together truth and mercie kisse each other For first that God should punish sinne at all it was an act of Gods justice but that God should punish sinne not in our selves but in Christ it was an act of mercy That God should exact the payment of the debt to the utmost far thing it was an act of severe justice but that hee did not exact it at our hands our selves but at the hands of our Suretie this was mercy infinite mercy So that wee have great cause to say and so wee may well with David wee may say on this occasion of Redemption as hee on the Creation Psal 104. Psal 104. How admirable are thy workes In wondrous wisedome thou hast made them all That for the first use Secondly as it serves to set up the wondrous greatnesse of Gods wisedome so likewise it serves to set forth the grievousnesse and haynousnesse of our sinnes It is a true saying No glasse can represent so fully the grievousnesse of our sinnes not the torments of the damned in Hell as the torments of Christ on the Crosse for sin Surely those sinnes must needes bee great that could not bee expiated but at so deare a rate as the shedding of the bloud of Christ I come not to dispute here as the Schooles nicely and curiously and unprofitably whether God could have devised another means to worke the redemption of man kind besides the death of his Sonne I know it is not for man to confine the wisdome of God and to say this God can doe as he saith to the Sea Hither shalt thou goe and here thou shalt stay thy proud waves shall goe no further It is not for man to say so to Gods wisedome and power this God can doe and hee can doe no more But let me tell you thus much that the Sonne of God was more precious and deare in the eyes of his Father then to suffer him to die a cursed death if the worke of redemption could bee so well and so conveniently accomplished otherwise I cannot thinke but that the Sonne of God was more precious in the eyes of his Father then to suffer him to undergo such a cursed Ignominious death if redemption could have beene effected by other meanes Nay I speake more boldly for I may doe it upon good ground the satisfaction for mans sinne it was such a worke as could not have beene performed but by the finger of God Men nor Angels could not doe it they might have given some satisfaction but they could not give a valuable satisfaction 1 Tim. 1.6 As it is 1 Tim. 1.6 Christ gave himselfe a ransome for all that is not all he gave himselfe not only a ransome but a full valuable sufficient ransome I say all men and Angels could not have given to God a sufficient ransome First not men because no man can pay his owne score therefore hee cannot satisfie for others Secondly not Angels being finite created natures they could not undergoe the punishment of our sinnes which was infinite there was an infinite punishment due to our sinnes because we had offended infinite justice and there is no creature can undergoe an infinite punishment Nay I say more all the Angels and Arch-angells in Heaven if they had united their forces to sustaine and indure one moment those exceeding unexpressible agonies that Christ indured on the Crosse when hee said My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee they would have broken them and have crushed them downe irrecoverably to Hell Then farr bee it from us to set light by those sinnes the weight and burden whereof none but Christ could undergoe and when hee did undergoe them it made him bow and buckle and by his owne confession it made his soule heavy to death Thirdly as it serves to discover the greatnesse of our sinnes so it serves to provoke us to sorrow and humiliation for our sinnes for what did Christ shed droppes of bloud for our sinnes and shall not wee shed teares for them Thus it was with the converts Act. 2 37. Act. 2.37 when Peter told them your wicked hands have crucified Christ saith the Text they were pricked in their hearts Nay that is not all they were pricked through in their hearts or violently as it were all the floud-gates of sorrow were opened they were pricked thorow with sorrow And mistake mee not Brethren thinke not that it was the souldiers and the Iewes only that crucified Christ no it was every one of us our hands are as deeply imbrewed in the bloud of Christ as theirs Our wicked thoughts are as thornes that goared his precious head Our wicked actions are as nayles that fastned his hands and feete to the tree Our oathes and blasphemies are as swords and speares that pierced his sacred side Oh then can wee choose but bee pricked in our hearts when wee have crucified Christ If Peter went out and wept bitterly when
hee had denied Christ what cause have wee to weepe teares not of brine but of bloud when wee looke upon Christ whom we have so cruelly crucified How can that choose but bee sorrow and compunction to us that occasioned so much anguish and torment to Christ Oh that our heads were rivers and our eyes fountaines of teares that wee might weepe day and night for our sinnes and transgressions Fourthly as it serves to humble us so it serves for comfort and consolation as I told you for what saith the Apostle Christ died who shall condemne Christ died then hee hath appeased his Fathers wrath then hee hath satisfied his Fathers justice then hee hath redeemed us from Hell hee hath made Heaven smile on us hee hath purchased a crowne of glory hee hath tryumphed over and trampled under our spirituall enemies Let mee sing with Isay Isay 44.23 Isay 44.23 Sing oh heavens and shout yee lower parts of the earth Why The Lord hath redeemed Iacob and glorified himselfe in Israell And surely brethren whatsoever wee thinke now in our strength and bravery and jollitie there is nothing in the world will minister comfort but this in time of distresse when wee shall come either upon the racke of conscience or come to the sight and kenne of death or to appeare before that Tribunall there is nothing but the death of Christ will stead us What else in the world will revive and cheare a drouping soule affrighted with horrour groaning and bowed under the burden of sinne What will bee able to stablish a mans heart and conscience that fears the approach of death but this What else will make him stand upright and unapaled before Gods Tribunall at that terrible day In all these sad exigents in these times the bloud of Christ it serves as Rahabs scarlet threed it is a token to us that God will deale mercifully with us Only it must bee our care as it was the Spies condition with Rahab to tie it in the Window wee must looke to tye it to our selves by faith and applie it to our selves and then you shall never miscarry Againe as it serves for comfort and consolation so it serves as a rich Mirrour to set forth the love of God to us If the Iewes could conclude from our Saviours shedding of a few teares over Lazarus Ioh. 11.36 they see him shed a few teares over dead Lazarus Joh. 11.36 see how hee loved him say they With how much more force may wee conclude since Christ hath shed his bloud see how he loved us Greater love then this saith Christ hath no man then to lay downe his life for his friend It is true blessed Saviour greater love hath no man but thou art more then Man and thou hast done more then this for thou hast laid downe thy life for thine enemies It was the honour of that Trajan when a Souldier was wounded he suffered his owne clothes to be rent and made clouts to bind up his wounds but what is this to the love of Christ that not only did forgoe his cloathes but was content that his owne flesh should be torne for us to cover our wounds this he did Observe this love was shewed to us not to Angels creatures more noble Heb. 2.14 Heb. 2.14 By no meanes tooke hee the nature of Angels As hee did not take their nature so hee did not suffer their punishment due to their transgression and Apostacie when those sonnes of the morning fell from their prime estate they fell as the Elephant they could not raise themselves and they are still reserved in chaines of darknesse and shall to the last day but when man sinned God sent his Sonne to suffer death on the Crosse for us wee have reason to say as David Psal 8. Psal 8. Lord what is man that thou art so mindfull of him Lastly if such and so great hath beene the love of Christ to us then what can wee doe lesse then to returne like love backe againe to him Wee know a Diamond is best fashioned by a Diamond love is the best procurer and solicitour of love how can we but love God that hath sent his Sonne to die for us How can wee esteeme any thing too deare for him that esteemed nothing too deare for us And if Christ did give his life for us shall wee grudge to give a penney to part with somewhat for his members How shall wee esteeme any thing too deare for him shall we not part with our lusts for him Surely if there be any argument in the world will prevaile it is this argument from Christs love that will perswade men to obedience so saith the Apostle Saint Paul that apprehended it 2 Cor. 5. 2 Cor. 5. The love of Christ constraineth us it constraineth us to doe that that God requires Let us take heed that wee doe not trample under foot the precious bloud of Christ by committing those sinnes it was shed for Exod. 12.6 In Exod. 12.6 we shall find that the bloud of the Passeover was sprinkled on the two side-posts and the upper doore post but not upon the threshold under-foot implying and intimating in what high reverence and esteeme wee should have the bloud of Christ we should not trample on it The bloud of the Passeover was sprinkled on the two side-posts and the upper post of the house but not on the threshold underfoot If such reverence were due to that that was but the type how much is due to that that is the substance Then let us take heed wee trample not under-foot the bloud of Christ by wilfull committing those sinnes for which it was shed Let it suffice nay let it bee too much that wee have once crucified Christ let us doe so no more if wee doe so wee are worse then the Iewes Every wilfull sinne we commit we crucifie Christ and hee that crucifieth Christ now is worse then the Iewes the Iewes crucified him in the time of his humiliation and abasement but now if wee doe it it is in his exaltation when hee sits at the right hand of God Let us all take up that speech Ezra 9.14 Lord Ezra 9.14 since thou hast stayed us from being beneath for our iniquities should wee breake thy Commandements wouldest not thou returne and confound us Gods blessings are as strong physicke if it worke not health it makes more sicke Every blessing especially such as this makes us either better or worse certainly that heart is steele or brasse which the sence of the love of God cannot move to leave evill and vile courses * ⎠* FINIS THE EPICURES CAVTION LVK. 21.34 And take heede to your selves least at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkennesse and the cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares IN the Verses going before from the 25. Coherence to the 34. of this Chapter our blessed Saviour had discoursed in the hearing of his Disciples
Marke they were rich in all speech and knowledge and destitute of no gift and yet these that stand have neede to bee admonished to take heede lest they fall Vse 2 Why the best should suffer admonition Secondly if the best men have neede of admonition then it should teach the best men to suffer with patience the words of admonition out of conscience of their neede That is the reason why many men take with such impatience the words of admonition because they are strangers to themselves they know not their owne weakenesse they thinke they have no neede of admonition And that is the reason they returne hatred for good will when they are admonished to reproach and revile them that admonish them Saith the wise man Pro. 9.8 Prov. 9.8 Rebuke not a scorner least he hate thee but rebuke a wise man and he will love thee Why would hee not have a man rebuke a scorner every scorner is a proud man he knowes not himselfe hee is a foole Now every foole is a stranger to himselfe hee knowes not himselfe and his owne weakenesse if a man reproove such a one he cannot expect but to bee hated Hee thinkes hee goes not about to heale him but to make him sore But saith hee reproove a wise man and hee will love thee why hee is a wise man hee knowes his owne weakenesse for that is a speciall point of wisedome hee knowes how apt hee is to offend how prone to be secure therefore he thanks a man he takes it kindly out of conscience of his owne weakenesse when hee is admonished it comes as oyle to a wound as a fomentation to open the sore that the admonition may enter and have its due effect so it followes in the ninth verse there admonish a wise man and he will be wiser Thirdly if the best men have neede of Vse 3 admonition then those of us that thinke our selves to have made the greatest proficiencie in goodnesse let us know and demeane our selves as those that are sicke that neede Physick not onely courteously and thankefully to accept of the remedy when it is tendred casually but to consult with the Physitian and Apothecatie where it is to bee had So let us not onely accept of admonition when it is tendred but repaire to the places where we may be admonished Let us diligently reade the word of God that God hath left though not for that end onely as Bellarmine falsly but yet for that end too to admonish and to teach us to take heede of these and other sinnes Let us diligently repaire to Gods ordinances to the ministery of the word which God hath ordained to admonish us 1 Thes 5.12 1 Thes 5.12 God knowes how apt we are to be secure notwithstanding wee are beset and beseiged and begirt with dangers therefore God hath appointed the Ministers as watchmen as Sentinells to espie dangers a farre off and to give us notice when dangers come they ring the allarme that we may provide for our selves Therefore wee should diligently goe to the Word that we may be admonished of the dangers least we be surprized unawares I remember the saying of that Generall presuming on a mans owne strength is the greatest weakenesse and the ready way to betray himselfe to dangers is to contemne them You see the persons to whom Christ gives this charge Take heede to your selves Least at any time Conclusion It seemes then it is not sufficient to take heede for a while Our care and caution continuall for a day or a moneth or a yeare but our care and caution it must be constant and continuall Hee doth not say take heede least at sometime but take heed least at any time your hearts be overcharged c. It is our Saviours counsell in the 36. verse of this Chapter Watch therefore and pray alway he that would watch alway must take heede least his heart bee overcharged at any time why because if the heart bee overcharged at any time hee cannot at that time watch For as a mans body that is overcharged with meate and drinke he is inclined to sleepe so when a man is drunke and eaten up with covetousnesse he is inclined to sleep insinne he cannot watch therefore if wee would watch we must alway take heede least at any time our hearts be overcharged And Christ implies the reason in the words of the Text Least the day come upon you unawares The summe and substance of this our care and caution ought to be answerable to the danger now that is not for a time onely but continually First Reas Because there is danger there is danger least we be overtaken with these sinnes that is the first danger We know Lot Of the sins hee that lived soberly in the midst of a sensuall impure generation yet when hee was in the mount when hee slacked his guard but a while hee was twice overcome with the sinne of drunkennesse therefore we must take heed alway because we are al way in danger to be overtaken Secondly there is another danger as there is danger least wee be overtaken with the sin Of judgment so there is danger least we be overtaken with judgement eyther the day of death or the day of judgement So the rich man Luke 12. Luk. 12. he was anxious thinking of pulling down his old barnes and inlarging them and at that time God requires his soule Wee see here at that time when his heart was overcharged with the cares of this life death surprizeth him and he was taken away Or else if not the day of death the day of judgement for so Christ saith in the next verse the day of judgement shall come as a snare upon the world Simile There is something in that as birds wee see commonly they are entangled in the snare that is cast over them when they are eating so the world when they are eating and drinking and sensuall that day shall come upon them as the snare on the birds when they were eating Luk. 17. So Christ saith Luke 17. looke as it was in the time of Lot when Sodome and Gomorah was destroyed so it shall be when the world shall be destroyed they shall be eating and drinking and buying and selling They shall be eating and drinking is there any harme in that No that is not the meaning of it but eating sensually and drinking immoderately and buying and selling covetously then that day shall come upon them So that here is danger continuall danger least we be overtaken with these sins at all times or least death or the day of judgement overtake us at all times therefore our care should be alway Least at any time Vse But alas if we looke to the practice of men how farre is it from this continuall care Discovering the abounding of these sinnes we neede no other example but this ordinary practice of dunkennesse surfeiting and covetousnesse if it were no
Wildernesse or Heath emptie of all good If our soules bee over runne with lusts like a neglected Field with brambles and bryers for want of husbanding Simile Our hearts are as the Cords of a Watch if they bee not wound up morning and evening all spirituall motion will quickly be at a stand Another meanes is one of Luthers Schoolemasters Meditation by which hee confessed he thrived more then by the rest to which hee attributed a great part of his being in grace Gen. 24. The practice of Religious Isaack Gen. 24. who went into the field at eventide to meditate And it is fitly joyned by the ancients to prayer as the two wings of the Christians soule by which it soares to contemplation and attaines those things above It is the policie of our common ene-enemy as Chrisologus stiles him Chrisologus the sworne enemy of mankinde who knowing how powerfull a meanes meditation is to 〈◊〉 our selves from worldly things and betake our selves to divine contemplation to get the things above hee labours to keepe us from it by all his strength and by divâ—â—s meanes Sometimes by causing us to stoupe to his lure by committing any sinne Simile and who knowes not that every sinne as a â—â—ummeâ— of Lead clogges the soule and hinders the actions of it But especially hee keepes us from meditation by keeping us in the throng by perpetuall puzelling us in businesse hee steales us from our selves and gives us not time to retire Alas aske most men what houres they set apart for prayer and meditation They will answer I have so much businesse I cannot turne my selfe to it Oh the policie and stratagems of Sathan I say hee keepes us by this from the exercise of devotion by which wee should attaine the things above hee keepes us in the throng of businesse did I say businesse Nay how many are kept away from this divine exercise by spending their time foolishly in Courtship and I would not worse Whence it comes to passe that I looke I professe with pitty upon many great ones whose lives are a story of sinne whose sinnes it comes to passe are never cured because they are alway in motion You that are Gentlemen sequester some time if not every day yet at least every weeke bid all other businesse stand by and attend on your closet to thinke of the things above how to attaine what you want and how to increase what you have attained You that are tradesmen take off your selves from other affaires retire home and examine your spirituall estate with God And wee that are Schollers should vindicate some time from the study of Bookes to reade our selves All of us should set aside some time for the thinking of the things above to examine what spirituall graces wee neede that wee may use the meanes to attaine them and what sinnes wee have committed that wee may repent of them for feare the sad time of death come and cut our thread and then wee goe downe to the Chambers of death Let us examine to what sinnes wee lye open that wee may fortifie our selves against them that the evill one have no power over us All these things are conteyned in the things above and all these wee must seeke here if wee desire to attaine the blessing of them hereafter Let this suffice to bee spoken of the first inquirie concerning the meanes whereby to seeke these things above There remaines onely two more The characters by which wee may know if we seeke these things And the motives You see how wee ought to seeke the things bove But alas The signes of seeking the over eager pursuite of the things below wee see how coldly and faintly if at all wee seeke the things above which if wee did seeke as wee ought Neglect of earthly things it could not choose but abate the edge of our desires to these earthly things and cause us as strangers and pilgrims to use the world as not enjoying it as Saint Austin sayd long before to make it our servant to bee content like that noble Bird that desiring to flye aloft when shee is compelled by hunger to descend shee unwillingly obeyes and presently dispatcheth that shee may up againe which contempt and neglect of the things below it is a signe wee seeke the things of heaven and though our bodies be on earth that wee hold our conversation in heaven where wee looke and fix our eyes through all earthly contentments Wee should be on earth as a wheele is that though it moove upon the earth yet the least part toucheth it Simile That is the first if wee will seeke the things above wee must not too eagerly seeke the things below Sorrow in want of heavenly things Secondly if wee seeke the things above can wee choose but bee affected with sorrow and compunction when wee want them It is not possible hee that seekes these things above as hee ought when hee findes in himselfe the want and decay of them it is impossible but hee should betake himselfe to blacke to a mourning state You see the truth of this exemplified by David when hee upon the commition of those two sinnes murder and adultery hee found hee was bereft of the comfortable presence of Gods favour he furrowes his cheekes with weeping and spends himselfe his marrow was as the drought in Summer hee never gives himselfe rest till God revived and cheared his drouping soule and caused the beames of his countenance to smile upon him So it is with a man that seekes the things that are above in the want of them hee is as the Marriners needle Simile as that is in the want of the point so are all those that seeke the things above in the want of them they never rest but shake and tremble till at last they recover them and stand as they did formerly That is the second argument whereby wee may know if wee seeke these things if wee grieve and mourne when wee want them Thirdly if wee seeke these things above Ioy in injoying them how can wee chuse but rejoyce when wee find them for Love where it is it cannot choose but bee glad when it findes that it delights in Take an instance of both in David Psal 73. Lord saith hee Psal 73. whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none in earth in comparison of thee Marke there David desired these things above and when his soule found them his soule loved them Who can reade it and not bee ravished to see to what an excessive extacie of joy hee was transported Psal 4. hee preferred the light of Gods countenance Psalme 4. before all the Corne and Wine and Oyle the poore things that worldlings place their chiefe content in But in the last place what neede other things to resolve whether wee seeke the things above or no but this By our thoughts and speeches our owne thoughts are the image of our soules and